>>3059586
From what Naomi said, you shouldn’t meet anyone and anyone you do meet shouldn’t be hostile. You hope at least. As you watch the wreckage drift past your ship, there’s something that spotted your eye. A small ship, newer than the rest of the junk lying about out here and is completely out of place. If you were a betting man, you’d say it’s one of the missing girl’s ships. Then again, you’ve lost a few bets. As you eye the small and expensive looking ship, you scan around the surroundings.

“Hey Naomi,” you say as you keep your eyes steady on the small shiny looking ship. It looks like a personal transport, something small but from what you can guess it’s probably fast enough to outrun most ships out here.

“Whaat?” she groans from the bed.

“I spotted something, it’s a ship.”

“Of course you did, we’re -- we’re in a ship graveyard,” she replies sluggishly. You roll your eyes and slip further into your seat. She doesn’t seem like she’s in a good mood or hasn’t been in a good mood since you found the wreckage of Coraline’s ship.

“No, I mean it’s different -- newer,” you say watching it as you change directions to check it out. It’s like it’s just sitting there in a clearing. As you near it, you notice the scoring on the sides as if metal scraped against metal. The ship looks like an expensive one too, like something you’d see used for transporting important personnel -- sticks out like a sore thumb out here. A an almost perfect circular hole cut into the side like a doorway into the nearly pristine wreckage. “Strange, I’d think someone would..”

Static rises from your comms system as a voice begins to start talking over it. It’s dry and coarse like gravel, “--hey -o -- ere.” the sound of something hitting the transmitter several times blasts through before the static clears up and a much larger ship comes into your view. Another voice, a younger voice, returns from the comms quieter and in the background, “--never thought it’ll work, Crow, I am truly--”

“Shut up,” the dry voice spits, “Ey flying junk there. You tryin’t poach on me shiny ship?”

Junk? you think as you look over the jury-rigged ship with mismatching engines and metal plates bolted onto the siding. If anything, their ship was flying junk -- it barely looks like it would fly. A large crow’s head engulfing a red star is painted on the side like some clan iconography. It’s not like you can really disagree with someone like this though. A massive behemoth of a ship, junk or not, would be anyone’s worst nightmare especially if they didn’t have any way to actually do anything. Your choices are limited and your time moreso.

(2/??)

>>3059587
“This thing on?” the voice croaks over the comms. You take your eyes off of the wreckage as you turn to Naomi, who now clearly awake and above you to your right, who is watching the newly appeared ship before turning to eye you. Her face is screwed up, though, it’s apparent whatever anger she had was still directed at you than anyone else.

“What did you do?” she accuses as her brow furrows and her face contorts. “I told you don’t touch anything, just avoid everything. Avoid. Everything. It’s not that hard to fly straight…”

“Hey, that ship looked import--”

“Yeah well..” she sighs, cutting you off before resigning as she leans back away from you. The two of you pause for a moment as the ships hang still. You look to Naomi and she gives you a questioning look, “Well? What are you looking at me for? I don’t know what we can do much less how you’re supposed to fix this.”

“I don’t know.. I’ll think of something,” you say quietly as you watch the ships drift by.

“Always the optimist..”

“Just--” you sigh as you furrow your brow. She’s not helping, just adding to the stress. “Just hold on.. just let me think.”

If only you knew what all there is, maybe there’s more ships around. If you ran now, what would happen? You’re pretty sure you could out run this giant ship since he’d be hard pressed to maneuver around in this debris field, but if he has you surrounded then running would be one of the worst options to choose. You take your head into you hands as you run your fingers through your hair. It’s all a bit too much. If only you had more information, or a better ship, or some miracle machine that instantly grants you wishes. If only.

You slowly take a deep breath to steady your now irregular breathing as you rack your brain for some meager answer to this. You didn’t even notice your breathing before, maybe it wasn’t a great idea to check out the ship. Maybe but it’s past that already, it’s time to try to fix this. You lower your hands and stare out back at the ship. You need more time and more information. Stall and investigate, only two things you can really do. Just have to think things over, stay calm. Stay calm.

Your hand hovers over the comms button as you watch the ship sit statuesque in the midst of the wreckage and debris from the past wars -- all floating corpses of the age old ships that haunt this system. A ghost memory. If there’s any other ships... If there were any other ships out there, you wouldn’t be able to see them from where you’re at. You sigh, even if it might be tangentially connected to the disappearances.. even if it meant knowing something about the lost ships, it was too dangerous. Naomi probably appreciates it, trying to find out more, but you’re in deep water without a life line. It’s sink or swim.

(3/??)

>>3059590
Your hand softly, steadily, lowers down and presses against the button as the receiving static stops for a moment queuing in you to cut the silence. “I.. I was just on my through here, lookin’ for a friend, you know? Thought this ship looked a bit familiar.”

“Friend?” His voice croaks for a moment before he goes quiet. The silence hangs like a miasma, burning its way into your mind before the static cuts again, “No friends out here, son,” he spits out finally.

“You know..” you pause watching the painted ship before moving your hand over to the scanner. It’s a weak thing but it should tell you if there’s someone else near. If you distract him with talking then maybe he wouldn’t notice the scan. It’s a hail mary, but it’s all you can think. “Y'all know who cut into it?”

“Waste of time,” he replies slowly, enunciating the words to the best he can. “Boys east come and go. Best not be messing around with them. Here for the scraps, I am. Oh-,” his voice cuts out for a moment as your scan completes. Two other ships sit inside his, already running hot from what you can tell. “Did..” his voice goes colder, “did you just scan me, boy?”

You pause, ice chills your skin as your face goes pale with your hand hovering over the comms button while you carefully mull over your words, picking whatever you can out to try to ease things over. The two ships in his hangar seem to be as fast or faster than yours. Running probably wouldn’t be the wisest -- no it’s impossible -- you couldn’t outrun any of the ships from the looks of it. That's the only thing there, only those three ships in front of you and the empty, luxurious ship.

Leftovers -- scraps for the vultures. This was bait, maybe you’re not the type of fish they were looking for anyways. Maybe.. maybe you’re like a small one you catch and toss back? Maybe- maybe flying junk is a good thing? Probably.. If I can.. well. There’s only one way to find out.[/1]

Pulling yourself up from your slouch, you set to the comms, “Listen, it’s dangerous around here, you know that. We all got things to do, people to look after. You got your boys runnin hot, and I’m keeping watch. You said it yourself, no friends out here in the black. Both on razors here.”

“No friends,” he spits, “It’s only right, I ‘spose, both itchin.”

“Not wanting any trouble here,” you reassure the vulture.

“Only trouble’s the trouble you’re getting. You said this ship was your friend’s? They’re meat for whoever got ‘em ‘fore me. It’s a chop shop here. Buyers don’t ask, don’t care.”

“Would they buy old kit like mine?” This is the question. Maybe he’ll throw you back, he already thinks you’re flying junk anyways.

(4/6?)

>>3059597
“Probably not, you’re worse than scrap here. Didn’t even notice you flew in with how spotty it is,” he croaks. Certainly hurts your pride that he’s talking down on your ship but it’s not like it’s something to praise. Even if what he said hurts, it was what you were betting on. Perfect..

“Alright,” you say slowly, watching the screens as his voice goes quiet, drifting into static. You keep quiet, buying your time and trying not to bother the old vulture too much. Seems like he’s not interested in your ship as much. He laid this bait out for someone bigger, but a small fish like you.. you’re not his prey even if he seems more or less eager to take anything that bites.

