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Dragon Ball: After the End

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Gore17 said:
We may not get a chance to hide it. All we saw was us fighting it in a non-populated area, not what it was doing before that.
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This.
And since the Garenhulders have demonstrated ballistics, there might even be satellites. Or recon planes.
Not like we're going to get the chance to hide the seismic effects of fighting a Dragon at full power.
 
Huh, so, this conspiracy was apparently also designed to hide from a Seer, because it primes the agents to go and then prevents it from showing up on most future sight by none of the players involved knowing what they're going to do until just before they do it.

Are we sure we're the only conspiracy on this planet? Because it's really starting to look like there's a local one too that's even better than we are at staying quiet, as well as having very wide reach.
 
To be fair, the fact that every single one of the belligerents here used the exact same description is telling that it was all organized from a common source.

Like, if it was just general unrest that was stirred up in secret, they'd all mostly have different slurs--here? It's like they're all reading the same script.
 
Alectai said:
To be fair, the fact that every single one of the belligerents here used the exact same description is telling that it was all organized from a common source.
Like, if it was just general unrest that was stirred up in secret, they'd all mostly have different slurs--here? It's like they're all reading the same script.
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We know Ki mutants are a thing. There may be more than Maya in genpop.
And as far as I know, there is no particular ki threshold for learning sorcery.
 
uju32 said:
We know Ki mutants are a thing. There may be more than Maya in genpop.
And as far as I know, there is no particular ki threshold for learning sorcery.
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...
@uju32 we can't read your mind. You have to explain how you went from "Everyone is calling Karen the same thing so there must be a reason they use the word Demon instead of varying in how they call us" to "There might be a human sorcerer".
 
Bakkasama said:
...
@uju32 we can't read your mind. You have to explain how you went from "Everyone is calling Karen the same thing so there must be a reason they use the word Demon instead of varying in how they call us" to "There might be a human sorcerer".
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Alectai was talking about human conspiracies, including conspiracies that seem designed to avoid triggering Seer interference.
The kind of thing that sorcery might help hide.
And ki mutants are a thing.

More mundanely, the recruitment of at least several hundred people, with munitions, and other weapons, to stage a coordinated campaign, in the amount of time since the Masquerade was broken is not the kind of thing you can normally do without your recruiters becoming well known.
That does not jibe with the compartmentalized nature of this campaign, with sealed orders.

Something funky is going on.
 
Alectai said:
To be fair, the fact that every single one of the belligerents here used the exact same description is telling that it was all organized from a common source.

Like, if it was just general unrest that was stirred up in secret, they'd all mostly have different slurs--here? It's like they're all reading the same script.
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"Demon" is a fairly catchy, common idea that's likely to gain traction. If people share similar fears they're likely to use similar words. It just takes a few folks here and there going "yeah, they DO sound demonic!" for it to blow up.

I point to things like the Satanic Panic of the 80s to show that you can have widespread "IT'S DEMONS!!!" type attitudes without some massive hyper-competent conspiracy.
 
[X][ASK] How does pregnancy and Oozaru interact? Like, can you get pregnant as an Oozaru, and if so, how does shifting back to normal affect it, or does getting pregnant lock you in that form until it's complete? What about becoming Oozaru while pregnant? How does being in Oozaru form while pregnant, if possible, affect the baby? Would Oozaru be the babies default form, and they shrink down when exposed to Blutz Waves? Would turning Oozaru help with childbirth?

Random thoughts of mine. And hey, they fit with Oddball. :p
 
Gore17 said:
[X][ASK] How does pregnancy and Oozaru interact? Like, can you get pregnant as an Oozaru, and if so, how does shifting back to normal affect it, or does getting pregnant lock you in that form until it's complete? What about becoming Oozaru while pregnant? How does being in Oozaru form while pregnant, if possible, affect the baby? Would Oozaru be the babies default form, and they shrink down when exposed to Blutz Waves? Would turning Oozaru help with childbirth?

Random thoughts of mine. And hey, they fit with Oddball. :p
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Berra: How would you even... no. Just no. Your mother said she would field this type of questions.

Because I don't think he would like his daughter asking him about fucking as giant monkeys when you can only do so safely in the public training rooms.
 
Bakkasama said:
Berra: How would you even... no. Just no. Your mother said she would field this type of questions.

Because I don't think he would like his daughter asking him about fucking as giant monkeys when you can only do so safely in the public training rooms.
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It doesn't say we are asking Bara.
 
