[X][CHAT] Multiform, Go!
-[X] Fennella Peat. She's your friend, so you want to spend some time with her.
-[x] Cynthia Balor. She's nice, you remember, and you'd have fun catching up.
-[X] Mitsuba Roma. You've heard a lot about her, and since you and Dad both want her on the force, you figure you should get to know her. No. of Votes: 10
[X][CHAT] Mitsuba Roma. You've heard a lot about her, and since you and Dad both want her on the force, you figure you should get to know her. No. of Votes: 4
[X][CHAT] Papata Fren. See what your idol has to say about the tournament. Maybe she'll have you do some announcer work with her on the side! No. of Votes: 3
[X][CHAT] Write-in. Berra. Maybe you're reading too far into it, but you're a little worried about your dad's condition. Is it just nerves, or something more? No. of Votes: 1
Conveniently, Gore, I think that this is as good a place to close as any. Vote closed.
That tally in the post above mine is accurate. Our winners today are:
[X][SKEET] Join the target shooting brackets.
[X][CHAT] Multiform, Go!
-[X] Fennella Peat. She's your friend, so you want to spend some time with her.
-[x] Cynthia Balor. She's nice, you remember, and you'd have fun catching up.
-[X] Mitsuba Roma. You've heard a lot about her, and since you and Dad both want her on the force, you figure you should get to know her.
Y'all made Fren sad. You monsters. Update tomorrow!
I'm sad too. I would have liked to have Kakara do something that leveraged strengths publicly.
@PoptartProdigy : Does Yammar have a mask? It seems like he could really use an identity where everyone around him doesn't know him as the butcher of house Talt.
I'm sad too. I would have liked to have Kakara do something that leveraged strengths publicly.
@PoptartProdigy : Does Yammar have a mask? It seems like he could really use an identity where everyone around him doesn't know him as the butcher of house Tat.
...that is some curious timing, given that I was just discussing this in another thread.
Anyhow!
He somehow went without attracting notice at the Ancestral Council for several hours, so you figure he must have one. You've never seen it, though, and it's not public knowledge.
...that is some curious timing, given that I was just discussing this in another thread.
Anyhow!
He somehow went without attracting notice at the Ancestral Council for several hours, so you figure he must have one. You've never seen it, though, and it's not public knowledge.
Trivia: Mitsuba's Masqued name is "Melanie Roberts," and she is an air traffic controller. Given how Poptart described the Garenhulder habit of living in enormous megalopoli and commuting great distances into the countryside for work as necessary, I suspect there is a LOT of light aviation on Garenhuld, turning air traffic control into a booming business.
Also one where a woman with a gift for intense concentration and suspiciously near-superhuman reaction times can make herself both useful and well-paid.
I'm not sure how it's regulated IRL, but in saiyan tournaments, competitors are permitted to gamble on themselves. It's a part of how competitors that don't reliably take purses maintain that lifestyle if they don't want or can't find a sponsor.
I also expect that lifestyle is not that expensive. As all saiyans tend to be healthy access to training facilities is likely part of universal healthcare. Also having public training areas makes for less private training areas which reduces the chances of super saiyans.
I also expect that lifestyle is not that expensive. As all saiyans tend to be healthy access to training facilities is likely part of universal healthcare. Also having public training areas makes for less private training areas which reduces the chances of super saiyans.
No, but they still have to eat and afford housing and all of the other things which people enjoy, and if you don't take purses, tournaments pay nothing.
No, but they still have to eat and afford housing and all of the other things which people enjoy, and if you don't take purses, tournaments pay nothing.
I have to ask. Are their any poor Sayians? Because it seems like a really bad idea to have anyone with a power level high enough to blow up the planet below the poverty line.
I have to ask. Are their any poor Sayians? Because it seems like a really bad idea to have anyone with a power level high enough to blow up the planet below the poverty line.
He doesn't care, but he's poor. In general, the Exile population is low enough and interconnected enough that there are always options. If nothing else, any one of the Exiles can find a career in any Garenhulder military by powering up even to power level 10.
