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Dragon Ball: After the End

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I really really hope the DIscord doesn't become an alternate vehicle for information that the quest participants need to know to be adequately informed. I've had problems like that in the past.
 
Simon_Jester said:
I really really hope the DIscord doesn't become an alternate vehicle for information that the quest participants need to know to be adequately informed. I've had problems like that in the past.
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fictionfan said:
I personally wish that Discord didn't exist.
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I won't be frequently involved; I prefer to keep the bulk of the important discussion in-thread. I have no issue with a Discord existing at the behest of fans, though, much less with me making a visit now and then. :D
Lunaryon said:
Okay...?

Poptart already has a Discord? I mean, it's technically Fourth Monado's but there is a thread in there for Poptart's quests and stuff.
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gutza1 said:
Oh really? I messaged Poptart and they told me that I could make one. Maybe they forgot about it...
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Mona's Discord is Mona's, and caters to a different community. While I do comment on my quests there, it's not mine and a massive surge of new folk there would almost certainly be unwelcome. That's why I gave the go-ahead.

And also Mona's Discord is a little more of a private place where, as implied, I sometimes make spoilery comments without having to worry about them becoming public. ;)
 
I wish we could explain point by point to Jaffur why we are spending our time doing what, but really you can't really argue this kind of emotion and justifying ourself will just validate his right to judge us.
 
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Silver Lining
  • Threadmarks
    • [X] Leave.
    -[x] Just leave.
    Do not read my voice into my characters. Although it may, at this point, be obvious that the thread's approach has left Kakara somewhat isolated from other characters. This also being your friendly reminder that thread discussion influences Kakara's thought processes.

    Please disregard any visuals on linked clips; they're just for audio effects.

    Silver Lining
    ​
    You turn and release your grip on the shade state, dissipating into a swirl of mist. You get the vague impression of exiting through Jaron's ear before whipping back towards your body at great speed, zooming in through the window of Sensei's house, and-

    * * *

    Back.

    * * *
    ​
    Your eyes open. It's fully dark now in Sensei's time zone, and the lights are on. You also hear the fire crackling. You look over and see Sensei reading a book by the blaze.

    "And how did it go?" he asks, turning a page.

    "...alright, I guess," you say, shifting and rising up off of the-

    Oh, he put you on the bed. That's nice of him.

    He hums. "Judging by the lack of screaming, you didn't get into a fight you'd have cause to regret."

    "We sparred," you saw, drawing up your knees and resting your chin on them.

    He snorts. "Teenagers."

    You narrow your eyes. "What?"

    "I said I hope you had a chance to clear the air." He turns another page. How fast is he reading? "You were meant to."

    "I caught him up to speed," you sigh. "He's in. Jaron visits him, apparently, although he doesn't remember anything when he's awake. And they're both mad at me."

    Sensei pauses. "About failing to stop the Sealing?"

    "About my training," you say, anger rising. "They were just so- so mad! Just because I'm not training like they like to because of that thing that's coming. They don't get to judge me! I make my own choices! Seriously, how dare they?! Just because they've never had to think about long-term priorities, and they're letting their feelings getting in the way of being sensible, doesn't mean that they get to judge me for not being the same way!" You fume for a few seconds before calming yourself with a few quick breaths. "No, no. I should be understanding. It's obvious why they think like that. Their lives never made thinking like me make sense. It's not their fault that they're wrong. It's not like I can argue against emotions."

    Sensei sighs. "Is this what being young and arrogant was like? Why do people miss that?"

    You flush bright red. "What?!"

    "I'm saying that you sound like an arrogant little shit," says Sensei, turning a page yet again. "Confronted by your only social peer and equal about your choices, including what I'd frankly call entirely valid concerns about your level of preparation in response to a threat big enough to have all three hundred of us Seers waking up in a cold sweat, your immediate response is outrage, questioning their right to judge you, and then coming up with a spiel about how it's so understandable that they're making the mistake of disagreeing with you because their experience has prevented them from developing the capacity to see sense in this context." And another page turns. "Which frankly just makes you sound condescending."

    You lurch to your feet. "That's not-!"