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Wherein Kakara Is Surprised, But Pleased
  • Threadmarks
    • [X][ASK] Two more nuke questions
    -[X] "Dad, when did the Garenhulders test their first nuclear bombs? Something that loud would have been hard to miss."
    -[X] "Have they invented anything else we know of, that we didn't show them?"
    [X][ASK] How does pregnancy and Oozaru interact? Like, can you get pregnant as an Oozaru, and if so, how does shifting back to normal affect it, or does getting pregnant lock you in that form until it's complete? What about becoming Oozaru while pregnant? How does being in Oozaru form while pregnant, if possible, affect the baby? Would Oozaru be the babies default form, and they shrink down when exposed to Blutz Waves? Would turning Oozaru help with childbirth?

    "Dad?"

    "Oh, sweet kais- Hi, Princess! More questions?"

    "Yup! When did the Garenhulders test their nukes? Wouldn't we have heard? They're supposed to be loud. And have they invented anything else we didn't show them?"

    "Those are very good questions. I only wish I had concrete answers. There's a reason I'm worried about this. I never heard any test blasts. A few people running around the planet tells me that there aren't obvious signs of a test. I can't even find a paper trail that would suggest it. It's almost like a test never occurred, but I can't credit that. Garenhulders would never deploy a new technology -- an invention -- without a test. It just isn't plausible. Problem is...we can't find where they did it. As for other inventions, nothing we know of. But we didn't know about this."

    "Okay. I have one other question."

    "What is it?"

    "What's it like if a woman gets pregnant as an oozaru?"

    "...what."

    "Like, can you even? I don't know if it works. What happens if you shift back and forth in the middle of it? Can you shift back and forth? What if you go oozaru while you have a baby? Would that do anything to it? Ooh, maybe the baby would be an oozaru all the time, and a saiyan during a full moon- actually, Mom says childbirth is really hard, would going oozaru help?"

    "...no."

    "...um, to wha-"

    "No."

    "Dad, where are you going?"

    "No."

    *glass shatters*

    "Dad, the window!"

    "KALA, HELP!"

    "WHAT?"

    "KAKARA NEEDS ANOTHER TALK! OOZARU AND PREGNANCY!"

    "OH, ANCESTORS. KAKARA!"

    "...yes?"

    "DID YOU FORGET CHART 32C?"

    "U- um..."
    "...and as you can see from the chart, attempts to get pregnant as an oozaru just fail. Not that some idiots haven't tried. But as far as we can tell, the reproductive system isn't set up for it. It's there and it looks like all the parts work, but for whatever reason, nobody ever comes into the form while they're ovulating."

    "-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-"

    "Furthermore, they never start, no matter how long they spend. We're guessing that all the adrenaline going through a woman's body when they're transformed -- because there's a lot -- disrupts her cycle. It's not even a good idea to try -- it's hard-to-impossible to sleep in that form, even if you've mastered it. Now, existing pregnancies are still fine. The child remains a saiyan. But giving birth...that's been tried. The baby comes out saiyan, and you must never, ever try. The contractions, as an oozaru, are powerful enough that the baby is in danger. We had to remove the poor woman's tail in order to save the child. Ordinarily, during childbirth, the body instinctively deadens the flow of ki to the relevant muscles, so her child isn't in danger. In oozaru, though, the muscles are just that strong. Questions?"

    "-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-"

    "Good. Next time, ask me first."

    Wherein Kakara Is Surprised, But Pleased​

    "...and that's it," you say, despondent in Jaffur's prison. "Just...everything's been exploding. And I don't know what to do about it."

    You fellow Scion grimaces, his hands clenching. "I wish I could help. I want to be out of here." He stands, pacing restlessly. "Some use my magic was. I could've gone to sleep, I could have died, I could have thrown it off completely, but no, I have to sit here, alive, awake, and helpless, and watching everything go to hell!" He comes to a halt. "The only thing I can do is watch or reach through Jaron. And the second part rarely happens. I feel so useless!"

    "It's not much better out there," you say, propping your head up on a hand. "Everything's hidden. I don't know what's going on lately. How many conspiracies can the world have?"

    "Maybe it's all one big one," says Jaffur, slumping back to the ground. "I don't know. I just-" He breaks off with a tired sigh.

    "Yeah," you agree, flopping back yourself. The two of you let silence pass for a moment.

