Ralph calls good night to you as he head to his room, and you barely have the presence of mind acknowledge him with a nod as you slip into your room. It’s late, nearly time for lights out, and the days events have left you exhausted both emotionally and physically, but your mind is buzzing. You need to get out of here. You need to get your friends out of here. Caitlin’s condition has made that abundantly clear. To do that you need a way around your implant, a way to free yourself and the others from the threat of the Father Boxes, which means you need better control of your powers, but that takes practice.

Time, it all comes down to time. Seven months to escape before Wax finishes rewriting your minds and making you all willing servants to your captors. Roughly thirty days in a month average. Perhaps two or three hours a day that you can dedicate to escape preparations if you maintain the same routine that you have thus far. Roughly 600+ hours to prepare, assuming you dedicate all of your spare time to your goal. Assuming nothing interferes.

You recall an, admittedly controversial, study that stated to become an expert at something took approximately 10,000 hours of dedicated study. Controversial because a number of scientists had contested the claims on the basis that some individuals learned faster and some failed to produce results even given the requisite time. Regardless of the validity of the study if you are going to be gambling not only your life, but your friends lives on your ability to use your powers to free them from their implants, it makes sense to have as much practice under your belt as you can get. Just saying, “I’m smart It’ll be fine” like you had in some of your high school classes and going with the flow isn’t going to cut it.

No, better to get as much preparation as you can before you attempt your break out. Your days are regimented, you won’t get more time there. The only way to give yourself more time will be to cut into your sleep. A risky proposition to be certain. Your body needs sleep. People have literally died because they tried to keep going without sleep for too long. But you aren’t like other people, you can cheat, because Meta-humans are bullshit.

You were able to heal an injury that should have laid you up for days if not weeks in moments after mammoth threw you around and tore your leg out of joint, and you’ve literally made yourself grow a foot and pack on a dozens of kilos in a few hours. Sleep, and the results of a lack thereof on the body, are biological processes. You should be able to control them, mitigate the effects of staying up a bit longer.

And if you can? If you can make your body function without sleep? Staying up an additional three hours would literally double the amount of time you have to prepare for your breakout, staying up six would triple it. With that kind of time you might just make it.

>>3848377

You’ll start tonight, keep it simple, try staying up an additional three hours or so and monitor the effects on your body, see what you can do, and then get some sleep and see how you feel in the morning.

You decide to spend the time exploring a new application of your power, trying to give yourself night vision. You understand the biological mechanism behind the superior night vision of many nocturnal predators, namely an additional reflective layer behind the retina called the Tapetum lucidum in their eyes which increases the amount of light available to their eyes photo receptors.

Way you figure it, night vision will probably come in handy during the breakout, and its a relatively simple and hopefully safe thing to try and figure out, so after the lights go out you lie in your bed and you focus your attention on the cells in your eyes.

Through the additional senses your power has given you, you feel each component of your eyes. You study the composition of your cornea, the arrangement of the rods and cones, and you contemplate how to go about your experiment. Humans have no naturally occurring Tapetum. You don’t have a pattern to follow you can simply copy or cause to grow, you’ll have to be a bit more creative than that and figure things out through trial and error.

One of the purposes of your Cornea is to refract light in conjunction with your eyes’ lens. It’s a long shot, but perhaps by properly applying a refractive layer to the back of your eyes you can bounce the light around sufficiently to get some back to your photo receptors.

Carefully you focus with your powers on your right eye, and you experiment by adding a few cells, and then breaking them back down, making sure that you can reverse the effects of your actions before committing to any large changes. You’ve always been able to in the past, but best to be sure. You don’t want to end up blinding yourself by mistake and not be able to fix it.

After ascertaining that you are indeed able to reabsorb and break down your creation without any difficulty, you close your left eye and start experimenting with coating the back of your right eye with bastardized configurations of the cells found in your cornea, trying one variation and then another.

Frankly it doesn’t work well. The cells that make up your cornea really aren't designed to reflect light and there's only so much you can do to alter them to make them fit your purpose.Two hours in and you’ve been able to find a configuration that does brighten up the room a bit, making it seem dimly lit rather than truly dark, but it makes everything horribly blurry. You keep playing with it for an hour more, and refine it a bit and bring things a bit more into focus by trying to change the composition of the cells further. Still it seems ineffective. You’ll need to keep working on it if you want to truly create effective night vision. Or eat the eyes of something with night vision but...ugh.

>>3848388

You remove the new layer of cells from the back of your eye and then turn your attention elsewhere, using your powers to feel out the state of your body. You notice some wear and tear on your veins and heart, so you patch those up. The hormone levels of your blood seem different you think. Belatedly you realize you don’t have a healthy baseline to compare to.

In your fervor to get started you failed to consider what sort of preparations you would need to make for your idea to work. You don’t know what your blood and other cells should be like when you aren’t sleep deprived. Without that knowledge you can’t really effectively even things out. You’ll need to establish that baseline before you’ll be able to effectively stay up without consequences, but you think you’ll be able to do it. You’ll just need a few days of good sleep and careful monitoring of your condition before bed, as you wake up, and throughout the day, in order to figure out where things should be. Maybe read some medical papers.

Realizing there’s nothing for it at this point and you’ll just have to do better in the future you go to sleep. You need to get what rest you can, but at this point it won’t be much. Tomorrow, or rather today, Is going to be long.

Breakfast is a subdued affair. Caitlin still hasn’t rejoined you, and your friends all pick at their food silently. You take some bitter satisfaction in noticing that the group around white hair this morning is much smaller than it had been last night. Several of the other teens have fractured and formed a fourth group. The only people who’ve stuck by the Gothamite are the redheaded girl and the tall Vlatavan skinhead. The flying blonde you’d seen sitting with him in the past is sitting with her back to frosty very pointedly ignoring him, and the redhead keeps casting her eyes between the two of them. Seems like what you said got through to at least a few people. Finishing breakfast you quietly head to class, keeping your eyes peeled for Caitlin. She's part of your class, and they said she'd be waking up today, so she should be there right?

Interpersonal relations is hell. Sensei takes delight in working you all to the bone it seems, though you’d never know it looking at the guys face. Perfectly flat emotionless mask, it barely wavers even when he’s screaming at someone. He runs you through combat drills and body strengthening exercises until you drop and then zaps you with the father box to heal you up a bit and tells you to get up and keep going. By the end of the day you’re an aching sweaty mess and still haven’t seen Cait, and you’re starting to worry. You thought she was supposed to have been taken off the meds that were keeping her under, she should be here.

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>>3848396

You take the stairs two at a time on your way to the cafeteria. Will she be there? Is she alright? Oh please let there not have been unforeseen complications, let her be okay. You throw open the doors and look over at your regular table, and sag a bit in relief when you see a familiar red mane of hair. She’s sitting at the table next to Tara, they’re both smiling, bent over slightly cooing over a...cat?

You take a few steps closer so you can see more clearly. Tara’s holding a kitten, a little ball of fluff, that Caitlin and the blonde are fussing over. What the fuck? Where did Tara get a kitten? You forgo getting your dinner, you can go grab it after you check on Cait and see what’s up with the cat.

“Cait, I’m so glad to see you.” You tell your friend as you slide into your seat. “How are you feeling?”

“Better” she says, turning away from the kitten to favor you with a warm smile. “Thank you for worrying about me.”

As you contemplate what to say next, tact ain't exactly your strong point and you want to do this right, the kitten mewls drawing your attention.

“What’s with the Cat?” You blurt out without thinking, then kick yourself a bit inside. Good going jackass, your friend just got out of the hospital and after a perfunctory "you okay" you let yourself get distracted by a cat. Great job. Shit how do you apologize to Cait for that? Should you?

“My teacher gave him to me today in class.” Tara says softly pulling you out of your head. “I… it is embarrassing but I cried in class today. He pulled me aside and I thought he would be very cross with me, but he gave me a kitty instead.”

That’s...

>Fucking weird. Why the hell would the old man who was teaching Tara how to get away with murdering people give her a cat? There’s something fishy about this. There is no way this was just one of the teachers comforting an upset student.

>Kind of odd, maybe they’re trying to build up some good will with the student body after what happened with Cait and the old man is too socially awkward to go about it in a more subtle manner?

>Great, it’s good to see your friends happy and the cat makes them happy. Tara’s teacher must be the decent sort like Larson. After all Larson is technically a criminal too, but he’s been good to you so far. Might as well give this other teacher the benefit of the doubt.

>Convenient. You might be able to get rid of your own implant one day, but in order to get rid of your friend’s implants you are going to have to figure out how to use your powers on their bodies and just winging it with human testing on people you care about seems like a horrible idea. Some trial runs with animals seem like a much better way to get started. This cat might be just what you need.

>>3848405
Fucking werid

Are we a movie buff or even a binge watcher? Because if we are I definitely know where this is going

Im very happy you are back E-16

>>3848405

And of course

>Write in.


A.N.

Well I'm back. I'm sorry. Sorry for how I treated you all, for being a dick and for breaking my promises. I will do better, and I hope you those of you who were part of the quest in the past will give me, give the quest, another chance. I have high hopes for the quest going forward. Honestly I burned myself out, but I'm going to be smarter about things this time, and that shouldn't happen. I plan to pace myself so we can have a good long run.


I'm going to stick around for a bit before heading to bed. If you have anything you'd like to say to me or questions to ask feel free. I'll be back in the morning to see how things are going, show my face a bit, but the update probably won't come until latter in the afternoon tomorrow.

>>3848413

Well you are a massive Nerd, and pop culture knowledge has been part of your thought processes and actions in the past (i.e. referencing media to figure out how to act in social situations you have no personal experience with) so it's possible, but that's at least in part up to you players.

Welcome to the quest anon, thanks for being here. Are you a returning player?

>>3848405
>Fucking weird. Why the hell would the old man who was teaching Tara how to get away with murdering people give her a cat? There’s something fishy about this. There is no way this was just one of the teachers comforting an upset student.
SUSPICION AROUSED

>>3848405
>Convenient. You might be able to get rid of your own implant one day, but in order to get rid of your friend’s implants you are going to have to figure out how to use your powers on their bodies and just winging it with human testing on people you care about seems like a horrible idea. Some trial runs with animals seem like a much better way to get started. This cat might be just what you need.
It'll help us out with night vision too.

>>3848417
Ditto

>>3848421
Yes i am a returning player

Also im going to add this to my vote >>3848413
"is this going to be one of those weird taking care of your animal and then killing them to show your not attached thing?"

>>3848441
>>3848417

And I am happy to see you anons here and willing to hop back on this wild ride. Thank you anons, thank you for playing. Thank you for being here.

>>3848434

And thank you to you to anon.

I can't tell you all how happy I am to have you all here.

>>3848405
>>Fucking weird. Why the hell would the old man who was teaching Tara how to get away with murdering people give her a cat? There’s something fishy about this. There is no way this was just one of the teachers comforting an upset student.

They're probably going to do some unsullied-type shit and make her kill the cat.

Also please no harmful experiments on kitty. I got my cat in my lap right now and thinking of hurting a cat, even by accident, doesn't sit right with me.


I'm still mad that you flaked without saying anything, but I'm glad you're back.

>>3848456

I get being mad with me. I'd be mad with me. Shit I am mad with me truth be told. I flaked like a bitch, after repeatedly saying I wouldn't. You have every right to be mad. And I am incredibly grateful that despite that you were willing to take your time to come in here and participate. Thank you for that anon. I'm sorry I did you wrong. Thank you for giving me a chance to do better this time around.

>>3848456
Hey man, I don't want to do it either. Bee you tee, it will help us a bunch with our powers and acquiring night vision. I mean, we don't have to kill them, we could just take some hair. maybe poke at its a bit skull and study it and give it back, unharmed.

>>3848482
>maybe poke at its a bit skull
>at its skull a bit
I hate when I do this, I always write too fast and then assume nothing I spelled got jumbled gaaahhh.

As it has been a very long time, and I don't assume everyone will have remembered or reread everything in preparation like I have, I'm going to just mention a few relevant details real quick.

First detail, we don't have the ability to read DNA yet. Can't just get the genetic blue print and then be able to copy the creature. We will be able to in the future, but it is not something available to you at this time.

