We need higher Tologda for it...but seeing as cool spirits will likely be a big part of the events, we need it anyway.

By the way, it's the first Bleach/Pokemon crossover I've seen.
 
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Oops,
I didn't realise the vote was closed
Adhoc vote count started by Chrestomanci on Feb 17, 2018 at 10:30 AM, finished with 100 posts and 44 votes.
 
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Chapter 2.7: Responsibilities
RESPONSIBILITIES


Last week on Sworn to the State

After confronting Blind Man's Bluff, a vicar killer with a mysterious and godlike secret hidden behind his blindfold who spoke to Vashti in the monastery, Vashti discovered that her friend Tala had been attacked by a golem. This golem, disguised as the lazy cleaner Ishin, had attempted to poison the monastery's food stores, presumably on behalf of the mysterious Builder, a vicar working for the Melik besieging the monastery. Tala was able to fight him off with some mysterious ability, destroying him in the process, but her arm was wrapped in a mysterious tattoo of thorns and she was beset by terrible pain.

Vashti came to comfort Tala, who felt lonely and neglected by everyone else, but was too frustrated by Godei's absence to notice that all that Tala wanted was someone to talk to. Although about to apologize, Vashti was interrupted by the Abbot Tado, who informed her that Godei has returned, but only for a moment, and he must talk to Vashti in private.

At the same time, unable to leave Tala sitting there alone and in pain, Vashti sat there, frozen by indecision. At the door, the Abbot stood.


Abbot Tado waits at the narrow door with an unreadable expression. The air in the infirmary suddenly seems so stale and heavy, and your mouth is dry. Tala's eyes are screwed shut and her head is turned away from you. She has withdrawn her free hand from yours and shifted on the bed she lies on, away from you.

She has determined what choice you will make before you have. That you'll crawl back to Godei, just like that. Without even warning, without any kind of prolonged stay, he just shows up, and doesn't even bother to come in person. Instead, he sends Tado, who is probably just as confused as you are, the poor simple abbot that he is.

The sad thing is that in a lot of ways, Tala is right. There's no reason for you to stay with her, not really, beyond a deep kind of selfishness. It's not that you're even good friends!

Before only a few weeks ago, your friendship consisted of hissing and barking at each other. You were about as friendly as dog and cat. Sure, the siege forced you together, but experiences are only one part of friendship. You need time, and you haven't had it. There's really no point, then, in staying with her.

But you can't think like that. Instead, your mind drifts away from cold logic.. You idly wonder if she ever even had a friend in the court of her stepfather, or if she was entirely shoved to the side. The memory of your friend Boros comes to mind. A true friend, kind, quiet, wise, and terribly observant Boros. Boros, who would train his green eyes on you with the same kind of intensity you reserve for using your abilities. Who would laugh at your jokes even when they weren't funny because he knew no one else did.

And despite everything, despite your responsibilities, your duties, the cold logic involved, you miss him.

"Vicar Vashti?" Abbot Tado calls from the door. His voice rings with a questioning tone, as if he's asking you to choose, as if this old, sweet-addicted man knows. But he can't.

Still, it rankles you. What are you to do? You are a Vicar, you wear the cloak, and although you can't truly know what that means yet, you have seen the mysteries, purified Sako, read the holy books and reached out into the zurah. You cannot turn back, cannot just put it away. You are the product not only of your master Godei, but five hundred years of scholarship and effort. That burden, the burden to restore the Vicars and restore the country, falls on you. It must fall on you, because you've made the decision for it to do so. You will be the one to do it. You and no angel, you and no messenger, you and no friend. You imagine friends and family at your side, but as retainers, as helpers. They are useful.

But this feels wrong to you. It is a logic you have held for five years, but now, at this moment, as you see Tala giving up in front of you that she'll ever be able to rely on anybody for anything, it feels wrong. It feels wrong to tell Bluff that you want to ensure that no one is like you, and yet you martyr your friendship for the sake of obsessive duty. Isn't that exactly like you?

It doesn't work. You can obsess about victory, and triumph, and screaming atop a pile of the dead, but how does that make you different from anyone else? It's lonely at the top, they murmur. It's empty at the top, they say. The peak of your memory, the mountain of your Zurah, is empty save for you.

But what kind of life is that? You had another world before. It was quiet, and lonely too, but you had a friend. You had a family, such as they were, flawed but caring. It was the normal loneliness of a troubled child, not...this.

