Poll for shirou's decision is about to close in two hours so start voting.
WELCOME TO THE HARWEY MEDICAL DIAGNOSTIC CENTER. PLEASE PLACE YOUR HAND ON THE FINGERPRINT SCANNER INDICATED BY THE BLUE LIGHT.
TESTING...TESTING...TESTING. THERE ARE NO HIDDEN ANOMALIES CONTAINED IN THE SUBJECT.
THERE ARE MAGIC CIRCUITS LOCATED IN THE BODY.
ANALYSING...ANALYSING...ANALYSING THERE ARE TWENTY-SEVEN NATURAL CIRCUITS CONTAINED IN THE SUBJECT.
ATTEMPTING TO ACTIVATE
WELCOME TO THE HARWEY MEDICAL DIAGNOSTIC CENTER. PLEASE PLACE YOUR HAND NEXT TO THE FINGERPRINT SCANNER INDICATED BY THE BLUE LIGHT.
TESTING...TESTING...TESTING. THERE ARE NO HIDDEN ANOMALIES CONTAINED IN THE SUBJECT.
Quest Gained;
Complete Tutorial: It's time for you to learn about your new abilities. Finish the tutorial to get a working idea of how your new abilities work.
Reward:
+100 EXP
+Ebony Battle Gear
+2000 ¥
Accept/Deny
WELCOME TO FATE THE GAME'S TUTORIAL
THIS IS THE GUIDE TO YOUR UNIQUE ABILITY: THE GAMER
THIS SCREEN REPRESENTS YOUR BASIC CHARACTER INFO. ALL CHARACTERS AND ITEMS HAVE LEVELS.
LEVELS ARE A GENERAL REPRESENTATIONS OF A CHARACTER OR ITEM'S STRENGTH. RELATIVE SKILL CAN MAKE A CHARACTER OR ITEM STRONGER THAN THEY APPEAR, SO A WISE GAMER NEVER UNDERESTIMATES AN OPPONENT.
ABOVE IS THE CHARACTER NAME. BELOW THE NAME IS THE CHARACTER TITLE. MULTIPLE TITLES CAN BE EARNED, SOME ARE MERELY DECORATIVE BUT SOME GRANT ADDITIONAL BONUSES TO STATS OR REPUTATION.
BENEATH THE TITLE LINE IS THE LIFE BAR WHICH IS CONNECTED TO YOUR OVERALL HEALTH. GAMERS CAN RESTORE HEALTH RATHER QUICKLY IN COMPARISON TO A NPC (Non-Player Character) BUT THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES IF YOUR LIFE REACHES 0.
NEXT IS THE THE BLUE EP WHICH REPRESENTS YOUR ENERGY POOL. ENERGY IS DIRECTLY CONNECTED TO YOUR SPECIAL ABILITIES. MORE POWERFUL POWERS USE MORE OF THE ENERGY POOL. A GAMER CAN LEARN POWERS BEYOND THE NORMAL FOR HIS WORLD THROUGH HARD WORK.
FINALLY ANY STATUS EFFECTS EITHER POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE ARE LISTED BELOW THE HEALTH BAR.
IN THE UPPER RIGHT YOU SEE THE SCREEN MAP OR MINI-MAP. THE MINI-MAP DISPLAYS LOCAL TERRAIN, NPC'S, QUESTS AND OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST DEPENDING ON YOUR SKILLS.
NOTE MANY SKILLS SUCH AS STEALTH HIDE OPPONENTS FROM THE MINI-MAP.
TO BRING UP THE CHARACTER SCREEN EITHER VOCALIZE [STATUS] OR USE YOUR INDEX FINGER TO SWIPE DOWN IN THE AIR.
CHARACTER: SHIROU
LEVEL: 1
EXP: 0/300
TITLE: THE GAMER
RACE: HUMAN
ALIGNMENT: LAWFUL NEUTRAL
LIFE = 200
LIFE REGEN = 10/Hour
EP = 200
EP REGEN = 10/Hour
ELEMENT:
ORIGIN:
STATS:
STRENGTH:10
ENDURANCE:10
AGILITY: 10
MENTAL PROWESS: 10
ORIGIN:10
CHARISMA: 10
LUCK: ?
