|
Dr Subterfuge posted:I don't think Kenji's surprise at the idea of being recruited makes sense. Realizing how it happened/where he screwed up sure, but Saavni already told him that's what Joyce was up to at the restaurant. Thanks, I looked back and caught that. You're right, Saanvi told him directly that Joyce may be using her to recruit him. I pushed in a line to have it make more sense and I'll run through it all to make sure the chapter agrees. There's a lot to remember for this story. quote:Saanvi had warned him, but it was one thing to be told and another to understand. She had told him point blank that she might be used to recruit him. Kenji didn't dismiss her or the idea, it just hadn't felt real. Now it felt real. Joyce was interested in recruiting him in a permanent way. I imagine that the thought of getting recruited by marriage to a girl he'd only met once didn't feel real to Kenji. The idea of family obligation and ties through marriage are alien concepts to Kenji. Sasha has dropped the information that Kenji was too competent and now people are going to be interested in recruiting him. He's going to have a difficult time doing the minimum and going for smaller but safer amounts of money and influence now that someone is taking a chance on him. In my head, I do see Joyce seeing this as an honor, but at the same time, Saanvi is new royalty and a troublemaker. If Kenji can get her to conform, he'll have solved a problem for Joyce. Saanvi is both courting him and she is Kenji's test. At the same time, Kenji being courted by Saanvi will make Krupa absolutely delighted because Kenji is the person who helped her when she begged for help, so Joyce gets to make his fiancee happy. People in high status rarely do one thing at a time. Dr Subterfuge posted:I think it would be good for Kenji to talk to Olisha some time soon about Tir/Joyce and Krupa. Not like, spill his guts and everything, but lay groundwork for him to spend any time at all with them and not have her blow up about it. Right now Kenji is on a crash course with Olisha and it doesn't feel particularly necessary. Yeah, I like this. Kenji does need to talk to Olisha at some point in the future. And we'll see how that shakes out when he starts telling the truth to the jerk of a Cat shaman. Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 18:47 on Oct 4, 2018 |
#
?
Oct 4, 2018 18:37
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 9, 2024 23:31 |
|
|
I can't wrap my mind around a cat shaman. For some reason that sounds torpedo-your-own-success-constantly-esque.
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2018 21:27
|
|
|
Cannon_Fodder posted:I can't wrap my mind around a cat shaman. For some reason that sounds torpedo-your-own-success-constantly-esque. And yet cats do amazingly well for themselves. Think about it. Cats are self-serving manipulative murderjerks but they are also cuddly, passionate, playful, goofy, and can even be protective.
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2018 21:48
|
|
|
Ice Phisherman posted:Thanks, I looked back and caught that. You're right, Saanvi told him directly that Joyce may be using her to recruit him. I pushed in a line to have it make more sense and I'll run through it all to make sure the chapter agrees. There's a lot to remember for this story. Yeah, that change feels better. Knowing but not understanding works. Ice Phisherman posted:Yeah, I like this. Kenji does need to talk to Olisha at some point in the future. And we'll see how that shakes out when he starts telling the truth to the jerk of a Cat shaman. Oh god what have I done. Use those charisma skills, Kenji. 
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2018 22:08
|
|
|
Cannon_Fodder posted:I can't wrap my mind around a cat shaman. For some reason that sounds torpedo-your-own-success-constantly-esque. Depends. From the lore, Cat shamans are playful, lazy and cruel, but they're also keepers of secrets. I suppose you could open that up to the better parts of being a cat too that aren't directly spelled out in the Shadowrun books. I'd just call those lesser aspects of Cat if I was pushed, like Deadmeat mentioned. I'd also add in that cats are also great for the health of a community. In old times, cats were essential to the health of farming communities. They killed the rodents that brought disease, ruined crops and ate preserved food. My own cat kills any mice that come into my house. On the topic of torpedoing your own success, I will say that someone constantly torpedoing their success among the children of the elite is stupidly common. Their parents are wealthy or well connected, but their children often don't share the same values or have the same potential that their parents do. I imagine that a lot of the corporate children of wealthy, well connected people become useless socialites because they can't hack the corporate life. Or they enter into the family business anyway despite their total lack of talent and work ethic through nepotism. Just because you have magic doesn't mean you're not a gently caress up.
