A shriek startles you out of a dark place. Lorne looms over the woman, unconcerned with her dazed terror.

"Come here," he says. "It's bad. 60, 70 percent..."

"What?" You nearly stumble over yourself in your rush to join him. The woman shrieks again and presses against the rock as best she can.

"Blood loss. You can tell; look at her face. What does she look like?"

"Uh..." It's a little difficult to tell, her looking down and you 8 feet up. "Red hair, kind of squarish face, weird eyebrows, feathers..."

"Look away. Keep describing what you remember."

"Um..." You don't remember anything else. You aren't even sure of anything you just said, actually, except you just said it.

"Yeah. Non-person. Lost cause, probably, but we're in luck: looks like she's been gored by a deer or something with meat. Come on."

He straightens and backs away as the woman lets out a whimper.

"You mean leave her?" The morality you have intact is screaming bloody murder. "She'll die!"

"It's a fucking courtier. Probably happy about the whole thing."
"What?!"

"You know, Wind Court shit. 'Keep to the surface. Don't let yourself be changed. It's better to die...' No reason to fuck with that, Routh. Not on a hunt."

You must look ridiculous, a crab-thing fidgeting. "It's not... it's not right. Can't we take her back to Arledge? Or if she was with people, I guess, take her back to them. Anything."

"Graves wants none of this and believe me, she won't either. You think she wants help from a couple of fucking magicians?"

"She's dying!"

"A lot of fucking people die. And as for 'people', think it through! Either she's out alone or they left her like this. Like we need to do. Deer are close."

He's already stalking away. You stay firmly by the woman's side, much to her limp discomfort.
"Can't you do a transfusion, or, or... I don't know, give her more?"

"You wanna use your blood? It's not going to be mine, it's not safe, and neither of us have hands! Leave it, please."

You waver. "I don't..."

"Then fucking make up your mind. If you want to be a bleeding heart for someone who hates you, that's stupid but I won’t stop you. I'm not a fucking monster."

You hate irony.

The woman bleeds.

>[1] Take the woman back to Arledge.
>[2] Take the woman with you in an attempt to locate her potential companions.
>[3] Donate your blood to the woman.
>[4] Leave her.
>[5] Write-in.
>[6] Eat her.

>Previously on: Drowned Quest

You and Arledge set off on your detour and almost immediately encounter a new face: Arledge’s friend(?) Lorne, who reveals that it was likely Arledge brought you to him on purpose. He expresses interest in your newfound peculiarities, so you eventually offer to perform a switch so he can take a look firsthand.

It succeeds, and while your eidolon takes control you find yourself awake inside your mind. You blunder around for several hours, facing down the sympathetic but unhelpful people inside of it, and in the process both alter your own memory and receive a devastating summation of your identity. Crushed, you yield to persuasion and exit.

After Arledge takes a blood sample and leaves the room, Lorne cuts off his communication and offers you a chance to “test your potential” via three bottles. You agree, and discover this means painfully turning into a crab-thing called a Seehike. With Lorne similarly turned into a fish-thing, the two of your are on a hunt for fresh meat.

>Rules:

- Voting windows are 10-20 minutes. If only one vote comes in after ~20 minutes, I'll take it. If there's a tie, I'll roll for it.
- Unless it's a choice strictly between offered options (ex: loot, chargen), write-ins are always open and acceptable.
- I'll always take questions, comments, critiques, requests for infodumps, etc. etc.

>Dice:

On most occasions, you’ll be tasked to roll 3 d100s, potentially with modifiers. The number of times the 3 rolls collectively pass the DC indicates the result, as follows:
No Passes: Critical Failure
One Pass: Failure
Two Passes: Success
Three Passes: Critical Success

>Archive: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=drowned%20quest

>Twitter: https://twitter.com/BathicQM

>Pastebins (UPDATED): https://pastebin.com/u/bathicqm

Italics screwup on first post! A good way to start a new thread.

Welcome back. I hope things will be better.

Running all of today, hopefully all of tomorrow and Tuesday as well. Unfortunately, I'm then going on vacation until Sunday, so updates will be sporadic at best. We'll see what happens.

>>3270923
>[2] Take the woman with you in an attempt to locate her potential companions.
Put her on our.. back? And take her along as we do hunt stuff?

Good to see ya back!

>>3270968
>Take the woman with you.
Writing!

>Take the woman with you.

"We should take her with us," you resolve. "We can't just leave her to die, Lorne. Surely you or I can carry her."

"Carry her where?"

"To her people, or to somewhere safer, at least. Somewhere not here. Please."

Lorne dips his head. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"It's going to mess up my fucking center of gravity, so don't expect any fancy moves. But deer shouldn't be so tough. Put her on me."

The screaming wasn't entirely unexpected, but you wish the woman didn't have to be so loud about it. She scratches weakly at your claws.

"What now?"

"Here." Lorne trots back to you. "Right up top."

You deposit the woman on his back and, as an afterthought, arrange her arms around Lorne's fin. She's sobbing, now, but makes no attempt to move.

You're satisfied. "Thanks."

"I'm not a fucking monster, Routh, you don't have to thank me. Let's go."

You follow Lorne past the pillar and through thinning grassland. The woman cries out at every jostle and jolt, and Lorne keeps stopping and looking backwards.

"Stop," he says finally, and does so. "Do you think we're being followed?"

"I don't..."

"I can't tell, but this stupid fucking person on my back is basically screaming 'eat me' so I can't help but be nervous. You have a better vantage point. I need you to look."

>Roll me 3d100s+10 (+10 Vantage) vs. DC ??? for perception check.

Rolled 83 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>3271102
What a day

Rolled 72 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>3271102

Rolled 48 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>3271102
and at last

>>3271150
>>3271153
>>3271159
>93, 82, 58
Writing!

File: seehike.jpg (27 KB, 563x433)

27 KB JPG

>93, 82, 58

For now, there is nothing behind you. The water is cold and silent. If something was there, it has hidden well... but you prefer not to consider that. You shake off the feeling of being watched.

"No," you say, and Lorne relaxes.

Ahead of you is a different story. Grass has been trampled and bent, and clumps of it phosphoresce blue. Past that, movement, a bright flash, blood--

The woman cries out again in pain or fear. Lorne is practically quivering. "Deer," he says, and looks ready to break into a gallop.

You glance behind you again, and still find nothing. "Wait. Do we need a plan?"

"You're so human. Get into the fucking spirit of the thing."

You hold your ground. "I think this needs a plan."

"Run in, kill a couple deer, get out before they fry me. Though..." You can feel his black eyes size you up. "You're not built for running. This might be a problem."

That's okay. You'll...

>[1] Lie in wait with the woman while Lorne chases a deer towards you.
>[2] Sneak up with Lorne and set an ambush.
>[3] Accept you have no idea what the hell you're doing. Tap into your hunting instincts.
>[4] Run recon before doing anything else. You're not alone.
>[5] Write-in.

>>3271339
>>[3] Accept you have no idea what the hell you're doing. Tap into your hunting instincts
!

>>3271344
>Go FULL CRAB
Rolllll me 3d100s vs. DC 40 to hang on.

