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Edit: A polished version of this story with all the CYOA debates removed is being published on Royal Road. You can find it at https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/27044/aestia-valley . Please go check it out! In the beginning, there was nothing. Only an endless void. There was no land. There were no seas. There was no day nor night. There were no spirit beasts. Only the ancestors existed, and they hardly knew it. They forged their way through the void by pure will but did not know each other. The ancestors did not even know themselves, for in the void all was one, and the other could not be distinguished from the self.  Then the ancestors discovered a great light in the void. The light poured forth endlessly and pressed against the ancestors like a tidal wave. The light streamed out from its origin and on into the void. It carried anything in its path along with it. The Ancestors were pushed back by the light until they could barely see the origin anymore. Mustering up their will, they forced their way back to the light, for it showed them a great treasure.  With the light, the ancestors could see themselves and each other. There was much rejoicing; for each had thought themselves alone; but now, they had each other.  Celebrating the discovery of each other, the ancestors came together. Afterward, the first children of the ancestors were born into the void. These first children were born with wills far weaker than those the ancestors had cultivated in the journey through the void. Lacking the will to resist the light, the children were swiftly swept into the void. Many of the ancestors sought to catch up to their children. If any did, none returned to tell the tale. The first children and the ancestors who pursued them wander lost in the void still, unable to find the light once more. The ancestors who stayed learned from the loss of their children and the disappearance of the ancestors who left the light to find them. Joining their wills together they surrounded the light with an eggshell.  Again, the ancestors came together in celebration of their creation and each other. Again, children were born unto the ancestors after their celebration. These second children the ancestors placed lovingly within the shell. Along with their children, the ancestors placed within the eggshell everything their children would need to grow strong.  The ancestors watch over us all, hoping one day we will cultivate a will strong enough to leave our egg and join them. Although you are too young to know it yet, your journey to leave the egg starts in: CHOICE A: Aestia Valley  Aestia Valley is a small shelter of civilization hidden away from the madness beyond its tall but fertile slopes. Here, humans live in harmony with animals. Every child is raised together with an animal who shares their soul and their burdens. The Matriarch of each of the tribes is said to be able to take the shape of animals, and their companion the shape of a human. CHOICE B: Maraztlan, the Sea City  Maraztlan, the Sea City, is a wholly constructed city. It was dragged kicking and screaming into existence by the will of the Emerald Empress, long may she reign, to serve as an administrative center. The great families of the empire all make their homes here, as do many lesser ones. It pleases the Emerald Empress, long may she reign, to allow the great families to compete for her favor. The families, great and small alike, scheme against each other endlessly in the hopes of climbing to prominence over the crushed dreams of their rivals. Women and Men flock to the city from throughout the empire seeking advancement. Truly it is said; even a mouse may grow to a lion on the crumbs of a titan. CHOICE C: Chanquilo village  Chanquilo is a quiet place. One of many that grow food for Maraztlan. There has been no violence in Chanquilo in living memory. Most children work in the fields with their family when they grow up. Ambitious villagers might travel as far as the next village. Maybe once in a generation a villager is found to have been touched by the Ancestors and, by the grace of the Emerald Empress, long may she reign, is permitted to attend the same school as the children of the great families. CHOICE D: Puntolejano, city of trade  Far from the center of the empire and the safety provided by the Emerald Empress, long may she reign, Puntolejano exists on a knife's edge. It has been burned down twice in the past century by the Sky Children who live outside the Emerald Empire and is frequently raided. Puntolejano is always rebuilt because when the Sky Children aren't burning down everything they see, they are extremely lucrative trading partners. So magistrates want to stay on the good side of the Sky Children, but the Emerald Empress, long may she reign, keeps a close eye on the magistrates and is swift to punish any hint of disloyalty. She has executed more of them than the Sky Children have killed. The current magistrate has thus far managed to avoid incurring the wrath of either the Sky Children or the Empress. That is unlikely to last forever, but as long as it does, wealth will flow through the city like a river. CHOICE E: Suelta  Suelta is one of many city-states so far beyond the borders of the Emerald Empire that they haven’t even heard of it. No one city in the region is strong enough to dominate much territory, and dangerous spirit beasts roam the wilds between cities. No city-state could afford to lose more than a few of its warriors, so conflicts between cities are usually solved by duels instead of all-out war. Suelta has been involved in duels with at least one of its neighbors eight out of the last ten years. WRITE IN CHOICE Welcome to the game! I'm very happy you are here. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I expect to enjoy writing it. All Ways Be Cultivating is a Choose Your Own Adventure game loosely inspired by Cultivation stories and several other sources. Cultivation stories are kind of like wuxia ramped up to 11 and also often have a strong emphasis on accumulating supernatural martial arts powers. Every update will offer options that will influence what happens next. You can always propose an alternate path to pick. Some of the best plans in previous games have been write ins. So have some of the most entertaining plans; note that the most entertaining plans aren't always the most successful plans. I always enjoy reading write in options. Type as much as you like, and when you vote, please bold your vote like this. The winning vote will be randomly selected from amongst all votes, so every vote matters and you always have a chance of getting to decide what you do next! I hope to be able to post at least every other day, but won’t be limiting myself to that. If I have enough time, I’ll post every day or more often so vote early and often! Weekends I'll either be able to post a lot or hardly at all. One way this game is different from other games is that your adventure is a freeform adventure. You choose your path. The world can and will change around you based upon your actions and the actions of others. You do not have a predetermined story to run through. Your path and ultimate fate are not planned. Today, the day we start the game, I honestly have no idea where we may be two months from now, let alone how it might one day end. Each of the initial options will result in very different stories. It is all up to you. There is no wrong choice. You do not have plot armor. You do not even have clothing yet, much less normal armor. You start as a fragile human baby. Bad decisions can get you killed or wreak horrible consequences which you did not intend. You will have many opportunities to ask questions of the people you encounter and can always ask questions about your own knowledge. Many other CYOAs can be found in the CYOA thread. Fan Art! sheep-dodger posted:As a disclaimer for most characters we don't have a lot of detail what they look like beyond the colour of their hair, their robes and their general build, things like skin colour and so on are generally left open, so I took the liberty to just make it up from whole cloth. Generally I've tried for a more diverse cast, both to make it easier to differentiate people and because I think the Emerald Empire, long may it stand, is big enough to not just have everyone look vaguely Chinese. Edit: Manliu Village Market Rates What the Job Hall pays 1 quartz VEA = 0.5 CP 1 diamond VEA = 2 CP 1 dawn dantian = 3 CP 1 shining dantian = 9 CP What it costs you to buy from the Job Hall 1 quartz VEA = 1 CP 1 diamond VEA = 3 CP Market Exchange rate 1 diamond VEA = 5 quartz VEA 1 dawn (1.x) dantian costs ~ 2 diamond VEAs (varies with size, purity, and rarity) 1 shining (2.x) dantian costs ~ 6 diamond VEAs (varies with size, purity, and rarity) LLSix fucked around with this message at 15:45 on Aug 8, 2021 |
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Link to up to date google doc character sheet. The one provided below is usually updated at the end of every week and can get a bit out of date if I forget. People you have told about or shown your life dantian: 2*/? (Xue Min, Elder Yun Hui *literally dozens of once-born. Possibly hundreds have been healed using Life techniques) Name: Luxing Pūmič (given after reaching out to Wotjeo during the fire trial at age 4) Nickname: growllita Tier: Brilliant Shining Rough Amethyst Height: 143cm at winter 12 Weight: 32kg at winter 12 Diet: Vegetarian since winter six Foundation
Social 2.2 - 0/180
Qi Brilliant Shining (3.1) - equal to highest dantian tier and rank
[*]Consume(hard) 1 - 0/35
Physical: Rough Amethyst (3.1) - 0 / 420 monster meat boosts: 1 sea eel
Inventory Available Contribution Points: 0 Spent Contribution Points: 63 Worn
In Wooden Cave you share with Liuxue
Wotjeo Size: 273cm long, 173cm tall (fall after winter 12) Dream Silver (Silver Bear) Madra Dantian(one tier higher physical cultivation because of monster sea eel meat and regular exercise)
Woodlore: can identify most trees. Knows a lot about bees, honey, and fruit A/N you can usually assume Wotjeo is at least as good as you are at anything. Among other things he's a better fighter than you are. The one notable exception is he has shown no ability to manipulate Light Madra even though he speaks better Crystal Butterfly than you do. Inventory Grey Steel Armor - Middle Second Tier armor mode of overlapping steel plates. Very heavy Servants Lu An Female long chestnut hair pale blue shirt, gray pants Ge Young male teenager Gardener Mu Young female teenager Maid Pre-calculated experience boosts LLSix fucked around with this message at 03:26 on Jul 20, 2021 |
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Feb 20, 2019 03:32
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Other People Arc 2: Luxing Traveling Academy Dabai Zhuque (Undying Phoenix Flames) - female, fiery red hair, Accidentally almost burned you to death on the day before the first day of classes - Daji, fire fox spirit, ash black, and fiery orange fur. rank 1.1, quick, clever -Lin Yun female servant -Gouming (enlightened dog) - pale blue robes with light gray edging. One of Zhuque's two roommates. --male servant Big Bailei - female, forearm is as large as some of the other disciples' thighs. copper-colored robe. She’s big enough that you could almost mistake her for a short Silver Bear. Hundred Hammer Forge Fire madra (hasn't shared the name with Pumie yet) VERY LOUD - Yang - Hammer with wooden shaft and a copper end-cap. - Keaiweizao - diminiutive early quartz dragon, smaller than a bear paw. Greedy, arrogant. VERY LOUD. Golden scales on his belly. Purifying flame madra. -NONGMIN YI (female) learning how to find spirit beasts --Cangbai - pallid storm harrier (white-bodied and gray-winged bird of prey) -TIAOYUE BUXING (male) assists big bailei in the forge - Ku Mo (female servant) Lianhe Liuxue (Thousand Kilometer Forest madra) - female, tall, head and shoulders taller than you. not heavily muscled but gracefull. hair is short, only shoulder length, and shamrock-green and Bčiké - male, spirit tortoise, brown shell, enjoys eating wooden furniture -Guanjia - Liuxue's head servant, old man, brown hair. - 2 Chefs - - Sze (male) - 2 Kitchen assistants - - Baojia (male) - apprentice cook and server servant, general help around the kitchen for more experience servants - 1 Chambermaid - 3 maids - - Piao (male) - - Lin (female) - - Hao (male) - 1 spirit tortoise tender - 1 journeywoman doctor - 3 guards - 2 gardeners on loan from Luxing Traveling Academy - 1 fish tender on loan from Luxing Traveling Academy Tie Shudaizi - Male. Crystal-clear hair, very tall, but thin. Chew Chengzhang (Growth) - Female. About your size. Brown hair with green tips. Thin. Nervous. Pale blue robes with gray edging. - Pebble. boulder badger spirit. stone gray body with a marble white stripe down back, obsidian black paws, face alternates stripes of marble white and obsidian black rank 1.1 (size of two palms), fiercely protective -Shu Mia (female servant) Lumang - diamond-colored robe embroidered with swords on the sleeve. Right sleeve hangs past his hand, left sleeve stops just below the elbow. -Meidou Dashuijie - vivid blue robes, long, vivid blue hair, vivid blue eyes. Female. Water healer --Bob Ross - happy cloud. Doesn't talk. Hangs around Dashuijie's head in the shape of a veil. --Healer Luxing Ginko - dark blue robes with storm-black edging and gold thread in the shape of lightning, breath-takingly beautiful, smooth, graceful, elegant Tu Fei - dude who challenged you to a duel and you clobbered easily in the second month (Nuli). First duel at Luxing Traveling Academy. dark blue robes embroidered with several other colors to create the appearance of intimidatingly huge wave crests flowing around his body. Zhong He - Male. Average height. Plain blue eyes. Rich mahogany hair and robes. Obviously spends a lot of time on his hair. Pale white skin. Qiqiang Haruhia - Black girl, short hair, sword and shield, ex-Nuli Shengli client, worried about Viridians -Wuye - shadow panther Luxing Ju-Long - Inner Disciple, 3 years older than you. pale blue robes. Teaches beginners physical skill classes days 5&6. Administrator Un - pale blue robes, inner disciple, replaced Dinvuk starting Month 2 (Nuli) Inner Disciple Luxing Dinvuk - dead, original admin for the first Luxing Traveling Academy pumie was at Inner Disciple Tie Chushi - taught first few physical lessons, taught cooking Inner Disciple Xue Min - female, not interested in formalities or politeness, gray robes, cultivation technique teacher Healer Zhe Zhuru (Living Wall dantianx2)- Male, big bushy beard, even shorter than most of the people you’ve met, as wide as he is tall Zhe Chuizi "The Hammer" - Zhe Zhuru's twin brother, gave you Zhe Zhuru's scrolls and promised you any help he could offer once, in reason. Elder Yun Hui - Spirit teacher. Male. White Hair. Head of crafting. Elaborately patterned robes in all the colors of the sky. Elder Yun Tzu - Female. Super buff. Strategist. Elaborately patterned robes in all the colors of the sky. Medical Saint Luxing Qianni - Elder, female, Her long hair is a vibrant red, that flows all around her Kue He - pale blue robe, young man, kind of a loser, outer disciple, 2nd year Core Disciple Luxing Jirounu - storm-gray robes with bronze edging. Taught you Hands of Glory variation of variation of Elder Yun Tzu's Thousand Thunders Resounding physical cultivation technique. Missing her right ear. Large and muscular, like a younger version of Elder Yun Tzu. No family resemblance. Inner Disciple Erzi Huojiu - relatively muscular chest, wide shoulders and a smiling face. Smaller than the adults Pūmič grew up around, but impressive by local standards. Speaks in a very heavy accent and often mixes up the order of words, but thankfully Wotjeo can read what he's trying to say well enough despite Imperial being neither of their birth tongues. Inner Disciple Yunheliudi - male, shimmering blue robes, 107 Streams In A River style Inner Disciple Luxing Yisheng (Strengthening Spring Madra, mostly water supported by a complex mix of air, fire and metal) - Hands of Glory teacher. Blue robes with ornately tri-colored embroided hems. Inner Disciple Bi Shou - male, deliberately disrespectful. Metal madra, throwing dagger focused (uses metal guidance-like technique) Inner Disciple HouDanDan - red robes, fire madrax2 Inner Disciple Chaoxiang - sabotaged Pūmič's cultivation shortly after arriving at Luxing Tavelling Academy. Elders forced him to make amends and he promised to do one favor for Pūmič. Jin Yao - long yellow hair, generous, very wealthy, primary weapon is a spear Lei - short hair, taciturn, two-handed axe. Hospital Staff Old Wupo - crazy old woman prone to cackling. White shirt and pants. Ri Ko - boy your age with messy brown hair. White shirt and pants. Do Rothi - girl your age with neat, ear length black hair. White shirt and pants. Arc 1: Aestia Valley The Matriarch Description: Silver hair and skin, black eyes, tallest member of the silver bear tribe Zhuchansa, the midwife Papa - Guarnicio Ironheart & Arely Ironheart Description: The second tallest member of the silver bear tribe. Insanely muscled and broad in proportion to his height. Quirks: Insanely in love with his wife History: Started teaching you how to exercise and meditate when you were 3 Mama - Rica Ironheart & Azuria Ironheart Description: Sapphire Crystal Butterfly spirit sister, laughter is as bright and charming as a summer breeze Quirks: Vegetarian History: retrieved you after bee battle taught you basics of foraging fancy clothes: Mama is wearing the same beautiful dress made of the odd not-leather that the Corazon Chamois make that she wore for the Luchamadra tournament. It sparkles like dew reflecting the first rays of the sun at daybreak as night slides East to reveal the sun once more. Hadorita - newly independent hunter Description: hair is bright orange with dull gray tips Elder Minaro & Genialida Quirks: Rude and thinks he's surrounded by idiots, hates children largest spirit companion Elder Herejo & Deslea - dreamkeeper elder Description: pale-blue eyes Quirks: Curious Healer Curada & Bagujo Description: yellowish-brown hair, dark brown eyes third largest spirit companion Elder Teshera - treasure keeper & Smith elder Elder Ximena - trader elder Elder Cazadoro - Hunter Leader Elder Qiwo - Fisher Leader Mina & Chimenea - Guard trainer Description: flat black hair, big Amiya & Beayro, Tin Description: yellow haired training partner two years older than you Amiya is a head taller and much stronger (winter solstice six) Beayro is a little bigger but proportionally stronger than Wotjeo (winter solstice six) apprenticed to Castilla & Diehenio (orangish-brown hair) Vaquera - Amiya's Mom, a farmer Description: older than your mama, but she’s obviously well-muscled with orangish-brown hair. Rubia - Amiya's sister, Lead-Tier prodigy Description: Bright blond hair Age: 7 winters older than you Aracato - Leader of the Hunters. Bato, son of Aracato. Description: largest and strongest new cub, brown hair Quirks: Son of the leader of the Silver Bear hunters Cordero & Checha, Bato's older cousin 7 winters older than you Lead tier, hunter's apprentice Chuno & Esperanza Description: second largest new cub, yellow hair Decavo & Zelencia Description: third largest new cub, red hair Quirk: short temper Felero & Poca, Lead - son of dreamkeeper named Suena. Description: smallest new cub, black hair Felero- scrawny (winter solstice six) Poca - normal size but growing fast (winter solstice six) Suena - a dreamkeeper; she holds the memories of every dreamkeeper before her and can share them as a dream with other tribe members when they need to remember the past. Abealo - a potion brewer, Felero's maternal grandfather description: Flat Black hair Sonadoro - teenage miner's apprentice you woke up as part of learning how to manage your dream vital essence hearing. Senior Enlacio & Senior Fianza - topaz hilt tutor Description: short and slender. White hair pulled back into a slender and tidy ponytail decorated with strands of minuscle gems. Glittering topaz earrings, dazzling anklets, and an emerald necklace, every finger of his right hand has at least one ring. Dominant hand: Ambidextrous, but prefers his left Quirk: all but the most subtle emotional cues are suppressed Smith Carmenia & Fierrro Description: A boulder of a woman. Nearly as wide as she is tall. Hugely muscled. Maybe even stronger than Papa Hair: Flat-black Fierrro looks tiny next to Carmenia. Quirk: very determined Lela & Joveno Smith apprentice 5 winters older than you Description: dark-brown hair, soot covered Goya; a Miner’s daughter; Hates you for getting her hurt, stealing her smith apprenticeship, and helping Chuno get a smith apprenticeship instead. Two winters younger than you Traders: Garido & his son Yeso. Garido has orangish-black hair Yeso has shiny brown hair and is a nearly adult teenager Garido is married to Trades with Crystal Butterflies Tunica and Valo orangish-brown hair Trades with Corazon Chamois Montego & Lacada 8 winters older spear and javelin Hunter apprentices. Current Cultivation Study Group members Lead 2 survived eight winters - You & Felero - instructors Tin 1 survived eleven winters - Arturo & Ahelia, a Farmer’s son, Ore 2 survived ten winters - Javiero, a Farmer’s son and Farmer's Apprentice; Amiya, your childhood sparring teacher 3 survived nine winters - Mateo & Domingo a Farmer’s twin son; Camina a Guard’s daughter and apprentice miner. 