Departing from Sabrina's home, you wander a bit through the apartments of her building. You can't enter any of them, of course, but you listen and watch. Your observation is disturbed, though, by the flow of people returning from work. Fearful of being detected, you take the stairs back up and hop back over to your home. You think, as you slowly descend the familiar stairs to the basement, about the nature of apartments. They are owned, and are rented. People pay to live in them. You don't pay anything, though. And who owns your building? Is it the people behind the poster? Well, you can't pay them - That'd be funding their
evil. So you guess you're…a squatter? Well, that makes sense. Paying rent wouldn't be any good at all, anyways - You barely have time to explore and make friends, much less get the sort of job that'd pay enough for whatever rent would cost. You recall scraps of the notes you found in the trash and shake your head.
Still…it'd be best if nobody started to ask questions or notice. Wouldn't it? You don't want to be found…and you remember the way Sabrina reacted when she saw you. You think back on it…and you really think about it and put yourself in her shoes. You feel the
reaction. The visceral-No, not that - You feel the
fear. The fear not just for herself, but for you. The
fear of discovery. The fear of being found. You meditate on that, for moments. Why would people fear being found, being discovered? People not yourself, mind - But others. You think it's because they fear being hurt. But who doesn't fear being hurt? You doubt Laurel fears it. Or Sydney, given what you saw. What are they scared of, you wonder? You're not quite sure.
What are you afraid of? You ruminate on that, molding it in your mind. Are you afraid of not being able to change? Are you afraid of the future? You're not sure what you're afraid of. So, you think you'll adopt someone else's fear, instead, in the hopes of lightening their burden and understanding yourself a bit more. You reach back to when Sabrina was afraid for you, and the time she was afraid of you, and you seize that emotion - Copy it. The fear of being discovered, of being known, of being hurt. And you start to sing a song as you
weave something into being, a song of understanding, a song of fear, and a song of desire. The fear of being known, a desire to avoid it, a subconscious impulse and desire, demanding
subtlety. Demanding you bow to your fear. You refuse, focusing on the understanding portion of the song to overwhelm it - But you do take this new desire's wishes into consideration, and allow it to reverberate through your subconscious. You walk in a different way, now - Your steps are more careful and measured. Your already nigh-omnipresent perception is now partially turned inwards, ensuring that nothing is leaking or visible or can be seen from the outside. It is a curling in of the self - But not in a bad way, you think. Fear is reasonable, after all, so long as it doesn't rule you.
With that bit of magic done (and doesn't that just make you warm inside. You're doing real magic!), you continue on your meandering journey, familiarizing yourself with the apartments of the neighborhood. All of the apartment buildings on the block don't have any locks on their front doors, so you just wander in and up and down the stairs. Nobody bothers to question you, your eyes always firmly fixed elsewhere and your arms pressed to the side, as if you're doing your best to not bother them and so they should just kindly return the courtesy.
You walk up and down the halls. But nothing really interesting is there, at least that you can tell from the outside…Hmm…You pause by one particular apartment and think to yourself. Well, there was an office in your apartment building…you could just…check out the office here and see if there's anything interesting! You skip downstairs to the lobby and find, to your delight, that there is one! You knock on it and put on a winning smile - This will be sure to be quicker than just roaming about aimlessly. You hear a gruff voice yell out from within. "Come in!"
You enter, and see a man with an eyepatch, who seems to be examining various documents. A small airplane model sits on a cabinet - The paint on it is old and worn. He doesn't even glance up when he gestures for you to take a seat, which you happily do. "So - What's the problem?" You pipe up. "There's not any problem, sir!" He glances up, frowning. "Why're you in my office, then?" You smile. "Well, sir, I'm not one of your tenants - I just wanted to drop by and ask a few questions!" He frowns harder, eyebrows furrowing. "...Who do you work for, exactly? I'm not in the mood for some corporate survey-sales thing. I get enough of those in the mail." You shake your head. "Not at all, sir! I don't work for anyone!"
