It's a Girl's World -- And Lilly wants Adventure

[sheep-dodger]

(I'm presuming she didn't start with a four Source Ethos when the most we've seen in a single Ethos right out of the can is 2

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That's a pretty big assumption considering that she's sporting an Ethos specifically woven for her. I'd assume it started out with four sources until we learn different.

only one skill with Grasp above 10 or so, since the Grasp cap is 10 unless you've spent a Milestone raising your cap

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you can increase the grasp cap without Milestones, if you look at lilly's sheet you'll see that {Collective Communion} has a cap of 20 because we picked it for two levelups, while {Golden Rapture} has 20 cap from our Milestone bonus. I'd assume that Marigold has done both as well.

 

[Slyvena]

A Tale of Compassion

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I'm impressed. You got a few details about Manoth closer to right than I'd expected.

The {Core Heart} looks cool. Reminds me of a jellyfish, so Lilly and Evie might be matching now?

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I mean, I really can't do Evie justice given my limited artistic talents and 'sharp-contoured erratic geometric floating squid of more than 3 dimensions' being a possible description. But this could be a rough representation of Evie looked at from the front (she's 2D razor thin from the side, which looks super trippy if she's rotating because it looks like parts of her vanish. Not to be confused with when she moves through non-3D spaces and technically actually does vanish) and unspooled. Her total volume is technically 0 since her width is 0, hence why she could arbitrarily spool herself into your lap in the first introduction.

Spoiler: Picture

 

[Alectai]

That's a pretty big assumption considering that she's sporting an Ethos specifically woven for her. I'd assume it started out with four sources until we learn different.

you can increase the grasp cap without Milestones, if you look at lilly's sheet you'll see that {Collective Communion} has a cap of 20 because we picked it for two levelups, while {Golden Rapture} has 20 cap from our Milestone bonus. I'd assume that Marigold has done both as well.

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Getting new skills and powers on a levelup is a minority, not something to expect every time. Either way, Marigold's getting a lot more grasp expansions and milestones than she should have access to for being level 15, and we've seen no reason to believe her as being a Multivector herself.

The sheer Density of our Expansions seems to be the [Bloomling] thing, and while Lilly might not have originally warranted this level of investment from Flower, Colossi's tampering creating Lilly's Multivector status seems to have convinced Flower to turn Lilly into The Chosen One.

 

[Edifier]

My bet for Eevie ethos, the stray vector power, is that she works on 4d physics. Like that weird game. Moving through the fourth vector. It looks like she is possessing LIlly, but it's just that she's dimensionally adjacent. 4d shadows, weird geometry beyond Riemannian Geometer.

Looking at the black boxed hybrid siphon and paired with our progression. I do not know what maw is, but soul maw became hybrid maw, and then it looks as if it migrated from an imbued trait to an ethos pillar as hybrid siphon. It eats stuff on a conceptual level, and looks to calibrated to consume things that oppose Lilly. Since it's a siphon, a word to drain, I'd guess whatever it consumes in some way empowers Lilly as well. Like eating souls, but it's concepts in attacks and spells, chewed up and nourishment for Lilly or Eevie.

Subversion is interesting. Makes me think it's like a dev console that allows you to mess with base parameters in a fairly direct way. The flavor text heavily implies that it's a general use power way beyond mind control, as in reality control.


On another note. When Eevie went all in on improving Lilly there were implications like our super leveling and ethos gaining would have slowed down if not stopped without their meddling. Like turning us to god and making sure we don't lose any of our power and that we'd stay a metaphorically stable existence.
Sure Manoth meddled in useful ways, or whoever it was, but it didn't look to be that sustainable in the long term. An awesome early boost to get us trough the rough patches, and then later on we'd be mostly normal even if we started with awesome boons.
But now we're a god in the making or demigod at minimum.

 

[Alectai]

My bet for Eevie ethos, the stray vector power, is that she works on 4d physics. Like that weird game. Moving through the fourth vector. It looks like she is possessing LIlly, but it's just that she's dimensionally adjacent. 4d shadows, weird geometry beyond Riemannian Geometer.

