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Is there anyone actually avoiding reading the spoilered text? If not, it makes more sense just to do without since most of the past thread page is in spoiler blocks.
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Jul 26, 2018 18:57
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HiHo ChiRho posted:Is there anyone actually avoiding reading the spoilered text? If not, it makes more sense just to do without since most of the past thread page is in spoiler blocks. The post right before yours says they are actively avoiding spoilers.
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Jul 26, 2018 19:11
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I think having game mechanics like Mentor Spirit, where your actions are restricted in exchange for some benefit, is a really interesting topic in general. Really hoping we get to see Julian do that sometime in the spotlight, it should he amazing. For us. Wow. I don't really have anything to add because that was great and the responses were also great. My dad has been a public school teacher since before I was born (and is retiring soon, and with a pension negotiated back in like the 80's!) and while he's the best teacher I've ever had I can attest that he spent a shitload of time and money on it. Basically the entire summer every year in addition to all the extra hours already mentioned. An awful part in addition to real caring and talented teachers being insanely underpaid/underappreciated is how awful teachers can skate by. My dad was the Dean of MST at my high school for a few years, before getting totally burned out by lovely administration and the shittier teachers. Not to really blame those people too too much, since that's just a symptom of the same problem of teachers not getting paid enough. ANYWAY. I do think it's a little weird if you put Ice's story into the greater Shadowrun world, but that's just because Shadowrun is kinda dumb as hell most of the time. I say that with a lot of love, don't get me wrong. Still the best fictional setting. Get at me, all other fiction.
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Jul 26, 2018 19:17
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I totally shared that.
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Jul 26, 2018 19:30
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Deadmeat5150 posted:I totally shared that. Truth! Lots of family and friends are living it!
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Jul 26, 2018 19:39
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Not all teachers are paid poorly, just most of the ones that work in poor districts! gently caress the poor is what I'm saying!
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Jul 26, 2018 20:15
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Ice Phisherman posted:So people have been talking about Fire Bringer and I'm going to let people take a peak behind the curtain for a bit.  Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed going down that rabbit hole with you.
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Jul 26, 2018 20:28
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HiHo ChiRho posted:Is there anyone actually avoiding reading the spoilered text? If not, it makes more sense just to do without since most of the past thread page is in spoiler blocks. Sorry about the blocks. I could've not written that, but I felt like I had an opportunity to talk about something that is important to me and didn't see the circumstances getting repeated anytime soon. I'm also a little gun shy since I accidentally spoilered Julie going to a psych ward ahead of time. Spoiler tags and talking out of order is not something I plan to make a habit of, but I know that some people are okay with spoilers and some aren't. I want to respect that. When I talk about it again in the story when comes up, I'll link back to here. If I remember that is. Bear Enthusiast posted:ANYWAY. I do think it's a little weird if you put Ice's story into the greater Shadowrun world, but that's just because Shadowrun is kinda dumb as hell most of the time. I say that with a lot of love, don't get me wrong. Still the best fictional setting. Get at me, all other fiction. Unspoilering this part because of the context. In the sense of Shadowrun, my story is bizarre. It's not about sociopath mercenaries with pink mohawks firing twin SMG's from their motorcycle. Though I do make nods to Shadowrun's roots every now and again. It's about young people growing up in a world they don't fully understand. If anything, I wanted to push against callousness and embrace feelings and caring about stuff. Even in a futuristic corporate dystopia, life goes on. -- In other news, I've budgeted enough money that I think I'm going to head to Seattle this Christmas to see some family I haven't seen in a while. Nothing is set in stone because my health could still kill that possibility, but if I do I'll head over to Blake Island and take some photos along with some neat on location shots in the Seattle and Tacoma area. I'll get to play tourist in my hometown. Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 20:39 on Jul 26, 2018 |
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Jul 26, 2018 20:33
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Ice Phisherman posted:It's not about sociopath mercenaries with pink mohawks firing twin SMG's from their motorcycle. Not about that *yet*. Ice. Don't be so confident that it never will be.
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Jul 26, 2018 20:39
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I'm also not reading the spoilers. I appreciate it.
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Jul 26, 2018 20:53
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jagadaishio posted:I'm also not reading the spoilers. I appreciate it. 
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Jul 26, 2018 21:00
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Zodiac5000 posted:Not about that *yet*. Ice. Don't be so confident that it never will be. If you cut out the word sociopath, Fuzzy could have already done it.
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Jul 26, 2018 21:19
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Ice Phisherman posted:In other news, I've budgeted enough money that I think I'm going to head to Seattle this Christmas to see some family I haven't seen in a while. Hope it works out for you! SeaTac is a terrrible, run down airport though, and I do hate traveling out of that place.
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Jul 26, 2018 21:20
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numerrik posted:If you cut out the word sociopath, Fuzzy could have already done it. She's essentially one brutally murdered loved one away from turning into Batman.
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Jul 26, 2018 21:54
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Thank goodness she doesn't really remember her parents.
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Jul 26, 2018 22:32
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Given that Bolt doesn't seem to be missing a screw upstairs, I'm curious to what happened that he'll react like that. "GOD DAMNIT JULIAN, I LOST ENOUGH LIMBS TO YOUR ZIPPO-SELLER SHENANIGANS" Regarding the "how well paid Julian is" - Time is money. Even if he get a fine paycheck, and even if he get paid for the nights he's sleeping there (I suspect he does not), that still a lot of time he's spending on his job that he can't spend on, say, a proper relationship. Being married to your job is not a simple request. Ice Phisherman posted:In other news, I've budgeted enough money that I think I'm going to head to Seattle this Christmas to see some family I haven't seen in a while. Nothing is set in stone because my health could still kill that possibility, but if I do I'll head over to Blake Island and take some photos along with some neat on location shots in the Seattle and Tacoma area. I'll get to play tourist in my hometown. There's still time, but: enjoy yourself!
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Jul 26, 2018 23:16
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Gun Jam posted:
Last bit of spoiler chat. I hope I was moderately clear that the issue isn't just the actual pay amount, I'm a little worried I spent too much time on the 'They can't be low paid' portion that it overshadowed 'Blake Island's problems and stresses for teachers cannot be compared to modern education because the power differentials involved are completely different and the pressures that cause problems for modern teachers physically cannot exist on Blake Island without an outside force mandating them (i.e. Fire Bringer).
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Jul 27, 2018 15:40
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Ice Phisherman posted:In other news, I've budgeted enough money that I think I'm going to head to Seattle this Christmas to see some family I haven't seen in a while. Nothing is set in stone because my health could still kill that possibility, but if I do I'll head over to Blake Island and take some photos along with some neat on location shots in the Seattle and Tacoma area. I'll get to play tourist in my hometown. Give me a ping if you've got some free time, and I'll buy you a drink and/or tasty food if you end up downtown.
