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CourValant posted:Of the story board? That I'm missing I guess. I could start saving stuff for year 2, but I didn't think it was important. Half of my storyboards did make it into the thread for a while though. In other news. Tiger Style! Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 00:55 on Feb 17, 2018 |
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Feb 17, 2018 00:53
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Fuzzy's friends with Marco too, not just Julie. Plus, Marco went with her to Puyallup - helped her out - but didn't say anything. She should approach him and make sure he's okay. It's what he'd do if she was hurting, after all. Julie's talking it out with Sasha right now.
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Feb 17, 2018 03:11
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jagadaishio posted:Fuzzy's friends with Marco too, not just Julie. Plus, Marco went with her to Puyallup - helped her out - but didn't say anything. She should approach him and make sure he's okay. It's what he'd do if she was hurting, after all. Julie's talking it out with Sasha right now. Exactly
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Feb 17, 2018 03:40
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+1 for plan jagadaishio, mouthpiece of the hive mind. 
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Feb 17, 2018 03:43
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Ice Phisherman posted:Fuzzy struck a combat pose, at least as much as she could while still sitting. drat you Ice if you don't do couples 'pillow talk' well.  Ice Phisherman posted:Mother Bear looked like she was about to say no until Sasha opened the box. Then she shrugged and picked one up. She bit deeply into one and nodded to herself. Hah, you even nailed the fact that Paige is an old school 'patriotic' solider who doesn't like to branch out culturally huh? Ice Phisherman posted:"It's just that...Well..." she continued, nervously. "I might have...Sort have...Broke up with him on Saturday." Oh you sweet darling of an insecure woman-child. Ice Phisherman posted:CYOA Time For Julie, have Sasha throw a 'girls trid night' with lots of ice cream and chocolate, the traditional way for a woman to get over a relationship (which, clearly, its not really over. However, have one for Julie anyways to make her feel better. For Marco, have Fuzzy buy him 25 nuyen worth of bao, and ask him, "Why didn't you say anything you stupid lug? We're having girls night with Julie, why don't you dial up Kenji and have a night out with him?" ***** edit ***** Do give my best to Mrs. Liu; today’s Chinese New Year. CourValant fucked around with this message at 04:52 on Feb 17, 2018 |
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Feb 17, 2018 04:35
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CourValant posted:drat you Ice if you don't do couples 'pillow talk' well. My muse was the Wu-Tang Clan. Thank them. As for the talk, sans pillows I guess, I think Sasha really doesn't understand deep down. She's from a cop family. They value law and order. The lack of it makes her want to go and enforce said law and order, but there are a number of reasons why that's just not happening in the barrens areas. So she simply changed the subject to something that would distract Fuzzy. She's avoiding an argument because the gulf in understanding would just cause problems. Sasha is almost directly responsible (though she doesn't know it) for the conflict between Diego and the Chulos and the deaths of over twenty-five people due to the need for her security. Something was going to give eventually though. It's just that a cusp was forced. She would not understand at first, and I'm not sure if her understanding what she did and why the events that took place did take place would benefit her mental health. Fuzzy would have been worried, but things turned out all right in the end so she wouldn't have minded at all. That's just barrens life. quote:Oh you sweet darling of an insecure woman-child. I do have to remind the thread that the Blake Island students are in their mid to late teens sometimes. They're still growing up. Julie has grown quite a lot from where she was, and is a prodigy, but she's still sixteen. Marco, the oldest of them all, is only nineteen. They're maturing, but none of them are truly mature. At best they're well adjusted to their circumstances. At worst, they're Julie Freeman. quote:Do give my best to Mrs. Liu; today’s Chinese New Year. Happy year of the dog. I might be butchering this, but I'm trying. "Gong hei fat choy." Anyhoo, I do remember you mentioning Chinese New Year and I'm still considering that for year two. I think it would be interesting both to write and as a sort of cultural research project. I'd have to see if there's enough appeal to write it up. Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 05:53 on Feb 17, 2018 |
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Feb 17, 2018 05:32
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Ice Phisherman posted:My muse was the Wu-Tang Clan. Thank them. I didn't figure you were a fan of the Gangsta Rap. Ice Phisherman posted:She's from a cop family. They value law and order. The lack of it makes her want to go and enforce said law and order, but there are a number of reasons why that's just not happening in the barrens areas. Don't think I don't see what you're doing; Sasha is one bad personal trauma away from becoming a tyrant prodigy at Knight Errant. If she were to say, lose, a friend to in riot, she'd hop on that 'Batman order at any cost fascism' train without compunction. Ice Phisherman posted:She would not understand at first, and I'm not sure if her understanding what she did and why the events that took place did take place would benefit her mental health. Fuzzy would have been worried, but things turned out all right in the end so she wouldn't have minded at all. That's just barrens life. Fuzzy knows. Her last words to Diego were that 'this would cause problems for you'; actually, in hindsight, why did Fuzzy agree to bring this much trouble to the front door? She knew that much hardware would draw attention. Ice Phisherman posted:Happy year of the dog. I might be butchering this, but I'm trying. You're doing just fine, Friend. You try, which is why I respect your writing. Ice Phisherman posted:Anyhoo, I do remember you mentioning Chinese New Year and I'm still considering that for year two. I think it would be interesting both to write and as a sort of cultural research project. I'd have to see if there's enough appeal to write it up. No pressure, just thought I'd bring up that its CNY.  I did reserve a table at Eighty-Eight Tastes though, do join me if you can. Ask for Mr. Johnson Wu.
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Feb 17, 2018 06:59
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CourValant posted:Fuzzy knows. Her last words to Diego were that 'this would cause problems for you'; actually, in hindsight, why did Fuzzy agree to bring this much trouble to the front door? She knew that much hardware would draw attention. My personal headcannon is that she knew they needed help, and it was either have a slow decline or have people come sniffing for goods. The supplies needed to fix a house and feed 30+ people for months are immense, and even if they brought it in slow people would eventually notice. I might edit that in. CourValant posted:I didn't figure you were a fan of the Gangsta Rap. My tastes are all over the place in terms of music. A month ago I wasn't, but I started listening to Biggie Smalls' Hypnotize on repeat since I absolutely adore the musical intro and branched out into other stuff. I'll probably find something new next month. quote:I did reserve a table at Eighty-Eight Tastes though, do join me if you can. Ask for Mr. Johnson Wu. I'm easy to please. Some HK style Siu yeh cart noodles for me. Throw in some rice noodles, fish balls and lettuce. I'm a westerner though, so I ask what a thing is first before eating it instead of asking what I just ate. I'm a big baby when it comes to the organs. Though as someone who lives in the South we eat a lot of those internal organs as well, so maybe not as big a baby as most.