Maybe you're weak. Maybe you're still a kid inside, and you don't want to leave the buddy you found. Maybe you've come to some grand philosophical insight, and this is the beginning of the enlightenment. Regardless of what it is, you cannot move. You cannot stand up and go, and leave Tala here, not so much for Tala, but for you. To swallow all the pain and bile you spit at Godei, to surrender the only thread of friendship in this world of chaos, for the sake of assumptions and duties that you hardly understand because he never fully told you. It is not something you can do.

But you cannot answer Tado, either. Your legs are trapped in place as if by resin, your arms are unmoving as if weighed down by stones. You say nothing to him, and look down in shame. The poor, simple man, you think with the air of condescension you sometimes assign when too tired to be kind. He cannot understand what you're going through.

But Tado does. He walks in a manner that you mistake as joking at first, so slow as to be comical, but then you see it for what it is. He moves slowly and evenly, every moment hesitating as he watches your expression. Finally, he bridges the gap between the door and you, and the face he gives you is not the silly face of Tado you are used to. His beard is messy as it has been since the beginning of the siege, the circles beneath his eyes the same as they have for weeks. He is exactly as stressed and exhausted as he has been for awhile.

But the way he looks at you is different. For a long time, his treatment of you has always been a kind of detached, bemused care. He has always held you at arm's length even as he winks and takes your treats. Even when he laughs with your jokes, there has always been a film of hesitation that holds him back. But now, there's nothing. He does not hold anything back. His weathered, calloused hands, surprisingly strong and worn for a man of the monastery, grasp your own with a soft strength. He kneels down, and his dark eyes shine with warmth in the twilight sunset, his smile grows, his lips tremble, all in a kind of unhesitant love and kindness that takes you a second to recognize because no one has looked at you that way for years. It is a kind of love that you never saw from your Baba. It was never proper for women, especially the head of the commune, to show such emotion. Such was the province of men, who would hold their daughters close and sing them songs to lull them to sleep. You haven't seen this since...since...

Not since your father.

"Vashti, oh Vashti, I cannot take this anymore" he whispers, his voice trembling with such emotion that it seems he's at the brink of tears, "I can't watch you be so torn like this, with choices like these. Oh, Vashti. You are so much like your master."

He's struck you speechless by his almost instantaneous transformation, and an involuntary flustered blush reaches your cheeks, as if you're a little girl being chided by her grandfather.

He wants to speak but has to swallow, so hard is it for him to keep composure, as if he's been holding back this for years, "You are so worried, so deeply worried. The creases on your face, the circles beneath your eyes, they belong to someone my age, not yours. I see the way you've taken the world, without prompting, into your own hands."

You avoid his gaze. "And how exactly do you see that."

"I see that because I see you, Vashti. I have known you for five years, just like your adventurous friend here," he gestures to Tala, "who believes herself unduly hated. I have paid attention to how you have grown and developed into a bright young woman, how you've become a member of an ancient order through your strenuous efforts...and how you've decided that this bears with it so much responsibility."

This new Tado makes you uncomfortable. You haven't had this kind of "talk" since you were twelve years old, and it's hard to take without drowning in memories. You continue to say nothing, but shift a little in the stool.

"I made a mistake," he says with a sudden sadness in his voice that takes you off guard, "in that when you came, you were so torn up, so sad, that I thought it would be best for me not to get too close to you, or Tala, or any of the orphans. I hoped that you would be able to take care of each other, and that I would not have to invest myself in you, because I feared that if I grew too attached, I would lose sight of my duties. But I did not see...I did not see that I had made you my duties. And so, I failed."

"I don't think that's true. I don't...I don't think you failed." You say, trying to console this man who saved you and your grandmother from certain death and is now self-flagellating himself because he was not good enough.

His smile grows twice as large, and his eyes water. "Such a good girl," he says, "even if I did nothing to help that. You try to help this...this pitiful old man. But do you...do you see what I am getting at Vashti? I made a mistake for a certain reason. I tried to avoid attaching myself to you, I restrained myself- and it was terrible torture. The nuns and monks would come to me and say, Tado, why do you do this? And I would tell them, for the good of the monastery. But every day I saw you, Vashti, studying alone, with no one to keep you company but your awkward and lost master, and your caring but rigid Baba, and you, Tala, sitting in your room without even...without even that, it hurt me so. I just wanted to reach out and pull you girls in close and tell you that you, and Gad, and all the other children meant the world to me. But I did not want to get involved in worldly attachments. The Holy Wordsmen...we aren't supposed to. We were the censors of the Old Patriarchate, preparing the texts and propaganda that would embark the souls of the country on the path to the world to come. We were never meant to have worldly possessions, to have sons and daughters, to have husbands and wives…to have love..."

