Palace of Greed, El Dorado (Library of Ruina)

[Ros and Los]

I'd really much rather have a permanent boost than relying on situational one-offs. we aren't always going to have this much information about what we're facing or the time to stock up.

Like, okay, y'all have been getting away with going unaugmented, but kind of by the skin of your teeth and more by luck than anything else

and this weird body purity thing is still really bizarre to me. This is a setting where augmentation of various kinds is normal, accepted, and more often than not safe

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Okay, after this I am backing off because I think you are talking more to others than me and I apparently get incredibly more vocal late at night.

1. I agree, I much prefer permanents than consumables. I will say context is important here. We were going into a fight we knew we should not be going into and knew we needed an edge, this is why we went for an emergency shopping run and later why we got the pill.

Having said that, I might go for more consumables than I using would. It might be interesting to go down that path for once. Still a need better baseline though.

2. I...I don't really agree with this. This fight sure, but the others? We had some good planning on some, not so good on others, but it was not all by the skin of our teeth or sheer luck. Not to mention the fact of what else were we supposed to have? I will get into that a bit later.

3. It is a bit weird to me too but there is only like a handful of people pushing that direction. There is far more people that want good augs or, more specifically, not junk augs that can hurt us. Looking at the Iron Bortherhood is enough for me to be wary.

I've seen the option to get augments passed over more than once. We should definitely have taken a moment to aug up before doing this job specifically

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Okay, so have actually passed up getting augmentations every time they have popped up.

The grand bloody total of twice. Sorry, but this is bothering me. We have only been shopping two times in the entire quest! The first time was a freebie at that! We decide to go for a weapon for the freebie because it was something that was a good standard to start from and anything we picked was going in our repertoire for a long time. Anything we could have picked was a valid option because we had nothing.

The second time was the most recent and you saw my reasoning already on what we were looking for. The two augs we passed up was the Heart because people were worried about the Ego hit and the Tattoo because it was probably the least helpful thing we could have gotten. It was plus one to damage when we could have gotten a vest that either that or plus one to armor for one ahn more. If we saw any augs that would have been major help we would have gotten them.

We could have an extra trip but we spent the money on getting Life Sap which has been a god send so far.


...Okay, I am done for the night. I have gotten too heated for now. See ya'll when voting starts.



...Damn it, that is what we should have been focused on. Agh. I will figure out something later.

 

[Naron]

We decide to go for a weapon for the freebie because it was something that was a good standard to start from and anything we picked was going in our repertoire for a long time.

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Chipping in here because this remains in my mind ever since it was pointed out to me. You are correct. But at the same time, the players decided to grab a second crowbar that only has a slight boost compared to the first. Lily still has the original one. She is not using it. We have two crowbars when we could have gotten anything for a second weapon. I don't get why. Why two crowbars?

At least make Lily dual wield them or something cool if you already go for that! (speaking to the players in general, not you in particular)

 

[Birthday]

also as said above, waking mao may not actually be a good idea for lily or mao, given WP could possibly just instantly bonk her on the head for 5 san and whoops now we have to kill her, and the turns we'd use to wake her up would pretty well offset any additional damage she could contribute. Mao will wake up on her own, too.

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I'll point out here that Coffee has said that Mao is pretty good at dodging WH's attacks, unlike us where we basically face tanked everything from the mooks. The reason why her Sanity is so low is that WH hits like a truck with SAN damage when it actually connects. So Mao being awake doesn't instantly translate to her being reduced to 0 San.

We're not going to go augless but at the very least we need to stay meat. Whether that's weird ass organs, biogenetic bullshit or tattoos. There's quite a lot of options for staying meat.

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I like this too, mostly because it's another dynamic for the Kai and Lily relationships. Mechanical vs Organic. Also feeds into the whole floral theme. XD

At the same time though, for the people talking about how we passed up augs, I would like to point out that getting the heart would've reduced our Ego to zero, right? I feel like that's probably a way the aug would've screwed us over in this fight, even if it gave us some advantages. So I don't think quibbling over why we didn't take the aug prior to starting the mission is going to get us anywhere.

