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>>2495027
The transformation from frightening warrior to helpless blind girl takes Erin all of zero seconds; she staggers out onto the path, feeling her way with both hands. Erin stumbles over a cobblestone and collapses to her knees just out of the way of the carriage, but the Ogre driver is already working the reins to bring it to a stop.

Erin lets out a sob of relief and lifts her head towards Ambrosia's coach. "Pity, O Kindly One! I cry your pity! My eyes were stolen from me and I have been lost to wander the Thorns without them. I beg your blessing, O Kindly One!"

The Ogre - you can see from here that his pupils are gone, leaving green slates of iris swimming in white - knocks on the side of the carriage without a word. The door opens, admitting a leg with a cloven hoof, covered in downy fur to the knee. Daintily, the hoof touches down on the rail on the side of the carriage, and then the rest of Ambrosia follows.

She's divine, with lustrous red hair that spills down past her shoulders (her little horns that poke through it have been shined to a gleam), wide brown eyes, and an expression of gentle kindness on her face. Her dress, artfully cut into rags below her waist, is made of living leaves that grow and twine around one another, making her seem like a dryad or a forest goddess as she approaches your (friend? Lover? Freya...).

"Who raised her hand to such a pretty thing?" Ambrosia asks; her voice is rich, layered, full of pity for the sight before her. Erin clutches at Ambrosia's skirt, getting the full and complete attention of her Ogre bodyguard, and sobs wordlessly.

That's gotta be your cue. You slip, keeping low and away from the other three, and when you're sure you're out of their peripheral vision you go straight for the open carriage.

("O Kindly One, it was so horrible, they, they cut my eyes, O Kindly One mercy please!")

(Do the Fae really fall for this? Then again, how long was she Liz Malloy?)

Inside, the carriage is two things: richly appointed, and an absolute wreck. Hedgespun clothes (almost all of them women's clothing as far as you can tell) are haphazardly strewn on the wide seats except for the one clear spot where Ambrosia must have been sitting and littering the floor between the two sets of seats. A traveling trunk, slightly battered, sits under a slip-sliding pile of panties made of impossible things.

No, don't blush to death, you're here to steal things. You can't go on a panty rai-

Okay you can but this is a Fae, that'd be fucked up.

There's other objects strewn among the mess too. You have a suspicion of what the playing card is (a minor Token that makes doors slightly harder to unlock); who knows what the rest might be?

>>2495296
> Just grab armfuls of Hedgespun and run, RUN (Athletics vs. difficulty 8)
> Try to assemble some complete outfits (Athletics vs. difficulty 12; you may spend for Flickering Acumen)
> Grab the trunk, it's gotta be full of clothes (Athletics vs. difficulty 8)
> Try to find some useful Tokens (Occult vs. difficulty 10; you may spend for Flickering Acumen)

>>2495302
> Try to assemble some complete outfits (Athletics vs. difficulty 12)
> Spend 2 Glamour for Flickering Acumen.

GO BIG OR GO HOME!

Wait, shit, going home IS the plan.

>>2495302
Also, have we already spent our Faith bonus for supporting Erin earlier? Or was that our Vice bonus?

>>2495402
You gained it back from that moment as well. So you spent it, then got it.

>>2495302
Wohoo! Finally caught up to this quest, first active vote. Wish I’d read it a few hours faster, though, I would have said to smack Erin upside her head at this idea.
That said, we need a complete Thing or this risk was pointless. We’re way better on Athletics than Occult, and taking a complete trunk is both going to encumber us and be rapidly noticed.
So... need to get the +2 versus a 12 to be not just likely, but able to get higher successes. Can’t trust a near thing, we need to SCAMPER. That all said...

>Try to assemble some complete outfits (Athletics vs. difficulty 12; you may spend for Flickering Acumen)
>Spend 3 Glamour in Flickering Acumen
>Apply Virtue bonus AND Vice bonus

This brings us to +9 against a 12, and has the poetic effect of using the Vice bonus we accrued cheating on Fancy in order to do something for her.

>>2495573
I was going to say, we should hold onto one of the bonuses so we can use it to skedaddle to freedom.

We're also likely to run into some form of trouble before we reach the door out, because its the fucking Hedge and of course there's a monster waiting in ambush.

>>2495296
>> Try to assemble some complete outfits (Athletics vs. difficulty 12; you may spend for Flickering Acumen)
>spend 2 glamour for flickering
>spend virtue and vice

>>2495296
> Grab the trunk, it's gotta be full of clothes (Athletics vs. difficulty 8)

MYSTERY BOX

>>2495705
We used our Vice bonus on the roll to trick the Fae, no?

>>2495771
Vice, you get to use twice each time you earn it.

>>2495302
>> Try to assemble some complete outfits (Athletics vs. difficulty 12; you may spend for Flickering Acumen)
Use vice, virtue, 2 glamour.

There may be another update tonight but it won't be before 3 AM (2.5 hours from now).

>>2495296
>her voice is rich, layered, full of pity for the sight before her
Wait, what ? is this just an illusionary charm or does she actually feel pity ?

>>2496223
Why wouldn't she feel pity?

>>2496223
Pity is hardly the same as sympathy.

>>2496223
Good question.

> Grab the trunk, it's gotta be full of clothes (Athletics vs. difficulty 8)
And I mean, if it isn't full of clothes, a trunk an Other uses definitely has something interesting.
>And use Vice.

>>2495302
>Grab the trunk, it's gotta be full of clothes (Athletics vs. difficulty 8)

>>2495296
> Try to assemble some complete outfits (Athletics vs. difficulty 12; you may spend for Flickering Acumen)

>>2496246
... huh. This could mean one or more things. Either feigned emotion (simplest explanation), magic, or [i]this isn’t a true Fae[\i]

>>2496635
... and my newness to \qst\ shows...

>>2495302
>Grab the trunk, it's gotta be full of clothes (Athletics vs. difficulty 8)

>>2496635
I always saw emotions from the Fae being a case of "If you program a computer to feel an emotion, does it truly feel it?".

>>2496635
>>2496644
It's actually wrose if they do have emotions, because the depths of those emotions and the lengths to which they will take the Fae are horrifying to contemplate.