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Feb 17, 2018 07:16
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Ice Phisherman posted:I'm a westerner though, so I ask what a thing is first before eating it instead of asking what I just ate. I'm a big baby when it comes to the organs. Though as someone who lives in the South we eat a lot of those internal organs as well, so maybe not as big a baby as most. My standard answer(s) for when someone asks me that question is: Dog, Cat, and Snake. Also, you 'Facing' for this Johnson meet then?
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Feb 17, 2018 08:10
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CourValant posted:My standard answer(s) for when someone asks me that question is: Dog, Cat, and Snake. Way too uncultured for that.
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Feb 17, 2018 08:19
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Great writing Ice, been reading this over the last few weeks. You definitely have flair for this. Just one little pedantic point though, it's make do, not make due. Sorry.
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Feb 17, 2018 22:10
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Excellent as always. Fuzzy totally needs to go ask Marco why he's acting like the ghoul who got the gizzard. Also in one of my first Cyberpunk games, that's the precurser to Shadowrun (once again  ) our group of teenage punks was based off the Wu-Tang Clan.
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Feb 18, 2018 05:34
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Deadmeat5150 posted:Also in one of my first Cyberpunk games, that's the precurser to Shadowrun (once again How do you feel about Cyberpunk 2077?
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Feb 18, 2018 06:42
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CourValant posted:How do you feel about Cyberpunk 2077? I'm optimistically apprehensive. CD Projekt Red has a strong history, but Cyberpunk is... hard to get right.
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Feb 18, 2018 07:54
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Deadmeat5150 posted:I'm optimistically apprehensive. CD Projekt Red has a strong history, but Cyberpunk is... hard to get right. Care to elaborate? Witcher 3 was great, and, this thread has made me really want to play a cyberpunk game. I know the source material is difficult to get right, I just don't know how because I've never actually played Cyberpunk (or Shadowrun for that matter).
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Feb 18, 2018 08:02
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Cyberpunk is very 80's punk rock. You want dirty streets, dingy lights but bright neon, gangs ala The Warriors, and the constant feeling of dread that comes from knowing you're a small fish in a big rear end ocean. One part Mad Max, one part Big Trouble in Little China. It's real hard hard to balance that. Im glad they've got a lot of source material to work with, but they're also advancing the timeline 57 years.
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Feb 18, 2018 08:11
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Seeing as they probably nailed down the broad strokes of the story years ago and the universe/background is already well-established, my concern is that it's going to be hilarious optimistic and naive when compared to the post-escalator reality.
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Feb 18, 2018 08:37
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Fuzzy, Sasha, Julie and Marco - Sunday, March 23rd, 2075 - Early afternoon - Downtown Seattle, Docks "Hup," called Fuzzy. With a noise and a pat on the back, Puppy jumped off her lap and onto the dock. His bulk suddenly lifted, Fuzzy could get up and did. Julie was too wrapped up in her grief to notice, but Sasha turned her head to look at Fuzzy. With a gesture, Fuzzy pointed to Marco. Sasha smiled and nodded slightly before she went back to consoling her friend. A few students stared at the scene, including of all people, Christina, who smiled and whispered something to one of her friends. Fuzzy ignored them and walked up to Marco. "Hey," said Fuzzy. Marco looked down at her and smiled weakly. He ran an enormous hand through his dark hair. The two struck a strange pair as Marco was nearly double Fuzzy's own height. Even Puppy, now over eighty pounds, looked small when he was next to Marco. "Hey," said Marco. "I guess you heard." Fuzzy nodded once and Marco sighed. "I was actually glad to be invited out to see to your father's orphanage. I was able to focus on them instead of what happened. To my shame I think I was looking more for a distraction than to help," he admitted. Fuzzy shrugged and smiled in response. "Whatever gets you to come is fine by me. You can talk to me if you want to though," said Fuzzy. Marco winced, looked away and rubbed at one of his massive forearms. "I didn't want to be a burden," said Marco. "Besides, I was planning on talking to my pastor, Devin, at church today. Obviously didn't happen though." "You're not a burden. At least not unless I have to carry you," she teased, gently. That wrung a wry smile out of Marco. "I'm fine though. Really," he said. Fuzzy looked up at him and listened closely as he spoke. She'd spent most of her mealtimes for the past year with Marco at their normal table and so she also knew him to be terrible at hiding his feelings. She could tell that he wasn't doing well. Fuzzy's commlink chirped inside of her pocket and she checked it. "Do you think you can pick up some pizza, ice cream and maybe some other snacks from the hotel? It's got a mall underneath complete with grocery store. You can hand off Puppy to Beef. I'll pay you back," read Sasha's text. Fuzzy turned around and Sasha was no longer hugging Julie. Instead of texting, Fuzzy waved back, commlink in hand. She stowed it in her pocket and looked up to Marco who was staring over Fuzzy’s body at Julie. Fuzzy needed no reason to go on a junk food run, but she could get Marco to come along to talk. "I'm going to pick up some snacks before the boat ride home. I'm going to hand off Puppy to Beef since I don't think I can bring him inside. Do you want to come with?" asked Fuzzy. He looked down at Fuzzy and then back up again, presumably at Julie. "The boat is coming soon. Maybe I should stay," he said, distantly. "Nah. It's another half an hour before it leaves. We're going to get snacks and you're going to talk to me," said Fuzzy. Marco looked back down at her and once again that wry grin made an appearance. "Am I now?" he asked. "Yep. I'll be back in a minute," she said. Fuzzy and Marco - Sunday, March 23rd, 2075 - Early afternoon - Downtown Seattle, Gates Undersound Hotel The mall of the Gates Undersound hotel took up the first two floors of the building. Like many malls, the space between the first and second floors was largely open. In fact it reminded Fuzzy of the mall in the Ares Arcology, though the fountain here was smaller than the one at Ares. It also didn’t have those marble sculptures of Greek Hoplites. When Fuzzy asked about them, Sasha had quietly admitted to her that she thought they were silly and pretentious. The mall was fairly dead as it was late on a Sunday, but all of the stores were still open. She had to wear her