I want to do cooking things sooooooooooooo badly my dude, you know how much of our power is based on what we eat? Imagine if we could take that for ourselves, instead of always needing to pay the max price to get maximized Health OR Sanity alongside a skill buffed at random–

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Compromise. We get a stomach or mouth aug that increases the buffs we get from consumables. Everyone wins!! 👍

Why two crowbars?

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Because we were steam rolling everything up to this point, and we hadn't seen the weaknesses in our build yet. Or at least, that's what my mindset was.

Yeah, we need us some AoE and some more San defense.

 

[Nottheunmaker]

I have every intention of voting to boost ego then going back to the shop and trying to get the heart again.

 

[DoSomething]

All this talk about equipment gives me an idea about our future weapon. So, here's the thing, we're tank, yeah? So in my opinion the best will be to have a shield with one handed weapon, most likely a sword, or sword so wide and big, that it can work as shield.

Edit:
And I have every intention to vote anything, but heart, it's too shady for me

Also want to add that mental resist augs seems to be very uncommon in City or probably more likely in the hands of the Wings and very protected, because of that I don't want to lower our fucking mental resistance stat

 

[SoothingCoffee]

Like, it cannot be understated that talented, powerful, augmented to hell and back heavyweight 5th Rank Fixer Mao is objectively closer to dead in the water than Lily is.

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To be fair, Lily would be dead if she faced Phase 1 Weeping Heartstrings, with or without Seven Seed. Though something to note, the damage Mao took during her fight against WH is all self-inflicted.

A Grade 8 Fixer should not be fighting an Urban Plauge. We are getting away with it because we have Mao and made something spooky and this is the closest battle we have faced yet. We can not keep doing this, you are right that this is not sustainable.

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That said, while it is an Urban Plague, the actual Urban Plague is the Weeping Heartstrings. For all intents and purposes, Victor and co, even with their buff, were just about your level. Still impressive, mind, but they're a Myth at best.

@SoothingCoffee, something I've been wondering is, is taking three turns to wake Mao up immutable, or is that just if we aren't clever enough to come up with something that speeds that up with attention to detail/thematic resonance? Like, using Mao's machete to cut the arteries wriggling into her left ear:

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It's mostly because Lily doesn't have a better idea other than violently shaking Mao. Also because you actually don't know Mao all that well. There might be a better idea that could cut the turn by one or two, though I'd only accept it if it's IC (or it's nice/thematic/fucked up enough that I could make it IC).

 

[Whiskas]

It's mostly because Lily doesn't have a better idea other than violently shaking Mao. Also because you actually don't know Mao all that well. There might be a better idea that could cut the turn by one or two, though I'd only accept it if it's IC (or it's nice/thematic/fucked up enough that I could make it IC).

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...Give her a smoochie?

Might work against us tho...

I'm gonna do a better response post later, not much time atm.

 

[Nottheunmaker]

There might be a better idea that could cut the turn by one or two, though I'd only accept it if it's IC (or it's nice/thematic/fucked up enough that I could make it IC).

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BITE 'ER ON THE EAR!

 

[Abyssius]

[Ego Check: Very Easy. Pass.]

DEATH!

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Melee, Endurance and Instinct: ONE OF US! ONE OF US! ONE OF US!

Fortitude to Justice: Your Ego privileges. Hand them over.

 

[DoSomething]

Fortitude to Justice: Your Ego privileges. Hand them over.

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- No way, you've already got 3
- But I want yours too
- What are you going to do with all those skills? No matter how hard you try, you'll never be the only stat!

 

[Abyssius]

- What are you going to do with all those skills? No matter how hard you try, you'll never be the only stat!

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Fortitude: Those are bold words from someone in Ego's murder spree distance.

 

[PurposefulZephyr]

... Can we just punch Mao in the gut? She has hp to spare and a rude awakening may work better.

 

[Thebigpieman]

The only idea that comes to mind is using Mao's own self proclaimed desire to get into a nest here, that that dying will make all that work she's done meaningless. The problem here is that Lily doesn't actually know the why of what she's doing since Mao has kept that very hard under wraps.

