>>44309679
>>Try to heal your hand

>>44309679
>>Try to heal your hand
Sup Smiley?

>>44309679
Call Abby.

>>44309679
>Call Abby

It occurs to me that we can probably put Abby on speakerphone while we heal our hand.

>>44309894
Sounds like a good idea

>writing

You look around for your phone, and spot it over on the table next to the couch. So you relocate, getting comfortable and pulling up your contacts.

Abigail is right at the top, for which you are thankful. This is not a list you want to be going through. Too many names that... well... if you call, nobody will answer.

"Hello?" Abigail asks once the call goes through.
"Hey... babe?" You say. "Do I call you that now?"
"If you want" She says. "What's up?"
"I was just wondering how things were going over there" You say.

"Well enough" Abigail says. "But it looks like you'll be on your own tonight. My parents want me to stay the night"
"You uhh... you are coming back though, right?" You ask.

"Of course" She says. "Things are just... weird here. Can't really talk about it, but if all goes well I'll have some good news for you"

>Tell her about your hand

>Weird how?

>I guess I'll see you later then...

>Other

>>44310327
>>Weird how?

>>44310327
I kind of imagine the good news is "since we already won my parents don't give a shit about you being the guardian and don't mind if I let you wish for whatever"

>"Hey... babe?" You say. "Do I call you that now?"

Ah yes, the awkward transition into pet names.

I know that feel, bro.

>>44310327
>>Weird how?

>>44310443
I know! Just start every conversation with "what's cookin good lookin"

>>44310443
Although, he HAS called her this in a few of the past threads, namely when they've been at the warehouse.

>writing

"Weird how?" You ask.
"Umm... just some people here that I wasn't expecting" She says. "Which is what I really can't talk about"

You nod slowly, a pointless gesture for a conversation by phone.

"Oh..." You say. "So... how are you parents then?"
"Worried" She says. "They're interested in meeting you, though"
"Yay?" You ask.
"Not just now" She says. "Right now, I have to go"

"Well, alright then" You say. "Before you hang up, do you know anything about mending a broken knuckle?"
"Do I want to know how you broke your hand?" She asks.

"Training dummy" You say. "You should see the dent I put in it"
"Sounds like it put one in you too" She says.
"Zing" You say.

"But as far as mending goes... wasn't there a book on that in the Archive?" She asks.
"Was there?" You ask.
"You should remember, we went through it all together" She says.
"I was pretty focused on the weaponry" You say.
Abigail sighs. "Typical" She says. "But yeah, there should've been something in there on healing"

"I'll check that out" You say.

>Anything else?

>>44310860
How's muh cat

>>44310860
How's Mori?

>>44310944
>>44310971
She's going to respond with innuendo, I just know it.

>A little early to be calling it YOUR kitty...~

>writing

Guys, reminder that thanks to a combination of bad luck, conspiracies, and our own poor decisions, we've escalated a CK Class restructuring scenario in which humanity ceases to be the dominant form of life on earth into a potential XK End of the world scenario, or at the minimum a dead greenhouse scenario. The gods now know that people can somehow kill them, and they will likely want to cover it up and/or discover it depending on who they are, especially the scholar who wants to know everything. As a result its likely he will get fucked by everone covering it up, and there is likely a debate over how thorough the cover up should be and if it merits deep frying the entire earth, wiping humanity out and replacing it with something that wont think to do that, or just cleansing the site and hoping for the best.

>>44311090
>Muh paranoia
>obviously it's the illuminat- I mean gods.

Calm down son, goddamn

>>44311090
I\m afraid that you'll have to elaborate on some of those terms, chum.

>>44311090
Time traveeeel

>>44311135
We were facing a golden age, where the gods were the leaders of society and humanity was enslaved to them. Which was the original lose-scenerio.

Now we've fucked up badly with getting Kyla killed and the gods know that someone managed to kill them with entirely conventional means. This is something they will naturally all want to actively cover up, except for the scholar who will want to figure out what actually happened. As a result, I expect the scholar to be thrown under the bus and the rest of the gods to debate how best to deal with this new threat. The easiest thing they could do is deep fry the earth (XK scenerio), removing any evidence of this forever at the cost of that dank mana. On the flip side, they could also choose to simply wipe humanity out and add a new better servant race to the picture.