He trails off, and you see already the parallel with your own situation. It takes him a moment of rasping coughs, almost sobs, before he can continue.

"I convinced myself, we convinced ourselves, that the old Patriarchate was over, that we wouldn't have to be afraid of punishment anymore if we pursued it, but everyone was afraid. One hundred years on, and we were still afraid. The last time we had allowed orphans in, oh God. I was one of them, you know. I was an orphan. I grew up here, and yet when the time came and the Melik arrived, hunting for one of the children we had sheltered, we could do nothing as the Melik took him away. And so I was afraid of getting attached. I never asked about who would be let in, because I did not want to prevent anyone from taking shelter, but I also prepared myself for sorrow."

"But I can't!" His voice goes up to a shout, "I can't do that. When that villain Bluff punched you against the printing press, I had to restrain myself from running up and attacking him myself, no matter how pointless it would have been. When you, Tala, when you were screaming from the cellar in sheer pain, and I had to have the monks and nuns carry you out with the remains of that abomination, I needed to hold myself in. I had to do it for the monastery, because if I got attached, in the midst of a siege, when something terrible was happening to you girls, I would have thrown myself off the side of the cliff. I would have given up. And I couldn't do that."

"Do you-" he ends the diatribe trying to form a sentence, licking his dry lips and wiping away the tears forming in his eyes with one sleeve, "do you understand what I mean? Your master- your master Vashti, he cares the world about you. He loves you. But he is...he is a lost man, and has always been so long as I have known him. He is tortured by ghosts and mistakes at the corner of his vision, and he cannot be the master he wants to be for you. But I know- I know that if he saw you here, with your friend, having to make this choice, if he knew what the choice was he had accidentally forced you to make- he would fall on his sword for you. He would- he would apologize profusely, and apologize to you, Tala, and he would just immolate himself right then and there, set himself alight with holy fire for the sake of his sins, for your sake. Do you- do you understand that now? That he is not out to get you, that he is not malicious- that he has a plan, but he...he does not know how to tell you, because he is afraid for you? He could even come here, but he doesn't, because he is so petrified of the consequences of every little thing."

You nod once, slowly. Tala is stiff and unmoving, her eyes wide and locked on Tado. The only noise in the room, besides the whistling of the wind and the cawing of parrots and birds, is the noise of Tala ripping threads from the rim of her blanket with unhealthy speed with her uninjured arm. You release Tado's hands and reach over to Tala, putting your hand on hers. She stops ripping up the fabric. It leaves a mess of cloth on her chest that she hardly notices.

"What I am saying is. Stay with her." Tado says with a soft finality after a dreadful, the aftermath of an explosion of gunpowder condensed into a minute of shock, finally punctuated by the cry of the survivors. Your voice is a canary trapped in the cage of your throat, and no matter how hard it nibbles against the bars, it cannot escape. So instead, you bob your head uselessly, like a puppet made to move by the motion of a string.

Then, just like that, he rises as if an ancient golem from the depths, pats his belly, and complains that he needs an early dinner. You imagine him almost a schemer with scissors in his hands, cutting the strings of your and Tala's kites and letting the wind take you away as he closes the door. But you know it's not that.

It's just that Abbot Tado is not a simple man.


It is just you and Tala and the sad remains of pseudo-Ishin, now. The golem's eyes of black carved-pearl, its mouth of pink shined shell, its nose of bone white ivory, seems to grin at your predicament. You envy its dead, inhuman smirk at that moment, because if there was ever a situation more that you would prefer to be an inanimate being of clay and stale blood, it would be right now.

Tala seems no less reluctant to speak after that. She seemed almost confident that you would leave, that the world as it was conformed to her expectations. Now there is nothing of that world that was so obvious mere minutes ago. Still, as you sit the initial shock and Tado's pained talk wears off, you begin to grapple with what he said more seriously. You could stay sad, or morose about it, thinking about the ways in which he thinks he failed you, but you can't. He wouldn't want that either, and you're sure he'll be back with a wink and a sweet within a few hours. If it wasn't a siege, you'd spend more time on it, but you can't. Every minute lost in despair and sadness is a minute wasted.

Briefly, you reflect if his monologue was more for him than for you, then shove such a mean thought down. You were already mean enough when you condescended to him internally, thinking him stupid and simple when he was torturing himself for your sake.