POINTS: 5
SKILLS:
GAMER'S MIND: LEVEL MAX
GAMER'S BODY: LEVEL MAX
INTIMIDATE!: LEVEL 1
OBSERVE!: LEVEL 1
PERKS:
??? (PASSIVE): ADDITIONAL +3 MP & +5 ORG PER LEVEL, +25 EARTH AFFINITY, NO DEGRADATION OF MAGECRAFT.
??? Magic Crest(PASSIVE)(ACTIVE): ADDITIONAL +1000 EP, +15 FIRE AFFINITY, +10 METAL AFFINITY, ? MAGECRAFT.
DIVINITY (PASSIVE): (D) DESCENDED FROM AN UNKNOWN GODDESS, AND BLESSED BY ???, SHIROU HAS DIVINE SPIRIT APTITUDE EVEN IF THE RANK IS LOW. +20 EARTH AFFINITY, +20% BONUS TO ??? SKILL, +1 TO All STATS PER LEVEL
FLAWS:
SURVIVOR'S GUILT (PASSIVE)(PERMANENT): DUE TO THE GAMER BEING THE ONLY SURVIVOR OF THE FUYUKI FIRE HE HAS LOST ALL RELATIONSHIP S. HE REFUSED TO HELP THOSE WHO WERE DYING. HE SEEKS ATONEMENT. THIS FLAW CAN BE REMOVED BUT METHOD IS UNKNOWN AT THIS TIME.
CIRCUIT SKILLS:
EXPLOITATION
-MENTAL POLLUTION: (F)
???
-??? (LOCKED)
???
-??? (LOCKED)
???
-??? (LOCKED)
???
-??? (LOCKED
???
-??? (LOCKED)
???
-??? (LOCKED)
???
-??? (LOCKED)
???
-??? (LOCKED
???
-??? (LOCKED)
MONEY: 0¥
THIS SCREEN HAS SEVERAL FUNCTIONS. FIRST THE CHARACTER SHEET THAT DISPLAYS THE GAMER'S CURRENT STATS.
STATS ARE HALF OF THE MAIN METHOD FOR A GAMER BEING ABLE TO DETERMINE HIS POWER. THE OTHER HALF IS SKILLS WHICH WILL BE REVIEWED IN THE SKILL SCREEN. STATS ARE AS FOLLOWED:
STRENGTH IS RAW PHYSICAL STRENGTH. A HIGH STRENGTH IS GOOD FOR PHYSICAL CHARACTERS. IT MODIFIED MELEE WEAPONS SKILL, MELEE DAMAGE, CARRY WEIGHT AND WHICH WEAPONS THE GAMER IS STRONG ENOUGH TO USE.
NOT MEETING THE STRENGTH REQUIREMENT OF A WEAPON WILL DECREASE THE POWER OF YOUR SWINGS (FOR MELEE/UNARMED COMBAT).
ENDURANCE IS STAMINA AND PHYSICAL TOUGHNESS. A CHARACTER WITH a HIGH ENDURANCE WILL SURVIVE WHERE OTHERS MAY NOT. ENDURANCE DETERMINES A CHARACTER'S ENVIRONMENTAL RESISTANCES (POISON, RADIATION), LIFE, AND REGENERATION RATE
AGILITY IS COORDINATION AND THE ABILITY TO MOVE WELL. AND HIGH AGILITY IS IMPORTANT FOR ANY ACTIVE CHARACTER.
MENTAL PROWESS IS INDEED HOW MUCH KNOWLEDGE, WISDOM AND THE ABILITY TO THINK QUICKLY. A HIGH MENTAL PROWESS IS IMPORTANT FOR ANY CHARACTER. DETERMINES THE MAGICAL POTENTIAL A PERSON POSSESSES AND EP
CHARISMA IS A COMBINATION OF APPEARANCE AND CHARM. A HIGH CHARISMA IS IMPORTANT FOR CHARACTERS THAT WANT TO INFLUENCE PEOPLE WITH WORDS
CHARISMA INCREASES THE DISPOSITION OF ALL NPCs, WHICH MAKES SPEECH CHECKS EASIER. DISPOSITION IS ALSO AFFECTED SOMEWHAT BY LUCK (MOST NPCs LIKE GOOD CHARACTERS MORE), QUESTS (DOING A QUEST IN A WAY AN NPC LIKES CAN DRAMATICALLY BOOST DISPOSITION), AND DIALOG (BEING A JERK IN CONVERSATIONS CAN LOWER DISPOSITION A LITTLE). CHARISMA ALSO AFFECTS THE TRADE AND SPEECH SKILLS
LUCK IS ESSENTIALLY FATE. KARMA. AN EXTREMELY HIGH OR LOW LUCK WILL AFFECT THE CHARACTER - SOMEHOW. EVENTS AND SITUATIONS WILL BE CHANGED BY HOW LUCKY (OR UNLUCKY) YOUR CHARACTER IS.