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Jul 27, 2018 15:44
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quote:Kenji, Fuzzy and Jayvon - Monday, July 23, 2075 - Noon - Blake Island Please fix Butt Discussin posted:I was the most curious about Fire Bringer, but I'm not reading the spoilers. I appreciate you using the spoiler tags, I'll have to remember to come back after we get to the in-story reveals. Same
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Jul 27, 2018 23:54
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Kenji, Jayvon, Krupa, Joyce, Marcus and Clarissa - Tuesday, July 23, 2075 - Evening - Blake Island Waves gently lapped at the shore of Blake island as teens mingled and laughed around a large bonfire stacked high with carefully placed wood. The bonfire was something of a tradition as it always took place on the first day of school. Sometimes older students took charge and made a big deal about it. Sometimes there was just a fire, food and music. Music was here. It was catchy but inoffensive, and if someone wanted to dance they'd find themselves in good company to do so. Out in the distance the lights of the Seattle metroplex shone brightly as the tall buildings of the skyline rose out of the ground like giant fingers of steel. Though it was difficult to make out the downtown area proper due to its distance, those fingers could easily be seen to the northeast. This year, Kenji had a better idea of what he was looking at. As an adept, he couldn't see into the astral, but he knew what people playing around in the astral looked like. A few students sat with crossed legs in a circle. These bodies were likely empty of their spirits. When empty of a spirit, the body was nicknamed their "shoes" and the spirits of young shamans were flying about in the air unseen. Someone had even summoned a spirit to watch over their bodies. A large, wispy looking spirit of air that looked vaguely humanoid. It was common practice to stay in a magical lodge or have a few spirits guard ones' body as a safety precaution. It wouldn't do to have something slip into the empty body that didn't belong. Kenji made himself up a hotdog and worked his way through the crowd of students. Tonight he decided to go barefoot. Many others did as well so they could walk through the sand and the surf. It was a nice night for a party, just cool enough to make people crowd close to the fire, and it illuminated the faces of happy students. Technically it was a night for the older students to go out of their way to greet the younger ones, but Kenji just wanted to spend time with friends. Not that he'd ignored the younger students, but he was done being seen and making small talk. However, he hadn't seen a single one of his friends for the twenty minutes he'd been here. Obviously Julie wasn't here, but Fuzzy and Sasha weren't here either. He didn't blame them. Sasha was most likely trying to keep a low profile and Fuzzy stuck with her. Oli, though more of an acquaintance than a friend, was probably working on her painting. Olisha seemed to be missing, which he was secretly grateful for. However, who he found, who was easy to miss due to his short stature was Jayvon. He was next to Marcus, twice his height. "Boxing, yeah?" drawled Jayvon, "What's your style?" The dwarf looked up at the older teen whose face was impassive. Jayvon held a red solo cup in one hand and a hot dog in the other, and even in the gloom he could tell that the cup shook ever so slightly in Jayvon's hand. "Out-boxing," said Marcus, "I have long arms, I'm good at dodging and like to keep my opponents at a distance. I'm new to the discipline and still practicing on my footwork, but my magic makes up for it." "Oh yeah?" asked Jayvon, "How does your magic help?" "I have enhanced control of my body," said Marcus, "I'm developing a way." Jayvon whistled appreciatively which gave Kenji a moment to step into the conversation. "Hey Jayvon, what's up?" he asked. "Hey Kenji," said Jayvon, "Not much. Having a hot dog and talking about boxing. Know anything about it?" "Does Muay Thai count?" asked Kenji. "Sure does. Nasty kicks and knees. I've been meaning to pick that up," said Jayvon. Kenji kept the conversation rolling by getting right back on topic. Besides, he was ever hungry for information. "What's a way?" Kenji asked Marcus. Marcus looked Kenji over for a few seconds before he answered. "A way allows someone to develop more magical skills by committing to a theme," said Marcus, "Some magical skills overlap. A way uses these similar skills to reinforce one another while allowing for less of my magic to be used. It's only for those who use adept magic." "More bang for your buck?" asked Kenji. Marcus nodded seriously. "Just as you said," he confirmed, "I've committed to improving my body. Two years ago I signed onto a small project to develop an entirely new way and it's bearing fruit. It's called the way of perfect body. I'm striving to become physically peak human while having full control over my body." Kenji was interested. He'd never heard of a way before, so he ate his hot dog and let Marcus talk. Though it was Jayvon who spoke up next. "I dueled someone with a way once," he said, "He was a real bastard in a fight. I almost lost." "A new way?" asked Kenji, "So there's more than one?" "Oh yeah," said Jayvon, "A whole mess of them. They take a lot of time and effort to develop, but adepts don't have spells or spirits to rely on. Shamans have that and mystic adepts can do what shamans and adepts do, minus astral projection for the shamans. Adepts get left behind if we're not careful, so the smart thing to do is to make what we have stretch further. Some develop a way to do that, some uses focuses, some use tech, some use all three if they really want to grab every little last bit of magic that they can." "Nice," said Kenji, "So Marcus, you're the senior adept here. Got any tips for us?" Marcus paused again in thought and then nodded. "Very well, I'll advise you. Some magic is useful, but not all of the time. For that which you don't need all of the time I suggest using focuses. I use focuses for what's outside of my way as well," said Marcus, "Right here on my skin." Marcus lifted up his hands, which were covered in black, full sleeve tattoos both on top and on the bottom. "Tattoo focus?" asked Kenji, "I'm thinking about learning how to make those. What do yours do?" Marcus simply turned over his hands. The undersides of his wrists and palms were tattooed as well, and they glowed faintly in the dark. In each of his hands rested a tiny ball of fire. They weren't particularly intimidating, so he got a few ooh's and ah's from onlookers. As he closed his hands they were briefly wreathed in fire, which was far more intimidating and people mostly backed away, though a few drew closer, more curious than afraid. Kenji wasn't bothered, but Jayvon was caught off guard and took an involuntary step back. His crutches were nestled under his arms and he wobbled slightly, but didn't fall as his hands were still full of food and drink. He stepped back forward immediately and grumbled as he bit into his hotdog. No one teased him as they were too focused on Marcus. The fire in the older student's hands dissipated completely as he opened them both up once again, his tattoos now dimmed. Marcus smiled slightly and took a small bow for the audience of onlookers and there was some scattered applause. "Impressive," said Kenji, "Do you really need flaming fists for your everyday life though?" "No. It's nice to have just in case," said Marcus, "Besides not being useful for my way, it's common to have magic you don't use every day as a focus. Still, you'd be surprised how useful having a flame always at hand can be. When I talked to my talismonger he suggested electricity, but I eventually decided against it. While electricity is certainly powerful and can be non-lethal, I view it as less practical than fire. I can adjust the temperature of my body from the tips of my fingers all the way to my elbows at will. I like skiing, so my hands can heat up a mug of chocolate or keep me warm while I'm outside. No gloves needed. Technically they're weapons, but I'm allowed to carry them as Coach Bolt trusts me. I have other tattoos, though they're smaller. One of the problems with a way is that with specialization comes a lack of versatility, so focuses make up for that. Though I can only have one or two active at once. Otherwise I'd risk addiction. People can only handle so much power. They're of lesser value compared to my way though. My tattoos have little to do with who I am. They're tools. It is my way that allows me to strive to be the very best that I can be." If he felt joy, it barely touched his face or his voice. His voice was measured and only a small, contented smile touched his lips as he looked out into the distance. "So about that boxing," said Jayvon, gruffly, "I'm more of a slugger myself. Take hits and dish out worse ones. I don't do combinations. Big swings. Lots of knockouts." "Doesn't that leave you open to counters?" asked Marcus, seemingly unphased by the shift to the previous conversation, though he lowered his gaze once more, "Slugger style is fairly predictable." Jayvon shrugged and smiled, his composure now back. "A rock slide is predictable too. Still destroys whatever it hits" he boasted, "I'll take some damage to dish out more. We should spar when I get my body working again." Marcus quirked an eyebrow as Kenji finished up his hot dog. "No offense, but there is the matter of reach and height," said Marcus, respectfully, "I'd have a hard time hitting anything but your head. Punching downwards would give me a distinct advantage. It doesn't seem fair." Jayvon's smile grew wolfish and he chuckled low in his throat. "No offense taken. I've dueled people your size before and won," boasted Jayvon, "I'm used to punching upwards." Kenji excused himself from their conversation and went to grab another hot dog and maybe something to wash it down with. People pulled drinks from large coolers that rested on a table as well as from a punch bowl that had bits of fruit floating in it. Others made hot dogs from a large tray that was full of meat and buns, though there were also veggie dogs available as well. Many elves preferred the vegetarian option, but Kenji was a fan of meat. There were all sorts of condiment options as well: Ketchup, mustard, chili, onions, sweet relish, sauerkraut and cheese sauce. Since this was Seattle, there was also ingredients to make a Seattle Dog, and while many people prepared a Seattle Dog in many different ways, all of them came with cream cheese, so there was plenty of that. Not a fan of the Seattle Dog, Kenji just went for the classic ketchup, mustard and onions. He ate it so fast he nearly inhaled it, made another and filled his other hand with a cup of punch and a few of the floating quartered strawberries. To Kenji, who'd been raised in the ACHE, a place full of poverty, misery, violence and fear, this was a pretty good life. He didn't assume it would last, for no other reason than that he'd eventually graduate, but eating hot dogs and drinking punch on the beach while surrounded by good looking girls on an island with friends was a nice retirement for the former shadowrunner turned fixer. He admired a few of the prettier girls and thought about who he'd talk to next when an arm slipped into his own and pulled him. It wasn't gentle, either, but eager and he nearly spilled his drink. "Hey Kenji," said Krupa, "I'm kidnapping you." "Kidnapping, huh?" he asked. "Uh huh," confirmed Krupa, "Let's march." He allowed himself to be drawn forward through the crowd of students nearer to the beach. When they arrived, they were at the edge of the surf near the circle of students who were astrally projecting along with the wind spirit. Joyce and a somewhat familiar face chatted amiably. It was Clarissa, the freshman girl who'd bullied Oli in his art class before he arrived. "So you're with NeoNet?" asked Joyce. "Yes," said Clarissa, "My father manages several ongoing matrix infrastructure projects. There's a big matrix connectivity upgrade that he's overseeing in Milwaukee right now, but he came back to the arcology in Boston to see me off before I left. I'd lived in Boston for all of my life. I've never actually been to Seattle before." "That must have been scary," said Joyce, sympathetically, "Leaving home. You're in a totally new place and surrounded by people you don't know." Clarissa shrugged ever so slightly in response and opened her mouth to speak, but when she saw Kenji her eyes went flat. "You," growled Clarissa. "Hi there," said Kenji, "Lovely night. Did you get a hot dog? They have veggie dogs too." "Oh, have you two already met?" asked Krupa. Krupa's