|
Toughy posted:Is DocWagon willing to only supply Orc guards? I think Jayvon would be happy to pull those strings for us, eventually, but I believe we’d have to go crash cart not doc wagon
|
#
?
Jul 3, 2018 21:39
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 9, 2024 20:45 |
|
|
Somehow I doubt the Touristville community would be all too happy to give a megacorp a foothold in their community. It's definitely not something Julie should decide on her own.
|
|
#
?
Jul 3, 2018 21:45
|
|
|
DocWagon doesn't subcontract out to small-time clinics like that anyway, do they? Julie's not running an ER here.
|
|
#
?
Jul 4, 2018 04:32
|
|
|
jagadaishio posted:DocWagon doesn't subcontract out to small-time clinics like that anyway, do they? Julie's not running an ER here. They do, actually. DocWagon will contract with any clinic that can provide care. But they do it based on levels and certs. The thing about the Orc Underground is it connects to the rest of the Seattle underground and sees a lot of Runner traffic.
|
|
#
?
Jul 4, 2018 07:39
|
|
|
So it's been a hell of a last couple weeks. I've lost my grandfather and my cousin last month, then in the last week I've lost my job and had to put my cat to sleep. Depression has been beating the poo poo out of my brain. Ive spent the last two days in bed reading this story again from page one. This morning I've managed to get put of bed and do a lot of landscaping that needed to get finished. Now I have a new path for my in-laws to walk up from the street to the front door that isn't loose rocks and wobbly stepping stones. Thanks Ice. Im not over my depression bought yet, thatll take more than a few days and my brain is fighting me every step of the way, but Im out of the weeds. So thanks again. I truly appreciate your hard work on this gay dead comedy forum.
|
|
#
?
Jul 6, 2018 22:07
|
|
|
Deadmeat5150 posted:So it's been a hell of a last couple weeks. I've lost my grandfather and my cousin last month, then in the last week I've lost my job and had to put my cat to sleep. Depression has been beating the poo poo out of my brain. Ive spent the last two days in bed reading this story again from page one. This morning I've managed to get put of bed and do a lot of landscaping that needed to get finished. Now I have a new path for my in-laws to walk up from the street to the front door that isn't loose rocks and wobbly stepping stones. Goondolences  Yard work is pretty amazing for improving your mood though. Heavy manual labour and something nice and obvious to look at afterwards and say "I did that and it's drat good!"
|
|
#
?
Jul 6, 2018 22:26
|
|
|
Deadmeat5150 posted:So it's been a hell of a last couple weeks. I've lost my grandfather and my cousin last month, then in the last week I've lost my job and had to put my cat to sleep. Depression has been beating the poo poo out of my brain. Ive spent the last two days in bed reading this story again from page one. This morning I've managed to get put of bed and do a lot of landscaping that needed to get finished. Now I have a new path for my in-laws to walk up from the street to the front door that isn't loose rocks and wobbly stepping stones. 
|
|
#
?
Jul 6, 2018 22:38
|
|
|
The Sandman posted:Just finished reading through the thread. Now ready to wait for new content. Welcome to the thread.  You know, one of my earliest iterations was Octo taking up residence in Sammy. She'd still exist, but she'd be something of the matrix wiz. I've left Sammy open in case someone wants to inhabit it at some point or it becomes useful, but right now I'm using Sammy the salmon to poke fun at terrible educational mascot branding. And yes, I'm aware of just how niche that is. Deadmeat5150 posted:So it's been a hell of a last couple weeks. I've lost my grandfather and my cousin last month, then in the last week I've lost my job and had to put my cat to sleep. Depression has been beating the poo poo out of my brain. Ive spent the last two days in bed reading this story again from page one. This morning I've managed to get put of bed and do a lot of landscaping that needed to get finished. Now I have a new path for my in-laws to walk up from the street to the front door that isn't loose rocks and wobbly stepping stones. I'm flattered that you read my work again for self-care and happy that you're doing better. One of the reasons I began writing Blake Island after about the first book was to be a point of happiness in the world for people who don't have a lot to be happy about lately. I remember my mom spending months in bed when she wasn't at work when I was growing up because her depression was that bad and I inherited some of that. Two days in bed seems like a bargain to me for all of the poo poo that you're going through right now. I won't say that it's automatically going to get better, because I don't want to be a liar or hit you with false hope, but if you can grit your teeth, take care of yourself, lean on people who love you and find something to busy yourself, you can blunt your depression and ride it out until your brain decides you're good again. So I will say that I hope you get better soon. So I'm going to talk about something taboo since that's the topic today. I'm going to talk about depression and how I deal with it as I know there are plenty of folks here with depression. Also a lot of people who don't understand it at all as again, to many people, talking about depression is taboo. I was extremely depressed for about a decade. I had very little control over my life and lived with poverty. I graduated at the height of the financial crisis and all of the jobs I normally would have went into evaporated almost completely. So I took jobs that I knew I was way, way, way overqualified for because they were not only outside of my training, but they required no thinking at all. I used to resent these jobs, but in retrospect I'm glad to have had them at all. I remember having so little time to myself that I skimped on sleep to spend time with friends. Spending time was difficult due to the sleep problems, but also just mustering up the will to go spend time with people was hard. I enjoyed myself when I got there, but it was difficult to go in the first place, like I was wearing lead boots that also made me feel unworthy, and going back to bed lessened that feeling in the short term, but would intensify it over the long term. I had to jealously conserve my energy in order to get anything done at all, because I could only work so much before I'd emotionally collapse into an unfeeling puddle in bed. Depression came in cycles. I'd be okay for a month or two, but then I'd feel fantastic for about a day or two. Really, really great. I dreaded these days, because they were like calm periods before the storm. I'd be looking at a minimum of multi-month if not multi-season depression cycles where I could barely accomplish anything. To many people, they think depression is sadness. It isn't. It's worse. It's the emotional equivalent of washing your feet with socks on. You go through life with a filter and it's difficult to feel anything. In fact, the most dangerous times in someone's life who has problems with depression are at the beginning or end of depressive episodes. Someone can't handle going back into a depressive episode again and that's when self-harm is most likely. What helped bail me out of depression was finding purpose. Not in a job or a person, but a goal that I made my own. I was tired of being fat. I got healthy and lost 45 pounds over the course of a year. Not a lot to be sure, but I did it and it greatly benefited me. I spent much of this time walking, about four hours every other day on the same roads under the South Carolina sun. I brought my hiking pack, would head to one of a few gas stations, grab a drink or a snack or even sometimes a meal, and walk back. I probably lost way more weight while dieting, but I enjoyed the walks the most. I did go to the YMCA to lift weights. I listened to podcasts and audiobooks. Occasionally I'd go with my dad on the weekend and we'd talk about politics. So while I did grow strong from my walks, they didn't benefit me too much. The dieting did. My dad and I were well known by commuters for going up and down this busy stretch of road every other day. Sometimes twice on weekends. We wore distinctive hiking packs because I could stick water in them along with extra weights to burn calories faster. In Greek mythology, there's a figure named Sisyphus. He was a trouble maker and a rebel and the gods cursed him to roll a boulder up a hill for all eternity only for it to roll back down again, rendering his labor pointless. It was thought that there was no greater torture than fruitless, pointless labor. However, that was life for me before that. I was so out of it that I couldn't even do any labor. I remember that first big hike where I spent two weeks bedridden because my joints were so damaged because I overdid it and it flung me immediately into a depressive episode, but with full body pain too to the point where I had a hard time walking around. My body just wasn't up to the task of walking twelve miles. It was agony and I had a lot of time to think to myself if this was what I really wanted to do with my life. If this was worth it. But once I healed I took shorter hikes, and I owed a lot to my dad who got me going. Then longer ones once I was ready. The same hike that whipped my rear end I could do with effort, but it was something I could definitely accomplish. I realized at some point that the paths I walked was my hill. My pack was my boulder. The torture that those Greek gods inflicted on Sisyphus was almost entirely in the mind, because eventually his body would grow hard and strong and built for purpose, as bodies tend to do. He's referred to as an absurd hero, because he realizes just how pointless that labor was. Whether you're behind a desk or the wheel of a truck, life does seems awful and pointless sometimes, but the struggle is in the mind. I walked that road to improve myself even though it didn't really give me the results that I wanted. Lifting weights and running did that for me. But I enjoyed it all the same despite its pointlessness. Now that I'm still dealing with my vertigo, I don't miss running, I don't miss lifting weights, I miss those long, nearly pointless walks that I used to take where half the time I'd immediately eat back all of those calories I lost. And sometimes I imagined myself as Sisyphus, rolling my rock up my hill. And I have to say, I miss that rock. I miss it a lot even though I'm not sure if it did anything for me. So because all of that torture was in the mind, the way to deal with life in my opinion, as it is a often pointless and absurd is to roll your rock up the hill and be happy. That's it. That's the secret. It's to be aware of life's absurdity and laugh at it. When life seems to completely lack purpose, some people find dread in that. I personally find it liberating, because it means that I can assign any meaning to my life that I want. My goals are my own. My achievements and my failures are mine to own. I roll my rock up my hill and I am happy. I just chose new rocks and new hills. Anyway, that's the myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus. I remember being depressed when I heard that story. Not at my worst, but it was pretty bad as my bouts with depression would last for months. I used that story as my tool to dig myself out of my own depression hole. It was a new way of looking at life that helped put my problems into perspective. I won't say it will work for everyone, but it did work for me. Where I used to measure my bouts of depression in months, now I measure them in weeks, days or even hours. And it's very rare that my depressive episodes last more than two days now. Again, I won't say it'll work for everyone, but it worked for me. It was a tool to help me look at my life and figure out ways to lessen my depressive episodes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQOfbObFOCw Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 00:14 on Jul 7, 2018 |
|
#
?