Psychopaths don't feel empathy, but they most certainly feel emotions...which is why they're so fucked up and dangerous.

>>2496713
>>2496713
But they aren't human psychopaths. Maybe they can only play parts and they feel the emotions but only so long as they play the role.

>>2496713
>>2496723
Fae are /other/, alien to our sensibilities. They may have empathy and emotions, but it's probably so different from our own concepts of them it makes it completely extraordinary

>>2496809
The dangerous part is that it can still look the same on the outside.

Called. As far as I can tell our winner is ASSEMBLE with 2 GLAMOUR, VICE, and VIRTUE.

Roll me 1d10+8 (3 + 2 + 3 + 1 - 1), TWICE

Rolled 7 + 8 (1d10 + 8)

>>2497257

Rolled 2 + 8 (1d10 + 8)

>>2497287
7 + 8 = 15; SUCCESS WITH STYLE.

Writing.

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>>2495296
You go to just snatch as many clothes as possible and then swerve at the last second, plucking up a low-necked top made from a swatch of night sky, the scarf near it in which the moon gently moves, and a pair of panties that ripple and gleam, woven as they are from the sight of starlight on water (these last ones you sniff to make sure they're clean; thank the gods, they are).

Everyone's been telling you the same thing. Ramona, Natalia, Erin, Cherry, even your own mind. Ham it up, live a little, Go Big Or Go Home.

You're not just gonna rob this Jotun, you're gonna take her best outfits.

You're gonna have to think fast for this one, so you feed Glamour to the molten blood in your veins, feeding the Fire within with the bubbling, fearful desire of a young man on the street who'd had the courage to ask for your number and the grace to accept your refusal.

At the front of the carriage, you can hear Ambrosia talking.

"Reach your hands up, pitiful one," she invites. "I can sense great strength within you. Let me show you how those who love me are rewarded."

A stab of jealousy hits you full in the chest, a fierce possessive anger that only gets hotter when you hear Erin's lusty sigh. Ambrosia coos softly at her, and you have your hand on Bifrost before sanity reasserts itself. This is a distraction.

And you're not dating Erin.

You almost mutter that out loud to yourself as you keep hunting through the clothes, tossing some aside and snatching others. There's a distinct lack of pants, for understandable reasons, but you find one pair cut from the shimmering light of a sunset, and you take them to go with your twilight mail. A dancing dress made of delicate chains of ink that spell out poems has a companion in a bracelet of braided paper that gently drips musical notes, and both of them go into your collection.

Every now and again you snatch up an interesting piece of lingerie, give it the sniff test, and either throw it away or take it. Ambrosia really needs to learn to wash the cum out of her panties, that's just fucking tacky.

("Higher," the Fae demands, in a shivering voice.)

You snatch up the playing card and stick it in your pocket, spot a coat whose scales and pulsing warmth suggest dragonhide, and throw it over your shoulder. That should be more than enough, you've got six outfits and enough underwear to tease or be teased for a week straight without doing laundry. You slide through the space in the center of the carriage, gently open the door on the other side, and hop down.

This road is cobbled in glass and you can feel its eagerness to see what you'll do. It hasn't seen a glass Elemental in some time, and the cobbles hum and greet you in a chorus of eager voices.

But you have eyes for the lanterns inside of Ambrosia's cottage.

Let's play a prank you tell them. Pop for me.

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>>2497396
Weeee! the glass panes answer, before they go flying away. The lanterns tip and jerk, spilling burning oil all over the Hedgespun, the seats, the delicate wood of the carriage. The fire roars up almost immediately, greedily devouring the delicate clothes and flashing through half a hundred colors. You turn and sprint towards the path on the other side.

"What?" Ambrosia goes to turn away from Erin's reaching fingers, and in her moment of vulnerability the blind Fairest pulls her Bowie knife and jams it into the Fae's spine. The Lady of Delights shrieks in agony and collapses, crying out again when Erin rips her knife free.

"You can kill me or save her," Erin tells the Ogre, arresting his angry rise. He looks down at his Lady, then back up, only to see Erin leaving.

Your blind (lover? friend?) closes the path behind the two of you, but your victims do not pursue. The two of you run hell-bent for election down the path until you finally make a crossroads and stop, leaning on its wooden signage to catch your breath, laughing and giddy. Your chest bubbles with exhilaration, with fear and delight and the sheer nerve of what you just did.

You drop the Hedgespun when Erin pulls you in for a long, hard kiss that leaves you breathless and dizzy.

"Okay," she says when she pulls away. "We need to keep going. Pick out another song. Oh but that felt so good! Alright, no, gotta focus up - lay that tune on me."

> No, YOU kiss HER damnit! Do it again, correctly
> You're low on Glamour. Erin said she had supplies, ask her to share with the class
> Erin, we gotta talk. About before, and Fancy, and...
> You heard the woman. Pick a song, let's go.

>>2497396
Carriage* not cottage JFC.

You have acquired A GREAT DEAL OF HEDGESPUN and an ACE IN THE HOLE. I'll add them to your sheet when I get home tonight.

> No, YOU kiss HER damnit! Do it again, correctly

>>2497417
> You heard the woman. Pick a song, let's go.
Get the fuck out of Dodge.

>>2497417
> Erin, we gotta talk. About before, and Fancy, and...

>>2497417
> You heard the woman. Pick a song, let's go.
Look, it's been fun, but it's time to get back to the mortal world.

>>2497417
>You heard the woman. Pick a song, let's go.

>>2497417
> You heard the woman. Pick a song, let's go.

>You heard the woman. Pick a song and let's go.

>>2497417
> You heard the woman. Pick a song, let's go.

We need to get clear of here, pronto. Soon as we do, though, it’s Serious Talk time.

>>2497417
> You body is screaming for you to kiss her.
> Resist the urge!
> CHANGING SUBJECTS!
> You're low on Glamour. Erin said she had supplies, ask her to share with the class.

I agree with some of the other voters that there is a certain chemistry between two lovely ladies searching for their Spring, but I also believe that Colors and Fancy have a very good thing that's worth working toward.

Also, by-the-by Vox, your little editorial tumblr looks like it could be fun and interesting, like how you did all those cool write-ups for DLQ.

>>2497417
>> You heard the woman. Pick a song, let's go.

