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Wyrm (A Worm Quest)

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[X] Meet Shadow Stalker with her. Have a talk about training methods.

Look Emma, I don't know if you knew this but, unless your powers include removing your need for sleep, you need to sleep so you can actually do the shit you want to do well, not fucking die and keep doing the vigilante thing, you moronic fuck. *rolls eyes*
 
Huh, that went better than expected.

Guess I can hold off on suggesting my Plan B for a bit; Contacting the police about a case of domestic abuse.

'Mr. Officer, Emma has this new friend, well she says they're just friends, but she keeps sneaking out at night to go to her house, and she says stuff like "she knows what's best" and "she's doing the right thing", but she keeps coming back with all these bruises, she doesn't interact with anyone else almost as if she were told not to, and she never smiles anymore. I just don't think this is a healthy relationship for her.'
 
Markala said:
[X] Meet Shadow Stalker with her. Have a talk about training methods.

Look Emma, I don't know if you knew this but, unless your powers include removing your need for sleep, you need to sleep so you can actually do the shit you want to do well, not fucking die and keep doing the vigilante thing, you moronic fuck. *rolls eyes*
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Emma seems to have some issues with that, yes. But we knew that. :lol She's a little bit imbalanced.

The_Shameful said:
Huh, that went better than expected.

Guess I can hold off on suggesting my Plan B for a bit; Contacting the police about a case of domestic abuse.

'Mr. Officer, Emma has this new friend, well she says they're just friends, but she keeps sneaking out at night to go to her house, and she says stuff like "she knows what's best" and "she's doing the right thing", but she keeps coming back with all these bruises, she doesn't interact with anyone else almost as if she were told not to, and she never smiles anymore. I just don't think this is a healthy relationship for her.'
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This was just about the only approach that might do something.
 
[X] Meet Shadow Stalker with her. Have a talk about training methods.

Sophia: "What is she doing here? Fuck off, weakling!"
Taylor: "How about no?"
Sophia: "How about I shove this arrow in your stupid-"
Taylor: *omnomnom*
Sophia: "You... you ate my arrows?!" :confused:
 
Okay, so what i got from that is:
  • Emma believes that her mistakes and failures to stay undamaged are growing pains, things that can be avoided if she becomes effective enough at fighting.
  • This is because she needs to feel like she can be more than she was, and more than she is. If she's incapable of being more than she is, she won't be able to function, because she'll never be strong enough to face the people that caused her trigger.
  • It's possible she avoids training because she don't want to face a negative answer to the above question, in a situation where she can survive it. If she dies in combat because she's too weak, it's better than finding out through training and then having to live as someone who can be preyed upon.
  • She thinks that Taylor's insistence on avoiding pain is an aversion to it (Which is kind of correct, but misses the fact that pain is legitimately bad and a sign of weakness), and Emma also believes that an aversion to pain is a weakness. This is because she hates the pain and wants it to stop, or at least sees her own experience of hating pain in the past as a sign of previous weakness.
  • Emma hates that she feels weak and in pain, and needs a reason to believe that the pain will disappear - Hence her insistence that if she gets strong enough the pain will disappear by itself, even if she doesn't know for sure.
  • She does not want to experience pain again, but training is an admission that if she goes out again she will be in pain. Training is an admission of defeat, wherein she owns up to the fact that pain is unavoidable without training.
  • The reason she wants to go out again is to find out if she can handle pain yet and avoid problems she's having with her life. The chance that she's miraculously improved is too enticing to pass up, as she lives for the sensation that she's overcome her problems in a demonstrable way.
I will continue this when i come up with more.
 
