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>Last time:

You burst upwards from your sheets, sweat streaming down your chest as you take heaving breathes. Your hands clench the blankets that cover you, each of them drenched in sweat.

Oh, heh, you see now. That must be what happens when you die in a dream. You just wake up. That's it.

Goddamn that was a weird dream. But at least it reminded you to pick up some more paint cans in the morning.

You blink, and look at the clock. 12:01 AM, it tells you. Then, it clicks over to 12:02. You sigh for a moment. You've got school in the morning. You need to get some rest.

Hopefully your new dream won't be as trippy as the last one. You brush the edge of your cap on your nightstand for a moment.

"Good night." You say to nobody in particular.

"Good night, my king." Replies someone.

...

Your eyes snap open, and you turn on your light next to the bed.

She's there. In your bed.

>FIN #2

(2/3)

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"Is something wrong, my king?" You stare at her wide-eyed, your heart beating like a percussive chorus. She's not supposed to be here. This is your room, and you woke up. You aren't dreaming. And yet, she's still here.

"W-what are you doing in my room?" You stutter out, dumbfounded. She blinks a few times in confusion, then nods her head.

"Oh, that's right, I forgot to mention this as well. When the Hour ends, I come with you. In a rather unseemly state, but nonetheless, I stay by your side." She sits up, eager to see your reaction.

A bug crawls out of her hair and drops onto your bed. You dry heave for a second, and your mind reels with the possibilities of what that means.

"Are the bugs bothering you, my king?" You nod, holding a hand to your mouth. You'd be angrier, if you weren't more disgusted.

"Then let me make myself more presentable. I believe your bathroom is...?" You hang yourself over the sink nearby in preparation for something you can feel burning its way up your throat, and the insect woman walks down the hall. You soon hear a small "Ah!" that sounds like her. She must have found it.

>Decisions:
>There is a primary and a secondary decision making system. The primary system is for choosing a path. The secondary decision is for choosing a way to feel about your decision-- are you happy? Sad? Afraid? You can also choose something minor to do as a secondary decision.

>Primary: What should you do?
「」 Call the police. You have no idea how she got in here, but she's not staying here.
「」 Try to find something to defend yourself with. You must've had a bat somewhere around here.
「」 Stay put and hear her out. This is way too confusing, you need answers.

>Secondary:
「」 Grab a beer from the fridge. No matter what happens after this, you'll need it.
「」 Go grab your hat from the nightstand. It's a nice hat.

>>32047840
>「」 Stay put and hear her out. This is way too confusing, you need answers.
She DOES have a gun.

>>32047840
>「」 Grab a beer from the fridge. No matter what happens after this, you'll need it.
>「」 Go grab your hat from the nightstand. It's a nice hat.
both. Can't have a drink without a nice hat.

Also, regarding stubborn vs. doubting/distrustful, it was 3-4 vs. 2-3, so we may need a revote.

>>32047945
She doesn't have a gun as far as you know, that's just the picture.

If that influences your vote at all.

>>32047840
>「」 Stay put and hear her out. This is way too confusing, you need answers.
>「」 Go grab your hat from the nightstand. It's a nice hat.
It IS a nice hat.

>>32048043
she has MINIONS that have guns

Alright, I'll close voting there. Writing now.

>>32047945
>Also, regarding stubborn vs. doubting/distrustful, it was 3-4 vs. 2-3, so we may need a revote.

We'll do that later, like at the end of the thread.

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Sighing, you grab your cap off the nightstand and fix it onto your head with a few twists. Then, you grab a beer from the fridge, cracking it open as you slam the door shut. You're going to need this tonight.

You touch the brim of your hat a tad, remembering how you got it. It was when your dad took you to a baseball game right after you graduated high school. You wanted to get packing, but he insisted. He somehow managed to get tickets to your favorite team, right up front. You asked him how he got the money, but he just waved his hand and said "Somehow.".

You caught a ball with that hat in that game. It somehow came right to you, right to your outstretched hat. After the game, the batter even signed the inside of the rim. It's faded now, since you've been so much with that hat, but you still remember the warm sun on that day when you touch your hat.

Then, you hear a door close, and the insect woman comes out of the hallway... minus insects.

(1/2, writing now)

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She looks normal now, to your surprise. She's lost the insect legs, the eye stalks, the stitches. Even her skin is now a normal color. It's an amazing transformation, to be sure. She's even picked up new clothes, somehow. Fresh ones, too. You can't see a patch on this dress, not even a loose seam.

"Where'd you pick up the dress?" You ask.

"It was amongst my things when I came here." She dismisses your remark, throwing her hair back.

You take a sip of beer. Oh yeah, you're going to need this.

"Alright, and the stitches, the insects?" You continue.

"Well, a lady has to be able to cover up her blemishes, after all." She smiles, and you frown in response. There's makeup, and then there's THIS.