We could potentially namedrop Mia but I'm not sure if that would work. I think Lily has enough brain space to know "Moon makes you see people you care about." -> "Mao namedropped Mia herself and then got really angry Moon cosplayed as her." -> "Mia is someone important to Mao." but this also raises the question of "Who the fuck is Mia?" that Lily would not know the specifics of which is why I'm iffy on it.

 

[1337Procrast]

The only idea that comes to mind is using Mao's own self proclaimed desire to get into a nest here, that that dying will make all that work she's done meaningless. The problem here is that Lily doesn't actually know the why of what she's doing since Mao has kept that very hard under wraps.

We could potentially namedrop Mia but I'm not sure if that would work. I think Lily has enough brain space to know "Moon makes you see people you care about." -> "Mao namedropped Mia herself and then got really angry Moon cosplayed as her." -> "Mia is someone important to Mao." but this also raises the question of "Who the fuck is Mia?" that Lily would not know the specifics of which is why I'm iffy on it.

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Another problem with this plan is we don't know if Mia is her full name or part of her name or a nickname. We just don't know.

 

[Birthday]

The only idea that comes to mind is using Mao's own self proclaimed desire to get into a nest here, that that dying will make all that work she's done meaningless. The problem here is that Lily doesn't actually know the why of what she's doing since Mao has kept that very hard under wraps.

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You really don't need to know the "why" when someone says they want to leave the Backstreets. Everyone would, if they could. Heck, most people would leave the city if going outside wasn't a death sentence for basically everyone not in the Library.

 

[thePUNisher]

Blah blah 'Nest blah blah 'Mia' let's just bit her in the ear or something that should do the trick

 

[Bahumat]

Also, just something to point out for people who forgot: Ranks for Jobs (Urban Myth, Urban Legend, etc) isn't a threato-meter.

It's how much someone is willing to pay to make a problem disappear. Now, USUALLY how dangerous something is is tied to the rank because the Hana Association aren't genuine monsters, but it's something to keep in mind, since a killer on par with a colour who doesn't do anything more than pick off random people in the backstreets wouldn't be a blip on the radar compared to some poor bastard who accidentally kidnapped the daughter of a powerful Wing executive.

Regarding our rank vs threats and people saying 'we'll go back to Urban Myth/Legend after this': With money after this who knows, we MIGHT have enough to get some augs/better gear to put us in Grade 7 Fixer Territory for Legends, but make no mistake: we're STILL not equipped fully for Legend. We have out innate bullshit, true, but we have an OK set of armour and two crowbars, plus the Guntlet (which is a cool gimmick, but an EXPENSIVE one to maintain as a primary). The Knockbar is good (high rank Fixers use effectively the same kinda tech for their MUCH better weapons), but in all honesty I think our next port of call would be an augment of some kind, or possibly a tattoo.

For anyone who may have forgotten, Urban Legend's canonical units are Zwei Association- Section 6 (Defensive specialists with better fighting skills and decent equipment, but the literal bottom of their Association), Stray Dogs (Offensive Syndicate using cheaper tattoos accessories with side effects), and Molar Office (Offensive Office with good fighting skills and good weapons). They equate, generally, to Grade 7 Fixers.

We're currently fighting a Distortion (and entourage) who would usually be the cause of the mobilisation of the Dawn, Wedge or Full-Stop Offices, who are uh, a FAIR BIT better skilled and equipped than the UL Offices and Syndicates XD.

 

[RiceRockRekt]

It's mostly because Lily doesn't have a better idea other than violently shaking Mao. Also because you actually don't know Mao all that well. There might be a better idea that could cut the turn by one or two, though I'd only accept it if it's IC (or it's nice/thematic/fucked up enough that I could make it IC).

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...

Mind failing you, your body moves on its own. You leap up to your feet, and face her, and she looks up, slightly startled, and you pull her up, and she picks herself up, and – and you slam your head against her face.

"Ow," she says, muffled, startled, wide eyes staring at you. She looks surprised more, than actually hurt. "Flower?"

You stare back, glaring, lips pulled back. "I hate you," you spit out, growling, cursing, and Mom stands still – you try to stoke the fire, but it ain't there. You slam your head onto her face again, and she takes it; a crunch, followed by a cracking thud as her head slams back against the wall – and something tells you that you're hurting yourself more than hurting her. "I hate you," you repeat, and you rear your head back, and – and you pull her into an embrace.