Rolled 99 (1d100)

>>3271408
Woot

>>3271408
CITIZEN SNIIIPS

Rolled 48 (1d100)

>>3271408
For real my dice are hilarious today

Rolled 15 (1d100)

>>3271408

File: giant enemy crab.jpg (77 KB, 800x450)

77 KB JPG

>>3271428
>>3271431
>>3271435
>99, 48, 15 vs. DC 40
>Success!

>Hit your weak point for massive damage.
>99, 48, 15 vs. DC 40
>Success!

It's fair to say this is out of your comfort zone. "Well... maybe I should loosen up."

"Yes!" Lorne is thrilled. "You get it now. I wasn't sure, but... okay, let it out. This is maybe my fault, you gripping so fucking hard onto yourself. Find your hands."

They're cold and fuzzy around the edges. "Yeah?"

"Fuck those! You don't have hands. You don't need hands. You are going to go out there and suck the juices out of a delicious fucking live animal, and you are gonna like it. You hear me?"

"Yeah!" You're convinced. You're hungry.

"Good! Now stop shutting the thing out when it knows better than you. Go!"

You let it in.

It crashes over you like a wave, and you nearly- (you can't think in words. it's just pictures and feeling, so much feeling, and you don't know what's yours: DEAD. ALIVE. FRIEND. HERE. HUNGER. DROWNING DROWNING DROWNING-)

"kssskskkkskkssks" you say chitter

>|Mind: 27/100|

"Language!" Lorne makes a sharp turn, is up in your face (BLOOD FOOD NO NO! STOP). "Speak, motherfucker! You're trying to be like the thing, not be it!"

"kkkksksLorne!" Your head bursts up from the water, and you grab your chance before you're tossed back under. "Lorne! I can't!"

"It's your fucking head here! You can do whatever the fuck you want! Keep talking!"

"I can't, I..."

"What's your name!" His mouth is open, for the first time, and the sight of his million vicious little teeth is enough to scare you into speech.

"Ellery..."

"And what the fuck did I make you say?"

"Nothing's gonna... nothing's gonna change that."

"So believe it!"

You don't slam the door back on the thing, though you want to. You climb up and out and survey the deluge from above.

"ksksksssskkk," it says to you, and what it means is "go".

"Okay," you say, and feel your mouthparts slide against each other, and feel a hissing undertone to the word. "Let'ss... feck, um."

You're not ready to have a lisp. You try again. "Let's go."

Lorne takes off at top speed without a word, leaving the woman barely hanging on behind him. You can only wait to see what you do.

"sks," orders the thing, and the massive shield-parts on your legs retract. You plop down onto the sand.

Half of you doesn't like the sand. It's too rocky, not soft for burrowing.

Half of you scuttles expertly forward through the grass. You follow the blood, which is everywhere. Deer blood. Person blood. Both are okay, you think, and regret thinking that.

You can't see Lorne from down here.

>[1] WAIT. THEY COME TO YOU.
>[2] BURROW. TRAP THEM WITH YOUR LEGSS. LEGS.
>[3] DRINK. KNOW FROM THE BLOOD.
>[4] WRITE-IN.

>>3271597
>3

What could possibly go wrong?

>>3271597
>>[3] DRINK. KNOW FROM THE BLOOD.
KNOWLEDGE

>>3271615
>>3271621
>CONSUME
No roll, you (by some definition of you) know what you're doing.

Writing.

File: deer.jpg (53 KB, 564x940)

53 KB JPG

>DRINK

You take in the water through your gills and feel the blood thick and warm inside of you. It tells you things.

>A DEER dead, ANOTHER injured. Anger. The living one kicks and thrashes against...
>THREE wounded PEOPLE. Sour fear. The tables have been turned.
>The WOMAN. Resignation. Lorne circles around the herd, seeking weakness.

You can't make sense of it, not with the low "kskkkrks" in your ears. The wounded ones are slow, it says. You can catch them. They won't struggle.

The deer, you mean, of course. Of course. All of them are very close. You wait patiently,

And are rewarded with another BANG and a man flying over your head. He skids past you, and your prize follows: a deer. It is tall and blue and majestic and edible. It does not see you. Neither does the man, who blindly calls for help through the water.

The deer points its antlers towards the man, and they glow. You don't understand, but the seehike does: you are in the path of the blast.

>[1] DODGE! YOU WILL NOT DIE HERE.
>[2] BLOCK! YOUR SHIELDS ARE STRONG. (and you don't want to see this guy die, either)
>[3] LEAP! THE DEER IS VULNERABLE. YOUR PINCERS ARE SHARP. (and maybe you can throw off its laser or whatever the feck)
>[4] WRITE-IN!

>>3271695
>3

I wondered what kind of deer would have glowing bits. Now I know. Sea deer with laser antlers.

>>3271695
>>[3] LEAP! THE DEER IS VULNERABLE. YOUR PINCERS ARE SHARP. (and maybe you can throw off its laser or whatever the feck)
It's time

>>3271701
>>3271730
>LEAP!

Roll me 3 1d100s + 15 (+15 Animal Instincts) vs. DC 45 (-10 Unaware)!

Rolled 84 + 15 (1d100 + 15)

>>3271734

Rolled 52 + 15 (1d100 + 15)

>>3271734
Oh man not fuckin' deers with lazer beams

Rolled 31 + 15 (1d100 + 15)

>>3271734

>>3271738
>>3271747
>>3271743
>99, 67, 46 vs. DC 45
>Critical Success!
Writing.

File: the man.jpg (16 KB, 236x355)

16 KB JPG

>LEAP!
>99, 67, 46 vs. DC 45
>Critical Success!

Of all the things the deer might have been expecting, a crab-bug thing launching itself directly at its face was likely not high on its list. It wasn't really high on your list, either, but in the moment it seemed the right thing to do.

The deer bellows and bucks into the air, but you can't be dislodged. Your pincers hold tight to its muzzle, while your tail coils around its throat. The blast from its antlers fires wildly into the water above you, leaving a hot trail of steam sizzling in its wake.

"Good king," the man breathes out.

You are positioned firmly on the deer's face, but there's not a lot you can do from here without provoking a counter-attack. It'd be nice if the man would help, but he seems preoccupied with backing away. You need...

Lorne barrels out of nowhere and sinks his teeth into the deer's hind legs, prompting another anguished bellow. The deer scrabbles in the sand and tries to run, but with you on its face Lorne easily throws it on its side. It manages one more blast (a clump of grass is blown away) before its throat is ripped out.

"Fuck yes," he says, and his tail slaps the ground in victory. The woman is nowhere to be seen. "Fantastic work. Who's this chump?"

You have to focus to get anything out over the sudden rushing and insistent chitter in your ears.

"Ks... ack. Um, I don't know. Maybe he's related to the girl we found, I guess."

The man has managed to scuffle back almost a dozen feet, and he points shakily at the two of you. "M-magicians," he stammers. "Magicians." For the first time, you notice the dirty grey feathers hanging around his neck.

"Wind Court," Lorne sniffs. "They're usually pretty fucking wrong, you know. He can't prove it."