>Primary: What do you ask her?
「」 How did you get in here?
「」 Not buying the excuse. How the hell are you hiding all that?
「」 What will it take to get you to leave?

>Secondary: How do you feel?
「」 Fear. Stop fucking stalking me, lady!
「」 Resignation. Magical insect lady can follow you anywhere. Great.
「」 Comfort. Somehow, you feel a little happy to have company after that dream.

>>32048533
>「」 How did you get in here?
>「」 Comfort. Somehow, you feel a little happy to have company after that dream.
We should probably stop pushing away what may be our only ally in the strange dream world.

>>32048533
「」 Not buying the excuse. How the hell are you hiding all that?

「」 Resignation. Magical insect lady can follow you anywhere. Great.

>>32048533
>「」 Not buying the excuse. How the hell are you hiding all that?
>「」 Comfort. Somehow, you feel a little happy to have company after that dream.

>>32048533
>Lemme guess: You came from my head or something, and blahblahblah, I either can't get rid of you, or I need to do some supernatural shenanigans and basically join the war?

>>32048533
>「」 Resignation. Magical insect lady can follow you anywhere. Great.

Rolled 1

Alright, I'll cut voting there.

We're going with:
>「」 Not buying the excuse. How the hell are you hiding all that?

And a coin flip for secondary.

「」 Not buying the excuse. How the hell are you hiding all that?

「」 Comfort. Somehow, you feel a little happy to have company after that dream.

"Alright look lady, there's 'hiding your blemishes'," You air-quote her words. "And then there's changing the color of your skin and removing all those stitches. What are you up to?" You put a hand on your hips, suspicious.

"Well, I didn't think it worthy of additional explanation, my king, but if it comforts you then I will explain." She states, pausing for a brief moment.

"The insects, my king, are a glamour. A visual effect, something that I can turn 'on' or 'off'. It takes a small bit of concentration to keep it off, but nothing that requires too much effort." To demonstrate, she closes her eyes and the stitches reappear, her skin bleaching and spider legs crawling out of her hair once again. Her flawless dress unweaves itself in places and patchwork appears all over it. Then, with a small grunt, she goes back to a normal appearance.

Yeah, normal. You know this girl is not normal, not at all, but with this appearance you could almost forget that. It's a little comforting, in a way. At least she isn't an alien anymore.

"So what do you want, anyway?" You ask, tired of all of this. Your eyes are drooping and you really just want to get back to bed. You take a sip of beer. At least that's helping.

"Well, you have to attend college in the morning, right my king?" She asks. You stare at her, and she awkwardly continues. "A-And I was thinking that I would stick close to you. To protect you. Someone might come after you in the daytime, to eliminate you in the War."

"'s that right?" You say, examining her.

(1/2)

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"Y-yes. Before that though, I feel it would be best to retire for the night. So shall we, my king?" She says, gesturing towards the bedroom.

You stare at her again, and she blushes.

"O-Oh, no my king, I didn't mean it like that! No, nothing you aren't comfortable with, no. Just retiring. That is all." She touches her fingers together.

You are unamused.

>Primary: About college
「」 No. You aren't going anywhere with me. I want nothing to do with you.
「」 You aren't coming. People will ask questions.
「」 You can come, but only if you stay away from me.
「」 Fine, whatever, you can come.

>Secondary: About sleep
「」 Come on, let's go.
「」 No, you're sleeping on the couch.
「」 Fuck that, you aren't staying in my house.

>>32049151
>「」 You can come, but only if you stay away from me.
>「」 Come on, let's go.
We'll need her around for self-defence.

「」 Fine, whatever, you can come.

「」 Come on, let's go.

>>32049151
>Other
Yeah, listen. Even if that bug thing was a glamor, I still don't want to wake up in the morning covered in roaches. For now, you're on the couch.

Anyway, just what the hell DO those stitches and bugs represent? I mean, if you're a shadow of me.

>>32049151
>「」 You aren't coming. People will ask questions.
put her on recon, searching for other shadows. That should keep her busy while actually keeping you safe.

>>32049151
>「」 No, you're sleeping on the couch.

>>32049151
>「」 Fine, whatever, you can come.
>「」 Come on, let's go.
We are so gonna get attacked at school. That's almost inevitable.
Also, i wanna see us freak out over her in the morning, covered in bugs.

>>32049151
>「」 Fine, whatever, you can come.
>「」 Come on, let's go.

Voting closed.

Going with:
>>「」 Fine, whatever, you can come.
>>「」 Come on, let's go.

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"Sure, come on. Whatever, let's just go." Your weariness has won out over your paranoia this time. Her eyes open in shock and her smile widens as she gleefully follows you to your bed.

Flopping onto your mattress, you close your eyes and the cold mattress warms to your body once again. You hear a small rustling next to you, and a warm body occupies a space next to you. The space behind your eyes swims, and before long you've drifted off into sleep again.

You have no more dreams. Just black.