Then they might just choose to destroy the entire site of the incident and hope it works, which is the best case scenerio and also the one that is least likely.

>>44311237
Didn't I clarify why the most likely outcome to this is erasing our self from existence, and the other uncomfortably possible scenario being that reality decides "fuck this" and gives up trying to deal with our shit, and just takes its toys and goes home, destroying the entire universe in the process. Alternatively we might complete the time loop and become the fool, and be unable to do anything we didn't already do.

>>44311314
You have literally no basis for predicting the odds of what time travel would result in.
At the very least we do know that time travel doesn't destroy the world as a matter of course because we've done it before.

"And how's my little kitty doing?" You ask.
"Which one?" She asks.

Which o-

"Uhh... I... how's Moriarty doing?" You ask.
"He's fine" Abigail says. "He's actually right here"
"Mew" Moriarty says.

"He hasn't left my shoulder since you had him hop up there" She says.
"That's because he's a good kitty" You say.

You can hear the faint but noticeable sound of Moriarty purring from the other end.

"And the other one?" She asks.
You roll your eyes, deciding to play her game and up the ante. "I'll go a little more 'in depth' with that one later" You say.

She doesn't say anything, but you can picture her smile in your head.

"Later, though" She says. "I should get back"
"I'll let you" You say.
"Love you, by-" Abigail says, stopping dead in her tracks.

For a few seconds, the line is silent.

"Did you-" You say, before Abby cuts you off
"Uhhh... S-see you later!" She says, quickly hanging up afterwards.

You put the phone down shortly after, staring out blankly. "Did she..." You say.

You shake it off.

>Look for the book on mending

>Go next door

>See how Tasha is doing

>Other

>>44311433
>>Look for the book on mending

>>44311433
Fuck it lets put this argument to rest, wake up Tasha and ask her "wish for time travel so this whole clustetfuck doesn't happen: great idea, or universe destroying idea."

>>44311433
>Look for the book on mending
Tasha will get up when she gets up.

>>44311433
>>Look for the book on mending

>writing

You draw the archive from your pathways, gripping it painfully in your right hand and nearly dropping it.

"Nice one" You say. "Literally just talking about the broken knuckles, and already forgot..."

In the Archive, you find the book. Just like Abigail said. You're glad she was there to sort through this stuff, you barely registered the books. Too focused on the various firearms and explosives...

You pop the book open and flick through it, skimming over the stuff that Bo-... the stuff that you already know to the stuff you currently need to know.

The book itself is pretty much just an in-depth anatomy textbook, with magical instructions rather than medical ones.

You read the stuff that pertains to your hand, bones, tendons, skin, etc. And once you've got the gist of it, you put the book down.

"Here goes nothing..." You say, as you focus mana into your hand...

>Roll 1d20
>Taking the first 2 rolls and adding them up

Rolled 2 (1d20)

>>44311945

>>44311945
>>Taking the first 2 rolls and adding them up

Not 3, as usual?

Rolled 14 (1d20)

>>44311945

>>44311980
3. I meant 3.

Rolled 14 (1d20)

>>44311945

>>44311951
>>44311983
>>44312065

30 on the DOT.

Nice.

>writing

According to the book and your previous instruction, you focus your mana into the area and will it into its undamaged state.

You made sure to read the bits on how you can fuck it up, but only read the headers on the bad things that can happen. The headers were fairly self explanatory, denoting things like accidentally replicating damaged parts, making the wound worse, and magical super-cancer.

All avenues that you'd like to avoid, so you keep your wits about you.

After a few minutes, the pain seems to subside. You flex your hand, and it responds without any aches. You put pressure on the injured areas, and feel nothing. Something does feel a little of about it, but it isn't going to fall off anytime soon.

"Well alright" You say. "I didn't fuck it up at all. No duplicates, no explosions, and no magical super-cancer"

Your attention is drawn to the sound of applause, coming from your kitchen.

"Bravo" Tasha says. "Not bad for a first timer"
"Welcome back" You say. "Have a good nap?"
"Yes, thank you for dragging me to the bed" She says.

