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sheep-dodger posted:It's just the well known rpg problem where 90% of the time you spend on a new character is spent on thinking up their name :P
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Nov 23, 2017 21:42
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| # ? Apr 19, 2024 05:57 |
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Julie, Fuzzy and spirit- Wednesday - January 25th 2075 – Afternoon - Blake Island Julie took a deep breath as she thought about how she was going to defuse the situation. Her spirit was angry at Fuzzy, she knew why, she was going to have to explain to Mother Bear and Julian that she'd accidentally spread knowledge of what happened and that this was bad. For now though she needed to talk to Fuzzy. She pulled her spirit in front of her and hugged him protectively. To his credit, her spirit didn't struggle. "Remember our safety class on spirits? How spirits are living beings made of magic?" asked Julie. "Yeah, I remember," said Fuzzy, who still frowned. "Well, I summoned a spirit recently. Not one that goes away, but one that is permanent. I have a hard time affording reagents to summon them so I just decided to permanently summon a spirit. At least that's how it started out. It's become much more than that," said Julie sheepishly, as she stroked his hair. "So he belongs to you?" asked Fuzzy. Her spirit craned its neck up to look at her and she looked down at him. Julie hugged him a little harder. "It's more that we belong to one another. There's a bond. It's hard to explain. As for him thinking you hit me, when I initiated I saw something that didn't happen. I fed my spirit that experience and that's how he remembers you. I didn't mean to. Sorry," said Julie. Fuzzy squinted at Julie but nodded. "All right, fine. It's an honest mistake," said Fuzzy, reluctantly. Julie nodded and looked down at her spirit. "No using your influence powers on my friends please. I'm not mad, but please don't," said Julie. Her spirit sighed. It was after all his first time being scolded, however gently, but he took it well. She knew this because she could feel him dealing with it internally, and Julie approved which he read in her. This sensory link was definitely going to take some getting used to. "I'm sorry Fuzzy," said Julie, "I'm still getting used to everything. This is a lot more than I was expecting. Pleasantly so though. It's my fault. Please don't blame him." "Sorry," said spirit. "It's okay. Anyway, I haven't seen you for a while. Did Kenji scare you off or something?" asked Fuzzy. Julie felt a twist of guilt in her stomach at not being able to help Kenji, and remembered those eyes of his and the way she felt pinned under their weight. She and spirit both squirmed at her thought. "What?" asked Fuzzy. Fuzzy looked closely at Julie and seemed to realize something. Her eyes widened and Julie caved before she could keep drilling. "Maybe? It's complicated," said Julie, quickly. "Julie, he's getting worse. He doesn't talk at all now. He doesn't even glare. Sasha is reading some horrible emotions radiating off him and she won't tell me," hissed Fuzzy. "If you know something then do something." "I tried! I tried and he shut me down. I didn't know what to do!" exclaimed Julie. "Then tell everyone else what's going on so we can help. We're your friends, Julie. You don't have to do everything on your own," implored Fuzzy. "I'm not trying to do everything on my own. It's complicated. I'm doing my best," said Julie. "Julie, you haven't been doing your best. You've been away. I know that you and Kenji don't get along the best, but he still tried to help you in his own weird way," said Fuzzy. "I have Sasha. You have Marco and I guess you have your spirit now too. Kenji doesn't have anyone but us on the island." Julie hung her head in defeat. She desperately wanted to tell Fuzzy the truth, but that would break her promise to her teachers and endanger Fuzzy. Her spirit squirmed in her arms again. She could tell that he couldn't make heads or tails of the complicated emotions that were overwhelming her and she felt his confusion. She felt bad for the little guy and so she looked down at him. "Hey, it seems like you're having a hard time right now. I am too. What do you want to do?" she asked. "Can I go back to the camp for a while?" he asked, quietly. "Yeah. You can go back to the camp. I'll be by later," she said. He disappeared from her embrace and she was suddenly hugging empty air. Unable to think of anything else to do with her hands she jammed them in her pockets. Fuzzy continued to wait for Julie's response. As a huntress, Fuzzy knew patience. "I can't really go see him because Mrs. Maureen told me to not to be around too many people for a while. I could have seen him yesterday, but I was pretty rattled and didn't want to face him again. Plus I summoned my spirit and I've been planning that for months and would've had a hard time delaying it. Anyway, I've been told in no uncertain terms to minimize contact with people," said Julie. "I just came here to get clothes and food. I'm camping for the next week. Maybe even two. I'd hoped that you could help me since I don't know anything about camping." Fuzzy pursed her lips and thought. "If I help you will you tell me what's going on?" asked Fuzzy. "As much as I can. I know that's not satisfying, but I can't even say why I can't say," said Julie. Fuzzy nodded and sighed. She wasn't satisfied, but they were friends after all. She wouldn't press. At least not right now. Julie, Fuzzy and spirit- Wednesday - January 25th 2075 – Early evening - Blake Island The two young women picked up food from the cafeteria, Fuzzy talked to a tired looking Sasha for a few minutes and neither of them saw Kenji, though they didn't stick around long enough to see him. Julie rationalized that maybe he'd been late getting to dinner for some reason, or that he'd been held up talking to someone. In reality she just wasn't ready to face that stare of his again. Instead Julie focused on supplies. They took hot food and cold, Fuzzy went to her cabin, grabbed a sleeping bag and other camping supplies which included a flashlight. In the waning daylight Julie explained her spirit's situation to Fuzzy. "So he looks like a toxic spirit and that's bad," said Fuzzy. "Really bad. Banish on sight bad. Mrs. Maureen said that him getting banished would be bad under normal circumstances, but him getting banished when we're still bonding would be terrible for our relationship. That's why I can't be near people right now. So I'm camping which was why I was hoping to see you. I don't know anything about camping. You're a lot more clever than me at this sort of stuff and you're strong too. Plus I figured it would be good to have the company. We don't talk a bunch alone, you know? I thought it might be fun to be out with just the two of us," said Julie. Fuzzy was quiet for a time and Julie began to feel nervous as that quiet extended outwards. She could tell that Fuzzy was thinking about something, but when she looked at Fuzzy she saw that Fuzzy was blushing. "What?" asked Julie. "Is this...Is this a date?" asked Fuzzy, hesitantly. Julie was too shocked to immediately respond which gave Fuzzy even more rope to hang herself with. Julie saw a low hanging branch that Fuzzy didn't and pushed it away for her automatically. Her body knew what to do. Her mind not so much. "I'm in love with Sasha and you're dating Marco. It's not right. I mean I like you as a friend and you're pretty and all, but we're both already seeing other people," said Fuzzy nervously. "Sasha told me about being exclusive and I don't want to break my promise to her." Julie realized something. Sasha and Julie had similar features. Sasha had long, dark hair. So did Julie. Sasha was tall. So was Julie. Julie was taller in fact. They were both pretty, and if one was into ork girls Julie was probably the prettier of the two, though Julie would have a hard time believing that due to her problems with body image and self esteem. Sasha was thin and Julie wasn't as thin as she wanted to be though, so there were some differences in body type. Julie realized that Fuzzy had a type and that Julie fit that type, said type being tall Latina women. Julie didn't freak out, but instead was able to suppress the feelings of revulsion from prison. Of cavity searches at gunpoint as the guards tried and succeeded at breaking her will to make her compliant. It had only taken a couple of days, but what the guards broke wasn't stubborn will so much as her own numbness. Numbness looked a lot like initial compliance, but they wanted total compliance so her will had been broken for a few weeks before they finally stopped. That hadn't been all they'd done either: Shortening her mealtimes and amount of food she was given, how she was given a single thin blanket against the cold and of course, switching cellmates so she ended up with Big Rita. Ironically Big Rita had been kind to her and had helped her survive prison in the first place. Big Rita in those early days before the two had bonded talked to Julie about showing the guards what they'd wanted to see and interceded on her behalf through her connections as a shot caller. Julie realized just how lucky she'd been to find Big Rita and didn't want to think of how her life would've been different if the prison gang leader decided to abuse her instead of protect her. "This isn't a date, Fuzzy," said Julie, quietly. "Really?" asked Fuzzy. "Yeah. I just need help with camp. I'm not gay," said Julie. "Oh. Sorry," said Fuzzy, awkwardly. "It's okay. Don't worry about it," said Julie. Julie's emotions were under control though which was good despite figuring out that Fuzzy probably found her attractive. They continued to walk for a time before Fuzzy spoke again. The sun had fully set now. Julie could see in the dark, but the flashlight was messing with her night-vision somewhat. "Whenever Sasha and I camp out it's always a date," admitted Fuzzy. "Huh. I can see why you'd assume that. No, camping doesn't always mean a date. I think that's just for you and Sasha. Do you date a lot?" asked Julie. Julie felt good enough that she could ask and wanted to change the subject to remind Fuzzy of her attraction to her girlfriend. Besides, she was curious about her friends even if the nature of Fuzzy and Sasha's relationship did make her uncomfortable at times. The topic of Sasha made Fuzzy light up and she began to gush about her relationship. "Once a week. Sometimes