Update 5, Part 2
Your computer now has the neuroptics blueprint of a warframe you've never seen before. You tap the button to use your codex scanner, but the moment you do, everything goes dark.

***​

You are on an arid planet - you know for a fact that this isn't Earth somehow. You are surrounded by humanoids in some kind of bulbous armor, holding crude weapons. You hit the ground to avoid getting shot at, but you realize they can't see you when one passes through you in order to get to a crowd of its brethren.

You get up again and run forward to see what's going on. You get startled when a body hits the floor right in front of you. A Warframe runs past you, and you see her unleash gunshots wildly with some kind of hand-held machine gun, an aura glowing brighter and brighter as she kills more of the strange enemy. Finally, she unleashes the aura in one single bullet, set alight and targeted at what is seemingly the enemy commander. They explode, causing the troops to scramble.

She pulls out a whip of energy, hitting and disarming the troops around her before curling around the Warframe's weapons, seemingly increasing her damage. A heavily armored enemy, armed with a primitive rocket launcher, begins firing at the Warframe but she envelops herself in a shield that reflects the projective back at the attacker.

An incoming troop transports disgorges a horde of the enemy soldiers, surrounding her completely. She holsters her primary weapon and instead whips out a pair of built in pistols concealed under her arms. She quickly and efficiently eliminates the enemies with pinpointed shots straight in the weak points of the armor.

She soon stands alone in the alien desert, her task completed. With the spectacle now finished, she holsters her pistols and heads towards extraction. Now you know the name of this warframe. The vagabond, the outcast, the reckless, the gunslinger. Mesa.

***​

You awaken in your bed, with your father sitting beside you holding your hand. When he realizes you're awake, he draws you into a bear hug before lecturing you. "Never do that again! You scared me when you collapsed in the workshop! Ha-Ms. Militia told me to give you her contact number when you wake up, she wants you to contact her later on to finish your conversation."


What will you do now?

[] Talk to Ms. Militia right now.
[] Tell your father about the dream.

[X] Begin work on those Mesa Neuroptics - try to figure out why the foundry needed Ms. Militia's blood for it.
[] Write in?
 
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Vote Tally 5
Votes closed.
Adhoc vote count started by Cryptix on Jan 17, 2018 at 4:27 PM, finished with 18 posts and 6 votes.

  • [X] Begin work on those Mesa Neuroptics - try to figure out why the foundry needed Ms. Militia's blood for it.
    [X] It'd be easier to show you. I have something to show you.
    [X] "I'd rather not share right now, if that's alright with you."

Adhoc vote count started by Cryptix on Jan 17, 2018 at 4:28 PM, finished with 4 posts and 3 votes.

  • [X] Begin work on those Mesa Neuroptics - try to figure out why the foundry needed Ms. Militia's blood for it.
 
Update 6
You sit in your workshop, increasingly worried about the current situation. You wanted to see what feature had been enabled to allow the foundry to take a blood sample, so you checked the control panel, to no avail. Next, you go into the machine itself, and you begin to notice as you go deeper in that things are beginning to not make sense.
You know that the foundry was one of your first creations, and was done when you didn't know a lot about your powers, but this was ridiculous. Multiple redundant parts, wiring that ends up going nowhere, layers upon layers of covers that have to be removed at several different to reach points, and more features make it seem more and more like the machine doesn't want to be taken apart.
Finally, you reach its core, a small orb with a symbol that looks like a stylized flower. Below it, there is the final covering before you can reach the inner workings of the machine. You move to remove the orb but the moment you touch it, several visions flash through your mind in a manner similar to your dream earlier with Mesa. A broken spaceship floating adrift in the void, a room full of torn apart bodies surrounding an unfamiliar warframe, a horde of monsters invading a once pristine palace. The last of these images is an inverted and corrupted version of the symbol on the orb accompanied by one message from a computerized and corrupted voice.
"All is silent and calm. Hushed and empty is the womb of the sky. Do not attempt to interfere, demon."
The visions over, you are returned to your body. Will you listen to the warnings of the mysterious presence?
[] Continue, despite the risks (Check my posts for invisitext from now on until I say "He is no longer watching)
[X] Leave this alone for today - you need more information.
(Sorry for the short update but this introduces an important mechanic)
 
