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That last part sounds like Sasha's white hat attempt at the pizza place, until it went sideways anyway.
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Jun 6, 2020 21:44
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 07:04 |
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Julie, Fuzzy, Kenji, Sasha, Chip, Monkey and Oracle - Time is Meaningless - Denny Park Julie and Sasha walked together, arm in arm, but the road to Denny Park wasn’t a long one and so there was little time for conversation. After all, Julie knew how to move from place to place in dreams now. The road wasn’t one you walked. It was symbolic. So she by thinking in symbolic terms, further distancing herself from this place through rejection. Sasha helped guide Julie through the process of getting from this wasteland that was somehow tied to her to her destination. It was when she was at the bottom of a hill that she heard it. This angry buzzing from beyond. No, not a buzzing, thousands of voices all yelling. A heat that Julie remembered radiated from the place, beyond normal for this late in the year. The smell of fear, hatred, blood and CS gas. An unmistakable mix. Julie paused and took a deep breath, feeling the acrid odor tickle at her throat. “Over that hill?” asked Julie. “Yeah,” said Sasha, “I guess so. You ready?” “No,” said Julie, “It’s not possible to be ready for something like this.” She pushed on anyway and momentarily pulled Sasha along with her before she walked besides Julie again. Julie crested the hill and found herself in the city. In Denny Park. “This is an illegal assembly!” bellowed a voice over loudspeaker, “You are hereby ordered to disperse!” Julie remembered Olympic Park. How the people there had been largely happy. They’d raised their signs, chanted their protest chants and milled about, making very little nuisance of themselves. This place was different. What she heard instead was this roar from the crowd that bounced about the buildings, echoing and building upon itself. The heat was intense. Yes, from the sun, as it was a clear day, but also she realized from the ambient body heat from the tightly packed crowd. The police were held between two groups of protesters: Fascists and those opposed to them, Julie knew. And the line was stretched from one end of the park to the other. An enormous line, so very many police, shields raised, body armor donned, but still ragged and not enough despite being bulked out with barriers both natural and manmade. CS gas was lobbed towards one of the two groups, she couldn’t tell who was who yet. A flaming bottle, a molotov cocktail in the other direction, causing shrieks of panic. Gas billowed. Chrome police drones flew in the sky, bulking out the numbers of the police, guns trained on the crowd. Then the crowd grew even more furious and roared in anger. There were indistinct shouts and the two crowds charged the police lines. Not as a mass, but raggedly at first before pressing the police with hand weapons, with fists and whatever they could throw. The thin blue line held and began beating them back. “I’d never seen this part before,” whispered Julie, "Not this close." “C’mon!” shouted Sasha, “Let’s go find them!” Julie didn’t have to look for them. Chip was here and from what Sasha said, he was awake again. So she reached out with her emotional link and almost instantly, he connected with her. Julie was immediately flooded with feelings of relief, terror and guilt. She had to break away before Chip’s emotions began filling her up, rebounding back and building, just like the echo. Then came the gunfire. The screams. The blood. The smell of new piss and poo poo, peoples’ insides ripped out of their bodies under a hail of bullets. Bodies that would fall and never rise again. The crowd fled, but from her vantage point, she saw a new horror. Unaware of what was happening, the crowd at the back surged forwards and the crowd fleeing the violence of the police met the people in the middle. People were smothered, crushed and trampled underfoot. A tide of flesh being squeezed until pieces of it broke and burst, but that tide was made of people. It was individuals who were breaking and bursting even after the gunfire was over. Sasha stepped in the way, tried to say something. There was this horrible feeling crawling inside of Julie. Like she was tunneling into the horror while simultaneously being outside of herself. Like the horror was hollowing her out. The screams seemed distant, but she couldn’t look away. As Sasha tried to comfort her, Julie doubled over and threw up all over her friend’s fancy clothing. Julie wanted to apologize. It was so embarrassing, throwing up on her friend like that. In a perverse way, she focused in on the feeling of throwing up on Sasha and felt as if she wasn’t in wasn’t her body while she was throwing up. After all, if she focused on the… She threw up again. Threw up and cried. Someone was holding her. Then someone was guiding her. Julie allowed herself to be moved forwards. It was a struggle. There were loud sounds everywhere. The crowd had gotten back up. No, the crowd had reset. The minute she’d been here was playing over and over. She watched it clinically, defaulting to paying attention to specific types of wounds as she walked by. Julie automatically fell back on her training. Assessing the anatomic location of the wounds of the people she passed, using landmarks on their body to define the position. A young elf, dark skinned, screaming as he clutched his kneecap. It’d been pulverized. The location is defined, she thought, both the size and depth of the wound. It must be assessed. The size of a wound can be calculated by multiplying the point of the greatest length by the point of greatest width by the point of greatest depth in centimeters. A human woman, light skinned, clothing bloody, only had her face where the plastic mask had covered her and it had only been a partial cover at the bottom. She’d been drug along the concrete by the force of the crowd. Skin above one cheek violently shorn off. Julie assumed that the ear on that side was gone. When using this technique, greatest depth is measured by placing a cotton-tipped applicator into the wound at the deepest point, marking the applicator at the skin level, then comparing the applicator to a ruler. Devin had trained her with rulers in case power was ever lost and she couldn’t use her smart glasses to measure distance. Someone’s leg, chrome colored, so cybernetic, had been ripped from their body. They were clutching it. Staring at it, dumbly. As the leg and his stump leaked some sort of blue fluid. Julie kept looking, kept assessing, kept taking it all in. It was all automatic. She was beyond thinking, for thinking was repulsive to her, but her training betrayed her. Kept her mind working despite herself and so she kept taking in every detail against her will. Eventually though, she was pulled elsewhere. The crowd was now out of view, though the screams were still present. That was okay. She wasn’t compelled to think about those. And then they were muffled, then gone. Julie felt something warm pressed into her hands. Someone was talking. The item in her hands was tipped back and then forwards again. There was an urging motion, but Julie couldn't comprehend. Then Julie felt something touch the back of her head and warm, sweet fluid was pressed to her lips. "Horchata," she thought. The smallest amount hit her tongue. This was what reengaged Julie with reality, or at least whatever passed for reality in this place. It didn’t happen all at once. It was a process. Each sip allowed her to expand her awareness outwards. Each sip a cautious exploration of reality. They next to the side of a stone stoop in some thick hedges, sitting on some mulch. Sasha was here in her monkey suit, covered in vomit, talking to the other Sasha in her comfortable ritual clothing. That was curious. Fuzzy was leaning over Julie, trying to get her to drink. Chip kept sending furtive glances over at Julie, but keeping his distance. She was sure that he’d been close before. And finally, Kenji sat on the mulch, looking up at the sky. Julie drank her horchata. It was thick and creamy, mixed with the taste of cinnamon. A little too much for her tastes, if she were honest with herself. “Oh, good, you’re back,” said a voice, "You sure took your time." Julie looked up. Sitting on the top of the edge of the stoop, several feet above was a young, human woman with olive toned skin in a red dress with long, dark hair that fell from under a red hood. Her face obscured by a black cloth mask, her dark brown eyes discerning. She carried some sort of cutting of a green plant in one hand and idly tossed and caught a CS gas canister in the other. “Glad you didn’t get lost,” said the woman, “I sent the furball to go get you.” “I love you too,” said the Sasha in the monkey suit. “I appreciate you go getting her, really,” said the other Sasha, voice threaded with controlled calm, “But could you not be me? It’s weirding me out.” “Yeah, okay,” said the monkey suited Sasha, “I thought it was going to be funnier. Maybe play a prank. Then she threw up on me.” “That actually is funny,” said the woman in red. “It’s from what she saw,” said monkey-Sasha, “It’s sad. Poor kid.” “Sad things are frequently funny. People laugh at horror. It’s how they deal." "Yeah, I guess so," said Monkey, "Sad