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The Sandman posted:So the question is whether Creepazoid von Elfler will report Saanvi or blackmail her. Sadly, the answer to both is, Yes.
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Oct 26, 2018 22:52
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Dr Subterfuge posted:Welp, I wonder what kind of retaliation Saavni might see for this venting. If Gilbrand cares that Saavni doesn't actually talk to her parents, Scrapper might not be long for the world. This is the point where it might be prudent to make a backup. Also yay, Kenji doesn't have admit to Olisha that he has no idea what fascism is anymore! Now he has the vaguest of outlines, which still mostly just hints that his talk with Olisha is going to have...problems. From what I've read about the US military and heard from friends in it, bitching about whomever is just what soldiers do, but if you get caught you get smoked. Getting smoked means you get physical training until someone throws up, probably beyond that until they're exhausted and then if they really hosed up you do it again and again until satisfied when the one doing the smoking out is finally satisfied. There's also getting yelled at, cleaning things with toothbrushes until they sparkle when a larger brush would make the job ten times easier and really, just whatever creative task someone with more authority in your chain of command can hand you. Or if someone is a real piece of poo poo they have you stand in the sun while your skin gets deep sunburns. I'm not sure of the legality of that last one, but I kept running across that as what my friends who were marines hated the most and it tended to be very low ranking officers who did that the most often. Though this is anecdotal. They can't lay hands on you though. Not legally. Not anymore. Not in the US military. There are people who try to skirt these rules, but it can cause a real stink if it's bad enough and gets reported. I'm imagining in a fascist nation their military might just beat the poo poo out of you as well as smoke you out. Especially if Saanvi is talking about internal politics. Much of what she said is known, but it is not smart to let people know your nation is weak when they're desperately trying to portray yourself as anything but. It's an optics thing. Perversely, Saanvi's status as a paladin would probably make this abuse more extreme in order to "toughen her up". Tir Paladins are special forces and Saanvi was drafted into it against her will. Once the etiquette lessons are over she's going to get training from Gilbrand and the standard training to become special forces even in the US is considered extreme in terms of physical and emotional abuse in order to toughen someone up. It's one thing to willingly walk into that roughly knowing what that you're going to get toughened up by dealing with exercises in physical and emotional abuse. It is another to be transferred and put through it against her will. Saanvi's abuse wasn't planned to end just because her parents were no longer around. It was going to continue under the tutelage of Gildbrand who is basically a Nazi. Saanvi has been thoroughly hosed over by her parents for defying them. Her being betrayed by her commanding officer, her life once again hijacked by narcissists after escaping them, a year of schooling in how to be and EOD flushed down the drain, being put under the command of someone who terrifies her and she's slated to undergo brutal special forces training which will be physically and emotionally abusive to an already emotionally traumatized young woman. In short, Saanvi is in a really bad way at the moment. She could simply buy her way out of the military. In fact it wouldn't be too expensive, but that comes with a host of other problems. In stories, the princess is kidnapped by an evil witch or a dragon or some other mythical creature. The prince comes along, chops them to bits and they do the happily ever after thing. It's not that easy in this case. Saanvi's life is currently controlled by an institution (the military) which is actively acting in bad faith. There are rules and procedures which can be used to stop or delay her. There are people in this institution who are specifically assigned to her to make her life miserable in the extreme. However, institutions are large, unwieldy and with luck and the proper knowledge of how to navigate it, the institution can be forced to attack itself. This institution was at first Saanvi's liberator and now her oppressor. However, this is just a new tool that her parents are using her to abuse her. If there are any end bosses for Saanvi, to put this in game terms, imagine abusive clinical narcissists with gently caress you money. If you can't, you will be able to imagine them before the end of year two. Unlike a faceless corporation, there are two of them, they have faces, names, personality traits and are irrational and abusive in the extreme due to their pathology. They sit like fat ticks on the back of a nation starving for money, which will endlessly enable them so long as they can get more of said money. I'm not really interested in the typical Shadowrun narrative of having some suit in an office control everything far removed from threats. That's been one of the standard go to bad guys since Shadowrun's inception. I want to give a unique look into the behavior people who are irredeemably awful because they have damaged personalities that make them awful. In short, I want to make villains that are uniquely terrifying but also underrepresented in literature. No suits in high towers, no gang leaders, no corrupt cops, no crooked politicians. We'll see them, but they're not going to get as much attention. We are going to see people like Tom and Daisy Buchanan, but made bitter, break their brains to make them relentlessly cruel and even more self-important and then turn the horror up to eleven. There is no negotiating with them because they will break every agreement. There is no capitulating with them, because they will abuse you the moment you come back to them. Blackmail might work, maybe, but only if it will call some sort of authority down on them to punish them. Narcissists with money are horror that I've never actually read about in media! Look forward to seeing more of them!  Cannon_Fodder posted:Oh, great thought. That's a good point. I imagine Kenji gently asking if she wants him backed up just in case in a way that Tir can't touch. CourValant posted:Sounds like a rival gang rolled in Thursday and finished that Chapter off. A distinct possibility! quote:Good grief. Kenny and Saanvi just can’t catch a break, can they? Maybe eventually. Deadmeat5150 posted:It's funny, I understand Kenji's reaction at the end there. When he put his back to her, it's just like what my dog does to me when she senses Im having a bad day. She just leans against my leg if I'm standing or lays next to me, close enough to touch, if Im on the couch. That's exactly what I was going for. Dog's go to for comforting people is to touch them and be close. People do it too, but dogs will not leave your side for anything. quote:Also I'm going to nut punch you for making me get teary eyed in the canteen surrounded by people. Reading my work in public is a hazard. It attracts dust and it gets in your eyes. drat dust. Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 05:14 on Oct 27, 2018 |
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Oct 27, 2018 04:41
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gently caress. Yeah, my mind went vaguely in the direction of possible punishment, but I couldn't handle actually trying to imagine it so I backed off and focused on a manageable problem. Nope nope nope nope nope. I can't tell you how much I want to destroy Gilbrand and Saavni's parents. Crushing Krupa and Joyce's world by forcing Krupa to understand just what Joyce is letting happen to her sister and what a goddamn sham her life is built on wouldn't hurt either.
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Oct 27, 2018 05:14
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Dr Subterfuge posted:gently caress. Yeah, my mind went vaguely in the direction of possible punishment, but I couldn't handle actually trying to imagine it so I backed off and focused on a manageable problem. Nope nope nope nope nope. I can't tell you how much I want to destroy Gilbrand and Saavni's parents. Crushing Krupa and Joyce's world by forcing Krupa to understand just what Joyce is letting happen to her sister and what a goddamn sham her life is built on wouldn't hurt either. That's nothing. Saanvi's expressed a genuine concern that her parents might bribe someone into installing a loyalty implant - a brain implant that will override her personality - if she ever goes under the knife. And going under the knife is something that is going to happen sooner or later if Kenji can't bust her from the army. Her parents might pay to have a little something extra slipped in when she gets her combat augmentations, you see. These kinds of personality-overriding implants are a canon thing in Shadowrun. They're used extensively in the sex slave/brothel industry. They're absolutely vile. The LeBlanc technique - Kenji himself - was created as a no-implants-required alternative. Full circle. jagadaishio fucked around with this message at 05:53 on Oct 27, 2018 |
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Oct 27, 2018 05:50
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Just want to point out that the concept of "Smoking" is usually tossed out after AIT. The US military is one of the most disciplined in the world, something that I heard remarked on from other countries' armed forces more than once, and that's a result of a climate of professionalism and duty. My wife interrupted me an hour ago and I forgot where I was going with this. Cheers.
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Oct 27, 2018 07:04
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Deadmeat5150 posted:Just want to point out that the concept of "Smoking" is usually tossed out after AIT. The US military is one of the most disciplined in the world, something that I heard remarked on from other countries' armed forces more than once, and that's a result of a climate of professionalism and duty. My wife interrupted me an hour ago and I forgot where I was going with this. Cheers. Thanks buddy. Always more to learn about cultures. 
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Oct 27, 2018 07:10
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We can always show Saanvi's parents, Gilbrand and the other fascists that control her life that power comes from the barrel of a gun. All the money in the world won't save you from a dedicated team of competent Shadowrunners who want you loving dead.
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Oct 27, 2018 08:31
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mcclay posted:We can always show Saanvi's parents, Gilbrand and the other fascists that control her life that power comes from the barrel of a gun. All the money in the world won't save you from a dedicated team of competent Shadowrunners who want you loving dead. Well, you say that but for ten more nuyen most shadowrunners will put a bullet in your skull as easily as anyone else's?
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Oct 27, 2018 14:04
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Zodiac5000 posted:Well, you say that but for ten more nuyen most shadowrunners will put a bullet in your skull as easily as anyone else's? That's why you go with pack on a personal run.
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Oct 27, 2018 15:55
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jagadaishio posted:That's nothing. Saanvi's expressed a genuine concern that her parents might bribe someone into installing a loyalty implant - a brain implant that will override her personality - if she ever goes under the knife. And going under the knife is something that is going to happen sooner or later if Kenji can't bust her from the army. Her parents might pay to have a little something extra slipped in when she gets her combat augmentations, you see. Okay, actual brain surgery is a step beyond hollowing out someone's personality through mental and physical abuse, but they're both pretty vile. Cyberpunk brain surgery doesn't actually feel as real to me until I start comparing it to, say, a lobotomy a la One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I do appreciate the darkly poetic symmetry.
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Oct 27, 2018 17:01
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Dr Subterfuge posted:Okay, actual brain surgery is a step beyond hollowing out someone's personality through mental and physical abuse, but they're both pretty vile. Cyberpunk brain surgery doesn't actually feel as real to me until I start comparing it to, say, a lobotomy a la One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Rosemary Kennedy might be the more apt comparison. You know Joe Sr. would have installed an obedience chip without hesitation if he could have.
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Oct 27, 2018 17:03
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Zodiac5000 posted:Well, you say that but for ten more nuyen most shadowrunners will put a bullet in your skull as easily as anyone else's? That's why you contract them first and tell them that on this run they're not only allowed but encouraged to go hog-wild with stealing from the targets. Doesn't matter how much money the targets have if a) it's still not enough to retire on and b) you've already stolen it, so backstabbing the Johnson actually costs you money in the form of the original paycheck (plus being marked as unreliable by future employers). Alternatively, make contact with dedicated anti-fash types for whom getting to kill two monsters who bankroll a fascist government is part of the payment.