tone didn't seem convincing and Kenji realized her kidnapping, like many kidnappings, hadn't been entirely friendly. "Yeah," spat Clarissa, "He sicced his friend on me and made me feel like crap when I didn't do anything. Is he a friend of yours?" Krupa slipped her arm out of Kenji's and turned to face him, her back to Clarissa. She mouthed the words "Sorry," at him and Kenji sighed internally. He was reminded from this morning how as a follower of Dolphin, Krupa specifically didn't like bullies and that he was being painted as one, though her look didn't really change. If anything, she looked guilty. "He's a classmate of mine," said Joyce, diplomatically, "Kenji, I hear that you and Clarissa had a disagreement." Kenji took a bite out of his hot dog. He felt annoyed. After all, he'd given Clarissa an out and she hadn't taken it. So he'd defended Oli by quietly making an example out of her. It wasn't something he wanted to do. Messing with the children of the corporate elite was dangerous, even through a proxy. He spent a few seconds chewing to give himself time to think, swallowed and sipped his fruit punch, which he thought was pretty good. "She was disrespecting my friend, Oli," said Kenji, "I'm sponsoring Oli to school for this year and I took a class with her to prevent just this sort of problem from happening. I wouldn't have said anything to Clarissa here if she hadn't been mean to her. Nothing about my reputation speaks of me randomly bullying some freshman. I don't start problems with people. I end them." The guilt in Krupa's eyes become more pronounced and she looked away. Joyce looked back to Clarissa, who met his gaze. "Maybe we can talk this out," said Joyce. "No," snapped Clarissa, "I asked about him. He's just some ghetto trash. He's beneath me. There's nothing to work out." Kenji turned and stared her down as he took another bite of his hot dog. He did his best to appear unhurried and unruffled, but on the inside he was nervous. On the island this was just a little spat between students. Off the island Clarissa probably had access to money and power which could land him in all sorts of trouble. Minuet had proved that last year when she hired a squad of armed and armored private security to harass the opening of Julie's then clinic and now doctor's office. He'd paid the smaller part of Oli's tuition compared to Julie, but he figured all along that he was the one who would run interference for her so she could focus on her studies. She was poor, overweight, plain and so far she was proving to be anti-social. Oli was catnip for bullies. Last semester he was able to thrive with the aid of his looks and silver tongue, but this semester he had people he cared about. Life was made harder due to that sense of care, not easier. "Clarissa, would you do me a favor and continue that chat with me?" said Joyce, soothingly, "Let's walk this way." Joyce smiled at Clarissa, but she was all scowls. However, his tone was so reasonable and friendly that after a few seconds of deliberation, she decided to, though whether she'd been convinced or just wanted to get away from Kenji, was unknown. Her eyes lingered on Kenji before she whipped her head away and the purple pony-tail of her Mohawk braid swished angrily. This left Kenji with Krupa who finally looked up at him. "Joyce has been keeping his ear open for problems since he's the most likely one to get picked for conflict resolution. I heard about the story. You were just protecting your friend, right?" she asked. "More acquaintance, really," he admitted, "But Julie likes her and I'm invested in her success. I'll see if the friend thing pans out or not." Krupa frowned again, but this time in confusion. "So are you..." began Krupa. "Using her?" interrupted Kenji. Krupa looked uncomfortable and this made her look away, but eventually she nodded. "I would have put it more delicately," she admitted. Kenji finished his hot dog and sipped his punch to organize his thoughts. "That's complicated," he said, "My friend tested a bunch of people for magic in a community she looks over. Oli was lucky. Really lucky in fact as she has a strong power. Julie convinced me to invest in Oli so she could go here. I like Julie, so once Oli proved that she had some real talent, I did. Oli is an investment of both my money and my time. She's not my friend, but I'm not closed off to the idea. She's a friend of my friend and I'm invested in her. That's enough for me to stick up for her." They were both quiet for a while. Each of them were far away enough from the main group and hadn't made enough noise to attract attention from the other students or Coach Bolt, who watched over the crowd. The sound of the music and the chatter from the party kept people from noticing what just transpired. The only students close enough to hear were the ones who were in the astral, and it was only their bodies that were here. Their astral forms darted hundreds of feet in the air as they engaged in a game of tag. To some, that might sound childish, but astral speed is limited only by the speed of thought. Where they could see, they could be in an instant. "So it's not a Dog thing?" Krupa asked. "No, it's a me thing," said Kenji, "Why, is this a Dolphin thing?" Krupa gave him a small nod. "Dolphin doesn't like bullies," she said. "Well, I can see that you're uncomfortable. Yeah, I did mess with Clarissa, but not until she refused to stop messing with Oli," said Kenji, "What does Dolphin have to say?" Krupa looked away from him and pursed her lips. Her eyes closed as she took a few seconds and a tiny crease formed between them. Then she opened them back up, looked up to him and shrugged. "Nothing," she said, "Dolphin doesn't talk to me most of the time and when he does, it's through feelings or dreams. I can tell you what he's told me before when this sort of thing has happened." Kenji nodded to her and she continued. "That someone had done a good thing in a bad way," said Krupa, "It's not enough to go after bullies or seek justice or preserve the environment. I need to do it in a way that makes the healing permanent. That's what Dolphin does. He heals. Joyce helps me out with the emotional part of healing. He's way better at talking to people than I am. Dolphin likes him and so do I." "Which brings me to why you kidnapped me," joked Kenji, "The person I had a problem with just so happens to show up with your fiance, who is a follower of Dove, who likes peace and harmony." Krupa looked down at her feet and dug the tip of one of her shoes into the wet sand. "I thought you might say no if I gave you a choice," said Krupa, shyly. "Maybe," said Kenji, "Krupa, you might say that I did a good thing in a bad way. That's fine. Where I'm from, people do bad things in good ways. I appreciate what you and Joyce are doing, but the moment I stop rising to a challenge or run to the teachers is the moment I lose respect. I don't have much money, I don't have prestige, I can't snap my fingers and have private security pop out of the woodwork. All I have are my looks, my wits and my reputation. That's it. I can get by fine on my own, but now I'm not on my own anymore. I have people I want to protect. That is both a me thing and even though I'm new to this, I'm pretty sure it's a Dog thing too. If you and Joyce interfere I'm going to look weak and dependent on outside help. That's going to damage my reputation because this is going to keep happening. Most of my close friends are deeply unpopular people here and that's going to attract trouble. If I lose my reputation then I lose respect. If I lose respect then a lot of people are going to take a swipe at my friends and me." Krupa's shoe continued to work in the sand as she spoke. "I don't really understand," she said, "I'm not dumb, but I'm not smart either. You can't just be nice to people? Do good things in good ways?" As Kenji thought back, he remembered that while Dolphin enjoyed to heal, protect the environment and deal with bullies big and small, Dolphin's followers tended to look on the bright side of things. There was a word for that when became a problem. Krupa was naive. Kenji thought back to his fight with Fuzzy at the end of last semester. The one that Edward orchestrated and that nearly gotten his head bashed in when he hit his head on a rock, as well as the feeling of coming apart as he resisted his old programming. It was the one time he could say without a doubt that he'd done a good thing in a good way that truly mattered. That single act had nearly killed him. "No, Krupa," said Kenji, wistfully, "Where I come from, that's a luxury. Even doing good things in a bad way is a luxury for me, but I'm trying anyway. In my experience when I do a good thing in good way, I suffer. I'd like a little less suffering in my life please." "You can't try?" asked Krupa, "Joyce is smart. We can find a way to help you without hurting you. I can sort of see why you'd get hurt, but if it's that bad we can figure something out." Krupa looked down at her shoe as she continued to dig. For his part, Kenji felt annoyed and increasingly uncomfortable, though he couldn't put his finger on why. Clarissa had insulted him by calling him ghetto trash and none of it had phased him, but Krupa's innocent questions bothered him on a level he didn't quite grasp. "Krupa, we didn't talk last year," said Kenji, dismissively, "Outside of some classroom chit chat last year, you've only really known me for about nine hours. I'm not sure if you understand, but you're making some serious demands of me. You don't know me that well. I'm nobody to you." Krupa looked up and smiled at him. It wasn't big or broad. Her eyes didn't pierce through him. In fact she looked small. Nevertheless her smile was shy and earnest. "Everyone is somebody, to me, Kenji," she said, quietly, "That includes you." Kenji froze and there was a sudden pain in his heart and stomach both. After a few seconds of uncomfortable eye contact, they both looked away at the same time. Krupa because she was shy, Kenji because her words had burned him. They hadn't been profound, but they had been nourishing. That was the problem. It made him realize how hungry he was for just this sort of attention. To be appreciated not for what he could do or how he looked, but for himself. To keep from saying anything stupid, he wolfed down his hotdog despite how it might look, and drank deeply from his cup until it was empty save for bits of strawberry. Krupa didn't press him though. She didn't even look at him. There was no silence. People laughed and chatted. Music played. The small waves lapped at Kenji's bare feet and sand collected between his toes and around his feet. No, there was no silence save the silence between them and yet they both felt awkward. -- No vote yet. I'm building towards the vote for the final part of act one. It's taking time to get there. Apologies. I will say that it's going to be very significant. Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 20:03 on Jul 29, 2018 |
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Jul 28, 2018 20:39
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Epsilon Moonshade posted:Give me a ping if you've got some free time, and I'll buy you a drink and/or tasty food if you end up downtown. Thanks, I'll try and remember that.  Volmarias posted:Please fix Fixed, thank you!
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Jul 28, 2018 20:41
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Ice Phisherman posted:Waves gently lapped at the shoe of Blake island Probably should be shore? Krupa is definitely coming over as a bit too nice. That's going to get her or someone close to her in some serious trouble at some point.
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Jul 28, 2018 21:11
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 Krupa is kind of a twit. I don't like overly-optimistic people, they're irritating and they tend to be idealistic. Those optimistic blinders will get them killed.
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Jul 29, 2018 00:26
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Man Krupa is in for a devastating lesson in reality the first time this naked naïvete gets someone she talked into the passive, positive way seriously hurt or worse. It's like communism, in a perfect world where everyone obeys the spirit of it altruistically it'd be amazing and world changing, but in the really real world, that way lies myriad broken dreams and shattered lives.
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Jul 29, 2018 03:03
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Ah, beautiful. Kids who don't understand why standing up for yourself is important, because they've never had meaningful conflict in their lives. The full spectrum of spoiled.
