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Stardust Idols: Another Side

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[x] Set the Story Straight: What the spider doesn't know is that the one who hired you to dismantle her cult was Pausa herself. Of course you can't exactly summon her here just yet to serve as a character witness, but conversing with someone on the other side takes a lot less effort than bringing them over, especially since you still have that gift with you.
 
[X] Expose Weaknesses: Actually, does it really have as much of a choice as it thinks it does. It doesn't seem to know why Joanna hasn't woken up yet, only that you intend to disguise yourself as her, and you still haven't pointed out how badly telling the「Red Dawn」about you might go. After all, they probably won't think all that highly of their new recruit after you tell them how easy it was for someone to replace her.
 
[x] Set the Story Straight: What the spider doesn't know is that the one who hired you to dismantle her cult was Pausa herself. Of course you can't exactly summon her here just yet to serve as a character witness, but conversing with someone on the other side takes a lot less effort than bringing them over, especially since you still have that gift with you.
 
[x] Expose Weaknesses: Actually, does it really have as much of a choice as it thinks it does. It doesn't seem to know why Joanna hasn't woken up yet, only that you intend to disguise yourself as her, and you still haven't pointed out how badly telling the「Red Dawn」about you might go. After all, they probably won't think all that highly of their new recruit after you tell them how easy it was for someone to replace her.

Blood contracts sound fun too.
 
[x] Expose Weaknesses: Actually, does it really have as much of a choice as it thinks it does. It doesn't seem to know why Joanna hasn't woken up yet, only that you intend to disguise yourself as her, and you still haven't pointed out how badly telling the「Red Dawn」about you might go. After all, they probably won't think all that highly of their new recruit after you tell them how easy it was for someone to replace her.
 
Adhoc vote count started by Hachi on Oct 21, 2020 at 5:03 PM, finished with 8 posts and 8 votes.
  • [X] Set the Story Straight: What the spider doesn't know is that the one who hired you to dismantle her cult was Pausa herself. Of course you can't exactly summon her here just yet to serve as a character witness, but conversing with someone on the other side takes a lot less effort than bringing them over, especially since you still have that gift with you.
    [X] Expose Weaknesses: Actually, does it really have as much of a choice as it thinks it does. It doesn't seem to know why Joanna hasn't woken up yet, only that you intend to disguise yourself as her, and you still haven't pointed out how badly telling the「Red Dawn」about you might go. After all, they probably won't think all that highly of their new recruit after you tell them how easy it was for someone to replace her.
Click to expand...

Perfectly balanced, as all things should be. I probably can't post until Saturday anyway but not having a tie would be great.
 
[X] Set the Story Straight: What the spider doesn't know is that the one who hired you to dismantle her cult was Pausa herself. Of course you can't exactly summon her here just yet to serve as a character witness, but conversing with someone on the other side takes a lot less effort than bringing them over, especially since you still have that gift with you.
 
[x] Expose Weaknesses: Actually, does it really have as much of a choice as it thinks it does. It doesn't seem to know why Joanna hasn't woken up yet, only that you intend to disguise yourself as her, and you still haven't pointed out how badly telling the「Red Dawn」about you might go. After all, they probably won't think all that highly of their new recruit after you tell them how easy it was for someone to replace her.
 
Adhoc vote count started by Hachi on Oct 22, 2020 at 12:51 AM, finished with 11 posts and 10 votes.
  • [X] Set the Story Straight: What the spider doesn't know is that the one who hired you to dismantle her cult was Pausa herself. Of course you can't exactly summon her here just yet to serve as a character witness, but conversing with someone on the other side takes a lot less effort than bringing them over, especially since you still have that gift with you.
    [X] Expose Weaknesses: Actually, does it really have as much of a choice as it thinks it does. It doesn't seem to know why Joanna hasn't woken up yet, only that you intend to disguise yourself as her, and you still haven't pointed out how badly telling the「Red Dawn」about you might go. After all, they probably won't think all that highly of their new recruit after you tell them how easy it was for someone to replace her.
Click to expand...

Huh, another tie. Yeah I'm going to wait until Saturday in SEA time before I close the votes, but considering the two most popular options, I might actually just try to mash them up to break the tie if there's still one by then.
 
[X] Set the Story Straight: What the spider doesn't know is that the one who hired you to dismantle her cult was Pausa herself. Of course you can't exactly summon her here just yet to serve as a character witness, but conversing with someone on the other side takes a lot less effort than bringing them over, especially since you still have that gift with you.
 
