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Rinley, Scheherazade and Dinazad sounds like a great combo. Sessily is having a grand time. She's got Totem clasped across her back so he doesn't get too much in the way and she's spinning and dancing delightedly through the party store, practicing her moves while you browse the aisles. She's really a lovely sight, her straw hair's bouncing up and down like a windy wheat field, and she's got on a red dress with thick puffy shoulders that spins up above her ankles when she twirls. She's going to need lots more sparkles for the show, and also she's kind of bumped into you and the aisles a few times (fortunately, everything that has spilled so far has been securely fastened, so you've only had to put the things back on the shelves).

So, a bit awkward, but also a fun friend time full of a happy heart that's bursting to the brim with effort. That's really beautiful. What does it feel like to you, anyway, when someone is putting their whole heart into something and you get those Rinley feels about it?

[Indeed, one storytime point.]

Oh and I'll leave it to Dulcinea (on or off camera) to tell you exactly what gift you find to her taste, I'm sure it will be great.

*****

Jasper, Shokyou gives you kind of a funny look. She's been giving you lots of funny looks since you came by. She's obviously enchanted with you, but also kind of confused about why a deity would come to earth without, like, studying up for it. Mostly you just think she's giving you funny looks. This does appear to be making her less reverential than she was before though.

"You know, you act like you've never been here before" she says between bites of multi-colored crunchy Os. "Like, this is cereal not ramen. And, I think any kid would know that. Sure, you eat them both out of a bowl, I guess, but you eat cereal with a spoon and ramen with chopsticks, so they're, like, totally different!" She punctuates this with a demonstration of eating ramen with her spoon. "Also, my name's Shokyou, you don't need to call me 'Awakened One' or 'Your Holyness' or 'The Redeemer' or any of those things you've said, really. Just Shokyou is good."

She gives you a friendly smile, which she immediately shatters with a big yawn that she only covers up about halfway through, making you want to yawn in response. "So, big show day, right? I was thinking Alice in Wonderland, do you want to be in the show with me?"

[Jasper, I think you're building towards a shared reaction here, but not quite yet. Also, if you want, you could ask Shokyou about Jade Irinka, they knew each other, though you might not know that.]

*****
[Dulcinea is spending 4 will on this, I am told]

Dulcinea. You've nearly got your nightmare invention done, and this will absolutely and certainly cause you to get a working nightmare rift going, probably without any complications whatsoever! Let's see. The key principle here, which you will be able to extract from this wish state and apply easily hereafter is the principle of entropy. No, not the guy that sometimes rides around town on a motor cycle, that's Principal Entropy, this is the principle of entropy. Anyway, what's important here is that all nightmares have a natural cycle and degradation that they undergo. As they do so, energy from the nightmare balances out with the dream state and settles the sleeper's mind or forces them into a sudden awakening. To properly stabilize the portal, you need to align its energy output with the nightmare's natural entropy. If dream takes an energy dip and your device doesn't, you'll end up injecting extra nightmare due to the imbalance and sudden nightmare injections can be explosive in their consequences.

So, you've got the energy modulation controller all set up and your adaptive suit is functional! This is going to lead to the best dance routine!

Also, there are two things you should be aware of as a result of this research and your prior research.
Thing 1: The way the Outside storms are targeting people recently? Same energy modulations that you just figured out for nightmare structures. This is, if not your fault directly, at least an extremely unlikely coincidence that you are, by several miles, the best equipped person to address. I'm sorry, but it's totes your problem.

Thing 2: There's an odd little fluctuation in the nightmare energy. It's not large and it won't affect your devices right now, but there's no mistaking this. Energy is leeching out unexpectedly somewhere else. There's another portal to the nightmare realm that you didn't make somewhere in Fortitude.

Well, anyway, those two things are problems for future you, not current you. Current you has a dance contest to absolutely crush beneath the sole of your adaptive suit's extremely sexy boots.

You should probably emote about your theory here and then tell us what's coming next now that it's working.

[Dulcy, this is the motherload of quest things. First off, you just took an out of genre science, faith, sorcery! action. That's 1 XP and grab another point of Blue (In Over Your Head) Issue.

Second, you advanced your science chibi quest, 1 XP

Third, apparently talking about your engine compared to Shokyou's is worth a quest XP for hidden library, so boom check that one off!

And fourth, I just handed you responsibility for the Outside Stirs, which is worth a whopping 3 XP for that quest unless you hard reject that in your response (in which case I'd say this didn't count since nobody else is actually forcing it on you).]