Most of his money goes into his House's coffers. He doesn't want it. He has the bean, and he built the house miles away from Garenhulder civilization on unclaimed land. Other than that, he's good.
I'd characterize Sensei's 'poverty' as a sort of asceticism; he genuinely does not value or desire certain types of possessions. A Seer in particular could become almost arbitrarily wealthy if they really wanted to. In all probability Carrick Balor is poor for the same reasons Diogenes the Cynic was even poorer.
I think the intended question was "are there any involuntarily poor saiyans?" And it sounds like the answer is "probably not."
The way I see it, one virtue of the House system in this is that it makes it very hard to be a truly isolated individual with no support network. Everyone has a House and a house leader who is at least partially responsible for their welfare. Combine this with the generally higher level of per capita wealth on Garenhuld than in, say, medieval England, and it would be very hard to create a situation where a House was doing poorly enough that any of its members were genuinely suffering.
While senzu beans are clearly expensive, it's unclear how expensive. We don't know what the rate of senzu bean production was like back before the Senzus went into internal exile... you know, that's actually probably becoming a very serious problem and will be an even worse one as we end up fighting the aliens.
Back on topic, it's entirely possible to have a house and a lawn and even something like a car*, and still be "poor" in a very meaningful, accurate sense of the word. It's practically unknown in suburbia, but it's more common in rural areas.
*(I doubt that a single senzu bean is more expensive in relative terms than buying a car would be in real life, if only because it is, when you get right down to it, a bean.)
[X][CHAT] Multiform, Go!
-[X] Fennella Peat. She's your friend, so you want to spend some time with her.
-[x] Cynthia Balor. She's nice, you remember, and you'd have fun catching up.
-[X] Mitsuba Roma. You've heard a lot about her, and since you and Dad both want her on the force, you figure you should get to know her.
Disperse and Chat
Giggling quietly to yourself as you walk away with your winnings, you listen to the sounds of consternation coming from the betting booth behind you.
It might be bad of you to so routinely eavesdrop with your massive power level, but there's a serious extent to which you just can't help it. For instance, it takes a fair amount of mental space to tune out the conversations people on the other side of the planet were having a few hours ago.
So, therefore, it's completely fine and you shouldn't feel guilty in the slightest.
"Almost a million zeni lost, and all you can do is say, 'sorry, sir?!'"
"Look, I don't set the odds! I just run the booth! You want to complain about how we do business, take it up with the runners. I reported that there might be an issue as soon as it came up."
"She's right, Toma. And besides, you know it's not like this'll seriously hurt us. We don't set odds we can't afford to pay. Hell, we make back at least that much on our cuts from personal bets alone, all told."
"It will still cut into our profits."
"Yeah, but survivably. Look, do you really want to make such a fuss when it's the Scion benefiting?"
"...no."
"Good. I was worried. Look, just get back to your office. Mistakes happen when there are this many people; we can't personally vet everybody. It's part of the risk we take on at an event like this."
You grin. Maybe it's a little mean, but you feel a little better about making away with this much cash knowing that it won't really hurt them.
You are really hoping that Dad lets you keep all of this.
Regardless, there's a lull in events at the moment. You have some time to spare, and so many people to talk to! Only so much time, though, so some choosing will be required.
But only some. Choice is for people without multiform.
Grinning, you split yourself three ways and skip off into the crowd, ignoring the wide-eyed stares of those around you.
* * *
You hook your legs around the frame of the Peat's tent and swing down as the flap opens. "Hi, Fenn!"
Your friend shrieks in surprise as you abruptly appear a foot from her nose, taking a swing at you out of instinct. You let it bounce.
"How are you?" you say, smiling.
"Fffffff- Saint Gohan, Kari, don't do that!" says Fennella, sagging against the tent's frame.
From within the tent you hear gasps of alarm. Abruptly, Head Peat appears, dragging his daughter upright. "Fennella Peat! Apologize immediately!" He gives you a white-faced look. He trembles slightly.