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2018 22:47
|
|
|
Ice Phisherman posted:“We could send her letters,” said Fuzzy. She is just the bestest most polite barbarian ever.  Ice Phisherman posted:“Holy poo poo, Joyce is trying to recruit me,” whispered Kenji. This is a good fix; when I read the first draft I was confused also as to why Kenny’s confused about this. Ice Phisherman posted:“At least she’s cute,” said Fuzzy, “What’s she like?” Am I missing something here? How would this be an inappropriate question? Seems like a friend asking about a not-date? Ice Phisherman posted:CYOA Time Can I get a ‘Kenny starring up at the stars while his hair is being gently blown back as he’s sitting on a hill by the edge of the water sequence’? A general ‘title sequence cover art’ sort of thing? Ice Phisherman posted:That said, what is Kenji going to accomplish with all of this free time in the coming week? For example, Kenji might go out of his way to talk to someone on some topic, purchase some (legal) gear that he can have delivered to him or try to accomplish something. I’m assuming he’s going to accomplish everything on the list you presented; if there’s something I’d add, it would be to do a ‘wellness check’ on all of his Blake Island friends and contacts. The Krupa Event caused quite a stir, and I’d like to see if the generally opinion on ‘Kenji’ has changed, in that he's now seen as ‘someone to watch’; it never hurts to ‘make the rounds’ as it were from time to time. Also, just for the hell of it, and because I’m biased, I’d say let’s send a letter to Mrs. Liu as well, see how ‘Auntie’ is doing. Ice Phisherman posted:(fofofo) Obligatory  Ice Phisherman posted:Fuzzy's alter ego, Marissa Wolfswift, has undertaken many a quest with worthy paladins in her monthly LARPs! You Madman! Do you realize the bad fanfic this will spawn!! jagadaishio posted:What if Kenji got a flying drone? I’d be onboard with this if it weren’t for all of the reasons against as provided by the rest of the thread; I can’t imagine the school being accepting of this, and, let’s not give the faculty a reason to search our room. Ice Phisherman posted:On a critical failure, Fluffy takes it down, thinking it is some sort of tasty bird. Bad. Fan. Fic. jagadaishio posted:Tying his fate to a Tir is a Bad loving Idea, and that route is doomed anyway; the path where Saanvi actually likes and wants to be with him is there one where he busts her free, and if he reneges on that at this point to be her Tir hubby she'll hate his guts for raising and then shattering her hopes. I don’t see ‘liberating’ Saanvi and Kenny becoming Tir Nobility as being mutual exclusive. Saanvi wants to live her own life and not be messed with by her parents, and, she also still loves her sister and doesn’t want to lose that relationship either. Marrying Kenny, if he were to accept a Tir title, reconciles all of these needs rather neatly, actually. The parents back off because she’s married to a Tir Noble now, like a ‘Good Indian Girl’ should, Saanvi gets to be with Krupa because Kenny will be one of Joyce’s assets (or hell, even rolled into his house perhaps), and Kenny gets a shot at accumulating real wealth and power. Ice Phisherman posted:At the same time, Kenji being courted by Saanvi will make Krupa absolutely delighted because Kenji is the person who helped her when she begged for help, so Joyce gets to make his fiancee happy. People in high status rarely do one thing at a time. Agreed. Don’t think I don’t see you creating this perfectly valid life path, Mr. Phisherman; yes, I realize they’re fascist elves, no, I don’t think they’re any worse than the other nations and or megacorps in the setting.
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2018 23:56
|
|
|
They're not fascist elves any more. Now they're just facist.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2018 03:55
|
|
|
Deadmeat5150 posted:They're not fascist elves any more. Now they're just facist. Elves or not, fascists must get bashed stat.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2018 04:00
|
|
|
They're still full fascist? I thought they'd gone more semi-Noble Republic. But it's not like there aren't a whole bunch of fascists remaining in high positions of power.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2018 04:19
|
|
|
CourValant posted:I don’t see ‘liberating’ Saanvi and Kenny becoming Tir Nobility as being mutual exclusive. Saanvi wants to live her own life and not be messed with by her parents, and, she also still loves her sister and doesn’t want to lose that relationship either. Marrying Kenny, if he were to accept a Tir title, reconciles all of these needs rather neatly, actually. Saavni took pains to illustrate how literally nothing she ever does is good enough for her parents, even when she did what they told her to do. Being with Krupa entails training for a job she doesn't want under a teacher who controls her with fear and she regards a sociopath. She fully expects her parents, geneticists, to want to stuff her to the gills with bio mods in what amounts to a vanity project, and she wouldn't put it past them to put something in her to make her easier to control. I don't think being with Kenji would change much of that. He would be expected to be another vector of control, which is what Joyce is testing right now. I wouldn't be surprised if Joyce is going to confront Kenji after the raid with something like "Yeah we know all about that. That was a bad idea."
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2018 15:56
|
|
|
From the vision, it seems like Krupa doesn't know how much Saanvi was abused. Make her understand.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2018 17:07
|
|
|
CourValant posted:She is just the bestest most polite barbarian ever. Fuzzy values her friends and got a whole day with Dave to learn how to be more polite. The thread wanted her to be better with people and that's what it looks like. I'm trying my best not to forget the big choices from the thread even though they've since long past. Instead, I just roll up those choices into how the character acts. quote:This is a good fix; when I read the first draft I was confused also as to why Kenny’s confused about this. I'm going to have to fix that, yeah. This is the problem with writing rough drafts and writing/editing while tired. I'm going to change that something along the lines of, "Fuzzy asks what Saanvi is like and Kenji shyly explains." This is why I like writing for a live audience. :] The new lines: "“At least she’s cute,” said Fuzzy, “What’s she like?” After all of the tension and bad news that Sasha delivered, it was Fuzzy who kept it light. He slowed his pacing before he sat back down. He sipped his drink, found it mostly empty and took his time refilling it to gather his thoughts. Fuzzy and Sasha waited for him to speak. "Well, she's not the kind of person I ever thought I'd be attracted to," began Kenji, "In fact, she seems like a mess, but I have to admit that I sort of like that. After all, I'm a mess too."" quote:Can I get a ‘Kenny starring up at the stars while his hair is being gently blown back as he’s sitting on a hill by the edge of the water sequence’? A general ‘title sequence