The implications of what he said is hard to swallow. Godei cares about you, but he is a 'lost' man. The abbot who you assumed carried the world with bemusement almost broke down in tears at what he saw as your suffering. Your responsibilities, and what they mean, have been confused. Does he mean to say that it is just as just to make a friend as a Vicar, to care, as it is to follow the orders of your master? It...it doesn't make any sense. It doesn't make sense, but it makes you feel better, and you don't like that. You feel like it's a shirking of your duties. But it's a reconciliation of your dilemma. You don't want to choose between duty and friendship. But that's a central theme of Vicarine texts! But what if you don't have to?

The chinstrap of your Vicar's hat seems so constricting now. You unclip and unceremoniously toss it off into the floor, then pull on your hair in frustration, keeling forward in the stool and glaring at the ground.

"He didn't really resolve your dilemma, did he." Tala breaks in, ending the quiet with a quip that would normally be biting, but now sounds more tired.

"No." You grumble.

"Well, I certainly didn't expect that much from Beardman."

You release your hair and turn to her, raising an eyebrow. "Beardman?"

"That's what I always called him. You were Godei's Girl, he was Beardman, your grandmother was General Baba for how precisely she could hit with her sticks, and Gad was, hmm, sheepboy. No points for guessing how he got that one."

"Godei's Girl?!"

"Queen Vashti the Mad, Sleeps-With-Books, The Littlest Witch, and hmm, my personal favorite, Hi-I'm-Vashti-Here's-My-Plan-Let's-Go-And-Attack-Some-Soldiers-With-Witchery-But-I-Cannot-Control-It and-Also-Here's-A-Spirit-Let's-Say-Hi".

"..."

"I'm still bitter about that one," she says with a little hint of a smile on her face, "but it got the job done, I suppose, so who am I to complain? All I got to do was use Lamentation of the Seventh Rose on a golem and get my arm screwed up for a day."

"What." You says, darting up and turning towards her, as she shakes her head desperately as if hoping you wouldn't notice what she just said.

"Vashti wait, just forget that last thing I said, I didn't-" She starts to say, trying to wave it off, with an expression almost of fear, as if she thinks you'd care about where she got it instead of the fact that she has it.

"I KNOW WHAT THAT IS!" You declare, practically shouting, "That's a parable from the Book of Nestor! What, you think you could have caught me off-guard? I'm Sleeps-With-Books, foolish Tala, I know it all! But, wait, no one uses that parable...unless you know something I don't! What are you hiding?!"

"Agh!" Tala starts, entirely taken off guard by your sudden excitement, "you're like a manic puppy! Try not to slobber all over me! Yes, I used witchery, it was a specific technique, alright? Is that good enough for you?"

Possibilities start to flash in your mind as you shelve the warning signals going off in your head. Zurahna makes for great mental images and Rongen produces something of a one-track mind. Combine them and, well. When you get set off, you go. Two weeks without anyone else to train with, and Godei always so tedious, so boring, so lecturing, but now, now you can do something for real.

"If you're actually skilled in it we could train together! I could teach you about the Zurah and have someone to study with, and then we could do that together! We could discuss our dreams and different visions, and the ways in which the mysteries cross into the mundane world from the Zurah, and the ridiculous ways in which Karogen will describe punching the enemy, and Rongen's different moves, and how we could-"

"Oh God, what have I done." Tala buries her face in her free hand, but you can see the smile peeking through it, the relief in her mock despair, as if all her fears have been reversed. You're glad for that, at least.

"Well, you know, you shouldn't have said that, because now we're practically obligated to train together, and you know I've never had someone to train with, I've just kind of been doing it on my own for a while, because Godei doesn't-"

"Shhh." Tala says with a hiss, "can you just be quiet for a moment? Just a few minutes ago we were in one of the most intense conversations in our entire lives- well, mine, I can't say the same about you, you lunatic, and now you've got gone absolutely manic. Can you calm down for a second here and create something resembling a normal personality, if only for the sake of inferior beings like myself?"

You stop talking and pout, your lips set in a line, hands balled into fists, as you try to calm yourself down. "Sorry, I'm, uh, today was a strange day, I was just. I was a bit surprised. Just a bit surprised."

"So when you get surprised you turn into a gunpowder barrel. Remind me not to set you off next time."

"Okay, okay, okay," you say, practically breathless, "so I'm a lunatic. Whatever. Yeah, it's true. When you're tired all the time, you get a bit manic, and you know what, I wasn't any more prepared for Tado to suddenly reveal he loves us. Okay? I was just a bit excited that I finally had someone else I could talk to about this, for real, because Godei can't ever just talk about Kedusha and the different techniques. He always has to lecture about them. I've got. I've got a lot of questions I have. Can I- Can I ask them?"