Second, anons had been kicking around the idea of potentially trying to link our nervous systems to others as a potential way to use our powers to influence other bodies/people/animals. This was never tested, but was theorized to be your best bet at this time as you currently lack telepathy. Basically to use a metaphor you aren't wireless yet, you wanna connect your system to another system you need a hard line for the time being.

If anyone has any questions or details they are unclear on or would like a refresher for, please let me know, and when I get back in the morning I will see to answering them.

Good night everyone.

>>3848512
>First detail, we don't have the ability to read DNA yet
Well then
guess I'm uh
switching to this then
>Fucking weird. Why the hell would the old man who was teaching Tara how to get away with murdering people give her a cat? There’s something fishy about this. There is no way this was just one of the teachers comforting an upset student.

>>3848405
>Fucking weird. Why the hell would the old man who was teaching Tara how to get away with murdering people give her a cat? There’s something fishy about this. There is no way this was just one of the teachers comforting an upset student.
Killing cat

>>3848405
>Fucking weird. Why the hell would the old man who was teaching Tara how to get away with murdering people give her a cat? There’s something fishy about this. There is no way this was just one of the teachers comforting an upset student.
Nice! You're back!

>>3848405
>>Fucking weird. Why the hell would the old man who was teaching Tara how to get away with murdering people give her a cat? There’s something fishy about this. There is no way this was just one of the teachers comforting an upset student.
I don't trust it.

Hey this is back!
Also, they gon make her kill that cat

Right, let's try and recall some of what we planned to learn how to do.

When we figure out how to modify others, that makes us one of the best healers on the planet if not the best.
Regenerate people's lost limbs, cure blindness, cure otherwise incurable diseases, fix paralysis etc.

I would not be suprised if we could copy a animal if we ate it whole alive and unharmed just copy pasting everything possibly memories if we copy the brain in enough detail.
Also we need to fatten up we cant continue like this only living from meal to meal we need to stored mass and energi

>>3848920
We were going to figure out how to read DNA, with the endgoal of stealing other people's meta genes and the endgame of copying Superman's or Doomsday's abilities.
In the shorter term, we were going to borrow ideas from animals, like chemical sprays and weapons modeled after existing body parts (think of Trapdoor Ants and Pistol Shrimps); the medium-term goal was to create custom-made germs.

>>3848975
Ah right, Bio-Amazo
I remember now.

I still think our top-tier healing potential shouldn't be ignored.

>>3848512
Eyyy, good to see you back Monitor.

>>3848405
>Fucking weird. Why the hell would the old man who was teaching Tara how to get away with murdering people give her a cat? There’s something fishy about this. There is no way this was just one of the teachers comforting an upset student.

Sketchy as hell. Even if it's a gift given out of goodwill, I'd be surprised if it wasn't some means to monitor or test us. Probably going to make her kill it later, or something screwed up like that.

>>3848405
>Fucking weird. Why the hell would the old man who was teaching Tara how to get away with murdering people give her a cat? There’s something fishy about this. There is no way this was just one of the teachers comforting an upset student.
>Teacher: Do you love the cat Tara?
>Tara: YES!!! It's so cute. I've called it-
>Teacher: Good, now kill it with your own hands.
>Tara:W-what?
>Teacher: This exercise will help you to learn how to detach from human emotions while working.
>Mercer: Ermmm, I know this is not the moment but...can I eat the kitten once you finish?
>Teacher:...Good job Mercer. You have an A+.

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Oooooooooooh SHIT SON! YJ IS BACK!

META HUMANS
RISE UP

Nah but seriously we gotta figure out a way to disable those shock chips in us and lead a proper Meta Human Revolution. FREE our brothers and sisters from homo sapien's bondage! Us Meta-Sapians shall RULE! WITH ONE KING, JOSEPH MERCER TO LEAD!! LONG LIVE THE META-HUMAN LIBERATION FRONT!!

>>3848405
Also,
>Write in
>Can only end in disaster. It's called a Rewards Program. The cat is meant to act as a crutch to keep her dependant on her captors. It's a simple system, the more she does for them the more rewards she will have. But the smallest infraction and you know for a fact they're going to take the cat away and hurt it so as to prove a point. They do the same thing to inmates, though without hurting the animal. Should tell you how they think of us when they would treat inmates better. If she wants to save that cat AND get back home? She's going to want to listen to us. Because we have her best interest at heart.

Some real CIA shit. I'd be impressed if it weren't so old hat. What we're going to do is cuck HIVE by have Terra lean on US for positive attention before they can get to her.

Morning everyone. Great to see you all here.

Well it looks like we have consensus, but I won't call the vote just yet, mostly because I don't have time to do a write up at the moment.

I'll be monitoring the thread from my phone periodically while I'm at work, and should be calling the vote in the afternoon.

As always questions are welcome.

Well this was unexpected.

>>3849112
Hey man, good to have you back. Hopefully everything got better between you and your friend.

>>3848405

Alright so my vote is for

>Fucking weird

And

>Convenient.

Because it is in fact both. Listen I know some people are not going to like this. I know some of you are going to call me a horrible person, but we gotta experiment on the fluff ball.

Our number one goal right now is to escape, well if we dont want to have to run off and leave all of our friends behind we gotta figure out how to use our powers on others. Monnie said before last thread died that he'd be giving us an opportunity to figure out how to do it. This cat is the opportunity. It's pretty fucking obvious, just like it's obvious the cat is going to die when the other shoe drops with Tara's murder teacher.

Some people will say this is immoral. I say it's more immoral to allow human beings to suffer when it could be prevented. If we dont figure this out we will have to leave our friends behind in hive hands. We've been given an opportunity to figure it out. We cant guarentee QM will give us more opportunities if we don't seize this one.

We need to experiment on the cat. It's the only reasonable, and moral choice. Just ask yourself if you'd rather hurt the kitty a little bit, or if you'd rather let them mindrape Tara and Cait and Liz into being homicidal yes women for their evil organization, and I think the choice should be clear.

I am begging you all please, dont be stupid on this. We gotta experiment on that cat, our friends lives and sanity depend on it.

>>3849274
We can choose to experiment on it later, let's not go straight up psychopath.

>>3849274
We aren't gonna eat people, and we sure as hell aren't gonna fuck up a kitten. Maybe make a tiny tentacle and make a microscopic biopsy to get some cat DNA, but no melding with it via nerve tube. Save that for bugs and rats.

>>3849280

It's not psychopathy is a rational choice. Animal testing is a thing for a reason man. It's not sadism its science and safety.

We dont know how long the cat will be around. Notice what a big deal the qm made about needing all the time we can get. He dedicated like three paragraphs to hammering that thought home.

We cant just assume we can experiment on the cat at our leisure, or that we will get it right on the first try. Look at what happened with our night vision. We didn't get that first try, and linking nervous systems has got to be more complicated than that. We gotta play this smart. I for one don't want to have to abandon our human friends because we were too squeamish to cause an animal that's slated to die anyway some pain.

People before kitties man. That's just common sense.

>>3849307
I missed this quest, but I sure as hell didn't miss people trying to rationalize shitty things. No cat molesting!

>>3849305

I'm not saying we need to eat anyone. I am very much against eating people. I've always been against eating people. Theres a giant gap between proposing canabalism and saying we should do animal testing and I'll thank you not to tar me with that brush. I'm trying to save people, people we care about.

Look up just a few posts. Qm already said we cant do DNA, and even if we could DNA would only help with night vision. Night vision isn't what I'm saying we need to use the cat for.

We need to use the cat to figure out how to use our powers on other beings. Right now we are limited to our own body, so we can figure out how to remove our own implant but that won't let us remove our friends implants. We gotta figure out how to do that. The cat is our best bet. It's not pleasant, but it has to be done.

>>3849315

Dammit anon I'm not one of the cannibalism advocates, I dont want to eat people, but we gotta be realistic.

What do you care about more the cat or our friends? We can do our best to make it as painless for the cat as we can, but we gotta do it.

>>3849307
>>3849323
even if i am for getting all the advantages we can i am a little touchy on cats but i fully agree and we dont even need to eat it we can just do like a umbilical cord and see if we can affect it and have it survive

Then do it on a bug or rat, not a pet.

>>3849274
I feel like it's more rational to avoid experimenting on the cat, at least until absolutely necessary. How exactly do you think Cait would react to us fucking up her feline friend's nervous system, in her current vulnerable state? We should at least look out for the opportunity to acquire an animal that isn't Cait's comfort friend, and put off experimenting on the cat until we know there's no other options available. We could probably swing something with AVM Man, ask if they could get us something harmless like a rat or mouse that we could "Observe". Say we think it'd give us some inspiration if we were able to see a different type of animal in action or something.

>>3849112
During our time experimenting, have we figured out the extent to which we can manipulate our flesh? Is there any matter we CAN'T convert? Knowing that Wax is messing with, can we develop a resistance to pass on to others?

>>3849350
>Knowing that Wax is messing with, can we develop a resistance to pass on to others?
We can just share our technique with other people. The problem with that is the fact that they're monitoring us all the time.
If we used our power on other people without disabling that implant, they'd find out we're much more than a shapeshifter.

>>3849326

Exactly. It doesnt have to hurt the cat, we just need to try linking that's all. A little link can't be that bad. I don't think qm would give us this opportunity just to fuck with us if we took it, he's not that big of a dick.

>>3849328

Have you seen any rats? And I dont think a bug is complex enough to really give good test results.

>>3849336

You raise a valid point that messing with the animal Tara and Caitlin are currently using as an emotional crutch may not be the best idea, but I honestly don't see an alternative.

I don't want to make requests because clearly they track those and it might tip them off. Why does he want a rat? Idk man it seems risky to me in a way that this isn't.

Sure there are the potential emotional pitfalls, but this isn't going to get us scrutinized or caught.

>>3849385
They think we're a Shapeshifter, saying we want one for animal observation for imitating them better might work

>>3849393

Why would we ask for a rat rather than something more useful or impressive? You ever see beast boy turn into a rat? We would have to ask for something else, likely something larger and less common. This is a problem because getting close enough to touch it, while under supervision mind you, becomes more dangerous.

Why does observing the (insert dangerous animal here) involve touching it James? That's a hard question to bluff. No one will question us holding a kitten.

>>3849406
Easy you cant really examine a animal in detail without touching it like inspecting the teeth and the jaws or feeling the musculature and bones or just the feel of there fur and if we need a excuse to eat the animal just say you where hungry

>>3849436
Valid point. Valid point. I suppose I could get behind this, but I still think it's a risk and we have no guarantee that they would allow us any animals in the first place. Bird in the hand is worth two in the Bush and all that.

>>3849474

I would also point out that a majority of large dangerous animals are endangered these days so we would likely be conducting potentially harmful experiments on an endangered animal rather than an easily replaceable house cat that's so common they literally have to put down large numbers of them to keep shelters from being overcrowded.

>>3849274
Supporting. We need to get out and this is our ticket.

>>3849231

Glad to be back. Thank you for your concern. Things worked out. Happy to have you here anon thanks for coming back.

>>3849350

If I've misunderstood your question let me know, but based on my understanding of what you've asked here is my answer.

To date you haven't done extensive testing, however I will say that there aren't any biological compounds native to earth you cant break down at this point. Alien compounds are harder. That's something you'd have to figure out later. What I mean to say is if you consume something from earth your gutveill break it down and you will understand it on a cellular level. Understanding on a genetic level comes later with practice and experimentation.

You do need compounds in bio available forms. For instance you cant just chew on an iron bar and get metals to manipulate, but if you get bio available iron from say other animals or plants or supplements then you can use that for say some bio metal protein structures. I know that was something people had been interested in previously so I'm bringing that up as an example.

You have complete control over your flesh, but are limited by your own understanding. If you dont know how to build what you are trying to build even though you have the ability you dont have the skill, if that makes sense. Like the night vision in this thread. You absolutely could make the appropriate reflective layer, your power gives you the ability, but you were stymied by not knowing how to make that reflective layer. What the proper composition would be. In those instances you can swing it based on your best understanding and get some results, but trial and error takes time.

Hope this was helpful.

>>3849066
This is so crazy that it might just work.

>>3849626
So either fumble our way into success, or eat more things then.