matthew badger said:
Okay, so what i got from that is:
  • Emma believes that her mistakes and failures to stay undamaged are growing pains, things that can be avoided if she becomes effective enough at fighting.
  • This is because she needs to feel like she can be more than she was, and more than she is. If she's incapable of being more than she is, she won't be able to function, because she'll never be strong enough to face the people that caused her trigger.
  • It's possible she avoids training because she don't want to face a negative answer to the above question, in a situation where she can survive it. If she dies in combat because she's too weak, it's better than finding out through training and then having to live as someone who can be preyed upon.
  • She thinks that Taylor's insistence on avoiding pain is an aversion to it (Which is kind of correct, but misses the fact that pain is legitimately bad and a sign of weakness), and Emma also believes that an aversion to pain is a weakness. This is because she hates the pain and wants it to stop, or at least sees her own experience of hating pain in the past as a sign of previous weakness.
  • Emma hates that she feels weak and in pain, and needs a reason to believe that the pain will disappear - Hence her insistence that if she gets strong enough the pain will disappear by itself, even if she doesn't know for sure.
  • She does not want to experience pain again, but training is an admission that if she goes out again she will be in pain. Training is an admission of defeat, wherein she owns up to the fact that pain is unavoidable without training.
  • The reason she wants to go out again is to find out if she can handle pain yet and avoid problems she's having with her life. The chance that she's miraculously improved is too enticing to pass up, as she lives for the sensation that she's overcome her problems in a demonstrable way.
I will continue this when i come up with more.
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You are correct. This is why helping her is somewhat difficult and she'll probably still never go back to how she was before, but she might find a healthier way to deal with it.
 
Okay so, there is really only one way we can get through to her.

Emma thinks that Taylor is the same as she always was, and that opinion relies upon her missing a lot of what Taylor has become - Somebody who has endured incredible hardship and survived, somebody who does not want hardship to befall her again and thus changes everything she can in order to avoid it. Where Emma is someone who needs to prove that she does not feel pain, Taylor is someone who wants to avoid pain, and this is reflected in their separate experiences; Emma is a girl who was threatened with incredible pain, and that fear of pain was pushed right into the limelight in a way that irrevocably changed her opinion of herself. Meanwhile, Taylor is a girl who has experienced such pain that she knows it's effects intrinsically, and will do anything to prevent further instances of those dreaded effects. Whereas Emma is someone who accepts pain as a method of changing herself, Taylor is someone who is willing to change herself in order to prevent pain.

As a result, we cannot argue our case by appealing to a desire to prevent pain or to change herself, as Emma will only see it as an opportunity to highlight her fear of pain, or at least dismiss her desire to prove herself through inflicted pain - You can already see this happening in this first conversation with Emma, as she dismisses every attempt to point out her pain and it's negative factors, as misguided (Which it technically is in this case). Emma wants to experience pain, and so any attempt to point out how bad that pain is misses the fact that Emma ran the numbers and decided to go through with that pain anyway (Even if that is still terrible idea). Emma is willing to experience the pain of gunshots and bruises if it can prove that she's not afraid, and saying that it's not worth the pain proves to Emma that we're not as willing to sacrifice ourselves as she is, not on the same wavelength of what's important.

As a result, dismissing her point of view in favour of our own will only alienate her due to her differing life experiences. Emma has not experienced the pain that Taylor has and as such will blindly jump into it until she's too far submerged to retreat from it. Appealing to her fear of pain will rub into her face that her weak self was correct, and that the pain she's subjected herself to was all for nothing. Telling her about the kind of pain she could experience as a negative thing highlights our weakness compared to her.

This leaves us in a very tough spot.

Explaining the logic of events in a way that sane people would agree with (Fighting villains whilst half asleep = death) will not work, as it shows that Emma is too weak to achieve anything without dying, whilst further trampling on Emma's current mindset/philosophy. Training with Emma in a way that involves no tangible pain will not work, as she will be unable to rove to herself that she can handle pain throughout the duration. Providing an avenue of fighting criminals that doesn't involve massive risk to Emma's personal safety will not work.

What Emma needs is either to experience such pain that she regrets chasing it, and ends up fearing the way that Taylor does (not something desired, as it would both shatter Emma's current mindset and cause too much suffering overall to be viable), or to learn that she doesn't need to cause herself further pain in order to see whether she can handle it/no longer fear it.

Somehow, we're going to have to prove to Emma that she's capable of handling pain without causing undue suffering in the process, in a way that doesn't invalidate her fucked up world view.

Joy.


Edit:
Preferably in a manner that shows we can handle pain ourselves, and that we're not by her definition 'weak'. We have to show strength in the face of adversity and an ability to stomach pain that Emma would usually subject herself to.