NOT MEETING THE LUCK REQUIREMENT OF A WEAPON WILL DECREASE THE ACCURACY OF YOUR SHOTS (FOR RANGED COMBAT)
ORIGIN REFLECTS HOW DEEPLY SOMEONE HAS EXPLORED THEIR AKASHIC ORIGIN AND HOW ATTUNED THEY ARE TO IT.
AT THE BOTTOM OF THE STAT SCREEN YOU WILL NOTICE A + SIGN. THIS WILL BE VISIBLE WHENEVER YOU HAVE STAT POINTS TO INVEST. STAT POINTS ARE ACQUIRED WHEN YOU LEVEL UP AND CAN BE SPENT ON THE STAT OF YOUR CHOICE. THINK CAREFULLY BEFORE YOU SPEND YOUR POINTS. CERTAIN SKILLS REQUIRE CERTAIN STATS. A IMBALANCED CHARACTER TOO HEAVY IN ONE STAT MAY FIND HIMSELF DEFEATED BY A WEAKER BUT MORE WELL-ROUNDED OPPONENT.
THE OTHER IS THE EQUIPMENT SCREEN THAT DISPLAYS THE GAMER'S CURRENTLY EQUIPPED GEAR. GEAR CAN BE SWAPPED OUT FROM THIS SCREEN IN ADDITION TO THE REAL WORLD.
WEARABLE GEAR CAN BE MOVED DIRECTLY TO THE CHARACTER SHEET BY EITHER BRINGING UP THE EQUIPMENT SCREEN AND MOVING THE ICON OR DOUBLE TAPPING THE ICON TO AUTO EQUIPPED.
PERHAPS MORE SO THAN STATS IT IS THE SKILLS THAT TRULY MAKES THE GAMER UNIQUE. SKILLS ARE ABILITIES THAT AFFECT THE OVERALL POWER OF A CHARACTER. SKILLS REPRESENT ALL THE ABILITIES OF THE GAMER.
THERE ARE SEVERAL WAYS TO ACQUIRE SKILLS.
FIRST: WHEN PERFORMING AN UNIQUE OR REPEATED ACTION A SKILL CAN BE CREATED.
SECOND: SKILLS CAN BE TAUGHT BY A TRAINER.
THIRD: SKILLS CAN BE LEARNED THROUGH ITEMS.
FOURTH: SKILLS CAN BE OBTAINED BY DEVELOPING THE CIRCUITS CONTAINED WITHIN YOUR ORIGIN(S)
IT SHOULD BE NOTED THESE ARE ONLY THE MAIN WAYS TO LEARN SKILLS. HOWEVER SOME SKILLS CAN BE ACQUIRED BY UNIQUE SITUATIONS.
ONCE LEARNED, SKILLS ARE EITHER PASSIVE MEANING THEY ARE ALWAYS ACTIVE AND HAVE LITTLE OR NO COST OR THEY ARE ACTIVE MEANING THERE IS EITHER A COST OR LIMIT TO THEIR USE. SOME SKILLS HAVE ELEMENTS OF BOTH PASSIVE AND ACTIVE. MOST SKILLS CAN BE LEVELED. BESIDES BECOMING STRONGER LEVELED SKILLS CAN TAKE ON NEW POWERS.
THIS IS THE INVENTORY SCREEN. HERE A GAMER CAN STORE AND REMOVE ALL NEEDED GEAR AND ITEMS FOR QUESTS. EACH SLOT CAN HOLD ONLY ONE ITEM. HOWEVER SOME ITEMS OF SIMILAR TYPE ARE STACKABLE AND CAN HOLD MULTIPLE ITEMS IN THE SAME SLOT. BEGINNING INVENTORY IS 40 SLOTS. INVENTORY CAN BE EXPANDED OVER TIME WITH INCREASED LEVELS OR ITEMS.
