During a budget time stop, I don't see why not. For anything else? I don't think so.
That is not a pretty image.
Then again, hasn't she rewound during the rain before?
There are probably some unspoken/unrecognized but very required secondary superpowers that Max has so that she doesn't get flechetted by a light drizzle. I mean, what separates water, solid objects and the air itself on a simply physical level? They're all matter. That Max can move around at all indicates that there's a small bubble around her that allows for at least some forms of matter to interact with her in a "normal" way, just so she can move around in the first place.
If you go with that interpretation, then the question of the truck or any other object becomes "How much is too much for Max to interact with passively/instinctively?" There's a hell of a difference between a shower, a person, the air, and a truck. If the budget timestop were absolute then Max would be frozen in her own pocket of space, she wouldn't be able to move out of it (maybe not even perceive anything outside of it either, but I'm getting off-base) so even then, there's some give to her powers.
If a difference is drawn between the Threshold for Interaction™ for a rewind, a budget timestop, and a true timestop (I believe that Max opened multiple doors while Kate was on the roof, that is something she's been shown not to be able to do with a budget timestop on account of everything solid being infinitely dense) then that might free you up on some level.
Like maybe the interacting with a liquid is possible during a rewind, but during a budget time stop it would be something rigid enough to walk on.
I imagine that a true time stop would either be like a rewind where water is like water just with no ability to spread any energy (you know how a footprint on the moon will just stay there because there are no outside forces to disturb it? So maybe water is kind of the same; still identifiably liquid, just very thick and hard to move through because we're the only force that it recognizes) or something in between that and absolute rigidity. Which I think would be kind of scary, now that i mention it.
Gasses seem to be fine no matter what Max does, if she can't move through air then she's probably fucked things up bad. That's the only form of matter that there's no reason to think she has a problem in. She can breathe too, which means that she's not only able to push through air, but also that her bubble of space extends our far enough that she can pull in air.
Also she can still see around herself, even though technically everything should be frozen. That's also weird, and more evidence to the Required Secondary Powers argument. There's a very thorough picking and choosing of what physical laws that are convenient to keep observing, put on hold, or actively break. And it's obviously on instinct, at that. Max hasn't practiced enough with it for it to be any other way.
With solids, it's the opposite of gasses where it definitely seems like they're just not cooperative at all during any kind of time manipulation. The only question is whether this is something that can be experimented with or if it's a hard rule that she can't do anything with solids. I'd argue the former, but that's yet to be seen.
I don't think that Max is ever going to have to be really good at, but she can try and get close. There's already some passive progress on this, what with everything Max is in possession of being unaffected by a rewind.
I think an interesting experiment would be to figure out whether it's the size of the object that keeps it from being affected (Chloe's truck is too big), a lack of physical contact (already jossed because Max couldn't bring Chloe into a rewind, but I'm mentioning it because it's an option that shouldn't be ignored even though it's been proven not the case. At least in that instance. It could be tried again.), or if it's a mental issue (Max only "considers" objects she's holding or on her person to belong to her).
I think we can use a bike for this. We can ride it, rewind whilst doing so and see what happens. If it doesn't move backwards then I think that put us in the mental issues being the source of the limit. If it does, then we might be in the "it's too big" territory. But who knows?
The only question that I can ask with this interpretation is whether or not the function or "purpose" of Max's power is set in stone. Because there's obviously a certain amount of necessity involved with the introduction of new applications of her powers. They respond to Max's needs more than anything else, the only internal logic seems to be whether it needs to happen or not.
Until the bathroom, Max hadn't needed to redo a moment of her life that vitally, but once she did she could rewind. Power #1
She hadn't needed to move as fast, or needed to rewind so far past her limit as she did during the Kate situation. So on instinct her powers did their best to accommodate. She couldn't rewind far enough to get herself to the top of the dorms in time, that would have exhausted her by the time she got there.
So instead, she stopped time at the expense of burning out her powers for a significant amount of time. (Whether that was for the rest of the day, until we got some more energy, caught our breath, I don't know but we couldn't rewind during that conversation IIRC)
So far that has been a one-time deal, but it did happen and if we were in a similar situation it could happen again. Power #2
The photojumps (Which are much more disconnected from her "base powers" than the timestop ever was) are just the same. She was stuck in one place, so she needed to be somewhere different. Power #3
That's all to say that the limits that Max has faced with her powers could all be issues of application or a lack of situational pressure. So maybe there's just more learning to do?
Unless some hard rules are put down (I don't know how they would be, Max doesn't know the full extent of what she can do anymore than we do) the only way to figure out what can be done is to try it out, a lot.
We did the budget timestop on a whim a few times in the junkyard, and now it's a part of Max's powerset. We're only scratching the surface. Power #4
The Budget Time Stop fits less into that necessity schema.
Maybe that's because Max is getting better.
(The Meta answer is that it's because this is a quest so we're more primed to fiddle around with stuff that the source material didn't)
Or maybe it's because it's not actually a separate power unto itself and just a very off-kilter application of the rewind power? I need to go back and reread the description during the junkyard scene. But between the different physics and how easily we're able to do it, it might be something closer to the OG Rewind Power.
I was going to say something else here, but after I got to thinking about the secondary superpowers, flimsy, less mass-ive solids might be the first link in figuring out what the limits are on interacting with them are. Max hasn't been getting her feet filleted everytime she walks, so there's something to that.
I hope I'm not rambling and I don't know if what I said properly addresses the truck issue in and of itself, but at least it could be a useful perspective with tackling how Max and her powers interact with her environment. Cause the logical extent of them, regardless of what perspective you employ for her powers, leaves noticeable exceptions either way you slice it.
And if there are exceptions, then maybe the rules aren't really "rules" at all, they're just limits at this particular stage.
Maybe with more practice and refinement, these issues can be fixed?
EDIT:
I went back in added in some stuff in whatever this particular shade is called. I hope it's not too much to read.
Well said all around, the Required Secondary Superpowers can certainly be considered part of it, this is me attempting to explain aspects of her powers while silmultaneously avoiding story spoilers with regard to Originator, so there's some leaps I made with missing steps. The observation that her powers evolve, or more accurately reapply themselves, when she needs them to the most is a good one. I might respond more in-depth later (might not too though) but overall these are very good observations and in-story will probably be interesting questions to follow up on once we get to another time where experimentation is convenient.
It is a conversation you've been dreading. In other loops it had been marginally easier, since taking revenge on Jefferson was… easy there. Easy to the point of muscle memory, eventually. But here, as you were told by… yourself, apparently, things are different.
"It has to do with… with all three of us. All three of us and- and Rachel." You cast your eyes downward as Chloe is suddenly rigid with alarm. You try to suppress the bubble of guilt that threatens to burst in your stomach.
How long has it been since you told the story? Normally you would have had to by now but… the Storm never came. You have to assume this world, and the state it's in are going to stick and continue beyond tonight. If this is going to be the world I live in- and I really hope it is- I want it to be one where I'm honest.
"The… place I was thinking might be a good base has a- we all have a… history, sort of, with it." The two of them look at you oddly. "Uh, like a history that I experienced, a really, really, really, really awful one."
Next to you, the expression on Chloe's face is a mix of trepidation, probably for what you'll reveal, and concern, for the distress you're in. You do feel awful, in a way that's like a panic attack, but more… even. More spread out, maybe. During a panic attack you feel like that Lord of the Rings quote, 'Too little butter spread over too much toast,' but now all you feel is a deep seated dread, like a physical ball of lead pressing down on your gut. On the other side of Chloe, Kate's eyes are sympathetic, you figure she can probably sense-ish the emotions you're feeling, however that works exactly with ambient fae. I wonder what she sees from Jefferson in class?
You steady yourself, forcing your white knuckle grips on the couch armrest and cushion to relax. "So… Mark Jefferson, world famous photographer, teacher at Blackwell and… apparently secret enforcer agent for the Prescotts, or something?" They nod. "Well… he has another hobby."
You turn your mind away from his face and his voice, even as they try to worm their way in. Think about it in the most objective terms, then speak it. "He-" Your voice hitches immediately. So much for that. You'd beaten him so many times, revealed his guilt to Arcadia Bay and gotten him vilified for it. Jefferson is a known variable, and you saw last night that even with the changes to this timeline, he is still Jefferson, in all of the worst ways possible.
So why are you still so scared of him? Why could he still turn your stomach and so deeply disturb you? Why does he still have power over you like that?
You're shaking, you realize, and you've folded in on yourself, elbows pressing into your stomach and hands clenched together in your lap, inadvertently mimicking a curled in version of the way Jefferson liked to pose his victims. I have to sit up, I have to keep talking. You nod mentally and try to do it, but it feels like you're seeing and feeling the world through a haze of television static. It feels almost like there's a distinct separation between your mind and body, like you're observing yourself from a distance. The static grows thicker as you try to unclench your hands. You feel a dull pain on the edge of your awareness, concentrated in your clasped fists, but it still feels like it's a million miles away. You feel completely disconnected, for a moment, you wonder what you're looking at. But it's like the input and stimuli your eyes are receiving is getting garbled on the way to your brain. The images you see should make sense but everything is foreign and utterly alien, except for the encroaching foggy noise that subsumes your vision.