Then the alarm blares, piercing your brain through your eardrums, and your consciousness takes control of you once more. Slowly lifting yourself from your mattress, you feel the sheets crumpling around you as you blink, trying to clear the dust from your eyes.

You slam your hand down on the digital alarm, and it bleeps once more in defeat. The annoying sound stops, and you almost flop back down onto the mattress. Through your best effort, you will yourself back to the world of the living. You feel a rustling from the other side of your mattress, and you drearily look over at the girl in your bed. Your Shadow. Right. No bugs, surprisingly enough.

Then the doorbell buzzes like it does every morning.

"Wake up, dude, time to go!" The person besides you shifts, and you feel hostility coming from her. She's clenching the sheets, and starting to get out of bed.

"Don't worry about it. It's Marc." You shift out of bed, grabbing some pants to put on.

"Marc?" She responds, following you.

(1/2)

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"Yeah, my buddy. Just wait here, I don't want him to see you." God knows THAT's what you need right now.

Quickly putting on a T-shirt and socks, you open your door to see his ugly mug. Luckily he doesn't smell like weed. Yet.

"Good, you're up. Come on, we have Comm first." You shut the door in his face, like you always do, and go back to the living room. You lazily pick up your backpack from the floor, when you hear a peep from the hallway.

"My king?" The girl, Puca, is looking at you anxiously.

"Don't let him see you." You say plainly.

Then the door opens. Like it always does. Yet somehow, you forgot about the last part.

"Dude. Nice." He gives you a thumbs up.

>Primary: What do you say?
「」 "This is, uhh..." Introduce her.
「」 "Cousin from out of state. Let's go." Give an excuse, then get going.
「」 "Get out of here." Tell her to go away, then get going."

>Secondary: Other (You only have time for one.)
「」 Grab some breakfast.
「」 Grab the math book you almost forgot. Did you have math today?
「」 Grab your MP3 player. Might need it later.

>>32049725
「X」 "Cousin from out of state. Let's go." Give an excuse, then get going.

「X」 Grab some breakfast.
It's the most important.

>>32049725
>「」 "This is, uhh..." Introduce her.
>「」 Grab the math book you almost forgot. Did you have math today?

>>32049725
>「」 "This is, uhh..." Introduce her.
>「」 Grab some breakfast.

>>32049725
>「」 "Cousin from out of state. Let's go." Give an excuse, then get going.
she's looking at colleges to go to.
>「」 Grab your MP3 player. Might need it later.

>>32049725
「」 "This is, uhh..." Introduce her.
「」 Grab your MP3 player. Might need it later.

Because fuck responsibility, that's why!

>>32049725
"Hah, if only it was that simple. I'll explain later, when I don't feel like I missed 4 hours of sleep."

>>32049725
>「」 Grab the math book you almost forgot. Did you have math today?
can't make fractal tags without some calculus

>>32049725
>「」 "This is, uhh..." Introduce her.
>「」 Grab some breakfast.

>>32049725
>「」 "This is, uhh..." Introduce her.
>「」 Grab the math book you almost forgot. Did you have math today?

>>32049725
「」 "This is, uhh..." Introduce her
「」 Grab your MP3 player. Might need it later.

Rolled 3

Cutting voting there.

Going with:
>「」 "This is, uhh..." Introduce her.

3-way coin-flip for secondary.

"Oh, Marc, this is, uhh..." You aren't sure how exactly to introduce her to Marc, considering her unique background. You try to think of a fake name, some sort of story, something...

"My name is Puca. It is pleasant to make your acquaintance, Marc." She curtseys a little, and Marc looks at you with a strained expression.

"She's Russian." You say, and Marc nods for a second, having bought the excuse instantly. Puca looks at you for a second, blinking, but then retreats back into the bedroom.

"If you could wait just a moment, my king, I'll be right out!" You hear a voice from down the hall.

"... My king?" Marc comments.

"I don't know. Russian." You shrug, and Marc shakes his head.

"Seems a little off, dude. You might be better off dropping that one." You nod at him, wishing in your heart that you could do that.

After a few minutes, you get going, with Puca in tow.

(1/2)

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After shooting the shit with Marc for a few minutes with Puca timidly following behind, you make it to the campus. It's a large place for being an inner-city campus, and you can occasionally get some dodgy types hanging around.

With a slap to the forehead, you realize you forgot your mathbook at the house. Fuck, you have that third period. Maybe you have enough time to rush home and grab it? You don't live that far away.

Marc waves at you to get you to come along, but before you can follow him, Puca pulls you aside for a moment.

"My king, I should inform you of something." It's unsettling to be this close to her, but you nod.

"While I am able to maintain this glamour to fit in, that is the extent of what I can do in this world. I cannot call upon my little ones here, and the other protections I could extend to you are not available to me here. However, the same should be true of the other pairs. I will watch you regardless of where you go, but keep that in mind." She seperates from you.

You think for a minute about what you should do.