we go out to eat, sometimes we watch movies, sometimes we go out camping so I can take Puppy. She switched things up pretty recently. We went on a hike and played Miracle Shooter which was awesome. She's really great with a rifle," said Fuzzy, with admiration. "Most of the time we hang out on weekends though. That's what she calls it, hanging out. I didn't understand what that meant for a long time, but now I understand euphemisms. You know, turns of phrase? Sasha helps me with that. With everything. Every time we do something it's new or at least there's something new about it since I just like eating Stuffer Shack burgers, so we pick different places to eat them and stuff. She says she likes watching me grow as a person. A lot of who I am is due to what she's shown me. Still, I don't spend every weekend with her. Sometimes I come down to Touristville to heal people with you and Marco and she doesn't enjoy coming as much. She says it's politics about police since the local force down there isn't Knight Errant even though she says that they're supposed to be. So she only comes sometimes. I don't go as much anymore. Sorry," said Fuzzy. "It's okay. I understand that you want to make Sasha happy. I realize now that I got wrapped up in Marco's passion project at first, but it's my project now. Besides, it feels good to have a home," said Julie. "Yeah, originally I stayed with Rat Man, but I got too big and I had to make room for more little ones. When I was little I'd butcher kills older kids brought back. I was really good at that. He helped me work, but everyone has to work, especially him. He was tired all the time from casting spells and making armor. If we didn't all work we didn't eat. No idle hands. We couldn't afford it. He'd slip me extra food when the other kids weren't looking though," said Fuzzy, brightly, but then her smile faded. "I'm not sure where I'm going to stay over the summer. Sasha has been talking about an internship at Ares but I'm not sure about it. I love her and don't want to disappoint her. Ares I can take or leave. Um...Don't tell her I said that please. She'd be sad." "I won't," said Julie. "Thanks," said Fuzzy, gratefully. "Anyway everyone I meet there has so much and they don't seem to mind that everyone else has so little, except when I look at the workers and realize how they live. They don't have much either, so there's a lot of people with lots of money and a lot of workers with little to show for it. It makes me appreciate being awakened and going to school. I'm special and that means I could have the sort of life Sasha has, or at least something close to it if I wanted to. I'm not sure if I do though. Also her mom doesn't seem to like me much. She doesn't say it, but I get the feeling that she doesn't approve of me. I think she's still not over the fact that Sasha is gay." Julie thought again about Ares poisoning Seattle with Tempo just so they could win the police contract. How Lone Star headquarters was burned down and how Ares might be next. The headquarters for Lone Star was depopulated though and Ares was behind thick, strong walls with plenty of private security forces and would be warned of an upcoming attack by civilians. She'd heard that their security forces were less security and more like a military. They'd be on alert and Fuzzy would be in the middle of that. On top of that if Fuzzy was offered an internship because of the Olivers her name would be linked to them, and Oliver was the last name of who was blamed, and that made Julie wary. Was that the right thing to do? Try to lead Fuzzy away from Ares? Sasha took her own life, or so her premonition told her. The paper that had been jammed into her hand by that Fuzzy, the one Julie's spirit was mad at, was in her desk in her home and despite hours of assensing it it looked like a normal piece of paper. She remembered what Fuzzy told her; about keeping her promises. In fact it was so serious that that Fuzzy threatened Sasha with a knife. Instead of making a dangerous decision Julie instead asked her friend a question. "Did you make any promises to Sasha about the internship?" asked Julie. Fuzzy thought about it for a while. It made Julie nervous. Was this that promise? Old leaves crunched under their boots as they walked. "No. I take my promises seriously, so I've been thinking about it. She's insistent, but I'm stubborn. Ares is a lot to get wrapped up in. I mean it's a corporation that's so big that it's its own nation. I didn't even know what that meant until recently and it makes me look at Sasha in an entirely new light when I think about it. Besides, Rat Man has been ranting about governments since I can remember, so I'm not exactly keen on working for one," said Fuzzy. Julie sighed in relief. Thankfully Fuzzy didn't seem to notice her slip up. The leaves were pretty thick on the path and their noise probably covered up Julie's relieved sigh. Not many used this path after all as the southwestern part of the island was only used for privacy. "Maybe you stay with me for the summer," offered Julie. "I've got four bedrooms and I'll be in Touristville working to get my clinic off the ground so I'll be around a lot. At least if everything works out like I hope, but you can stay if you want. You'll have to get your own bed, though" said Julie. "Huh. I'll have to talk to Sasha about that. Have you talked to Julian about it though? He's supposedly our guardian. Kenji's too. He's good at messing things up," grumped Fuzzy. "No I haven't and he hasn't asked. I know what I want and I'll be damned if he's going to take my home away from me. If he pushes me I'll push back and if he tries to force me I'll sue to emancipate myself," said Julie, firmly. "Emancipate?" asked Fuzzy. "Free myself," explained Julie. "Normally people have a legal guardian until they're eighteen. I'm two years away from that. If there's anything you learn about in prison though besides how to stay alive it's the law. A good number of the convicts are always chomping at the bit to get out of jail faster. You know, work the system? Since I was literate and pretty smart I learned how to work the law. That was my hustle- My job. Some people sold drugs, some sold their violence, others made booze, one girl I knew knew how to make the perfect cup of coffee despite the prison ban on caffeine. I have no idea how she did it. We all hustled. So my hustle was the law. It was mostly magical law and I'd have to learn the legal procedures for emancipating myself, but I can do it, or at least try to make him back down. Especially now that I can make myself smarter. I can learn a lot more from Blake Island and I like it there, but I got enough of being bossed around in prison. I'll make my own decisions. I've made enough bad ones to know bad from good now, and know the law well enough to keep myself out of trouble." Fuzzy nodded her head appreciatively. "Think you could help me with that?" Fuzzy asked. "What, emancipate you?" asked Julie. "Yeah. Julian is a dick," grumped Fuzzy. That reminded Julie that she needed to talk to Julian and Mother Bear about the situation which made her worry again. "He's pretty absent from my life for a guardian, but he's okay," said Julie. "In fact I kind of like it that way. We talk now and again but I appreciate the freedom that gives me. Also I think you'd sever your connection to the island if you did. It means you'd only see Sasha on the weekends." Fuzzy groaned and booted a rock down the trail into the darkness. "Fine. He's still a dick though," groused Fuzzy. "He can be, but he tries. At least when he tries," said Julie, diplomatically. "Meh." The two young women finally reached the campsite and Fuzzy looked it over in the dark while Fuzzy shined her flashlight. It was near the beach and even had its own ancient grill. It smelled of salt and the waves from the Puget Sound lapped calmly at the shore. There was even a fire pit nearby, but all the wood was wet from yesterday's downpour. Julie's spirit was waiting in the tent, and he grew more and more excited as he felt her grow close. The little guy was fast and he nearly exploded from the tent in a flurry of motion, clocking an easy 35 kilometers an hour as he ran around the two. Fuzzy stood very still as the spirit that looked like a young boy whooped and hollered as he ran circles around them. Then he stopped suddenly, looked sheepish and opened his hand. There was a single rock in his palm. "Found one! Also I picked up a bunch of trash before it got dark," he said, breathlessly. Julie smiled, ruffled his hair and took the rock. "Thank you," said Julie. "Maybe next time go a little slower though around people? Most people can't run as fast as you." "Oh, okay. Sorry about that," said spirit, politely. Julie was happy to have such a polite spirit and wondered if that was because of the memories she fed him, how he was naturally or a mixture of both. Fuzzy relaxed and the spirit looked suddenly nervous. "Sorry I used my power on you," said spirit. "You don't have to apologize twice. It's okay. You thought you were doing the right thing," said Fuzzy. "Do you want to help Julie and me get the camp set up properly?" "Yeah!" Spirit was more hindrance than help as he was intensely curious, but eventually they got the job done. Fuzzy made some comments about where they set the tent up, how to start a fire and how to keep the rain from washing under the tent and freezing Julie like what happened last night, but Julie didn't really get the outdoors. Camping wasn't beyond her, but she didn't do well in less than ideal conditions. She'd nearly frozen last night, and if her spirit hadn't kept her warm she probably would've caught a cold. After an hour of rearranging the campsite Fuzzy managed to start a fire in the pit despite the wet conditions. She didn't have Kenji's survival knife on hand which had a fire starter in it, something he'd given her all those months ago, but she did have a lighter which made the task much easier. Soon enough they all had a small bonfire, ate hot dogs upon which Fuzzy lavished condiments and enjoyed hot chocolate, both of which spirit enjoyed very much. "So I thought about spirit. You know, how he looks?" asked Fuzzy. Spirit averted his eyes momentarily from the hot dog he was demolishing; his mouth still open. However instead of pausing his eating his instincts were to simply cram the rest of it into his small mouth. Fuzzy giggled at the display, but Julie was worried about him choking until she realized that he didn't need to breathe. She