FINALLY ON THE INVENTORY SCREEN YOU CAN VIEW YOUR MONEY (Yen). MONEY CAN BE ACQUIRED FROM OPPONENT DROPS, QUESTS OR SELLING ITEMS. MOST MONEY IS AUTOMATICALLY DEPOSITED TO YOUR INVENTORY BUT SOME MUST BE ADDED DIRECTLY. YOU HAVE SAVED FUNDS AND QUEST REWARDS AVAILABLE. PLEASE TRY TO DEPOSIT NOW.
PLEASE SWIPE OR SAY GUIDE IN ORDER TO BRING UP THE GUIDE SCREEN.
THIS SCREEN HAS IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR THE GAMER. HERE YOU WILL FIND CHARACTER PROFILES FOR PEOPLE YOU MEET. MONSTER PROFILES FOR CREATURE INFO. LOCATION PROFILES FOR AREAS YOU HAVE DISCOVERED. THE QUEST LOG TO SEE ACTIVE, PREVIOUS OR PENDING QUESTS. THIS INFORMATION IS DYNAMIC AND CHANGES AS MORE IS LEARNED ABOUT THE WORLD AND PEOPLE AROUND YOU. SOME INFORMATION MAY GIVE CLUES TO ONGOING QUESTS OR UNLOCK ENTIRELY NEW QUESTS ALL TOGETHER.
THIS COMPLETES THE TUTORIAL. ENJOY YOUR ADVENTURING GAMER!
Complete Tutorial (Completed): You have learned the basics of your power and are ready to begin questing! Good luck adventurer!
+200 EXP
EBONY BATTLE ARMOR
+2000¥
You have five new pieces of armor from finishing the tutorial! First try viewing the stats for the item. Press and hold the icon for the set piece.
Ebony Battle Attire: Level Requirement: 10, Rank: Uncommon, Durability 100/100, AC: 12.5% increase to magecraft. Set bonus: Entire set adds +5 to Elemental Resistance and an additional 50% EXP Bonus to Mental Prowess. Its formal style also provides an increase to Charisma by 25%. Description: Made with prana enhanced thread this is high end gear for a starting magus. Normally only afforded to young magi with wealthy backgrounds.
Optional Quest:
-The Doctor's Appreciate: You have been curious about the place you have been recuperating for a while. Ask the Doctors and Nurses about their job and this place you have been.
-Rewards:
Gain the Skill: Medical Knowledge.
500 Exp.
Medic Kit.
Skill Acquired:
Snoop (Passive): Lv. 1. This skill gives you a 5% bonus to overhear whispered conversations. Keep on butting into other people's business to increase levels!
Mate, WHERE'S THE VOTE?!Fine I'll just post it
Here it is
Beta Read by Xalgeon
Chapter 5: Adoption
You nod, then walk over to the machine, you take a moment before sitting down and staring at the screen.
You follow the instructions and feel a slight prick where your finger rested on the scanner.
As soon as you read that, you knew something was wrong. Pain only comparable to the fire in intensity strikes at your nerves. You feel like someone had taken a hot poker and jammed it into your body repeatedly. You couldn't even scream out due to your body locking up from the pain.
When you came to your body felt sore and exhausted. You open your eyes and see the doctor watching you with concern, you ask him what happened, your voice barely audible . He answered with confusion evident in his tone "Something went wrong with the machine, you were stuck there until the process ended. The hospital got a medical technician to look at the it, yet the results said that it was working fine. It just seems like you have bad luck. But we're having one last go at it due to being assured this won't happen again."
You feel nervous from but if the doctor says to what's the worst that could happen. Except another repeat of whatever happened, but something tells you that it won't happen again.
You get up and follow the doctor. You notice this isn't the same way as the first time, you make a note of this
This time you go to the basement of the hospital where you notice a team of doctors there to evaluate the test. You feel both excitement and dread but you felt it needed to be done.
You activate the machine and it comes to life. The process brings up the interface as it blurts out the same message:
You tentatively do so and feel the slight prick, nothing happens so you relax a little and notice the doctors do the same.
Again that annoying pop-up appears but decide not to bring it up with the doctors witnessing your every move.
While that appears to other people's vision, in your eyes the message appears different.