"Okay. But two questions, only." Tala accepts, and you frown.

"Five questions." you insist.

"Two," says Tala the Inflexible.

"Four questions." you negotiate.

"Two," says Tala the Tormentor.

"Three questions." you plead.

"Two," says Tala the Cruel.

"Two questions" you finally surrender, "but if I ask them you have to answer."

"Deal," Tala concedes, "I'll answer them to the best of my ability. But you have to promise not to tell anyone else."

"Deal," you agree, after only a second's hesitation.

But what are the questions going to be? You know, probably as well as she does, that as much as the enthusiasm is real, it's also easier to employ your knowledge of Chutzpah and Chesed to make something of a performance for her. No one is happy right now and the siege is on, and you think you're just starting to get a grip on what Tado is suggesting. So you're going to try something new. You're going to make people happy, because you're never really happy, and that's what you promised Bluff. You don't want anyone to be like you, and after such an intense conversation with Tado- it's better this way. Better for both of you.

So you're going to try and make Tala laugh and smile, and be her friend, but you're also going to try and get some real information out of her. That is part of your duty, after all. She knows that, and she's allowing you. It's good progress. Very good progress. It's just about what you're going to ask her. You suspect that someone who grew up as a Melik's stepdaughter also wouldn't drop that kind of information unless she was testing you, to see how you reacted.

Hopefully her opening up means you passed. Especially since, as you think the flute under your bed and your mind races like a stone down a mountain, you have a plan now, and it just needs some additional information. You need to know what Godei is doing, you need to know how Tala could fit in, and you need to know about The Builder. As well as any other variables that need to be accounted for.


Article:
Tala has surprised you by revealing that she has actually used a technique of Kedusha (the Vicarine Arts), that you were not aware of and have not heard of before, to destroy the Golem. She has allowed you, after a barrage of your enthusiasm, to allow you to ask her two, but only two, questions.

Choose two. Works on approval voting, highest two wins, no plans.

[] Who is your master? Is Tado her master? Wait, probably not. Someone disguised as a monk or a nun? Is it Gad?! Who could it possibly be? Has she been taught by Godei secretly? How long has she been studying with him? You need to know!
[] How do you do that technique? Whatever the technique was, it was seriously powerful if it could destroy a golem. She probably won't teach it to you (and it would take weeks or months to learn anyways), but merely knowing about it could be useful to you. Is it her own technique or her master's?
[] What school have you been learning? You speculate that the move she used may have been either Yatoni or Karogen, but it is also possible it's some strange feat from the schools you've never heard of. You certainly don't know enough to say, and it would be a valuable thing to learn about. Maybe it'd help broaden your horizons as that jerk Bluff said.
[] What really happened with the golem? You suspect that neither Tala nor Tado are giving the whole story. Did the golem have a specific mission to go after Tala? Did it want to abduct her? Does she know anything about its master, the one that Bluff called "The Builder"?
[] Why don't you want anyone else to know? Of course if Tala asks you to keep it a secret you will, but if there's something dangerous afoot here it's important for you to know why she wants to hide. Sure, you remember some legends about Vicars rooting out "witches" practicing sorcery or keshuf, but why on earth would Tala have to worry about that?
 
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[X] How do you do that technique? Whatever the technique was, it was seriously powerful if it could destroy a golem. She probably won't teach it to you (and it would take weeks or months to learn anyways), but merely knowing about it could be useful to you. Is it her own technique or her master's?

Not sure about the second question, but this seems to be the most important one.
 
Great update! I really like how you incorporated the indecision and it was really touching to see the abbot expose a new side of himself.

I wonder how we'll manage to tie this up again lol.

Well, not really, this is kind of a non-tie type of vote


[] Who is your master? Is Tado her master? Wait, probably not. Someone disguised as a monk or a nun? Is it Gad?! Who could it possibly be? Has she been taught by Godei secretly? How long has she been studying with him? You need to know!
Probably not a priority. It's possible she's been self-studying maybe, or whatever, but this is only really important if we don't really trust Tala. Which I do. To an extent.

[] How do you do that technique? Whatever the technique was, it was seriously powerful if it could destroy a golem. She probably won't teach it to you (and it would take weeks or months to learn anyways), but merely knowing about it could be useful to you. Is it her own technique or her master's?
Maybe a priority? If we go for trying to get the most bang for our buck with our limited questions this one is good because it could maybe lead to the whole school of learning, if we know about Tala's technique.