As a demonstration though, not to the crazy extremes that Emma pushes herself towards.
 
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globalwarmth said:
Seems to be working we need to keep the pressure.
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Is it though?

We repeated virtually the same point again and again, and we always got the same answer. Emma doesn't care about the pain her actions could inflict on herself or her family, so telling her about it will serve no purpose.

Some of what we said was correct ad helpful, but there is far too much focus being placed on "you could get hurt" currently.
 
[X] Meet Shadow Stalker with her. Have a talk about training methods.

In this situation, directness is the best course of action.
Also, I love the name of this arc, very creative.​
 
[X] Meet Shadow Stalker with her. Have a talk about training methods.

This works for now.

If we can't keep Emma from repeatedly killing herself every night, it might be better to try and keep her alive when she goes out.
 
matthew badger said:
Okay so, there is really only one way we can get through to her.

Emma thinks that Taylor is the same as she always was, and that opinion relies upon her missing a lot of what Taylor has become - Somebody who has endured incredible hardship and survived, somebody who does not want hardship to befall her again and thus changes everything she can in order to avoid it. Where Emma is someone who needs to prove that she does not feel pain, Taylor is someone who wants to avoid pain, and this is reflected in their separate experiences; Emma is a girl who was threatened with incredible pain, and that fear of pain was pushed right into the limelight in a way that irrevocably changed her opinion of herself. Meanwhile, Taylor is a girl who has experienced such pain that she knows it's effects intrinsically, and will do anything to prevent further instances of those dreaded effects. Whereas Emma is someone who accepts pain as a method of changing herself, Taylor is someone who is willing to change herself in order to prevent pain.

As a result, we cannot argue our case by appealing to a desire to prevent pain or to change herself, as Emma will only see it as an opportunity to highlight her fear of pain, or at least dismiss her desire to prove herself through inflicted pain - You can already see this happening in this first conversation with Emma, as she dismisses every attempt to point out her pain and it's negative factors, as misguided (Which it technically is in this case). Emma wants to experience pain, and so any attempt to point out how bad that pain is misses the fact that Emma ran the numbers and decided to go through with that pain anyway (Even if that is still terrible idea). Emma is willing to experience the pain of gunshots and bruises if it can prove that she's not afraid, and saying that it's not worth the pain proves to Emma that we're not as willing to sacrifice ourselves as she is, not on the same wavelength of what's important.

As a result, dismissing her point of view in favour of our own will only alienate her due to her differing life experiences. Emma has not experienced the pain that Taylor has and as such will blindly jump into it until she's too far submerged to retreat from it. Appealing to her fear of pain will rub into her face that her weak self was correct, and that the pain she's subjected herself to was all for nothing. Telling her about the kind of pain she could experience as a negative thing highlights our weakness compared to her.

This leaves us in a very tough spot.

Explaining the logic of events in a way that sane people would agree with (Fighting villains whilst half asleep = death) will not work, as it shows that Emma is too weak to achieve anything without dying, whilst further trampling on Emma's current mindset/philosophy. Training with Emma in a way that involves no tangible pain will not work, as she will be unable to rove to herself that she can handle pain throughout the duration. Providing an avenue of fighting criminals that doesn't involve massive risk to Emma's personal safety will not work.

What Emma needs is either to experience such pain that she regrets chasing it, and ends up fearing the way that Taylor does (not something desired, as it would both shatter Emma's current mindset and cause too much suffering overall to be viable), or to learn that she doesn't need to cause herself further pain in order to see whether she can handle it/no longer fear it.

Somehow, we're going to have to prove to Emma that she's capable of handling pain without causing undue suffering in the process, in a way that doesn't invalidate her fucked up world view.

Joy.


Edit:
Preferably in a manner that shows we can handle pain ourselves, and that we're not by her definition 'weak'. We have to show strength in the face of adversity and an ability to stomach pain that Emma would usually subject herself to.

As a demonstration though, not to the crazy extremes that Emma pushes herself towards.
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Yeeep. Very good. This is why I said it's difficult but not impossible and may take time. somewhat complicated by the fact that Taylor is very difficult to hurt now.
 