Adhoc vote count started by Hachi on Oct 25, 2020 at 5:05 AM, finished with 13 posts and 11 votes.
  • [X] Set the Story Straight: What the spider doesn't know is that the one who hired you to dismantle her cult was Pausa herself. Of course you can't exactly summon her here just yet to serve as a character witness, but conversing with someone on the other side takes a lot less effort than bringing them over, especially since you still have that gift with you.
    [X] Expose Weaknesses: Actually, does it really have as much of a choice as it thinks it does. It doesn't seem to know why Joanna hasn't woken up yet, only that you intend to disguise yourself as her, and you still haven't pointed out how badly telling the「Red Dawn」about you might go. After all, they probably won't think all that highly of their new recruit after you tell them how easy it was for someone to replace her.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm going to get started on writing for this again, had a little something called 'not being able to sleep properly until yesterday' get in the way.
 
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A Note on Shades, Emanations, and the Aspirants that stand against them
  • Informational
    • What follows is an entirely optional reference and lore document on some of the terms I had thrown around earlier. iirc, the plan was to reveal this a little more naturally later anyway, so you won't miss anything if you don't read through this. I mainly wanted to indicate that I'm still alive, had a kind of a rough week, and I'm still picking away on that new post, albeit slowly. Nothing like having writer's block in a week long holiday where you're trapped indoors with your family.

    「Shade」: Supernatural entities embodying the fears and traumas of humanity. Shades make their home within pocket dimensions called 「Labyrinths」. While their stated intentions can be seemingly benign, they are invariably hostile to human life. Almost every Shade repeats the same general set of actions:
    The「Shade」opens up an entrance to their Labyrinth in a suitably auspicious location, sends an「Emanation」out into the world to gather Victims, and carry them inside of theirLabyrinth. What happens to their victims varies greatly depending on the Shade, some simply swallow their victims whole, some torture them over a long period of time, and some repurpose their victims into their minions or servants. The only constant is that a victim is inevitably consumed by the Shade, effectively becoming a detached part of the Shade's body with a rudimentary consciousness if repurposed.

    The Shade itself rarely interacts with the Real world directy, most prefer to linger inside of their Labyrinths, and wait for their Emanations to bring forth victims and anything else that catches their fancy. Entering a Shade's Labyrinth, and thus being able to confront it directly requires a Key, a magical item that can only be obtained from a defeated Emanation. Of course there are other ways to circumvent the seal preventing Aspirants from freely entering, but obtaining a Key often takes the least amount of time, if not effort.

    Vanquishing a Shade itself can be surprisingly easy, or infuriatingly difficult, depending on its age, concepts, and the form it takes. A young and recently formed Shade could be defeated by something as simple as an Aspirant repeatedly stabbing it in the stomach after an awkward attempt at wrestling, an ancient Shade would take a fair bit more work.

    「Emanation」: A lesser entity subordinate in some way to the Shade that created, or empowered them. The forms an Emanation can take varies greatly, from a posessed human granted a slew of easily concealable mutations, to a gigantic mutated hound that fires stomach acids from a cannon made out of its own bones and organs, depending on the Shade's own strength, form, and preferred method of acquiring victims. While Emanations can be wounded by perfectly mundane techniques and weaponry, this 'weakness' is at best a technicality, as all but the weakest of Emanations are capable of soaking up enough abuse to kill a mortal creature several times over.

    Fortunately, Emanations are still vulnerable to Aspirants, their powers, and the signature weapons they wield. Of course in this case 'vulnerable' can still mean "Hey, I *only* needed to tear its throat out and set fire to most of its lower body."

    「Aspirants」:While in an ideal world the very existence of Shades would be naturally opposed by roving bands of idealistic heroes who earnestly seek the salvation of all mankind. The current state of affairs, where man is free to spread throughout the world, and wander into dark spaces with little fear of what monsters may lurk there, was not achieved entirely through「Good Will」, but rather, through「Self Interest」. The vast majority who are willing to sign a pact with a 「Well Wisher」, and obtain the great burden of knowledge and responsibility that comes with becoming a「Magical Girl」, are doing so in order to get paid.