*****

Mila, the Fortitude explosives and pyrotechnics club is out here in force (this club may or may not exist outside of this wish, but as far as you're concerned, it is completely normal that Fortitude has this). The rep who approaches you has a bright pink mohawk to complement her pink kitty-cat ear headphones (currently lowered around her neck) and her leather jacket, which is black, not pink.

"Hey, name's Aila Foleiu, saw you kind of standing around glancing at our stuff. Can we help you out? You look like you're dressed for a show, one of the backup dancers maybe? They send you to give us an order? We've got a ton of stuff. Sparklers, rockets, two for ones and multicolor whatever you're looking for. It's pretty sweet, seriously."

She seems pretty up for doing business. You're still a bit thrown from before though, feeling a bit down. What's your approach here?

[No XP yet, but you're pretty set up to be suspicious or in need of aid.]
[Potential 3. Hopeless. Insecure. Afraid. Angry.]

Anathet's gaze is at the man on the ground, then it slowly tracks upwards to the gorgeous bouncer. Oh dang, that hair must take so much work, and her aura, there's some reds mixed in there from having to beat up the guy, but she's got this beautiful blue and gold confidence swirling back there that kind of matches Anathet's own preferred colors.

She blushes, which she's sure the bouncer will take as the shyness of a lost child. She's not going to let this stop her though, no no no! Anathet shakes her head, which again, probably looks like a lost kid denying it. "I'm just short" she says, trying to get her voice back. She is not doing well at presenting confidence, but that's fair since she's not really feeling confident so much as reckless. So lean into it, right? "I came here to come here, and I can take care of myself, don't worry." She's pouting beneath her veil a bit, but her legs and her shoulders are set forward in a way that says I'm stubborn and won't take no for an answer.

So yeah, the bouncer is in the way and Anathet looks at her with a mixture of stubborn determination and not some small attraction. "Maybe, if you're not too busy, you can show me the place though?" Oh no! Was that too forward? The bouncer's going to patronize her now, right? Ugh, better brace herself for this.
[Potential 3. Hopeless. Insecure. Afraid. Angry.]

Anathet is so tough enough to play at Johann's! Which is a thought you thinks to herself in response to the other thought that she'd be nervous going in there. That's just dumb, she's a Phantom Thief and she just fought a lynx one on one like it was nothing. So of course she's going to go get an ice cream sandwich. She hasn't tasted something that decadent since she left with the Zhianku (not that they don't have desserts, of course, but their approach to cooking in deep space is very utilitarian and something like ice cream is really an Earth specialty).

Also! She is not just going to walk in and then retreat to a corner with her precious dessert like some lame...uh...person who isn't cool and doesn't have any social relationships with other humans outside of superhero time. That is a set of words that does not describe Anathet at all! She's unconsciously got her fists clenched hidden behind the long sleeves of her robes and her shoulders are very tense, but she's not about to back down from this! She's going to go in there and buy something and talk to the bartender and maybe other people also! She's going to meet a new friend and they're going to be cute because her friends should be cute and then...uh, she'll see how things go from there!

And with that internal monologue fully taken care of her and mind made up, Anathet grits her teeth and strides into Johann's bar. Because she is extremely tough!

[Potential 3. Hopeless. Insecure. Afraid. Angry.]

What?! She wanted a completely new play written by the next day (really today) that had to be entertaining but couldn't have anything even slightly subversive or racy in it?! Who did she think she was? What the fuck?!

Anathet was not in good shape. Tia's departure had been so sudden and it left this hole in her heart. Combined with being overwhelmed before, screwing up the Phantom Thieves act in front of Marianne and her general exhaustion after the previous day most of her calm Zhianku control was focused on holding back the internal swirl of emotions long enough to get through this conversation. Anything else was totally beyond her.

Anathet then exerts a truly monumentous act of self-control as Auntie Rose touches her and doesn't teleport her directly into the temple of Marduk's trash compactor. Any omniscient observer would agree that this was a supreme act of compassion and award Anathet a sainthood on the spot.

"Fine" Anathet said, meaning that it was not fine. "No problem" meaning it was a huge problem. "I'm sure I'll have it to you early!" meaning get out now.

The second Auntie Rose was gone and out of visual range, Anathet has on her traveling cloak and her wide-brimmed hat and she is out of there! She's going into town, to the lower quarter markets where things are teaming with life. She's going to buy the sweetest goddamn alien approximation of ice cream and she's going to find some fun or some trouble, whichever one comes first.