Looking at the black boxed hybrid siphon and paired with our progression. I do not know what maw is, but soul maw became hybrid maw, and then it looks as if it migrated from an imbued trait to an ethos pillar as hybrid siphon. It eats stuff on a conceptual level, and looks to calibrated to consume things that oppose Lilly. Since it's a siphon, a word to drain, I'd guess whatever it consumes in some way empowers Lilly as well. Like eating souls, but it's concepts in attacks and spells, chewed up and nourishment for Lilly or Eevie.

Subversion is interesting. Makes me think it's like a dev console that allows you to mess with base parameters in a fairly direct way. The flavor text heavily implies that it's a general use power way beyond mind control, as in reality control.


On another note. When Eevie went all in on improving Lilly there where implications like our super leveling and ethos gaining would have slowed down if not stopped without their meddling. Like turning us to god and making sure we don't lose any of our power and that we'd stay a metaphorically stable existence.

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Well, no, the issue is that Lilly would have eventually hit equilibrium with her Ethos Expansions if they had stopped sending her new ones, but that last batch we got crossed the tipping point and Lilly is now a self-sustaining Multiple Integration Locus. (I think it's because the system gets confused because her nature is changing now faster than the usual safeties that prevent this can keep up? So she keeps registering on the automated systems as a new individual)

Since as was described, an Integration Vector seems to be a packaged template of ideas that gets attached to the Soul, and teaches the Soul to do things along those lines. Max Divergence probably does mean that the Anchor detaches and further Expansion becomes impossible, but you probably don't lose anything that you already learned. (This is likely distinct from an Anchor Disruption which likely tears a chunk out of your soul, which might be what Decoherence is?)

Huh, in light of that, and the statement that "You were surprisingly close to getting things about Manoth right". It does seem that he's actually trying to make something of the dead-ends and fail states of the usual system, and the other Trasncendents tolerate him doing this because the failed experiments stimulate growth in the way they like doing.

Hmm, it does seem then that if we can get the right guidance from {The Ladder} to inspire us, we can work towards creating the necessary patches to help Zach ride the wave of his own incoming Ethos.

I mean, I really can't do Evie justice given my limited artistic talents and 'sharp-contoured erratic geometric floating squid of more than 3 dimensions' being a possible description. But this could be a rough representation of Evie looked at from the front (she's 2D razor thin from the side, which looks super trippy if she's rotating because it looks like parts of her vanish. Not to be confused with when she moves through non-3D spaces and technically actually does vanish) and unspooled. Her total volume is technically 0 since her width is 0, hence why she could arbitrarily spool herself into your lap in the first introduction.

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Wait.

Wait.

Is Evie a computer icon manifest in reality?

The whole "She's a funny looking 2-dimensional looking geometric floating squid" thing, and the whole "If she turns a bit it looks like she disappears because she has no width and as such no volume by definition"

The just screams "She's literally an icon somehow existing in the same place as three dimensional reality"

...

Wait.

Hang on a sec.

Does this mean that all she's doing to hide is just kind of moving a few inches off in the fourth dimension and kind of angling her width in our direction? Basically just peeking over a dimensional fold?

...

(Reads things)

...

Does this mean {Riemannian Geometer} is going to involve actually cutting across space through those fey angles?

 

[Edifier]

I personally feel like divergence means charting new ground with the ethos. Like doing things you wouldn't expect from the ethos and growing new branches of powers to it trough your deeds and mindset.

If the Ehthos is used as intended it's low divergence, if it's got a unique use out of this world then it's high divergence.

 

[Alectai]

I personally feel like divergence means charting new ground with the ethos. Like doing things you wouldn't expect from the ethos and growing new branches of powers to it trough your deeds and mindset.

If the Ehthos is used as intended it's low divergence, if it's got a unique use out of this world then it's high divergence.

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Hmm, might be that Sync then is the "How firm is your Anchor's grip?" Where dropping Sync to zero causes the detachment? But high Divergence might cause a negative pull on Sync?