    Paid in「Karma」to be exact, a tightly regulated form of currency obtained almost exclusively from defeating Shades and their Emanations. While Karma is freely used for the exact same purposes as every other form of currency created on this or any other Earth, it is also used to fulfill「Wishes」, which range in price and effect from something as depressingly simple as 'Help me make rent for this Month', to something far more pricey and esoteric, such as the ever fancyful 'I want real power and to know all the secrets lost to history. Not these party tricks and old fairy tales.". All wishes are theoretically achievable. Although any that would affect another magical girl would require their consent, and most of the particularly out there ones are given a stated cost that can sometimes seem tacked on, so to speak. Money is, as always, power after all, and unlimited power, would require unlimited Karma.

    (Although「Aspirant」is the hot new and gender neutral term for Magical Girls these days, at least, the ones that still need the karma system to fulfill their wishes, the rare outliers are called 「Idols」)
     
  • Informational
    • I am glad to hear from you. The setting is very peculiar. Are there particular influences? Aside from the entire wellspring that is the Magical Girl genre.

    ...I don't suppose we should ask questions about information in the lore document without encountering it in the update first. Still... what's the difference between an 「Aspirant」 and an 「Idol」? It was noted that the 「Queen」 was one, so I assume Suspirium knows. The rare outliers... as in, ones who don't require Karma? How does that work?

    (for that matter, what is with the weird quotation marks? Some terms and names have them, and some don't)
     
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    Set the Story Straight
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    • You stare at the spider and let out a sigh. "The fact that you're not paying me to kill yourself, among other things."
    The clockwork abomination shifts back a little, and a loud whirring sound fills the room once more.
    "What happened with Pausa's cult wasn't as simple as the rumors make it out to be. Almost everyone thinks that she was some power-hungry overlady on the rise, one who spent countless centuries laying the groundwork for her own ascension only to be cut down by one of her most trusted operatives." You shake your stump. "I don't think any of them know that Pausa is a demon of sloth."

    The whirring sound cuts off, before the spider's mask moves to face your stump, "But I do, and yet, I still find it hard to believe that she would throw it all away so easily, and waste the years of hard work her cult had put into preparing her vessel."

    "She would, if it meant keeping herself out of the limelight for a couple more decades." You slowly shake your stump once more, "It might seem like a waste to you, but what her cultists had planned, it wasn't going to work out the way they thought it would. She's not the baby shaking or hand kissing type, and even if she did make it into the marble house, it wouldn't be too long before the other Wishers stepped in, and asked her what she was thinking."
    The spider lets out another crackling sound. "I still don't see it. Why would she need to hire an outsider to clean house? It was still her cult, after all. Surely it wouldn't have been hard for her to convince one of her followers to do the dirty work."

    You let out a little sigh, "She tried that already, as it turns out fire and fervor does not make an acceptable substitute for competence, and you know how cults are. Some of her co-conspirators saw it as a test of loyalty, and betrayed their plans to the cult's leadership. Quite frankly, I was what she needed at the time, someone she could trust to do the job properly, if nothing else."

    The whirring sound starts up again for a moment, for long enough to make you realize that you have spent most of your morning inside of a cramped and clammy bathroom. Unfortunately the whirring stops just as you turn to leave the room, "For the sake of argument, let us say that I believe you, and that I can suspend my disbelief enough to take your uncorroborated story as fact, which I do not. So far you have yet to actually convince me that you are any different than what the 'rumors' say you are. That you would not cut me down, as soon as you are given the chance."

    You almost frowned as you heard the spider's disheartening response. It is true that you hadn't offered any concrete evidence for your frankly wild claims, but quite frankly you were hoping that you wouldn't have to. You didn't exactly keep a dossier of easily verified blackmail material on your former clients, at least not on the ones you liked, and the only other thing you had left to offer was. Well it would have gotten you out of this bathroom a lot quicker if you had offered it up as soon as the spider spoke at least, but it was a bit unwieldy. A character witness is exactly what you'd need to back your argument up, but you weren't exactly thrilled at the thought of using her as a bargaining chip, or even imply that you saw her as one. Then again, if you had to choose between awkwardly reconnecting with an old friend you haven't spoken to in months, or risking your own life with a「Meta」enforced contract….

    You take another step forward, "What if I said that I could get you an audience with Pausa herself, and that all I would need is my phone, the music box I brought with me, and a comfortable bed to lie against?"
    The spider shifts a little, "I'd say that you were lying, but it would still amuse me to see you fail."
    "Well, there's no harm in trying right? And if it works, I'm either dead, or telling the truth, and I don't think you'd mind it either way." You slowly swing the door open, and feel a slight sense of relief as you spot Joanna's sleeping form still lying exactly where you left her. "And if it doesn't, well we both know what happens next."
    The spider follows suit, its mechanical legs touching down silently on the ground beneath it. "You know the rules, and so do I."