Jul 6, 2018 23:30
|
|
|
Also, something uplifting about dealing with loss. I remember one of my favorite actors, Danny Trejo talked about losing his mother in an interview. You might know him as that guy who gets typecast into a ton of roles as the Mexican Gangster. http://collider.com/danny-trejo-saint-george-interview/ So one day he was working on one of the Muppets movies: "TREJO: I never imagined that I’d be out of prison. I worked with all of the Muppets. It was amazing! I was acting next to puppets! In 30 seconds, you’re having a full-on conversation with a puppet on a hand. The guys are great that do it. My mom passed away while I was in London shooting the movie, and I was a momma’s boy, so it really hit me. My secretary called me and said, “Don’t worry, you don’t have to come home. We’re already taking care of everything. We know what to do.” I still had two weeks left to go, so I finished those two weeks. I was being really strong. I just shut down. People were coming up and saying, “We’re really sorry about your mom.” And I was like, “Yeah, it’s fine. She’s in a better place.” Everybody was like, “You didn’t like your mom?” I know my mom in Heaven would have said, “Screw this little bastard!” And then, Kermit came up and said, “Dan, I’m really sorry about your mother,” and I lost it. I was holding onto Kermit." It's one of my favorite stories. People shut down and sometimes people think you need to beat your chest or throw yourself on the ground and wail to show that you care. It's awful and requires emotional labor that I can barely manage. So Trejo just doesn't want to do that emotional labor. He's not capable of it. Then one of the Muppeteers comes up with Kermit, and it's absurd because it's a guy with a puppet on his hand talking in a silly voice. But that's what he needed in that moment. And he held onto Kermit.
|
|
#
?
Jul 6, 2018 23:43
|
|
|
Ice Phisherman posted:It's to be aware of life's absurdity and laugh at it. When life seems to completely lack purpose, some people find dread in that. I personally find it liberating, because it means that I can assign any meaning to my life that I want. My goals are my own. My achievements and my failures are mine to own. I roll my rock up my hill and I am happy. I just chose new rocks and new hills. Same, beginning to end. The perspective of that essay has been key to how I deal with depression for more than a decade.
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2018 00:11
|
|
|
malbogio posted:Same, beginning to end. The perspective of that essay has been key to how I deal with depression for more than a decade. I wish I'd found it sooner. It was a huge help for me. It wasn't a cure, but it did help reduce its effects. -- Anyway, going to talk about patreon briefly. If you want to contribute I'd appreciate that. Don't feel obligated though. I also want to do something nice for my contributors at some point. Not because I'm obligated by patreon, but because I want to. I'm not sure what yet though. https://www.patreon.com/icewrites I'm still working on the next post. I'm about half way through it. I lost some of my draft and so I'm having to reduplicate some effort which isn't fun, but I've been working on the antagonists for year two and fleshing them out. I don't want them to be mustache twirling villains after all. Just people with their own problems and differing ideologies. I'm also working on a three act structure for Kenji's story since my original idea got blown up by dice rolls. I have to say that I like it better. I had the Red Markets game last week and I'm going to be running it against this week at 2pm EST. If you want in, show up on discord around that time. Also, because I'm doing the patreon thing I think I should do the disclaimer thing. The Topps Company, Inc. has sole ownership of the names, logo, artwork, marks, photographs, sounds, audio, video and/or any proprietary material used in connection with the game Shadowrun. The Topps Company, Inc. has granted permission to Ice Phisherman to use such names, logos, artwork, marks and/or any proprietary materials for promotional and informational purposes on its website but does not endorse, and is not affiliated with Ice Phisherman in any official capacity whatsoever. Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 06:52 on May 15, 2019 |
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2018 00:16
|
|
|
Kermit being the rock for Danny Trejo during such a painful time is really quite moving. Deadmeat, you have my sincerest condolences, that's a lot to deal with and in such a short time. I'm glad the thread has helped pull you out of the mire. Same for you Ice, I'm glad you found your way out, I'm intimately familiar with depression and kicking off those lead boots can feel impossible at timea.
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2018 01:26
|
|
|
Deadmeat5150 posted:So it's been a hell of a last couple weeks.  We're all here for you, Forum Friend.
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2018 02:41
|
|
|
Funny enough, that essay helped me out too. Years ago when my depression wasn't under control it really helped me pull out of a deep funk.