belatedly joined Fuzzy with a nervous chuckle as her own worry passed. "What about how I look?" asked spirit. "Uh...I actually hadn't talked to him about this yet," said Julie. "Oh...Uh, sorry," said Fuzzy. Spirit looked nervously between the two young women, but that didn't stop him from cautiously sipping his hot chocolate. Priorities. "Well, it's not your metahuman form. You look great as you as you are. It's about your non-metahuman form. I think it looks great, but some people might not understand. They might think you're...Dangerous," said Julie, delicately. "I just want to make sure you don't get hurt." "Okay, so what do I have to do? asked spirit. "You're taking this really well," said Julie. "Well yeah, I can feel you wanting to protect me. Why wouldn't I take it well?" he asked. "Do you want to show Fuzzy what you look like?" asked Julie, nervously. With no other prompting he simply shifted into his non-human recycled art form. He looked very much like a young boy made of recycled materials just like before with a cardboard body, shredded paper for hair, plastic hands and feet and glass bottle eyes. Fuzzy looked him over. "I like the look," said Fuzzy. "I appreciate art." Spirit smiled and his multi-colored glass teeth sparkled as they reflected the campfire. "I can see why you'd want to change though from what you told me about toxic spirits. Mrs. Maureen didn't talk about them in the safety class," said Fuzzy. "Yeah she did. Only briefly though. Mostly she talked about where not to go," said Julie. "You know, toxic sites and stuff. Waste dumps, blighted areas, those sorts of places have toxic spirits." "Oh yeah, I remember that," said Fuzzy. "Well anyway, can he change his form?" "Nope," said spirit. "I can't. I can just change back to my metahuman form." "You can, actually," said Julie. "We just need to do the ritual again. So we're out here so you don't get banished by mistake. People might panic if they see you like that. We know you're okay, but other people don't know about you yet." Spirit switched back to his normal form of a young, barefoot, brown skinned ork boy in a white t-shirt and blue shorts. "You're making me cold just looking at you," said Fuzzy, who was in her heavy coat. "Anyway, speaking of art, you know those murals in Touristville?" Julie thought about it and nodded. "Yeah, the ones near the north end. I always see new ones whenever I go. What about them?" asked Julie. "Why don't you talk to an artist? You might not even have to change him all that much. The one who does those murals seems to be pretty good. They like you over in Touristville so that would give you an in with whoever does that," said Fuzzy. "They like me okay. I'm no Fuzzy Nogway though," teased Julie. The two girls laughed and spirit looked from one to the other. He didn't get the reference, but he did feel Julie's mirth. Fuzzy stretched and sighed as she finished up her ration of hot dogs and hot chocolate. "Anyway, I'm going to turn in. I need to walk Puppy in the morning. Sasha is looking after him tonight so he doesn't get lonely. This has been fun," said Fuzzy. "Want to come by tomorrow?" asked Julie. "Uh...Maybe. The smarter students will probably start finishing tomorrow. Sasha is pretty smart so if she's done tomorrow I might have to beg off," said Fuzzy. Julie definitely didn't want to be alone all week. The alone time recently was great, but she'd realized just how much she'd missed her friends in the last few days when she talked with Fuzzy. "How about you invite her then? Bring Puppy. I'll talk to Marco. Maybe he can get Kenji to come out of his shell," said Julie. "I'll throw a barbecue." Fuzzy and spirit both looked intently at Julie as she mentioned the word barbecue. "Can we make clam dip?" asked spirit. "Enough clam dip for everyone," said Julie to spirit. "I talked to Mrs. Maureen and she told me that we can order food from off the island. It's sort of expensive, but I'm flush right now from harvesting reagents. When Sasha gets done with her spells we'll throw a party. You can all show off what you learned and we can have a barbecue." Fuzzy's will crumbled before the promise of a barbecue complete with her girlfriend, friends, dog and showing off her new spell. "Okay, you sold me," said Fuzzy, quickly. "I'll throw into the pot too, but only if we can get pork." "What's pork?" asked spirit. "Oh you're going to like pork," said Fuzzy, sagely. "More than clam dip?" asked spirit, breathlessly. "Definitely. Pork is the best," said Fuzzy. Spirit looked to Julie for confirmation, but she shrugged. "You ate it all, remember? I'll get the recipe from Mr. Peters tomorrow and see if I can cook it up," said Julie. CYOA Time Julie needs to talk to Mother Bear and Julian about the new developments. Julie wants to get a move on helping Sasha and Kenji, because their lives are in danger and the party would be a decent time to feel them out. Julian is going to be receptive to saving the teens pretty much no matter what it takes, but Mother Bear is cautious due to having way more to lose than Julian does. So how do we convince her? What tactic do we use or outcome do we ask for? -- Julie rolls con which is the lying skill because she's withholding information. Charisma 5 + con 1 + loyalty 3 +1 for the explanation being plausible = 10 dice 3 hits Fuzzy sucks at lying and so she has a hard time detecting lies. She has her charisma -1 dice. So 3 dice. 3 hits. Critical. She sees right past Julie's disembling. I'm rolling that forward in part due to the next roll as Fuzzy critically failed. As a side note, so people can't just go super low dice and hope to crit on everything, I value criticals as worth double their dice value in opposed tests. So if someone crits on 1 die they can be beaten by double the amount. There are a lot of criticals at low levels of dice, and I don't think that dumb luck should always beat skill. So beating 1 success worth of criticals would take 3 successes, 2 successes of criticals would take 5 dice, and so on. Criticals are powerful, but they shouldn't destroy a practiced professional through dumb luck. This is GM fiat though. It's not really in the core book. Anyway, Fuzzy realizes that Julie is not telling her something. She uses judge intentions which is at an 8 to get a handle on what it is. She gets 4 1's and no hits. A critical glitch. I don't even... Okay, I've got this. She's still going to ask about Kenji later, but she got sidetracked. Julie asks Fuzzy if she can help her set up her camp. She's camping on the southwestern side of the island. Julie rolls etiquette. 5 charisma + 1 etiquette + 3 loyalty. 3 hits. Success. Fuzzy thinks that Julie is into her and bluntly says that she's okay and all, but they're both seeing other people and if would feel weird. She didn't even know that Julie liked girls. Julie rolls composure. 10 dice. 7 hits. Critical. Julie keeps her cool and does not freak out, but she does reminisce on prison. Her previous roll still stands. Fuzzy rolls etiquette. 4 charisma + 2 etiquette. I'm not using loyalty bonuses for people who the scene isn't focusing on or loyalty would be 100% redundant. 2 hits. Fuzzy decides to help Julie out because she's having a hard time. They head down to the campsite after getting some supplies. Fuzzy rolls survival which is willpower 5 + survival 5 - 2 for three people and -1 for being distracted for a total of 7 dice. (Chip doesn't actually get cold or hungry but Fuzzy doesn't realize that). Fuzzy gets 2 hits and a glitch. I use Fuzzy's edge to negate the glitch. That leaves me with 2 hits which is more than enough for such a calm environment, even if was was raining like hell earlier. Fuzzy asks what was wrong earlier. You know, since Julie isn't gay and all. Julie again rolls con, but she gets +2 to her roll this time because of Chip's condition, so she has 11 dice versus Fuzzy's 5, Fuzzy gets a +2 for being wary. Let's roll. Julie gets 5 hits. I rerolled failures with edge. Fuzzy prerolls edge for 9 dice. 5 + 4 edge. Only 2 hits. She really wanted to know, but those are the breaks. Julie explains that her spirit's natural form looks like a toxic spirit. Fuzzy actually doesn't know what that is. Julie explains, she asks Chip to come and show off. Fuzzy gets it with some explaining. Fuzzy rolls art! She has it as a knowledge skill. She prerolls it for 9 dice. Intuition 4 + art 1 + 4 edge. She gets 3 hits. She suggests that Chip looks like art. Maybe she should find an artist. Every time Fuzzy goes to Touristville there are tons of murals. Maybe she should go talk to whomever makes the murals and get their opinion. Chip's problem is that he looks like he's made of trash. He's inexpertly crafted. If he were to look expertly crafted he'd no longer look like a toxic spirit. Toxic spirits are ugly after all, and if they were to make Chip look more professionally made they would no longer have their problem. Instead of change his form, they embrace and refine it. Julie rolls etiquette to talk to her spirit. Her spirit comes maxed at 6 loyalty dice, and it can only really go down if Julie abuses him or gets him banished. So she rolls etiquette to explain how he looks and why she wants to change his look. She rolls charisma 5 + etiquette 1 + loyalty 6 for 12 dice. 5 hits, he takes it like a champ and appreciates that Julie wants to protect him. Fuzzy stays overnight, but says she has to leave in the morning. Julie doesn't want to be isolated, and mentions that she might have a cookout tomorrow. She remembers Mrs. Maureen talking about having food delivered. It'd be a pretty penny, but Julie doesn't want to spend the next few weeks alone with her spirit. They even have a grill as the old ones from when this was a park are still in tact and have never been taken down. Julie rolls charisma 5 + etiquette 1 + loyalty 3 + food bonus 2 (Fuzzy is a chow hound). Julie criticals on 11 dice with 7 hits. Fuzzy's resolve is obliterated by food. Fuzzy gets a paltry 1 hit to resist. Fuzzy and Sasha are going to show off their new spells. Others might show up too. Puppy will also make a cameo appearance. Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 05:07 on Feb 27, 2018 |
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Nov 25, 2017 16:46
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Honestly, Mother Bear would be a great help but if she doesn't like the plan we come up with we only need her to stay tight lipped about everything. I don't want to do something that she'll act against or blow our cover to save her family.