>>3848405
>>Fucking weird. Why the hell would the old man who was teaching Tara how to get away with murdering people give her a cat? There’s something fishy about this. There is no way this was just one of the teachers comforting an upset student.
>>3848421
Man, as a returning player, don't sweat it. It's seems to me that you are way too hard on yourself and that's why you burnt out in the first place, you make yourself feel bad for not meeting expectations and then because you feel bad you don't do anything, and so on. At the end of the day, this is all just a silly game on the internet so don't take it too seriously alright? Be well, glad to have you back.

>>3849883
so you are also a return player then its nice to meet you again and i must agree there a qm guilt tripping them self and grinding there cylinders until it gets stuck is not healthy

>>3849112
I must ask how long until next update from when you post reply i am going fall asleep soon

>>3850048
He normally did large updates once or twice a day before

>>3850048

You should probably go sleep anon. I won't be getting off work for another half hour or so, then I've got the commute home and dinner before I could conceivably get started on the update. So while there will be updates this evening it's not going to be for a while.

I'd recommend getting your rest and checking back when you get up. In all likelihood the next vote will be up for you to chip in on and I dont think you'll have missed out on much. At worst one relatively unimportant decision.

Sorry bout the wait. As mentioned I'll probably do about one update a day. Maybe two, and I might miss some days if I'm busy. Your understanding is appreciated.

Right I'm home and munching. Calling the vote, give me about an hour to an hour and a half and the update should be up. I'll try to get back into the habit of giving you time estimates, I know some people had appreciated those.

>>3850217
Late to this but welcome back man.

>>3848405

That’s...fucking weird. Why the hell would the old man who was teaching Tara how to get away with murdering people give her a cat? It makes no sense, unless he’s got some sort of ulterior motive. Like maybe threatening to take away the cat to keep her in line, or trying to win her over with gifts. Or if he was really messed up maybe he planned to make her kill the cat as some sort of test or training...Nah that’s just crazy. Or is it?

Whatever the case, this cat is super suspicious, but looking at Cait and Tara’s smiling faces as they coo at the little fur ball and it bats weakly at Cait’s outstretched finger with it’s little paws, you can’t quite bring yourself to raise your concerns. They’ve both been through hell lately, if the cat is helping their emotional state you aren’t going to shit all over that. Not yet at least, you’ll bring up your concern later.

“Huh, didn’t think he was that nice” You say diplomatically, carefully alluding to the possibility without directly stating it. “have you named it yet?”

“Micka” Tara replies. “I have named him Micka.”

Liz and Roxy’s arrivals herald more squeals and cooing over the cat, while Ralph just looks at you with a baffled expression and raises an eyebrow. With the girls distracted you decide it’s a good time to go get your dinner, and Ralph follows after you.

“Never much cared for cats” He drawls as the two of you get into line for your food. “Rather they gave us a dog if I had my druthers, but it’s mighty peculiar that they gave us anything at all I reckon.”

“Pretty sure there’s an ulterior motive” You reply as you get your three bowls of curry. “But I didn’t want to bother the girls. They’re happy, we can talk to them about our concerns tomorrow.”

It’s good that you and Ralph are on the same page. Honestly handling that sort of complicated talk was a social minefield you didn’t want to have to dance through, this way you can get Ralph to handle it. He’ll definitely be able to do a better job than you could.

Ralph nods and replies “Alright, you sure know how to handle them fillies better’n I do, so I’ll follow your lead and let you bring it up in that case.”


...What?

>>3850434

“Excuse me” says a smooth lightly accented male voice from behind you before you can process or respond to Ralph’s statement. It sounds kind of like the German accents you’d hear in world war two movies, only a lot softer and less exaggerated. “Could I have a moment of your time?”

You turn around to see who is addressing you. He’s tall and pale, with dark curly hair a hawkish nose and a strong jawline that fits well with his muscular shoulders. You haven’t ever really talked with him, but you recognize him from your Acquisitions class, and as having previously sat with white hair. Though you noticed he wasn’t sitting with him this morning.

“I, and some others, would like to offer our condolences to your friend for the horrible experience she suffered and to wish her a swift recovery.” He tells you “But we do not wish to cause her any undue distress. So I thought it prudent to ask you, as her friends, how you would think it best for us to do so and if it would be appropriate.”

What do?

>Accept his offer and tell him you’re sure Cait would appreciate it. People like receiving attention and sympathy right? Besides it might be an opportunity to build better relationships with some of the other students.

>Thank him for his concern, but tell him now isn’t the best time. Being reminded of her experience probably won’t do Cait any favors, and you don’t think she’d like having people pity her. Perhaps latter, when it’s less fresh.

>Thank him, but tell him you think it would be for the best if they didn’t. They may be approaching you now, but these were white hairs cronies. Having them around probably won’t help Cait’s emotional state, and it might be some sort of ploy. You know that people can be vicious and duplicitous and you don’t trust this guy

>Write in.

>>3850440
>Thank him for his concern, but tell him now isn’t the best time. Being reminded of her experience probably won’t do Cait any favors, and you don’t think she’d like having people pity her. Perhaps latter, when it’s less fresh.

>>3849883

You have a point, and I'll keep that in mind. In any case, thank you for being here and playing, hope we can have a good time together.

>>3850308

Thanks, welcome back to you too. Thank you for being here.

I'm going to be around for another hour or two. Depending on responses we may get in another wright up tonight, but If not I will do one tomorrow morning before I head into work.

Questions and commentary welcome as always.

>>3850440
>>Thank him for his concern, but tell him now isn’t the best time. Being reminded of her experience probably won’t do Cait any favors, and you don’t think she’d like having people pity her. Perhaps latter, when it’s less fresh.

>>3850440
>>Accept his offer and tell him you’re sure Cait would appreciate it. People like receiving attention and sympathy right? Besides it might be an opportunity to build better relationships with some of the other students.

>>3850472
Ditto

>>3848512
I'm not looking forward to the hard line option, to be honest. It's literally our nerves in a spike connecting to another body. Goddamn, that is going to be pure misery to figure out.

>>3848979
It's not technically top tier. Our powers require nutrients/energy to function. Meaning if we say regenerating full limbs is gonna have some nasty side effects. Its why we technically don't have a regeneration or healing power but can do so anyway albeit with side effects.

>>3850440
>Accept his offer and tell him you’re sure Cait would appreciate it. People like receiving attention and sympathy right? Besides it might be an opportunity to build better relationships with some of the other students.

>>3848369
...Is it really you?

Wow, I legitimately thought I'd never see you again. Props for having the balls to come back at least. Though it would have been better if you had never left in the first place.

>>3850542

It is indeed me. Yes it would have been better if I had never left, or if I had communicated better. Live and learn. You gonna be joining us?
Night everyone see you in the morning, update probably to come in about 9 to 10 hours. I'll let you all know if there are any changes in the plan.

>>3850440
Inroduce our self and him we want to get to know him and the others who want to meet cait

>>3850440
>>Thank him for his concern, but tell him now isn’t the best time. Being reminded of her experience probably won’t do Cait any favors, and you don’t think she’d like having people pity her. Perhaps latter, when it’s less fresh.

>>3850440
>>Thank him for his concern, but tell him now isn’t the best time. Being reminded of her experience probably won’t do Cait any favors, and you don’t think she’d like having people pity her. Perhaps latter, when it’s less fresh.

>>3850758
Support. Also great to see you back QM

>>3850440
>Thank him for his concern, but tell him now isn’t the best time. Being reminded of her experience probably won’t do Cait any favors, and you don’t think she’d like having people pity her. Perhaps latter, when it’s less fresh.

I'm not one to turn down an olive branch but at the same time I don't like power struggles. There's omly one Alpha Meta in these parts and they had better recognize it before going forward.

Is parahuman quest thing going to come back? What was the name again? Herman and we had tinker powers?

>>3850945
Strange question to ask here.

>>3850945
That's a different QM, anon.
I still wish he would come back.

>>3850440
>Thank him for his concern, but tell him now isn’t the best time. Being reminded of her experience probably won’t do Cait any favors, and you don’t think she’d like having people pity her. Perhaps latter, when it’s less fresh.
Makes some sense

Alright, vote called. Writing. Got going a little later than I had anticipated this morning. Hopefully I can get the write up done within the next hour, if not there may be a bit of a delay and i'll finish it and post from work. I'll keep you all posted.

Right, looks like I'll be posting from my phone. See you all in a bit.

Cats shed a fuckton right?(Or at least my cat does) Can we just comb it, ball up a bunch of hair and eat it? Or would we have to eat the eyeball?

>>3851188
we cant yet read dna we need to eat the whole thing

>>3851188
>>3851220
but we can go on a adventure searching for documentaries on cats or look up the make up of that reflective layer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAR3erZ3DrA

>>3851220
We could probably manage something if we linked it to our own body and consumed and replicated it's organs.

Cat kidneys! An essential for any shapeshifter planning a sea voyage! Just saying!

>>3851298
EXPLAIN MORE THELL MEE

>>3851220
>>3851235
>>3851236
>>3851298
>>3851326
We should leave the cat alone until we can recreate things we've eaten.
That means we train some more eith microscopic stuff. Maybe we could make cell cultures to practice with?

>>3851326
Cats have better kidneys than humans.

If a human drinks ocean water, they get dehydrated, cause their kidneys can’t handle that much salt in the water, and takes extra water from the body to filter it.

Cat kidneys are able to filter higher salt to water ratios. So with cat kidneys, if we get stranded in the middle of the ocean, as an individual we would need to worry about dehydration!

>>3851454
So cats are a farmable source of fresh water in the form of blood and tears?

>>3851489
Uhhh, I guess?

But remember, we’d obviously need to make a few sacrifices to the blood gods, if we’re going to do that!

>>3851489
I mean, we can also do that, just become a human water filter or design a biological compound to purify water sources
Eventually we can learn how to photosynthesise too.

>>3850440

"Thank you for your concern..." You trail off expectantly

"Dieter" he supplies.

"Dieter" You continue. "I'm sure Cait would appreciate it, but I don't think now is the best time. Things are still a little raw you know? Maybe after she's had a little time to get settled."

"Of course" he replies genially "When she is ready."

"Right well if that's all you needed Dieter we'll be on our way then" you tell the older teen as you start to turn away.

"Actually" he says quickly stepping around you so that he's facing you again. " I owe you an apology as well. I was rather offputt by your...display, on our first night, and have kept myself distant, kept company I am not proud of now. I may perhaps have never acted against you directly, but I did not stop it either, and I regret this. I know my apology perhaps it is too little, but I hope we can put that behind us. What is the phrase? Bury the hatchet yes?"

Well, that is indeed an olive branch, and to be fair you dont remember him ever doing anything to you or your friends himself. Honestly most of the group that used to sit with white hair hadn't.

"You do not need to answer now" he tells you. "Think on what I have said, we can talk later. You need to eat now yes? There is not much time and you have much on your plate. I will not keep you."

He turns before you can reply and walks towards his table whistling a tune you dont recognize. As he walks away the silverware on his tray lifts into the air and floats over his hand. The metal utensils begin to spin and dance over his palm in the air as he twirls his fingers in lazy patterns. Interesting party trick.

>>3851588

>concerning voting

Today's choice will be a bit more complicated. Your first choice will be to either do a time skip, or not. I understand some people want to get things moving, but I also understand there are a lot of active plot lines right now that you might want to give a more personal touch than just glossing over them. So I'm giving you the players the option to tie up a few loose ends before we timeskip if you want, or we can get going and just jump into the timeskip if you aren't interested. I'm fine either way.

When voting please first declare if you are voting for time skip or no time skip, and then your vote for the associated question(s).

No timeskip

What do right now?

>Follow Dieter and speak with him and the others he mentioned
>Go back to your table and spend the evening with your friends and talk with Caitlin, try to be supportive, maybe bring up her wellwishers and see if there might be a time to raise your concerns about the cat to Tara
>Write in.
Timeskip

what do during the time skip?

Choose one skill to have learned with Larson in addition to general improvement.

>Bone Carapace Armor
>Talons/bone blades
>Animal Forms
>Identiy theft( i.e. changing your features and mimicking other people)
>write in.

Choose one to have practiced alone.

