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 Both of us finished our beverages, paid, and stood up. Then we made our way to the main floor, looking for an appropriate place for our match to begin.  So, you figure we both just sit in at a poker table or something? Nah, that poo poo's boring. Let's face off at one of the private tables. Suit yourself. Nohoi's Nest was a bit of an unorthodox setup. Unlike a lot of casinos, there weren't too many tables manned by actual dealers. I mean, there were a few... but there were just as many empty tables, with nothing but chairs and general gambling equipment. This was for anyone looking for more individualized or personal gambles. Mister Polly Deisma was made a fool of at one of those tables just a short while ago. It was a bit of an odd setup, much like a lot of things about this place, but again, I liked it. In my head, gambles should be clashes of will between the players. Dealers and generic games like blackjack and poker didn't hold much appeal in my eyes. The two of us made our way to a private table, and stood on opposite sides. [BGM: Double Down]   So, we playing for money, or what? I make it a policy to always gamble for money, no matter how small.I reached in my pocket for my wallet and pulled out two 50s. Starting fee's 100 dollars. 100 dollars for a starting fee?!Kane looked a little startled at this proclamation. At first, I thought someone with a bigshot job like being head of the Oracle must be raking it in. But looking at his attire, it dawned on me that Kane might be a lot less rich than I had initially thought. The slightest ounce of guilt broke through. Hey, you know what, I think I should say something. Oh? I may not look it, but I'm actually something of a pro in this area. Oh, you look it. Uh, thanks? Point is, I don't know what you were expecting, but I'm no chump. If you're playing to win, I'd temper those expectations. And if losing 100 dollars would hurt, then maybe we tone down these stakes.This peace offering didn't go over well. ...Saying it aloud, I realized it sounded a lot more insulting than I had intended. Ah, poo poo. Kane's face morphed to a scowl. Being honest? This one was my bad. Sometimes in life things just came out wrong. This was one of those times. Kane reached into his pocket and, before I knew it, he had taken out four 50 dollar bills. I'll double it! And yeah, I am sure, so cough it up if you're so cocky.Couldn't say I blamed him for this reaction. I sort of provoked him. But... I also warned him. If he was gonna slam down 200 dollars, I wasn't gonna look a gift horse in the mouth. I reached back to my wallet and scrounged up another 100. Sounds good to me. I'll even let you choose what we'll be playing. Well, thanks. Kane took a second to think, then had an idea. Here's the thing, Lock, my friend. I know your type well enough. That so? You're doing a number on my feelings right now, you know. Oh, my deepest apologies. Anyways, I just don't feel great about any sort of standard game against you. Feel like you're likely to rake me across the coals, and even though I just made a big deal of making it a real bet, I think my wallet's been a little light lately. More than that, I think I'm just too prideful to lose to someone like you. Again, the 'like you' remark really isn't necessary, man. But fine. What do you have in mind? I think you're a shark. So then, I think it's fair to play a game that tests just how good a shark you are.A part of me wanted to object to Kane's assessment of my character, right as it may be. A greater part of me was interested as to what he was about to propose. So, the gamble I'm proposing, I'm gonna call it... 'Monkey See, Monkey Do'. Had to give it a catchy name, huh? Every good game has a catchy name. Every good article, maybe. I suppose you're more the authority on games than me. Still, I came up with it, so I get to name it. I'm less interested in the name, more in what the hell you're planning on having us do. I'm getting there, I'm getting there! It's really simple. I'm about to make you a very simple bet. Painfully simple. Gonna let you see my whole process. And, spoiler – I'm gonna win it. Then you've just got to do the same back to me. And to be clear, this ain't some trick where you need to fold your tongue seven times to win it or something? 'Cuz if it's like that, I don't see the point in this. No no no. I'm trying to be sporting with this. The little trick I'm going to do is something that you very easily could parrot back to me. Incredibly so. I just think you won't be able to.Oh, this prick. He wasn't just being haphazard right now. He was trying to hit me where it hurt. He decided to forego typical games and made it a challenge to my ego. Figured I thought myself sharp, and he'd use this to take me down a peg. Kane's more vicious than I initially had him for. Still, he made a decent mistake. I didn't think myself sharp... I was sharp. Sharper than anything this hack had up his sleeve, at any rate. Sounds fun. Unfair, but that's fine. I need a handicap. Hahaha, ah, it's going to be like that? Okay, okay. You'll change your tune soon enough. Sounds to me like you're agreeing to these rules. Sure. What the hell. Great.With a smirk, Kane took out a deck of cards. He casually shook them out of their container. Now see, if I was some sort of third-rate magician, this is where I'd do a false shuffle or some poo poo. Three problems with that approach though. I'm not a third rate magician. I'm about three beers past having any sort of physical dexterity in my hands. And, I know that sort of trick isn't gonna win me any favors, you'd just assume the deck was stacked and emulate it.Correct. So I'll just go as is. Kane then took out a worn-out journal from his pocket, along with a pen. He tore a page from it, then scribbled something down. Finally, he folded the page and smacked it down in the center of the table. We'll get to that in a moment. So now, grab a couple of cards off the top of this deck. Does it matter how many? It'd be best for the both of us if you grabbed less cards than you had fingers. But, you know, you do you.A part of me wanted to try and deliberately throw a wrench into his plans. But that wasn't sporting, and I was taking on this bet for fun. I grabbed a handful of cards off the top. Cool, cool. You know, Lock, I've a little number philosophy. A number philosophy? The gently caress's that? Just a little superstition about numbers. You don't have anything like that? I'm not a nerd, no. Don't be a jackass. I think anyone who spent enough time doing math in school, staring at numbers, began to think about them just a little. Didn't do a lot of “thinking” on the whole at school. I can tell. Anyways, I really like the number nine. I think there's some real power in it. They say three is the magic number, but for me, I think nine holds some real answers. Like, watch this.Kane began placing cards down on the table in front of us, one by one, right to left. Eventually, he had nine in a row. If you ask the Nine nicely, they'll tell you what you need to know. I bet you I can prove that right now. See, look at this...Kane reached over and grabbed the sheet of paper he had written on earlier. He displayed it.  'The King of Spades hides in the nine. The number of cards Lock drew gives the answer.' Well I'll be. Isn't that something? That it is.I had a sinking feeling that I knew where this was going. Well then Lock, how many cards do you have there?I spread out the cards in my hand. Turns out I had drawn six. Six, huh? All right then.Kane counted out six cards, left to right, and ended up hovering his finger above a certain card. Now, it'd be pretty cool if this was the King of Spades, don't you think? Flip the card over, jackass, and get it over with. Just trying to have a bit of fun with it.With a huff, Kane flipped over the card. ...Sure enough. King of Spades. Alrighty then.[BGM: Silence]  Your turn.Kane swept up all the cards and handed the deck to me. I'll give you a moment.He tore out another sheet of paper and handed me the pen. I had to admit – it was a good little parlor trick. But... that's what it was. A magic trick. The type laid out in a middle schooler's magic book. Surely I could handle something this simple myself. So... let's focus. First of all, let's stack the deck so I knew the order of the cards. I made the top card Ace of Clubs. Next was Ace of Diamonds, Ace of Hearts, Ace of Spades. Then came the Two of Clubs, Two of Diamonds, Two of Hearts, Two of Spades. And so on and so forth in that pattern. Kane had pretty much admitted his deck was pre-arranged, so this should be within the rules. As I took the time to do this, I thought carefully – about everything. I had watched closely, and there wasn't any sleight of hand bullshit when Kane was sweeping the cards together. There was only one King of Spades. The note was also written from the start, that was never switched, wasn't written after the fact. What did Kane do in the trick? He wrote down the note. He let me pick some cards from the top of the deck. Then he laid out the top nine cards of the deck, right to left. Then he spouted some bullshit and opened the note. Then he counted the cards equal to how many I drew, and landed on the pre-selected card. Thinking about it that way... the first thing I needed to do in this trick was write the note. Oh boy. So, uh, here's my prediction. Watch closely, or whatever.I picked up the pen and thought. He wasn't doing sleight of hand, I can confirm that. So... What happened? [BGM: Burn Card]   Hey there! Just your local neighborhood Ez popping in with another minigame tutorial. We all know how this goes by now, so I'm just going to get into it. Sometimes, you need to think about things. I know! Scary. But it doesn't have to be. Look, here's the deal. See that little doohicky in the top left corner? That's your Brain Button – BB, for short. As you go through a logical series of thoughts, you might encounter words written in a light blue text. Those words are a thought you're actively deliberating. If you press the BB when those words show up, you'll rearrange your thoughts to cycle through some other possibilities. Feel free to take some time, go through your options... and when you feel like you've got a solid train of logic going, just continue along your thinking like you would at any time. Worst comes to worst, you get it wrong, you're an idiot, you get booted back to the first point your logic started to mess up, everyone hates you – you know, low stakes. Aaaaand that's about it for Logic, at least for now. Pretty simple, right? Right. But that doesn't mean it's easy. The difficulty of the logic, that's pretty variable. That depends on how hard you want this to be. So, uh... how hard do you want this to be? Crank up the hard! Alright, cap'n. Hard thruster set to 11. Hope you can handle it. And I hope you're content with getting 7 chips each time you complete a logic minigame, because it's the most we can give. Oh, but don't get complacent! If you go down an incorrect train of logic, that payout dips by a chip. ...All right then, well, that's sort of everything I have to cover. Don't have a lot of witty commentary to give here. Guess I'll just... let you get to it, then. Good luck logicking!This one isn't really possible to set up to let you guys solve it yourself unfortunately, so I'm basically just going to simulate the process to keep things simple.  The bolded options are the correct answer, but I'll be showing off all the choices. Okay, so what did I know? I chose a card. Kane predicted it. How was that possible? Well... how much information did he have to work with? In other words, when did he know what card I'd end up landing on? Was it... [from the very start/after I drew a number of cards/after Kane dealt out those cards]? Right... yeah, since he wrote down a card from the very start, he must've always known what card I'd end up with. In fact, it's not particularly subtle, even. I mean, randomly ending up with the King of Spades? No, that card has too much of a 'pizzazz' factor. It was specifically chosen. So all right, Kane knew the key card from the start. How? Well... how was the key card selected? I chose a random amount of cards off the top of the deck, then nine cards were dealt, and based on the number of cards I picked, a card amongst the nine dealt was selected. That's a pretty clear-cut summary of events. But... was I laboring under a misconception? Thinking about it, I'm not sure if [I had a free choice in how many cards I drew/the deck was fixed from the start of the gamble/how many cards I drew actually changed which card would be selected]. I mean, the two seem related. But at the same time, doesn't the number of cards I draw directly affect which cards are dealt? I mean, both sets of cards come off the top... so for every card I draw, that's one card that isn't going on the table. Hm... I needed to picture how the cards specifically moved if I wanted to see through this trick.  The real key to this trick was [the magic number 9/what took place between when I drew cards and when Kane dealt cards/the fact Kane dealt and counted cards in opposite directions]. Thinking about it, if he dealt and counted cards in the same direction, then it really would be impossible to predict much of anything. But if I kept that fact in mind... Look, let's reframe our thinking to center around the position of this 'key card', known from the start. Every card I drew is a card not being placed to the right. Therefore, every card I drew essentially 'shifted' the key card one to the right. However, the number of cards Kane counted was equal to the number of cards I drew. For every card I drew, Kane would count one more from the left. A card counted can, in essence, be removed. So I could treat it as though for every card I drew, I was also 'shifting' the key card one to the left. But if for every card I drew, the key card 'shifted' both one to the right and one to the left... Then no matter how many I drew, I wasn't changing the key card's position at all! Ah, Kane, you lazy, sneaky bastard. You came to me with a trick this basic? A trick that ran itself, that crumpled under any scrutiny? Tsk tsk. Well, thanks for making it easy for me to replicate your trick. The key card would always be the [9th card/10th card/11th card] of the deck, which meant I should write down '[3 of Clubs/3 of Diamonds/3 of Hearts]' on this sheet of paper. This conclusion was simple. The number of cards Kane would deal was 9. If I drew only 1 card, the key card would still need to have been dealt. Alternatively, if I drew 9 cards, I couldn't be able to draw the key card. With those two pieces of information in mind, the key card must've been the 10th one from the top of the deck. There was probably a smarter way of going about it, but hey, if it works, right? [You won 7 chips!] I wrote '3 of Diamonds' on the sheet of paper. Then, proceeded to follow the steps. Held out the cards, dealt them, counted backwards. And, wouldn't you know it, my prediction came out correct. [BGM: Double Down]  Looks like victory goes to me!Before Kane could complain, as he was inevitably wont to do, I reached forwards and snatched the money from Kane's side of the table. As expected, he tried to grab my arm. Too slow, dude. Come on, you must've had something better than that for me. You little poo poo.Kane on the other hand was actually quite irritated. I didn't get it, to be quite honest. Why was he taking this so personally? If he really wanted to win, he shouldn't have picked such a baby magic trick. If he wanted to win, he could've. But he didn't, because I assumed he wanted this to be a sporting competition. So... why get this upset? What's your problem, man? It was your gamble. Yeah, and you won! Oh, my apologies, I guess I should've thrown it. rear end in a top hat. I guess I didn't anticipate you being this experienced of a cheater. Seriously? How are you going to say I cheated? I don't know, that's what makes you a good cheater!I was, frankly, a little stunned. The nerve of Kane. I was also starting to hear the slur in his words. He... might've been more drunk than I thought. And he might've been a worse drunk than he thought. I was playing nice with you! To be treated like this... You know what? Fine. You think I cheated? Let's switch roles real quick.I grabbed the deck of cards and began shuffling it. We're going to do the exact same thing. I'll let you go first, then I'll go. If you can do it, or I can't, you get your money back. And I'll even throw my half of the bet in as well! Really? Yeah. I'm doing this just to teach you a lesson. Tch. Cocky poo poo. I'm gonna teach you to get out when you're ahead.He wasn't even grateful for me giving him a second chance. Whatever. This was just kicking someone while they were down. I didn't like to do it, but Kane had made me a worse person than usual.  