>>4394919

Character Info and stats (Now includes a side-character page, which is currently under construction!):

https://pastebin.com/u/Siiren_QM

Previous thread(s):

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/4158908/

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/4170002/

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/4207482/

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/4252203/

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/4292764/

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/4361214/

Update Twitter:

twitter.com/qmsiren

>>4394919

>What do you do now?
>Check up on Eddie. See how he’s doing in the phone.
>Check up on Matt. He’s still watching Valjean, and both are probably in need of sustenance.
>Check your phone to see if John’s okay. You probably did a number on him, since he didn't come home last night.
>Find Julia some clothes that aren’t the jumpsuit.
>write-in

>>4394927
>Check your phone to see if John’s okay. You probably did a number on him, since he didn't come home last night.

>>4394927

>Check your phone to see if John’s okay. You probably did a number on him, since he didn't come home last night.
>Find Julia some clothes that aren’t the jumpsuit.

These both seem pretty quick right? Text John, give Julia a set of our clothes. After:

>Check up on Matt. He’s still watching Valjean, and both are probably in need of sustenance.

>>4394938
+1

>>4394927
>Find Julia some clothes that aren’t the jumpsuit.
Matt will be fine. I wonder how long he's planning to stay awake?

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>>4394937
>>4394938
>>4394947
>>4394949

You had woken up to Julia looming over you, which was a little disconcerting to say the least. Still in her FutureLabs-standard jumpsuit, which had somehow stayed perfectly clean despite everything that had happened last night, the young woman had nearly fallen to sleep the second she had taken to the armchair.

Bernard, too, had nearly passed out from exhaustion, as he had teleported so many people at the distances that he had in such a short span of time, and, padding into the living room, you were surprised to find that he was still asleep.

Judging by the looks of it, the teleporter doesn’t seem ready to wake up anytime soon, his face looking so peaceful in his rest, so you pull out your phone to shoot John a text.

Two minutes pass, and you decide to fix up something for Julia to eat while you wait for a response from John. Toaster pastries are a safe bet, not only because they’re they easiest thing to make but also because you don’t want to put your cooking skills to the test right now. You think four will do for now.

Placing the plate before the crystalline mutant, she gives the proffered food a questioning look before you clarify to her, “This is food, Julia. Good food.”

“…” Julia is silent, eyeing the pop tarts as if they’re going to jump out at her. You wonder what they fed her at FutureLabs.

Even though you know your next question’s a long shot, you try anyway. “Is there anything else that you want?” As expected, it doesn’t seem like she can think of anything off the top of her head.

Reluctantly, she holds the pastry up to her face before taking a bite out of it. Blue eyes widen, the next bite she takes being much more enthused than the last, and the four pastries disappear in a blink of an eye.

“You still hungry?” You inquire, and, by the look on her face, you already know the answer, which is how roughly ten pop tarts fall victim to the hungry mutant. She seems satisfied for now, so you decide to check your phone again.

It’s been about twenty minutes since you texted John, you come to find.

Usually, he texts back on instant. However, since John’s probably in a hospital, there’s a chance that he could still be asleep, and, upon thinking about why he’s in the hospital in the first place, you feel a twinge of guilt for nearly losing control again. True, you were shot thrice and then stabbed straight through the abdomen, but, if you hadn’t been shocked out of your stupor from seeing John, it could’ve ended a whole lot worse.

He’ll text back when he wakes up, you suppose, and, while you wait on Bernard to wake up, you busy yourself with finding Julia something to wear that is not that jumpsuit.

>(1/?)

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>>4395385

Julia is a good three or four inches smaller than you and much thinner, which is really saying something when you consider your shape, so it takes a while of rifling through your closet to find a T-Shirt that isn’t a million sizes too big and a pair of shorts that don’t hang down to her feet.

When you look at the shirt again, you have to take a mental step back, because you honestly don’t know how old you were the last time you wore it, but it will have to do for now.

You remind yourself to get Julia some actual, fitting clothes at the Schönbrunn Mall.

“These are the only clothes you have?” There’s disappointment in Julia’s voice as she examines herself in the mirror. “I look stupid.”

“No you don’t. You look fine.” You insist, and you realize that all of her fussiness last night was not a result of the situation— Julia just might be a particular person in general. Briefly, you wonder if she was a particular person before getting brainwashed.

“Good mornin’ fishface!” Bernard says as he pops into the hallway, his sudden presence being a welcome surprise. “And good mornin’ to you too whatever-your-name is.”“Julia.” You tell him, and the teleporter looks a little abashed from forgetting a name that he’d just learned last night.

“Then good mornin’ Julia!” He gives Julia a good morning too.

“You’re Blink…” She says simply, and Bernard nods with his usual energy before turning his attention back to you.

“So what are you doin’ with Julia, fishface? Playin’ dress-up, right?" That just about sums it up.“Yeah.” You tell him, and, out of the corner of your eye, you see Julia take the brush that had been left on your dresser.

“How’s John doin?’ Hear from him yet?” Bernard fires off the questions in quick succession.

“I tried to text him a while ago.” You tell the blonde.

“Did you fight him or somethin?’ Cause when we were bringin’ Eddie’s body back to the task force, we could see John from where we were.”

“Was he okay?” Last time you talked to him, after he’d removed the bullet, he said that he’d be pretending to be unconscious, but you still can’t help the concern that wells up in you.

“Yeah,” He drawls out. “Just sleepin.’” At those words, Bernard stretches his arms in a yawn, still tired himself.

It’s then that a snap, followed by a bang, startles you, and you turn your head towards the direction of the noise.

Julia had attempted to brush her hair, and, judging by the broken brush head that’s on the floor, your brush couldn’t withstand her apparently crystalline hair. Her gaze directed towards the brush on the floor is doleful as she says, “…It’s broken.”

You had just thought her hair was a very light shade of blonde; however, upon closer look, it’s plain to see that her hair is nearly white, iridescent under the light.

>(2/?)

>>4395493

Without any further word, Julia picks up both halves of the brush and sets them back on the counter, staring at the two brush halves like they had offended her. You have to wonder how Valjean’s going to make good on his promise to take her out for her hair. Guess he’s going to have to deal with one angry mutant.

“Hey guys, who wants to visit stick?” Bernard asks, his enthusiasm quite effective at dispelling the strange atmosphere that had overtaken the room. “As soon as I get some breakfast, we can go— you too, fishface. Get somethin’ to eat for yourself.”

While Bernard takes a large bowl of cereal for himself, you take the first slab of meat you can get your hands on. The whole raw chicken that’s sitting in the back of the fridge is rather tempting, but you remember that John had planned to cook with it this weekend. You’ll only take it if he’s not back in a few days.

Finishing your meal much faster than Bernard, you use the time you have to pack some snacks in a bag for Matt and Valjean, which are granola bars for now, buy maybe later you can buy something more substantial.