After a pause he returns with a sigh, “Waste of time,” He says the words slowly like before, enunciating each as well as he could. It goes quiet again as the ship moves slowly and the heat of the engines in the bay die down. You let out a soft sigh as you watch the ship raises back into the husks of the wreckage floating about.

You turn to Naomi, “You said they don’t attack.”

“I said they’re territorial,” she replies quickly. Her pink hair flows down and twists as she turns away. You look back to the broken ship, the trap reset awaiting the next prey. It’s odd, vultures take ships, not people. Your ship flares up again, the engines taking light as you turn away from the wreckage. Not a whole lot seems to be making sense. Missing girls or not, it’s making less sense as you go further in. If they hired vultures to take care of the girls, what do the vultures get out of it?

_________

As you sink into your seat, you turn your ship away as you carefully monitor the scanner. You quietly thank whatever divine being helped you not completely stutter and flounder your way through this whole ordeal.

And then it hits you.

You’re starting to become keenly aware about the beads of sweat gathering at the base of your next, the wetness under your arms and against your back, the shaking of your hands, the ragged and unsteady breathing. It’s like coming down from an adrenaline rush, a stuttering finale to end whatever calmness that stole your now rapidly beating heart. You clench your fists as you stare shakily into the broken pitch. The lone red star at the center of this madness. Ghosts surrounding you, haunting the very system which they were laid to horrid rest. Beasts of war, machines of mankind, steel titans which waged uncountable evils -- and you’re sitting amongst them all.

You were almost one of them.

Wreckage, debris, scrap. Throwaway words which describe the empty vessels which find their restless rest in a system which truly finds nothing sacrilegious, no act evil -- only nature. You take a ragged breath as you sit, watching the almost familiar scenes.

(5/6)

>>3059606
(6/6)
No amount of preparation, no amount of information could steel yourself to anything that would be worth experiencing, however terrifying they may be.

Carefully, slowly, you speed up trying to gain distance away from the old spider and his web. The net reset, and you pray for whatever poor soul may take your stead. As you think about the ship that laid at the center, the luxurious gem which enticed you, you remember what the crow said. Boys to the east come and go. Maybe Naomi knows something, but you’re in no mood to talk and doubt she would be even willing to talk either. But more importantly, they left the ship and took whatever -- whoever -- was inside. Maybe the boys to the east are so rich that something like that ship isn’t enough, but that doesn’t add up and wouldn’t really be good as bait.

Maybe they were the ones who attacked Coraline’s ship too. Maybe they’re connected to all of this, or maybe.. then why would those other ships, the C.I.T.F guys, well.. What if they’re the ones who attacked the ship since it seems less like the clean circle in the expensive-looking ship than that scarring on the other ship. Maybe? Maybe.. maybe Coraline is a military defector or she’s some spy or she was a bodyguard for someone like that? She’s pretty strong too and her cold attitude..

You anguish as you rack your brain thinking of the possibilities of whatever this means. In truth, you have no idea what it means. It’s all too much. You sigh as you begin to return to reality, still staring forward without noticing. You slowly rub our face with a hand before running your fingers through your hair, trying to calm yourself down again. Maybe whatever is out there isn’t supposed to be known. Nah.

>”Naomi, take over. I.. I need to breathe.” A shower maybe? Something to cool you off quickly or something to keep you distracted for a moment. Whatever is the case you can barely fly this ship with how you are now.
>”Can you give me something to eat? I’m starving..” you’re not really that hungry, not after what you saw but you know you need to eat something.
>”Naomi.. Did you hear what he said? Boys to the east.. Huh?” talk things out with her. Maybe she knows something and it’s damn better than just trying to think things out by yourself. She’s been helpful ever since you’ve met her, whatever tricks she has up her sleeve or things she knows..
>[write-in]

_____

Welcome back to For Hire. I recently tried to start a thread before finals ended but it was sadly neglected due to things coming up. This is why this first post is so long since it’s entirely taken from the thread which I didn’t want to archive.

Twitter: Kov_QM
Archive: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=FHQ
Discord: https://discord.gg/QznmEus
Character Sheet: [WIP] https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1z3WwwCvkilVxWx6uAuIThapoTypzZ_X9zP8OgdH3XMY/edit?usp=sharing

>>3059608
>>”Naomi.. Did you hear what he said? Boys to the east.. Huh?” talk things out with her. Maybe she knows something and it’s damn better than just trying to think things out by yourself. She’s been helpful ever since you’ve met her, whatever tricks she has up her sleeve or things she knows..

damn, I missed the vote to get more info on that ship, it was probably important to get it's data record or something.

but if it was a slaughter inside I hope it was not one of the girls ship and just normal piracy, since I hope they are not killing them so we have hope to find Naomi's sister alive

>>3059608
>>”Naomi, take over. I.. I need to breathe.” A shower maybe? Something to cool you off quickly or something to keep you distracted for a moment. Whatever is the case you can barely fly this ship with how you are now.

>>3059608
>>[write-in]
Distract yourself fiddling with the broken personal computer we found at the wrecked ship, the was that had an "accident"

>>3059608

>”Naomi, take over. I.. I need to breathe.” A shower maybe? Something to cool you off quickly or something to keep you distracted for a moment. Whatever is the case you can barely fly this ship with how you are now.

We can talk about the boyz later

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>>3059693
>>3059626
2 for Calmer heads prevail

Glad to get back into writing desu. Been too long since I've had the time to sit down and actually write.

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>>3059608
You take the moment of pause to slow your breathing as you stare into the black sky. It’s a different kind of calmness, an almost ethereal but impossibly intimidating feeling. Taking a long, deep breath, you turn your head to Naomi before calling out. “H..” your voice coarse and breathy, “Hey.. Naomi. Can you t-take over for me? I.. I need t-to take a breather.”

You stutter through your nervous-blighted words a you call out to Naomi. You’ve lost most, if not all, composure as you become aware of how you sound. It’s a pressure you’re not used to. The feeling of life or death, a fear so primal that it’s bound your very being and refuses to release. You haven’t felt this way before, not when you broke your leg at camp when you were being chased by the camp masters, not when you fell off the automated tractor when it started to move with you almost being crushed underfoot, not during your first flight with your ship with it almost catching fire from you not running the right safety measures, not even when you got into your first fight after some dick named Galen talked shit about your girl behind your back or when he pulled a knife on you. Not even then.

It’s a strange feeling, knowing nothing. All those times you knew the situation, what lead to it, and how to get out of it. But..

Naomi makes her way to your side and taps your shoulder, ripping you out of your thoughts. “Hey, you good?”

Her words sounded as genuine as they come, yet you couldn’t answer them -- not with any measure of importance as they deserved. It’s because you don’t know how to. You simply stare back at her and she back at you before looking back to stars forward. That’s right. You take a slow breath before turn back and getting out of the seat. Naomi just nods and gets in without saying anything. It’s strange.

It shook you to your core and you’re not sure what to do except that you need to take a moment for yourself. The feeling will pass, all that will remain will be the choices you took right now. Making the right choice is the best option, it’s the best way. Distance is the something you need to gain between now and then, getting away from vultures -- getting away from Unity-Point.

Soon you’ll be in Leo. Soon you’ll be doing worse things, finding out about things, discovering what you need to know. For what? Consolation? What use is it to know what happened when you can’t even act on it?

>>3059856
Doubt fills your heart as you turn to Naomi. You made a promise. Not just to her, to family, to friends -- to yourself. What use is someone who cannot keep a promise that important? Can’t let it get to me, not yet. You’re too young to be worrying about dying early. You’re supposed to be immortal, right? That’s what all the old people said back home. ”Kids these days think that nothing can go wrong. They act as if they’re invincible.“ You scoff to yourself. Maybe you were once. You furrow your brow before turning to Coraline, still asleep. Like as if none of this had happened at all.