Following on from badger, it seems as if we need to teach Emma that pain is actually very important.

It's one thing to say bullets don't hurt me, another to say bullet wounds don't hurt me. The fact that there is a wound is evidence of hurt.

Pain lets us know something is wrong, the sense that 'something is wrong'. The sensation itself is bad, but it's critical that we feel and understand it. And pain is more than just a physical feeling, a relevant example is the pain of loss.

In losing the sense that something is wrong, it of course becomes harder to tell if something is wrong.

Notably in this case, she can't tell that her own actions are wrong. She literally cannot see how her actions only cause short-term benefits (as brought up, there will always be more gangsters,) with long-term, possibly permanent (death, crippling), detriment.

On a similar note, the strength of humans, and indeed any species, is not power, or speed, or even intelligence. It's adaptability. It's not prey that gets wiped it, it's anything that fails to adapt.

Adaptability means survival. Being a predator means hunting for the purpose of survival. What part of Emma's actions are about survival? Some of her actions may coincide with saving people, but the truth is, it's about revenge and (rather hypocritically) making sure she avoids the pain she experienced due to her weakness.
 
[x] Meet Shadow Stalker with her. Have a talk about training methods.
-[x] Wolves, big cats, each spends at minimum a year training their young how to hunt, and humans are far more complex, to hunt them well requires more skills, more knowledge, more training. Besides beating up foot soldiers a handful at time isn't going to do jack. You want to make gang bangers shit themselves? You gotta get their support staff, their accountants, their suppliers, their officers, and their real enforcers, you gotta find their vitals and rip them out. You want the ABB to fear? You need to hit something those nihilistic fuckwits actually care about.
 
...why was she taking hits to her Humanity?

[X] Meet Shadow Stalker with her. Have a talk about training methods.
 
Yeah this isn't something that will be quick or easy to fix... Sophia got to her when she was broken and jumbled up the pieces whilst adding a few new predator shaped ones before Emma got the chance to put them back together.

I think the best thing we can do is first become a part of her life again, show how strong we are and yet don't act like we are a 'predator'/better than everyone else. Break the world view through actions. If we actually start living with her this could make it a quicker process to break through her shell.

So I think this is the best option

[X] Meet Shadow Stalker with her. Have a talk about training methods.
 
Dr. Mercurious said:
...why was she taking hits to her Humanity?

[X] Meet Shadow Stalker with her. Have a talk about training methods.
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Mostly because a lot of her other personality was active and in control to keep her calm, to the point of suppressing her actual urge to try and help instead of being cold. Though how you lose or gain humanity depends on how much you have at the moment. I decided to make losing or gaining it a bit easier for the moment.

That said before arc 3, you can't actually go below 65%
Adhoc vote count started by Z488411 on Jan 23, 2018 at 4:14 AM, finished with 53 posts and 12 votes.
  • [X] Meet Shadow Stalker with her. Have a talk about training methods.
    [x] Plan Serious Talk
    [X] Plan: I can dress up too (Mk2).
    [X] Meet Shadow Stalker with her. Have a talk about training methods.​
    -[x] Wolves, big cats, each spends at minimum a year training their young how to hunt, and humans are far more complex, to hunt them well requires more skills, more knowledge, more training. Besides beating up foot soldiers a handful at time isn't going to do jack. You want to make gang bangers shit themselves? You gotta get their support staff, their accountants, their suppliers, their officers, and their real enforcers, you gotta find their vitals and rip them out. You want the ABB to fear? You need to hit something those nihilistic fuckwits actually care about.
Click to expand...
 
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Amnion 2.2
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    • Amnion 2.2


    [x] Meet Shadow Stalker with her. Have a talk about training methods.



    This wasn't going anywhere. As much as I wanted to help her, this wasn't working. I closed my eyes and just breathed. If I gave up now I would have gained absolutely nothing and Emma would still be trying to kill herself, whether she knew it or not. And I wasn't sure I could live with myself if I just let her.

    I wasn't sure I could leave her alone, but I had to figure out someplace to start and I wasn't hungry yet. And Shadow Stalker or her friends didn't scare me. Not anymore.