All the while, you keep checking your phone in case there’s an update from John, while Julia’s occupying herself by staring at the pictures on your walls.

“Alrighty guys, it’s go time!” Bernard is right next to you, and, in an instant, you’re back in the warehouse, right where you’d left Matt and Valjean. Matt is still sitting on the same crate you’d left him on, while you see Valjean pull up his sleeping bag none-too-subtly over his head.

“Hey Matt.” You greet him with a wave, and, when he looks to you, his eyes are beet-red. Guess he didn’t sleep, the sleeping bag Bernard had left for him lying on the ground. “We got food.”

That seems to catch his attention, and, beneath the exhaustion, there’s a slightly-manic look in his eyes as he holds out a hand for a bar that you hand him. All sense of manner thrown out the window, Matt opens the plastic with his teeth in lieu of attempting to open the wrapper like a normal person, and, once he has some food in his system, he seems a little more cognizant than he was.

“Thanks.” He says, getting off the crate and onto his feet.

“Stick you don’t look so good.” Bernard points out the obvious.

“No shit.” A tired Matt is a grumpy Matt. “All I wanna do is sleep to be honest.”

“Well, now you can!” Bernard slaps a hand on his back. “We’re here to watch the jerk now, so we can bring you home if you want.”

“Yeah… “ Matt quirks a grin. “But I kind of want to ask Ellie some shit before I go.” He turns to you. “Take us over there.” He points to the other side of the warehouse, and you scoop him up in a carry to dash to the opposite side of the place.

A few seconds of him saying nothing, and then you ask, “What did you want to ask me?”

>(3/4)

>>4395537

“Nothing. I changed my mind— I’m just gonna sleep here now.” And he makes himself limp in your arms.

“Stay awake, Matt.” You know he’s joking, but you give him a light slap on the cheek anyways. He looks at you again but then his eyes fall close, and you have to slap him again, this time more insistently. “Cut it out. You're going home soon."

“Alright Ellie…” He says, and you set him on his feet. “Can you tell me what happened last night?”

>Give him the summary of everything.
>Give him the summary of your fight with John. He's probably referring to just that.
>Ask him how he managed to make Eddie defect instead.
>write-in


>(4/4)

This will be the last reply of the day. Gotta sleep. I spent too much time in the sun and am honestly feeling it. See you next time!

>>4395545
>Give him the summary of your fight with John. He's probably referring to just that.

>>4395545
>Give him the summary of everything.

>>4395545
>Give him the summary of everything.

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>>4395537

>>4396120
>write-in
Ask if Valjean got up to any shenaginasan while we were gone

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>>4396120

I was thinking more along the lines of OG movie Spiderman carrying Norman Osborn.

REPENT SINNER...

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>>4395884
>>4396035

“Well after I got Valjean, Julia ended up chasing us because she couldn’t be put to sleep, and, after I fought her, she ended up snapping out of it. Kind of.” You tell Matt, not really wanting to go into excruciating detail.

“Define ‘kind of.’” Matt crosses his arms.

“After she stopped trying to kill me, Valjean tried to use her power on her again… and it ended up backfiring on them both.” You remember what happened back at the roof.

“Really?” Matt looks both surprised and intrigued by this information. “How did that happen?”

“I think what Valjean said was that Julia’s mind was like a door, and he could only fit so much of his power in it before her mind kicked him out.” Or did he say it was a room? You’re not really sure.

“Yeah… the jackass told me that he couldn’t really do much with her mind before he went to sleep. It seemed like he was too tired to lie about anything.” That’s good news, but you also don’t know what that means for Julia herself. “We were actually trying to alert you about Julia before, because we snuck into one of the trucks and found the files on her— Eddie too.” Matt adds. “That’s how we found out he was a mutant, and, by the time we were about to call you, you were already fighting her.”
“How do you know that?” You ask, wondering how Matt had known that.

“They were tracking her vitals.” It probably was that tracker brace transmitted that info. “Now about John… what did you do to him?” He lets the question hang in the air.

“I’m not exactly sure…” You purse your lips, the memory of that fight a rapid blur to you. You know you drew blood and broke his helmet… but not much else beyond that.

“Well, spill.” Matt doesn’t want to skirt around the topic. “I’m pretty sure we both know that you lost control of yourself, Ellie. Your face is an open book.” At that, you slump your shoulders. Are you really that obvious?

“Fine. Fine— I did, but I didn’t know it was him.” You defend yourself, because all of those agents with their helmets masking their faces look alike. “He shot me thrice and stabbed me.” And that stab only served to piss you off more, you recall that much.

>(1/?)

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>>4397206

“I wanted to bring you back the knife, but I couldn’t find it.” You’re very much disappointed at that. If it could cut through you deeper than any of the bullets could, then it was probably the best knife you could’ve gotten your hands on.

“No dinner for you then.” Matt jokes through a yawn. “And I think I’d like a better knife than I have… or several.” He says offhandedly. “Then again, it shouldn’t be any simpler than just stabbing, unless they’re throwing knives of course— which I could also learn to use. Didn’t know John could use one.”

You didn’t either, but it wasn’t even two weeks ago when you found out that John could use a gun. The more you know…

“Where’d he shoot you, by the way?” Matt inquires, looking for traces of wounds that are no longer there.

“Kneecaps and the stomach.” You tell him. “He was actually the one who got the last bullet out for me.”

“Really?” Matt looks very skeptical at that.

“Yes really.” You respond. “He hates his job, you know… and FutureLabs too. He told me that both last night and a few days ago.”

“Stick it to the man any way he can.” Matt says without missing a beat, and that’s when you remember one last, crucial detail that you’d failed to mention about last night’s debacle.

“Did I tell you that Clyde showed up afterwards, and he tried to kill everyone Julia’s brainwash kill-code?” Silence on Matt’s end, and he’s looking towards the ground. If not for the fact that his eyes were still open, you might’ve thought he had fallen asleep.

“I know what it is…” Matt mutters, looking towards the ground. “…I have her files.”

>”So what else do you know about Julia?”
>”What happens if you use the kill code?”
>”Wait. You know the kill code?”
>write-in

>(2/2)

>>4397236
>”What happens if you use the kill code?”
I'm really curious, is it a beserker state or a self explosion ? I'm betting on the later because she could have gone the first one when she was going down

>>4397257

Define self-explosion. Do you mean like she kills herself or something?

>>4397317
Yes, like becoming a living bomb

>>4397323

Then I'd say something in-between berserker and sudoku...

>>4397236
>”So what else do you know about Julia?”
>”What happens if you use the kill code?”

>>4397317
Like what Cell does after Gohan kicks 18 out of him. Except presumably without the minute countdown for sappy goodbyes.

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>>4397345

Gohan who??? ...I don't know DBZ, but I attempted a google. Does this have to do anything with the phrase "kamehameha?"