cover art’ sort of thing? Cover art is something I've been thinking about a lot lately, actually. I've been corresponding back and forth with the artist for the art that was commissioned for a while, but I'm also saving up for the next piece of art for book two which has Kenji in it. I have no idea what it's going to look like. I've been thinking of him in full Delving gear with his finger on the button in an elevator, but something doesn't feel right about it. quote:I’m assuming he’s going to accomplish everything on the list you presented; if there’s something I’d add, it would be to do a ‘wellness check’ on all of his Blake Island friends and contacts. That's a good idea. I'll try and keep that in mind if I can work it in. I actually imagine that people would keep a respectful distance from him if Joyce puts out the word that Kenji is getting taken in by the Tir kids. Also others starting to compete for him in order to try and poach him as talent. quote:Also, just for the hell of it, and because I’m biased, I’d say let’s send a letter to Mrs. Liu as well, see how ‘Auntie’ is doing. Kenji is actually going to visit her soon when he runs an errand for Sasha come the weekend. quote:I don’t see ‘liberating’ Saanvi and Kenny becoming Tir Nobility as being mutual exclusive. Saanvi wants to live her own life and not be messed with by her parents, and, she also still loves her sister and doesn’t want to lose that relationship either. Marrying Kenny, if he were to accept a Tir title, reconciles all of these needs rather neatly, actually. quote:Saavni took pains to illustrate how literally nothing she ever does is good enough for her parents, even when she did what they told her to do. Being with Krupa entails training for a job she doesn't want under a teacher who controls her with fear and she regards a sociopath. She fully expects her parents, geneticists, to want to stuff her to the gills with bio mods in what amounts to a vanity project, and she wouldn't put it past them to put something in her to make her easier to control. I don't think being with Kenji would change much of that. He would be expected to be another vector of control, which is what Joyce is testing right now. Saanvi's parents are never going to accept any of her life choices as valid. Anything she does no matter how perfect is criticized which I've stated several times in the story. No amount of accomplishment is ever good enough. Any amount of conforming means she'll just get abused further. Her current rebellion isn't some mere teenage phase. It's a survival strategy, because you can't negotiate with a narcissist. From the lore, children are property with few rights in Tir. So the abuse would go above and beyond what is normal and since they're rich, they'd get away with even more than that. A narcissist can never be trusted or negotiated with. They only understand force. Maybe if they're self-aware enough, they'll understand blackmail. They will always break faith with you because they are not driven by rational thought. I can think of no antagonist more terrifying and more real than an abusive, violent, wealthy narcissist who is not aware that they are a narcissist. There is no negotiating with them. It's not possible. And blackmail may not even stop them. You need a bigger force to stop them that they are scared of. Normally this would be the law or some government, but governments aren't particularly good at restraining wealthy people. Anyway, at first, if you're within these high achiever cultures which prize academics, Saanvi's story looks sad, but not unheard of. For someone from outside of these cultures, it looks abusive. It's when I add in the psychological and physical abuse that it looks bad to the first crowd and increasingly horrifying to the second. I'm trying to thread a particular needle by speaking to people who are both outside and inside of said cultures. I enjoy writing on multiple subjects with a lot of verisimilitude, or the "seeming of being real". When writers study culture or how something works, they'll often wax on about it for pages and pages to the point that it becomes tedious. I try to weave in something that people from said cultures would enjoy, but you don't need to know the culture to understand what's going on. I do my best to write to very specific individuals from specific cultures, but do it over and over again. So Kenji goes to Touristiville's eastern district and tries his hand at being civilized in the Cantonese style. That's about business. Then he goes back to his hood, drinks Otherweiss and red drink. And his vodka bottle is actually a mouthwash bottle filled with blue food coloring. So in these instances, I'm writing to people from a Cantonese culture (super niche), the poverty stricken hood culture (less niche, but still niche) and then just teenagers. I also do my best to keep all of this short. Imagine political dogwhistling, but not racist, but for culture. If you're part of the culture then hopefully you either notice and nod your head or accept Kenji as part of that culture without ever thinking about it. If you're not, since I'm not delving deep into the minutia and requiring the reader to understand said minutia in order to enjoy the story, they can just read it and pass on by. Anyway, it's me trying to sharpen my craft. I've mentioned this before, but I'm trying to engage in subtlety in writing. That's what I've been practicing lately. It's why I'm doing my best to stick to a simple three act structure for this story. A lot of the scenes lately have had an enormous amount of moving parts (while still not requiring everyone to know everything in order to enjoy the story) and keeping the story structure simple means that I don't overtax the reader. You don't need to see all of the parts move to enjoy the story, but they're there if you want to read more closely or you're from the culture that said character is a part of. quote:Agreed. Don’t think I don’t see you creating this perfectly valid life path, Mr. Phisherman; yes, I realize they’re fascist elves, no, I don’t think they’re any worse than the other nations and or megacorps in the setting. I think it would be perfectly valid for Kenji (not for me, but Kenji) pre-Dog, however, Tir doesn't treat humans very well and two of his pack are humans. Also the other metaraces that aren't elves are still basically defacto second class citizens, though it's supposedly not as bad as it used to be. Also me conveying the idea that Krupa and Joyce are sort of exemplars of Tir and Olisha is an enormous jerk from Cal Free is intentional. The thread has been avoiding her for a while and Kenji is going to talk to her soon. I like Doctor Subterfuge's idea of Kenji trying to get ahead of the rumors and talking to her about what's up. She's going to weigh in. I'm going to do a small teaser that will help things make sense in retrospect about Kenji's actions in regards to Joyce and Krupa. I'll put it in spoilers. Kenji doesn't know what fascism is. It isn't in his vocabulary. He knows that Olisha uses it as a sort of swear word at them from time to time, but Kenji does not really have a sense of history or any idea how politics works. And since he's not curious like Fuzzy, he