Just as the static noise and fuzz are threatening to boil over and drag you with them into what you hope is dreamless unconsciousness, a sudden warmth makes your mind re-register the presence of your body. You can feel yourself breathing again, quiet, sharp, short gasps of air. A second later the warmth that brought you back is joined by a soft pressure, a possessive embrace that anchors you around your shoulders and stops your head from feeling like you're on a swaying ship. You can hear again, too. Chloe's voice. Mixing with the sudden, harsh sobs that wrack your whole body which you can feel again. Your throat is burning and your eyes sting. The muscles in your body hold tense for another moment after you become aware of them, and then they all loose at once, tired muscles aching, finally freed from the terror-induced contraction they'd been held in.
You collapse into Chloe, who's been holding you for… some amount of time, you're not sure how long you were out. You dimly hear her and Kate muttering to one another. What little attention you can give is suddenly drawn to the small, sharp pains in your palms. "Ow…" you mutter, your voice weak and reedy. You think your nails might have drawn blood in your hand. As it stands though your back feels like paper and any attempt to pull yourself away seems doomed to fail. So you lay there a while, and cry into Chloe's lap while she calmly strokes your hair.
≅≅≅
You stay like that a while, before you struggle into an upright position at Chloe's gentle urging. You choke and stand, still holding back sobs as you try and try and try not to imagine and remember what it felt like to be in the Dark Room, to be drugged to the point on the edge of unconsciousness by Jefferson, to be leered at and forcibly captured, in the most visceral and literal way by his camera and-
Even as you feel that static coming again and feel yourself spiralling once more into dissociative panic, that warmth returns. You realise dimly that it's not Chloe, Chloe has her arm around your waist and holds your left arm around her shoulder, gently guiding you up the stairs. But the warmth has a direction nonetheless. It's coming from behind you, and as soon as you become aware that the warmth isn't an internal thing and it's not from Chloe, it's like a veil is lifted and suddenly the warmth has a colour. Green, a warm forest green. Radiating, almost, through the static from some point behind you. The green's warmth feels calm, and steadfast, and… curious? Between the green warmth and the arm around your waist and the hand holding yours you're able to be more helpful struggling up the stairs.
Finally, you're back in Chloe's bed, upright, but with the comforter pulled over your lap. You do feel a bit better now, mostly because you aren't thinking about what you were going to talk about. You're focusing on getting your breathing back under control, while Chloe presses bandaids over the couple places your nails broke the skin, and Kate takes a clipper to them.
The image of the two of them taking care of you like this makes you feel a little guilty, even as you try to suppress it. Impulsively, you try to joke about it, "Very good, my servants," but your voice comes out quiet, closer to a mumble.
Kate hears though, and chuckles softly. "How's it going Max?"
You sigh, and wince as your throat tightens. "I-I'm okay… sorry for- that you guys have to do this…" Your voice trails off as you mumble the apology.
Kate's quiet for a terrifying moment, before she suddenly leans down into the field of view of your downcast eyes. She's smiling at you. "Max, you absolutely never, ever have to apologize for a panic attack. Okay? Not to me, and not to Chloe. Right?"
Chloe jumps at the sudden query directed at her. "Oh! Uh. Yeah. Ya for sure, right."
"Right," Kate says, then looks at you, "Okay?"
You sniffle, guilt still spooled in your chest, but maybe a little lighter now. "Okay."
A few quiet moments later, Kate starts to speak again. "Okay, so… Max. Did you… notice anything, when you were, um, having a bad time, a second ago? Anything that… helped pull you out of it?"
You'd guessed already, but it seems like she wasn't sure if she had been helping with the green warmth thingy. "Ya, was that you? The green sort of… warmth?"
Kate's eyebrows shoot up. "Green? You could see it?" You nod. "Huh." Kate mumbles.
She's quiet for a moment. Chloe's watching the two of you, confused. "Uh," you start, "it did help, a lot I think, between you doing that and Chloe it helped… recenter me, kind of."
"You could see it though? How?" Kate seems focused on this.
You try to think of how to describe it. "It was kinda like… when I started, uh, dissociating and kinda going unconscious, everything got kinda… staticy? Like a television. The green was colouring that and-" As you say the words describing what you saw, the reality of it hits you like a wave. "Hold on, was I seeing the, uh, 'ambient Fae'?"
Kate shrugs. "It… sounds like it, yes. But… hm."
"What's up?"
"N-Nothing, I just… more stuff to try and find in my books is all." She smiles at you, brushing aside the question. You decide to let it go though, you're in no emotional state for confrontation. "If you like, Max, I can… keep doing that for a bit? While you talk- if you still want to, that is."
You think about it for a moment. It's not like she's… forcing her emotions on me. When she 'colours' the ambient fae it feels more like something… atmospheric. Warmth, yeah, but also just an ambient comfort, somehow. The same feeling as being inside and warm when you can hear rain on the roof. You nod, "Yes please."
Even without the static, you can see it faintly. A subtle aura of warm green that suddenly suffuses the room. You look around in a level of wonderment, while Chloe follows your gaze in confusion. "It seriously blows being the only person without powers here dudes."
You reach over and pat her hand. "Don't worry Chlo, we'll figure out something cool for you."
She frowns a bit at your teasing tone, but nonetheless wriggles into her spot next to you, sitting up against the wall. "Alright Max, if Kate has her… green whatever up, can you tell us what you wanted to talk about now?"
Your heart tries again to jump into your throat, but with Chloe next to you and Kate's influence, you wrangle it down. You nod. "R-right."
Then, you tell them. You tell them about Jefferson, and his sick predilections for helplessness in his subjects. The way he preyed on you and Kate, and before that however many more girls and… Rachel Amber.
Chloe's expression crumpled when you told her about how you found Rachel the first time, what Nathan and Jefferson did to her. How for all those months, in the very place she and Rachel had considered their refuge, her body had been buried just barely surface deep. This time you held her as she was the one who cried, maybe she'd have been angry at you, if she hadn't just seen how real all this was for you. But you didn't want her to languish. You were quick to follow up and tell her the key differences this time that you'd realized. The first, and most important that Nathan wasn't around, and ultimately, he was the one who killed Rachel. This meant there was a chance, however slim, that Jefferson had done something else with her. The second of course being as a consequence, you hadn't found her body at the junkyard. You hope Chloe doesn't dwell on the fact that she'd originally been buried by Nathan in a terrified fit, and that Jefferson might just be more subtle.
Kate's face is impassive when you tell her about her alter-self's fate. Jefferson's manipulations of a girl who had been bullied and browbeaten into being unable to stand up for herself. A girl who was drugged at a party, who was made to feel so ashamed of being a victim that she tried to take her own life. Kate's face is impassive, yes, but the green warmth becomes tinged with sparks of red, and a hot anger that burns through her starts to burn in you too. Your voice threatens to break again when you tell her about finding her binder in the Dark Room, when you had realized that she had been a victim of Jefferson's who had survived.
Finally, and most difficult for you, you tell them about your own time in the Dark Room. You tell Chloe how finding Rachel's body had lead to her death, and to your own abduction. You avoid the logistical details, but describe the hellish journey you went through, from photograph to photograph, reality to reality, each terminating in the Dark Room. Each one a closed loop that sent you back to an awful, disturbing reality where your powers faltered and malfunctioned and where Jefferson stalked you endlessly. You cry, of course you do, several times. But it's not the ugly, world-obliterating tears of your prior panicked experience. These are tears of… catharsis? Not quite. The things you experienced can't be scrubbed out by just crying, but they are a step. Sharing this with them… part of you still feels the guilt. These timelines are dead, burdening Chloe and Kate with what didn't happen is only putting more weight onto their shoulders. But… not being the only one who knows. It somehow makes it feel a little more real. Which for once, isn't a bad thing.
To end the infodump, you tell them a bit more about how this went in the loops. Your first loop past the original five day stretch had resulted in your capture, again. This time it had been by a panicked Nathan as you confronted him about his involvement in the Dark Room. What had happened in there… had been mostly the same. Albeit with an increasingly manic Nathan clashing with Jefferson. But they had… fought, in the end. You watched Jefferson kill Nathan, again. But Jefferson came out with nasty wounds, courtesy of Nathan's knife. Ultimately, you were rescued again, after several hours alone with their corpses, tied to a chair. Chloe and David burst into the Dark Room, and you were saved. Only to jump back again, of course, several hours later.