I dunno, too much we don't know, and Sync/Divergence seem like meta-level considerations that Lilly can't really wrap her head around yet because it's in her "Not allowed to think about" category and we didn't chose meta-knowledge limiter release in the first Demigod picks (Though they might come naturally over time?)

 

[Half Moon]

Last night, I dreamed that I went to check the thread, and saw an epilogue had been written. I read it, and it turned out Lilly had been killed by an assassin using a weapon with a very stupid name. I was sad, until I woke up.

 

[Silverking]

And you're going to get to meet a character I've been excited about since 1.1, they are just a big bundle of cuddles.

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...Is the [Tower] just going to end up being a hotel for all the spirits and such that are looking for a safe harbor from the coming calamity? I mean, I can imagine some of them taking up the role of "Dungeon Masters" of Artifacts, Constructs, and Entities, and possibly even a few mini-bosses.

Of course, all of this might be a bit safer than expected, given that the [Tower] is probably designed to hold Deific entities and can act as a "degree of separation" from Lilly's core. I mean, we wouldn't just let some spirit we barely even know have direct access to our soul with some ill-defined contract, right? Gosh, imagine the damage one of them could do if we just dropped them in front of all the buttons and knobs that define Lilly's innate self. Glad we're smart enough not to stick our hand in THAT fire, right, guys?

 

[Edifier]

Of course, all of this might be a bit safer than expected, given that the [Tower] is probably designed to hold Deific entities and can act as a "degree of separation" from Lilly's core. I mean, we wouldn't just let some spirit we barely even know have direct access to our soul with some ill-defined contract, right? Gosh, imagine the damage one of them could do if we just dropped them in front of all the buttons and knobs that define Lilly's innate self. Glad we're smart enough not to stick our hand in THAT fire, right, guys?

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To quote our Illustrious God-Empress.

Subversion.
I am happy to use it on myself though. Combined with [My Resolution, Thy Bedrock] there are all sorts of temporary changes I can make to my own perceptions when I can't otherwise be the person I need to be.

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[Slyvena]

A heads up for 2.4
There will be a vote for an interaction in the middle of the chapter at the end. Rather than pause for votes on something that would only to affect Lilly at a later time, I'm just leaving that section as a timeskip and filling it in post vote. (500 words tops)
Its an important decision that will have large ramifications down the line, but has literally zero immediate consequences.




Also, yes you are going to get Relations Lvl 1 and I'm looking for ideas of any more options to give you for the vote on how to use it. Currently we have this.
(You get only 1 Major Relation Slot for now.)
There are also Minor Relation Slots, which will be covered at a later time. In practice, Major Relation slots are things people will vote for. Minor Relation Slots will usually be used by the QM to achieve goals or tasks that have been voted for, but of course [AC] votes can always direct where to put Lesser Relations too.