would not go out of his way to educate himself on the topic or ask what it is. habeasdorkus posted:They're still full fascist? I thought they'd gone more semi-Noble Republic. But it's not like there aren't a whole bunch of fascists remaining in high positions of power. So this is something that I thought about while reading over the Tir Tairngire supplements. Before I began writing and for a while after I quit, I was a political scientist by trade. I worked on elections and I'm classically trained. When I looked over what they used to be and their revolution, everything I read spoke to me of a paper revolution which is a revolution only on paper and not in reality. The new government kicked out all of the horrible fascists in charge, elevated a minority to High Prince status (basically their president), implemented some democratic reforms and they're not as warlike anymore. However, the nobility that was left (most of them) is still there and largely in charge. If that culture still exists and is still in power, they're going to find power again and they're going to lean authoritarian again. So what you have are basically a bunch of second stringer fascists who kicked out the fascists in leadership. The rebel factions who overthrew the government were a mishmash of everyone from multiple different races to multiple different political ideologies, and somehow they made a coherent government without a reactionary royalist wing sweeping back in to murder everyone or creating a power vacuum. It smells either of someone who has no idea of how revolutions work or a paper revolution in which very little changed save for the leadership and some policies. I chose the latter. Usually what happens in revolutions in authoritarian governments is that the army gets roused and kills all of the rebels as they try to take charge. When that doesn't happen, it usually means that the previous government pissed off the army and that the army is giving approval to the new government. This is a lot to expect from people who write about fantasy fascist elves to know, so I'm not complaining. I'm just writing everything in a way that makes sense to me. New government, small democratic reforms, claim that everything is good because they kicked out the old, bad leaders, it was a true coalition of metahumans (which Tir is supposed to be about originally, not just elves) and they're going to become more open now. To me, that's all theater in order for a new government to transfer in. Say hello to the new boss same as the old boss. This means that yes, there are a ton of old fascists kicking around. Elves don't really die of old age, so there are just these old mega-fascists still in power. Most didn't die or lose power. They just got shuffled around. This is going to become a minor plot point in the near future. Butt Discussin posted:From the vision, it seems like Krupa doesn't know how much Saanvi was abused. Make her understand. I think that is a big enough decision that I'm going to hold a vote later. It interests me because there's a lot of drama there. Besides, Krupa isn't on the island at present. -- So I'm going to be making another small number of edits on a single theme. Kenji feels an extreme fondness/love for Krupa because he got Saanvi's memory of her. In my head, he is white knuckling onto that feeling because he's never felt familial love before. However, when I think that he's going to be pursued by Saanvi in a romantic way and possibly returning those affections, well, the implications get weird. If I don't make changes and deepen that relationship, the feelings of sisterly love for Krupa, even though they're not his own, and him crushing on Saanvi, who is Krupa's sister, well, again, it gets gross. It's not something I want to explore due to the implications. Kenji is still going to feel an extreme fondness or love for Krupa, but I'm going to dial back him feeling that she's his sister, because Saanvi is Krupa's sister and that feels really weird for me to write. I just wanted to mention this because I'm going to be making some changes to what I previously wrote. Originally it made sense in my head because Kenji was getting his point of view from Saanvi, so he wouldn't feel any sisterly affection towards Saanvi because Saanvi is not her own sister, but that is a very fine hair to split and I don't expect everyone to get that. Anyway, very minor change. Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 19:15 on Oct 5, 2018 |
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2018 18:08
|
|
|
Ice Phisherman posted:This is why I like writing for a live audience. :] If I can only play a ‘laugh’ track or a ‘d’awwwh’ track for you when you write these things.  Ice Phisherman posted:I've been thinking of him in full Delving gear with his finger on the button in an elevator, but something doesn't feel right about it. No. I want pretty elven boy star gazing cover art for Kenny. Also, I now want the collectors’ box set of cover art, signed by the author, one for each of our little tykes, plus a jump-up freeze frame of the wider Blake Island Gang. Ice Phisherman posted:Kenji is actually going to visit her soon when he runs an errand for Sasha come the weekend. Oh I do so love it when we visit Auntie. Ice Phisherman posted:Anyway, at first, if you're within these high achiever cultures which prize academics, Saanvi's story looks sad, but not unheard of. For someone from outside of these cultures, it looks abusive. It's when I add in the psychological and physical abuse that it looks bad to the first crowd and increasingly horrifying to the second. I'm trying to thread a particular needle by speaking to people who are both outside and inside of said cultures. Guess I read that wrong, or at the very least, I thought we could come to a sort of truce with Saanvi’s parents and her situation if we were to get her married off to Tir nobility, working under Joyce and have Krupa around as the moderating factor. Ice Phisherman posted:So in these instances, I'm writing to people from a Cantonese culture (super niche).  Ice Phisherman posted:I think it would be perfectly valid for Kenji (not for me, but Kenji) pre-Dog, however, Tir doesn't treat humans very well and two of his pack are humans. Also the other metaraces that aren't elves are still basically defacto second class citizens, though it's supposedly not as bad as it used to be. I suppose I’m seeing this through the lens of being an ‘older, cynical, practical man’. Can your pack change? Or are you stuck with them for the remainder of your life? Because while its nice to think that you’re willing to sacrifice yourself for your friends, life resides mainly in the ‘grey zones’. Is Kenny forbidden to take a path which might lead him away from his friends, even if it means distancing himself? Say he takes the Tir path, which isn’t nice to not-elves. Kenny himself is still loyal to his friends, it’s just that he’s now working for fascists who might have a difference agenda. When this pack discussion first came up, I thought I saw an example of a ‘guard’ who is loyal to his team (his pack), which still working for Ares and cracking skulls on the streets. Not being argumentative, just wondering where the line falls?