>>2497734
I'm flattered. I intend to write more, as well as more side stories.

>>2497417
>> You heard the woman. Pick a song, let's go.

So, I’m doing a random thought exercise that is surprisingly entertaining. I’ve assembled a sketched concept and thinking about how he’d react to any given situation we run into.

Oddly enough, thinking through this helps me understand more of the situations, especially sine the sketch is very different from our Motley.

In my case, it’s an Author Wizened, Spring court and a member of the Satrapy of Pearls. Knowledge merchant, who sees payment in items as good, favors as better, and knowledge best of all. Trades to help people, telling people how to achieve and grow while gathering the means to help more down the line. People don’t realize he’s bartering on their side.[\spoiler]

>>2497417
> You heard the woman. Pick a song, let's go.
Erin, goddamn

I fucking love this honest to god /adventure/.

Holy shit Colors you arsoned that carriage like a badass, ahahahaha.

Erin is absolutely an awful influence, but damn is it not fun to see Colors actually live a little.

>>2497417
> No, YOU kiss HER damnit! Do it again, correctly

>>2497734
Erin > Fancy

>>2499485
Vicky best girl.
Fancy okay.
Erin a shit.

>>2499503
I ship Fancy. Colors needs a dose of normal in her life, someone who can ground her in what it means to be human.

>>2499578
Meh. Fancy is more of a crutch, and she plays up the "knowing therapist" more than I'd like. Colors seems to feel so off kilter around her that we haven't really explored any of Fancy's flaws yet.

She doesn't really drive the story for me, except in relation to how other people react to her.

She's boring.

Well that seems unanimous. Let's go; called, writing.

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>>2497417
You cough and pick up the Hedgespun. You take a moment to repack your backpack so you can fit the new clothes in; the end result puts a lot of your tools on straps outside of it, but such is life.

"That felt really good," Erin repeats to herself; she's wandering the crossroads, carefully touching the Thorns, newly pointed ears twitching in the wind.

"...Was it that good a kiss?" you ask, confused.

"What? No - I mean, don't get me wrong, but no, not that. Working with someone again." Erin turns her head at you and flashes a grin. "It's been awhile. I haven't really...worked, since...y'know. And it's nice, to be on a team again."

You find yourself smiling too. "You know, it was like that with my new friends too. I bet they would have loved to be here for this."

"Well...maybe next time." You see Erin touch the tips of her ears for a moment before she looks way and rests her hands down on her weapons. "Got a tune in mind?"

"This is the song that -"

"Colors, I say this with all the love in my heart, if you complete that verse I'm gonna kill you. Don't give the Thorns ideas."

You know, that's fair. Probably. You clear your throat and settle into Mister Booze.

What? It's a classic.

The two of you walk for hours. It feels strange with Erin in the lead, not only because you've grown accustomed to how your Motley seems to just follow your suggestions (in hindsight, is that a leftover from the Rainbow John job?) but because you keep having to remind yourself that she's blind. The Fairest moves through the Hedge with an airy sense of wonder, as if she's coming here for the first time. She stops to brush leaves with her fingers, to enjoy the scents of the flowers, to listen to the calls of the animals and hobs in the distance. You, too, end up stopping when she points out things she's noticed that you haven't - tiny bird-boxes in which sprites observe your passage, still ponds that can be as small as three feet across and go down for miles of clear water rife with fish in a hundred thousand colors, even fruits grown heavy for harvest in the early Autumn. You try one that she suggests, and find that while its flesh is soft like a pear, its juices fizz and pop against your tongue, filling your mouth with foamy bubbles with a sour tang.

You regain 1 glamour

"You must think I've lost my mind," Erin says, hours later, with the sun setting. The two of you have been singing all day. Your water has been drank and refilled and drank and refilled. Right now if someone showed you sheet music you'd jack them across the face. "It's just - I never, I spent ten years and more here, Colors. And I never really saw it. The Hedge was just the place where I did my job, and now it's...not. Now it's a place of magic and wonder."

"A dangerous place," you point out.

"We're dangerous people," Erin says back, impishly. "C'mon, We need to rest for real. We'll get home tomorrow."

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>>2499995
"How do you know?" you ask.

"I don't. But I've got a good feeling." Erin runs her hands along the Thorns in the side of the path, and they shiver and twist at her touch, bending and winding until they form something like a hammock. "I can take the first watch."

You almost say 'are you sure' and then you decide against it. If she wants to be generous about this, now is not the time to insist on being a knight about things. You set your backpack beneath the hammock, then slide into it and close your eyes.

"We need showers," you murmur. Your breath catches in your throat when you feel warm fingertips brush your glass hair back.

"Sleep," your friend murmurs. "You're safe with me."

* * * *

You're in Philly.

You're on a boat, on the river, in Philly. The boat is also Fancy's theater, which is somehow the ballroom in the Juniper Building, but you'd know the scent of the air anywhere. It's Philly, stretched thin and joyless, and the Glamour of the place is sick with wrath and sorrow.

You're waiting for yourself already. It's not the usual you; normally when you see your human self in your dreams she's the teenager you were before you got taken. This you is more like if you'd had the chance to grow up, though since she's dressed in street-punk clothes you might be dreaming of Vickie too?

Lucid dreaming is weird.

"Finally," the human you spits. "I thought you'd never go to sleep. Do you have any idea how annoying it is to wait around for you?"

"Um. Hi, me, nice to see myself. I've been doing the ham thing..."

"Ham?" She spits on the ground of the boat-theater.

Something catches your eye. At the bow of the ship is the teenage you, frantically motioning for your attention. She shakes her head and waves her fingertips in front of her throat, like she's trying to tell you not to do something, or -

Wait.

"You really are an idiot," the other you says, before she hits you. You go flying, off the deck, bouncing off of buildings that crack and crumble and shed brick and concrete. You come crashing to the asphalt street (it cracks beneath your impact, scattering the extras of your dreams in a panic) on your back, and the other you lands next to you.

How did you ever mistake her for human? You know that face, that body, made of half-finished projects and slagged bits of glass, held together with strips of dried corned beef and looking out at the world with your own living eyes, the first things ever taken from you.

Her legs from the knees down have been replaced with blade prosthetics that give her a springing, bouncing stride.