>Primary: Where do you go?
「」 Go to class. Gotta keep the attendance record up.
「」 Skip class and stake out the campus for weird shit.
「」 Skip class and go hang out with some friends from the scene. They usually hang out in a cafe nearby.

>Secondary: What do you tell Puca to do?
「」 Entertain her with your MP3 player. That should keep her from fucking anything up.
「」 Tell her to scout around and tell you if anything's up.
「」 Keep her close. You might need her around, if what she said was true.

>>32050341
>「」 Go to class. Gotta keep the attendance record up.
>「」 Tell her to scout around and tell you if anything's up.

>>32050341
>「」 Go to class. Gotta keep the attendance record up.
>「」 Tell her to scout around and tell you if anything's up.
We'll probably safe enough on our own right now.

Alright, I'll cut it there then. Seems like we're going with:

>「」 Go to class. Gotta keep the attendance record up.
>「」 Tell her to scout around and tell you if anything's up.

>>32050341
>「」 Go to class. Gotta keep the attendance record up.
>>32050341
>「」 Tell her to scout around
send an insect if there's trouble, don't break our cover by going up to us

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Hey, you're helping to pay for college, so you better take advantage of it every chance you get. The guys can wait, even if this class is boring as fuck. And the class after that one. And the class after that one. Really, the only class you're looking forward to today is graphic design at the end of the day.

"Puca, make yourself useful and scout around. Walk around and make sure nothing bad goes down. If anything weird pops up, I want to know about it. Otherwise, just keep out of my class." She blinks for a second.

"Yes, my king." Her mouth doesn't move, but you can hear her voice in your head. Oh, there we go. If anything happens, she can tell you immediately. Good.

"If anybody asks why you're here, say that one of the construction crew took his daughter to work today. They'll probably tell you to go back, but don't worry, nobody actually cares." She nods, then walks off in the direction of the school store.

You walk yourself down to your class and find Marc. He's impatient and asks questions, but you dodge most of them. You both sit through a boring lecture on what it means to be a global community, blah blah blah.

Finally though, the class ends. No word from Puca. You go to your next class, and it's just as boring.

Then, there's your first break period. A half-hour period where there are no classes.

"Hey man, Jess says she'll meet us at the normal place. Come on, let's go." Marc invites you to lunch at the normal place with Jess, another girl you know well.

>Primary: What do you do?
「」 Go to lunch with Marc and Jess and see if you can get any advice out of them.
「」 Go back home and pick up your math book, and any other supplies that you might need.
「」 Stay here in case something happens.

>Secondary: Puca reports that nothing strange has been happening so far. However, she went to the construction site near the campus and she says that somebody out of place is hanging around there too.

>>32050700
>「」 Go back home and pick up your math book, and any other supplies that you might need.

>>32050700
>「」 Stay here in case something happens.

>>32050700
>「」 Go back home and pick up your math book, and any other supplies that you might need.
> Request Puca to join us. Don't want to get jumped on our way home.

>>32050700
「」 Stay here in case something happens.

Rolled 2

Stopping it there and flipping a coin.

>>32050892
>> Request Puca to join us. Don't want to get jumped on our way home.

Good point, you can do that.

"Thanks, but I'll have to skip today. Say hi to Jess for me." You tell Marc.

"Seriously? Is it about that girl?" He asks.

"Yeah, kinda. Trust me, I'm not gonna bail next time, this is important." You reassure him.

"Dude, this girl is dinging all my weirdo sensors. I'm telling you, sever or regret it." He continues, flicking his hat.

"Look, I'll explain later. It isn't that simple, believe me." You plead with him.

"... Alright, I'll tell her hi. But I'm also telling her about that girl."

"Cool, thanks. Next time's on me, okay?" It had become a daily routine for the three of you, so breaking it was a bad move on your part. But a lot of things had changed in one night.

"Fine, see ya." He waves you goodbye with a little frown and goes on his way.

"Puca, meet me by the stairwell near the entrance. Do you need directions?" You ask with your mental connection.

"No, I know where it is." She replies.

In a few minutes, you meet her there.

(1/2)

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"Okay, give me some details on this weird guy. What was going on?" You ask her as she flicks her hair back.

"He had strange clothing on. He had this cape of feathers and some sort of down, and he had a leather satchel at his side. He was also carrying around a rotten turnip, for some reason." Your brow furrows.

"A rotten turnip?" You ask.

"Yes, the man was just carrying it around for some reason. I thought that strange enough to report to you. Otherwise, nothing." She says, completing her report.

"Alright, good. What's your take on it?" You ask her.

"If I had to guess, this man could be a Shadow with the same sort of glamour on that I do, hiding his true form. He could be scouting around, trying to find another pair like us." She says.

"Do you still know where he is?" You ask.

"Yes, he hadn't left the area the last time I checked." She replies.

"Okay, so..." You begin.