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2018 03:56
|
|
|
Kenji, Julian, Olisha, Joyce and Krupa - Monday, July 23, 2075 - Morning - Blake Island Kenji cracked a yawn as he walked away from the assembly. The talk between himself and Julian after the assembly had been brief. See him during lunch. That was it. Julie wasn't here and he was worried, but he didn't let that feeling break his calm exterior. The urge to go find her to make sure she was safe was strong. That feeling was both a mix of his loyalty and Dog's loyalty ganging up on his rational self. He'd wait though. Julian wasn't perfect, but he seemed to know what was going on, and the mental exercises Julian taught him helped him deal with Dog's influence. He'd stop, think about those urges, pull them apart, look at them and then act intelligently. He'd still need a ton of practice, but that was what class was for. In retrospect, he was glad he was taking this class on spirit mentors with Julian. It sure beat a nine-thirty geometry class. He strolled into the school, past students in the halls as they milled about, gossiped and chatted. Kenji had never actually been to school before Blake Island. He just knew what Edward knew. The ACHE did have some schools, but they were almost universally awful. Edward didn’t go and instead stayed at home and used tutoring software to get a basic education. At least that’s what Kenji thought Edward did as Edward rarely left his parents’ old apartment in the ACHE. Kenji was the one who left. So the learning process was one he had never participated in until last year. He knew math, history, science and English and could be a good student when he tried. Even with a year to get used to it, school was still an occasionally strange experience. Some girls from the sophomore class, his class, waved to him. He waved back and stopped next to them to chat. He spent a brief minute in their conversation and spent most of that time trying and succeeding at being slightly aloof, deferential without being subservient, but also positive and flirty. Last year he’d been more aloof and mercenary about his interactions, but this year was a new year and he was determined to change. One of the young women looked at him with wide eyes and though she was the last to giggle when he told a joke, she did so the loudest. Then he smoothly excused himself and wandered down another hall where he did this yet again outside of the view of that group of friends. Almost everyone knew he did this, but it was best not to flaunt that. He was less successful with the seniors. The upperclassmen couldn’t be seen fawning over a sophomore boy, especially a poor one. The juniors took well to him though. Each group was composed of all girls, each and every time. Many of the guys either didn't like him or liked him a little too much for his tastes so he avoided most of them. He didn't bother with the freshman class today. They’d be too busy talking about how they’d been treated. The minute warning bell for class rang and students began to make their goodbyes. Some went to class immediately, some lingered and some cared nothing about being tardy and continued to chat as if nothing had happened at all. He waited for a few seconds so as not to be seen jumping to the sound of the bell. This time he allowed the conversation among the group of juniors to break up instead of excusing himself, easy as that. However, he was reminded that he didn't actually know where to go. The magic classes were spread out. So he tapped on his commlink, which sent a signal to his smart contacts, as he didn’t wear glasses. He accessed his class schedule, made a hand command and a small, green arrow pointed the way. He followed it and the final bell rang right as he entered the classroom right on time, just as if he'd planned it. What he was greeted by were two more girls. One had jumped onto the back of another, but in a friendly way as she was currently squealing in delight and nuzzling the other one. The one riding piggyback was Krupa Patel. She was an elf of Indian descent with brown skin, long, straight black hair that reached to her shoulders, a wide mouth, currently smiling, dark brown eyes, currently closed, delicately shaped eyebrows, a round, pretty face and slender body that was currently riding atop the other girl. The other elven girl had pale skin, curly, medium-length red hair, green eyes that were full of both happiness and anxiety, though they were not on display as the other girl was currently turned away from Kenji. She wore thick, black framed augmented-reality glasses, had a petite body, no bigger than five and a half feet tall, she possessed a heart shaped face and a thin nose. So her glasses were askew from Krupa's piggyback hug and so one eye look slightly bigger than the other through the lens. Kenji liked his chances for the class and admired the scene before it clicked. He'd been away for the summer and had forgotten who the redhead was. "I missed you so much, Joyceface," cooed Krupa. "Come on, you saw me last week," said the other girl. Then it came to him. He didn't know this girl on sight because Joyce Sartell was actually a guy. Elves were widely considered the most beautiful of the metahuman races. They tended to be prettier on average and Joyce trended towards the androgynous side, neither completely handsome nor completely beautiful, but confusing. "Okay, okay, I missed you too, Krupa," said Joyce, nervously, "Can you get off my back please? It’s embarrassing. Someone is watching.” Kenji understood enough though, and stifled a smile. While Krupa's voice was high, Joyce's voice was androgynous as well, slightly rough, like a girl who tried hard to sound like a boy. Krupa gasped and immediately got off Joyce’s back, and she was tall and slightly taller than Joyce at five feet nine inches. "I love new people!" Krupa exclaimed, excitedly, "You're supposed to be here, right? You're not lost? You're Kenji, right?" "Krupa, we had math and science classes with him last year," said Joyce. “I knew that,” she said, defensively, “We’ve just never talked that much before.” There was another reason that Kenji didn't talk to them. Joyce was Tir Tairngire royalty and messing around with Tir royalty was generally not intelligent. Not every student came from corporations. There were a few exceptions: Children of politicians, a few came from old money and these two were the local faces of Tir Tairngire. It was the somewhat isolationist elven kingdom that against all odds had sprouted on the west coast and carved out a place in what used to be Oregon, northwest Nevada, southwest Idaho and northern California some forty years ago. The corporate teens had power and status. Some would play at being nobles. However, Joyce was an actual noble. Within his country a noble title came with privileges as well. He wasn’t sure about Krupa’s title though. Krupa extended her hand towards Kenji with her hand turned upwards, fingers splayed. Kenji had done his best to avoid these two for as long as possible, but it seemed like that wasn’t happening anymore. Nevertheless, he’d prepared for this in case he ever needed to make a good first impression. So he gently placed the tips of his finger under the tips of hers, not touching them and bowed his head slightly. When he raised his head again she beamed. "Wow, you are very polite. You don’t need to do that," bubbled Krupa, “Say, do you understand Sperethiel? I don’t get to speak it that much.” Kenji pulled his hand back, careful not to touch her. Sperethiel was the language of the elves. Whether it had been made up entirely out of whole cloth like elven detractors said or was a real and ancient language, Kenji had no clue. "I'm sorry, I don't speak Sperethiel," said Kenji. Krupa's smile lessened by a few degrees, but then it picked right back up again. "You should, it's your heritage after all," she said, brightly, "It is hard to learn, but it’s worth it." "I'll keep that in mind," said Kenji, smoothly, "Maybe I'll take a class next semester." "They teach it here every other semester," said Joyce, "There's some demand since almost half of the class are elves, but most drop it within the first week. It’s an incredibly complicated language. You may spend four or five sentences saying what you could in one in English, but you would know precisely what’s meant. It’s the perfect language for being truly understood if one has the patience. You’d have to wait until next year though." Joyce extended his hand as well. Krupa briefly turned away and Kenji extended his hand again, but he briefly messed up. To greet a man, Kenji's palm was supposed to be turned downwards, not upwards. He quickly righted his mistake as he forgot that Joyce was a young man, not a young woman, but Joyce’s attention was maintained at eye level so he didn’t notice the gaffe. "You really are polite, thank you," said Joyce, happily, "There's no need to be so formal though. At least not at school, please. Krupa and I would prefer to be treated like everyone else. Anyway, you’re here for the spirit mentors class, right?" “I am,” said Kenji, “I found out just yesterday.” They broke the handshake and Joyce nodded appreciatively. “It’s a really small class,” said Joyce, politely, “So we do our best to treat each other with respect. It’s half way between a club and a class if you ask me. So while I really do appreciate the niceties, I hope that we can forgo the formalities.” "We're just normal people,” chirped Krupa, happily, “We put our socks on one at a time like everyone else." A familiar smell wafted into the room. Kenji smelled that mix of expensive perfume and cheap cigarettes. There was a light squeak of shoes on tile as Olisha, his art contact and fellow student, set her feet behind Kenji. “We put our socks on one at a time like everyone else,” mocked Olisha, “And I hear that you whip your body slaves if they do it wrong. It really works out the flab in those arms.” Kenji watched the friendly interest in Joyce’s eyes die right before he sighed and closed them. With delicate fingers, he pinched the bridge of his nose. “Tir doesn’t keep slaves, Olisha,” said Joyce, wearily, “Your insistence that it’s true doesn’t make it so.” Kenji didn’t turn around immediately. Instead he watched Krupa’s features turn sad. She slid behind Joyce as he maintained his poise. “I thought I’d had enough of you assholes last year,” snapped Olisha, “Yet again you crawl out of your hole and stink up the place with fascism