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2018 22:30
|
|
|
Kenji and Oli – Friday, August 2nd, 2075 – Morning – Blake Island As Kenji stood in front of the kitchenette, he playfully bumped his hip into Oli. Shorter than him by a foot, her bump back struck mostly against his thigh. Pink colored her cheeks as he looked at her, but she smiled up at him anyway. It had taken time for the shy girl him to meet his eyes. Then she pointed to a glass mixing bowl. "I'm still not used to cracking eggs," she said, "I was using soy eggs out of a jug until a few weeks ago. Could you do it?" "You just don't want to touch them," accused Kenji. There was a small pause as she stopped to take a look at her corn beef, diced potatoes and eggs. She poked at them with her spatula and when she was done she bumped him again without saying anything. Then she and Kenji both laughed. "Fine, fine," said Kenji. He grasped an egg from the carton and perfectly cracked it into the bowl with a solid rap on the side. His fingers tingled ever so slightly. It was faint, but that was the magic working. Oli's skills were with crafts, mostly painting and cooking. Kenji had picked up just the slightest bit of dexterity from a week of cooking breakfast with her. After all, life wasn't supposed to be only about work and even though he'd come with a need, he'd ended her self-imposed isolation. Cooking was just one of almost a dozen skills he was furiously practicing, though most of the rest were mundane. He was practicing his Cantonese with the help of his tutoring software, getting ahead in his normal classes, math and English, he was all caught up in Mr. Peters' enchanting class which had been particularly grueling with all there was to memorize, there was writing letters to Saanvi and Julie once a day, reading the ones that were sent back, throwing himself into his artwork both in class and outside of it and learning how to tell simple lies convincingly. The last of which was an less practice and more an exercise in learning how to suppress the dread of violating rules that no longer existed. He had more than enough time for all of this now that sleep was no longer a problem. In fact, the biggest hurdle had been staying focused since his study habits were still crap. Long Haul had been a boon. He wasn't happy with the method. In fact, if he had to find a vein he would have sworn it off completely, but no, it could simply go into his arm. He'd agonized over the decision for an hour on Monday afternoon, but he'd decided to just suck it up. If he could have, he would've went to the school nurse to have her apply it, but while Long Haul was legal and the generic brand was over the counter, the kind he'd bought was prescription. As a minor, he needed Julian to sign off on the stuff that would put him out for twelvish hours instead of two days. That hadn't happened and his doctor from the ACHE was the sort of man who would prescribe anything so long as there was money in it. Two unbroken yolks and two perfectly cracked eggshells were the result of his newfound magic, each half the shell nestled into the carton where it came from. Kenji briefly washed his hands in the sink. Oil and butter went in the pan, salt and pepper went in the mixing bowl with the eggs. He whipped them with a whisk, set the heat to medium and dumped in the beaten eggs. For the next thirty seconds he idly prodded at the cooking eggs with a plastic fork, lifted the pan to move the still liquid eggs around the sides and only when it firmed up did he turn the heat down low. He looked to Oli and she nodded in acknowledgement. "Looks good," she said, "No milk or cream?" "Nah, just eggs," said Kenji, "Egg supremacy." Tir Tairngire chow hall omelettes had no milk or cream so that's how he made them, because that's what Saanvi had asked for. If he'd been told two weeks ago that he'd spend so much time trying to impress a girl and not for money or influence, he would have laughed. Well, outside of his pack anyway. They were different. Now he made four omelettes a day for his friends to eat at breakfast. Now he grated cheese where previously he'd never grated it before. "I'd never seen a block of cheese before I came here," said Oli, "I thought they all came in bags. They were all soy too. Real cheese melts differently. It's weird." "Imagine my surprise when I got a slab of bacon last summer," said Kenji, "I would have sworn that bacon came from plastic bags." Oli covered her mouth and giggled. It was a musical tinkle of a giggle which Kenji had been hearing more and more as she stepped out of her shell. He'd been subtly cracking that too. She turned to her corned beef, eggs and diced potatoes. She poked at them a final few times before she pulled the pan that contained them off the stovetop. Kenji flung in some tomatoes, diced red peppers and real garlic into his omelet, which was what Fuzzy wanted as one of these would be for her. He didn't use garlic powder like he was used to. A big part of what made his food better were the ingredients. It made him remember far leaner days when he was young with thin soup made even thinner by water, not having any more butter for his rice and when he did, the butter was often gone in days due to the butter and sugar sandwiches which his moms made him. That is when he was allowed to eat. Food had been strictly rationed and as a child he could catch a beating from his pops for eating without asking first, or at least Edward would eat and Kenji would learn about why he'd get beaten after the fact. Oli had talked openly about appliances that were constantly breaking down, food far past its expiration date that needed to be choked down and having to walk two miles to the nearest grocery store and back with her stepbrother Tek because there were no grocery stores near Touristville until very recently. So when she spoke about her stories, often when marveling at her new kitchen, Kenji would dole out a few of his own. "Looks good," she said. "Thanks. Art, not a science," he said. This had been Oli's mantra for cooking and he'd adopted it. "Art, not a science," she repeated, "Baking is the science. Speaking of which." She scurried towards her fridge and pulled out the trays she'd made yesterday, turned on the small oven and slid them in. "I Love those little egg muffin things," said Kenji, "Normally I don't