black AR goggles to actually see the signs of the shops which under normal circumstances meant she would have been bombarded by ads on the wall, on the floor, on the ceiling and even free floating in the air. Suffering through them would have been the case with her old metalink commlink. Her new commlink however had been fixed up by Sasha with a special app. Fuzzy pulled on a black haptic glove and pointed at or tapped the AR ads to make them disappear from her view. She found the process immensely satisfying as she ended the distractions of the AR advertisements. "So what happened?" asked Fuzzy, between finger pokes. Marco, who walked beside her, shrugged his broad shoulders. He had to slow his gait considerably while she had to walk quickly to keep up. Short girl problems. "I'm not really sure," he said. "Then what do you think happened?" asked Fuzzy. She stopped poking at the air once she found what she wanted and slipped off her AR goggles. They turned into a small grocery store. Marco pulled out one of the shopping carts meant for a person of his size and only had to duck his had slightly to get through the sliding glass doors. "I'm not really sure," he said, after a time. "Things were going fine for a while. We never had as much time for each other as we wanted, but I thought we were doing okay. When I realized that coffee after church isn't a date I started taking her out on Saturdays. Then she started canceling on me. She canceled three times in a row and just stayed on the island. She said she wanted to hike, and I asked if she'd like company. She said no each time. So I asked her if she'd like more training at her doctor's office, but she said no to that too. Then on Sundays she always shows up to Touristville with either Julian or Mother Bear and they tend to hover." Fuzzy pondered this for a time while they walked along. Before she could pursue the topic, Marco interrupted. "What are we getting?" asked Marco. "Sasha said to get pizza and ice cream. Also some other snacks I guess. Maybe some drinks too," said Fuzzy. Marco halted and sighed heavily. "So I'm helping you get Julie's comfort food for my own break-up," he said, his tone sad. "Wow. Life is really twisting the knife in my guts right now." Fuzzy suddenly felt a stab of guilt at what she’d asked him to do. "Sorry," said Fuzzy, self-consciously. "Is that what this is?" Marco looked at her and his face went from sad to thoughtful. "Right, I guess you wouldn't know," he said, slowly. "I'm no expert, but when women go through a breakup they invite their friends and eat junk food. At least that's what I've heard." "Oh. Weird," said Fuzzy. "Sorry, I didn't mean to make it worse." "It's fine. You didn't mean to," said Marco. "Now it embarrasses me to admit, but I haven't actually been inside of a grocery store in years. Do you know where pizza and ice cream are?" "I've never actually been in a grocery store before at all," said Fuzzy. "I know where everything is in a Stuffer Shack though. Is it anything like that?" "Probably not. Let's just go down the aisles," said Marco. Neither of them knew to look up to find what was normally on each aisle. It was one of the small, but numerous ways that the corporate prince was disconnected from the world. Food was brought to him already cooked, or he went to eat out. Fuzzy on the other hand had worked, hunted and traded for her food for years. She wasn't disconnected from her food. In fact she was more connected to her food than most people, but in this way she was disconnected from the normal lives of everyday people. Even with the relatively new addition of fast food, restaurants and the school cafeteria, this was another first for Fuzzy. As she and Marco went up and down the aisles, Fuzzy marveled at all of the food in the first aisle. There was just so much of it. She reached out and just picked up an apple, as they'd picked the wrong side of the grocery store and were on the opposite end from the frozen food section. The apple was packed in tightly among dozens of other apples. Next to it were more apples, these ones yellow and a little larger. Next to them were green apples, smaller than both. There was entire row just for apples. This was Seattle after all. The Washington area was known for its apples. However, beyond that were oranges, pears, grapes and fruits which she couldn't identify. There were cartons of berries such as strawberries, blueberries and blackberries. Since this was a high end store there were even expensive local favorites like huckleberries and marionberries imported from Tir Tairngire, what used to be Oregon and northern California. That was just the fruit. There were vegetables beyond that, most of which Fuzzy could identify. Beyond the vegetables were fresh bread, a salad bar and hot foods. While she quietly contemplated all of the food, Marco bought a few hot and ready pizzas from a friendly attendant who asked if he might also be interested in a sub sandwich or some sushi. He bought an already assembled sub sandwich for himself that was troll sized, so the sandwich was over two feet long. They emerged from the first aisle and Fuzzy saw the aisle where packaged meat, cheese, milk, yogurt and other food that needed to be refrigerated waited to be bought. She had no time to contemplate that as Marco immediately turned down another aisle. Marco meandered from aisle to aisle as she held her apple. She followed him, her mouth agape as she looked at shelves full to bursting of food for expats, as the Gates Undersound was also a high class hotel for travelers. At first she thought she’d forgotten how to read, but recognized words in Spanish and realized that these were probably food from around the world. Onto the next aisle there were prepackaged meals. The next had boxes of cereal with happy cartoons characters whose names she couldn't identify. After that were soft drinks and bottled water. On and on she went, each aisle revealing new kinds of food. Though the grocery store had a mere ten aisles, it was as if she'd accidentally stumbled into a bank vault or into the treasure hoard of a sleeping dragon, but there was no bank security, no dragon. There was only food, but so much of it. Without realizing it, she gently bumped into Marco's back. He turned around and said something, but it didn't register. "What?" she asked, quietly. "What kind of ice cream do you want?" he repeated. She looked and saw ice cream. There were also iced novelties like popsicles, ice cream bars, ice cream sandwiches and even some ice mocha. The last of which was not out of place at all as Asian culture continued to bleed into the west coast of the former USA as it had for centuries. Fuzzy opened the door, reached into the freezer, picked up a pint of ice cream and read the name. "Birthday cake and blackberries," she absently read aloud. "It sounds good," said Marco, and his tone grew slightly sad. "Maybe I'll have some too." He picked out two pints of his own. "How does banana with salted caramel and cherry chocolate chip sound?" he asked. "Sounds good," Fuzzy said, automatically. "I'll get two of each then. Oh chocolate. I'll get a couple of those. Wait, no, molten chocolate. The package says that there are five different flavors of chocolate in here. I think that's a winner for a breakup party," he said, ruefully. "Right," said Fuzzy, quietly. Fuzzy flashed back to years