for yet another year. I don’t suppose you could have done everyone a favor and stayed in your fascist holes, could you?” Kenji still didn’t turn around. He registered this as bad. It was rare that students openly mocked one another or poured on the hate. Catty, backhanded compliments were the go to choice for students. In a normal school it wouldn’t matter that much, but here among those with money and prestige, insults could escalate fast. “Tir has implemented a number of democratic reforms for over a decade now,” said Joyce, forcefully, “Besides that, didn’t we have a seminar on bullying no less than fifteen minutes ago?” Olisha openly scoffed at Joyce. “What, him scaring the freshmen?” asked Olisha, dismissively, “I was raised around trideo sets. I know an act when I see it. He even had that ridiculous shovel as a stage prop. He was just putting the fear into them and that’s all. Nothing has really changed except now we’re going to talk about our fee-fees so we can all play nice. Maybe one or two people has to dig a hole to show everyone that our school is super serious, but they’re going to lean hard into that I’m okay you’re okay crap.” Now feeling like it was awkward if he didn’t turn around, Kenji finally turned his head and took a look at Olisha. The young, African American elf was much like he remembered her. She was of average height and an average build. Her face was oval shaped, with brown eyes, a wide mouth with full lips, made pitch black by makeup, and it was currently set with a scowl. Her skin was dark and instead of straightened hair like last year, this year her hair was set in long box braids, highlighted red at the tips. Since she had to wear the same blue and green uniform just like everyone else, she wore a few accessories: Earrings with tiny, black cats on them and her fingernails were artfully painted to look like black spider webs. “Hey Olisha,” said Kenji, calmly, “How’re things?” “Kenji!” she squealed, “What are you doing here? Aren’t you late for class?” His calm tone was an act. Normally Kenji wasn’t prone to anxiety, but being in the same class with Tir nobility and his art contact, who obviously hated them, made him nervous. Olisha stood up on tiptoes and he bent down a little. She made a kissing noise without actually touching her lips to his cheek. “Kiss kiss,” she said, quickly and lightly, “Good to see you. Seriously though, you’re late for the first day of class? You bad boy, you. Maybe you want to dig the first hole of the year? I could see you doing that. If you do, can you go shirtless? I’ll just set up a lawn chair and lounge while I sip from a cold drink. Maybe I’ll invite a few admirers too. What do you say, Krupa? Want to stare at a real man for once?” If the two elves from Tir responded in any way, Kenji didn’t see it. He was focused on Olisha now. She slid her hand down his arm, gave his bicep a squeeze, smiled up at him and winked not at him, but over his shoulder at Joyce and Krupa. “I’m right on time, actually,” he said, “This is the class for spirit mentors, right?” Kenji could deal with some flirtation. In fact he enjoyed it most days. However, he absolutely didn’t want to be the sharp stick that Olisha prodded other people with. Sticks could get snapped in half. So he dropped that tasty morsel of information as a distraction. Olisha’s eyes opened wide and her full lips made a tiny O. Before she could respond, Julian strode in with a mug of steaming soykaf in one hand. “Hello everyone, sorry that I’m late,” said Julian, quickly, “I’m glad that everyone is here. Welcome to the first day of class. Please sit.” Again, Kenji’s anxiety climbed. If he was the only other student here, then that meant that there would only be Olisha, Joyce, Krupa, himself and Julian. Even if there were only one other student here, he could use that person to deflect. In a classroom of four, that would be far harder. He tore himself away from Olisha’s shocked face and looked at the classroom. There were no desks. There was only a single table with a white top and five plush, comfortable chairs. Olisha and Joyce sat on either side of him. Julian took a sip from his soykaf and began. “So as we begin, I’m glad to see most of last year’s faces back. We have a small class this year. Hans, Allison and Janet have graduated, but we do have a new addition with Kenji and it’s entirely possible that we may get a new addition as spirit mentors don’t follow school semesters. Since Kenji is new I figure that we should all introduce ourselves. Start with your name, where you’re from, your spirit mentor and add in an interesting fact at the end to end off on a positive note. Who’d like to go first?” Kenji was expecting complaints from retreading old ground, especially from Olisha, but she didn’t. In fact, she was the first to raise her hand. “That’s great,” said Julian, “Go ahead, Olisha.” “Kenji, you knows me already from last year, but I'll say it again since you asked. My name is Olisha Jones,” she said, her tone light and friendly, “I’m from Sacramento in California Free State. That’s just Sactown Calfree if you’re local. My corporation is Horizon Group. I know I wasn’t asked about that, but I wanted to share since it has to do with my interesting fact. My spirit mentor is Cat and my interesting fact is that I’ve written half a dozen songs that have hit Horizon’s top forty playlist. If you turn on the radio, one of them is getting a lot of play right now.” Kenji’s anxiety didn’t climb so much as it spiked. So many things about Olisha’s personality suddenly made sense: Her playful attitude, her casual cruelty, her laziness, even her matrix persona showed up smile first, like the Cheshire cat. As a Dog shaman, he had no idea what that actually meant, but he assumed it didn’t bode well. “My name is Joyce Sartell,” began the young man, “I’m from Tir Tairngire. Specifically I’m from Ar Eru, though you might know that as Harney county which is one of the smaller counties in Tir’s southeast.” Kenji caught Olisha as she opened her mouth, but she grimaced lightly as she closed it again. Joyce continued. “My spirit mentor is Dove,” he said, “And my…Well, our interesting fact is that my parents and Krupa’s parents set a date for our wedding. It’ll be in just over two years.” Joyce’s pale cheeks colored pink as he and Krupa looked at one another. Kenji couldn’t see them hold hands, but their arms moved almost at the same time. He raised his own. “Married?” asked Kenji, “You’re what, sixteen?” Joyce nodded enthusiastically and neither he nor Krupa could suppress their smiles. “Oh yes,” he said, “It’s fairly common in Tir for marriages to be arranged. We’ve actually been engaged since we were thirteen. Our families decided that we were a good match. Luckily, we think we’re a good match too. I understand that arranged marriages aren’t common in the UCAS, but I like to think that it makes us special.” “How are those cows of yours doing?” asked Olisha, lightly. Kenji briefly looked to Olisha as she asked her question, but when he looked back, he saw that Krupa’s smile had turned brittle. The slight muscles in Joyce’s forearms flexed as he squeezed her hand. “They’re treated very well, thank you,” he said, diplomatically, as he turned his gaze to Kenji, “My family is heavily involved in ranching and engineering. When nobility get a title, they get land, but not all land is good land. The land in Ar Eru isn’t good for much more than ranching as it’s mostly high desert. However, we also provide power to the county through wind turbines since my father’s herds don’t mind them much. We even place smaller turbines at extreme angles on mountainsides as that land is cheap. We’re also expanding our tourist economy as well. Ar Eru is simply beautiful.” Kenji nodded politely and saw that Krupa’s smile relaxed by a fraction, but she still wasn’t completely composed. With her free hand, she cleared her throat before she spoke. “My name is Krupa Patel,” she nervously began, “I’m from Cara’sir.” Olisha turned to Kenji and put a hand on his. “That’s Portland if you were wondering,” she explained. “Olisha, please don’t interrupt,” said Julian. Olisha removed her hand and gaze both from Kenji and nodded politely to Julian. “I’m very sorry,” said Olisha, sweetly, “It’s just that I overheard that Kenji doesn’t speak Sperethiel. I wanted to explain.” “I see,” said Julian, calmly, “Let’s all please keep to English. Krupa, continue when you’re ready.” “Uh, yeah,” she continued, anxiously, “My spirit mentor is Dolphin. One interesting fact about me is…Oh yeah, you got there first.” She briefly glanced at Joyce and then back again, her eyes on the table, suddenly shy. “I guess my one interesting fact is that I love to swim,” said Krupa, as she lifted her head, “Uh, wait. No, I guess that’s sort of obvious. Anything physical really: Dancing, running, tumbling, hiking, that sort of thing.” “Thank you, Krupa,” said Julian, “Kenji, would you go next?” Kenji actually didn’t want to go next. The door looked inviting, but unlike most social situations, there was no exit strategy. So against his better judgement, he went with the truth, or at least what little he measured out. “My name is Kenji Okamura,” he said, as he forced calm into his voice, “I’m from Seattle. Since it’s no secret, I’m from the ACHE. It’s that black, flat-topped pyramid looking thing near the docks that used to be the old Renraku Arcology.” It was a decision that he made on the fly. Everyone knew that the ACHE was a slum hive, but it was best that he reminded people of that fact, not others. The reactions to that news were varied. Krupa’s brow furrowed in concern, Joyce’s face went carefully neutral, Olisha’s nose briefly wrinkled in distaste and Julian tried to hide sadness behind his cup of soykaf as he took a drink. The reactions were all negative, but not too negative. It was about as much as Kenji could hope for. However, everyone save for Julian leaned in as he took a breath to reveal his spirit mentor. “And I’m a Dog shaman,” he said. Everyone’s attitudes did an immediate about face. Krupa gasped in delight, Joyce smiled and to Kenji’s dread, Olisha’s mouth split into a wide, opened mouth grin. “Oh my gosh, really?” squealed Olisha. “Hans was a Dog shaman!” exclaimed Krupa, “I loved Hans!” “I’m somehow not surprised,” said Joyce, “Julian, didn’t you say that you always have at least one?” “Ever since I started teaching, yeah,” said Julian, “Dog is the most common of spirit mentors. I’ve trained five