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...Mao has a tougher skull than Lily's, doesn't she?

Actually it doesn't matter, all that matters is that when Lily wallslams Mao's comatose ass to clap their skulls together hard enough to make the brain fuckery leak out (maybe a little actual brain, you know how it goes), that'll give her an excuse to go 'hey, you look like, you could use some healing, for how totally wrecked you got, heh' and pass over an Iron Pill while Mao looks at her like 'Tiger why are you so woozy' 'I didn't fuck up my skull, because I'm, tough, you're just so much a headache you made more of my brain bleed than the Distortion.'

You really don't need to know the "why" when someone says they want to leave the Backstreets. Everyone would, if they could. Heck, most people would leave the city if going outside wasn't a death sentence for basically everyone not in the Library.

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I do like me some speechifying, but the thing is, we really don't need to know more about Mao than what we've gotten into with her already:

You stare at her, jaws clenched. She ain't wrong, y'know – you've only been in this business for a couple weeks. You never seen her in action, sure, but Mao's strong. You gotta admit that. In a fight, she'd beat your ass back to back. And you've only known her for at least two weeks, and saw her for less. So what are you even doing this for? Why do you even bother with this shit, huh, asking for her personal bullcrap? You got into this Fixer business because you're good at kicking the shit out of people. Oh sure, it's real important shit to get to know your colleagues – to get to know your Partner, who's gonna have your back, but… why dig shit like this, risking what good you got with Mao?

[Ego Check: Impossible. Fail.]

Because – and you cut yourself before you could finish the thought. But the answer's right there, right at the tip of your tongue, but you slip it back down into the bottom of your throat. Better let it stay there, never let it out. Don't even think about it. It's gonna change things, and… yeah, just let it be.

[Endurance Check: Very Hard. Success.]

But if she thinks you're backing down…

"Burke, and Mori," you latch on, quick, and Mao responds by tilting her head the other way. "They been working as Fixers for a long while, but they don't work like you."

"So?" Mao muses, popping the word. "You can't expect everyone to work the same way, Lily."

You shake your head. "They fucking said it themselves, at least Mori did. Sure, they treat your schedule as normal, but it's your normal," you point out, gritting your teeth. "Not theirs. I've seen them at least three times a week, sometimes even both of them at the same time – so sure as shit yours don't sound normal."

"Lily –"

"And," you plow on. "What that 'Dog' Fixer said, she thought you were dead. Everybody here thought you were dead –"

"Everybody dies all the time, Lily, I'm not any different. You should know that."

"Then there's what that Matt guy said, how you look like shit," you continue, ignoring her. She got points, so that's why you gotta ignore them. Plow on, until you got shit all. "Everybody thinks you need to take a break, and –" what else? That's all? Well, shit. Start inventing stuff, then. "Also you look like shit," she raises an eyebrow at that. "You, uh, you said yes when I asked if you got time," her eyebrows only rise higher. "I haven't seen you in the last couple weeks – only that couple minutes on Monday, and today, and –"

"Okay," Mao cuts you off, and your jaws snap shut. You blink. Once, twice, at the grin on Mao's face. You recall back what you just said, and – fuck. "Okay. Fine," she laughs, licking her lips. "You're right, my schedule's – the way I work, it ain't normal. I'm still not working myself to death, though, but you're right," her laughter dies off into light giggling, eyes dropping to her hands, fingers tapping at the table. "It ain't normal."

"… S-so?" you eventually ask, after a good few second.

Her eyes lock into yours, sharp, and narrow – her smile a serious thing, none of that usual smugness, and brightness you always see. She leans forward, close, into whisper-distance. "I'm trying to get into the Nest," she eventually says. You blink. "No, not just that," she responds, at your look. "If it's just Visiting Permit, then I already got those. I want –" another pause, followed by a sigh. "I need a Living Permit."

She leans back, and then stare at you, that smugness returning to her smile.

You blink. "That's it?"

Mao snorts, nodding. "That's it."

