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Displacement (PMMM/Darker Than Black/Monogatari)

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[X] Is that all you can say about yourself?
[X] What is going on with the girl?
[X] DOES incubator want to tell me anything?
[X] What do I need to know as a newly converted Contractor? Like, for example:
-[X] My powers?
-[X] A purpose?
-[X] Drawbacks?
-[X] Greater goals, maybe upgrades to my powers?
-[X] Can you teach me to use my powers?
-[X] Anything else?
[X] Any ideas on how to get this bubble off the road?
 
[X] What is going on with the girl?
[X] DOES incubator want to tell me anything?
[X] What do I need to know as a newly converted Contractor? Like, for example:
-[X] My powers?
-[X] A purpose?
-[X] Drawbacks?
-[X] Greater goals, maybe upgrades to my powers?
-[X] Can you teach me to use my powers?
[X] Any ideas on how to get this bubble off the road?
[X] What else do you think I should know?

That is always the final question (in real life as well as quests).
 
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Krein said:
Oh FFS... Not AGAIN.

What IS it about my name that makes it unwritable?!?!?!

...Bah.:(
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Two reasons, I suspect. First, the KRE combination violates English phonotactics outside of a few loanwords from other languages, and the EI violates the beaten to death rule of "I before E except after C, or when it's an "a" like in in neighbor or weigh."

In this most recent example they switched the R and the E so that it became the English valid "Ker" instead of KRE.

Elder Haman said:
I'd rather not burn all our ten questions at once.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

It's not a limit in the sense that she wont answer anything you want to ask later if you've asked ten questions already, it's just that you have time for ten questions before you need to act (and it's only that high because the dice love you).
 
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3: Questions and Answers
  • Threadmarks
    • Author's Note: Grumblecakes. I got hit with mandatory overtime since the end of last week so I've had almost no time to write. I just want one week where I update when I intend to. One. Week. This is probably the only update this week for Displacement. I should be able to return to my 'normal' schedule on Monday.

    ---------------------------------------------

    3: Questions and Answers

    You feel a momentary urge to pounce on her. If she was dangerous, it would give you the first strike advantage, and surely a high-school student should be able to defeat a gradeschooler any day. But you had already decided that she wasn't an immediate threat, and it made more sense to gain what information you could through the easier method of talking.

    "Is that all you can say about yourself?" You ask. Hopefully more information would allow you to determine if she was telling the truth.

    "Well, let's see," she started, "My measurements are-"

    "No." You interrupt. "Why would you begin with that?!"

    "Oh, It seemed to be the type of thing a person like you would want to know the most, Arararagi-san." she says, a mischievous smile on her face.

    A person like you? What did sort of impression did you give off? She was probably just teasing you. Well, you weren't going to let her get to you.

    "It's Araragi. You doubled the ra." You calmly inform her.

    "Sorry, I stuttered," she claims, with a widening smile.

    "No, that was on purpose," you insist.

    "I stutteted!" she immediately replies.

    "It wasn't on purpose?" you blurt out. You were sure that she was teasing you, but now you're doubting yourself. "Nevermind that, I meant that I wanted to know what a Contractor-to-Incubator interface was."

    "Ah, that does seem like the appropriate question. Simply put, I am an ex-human who was installed in your brain by those you contracted with."

    Installed in your brain? Did someone perform brain surgery on you while you were unconscious? The voice did say something about gaining abilities, but you hadn't expected your brain to change. It made sense though, the brain was the seat of your mind. If you had gained powers of some sort it would only make sense that your brain would change to compensate, just like how you'd need it to change if you suddenly found yourself with a third arm. As for being an ex-human, you weren't entirely sure if the more important part was that she had been human, or that she now was clearly not human.

    "I see," you had more questions about her, but you were still sitting in the middle of a street, next to the injured woman who was within some glowing energy sphere thing. There were more important things to ask about.

    "What is going on with the Girl I wished to save?" you ask. You should have asked this before, after all, she was in the most time sensitive position.

    "That has to do with your wish I think." She walks over and peers intently at the woman. "A contractor is at their most powerful when they've just made their wish. Depending on the wording and intent, if it cannot be granted immediately then the contractor becomes practically invincible until it is. It isn't that they can't be beaten, it is just that they never have failed to complete their wish."