The only other time you'd been involuntarily brought there had been in… yes, the tenth loop. Maybe you had gotten sloppy, maybe something new you'd tried had tipped him off. But Jefferson got wise to your meddling. After class on the third day he had asked to speak with you, keeping up the pretense of a good student, you'd obliged, only to feel the tight prick of a needle breaking your skin. How exactly he had smuggled your body out of the school, you have no idea, but when you awoke you were in the Dark Room, and a day early. At that point, you were so detached, you'd thought he wouldn't be able to do anything to hurt you anymore. He'd been more than happy to prove you wrong. You shudder. You know what happened, but trying to actually recall the memories felt like pushing against a wall made of playdough. Solid, sure, but pliant. You could scoop away at it, if you were so inclined. But something tells you you wouldn't like what you found on the other side.
≅≅≅
You, Chloe, and Kate sit silently on the bed. The wind outside hisses gently through the trees, and some quiet, folk-ish sounding music makes a calm backdrop, courtesy of Kate's iPod plugged into Chloe's boombox.
"Do you think Rachel's alive, Max?" You look at Chloe. Even as she asks the question, you don't see that… hope that had been in her eyes the first night. She'd been so excited for the possibility that you could… time travel and bring back Rachel to her. You don't see that in her eyes anymore. Just… resignation.
Do you think Rachel might have survived? Kate did in the original timeline, but Kate didn't disappear for six months. Maybe Rachel could have run away from Jefferson? You can't think of how, for all the same reasons the Dark Room appeals to you as a homebase.
"I don't know, Chloe." She starts to shrink, but you sit up and put your hand on hers. "I don't mean that like 'no' at all, Chloe, that isn't me shielding your feelings or anything like that. I really, truly don't know." You sigh, and lean back, Chloe's eyes are still downcast. "But I'm going to hope Chlo. You don't have to, but I will. I want to find Rachel." The blue haired girl nods slowly, looking tired, and more resigned than you'd ever seen her.
"Right. Thanks Max." You can almost hear her forcing the emotion into her voice. It still comes out mostly flat. You don't think you'll be getting through to her tonight.
Kate speaks then, "And… you want us to… live in this place?
A little more sure of yourself, you nod. "Kate, this might be our only window where it's even relatively safe to take over a place like this. Right now our biggest advantage is that they don't know we know it exists. Imagine what we could do with an underground bunker, especially if I use my powers to get us some money."
She hums hesitantly in agreement, "I suppose…"
"Let's do it," Chloe interjects. You both look at her in surprise. A new fire is burning in her cobalt eyes. "An underground bunker is cool, sure, but I want to turn that place against Jeffershit and the Prescotts. I can start doing some research, if we set up a really good rig for me down there, maybe I can make myself more useful than sitting around needing Max to protect me and tell me where to shoot when a bad guy jumps in."
You nod. "That's… basically what I was thinking. I don't think it'll be easy for me or anything… but I think we can make it into something… other than the Dark Room."
Kate still looks dubious, but you know at this point she won't say no to Chloe if she's convinced.
"Wanna head out now?" Chloe asks.
The question startles you a bit. For all the thinking and talking about it, you're not sure your brain really registered that you're going back to the Dark Room. Faced with it so immediately, you're scared, but you know you would be no matter how much time passed. You nod. "Let's go."
≅≅≅
Current Point: October 11th, 2013. 4:16PM.
≅≅≅
This is one of them half-of-the-update posts. Sorry this whole update is taking so long, having a bit of writers block with the whole scene. I know I said I wanted to get it right, but I'm even not super sure about this half. But I needed to just get it done and out, or else it would never get done.
This update is very much influenced by my own experiences with trauma, apologies if it feels like a bunch of the chapter is focused on Max's internal experience in that regard, but I am writing this in a big way for myself as well.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this half. Next half the girls descend into the Dark Room, to discover the binders, and see what ~hidden base traits~ await them.
Chloe's truck rumbles quiet, silencing the radio's chattering about the unseasonal wildfires in southern Washington state. You all quietly unbuckle and step out. You stand outside of the Prescott barn, flanked to either side by Chloe and Kate. The drive here had only taken fifteen minutes, there wasn't much traffic out of the Bay this time of day.
"It's under there?" Kate asks, breaking the silence.
You nod at the dilapidated barn. "Yup, under a trapdoor."
Chloe snorts. "Real subtle and not-serial-killer-y. Really just an incredibly super normal thing for anyone to do, build a tiny bunker under a shitty barn and give your son and his photography teacher free reign down there. Jesus."
"Apparently Mr. Prescott is a piece of work…" You say, remembering Luke's comments, all the way back in that first week. You'd barely given him a second thought then, why would Nathan's dad be relevant to you? I mean, I still don't know it's him specifically. Corporations and stuff can have different branches hiding things from each other…
"I guess he'd have to be, to be a CEO." Kate says and rolls her eyes.
You just shrug and start picking your way forward. The barn itself doesn't hold any terror for you, your memories here are only of exploring with Chloe, and of escaping your ordeal inside. The path into the barn looks the same as you remember, junk and rotted wood strewn about, an old, rusted car to one side. I wonder if we've already tripped some kind of sensor, or if they're only past the trap door?
Chloe is uncharacteristically quiet as you enter the barn proper through the same, covered up gap in the wall you remember. Kate's humming quietly though, and doing something else too. You can't quite describe it as any sort of conscious thing, but now and again you're able to discern those same colours radiating off of her. They're less potent than in Chloe's room, but you see the warm green, coloured more by flashes of red and purple underneath. It expands and contracts in waves around Kate in time with her humming. It's faint, yes, but still visible. Soooooo weird.
You shake your head and focus on the barn. You've given consideration to the idea that Prescott might have someone guarding the Dark Room in Jefferson's absence, since he seems to be taking a more… active role with Jefferson here.
"Right, here it is." The other two follow you to where hay and straw cover up the trapdoor. Some part of you had somehow hoped that the Dark Room just… wouldn't be here when you showed up. That working with the Prescotts had somehow forced Jefferson to hold back on his fucked up hobbies. But that hope is crushed as you once more uncover the long, heavy metal trapdoor that hides the stairway down into the Dark Room.
"It's locked." Kate frowns.
Oh… right. "Crap," you say, "normally I bring a pair of bolt cutters for this…"
Ugh. Time to do it the old fashioned way, I guess.
"One sec guys." You go through your motions with the old motor and the rope and hook. This was one of the times in that first week you'd felt most like a superhero, until it was terrifyingly eclipsed almost instantly by the discovery that awaited you underneath.
This time though… you can't help but show off a little as you go through the motions. To Chloe and Kate, your initial climb probably looks closer to something out of that Dishonored game. That's fully intentional. By making use of both rewind and budget timestop, you're able to turn the motor into a floating, mid-air platform that you launched yourself off of toward the top wooden platform. By quickly rewinding the motor back into place before you land and then dropping the rewind, you made it look as if you had teleported into the air, then pushed yourself off of nothing to land (painfully hard) on that top platform.
Chloe's "Ho-ly SHIT!!" in response makes your re-bruised knees more than worth it though. You tie the motor to the rope and give it a shove, quickly pulling the world back into budget timestop so you can clamber down and watch the spectacle from the ground.
Spectacle is maybe too strong a word for it, but the lock makes a satisfying sound as the hook suddenly pulls taut and shatters the mechanisms inside. Chloe jumps as you appear beside her, casually leaning on a wooden column.
"Nice." You say, smirking at the two of them.
"That was so badass…" Kate whispers as Chloe cheers. It feels good to be appreciated.
"Alright, can you two lift this? It's heavy and I'm not quite… ready for that kind of lifting."
They nod and kneel down on either end of the long trapdoor.
"Ready?"
"Sure."
With a heave, they pry it open, and that bare concrete staircase confronts you once more. Here we go.
You walk down the steps, shivering as the cooler underground air hits you. The vault door looms a bit further down.
"This is some seriously dystopian shit," Chloe says behind you.
"Tell me about it," you reply.
The vault door looks the same as you remember. The keypad, too. Five, three, and four, faded away from use.
Kate and Chloe are quiet as you key in the numbers. Everything is silent for a moment, before a CLUNK-CLUNK-CLUNK-CLANK shatters the stillness.
You look back at your friends. Chloe's eyes are narrowed, but she gives you a tight smile while she reaches back to hold the gun tucked into the waist of her jeans. Kate doesn't know what to do with her hands, having turned down the gun that David (hesitantly) offered her. Her eyes, and moreover that energy she's incidentally pulsing out, have a cast of… curiosity over them. She gives you a quick nod, and you set your jaw and offer what you hope is a reassuring smile to both of them. "Let's go."
You have to put your whole body into it to even start to open the door. Despite it's weight it's silent until it reaches the end of where it's hinges can carry it with a THUMP. With a rush of just too warm stale air, the Dark Room lies open.