"You're a dream," you croak, head dizzy and dream-world swimming.

Your Fetch shakes her head. "You should have confirmed your kill. First you suffer. Then you die."

You roll away from the building your Fetch causes to drop on you and spring to your feet.

> Fight (gain GREATER NIGHTMARES; roll Melee vs. Difficulty 10)
> Wake up! (Wyrd vs. difficulty 11)

>>2500011
...not the threat I was expecting. Not by a LONG shot. Alright, our Wyrd is actually better than our Melee, and that roll has no drawbacks... let’s do this to get the odds more in our favor...

> Wake up! (Wyrd vs. difficulty 11)
> Expend 1 Glamour

>>2500011
>> Fight (gain GREATER NIGHTMARES; roll Melee vs. Difficulty 10)

>>2500011
>> Wake up! (Wyrd vs. difficulty 11)

>>2500011
>> Wake up! (Wyrd vs. difficulty 11)

>Wake up! (Wyrd vs. difficulty 11)

Aight, called. Give me 1d10+4, TWICE.

Rolled 1 + 4 (1d10 + 4)

>>2500710

Rolled 2 + 4 (1d10 + 4)

>>2500710

>>2500751
2 + 4 = 6; Failure.

Writing.

Welcome to the party.

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>>2500011
Fuck. What did Doc Ripples tell you about oneiromachy? Your head's been vaguely full of fuck all day and taking that hit didn't help. Your dreamscape cracks, the impact crater of your hit splintering buildings and people, slicing rifts in the filtering light and opening chasms in the sky.

Right, that's the first thing. The mind hosting a dream combat gets damaged. Which is your mind, right now.

You hear the flex of metal and move, leaping through one of the inch-wide cracks. There is a distinct sensation of progressive absence; parts of your body vanish and reappear in sequence, and instead of landing properly you collapse on the other side, vomit messily onto the crumbling street, and stagger back to your feet.

Right, the second thing. Anything your opponent creates is probably part of some attack. Your world blurs, but you catch your Fetch landing on the other side of her collapsed building.

What was the thing he told you? You can fight in a dream like it's physical combat because that's how you think, you knew that part already. Dream combat is also about imagination, knew that part already.

Your Fetch puts her slag-glass hand against the street and pulls up a bolt-action made from stone and water; the water main beneath the street bursts, spraying liquid everywhere and flooding your dream. She works the bolt back and catches a falling droplet in the chamber before slamming it forward.

Right, you can wake up. You concentrate.

You get shot right in the chest.

You suffer 3 damage thus far (Current dream health: 3/6). You gain DRAINED (-1 on all rolls, worsens to -2 on rolls against mental manipulation)

You stagger back and kick the water in front of you, throwing it up as a wall of ice that catches the next shot. The city is already flooding, rising to your knees and going upwards. You grab a light pole and use it to launch yourself at a rooftop; on instinct you turn and parry, catching a water bullet with the flat of Bifrost.

Your Fetch stands on top of your ice wall, glaring at you. She aims her rifle at the sky and fires, shattering the cloud-streaked blue to collapse down in razor-sharp shards that leave behind a fractured night.

"You took me from Dad," the you-thing accuses. "You left me for dead and left him without even a body to fucking bury. You took everything from me!

> Take shelter from the storm and try to wake up again (Wyrd vs. difficulty 11)
> You're not gonna be the only one to come out of this with mental damage. Turn and fight (Athletics vs. difficulty 11)
> Contracts work in dreams. This is still a city. Activate Control Glass (Free; Wyrd vs. her Athletics)

>>2500846
>> Contracts work in dreams. This is still a city. Activate Control Glass (Free; Wyrd vs. her Athletics)

>Contracts work in dreams. This is still a city. Activate control glass. (Free; Wyrd vs. her Athletics.)

>>2500846
> Contracts work in dreams. This is still a city. Activate Control Glass (Free; Wyrd vs. her Athletics)

Shatterbird time? I think yes.

>> Contracts work in dreams. This is still a city. Activate Control Glass (Free; Wyrd vs. her Athletics)

>>2500846
>> Take shelter from the storm and try to wake up again (Wyrd vs. difficulty 11)

I'm gonna have to leave this until tonight; I need to go to work. Votes remain open.

Questions, comments, discussion, feedback, and criticisms remain welcome and appreciated.

Thank you all for reading and participating!

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>>2500846
>Contracts work in dreams. This is still a city. Activate Control Glass (Free; Wyrd vs. her Athletics)

>>2500846
> Accept your guilt and apologize. Just because your life was taken away from you, it didn't justify taking it away from someone else. Even if that "someone" was a Fetch.

I mean. We can only really go back and try to atone by living life for the both of us.

>>2501047
Much as I would like to make nice with her, I feel like - if this is even our Fetch, not just a Hedge manifestation or someone else trying to make us think they're her - we kind of burned that bridge, pissed on its ashes, and then scattered them over a landfill.

>>2501062
You saying the fetch doesn't fall far from the tree? If it is our Fetch, then hey one less murder under our belt.

>>2501047
Accepting guilt generally comes with at least the implication of accepting judgement.
And cathartic as that might be, I'm fairly certain that dying in our own lucid dream probably isn't helping. And our fetch or whatever it is looking like it doesn't seem all that intent on accepting any outcome but our death here.

>>2500846
> Take shelter from the storm and try to wake up again (Wyrd vs. difficulty 11)
>SPEND 1 GLAMOUR

We don’t win in a fight regardless of outcome, here. The only correct choice is not to play.

... that said, soon as we get back to the Iron Lands, we need to enlist the help of the Doc and take the offensive better prepared.

>>2501194
Spend 1 glamour on what exactly?

>>2501216
Not allowed to spend it on Wyrd rolls? Oops. Ignore that part. The rest still stands, though.

>>2501074
>If it is our Fetch, then hey one less murder under our belt.
Didn't Colours thoroughly kill her Fetch ?

>>2501285
You told Erin that you sunk your Fetch's feet in concrete, lashed her to it with barbed wire, and threw her screaming into a river.

You'll notice this Fetch has prosthetic legs.