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You purse your lips. "It doesn't make sense," you tell her. Why not? You don't know. "I'm also trying to get into the Nest, but you don't see me…" you trail off, gesturing at her.

"Oh, you're not gonna like the Nest, Lily," Mao states brightly, giggling at your glare. "Knowing you, you're gonna hate it. I hate it, but –" she pauses, grin softening, bittering. "It's safe. Safer than out here at least and it's only going to get safer while this street gets more dangerous," a sigh, and Mao sinks onto the table, half-lidded eyes looking through you. "The Pianist Incident turned our neighboring District's Backstreets into ruins, y'know, but the Nest themselves are untouched."

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"But whatever shit comes first, we're gonna get fucked," she sighs. "And there's only one way out."

"The Nest," you finish the sentence, and Mao nods, smiling. You look down to your hands, resting on the table, clenched tight into white-and-red knuckles. You shove them back into your pockets. "… How do you even get into the Nest?" you wonder aloud. She said something about Visiting Permit?

"Oh, getting into a Nest is easy," Mao chuckles, before pausing. "Well, 'easy'. You just gotta be a Grade 5 Fixer – and at that point, your Fixer License comes with a Nest Visiting Permit. Thirty-six hours, and no more, per visitation," she laughs at something on your face. You scowl. "Make it easy if you got something you wanna buy there, or if you got a mission – though if it's the latter, you can send the Hana a request to prolong the thirty-six hours if you need more, but that takes time to approve, so," she shrugs.

"Huh," you say, blinking, before shaking your head. "But then how do you get stay inside the Nest?"

"Well that," her smile turns bitter. "That, I don't know. It's not money, that's for sure. Far as I know, either you were born there, or you get sponsored by a Wing – but how do you get sponsored by a Wing? I have an idea, but…"

"But?"

She glances up suddenly, and you twitch, instinctively following her glance, towards the ceiling. There's nothing there. Nothing. Mao glances back down, shaking her head.

"One's easy, and the other's hard. I'm not going to do the first – and yes," Mao suddenly speaks up, eyeing you. "Before you ask it: yes, I am scared," then, in a soft whisper, golden amber glimmering: "You should be too, Lily."

You shiver, glancing away. You weren't gonna say it.

"And no," she continues, eyes dropping, smile weakening. "I'm not slowing down. I can't afford to – but you know why now. I haven't told anybody that, and well," a pause, and when she leans away, she sits tall. Taller than before. Tall enough to be noticeable. She breathes out: "Thanks."

Click to shrink...

Here's what Lily knows about what Mao's fighting for, what Mao's hungry for, when she pushed and pushed and stumbled into real intimacy entirely on emotionally constipated stubbornness.

And waddaya know, here are these bits from the beginning of the week that are just waiting for the right opportunity to turn around:

And you close your mouth down, grimacing. "… It's probably better that way."

[Negotiaton Check. Easy. Autopass.]

If it comes to it, beg for forgiveness, not permission.

"Thought the same. Our client too. She doesn't want Sun to know," Mao tells you. She closes her eyes with a sigh, leaning back to her chair – then cracks a single eye open. "Listen, tiger, this is going to be an Urban Plague Request," you stiffen. "And I know I said 'you and I', but this is also still beyond your skill, so if –"

You clench your jaws, and it takes every twitching muscle in your body not to leap at her. "Fuck you," you snarl. "I don't give a fuck, and I ain't backing down."

She casts a lazy eye at you. "Even if it means you'll only be dead weight?" she drawls.

Your hand instinctively reaches for your knockbar. "… I'll show you dead weight, Mao."

Mao sighs, then chuckles. You glare, and not at all pouting. "Fine, fine – at least you can take care of the Vic's Office. I think you're strong enough to take those chumps out."

You grumble. That's probably the best you can get.

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"… I recall Ran easily deflectin' a gunshot," you muse aloud – yeah, that pair of Nest Dwellers. You don't even remember their name. Mao raises an eyebrow. Right, she wouldn't know. "One of the applicants brought in a gun – he's the only one who couldn't hit her."

