38 posts
Page of Stars
Played by Harrison
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Post by smashingBrawler on Jul 27, 2016 5:40:25 GMT
((Members of Not Another Session only))
There were four players in the session, none of who were time players. You were one. telestialGrotto was another. There were two others, who went by undyingForever and eternityStillness. Entry was fairly standard. Nothing horrific was prototyped, overall a mundane set. Everyone made it in short order. The problems started later.
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161 posts
Sage of Breath
Played by Nedben
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Post by telestialGrotto on Jul 27, 2016 19:59:47 GMT
You were telestialGrotto. This was going to be a very fun session. You were beginning to understand the Heart-y thing, creatively extending the souls of such things as rocks and underlings for your own purposes. As well as the heart-y thing weaponized. [Rose of the Noble Castle] ftw.
Lillian was beginning to tire, her movements through incalculable time-space weary as the horrific battle against the latest Skipper Plumbthroat and minions wore on across vast stretches of the Furthest Ring. It would not be long until she was incapacitated and could do nothing to keep Julie from simply ripping out some controls and reclaiming her soul as her own.
Soon.
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38 posts
Page of Stars
Played by Harrison
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Post by smashingBrawler on Jul 28, 2016 3:45:14 GMT
In a sudden series of events, everything went south. The others had been killed - TG their executioner. You were freaking out, You died on your quest bed, catching a glimpse of your dreamself's near-assassination as you did. Still, you didn't necessarily want to kill her. It wasn't you, it would never be you. A year ago, maybe you would have killed her, and accepted it as the only way out. But something had hit your timestamp since then, and you decided you knew exactly how to handle a genocidal maniac. All you needed to do was find her.
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161 posts
Sage of Breath
Played by Nedben
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Post by telestialGrotto on Jul 28, 2016 4:09:35 GMT
Today was a good day. 2/3 dead, even if the one to go was...not workable. Sure, you were going to die horribly, but it was going to be fun! As long as your fenestrated plane rifle was still fine, you could hop about like a Space player as you pleased. How deeply you wanted to share this profound feeling of joy obtained at the price of the lives of others. Betty Crocker mind domination red velvet cakes sat on various surfaces across the session, as did laced and tracer-covered cups of pineapple crush.
Then you got stuck in a bubble of gravity. Whoops.
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161 posts
Sage of Breath
Played by Nedben
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Post by telestialGrotto on Jul 29, 2016 4:35:52 GMT
HENRY began talking to JULIE.HENRY: looks like WL would've been easier to convert to your way of things
JULIE: Hilarious thought.HENRY: He really wants you deadJULIE: So do a lot of people.HENRY: Yeah, not me somehow.HENRY: Maybe I'm just prone to accepting their deaths.HENRY: as having happenedJULIE: ...JULIE: Looks like an opportunity to me. Care to further it?HENRY: No, it's not like thatHENRY: I accept that they're gone, and nothing will change thatHENRY: that is to say, that nothing will change thatJulie smiles and suppresses a chuckle.HENRY: Doesn't mean I'm going to kill anyoneHENRY: First, killing you would be a gift of freedom that I'm not willing to give.HENRY: You know the bubbles well enough to escape LC's influence, I'm fairly certain.JULIE: ...that would not be the element of issue.Julie yawns.HENRY: But more importantlyHENRY: You're not all killHENRY: and you know itHENRY: and the funniest thing isHENRY: right now, at this momentHENRY: you've been heart this whole timeHENRY: and you haven't gotten rid of it.JULIE: I don't have the pluck or effort to bother with something like that.Julie looks at something in the background, trying to appear aloof but looking more like trying to dodge the question.HENRY: Yeah you do, you had the pluck and effort to kill two peopleHENRY: you would have gotten rid of it by nowJULIE: That was more a physical act. Ember Celica works fine on relatively underdefended people from behind.HENRY: It took a while to set up what you did, you're a muse not a page or a knightHENRY: you had to be creativeJULIE: ...HENRY: and this whole time you've actually had a perfect answer to your big problem right in the palm of your handJulie speaks a disconcerting image in an attempt to change the topic.HENRY: you could transfer the reward pathwayJULIE: ...HENRY: imagine, for a moment, feeling the way you do about