You frown and flip to your feet.
As you do, you open up a telepathic link with your Dad and let time dilate out, turning seconds into minutes. Hey, Dad, I keep forgetting to ask: what did you do about the Peats? I'm visiting Fenn right now, and Head Peat looks like he's seen a ghost.
Ah, right, says your Dad, sounding distracted. I blackmailed him.
Your eyes widen, and you're glad that you're currently midway through the flip, and thus facing away. What?!
That is potentially disastrous. Head Peat is part of the conspiracy. If Dad made him talk...
I told him I had evidence of treason, in the form of him trying to turn the Cult against us, says Dad. As I told you, that's enough to get me all I need for a conviction, particularly with the privileges I've recently been able to claw back. I told him that either he falls in line and supports me when ordered, or I dissolve House Peat for good, now that a Lord finally has evidence of outright treason by the Head themself. Why exactly is he so terrified?
You hit the ground, face still angled groundward. I surprised Fenn and she punched me by accident. It's fine! She a friend, it didn't hurt-
Kakara, I am familiar with saiyan children and roughhousing, says Dad, amused. Have fun with your friend. Goodbye.
The line cuts. Time resumes its normal pace.
You stand, smiling. "It's fine!" you say. "It didn't hurt, and it's not like I wasn't trying to scare her."
Fenn grumbles at you. Her dad relaxes a bit.
You glance at him. Head Peat, I don't think you need to worry about provoking my father by upsetting me, remember?
He freezes for a moment before relaxing even more. As you say, Scion.
You give him a pleasant smile. "Mind if I talk to Fenn for a bit?"
"Of course not," he says, giving a more sickly smile. "Please have her back by sunset."
"Sure thing!" you say.
Fenn steps over to you, grumbling. The two of you walk off.
The instant you cut the line of sight from you to the tent flap, she puts you in a headlock. "I was doing my own things, you little twerp!"
You laugh, slipping out of her grip and hopping back. "Yeah, and now you're doing this!"
She sighs. "You always do this." She looks around.
"Yeah, and you always come with," you say. "You don't have to. I mean, I can leave if you're doing something. What, were you meeting somebody?"
She looks away. "No."
You cock your head. "I thought I was bad at lying."
She turns red. "I'm not doing anything!"
"You already said you were doing your own things," you point out, grinning as she gets more and more flustered. "What is it?"
Then, from behind you, you hear a voice. "Oh, Fennella, there you are! I was looking for...you..."
You turn and see Dillon Mato. He blanches. "...oh. Scion. Hello."
You look back at Fennella, eyes wide, as she turns even redder. You look at Dillon.
You squeal and hit your friend in a flying tackle, hugging her tightly around the waist. Sorry! I didn't know! Have fun!
You dissolve that clone, leaving your friend to her date.
* * *
You flinch slightly as Three reforms with you and One and shares her memories. Your foot scuffs along the ground. A massive grin spreads across your face.
Mitsuba looks up at the sound and blinks. She stands. "Scion! Hello. I...why are you smiling like that?"
"A friend of mine just got some good news," you say, cheerful. "Hello! It's a pleasure to meet you!" You stick out your hand.
"...pleasure's all mine," says Mitsuba, adjusting to your sudden presence and shaking your hand.
You're nowhere in particular in the tent city that's sprung up in the center of the Training Hall. You just sensed out Mitsuba and went directly to her. As a result, you're out in the open, and you're attracting a lot of attention.
You look around, and while the people glancing your direction look away, you know they're still listening. You frown. "Hey, do you mind following me? I wanted to talk."
Mitsuba blinks again. "Um, sure, I guess. Where were you thinking?"
"Up," you say, lifting off into the air. Mitsuba follows after a moment.
You lead her up to the edge of the Hall and sit down on the edge, staring up at the currently-transparent ward boundary a few feet overhead. Mitsuba touches down next to you, looking like she's collected herself. "So, what did you want to talk to me about, Scion?" she asks.