before. Kenji will be my sixth. Okay, Kenji, one fact and we’ll begin the lesson for today.” Kenji felt several sets of eyes bore into him. He was used to this, but nearly everything about this class rubbed him the wrong way. Anxiety that he was not used to feeling was peaking, so he licked his lips nervously and went with something boring to get the attention off him. “My interesting fact is that I like card games,” said Kenji. “Oh, I love card games,” said Krupa, brightly, “What kind of card games?” Kenji did his best not to swear. Krupa seemed like a nice person to him, but he desperately wanted attention off him. As he wracked his brain for an answer, all he could come up with was Tien len, or as it was known in English, Killer Thirteen. It was a game that he’d normally play around a table filled with gangsters where cheating was the norm. So he did his best to come up with any other game, because that was all he’d played. He reached back into his youth and remembered the one other card game he’d played before Min Yun introduced him to Tien len. “I like Spades,” he said, slowly. Olisha giggled lightly as Krupa furrowed her brow in confusion. Joyce continued to stay neutral. “Kenji, you play Spades?” asked Olisha, “Oh you are so adorable.” “Is that anything like Hearts?” asked Krupa. “I wouldn’t know,” said Kenji, “I’ve only played Spades.” “We can look it up later,” said Joyce. “All right, everyone,” said Julian, “Since we’re all introduced, I am your teacher, Julian Smith, though I prefer Julian. I’ve been teaching this class for about a decade now and I’ve seen dozens of different types of spirit mentors. Kenji, you may notice that this is different than most classes. I don’t tend to lecture. I prefer to discuss as each person’s relationship with their spirit mentor tends to differ. Think of this as something less like a classroom and more like a club. We actually don’t spend a lot of time inside. As we’re shamans, we will spend time among nature as all of your current mentors are animal spirits. So long as the weather is good we’ll meet here and go outside.” “It’s why a lot of us keep taking it,” said Joyce, “Most of our classes keep us inside, but Julian takes us outside.” Julian grinned over at the young man and raised his coffee mug. “Thank you Mr. Sartell for agreeing to talk about Dove,” said Julian, “And for letting me know if you have any ideas about how to better communicate with your mentor this semester.” Joyce cleared his throat and nodded to his teacher. “Very well,” he said, formally, “Dove is a peacemaker and promotes harmony. She endures for the safety of others, but she prefers to find compromise. As an animal spirit, she’s also a part of the environment and values living in harmony with it. Dove values purity, integrity and forgiveness. She abhors violence of all kinds, but that doesn’t mean she avoids conflict either.” Olisha briefly caught Kenji’s eyes and made a show of rolling hers as Julian sipped from his coffee. “I’m a little confused,” said Kenji, “That’s a lot for a dove to represent. I thought they were just birds.” Joyce shook his head and smiled. “No, that’s different,” said Joyce, “You’re thinking of a dove. A lowercase d dove. I’m talking about uppercase D Dove. She is a specific spirit with specific goals and personality traits. So he’s more complicated than a simple bird, but he does share many traits. As for communicating with Dove, I want to take the job of mediator for my class.” “Somehow I’m not surprised,” said Olisha. “Thank you for being next to volunteer Ms. Jones,” said Julian, “Tell us about Cat.” Olisha sniffed once in annoyance. “Okay, fine,” said Olisha, “I’m not going to pretend to be anything other than what I am, and neither does Cat. Cat is playful, cruel and kind of lazy. He’s a predator. He also likes secrets, but rarely shares them. He especially likes magical secrets, especially about the afterlife. Not that he shares any of that with me. As for communicating with Cat, I thought about hunting something, but that sounds like a pain. So when it’s warm outside I’ll just take a nap in a sunbeam.” “Let’s not nap during class though,” chided Julian, lightly. Olisha pouted prettily at Julian. “But Julian, what if they’re educational naps?” she teased. Julian sighed while Olisha giggled wickedly. “Krupa, you’re next,” said Julian, quickly. “Oh! Okay,” began Krupa, “Dolphin is graceful and free-spirited. He loves music and…I think the closest word is dancing, but Dolphins don’t dance. It doesn’t translate well. Dolphin loves to see the good in people, which is good because I do too. He loves the environment, like Dove and he doesn’t like people that despoil the environment or bullies.” Krupa shot Olisha a look, but it had absolutely no effect on her. “Kenji, I know Dog is new to you, but tell me what you know so far,” he said, “If you don’t know anything, that’s fine too.” Quiet this entire time, Kenji tried not to fidget as he was thrust back into the spotlight. He wasn’t used to being forced to engage with people in this sort of environment and that made him uncomfortable. Still, he felt like he needed to try. He found himself thinking back to that hallucination where he’d been the Husky. “Dog is loyal,” he said, thoughtfully, “He’s a companion and a predator both. That’s about it, really.” “Super loyal,” cooed Olisha, “Hans was so nice.” “I miss him,” said Krupa. “Me too,” echoed Joyce, “I remember what he said though. Dog is loyal, but only to his pack. So he’s not loyal to everyone, just people that he picks.” “Dog is also pretty generous from what I remember,” said Krupa, “And he protects his pack.” “He’s also stubborn,” Olisha chimed in, “Not Cat stubborn, but still stubborn. Dog is more like a determined kind of stubborn.” Kenji found that as long as he made eye contact and nodded, they’d leave him alone. They tossed around a few concepts that he didn’t understand and Julian tended to guide the conversation rather than lecture. Olisha would occasionally snipe at Joyce or Krupa, but never so brazenly or openly as when he wasn’t here. Class flew by and the five minute bell rang but no one really paid attention to it. Then the final bell rang. As it turned out, discussion classes about mentor spirits had little in the way of homework, though he was assigned some reading. As everyone gathered their things to leave, Olisha tossed him a wink, stood up and sauntered her way out of the classroom. She caught Kenji looking at her as she turned her head, smiled smugly and left. Julian left soon after and so did Joyce. Kenji sighed and rubbed at his face. He hadn’t been this stressed out in months. “Hey, Kenji, are you okay?” asked Krupa, gently. Kenji’s cheek twitched. He’d forgotten that Krupa hadn’t left. In fact she hadn’t even moved. Her face was etched with concern. Not even fake concern, Kenji realized, which he’d somehow expected despite having heard about Dolphin on and off for the last hour. It was real concern for his well-being. It didn’t do anything for his stress, but it didn’t hurt either. “Uh…Just…I started talking to Dog yesterday,” said Kenji, wearily, “All of this is new.” “Aww,” said Krupa, gently, “It gets better. Julian is a great teacher. I can tell because I’ve had others back in Tir, and he’s better than them. I feel like he's really talking to me, you know? He’ll definitely be able to help you, especially with all of the Dog shamans he’s trained before you. I can help you with the basics if you want. I helped Joyce with his relationship with Dove since Dolphin started talking to me almost right after I got my magic and Dove is more recent for him. I was sort of the first to recognize what happened to him. Dolphin sent me dreams and so I was on hand to help him through those first days until he could find someone to teach him since we were away on Christmas vacation. Well, I mean, not physically on hand. I had a hard time convincing my parents that I needed to fly from Cara’sir to Ar Eru because Dolphin said I should, but that’s just how it goes sometimes. I didn’t know how to project, still don’t, actually. Do you like Indian food?” “What?” asked Kenji, “Indian food?” Krupa smiled nervously and nodded. “Yeah, there’s a sort of tradition for this class. It’s a small class and we try to get along,” she said, and repeated, “Try. Anyway, Olisha is supposed to be the one to offer the get to know you party but she sort of…” Krupa hesitated as she groped for a diplomatic phrase. “Doesn’t do things,” she said, tactfully as she could, “So I was thinking maybe you could join Joyce and me for dinner tomorrow. We’d love to have you over. Not tonight since the bonfire is tonight, but tomorrow if you want. Indian food is a little spicy, but I can get it mild if you want. Indian food is great if you’re a vegetarian too. Joyce is a vegetarian, but I eat fish. I’m babbling, sorry. Anyway, do you want to come over? We could all play cards.” CYOA Time Questions are: How does Kenji respond to the dinner invitation from Krupa? What does Kenji think about Olisha, Joyce and Krupa? Remember, we met Olisha back in year one. She’s his art contact and currently his only art contact. Kenji didn’t know that she was a Cat shaman back then though I had been leaving small details here and there. Does Kenji like Indian food? Has he ever tried Indian food? - Kenji has been politely invited to dinner tomorrow by two elves from Tir Tairngire, one of which is in the higher ranks of nobility and the other Kenji isn’t sure about. Kenji was already wary about them as their nation has a bad reputation, so he largely stayed under their radar until now. That won’t work anymore. So… How do we deal with the dinner invitation? It’s not tonight since tonight is the bonfire, but tomorrow. They want to invite him over for dinner in Joyce’s cabin. Krupa asks Kenji if he enjoys Indian food. So how do we deal with this? Kenji can just say yes. Olisha is gone for the moment. He politely refuse them, but that may offend them, though offending them will please Olisha. He can rudely refuse them and outright side with Olisha which will make her very happy. He can lie and say he has prior engagements (he hasn’t taken the time to learn how to properly lie yet, he needs to find someone who can teach him (Min Yun can do that)). Or he can attempt to kick the can down the road and dither. Kicking the can will have escalating consequences the longer we do it. Depending on the social tactic that Kenji takes, he’ll get more or less dice and different stuff will happen. I’ll leave this open to interpretation. Imagine etiquette being polite, lying is just that, intimidation would be to bully them or cut contact with them in some negative way and leadership would allow him to take charge of the dinner in a way that gives him more control. These choices are just what is obvious to me. Feel free to pitch other ideas.  