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Goblin Queen [Worm/Exalted] [Crosspost]

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Make Lisa so smashed that she'll not understand the Passanger's message. It'll require careful drinking to balance it with "passing out" and "vomit everywhere" but it's doable.
 
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A wild Teaser~ shows up!​

Living in a city that had just experienced an attack by an Endbringer entailed certain things. One of which was the fact that a number of homes and businesses were destroyed, and if enough damage was sustained, it was quite possible that the city wouldn't fully recover... ever.

Then, there is the fact that after every such attack, the city that experienced such would require disaster management, more law enforcement officers with feet on the ground for various reasons, and in some cases... the national guard and actual military soldiers would be need to be deployed.

Thankfully for Brockton Bay, in the aftermath of Leviathan, we had only really needed the first. While the last two were only necessary if the aftermath of the attack had been worse and the rule of law was abandoned much like a Mad Max movie.

Thankfully, that hadn't happened yet. The keyword was yet, there were still a number of foreign capes in Brockton Bay. More than that... there was the simple fact that this was the Endbringer fight with the lowest casualties ever recorded. If one didn't consider the city with its subterranean collapse a casualty.

The status remained as it was.
 


A wild Teaser~ shows up!​

The only thing that wasn't set was how all those cunning plans and schemes would crash and tumble together much like a thirty car pile-up.
 
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    - - - Tanuki are typing... please wait warmly. - - -​

    Living in a city that had just experienced an attack by an Endbringer entailed certain things. One of which was the fact that a number of homes and businesses were destroyed, and if enough damage was sustained, it was quite possible that the city simply wouldn't recover...

    Then, there is the fact that after every such attack, the city that experienced such would require disaster management, more law enforcement officers with feet on the ground for various reasons, and in some cases... the national guard and actual military soldiers would be need to be deployed.

    Thankfully for Brockton Bay, in the aftermath of Leviathan, we had only really needed the first. While the last two were only necessary if the aftermath of the attack had been worse and the rule of law was abandoned much like a Mad Max movie.

    Thankfully, that hadn't happened yet. The keyword was yet, there were still a number of foreign capes in Brockton Bay. More than that... there was the simple fact that this was the Endbringer fight with the lowest casualties ever recorded. If one didn't consider the city with its subterranean collapse a casualty.

    The status remained as it was.

    Until the mayor and the good citizens of Brockton decided on the course of action necessary; to rebuild the city or to abandon it for greener pastures.

    That, after all, was the whole point of the City Hall meeting this Saturday. This was the meeting that would determine the fate of Brockton Bay....

    I knew that my liege had something planned for said meeting. But then I would have wagered that the various parahuman powers all had their own plots and plans in the works.

    This, after all, was only common sense. They didn't want to move. To have to start from scratch and fight for territories in the cities they would eventually end up in. Or in the case of the Protectorate Heroes and Wards, rebuild their branding and reputations from the ground up.

    No, it was in no one's interests to condemn Brockton Bay. Thus, for all of the bravado and propaganda of the various posters and radio ads, the Fate of Brockton Bay had already been set. The only thing that wasn't set was how all those cunning plans and schemes would crash and tumble together much like a thirty car pile-up.

    Still, at the moment it mattered not, one way or the other, to me if the city prospered or fell. For I was in dad's bad books, he apparently liked Lisa over Beefcake... more than that, he felt that given the way I liked to gallivant about... there was nothing to do but have me join him and the other dock workers help clean up the city.

    "Just to keep me out of trouble..." My grouchy complain was apparently not quiet enough as it caught the attention of Ken.

    Despite what Dad would have liked... cleaning up the city in the aftermath of Leviathan wasn't something that was offered to the Dock-worker union, it was something that anyone could volunteer for and be paid relatively well.

    Ken was one of the non-union workers helping out in the area the dock-worker had been assigned. More than that, he was built like a brickhouse with muscles on muscles, he was a man who worked hard doing physical labor. And at slightly over six foot, he was tall for an asian. With slicked back hair held in place with a simple plastic hairband, he looked the part of a gangster or a grown up playing the part of one of those asian gangster in high school movies.

    Still, despite the tattoos of dragons and tigers that graced his back and upper arms and which could be seen due to how.... snug the white tee-shirt he wore was, he was friendly enough. At least, he gave that impression to me with the gruff way he had introduced himself with a simple "Call me Ken" accompanied by a firm handshake and now by how he shook his head and laughed at my complains.

    "Girl. It is the nature of fathers to worry about their princesses," Ken eventually spoke with his heavy 'engrish' accent after his laughter ended. "Were I in your father's place, I would do the same."

    I could only look at him, across the fallen tree branch we were moving, with the full hurt and betrayal I felt at his response. "But..."