killing, about like, eating pie, or, more importantlyHENRY: using that 'little speck' as the coreHENRY: instead of 'die the death'HENRY: I usually would doubt it working, but muses are pretty good at getting creativeHENRY: and I'm pretty sure the soul would be all in for this oneJULIE: ...Give up. You're not gonna get through to me.HENRY: Why not?HENRY: Like seriously, why not do it this way?HENRY: What happened that makes you feel like this is the only optio-HENRY: It was that way before wasn't it.HENRY: You said yourself that it was an alterationHENRY: you said programming, like a heart player programmed youHENRY: You moved it to killing so you could deal with somethingJULIE: I grew up with that 'alteration'. It's as much a part of me as the rest of my childhood.HENRY: ohHENRY: okay so I guess I'm used to people from non-batshit worldsHENRY: stillHENRY: think about it though, you've had your soul criss-crossed this whole timHENRY: You've been accepting that alteration this whole time.HENRY: Well, maybe it's time to stop accepting it.HENRY: hell, you aren't even trying to kill me right nowJULIE: I have plans, SB.HENRY: Yeah, sure, we all know you're a shitty muse, you keep rolling it.HENRY: Look, TG. I'm going to be stepping through the door. The only question is if you will be.HENRY: and I can guarantee you that whatever fate you suffer instead, it will be much worse than death.JULIE: So what's your plan then?HENRY: Well, one option is to try to convince you to shinyhack yourselfHENRY: That one is dependent on youHENRY: The worst case scenario is shunting you into Others territoryHENRY: The last option is getting me some of that cake.JULIE: Why is getting me eaten by squid more morally justifiable than just killing me yourself?JULIE: ...and the cake's already around the session, go fetch it yourself. Maybe eat some and come back here, nyeh?HENRY: Oh, the squid wouldn't eat you, that much I think I've gatheredHENRY: From my guesses, a live player is probably a rarity in the outer ringJULIE: Pshh, most sessionwaters enjoy the taste of human flesh as much as I do.JULIE: Now THAT's as to why.HENRY: well, either way, it's not a guaranteed death sentenceJULIE: ...Now say someone else does the killing here.JULIE: Jack Noir. Sophia. Your denizen. The safe door from Derse. Maria the hypothetical nuke girl. Me. What difference comes from letting them do it than you or a big squid?HENRY: You have a chance out in the ring.JULIE: I'm spoiled goods. Rogue asset who escaped direct soul binding, however technicality. Pshh.JULIE: Lillian probably has a preemptive bounty on my head.HENRY: Guess there goes that. Think I'll go get some cake.HENRY: If you won't get help, I'll have to make you.JULIE: I'll be here.HENRY: Hm, y'know I never tried making something really far away come to me.HENRY: Also, you seriously telling me you didn't bring the cake?JULIE: Oh come on, you said it yourself. No need to stop the gravity bubble.HENRY: Yeah I'm not dumb enough to let you out of range of my sensesJULIE: I have no reasonable way out here.JULIE: I probably can't even shoot you until it goes Heroic!HENRY: Probably trueHENRY: So far I have managed to avoid heroism or justiceHENRY: mostly just neutrality and pacifism :/HENRY: Ugh, why can't you just edit yourself backHENRY: like, what happened?HENRY: why are you so attached to murder?HENRY: it's a load of garbage is what it isJULIE: ....The same way anyone else is attached to THEIR favorites.HENRY: No!HENRY: If my favourite things hurt people, I'd hold backHENRY: Hell, it's happened before and I did.HENRY: Everyone else knows that there's a time and a placeHENRY: FC always loved manipulating people, and well, everything around herHENRY: Heart taught her to stop doing that, and yeah she still struggles, but she tries her best not to let that need for control to rule herHENRY: The hardest thing I ever did was stop being friends with somebody who I loved being friends with because it was hurting them.HENRY: So no, it's not the sameHENRY: and even then, what you're feeling is artificialHENRY: imagine not having to wait for a targetHENRY: and more importantlyHENRY: imagine lillian coming back and being able to still feel the same wayHENRY: as you do when killingJULIE: ...HENRY: She will come back eventuallyJULIE: I...Julie catches herself at the last second.JULIE: I don't...want...Julie looks at the ceiling.JULIE: I don't want to talk about this.JULIE: ...I don't know why I feel so conflicted inside.JULIE: ...maybe you really should kill me. I don't wanna stop, but...I always planned to die in battle.JULIE: ...Julie looks upward and to the side.JULIE: Going to say anything to that, goody two-shoes?HENRY: If you were gonna do it, you would've done it by nowJULIE: ...JULIE: I need some alone time.Julie takes out some alchemically buffed sleeping pills and flips off SB as she decides to knock herself out.HENRY: GoddammitJULIE has stopped talking to HENRY.