ago. Two men shouted over a missing cup of noodles in what was a six pack, now a five pack with a rip. The initial disagreement had grown so heated that an argument started, followed by shouts, and finally ended one of the men whipped out a pistol and shot the other man in the face over the missing noodles. She'd watched a man be killed over what was in such abundant supply in this store. She remembered being chased by ghouls and trapped in a building in the dark for three days without food until she was brave enough to see if they went away. She remembered lean winters and being thankful for roasted rats. At this point Fuzzy only had two options. One was to break down right here in the store. Perhaps she would cry. Perhaps she wouldn't. Maybe she would wander around in a daze or simply sit down and try to understand what all of this meant, if anything. Even curling up into a ball on the floor wasn't outside the realm of possibility. Anguish was option one. Option two was to ruthlessly suppress her emotions. She was startled that upon thinking about it, she actually had the choice of what to do. She steeled her will and chose the latter. Marco and Julie needed her. She told herself that later she would break down, because not doing so was not an option. She would simply postpone it, and so she stuffed her feelings deep down inside of her. She told herself that she'd been to a Stuffer Shack before. This was just way, way, WAY bigger and with more selection than just burgers, microwave burritos and carbonated drinks. She told herself that she could hold herself together, and so she did. Fuzzy snapped back to full awareness. The crisis was over for now. "We should get a lot. Maybe one of each. The worst that happens is that they get stuffed in a mini fridge," she said. "Okay," said Marco. Marco hadn’t noticed. He’d been too busy wrestling with his own pain. That meant that things went smoothly instead of stopping to help Fuzzy cope in a way that she’d decided not to, at least for now. Soon the grocery cart was filled with ice cream, cardboard boxes of still steaming pizza and one troll sized sub sandwich. They detoured back to the aisle with the soft drinks and got a few two liters of Fizzychug soda, Cherry Thunder and Mango Smile cola. Almost everything was chipped with a radio frequency ID tag, so Fuzzy slotted her credstick in the grocery cart and the nuyen rolled off it as she was billed. "Thank you and come again!" chirped the grocery cart, in a cheerful woman’s voice. A pretty young woman bagged their groceries near the exit. She asked them if they needed help with their purchases, but Marco hefted the bags without even straining. Fuzzy checked her commlink for the time. "We have about ten minutes. We should hurry back," she said. Marco walked quickly and Fuzzy jogged to keep up. She grabbed Puppy’s leash from a waiting Beef who grinned and smiled at her. Puppy got to his feet and barked happily. “Thought you were going to miss the boat!” he called out. “Thanks, Beef!” she called. “You’re welcome, kiddo!” he said, to her back. With two minutes to spare, Marco, Fuzzy and Puppy made it onto the dock and into the boat. They hesitated when they realized that Marco had all of the food and drinks for a breakup party he would obviously not be invited to, Fuzzy had accidentally shoplifted an apple as she'd stuffed it into her jacket to better get the ice cream and Puppy was next to all of this delicious smelling food that he couldn’t immediate eat. Fuzzy pulled out her apple, looked at it briefly and shrugged before stowing it in her jacket once again. Marco went to his normal seat, but after a brief moment of hesitation, Fuzzy sat down next to him where Julie would normally sit. His eyebrows climbed up his brow in surprise at Fuzzy's presence. "You normally sit with Sasha," he said. "But then who would sit with you?" asked Fuzzy. "You don't have to," he said. "I know. You didn't have to come to Puyallup today. Plus I remember all of that time you took out of your busy schedule to teach me how to read. You got me started on that, remember? Because I remember," said Fuzzy, earnestly. She beamed up at him, and for what seemed like the first time today, Marco cracked a genuine smile. "I remember," he said, his voice suddenly rough. He cleared his throat as he arranged the food on a nearby seat. Fuzzy pulled out her commlink so she could talk to Marco peer to peer. The reason for this became obvious as the old school boat roared to life. The noise of its engine drowned out most conversation. With a quick text to Sasha, Fuzzy said that she'd be sitting with Marco on the boat ride home so she wouldn't be alone. Sasha sent back a smiley face and then a heart to the affirmative which made Fuzzy smile. The boat rolled over the Puget Sound, and dipped only slightly with the waves as it fairly large. Fuzzy and Marco began to text back and forth, something she couldn't have done even a year ago. She kicked up her feet, splayed them into an empty, adjacent seat and leaned her back against Marco's side. Puppy turned around once and settled down in front of the two as Fuzzy went back to attempting to comfort her friend and figure out what happened. -- So this post was going to run long. I'm going to split it in half. I got side tracked by the grocery store. I'll explain why in my follow up post. Fuzzy rolled well enough that she didn't fall apart in the presence of all of that food with 3 hits on 8 dice. Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 10:43 on Feb 18, 2018 |
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Feb 18, 2018 10:09
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Fuzzy sees all of the food in the grocery store. She sees the numerous varieties, the stocked shelves, all of that food just waiting to be picked up and has an existential crisis which she's briefly able to beat back. History note, when the USSR was still a thing, the Americans would bring officials and defectors to American grocery stores. They would think that it was all staged like a Potemkin town. Russia was known for its shortages and long, LONG lines for even staple foods. American grocery stores were sort of like psychological torture to the Russian people. Fuzzy has never even been to something like a Russian style grocery store, much less an actual grocery store. She's never seen so much food in one place, and has literally seen a person be killed over a missing pack of cup noodles in a six pack which I mentioned all the way back in book one. Fuzzy rolls composure. She gets 3 hits. That's enough for now, but later on she'll lay awake in bed thinking all of that food. Then it'll hit her all at once and she'll break down in some way. I really can't see her not doing this in the face of so much abundance. Throwing away food galls her when someone does it, but being surrounded by abundance tested even the sanity of people from different countries who were already familiar with the concept. If I'd been a real bastard, I would've made Fuzzy see someone throwing away pizza because it had been too long since it was made and showed her institutionalized commercial food waste. Pharnakes posted:Great writing Ice, been reading this over the last few weeks. You definitely have flair for this. I just fixed it. No need to apologize. I like when people help me out with my editing. Welcome to the thread!