[] What school have you been learning? You speculate that the move she used may have been either Yatoni or Karogen, but it is also possible it's some strange feat from the schools you've never heard of. You certainly don't know enough to say, and it would be a valuable thing to learn about. Maybe it'd help broaden your horizons as that jerk Bluff said.
Least relevant and interesting question. Mildly tempted by the reference to Bluff, but no. Also can maybe be inferred by the question above.

[] What really happened with the golem? You suspect that neither Tala nor Tado are giving the whole story. Did the golem have a specific mission to go after Tala? Did it want to abduct her? Does she know anything about its master, the one that Bluff called "The Builder"?
I'm most interested in this one. I want to get that story out into our ears, and see what happened so we can speculate further.

[] Why don't you want anyone else to know? Of course if Tala asks you to keep it a secret you will, but if there's something dangerous afoot here it's important for you to know why she wants to hide. Sure, you remember some legends about Vicars rooting out "witches" practicing sorcery or keshuf, but why on earth would Tala have to worry about that?
I mean, sort of interested but this is something that Chesed might help indicate if we just observe her while we ask the question above. Why is only so illuminating. A tie between this and the how do you do the thing for me.

Anyone have alternative opinions?
 
I mean, sort of interested but this is something that Chesed might help indicate if we just observe her while we ask the question above. Why is only so illuminating. A tie between this and the how do you do the thing for me.

Vashti did notice that Tala was pretty relieved by her reaction, so she knows there's something going on there, it's just that she doesn't know what. Chesed tells you something is up, but to actually find out more detail you'd need to ask that question.
 
[X] What school have you been learning? You speculate that the move she used may have been either Yatoni or Karogen, but it is also possible it's some strange feat from the schools you've never heard of. You certainly don't know enough to say, and it would be a valuable thing to learn about. Maybe it'd help broaden your horizons as that jerk Bluff said.
[X] What really happened with the golem? You suspect that neither Tala nor Tado are giving the whole story. Did the golem have a specific mission to go after Tala? Did it want to abduct her? Does she know anything about its master, the one that Bluff called "The Builder"?

I want the category more than the specific technique.
 
[X] Who is your master?
[X] Why don't you want anyone else to know?


I'm assuming she doesn't have a master, but I'm hoping she'll still tell us how she learned it if that's the case.
 
Nice to see this update, especially with so heartwarming a chapter.

He kneels down, and his dark eyes shine with warmth in the twilight sunset, his smile grows, his lips tremble, all in a kind of unhesitant love and kindness that takes you a second to recognize because no one has looked at you that way for years. It is a kind of love that you never saw from your Baba. It was never proper for women, especially the head of the commune, to show such emotion. Such was the province of men, who would hold their daughters close and sing them songs to lull them to sleep. You haven't seen this since...since...

Not since your father.
This is an interesting bit of world building. So Vashti lives in a culture where men are the gender more acceptably able to display emotion, couldn't tell from the way Godei acts. Suppose his job and history explain that though.

my personal favorite, Hi-I'm-Vashti-Here's-My-Plan-Let's-Go-And-Attack-Some-Soldiers-With-Witchery-But-I-Cannot-Control-It and-Also-Here's-A-Spirit-Let's-Say-Hi
No way, me too!

[x] What really happened with the golem? You suspect that neither Tala nor Tado are giving the whole story. Did the golem have a specific mission to go after Tala? Did it want to abduct her? Does she know anything about its master, the one that Bluff called "The Builder"?
[x] Why don't you want anyone else to know? Of course if Tala asks you to keep it a secret you will, but if there's something dangerous afoot here it's important for you to know why she wants to hide. Sure, you remember some legends about Vicars rooting out "witches" practicing sorcery or keshuf, but why on earth would Tala have to worry about that?

I am loving their friendship. We have more immediate concerns than her history but I dunno when we'll get a chance to get back to this. Also just more curious about the golem than her witchery, especially since I'm hoping she'll tell us more about that when we get to training together.
Adhoc vote count started by Grigori on Feb 21, 2018 at 4:09 AM, finished with 30 posts and 16 votes.