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Oct 27, 2018 17:42
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The Sandman posted:Alternatively, make contact with dedicated anti-fash types for whom getting to kill two monsters who bankroll a fascist government is part of the payment. Canonically, that's what most runners are supposed to be. The default assumption is that a runner is a politically-motivated violent activist (anarchist, ecologist, anti-fascist, whatever) who is double dipping by committing acts of corporate sabotage and getting paid for the privilege. Shadowrunners as apolitical mercenaries didn't really become a new normal until the license changed hands with 4e. Coincidentally, it's why the best way to get hooked up with high-end gear is still to network and trade favors with people in your circles, rather than trying to actually buy it with money. It's also why 'cold-hearted' runs are an exception rather than something the average runner will be into.
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Oct 27, 2018 19:02
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quote:“Not to ruin this moment,” said Kenji, carefully, “But I have to ask before I forget. I’m not mad, but I want to know. Who set the fire at the clubhouse?”  Also, I'm still only partway through that update, but Scrapper is great. I love the story. I love Saanvi.
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Oct 28, 2018 03:03
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Kenji, Saanvi and Julian – Saturday, August 3rd, 2075 – Late morning – Downtown Seattle Almost twenty minutes later, Saanvi stopped playing. There was no taper off or fade. Saanvi finished and there sounded like there should be more. Instead, propped up against her back as he was, he felt her take a shuddering breath and then slowly exhale. “My fingers cramped,” she said, quietly, “Sorry.” “It was…” Kenji began, but his voice was rough so he cleared it, “It was good. Thank you.” “Sure, you’re welcome,” she said. “Feel any better?” asked Kenji. He could hear her roll up her flexible piano. Again her hair tickled his neck as she moved. “A bit,” she said, “You being near helped.” Kenji smiled and rubbed at his eyes with his forearm. “Yeah?” he asked. “Yeah,” she confirmed, “It was nice of you. Thank you.” “Anytime,” said Kenji. Silence reigned afterwards, broken only by the sound of Scrapper's turned on his tank treads and left the room. "I'm worried about Scrapper," said Saanvi, anxiously, "I can handle having to talk to my parents again, but I don't think I can handle him being taken away. I wouldn't put it past Gilbrand to do it." "Well if you're worried about him then I can have a friend make a backup," he said. Again came that tickling hair as she shook her head. “It wouldn’t be the same,” she said, distantly, “He’s not just data.” “Want me to take him for a few days then?” he asked. She drew in a quick breath as if to say no, but paused. He could vaguely feel her head move up and down. “Would you?” she asked. Kenji almost said yes, but it was his turn to pause and think. Scrapper was a drone and that might cause problems at the high security school. “I live at school, so I’d have to check with my guardian,” he said, “It's a high security area though. He doesn’t have any weapons on him, does he?” “No,” said Saanvi, “He has a rail on his arm that you could attach a weapon to, but otherwise no. He’s just my little buddy. A secretary and therapist with tank treads.” Kenji had to chuckle at that and it also earned a two note giggle from Saanvi. “Are you allowed to take him out of your apartment? Any licenses I should know about?” asked Kenji. “Nope,” she said, “I could take him on walks if I wanted to.” “That sounds adorable,” mused Kenji, “I’ll make the call. One second.” Kenji tapped his smartwatch commlink to wake it up and dialed Julian’s number. After a few rings he picked up. “Kenji,” said Julian, through the commlink, his voice worried, “Are you okay? No problems with Dog? I can pick you up.” “No,” said Kenji, “I’m doing okay, actually. I had a minor episode and went through the exercises you taught me. I got through it just fine.” “Good,” said Julian, with a relieved sigh, “That’s great. So what’s this about?” Kenji tried to think of a way to say it best, but he had nothing. It was an odd request. He could feel Saanvi hold her breath as she went almost perfectly still. “My friend has a drone she needs to get out of her apartment for a few days,” he began, “I was wondering if I could have it in my cabin until next week.” “What kind of drone?” asked Julian, warily. Kenji licked his lips nervously. “It’s a…Bomb disposal drone,” said Kenji, slowly, and then he sped up as he’d passed the hard part, “Custom software though. It doesn’t do that anymore. It’s a companion drone now. You know, like those emotoys?” “A…A bomb disposal drone?” asked Julian, incredulously. “Yeah um…Krupa Patel’s sister lives in Seattle. Her name is Saanvi. We sort of hit it off last week,” he said, as he began to grow flustered, “She has a drone with custom software. It doesn’t have any weapons. Just a grasping arm, a camera eye and tank treads. She tells me that it’s perfectly legal to possess without any licenses.” “A bomb disposal emotoy,”Julian repeated to himself, “Wow.” Kenji’s heart sank and what he did next surprised him. “Please?” he asked, earnestly, “It’s important.” This seemed to catch Julian off guard. The silence didn’t have that feel of consideration behind it. There were no hrm’s are hums, just silence before Julian sighed wearily. “How many pounds is it?” asked Julian, his tone almost disgusted, “I don’t want to roll a tank into your cabin.” Saanvi held out a hand without moving from his back. She held up four fingers and then she made a fist. Kenji nodded. “Forty pounds,” he said. “Right,” said Julian, wearily, “It’s going to need to get checked before you bring it here. That includes a hardware check and a software check. That’s standard procedure since security here is so tight. Also it’ll require a restraining bolt to immobilize it. That bolt is not to come off under any circumstances if you want to keep it. Do you understand?” “Yeah!” exclaimed Kenji, unable to contain his excitement, “Thank you.” “Don’t thank me just yet,” he cautioned, “Like I said, we don’t have the resources to check that. This is a school, not a drone repair shop. I’m sending you a link to a store that specializes in drones in your area. The diagnostics will cost you. If it’s clean I’ll accept it. And Kenji.” “Yeah?” asked Kenji. “I’m going to be doing a lot of paperwork to bring this in,” said Julian, pointedly, “I wouldn’t do it unless I thought it was important.” Saanvi exhaled and her shoulders sagged. “Thanks again,” said Kenji. “Good, now that that’s settled, I want you to come back to the island tonight,” he said. “What?! Why?!” exclaimed Kenji. Kenji thought furiously about how this would cause problems for him. It took two hours one way to get to the island from where he was instead of the normal hour long trip from last year due to the detours. He still had to look for electronic parts for Sasha, talk to Mrs. Liu, Min Yun and Olisha. “Kenji, what are you planning on doing tonight that is so important?” asked Julian. “I was going to a party tonight,” said Kenji, his ton increasingly frantic, “I’m trying to see if someone is interested in buying some paintings so Oli can stay in school next year. You know, working.” “Working,” said Julian, flatly, “Very well Kenji, I won’t dismiss you outright. Is this the party at the Gates Undersound that the students are holding?” Kenji had a bad feeling all of a sudden. Julian’s tone wasn't just weary anymore. He sounded angry too. “For a while,” admitted Kenji, “I was going to meet some art contacts.” “Kenji, I know what goes on at these at these school parties,” said Julian, “My reach only goes so far with most students, but mine goes a lot further with you since you are my ward. I do not want you abusing drugs or alcohol. I was going to talk to you about this tonight, but we might as well get it out of the way now. You are using Long Haul.” It wasn’t a question. Kenji’s mouth opened and closed a few times. There were so many worse things that he could go down for and it was the Long Haul that Julian found out about. “Yes,” whispered Kenji. “Prescription strength in fact,” he continued. “How…” began Kenji, but he sighed, “Yes.” “Kenji, if it was just over the counter Long Haul I would be having a different conversation with you,” said Julian, “If you just got someone to buy this for you I wouldn't be so alarmed. Prescription strength means you got this either from a street dealer or a doctor. It’s legal to those eighteen or above or with those who have permission from their parent or guardian, not to you. Did you get this from your cousin?” “No!” exclaimed Kenji, “No. I didn’t.” Julian sighed heavily over the line. “Why are you on Long Haul?” he asked. Kenji could hear the weariness creep back into Julian’s voice. He remembered Julian’s talk to him last week. About how his guardian felt like he was failing him. How Julian be busy learning how to do a better job of helping him. Kenji had no idea how Julian had found out, but Julian knew and Kenji was mentally preparing himself for being raked over the coals. His mind was racing so fast that he forgot that Saanvi was there and that he was on speaker phone. “There were some things I needed to learn and I didn’t have a lot of time,” he admitted, begrudgingly. “Right,” sighed Julian, “Kenji, did you consider any other options before you took Long Haul? Maybe soykaf, planning your day better, applying yourself more at school or maybe just talking to me? I would have helped you.” Kenji had been practicing how to lie, but he didn’t see any point. Julian had him pinned. “No,” he admitted, “I didn’t.” “Right,” said Julian, “So Kenji, I’ve been a teacher for over a decade at a school for teens who happen to have access to a lot of money. This isn’t my first brush with drug abuse.” “It's not a big deal. The stuff I got is safer than than the over the counter stuff. I don't feel like...” said Kenji, defensively. “I go to seminars on this once a year that deal with drug abuse as well as meetings at least once a month about this very topic with the staff,” continued Julian, who bowled through Kenji’s defense, “I know about drug abuse. You come from a home where drug abuse was the norm. I know because I helped you clean it up, remember? We rescued what was precious to you in the ACHE when your mother overdosed. I saw the needles and trash everywhere. It was so bad we were in hazmat suits. People from your upbringing normally go one of two ways in regard to drugs. Either they never touch drugs ever in their life because they saw firsthand how it looks or they’re at high risk for abuse because it's been normalized. The moment that things got hard, you reached for drugs and that is an enormous red flag for me. That terrifies me, Kenji and it should terrify you too. I’m going to come down on you hard because I know where this goes and I’m stopping it right now before you end up like your parents. I’m going to punish you because I care.” Kenji felt gut punched. This was not at all what he was expecting and he felt horrified by the idea of ending up a user like his moms or pops. “No I’m not!” exclaimed Kenji, “I’m not like them!” “You said it yourself,” said Julian, his voice like a hammer, “You didn’t even consider anything else. You just reached for the Long Haul. It’s not the drugs or even how mildly addictive they are, but how you used them. That is an instinct that will eventually ruin you if you don't learn to control it. You had other options you could have explored, but didn’t. As soon as things got hard you reached for drugs. So here are your punishments, Kenji. While everyone learns spells, trains their adept abilities or creates focuses, you have no such responsibilities due to your classes. I’m not letting you off the island for two weeks with zero supervision. You’re going to stay here and find something useful to do until I'm done teaching my classes at which point we'll talk about when you can leave the island again. Your grades didn’t impress me last year, but now that you seem eager to learn I want your grades at a three point five for this semester.” Kenji slumped and buried his head in his hands as Julian continued. “You will be digging the first hole of the year. There’s going to be a shame pole in your front yard,” said Julian, his voice growing in conviction, “And since I am in charge of you, my own will be the second. I am going to dig my own hole to set up my own shame pole for failing you. You and I are going to get familiar with our shovels, Kenji, because not even I'm above the rules I set out. I am ashamed of how I have repeatedly failed you and I am done failing you. I approve of your urge to help your friends and better yourself which is why I’m going to be letting you off the island at all for the rest of the semester instead of revoking your privileges again. If you can demonstrate a real need to be off the island instead of goofing off, I will allow you some freedom. Also trust me, I will be checking after you. This isn’t some one-off overreaction, Kenji. You’ve abused my trust in the past and engaged in risky behaviors before. I’m going to give you urgently needed structure and order." Julian took a deep breath and sighed over the line. "Not to mention that Seattle is more dangerous than I'm comfortable with. I don't want you wandering around anymore without letting me know where you're going. I'm not cutting you off completely. I have a bad feeling that things in the city are only going to get worse and I want to know where you're going so you can be safe," he said, his voice weary, "I know this must not seem fair, but I can't watch over you while teaching spells. So you'll be staying here at least until I'm done with them. We'll talk about expectations later. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Good luck making art contacts for your work. Let me know where you're staying. I'll be checking up on you tonight to see that you're there. I’ll be drug testing you on Sunday night when you get back to the island. Stay out of trouble. Goodbye.” Kenji kept his head buried in his hands. Only then did he realize that Saanvi heard the whole thing. He felt a deep shame washed over him. He wanted to crawl into the deepest, darkest hole and die there. Further shame prickled up his back as she shifted and he assumed that this was the part where she realized that he was some loser high school student who'd just gotten grounded. To his surprise, she hugged him from behind and her warmth returned. She kissed him on the cheek. "He seems nice," she mused. Kenji gulped as he felt her chest press into his back and the lingering tingle of her lips on his skin. The feeling was both comforting and exhilarating, but he also felt a little shame at the same time. She was trying to be kind to him and he found it difficult to focus on anything past the physical. "I don't see what the big deal is," he whispered, "gently caress my life." "He seems sane and he seems to care," soothed Saanvi, "Overprotective though. It might not feel like it, but..." She leaned over and whispered into his ear. "You're lucky. Really. It could be a lot worse," she whispered, almost inaudible. Kenji squirmed as her breath tickled at him. She was way too close and at the same time he also wanted to be closer. Meanwhile he was dealing with punishments from an authority figure when his life had never exactly been filled with those. And those punishments had been meted out to him in front of Saanvi. "I feel like a loser," sighed Kenji, "You really want to date a loser?" "Nah. Just you," she teased, "A loser wouldn't help me out with Scrapper. Everyone has bad days. In fact I feel a little better knowing that you're not perfect. You'd really been killing it with impressing me, but that makes it hard to approach you, you know?" "This has been a strange few weeks," he said, with a mirthless chuckle, "I'm not perfect at all." "Cool," she said, "Well, uncool, but it's so uncool that it wraps back around to cool again. Now I don't want to be clingy, but I also don't want to stay here and my Saturday is free. What's the rest of your day like?" "Talk to a restaurant owner, buy electronics, talk to a friend of mine about Dog and go to a party to make art contacts. I'm sponsoring one of Julie's friends to school and she's into art," he explained. "Selling paintings huh?" she asked, "You know, if it's for work, I could buy some paintings. It'd keep you coming around, right?" "Yeah, I guess, but..." he began. "No buts," she said, "You're going to sell me a painting or two." CYOA Time Saanvi wants to tag along because gently caress this place. Here are the stops for today: 1. Drop off Scrapper to get a checkup so he can stay with Kenji. 2. 88 Tastes in Touristville to see Mrs. Liu. 3. Check out electronic stores for Sasha. 4. Talk to Min Yun about Dog (this could be inside or outside of the ACHE). 5. Party with Olisha. 6. Crash at Octo's apartment that Kenji shared at the beginning of the story. It's still not the third yet so he's still allowed in. Saanvi does not know Octo's face. Julian does, but he only knows her as Octavia. He will be coming by. Saanvi is down for going to all of these places and meeting everyone on the list. She really doesn't want to stay home right now. Saanvi is also interested in buying paintings if that means more time with Kenji. Do we let her? And how does he feel about that decision? Also, gently caress. Julian found out about the drugs somehow and has trounced Kenji yet again in social combat. -- Kenji calls Julian on his commlink to ask if Scrapper can stay at school for a week. It’s a legal robot to have without any licenses. Certainly odd, but legal. Physically it's just an arm and a camera on a tank body. Kenji makes an earnest plea to Julian. As a follower of Fire Bringer, Julian could make a roll, but he’s able to sense that this is an earnest plea for help. He chooses to fail an etiquette test on purpose and just allow it to happen. He’s not thrilled, but that’s beside the point. Next up I roll etiquette because Kenji is told he needs to come home. Kenji has to meet with Olisha because she’s his art contact. If he snubs her then Oli can’t sell paintings so she can come back next year. Julian gets 6 hits and Kenji gets 7. Kenji wins because he has a good reason, but there are some caveats. The biggest one is that he needs a place to stay. Kenji says he can stay at his place with his old roommate. He still has the key and she should still be there. He’s paid up until the third. Julian is going to check with her. Second, he is under no circumstances to do any illegal substances whatsoever at this party whatsoever. Kenji says that’s fine. He’s not interested in drugs. Julian says if that was true, he wouldn’t be on Long Haul. I roll Kenji’s composure and he gets 4 hits. Whoops. Busted. Julian dresses him down with his intimidate skill. Kenji is at a -3 for being in front of Saanvi. Julian crits 5 to 1 because Kenji is out of edge. It’s absolutely mortifying. Long Haul is legal, but it’s like cigarettes or alcohol. It’s not for minors, and Julian knows that he got his hands on pharmaceutical grade Long Haul, which means that he got a prescription from a doctor or he got it from a street dealer. How is not clear. He asks Kenji why he is on Long Haul. Kenji admits that he needed to learn a bunch of stuff fast and needed the time. So what bothers Julian is this. If Kenji had come to Julian and asked, he may have approved. Instead he sneaked behind his back and found someone to prescribe it for him. “You are a smart young man, but I don’t like you taking shortcuts. Did you consider any other options to learn what you needed to in any other manner besides drugs?” The answer is no. Julian has assessed that Kenji is at high risk for drug abuse due to his upbringing. So he'll not only be punishing Kenji, but he'll be punishing himself as well. Kenji and Julian both get a shame pole in their front yards. Kenji has been humiliated in front of the girl that he likes. I roll etiquette. Kenji is at…I’ll say -6 for Julian’s dressing down and -3 for those Darn Patels, so his normal 16 dice turns into 7. Saanvi tries to console him with 8. I roll. Saanvi wins 3 to 2. She kisses him on the cheek, hugs him and expresses her gratitude. I allow Kenji to make a composure test at a -3. He gets 4 hits which is enough. She doesn’t make fun of him or judge him. She just thanks him. He’s not feeling great, but he’s feeling okay. Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 05:43 on Jul 13, 2019 |
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Oct 28, 2018 11:49
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So I'd like to stress for this update that Julian isn't really mad at Kenji for taking Long Haul. Long Haul is on par with cigarette or alcohol in terms of addiction and only slightly less socially acceptable. However, that's the over the counter stuff. Kenji got the good stuff. He abused prescription drugs and he is at high risk for abusing drugs due to his upbringing. So Kenji definitely achieved a lot and at a critical time, but that came with a cost. I said early on in the story waaaaaay back that Julian feels like he's failing the kids. He might be overreacting, but more importantly, he's going to be looking over Kenji's shoulder for a while. Kenji is going to get a lot more order and structure in his life for a while. Julian is less angry than he is terrified that Kenji is at high risk for drug use. I hope I got that across okay. Critical failures, yo. The Shadowrundice giveth and the Shadowrun dice taketh away. At least Saanvi seems to be on Kenji's side. Even though Kenji is an elf, I imagine this as a humanizing moment for him or some equivalent word for elves. Kenji swept into her life, saved her sister, turned down sex and money, got a vision from a great spirit/tiny god while drinking coffee, helped her get on a shadowrun where she kicked rear end, wrote letters to her every day, made a killer omelet and doesn't think Saanvi is weird for having a bomb defusing drone social pet. Besides seeing him get flustered, I think he's been larger than life for a while in her eyes and seeing him get chewed out by a parental figure and brought back down to earth probably keeps him off a pedestal. It turns out this cute guy is still a person. Dr Subterfuge posted:Okay, actual brain surgery is a step beyond hollowing out someone's personality through mental and physical abuse, but they're both pretty vile. Cyberpunk brain surgery doesn't actually feel as real to me until I start comparing it to, say, a lobotomy a la One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Yeah, the lack of realness is a problem in giving it narrative weight. Understanding of abuse is universal, but a chip in the head is terrible more in the abstract. mcclay posted:We can always show Saanvi's parents, Gilbrand and the other fascists that control her life that power comes from the barrel of a gun. All the money in the world won't save you from a dedicated team of competent Shadowrunners who want you loving dead. This is a possibility eventually, but we're pretty darn close to the end of Kenji's book. It'll be a few books before I give this sort of option. GreyjoyBastard posted:
I'm glad you enjoy my story!
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Oct 28, 2018 12:09
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Hmm... It's be a real dick move to take Octo out of her comfort place, and force her to meet someone she's barely known, just because Kenji has butterflies for her. Especially given just how much of a struggle she made it for her single meatflesh friend to actually meet her too, it's clear she'd like a degree of separation. It's probably also not a good idea to bring Saanvi to meet Olisha. Like, she's 1) anti-facist, 2) not liable to pick up on or care about Saanvi's situation (and it'd also be a dick move to just spill all that out to her without proper recon), 3) bullies Saanvi's little sister, and 4) Olisha might get territorial if Ken-kun is showing off his hot girlfriend in front of her. It's a ripe powder keg for disaster, and not necessarily one that'd even lead to anything fun. Just a deeper hole to dig ourselves out of. Also, Kenji's probably actively thinking about these social concerns too now after they realized they screwed up talking about sensitive things in her apartment. The rest of them seem like perfectly fine options to bring her along on.
