Now That You Are Pure 12
Now that we're reliably getting a couple of votes within a few minutes regardless of how unreasonable the hour is, I'm going to institute a rule that nobody can get the first response vote twice in a row, just to keep things fair and fresh.

[x] Wait, you forgot the gag.

"Wait, you forgot the gag."

FINCHER: "Sorry boss, I can't- wait, what?"

"The gag. Can I have it back?"

Fincher looks suspicious.

FINCHER: "Why do you want the gag?"

The voices are silent. Your brain offers no answers on this subject.

"I dunno, I haven't thought about that."

THOUGHT GAINED: The Prisoner's Dillemma.

FINCHER: "Uh, alright. Fine."

You hear someone shout for Fincher from outside.

FINCHER: "In a minute!" she shouts back. "Alright, c'mere, boss."

She picks the gag off the sack of straw where it was discarded and holds it up, as though to make absolutely sure she didn't mishear you. You nod confirmation, your stiff neck stinging painfully again.

You accept as she delicately returns it, the damp cloth pushing your tongue down once more. Again, you note the minty fragrance of her. She awkwardly leans over you as she reties the folded cloth around the back of your skull. The moment stretches on like a soprano's sustained high note.

Finally, it is done. She leans back to examine her work, not meeting your eyes.

FINCHER: "Well, I've got to... bye."

You mumble a farewell through the gag as she departs and makes herself scarce.

INTEGRITY: You have no idea how to feel about this and neither does she.

A few minutes pass before the wagon resumes its motion. You settle into the straw sack you are sat upon and think about how to pass the time on your journey, restricted as you are.

[ ] Contemplate books you have read and try to recall useful information.
[ ] Meditate and try to recall useful skills.
[ ] Dream and try to chase your memories.
 
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Now That You Are Pure 13
[X] Meditate and try to recall useful skills.

Meditation, that's the ticket. You know how to do that. Your brain hardly functions anyway, it shouldn't be difficult to vacate it.

PRESENCE: Are you sure about that? Do you think you can stifle so vibrant a soul?

CRAFT: What's in these boxes? Hay, definitely. Water in those barrels from the way they are wobbling with the motion of the cart. Oh, is that a box of nails rattling there? I think it is.

NAVIGATE: Where are we, anyway? I bet if we think about it we can reconstruct a map of our movements. We must be somewhere south of where we started.

SAGACITY: What time is it? It must be about the same time it was you woke up yesterday. Do you realize you have slept three times in one day? You really need to stop getting into fights that you fall asleep after.

No, no, none of that. You're going to just try to focus on nothing.

Nothing, nothing nothing... nothing. Yep, nothing at all. This sure is a lot of nothing.

You realize you are thinking about your voice talking about thinking about nothing and curse yourself.

SAGACITY: I'm sure that's not how it works. You're supposed to focus on your breathing, aren't you?

Okay, let's try that.

You breath in, and out. And in, and out. And in, and out. An in... and out. And in and out. And... in and out.

Occasionally you think of how dry your throat is, or how there is a crick developing in your back, or how you would be more comfortable with your legs adjusted a little, but you put each of these thoughts out of your mind in turn. Time passes.

INTEGRITY: This isn't for you.

What do you mean?

INTEGRITY: These breathing exercises, they don't speak to your soul. Nothing deeper is communicated. The mindfulness will not come this way.

Well what do you suggest?

INTEGRITY: Try the water barrel. Focus on its movements. Feel them inside yourself.

You watch it intensely. The barrel sways in the opposite direction to the movement of the cart, wobbles to right itself. Through the opaque beams of waxed wood you feel the ripples and eddies of the liquid within, struggling to maintain an equilibrium of motion. In your minds eye you see the swaying of your flask, rocking gently back and forth on the white grass where Fincher tossed it.

You feel fog, a diffuse haze in its totality, grey cloud sullen and forboding. You see it condense into a perfect sphere and drop under its own weight, spiraling with oily surface tension, like molten glass being turned. It falls, this sphere, from great height, and you see the land below as though it is your own eye falling, a dark serpentine road, flanked by pale trees and jagged mountains, populated by dozens of huddled scarlet figures. You see a carriage, far below, and reach for it. You hear the first raindrop fall onto the roof of the canopy above you, immediately followed by another, and a dozen more, fading to a steady hiss of rain.

You hear Fincher shout a curse from outside, but you try to ignore that.

You reach out beyond the mountains and feel the sea, the waves of the surface barely hinting at the mighty and majestic motions of the depths, a living, numinous arabesque. Its beauty impels you to dive deeper.

INTEGRITY: No. Not there. Look closer.

You feel a drop of moisture on your cheek. Are you cut? Is the canopy leaking? Has the beauty of your experience drawn a tear from you? It doesn't matter. You feel in it the same motions, the intricate reciprocal shift of liquid flow.