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Nov 25, 2017 17:17
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I think that Mother Bear has an extremely well-developed sense of duty. Not to organizations, nor to rules. But I think that when she has a duty of care towards individuals, she takes that extremely seriously. That's what I figure based on every detail we've seen of her to date. So, what Julie needs to do is appeal to that sense of duty. Whether she likes it or not she's already committed herself to the care of the students. Nobody else can help them like she can. She has to it else she's abandoning the people she's committed herself to protecting. As long as we don't push her to actively work against her family's safety, I think that should be enough. Also, this spirit may be adorable now, but how's everyone going to feel when his form has grown to that of a 250 lb young man? Think of how much clam dip it will take to keep him going then.
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Nov 25, 2017 18:30
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jagadaishio posted:Also, this spirit may be adorable now, but how's everyone going to feel when his form has grown to that of a 250 lb young man? Think of how much clam dip it will take to keep him going then. He's pretty much going to stay in this form until we decide to change him which will be suggested by the thread. He will get smarter at normal speed for a human, but every time Julie feeds him more karma he will mature and get smarter. That said, a lot of clam dip
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Nov 25, 2017 18:37
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jagadaishio posted:I think that Mother Bear has an extremely well-developed sense of duty. Not to organizations, nor to rules. But I think that when she has a duty of care towards individuals, she takes that extremely seriously. That's what I figure based on every detail we've seen of her to date. This can't be stressed enough, any action that might let the corps think she knows something will risk her family which she's made abundantly clear is her A1 priority
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Nov 25, 2017 18:55
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Ice Phisherman posted:"Well, I summoned a spirit recently. Not one that goes away, but one that is permanent. I have a hard time affording reagents to summon them so I just decided to permanently summon a spirit. At least that's how it started out. It's become much more than that," said Julie sheepishly, as she stroked his hair. . . . Mooooom, you're messing up my hair in front of the enemy . . . Ice Phisherman posted:Her spirit craned its neck up to look at her and she looked down at him. Julie hugged him a little harder.  Ice Phisherman posted:That was my hustle- My job. Some people sold drugs, some sold their violence, others made booze, one girl I knew knew how to make the perfect cup of coffee despite the prison ban on caffeine. I have no idea how she did it. We all hustled. So my hustle was the law. It was mostly magical law and I'd have to learn the legal procedures for emancipating myself, but I can do it, or at least try to make him back down. Ahhh, the good old 'Jailhouse Lawyer'. I would not do well in prison, and, if I did have to do time, I'd probably go the Jailhouse Lawyer thing too. Ice Phisherman posted:CYOA Time Can I get a 'who-knows-what' check? Fuzzy is the only one who knows about Momma Bear's Military past, yes? As far as Julie knows, Momma Bear's just a grumpy crone of a teacher? jagadaishio posted:Think of how much clam dip it will take to keep him going then. Ice Phisherman posted:He's pretty much going to stay in this form until we decide to change him which will be suggested by the thread. He will get smarter at normal speed for a human, but every time Julie feeds him more karma he will mature and get smarter. Didn't Ice say that Spirits don't actually have to eat physical food? Or sleep? Or, have any other 'mortal' limitations?
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Nov 26, 2017 04:20
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Just because he doesn't need food doesn't meant he doesn't need clam dip. 
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Nov 26, 2017 05:34
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I'm pretty sure all the teachers at least are gonna know about Momma Bear's previous line of work, it's not a big secret or anything. Her one bad day is a personal story that she probably hasn't shared with many people but the fact that she's a vet would be pretty hard to hide. I don't see anyone getting hired to work on the island without an extensive background check. E: Which, tangentially, raises the question of "how the gently caress did Julian get hired?" Crazycryodude fucked around with this message at 05:46 on Nov 26, 2017 |
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Nov 26, 2017 05:42
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jagadaishio posted:Just because he doesn't need food doesn't meant he doesn't need clam dip. Great. So Spirit Sonny can have the same body image issues as Momma Julie. Crazycryodude posted:I'm pretty sure all the teachers at least are gonna know about Momma Bear's previous line of work, it's not a big secret or anything. Her one bad day is a personal story that she probably hasn't shared with many people but the fact that she's a vet would be pretty hard to hide. I agree with you, most likely all the teacher are going to know that she's a vet. My question is, does Julie know? Fuzzy knows, did she share with anybody else? I'd like to make the argument that Julie wants to protect her friends just like Momma Bear used to protect her squad. Except that argument doesn't work if Julie doesn't know about Momma Bear being a vet; the discussion would be different if Julie only knows Momma Bear as a the crotchety crone who teaches magical safety and brews ditch-water tea.
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Nov 26, 2017 06:32
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jagadaishio posted:Just because he doesn't need food doesn't meant he doesn't need clam dip. And the best thing about this is he isn't going to be storing excess calories because he's a spirit, so he won't turn into a whole tortilla, Crazycryodude posted:E: Which, tangentially, raises the question of "how the gently caress did Julian get hired?" That's a pretty good question. IIRC he used to be a Shadowrunner, and as an ex-runner he probably has a decent network of contacts.. That means he's also not a corp prince so he grew up a regular joe nobody, meaning he's able to relate to the scholarship kids, from a place of familiarity. Of course that's me spitballing based on utter conjecture, but hey what can ya do?
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Nov 26, 2017 21:49
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Yeah I'm wondering why the super bougie glorified corp daycare is letting a hard-bitten ex-runner near the royalty. Did he somehow fool the no doubt extensive background checks? Is there something about him that makes him worth hiring despite his past? Something else? Interesting no matter what.
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Nov 26, 2017 21:59
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He's a good teacher who knows alot of magic? Also probably comes cheap if he's doing this for redemption.
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Nov 26, 2017 22:01
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nothing to seehere posted:He's a good teacher who knows alot of magic? Also probably comes cheap if he's doing this for redemption. That's a pretty good potential angle on why/how. Doing this to atone/balance his karma would make a lot of sense.
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Nov 26, 2017 22:05
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Runners get hired into corporate jobs related to their specialty all the time. Going from street mage to wage mage, black hat to white hat, street samurai to corporate bodyguard, etc. It's not unknown for a runner to treat their runner career more like an audition or internship than an actual career. And that's aside from the fact that essentially-perfect fake SINs exist and, while not cheap, are more 'new car' expensive than 'new house' expensive. Corporate types like to think they're in a comprehensive and unassailable security state, but the reality is that it's riddled with holes, and shadow communities are present at every level of society.
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Nov 26, 2017 22:44
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Corporations can just give you a SIN, or you can bribe someone in a government (or get a corp agent to bribe them, which is even easier) for the same. Once one of the recognized issuing bodies publishes a SIN, you count as a real person again. It takes a little paperwork, but that's what wage slaves are for. Somebody like Julie gets to write their own check. It is difficult to express just how rare and valuable someone with Magic 6 is, and Julie is an initiate with an ally spirit. She has an immortal, unsleeping bodyguard who can laugh off gunfire and mop the floor with all but the most seasoned combatants.
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Nov 27, 2017 01:44
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wiegieman posted:Corporations can just give you a SIN, or you can bribe someone in a government (or get a corp agent to bribe them, which is even easier) for the same. Once one of the recognized issuing bodies publishes a SIN, you count as a real person again. It takes a little paperwork, but that's what wage slaves are for. So what you're saying is we should focus on Julie developing her negotiation skill and Charisma then play hardball with the local corps and get herself a sweet gig and an enormous paycheque?
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Nov 27, 2017 01:53
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jagadaishio posted:Runners get hired into corporate jobs related to their specialty all the time. Going from street mage to wage mage, black hat to white hat, street samurai to corporate bodyguard, etc. It's not unknown for a runner to treat their runner career more like an audition or internship than an actual career. To build upon this, your more corporate type awakened and normal awakened in general often deal with shadowrunners. Magic communities tend to be small and shadowrunners can often get hold of items or artifacts that are needed. Awakened would deal with shadowrunners more often than your normal type of person. wiegieman posted:Somebody like Julie gets to write their own check. It is difficult to express just how rare and valuable someone with Magic 6 is, and Julie is an initiate with an ally spirit. She has an immortal, unsleeping bodyguard who can laugh off gunfire and mop the floor with all but the most seasoned combatants. She is rare and powerful, but her spirit is currently very fragile. He could definitely get away from a fight though and aid Julie in fleeing though. He is almost completely deathless though. Even if he takes all of his physical damage and does the mortal equivalent of passing out and bleeding out, it just banishes him. He'll be angry or scared and that will damage his relationship with Julie, but he'll be back next month. Fuzzy, Kenji and Julie weren't randomly picked out of a hat. Blake Island isn't part of a larger corporate entity, but it still is a tiny corporation that teaches magic. They were headhunted for the specific purpose of injecting talent into a pool of corporate teens to make them better. I talked about this in Fuzzy's story and Sasha for example has been improving because of them. They're talented, but they're poor and don't come from the same socioeconomic background. They're there not to just develop their own talents, but to serve as examples, foils, really whatever challenges the other students and broadens their own horizons from the limited worldview of being a corporate prince or princess. They're not just there to be taught. They're there to challenge the other students and spur them to action so they're not shown up by the poor kids. If Fuzzy, Julie and Sasha weren't around then Sasha would have continued on the path of being a foul mouthed, spoiled police chief's daughter and Marco would've continued being a social outcast due to his metatype and religion. It's not all positive, but the three created change, and that change was intentional and the people that run the island hope that that change is a net positive. Hexenritter posted:So what you're saying is we should focus on Julie developing her negotiation skill and Charisma then play hardball with the local corps and get herself a sweet gig and an enormous paycheque? Julie is good enough to walk away right now and get a job somewhere, but that's just with six months training. She'll be more powerful as the series progresses, but only in magic on her current trajectory. However she's not a well rounded person at all. Her social and physical skills suck. She's almost exclusively focused on magical and intellectual skills. Fuzzy and Kenji on the other hand are great at what they do for their age, and are as powerful as a school senior would be in terms of raw power. They also have great skills that have nothing to do with magic, like Kenji's gift of gab or Fuzzy's skills as a huntress. But in terms of skill they're only basically trained. Fuzzy it seems is more interested in bettering herself to the exclusion of her magic as she educates herself instead of being an illiterate, uneducated barbarian shaman and Kenji is a bit of a slacker when it comes to school, but hustles hard as he tries to assume the role of a fixer. Personally I think that's interesting. Julie is on the path to becoming a powerful shaman, but to the exclusion of almost everything else. Fuzzy is interested in becoming a complete, well rounded person. Kenji is more interested in transitioning into a supporting role as a fixer instead of continuing as an ACHE shadowrunner. Just because they're at magic school doesn't mean that all of them are going to be super interested in being the best of the best. They're people and they have varied interests. Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 02:09 on Nov 27, 2017 |
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Nov 27, 2017 01:59
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Ice Phisherman posted:the people that run the island I'm really hoping for a Dapper Dan cameo as a major shareholder, alumnus and booster.
