Sucal
The Devil’s Cut
- Location
- Bottom of the barrel
Which would likely involve them getting divine Ki
Dragon Ball: After the End
Bakkasama
There is always a greater fool
- Location
- Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Pronouns
- He/his
I am not sure that is the case. Dende seems to be able to sense it which is a point in your favor but I don't think Kami had it? It also makes you wonder about him offering Goku to become Guardian at the end of the 23rd martial arts tournament.
Bringing It Down A Bit
- Location
- Rockford, USA
- Pronouns
- They/Them
[X][ALIEN] Accept his surrender.
-[X] Ask him why
[X][DRAMA] You...you don't know. This is a hard question. You need to think. You need time. But at least you're a little wiser now; you know that you still have to think about it. And that's...that's okay.
-[X] Ask him why
[X][DRAMA] You...you don't know. This is a hard question. You need to think. You need time. But at least you're a little wiser now; you know that you still have to think about it. And that's...that's okay.
Bringing It Down A Bit
You're tense as a wire, and despite the screaming conflict in your head you're still ready to spring into action. Can you trust this, how does this make sense, what even is this-?
-but ultimately, you slowly slide out of your stance. Ahead of you, Dad does the same. He looks back at you and you meet his eyes. The two of you nod after a moment of unspoken communication -- not even any telepathy exchanged. In unison, you turn back to the scout. Dad nods. "Alright. We can talk. Karen, see Maya home and then go let your mother know that you're alright." He glances at you out of the corner of his eye. Then get back here.
You nod. "Yes, Dad." Soon as I can. You turn to your friend and nod. She glances at the alien, clearly worried, but follows you into the air.
"Do you thi- think we ca- can trust him?" she asks, still glancing over her shoulder.
"I don't know," you say. "But I know Dad can handle him. I don't need to think he's a good guy to know Dad can deal with whatever he does."
"...ri- right."
It only takes a few minutes to make it back to her house. Once you have her there, you hug her goodbye and fly back home, making sure to move faster than the humans around would be able to see.
"Kak- Karen?" she calls, using the right name for Masques at the last second as you come in through the door.
"It's me, Mom," you say. She appears out of the basement and immediately pulls you into a hug before looking you over. "Your clothes are a mess. What happened? I felt something...new."
"One of the scouts," you say after checking your surroundings with ki sense for listeners, pulling free and heading for the stairs. "The hunting party found him. I was the first one there. Maya was moving around too, so I had to stay Masqued and powered down. Dad showed up and the scout ran. He found us again later and surrendered. I just dropped Maya off and I need to go back now to see what's happening."
Mom blinks. "Are you alright?"
"Fine!" you say, going into your room. "Fee, get out, I need to change." You immediately cross over to your closet.
Your sister, reading on her bed in your room together, lets out a loud sigh, not looking up. "Go somewhere else, Karen."
"Fee, not the time!"
She looks up to say something, rolling her eyes, and promptly freezes when she sees you, eyes wide. "Mom!"
"I saw her, Felicia!" says Mom from downstairs.. "Come down here!"
"But she's-"
"Felicia!"
Fasha pouts and hops up, scurrying past you with a worried look.
You dig deep into the closet and pull out one of your House gis. Then you pause. On reflection, if there was ever an info hazard...you put the gi back and get out some normal street clothes instead. Then you frown. You like those clothes. No, back in they go. You reach for some ratty jeans -- no, those would either restrict your movement if you need to fight or break right off! There's a skirt...no. You've purged all of the gis with skirts on them from your wardrobe over the course of the last year, as it became obvious why you should mind them.
After much debate, you take the jeans and slash off everything below the knee with a lash made of ki. Then you grab an old shirt you use for painting. It'll do.
As you turn to leave, you see Mom in the doorway, stifling a snicker. You blink. "What?"
"Nothing, nothing," she says, ruffling your hair. "Honestly, sweetie, you pick the weirdest times to be a girl."
You scowl, pretty sure you're being made fun of. "What do you mean?"
She doesn't answer, propelling you towards the door with a hand on your shoulders. "Go back to your father. Be careful. Love you."
You grumble to yourself but nod. "Love you too." You put two fingers to your forehead.
vip
You reappear at the caves. Dad and the scout are out of sight. You make the obvious connection and disappear down the hole.
As it turns out, they've gone all the way to the bottom. You hear them before you see them.
"-think you are in a position to negotiate," says Dad, his tone harsh. "You are the invaders here, not us."
The alien says something you can't hear.
"That is none of your concern," says Dad. "We know. That's enough. What negotiations could you possibly have in mind?"
The alien says something else. You frown. Something something driftwood? That can't be right. You catch the next sentence, though. "...as it happens, I am not technically in command of my squad."
"Then you appear to be wasting our time."
"'Our?'"