>>2501291
...and anger issues

>>2500846
> Contracts work in dreams. This is still a city. Activate Control Glass (Free; Wyrd vs. her Athletics)

>>2501047
I feel like this would only be a thing if Colors ever decides to abandon her Kith like Erin did. Y'know, freeing yourself of the past and all of the terrible memories that made you something you didn't want to be.

Although, even then, each ritual is different.

>>2501047
Bear in mind that a lot of fetches aren't as nice as Zoe's or Jesse's. A fetch is still a creation of the true fae and the average fetch has about as much capacity for morality or empathy as they do.

>>2500846
>> Contracts work in dreams. This is still a city. Activate Control Glass (Free; Wyrd vs. her Athletics)

Testing again, can I post?

Rolled 5 + 4 (1d10 + 4)

>>2502882
Finally.

Okay, so as you may have noticed before but I should have said explicitly: NIGHTMARES isn't affecting you during this dream (but since your brain is hosting oneiromachy it's also going to stick around when you wake up). That in mind, you ARE suffering from being mentally DRAINED.

Roll me 1d10+3, TWICE.

Rolled 4 + 3 (1d10 + 3)

>>2502896

Rolled 2 + 3 (1d10 + 3)

>>2502896

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>>2502923
>>2502915
>>2502896

>>2502915
4 + 3 = 7 vs. 9; SUCCESS AT CONSEQUENCE.

Writing.

>>2500846
>"You took me from Dad," the you-thing accuses. "You left me for dead and left him without even a body to fucking bury. You took everything from me!
>>2501291
>You told Erin that you sunk your Fetch's feet in concrete, lashed her to it with barbed wire, and threw her screaming into a river.

I want to add a bit to the history. Since I think that we went a biiiiit overboard, uncharacteristically, I'd like to add in a reason for our murder, and maybe the reason that we haven't gone back to our dad.

>Blame the Fetch for hurting our dad. Abuse, emotional what-have-you, not loving him enough, whatever Vox thinks up. Rage at her.

In the 'newly revealed history', Colors came back and saw her fetch somehow abusing her father, and murdered her as painfully as possible in self-hatred and righteous rage. She could even have been mistaken about the abuse, had something innocent set off her wrath. Could have been as small as her Fetch being rude to her dad. Just something to justify the cruelty.

>>2502951
Looks like I missed the chance, damn. What do you guys think of the idea?

>>2502933
New headcanon: Colors is a heavy sleeper. Been rolling well all quest, other than trying to wake up. Four rolls in a row, and the highest was a 4.

>>2502954
Ehhhhhhhhhhhhh.

We're in more of a redemption/guilt arc than a revenge arc.

Probably be better to focus on it not being an actual thing. Just an echo of ourselves left behind. We can't even blame it for it's failure to be us, because you don't blame things you blame their makers.

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>>2500846
There's a lot of things happening in your life right now. You're lost in the Deep Hedge, feeling weird jealousy pangs about the woman you cheated on your girlfriend with, still trying to figure out what kind of Spring you want to be, running low on Glamour, worried about Vickie and frankly in need of a shower.

You are not going to add 'bullied out of your own dream' to that list. Especially when you can't even seem to add 'articulate your emotions to the people they affect' to it.

Time to fight you tell the dream-glass. It's gonna get dizzy.

The windows beneath the water shiver and pop. In the real world you can only affect so much Glass at the same time; in a dream things are a bit more flexible. What is the weight or size of dream-stuff?

You go running along window panes that slide beneath your feet only to whip past each other to form the next step, bearing you up past the flooding. The water below is full of drowning people and black slicks of oil from the cars below; here and there, it ignites, burning on the surface of the rising water.

You turn away from your Fetch's next shot and get a slice down your right arm from a falling shard of sky, splashing the water with your black blood.

You suffer 1 DAMAGE [4/6]

Your Fetch makes a spring-footed leap, and you gesture up sharply, filling the air with shards of glass that burst from the water and slash her dream-body up in a torrent of laceration. She screams as she loses her balance, tumbles, and hits a rooftop back-first, just above the rising water.

"Finally, some backbone," the Fetch hisses. She rolls away from the rain of glass you call down on her and comes up firing, forcing you to throw yourself down to your makeshift walkway. "I thought you'd turn and run, like you always do. Like you ran away from Dad. From your lover, from your friends."

"From my -" you stop cold. "You didn't. They wouldn't."

She laughs, and her voice is thin and bitter. "I did, and they would. The dogs are on your trail, Susan."

That name. You snap, the white-hot hate in your chest coming out as a scream. The glass in your dream hums and then shatters into razor shards that fill the air, blinking through the rifts and slashing your Fetch to ribbons.

"My name is Colors!" you shriek at the top of your lungs. "Say it!"

Your Fetch looks up with a savage grin, her slag-glass teeth stained with blood. "Sleep well, Susan."

She fades out of the dream just before you land sword-first, Bifrost sinking into the roof where she was just moments ago. You yank the hilt, shrieking in inchoate fury, and -

Someone's shaking your shoulder. Your eyes snap open, your right hand shoots out, and you grab your attacker by the neck.

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>>2503953
You still suffer NIGHTMARES

"It's me," Erin manages, tapping your wrist once, twice. You drop her in shock and manage to top yourself out of the hammock and onto the hard ground of the Thorns; she gasps for breath while you sit there, stunned and with an increasing sense of shame.

You manage an 'I'm sorry' from the ground.

"Nightmares?" Erin asks, one hand on a pole holding up the hammock she made, the other rubbing her throat. "Something's after us. The Hedge has gone bloody, I can smell it."

"I know who it is." You sit up slowly, haul yourself up with the woven hammock in your fingers. "They're...my lights. They have names too."

Erin swears under her breath. "I don't have a lot of glitter here, Colors."

> Let the Rook and Forum know and try to link up with them. It's time to leave, now [Roll Wyrd to assist Erin; Erin becomes TIRED]
> Take it slow. The Hedge won't be aiding your hunters. [Stealth vs. Difficulty ???; gain a +2 bonus from Erin; Erin becomes TIRED]
> Wait. Rest. Fight it out [???]