1 survived eight winter - Chuno, a Farmer’s son and Smith apprentice 1 survived seven winter - Zoa* & Dimasa, a Trader’s daughter; Ore 3 survived seven winters - Milagra & Anzuelo, a Fisher’s daughter; Ximena, a Miner’s daughter; and Facundo, a Farmer’s son 3 survived six winters - Cacho, a Farmer’s son; Adolfo, a Hunter’s son; and the ambitiously named Silvia* & Teodosio, a Smith’s daughter. Friends winter 7->8 cultivation class Current friends Lead Tin 1 nine winters old - Javiero, a Farmer’s son and Farmer's Apprentice 1 eight winters old - Mateo a Farmer's son Ore 1 10 winters old boy - Arturo & Ahelia, a Farmer’s son, Ore 2 eight winters old - Domingo a Farmers's son, twins; Camina a Guard’s daughter 1 seven winters old boy - Chuno, a Farmer’s son 4 six winters old, all the children a winter younger than you - Milagra & Anzuelo, a Fisher’s daughter; Zoa* & Dimasa, a Trader’s daughter; Ximena, a Miner’s daughter; and Facundo, a Farmer’s son 5 five winters olds - Cacho, a Farmer’s son; Adolfo, a Hunter’s son; Isma a Farmer’s daughter; and the ambitiously named Silvia* & Teodosio, a Smith’s daughter. Friends you made by teaching your winter 6->7 cultivation class longer descriptions 1 nine winters old boy - Arturo, a Farmer’s son 2 eight winters old - Yolanda, a Farmer’s daughter; and Javiero, a Farmer’s son 3 seven winters old - Mateo and Domingo Farmer’s sons, twins; Camina a Guard’s daughter 1 six winters old boy - Chuno, a Farmer’s son 4 five winters old, all the children a winter younger than you - Milagra & Anzuelo, a Fisher’s daughter; Zoa*, a Trader’s daughter; Ximena, a Miner’s daughter; and Facundo, a Farmer’s son 5 four winters olds - Cacho, a Farmer’s son; Adolfo, a Hunter’s son; Isma a Farmer’s daughter; Goya; a Miner’s daughter; and the ambitiously named Silvia* & Teodosio, a Smith’s daughter. LLSix fucked around with this message at 21:12 on Nov 14, 2021 |
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Feb 20, 2019 03:32
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I would like to run a banner ad to help people find the game. CYOAs benefit a lot from having a diverse group of readers and voters. I've already made and paid for one, but I'm not confident in my graphical skills. Does anyone want to try to make a good banner? If anyone does I'll pay for it and it will make my day.
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Feb 20, 2019 04:39
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M. Night Skymall posted:How far is the Aestia Valley from Maraztlan? If you start in Aestia Valley (A) your parent's won't know anything about Maraztlan or the Emerald Empire.
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Feb 20, 2019 14:14
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chin up everything sucks posted:Would this game happen to be based on the Cradle series of Wuxia novels? If you're familiar with the series you'll see similar elements and I may use some of the same terminology. I did just finish reading as much of the series as is out so far, and one of the initial starts is heavily influenced by it. You can probably guess which one. The other starts have other inspirations or are entirely products of my imagination. So how much the game resembles Cradle is ultimately up to the readers. If you haven't read Cradle, you should! It's a really well done version of the genre. It does a great job of explaining how the magic system works and stays within those explanations most of the time.
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Feb 21, 2019 04:30
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onsetOutsider posted:Hi I'm here from the banner ad and thought why not. I can't decide between setting A and E so I'll pick the one with fewer votes right now. Welcome! I'm glad to hear they're working. I hope the game lives up to expectations.
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Feb 21, 2019 05:03
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Lord Zedd-Repulsa posted:A because animal buddies sound like an awesome start to an adventure. It is midday, and the light of the world Yolk shines brightly on Aestia Valley. Your mother screams as you enter the world, and you scream with her. The tribe midwife, Zhuchansa, holds you tenderly. She swiftly inspects you. Then she tests the range of motion of your limbs. Then she pricks you a needle which you kick out of her hand. Satisfied that you are whole and healthy Zhuchansa presents you to your father. "Congratulations!" 1) "It's a": A "boy." B "girl." Though you do not know it yet, you are his first child. He looks at the midwife with an expression of confused panic before reluctantly reaching out to hold you. 2) He holds you up in front of his face and you: C Hit him in the nose D Kick him in the chin E Vomit on him F Scream G Cry H Burble happily I Smile quietly write in The clan matriarch comes forward from where she was observing your birth, as she witnesses every birth in the tribe. Despite being almost 100 years old, she looks only 10 years older than your mother. She takes you from your father and places you on a pile of bedding beside a baby. Too young even to roll over, you still manage to rock your head to the side and look at this strange creature. 3) The baby beside you is a: M Water Leopard. These giant ambush predators are among both the most powerful and fastest animals in the valley even without using their water-aspected madra. Its fur is a light blue with brown spots, like a waterfall with the occasional rock sticking through it. It looks back at you haughtily for a few seconds and then dismisses you from its attention. Alone among the tribal animals of Aestia valley, it uses only one aspect of madra. Some say it is too proud to stoop to using a second aspect. Others say it doesn't need to because of its many physical advantages. N Corazon Chamois (Goat-Antelope). Tiny horn buds stick up from its forehead. It stops trying to eat the bedding to look at you. Curious about you it bleats. Corazon Chamois can climb almost anything and have Plant and Earth aspected madra. Their partners are the best alchemists in the valley. O Silver Bear. The largest animals in the valley they are even stronger than the Water Leopards, but also slower. Utterly fearless, these creatures have Metal and Dream aspected madra. It does not respond when you are placed beside it because, despite having only been born moments ago, it has already fallen asleep. P Marbled Polecat (think mink or weasel). The marbled polecat cub is tiny; barely larger than even your small hands. It is one of the most cunning animals in the valley and is greatly feared for both its boundless bloodlust and ability to slip past any obstacle. Shadows cling to the cub, trying to hide and protect it even at such a young age. As it ages, it will begin to accumulate Death madra each time it kills. Q Crystal Butterfly. The butterfly is just now crawling out of its chrysalis. Beautiful wings catch and shatter the light into a million fascinating colors. Though you can't see it yet, everyone else in the room can see the Light madra from the world Yolk soaking into the butterfly. Partners to a crystal butterfly share its intuitive understanding of Air madra. Your clan matriarch settles into lotus position at the foot of your bedding facing you. She holds one of her hands over each of you. You stretch out to grab her hand, but it is just out of your reach. Eventually, you tire and stop squirming. The matriarch sits still and silent, breathing rhythmically. You are just about to fall asleep when she moves. She places her thumb on your forehead, right between your eyes. Her pinkie on the same hand touches the spirit animal beside you, also on the forehead right between the eyes. Suddenly, you hear a voice in your head: “Hello?” 4)You reply: V Hello - friendly but cautious W Greetings honored sibling - respectfully X Welcome friend! - warmly friendly Y Get out of my mind! - angry Z ha ha ha, you're my slave now! write in The Matriarch withdraws her hand and then rolls you over to face the other baby. She lectures you: "Child of man, this spirit animal is your sibling and your partner now. You will feed it, keep it warm , shelter it from the elements, and share your madra with it all your days." Then she turns the spirit animal baby to face you and lectures it. "Spirit child, this human is your sibling and your partner now. You will protect it, help it gather vital essence, and share your madra with it all your days." The Matriarch gestured at the midwife and Zhuchansa picked you up and carried you to sleep next to your mother. The matriarch picked up your new sibling and placed it next to you. You quickly fall asleep, sheltered between your mother and your spirit beast sibling. Your first day has been long and tiring. LLSix fucked around with this message at 18:36 on Sep 9, 2019 |
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Feb 21, 2019 23:19
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You are born female. Your father lifts you up to look him in the eyes. You look him right in the eye, then kick him in the chin. Your father's expression doesn't change one iota, and there is not any sign he even felt it. You do, however. Your father's beard is hard and sharp like so much silver wire. You slice open the tender baby skin on your foot causing you to wail with pain. At this your father frowns in disappointment. Midwife Zhuchansa wraps your cut foot in clean bandages with a practiced hand. The Matriarch says: "Your daughter has your fire, but bears are not kick-boxers. You will have to train her how to fight properly, Guarnicio." Your father grins at the thought, and you burble happily, causing his grin to widen. Your first spirit companion is a male silver bear cub.  mithrasoflego posted:X We recognise our own sibling and embrace them wholeheartedly as a friend. You bury your face in the soft, warm fur of your new sibling. Your exhausted mother cradles you both in her arm as you drift off to sleep together. *** You sleep much longer than most babies, but still not as much as your brother. When you wake, your mother is always already awake and ready to feed your ravenous hunger. Soon afterward, you go back to sleep on a bed of animal furs. Time passes, and your baby teeth come in. It is painful for you, but you sleep through the worst parts of it. Much to your mother's relief, you soon learn how to eat solid foods, mostly fruits, and boiled vegetables. Sometimes your father feeds you meat; your mother disapproves but does not interfere. More time passes, and you learn how to crawl. Your brother crawls faster than you, and you try to imitate the way he walks, but your feet don't bend that way. Shortly, you learn how to control your bladder much to your parent's relief and the cave mouth you live in starts to smell better. You still sleep most of the time and have a hard time telling the difference between sleeping and waking. Often you'll dream that one of the toy sticks you and your brother play with was moved by your parents and when you wake up it is where you imagined it was moved to. You begin to recognize the people in your life. 1) Which of them is most important to you? A. Wotjeo, your silver bear cub brother. His fur is a rich, earthy brown. He is always warm and very nice to sleep next to. He is also very lazy. He sleeps almost all the time, only waking up to eat or go outside to void his bowels. Rarely he will play with you, but you play together often in your sleep. B. Mama, she cooks and cleans and feeds you soft sweet fruits that are very delicious. She also feeds you tasteless vegetables. She is gorgeous and carries you and Wotjeo outside the cave with her every day. C. Mama's sister is a crystal butterfly. She never talks to you and won't let you touch her. She is very beautiful and shiny, and you often chase after her. Trying to catch her was a large part of what motivated you to learn how to crawl.  D. Papa is huge. A huge giant! He is the largest person you know. He is much taller than mama and even taller than his spirit sister. Not only is he tall, but he's strong too. His spirit sister has more fur, but you think he's almost as broad across the shoulders as her too. He has a lot of thin, strong dull-black hair. His hair is so strong you can only bend one strand at a time. Sometimes he feeds you meat. It tastes really good, even better than fruit. E. Arely is Papa's sister. She is huge and warm and gentle. She watches you in your dreams and chases away your nightmares. Her fur is like Papa's hair. Dull-black and very strong. The tips of her fur are almost as sharp as your father's bone sewing needles. When you were first learning to crawl, she often had to stop you from hurting yourself on her fur by interposing one of her huge, soft paws. Wotjeo tells you that Arely has the same mother as him and so she is your sister too. If you were older this would probably seem very strange to you, but as you are, you just accept it. Your second winter starts at about the same time you start learning how to speak to your parent's. It is much more difficult and has all sorts of confusing rules unlike speaking with your spirit brother Wotjeo. You can still only communicate with them in short phrases. When winter ends, your father starts teaching you how to meditate. You learn it quickly and easily. It is not much different from your dreams. You can walk now, as long as you have something to hold onto, but it is still slower than crawling. Despite this, your father insists that you walk with him deeper into the cave each morning. He is always patient and walks only as fast as you can keep up. Your destination is a cave large enough to hold the entire tribe. By the time you arrive, the rest of the tribe except for Mama is already there and meditating on their dreams like Papa taught you. You join them for however long is left after your late arrival and then return home. These morning trips are almost the only time you see Papa awake. He sleeps most of the time when the sun is up. Mom says he has a very important job of guarding not only you but also the whole tribe from people who might try to come in the cave mouth at night; when there is no light because the World Yolk is hidden. You know it is true because Arely protects you from nightmares and sometimes you can see your Papa, sitting in the cave mouth and sowing the clothes you and he wears all night long. The year continues to turn, and one day, Wotjeo shares a dream with you of a liquid as sweet as fruit made by small flying things with single strands of pointy hair coming out of their buts. Then he shares a dream of the two of you going to get some of the sweet liquid from a place outside the cave mouth but nearby where it is being made by the flying things. Wotjeo thinks the flying things are smaller than mama's spirit sister and she always runs away from the two of you so they probably will too. Wotjeo and you wake up from your midmorning nap. Papa is asleep as he usually is and, unusually, so is his spirit sister Arely. Your mama is gone too. 2) You decide to: G head straight for the sweet liquid treat H bring one of your bed furs with you to act as the fur Wotjeo has but you don't I grab a branch out of the fire always burning on one side of the cave and drag it behind you to scare off the flying things (you are not strong enough to carry it, but you think you can drag it) J wake up Papa and ask him to help you get the sweet liquid K wait for mama and ask her to help you get the sweet liquid write in LLSix fucked around with this message at 08:16 on Feb 23, 2019 |
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Feb 23, 2019 02:51
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onsetOutsider posted:Mr six, will each individual choice be randomly selected, or will one user's post be randomly selected for all the choices...? The way you quoted an individual vote post before makes me a little confused. Usually I'll probably do each question as its own RNG roll like this. When we get to time management votes where it would make more sense to have a single coherent plan I'll consider not breaking the rolls up if it seems like it would put you at a disadvantage. If that doesn't make sense, don't worry about it, it'll make more sense when we get there. I say when because you're unlikely to die before that point, but I've been surprised by goons before so who knows.