1st Major Relation Slot:
Permanent Merger:
Combine up to six full powers (sub-powers must be included). Will become a single combined power and sub-powers inspired by its constituent parts and having a Tier equal to the sum of everything used to create it. Deactivates powers during combination process. (Example in 2.4 Spreadsheet below formulas.) Can produce powers that exceed typical limitations or constraints. Combines Max-Levels too. 4 Powers with a Max of 10 would combine into something with a Max of 40. Timeframe is generally a couple weeks, desired concepts or focuses can be specified.
Soul-Bond:
Mimic a form of the connection you and Petal share with another person. Your two lives become entwined and incapable of ceasing for more than a couple days so long as the other yet lives. Your powers can be lent to them at a moment's notice and used as effectively as if it were your own body. If they possess power, it is possible with their cooperation to learn to share theirs with you too. Timeframe to establish, 1 day. Requires close proximity.
Alternatively, you could redouble the connection between you and Petal, vastly expanding the scope of your link. Among other benefits, Petal would gain a form of your domain and the ability to directly assist you in the waking world.
Distribute {Primordial Chassis}:
Expand the {Primordial Chassis} with a new feature. You can transfer its effects to anyone within your direct line of sight or essence-sight instantaneously at the speed of thought (and back to yourself just as fast). Those who you have an active Essence-Link with count as within your sight. Timeframe, 1 day.
Perfect Seedling:
Bud off a perfect replication of one of your own powers into another individual. This will effectively function as a mini-Ethos, able to grow and develop in its own direction after implantation. Functions better if implanted into someone with a matching Source, but can grow to work with anyone including those without an Ethos. Timeframe, 1 week.
Support Artefact Limit:
Expand your maximum Artefact limit by one. Does not provide the EXP to create said artefact, only provides the support to allow it. Timeframe, 3 hours.
Expand a Power's Limits:
Choose one of your Powers, Sub-Powers or another feature and remove some of its inherent limits. Cannot increase direct potency, but can expand the scope of what a power can effect or reach. (I.e. Triple the size of your essence sight, cause {Sample Space} to be less draining on Concordance, allow {Pulse Surge} to directly push you in any direction rather than just increasing your momentum, allow CENSORED until 2.4 to connect to CENSORED ever CENSORED whole CENSORED, double the size of your extended Domain and future size gains, etc) Can specify a link between two powers, allowing them to function together far more effectively than before. Timeframe, variable.
Wait:
Make the decision on where you spend your first Major Relation later.
Write In: Try for something special.
The only limits are your imagination, aim for something you have not considered. Timeframe, ???.

By all means discuss what you might want to vote for. But I'm also interested in people's ideas for other things Lilly might want to do. Write-Ins are inherently risky here because you might ask for something impossible (which I would then default to the wait option until Lilly had another time to try), this is a chance to get something pre-approved basically.

I personally feel like divergence means

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Divergence is a double-edged sword.

Last night, I dreamed that I went to check the thread, and saw an epilogue had been written. I read it, and it turned out Lilly had been kill by an assassin using a weapon with a very stupid name. I was sad, until I woke up.

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I consider this a personal compliment.

 

[Alectai]

Huzzah!

Was it just a really good roll or was this expected?

Anyway, off the top of my head, Perfect Seedling seems like our silver bullet to help Zach out? Implant {Rest State} into him and that should go a long way towards mitigating the craziness that comes with an (Inverted) Ethos.

 

[Slyvena]

Was it just a really good roll or was this expected?

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You'd have to roll pretty badly to fail to unlock any of the [Tower]'s six aspects. You already have them, it's just growing your human brain thoughts into the decidedly not-human control mechanisms.
It will get harder to unlock the next 4, harder each time. But not as slowly as your Ethea take. You'll easily get them all if you want to before [Tower] itself levels up.

 

[Alectai]

You'd have to roll pretty badly to fail to unlock any of the [Tower]'s six aspects. You already have them, it's just growing your human brain thoughts into the decidedly not-human control mechanisms.
It will get harder to unlock the next 4, harder each time. But not as slowly as your Ethea take. You'll easily get them all if you want to before [Tower] itself levels up.

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I see!

Hmm, a further question then, which of these would be the part of the Relations Package we need to bundle Petal up into our pocket dimension? Soul Bond?

... Shit, I really hope {The Ladder} recovers soon enough to give us some direction soon.

 

[Slyvena]

-snip-

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Soul-Bond.

Implant {Rest State} into him and that should go a long way towards mitigating the craziness that comes with an (Inverted) Ethos.

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Funnily enough that was the exact inspiration for that option.
Alternatively you could use a Lesser Relation Slot to do something similar on a more temporary timescale. They are more plug'n'play.

 

[Alectai]

Shite, I was afraid of that.

Given how we still need to unlock Dissolution and Imposition to prepare this too... Ugh, that's going to be really tight. Even if having Petal able to provide active assistance will help in virtually every other circumstance.

And given how sympathetic attacks are a known thing, and how "Lilly Dies" is our red line...

Ugh, I don't like where this is going. We need to figure out how to handle all of this sooner rather than later. {Rest State} would absolutely go a long way towards helping Zach handle his (Inversion) given how it's very much a "Downward Spiral Arrestor" effect, but dying because we couldn't take our Locus with us when we bugged out is also unacceptable.