    Jaffur is the first to break it. "Got a lesson from Uncle Dandelor?"

    You nod to the sky. "Yeah. He says you need to start with visualization," you say, drawing the word out.

    "What, you mean seeing the weaves?" he says.

    You look up. "You can do that already?"

    He grunts in the affirmative, hauling himself back up to return your gaze. "What else am I gonna do in here? Mother casts a dozen spells in her day-to-day. Jaron doesn't know what to watch for, so he doesn't notice anything, but I do. I practice that way."

    You frown. "Doesn't magic take incantations? Gestures? Hand seals?" You vaguely remember Lady Vegeta using those in the days leading up to the Sealing -- and vividly remember the actual event.

    "That's what I thought," he replies. "Apparently not. Maybe they just help. But I recognized the feeling of it, and that told me when to look. Magic's sight-based, you know. At least I guess it is, since it's something I can see."

    "Your uncle mentioned something like that," you say, drawing up your legs and wrapping your arms around them. "What does it look like? I only know how it feels, and-" You shudder. "...actually, maybe that's part of why people hate it so much, even though it's so useful."

    "Maybe," he says. "I'd buy it. But how it looks..." His gaze goes distant, and he smiles. "...it's beautiful. Imagine...well, have you ever seen really fancy lace?"

    "With all the patterns, right?" you ask. "Yeah, I have."

    "Magic makes lace look like a t-shirt," he says. "It's so much more complex, you wouldn't believe it! And you'd think it'd be messy, but it's not! At- at least when she does it." The joy goes out of his face. He grimaces, shaking his head. "My stuff is a lot sloppier. Just...comes out jumbled, even when it does what I want."

    You stare at him for a moment. "...can you show me something?"

    He blinks, looking up at you. "...okay. Um. Here, I just-" He starts moving his hands like he's playing Cat's Cradle by himself. "I know this is wrong, but I don't know how to do it right yet-" There's a spark of light, and what he's trying fizzles. A touch of pink enters his cheeks. "...here, let me..." He tries it again. It sputters out. He lets his hands drop, not looking at you.

    You swallow quietly, trying not to disturb the sudden tension in the air. Jaffur bows his head until his hair blocks his face from view, resting his forehead on his knee.

    "It's supposed to make a lantern," he says, voice muffled. "And it looks like a cat had a giant, glowing hairball when I do it."

    "...I don't know what to say," you admit, hiding behind your knees a little.

    "Yeah, neither do I," he sighs.

    You hug yourself a little tighter. You really wish you knew what to do right now.

    After a few long, tense, awkward minutes of silence, he sighs. "I don't want to just be sitting here while other people do all the work to get me out. I don't want...I want this to be something I could have done myself. And I'm trying, but...the more I learn, the more I can see how incredible this spell is, and how far I have left to go...and I know that I need- help." His voice catches, there at the end. His fingers clench.

    "You managed to keep the spell from putting you to sleep," you say.

    "Yeah, by accidentally making a whole new person," he says, lifting his head up. He passes his hand over his face, and if his fingers seems to swipe a little hard over his eyes, and if his eyelids are rimmed with red, you're not going to say anything about it. "I just...panicked. I don't even know what I did. I panicked and charged in like a stupid little child, and now I have a brother -- or maybe a son, shit, I don't know -- running around having to live with her for me! And I'm still stuck. Great job, magic! You did...fucking fantastic." He blasts off into the distance and erases a stand of rocks a few hundred yards away. You don't ask which memories those were. They'll grow back.

    "You already figured out how to see magic," you say. "Your uncle didn't think you would have. That's...it's not nothing."

    He sighs. "I did so good you don't even have a lesson to give me, huh?" He shakes his head. "Go, team."

    You flush red. "We- well, maybe? How much are you seeing?"

    "What's there to see?" he asks, picking at the ground. "Magic is magic. It all looks the same."

    "He says there are some differences," you say, latching onto that for all your worth. "Different kinds? He says you'll see colors..."

    He looks back up at you, interested despite himself. "I haven't seen colors, no. Just white."

    You nod. "That's the start of it, he says. He says you'll start there and start seeing colors if you look for them!" You think for a moment. "Actually, he told me that it'd take you a while even to start seeing it at all, so that's great! Hard part's done."

    "What colors?" he asks, sitting forward.