"So he's... he is related. Where is she? We should bring this guy to her."

"Made a kill and all you're thinking about is fucking people. She was dragging me down, okay? I'll take the deer and get out before more come, you go find her. She's behind a big rock." Lorne takes the whole corpse in his mouth, and you dislodge yourself from its face. "I'll meet you."

He strides nonchalantly away.

You can taste the woman's blood. You know where she is. You just have to get there without being lasered.

>[A1] BURROW. YOU WON'T BE CAUGHT IF YOU CAN'T BE SEEN.
>[A2] SCURRY. YOU ARE SMALL AND NIMBLE.
>[A3] DEFEND. YOU CAN BE SHIELDED.
>[A4] WRITE-IN.

>[B1] Try to convince the man to come with you.
>[B2] Take the man with you forcibly. (DEFEND or applicable WRITEINS only.)
>[B3] Leave the man here. You will take the woman back here.

>>3271860
>>[A2] SCURRY. YOU ARE SMALL AND NIMBLE.
>[B3] Leave the man here. You will take the woman back here

Oh well.

>>3271860
>A1
>B3

I want to try burrowing

>>3271871
>>3271867
Sure, changing to A1

>>3271892
>>3271871
>[A1]
>[B3]

Roll me 3 1d100s vs. DC 40 (+20 Rocky Sand) to burrow your way to the woman!

Rolled 37 (1d100)

>>3271903
>rocky sand +20 DC
I've made a huge mistake

Rolled 51, 86 = 137 (2d100)

>>3271905
>>3271903
Rolling the final two.
This'll be the last update for a few hours, unfortunately. I'll be back later in the evening.

>>3271944
At least we passed

Also I can eat now

>BURROW.
>Leave the man.
>31, 47, 86 vs. DC 40 - Success.

She isn't far, but you have no intention of being trampled, gored, or fried. You will move underfoot, and you will burst up and capture her, and no, you won't do that. The first part is good, but no capturing. That's against the point.

With your partially-extended forelegs acting as shovels, it's little effort to dig downwards. Your tail sweeps the loose sand back over the hole. It's really a marvel how well-constructed this thing is. It looks unwieldy at first glance, but it really all slots together in action, doesn't it? It feels good. It feels right. It...

You hit a stone and click in consternation. You angle yourself a little differently and hit another. Your tunnel ends up dipping and winding its way around the rocks in a likely structurally-unsafe manner, and you flinch every time a blast from above causes a sand to rain down onto your carapace.

Between your roundabout path and the lack of blood down here, you're growing less sure about your destination. When you breach the surfacem it's all you can do to hope it's the right place.

>Roll me 3 d100s vs. DC 35 to unearth yourself near the woman!

Last for a while!

Rolled 82 (1d100)

>>3272021
>inb4 it's right in front of deer laser

Rolled 75 (1d100)

>>3272021
Here we gooo

Rolled 58 (1d100)

>>3272021

>>3272035
>>3272082
>>3272083
>82, 75, 58 vs. DC 35
>Critical Success!
Back and writing.

File: what you can remember of (...).png (388 KB, 564x752)

388 KB PNG

>Roll me 3 d100s vs. DC 35 to unearth yourself near the woman!
>82, 75, 58 vs. DC 35 - Critical Success!

Your surfacing elicits a familiar shriek, and you relax. The details of the woman's face elude your grasp, but her voice rings clear.

Propped once again against a rock, she looks even worse than before. While you're staring right at her, you'd still be hard-pressed to describe her features. Her hair, once (you assume) notably red, is now more the idea of red-- maybe as detailed by someone who doesn't know what red looks like. Her face is face-shaped.

She's clearly in no condition to walk, which luckily also means she's in no condition to struggle as you shift her onto your back and extend to your full height. You're a good distance from the main battle, which consists of a man and woman back-to-back fending off a small herd of furious deer. Neither side appears to have noticed you.

Still, the danger of getting hit by wayward energy bolts(??) is very real without being able to haul the woman back through your tunnel. You'll have to be quick coming back.

>Roll me 3 1d100s vs. DC 40 (-10 Stealthy Entrance) to avoid getting spotted or fried on your quick trip back!

Rolled 15 (1d100)

>>3272625
Yeah, this is why I wanted to tunnel to her, we wouldn't be able to do it back.

Do we see how they're fending off the deer lasers?

Rolled 97, 74 = 171 (2d100)

>>3272697
They are fending them off not at all-- the people are clearly in far over their heads. Luckily(?), the deer appear to mostly be coming at them in melee. Maybe there's a limit on how much the deer can fire, or maybe the people are just too close to them for it to be safe. You don't know.

Rolling the other two.

>15, 97, 74 vs. DC 40 - Success!

The trouble here is not carrying the woman, who drapes easily between your two sets of legs. You're far more concerned with not attracting the furor of the animals currently trying to maul these people.

It takes a couple tries, but you manage to lower yourself to what you consider a stealthy height and begin following your trail of churned sand. You try your best to ignore the scuffle raging behind you, but it's difficult: a woman, not yours, screams. A deer bellows. A bolt screams past you and craters in the sand. Another--

You can only half-feel it strike your back leg, where it sizzles and half-burns. It's a distant, disconnected pain-- more like standing on an asleep leg, really, nothing warranting the brittle, impassioned screech tearing through your head.

>|Seehike Blood: 16/20|

The woman moans at the jolt, and you quicken your new limp. There, where you started: the man is hobbling away.

Kind of a dick move, to leave his friends or whoever, but it's none of your business. You just want to do the right thing.

As you stop short in front of him, he recoils and attempts, slowly, to draw a rapier from his belt. You aren't sure what that's going to do, but nevertheless applaud his gumption.

You crouch and slide the woman gently off. He stares for a good ten seconds, and understands. "Lex," he gurgles through the water. "Lexy. Elexy." The man takes her head, cradles it.

If she's to die, at least you know she's with a friend. That's good enough for you. You begin to sidle off...

The man flicks the tip of his rapier towards you without looking up. "Magician," he says, with far less gratitude than you think is warranted. "Show yourself."

You freeze.

"I only parlay with men, not beasts. You want my blood or my soul for her? Show yourself!"

>[1] Time to go!
>[2] Lorne probably has something to say about this, and you would really like some backup here. Call for him.
>[3] You don't have any interest in his soul, but a proper thank-you would be nice, as would having hands. That's got to be the number one thing you miss, hands.
>[4] Write-in.

>>3272921
>[1] Time to go!
we've done good enough for now

>>3272948
>Nope!
Writing.

>Make like a tree.

You take a step away, and another. The rapier rattles in his shaking hand.

"A-a true man would show his face!"

You have done what you set out to do. You have no further obligations. You take another step.

"Your eyes," he calls. "Your eyes are human! I will find those eyes, magician, and we will parlay on even ground!"

You are in full-bore retreat.

"I will find your eyes," he shouts again, and probably a bunch of other nonsense. But his voice fades out, and Lorne's cuts in.

"All done?" The deer carcass balances precariously on his back as he trots up to your side. "Knocked your goody two-shoe socks off?"