All right, hope you have a good memory.I reached into the middle of the deck of cards and grabbed a random one. I slid it out of the pile, leaving it facedown on the table nearby. Neither of us know what that card is. Don't bother arguing with me about this, just trust me. I don't care enough about this pity round to be cheating.I flipped the top card of the deck face up. Now, keep up.I flipped the next card, placing it atop the first. And then the next. And then the next. I flipped from card to card in quick succession. Unless you had a diegetic memory, it was impossible to remember all these cards. Luckily, I didn't have to. I was just adding the numbers displayed up in my head, dropping the tens digit. Four. A five, which made it nine. An eight, which made it seventeen, which made it seven. A Jack, which kept it seven. Flip. Flip. Flip. Finally, I got to the bottom of the deck. I flipped through all the cards. The count was at seven. Which meant the facedown card was a three. All right then. What's the facedown card?Kane just stared at me.  You're kidding me. Process of elimination, dude. If you were smart enough, you'd get it. Oh gently caress off. Here, I'll even make it easier for you.I flipped over the deck of cards and spread them all out. I'll give you fifteen seconds to look at this and guess.I wasn't letting him look through the cards. I was looking through the cards myself. Specifically, searching for the threes. Three of Diamonds. Three of Spades. Three of Clubs. Got it. loving... Five of Clubs!Seriously? That was pretty close, considering it was probably just some guess he pulled out of his rear end. Kane had some decent luck on his side. [BGM: Stand]  Afraid not, my friend.I put my hand over the facedown card. Three of Clubs.I flipped it, and voila. Three of Clubs. I don't know what reaction I was expecting, but... Kane beginning to chuckle to himself? I suppose that was around the middle of the scale. All right. All right, all right, all right. Fair play. You're better than I gave you credit for, Lock. Thanks, I guess? It's a compliment, don't worry. You know, you've gotten my attention. I'll keep an eye out for you. I tend to hang around dingy pits like this a lot, so if you come by some night, there's decent odds you'll spot me. I think I might just do that. 'Cuz I'm a sore loser. I want a rematch. At a real game. I'd be happy to oblige, Kane. Happy to oblige. ...That is, if you have 100 dollars on you. Ha ha ha, will do.It was an oddly jovial note to end on. My mind briefly retraced the steps I took with Kane to get to this point. We really went all over the place, emotionally speaking. But I guess we were landing on a sense of... grudging respect? To be real, I don't know how much I actually respected him. On the other hand, this was definitely a useful connection to have. So... sure. Grudging respect. We can go with that. This was the thought interrupted by my eyes catching a very specific person. The man I saw certainly couldn't be described as a head-turner.  In a lot of ways, he was pretty unassuming. Low-key suit, short black hair, unassuming build. It was hard to even recognize him with the lighting and the atmosphere and everything. But... no. That was him. That was, 100%, without a doubt... Bach. Man, my luck. Wow. Well, this was fun, but I think I'm going to look for another gamble. A less personalized one, just blackjack or something. Cool, cool, you have fun man. For me, I think I've had my daily dose of escapism. Probably best to leave Wonderland and get back on the grind. You do that. Thanks for the company. Don't mention it.And with that, Kane began to walk away. So did I. But not to a blackjack table, like I said. Just to a spare wall. I needed to compose myself before moving any further. I checked my watch. Right on time. Finally, Bach showed up. I was wondering earlier if this was going to be the night where things were do or die. Back then, it was just a hypothetical. But now? When that man, nervously ordering a beer from Ossa, laid eyes on me, the die would truly be cast. One way or another, I couldn't look back or falter. I'd be on a path. So then, did I bail? Did I follow right behind Kane, up those stairs, out of this hellhole? Did I go get a normal job, a safe life, a stable relationship? I felt the weight of my pocket. The weight of the 200 dollars I had taken from Kane. It felt light. Far, far, far too light. Like I said... I was hungry. Too hungry not to put things into action. In some ways, I felt bad for Kane, seeing how much he loved this city. Because that man over there? As unassuming as he might look, he was actually a major player in this whole thing. The type that really shouldn't be spending nights in Nohoi's Nest, and yet for whatever reason, did. The type whose disposition would regularly lead them to falling prey to people like me. But... that didn't mean he was my mark. No, my mark was the city of Panthea itself. And I was going to swindle it for all it was worth. … [BGM: Silence]  Isn't that a nice little brainteaser to end it on? How on earth do you go about swindling an entire city? Does that mean you swindle each and every member of the city? Because... that feels like it needs, like, an institutional level con. ...Or a liberal use of taking credit vis-a-vis the butterfly effect. Or... maybe it means to swindle a city, like, philosophically? ...Don't even try to ask me what I meant by that, I will not answer. Either way, I'm down for it. Swindles are fun! Swindles are good. I mean, life's set up to be survival of the fittest. If you get separated from your money, that's on you. If you try to pickpocket someone and get your hand cut off, that's also on you. I'm meaning this in the literal sense – as in you have to deal with the consequences. I don't really care about whose fault it is. I've never had to care. I haven't lost any money, or gotten my hand chopped off. I guess I just admire swindlers because of the confidence they have in themselves. To attempt to swindle someone is to challenge their intelligence, and to have full faith in your own. I'd like to think of myself as a pretty smart girl, but I'm not nearly cut out for that level of trickery. I usually end up being a lot more blunt. To proclaim you're going to swindle an entire city... Well, Lock certainly has confidence – I doubt anyone could question that. But, I dunno, I struggle to see it. I mean, this dude's picking chump change fights with drunk reporters using half-baked magic tricks. Can he really stand against the Gods of Panthea? Because, between you and me... if this dude wants to position himself against this entire city, he's got another thing coming to him. Just seems unlikely that he'd really be able to pull off what he claims. ...Well, that's the magic of the swindle, right? Having the impossible occur. I compared Lock to a magician earlier, but it's not a bad comparison; only difference between a swindler and a magician is a smidge of honesty. So, will Lock pull a rabbit out of his hat? Or will he fall flat on his face? Either way... I'll be entertained. Here's hoping you are, too. Next update, we move on to the third stack – and meet our next perspective, Vels. Mix. fucked around with this message at 23:30 on Jul 15, 2023 |
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Jul 13, 2023 00:34
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I’m not sure but I think it looks like the monorail episode from The Simpsons.
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Jul 13, 2023 01:35
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Nine's the magic number, Kane? Playing Monkey See, Monkey Do? And the Monkey is the ninth animal in the zodiac race? Subtle.
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Jul 13, 2023 01:37
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 content warning: misgendering [BGM: Dummy]   So at this point I'm kinda thinking that this poo poo is fuckin' boring, right? Like, nothing's happened for a chapter straight, it's just this explanation of what's actually been going on. And some of that's warranted, right? I want to know what's going on. And for something like this, somebody's gotta lay it out straight, it's pretty impossible to just figure it out through action. But I mean, at a certain point, it just gets annoying. Like, wrap it up, jeez. So anyways, this is right when the book's starting to lose me. But then, in an instant, they shed their clothes and take off their wig. Boom! Turns out, she was actually the heiress all along! And, for a moment, I was like 'woah, didn't see that coming'. Suddenly this climax was a lot more, uh, prepossessing?  'Captivating' works just fine. Captivating, then. So yeah, now I'm into it. But then, hold on – I take a second to think about it. Does that make any sense? Like, they're in two separate places, you don't see them at the same time, fair enough. But they're always in both places whenever the main character enters the room. The hell are the chances of that? What, are they just sprinting from place to place all the time? Wouldn't they be seen at some point? And, on that note, the mansion was filled with the girl's family! I get that it was a disguise or whatever, but like, 'the visitor' interviewed all of them. Are you telling me the girl's father who's lived with her for decades wouldn't noti ce something was off over the week the visitor was snooping around the house? The problem was it didn't have any foreshadowing. So even though it invoked temporary, er, surprise – or excitement, maybe – it fell flat. Are you sure it didn't have any foreshadowing? Maybe you just didn't pick up on any. I mean, I thought back, and couldn't remember any. But even if there was foreshadowing, doesn't really matter to me. Because my bigger question is what the twist even does! Like, narratively speaking, the author could've written the 'visitor' character out completely and nothing would've changed. It didn't help any tricks, it didn't obscure the truth. It doesn't even play into the whole 'arguing sisters' subplot that dominated almost all their scenes. In the end, the only function of having the 'visitor' was to reveal that they were actually the heiress. And I don't think that's good writing. Yeah, yeah, sounds like.To be honest, it was hard to form any meaningful opinions. It's not like I read the book myself. But that didn't stop Krish from talking all about it. Not that I minded; it's not like I was gonna be reading some random book any time soon. Just didn't make for particularly interesting conversation on my part. ...Eh, whatever. I didn't have it in me to tell them, so I just let Krish rant. Was something to listen to while the two of us made our walk through Panthea. I enjoyed spending my free time with Krish, for the most part. Whenever we both didn't have anything going on, a rare occurrence, I liked hanging out with them. They were optimistic – a trait I didn't share, but one I admired. And they knew their way around the street scene of Panthea. That was useful to a relative newcomer to the city like me. We were... an odd pair. Krish would describe their fashion style as 'fresh' and 'hip'. They'd be right in a certain decade, but not mine. As for me, I sported a simple, distinctive red hoodie. The fact I kept it low might've suggested to the random passerby that I wanted to keep a low profile. But that idea clashed with the fact that it was a sleeveless hoodie, which showed off the lightning spiral tattoos on my arms. It was unlikely anybody would walk by us and not have some opinions, one way or another.  My question is why do you read so many of these books?And why talk about them to me so much? - though I kept that question to myself. You stupid? 'To write, you must first read'. That's, uh... some famous writer, I'm sure. You stupid? gently caress off! I'm bad with names, okay? My point is, if I want to actually make it as a successful writer one day, I need to have a big pool of poo poo to draw from. And then I gotta, like, analyze it and junk. Figure out what works and what doesn't. And that'll actually make you a better writer? You serious? Sorry, I'm just not really knowledgeable about that sort of stuff. 'Course it makes me a better writer. If it didn't, I wouldn't be doing it. And you know how I know it's useful? Because I make sure of it. Every story I read, I usually learn at least one lesson, or get a good idea about something. Whenever that happens, I make sure to jot it down right here! Krish then proceeded to pull out a small, green leather notebook. ...Where were they keeping that? It was too big to be kept in a pocket. Did they have that tucked in the side of their pants? At this point, it's full of good poo poo. So then I assume you'll get to actually working on a book soon, then? Ah hah, yeah, you know... Definitely... definitely soon enough. Hm. Hey, why are we talking about work now?We're not, we're talking about your hobby. Right, now's the time for relaxing. It's why I'm taking you to Smith's. It's the best place to go in Panthea if you want a good lunch on a budget! That good, huh?I hadn't been to Smith's yet. Obviously! It's top tier. I mean, it doesn't hold a candle to my pop's old cafeteria. But for the options we have now? Yeah, it's my definite go to. ...And it'll be yours, too, after today![BGM: Silence]  It was at this point that I looked ahead a bit. Then I held back a sigh. I thought about things. And I could see the next couple of minutes playing out in my head. And I didn't like it. ...Well, who knows. I'm not a psychic or a genius or anything. Maybe I'm wrong about this. So, Smith's is a really cool place to hang out? Yeah! Fun place to just de-stress? I'd say so, sure. Hmm. Interesting. I gotta be honest, Krish, those three up ahead don't exactly look like they're having a chill time. What do you mean?I pointed up ahead to what I was referring to. Outside of the restaurant, a rather ugly scene was playing out. Two larger men were in an argument with an older guy. And it looked like it was going to get violent pretty soon. At first glance, you wouldn't think the older guy would be in that much trouble. He wasn't ancient or any thing, I'd place him in his late 50s. And, hey, looking good for late 50s. But his opposition was clearly more than he could handle. On the one hand, you had a skinny dude in a leather jacket with a crooked smile and slicked back hair. With that punk's confidence, not to mention the hand he had suspiciously stuffed in his pocket, I'd bet hard money that he had a weapon on him. On the other hand, you had this larger dude in a dirty wifebeater and slightly-too-loose pants. Hard to differentiate what was fat and what was muscle, but it was clear he had both. Most importantly, the younger pair both had the posture of an experienced brawler. So, yeah... if a fight did break out – which was sort of the vibe I was getting – I put money on the duo any day of the week. What on earth...? Hey, that's the owner of the restaurant! That's no way to treat someone! Who knows, maybe the owner started it?