>>4397357
Can't believe you never watched DBZ. Zoomer?

Self explosion like a suicide bomber who straps a bunch of explosives to themselves and gets themselves as close as possible to the target before detonating them. Except in Julia's case the bombs are internal/part of her power.

>>4397433

I am a shameful zoomer with my shameful zoomer anime tastes. Fite me if you dare.

Also I plead the fifth with additional spoilers...

>>4397472
That's as good as confirmed.
>”Wait. You know the kill code?”
No, YOU spill

>>4397472
Just watch DBZ abridged it's honestly a better show

>>4397505
Or don't watch it at all because coomer dbz fans don't matter

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>>4397507
>>4397202
>repent
Purgatory is a valid eternal afterlife

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>>4397257
>>4397345

“You have her files?” You ask to confirm Matt’s words.
“Mhmm.” He nods at your inquiry. “She’s part of the first few— if not the absolute first subject— from the Epsilon Trials.” Meaning that Julia had been former Crux. This doesn’t surprise you, because she fits the general age-group of people who had joined, and you don’t think someone with her caliber of power would’ve escaped Valjean’s notice.

“So what happens if you use the kill code?” You want to be prepared in case Julia comes within hearing range of the task force again.

“Either she might die, or we might die.” Matt tells you. “There were only a couple of videos of it on the hard drive, and about Level E Personnel died, along with two non-Level E staff members.” There’s another lengthy yawn after he says this, and, as much as you want to go into further detail, Matt needs to sleep.

“You’ll tell me more when you’re finished with the hard-drive, right?” He’s barely keeping his eyes open.

“When do I not, Ellie?” He almost looks offended by your question. “You can take me back to Bernard now.”

It’s not long before Matt and Bernard are gone. You know that Bernard will be back soon, probably after he gets himself coffee or something.

From off to the side, you see that Julia has busied herself with staring at the lump of sleeping bag that is Victor Valjean, much like she had stared at you before you had woken up this morning. You think she needs to do something other than stare at people while they sleep, which is why you text Bernard to grab a couple of books from your bookshelf.

Where the old Crux HQ looked like it was ready to fall apart, you find that this abandoned warehouse is in much better shape than the one at the wharf. The only evident problem is all of the old construction supplies strewn about the premises, which won’t be a problem after some cleanup.

Old boards, metal sheets, nails, insulation… you could probably fix a house with all of the materials here. Heck, with your strength, you could easily rig a platform along the steel beams above, and it would almost be like a treehouse.

>>4397504 was gonna do this too but already had a good chunk written...

>(1/3)

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>>4397541

Treehouses… the thought of them gives you nostalgia, because you’d always wanted a treehouse when you were little, and you remember boasting to anyone who’d listen about how you’d find the perfect tree and build one for yourself. However, that was a hopeless flight of fancy, even though your little kid self didn't think so.

The temptation to live out a more-convoluted version of your childhood dream is one impulse-fueled decision away.

In a flash, you’ve grabbed one of the boards and are leaping up to the beam-system above. Aligning it with some of the beams, you make sure that neither you nor the board will come crashing down once you step foot on the plank. If you wanted it to stay, you’re not really sure what you’d need. Your construction knowledge is very lacking, but that’s nothing the Internet can’t solve, right?

“Hey fish, whatcha doin’?” Bernard’s voice interrupts your train of thought. He’s sitting on one of the metal beams to the side of you.“Testing something out.” You say, adjusting the board a little more. Tapping a foot against it, it doesn’t feel like it will fall, but you never know.

“So you’re buildin’ somethin?’” He asks with a tilt of his head.

“…Yeah! I thought I could see how we could make a better place for Valjean and Julia to sleep.” You honestly don’t know where that came from.

“Really?” Bernard seems intrigued by the idea regardless.

“No, I was just trying to do something stupid.” You admit, because you’re a terrible liar. “But we really should make something for the two of them. Is there a chance you know anything about construction?”

“Eh. Not really…” Bernard tells you. “I worked an odd job for a construction company a couple of weeks ago, and all they did was make me carry stuff around.” Green eyes are on you again. “So are you going to try it out?”

“Oh. Right.” You step off of the beam you were on and onto the wooden plank, sitting yourself down. It wiggles slightly from not being nailed down, but, after ten seconds of not falling, you deem it reasonably safe (at least for you) and tap the space beside you. “Wanna try?”

“Why not? We fall, and we’ll just get a lot of splinters, right?” He says with a grin before teleporting himself right onto the board. “This is actually kind of nice up here.” Bernard tells you. “You sure you wanna build something this cool for the jerk?”

“It’s not just for Valjean, and they also can’t sleep on the ground forever.” It’s a perfect place to hide in case someone does stumble upon this place, FutureLabs or otherwise, which is why you should probably build anything in one of the corners as opposed to the dead center of the beam system.

>(2/3)

>>4397546
Btw speaking of hideouts
Bernard living in John's apartment without John knowing
o-o|- delicioso
》,>n////
/<3 LlL]

>>4397617

>》,>n////
>/<3 LlL]

wat r these hieroglyphics??? I can't read weed speak...

>>4397633
get back to work in the post, slave. why were the 2 parts fast ?

>>4397633
It's just a bit of
..../\........___......___....o..o....
../__\.....(__...)../......`..|...|.....
/.......\.(____)....\___,...|...|.....

>>4397639

coz I forgot to brush me teeth. Them dental bills don't pay themselves.

also my net cut out you toker...

>>4397546

It’s a good while of lazing around on the wooden board later that you realize that you’ve been keeping really poor tabs on Julia. For all you know, she could have wandered off already if she got bored enough with watching Valjean, so, with a quick warning to Bernard, you let yourself fall right off of the plank to see where Julia went.

However, you’re pleasantly surprised to find that she’s nose-deep in one of the books Bernard had brought at your behest, the others set to the side, and Valjean is sitting atop his sleeping bag with the backpack at his side, eating one of the protein bars from the bag.

“How long have you been awake?” You ask the former Crux leader.

“Since you woke me up, of course.” Though his tone is placid, his words are as pleasant as ever. You suppose Matt was right about his belligerence levels going down with exhaustion.

“Well we’re not fifty— we don’t need to be quiet. Plus, it’s noon.” Bernard points out. “How long can you possibly stay asleep?”

Valjean doesn’t answer, opting to throw his granola bar wrapper to the side. “Pass me that one large book while you’re at it.” It’s less of a request and more of a demand, and he points to the book pile, where there are several large books.

“War and Peace?” You say questioningly, eyes catching the first large book at the top of the pile.

“No. The bigger one under it.” Next to the copy of War and Peace is a much larger book. One of John’s old textbooks?