You step out into the lowest chamber. The only light comes from Dad's aura, still glowing as he flares at around four thousand. "Our," he says. "You have no power to negotiate if you're not in command. You're just another soldier."
"Why are you here?" you ask, finally getting the chance to voice what's been on your mind.
The scout turns to face you, squinting in the dim light. "Ah, it's you," he says. "The child. Why is she here?"
"Because she is my daughter and because I say she is," says Dad. "Any other questions?"
The scout cocks his head. "...I suppose not, if that's your reply. Not on that topic, at least."
"Why are you here?" you say, a bit stronger this time.
"Because I'm practical," he replies. "I haven't survived this long by being otherwise. A fighter of your father's strength? My scouter is destroyed, as you know, but I could feel the air he was displacing just by moving around from miles away."
"Doesn't explain why you didn't report back in to your boss," says Dad.
The scout inclines his head. "True. I didn't do that because I don't know where my commander is, myself. Standard policy is to scatter after first insertion. I wouldn't have made contact for another month, had things gone normally. And as it stands I have no immediate means of contacting them. So, given my choice between risking a theft of the locals' radio equipment or tracking down the girl with the powerful backup who proved so very reluctant to resort to lethal force...the choice was obvious. Given your presence, I was hardly going to risk going into a possible fight with even more nasty surprises tucked away."
"Very survivalist of you," says Dad, crossing his arms. "That explains why you being here means good things for you. What's in it for us? From what you're saying, you get all the benefit from being here. From where I'm standing you're just a prisoner of war."
The alien makes a quiet hiss, inclining his head. "It would seem that way from your perspective, yes."
You snort, losing patience. "Quit stalling. It doesn't make you look smart and cool, it's just annoying."
Dad makes a stifled noise. When you look over to him, he's very determinedly looking at the alien, and has his hand over his mouth.
The alien, meanwhile, blinks, nonplussed. "Um. I...apologize if I offended you-"
"I'm tired," you say, crossing your arms. "I lost a fight earlier. Maybe you noticed." Your eyes narrow at him. "I'm having a really bad day. Stop trying to be smart and just tell us why we want to keep you here instead of firing you into the sun."
You wouldn't do that. But you're irritated enough to mention it.
The alien nods. "As you say. I think my team can achieve our objectives better if we use diplomacy rather than force. I thought you'd be open to that overture, and I was confident at least in my ability to escape if I was wrong. I can't make promises on their behalf, but we're a team. I think they'll listen to me."
Dad leans forward, his hand coming down from his mouth. "And what exactly are your objectives?"
[Command Training-->Pass]
You keep silent, and refrain from mentioning that you of course already know their objectives. You never let on how much you know to an enemy.
The alien, for his part, shifts uncomfortably. "I...you must know that I cannot answer that. It's just standing regulations, it would mean my life if I-"
Dad waves his hand. "I understand. What is your name?"
The alien cocks his head. "Meerak. And yours?"
"Unimportant, for the moment." Dad stands. "How do you plan to facilitate us talking to your team?"
"I was hoping you might give me access to radio equipment," says the scout.
Dad shakes his head before Meerak even finishes speaking. "No good. I'm not giving you tech, much less the opportunity to shout something through a connection before I can silence you. No, you'll give your messages to me, I'll relay them to one of my people, and we'll send them out the way you tell us to, if we're convinced you're not passing hidden messages."
"I am willing to accept those precautions," says Meerak. "Does this mean that you are...?"
"I am considering it," says Dad, stepping forward. "For now, you come with me, and remain in a secure location until I make my decision. Is there a way to safely render your race unconscious?"
The scout frowns unhappily at the question, but sighs, tapping the small of its back. "A sharp blow there -- this sharp, no harder," he slams a hand into the ground in demonstration, not even cracking it, "will put me out."
Dad nods and blurs out of sight. Meerak slumps forward with a quiet sigh as Dad reappears. Dad goes to a knee and puts his hand on Meerak's forehead, closing his eyes in concentration. "He was telling the truth. There's no thought going on in there." He stands, picking up Meerak. "I'm going to bring him to a Sorcerer and have them set up a mobile ward. Then I'll bring him to our holding cells."
"And then?" you ask.
"That depends. I haven't decided yet." He looks at you. "What do you think we should do?"
You pull up short at the unexpected question. There's always a test, it would seem.
And your answer?
[ ] Accept his offer. Better this than hunting them down one by one.
[ ] Deny his offer. This has to be a trick; you remember the vision.
THIS VOTE IS NOW CLOSED.
And we're back! Wanted to move into something else after this scene, but it just read too disjointedly. Ah well. I'll just make this vote a little quicker than the last one.
Anyway. This event chain is basically concluded. This is your final decision in it. The situation with the scout shall resolve later in the year.
Trait lost: Cognitive Dissonance.