Remember that if you like multiple ideas you can vote more than once. Here are the potential dice pools:Etiquette: 8 charisma + 4 etiquette + 4 street cred – 6 nervous wreck + 2 good impression (from previous rolls) + 2 first impression = 14 Lying: 8 charisma – 1 for defaulting + 2 first impression + 2 good impression + 4 street cred – 6 nervous wreck = 9 Intimidation: 8 charisma + 6 intimidation – 6 nervous wreck (no impression bonuses) = 8 Leadership: 8 charisma + 6 leadership – 6 nervous wreck + 2 good impression + 2 first impression + 4 street cred = 16 If I didn’t make this clear before, I’ll make it clear. Olisha despises Tir and that means she specifically despises these two. Since Kenji made such a good impression early on, I’m going to give +1 for his good roll with Joyce and +2 from his excellent roll with Krupa to deal with them which cuts his -6 to -3 for dealing with them for the rest of the day and a slight bonus to how they narratively treat him. -- Kenji makes his first impression with the teens from Tir Tairngire. They’ve seen one another around, but Kenji has managed to keep away from them as Tir doesn’t have the best reputation. He has a ton of dice for etiquette though: Charisma 8 + etiquette 4 + street cred 4 + first impression 2 = 18. Krupa has 8 dice for etiquette and Joyce has 10 dice. Let’s roll. Kenji crits with 6 hits versus 1 with Krupa and so she ends up extremely pleased. Kenji succeeds with another 6 hits versus 3 hits to make Joyce happy. All in all it’s a successful first impression and in the end he shakes hands with Joyce rather than be rude. Olisha shows up. She loving hates Tir as she’s from California and Tir has launched three separate wars of aggression on California Free State. She openly taunts and mocks them both. Olisha has 10 dice in intimidation. Joyce and Krupa are not intimidating at all and roll 6 dice and 4 dice respectfully. Olisha gets 3 hits. Joyce gets 2 hits and Krupa gets 0 hits. They’re both put on the back foot. Kenji doesn’t interfere, but he doesn’t aid Olisha either. I roll intuition + logic for Kenji and he succeeds with 3 hits. There’s no one else coming. He’s the only other person in this class besides Julian. If he’s not careful, he’s going to get sucked into politics which is bad for his physical, social and financial well-being. I roll composure. He fails with 1 hit. He’s shaken and will be at a -2 for all actions for the rest of the scene. Julian finally shows up. He’s late, he apologizes and asks everyone to sit. Since this is a classroom with a total of four, they’re all going to be sitting at a table together though some days they’ll be taking nature walks. Julian rolls his classroom management skills to keep order with a -2 for being tired and distracted. He has 18 dice in his teaching skill and I’ll subtract 2. He gets 7 hits. That’s a drat good roll. As it turns out, he’s respected by the three teens. They’re not going to bicker in front of him. At least not today. Everyone shares who they are, where they’re from, their spirit mentor and one interesting fact about themselves. This is for Kenji’s benefit as everyone knows one another. Olisha begins first. I roll her etiquette skill of 10. 3 hits means she makes a good showing. She’s a senior from Sacramento, or Sactown as she calls it, which is the capital of California Free State. However, her corporate affiliation is with Horizon Group so she also holds citizenship with Pueblo Corporate Council. Her spirit mentor is Cat and one interesting fact about her is that she’s ghost written four different songs which have made Horizon Group’s top forty weekly greatest hits. Kenji once again rolls composure. Olisha is a Cat shaman and he’s a Dog shaman. He is at -2 this time. He fails, but only by 1 this time. He’s at -3 for all rolls from this point on. Joyce is next. He’s at -1 for his etiquette roll due to being bullied earlier. However, he rallies and gets 5 hits, so I’ll drop the -1 from his rolls and I’ll negate one of Olisha’s barbs. He’s from Tir Tairngire. The southeast portion called Ar Eru, though once it was called Harney County, which negates Olisha’s barb about what it’s actually called. His family is one of ranchers and engineers. After all, there’s a lot of space in ranching country for wind power. Olisha jumps in with intimidate with 5 hits but since this is a “polite” conversation, I’ll allow him to deflect in this instance with etiquette. He gets 5 hits and defenders win. Olisha asks him how his cows are doing. He says “Very well treated, thank you for asking”. This doesn’t make Krupa uncomfortable. At least no more than she already is. Joyce's spirit mentor is Dove. One fact about him that he wants to share is that his family and Krupa’s family just set a date for when they’re going to get married. He rolls etiquette to try and give support to Krupa as he knows she’s not doing so hot after being bullied. He gets 3 hits and I’ll say that this cancels out her -3 from being bullied. Kenji asks about the marriage. Joyce responds that his marriage with Krupa was arranged when they turned thirteen. They’re not considered adults until they go through their rite of passage when they turn eighteen, so it’ll be a few more years until they can marry. Krupa’s turn. She has an 8 in etiquette. She gets 1 hit. So she doesn’t do that well. I’ll say that she’s still a little flustered from being bullied, so she’s a little withdrawn, but not completely. Her name is Krupa Patel. She’s from Cara’sir. Olisha rolls intimidation again. “That’s Portland in case you were wondering,” she says to Kenji. This time I’ll see if Julian catches on that she’s being...Catty :3 . She rolls 4 and he rolls 5 even with his -2 since he gets 7 bonus dice from his classroom management roll. So he asks Olisha to please let Krupa finish which negates her social attack. Krupa rallies. Her spirit mentor is Dolphin and one neat fact about her is that she does environmental cleanup on the weekends. It’s now Kenji’s turn. I roll composure again because he’s not used to talking about himself. He has 8 dice now. Nope. Not doing well. He’s at another -2 for a total of -5 to all rolls. He is not doing so hot. I am remembering that he gets bonus dice from Julian for composure rolls, but that’s to resist Dog’s influence, not in general. He rolls 13 dice for etiquette and gets 3 hits which is passable. His name is Kenji Okamura. He’s a sophomore. He’s from Seattle, so he’s a local, and specifically he’s from the ACHE. Christina LeBlanc outed him last year so he might as well own it. He’s apparently a Dog Shaman, which was confirmed just yesterday and his interesting fact is that he enjoys card games. At the mention of Dog shaman, everyone looks at him. He rolls composure one last time with now 6 dice and fails with 2 hits. He’s now at -6 to all actions for the rest of the day as he’s increasingly becoming a nervous wreck. He’s stepped into a classroom where Olisha has a serious problem with Joyce and Krupa, and his contact, Olisha, is the Cat to his Dog shaman. I roll 1 hit on intuition 5 + logic 2 test -6. He’s too much of a nervous wreck to be aware of the implications, but he understands enough that Olisha, Joyce and Krupa think that him being a Dog shaman is interesting, but all for different reasons. At the end of class, Krupa approaches him and asks him if he’d like to come to dinner with her and Joyce. It will be a getting to know you dinner since they’ll be sharing a class together. Kenji has 3 dice left for a judge intentions test. He gets 1 hit and that’s enough. She seems sincere. Not tonight since the bonfire is tonight and she still needs to settle in, but tomorrow night. Does he like Indian food? Kenji gains 2 karma. This was very stressful for him. Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 07:40 on Jan 11, 2019 |
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2018 08:40
|
|
|
So I'm pretty tired and this is my rough draft. It was either release it now as is or edit it and release it sometime tomorrow. I decided on now and I'll do the editing for this entry and the last entry tomorrow. Also, everyone say hello to Olisha the Cat shaman. I've been waiting to drop that since her introduction. So also say hello to a source of conflict as Olisha hates Joyce and Krupa for some reason which Kenji doesn't yet know. Also, thanks for the donation. You know who you are. I leave you with this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmzuRXLzqKk
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2018 08:44
|
|
|
Would 88 tastes be able to deliver to the island under the current circumstances? I figure a decent way to take control of the situation would be for Kenji to use that leadership skill and offer to introduce the others to some different cuisine rather than the other way round. He gets to play at being the host a bit which is something he's more comfortable with. I don't see turning them down flat as being a good option at this point.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2018 10:20
|
|
|
Ice, when Joyce talks about his mentor, he calls Dove she at first, then switches to he. CYOA: I say we accept the invitation. The ACHE seems multicultural enough, I'm sure Kenji has had Indian food, or something close to it before. Yes, Olisha is our only art contact. For now. Courting more contacts is just good business sense. We need to take care to not look like we're snubbing Olisha, but we do need more contacts than one, even before accounting for antagonistic relationship between cats and dogs. And literal nobles might very well appreciate art. A commissioned painting would make for a really nice and classy one of a kind wedding gift, provide a sample of the art we're trying to sell, and generate goodwill all at once.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2018 12:26
|
|
|
Groetgaffel posted:Ice, when Joyce talks about his mentor, he calls Dove she at first, then switches to he. I'ce, with the new weekend schedule and the extra island trip will Kenjis time with Min Yun suffer? Can they meet somewhere on that island to have class?