[BGM: First Rubber]  Krish didn't even dignify this with a response, just a bewildered look. Then they rushed over to the scene. So far... on track. I begrudgingly picked up my pace to keep up with them. As I approached, I began to hear the argument, and pretty quickly I got a decent picture of the situation.   You know it, I know it, so why're you wasting our time? It's the principle of the thing. Everybody in this day and age has forgotten the power of principles. Well... I haven't! I could be the last person in this drat city with principles, and I wouldn't bend the knee. Principles ain't gonna count for poo poo when your shop's burned down to the ground. Woah, hey, easy! Look man, it's a good deal. Just take it, please. I don't want to see anything happen to you. Something would be happening to me if I kowtowed to a bunch of no-good thugs like you. Yeah, you tell 'em!Krish piped in while simultaneously catching their breath. The shopkeep looked over to them, and their face morphed into a scowl. Okay, interesting, this was different to my predictions. Oh, for the love of... what's with all the troublemakers today? All of you just leave me alone! You know we can't do that. But bro, he's got a point. Wifebeater pointed a meaty finger at Krish. You've got no place here. Right, right, that's true. Official business meetings are going on right now, kid. This isn't the time to come and barge in like that. So get lost, will ya? Official business, huh? Don't see any contracts around. And you need contracts to make business deals!Then, Krish turned to me and spoke in a hushed yet satisfied voice, like they had just proven a point. I've also been reading some John Grisham.I just sighed, knowing that things were still on track. Verbal contracts, kid. Yeah! Don't talk poo poo! So then, what, who are you doing business on behalf of? ...Lemme guess. This a Duat venture?The pair looked at each other, then cracked a smile. Wow, real wise guy we got on our hands here. Yeah, we're Duat men. So you should know to back the gently caress off. Nah, it's cuz you're Duat that I know I need to step in. Step in, huh? That's real interesting, got an interesting guy here. How you supposing you're gonna 'step in'? Like this!Krish suddenly rushed towards Leather Jacket, fists clenched. ...Unfortunately, loudly announcing your plans to attack had its drawbacks. Wifebeater moved in the way and clenched his teeth. He took Krish's blow and clearly expected to be hurt... however, after a moment, he realized that actually Krish's punch hadn't done much damage at all. He then retaliated with a solid two-arm push right at Krish's chest, causing them to stumble backwards. As Krish floundered to regain a fighting stance, Wifebeater's smirk transformed into a full on laughing fit. Ah man, for a second there I thought we picked the wrong fight. But that's really all you got? Oh I'll show you all I got, dickhole![BGM: Silence]  Krish began to rush forwards once again. However, they stopped when I put a hand on their shoulder. Confused, they looked to me. Just stay back.Krish had a lot of spirit. Probably a good amount of experience, too. However, just speaking straight up, they didn't have a fighter's build. At first, Krish looked a bit hurt at my words. But then they ran through the very real possibility of getting the poo poo kicked out of them, and realized I was right. Reluctantly, Krish walked behind me. This was very amusing to Leather Jacket. Boy, really gonna chicken out that quickly? What kind of man tries to poke their head into something to just back out at the first sign of danger?While he was shittalking, I just closed my eyes and clenched my fists. Well, looks like I was a genius after all. Things had played out almost exactly like I predicted. What a pain... I really didn't like fighting. Often it resulted in me getting hurt, which was lame. It was dangerous, which, again, lame. Usually things could be resolved with a safer and more effective method. [BGM: Grand Slam]  But this was the situation I found myself in.  Oh, isn't this exciting! A nice, flashy action scene for you to sit back and enjoy passively. What fun it is to watch people grapple with an intense amount of stress and danger, while you do F All! How nice. ...That's what you're thinking, right? No! That right? Well, good. I don't tolerate passive mindsets. If the person in the scene is faced with danger, it's only fair that you should be as well! ...Well, perhaps 'danger' isn't the right word. This won't hurt you... probably. But it should keep you on your feet. How? Well, watch this!    Woah, words! Awesome! These are the concepts flashing through 'your mind' in a split second's time. Each one is being eliminated in its moment of consideration. Ergo, an idea not considered might be valid! All of this is to say... do you know which of these words didn't just pop up? ...Shoot? Hooray! You have a memory superior to a goldfish! Very good, gold star. Okay, okay, I get it, that was too simple. Well, what if you – much as though you were in the scene yourself – didn't have an infinite amount of time to answer? What if you only had a limited period of time to say 'Shoot'? Do you think that would make it harder? Shoot! Ah, quick on the draw, this one. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. The point is, I think you understand the concept. Phrases pop up, remember them, choose the option that was not shown on the screen. Boom. Minigame explained. Seems as though we only have one more order of business, and that would be setting the difficulty for these fights. So... what're you having? Hard mode or get the gently caress out! Got a real elitist over here, huh? Uh, can I say: gamer alert? Play the airhorns!  ...What do you mean we don't have an airhorn sound effect? ...Wouldn't come up? Why wouldn't airhorns come up? ...Okay, the fact that you didn't anticipate that I'd use airhorns outside of the built scenes seems like a failure on your part. Can you use something similar? Like a gunshot, or s– ...you know what, forget it, moment's passed. What were we talking about? Oh, hard mode. Fine. Beating one of these minigames on hard will net you... 7 chips. ...That is, if you beat it flawlessly. Each time you choose something wrong, or take too long to respond, that'll be one chip knocked off the reward. gently caress up too much, you're gonna get diddly squat. All right. I'm bored of this now. Just... do the thing.Yeah, uh, there's no way for me to replicate this minigame in text form, it's literally a memory/reflexes challenge, so instead I'm just gonna simulate it again – though this time, I'll be adding an extra visual component so you see the flashing words to keep things interesting.   First up was Wifebeater. He looked pretty confident, having already landed a punch on Krish. Good. Cockiness was a poison. I watched him reel up an attack...  Wifebeater took a swing right at my head. Effortlessly, I swung under the attack, then responded with a swift kick right in his gut. The man stumbled backwards. We can end this now.My plea fell on deaf ears, as Wifebeater immediately sprung back up into action with a look of rage in his eye. drat, this'd be annoying.  Wifebeater came rushing in, looking to send his massive elbow into the side of my head. I caught the blow with relative ease. Despite the man's size, his strength was actually lacking. I needed to make a show of power, fast. Fights didnt last long, especially against amateurs like these. With his arm grasped in my hand, I reached over and put it over my shoulder. Then, with all the effort I could muster, I flipped the man over me, sending him crashing to the ground. Usually, I wouldn't have the strength to lift such a massive beast. However, momentum was on my side, and as I bent down, it was more of a fall on his part than a flip.  Before I could admire my handiwork, however, I caught something in the side of my eye.  Leather Jacket wasn't content to let his buddy take a beating. With both his hands still in his pocket, he kicked right at my side. Luckily, I noticed the attack before it was too late, and intercepted it by punching straight down at his outstretched leg. FUCKER!Leather Jacket bounced back, agitated. A coward like him wasn't likely to keep fighting after too much of a beating. But an rear end in a top hat like him wasn't likely to surrender while he still had his pride. Leather Jacket was already preparing a counter attack. Meanwhile, I noticed that Wifebeater was already back up on my right. poo poo. Both attacking, what to prioritize?   Wifebeater was attempting to grab me, and I couldn't let that happen. While maintaining eye contact with Leather Jacket, I took a half-step back and elbowed Wifebeater right in the chest. Then I struck out forwards, slamming Leather Jacket with a straight punch right in the face. As he stumbled backwards, I turned my full attention to Wifebeater. I softened him up with three punches to his stomach, then finished with a kick, sending him to the ground. That should deal with that one. But Leather Jacket... You little poo poo!In a slick motion, the man took out a switchblade knife and spun it around. Then, he went for me.  The man was attempting a straight up and down slice right at my chest. It was a tricky attack to avoid. ...So I didn't aim to avoid it. Instead, I threw a punch right at the hand holding the knife, intercepting it mid-attack. Leather Jacket recoiled at the blow, letting go of the knife. I caught it mid-air with my left hand, then swung it out, nicking Leather Jacket's arm pretty badly. This knife was Leather Jacket's trump card; this should be over now. I dropped the knife and then, for good measure, slammed Leather Jacket one more time, right in the face, sending him to the ground. [BGM: Silence]  And, just like that, the fight was finished. Two combatants, sprawled on the ground. [You won 7 chips!] The two of them were in a bad state. Meanwhile, I was doing my best to not breathe too heavily. The less effort it appeared I had exerted, the more leverage I had in negotiations. I haven't even taken out my knife yet. I'd leave while neither of you have suffered any major injuries, and while I'm going to just let you flee.Their faces hardened. This might not be enough. I leaned in and spoke in a hushed voice, one that Krish and the restaurant owner wouldn't be able to hear. You'll have plenty of time to try this later. Keep pushing the issue while I'm here, however, and I'll have to push back.This seemed to have had much more of an effect on the two. Nervously, they looked to each other, each trying to gauge the other's reaction to my proposal. Then, silently, the two slowly got to their feet. Without even a parting remark, they began to walk away. After a few paces, that walk turned into a run. Wasn't long before they were straight up sprinting away, tails tucked behind their legs. Ugh. That sucked. [BGM: Opening Lead]  And stay out!Timely, Krish. Very timely. I cracked my neck. Man, I really didn't like fighting. God drat it, Krish. We showed them what we're made of, eh Vels? Yeah, I'd say.The restaurant owner nervously approached from the makeshift cover he'd hopped behind. … ...Thank you two, really. I'm grateful for your help in this manner. And... I'm sorry that I judged you too harshly. Had you not appeared, I'm not sure what would have happened. Oh, no need to thank me. Really, I did nothing.Accurate, Krish. You did do nothing. Wasn't a big deal at all. I'm not sure exactly how to pay you back for this... Ain't it obvious? We were coming to have a meal at your place. I think a free meal would be a fitting reward, wouldn't you say, Vels?Wow, how shameless. Declaring your desired reward so 'matter of factly' really dampens the 'selfless hero' vibe you were going for, Krish. ...I guess.By the owner's face, I could tell he also was somewhat put off by this request. Still, he shrugged his shoulders. That seems fair enough. All right then, have a meal on the house. But... just don't order too much. Trust me, we will!Then Krish began laughing at a joke only they found funny. Meanwhile, I decided to handle more important matters. I turned to the restaurant owner.  This likely won't be the last of those guys. We just bought you a little time. And you can't count on the help of random strangers to keep you safe for long. In fact, from what I can tell, nobody can really keep you safe from the Duats. So I'd heavily consider what you intend to do moving on from here.The restaurant owner looked a bit shaken at this. Had he really not considered this yet? ...Thanks for the advice. I'll go back to work now.And without another word, the man turned his back and went back into the store. Dick. Well, might as well... Oh, poo poo. Instantly I pulled down on my hood to make sure it was as low as it went. Then I turned around and pulled on Krish by the arm. Come on, let's have lunch. Hey, you two! Mind if I took a minute of your time?God drat it. Mix. fucked around with this message at 23:30 on Jul 15, 2023 |
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Jul 15, 2023 02:24
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Krish is short for Krishna, a god from Hinduism.
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Jul 15, 2023 02:31
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So Kane is the connection between all our viewpoint characters so far, huh? I'm only hoping that there isn't going to be a point where Kane reveals himself to be evil with a catchy musical number.
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Jul 15, 2023 02:43
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SimplyUnknown1 posted:So Kane is the connection between all our viewpoint characters so far, huh? I'm only hoping that there isn't going to be a point where Kane reveals himself to be evil with a catchy musical number. Polly Deisma was in the previous 2 sections too (in a more minor role), and we’ve only just started this one so there’s still scope for more characters to turn up. I’d be surprised if Polly turned up here and I think you’re right about Kane being the connection between these viewpoint characters but there might be some other connecting characters that turn up (can easily imagine Vels running into some of the cops or maybe Ossa later on). And Kane is more of a nuanced character than I expected. In the first section he seems like a total slimy loser, in the second it kind of shows that he has some principles even if they’re ones that other people disagree with. Also funny how basically everyone dislikes him.
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Jul 15, 2023 03:26
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Elite posted:Polly Deisma was in the previous 2 sections too (in a more minor role), and we’ve only just started this one so there’s still scope for more characters to turn up. I’d be surprised if Polly turned up here and I think you’re right about Kane being the connection between these viewpoint characters but there might be some other connecting characters that turn up (can easily imagine Vels running into some of the cops or maybe Ossa later on). He gets better once he loses his hair and starts raising scorpions.