Like hell she's working on this script, let Tirzah bribe her own judges!
[Potential 3. Hopeless. Insecure. Afraid. Angry.]

Delight blooming and blossoming like the pink leaves of an orchid! Anathet blushes, unsure whether to clap or stay silent for fear of embarrassing Tia. She settles for a shy smile, the kind that's visible from sparkling eyes and the slight turn of the head even when the teeth are hidden beneath a veil and a wide-brimmed hat.

"Tia, that's a good name. Coming from Tiamat maybe? I think you're someone very special. And I think...we can be friends, Tia. We're similar, and I'm going to find a way to help you. This is the first step, but just the first. The one that lets you reach out safely and meet more people. We'll find you and, we'll change things."

Anathet reaches down, into a small little portal and pulls out a gem. A sapphire, one of her Zhianku trove. It's not magic in and of itself, but it's made perfectly, grown to withstand incredible heat and pressure, and a gorgeous blue that twinkles even in the faint light of the evening.

"Here, Tia, take this. A little gift for our friendship and a...focus I suppose, from the Zhianku. A focus for your sense of self and something to remember our bond by." She presses it into Tia's hand, confident someone that despite her shadowy nature that she'll be able to take the stone and hold it.

Only a small part of her feels a little resentment at what she's giving away, how easily Tia seems to be growing into herself, but she puts that aside because it's more important to help right now. She wants this bond and she wants Tia to be able to be...free somehow.

[Unleash Powers: 5+2+2+1(assess)-2(hopeless)=8. Marking angry to ensure a lasting effect.]
[Potential 3. Hopeless. Insecure. Afraid.]

There's a challenge. Anathet doesn't think she should be the anchor. Maybe in another time, in which she had freedom and focus, she would help this person center herself, strengthen herself, and ultimately free herself. Her soft heart wants so much to help and she yearns to do this kind of good for someone. But the demands of being Set are...harrowing. If she makes herself an anchor, at least alone, then she is offering this girl, already troubled, a very difficult ride, one full of trauma and hardship.

Better to give her a name, a stable self that she can cling to. Anathet is here though, she's centered now and she thinks that she can be medium, like a funnel directing the girl towards a self. What she needs is a name with power. Something that's not just random, but that holds some truth for the girl and will fit her like a glove. Thoughts of famous dragons flash through her mind, or colors and precious metals. Images for goddesses perhaps. Too grand though, too large still. The black-eyed girl needs something smaller, more human for herself. Something like a gemstone or a flower.

"You know, I've always been small." Anathet smiles, almost shyly. "When I was young and growing up on Earth, people would pick on me for that. It's silly that people still judge you as a kid based on how big and strong you are. It makes some sense, parents want their child to be healthy, but I think it's awful that children will hurt other children just because they're smaller. It made me so sad and shy when I was little. Being like...like us I've always hurt more easily too. I could feel the anger coming off someone else and it mixed with my own sadness at getting hurt and just, I dunno, it kind of makes it all worse. I feel that even now, even though I've learned how to, like, meditate and focus and read other people's auras. It still hurts me when they're in pain and angry and lashing out, even if I stop them. Even if I reflect them and throw it back at them."

Anathet sighs and pulls her legs up so she can put her arms around them. Part of her hoped this was getting her somewhere, leading towards some insight into the black-eyed girl that would help her create an anchor. Part of her just liked having someone to talk to instead of just thinking about her past and being sad.

"I guess, you know one of the reasons I was so excited to go with the Zhianku, even leaving my mom, was because even when I first met them, I could tell they understood how I felt and didn't want to hurt me. In a way that people never ever did. They knew to be gentle while I was learning and since they have this ability to read anybody else's emotions, they know the way I felt and the pain I felt. Ha, gods, it must have hurt them when I first went with them. I cried the whole first night, missing my mom and my home. I was sad for days, weeks I think, even while they trained me. All my teachers must have hated that, suffered having to be near me and teach me. What a sacrifice. If I ever see them again, I'll thank them. Especially Kuliana, she was like the person who had to raise me. She used to sew me clothes and stuff too, I don't think she had to do that. But, yeah I really need to thank her, I think she suffered a lot for me."

Anathet sighs and looks at the black-eyed girl. Like, maybe this will conjure something, some gesture of reciprocation, some story of her own self that will help pin down an identity for her.