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Feb 18, 2018 10:14
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Ice Phisherman posted:So this post was going to run long. I'm going to split it in half. I got side tracked by the grocery store. I'll explain why in my follow up post. Fuzzy rolled well enough that she didn't fall apart in the presence of all of that food with 3 hits on 8 dice. Huh, so in all this time Fuzzy never went to a grocery store? She's been to Stuffer Shack (7-11) though, which still had aisles and aisles of food? Just not enough to trigger the panic attack I suppose? What I mean is, this can't be the first time that Fuzzy had to confront the 'abundance' issue. ***** edit ***** Ice Phisherman posted:History note, when the USSR was still a thing, the Americans would bring officials and defectors to American grocery stores. They would think that it was all staged like a Potemkin town. Russia was known for its shortages and long, LONG lines for even staple foods. American grocery stores were sort of like psychological torture to the Russian people. Gotta love Government sanctioned price controls and production quotas. See current day Venezuela for an immediate example of how a society can fall apart in a matter of a year or so. CourValant fucked around with this message at 10:34 on Feb 18, 2018 |
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Feb 18, 2018 10:30
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CourValant posted:Huh, so in all this time Fuzzy never went to a grocery store? She's been to Stuffer Shack (7-11) though, which still had aisles and aisles of food? Just not enough to trigger the panic attack I suppose? A Stuffer Shack is basically one step above a bodega. It also sells more than just food which I guess I haven't been clear on. I'll fix this to make it more clear. Edit: Fixed it, or maybe I just patched it. I'm not sure. She has run into small abundance. Just not concentrated and with so much variety. She pays money and she gets food. She's used to that. She's not used to being surrounded by so much food. If it doesn't resonate I'll drop it from the story or tamp it down. A lot of my work which I feel is good gets dropped at the cutting room floor. I'll leave that up to the thread. It's not the first time I've done something like that. Let me know in the comments please and please be honest about if you feel like it fits or not. I'd rather waste my time than drag down the story. Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 10:43 on Feb 18, 2018 |
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Feb 18, 2018 10:33
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Ice Phisherman posted:If it doesn't resonate I'll drop it from the story or tamp it down. A lot of my work which I feel is good gets dropped at the cutting room floor. I'll leave that up to the thread. It's not the first time I've done something like that. Let me know in the comments please and please be honest about if you feel like it fits or not. I'd rather waste my time than drag down the story. No no, don't get me wrong, it absolutely resonates, just playing Editor tonight and keeping the author honest. The idea that 1/3 to 1/2 of all food produced in this Country is wasted doesn't sit well with me either, so maybe have that be Fuzzy's trigger? I say do the scene where she sees the pizza being thrown out, and have Marco non-chalantly state that, "Yeah, lots of food gets thrown out, that's what expiration dates are for."; that might make the panic attack feel more organic? Just a thought, what do I know, I'm just another mouth-breather on the internet.
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Feb 18, 2018 10:47
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CourValant posted:Just a thought, what do I know, I'm just another mouth-breather on the internet. I appreciate your input because you often give me an emotional reaction to the story and help me make it better. Don't put yourself down.
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Feb 18, 2018 10:52
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Ice Phisherman posted:I appreciate your input because you often give me an emotional reaction to the story and help me make it better. Don't put yourself down. 
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Feb 18, 2018 10:55
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Fuzzy, Marco, Kenji and Olisha - Sunday, March 23rd, 2075 - Early afternoon - Puget Sound, on the boat Fuzzy sat with her head and back against Marco's side with her feet propped up on the seats while Marco sat normally in the seat that was built especially for him. Both texted and held their conversation while looking away from one another. Not because it was more comfortable for them to talk about painful or personal topics this way, though that is often one of the benefits of text over speech, but because the motor of the old school boat was just too loud to permit easy conversation. It felt strange for Fuzzy to lean up against him. For all of his great size and gentleness, underneath his tasteful clothing and jacket was a sheet of solid muscle. It felt much like leaning up against a warm brick wall that would occasionally shift. The two began to tap out their messages. "So what happened with Mother Bear and Julian?" texted Fuzzy. "You said they've been with Julie every Sunday?" "I can talk about it, but not over the matrix" texted Marco. "Can you turn matrix access off and switch to peer to peer?" Peer to peer was technically wireless, but the connection was direct between two commlinks or more. It made electronic eavesdropping difficult and also allowed short range communication of a few feet. It was common in matrix dead zones like most of Touristville and Puyallup and when paranoid people wanted privacy. Just like that they both dropped off the matrix. You could still eavesdrop, but you would have to be close enough to read the text or be within just a few feet and hack into their commlinks. Marco continued. "Yeah. They hover around her too. Julian is less conspicuous about it though since he's helping to promote the new doctor's office and Mother Bear has been helping Julie out with her healing, but they're both around all of the time for the last month or two. The only time I see Julie on Sundays without them is at church. I've been working with Mother Bear closely since I decided to be a healer, so about three years now. I know her well enough that I can tell that something is up," texted Marco. "Did you ask her why?" texted Fuzzy. "Yeah. She told me that she's helping Julie learn. I asked if that was all and she said she's taking a further interest in Julie's education. You know, beyond the grunts and complaining," responded Marco. Fuzzy grinned and looked up at him, but he didn't notice. His face was heavily creased in a frown as he tapped out his message on his oversized commlink. "I don't buy it," he continued to text. "I know I'm not supposed to, but I read Mother Bear, Julian and Julie in the astral. You know, their auras? It's a serious invasion of privacy and really rude, but I didn't know what else to do. I finally broke down and did it last week. What I saw disturbed me. Julie hasn't been doing well for the