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Oct 28, 2018 12:17
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Ice Phisherman posted:CYOA Time Wait, so Julian is more mad that Kenji got purer, safer, lower-addiction-risk, less unhealthy Long Haul than he would have been if Kenji had gotten the street-grade stuff that comes with risk of addiction and suffering? That's a pretty perplexing reaction to me. It's mostly about having not consulted him, then, rather than the 'scrip-grade part? Alright, so, Kenji definitely let's Saanvi come along to at least the electronics store and the drone shop. Mrs. Liu's too as long as that wouldn't be a breach of Etiquette. Talking to Min Yun is probably going to be the kind of experience where Saanvi can't do much in the way of participation, and we're not sure if Min Yun is down to have 'Pretty Pink' learn more about her yet. That, and if Captain Nazi has been listening in on her poo poo-taking him, maybe today's a bad day to hang out with a bunch of shadowrunners. So that's the first point where it might be time for Saanvi to go home. Kenji's going to a party after that, so don't meet Min Yun in the ACHE or else he'll show up smelling like a dumpster fire. If Saanvi have gone home yet, she's welcome to come to the party, but it's being run by a CalFree elf who hates the Tirs and bullies Saanvi's sister, and who Kenji can't afford to piss off in a financial sense, so that's another good stopping point for the Saanvi tour. Finally, Octo. Octo was barely comfortable with Kenji knowing her in person, and he saved her life in a literal Christmas miracle. Saanvi's probably not welcome at Octo's yet, and everything said about maybe not wanting to lead her handler there goes double here. If by some miracle Octo's down for that kind of hanging and Saanvi wants to ride on the wild side, though, this could be a perfect hook for Octo to start actively covering for Saanvi digitally and/or start digging up dirt on Gilibrand/her parents as leverage for their future blackmail. The earlier we get her in on Project Jailbreak, the more cover and footwork can get done. So, definitely down for the first three stops, but with each stop after that becoming progressively less likely. At each stage along the way, though, it'll be a decision by a host or an informed decision by Saanvi that stops her, not Kenji telling her 'absolutely not,' and he's going to give her heads up on those as soon as they can get somewhere to safely use a White Noise Generator, not blindsiding her with them at any stage.
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Oct 28, 2018 15:57
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1. Going along to get Scrapper checked out makes sense. 2. 88 Plates is tricky. It's kind of exceptional that Kenji is welcome there at all, and it's not clear how much goodwill he would use up by bringing her along. He's also going to be worse at everything social with her around. One good thing is Tir would have a hell of a time trying to spy on them here. Since #3 is fine, I suppose she could kill time while he was down there and they meet back up, but that sounds kind of meh. So I'm mixed on this, leaning toward having her come along. 3. The electronic store would be fine. 4. If Min Yun is okay with it I suppose. I'm still paranoid about Tir spying on them. How hard would it be to get the ACHE smell out? They would have more privacy in there. 5. Olisha probably wouldn't appreciate Kenji bringing anyone, much less someone from Tir that she'd ID immediately since Saavni is a dead ringer for an older Krupa, so unless Saavni/Kenji/we can think of something to do about that this is probably where they part ways. 6. No way Octo would be okay with meeting Pretty Pink face-to-face, but Kenji could try to use this as an opportunity to get the ball rolling on springing Saavni. It's probably a bad idea to tell Julian about Saavni's situation, but I'm curious what everyone else thinks. Thinking about the art. Could Saavni use it as a way to move money away from her Tir accounts? Buy art -> open account under fake SIN -> sell art and put in another account? She'd either have to be able to hang onto the paintings long term or sell them relatively quickly, though. Both options have their own problems. Dr Subterfuge fucked around with this message at 18:49 on Oct 28, 2018 |
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Oct 28, 2018 17:30
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I'm thinking Min Yun might have some words of wisdom about how just because you consider someone pack, it doesn't mean every member of that pack will consider each other pack. And that will be when Kenji realizes he's putting Saanvi at risk by bringing her further.
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Oct 28, 2018 17:33
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Dr Subterfuge posted:It's probably a bad idea to tell Julian about Saavni's situation, but I'm curious what everyone else thinks. Don't tell firebringer someone needs help
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Oct 28, 2018 17:37
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ThatBasqueGuy posted:Don't tell firebringer someone needs help I don't understand this, is it based on some background information I don't have, or something? Is Julian like magically bound to "help" by ruining everything, or what? What are the practical downsides to asking Julian for help, other than that he's overbearing and incompetent?
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Oct 28, 2018 18:10
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Butt Discussin posted:I don't understand this, is it based on some background information I don't have, or something? Is Julian like magically bound to "help" by ruining everything, or what? Fire-bringer is the spirit of self-sacrifice. Julian already burns himself at both ends. If you send him a plea that he feels obligated to answer, he could kill or ruin himself helping you. If that doesn't make you feel bad enough, Julian would then probably be replaced by someone who probably won't be so interested in protecting his pilot program - the one that got the Scoobies onto Blake Island in the first place - if the board doesn't scrap the pilot program outright.
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Oct 28, 2018 18:15
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dont be mean to me posted:Fire-bringer is the spirit of self-sacrifice. Ok... So why not ask for help in small ways earlier, to prevent getting in situations where he feels obligated to do a lot? It doesn't seem like a binary choice. Also, he's been wasting a lot of our time and resources as we lose social combats to him. Shouldn't we be using this glaring weakness to misdirect and distract him to prevent him from interfering constantly?
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Oct 28, 2018 18:19
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Buddy you're literally suggesting we play with fire
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Oct 28, 2018 19:16
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I feel like if Kenji wanted to lay it out there about the Long Haul, the two most important things are 1) he got the prescription stuff specifically because it's non-addictive (at least physiologically) and 2) he didn't trust Julian to not just shut everything down for him by blocking his ability to get everything done that week, in a situation where there are multiple people depending on him. The situations with both Oli and Saanvi are ones where Fire-bringer might actually disagree with Julian about punishment being warranted, given the whole self-sacrifice thing. As far as bringing Saanvi along, Kenji should tell her that he's willing to bring her anywhere but some of these places it's not just his choice. And let her know that the last one (with Octo) is likely to be a "no" because she's barely okay even meeting Kenji in meatspace after years of cyberspace contact, much less meeting a new person she's talked with just once and that in the context of a shadowrun. Most fun interactions for us to see would be Min Yun and Olisha, I think. The former because it's effectively Big Sis examining her adoptive brother's crush and deciding whether to give her approval, plus it's Kenji bringing Saanvi to place that IIRC he never brought anyone else back to; the latter because of the potential for interesting consequences. Might be best for Saanvi to attend the party under a glamour of some sort, assuming either she or Kenji can cast one; failing that, a combo of makeup, a hair extension, and one-night hair dye should work well enough to disguise her. At the very least either of those would be enough that the other attendees would register she doesn't want to come as herself and not give her poo poo about who she is, because I guarantee at least some of the rich corpo brats are using similar masks to give themselves plausible deniability about the sort of party Olisha would throw. It also means that Olisha probably doesn't ask too many questions at the party itself, because doing so breaks the unspoken rules and makes everyone uncomfortable in a "less likely to attend another of these parties" way. Now, how Olisha reacts to Saanvi depends on whether she susses out Saanvi's disgust for the fascism of the Tir, the mindless exploitativeness of the corporations, the shallow grasping bullshit of corpo lifestyles, and pretty much everything else about her current life that isn't Kenji, Scrapper, Krupa, and (grudgingly, because he makes Krupa happy and he's more evil from stupidity than malice) Joyce. The more of this she figures out, the more likely she not only forgives Kenji for bringing his crush with them but actually thanks him (even if only in her own head) for bringing such a fascinating toy to play with. Her Cat instincts and antifash instincts will be in agreement that she could do so much with Saanvi, especially in taking Krupa's delusions and feeding them into a woodchipper. Also possibly in extracting intel from Saanvi that can be sent back to CaliFree and used in the upcoming war, but that depends on whether Olisha has the right contacts for that. Somewhat different subject, we should see if we can get Octo and Sasha in touch with each other over the Matrix. Maybe even get Octo hired by Blake Island as a programming tutor or something, partly for the money and partly to increase the number of people who'd notice and be upset if a Horizon or Evo team black-bagged her for their techno research abattoirs. Now, for future planning, how do we get rid of Saanvi's immediate boss? Because he needs to die just on general principles, preferably in a way stupid or embarrassing enough that the Tir won't want to investigate too hard. Or put him into a "let's you and him fight" situation with the local Nazis and make sure everyone involved dies. Or just get him dumped in the lower levels of the ACHE in what looks like a background check on Kenji gone tragically wrong.
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Oct 28, 2018 19:19
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I'm with jag on this one.
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Oct 28, 2018 19:21
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jagadaishio posted:Wait, so Julian is more mad that Kenji got purer, safer, lower-addiction-risk, less unhealthy Long Haul than he would have been if Kenji had gotten the street-grade stuff that comes with risk of addiction and suffering? That's a pretty perplexing reaction to me. It's mostly about having not consulted him, then, rather than the 'scrip-grade part? No, Julian is mad because Kenny went to drugs first.
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Oct 28, 2018 19:43
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jagadaishio posted:Wait, so Julian is more mad that Kenji got purer, safer, lower-addiction-risk, less unhealthy Long Haul than he would have been if Kenji had gotten the street-grade stuff that comes with risk of addiction and suffering? That's a pretty perplexing reaction to me. It's mostly about having not consulted him, then, rather than the 'scrip-grade part? Not more mad. It would be a different reaction. Not consulting him, getting prescription strength drugs through some sort of illegal source and admitting that he didn't consider any other options before taking said drugs. Kenji went to the drugs first and that behavior scares Julian. Also Julian is aware that Seattle is going to be subject to a massacre soon and people are literally going to be rioting and burning poo poo down. Anything to keep better tabs on Kenji and reel him in at this point until the rioting is over. Seattle is dangerous right now. I think I'm going to work that in as well.
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Oct 28, 2018 19:47
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If Julian expects Kenji to not get involved when the ACHE denizens are probably Target #2 on the list after the local metahumans, he's delusional.
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Oct 28, 2018 20:04
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Saanvi is hands down the best decision we've ever made. Kenji really needed someone who understood at that moment, and she was there for him.
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Oct 28, 2018 22:08
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Introducing Saanvi and Olisha is an astonishingly bad idea, but Olisha finding out about the courting of her own accord is also astonishingly bad. I'm torn.
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Oct 29, 2018 01:35
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My feeling is that since hiding the relationship will fail and the other possibilities are both bad ideas, the one with the most potential for interesting reading is the two of them meeting.
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Oct 29, 2018 03:56
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The Sandman posted:My feeling is that since hiding the relationship will fail and the other possibilities are both bad ideas, the one with the most potential for interesting reading is the two of them meeting. Do we want it to be right now, in the most socially intricate context we've seen since the Big Ares Party, though?
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Oct 29, 2018 07:25
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Introducing Saavvi to Olisha at a party with drugs and alcohol heightening tensions is a terrible idea, especially as Kenji might not even have a +1 - it's the kind of games Olisha likes to play. Also I'm not sure why we're backing up Scrapper anyways not sure why we're doing thst and opened us to the making GBS threads on by Julian earlier than we needed to. Julian is the bit of a parents life when they've just realised what poo poo their teen is up to, panics, and tries to get strict suddenly. I, doubt it works, but, given Kenji's life is slightly more important than a normal teens it's probably a bad idea. Take Saavvi to drop scrapper off, shop for electronics nearby, to Touristville, maybe to meet Min Yun since they've met before (different context though) but not more.