  • [X] What school have you been learning? You speculate that the move she used may have been either Yatoni or Karogen, but it is also possible it's some strange feat from the schools you've never heard of. You certainly don't know enough to say, and it would be a valuable thing to learn about. Maybe it'd help broaden your horizons as that jerk Bluff said.
    [X] What really happened with the golem? You suspect that neither Tala nor Tado are giving the whole story. Did the golem have a specific mission to go after Tala? Did it want to abduct her? Does she know anything about its master, the one that Bluff called "The Builder"?
    [x] Why don't you want anyone else to know? Of course if Tala asks you to keep it a secret you will, but if there's something dangerous afoot here it's important for you to know why she wants to hide. Sure, you remember some legends about Vicars rooting out "witches" practicing sorcery or keshuf, but why on earth would Tala have to worry about that?
    [X] Who is your master? Is Tado her master? Wait, probably not. Someone disguised as a monk or a nun? Is it Gad?! Who could it possibly be? Has she been taught by Godei secretly? How long has she been studying with him? You need to know!
    [X] How do you do that technique? Whatever the technique was, it was seriously powerful if it could destroy a golem. She probably won't teach it to you (and it would take weeks or months to learn anyways), but merely knowing about it could be useful to you. Is it her own technique or her master's?
    [X] Who is your master?
    [X] Why don't you want anyone else to know?
 
This is an interesting bit of world building. So Vashti lives in a culture where men are the gender more acceptably able to display emotion, couldn't tell from the way Godei acts. Suppose his job and history explain that though.

Yes. Such expectations also tend to be more around the family and don't necessarily have to do with pupils and strangers, although men are generally more emotive regardless.
 
[X] Who is your master? Is Tado her master? Wait, probably not. Someone disguised as a monk or a nun? Is it Gad?! Who could it possibly be? Has she been taught by Godei secretly? How long has she been studying with him? You need to know!

[X] Why don't you want anyone else to know? Of course if Tala asks you to keep it a secret you will, but if there's something dangerous afoot here it's important for you to know why she wants to hide. Sure, you remember some legends about Vicars rooting out "witches" practicing sorcery or keshuf, but why on earth would Tala have to worry about that?
 
[X] What school have you been learning? You speculate that the move she used may have been either Yatoni or Karogen, but it is also possible it's some strange feat from the schools you've never heard of. You certainly don't know enough to say, and it would be a valuable thing to learn about. Maybe it'd help broaden your horizons as that jerk Bluff said.
[X] What really happened with the golem? You suspect that neither Tala nor Tado are giving the whole story. Did the golem have a specific mission to go after Tala? Did it want to abduct her? Does she know anything about its master, the one that Bluff called "The Builder"?


I agree that the others are bit too personal. Give her a bit a trust, allow some privacy.
 
[X] What school have you been learning? You speculate that the move she used may have been either Yatoni or Karogen, but it is also possible it's some strange feat from the schools you've never heard of. You certainly don't know enough to say, and it would be a valuable thing to learn about. Maybe it'd help broaden your horizons as that jerk Bluff said.
[X] Why don't you want anyone else to know? Of course if Tala asks you to keep it a secret you will, but if there's something dangerous afoot here it's important for you to know why she wants to hide. Sure, you remember some legends about Vicars rooting out "witches" practicing sorcery or keshuf, but why on earth would Tala have to worry about that?

She's never spoken about a master before; simple logic dictates that her master is, therefore, an incredibly secretive badass, and it would be impolite to ask her about that, lest she break her awesome master's veil of secrecy by accident.

Asking her how she punched a golem's head off would probably not go over great, because she knows that if she gives Vashti any idea of how to punch a golem's head off, Vashti will very quickly want to go punch a golem's head off, something which Tala is reluctant to encourage for some reason. We should respect her personal boundaries.

By comparison, I feel that nerding out over the schools of philosophical thought and Tala's education in them is the most important choice here. Who wouldn't want to talk about knowledge, and school, and words? BOOKS!
 
[X] How do you do that technique? Whatever the technique was, it was seriously powerful if it could destroy a golem. She probably won't teach it to you (and it would take weeks or months to learn anyways), but merely knowing about it could be useful to you. Is it her own technique or her master's?
[X] What really happened with the golem? You suspect that neither Tala nor Tado are giving the whole story. Did the golem have a specific mission to go after Tala? Did it want to abduct her? Does she know anything about its master, the one that Bluff called "The Builder"?
 
[X] Why don't you want anyone else to know? Of course if Tala asks you to keep it a secret you will, but if there's something dangerous afoot here it's important for you to know why she wants to hide. Sure, you remember some legends about Vicars rooting out "witches" practicing sorcery or keshuf, but why on earth would Tala have to worry about that?
[X] What really happened with the golem? You suspect that neither Tala nor Tado are giving the whole story. Did the golem have a specific mission to go after Tala? Did it want to abduct her? Does she know anything about its master, the one that Bluff called "The Builder"?
 