funny isn't really my style though." "Mind changing into your normal suit?" asked the woman, "I want to talk this through and explore this place. This place is an axiom. I’m getting the jitters from just being here.” “Addict,” teased monkey-Sasha. “I won’t deny it,” said the woman. “Axiom?” asked Fuzzy, “What’s that?” Julie kept staring at the woman. Something about the dress and the plant tickled at her memories for some reason. It was on the tip of her tongue. Then more horchata was actually on the tip of her tongue and she began to uncoil from the tight, upright ball she’d contorted herself into. “An idea that’s self-evidently true,” said the woman, “It’s a foundation that is rock solid that allows you to discern other truths, to be absolutely sure. Every axiom I have allows me to better understand the world and better predict the future.” “I don’t understand what that means,” said Fuzzy. The woman in red grunted. “Think about it like a landmark,” said the woman, “When you climb up that landmark you can see far and wide from it and map an area by using other landmarks through triangulation. Then you fill in the details of everything in between. If you’re good, and I am, you do it perfectly. I do that with truth.” “Oh,” said Fuzzy, “That makes sense. You map truth.” “Yeah,” said the woman, “I map truth and make predictions baked on those truths in order to find more axioms, which helps me make more predictions, and so on and so forth. In this way I attempt to understand everything.” “This isn’t even on the main timeline anymore,” said monkey-Sasha, dismissively. “Close enough,” said the woman, “I can still glean information from some of it, I’m sure.” As the monkey-suited Sasha and the woman in red bickered, Julie looked to the other Sasha, the real Sasha, Julie decided and waved to her. “What’s happening?” asked Julie. Sasha came over and took a knee near Julie and Fuzzy. “You okay?” asked Sasha. “No, but I’m here. Hey, remember when this ritual was supposed to be about friendship?” “Started out okay,” said Fuzzy. “Then things got fucky,” said Sasha. Julie grimaced. “My fault. Sorry,” said Julie. “This needs doing,” said Fuzzy. She glanced to Sasha, who nodded at her before looking back to Julie. “Guess so,” said Julie, “Why isn’t Chip over here?” Fuzzy and Sasha looked at each other and then back at Chip, who was watching from afar. “When we couldn’t find you, he started freaking out,” said Fuzzy, “Like one of the new kids.” “New kids?” asked Julie. Fuzzy nodded seriously. “When a new kid would get dropped off for good at my home, it was sometimes by their parents and usually they’d never see them again,” explained Fuzzy, “Can’t take care of them. The new kids freak out once they figure out what happened. Dad is usually pretty good about helping them get over it.” “And so Fuzzy knew what to do,” said Sasha. Fuzzy smiled at Sasha. “So yeah,” continued Fuzzy, “Chip got ripped out of his uh...Dream state?” Sasha nodded in confirmation. “And I think he freaked out so badly because he’s never been cut off from you before,” explained Fuzzy, “Never completely anyway. He’s still not that old. You changed him to look our age, but that was definitely a new kid reaction.” “Why are we talking about him like he’s not here?” asked Julie, and then she raised her voice, “Chip?” Chip peaked out from behind a hedge and then immediately darted back behind it. Julie didn’t trust herself to establish an emotional link with him. Putting herself back together was hard. “Can you two please give me some space so I can talk to Chip?” asked Julie. Fuzzy and Sasha looked at one another and then looked at the space. There wasn’t much of it. Just the bushes and the mulch and the stone stoop, but they retreated next to the still dreaming Kenji and sat on either side of him. The woman and the other Sasha kept bickering, but Julie wasn’t paying attention to them. Instead she beckoned Chip on over. “Come on,” said Julie. Chip shied away for a moment, but looked back at her again from his hedge. “Come on,” repeated Julie, “It’s okay.” Slowly, his head down in obvious shame, Chip stood up and walked over to Julie where she sat against the high wall of side of the stone stoop. She looked up at him. He looked down at her. She opened her arms to him and hesitated before falling into them. There was no weeping. Nor did either reach out for their emotion/magical connection. At least not yet. She was too exhausted and in pain to share something so intense and likely he was too. Touch was all the communication they needed. They laid like that for a while. Julie stroked his hair and it felt real, but in these moments she was reminded that he wasn’t a metahuman, though definitely a person. He was always the same level of warm no matter what, he didn’t breathe, nor did he have a smell to him. Maybe she’d look into that the next time she changed him, though it would be a long while until she did. Still, he was her ally and her friend and he’d been traumatized when she left. So she decided to address that. “I’m back,” she said, simply. “Yeah.” “Fuzzy told me you were scared?” A pause, then he nodded against her shoulder. “Because I was gone?” she probed. “I’ve always been able to find you,” he said, “Even when I’m far away. I can try and connect to you. I know we’re not doing that as much anymore, but when you don’t, at least I know you’re there. I tried and then nothing happened. I keep reaching and reaching and you weren’t anywhere.” “Yeah, when I tried I couldn’t find you either.” They said nothing for a while. There was the sound of talking from Fuzzy and Sasha and there was continued bickering from the monkey-suited Sasha and the woman. Julie continued to stroke Chip’s hair. “It’s my fault,” said Chip. Guilt was heavy in his voice. Regret as well. Julie patted his neck a few times before continuing to stroke his hair once more. “It’s fine.” “It’s not fine,” he retorted, anxiously, “I messed up the ritual. I aid rituals. I don’t participate. I’m not good at them. I tried. I was struggling. I messed it up really bad. I think I sent you away when I woke up.” Julie paused and looked at Chip. He cringed and tried to pull away but Julie pulled him back down again. “Yes, I want away,” said Julie. Chip made a small, strangled noise in his throat. “But I’m back now,” she said. Chip nodded quickly. “And honestly," she continued, "I learned a lot about myself. I know I have some feelings I need to deal with- Ugly ones. They’re not gone, but I know they’re there now. They didn’t get the best of me. Better dealt with than not.” She’d tell everyone later about what happened, but she still needed to understand how she felt about her confrontation with toxic Firebringer. That would take a lot of thought. Something brief then she decided. “I met something scary,” said Julie, “It tried to tempt me. I said no and I left. And I’m better for having left than never having met it.” Chip’s eyes widened in shock. “Did you meet…” “Something bad, yes,” said Julie, “It’s open mic night for spirit mentors because we need advice. That means we’ll get whoever shows up, good or bad. I’ll tell you later. Tell everyone later. Now, who found me? That’s not Sasha.” Chip squirmed in her arms. “That’s Monkey,” he whispered. Chip looked over at Monkey, pretending to be Sasha. Her, his, their? She wasn’t sure about pronouns. Their suit was clean once more. And despite the horror, Julie felt an inappropriate giggle bubble up out of her chest. “I threw up on a great spirit,” she said, giggling nervously. “I’m glad he doesn’t seem mad,” said Chip. “I’m not mad!” Monkey called out, “It was funny!” Julie felt the alone time with Chip coming to an end. So she whispered to him. “Tomorrow, I’ll keep the emotional link open all day, okay?” she asked, “For you.” Chip finally relaxed in her arms. “Okay,” he sighed, in relief, “Thank you.” She kissed his cheek and called out to the woman in red. “And who are you?” asked Julie. The woman in red with the leafy branch in one hand and the canister in the other turned to face Julie. “Oracle,” she said, with a sniff from behind her black mask, “Normally I don’t show up for these kinds of things, but you’ve got an axiom here. The details aren’t perfect, but the end results look correct. I can work with that. It has all the hallmarks of something true, even if it was only true at one point. So I thought I’d show up.” “Why are you wearing a mask?” asked Julie. “Getting into the spirit of the riot,” she said, “Visual aids help with understanding.” Again she tossed the CS gas canister up and down in one hand. “I’m mixing the modern with the ancient. Hope you don’t mind.” “The Pythia, right?” asked Julie, “The name for the head priestess at Delphi?” “Correct enough. You might say mask it's the mask that I'm wearing today.” “Your facet?” asked Julie. The mask twisted in what Julie thought might be a smile. “Someone is well informed,” she said, “I appreciate that in a person. Yes, a single facet of a greater whole. One of many.” Julie looked at Monkey. “Which makes your facet…” “I’m Goku,” said Monkey-Sasha, with a grin. Oracle rolled her eyes. “Your facet isn’t Goku.” “Close enough,” he retorted. Oracle smacked Monkey on the chest with the back of her hand. “I am not a fan of close enough. Do you have any idea how young all of them are?” she asked, “Few people understand the reference. There hasn’t been a new Dragonball cartoon almost thirty years. And