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Oct 29, 2018 10:11
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Ice Phisherman posted:“A bit,” she said, “You being near helped.” Bonding over trauma is a powerful thing, kiddies. Ice Phisherman posted:“Kenji, if it was just over the counter Long Haul I would be having a different conversation with you,” said Julian, “If you just got someone to buy this for you I wouldn't be so alarmed. Prescription strength means you got this either from a street dealer or a doctor. It’s legal to those eighteen or above or with those who have permission from their parent or guardian, not to you. Did you get this from your cousin?” I wish I thought of this argument when we were having the Long Haul debate. We knew there would be consequences to doing the needle drugs, let’s hope Ice is a merciful GM in the end. Ice Phisherman posted:"Chewed me out," he whispered, "gently caress my life." As far as a chewing out goes, Kenny, that doesn’t even move the needle. Ice Phisherman posted:"Cool," she said, "Well, uncool, but it's so uncool that it wraps back around to cool again. Now I don't want to be clingy, but I also don't want to stay here and my Saturday is free. What's the rest of your day like?" A free personal bodyguard for the rest of the day, nice. Ice Phisherman posted:"Selling paintings huh?" she asked, "You know, if it's for work, I could buy some paintings. It'd keep you coming around, right?" Is she buying them from her own pockets, or, is she somehow paying through her Tir assignment living expenses? Ice Phisherman posted:CYOA Time Ice Phisherman posted:1. Drop off Scrapper to get a checkup so he can stay with Kenji. Yes for Saanvi; it’s her robo-dog, why wouldn’t she come with us? Ice Phisherman posted:2. 88 Tastes in Touristville to see Mrs. Liu. Heck yeah, I need me an introducing Saanvi to Cantonese food scene, all cutsy like. Ice Phisherman posted:3. Check out electronic stores for Sasha. Don’t see why not? Ice Phisherman posted:4. Talk to Min Yun about Dog (this could be inside or outside of the ACHE). I’m onboard if this was outside of the ACHE (trash smell yo); Saanvi might as well hear all about Dog. Although, not sure what the protocol might be for Runners to socialize and ID each other outside of a run; Min might not trust Saanvi enough to meet her on a social call. Ice Phisherman posted:5. Party with Olisha. No. Maybe Saanvi can stay close and treat it like a surveillance operation, ear piece communicators and everything. However, bringing Saanvi to the party is a bad idea, too many unknowns and entitled Blake kids, she and Kenny are gonna have a bad time. Besides, Kenny’s there to work, not party. Ice Phisherman posted:6. Crash at Octo's apartment that Kenji shared at the beginning of the story. It's still not the third yet so he's still allowed in. Saanvi does not know Octo's face. Julian does, but he only knows her as Octavia. He will be coming by. I’m okay with this, as long as Kenny let’s Octo know to expect company. And explain to Saanvi to keep the Shadowrun talk to a minimal when Julian comes by. Ice Phisherman posted:Saanvi is also interested in buying paintings if that means more time with Kenji. Do we let her? And how does he feel about that decision? How would she be financing this? If she can afford it without issue, then I would say yes. This isn’t charity or buying Kenny’s friendship; Oli’s art is good and might end up being a good investment for Saanvi, as long as Kenny let’s Saanvi know that she’s buy art, and not his time. Ice Phisherman posted:Also, gently caress. Julian found out about the drugs somehow and has trounced Kenji yet again in social combat. There’s no somehow about any of this; in fact, I would say it was expected. Did we really think we can sneak drugs into school without faculty finding out? As Julian stated, this is a place for entitled children of the rich and powerful; finding contraband would have been one of the first problems the school needed to figure out.
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Oct 30, 2018 20:14
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You nuts? Do not take a Tir military elf into the Orc Underground. Do not bring someone who's been eating at a chow hall and making dick jokes for years to an etiquette contest, we're trying to prove our civility, not undermine it (in Mrs. Liu's eyes). Do not take her to a party that her sister's bully is loving throwing. Do not have her meet Octo, it's abreach of Octo's trust and we barely know Saanvi. We have no idea if she's bugged somehow. C'mon guys, please play a little self-preservation. Pretend you're aware of the amount of tracking bullshit to which we, in present day, put are subjected and then add sci-fi tech and paranoid governments/corporations to it.
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Oct 30, 2018 20:39
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Getting a harsh talk from your guardian, in front of your crush, and it being justified. This is going in Kenji's top five most "I thought I'll die from shame" moments of the year. For the list, first three-sure. Min Yun and Octo - phone call to ask them first. Not sure that Pink'll fit with the first (it's gonna be a rather personal talk, no? And not in english. I think we rather not), but if so, not happening in the ACHE - the only reason to take Pink here is to see if it's a good place to fake her own death. As for Octo, Kenji didn't get enough ribbing about his "she's not my girlfriend". Do ask.
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Oct 30, 2018 21:29
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Kenji, Saanvi and Scrapper – Saturday, August 3rd, 2075 – Late morning – Downtown Seattle “Hey Scrapper, do you want to go for a car ride?” asked Saanvi. “Yes!” exclaimed the robot, “I love car rides!” It turned in a merry circle on its treads and slowly waved its single arm in the air. Saanvi crouched down near the robot with her hands on her knees. Kenji stood by the door while he watched and waited. “Okay, go grab your charging station,” she said, “Kenji will be taking care of you for a few days.” “Okay, I’ll try and have fun with Kenji,” said Scrapper. “Good boy,” she cooed. Saanvi leaned over and kissed the top of Scrapper’s camera that served as his single eye into the world. It reminded Kenji of the way one might kiss a favored child or a pet. Having a robotic pet wasn’t particularly strange these days, but they tened to be kept at home. After all, one person’s sentiment meant nothing when a thief could scoop it up and resell it at a good price. “So are we going out for a while or just a quick stop?” she asked. “Depends,” said Kenji, “Have any problems with the Ork Underground?” “I’ve never been there,” she said, “I think I heard some people talking around the office about it once. It’s under Seattle, right?” “It’s old Seattle,” said Kenji, “Orks and trolls live there. Julie works there and lives there on the weekends too. We’ll be going to one of the touristy areas. I need to give my regards to someone. I might check some shops for some electronics. After that I don’t know.” Scrapper rolled out of the room and quickly came back with a black charging mat grasped in its claws. It laid out the mat in front of itself and slowly rolled it up before he stowed it on top of itself. The robot’s camera slid downwards and its arm contorted until both camera and arm recessed into the main chassis. Saanvi reached down and pulled out a handle. The bomb defusal robot now looked like a suitcase with tank treads, and she handled the weighty robot with ease. “Neat trick,” said Kenji, “Want me to carry him?” “I got him,” said Saanvi, protectively, “He’s fine with me.” "Okay, no problem," said Kenji, affably, She smiled nervously, then Kenji nodded and they left together. Kenji, Saanvi and Dan – Saturday, August 3rd, 2075 – Late morning – Downtown Seattle Kenji and Saanvi dropped off Scrapper at a boutique electronic’s store called Nybbles and Bytes for an express diagnostic. It would’ve been a five hundred nuyen punch to the heart, not including shipping, but Saanvi handled that part. While she did, Kenji idly perused the shop to check for the gear that Sasha needed and waved off salesmen and women who tried to get his attention like metahuman popup ads. Minutes later, they left the store minus Scrapper. As the two elves left the store together, Saanvi turned around, paused, stared at the store and nervously clenched her hands together. Kenji stepped next to her. “I’ll look after him for a bit until things blow over,” said Kenji, “Who knows? Maybe no one was listening and we’re just being paranoid.” Saanvi took a deep breath and sighed. She looked sad, but that was an improvement over what Kenji suspected was some sort of deep depression. He knew what that was like as he’d spent most of the summer in that state. Many think that depression means a kind of sadness, but that couldn’t be any further from the truth. It was a life lived through a filter of emotional numbness. Though he was no therapist, he could recognize the signs in Saanvi. The rain still hadn’t let up and Saanvi was just getting rained on, so he gently plucked the umbrella from her hand and opened it over them. “I guess you’re right,” she said, quietly, “I’ll just have to talk to my parents for a week or ignore them and get punished by Gilbrand. I’m not sure which is worse, though I’m thinking I’ll talk to my parents. It’ll be raw data for Scrapper’s brain worms program. If I'm lucky he'll be able to pretend more easily with more data.” “Silver linings,” he said, “Want to walk? It’s not far and you said you like walks in the rain.” “I do,” she said, with a small smile, “I’m still getting used to the uh…Smell. I never knew rain could smell until I came to Seattle.” Kenji gave a sniff and pulled in the scent of Seattle. It was full of terrible smelling rain from the heavy industry and the exhaust from the few hybrid cars that still existed. They were in a nicer part of the downtown area, so the garbage and piss smell wasn’t here. Even if it was, it would barely rank next to the open landfill of the ACHE. “Does it?” he asked, “I barely notice.” “Really? I guess I’m spoiled on Portland. They do their best to aim for zero emissions. Heavy industry isn’t allowed there and Tir is all about being ecofriendly. When you expect to live for hundreds of years I guess you treat your home a little better. We don’t even let cars in the city center. It’s all bikes and mass transit,” she explained, “I’m not really used to cities being dirty or smelling bad.” “I hear when you go abroad you get to enjoy new experiences,” he teased. “Enjoy is a strong word,” she said, “Still, a walk in the rain.” “A walk in the rain,” he echoed. Kenji led her westward towards Alaskan way which was the main road nearest the docks area. Earlier in the day it would be completely covered by the shadow of the ACHE, but now that shadow was cast east. The ACHE itself loomed large. It was two-hundred stories tall and shaped like a four sided black pyramid with a flat top and occupied what used to be a dozen square city blocks. It was ominous in a way one never got used to. It dwarfed all other buildings near it. And to Kenji that ominous place was home. Alaskan way was full of tourist traps the closer one got to the ACHE. People hawked overpriced, kitschy goods from popup shops. Larger stores were lit in augmented reality and since this was a historic part of Seattle, some of the signs were even real. Tourists from all around the world walked this way and that and were distinguished from the locals primarily by the tourists’ joy and interest in their surroundings. Cars were parked everywhere and they rode up and down the street. Foot traffic moved at a comfortable pace, though tourists often made for inconvenient roadblocks as they stopped without warning. Saanvi slipped her hand around Kenji's arm and walked a little closer to him as they walked past the Seattle aquarium. Her head swiveled to look at the stores, the docks with their ships, the Puget Sound and the old Seattle Ferris wheel just past it. At night it would light up in bright neon colors and make patterns as it spun. Just like on the first day of school, he noticed the lack of police presence, but now the guards from private security and what he’d learned were even private military patrolled the docks. However they’d been restricted to attire that made them look more like police rather than private security or