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Jul 29, 2018 06:24
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'So Marcus, you're the senior adept here. Got any tips for the us' Is this a mistake?
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Jul 29, 2018 07:07
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Deadmeat5150 posted:
To quote my favourite character from my favourite TV show: "All the optimists I know are dead."
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Jul 29, 2018 07:31
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killer_robot posted:'So Marcus, you're the senior adept here. Got any tips for the us' Yes it is and yes it's fixed. Thanks much.
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Jul 29, 2018 07:45
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I see why Hans backed Olisha, Joyce may still be someone we can work with, but Krupa? At least when we eat the rich, we’ll know she’s grass fed.
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Jul 29, 2018 13:13
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Everyone is someone to Krupa, even the assholes. Don't be a bully, even for the right reasons. Say hello to a naive philosophy that can justify any power structure as long as it isn't overtly hostile.
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Jul 29, 2018 13:53
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Well, dolphins do like them some bubbles. So, over/under - will the inevitable burst be our foretold riot, or something else? Side note - I'm not sure if it's "scene over, cut to next morning" or we will continue right after, but if the first and it's not too late- Kenji is going to bring some drinks and snacks to Fuzzy, Sasha, and Oli - in that order, because there's a good chance that the pair prefer to be alone right now, and won't like anything more then "hi, brought hotdogs, ya'll okay, bye". (He do want either a nice chat with them, or check up on Oli, but it could wait)
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Jul 29, 2018 14:15
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Krupa reminded me of something.Martin Luther King Jr. ('Letter from Birmingham Jail') posted:First, I must confess that over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councillor or the Ku Klux Klanner but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says, "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can't agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically feels that he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by the myth of time; and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection. Not quite the same demographic, but Krupa's comparative place in society is about right (if not more pronounced given she's a noble), and the behavior is nearly a match for what King laments, less (for now) the 'more convenient season'.
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Jul 29, 2018 20:38
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Given her circumstances and privilege I'd be more surprised if she wasn't a wishy-washy liberal tbh. People who benefit from the current social order tend to shy away from rocking the boat even if they profess a belief in something better. You can also see this in her tacit acceptance of authoritarianism from her home government as something which is 'getting better' but she still seems to feel it necessary to defend it from Olisha's criticism, presumably because she believes that the harm necessary to overthrow an injust society is worse than that caused by retaining it. Which comes back rather neatly to the contrast between positive and negative peace. RabidWeasel fucked around with this message at 22:13 on Jul 29, 2018 |
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Jul 29, 2018 20:58
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Krupa's "you are being just as bad as them if you defend against people who hurt the innocent or make them feel bad" is at best cowardice and at worst actively enables evil. Make her understand this, and if she won't, make her stay away.
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Jul 29, 2018 21:58
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Kenji, Krupa, Joyce and Clarissa - Tuesday, July 23, 2075 - Evening - Blake Island Some minutes later, Joyce came back with Clarissa. She looked far less angry than before, but still unhappy. Joyce stepped forward. "Before I begin, I'd like to thank all of you for your patience," he began, "I'd like to ask for just a bit more, though you're welcome to leave at any time." Clarissa set her feet as she stared at Kenji and Krupa continued to look down. "More, huh?" asked Kenji. "Yes," said Joyce, "I figure that in a few days they're going to make their pick for who will be in charge of the student lead conflict resolution. Since I'm trained in that respect I'm most likely going to be picked. I think that we could attempt to settle our differences rather than involve the teachers." "Which means you'll go to the teachers if we don't," said Kenji. Joyce smiled and tilted his head. "Would you rather involve them?" he asked, "Nothing is stopping you from leaving." He looked to Kenji and then Clarissa, who huffed out and angry sigh. "Right now?" asked Clarissa, moodily. "We can go back to my cabin if you need more privacy," offered Joyce. Clarissa looked from Joyce to Kenji, to Krupa and then to the bonfire. She shrugged. "No, it's fine, let's just get this over with," she said, in a tone that suggested that everything wasn't fine, "This doesn't change that he messed with me. Are you going to tell me it was right to do or something?" Joyce paced between Kenji and Clarissa, facing her and shook his head. "Clarissa, I'm not here to take sides," he soothed, "I want you both to walk away from here feeling better than you did before about one another. It's hard to get along if we're each trying to win by making the other lose. I want all of us to win. This doesn't have to be a competition." Joyce turned around to face Kenji, who felt nonplussed about the entire situation. He did want to leave, but knew that if he left now, the situation would probably fester. "Let's work backwards," said Joyce, "Kenji, did you send Sarah to Clarissa?" "Uh huh," said Kenji, "Oli looked like she had a hard time standing up for herself, so I helped her." "I was just messing with her a little," griped Clarissa, "It wasn't a big deal." Joyce turned back to Clarissa and looked at her pointedly. "Okay, so you said you messed with Oli just now," said Joyce, "As you say, you thought it was just a little bit. Do you think others might take it as more than you meant it? That they might respond badly?" With another huff, Clarissa looked away, but her stance no longer looked so combative. Instead she looked defensive as she folded her arms over her chest. "Maybe," she said, testily, "I still didn't deserve any of that." Kenji hid his skepticism and kept his face neutral. "Let's try to focus on now," said Joyce, "You said you messed with Oli. Kenji defended her, but in a way that caused you grief. Now you're angry. You both have a right to that anger, but I'm asking if you can both put that anger aside. There's a party going on tonight and it's a good place to meet people and make friends." A nervous look passed over Clarissa's features as she turned to look at the crowd. Her folded arms slowly pulled apart as she looked to the crowd and she fidgeted nervously with her hands. Kenji read her body language and took that as a cue. He thought about what he wanted, which was to end this, and what she wanted. If he read her right, she probably wanted to fit in. "I might be able to introduce you to some people," said Kenji, slowly, "I know what it's like to be the new kid. If you apologize to Oli, I could make some introductions. I'm pretty good with those." "Really?" asked Clarissa. She jumped at the chance before she could stop herself. In a few seconds Kenji saw her emotions flicker from anxious to hopeful to embarrassed and finally to angry with herself. "Yeah," said Kenji, "I'll even get Sarah off your back if you apologize to Oli. We can just let bygones be bygones." Joyce smiled, big and broad. He stepped out from between the two and looked at both of them now. "See, there you go," said Joyce, happily, "Clarissa, you can meet some new people and Kenji can help you with Sarah. His word is good. All you have to do is apologize to Oli. If she apologizes to Oli, would you apologize to her, Kenji?" Kenji thought about it. He wasn't particularly happy with the situation, but this was probably the closest to happy he was going to get. Otherwise he might end up socially sparring with Clarissa for who knew how long. "If she promises to apologize to Oli, I'll even apologize first," he promised. Though he wouldn't ask Sarah to stop messing with Clarissa until she apologized to Oli. It was one thing to be gracious. It was another thing entirely to give one's trust blindly. Besides, he reasoned it would probably cost him to get her to stop just like it had cost him something to get her going in the first place. If he remembered how the magical safety class worked from last year, bullying freshman, who had little to no control over their magic, was strictly off limits. So it wouldn't be too difficult to get her to stop. "Would that be acceptable, Clarissa?" asked Joyce. The last traces of anger faded from her face and posture. It was replaced by anxiety. She looked to Joyce, then to the party and then to Kenji. She nodded once. "Okay," said Clarissa, nervously, "If you apologize first." Kenji knew this was probably the best he was going to get. She'd come from a life of privilege and he did not. He reasoned that this was probably testing her pride to apologize at all. Pride kept people from doing things in their own interest. Though he already assumed that making peace was hard, he realized that the overblown sense of pride that the corporate nobility had made that job far harder than he thought. He took a few steps forward. "I'm sorry that I made you feel bad and I hope that we can get past it," said Kenji, diplomatically. He wasn't sorry that he'd defended Oli, but he knew he was only a passable liar. It was important to him to come off as genuine. "Okay, thanks," she said, nervously, "Is um...Is Oli here?" "Probably not," said Kenji, "She's a bit anti-social. Maybe you can do it in art class tomorrow? I'll see if I can get her to show up early." It would give him time to talk to Oli beforehand and Sarah afterwards so this wouldn't blow up in his face. It wouldn't do to break his promise. Clarissa looked relieved. "That sounds good," said Clarissa, and then she awkwardly continued, "Oh, um...Sorry for calling you...Um...Ghetto trash." That hadn't even bothered Kenji in the slightest. In fact he barely remembered the insult. He'd heard far worse in his life and so he only shrugged and smiled. "I prefer to think of myself as ghetto treasure," he joked. Kenji winked at her and Clarissa stifled a giggle. Kenji, Krupa and Joyce - Tuesday, July 23, 2075 - Evening - Blake Island It only took five minutes to nestle Clarissa into an established circle of friends, a mix of sophomores and juniors. Very little actually happened in the way of introductions. He vouched that Clarissa had the minimum level of coolness to be among them, made sure she didn't immediately flounder and left her to her own devices. Making friends was sink or swim and he couldn't do it for her, though he could guide her to the shallow end of the pool and give her