“Stop staring at it and pass it over.” Valjean is irked, and it comes to mind that you don’t have to take his attitude if you don’t want to. Not at all, especially if he’s going to be around for the foreseeable future, and even Bernard is off-put by the glare you’re currently sending Valjean’s way, book clutched tightly in both hands.

>What do you say?
>”If you want this book, you’re going to have to—”
>”I’ll give you the book, but you’ll have to cut the attitude.”
>”If you’re going to act like that to the people who saved you, you’re not getting the book at all.”
>Destroy the book.
>write-in

Options for option #1:
>“-quit being a prideful ass and let Matt treat your leg.”
>”-stop acting like an asshole, cause we're the people who saved you from FutureLabs.”
>”-watch over Julia, no ifs, ands, or buts.”
>write-in

>(3/3)

>>4397664

We continue tomorrow kings! That was the last reply for the night, so see you all tomorrow!

>>4397664
>”I’ll give you the book, but you’ll have to cut the attitude.”

>”-stop acting like an asshole, cause we're the people who saved you from FutureLabs.”

>>4397664
>”If you want this book, you’re going to have to—”
>>“-quit being a prideful ass and let Matt treat your leg.”

If you're going to do sub-options, COADE (for example) uses a good sub-option format

>>4397770
*Child of a Dead Empire
The options look like this:
>Then we just don't ask for permission to look through the records.
>That's why I won't be a minor when we ask, duh.
>>[Sub-Option] That policy can't apply to everyone. Like, say, someone they think has influence?
>How about we just bribe someone?
>[Write-In]

>>4397664
>”If you want this book, you’re going to have to—”
>>"-ask nice."
If he won't, put the book in the rafters.

>>4397664
"Say the magic word."

>>4397664
backing >>4398132

>>4398161
Uh oh.

>>4397773

Thanks for that info! I'll be sure to implement that in future votes.

So it should look like this (just double-checking):
>wat do you do?
>slap goon
>punch goon

[sub-options for option #2]
>with claws
>with fist
>with fin
>write-in

>>4398275
>>4397773
I guess that makes sense if the COADE formatting is for we the players to make things readable for you the QM.

>>4398132
I can definitely see this backfiring with Julia but I want to see that shit train hit the fan on the nuclear power plant.
So
Backing

>>4398275
it would be more like:
>slap goon
>punch goon
>>[Sub-Option] with claws
>>[Sub-Option] with fist
>>[Sub-Option] with fin
>write-in

This way the sub-options are integrated into the options list such that we don't read all the options, keep reading, and then find out that one of the options had sub-options, and have to go back and re-read all the options while asking "what was option 2 again?" because the sub-options are part of/just below the given option, as part of the original options list, instead of a seperate menu. Additionally, if for some reason we ever have multiple options that have sub-options it's a lot less confusing.

Just thought of something. If it's John's old text book it might have his name in it. We should erase or blank it so Valpor or whatever finds us out.

>>4398796

will incorporate this
>valpor

I lol’d at this BTW

Probably will be delayed on the posting tonight. Not by too much hopefully.

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>>4398796

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>>4398796
>>4398304
>>4398161
>>4398132
>>4398044

“I said pass me the book.” Valjean says again, as if you didn’t hear him the first time.

“Say the magic word.” For all that you had to do for him last night, the least he could afford to do is give you some basic politeness.

There’s a choked noise from where Valjean’s sitting, evidently from not getting his way, but he recovers quickly by putting on a straight face. “Don’t play games with me.” Valjean does not like being sassed. “I just want the stupid book. Is that too much to ask?”

“If you want this book, you’re going to have to ask nicely,” You tell him through a mouthful of sharp teeth. When did they sharpen? You’re not sure, but, at the moment, you really don’t care. “You know we did save you from FutureLabs. You could at least pretend to be grateful.”

“Can’t be much worse than federal prison...” Valjean mutters underneath his breath.

“Well it is.” Bernard says. “So don’t push your luck with us if you don’t wanna go there.”

As Bernard and Valjean continue to argue over which prison is worse, it strikes you that John might’ve left his first name in the book. You open the cover, and, yes, John did leave his name… and his personal email inside the book in big, scrawling letters. Since it’s just the endpage, you don’t waste time in ripping it out, causing Valjean’s head to whip right back to you.

“Did you just seriously rip the first page out of the book?” Again, his tone is calm, but you have a sinking feeling that he’s probably pissed, as if you were intentionally ripping the book for your own pleasure. Which you weren’t.

Before you can even clarify that you needed to tear out the paper for personal reasons, Valjean calls for Julia, whose head whips up from her book at the sound of her name.

“Mind taking that book from her and giving it to me?” He uses his most affable smile on the crystalline mutant, and Julia, unaware that she’s being blatantly manipulated, immediately rises to her feet to take the book from you.

“Hey, I thought she only followed FutureLabs’ orders.” Bernard is confused. “Don’t tell me you’re usin’ your power on her, cause that would be sick.”

“Can’t and didn’t.” You see a smug smile creep up his face. “I’m just that likable.”

>(1/2)

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>>4399221

Julia is mere inches from you when you hear the sound of crackling stone, until there’s crystal going all the way down the length of her arms.

“Julia,” You firmly say. “How about you don’t take the book from me?”

Julia doesn’t move, more crystal covering her body, and by reflex you complete the shift into your fish form as she gives you her simple response: “…I want the book.”

“Looks like it’s catfight time…” Valjean says, making a show of leaning back in his seat. “…for the second time in twenty-four hours.” He adds as an afterthought. Asshole.

“Well I’m not lettin’ anyone fight for your personal entertainment—” Bernard is quick to teleport to you, right as Julia lunges for the space the two of you were in, taking you back to the plank you were on. From above, you see Julia whipping her head in all directions as she searches for the two of you.

“What a douche…” Bernard whispers, just in case Julia can somehow hear you. Green eyes trail over to the oversized textbook in your hold, and he lifts a brow at it. “Wonder why he’d want a book like this though.”
“Dunno.” You shrug. “Maybe he likes learning. What made you take it by the way?”

“I just grabbed whatever I could off the shelf. Wasn’t really thinkin’ when I picked them.” Makes sense, because you’re pretty sure you saw a cookbook in the small pile of books Bernard brought. “So why did you need that paper by the way?” He points to the piece of paper that’s crumpled up in your hand.

“It has John’s name and email address.” You tell him as you smooth the page out before raking your claws across it several times and crumpling it up again, the claws tearing through the page like butter. The shreds of paper disappear in your pocket.

“I’m starting to think that maybe we should just give him the book so he just shuts up, right?”

“Yeah, but he’s going to think he can keep acting this way if we do.” That… would not be ideal.

It’s right as Bernard’s about to say something else to you that you pick up a sudden change in movement down below— from Julia, most likely— and she’s currently moving at a very high speed right under your plank.

Leaving the book to the wayside, you grab Bernard without warning and leap to one of the other beams on the rafters, and that’s when the wood of your platform is splintered apart by a crystal-powered punch.