>>2503960
>> Take it slow. The Hedge won't be aiding your hunters. [Stealth vs. Difficulty ???; gain a +2 bonus from Erin; Erin becomes TIRED]

>>2503960
> Let the Rook and Forum know and try to link up with them. It's time to leave, now [Roll Wyrd to assist Erin; Erin becomes TIRED]

>>2503960
>> Let the Rook and Forum know and try to link up with them. It's time to leave, now [Roll Wyrd to assist Erin; Erin becomes TIRED]

That way if things DO go wrong, we have backup waiting.

>>2503960
Would it help if we sung another song?

> https://youtu.be/aRoIU6lADn8?t=2m15s

>>2503960
>Let the Rook and Forum know and try to link up with them. It's time to leave, now [Roll Wyrd to assist Erin; Erin becomes TIRED]

This is why we brought help. To help us.

>>2503960
>Let the Rook and Forum know and try to link up with them. It's time to leave, now [Roll Wyrd to assist Erin; Erin becomes TIRED]

We have the tools and backup. This qualifies as an emergency.

>>2503960
>> Let the Rook and Forum know and try to link up with them. It's time to leave, now [Roll Wyrd to assist Erin; Erin becomes TIRED]

Let's get /out/ of here. And use as much help as we can call on.

>>2503953
>You suffer 1 DAMAGE [4/6]

Why are we showing 6 max health when on our charsheet it gives 8...?

>>2504333
Dream damage. Oneiromantic combat tracks health on a different scale, based on different things about you. Losing all of it means being ejected from the dream (usually), and losing any at all means NIGHTMARES.

You lose one in the first place just for being the mind dream combat takes place in.

I gotta go be an adult, I'll update when I return.

>>2503154
>Probably be better to focus on it not being an actual thing. Just an echo of ourselves left behind. We can't even blame it for it's failure to be us, because you don't blame things you blame their makers.
Yeah, but that doesn't give us a reason or excuse for our extreme cruelty. We wrapped her in barbed wire and tried to drown her. That sort of highmindedness doesn't fit our actions. So isn't it better if the Fetch had done something to piss us off?

Also, what does NIGHTMARES do?

> Let the Rook and Forum know and try to link up with them. It's time to leave, now [Roll Wyrd to assist Erin; Erin becomes TIRED]

Oh hey we can post again, fucking finally.

Give me 1d10+2, TWICE. There's no failing this roll per se, you're helping Erin out.

>>2504426
As noted on the sheet, you're suffering from a -1 penalty to all rolls from it.

That said, Colors has described her past before in less than charitable terms. Words like 'rampage' have been used. People join Spring to leave something behind, and for Colors at least some of that is about who and what she was in Philly.

Rolled 7 + 2 (1d10 + 2)

>>2504439

>>2504426
I was writing from the point of view of being hostile to the Fetch, as opposed to being conciliatory here >>2501047

>>2501082
We gotta work on accepting our judgement then.

Rolled 5 + 2 (1d10 + 2)

>>2504439

>>2504442
See? The second we’re doing something other than waking up, we can roll again.

Rolled 6 + 10 (1d10 + 10)

>>2504442
Excellent. And now for Erin's roll with your provided bonus included.

In related story, y'remember how navigating the Hedge is based on Wyrd? Yeah.

>>2504675
I'm gonna end up writing this tomorrow, my day kinda ended up involving Professional Responsibilities.

>>2504675
I can’t imagine what the hell kind of problem a 16 won’t beat...

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>>2505288
The Hedge can....

>>2505817
Welp. That picture looked way nicer as a thumbnail.

Fuck that was a long day.

Let's do this.

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>>2507432
K.

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>>2503960
You shake your head to try and clear the haze in your mind, but there's nothing for it. You feel oddly heavy and distant from yourself, like you're observing your own life from the side.

This feeling is familiar. You spent a lot of time in Philly like this, whenever it wasn't time to be doing your job.

"We shouldn't stay," you hear yourself saying. "I'll inform Forum and the Rook, and then we'll move. I won't lie, we're going to get run down, but at least this way we might get to pick our own battlefield."

"Alright." Erin rubs her neck again; bruises are forming there, blossoming on her pale skin. "Can I wear that scarf for a bit?"

"I -"

"The others won't understand, Colors," Erin interrupts, gently. "I'll give it back."

You take out the scarf you stole from Ambrosia and pass it to Erin, and look away while you take out your walkie-talkie. You feed it that fizzing, sour flavor from the fruits Erin found for you, then start talking.

You expend 1 glamour

"Forum, Rook, do you read? Over."

"We read," Forum answers. "Found a flaw in the design on these things. Your half is the only one that can actually start the conversation, over."

"Why do I suspect this is horribly relevant, over."

The Rook's voice cuts in: "The Smithson Arms gate is gone. Someone tore it down from the other side. We're going to have to move to a secondary exit plan -" the audio cuts out. When his voice comes back it has the ragged, wet quality that you know too well. "In the subways. Over."

You and Erin both swear at length for Some Time.

"Colors, you still there? Over." Forum cuts into your swearing time.

"Yeah," you respond. "We've got Hound Tribunal after us, from Philly. Could be anywhere from one to five that I know of plus," you hesitate. "Plus my Fetch. Eyes sharp for a Soldier with clockwork legs, a satyr archer, a Fetch made from slag-glass and corned beef, a big-ass ghul in gauntlets, a lightning Elemental, and an Oracle with three eyes. All armed, all extremely dangerous. The Oracle poisons her weapons, over."

"See, this is why I never went to Philly," Erin mutters.

"Acknowledged. What's the battle plan, over."

"We're coming to you. Can you signal us once you have an exit, over."

"On it. Out."

You adjust your pack on your back, draw Bifrost, and point it down the path. "Speed over stealth sounds good right now. Want a tune?"

Is her smile relieved? Erin touches your cheek for a moment, and with her arm so close you're noticing something - faint impressions, almost like very healed scars, are working their way up from her wrists - regularly-spaced lines, full of...of...music notes?

Sheet music. It's sheet music.

"Sing for me, sweet Knight," Erin murmurs, and you look away so you can die of shame and blushing in peace.

"Shiver my timbers..."