You enter cautiously, flanked by the others. The entry storage room looks much as you remember it, but you're not so much looking at it as you are scanning it, searching for any sign of movement. Nothing. You let out a short breath and look at the room properly as Kate and Chloe slowly fan, keeping well clear of the plastic flaps that lead to the Dark Room proper. Shelves and shelves of non-perishable supplies, whether for theStorm or some other disaster, you're not sure. At the far end of the room, the same bare metal utility sink as you remember.
Satisfied that this room is clear, you keep from dwelling on any memories by creeping further forward, towards the plastic flaps. Kate and Chloe stop their examinations of the storage room and tiptoe to follow close behind you.
Staring intently through the plastic flaps, you can't see much from your current angle. So you breath, gather the threads into your hand for safety, and quickly turn the corner to enter the Dark Room.
No one. The same Dark Room you remember. Disgusting posters adorn the wall, everything black or white or some shade of grey. Stark fluorescent lighting flickering rapidly. Camera setup in front of the couch, Jefferson's desk and computer in the corner across from you.
After all of the panic attacks and tears and nightmares, returning to the Dark Room is almost… underwhelming. You'd expected to have another panic attack, or to collapse, or start bawling and demanding to leave, but instead… just a quiet sadness fills you. For the other victims in this world, the ones you can't save. Maybe you're too emotionally drained right now. Maybe the Dark Room will come back to haunt you in it's worst shape tonight as you try to sleep. Or maybe… maybe you can handle it. With Kate and Chloe. They know everything now, and they're your… friends. With their help… maybe getting through this and making it your own will be easier.
Negative Trait 'Bad Memories' severity lessened due to honesty.
≅≅≅
Almost immediately, you and Chloe meet at the cabinets, while Kate wanders off to the far end of the room.
"Shit." There's another padlock on the cabinet that contains the red binders. "This wasn't here before."
Chloe raises an eyebrow. "No more superhero tricks for this one?"
You stick your tongue out, forcing levity. "Not this time, punk."
Chloe sighs. "Rachel knew how to pick locks, I should've gotten her to show me."
Oh Chloe… You smile at her. "A woman of many talents?"
"Ha! You have no idea, once she decided to learn how to do something, it felt like by the next day she'd already be halfway to average at it. Painting, jewelry making, graphic design, you name it." Struck by a thought, Chloe frowns, then says, "Awful driver though, no idea why she couldn't figure that out."
You smile and note that you… don't feel the usual twang of jealousy in your chest. That's… good. Chloe and Rachel were really important to one another… I shouldn't devalue the importance of that to Chloe.
Either way though, you've gotta get this cabinet open. Maybe Jefferson left some tools lying aro-
"Hey Max?" Kate's voice snaps you out of your train of thought.
"Ya?" You say, turning.
Kate's standing next to the enormous white wall-to-floor tarp that Jefferson used to frame his subjects on. Seeing her on it sends a trill of panic down your spine, but you manage to shake yourself out of it. Kate's fine.
"Didn't you say this place was small?"
You nod, "Uh, yeah. Just these two rooms, it's not a big bunker at all."
"Then what's this?" She turns around and grabs the tarp, then in a single motion, pulls it free from the tape that had held it onto the wall. What you had thought through fourteen separate loops was just a standard photography screen falls to the ground in a heap. Behind it, another heavy vault door interrupts what you had always assumed was another bare concrete wall. Has this… always been here? Or is it new?
You walk towards it slowly. "I… haven't seen this before."
Kate nods. "I get why, not a place you'd expect to look. We should probably check it out before we look for the binders."
Chloe looks hesitantly upwards, but nods a moment later. "Maybe they stuffed the key for this through there."
"Right. Lemme just do another safety selfie." You lift up William's camera.
"For good luck, right?" Chloe quips.
"Pft, if this is good luck, then I'm glad I don't have bad luck." You reply.
Click.
≅≅≅
You sigh. "I can't do one of these that needs to be pulled, help me?"
The other two girls quickly apologize and join you gripping the handle. There was no keypad on this door, just a locking mechanism that was, thankfully, unlocked. You pull it open, part of you dreading what's on the other side, the other part of you burning with curiosity-
And you find another vault door.
"Seriously!?" Chloe exclaims. You shrug and step into the small chamber adjoining the two doors, when you notice the blueprint on the wall.
"Hey, check this out." The other two crowd around you. "If this is right… this bunker is much, much bigger than I thought it was…" You have Chloe take a picture of the twoblueprints with her phone.
Hidden Positive Trait 'Expansive' revealed.
≅≅≅
"Look," Chloe says, "All of those private bedrooms, and a communal quarters? That's fancy architect-speak for barracks. You could house a small army down there."
You nod, a sudden worry in your gut. "What if… they are down there? This place is huge…"
"We'll just have to scout it out." Chloe says firmly. "If things go up in shit creek, we have your photo for insurance."
You ignore her mixed metaphors and nod slowly. "Right…"
This is a push door, so once again you press your body weight against it. It silently slides open, revealing… just what the floor plan had shown. A room that looks ready to be a dining room/kitchen when furnished properly. Black granite counters jut blockily from the ground on one side of the room, wrapping around so the 'kitchen area' has counters along the wall, and a bar area in front. The walls are still bare concrete, but the floor is primarily plain white tile, except for the kitchen area enclosed by the granite counters, where it is changed to black tile.
"They sure had a… specific colour philosophy, huh?" Chloe mutters.
"It feels so sterile…" Kate says quietly.
You walk to the granite counters and wipe one finger along it. Just like I thought. You breathe a sigh of relief. "Dusty." You announce. "They haven't been using this place."
Exploring the rest of the bunker goes much the same. The utility closet is the most interesting, featuring the machinery that heats and, apparently, purifies the water as well as the air. It also has a touchpad computer of some kind built into the wall, which Chloe looks sorely tempted to start monkeying with immediately, before you pull her away to explore the rest of the floor. Most of the rooms are bare and empty, the only difference being the flooring. The rec room has a soft light gray carpet, while the offices and conference room have laminated hardwood floors of either white or black. Notably, the conference room does have a huge badass mahogany conference table, but no chairs.
Downstairs, things are largely similar. The landing at the bottom of the stairs has an empty water cooler in it. I wonder if the water evaporated… can water evaporate eventually underground? Chloe would know.
The floor here is bare concrete, sleek and polished at this part of the bunker, the walls too. The guest and master bedrooms all share the grey carpeting of the upstairs rec room, but their walls are different than anywhere else in the bunker. Instead of poured concrete, they look as though they're hewn from the bare rock that had to have been otherwise chipped away and cleared. It's probably all been sanded down a bit, but it actually gives the rooms a somewhat natural aesthetic.
"This is… kind of badass actually." Chloe remarks, and both you and Kate signal your agreement.
The final part of the bunker lies, once again, behind heavy metal vault doors. "Okay, you two are opening this one."
They giggle and comply, pushing it open much more easily together than you had done the others alone. The concrete down this hallway looks more unfinished. Still smooth, of course, but lacking the glossy finish down the other bedroom hallway.
"Wow," you hear Chloe say. You poke your head into the 'storage' room she had opened and leaned into.
"Are those… gun racks?" You ask, feeling a little apprehensive.
"I… think so." Chloe nods.
They're empty, of course. But their presence at all raises a question to both your minds that Chloe airs. "Who would need this many guns near Arcadia Bay? For what?" You glance around the rest of the room. Cabinets with heavily reinforced glass, all empty, line one wall, while the other wall has a bay of freezers and fridges lined up.
You shrug helplessly. "Let's check out the rest of this hallway."
The two of you rejoin Kate in the 'communal quarters', which as Chloe had predicted, are indeed a military style barracks. The quarters are also home to the most furniture you'd seen in the bunker so far. Four columns of neatly made bunk beds line the room around the sides, and bisect it down the middle. Kate demonstrates their disuse by thumping one of the mattresses, sending up a thick cloud of dust that has the three of you staggering back. At a loss, you all shrug or shake your heads at each other and move on.
The communal bathroom is as expected, drains in the floor and that same cool white tile as the other bathrooms. Chloe reaches over and tries one of the taps. After a violent sounding splutter and a burst of air, the tap suddenly starts spouting water obediently.
"Huh." Chloe says.
"We should prooobably run those a bit before we drink from them." Kate tentatively dips a finger under the stream. "Huh. Warm."
After finishing in the communal washroom, you all make your way to the final vault door. "Another one, weird." Kate says.
Chloe looks at it thoughtfully. "These are 'private' bedrooms, they're probably for company members a bit more important than the henchmen, but not quite Prescott level."
Kate frowns, "The rooms looked pretty small though."
"At least they'd be private."
Kate shrugs, and since you're in the lead, you once again lean in to do the heavy pushing.