    He turns and gives you a look. You quail. It's a stern look. A firm look. A look loaded down disapproval and shame. Grandma gives those kinds of looks, although not frequently.

    "I wasn't done talking," he says. "Kakara. Having your peer come out so roundly against your choices is obviously hard to stomach. Reacting by coming up with a dozen reasons for why their position can't even be valid due to their personal history, and why their very act of questioning you is outside of their rights, is the wrong response. Humans call it ad hominem, I believe, although that doesn't technically work for us saiyans."

    You gape. "I...but I didn't..." You trail off.

    After a few seconds, Sensei nods and turns back to his book. "Everybody has the right to judge you, Kakara, your peers most of anybody."

    "I have time to train," you say, feeling quite off-balance. "This thing won't show up for years."

    "Will it?" he asks, looking up once more.

    A sudden, terrible doubt fills you. "...Sensei, have you Seen something?"

    "No," he says, looking down again. "I tried to when you were away, in fact." He turns a page. "I was blocked."

    A pit of ice drops into your stomach. "What?"

    "We've been having difficult pinning this thing down," he says. "Today I presume I managed to find it, because instead of a null result, I was, as I said, blocked. Kicked out of the vision with a splitting headache."

    As he reaches out to a mug of something on his end table, you notice that his hand is shaking slightly. Pain jitters.

    "Are you okay?" you ask, standing up.

    "I'll live," he says, taking a drink. "We don't know when this thing is coming. You weighed the uncertainty against your other obligations and decided that you'd devote minimal efforts to preparing while you cleared your plate. Your father, your grandmother, and Patriarch Yammar, judging by the amount of time they're in the Hall, decided to train a bit more. You said, 'I have to deal with long-term plans before this, and I'm sure I have time to do that.' The others -- and, I presume, Jaffur and Jaron -- said, 'But what if we don't?'"

    "But why would we only have a year's warning?" you ask, unsteady. "Why wouldn't the Sight give us more?"

    "It's entirely possible that we only got onto this particular track to the future at the exact moment the thing awoke," says Sensei. "Whatever awoke it may have only happened in that moment, and may have been outside what had, until then, been the path to the future. It happens, as you're aware. It may be that we're receiving all of the time we were ever going to get. Or perhaps you're right, and we have years to wait." He turns and stares into your eyes, his own filmed over. "What do you think?"

    You open your mouth and then pause, thinking...

    ...and then, in a great rush, speculating and visualizing and seeing and Seeing-

    * * *

    Gone.

    * * *
    ​
    The skies are shrouded. Lightning arcs between clouds. The snowy landscape glows eerily from the reflected light. You, in golden oozaru form, stand beside three other golden oozaru -- your father, your grandmother, and Yammar. You are all bloodied and panting.

    Across from you is a dust cloud the size of a mountain, the result of your combined volley. Movement stirs within. A massive shape shifts in the cloud. A tail runs past as, in the depths, a massive creature stirs and turns. A scaled, taloned foot crashes down just outside the edges of the dust. A head, horned and armored, rises into view, malevolent red eyes fixed on you all. It opens its mouth, fangs the length of cars gleaming in the light. Wings the length of skyscrapers spread.

    It roars.

    * * *

    Ba̷͔̫̰̮̯̻c̻͍͉͙͔̪̦k̜͚̗̦͡.̗̥

    * * *
    ​
    You let out a little scream of pain as something lances into your skull and destroys the vision -- your first true, intentional vision. You clutch at your head, whining.

    Sensei is standing at your side now. He guides you to sit on the bed and pinches at the back of your neck. You feel something loosen, and the pain eases. He waits.

    You wait too. You don't want to say it. You don't want to dare. You know you have to, but to say it, to acknowledge it, would be to make it real, and you want to pretend even for just another second that this isn't real-

    "How long?" says Sensei, his voice gentle.

    Your head sinks to your knees, bitter tears sliding past your clenched eyelids. "Winter," you whisper, the sting of failure on your tongue. "It'll be here this winter." You huddle in on yourself. "It's a dragon."

    Seer Ability upgraded [Novice-->Adept].