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>>2508056
The two of you hustle while you sing, your insistence on speed playing merry hell with ideas like keeping the song's proper rhythm or in fact anything about it but the actual lyrics, but it still seems to be working. Erin's scarf trails behind her, shedding bits of itself without ever seeming to actually reduce in size or mass. You've just managed to reach the end of it when you hear the high-pitched scream of a flare being fired; you look up over the path and see that the signal is surprisingly close. You should be there shortly.

You and Erin get to a crossroads and pick the path that bends towards the flare's position. The two of you jog around the curve into a long straightaway, only for Erin to throw her hand up to halt you.

It's quiet.

"Oola wakka, moola wakka," Erin half-sings under her breath, sarcasm cutting the lyrics up. On instinct you grab her and yank her out of the way.

An arrow whistles through where her head just was.

"It's not even Summer, Trevor!" you snarl. At the head of the path you catch the motion of your former companion - a tall, goat-hoofed satyr, clad in steel mail and with his left horn snapped off at the scalp - nocking a new arrow. "This isn't how you operate!"

"You would know." You resist the urge to try and dodge immediately and are rewarded; he looses and you twitch aside, letting the shaft pass between you and Erin. "This isn't Hound business, Colors. This is revenge."

> Rush him. (Melee vs. difficulty 10; gain VALLHALLA AWAITS)
> Grab Erin, try to double back down a different path (Wyrd vs. difficulty 7; you may expend for Flickering Acumen)
> Erin has SOME Glamour left. Does she have an idea? (???)

>>2508086
>> Grab Erin, try to double back down a different path (Wyrd vs. difficulty 7; you may expend for Flickering Acumen)
No spend

>>2508086
> Grab Erin, try to double back down a different path (Wyrd vs. difficulty 7;
Expend glamour for Flickering Acumen)

>>2508106
Okay. I'ma say this again: if you're voting to expend, INCLUDE HOW MUCH GOD DAMN IT.

Do also keep in mind that you've got NIGHTMARES and are DRAINED. See ya sheet.

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>>2508086
>Grab Erin, try to double back down a different path (Wyrd vs. difficulty 7; you may expend for Flickering Acumen)
Gods and Demons.

2 points of Glamour for flickering Acumen. If we can lead them into danger, more power to us.

We cannot fail this woman - it's agaisnt the Code of Chivalry (one which Trevor doesn't give a shit about, obviously).

>>2508086
>> Rush him. (Melee vs. difficulty 10; gain VALLHALLA AWAITS)

>> Rush him. (Melee vs. difficulty 10; gain VALLHALLA AWAITS)

>>2508109
Then:
>> Grab Erin, try to double back down a different path, expend 1 Glamour for Flickering Acumen)

>>2508056
>a Fetch made from slag-glass and corned beef
Why corned beef?

>>2508639
True Fae make fetches from whatever happens to be lying around at the time when they take a person. Apparently Colors was having corned beef when she got nabbed?

>>2508086
>Try Social, then rush him.

>>2508651
No, cancel that. We're in a rush, no time to yak.

>> Rush him. (Melee vs. difficulty 10; gain VALLHALLA AWAITS)

>Rush him. (Melee vs. difficulty 10; gain VALLHALLA AWAITS)

>>2508086
>Rush him. (Melee vs. difficulty 10; gain VALLHALLA AWAITS)
Combination of no time to wait, plus very low Glamour reserves and roll penalties in the wings. If Erin has something to add, this will buy her the couple of seconds she needs.

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>>2508086
> Erin has SOME Glamour left. Does she have an idea? (???)

Man, as much as I really hate any option with unpredictable results, between rushing a machine gun nest and expending rapidly dwindling resources, the other two don't seem viable.

Called, tallying. Roll call shortly.

I would have been home hours ago but I went to see Avengers: Infinity War. Walked there from work, walked double that distance to get home through the rain, 9001% worth.

Okay, so even if I take this >>2508651 >>2508816
as being entirely canceled rather than just the Social part canceled, Rush has it. SO:

You gain VALLHALLA AWAITS (+1 to all rolls). Erin is splitting Trevor's attention for another +1 on this roll.

Roll me 1d10+3 THREE TIMES (Bifrost).

>>2510155
And while that's happening I'm going the fuck to sleep. I'll write in the mornin'.

Rolled 7 + 3 (1d10 + 3)

>>2510155

Rolled 10 + 3 (1d10 + 3)

>>2510155
This is going to go terribly.

>>2510155
Not that it matters, someone got the 10

Rolled 1 + 3 (1d10 + 3)

Might as well finish it off so that ALL IS IN READINESS.

Rolled 1 + 3 (1d10 + 3)

>>2510155
Odin owns you all!

>>2510253
>>2510243
Did I mention that I’m glad Vox doesn’t do overrides?

>>2510186
>Not that it matters, someone got the 10
Let's see how fast that Beast is, and if he is really alone.

>>2510281
Also glad of this, yes. (And this is why I don't roll until everyone else who can has.)

Colors has managed to pull some cool stuff off,but is she really a heavy hitter? What stats does she have that shows/causes it? Is it only the extra roll that Bifrost gives her?

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>>2508086
"You don't wanna ride this train Trevor," you warn. You touch two fingers to the flat of Bifrost's blade and murmur thanks to Glass for its generous assistance; you feel the thick spikes of glass form over your body as it meets its end of the bargain.

You activate ARMOR OF GLASS'S FURY via its CATCH

"I've got a shooting gallery that says I do," the satyr answers. You dive forward, rolling under his sudden shot, and come up sprinting for him.

"Tyr! you call, transferring Bifrost into your right hand.

You're surprised to hear Erin's voice answer, only inches behind you and to the left: "Freya!"

She says a second and equally relevant word: "Tripwire!"

You leap, Bifrost moving in an instinctive parry that ends in Trevor's arrow skipping off the flat, land in a staggering heap, and are saved from a second shot by Erin pushing your shoulders down.

"Francesca!" Trevor snaps. You slide, just in time for the Thorns on the side of the path to burst forth with all of the 300 pounds of Pissed-Off Corpsegrinder that is Francesca Cross. Her Mien pours blood from cracks in her skin that cleave all the way to the bone in places, but her attempt to land on top of you falls short.

You're gonna remember Erin's reaction until the day you die though: the Fairest screams like a little bitch while jamming her dirk directly into Francesca's knee. The big Ogre goes down and swats Erin into the Thorns with a roar.