HENRY has started talking to JULIE. HENRY: Julie!JULIE: NOPENOPENOPENOPEHENRY: Julie you know I have a gravitational pull, I am going to draw you in.Julie tries to fly away, but fails because gravity.JULIE:  JULIE: What.HENRY: There we go, back in the gravity bubbleHENRY: You've had some timeJULIE: I'm not changing it and you can't make me without compromising your principles.Julie crosses her arms childishly. Earlygame sleep connection at its finest.HENRY: Why not?JULIE: I don't want to.HENRY: Why?JULIE: I've lived in anticipation and until you showed up I was enjoying being able to do as I liked.JULIE: Blaaah.HENRY: You were living under Lillian's thumb.HENRY: And you will again, and be stuckHENRY: you and I both know it's just a matter of timeJULIE: ...Julie seems about to say something, but decides against it.HENRY: Go onJULIE: ...JULIE: ...Maybe it'll be best if you see this yourself.HENRY: See what?Julie reaches into her chest and pulls out her shiny. The core is not the obvious rainbow it was before.JULIE: I fixed THAT at least.JULIE: She has no way back.HENRY: You forced Lillian out of the shinyJulie puts back her soul and nods smugly.JULIE: Kind of had to in order to REALLY get past everything.HENRY: So why not one more change?JULIE: ...HENRY: What are you afraid of?JULIE: I just don't want to change that.HENRY: Why.JULIE: You can't just put a motive to everything. This is one of those things I intend to keep.HENRY: Why.JULIE: ...HENRY: This is just like when I read 1984HENRY: The guy could have just kept asking 'why'.HENRY: The government just wanted an infinite loop of sufferingHENRY: with no actual reasonHENRY: it was so stupidHENRY: there's no reasonHENRY: why make suffering when you can make happinessJULIE: ...Something changes in Julie's expression.JULIE: You really want a girl I don't want to exist, huh. Someone who'll just get ground to death instead of winning.HENRY: Maybe you should give her more credit.HENRY: Maybe you should give us more creditJULIE: Making that change means the death of me as me. There's so much built off that one little thing, if I pull that out I'm just a hollow mask.JULIE: I don't want to let go of me.JULIE: Everyone else can go to Hell where I belong instead.HENRY: Are you really, genuinely, happy?JULIE: Maybe. Up until shortly before now.HENRY: Then why do you keep letting me talk?HENRY: You could ignore me, go to sleep againHENRY: You're listening for a reasonJULIE: Shouting 'shut up' isn't going to work on someone whose whole job is destroying the acceptance they're supposed to cultivate.JULIE: ...maybe I really should give in.HENRY: Yeah, and you're accepting a version of you that you were forced to beHENRY: One who endangers everyone they'll ever meetHENRY: Instead of one who could be a hero, or a friend.JULIE: ...This damn game really does want to kill us all...HENRY: There's a saying in the Talmud, a proverbHENRY: "Whoever destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world. And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world."JULIE: What's wrong with killing the whole world anyway? We're all puppets. Puppets who don't need to live.JULIE: Ahahaha, why don't you do the honors?JULIE: Take my hands, and I'll show you how to rip me apart.JULIE: Kill me in every way and leave behind a happy new woman wracked with guilt.HENRY: "What is hateful to thee, do not unto thy fellow; this is the whole law. All the rest is a commentary to this law; go and learn it."JULIE: The law can go to hell with everything else. Care to kill my heart?HENRY: I can't do it.Julie offers her hands, as if saying 'put them in'.JULIE: It's a symbolic gesture, silly.HENRY: You have to do it, it has to be your choice.JULIE: And I'm just going to keep putting it off. Assisted suicide or none at all.JULIE: Just say yes.HENRY: Why do you need me to do it?JULIE: Because killing myself is something special.JULIE: I wanted a death in battle, why not justice delivered by a god?HENRY: You haven't earned that death.HENRY: A hero's death, a villain's deathHENRY: Your closer to some person who was put under mind control, or a magic spell.JULIE: Then I guess I'll just float here until one of us tires of the charade. Gonna kill me and pull out the 'hero' I painted over?JULIE: A mask given too much life is a heart of its own.HENRY: I'm treating this like some two-bit mind player. I'm acting like there's only two optionsHENRY: What if you don't do this 100% in either direction?JULIE: I'm not cutting out my love of killing people, and I'm changing that only with you pulling the trigger.HENRY: I can't believe I'm saying this... What if you don't do it completely.HENRY: Not completely cut out that love of killing, only partially, or mostlyHENRY: enough that it's there when you need it but not dominantJULIE: There's something special about killing the heroes of this game. I don't want to disrespect that myself. Why can't you give me just one more little push off this cliff?HENRY: Why should I?HENRY: What have you done to earn that from me?JULIE: I killed two perfectly innocent people, and you need to realize you're killing one.HENRY: That's why I suggested the split.JULIE: Even a little cut....it's not something I'm willing to do on my own. Just do it, please. Last favor to a dying criminal.HENRY: It's not right.HENRY: None of this is right dammitJULIE: Just take my hands, it's already a murder by yours and a suicide by mine, let's just do this together, okay?HENRY: No, I won't give you the satisfaction of getting me to kill.JULIE: You're already doing that, right now.HENRY: I won't let this be some killing joke.JULIE: Isn't the motivator behind a suicide effectively a murder?JULIE: This is already a joke, and this is already a killing.HENRY: It doesn't have to be suicide.JULIE: One last hurrah for a tiny little change. Come on.HENRY: You could share.JULIE: ....That's already what I'm offering. It's all or nothing, I can't be trusted.Henry drops the gravity zone.Julie floats forward slowly, hands out like offering something. Henry backs away at equal speedJULIE: ...JULIE: Just do it, please.HENRY: Imagine everything that killing is for you, but invert it.HENRY: That is what you're asking from me.HENRY: You can kill, you've done it before.HENRY: I can't.JULIE: You're not acknowledging you're killing me, and you're not gonna do it alone, and I'm not gonna do it alone. Come on, please.JULIE: ...HENRY: ...You can't do it alone... but you want toHENRY: You could be running away right now.HENRY: Or you could kill me.HENRY: Instead here we both are.Julie flashsteps uncomfortably close, but stops a good bit too short.JULIE: ...And starts crying.Henry hugs Julie.Julie begins chuckling, but it's the defeated kind of laugh.JULIE: Just a few minutes ago I would've grabbed your shiny and shocked...JULIE: Ahahahahaha, I can't believe myself.JULIE: Can't you just take my hands and help kill me?HENRY: If you do it, it's you becoming who you want to be.JULIE: Wasn't it you who came up with that space jail idea? Think of this as the final meal for someone on death row. One last request that means nothing in the grand scheme of things.HENRY: The idea was a way that we wouldn't have to kill.JULIE: Don't you get it?JULIE: I'm not willing to do this all on my own anymore.Henry backs away slightlyHenry puts his hands out.Julie puts hers in his with a pleading look in her eyes. Just grab the wrists and let's do this.JULIE: I wonder how I'm gonna react when I flip that switch and change my own mind...Henry pauses, frozen with indecisionJULIE: After all, I'm not gonna be dead, am I?HENRY: I... I guess you won't be.HENRY: It's not like you couldn't come back one day if the reasons