>unlocking the secrets of DNA (please note, this will get you closer to getting DNA, but does not mean you will be able to use DNA by the end of this time skip. You will require further practice and experimentation)
>control and understanding of your nervous system (further prepares you to remove your implant)
>unlocking plants.
>using your powers to influence others bodies ( prepares you to remove friends implants)
>Further improvement of what you learn with Larson
>write in
Choose one social goal to have worked towards.

>Helping Cait deal with what happened to her.
>Strengthening relationships with all your friends and getting to know them better.
>Approach Dieter and his group and try to build bridges with them.
>Fuck with white hair and his sycophants.
>ingratiate yourself to the staff
>write in

>>3851596
so guys lets plan what should we focus on right now? lets discuss?

>>3851596
I'll take Skip I guess
How long we skipping?
>>Animal Forms
>>>using your powers to influence others bodies ( prepares you to remove friends implants)
>>Helping Cait deal with what happened to her.

>>3851596

Right so the choice is complex. If you dont get it feel free to ask me for clarification.

Sorry for making you wait a long time for a kind of short and shitty update. Couldnt quite get it to where I'm happy with it, kept reworking it and eventually just decided I needed to get something out so we could continue rather than sitting here paralised trying to come up with something better. Sorry it took so long. I'll keep an eye on things so if you need something speak up.

>>3851605
>>3851606
animal form would likely get us access to animals to observe mimic and possibly eat
and the influencing other would be good and get us a new way to absorb biomass

>>3851596
>Bone Carapace Armor
>using your powers to influence others bodies ( prepares you to remove friends implants)
>Helping Cait deal with what happened to her.

>>3851612
Yeah, but like. It's such a cliche use of our powers, and one that serves us better after getting out than actually getting out(with our friends, if we go it alone it's perfectly viable)

>>3851606

It would be a few weeks skip. That bring said we are going to be doing a few skips of significant length no matter what to get us to the point where you feel prepared and it's time for your escape attempt.

I mean technically you could just go for it at any time and I won't stop you all from doing so, but I'm assuming you'll want to have a certain level of preparation before hand, for which we will need to let some time elapse.

>>3851619
It gives us the most versatile powerset for now.
The more we understand about animals, the more we can improve our base form

>>3851596
>No timeskip
>>Go back to your table and spend the evening with your friends and talk with Caitlin, try to be supportive, maybe bring up her wellwishers and see if there might be a time to raise your concerns about the cat to Tara

>>3851596
>>No timeskip
>>>Go back to your table and spend the evening with your friends and talk with Caitlin, try to be supportive, maybe bring up her wellwishers and see if there might be a time to raise your concerns about the cat to Tara
>>3851669
you made me remember the whole prison reward system or forcing her to kill the cat

>>3851675
if i am being honest i am kind of scared with doing time skips and the situation that has starter cropping up and i really want us to work on the sleep thing

>>3851624
How many timeskips would we have before we have to escape?

>>3851680

The sleep thing Is a given. You've already made the decision to pursue that. Unless you all tell me you want to stop I'm not going to make you vote to keep doing it. You'll be getting the time for personal improvement from the sleep thing.

Regarding your fears about time skips, I dont have any malicious intent with them. Can you explain why they worry you and see if we can resolve the issue?

>>3851691

As far as you know you have seven months to escape before Wax finishes rewriting you all. As long as you escape before "graduation" you should be fine.

Assuming time skips in one month intervals you would have 6, with some time left over, and that's assuming you waited to the last possible moment to escape so that you could eek out every bit of preparation and invaluable training that you could. You could theoretically try to escape sooner if you wish.

>>3851702
>>3851695
Thanks for the info! I imagine the hesitation is the general feeling that we'll get more things done better if we don't and maximize every day.

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>3851695
that we miss some chance to change things or something its a general worry of stuff escalating in the background until boom
>>3851596
>Bone Carapace Armor 1 animal 2
>using your powers to influence others bodies ( prepares you to remove friends implants)
>Helping Cait deal with what happened to her.
okay i am convinced we do bone armor it can act as anchors for even more musculature and make room for more organs and more dramatic body shifting where animal widens our assortment of changes and could lead to us getting to eat some animals and getting stuff like gills or cat liver

>>3851710

Well I'd be lying if I said that things wouldn't be progressing in the background. I would also be lying if I said that you wouldn't be missing out on some choices since you wouldn't be micro managing every day.

I'll be honest your fears are not unfounded. However I do believe that the "loses" that would occur are not as extreme as you fear.

Regarding events progressing in the background. I promise you that no time skip will cause you to lose your chance to escape. Yes, all of your decisions will have consequences, but I'm not trying to pull a fast one and lock you onto a specific course with this. Some doors may close, but other doors will open, and I'll try to be as transparent as I can with the consequences of your choices so that you can weigh your decisions and make informed selections.

Regarding the loss in opportunity to influence events through choices, this is true, but I dont want to limit and prevent you from making significant choices. I just want to prevent us from getting bogged down in repetitive insignificant choices, so that we can focus on the important and fun bits. I'll be honest grinding wears me down. A lot. So while I understand the concern I promise that your input will still have weight, the significant decisions will be in your hands, and I'm not trying to limit you into set pathways of my choosing. I just honestly can't do day by day going forward for your time in the hive. We will never get anywhere if we do that.

If you ever have concerns with how things are going, or feel that the way I'm running things is creating a negative experience by all means please let me know. I cant promise that I will follow every suggestion, but I promise to carefully consider them and do the best I can to make a quest where we can all have a good time by collaborating as players and qm.

>>3851729

Please note that when I say I can't do day by day, this doesnt mean we won't get days where we do decision by decision. There will be days and moments that need to be focused on and not glossed over, I'm just trying to say we won't play out every single day of the weeks or potentially months you may be here depending on your choices, that some of the less significant things such as grinding to improve your abilities will be glossed over in the form of time skips in order to provide a better experience here in the quest.

If there are any concerns with this let me know.

>>3851729
>>3851737
The thing about doing it that way is that there's no gain to timeskips for the player. It also doesn't make much sense. Why would the MC ignore things going on if we timeskip but doesn't if we don't.

Basically the only thing we lose as players by grinding every day out is pacing and we gain nothing really from timeskips.

>>3851749
you do have a point it just goes faster and we lose extreme amounts of control on stuff

>>3851760
A good balance is either make the decisions on what we do with our pets and have that go on in the background and focus on social things until there's a significant milestone, or get bigger rewards from the timeskip at the cost of spending time socially.

>>3851763
Fucking phone posting. *Powers, not pets.

>>3851729
>>3851737
>>3851763
>>3851767
>>3851749
this guy has a point

>>3851606
+1

>>3851596
>Identiy theft( i.e. changing your features and mimicking other people)
Few places where we will get an expert's training on this.
>Further improvement of what you learn with Larson
Disguise will always be useful. Lets us be more liberal in our fighting as we can shake off more heat after the battle.
Also, narratively, very interesting to explore always having a changing face and body. Maturity gains.
Disguise will always be useful to us.
>ingratiate yourself to the staff
Keep your friends close... and your enemies closer. Might be able to escape the old fashioned way by hijacking a fatherbox. No need to reroute nerves and such. Maybe even keep it for later use. Things seem damn useful.

>>3851596
Hmmm, I’d like to Timeskip, but I’d also like to do this

>Go back to your table and spend the evening with your friends and talk with Caitlin, try to be supportive, maybe bring up her wellwishers and see if there might be a time to raise your concerns about the cat to Tara

First. So I’ll vote for this, I guess

>>3851596
>Timeskip
>Identity Theft
>Influence
>Build Bridges(Dieter)

>>3851596
Since timeskip is gonna win
>Timeskip
>Identiy theft
>Further improvement of what you learn with Larson
>Approach Dieter and his group and try to build bridges with them.

Right so let me give a time frame for this vote so everyone knows what to expect. It won't be closing until tomorrow.

There are a few reasons for this. The first reason is that I have an appointment tonight and by the time I get home I'm pretty sure I'll be too tired to do much more than sleep.

Second, as I recall we had a decent number of eurofags and other participants from around the globe who had difficulty participating due to votes opening and closing when they weren't around back in the previous thread. Figure if it's open till tomorrow that gives them plenty of time to weigh in and for all of you to discuss and plan how you want to do this since it's a pretty significant decision.

If I can get the update done tomorrow morning I will, but in the event I can't it will be posted tomorrow evening.

I'm sorry about the long delay, I know faster resolution is preferred, but I'm afraid I honestly can't do it any quicker at the moment.

>>3851749
>>3851760
>>3851763
>>3851767
>>3851813

Give me a minute to consider what you've said, and I'll get back to you either tonight or tomorrow morning.

>>3851954

Plenty of time left to the vote, an early lead can change. If you want to vote for no timeskip and leave a vote for "if timeskip wins x, but my first choice is no time skip" I dont mind.

>>3851596
>Write In
Healing Factor. Offense is all well and good but I'd like to be able to regrow my head or better yet be able to move my brain around in case of injury thanks.

As for the rest
>Timeskip
Like Monitor said the whole grinding thing is a bitch, but as long as anything major is brought to our attention then I'm good. I just wanna make sure we get as many of our Meta-Brothers and sisters free as possible.

>using your powers to influence others bodies ( prepares you to remove friends implants)
>Approach Dieter and his group and try to build bridges with them.
We're tight with our friends so we can get to know them some other time, but the more peeps we got in on this to confide in and power through with us the better. We can get to know everyone else next time, or better yet have THEM approach US!

Rolled 57 (1d100)

>>3851596
>Animal Forms
Learn whatever he specializes in. That way we gain the best benefits possible.

>control and understanding of your nervous system (further prepares you to remove your implant)
We need to understand the nervous system to help us remove it from others too.

>Approach Dieter and his group and try to build bridges with them.

>>3851737
Skipping daily life stuff is also easily done. If you want to get to the good stuff faster.

So, what animals have the best features we could passively replicate?

>>3852642
cats liver for the salt filtering ability , hawkeyes there vision is really good the veins dont block light inside the Eyes they have a way to oxygenate there eyebals insides and there flat back of the Eyes lets them have more rods and two spots letting them have better depth and detail perception, tail of Newt or was it tail of gecko? for that release mechanism without bleeding, skin of squid those pigment Control muscles, waterbears ability to go into stasis, tigers roar for that fear effect, claws of any feline due to how there claws are self sharpening due to how they grow in layers, bombarder beetle, spiders for silk venom lungs organs, fish for there gills and swim adaptations, turtle for there unique and weird Shell that just started as having fused ribs ot stabalize them while digging that then made there spine and ribs fuse and grow scales into scutes that act as armor plates, birds for there higher efifcency lungs, ants for there pheromones, pistol crabs for a water based sonic weapon, mantis shrimp for the unique shape of there front limbs that have a shape perfect for holding and strenghtening kinetic force and there unique Eyes that have around 14 or 20 diffrent types of rods in there Eyes i dont really remember and there is also scorpions for there metabolism that cna let them live without food for extremem amounts of times and dont use so much water and there Power of surviving being held under water for 6 Days without getting any air then there is Sharks with there skin thats bascilly teeth and also Sharks for there teeth replacement system, horseshoe crabsand there blue blood that makes them more sickness resistant, oysters for there filtering abilities and bieng able to hold it isnde to posion what ever eats them, cyanide immunity from some bug that hunts a centipeed that sprays cyanide gas, some ants or bettles for sping loaded muscles in there mouth parts, a rare Deep sea snail with its ability to eat and make iron into a scaled armor, a special jelly fish for there perpetual Life-cycle, Komodo dragon for there venom and bacteria infected bite, a Lizard discovered on the Galapagos islands that sneezes out salt, hollow bones for lighter weight and stronger bone for that weight that shatter really badly but cna heal fast if i remember right, then are there bacteria that can get energy from eating metal and heat then there is one that can live only on acid or was it a base then there are earth Worms and frogs for breathing with you skin then there are frogs for holding eggs inside skin pores, roach and mantis for a nervouse system that cna survive without the brain a decentralized nervouse system, then we start going into plants that cna mind Control then kill a human it makes them super suggestable and have deadly side-effects ect. on all that

>>3852721
you get my Point on that wall of text there is alot of things to do
>>3852129
>>3852642

>>3852721
I don't think we'll need a perpetual life cycle considering that by all rights, we should be biologically immortal already.
We've already conquered time.