This door swings open much more easily than the others though. Also unlike the others, it lets out a loud CREEEEEAAAK as it opens, like the hinges are already straining. Immediately as you enter, you're hit by a significant, bright light difference, and a shuddering sense of wrong.
The concrete inside is yellowed, rough, and chipped in places, reminding you almost of badly maintained teeth. The fluorescent bulbs feel brighter and harsher than the rest of the bunker, though you suppose that could be an illusion from it reflecting off of the brighter concrete.
"What the hell?"
"Oh my god…"
Chloe and Kate's dual refrains mark your own realization of what you're looking at. The 'rec room' preceding the private bedrooms has a large grate drain in the center. On one wall are several hose lines with spray nozzles attached. That's it. That's the rec room. It gives you a sick feeling about what lies beyond the other doors. They aren't the vault doors from earlier, but they're still heavy, reinforced metal.
Chloe purposefully strides over and throws one open with another scratchy CREEEAK. She blinks and stares for a moment as her face hardens, then turns and thunders back into the rec room, swearing and growling.
Startled by her reaction, and dreading what's through the door, you look over at Kate, meet her eyes, and step forward together.
"Oh…" Kate gasps, stepping back. Rows of… cells look back at you. You can see the edge of a toilet peaking out of the back from the one you have the most view into. No lights in the cells proper, but double rows of those bright, harsh fluorescents cast shadows into each one.
"Private rooms my ass-" Chloe shouts behind you, "they have a fucking prison down here!"
Kate's stepped away away from the door, back into the rec room, but you're transfixed. Why… what were they planning to even use this for? Fifteen separate cells… just, why? You're watching the darkness in one of the cells, with the flickering of the fluorescent bulbs, it almost looks like it's bubbling, moving. You blink a few times, and the effect disappears. Huh.
Feeling more than a little disturbed, you step back and close the door gingerly, but slowing the close only draws out the creeeeeeeeeeeeak even longer.
"Let's… go back upstairs." You say.
Hidden Negative Trait 'Something in the Shadows' Revealed
≅≅≅
The three of you sit on the carpeted rec room floor upstairs, unwilling to re-enter the part of the bunker you still considered the 'Dark Room' proper, even with no proper furniture down here. Chloe had spent some time fiddling with the console in the utility room. It was totally unsecured, it turned out, and it held the controls for just about every function of the bunker. Sloppy, but I guess most people don't expect their secret bunkers to get… stolen. The primary things Chloe had done was sever the bunker's internet connection, hopefully nullifying any outgoing alarms in the process, and change the code on the door to a much more secure six digit code. Seriously, who uses a three digit pin for their freaking bunker?
"So… we have a bunker, folks." Chloe says with a grin. Even after the discovery downstairs, your moods are… surprisingly light. The excitement in your gut is familiar, the same as discovering a comfortable stretch of forest in the woods as kids with Chloe, the infinite possibilities of what you could create there. Same here. So many rooms, and so secure, what can't you do from this place? "But what now?" Chloe continues.
"Well since we didn't find a key, we should probably buy some bolt cutters to get to those binders." You say.
Chloe nods. "Right, we'll do that when we come back. I'll also try to do something with Jefferson's computer, now that it's disconnected."
Kate lays on her back on the carpet. "We need some money to fill this place up if we want to live here." She idly pulls out her phone. "Huh, at least we get service down here." You remember your phone buzzing while Jefferson taunted you. You sure do get service down here.
"Money is gonna be interesting… but I have some ideas, and I'd love to hear what ones you guys have too." You think for a second, then continue. "I think since we're just getting, like, basic furniture right now, maybe just raiding an ATM will do? With rewind I can basically clear one out, since the money I take out won't rewind once I have it on me. I used to say 'Don't go to the dark side, Max,' but it feels kinda like we are fighting the dark side now."
Chloe laughs. "Well, the rebels weren't called 'rebels' because they respected the law."
"Huh," you say, "good point."
Kate interrupts, "What about horse races? Other gambling might be a bit risky, but horse races are big payouts, and fairly predictable. It might be too long for a rewind, but you could, uh, hard photojump back?" She looks at you to check if she's using the terminology correctly. You nod.
"That could be good, actually."
Chloe interjects, "Winning too much or too often could draw some attention though, Max doesn't really look like the gambling type."
Kate grins at the blue haired punk. "But you know who does, cutie? Who says Max has to be the person doing it?"
Chloe's face blanches. "Oh shit, true."
You giggle, "Okay, it's an idea, we'll think about it."
"How about instead of using me for my good looks," Chloe makes a face at Kate while she says that, "you spend some time learning about the stock market?"
You make a face at the thought. "Math…"
"I- What? Ugh. Yes Max, math, how horrifying." Chloe pouts. "But think of the long term income! We could be millionaires Max, millionaires!"
Kate's frowning though. "Just like the people we're up against?"
Chloe snorts, "No, no, of course not. They're billionaires."
"Either way," Kate shakes her head, "Money's a tool, but hoarding it like that, just to have when we don't even have to pay rent or taxes right now doesn't seem right."
Chloe just shrugs. "We're a long way from even our first thousand right now, sitting here. Why not try it? We can just reevaluate once we're a bit further in, right?"
"I guess…"
[] Raid an ATM
This will get you a solidly sized, one time infusion of Buying Power. Low risk unless you repeat it many times in quick succession. [] Cheat horse races
This will get you a hefty, one time sum of Buying Power. Medium Risk, quickly grows if repeated too often though. [] Oh no… math
Beginning to learn the stock market at this point will start your initial investments growing pretty early. But it takes a long time for liquid stocks to be able to be worth anything in actual monetary value, let alone be withdrawn as such. This could be initially very fatiguing too, and might slow down your investigation into what's actually going on even further. With Max's powers, growth of stocks is essentially exponential, meaning you could quite quickly have much, much more than you know what to do with. That much money, even in liquid assets, can cause it's own host of problems.
≅≅≅
You're all sitting on the huge mahogany conference table now. It's not exactly comfortable, but something about the irreverence you're showing for the Serious Business Table™ feels extremely Good and Correct.
"So money aside, what else are we looking to do?" Chloe asks.
You frown. "Well… I wanna know why Prescott tried to… kill you and capture me. How does he even know I'm here?"
Chloe nods. "Right, but how do we do that?"
You sigh and flop back onto the table. It's seriously big enough for all of you to lie sprawled out on with plenty of room still.
Kate sits up as you lie down though. Chloe snickers at the somewhat silly sight. Kate shoots her a glare. "How about this? Let's spend tonight when we get back going over everything that's happened, and try to come up with some leads to follow."
Chloe puts on an overly dramatic frown. "Leads? I thought you were Merlin, not Sherlock Holmes."
Kate splutters, "I- Wha- Merlin!? Seriously? How am I Merlin?"
"You're like, magic and shit." Chloe grins, clearly happy to have gotten to Kate.
Kate looks at you pleadingly, but you just grin as well. "You are magic and shit, Kate."
"Come ooooon."
You put your hand to your chin. "Hmm, maybe Morgan le-" You pause as you remember the rest of the character's name, then giggle. "Hehe, Morgan le Fay is more fitting."
Kate pauses, and then whips her head to you, excitement bubbling in her eyes. "Ouh!! I've got a bunch of manuscripts from different witches debating whether she was real or not! Some say she was actually the founder of Verdant Magic, but I don't know about that, a lot of the scripts make really convincing arguments that humanity's been doing Verdant Magic, even in little ways, for as long as we've been around which makes sense but-" Chloe coughs lightly, interrupting her blonde friend.
Kate pauses and blushes. Oh that's adorable. "Maybe we can talk about it… later, Kate?" You suggest gently.
She smiles brightly, and on the edge of your awareness a pulsing, sun-dappled green indicates her happiness. Interesting. "Sounds good, Max."
"Right, so ideas board for what leads to track down, got it. Anything else?" Chloe asks.
You frown. "There's probably some other… miscellaneous, or social, even, stuff we should get up to." In particular, Frank is on your mind. You'll probably have to grab some money before you deal with him though. "Maybe we should talk about some of those?"
"Right." Chloe says, and scribbles something into the notebook that she'd apparently just pulled out of her back pocket. A gun, a notebook, what else you packing back there girl? "So, we reconvene at home in a couple hours, after supper?"
"Sure."
"Sounds good."
"Cool." Chloe says. "Let's ditch this popsicle joint."
≅≅≅
Current Point - October 11th, 2013. Around 6PM.
Currently based out of:
Chloe's room is the archetypal image of a rebellious teenager's room. Detritus, from unwashed clothes to empty beer bottles, litters the floor, and an assortment of what could be uncharitably considered 'junk and knick knacks' cover every shelf and raised surface in the room. Despite all of that though, or possibly because of it, it might be your favourite place in Arcadia Bay. Something about the room is intrinsically calming, and you always feel centered after a night here.