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Nov 27, 2017 02:40
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Hexenritter posted:I'm really hoping for a Dapper Dan cameo as a major shareholder, alumnus and booster. I'm surprised as hell that anyone besides Tias remembers about that. That said I'm not writing an update just yet, or at least not one that I'm going to release now. I've spent the last half an hour going full method acting in order to psyche myself out for a particularly emotional scene that I'm going to stick in my back pocket for later. Probably in the next two to three updates.
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Nov 27, 2017 02:43
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Ice Phisherman posted:I'm surprised as hell that anyone besides Tias remembers about that. I remember because you and I had a confluence of ideas and without ever having read your previous stuff apparently I channeled you a while back with a character idea that was basically him. You explained the Dapster and I fell in love. Also, I am truly impressed at the dedication you show to your craft and I look forward to reading the eventual product of you going full "are you talking to me" at yourself in the mirror.
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Nov 27, 2017 02:46
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Ice Phisherman posted:I've spent the last half an hour going full method acting in order to psyche myself out for a particularly emotional scene that I'm going to stick in my back pocket for later. Probably in the next two to three updates. No. The Holidays are officially upon us, and I will not accept any updates that are not peppermint and peace-on-earth in nature. Hexenritter posted:Also, I am truly impressed at the dedication you show to your craft and I look forward to reading the eventual product of you going full "are you talking to me" at yourself in the mirror. I agree with you, and, don't you encourage him to 'hurt' our friends.
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Nov 27, 2017 03:18
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CourValant posted:No. dear gods what do you take me for? I don't want our friends hurt 
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Nov 27, 2017 03:50
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Hexenritter posted:dear gods what do you take me for? I don't want our friends hurt Then its settled. Momma Bear adopts Julie and they live Happily Ever After on Blake Island. Fuzzy and Sasha also settle on Blake Island for some reason, and Edward's uses his 3rd wish to make Kenji a real boy. Marco realizes he's a jerk. The End.
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Nov 27, 2017 03:53
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I'm pretty worried about Kenji. When someone starts changing demeanour so dramatically it's not a good sign. It may just be heavy stress, but it also may be a sign of depression, the big weighty kind that sits on your shoulders and grows fatter with every passing second until its all you can do just to drag your foot along the ground to try and take another step, all while it's shouting in your ear how worthless you are and how you dont matter. Ok, that got a bit ranty.
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Nov 27, 2017 17:52
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Deadmeat5150 posted:I'm pretty worried about Kenji. When someone starts changing demeanour so dramatically it's not a good sign. It may just be heavy stress, but it also may be a sign of depression, the big weighty kind that sits on your shoulders and grows fatter with every passing second until its all you can do just to drag your foot along the ground to try and take another step, all while it's shouting in your ear how worthless you are and how you dont matter. Been there. Hope you're doing okay, Deadmeat. Okay, it looks like we're going to try and convince Mother Bear by appealing to her sense of duty. Writing now.
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Nov 27, 2017 21:44
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I'm fine, now. I've got a good job, a good wife, and some real rear end in a top hat kids. I deserve the kids though, hah.
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Nov 28, 2017 00:50
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Deadmeat5150 posted:. . . and some real rear end in a top hat kids. I deserve the kids though, hah. I'm convinced that no matter what it is you're 'in to', your kids will gravitate towards something else. So, for me, if I were ever to have kids, they'll turn out to be douche-bag jock types who worships sports, is popular with girls, and enjoys pumpkin spiced lattes.
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Nov 28, 2017 00:59
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Is Julie not telling Fuzzy to warn Sasha, her girlfriend who needs special Cyclops glasses to not see into the astral at all times, that the astral form of the spirit is The Toxic Avenger an oversight, or an intentional opportunity for narrative drama?
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Nov 28, 2017 04:39
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Does Julie even know that Sasha's Astral Sight is always on? My understanding is that's something she keeps secret, and Fuzzy is the only one who knows. So that's on Fuzzy to pass the information.
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Nov 28, 2017 06:05
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Yeah, I think that's something of a secret told to Fuzzy in confidence. Not the sort of weakness you want to risk getting leaked to your corporate rivals.
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Nov 28, 2017 06:15
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Ah, I thought she knew, nevermind.
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Nov 28, 2017 15:29
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Just read this entire thread Only good things will come of spirit adventures.
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Nov 28, 2017 23:14
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Welcome! Strap in, we've a wild ride ahead
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Nov 28, 2017 23:25
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mcclay posted:Just read this entire thread One of us! One of us!
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Nov 29, 2017 00:25
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mcclay posted:Just read this entire thread Welcome!
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Nov 29, 2017 00:46
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And I'm still writing. Apologies for the wait. I just spent the last three hours pecking away and it still wasn't enough. I'm tapping out tonight and hopefully I'll finish it tomorrow.mcclay posted:Just read this entire thread Welcome to the thread. Glad to have you! 
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Nov 29, 2017 08:17
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Ice Phisherman posted:And I'm still writing. Apologies for the wait. I just spent the last three hours pecking away and it still wasn't enough. I'm tapping out tonight and hopefully I'll finish it tomorrow. As always, don't force it; make sure you sleep and hydrate.