>>3852721
>scorpion
Scorpians are also known for incorporating metals into their chitin, so it'd be a good source of metal appropriation.

Though the human body does that with our bones anyway so.

In regards to age: Once you get to the point you can regenerate limbs the only thing standing inbetween you and age immortality is the ability to repair and retain your brains functions and memories, which is all about protein positioning on the outside of the cells.

>>3851596
>Go back to your table and spend the evening with your friends and talk with Caitlin, try to be supportive, maybe bring up her wellwishers and see if there might be a time to raise your concerns about the cat to Tara
>Animal Forms

>Make sure to eat a cat hair or three


For future reference:
Maybe look into trying to improve taste and nasal sensativity: The air will be billowing with microscopic dead skin cells, if we want to sample as much DNA as we can itd be our best bet to up acuity to aquire from the air and may open up the option of impersornating a guard.
Another thing to note: Eat micro organisms like fungi, plants, bacteria and viruses. Do this by either aquiring grown cultures or from gone off food. They will have useful cell level abilities, such as breaking down what little waste our digestive system leaves. Fungi spores would also open up unique substance delivery mechanisms.
From reading up so far:
When people said the appendix was useless that is not entierly true: Its known to be a repository of your natural gut flora, which can then recolonize it after something like the diarrhea flushes the system. Ide suggest regrowing it and then repurposing and using it to try experimenting on simple bacteria to start figuring out DNA.

You might want to replace the goosebump muslces for future use for when we have to grow a hairy hide.

In regards to improving eyesight: Just flip the orientation of the cones and rods in the eyes with the position of the blood vessels leading to them.

Naturally the vessels are infront of the receptors, so light has to go through them to hit the receptors, which lowers sight acuity because its less light. Very minor and minimal change to improve eyesight.

In regards to say thermal vision: You have natural heat receptors underneath your eyes, they just arnt highly developed like say a snakes are. its when when some people go out into sunlight they tend to sneeze, because the heat receptors trigger it.

Improving hearing you can look at some of the odd left over adaptions some humans have, such as the ability to rotate and move ear position, or the ability of some people to manually trigger the muscle which protects the ears from overly loud sounds (ear rumbling).

Just my two pence on the whole thing. Enjoying the quest so far, looking forward to seeing what else can happen.

>>3852879
>Just my two pence
Fuck! Why you got to bring politics into it?
JK. I like it, sounds good. Maybe include shrimp light cones, I believe some have more variety of cones than us, to see color variation better.

>>3852939
Likelyhood is we will need to utilize the density trick to have more than say two vision types and cycle through them as presets.

Other option would be making a present for growing/forming more eyes but we need to wait until skilled enough to alter skull structure without messing things up for that.

>>3852950
Speaking of density!
Yeah, birds are going to be hard for us!

>>3851749
>>3851760
>>3851763
>>3851767
>>3851813


Ok so if I understand the gist of your concern, you feel that by doing the time skip and not individual days you feel you aren't getting as much bang for your buck out of those days in game? Basically you think that with the choices presented as part of the time skip you aren't getting enough. Do I have that right?

>>3852129

Could you clarify what you meant, as skipping daily stuff is what I thought I was doing, so I'm not quite sure what you are trying to say.

>>3852979
I'd assume they meant skipping over the basic, daily doldrum and focusing only on notable events.

>>3852979
Exactly as you said earlier we lose out on some stuff

>>3853003
That exactly

>>3852867
So we grow a gut fauna flora nature reserve/zoo oh if we figure out how to control them we would have our very own tiny protectors our own little eco-system and its a good idea to regrow everything we lost the hair-raisers we can use them to hold a fur coat stable or quills on our back or fore arms for weapons and defense
We can also use them for scales we put them down for smooth armor and up so we can sweat

>>3853003
>>3853104

I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I fail to comprehend your distinction. If you could please by patient with me while I try to understand I would appreciate it. I want to br able to address your concern, but I'm just not getting it.

Skipping " basic daily doldrums and focusing only on notable events" is what I'm trying to accomplish here. That's literally the point of introducing the time skips.

I really would like to understand the distinction you are trying to make, but I just dont see it. From my perspective it sounds like you're telling me to do timeskips, but saying timeskips are bad at the same time. I'm a little confused.

>>3853103

I'd like to preface my response by saying I am grateful to you for raising your concerns, and for being an active participant in the quest.

Assuming your concern is that you aren't getting as much as you would have otherwise, that is not how I had intended to design this choice but I can understand how you could come to that conclusion. Would an increase in the payoff for the time skip assuage your concerns?

As I said before I'm not trying to bilk you out of options, and I'm certainly not doing this in an attempt to limit you or your character, I'm just trying to streamline things. Case in point, developing your powers.

I had always intended at this juncture for improvements to your ability set to take time to develop in game. Let's say theoretically it takes 10 practice sessions to achieve a usable application of your power in self study, just as a theoretical example. Would you rather have to vote for that 10 different times, or vote once and have that vote reflect the requisite number of practice sessions to achieve it? Either way you are getting the same thing, it's just a question of avoiding tedium.

When I say things may be lost, honestly I'm referring to what I think of as insignificant purely cosmetic choices. Choices that honestly aren't neccessary and don't necessarily have an impact on your development. I am not trying to deprive you of important decisions or character moments, I'm trying to save the quest from grinding to a halt under the weight of banal repitions.

Does that make sense?

>>3853197
Pretty sure people were just worried that by time skipping wede miss out on gains and social events.

If thats not the case, and you do time skips in a manner which does not skip over said aspects, then everyone here will be fine and dandy with it.

Alright concerning the vote, voting currently stands as follows.

>Whether or not to time skip

No skip IIII

Skip IIIII IIII

So it looks like time skip is highly likely to win, therefore let's look at the votes for what to do with the skip.

>Larson's lessons.

Animal III
Carapace II
Identity theft III
Healing I

>Private practice

Use powers on others IIIII I
Further practice of lessons II
Figure out your own nerves I

>Social Goals

Help Cait IIII
Build bridges IIII
Ingratiate I


This is just an update on the current standing of the vote so everyone can keep track of where we are. Vote isn't closed yet. Vote will be closed in two hours when I go on lunch. This is a last call for discussion and voting before polls close. If you feel I've missed any votes please let me know.

Thank you all for playing.

>>3853242
Identity theft we cant do that on our own so this could be smart to do and this should include mimicry and skull changing

>>3853242
Mm, I think I'll probably go with

>Identity theft

Probably the most useful, after we make our escape.

>Figure out your own nerves

Practicing with others is of course important, but I think learning how to do it on our own body would make it a lot less risky, when we got around to practicing on others. We are on a timer, but we're not really in a desperate hurry.

>Help Cait

Making nice with the others is good, but it's not really an immediate concern, and leaving Cait to stew on this could have long-lasting effects. Though on the other hand, making nice with the others quickly would make sure they don't end up joining up with white-hair again. Hrm. Well, I'll stand by my choice, though this one's a bit tough.

>>3853252
Personally it seems to myself that both Identity theft and Animal forms wil have both those but will vary only in The degree of fine control we have with shaping and mimicry. So I ultimately feel that the skills will have some degree of crossover and I feel I’d rather learn an Identity theft version of animal forms from Larson and then eventually practice on personal time how to translate those skills to human form.

In summation, both seem similar and have the similar base skills in my opinion, and could probably translate between them pretty well, and I’d rather Hive not know I could become anyone!

That’s just how I see it, but I totally understand where you’re coming from.

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>>3853274
you do have a point there is no point using it on others if we dont know how to even use it on ourself.
also if we only manage to escape our self what you think about going full fish and going deep and a long way away from shore and instead of packing our body we expand until we have neutral buoyancy
>>3853293
i am stuck between animal and human, due to human just being animal mimicry but focused on one species

>>3853310
ID theft is stealth-focused, while animal forms will be a generalist option?

>>3853242
>>Larson's lessons.
>Animal

>>Private practice
>Figure out your own nerves

>>Social Goals
>Build bridges

>>3853293
Hm, honestly, I get where you're coming from, but I doubt we'd be able to throw Hive off in that regard. Even if we never learn it in an obvious way, it'd be easy enough for them to puzzle out that we'd be capable of it. Just the fact that we can essentially give ourself an adult, overdeveloped muscular body, and that they're aware of that, means they could probably easily figure out that changing our identity would be fairly easy for us, even if Larson didn't give any input on the matter himself.

>>3853242
Carapace II
time for dat prototype armor form

>Private practice
Use powers on others

>Social Goals
Help Cait

>>3853242
>Animal III
>Figure out your own nerves I
>Help Cait IIII

>>3853336
You’re probable right, and it might make Acquisitions Class much easier if could openly use our skills to capture someone, then pretend to be a member for the protection team.

Honestly, other then one or two animal forms for possible reconnaissance and the like, I don't really see the point of animal forms. We can probably gain the same capabilities as just about any animal, while also not needing to change out of a humanoid form. At the very most we would need a hybrid form. Going all the way seems like it would be entirely unnecessary, most of the time.

>>3852979
>>3853197
That was my concern yes but it seems it was just a miscommunication. I thought that by timeskipping that we would miss things going on in the background that could mess with us later.

Alright votes called. Gimme a minute to catch up on the thread and I'll answer any questions and get the ball rolling.

>>3853487
It's not like we wouldn't miss stuff even if we didn't timeskip. Many students ended up joining Darryl since we didn't speak with them and that issue solved itself.

Alright so the results are in, and it's time to figure out what to do with them.

First up the vote on what you learn in your lessons. Lessons vote is tied with 5 for animals and 5 for identity theft assuming I didn't miscount.

So we need ourselves a tiebreaker. Voting for that will be open for ten more minutes. If you had voted for one of the other options please support whichever of these two you would prefer. If you've already voted for one of these two please refrain from casting additional votes. If no decision is reached within the time frame I will do a coin toss.

Next issue is self study.

Self study is 7 for figuring out how to influence others, and 4 for figuring out your own nerves in second place. After reading through the thread and thinking about it they are pretty related, so we're just gonna call this nerves and anti implant studies in general and collapse the two into one.

So we will be spending our time figuring out our own nervous system and figuring out how to hook it up to others.

I hope this is acceptable to everyone.

>>3853544
LL
identity theft

SG
Build bridges

>>3853544
>>3853547

Finally we have the social goals. Now for social goals our winner was helping Cait with 6 votes, the runner up was building bridges with 5.

After reading through the thread and considering people's concerns I came to the conclusion that while there was no loss in gains, restricting socialization during the time skip period in the manner I had did represent a loss of social opportunities, which is not what I wanted to do to you all. To mitigate this I have decided that you will be able to achieve both the winner and the runner up. So you will help Caitlin and be able to build bridges. I hope this helps to make it feel as if you have not been penalized socially, as it is not unreasonable to assume that given the opportunity to play out each day you could achieve both by being smart about it.

To further mitigate the loss, and to give you all something to do until I'm able to update this evening, which should be in about 5 to 6 hours, I'd like to open up a vote on how to go about these social goals in more detail.

How to help Cait?

>Avoid reminding her of the incident and attempt to keep her happy and stress free
>Attempt to grow closer to her and become her confidant. Offer her an opportunity to vent and a shoulder to cry on.
>monitor her condition and coordinate with your friends to stage an intervention if it becomes neccessary, but otherwise leave her be.
>write in.


How to build bridges?

>Approach them during classes and work with them there to build camaraderie.
>Approach them during dinner and breakfast times. Eat with them and get to know them.
>Invite them to join you and your group for social activities during free time.
>Write in.

>>3853596
>>Attempt to grow closer to her and become her confidant. Offer her an opportunity to vent and a shoulder to cry on.
>>Approach them during classes and work with them there to build camaraderie

>>3853588

Alright Identiy theft it is then.

>>3853596
>Attempt to grow closer to her

>Build camaraderie

>>3853596
>>>Attempt to grow closer to her and become her confidant. Offer her an opportunity to vent and a shoulder to cry on.
>>>Approach them during classes and work with them there to build camaraderie

>>3853596
>>Attempt to grow closer to her and become her confidant. Offer her an opportunity to vent and a shoulder to cry on.
Something I've been planning to do since she's probably the one the group looks up to the most besides us, and her resistance to psychics means we could tell her of our plans with little risk.
>Approach them during classes and work with them there to build camaraderie.