+Homey - Sleeping here is relaxing, and it's rare for you to have a poor night's sleep, especially when you share the bed with Chloe. A home cooked Joyce breakfast in the mornings doesn't hurt either.
+Will's Vines - Speaking of calming, something about the scent of the overgrown houseplants downstairs seems to leave you clear headed and aware, even if you're otherwise exhausted. Can be good if you ever need to cram for a test after a long day. Hah, as if.
-Messy - Needs one base action a turn dedicated to cleaning up the mess that Chloe and Kate somehow manage to consistently accumulate. Maybe you can eventually convince one of them to help though?
-Slow WiFi - This sucks, man
Big Cork Board - Great for conspiracy theories and tracking evidence. Tell me about Pepe Silvia!
Chloe's Laptop - It's a fairly recent laptop, good enough to run most games if you set the graphics low enough. I'm not super interested in using it for gaming though.
Backyard? - It's got potential. Weird time to choose to develop my green thumb though.
David's Garage - It's big, and you're enough in David's good graces at this point that you could probably convince him to let you do just about anything with it, as long as he can still park his muscle car in there. Insert compensating joke.
Base in Progress
Floor 1 Floor 2
Originally used as a photography studio and kidnapping den by Mark Jefferson, and in your timeline Nathan Prescott. You, Chloe, and Kate discovered that the Bunker is significantly more expansive than you'd previously known. With several strange facilities, you're not quite sure how to feel about everything. At least it's secure, for now.
+Secure - One way in, one way out, and a plethora of early warning sensors you can disable or bend to your own use.
+Expansive - The Prescotts did not skimp on the bunker. Lots of space to grow, very self sufficient, and lots of versatile facilities.
-Bad Memories - No shit, eh? This can be alleviated through redecorating and changing the look and feel of the space, but your nights here will be very uneasy until then. Severity lessened due to honesty with Chloe and Kate.
-Something in the Shadows - No, no. It's nothing, right?
7x Empty Rooms
2x Dark Room Rooms (To be repurposed)
3x Bedrooms with en-suites (Unfurnished aside from en-suites)
1x Barracks
1x Kitchen/Dining Room (Unfurnished aside from stove/oven and dishwasher)
1x Bathroom
1x Communal Bathroom/Shower
1x Utility Room
2x Prison Blocks
1x Prison 'Rec Room'
≅≅≅
The next turn will cover five days of progress, possibly with an update featuring a decision related to one of your choices before the primary update. You are welcome to write-in plans for your choices beneath each one, but really, seriously no pressure to do so. We've been going fairly chronologically slowly until now, each update covering a few hours, or less, most of the time. This is going to be a sudden speed up. Also, as you will note below, I am now tracking numbers to represent your relationships with Kate and Chloe, as well as their relationship with each other. You are not privy to these yet, figure'em out from how they treat you.
Leads - Pick One
[X] Investigate the Red Binders - Free action this turn.
Chloe says, "We're coming back tomorrow with some bolt cutters to get into that cabinet. If Rachel has a binder in there... I need to know." From the expression on her face, you're not inclined to dispute her. [] Investigate Prescott Offices in Town
Kate says, "They got set up down there by the docks a while ago. Lots of fishermen in and out for business meetings at first, but that's slowed down now. I think it's mostly other suits that come and go these days. I don't know if there'll be anyone but low-level staffers, but it might be worth checking out anyway." [] Follow up on Jefferson's arrest
Chloe frowns and says, "David never did get back to us about what happened with that. I don't like the idea of him creeping around still, even with a couple of bullet holes in his legs. Maybe we should check in at the station." [] Help Kate with studying her booksfor information on yourself and whatever Nathan was doing
Kate smiles broadly, "Oh! You weren't just saying that? I'd love some help, I already have an idea for what ones we should check out first!" This will also count as a social action with Kate. [] Help Chloe research the Prescott's operations through the internet
Chloe nods, trying to hide her excitement. "Yeah, that sounds cool. I bet we could use your powers to help improve my leet hacker skillz even more, give me warnings when I'm gonna fuck up and stuff." This will also count as a social action with Chloe. If you choose a money option that gives you a lump sum, you will purchase a computer for Chloe and this will be more effective. [] Write-In
Chloe pouts at you. "Oh, did I forget something? Or did you decide not to tell me?"
Money Options - Pick One
[] Raid an ATM
You lean back in your seat, "It'll get us a comfortable amount of money, enough to furnish what we really need from the Dark Room right now. It's safe too, unless I have to hit all the ATMs in Arcadia Bay in quick succession." [] Cheat horse races
Kate grins at Chloe, "If we get little Miss Trouble here to the races, it could be a big payout. She looks badass and young enough too that people shouldn't question her betting unconscionable amounts of money. If it's too much though it could draw some attention... and honestly it still might either way. There's no subtle way to win big at a horse race." [] Oh no… math
Chloe raises her hands pleadingly. "Just- hear me out. Stocks are all about time, if we get started now, sure we might not be able to move into the Dark Room right away, but with your powers? A few months down the line we could probably build a dozen Dark Rooms. Probably. Maybe." [] Write-In
Kate fixes you with a flat gaze. "Please don't say you want to rob a bank." This is subject to my veto or modification.
Miscellaneous and Social Options - Pick Two
[] Deal with Frank
Chloe sighs. "Yeah, he's a bit of a time bomb. If I'm away from town to be here a bunch, he might just freak out next time he sees me." She frowns. "Or it could be even worse if he follows me here, or sees us buying furniture." She looks at you sheepishly. "I know I wanna do the stocks... but if we do one of the other ideas, could we pay him off first?" [] Meet up with someone else you remember - Write-in who?
You shrug. "I knew quite a bit about a lot of people 'cause of my powers. One of them might know something, or be able to point us in the right direction." Blackwell students, townies, anyone goes. [] Spend some time with Chloe
Chloe smiles. "That'd be nice, Max. We've been able to relax a couple times since you came back, but we haven't like, just hung out. You smoke weed in Seattle?" This will increase your relationship with Chloe. [] Spend some time with Kate
Kate blinks in surprise, "Oh, a tea party? I'm down. I could make us some relaxing tea- yes of course with magic- are you sure you don't want Chloe to come along? ... No you're right, she'd be bored out of her mind." This will increase your relationship with Kate. [] Spend some time with Chloe and Kate. (And get some new clothes while you're at it.)
You grin at the girls. "How do you feel about a trip to Portland? Once we get some cash I could use some new clothes, and I thought it'd be cool to get your opinions." This will increase the bond between all three of you, slower than individual hangouts, but increases Chloe and Kate's relationship too, though that will otherwise increase sporadically. [] Try to learn some magic from Kate?
Kate hums. "Well, you do obviously influence the Ambient Fae, even if it's weaker than most... we could certainly try to teach you to do something." [] Practice your Powers
Kate nods. "It sounds like you've been able to figure out 'new' powers by using your 'old' ones in more varied or creative ways. I think you should focus on that, rather than doing 'reps' or something." [] Exercise
You sigh. "I'm still in pretty awful shape, some exercise could do me good." This may become a free action if chosen consistently enough. [] Write-In
"What does 'miscellaneous' even mean in this context..." Kate grumbles.
Base Options - N/A You will gain access to base options once you occupy the Dark Room permanently.
≅≅≅
Whew. Hey y'all. I've had this 'opening up' of the quest in the planning stages for a hot minute, but getting it all out onto a post and trying to make sure it makes sense to anyone outside of myself are an ordeal in themselves. We're still moving at the speed of plot, but y'all are choosing how we get there. I won't say how many turns you have until I temporarily wrest control away from you again, but it will happen eventually, so be prepared. It's also very, very possible I've missed something that you'd consider a lead due to me having incalculable cosmic authorial knowledge that irrevocably keeps my viewpoint from being neutral, so don't hesitate to write-in there. Feel free to compliment me for my excellent Dark Room blueprints by the way, they were fun to make.
[X] Plan Positive Momentum
[X] Help Kate with studying her booksfor information on yourself and whatever Nathan was doing
Kate smiles broadly, "Oh! You weren't just saying that? I'd love some help, I already have an idea for what ones we should check out first!" This will also count as a social action with Kate. [X] Cheat horse races
Kate grins at Chloe, "If we get little Miss Trouble here to the races, it could be a big payout. She looks badass and young enough too that people shouldn't question her betting unconscionable amounts of money. If it's too much though it could draw some attention... and honestly it still might either way. There's no subtle way to win big at a horse race." [J] Rob Every Bank in Portland
It says something about me that I thought about this option before I ever considered the stock market.