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Feb 23, 2019 03:00
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chin up everything sucks posted:A H bring one of your bed furs with you to act as the fur Wotjeo has, but you don't *** At Wotjeo's urging, you crawl out of the cave mouth you live in while everyone else is sleeping or away. You are going hunting after a sweet liquid protected by flying things. You crawl out of your home with one of your bed furs draped across your back.  Wotjeo is very excited and keeps prancing ahead of you, then scurrying back impatiently when he notices you fell behind. You try to keep up, but he's better at crawling than you. Several times the bed fur slips off your back. Whenever this happens, Wotjeo comes back and helps you get back under it. Frustrated, you wriggle under the bed fur so it is draped across your back for the... manyth time (you're not good at counting) and seize part of the bed fur in your teeth. Finally, the thing stays on, and you growl in triumph as the two of you crawl into the forest outside your cave mouth home. You know you are getting close to the sweet liquid place when you start seeing flying things. One of them flies past you and lands on a flower. You charge towards it as fast as you can crawl. Unlike Mama's sister, it isn't scared of you and does not fly away. You catch it between your hands *squish* *ow!*  Its tiny body falls motionless from between your hands, but it leaves part of itself behind. The single sharp hair on its behind that is like sister Arely's hair, but shorter is stuck in your palm. *ow!* You start crying and Wotjeo comes over. He pulls the hair out with this teeth and then licks your face. You stop crying and hug him. Wotjeo sends you another image of the sweet liquid, then hurries towards it. You crawl after him as fast as you can, but the bed fur slips off your back again because you stopped holding it in your teeth when you were crying. Wotjeo trundles back over to you with an annoyed grunt and helps you get it back in position. You bite down on it again. You're not going to let go this time, no matter what! Wotjeo huffs in approval and the two of you crawl towards the home of flying things which is where they store the sweet liquid. They are coming out of the ground nearby, and you hear a soft droning noise as you approach. Wotjeo rushes forward filled with excitement and gets there ahead of you. His claws quickly digging up the ground and tearing open the sweet liquid storage place. The droning sound increases to a furious buzz and many, many lots of manys of flying things burst out. Many lots of them swarm around him. So many of them land on him that it looks like he has yellow streaks in his fur. They sting him with their sharp hairs! They sting him many lots of times, and he whines in pain. You charge forward to rescue him. You growl furiously as you swat at the flying things as they buzz around him. Ow! Their single sharp hairs sting your hands when you hit them sometimes, but you keep swinging. You knock them out of the air by the baby sized handful. There are so many of them that you kill several with every furious swing. You have to protect your brother! Wotjeo rolls over, crushing the ones on him but there are still many, many lots of the flying things everywhere! More of them settle on him and on you! Most of their sharp hairs are blocked by the bed fur, but some land on areas that aren't protected by it. Ow! Ow! Ow! It hurts! You want your mama or your papa! Where are they! You start crying with pain, but your earlier lesson taught you well and you keep your teeth clamped down on your bed fur so you don't loose its protection. You wails are muffled by the bed fur and mama doesn't show up to save you. Wotjeo is just as hurt as you are and can't save you either. The two of you keep fighting desperately against the furious swarm of flying things. Slowly the cloud of flying things thins out; the tiny bodies of your implacable foes carpets the forest floor all around you. In some places, they are stacked up higher Wotjeo's knees! A small cloud of flying things bursts out of the sweet liquid place and buzzes up and away. Most of the remaining defenders fly off with them, leaving only a few behind to continue fighting you. At last, you collapse, panting with exhaustion and crying. The field is yours, but you hurt too much to care. Ow! Ow! Ow! Wotjoe stabs his baby paws into the sweet liquid maker's home. When he pulls it back, it is coated in sweet liquid. He licks it happily. Dipping his paws in again he thrusts a sweet liquid covered paw into your mouth. Yummy! You stop crying and follow his example. You dip your baby hands into the hive, pulling out gooey handfuls of sweet liquid and settle in to eat your fill. Mama finds you there; surrounded by the corpses of your enemies. You are covered in sting marks, your face is streaked with tears, snot, and sweet golden liquid. Your belly looks swollen because you've eaten so much, but there's still lots of the sweet liquid left. Mama gasps in horror and swoops both of her young daredevils into her arms before running back home. You wail in frustration because she's carrying you away from your prize. Mama doesn't stop no matter how loud you scream. It's not fair! You earned that sweet liquid! You want more and more and more! When she gets home, Mama puts you down on a stone shelf carved into the side of the cave, and you try to crawl away when she turns her back to get the water jug. Mama sees you before you can crawl off the edge though and invisible hands hold you in place. She tenderly cleans your many stings which only makes you cry louder. It hurts when she pulls the sharp hairs out! Despite her efforts, every part of your body swells up to twice its usual size. A fever seizes hold of you, and you drift seamlessly in and out of wakefulness. Your fever lasts a week. Mama and Papa are worried about you the whole time. At least one of them is always watching over you the entire ordeal. In the first scene from your fever, your head floated off your body like a cloud lifting off a mountain. So did Wotjeo's head! Your heads switched places, but you kept talking to each other just like always. Him with a bear cub body and a human girl head; you with a baby girl body and a friendly baby bear head. Then everyone's heads floated off their bodies and swung around, so you had Papa's head; Papa had Mama's head, Wotjeo had Mama's sisters tiny head. That looked really funny, a tiny crystal head on Wotjeo's furry body and you laughed. The heads kept floating off and switching places until you got dizzy and threw up and Mama washed you again. Her hands gently cleaning you are the last thing you remember before your memory goes black. In the second scene from your fever, Mama and Papa are shouting at each other. They never yell at each other. Papa is mad that he slept through his daughter's first fight. He's even madder that his daughter might die because he hasn't had time to train her or hunt much. He's angriest that he doesn't get to spend much time with Mama. Papa wants to move deeper into the caves so he can sleep at night and stay up during the day with his family. Mama wants to stay here. She doesn't like the smell of the caves, and she craves the light. They argue for a long time until Mama leads Papa to bed. Afterwards they don't argue anymore and Mama promises to start taking you with her during the day. In the third scene from your fever, you are floating outside the cave near where you fought the sweet liquid makers. The grass and trees are burning. Everything is burning. Lightning stabs down from the sky, piercing the clouds of smoke. The lighting briefly blasts rents in the clouds of smoke, and you can see the sky is full of huge flying things. Flying things as big as the cave. Some have people on their backs. The lightning is coming from the people. You look back at the cave mouth. In the way of dreams, you can see through the clouds of smoke and the burning trees to tell that the cave mouth has collapsed. Looking back up at the flying things, they look like giant versions of the sweet liquid makers. Banded yellow and black with thick round bodies and a single huge, sharp hair stick out of their behinds. They see you looking at them! They swoop down at you! Closer! Closer! Lighting flies from the hands of the people on their back towards you... then suddenly Wotjeo is there licking your face and the scene changes. You remember no more. *** After your fever breaks, Mama takes you with her when she goes out every day. Most days are spent gathering various strong smelling grasses Mama calls herbs. You slowly learn to tell the difference between the herbs Mama wants and just plain grass. Your mom seems to have eyes everywhere. Whenever you try to get too far away from her, she's always there to scoop you and your brother up and carry you closer to where she is gathering herbs too. The seasons change and now Mama shows you how to dig up vegetables and harvest early fruits. As the seasons continue turning there are more and more fruits. When the wind turns cold there's even fruit on the trees!  Learning how to climb is easier than learning how to walk Wotjeo is good at it and helps show you how to. Mama never climbs. Her sister flys up to fruits and cuts them loose so Mama can catch them, but she lets you climb up the smaller trees. When you try to climb trees Mama says are too tall, invisible hands pin you to the tree until Mama picks you up. You are very good at climbing and Mama brings you out to climb all winter for trees. This is the first time you've been out when it is snowing and you can't stay out for long, even with the clothes Papa makes for you. You and Mama spend a lot of time by the fire during winter. There is less to eat during winter because Mama has to spend so much time watching over you by the fire or gathering wood instead of food. After a long, hungry time, Mama sets you down next to Papa, who is sleeping, and looks you in the face very seriously. She says "I need you to stay here so I can collect more food for us. Be a good girl and take a long nap and I will bring you back something sweet. Can you do that for me?" You tell her you can. "Do you promise?" 1) You reply: A. "Yes, Wotjeo and I can play in our dreams." You are being honest. B. "Yes, I will stay here and sleep." You are lying. You plan to go gather more tree fruits as soon as she leaves. (Tree fruits are in season during winter, weird, I know) C. "Yes, I will stay here and sleep." You are lying. You plan to go exploring outside on your own as soon as she leaves. D. "Yes, I will stay here and sleep." You are lying. You plan to go exploring the rest of the cave complex where your tribe lives on your own as soon as she leaves. E. "I want to come with you Mama! Wotjeo and I can help! I won't complain about the cold. Please let me help." Complete with wide, earnest puppy dog eyes. write in
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Feb 25, 2019 00:26
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mithrasoflego posted:A "Mummy if I day sleep I can wake night and fight with dadda?" Mama and you spend a lot of time by the fire during winter. There is less to eat during winter because Mama has to spend so much time watching over you by the fire or gathering wood instead of food. After a long, hungry time, Mama sets you down next to Papa, who is sleeping, and looks you in the face very seriously. She says "I need you to stay here so I can collect more food for us. Be a good girl and take a long nap and I will bring you back something sweet. Can you do that for me?" You tell her you can. "Do you promise?" Instead of promising; you ask your Mama: "Mama, if I sleep now can I stay up with Papa?" Your Mama looks surprised. "That's a great idea, my tough little growllita. That is exactly what we are going to do. Go to sleep now." Mama tucks you and Wotjeo into bed. She pulls your favorite bed fur, the one you wore when fighting the sweet liquid makers, up to your chin and then tucks it under you, snug and warm. Just incidentally also tightly wrapped and not easy to wriggle out of. Her quiet, loving lullabies carry you off to sleep. You wake up twice, and mama is still sitting next to you, and you quickly go back to sleep. The third time you wake up to Papa's huge face looking down at you. "Time to train, growllita!" He booms excitedly. Only Mama's head is visible above the bed furs. Her hair is wildly disarrayed. Mama snaps at Papa "Not so loud! I'm trying to sleep! You really wore me out." Papa looks both pleased and embarrassed, and he answers her in a whisper: "Yes, honey." He scoops you up and then tiptoes out of the room, to the extent a man larger than most bears can tiptoe. Placing you down by the fire near the cave mouth he enthusiastically whispers to you: "Time to train, growllita!" "When I was younger than you, my father started training me. The first thing he ever taught me was that before I could walk, I first had to learn to crawl. Getting your foundation right is the most important thing. You have to build your muscles before I can show you how to use them. I did these exercises every day and look how big, and strong I got." Papa flexes his arm, and his biceps leap up like mountains rising from the valley bottom. "If you want to be big and strong like me, you have to exercise every day too, growllita" Papa demonstrates each exercise for you by doing it himself and then guiding you through the motions. Wotjeo watches you and Papa and then asks you how to do them too. You try to show him the first one, a push-up. At the sight of a baby bear cub trying to do push-ups while a girl of 3 winters corrects the bear cubs form, papa's booming laughter fills the cave mouth. Only for a second though, before he claps his hands over his mouth and looks guiltily towards the side cave where Mama is sleeping. He breathes a loud sigh of relief after a few seconds of silence then beckons his Silver Bear sister, Arely, over. Between them, they work out variations of the exercises Wotjeo can do too. The first night is spent just learning the basics of lots of exercises. Every night after that he has you repeat the exercises several times then take a short rest before he has you move on to another one. As the weeks pass, he has you do more repetitions. You can't spend all night exercising though, and Papa makes you take lots of breaks. 1) What do you do during your rest periods? A. You play/wrestle with Wotjeo B. You practice walking in the cave so you can keep up with Mama and Papa next year C. You meditate the way Papa showed you, and you do every morning with the rest of the Silver Bear Tribe D. You 'help' Papa with making clothes E. You sleep so you can spend some time with Mama during the day too F. You sleep and play with Wotjeo in your dreams write in After that first day, Mama leaves you and Wotjeo sleeping between Papa and his/your Silver Bear sister, Arely, when she goes out gathering. When she comes back and finds you still sleeping there, she praises you after you wake up for being a good girl and keeping your promise. After a few weeks, Arely sometimes goes out with Mama and brings back fish to supplement your meals. Those fish are almost the only meat you get all winter. Between Mama having more time and the fish Arely catches your meals are much more substantial than they were before, although there's usually at least one day a week when neither of them brings back much and you all have little to eat. 2) How do you want to split your time next year? M You are awake all night with Papa N You are awake all day with Mama O You are awake part of the day and part of the night, so you can spend some time with both write in
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Feb 27, 2019 04:52
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dont be mean to me posted:E and F seem like they don't step on each other's toes. Is F meant to imply that we basically forgo time with Mama for the winter? You are spending the rest of the winter with Papa on a night time schedule. Mama's on a daytime schedule. So you see her a little bit at her dinner/your breakfast, but she's already up and gone by the time you get back from morning meditation with the rest of the tribe.
