Jagged Little Pill
FourthWall
Love & Destroy
- Location
- Chiraq
Let's get back to it. Year of the Villainess
You are Grace Claudius. Athlete. Isekaijin. Monkey girl. Erstwhile villainess.
You are also laid up in a hospital bed with several injured limbs and a seriously bruised ego.
You got a little too full of yourself on your first big adventure and got your floofy butt whooped six ways to Sunday. By a slime, no less.
Well yeah, it was a Super Robot Slimeotron that may or may not be a side effect of befriending a lily-loving vampire girl so hard you sequence broke reality, but an L is an L.
You're not used to taking Ls.
You hate taking Ls.
It's why you train so hard, in this world and the last. You're not very smart, but you're good at physical stuff. Running, dancing, fighting, swimming; all of it is your domain. But you know not to rest on your laurels, you know that if you don't push yourself you'll get soft.
You should've known better than to bite off more than you can chew. Or to ignore Chiaki's advice.
The fact she's not here to passively-aggressively chide you makes it all the worse. You wish it was her taking care of you instead of Tanya, wish she was giving you heaping helpings of humble pie with your medicine. Nothing against Tanya, of course; the joy she showed in her really cute new dress healed your soul. It's just the wicked chuckling and intentionally bitter medicine doesn't make for the best bedside manner.
At least the medicine works.
Given your slings, you probably broke something, but instead of the stiletto-sharp sting of a broken bone you feel a submerged warmth in your laid-up limbs. The feeling is almost narcotic, but your brain is sharper than it was when they doped you up in the real world.
<Brainy> "Praise be, it's not like we need to be impaired any further."
<Sensible> "Don't kick her when she's down like this. Or us, honestly."
<Brainy> "The only way we seem to learn is through pain. Let this be a teaching moment."
<Sensible> "You're starting to sound like Tanya..."
Speaking of the little devil, Tanya gives you a once-over. She pokes your injured foot and hand. "Tell me if you can feel this."
You wince a little at the touch; something's definitely broken.
Tanya smirks softly. "Ah, you can still feel pain. I'll have to up the dosage."
You wince for different reasons. "You're kind of a sadist, aintcha?"
Tanya puts on a mask of saccharine innocence. "Who me? I'm merely ensuring my medications are working at maximum efficacy." A nasty, cheeky grin cracks across her facade.
It's times like this, even with all you've done for her and for all she's changed, you realize how Tanya could gun down the entire Claudius Estate.
Tanya sees the worry wash over your face and turns serious. She clutches your good hand in hers. "That look still doesn't suit you. I promise the next batch will take the pain away."
"You don't mean that in a euphemistic way, right?"
Tanya blinks, stunned, before barking out a laugh. "It's worse than I thought. My sense of humor is rubbing off on you." She gives your hand a squeeze before going off to gather more reagents.
Your eyelids start to grow heavy. You start to let fatigue take you until the imperious clack-clack-clack of high-heeled boots brings you to attention.
Justine stands before you now, radiating calm fury. Her leonine eyes are hard and sharp. She's in a diaphanous white toga, underneath a voluminous scarlet and gold greatcoat draped over her shoulders. Her outfit seems to billow with her sheer aura.
"Grace Julia Augusta Claudius," she says. It feels like you're being called to the electric chair.
Your hair writhes and tries to cover you up, hide you from a perceived threat.
<Emo> "So this is true terror, fufu..."
"H-hello Mother," you squeak.
She raises a pencil-thin eyebrow at you. "Has the House Physicker been taking good care of you?"
You nod.
"Good," Justine says. "How are you feeling?"
Like you're staring down a hunger-mad lion. "O-Okay, I guess."
She sizes up your injuries and body language with a glance. "You were badly injured, but the Schwarzwald girl does good work."
You smile, but it doesn't reach your eyes. "She's been giving me her best."
The moment lies heavy between you and your new universe mom. The warm fuzzy feeling of Tanya's medicine has been replaced with a creeping chill.
"Without her, you could have been crippled," Justine says. "Autumn brought you back to me in bloodied rags."