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Jul 16, 2023 16:16
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where's his drat sled
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Jul 16, 2023 19:11
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 [BGM: Challenger]  Approaching from behind was Kane Shay, a reporter. He was probably looking for a scoop, some article to write about. And we had just provided exactly that for him. drat it! If I had known someone like him was lurking around nearby, I wouldn't have bothered stepping in like that. Just my luck the one time I try and do a good thing there was somebody nearby to document it. I kept my hood down and tried to enter the restaurant, but Krish had other plans. Of course, what do you want?I just took three steps away and kept looking away. Well, I was just doing some normal rounds of the place, and I just so happened to catch that whole scene. Honestly, that was incredible! Really impressive stuff, guys. And you know, seeing how many complaints I've been getting about it lately, I thought it high time to actually put out a piece on the Duats. So I was wondering if you two wouldn't mind giving me a quick interview. It'd be a huge help. Kane put his head down pleadingly. Of course! I'd be happy to help. This is like, uh, a literature-adjacent experience, yeah? I mean, I wouldn't be requiring you to actually write anything down. But I'd be writing something down. So, kinda? I mean, besides that, I'm just happy to be interviewed. Awesome! What about your friend there?Kane pointed at me. I'm fine. You sure? You had some impressive moves there – I'd really like to get to hear your story. I don't have a story. And I don't want to do an interview. Oh, just ignore Vels. See, Vels is real shy. Wouldn't appreciate being recorded, you feel me? Hey hey, I respect it. I was pretty shy as a kid. I actually first became a reporter to try and get better at talking to strangers. Really? I mean, it was a reason. Anyways, guess I'll have to settle with just interviewing you. 'Settle'? Hey, didn't mean anything derogatory about it, just meant that in this business, two witnesses are better than one. Fair enough. All right, give me a second. Kane began fishing in his pocket. He took out a recorder and pressed play. ...Wouldn't you just use a phone to record things in this day and age? How old was Kane? So, who do I have the pleasure of interviewing? Hey there, my name's Krish Devaki, they/them. I'm Panthean born and Panthean proud. Ah, another native. And one with actual hometown pride; I can respect it. Honestly, all the people who poo poo on this place really get on my nerves. Like, it has its issues, but the people here are awesome! Anyone who says Panthea has gone downhill needs to get bent. Krish my friend, I couldn't agree with you more. So then, born in Panthea, what was your family situation like? Well, I was raised by my dad Vashu. Unfortunately my mother died when I was pretty young, so I never knew her very well. Sorry to hear that. Losing your parents at a young age sucks. Yeah well, like I said, I never knew her very well. Hard to feel that bad 'bout her. Anywho, Pops ran this really sick cafe. Really, you had to be there, it was great. He doesn't anymore? No, no unfortunately, it closed down. Anyways, I don't have any siblings, so my family's always been Pops. But in a way, I treat a lot of Panthea as my family. I like that, I like that. So then, what do you do now? Right now? Well, I didn't do too good in school, and no money for college, so I'm kinda just going from part-time job to part-time job. Finding work wherever I can, trying to stay afloat, you feel me? Kinda hard with our economy how it is right now. Definitely, definitely. Are you hoping to settle down at a permanent place anytime soon? Well, I'm hoping to become an author. But that's kinda a pipe dream, so I don't know how reliable something like that could be... Realistically, the chances I pull it off are pretty low. Hey, don't talk like that! I'm not gonna bullshit you and say you've got great odds or anything. But I've heard plenty of stories of people who regret never taking a shot when they could. You're young! You have youth! This is the time to try and fail. The fail bit ain't really necessary, you know? Like I said kid, I give the truth. Well, thanks. All right then, moving on to the main event, mind describing what just occurred here? I mean, not much to explain. Some assholes were harassing a poor Panthean citizen, someone who didn't do anything wrong. I figured that was pretty bullshit, so I stepped in and did something. I have to say, most people wouldn't just 'step in and do something'. I s'pose.I wasn't looking, but I could tell Krish was giving a poo poo-eating grin right about now. So, you kept the peace by force. I mean, I had to. You saw those assholes, being super... uncordial. Uncordial's putting it lightly. I'm in favor of kicking some rear end, personally. Used to be that fights were just things that could happen. Then we as a collective got a stick up our asses and started getting litigious. So, why do you think those men were harassing the restaurant owner? Ain't it obvious? Those were Duat boys. And they were shaking him down for protection money. Protection money? What's that about? Ya know, paying your dues. Cost of business for selling on Duat turf, if ya heard it from them. If anything, I'd think it Panthea turf. It's both. Ya gotta pay taxes to the government. Ya gotta pay protection to the Duat. So, protection, what does that actually entail? Well, if you believed the Duats, it was protection from other criminals and any issues. If you pay, the Duats will help you out. Deter any third parties from messing with you, and solve problems that get in the way of your revenue stream. In exchange for all that – protection money. And so, do the Duats have a point? I mean, sounds like a decent service they provide. They'd have a point if they didn't harass stores that didn't accept their protection money. The problem is you don't have a choice to say no. Not really, when there's that fuckin' insane power balance at work. I see, so you're saying that it's more like extortion than protection. Yes! Yes, exactly, that's exactly what I'm talking about. Okay, okay. So Krish, some people say that the Duats have been getting worse lately. Right. Oh, so you agree with this? Then in your opinion, what do you think is causing this rise? It's obvious, ain't it? They don't got anybody putting the checks on them anymore. Used to be that the Duats were in a pretty nasty feud with the Shikome. Before that, think it was the PCTL? Something like that. Point is, those wars came and went and the Duats are still standing strong. Only thing that's supposedly keeping 'em in check is the police, and they haven't been doing a good job of that at all. Probably 'cuz the Duats have gotten better at working around the police. They became large enough to have alternate solutions to the problems the cops present. And this 'Duat Dominance', you believe it to be a bad thing? I mean, yeah? My Pops actually said he kinda likes it better this way... there's a lot less conflict nowadays, and gang conflict's the type to leave bodies. But I dunno about all that. Something rubs me the wrong way with letting a group like the Duats do whatever the hell they want. Yeah, I can see that side of things. ...All right, I think that's probably enough for me to work with. Again, thanks for lending me your time. No problem at all. Glad to be of help.The two continued to talk for a little bit longer. Krish asked Kane some questions about the literary world. Kane seemed to try his best to be useful. And then, before long, Kane turned around and left. Thank God. [BGM: Silence]  You know, Kane's actually a pretty cool guy. Not at all like I heard. You knew about him? Of course! What Panthean hasn't? Yeah, well, you can be special. If that's the case, why'd you do the interview in the first place? Wanted to give my two cents. Why'd you hide in the corner the whole time? Because I didn't. Now come on, let's just get lunch.I just wanted to move the conversation along. Krish was eager to acquiesce.  The two of us entered the restaurant and got a seat. ...I had to admit, there was a nice ambiance about the place. Sort of an old time diner vibe. Hopefully the food was decent. Krish had assured me of that much, but I knew them better than to trust their opinions. As we were ordering our meal, I noticed somebody walking over to our table. I audibly sighed. What now? Krish, who was facing the opposite way, didn't know what I was sighing at. Because of that, they came to the – quite reasonable – conclusion that for some reason I was sighing at them. What, you don't like the place? Ya haven't even eaten yet, you're not allowed to judge! Besides, we're getting the meal for free. As far as I'm concerned, complaining about a free meal is a surefire sign that something's gone wrong. So just wait, okay?I didn't bother correcting their misconception. I was too busy trying to analyze the approaching man. I couldn't quite get a read on him just from his looks. Before I could come to an opinion, however, he reached our table and spoke up. [BGM: Trick Score]   Krish! I thought that was you. Oh, hey Mr. Yi! What are you doing here? I'm here to have lunch. Oh, right. Duh. So, how have you been? It's been a while since we've had a chat. In fact, I don't think we've talked since I left Panthea. You know, we haven't. I'm doing good! I mean, reasonably so, at any rate. Getting work at least. Ah, well, that's what's most important. To quote Freud, 'work is man's most natural love'. Though, to be fair, Freud was never particularly lauded as a philosopher. He was just the first quote that came to mind. Point is, it's good that you're employed. Youth of your age ought to have a job. Or in my case, jobs. Yes, well, whatever gets the job done, eh? So then, who are you eating with? Oh, this is Vels. I met Vels not too long ago, but we've hit it off. So, figured I'd show off one of the best restaurants in Panthea. A wise choice. By the way, shame about your father's cafe. When I heard about its closing I was deeply wounded. His place was my go to for breakfasts. Yeah, it sucks. But you know, we're holding up good enough. Good, good.Yi turned to me. Well then, Vels, is it? Pleased to meet you. My name is Yi Giles.I nodded at him, then mumbled a greeting. Nice to meet you. I could notice Yi being slightly put off by this response. Oh, don't worry. Vels just doesn't like talking much. Though Vels, you seem to be particularly quiet today.Krish was also shooting me a look. Whatever. It was too soon to tell for sure, but I still got the vibe that I didn't want to show too much of myself to this Yi fellow. Yi, for his part, seemed to accept this explanation. Ah, a colleague of mine is quite similar in that aspect. I admire someone who only speaks when there is something worth saying. 'Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.' Nice quote. Ludwig Wittgenstein. Interesting fellow, that one.Yi turned back to Krish. Good.   So, Krish, I couldn't help but notice your encounter outside through the window. You were being interviewed for something? Oh, right, that. Kane Shay just wanted an interview with me after I kicked some gangster's rear end.I threw a look at Krish. They seemed to look right back at me, challenging me. 'If you want to say otherwise, speak up'. I put my eyes down. Sure, take the credit here. You clearly want it.  'Kicking some gangster rear end'? You never change, do you? Oh, I've changed plenty! Just still have a decent conscience. Well, that is the one thing of yours that would be good not to change. Heh, thanks.Not a compliment, Krish.  Not to make you repeat the story a second time, but exactly what 'gangster rear end' did you kick? Oh, well, you know...I noticed Krish beginning to stall. Huh? That felt weird. They had been pretty eager to boast up until this point... Why were they stalling at giving out any details? Whatever caused Krish to temporarily pause, they eventually continued. ...Earlier, the restaurant owner was being harrassed by some Duat members. They were pushing him to accept the protection offer. He clearly wasn't interested, but they persisted. The members then threatened to get physical. Intervening was only right.Interesting phrasing, for Krish. The virtuous path, right? Indeed. Duat members were really threatening the restaurant owner? How disheartening. Yeah, uh, it's... well, yeah. Okay, I needed some more info. Although... I had a guess what the underlying cause of awkwardness between these two might be. A strained awkwardness I had felt from the beginning of the conversation. How do you feel about the Duats, Yi? Vels! What? I want to know Yi better. It's a topical question.A slight smile crossed Yi's face. My thoughts on the Duats, huh? Hmm... How to answer that, I wonder? 'The truth is the object of philosophy, but not always of philosophers'. Huh? Vels, the question is a tad complicated. After all, technically speaking, I am a member of the Duats. Seriously?Krish looked down. They were clearly already aware of this. Yeah... that figures. I knew I got a vibe from this guy. As a matter of fact, at this point, I occupy a decently high position on the Duats' chain of command. Though, I attribute that mostly to me being one of a few with any real higher education to speak of. Organizational and mathematical skills are, perhaps unsurprisingly, few and far between with those people. I certainly haven't been sent on many field missions. Right, that doesn't strike me as your style, Mr. Yi. Very much not so.Though they feigned a positive tone, Krish was clearly uncomfortable speaking up on this topic. I could read between the lines. Krish knew – and to some extent, respected – Mr. Yi before he became a Duat. On a personal level, Krish likes Yi quite a lot. However, also on a personal level, Krish loathes the Duats. At some point, Krish must have heard about Yi joining the Duats. The inability to reconcile those two beliefs is messing with them, so before now, they were just trying to steer around the topic. And I had pushed it to the forefront. ...Maybe I should've thought ahead a bit more.  Yi also sensed the awkward atmosphere, and sighed. I hoped to avoid this topic. It's not a particularly pleasant one.Some more silence. My position is certainly a delicate one. To answer your question, Vels, I hold quite a bit of contempt for the Duats.He... does? You do? Naturally. You didn't hear this from me, but their brutish methods have only increased as of late. I mean, at a certain time the Duats actually acted as a sort of defender force for the city – a home to the homeless. At another time, they were simply another, less legal business; the distinction between them and Olympo seemed negligent, morally speaking. However, at the current time, they're slowly morphing into something of a noose, clasping around the city. Yeah, exactly! They're becoming really toxic.loving easy, Krish!! Hold some cards close to the chest! I decided to interject.  If that's the case, why are you still a member?At this, Yi let out a small, sad chuckle. Why indeed? As I've mentioned, my position is quite delicate. I never really intended to join the Duats in the first place. Given the circumstances of my return to Panthea, I wasn't really afforded the option. Then I performed my duties. And now that I'm at my position, simply retiring from the Duats is... Well, on every level it's a troubling process, but at mine it's even more contentious than usual. While it would be something of a lie to say I was stuck, it would also be something of a lie to say I wasn't.There was a genuine sadness in Yi's voice as he lamented. Certainly, to some extent, he was drawing from reality. But... I couldn't really bring myself to trust this man. How much of what he just said was the actual truth? And how much of it was just what Krish wanted to hear? Well, if Yi was looking to win sympathy from Krish, it worked.'  Seriously? That's fuckin' horrible! I believe it's rather standard. After all, it is a criminal organization. I'd have to have a word with some people if it was an easy job to leave. And... it's not like I'm completely blameless in all of this. Like I said, I had circumstances returning to Panthea. Circumstances, in some part, of my own doing. Yeah, but still... Honestly, if the Duats could be hampered, I would be in favor of it. Really? 