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2018 13:16
|
|
|
Kind of surprising that Julian wouldn't have addressed potential conflicts between Cat and Dog shamans on the first day, but I suppose I understand that it makes things more interesting from a narrative standpoint. Though he's also pretty tired and distracted, and it's not like he hasn't missed something like this before. It just seems like with spirit mentor stuff he'd be on the ball. Also, Ice, I may have been primed for seeing this since you said this was basically a rough rough draft, but something seems off about Julian's voice. He seems kind of generic maybe? I don't know exactly what it is.
Dr Subterfuge fucked around with this message at 14:25 on Jul 8, 2018 |
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2018 13:50
|
|
|
Groetgaffel posted:Ice, when Joyce talks about his mentor, he calls Dove she at first, then switches to he. I agree, but, spin it to Olisha as ‘you know the art world, schmoozing is part of the job, it’s nothing personal’. Also, Kenji has had Indian food, he’s gone on a lot of dates, there’s no way he avoided it between that and the ache. He’s good with spicy; he’s from an East Asian melting pot. All that said, if the tir kids can get Oli’s work into a proper gallery that’s a good thing.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2018 14:51
|
|
|
I say he accepts too; contacts in a Tir are too good to pass up because of the power and longevity involved, and these two seen genuinely nice too. He's definitely at least had fast food curry before, and the lesson he took away from that is probably that he likes spicy because it can help mask low-quality ingredients. Real meat - rather than soy/krill/mycoprotein synthetics - is something of luxury, and Joyce's family are ranchers, so accepting the offer of meat is the only polite thing to do. It's common for elves to be vegetarian (a slur used against them is 'dandelion-eaters') but the way that offering was made means he should definitely go for it. If he can get food from 88 Tastes somehow, bringing a potluck offering would definitely help him maintain a sense of control. Like it or not, the reality of Kenji's situation is that 200 years from now, the only friends and contacts he'll have left from his youth we'll be the elf ones, so he should make some high-society ones while he has access. That longevity pressure is a big part of what pushes elves towards self-segregated communities. The oldest elves are only in their 60s (elves started being born in 2011) but there's already writing on the wall. And less practically speaking, of course, these two seen genuinely super friendly.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2018 15:53
|
|
|
Groetgaffel posted:Ice, when Joyce talks about his mentor, he calls Dove she at first, then switches to he. Considering that Joyce himself is so androgynous it's easy to mistake him for a handsome girl, and considering Dove really is the ultimate mediator, I feel its perfectly natural to switch gender pronouns back and forth when talking about it. Spirit Mentor genders are pretty fluid anyway, usually based on the perspective of the Mage. Also plan Groet is a solid plan. Edit: Kenji should also start carrying a laser pointer with him in case Olisha gets too uppity. Deadmeat5150 fucked around with this message at 16:15 on Jul 8, 2018 |
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2018 16:05
|
|
|
Why does Olisha consider Tir fascist?
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2018 16:07
|
|
|
VanSandman posted:Why does Olisha consider Tir fascist? Because it was. About a decade prior Tir was in control of a couple of Immortal Elves, a Great Dragon and a handful of others on a Council of Princes. They were pretty Jackbooted about it too. Then rough poo poo happened and an open rebellion forced changes. The rear end in a top hat Elven Mussolini, Lugh Surehand, was exiled and the Council of Princes turned into the High Council, which is Democratically elected. Edit: it should be noted that nobody ever runs against Hestaby unless they wish the be lunch. Deadmeat5150 fucked around with this message at 16:24 on Jul 8, 2018 |
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2018 16:21
|
|
|
VanSandman posted:Why does Olisha consider Tir fascist? It’s along the lines of tir being an ethnostate that tries to militarily invade her country every few years.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2018 16:24
|
|
|
Oh, wow. So why isn’t Tir an international pariah? Too much money to ignore?
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2018 16:38
|
|
|
RabidWeasel posted:Would 88 tastes be able to deliver to the island under the current circumstances? I figure a decent way to take control of the situation would be for Kenji to use that leadership skill and offer to introduce the others to some different cuisine rather than the other way round. He gets to play at being the host a bit which is something he's more comfortable with. I could see him doing that, yeah. VanSandman posted:Why does Olisha consider Tir fascist? It's something I'm going to go into later, but Tir Tairngire originally started out as a "nation for metahumans". So you have a mix of elves, dwarves, orks, a few trolls and a tiny minority of humans. In actuality, it turned into a nation made up primarily of elves. At its founding they leaned hard into a monarchical system and fascism which basically means that they went isolationist, elf racial supremacist and militaristic. That has softened in recent years as there was a coup about ten years back that made Tir a bit more democratic, but still kept the idea of a class based caste system where 5% of the country (mostly elves) rule over the 95% (also mostly elves) with discontent minorities who didn't get a lot out of the bargain. Close reading of the text speaks to me of a sort of paper revolution, or revolution in name only, as the parties that involved themselves in the revolution were predisposed to hating one another and we made up of diverse racial and political interests that were a tough bridge to gap. Anyway, they kick out the ruling class, replace it with another ruling class, throw some minor democratic reforms to the people to settle people down and invest in the country to settle down people who were hurting economically. Their country is currently in the middle of a deep economic depression right now and they're weak. Tir at one point was essentially something along the lines of as militaristic and isolationist as North Korea, as rigid in class structure as Victorian England and also something of an ethno-nationalist apartheid state like 1980's South Africa. They're currently in the midst of reforms, but a lot of that is due to the fact that they're weak right now. They also keep tight reigns on corporations and require that any corp that invests in their country sell at least 5% of their stock to the Tir ruling council as they see corporations as corrupting influences on government. Now they're still into the monarchy, but have eased tensions with democratic reforms, investment in their nation instead of (more) concentration of wealth, opening of borders and they're even trying to get corporations to invest since they're cash starved. Olisha hates Tir because they've declared three different wars of aggression on her home of California. Tir is an ongoing threat to her home. She's definitely a spiteful bully, but she has a legitimate axe to grind with Tir. Joyce and Krupa are nice people, but they come from a country which has wildly different values, and at one point was a fascist ethno-state. I'm setting up conflict again where all parties have a legitimate point of view with real reasons for feeling the way they do. Dr Subterfuge posted:Also, Ice, I may have been primed for seeing this since you said this was basically a rough rough draft, but something seems off about Julian's voice. He seems kind of generic maybe? I don't know exactly what it is. I'll take a look at it, thank you. Toughy posted:Completely agreed! Kenji is definitely going to want to meet up with Min Yun and do it soon. However, Kenji won't be allowed to leave just yet as he's still unstable due to Dog's influence. Him having another freak out due to Dog in a public place would be bad. So he's on a strict two week time limit before Julian will allow him off Blake island for any reason. VanSandman posted:Oh, wow. So why isn’t Tir an international pariah? Too much money to ignore? They are a pariah, but some nations will always find ways to do business with pariahs. Plus they've softened in recent years, so it's easier to do business with them. The problem with Shadowrun though is that a lot of nations went fascist and/or ethno-nationalist. Tir is also extremely effective at diplomacy and as it so happens, elves tend to occupy a lot of top spots as the people above them continue to die and they don't. Sixty years is a long time to concentrate wealth, influence and power. The oldest (recent) elves are all about sixty years old and they're still considered young. It's not a stretch to imagine Tir talking about "a place for them" and them nodding along. The oldest ones among them remembered the oppression, abandonment at childhood and human lynch mobs during the night of rage, which is what I mentioned all the way back in Julie's introductory story. I'd say that elves currently have it the least bad out of all of the minorities, but they were still targeted when humans lost their poo poo and found that they got lynched anyway despite their "good minority" status. Racial supremacists don't give a drat about that unofficial racial hierarchy that almost all nations have, even today. Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 17:02 on Jul 8, 2018 |