Mao looks like she's about to laugh. "Well, no shit. Don't use our Local Hana Captain as a point of comparison, Lily, or you're gonna get a real hard headache real fast. You need more than just a gun to deal with her, and 'course, you can't just casually stroll your way through the Grades with just a gun alone. Or any weapon, for that matter. You need skills, Lily. You need an attitude – the right attitude. All good Fixers do."

"And you got them, I'm guessing," you reply, rolling your eyes, snorting.

Mao raises an eyebrow. "What you think?"

She is the Fifth Grade Fixer between the two of you, so it's obvious she got things going and working. But like hell you're gonna say that to her face. So instead you grumble under your breath.

Mao chuckles, eyes crinkling. "And personally, and I've said it before, you got them too."

You flinch, feeling very ickily warm. Ugh. "Whatever," you grumble.

Click to shrink...

And even all the way back to where this started...

"You did good, Lily."

You glance to your side, barely surprised as Mao sits right next to you. "Ya sure?" you snort. "I did fuck all. Just fumbled my words – you're the one who did everything, while I was just standing around like an idiot."

Mao raises an eyebrow, before humming. "I disagree. It wasn't just 'standing around', you stood your ground," she says, staring at the door. You scoff. "That's why you passed, by the way."

You blink. "Whu?"

"Wait," Mao turns to you, smirking. "Did you forget why you're here in the first place?

Oh. Right. "… No?" Mao snorts, and you grumble under your breath. "Whatever. You said I passed? I'm not complaining, but why?"

"Like I said," Mao drawls. "You stood your ground. Five Fixers in front of you. Experienced, and well-equipped. And you, just one day from getting your Fixer's License. You didn't take a step back – in fact, you were prepping to strike them."

"I just wanted to strike back," you grumble under your breath. "Not much else."

"Well, regardless," Mao continues. "Had you taken a couple steps back then; gave those Fixers an opening to go around you, I would've failed you. I said before, that even if our job is filled with death, it's still a job," she muses. "You have to consider each one if they're worth dying over or not. That rule applies little to us Scarecrows."

"Us, huh," you snort. "But how do you mean?" somehow, you think you already know the answer.

"We Scarecrows specialize in Protection – that means putting others first before ours," she explains. "It's one thing to refuse it beforehand, but the moment we take the job – provided our client does not knowingly set us up – even if it means we have to face threats leagues above what we were supposed to deal with, what we can deal with, we don't back down," Mao closes her eyes, stretching her torso across the table. "We're Scarecrows. The moment we're staked to the ground to protect the field from crows, we don't move. We don't budge. Compared to the farmers, to the field itself, our lives are nothing. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yeah," you sigh out, closing your eyes. "I think I get it."

There's a long pause. "If you don't think being a Scarecrow fits you, you could leave. I won't hold it out against you. I'd even contact one of our Sister Offices, recommend you to any which one you think would fit you best."

You glance to her. "You're weird, y'know that, right?" you mutter. "You're strong. Stronger than me, and I guess that grants you the privilege. And you're super annoying, but…" you scrunch your brows. "Even when I mouth you back, you didn't –" you grimace. "I've only worked with you for less than a day, but – ugh," you plant your face to the table. "I can't say it."

Mao snorts. "Cute."

You glare.

Mao smirks. "Nobody cares for the scarecrow. Everyone thinks they're dumb. Foolish. Even to their companions, they're there to be laughed at, not with. Nobody understands them. That's why," Mao muses. "Scarecrows have to stick together, because they're the ones who understand themselves."

You snort. "You're really milking it, aren't you?"

"Well," Mao shrugs, before sighing, closing her eyes. For a moment, she doesn't say anything. When she opens them again, they pin you down like a force of gravity. Her eyes, a golden amber thing, seem to glow. "So, what do you think? I'm giving you a choice. An actual choice."

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For a long moment, you stare at the door. You once met a Fixer; a silent black mask drenched in blood, culling everything down in his path. Black Silence, he was called, and you always wonder what it takes to be that powerful. To have so much strength that everything in his way simply parted apart. You never figured it out; too few times to consider it, not many chances to practice it. It's barely been two days since you received your Fixer's License; less than a day of actually working as one, barely a step forward – but it's still a step forward, and you think you can see the edge of your answer.