You detect the slightest hint of hopefulness in her tone, and decide to open things up by indulging that. "Well, first thing is that Dad and I both say you're in," you say.
You see satisfaction and a hint of trepidation flash across her face before she settles firmly on the satisfaction and smiles at you. "I'm glad to hear that."
"We're happy to have you with us," you say, smiling at her. "Actually, we're going to take you and Cynthia, too. That was a really good fight. You were winning for a while."
She chuckles. "A while, yeah. Just got too eager, I suppose. That and I didn't expect her to use a Kienzan that close in. I'll have to remember that trick." She looks up. "So, what else brings you here?"
"Well, if we're going to fight together, I wanted to get to know you," you say. "I know it's important to know your team, but we're going to be bringing in a lot of strangers. So I wanted to start early, and since you two were the first ones we chose, I thought I'd start with you!"
Mitsuba smiles down at you. "That's a good idea." She leans forward. "Honestly, I'm surprised you didn't enter to test us directly."
You shrug. There's a whole mess of reasons why you didn't -- not wanting the embarrassment, if you fought like them and inevitably lost; not wanting to be unfair, if you fought unrestricted -- but you don't want to get into them. "I thought it would be better if I watched. After all, this tournament isn't about me trying to prove myself."
"Fair enough," says Mitsuba.
You look up at her. She wasn't wearing it during the fight itself, but now she's in a turban and cape, just like Piccolo. "Why do you wear that?"
She blinks. "I'm sorry, why- Oh, the outfit!" She plucks at the fabric, giving you a slightly self-deprecating smile. "Tradition."
You cock your head. "Tradition?"
"Tradition," she says. "Fighting like Piccolo doesn't demand that we wear his clothes, after all. It's just..." She mulls over her words for a moment. "We fight like we do not because we know how the ancestors fought and we think it was effective, but to hold onto a link to our past. It's as much about honoring our heritage and history as it is about martial arts. Now, Piccolo obviously isn't one of our ancestors, but he was a Z Fighter. I'm sure we fight differently from him, three hundred years later, but by wearing the style of clothing he did and trying to reconstruct his techniques, we pay respect to him, and the impact he had on our history."
You nod. "Okay, that makes sense." You pat your own clothes -- Gokun orange, with the traditional House Goku kanji prominently displayed. "I guess it's the same reason why my family wears this."
"Exactly," says Mitsuba. "That, and the training weights are useful when we're getting up towards our first million."
You nod. "Gotcha."
The two of you subside for a moment. Then Mitsuba shifts. "Scion...what's it like?"
You blink, looking at her. "What's what like?"
"A battle," says Mitsuba.
You lean back, confused. "Uh, don't you know? I mean, wouldn't...you..." You trail off as you realize what she's talking about. "...oh. You mean a real battle."
She flashes a quick smile at you. "Smart girl. Yes, a real battle. What's it like in a fight that's part of a war?"
You sigh, thinking. "...fast. People don't usually take their time measuring each other up. It's serious, right from the start. Everything you do, you do to hurt somebody, and they're doing the same. You have to watch everything, because you have friends in the fight and you can't let them get hurt either. It's really easy to get caught by surprise. You even need to be careful of how you dodge, because there's the planet right there." You frown deeply, unhappy with the memories. "...it's loud. Really loud."
Mitsuba stares at you for a moment. Then she reaches out and puts her arm around your shoulders. "Well, then. I guess we'll just need to look out for each other, won't we?"
You allow yourself a quick smile. "Yeah. We will."
The two of you watch the sunset, chatting the rest of the day away.
* * *
As you approach Cynthia's ki signature, you stiffen for a moment and smile as Three merges back into you with the knowledge that Fenn's finally dating Dillon.
Teasing ammunition. For weeks.
You snicker to yourself as you feel Cynthia's friend moving away just before you round the corner and find Cynthia waiting for you.
She waves a familiar-looking piece of paper at you, smirking. "How much did you win?"
You blink before grinning back. "Seven hundred eight-five thousand, six hundred zeni!" you reply in a cheery sing-song. "You?"