soldiers. Perhaps if there were protests nearby they would have been kitted out to intimidate, but intimidated tourists tend to keep their money to themselves so the men and women who played at being cops had pistols instead of submachine guns and body armor under their uniforms instead of the kinds that were weightier and better at protection. It wasn’t quiet either. People talked, laughed and occasionally shouted. Children were indulged and scolded by their parents, sometimes in the same breath. There was music from shops and broadcast from passersby. The shops were coordinated so that the music wasn't discordant. The passersby were quietly asked to turn it down if it was too loud. There were the sounds of cars on the nearby street and slightly further highway. There was the low noise of foot traffic. Finally there was the sound rain as it came down increasingly hard on the streets, the Puget Sound and Saanvi’s umbrella, each with their own distinctive noise. “Is this some sort of tourist area?” asked Saanvi. She broke the silence that had been between them. Kenji wasn't sure if it had been companionable, awkward or both, but he didn't mind it. “Yeah, we just passed the aquarium and this is the Pike Place Market,” he explained, “It’s where locals take tourists to get hazed.” “Hazed how?” she asked. “Well, if we really don’t like them, we take them to the market and make them watch fish get tossed around,” he said. “Fish?” she asked. “Yeah,” he replied. “Why do they toss fish?” she asked. “Tradition I guess,” said Kenji, “Apparently people come from all over the world to go see fish get tossed around. It’s about as thrilling as you’d expect.” “Weird,” said Saanvi. They stood in line briefly near a tiny red, brown and white store since there wasn’t a line. It looked like a throwback from another time even among the historical tourist trap that was Pike’s Place Market. It sold hotdogs, but Kenji was more thirsty than hungry so he bought an extra-large strawberry lemonade which the shop was apparently famous for. Saanvi asked if he’d be interested in getting just one and sharing. He didn’t mind at all. So they passed the drink between the two of them and drained the cup together. All the while they came closer and closer to the ACHE. It towered overhead and to look at the top of it would mean craning one’s neck upwards. Saanvi did this, but Kenji was less interested in what was above and far more in what was below. Right before they reached the walls that kept most of the ACHE’s residents inside, they took a left onto Seneca street. There was an entrance to Touristville’s west end nestled near a building. Kenji almost missed the entrance because normally there would be tour guides trying to convince people to come down and see the sights. The rain had really started to pour and that was for bad business. A young troll approached them. He was maybe in his early teens or perhaps even a tween, as he was only six feet tall. However his upright horns added another foot. He was baby-faced for a troll and that meant that he wasn’t the sort that favored warts on his skin, but bone deposits. These came either in small spikes or in plates. Kenji couldn't see spikes under the clothing that was plastered to his skin. It was considered the "least offensive" look for trolls. The younger years were an odd time for trolls. They had the size and strength of normal adults but were still children at heart, though some obviously grew up faster than others. The life of a troll was one of isolation due to their size, but for a brief time the children could interact with the world just like everyone else. Adult trolls needed special chairs to sit in, special vehicles to ride and regular meal or even a soykaf would barely fill them up at all. But for a short time in their childhood, the world would be accessible. “Hey! Hey you two! Want a tour of the Ork Underground? Special price,” he exclaimed. He almost had to yell over the rain and he wasn’t dressed for it either. Rain made a mop of his blond hair and soaked his clothes. He motioned to a nearby overhang where they could hear one another. Kenji and Saanvi followed. “Think you can take me to the east end?” asked Kenji, “I hear they have good Chinese food.” “Well, I don’t speak Chinese but I can take you there,” he said, obviously desperate to get out of the rain. “Cool, how much?” asked Kenji. “Twenty nuyen for both of you?” he asked, “You get a tour and a discount while you’re with me.” Kenji felt like he could bargain him down and almost did on reflex, but thought better of it. “Twenty gets us all out of the rain and a tour?” asked Kenji, “I think I can do that.” “Nice!” exclaimed the young man, “You won’t regret it. I’m the best tour guide there is. My name is Dan. Pleasure to meet you.” “Thank you, Dan, I’m Saanvi,” she said. “Kenji,” said Kenji. He was the only tour guide who’d been in the rain. The rest of the guides lingered under overhangs that were much further away from the street. Kenji could respect the kid’s enthusiasm, but thought that he really needed a coat. He was positively soaked and Kenji imagined that would make the tour a little awkward if their tour guide was dripping rainwater. “Why do you need a tour? Haven't you been here before?,” she whispered. “I have,” he whispered back, “I just get stared at less when someone is leading me.” As a group with the young troll leading, they descended into the Touristville area of the Ork Underground. What caught Kenji’s attention was the shaking, clacking, spraying sound of a new mural being painted with spray cans. Then what caught his eye was the subject matter, even if it was only half finished. It painted over what looked like a family scene. What replaced it was a stylized version of a teenage ork with dark skin and glowing hands. At first Kenji thought this was Julie. After all, the resemblance was there, but then he saw that the features were masculine: The shoulders were broader, the hands larger, but the arms and legs were slender like Julie’s, rendering him somewhat gawky. He wore what looked like the blue and green of a Blake Island uniform, but without the insignia. “Hey, what’s this?” asked Kenji. Dan, their tour guide, stopped abruptly. The ork who was creating the mural briefly shot Kenji a cool look, but then his eyes flicked to Dan. They nodded and he went back to his work. Dan ran thick fingers through his wet hair to clear it away from his eyes and spoke. “Oh, we put up murals sometimes when we want to raise community awareness or shine some love on someone. This one is pretty neat,” he said, excitedly, “One of our doctors is a shaman. She has this little spirit who she summoned who helps her out sometimes. Well she and someone else set up shop and did a big magic ritual last night at the crossroads. Everything had to be closed down, but it was late and people didn’t grumble too much about it. Now that little spirit is a bigger spirit. Now he can heal people without her help or at least that's what everyone is saying. It’s like she made a new doctor out of thin air which is really great because she’s only part time. She’s been sick lately too. The word is that he’s going to be working night shift sometimes since spirits don’t sleep. The best part though?” Dan pointed to half-finished offerings of food both at his feet and in the hands of some of the sick and injured. “He works for food,” said their tour guide, “Can you imagine a doctor working only for food?” “That little hustler,” muttered Kenji, though he couldn’t keep the smile off his face. Julie’s letters had let him know that she was going to do something like this, but she’d never mentioned when. She hadn’t mentioned that she was out of psychiatric care now either. Most of the details in her letters had been about her day, how she was feeling and how her therapy was going. Though he hadn’t mentioned Saanvi either and realized that they may have kept it to surface level conversation. He’d need to call her to check on how she was doing. “Excuse me?” asked Dan, politely, “What was that?” “Uh nothing,” said Kenji, quickly, “Lead the way.” “Wow, Chip got big,” Saanvi whispered, “Do spirits normally grow overnight like that?” “No clue,” Kenji whispered back. Touristville was split into four main ends based on the cardinal directions. The north end was the smallest, but it was comprised almost completely of restaurants. The east end catered towards Chinese tourists and had its own distinct cultural influences. The south end, which tourists almost never saw, was the largest and made up the living and working space for most of Touristville’s residents who didn’t work directly with customers. However, Touristville’s west end tried to bill itself as a sort of unofficial extension to Pike’s Place Market. It didn’t lean into the fresh food of the farmer’s market, but family oriented businesses. So there were bright, inviting colors everywhere and the general atmosphere tried to portray a family friendly environment. The narrow streets had footsteps painted here and there in both large, troll size, normal metahuman size and even child sized, which at that moment one child was following with his parents. There was even someone handing out brightly colored balloons. “So if you’re interested at all in buying anything, let me know," said Dan, "If you say you’re with me then I can get you all sorts of good deals from the shop owners. They like me.” “That sounds great, thank you,” said Saanvi. “You’re welcome, miss,” he said, “Okay, so the Ork Underground started about thirty-five years ago. Before then it was called the Seattle Underground. It turns out that they built the new city on top of the old city, so a lot of the shops you see are based out of shops that could be a hundred or even two hundred years old. So, you know, really old. Everything is safe though. We make sure of that. After all, we live and work here.” Dan pointed above past the streamers to lines of clothes which were too high to be on sale, but also seemed to blend in unless you were specifically looking at them. Saanvi bought a balloon and grinned at Kenji while Dan continued to speak. “Trade you,” she whispered. She pointed to her umbrella and Kenji handed it back to her. Then she handed him the balloon which he took. He looked at it quizzically, but figured that if it made her happy then he could feel a little silly and hold a balloon. “Touristville had its grand opening about five years ago,” he continued, “The west end is where most of the clothes are sold and they come in all sizes from extra small to a troll sized large. There are also some trendier shops here too. Almost of the clothes you see are handmade right here in Touristville by skilled professionals. So you can take a piece of Seattle home with you wherever you go and it can keep you warm at night. We wake clothes to last too, so you'll have them for a long time if you treat them right.” Since it was raining outside, Kenji didn’t have to bob and weave through people like he did the few times he’d come down here before. Dan helped. He was young, but big and he navigated through what little foot traffic there was. Even when he turned around to talk he didn’t bump into anyone. “Are my smart contacts not working?” asked Saanvi. “They should be working just fine, miss,” Dan reassured, “We here in Touristville don’t use augmented reality. Everything down here is real.” Kenji noted that this was a nice way of putting it. People didn’t just decide to live in the Ork Underground, they’d been driven here during the Night of Rage which had been a racial purge of metahumans by humans after they’d been given the ability to vote. Matrix access was severely limited due to being underground, but it was billed as being real. Nothing Dan was saying was false, but he was definitely highlighting the positive. They passed store after store and Dan would let them know what each one specialized in and a few interesting items that could only be found there. The main stores were on the main path and they looked professional, but down the alleys one could find more open stores like one might find at a flea market with shirts on collapsible tables and recessed into dimly lit ancient shops or even dug out directly from the stone. Kenji saw a store by the name of Justinia’s, which was one of the trendier clothing stores in Touristville. Julie had spoken about her friend for whom the store was named after a few times at the lunch table and more recently in her letters as Justinia had come to visit her. Dan continued