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Mare Internum: An Exalted Quest

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Now That You Are Pure 63
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    • JustGazzer said:
    [X] Could you make me a prosthetic finger?
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    "Could you make me a prosthetic finger?"

    ROOSTER: "A what?"

    You hold up your hand.

    "I could do with a replacement, if you can manage it."

    ROOSTER: "Oh, yes! That's just the kind of thing I can do. I've been wanting to try out some- you know, I won't bore you with the details, but yes, I can do it. Let me take a look."

    Rooster kneels down in front of you and extends his hands. Even kneeling, he's head and shoulders taller than you. He takes your hand in his. His hands are rough and warm, like those of a stone statue heated in the summer sun.

    PHYSIQUE: This man will give amazing hugs.

    He traces the contours of your maimed finger with his enormous thumb, itself wider around than your wrist. You get the sense that he is concentrating intensely.

    ROOSTER: "Yes, I can see it. Give me a few hours, I can get you what you need. It's not going to be magical or anything, but I still think I can do you something special."

    "Thanks, Rooster. Can I have my hand back now?"

    ROOSTER: "Oh, yes!" He releases your hand. "Sorry."

    [ ] Hey, can I get a hug?
    [ ] Do you know where Fincher came from?
    [ ] Why did you want to escape from the Stair? Isn't it a school?
    [ ] When did I kick you in the face?
    [ ] I need to get Dragonlord Mei to like me.
    [ ] I'll let you get back to work.
     
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    • Now That You Are Pure 64
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    • GAWR said:
    [X] Why did you want to escape from the Stair? Isn't it a school?
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    "Why did you want to escape from the Stair? Isn't it a school?"

    ROOSTER: "Uh..." Rooster cocks his head to one side, giving you a considering look. "I assumed you'd been. Are you a Dynast?"

    "I don't know. Fincher told you I was having memory problems, right?"

    ROOSTER: "Oh, right. Well... Pasiap's Stair is a school, but it's also a prison fortress. It's a brutal place. They teach you how to fight, and how to be a good officer, but I think what they really want to teach you is how to be cruel."

    "What do you mean?"

    ROOSTER: "I'd never been in a fight before I got to the Stair. I've never been in a battle since I graduated. I've killed eighty-six people in my life, and they were all in that place."

    "What do you mean? You killed other students?"

    ROOSTER: "Oh, no, no. Students dying is pretty rare, and students killing each other is even rarer. No, I'm talking about the graduation battles. At the end of every year, we have mock-battles on the plains under the mountain between all the students and an army composed of... I don't know, they never told us. Prisoners, slaves. Desperate people. And we fight. A mock-battle, they call it."

    "Every year?"

    ROOSTER: "Oldest students are in charge, younger ones take the orders. I did this ten times. A couple of times some of them survived. I wanted to escape, but never worked up the nerve. Punishments are collective, I would have just gotten other people hurt."

    "So when Fincher got caught..."

    ROOSTER: "Our scale got punished, yeah. It was rough, but I didn't want her to stop trying. She hated it in there even more than I did. Some people just have to be free. She stopped trying after the third attempt, though."

    "I'm sorry you went through all that."

    ROOSTER: "Well, I'm on the flight's engineering talon now, so at least I get to make things. I'm good at that, makes me feel useful."

    [ ] What do you think of Dynasts?
    [ ] (Offer a hug)
    [ ] Do you know where Fincher came from?
    [ ] So when did I kick you in the face?
    [ ] Can you help me get Dragonlord Mei to like me?
    [ ] I'll let you get back to work.
     
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    • Fun fact, in its original incarnation in 1e, students dying was extremely common in Pasiap's Stair. Figures given suggested that an overall student population of 100, with one student from each of the ten classes dying every year.

    This means average student classes of 14 or 15 to start with, dwindling to 4 or 5 by graduation.

    Thankfully, third edition does not keep to these figures (and neither do I). Although Ex3 generally resists hard figures, my personal estimate is that the Stair has a student population of around 400, with deaths being much rarer, one a year at most.

    That doesn't mean the Stair is nice, it just means it's not actively counterproductive to its stated goal of training legion officers.
     
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    Now That You Are Pure 65
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    • JustGazzer said:
    [X] (Offer a hug)
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    You open your arms, offering a hug.