    "He says it's different for everybody," you say. "It's not that something is a color always, it's just that you decide it makes sense for this thing to be this color. He told me that if you watch to see when she's doing a thing, you'll start learning that that thing is...I don't know, maybe red."

    "What things?" he asks, fully engaged.

    You laugh. "There's a long list!"

    "We have time." He hops up to his feet. "Trade you."

    "Trade me what?" you ask, also standing.

    "There's a dragon coming," he says, shrugging. "I...it's mine. But our people are more important. I want to teach you about my trick."

    Your eyes widen. "Really? I- honestly, I thought it'd be harder to talk you into it."

    He shrugs. "I'm not comfortable with it. There's just something more important. C'mon, we have a lot to do. You can talk while you train. Power up for me. All the way. Condense as far as you can once you're done. Show me what you managed to do, again."

    You nod and power up before drawing your ki back into that shimmering haze. "This is as far as I got it."

    He nods, frowning. "Right. I don't know what's wrong about it. I know that it is, but not how. What kind of things am I supposed to be recognizing by colors, in magic?"

    You blink before realizing that he's trying to keep up two conversations, here. "Um, dozens. Most common one is Sealing? Apparently that's what most sorcerers use."

    He grumbles in distaste. "That'll make it easier to notice, I guess. How do they get that to be the most common one, though? It seems...really focused."

    "Apparently it's just a matter of looking at the problem and making sealing something about the problem be a way to fix it," you say. "I don't really know more than that, I have a tough time following what he's saying."

    He grumbles to himself, scowling. "I guess I don't need to know why we use that most of all yet. What are you doing to get your aura like that?"

    "I'm trying to make it go liquid," you say, gasping in frustration as you lose it for a moment. "Y'know, because it looks like it's clinging to you when you use it. Like a jelly, just...flow-ier."

    He blinks. "Wow. Um. Yeah, that...not what I'm doing, when I do that."

    You lose it again in your sudden surge of annoyance at him, which doesn't help. "Well excuse me, I've been trying to invent it from what I saw!"

    "I know, I know," he says, shaking his head. "Look, it's...it's different than that. I'm trying to figure out how to explain it."

    You look at him for a moment. "Tabe Stauber did something like this."

    Jaffur's gaze turns sharp as a knife. He goes still, staring at you. "Did what."

    You blink. "Um. He...came up with a trick to hit a lot harder than his power level? Different than yours."

    "What did he do."

    "Um. Looks different. His ki goes nuts. His aura blows up. Looks like a sun from up close. And he hits way harder. He was hitting as hard as a new super saiyan, and he's only at 15 million."

    Jaffur's eye twitches. "How. Did he do that."

    You stare at him. "...are you jealous?"

    "No." His eye twitches again. "Now tell me how."

    You stifle a laugh. "It's...well, for one thing, it's crazy wasteful. He burned through all of his ki in under a minute, and then he was done. But the way he described it was like a hose. You have the water tank, you have the nozzle, and you have the water coming out. Most people, the nozzle is their power level, and that decides how quick water comes out -- how much ki they can use at once. The water tank is their reserve. Tabe said he found a way to push water out through the same nozzle, faster. Way faster. He still broadcasts at 15 million, but he hits...well, as hard as a super saiyan. A new one, anyway."

    Jaffur scowls, folding his arms. "...good metaphor. Lousy technique. You'd barely get any use out of it before it all was gone. And you'd spray ki all over the place. Wasteful." He looks vaguely smug about that. "Mine's better."

    "Sure thing," you say, grinning.

    He glowers at you suspiciously, but says, "To use his metaphor, my technique has you using your thumb to choke down on a fire hose."

    "You'd lose your thumb," you say, frowning.

    "And you can't just push more water through the same nozzle without changing anything about the setup, but you didn't complain about his explanation," says Jaffur.

    "Fair," you say. "Keep going?"

    He nods. "If the nozzle is your power level, that's still the same. Doesn't change at all. The tank isn't different. You don't drain it faster or slower. I invented this technique because I knew that at some point, I wouldn't be able to improve either of those." He holds a hand up at chest height. "This high, no higher. A point both of us hit."

    You grin. "I found a way around it."