You hit the Accept button when prompted. A chance on order to understand what the heck was going on was much appreciated.
Not wanting to be outed I subtly brought my finger down.
So as you can understand Strength is strength. Endurance is how tough you are. Mental Prowess is how smart you are. Charisma is how charming you can be. Luck affects how lucky or unlucky you are. But what you don't understand is what the heck an origin means. But it'll probably be explained. Right. RIGHT?!!
So all in all it's better to be well rounded that to specialise. It made sense but some people weregoing to lean on one stat more than others.
So gear was basically clothing and tools that you can equip easily.
So skills were powers you could gain by doing something. It doesn't sound powerful in the beginning. But it may be absurdlypowerful once you have a high level in it.
You don't know how but suddenly a paper bill comes into your hand, so you decide to put it into the box where it disappears. At the bottom you notice it displays a sign that says 500¥.
The chime sounded and Shirou saw he had a good bar of EXP added and got some more Yen.
You tap on the set and a piece of information appears.
You closed the screens and the Doctor led toi to your hospital room. Truth be told you thought you could use this power to find the reason you survived the fire. This power seemed to rate you fairly well if you was honest but you had a lot of weaknesses to work on, but you were glad, this might show you your problems but now you knew what to work on, also this power would allow you to get stronger much faster. You began to fall asleep with a small smile on your face. Tomorrow you would start working on becoming the best person you could be.
When you woke up the next day after you found that your life had been turned into a game, not that you had any memories of before you found your life was a game. In any case, when you woke up you would have been surprised by the screen in front of him reading
As it was, you just thought this was normal and accepted it.
As you were rereading through all the information in the tutorial you silently decided to get rid of your flaws. After you were finished however, you thought of what you're was suppose to do with this information. What sort of thing were you suppose to do? You supposed you would like to learn more about your family. But how were you going to do it. You didn't even know who Kiritsugu Emiya was. You pondered this within mild confusion for several minutes before being interrupted by another screen, reading:
You read the [Quest Menu] several times. You had no idea how you missed the [Optional Quest] but there is no time like now to do it.
In the following days you had been asking around the place and had learned a lot of things like from the fact that registered nurses (RN) is a nurse who has graduated from a nursing program and met the requirements outlined by a country, state, province or similar licensing body in order to obtain a nursing license or the fact there were 2.24 million registered nurses in China alone.
You had completed the quest to do learn things about the medical field and gained a skill while leveling up. Now you were [Lv. 2] and had 10 points to allocate. Due to using [Observe] on a lot of medical devices while learning about the tools [Observe] it had leveled up to.
You were stretching in his hospital room when you heard heated mumbling. You walked to the door. You pressed an ear against the the door and only heard snippets of what was going on.
Then as you were trying to listen to the conversation a new screen came up reading:
"Unbelievable," you heard a man saying. "He doesn't have a scratch beside that burn on his shoulder. How did he manage to survive in there?"
"I don't know," another voice answered. "Even his lungs don't show any leftovers from the smoke anymore."
"Hm, It seems that God truly smiles on this one. Would I be able to speak with him?"
"Of course, Father, he's been incredibly active since the tests. Always bugging the staff about our jobs, the RN's love him."
"It is good to see the young taking an interest in such a virtuose field, should I need to take him in, Lord forbid it, I shall nurture that interest."
"Well he's not totally alone, you know. The man that rescued him has no intention to leave him by himself. I've heard he already has applied for his adoption in case some relatives fail to turn out."
"Well. That's good to hear. God only knows how much that kid is going to need a parent from now on."
They talked a little more before falling silent, but you no longer paid them any attention. Your thought were focused on the man that saved him and now wanted to become his father. A little smile formed on your lips.
The whispers eventually died down and just as you got back to the bed two men walked into this room. The one man in white you knew.
Finally, the doctor spoke, "What is your name?" he asked. You looked at your HUD and saw your name. It read:
You gave that as your name, using your skill [Observe] you noticed that both the doctor and the man with the black coat had a similar screen above their heads reading:
The doctor smiled warily. "Honestly, you just saved me mountains of paperwork. This makes it easy to find your records." the doctor explained. You, not really understanding why, simply nodded. "But for now young man you have someone who'd like to speak with you, Father."