>Primary: What should you do?
「」 Go home and get supplies. (Before, this would have given you time to spare. Now, if you choose this option, you'll have to go to class immediately afterwards.)
「」 Try and surprise the man, getting him to drop his glamour.
「」 Ignore the man. Don't start anything yet.

>Secondary: How are you feeling?
「」 Confident. Other than your thing with Marc, nothing bad has happened yet.
「」 Sad. You're depressed that you had to piss off Marc.
「」 Paranoid. Could they already know where you are?

ignore the moonrunes in the picture, it's the best I could find on short notice

>>32051269
>「」 Go home and get supplies. (Before, this would have given you time to spare. Now, if you choose this option, you'll have to go to class immediately afterwards.)
>「」 Confident. Other than your thing with Marc, nothing bad has happened yet.

They don't necessarily know us yet so going after the man may reveal us.
Also, we are supposed to be brave, let's act like it.

>>32051269
>「」 Try and surprise the man, getting him to drop his glamour.
We still aren't sure if this is real, I think, so we'd at least be able to say we chased away a creep.

>「」 Confident. Other than your thing with Marc, nothing bad has happened yet.

Rolled 2

K, calling it and flipping for Primary.

where is tiebreaker anon

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"Okay, we'll go on your intuition, Puca. If he isn't a Shadow or whatever, we can say that we were chasing off a creep or something." Let's go.

"Oh... you seem a lot more trusting in the daytime, my king." Puca smiles seductively.

"Shut up. I just don't want anybody to get hurt, okay?" If you did nothing, and somebody got hurt... you just couldn't live with yourself.

Besides, today has been going pretty great. Beside that thing with Marc, you're pretty confident you can handle whatever comes at you.

"Yes, my king." She falls in line with you as you start towards the construction site.

In a few minutes, you arrive there with the girl in tow, and you can see the man she was talking about. He's still there, standing there. She was right, this guy is dressed up like a weirdo. He's got this strange, downy sort of cape that's covered with feathers, and he's definitely carrying a rotten turnip. He's also got a really red nose for some reason, and soft brown hair. If not for the strange stuff he was wearing, you couldn't have picked him out of a crowd at all.

"Do you have any ideas, my lord?" Puca asks behind you. It seems like the man hasn't noticed you yet.

>Primary: What is your plan?
「」 There's a can of spray paint nearby that the construction crew must be using. Pick it up and spray it on him.
「」 Have Puca approach him, then try to jump on him from behind or something.
「」 There's a shovel over there. If you can give him a good whack...

>Secondary: Do you believe this man is a Shadow, based on what you know so far?
「」 Yeah. I trust Puca.
「」 No. I just want to scare away a creepy guy at best.

>>32051831
>「」 There's a shovel over there. If you can give him a good whack...
>「」 Yeah. I trust Puca.
Let's not take any chances.

>>32051831
>「」 There's a shovel over there. If you can give him a good whack...

>「」 No. I just want to scare away a creepy guy at best.

>>32051831
>「X」 There's a shovel over there. If you can give him a good whack...
>「X」 Yeah. I trust Puca.
Can't really argue Shadows not existing, right?

Calling it with:
>「」 There's a shovel over there. If you can give him a good whack...
>「」 Yeah. I trust Puca.

It's a little risky, but doing it with a shovel is the best way to make sure that you intimidate this guy. Yeah, that sounds like your best option right now.

"Puca, I'm going to go grab a shovel and try and whack this guy. You, uh..." You hadn't quite thought of what you wanted to do yet.

"I will take that spray can over there and make sure that he does not try to run away." She picks up a spray can that had been tossed away onto the sidewalk by the construction crew, and tests it out. It sprays a thin white spray, just like you'd expect.

"Alright. Try to get behind him if you can." You say to her, and she starts to back away.

"Understood, my king." She turns around and goes around the man, the long way, so he doesn't notice her.

You take your shovel, walking carefully to not be detected as you sneak up behind him. You've reduced the crunch of the ground beneath you to a minimum, and you're just within striking distance...

>Roll 1d100+5, best of three. Stealth check, in other words.

Rolled 3

>>32052236
Rollin for glory

Rolled 23 + 5

>>32052236

Rolled 24

>>32052302
>>32052256
oh shit

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>>32052256
>>32052302
>>32052312

>>32052312
Failure.

>>32052302
Failure.

>>32052256
CRIT failure.

Our first critical failure. Oh boy.

>As an effect of critical failure, any XP you would gain towards the skill is negated.

Writing now.

You sneak up behind him, clutching your shovel in sweaty hands. He's looking the other way, this is your perfect chance! Just one more step, and...

>Effect of critical failure.

"Hey kid! Whattaya think you're doin' with my shovel!" A man with a large yellow hat screams at you, and in surprise you drop your shovel. He advances on you, and the man with the feather coat turns towards you, looking you right in the eyes.

"Oh. Hello there." He says to you, frowning.