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Feb 27, 2019 22:30
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Silynt posted:C It’s right there in the thread title - always be cultivating. We can’t sleep our way to godhood C. You meditate the way Papa showed you, and you do every morning with the rest of the Silver Bear Tribe M. Night Skymall posted:O Need to get out of this cave and see the world. O You are awake part of the day and part of the night, so you can spend some time with both Papa & Mama *** After your exercises with Papa, you try to meditate the way you normally do just after the sun rises with the rest of the tribe. First you sit down with both your legs stretched out in front of you then you fold your left leg so that your left foot is resting on your right knee. Next comes the tricky bit; you have to twist and fold your right leg around so it snakes up inside your left leg to place your right foot over your left knee. When your done, your legs are crossed in front of you with both your feet resting on the opposite knee and your back straight. Your hands rest lightly in your lap, with the right hand cupping the left. You close your eyes and focus on the rhythm of your breath. Wotjeo mimics you as best he can. His baby bear legs stretched out in front of him and his short baby bear arms pressed into his legs to keep him upright and his back straight. He is sitting so close beside you that you can feel his fur tickling your skin. You open your eyes again when you hear your father sitting down in front of you. He's smiling approvingly. "Good girl, growllita. I'm going to teach you something that will help you get the most out of your exercises. Focus your attention in the middle of your forehead. Now, without moving your body, try to feel the connection between you and your brother Wotjeo. It's right there, from your forehead to his. It's been there ever since you were born, an unbreakable bond bridging your madra and his. Meditate on that bond and when you can really feel it let me now. Don't rush it though. It took me a month to feel it." You try to feel what your Papa is talking about but you don't feel any bridge. Just your own forehead. The next day you see Wotjeo in your dreams. He presses his forehead against yours and you feel wisps of dreamstuff flowing from him into you. For a moment you see through his eyes. Your beloved littlest sister fills your vision. Her soft round checks and strangely hairless skin only a centimeter away as you press your forehead against her. Littlest sister? You focus on that thought and glimpse a broad but flat family bush with dozens and dozens of older siblings and many nieces and nephews before the dream shifts and you remember no more. The next night it only takes you a few minutes after starting to meditate to feel the bridge between your forehead and Wotjeo's. Your father peers suspiciously at you then places his palm on your forehead then sweeps you up into a crushing bear hug. "You are so talented growllita! You learned that so quickly." He places you back on the floor far below his huge height. "Let me know when you can feel the bridge again and I will teach you the next step." It takes you several frustrating minutes to feel the bridge again after your father's interruption but finally you tell him you're ready. His voice still bubbles with excitement as he says: "There should be tiny tendrils of metal and wispy clouds. Try to suck them into your forehead and hold them there for a second then push them back out of forehead and across the bridge." It takes you all night before you can manage even one full cycle. The tiny tendrils of metal are very fragile and break when you try to touch them with your mind. The clouds are almost worse, slippery and evasive they slide out of your grasp and reform. Eventually, with Wotjeo pushing from the other side you manage to draw a few pieces in and push them back out. Over the following nights your father guides you through pulling the tendrils in and circulating them all through your body. When they pass through areas you've been exercising they merge into your body, washing away the soreness from muscles. Most night there's not much to send back across the bridge to Wotjeo when you're done. Under your father's enthusiastic but gentle guidance your nightly exercise regimen breaks down the weakest fibers in your muscles. When you meditate the broken fibers are knitted together by the wisps of madra from Wotjeo growing stronger and more flexible than muscles made solely from protein. As yet, madra makes up only the tiniest fraction of your muscles. *** As the seasons turn and the weather warms up enough for you to stay outside for more than an hour at a time, you start spending more time with Mama. Everyone in your family is now on a different schedule. Papa & sister Arely are on a night schedule. Mama is on a day schedule. You wake up in the middle of the night and have breakfast when Papa has lunch and exercise until its time to join the tribe for meditation. Afterwards Papa sleeps and you go out with Mama. Some of your meals with Papa have meat, but never with Mama. Mama never eats meat as far as you can see. She goes out of her way to avoid hurting the animals you see on your travels and sometimes talks with them. They glare at you suspiciously while they talk to Mama and whisper so you can't hear. If you try to get close enough to hear they run away faster than you can follow. You ask her why she never eats meat and she tells you "All life is precious my little growllita. We should not kill unless we have to survive. Sometimes we must kill for the neighboring tribes are both greedy and foolishly aggressive, but I will not kill just to eat. Your father and the rest of the bear tribe think that eating meat helps them grow strong. As I am a guest in their lands I do not object to their ways but I do not join them either." 1) Do you continue eating meat? A. Yes - I eat meat just like Papa B. No - I am a vegetarian just like Mama I am going to be traveling this weekend so the next update likely won't be until next week.
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Feb 28, 2019 19:04
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dont be mean to me posted:I mean, I don't object to not eating the kind of animals Mama talks to, but odds are Wotjeo is going to need to eat things that aren't just plants to survive, because plant life can get scarce in winter and Wotjeo is not a panda or something. There is a river with fish. You're mother tells you it runs the whole length of the Valley starting from a waterfall in the East and disappearing under the mountains to the West. Toughy posted:I'd like to get Pappas perspective before deciding, maybe there's more to it than just thinking it makes them stronger. Papa picks you up and then pumps you in the air like one of his head sized weights when he does curls. You giggle with delight. Papa often lifts you like you're a training weight, a game you both enjoy. "Eating meat is how you get big and strong like your Papa. Everyone knows that meat from stronger animals helps you get stronger too. Meat from weaker animals doesn't help as much but still tastes good. The Silver Bear tribe has the best hunters which is why we are the strongest tribe. I used to be the best hunter in the whole tribe, which meant I was the best hunter in the Valley. That's how I got so strong. So make sure to eat everything we give you so you can be big and strong too." if this explanation seems simple, remember that your father is talking to a three year old
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Mar 2, 2019 16:44
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Potsticker posted:We are a beAr. A. Yes - I eat meat just like Papa *** You think about what Mama told you. You really like the taste of the sweet liquid, and you had to kill lots of the tiny flying makers to get it. You definitely want more of that, so you guess you're not as gentle as Mama. A part of you wants to be more like Mama. At the same time, you also want to get big and strong like Papa. Ultimately, the most significant part of your decision to continue eating meat is that your ever-present brother Wotjeo the silver bear cub eats whatever he wants. Since you are a bear just like him, you too will eat whatever you want. If it fights back first, all the better to help you get stronger. Mama doesn't seem upset by your decision and continues to take you with her to gather food from the valley forest. Mama teaches you about the plants and fruits you gather as you help her. The plants are still really hard to tell apart, but you do learn a bit about the common edible fruits of Aestia Valley. Pomegranates grow on trees and are good to eat starting a little bit after it gets cold until the flowers start blooming. Pomegranates are fun to eat because they have lots of little juicy pods that you pick out individually and eat. Apricots grow on smaller trees than Pomegranates and are available during the long warm days in the middle of the year. After apricot seasons, the sweetest fruit, grapes, can be gathered from vines that mostly grow along the river banks. With only half a day to spend with Mama, you never get far from the caves, but Mama warns you: "Don't follow the river or go chasing after grapes so far along the river out of sight of Papa's cave. If you ever follow the river and realize you can't see the cave anymore, come back right away. This is very important growllita. The Water Tigers own most of the river and are very good at hiding in it. Even if you think you are alone, there may be a tiger hiding in the river so you must always be careful near the river, or any other body of water." So another year passes. In the middle of your fourth winter, Papa wakes you up late. Instead of training you; he bathes you and gives you a brand new dress. Mama braids your hair and then holds you in her lap. She hugs you tightly as Papa crouches in front of you, a serious expression on his usually boisterous face: "You are going to meet the Matriarch today. She is the strongest woman in the clan. Even stronger than me. You must be very polite to her. If she tells you to do something, do it immediately and without arguing." Mama hugs you even tighter, and Papa says to her: "It is time, we have to go now." Mama's hug gets even tighter for a second, and she kisses the top of your head then relaxes her hold on you. Papa holds your hand and leads you deeper into the cave. "Be strong growllita!" You turn to look back at Mama, and she smiles strangely at you. She looks like she did when she found you after you fought the sweet liquid makers, except she's also smiling. You've never seen her look like that before. The cave seems darker than ever before. You are aware of the whole mountain above you pressing down on the tiny tunnel and how small you are. Papa usually lets you walk at your own pace, but today he is jittery and impatient. He keeps urging you to walk faster. Several times he walks so quickly your short legs can't keep up, and he pulls painfully on your arm. He grimaces then scoops you up in his arms and jogs down the tunnel. He sets you down just short of the last bend to the main cavern then straightens your dress. "Remember growllita, you must be brave and do exactly what the Matriarch tells you. Come on." Taking you by the hand again Papa leads you into the main cavern where the clan usually meets to meditate together. The whole clan is here today, but the atmosphere is hushed and expectant. At the front of the clan is a woman even bigger than Papa. You've never seen anyone as big as Papa before, and this woman is even bigger. Her hair is pure silver and gleams metallically in the firelight. To her left are five other children and five silver bear cubs. Papa leads you out of the tunnel. Your usual place during meditation is in the third row from the front, but Papa leads you past that and up to the stage to stand with the other children. The other kids look to be about your age, but you don't have long to examine them because Papa is whispering instructions in your ear: "Stand here and look straight ahead until you are called. Make me proud." Papa then leaves you on the stage and walks to his usual meditation spot without you. Your knees feel wobbly, and you want to run after him. This is all strange. You are surrounded by strangers, and the whole clan is looking at you. You firmly remind yourself that you beat the sweet liquid makers and you can do this too. Wotjeo is beside you. You are not alone. You realize the woman has been speaking and you start listening to what she is saying. "... our newest cubs become members of the clan this day. They have each survived four turnings of the Egg. They have each felt the bite of the bitter cold of winter four times. Now they will demonstrate their metal to the clan so that we may begin to trust them to help us fight against our many enemies." The giant woman gestures, and suddenly there is a multi-colored pyramid in front of her. Each layer is a massive slab of solid metal as tall as you are. The woman leaps to the top of the pyramid in a single bound then turns to look at you. "The first cub to join us is the daughter of Guarnicio." She is pointing at you and Wotjeo. "Come, children, join me." You exchange looks with Wotjeo. Together you walk up to the base of the pyramid. Nobody stops either of you, so you guess you're doing what she wants. The bottom slab is stone with streaks and splotches of many different colors. Unlike the other slabs, the surface is rough and uneven. It is easy to climb it, and even Wotjeo finds a place where he can scramble up. The second slab is white as a cloud. You lift yourself up onto it. When you kneel down to help Wotjeo up, you can see imprints your hands made in it when you pulled yourself up. Wotjeo's claws leave deep scratches in it as he kicks and you lift. The third slab is dull grey. It is almost as easy to damage as the second level. The fourth level is orangish brown. You can feel the strain in your arms from lifting first yourself and then Wotjeo but Papa's training paid off, and you approach the next level with confidence. The fifth level is the same flat black color as Papa's hair and Arely's fur. It is hard and cold. Wotjeo's claws can't find any purchase, and you do almost all the work of lifting him up. You are panting as you approach the next level. You look up. Only two more. You can do this. The sixth level is a rich yellowish-brown and warm as a summer day. Again, you kneel down to lift Wotjeo up. This time he jumps. You catch him halfway up and with a single explosive heave, haul him the rest of the way up. The last level is the exact same silver shade as the woman's, the Matriarch's hair. You wonder for a moment where her companion is before focusing your attention on the slab. It is taller than all the other slabs. Almost too tall for you to reach the top without jumping. You take a moment to calm your breathing before climbing it. The surface feels slick and slippery, and it is a struggle to pull yourself up without losing your grip. Finally, you reach the top. You and the Matriarch aren't alone up here, there's some sort of metal frame up here too, but you're too focused on helping Wotjeo up next to worry about it yet. Your arms are trembling from the effort it took just to get you up here. You know you can do this, but you really don't want to - it is going to take everything you have to lift Wotjeo so high. You kneel down to help Wotjeo up, but he can't jump high enough for you to reach. You lay down on your belly. The top of the pyramid where you are is so small that even your short legs get tangled up in the metal frame. It's hot! Have to do this fast! Wotjeo jumps as high as he can, and you catch him. You try to haul him up but laying down like this everything is working against you. His weight pulls you down, and you start sliding off the edge of the slab. Fortunately, your feet get caught in the metal frame, and you stop sliding. Slowly and carefully, you drag both of you back up every muscle in your body screaming from effort in the unusual position. The Matriarch gives you a few minutes to collect yourself before commanding: "Stand beside me children." Standing beside her you can see that the metal frame is holding a silver bowl filled with burning black rocks. You can feel the heat on your face as the fires consume them hungrily. "Now man-child. Stick your hand into the flames and hold it there." You stuck your hand in the firepit once when Mama was cooking. It hurt a lot and Papa paddled you until your behind was as red as the fire for doing it. Papa also told you to do what the Matriarch said. You aren't sure which order to follow. You look up at the Matriarch, and she repeats her command: "Prove your worth to the clan, man-child. Place your hand in the fire and show us your metal." You look back at the bowl full of burning black rocks and fire. You take a deep breath, and the heat from the fire sucks all the moisture out of your mouth. You thrust your hand into the flame and fire goes wild. The flames double in size and continue growing rapidly. If they keep growing they will escape the bowl and envelop you. The sound of your heart beating wildly drowns out almost every other noise but you are vaguely aware of shouting from the assembled clan. The fire is so big and bright that you can't see the clan through it anymore. 1) You vote for as many compatible options as you want. Unless an option specifically says you run away or pull your hand out you keep your hand in the fire A. Scream in fear B. Cry C. Pee in terror D. Pull your hand out E. Run away F. Leap away and then run away G. Stop, drop, and roll, even though that is not something children are taught in this time and place. You do it anyway. H. Try to kick Wotjeo safely away while keeping your hand in the fire. You are not strong enough to do this, but you try anyways. I. Pull your hand out of the fire and shelter Wotjeo from the rapidly spreading flames with your body. J. Grab Wotjeo and run away K. Pull your hand out of the fire and try to hide from the fire behind Wotjeo L. Pull your hand out of the fire and try to hide from the fire behind the Matriarch M. Stay put N. Put your other hand in the fire O. Put your head in the fire. This will surely kill you. You are going to do it anyways. write in LLSix fucked around with this message at 16:30 on Aug 9, 2019 |
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Mar 4, 2019 03:57
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Dr Subterfuge posted:Does the fire actually hurt? It is very loud. There is lots of shouting and the fire is roaring. Your ears hurt. It is very bright. You are looking right into a rapidly expanding fire. Your eyes hurt. It is very hot. You are standing right next to a giant fire that is rapidly expanding. You can feel the heat from the fire beating against your face. Your face is not in the fire yet but you are sure it will hurt a lot when the fire reaches you because it is very hot. It is... not painful. Your hand does not hurt.