You gulp. Was it really that bad? You look down to see that you're in a slip dress, not your adventuring gear.
She walks over to you with measured steps. Clack. Clack.
"Grace Julia Augusta Claudia, you are a child. A mere babe taking her first tottering steps towards adulthood. I granted you Razortongue with the assumption that you would use it wisely. That you would not dishonor the blade with failure. That you would not disgrace yourself in front of your noble peer, much less in the presence of a lowborn."
Clack. Clack. She circles around your bed. "House Claudius is steel, child. We do not falter. We do not break. We are tempered in fire so that our tempers stay cool under any circumstances."
You curl inward as much as you can with your injuries. Grace would seethe over her tongue lashings from Justine, but you never saw one. Never heard it from the woman's own lips.
It is a knife along your wounded pride, a fatal blow to your ego.
You feel the tears well up again.
"Do you feel ashamed of yourself?" Justine says.
You squeeze your eyes shut and nod, sobbing.
Clack. Clack.
An ugly part of your mind recalls Grace's final end, the last thing you saw before your end as Kid A. You shiver with grief and fear.
Clack. Clack.
Your heart beats wildly. If you could move, you'd run for your life.
Clack.
You whimper, hair cocooning you. You remember a scene from Fall From Grace where Grace had been caught stealing wine from the House Claudius cellar. Justine backhanded her with lightning speed and thunderous force, leaving a mark deeper crimson than the wine Grace stole.
There's a hand upon you, and you flinch. But it isn't the whipcrack of punishment. It's the gentle touch of a loving mother.
You peek out of your hair cocoon to see Justine stroking your head. Her eyes are sweet and slightly chiding. "Fear not, child. You have been wounded enough."
You can't help but cry some more, your tiny body wracked with sobbing.
Justine wipes away your tears and takes you into her bosom. Her warm embrace reminds you of what you could have lost. What you've already lost in being Grace instead of Kid A.
"Remember this pain, child. This anguish, this fear. Wear this scar on your heart as both warning and distinction. You will grow strong from this, so indulge yourself in this moment of weakness."
You oblige, crying in her embrace for what feels like hours.
Once she intuits that the storm has mostly passed, Justine lets you up from her chest. Her toga is immaculate despite the snot and tears you left behind.
"Now explain, child. What possessed you to take on such a foe?"
[What do you tell Justine?]
[ ] "I underestimated my opponent, it won't happen again."
[ ] "It was my adventuring party and my friends, I had to protect them."
[ ] "As you said, Mother; House Claudius is steel. I had to prove my mettle."
***
You are Grace Claudius. Athlete. Isekaijin. Monkey girl. Erstwhile villainess.
You are also laid up in a hospital bed with several injured limbs and a seriously bruised ego.
You got a little too full of yourself on your first big adventure and got your floofy butt whooped six ways to Sunday. By a slime, no less.
Well yeah, it was a Super Robot Slimeotron that may or may not be a side effect of befriending a lily-loving vampire girl so hard you sequence broke reality, but an L is an L.
You're not used to taking Ls.
You hate taking Ls.
It's why you train so hard, in this world and the last. You're not very smart, but you're good at physical stuff. Running, dancing, fighting, swimming; all of it is your domain. But you know not to rest on your laurels, you know that if you don't push yourself you'll get soft.
You should've known better than to bite off more than you can chew. Or to ignore Chiaki's advice.
The fact she's not here to passively-aggressively chide you makes it all the worse. You wish it was her taking care of you instead of Tanya, wish she was giving you heaping helpings of humble pie with your medicine. Nothing against Tanya, of course; the joy she showed in her really cute new dress healed your soul. It's just the wicked chuckling and intentionally bitter medicine doesn't make for the best bedside manner.
At least the medicine works.
Given your slings, you probably broke something, but instead of the stiletto-sharp sting of a broken bone you feel a submerged warmth in your laid-up limbs. The feeling is almost narcotic, but your brain is sharper than it was when they doped you up in the real world.
<Brainy> "Praise be, it's not like we need to be impaired any further."