    Emma was still staring at me defiantly. Or it could be desperately, I wasn't sure, but I couldn't let up now.

    "Then I'll just have to come with you." I smiled a little, but that was as much as thought I could get away with and as much reassurance I could give, if at all. "I promised you, I'm going to try and understand and I don't think I'm there yet."

    Unfortunately, I didn't think it was working. Emma's eyes had gone wide, but I wasn't that girl anymore. Her mouth was half open, half pulled into a snarl, her hands opening and closing, silver pulsing over her skin and I really wished I didn't have to do this. But I owed her at least that much, so I just met her eyes and waited, until she set her jaw and raised her head.

    "You don't even have a costume! What if you get hurt, if you're so scared, so you really think you could take it?" That hard smirk was nothing like my friend, not really, but it was still her face. She was still in pain. And I had to try not to smile because the entire notion that I might get honestly, permanently hurt against any normal mugger or gang member just seemed ridiculous by now.

    I pushed.

    "I have a jacket, a hoodie and a scarf. It's a bit hard to be scared of a few muggers after getting crushed in a car." Still had to hold on, but I could at least say that much. "I'm glad you're worried about me and trying to keep me away, but that's not how this friend thing works. If you want me to let you go out and beat up as many gang members as you can find, why shouldn't I?"

    Her face pulled into even more of a grimace like a wounded animal backed into a corner. Her arms were shaking. "You couldn't even keep up, you'd just slow us down."

    "So what's the harm in letting me try?"

    "Why? Why the fuck do you care now? Why the fuck do you want to drag me back down? I'm. Not. That. Weak!" I had no idea how, maybe through the tears in her eyes and the spit flying into my face, the way she looked up at me, but I just wanted to hug her and punch her in the face. And I had no idea which one would even be better. Why was I just ready to punch my best friend? How was that ever going to help? This was my fault, I should never just have let her go.

    "Because I made a mistake and I'm going to fix it. I thought it would be better if I left you, but I've already said that." I could feel it pulsing in my veins, the small smile despite the tears burning in my eyes I was still desperately trying to keep back. I couldn't give in now. Just a little bit more, a little bit further. "Make me believe you really are that strong and if you tell me to go away after that, I will."

    Emma's eyes were burning into mine and I held out my hand.

    Only to me met by a shriek, her hands clawing into her own hair. Stomping on the ground as her foot went silvery. The sides of her face were wet. Red. Bloodshot eyes. She would go with or without me. I couldn't now.

    "Argh! Fine! But you'll probably end up getting hurt and you've got to convince Shadow Stalker. If you manage that, the fine." She didn't take my hand, but at least Emma was calming down now. Breathing heavily, pulling her clothes back into place. "Now will you go away? I…"

    "I will. I'll just come back here if you don't give me the right place, as many times as I have to." I paused to let it sink in, finally stepping away from the wardrobe. "Where are we meeting up?"

    Emma glared. "At the back of that small diner, next to the crossing between Lexington and Court Street."

    "Thanks." I walked past her, out the door. I'm so fucking sorry Emma. I'd just made my sister cry and I had no idea what I could have done better. But I couldn't just leave her alone now, so I would just have to get ready. And promise myself to do better next time. Figure out some way to drag her out of this and maybe talk some sense into Shadow Stalker instead. Or Me and her could talk sense into Emma. I just hoped I could run fast enough to keep up. Any other day, I might have been worried that I was taking possible injuries too lightly, but after this, I probably deserved them.

    I couldn't even look Mr. Barnes into the eyes at first. Fuck. I could kind of see why he was doing what he was, because he probably had even less chance of getting through to her than I did. So I sunk down on a chair. He must have heard Emma's side of the argument, pale as he was. I could see him trying to concentrate on his case file, but I don't think he was succeeding. I had to talk to somebody though, somebody who wasn't Emma and apologize. Maybe more for my sake than his.