like chilies, but those are great. You're sticking them in with the cinnamon buns though? You have a microwave." Oli made a face and shut the oven as she set the temperature. "I know this place is clean, because I'm obsessive about cleaning, but roaches love microwaves," she explained, "My dad's old microwave was gross. I always put food in the oven if I can." "Thanks for the appetizing image," said Kenji, dryly. Oli made a strangled squeak in her mouth and looked away. "Sorry," she said, quickly and nervously, "I overshare. I do that. Really, really sorry." This had been a constant with Oli. Even the slightest criticism made her either shut down or collapse into a fit of apologies. What she reacted to was inconsistent as well. He'd come here to practice his cooking, but he really should have come here earlier. She wasn't pack, but he was invested in the short, overweight, pink haired freshman. Literally so as he was her sponsor. "It's fine," soothed Kenji, "Really. Same thing here, really. I just didn't have a working oven. Maybe cool it with that talk when Clarissa comes over. She's still coming over, right?" Oli nodded jerkily, suddenly so very tightly wound. Half an hour of careful banter and that was all it took. He’d be lucky to get two words from her now unless he got creative. So he decided to try and pull her out of her shell before she clammed up completely. He poked at his omelet and turned to face her as she looked away. “She's not coming over tonight, right? I heard about those hot dates you have,” he began with a grin. “No dates,” she said, speedily. “Oh, my mistake,” said Kenji, airily, “You’re going on the date with both of guys at the same time. I get it, you’re a busy girl. Things to do and places to be.” Kenji wielded his spatula like a sword and thrust it into the open air of her sparsely decorated cabin. Only her artwork, her artist’s tools and the kitchenette made it any different than the stock cabin that he'd moved into at the beginning of the year. “Then they fight to the death!” he exclaimed, “Through no prodding over your own, no, you are far too pure for that! They kill each other for they shall not share your kisses or your home cooking! It is only meant for a single man!” With a theatrical thrust of his arm, he pantomimed a sword fight with an imaginary foe. Then he rammed the spatula under his arm and gasped. He turned to Oli, who almost looked at the floor, but watched him out of the corner of her eye instead. “I die," he gasped, "But not before I taste one of those delicious egg muffins." He reached into the oven, which was only beginning to heat up and pulled out a tiny egg muffin with little diced green chilies inside. He pulled apart the wrapper at the bottom, popped it into his mouth and chewed. Even cold they were great. Then his eyes flew open, he pulled the spatula out from under his arm and stared at it in amazement. “I am revived,” said Kenji, with awe in his voice, "Your food has spared me!" A small smile cracked at the corner of Oli’s mouth. Kenji took a small bow and poked at his omelet with his spatula. Then he tossed a smile over his shoulder at her. “What’s an omelet without ham?” teased Kenji, “Am I right or am I right?” He looked back at his food. As he folded his latest creation, he could hear the tinkle of Oli’s giggle. Normally he wasn’t so theatrical and there weren’t supposed to be any side effects to Long Haul, but he could swear he was a little manic after being up for nearly four days. Kenji has learned the nimble fingers power from Oli. He gets a +1 to all actions which involve small tools and +1 to sleight of hand. It only costs .25 power points. Also it's great for quick-drawing, quick reloading and cheating at cards. He buys 1 point in con for 2 karma. He buys Cantonese 2 for 2 karma. He's almost fluent! Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 05:22 on Oct 22, 2018 |
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2018 22:57
|
|
|
quote:I suppose I’m seeing this through the lens of being an ‘older, cynical, practical man’. That's a question I'm going to save for when Kenji talks to Min Yun, which will be coming up soon.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2018 22:58
|
|
|
Ice Phisherman posted:Kenji has learned the nimble fingers power from Oli. He gets a +1 to all actions which involve small tools and +1 to sleight of hand. It only costs .25 power points. Also it's great for quick-drawing, quick reloading and cheating at cards. I love how Kenji's skill set works. Gets the ability to face sculpt and hair change: passes it off as a way to impress girls. Also good for being a bang-up infiltrator. Gets the ability to have magic hands: good for cooking for your friends, excelling at tattoos. Also good for using guns and cheating at cards.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2018 23:32
|
|
|
I probably like these "character just fucks around and does something fun" bits the most. Kenji cooking, Fuzzy doing her goddamn nerd LARP, etc. reminds you that they're just kids still  The fact that Kenji manages to pick up a new ability which is great for said loving around as well as serious business totally suits the way his personality is going.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2018 23:34
|
|
|
I think I speak for everyone here when I say this:
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2018 23:40
|
|
|
Ice Phisherman posted:Kenji has learned the nimble fingers power from Oli. He gets a +1 to all actions which involve small tools and +1 to sleight of hand. It only costs .25 power points. Also it's great for quick-drawing, quick reloading and cheating at cards. Man, that sounds like a great deal. (fofofofofo). Just don't tell Octo, I'm sure she'll make all sorts of 'magic finger' jokes.  Ice Phisherman posted:He buys Cantonese 2 for 2 karma. He's almost fluent! Time to impress Auntie!! Ice Phisherman posted:That's a question I'm going to save for when Kenji talks to Min Yun, which will be coming up soon. This should be quite the conversation, can't wait. Its the hip bumping. Also, love how Kenny's 'play acting' is both to help Oli's socially interactions, and, help her socially interact with Clarissa. That, by the way, is going to be an interesting scene as well; how does the 'Mean Girl' and the '!Mean Girl' establish common ground?
|
|
#
?