She laughs. "Lots. Have a seat."
You plop down on the chair she has opposite her. It's still warm. "How'd you know I bet on you?" you ask.
"My friend saw you with a ticket, looking pleased, after my fight," she says. "Thanks for the vote of confidence."
"Well, you did well," you say. "My Dad and I both liked what we saw!"
She smiles. "I'm happy to hear that. I'm here for a specific reason, after all."
"So you are hoping to fight in the invasion?" you ask.
She nods. "This is my home too. We all need to fight."
You hum. "Still, I'm kind of surprised to see you. When we talked after the attack on Horus Bay, you seemed pretty..against...the idea of war."
She looks away. "I said you need to be careful with it, and you need to understand what it means. That doesn't mean you don't have the right to fight back, though. It's...still not good. Seeing people hurt is still a horrible thing, and doing it yourself is...worse. But every life is important, and that includes yours. You shouldn't let somebody take it. Even if it means you have to hurt them back. I've never walked away from a fight, and I don't regret that, but I do regret that it had to happen." She sits up straight. "The aliens are coming. I hope you can convince them to back off. I don't know if it's possible, though. If it's not, we all need to be ready to fight."
You stare at her for a moment before sighing. "I hope so, too." You lean back in your chair. An awkward silence falls for a moment.
She glances at you. "...you got taller."
You blink. "What? No I haven't."
"I saw you during the attack," she says. "You're taller. Looks like you're hitting that growth spurt early." She blinks and then frowns. "Wait, why are you hitting your growth spurt early? It's not the aliens are an actual threat. You don't need to be bigger and stronger."
You shrug and decide to take a risk. "I dunno. Maybe my body's not convinced that I'm safe. 'Sides, it's not like we only hit our growth spurt when we need to be stronger. Ancestor Goku fought tons of dangerous enemies without getting it. It's just a sometimes thing." Deceit [Kakara vs. Cynthia]: 57 vs. -2.
Astoundingly, Cynthia gives every appearance of buying that. She tilts her head to the side in acknowledgement. "Fair enough. I guess that there are always outliers. Still, I'll bet you'll be happy to be taller."
"Yeah I will," you say, sighing. "I'm sick of being short!"
She snorts. "Yeah, well you may not have seen the end of that quite yet." She winks. "Everybody says you look a lot like 18 did, and she never was the tallest woman on Earth. She just married the shortest man."
"It's been three hundred years!" you exclaim, throwing up your hands. "It's complete coincidence! Just because she wasn't tall doesn't mean that I won't be!"
Cynthia bursts into laughter. You throw a rock at her.
Good times.
* * *
The next day, you're reformed, whole, and standing in the arena with everybody else.
The target shooting competition isn't being run in brackets. Instead, Dad ordered everybody who signed up into the ring at once and told you all to wait for instructions.
So now, the various competitors stand in the middle of the ring, milling around uncertainly.
Fenn squeezes in between two people and slips into place next to you. "There you are!"
You blink. "Oh, hi! You're here?"
"Yeah!" she says, fidgeting. "Mom and Dad wouldn't let me enter the brackets, but they told me I could be in this one. It's just target shooting, after all."
You nod, humming. Then you nudge her. "So..."
She gives you a blank look. "So...?"
You grin. "How was your date?"
She looks away, cheeks going pink. She can't quite suppress a tiny smile. "Shut up, Kari."
"Was he nice?" you ask, circling her. "Did he ki-"
She reaches out and slaps her hand over your mouth. "Oh my gods, you're worse than my brothers!"
You lean back. "Fennella and Dillon, sitting in a tree..."
She takes out her practice sword and swipes at you. "Twerp. Nothing happened. Happy?"
You cock your head. "Are you?"
She purses her lips for a moment before sighing. She smiles, sheathing the sword. "Yes. He was sweet."
"Then I'm happy too," you say, grinning.
She snorts and hugs you. "You are a twerp."
"Mhm!" you say, enjoying the contact.
Then you hear your Dad standing, and pull away to pay attention.