"What kinda question is that," you scoff, smirking. "I'm already knee-deep in the shit, don't I? I don't do backing down. 'Specially when I'm this close at the finishin' line."

"Hah," the seriousness seems to fade from her eyes, replaced by a twinkle. Mao laughs quietly, her lips curving into a smile, throwing an arm around your shoulder. You twitch. "Then welcome to Scarecrow Office, Lily. We'll make it official tomorrow."

You shoot her over-extending arm a look. You roll your shoulders, but it seems stubbornly attached. In the corner of your eyes, you catch Mao's smile widening, crooking into a smirk. You scowl, growling under your breath. You shrug the hand off again. It stays. "Please don't make me regret what I just said."

If anything, that only makes her smile even more crooked. "Oh, Lily-girl," Mao singsongs, pulling your head to under her arm. You grunt at the sudden swerve of vision. "You can always regret what you chose, or said, but there are no backsies."

You try to pull your head out, but her grip is a vise thing. "Ugh," you groan in disgust. "An' here I fucking thought you were nice."

"Ah, so you thought I was nice," you couldn't see her face, on the account that she's put you around her armpit. Mao chuckles, mussing up your hair. "Well, I think you're pretty neat too, Lily."

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Imagine it. Imagine Lily pulling Mao by the scruff of her uniform, demanding to know if she's just gonna sit there with that self-satisfied pity fuck dream while she has a goal she can only scrap and tear and rip back for herself in the real world, if that's what a Fixer with the "right attitude" does, if that's what a Scarecrow would do, backing down from where they're staked to the ground, giving pieces of shit an opening to get around–Is Mao really gonna be shown up by a 9th Grade she would've flunked out for doing the same last month? Is she gonna be dead weight?

All the while Lily is grinding their craniums together because even if she doesn't remember the dream she did this in (and it's a good thing too if Lily knew who she was basically mentally associating Mao with by doing this she'd just walk backwards into hell and leave her to die), headbutting is still her violent emotionally complicated Hate (Affectionate) response.

 

[WanderingTwix]

Moon straight up can't do JACK to Lily now that she's in Hate Mode, she has more Armor Resist than GOD with her cranked to fuck Endurance on the side, bitch has, what, +5 to attack rolls? Against the motherlode of +15 Effective Damage Reduction? Cocksucker only has a chance of nicking her before Turn 6 if choosing Tickle the Sleeping Cat with the absence of Block turns that into +11 raw dogging defense.

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... Is that how it works? I read that as "take physical damage when switching to hate", not "Moon will only do physical damage to you while you're in hate".

It's mostly because Lily doesn't have a better idea other than violently shaking Mao. Also because you actually don't know Mao all that well. There might be a better idea that could cut the turn by one or two, though I'd only accept it if it's IC (or it's nice/thematic/fucked up enough that I could make it IC).

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Look, we shove fingers up her nose; Works every time (or so I've heard)

Now, the mechanical side of me wants to kill the ads. The narrative side of me wants to wake Mao up. If we can come up with an idea to accelerate the latter then I'm all for it.

 

[gamingasmodeus]

Do we still have that envelope Mao gave us ON HAND? Cuz if so, assuming she can hear us (which I honestly doubt), the underhanded thing to do would be to threaten to open it when she hasn't died yet. Maybe that'll wake her up AND make her angry? If Lily doesn't have it, could Lily bluff and say she does?

 

[thePUNisher]

... Is that how it works? I read that as "take physical damage when switching to hate", not "Moon will only do physical damage to you while you're in hate".

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It pretty clearly states that he 'deals' only physical damage. Plus if he still did Black Damage we'd be fucking dead, Lily's like on her last SAN bracket, if he so much as sneezed near her she'd go Full Lover mode.

 

[SoothingCoffee]

Do we still have that envelope Mao gave us ON HAND? Cuz if so, assuming she can hear us (which I honestly doubt), the underhanded thing to do would be to threaten to open it when she hasn't died yet. Maybe that'll wake her up AND make her angry? If Lily doesn't have it, could Lily bluff and say she does?

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You do have the envelope.