<Sensible> "Don't kick her when she's down like this. Or us, honestly."
<Brainy> "The only way we seem to learn is through pain. Let this be a teaching moment."
<Sensible> "You're starting to sound like Tanya..."
Speaking of the little devil, Tanya gives you a once-over. She pokes your injured foot and hand. "Tell me if you can feel this."
You wince a little at the touch; something's definitely broken.
Tanya smirks softly. "Ah, you can still feel pain. I'll have to up the dosage."
You wince for different reasons. "You're kind of a sadist, aintcha?"
Tanya puts on a mask of saccharine innocence. "Who me? I'm merely ensuring my medications are working at maximum efficacy." A nasty, cheeky grin cracks across her facade.
It's times like this, even with all you've done for her and for all she's changed, you realize how Tanya could gun down the entire Claudius Estate.
Tanya sees the worry wash over your face and turns serious. She clutches your good hand in hers. "That look still doesn't suit you. I promise the next batch will take the pain away."
"You don't mean that in a euphemistic way, right?"
Tanya blinks, stunned, before barking out a laugh. "It's worse than I thought. My sense of humor is rubbing off on you." She gives your hand a squeeze before going off to gather more reagents.
***
<Tanya Schwarzwald pre-capture route unlocked!>
***
<Tanya Schwarzwald pre-capture route unlocked!>
***
Your eyelids start to grow heavy. You start to let fatigue take you until the imperious clack-clack-clack of high-heeled boots brings you to attention.
Justine stands before you now, radiating calm fury. Her leonine eyes are hard and sharp. She's in a diaphanous white toga, underneath a voluminous scarlet and gold greatcoat draped over her shoulders. Her outfit seems to billow with her sheer aura.
"Grace Julia Augusta Claudius," she says. It feels like you're being called to the electric chair.
Your hair writhes and tries to cover you up, hide you from a perceived threat.
<Emo> "So this is true terror, fufu..."
"H-hello Mother," you squeak.
She raises a pencil-thin eyebrow at you. "Has the House Physicker been taking good care of you?"
You nod.
"Good," Justine says. "How are you feeling?"
Like you're staring down a hunger-mad lion. "O-Okay, I guess."
She sizes up your injuries and body language with a glance. "You were badly injured, but the Schwarzwald girl does good work."
You smile, but it doesn't reach your eyes. "She's been giving me her best."
The moment lies heavy between you and your new universe mom. The warm fuzzy feeling of Tanya's medicine has been replaced with a creeping chill.
"Without her, you could have been crippled," Justine says. "Autumn brought you back to me in bloodied rags."
You gulp. Was it really that bad? You look down to see that you're in a slip dress, not your adventuring gear.
She walks over to you with measured steps. Clack. Clack.
"Grace Julia Augusta Claudia, you are a child. A mere babe taking her first tottering steps towards adulthood. I granted you Razortongue with the assumption that you would use it wisely. That you would not dishonor the blade with failure. That you would not disgrace yourself in front of your noble peer, much less in the presence of a lowborn."
Clack. Clack. She circles around your bed. "House Claudius is steel, child. We do not falter. We do not break. We are tempered in fire so that our tempers stay cool under any circumstances."
You curl inward as much as you can with your injuries. Grace would seethe over her tongue lashings from Justine, but you never saw one. Never heard it from the woman's own lips.
It is a knife along your wounded pride, a fatal blow to your ego.
You feel the tears well up again.
"Do you feel ashamed of yourself?" Justine says.
You squeeze your eyes shut and nod, sobbing.
Clack. Clack.
An ugly part of your mind recalls Grace's final end, the last thing you saw before your end as Kid A. You shiver with grief and fear.
Clack. Clack.
Your heart beats wildly. If you could move, you'd run for your life.
Clack.
You whimper, hair cocooning you. You remember a scene from Fall From Grace where Grace had been caught stealing wine from the House Claudius cellar. Justine backhanded her with lightning speed and thunderous force, leaving a mark deeper crimson than the wine Grace stole.