floaties. He found Joyce and Krupa talking to one another right where he left them. Krupa beamed at him, while Joyce's smile was far more reserved. "Is she doing okay?" asked Joyce. "When I last left her," said Kenji, "So if she hasn't crashed and burned in the last twenty seconds, then yes. If she apologizes to Oli then I'll consider the matter settled." "That's a very mature attitude to have," complimented Joyce, "I want to thank you for the help. Conflict resolution rarely goes over so easily." "That was great, Kenji," said Krupa. "Thanks," said Kenji, "Now that said, I'd prefer you two not interfere in my life without consulting me." Krupa's smile faded though Joyce's did not. "Are you unhappy with the results?" asked Joyce. "No, I'm good with the results," said Kenji, "But that's like painting a bulls-eye around the...Arrow. You know, after it's been fired. I had this talk with Krupa." He almost said bullet hole, but stopped himself. Joyce looked to Krupa and she looked guilty. Then he looked back to Kenji. "That' was my fault," said Joyce, "Please don't blame Krupa. I've been keeping an ear out for opportunities to make peace and I had to spend a lot of time preparing Clarissa to talk and listen. I didn't want you to leave before she was ready, otherwise I would have come to you." Kenji wished that he had control over the powers that Dog granted him to better read body language, because he got nothing from Joyce. Nothing about his body language spoke of a lie, but Kenji wasn't positive that he told the truth either. "Talk to me first. If you don't talk to me in the future I'll have to turn you down," said Kenji, "And I'd rather not make you look foolish." Kenji noticed Joyce stiffen with indignation. Krupa looked back down at the ground. It needed to be said though and he said it about as delicately as he could manage. "I won't be happy doing it," continued Kenji, "It's not about you. Like I told Krupa, I don't have power or status. I have my reputation. It's a big part of how I get by and I don't want you to accidentally undermine it. I need to be choosy about who I let help me and when." An awkward silence ensued. Almost at the same time, Krupa and Joyce looked at one another. Krupa's face was expressive and changed while Joyce's face remained impassive, almost like they'd had a short argument. They both looked looked away from one another at the same time, which solidified that feeling for Kenji. Though it was Joyce who looked at Kenji this time. "I see," said Joyce, stuffily, "I'll keep that in mind in the future." Krupa looked up at him and smiled sadly. "You can't just let us help you?" asked Krupa. "No, thank you," said Kenji, politely, "I'd rather help myself. Anyway, as long as you respect my boundaries I'm pretty easy to get along with. I hope this doesn't hurt any feelings. That's not my intent. I only..." What Kenji meant would never be heard. In the distance, there was a dull sounding boom from the northeast. It was loud enough to hear over the sound of the music and the waves, and stopped their conversation short. The students that heard it over the sound of the music and conversation looked in that direction. "What was that?" asked Joyce. One of the students a few feet away from them who'd been astral projecting, suddenly opened his eyes and gasped. "Oh God..." whispered the student. His tone sent Kenji's instincts into overdrive. That was the sound that someone made when something bad happened or was about to happen. He dropped to the beach on instinct and flattened himself out, but since this wasn't the ACHE no gunfire came. A few people near the bonfire laughed at him. The student, a male senior Kenji didn't immediately know, didn't notice. "What happened?" asked Krupa. Kenji slowly brought himself to his feet, his skin and uniform covered in sand. The look he caught in the student's eyes told Kenji what he needed to know, because he looked through Krupa. Something bad had just happened. "I think...I think a lot of people just died," said the young man. His voice was hollow and quiet. It clashed with the upbeat music. He pointed out towards the lights of the downtown area. Then without another word, Krupa flung herself into Joyce's arms and nearly bowled him over. She went limp as her spirit fled her body. Krupa - Tuesday, July 23, 2075 - Evening - Seattle Metroplex - Downtown area - Ruins of a building Krupa's spirit flew upwards, unrestricted by gravity or even the wind. The world she normally saw had been dark. The world of the astral was awash in colors and above her she saw the students who seconds before had been playing tag at the speed of thought. Now they hovered and watched in the distance. The downtown area was normally bright with the high concentrations of life save for the greasy stain that was the ACHE. It still was, but that made a second, smaller stain show all the clearer. Near the docks was a greasy, black stain of pain and death. It expanded outwards like a flower unfurling. Though it took time for the school boat to reach the downtown area, wherever Krupa could see, she could be. Miles took seconds for someone trained to move in the astral, and she'd been trained long before she reached Blake Island all the way back in Tir. Suddenly she was there. The scene was hard to look at. If she were still in her body, she would have thrown up. Here it was painful to be near. She saw the remnants of a place she wasn't familiar with. It near the docks, it was a building and it reeked of pain, confusion and death. All around her was smoke and fire, which limited her mobility, so she was forced to slow down. The pain and death almost clung to her astral form. It disgusted her and made her feel dirty. She saw where that pain was emanating from first before she heard the wails and cries for help, or just the inarticulate moaning. It came off in waves in all directions of the one story building. The pain wasn't the worst part, because that pain would stop and she'd be hit by a brief, nauseating wave of death that passed around her spirit. It was so awful that she almost fled, but it was brief. She mustered up her will and pressed forward. There was a spirit like her. An astrally projecting awakened of some sort. She was curled into the fetal position a few feet above her body, which was a wreck. One side of her spiritless body was horribly burned while on her other, her arm was neatly severed above the elbow and bled freely. Magic worked differently in the astral. Krupa could heal, but she had to touch someone to do it. There were dozens of dead and dying people she could do nothing for, but this person was projecting. She could touch her astral form. "Hey, can you hear me?!" yelled Krupa. The spirit of the astrally projecting woman made no response. All that happened was that Krupa gagged as the ambient pain and death rushed into her mouth, as filthy as sewer water. She couldn't throw up, but she wanted to. Again she focused, because the person's body was dying. She couldn't touch her body, but she could touch her spirit to heal the body. She focused through the horror, concentrated on her spell and placed her hands on the spirit. A few feet below, the wounds knit together. She could do nothing to reattach her arm, and felt a shiver as being maimed was the nightmare of many awakened, but at least Krupa stopped her fellow awakened from bleeding to death. She'd poured all of her concentration into the spell, so she was unprepared for the drain. Suddenly, she developed a headache in her left eye. She briefly tipped in midair as she lost her sense of up and down, but quickly righted herself. Despite being healed, the spirit of the astrally projecting woman didn't return to her body and Krupa couldn't force her back in. This was all she could do for her. There wasn't time to linger. She flew slowly through what she now recognized as a restaurant, though it didn't contain the death that she normally associated with them. Meat would leave a lingering sense of death about it, though it tended to be small as restaurants rarely slaughtered their own food. However, that wasn't the case here, as there was no small death baked into the place, only the death in the now. She did find overturned tables, broken dishes and broken bodies. People who could use magic were rare, and that's all she could personally do. An idea came to her though, one she would have thought of immediately if she weren't so distracted. So she centered herself among the death, pain and confusion and summoned a spirit. "Elder, I need you," she whispered. This time she did it through clenched teeth so she wouldn't gag again, though the waves of pain tried to slip through her teeth. Suddenly, a spirit materialized. Dolphin was a healer, so she kept a spirit of man that could heal. Shamans that kept them were rare. After all, why would one need a spirit that could heal if the summoner could heal? And if you couldn't heal, you couldn't summon a spirit that could heal. In most cases it was redundant, but Krupa's spirit could because she'd picked one just in case. After all, Dolphin was a healer and she wanted to be a healer too someday. A mental link established between her and the spirit, which looked like an elf with a gaping, bloody wound in its side, as if it had been hit by a shotgun blast. It was a spirit of her people and a reminder of what had been done to them in days past. "Heal them," she thought at it. The spirit was too busy being revolted to properly focus on what Krupa said. It wasn't a particularly powerful spirit either and she realized it was not up to the task. With a flash of insight, she called to Dolphin. "Dolphin! Help!" she exclaimed, past the waves of pain and death, "I'm here! I need you! Please!" Without being told, the spirit moved, bolstered by an outside force and she found herself better able to stand the pain and death. This time she didn't gag. The spirit manifested in the real world. As a spirit, Krupa could only touch other spirits, not people. Since the spirit manifested and could touch people, it could heal people. Flesh to flesh, spirit to spirit, that was how a heal spell worked. Krupa was in the astral, so she couldn't directly heal flesh. Unlike Krupa, the spirit could heal the people here. It did so and began to jump from person to person. Another wave of death hit her and she turned to see someone in the astral die. That image seared into her brain and she was unable to look away, but that focus brought clarity. A thin line caught her attention and it was covered in blood. In fact, these lines were everywhere, stuck into the wall this way and that, some drawn tight, some hung loose. Upon closer inspection, anything to distract her from the death, she jerked her head back in horror. "What is...Is that microwire?!" she gasped. Microwire was wire that was just a few atoms thick. Not a single atom thick like monofilament wire, but close enough. It could part flesh with only the slightest of touches. Microwire was used primarily for industrial purposes, not bombs. The very thought of using it like that was monstrous. She looked to her spirit, which continued to heal people and saw another piece of wire close to it. Since her spirit was manifested, it could injure her spirit. It couldn't kill her spirit, but enough damage would banish it and that meant the death of all of the people it could heal. She pushed it away before it passed through a wire, for her spirit was dual natured at the moment, both astral and real. She felt its annoyance, but then she pointed at the wire that nearly sliced through it. "Don't touch the wire," she thought