[X] Deal with Frank
Chloe sighs. "Yeah, he's a bit of a time bomb. If I'm away from town to be here a bunch, he might just freak out next time he sees me." She frowns. "Or it could be even worse if he follows me here, or sees us buying furniture." She looks at you sheepishly. "I know I wanna do the stocks... but if we do one of the other ideas, could we pay him off first?" [X] Exercise [] Spend some time with Chloe and Kate. (And get some new clothes while you're at it.) You grin at the girls. "How do you feel about a trip to Portland? Once we get some cash I could use some new clothes, and I thought it'd be cool to get your opinions." This will increase the bond between all three of you, slower than individual hangouts, but increases Chloe and Kate's relationship too, though that will otherwise increase sporadically.
Our relationship with both Kate and Chloe isn't exactly on the rocks, the only thing I feel is important at the moment is to shore up the sources of conflict that are avoidable. That means paying off Frank and trying to counter any of the more obvious threats to our person, ie. tricky magic shit that we can't handle/don't understand, and le moníes.
I'd feel bad complimenting on just the Dark Room blueprint. This is all really good. I'd say you've outdone yourself, but that would mean this was out of the ordinary.
Thanks for coming back to the quest. This is the capstone of my day.
Excellent chapter! This was awesome, great to see all the little features of the 'Dark Bunker' (the blue prints were great, really helped me figure out where everything was). The interactions between the girls was really good too. It was fun to see how incredible Max's powers look like from their point of view). I actually kinda like that we didn't have to deal with the binders right away, gave the chapter more focus on exploring our new base. I'm slightly worried that the Prescotts had enough money to both fund this massive base and then not use it, but I'm sure we'll run headlong into that plot point sooner or later.
Looks like honesty was the right choice. With the bad memories lessened we're really getting a lot out of this base and for very little too. Now we just have to plan out our future...
[X] Plan: Priority Issues
[X] Cheat horse races [X] Follow up on Jefferson's arrest
[X] Deal with Frank [X] Exercise
Horse race is a good option for us for a one time thing. We won't garner too much attention the first time and we picked the literal cheapest option there is, so unless we get a burning desire to fill all those empty gun racks or have an other big expenditures, we'll probably be good with a single big win for some time. I'd like to increase our bonds with Kate and Chloe, but there are some other issues I want to get dealt with first. Frank is a wildcard we don't want to have to deal with and the horse race should leave us plenty of spare cash to pay him (there's also a possibility of using him as ears on the street for us, but I'm unsure about trying to get him to work for us, he can be a bit volatile and I'm not sure if it's worth the effort). Jefferson's arrest is a big one to look into. He's the one who uses the Dark Room the most, so we need to be on top of him and figure out what he's up to. Finally, exercise. We might be the undisputed master of time, but we've gotten several reminders of how bad shape we're in, and that nearly killed us against Nathan. We need to work on this and if we do it enough, we get it as a free action, so that's a good reason to get started on it now.
I'm with you, but the bubbling mess in the slave showers honestly has me concerned. I just don't want us to find a little patch of blonde hair down there.
is a coward's word . I get that it might be an overstatement, but for right now we are doing fairly well with our powers, so Max might be thinking something along those lines. Of course, powers aren't everything, which is why I want us to train up our body too (something we might actually be able to benefit from this time around without a Storm to reset us)
I'm definitely on board with this, especially the bit about it turning into a free action. We're kind of a physical wreck at the moment, we might not turn into a ninja, but we need to be a lot better than we are right now.
[X] Plan: Putting Out the Immediate Fires
-[X] Investigate the Red Binders - Free action this turn. -[X] Follow up on Jefferson's arrest
-[X] Raid an ATM
-[X] Deal with Frank
-[X] Exercise
Jeffershit needs to be followed up on, might as well pay off Frank and hopefully get a motherfrickering adult criminal on this team (FFS just pay the man, hopefully he'll let us pet Pompidou again), ATM because that is the most subtle of all of them (we can do the other two eventually, but be wary of stock market monitoring, but instead of looking for superpowered exploits, they're looking for insider trading, and we DO NOT want the IRS or whoever on our asses; Sincerely, a useless business-accounting major). Also we need exercise to at least get back to LiS1 levels of fitness, at the very least.
The more loose ends we have lying around, the more strings there are to snatch us up with.
We've made the circle of trust pretty damn big by most loop standards (I'm assuming that Max has kept things to herself and Chloe for most of those) but at least those are people we can trust.
Frank isn't a bad guy, but he's also someone that we do not know. His loyalty to us is skin deep if we frame everything we do as helping find Rachel. Aside from that, we're just a couple of punks who make his life complicated. (Though who knows how he feels about Kate, for some reason I feel like she owes him less money than Chloe)
Depending on what exactly the deal is with Rachel, Frank could also end up stabbing us in the back. Say, "he gets a phone call saying that he can see Rachel again if he tells such and such where we are" (Kate, Chloe, Max). Next thing you know, we're completely surrounded by suits like in Firestarter.
Being on pleasant terms is fine, but bringing him into the mix is unnecessary and also potentially really dangerous.
[X] Help Chloe research the Prescott's operations through the internet
[X] Oh no… math
[X] Spend some time with Chloe
[X] Try to learn some magic from Kate?
This really seems to be the most logical and effective course of action. Stocks are very much a case of "Why not?" that, barring significant extenuating circumstances, should be less risky and more profitable. Also, the thought of our trio in suits, pretending to be respectable business people is amusing (no matter how unlikely that is). After that, increasing our relationship with Chloe is a must, because Pricefield. Finally, Magic. It's Magic. I cannot conceive of a situation in this verse in which you don't want to learn magic.
Exercise is a necessity. Our entire quest (in-universe) and well-being of people around us is contingent on our survival and ability to use our power. Incapacitate us, or push us to our limits, and we become as helpless as any normal person.
Stocks, huh? I am... not sure how well it fits in with our powerset. It's a slow option, and - unless I am mistaking something about it - to make the most of it we'd have to throw away some solid chunks of our life for rewinds. And I think Max is prepared for, if not used to it, on some level... but it's one thing to make use of it because you are forced to, and another to plan around it from the get go. It's accepting your choices over a large stretch of time to be invalidated and thus free of consequence. A dangerous mindset.
It's a good thing to keep an ear out and make notes for any massive upsets one could exploit on successive loops, but probably not ideal for the very first timeline.
I am not sure if the voting is supposed to be by line or by plan... you should probably specify that before the vote. This is leaning towards a builder/strategy game section, with limited turns (I assume time is a limited resource, and some kind of time limit is in place until something goes down), so Plan votes would make sense too... but it has to be either/or.
[x] Help Kate with studying her booksfor information on yourself and whatever Nathan was doing
[x] Cheat horse races
[x] Deal with Frank
[x] Exercise
This would be best formatted as...
[ ] [Leads]
[ ] [Money]
[ ] [Misc]
...etc. to avoid confusion.
It's a matter of quest/choice design. When a vote is counted by plan, it is impossible for individual options to compete, it has to be by plans. Some people won't care about certain options (see some votes above who only vote for one or two things, like money), but having them vote by plan would prop other options associated with those plans and give these options an unfair boost they would not otherwise have.
Plan votes should not be a matter of convenience, but of necessity. They are inflexible (try changing one option is the plan - it splits down the entire vote), people care less about them than for individual options (I certainly do), they often result in bandwagoning etc. But sometimes it's impossible to do without them - say, when actions have costs associated with them (so you can't use certain combinations without going over the limit), or otherwise depend on each other.
Thanks for the heads up about this! One of those times where my relative lack of quest experience makes itself known.
For this vote, since I failed to specify and some people may have voted in a particular way due to that, I'll tally the votes by Line, so each will be just competing against it's own category.
Starting next major update though we'll continue plan format, since it seems that might lead to more cohesive sets of actions. As Nevill notes in the post he just made, it's a nuanced question. My hesitant second leaning is to leave the lead/money/misc. options as line voting within their category, and then when base options show up, have them voted for separately in plan format since they have associated costs.
However, I still think plan style might be best overall for this quest. We'll still play it by ear a bit, if people feel like their ideas aren't being given a fair shake I'll start thinking of something else. I like plans, especially when y'all end up modifying others or folding in other people's ideas to your own, it has that nice feeling of consensus democracy that I strive for.
feel bad complimenting on just the Dark Room blueprint. This is all really good. I'd say you've outdone yourself, but that would mean this was out of the ordinary.
Thanks for coming back to the quest. This is the capstone of my day.
Thank you Tjakari for the really kind words, this really means a lot. Sitting down to write this can be stressful, I'm not exactly flying entirely by the seat of my pants, but I've never run interactive fiction with so many balls in the air before, but even so it's a lot of fun to write. One of my goals when starting out was to write a story that I would really enjoy reading, and I'm glad that you and others happen to have the same taste as me!
Thank you as well Blueshift! And yeah, that's part of why it happened, in a meta-sense. The binders deserve their own scene of narrative focus and I knew exploring the base would take a good sized chunk of words, probably eclipsing whatever happens with them if both were in the same chapter.