"Yeah."

"Let's get the fuck out of here, then. No need to get ourselves tangled up in that whole mess."

The trip back is uneventful. Lorne scoffs at your encounter with the man. "I told you. They don't know what the fuck they're talking about."

The injury seems to have quieted the crab-thing's influence. For better or worse, you are in control.

The relieving sight of nothing at all greets you back at Lorne's.

"I'll do me first," he says, and you're about to question him as to what the hell he means by that when his fish-thing begins to sag and drip. Its leathery skin softens and pinkens and sloughs off in great sheets, while its limbs crack and bend in frankly awful ways. "Fuck," Lorne mutters, and collapses shirtless under a deer carcass into a puddle of gunk.

He shoves the deer off and staggers to a standing position after an eon (a few seconds, probably), grips onto your leg spike, and vomits more pink. You hope this is normal. You really hope this isn't normal.

"Fuck," he repeats, and wipes his mouth. "Do that."

"I don't... I don't want to." You could stay like this. It wouldn't be so bad.

"Suck it up. You're not and never were that, Routh, so give it up before we get caught."

Maybe not, but through the bloodthirst and the insectoid chattering it feels good. It feels right. It feels righter than what you know intellectually to be right.

"I will puke shark onto you if you don't, and I fucking mean it. Find your hands, now."

You're petulant, and it bleeds into your voice. "I don't have them."

He shoves his free one into your face and shakes it for emphasis. "Hands! Find them!"

"I-"

They were never really gone, just ignored. You need to set some time aside to pick the grime out of your fingernails.

"Good! Now guess what? They're the realest fucking thing you've got, and so is the rest of you! You're realer and better than any fucking crab! Know that!" He jabs his finger upwards, right to your forehead, and his eyes are no longer small and cold. They are blue, and scald.

"What?!"

"Know that!"

>Roll 3 d100s vs. DC 50 to know that!

Okay! I'm gonna call the session for the night. Roll open until we get three rolls and/or I return tomorrow morning.

Open question: opinions on the dice system? I like it generally, but I still worry. Dice rolls too frequent? DCs too easy or too hard or too samey? Too transparent? Not transparent enough? Let me know.

Good night!

Rolled 44 (1d100)

>>3273119
I'd be fine with a nat 1 here

Rolled 65 (1d100)

>>3273119

Rolled 60 (1d100)

>>3273119
Looks like success or failure is down to me here.

>>3273173
I really like it. DCs are very reasonable.

>>3273512
>>3273535
>>3273543
>Success!
Writing.

>>3273512
If this is out of actual desire to not do the thing rather than just curiosity, please know that even on dice roll prompts there's always an unspoken "write-in" option where you can choose to not do the thing. I include pure dice rolls for expediency, not to shove you guys onto my railroad.

>>3273543
Good to hear.

>44, 65, 60 vs. DC 50 - Success!

Realer, maybe, but better? You're complicated as a person, and you're messy, and things have only gotten infinitely messier over the past few days. Crabs don't have baggage, and you like that. They don't have issues. They eat people, maybe, but it's possible to live with that. It's worth it, to have at least a part of you cleaned and compressed into something smaller and purer.

Lorne stares fiercely into your eyes and doesn't like what he sees. "That's not you fighting it," he says. "It's the Seehike."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Any fucking self-respecting person wants to stay right the way they are. You know what it wants? It doesn't want to die again. It wants to live through you."

"I don't want to die." Your voice is small.

"Man the fuck up!" He reaches up and grips the sides of your face. "I will hack you out of there personally if it comes to that. It won't! Know that you're real. Know that you're better."

The Seehike's scream rips across your mind, and you regard it with misty envy. You can't be like that, you don't think, even if you tried. You did try, really, but there's just too much of you.

You barely notice your carapace softening and slipping away. You do notice when the adjustments move beyond cosmetic. Lorne crosses his arms and looks nervously towards his house every time you scream.

He does dash to catch you when you fall, which is a nice gesture even if he drops you immediately onto the sand. You writhe there for a good long while.

"Okay," Lorne says, and hauls you upwards. Your limbs are somehow equal parts stiff and gelatine, and you drape like a bag of sand over his shoulder. "Whoop, there we go. Let's get you inside."

"mmmmgh," you say in response, and "uuuuuuuuuh" as he shoves you onto the guest bed you came from.

You sleep and dream in crushed fragments.

>|Lorne is satisfied with your potential!|
>|Competency gained: <Shapechanging 0> -> <Shapechanging II>!|
>|Complication gained: {Hunted} - someone is looking for you!|

You awake and discover someone has daubed the worst of the goo off of you, though you still feel vaguely sticky. You spend five minutes staring at your hands. Aren't they interesting? Have you always had those two freckles there? The dirt under your fingernails is gone.

You sleep again and dream of nothing at all.

[END DAY 5]

[BEGIN DAY 6]

>|Blood: 100/100|
>|Mind: 50/100|

Arledge hovers in the doorway the second time you wake. He looks faintly amused.

"Hello," he signs. "I K-N-O-W."

You sit up, and are pleased to discover you're capable of sitting up. "Oh," you mouth, but he's already left.

You have three days until you need to leave for the crabs. What do you do with them?

(Options next post)

(Select 3 options.)

MUNDANE
>[1] Learn handsign from Arledge. You've still never spoken to a whole bunch of people back at the camp, and this could help.
>[2] Both Lorne and Arledge are capable fighters. You... are not.
>[3] Just sit down and have a normal day. You have not had one normal day. It would do you good.
>[4] Write-in!

BIZARRE
>[5] Lorne is satisfied with your potential, which means... you don't know what that means. Just ask him what he meant by that.
>[6] Arledge wishes to have a Talk with you. You should probably not avoid this for three straight days.
>[7] Experiment with That Guy. He's not real, so... does he have to look like that? What can he do?
>[8] It seems like a massive issue that you can't see things that apparently are there. Figure that out.
>[9] If you can stick your hand down your throat, can you stick your hand other places it shouldn't be?
>[10] Write-in!

>[11] Free action, doesn't count towards limit! Ask as many questions as you have to Lorne or Arledge. Responses will be summarized.
>[12] Free action. Pry some answers out of That Guy. You don't like having your own knowledge kept from you.

>>3274229
>[1] Learn handsign from Arledge. You've still never spoken to a whole bunch of people back at the camp, and this could help.
>[2] Both Lorne and Arledge are capable fighters. You... are not.
>[8] It seems like a massive issue that you can't see things that apparently are there. Figure that out.

>>3274229
>>3274257
Whoops! [2] was unfinished. Should be, of course, sparring with them.

>>3274229
>1
>3
>6

Taking normal day since we're at half mind.

>>3274229
>[1] Learn handsign from Arledge. You've still never spoken to a whole bunch of people back at the camp, and this could help.
>[5] Lorne is satisfied with your potential, which means... you don't know what that means. Just ask him what he meant by that.
>[6] Arledge wishes to have a Talk with you. You should probably not avoid this for three straight days.