last month. She fakes it well enough, but I can tell. Julian is just riddled with nervousness, Mother Bear is freaking out about something and Julie seems like she's falling apart. Every time I try to talk to her about it she pulls further away from me." "Wow, that's bad," texted Fuzzy. "It's really bad. I asked Julie to talk to me and she told me everything was fine when it clearly wasn't. Then I pitched the idea of talking to pastor Devin and she didn't want to do that either. I even tried talking to Chip, her spirit ally, but he just looked sad and went away. I feel bad because I'm prying into her life after she's asked me not to, but I can't stand to watch her fall apart. I've prayed about it, and to me her well-being is more important than her privacy. She doesn't need to talk to me. I'm not so conceited as that. I just want her to get help. I think it cost me my relationship with her, but she's not doing well and getting worse. I don't know what to do," Marco responded. "Have you talked to Julian?" texted Fuzzy. Fuzzy felt Marco's long sigh through her back, so she guessed the answer before it came. Meanwhile she checked her commlink's dictionary to look up what the word conceited meant. "Julian is slippery. He means well, but he's guarded about everything. I could try," he texted. "I could too," Fuzzy shot back. "I thought you didn't like him," texted Marco. The two shifted in their seats as the boat hit a particularly big wave. Fuzzy checked a window and saw that it had started to rain. In fact from the sound against the roof, the rain was coming in hard and all at once. "He's been trying to make up for being a jerk to me. He's always eager to talk, but I try not to," texted Fuzzy. "It might work. Maybe," responded Marco. "Or I could just talk to Julie," suggested Fuzzy. "I'm not sure if it'll work," texted Marco. She could feel him sigh again. "Well, supposedly I'm invited to this pizza and ice cream thing. Maybe I can talk to her there," texted Fuzzy. "Would you?" Marco returned. Instead of texting to the affirmative, Fuzzy nudged Marco and smiled up at him. He smiled at her in response, though this one was colored by worry. He wrapped one of his enormous arms around her and pulled her into a brief side hug. Fuzzy continued once it was over. "What about you?" texted Fuzzy. "Me?" asked Marco. "Yeah. Julie has Sasha and I guess me if I'm invited. Who are you inviting?" texted Fuzzy. "To what?" queried Marco. Fuzzy struggled for a time with how to word it. "To the break up not party thing? I don't know the words for it," texted Fuzzy. "Guys don't do that. Not really," explained Marco. "So what do guys do? You're not going to be alone, are you?" texted Fuzzy. Marco didn't text back for a time. She looked up to see him looking sad, and she imagined her friend all alone tonight in his cabin while it rained. She handed Puppy's leash to him, patted his side and stood up. She wobbled slightly and stuck her commlink in her jacket pocket. "I'll be right back!" she exclaimed over the sound of the engine. She walked as the boat continued to rock as she looked for someone. Most of the students were texting just like Marco and Fuzzy just did, though some were trying to squeeze in those last few precious minutes of time of access to the matrix. She spied Julie and Sasha together. She waved at them, but didn't stop. It took her a few minutes and two passes up and down the deck to find who she was looking for, but eventually she found Kenji flanked on either side by two young women. They were the furthest away from the engine so Fuzzy could actually hear them above the engine. This was where the upperclassmen usually sat. "Do Iggy. You know, from Presence Sensory? They're my favorite band," said the redhead. She turned her commlink towards him and he nodded. Kenji adopted a look of concentration as he hid his hand behind his face. "Oh my gosh, that's awesome. You're really good at this," she continued. "Can you do his hair?" "I'll do you one better," he said. She'd seen them around the island, but she didn't recognize them from any of her classes. Fuzzy had been in the magical safety course, spell casting classes, the summoning safety course and physical adept class. These were either adepts outside of her classes, social adepts like Kenji or the ones who made themselves smarter. Or they were just upperclassmen. There were two of them. Both pretty and both elves. While Fuzzy tried to figure out who they were, Kenji nodded and suddenly his skin changed from his normal, pale Asian features to a darker complexion. He pulled a black beanie over his head, When he took it off of his head his hair was in loose curls, and almost looked styled. The redhead squealed with delight. Fuzzy realized that this was why she couldn't find Kenji on the first pass. He'd looked like someone else. She must have been staring for a while, because Kenji smiled at her and waved lazily. "What's up?" asked Kenji, who did not at all look like Kenji. The redhead and an African american girl turned to look at her critically. The second girl turned back to Kenji first while the redhead narrowed her eyes. Fuzzy didn't care and sat down across from them. "Wanted to say hi," said Fuzzy. "Do Jet Black," said the African american girl. The redhead groaned which seemed to delight her friend. "Olisha, you always ask for Jet Black," complained the redhead. "His music is so old." "That's because I have taste, Sarah," said Olisha. "There's a word for old music that's good. It's classic. Plus I want to see if he gets it right this time." While Sarah was dressed in smart looking designer clothing, Olisha wore a tight all black tank top with a fishnet top over it to show off her dark skin underneath. Her synthleather jeans were skintight. The only color other than black visible in her entire outfit was the shiny metal from the riveted studs that ran the length of her synthleather pants. Her dark hair was long, she wore a heavy black cap and lipstick that was far darker than her skin on a wide mouth with full lips. She smelled like expensive perfume and cheap cigarettes. The times may change, the world may seem crazy, and corporations may continue to put out overproduced music, but goth would never die. At least not if Olisha had anything to say about it. Meanwhile, Kenji changed his face again as he stuffed his hair under his cap. His hair went back to its normal shade of black after he pulled off his cap one final time. Maybe it was even a little darker than before, but as he hid his face behind his hand, she could see his skin turn almost deathly pale. When he removed his hand once more, a stranger with perhaps the prettiest, yet most forlorn features Fuzzy had ever seen on a man stared back at her. "He doesn't smile that much," said Olisha, thoughtfully. "I'm not smiling," said Kenji. "More like if you could unsmile. Not a frown, but more...Melancholy," she continued. "Wow," said Fuzzy. "When did you start doing that?" "I can't slack off in my classes all the time, can I?" he asked, and then turned his head. "Like this Olisha?" Kenji did...Something. Fuzzy wasn't sure what, but he added something to the look that she couldn't quite identify. "There it is," cooed Olisha. "Almost at least. Anguish. I like it. It's not