I can promise you that this quest will land securely in the Can You Pet The Dog? twitter feed, I don't know if Pompidou will be the one who takes us there, but we will get there.
Me, internally: Does that mean I should avoid these topics in depth to avoid showing my ignorance? Or research them really hard to come off as semi-competent?
Joking, I try to strike a mix between those two approaches when writing about topics I know nothing about. For instance I do not know anything about guns, but it seemed logical to me that Max would, if only about the guns that David owns specifically. So I researched how to clean the handguns and a common type of ammo for the shotguns so I could show that off kinda subtly without spending a lot of focused detail on them themselves.
That said, stonks, which I assume regardless of this vote we'll get to eventually, are going to be fun to deal with on my end. And it's a while in the future, but we'll get to the poli-sci stuff.
Thank you Tjakari for the really kind words, this really means a lot. Sitting down to write this can be stressful, I'm not exactly flying entirely by the seat of my pants, but I've never run interactive fiction with so many balls in the air before, but even so it's a lot of fun to write. One of my goals when starting out was to write a story that I would really enjoy reading, and I'm glad that you and others happen to have the same taste as me!
Voting will close at 10AM EST on November 6th
I work tonight anyway, so I figure it's best to give y'all a bit of time to vote and consolidate, especially since this is a pretty involved one.
Also as an FYI to everyone, I'm... in the process of trying to make the 'Character Sheet' informational post into something more useable/useful, though it'll mostly be descriptive fluff until we get to a point where I decide to start doing dice rolls. (Which aside from some specific instances, will be a while into the future.)
I had an idea, though IDK if it's a good one or not. I've done some colour coding for my vote:
Green means I'm explicitly voting for this option. I'll put an X in the box too.
Red Means I'm explicitly voting against it.
Orange means I'm in favour of that option, but we should save it for another time.
White means I'm indifferent as to whether this option is picked or not.
Leads [X] Investigate the Red Binders - Free action this turn.
Chloe says, "We're coming back tomorrow with some bolt cutters to get into that cabinet. If Rachel has a binder in there... I need to know." From the expression on her face, you're not inclined to dispute her.
[] Investigate Prescott Offices in Town Kate says, "They got set up down there by the docks a while ago. Lots of fishermen in and out for business meetings at first, but that's slowed down now. I think it's mostly other suits that come and go these days. I don't know if there'll be anyone but low-level staffers, but it might be worth checking out anyway."
If I were an evil bourgie like Sean, I'd keep my incriminating records at home in my fortress-mansion. And hire Blackwater to guard them. I doubt we'll find much other than shipping manifests, which probably don't even contain all the shady stuff anyway.
[] Follow up on Jefferson's arrest Chloe frowns and says, "David never did get back to us about what happened with that. I don't like the idea of him creeping around still, even with a couple of bullet holes in his legs. Maybe we should check in at the station."
£1,000 pounds says the ABPD are so deep in the Sean's pockets, they just drove him straight back to the Prescott estate. Not worth our time IMO.
[X] Help Kate with studying her booksfor information on yourself and whatever Nathan was doing
Kate smiles broadly, "Oh! You weren't just saying that? I'd love some help, I already have an idea for what ones we should check out first!" This will also count as a social action with Kate.
Let's go, Kate! Getting Nathan out of action is a priority too. I imagine Sean can do similar stuff, so studying Nathan will be beneficial.
[] Help Chloe research the Prescott's operations through the internet
Chloe nods, trying to hide her excitement. "Yeah, that sounds cool. I bet we could use your powers to help improve my leet hacker skillz even more, give me warnings when I'm gonna fuck up and stuff." This will also count as a social action with Chloe. If you choose a money option that gives you a lump sum, you will purchase a computer for Chloe and this will be more effective.
Sorry, Chlo. Next time.
[] Write-In
Chloe pouts at you. "Oh, did I forget something? Or did you decide not to tell me?"
Money [X] Raid an ATM You lean back in your seat, "It'll get us a comfortable amount of money, enough to furnish what we really need from the Dark Room right now. It's safe too, unless I have to hit all the ATMs in Arcadia Bay in quick succession."
Hit up about two, totally empty them. Rewind after you empty each one so we can't be implicated. When you go to leave, act frustrated for the security cameras too, so it looks like you got there to find them empty.
[] Cheat horse races
Kate grins at Chloe, "If we get little Miss Trouble here to the races, it could be a big payout. She looks badass and young enough too that people shouldn't question her betting unconscionable amounts of money. If it's too much though it could draw some attention... and honestly it still might either way. There's no subtle way to win big at a horse race."
Not a bad idea, but it'll expose us even more.
[] Oh no… math
Chloe raises her hands pleadingly. "Just- hear me out. Stocks are all about time, if we get started now, sure we might not be able to move into the Dark Room right away, but with your powers? A few months down the line we could probably build a dozen Dark Rooms. Probably. Maybe."
Too slow for us right now. Also, we really don't need that much cash. We're going furniture shopping (And maybe gun shopping), not trying to become The Prescotts 2: Bourgeios boogaloo. Also, fuck maths.
[] Write-In
Kate fixes you with a flat gaze. "Please don't say you want to rob a bank." This is subject to my veto or modification.
Miscellaneous and Social Options [X] Deal with Frank Chloe sighs. "Yeah, he's a bit of a time bomb. If I'm away from town to be here a bunch, he might just freak out next time he sees me." She frowns. "Or it could be even worse if he follows me here, or sees us buying furniture." She looks at you sheepishly. "I know I wanna do the stocks... but if we do one of the other ideas, could we pay him off first?"
Get rid of a small problem, for fairly cheap. No brainer.
[] Meet up with someone else you remember - Write-in who? You shrug. "I knew quite a bit about a lot of people 'cause of my powers. One of them might know something, or be able to point us in the right direction." Blackwell students, townies, anyone goes.
The fewer people we associate with, the less people we put in danger.
[] Spend some time with Chloe
Chloe smiles. "That'd be nice, Max. We've been able to relax a couple times since you came back, but we haven't like, just hung out. You smoke weed in Seattle?" This will increase your relationship with Chloe.
[] Spend some time with Kate
Kate blinks in surprise, "Oh, a tea party? I'm down. I could make us some relaxing tea- yes of course with magic- are you sure you don't want Chloe to come along? ... No you're right, she'd be bored out of her mind." This will increase your relationship with Kate.
[] Spend some time with Chloe and Kate. (And get some new clothes while you're at it.) You grin at the girls. "How do you feel about a trip to Portland? Once we get some cash I could use some new clothes, and I thought it'd be cool to get your opinions." This will increase the bond between all three of you, slower than individual hangouts, but increases Chloe and Kate's relationship too, though that will otherwise increase sporadically.
Save this one for later. We're definitely doing that.
[] Try to learn some magic from Kate?
Kate hums. "Well, you do obviously influence the Ambient Fae, even if it's weaker than most... we could certainly try to teach you to do something."
Could be useful, but from the sounds of it we'd be terrible.
[] Practice your Powers
Kate nods. "It sounds like you've been able to figure out 'new' powers by using your 'old' ones in more varied or creative ways. I think you should focus on that, rather than doing 'reps' or something."
We'll do that later. Can't work on your temporal health if you can't open the fridge for apple juice at 2am.
[X] Exercise You sigh. "I'm still in pretty awful shape, some exercise could do me good." This may become a free action if chosen consistently enough.
Hell yeah I'll take free actions! Even if they are kinda boring.
[] Write-In
"What does 'miscellaneous' even mean in this context..." Kate grumbles.
Well, that's true enough, but that's assuming that everyone we're familiar with is linked to the whole Jefferson situation in the same ways as they usually are.(Not very) We should be open to this option in the future. Depending on how many familiar faces show up in those binders.
I agree. Furthermore, us showing up at the station could very well end up in an impromptu ambush. I'd be in favor of us actively avoiding cops at every possible instance. If we hear sirens, we're not there.
It might be a trope in a fantasy setting not to trust the authorities, but it exists for a reason. Remember, don't trust pigs.
I agree. Furthermore, us showing up at the station could very well end up in an impromptu ambush. I'd be in favor of us actively avoiding cops at every possible instance. If we hear sirens, we're not there.
It might be a trope in a fantasy setting not to trust the authorities, but it exists for a reason. Remember, don't trust pigs.
Investigating doesn't mean having to let them know anything, we do have time travel powers after all. It'd be quite hard for them to ambush us, and I highly doubt the Prescotts have every cop on their payroll (very difficult to do, and likely not worth the effort) so knowing who exactly is on their payroll would be useful. Also, if everyone was on their side and ready to ambush us, why wouldn't they have done it at Joyce's house when they arrested Jefferson? I'm not saying we shouldn't be careful, but investigating now gives us the best leads on what he's up to and Jefferson is the most immediate threat given where our base is.
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