Trait gained: Reflective. You have had your beliefs directly challenged. While your worldview is stable enough at the moment, the question still remains: what will you come to decide about your view on violence? You don't know yet. "Pacifist," its sub-trait, and "Convictions" remain disabled, but you no longer suffer a penalty to Willpower. You have until [ERROR DATA NOT FOUND] to get Kakara back to more settled ground on the matter of violence and her stance on it. After that time has elapsed, she will begin taking scaling Willpower penalties over time due to increasing existential crisis. I will not explicitly announce it in updates when this occurs, but there will be indications in the text when it's on its way, and when it's occurring, and I will update the character sheet with the information. Pay attention...
*eyes cross* Additive. Definitely additive. Power levels are a linear scale, not logarithmic.
Welcome! And thanks; I had fun writing it.
Enjoy, everybody.
Finally, matters have calmed down, but the situation remains tense. From the scouts' perspective, one of their own has gone entirely dark. A potential solution is available, but can Berra and Kakara afford to trust Meerak to be telling the truth? What will the Scion decide? Where will she go from here? Find out next time, on Dragon Ball AE.
We have gone back down to HAPCON 3.
TWO-HOUR MORATORIUM TO ENCOURAGE DISCUSSION.
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Only if assume the Godly Ki is innate to the person, rather then the position.
Personally, I assume that the position that comes with a tiny portion of Divine Ki. If you lose the position, that small amounts is lost too, and is bestowed upon the next holder of the position.
Sucal
The Devil’s Cut
- Location
- Bottom of the barrel
The only person worse at their job then Kami is Shin
Carrnage
Human
- Location
- New Zealand
I think we should take the deal, as it stands the rest of the scouts will know about the strong powerlevels and combat going on, and will either be going deep deep cover, looking for leads on disguised power levels, or prepping to smoke us out.
As long as we don't overplay our hand we stand to get knowledge from the scouts while heading off their own activities and not revealing too much critical info about ourselves.
As long as we don't overplay our hand we stand to get knowledge from the scouts while heading off their own activities and not revealing too much critical info about ourselves.
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
We seem to be at a bit of a disadvantage because we missed the part of the conversation where the alien scout told Lord Berra what his team's objectives are.
Or am I missing something?
Or am I missing something?
Sucal
The Devil’s Cut
- Location
- Bottom of the barrel
They REALLY want the secret of the 11 herbs and spices
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
You are not once again we are making a decision on very incomplete information that should be easy to get, but we don't have for some reason.
Edit
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- Location
- Rockford, USA
- Pronouns
- They/Them
You're missing something:
Meerak didn't. Kakara had a vision, remember?
Carrnage
Human
- Location
- New Zealand
"Driftwood", and given our vision they are looking for a new home, or base to stage a new empire.
One is negotiable the other means we have to get them to shift objectives.
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
Well, if Kakara believes she already knows the aliens' objectives thanks to her own prescience, then our discussion and analysis should probably be guided by the results of that prescience.
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
If we have time we should practice that knock out blow.
Heh. Though in my experience, siblings just ignore it or turn around.
I don't get it either.
I say accept. There's almost certainly a trick, but we can figure it out and use it to our advantage.
Kagome?
Though we are missing what they talked about before.
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
After an ungodly amount of digging, I found the vision:
So this DOES give us an idea of what the scouts want- they're the point men for a multispecies force that wants to settle on a weakly defended planet, and we looked like an enticing target because we don't have any visible defenders with noticeable ki signatures from space.
With that as a starting point, what can we reason out about how to approach this situation?
Okay. So to recap, we know that the alien army/migration which is coming is looking for lebensraum and a place they can take over. Garenhuld is too powerful for the scouts to take over; they'll quickly be figuring out that much. The whole invasion fleet is another matter, though.PoptartProdigy said:
So this DOES give us an idea of what the scouts want- they're the point men for a multispecies force that wants to settle on a weakly defended planet, and we looked like an enticing target because we don't have any visible defenders with noticeable ki signatures from space.
With that as a starting point, what can we reason out about how to approach this situation?
- Location
- Yes.
Check my sig.
- Location
- Rockford, USA
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Kakara looks like she's had the shit kicked out of her. Fasha is wondering what the ungodly hell could do that to her big sis.
*stares in shock that anyone could have forgotten what the vision entailed or where it was*
Especially since it's been repeatedly quotes, massively so during the vote for what to do with the Scout that ended with us attacking.
And you've missed a very important point(that got ignored repeatedly previously): that they were looking for a planet, any planet they could take over. They ended up out here, in the ass end of nowhere. Something they regarded as a last resort.
Basically, Garenhuld is the only place they found they thought they had a genuine shot at taking over. Now, there's a few factors to be considered:
1) We have at least one ship of theirs, which was unguarded. Either they thought it wouldn't be found, they have spares, or they have absolutely no intention of leaving.