'Cuz like, that's not an impossibility. Oh? I know people, you know. People who've had enough with the Duats. And like, I ain't exactly the strategy type who knows what to do with all these people. But I mean, if you're a Duat, and you're smart, then surely you'd have some suggestions. Well, I don't know about that. True, I did have some ideas... but I'd have to think on it. No no, of course, take whatever time ya need. No rush or anything. Hmm... Yes, this is certainly something worth thinking about. I don't want to lie to you Krish, I do quite prioritize my own personal safety. I'm not exactly eager to do anything that's going to get me killed. I don't want that either! Good to hear. But, if there was a way we could maybe, I don't know, bring the Duats back on the right track, with your help... I'll think about it. I really will. And I'll meet with you again soon; really, it's absolutely not right that I haven't spoken to you for this long. That'd be great! You know whenever you want to hang out, just hit me up. Well then, I don't want to take any more of your time. I'll be on my way then.Yi turned to me. It was nice meeting you, Vels. I'll keep an eye out for you.I kept my head low. Likewise.And, just like that, Yi walked out of the restaurant. Well... that was a thing. For my part, I was just really wishing I had stalled coming to this restaurant for, like, five extra minutes. Krish, on the other hand, had gotten quite excited by the possibility of teaming up with Yi to make a move against the Duats.  I mean, can you believe our luck? No, I can't. Yeah, we're really lucky. I mean, getting an in with the Duats like that? Yi's great! I knew he could be counted on. Why was I ever doubting him? You were doubting him because he joined the Duats, Krish. And, for the record, I think you should still be doubting him. Seriously? You heard what he said, he didn't have a choice! So he claims. You think he made all that up? I think he might have made some of it up. Nah, gently caress off. I'm serious. Look, he left Panthea to teach ethics at some college. Ethics! And he came back to Panthea under some circumstances that forced him to join a violent gang. You're just being paranoid. Maybe.I admitted this earnestly. I absolutely had a paranoid streak. Backup plans upon backups. On some level, I was proud of that paranoia. Paranoia's just a derisive word for preparedness. I'm just saying, stay sharp, okay? When ain't I sharp? Case in point. Eat poo poo. I might, depends on how good this restaurant actually is.[BGM: Silence]  At this, Krish laughed, and we were able to put the argument behind us. From there, we ordered and ate our respective meals in relative silence. Some casual conversation, but nothing particularly interesting. For what it was worth, Krish had been right. Smith''s made a pretty decent burger. Nice, cool milk too. I made a note to come back here sometime. The owner made good on their promise for a free meal. So yay, being a good person got rewarded. Go me. Krish and I then left the restaurant.  Well, that was fun, but afraid I can't hang out any longer. Got another gig starting in like an hour. Got it. It was fun hanging out. Really? Uh, yeah? Well, that's nice to hear! For the record, if I didn't have fun hanging out with you, I'd stop hanging out. Yeah yeah, I know that. I'm just happy I got you to actually cop to it aloud. Definitely not something you'd've done when we first met. Yeah, well. ...Don't get used to it. I'm never used to anything. That's why nobody's able to catch me off guard. 'Cuz I'm always on my toes! If you say so.  Next time we meet, I want you to have an actual concept for a story to flesh out prepared, okay? I might. I'm serious, Krish, if you don't start making actual steps forward soon, you're never going to write anything. I got it, I got it, really. Actual concept next time. Understood. ...See ya! Bye.And just like that, they turned around and started making their way to whatever job they had. Meanwhile, I turned around and started heading down the opposite direction. If I remembered Panthea's geography well enough – a questionable prospect, to be fair – my place was actually perpendicular to the direction Krish left from. But I figured putting some distance between the two of us before I started making my way back wouldn't hurt. Honestly, I wouldn't put it past that idiot to pretend to be going to work just to try and stalk me back to my place. They seemed to be getting pretty annoyed that I refused to tell them where I actually lived when I knew where they lived. After getting a bit further away, I turned down an alley. Then, while walking down the alley, I quickly turned down another. And then another. Then I waited for a few seconds. Then, after checking the upcoming corners, I resumed my walk. Luckily, there was a shop with big glass windows at the end of this street, so I could see behind me in it without too much issue. Nobody was probably following me. But you could never be too careful. These steps were necessary to make sure you weren't being trailed.  I checked my phone. ...God, really? I was hanging out with Krish too much. I didn't have the time to be spending this many hours doing nothing. I took a deep sigh and thought back to a conversation I had had with Krish pretty recently. They had said that they loved Panthea, but it was harder to lately. They said that they thought, on some level, Panthea was rotting. How incredibly sad. Even Krish could tell something was wrong. If only they knew the half of it... Rotting? Panthea was rotten. Deeply so, in a way that sucked in everybody. I thought about Krish. They were likely to be a liability. At this point, if I were smart, I'd cut them off. … But I wouldn't. And... I wouldn't come to regret this decision until much later. …  Well now, isn't this just an interesting little scenario we've found ourselves looking in on? Krish and Vels, we've really got some characters close to the ground who can hear what's really up in Panthea. Always appreciated, always appreciated. People's views are always inextricably linked to their position in life, no getting around that. Having a perspective removed from any position of power or information may, paradoxically, get one closer to seeing the truth of things. ...Just my two cents, at any rate. At the very least, we get to follow a character who can kick some rear end. In our modern and civilized society, fighting is a skill undervalued, despite it historically being key. I applaud Vels for not letting the dying art of martial combat die out.  Us fighters need to band together, you hear? And good on the Duats for providing some generic thugs to beat down on. Unabashed evil is also underrated. It really helps provide some guilt-free targets to punish and abuse. I mean, we all crave the suffering of others. It's human nature, the greatest form of schadenfreude! But since most of us are 'moral' creatures, watching innocent people suffer tingles our guilt receptors. But, if they're bad people, we can watch their suffering with pleasure! How convenient. Thank you, Duats. ...Well, I suppose not all Duats. For instance, Yi seems like a good bloke... if you ask Krish. Ask Vels, Yi is just as shady as any other two-bit gangster. Vels might not have a lot of faith in Krish's judgment capabilities... but then again, isn't that the arrogance of Vels? Krish has known Yi far longer than Vels, why wouldn't they have the best understanding of the situation? Skepticism is healthy, but an excessive dose is called paranoia, and Vels's worldview is bordering on that. ...Of course, I also don't think paranoia is a negative either, but let's just roll with common sensibilities for a moment. So, the question is thus: to trust Yi, or not to trust Yi? Do you think Yi has Krish's best interests in mind? No, he isn't trustworthy. Aw. What a sad world you must live in. But okay, guess accepted. Now... Let's bet on that fact! Oh come on, you had to see this coming. This is the perfect time to cast a bet! So come on, let us gamble some chips away. How much will you be betting?30% of the votes said that Yi was trustworthy, so we'll be betting 9 chips here. Ah, that feels nice. It feels nice to have a proper bet going, to establish stakes. Okay then. Let us continue. Next update, it's time for us to meet "Olif"... Mix. fucked around with this message at 01:09 on Jul 19, 2023 |
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Jul 18, 2023 01:27
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I think Yi does have Krish's best interests in mind... but whoever told him where Krish was for that lunch definitely doesn't.
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Jul 18, 2023 01:43
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Well, if Yi really did leave to become an ethics professor, and then came back involved in a gang, then he had to have been up to something for the Duats to get their claws in him. Honestly, I'd say we don't trust Yi at this point. Nothing that we've learned makes him seem trustworthy. However, I do think Yi does have Krish's best interests in mind. He's fond of Krish, at least. I'm just not sure if that's enough at this point.
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Jul 18, 2023 01:53
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The dude in a suit with a big old coat, gloves in a diner, and a big old scar on his face; the man who says he totally doesn't do any real wet work. Yeah, he seems totally trustworthy. Kriah seems like an excellent judge of character, and Yi totally will look out for him.
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Jul 18, 2023 02:14
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FoolyCharged posted:The dude in a suit with a big old coat, gloves in a diner, and a big old scar on his face; the man who says he totally doesn't do any real wet work. Yeah, he seems totally trustworthy. Kriah seems like an excellent judge of character, and Yi totally will look out for him. 
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Jul 18, 2023 02:58
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Whether Yi has Krish’s interests at heart is immaterial. Yi has already said he’s been forced to do things he doesn’t want to do because he has “no choice”. The wisest choice is not to trust him. It’s possible he might have some change of heart and heroic redemption after betraying people, but the chances of him being trustworthy the entire time are basically zero.
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Jul 18, 2023 07:05
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I don't think that Yi has Krish's best interests in mind. He doesn't have anything against them and if their interests happened to align, he'd be on Krish's side for sure, but if Yi said only one truthful thing during this entire exchange, it's that he looks out for himself first and foremost. If his interests require him to betray Krish, he will betray them.
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Jul 18, 2023 08:23
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FoolyCharged posted:The dude in a suit with a big old coat, gloves in a diner, and a big old scar on his face; the man who says he totally doesn't do any real wet work. Yeah, he seems totally trustworthy. Kriah seems like an excellent judge of character, and Yi totally will look out for him. Them. Look out for them.
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Jul 18, 2023 08:27
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Yi isn't trustworthy and made it more or less clear that, no matter what he wants, the Duats come first. He's fond of Kris and might do what he thinks will best help them, accounting for the Duats and the city's whole everything. Ultimately, however, Yi doesn't have Krish's best interests at heart because the Duats come first, and Yi himself second.
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Jul 18, 2023 18:46
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Cloacamazing! posted:I don't think that Yi has Krish's best interests in mind. He doesn't have anything against them and if their interests happened to align, he'd be on Krish's side for sure, but if Yi said only one truthful thing during this entire exchange, it's that he looks out for himself first and foremost. If his interests require him to betray Krish, he will betray them. This exactly.
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Jul 18, 2023 19:38
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Yi is not to be trusted. That entire conversation was a bit too convenient, and Krish is extremely naïve if they think Yi is merely a good guy in a bad spot. Also, since I just caught up and missed the earlier chapters: it's too late to vote but I'm pretty sure the guy killed outside was killed first. The police arrested a culprit after one of the murders, only to discover that he couldn't have committed any of the other murders, and claimed not to know about staging related to the poem. Given there's no apparent connection otherwise between the victims, the easiest conclusion to draw is that who they were didn't matter; the person messing with the bodies just wants to establish a pattern. The nature of the murder in the mansion means that it's virtually impossible to have messed with the scene after the fact, and the only reason I can think of to go through that much trouble to set up a pattern like that is to draw people to the wrong conclusion. Meaning the guy outside was almost certainly killed first.
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Jul 18, 2023 21:16
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Cloacamazing! posted:I don't think that Yi has Krish's best interests in mind. He doesn't have anything against them and if their interests happened to align, he'd be on Krish's side for sure, but if Yi said only one truthful thing during this entire exchange, it's that he looks out for himself first and foremost. If his interests require him to betray Krish, he will betray them. Seconding this, don't trust Yi. Krish naively blurting out their opposition to Duat and barging right into poo poo was painful to watch. No one with a shred of self-preservation would want to let themselves be invested in Krish's well-being.
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Jul 18, 2023 21:22
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Not a huge fan of Vels' perspective so far. It's been mostly NPCs expositioning to each other while he stands in the background thinking to himself.
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Jul 18, 2023 21:29
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No, he isn't trustworthy. Aw. What a sad world you must live in. But okay, guess accepted. Now... Let's bet on that fact! Oh come on, you had to see this coming. This is the perfect time to cast a bet! So come on, let us gamble some chips away. How much will you be betting? 30% of the votes said that Yi was trustworthy, so we'll be betting 9 chips here. Ah, that feels nice. It feels nice to have a proper bet going, to establish stakes. Okay then. Let us continue.Next update, it's time for us to meet "Olif"...
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Jul 19, 2023 01:09
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It feels kinda weird to have a bet right before a cut-off point. Might be better when actually playing it (I guess it's to entice you to keep playing as that perspective, as Vels did very little so far).
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Jul 19, 2023 01:18
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ApplesandOranges posted:It feels kinda weird to have a bet right before a cut-off point. Might be better when actually playing it (I guess it's to entice you to keep playing as that perspective, as Vels did very little so far). Every bet in the game besides the intro one is at the end of a "card", so that's going to be the case for the whole LP
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Jul 19, 2023 01:30
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Yeah, I don't know much about Vels at all after that arc. We learned much more about the detective and got a glimpse of what the gambler wanted. But I would have chosen to trust Yi w.r.t. Krish. We'll see what happens.
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Jul 19, 2023 01:43
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We got a great glimpse of what Vels wanted. They want to keep a low profile, be left alone and stay the hell out of this. Unfortunately, they also have an idiot for a friend so...