    You now know the identity of what is coming your way. It is a dragon of terrible aspect and might, different from the benevolent Shenron and Porunga.

    You have less than a year to prepare    .


    Choose all that apply and do not contradict each other. Human-facing actions cannot be abandoned; with the partial fall of the Masquerade, you are now a public figure, and a sudden and drastic change in an otherwise perfectly regular routine would be noticed immediately. Your friends would also take note, and are nosy enough to poke around until they find an explanation. This is not open for debate.

    [X] Notify your father immediately.
    [ ] Prepare.
    -[ ] It is going to sting your pride more than you can stomach contemplating, but you're going to go to Jaffur and Jaron and tell them that they were right; they can wait. Repurpose conspiracy action by requesting a crash course in Jaffur's trick.
    -[ ] Abandon your saiyan-facing stewardship duties in order to free up training time. Your people will understand.
    -[ ] Abandon command theory training.
    -[ ] Abandon Transcendence action.
    -[ ] Abandon perfect multiform research (again).
    [ ] Do not prepare.

    THIS VOTE IS NOW CLOSED.

    Here, let me get that for ya.


    I expect some. I expect a lot.

    I'm certain any staff members passing through will agree that Rule 3 still applies.

    Once again, neither characters, narration, nor Kakara's internal monologue are representative of my personal or authorial voice. Rage against the characters, the universe in which we're playing, or Kakara herself, but do not rage against me. My voice is not in this work.

    Now, all of that aside, I hope you all find this update engaging -- although I highly doubt that many of you will find it enjoyable. Here's to you, here's to us, and here's to a rousing period of discussion and voting as we move forward with the quest. See ya on the other side folks-

    Oh, wait! Forgot an option.

    [ ] Scream. Loudly.

    :evil: Have fun, folks. ;)

    THIS ONE GETS A FOUR-HOUR MORATORIUM, AND WILL BE OPEN FOR AT LEAST 48 HOURS PAST THAT. I'M SURE IT'S OBVIOUS WHY​
     
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    • I think we should do everything except abandon the stewardship action. This is something that'll have long term effects for generations to come and it'll be important to stay on the ball during this early, critical phase.
     
    Huh. I'm not salty I'm just amused and hyped up.

    This is going to be FUN!

    When did we first learn about this Dragon anyway?

    Also, aren't Dragon's supposed to be sealed in the DB's, or did the Dragon God's Great Grandson come to pay a visit?
     
    Okay, more seriously, it's time to double down on training. Only one I'm not exactly willing to abandon is Command Training, and even then I can be convinced.
    Nix's Warden said:
    Huh. I'm not salty I'm just amused and hyped up.

    This is going to be FUN!

    When did we first learn about this Dragon anyway?

    Also, aren't Dragon's supposed to be sealed in the DB's, or did the Dragon God's Great Grandson come to pay a visit?
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    Beginning of Year Five.

    Also Dragon Ball dragons aren't related to this sort of dragon at all.
     
    I feel like we should abandon longterm projects like Perfect Multiform and Transcendence, at the very least. They have no benefit right now, and will never have any if we die fighting this thing. Let's get Kaioken and improve Kikoho, start training them in Golden Oozaru... which was part of our long term plan anyway. Jaffur's Style is also a must, no matter our pride... at this point we just need to stack everything we can to make us hit significantly stronger before winter. I doubt we can stack it with Kaioken, but we should still get it as an option.

    Aside from that, I'm not sure what else to do... improving Instant Transmission and Solar Flare to Exceptional would help with our mobility and give us an out. Should we perhaps study magic, on the fairly likely chance this thing is mystical? Improve Team Fighting, since we'll probably be fighting alongside the other GO's? (Another part of our plan for Kakara's personal style) Command Theory is iffy, since in at least one possible future we chose to fight this thing with only our four top dogs... can anybody think of any good tactics the bulk of the Saiyans can use to contribute? Should we bother? Does anyone want to try to unlock Ultimate Super Saiyan in GO, and hope we can mitigate the speed loss with IT?

    There are some options, but only some pay big enough dividends before winter. Man, I'm very happy we get a chance to choose our yearly actions again... we're gonna need it.
     
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