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2018 16:40
|
|
|
Can someone talk a little bit about the Calfree state? From what I remember they were a puppet of the Japanese Empire and, because the Empire loving hates metahumans, were also fairly fashy. I guess they might have had a rebellion or something?? but my Shadowrun lore isn't super great.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2018 17:06
|
|
|
Groetgaffel posted:Ice, when Joyce talks about his mentor, he calls Dove she at first, then switches to he. I generally agree with this. Perhaps, if Kenji wants to develop the two as contacts into the Tir elven community, he could ask if it would be okay to bring a friend along, and bring Oli? The two seem nice enough and Oli needs some friends outside of the protagonist group. Oli can also help him move off of topics he wants to avoid, just by switching the conversation to her and her abilities. We could also tie the suggestion to bring some food into that by having Kenji and Oli prepare a dish together, since Oli has some magic-powered proficiency in cooking. (also: Ice might want to consider changing Olisha's name when he does the first full editing pass, as having two characters with such similar names can be confusing, especially when they appear in relation with each other.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2018 17:25
|
|
|
mcclay posted:Can someone talk a little bit about the Calfree state? From what I remember they were a puppet of the Japanese Empire and, because the Empire loving hates metahumans, were also fairly fashy. I guess they might have had a rebellion or something?? but my Shadowrun lore isn't super great. Calfree is a republic, and they got kicked around a lot militarily, but they're managing to get it back together recently. They stupidly invited the Japanese empire to help against Tir and ended up losing San Francisco for about twenty years. That changed recently and they're strong while Tir is weak, so I view conflict as inevitable. Calfree is still pretty cool as far as nations go. Not perfect, but way more to my liking than an ethno-nationalist fascist state. I'm going to delve into politics slowly though and delicately. Shadowrun politics is weird and I can often tell that people who have no idea how politics actually work have had a hand in writing it. I can tolerate weird, but sometimes it just doesn't make sense at all. And occasionally it delves directly into full fantasy land stuff that I don't really like. That's a shame, since punk as a genre is inherently political by its very nature. Dealing with the conflict between Calfree and Tir lets me talk about democracy and fascism though, which I find topical.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2018 17:27
|
|
|
sheep-dodger posted:I generally agree with this. Perhaps, if Kenji wants to develop the two as contacts into the Tir elven community, he could ask if it would be okay to bring a friend along, and bring Oli? The two seem nice enough and Oli needs some friends outside of the protagonist group. Oli can also help him move off of topics he wants to avoid, just by switching the conversation to her and her abilities. I'd be a bit wary with getting these people too close to Oli right away. Yes, they're nice to Kenji, but Kenji is an elf, and these people have grown up in a society that's rather dismissive of non-elves, as well as some privilege that might make corps nobility seem egalitarian. They're not going on the offense against Olisha, but Olisha is in a powerful position. By all means, let's get to know 'em, but get to know 'em better before giving them access to someone who's already in a very emotionally charged situation, getting worse now that Julie is gonna be out of commish for a while. If we want to bring someone along, bring Fuzzy. Of our friends, she seems to be the one who's in a relatively 'good place' right now. And if these two turn out to be a good deal less nice to non-elves who can't make their lives hard, Fuzzy is better equipped to deal with it. And if they're not malevolent but offensive through a sheltered life, that can be corrected before Oli meets them. Possibly hear these two out. Their 'you should totally learn Elvish' could just be them being enthusiastic about their own culture, or it could be a sign of some supremacist 'embrace your bloodline, fellow elf' bullshit. However, I'm definitely in favour of Olisha taking priority over these two. Olisha is really important for Oli's future while these two aren't nobody, but they're elite of a society that's not doing all that well, and is not likely to be all that receptive of outsider art, considering their sense of superiority. Little stands to be gained for the pack, so we should risk little to befriend them. But a friendly smile and polite manners cost nothing of course. Shogeton fucked around with this message at 22:01 on Jul 8, 2018 |
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2018 21:57
|
|
|
Shogeton posted:I'd be a bit wary with getting these people too close to Oli right away. Yes, they're nice to Kenji, but Kenji is an elf, and these people have grown up in a society that's rather dismissive of non-elves, as well as some privilege that might make corps nobility seem egalitarian. They're not going on the offense against Olisha, but Olisha is in a powerful position. By all means, let's get to know 'em, but get to know 'em better before giving them access to someone who's already in a very emotionally charged situation, getting worse now that Julie is gonna be out of commish for a while. My supposition is that their mentor spirits will push them to treat Oli well: quote:Dolphin loves to see the good in people, which is good because I do too.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2018 22:28
|
|
|
Man seeing their mentors summarized like that it's very easy to see how those two could be decent people that also would be totally willing to give the fascism in their country a pass.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2018 00:25
|
|
|
Also, it's clear that it's Dolphin and not dolphin, because dolphins are dicks.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2018 00:54
|
|
|
CYOA - yes, Kenji accepts the invitation. He seemed to handle them ok before Olisha showed up, and more contacts are better than less contacts. And yes, Kenji has had something like vending machine curry, so he kinda has had Indian food before. Editing suggestion: this part has Julian repeating his greeting. Maybe it’s the exposition between his dialogue that threw this off. “Hello everyone, sorry that I’m late,” said Julian, quickly, “I’m glad that everyone is here. Welcome to the first day of class. Please sit.” [...] “Hello everyone,” said Julian, “I’m glad to see most of last year’s faces back.”
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2018 01:00
|
|
|
Okay, maybe I'm an idiot, but despite Joyce and Krupa being Elf Royalty from rear end in a top hat Elf Central I actually like them. They seem like genuine, good people. I even spotted that "Krupa does environmental cleanup on the weekends" thing and immediately thought "Hey, that's something she and Julie could bond over, what a nice pair of friends for our couple". Ice, you rear end. I see the trap and I'm going to step in it anyway. Jump really. With both feet. Cause I'm dumb. Kenji is not used to someone outside his circle being genuine to him, and he stammers out a "Y-yeah. Sounds great." Before his brain re-engages. Terrified, he begs Fuzzy to come with. Fuzzy will erroneously assume Joyce and Krupa are just like her and Sasha (IE: Lesbians) because she won't recognize Joyce as male. Kenji will be the only one to notice, to his mounting horror. Muhahahaha
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2018 06:27
|
|
|
sheep-dodger posted:I generally agree with this. Perhaps, if Kenji wants to develop the two as contacts into the Tir elven community, he could ask if it would be okay to bring a friend along, and bring Oli? The two seem nice enough and Oli needs some friends outside of the protagonist group. Oli can also help him move off of topics he wants to avoid, just by switching the conversation to her and her abilities. This
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2018 15:26
|
|
|
RickVoid posted:Okay, maybe I'm an idiot, but despite Joyce and Krupa being Elf Royalty from rear end in a top hat Elf Central I actually like them. They seem like genuine, good people. I even spotted that "Krupa does environmental cleanup on the weekends" thing and immediately thought "Hey, that's something she and Julie could bond over, what a nice pair of friends for our couple". Ice, you rear end. I see the trap and I'm going to step in it anyway. Jump really. With both feet. Cause I'm dumb. Bahahahahahahaha Yes, please. That's awesome.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2018 17:13
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 9, 2024 20:45 |
|
|
Ok, yeah, that’s hilarious, especially if Krupa and Joyce never notice, or are so used to it that it goes completely unnoticed and is not ever remarked on.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2018 17:20
|
|