"What the fuck d'ya think you're doin', stealing that! I'm gonna--" Quickly, you bolt. The man comes after you, but Puca spraws her can of white spray paint at him and he recoils, allowing you to escape.

"Oh." You hear the man in the feather coat say. "Oh ho." He sounds pleased.

You run away as fast as you can, trying to lose the group of construction workers now chasing after the both of you.

"My king, I will run this way and draw their attention. Please return home, as I fear your school may not be safe anymore." She quickly says, before throwing the spray can at one of the men, hitting him in the helmet. He roars, and they chase after her as she runs down a side alley.

>Primary: What do you do?
「」 Go back to school. All your stuff is still there.
「」 Follow Puca's advice and head home.
「」 Try to go back to the construction site and see if the man is still there.

>Secondary: Minor actions
「」 Try to call Marc and see if you can meet him somewhere.
「」 Try and find Puca, and make sure she's okay.

>>32052514
>「」 Go back to school. All your stuff is still there.
>「」 Try and find Puca, and make sure she's okay.
We should lay low and meeting with Marc now may make him a target.

>>32052577
Alright, we'll go with that. Writing now.

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Okay, you need to head back to school. All your stuff's there, and you need to get that before you head home. Besides, you still need to go to class.

Taking the long way to make sure you aren't followed, you head back to campus. By the time you get there though, classes have already started. Worse yet, your next class is Math. And you forgot your book. Shit.

The teacher looks at you as you enter the classroom late, but you say that you were almost run over by a car. He seems to accept it for now, and you sit down in your seat next to Marc.

"Dude, a car? Seriously?" He asks.

"It's a long story." You reply.

"I told you that girl was bad news." He says back, before the teacher tells him to quiet down.

In short, the class sucks. You've never had a head for math, and this was a required course so you had to take it, even if you didn't want to.

And to make matters worse, he announces a quiz halfway through the class, because "I don't have enough grades in my gradebook for the semester."

Motherfucker.

>Academics test: 1d100-5, best of three. +5 for Academics 1, -10 because you didn't have your math book.

Rolled 81 - 5

>>32052773

Rolled 39 + 5

>>32052773

Rolled 71 + 5

>>32052773

Huh. I guess you have to put in "1d100+-5" to roll 1d100 -5. Good to know.

Anyway, you passed. Barely. Writing now.

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Going through the questions, you somehow rip enough knowledge from your half-awake brain to answer all the questions. Better yet, you know that some of the answers you gave were correct, too. Wow, you know more of this stuff then you thought.

It takes you almost the entire period, but you manage to finish the test in time. Handing it in, the professor hands you something else in return. You puzzle for a moment, before you look at the top of the page. "First quarter report", it says. Oh, this must be your total grade.

Looking at it... wow, you're doing pretty damned well! Better than you expected, in any rate. And while you look at it, the professor grades your test in record time. At the end of the class, he hands it back to you, mentioning that you passed.

Oh, sweet! This was the only class you were really worried about passing. With this...

>Success effect: Your academics are in good shape. As you currently are, you may skip two days of classes without your grades slipping. This may change in the future.

After all your classes are done, Marc seeks you out.

"Hey man, I was talking to Jess earlier, and she really wants to know what's up. We were going down to the cafe again, do you have time to meet up with her?" He looks concerned.

"Uh, maybe, one sec..." You think hard, and ask a question in your mind. "Puca, are you alright?"

"Yes, my king." She responds immediately. "I was able to lose them with no trouble. I am currently at your apartment, waiting for you." She sounds a little mad.

>Primary: How do you respond?
「」 Meet with Jess. If she's this mad, you don't want to piss her off any more.
「」 Make up an excuse and head home. You don't want to draw any undue attention to them, and Puca sounds mad.
「」 Ask if she can meet up with you somewhere else. (Write-in location)

>Secondary: What will you do if the man with the feather coat shows up again?
「」 Beat him down. He's definitely too suspicious.
「」 Try to stay away from him.

>>32053002
>「」 Make up an excuse and head home. You don't want to draw any undue attention to them, and Puca sounds mad.
>「」 Try to stay away from him.
Lay low.

>>32053002
>「」 Meet with Jess. If she's this mad, you don't want to piss her off any more.
>「」 Beat him down. He's definitely too suspicious.
He knows our face and we can assume he's dangerous. The safest thing to do is act first rather then get caught on the backfoot.

>>32053096
>「」 Make up an excuse and head home. You don't want to draw any undue attention to them, and Puca sounds mad.
>「」 Beat him down. He's definitely too suspicious.
Better keep friends out of this.

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"No, sorry man. I've got a lot of shit I have to deal with." You refuse him. "Tell her I'm sorry. Again."

He hangs his head.

"Yeah, I can understand that. I trust you." He stops. "But if this shit gets any deeper with this girl, Jess and I are coming knocking, and we aren't going to take no for an answer." He says, resolute.