    "He caught you with a boy, yes?" Ken's question was more rhetorical than anything else.

    And yet, I had to nod woefully as we moved the tree branch onto the back of Kurt's pickup. "Yes.... something like that."

    "Exactly my point. Girl." He replied as we heaved the branch onto the pickup. "Girls will want boyfriends or whatever... exotic things they want in the springtime of their youth. Their fathers will naturally object to this if they are real fathers."

    "This is how the world is and should be," he said with a gesture of his hand. His words held a simple conviction in much the manner of fire burns, water is wet, the sun moves from east to west.

    An understandable thing based on my observation of the way he walked and moved. The precise way he held himself, the absolute control in how he breathed. The spatial awareness of where everything was around him, if they were within the circle of his reach. He was a martial artist in much the fashion Brian or I was... he had more than a beginner's grounding in martial arts. More the style he practiced emphasized straight forward techniques that focused on crisp linear stop and go motions. As such, his words were, unsurprisingly, rather straight forward.

    It was also clear that he had my measure. He knew that I was a martial artist and that I had his measure, that I practiced some sort of martial arts... more, he knew that I knew that he knew... an infinite loop of knowing.

    Still, a man can not simply live by his fist alone. Despite what some might claim, fighting was not the solution to everything. Which was why Ken was helping clean up the city. But that was hardly unusual, after all... he wasn't the only ganger that was doing so. After all, what profit could be found by the AZN Bad Boys, the Empire, the remnant of the Merchants, or the small independent gangs and capes in a ruined city.

    This was not a post-apocalypse movie where the rule of law had collapsed, with gangers running wild intercepting supply trucks and doing as they pleased in the territories that they held.

    No, society was what kept things profitable for any criminal enterprise. Capes might have powers beyond mortal men, but in the end, they still needed food to eat, water to drink, and a place to sleep at night. And such things were provided by civilization.

    True, there were those who didn't help with the clean up, but they didn't actively hindering the clean-up process. After all, when it came down to it... even if Brockton Bay was abandoned and its citizens evacuated, the various people would want to take their belongings with them... and that would require cleared roads. And if recovery was deemed possible and desired... why, having cleared roads was the first step.

    Which was why I was helping dad in this endeavor, and why Ken was here with me as we moved tree branches to the back of Kurt's pickup for disposal.

    "I still think it's not fair that he feels I need to be kept out of trouble." I could only grumble in the face of Ken's statement as we lifted another large tree branch from the street. "I mean it's not like I go looking for trouble or anything."

    There was a look of disbelief from Ken at what I was saying, before he shook his head. "Somehow, I doubt that."

    That vague sense of familiarity from the raised eyebrow as he looked at me was annoying, but I had to mentally shrug. It wasn't as if it was important, after all, if it was... I would remember why that look of his was so annoyingly familiar.

    - - -
    Goblin Queen : Changes can be Awkward
    Worm / Exalted
    - - -​

    "I don't wanna... don't wanna die. Wanna live." His throat rasped as he focused on his words. "Some... some one. Any one."

    "Come on..." The world tilted and slid if he didn't pay attention.

    If he did not force the world to be level, to stay still as he held his hands against stomach. To push in the slippery coils that felt so very warm against his cold hands, and keep them in.

    He focused on the sparks from the screen and wiring in front of him, the soft crackle as light crawled down the cracked screen in front of him.

    He focused on his breathing.

    Cold air in.

    Cold air out.

    Cold air in.

    Cold air out.

    Every now and then, he could hear the sound of sand shifting about outside the cockpit. He tried not to think on just how he could breath if he was trapped and surrounded by sand and dirt. Surely... they would be looking for him, right?

    They would be searching for him. Wasn't he someone who had put his life on the line to help save lives? To help protect the city?

    "I don't wanna... don't wanna die. Wanna live." His throat rasped as he focused on his words. "Some... some one. Any one."

    "Come on..." The world tilted and slid if he didn't pay attention.

    His mind liked to play tricks with him... telling him that he had been in here for... forever. He knew it couldn't have been long. That was stupid, after all, they had to be looking for him.

    - - - You have found paw prints and not words. - - -​

    Writer's Notes : Way back in Exalted First Edition, unarmed fighting took 2 forms, the disciplined Martial Arts with martial arts styles and the unruly Brawl with no styles, just a rough and tumble in your face. This mean that you had martial artists and then you had brawlers (also how wild animals fought).

    Exalted Second Edition rolled about and unarmed fighting got combined into martial arts... and everyone fighting unarmed knew martial arts... even the bears. Hark and ware! Kung Fu Bears verses Kung Fu Velociraptors! :3

    It looks like in Third Edition Exalted, it is going back to Brawl as the default unarmed fighting skill used by unarmed combatants who fight based on instinct and a natural talent for violence, rather than any particular discipline or style. With Martial Arts covering formal study of martial systems that is tied to Brawl.