A few hundred yards away, in the box, Dad steps to the railing, opens his mouth, and begins to speak, ki lacing through and amplifying his voice. "A true combat is a chaotic situation," he says. "In our centuries of isolation, we have become used to the orderly and rules-bound arena of the tournament ring. You fight to submission, to ring-out, or to unconsciousness. It's you and one other person, and what true fights happen are rarely more than one-on-one battles. Despite our occasional crises, our society has for the most part known three hundred years of peace, and we have lost much of the art of true war."
A dissatisfied murmur goes through the crowd. This is not news to them, but that doesn't mean they're happy with it.
Dad straightens. "But even centuries later -- centuries of interbreeding with humans and quiet isolation -- we are saiyans, and we once were the premier warrior race. At our peak, a handful of us made Earth the supreme power in this galaxy, and honestly the universe. We are already learning the lessons of battle again. And one thing we have learned is this--"
He makes a gesture, and suddenly a group of figures step forward -- sorcerers, and dozens of them, a ring of men and women in hooded cloaks. They spread their hands and release a swarm of glowing spheres, rising up, up, up-
In a second, the ring is enclosed in a cloud of glowing lights.
"--we cannot always count on fighting single opponents, and we cannot always know how many there are to face," says Dad, folding his arms. "This is not a test of your skills on a simple firing range. There is one requirement: destroy all of the spheres before time runs out. You have five minutes. You may not use your hands or fists. The sorcerers will replenish the orbs until you have destroyed a certain number. We will not tell you what that number is. The purse for the competition will go to the contestant who does the most to destroy all of the targets...but only if all of the spheres are destroyed."
Dead silence in the ring. This is...decidedly non-standard by any measure.
You, however, know exactly what he's doing.
Dad nods to you as you glance at him. "The cap for this competition is fifteen million," he says, speaking to everybody but addressing you in particular. "And your time begins...now."
How do you approach this?
[ ] Go crazy and blast as many targets as you can. You're one of the best on Garenhuld. You stand a great chance.
[ ] Show off. Get right up to the edge of the sphere and unleash your ki. Burn away anything that approaches to within...oh, let's call it a hundred meters. 15 million isn't even your max, after all. Your resting power level is higher than that. You can keep it up all day. While you're destroying hundreds of the things at a time, pick off other targets at your leisure.
[ ] Sweet kais this is going to be chaos. Get as many people as you can to hold off for a second so that they don't end up shooting each other. Organize them and keep them from interfering with each other's work.
[ ] Write-in.
THERE WILL BE A TWO-HOUR MORATORIUM. THIS VOTE IS NOW CLOSED.
I like to throw in wrinkles.
Sorry for the delay, folks! I love my in-laws, but my rhythm always gets thrown off when they come to visit and I can't write. Enjoy the update! Hope you had fun.
Trying a new thing with moratorium announcement positioning.
[ ] Go crazy and blast as many targets as you can. You're one of the best on Garenhuld. You stand a great chance.
[ ] Show off. Get right up to the edge of the sphere and unleash your ki. Burn away anything that approaches to within...oh, let's call it a hundred meters. 15 million isn't even your max, after all. Your resting power level is higher than that. You can keep it up all day. While you're destroying hundreds of the things at a time, pick off other targets at your leisure.
[ ] Sweet kais this is going to be chaos. Get as many people as you can to hold off for a second so that they don't end up shooting each other. Organize them and keep them from interfering with each other's work.
[ ] Write-in.
I vote that we try to take charge of the chaos. Good way to put Command Theory to the test a bit, leverages our strengths (rank, prestige, and being super-organized).
Tempted to think Berra specifically planned for Kakara doing that of her own accord.
The purse for the competition will go to the contestant who does the most to destroy all of the targets...but only if all of the spheres are destroyed.
I vote that we try to take charge of the chaos. Good way to put Command Theory to the test a bit, leverages our strengths (rank, prestige, and being super-organized).
Tempted to think Berra specifically planned for Kakara doing that of her own accord.
Vote closed.