"Don't worry. I'll make sure it won't get to that point." You say, and you fist bump him like you always do. He's a pot smoking shithead, but he's a trustworthy guy. You can't involve him in this, though.

"Then I'll see you later. I'll make sure Jess doesn't blow her top." He smiles at you, and you part ways.

(1/2)

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When you get back home, Puca looks a little annoyed.

"My king, I told you to come right home. If he had found you and followed you to school, there may have been casualties." She nags at you.

"And you're aren't my parents. I needed to get some stuff done, and I did. Now I'm back. You don't run my life. I didn't even know you yesterday, so don't assume you can just neatly slide into my life." You spit those words at her, and she flinches a little.

"A-Are you mad, my king?" She seems more docile now.

"Yeah. I am. Marc thinks you're going to drive me off a cliff or something. He's probably right. I'm retarded for even listening to you." You open the fridge and grab a beer, cracking it open.

"Oh. I'm sorry if your friends reacted badly." She says.

"They did." You reply coldly.

She doesn't answer back.

>Downtime: Whenever you have spare time, you can gain XP towards skills you haven't been using, or new skills. During this time, you can be assured that nothing bad will happen to you. You aren't in danger while you're in Downtime. Usually downtime occurs during real-world time, and the amount of XP gained depends on how long the downtime is.
>Choose one activity to do during downtime.

>Go out tagging: +25 XP towards Craft:Graffiti. 500 XP to level up.
>Go out clubbing for a while: +25 XP towards Socialize. 50 XP to level up.
>Fuck around on the internet for a while: +25 XP towards Computers. 50 XP to level up.

>Secondary: How are you going to treat Puca right now?
「」Apologize. You were mad.
「」Reject her. She's why your friends are pissed at you now.
「」Ignore her. You're tired of this shit.

>>32053528
>Go out tagging: +25 XP towards Craft:Graffiti. 500 XP to level up.

>>32053600
And 「」Apologize. You were mad.

>>32053528
>Go out tagging: +25 XP towards Craft:Graffiti. 500 XP to level up.
>「」Reject her. She's why your friends are pissed at you now.
So I'm assume this bug bitch is basically Claire from DXR. We can't get rid of her no matter what and her obsession with us is borderline insanity?

>>32053528
>Go out tagging: +25 XP towards Craft:Graffiti. 500 XP to level up.
I really wanna know how this'll be useful in the quest.

>「」Apologize. You were mad.
I don't like her much, but it isn't her fault. We needed some sort of outlet for how frustrating today was.
I'd rather ignore her but I hate being unfair.

>>32053528
>Fuck around on the internet for a while: +25 XP towards Computers. 50 XP to level up.
>「」Reject her. She's why your friends are pissed at you now.
Just kick her out.

>>32053528
>>Go out tagging: +25 XP towards Craft:Graffiti. 500 XP to level up.
>「」Apologize. You were mad.

>>32053528
>>Go out tagging: +25 XP towards Craft:Graffiti. 500 XP to level up.
>>32053528
>「」Reject her. She's why your friends are pissed at you now.

make her change her appearance a bit, to throw the other guy off. Just clothes and maybe hair color, don't make it seem magical.

>>32053528
>>Go out tagging: +25 XP towards Craft:Graffiti. 500 XP to level up.
>「」Reject her. She's why your friends are pissed at you now.

do we have a reason NOT to just tell them? Like, call them over and turn off the glamour? Don't get into specifics, but mention supernatural shit?

>>32053528
>Go out tagging: +25 XP towards Craft:Graffiti. 500 XP to level up.
>「」Reject her. She's why your friends are pissed at you now.

>>32053528
>Go out tagging: +25 XP towards Craft:Graffiti. 500 XP to level up.
We are a graffiti artist.
>「」Apologize. You were mad.
We can't really afford to reject her.

I'm cutting it there. We're going with:

>Go out tagging: +25 XP towards Craft:Graffiti. 500 XP to level up.
>「」Reject her. She's why your friends are pissed at you now.

>>32053622
I don't follow that quest, but I've heard the name.

>>32053644
>I really wanna know how this'll be useful in the quest.
More than you know.

>>32053528
>Go out tagging: +25 XP towards Craft:Graffiti. 500 XP to level up.
>「」Apologize. You were mad.

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You spend some time going out into the town and doing some tagging. You're pretty stocked up on cans from last night, so you can really go wild. You try some things you've been thinking of recently, and one of them goes splendidly: A man with twelve arms, all holding lanterns. It's pretty sweet the way you can layer paint to create lighting effects. Nice shit.
>+25 XP towards Craft:Graffiti. (25/500 XP to level up.)

During that time, Puca tries to come with you, but you reject her completely. She's been helpful today, there's no question about that, but she's still the reason your friends are pissed at you. You can't forgive her for that, not right now.

Finally though, the day ends and night overtakes the sky. The lights of the buildings start to make a constellation on the horizon, and the vibrant night life of the city starts up. Normally, you'd go out and enjoy it, but you're beat.