You guess that it’s not like everything would worry someone you might as well be invincible. Strength makes right, at least in a world like this. But Coraline doesn’t look like she would be very strong, much less inspiring. She’s lost, she doesn’t know where she’s supposed to go, what she’s supposed to do, much less even know who she is. Maybe you could help her. Maybe not.

But a promise is a promise and you’re damned if you break anything now. You watch her as she sleeps soundly, almost serene-like. It’s oddly comforting, like watching over a sleeping cat or maybe like an innocent child. Though it’s strange to think of her like that, it still brings a quiet sense of ease to your troubled mind and heart. That’s right. Even if you don’t hold all the pieces of the puzzle to either other them, it’s not like giving up will do anyone any good.

You sigh as your conviction returns to you, like someone putting water back in a cup they just emptied out. Maybe the water was what came, or it was to wash out the previous feelings as to clean the cup before using it again.

>”Naomi. You heard everything that.. That crow had said?” She probably gleamed more from what he said than you did. She’s smarter than you at least.
>”Want something to eat? I’m kind of hungry, almost dying and all really works up the appetite.” Even if you don’t feel like it, it’s best not to let them see you as weak. Fake it till you make it. Say something funny.
>”How far out are we?” You want to get out of here, you want to run and get to Leo as fast as you can.
>”Coraline never ceases to amaze me. Always oblivious to everything, no matter how big it is. Kind of makes me jealous, you know?”
>[write-in]

>>3059858
>>”Naomi. You heard everything that.. That crow had said?” She probably gleamed more from what he said than you did. She’s smarter than you at least.
we've already showed it affected us, no point in trying to hide it

>>3059858

>”Naomi. You heard everything that.. That crow had said?” She probably gleamed more from what he said than you did. She’s smarter than you at least.

>>3059869
>>3059904
2 for the Crow Caws at Midnight

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>>3059858
“Naomi,” you say, breaking the silence. A squeal of surprise answers you as if she was deep in thought and you startled her unexpectedly. Maybe she felt the same way, or maybe she was just thinking about something. You continue regardless, “You heard what I heard. That Crow, what do you make of what he said?”

“That.. uh..” she stumbles to find her words. It doesn’t take her long to gather her composure again, “Oh yeah. Sounds like something bad, probably. Look..”

She trails off as you turn to her. She seems to be looking forward, keeping her eyes ahead of the ship. Maybe she’s just as scrambled as you were, as you are. Her pink hair just pokes above the edge of the seats headrest. The first time you met her she seemed as energetic as a battery store, even now that energy seems to be just as evident however diminished and undirected. Like loose wires would go any direction if left to their own devices. To say she’s scrambled would probably be a bit of a compliment since she always has this air of going in many different paths of thought in any given time.

“Look.. I’m sorry about how I was acting the.. The other day,” she says as she turns back to you. The only thing you could think was “What?” but that’s probably not what she wanted you to say, probably not at all what you should say either. So you don’t and just let her continue. “I haven’t really been.. Well I haven’t really been all that great for the past few days, I know. It’s just.. seeing those ships.. just really didn’t help out. I’m sorry.”

What ships? The ships that you saw, the ones that were glowing red? No, she said she didn’t see those.. Was it seeing Coraline’s ship in.. or? The CITF guys? Why would she be like that with any of those? I mean I guess it would make sense if it was Coraline’s Ship but you could only expect things would be that bad. Maybe seeing the dead bodies spook her or something? I mean, I’m used to it with how colonial life is but she’s from the city. Even then, isn’t she like a field journalist, shouldn’t she have already seen dead bodies like that? You don’t know.

“What.. uhh, what..” you stop yourself from asking, “No, no.. I- uh, It’s fine. No, you’re good. It wasn’t that big of a deal. Besides, no one can be happy all of the time, I’d think something was wrong with you if you were happy all the time anyways.”

You give her a smile and she returns you a faint smile. She turns back to look at the black sea in front of her. She kind of reminds you of your little brother in some ways, always being a bit odd. You shake your head as you imagine Ben’s face replacing Naomi’s, No no no.. Either way, she’s not really like anyone you knew back at home, no one there had that.. Radiance.

>>3059974
“So,” she breaks the silence, her voice returning to herself, “The crow? Well I can’t say I’ve heard of him before so it’s more than likely that he just works for someone else. There’s also the fact that he said something that kind of piqued my interest, ‘the boys in the east’, now I’m not too sure on if you heard that but I can guess what, or really who, he was talking about. Faceless Fin and his gang. Really the only people who live in the east, pretty surprising, I know. Something about him being a pretty powerful warlord kind of person. Yeah, from what I heard his grisly name is something actually true. He apparently had something about his last captain where he got his face cut off. Pretty gross if you ask me, I personally wouldn’t want to see something like that, would you? Probably not. Anyways, they are in the east so I guess if you want to follow up on that ship then..” she slows down her spitfire-paced words before taking a deep breath.

“..you’d probably have to go talk with him about that. Then again, I wouldn’t really recommend going without trying to figure things out about him beforehand. Like what he does other than live in Unity-Point. Maybe get a contact or something like that, that knows what you’d want to know before meeting Fin and what not.”

She finishes her rapid-fire monologue before turning back to you expectantly.

>”Faceless Fin? You said something about him before, what all do you know about him?”
>”Ah yeah.. So.. what do you think about it all? The whole thing about the ship? Do you think Fin is part of the missing girls case or is this all just a coincidence?”
>”Ah, well what about Coraline’s ship? Do you think it was those guys who attacked her ship too?”
>[write-in]

>>3059977
>>”Ah yeah.. So.. what do you think about it all? The whole thing about the ship? Do you think Fin is part of the missing girls case or is this all just a coincidence?”

yeah, is this warlord-eske man working for the big boys or not! And i don't think he would have the manpower to destroy the uh- evil revolutionaries that have the technology and skill to steal augmented super cute girls.

>>3060104
1 for asking opinions

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>>3059974
“Ah yeah, that makes sense,” you say as you raise your right knee to your side, hugging it against yourself letting your arm rest against it as you shift yourself to face her a bit more directly, “What do you think about it all then?”

“About.. What?”

“Well about the ship, do you think that they could be connected to the missing girls?” your past fear somewhat fading away as you ease yourself into talking with Naomi. Always has something to say. “Do you think there’s something going on, like if this Fin guy is kidnapping these girls or if he’s being paid to do it?”

“Well.. I guess. Seems strange he left the ship,” she says as she turns around in her chair, facing the console once again.

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking.”

“Mm,” she agrees before continuing, “but then again, it might just be someone completely different. Maybe they were after some sort of special cargo or something and it wasn’t any kind of connection to the missing girls, though that would be awfully convenient.”

“Convenient, how?”

“Well, think about it. Some vultures take a ship and steal away a girl. Every single missing girl went through unity-point, the only place where Fin would be. Fin heads a vulture gang and makes his way by scrapping ships. Why would he leave a ship unless it was beneficial to leave it or it maybe he was on some sort of time scale and had to do this quickly. If he isn’t connected then it would be some sort of insane coincidence. Either way, he could be connected but I’m not going to place any bets on it just yet, plus those.. CITF people are probably connected to this. I’m not sure how, but they definitely are.”

“Maybe he’s just stealin’ away girls?”

“What makes you say that?” she replies a bit dryly.

“Well what about Coraline’s ship? Think maybe he’s got a hand in that too?”