I’d know, because you made me watch the last one because you said that there was some deeper truth in understanding it.” “It made you understand just how awesome I am.” Monkey preened, showing off sharp, primate teeth. “Your. Delusions. Are. Not. A. Deeper. Truth,” said Oracle, words clipped and angry, “Lying grates on me.” “Everyone’s a critic,” sighed Monkey. “Are you Sun Wukong or something?” asked Julie. Monkey beamed and with a puff of smoke, a long, thin, upright rock hit the ground where Monkey used to be. Everyone stared as it split apart to reveal yet another rock, though this one looked like a large egg. It then split open and a monkey emerged, which bowed in four cardinal directions, then he opened his eyes towards the sky and shot what Julie could only think of as a laser for a few seconds before stopping. “Now I am,” said Monkey, “The old laser eyes into heaven trick. Making new holes in the Jade Emperor’s palace. Heh. Classic.” “Yes, yes, I remember how much you like property damage,” sighed Oracle, “Of course I get the unenlightened facet. Great.” Monkey quickly donned Sasha’s clothing, though cut for his size and picked up his red and gold banded pole, which Julie had somehow confused for a walking stick. “I was the one who showed up second after Dog,” he said, “On account of you slaying all of those evil spirits or demons or whatever you want to call them a few weeks back. Well, okay, you only slayed one, he got greedy and came back hurt, but you banished the rest. Anyway, your friend was going to get lost looking for you, so I decided to pick you up and bring you back.” He motioned to Sasha. “Thanks by the way,” said Sasha. “Uhhh…Yeah,” said Julie, “Thanks for your help.” “Don’t mention it,” he said, “Or do. Tell me how awesome I am.” “Getting Julie was pretty awesome,” said Sasha, “I’ll admit that.” “It was very nice of you,” said Julie. Monkey laughed, not like a metahuman, but literally a howl like a monkey. Now that Julie got a better look at him, he seemed to be not any larger than four feet tall and maybe shorter. His hair was brown, his face was somewhat beaked, not like a bird, but like a primate and of course he wore his literal monkey suit, which wasn’t the normal garb for Sun-Wukong, Julie remembered. “Yeah, I’m literally the best,” said Monkey, “No, no, stop, you’re too kind. I know, I know. You're too kind.” “You’re literally not the best,” said Oracle, through gritted teeth, “Don’t say something is literally anything unless it’s true.” “You literally like it when I get this way,” he teased. He avoided a kick by deftly back flipping just out of reach. Oracle huffed. Julie cleared her throat. “The suit is new,” said Julie, “But I thought you had a tiger skin around your waist or something.” Monkey smiled slyly. “Oh, I’m wearing it,” he said, mischievously, “I am so wearing it. Just not around my waist. I think Oracle will kick me if I show you though.” “I would. Don’t flash your underwear at children.” “I have class.” “You don’t.” “Ehhhh…Let’s agree to disagree.” “I will never, ever agree to disagree,” growled Oracle, “I hate you so much right now.” This only made Monkey smile. “Wouldn’t be a party if I wasn’t wearing fun stuff under the monkey suit,” said Monkey, “You seem to know a little about me. Say, did you read my book?” “I read a few chapters,” said Julie, “After the fight with the uh…Spirits? Summoned by Pinchface, right?” “Spirits, demons, sure. Most of them were from the Journey to the West, though the fire spirit was the master of Shaolin Bak Mei the betrayer so it wasn’t a perfect cast. Anyway, I know my book can be a long read, but it basically perfected the monster of the week genre hundreds of years before trideo. Also it’s got me in it, so of course it’s great.” He hooked a thumb at Fuzzy with his free hand. “Anyway, I saw this one take down the White Bone Spirit Baigujing. A little angrier than I liked, but when a bunch of demons from my story get beaten up, I take notice. Also she’s got the pole and the new shapeshifting powers, even if she’s not that great with them yet. All she needs is some training and a cloud to ride around on and you’ve got a mini me in the making. Solid choice, being me by the way. I highly recommend it.” “The skeleton?” asked Fuzzy. “Yep, she’s a shapeshifter,” said Monkey, “A nasty one too.” Fuzzy’s face darkened at the memory. “Yeah, real nasty.” “Yep,” said Monkey, “Which is why I showed up. I wanted to see if all of you lived up to the hype.” “I didn’t get to come,” grumped Sasha. Monkey made a dismissive gesture. “Yeah, but you got the right stuff to get my attention,” he said, “A sense of justice and a sense of humor. I saw what you did in the car park. Did you know that you minted a brand new shadowrunner?” Sasha’s jaw dropped. “What?!” she exclaimed. Monkey’s grin grew delighted. “Yeah, I mean, I was investigating you because I wanted to see if all of you were worth my time. So I spent a little extra on you and found your friend." Monkey chef kissed his fingers. "He's magnificent," he said, "He’s currently in a vat, getting his body sculpted with those tech doo-dads and getting used organs implanted that’ll help him do more drugs without OD’ing. Meanwhile he does VR training for twenty hours a day, most of which is spent swinging a katana around. He’s buying a katana chainsaw.” Monkey flailed his too-long arms into the air and howled with delight. “I rev up my katana!” shouted Monkey, “Vroom vroom!” He waved around his staff as Sasha looked on open horror, jaw dropped. “And he even cut off his pinkie after you shamed him,” continued Monkey, “He’s mixing up his new street samurai persona with Yakuza culture, but hey, that just makes it funnier. And it’s contrition, which I approve of. He’s installing a cyber-pinky and making into a vape. Just the one chrome fingers which is just the best. He has the potential to be one of the funniest creatures to walk this earth and anyone who is beaten or killed by him will be eternally shamed. I mean, I thought I was going to be impressed by Fuzzy, and I am, don’t get me wrong. But if you make more people like this I will grant you so many boons. I’m glad that you created him and I’m going do my utmost to make sure he walks this earth for as long as possible so long as he’s hilarious and on the side of good.” Sasha looked to Oracle, desperate for her to call Monkey a liar. Instead she only shrugged. “He’s not lying,” she said, “I’m very sorry.” Sasha made a pitiable noise and buried her face in her hands. “He’s got big plans,” said Monkey, “Let me tell you about the Foxgirl maid robot he’s already saving up for. And let me tell you, he's getting real detailed with it.” “Leave my friend alone,” said Kenji. Kenji was looking daggers at Monkey, now wide awake. “I’m just saying,” said Monkey, defensively, “I’ve got big plans for him and I’m thanking her.” “Thank her without being an rear end in a top hat about it.” Fuzzy wrapped an arm around Sasha. “Kenji…” said Fuzzy, worriedly, “We’re looking for answers. Maybe don’t fight Goku.” Then she looked to Monkey. "But if you don't stop, I will hit you." “Me too,” said Kenji. “Fiiiine,” groaned Monkey, “I’ll…Uh…Sic him on that pedophile for his first job. The one you didn’t know what to do with because you don’t trust the police anymore. Cool?” “Just shut up!” groaned Sasha. “Do what you want to do,” said Kenji, “But stop talking to my friend.” “Caaaaan do,” said Monkey. “You see what I put up with now,” sighed Oracle, “Almost every facet of him is like this. Anyway…” Oracle turned to Julie. “I want this axiom.” “What?” asked Julie. “Just that. I want this axiom,” she said, and gestured to the park beyond the hedges, “I don’t care if it’s flawed. It can still serve. If you give it to me then I will grant you a boon.” Julie thought about it. Afterthought had said that boons from oracles were powerful and expensive, and this was Oracle. It would definitely be a real boon. “And if I gave it up?” asked Julie, “What happens?” “I wouldn’t know until I took it,” said Oracle, “For me, I would use this axiom to map out more truth once I figure out its limitations. For you, most likely you just couldn’t come back here, but I’d allow you to linger for a while in my new axiom if you wish to explore. Since it would be mine I could even give you some limited control over it to make its study more…Palatable. The process of removal would be easy. It’d feel like pulling a thread. Likely you would barely notice and you’d heal quickly.” “It’d be gone?” asked Julie, hopefully. She wondered if that would make her safe. “Mhm,” said Oracle, “There are secrets to this place. I would have them all. Even if they are no longer fully true, they once were. You introduced the flaws, but trends and forces had enough momentum that what you see will largely be the same. It’s like you walked a slightly different path to end up at the same location.” "So I can't stop it?" asked Julie. Oracle scoffed. "Why would you stop it?" she asked, "It'd just happen elsewhere. This way you can prepare for what happens next. Don't be silly." "So I can't stop this from happening?" "The outcome will largely be the same if you prevent this event," she said, "We are hurtling towards this moment. You have an opportunity. Don't waste it." That hurt. Julie was hoping this might go away if she did the right thing, but that didn't seem the case. So instead she asked a different question. “Could you get rid