You shrug. "It's not like you're heavy" You say.
"Still, it was a nice thought" She says. "How did you injure your hand?"
"I was punching that thing" You say, pointing to the dummy.

Tasha stands and examines it. "Impressive craftsmanship" She says. "I hadn't thought that material like this could sustain damage"
"Not normally" You say.

>Demonstrate

>Ask her about (Thing)

>Eat lunch

>Other

>>44312609
"So, wishing to time travel back to stop this clustetfuck from ever happening: brilliant idea or universe destroying idea"

>>44312609
>No one thought gods could die. Something eventually comes along.

>(Eternity is a lie)

>Make lunch for our new patron.

>>44312661
Seems a bit meta, right now. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for Time Travel, but it seems a bit out of the blue for Saif to suddenly talk about it.

>>44312744
Saif has personally time traveled before. Its normally pointless because afterwards his time-debt caught up with him and he froze in place for 10 hours, but it certainly seems like he could consider it.

>>44312744
>>44312781
And this is the first he's not had a patron who would probably blow up at him blowing off her "no more blood moon" plan if it didn't end up working so now is a time that makes sense to ask.

>>44312700
(Same anon)
Better line:

>Time can beat down anything, eventually.

>>44312609
>Eat lunch

>writing

You stand up and walk over to the dummy, giving it a tap where you punched it earlier.

"Nobody thought that a god could die either, until it happened" You say. "Everything has its foil"
"Even indestructible matter?" She asks.
"Not indestructible" You say. "You just have to hit it hard enough to damage it, and fast enough to do said damage before it can absorb the shock"

"And you can move that fast?" She asks.

You enter fast time, zipping into the kitchen behind Tasha faster than she can see or react.

"I'm a time mage" You say. "I can move as quickly as I please"

Tasha whips her head around in surprise.

"Oh come on, you must have known that before you came here" You say.
"I did... but seeing it first hand is... something else" She says.

"There are downfalls, like the amount of focus required to move at extremely fast or slow speeds" You say. "But everyone I've talked to about it has given me reactions ranging from amazement to disbelief"

"I'm sure you know why by now" She says.
"I do" You say. "I still find it hard to believe that it has only been Safi and I"
"As far as I know..." Tasha says.

You were expecting that response. Still disappointing that Tasha knows nothing about it either...

"Do you eat?" You ask.
"I drink" She says. "I suppose I eat as well"
"Good" You say. "I'm making lunch, are you sticking around?"
"Afraid not" She says. "I do have matters to attend to. But don't worry, I'll be keeping an eye on you, and if you need me I'll be here"
"Thanks... I guess" You say.

Tasha smiles.

>[1/2]

Your new goddess blows you a kiss as she leaves the apartment, leaving you to make lunch on your own.

With her gone, you take a moment to look around your apartment.

You realize that it's been a very long time since you've been truly alone here. Even before you got Moriarty, this was kind of where everyone came to hang out.

Nobody would make plans. Most days somebody would show up with a game and decide that you should all play, or with a hard drive full of stuff to watch, or they'd come with nothing just to hang out...

You look at your life back then, and compare it to your prospects for the future... and it is a grim comparison. The only ones you would really have left are Abigail and Veer, and unless something drastic happens you'll be spending the rest of your life hiding your true face from him.

Claire... doesn't like you anymore. While you understand her reasoning, you wish things hadn't turned out this way. If not for the Blood Moon-...

Who are you kidding? The Blood Moon is the whole reason why she's here. If not for this blood-sport, neither her or Abigail would ever have come here. Hell, the Harts probably never would have started collecting people... which would leave you back home in 'wherever the hell you came from'.

You decide that in your current state of mind, you're likely to fuck up anything complex. So you pull out a cup of noodles and start boiling some water...

Since you're feeling particularly thoughtful at the moment, now might be a good time to-

>Study up on magic

>Contemplate your wish

>Relax

>Other

>>44313477
>>Contemplate your wish

IT'S TIME.

>>44313477
>>Study up on magic
I still think going back in time is retarded. The risk to fuck everything up worse is too great.