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Mar 4, 2019 15:56
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M. Night Skymall posted:M + write in: Hold onto Wotjeo for support with our other hand. M. Stay put *** It is very loud. There is lots of shouting, and the fire is roaring. Your ears hurt. It is very bright. You are looking right into a rapidly expanding fire. Your eyes hurt. It is scorching. You are standing right next to a giant fire that is rapidly expanding. You can feel the heat from the fire beating against your face. Your face is not in the fire yet, but you are sure it will hurt a lot when the fire reaches you because it is very hot. It is... not painful. Your hand in the fire does not hurt. Wotjeo pads up beside you and stands up so you can hold his tiny bear cub paw in your soft baby hand. In solidarity with you, your silver bear brother thrusts his free front paw into the flames as well. The fire explodes outward. The colors rapidly shifting through every color in the rainbow. You can see Papa flinging people aside as he rushes towards you. The roaring of the flames fills your ears. Fire is all around you know, and the heat is overwhelming. The flames flash brilliant green as something tugs at the spot in the center of your forehead then you know no more.  You wake, still holding Wotjeo's hand. You are in the sky above the valley, but you are not alone. Fires in silver bowls burn all around you. Even though they don't have eyes, you can tell they are not aware of you. Beneath you, the valley you live in burns.  You know the flames all around you are not aware of you because they hurl fireballs at anything that moves in the valley. Even the rabbits cannot escape their notice or the all-consuming fireballs they attack with. You focus on the cave mouth Wotjeo and Papa and Mama and you live in. Hungry flames march steadily into the cave. Nothing inside could possibly survive. Then things get worse. The hairs on the back of your neck lift. Someone is looking at you. The flying flames have seen you! They swoop towards you, and a massive ball of flame plummets out of the heavens at you. Silently, you watch your doom approach. Just before the fireball hits you, you thrust your fist at it in a vain act of defiance. When your fist connects you wake up. You are staring into the black eyes of the Matriarch. Your hand feels like you just hit the wall and is still pressed against the Matriarch's shoulder. You just hit the Matriarch! You try to stammer out an apology, but you can't make your tongue work right. The Matriarch shushes you. "I'm glad to see you followed my instructions to teach her how to fight like a bear, Guarnicio; but I'd expected you to have taught her better. Her punch was weak and her will unfocused. We shall see if young Minario does any better." You hear Mama gasp and quickly ask "Does this mean" The Matriarch cuts her off and turns to face her and Papa. "The elders have decided that the oddity in the trial was caused by the influence of your bloodline. I can see no signs of lasting damage done to either of our children. However, your daughter will be the lowest rated cub for this year until she can prove otherwise. Lessons begin tomorrow." The hand you punched the Matriarch with hurts. A lot. The skin over the knuckles has been torn off, and your hand is starting to bleed. You blink back tears and stifle a sob. You defeated the sweet liquid makers. You did not flee from the flames or scream in fear. You will not cry from a hurt hand. Concentrating on not crying you miss the rest of what the adults are saying until the Matriarch turns back to you. "As for you, young girl. You have earned yourself a name. You are now known as..." 1) What name does the Matriarch give you? write in LLSix fucked around with this message at 03:16 on Mar 5, 2019 |
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Mar 5, 2019 03:04
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Junpei posted:Do you mean a 'name', like Caroline or Kira, or a title, like Black Bear or Golden Raven? Both options are fine.
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Mar 5, 2019 03:14
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The Lone Badger posted:Ask Matriarch where the flying flames went "Flying flames?" Your brother growls. "Hmmmm. Have you been dreaming? If you have, you must be scared. For now, study hard and help your brother grow strong. The next few weeks will be challenging but will have many opportunities for growth." The Matriarch looks at Mama. "You know I am in favor of your marriage, Rica, even though most are not. You should consider how you can help your daughter. You'll be seeing your old family again soon, won't you?"
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Mar 5, 2019 03:44
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Cannon_Fodder posted:We're metal aligned. We need to see how we can draw more metal for our bones/fingernails like our brother. I want to ask pops how he got metal for a beard and how we can try to grow our own metal weaponry. You are not quite 4 winters old. You are vaguely aware that some rocks are different from other rocks, but you don't yet have a firm grasp on the concept of metals. You ask Papa why his beard is so strong. "It's a blessing from sharing my spirit with your aunt Arely." Papa points at his silver bear companion. You hear Wotjeo's voice in your mind correcting him: "Arely is our sister, not our Aunt." Papa continues speaking as if he couldn't hear Wotjeo. Papa never responds when Wotjeo talks in your mind. "All animals naturally accumulate vital essences and convert them into madra. The vital essences of the metal in our caves gathers in their fur and my hair as we cultivate. Elder Minario will explain better than a retired hunter like your Papa can. You'll start taking lessons from him tomorrow. Lessons from an elder are very valuable, make sure you learn all you can." You ask Papa if you can strengthen your bones the same. Papa laughs: "That's what the meditation exercises you've been doing while exercising are for. Keep doing them and you'll get big and strong like me." Papa flexes a biceps bigger than your not quite 4 winters old head. You ask Papa about weapons made from madra. Papa grimaces: "Some of the other tribes in the valley do something like that. Silver Bears like us focus on developing our natural strength as well as the armor and weapons we make." Papa has a suit of armor made out of many lots of rings that he usually leaves on its shelf but you've seen him wearing several times. LLSix fucked around with this message at 17:55 on Mar 6, 2019 |
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Mar 6, 2019 17:52
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LLSix posted:1) What name does the Matriarch give you? I'll continue accepting name ideas until the next update. Cannon_Fodder posted:This might be something we want to share, that was a pretty scary dream. 2) Share your dream with Mama & Papa? A. Yes B. No The Lone Badger posted:Also start punching poo poo - trees, rocks, etc. We clearly need to toughen up our hands. 3) Start punching random things? D. Yes E. No LLSix posted:
Morning meditation is the same as always the next day. Papa leads you through the warren of interconnected tunnels, not pausing or looking down any of the tunnels that branch off your path. The 7-tier pyramid from the trail is gone again. Several tribe members shoot odd glances at you as you take your seat next to Papa in the third row. Afterwards Papa hands you a bag with 2 pomegranates in it. "For breakfast if Elder Minario gives you a chance to eat. Lessons from elders are valuable, pay close attention. Mama will ask you about your lessons when you get home." Papa points at one of the many tunnels leading off from the main cave. "Lessons were there when I was young. Take the first left and the second right. Which turn is the second one?" You hold up three fingers. Papa gently bends one of your fingers down and then holds up two fingers. "This many is second. Take the first tunnel to the left, then not the next right tunnel but the one after that. Follow the other children if you get lost." Papa points to a group of children walking towards the same tunnel. "Go, have fun and listen to the elder, growllita." Papa watches as you run after the other kids then tiredly heads back upstairs. He usually goes right to sleep after meditating and has been too worried about you to sleep much since the trail. You follow the kids into the tunnel. When you come around the first tunnel to the left they're waiting in a crowd for you. The boy closest to you is also the largest and has brown hair cut very short. On both sides of him is a smaller boy who is bigger than you. The one on the left sneers at you and is accompanied by the biggest silver bear cub you've ever seen. The one on the right has yellow hair. Behind the trio is a small boy, even smaller than you. The large, brown haired boy pushes you backwards. "Stupid butterfly. You screwed up our trial!" The boys on either side of him start chanting "Butterfly! Butterfly!" The red haired one shouts: "Show her Bato!" Brown hair/Bato glares at his red haired companion "Shut up Decavo. I'm huntmaster today." He turns his glare on you: "You owe us butterfly. Give me your bag and bow or else!" He shakes his large-for-a-4 winter-old fist at you. You size up the four other children. The only one you are bigger than the boy hanging in back, the other three are all larger and look stronger than you and the silver bears that accompany them are all larger than Wotjeo. Papa hasn't taught you how to fight yet and you've never been hunting. You have been exercising with Papa, but your muscles are not as big as most of the boys. 4) How do you handle this? H. Give them your breakfast bag and bow I. Give them your breakfast bag but do not bow J. Push Bato back and wait to see what happens next. K. Punch Bato and wait to see what happens next. L. You have no fighting training but you want to all out attack M. You have no fighting training but you want to focus on crippling Bato even if the others join in N. Challenge Bato to a one-on-one fight even though he looks bigger and stronger O. Challenge Bato to a two-on-two fight with your spirit companions fighting too even though he looks bigger and stronger P. Run away Q. Drop your breakfast bag and run away R. Start crying. Loudly. write in
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Mar 6, 2019 23:19
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Ritznit posted:D - Absolutely. We have to improve our punch. Though lets maybe not punch stuff our parents might not want us to punch, like their stuff. So close.
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Mar 8, 2019 22:10
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2) Share your dream with Mama & Papa? A. Yes Ritznit posted:D - Absolutely. We have to improve our punch. Though lets maybe not punch stuff our parents might not want us to punch, like their stuff. 3) Start punching random things? D. Yes chin up everything sucks posted:Write In: "You can't be huntmaster, your face looks like you are used as hunt-bait. Now leave me alone." Mama is much smaller than Papa, but Papa always does what she wants. You’ve only seen her raise her voice once and that was in a dream. Instead, she has as many tones of voice as there are shades of green in the forest which she uses to expertly control Papa’s emotions. Thinking back to one of the few times Mama chided Papa. She had come back with her hands covered in scratches and Papa wouldn’t stop hovering protectively. You do your best to infuse your voice with the same elegantly dismissive tone she used then: “You can't be huntmaster, your face looks like you are used as hunt-bait. Now leave me alone.” The stunned expressions on their faces are hugely satisfying. You sweep past them and hurry towards what you hope will be the safety of the Elder’s class-cave while they gape at you in shock. Standing beside Bato, the yellow-haired boy’s shock quickly transitions into laughing so hard he bends at the waist. Brown haired Bato turns on him and savagely shouts “Shut up Chuno! My mom says I have a handsome face! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” This only makes the other boy laugh even harder. You can still hear the other children arguing when you arrive at the appointed cave. The walls are pockmarked with some sort of soft-white rock. The Elder looks old to your young eyes and has a thick bushy beard. Both his beard and hair are a bright yellowish-brown. Beside him, a large bear with yellowish-brown fur sleeps soundly. Elder Minaro growls as you enter the room: “The first day and already you arrive late. I will not tolerate such insolence! Give me 30 pushups at once. No, not there, over there!” The elder points to the part of the cave furthest from where he is sitting with his legs crossed and feet resting on his knees. You move to the far side of the cave and are half done with your pushups by the time the boys arrive. The Elder growls at them: “The first day and already you arrive late. I expect no better from the butterfly girl, but you should know better than to keep an elder waiting. 5 pushups from each of you before the lesson begins; and another 5 to atone for the shame of allowing yourselves to be shown up by a useless butterfly.” Only 10 pushups for them when you got here first and have to do 30! Papa never made you do 30 pushups at a time. You are tempted to complain about the injustice, but Minaro’s cold glare makes it clear it would be pointless. The boys finish before you do and the Elder’s eyes gleam with malice. “No point in waiting for a butterfly like you if you let the others finish before you even with a headstart. 10 more pushups for being so slow. You may join us when you finish.” Elder Minaro beckons the other children close to him and whispers so that you have you to strain to hear him. “As new Silver Bear members, I will be instructing you in the basic elements of cultivation for the next three months as I instructed your older siblings and parents. Pay close attention. A solid foundation determines everything about how far you will progress. To ensure you are properly motivated I will select one of you to receive an additional three months of instruction.” “Young as you are, you do not yet realize how valuable instruction from an elder such as myself is. So I am forced to explain even such basic concepts to you. We elders take students rarely, and of your families, only Chuno’s mother has ever qualified for additional training from me.” Elder Minaro boasted. “It was under my instruction that she advanced from Copper to Iron when she was thirty-eight winters old. She is a talented woman and fortunate to be joined with the exceptional Silver Bear, Junio, but even so, she is unlikely to ever advance to the next rank to become an elder. I doubt any of will reach even that high so I will waste no more of my time discussing such matters, instead focusing on the levels young incompetents like you who can’t even arrive on time might achieve. There are seven levels of cultivation, Ore, Tin, Lead, Copper, Iron, Bronze, and finally Silver.” You finish your pushups and tiredly jog the length of the cave to join the others. Judging by the elder’s cold gaze jogging was a good choice. “You, young sluggards that you are, have not even reached Ore level yet, but the trial demonstrated that you all have at least the potential to reach that level soon. If you have not done so by the end of our lessons, I will consider it an insult to my teaching abilities. You do not want to insult me.” “Your first step along the path of cultivation will be learning to locate vital essences and helping your spirit companions absorb them. Vital essence rains down from the World Yolk and slowly accumulates in inanimate objects and plants. Animals naturally convert the vital essence in the things they eat into madra. As they age and gather more madra, an animal's intelligence and strength increases. After a few decades, most animals learn how to draw vital essences out of even the things they can’t eat and convert it into madra. This is why all the tribes in the valley have spirit companions. With the help of the other half of our souls, we can learn to access the madra that they have converted and use it to strengthen ourselves in a variety of ways.” “Madra manipulation is for a future lesson; first you will learn how to sense nearby vital essence. You lazy layabouts are fortunate to have been born Silver Bears. There are only a few places with strong vital essence left in the valley. In most places, an animal will draw it out and consume it as soon as even a little begins to accumulate. We, however, live in these wonderful caves.” Elder Minaro pets one of the white outcrops with the closest thing you’ve seen him display to affection so far. “Our cave complex is riddled with veins of metal that draw upon endless reserves of vital essence deep in the earth. These outcroppings are tin veins suitable for training young children like yourself. Pick a tin outcropping to meditate under, and I will walk you through the process of sensing the vital essence. Some of your families may have already started teaching you this, Bato. If so, wait for my instruction. If I catch you experimenting, I will throw you out. If you do it a second time, I will aim for the wall.” 1) You take a seat under one of the tin outcroppings and A. Mentally chat with Wotjeo until its your turn B. Listen as the elder instructs the boys C. Listen as the elder instructs the boys and then try to do it on your own despite the elder's threat D. Meditate E. Meditate and try to do it on your own despite the elder's threat write in This ended up pretty long and I want to try to keep updates to a readable length. So I decided to chop it off here and will get to the results of the other votes in the next update. LLSix fucked around with this message at 18:40 on Aug 23, 2019 |
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Mar 9, 2019 16:13
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Cannon_Fodder posted:B is our first lesson. Listen, don't do our own thing. To what extent does meditating distract us from listening in to the lesson? A lot. Listening requires a lot of focus because Elder Minaro is whispering. Meditating requires not focusing and letting your awareness float dreamlike.