    "I'm sorry." I sighed. "This might take a while, but I'll try. I'm not sure I can make a decision yet." And try to keep her safe while she was going out too. At least until I didn't feel like Emma might die every time she went out. But I wasn't sure I could deal living in the same house as this Emma. She was my sister, as close to one as I'd ever had, but… we would see. She didn't feel like the Emma I knew and I had no idea what I would do if I tried living in the same building as her.


    When I went outside, Kurt and Lacey at least were waiting. Which felt good somehow. Calmer. No one asked when I just sunk into the back seat of the pickup and closed my eyes. I knew they were looking at me, but no one asked. Not like Mr. Barnes eyes had, not in the same way. I didn't feel quite as guilty. I could just be silent for half a minute, before looking at all.
    And it took even longer before Kurt finally asked. "Didn't go well?"

    And I could just shake my head and probably wouldn't have to answer. Which was sort of like with… Dad… but I could probably expect a question later. And I wanted to talk.

    "Yeah. No. I just… I don't know how to fix it! I hurt her so much, but I think anything I could've done would have. I just.. anything that wouldn't make her dismiss me outright and she was still trying." I wrapped my arms around myself and wasn't sure I wanted to laugh or cry. "What do you say to someone who keep hurting herself and thinks that's a good thing? That it'll help somehow?" What could she do that wouldn't hurt Emma even more?

    "Wait for them to break down's one option. Not a good one but if they don't want to change, that's their business, fucked up as it is. Just like you can't force anyone to quit drugs if they don't want to." Kurt sighed. "Second one I suppose is trying to show them some better way to get where they want. If you can't convince her she doesn't need that pain, I don't think you'll ever get anywhere. So you've gotta find out what she needs it for. Sorry kid, there's no real fast answer and that convincing's not gonna come quick either."

    I couldn't even say eh was wrong either. "But you think I could."

    "Maybe. Won't know until you've tried."

    "But even if you can't manage it, that's her choice and she's the only one who will be able to change her mind. Whatever happened to your friend… and however she decided to react isn't your fault. You can try to help, but..." Lacey shook her head. The car was still standing and she was staring out of the window. I didn't think she was really seeing the street at all.

    I should have been there for her before. Even if she didn't want me. Even if Sophia was pushing me around, I should have. But would it have worked?

    Everything felt just subtly different. I could just ignore any threat either of them could throw at me now. I should have before. And Lacey was clearly thinking about something, maybe someone else. Kurt had his hand on her arm, but before I could say anything, she continued. "I used to have a sister. Didn't matter how much I tried, she just kept going back to the painkillers. Didn't matter how much we took them away or asked her to change." She paused and I couldn't see her face, but her voice was thick. "We lost her even before she ended up with the Merchants. I don't know what happened, I don't think your friend would be the type either, but she ended up running away a year before that. We sound out she'd died a year later." Lacey sighed. "Years ago, but in the end it's up to your friend. If you can't make her believe she should stop, she won't and that's more on her than on you."

    "We're not saying you shouldn't try. Just don't blame yourself and don't try to force her, there's no point. Best you can do is be a friend." She half turned. "But I'm hoping you can help her in some way, even if she'll probably never be quite the same as before."

    Lacey started the pickup and we were on out way back to their house. Mostly bald trees moving past the window, nice, big houses becoming smaller, I could see less immaculately cared for yards now, the occasional vacancy… The steady sound of the engine always in the background.

    "I'm going to try again around seven. Meeting with her in costume." My hoodies were nondescript enough. It didn't get blander than blue jeans, sneakers and black hoodie, although most people would probably be pretty cold in that getup by now. It would have to do though. I could hide my hair that way, tie a scarf around my face and make sure only my eyes would be showing.

    None of us mentioned the decision I would eventually have to make.

    Not yet.


    Instead I was helping around the house. Just waiting. Thinking about which one of my hoodies to wear. Whether I should bring any sort of weapon. I could take one of the steel rods, Kurt mentioned he wouldn't mind, or I could take something else, as long as it came back whole, but I was only there to watch and talk. I wasn't sure I was comfortable beating people up just yet. I'd heard about brute accidents. I probably could do it, but did I want to. I didn't have a cape name. I didn't have anything of the sort. I didn't even have a real costume, but it would be enough to keep Emma alive at least. I hoped.