After arriving home, Puca tries to warm herself up to you again, but you ignore her. At this point, you really need to get to bed. You have school tomorrow too, and there you'll have to deal with the fallout of what you've done with your friends. Even if it's best to keep them away, you can't expect them to stay away for long. You'd do the same for them, after all.

Puca looks hopefully at you as you head to bed. You stare at her coldly, and she winces. You begin to prepare for bed, but she stops you.

"My king, there is little point. The Hour will begin soon." The Hour? Oh, that dream yesterday.

But Puca is here. So it couldn't have been a dream. And it's going to happen again?

(1/2)

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"Seriously?" You ask.

"Yes, my king. I recommend picking up a weapon of some kind." She nods, and you scrounge around in your closet, finally finding your aluminum bat. It's dented in places, but it's served you well where you need it.

"Why the weapon?" You ask.

"It is one of the rules, my king." She responds. "Rule #3: Any object carried by a Participant when the Hour starts will come with the carrier when the Hour starts." She says matter-of-factly.

"Rules? There are rules to this shit?" You ask.

"Yes, several. I only know a few, though." She says.

"Then tell me! That's a little important!" You demand.

"Yes, my king. Rule #2: Humans can only be permanently killed by--"

The clock strikes twelve. The world shifts.

Static envelopes all.

>FIN #3

Okay, awesome thread everyone. I had a great time, and I think we had a few more voters than normal. Overall, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

But there's stuff we need to take care of.Last time, we were going to replace Lou's character trait "Sociable" with "Stubborn" or "Doubting". I've put down Stubborn for now, but someone was interested in a revote, so if anybody would like to comment on that, that would be fine.

Otherwise, great thread everybody! I'll stick around for questions and the like for a little while, then I have to head to bed. Remember, my twitter is @GMMindQuest, and thanks for playing!

>>32053993
Tie-Breaker anon here. Sorry I missed your thread... and your ties...

Anyway I'm still caught between Stubborn and Doubting now. We had a good argument on it last time

>>32053993
Great thread XYN, thanks for running.

Where do you get the images you use for Puca? As far as I could find, she was an original character by some artist. Some are drawn in styles different enough that I wonder if they're all done by the same person.

>>32053993
I'm the one who suggested Doubting or Distrustful, but I'm sticking with Stubborn.

I'm sad I wasn't there for the shovel part. Getting too into the war is completely counter to all the efforts last thread to not get caught up in this. How did whacking someone with a shovel become a good idea? Are things going to escalate to the point where we seriously consider "killing" someone?

>>32053993
Good thread.
Based on how we've played thus far, i'd say "Stubborn" is closer to how we've played our protagonist, though it's not like we're knows for keeping PCs consistant.

>>32054074
Where I live, if you look different, you're getting the shovel.

>>32054113
and if we're right? We'll either be another player, or a civvie who knows too much, and has to be silenced.

>>32054159
I was only joking anon. I wasn't there for the vote either.

My inner meta would've vote for hitting turnip man, but in an PC sense I'd probably avoid Puca's stereotyping and chill with da broa

Before I forget:
Thread archive: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/32047786/

I'll be running on Monday from 9-10PM EST. Hopefully.

>>32054058
>Where do you get the images you use for Puca?
For her Shadow form, I remember getting them from Pixiv a while ago. Can't remember what the tag was though, unfortunately. Google image searching some of them should be enough to find the tag. And yeah, a whole bunch of people have drawn the character.

For her human form, I just searched some tags on a few boorus and picked out stuff that seemed appropriate.

>>32054074
My reasoning was that we couldn't avoid getting involved in the war, especially after attacking that girl controlling the zombies. Considering our mortal well-being is at stake, the best thing to do is be proactive.

Removing the creepy dude acting as a scout looking for people like us made sense to me, rather then let him continue observing. If we could clobber him he might not have gotten a look at us.

>>32054249
sorry, my sarcasm senses aren't up to snuff right now. Although if that's true, that puts the last time I heard that kind of thing in a whole new light.

>>32054277
my problem is that I'm still trying to not get involved. Being proactive almost assures getting sucked in in the end, and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

>>32054369
We kind of have to be proactive if we want to get anywhere. If we just keep sitting on our ass and do nothing, we'll end up fucked.
Our goal should be figuring things out, not standing still and refusing to move.

>>32054422
I get that, but I still disagree with the methods. We didn't need to anything we wouldn't normally do(vigilantes don't go around clocking people with shovels, do they?)

>>32054490
I mean, out of the blue. Without anything more than a suspicion.

>>32054490
>vigilantes don't go around clocking people with shovels, do they?

I should address that next thread.

>>32054490
I know what you mean, I'm the anon who voted to go home in the previous choice, but in that situation, if we were forced to face him, i'd prefer to just go for it and not fuck.

>>32054648
...around.