>>3853596
Does the Confidant option lean towards romantic or just best friend?

>>3853626
Man, you are all really obsessed/paranoid with waifutism.

>>3853666
Are there not good reasons to be paranoid?

>>3853626

To answer your question, it leads to a closer relationship. What you all do with that is up to you. This neither obligates you to persue a romance, nor bars you from doing so. To put it another way this doesn't lock you into any specific route.

>>3853666
>>3853685

It's funny, when I started this Waifus didn't even cross my mind. I honestly hadn't thought about it and don't really care.

Bit of a wake up call to realize how big of a deal it was. I honestly had no idea. Never really quested before just did table top and it was never really a problem there.

>>3853766
It's annoyingly prevalent here, yeah.

>>3853596
>Attempt to grow closer to her and become her confidant. Offer her an opportunity to vent and a shoulder to cry on.

This really isn't the sort of thing we should leave to stew.

>Approach them during classes and work with them there to build camaraderie.

Kinda tempted to say all of the above, but just this for now. Don't want to come on too strong.

>>3853820
>>3853685

Why do you dislike Waifus?

>>3853833
its the waifu wars and the relation ship that goes nowhere

>>3853833
Waifus are a good thing.

>>3853845
>goes nowhere
Not always.

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>>3853845

Waifu wars are fun man. In fact, let us consider the potential Waifus.

First up I submit for your consideration Liz aka livewire. Forgive the shitty picture it's the best I could find.

She's got spunk, her personality is positively electric! Banter with her is fun and I bet she's less stuffy than the other potential options

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>>3853870

Next up we have Caitlin a big girl who has made a big splash here in the quest. A real knockout, she's plot relevant and protective.

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>>3853886

Next up we have Roxy, who I'm like 90 percent certain is Freefall from Gen13 seeing as Cait was Fairchild. I honestly dont know what her appeal is, but I'm sure someone can tell me. There's probably something.

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>>3853896

Last but certainly not least we have Tara, who is cute as a button and is a precious cinnamon bun we must protect.


Who is your favorite waifu and why? It's time to tell us all and argue for your best girl. But you absolutely must remember one thing.


YOUR WAIFU A SHIT! Ralph is best boi, fight me.

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>>3853904
Based and plantpilled.

>>3853833
Because, in my general experience, they tend to bog things down. Romance in and of itself is fine, and a powerful storytelling tool, but once someone selects a character they like as the waifu, they almost single-mindedly tend to focus on them, on winning their affection, and on interacting with and taking care of them over all else, oftentimes to the detriment of the overarching plot and character progression. Further, people tend to butt heads on the matter, which just further slows things down. I find they're really just rather inconvenient, generally speaking. Sometimes we'll even have the dreaded attempt at a harem situation, which is guaranteed to bring everything to a grinding halt.

Right, I'm on my way home. Vote will be called in about 40 minutes when I get back and then writing will commence.

Ok, vote called. Writing. Give me a minute.

>>3854232
How’s 30 minutes sound? Or do you need more?

>>3854329

I'm going to need a bit more anon. I'm sorry. If you're wondering about waiting around or going to do something or going to bed, I would recommend you go sleep or do whatever it is you gotta do. I'm going to be a while. My apologies for any inconvenience this causes you.

>>3854329

Sorry for not providing a time estimate. when I got started.

>>3854347
Its ok, Monitor.

>>3854347
>>3854358
Yeah totally ok! I was just checking on you and messing with you a tad.

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>>3853870
>>3853886
>>3853896
>>3853904
Joseph Mercer does not need romance, or love, or mercy. Only more biomass.

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>>3854603
Hhhmmmmmm yessss

This, is fucking hard. I have deleted and rewritten so much shit for the last few hours. Apparently I'm fucking ass at writing passage of time summaries. Or I'm just being too hard on myself, one or the other. Just popping in to give you all a heads up. I'm alive. I've been working on it. Didn't want to worry you all by going silent too long.

That being said I think I need to take a step back, cause I'm running in circles getting nowhere fast and it's getting late. I'm sorry, bear with me here for a bit. I can be a bit of a perfectionist and it slows me down sometimes. I promise we will get something tomorrow even if I have to bite my tongue and just force something out, but I really want to try and deliver quality if I can so rather than just posting something slapdash right now I'm going to ask for a little longer to work on it.

My apologies to anyone who had been eagerly anticipating the update.

>>3854656
Seeing you come back after your hiatus is tempting me to restart my old quest...

Should Famine of Brockton Bay return?

>>3853596
>Attempt to grow closer to her and become her confidant. Offer her an opportunity to vent and a shoulder to cry on.
Get up in dat puss Mercer.

>Approach them during classes and work with them there to build camaraderie.
Jolly cooperation!

Holy shit this is back props on E-16 to have the titanium balls to come back

>>3854708
Yeah.
He should.

>>3854603
We have yet to turn our power into a virus anon.

>>3854656
Perfection really isn't necessary for time skip summaries. After all, you need to do is tell us what happened which means clarity is the only thing that matters Quality and stuff less so cause its a timeskip.

>>3854708
I think the answer is always yes. If only to show the QM Curse can't always win..

>>3854708
YESSSSS, THE CRAB WILL RAISE AGAIN (or should).

>>3854833
>>3854656
time skips are literally by there nature kind of vague summaries that can go like "you grow closer to (her) she has started to open up more to you(progress)" "you have started (thing) you have (how much progress and thing)"" you continued doing (thing) (progress) (objective) and or [Destination] [Trajectory] [Result].
then possibly something how its between the groups and what we see or think snowball is doing" note any sifts in behaviors that can be caused by things like doctor wax and your relations to people.
nearly literally is perfection and detail the opposite to a timeskip sometimes so dont worry

>>3854656
ETA?

>>3854708
please. do not play with my emotions likes this.

>>3854833
>>3854926

Fair points anons, fair points. I guess I'll simplify things down a bit.

>>3854933

Well after that the Eta is definitely reduced. Unfortunately the eta is somewhat increased by the fact I have to get to work and I don't know how busy we'll be today. Call it like 4 hours and I'll let you know if it will take any longer.

>>3854708

Do it.

Right so I've got the update written out, and I'm actually pretty happy with it now. Thing is its written on paper, and now I need to transfer it all over by typing it into my phone so I can post it, and it's like ten pages, so this could take a while. Just keeping you all posted and letting you know I need a bit longer than I had estimated. Ending up writing more than I had anticipated.

>>3855021
Good luck at work, Mont-E-16

>>3855226

Thanks m8. Things are good in the office, it's been a successful month overall and fortunately for us it's a slow day today so I've the time to do this and we shouldn't have to wait until this evening.

Alright slow morning turned into busy afternoon.

I'm going to start posting the update now. I dont have it all typed so I'm just going to type as I go and post as I get it typed so this may take a while to get everything up and there may be pauses in between segments so if partway through I go silent for a bit don't worry I probably just had to set my phone down for a minute.

Thank you all for your patience with me, update incoming.

>>3855484
Totally understand! I myself an a phone posting worker.

Rock on, dude!

>>3851588
>>3851596

Interesting party trick. Telekenisis perhaps? You'll have to ask. After all, he was kind enough to extend an olive branch. You'd be remiss not to reciprocate and do your best to get to know him. Not tonight of course. Caitlin just got back and you want to make sure she's okay. You'll have other opportunities to get to know Dieter.

Returning to your table you watch your friends closely as you eat. To the casual observer you're sure they'd appear perfectly happy, carefree even, as they fuss over the Kitten. You can read between the lines though.

Cait's smiles are a little too wide. She laughs a little too loud and a little too long. It's forced. She's trying to pretend she's fine and the rest of the group is tiptoeing on eggshells as they try to go along with it.

She wants to pretend she's fine. Maybe she doesn't want to worry you all, but you know there is no way it's not an act. People dont just bounce back from bring tortured and put in a coma in a day.

That she's trying to pretend that she has bounced back, acting strong for the group, is worrying. You don't need to be a psychologist to know that isn't healthy, but you cant just confront her about it.

If you try and bring attention to her behavior and force her to open up she'll just get defensive and calm up. She'd deny everything and double down on her act. You'd just be making things worse if you try to force the issue now.

So you'll have to wait. Gain her trust so she'll open up to you. Like in a video game where you need something from a character but have to reach a certain reputation level with them before they'll do it. You must have a higher relationship level with Caitlin before she will be willing to confide in you.

Ok, so life isn't a video game, but the principle is sound in your opinion. People dont open up to others about their problems unless they really trust them, so you'll just have to get her to trust you. You just hope there aren't to many fetch quests involved. You hate that shit.

>>3855507
>You just hope there aren't to many fetch quests involved.

Love it! We’re such a nerd!

>>3855507

That night you go to bed early so that you can get the baselines you need to figure out how to get rid of your need to sleep with your power. It takes a few days, but you figure it out. By artificially maintaining your cardiovascular health, blood glucose, neural health, and hormone levels, you are able to completely eliminate your biological need for sleep.

You still do sleep every now and again however, because while your body may be fine physically, mentally speaking if you don't catch a few hours every now and again you start to feel like your thoughts get so thick they're going to leak out of your ears. But even with these occasional nights of rest you now have a wealth of time to use to work towards your goals.

You decide to use the time to work on your control of your nervous system. What happened to Caitlin can not be allowed to happen to any of your other friends, and the longer you are here the more likely another incident becomes. You need to be able to get everyone out of here, and that means your top priority has to be getting the control implants out.

You lay in bed at night experimenting with your nervous system. You start with your toes. After all if you screw up and loose some feeling during your first experiments better that it happens to something relatively unimportant.

You rapidly determine that you can grow new nerve cells as you wish. Though it's much more difficult than commanding muscle and bone to grow and it's slower it is possible. You practice making your nerve endings expand out and recede back until you feel confident enough to take the next step.

You need a way to hook into other people if you are going to save your friends, but for obvious reasons you can't just go trying to jack into other people's nervous systems willy nilly. So you try some dry runs on yourself.

You grow a small needle of bone that projects from underneath your fingernail to sheath a bundle of newly grown nerves and act as a conduit for them. Then, you jab yourself in the leg with it and cause the new nerves to grow. You grasp them with your mind and order them to reach out and entwine themselves with the existing nerves in your leg and patch themselves in. You take pointers from how the implant is hooked into your own spine for that one actually. It's somewhat satisfying that the very obstacle you are working to overcome has a hand in teaching you the techniques you need to overcome it.

>>3855571

It's and exceedingly odd feeling, wiring in new nerves. There's some pain, but not a great deal. It's more of an extreme sensation of pins and needles than anything else. The fact that the sensation is amplified by the additional senses given you by your powers doesn't help any, but you deal with the discomfort.

Intertwining new nerve bundles is actually pretty easy. It's unwinding them and disentangling them safely that's hard. You have to go one strand at a time not to damage anything, and it's agonizingly slow.

You're sure you can get faster with practice, but it takes an hour or two to disconnect even the simple entanglements you are making to practice on at first. With how complex the tangle of nerves attaching the implant is unhooking it would take hours at your current speed. But, as the days pass and you keep practicing you get faster and faster, and you gain confidence that eventually you'll be skilled enough to be able to disconnect the implant quickly and cleanly.

>>3855594

Larson begins to teach you how to mimic other people's appearances, or how to just change your own for a disguise. He starts by teaching you to change your skin tone.

"It's a really easy change" your teacher tells you as his skin starts to darken. "But it's damn useful for a lot of things."

"For example" he says as he raises a finger and begins to lecture "commit a crime white as the virgin snow and the cops will put out an APB for a white male. Change your height a bit and darken your skin some and they'll overlook you completely cause they aren't looking for a Hispanic or a black guy."

"Damn useful if you're traveling and need to lay low too" he continues. "If you look like one of the natives, like you belong there, then no one will give you a second glance. It's how I got away from the doom patrol in the Congo once, just blended on in and Robot man ran right past me."

After you get a hang of altering your skin tone he starts you on altering your body type and shape. Wider shoulder, narrower shoulder, barrel chested or thin as a rake. Hips and limbs you learn to alter them all. Then he starts you in on small things like finger length or how the toes curl.