“No no no, Coraline’s ship is probably different matter entirely. No, I think that might be due to something else. But I’m not going to say it since I can’t really be sure. Besides, it’s not like we can make up evidence for stuff we can’t possibly know.”

“I guess,” you say somewhat indifferent. “Still, if we’re going into Leo, then we’d be figuring things out still. Rather thin out the possibilities before trying to figure out everything.”

>>3060205
“Right..” she says slowly, “Right, but no. Uh, we will be investigating. This is just conjecture, not really any evidence to say what would actually be fact. If anything, this could all just be a coincidence and everything up until now could be pretty much nothing important to what is really going on. But still.. Seems strange if it wasn’t connected.”

____________________________________________________________________

This will be it for tonight, seems to winding down a bit so I’ll end it here. I’ll start up tomorrow, not sure when but I’ll say it on discord. Honestly don’t even really use Twitter all that much, but.. Anyways. Hopefully you liked tonight’s session and I’ll see you tomorrow for the next part of the quest. We’re getting close to an answer, I feel, but there’s still so much to find out.

I'm hopefully going to finish the character sheet soon, though I'm not too sure on when that will be completed, since I'm still somewhat working on the systems and how they'll actually work. Kinda still in between options when it comes to combat and how that will be handled.

Twitter: Kov_QM
Archive: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=FHQ
Discord: https://discord.gg/QznmEus
Character Sheet: [WIP] https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1z3WwwCvkilVxWx6uAuIThapoTypzZ_X9zP8OgdH3XMY/edit?usp=sharing

>>3060209
Thanks for running

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>>3060209
Seems strange. Those words bind you -- it all seems strange. Every last bit of it. The missing girls, Coraline, these cloak and dagger operations, and the strangest of them all -- you're still going along with it. You’re a fish out of water here, trying to figure out whatever happened to Adam. Then again.. maybe you’re in the water, rising, shoulder deep -- just starting to get used to the temperature and now you’re about to go diving. Leo, vultures, whatever it is, maybe you’re getting used to it? Maybe not.

“No you’re right,” you say, “Can’t really call the color of things when we’re all still in the dark. Either way, I don’t like how it smells. Seems too.. I don’t know.. lined up to be some kind of fluke. But I’m not about to go jump the gun with it, and I hope you’re not too. Probably should wait till we get to Leo before we start poking our heads around.”

“Yeah..” she trails off as she tries to keep an eye on things at the helm. You can’t help but laugh at yourself. Getting into a situation like this, investigating, trying to learn about Adam’s death -- it’s not really how you’d imagined getting off planet would be. It’s not just the vulture that made you think about this, you’ve been thinking about this for a while. Can’t say no even if it means...

“Say, what are you plannin’ on when we get to Leo?” you say suddenly as the question starts to get to you. It’s kind of odd but you haven’t really planned anything out, everything has just swept you up and you’ve just been going along with it. Your question lingers for a moment as Naomi thinks about it. You don’t really have an answer for yourself since you haven’t really thought about it.

“I’m not sure,” she replies finally, “I was kind of thinking about starting to ask around the place, maybe get a kind of undercover job or something..” she pauses for a moment before starting again, “I actually have a few people I know there, I’m thinking I’ll talk with them and then go from there.”

“Oh so you know someone in Leo? They like some kinda espionage underground resistance group or somethin?”

“Oh no,” she says, “No no, nothing as extravagant as that.”

“Oh.. Ex-tra-va-gant, --huh?”

“--They’re just some people I know.. Anyways I’ll probably just ask around. What are you planning on doing?” She says as she turns to you. You’ve still haven’t thought about it all that much. You were kind of hoping that she’ll bring you along with whatever she’s doing but you can’t really say that, can you?

>(1/2)

>>3063602

>(2/2)

>”I was thinking about getting a job, something part-time I guess. Undercover would be great if you would, but I’m all out of cash.” You really need to get some kind of standard inflow to stay ahead since you’re sitting pretty at an even zero right now.
>”I’m going to probably head right into Adam’s old office or apartment, something that would let me find out something about what happened.” Start with the task in front of you before you start worrying about other things.
>”I was.. I wasn’t thinking that far ahead. Kinda just hoping that you would string me along with whatever plans you had.”
>"Going to call the girl from Milo -- Abigaile -- she said she'd help." She's the only real in you have for this. Do what Naomi's doing. Might as well make contact and go from there, touch bases with knowns before trying to get anywhere you can't by yourself.
>[write-in]

>>3063605
>"Going to call the girl from Milo -- Abigaile -- she said she'd help." She's the only real in you have for this. Do what Naomi's doing. Might as well make contact and go from there, touch bases with knowns before trying to get anywhere you can't by yourself.

Going to our uncle's place sounds great but this other option has such an allure... well, I wonder if we can prove we are Adam's blood relative and squat in his apartment. Maybe he bought it fully no debts involved and... boy if we score that it would rock.

Also is Coraline sleep? If no, head pats to wake her up and ask her what does she think of doing at Leo (besides getting axhalapalihuiti)

>>3063605
I guess it doesn't save namefaggotry yet.

>>3063881
1 for calling the secretary.
Writing!

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>>3063881
“Well I was thinking..” you trail off as you pat yourself for a moment before reaching towards one of the cabinets. Pulling out a small white card, you thumb over the raised lettering before presenting it to Naomi, “I was thinking of calling Abigaile, she works for Arcady but told me about some stuff. I think I can trust her, she doesn’t seem like one of them.”

“Oh?” Naomi replies with a raised brow, “really now?” she pauses for a moment before continuing, “She cute?”

You stare at Naomi for a moment, dumbfounded as you piece together a sentence, “W-what? No, that’s not what it’s about. Just she said she’ll help out.”

“You paused.. And you didn’t even answer me.”

“That’s not what it’s about,” you say with your face turning a shade redder.

“Oh so you’re saying a cute girl giving you her number doesn’t have any ulterior motives?”

“Well,” you say calming down a bit as you think, “It’s not like that. She--”

“--She said so herself, no?” Naomi probes.

“Oh don’t be like that. She’s the only actual link I have for this whole thing. Besides, even if she was being manipulative she’s going to have to first gain my trust, no? So the first few things she says will probably be more than likely true.”

“Hmmph,” Naomi shrugs, “When did you get so smart? You weren’t like this when we got married.”

You mentally roll your eyes at her bringing that up again, “That’s not even funny anymore,” you say as you turn away from her. You hear her mumble something before you see Coraline still laying propped up against the locker. Her eyes silently staring at the two of you. Her cold blue eyes watch as you stare back.

“Well, look who’s finally awake,” Naomi says from behind you.

“Mm,” Coraline nods, still wrapped in her cocoon of blankets. Her silk white hair shifts as she nods slowly before she yawns sleepily. “Morning.”

“Yeah, you too,” you reply.

“So,” Naomi says, “Sammy was asking about what we’re going to do when we get to Leo. What are your plans?”

“Plans?” Coraline says slowly before she simply raises a hand from the blankets, letting them fall apart as she gives a thoughtful look. ‘Thoughtful’ would really be stretching it since all she is doing is putting her and on her chin but with the same blank face she always wears. “Dunno.”

(1/2)

>>3064198
“You..?”

“What are you going to do?” Coraline follows up, cutting you off.

“I was going to check up on some things, make a few calls. Naomi --”

“I’m going to talk with some people I know in Leo. It’ll probably be a while though. Pretty boring,” Naomi stops you and talks for herself.

“Hm,” Coraline nods slowly again. Where did she see this at? Is Naomi showing Coraline some of her movies again or something? “Alright.”

“Alright?” you and Naomi ask simultaneously before sharing looks of confusion.