    The two of you remain relatively silent as you enter the studio apartment, and you can feel the spider's watchful gaze following you around as you rather unceremoniously sit on the unmade bed, and lie down on it once more. You let out a slight sigh as you take your battered mobile phone, and Pausa's music box in your hands, and turn your gaze to the side to gently stare at. Well, you were expecting to see an empty bed side table, but the dispassionate porcelain face of a mechanical spider monster works too.

    It crackles at you, "Tell me, how exactly is any of this supposed to get me an audience with Pausa?"
    You start to look up from your phone's screen, even as your hands move to idly set an alarm to go off in an hour. "The music box that put your「Aspirant」to sleep was forged out of metal quenched in the blood of Pausa's former vessel."
    The spider's porcelain face tilts to the side a little, "Yes, I know that you're a psychopathic murderer already Butcher, I thought that this was supposed to convince me otherwise."
    You slowly turn to meet the spider's gaze once more, and the gentle movement causes your sunglasses to slide down awkwardly. "I'm not finished. In order to contact a demon trapped on the other side, we will of course, need to get their attention. And of course, this music box, and the little tune it plays will let Pausa know that the person on the other line? They're someone she would want to talk with. Because I'm the only one who's supposed to have one of those, or so she said." You shrug your shoulders. "For all I know there could be a hundred of these things just lying in a basement somewhere."

    A brief moment passes in relative silence as you dial up a particular number, before the spider interrupts with, "And I'm assuming that you have something to stop her from lashing out once she has possessed your body?."
    You slowly shake your head in response, "No, we're both going under. I was planning on speaking to Pausa myself, and I can't really do that if she's moving my fleshy bits around. A dream makes for a more reliable medium than a body for this sort of thing anyway, and I would prefer to avoid the awkwardness that comes from summoning her inside of my body after a couple months of silence.."
    The Spider crackles a little. "Well then, what are you waiting for?"
    You slowly slide a finger down to hover over the green button, and let the tension build a little as the room falls silent once more. "That," you exclaim, before you press the button, and the steady ring of a dial tone fills the room.

    You think long and hard about what to even say to Pausa as you lie back on the bed. While the two of you weren't the closest these days you were pretty sure that she'd greet you warmly at least. Which was good, a friendly chat between the two of you could really help your case. Except of course the Spider might demand some form of confirmation for the wild conspiracy theory it thinks you wove out of thin air, and your 'closeish friend' might ask who the hell it's supposed to be long before it gets to that point. Oh well, you'll just have to deal with the problems as they come up, and besides there's no use worrying about what to say to her this much just yet. She might be asleep after all, and linking dreams with her would be fun to say the least.

    The ringing sound comes to a sudden stop, as your phone tries and fails to link up with a disconnected number, leaving a brief moment of silence before your phone succeeds in linking up to the automated wrong number machine. "May I speak with Pausa please?" You ask, as if speaking to an operator.

    Your hands quickly shift down to gently handle her gift, and leave you well prepared to play its sleepy little tune. The phone, the right number, and the sound of someone else's voice on the phone still lingers in your mind even as it drifts away from the realm of the conscious mind.

    It takes a while before you feel your eyes blink open again, your mouth involuntarily letting out a little yawn as you find yourself inside of a.

    [] Casa De La Creme: The fancy French? Italian? restaurant where you first met with Pausa in person. She was flanked by a pair of intimidating looking bodyguards by then. Supposedly for her own protection, but they were just regular people really, in more ways than one.

    [] Josie's: You remember too much about this 24 hour diner really, you used to love eating out here, and ordering the greasy, but very fulfilling steak set, even if it took forever to cook. It's closed now, but you remember meeting up with Pausa here during a particularly quiet night. A glass of warm coffee in hand, as the two of you casually discuss the deaths of what could be your enemies as well, once she finds the right price.

    [] Pausa's Dining Room: It took a while before either of you trusted each other well enough to invite the other to their home. Except your house was a pricey, grime covered studio apartment in what turned out to be an upscale neighborhood, and her home was a proper estate. It was in many ways, less private of a meeting than the two of you would like, but it was private enough to discuss important matters in. It was the first time she spoke to you of her grand plan to escape, coincidentally, it was also the first time you tried Moussaka, it was...alright.
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • Nevill said:
    I am glad to hear from you. The setting is very peculiar. Are there particular influences? Aside from the entire wellspring that is the Magical Girl genre.