"Body type is obviously important." He tells you. "If your target has 50 inch shoulders and you show up with 42 inch shoulders it's going to be obvious something is wrong, but you can't forget the little details either. Like toes. I ever tell you how I got made on a job because I got the guy's fucking toes wrong kid?"

You shake your head no and he smiles and leans back.

"Alright you keep practicing and listen up and I'll tell you the story." Larson says to you.

"So I get hired as a body double for this bigshot Russian right? It's pretty early in my career, I haven't quite figured things out yet, and I needed money to take another run at the doom patrol. Gott I was an idiot then. Anyway so this guy he pays me real handsomely to take his place for a few days so he can run off and visit his mistress without his wife figuring out see? And I figure it's easy risk free money right? And it was going good at first."

"So I've been pretending to be the guy for a day or so and I'm doing alright when his wife starts coming onto me one night. She wants me to join her in the jacuzzi and she isn't taking no for an answer."

He pauses for a moment and shakes his head at the memory before continuing.

"Now I'm trying to play it cool and figure out how to avoid fucking my client's wife right? Figure he won't exactly be happy with me if I do, but I can only stall so long. So I strip down and go to get into the Jacuzzi and pray I'll be able to figure something out. She's in the water waiting for me and I'm taking my time getting in, and I pause for a moment with my foot on the edge of the tub, and my toes are right in her line of sight. She does a double take and then starts screaming like a banshee about how I'm not her husband and calling for security."

>>3855637

"Bastards middle toes were crooked" Larson chuckles "and mine are straight. You'd think people wouldnt notice shit like that, but she did. 'your not my husband those aren't my husbands toes' she says. I mean for fucks sake did they have a foot fetish or something, how the hell do you even notice that?"

"Anyway so picture this kid. I'm buck naked in a fifteenth story penthouse in Russia and half a dozen angry Bratva burst in with pistols drawn. My employer's wife is huddling down in the Jacuzzi trying to cover her tits with one hand and pointing at me with the other screaming bloody murder, and all I can think as I bail out the window is 'fucking toes? Seriously?"

He pauses for a drink of water and then tells you "So you always mind the details Kid. Little things might not trip you up on simple jobs, like replacing a security guard to get in to a building, but they will bust your ass if you have to pass close inspection on a more important job. That's why you gotta get into the habit of always minding the details, you can't let yourself get sloppy and cut corners or you'll end up having to jump out of a fifteenth story window buck naked while Russian gangsters try to put holes in you."

Eventually when he judges you are ready he gets you started on altering your facial structure and appearance. It's tedious, a slow process of getting everything just right as you look back and forth between a mirror and either a sculpt on the bust he brought in or a computer generated image changing things a bit at a time until you match.

To keep things interesting larson takes to entertaining you by doing impressions with borrowed faces.

"Why do I wear the mask?" He growls in a pretty decent imitation of a native Spanish speakers accent while masquerading as the infamous criminal Bane. "Because the god damn super steroids made my hair fall out and shrunk my balls. I'm compensating."

>>3855661

Of course your lessons aren't just on changing your appearance. He keeps you practicing in your big transformed form, which you mentally dub big guy, as well. Larson makes you do ever more complicated tasks as you acclimate to the different body until it feels almost as natural to you as your original form does.

Sometimes as he has you run through obsticle courses while transformed, Larson will just kind of talk. About the Life, or on one memorable occasion about his home town.

"Nothing more beautiful than standing on the top of the mountain back home as the sun sets in the winter." He tells you one day. "The light reflects off the fjord and the snow and the whole world shines. Gott I miss that view. Give damn near anything to see it again."

"Why not go back then" You pant out as you haul yourself through the air along a suspended net.

"Can't" he tells you. "I'm not welcome anymore."

He sighs and then says "Forget I said anything kid, just an old man's rambling. Now shut up and hurry. If you've got breath to ask questions you've got breath to beat your last time."

You learn a lot in Larson's lessons.

In your other classes you take the time to start getting to know the other students outside of your friend group. Partner with them for group work and whatnot. Way you figure it building bridges and improving relations with your fellow captives can only be a good thing.

You start with Dieter in your Acquisitions class. He's a bit full of himself, but he's a nice enough guy. He does poorly on infiltration assignments and it sucks to be partnered with him for them, but he's the best safecracker in the class. He just uses his powers to make the tumblers turn and unlocks the damn things easy as breathing.

Your teacher starts bringing in the most complicated high tech safes she can get her hands on and he just waves his hands with a smug smile on his face and they swing open. It's kinda irritating honestly. You have to labor away with a torch and camera and a stethoscope for ages to get even the more basic ones open and he just waltzes through even the most complicated locks. It doesn't even make sense how he does it, magnetism shouldn't be able to do that. You call hax.

If Dieter is the guy you want for safe cracking then your other classmate Xolani is the go to guy for breaking into secure locations unnoticed. The quiet African kid can compress himself until he's a micron thin and then just slide under doors or between cracks. If there's no cracks he just phases through the walls somehow.

He doesn't talk with you much. Whether that's because he doesn't like you, he's just shy, or because he's self conscious about his English you can't say. But, you work together just fine during the exercises in class when you get paired up, which you figure is a good start.

>>3855707

It's a lot harder to get to know the guys in your "Interpersonal Relations" class, since the only group work is sparring, but you are able to bond with them bitching about sensei's sadism.

Lewis, the short kid with mutton chops, can take a beating even better than you can. Broke his damn arm one day during a spar, didn't even need a Father Box or medical. Just pulled it straight and splinted it into place and it was healed up as good as new in a snap.

You dont really have anything in common with him personality wise though. All he wants to talk about is rugby or women. Never girls, women. Theres a distinction according to him. Well you know jack shit about the game, and it can get a bit uncomfortable when he starts getting a little too vocal about his fantasies. You really could have happily gone your whole life without knowing what he wanted to do to the headmistress in the sack.

The other guy with you in that class, Francisco, is a bit easier to get on with. The Hispanic kid never was with white hair, he hung out with the Polynesian chick and the Japanese girl instead so there's no awkwardness there, and he's kinda socially awkward and scrawny which you can relate to. You talk video games sometimes. It's pretty nice.

Evenings are spent with your friends. Helping Liz with understanding what she's learning in her programming class. Getting destroyed by Roxy at DDR. Listening to Ralph's stories about his cousin's hijinks. Introducing Tara to pop culture because apparently her nanny had been of the opinion that rotting your brain with TV was for peasants. Fuck that noise, no friend of yours shall go through life without knowing the joys of television.

And throughout it all you find little opportunities to grow closer to Caitlin in accordance with your plan to gain her trust so you can help her vent.

>>3855734

One night helping Liz with programming turns into a delightful discussion on the comparative strengths of different programming languages when Caitlin surprises you by speaking up and adding in her two cents. Turns out your redheaded friend is a bit of a computer wiz.

"I wanted to be a computer science major" she tells you. "Maybe double major in Electronic Engineering. You know, before."

Roxy forcing the two of you onto the DDR machine despite both of you protesting that you can't dance leads to commiseration as she confides in you how awkward she feels after her transformation.

"The only good thing about the change was that I don't need glasses anymore" she snorts.

"I only came up to here before" Caitlin tells you as she lays her hand flat in the air just below her bust. "It was hell at first. I could barely walk."

"Yeah I get that" you reply. "My teacher has me grow myself up to seven foot and run obstacle courses. It sucks. Still, at least I can shrink back down. It's really impressive to me how well you've adjusted honestly. I dont think the others get it but I understand how hard that had to be."

"Honestly the height change isn't even the worst part" she tells you. "It was hard at first but I got used to it."

"The worst part is these" she says as she gestures to her impressive endowments, apparently on too much of a roll complaining to notice you flush. "It feels like someone strapped a pair of volleyballs to my chest. I look ridiculous, like a blow up doll, and they keep getting in the way."

Yeah you have no idea how to respond to that. Aren't women supposed to want bigger breasts?

"And the guards and the other guys keep staring at me like I'm a piece of meat" she shivers as she crosses her arms over her chest defensively. "I hate it."

"I'm sorry" you blurt out, uncertain what else to say but feeling like you have to say something.

"Don't be" she replies with a small smile. "You and Ralph don't have anything to apologize for. You treat me like a person not a pair of boobs. I really appreciate that."

>>3855795

On a different night listening to Ralph tell you all a story about his cousin Jim getting drunk and driving a haybailer into a ditch she talks with you a bit about her own family.

"My cousin Karin is more like a big sister to me than anything." Caitlin says to you with a smile on her face. "My Aunt and Uncle took me in after my father died, so we grew up together. She always looked out for me in school. She set anyone who thought it would be a good idea to pick on the mousy geek straight. I look up to her a lot."

All in all, as you approached the end of your first month at the supervillain school, things were going good. Well, as good as things can go when you are a victim of kidnapping and human experimentation being groomed for a life of crime against your will.

You had good friends, white hair hadn't given you any shit in a while, you're getting along with your classmates, and Caitlin has opened up to you enough that you think you should be able to bring up the sensitive topic of her experience with the father box soon and have her be comfortable enough to actually talk with you about it. You've even made good progress on your escape plan!

Yeah, as you lie back in your bed in the early hours of the morning and practice tangling and untangling new nerve bundles you feel pretty good about things. On top of the world even.

And then the screaming starts.

>>3855797
>And then the screaming starts.

Ah shit, what now?

>>3855797
And this is when OP flakes for another month

>>3855797
>And then the screaming starts.
shit! Is it ours or someone else’s?

>>3855817
Mean!

>>3855817
Seems a bit unwarranted. Dude did just write a wall of text. I doubt he'd abandon on such short notice after that. I know I wouldn't after putting that much effort into something.

>>3855797

A blood curdling shriek rends the air, loud enough to be heard clearly even through the thick concrete walls. Someone cries out in terrible pain. You startle and leap out of your bed and are halfway to the door when the intercom blares to life.

"All students are to remain in their rooms." Orders the voice of the headmistress. She doesnt aound very chipper now. "I repeat, remain in your rooms. Any student who leaves their room will be disciplined harshly. That is all."

The screaming fades away to silence, and with little other choice but to wait you sink to your bed and worry. Who was screaming? Why?

You dont have to wait long to find out.

When morning comes you and the others are assembled in the courtyard before breakfast. There is a stage that's been set up. The headmistress is standing on the stage head held high and hands clasped behind her back. Lying prone at her feet is a twitching wretch who moans piteously. It's Xolani.

"This ingrate" the headmistress snarls as she motions at the boy sprawled out on the stage "has seen fit to spit upon the generosity shown to him by this fine institution of learning. Given the opportunity to receive a quality education and a chance at a better life he saw fit to steal food and attempt to abscond from the premises rather than graciously accept what he had been given. Mr. Xolani felt himself too good for our school it seems, and behaved in a most inappropriate manner in attempting to leave us without so much as a word."

"As such he has been disciplined." She says venomously as her thumb caresses the button of the Fatherbox visible in her hand. You hear a whimper from somewhere to your left as her thumb traces over the button, and then its drowned out as the headmistress continues speaking. "Mr. Xolani will no longer be attending our fine institution. He will instead be spending his time in a corrective facility being rehabilitated for his disobedient tendencies."

She pushes the button, and there's a loud booming chime as a golden gate opens under Xolani and he disappears.

"I trust none of you are foolish enough to follow his example." The headmistress says. "You are dismissed."

Immediately you seek out your friends, looking around until you see a few of them over to your left. They all look shaken, but Caitlin is the worst. She's pale as a ghost and you can see her trembling. As you watch Roxy walks up to her and puts a hand on her shoulder before saying something to the redhead softly.

You can't hear what Roxy said but you hear Caitlin's reply clearly as she says loudly "I'm fine Rox, don't worry about it." And brushes the smaller girls hand off.

You feel a tug on your sleeve from behind and look over. It's Tara. She looks over at Caitlin and then turns to you with glistening eyes and asks in a small voice. "What do we do?"

>>3855940

What do you do?

>Take Caitlin aside and tell her that she doesn't have to lie, you know she's not fine, and that's ok and you're here for her.

>Take Caitlin aside and wait for her to calm down. Be patient with her and wait for her to broach the subject, but under no uncertain terms allow her to avoid it if she won't.

>Take Caitlin aside and try to comfort her. Tell her it's alright and she won't ever have to suffer that again because you are going to get everyone out of here.