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Update 7
He is gone.
You return to your room and lock the door. Harrow takes up station in the corner next to the door unbidden - he can sense your distress. Making sure your father isn't awake one last time, you take out your flip phone your father bought for you the other day and dial the number Ms. Militia gave you. She picks up on the first ring. "Hi Taylor, I wasn't expecting to hear from you this late? What's up." You frown. "I can call you back in the morning if this is a bad time for you?" She waves off your concerns saying, "Don't worry! Part of my powers is I don't need to sleep, so I'm a bit of an insomniac."
You swallow before continuing the conversation. "About what we talked about this afternoon - I'm not sure if I can supply my foundries to the PRT. I don't understand why the foundry decided to take the blood sample, and until I can know more I don't feel safe providing it for general use. There's a lot about my tinkertech that I don't understand myself." Ms. Militia replied, "If that's the way you feel, then I'll respect it. Still, you should come to the Rig sometime, talk to Kid Win and Armsmaster and see if they can help you somewhat. You're also going to need to get registered in the PRT database and get power testing, preferably as soon as possible. Just send me a text message and I'll set up an appointment for you." Its true that you've got to do that as soon as possible, but you still have a busy week ahead of you, since you need to take the Arcadia entrance exams and attend an interview. Maybe you'll be able to squeeze it on one of the exam days? It may be best to put it off until you know where you'll be going to school, though joining the wards will improve your chances.
Ms. Militia interrupts your thinking. "Taylor? You still there? I can tell you have something else on your mind; want to talk about it?" It's tempting to take up her offer and just divulge everything from this afternoon to her - the arcane machinery of the foundry, the mysterious voice that warned you against trying to uncover the secrets of your tech. But the desire of the human mind to offload its responsibilities to others is dangerous, and doing so may push her away.

When will you get setup with the PRT?
[] This week, after the interview on Monday
[] This week, after my exams on Wednesday
[] Sometime later, I need to focus on school.

Tell Ms. Militia about this afternoon?
[] Tell her everything
[] Tell her about the ominous being
[] Tell her about the difficulties with the foundry
[] Tell her nothing.
 
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Vote Tally 7
Votes closed.
Rolling to break tie between tell her everything or just about the foundry.
Adhoc vote count started by Cryptix on Jan 22, 2018 at 11:19 AM, finished with 8 posts and 6 votes.

  • [X] This week, after the interview on Monday
    [X] Tell her everything
    [X] This week, after the interview on Monday
    [X] Tell her about the difficulties with the foundry
    [X] Sometime later, I need to focus on school.
    [X] Tell her about the difficulties with the foundry
    [X] This week, after my exams on Wednesday
    [X] Tell her about the difficulties with the foundry

Adhoc vote count started by Cryptix on Jan 22, 2018 at 11:20 AM, finished with 8 posts and 6 votes.
Cryptix threw 1 2-faced dice. Reason: Break Tie Total: 1
1 1
 
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Update 8
You see a shadow at the edge of your vision. He is watching.
"You can sign me up for power testing on Monday - I have somewhere to go before hand, so maybe 3 PM?" Ms. Militia sighs over the phone. "Taylor, it's okay if you don't want to talk about it but-" You interrupt her with, "No, I do. Just...give me a moment. It's hard for me to believe this myself." Over the course of the next half hour you tell her everything - the foundry's rebellion against you, the orb at its center, and the voice of warning. After you finish speaking, Ms. Militia worriedly replies, "You mean you don't remember building your first foundry? That sounds like you might have done it in a tinker fugue, but you haven't been in a tinker long enough for that. And the voice you mentioned, it bothers me...Taylor, do you think there's a possibility you've been mastered?"