arose.HENRY: And besides, the only way this works is if deep down, it's in your nature.JULIE: Death is but a door, time is but a window. It'll be okay.JULIE: I want to change, come on, just say yes and take my wrists.HENRY: Okay.Henry grabs Julie's wristsJulie pauses momentarily, then pulls towards her own chest, going for her shiny, his hands just outside.JULIE: Rest in peace, Julie Lamarck.Julie pulls out her shiny and reaches into it, changing something very deep a few levels down, and then lets go, it floating back into her.JULIE: ...JULIE: oh goddess.Julie breaks down as the new her realizes she just killed innocent people and loved it with the weight it would hit someone innocent.well, guilty, but the point stands.Aaand starts crying.Henry hugs her, of course.HENRY: It's okay, you weren't you.Julie hugs back and is still crying.JULIE: I...I just killed them and loved it...oh goddess.JULIE: Please, just kill me now and crush my realself to a pulp.Julie continues grossly sobbing.HENRY: I forgive you.JULIE: I'm begging you, please.JULIE: I don't want to live.JULIE: I want to just go to sleep forever and forget who I am.HENRY: First of all, that's not how it works. You'll wake up again.HENRY: Second of all, that killer wasn't you.HENRY: It was a fascimilie, sure.HENRY: But clearly that wasn't who you really are.JULIE: But for the longest time, it was. You heard her, you heard me.HENRY: Yes, I did. I also hear you.HENRY: And you don't seem like the kind of person who's going to go killing random people.HENRY: It was no different from mind control.HENRY: Or maybe hypnosis, more accuratelyJULIE: But I loved that. I was that. I don't want to keep going, I just feel like my whole life was invalidated.HENRY: Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.JULIE: We're two coplayers down and I don't think I can make it past my Denizen with a scar like this weighing on my mind.HENRY: We'll cut a deal.JULIE: ...JULIE: What are you offering?HENRY: Don't know yet. I'll have to find out what your denizen wants.HENRY: Who knows, maybe we'll get lucky and already have it.HENRY: I can probably take down the King, I've got a solid class for the jobHENRY: Plus moon-dropping has become pretty common as a strategy lately.HENRY: Either way, we shouldn't do this all super-quickHENRY: We should probably take our time.JULIE: ...Heh, I still have their pendants...JULIE: I'm gonna need some time to just lie on the ground and look at nothing....I feel so sick with myself.HENRY: That's fair.HENRY: You've been through a lot since you were last you.JULIE: ...Heh, yeah.JULIE: I mean, I'm just stuck with this sick obsession...you mind tiering me so I can say sorry to a certain two people?HENRY: Both version of you are alive, right?JULIE: This is a dreamself. You just saw the realself. Of course.JULIE: I'll be right there watching, it's just a game thing anyway right?JULIE: I just wanna make peace with the past. An honorable goodbye, maybe not even honorable.HENRY: Yeah, God-tier killing is something I can do.For the first time since changing her soul, she smiles.JULIE: Let's do this.  HENRY: Alright, once you tier I'm gonna take care of a few things, so we can communicate through the chat like normalHENRY: Know where the bed is?JULIE: Roughly middle between spire and equator, the garden it's in starts just above the red line. Should be able to see the glow shape from there.HENRY: Alright, let's goHENRY: Wait, I guess we should probably use your realself shouldn't weHENRY: I assume you didn't have time to complete that flight questJULIE: I just wanna see myself off, however symbolically.  Julie offers her hands again, this time less murderously.Henry gently accepts the hand.JULIE: Alright, you lead I'll follow.JULIE has stopped talking to HENRY. End dialoglog.
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