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Jul 19, 2023 04:32
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 [BGM: Pip Count]  loving reposts. I've seen that one like a dozen times. Where were the mods? ...Whatever. Next page. …Come on!  That took like seven seconds. Why were Kamapa's servers so painfully slow? They were, like, one of the biggest social media platforms. The fact that their site was still seemingly duct-taped together was pretty loving pathetic. ...Whatever. Some link to an old band nobody gives a poo poo about... some girl recovered from cancer, aw, boo hoo, whatever. A neat picture probably found off of Google... A dog. Oh, thank God, this user shared their picture of a dog. I really appreciate getting to see this specific dog. It's not like there are a hundred goddamn dog pics posted to this hellsite every day Jesus Christ. It astounded me the poo poo people thought was worth posting about. Wasn't there like a rule about low-effort posting? ...Whatever. Oh, what's this? Dang, somebody did a whole stop-motion routine with their clothes. Unoriginal, but still impressive if for nothing else but the sheer amount of time that must've been poured into setting all of this up. Honestly, it seemed a little pathetic. Who had so much time to be wasting it on things like that? …Okay, okay, so maybe it didn't look like I was exactly doing something of great importance either. Pot calling the kettle black and all. Look, I worked a lot, okay? Thankless work. And, more importantly, it was good to stay informed as to current trends. This was all a part of my process. So, yeah, maybe to the untrained eye, making GBS threads around on Kamapa didn't exactly look like a productive use of time. But I knew what I was doing. Anyways, it was just for a bit of time every day. It's not like I was spending... hours on it, or anything... Let's see... someone said something dumb on Pyrim, no surprise there. Oh, what's this? It was a news article. ”Olympo acquires Bragi-docio, a chain of record stores. The chain mostly operated within Panthea. Is this just another step on the path to Olympo creating a total monopoly of commerce in Panthea? And is this actually a good business strategy? See what our experts have to say on the matter!” Dang, another one? I wanted to learn more.  I clicked on the link, and got taken to some online news site. I tried scrolling down on the article, and instantly was blocked by a pop up. “Please disable your Ad Blocker.” loving, fine. I turned it off, refreshed, and instantly the entire screen was covered with garbage. Yeah, okay, not worth it. I could guess the answers were Yes and Yes.  I clicked off and looked at the comments on Panthea.  tl;dr Deisma says some poo poo about how music is 'close to his heart', whatever that means. Business goons then somehow both say that we're not in danger of a Olympo monopoly and that them creating a monopoly is a genius business strategy. 0/10 article, site sucks, would not recommend.  My favorite part about this whole article is this specific quote: Art Deisma, current CEO of Olympo, had this to say about the acquisition. 'It was motivated by my deep love of music. For me, music has always had a special place in my heart. I have a lot of fond memories about music, and I like to put it on whenever I'm feeling down.' Like, no poo poo he likes music. Everybody likes music. The fact that they thought that was worth keeping in the article... smh In response to that comment...  “Ah, yes, I two like your muzac. It is pleasing to my human ears.” Also in response to that comment, though with far more dislikes...  not even the loving quote bro. how hard is it to just copy c copy v? Another comment captured the vibe quite succinctly.  eat the rich  drat, I liked Bragi-docio. last time I go there tho lol  Honestly, we should've seen this coming. Remember the Bragi-docio CEO's Pyrim comments about Governor Aija? About how she didn't have the 'right temperature to govern'? In response to that.  oof. did he actually say that? Yeah, but he deleted the posts hours later and never apologized, so not as many people know about it. honestly i'm surprised it took this long for the shoe to drop if that's the case.  I was tired of the typical Kamapa hive mind at work, so I decided to poke the nest a bit.  why are so many people mad about this? my local Brag shop loving sucked lol at least with this they might get the funding to do their job right.  Well, we'd see if anyone took that bait later. As I exited back to the main page, a song I had heard for the hundredth time began to play. Okay, I was officially sick of my own playlist. This is what I got for not updating it frequently enough. I had been burned out on my own songs. What to listen to, then? I had heard some good things about this up and coming artist known as Talei. I decided to put on a shuffle of her biggest hits. Back to scrolling on Kamapa. Repost... repost... ooh, a sketch. I opened the video to find a pretty unfunny joke about some celebrity gossip I hadn't been keeping up with. Just great. I opened up the comments just to try and find anyone who agreed with me.  Honestly, you could tell me that was actually Collin Mayers and I'd have believed you.  lmaoo how does this guy not have more followers? is this guy still making videos? Yeah, that was a dead end. overrated imo. also, afaik weren't those rumors proven untrue? pretty hosed up if you ask me to joke about false allegations. just saying.  Back to the main page. Ooh, a nice sketch of a dog and a cat. It was done in this really cool pointillist style. ...Pointillist style? I think that was the right art term... but to be honest, my knowledge was sketchy. I gave the post a like and went to the comments to leave some praise.  Wow, what a great and original picture! /s Seriously, you couldn't go past the front page of Google Images? Ffs. [Link to what I'm talking about.] Oh god drat it, another art theft? What did these people get out of this? I turned my like to a dislike and went back to the main page. ...God, what was that screech? Okay, gently caress this – Talei, you're officially not for me. Back to my playlist. It might be rote, but at least it wasn't poo poo. Had I got any responses to my comment on the Olympo article? That felt sufficiently inflammatory, and the post was recent enough. [BGM: Dummy]  I opened my inbox in another tab. Sure enough, it looked like I had some responses. I clicked on the link that took me to my comment. As expected, it was already in the negatives on the like ratio. Now, what were people saying?  Bootlicker. That was the most liked response. I quickly drafted up a response to that. another S-tier response from the commies lmaoo. What other replies did I get?  I'm surprised you had that experience with Bragi-docio. Honestly, part of the reason I was so disheartened by this news was because I've loved Bragi-docio. I've been there since I was a kid, and have some really fond memories. Back in the third grade, I was going through some rou– This story did not deserve a loving paragraph and I wasn't going to read it. What else? Looks like the Olympo Defense Squad is still out in full force lol. I've never got why people like this exist. Like, they seem too stupid that they shouldn't know how to use this site? i'm not defending poo poo jackass i'm asking a question. the fact you couldn't explain F A proves you don't know what the hell you're talking about either.  Any other responses?  It's not like Olympo acquiring companies on the face of things is bad. However, the problem is that when a single company gets this big they start to act lovely. Something's power = how hosed up it will become. Not a fan of Olympo getting more powerful. It's already a complete shitshow, imagine what happens next. Finally, an actually intelligent response. complete shitshow? clearly not if it's big enough to be acquiring everything lol. also that equivalency isn't a real argument, it's not even based in anything. And, finally, at the bottom of the pile of responses. THANK YOU. so loving sick of the Kamapa hive mind. these morons get mad at everything and can't handle diverse thought. ...All right, that was probably enough of that. Back to the main page.  Scrolling, scrolling. Ooh, a Gambler's Fallacy sequel? I loved the first film. Had a bunch of inaccuracies, but what can you do? Another article on that recent double homicide... yawn. Next page. Somebody said something stupid on Pyrim, and somebody else made a very insightful retort. Cool, cool, very funny. Another article headline... ”Governor Aija passes revolutionary prison reform bill. First of its kind, it seeks to massively reform many of the issues facing the prison system.” Well, that sounds pretty cool. Good for Aija. I clicked on the link to the article, just to skim through it. [BGM: Trick Score]  Luckily, this one was published by The Oracle, who didn't do the stupid pop up thing. The article was way too long to actually be read, so let's just try and see the main points. Improved conditions... Parole system rework... Eliminating bias... Critics apparently claim it doesn't go far enough or it's too little too late, surprise surprise there. Approval rating rose in response... Yeah, all right, just seemed like a pretty cool thing. Rare to get positive stories in politics. Nice when it happens. This'll help people, I'm sure. What did the comments think of this one, though? This I was actually interested to see – opinion on Aija seemed to be somewhat split. Oddly enough, on a local scale she was less liked than she was on a national one. That tended to be the exact opposite of what normally happened. That said, Kamapa had this feature where it tried to prioritize local users and stories in your feed. So I was more likely to get news and images and whatnot related to Panthea, and I was more likely to see comments by Panthean users. According to the creator, it was something about trying to help 'foster communities and create connections'. It was a gimmick, as far as I was concerned. I mean, on the news side, it was useful to be naturally fed more topical articles instead of either just getting national or international news or defaulting to a specific Panthean feed.  Anyways, time to see where people's heads were at. This is actually really encouraging to hear! I have an uncle who's currently imprisoned, and I hear a lot of horror stories from him. I know we have a tendency to dehumanize criminals, but most are there for non-violent crimes, and fundamentally they're all humans too. Great steps forward in the right direction. Another comment had a bit more of a bleak take.  woow, a 'humanist' law coming out right around election season. right on schedule. Aija's a loving hack and any1 falling for her poo poo a sheep. #BachOrBust. Has anyone actually bothered reading through the changes? Like, don't get me wrong, they're deffo a step in the right direction. But they don't really get to the heart of the issue. Whoever wrote this up is either a bit daft, or doesn't really gaf.  weird how Aija's very clearly changed her tune. anyone else remember the last time we heard her talking about prisons and stuff? I remember. Link for anybody interested: [Bloop]. Huh, I wonder what this guy was talking about? Intrigued, I clicked on the link. I was taken to another article. Panthea's Prisons are appalling; Aija's silence damning. Woah, okay, strong title. Let's see if they could back that talk up.  I quickly skimmed through some key-seeming sentences in the article. Panthea has a fairly large prison population. Specifically, it has one of the highest prisoner-to-citizen ratios in the entire country. Much of this is likely due to the city's long and inextricably linked history with organized crime. For decades, Panthea has seemingly been a breeding place for violent gangs. There are several reasons why the city could be such a hotbox for this sort of activity. For one, its location as a portside city has made it a prime location for illegal smuggling by seaside. It also is an incredibly urban area, with a high income inequality gap. Whatever the reason for these gangs, the fact of the matter is they've led to Panthean prisons being fairly cramped. However, not until a recent undercover operation was it revealed just how miserable those living conditions have been. It appears in a bid to cut costs, several things that seem like basic rights have been restricted, or otherwise compromised. Then it goes into some boring details. Bad conditions for criminals, injustice is bad, yadda yadda. Okay, picking up where Aija is giving her quote. “Obviously, we're looking into the situation independently. However, from the evidence that's been presented, I believe it is quite a stretch to claim that any human rights have been infringed. True, prisoners may not get the same treatment as customers of a fancy hotel. But I give the people every assurance that Panthea looks out for every citizen, regardless of circumstances. I am more than certain that Warden Pei has been doing her best to run a clean operation.” She continues to waffle for a bit longer, and eventually the author cuts to the point. It is difficult to take Governor Aija at her word, however. After all, it was she herself who helped get Mrs. Cammie Pei to the position of prison warden. Aija's denial, and refusal to take action on the situation, comes more across as a carefully calculated move to limit damage than a sincere one. Looking at her past, this isn't the first example of this type of behavior from Ms. Aija... which raises a very fundamental, if frightening, question: Can we believe in our current administration? drat. After finishing the article, I was left just a little bit stunned. I mean, don't get me wrong, it was a well-written article. From what I read, anyways. Had a lot of, uh, facts, lots of citations and the like. Raised interesting points. Made those points well. Took a combative, yet respectful stance. By all means, it was an example of some stellar journalism. However... that's what sort of made me confused. You could take the article how you wanted, but very clearly this was a directed attack at Governor Aija. At least partially, at any rate. And yet, looking at the site I was reading, the article was from The Oracle. 'The Oracle' was a lot of things, but the one thing I thought it was fairly consistent on was its support of Governor Aija. I mean, yeah, this article was from some time ago. But still, I wasn't aware that The Oracle had changed so much in a relatively short period of time. It was my impression that it had been staying the course for years, at the very least. Who wrote this thing, anyways? I scrolled up to the top of the page and found my answer. Oh. Well, that explains some things. [BGM: Silence]  This article was written by Jacy Nazea. I already knew her quite well. As opposed to a lot of the other staff, she had written a number of fairly edgy and controversial pieces. Many aimed at the establishment. ...I decided I felt like going down a little bit of a rabbit hole. Not that I expected much to come of it. But who knows, just going down internet searches from time to time could be, at the very least, cathartic. And in rare cases, useful. [BGM: Doubling Cube]  I clicked to The Oracle's main page. There, I found a link to a page about the site's staff. It was a list of names, faces, and short bios. ...A lot shorter list than I would've expected. The Oracle is a decently big news site, especially in Panthea itself. I guess they just had a lot of hard workers. At the top of the list was one familiar face. Kane Shay, Editor in Chief Kane Shay is the founder of The Oracle. He has made it his mission ever since he was young to bring the truth to the people. Ever since he was young, he was fascinated by politics and current events. That interest culminated in the creation of The Oracle, a news site dedicated to looking at all stories, no matter how large or small. Kane Shay currently lives in the heart of urban Panthea, working hard to bring in the freshest scoops. Shay does not have any living family, and is not in a relationship; he says that his true love is journalism. No family, huh? That reminded me of something. ...Oh, right, Kane's parental past. I had definitely heard something about that on Kamapa at some point. Still couldn't remember specifics, though.  I looked up 'Kane Shay parents' online in a separate tab. A number of articles popped up. Let's see... give me the goods... I clicked on a random one. 'Recent tragedy in Panthea... Daniel Shay murdered his wife Saria in a fit of passion... Early reports claim Daniel also intended to murder his son, but was unable to locate him...' Seriously? Holy poo poo, that's hosed up. 'Daniel was killed in a firefight with the police during his arrest...' Yeah, that was enough about that. Seemed messy, poor Kane, yadda yadda. That probably scarred him some way, bad. My gut told me that that incident was, in some way, connected with why Kane ultimately ended up being so infatuated with Governor Aija, but no idea how. ...I had gotten side tracked. I went back to the staff list.  I looked around for the name Jacy. ...And I wasn't able to find it. So, at some point she was removed from the staff list? I supposed that made some amount of sense. But that wasn't particularly helpful to me. I opened a new tab and opened up a website that could travel back in time, digitally speaking. Let's see how far back I'd have to go to see her on the staff list. Longer than a month... Longer than three months... It took me eight months before I saw a notable change. ..There she was. Jacy Nazea, Investigative Journalist I read over her bio, but it all seemed like typical filler fluff. Jeez. Why had she even worked for The Oracle in the first place? She seemed pretty opposed to a lot of what they believed. Felt like a match of oil and water to me. But hey, people had reasons for what they did. For The Oracle, it probably helped their public perception to have at least one author who had an opposing belief from the rest of the staff. If you wanted to be generous, you could even say that they wanted to remove their bias by hiring her. And, for Jacy's part, there were also some good reasons. For one, it was a paying gig, which didn't hurt. And if she believed in what she wrote, which she definitely did, The Oracle had a decent readership. Writing for them got her work in front of a lot of eyes. ...I guess the arrangement did make sense, now that I was thinking about it more. I decided to look up Jacy Nazea online. … ...Yeah, as expected. I was mostly getting articles written by her.  I only found a single article about her actual disappearance. I remember the article getting to the front of Kamapa, so I expected that the story was reasonably well known. ...At the very least, that there'd be more stuff talking about it. I mean, Jacy was at least somewhat in the public eye. You'd have to think people cared at least somewhat what happened to her. Well... might as well reread that one article, anyways. It had been a while since I'd saw it. Hmm... Yeah, skimming through, not a lot of details. “Unclear what happened to her... Coworkers reported her missing... Signs she fled from her apartment... Police consider it an ongoing investigation...At present, no body has been found...” I had to imagine that last aspect hadn't changed. No matter what, if a journalist turned up dead, somebody would've said something. As it stands, maybe this hadn't gotten much media attention because it might look like she simply left town. That's what some of the evidence seemed to imply, based on the article. But if a body was ever found, then it'd turn into a murder case. So, probably this was all that was ever found out about Jacy Nazea's disappearance. That... still felt weird, though. Even without a body... for someone to just disappear... No, not just somebody. There were a lot of 'somebodies' who disappeared in Panthea. But a journalist? One with multiple controversial takes? There had to be some people who wanted to know more about that. Why hadn't The Oracle published an article about this? Or even a statement? Had they? Looking around, I couldn't find one. Hm.  I changed tabs back to my comment on the Olympo article. Odds were, I got at least one more response to one of my replies. ...Sure enough, the most level-headed of the commenters I had run into gave me another reply. My equivalency might not be literal fact, but it's basically fact. Every single example in history supports that rule. And not just cos Olympo as a company is doing well doesn't mean that its' not hosed. Let me tell you: Olympo is going down a proper shady path atm. There's rampant abuse of power, a toxic company culture. Employees are the subject of abuse all of the time. So, yeah, I think my point stands. Abuse of power? Now this felt like an interesting line to pursue. Let's see if we couldn't try and push for a bit more information. Given the temperament, and likely position, of this user, just asking for more straight up would be a fool's errand. However, if I gave them a push... employee abuse lol how many times are we going to hear that w no proof? grow up. everybody hates their job. just because your pay's poo poo and your hours are poo poo doesn't mean you're being abused. anyways obvious bias is obvious lemme guess, you were fired? That should probably do it.  I tabbed back into my other search. I didn't believe that there wasn't any other credible coverage of the Jacy situation. I decided to scrounge around a bit more. After going down the search results for a bit... I did notice something interesting. A link to a post from a blog site entitled ”Panthean Heaven”. ...All right. I'll bite. I opened the link... and immediately I was somewhat appalled by what I was seeing.