You go quiet for a few moments after that. "That can't be possible, I've never been in contact with another parahuman before today. Who would ever have any reason to master me?" Ms. Militia responds, "Just to be safe, we have a cape that can detect what parahumans you've been nearby within the last 6 months - her name is Madame, a Guild member from London. It'll take her a few hours to get here, but in the meantime I forbid you from any intensive tinkering. If it requires you to take something apart, then don't do it. We have no idea what you might do if you've been mastered. In the meantime, get some sleep - you have an interview tomorrow. Focus on being Taylor the teenager, not Taylor the parahuman. I'll talk to your father by myself."

With that, she ends the call on your end, leaving you to relax on your bed. The first thing you do once you get over the shock is clean off the parts you were working on - no use tempting yourself. Still, Ms. Militia only said you couldn't tinker - nothing about giving Harrow a new paintjob. You had been planning on doing it anyway before your call, and it'll help keep your mind off...everything. How will you paint him?

[]A lighter color scheme will do nicely.
[]Go for something a bit darker.
[]Keep him with his normal colors, with a bit of a touchup.
Adhoc vote count started by Cryptix on Jan 24, 2018 at 7:40 PM, finished with 10 posts and 7 votes.
 
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Update 9
February 14th, 2011 7:00 AM

You awaken Monday morning and take a shower. As you step out, drying your hair with a towel, you see some men in moving uniforms preparing to move Harrow to the PRT building, seemingly by crate. His new black, white, and gold color scheme that you chose for him reflects your mental state when you first built him - delirious yes, but mostly angry and betrayed. Tinting the gold had taken forever without spray paint, but it was relaxing in a way.

Upon your return to reality when a drop of water falls on your nose from your hair, you realize you could tell them not to box him up - sure, it will make transit easier, but not doing so would set an important precedent of how to treat your warframes. They might be biomechanical golems, but they were still somewhat intelligent when not shackled to your control - about the intelligence of a small child. You'll talk to them after you've finished getting dressed.

You soon encounter your next dilemma - what to wear. It would seemingly be best to wear what you did at Winslow, that being baggy clothing that reveals neither your figure nor your pasty skin, but that might send the wrong idea to the interviewer. On the other hand, wearing something flashy like a dress would be foolish in a city like Brockton Bay, even if Arcadia is in the better part of town. You have both sets of clothing laid out on your bed and are still thinking about it when your father shouts from downstairs, "Taylor, you better get a move on - the P-'moving men' are about to leave, which means its time for you to get going!" You're going to have to make a decision on both problems - what will you choose?


Harrow?

[]Have Harrow ride in the van normally - set a precedent for your Warframes to be treated like people. He may stir up some trouble and make them uneasy.

[]Have Harrow deactivated, but not in the crate - set a precedent for your Warframes as creatures, but not people.He'll make them uneasy

[]Have Harrow ride in the crate - set a precedent for your Warframes to be treated like objects. People won't treat him like he's alive


You?

[]Choose an old dress given to you for your 14th birthday, despite the risks.

[]Wear your normal baggy clothes, screw first impressions.

[]Wear a mix of flashy and concealed, even if it looks a little strange at first.
Adhoc vote count started by Cryptix on Feb 9, 2018 at 9:10 PM, finished with 8 posts and 5 votes.

  • [X] Wear a mix of flashy and concealed - even if it looks weird at first.
    [X]Wear your normal baggy clothes, screw first impressions.
    [X]Have Harrow ride in the van normally - set a precedent for your Warframes to be treated like people.
    [X]Have Harrow deactivated, but not in the crate - set a precedent for your Warframes as creatures, but not people.He'll make them uneasy
    [X]Choose an old dress given to you for your 14th birthday, despite the risks.
    [X]Have Harrow ride in the van normally - set a precedent for your Warframes to be treated like people. We d N't know how alive Harrow is, plus he's already proven himself to be human from his care to us.
    [X]Have Harrow deactivated, but not in the crate - set a precedent for your Warframes as creatures, but not people.