Everything will be fineeeeeee

Rolled 3 (1d4)

>>3274275
>>3274279
>>3274266

>1
>6

Rolling between 2, 3, 5, and 8.

>1, 5, 6

I need 2 1d100s vs. DC 25 for handsign! Both need to pass for success.

Writing the others.

Rolled 39 (1d100)

>>3274333
Only 2? Handsign is weird

>>3274419
You can't critically fail (or conversely critically succeed, to keep things fair) learning a language, so it's a strict pass/fail with two rolls.

>Arledge wants to talk.

He reappears a second later, wrist newly bloodied and any trace of amusement gone. There's not much you can do except watch as he steps over to you and brushes the red against your cheek.

The connection rubs like sandpaper against your bruised mind. "Aghk," you say cogently.

"Hi, Ellery. How do you feel?"

You take a moment to consider how you feel. You feel like you've been turned inside-out and put back together in the wrong order. "Bad."

"I'd imagine. Now, listen. I'm not mad at you."

"Okay?" You hadn't considered the possibility of Arledge being mad at you, but you're glad he isn't regardless. "Thanks."

"I am mad at Lorne. He thinks I'm irresponsible?! This is... listen." He jams both of his hands into his pockets. "I don't know what he told you, but it's almost certainly wrong."

"He said..." You screw up your face as you try and pull yourself up. "He saw potential, or something."

"Feck." Arledge's foot starts grinding into the sand. "Yeah. Okay. You want to know about Lorne? He's not a magician. He's disgraced. You know why he's down here? He tell you that?"

"Uh, no."

"He was thrown off his pillar, Ellery, and not by the cops. He's dangerous."

"And you brought me here..."

"Because he's good at one thing and I wanted help. Not to get you involved in cockamamie schemes with him, okay! You could've been killed, and what was I supposed to do, huh? Come back and say 'whoops, everybody, the new guy is dead?' Yeah?"

"Stop... asking rhetorical questions."

He ignores you. "Look, the point is: don't trust him and don't agree to anything. He's gonna come in here all excited. Don't agree to anything and don't get yourself attached. Can you do that?"

>[1] You can't promise anything. Lorne's treated you well.
>[2] Sure, godsdamn, whatever. You don't want trouble.
>[3] Sure (lie!)
>[4] Write-in.

(Still need one more handsign roll.)

Rolled 35 (1d100)

>>3274504
>1

>"I think I should at least hear him out before deciding. "

Ok with one roll passed already this one has 75% chance of success .

>>3274521
>1
>You should at least hear what he has to say.

Writing.

Aaand...
>Success!

Writing.

File: that guy.jpg (181 KB, 564x670)

181 KB JPG

>You can't promise that.

"That's not fair," you say.

"What?"

You slump back down onto the bed. "That's not fair. You can't come here and just... just lecture me on what I do and don't do. I'm a grown man, Arledge."

Arledge's face hardens. "Very well."

"I mean..." You backpedal. "I, I don't know. But I want to at least hear him out, I guess."

"Understandable," he says, but his face doesn't change. "Recover well."

He leaves.

You return to fitful sleep, and dream you have blue eyes. You lie on a sandbar.

Your eidolon stands over you, human once again.

"You look like me," you say.

"Yes?"

He doesn't understand. He looks at you with patronizing eyes. At least they aren't patronizing crab eyes, you decide.

"How is that possible?"

He takes your hand. His grip is loose and cold.

"Listen, it doesn't matter. Let's just get you where you're supposed to be."

But you aren't supposed to be here, you think, but you're in no condition to struggle.

"Before, uh, you go... got any advice? Secrets? Repressed memories? Hidden stores of power? I don't know, anything?"

You thought he was supposed to know this. You thought he had all the answers. You're so confused.

"What?"

"Okay, calling that a no. C'mon." He drags you to the very edge of the sandbar. "Nice meeting you."

You can only stare as he shoves you into the water. You sink, down and down, until the bubbles take you.

(More coming! Wanted to post this since it's a good scene ender.)

>>3274733
He asks us those questions like there's a crisis coming up.

>>3274783
Not quite.
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/3179238/#p3181976

>>3274802
Aw man really? He was supposed to be the mature one! Unless we've somehow switched places and travelled back in time....

>Figure out what Lorne means.

Lorne shakes you awake. He's newly shirted.

"Routh!" His tone is buoyant. "Up and at 'em. Can't stay like this forever, kid."

You beg to differ. You feel better, but only just, and you're newly afflicted with a powerful sense of déjà vu. Arledge's warning is still fresh in your mind.

It's probably best to be straightforward. "Um," you say. "Arledge came in here and... said some things, uh, about you."

"Did he." Lorne keeps the smile, but it turns down at the edges. "I bet he did. Luckily, he doesn't know jackshit. What did you say?"

"Uh... I wanted to, uh, see what you had to say."

"I'll cut to the fucking chase, then." He leans casually against the bed. "I thought you had potential. I'm now positive you have potential. You can use it, or you can not use it."

You figured as much, but that doesn't answer any of your actual questions. "Potential for what?"

"Arledge will tell you differently, but here's the deal: you need one fucking thing to be a magician."

"...Magic?"

"Hah! It's about as fucking magic as baking a cake, nowadays. Anybody can do it with the instructions and the ingredients. You need fortitude. You need to be able to tough it out."

You see an obvious flaw in this logic. "I mean, I'm bedridden."

"Fuck that!" He's back to excited. "You're not dead, are you? You're not, fuckin'... you're not off terrorizing random people. It's normal to be spent after your body does things it was never intended to do, okay?"

"I mean, I guess, but I don't... You're fine."

"I have done it a million fucking times! No. You're a rare breed, and I don't want to see you off wasting it."

"So..."

"Come back here sometime. Leave Graves. Learn some things."

>[1] Accept. It was... fun.
>[2] Refuse. You came this close to losing yourself, and it was painful, and Arledge...
>[3] Prevaricate. You, uh, you don't know. Maybe.
>[4] Write-in.

>>3274872
>[3] Prevaricate. You, uh, you don't know. Maybe.
Might get a reason to come back someday. Even if we don't having the option will always be nice.

>>3274872
>3 with a hint of 2

>"I'm not gonna just abandon Arledge and everyone at the settlement. Might come out and visit you sometimes though. Probably will, not much else to do down here. "

>>3274909
second

>>3274909
>>3274931
>3
Writing. Sorry for the scattered updates today.

Yeah, okay. That didn't work out. Sorry folks.

Definitely at least a few updates tomorrow. Good night.

>>3275911
Bro your good night is my 4 am lol

>Prevaricate with a dash of "no".

You pick at the edge of your sleeve and don't respond. Lorne slowly deflates.

"I won't force you," he says, and runs his tongue over his teeth. "That'd be a shitty thing to do. Just consider it, and..."

"Hey," you protest. "I didn't say anything! I haven't... It's just, I mean, I barely know you, and I already kind of have a place, um..."

He furrows his brow. "What? I- oh! Hah!"

The peals of laughter he breaks into are so intense you scoot slightly away. "Hahahaha! Hoo hoo! Fuck! No, good gods, no."

"Uh, what? Did I mis..."

