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The Lamplighters Omnibus

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Many thanks symbiotic space dog. We may or may not have saved a guy at the cost of our life, either way that guy is alive and so are we. Take that reality.

[X] Ask what happened with the kaiju attack. Two attacks of that magnitude one after the other isn't supposed to happen, especially with so little warning.

Yeah what was up with that? Did they figure it out?
 
Actually, what are the odds that the person we saved have some connections to this facility? I mean, by all accounts John was rather average before this and there were probably tons of other mortally wounded people around, so why was he saved instead of somebody else?

Sure, it could just be random chance/because he's the protagonist, but that's the boring explanation.
 
Of these options, the first two make the most sense for us to ask, imo. Paragon turning away from us was probably pretty impactful in a negative way, and asking after who we saved is natural enough; we risked our life after all. The latter two strike me more as questions we'd ask if we hadn't just been cored and then had an anxiety attack: the sort of hero otaku questions that'll come to us when we're less stressed. They're also just kind of generally impersonal, the symbiote as it relates to us in the most important sense has basically been explained. Maybe if we had run, and been symbioted without the bit where we died, they'd be more appealing.

[X] Ask who brought you to safety. Someone had to have found you before another random spawn wandered by and finished you off.

I'd like to know who the real hero was.
 
[X] Ask who brought you to safety. Someone had to have found you before another random spawn wandered by and finished you off.

I was gonna do a big post-thing but then @Dekutulla NTR'ed my argument so yeah, what he said. :V

(I gotta say I do really like John a lot, and I liked the "nah, get fucked" aspect. It set the tone and while it wasn't really a "DEATH IS AROUND EVERY CORNER" thing it both highlighted the necessity of powered people and is a good...origin story? Idk. "You tried to help and got fucking cored by a monster from Edge of Tomorrow, better luck next time".)
 
[X] Ask who brought you to safety. Someone had to have found you before another random spawn wandered by and finished you off.
 
Omegahugger said:
Actually, what are the odds that the person we saved have some connections to this facility? I mean, by all accounts John was rather average before this and there were probably tons of other mortally wounded people around, so why was he saved instead of somebody else?

Sure, it could just be random chance/because he's the protagonist, but that's the boring explanation.
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I'm fairly certain it has nothing to do with the person we saved, beyond possibly that willingness to sacrifice being a desired quality by the symbiote. It's almost guaranteed the reason we're in this facility is because they had some means of detecting when a symbiote bonds with someone, and they chose to make sure they keep such people around. After all, this kind of situation probably falls within the 1% of people who have some form of powers, and that's a small enough number that's it's worth trying to save as many as possible to be useful later.
 
[X] Ask who brought you to safety. Someone had to have found you before another random spawn wandered by and finished you off.
 
[X] Ask who brought you to safety. Someone had to have found you before another random spawn wandered by and finished you off.
 
[X] Babble multiple questions in vaguely-coherent panic.
- [X] Ask who brought you to safety.
- [X] Ask after the person you tried to save.
- [X] Ask what happened with the kaiju attack.
- [X] Ask about the 'endosymbiote'.
 
[X] Ask after the person you tried to save. You don't have a lot of details to go on, but it can't hurt to try.
 
[X] Ask after the person you tried to save. You don't have a lot of details to go on, but it can't hurt to try.

MOTHERFUCKER JUST RAN OFF WITHOUT SO MUCH AS A THANK YOU

WE NEED A NAME
 
[X] Ask after the person you tried to save. You don't have a lot of details to go on, but it can't hurt to try.

I've been convinced.

We need that name!
 
[X] Ask who brought you to safety. Someone had to have found you before another random spawn wandered by and finished you off.
 
Revlid said:
[X] Ask after the person you tried to save. You don't have a lot of details to go on, but it can't hurt to try.

MOTHERFUCKER JUST RAN OFF WITHOUT SO MUCH AS A THANK YOU

WE NEED A NAME
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[X] Ask after the person you tried to save. You don't have a lot of details to go on, but it can't hurt to try.
 
[X] Ask who brought you to safety. Someone had to have found you before another random spawn wandered by and finished you off.

Oh, wow. You did it, John. You... probably bought some time for the other guy to go with Paragon. You found a moment of peace somehow while bleeding out and getting SWALLOWED by a Sphere entity. You're reconstructed now, and you're alive.

ZerbanDaGreat said:
You run down the slope, down into the muck and mud and rising water, through the covered work area, past abandoned tools and lunch boxes. You're reaching down, grabbing something, hefting its weight - a sledgehammer, still stained with concrete dust.
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'k, when I imagined this going down, I didn't imagine he would actually go straight for the kill?? I dunno, he struck me as the kind of guy who would be trying to push down suffocating panic and thus-- distraction tactics. Like throwing rocks and yelling. Not that it seems that likely to work either, but combat? in his state? seems suicidal.