Adhoc vote count started by Cryptix on Feb 10, 2018 at 12:39 AM, finished with 8 posts and 5 votes.

  • [X]Have Harrow deactivated, but not in the crate - set a precedent for your Warframes as creatures, but not people.He'll make them uneasy
    [X]Choose an old dress given to you for your 14th birthday, despite the risks.
    [X]Have Harrow ride in the van normally - set a precedent for your Warframes to be treated like people. We d N't know how alive Harrow is, plus he's already proven himself to be human from his care to us.
    [X] Wear a mix of flashy and concealed - even if it looks weird at first.
    [X]Have Harrow deactivated, but not in the crate - set a precedent for your Warframes as creatures, but not people.
    [X]Wear your normal baggy clothes, screw first impressions.
    [X]Have Harrow ride in the van normally - set a precedent for your Warframes to be treated like people.
    [X] Wear a mix of flashy and concealed - even if it looks weird at first.
    [X]Have Harrow ride in the van normally - set a precedent for your Warframes to be treated like people.
    [X]Wear your normal baggy clothes, screw first impressions.
 
Vote Tally 9
Votes closed.
Adhoc vote count started by Cryptix on Feb 10, 2018 at 12:36 PM, finished with 9 posts and 5 votes.

  • [X]Have Harrow deactivated, but not in the crate - set a precedent for your Warframes as creatures, but not people.He'll make them uneasy
    [X]Choose an old dress given to you for your 14th birthday, despite the risks.
    [X]Have Harrow ride in the van normally - set a precedent for your Warframes to be treated like people. We d N't know how alive Harrow is, plus he's already proven himself to be human from his care to us.
    [X] Wear a mix of flashy and concealed - even if it looks weird at first.
    [X]Have Harrow deactivated, but not in the crate - set a precedent for your Warframes as creatures, but not people.
    [X]Wear your normal baggy clothes, screw first impressions.
    [X]Have Harrow ride in the van normally - set a precedent for your Warframes to be treated like people.
    [X] Wear a mix of flashy and concealed - even if it looks weird at first.
    [X]Have Harrow ride in the van normally - set a precedent for your Warframes to be treated like people.
    [X]Wear your normal baggy clothes, screw first impressions.

Adhoc vote count started by Cryptix on Feb 10, 2018 at 12:37 PM, finished with 9 posts and 5 votes.

  • [X] Wear a mix of flashy and concealed - even if it looks weird at first.
    [X]Wear your normal baggy clothes, screw first impressions.
    [X]Have Harrow ride in the van normally - set a precedent for your Warframes to be treated like people.
    [X]Have Harrow deactivated, but not in the crate - set a precedent for your Warframes as creatures, but not people.He'll make them uneasy
    [X]Choose an old dress given to you for your 14th birthday, despite the risks.
    [X]Have Harrow ride in the van normally - set a precedent for your Warframes to be treated like people. We d N't know how alive Harrow is, plus he's already proven himself to be human from his care to us.
    [X]Have Harrow deactivated, but not in the crate - set a precedent for your Warframes as creatures, but not people.

Adhoc vote count started by Cryptix on Feb 10, 2018 at 9:58 PM, finished with 8 posts and 5 votes.

  • [X] Wear a mix of flashy and concealed - even if it looks weird at first.
    [X]Wear your normal baggy clothes, screw first impressions.
    [X]Have Harrow ride in the van normally - set a precedent for your Warframes to be treated like people.
    [X]Have Harrow deactivated, but not in the crate - set a precedent for your Warframes as creatures, but not people.He'll make them uneasy
    [X]Choose an old dress given to you for your 14th birthday, despite the risks.
    [X]Have Harrow ride in the van normally - set a precedent for your Warframes to be treated like people. We d N't know how alive Harrow is, plus he's already proven himself to be human from his care to us.
    [X]Have Harrow deactivated, but not in the crate - set a precedent for your Warframes as creatures, but not people.
Cryptix threw 1 2-faced dice. Reason: Break Tie Total: 1
1 1
 
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