 

[thePUNisher]

You do have the envelope.

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Great, let's threaten to eat it right in front of Mia if she doesn't wake up

 

[RiceRockRekt]

... Is that how it works? I read that as "take physical damage when switching to hate", not "Moon will only do physical damage to you while you're in hate".

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You're the One Making me Do This: When Enemies' Sanity State changes from 'Love' to 'Hate', Deals Pure Physical Damage.

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Yeah, if your Sanity bar takes the Hate effect, Liblayaley's attacks are fully physical. This is why everyone wants to make sure we're taking damage in Mao's place, Lily just can't lose Sanity for the rest of the fight, while Mao's gonna dwindle whether she stays in "Love" (and thus only has her limited Sanity ready to be splattered) or shifts to "Hate" (and so starts losing health from the opponent on top of Amber Alert self-harm).

Luckily, we probably only need to make sure the plans have something like "Try and get Liblayaley to focus on you instead of Mao. You can take his hits better than she can in her current state", "waking Mao up, and make sure to stay between her and attacks when she does" or "Be Mao's shield, while you're shaking her out of sleeping on the job and when she's up and about too, you're the wall that won't budge for jack and shit", Soothing will carry our intent from there.

Great, let's threaten to eat it if right in front of Mia she doesn't wake up

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It's funny, I remembered we had the envelope, but I forgot to write that in my post because I got enraptured in the Friendship Headbutt Dare To Be Badass of it all.

Mao jumps, blinking, staring at the Boss for a long time. "Huh," she mutters, surprised. Then chuckles, sauntering onto her armchair, and plopping down. "Alright then."

"… What's that?" you ask, eyeing the white metal suitcase.

Mao smiles crookedly. "Insurance, if things go badly. My insurance, specifically, so don't pull some reckless shit, okay? At least survive for a whole month before you go and keel over. If shit goes wrong, then…" she pulls out a white envelope from her pocket and slides it to you over the table. "Open this. You'll know what to do next. But do not open this, if things go smoothly," her eyes narrow, golden ambers flashing, almost glowing; you catch something flickering, sparking. You tense up. "Or I'll be fucking pissed."

[Instinct Check: Easy. Pass.]

A single pull of the trigger –

[Instinct Check: Hard. Pass.]

And it could be in seconds, or minutes, or hours, or days, or weeks, or months or years –

[Instinct Check: Very Hard. Pass.]

And then – death. Mao always hits her mark.

"I won't," you grind out, shivering. "And I don't go back on my word."

The intensity – the pressure fades away as Mao returns to her smiling self. "I know. I trust you."

"And I ain't gonna die," you add, mutteringly, and ignoring what she just said. "… What the fuck's up with people saying that to me today?" Mao smirks. You inhale, and then exhale, before nodding, locking eyes with her as you pick the envelope up. "Fine, alright, whatever. Let's do this."

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Step 1: Give a big ass drag to Mao's sleeping beauty shit about all the values she's inflicted on Lily coming back to haunt her while enacting concussive maintenance.
Step 2: When that fails, bring up the envelope and ask if things have gone to shit enough to open it, and watch as Mao's eyes rip open with amber flooding out like 'the fuck it is.'

Compromise. We get a stomach or mouth aug that increases the buffs we get from consumables. Everyone wins!! 👍

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I actually unironically love this idea, Iron Chef Workshop who sees Lily is the only one who has what it takes to integrate with their masterpiece (without being a goddamn fucking cannibal) and become the All-Consuming Virtuoso GET.

 

[thePUNisher]

I actually unironically love this idea, Iron Chef Workshop who sees Lily is the only one who has what it takes to integrate with their masterpiece (without being a goddamn fucking cannibal) and become the All-Consuming Virtuoso G

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As far as Augs go I'd prefer we go the flesh/flowy route with the Beanstalk Pharmacy and Dr. Catface's implants, create a Machine vs Nature contrast with Kai to go along with the other ones we have and all. But foodie is another valid path to take.

But I will say fuck no to @wrecksalot's idea of remaining augless. Not only is it rejecting an entire upgrade tree, but it also means we'll only get stronger by grinding EXP which is boring as all hell.