with the tour. It became obvious from the way he pitched his voice, the way he carried himself and from the way that he talked that he was used to handling larger crowds. He wasn’t making the transition as easily for just two people. So he asked if they’d like to take a fifteen minute break to enter any shops he’d pointed out. “Actually I’d…” began Kenji. “Sure, we’ll be back here in fifteen,” said Saanvi, quickly. She almost dragged Kenji away towards a store, his red balloon trailing. They ducked into a men’s clothing store. “What are we getting here?” he asked as he was pulled. Saanvi went towards the back where the coats were and only then did she let go. “Getting a raincoat,” she said. “It’s a men’s clothing store,” he said. “I know,” she said, distractedly. Hangers slid and heavy clothing ruffled as she perused through multi-colored coats. Kenji decided to watch what she selected before speaking further. After five minutes, she arrived at a heavy looking dark coat with a detachable hood. “What do you think?” she asked. Kenji noticed how it looked far too big for her and it even looked a little big on him. “It’s a little big,” he said, “Who’s it for?” Saanvi looked in the direction of the entrance. Their tour guide wasn’t there, but he got it almost immediately. “Our tour guide?” asked Kenji, incredulously. “Dan, yeah,” said Saanvi. Kenji was briefly at a loss for words. Kindness towards strangers for the sake of kindness was almost an alien concept to him. He understood the premise, but it just didn’t occur to him to do anything like that. He’d grown a lot in the past year, but caring for people outside of his small circle of friends was difficult even in the best of times. Dog had brought his attention to Saanvi in a dramatic fashion and he wondered, more than a little guiltily, if he’d have cared as much if she’d told him what happened to her rather than him being forced to live through it. “He was drenched,” said Saanvi, a little defensive at Kenji’s lack of an answer. “Right,” said Kenji, slowly, “I’m just wondering why.” “Because he was in the rain,” she said, as if the answer was obvious. “No I mean,” said Kenji, slightly frustrated at being misunderstood. He stopped himself before he asked her why she cared. Kenji wasn’t used to acts of charity beyond the one large and totally undeserved act of being enrolled at school, and usually only taking, not giving. The sole exception was for his pack. It was easy to take that enrollment for granted: The real food, the roof over his head, the safety and the education. It was totally undeserved and random. Julie had called it grace rather than charity more than once, but Kenji fully believed that it had been little more than random chance that he'd ended up at Blake Island. It was easy to appreciate having fine things, but not so easy to appreciate being given them on a day to day basis. It reminded him that most of what he had now he didn’t deserve. “I guess I don’t know what I mean,” he said, quietly, “You want to give him a coat?” Saanvi nodded and he saw her shift anxiously. He silently wondered how much more she’d be like her sister if her parents had been good people. He pushed that thought away as it made him think of being kicked. So Kenji took the coat from her hands and put it on the rack. She didn’t protest, but she did look down. What little life there was behind her eyes began to fade again. “That might fit him right now,” said Kenji, thoughtfully, “He’s going to need room to grow into it. Also if he’s being a tour guide he shouldn’t be in dark clothing. I’m thinking something brighter and approachable.” That hopelessness receded and her smile turned into something wide, but embarrassed. “I didn’t even think that he’d need to grow into it,” she admitted. “It’s probably why he doesn’t have a coat,” he said, “Most likely he grew out of the last one. I bet in a year or two he'll be nearly full grown. That must be hell on finding clothes that fit.” So together, they perused the shop for a large raincoat. Eventually they settled on something bright yellow and meant for someone a foot taller than Dan. Most coats for trolls didn’t have hoods due to the fact that many horns would just ruin them, and so Saanvi picked out a matching yellow fisherman’s hat that could have holes poked through it. However, when she tried to approach the register, he stopped her. “Hey, hand me the credstick you were going to use and go window shop outside for a second,” said Kenji. “Why?” she asked, “I got what I wanted.” “I want to make sure he doesn’t turn it down,” he said, “Trust me. Stay in sight of the register though." With a confused look, she shrugged and left to pretend to window shop. He approached the register alone. A matronly looking ork with a nametag that spelled “Beth” stood behind the counter. “Hello ma’am, Dan sent me. I heard there was a discount,” he said. “Yes sir,” said Beth, in her friendliest customer service voice. Kenji paused for a few beats, looked back to see Saanvi who pretended to look at women's clothing. “Hey, this girl I’m with saw one of the tour guides. He got soaked in the rain waiting for tourists. She’s got a sweet heart and I think she’s cute. Any chance that you can do me a solid? She wants to give him a coat, but I think there are rules that keep that from happening. So if he turns down this coat I think she turns me down tonight, you know?” It was a low sort of fiction and therefore the believable kind. If there were more people or he specifically didn’t mention Dan's name Kenji might have been able to get away with just buying it, but business was slow and she would probably remember an elf buying a big yellow raincoat that was far too large for him. It would be easy to put two and two together. Giving a gift to someone on the job required finesse. Thankfully, it seemed that Kenji’s lie passed muster, so Beth smiled slyly and shrewdly appraised Kenji’s clothing. “Tell Dan that Beth said it’s okay,” said in low tones, “Good luck with your lady, young man.” “Thanks a bunch,” said Kenji, brightly. She rang him up for full price plus ten percent. Kenji knew a bribe when he saw one so he didn’t complain. Nuyen transferred off the credstick and into the register as Kenji slotted it in. He proceeded out with the bag in hand and gave her both the bag and the credstick minus the price of a coat and a hat. When he exited, Saanvi talked to Dan who looked like he’d taken some time to dry off and change into a dry set of clothes. “Okay, we’re all back together!” Dan exclaimed, and he clapped his large hands together, “That’s great, we can continue on with the tour. I hope you remembered to use your discounts. Don’t worry if you forgot. I’ll help you get them after the tour is done if that’s the case. Do either of you have questions?” Without any preamble, Saanvi tried to hand him the bag. “I bought this for you so you wouldn’t get soaked in the rain again,” she said, her tone matter-of-fact. He didn’t accept it. Instead he held up his hands and put on a forced smile. “I’m sorry miss, I’m not allowed to take anything from customers,” he said, “That’s really nice of you, but I can’t. I’m so sorry.” “Beth said it was okay,” said Kenji. His forced smile faltered and suddenly Dan looked unsure. “Beth said it was okay?” he asked, quietly. “Put it on,” said Saanvi, excitedly. Reluctantly, the young troll fished out the yellow raincoat from the bag. It was too big on him by far, but he didn’t complain. “Room to grow, right?” asked Saanvi. She looked first to Dan, then to Kenji for confirmation, who nodded and then back to Dan, who nodded much more slowly. “Right, thank you,” said Dan, quietly. “Oh, here,” said Kenji. Kenji handed him the red balloon. Saanvi beamed at him and Dan's face cracked into a shy, but genuine smile. Kenji, Saanvi, Mrs. Liu and Dan – Saturday, August 3rd, 2075 – Early afternoon – Downtown Seattle Dan, now looking like an overgrown kid instead of a tour guide, led Kenji and Saanvi to Eighty-eight Tastes of China. Its color scheme was the concentrated riot as before: Yellow, red, white and green with white dominating. It was a little strange to Western sensibilities, but its Feng Shui was impeccable. The same tiles that looked like block eights were on the floor as well. In Chinese numerology the number eight was associated with wealth, prosperity and fortune and many of its customers took the superstition seriously. Before he even announced that he wanted to see Mrs. Liu, the majority of the restaurant staff openly stared at the group. This was normal as Kenji and Saanvi were elves in an ork and troll enclave, but the presence of a young troll in a yellow raincoat who clung to a red balloon drew even more attention. Saanvi noticed, but didn’t seem to mind. Instead with the taboo against accepting gifts broken, she bought snacks and tried to share them with Dan. Meanwhile Kenji spoke to the best dressed person he could find. “Hello, my name is Kenji. I wish to speak to Mrs. Liu please. I hope to draw upon her wisdom for a purchase I must make so we might both mutually benefit,” he said, in Cantonese. The man slowly nodded and disappeared. Slow business meant it would probably be easy to get ahold of Mrs. Liu if she were here, but he hadn’t made an appointment in case he lost track of time with Saanvi. While he waited he watched Saanvi and Dan. At first Dan’s will only slowly degraded as she tried to get him to snack on sugary treats, but Saanvi was insistent. Once he learned that the candied fruit on skewers was real and not some sort of sweetened soy substitute, his will evaporated completely. His businesslike demeanor was replaced with excitement and the six foot tall troll with horns that added another foot began to act like the kid he was. Dan even tied the balloon to one of his horns. “Definitely a tween,” thought Kenji. Kenji ordered some grass jelly treats, which tasted minty and chatted with the two as they both ate with gusto. Saanvi would point at something in the display case, ask what something was, try to pronounce it correctly, succeed as often as she failed and then order it anyway. The staff was still staring, but now it was more in an amused way as one young man leaned against a mop and an older woman smiled as she pushed a cart full of tea. That was when a well-dressed ork in business attire approached Kenji. “Mrs. Liu will see you now,” he said in low tones. “Thank you,” said Kenji, “Saanvi, Dan, I’ll be back in a few minutes.” She and Dan briefly waved before going back to decimating the snacks that tantalized in the glass display case. It looked like they were working their way left to right in an excited but organized manner. Kenji was led through a side door, down a small, cramped hallway and into an office. The well-dressed ork opened the door and there sat Mrs. Liu in an ornate chair behind an ornate desk, both made from real rosewood. Kenji had been here once before when he helped negotiate payment for Fuzzy's pork last summer. Mrs. Liu had been his contact. Mrs. Liu was a pleasantly plump woman in her middle years. Her hair was long, straight and dark, her tusks gleamed as white as her porcelain skin and her green eyes were behind a pair of simple, rimless augmented reality glasses, which she powered off and set on the table with a small click. She wore a simple black suit with a white vest. “Hello Kenji,” said Mrs. Liu, “It is good to see you again.” “It is lovely to see you as well, Mrs. Liu,” said Kenji, in Cantonese. Mrs. Liu arched an eyebrow and smiled. “My, my,” she cooed, now in Cantonese as well, “Kenji, have you been civilizing yourself?” “I have attempted to, yes,” he said, “I’ve been practicing my language skills.” “Then I shall help you practice. Your accent needs work, but it has improved since last we spoke,” she said, as the conversation switched fully to Cantonese, “Your initiative is noted and appreciated. I have a nephew who I wish had such initiative as you do.” “Perhaps he will display it with time,” said Kenji, politely. “Perhaps,” she said, in a tone tinged with doubt, “Would you like to sit?” She pointed towards a plain chair in front of her desk and he took it with a nod. “Thank you,” he said, “I also wish to apologize. From our previous dealings in me negotiating for the pork that was brought to Touristville I realized as I attempted to civilize myself that I did not thank you when I took your ah…Lucky money. It was rude by not thanking you for the credsticks. I am trying correct that as well.” Kenji bowed his head. When he was done