[Anathet is sharing a moment of vulnerability with the black-eyed girl. She takes Influence and marking potential and the Afraid condition.]
How to make this work? As Anathet knelt and took in the world, she knew there had to be some way. "The shadows are part of your mind' she said out loud. It was a statement, not a question. "But you're here now, and we shared the image of the ferns, so you can be in the moment with me."

Anathet tried to concentrate as she was talking. It's harder than it seems! Try to say something out loud and keep your mind focused on what you're saying consciously. You can't let it drift into the background while your mouth runs any which way without thinking and you can't be thinking about what you're going to say or what you just said or how nice the sound of the rain is and how you wish the Annunaki were less controlling when you're supposed to be thinking about what you're actually saying. She's trained though, trained to focus on her thoughts and emotions and to be calm and centered. It's kind of like putting on a coat in a way, doing it intentionally.

This is her experiment, she's hoping, fingers crossed that it will get her there.

[Assess: 6+1+3=10.
What here can I use to safely communicate with the Black-eyed girl?
What here is the biggest threat? (obviously "the girl" but a bit of the what and why perhaps?)]
End of week 1 wrap up post! So, one thing that I didn't want to do right away, save that a certain Tatterdemalion forced my hand on it, was to do issues post by post. Issues and XP actions are another thing to track and move posts from an average of 1 xp each (and a few beats per scene) to include character shifts over the course of a scene as well as extra free XP in a team pool. So, for the first week, I'm going to be doing it all as a wrap up here. Since this is a wrap-up, you'll be getting a bunch of stuff all at once. Going forward, I'm going to start flagging XP actions and their corresponding issues as they occur. Feel free to flag them for me if you want, but if you're not interested in thinking about this, you don't have to at all.

So, here we go.

Rinley
You got a point of something to deal with and a slice of life scene already.
Your second XP action, from the first scene is actually slice of life, imo. You did a lot, but I think the core of it was contemplating on a warm day and petting a cat as you let the time go by. So you get a second point of somethig to deal with on top of it.

Dulcinea
I think in your first scene, you posited science, faith, sorcery and went to test it with Rinley!
Take 1 point of In Over Your Head
In your second scene, I think you and Jasper had a Shared Reaction
Take 1 point of Calling to go with that

Jasper
Your second scene is easier because you and Dulcinea shared a Share Reaction
For you though, I think it was about letting someone else guide you. So take 1 point of Trust
And in your first scene, I'm unsure whether you did a Mystery or a Pastoral action. I'm going to lean in genre and say the focus was a Shared Reaction with Mila.
Take 1 point of Calling to go with it

Mila
In scene two you had a suffer corruption action and corresponding point of sickness
In scene one, you had a shared reaction to Jasper's arrival
Also take 1 point of Calling

As a reminder, each single point issue is worth +1 MP (can go over your cap). The second point doesn't add anything.

And here is the relevant emotional guidance for the issues listed here.










The rain falls heavier and heavier, the outside storm spending all its fury. Inside a little cafe in progress there are tears wiped away with paper napkins and kept away with veggie omelettes that are way better than they have any right to be. And inside a little ramen house there is warmth and laughter and a sunny girl with oh so sticky hands as another takes copious notes on what is obviously a research study that no sane person could possibly mistake for a date.

[Note as the week transitions, double check the OOC post before you post here, as there's a big end of week update with Issues coming]
******

The rain sets the tone for the next few days, but then something quite unusual happens. Well, maybe it's not really that unusual, but it is different. You see, Shokyou, bless her heart, got so excited about her singing and meetings with her friends that she went and found Jasper and asked her to stay over with her. Then, when it came time to go down to her private little space and breath a wish to her magical wish-granting engine (which, I hasten to add, is far inferior to Dulcinea's nightmare science engine, so much so that the fact that I am even comparing there here is probably some kind of grave insult), she just couldn't help herself and wished to participate in a singing contest!

Now, obviously, a teen girl's wish-granting engine wasn't just going to say how do you do and conjure up a little dinky country show. No, no no, that would not do at all! If Shokyou wanted a singing contest, then she was going to get lights, costumes and, yes it's true, even backup dancers! Think of this as a sort of overlay over the rest of Fortitude. There's a big stage right near the water with huge stands for everyone to sit and watch. It's got lights and curtains and all sorts of options for smoke and mirrors and whatever other effects you might want. There are hangers-on offering freelance services. The entire Fortitude tai chi club has turned out to offer their time as backup dancers (they're all geriatric, but very enthusiastic as is Fortitude's way). The stores around the area are selling (and renting!) all sorts of outfits as the heart may desire, with sparkles and sequins being the expected order of the day.