It’s not long before she’s up on the rafters and charging after the two of you, but, with Bernard’s teleports, she doesn’t come close. You don’t really feel like fighting her (you did that last night), and, even though she isn’t currently in brainwash-kill mode, she seems hellbent on getting that book for Valjean.

>>4399240

>What do you do?
>Go get the book and give it to Julia. Avoid any additional fighting.
>Play chicken instead. See how long it will take for Julia to give up.
>Let Bernard take the book and distract Julia. Try to knock some verbal sense back into her.
>write-in

>>4399243

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK6TXMsvgQg

>>4399243
>Let Bernard take the book and distract Julia. Try to knock some verbal sense back into her.
Since her focus is on the book, let him teleport with it and try to undo Pharos order on her with FACTS and LOGIC

>>4399243
>write-in
>Put Pharos between yourself and Julia.

>>4399243
>Eat the book.

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>>4399279
At the recording of Juulia

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>>4399398

Refer to reaction image.

Sorry for short session but I gotta sleep. We go on a sidequest for Prozac tomorrow for you-know-who...

>>4399243
>Let Bernard take the book and distract Julia

>>4399243
E A T
T H E
B O O K

>>4399243
>Let Bernard take the book and distract Julia. Try to knock some verbal sense back into her.

>>4399965
MaybE she'll forget AbouT iT if sHE has to reinterpret the order to take the BOOK from Bernard.

>>4399982
This post somehow helped me realize that we now have a new training partner that can help us get stronger, faster than we would fighting Matt or Bernard.

Even though the actual text of the post seems to be an intentional misinterpretation of the intent behind the action I voted for...

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>>4399988
option B

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>>4399777
>>4399965
>>4399263

“Bernard, grab the book.” You tell the teleporter. “It’s right down there where the plank broke— I’m going to try to talk to Julia.”

With a determined nod, Bernard disappears to grab the book, Julia still giving chase behind you.

While she matches you with speed, she’s definitely outclassed in the quick-reaction agility that you’ve been practicing, which is why she doesn’t even come close to catching you, and, when her back is turned, you take that as an opportunity to grab her arms and hold them behind her back.

Crystalline shards dig into your skin and try to encase your arms, some drawing blood as Julia struggles in vain. Out of the corner of your eye, you see Bernard perched on one of the rafters, looking like all he wants to do is teleport you out of there, but, thankfully, he stays put.

“Julia.” You say. “Do you still want the book?” At that, she pauses.

“Do you still want the book?” You repeat your question, your tone more firm than the last time.

”I want the book.” She says after a long moment of no response.

“If I let go of you, could you stop trying to fight? I want to talk to you about it.” Again, Julia doesn’t say anything, but, since she’s not trying to fight you, you cautiously release the hold you have on her, some crystal shards falling to the ground as your fingers break some of the stone.

You’re face-to-face now, where Julia’s trying to see if there’s anywhere on your person where you could possibly hide the book.

“Where did it go?” She asks, blue eyes curious.

“I don’t have it anymore.” You show her your empty hands. “But the reason why I took it away is because Valjean hasn’t been very polite to any of us. That’s why he can’t have it.”

“Polite…” She repeats the word slowly, as if hearing it for the first time. “I really want the book though.”

Julia’s not going to give up on this, is she? And you don’t want to go back to square one, which would either be letting her chase you around or restraining her. Absently, you wonder if this is what John had to go through when you and Matt were little.

“I have an idea,” You say, feeling the metaphorical lightbulb go off in your head. “I will give you the book, but, when you go and give it to him, you have to tell Valjean to say please. If he doesn’t, he can’t have it. Got that?”

She nods fervently, and, at that, you leap up to where Bernard is still sitting to grab the book, give him a thumbs-up, and jump back down, handing the crystalline mutant the large textbook, who clutches the book to her chest like a child. Then she’s gone, off to the other side of the warehouse, presumably to give the book to Valjean.

>(1/2)

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>>4400737

As you listen in on the conversation between Valjean and Julia, you feel a smile spread across your face.

“Hey fish, what’s so funny?” Bernard asks, appearing right next to you.

“I got Valjean to be polite.” You feel quite proud of yourself for that, and you taught Julia a good lesson in politeness too. At least you think you did.

“Howabout a high-five cause we won?” He holds out a hand, and you return the gesture.

Thinking on how Julia acted, you reason that her behavior must be a residual aspect of the brainwashing that she’d undergone, and you hope it will fade with time. Matt has all of the answers though; he’ll tell you what you need when you get your next chance to ask.

You have the whole rest of the day to yourselves, and, even though you’ll still need to keep an eye on Valjean, there’s plenty of stuff you can still do.

>What do now?
>Experiment with loft-building. See what you have on hand and what you might need to MacGyver something.
>Consult the web on loft-building, then attempt to build one.
>See if John messaged back.
>write-in

>>4400769
>See if John messaged back.

>>4400769
How much thinking has Elise done on this topic? I wonder if consulting the web might take the fun out of it. Can I veto consulting the web?

>>4400852

>Can I veto consulting the web?

Yeah veto if you want!

>>4400769
>Consult the web on loft-building, then attempt to build one.

I don't think any fun will be lost. In my experience it's a good way to learn cool tricks.

>>4400882
Negative 1 plus 1 is zero I suppose

>>4400769
>>Consult the web on loft-building, then attempt to build one.
Safety n' shit

>>4400769
>>Consult the web on loft-building, then attempt to build one.

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>>4401069
>>4400957
>>4400882

“Bernard, let’s build a loft!” You’re nearly shouting in Bernard’s face.

“Today?” He’s slightly confused at your sudden enthusiasm.

“Yes today,” You confirm. “And, if we do it fast enough, we could have it done by the time Matt gets back.”

“Count me in then!” Bernard’s now on board. “Best part is we have all of these construction supplies right here.” He makes a motion towards the various construction supplies lying around, but then he frowns as he comes to the same realization you’d both come to not even a half-hour ago. “We don’t know squat about buildin’ though…”

Right, and as much as you like to charge straight into things, your head-on approach won’t cut it if you’re building a loft that will be holding people who might get hurt if you build it poorly.

“Then we’ll research it first.” You’re not giving up that easily, and you can learn anything on the Internet these days if you put your mind to it.

In sync, the two of you pull out your phones, and the first thing you search is images of treehouses, because that’s what you based your first platform off of. However, after a short while of scrolling through, you fail to see how you’d be able to properly “treehouse” Valjean and Julia a loft.

Cool loft ideas. Interesting lofts. Man caves. You punch a whole bunch of ideas into your phone, and it’s not until you type in the keywords ‘garage loft’ that you find something that catches your interest.

“Hey, look at this one.” You shove your phone in Bernard’s airspace. “What if we did something like this?” He clicks the image, leading you to the popular DIY website DoTube, and, as its name suggests, it’s full of tutorials on all sorts of projects.