ZerbanDaGreat said:
You can't remember what you said. Every time you look back and try to remember why it's just covered with more and more white noise.
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Oh, this italicized bit was perfect atmosphere. It was-- painful. The fuzz of static whiting out why he wanted to be a hero (showing he was confused himself at his action?) even as he did it, even as he was being a hero.

ZerbanDaGreat said:
You don't feel the hammer slipping through your fingers. You don't feel your feet leave the ground.

Maybe you just wanted to be something you're not.
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but you are, John. you wanted to be a hero and you were.

ZerbanDaGreat said:
"I-I think so, but that guy, he tried to save me..." Oh.
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o-- ouch. I almost flinched at this. Tried to save you, huh? I would feel like a fool if I was listening in John's place.

ZerbanDaGreat said:
His face falls at the sight of your wounds.

"Sorry, kid," he says softly. And he turns away.
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Why did you leave, Paragon? You could only evacuate one person? I hope... I hope you notified emergency medical services, but maybe you couldn't. Maybe you noticed that John's HEART was gone. Oof, brutal.

ZerbanDaGreat said:
You aren't in pain. You aren't afraid.

You aren't anything.

It's nice.
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Ahh, suicidal tendencies? I relate to this. Nothingness does seem nice sometimes.

ZerbanDaGreat said:
The tar-creature's head opens like a flower, glistening petals of oil curling back in squirming tendrils. The stamen extends like a tongue, questing blindly. Slipping between your parted lips. It leans down to meet you in a grotesque 'kiss', the petals closing around your head, sealing you in. Blind and deaf, submerged in darkness. You feel it pour itself down your throat. You feel the hot tar in your lungs, in your stomach, in your veins. So hot after the freezing cold it hurts. It hurts so much you want to scream but you can't.
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Ach, cringe. CRINGE. Thing in his throat, him sliding in headfirst...

ZerbanDaGreat said:
You're alive.

All those years stewing in misery and bitter, directionless anger. Struggling and failing, struggling and failing and then, right when you've made your peace, welcomed the end of it all... that's snatched away from you too.
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Yup. You're a relatable dude, John, first with your post-highschool reunions and now this.

ZerbanDaGreat said:
"The good news is that your situation isn't as unique as you might think. All over the world there are people with their own symbiotes of one stripe or another that live perfectly normal lives. In some cases, even where surgical intervention is possible, they choose to continue living with their new 'partners'. However..."
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Wait, normal lives? Does that mean most of them turned to heroism...? actually, she was probably talking about the visible effects and stigma. And what's with the air quotes around "partners"? Why would people remove them? Are there further insidious effects, or is this just the result of fear and shame and being marked?

ZerbanDaGreat said:
She meets your gaze, unafraid. "You're safe, John. Nothing bad's going to happen to you. I promise." Her voice is low, even and soothing. "If you'd like something to calm you down and time to rest, just nod."
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ZerbanDaGreat said:
"John? John, listen to me." She still hasn't raised her voice. She isn't backing away. She even reaches over the side of the bed and presses her hand against your chest, a warm pressure over your fake heart. Not even hard enough to be trying to push you back into bed. "It can sense you're frightened so it thinks you have to defend yourself. But you're not in danger, are you? You're safe in bed and nothing's going to happen until you're well enough to consent to it. Okay?"
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Can... can I just say how much I appreciate this. How much I appreciate her. Unafraid and calm and reaching out, explaining things and reassuring him of patient consent and the safe environment he's in. Oh, God, thank you, he really needed this.

AHHHHH i'm so glad you updated @ZerbanDaGreat; I really love the tone of the setting and you got me deeply relating to this character, even though he's astonishingly bland on the outside. And now I'm curious for whether we really are going for a superhero management quest (where John has to deal with the aftereffects without the support of a community-- his acquaintances and his clients both not understanding) or an investigative kind of quest (into the mysteries of SERAPH and the Spheres?) or just the drama of going through this, and having an alien partner and a person he "tried" to save somewhere in the world and not ending up in a thriller like aaaaaall the stories say, but just-- living.

I have full confidence you'll pull anything off!
 
[X] Ask who brought you to safety. Someone had to have found you before another random spawn wandered by and finished you off.
 
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[X] Ask after the person you tried to save. You don't have a lot of details to go on, but it can't hurt to try.
 
[X] Ask after the person you tried to save. You don't have a lot of details to go on, but it can't hurt to try.
 
[X] Ask who brought you to safety. Someone had to have found you before another random spawn wandered by and finished you off.
 
[X] Ask after the person you tried to save. You don't have a lot of details to go on, but it can't hurt to try.
 
[X] Ask who brought you to safety. Someone had to have found you before another random spawn wandered by and finished you off.

We need to at least say thank you. It's only polite.
 
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