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Jul 19, 2023 23:59
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quote:A dog. Oh, thank God, this user shared their picture of a dog. I really appreciate getting to see this specific dog. It's not like there are a hundred goddamn dog pics posted to this hellsite every day Jesus Christ. It astounded me the poo poo people thought was worth posting about. We're playing as a complete monster.
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Jul 20, 2023 02:57
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Themis understands how Reddit works. And how the mind of your average Redditor works, for that matter.
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Jul 20, 2023 03:01
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wow, four lines in and I already hate this prick and dread having to slog through more of their POV. if that was the intended effect, it sure did succeed
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Jul 20, 2023 04:07
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We started off so well with Laverna and Lock too but the last two perspectives haven't been that fun so far. But I guess this is pretty much just 'Kane's life, from different points of view' so the idea is interesting, just gotta see how the execution pays off.
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Jul 20, 2023 04:58
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Yeah, this person is dreadful, but I never thought I'd see this type of perspective narrated. It's refreshing, and I'm glad we're going to rotate to someone else after the next update.
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Jul 20, 2023 07:07
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Judging by the hashtag, the Bach we saw briefly at the end of Lock's chapter is Aija's political rival. Keeping the gods theme I guess that would make him Bacchus?
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Jul 20, 2023 15:07
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 [BGM: Dance]  Holy poo poo. Was I in the last decade or something? The user interface of this poo poo was pretty not great. Gold and black background with green text and an uuuugly font. Oh boy. It was... a little bit charming, but moreso annoying. It definitely ruled out the 'credible' article idea in my mind. But... might as well read through it. Going through it, I realized this wasn't really anything special. The post pretty much talked about everything the initial article said. It also talked about Jacy's past works in journalism, speaking about her in fairly high regard. At the end though, it did make an interesting point. It echoed my concerns about why nobody was talking about it. However, they took it a step further. They claimed that this was part of a coverup. The reason that people weren't talking about it was because the people in power didn't want this to be talked about. Hm, so there were people who said things like this, huh? Unfortunately, as much as I'd love to believe the author held incredible truths about Panthea's nature, the delivery was all... wrong. Sloppy, conspiratorial, speaking without evidence or direction. No, no this was pure speculation on the article's part. I was intrigued with the site, though. I decided to click onto the main homepage. ...It certainly made the whole 'biblical' angle of the site's theming more blatant. Most of the homepage just showed recent posts, typical stuff. However, there was a certain message emblazoned at the top in blocky gold letters that... well, kind of spoke for itself. WALLED OFF BY ITS GOLDEN GATES, PANTHEA POSES AS A HEAVEN. IN TRUTH, IT IS RULED BY AN ALL MIGHTY POWER – A GOD. THE GOD OF PANTHEA HAS BLINDED THE MASSES AND CONTROLS THE CITY. THIS SITE IS THE ONLY ONE WHICH CAN REACH THE TRUTH HIDDEN AWAY BEHIND GOLD LOCKS.  ...Okay then. That was... certainly a take, I supposed. Felt vaguely cultish. But, hey. Cults were interesting. If I was looking to kill time, I could do a lot worse than poking around here. There was something always amusing to me about crazy conspiracies and such. Like, they weren't real or anything. But they were a fun example of human creativity. I decided to click the About Us button to try and get a more formalized version of what this site's thesis was. And, indeed, the button led to a paragraph of text. However, before I read anything else, my eyes caught the name of the author. The Devil. ...Okay then. I liked that, I could dig the Satanic vibe. So, 'Devil', blow me away.  Have you ever felt like something wasn't right about Panthea? Ever felt like you were going crazy, seeing patterns that didn't connect? Ever wonder why this place could be so full of contradictions? Why, to the world, we could look like a saintly place, and yet at the same time be a hellhole to the citizens? Why gangs have never seemed to leave? What if I told you that this wasn't haphazard? These weren't just coincidences. This was a calculated conspiracy. I know, I know, this sounds crazy. I mean, I'm literally using the word 'conspiracy' to describe it. But, if you're reading this, I think you're the type to look beyond such surface descriptions. I trust you're intelligent enough to hear me out. You see, as a long time resident of Panthea, I've been collecting information for decades. And there are patterns you can find. Information that doesn't get advertised. And maybe one, maybe two, maybe five of these things on their own could be meaningless. But all culminated? At some point, it's beyond coincidence. The same people, same families, same groups have thrived in this city for decades. They are unimpeachable. While the city looks chaotic, it's actually quite organized. While we fight amongst ourselves, people prosper. This isn't a mistake. When you look at the evidence, it becomes clear that we are mere chess pieces, being moved around by a great hand. A God. The God of Panthea, the one controlling all the strings. They shape this city to their desires. Our lives are their mere whims. Intrigued? Then enter this site. I have taken great efforts to catalogue all the minor details, small patterns, all the things that God hopes we will ignore. And through this, I hope to expose this God of Panthea. To dethrone them. To this end, I have taken up a fitting name. I am the Devil of Panthea. Read more, and you'll soon see that joining my Satanic Army is the only correct option. [BGM: Crawford Game]  Wow. I mean... wow. I'll give the Devil this, they knew how to entertain. Sure, it felt like a grade schooler's idea of prose. But the Devil had me hooked – it was a solid premise. I'd read a novel based on this idea. But... somehow I doubted I should be taking all this too seriously. ...Well, what did I know? I decided to get a second opinion. I looked up the site's name, wondering if anybody had bothered to look into this person. And, to my surprise... somebody had bothered to look into this site.  I found an article written for The Oracle. Hm. I wondered for a second. Clicking on the article, I looked at the author's name. ...No, not a name I recognized. Just one of the standard employees. Well... while I was here, might as well read through this article. ...It told me pretty much what I expected. 'The Devil' wasn't exactly a credible investigator into corruption. The article pointed out how numerous of the site's posts just straight up contained factual errors. It also talked about how other posts seemed to misunderstand basic logical fundamentals, like cause and effect or how probability worked. It mentions that because so much happens in Panthea, The Devil has a lot to pull from to try and make arguments. The article then theorizes that The Devil, judging by some of his posts, is probably just some disgruntled lower-class worker who couldn't accept that their place in life was their own fault. ...All right, showing a bit of that Oracle bias at the end there. Finally, the author concludes that the site is not just stupid but actively dangerous. The ill-conceived propaganda may be obviously nonsense to us, but the author sounds convincing enough. You never know what sort of empty person will take these writings at face value and do something stupid. I.. had to agree on that last part. Maybe viewing this site as 'some fun time waster' was underselling it. Maybe it was even disrespectful. The Devil was clearly deeply deluded, and likely leading others astray as well. ...But I mean. It did also act as a good way to kill time. So there was that. I decided to look through the site some more.  There was a decent array of articles to sort through. They were, at the very least, entertaining. And, not for nothing, a little bit interesting. Better written than I'd expected. And informative. Hmm... You know, maybe writing this guy off completely wasn't such a good idea. Now now, to be clear, in no way was I being brainwashed into believing some stupid conspiracy about a city God. I was very self aware about this. Just, you know... The Devil raised some good points. If you looked past the sloppiness and franticness, there was actually quite a lot of value to be read in this articles. If nothing else, it was a good reminder of how hosed up things were. But, I don't know... there were certain situations I looked at and thought 'Yeah, you know, he makes a decent point.' Like, there were definite connections. The Governor certainly shouldn't have the power to appoint the Chief of Police, that definitely seemed prime for corruption. And just directly looking at crime statistics, yeah, Olympo should be hurting a lot more than they are. And, what was the deal with these new servers being built all around town? Why can't we find out more about them? ...Some of the stories were straight up dumb. Like, The Devil reported on this one rumor about someone seeing this female police officer putting on a jet black mask at night. That one felt like someone was just yanking his chain. And there was this one story about an underground network of homeless people that smuggled things underneath the city? Think i'd know about that if that was happening. So, like I said, it was hit or miss. But, you know, at the very least, it got me interested. Whether or not he was drawing the right conclusions, it was clear at the very least that The Devil had quite a bit of information. Something also caught my eye while going through the articles. The Devil made... frequent calls to action. Specifically, about getting in touch with him if you had any information or if you wanted to 'join the Satanic Army'. A CONTACT' button was glowing gold to the left of all the articles as well, so clearly it was something this person prioritized. So then, you know: why not take him up on his offer? What's the harm?  I clicked the 'CONTACT' button. I don't know what I was expecting... but just being taken to a page with a single email address written out was a bit underwhelming. Whatever, I could work with it. I copied the email address. Then I opened my email account. ...And then I promptly closed it and opened up an alt. Probably an unnecessary precaution... but then again, judging by the character I was contacting, it couldn't hurt to be better safe than sorry. I pasted the email address and began thinking of a proper subject line.  'About the God of Panthea' probably worked, right? Now, what to say... If I wanted to get information out of him, it'd probably be best to bluff a bit. Just replying as a fan sounded boring. All right then... time to spin a bit of a story. Greetings, Devil. I recently stumbled across your website 'Panthean Heaven'. I have to say, I was impressed. While I have some issues with the claims you're presenting, you're clearly a very knowledgeable person. You seem like the type to give truths that others can't handle. I am a private investigator, and I'm trying to uncover some of the truths this city has hidden beneath the surface. I believe you might be a valuable source of information. I'd like to pick your brain on a few matters. If it's not any trouble, that is. Hope this message reaches you in good health. Olif. ...Yeah, that sounded about right. For someone like this, a message like this would absolutely work. I read over my message one more time to make sure everything looked good, then hit the send button. Cool, cool, cool. Interesting to see how that pans out. [BGM: Golden Point]  I decided to check back in on the comment thread re: the Olympo thing. Ah, looks like I got a response. Oh, and an angry one, too! Fun. Let's see... Nice guess, arsehole, but completely wrong. Good to know you're just the presumptuous prick I thought you were, though. For whatever it's worth, I'm actually a fairly high ranking member within the company right now. That's why I can say for 100% certain that the company is currently in an absolutely dreadful place. And, that's why I care about it so much. I know for certain there's a guy at the same level as me that routinely treats women very inappropriately. But the company won't do anything about it because he's a competent earner. On the other side of things, the CEO has recently been 'suggesting but really demanding' people take a lot of overtime. And the whole corporate culture, it's intentionally kept very tense and combative. I know for a fact managers of lower divisions are specifically instructed to not let people get too content or connected. I suspect that last touch might be a hollow effort to try and prevent unions from popping up. So yeah, mic drop. Get bent, mate. Oh, wasn't this the cheeky reply. I liked it, I really did. For a bit, I was starting to feel bad, thinking I was actually making somebody legitimately upset who was just trying to help. Good to know I was just having a back and forth with just another internet dipshit, like plenty of other times. ...Not a particularly smart internet dipshit, I had to say. I mean, really, you think a high ranking member of Olympo would be spending their time arguing on Kamapa threads? Get real. If they had gone for a low-level worker, maybe I would've bought it. But nah, this person was bullshitting. And I knew how to call them out on it. wow, what a load of horseshit. didnt want to say this, but as a matter of fact i'm actually an employee of Olympo, high ranking one 2. and that's how i know those examples you gave are total bullshit. i don't even have the faintest idea what you're talking about. art has certainly not been pushing for more overtime as of late.  Aaaand send. That would probably set things straight. Or stir the beehive more, either or. I was going to move to another tab, but already I got a response. Wow, that was a quick one. I refreshed the page, and sure enough another comment had popped up. Wow, that's low, even for Kamapa. Alright, 'Olympo employee', what title do you hold? Which facility do you work at? What level clearance do you have? I'm pretty sure that last question was bait. In fact, the whole barrage had just been bait. Instead of shoring up their own position, they decided to go on the offensive. They were calling my bluff. They probably worked out I was bullshitting the same way I had figured they were. All right then, game on. I began typing my response. yeah ok sure im just gonna give personal details in public on a Kamapa thread lol. the fact you'd even ask me poo poo like that proves you dont know what the hell youre talking about. you think I want my boss catching wind of this convo? Send. There, that should sufficiently fend them off. After all, they'd likely switch to asking less personal questions. Those questions would either be the type that could easily be looked up, or the type that was completely unverifiable. Good luck cornering me like that. I pulled out my phone. I had things relating to my work I wanted to check on. Got lost in those details for a bit... After a brief pause, I decided to go back to the computer. I refreshed the page and expected a snide response. [BGM: Dance]  What I got... holy poo poo, seriously? Lmao, this you? [Link.] Reluctantly, I clicked on the link. And it took me to...  