"Fucking hell! Routh-" He manages to contain himself long enough to put his hand very seriously on your shoulder. "-I'm flattered, but- we're not fucking. You don't live here."

You flush. "I didn't think- um, I didn't mean, um..."

"Ha ha ha!" He releases your shoulder and nearly doubles over. It takes a good minute before he speaks again. "Ha! Fuck! You're cute flustered, you know. But yeah. No. Just... shit, no need to make it complicated. Just come up on your own once in a while, go right back, whatever. No pressure."

You chew on this. It's probably best to leave your options open. "Okay, um. Maybe."

"Ha! Fair enough." He seems satisfied. "I'll be here. See you around."

Lorne gives you a final slap on the shoulder and exits.

You stare at the thatched ceiling for a good half-hour before deciding there's no way you can sleep after that. Maybe you need to take your mind off things.

>[1] Attempt to get up and take a wander around Lorne's house. You've only actually seen one room of it.
>[2] Attempt to get up and take a wander outside. You think better on the move, and fresh air (fresh water? no) might do you some good.
>[3] Outside your dream, That Guy has been conspicuously absent again. Is he okay?
>[4] Just do some staring. What's the ceiling made from, anyways?
>[5] Write-in.

>>3278787
>[2] Attempt to get up and take a wander outside. You think better on the move, and fresh air (fresh water? no) might do you some good.
And try the thing where we see things that aren't there but also are.

>>3278787
>[2] Attempt to get up and take a wander outside. You think better on the move, and fresh air (fresh water? no) might do you some good.
>[3] Outside your dream, That Guy has been conspicuously absent again. Is he okay?
Longs walks alone at night? What a building theme!

>>3278977
>>3278964

>Take a walk & have a think once again.

You don't like this, you decide. You don't like being cooped up in here for an unspecified amount of time, and you especially don't like that your only respite from boredom comes from cryptic dreams and other general weird shit. You need to do what you do when you want to escape your thoughts and don't have any alcohol on hand.

You need to take a walk.

The difficulty comes from the "walk" part. You haven't stood for what you're roughly sure is two days, and before that you did your standing on more than two legs. You feel better than you did before, certainly, but that only means you've upgraded from "turned inside out" to "had someone jump up and down over whole body but especially, like, the leg region".

What you're saying is this may be a little tricky.

>Roll me 3 1d100s vs. DC 40 to get out of bed!

(11:53 PM is "today" and two updates are "a couple", right?

As mentioned previously I am heading out until midday Sunday! I may turn out a few updates between then and now, but don't hold your breath. Hope you all have a great week and see you soon.)

Rolled 41 (1d100)

>>3279087
sleepy boy

Rolled 81 (1d100)

>>3279087
This bed evacuation is even harder than in winter when it's super comfy under the covers and super cold outside them. I wonder what a crit fail would look like.

>>3279093
Technically I'm forced to accept this.

Rolled 33 (1d100)

Greetings from vacation location. Let's find out if you're regular good or really good at standing. Update will come after I take a shower.

>>3279553
Critfail would've been tripping and clipping through the wall.

>Walk the walk, talk the talk, so on.
>41, 81, 33 vs. DC 40 - Success!

It was not tricky. You're disappointed at how anticlimatically not tricky it was. Wouldn't it be more [i]interesting[/i] if you were forever lame? You could be like the guy with two canes who loitered across from Germain Galpin's place. Sure, he [i]looked]/i] like a crazy cripple, and maybe he threw garbage at you a couple times, but deep down you knew he had a deep and meaningful past. Like that.

Unfortunately, your... (you're gonna call it) 27 years of walking experience have won out, and you find yourself squarely if painfully on your feet.

The next issue comes from exiting this room. There's a doorway to your right, but you're loath to go through it lest you encounter Arledge or Lorne. After doing such a good job of sidestepping them both, getting dragged back in is the last thing you want.

No. You'd left a different way before, with Lorne, and that's the way you need to go again. To the left.

There is a blank wall to your left. You knock on it, just to be sure, but it remains stubbornly solid.

On a whim, you close your eyes and knock again. It does not.

Sure, fine. Eyes still closed, you hobble gingerly forward. Again to your disappointment, you do not feel any particular fracturing of space or time. You do, however, leave the room.

Ahead of you is a very boring field, now with some rocks on. Behind you is... not a house. It continues to be a boring field.

You're a little fustrated that you continue to see fields instead of whatever stuff is actually not there. You'd imagine that enough of your brain has been jolted loose that this should be no sweat.

Then again, maybe it's a positive thing that some of you is normal-ish. Maybe you should just take a walk and not tamper with forces beyond your understanding. But that doesn't really sound like you, does it?

[i]Self-awareness is not a good look on you.[/i]

Wow, look who you missed.

>[1] Tamper with forces beyond your understanding. You're sick of fields and slightly more rocky fields.
>[2] Tamper with other forces beyond your understanding. See what's up with That Guy.
>[3] Just take a godsdamn walk already.

Hm. It's a definite question of whether or not to hang out with Lorne. He's a bit intense, and we're somewhat more likely to go killing random people with him. On the other hand, learning to shapeshift is cool, and we're less likely to lose ourselves if we stick with him while doing it instead of practicing alone.

>>3282185
>>[3] Just take a godsdamn walk already.

>>3282185
>3

I did want a chance to recover mind.

>>3282204
Maybe in the future, but let's give him some space for now. Don't want to get messed up before our big lobster people mission.

>>3281957
>[3] Just take a godsdamn walk already.
Keep the anticlimactic stuff going for once.

>Just be a normal person, please, jesus christ

Called. Update(s?) tomorrow.

>>3284985
Why can't you just be normal?!
Ellery: *Screams*

Update not tomorrow. Wanted to write it out on my afternoon hotel break, got writer's block. Wanted to write it out after I got back, ended up having to spend a good long while on other things. It's now 11ish and I have to get up at 6 AM, so the whole thing is pretty well shot.

Sorry, folks. Tomorrow's looking crammed, too, so no guarantees (though I'll try my hardest). Definitely definitely Sunday, since I get back in the morning and have the rest of the day free. I'm not dead, I promise! I'll see you soon!

>Walk!

"Shut up", you say, and wait for the response. None comes.

Is he gone?

Is he respecting your feelings?

Is it a sign? You should just take a walk. You'll feel better if you take a walk. There'll be less hassle if you just take a walk.

You take a walk. Or, well, you don't really, because that implies a start and an end-- but where is there to walk to, and where exactly are you walking from? It just doesn't square. No. You hunch and hobble in an ill-defined circle and try not to think about how silly this is.

But it is silly! That you're out here walking to nowhere, yeah, but also, also...

Also everything. In the moment everything is horrible and traumatic, yeah. But now that you step back and think (what happened to not thinking? it's too late now)... it's just ludicrous. It's silly.

Like, if it were a few things you'd just accept it at face value. You didn't die, and other people didn't die and they live underwater. Fine. It's not what you expected, and it doesn't necessarily align with what you know about the world, but it's fine.