of my ability to do prophecy completely?” Oracle frowned at her with her eyes. “I could, but I wouldn’t,” said Oracle, “The odds that you’ll ever make a true prophecy again are vanishingly small though. But I would be a fool and so would you for me to rip away that part of you that is able to look to the future.” Julie paused and considered. “So it would be invasive?” she asked. Oracle's nod was grave. “Very. You would be unable to even think about the future at all. You would forever live in the present moment or the past. Taking it from you would cripple you.” Julie sighed and untangled herself from Chip, who was reluctant to let go, but did. “A boon then,” said Julie. “Yes,” said Oracle, “And I may entertain the idea of mentoring your group. Handing down sage advice. But first, we must do business.” Julie got to her feet. “Business, huh?” asked Julie. “Yes. My skills are peerless and inhaling the smoke to map the future is taxing,” she said, “I do not do it lightly.” She looked at the branch that was to be burned as incense and flung it over her shoulder. Instead she tossed the CS gas canister up into the air a few more times, drawing everyone's attention to it. “This seems more appropriate to understand this axiom,” said Oracle, “Pain will be my guide. Well, what say you?” -- CYOA Time! Does Julie give up Days of Future Past Denny Park to Oracle? Giving it up will have unforseen consequences, but hey, boon. And what boon do we want? Or should we sit on it? Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 00:03 on Jun 10, 2020 |
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Jun 8, 2020 15:53
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Awesome read!!! Loved this whole post. Does she mean once we give it to her we'll be able to study it and prepare better like knowing when the gunfire will start so we can react by blocking it or getting people away? If we get to study the event we should cast increased intelligence and memorize everything we can. The downside being once we start reacting the event will probably start changing to.
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Jun 8, 2020 16:21
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Ice Phisherman posted:“Very. You would be unable to even think about the future at all. You would forever live in the present moment or the past. Taking it from you would cripple you.” This seems like an exceedingly bad idea. Voting NO.
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Jun 8, 2020 16:38
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Lemniscate Blue posted:This seems like an exceedingly bad idea. That was in response to Julie asking if she could give up her foresight which she immediately decided against
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Jun 8, 2020 16:44
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Lemniscate Blue posted:This seems like an exceedingly bad idea. This was about Julie asking if she could have her ability to see the future taken away, which was not what Oracle wants. She just wants the axiom- Denny Park. And the damage will be extremely minor and Julie should heal up just fine. Edit: Chip wouldn't be damaged either. Toughy posted:Awesome read!!! Loved this whole post. Well, it's not perfect. But they'll be able to glean information about the place to better respond. But yes, if you change the circumstances of the event too much, the nature of the event may change. Oracle makes the point that if you negate this event then a similar one will just happen later that you'll have a much harder time predicting. There's no avoiding this forever. If Julie doesn't make a deal she gets no boon. They can still study the place, but they'll roll composure every time they make a check. It's staring into the void. So if they fail, they'll take disadvantages for doing so. If she makes a deal, there will be some unintended consequences down the road, but they can study the place without risking nasty disadvantages. Also she'll get a boon or favor from Oracle, which is primarily concerned with matters of truth and prophecy. So I read some Descartes lately and how he was basically trying to find something true to understand the world, disbelieving basically everything. But the axiom he found was, "I think therefore I am". And so using that as a tool, he was able to make stabs at learning other truths. Oracle's deal is basically using things she absolutely, positively knows to be true and using these points like landmarks to make maps. She fills in everything she can and uses those landmarks to make predictions about the future within the bounds of what she understands. Less inhaling magic smoke, though she'll do that with the CS gas as a modern mentor spirit. More using rigorous analysis of events she absolutely knows are true to understand more truth, finding more axioms, more predictions find even more axioms and so on. She makes predictions through the smoke, but understands truth through something very close to geometry, which I think is a neat touch for a very minor character. Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 16:53 on Jun 8, 2020 |
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Jun 8, 2020 16:46
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This sounds like she's asking for the karma Julie got from here, some of which is in Chip as part of his metaplane. So "unforeseen consequences" sounds... ominous.
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Jun 8, 2020 16:46
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Dr Subterfuge posted:This sounds like she's asking for the karma Julie got from here, some of which is in Chip as part of his metaplane. So "unforeseen consequences" sounds... ominous. It's GM speak for allowing me to mess with Julie, creating narrative consequences. I'm not going to take karma. The consequences will be strictly story based. Which by no means do you have to do it. I'm fine either way.
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Jun 8, 2020 16:49
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In that case, the worst thing I can think of happening is everyone being too competent at the riot and getting the wrong people's attention. But that's what boons are for, right? So the newly proactive Julie should take it.
Dr Subterfuge fucked around with this message at 17:04 on Jun 8, 2020 |
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Jun 8, 2020 17:02
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Could the boon be an undefeatable lie detector passive ability? It's from a mentor spirit so it'd be stronger than anything that could be cast to deflect it.
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Jun 8, 2020 17:10
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Toughy posted:Could the boon be an undefeatable lie detector passive ability? It's from a mentor spirit so it'd be stronger than anything that could be cast to deflect it. There's already a spell for that. It wouldn't be unbeatable, but Julie could literally ask for the spell.
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Jun 8, 2020 17:12
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Ice Phisherman posted:There's already a spell for that. It wouldn't be unbeatable, but Julie could literally ask for the spell. I don't want waste a boon on a spell we can easily acquire on our own.
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Jun 8, 2020 17:20
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I think the boon should be nobody ever finds out Julie saw the future.
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Jun 8, 2020 17:23
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VanSandman posted:I think the boon should be nobody ever finds out Julie saw the future. I'm interested in this idea could it work?
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Jun 8, 2020 17:50
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Toughy posted:I'm interested in this idea could it work? I would allow people never finding out that Julie had a prophecy, yes.
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Jun 8, 2020 17:58
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Do I sense a finger of the monkey's paw twitching?
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Jun 8, 2020 18:05
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Dr Subterfuge posted:Do I sense a finger of the monkey's paw twitching? I see that you've developed the paranoia that a player has with a sneaky GM. Good job. It's a pretty low background hum in most of my games though.
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Jun 8, 2020 18:06
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Dr Subterfuge posted:Do I sense a finger of the monkey's paw twitching? He's about to tickle someone so yes it's twitching
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Jun 8, 2020 18:23
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I’m not totally clear on what “taking it” would mean, but I guess that is kinda the point. Making decisions based on imperfect or totally lacking information. That said, we are approaching the event soon and then it will be done. Is there a reason for Julie to “have” it after that? It feels like that would lead to wallowing in past mistakes, which she just turned away from. I say give it away and let it become part of her past instead of a defining aspect of her future forever.