“I’m going with you,” she says as she points at you. You just raise a brow as you stare at her.

“What about your zaxapazaminotrol or whatever it is,” Naomi asks. Coraline just gives a nonverbal shrug before stretching.

“Zaxaminiphul,” Coraline corrects, “I’ll get it.”

“But isn’t that what you should be doing first?” you ask.

“Yes,” She nods before she points to the shower. “Mm?”

“Go ahead,” you shrug before turning away from her as she opens the shower and brings some of your clothes with her. Naomi gives you a smug look before turning away. What is she thinking about. Probably.. actually, I don’t want to know.

→ It is now Evening.
>Get something to eat, you’ve calmed down a lot since last time you were considering
>Take a look at your progress with the captain’s broken display. Maybe now you’ll be able to finally crack it open.
>Break’s over, take back the reins of the ship. Naomi isn’t the best pilot.. plus you don’t like it when people fly your ship.
>[write-in]

>>3064208
>>Break’s over, take back the reins of the ship. Naomi isn’t the best pilot.. plus you don’t like it when people fly your ship.

>>3064208
>Break’s over, take back the reins of the ship. Naomi isn’t the best pilot.. plus you don’t like it when people fly your ship.

Yeah let's try to not to follow shiny brand new looking ships amidist the wreckage please.

>>3064266
>>3064293
2 for control

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>>3064208
As you hear the plastic shuffling of the shower clothing protector, you turn to Naomi again who was already facing you. You give a nonchalaunt shrug and then speak up, “I think that’s enough for now then. Hop up, let me take control again.”

“Sure thing, but are you..” she pauses for a moment, “you good?”

“Golden.”

“Alright,” Naomi says with frown and a shrug as she begins to climb out of the seat before letting you pass by her in the awkwardly tight cabin. As you settle yourself into the chair, you look over the console a few times and adjust yourself before taking control of the ship. You’re not too far away from the star and if you follow your route, you should end up out of the system in only three or so more hours. You nod to yourself before Naomi clears her throat and starts speaking again, “So, I guess she’ll be following you around again?”

“Yup..” you say, elongating the word slightly as you do so.

“Hmph,” Naomi says before you hear her turning back around. “Well.. I’ll keep in touch once we land on Leo, we’ll talk about what’ll happen after that then, I guess.”

“Yeah, yeah.. sounds good with me,” You say half-listening as you watch the monitors change tint. “Check this out.”

You point to the monitors as you near the blazing star. Its raging flames can barely be seen as they rampage in torrents of serene wrath. Each pillar of billowing red fire reaches far, far into the black like tendrils of an unimaginable evil before dissipating into nothingness. The red glow fills your cabin as you drift slowly by. Even at this extreme distance, the star still dwarfs your ship by the millions, billions.. some uncountable number. Its red body glows deeply as it bombards the system with its empirical presence.

Royalty -- an arrogance only the powerful possess -- emanates from its very being. It’s captivating, it’s a dangerous kind of beauty, one which demands attention and even more so demands caution. It is the zenith of the universe. A star -- a king amongst it’s subjects. Each planet bows to their master with every point of respect it deserves. You’ve seen stars and other celestial bodies before, but not this close. Even so, this is only close in a relative sense. Any closer, your ship wouldn’t be able to escape.

You knew this, one of the reasons why you planned this route -- to hug the sun as close as you can to avoid and tails. You smile to yourself as you hear Naomi quietly gasping in awe as the two of you witness the sight of something so majestic. It truly outshines anything you’ve seen before, yet it is calmness that begins to settle in your heart as a sort of morbid curiosity crawls into you like an insect which comes to nest in another host.

>>3064593
“It’s really somethin’,” you absently give voice to your thoughts. Naomi nods silently in agreement as she moves closer to the front. She’s just as interested as you are. Something like this is kind of enchanting. You laugh to yourself mentally as you give into your childish curiosity before watching the screens carefully. Even if you saw someone, you doubt there’s much they would dare to do, it’s a moment of just peace.

“Yeah..” Naomi replies, “yeah it is.”

>”Shouldn’t be too long, We’ll be at Leo within the next few days. Soon we’ll be trying to find something out, uncover what people want to cover up.” Talk a little bit, break the silence but keep the atmosphere.
>”You scared?” You’re nervous, at least you think you are. Not about being close to the star, but about what’s to come. Open up a little bit, give voice to your concerns.
>Keep quiet. Ride out the rest of the system.
>[write-in]

>>3064595
>>”Shouldn’t be too long, We’ll be at Leo within the next few days.
>"First thing I'm doin is gettin a giant burger."

>>3064595
>Keep quiet. Ride out the rest of the system.

Let's enjoy this moment. We need all the peace we can get. Good descriptions also.

>>3064601
>>3064602
2 for absently enjoyment. Maybe small idle chat.
Writing!

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>>3064595
You watch the star’s supreme elegance as your speck of a ship slowly makes its way, respecting the king with distance and in return -- its kindness. Your mind drifts as our ship does the same, “hungry..”

“Mm?” Naomi says as if awoken from a stupor, her eyes fixated on the glowing dot.

“It’s making me hungry.”

“That.. you say the strangest things..”

“Reminds me of a fire-grill. My dad used to..” your words drift aimlessly as you speak slowly and quietly as if not to disturb the air itself. “He used to cook these fantastic burgers and sausages. Just.. reminds me of it.”

Naomi lets out a soft laugh as she listens to your quiet story. The tranquil atmosphere seeps into your very being as you talk absently. It’s a calmness that soothes you, you previous fears of the vultures melt away as you sit in quiet sublime. “First thing I’m going to do is get a hamburger.”

“Is that a promise?” Naomi says, goading you on.

“Yeah, you can get one too.”

“Oh gee, am I really?” she says playfully before cracking a grin and a soft laugh, “glad you’re allowing me... I’m honored.”

“Funny,” you reply as you turn back to the console. Soon you’ll pass the star and make your way toward Leo. Soon you’ll be out of here. Soon.. out of the fire and into Hell -- The snake pit. It’s a strange mixture of feelings that have began to brew in you mind before you hear Coraline break the silence by coming out of the shower. As if everything began to shift back into view, your eyes focus back as you look away from the star.

The quietness fades as you hear Coraline come up behind the two of you, “Mm?”

She notices as the two of you turn back to her before she leans in and looks over your shoulders at the star. She nods slowly before turning away to sit at the desk. She stares at the wall before reaching up and opening the cabinet and takes out a bar. Naomi and you want as Coraline slowly opens the wrapper and as she starts to eat the bar.

You shake you head and turn back to the open space before you. You take a deep breath before you hear Naomi turn away from you as well. You exhale slowly and gather your strength before spinning up the engines to push you up a little faster. Time to get to business.

____________________________________________________________________

This will be it for tonight, seems to winding down a bit so I’ll end it here. Thank you for reading, hopefully I’ll run again tomorrow.

Twitter: Kov_QM
Archive: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=FHQ
Discord: https://discord.gg/QznmEus
Character Sheet: [WIP] https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1z3WwwCvkilVxWx6uAuIThapoTypzZ_X9zP8OgdH3XMY/edit?usp=sharing

____________________________________________________________________

>>3064792
thanks for running my dude

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>>3064792
You watch the star as you pass it up, turning slowly and gaining speed. The route was to use the gravity of the star to speed you up slightly and push you further out into space -- a slingshot maneuver. A quiet sound of the screen turning on behind you and a quick static before you start to hear voices. Coraline probably picked something to watch, though you can barely make any of it out. She’s been spending a lot of time watching shows and movies since you left Milo.