>write in.

>>3855941
>>Take Caitlin aside and wait for her to calm down. Be patient with her and wait for her to broach the subject, but under no uncertain terms allow her to avoid it if she won't.

>>3855817

Eh I guess I deserved that. Hope you're enjoying the quest anon.
Well, what do you all think? Decent? If you have issues with how the timeskip was handled please raise them with me so I can consider them before future time skips. Personally I'm pretty happy with it, but I'm open to constructive criticism.


Well you all voted to try and get Caitlin to confide in you, and I figured that actual moment when she opens up to you about her experience was too important not to have it be in your hands so here we are. Good luck anons I look forward to seeing your choices.

>>3855941
>>Take Caitlin aside and tell her that she doesn't have to lie, you know she's not fine, and that's ok and you're here for her.

We aren't prepared enough to reveal our intentions. Especially not with a psychic around.
Though she does have latent psychic abilities herself...

>>3855952
I liked it.

>>3855952
You're doing great and I'm enjoying the quest.

>>3855941
>Take Caitlin aside and wait for her to calm down. Be patient with her and wait for her to broach the subject, but under no uncertain terms allow her to avoid it if she won't.

>>3855941
>>Take Caitlin aside and wait for her to calm down. Be patient with her and wait for her to broach the subject, but under no uncertain terms allow her to avoid it if she won't.

>>3855952
I think the time skip was very well done. And I also really enjoy Larson's stories, it really fleshes out his character, not to mention they're funny too.

>>3855941
>Write in
>Take C aside and comfort her. Don't do anything stupid like tell her we're planning an escape - just go up to her, say 'hey' and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. If she wants a hug or to open up and talk then sure, we do that, otherwise just let her know we're there and we care about her.

And don't worry about the flaking comment, I'm just yanking your chain. Its good to have you back.
Timeskip was handled well too.

>>3855982

I love writing Larson. Honestly it's one of my favorite parts of the quest. I was grinning like a loon as I typed these out today. Glad to hear you liked it too.

>>3856000

Eh I figured it was some good natured ribbing, and like i said I can't say I don't deserve it. S'all good anon, it's all good.

>>3855956
>>3855959
>>3855492

Thank you for your support anons. And many thanks to everyone else as well.

>>3855941
>Take Caitlin aside and wait for her to calm down. Be patient with her and wait for her to broach the subject, but under no uncertain terms allow her to avoid it if she won't.

Time to put all that bonding to the test.

>>3855952
Larson is great I'm gonna really miss him when we leave. Having a supervillain like that is really refreshing and personable. I wish he wasn't the only one. Personally, I wished we could see some of our peers changing. So far only Caitlin has been shown and we know Tara becomes a REAL piece of work thanks to them. I wish we could see glimpses of that. Which serves to provoke the players into rushing. Like we are in a fucking supervillain school and getting brainwashed on top of that. Yet we only see how fucked up the faculty is but not our fellow students.

I do wish things were a bit more clearcut in terms of our power upgrades and manipulation. Anons are still kinda blind on what to do with that.

Beyond that, the time skip was really quite good. It was clear and concise telling us what we needed to know which is what matters. Seriously though we need more villains like Larson to appear.

>>3856077

Thank you for sharing your concerns. I appreciate the feedback, and will do my best to take what you have said into consideration for the improvement of the quest where I can. Thank you for being here, and I'm glad that despite it's flaws the time skip was satisfactory for you.

In regards to the concerns you have brought up as I understand them.

1: Seeing our peers changing.

To quote the relevant passage about Wax's brainwashing in the words of the man himself

>I can rewrite them directly if you want, but that only works as long as I’m in regular contact with them so I can renew it. I learned that the hard way. My new method is much better. Sure, it takes longer, but give me seven more months with them to slowly build up alternate memories and new latent personalities, and when the new personas are stable enough not to fall apart we flip the switch on graduation day and they’ll believe they came here to serve you willingly.

Doctor Wax's efforts are insidious and subtle, given time there may be visible signs but we are in the early days yet. You are correct that it would certainly add some tension to see more visible signs of this, give things a sense of urgency, and I will take into consideration how to do so in a way consistent with the existing lore and direction of the quest.

2: The focus on Caitlin.

You are absolutely right that we've been pretty focused on her in this time skip, and I have been somewhat concerned as to how it would be received. That being said while we've had the spotlight on her for a bit I fully intend to have opportunities to explore all of our friends present and future as the quest goes on so that every one gets their time in the spot light. Depending on decisions made by players and the will of the RNG of course.

3. Your gains being unclear.

I get this concern, I absolutely do. Honestly I was so focused on getting the update out I didn't pepper it with the mechanical bits relevant to what was happening while you were getting your gains. So, here's what I'm proposing. Tomorrow I will post an updated stat block with your gains from this time skip, and we will take a minute to review the mechanics used for the quest so that everyone can have a good idea of what they can do. Additionally we'll have some Q and A so that if people have things they don't get I can clarify things wherever possible. There are some things I want to not spell out, because I feel like doing so gets rid of some tension and room for exploration on your part, but I certainly don't want to cause confusion or frustration. If I am doing so, I apologize.

Larson is a one of a kind Gem. There can be no other like him.

Ok but seriously jokes aside I don't know how many more like him we will encounter. It will depend on your choices and where we end up going and who we end up associating with.


Good night everyone see you all in the morning.

>>3856167
I more meant other characters with that level of depth. They don't have to be just like Larson. It's just nice to meet a supervillain with actual depth to their character besides the bad guy stereotype. I know Mr. Freeze is an easy one considering his wife it's just nice to see another side of them is all.

>>3856443

Ah, that makes more sense. A valid point. I probably should take the time to further develop the staff. I do have plans for one of them actually, so we'll see about shining some spotlight in that direction here soon.

Thank you again for the feedback anon. It's good to have things that can be improved pointed out.

Give me a mo, and we'll see about getting that new stat block up.

>>3856443
With our abilities we could probably cure Nora.

Alright, mechanics blurb incoming.

Mechanically speaking your character is described by a series of dice pools.

Ours currently are

Power dice (4)

Cliche's

Wallflower (4)
Nerd (4)
Hacker (2)
Cat Burglar (2)
Martial Artist (2)


Forms

Big guy (3)

Skinchanger (2)
When you try to do something you choose an appropriate cliché to determine your dice pool for preforming that action, like a nerd knowing trivia for instance. Dice are d6 unless specifically stated otherwise. You add up what you rolled, so if I rolled 3 dice and they came up 1 2 and 3, i'd have rolled a total of 6.

When you are doing a skill check you are trying to beat a set number, a DC. So something easy might be DC 5, something hard would be more like 10+. If the combined total of your dice is higher than the dc you succeed.

In combat you and your opponent both roll the dice appropriate to what you are trying to do. Whoever rolls the higher total wins the combat round. The looser takes damage, which is represented by loosing a dice from the cliche they were using.

We can stack our power dice with an appropriate cliche for an action that uses both our powers and one of our cliche.

Additionally there is a mechanic that allows you to surpass your limits called pumping a dice pool. A pump is when you push yourself beyond your limits knowing it will hurt you. This adds a number of dice to your pool for a single roll. So If I had a cliche of 4 and I pumped it for 2, then I'd roll 6 dice for the pumped roll. But, after that your cliche takes damage equal to the number it was pumped by.

In addition to our Cliche’s and our power dice as part of our power set we have forms which we can assume.

Forms can be assumed through a successful powers roll. While in a form it adds dice equal to it’s quality to applicable rolls. These dice can stack with both your cliché dice, and your power dice for applicable rolls. Forms may subtract dice from rolls they are unsuited too. For instance certain forms may be bad for sneaking around, while other’s may not be useful for a fight.

You remain in a Form until you either voluntarily leave it, or take enough damage to run out of dice entirely.

>>3856599

Now as you can see you’ve had some gains over the time skip. Specifically

1. Your power dice pool has gone up. You’ve gotten better with your powers. You can do more with them and find them easier to use. This is pretty significant.

2. Your Martial arts and Cat burglar cliche’s have improved, very useful for combat and for break ins (our break outs)

3. Your form: Big Guy, has improved in quality. This means it is both easier to assume this form, and that when you do you get greater benefits from it. Now rather than adding a single dice, Big guy adds three for appropriate dice pools.

4. You now have Form:Skin Changer. This reflects your ability to transform your appearance or even assume another's identity. It is represented as a form mechanically for the following reasons. One it logically makes sense that using your powers to assume a new appearance should be tied into a power dice roll, which forms are. Two, forms give dice to appropriate dice pools, and being transformed in my mind should be used to provide additional dice for pools used to deceive or infiltrate since masquerading as someone else is what it’s meant to do, and forms do this. Therefore after consideration I decided that a Form was the best way to do it.
If there are any questions please let me know.

>>3856602
do we get limited or hidden consiquences if we have not seen the whole body like the toe story?

>>3856642
I would imagine so, because appearances are shaped by much more than genes. You have diet, exercise or lack thereof, accidents that could stunt growth or disfigure, use of makeup, wigs, surgical procedures...

>>3854603

What is the point of accumulating strength if we have nothing to use it for? Strength for strengths sake, or in this case biomass for biomass sake, is meaningless.

>>3856691
perhaps the same could be said of all lifeforms

>>3856700
Your gains are as empty as your calories.
Metakind ill needs a savior such as yourself.

>>3856704
What is a meta? *flings dessicated corpse aside* A miserable little pile of genes! But enough talk! Have at you!

So Monnie and this quest convinced me to give young justice a go and I just finished marathoning all three seasons. I actually quite liked them, and I have something I absolutely must say. I need to scream it to the heavens.


Major spoilers for the ending of young justice season three below.
Seriously you have been warned.
Tara didn't betray the team. FUCK YES. Finally a Tara plot that wasn't just a tired rehash of the same old shit. No betrayal, no absolution through death, just Tara doing the right fucking thing for once. Fuck I am so happy right now. Fuck all you who said Tara was trash and could only ever be a traitorous selfish bitch! We now have a canon version, a canon version in the universe this quest is based on no less, where Tara is a decent repentant human being. I have legitimately had sex less satisfying than watching that episode. I literally can not contain my enthusiasm. Fuck I need season 4 right the hell now.

>>3855940
>>3855941
>>Take Caitlin aside and tell her that she doesn't have to lie, you know she's not fine, and that's ok and you're here for her.

Voting's still open guyse

>>3856713
You know, some mutations in the vein of vampire powers would be useful. Well we're essentially a vampire with the ones we have, just that we don't need blood.

>>3856742
hell yeah brother

>>3856745
We are no mere vampire, we are a good aligned Tzimisce. A rather exotic specimen indeed.

>>3856642
>>3856648

An excellent question.

So when you go to use your powers to assume someone's shape there will be a check right? With a set dc. The more research and preperation you do, the lower the dc will be because you are better prepared.

Now even if you fail the check you will still transform, just like how in combat if you make the check to change into big guy and you fail you still transform. You are using your powers and just failing the skill check won't mean you can't use your powers as you have chosen to use them.

What will happen if you fail the skill check is you will take "damage" to the dice pool given to you by the form.

So for instance right now let's say you try and turn yourself into white hair to impersonate him for whatever reason, and you make the check. You'd get two more dice (because its currently quality 2) for all checks related to pretending to be white hair. But let's say you fail. You still transform into white hair, but maybe you only get one bonus dice, or if you fail really badly maybe you get no dice or even negative dice. This would reflect your disguise being imperfect mechanically as it would cause it to be less effective when you make checks.

Thing is you can still pull off a con with an imperfect disguise. You can have flaws in your impersonation, but that doesnt guarentee they will be noticed. 99 percent of the time people dont really notice the toes. You could theoretically fail a check, have an imperfect impersonation that only gives like 1 dice, and still make all the following checks like a boss and pull things off. It would just be harder.

Larson has a definite profesional opinion on how things should be done based on his personal experience and he has high standards as a professional, but many shapeshifters get by playing things far more fast and loose than he does.

Alternatively even if your disguise is perfect physically speaking you can get tripped up by not knowing something the target knows. An inside joke etc.

Assuming someone's identity is a dangerous game not for the faint of heart, but the rewards can be immense.

I hope this makes sense. I think it works pretty well. If you have more questions please ask.