You look deeper. You feel your heartbeat. You feel the flow of blood, the subtle thrum of the interstitial fluid threading your musculature. You feel it move in response to your thoughts.

Your mind plays lightly over your blood flow, quickening it, slowing it. You pinch and push here and there, testing the odd sensation of quickening and slowing your heartbeat in response to your active thoughts rather than physical activity. You touch the carotid artery experimentally.

SAGACITY: Don't-

You black out, just for an instant. Your vision swims with bruised shadows, sound blurs in your ears, like the echoing of a gong.

SAGACITY: You have just given yourself a very small ischemic stroke. Please don't touch the brain, I need that.

Okay, no touching the brainstem. You experimentally pull at your muscular fibers. Your arm tenses and relaxes. It feels quite different to ordinary muscular movement, as though you are actuating different clusters of muscle and tendon than would respond to more conventional motions.

PHYSIQUE: I LIVE.

Wait, what? Who are you?

PHYSIQUE: I'm Physique, baby. I am the voice of the body, and let me tell you, yours is in need of a voice. Have you seen what you have done to this thing?

It's not that bad.

PHYSIQUE: Not that bad? It's a wreck. A shambles. There are holes all over it. Someone has reattached this arm twice. How much water did you drink today? When was the last time you ate protien?

I had s-

PHYSIQUE: Eat more, immediately! We are in desperate need of gains.

ATHLETICS: Not so fast!

Wait, who are you?

ATHLETICS: I govern physical reactions, motor skills and agility! Putting on too much weight won't be great for me, so don't listen to that other guy!

AWARENESS: I don't know who these guys are and I think Athletics is kind of trying to muscle in on my turf.

PHYSIQUE: I am the only one who will be doing the muscling here.

INTEGRITY: It seems some of your skills were dormant all this time. Possibly because you have neglected your physical body somewhat.

Well, hopefully they can get up to speed soon enough.

ATHLETICS: Wait, are we tied up? How did this happen? This is terrible!

PHYSIQUE: Flex! Escape! No bond can hold your fully realized self!

Alright, you should probably try to arbitrate here.

Choose one ability to specialize in.

[ ] Athletics - Reaction speed, motor control, speed and agility, and how to recognize them. Know how to be faster.
[ ] Physique - Might, muscle, health consciousness and an appreciation of these traits in others. Know how to be stronger.

This is a consequential decision, please vote.
 
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[X] Athletics - Reaction speed, motor control, speed and agility, and how to recognize them. Know how to be faster.
-[X] although I would lift some weights in my free time to get some of that gains.
 
[x] Athletics - Reaction speed, motor control, speed and agility, and how to recognize them. Know how to be faster.
 
[x] Physique - Might, muscle, health consciousness and an appreciation of these traits in others. Know how to be stronger.

I also want Physique, Physique is just plain fun. Athletics is too, of course, but Physique is how one suplexes a boulder, just because they can. Also Physique is a favorite of mine in Disco Elysium itself, so there's that. Plus, she really should eat something, ideally soon. Also, we seem to be a Water Aspect! Very neat!
 
[X] Athletics - Reaction speed, motor control, speed and agility, and how to recognize them. Know how to be faster.
 
[x] Athletics - Reaction speed, motor control, speed and agility, and how to recognize them. Know how to be faster.

Tool use outpaced the utility of raw physical might eons ago. A fast person and a strong person with a gun are just as deadly, but the fast one draws first, and ducks quickest.
 
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[x] Physique - Might, muscle, health consciousness and an appreciation of these traits in others. Know how to be stronger.
 
[X] Physique - Might, muscle, health consciousness and an appreciation of these traits in others. Know how to be stronger.

I don't trust Athletics, clearly they are up to something
 
[X] Athletics - Reaction speed, motor control, speed and agility, and how to recognize them. Know how to be faster.
And here I thought these two weren't going to necessarily show up...
 
[X] Physique - Might, muscle, health consciousness and an appreciation of these traits in others. Know how to be stronger.
 
And here I thought these two weren't going to necessarily show up...

I left them off the initial list because physical abilities would have been too obvious an optimization pick, and also because I'm already having a hard time juggling all these voices narratively (when was the last time we saw Craft before this post?)

Still, I thought it was a good idea to introduce them as the MC is working to recover her physical abilities.

I probably won't bring in the others. Performance feels redundant with the roles I have in mind for Etiquette and Presence and Close/Ranged Combat are both obligatory and boring. More fun to have other skill checks be applicable to combat, and have the character be good at fighting regardless.
 
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[x] Physique - Might, muscle, health consciousness and an appreciation of these traits in others. Know how to be stronger

We need someone to remind us to nourish ourselves.
 
[x] Physique - Might, muscle, health consciousness and an appreciation of these traits in others. Know how to be stronger.

I really want us to have an inner Measurehead chiming in on the latest bullshit we got ourselves into.
 
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