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Jun 8, 2020 21:27
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The problem I see with Oracle mentoring the group is similar to the problem with Julie seeing the future in the first place. You got the kids already unified and competent enough in being able to perform a magic ritual together. Umm ok, that's already a decent amount of attention. Now they have Oracle as their mentor spirit, when Oracle rarely does that..... what? I think it's hilarious and sort of want it to happen on that basis.... but yeah that's also trouble. It's at least good that Oracle is here to tell the kids that this future isn't going to happen exactly like this though. Gives more flex to their planning since it felt like Mother Bear and Julian were treating the park as an absolute truth. I hope they know now that people who weren't there previously can now show up and the event will still happen. I'd trade Denny Park for a boon yeah. It's honestly only causing harm in it's current state to everyone. As for the boon itself.... I'd ask for guidance on best avoiding corp attention/backlash? There's currently a laser sight on Fuzzy with the toxic spirit incident, and the kids being too forewarned in dealing with Denny Park is also going to attract attention I feel.
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Jun 9, 2020 07:24
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Voting Yes. Proactive Julie should trade in the future vision she never wanted. The question is: Trade for what? I think immunity to being found out as a seer would be nice, but it's also kinda passive and doesn't really get her anything other than relative peace of mind, so it makes sense but kinda undermines the point of trying to make Julie a bigger story presence. But also... Baby steps? She took a big first step out of the comfort zone already and she'll need a lifeline to keep taking more of those in the future. Not really sold on any boon ideas so far. Maybe sit on it? Also the spirit mentor parade is awesome and wukong calling his dumb cartoon deep and meaningful literature owns. But also it makes perfect sense. The anime made a facet of monkey achieve worldwide popularity and recognition comparable to that of Jesus MF Christ, and I think it's telling that he prefers the anime (original or Kai? guess it would be the one with the highest popularity over time, so likely Kai) over the manga, which is the version of the story that purists would prefer and also the media form most suited to someone like Oracle. GJ Ice. GimmickMan fucked around with this message at 11:28 on Jun 9, 2020 |
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Jun 9, 2020 11:18
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The boon should be assistance in guiding the future post-massacre towards a better outcome for Touristville. Mechanically this would be points towards the outcome roll IP was talking about a while ago. In the story it would be help getting a camera in the right place at the right time, or demoralizing the fascist forces, or finding out how the vote was going to be rigged so the team can help mitigate that.
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Jun 9, 2020 14:13
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I'm leaning against making the trade. Julie should see if she can share it instead - giving Oracle full access without giving it up. That way she can still get it stripped down to dissect the events that are going to happen. If she does trade it, though? The boon has to fit the spirit. Truth for Truth. If you hand Oracle an axiom, you get her to give you a prophecy - a warning, some guidance - in return.
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Jun 9, 2020 14:16
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All right, the vote is to trade this place away for a boon and the boon is loosely defined as, "No one ever finds out that Julie saw the future". It was was, but I saw "No corporate backlash" as adding to this vote because otherwise it was tied with seeing the future. Which isn't going to turn out like anyone thinks it will. Julie is going to have some consequences with what is seemingly a passive, defensive action. So that'll be nice. After this, we'll talk to who is here a bit more, get some general advice, have one more scene with one more spirit mentor and then dip out for the party. After that it's back to reality. -- So my story feels pretty pre-empted by reality lately, which is a little frustrating, but cool. I don't know if you've been paying attention or not, but large parts of Minneapolis is basically an autonomous zone right now and there's a tiny one set up in Seattle in the Capitol Hill district. The police are full mask off and most literally can't help but abuse the public. So people largely feel pretty awful about the police and that's only going to continue to shift leftwards against them with time. People are tearing down racist statues, which I see as a kind of expression of the times, the expression of which reinforces the forming narrative. Politicians are almost completely unresponsive to the crisis, just like all of these crises in America, corporate media runs cover for them and I have basically an infinite amount of resources to pull from for this story not only to make it interesting to read, but to explain conditions as I understand them on the ground on the micro and macro level. So this was going to be about Charlottesville, but I think after Denny Park we're going full post-Charlottesville where I try to break down and explain what is happening as best I can see it as a scholar within related fields and with several hundred hours of checking riots and revolutions and civil disturbances in the past two years. Not a full scholar, but definitely well read. And so I'm going to do my best to explain what's going on because there are so many moving parts that it's difficult to predict much save that until people get what they need to survive, then the protests will never really stop. Because the powers that be can't just abandon the unemployed to starvation and homelessness. It's not possible. They'll fight back and as they grow more desperate and angry, they'll fight all the harder. The police and the national guard and the military can't suppress 30% of the population. And what people are realizing is that the form of protest they're using now where they take on the police directly works. And I'd hesitate to call this a violent protest by and large, even with the occasional burning and looting of a building, because property can't experience violence. It can be broken or destroyed or expropriated, but it can't experience violence, or at least like people do. So I think that our story got way, WAY more interesting. GimmickMan posted:Also the spirit mentor parade is awesome and wukong calling his dumb cartoon deep and meaningful literature owns. But also it makes perfect sense. The anime made a facet of monkey achieve worldwide popularity and recognition comparable to that of Jesus MF Christ, and I think it's telling that he prefers the anime (original or Kai? guess it would be the one with the highest popularity over time, so likely Kai) over the manga, which is the version of the story that purists would prefer and also the media form most suited to someone like Oracle. Thank you. With almost any character, I want them to feel like more than they're a tap where if you turn the faucet one way you get exposition and if you turn the tap the other it stops. Big or small, no matter the interaction, I want even the minor characters to feel alive and that we're looking at a snapshot of their lives as they live them. The story revolves around the Scoobies, but the world that that story is a part of does not. It is either indifferent or hostile towards them. So Monkey is currently playing the role of Sun Wukong, pre-enlightenment. He's pretty manic, self-aggrandizing, frequently a dick and doesn't really know when to stop until someone let's him know the joke isn't funny anymore and get angry. But he can be convinced to help. And his role is primarily to vanquish evil through martial might or mock that evil force so viciously that it stops being evil. And part of his self-aggrandizement is referencing one of his other facets, literally Goku, made up entirely out of whole cloth but beloved by millions of people around the world, at least once upon a time. Plus it gives a wink and a nod to people who don't know who Son Wukong is and invests people more deeply in the character. Oracle on the other hand is the Pythia, which represents the constant search for truth. She's a bit of a method actress, getting into the role, which honestly if you're entertaining emperors and kings and warlords and the like, you need a bit of showmanship if they're going to take you seriously. Lies grate on her nerves like nails on a chalkboard and due to taking herself very seriously, she's somewhat stuffy. What's fun is defining the relationship between these facets of Monkey and Oracle as antagonistic. They do not get along, but they don't fight either. They're more like co-workers who don't like each other, but they both want something and so they'll tolerate each other for now. And it takes some of the grandiose woo out of the magic, which I very much like doing, by causing them to bicker over petty bullshit. Funny Monkey teases the stuffy Oracle basically writes itself. Speaking of writing itself, my story doesn't do that. So I'm going to spend some time doing that right now. Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 14:21 on Jun 10, 2020 |
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Jun 10, 2020 14:19
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Also, as a side note, I was considering doing a novellette of a classic Shadowrun tale where a runner gets the job, does the job, poo poo happens, betrayal, etc. You know, a milk run. Something that wouldn't take too long I think after this book has ended because I don't have to worry about continuity and could write pretty drat fast as a result. Is there anyone who would be down for the misadventures of Warhawk and his NoCo fueled adventures? 
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Jun 10, 2020 18:49
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Hand raised with opposite arm holding it up as it furiously shakes.
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Jun 10, 2020 18:52
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Ice Phisherman posted:Also, as a side note, I was considering doing a novellette of a classic Shadowrun tale where a runner gets the job, does the job, poo poo happens, betrayal, etc. You know, a milk run. Something that wouldn't take too long I think after this book has ended because I don't have to worry about continuity and could write pretty drat fast as a result. Do this, but from the perspective of a completely bewildered partner on the ad-hoc team that Mx. Johnson had to throw together at the last minute, given the current staffing situation. It's probably told as a drinking-buddy story, a month or so after the run, and they're still trying to make sense of it.
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Jun 10, 2020 19:01
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Toughy posted:Hand raised with opposite arm holding it up as it furiously shakes.