    In any event, in Exalted, characters can actually roll dice to determine the respective skill level of someone else. ie a martial artist determining how skilled someone else is in martial arts and so on. :3
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Biigoh said:
    Which was why Ken was helping clean up the city. But that was hardly unusual, after all... he wasn't the only ganger that was doing so.
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    Well duh. It's a work gang. People working together to do manual labor is the actual correct usage of "ganger". ;)

    But that Ken, he is really dragon that wood around.

    Biigoh said:
    everyone fighting unarmed knew martial arts... even the bears. Hark and ware! Kung Fu Bears verses Kung Fu Velociraptors! :3
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    What of the Tai-Chi Tanuki?
     
    kojiro kakita said:
    Even a mighty dragon must sometimes play the part of a mortal to ensure prosperity
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    It ish soh!
    jerkface said:
    Well duh. It's a work gang. People working together to do manual labor is the actual correct usage of "ganger". ;)

    But that Ken, he is really dragon that wood around.

    What of the Tai-Chi Tanuki?
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    Tanuki dun practice tai-chi~ too fluffy for that. :3
    Seclorum said:
    Daw... Kenta watching over Taylor... Keeping her out of trouble... Thats just so adorable!
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    More like just talking to her while they work at moving fallen tree branches off streets.
     
    It is just that he doesn't know that for Taylor he is a different person in Cape than he is outside of it.

    All the beginning of this chapter was she reminding herself of this.
     
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    Bastur2 said:
    It is just that he doesn't know that for Taylor he is a different person in Cape than he is outside of it.

    All the beginning of this chapter was she reminding herself of this.
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    Or something. :3

    OverReactionGuy said:
    Hahahahahaha!

    I like Lisa better than Brownbeat as well. Or Madison. Or... Sophia!!!!

    Dunn dunnnn dunnnnnnnn!
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    I dun know.... this could be an Emma x Taylor fic... :3

    Lirana said:
    Those Grey Boy sections are creepy, I must say.
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    Thank you. :>
     
    Yeah, after all 3ed can be worse!
    Second Edition had it's kinks and faults, my biggest pet peeve with it was it's utter concentration on Solars. And their failed Superman-hype, while all published NPCs are pieces of garbabe by all the hype published about how Solars are paragons of humanity. When we are shown just ordinary joes who got lucky and didn't got slain for their stupid heroics because Fate's Russian Roulette had a dud in a full clip.

    But otherwise than that, and the fact that Authors failed big time to show Epic scope of the setting by concentrating too hard on several pinpricks of Creation and calling it "big". What irks me that only dude who was show as Mortal Hero was Perfect of Paragon. Who, obviously, had to agonize over being not-Solar! Damn it. No he couldn't be independant of all this clusterfuck with Celestial Exalted, couldn't he?

    Why Creation have to be smaller than 300 weapons of the gods, made by Titan, and can't have at least a handful mentioned Heroes who aren't mental cases? Or freaking Fair Folk bent on universal erasing of the Creation in question.
     
    Yarudazuigu said:
    it's utter concentration on Solars.
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    So basically, Dragon Ball Z.

    You have Dragon Ball with it's interesting cast with tons of unique and powerful guys... and then Z comes along and it's "Super saiyan this... Super Saiyan that..." And even when it was leading up to Gohan finally getting to be awesome... Public outcry forced Toriyama to restore Goku as the supreme mugwump.
     
    Worse, Seclorum.

    DBZ dudes, at least, aren't focus of the whole Universe! Nor they are responsible for 90% of the clusterfuck that will end in Creation falling apart on itself. But yeah, with SuperSayan staying safely as Sayan Legend? I would be happier for that. Sayans can grow stronger by fighting anyway, so it was unneded. Just these dudes would need more fighting, or smarting up like Vegeta ... self-injure and have little green healer patch them up to 200%.

    Why stupid SSJ? *sigh*

    Same in Creation, you can't be awesome ... because all Thunder is reserved for Solar Jerks. Dragon-Blooded are forbidden from having useful not-crude as fuck charms. Mortals, unless they are primed for Exaltation, must be nobodies ... furniture ... or have some badass in them but whine about not being Solards. Spirits? No they can't find their pants without map, written by Solar.

    With that said, I apologize for derailing and raise a question for Mami! What Solaroidoom did to ol Jackie boy?
     
    Jack Slash is like WAY MORE Fabulous!

    Look at that neatly trimmed goatee! That devil may care smirk! Those warm eyes that you can fall into forever~!

    5 dots of appearance counts, you know! :3
     
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