You all somehow know that Shokyou has already been working on an act, some kind of Alice in Wonderland thing where she's the normal girl darting about from unusual magical performer to unusual magical performer as she sings out her emotions, and she is a natural at it. There's nothing Shokyou is better at than seeming totally normal in any context! She's not out there yet though, the day is still young and she's not exactly an early riser.

Speaking of normal, you can hardly have a singing contest without entrants and all of you feel that you absolutely must enter and create an act for the show! (Unless you want to suffer some wounds to avoid the wish, which I do not know why you'd want such a thing but it's an option I guess). You'll need to start the day by making plans, then getting dresses, props, and setting elements, not to mention some rehearsing before the big number.

So EVERYONE!
What's your act going to be? What kind of costume do you plan to wear and what sort of music are you performing? Tell us all about it.

Rinley, Sessily would love to be in your show because you are good friends, are you okay with that? She's a little clumsy, mind you.

Mila, Seizhi is torn with conflict over being in your show or Shokyou's show. She is Shokyou's best friend, but also fully in the role of your cook right now and might be running about frantically trying to be in both.

Jasper, you're staying over with Shokyou. She was shockingly convincing in her dorky way, walking up to you after you and Dulcinea had parted ways for the afternoon, blushing a little with her ponytail bobbing and asking without looking you in the eye if you wouldn't mind staying over with her while you practiced your singing. She maybe sort of thinks you're an angel, but she clearly couldn't help wanting to hang out with you. She sleeps in, so you're probably a little behind starting the day compared to some of the other acts that may have been rehearsing since dawn. Breakfast is sweet, sugary cereal in rainbow colors: it's not at all like the ramen you had with Dulcinea, but it's probably pleasant unless you hate sweet things and Shokyou obviously enjoys it. How is it going staying in someone's house for the first time? What did you say to Shokyou when she first brought you inside? Tell us how you greet her this morning.

Dulcinea, tell us how you cut loose and, if you want, a theory about what all this could mean. But you might be too caught up in it all despite yourself to be theorizing right now, so feel free to go all out!
[Potential 2. Hopeless. Insecure.]

The garden is a quiet place, especially by moonlight. Artificially kept as a perfectly regulated environment (though both Anathet and the frogs might have appreciated the rain tonight). Anathet, now free of her costume, is dressed in her long robes and monk's veil mixing with her brimmed hat. She almost starts when the black-eyed girl appears, but then again she could hardly have expected anything else. Had she thought about it for more than a moment, she'd have quickly realized that she couldn't conceal her identity here. Anathet was Set and Set Anathet, not a fully separate being or spirit.

She lets her heart rate calm instead, it had sped up in that jolt of momentary panic and surprise. Anathet took out her trowel and started digging, beginning a new patch next to some bushes, just on the other side of the frog pond, perhaps fifty feet from her little hutch. She lets the motion wash through her mind. The slight springiness of the soil, the feeling of resistance turning to give as her trowel pulls it up. She's going to be planting something new here, some lush ferns ("ooh, native from the Earth" the Annunaki might say) with little leaves that coil and roll like their shepherd's crooks. Old plants that come from an age so long ago that most people have forgotten it. They need a deep bed, of course, and there's nobody around to notice when a portal opens up at the bottom of that bed and deposits a collection of black library tablets to line the base of the new hole. Then in go the ferns, roots spreading wide wide wide, and in goes the soil packed in firmly, and last of all some water so they'll grow big and strong.

Anathet's hands are dirty and a little muddy, her robe covered with soil and bits of bark around the knees, and she smells of fresh-turned soil and leaves. For her, this is a memory of fond times and distant Zhianku gardens. An escape, a ritual, and a joy all at once. For the black-eyed girl, perhaps this is something new. A mental projection entirely in the here and now, present in the feeling and strength of the space.

If she really was some kind of Annunaki noble turned into something strange and monstrous, perhaps even one of these children of Tiamat, she may never in her life have done this sort of work. She may never have felt the simple pleasure of moving the ground and placing something there to grow. So, Anathet is making this moment for herself and her new friend. She hopes that the girl will come back and watch the fern grow, it's leaves unfurl and grow broad and flat.

Later, she might project an image of a multi-color five-headed dragon to the girl and try to ask a very confusing question because her first image of Tiamat is a dragon goddess and not a Babylonian myth. But now was not the time for questioning or exploring. It was a time for just being.
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