>>44313477
>Contemplate your wish

>>44313521
It's not even about Time Travel, at this juncture; he has no real idea of what he wants, since the original wish is sort of defunct.

>>44313477
>>Contemplate your wish

>>44313569
Well if we blew up the moon there'd still be no more blood moon even if we're stuck with the golden age.

>>44313521
We're not even voting to go back in time, not yet, we're voting to CONSIDER it and ask other people how bad of an idea of an idea it is.

>writing

You sit down in the kitchen, and fold your arms over the table, letting your head rest on the makeshift pillow the make.

Now is a good time to work through the one question that's been begging for an answer: What the fuck do you do now?

Your old idea of wishing to change the moon so it no longer absorbs mana no longer solves the larger problems. Even if you do that, nothing can stop the golden age now.

If the gods decide to go that route. If they decide that this place poses a danger to them... that would not end in your favor.

Your options are limited, and none of them are appealing.

You could wish away the blood moon as planned, and let whatever happens happen. No matter what path the universe takes, never again will there be a blood moon.

You could hand off the responsibility of all this to someone else. Not ideal, but in the end they all have things they want. If the world is going to end(?) at least someone gets to be happy.

You could go Kyla's route and wish to become a god. It would mean dooming yourself to immortality, being unable to live among people, and being an outsider to the other immortals. But if you manage things right, you could possibly prevent a disaster.

And then there's the final option. It feels like just considering it is admitting failure...

You could travel back in time, if such a thing is possible, and do this over again.

There's no guarantee that it's possible. And even if it's possible, it would all fall to you to change things. If you succeed, great. If you fail... well... you tried.

The whistling of the kettle pulls you from your thoughts, and you go to finish making your lunch.

>[1/2]

Alright so if we want some answers on time travel, maybe we could invite some gods to watch when we did a "normal" 10 minutes back time travel. I'm sure the scholar would love to watch even with us being a bad luck charm because dead God's champion.

You slurp back the last of your noodles and sit back.

Checking your watch, you see that it's barely past 3. Day's nowhere near done, and you're exhausted.

All the training, all the conversations that you really didn't want to have, and all the general shit must be taking its toll on you.

You don't think you've got much more in you. You need a nap, or something...

>Take one

>Go next door

>Study magic

>Other

>>44314180
>Take one
Need sleep, things arent going to get any easier.

>>44314180
>Take one

>>44314180
>>Take one

>>44314180
>Take one
Bet bed's still warm...and comfy too

>writing

You groggily stand up, leaving your dishes to clear later. You aren't usually this lazy, but you just... you really aren;t feeling it right now.

You walk over to your couch and flop down onto it, your gaze drawn out to your balcony door and the view beyond.

You remember how you used to enjoy this view. You remember enjoying a lot of things.

If you were to describe your emotions right now with one word, you would have to say 'gray'. Emotions usually have more vibrant colours, red for anger, yellow for happiness or excitement, even sadness has a nice blue.

You just... don't right now.

The reds and the yellows and the blues have all sort of melded into shades of gray. You aren't sad about what's happened anymore, you just want to get this all over with...

You feel sort of guilty about your lack of emotion, even in the wake of all of this death... but what can you do?

You leave that question in the air, as you roll over and close your eyes.

>[1/2]

You awaken to the sound of knocking at your door. Sitting up and wiping your eyes, you check your watch only to find that it's become too dark to see.

"Damn it" You say, as you stand and feel out the wall with the light switch on it.

If it's this friggin dark out... how long were you asleep?

A wave of panic hits you at the prospect of having missed the Arena calls, but when you finally get the lights on you see that it's only 11:30...

Well, not 'only' 11:30, as that's still way later than you were planning on sleeping. But it's better that waking up at 12:01 and seeing that it's too late...

Another knock reminds you of the reason why you got up in the first place, so you stretch out and head over to the door. You check the peephole before opening it, and see Natalie with Sarah.

You unlock the door and open it, giving the two of them a tired greeting.

"Hi, uhh... we didn't wake you did we?" Natalie asks.
"I needed to be awake anyway" You say. "Are you guys heading out?"
Natalie nods solemnly.