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Mar 9, 2019 18:32
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dont be mean to me posted:That won't stop him from punishing us because he's a spiteful bigoted stonefucker. It makes me so happy when I see that I adequately conveyed a character's personality.
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Mar 10, 2019 19:47
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Dr Subterfuge posted:
Decavo rushes forward before Elder Minaro finishes speaking and claims the tin outcropping Elder Minaro had been petting. Having been forced to listen to the Elder’s lecture from behind the boys proves to have its advantages. It means you are the closest to the other tin outcroppings and the second to claim a spot. Not trusting the bigoted elder you listen closely to the instruction he gives the red-haired boy. Decavo is too impatient to wait and follow Elder’s Minaro’s instructions. Decavo keeps incorrectly guessing at what the next step is and rushing ahead to try it. After the third time, true to his word to punish experimentation, Elder Minaro grabs the boy and casually flings him out of the cave. Even though you are closer to him, Elder Minaro turns the other way and instructs Bato, the largest boy, next. Anger and relief war for control in your heart. You are angry that the Elder treats you so unfairly, but you are relieved he didn’t turn towards you. Would he have thrown you out of the classroom too? You decide it is best not to risk it and pretend to be meditating while really listening with your eyes closed. The instructions he gives the black-haired boy are similar, but not identical to those given to Decavo. Does Elder Minaro tailor his teachings to each student? You’ve only ever been taught by Papa and Mama, so you don’t have any reference point to tell if this is unusual or not. The Elder turns to yellow-haired Chuno next. The smallest boy would have had that spot, but Chuno had pushed him out of it, the Elder either not noticing or not caring about the roughhousing. You decide you’ve eavesdropped enough to be able to attempt the lesson even if the Elder doesn’t instruct you, but remembering what happened to Decavo you decide to wait and see if he'll instruct you before trying on your own. Turning your attention away from him, you try to meditate. It is difficult to let go of the roiling ball of conflicting emotions. Anger at the unfairness of it all, shame at being seen as less than a silver bear, pride at having put the boys in their place with a few sharp words, eagerness at learning the real secrets of the tribe. The Elder is halfway through his instructions to Chuno, the second largest boy before you feel your emotions calming. Elder Minaro’s voice fades to an incomprehensible buzz, and you let his flow through you without affecting you. Your mind floats in serene but isolated balance, aware only of your body and Wotjeo beside you. Elder Minaro’s hectoring voice sounds from right beside you: “At least you can do this much. No thanks to your witch of a mother.” You are so startled to hear Elder Minaro’s voice beside you that you nearly lose your meditative state. He growls: “Calm yourself girl.” With unexpected patience, he waits silently until your thoughts are once again serenely balanced. “Keep your hands on your knees and think about the tin outcropping above you. Remember how it looked when you sat beneath it. It is a rough surface splashed with patches of black and white. Got it? No? I didn’t expect you to yet girl. Keep trying and don’t even think of lying and saying you can see it in your mind’s eye before you do.” It takes a few tries with Elder Minaro endlessly describing the outcropping before you have a clear mental picture of it. You tell him you’ve got it. He’d done the same thing for Decavo and then Bato, although more politely in your opinion. “Good. Now pick out one of the white splotches. Both colors are tin ore but focus on just one white splotch today. Focus on that one splotch until it fills your spirit’s eye." This part is a little different from what he'd told the boys, but your father repeatedly told you to follow the Elder's instructions so you follow them exactly instead of trying to do what he told the others. "Yes, now keep focusing and move your spirit's eye closer and closer and closer.” You make your mental image of the splotch larger and larger until it completely fills your field of vision. You can’t imagine how to get any closer, but you keep looking at your mental image as Elder Minaro continues to urge you to get closer to the splotch and make it bigger. How could something possibly be bigger than everything? “Enough.” Elder Minaro snaps his fingers by your ears, snatching away your mental balance. The transition from mentally focusing on a vast white spot to seeing the whole cave is as jarring as trying to take a step up that isn’t there, and you are disoriented for several minutes as he urges the other students to their feet. It seems he instructed you last, giving the other students additional time to practice his instructions. Elder Minaro ushers you all out and you nearly trip over Decavo. The red-haired boy is asleep; sprawled out across the entrance to the cave and sucking on his thumb. Minaro growls louder than you have heard him do so yet. “Stupid boy. He should have known better than to try to get back into my class after I threw him out. The Matriarch is too soft, if she’d permit me to use nightmares he wouldn’t try that again and neither would any of you other idiot children after word got around. You, Bato, you’re his friend, take him to his Mother and tell her he’ll wake just after dinner so she can punish him for not listening too.” Off with you now. Bato gets Chuno to help him, and the two boys carry the third off. The last, smallest boy turns to you and introduces himself: “It was amazing the way you stood up to Bato! Nobody does that. I’m Felero, and I’m going to tell everyone what you said to him. See you tomorrow!” The small boy scampers off quickly. No vote today, I want to address the write ins from last update next but I'm out of time for tonight. Apologies, I've been busy job hunting and haven't had as much time to write as I would like.
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Mar 12, 2019 04:16
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A confluence of events has conspired to keep me unusually busy this week and I will likely not be able to update before the weekend even though I really, really wish I could update sooner. Wanted to give ya'll a heads up.
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Mar 14, 2019 03:32
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Ritznit posted:D - Absolutely. We have to improve our punch. Though lets maybe not punch stuff our parents might not want us to punch, like their stuff. 3) Start punching random things? D. Yes *** You make your way back to the main cave, which is where everyone meditates while the sun rises. Papa, tired from a long night guarding the cave mouth you live in, always led you back home immediately after meditating so this is your first time down here during the day. You are astonished by how many people are down here. Adults stride steadily across the open area while teenagers rush around, weaving between the adults. One of the adults stops Bato and Chuno as they carry the sleeping Decavo. You walk close enough to listen as they explain an elder put their friend to sleep. The adult frowns at the boys and sends them on their way, not offering any help. The boys head down one of the many tunnels leading out and down from the main cave. Two of the rushing teenagers bump into each other. Shouting quickly escalates into punching. The rest of the people pay no attention other then to curve around the fight. You decide to explore a little and walk around the outer edge of the cave. There are lots of tunnels leading away from the main cave. Only three of the tunnels lead up, which is a good thing because you still can't count higher than the fingers on one hand. All the rest of the tunnels slopes downwards, there are lots of them; but not many lots you think. You already know one of the tunnels leading up goes to your home, where do the other caves go? Drawn by the sound of people shouting you follow one of the tunnels leading up to a series of interconnected caves. You are overwhelmed by what you see. Members of the Silver Bear tribe of every age and cultivation level are exercising here. So are their spirit companions.  You recognize a few of the exercises from your lessons with Papa, but there are many more you haven't seen before. Some tribe members are exercising together. One of the caves has a sandy floor, and two pairs of tribe members and their spirit companions are fighting. Several other tribe members are standing around watching them and cheering. Nobody around the edge is doing anything to stop the fight here either. Captivated, you watch until one of the fighters pounds his fist into the sand three times and the woman holding him down helps him back to his feet, and they shake hands. Another pair of fighters moves onto the sands, shakes hands, and start attacking each other. Wandering over to the next cave with wide open eyes and your head on a swivel you see a girl punching a big bag hanging from the ceiling. It's shaped kind of like a tree trunk but must be softer because you see her knuckles sinking into it. You watch open mouthed until she's done, and then you walk up and try to repeat her motions. It's tougher than it looks! The bag is made from animal skin, not wood but it's not soft at all. Your punches don't sink your knuckles into it at all! Instead, your knuckles hurt. You glare at the bag while sucking on your hurt knuckles than try punching it again. Nope. Still not working. You hear someone clapping behind you and turn to look at them. Look at their knees actually. You look up. And up. And up. She's so tall you think she must be almost as big as Papa. Her hair is the same flat black color as Papa's too. She crouches down, but still towers over you. "You must be Pūmič, Guarnicio's girl. You've got his spirit all right; even though he clearly hasn't made time to teach you. Would you like to learn how to punch properly?" You agree enthusiastically. "Well, get your father's permission, and I'll teach you. I haven't seen him down here in years, I bet he doesn't know you're here does he?" You shake your head no. "It's your first day with the elder's right? He's probably worried about you. Run along home now. When you get home, you can tell him Mina offered to teach you how to fight. I appreciate him guarding that cave mouth all these years. Least popular guard job that used to be." I ended up taking a sick day. Bad for me, but good news for the thread. I'm going to break up the update into a few small pieces that I can get done in between needing to lay down again. LLSix fucked around with this message at 17:19 on Mar 14, 2019 |
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Mar 14, 2019 16:39
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Dr Subterfuge posted:What does Wotjeo think of all the stuff we've seen today? Wotjeo thinks you are the best. You are the cutest, smartest, kindest person and his favorite sister. He thinks he is so lucky to share his soul with you. You have the best name.
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Mar 14, 2019 21:27
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2) Share your dream with Mama & Papa? A. Yes *** Papa and Mama are both there when you get back. Mama was sitting on Papa's lap but leaps up when you arrive. "How was your first day of lessons with the Elder, my little growllita?" You have so much to tell them about! You want to tell them about the fights you saw and the exercise cave and Mina and the elder. The words get all tangled up until Papa scoops you up and crushes you against his ridiculously muscled chest in a bear hug. "Settle down, Pūmič. Your old papa can't understand you when you try to tell him a dozen stories at once." You try to pick just one thing to talk about and somehow what spills out is your dream about the flying fires burning down the forest. Mama looks worried: "Is that a real dream?" Papa shakes his head no and wraps one arm around her. He hugs you both. "No need to worry, love. Even the Elder's dreams are unreliable or else they wouldn't need me to stand guard here. Pūmič is a strong girl, but she's much too young to have started Dreaming. Wotjeo still has soft fur. It'll be many years yet until he's built up enough madra to Dream. As for you, little girl." He tosses you in the air, one-handed and you squeal in delight. "That sounds like it was a scary dream, but don't be afraid. Your trial to join the tribe is over. You won't have to stick your hand in the fire ever again. Your papa and mama will be around to help protect you for many years yet. I'm proud of you trying to punch the fire though. Silver Bears should be tough and aggressive, just the way you are. Run along with Mama now, Papa's been up too long today. I need my sleep. You can tell me about the rest of your day tonight." That night you tell him about the exercise cave and meeting Mina while he's holding you upside down by your ankles and you do situps. "Mina?" He lets go of one of your ankles to rub his chin in thought and you scream as that side of your body drops towards the floor. "Oops! He grabs hold of your ankle again and holds you back up. Sorry Pūmič. I guess your Papa is a little absentminded today. Didn't get much sleep last night. I lost count, you'll have to start over. You were saying about Mina?" You grumble about having to do extra hanging situps but tell him about how you met Mina again. "That's my girl. She's a good person to know. Not as strong as me, but not bad. I'll wait for you in the meditation cave and we'll go see her after your lesson with Elder Minaro. She's probably asleep now. Papa yawns as he lowers you down so you can move to the next exercise. You continue exercising and cycling madra from Wotjeo through your body until it's time to meditate with the rest of the tribe. Papa hugs you goodbye and hands you a breakfast bag with two pomegranates and a handful of hard-shelled nuts. You look back as you head towards your lesson and see him walking back to your home for a short nap while you take your lesson. In the same spot as yesterday, you see Bato, Decavo, and Chuno again. At least Felero isn't with them this time. Bato blocks your way: "Where do you think you're going Butterfly? You made me look stupid yesterday." He pushes you. "Nobody make me look stupid and gets away with it." Chuno chimes in: "Yeah, we beat up lots of people who make us look stupid!" Bato grimaces: "Shut up Chuno, I'm handling this." He turns back to you. "Give us your breakfast and your shoes to make up for yesterday or we'll pound your face in." Your shoes are brand new and made of very soft fox fur. They're the nicest pair of shoes you've ever had and Papa warned you not to lose them because he won't be able to get such nice fur again for several years likely. You look around the cave tunnel and consider your options. There's a tripod with some burning rocks providing light beside you. You feel a little braver after Papa's talk about being safe from fire and think you might be able to tip it over onto the boys. You also remember how to get to Mina from here. Maybe she would help if you can run that far, but you're pretty slow. Wotjeo is faster than you still. The pomegranates and the nuts are both pretty hard. They'd probably hurt if you threw them. 1) How do you handle this? A. Same as yesterday. Insult him and hurry past. B. Insult him and then punch him while he's distracted then see what happens next. C. Insult him and then all-out attack while he's distracted. D. Give them your breakfast bag and the soft fur shoes Papa made you E. Push Bato back and wait to see what happens next. F. Punch Bato and wait to see what happens next. G. You have no fighting training but you want to all out attack H. You have no fighting training but you want to focus on crippling Bato even if the others join in I. Challenge Bato to a one-on-one fight even though he looks bigger and stronger J. Challenge Bato to a two-on-two fight with your spirit companions fighting too even though he looks bigger and stronger and his spirit companion looks bigger and stronger than Wotjeo. K. Run to Mina L. Drop your breakfast bag and run to Mina M. Run away. N. Start crying. Loudly. O. Tip the burning rocks in the tripod onto Bato P. Tip the burning rocks in the tripod over and try to get all three boys Q. Try to back up a few steps then throw your breakfast at Bato R. Pretend to agree then throw your breakfast S. Pretend to agree then all-out attack write in super sweet best pal posted:What happens if you eat someone's bonded animal? Do you drain their madra? super sweet best pal posted:What happens if you eat your own?