The teleporter looks around the warehouse in consideration, and there’s a place at the very end that seems like it would fit a loft very well. The support’s already there, so all you two need to do is attach the planks and make it fancy. “I like it!” He grins. “Let’s do it!”

First thing's first is to make a mental checklist of supplies: rulers, boards, nails, hammers, and other various tools. Though you don’t have any saws, you have your fins that work a million times better, which is pretty awesome. You think this is one of the better opportunities you’ve had to utilize them, and you can’t wait to put them to use for this project.

>(1/2)

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>>4401130

While you’re looking over the supplies again, a sudden motion from Bernard startles you from your thoughts. “What are you doing?” You ask, turning your head to the teleporter.

“Takin’ off my jacket.” He says, folding it neatly and placing it on one of the crates. Come to think of it, you almost never see him without it. “It’s one of my favorite things, cause you guys bought it for me. I’d hate to get it ruined."

It goes without saying that if the jacket did get ruined you and Matt would always buy him a new one, no questions asked.

As he picks up a hammer, you can’t help but notice the visible, lean muscle on his arms— definitely a result of the training you and Matt had set him to. You remember that when you first met the blonde he was definitely skinnier. Much, much skinnier than now, but it’s a healthy skinny now that he’s getting some food in his stomach (you suspect that wasn’t the case beforehand).

Now that you’ve done your research, both you and Bernard feel more than ready to begin your project.

>Where do you start first?
>the rails. The easiest part!
>the floor. The harder part!
>some other cool, add-in feature (write-in)

CONSTRUCTION THEME: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxhj1Is7HpY
Last reply for the night! See you guys next time!

>(2/2)

>>4401159
>the rails. The easiest part!

>>4401159
>the rails. The easiest part!

>>4401159
>the rails. The easiest part!

I'm hyped for the not in a tree treehouse

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>>4401159
The rails are the hard part. If someone breaks a floorboard, just that floorboard gets replaced and then it's fine. The railings have to support people stumbling into them, if a railing breaks the entire side of the platform needs to be renailed. Are railings even a good idea? Maybe walls, just take the floor design and put it sideways. It is winter sometimes in Konigsburg, I assume.

>>4401700

I forgot to put a disclaimer in the last post that OP has very negligible construction knowledge, so thanks for pointing that out.


Yes, we could definitely do walls in lieu of rails if everyone's keen on switching the rail votes to walls.

BIG. BEAUTIFUL. WALL!!!

>>4401784
I was thinking the same thing actually, support walls

>>4401784
I don't know anything about construction, I just looked at the photo and if you do the railing before the floor there's just no way to get the measurements right, whereas if you do the floor before the railing the measurements kinda do themselves.

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>>4401784

Also in regards to what >>4401806 said, would it technically be railroading if we DID start on the floors first? Did some more research, and, in every reference I've been looking at, the floors always come first before the wall framing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAstLauEUHw

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>>4401924
...there's already support beams in the ceiling and struts holding up the roof and all we really need to do is fill in the gaps

OP had a health-related thing happen. Can't update tonight. Sorry kings.

Will be back in like a day or two.

>>4402494
>health-related thing
Oh no
Get well soon!

>>4401924
It's not railroading if I change my vote to floor due to the reasoning of this post >>4401806 being convincing!

>>4402010
Change my vote to railings

>>4404054
Are you well bro ? it wasn't corona right ?

>>4404063

No. It wasn’t the coof. It was sudden... and honestly just a really ugly convulsion episode.

Aftereffects tend to linger...

>>4404071
Holy shit dude, is it from a condition you have or it was a first time ?

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>>4404097

Condition— happens from time to time, and it never fails to give my folks a scare...

>>4404126
I hope you're better now bro

>>4404126
Get well soon.

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>>4404071
Don't leave us OP I need this

>>4404503

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CR8DMFfFs8

The crappy part has ended. Just gotta do some IRL stuff today before any updates.

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>>4401700
>>4401806
>>4402883

OP had half of this written before my brain went kaput cause I expected floors to win out. Too lazy to change it to rails, but enjoy the early update.

“Let’s make the floors first!” You think the floorboards should be done above anything.

The two of you gather up the wood, screws, and everything else you might need, setting it in a relatively disorganized pile below your workspace. When you’re finished measuring the area, you set to cutting the wood pieces with your fins, while Bernard hammers them in, and, soon, the two of you have a steady rhythm going. It isn’t long before nearly a third of the floorboards are done, and, once you finish with the cutting, you join Bernard on the rafters with a hammer of your own.

From afar, you see that Julia has abandoned her book and is now looming over Valjean for some reason or another, Valjean trying to sink his nose as far into his book as humanly possible. Despite his best efforts to blatantly ignore her, the crystalline mutant doesn’t seem willing to budge. At least Valjean’s not telling her off— that’s a positive— and, since he isn’t, you decide to set back to work.

More than once, while hammering in the nails, you end up either smashing through the planks or destroying the nails when you think you can hammer a nail in one go, Bernard trying as hard as possible to keep a straight face, and, even though he ends up laughing at your own expense, you find yourself laughing along with him.

“Hey this looks fantastic!” Bernard cheers when the floorboards are nearly done, wiping a bit of sweat from his brow. “We could cover this whole place in boards at this rate.”

“No kidding.” Is your response, and wouldn’t that be something if you did?

It isn’t until you’re taking a much-deserved break (not that you’re really tired) that Julia shows up; you think that either she got tired of bothering Valjean, or he just sent her over here to pester you instead of him.

“What are you two doing?” She asks innocently.

“Building you and Valjean a hideout.” You tell her. “You’ll be sleeping here when it’s done.”

“Not in your house?” Julia tilts her head.

You’re not really sure how to explain to Julia that your FutureLabs-employee brother will recognize her in an instant if he sees her, but thankfully Bernard has your back.

“Yeah, cause this place will be loads better than anywhere else you can go once it’s all fixed up... even though the jerkface will be with you.” The last part is muttered under his breath. “Take it from a guy who’d been sleepin’ on the streets for months and months.”

>(1/2)

>>4404748

Julia’s quiet at that, but she doesn’t seem opposed to the idea, silently smoothing a hand over the newly-installed wooden floor.

“Can I help?” The question catches you off-guard, and neither you nor Bernard are honestly sure how to answer.

>What do you do?
>Take her back to Valjean. Help from Julia might do more harm than good.
>Take a chance and assign her a real task
>Give her something easy to do, but don’t let it be for the main structure
>Kindly tell her no, but she’s free to watch if she wants to
>(Mystery box)
>write-in

>(2/2)

>>4404760
>Give her something easy to do, but don’t let it be for the main structure

>>4404760
>Give her something easy to do, but don’t let it be for the main structure

As a starter, she can graduate to real tasks if she does well.