at it," You'll get hurt." Its annoyance faded as it understood. Now it avoided them as it went from person to person. Krupa realized that even bolstered by Dolphin, the spirit was still not enough to help so many people. It seemed to know those who needed healing immediately from those who didn't, so those waves of death stopped for the moment, but this only delayed the inevitable. She reasoned that since this was the downtown area that response time for emergency personnel should only take a few minutes. Coverage was good, but these people needed help now, not in a few minutes. Too many bled freely into the restaurant floor. Too many people cried out for help, or for their mothers, or just cried, gagged or were silent from shock. All around her were the dead and the dying, those grievously injured by a bomb blast and also cut to ribbons by microwire. She called to Dolphin again. "What should I do?!" she cried. Unlike most animal spirits, Dolphin could talk, though its language was often hard to understand and alien. So it could only communicate in simple words. To her surprise, Dolphin answered. It was only Julian's training that helped her distinguish her own inner voice from Dolphin's. "Get help," said Dolphin, in her mind, in her own voice. "What?! Isn't help on the way?!" asked Krupa. "Delayed," said Dolphin, "Not enough. Many die. Swim quickly. Go." Without a second thought, Krupa fled the devastation to seek more help. Kenji, Jayvon, Joyce and Coach Bolt - Tuesday, July 23, 2075 - Evening - Blake Island Minutes earlier, Jayvon hobbled up to the commotion. Kenji and the students who'd been astrally projecting stared and slowly attracted more attention. A small piece of land had been in the way before, but a new light appeared in the distance, and smoke obscured many of the other lights of downtown. "Krupa?" asked Joyce, quietly, "Are you okay?" "Something happen?" asked Jayvon. "Krupa?" Joyce asked again, "You just fainted, right?" "I think a bomb went off," whispered Kenji. He was careful not to talk so loud that he upset Joyce, who gently helped his fiancee to the ground. Jayvon spat. "Well gently caress," swore Jayvon. "Right?" agreed Kenji. "No, you don't understand," said Jayvon, "That's really bad." "Of course it's bad," said Kenji, and some of his annoyance slipped through. "No," repeated Jayvon, "All the first responders are on double and triple shifts right now, or just taking long haul not to sleep and working with no rest for days. Things are bad in Seattle right now. Protests that turn into riots, every gang with a beef to settle starts a war all at once and no one trusts the police, so everything is made harder. My dad works for DocWa...Uh...Sorry, CrashCart. It's going to delay everything. Plus they're going to need a bomb squad on site." Jayvon looked down to Joyce, who was in the process of quietly melting down and lowered his voice as he looked back up to Kenji. His face was grim. "Secondary bombs to kill first responders are common," he whispered, "Terrorist attacks are multi-threat environments. My dad trains CrashCart's HTRT so I know all of this by heart. Anyway, if she did what I think she did, she'll probably be all right. Usually no awakened is nuts enough to rush in until a site is cleared. No one sets traps for them. Not that it's difficult if you have the know-how, but most people don't. CrashCart and DocWagon keep their awakened away from the action until a site is cleared. They're hard to replace." Kenji took an involuntary step back as his mind raced. HTRT, or high threat response teams, were corporate special forces. They'd chew through most shadowrunners with ease, though he'd never been so unlucky to meet with one. Most of them were kill teams, though since CrashCart, like DocWagon, its competitor, were search and rescue. Both corporations had taken over the lion's share of medical emergency response from the public sector. "How long?" asked Kenji. Jayvon shrugged and looked back towards the pinprick of fire and plume of smoke in the distance. "Fifteen minutes if everyone is on point, which they're not," said Jayvon, "Half an hour at the earliest. If anyone bought top of the line coverage they'll send a medical HTRT in anyway, but everyone else will wait for the bomb squad to clear the place." Kenji frowned as he thought about it. He'd lived his whole life in the ACHE, so emergency medical services, fire protection and even police were rarely if ever seen. "Spirits can't get hurt," said Kenji, "Why not send those?" Jayvon's looked like he swallowed something bitter. He spat on the sand. "What, and risk healing someone without the right medical coverage?" asked Jayvon, angrily, "Or heal someone insured under a competitor? Yeah, no. That doesn't happen. Spirits are expensive and they don't follow complex orders well. No free rides." "Krupa, please..." begged Joyce, and his voice broke, "Please come back to me." More students lined the shoreline to look into the distance or simply stared at Joyce and Krupa. "She's out of her body," rasped Joyce, "Can someone go find her, please?" "No one is going anywhere!" shouted Coach Bolt. The crowd of assembled students all turned to the stocky man, who looked absolutely livid. His silver whistle glowed in the near dark. He snapped his fingers and pointed to Jayvon. "Ten words or less, tell me what's happening," ordered Coach Bolt, his voice full of authority. "A bomb went off in Seattle. Krupa left her body," said Jayvon, instantly. "Right," he said, and then he bellowed, "Everyone, listen up! We're going to the lunch room! No one else projects! Marcus, Peter, run and get Julian and Mother Bear right now, go!" Orders snapped off, Marcus and Peter both sprinted down the path towards the teacher's cabins. "No one is to leave their bodies for any reason!" shouted Coach Bolt, "I've called security! We're all going to the lunch room! Everyone get going right now!" Everyone began to leave. Coach Bolt wasn't known as someone to trifle with and enough students had been through his classes to know that when he spoke, they obeyed. The rest of the students followed them. As it turned out, only Krupa was outside of her body. "We need to send help," begged Joyce, "Right now. Please." He hadn't moved, Jayvon was slow and Kenji lingered. Coach Bolt summoned a spirit, this one a large, black crow, about three feet tall. Coach and crow looked at Krupa's spiritless body and then the crow nodded. It turned, flapped its wings and zipped into the sky where it disappeared. "It'll find her," said Coach Bolt, "Now pick her up and let's go. No more dragging rear end." Reluctantly, Joyce tried to pick her up. Even though Krupa was comparatively light, an unresponsive body is far heavier than it seems, so it took both Joyce and Kenji to lift her up. Joyce grabbed her arms while Kenji held her by the legs. They began to march towards the lunch room. The march ended abruptly when Krupa gasped and stirred. Kenji and Joyce awkwardly let her down and she began to speak. Joyce hugged her hard, but Krupa struggled. "I need help," she pleaded, "So many people are dying. I helped the worst, but people are dying right now. Please." "No," snapped Coach Bolt, "You are not going anywhere, miss Patel." "Krupa..." began Joyce, "Please..." "No!" she exclaimed, her voice frantic, "I can't help them anymore! But we can! We don't even need to get close! You don't need to be close to summon a spirit. The bomb...The...It...It had microwire. People are all burned and cut apart...Everyone is bleeding to death...Please..." Her voice trailed off as tears filled her eyes, visible even in the low light of the solar lamps that flanked the dirt trail. Everybody winced, but Coach Bolt rallied quickly. He put a thick hands on Krupa's small shoulders and looked at her. "My responsibility is your safety," said Coach Bolt, his voice hard, "First responders will take care of the wounded. You've put yourself in enough danger. We'll have words about that later. I called security, but I need to be in the lunch room to look over everyone else. We're going into lock down. No more students off the island. That means you." Kenji and Jayvon, who'd slowed down the group as he was on his crutches, shared a look. Coach Bolt didn't know about the delay or the potential secondary bomb. Coach Bolt's attention as well as Joyce's were on Krupa as she pleaded for help. CYOA Time Quick edit, for those who were quick on page refresh, some of the storyboarding below won't perfectly agree with what's above. I've fixed that as I made some changes the the setting and what was learned. 1. Kenji has problems dealing with Krupa, but not with Joyce even though Joyce is a far better speaker. He's vulnerable to her for some reason even though she's naive and awkward. Why is that? Note: I have not forgotten that the teens from Tir are from a fascist, militaristic ethno-state and we're going to talk about that eventually. Oh will we ever. 2. Krupa is begging for help. Many people have died in the downtown area in a restaurant. Kenji is aware that what happened is most likely a terrorist attack as per Jayvon. First responders are going to be delayed because they're worried about secondary bombs which are used to specifically kill first responders which is a common terrorist tactic. The first responders are also stretched to the limit dealing with the already ongoing violence in Seattle. Only one person is getting rescued in that five minute window because they have a super platinum docwagon subscription, which means that medics will fight the devil himself to rescue that specific person and then immediately leave. Everyone else can wait, bleed and potentially die as the EMT equivalent of special forces picks up exactly one person and leaves. So the normal five minute response time has gone up to fifteen plus 5d6 minutes (I'll roll secretly) because the first responders need to scan the restaurant for secondary bombs and find their way past the microwire. It has been three minutes and dozens of people will not survive if they don't get care as their bodies have been shredded by microwire which have made clean cuts that are difficult to seal and bleed freely as well as being hit by concussive blast of a bomb. However, there are some serious problems with helping: Here's the tl;dr of the below. Spirits are the only ones who can cast the heal spell. Astrally projecting shamans can't heal mundane people. Spirits of man can't be sent directly from Blake Island because it would take them a while to get there as they can't fly. Spirits of man that can heal are rare because they're seen as redundant, though a few might be bound by shamans on the island outside of Mother Bear and Julian, who do have those. They can also be summoned from relatively far away, so they wouldn't be in danger from mundane attacks, and the likelihood of them being injured if they summon bound spirits from afar is so slim its laughable. Though those who summon spirits have to be summoned from an astrally projecting shaman, as the Puget Sound is in the way. Their isolation is working against anyone helping. A. A non-Blake Island spellcaster could help, but the bomb blast was sudden so people are going to be confused about what just happened. The Blake Island student body are seeing a terrorist attack in real time due to their vantage point and realize what is going on pretty soon. Technically, the first responders could use spirits, but that isn't profitable. After all, spirits might heal everyone as they don't distinguish between who has insurance and who doesn't. Welcome to the corporate