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Jun 10, 2020 20:16
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Yond Cassius posted:Do this, but from the perspective of a completely bewildered partner on the ad-hoc team that Mx. Johnson had to throw together at the last minute, given the current staffing situation. It's probably told as a drinking-buddy story, a month or so after the run, and they're still trying to make sense of it. Oh yeah. It's definitely going to be pickup basketball, but with crime. And everyone on the court is either going to be some sort of scrub or really old. I want it to be the ultimate goofus run.
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Jun 10, 2020 20:22
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Ice Phisherman posted:Oh yeah. It's definitely going to be pickup basketball, but with crime. And everyone on the court is either going to be some sort of scrub or really old. Major League: Shadowrun
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Jun 10, 2020 20:31
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Ice Phisherman posted:Oh yeah. It's definitely going to be pickup basketball, but with crime. And everyone on the court is either going to be some sort of scrub or really old. I almost feel like Warhawk should keep getting his rear end pulled out of the fire by the most improbable favors and coincidences. Other people see it as part of the job, but from his perspective he's racking up life-debts as he goes (and thus, well-meaning reasons to insert himself into other people's lives). e: He'll pay some of them back, eventually, in equally improbable ways. Then people have to admit to being saved by Warhawk, which may to some eyes be worse than the alternative. Cassius Belli fucked around with this message at 20:48 on Jun 10, 2020 |
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Jun 10, 2020 20:38
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Warhawk has Monkey's endorsement, that's good enough for me.
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Jun 10, 2020 21:31
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Since IP is writing again I started donating to his patreon, but I'd like to to go specifically for writing about Warhawk.
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Jun 10, 2020 22:15
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Butt Discussin posted:Since IP is writing again I started donating to his patreon, but I'd like to to go specifically for writing about Warhawk. Oh, thank you very much. I haven't promoted myself in quite a while it seems. Edit: I wrote an overly long, explanation of things that largely didn't matter and erased it. Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 03:00 on Jun 11, 2020 |
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Jun 10, 2020 23:37
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Okay, I'm going to make a Warhawk book either a novella, which would be about 40k words or a novel, 70k words in the CYOA format. Depends on my own interest. I don't want to gate it behind money. I'm just going to make it and if you want to donate to the patreon you're more than welcome to. Anyway, I'm going to write up the Warhawk story as something of a more usual Shadowrun story and see if it's fun enough to maybe do another. Something with bars, Mr. Johnsons, crime, but a protagonist who fundamentally does not understand what he's doing and generally lacks social graces. This is going to be way, way more modest than Blake Island as it will definitely have a beginning, middle and end in a self-contained story that won't span for years. I'll be able to write content more quickly because I won't have several other books to reference for continuity or have to do research so I can  a lot faster while not ignoring one book for the other as they'll be very different in style. It won't be as fast as the first book with Fuzzy all the way back in 2017 where I cranked out a novel in less than two weeks, but when I'm freed of research and continuity I pump out content at a pretty quick clip.I figure that with all of the bad stuff in the world, it'd be nice to have some guilty pleasure in writing/reading about a guy who rips through his enemies with a chainsaw katana. It's uncomplicated and I'm fine with that. Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 03:12 on Jun 11, 2020 |
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Jun 11, 2020 03:07
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Holy poo poo this started in 2017, drat Thank you, Ice that's a hell of a commitment.
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Jun 11, 2020 03:12
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Toughy posted:Holy poo poo this started in 2017, drat Yep. September 21, 2017. This has been going for a while now. I'm glad that people like it enough to read it after all this time. 
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Jun 11, 2020 03:13
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New CYOA up. https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3927428 Warhawk rides. (A moped) I'll still be continuing this of course. But it can be fun to write schlock fiction too.
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Jun 12, 2020 03:59
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Julie, Fuzzy, Kenji, Sasha, Chip, Monkey and Oracle - Time is Meaningless - Denny Park Julie thought about the exchange, but this wasn’t just her decision alone. She needed to confer with her friends. That meant getting Kenji up to speed. Fuzzy was currently talking to him, but keeping an eye on Sasha as well. Meanwhile Sasha was having a bad day at the hands of Monkey's words. She looked troubled. “Can you wait for a few minutes?” asked Julie, “I need to talk to my friends and see what they think.” “Of course,” said Oracle, “I’m in no hurry.” “More time for us to catch up, right?” asked Monkey. Oracle looked from Julie, then to Monkey and then back to Julie. “Though if you could expedite the process, I’d appreciate it,” she said. Julie nodded once and walked back to the rest of her friends from her place behind the hedges. They were tall and blocking out all sound from the riot, which Julie assumed wasn’t normal. Still, it allowed her time away from the horror. “So yeah, Julie saw the future and we’re here,” said Fuzzy. “Uh huh,” said Kenji, “Saw a future in which we’re what...Chilling behind some bushes?” “No, the riot,” said Fuzzy, “Remember?” “Not really,” said Kenji, “Some rear end in a top hat started picking on Sasha and I let them know what’d happen if they kept loving around. I haven’t seen any riot.” Fuzzy and Sasha had sat on either side of Kenji to keep him from moving during the dream, but now that Kenji was awake and Sasha was in distress, Kenji had his arm around her shoulder. “Take a look through there,” said Fuzzy. Fuzzy pointed through the hedges. “Maybe don’t,” said Julie, “It’s bad out there.” “Just a riot, right?” asked Kenji. “A lot of people die,” said Julie. Kenji made a dismissive gesture with his free hand. “You should see the ACHE around the end of the month when people starve and poo poo,” said Kenji, “Early in the morning? People keep it cool, hunker down and save on calories by not moving. Moving hurts near the end of the month. At night? It’s a full on war zone as people fight over who’s got what or who thinks who’s got what.” Julie’s heart hurt. The way that Kenji talked about seeing death was eerie in how casual it was. “Are you okay?” asked Julie. “Yeah, fine,” he said, “Just woke up during a dream is all. Fuzzy is telling me you saw the future and we’re still doing that ritual. I figure this is just a stress dream and I’m waiting for the nightmares to kick in before I wake up.” “Uhh…” said Julie. Julie looked to Sasha, who leaned against Kenji out of emotional exhaustion. Fuzzy climbed over the two to sit against Sasha’s other side. If she was being honest with herself, Julie was a little jealous. She needed that right now, but Sasha had been doing the hard work of getting everyone conscious and moving this along through long isolation. So she probably needed that more than Julie did. Understanding that didn't make Julie want comfort any less though. “Do me a favor?” asked Julie. “Anything for you,” said Kenji. A little part of her heart warmed at that, because she knew he actually meant it. “Just treat this as real for the duration?” she asked. Kenji shrugged. “Yeah, okay.” They both nodded at one another. Julie turned about and found Chip. The spirit was hanging around at the edges of the other great spirits, hanging on their every word as they went back to their bickering. So she prodded him with their emotional connection, he turned around and came over with everyone else. “What’s up?” asked Chip. “We’re going to discuss the boon for trading this place away,” said Julie, “If we trade this place away.” “I kind of live here though,” said Chip. Julie looked at him again and frowned. “That is true…” she said. “I could live elsewhere,” he said, “This isn’t the greatest place. I could hang out in the baseball room or in the hospice.” “Those don’t sound like nice places,” said Fuzzy. “They’re really not, but this place is way worse” said Chip, “The worst that happens in the baseball room is that I’m tormented with the smell of tacos, but I never get tacos.” “That sucks, but sucks less,” said