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Mar 14, 2019 23:24
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You size up the three bullies again. Bato is significantly larger than all of you, large enough that he could easily be mistaken for someone a year older. His spirit companion is equally massive. Decavo, to his right and slightly behind, is only a little bigger than you, but his spirit companion is significantly bigger than Wotjeo. Between them in size and to Bato's left is Chuno. Chuno's spirit companion is about the same size as Decavo's. Add it all up, and you are out-massed about 4:1 and Wotjeo is out-massed at least 5:1. Only briefly do you consider your options before making your decision. Fighting is obviously hopeless. "Okay Bato, you win." You hold your breakfast bag out.  Bato looks surprised then his face lights up with the pure joy of the young. He reaches for it, and you add: "You want my breakfast, come get it!" He freezes mid-reach as you swing the heavy bag back and Wotjeo roars. You swing the bag forward, and it slams into Bato's stunned face. You swing again. This time there's a wet thunk as you whip it against his head. Each pomegranate is the size of an adult's fist. More than twice the size of your toddler's fists and you swung it with all the strength a year of nightly exercise has granted you.  Bato collapses bonelessly. Wotjeo attacked at the same time you did, but at barely half the size of Bato's spirit companion, he isn't doing nearly as well. He rushed forward and literally bounced off the bigger bear cub despite having completely surprised it. He scrambled back up quickly before the shock of your initial attack wore off and lashed out with his front paw, but his young claws aren't long or sharp enough to cut through the other's thick fur and is doing little damage. You wind up to help Wotjeo but are tackled by a screaming, red-haired blur. Untrained in fighting, you awkwardly swing your breakfast bag at Decavo, but he's got his arms wrapped around your chest with his head tucked in tight, and the only thing you can hit is his legs. Which just seems to make him angrier. You get in one decent hit with your off hand before Chuno joins in. After that, it's all over but the screaming. Of which there's a lot. Neither boy is old enough to have any self-control. It doesn't even occur to them to hold back to avoid crippling a fellow tribe member. They hit you as hard as they can. Their untutored strikes pound into you relentlessly. You can hear and feel Wotjeo getting the poo poo beaten out of him too. They don't know enough to hit you in places where it would hurt but not knock you unconscious, so mercifully, you pass out quickly and miss the worst of it. You wake up some time later. You hurt all over and can feel ugly bruises forming all over your face. You drag yourself over to Wotjeo. The only good news is that the boy's spirit companion's claws are almost as undeveloped as Wotjeo's and there are only a handful of superficial scratches in addition to the beating you took. Wotjeo whined at the pain as you checked him for serious injuries but licks your face affectionately afterward. "At least you got Bato, sister. Sorry I didn't do as well. I'll have to train harder." You look around. There's no sign of the other boys, and you don't know how long you've been unconscious. You spot your breakfast bag and snagging one of the leather drawstrings you drag it to you and open it. One of the pomegranates has been cracked open, and several of the nuts are smashed, but your breakfast is otherwise intact. You don't think Wotjeo is seriously injured but he might have internal injuries, or you might have missed something. This is only your second fight, and you have no medical training. For that matter, you might have internal injuries. You're not sure you can even stand. Just thinking about how much it'd hurt to try makes you groan. 1) What next? A. Cry (you may combine this with other options) B. Promise yourself revenge on Bato (you may combine this with other options) C. Promise yourself revenge on Decavo (you may combine this with other options) D. Promise yourself revenge on Chuno (you may combine this with other options) E. Wait here for some to rescue you. F. Shout for help. G. Crawl to your lessons. H. Try to stand and carry Wotjeo to your lessons. I. Try to stand and urge Wotjeo to walk with you to your lessons with you. J. Crawl to find someone to tend to Wotjeo and your injuries. K. Try to stand and carry Wotjeo to find someone to tend to Wotjeo and your injuries. L. Crawl home. M. Try to stand and carry Wotjeo to your N. Try to stand and urge Wotjeo to walk with you to home write in. Vote selected: CourValant posted I've had it with these boys. Vote: S. Pretend to agree then all-out attack, except we're swinging our bag of pomegranates and the nuts like a sock full of doorknobs. "Okay Bato, you win, you want my breakfast, come get it." Since the tribe only respects strength and fighting, we're putting this Bully down. Then we declare ourselves the new leader of his little band of misfits. LLSix fucked around with this message at 02:35 on Mar 18, 2019 |
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Mar 16, 2019 01:44
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MaliciousOnion posted:Yo you got a duplicate choice. I'm guessing M is supposed to be "Try to stand and carry Wotjeo home" but a few people have already voted for it. oops, you are correct. I'll slash out the old version and drop in the correction. That way if I get one of the voters for it I'll know to double check.
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Mar 18, 2019 02:34
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Lazermaniac posted:Bato just got his, the cronies still haven't. Bear-bro probably shouldn't be straining himself, and we don't want to be accused of using the fight as an excuse to ditch class, so we kill two birds with one stone. You hurt all over, but you still have all your stuff. Both Wotjeo and you survived despite being horribly outnumbered by bigger and stronger opponents. Best of all, the memory of Bato collapsing bonelessly after you hit him gives you a fierce sense of satisfaction. The bigger boy has already paid for his part, but you didn't manage to hurt the other two. They're the ones who beat you. You promise yourself that they'll pay for what they did to you. They'll both pay, but not today. Today, the first step on your road to revenge is going to be showing them up by getting to class despite their best efforts to stop you. You cradle Wotjeo in your arms and lean against the right tunnel wall for support. You are in intense pain, almost as bad as after the fight for the sweet liquid. Every shuffling step forward yanks a sob of pain from you. By the time you make it to the first opening in the wall your face is wet with tears. The prospect of walking across the open area without anything to lean on is almost overwhelming. After everything that happened today, your mental fortitude is exhausted, and you break down. Your legs give out from under you, and you collapse to your knees sobbing. A few moments later a young man comes out of the connecting tunnel that you are crying next to and comforts you. He tries to pick you up, but you wipe your tears away and stifle your sobs to insist you can walk. An older, more confident man likely would have ignored your insistence, but he's still young enough to be unsure of himself, so he indulges you. He gently takes Wotjeo from you: "I'm Vala, and this is Tunica. She's very sweet. Give her a big hug to introduce yourself. We're going to walk with you the rest of the way with you, you can lean on her for support if you want." You rest one arm over Tunica's furred back and lean heavily on her. As the four of you slowly make your way forward, Vala awkwardly tries to fill the silence with chatter. "Elder Minaro's classes right? He's, well, he's still awful once you get to know him, but he's really smart too. Just pay attention, and you'll do all right. He won't let fights get out of hand or disrupt his class." "Oh, we're here." The young man, Vala, fidgets while you dry your eyes. He hands Wotjeo back when you reach for him. He quietly mouths "Good luck." The pain is still horrible, but you manage to stagger into the classroom without leaning on anything. Elder Minaro and Felero are the only people in the room. The elder's usually sour expression softens when he takes in your injuries. He strides over without seeming to hurry and lifts Wotjeo out of your arms, casually overpowering your attempt to hold onto him. He covers Wotjeo's forehead with his right palm: "Nothing a few days rest and good food won't cure." He puts down Wotjeo and places his right palm on your forehead. You feel a pulse of warmth travel down from your forehead to your toes and back up. "Your ribs are bruised, but nothing is broken. Try to avoid breathing heavily until they heal." He grunts sourly. "I suppose congratulations on winning your first fight is in order since you are here and three of my idiot students are not. Perhaps the Matriarch was right about you being worth teaching. The worst part is she won't act smug about it like a decent person." His gaze sharpens: "You did not hear that last sentence, and you certainly won't repeat it. Go sit down under one of the tin outcrops. You've already missed half the lesson, don't waste any more time. Felero's been benefiting from my concentrated attention since he was the only one who managed to show up on time. He needs a break, which means it is your turn." After the lesson, Wotjeo and you walk back to the common area to meet Papa. He scoops both you and Wotjeo up in one arm each and cradles you both against his broad chest. "Pūmič! Wotjeo! You look like you've been in a war! Tell me all about it." You cry again as the story of how the band of bigger boys tried to bully you comes tumbling out. "That's my girl! You were very brave to fight all of them. Papa is proud of you." He starts to hug you but sheepishly stops when you protest at the pain as he squeezes your bruises. "You were very clever, using your breakfast like that. Next time, don't focus on just one opponent like that though. You have to switch between them, or they'll attack when you're not paying attention like they did this time. Mina will want to hear this." Papa was right, Mina did want to hear about the fight. Her laughter filled the training cave complex when you described knocking Bato out. "Hah, I can't wait to mention this the next time Aracato starts bragging about how strong his boy is. That ought to shut the loudmouth hunter up." Then she walked you through each step of the fight and suggested things you could do differently next time. You are a bit disappointed that you don't get to train today, but Mina assured you that she'd start training you as soon as you'd healed. The next day, Chuno and Decavo are back at Elder Minaro's class, but Bato isn't. Just like the past two days, Elder Minaro has you all sit down under the tin outcroppings and meditate. You quickly move through the visualization exercises as before. The previous two days, you’d been stymied at the same spot, with the mental image of one spot of tin ore completely filling your mind. Before you’d tried to pull the spot closer to you and you try the same again. Again you fail, and frustratedly you say: “The spot is as big as everything, how can I pull it closer?” Elder Minaro grunts: “Good, keep that image in your mind, but this time, try reaching out to touch it.” You visualize reaching out to touch the tin ore, and suddenly you are inside it. All around you is a disorganized lattice of white. The lattice looks like it wants to be a cube with another node at the center, but some of the nodes have been replaced by patches of different colors distorting the shape of the lattice. You reach out your hand and touch one of the nodes. It’s vibrating! With your eyes, you follow the rod leading from the node you’re touching to its neighbor. The rod leading to the next node is a little thicker, as is the rod leading to the next node, and the next lattice cube after that and “Stop girl!” Suddenly you’re looking at the cave and Elder Minaro. He mutters so quietly you can hear him only because his head is right next to yours. “That woman is going to be insufferable after this.” Standing and facing the rest of the class he announces: “Pūmič is the first of your class to be able to sense vital essence.” Felero claps for you but Red haired Decavo and Yellow-haired Chuno glare daggers. You glare right back at them, remembering your promise to get revenge on them. Elder Minaro continues: “I expect the rest of you sluggards to work hard to catch up to her.” He looks back down at you. “As for you, resume the position! You still have a lot to learn so don’t slack off!” He works you hard for the rest of the lesson, having you repeat the mental exercise over and over again but not letting you touch the nodes or lattice. Finally, he moves on to the next student when you no longer feel like you're being drawn to look deeper and deeper into the lattice. After class Felero comes up and congratulates you. You walk back to the main cave with him. You chat a little about your parents and learn that his mother is the tribe Dreamkeeper; she holds the memories of every Dreamkeeper before her and can share them as a dream with other tribe members when they need to remember the past. He’s very proud of her and wants to be one too. You see Chuno and Decavo splitting up and going their own ways too. This is the perfect chance to get your revenge when they’re not together. 1) Which do you follow? A. Chuno B. Decavo Write in 2) Do you want to ask Felero for help? F. Yes G. No write in 3) How do you want to get revenge? K Demand an apology L Demand their stuff M Challenge to a fight N Ambush them even though you have no experience at being sneaky LLSix fucked around with this message at 19:25 on Mar 19, 2019 |
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Mar 19, 2019 18:50
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The Lone Badger posted:Dad was very against people eating spirit-animals, but didn't discuss the morality of spirit-animals eating people. LLSix posted:Papa shouts angrily at you: "That's horrifying! Don't even think it! We're not cannibals!" The Silver Bear Tribe considers spirit companions to literally be half of a person's soul. Spirit companions are just as intelligent and moral as their human half. They have all the same rights and responsibilities as a human. Both halves of a person's soul are equally responsible for an action taken by the other half. A silver bear of either species would never consider eating a person. Corazon Chamois are well known to eat anything but even they won't eat humans or spririt companions. There are dark rumors that Marbled Polecat's eat their enemies. Even just the rumor of it is enough to ensure they are both feared and loathed for it.
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Mar 21, 2019 04:16
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bonus hole boy posted:1) Which do you follow? You see Decavo and Chuno split up to go their own ways just as you're getting ready to say goodbye to Felero. You grin with glee. You didn't think you'd have a chance to get your revenge on them so soon. It's too bad you can only follow one of them. You think for a moment. Decavo was the one who actually tackled you in the last fight, so you want to hurt him more. Besides, Chuno laughs when you insult Bato. That last thought makes up your mind for you. Decavo is going down. You turn to Felero and say: "I want to challenge Decavo to fight. Want in?" Felero nods eagerly: "Let's go! As a future Dreamkeeper its my duty to record the results of all challenges!" You hurry towards Decavo with your new, (maybe?) friend beside you. Is Felero your friend? You're not sure, you've never had a friend before. He seems to like you, but maybe he just likes you more than Bato and the others? Do you even like Felero? You're not sure, he talks funny, but he's certainly better than other boys. Weaving around the legs of confidently striding adults and rushing teenagers you just barely manage to catch up to Decavo before he leaves the busy main cavern. "Decavo! I want a rematch! Are you bear enough to fight me without your friends to help?" Decavo wheels towards you and snarls, his hands curling into tiny fists. "Always eager to kick your Butterfly rear end. Let's go!" He stomps towards you but Felero rushes in between both of you. "That's not how you're supposed to answer! She challenged you to a duel so you have to pick the weapon and then she gets to. OOF!" Felero's speech is interrupted by Felero swatting him aside. Felero is the smallest of the young cubs, even smaller than you and the larger boy's back hand smashes into his mouth and knocks him on his rear end. Felero's spirit companion stands guard in front of him while he grabs his injury and mutters "ow ow ow ow" Decavo keeps stomping right towards you. His spirit companion growling beside him. Although Decavo is only a little bigger than you, Wotjeo is a lot smaller than Decavo's spirit companion. You need to win this as fast as possible so you can help Wotjeo. You hear Wotjeo's voice in your mind: "Don't worry about me, take care of yourself. You're still hurt from yesterday!" You're tempted to argue, but there's no more time for discussion. You try to lift your hands in front of you like you saw yesterday but you must have done something wrong because it doesn’t slow Decavo down at all. He just tackles you to the ground. Exactly like yesterday. The impact with the ground doubles the pain from all your bruises. Decavo sits up and draws back his arm to start punching. His face twisted in a terrible smile. You desperately force your screaming muscles into action. You push off the ground and roll to the side. Because he is sitting on top of you, you roll him over too. Now you’re on top and the red-haired boy is on bottom. You push yourself up with your left hand so you can punch him with your right; but now that all your weight is to your left, Decavo is able to easily roll both of you in that direction. So it goes. The two of you roll around on the ground, ineffectually flailing away. Both of you are too close in to put any force behind your blows and whenever one of you tries to pull back the other rolls both of you over again. Around you a handful of teenagers and adults have gathered to watch the fight. “Look at him go. He’s really ferocious.” “Look at her, all beat up and still fighting. That’s a real bear. Takes a lickin’ and keeps on swingin’” Wotjeo isn’t doing nearly as well. You can hear him yelping with pain. You have to do something soon or Wotjeo is going to lose! Wotjeo is the most important person in the whole world to you. You can’t let Decavo’s spirit companion beat him up! This time when you roll Decavo over, you keep rolling away from him. You scramble to your feet and charge toward where Wotjeo is fighting. You can hear Decavo panting as he chases after you. Desperately you dive forward and belly flop onto his spirit companion. You’re still small, but so is the bear. The impact knocks his legs out from under him. Wotjeo, with such magnificent timing an onlooker might also have thought you’d planned this, switches targets and rams into Decavo’s ankles, tripping the boy as he runs after you. The impact knocks Wotjeo down too, but it buys you a few seconds to sit up and land the first good punch of the fight. You hammer your first into the bear cub you knocked down. Only a moment later Decavo grabs your ankle and yanks you away. Decavo drags himself up your body and grabs your hair. You try to throw him off but your battered body is too weak to lift both his and your weight at the same time. He slams your face into the hard floor of the cave. Once. Twice. Wotjeo is the first spirit companion to recover and he leaps on the boy's back. Wotjeo places his teeth against the red haired boy’s neck. Decavo, displaying absolutely no instinct for self-preservation, starts thrashing and one of the adults snatches Wotjeo away before Decavo can commit suicide by bear bite. “Enough. The girl wins”. The other adults wade in and try to pull you and the other fighters away from each other. “Fighting is good preparation for dealing with the other tribes, but you should acknowledge defeat with dignity.” 1) Do you let them pull you apart? A. Yes, I let the adults stop the fight B. No, I openly hit Decavo as much as I can C. No, I openly hit Decavo’s spirit companion as much as I can D. No, I try to hit Decavo in a way no one notices E. No, I try to hit Decavo’s spirit companion in a way no one notices Write in 2) What do you do first after the fight ends one way or the other? You may pick multiple, but please do so in the order you want to do them. J. Check on Wotjeo K. Check on Felero L. Go home M. Go tell Mina about your fight N. Look around for Chuno Write in LLSix fucked around with this message at 22:31 on Mar 21, 2019 |
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Mar 21, 2019 22:10
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I thought I only cared which of the items in #2 you did first, but after seeing ya'll selecting multiple items from the list I realized it'd be handy to know what else you wanted to do too. I've update the vote with some text to hopefully explain this.