    He laughs. "Yeah, well you...you're just exceptional." He looks away, shaking his head. "Can't believe I didn't think of that, honestly. But when I was considering the problem, oozaru wasn't something I even considered. Honestly, father probably would have-" He shudders violently, and when he speaks again, it's in formal, practiced Vegetan cadences. "It would have looked like an unproductive use of time." He shakes his head. "So I started thinking about how ki behaves. I didn't hit on the hose metaphor -- I think about it totally differently -- but it's a good one, and if that's how you think of it, it's better to stick with that." He mimes holding out a hose. "Tank. Nozzle. Flow. And you want more flow. So pinch." His hand scrunches shut. "Nozzle's still the same. Tank doesn't drain faster or slower. But a lot more water comes out. Problem is...your thumb gets tired." He mimes his fingers slipping loose. "It takes concentration to keep it up. Ki doesn't drain any faster, but your mind gets tired."

    "And you kept that up while I was kicking you around the Hall?" you ask, incredulous.

    "I guess I'm just stubborn," he says, grinning.

    You snort. "You don't get used to it?"

    "Oh, you get used to it," he says, his aura condensing around his body. "I can hold this no problem."

    You look at him for a moment. "...Jaffur, I can't sense the difference, remember?"

    He smirks. "Five percent increase. Although I can't say for sure if it works like a five percent increase, or if I can just gain fifty-six million and change of effective power."

    "Nice," you say. "And higher?"

    "If I concentrate," he says. "I'm working on it. We just need to get you able to do it, though. Acclimation will probably take a while. So. Take a stance you can hold for a while. Let's see how strong your thumbs are."

    You laugh, sliding your feet into place. "Ready."

    "Good. Now, tell me how it feels when you mimic my trick. And tell me more about the things I'm supposed to be seeing," he says, mirroring your stance.

    "We have a lot to do, huh?" you say.

    He flashes you a grin. "Isn't it fun?"


    You have begun training with Jaffur Vegeta to pick up his Ki Compression trick.

    You are training Jaffur Vegeta to recognize different kinds of magic. He is making swift progress, and in your rare meetings with Dandelor, the Sorcerer is optimistic that Jaffur will be ready ahead of schedule.

    You are still meeting regularly with Mato to, "study," Jaffur's trick. How will you handle this? There is of course no question of honestly telling Mato how you've come by your knowledge    .

    [ ][STUDY] Say that you've had an idea, and go through the motions of, "figuring out," the trick with your brother. Then the two of you can work on mastering it together. Hey, free practice time in the real world.
    [ ][STUDY] Pretend to still be muddling along with him, and don't let on that you know.
    [ ][STUDY] Write-in.

    TWO-HOUR MORATORIUM. THIS VOTE IS NOW CLOSED.

    We're going to be heading through the year at a quicker pace in the next few updates. Hope you enjoy, folks! And I hope some people get the chance to say, "I told you so," about Jaffur's trick. I know you've wanted to. ;)


    And that's it! I'll see you all next time!
     
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    • PoptartProdigy said:
    [X][ASK] How does pregnancy and Oozaru interact? Like, can you get pregnant as an Oozaru, and if so, how does shifting back to normal affect it, or does getting pregnant lock you in that form until it's complete? What about becoming Oozaru while pregnant? How does being in Oozaru form while pregnant, if possible, affect the baby? Would Oozaru be the babies default form, and they shrink down when exposed to Blutz Waves? Would turning Oozaru help with childbirth?
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    ....really? I mean...come on. Really?
     
    For study I was thinking something Like this:

    Tell him that you found a hint, but you want to see how he does on his own before you tell him. Considering what Tabe Stauber came up with a whole new technique might get developed. Ask Jaffur for permission between now and getting him free and only teach the style once you have Jaffur's permission.

    EDIT: To clarify if we start using it then our bro can use that as a teaching aid now that we have permission ourselves, but I don't think we should do direct instruction while we don't have permission to teach the style
     
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    ... I still think it's amazing how well we get along with Jaffur. Granted we basically got a nat 100 on getting past most of his normal barriers to interacting with people I think, but it's still awesome.
     
    I can't see turning down more practice time considering how much is at stake. Also pretending to be mudding along is bound to be stressful and tiresome. It would be best if we can get Mato to come up with the idea.

    Should not be hard. He is smart and we are good with people.
     
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    Cool.

    Hopefully this will continue to grow their good relationship and when Jaffeur finally gets out we'll have one of the best Lord Dynamics yet.

    I wonder does our reputation as a Princess mean that the Vegetans will start shipping Kakara and Jaffur:???:.
     
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