Trevor drops his bow with a sigh and takes up his other weapon, a steel-capped staff of Thorn wood. He sidesteps your charge, but you're faster than he remembered: you turn and parry his cheap shot at your back, glass ringing off steel.

You can't let him control the distance between the two of you. You press the attack, forcing him to give ground to block your hits with steel instead of wood, and drive him back towards where Erin and Francesca are having their own deadly dance.

> Push him in, then trade off. Neither of them will expect to get stabbed in the back by the other's opponent (Persuasion against difficulty 9; your Mantle bonus applies [you're conveying the plan to Erin without giving it away])
> Pin him back against the Thorns. Break! CLEAVE! (Melee against difficulty 9; suffer a COUNTERATTACK)
> Go for the arms. Cripple him. (Melee against difficulty 10)

Does this count as "facing multiple opponents", since there are two of them even if we're only actively engaged with one just at this particular moment?

>>2511057
Yes

>>2511029
>> Pin him back against the Thorns. Break! CLEAVE! (Melee against difficulty 9; suffer a COUNTERATTACK)

>>2511029

So do we still have a +1 from Erin, or is she now occupied?

If we don't, I calculate our total bonus right now as being +3...with 3d10 take best, that puts our odds of a 9 or better at 88% and 10 or better at 78%.

>>2511434
She's busy, but one of those options involves her.

There may be relevant thoughts to think about how you and Erin have chosen to approach your journey.

>>2511029
>> Push him in, then trade off. Neither of them will expect to get stabbed in the back by the other's opponent
we're not trying to kill them right, just to escape?

I feel like Erin killing the people from the hounds tribunal unless necessary would be bad

> Push him in, then trade off. Neither of them will expect to get stabbed in the back by the other's opponent

>>2511029
>> Push him in, then trade off. Neither of them will expect to get stabbed in the back by the other's opponent (Persuasion against difficulty 9; your Mantle bonus applies [you're conveying the plan to Erin without giving it away])

>>2511029
>> Pin him back against the Thorns. Break! CLEAVE! (Melee against difficulty 9; suffer a COUNTERATTACK)

>Push him in, then trade off. Neither of them will expect to get stabbed in the back by the other's opponent.

>>2511523
>how you and Erin
Colours wanted a full Motley, Erin disliked a audience for the soul-peeling so badly she spurned Vickie and wanted the help to wait in a different timeline.

And what was the reason Sally didn't come, again ?

>>2512267
Erin requested that YOU ask Vickie to try and contain her shit and Vickie picked a fight about it all on her own, as you may recall. Forum and the Rook are in the Near Hedge at all to keep them anchored in your relative time.

As far as Sally, it was mentioned.

>>2511523
>There may be relevant thoughts to think about how you and Erin have chosen to approach your journey.
You mean how people saw this mainly as an opportunity to fool around with Erin, and not as something that was actually really fucking dangerous?

>>2511029
>Push him in, then trade off. Neither of them will expect to get stabbed in the back by the other's opponent (Persuasion against difficulty 9; your Mantle bonus applies [you're conveying the plan to Erin without giving it away])

>>2512451
That is not what I mean. You seem frustrated, my friend - has this arc been troubling you?

>>2512702
Just annoyed how everyone gets tunnel vision whenever Erin is involved.

>>2511029
>> Push him in, then trade off. Neither of them will expect to get stabbed in the back by the other's opponent

Our synergy's been working well enough so far. Let's see if that holds. Even though this means we only get 2 rolls instead of 3.

>>2512451
You're not the only person aware of dangers in the hedge or how much trouble Erin can be. There ias also a strong element of "nothing ventured nothing gained" inherent in Changeling and especially with being what Colours is.

>>2512451
I agree with you, Anon. DESU even Reborn!Erin is bad news right now, way too many risks for no good reason. She needs to get anchored down, and Colors is uniquely unsuited to be the primary person doing so (as an example, though, excellent).

>>2514793
How did I forget that filter...

Aight, called. I'm gonna pass the fuck out now but our winner is:

> Push him in, then trade off. Neither of them will expect to get stabbed in the back by the other's opponent

Roll me 1d10+4 (3 - 2 + 1 + 2) ONCE (Inhuman Nature).

The Hedge ripples around Erin's changing Wyrd. The gods are watching.

Rolled 9 + 4 (1d10 + 4)

>>2515110

The gods exist?

Rolled 1 + 4 (1d10 + 4)

>>2515110
I stand in the sunset, O Lord of Swords,

Seeking your wisdom in the last ray of light

Falling from between the clouds as scarlet pools

Like blood upon the ground.

I face the act of honor that may break me,

May cast me out from clan and kin,

May cleave a gulf between us.

I have turned my face from this doing,

Times uncountable, yet still I am drawn back.

Time turning, I now accept what must be done,

And my resolve is as iron, but iron unsmelted.

Lord of Swords, I pray you give me the fire of courage

To lay behind my life, my raw honor,

To sustain me as I am pressed through this forging.

One-handed God who does what must be done,

Grim and uncompromising, keep my spine straight,

My head high, my eyes forward on this path.

Hail, God of honor! I pledge to you

That if you bestow this gift, I will use it

Only on a path that I will never need to live down.

Give me that gift which is the last gift,

To keep going in the face of all fear,

To do right in the face of all necessity,

To walk unswerving through fire and blood and steel.

>>2515120
So glad we have this guy’s roll...

>>2515150
...with this guy’s poem.

>>2515120
Well that's a roll. We're at SUCCESS WITH STYLE, writing.

>>2515150
Did you write this? It's lovely.

>>2515130
Do they?

>>2515590
>Do they?
...Are they nice?

>>2515590
>Did you write this? It's lovely.
I wish I found it through googling Viking prayers.

>>2515890
If they existed and were not evil they would be at war with the Fae even now.

>>2514573
>There ias also a strong element of "nothing ventured nothing gained"
It is, but it didn't turn out so well for Rook and Colors...

My apologies; real life is kidnapping me further. Will update when able.

>>2518205
Vox is kill?

>>2522012
That which is dead can never die.

>>2522012
I wish

NEW THREAD

>>2522705
>>2522705
>>2522705
>>2522705