melancholy, but close. It's like you almost mean it, Ken." She leaned forward in that moment and delicately bit the tip of his ear. The man who was Kenji, but didn't look like him twitched. The magic fell apart and Fuzzy recognized her friend once more as his features and skin tone returned to what he was naturally. Sarah looked distinctly uncomfortable as Olisha continued to nibble and Kenji continued to weakly struggle as a blush rapidly spread across his face. "Ugh. I thought you said you had taste," complained Sarah. Olisha released his ear and that blush of his left just as fast as it came, almost as if by magic, because it was. She licked her lips while Kenji cleared his throat. "I just got one," teased Olisha. "Why don't you two get a room?" asked Sarah. Olisha shot Kenji a predatory smile. To Kenji's credit, he didn't wilt under the older girl's gaze. Sarah let out a disgusted sigh, pulled out her AR glasses and checked out of the conversation. "So what's up, Fuzzy?" asked Kenji. "Wait, you're Fuzzy?" interrupted Olisha. She gave Fuzzy another appraising look. "I've heard about you. I thought you'd be taller," she said. "I wish," complained Fuzzy. "You're with Sasha, right?" she asked. "Yeah," she said, and smiled. "That's cool. I'm a junior in the adept track. Spell slingers and adepts don't talk much. Sasha and I don't share mundane or magic classes, since I'm a year ahead of her and she's in the shaman track," said Olisha. "What do you do?" asked Fuzzy. Olisha smiled at her and laid back against her seat. She crossed her legs and Fuzzy saw the bottoms of her boots. They read simply, "If you can read this, I'm kicking you," on the bottoms. "Music. Give me an instrument and I either already know how to play it or can in about half an hour. I'll be good with it in about a day and great in a month," said Olisha. "Horizon has been sniffing around about getting me into a music contract. You know, sling some talent together to make a band and feed them songs. I'm not interested though. Most stars flame out in about a year nowadays, if that. I'm more into composing than being up front. Writers have staying power. Corporate musicians don't." "Oh okay. Wait, you're with Horizon?" asked Fuzzy, suspiciously. Olisha grinned big and broad. "Yep. You sure punched the hell out of Minuet. That bitch is trying to sue everyone and everything last I heard. She won't get anywhere though. She flamed out too. It happens sometimes, though it's more flash in the pan than burning up on reentry. She even got her parents fired," she said, her tone disinterested. "Even I had to go through mandatory sensitivity training, and I spend five days a week on an island. Of course I'm already sensitive as can be. Isn't that right, Ken?" Kenji didn't respond and her gaze slipped from Fuzzy and down to her hand. She splayed her fingers to check her nails. They were painted black of course. "What are you doing tonight, Kenji?" asked Fuzzy. Kenji looked over to Olisha. She didn't look back. Instead she only smiled slightly and kept inspecting her nails. "Not sure yet," said Kenji. "Why?" "Julie broke up with Marco and he's going to be alone tonight. I thought you could try and cheer him up," said Fuzzy. "Aww, good old Marco," cooed Olisha. "He's such a good boy." "He's a year older than you, Olisha," said Kenji, pointedly. She grinned and shrugged in response. "Meh. Whatever," she said, teasingly. "You going to help him?" "Probably," said Kenji. "Hmm. A shame about that room," she said, sweetly. Sarah made a disgusted noise and Olisha smiled wickedly in response. Kenji stood up and so did Fuzzy. "Nice meeting you, Olisha," said Fuzzy. She raised her hand and wiggled her fingers in response. Fuzzy and Kenji walked away towards the back of the boat. "You didn't say bye," said Fuzzy. "It just encourages her," said Kenji. "She's like a cat. Warm one minute and disinterested the next. She's great at the piano though. You should hear her play." Further conversation became difficult as they walked towards the back of the boat. CYOA Time So Fuzzy has received information from Marco. He's very worried about Julie and it seems that Julian and Mother Bear are hovering around her for some reason. We as readers (and one writer) know what's going on, but what does Fuzzy think is going on? Fuzzy is motivated to tackle the situation, but how exactly should she do it and does she enlist help from Sasha or not? Remember that Fuzzy is aware of Julie's vision of the future, though not the full extent of it. Julie admitted to her what was going on just outside of the show in order to help Fuzzy save Sasha from killing herself. Fuzzy is also aware that she's not to talk about it for the safety of both herself and especially Julie, and made a promise not to do so. -- I've spent some of Kenji's adept points. He's picked up keratin control so he can easily change the shape of his hair given a few hours, but make cosmetic changes rather quickly. He could even grow a beard if he wanted to. He's also picked up melanin control, so he can actually change his race and even metatype. He can pass for human, but would have a harder time passing for an ork without fake tusks. Passing for a dwarf or a troll would be impossible. With his already existing facial sculpt power he can pretty much become anything, and is able to pass off the fact that he's now become a fantastic infiltrator and can imitate nearly anyone as a party trick to impress girls as is befitting his slacker personality. I've also spent some of his karma. He's picked up two points of artisan for 6 karma and a point of edge for 15 karma. He's taking an art class this semester and actually enjoying himself, so he's applying himself in his high school art class. Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 16:53 on Feb 19, 2018 |
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Feb 19, 2018 15:44
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I think Fuzzy's smart enough to put the basics together, if not the whole picture. She got a real good look at Julie while she was breaking down and letting Fuzzy know what was up. She knows the pain and trouble is centered around that. With Julian and Mother Bear being involved, she might even figure that's why Julie's so reluctant to talk about it. But, at the same time, she made a promise not to talk to anyone about it too. So, I think she tackles it the only way that she really knows how to - taking some of the burden off of her friend by sharing it. At some point tonight, when Fuzzy gets a minute alone to talk to Julie, she should make it clear that even if she doesn't have the whole picture, she has Julie's back. Julie doesn't have to tell her any more than she already has; Fuzzy isn't going to tell anyone new without Julie's permission. But after tonight, Julie will know for a fact that the toughest, most getting-poo poo-done, most loyal of her friends is in her corner, no questions asked. That won't fix the problems that are already there, but maybe that'll keep Julie from falling apart any worse. And to day, Fuzzy's been unable to help herself from taking other people's problems onto her own shoulders when given a chance, going all the way back to the third-wheel date-thing that Fuzzy, Sasha, and Julie went on.