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>>4404760
>Take a chance and assign her a real task
Railings? If there's anything Julia can do, it's focus. I'll bet she can measure twice. Let's give this treehouse a porch.

>>4404760
>Take a chance and assign her a real task
Or
>Give her something easy to do, but don’t let it be for the main structure
I don't know which one of these is the railings

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>>4404793
>>4404817
>>4405116
>>4405351

While you briefly considered sending her back to Valjean, you don’t really have it in you to say no. However, you don’t want to put what you’ve already done at stake, so you think it would be a good idea to assign her an easy task to see if Julia would be capable of helping out with the rest.

She’s still looking at you, waiting expectantly for an answer, and, although it takes you a few moments of thinking something up, you finally blurt out: “You can build a bookshelf!”

It really doesn’t serve any purpose outside of holding the horde of books that were brought here, but it’s relatively straightforward. Anyone can build one, you think, and, since you and Bernard still have the last of the floorboards to finish, this will also serve the purpose of keeping Julia occupied in the meantime.

“Look.” You say, pulling up a simple image of a bookshelf and showing it to her. “All you really have to do is make a wood frame and nail the shelves inside.”

With the tip of her finger, Julia scrolls through the tutorial again, and, since she has yet to object to it, you think that’s a good sign.

“You okay with building that for now?” You ask to confirm, the white-haired mutant nodding her head. Then off you go to gather the supplies Julia will need, setting them in a small pile that is a couple of yards apart from your own mostly-depleted pile of lumber.

“We’ll be up here if you need us.” You say, as you leap back onto the rafters. Although you’re not so sure of her propensity with basic tools, she’s not really at risk for hurting herself given her type of power, so you’re not too worried.

Out of the corner of your eye, you watch as Julia sets the outer frame together. However, after the first instance of hammering two pieces of wood together, Julia extends a hand towards the framing instead, letting it shift into crystal, and you watch in fascination as she uses her crystal to bind the next piece of wood to the frame before doing the same with the rest of the shelf.

Guess you didn’t need to watch her after all.

Turning back to your work, it’s another few minutes before the last of the floorboards are done. You and Bernard share a triumphant fist-bump for a job well-done, though the moment’s interrupted from a very loud thump from behind yo that you realize is Julia… and apparently her bookshelf.

She’d covered the whole outside of the bookshelf in her crystal after she had used that same crystal to nail the bookshelf together.

“That looks really nice!” Some of the awe at how pretty the shelf looks seeps into your voice.

>(1/2)

>>4405484

“Yeah, what fishface said.” Bernard adds, and, at both of your compliments, Julia seems proud of herself. Knocking a scaled hand against the bookshelf, you’re quite impressed by its design.
“Julia,” You address her again. “How would you like to help us with the rest of the hideout?”

It takes another while, though it’s shorter than with the floorboards, but the three of you working together manage to fix up the railings for the place quite nicely.

“Hey guys!” Bernard calls loudly from one of the rafters, as he’d wanted a picture of the newly-finished hideout. “This place looks great from right here!”

“I like it.” The words come from Julia, and there’s a small smile on her face as she says her words.

Then Bernard is back to you in another flash, grinning wildly from the same high you are on from the job well done.

“You know, I was thinkin’ that we could make another part to this thing, and then we could have ourselves a full-on warehouse mansion by tonight. What do you think, Ellie?” The phrase tree-house mansion echoes in your head, and the idea of it fills you with childish excitement.

>What do say?
>Why not? You have all day to build it as much as you want with all the supplies at your disposal.
>Nah. We don’t need no superhero treehouse fort.

Last reply tonight btw! See you all tomorrow!

>>4405489
>Why not? You have all day to build it as much as you want with all the supplies at your disposal.

We probably should take a short break check our media devices for stuff from John and also maybe news because I imagine we've been at this a while.

>>4405551
This

>>4405489
>Why not? You have all day to build it as much as you want with all the supplies at your disposal.

>>4405489
>Why not? You have all day to build it as much as you want with all the supplies at your disposal.
What are you serious of course we're doing it overkill

>>4405568
Oh yeah I suppose but he's probably still conked out
>>4405551

slight delay. writing now.

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>>4405551
>>4405568
>>4405577
>>4405717
>>4405723

“You know, I was thinkin’ that we could make another part to this thing, and then we could have ourselves a full-on warehouse mansion by tonight. What do you think, Ellie?” The phrase tree-house mansion echoes in your head, and the idea of it fills you with childish excitement.

“I’ll get the wood!” You grin, and the three of you split up for more supplies.

It occurs to you sometime before you begin the next leg of your project that John could’ve messaged back at any time, so, pulling out your phone, you check your messages for any response from him, finding none. You would’ve thought John would’ve been awake by now, but, since there’s nothing you can do about it but wait, you have no choice but to push any worries to the back of your mind, put your phone away, and focus on the construction before you.

“I want to do the railings again.” Julia says very seriously, as you cut up the pieces of wood.

Since she proved herself with the bookshelf and the first rail-set, you trust her enough to build the rails. “We need to do the floors first,” You remind her. “So when we finish the floors, you can do that.”

The next platform is built right next to the first one. Slightly smaller than the first one, you think it’s like a porch of sorts to the first, but now the whole structure is definitely larger than any of the treehouses you saw in the pictures.

Of course, you all have the advantage of superpowers, which helped you to build the whole thing in record time, and the construction of the loft made a dent in the construction supplies, enough that the floor of the warehouse looks visibly clearer.

For a first project with no prior construction experience, you’d say it looks pretty good. Best part is you can always add more if you ever feel the urge to use up the construction supplies that are still leftover.

“I wonder how surprised stickface will be when he sees this…” Bernard says, mostly to himself.

“Enough he’ll crap his pants.” Is your joking response. Though Matt will probably be a little disappointed he couldn’t have been a part of the construction, you think he’ll be mostly surprised at the new addition to the warehouse.

>(1/?)

>>4406930
that file name though

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>>4406930

“Stickface?” Julia repeats the name with an inclination of her head.

“Bludgeon. Matt. The guy who’s two feet tall and carries a metal bat around.” Bernard makes a gesture to show Matt’s relative height. “Stickface is just somethin’ I call Matt cause he’s my friend, just like Elise is my friend and I call her Ellie or fishface.” As he says this, he wraps an arm around your shoulder.Silently, Julia nods, and, right as you think she might’ve wanted to say something else, her stomach audibly growls. “Food’s with Valjean.” You tell her, and then she’s off.

It’s about another few minutes later that you realize you’re still standing there with Bernard’s arm still on your shoulder. Stealing a glance to the side, it doesn’t seems like he minds the proximity (and neither do you, really), but, for some reason, you can’t help the warmth that rises to your cheeks.