Oct 6, 2018 01:27
|
|
|
I'm looking forward to the moment when Chip realizes he now has two people that can cook him Adept food.
|
|
#
?
Oct 6, 2018 02:20
|
|
|
Groetgaffel posted:I think I speak for everyone here when I say this: Not emptyquoting
|
|
#
?
Oct 6, 2018 02:20
|
|
|
Ice Phisherman posted:Usually what happens in revolutions in authoritarian governments is that the army gets roused and kills all of the rebels as they try to take charge. When that doesn't happen, it usually means that the previous government pissed off the army and that the army is giving approval to the new government. This is a lot to expect from people who write about fantasy fascist elves to know, so I'm not complaining. I'm just writing everything in a way that makes sense to me. New government, small democratic reforms, claim that everything is good because they kicked out the old, bad leaders, it was a true coalition of metahumans (which Tir is supposed to be about originally, not just elves) and they're going to become more open now. To me, that's all theater in order for a new government to transfer in. Say hello to the new boss same as the old boss. Oh hi General al-Sisi! (except without the interim of Calvinball and the Muslim Brotherhood turning literally everyone else against them to the point where the soi disant liberals wanted to go back to military dictatorship because at least it wasn't a religious dictatorship)
|
|
#
?
Oct 8, 2018 02:40
|
|
|
Ice Phisherman posted:Cover art is something I've been thinking about a lot lately, actually. I've been corresponding back and forth with the artist for the art that was commissioned for a while, but I'm also saving up for the next piece of art for book two which has Kenji in it. I have no idea what it's going to look like. I've been thinking of him in full Delving gear with his finger on the button in an elevator, but something doesn't feel right about it. Well, yeah. It's not showing the full picture. Kenji in delving gear in the elevator pushing the button? Great. That plus Edward, in delving gear, sitting in a corner, knees up, arms wrapped around them, crying? That's what's missing.
|
|
#
?
Oct 8, 2018 03:14
|
|
|
On the subject of Kenji's pack changing over time, I see it like this: you hear about people abandoning dogs all the time, but when's the last time you heard about dogs abandoning their people? And Kenji would not be at all a good fit for Tir nobility, because he has a functioning sense of empathy and sees people outside his peer group as "people I don't know" as opposed to "animate appliances and furniture". Plus Tir being hosed in the next few years tops due to all their neighbors having good reason to hate them while the Tir no longer has Immortal Elves or a Great Dragon protecting it. We're talking "Treaty of Sèvres" hosed, or even "Third Partition of Poland" hosed if said neighbors decide it's time for Tir Tairngire to stop being a thing. It's not a place that has a long-term future to invest in. Would be an interesting reason for Olisha to be less put out by Kenji socializing with Krupa and Joyce, so long as he doesn't seem to actually be buying in and he doesn't try to stop her from using them as a rhetorical scratching post: talking to them doesn't matter, because there's a decent chance that by the time those two graduate they won't matter either.
|
|
|
#
?
Oct 8, 2018 05:00
|
|
|
Tir is a good place to get clients for his business. It's a bad place to hitch his future outright, but if/when Tir starts crumbling it'll be very profitable to be able to offer shadow services to a bunch of rich, scared assholes. The fact that Tir looks like it might be in a bad way - and is objectively probably not a place where he'd ever want to live - means that it's a great place to find work, not unlike how Seattle is pure cash for people willing to work during the current chaos. But that's all that Tir Tairngire should be to him. Somewhere to draw clientele for his business services. Not somewhere that he's actually invested, or vice versa.
|
|
#
?
Oct 8, 2018 05:21
|
|
|
Hestaby is still absolutely protecting Tir, she even retained her seat on the Council. Tir is her baby and she guards it as such.
|
|
#
?
Oct 8, 2018 11:54
|
|
Deadmeat5150 posted:Hestaby is still absolutely protecting Tir, she even retained her seat on the Council. Tir is her baby and she guards it as such. The other Great Dragons smashed her home, killed most of her people, stole all her poo poo, and forced her into hiding. She's no longer in a position to protect anything.
|
|
|
#
?
Oct 8, 2018 13:10
|
|
|
Why is/was Hestaby protecting a bunch of fascist elves that run a brutal repressive police state and do all sorts of racism, I thought her whole gimmick was being the bleeding heart that loved everyone?
|
|
#
?
Oct 8, 2018 13:46
|
|
|
The Sandman posted:The other Great Dragons smashed her home, killed most of her people, stole all her poo poo, and forced her into hiding. She's no longer in a position to protect anything. I forgot she got kicked out the club after 2074. Crazycryodude posted:Why is/was Hestaby protecting a bunch of fascist elves that run a brutal repressive police state and do all sorts of racism, I thought her whole gimmick was being the bleeding heart that loved everyone? She revered Dunklezahn and picked up on his metahuman rights party line after his assassination. When Lowfyr stepped down from the Council of Princes she stepped in, annexed the Mount Shasta region into Tir, and has since proceeded to make many reforms. The only reason the Immortals really stepped down in the late 60's was because Hestaby sided with the reformists when she came in.
|
|
#
?