But it just doesn't stop there, does it? You didn't die... but wait, maybe you did, but wait, but maybe it's just a metaphor or something. Also, surprise, there's a voice in your head that's actually you, but it's okay, you're not insane, this is a known thing that happens. And he can take over your body, because why the hell not. It's not like you were using it or anything.

You were in multiple minds in less than a week.

You saw a guy turn into a big fish thing.

Because why not? Why not? There's no point in worrying about what's gonna happen to you. It will be horrible and nonsensical and then you will be fine. That's just how it is now.

You can't stand up to the wall of nightmare-logic crashing down upon your head, and that makes you feel better.

>|Mind: 70/100|

Don't do this, Ellery.

You're not doing anything. You're walking-- is this the third lap? Fourth? You've been occasionally gesturing for dramatic effect, which you should probably stop doing.

You are giving up, and you are giving up because you're a pussy. You don't want to deal with it, so instead of making actual progress you're just throwing up your hands and saying 'well, not my problem, have at me universe.' Because you are a fecking pussy.

You don't think he has a lot of room to talk. He's, like, Public Enemy #1 on screwiness terms.

Do you think I want to exist? When my one goal is to keep you out of trouble-- do you know how hard that is when I'm trouble personified? It's impossible. The best I can do is to tell you that mindset is irresponsible and it's reckless and it's gonna get you hurt.

The alternative is losing your godsdamn mind. You can't do that, not when you're just barely keeping it together. You adapt or you die.

(1/2)

File: THE SUN! THE SUN!.jpg (330 KB, 1024x1024)

330 KB JPG

You adapt more or you die. You have changed already, so much you fear it's irreversible: not just in the obvious, but in tiny ways too. The tiny ways scare you more.

The sun burned your hand, and you dropped it into the ocean. What happened? You know what happened.

>[1] It shone.
>[2] It dimmed.
>[3] It shattered.

>>3294293
>[1] It shone.
Good see you back at it.

>>3294387
Writing!

File: you two.jpg (620 KB, 1184x772)

620 KB JPG

>It shone.

The water gnawed at its fiery edges, but the center was too hot and bright to be quenched. It burrowed through the seafloor and fell up up up to where it rests in your heart and your sky.

...

One: Where did that come from? You didn't mean to think that, and you don't know why you would. That was very pretty, so you don't exactly mind, but you would much rather have thoughts come out of your head.

Two: you are warm. You haven't been warm in... well, it was winter, so several months. Even so, there was still a warmth deep in your bones. You thought the ocean had wrung it out of you, that maybe you really were dead.

No longer. There is heat in your chest, and it floods up to your face and down to your feet. You are alive. You are well.

>|Mind: 80/100|

Hey, so, you know what this means?

His voice bristles with sharp edges. You don't let him puncture your mood. This is fine.

I'm thinking you do know what this means, so I'll just go right ahead. Yeah. I don't know where this is from, which means it had to be when you were, I don't know, gallivanting around in here. Which means whatever mess you made is now physical.

You try to whistle before realizing you don't know how to whistle, and also can't.

IE: you have progressed into screwing around with your own body, Ellery, which I happen to have a personal stake in. You have to stop this.

It's deeply weird, sure, but it's not bad. You feel great. There's not a chance-- and what is he gonna do about it, anyways? Rip it out of you? He doesn't have hands.

I really mean it. This is- this is too far. Please.

You won't.

It's as if something cold and filmy peels away, its loss leaving you on the verge of too hot. That Guy speaks again, but it's less in your head, almost...

"Um."

He stands directly behind you, clean and blue-eyed and (you tilt your head to verify) very slightly faded at the sides. You scowl. He has the look where you're nervous but are trying not to be. You know it well.

"I don't like this, but-- I'm serious, okay. Let's be civilized. You can take it out, or we can... come to blows."

You gotta say, this is not helping his 'stay out of trouble' case. You're also unclear as to how that would work. Is this just a visual hallucination, or can he actually hit you? How would that look to an outsider? Would you be punching yourself, or...

He prods you with two solid fingers and breathes a sigh of relief. "Okay, then. Make a decision."

>[1] You're like 99% sure you can take yourself, and he's probably been needing a good punch in the face. Strike first!
>[2] This is undoubtedly the stupidest fecking thing you have ever considered doing. Why don't you settle this like actual civilized people and talk about it?
>[3] This is not worth the trouble. Excise the sun.
>[4] Write-in.

>>3295165
>[2] This is undoubtedly the stupidest fecking thing you have ever considered doing. Why don't you settle this like actual civilized people and talk about it?
Maximum italics!

>>3295193
*clenches fist* GOD I love italics.

Writing.

>Just talk about it.

"Um," you say, warily. "That's stupid. That's really stupid."

He stuffs his hand back into his pocket and has the decency to look sheepish. "Yeah, well... I don't really, um, see a lot of options, and if you won't..."

"You know I suck. I bet you suck. It would be pathetic, seriously." You wince as you squat down, and wince further as you attempt to settle yourself into a comfortable sitting position. "Look, here. Sit down and we can have a polite conversation, not... gods, I'm already talking to myself. I don't need to give myself a second black eye."

He hesitates, but joins you on the seafloor. Grass clips through the tips of his boots, which you're not sure have ever been that shiny. They were used when you traded for them.

"Great." You interlace your fingers. "This is still stupid."

"Yeah," he says.

"I guess it's better, though. Get it over with."

>Roll me 3d100s+16 (+10 Loudmouth +6 Clear Mind) vs. DC 45 to argue him over to your side!
>Writing in arguments will provide further bonuses to your roll, should you choose to do so!

Rolled 56 + 16 (1d100 + 16)

>>3295553
>"Caution isn't the way to go here, you're just arguing against anything new, fun, and risky because that's what you think responsibility is. The old rules don't apply anymore, and you never liked them anyway. This is the best time to be playful and risky, you're already dead!"

>"You don't need to worry about the sun eating you or replacing you. You're not real and eventually I'll get bored and remake you, bring you back." Give him a mustache to prove your point.

Rolled 63 + 16 (1d100 + 16)

>>3295553
I like
>>3295606
Arguements

Rolled 82 + 16 (1d100 + 16)

>>3295553
And another roll to keep things moving

>>3295606
>>3295761
>>3295770
>A whole bunch of reasonable points! +5!
>77, 84, 103 vs. DC 45
>Critical Success!

Writing!

>u can't tell me what to do ur not my dad
>actually I guess you could be my dad I don't know who my dad is
>
>but that would be pretty weird huh
>anyways
>77, 84, 103 vs. DC 45 - Critical Success!

He picks at the beds of his fingernails while you wait. I don't," he says finally, "um, feel super comfortable... like this. If there's not gonna be any... I don't know, I think I can ditch this, right?"

"What, the..." You take a good moment to study his (your) face. You've seen it in glints of metal and the smooth surface of puddles, but never really for any sustained period of time. You're not sure what to think. (Your nose is kind of an issue.)

At least, you console yourself, it's not accurate. It's strained through what you assume is a thick mesh of biases and assumptions. You'd need to get something really reflective to know for real, though you can't imagine what that might be.