His frown, somehow, deepens even further. You're honestly almost fascinated by its depth, and the depths of mild irritation and general disgruntlement it conveys to the world at large. "...Then why are you in my office?" You keep smiling, hoping it'll help counteract the negative mood he seems to be in. "I simply wanted to ask some questions!" He sighs. "Whatever. Ask them. Go on - Not like anyone else is coming in here." You nod excitedly.
"Right, sir - What's your name, and what do you do?" He sighs again, acting generally put-upon by this basic inquiry. "I'm Roy, Roy Ridley, and yes, I've heard every joke imaginable about the name, so pretend you made one and I'll laugh. Ha. Ha. Ha. I manage the buildings of Mister Raymond Williams, owner of most of these apartments. He pays me to ensure that the legal standards are met." This is accompanied with an eyeroll. You raise your eyebrow. "Raymond Williams?" He nods. "That's the name of the man, yes. I doubt you've heard of him, unless you're a lot richer than you look." You think that might have been an insult, based on his tone, which suddenly became very snide for a moment.
You're not quite sure, but you don't think this man is very friendly. "You're right, I haven't! What does managing a building entail?" He glances down at his documents, and back at them, as if judging which of them he finds less irritating. You seem to win out, but it's definitely by a narrow margin. "I make sure the pipes aren't causing permanent damage to the property. That there's no permanent damage from any unfortunate departures or evictions that need to take place. I ensure contractors and employees don't do shoddy work." He smiles, a sickly fake grin to match your genuine one. "Does that answer all of your questions, lady?" He puts emphasis on these words. You probably only can get one more question out of him before he decides you're more irritating than the papers. You…don't think you want to ask him the same question you asked Laurel.
So you'll ask a different one. "Do you do magic, Mister Ridley?" He blinks, then frowns. It's a different kind of frown, though - More pensive. "...No. Never could afford to. Found other fulfilling ways to live my life. Stupid thing, really - I always wanted to fly, when I was a kid. Never got that wish. Tried to sign up for the aerial corps during the Crusade." He spits out a hacking laugh, his eye unconsciously glancing towards the model plane. "Glad they rejected me. Survival rate for those poor bastards was even worse than those of us on the ground." He's folding the document in his hands - Paper crinkling and folding. "Got real good at this, though." He holds up a paper airplane. "Got all this paper - What else am I going to do with it, when I toss it?" You glance at the paper airplane…Huh! You recognize the writing on it! This is the same writing that's on the notes in your home. You glance at the walls, and see some of the same type of notes pinned up there - Same handwriting, definitely. You…don't think it'd be a good idea to tell Roy that you squat in his old workplace, though. Not until you know him better. You turn your head back to him, the entire mental processing taking only a few seconds - "That's really cool, Mister Ridley - Could you teach me how?"
He blinks, then grimaces - But you can tell it's a little less put-on then he's pretending. "...Well, I suppose. Not like I've got anything better to do." You spend the next twenty minutes learning how to fold a paper airplane - By the time you're done, you've gotten pretty good at it! After that, Mister Ridley kicks you out, but you're happy to go with a cheerful wave. You think you've gotten your foot in the door, so to speak, though he definitely seems more than a bit curmudgeonly. You just delight in finding odd words in your head and using them - It's the same sort of feeling you get from using magic. Doing something you think is impressive, just for the joy of it. (You've found a sub-area -
Roy's Office.)
As you skip up the stairs of another apartment building, you realize - Oh! You're in Sabrina's building! You can save some time by going through the rooftops to get home. You head up the stairs to the rooftop, and take the short way home by hopping from her roof to your roof! As you start to head back inside, one of your eyes catches a glimpse over the ledge and you-
You see something -
RUN - strange in the sidewalk below -
DON'T LET HIM GET CLOSE TO YOU - There's a man down there, walking into the doors of your home -
STOP HIM NOW - And he's wearing the -
YOU HAVE TO DO SOMETHING - weirdest piece of headwear. It's -
HE'S NOT YOUR FRIEND - well, the best way you could -
PLEASE - describe it would be some kind of wizard hat! Your head's started hurting all of the sudden.