dystopia, motherfuckers. B. Spirits that can heal need to be prepared beforehand by a caster with the heal spell. A summoner can't just summon a spirit and tell it to heal. A summoned spirit can only attack and defend. They need to be bound to get full access to their powers which takes hours and bound spirits can't be transferred. Not many people have a spirit that can heal if they can just do it themselves. It's seen as redundant. Also, no one can astrally project over there and heal with their bare hands. Healing needs to be flesh to flesh or astral to astral. A spirit can basically switch between astral and flesh, so it can go heal people. C. Spirits of man can't cross the water in time to make it. A spirit of fire or air can fly, a spirit of water can rush across or through the water, the proper beast spirit could fly, but a spirit of man has to swim, though they'll do it pretty fast, but not nearly fast enough to arrive. So only shamans who can astrally project, which is about 1/5th of the student body, can help as they can drop the spirits off on dry land where the spirits can rush over. D. Coach Bolt is yelling at everyone that they're going to the cafeteria. He doesn't want any heroes and has shouted Joyce down and has assumed control over the 80 students who are here of the island's 120. Those who are here that can help will not help. E. Students have been sent to go get Mother Bear and Julian, but that is going to take time to get there and explain just what happened. Marcus and another adept were sent, because Coach Bolt doesn't want any more students astrally projecting and potentially putting themselves in harm's way. F. On the positive side, spirits can be summoned within the caster's magic rating in meters times 100. So a shaman who is astrally projecting doesn't actually need to get close to the restaurant to help which minimizes risk of getting hurt down to nearly zero. So for example, a shaman with the right spirit could drop a spirit from nearly half a kilometer away if she has the right spirit. So, knowing this, Kenji has a decision to make. I roll his charisma + etiquette + street cred and get 3 hits. He can name three shamans who are not here who can astrally project that aren't there to listen to Coach Bolt and might be willing to help and might have the right spirit. Might. I'll roll edge secretly to see who has what. One of them is Sasha. Two of them are corporate. Helping Krupa will also get him in serious trouble as she's not asking for help discreetly. Kenji himself can do nothing, but he knows people and Krupa isn't as connected or thinking straight at the moment. So, here's my question. Does Kenji help, turn away from her like almost everyone else, convince her to stay in her body or something else? And how does he justify his actions to himself? Kenji can also try to convince Coach Bolt to organize help, but that's going to be far more difficult than simply ignoring him. Kenji will need to succeed on a leadership test and an etiquette test both and he's out of edge. -- It's evening and time for the traditional bonfire down by the beach. Of the named characters so far, Jayvon, Marcus, Joyce, Krupa and Clarissa are here. Julie is in a psychiatric ward, Fuzzy and Sasha are hanging out together and Oli is doing her anti-social painting thing. Kenji makes a composure test for being exposed to fire at close range from Marcus' tattoos. Kenji gets 6 hits and he's solid. Jayvon glitches with 1 hit. I use one of his two edge to negate the glitch so all he does it step back before quickly regaining his composure. Otherwise it goes well. Kenji learns something about Marcus (from his crit in etiquette) about his way and the tattoos on his arms. However, Kenji doesn't really know anything about ways at all as he has no arcana skill, so I'm not even going to bother rolling. From what Marcus said though, his way allows him to become peak human for all of his physical skills, but not become superhuman. It's not in the book by the by. I made it up. Also he has fists that can light up with fire or simply keep him warm. Them being weapons seems incidental, though it seems he's trusted enough to be allowed to have them. Joyce is talking to Clarissa while Krupa finds him and brings him to see Joyce. Clarissa looked like she might open up to Joyce, even if just a little, but this is awkward. Clarissa immediately lies to paint Kenji as a bully. In the technical sense, he did get Sarah to bully Clarissa, but it was in retaliation for bullying Oli in order to get her to back off. Clarissa rolls 6 dice to lie as she's just average at it lying. Krupa rolls 8 dice to defend and Joyce rolls 12 for perception. Clarissa gets 2 hits, Krupa gets 2 hits and Joyce gets 5 hits. Ties go to the defender, so they eventually see through her, though Krupa needs a second. Kenji rolls etiquette in response. He's still crap at lying as he hasn't gotten any training at it yet, so he goes with the truth. Kenji gets 3 hits on 16 dice, Krupa gets 1 hit on 8 dice and Joyce gets 4 hits on 10 dice. Krupa wants Kenji to be nicer to people, but her initial suspicion at Kenji being a buly has been defused, but she doesn't totally agree with him either, which leaves her feeling awkward. Kenji says that he tried to be nice even though Clarissa was already being mean, but Clarissa had no interest in being nice even when he offered her an easy out. Clarissa is caught in her lie, but Joyce also socially outmaneuvers Kenji. Joyce says that he'll mediate between Kenji and Clarissa right now. He has 12 dice to negotiate, Kenji has 16 and Clarissa has 6. She's just used to getting her way and her actual social skills aren't all that great save for intimidation, which is slightly better. Whoever wins gets the better deal out of the negotiation. Joyce is willing to handle this unofficially if they are, because there's no reason to involve the teachers unless they want to. That is unless they want to walk away. Kenji isn't walking away and Clarissa doesn't want to look weak. However, he and Krupa have a conversation as they break away. I finally switch his poor self control for his LeBlanc training to poor self control for good people. Kenji is realizing that as he's become less of a jaded mercenary, he's specifically vulnerable to good people with noble intentions. Nothing about the ACHE prepared him in how to resist good and decent people, because they largely didn't exist in the ACHE. Altruism has a certain appeal even if he himself isn't a strictly good person. Krupa rolls an etiquette of 8 and Kenji roll his charisma of 8 + etiquette 4 + street cred 4 - poor self control 4 for 12. She's going to sap dice for his next roll if she wins. 4 hits a piece. Kenji is able to hold on. So as far as poor self-control goes, the person has to be objectively good and have good intentions. Doing good things in a good way for selfless reasons. I'll say right here that Krupa is an objectively good person, but also incredibly naive. She's also an antagonist in a way for this scene, because Kenji's strengths lie in him either doing good things in a bad way or doing bad things in a good way. However, where LeBlanc was an antagonist with an agenda, and morally grey, Krupa is definitely a kinder, gentler person than Kenji, and probably way more moral, but also a hindrance due to her naivete. Altruism is something that is very foreign to him. He lived in a world of give and take, of debt and obligation, of violence and intimidation. He is a bad person who deals with worse people for the sake of his friends. Otherwise the thread wouldn't have voted overwhelmingly to raid a human supremacist clubhouse when they were going to implode anyway. So while Kenji has changed, and that change was significant, he didn't suddenly turn into a good person. He discovered friendship and loyalty, not altruism. So the antagonist for this scene is an objectively good person and that person is Krupa, because she doesn't know what it's like to have to stand up for herself. I'll also say up front that Joyce doesn't apply that -4 drain on Kenji's rolls. This is because he is in some way self-interested and Kenji can feel that. Clarissa gets 3 hits on her negotiation roll, which is pretty darn good considering her low dice pool. Kenji gets 5, which is much better. Joyce gets 7 hits. He wins. I count that roll as a critical on Clarissa but not on Kenji. This means that while Kenji doesn't come away from this happy, Clarissa doesn't either. They instead find common ground and defuse the situation with peace. Clarissa will apologize to Oli for her rude comments towards her and Kenji for her rude comments towards him. Kenji will apologize to Clarissa for Sarah's abuse and try to get Sarah off her back. Clarissa just got her magic two weeks ago, she's away from all of her friends, her family and is on the opposite side of the continent among people that she views as rivals. She's scared and alone and that's causing her to lash out. Understanding her actions doesn't make it right, but it does allow her to do something about her actions. Kenji on the other hand was protecting his interests as he's responsible for Oli. What he did wasn't right, but he was responding to her. He asks Clarissa if she'd stand up for her friends if someone was making fun of them. Reluctantly, she agrees that she would. Things settle down. They talk for a while, eat hot dogs (veggie dogs for the Tir elves) and then something happens. Out at the docks near Seattle, something blows up. It's a long way away, but there's not exactly a lot to stop the sound of the shockwave even as far out as they are save for some ships. One of the kids freaks out and talks about a lot of people dying. I roll composure for everyone. Kenji: 4 hits. Jayvon: 3 hits. Joyce: 3 hits. Marcus: 2 hits (slight failure, though he won't show it too much and will take orders from Coach Bolt). Krupa: 7(!) hits. Krupa rolls so well that she flies immediately into action and past those who astrally project. Unlike them, who only look from a distance, she speeds to help. As looks into the astral, they see in the distance, several miles away, an unfurling greasy stain of pain and death near the docks area. A lot of people are have been injured and died at a high end restaurant called "The Grand Terrace" that has exploded. Krupa spots a spirit that is hovering above its body in the astral as she enters the restaurant. They've curled into a ball. They think that their body has died and that this is it. I roll 8 dice for Krupa to try and calm him down with etiquette. She gets 2 hits. That's not enough. She heals the spirit with 3 hits on 4 dice (she's at a -4 penalty to heal due to the death and confusion). The body is healed, but the spirit does not go back in. So she's going to roll perception at 8-2 due to seeing only in the astral and she gets 3 hits. What she sees is the restaurant. It's full of death and misery. But she also sees microwire and that keeps her spirit from being cut to ribbons. I roll 7 dice for the spirit to understand her. It doesn't and just sort of stares at her. She tries again which eats another service, which after a d6 roll, she had 6 services. I roll again and it gets it this time with 3 hits. The spirit heals people but don't touch the wire while manifested. Stay astral as much as possible to keep from touching it. The spirit obeys. I roll edge. 1 hit is enough not to touch the wires for her level 3 spirit of man. There are around a hundred severely injured people, many mortally and dozens of dead, whose number will continue to climb. Black strands have been driven here and there at random and since it's dark and since they're thin, they're really hard to see. Except for Krupa. She can see those that have killed or injured people, which consists of most of them, so they faintly glow in the astral. She sets her spirit of man to heal those closest to death and goes to get more help. She returns. Krupa is training to be a sanologist, or magical healer. She's not super-powerful, but she has left a single bound force 3 spirit of man that can heal which is back at the restaurant. Joyce asks for help. If anyone who can astrally project and has a spirit of man that can heal to go to the site immediately. With 10 dice I roll 2 hits. That is definitely not enough to get the wealthy to rush to a terrorist attack, especially since Coach Bolt is specifically telling them not to go. Coach Bolt rolls 12 dice on leadership and shouts down Joyce with 6 hits, a critical. The island is on lockdown. Everyone is to go to the lunch room right now. Island security is being called. No one else is to astrally project. So no one else helps because they're told not to help. However, this is only half the problem. What's needed to help from where they are since they're so isolated is very specific. So what's needed to help is very specific: 1. Someone that can astrally project (spellcasters only, not mystic adepts like Fuzzy). Spirits of man can't fly and will take several minutes to get through the water if they even end up in the right place. 