Fuzzy. Chip nodded seriously. “I might try to find a new home in the astral after this,” said Chip, “But I don’t spend much time here anyway because I’m usually in your world doing neat stuff.” “My world has tacos,” said Julie, unable to help herself, “You could have those.” “Yeah,” said Chip, with a smile, “Could I get Oli to make…” “So like,” interrupted Kenji, “What could you do with this uh...Place...If you kept it?” He motioned to the hedgerows. “This isn’t the important part of the vision,” said Julie. “Guessed that,” he said, “I just haven’t seen it. You talk as if it’s a done deal. What do you get if you keep it?” “A headache,” groused Julie, “Nightmares.” Kenji looked at her meaningfully. “And what do you want in return?” he asked. Julie considered. Part of her wanted a new prophecy if that was possible. Likely it was. Not from her own mind, but something from Oracle. Something deniable. The other part of her wanted this to end. To get through the horror, go home and get on with her life. She’d never be safe if anyone knew what she’d seen. In fact, her friends may never be safe knowing what she’d seen, nor Julian, nor Mother Bear now that they knew. Knowing what they did now potentially put them in danger, though Julie was definitely in the most danger. “I want to make sure everyone is safe,” said Julie. “Tall order,” said Kenji, “Maybe be more specific?” Julie growled softly in frustration. “From what I saw I mean. The peak into the future,” she said, “I want to make sure everyone here is safe. I have this suspicion that even after the event passes, this doesn’t go away. I’ve still seen what I’ve seen. Nothing changes that. All I can do is try to hide that fact and protect everyone else.” Kenji nodded once in acknowledgement. “I'm cool with that.” “Fuzzy?” asked Julie. Fuzzy shrugged. “Whatever keeps everyone safe is good.” “Sasha?” asked Julie. Sasha looked up from her hands and at Julie. She managed a tight smile. “Being safe. Yeah, good.” “You okay?” Sasha nodded at first and then after some consideration, shook her head. Then she raised up her hand, palm down and wiggled it back and forth in a “so-so” motion. “I’ve been keeping everyone together for too long,” she said, “Doing everything for too long. I just want to get out of here. Don’t sell yourself short, but don’t take forever, okay?” Julie nodded and looked to Chip. He smiled at her. “I trust you,” he said. “Want help negotiating?” asked Kenji. Julie almost said no, but Kenji was better at these things than she was, so she nodded. “Come on up.” Kenji patted Sasha on the shoulder and exchanged a brief glance before he got up to stand alongside Julie. Then, without warning, he poked his head through the hedge to take a look at the riot. The sounds of the riot bled through the hedges. Everyone but Kenji covered their ears. “Kenji, what are you-?!” began Julie. She moved to pull him away, but he waved her attempts to pull him back away. Everyone waited for long moments, tense as could be before Kenji pulled away and the noises stopped. “Yeah, that’s pretty bad,” he said, “I’ve seen worse though.” “You could’ve gotten hurt,” said Julie. “You would’ve pulled me back if you really thought I was going to get hurt,” he said, “I had to see what all the fuss was about. I don’t blame you for not wanting to be in that mess, but it’s no Garbage Day.” “What’s Garbage Day?” asked Fuzzy. “Just the all around worst day in the worst place in the metroplex.” They waited for more explanation, but nothing more was forthcoming from Kenji. “Anyway, I’m good to negotiate now.” “You’re weird sometimes, you know that?” asked Sasha. “Yeah,” said Kenji, “Sorry, I normally keep a lid on this kind of stuff, but I needed to focus. Anyway, who am I negotiating with?” “Oracle,” said Julie. Kenji pulled Julie aside to talk to her and lowered his voice. “What’s her deal? She see the future or something?” “Yeah.” "She like Dog?" "She's a spirit mentor if that's what you mean." “So what does she want?” Julie made an expansive gesture to the world around her. “She said she wants this place,” said Julie, “Said it’s an axiom.” “What’s an axiom?” “Something that is inherently true. Or at least it was at one point.” Kenji nodded to himself. “Okay, so she’s into information,” he said, “Real truth is hard to come by. And you want safety in return?” “For all of us, yeah,” said Julie. “Will giving this place up cost you anything?” “I don’t think so,” said Julie, “Chip said it might, but he said that he’d just move. I’d need to be sure he’s safe though.” “I'll make sure to ask then," said Kenji, "Anything else?” “General advice,” she said, “The reason we came here in the first place.” Kenji considered, rubbing his chin. “Think I could ask for something?” he asked. “For what?” asked Julie. Kenji opened his mouth to speak, but shook his head. “Never mind. Anyway, let’s go.” Before Julie could object, Kenji strode towards the side of the stoop where Oracle and Monkey were still bickering. “You’re like a hermit, away from the rest of us and always seeking out the truth,” he said, “Would it kill you to live a little?” “I don’t want to finish the Dragon Ball marathon,” she said, “Stop trying to guilt me. Guilt doesn't work on me.” “We’re not even halfway through!” he exclaimed, “We didn’t even get to Super Dragon Ball Heroes yet. I guarantee you that there are deep truths in watching it.” Oracle scoffed. Kenji raised up his fist and cleared his throat. “We’re here to negotiate for the axiom,” he said. Oracle immediately perked up and turned away from Monkey. “Lovely,” she said, “I’m eager to explore this place.” Julie could tell that Kenji was hiding a smile. Even she knew not to appear eager during a negotiation. “We have some caveats though,” said Julie. Oracle waved her hand in a “get on with it” motion. “Ask away.” Julie and Kenji looked at one another and he nodded to her. Part of her went back to the prison library and the study of magical law. This, she decided was a contract and she needed to be precise in her wording. “My spirit, Chip, is tied to this place,” she said, “I wish for him to be unbound from this palce in a way that does not harm him or trap him or break him away from me as a friend and or an ally or change him in any way deleterious to himself or the others impacted by this ritual.” Oracle rolled her eyes. “Julie,” said Oracle, “I understand what magical law sounds like when it's being deployed. You needn’t bother. I’m not some fae from a fairy story. I’m not going to curl back a finger on the monkey’s paw to screw you over. Talk plainly. Lawyer speak is for those who twist the truth. I have little respect for the law.” “As an owner of two paws, I don’t appreciate that,” said Monkey, in a huff, “The very idea of severed monkey hands being used for magic is speciest.” Julie felt her cheeks warm up and looked to Kenji. He shrugged. “Don’t interfere, furball,” said Oracle. “Well now that you told me that I shouldn't, now I have to,” he said, and grinned widely. His tail bobbed from side to side as he turned to address Julie and Kenji. “Hey kids, she’ll pay basically anything for what you got. Don't worry about it not being true. She doesn't ever get one completely intact without any changes. There's always some change in the future with these things. In fact she’s trying to keep herself from drooling. Why do you think she’s wearing the mask?” “I am not, drooling,” she snapped. “Close enough. You’re desperate. Admit it.” “Why are you sabotaging me?” she said, through gritted teeth. Monkey folded his arms. “Dragon Ball marathon,” he said, simply, “Start to finish. And all of the OVA’s.” “Fine!” she yelled, “Just...Just stop interfering!” Monkey laughed, turned a cartwheel, leapt up into the air and when he came down again, he was sitting on a small, yellow, fluffy cloud that hovered above the ground. His smile was serene. “That’s all I wanted,” he said, simply. Oracle rubbed her temples. Julie looked to Kenji and Julie took it as a good sign that he felt confident enough to smile. But he kept it subdued and stayed silent until she addressed him. “Your boon?” she said, irritably. “Our boon is this,” he said, with a ritualistic air, “I want secrecy. I want Julie’s vision hidden from others without harming her or us. But I'd still like to talk about it if necessary in secrecy.” “Oh, is that all?” asked Oracle. “No,” said Kenji, “We also want general advice on how to proceed that keeps us safe.” “Easily done,” said Oracle, “Anything else?” Kenji frowned, looked to Julie and she shrugged again. “Oh, you know,” he said, flippantly, “Send us home with some magic items, gold, jewels.” “I won’t give you anything physical,” said Oracle, “Intersecting with your reality is difficult for me. It’s not safe for you or me and no amount of axioms would make me physically enter your world at this time.” Julie furrowed her brow. “You can do that?” asked Julie, “Physically enter reality? Aren’t you too big for that?” “Yes, I can and no, I’m not,” she said, “But I don’t want to step on any toes.” “What’s that saying?” asked Monkey, “Two’s company? Three’s a crowd? For us, even one is a crowd. “Wait…” said Julie, “Wait, wait wait. I have questions.” “You can’t afford the answers,” said Oracle, her tone final. “You really can’t,” said Monkey, “Privileged information. Sorry kiddos.” Julie sputtered. Her instincts screamed at her that this was significant, but she'd been shut down. Part of her wanted