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Nov 29, 2017 08:34
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Julie and spirit- Thursday - January 26th 2075 – Early morning - Blake Island When Julie was young her family had a dog. He'd been getting up there in years even when she was young and he was mostly done with play, but he was a fantastic snuggler. She'd had him until she was eight, and every night he came to bed with her right up until he’d died. Sometimes he slept at her feet, sometimes near her head and sometimes he'd slip under the covers with her. She was reminded of that feeling of warmth and closeness as she woke up. She didn't confuse the feeling for her dog, but it was a similar feeling. It was spirit. He shared the tent with her and snuggled up against her in his own sleeping bag. She knew that he didn't need to sleep. She wasn't even sure if he could. He was a spirit of man after all, and people do sleep, but he was many things. He looked like an ork, but he couldn't see in the dark. He looked like a child, but was simultaneously an ancient spirit, but only days old as a thinking being, so he wasn't exactly a child. His non-metahuman form looked like a toxic spirit, but wasn't one either. She remembered the protectiveness and unconditional love of her dog, and while she did feel love and he was protective, this wasn't exactly that feeling either. He was something new and different. As she watched him sleep she wondered if he did indeed sleep. Did her spirit dream and if so, what did he dream about? Sure they'd only known each other for days, but they were bonded in a way she couldn't fully understand. Intellectually she knew what he was, but knowledge and experience are different, and some things can only be experienced to be understood. She was a part of him. Her experiences helped shape him. She was reminded of having a family again and though she was no longer ashamed of who she was due to her trials during her initiation, feelings of heartache stirred inside of her as she felt like she had family again. That is at least a family member that would still talk to her. Her spirit had his hair mussed and mouth slightly open and it was that feeling of heartache that woke him, or at least appeared to wake him. His mouth closed and his eyes opened, both big and brown. She could see him through the dim morning light in the tent. "Are you okay?" he asked. "Yeah," she said, her voice rough. "What was that feeling?" he asked. Julie cleared the roughness from her throat imperfectly with a cough. "I was remembering my family," she offered. Her spirit frowned slightly and cocked his head. "I don't remember anything about your family," he said. It was strange to Julie. All of his experiences were her experiences, but they were only ones that she'd given to him. She'd thoughtlessly given him her experiences of the riot, but hadn't given him a single experience of her family. "Do you remember prison?" asked Julie, nervously. Spirit shook his head and Julie sighed in relief. "Okay, good. You've got most of the best parts of me then," said Julie. "Best parts?" asked spirit. "Yeah. My early life was happy, but it made me think I was better than people just for being human. I didn't always look like this. I used to be human. I've been dealing with all of this anger and feeling inferior for who I am for so long. I think you might have gotten a little bit of that, but not much. I also was in prison for over a year before I came here. It was a bad place and if anything it made me worse. I got better when I came here. Not because of here exactly, but I started helping people and I met good people. I made friends. Even someone who is more than a friend, though we don't have as much time together as I hoped for. We're both so busy. So yeah, I think you got the best parts of me. They're not perfect, but they're pretty good. I think one of the reasons I like you so much is because these last six months have been wonderful. There have been bad spots sure, like being bullied, but that's all pretty small compared to what I've dealt with so far," said Julie. Spirit pressed his cheek against Julie's shoulder through her sleeping bag. She knew he could feel her fear, so she didn't do anything to hide it. Julie continued. "My friends are in danger though. I don't know if I'm good enough to help them. I have to talk to my teachers. I involved them. I shouldn't have, but I didn't know what else to do. Now I have to tell Mother Bear that I broke my promise to keep the secret. Not on purpose, but still," sighed Julie. "I'm sorry," said spirit. Julie shook her head as she lay down and ended up nuzzling her still warm camping pillow. "It's not your fault. That's my fault. You didn't have any say in learning what you learned. I'm just scared is all. I don't know if what I'm doing is right," said Julie. Spirit didn't have any answers. After all, he was still new to the world and was made up almost entirely of her experiences. If she didn't have any answers how could he? He hugged her though and in that moment that was better than having all the answers. Answers are complicated. Hugs aren't. Julie, Fuzzy and spirit - Thursday - January 26th 2075 – Early morning - Blake Island Spirit helped Julie and Fuzzy travel fast. It turned out that not only was he fast, but he could make others fast as well and Julie could run with no problems despite her normal lack of stamina. This came with caveats though. Her reaction time was the same and that meant there was no running through the trails. After all they were covered in slippery leaves and under those leaves were rocks and roots. Plus they were all still wet. A run on the trails was a disaster waiting to happen and so they followed the shore. Sand was easier to deal with because it had better traction, though it got in her shoes as well as Fuzzy's shoes and they spent a minute pouring out sand at the end. Fifteen minutes later they were near the edge of the school on the northeastern part of the island. Normally this would've taken at least half an hour but spirit cut the time in half with ease. "Nice job," said Julie. "Yeah, good job," agreed Fuzzy. Spirit thrust out his chest and looked proud. "Hey spirit, do me a favor and see if you can find some clams near camp," said Julie. "We'll make clam dip tonight. Plus if Sasha finishes up today we'll have a barbecue." "Barbecue!" shouted Fuzzy and spirit in unison. "With pork!" exclaimed Fuzzy. "Yeah!" echoed spirit. The two danced around. Fuzzy closed her eyes waved her arms in the air. Spirit hopped around Fuzzy excitedly. It seems that they'd patched up any bad feelings from yesterday. "Okay, I'll talk to Sasha. I won't pressure her to get done today, but I'll let her know that there's a party ready to go when she's done. Less a weight on her shoulders and more a light at the end of the funnel," said Fuzzy. "I think it's tunnel," said Julie. "That's what I said. Tunnel," fibbed Fuzzy. "Anyway, I'll transfer the nuyen to you. Once Sasha is done you do the ordering. I'm hoping that it's sooner rather than later. I'm thinking that this is how I get Kenji to break out of his shell. Or at least I hope so," said Julie, nervously. Fuzzy nodded and her face suddenly grave. "I'm glad you didn't forget because I didn’t. If she finishes up today that would be great, but if she doesn't we still have to help him. I'm not going to press you so long as you get results, but if you don't get results I'm going to need to know what's going on so I can help," said Fuzzy. "I'm not sure that..." "No, Julie. No secrets. Friends come first," said Fuzzy, as she cut Julie off. "Every time we've kept secrets this year they come out anyway and we get hurt. Honesty has been good to me. I get that you have your reasons and I want to respect your privacy, but that ends when our friends are hurting. You know what the right decision is. Please make it." "I'm trying," said Julie, quietly. "Try harder. Faster. I'll help too. Just ask. Anything you need I'm here for you, but Kenji needs us too. If Kenji knew something that effected you and wouldn't say I'd be doing the same exact same thing for you. I'm going to try and talk to Sasha and see if she'll help with his aura, but you know his aura is weird and I don’t know how much good it’ll do. I think Kenji would be all about a party. It might be what cracks that shell of his. He can show up with that liquor he keeps in that mouthwash bottle again," joked Fuzzy, quietly. "It was so bad," sighed Julie. "Maybe it just was mouthwash." "You seemed to like it though," teased Fuzzy. "Yeah, yeah. Gimme your credstick," said Julie. They slotted their credsticks together. Julie gave Fuzzy 150 nuyen. Months ago that would've seemed like a fortune and that feeling of nervousness and deprivation was hard to get over. Still, if it meant being less lonely and helping out Kenji, it was well worth the price. "I'll pay for some too. I'm going to get so much sauce..." said Fuzzy. "Careful not to drool," teased Julie. "Yeah, yeah,” echoed Fuzzy. “See you in a bit. Are you coming to breakfast?" "In a bit. I need to talk to someone first. I'll be along later," said Julie. Julie nodded and Fuzzy walked off, however she felt a feeling of mistrust from her spirit though it took a few seconds to register. She turned and frowned at him. His eyes were narrowed at Fuzzy as she walked away. "She did too say funnel," he said, suspiciously. Julie couldn’t help but giggle. Julie, spirit and Mr. Peters - Thursday - January 26th 2075 – Afternoon - Blake Island Julie listened to her audiobook and harvested reagents as spirit picked up trash and pointed out particularly interesting looking rocks or plants. Today’s lesson was about botany. This helped keep her mind off the fact that she’d made appointments with Mother Bear and Julian for later today. They were too busy to meet in the morning, and Julian looked particularly tired but Mother Bear looked the same as she always did: Short and grumpy. They all agreed to meet just before six in a different mana lodge which gave Julie lots of time to burn. Just because she listened to the audio book, harvested reagents, picked up trash and enjoyed her time among nature didn’t mean she was at peace. Her mind was expanded by her spell and that meant she was fully cognizant of just how much she’d screwed up. Spirit mostly let her be. Unlike a child who would constantly clamor for her attention, he wasn’t exactly a child as she’d come to realize. He would interrupt her now and again, and she’d pay attention to whatever he had to share with her, but for the most part he kept himself busy as he was aware of her feelings which gave him a rough sense of what she wanted. Today she learned about the plants of the island. The trees were mostly pine with some deciduous trees, meaning the leafy ones like maple. She adored the flowers, though most of them weren’t out in bloom at this time of year. The Lenten rose that Mr. Peters gave her days ago wasn’t anywhere to be found and so she was missing physically looking at the flowers and had to settle for the video supplements. The shrubs, grasses, moss and lichen were all out in force though, and she learned to identify them all. She had an excellent haul today, Mr. Peters paid her just shy of 600 nuyen, and she found a particularly interesting small maple branch that he was intrigued with. He inspected the straight stick and nodded at it. “Excellent find. Maple is fantastic for making instruments. You can’t see it due to the bark, but it’s all smooth inside. No knots,” he said. “What could you make out of that?” asked Julie. “Any sort of spell focus related to sound or it could summon wind or beast spirits if I carved it into a flute or a whistle. Or if you’re good with metamagic it can be used to resist magical