    Putting the oldest pair of jeans I had at Kurt and Lacey's house had a sense of finality. As did using the thinnest pair of socks and the worse of the two hoodies. Picking out an appropriate scarf for my face, or rather picking one Kurt had managed to ruin with some mysterious stains and he'd handed to me and told me it wasn't good for much else anymore anyway. Apparently coming back from a bar late at night wasn't exactly safe, though more for whoever had decided to get into a fight with Kurt. I wasn't sure he really only half remembered or didn't want to tell me, but I didn't want to make him even more uncomfortable.

    So I braided my hair and tucked it away. Put the scarf into the front pocket and was soon surrounded by the smell of damp bus seats, sweat and just… people. Tuning out the conversations, watching the streetlights outside. The way the city transformed into something vaguely eerie at night. With the sun still shining, most parts didn't look horrible. Bad, decrepit, but not nearly as dangerous as they did by night, with shadows deepening. Even if I could see through them, they were more places to hide. Fewer people were outside and more of those probably didn't have good intentions. Even if at least half of the cape fights actually took place during the day.

    I slipped off the bus and pulled my hood up. Looked at the bloodstained scarf and slowly tied it around my face as I made my way to the tiny diner. Bright lights and half filled with people. The scent of meat and fire, fried and cooked food made my mouth water. I could start to feel that gnawing sensation in the pit of my stomach now. Quiet instead of all consuming as it had been before. Just a gentle reminder.

    But I hadn't taken any money. No wallet and no way to identify me. Not that I could easily have paid for eating out anyway. So I walked past the front and around. Ten minutes early, listening to the muffled conversations inside, the quiet sound of rats moving about and the fainter sounds of cars on other streets. My hands buried in my pockets, my glasses safely left at Kurt and Lacey's. I'd considered taking sunglasses, but my eyes weren't quite that good. I just wished I didn't have the urge to put my head into that garbage pin and fill myself right back up. It would be so easy and no one would care after all. Free food. Disgusting food. Food I could probably digest just fine but no. Just No. I was not going to try eating garbage, at least not food. Wood maybe, but not food or what used to be food.

    Five minutes later, the shadow on the roof crept into position, staring down at me. Brown eyes hidden behind a hockey mask met mine and neither of us moved. Not until I could hear more footsteps and Emma's masked, dark blue form stepped into view.


    [ ] I didn't come here just to have them intimidate me away, but I should try to be a bit nicer and more understanding. Maybe I could get through to Shadow Stalker, even if some parts of me weren't convinced. Maybe I could try to help?
    [ ] Just watch. I would not be told to leave and I would follow even if they tried to get rid of me. Talk and figure this out, but only interact if Emma or Shadow Stalker were in danger.
    [ ] write in.



    Hunger: 20/100
    Humanity: 65/100

    Still looking for critique on my dialogue ability.
     
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    • [X] I didn't come here just to have them intimidate me away, but I should try to be a bit nicer and more understanding. Maybe I could get through to Shadow Stalker, even if some parts of me weren't convinced. Maybe I could try to help?
     
    Uh oh, that hunger's getting a little low. Might be best to just try having a conversation tonight, then follow them another time.

    [] Introduce yourself and state your intentions. Get as much info out of them as possible. Then tell them you're going to put together a better costume, today's being short notice, and you will be checking that their performance is up to your expectations. Go home and eat.

    Food. And not wearing bloodstained clothes.

    While we might not be a hero, let's not go around looking like some thug villain.

    I've been nervous about this arc and how it's dialogue might go (story wise, not quality wise), but personally I liked it and I'm rather relieved with how it turned out. Not being much of a writer myself, I can't really comment much more than that.

    *edit; changed vote since no-one else voted for this.
     
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    [X] Just watch. I would not be told to leave and I would follow even if they tried to get rid of me. Talk and figure this out, but only interact if Emma or Shadow Stalker were in danger.
     
    Last edited:
    [x] I didn't come here just to have them intimidate me away, but I should try to be a bit nicer and more understanding. Maybe I could get through to Shadow Stalker, even if some parts of me weren't convinced. Maybe I could try to help?
     
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