She’s unsurprisingly not very active in any of the conversations she’s had with Naomi, making most of them pretty one-sided. You haven’t really listened into anything that the two of them -- well just Naomi, really, -- talk about, but most of the conversations follow the same line as how Naomi normally talks. Most of them tend to be about the thing they’re watching or some topic you don’t really understand or something that was just interesting Naomi at the moment. She tends to go off track most of the time but whenever you do listen into what they’re saying, it’s usually as interesting to you as it is to her.

You nod to yourself as you hear Naomi pointing out something about a character from the show, something about the particular actress being in several other films she’s watched as well as appearing in a pretty large legal battle between some kind of work-related dispute. You didn’t really catch what it was about but she seems happy to talk about whatever. She’s pretty knowledgeable with most things you’ve asked her about, though you doubt anyone could really know everything even if she seems like she does.

As you carefully watch and avoid the floating debris, you wonder how many ships and metal it would take to actually have this much garbage floating around out here. It’s impressive, the depths of hate within the hearts of man. Though the grim nature of the entire system seems almost oppressive, you still marvel at the past’s dedication to wage war. You can’t remember any wars recently so this one must have been far before your time. The most recent war you know about is probably one of the Imperialists and UGE’s border dispute for Westner, but that was decades ago and no where near here.

>>3066167
You snap back to reality as you turn to watch on of the console’s monitors tick down slowly. The green text count of the distance to the end of your route. Checking with the your speed, you nod as you quickly calculate that you should be out of system within the next hour.

It is now Noon. I said it was evening two posts ago, that was my bad.[/i]
>”Say, Naomi. You know things, who fought here? Why are there so many ships here?” You’re pretty curious about the system. Why is it like this, why is there vultures, what’s going on here?
>”What’s the show about?” Just pass the time, no real need to waste time with something boring like that.
>”Coraline, you feeling okay?” You’re concerned about the stray you picked up. Her lack of knowing her past is a problem and you’re not sure if she remembers or even can remember any of it. Maybe she’s slowly getting better or maybe she’s getting worse without that medicine she needs.
>[write-in]

>>3066169
Strange. Does this not work any more " "

>>3066169
>”Say, Naomi. You know things, who fought here? Why are there so many ships here?” You’re pretty curious about the system. Why is it like this, why is there vultures, what’s going on here?

>>3066169
>keep things like this. Lets catch up on the book we were reading.

>>3066169
>”Say, Naomi. You know things, who fought here? Why are there so many ships here?” You’re pretty curious about the system. Why is it like this, why is there vultures, what’s going on here?

And then
>”Coraline, you feeling okay?” You’re concerned about the stray you picked up. Her lack of knowing her past is a problem and you’re not sure if she remembers or even can remember any of it. Maybe she’s slowly getting better or maybe she’s getting worse without that medicine she needs

>>3066239
I support the book before bed, we need to finish that

>>3066169
>”Coraline, you feeling okay?” You’re concerned about the stray you picked up. Her lack of knowing her past is a problem and you’re not sure if she remembers or even can remember any of it. Maybe she’s slowly getting better or maybe she’s getting worse without that medicine she needs.

Plans were canceled so I should be able to run a bit longer today.

>>3066237
>>3066267
2 for Naomi

>>3066267
>>3066488
2 for Coraline

>>3066239
>>3066271
2 for keep quiet and read, possibly later

>>3066684
Waiting for a tie braker or going by that order?

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>>3066862
Going in that order, I've been writing since I posted that. (Had to go back and find where we last left off on the book and check on some of my notes too)

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>>3066169
As you watch the sky start to clear away of debris and metal, you allow your shoulders to drop and loosen from the tense posture that you held for the last half hour. Looking across the several console screens, you nod in contemplation before looking back to the black sea ahead. The ragged strain of warfare evident in each pasture of metal that lies awaiting harvesting season. Their once-in-a-lifetime produce, harvested by the rabbits and vermin that run when the master of the land comes, sits silently as you slowly drift past. The seeds of hate, planted decades before, gave rise to such a bountiful harvest.

You’re unfamiliar with any of it, though you can roughly date the ships from you extensive knowledge of classic military equipment. Naomi probably knows. Though as you think, you begin to hear the conversation from behind you again. Coraline and Naomi still talking about something or another. Coraline. Something more of a pressing matter instead of knowing some trivia you’d assume. Her being in such a strange position kind of makes you worry for her.

Her memory is all but entirely missing, gives you little to go off of but you’re not too sure on how to, or even if you could, fix any of it. But you know where to start. Naomi bought you a book back in Milo and your mind drifts back to a few days ago as you try to remember what it was talking about. Something about emotions and chemistry being a large part of cybernetic acceptance.. Or something like that. It’s been a while and you’re not too sure what exactly you read or what was said. Maybe if you gave it a cursory look again you’d get an idea. Last time you were on.. chapter eleven or fifteen.. you’re fuzzy on the details but you know that you were skipping around.. You turn back to the girls behind you, “Hey.”

You voice startles the two of them as Naomi jumps slightly and Coraline just simply turns to you. “Can you.. hand me the -uh- post-it note on..” you point over to one of the post-it notes stuck to the back wall of the desk. You’ve started doing that to keep notes when you were working on the display. “No not that one, it should have like a list of chapters.”

“This one?” Naomi says as she reaches up and plucks one of the yellow notes off of the wall, “It has something written here but.. jeez you need to work on your handwriting.”

“Ah, just give it here,” you say as you reach up from the cockpit and extend an arm over to her. She hands you the note and you glance over it.

“No, no.. not this one,” you say as you hand it back and then point to one of the notes on the top right of the desk’s wall. Nestled right at the top corner is your note and Naomi hands it to you. “Ah, thanks. So..” you read over it. Chapter fifteen: The Mental State and The Physical State. The other chapters above it are crossed out and there’s only one other chapter listed which is Chapter twenty-three with a question mark on the side.

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>>3067006
“Yeah, can you have me my display? It’s under my pillow.”

Taking the display, you open it back up as you turn back around in your chair. Getting up from it kind of made you remember how uncomfortable sitting in it made you as you’re pretty sore from sitting for so long. You sigh as you find the book and open it up. “Hey, Naomi. You know what battle was fought here? I don’t remember of any battles here any time recently but the ships seem kind of.. Kind of recent?”

“Huh?” she says as you make idle chat. She had already started diving back into her conversation with Coraline as you started talking again. “You don’t know?”

“No, why? Should I?”

“Well I guess it would make sense that you don’t I guess..” she says somewhat quietly.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” you ask as you scroll through the last few chapters again.

“Well.. alright so I guess they didn’t teach you.. Say, do you know when Haven was established as a colony?”

“Oh, about.. I don’t know, around sixty years ago, why?”

“Mm,” her voice a bit pensive, “So.. so well, there was a rebellion or a resistance group a while back. A kind of civil war you would call it. A good portion of the outer worlds wanted to cede and become independent, citing systems like McKinley -- really that’s a pretty bad model on how to run a system but.. -- anyways, they tried to cede. They threatened to cede for around twenty years before they actually formally put in the papers. -

“The first to cede was, well, back when it was under a different name, Unity-Point. Then, after a while, a bunch more planets joined the independence-coalition-group-thing and then the UGE started getting pret~ty mad with all of this business of leaving and then the civil war broke out. Anyways, long story short, Unity-Point was the capital and the symbol of the resistance so both sides poured their all into it. -

“After about a year later, the fighting stopped and Unity-Point was so far beyond helping, they declared the system non-habitable and it because a neutral territory. It also has some special clauses in that it is kind of neutral for everyone so the only people who come here do it to reclaim old scrap to sell it. UGE isn’t technically allowed to police this place and no one is allowed to put a colony here. Though there is basically a blockade on it..”