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Mar 21, 2019 22:36
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bonus hole boy posted:Good Fight! You keep a suspicious eye on Decavo as the adults pull you apart, and it is a good thing you did. The fierce red-haired boy tries to kick you and you just barely manage to pull your legs out of the way as the adult lifts you up. Decavo keeps roaring and swinging wildly. All of the adults cluster around him. Finally, one of the adults picks him up and yells in his face “Stop!” That finally gets through to him through his rage, and he allows himself to be led away, as did you. You have a splitting headache, and there’s something wet and sticky dripping down your face. You wipe it away from your eyes and look down to see your hand smeared with a red liquid. Something about that disturbs you, but you’re having a hard time focusing. You shake your head and push it out of your mind, you need to check on your bear brother. You spot another adult releasing Chuno and allowing him to join his friend but don’t pay much attention. You are much more concerned with Wotjeo. The liquid is still dripping into your eyes, making it hard to see. You wipe it away again. Wotjeo really took a beating for you. The second in as many days. You hug him gently and cradle him in your arms like a baby. He’s small enough to be mistaken for one if he wasn’t so furry. He affectionately licks your face. You look him over, and fortunately, while he has many scratches, it looks all his wounds have stopped bleeding or will soon. You cradle him against your face and wipe the liquid away from your eyes. Why won’t it stop? It’s so annoying. Where is it coming from anyways? Felero comes up to you. “You are so tough! It’s amazing. I think I’d be crying up a storm if I was bleeding as much as you are.” He takes his shirt off and rubs your forehead clean then wraps it around your head. The liquid finally stops dripping. You feel like you should thank him. Both of him. “Maaaaybe you should learn how to punch before picking another fight. And feed up Wotjeo, so he’s not so small and scrawny. The two of you really got the snot kicked out of you today. Anyways, I’ll see you tomorrow. I have to share my memory of the fight with my mother while it is still fresh.” You don’t remember how you got to the training cave, but you remember the shocked expression on Mina’s face when you got there. You try to walk towards her but all of a sudden your feet don’t want to work right, and you fall forwards. Her strong arms catching you is the last thing you see before everything fades to black. When you open your eyes again, you know you are dreaming. 1)What are you dreaming about? A. Getting revenge on Chuno B. Bato C. Felero D. playing with Wotjeo E. Exercising with Papa F. Training with Mina G. You are floating above the valley again write in its your dream, you may write in any dream you want LLSix fucked around with this message at 04:21 on Mar 22, 2019 |
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Mar 22, 2019 04:15
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malbogio posted:H: Our peers have been pretty lame. We look for better ones. We race Wotjeo across the sky in search of different dreamers. You are in the sky above the valley again, but for the first time, the valley looks the same as it does when you are awake. Your body is whole and healthy. This is not at all surprising. Wotjeo rubs his furry head against your hand, so you scratch him behind the ears the way he likes. You tell him that you think all the boys in your class are lame and you want to see what else is out there. He points his cute little bear cub paw towards where the sun sets. "Last one there is a rotten egg." Laughing you leap to your feet, and are surprised by the sudden burst of pain as if you are badly bruised. You check yourself, but you are whole and healthy. This is not surprising. Wotjeo and you race across the sky, chasing the sun. After a long time, you come to a narrow place. Almost all the valley between the mountains to the North and South is filled by the river, broader and slower now than you've ever seen it. The river pours out into a vast body of water. You can't tell how vast though; because a massive storm fills the horizon. Bright flashes of lightning blast from cloud to cloud. Even from the shore, you can hear the horrific howling of the wind. A drop of red falls through your line of vision. You aren't sure you saw it at first, but then it turns into a trickle. You reach your hand up to your forehead and feel a long cut. Blood starts pouring out. Wotjeo leaps towards you and you remember no more. Silynt posted:D. It’s fun to play with my brother! You wake up and know you are dreaming. You are back in the valley, turning your head you can see the mouth of the cave where Mama and Papa live. All is peaceful and quiet. Wotjeo comes running back from the forest with an apricot in his mouth. You take turns biting into it. Suddenly your head hurts. Wotjeo leaps onto your chest, and you lay back. He licks your forehead, and the pain fades. He keeps licking, and you giggle because his tongue tickles. You close your eyes and fall back into a dream. This time, when you wake, you are back in your bed furs with Mama sleeping beside you. Papa comes in, and when he sees you, he rushes over. "You're awake!" He shouts then quickly covers his mouth, looking embarrassed. "Ssshhh, your mother is sleeping." He scoops you up and carries you over to the fire then tenderly holds a bag of water to your lips until you drink. He cuts up several fruits and starts cooking a big piece of meat. "I'm so glad you're awake Pūmič. You've been sleeping for two days. We were worried you might never wake up. Head injuries are tricky that way." He peers closely at your face then brushes his fingers across your forehead. "There's no scar! It's a miracle! Bless the ancestors. Your forehead was split so open I thought someone had tried to scalp you until one of the tribeswomen who saw the fight reported it to Mina." You are ravenously hungry and eat everything prepared for you. Papa starts making seconds and Wotjeo ambles over to join you, yawning. He looks even thinner than before. His skin hangs loosely in places as if he just lost a lot of weight. You scoop him into your lap, and you nuzzle each other. You share your second meal with him, feeding him a piece than a piece for you. He curls up and falls to sleep in your lap immediately after eating the last bit of meat. Papa hugs you again. "No training tonight. You should rest as much as you can, Pūmič. I'm proud of you for winning that fight, but it was luck as much as anything. You stay away from that boy until you learn how to fight better. People like Decavo don't know when to stop or how to stop." *** When you return to class, all your fellow students are already there. Bato looks pretty much the same as the first day. However, Decavo has even more bruises than you do. He must have gotten in a fight with someone else. Elder Minaro sarcastically greets you: “So good of you to finally join us little Butterfly. Felero and Chuno have surpassed you while you were sleeping. You will have to work hard to catch up.” Elder Minaro spreads his glare out evenly across the classroom. His voice drills into your ears: “While I have no problems with you beating yourselves unconscious the Matriarch has decreed that I am to continue wasting my time teaching you mudbrains an additional day for each day your injuries prevent you from being here. I have no desire to lose any more time on you than I must, so I have a decree for you. There will be no more fighting until my lessons are complete. If one of you attacks the other, I will personally instruct you in the true meaning of strength by beating some sense into you.” He cracks his heavily scarred knuckles. Decavo and Bato both glare at you and you glare right back. This isn’t over for any of you. Elder Minaro’s voice lashes out like a whip, and you all look back at him: “Do you understand?” You hear the boy’s shouts of “Yes, Elder Minaro.” mingling with your own. He may be old, but he’s still terrifying. Your plans for revenge will have to wait. Your father will be pleased. Felero too. Probably Mina. Come to think of it, pretty much everyone you know wants you to give yourself time to get stronger. This might be for the best. You find it hard to meditate after your head injury, and it takes you several tries to regain the clear mental image of the cube lattice with one internal node that you had before your fight with Decavo. When you can hold it for a half hour Elder Minaro huffs out an impatient: “Finally!”  Elder Minaro hands you a silvery white lump of not-rock. “This is a piece of tin. Tin is a soft, malleable, ductile and highly crystalline silvery-white metal. When a bar of tin is bent, a crackling sound known as the "tin cry" can be heard.” You bend the lump of tin, and it makes an entertaining crackling sound. You do it several more times, and surprisingly Elder Minaro waits patiently until you look back at him then continues in an unusually gentle tone. “White tin, like the piece I gave you, is malleable at room temperature. The tin ore in these outcroppings is the same kind of tin, but less pure. The white parts of the lattice you see when you move into the ore are tin, the other colors are rocks. Stay away from them and don’t follow the white too far either. These deposits run deep, and you can get lost in them if you stray too far.” You squeeze the lump in your hand. It takes some effort, but you can leave impressions of your fingers in the soft metal. “As I told you last week, Tin is the second tier of cultivation. Our smiths melt it together with copper to from Bronze. Bronze practitioners, like myself, are the second highest rank of cultivator. From such humble beginnings is strength formed. In theory, you too can reach such a high rank.” His voice resumes its usual harshness “Although I don’t really expect you” he raises his voice so the boys can hear him clearly “I don't expect any of you to amount to much, lazy and disobedient as you slugs are.” Behind his back Bato, Chuno, and Decavo all glare at you. You glare right back at them. Still facing you, Elder Minaro snaps: “I told you to meditate, not glare. The next time you disobey me, I’m going to throw you into the wall. Decavo. This is not a game! You think being punched hurts? If you do this wrong, you will feel like you ran into a wall. A wall covered in spikes that pierce you in a million places until you bleed out and die. There is a reason we wait to teach you until after you’ve passed the trial. There is a reason the time of an Elder is spent on little cubs who aren’t yet worth anything to the tribe.” Bato and Chuno start meditating again but Decavo just keeps glaring angrily at you. He drops his volume back down to normal levels, and he talks you through the process of meditating on the tin outcropping until you once again seem to be standing inside the tin ore. All around you is a disorganized lattice of white. The lattice looks like it wants to be a cube with another node at the center, but some of the nodes have been replaced by patches of different colors distorting the shape of the lattice. You hear Elder Minaro’s voice: “Move to the closest node but don’t touch it yet. Inside this node are dozens of small lumps like the one I gave you earlier. The surface of the node is like water, easily pushed through. Put your hand inside and pull out one of the lumps.” You reach out and rest your hand against the node, and again you feel it vibrating, but the surface remains smooth. You try to visualize it as being like water, and slowly the opaque surface of the node turns translucent, and your hand sinks into it. Inside of the node is a slow-moving sea of tin-white liquid. You scoop some of it up and when you pull your hand back out of the node the pool of fluid in your palm transforms into a solid lump. “Good. Keep your eyes closed and reverse the process that brought you here until you can see your spirit brother.” It’s tricky trying to do everything backwards, and several times the lump of tin starts to transform back into a liquid and flow away. Every time you focus on it as a lump until it settles down. Finally, you are back outside. Wotjeo leaps up and gobbles the tin out of your hand like any other treat. He tells you: “Yummy! I want more! This is too slow! Visualize me following you, and we can skip the whole back and forth trip.” Elder Minaro, apparently unaware of the byplay grudgingly says: “Not bad. Do it again.” 1) Who do you listen to? A. Wotjeo B. Elder Minaro LLSix fucked around with this message at 17:12 on Mar 22, 2019 |
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Mar 22, 2019 16:33
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Cannon_Fodder posted:B: ask if we should do it. "Wotjeo says we could bring him with us. Would that be better?" Elder Minaro huffs angrily. "Hmm, let's see. On the one hand, you could follow the instructions of the best vital essence manipulator in the whole valley. On the other hand, you could listen to the voices in your head." Minaro turns his hand's palm up and moves them up and down like the sides of a seesaw. He drops one hand to the floor and raises the other over his head before roaring: "NO! YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO YOUR VERY OLD AND VERY EXPERIENCED TEACHER! NOW REPEAT THE EXERCISE CUB!" You, being only four winters old, scramble backwards until you are plastered against the cave wall in instinctive reaction to the violence of his words. He continues in a lower timber: "And don't try to blame your foolishness on your brother again. There's no way Wotjeo will be able to communicate that clearly for years yet. Even I couldn't hear my sister until I reached Tin." You try to explain that you really can talk with Wotjeo, but the Elder coldly dismisses all your claims and insists you continue following the exercise. You wipe away the tears beading up in your eyes and sniffle before resuming the meditative pose and following the Elder's instructions. With continued practice, it gets easier to keep the vital essence in a solid shape. By the end of the day's lesson, you can almost keep it solid without having to stop 'walking' but it requires constant focus, and you feel mentally exhausted. When the class ends, Elder Minaro instructs you to stay behind. Felero pats you sympathetically on the shoulder before leaving. Bato and his cronies sing-song "Pūmič's in trouble. Pūmič's in trouble" as they leave. Elder Minaro beckons you up to the front of the class where his spirit companion sleeps. He lifts her head into his lap and pets her tenderly. She growls contentedly in her sleep. You don't think you've ever seen her awake. "Much as it upsets me to admit it, you're making good progress girl. Be patient and learn how to walk before trying to run. Your concern for Wotjeo does you credit, despite your outrageous claim of being able to talk to him already. I will teach you faster techniques when you are ready and not before. Now run along. I have better things to do with my time than convince foolish little girls to give their elders the respect they earned before the little girl was even born." You run out of the classroom, eager to leave before Elder Minaro's unusually pleasant mood changes. You briefly consider trying to experiment on your own. Not knowing of any other places to find vital essence quickly puts an end to such thoughts and you continue on your way to meet with Mina. Wanted to get this piece out while I could since I don't know how much time I'll have today to work on the next piece(s). LLSix fucked around with this message at 18:21 on Mar 23, 2019 |
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Mar 23, 2019 18:17
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