"The physical form," he finishes for you. "Yeah. Sorry, it's just... it's unwieldy. You realize how much heavy lifting is involved? You don't have to do any of it, so maybe not."

You twiddle with the blades of grass pricking against your jacket sleeve. "Um, okay. But I'd rather you not... go back, or whatever, because that's not-- that's just kind of a dick move, honestly. I don't get to vanish when things are inconvenient."

"Fine." He resumes picking at his nails. You contemplating braiding a bracelet out of this grass. The endless fields are still, for once, and bathed in barely-orange light.

This whole thing is not quite as exciting as you were expecting. You'll have to get the ball rolling.

"You're wrong," you say, "and I think you know it. You just can't admit it."

He frowns. "I don't see what there is to be wrong about. It's not a yes/no thing; it's a matter of you ignoring safety. And, like, the basic groundings of common sense."

"And responsibility?" You slam the plosive 'b' and match it with a finger jab.

"Right, that too."

"Yeah. So here's what you can't admit: you don't have a fecking clue about any of those. You don't- look at me and tell me you actually have any more of a grip on this than I do."

"I have more of a grip on this than you do." He fixes his eyes onto yours.

"You're lying. You're... here's what I think. If you were really some wise spirit guide or whatever the feck who always knew best for me-- I would not want to continually cut out your eyes with a blunt knife. Right? Because you'd be all smart and shit and I'd be like 'ah, yes, I should do that'."

"I think your logic is seriously flawed."

"You know why I'm not like that? You have no idea what you're doing! The moment that-- gods forbid-- I do anything with, like, any element of risk whatsoever you're in here screaming at me to stop or off sulking! The safe thing to do, the responsible thing: keep an eye on me while I do it, and then I know what to expect."

(1/?)

He's kind of smiling, but there's no mirth in his face or tone. "Ellery. 'Elements of risk'?"

"Yeah."

"It's not-- I don't care if you want to go start fires or binge drink! I don't support it, but you're an adult. This isn't that! This is... you're going in there and messing with things never designed to be messed with, and sooner or later that's going to cause issues! You're worried about changes!?"

You are.

"Guess what? I don't think that's some, like, mystical force doing that. That's you. That's you shoving your way past security into the control room and pressing every godsdamn button in sight, okay? You're screwing with your own head, for kicks."

"...Sounds right."

"Good. Guess what? It might be able to be fixed, if you don't die first. You know what can't be fixed?"

You get the gist, and you want him to finish. "Body."

"Bang on. That's not something you can come back from! You don't know what-" it's his turn now to point- "that does, and I don't know what it does, and for all I know it's gonna burn a hole right through your heart and drop you dead. Is that what you want?!"

"I don't care." You stop twiddling. "I don't really have anything to lose, do I?"

He blanches so white you fancy you can see the horizon through his face. He doesn't say anything.

You feel like you ought to clarify this. "Um, I mean, I don't think I'm... actively... I just don't... well, I'm dead, I guess, so it doesn't seem to matter."

"Metaphorically," he mutters.

"Same idea. And I guess people die all the time, so I figure... I should enjoy things while they last. Maybe you agree."

"No."

"You agree on some level, at least, because you're not a fecking spirit guide. You're me, and more than you want to be."

His throat tenses. "I don't know where you're getting this from. I don't want you to die, okay, I don't think that's too much. Please."

"You were in my dream."

"Oh boy."

"You were, and you were frazzled, and you asked if I knew anything-- any tips, or secrets, or anything. And then you kinda kicked me into the water, but I don't think that's important. You don't have any more of a grip on this than I do."

"I'm doing all I can, okay!" Color rushes back to his cheeks. "I'm- I just don't want you to die. I'm doing all I can."

"I don't think you'll die. You don't have to worry: you're not real."

"You sure as hell are." He runs his hands up and down his face, which distends in ways only slightly rubbery. "Please. I don't know how to fix it if it goes sideways."

"I'll be fine." You mean it. "And if I'm not fine, that's also fine."

"It's not, but..." He stands in defeat. "I can't do anything about it. I'm sorry."

>|Perquisite Gained: (Sunrisen) - There is a fire in your heart. You are warm to the touch. ??? ???|
>|END SESSION|

CHRIST that took ages. Session tentatively tomorrow, barring that certainly earlyish this week. If the thread dies, I'll make another! Good night!

I've got nooo idea what's going on. What's the sun, is it real, is it our body or is it our mind? Why does Ellery's idea of what responsibility is think that body can't be fixed but mind can be?

He wasn't kidding though, we really are DeeDee running into the laboratory saying, "Ooooh, what does this button do?"

>>3296757
Dang,, I missed getting a fire in our heart.

Also wouldn't body be easier to fix than mind if both are malleable?

296786
>>3297106
The sun (THE SUN THE SUN): Remember when you very briefly went mad with power at the beginning of your mind trip last thread? You summoned (your idea of) the sun and dropped it into the ocean.
A few days later, it's made its way to the bottom... and something happened, you guess, and it's manifesting itself as actual heat. It's unclear if this is you fooling yourself or if there's an actual physical object lodged in there, but That Guy isn't happy either way. More on that later.

Idea of responsibility: This has been alluded to enough that I'm okay talking about it. Notice how Lorne didn't say anything about taking particular traits? Notice "silly" options when POV-switched? Yeah, you're both wrong about the "rational side", though it's doubtful either have you have realized this.
In reality, he's just a mishmash of some scrap parts of you and the idea of who you want to be. Recall "Madrigal"'s big spiel earlier. You don't know it, you certainly haven't made any steps to achieve it, but who you want to be is: normal. Rational. Stable. Alive. (Attractive.) Guess what That Guy wants?
Even so... he's still you, and he's still prey to your impulses and whims. He just doesn't like it.

Body v. Mind: He speaks very subjectively here, from his standpoint as basically a creature of thought. He knows a great deal about your head, and he knows that there's defenses and protective mechanisms (see: amnesia) to stop you from doing too much damage. And worst comes to worst, he can probably personally help.

Unfortunately, he knows approx. dick about your body and how it works. He runs on secondhand memories, which work kind of okay for basic functions... but he still lacks any reflexes or muscle memory and he certainly can't manipulate yours. If something goes wrong, he can't fix it, he doesn't know if you can fix it, and it could potentially be deadly or at the very least noticeable to others (your image is a big deal!). So maybe he exaggerates, but not really, and it's in your best interest. He just wants your best interest.

If anything else needs explanation or clarification, I'd be happy to help. IC questions are also totally fine: make a list and you'll receive summary answers, as you still have a day before crab trip. Whatever you need.

I have too much going on to run today, though I mayyyy get a single post out. Tomorrow potentially, depending on how much I get done now; Wednesday for sure if Tuesday doesn't work out.

Have a nice day!

>>3297722
Thanks OP. I need to start taking notes, so much seemingly innocuous stuff comes back up later on.

>>3297722
>>3296786
Man, I dunno what happened with the linking but the first one was supposed to go to here.

>>3297805
;D

It's gonna be Wednesday and a new thread. Archived here: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=drowned%20quest

Have a great night!