There's a hand upon you, and you flinch. But it isn't the whipcrack of punishment. It's the gentle touch of a loving mother.
You peek out of your hair cocoon to see Justine stroking your head. Her eyes are sweet and slightly chiding. "Fear not, child. You have been wounded enough."
You can't help but cry some more, your tiny body wracked with sobbing.
Justine wipes away your tears and takes you into her bosom. Her warm embrace reminds you of what you could have lost. What you've already lost in being Grace instead of Kid A.
"Remember this pain, child. This anguish, this fear. Wear this scar on your heart as both warning and distinction. You will grow strong from this, so indulge yourself in this moment of weakness."
You oblige, crying in her embrace for what feels like hours.
Once she intuits that the storm has mostly passed, Justine lets you up from her chest. Her toga is immaculate despite the snot and tears you left behind.
"Now explain, child. What possessed you to take on such a foe?"
***
[What do you tell Justine?]
[ ] "I underestimated my opponent, it won't happen again."
[ ] "It was my adventuring party and my friends, I had to protect them."
[ ] "As you said, Mother; House Claudius is steel. I had to prove my mettle."
***
NAME
Kid A Grace Claudius, Age 13
AVATAR GRADES
Brainy: Average (+3)
Artsy: Average (+3)
Flashy: Good (+4)
Sporty: Good (+4)
Sensible: Good (+4)
ACTUALIZATION SCORES
BRN 48 ART 48 FLA 67 SPO 97 SEN 55
STRESS 45
DESTRUDO LEVEL
Elevated
LORES
<Heavenly Magic Lore L1>: Can learn and cast Heavenly Magic, spells that call upon the power of Sophia, the Sevenfold Goddess of this world.
<Bloodpact Lore L1>: Can learn and cast Bloodpacts, Heavenly Magic in its most primal form.
SKILLS
<Minor Bloodpact>: Can make minor oaths and pacts, backed up by blood and the power of Sophia Madim, the Forgemother.
<Blood Sisters> (Bridgette Alteisen): Gain minor stat boosts when you or Bridgette act to protect or assist each other.
<Teflon Cherub>: When dodging accusations and foul rumors, or convincing people of your moral character, you may roll twice on a Flashy or Sensible check and keep the higher result. People generally trust and like you more unless they already hate you, you're actively harming them, or you're pissing them off.
STUFF
Enchanted Dress xN - 1
Justine's Old Sword x1
Wounded Pride
PRE-CAPTURE ROUTES
Camille Asuka
Lily Valentine
Prince Bryn Alteisen
Tanya Schwarzwald
CAPTURE ROUTES
Bridgette Alteisen {Blood Sister}
AVATAR GRADES
Brainy: Average (+3)
Artsy: Average (+3)
Flashy: Good (+4)
Sporty: Good (+4)
Sensible: Good (+4)
ACTUALIZATION SCORES
BRN 48 ART 48 FLA 67 SPO 97 SEN 55
STRESS 45
DESTRUDO LEVEL
Elevated
LORES
<Heavenly Magic Lore L1>: Can learn and cast Heavenly Magic, spells that call upon the power of Sophia, the Sevenfold Goddess of this world.
<Bloodpact Lore L1>: Can learn and cast Bloodpacts, Heavenly Magic in its most primal form.
SKILLS
<Minor Bloodpact>: Can make minor oaths and pacts, backed up by blood and the power of Sophia Madim, the Forgemother.
<Blood Sisters> (Bridgette Alteisen): Gain minor stat boosts when you or Bridgette act to protect or assist each other.
<Teflon Cherub>: When dodging accusations and foul rumors, or convincing people of your moral character, you may roll twice on a Flashy or Sensible check and keep the higher result. People generally trust and like you more unless they already hate you, you're actively harming them, or you're pissing them off.
STUFF
Enchanted Dress xN - 1
Justine's Old Sword x1
PRE-CAPTURE ROUTES
Camille Asuka
Lily Valentine
Prince Bryn Alteisen
Tanya Schwarzwald
CAPTURE ROUTES
Bridgette Alteisen {Blood Sister}
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