to risk the axiom to know, but she ruthlessly silenced that part of her before she made the mistake of asking and abandoning safety. “What can Julie do with this uh...Axiom on her own?” asked Kenji. Oracle smiled smugly. Or at least that was the look her eyes gave away as her mouth was hidden behind her mask. “Not much,” she said, “Learn from it I suppose, but any information you’ll gather from it alone is limited. You’d need at least two axioms before you could even begin to infer truth with any real accuracy and four would be ideal to start. It would also take you a lifetime to master the process. Probably several lifetimes in fact. The process of finding other axioms is also a potentially lethal one. Most don't have the stomach to find it. But if you do find them, choosing truth despite the danger is a way of coming to me. So I’d eventually get this place anyway.” “So you’re an institution,” said Kenji. “Oh no, not at all,” said Oracle, quietly. She leaned in and looked directly into Kenji’s eyes. “I am no institution, young man,” she said, eerily, “I am the embodiment of the search for truth. I create those institutions of learning in my wake as I pass by. People who seek what I seek raise them up and when they grow too prestigious and useful, those who style themselves as your masters have them occupied and the seekers of truth who refuse to be bound are thrown out, because the truth is dangerous. They twist truth to serve their own needs and cloak themselves in falsehoods. When they occupy a place raised up to find truth, truth is the first thing they hide or destroy. In those institutions, where truth was once taught, maybe, just maybe, you might find find a map or a guide among the desolation. But you must choose to walk that path and no path towards real truth is a safe one.” Julie and Kenji shivered as she leaned back. “Anything else?” she asked, her normal voice back. Julie shook her head a little too quickly, but Kenji pursed his lips in thought. “Do you take info on what to look at next?" he asked, "Maybe share what happened after?” Oracle barked out a laugh. “My time is precious,” she said, “It would need to be valuable for me to chase down leads that aren’t my own.” "Very precious," said Monkey, "Because she'll be learning all about me." Oracle's eye twitched, but Kenji gave her a significant glance. "You won't regret it," he said. “Kenji, what are you…” began Julie. “We'll talk later,” he said, brusquely, “But yes, I’m pretty sure it will be worth your time. I know things.” After some considered she back leaned in. There was a gentleness to the way she slipped her hand behind Kenji’s head and Kenji accepted it without complaint. Julie thought for sure that Oracle might kiss him, but instead she stared intensely into his eyes. Kenji’s own eyes rolled back into his head and he began to shake, but not violently. More like a brief, full body shiver and only for a few seconds. Then he slumped, eyes crashing back into place, completely dazed and she held him steady. “I’ll have it to you later,” she said, “Thank you for the lead.” Kenji wiped the froth away from the corners of his mouth. “gently caress,” he groaned. “I pulled away before you had a seizure. Just muscle spasms. No permanent damage, but you'll wake up sore,” said Oracle, “Apologies. I had to dig deep.” “What did you do to him?” asked Julie. Julie steadied Kenji and he leaned up heavily against her as Oracle released him. “Oh, you know,” said Monkey, “What usually happens when young men tangle with older women. They get wrung out.” “You’re incorrigible,” said Oracle. “Yep, I’m very encouragable.” "gently caress," groaned Kenji. “That’s not what I said," said Oracle. Julie interjected before the bickering could start back up again. “Are you sure he’s okay?” asked Julie. Kenji was almost climbing her in an attempt to stay steady. His feet kept slipping on the wood chips as if they were ice. “Oh yes,” said Oracle, “I didn’t damage him, but it was hard. He’s very fragile and full of contradictions. All those people inside of him, slumbering. In fact, I could only name a few who are more full of contradictions. I made sure not to disturb them. Extended contact with me would probably do him irreparable harm. For his sake, I’m afraid we won’t be meeting again. I'll have to turn you down as mentor.” “But…” said Julie. "No buts," said Oracle, "I seek truth, but it's a poor mentor who destroys her pupil. Now..." Oracle clapped her hands and rubbed them together eagerly. “Okay, boons,” said Oracle, “I will do my utmost to fulfill them. Are you ready?” “I...Will Kenji be okay if he receives them?” “Oh, yes,” said Oracle. Julie looked to Kenji first, who she supported and then to Monkey, who nodded. “She tells the truth as she understands it,” he said, “She hates lying.” Julie screwed up her courage and nodded. “Yes then,” said Julie. “Excellent. Just a moment then,” said Oracle. Oracle reached out her thumb and forefinger to Julie's forehead. That place where the spirit had lodged its finger in her brain last year when she first saw the vision for the first time. There was a pulling sensation, the slightest feeling of coming undone, a single thread of herself pulled and snipped. Then it was gone, barely noticed. “Okay,” said Oracle, “The deal is struck. I’ll leave you instructions on how to create a geas for yourself and how to mask who and what you are. The masking is an easy task. The geas though will be very specific to each of you and forgotten once applied.” Julie knew the masking metamagic, barely. It would hide her astral signature, though she would definitely need to learn more about it. Then she thought about that word, geas and then frowned at Oracle. “You’re going to curse me with a compulsion?” asked Julie, incredulously. “No, you’re going to curse yourselves with a compulsion,” said Oracle, “Normally a geas will brand you at least or kill you at worst if you break it. This will be more elegant. It will simply prevent you from talking about seeing the axiom and will keep you from having your mind read through magical means about this particular subject. With the added bonus that the geas will come with some small amount of power that you and your friends can apply to your magic. I’ve made allowances that you will be able to talk about this in dreams with or without your eventual mentor if you have any questions or need to decompress.” Monkey waved cheerily from his cloud at the mention of "your eventual mentor". “Your spirit will have a different space created for him so he’ll have more ability to stretch out,” said Oracle, “One home for another. And finally…” Oracle snapped her fingers and what looked like a model of Denny Park sprang from the ground. “You’ll be able to gaze at this for information. The horror will be far more abstract, but you’ll be able to make educated guesses about how to proceed with little loss. It’s also safe. This axiom is not. Just call for the construct in dreams and it will answer your call until you no longer need it.” “Okay…” said Julie, “And um...The general advice?” Oracle tossed her CS gas grenade into the air and grinned. “My advice for you is that truth alone will not save you,” said Oracle, “Truth needs defenders and that defense must be vigorous in the face of lies and liars.” Julie waited for more, but she had no more advice. “That’s it?” asked Julie, “I was hoping for more advice.” “Don’t die,” said Oracle, wanly, “I've given you enough. Others will surely have sage advice, I'm sure. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have prophecies to make and smoke to inhale. We won’t meet again. Oh, and ah...Don’t do this at home. You’ll burn your hands. And your skin. And your eyes. Your lungs...” Oracle cracked the CS gas canister with her bare hands and white smoke poured out. What skin that was visible began to redden and she began to cough. She sat down, inhaling smoke and then, swaying, she began to mumble to herself. “Welp, she’s gone,” said Monkey, “My turn now.” From his perch on his cloud, he began to push his stick on the ground and puttered forwards as if he was on a gondola. “Your turn?” asked Julie. “Oh yeah, she’s good with truth and all,” said Monkey, “The best, really, though I won’t say it while she’s paying attention. But she’s also not very practical. We’ll take a look in that little toy of yours and see what’s what when you’re ready.” "gently caress," groaned Kenji. Julie stroked Kenji's back as he finally found his feet. “And you’re practical?” asked Julie. “I can be,” said Monkey, “Let me know when you’re ready and we’ll explore.” Julie looked down at the model of Denny Park and frowned. “We’re going to…” It dawned on her then. “We can get smaller,” she said. “Or it gets bigger. One of the two,” he said, with a yawn, displaying sharp teeth, “Reality is kind of flexible here. Anyway, get ready. You’re all going on a field trip with me.”
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Jun 19, 2020 06:38
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Ice Phisherman posted:“Yes, I can and no, I’m not,” she said, “But I don’t want to step on any toes.” Well that's not ominous at all. e: Oracle makes it sound like there's a Spirit walking around Seattle already. Dr Subterfuge fucked around with this message at 14:00 on Jun 19, 2020 |
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Jun 19, 2020 13:45
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