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Feb 19, 2018 16:45
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As usual I find myself agreeing with jagadaishio. That said, having pieced together that all this is somehow connected, she would also realise that Julian and Mother Bear already knows about this secret. As such, she can try to talk to Julian about it without breaking any promises. But to be on the safe side she'll be as vague as possible; can't risk telling him some detail he didn't know yet just because she's fairly convinced that he knows as much as she does. All that would technically apply to Mother Bear as well, but as Julian has been trying to reach out to Fuzzy and rebuild bridges, it's him she talks to.
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Feb 19, 2018 18:11
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Ice Phisherman posted:CYOA Time Fuzzy would apply her understanding of why teacher's interfere to the situation, which is to say, Julie is in some sort of danger and or trouble and needs constant support and surveillance. She's already spoken with Julie, so not sure how productive another discussion would be, especially with the break-up. I don't think she'd bring Sasha into it either, because then Fuzzy would have to explain everything, and that's no bueno. I would say Fuzzy talks to Momma Bear; she's closer to her than Julian, and even if Julian is eager to 'make it up to Fuzzy', I'm not sure how productive a Julian conversation would be. He's too cagey to give any meaningful conversation. Paige on the other hand, visit her at her cabin, get her to pull out the whiskey again, and maybe we get something interesting.
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Feb 19, 2018 19:35
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I like plan jag and Groetgaffel's idea of talking to Julian. While I'm a big fan of Momma Bear, I'd like to see Fuzzy and Julian's relationship come to a decent balance point. ------------- On a different note, I think it'd be cool if Fuzzy picked up the Astral Perception adept power. She's already pretty perceptive, but just think of how quickly she'd learn Assensing with Sasha as a tutor!
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Feb 19, 2018 22:36
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cigaw posted:On a different note, I think it'd be cool if Fuzzy picked up the Astral Perception adept power. She's already pretty perceptive, but just think of how quickly she'd learn Assensing with Sasha as a tutor! I think that Fuzzy should get Astral Perception as a Qi Focus tattoo. Astral Perception is one of those sometimes-powers that you don't need all the time. It'd be better to get it as a tattoo (like what her fellow intern Marcus has) than spend permanent power points on it for that reason.
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Feb 19, 2018 23:16
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jagadaishio posted:I think that Fuzzy should get Astral Perception as a Qi Focus tattoo. Does it have to be tattoos?
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Feb 20, 2018 00:21
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It could be almost anything, but tattoos can't be taken away/lost/forgotten/whatever like a physical trinket can.
Crazycryodude fucked around with this message at 00:27 on Feb 20, 2018 |
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Feb 20, 2018 00:23
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And glowing tattoos are cyberpunk as fuuuuuuck. The real question is, what does the tattoo look like? Ooooh. Contest? Arty people put together some sweet tats for Fuzzy and let the thread vote on the one that becomes canon.
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Feb 20, 2018 00:36
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Full back tattoo with the area of pullyup, Seattle, Tacoma, and Blake Island, complete with charactures from Rat Man to touristville orcs, to the AHCH dregs and teachers and friends and pets. That'd be alot of ink to put multiple foci in.
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Feb 20, 2018 00:48
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Toughy posted:Full back tattoo with the area of pullyup, Seattle, Tacoma, and Blake Island, complete with charactures from Rat Man to touristville orcs, to the AHCH dregs and teachers and friends and pets. "The Girl With The Washington Tattoo"
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Feb 20, 2018 00:52
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CourValant posted:Does it have to be tattoos? It doesn't have to be, but Adepts traditionally like to. That way they can't be taken away. Plus, I'm sure Sasha digs tattoos. RickVoid posted:And glowing tattoos are cyberpunk as fuuuuuuck. The real question is, what does the tattoo look like? For Shamans, it's probably going to be something directly symbolic. Something prominently featuring an eye, or a Perception-Totem spirit like Owl.
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Feb 20, 2018 00:52
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RickVoid posted:"The Girl With The Washington Tattoo" Go big or go home?
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Feb 20, 2018 01:09
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jagadaishio posted:I think that Fuzzy should get Astral Perception as a Qi Focus tattoo. Astral Perception is one of those sometimes-powers that you don't need all the time. It'd be better to get it as a tattoo (like what her fellow intern Marcus has) than spend permanent power points on it for that reason. I however have no idea what Fuzzy's views on tattoos are - she may very well associate it with gangs and that's bad. Either way, Fuzzy should get it, which would net us stories about Sasha teaching fuzzy to use sight beyond sight. Ice, how does Sasha stack up to the teachers when it comes to Assensing? Does having to do it every hour of every day match or beat years of experience teaching this stuff?
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Feb 20, 2018 01:12
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cigaw posted:Oh, from a gaming standpoint that would absolutely be preferable to just spending an Adept point on it; like you said it's one of those utility powers that's great as a focus. She's on par or better than most of her teachers because that's how she sees people all of the time. Most likely she's going to only get better than her teachers as time goes on. In short, she could definitely teach Fuzzy how to do assense if Fuzzy got a focus that let her assense or picked up the assensing power. Mechanically, Sasha has 11 or 12 dice in assensing from what I remember off the top of my head. For any character in the game, 8 dice is assumed to be someone who is workmanlike at any craft. 12 or so is someone who is very good at their job. 4 magic + 5 or 6 in skill and a +2 specialty in assensing people. What holds her back the most from other teachers is her lower magic score. Once you reach above 6 in any skill through training alone you're assumed to be above professionally trained. Buying skills maxes out at a skill of 12, though mechanically most people stop at 5 or 6 because of the diminishing returns with karma points as raising a skill from 6 to 7 takes months and 14 karma points. At higher levels you're usually better served by investing in your stats.
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Feb 20, 2018 01:34
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Point of correction, Assensing uses Intuition, not Magic, doesn't it? Also, how's Sasha's Instruction skill? You can be excellent at something but still not any good at teaching.
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Feb 20, 2018 02:09
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