2) Berra revealing a PL of 1,000,000 was likely detected by the other Scouts.
3) The Scout was likely not the strongest member of the Team, nor of the entire army.
4) The Scout expects their Team to still be on-planet.
So here's a few of the possibilities I can see:
a) The Scout is hoping to be reunite with their team, and leave the planet. Unlikely.
b) The Scout is hoping to reunite with their team and act as a trojan horse. Quite possible.
c) The Scout is hoping to alert the team that they're still alive, and so a peaceful integration is possible. Possible, depending on how desperate they are and/or they're aware of the scoutings true purpose.
Now, whether or not to accept the deal: I say do so. At this point, the other Scouts likely know what has happened in general terms, through their scouters detecting it if nothing else. As we know the actual goal behind the scouting, and have access to stuff like Mind Delve, we have more of an information advantage then they expect, and massively more power then they think we have as well.
By accepting, we can turn any trick or trap around on them, and open up the possibility of a peaceful resolution, as unlikely as that seems admittedly.
That still doesn't explain what Kagome is.
Oh, to clarify, that second part was referring to the whole "leave while I get changed" bit.
Incidentally, does Mind Delve allow you read memories while that person is unconscious? And if so, would/could have Berra gained enough knowledge to know whether he should take the deal or not in the time he took?
- Location
- Yes.
You need to dig deeper. Dig until you read the terror of Kagome.
Or get a summary from someone else, what do I know?
- Location
- Somewhere I shouldn't be
I think we need to stop acting on incomplete information.
I think we need to ask our Dad for the memory (or at least a summary, hitting all the relevant points) of what happened while we changed and returned.
We can anticipate what this might include, and the plan can have appropriate actions for each possibility. But we don't need to go full Rational!Naruto quest on it.
Also, I think it will impress Dad to see that we're learning from our mistakes - we know we have incomplete information and are rectifying that so much as we can before we decide how to act.
That said, I'm all for accepting his offer and preparing for the trap. Hell, I bet Sensei can even help us practice FutureSight to see the potential trap! It might not work, but our Seers can clue us in.
In other words, let's be like the Doctor: we see the trap, and jump in headfirst just to see what will happen.
Kakara, in a very time-sensitive moment, has just spent at least a minute debating what she's going to wear. She just agonized over clothes the same way most girls would when they're getting ready for a date.
I snorted.
I think we need to ask our Dad for the memory (or at least a summary, hitting all the relevant points) of what happened while we changed and returned.
We can anticipate what this might include, and the plan can have appropriate actions for each possibility. But we don't need to go full Rational!Naruto quest on it.
Also, I think it will impress Dad to see that we're learning from our mistakes - we know we have incomplete information and are rectifying that so much as we can before we decide how to act.
That said, I'm all for accepting his offer and preparing for the trap. Hell, I bet Sensei can even help us practice FutureSight to see the potential trap! It might not work, but our Seers can clue us in.
In other words, let's be like the Doctor: we see the trap, and jump in headfirst just to see what will happen.
Kakara, in a very time-sensitive moment, has just spent at least a minute debating what she's going to wear. She just agonized over clothes the same way most girls would when they're getting ready for a date.
I snorted.
Carrnage
Human
- Location
- New Zealand
Mondays are hard on everyone.
There's no write-in option, however, and Kakara apparently thinks this is a test. Berra is likely curious what our response would be, with the information we possess.
But picking the right clothes is important!
- Location
- Rockford, USA
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Kagome is an NPC in another Quest I follow (and participate in, intermittently, when I have time) called Marked for Death; you may possibly remember the post/review I made here endorsing it in thanks for one of its QMs (and intermittent player here), @eaglejarl, doing the same for me there. Kagome is typically paranoid and nervous, and @faflec enjoys acting out Kagome's usual reaction to unexpected happenings in-thread, to the point where it has become typical of their participation in that Quest. I occasionally make my joking panic default votes something along the lines of "screaming in Kagome" to poke faflec given that I know they hang around here and engage with the joke entertainingly.
Incidentally, I once again cannot recommend Marked for Death enough to absolutely everybody who cares to listen to me.
Mind Delve gives you a window into a person's thoughts and lets you steer. Unfortunately, all Berra got were dreams of dubious reliability. Not to be counted on, and Mind Delve is, sadly, another potential info hazard, so doing it during consciousness is risky unless you can control the scout's ability to record memories.
Which is a potential use for sorcerers, mind...
Write ins are welcome by default, with our voting policy. In this one, it seems like a binary yes/no, so I didn't specifically include it, but write-ins remain welcome.
It certainly is! It is also stereotypically coded female, so I made the joke. :lol
Ethical issues galore...
..Slightly less ethically-dubious, could a sorcerer make someone unable to lie?
Personally, every female I know has potential outfits for any occasion picked out and ready at all times.
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