 

[Alcor]

Perfect Seedling definitely seems like a way to help Zach's situation with the caveat that we still might need to be careful in how we approach it. He might not be all too happy with the idea that Lilly is swooping in to "save him" even if we happen to understand the danger is very real and very imminent.

Otherwise, the Expand Power Limits option seems the most immediately useful and versatile. Also, not going to lie, tempted to use it on Evie just to see what happens.

I guess my question would simply be to ask if whatever choice is picked can be used repeatedly. I assume not, but you never know. (i.e. If we pick Expand Power Limits, could we expand say, Ladder. Then once that is done (maybe after additional cooldown) expand Pulse Surge, etc. )

 

[meianmaru]

A question about how re-usable or not these powers are: Can we, for example, use the Perfect Seedling more than once, with the cool-down period for it being also its Timeframe? Or do we get "only" one-time Ethos-gift-card that we can give to someone from this? Or concerning Soul-Bound, do we get "only" one link? Can it be switched to who it links, or is it permanent?

Also, can these abilites be leveled up too, thus maybe expanding their scope?

 

[Slyvena]

but dying because we couldn't take our Locus with us when we bugged out is also unacceptable.

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You could use your newfound understanding of Relations alongside {Subversion} to "clip the [Dream]'s wings" as it were. Excise Petal from your nature and remove that vulnerability.
Somehow I don't think people are going to go for that option, but it is an option.

Alternatively, while it wouldn't stop Petal from being attacked. Dissolution would be sufficient to stop all but the most extreme forms of sympathetic attacks being directed at you through your dual-nature. It could also be used to allow Petal to self-terminate preemptively to be regrown by you at a later time (this would be immensely traumatic, but better than dead). You'd effectively be without her and have [Dream] running on 10% power until you replanted her and matured her for a couple weeks.

Also, not going to lie, tempted to use it on Evie just to see what happens.

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Evie's a bit of a weird mix of too alien, too big and already too interconnected to you to get much benefit from a single major relation slot. But it could for example extend {Stray Vector} allowing Evie to 'lock down' one of its random effects and thus choose between either 'Random' or 'Preset' whenever using {Stray Vector}. Quite useful when preparing to fight an opponent as you could always walk into a fight with a {Stray Vector} Preset that you knew would work well against them.

I guess my question would simply be to ask if whatever choice is picked can be used repeatedly.

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Yep. You can redo them if you have the Major Slots available. There's no reason you couldn't use them on the same power twice even to expand to different parts.

A question about how re-usable or not these powers are: Can we, for example, use the Perfect Seedling more than once, with the cool-down period for it being also its Timeframe?

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Once used, it would take up a Major Slot Permanently until you recalled the power (which would take about x10 as long as imbuing it. Or x2 if you were willing to seriously harm the person it was given too).
Same goes for Soul-Bonds. One person per Major Slot. You could probably manage linking Chariot and Some other lesser creature like a second Horse all with 1 Major Slot if you threw in a Lesser Slot to stabilize the setup.

Also, can these abilites be leveled up too, thus maybe expanding their scope?

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In a very limited way. They'd work a bit like the [Tower] does, leaching Gravitas off the person's Ethos to grow. Not that anyone would complain since you've effectively given them the benefits of a Milestone level up with no drawbacks. Over time the power would migrate into an existing power like yours sometimes move, at that point it could grow like any other power they held as it would have integrated into their Ethos.

 

[Alectai]

Funnily enough that was the exact inspiration for that option.
Alternatively you could use a Lesser Relation Slot to do something similar on a more temporary timescale. They are more plug'n'play.

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Huh, so we'd have to babysit him for a while in this case, but it'd be enough to buy us time until we can do a more permanent job, right?