2. The spellcaster has the heal spell which is pretty common. 3. They specifically bound a spirit of man that can heal. That is a tall order as it needs to be specifically chosen. I'm going to say that there's a 20% chance of someone being here that can do that. The teachers have that, but the teachers that can astrally project are not here. Someone sends a spirit of man who can heal, but it goes into the water and slows down significantly. Coach Bolt sends Marcus to go get Mother Bear and he tears off immediately and then Coach sends another student to go get Julian. I roll edge and get no hits. They'll respond, but not in time to save the dying, only the wounded. There is enough information for Jayvon to make an assumption. He rolls military science 3 and logic 2 + edge 2 for 2 hits. He's from a family of first responders so that's enough. If that's a terrorist attack, the first responders aren't going to show up in force in case there are secondary bombs. They're going to hang back and people are going to die while they wait for the bomb squad to clear the area. They may send some medical drones, but that's going to up the response time and people are dying right now. So...Krupa has done all she can do and is begging for anyone to help. There was one student who sent a spirit of man through the water, but that's not going to make it in time. Coach Bolt is trying to get everyone to go back to their cabins. What does Kenji do? -- Ten Strategies for Conflict Resolution • When angry, separate yourself from the situation and take time to cool out. • Attack the problem, not the person. Start with a compliment. • Communicate your feelings assertively, NOT aggressively. Express them without blaming. • Focus on the issue, NOT your position about the issue. • Accept and respect that individual opinions may differ, don’t try to force compliance, work to develop common agreement. • Do not review the situation as a competition, where one has to win and one has to lose. Work toward a solution where both parties can have some of their needs met. • Focus on areas of common interest and agreement, instead of areas of disagreement and opposition. • NEVER jump to conclusions or make assumptions about what another is feeling or thinking. • Listen without interrupting; ask for feedback if needed to assure a clear understanding of the issue. • Remember, when only one person’s needs are satisfied in a conflict, it is NOT resolved and will continue. • Forget the past and stay in the present. • Build ‘power with’ NOT ‘power over’ others. • Thank the person for listening. https://www.citizensnyc.org/sites/default/files/public-attachments/workshop/conflict_resolution.pdf Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 04:54 on Aug 1, 2018 |
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Jul 29, 2018 22:46
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he can deal with Joyce because Joyce isn’t blinded with naivety, and can has an understanding of the world closer to Kenji, even if he abhors violence. As for Krupa, try to talk her into her body, You don’t disobey Bolt, and Krupa is tapped anyway even if she’s too jacked to notice. Also, he won’t contact any outside help on this.
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Jul 29, 2018 23:56
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That was a tense read. I like how on Blake Island proper things can feel like they're getting into a particular reassuring groove, where bullies are easily taken down a notch by the competent young protags, the teachers are reasonable figures who treat their students as also mostly responsible near-adults, and the kids feel insulated from any chaos unfolding in the city by both physical distance and proximity to their friends who provide emotional support. I like that quite a bit, really. It's comfort food. I also liked how this blew up the table that comfort food was on and now there's microwire all over the dining area.
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Jul 30, 2018 02:12
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Xarbala posted:That was a tense read. I like how on Blake Island proper things can feel like they're getting into a particular reassuring groove, where bullies are easily taken down a notch by the competent young protags, the teachers are reasonable figures who treat their students as also mostly responsible near-adults, and the kids feel insulated from any chaos unfolding in the city by both physical distance and proximity to their friends who provide emotional support. I like that quite a bit, really. It's comfort food. I'm glad you like it. I've stated a few times that this was a very specific design choice for year two. Things are going to be tense, but I'm using Blake Island as a sort of refuge from those tense times. Not just the place, but the characters as well. Bad things are happening, but they're a ways away. I am going to force characters to go into those places, but I'm not going to burn everyone out. I want the events that happen on Blake Island to feel impactful, but low stakes. Clarissa bullies Oli, Kenji stands up for her and two well meaning people step in to mediate. It has a very schoolyard feel to it. The stakes are somewhat important due to Minuet self-destructing, but the odds of that happening again are very low. Kenji takes it seriously, but not so deadly seriously as many of the other students do. He's seen worse and lived through worse so it all feels very low stakes. It's hard to get too excited about schoolyard bullying or schoolyard insults. I sort of liken it to how people from the military go to college and see a bunch of fresh faced teenagers think that they know everything because they took a semester of psychology in college. His worldview is far more broad than theirs and he has more experience under his belt despite the closeness in age. I then immediately shift gears and within sight of the island and there's a terrorist attack. And both the refuge that is Blake Island and the scary things happening in Seattle aren't incongruous. Instead they plug directly into the events in year one and the picture I've been painting of Seattle for the first act. Seattle residents actively despise the police, the police are demoralized and understaffed, there are protests (currently mostly peaceful), there are dozens of gang wars and there's an election coming up which means that politicians need to have a solution ready or they'll either lose power or be propelled to it. As per Jayvon, it's not just the police that are stretched to the limit. Seattle's emergency personnel are too. Protests and gang wars are expected and so the residents can absorb that as a return to the bad old times, but it's still understood. It's a known problem that they can begrudgingly fit into their lives. People hate and fear the unexpected though. Terrorism takes advantage of just that. People have died and many are mortally wounded because a terrorist group took advantage of Seattle's perceived weakness. Randomness is terrifying, though we'll see later that it isn't so random as terrorism is never truly random as it is the use of violence to effect political change. The cops with a conscience have largely quit. This means you're left with a bunch of jerks and they're bulked out with even worse jerks from private security companies, some of which are not cops at all. Ex-military are not police officers and people in power often confuse the two, either by accident or on purpose. And since a lot of that security work is farmed out, they're not going to be effectively communicating with one another since a lot of reputable security companies don't want to be seen working with Knight-Errant which is a shadowrunner's wet dream. While the medical personnel haven't bailed out like many of the cops have, they're getting burned out because they only have the staff and facilities for better times. Instead they're getting overwhelmed which I tried to show in a small way by Julie being allowed to help during a mass casualty situation earlier. The response time for a terrorist attack is going to be sub-optimal all around and a lot more people are going to die than if they'd been on point, and a lot of that has to do with corporations cutting corners at the cost of lives. I really want to have one event lead to another in a believable way. Many stories are self-contained. For example, many novels start out with "And then this happened". Some novels are into pinballing from what story to another with little sense of the story actually impacting the world at large. Everything is self-contained and there are only enough loose threads to set up plot hooks for the next story. I'd rather roll the story forward organically from one thing happening to another. That's just my style though and I don't want to say mine is objectively better than anyone else's. I will say that mine is more complicated, but more complicated doesn't mean better. I just prefer an ongoing serialized story rather than totally self-contained episodic ones. This is me continuing to build tension all the way back from book three in preparation for book six. I enjoy a slow burn and I do my best to keep that slow burn going even while other stuff is happening. Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 03:51 on Jul 30, 2018 |
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Jul 30, 2018 03:05
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Well this is gonna be fun. Also,Groetgaffel posted:To quote my favourite character from my favourite TV show: Crazycryodude fucked around with this message at 03:49 on Jul 30, 2018 |
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Jul 30, 2018 03:45
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Kenji helps. Can he or Krupa contact Julian or Mother Bear quickly and ask them for help? Can spirits that can fly carry spirits of man there faster? Maybe Coach would be more willing to allow student help that way, since it keeps students on the island completely?
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Jul 30, 2018 04:46
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