A Pyrim account. The profile picture was of a acne-ridden red head forcing an awkward smile. Bio: 'Waiter at Cassone's. Looking for my big break!' What... the gently caress. How the hell did this person get their hands on this profile? How much effort did they... for this pointless internet argument? They were really going to go all Matrix 'n poo poo for a conversation that barely anybody was paying attention to? hosed up, man, hosed up. You know what? I'm not gonna take this poo poo lying down. If you think doxxing is fair game, then let's loving go. I can tit-for-tat you all day. Hacking certainly wasn't my primary skill set, but I also wasn't rubbish at it. Let's see what we can do... [BGM: Doubling Cube]  Well, well, well. Look what we have here! Seems to me like we've got ourselves a little minigame on our hands. A hacking minigame, to be specific! Goodie. I always wished I was good with technology stuff. Always thought it would be cool. Sure as hell would be useful... eh, but I've got people for that. But it appears our hero here has no such luck! They must valiantly go it alone! But... how? Well, let me show you how hacking works with a little example! Right, we're in. The hackosphere. The netaverse. The cybersphere. ...or some poor approximation of it, I suppose. Hey, don't get on my rear end for the graphics, running this whole thing's a lot of work! I had poo poo to do. Anyways, in front of us, we have the hacking grid. Right now, all 25 of these cybertiles are 'live'. Simply by clicking on them, you can 'kill' any of them. If you kill the right tiles then submit your answer, the hacking will be a success! Easy, right? ...Oh yeah, you've actually got to figure out what the right tiles are, huh? Yeah.. that's a wee bit more tricky. But no worries, it's all based off a simple set of rules. Let me show you how it's done. First of all – you're never going to have to kill a tile with a number on it. Just... put that thought out of your head. See, the number describes the size of its 'region'. A region is a group of live tiles which are directly connected – that is, to say, no diagonals. A region is, by its definition, surrounded by dead tiles. So, you see those puny '1' tiles? Pretty easy poo poo right there. Since their regions are only 1 large, not a lot of thought is needed to figure out our first move. There we go. Nice and isolated, as it should be. Now, here's the next important rule! Live tiles can only exist in a numbered region. No live tile stragglers allowed! I mean, that's just data that doesn't store any information – can you say redundant? Right now, I see two live tiles that can't possibly connect to a numbered region. Do you see 'em? Great. Let's kill them! Booyah! Double kill. Alright then, what's next? Oh, right! You also have to be careful about killing these cybertiles. Don't want to completely fry the mainframe. So you're also not allowed to have a 2x2 square of dead tiles. This rule can be a real pain in the rear end, so try not to let it trip you up. With this rule in mind, do you see what we need to do? Based off of the tiles we've already killed, there is now one tile we're not allowed to kill – the tile right above the upper '2'. But that's fine – we'll just incorporate that into the 2's live region. So then... let's create that region. Cool. What else, what else... there's something else I'm forgetting... Oh! Any live region can only have one number tile in it. Each number tile gets its own live region – a simple precaution to prevent the data overwriting. On the bottom row, that 2 and 3 are looking awfully friendly... can't have that, now can we? We should separate them by killing the tile between them. Oh – and if we do that, figuring out the region for the 2 tile should be pretty simple, huh? I'll just go ahead and do that for us. One final itsy bitsy thing to remember. I know, I know – last rule, I promise. All dead tiles must be directly connected, forming one large contiguous 'wall'. Because, uh... because hacker reasons. The dead tile separated the 2 and the 3 is currently disconnected. Let's quickly fix that little situation. And now, we're at the final stretch. One region left to create. No new rules to introduce, though, so you should be able to figure out the last step by yourself. Got it? Yes. Cool. I'd be worried for you if you didn't, being honest. See? It's simple. We can't kill the tile right above the 3, or else we'd be createing a 2x2 square of dead tiles. And we can't kill the tile to the right of the 3, because that dead tile would be disconnected from the dead wall. So, by process of elimination, the two tiles to kill – bringing the region to a mere 3 live tiles – are easy to spot. And huzzah! Each number has its own live region, each with the correct number of directly connected live tiles. All the dead tiles are directly connected, and there are no 2x2 dead squares. There are no live tiles outside of a numbered live region, and no live region has multiple numbered tiles within it. I think we can call that a job well done – all that's left to do is submit! So, that's that. Hacking tutorial completed. Now you 100% understand how to solve these puzzles. I mean, you got all that, right? I understand things, more or less. I find its always preferable to understand things more. But... I suppose it's a free country. Okay, now for the important question: how confident are you in solving these sorts of puzzles? Let's set the difficulty level. And just to be clear; that little doo-dad I just showed you? Baby poo poo. It's like, a fraction of the potential these bad boys might reach. Whatever your choice, you can't change it later, so make sure you're sure. I'm not scared. Give me hard! Hard mode, eh? You sure about that? All right, all right, I won't question you. You know best. All right, I've thoroughly killed the pacing, and I'm sure you just want me to shut up and let you get to hacking. Fair play. Go on ahead. Like the deduction minigame we were introduced to with Laverna, these are actual puzzles, so I can just spoiler the solution to give you guys a chance to solve it on your own if you want! Similar to the others, we'll get 7 chips each time. [You won 7 chips!] Oh? Oh?? Yes! Okay, hell yeah – I had a trace. [BGM: Dummy]  Now, let's see here... ...drat. I guess I stood corrected. The profile I was looking at was, indeed, a member of Olympo. Chara Tucker. Some chick who dyed her hair pink, from the look of this picture. How'd she get to that position in the company at so young an age? She must've been pretty intelligent. Which made it even weirder that she was spending her time having internet arguments with randos. ...No, not just arguments, doing legitimate hacking to prove a point. That's... sad. I went back to the thread and responded. Wow, Chara, doxxing? I expected better behavior from one of Olympo's Chief Directors. Send. Hopefully that should put a bit of fear into her. Serves her right. My eyes were then drawn to a little notification on one of my tabs. My alt email account had received a message. I tabbed over, and sure enough, The Devil had already responded. Sick! That was a fast response time. I guess he probably had a lot of free time. That tracks.  I opened the email, excited to see what he had to say. Olif. Thank you for your email. I am grateful that you reached out to me for your task. You couldn't have chosen a better person. It seems we share a common goal in trying to expose Panthea's true side to the larger world. I can see how some of my conclusions might appear strained, however. There's a lot of data to pore over, and simply many things we don't know. I'd love to hear some of your opinions on what's really going on. Perhaps we can compare notes. Up until now, this was about what I expected. But then, the email took a turn I didn't see coming. To be honest, I actually have more evidence that I haven't posted to the site. Incontrovertible evidence. It's not exactly the type of thing I feel confident sharing with the general public, given my current situation. However, if it would aid your investigation, I'd be happy to share it with you. ---The Devil Huh. That was, uh... huh. I leaned back in my chair, trying to consider what to make of that response. ...Almost fell off, due to my lovely chair. I then noticed I had a notification from another tab. I had gotten a direct message on Kamapa. Oooookay, let's see what this was about.  I moved over to that tab, and checked my messages. It was from Chara. If you know who I am, you should know better than anybody that what I was talking about was absolutely legitimate. I poured through your message history, and your true intent became pretty clear. You're just trolling to try and get reactions, right? Just bored? Well, let me fix that. Delete the last comment you made just now, keep my identity to yourself, and I can give you some real juicy poo poo about Olympo. … That was... a response. An interesting counterattack, I had to be honest. drat, my internet making GBS threads was really starting to produce results. Not one, but two people were offering some exclusive information – to me. And, for the first time, I had to ask myself. Did I actually want these answers? Kind of felt like I was getting in the middle of something completely else. If there was some sort of major conspiracy, like the Devil claimed, then getting this 'evidence' would be painting a pretty big target on my back. And, honestly, I didn't know how to approach the Chara situation at all. The deadlock we were at right now just felt weird to me. But I mean, hey, I was getting information. That's what I wanted. So what the hell, let's see what these people knew. Maybe dicking around on the Internet would end up being productive after all. … [BGM: Silence]  Isn't the internet a wonderful place? It's like a big masquerade party with an infinite number of attractions. The potential is, well, limitless! It's no exaggeration to call it a world unto itself. A bad world at times? For sure, for sure. A dangerous one, with pitfalls and villains and the like. At times, a strange and confusing one. Sometimes a wonderful world. But it's as much a new world as any alternate dimension. Which I guess makes our 'Olif' here an intradimensional adventurer? ...Well, let's not get too ahead of ourselves. Although, it's worth noting that they have seemingly stumbled into something bigger than themselves – two somethings, in fact! And you know what, let's table the Devil discussion, I'm sure we can talk about that sometime else. I'm more interested in what Ms. Tucker has to say. She's offering some, quote unquote, “real juicy poo poo” - enticing, to be sure. But do you think it's legit? I mean, really, think about it. Think about what sort of person we've seen so far. I think there's a pretty good chance that she's just taking the piss again. But, I dunno... maybe it's genuine. Say... why don't we bet on it? Is Chara genuinely reaching out? Or just going to engage in some “counter-trolling”? She's genuine. Okay, okay, I like that, I can see that. And, how much are you betting on that?Everyone collectively agreed that they think Chara is legit here, which makes this the first 100% vote of the LP! Now, it's not an option to bet 0% of our chips - Ez won't let us not bet - so what I'll be doing instead is betting an even 50% of the chips we have (rounded up) instead - which means, in this case, we'll be betting 14 chips. Alright, cool. Another bet in the books. Guess we'll see soon enough, eh? Next update, we move to the bottom row to meet our next perspective, Mercury! Mix. fucked around with this message at 04:05 on Jul 23, 2023 |
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Jul 22, 2023 00:55
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Suits don't understand trolling, like, as a rule. She's genuine.
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Jul 22, 2023 01:21
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Oh hey, it's Nurikabe! Was not expecting to see one of the puzzle categories I play on my phone sometimes to show up in an LP, but it's a novel enough source for a minigame, I suppose. As for the bet, this sort of lead is generally trustworthy in fiction on account of "the author wouldn't have taken the time to include it if it were a red herring", so I was thinking of voting no to be contrary, but AweStriker posted:Suits don't understand trolling, like, as a rule. She's genuine.
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Jul 22, 2023 01:27
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Chara is being genuine. Any counter-trolling will just cause Olif to expose her identity again, and Chara's already been proactively posting and airing grievances about Olympo.
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Jul 22, 2023 01:33
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I think it's real. It just doesn't make sense for her to counter-troll considering both her position and what she's been saying. I am a little concerned that she's giving this information to a troll like Olif, but maybe she's desperate to get this info out.
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Jul 22, 2023 01:37
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This is an awful POV character, but “The Devil raised some good points” is a great thread title. Anyway what Chara is doing is well... kind of dumb. Olif is some internet nobody and his word means jack, so she can just deny everything and say some rando is out to get her. If she passes him real information then any future accusations he makes hold a lot more weight because then he must have had a source on the inside. So giving him juicy info is just giving him more leverage. I can definitely buy that she has things she wants to reveal but has no avenue to do so, that’s the reason she’s posting about it on that site in the first place. But Olif seems like a particularly awful confidant, given that he has no interest in any of the underlying issues and antagonises people solely for his own amusement. And it’s not like he has any ability to publicise the issue or help her. The greatest help he could provide is forwarding her info to TheDevil, a character he met 30seconds ago and who he found on a random website. That said, for narrative reasons Chara is probably being genuine. An inside source who exists solely to pass the player fake information would be a waste of everyone’s time.
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Jul 22, 2023 08:57
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