 

[Slyvena]

Huh, so we'd have to babysit him for a while in this case

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Normally yes. But because you are a cheaty cheaty cheater. Lesser Relation Slots can use your Essence-Links to function over great distances.
So long as you and Zach stayed within <1000Kms of each other you could continually apply the effects of {Rest State} to him at the same potency you can apply it to yourself. (At the cost of a Lesser Relation Slot)
It would also adapt to his rest state. The version of himself Zach's inner self wishes he could be.
Do remember though that {Rest State} is not Flow, it doesn't make everything better. As an Essence Power it targets people's essential natures holistically, hence why it can affect mind/body/soul in minor ways. It is more of a 'stop people from falling off the rails' deal than a 'feel okay about stuff' one and operates better over the medium to long-term timescales as a stablising force rather than as a moment-to-moment soother. It can certainly be used that way, as Lilly has already done for herself, but it's main benefits will be paltry against massive overwhelming short-term trauma.
But, apply it now and keep it up for the next 11 days and Zach will certainly be a better position to face his trial than he otherwise would be. Especially if you back it up with other actions. The big one would be some form of acknowledgment from his Father that he didn't feel was only because you'd asked Yolun to do it, some form of his father showing special attention to him that is not connected to Lilly in any perceivable way.

but it'd be enough to buy us time until we can do a more permanent job, right?

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Well, that is something you'd have to commit to to find out.

 

[Alectai]

Well, yes, but the key point here is just tilting the scales in his favor rather than wishing everything to be better.

Because that way lies madness.

In a way, I'm super glad Essence is our big specialty, it's a power that's very hard to completely fuck up with based on its general good vibes.

 

[meianmaru]

On other matters:

Expand a Power's Limits:
*snip*, cause {Sample Space} to be less draining on Concordance, *snip*

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While I don't think we are in a position where we can pick this for at least a while yet, I'm hoping that in the next choice for a new power in the Cleaver of Fortune there is an anti-Concordance power, to better handle enemies like from the group of merry sociopaths that Waters leads. And that if the people want to choose it (if its there in the first place), we manage to puzzle out which one of the options it actually is.

But regardless, considering the nature of Cleaver of Fortune, denying the attempts to dictate Lilly's fate seem like something I would bet are in the cards, and importantly do so more cost-efficiently than the Sample Space in this particular instance. Might be of course something like that would have been found in the previous options that weren't picked, but even if that is the case, I think its still likely that we could run into an another Concordance-counter option at some point.

 

[Alectai]

Expanding limits, I think, is something better done when we're approaching them--rather than scraping the surface.

 

[Edifier]

Souldbound with Eevie!

Primordial Chassie on Petal?

Making sure our brother is fine will need us to keep {Rest state} active all the time trough our family link. And using [Cleaver of Fortune] actively.

Really wish we had configured the ladder for the short term, cause then it could give advice on this short term problem like a revolver, steering us to a future we want. Right now our biggest hope is {Ply the Line}. The metaphorical line is the super unprobably chance of him making out perfectly fine.

The clue of nudging father into giving emotional support gives me a bit of inspiriation.
The plan would be to get dad or mom to tell him that he paid attention to Lilly because he knew about the name thing and wanted to avert our fate, yet found that all his effort to change our fate was pointless instead Lilly was fuller and whole. It's like dad lived in fear of Lilly's future.

Ignoring his son. Well, unintentional neglect. His fate as a runemaster denied. Pops needs to give a sincere apology, it'll make the situation better but it won't fix all the harm he caused.

Yet that there is the Line we want to Ply. Get the future we want!

Knowing the future we want is one thing, the low chance that he does not panic and comes out mentally stable. But to get him there, a few smaller points that make that fate more likely, there lays a lot more value, as if they were junctions and {Critical Pivot} points.

Perhaps this is the moment we can learn to channel our power, like pull on their tension lines, thread them tough our own, and make a sort of self-fueling loop or prophesy. We have an active future we want, so pulling at tension lines to start exerting weight. On the whole family. Creating momentum and potential for our desired future.

Tho since it's called Cleaver... maybe the key is to cut away the lines that lead to the fates we dislike. So culling out tension lines leading to the future we dislike.