    "You wanted to save this girl, but you wished to gain the power to do it yourself. Normally, she'd have died before you woke with your powers, which would violate the intent of your wish, and if she had simply been healed it would have violated the wording of your wish. So she's in stasis until the moment where you help her with your power." Hachikuji's eyebrows rise in surprise when she mentions your powers, but doesn't elaborate.

    Well, you were going to ask in a minute anyway.

    "You said you were an interface with the ones who did this to me? The Incubator? Is there anything it wants to tell me?" you ask. Better to reveal what they wanted from you sooner rather than later.

    Hachikuji closes her eyes for a moment, concentrating. After a few seconds she reopens them. "Nope."

    That was surprising. You suppose that they would contact you when it was convenient for them.

    "Alright. You're supposed to help me, right? What can you tell me about my powers?"

    "Your power is a bit strange. I have a lot of general knowledge about contractors, and I'm pretty sure no one's power works quite like yours does.
    It works like this. Someone asks for your help, and then you gain powers based on the situation. After you pay your remuneration, they are saved from whatever they needed help with. Currently it seems this woman has some pretty serious problems. All of your physical capabilities have been massively boosted and most impressively, you can instantly regenerate."

    Powers that adapted to the situation? That sounded quite useful.

    "Is there a purpose to us contractors? Something we're supposed to do?"

    Hachikuji smiles sadly at you. "Just keep trying to live, Araragi-san."

    Well, it seems that there was no great cause or war you had been drafted into. You were being largely left to your own devices and purposes. That would make it both easier and more difficult when it came to planning for the future.

    "Drawbacks to my powers?" you continue asking the most pressing questions. You didn't want some catch to show up at just the wrong moment.

    "Well, there are a few. The first would be that if someone doesn't ask for your help, you have no powers. The second I can think of is that your power is different each time, so you'll have to relearn how to use them each time. Finally, the biggest drawback would be your remuneration. Most contractors have something they must do after using their powers. It can be something as mundane as reading a certain book, to something amazing like aging a month. If they force themselves not to do it, they enter moratorium, lose control of their powers, and then die." she pauses, seemingly hesitant to continue her explanation.

    "Your remuneration, for some reason, is tied directly into using your power. That's why I called it strange. So, once your power activates, you must be taking steps towards completing your remuneration or you'll start suffering and risk slipping into moratorium." she continues to dance around what your remuneration actually was.

    "Hachikuji. What's my remuneration?" you ask her directly. When someone doesn't want to say something, the easiest way to the heart of the matter is to be direct.

    "Your remuneration is to kill someone who is known by the person you are helping. Simply put, to save someone, you must kill someone that they are connected to. Family, friend, servant, master, or enemy, someone must die for every person you help."

    You have to kill someone. The very thought should make you panic. Hachikuji had already said your powers were active, so you needed to find someone that this woman knew, and kill them. Coldly kill them. Only then can you save someone. Only in this way can you help someone. While you were no longer powerless to help those around you, you hadn't wanted to gain power in this way! However, the panic and despair you were feeling over this revelation seemed distant, as if it were happening to someone else, and you found yourself continuing to ask questions. After all, you were still sitting in the middle of the street, and you only had a matter of time before your powers would force you to take steps towards killing someone. It would be a waste of time to spend any on your emotions.

    "Any greater goals I should strive for? Like an upgrade to my powers? A way to avoid my remuneration?"

    Hachikuji just shakes her head, indicating a no to all three questions. She looks miserable for some reason. Perhaps she felt bad for you? You weren't sure why she should, you had just met after all. It still seemed the most likely answer. It appears that her strength as a human had also decreased.

    Or was that strength of an ex-human?

    "Can you teach me to use my powers?" you ask. It takes Hachikuji several moments to muster up a reply.

    "You could try punching them really hard." Ah. It seems she couldn't help you there. It would have been convenient if she could, as it would help with one of your power's drawbacks. Though her advice wasn't bad now that you thought about it. If you could immediately regenerate, and had your physical abilities heightened, then there was no reason to do anything other than punch with all your might. Particularly since you had to kill someone.

    "Do you have any ideas on how to move this bubble?"