    ROOSTER: "Uh..."

    "Come on now."

    ROOSTER: "Well, okay..."

    He kneels again and opens his own arms. You approach and put your arms around his chest as best you can. There's obviously no way you can actually encircle him in your arms, so you end up sort of splaying your right arm over the magnitude of his chest while stretching your left arm over his flank.

    He responds by placing his own arms delicately around you. The weight of them settles on your back, covering you from shoulder to waist, gently pressing you into his chest. It's like being surrounded by warm stone. He smells strongly of charcoal, but you decide this is probably because he was just working in the forge, and you are pressed into a soot-stained leather apron. You feel the slow beating of his heart, rhythmic and soothing.

    ROOSTER: "This is nice."

    "Yeah."

    ROOSTER: "I don't get many hugs."

    "I don't think I do either."

    The hug continues. It is vast in its scope, limitless in its capaciousness. It could continue for hours. There would always be more hug.

    MEI: "What the fuck is this."

    Rooster releases you and stands so rapidly you almost fall from the sudden displacement of weight.

    Dragonlord Mei stands behind him, looking furious.

    ROOSTER: "Uh, dragonlord, I was just, uh-"

    MEI: "Rooster, were you hugging the person I specifically told you not to interact with?"

    ROOSTER: "Oh, is this her? I mean, I didn't-"

    MEI: "Are you saying my description was inadequate?"

    ROOSTER: "Well, I don't think she has a 'moron's face', exactly-"

    MEI: "And you!" she turns to you, eye smoldering. "I told you to stay out of the legion's way, and you're pulling my chief engineer off the job to give him a hug!"

    You shrug. "He needed a hug."

    She looks back to Rooster, scowling.

    INTEGRITY: She wants to argue with you, but she can't deny it.

    ROOSTER: "Dragonlord, please, she was delivering a message from the Palean captain about a requisition. She was helping."

    She spares a moment to glare at you directly before looking back to him.

    MEI: "Fine. Whatever. I'm here to tell you that our original marching orders are fucked by the intelligence Fincher brought in. We're going to have to wait on repairs of the ship, so you have more time." she glances back at you. "Just don't waste it."

    He bows his head.

    ROOSTER: "Alright dragonlord. Repairs on the armour are almost done. I'll get back to work on the arms."

    He opens the workshop door and hurries inside.

    ROOSTER: "Nice meeting you!" he calls before slamming it shut from within.

    You look back to Mei, who is still standing with her arms folded, glaring at you.

    "He seems nice."

    MEI: "What the fuck are you playing at?"

    [ ] I was just doing a good deed.
    [ ] I am sowing the seeds of sedition.
    [ ] I'm doing what I want.
    [ ] Do I really have a moron's face?
    [ ] So we're going to Ashglass by boat?
    [ ] Is there anything I can help with?
     
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    • Now That You Are Pure 66
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    • KreenWarrior said:
    [X] Is there anything I can help with?
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    "Is there anything I can help with?"

    The question seems to take her by surprise.

    MEI: "What?"

    "I mean, you're under-strength, you've only got so many Dragon-Bloods, there must be something I can do to help out."

    MEI: "No, fuck this, you don't get to walk around acting like everything's fine."

    "Well, I can tell not everything's fine, I just don't know what isn't fine."

    MEI: "I want to know what you are doing here, right now."

    "Yeah, me too. I was hoping you knew, actually."

    MEI: "You're really going with this amnesia thing, huh?"

    "It's not a thing! I can't remember anything!"

    INTEGRITY: VERY DIFFICULT
    4 5
    CHECK PASSED

    INTEGRITY: You can see the anger burning away, unable to sustain itself. Underneath it is something uglier, more raw. Hurt. Confusion. Humiliation.

    MEI: "You know, it's best for you that I don't believe that, because if I really thought you forgot what you did, I'd kill you just for that."

    [ ] Logris says you're trying to get me to start a fight.
    [ ] I really just want to help. Tell me what to do.
    [ ] (Offer a hug)
    [ ] I'm sorry. I'll stay out of your way.
     
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    • [X] I really just want to help. Tell me what to do.

    This will probably start a fight, which is of course the goal.
     
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