    (for that matter, what is with the weird quotation marks? Some terms and names have them, and some don't)
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    Click to shrink...
    Well, most of my influences for this so far are anime and manga, such as the Fate series, various Noir series, Madoka, and the post Part 2 Jojo series where the quotation marks for important (Or at least new) characters/terms song names for powers (and other stuff) comes from. Along with a smattering of what Google and my friends can tell me about gnosticism, kabalism, rituals, and symbology. There's a bunch of other stuff that I've probably forgotten to mention, and it would honestly not be untrue to say that most of my ideas comes from my brain coming up with something weird while I'm bored at church or cleaning up the house, and then hashing it out with some people I know.

    Nevill said:
    ...I don't suppose we should ask questions about information in the lore document without encountering it in the update first. Still... what's the difference between an 「Aspirant」 and an 「Idol」? It was noted that the 「Queen」 was one, so I assume Suspirium knows. The rare outliers... as in, ones who don't require Karma? How does that work?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    As for the difference between an「Aspirant」and an 「Idol」. All I'm willing to say right now is that one's paid off their student loans, and the other is still working multiple minimum wage jobs while they try to angle for an internship at something relevant to their degree.
     
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    [x] Casa De La Creme: The fancy French? Italian? restaurant where you first met with Pausa in person. She was flanked by a pair of intimidating looking bodyguards by then. Supposedly for her own protection, but they were just regular people really, in more ways than one.

    How do you get to be a regular person in more ways than one? Not affiliated with her cult? Then what are they even doing there?

    Let's go for a noir detective story vibe. An Italian restaurant is a perfect setting to meet a "crime boss".

    The three memories mark different milestones in our relationsip (first meeting, cooperation, trust), but I don't know whether it is going to be important.
     
    Adhoc vote count started by Hachi on Nov 4, 2020 at 10:59 PM, finished with 5 posts and 4 votes.
    • [X] Pausa's Dining Room
      [x] Casa De La Creme: The fancy French? Italian? restaurant where you first met with Pausa in person. She was flanked by a pair of intimidating looking bodyguards by then. Supposedly for her own protection, but they were just regular people really, in more ways than one.
    Click to expand...

    I think I'm going to keep the votes open until Saturday, gives me a bit more time to work on the other stuff my writer's block has put on hold.
     
    [x] Casa De La Creme: The fancy French? Italian? restaurant where you first met with Pausa in person. She was flanked by a pair of intimidating looking bodyguards by then. Supposedly for her own protection, but they were just regular people really, in more ways than one.
     
    [x] Josie's: You remember too much about this 24 hour diner really, you used to love eating out here, and ordering the greasy, but very fulfilling steak set, even if it took forever to cook. It's closed now, but you remember meeting up with Pausa here during a particularly quiet night. A glass of warm coffee in hand, as the two of you casually discuss the deaths of what could be your enemies as well, once she finds the right price.
     
    Adhoc vote count started by Hachi on Nov 7, 2020 at 1:49 AM, finished with 9 posts and 7 votes.
    • [X] Pausa's Dining Room
      [x] Casa De La Creme: The fancy French? Italian? restaurant where you first met with Pausa in person. She was flanked by a pair of intimidating looking bodyguards by then. Supposedly for her own protection, but they were just regular people really, in more ways than one.
      [x] Josie's: You remember too much about this 24 hour diner really, you used to love eating out here, and ordering the greasy, but very fulfilling steak set, even if it took forever to cook. It's closed now, but you remember meeting up with Pausa here during a particularly quiet night. A glass of warm coffee in hand, as the two of you casually discuss the deaths of what could be your enemies as well, once she finds the right price.
    Click to expand...

    Well then, old friends it is.
     
    Scheduled vote count started by Hachi on Nov 4, 2020 at 11:21 AM, finished with 10 posts and 7 votes.
    • [X] Pausa's Dining Room
      [x] Casa De La Creme: The fancy French? Italian? restaurant where you first met with Pausa in person. She was flanked by a pair of intimidating looking bodyguards by then. Supposedly for her own protection, but they were just regular people really, in more ways than one.
      [x] Josie's: You remember too much about this 24 hour diner really, you used to love eating out here, and ordering the greasy, but very fulfilling steak set, even if it took forever to cook. It's closed now, but you remember meeting up with Pausa here during a particularly quiet night. A glass of warm coffee in hand, as the two of you casually discuss the deaths of what could be your enemies as well, once she finds the right price.
    Click to expand...
     
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