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>>3067014
“Wait, so..” you, at this point already stopped reading your display, turn to Naomi, “why did you want to know when Haven was established?”

“Yeah, so..” she says slowly, “Most of the resistance that did not accept, and some that did, the deal were sent to work on colonies. Haven was one of them.”

“Ah..” well, I guess that makes sense. But why didn’t I know about that? You nod slowly as you look at Naomi. It kind of makes you wonder a few things, was your family a part of this resistance group, was Adam a part of it or was he some kind of person that your family knew? Adam was pretty getting on in his years and he was probably around during that time.. “Thats..”

“Yeah.. I thought you’d know,” she says somewhat apologetically. “Sorry.”

“No, no. Don’t be sorry! This.. well I mean it’s strange I didn’t know but it kind of answers a few questions,” you reply quickly as you wave a hand to dismiss it. “Probably would make sense if..”

“Hm?” Naomi raises a brow but you simply shake your head as to tell her to forget about it. You nod for a moment before looking back at your display. Getting things back in focus, you raise your brows as you tap the display on the back of the chair.

“Anyways..” you say looking up to meet Coraline’s eyes after a moment of contemplative thinking. “Coraline..”

“Yes?” she says still watching you. “I don’t know about Unity-Point.”

“No, are..” you say as you look back to your display and lay it down to Naomi’s side, “Are you.. Feeling okay? Like has anything changed since last time I looked at you?”

“No, nothing has changed.”

“Do.. you remember anything else?”

“No,” she says simply.

“Do you feel anything painful or..”

“No.. well.. when I watch..” she trails off uncharacteristically as she averts her gaze when you try to meet her eyes again.

>”When you watch what? Are you remembering anything or.. Are you okay? Do you need anything, or does one of your cybernetics hurt when you sit for so long?”
>”Naomi, has she said anything about anything odd?” Whisper to Naomi to see if she knows if anything weird is going on with Coraline.
>Stay silent and let her continue or don’t continue. Shouldn’t push these kinds of things.
>[write-in]

>>3067016
7410 character update, holy shit. Sorry about the wait and the damn lengthy update.

>>3067016
"when I watch your toned body I get... I don't understand"

>Write in. Change the subject somewhat "have you been reading the book?"

She downloaded the book a while ago right?

>>3067016
>Stay silent and let her continue or don’t continue. Shouldn’t push these kinds of things.

Wait for her to continue but if she doesn't we ask, when you watch...?

>>3067069
This.

Maybe ask this too after it>>3067053
A

>>3067053
>>3067069
>>3067086
3 for Silent prodding

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>>3067053
Also.

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>>3067016
You quickly turn to Naomi and the two of you share a confused look, she doesn’t know what Coraline is talking about. Coraline probably doesn’t talk much about herself enough for anything like that to come up. You turn back to Coraline who is staring at the screen, the show still playing along. It’s nothing that you recognize, probably something Naomi put on for her. Coraline’s eyes are locked on the screen as she slowly starts to mouth something as if she is trying to figure out what next to say, strange since she is usually quick and direct.

“I..” she says softly as she watches the show, “it’s.. Different. Strange.. -my- hm.. Familiar.”

“Familiar?” Naomi and you say simultaneously, the two of you look back to each other with furrowed brows before returning to look at Coraline.

“Yes,” she says finally before turning back to face the two of you, “Familiar.”

“How so?” you ask.

“It feels the same when I watch something I have already watched before,” her face remains the same yet you can’t help but feel like she looks a bit confused, or concerned? You’re not sure. “I can’t explain it -- I don’t understand.”

“Is.. is it something you watched before?”

“No,” she says immediately before turning to the screen again and with a tilt of her head she continues, “Mm.. Maybe. Dunno.”

Her short answers and general confusion just add to your own confusion, also ’dunno’? Did she get that from one of her shows? Though, you guess, it would make sense that she would have at least seen some kind of show before and if this is some sort of key to understand where she came from maybe you could hasten her recovery. Also means she wasn’t born yesterday.. You shake your head at yourself, of course she’s not a robot. “What.. what is the show about?”

“It’s. ehm.. It’s about a shut-in who starts to suspect someone in their TV is watching them and that.. Uh..” Naomi kind of mumbles her way through her sentence before trailing off.

“What?” you say turning to look at the screen, it’s not something you’ve seen before but it looks like the kind of shows they’ve been watching the whole time.

“Well, ehm.. well it’s a in-depth analysis about the.. human condition.. But… ah.. well.. It’s kind of weird and..”

“Huh?” you scrunch up your face as you shake you yeah to stop Naomi from continuing her mumbling. “Just- Do you know why Coraline would feel that way about the show?”

“I don’t know…” Naomi trails off. Why is she being so strange about this? She would usually just go into some full length novel of an explanation just because you’d ask her how her day is but.. You shake your head slowly in a kind of disappointment.

“Alright, so it’s about some person who stays at home and is probably crazy?”

“Yeah.. maybe Coraline wa- was a shut-in?”

>>3067370
“That wouldn’t make much sense,” you dismiss. Coraline seems more like some government important suit type but somehow messed up her memory. Maybe she’s remembering some kind of case, or maybe she’s thinking about what she used to do? Did she work as some monitoring government thing? Either way, this is something you can probably work with. As you think about the possibilities, you turn back to take a cursory check of the sensors and then eye your display near Naomi again. “Hey, Coraline, did you read the rest of that book I sent you?”

“Yes,” she says immediately turning back to you without a trace of her previous state of confusion.

“And?”

“I understand it,” she gives you a short, and if it was anyone else it would be a terse, reply. A moment passes as she watches you before she continues, “It will not be helpful.”

>”Wait, why’s that, is there something wrong with you that can’t be fixed?” You’re confused, something you were hoping would be a saving grace couldn’t possibly be a waste, especially after you spent so much time on it.
>”It won’t be helpful? Did you learn anything that was helpful?” Maybe she didn’t really understand it or how it could be helpful. You’d probably have to read the rest of the book to actually figure anything out if she can’t connect things like this.
>”If you know it won’t be helpful, does that mean you know what is wrong with you, is that why you’re not concerned about your drug zaxapazawhateverit’scalled?”
>[write-in]

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>>3067370
A shut in that believes the goverment is watching... it must be that damm tv channel again!

>”If you know it won’t be helpful, does that mean you know what is wrong with you, is that why you’re not concerned about your drug zaxapazawhateverit’scalled?”

>>3067379
>>”If you know it won’t be helpful, does that mean you know what is wrong with you, is that why you’re not concerned about your drug zaxapazawhateverit’scalled?”

>>3067419
Is it paranoia if they're actually out to get you?

>>3067379
>”If you know it won’t be helpful, does that mean you know what is wrong with you, is that why you’re not concerned about your drug zaxapazawhateverit’scalled?”

>>3067716
Good call. Good call...

>>3068084
>>3067702
>>3067419
>>3068095

4 for If you know

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>>3067379
“Why?” Naomi asks, giving voice to your thoughts as they race inside you. Naomi’s probably thinking the same thing as Coraline doesn’t answer immediately [i]what did she learn from that book?[/i]

Before Coraline could answer Naomi, you start talking, “Doesn’t that mean you know what’s wrong with you then?”

If she knows it won’t help then she probably knows why it won’t help, If she knows why then she knows what. She probably figured it out somehow, you didn’t think she would figure it out in a few days. Maybe you didn’t give her enough credit, she’s smarter than she shows. Then again, she can pretty much know anything she sees because she can just search it instantly the same way she knew your name and Naomi’s by just meeting you. [i]Wait..[/i] You are out of FTL travel so you should be getting signal, does that mean she can search things too? Either way.