>Anything to say to either of them?

>>44314788
Whispher in Natalie's ear "so I'm her long lost uncle and another contestant is her enslaved long lost aunt but since there's a good chance neither of us will even make it I'm leaving it up to to you if/when to tell her that"

>>44314788
I'll avenge her.

>>44314788
You're mom loved you more than anything, Sarah. I was proud to be her friend. Stay strong for her, okay?

>>44314818
She already knows that we're her uncle, since we told her that we were Jessica's brother-in-law.

>writing

>>44314788
If it makes her feel any better, we're going to make the guy who did it regret ever being born.
Probably literally at this point.

>>44314874
Well, safi too, and and reiterate it being all po to her if/when she should get told about us

You crouch down to Sarah's level, and look her in the eyes.

"You know your mother loved you more than anything, Sarah" You say. "I was proud to be her friend... you be a good girl, and stay strong for her now... okay?"

Sarah tears up, and nods. Out of some reflex, you hug her.

"I'm going to try and make things right" You say to Natalie. "I don't know how yet... but there has to be a way"
"It feels wrong leaving the fate of the world in the hands of a teenager..." Natalie says.

"My hands are fairly capable" You say.
"What happened to your fingers then?" She asks.

You hold up your once broken hand behind Sarah, and see that the 2 fingers that you mended are bent out of shape.

"Oh" You say.

"You mended it didn't you?" She asks.
"It worked at the time..." You say.
"Let me see" She says, taking your disfigured hand. You feel a warmth spreading from where she touches as your fingers right themselves. "You didn't set it right, and you pumped too much in"

"It worked at the time" You say. "Not bad for a first try"

Natalie sighs. "I'm going to make some calls when I get home" She says. "I won't stay here to help you, but I can at least let Jess's old friends know about you. The ones I know about, at least"
"That's not-"
"It's the least I can do" She says. "At least that way you'll be a teenager with some backup"
"Thanks..." You say, standing up and letting Sarah go.

"Bye..." Sarah says as Natalie takes her hand.

You wave them off as they go to the elevator. Once they're on, you turn and head back inside.

"I have to fix this..." You say.

>[1/2]

You go back into the kitchen and make yourself a cup of coffee and a sandwich, since you doubt you'll be sleeping anytime soon anyway...

You eat your sandwich and sip your coffee while you wait for the minutes to tick down to the arena.

On your phone there are a few texts from Abigail that you didn't hear since your vibrate function is dead. Just updates, letting you know that all is well. You confirm this through your line to Moriarty. Kitty is calm, all is well.

You let out a long sigh and mentally prepare for another long night in the Arena as the clock strikes 11:50...

And no one enters.

No Puppeteer because he's dead, obviously. Claire wouldn't go in unless there was already someone commited.No sign of the Judge or the Muse...

And no Safi.

If she's not going in, then it's possible that Harvey has had a change of heart... or he's realized that his position is no longer as strong as it was. The loss of his fighting force and one of his allies in last night's explosion is making him play more cautiously.

He is no longer throwing his chips onto the table with reckless abandon, because he no longer has the chips to throw.

You let a satisfied smile cross your face at that notion. You bet he's squirming now, as Sunday night draws closer by the hour.

The clock strikes midnight with no one entering, leaving you with a night to relax...

Only you just slept through most of the day, and in no way do you feel tired...

You sigh as you stand up, place your fist to the practice dummy, and get to work.

That's all for tonight!

Next thread will once again not be for a while. Christmas time is not exactly rife with chances to run.

I'll be getting back into a more regular running schedule in the new year, as I hope to have this quest finished by around mid-February.

As always I'll be sticking around to answer questions/take suggestions

>>44315583
Great thread, Smiley!

Just a question: what day are we on now (starting next thread)?

>>44315583
Thanks for running. Glad you're back. Kinda feels like nothing really happened in this thread though

>>44315583
Great Thread, see ya next time

>>44315646
I beg to differ, my friend: Saif learned how to GodHand, became a bit better at healing, and realized that Harv royally screwed himself.

>>44315630
Thursday

>>44315646
Set up threads are like that, but they are necessary to make the payoff threads, well... pay off.