[X] What school have you been learning? You speculate that the move she used may have been either Yatoni or Karogen, but it is also possible it's some strange feat from the schools you've never heard of. You certainly don't know enough to say, and it would be a valuable thing to learn about. Maybe it'd help broaden your horizons as that jerk Bluff said.
[X] What really happened with the golem? You suspect that neither Tala nor Tado are giving the whole story. Did the golem have a specific mission to go after Tala? Did it want to abduct her? Does she know anything about its master, the one that Bluff called "The Builder"?
 
I have freed myself from suffering
Soon: Triplecta Tie

Edit: Vote

[X] Who is your master? Is Tado her master? Wait, probably not. Someone disguised as a monk or a nun? Is it Gad?! Who could it possibly be? Has she been taught by Godei secretly? How long has she been studying with him? You need to know!

[X] Why don't you want anyone else to know? Of course if Tala asks you to keep it a secret you will, but if there's something dangerous afoot here it's important for you to know why she wants to hide. Sure, you remember some legends about Vicars rooting out "witches" practicing sorcery or keshuf, but why on earth would Tala have to worry about that?
 
It is to early to tell, evil cat devil, we shall see if your prediction holds true two days hence
 
[X] What really happened with the golem? You suspect that neither Tala nor Tado are giving the whole story. Did the golem have a specific mission to go after Tala? Did it want to abduct her? Does she know anything about its master, the one that Bluff called "The Builder"?
Number of voters: 6
NemoMarx, Sivantic, Horologer,Grigori, kilopi505, Zeitgeist Blue

[x] Why don't you want anyone else to know?
Of course if Tala asks you to keep it a secret you will, but if there's something dangerous afoot here it's important for you to know why she wants to hide. Sure, you remember some legends about Vicars rooting out "witches" practicing sorcery or keshuf, but why on earth would Tala have to worry about that?
Number of voters: 6
Grigori, kilopi505, Strypgia, Shard,MooseHowl, cB557

[X] What school have you been learning?
You speculate that the move she used may have been either Yatoni or Karogen, but it is also possible it's some strange feat from the schools you've never heard of. You certainly don't know enough to say, and it would be a valuable thing to learn about. Maybe it'd help broaden your horizons as that jerk Bluff said.
Number of voters: 4
NemoMarx, Sivantic, Horologer,MooseHowl

...Hmm.

[X] Why don't you want anyone else to know? Of course if Tala asks you to keep it a secret you will, but if there's something dangerous afoot here it's important for you to know why she wants to hide. Sure, you remember some legends about Vicars rooting out "witches" practicing sorcery or keshuf, but why on earth would Tala have to worry about that?

[X] How do you do that technique? Whatever the technique was, it was seriously powerful if it could destroy a golem. She probably won't teach it to you (and it would take weeks or months to learn anyways), but merely knowing about it could be useful to you. Is it her own technique or her master's?

Adhoc vote count started by Arcus on Feb 21, 2018 at 2:17 AM, finished with 24 posts and 11 votes.

  • [X] What really happened with the golem? You suspect that neither Tala nor Tado are giving the whole story. Did the golem have a specific mission to go after Tala? Did it want to abduct her? Does she know anything about its master, the one that Bluff called "The Builder"?
    [x] Why don't you want anyone else to know? Of course if Tala asks you to keep it a secret you will, but if there's something dangerous afoot here it's important for you to know why she wants to hide. Sure, you remember some legends about Vicars rooting out "witches" practicing sorcery or keshuf, but why on earth would Tala have to worry about that?
    [X] What school have you been learning? You speculate that the move she used may have been either Yatoni or Karogen, but it is also possible it's some strange feat from the schools you've never heard of. You certainly don't know enough to say, and it would be a valuable thing to learn about. Maybe it'd help broaden your horizons as that jerk Bluff said.
    [X] Who is your master? Is Tado her master? Wait, probably not. Someone disguised as a monk or a nun? Is it Gad?! Who could it possibly be? Has she been taught by Godei secretly? How long has she been studying with him? You need to know!
    [X] How do you do that technique? Whatever the technique was, it was seriously powerful if it could destroy a golem. She probably won't teach it to you (and it would take weeks or months to learn anyways), but merely knowing about it could be useful to you. Is it her own technique or her master's?
 
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