Coraline shifts her gaze from Naomi and back to you, “No.”

“No?”

“No,” she says nodding her head at your confusion. [i]No?[/i]

“I- well I mean- … So you know that the book isn’t going to be helpful doesn’t that mean you know why then? So.. Why will it not help?” She should know everything the book knows unless she just simply looked through it or she only searched for things that would be relevant or.. maybe you were too quick to praise her.

“I’m different.”

“Different? How so.. like, does that mean the book doesn’t..” you trail off as your confusion takes you.

“Wait,” Naomi says, stopping you from going on, “Coraline, is it because of your mods? The book is kind of old, you know, but it’s usually good for general knowledge on cybernetics.”

“Yes,” Coraline says as she raises a hand and looks at it, “It’s because of the mods. They don’t exist.”

“Don’t exist?” you speak up.

“Yes,” She replies with a nod. “I’ve checked.”

[i]Wait, is she saying they’re some kind of experimental thing or is she saying there isn’t any records or something like that about them?[/i] “You checked if your mods exist?”

“You said they seemed custom, so I wanted to know for sure,” she says before she returns her gaze back to you, “They’re custom.”

“Which means..” Naomi asks.

“Which means they’re harder to fix,” you answer. “Especially since we don’t know where they come from and since Coraline doesn’t remember.”

Coraline’s unchanging face shifts at the last part of your sentence -- she looks almost apologetic. She seems as collected as she did the day you met her. Her unchanging face reveals nothing that lies beneath but her words betray her composure. Yet, now so does her face as her emotions rise to the surface. Maybe once she gives something thought, it does the same as it does to you -- it eats away at you. As robotic she acts, she’s just as human as you. She’s lost and neither of you has a map.

>>3071906
>”We’re going to have to find a specialist to look at those mods then.” There’s nothing else you can do but hand this off to someone else, someone more qualified.
>”Well even if they’re custom, they will still work on the same basic rules as any other mod. Things don’t just change like that.” Even with what Coraline says, there’s still information in the book that would be helpful.
>”They’re custom so it means someone out there made them personally. It just means they’re easier to track.” Custom things tend to be easier to know where they go, it’s like putting a stamp on your work and then sending it off. Each place it goes to will know that it came from you. You just have to find the stamp and the right people.
>[write-in]

Oh fuck I forgot about changing IPs and not being OP anymore for the formatting.

>>3071908
>”They’re custom so it means someone out there made them personally. It just means they’re easier to track.” Custom things tend to be easier to know where they go, it’s like putting a stamp on your work and then sending it off. Each place it goes to will know that it came from you. You just have to find the stamp and the right people.

>>3071908
>>”They’re custom so it means someone out there made them personally. It just means they’re easier to track.” Custom things tend to be easier to know where they go, it’s like putting a stamp on your work and then sending it off. Each place it goes to will know that it came from you. You just have to find the stamp and the right people.

>>3071908
>”Well even if they’re custom, they will still work on the same basic rules as any other mod. Things don’t just change like that.” Even with what Coraline says, there’s still information in the book that would be helpful.

>>3071908
>”Well even if they’re custom, they will still work on the same basic rules as any other mod. Things don’t just change like that.” Even with what Coraline says, there’s still information in the book that would be helpful.

>>3071919
>>3071928
>>3071948
>>3071987

4 for Custom Conspiracy

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>>3071908
They’re custom. It’s just like what you thought, the mods being custom means a whole lot of things. The first being that each and every one of them are traceable, the second is that the mods are most likely specifically for Coraline, the third is that they are extremely expensive. With each mod, the amount of standards paid for them would go up exponentially. It just means that either Coraline was or is rich or Coraline was an important person of some sort. Before you’re able to talk, Naomi speaks up “That.. makes sense. I mean, if what you say is true, then the drug that helps you adjust to the mods wouldn’t really be needed since custom made mods usually are fitted so they don’t require that adjustment. Either that or..”

Naomi falls silent as she furrows her brow. “Right..” you say, cutting into Naomi’s thoughts, “Custom mods should still work the same as any other kit so the book shouldn’t be entirely useless as you say, Coraline. Did you even read it?”

“Well..” Coraline trails off as she adverts her eyes before she quickly looks back to you and clearly says, “No.”

“That’s what I thought.. More importantly, custom mods are easier to track,” as you finish Naomi’s eyes light up as if you solved something for her.

“That’s right!” she exclaims, “Yeah! There should be some kind of maker’s mark on them somewhere. You said they don’t exist right, so you mean all of them, right?”

“Yes.”

“Well then.. That’s.. Anyways, so really any cyberdoc that has a shred of pride would put his mark on mods that shiney,” Naomi says as she gets closer to Coraline, “Really, how did you get them though?”

Coraline shrugs her shoulders as a nonverbal answer, she doesn’t know. Of Course she doesn’t know. You’re not sure how any of this really fits together though, honestly you haven’t really been forced to think this hard since you finished classes. Coraline, Naomi, CITF, Arcady, UGE, Imperials, all the big names and then some, it just feels like some kind of big conspiracy and you’re buying into it too readily. It doesn’t help that you have next to nothing to really go off of. The display from Coraline’s supposed ship is more or less an expensive paper weight and she doesn’t know much of anything.

What’s worse is that you can barely even focus on any of that now. Makes you feel dishonest as you can’t really be arsed to help everyone you come across with a problem, you wouldn’t be able to help yourself. Naomi’s problem is closer to yours so it’s not like helping her would be out of the way but Coraline doesn’t seem connected to any of it at all. Maybe she’s just a bystander. Or.. she’s the center of it all and like a hurricane, the eye of the storm -- probably not though.

>>3072115
You’re not sure you can really help Coraline, not in any meaningful way. “So all we need to do is find a way to figure out who made them.”

“Exactly,” Naomi agrees with you, “I don’t think we can do that here though.. Ahh.. You know when I first saw you I thought you were some dangerous person, Coraline, but you just keep getting more and more interesting.”

Naomi turns away while she backs away from Coraline. “Didn’t expect there would be something else going on out here. Arcady has made some strange problems for themselves, haven’t they? Anyways, since you’re not going to be as busy at Leo, can you take Coraline to someone to identify her mods?”

Of course. You probably should have guessed that’s why Coraline wanted to follow you instead of Naomi..


>”Before that.” Enough talking, you should be almost out of the system, surprisingly it’s been quiet since you first got here.
>”Coraline, why don’t you want to go by yourself?”
>[write-in]

>>3072117
>What do you mean I'm not going to be that busy? We have a bunch of missing people to find don't we? But I'm sure we can take Coraline there, and get her medicine too.

Don't like the way Naomi put us out of the investigation, we told her we would help her find her sister, and Adam has the same destiny too, we are in this together and we can both help Coraline, she can probably help us too.

>>3072132
this but try not to be so combative

>>3072145
Gentle reminder then

>>3072117
>”Before that.” Enough talking, you should be almost out of the system, surprisingly it’s been quiet since you first got here.

>>3072117
>[write-in]
>Of course, if you say so Naomi. We can help you get lodging and work on Leo and we don't get in your way while you investigate. We should travel to a larger world, maybe closer to the imperials, what do you say?
Also, Coraline I rememeber you said you had standards. How much do you have?


Fukkk the PLOT we must save Coraline!! Plus, it's time for Sam to be alone with one of the girls.

Archived. I'll continue where we left off next time.

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=FHQ