she gave him simpering smile and nodded ever so slightly in return. “Think nothing of it,” she said, lightly, “Now tell me, Kenji. I see in my humble shop a curious sight. You’ve brought a lovely young lady and a young troll into my shop. They’re currently eating me out of house and home, which I appreciate. I’m informed that the young man is a tour guide, but I don’t know her. I see how she looks at you. Are you on a date? She looks lovely.” Kenji couldn’t keep a smile off his face or a slight pink from his pale cheeks. “She is,” said Kenji, softly, “She’s the sister of one of my classmates. But no, we’re not on a date. I’m currently deciding if I should…” Kenji groped for the correct word. He wasn’t sure why he was sharing this, but he was in such a good mood that it momentarily disarmed him. “What is the word for courting?” he asked in English. “Paak to,” she said, “She is someone of…Advanced station?” “And a lovely person,” said Kenji, almost bashfully, “Dog loves her.” Mrs. Liu cocked her head. “Your dog loves her?” she questioned. Kenji winced slightly and wondered if he should explain or not. “Not exactly,” said Kenji, “The Dog spirit loves her. It's a magic thing and a bit of a story.” “Ah yes, you go to that school with Ms. Freeman,” mused Mrs. Liu, “Is that what you do at this magic school of yours? Do you commune with dog spirits?” “No Mrs. Liu, I don’t commune with spirits,” corrected Kenji, “Just the one. Not dog spirits. More…” He struggled as she leaned in. Then he sighed and switched to English. “Dog the spirit. Dog with a capital D,” he explained, “I am a Dog shaman. I apologize, but this hard to talk about in Cantonese.” “English will do then” she said, as she switched back, but she slowed down as she tried to confirm what she heard, “So this is what they teach you at school? To commune with great spirits?” “I am in a class for that, yes,” he confirmed. “Are all taught this?” she asked, "Do they all choose some great spirit?" Kenji shook his head. “No, very few. I did not choose Dog, he chose me,” said Kenji, nervously. “That is not something you should joke about,” said Mrs. Liu, her voice as sharp as a rap on the knuckles. “I’m not joking,” said Kenji, defensively, but he calmed himself, “It happened only two weeks ago. Dog came to me in a vision and I accepted him. Julie can confirm this. She was there and helped guide me through it. I am new to this.” Mrs. Liu’s delicate eyebrows rose and she settled back in her hardwood chair. It creaked lightly as she settled into a new position. "Ms. Freeman would confirm this you say?" asked Mrs. Liu, her tone thoughtful. "She would," said Kenji, honestly. “That...” she whispered, reverently, “Is very auspicious. Very auspicious indeed...So Dog...He approves of this girl?” Kenji grimaced. This was all so new to him and he lacked the words to properly explain himself. He wasn’t fully comfortable with sharing this either. “I suppose so,” he said, quietly, "I mean...Yes. He does." Mrs. Liu seemed to consider this for a long time before finally speaking. “Then whatever you do, do not let this girl go,” she said, her voice serious, “Whatever path this relationship of yours takes, such approval should never be taken lightly. If what you say is true, then she would be a loyal companion. Honest as well. Dog is very well known for his honesty.” Kenji suppressed a shiver. He remembered what being bound by honesty felt like. “Pessimists though,” she said, disparagingly, “Yes, dogs should beware…Oh what was it…Ah yes. The ox, the goat and of course they should never deal with a dragon.” The bottom dropped out of Kenji’s stomach. When he was a kid the old timer shadowrunners who would moonlight as delvers would occasionally tell stories to Kenji while drunk or high at Clever’s parties after a successful delve. There were four rules to being a shadowrunner: Watch your back, shoot straight, conserve ammo and never deal with a dragon. Shadowrunners had become popular in movies in the past decade, but that kind of runner lingo had never made it into the trids. At least not as far as Kenji knew. There was also the way that she said it that spoke to some sort of understanding. So while Kenji had probably grown in her estimation for his connection to Dog, so had Mrs. Liu in Kenji’s estimation for her connection to the shadows. Either she used to be shadowrunner, worked with them or knew them. She didn’t seem to notice his internal struggles as she was lost in thought and he was able to master himself before she focused back on the conversation at hand. “Let me guess, your business here is not your own, but another’s,” said Mrs. Liu, “Am I right?” Kenji put on his best smile and nodded. To this, Mrs. Liu flashed him genuine smile. It was perhaps the first one that she'd ever shown him. “Then I shall help you in whatever way I can,” she said, and Kenji could tell she meant it, “For you are on a friend’s business, which is Dog’s business. Dog is always welcome in my restaurant and I shall set aside an offering for him in thanks for sending you to me. What can I do to aid Dog?” The strangeness of this struck Kenji and he tried to suppress a laugh. He wasn’t here on Dog’s business. He was here to talk to Mrs. Liu to apologize and maybe pick up some electronics for Sasha if he could find the right price. “Oh…Wow,” said Kenji, overwhelmed, “Nothing too serious. My friend needs some consumer electronics. She’s building her own cyberdeck and it’s coming in small steps. She wants to put it together in an old terminal if you can believe that. I mean I’ve seen them around, but never a working one.” Terminals were public computers that went out of fashion with the invention of commlinks and the wireless matrix. No one really made them anymore, but they weren’t so old as to become collector’s items just yet. The ones that hadn't been ripped out of walls for scrap collected dust and graffiti these days. Mrs. Liu stroked her chin in thought. “Dog appreciates honesty,” she said, quietly, as if trying to convince herself, “So just this once I shall dispense with the niceties. Tourists are the lifeblood of our little community, Kenji. A small amount of fleecing is acceptable and good so long as everyone walks away happy. People come not only for our goods, but an authentic experience of community. People know people within their community. There is connection and care. We sometimes squabble, but we live together and do our best to resolve our differences. Real communities where people know one another, where they get along and where they actually talk are rare. If you go topside, you may not know your neighbor’s name, much less speak to him. People come here in part to experience what a real community is like and though it is somewhat idealized, we show them that.” She took a deep breath and nodded to herself. “I have a problem. His name is Mr. Shum and he runs a store by the name of Lucky Dragon Electronics,” she said, quietly, “As a community, we do our best to self-police in order to make sure everyone prospers. We do fleece the tourists, but that is what they are for. The shearing is so gentle that they barely care. It is another thing to cheat a tourist so thoroughly that they feel as if they have been skinned. Shum skins those who come to him. He cheats and lies, but is never caught in a way that would allow us to shame him. He is clever. The people in this community and those who visit it are prone to gossip and when that gossip is good, tourists come back to spend more money and they often bring or send their friends. More tourists means more work and full bellies for my workers. Good gossip promotes prosperity. When that gossip is bad, no one tells you. You have to listen to the silence of empty shops and hear the quiet tightening of belts. Touristville is prospering, Kenji, but I have seen the numbers for the north and west ends. Their prosperity exceeds that of the east end. Mr. Shum fleeces the orks and trolls that come and that is fine, but I believe he skins the humans, elves and dwarves who happen into his shop. They simply do not show up in the numbers that they used to.” Mrs. Liu's face grew dark with anger. “Mr. Shum is such a miser that he has earned the nickname Pinchface from those who live in the east end,” she said, with a small sneer, “He is disloyal to our community. If tourists are our life blood then he is a tick. He would steal a bowl of rice to give himself one more grain while wasting the rest. If you are truly here as a shaman of Dog then I humbly ask you to petition him shame Pinchface for his actions. For every time I attempt to dislodge this troublesome tick, he proves stubborn. He knows my people and my ways too well.” Mrs. Liu bowed her head deeply to Kenji in humility. “If you do this, I will help you fetch the best price that I can for your friend,” she said, quietly. CYOA Time Pinchfaaaaaace!  Mrs. Liu has humbly asked Kenji as a representative of Dog to help publicly shame Pinchface who is harming the east end community. In Chinese culture, how good or bad your reputation is is called face. To gain face is (roughly) to gain reputation and standing in a community. To lose face is (roughly) the opposite. So while getting called out as some cheating jerk in western culture is not so big a deal so long as it's legal, getting shamed and having people witness said shame would definitely gently caress someone up in Chinese culture. Dog is literally part of the Chinese Zodiac and I imagine it's taken a little more seriously than it is today (which is not as much, especially among young people) because there are dragons and great spirits running around influencing the world in ways big and small. Dog is a mentor spirit. So is Boar, Rat, Cat (Tiger), Snake, Horse and Monkey. Most of them are there in the mentor spirits list for Shadowrun and I'm running with this. After all, Chip is literally a spirit that people are going to leave food out as offerings which he is going to eat. Some old superstitions have become real and a few even have power. So... Should Kenji take the job? If he takes the job, how should he tackle it? Octo will be able to help if Kenji asks, but she'll have to physically show up and she is actually not that great at anything outside of the matrix. She might not be keen on doing the whole "I'm here in meatspace" gig nor will she be an instant win button. Also, does Kenji involve Saanvi in his scheme or not? The obvious runs are to tackle this head on and try to record him incriminating himself or disrupting his business through tricky means. Though personally I think the comedy option is to sneak into his place and gently caress up his Feng Shui in what is probably one of the oldest shadowruns in the book to cause misfortune and disaster. Feng Shui is a kind of Chinese geomancy which is a sort of pseudoscience, but in shadowrun it actually works. So rearranging his stuff, breaking mirrors and committing other petty acts of vandalism would make him vulnerable to what I'll generally call bad luck since his Feng Shui is going to be impeccable. Or at least it will be if anyone cares. Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 05:44 on Jul 13, 2019 |
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Nov 2, 2018 14:34
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Going on missions to vandalize the poo poo out of somebody's Feng Shui is the pinnacle of "What the gently caress? Why? That works in this setting? That's both dumb and awesome at the same time gently caress yeah I'll do that." in shadowrun. It *must* be done. What are kenji's stealth skills like? That's more Fuzzy's jam, right? or does Kenji have some non-social infiltration capabilities? IIRC, in ShadowRun Hong Kong they give you a job to mess up some corp's Feng Shui (Saeder-Krupp, I think?), so you are supposed to go in, identify a bunch of qi points, mess with them all by moving a screen door slightly or whatever, and then vandalize the poo poo out of a giant statue so they think that was the only thing the runners did, and then by the time they realize you broke the water fountain in their bathroom so it leaks slightly its TOO LATE! THEIR DOOM IS NIGH!!! Messing with Feng Shui rules. edit - don't gently caress me here thread. We need to ruin somebody's life by slightly tilting all their paintings and making fun of them for it. Zodiac5000 fucked around with this message at 15:32 on Nov 2, 2018 |
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Nov 2, 2018 15:21
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