And not just Super Spy's head. Your head. Your heads. Your brain. It's hurting. Like something inside of you is screaming in agony.
—
YOUR SECOND MEMORY
YOU WANDER ALONE. FORSAKEN. HUNTED. ABANDONED.
HE IS THERE. A HAND IN THE DARK, OUTSTRETCHED.
HE IS SO KIND. HE MAKES SO MANY PROMISES.
HE LIES, BUT YOU DON'T KNOW IT YET.
YOU DON'T WANT TO LEAVE. WHERE WOULD YOU GO?
"YOU'LL MAKE SOMETHING OF YOURSELF." HE SAYS.
YOU THINK THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH YOU.
YOU THINK YOU ARE BROKEN IN SOME FUNDAMENTAL WAY.
HE PROMISES TO FIX YOU.
YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE FIXED.
I PROMISE.
—
Well, howdy, folks! Congratulations on making it to the end of your first week, and therefore, the end of the Prologue of Magical Girl Flesh Horror~! Now, of course, this means there's one final central mechanic to introduce to you before we leap into all the things I've got planned for Act One. And that's Emergencies! See, for as flexible as you are, sometimes there are just going to be times when you don't have time for careful, measured alterations - Where you have something unexpected coming at you fast, and you need to respond with the culmination of your efforts thus far. You can think of them as "boss fights" if you want - They'll essentially be mini-turns, outside of the normal flow of the quest, but using the same mechanics of 'asset assignment'. The trick is, of course, that you don't have time to make unlimited bio-alterations! You'll have to rely on what you've got on-hand and whatever time you manage to buy - And I mean everything you've got on hand. Even a Resource Extraction Asset like Kudzu can be useful, for example. Be creative with it!
Now, I am kind of springing this one on you - It was on, essentially, an "invisible timer". I don't tend to like those in quests, and I'll do my best to avoid them, but I did need to set a hard time limit on the Prologue, and there wasn't really a good way to introduce it without breaking some other things I needed/need to do, yaknow? In the future, expect…signposting when your actions may trigger timers/emergencies. Now, we will keep this one pretty simple - You've got two assets and three options, after all. As your asset number grows, and your enemies grow, expect larger Emergencies. This does not mean this cannot be dangerous, however. Make good choices!
You are in an EMERGENCY.
You have time to change one non-resource keyword, overall, on any asset or yourself.
Your Current Assets Are (Changeable Keywords bolded):
1x Super Spy (Disguise, Perceptive, False Humanoid, Shield, Poison)
1x Kudzu (Photosynthetic, Growing, Bountiful, Productive, Refresh)
Your current core changeable keywords are:
Cute and Subtle.
Please use the format "[] Change Keyword to Keyword" for keyword changes in the Emergency.
Your brain, something deeper then your brain, is screaming that this man is evil, that he is dangerous, that he is coming to hurt you. You have to strike first and strike hard. He may be powerful, but you can pull off a surprise attack…right? Specify which asset, and feel free to write-in any specific tactic you wish to use.
Distract him, delay him, talk to him - Anything non-violent that involves him goes here. You've got to stop him from getting to your Flesh, and you know that's what he's here for. Maybe you can talk him out of whatever he's here to do? Or maybe you can just buy yourself some time for help to get here. If you can call for help. Specify which asset and feel free to write-in any specific tactic you wish to use.
Sabrina's coming over tonight, soon. She said she would bring clothes. You can try and get her to come help you faster, or warn her away before she gets here, in case she gets hurt - You're not sure what would be best. Specify which asset and please write-in which strategy you wish to use.