    "You could try rolling it, though you might just want to pick it up. It wont hurt you," she replies. Pick it up. How deceptively simple. You had assumed some complex method was required for touching something like an energy stasis field. Somehow, you're a little disappointed.

    "Is there anything else you think I should know?"

    Hachikuji thinks for a moment, before turning to look down the street.

    "Well, you'd probably want to know that the people who hurt that woman in the first place are headed back this way, and that she most certainly knows them well enough for them to count towards your remuneration. They'll get here in about a minute."

    That was something you should know. You stand and stretch for a moment as you prepare for action. You really should reward Hachikuji for being so helpful, so you pat her on the head while you think of what you should do next.

    [] Stand here and wait
    [] Grab the bubble and run
    [] Write-in
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • [X] Stand here and wait. Massively enhanced strength and regen... Must be enhanced enough for me to deal with whoever is hunting her then, no?

    Questions to ask later.

    1. Ex-human? What?
    2. Keep trying to live? What?! On that note, why are looking at me with so much pity all the time? Spill!
    3. So I have to kill... Well then. What constitutes as me killing someone? Does them dying from some other factors count? Or me arranging for their death in some way? Or poison? Or is it direct all the way?
     
    [X] I MUSTN'T RUN AWAY. I MUSTN'T RUN AWAY. I MUSTN'T RUN AWAY.
    -[X] I MUST KILL TO SAVE.
    --[X] I HAVE NO REGRETS, THIS IS THE ONLY PATH.
    ---[/] War-cry: "ARARARARARARARARARARAGGGIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!"
     
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    4: Waiting
  • Threadmarks
    • Author's note: Looks like I was overly optimistic concerning my work situation, but It looks like it's over for now. That means...time for updates! I'm really, really hoping that I can do the normal update thing next week. Also, writing updates when you haven't been able to write at all for a few weeks? Very difficult to get back in the proper habit. Ah well, back on the horse, me! :mad: Apologies in advance for the sub-standard quality.

    [] Stand here and wait
    -[]Look for a weapon
    ​
    4: Waiting

    You decide to stand here and wait. After all, you are at your most powerful, a contractor fighting for their wish. You take a moment to look around, reexamining the area as your battleground. A generic street, with no buildings of note in your immediate area. There are streetlights, though you're not confident that the improvements to your body would be enough to use such an unwieldy thing as a weapon. The only other item is your shopping bag with the Ero-Books you had just bought. Even as a normal human you doubted it would hold up for a second swing, much less a human with enhanced strength. You make a note to retrieve your purchases later.

    What were the terms of your wish again? To save that woman. You would complete it by killing someone.

    For some reason, you were restless, but you ignore the impulse to pace.

    So, if you killed someone, your wish would be complete. Hachikuji had said "The people who had hurt her." Not the person. The people. It seems that you were guaranteed to kill one of them, but you'd lose that guarantee of success from the wish after that. After all, you would have already succeeded. You open your mouth to ask Hachikuji about how many people when something stops you.

    You're no longer alone on the street.

    Two men stand in front of you. The first was huge. Absurdly huge. The kind of huge you thought only applied to giants in manga. Muscles bulged from muscles. Even though you had been told you were enhanced, you still felt a wave of panic at how monstrously strong this man must be. You ignore the feeling, of course, but note that perhaps direct confrontation might not be the best method of testing your own strength.

    The second man seemed puny in comparison, a slim blonde pretty boy. He had a face that made some part of you want to punch him. He was regarding you with something that looked like a smile on his face, but you were fairly certain that it was just a mask. He was carrying a large metal cross, which he planted firmly on the pavement with a loud clang. You were wondering how he had been carrying the thing, with such a slim build.

    Neither of these two were normal people.

    Were they contractors, as well?

    Your thoughts are interrupted by a sudden pain in your back. You jump to the side on pure reflex, putting the glowing orb to your back. The pain you felt is already gone.

    More importantly, there's a third man. Dressed in something that resembles priestly robes, eying you critically. Did he just attack you?

    "Hmmm, you're tougher than you look. Who are you? Why are you helping her?" the priest asks you.

    You're supposed to ask those questions before attacking!

    You now have all three of them in sight, but your back is to a wall. Well, more like your back is to the glowy orb thing, but this is no time to split hairs over small details. You need to decide what to do.


    [] Write-in
     
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