drain, though that’s more rare. Or an adept could simply become better at music. There are a few budding musicians on the island. I could just craft a better flute, though I’d probably hire that out to a professional in this case. By the way, where is your little spirit?” he asked. “Oh, he’s outside,” said Julie, quickly. Distracted as he was he didn’t pursue the subject. She’d taken Mrs. Maureen’s advice to keep her spirit clear of Mr. Peters. Apparently the soft spoken and generally gentle seeming teacher was the sort to shoot first and ask questions later if he thought a toxic spirit was about. “Very well. Less trash today too. I suppose that’s a good sign since you were in the interior. Some of the students litter,” he said, and made a face. “Some quite a lot and they get talked to by me. It’s hard to get any employees to scour the island. You wouldn’t believe the sort of vetting and red tape they have to go through. After all these are the children of some of the most powerful people in Seattle. Still, you think that we could hire someone to pick up the trash without six months of background checks,” he groused, and then coughed. “My apologies. That wasn’t professional of me.” “It’s okay. On a lighter note, would you happen to have a recipe for that clam dip? My spirit ate it all,” said Julie. Mr. Peters snorted out a laugh and shook his head. “Sure. I’ll write it down for you,” he said. Julie even now was still getting used to the fact that anyone used paper instead of just transferring data through the matrix. She pondered this as he found a scrap piece of paper in his shop and wrote down the ingredients with a pencil. “Hey Mr. Peters, why don’t want allow matrix access on the island?” asked Julie as she received the note. “Well it is here, it’s just jammed,” said Mr. Peters. “And good riddance to it.” “Okay, so then why is it jammed?” asked Julie. Mr. Peters pursed his thin lips into a small frown, but it was more contemplative than disapproving. “Well there are security reasons. We found that it was easier to go low tech and jam everything. We’re far less likely to get hackers snooping around and subverting our systems. In fact once a year the teachers do a bit of ritual magic one of our own invented. The further one is away physically the harder it is to attack its matrix defenses. People sometimes think that magic and technology don’t function well together. That is only sometimes true. In reality it usually just takes more skill. If someone over in Seattle wanted to try and hack us they’d have an awful time of it, but they could try. Someone on the other side of the planet wouldn’t even be able to find us. If you’re curious then you should ask Julian. He’s very proud of it,” said Mr. Peters. “So it’s just for security?” asked Julie. “Wouldn’t that mean someone just has to get onto the island to hack the place?” “And get torn apart by roaming spirits?” joked Mr. Peters. “I think not. We haven’t had a security breach in years, and they’ve always been short and resolved with no harm to the students. They’d be lucky if security found them first. It’s not just for security though. As shamans we draw much of our power from nature and being connected to our fellow living beings. In short, our force of personality is what provides us with power. Matrix culture at large can connect people in some cases, but more often than not it drowns people in seas of irrelevance. By trying to connect to everything people have a hard time connecting to anything. So about a decade ago we banned the matrix and social media access. Most servers are based far away, and so the jamming spell nearly perfectly cuts us off save from Seattle itself in a few limited instances.” “What happened a decade ago?” asked Julie. Mr. Peters’ frown turned from contemplative to disapproving, though it was brief. “I’m not at liberty to give details. There was a non-disclosure agreement. I will tell you that it won’t happen again and that’s all there is to it,” said Mr. Peters, flatly. “Okay, so why do we still get Sammy the salmon pitching that social media platform for the island?” pressed Julie. “My, so many questions,” said Mr. Peters, who clucked his tongue. “This last one and no more. I have to get back to my project. The simple answer is for legal reasons. We’re under contract. However we found a loophole. It still exists; we just restrict access to it. No one uses it at all but it’s still there. No more questions. Unless they’re about my work or the island proper that is. I always have time for that.” Julie didn’t have any more questions. She wrapped up the conversation, dropped off her trash and walked towards her meeting with Julian and Mother Bear. She’d stalled for long enough with Mr. Peters. It was time to tell the truth. Julie, Mother Bear, Julian and spirit - Thursday - January 26th 2075 – Early evening - Blake Island “Of course you’re already done teaching spells,” griped Mother Bear. “Meanwhile I have to look forward to the cold and sitting on this rough bench again tomorrow.” Julian, Mother Bear and Julie sat on benches in the mana lodge. The ground was bare dirt, the benches were rough and the walls were accented with herbs and furs. The lodge itself wasn’t made from sticks or leather as was normal for more mobile lodges. Instead this one was fixed, so it was made from baked clay. A small fire burned in the center and warmed the lodge and its inhabitants while filling the lodge with the smell of burning pine. “I had a good bunch of kids this semester. I lucked out. It was a small crowd for levitation,” said Julian, modestly. “Which means your Sunday can be better spent escorting our young charge to church since you have so much time on your hands,” said Mother Bear. His act of modesty evaporated and he sighed. “Hooray for church,” said Julian, unenthusiastically. “And I know how Touristville just loves elves.” “It’s not that bad,” said Julie, defensively. “Maybe it would do you some good to be around people who aren’t predisposed to like you,” said Mother Bear. “You great big schmoozer, you. Anyway, Julie, what’s this about?” Julie straightened her back. “A couple things. I’m really worried about Kenji. He’s not doing well. I don’t even know how he’s not doing well. Fuzzy is worried too and she figured out that I know something. I’m not good at lying and so I’ve just had to keep my mouth shut. Whatever his problem is I need to solve it or I’m going to hurt my relationship with her, and if that happens that puts Sasha in danger if Fuzzy doesn’t listen to me. I’m not sure what to do,” said Julie, anxiously. Mother Bear sucked her teeth and frowned disapprovingly. Julian shot her a look. “Suck it up, Paige. I told you that this sort of stuff was bound to happen. Conspiracies get complicated. She kept her mouth shut and that’s what’s important,” scolded Julian. “Julie, I’ll try talking to him, but you should too. He’s less likely to listen to me though as I’m an authority figure. We can go together or separately if you want, or I could try coaching you on how to better approach him so he’s less likely to brush you off.” Julie nodded and shifted nervously on her uncomfortable seat. Mother Bear raised an eyebrow. “What else?” asked Mother Bear. “Did Mrs. Maureen tell you about my summoning, recently?” asked Julie, quietly. Spirit was outside behind an embankment out of sight and in the astral, and therefor invisible to normal sight and invisible to astral sight as he was blocked by the terrain. She didn’t want Julian or Mother Bear immediately spotting him. “I read something about it,” said Mother Bear. “I hope you’re ready for a lot of responsibility. Spirits aren’t just tools. They’re living beings.” “I think it’s fantastic. This is exactly why I chose her,” said Julian, proudly, and then to Mother Bear he continued on. “I told you she would work out.” “You were right,” admitted Mother Bear. “I had my reservations at first, but you’ll probably be more powerful than any of us by the time you leave, and you’ve been making better choices lately which I approve of. Remember that power isn’t enough though. You need wisdom.” Any other time, Julie would be glowing from the praise and would have asked more about why Julian chose her in particular. That was news to her, and she filed that piece of knowledge away to ask about later. “You’re right, I do need wisdom because I messed up,” she said and the gazes of her teachers intensified. She quickly added, “Not badly. Umm…When I created my spirit ally I wasn’t as choosey about what experiences I fed him as I thought. He knows about the riot.” The lodge grew quiet save for the sound of the crackling fire. Mother Bear’s frown turned into a dark scowl. “Julie, we had this discussion. Your carelessness is endangering the people I care about. Now you brought me into this, and I understand why, but I’m wondering what choices you make down the road that are going to hurt them. I am not comfortable with how this is being handled,” scolded Mother Bear, quietly and severely. “I wasn’t trying to tell anyone,” explained Julie, who began to grow frantic. “Magic is new to me. Yeah, he knows, but he won’t tell anyone.” “Did expressly tell him not to tell anyone?” asked Mother Bear. “Umm…Not yet,” she said with a wince. “He shouldn’t have a reason to though. I’ve barely been around anyone. I’ve been on the southeastern side of the island for most of the week. Please Mother Bear, I’m really trying here,” pleaded Julie. Complicated emotions flashed across the older woman’s face too fast for Julie to read. Most of them were negative, some scary, but in the end there was just resignation. She looked so tired. “We’re all here for the kids,” said Mother Bear, quietly. Julie nodded emphatically. “I just want to help my friends,” implored Julie. Mother Bear stared Julie down. Julie met those eyes of hers and it was difficult to hold her gaze due to the intensity. Eventually it was too much and Julie looked away. Mother Bear sniffed and grunted. “Fine. I can do more damage control from the inside than from out, but Julie, no more screw ups,” said Mother Bear, and both her eyes and voice hard. “gently caress ups aren’t tolerated. Loose lips sink ships as my grandpa used to say. We swear your spirit to secrecy about these events. You continue to keep your mouth shut. Not just for my sake, but for all of our sakes.” “Okay, whatever it takes,” said Julie, now relieved. The tension in Julian eased as the argument ended, though that tension wasn’t completely gone yet. “How about we bring your spirit inside and speak to him. I’ll bring down my wards,” said Julian. “What’s his name?” “He doesn’t have a name yet. I wanted him to be able to pick his own name,” said Julie. “It’s pretty rare that you get to choose your own name.” “Too true,” agreed Julian. “Call him and we’ll start.” “One more conspirator,” sighed Mother Bear. “Fantastic.” Minutes later spirit joined the trio after Julian briefly let down his wards. Once he was inside he set them right back up again. Mother Bear aided with her own wards and Julian checked once again with more technological means. This took a few minutes and spirit sat close to Julie. He both looked and felt uncomfortable. She felt those emotions of discomfort through their link. She wrapped an arm around his shoulders and he smiled up at her though they both stayed quiet. When they were done both teachers spent the better part of twenty minutes swearing the two to secrecy and telling them what they could and couldn’t talk about. Each time spirit was told something he’d look back up to Julie for confirmation and she’d nod. Neither of them would talk about the riot, or the fact that Julie saw the future or the fact that they all met and talked in secret without both teachers present and without their express permission to do