At this, the man dressed like a vicar stepped forward and sat down. "Greetings child, I am Kirei Kotomine, Head Priest of the Church here in Fuyuki, I have also volunteered to take in any young orphans from what we are calling The Fuyuki Fire. Usually, we would be having this conversation at the church, but God has smiled upon you yet again young Shirou, you have been blessed with not one, but two adoption petitions. However, I have looked into both families to make sure they are fit to look after such a precious child as you and, forgive my lack of faith, they are not safe choices. One is a self-righteous mass-murderer who killed his own wife and abandoned his previous daughter just so he could continue his heretical mission, some even say that he started the fire to eradicate the evidence of his wife's murder, the other is a weary old veteran already looking after two other children. Normally that would be good, but his late son has gone on-record to say the man abuses his charges. I do not wish to deprive you of these opportunities however, just know my church is a third option. Do not worry if you do not bond well with the other survivors, I will be there most of the time, if I'm not my late business partner's friend will, alternatively, if you want company your own age, the same partner's daughter is my personal ward."
Finally, seeing your tired expression, the Doctor interrupted, "Excuse me Father, while I'm sure Shirou appropriates the offer and warnings, he needs his rest, he's still recovering after all."
Looking at your face, Kirei chuckles as he got up."Yes, of course, my apologies. Well Little one, I'll leave you to your rest, think about what I've said, ok? God bless." As the charming priest left, you fell asleep despite your chaotic thoughts.
As you slept, you faintly heard a soft tapping noise skitter across the floor. When the noise reached the point of being unbearable, you woke up. You peered towards where the sound was coming from and saw, illuminated by the pale moonlight, an old man with a walking stick watching you.
"Hello. Who's there?" you called out to the the old spectator.
He was muttering something under his breath. He didn't seem to hear you.
You call out to him and for a moment he looked like he was debating on whether or not to speak to you or just leave.
"Wait who are you?". You cry out one last time.
"Who am I? Just an old man who would like to see a new addition to the family. I was checking up on the person I want to adopt." He finally spoke with a resonant and deep voice.
You you [Observe] on him and suddenly he examines you intently. You only had it on for a moment but you saw what the old man's identity was.
"Hm peculiar indeed, just know that you're an interesting subject. Just one word of advice do not believe all of what the priest has spoken." He was there for a moment then he disappeared.
You don't know what happened but something tells you that was a significant moment in your life.
It takes a moment but then you're out like a light.
When you woke up, you saw a message alerting you to your LIFE and EP being recovered and a man with a black outfit similar to your Ebony Battle Attire waiting for you. You turned towards him, not comprehending why he was there. Seeing, you were fully awake, the man with the black coat smiled, a smile of such happiness that you could not help but feel like smiling too. Suddenly, he stopped smiling, "I'm sorry, but your parents are likely dead." the man told you bluntly, "What you do now is entirely up to you. Right now you have two choices. You can wait to be released from this hospital and go to an orphanage to eventually be adopted, or you can come with this stranger for an uncertain future." The man with the black coat explained.
'That's not quite right', you thought, 'This man helped me through the Fire, so we've met before.' Unconsciously, you wanted to understand why the man was so happy.
You didn't even realize that you'd used [Observe] until you saw the name of the man.
The man with the black coat -Kiritsugu- was speaking again, "So, I ask you. Will you be my son?"
You couldn't speak.
Not sure how much Dnk wants to reveal, but it's a fairly minor goddess.Kiritsugu of course, if I can vote.
By the way can you give any clues about his divine ancestor.
Just like said in SB its a deity from Japan that was active in 700ADNot sure how much Dnk wants to reveal, but it's a fairly minor goddess.
Fixed
It is things aren't quite what they seem[X] Kiritsugu Emiya
Unless this is a Major AU or something, I refuse to have Shirou live with the other two.
Eh, Gilly'd probably leverage Shirou out of the mana farm at least due to curiosity at the lack of degradation.[X] Kiritsugu Emiya
Unless this is a Major AU or something, I refuse to have Shirou live with the other two.
Wrong, a; Shirou didn't need rescuing as the grail protected him & b; none of them lead to a bad end any more or less than the others.[X] Kiritsugu Emiya
The man who rescued you from the fire. The priest warned you that he is a killer and probably started the fire to cover his own crimes.
only choice that is not a bad end
can't argue there