Oct 8, 2018 15:03
|
|
|
The Sandman posted:Plus Tir being hosed in the next few years tops due to all their neighbors having good reason to hate them while the Tir no longer has Immortal Elves or a Great Dragon protecting it. We're talking "Treaty of Sèvres" hosed, or even "Third Partition of Poland" hosed if said neighbors decide it's time for Tir Tairngire to stop being a thing. It's not a place that has a long-term future to invest in. It's not going to be quite that easy, though. CalFree isn't in much of a position to do anything, especially not after the Protectorate era and the encroachment of the PCC (at least the PCC is now a buffer between them and Aztlan, even if it cost them Los Angeles. In a straight fight the UCAS could squish Tir like a bug, even accounting for Immortal Elves and a Great Dragon sans her horde, but they don't have the ability to project forces that far from the east coast and don't have a great hold on the Seattle area. That leaves The Pueblo Corporate Council and Salish-Shidhe Council. The latter has about 3 million more people, plenty of magic, but the difficulty of getting all the tribes pulling in the same direction and no direct counter to the Elves or Hestaby. The former punches way above their weight class, and post 2061 controls Los Angeles with its 20m people (nearly tripling their population). They also have an alliance with the CAS, which is one of the few sovereign nuclear powers. So they could probably take Tir in a fight, except that they're a corporate council and it'd be hard for them to justify the cost... especially with an ever-expansionistic Aztlan to the south. So while Tir is weak, none of their neighbors are in immediate position to take advantage of that weakness. And it's not like CalFree is going to want to work with the PCC after having plenty of their own turf annexed by the Pueblo Council, while the Salish-Shidhe and UCAS probably couldn't agree how they'd divvy up any spoils.
|
|
#
?
Oct 8, 2018 17:53
|
|
|
jagadaishio posted:Tir is a good place to get clients for his business. It's a bad place to hitch his future outright, but if/when Tir starts crumbling it'll be very profitable to be able to offer shadow services to a bunch of rich, scared assholes. The fact that Tir looks like it might be in a bad way - and is objectively probably not a place where he'd ever want to live - means that it's a great place to find work, not unlike how Seattle is pure cash for people willing to work during the current chaos. As usual, plan jagadaishio. Kenji may be able to get eventually get Saanvi out of Tir's clutches while retaining some of the contacts made during a long courtship.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2018 16:47
|
|
|
Kenji would alienate a lot of his present contacts (especially his one art contact) if he did the courtship thing, and it's not clear to me that the courtship is a necessary component of anything that he wants to do. It might be cool from a storytelling standpoint for him to get sucked into it anyway, but unless it's the only way to leverage Saavni out of her situation, I don't think it's worth it just for Tir contacts.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2018 17:00
|
|
|
Dr Subterfuge posted:Kenji would alienate a lot of his present contacts (especially his one art contact) if he did the courtship thing, and it's not clear to me that the courtship is a necessary component of anything that he wants to do. It might be cool from a storytelling standpoint for him to get sucked into it anyway, but unless it's the only way to leverage Saavni out of her situation, I don't think it's worth it just for Tir contacts. Let's see if Olisha actually hits him with some kind of exclusivity ultimatum first. We might be able to spin this to where she digs the ability to snag deals out from under Tir people, or sees the situation as boring enough to turn Cat's apathy on it. Once we're at the decision point, though, is definitely lean towards keeping his diverse set of contacts over gaining a bunch of exclusively Tir ones - but only if it actually comes to that. Dealing with both sides of two groups who dislike each other can actually be super profitable, but only if you keep yourself out of the crossfire of their competition.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2018 18:10
|
|
|
Fair. I'll admit I'm making some assumptions about Olisha. How this whole situation plays out obviously depends a lot on how she takes things. But I stand by the assertion that dating anyone exclusively alienates a significant portion of Kenji's contacts. It's not the Tir thing, it's the "scratching post" thing. His whole deal is he is unaffiliated and available. I'm not optimistic about Kenji being able to keep himself out of the crossfire, but we'll see.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2018 18:52
|
|
|
Now that Kenji knows exactly what "courting" means, I think it's a good time to reiterate my earlier suggestion - to have a talk with him about it, given that what Saanvi said is "date", and the difference between these words.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2018 19:48
|
|
|
jagadaishio posted:Dealing with both sides of two groups who dislike each other can actually be super profitable, but only if you keep yourself out of the crossfire of their competition. I agree, let's open a cafe named 'Kenny's', have Octo play piano, Fuzzy work the door, Julie tend bar, and Sasha could be the coat check person. In the Shadowrun equivalent of Casablanca. Kenny will never sit down and have a drink with a customer, until that fateful day when Min Yu walks through those doors. "Of all the fixer joints in all the extra-judiciary territories on all the 6th world, she walks into mine."
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2018 21:05
|
|
|
CourValant posted:I agree, let's open a cafe named 'Kenny's', have Octo play piano, Fuzzy work the door, Julie tend bar, and Sasha could be the coat check person. Fixed, because it's a drat good line that deserves to be correctly quoted.
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2018 03:52
|
|
|
RickVoid posted:Fixed, because it's a drat good line that deserves to be correctly quoted. Really? Because according to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09g2PzusuzI The line is, officially, "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine."
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2018 04:00
|
|
|
CourValant posted:Really? Huh. I stand corrected. In my defence it's been about 15 years since the last time I watched that film. Also I really need to figure out when and where I fell through that Berenstain hole cause this is an inferior universe.
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2018 08:54
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 9, 2024 23:31 |
|
|
Just finished a reread and I'm leaning towards Kanji courting Saanvi, although folks raise a good point that he probably wouldn't sacrifice his diverse contacts to become a full on Tir lackey. No opinion on how to handle Olisha. I like her, but then, I have two kitties.
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2018 14:55
|
|