so. They impressed upon him that doing so could get them all hurt or worse, which he took seriously. Julie thought his serious face was adorable, but she didn’t say that out loud. His sheepish smile after the fact let her know he’d felt it though. “I think that’s enough promising. We’re only repeating ourselves now,” said Julian. Mother Bear grunted and reluctantly nodded. “Right,” said Mother Bear. “Introductions then. Spirit, I am Mother Bear.” “I’m Julian,” said Julian. “We’re Julie’s teachers.” “For what?” he asked, shyly, his eyes averted. “For magic,” said Julian. “I’ve taught Julie most of her spells. Mother Bear is a healer.” Mother Bear nodded sagely. She was back to her normal, grumpy self. “Okay. Hi,” said spirit, anxiously. “Tell me, what do you know about the riot?” asked Julian. Spirit shrugged and his eyes were still averted. Julie could tell that he was trying to look small and she squeezed his shoulder to reassure him while sending him happy thoughts. This seemed to relax him. “It’s a part of me. I also live there. Sort of. It’s complicated,” he said. “That’s his metaplane,” explained Julie. “When I accidentally fed him the knowledge where he lived was shaped. So my experiences became his experiences. Mostly they were just made up of me healing people, but there were also other events. So he’s not only made up of those experiences, but when he goes home to where he was born, his metaplane, which is off this plane of existence, it should be made up in part of that riot.” Julian and Mother Bear nodded along with her as knowledge of the metaplanes weren’t news to them, but both frowned near the end. “Okay, not just for reasons of security, but I am disappointed in your behavior, Julie. I can’t believe you fed one of this spirit’s most formative experiences into such a violent event, Julie. Shame on you,” scolded Mother Bear. Julie seemed to deflate. She felt guilty for doing that and not for the first time. “Actions have consequences, Julie,” added Julian. “Normally they’re small at your age, but with your power you should be careful. I thought Mrs. Maureen and Mother Bear would’ve impressed the safety lessons on you more thoroughly, but I guess I was wrong. The only reason I’m not recommend two more months of safety courses is because I want to minimize contact with Mrs. Maureen since she is too close to this. I’m going to have some reading for you though.” Mother Bear chuckled darkly while Julie sighed. “I’m sure Connie is glad she’s not going to be signed up for two months of night classes to teach Julie here,” said Mother Bear. “Our resident master summoner doesn’t live here like you and I do, Julian. Anyway, spirit, about that riot…” “Yes?” he asked. “What do you know about it?” she asked. “I dunno. Everything. The memory lasted just under two minutes. There were thousands of people and they were all talking at once. Well, shouting mostly. There were three main groups of people. I’m not sure who they are though. You were there, Mother Bear. Also Fuzzy, Julie and Edward.” “Okay, I’ve been meaning to ask, who is Edward?” asked Julian. “Edward is Kenji. Sort of,” said Julie. “It’s complicated but related. It’s also deeply personal to him though. You’re better off not knowing.” Her teachers were quiet for a time. This time they both took her seriously when she said they were better off not knowing and so they didn’t press. “Fine. Just tell us what’s important, spirit,” said Julian. “Important like what?” asked spirit. “You know, important. Anything we should know about the riot,” said Julian. Spirit shrugged again and Julie could feel his confusion and embarrassment at being confused. “I don’t really know what’s important or not,” he admitted. “I could tell you everything that happened, but it would take a really long time.” “How long?” asked Julian. “Weeks,” said spirit. “That’s if we didn’t stop. A lot happened.” “Julian, he’s only a few days old at this point. He’s smart, but he’s not experienced,” explained Julie. “We’re probably going to have to ask him specifics unless you want to go to his metaplane.” “That’s a big no,” said Mother Bear. “It’s not my first riot,” snarked Julian, “But yeah, it’s probably for the best not to go to this one. It’d be a pain besides. Metaplanes are no fun. Let’s take some time. It looks like you learned more than Julie here about the event. So did you just see and hear everything that Julie saw and heard, or did you see everything?” “Everything,” said spirit. “At least as long as Julie was there.” “All right then,” said Julian. “Let’s get started. That is if it’s okay for you to talk about it. It doesn’t make you uncomfortable, does it?” “No. It’s my home and what I am,” said spirit. Julie, Mother Bear and Julian all felt awful for most of the same reasons all at once. Despite them knowing that he was a spirit, it was hard to look past the fact that he looked and acted like a boy. After all, the teachers were educators and caring about children was what they were supposed to do. Julie still felt awful for feeding him that particular experience, even if it would help save her friends. Maybe she hadn’t given him all the best parts of her after all. “Then let’s start,” said Mother Bear, quietly. “We’ll take as long as we need.” CYOA Time It seems that spirit can see the riot. In fact, it’s his home in part. He isn't limited like Julie is and his memory is not only spectacular, but he can experience the riot in more detail since he has total access to it and not just Julie's own limited perception. He has total access to about two minutes of time. However, his problem is that he doesn't really have any perspective. He doesn't know what knowledge is valuable and what is not, so Julian, Mother Bear and Julie get to ask him questions. What questions do we ask spirit? Also, Fuzzy is leaning on Julie. She's more interested in results, but she knows that Julie knows something critical and isn't sharing. The fact that Julie not sharing is the best option isn't something Julie can communicate to Fuzzy properly. If Julie can get him to come out of his shell Fuzzy will stop pressing, but if she's unsuccessful Fuzzy is going to lean on Julie, and may lean so hard that she may damage their relationship when Julie doesn't cough up why Kenji is feeling bad. Or Julie does confide in Fuzzy which would break her promise to Mother Bear, which would damage her relationship with her and Julian as well as cause other problems. Julie is going to have to try and win a single etiquette roll on this story's dedicated face, and he has 12 dice versus her 7. It's not fair at all, but that's how the dice came out with Julie v Fuzzy. I'll take ideas on how to tackle this as well. I will say that since Kenji has not been sleeping well that he won't have access to his edge. --- Julie, Fuzzy and spirit get up in the morning. Fuzzy has made her improvements to the campsite so Julie can stay there for the next few days without having to make rolls. Spirit shows them his powers over movement and they all speed back quite quickly. However, Fuzzy makes an ultimatum. Julie will be allowed to keep her secret with Fuzzy if she can convince Kenji to come out of his shell. However if he doesn't Fuzzy is going to start leaning on Julie for that information. This sets the stakes of Julie makes an appointment with Mother Bear and Julian for after their classes as they're not going to have time until about 5:30. Julie heads back out to make that nuyen, pick up trash and do anything to keep her mind off telling her teachers about having a fourth member of the conspiracy being her spirit ally. Spirit is going to be assisting her in learning, harvesting and trash pickup. One of the tasks that spirits are great at is assisting in learning. Normally this is magical learning, but I'm extending it to mundane learning. Unlike an actual child he's not going to demand her attention when she's trying to work. After all, he's her ally, not a detriment, or at least he's trying hard not to be one. In order to learn however she has to go into the interior. This means she's not going to be rolling marine biology. Just geology. Today she gets a grasp on botany. She casts increase logic, and now she has her spirit ally assisting her. He gives her a +3 to spellcasting while he's actively aiding. Magic 6 + spellcasting 3 + spirit ally 3 = 12 dice. 5 hits like a boss. She maxes out her logic and gets enough hits to resist drain. 10 dice to aid her alchemy check. 9 logic + 1 geology. She crits again with 5. Julie is great at this stuff. Spirit attempts to help as well. He prerolls edge so he gets 3 magic - 1 untrained +1 speed + 2 edge = 5 dice to assist. 2 hits. Julie is rolling 13 dice for the next six hours. Magic 6 + 1 alchemy + 2 spirit + 5 geology - 1 for being nervous and distracted. Hour 1: 4 hits (2 reagents + 1) Hour 2: 4 hits (2 reagents + 1) Hour 3: 3 hits (2 reagents + 1) Hour 4: 5 hits (3 reagents + 1) Hour 5: 8 hits (4 reagents + 1, a large reagent found, a particularly interesting branch of maple) Hour 6: 6 hits (3 reagents + 1) Drop improve logic. She's down to 8 dice now. Hour 7: 2 hits (1 reagent + 1) Hour 8: 4 hits ( 2 reagents +1) They come back with 2 bags of trash. They're not full though since they were in the interior of the island where there's less. She gets 28 reagents worth 560, but she also turns in spirit's reagent that he handed Julie yesterday for a total of 580. That's minus the 150 so Julie's take today is 430 nuyen. Julie asks Mr. Peters why matrix access is jammed on the island. She rolls etiquette 1 + charisma 5 + loyalty 2. They both get 4 hits, but Julie crits and overwhelms his defenses. So here's the big roll. Julie and Mother Bear. Julie rolls etiquette to persuade Mother Bear. Julie has charisma 5 + etiquette 1 + loyalty 2 + a bonus of to remind her of her duty +1 thanks to Jagadaishio. Mother Bear has 6 charisma + 4 etiquette to resist. If we fail Mother Bear takes a more passive roll in the conspiracy for the sake of her family and we'd be denied her presence for something later on. Julie gets 2 hits, but that's not enough for me. I roll edge again and get 3 more hits for a total of 5 net hits. Mother Bear rolls and gets 4 hits. Julie barely scrapes by as again, defenders win ties. Mother Bear stays active within the conspiracy. Julie gets 2 karma for keeping Mother Bear. I'll be flavoring this karma as loyalty karma. It'd be particularly tasty to feed to our spirit and would actually increase his opinion of Julie's friends and teachers so long as Julie feels well disposed towards them. Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 02:37 on Dec 4, 2017 |
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Dec 3, 2017 04:30
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Apologies for the long wait. I've been in the middle of a move and I had some problems with writer's block. The scene between Mother Bear and Julie was supposed to be more emotionally intense, but I kept running into dead ends. On the positive side the move has been positive for my health. It's not a huge move. Just moving to a different part of the house. Without going into it too much my old room and bed may have been making me ill. I've been having problems with dizziness for months and strain made it worse, but today I was able to walk six miles with no problems and the only reason I didn't do more was because I ran out of audiobook. I also did some more story-boarding for my next CYOA after I'm done with year one of Blake Island. I'll be working in an IP that I'll be generating so I've been world building. That said I should be back on the update train. I go to church tomorrow so I should begin on an update come Monday.
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Dec 3, 2017 04:38
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