Eventually, Bernard seems to realize how much time has passed with the two of you standing there, and he brings the arm to his mouth in a yawn.

“My arm kinda fell asleep…” As Bernard tells you this, he rubs his arms. “So much hammerin’ floorboards and stuff. I know you’re probably not tired at all, fishface, but it was a good workout.”

“Yeah, it felt good to build that.” You say, and then it’s quiet again.

“By the way, I don’t care what the jerk says, but this is our fort part-time. He’s only sleepin’ here, and he doesn’t need both parts to himself.” As Bernard finishes saying this, you hear the Julia’s stone footsteps pounding back towards the loft at high-speed.

“I didn’t say to bring me when they were—“ Valjean’s words are stopped when he’s roughly thrown against the platform. “Ow…”

>(2/?)

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>>4406969

>>4407000

That post number.

>>4406969

“Top of the afternoon, Valjean!” Bernard tips an imaginary hat to him.

“Welcome to Fort M-Guard!” You announce, making your voice as obnoxiously saccharine as possible.

“Can’t believe it’s sturdy.” Is what Valjean says to you, knocking a hand against the thing. “Get this off DoTube or Picterest?”

“DoTube.” You say, unfazed by Valjean’s jab. “But you’re sleeping here from now on.”

“I didn’t see any stairs.” He grouses from the floor.

“You got Julia for that.” Bernard points out.

“Well, she hurt my leg. Again.” Valjean’s tone isn’t pleasant.

“Julia is still recovering from being in FutureLabs.” You remind Valjean, one arm on your hip. “Be easier on Valjean’s leg next time.” You make sure to tell that to the crystalline mutant so she won’t hurt his leg again.

Then your phone goes off with a call; there are only two people who it could be—either Matt or John—and you wouldn’t want to miss a call from either of them. A glance to Bernard, and you’re off to the other side of the warehouse to answer the call with a clawed finger.

“Hey Elise.” It’s John, who sounds pretty tired. “I’m sorry I didn’t text you last night, but I got injured on the job and they had to put me in the hospital.”

“What happened?” You use your genuine concern to make your tone sound concerned.

“I tried to fight a mutant, and it went about as well as you’d expect.” He tells you. “I think I got a few good hits in though.” The last part is joking, as John tries to play off the fight. “I should be home on Monday, but they’re allowing visitors if I want them.”

>”Yeah. I’ll see you tomorrow!”
>”No, it’s okay. We’ll see each other when you’re out.”
>write-in

>(3/3)

>>4407009

aaaaaaaaaahhhhh forrrgooootttt tooo formaaaattttttttttt

>>4407009
>”Yeah. I’ll see you tomorrow!”

>>4407011
what do you mean ?

>>4407021

Forgot to italicize John’s end of the conversation.

>>4407009
>"Yeah I'll see you tomorrow!"
>"Which mutant hurt you? I'll find them and make them pay! "

:^)

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>>4407089

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>>4407009
>"Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow!"

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>>4407096

>fail to notice textual redundancies
>tfw you realize you might still be loopy

pic related

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>>4407101
>>4404063
>>4404135
>>4404457
>>4404503

Also quick heads up that I'm going to have to end the session for tonight.

Take this speshul drawing in the meantime...

Emphasis on speshul...

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>>4407123
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AobLjOV9_20?t=2m08s

>>4407009
>Yeah. I’ll see you tomorrow!”

>>4407123
adorable and wholesome-pilled

>>4407165
>>4407155
>>4407096
>>4407017
>>4407089

“Yeah. I’ll see you tomorrow!” Your schedule’s free tomorrow, and you think John must be lonely in the hospital where he is. “By the way, which mutant hurt you? I’ll find them and make them pay!”

“Umm…” John takes a moment to think up an answer, and you imagine that he’s trying to find a way to make his situation sound less grievous than it had been. That, or he’s trying to watch his mouth, since there are probably other agents from FutureLabs in his vicinity. “It was a very strong mutant— I think you’d have a hard time fighting off a mutant like that.” He tells you. “But in all seriousness, Elise, fighting against a mutant is no joke.”

From John’s perspective, you think that fighting you must’ve been a near-death experience for him.

“You home with Matt right now?” John asks, changing the subject, and you give him an affirmative noise as an answer. “Make sure to tell him I’m fine. I tried to call him before, but he didn’t answer me.”

“I will.” You’ll tell Matt when he’s awake.

“Good.” He says. “I’ll send you the address for the hospital when I hang up.” You’d almost forgotten to ask John about that.

“Oh, and Elise—“ John seems to remember something else. “You guys can order in tonight if you don’t feel like cooking.”

“Oooh.” Easy dinner for your fugitives.

“You know where my credit card is, right?” If Matt still has it and uses it as he pleases, that’s neither here nor there, though you answer yes regardless.

“Then I’ll see you tomorrow, Elise.”

“Yeah— see you!” With that, John hangs up, and you’re heading back to your newly-built loft. Julia’s swinging her legs over the edge, while Bernard and Valjean are blatantly ignoring each other. Though, Bernard perks up upon seeing you.

“Was that stickface?” Is the first question you’re hit with upon landing.

“No.” You shake your head. “It wasn’t.”

“Ah, so it was—“ Bernard has the sense to stop himself. “So what’s the deal with that?”

“I’ll tell you later.” No John-business in front of Pharos.

>(1/2)

>>4408173

“What does everybody need to be so secretive about?” Valjean grouses. “We all know each other’s names.”
“Not our last names.” That’s Bernard’s response. “And we’re not terrorists, so we kind of need those.”

“Well, you’re technically property of FutureLabs, as stated by the Mutant Terror Act.” He forgets to mention that he’s also property of said mega-corporation.

“Mutant Terror Act, Schmutant Terror Act— if you believe the bull you’re spewin,’ then you really must be frigged in the head.” At that, Valjean looks like he wants to burst a vein, but, after a few deep, breaths, he pretends as if he didn’t hear that.

Sitting here with Valjean up here is getting kind of awkward, and, now that the loft is done, all that’s left to do is bring the stuff up. Maybe you can spice it up a little bit or even add more parts to it, but you don’t really feel like building anymore today.

>What do you do now?
>Text Matt, see if he’s awake
>Try making conversation with Julia
>Attempt conversation with your more recalcitrant fugitive
>write-in

>(2/2)

>>4408225
>Attempt conversation with your more recalcitrant fugitive

wtf you gonna do now bro, keep being a dbag while we shelter you and get you food and do everything we can to keep you from getting dissected on a futurelabs operating table?

>>4408225
>Try making conversation with Julia

>>4408225
>Try making conversation with Julia

>>4408225
>Attempt conversation with your more recalcitrant fugitive.
When's the last time he spoke with someone who was immune to his ability?

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Gonna have to cut short again coz Internet keeps cutting out and I have some stuff to do in the morning.

>tfw you wanna get more plot rolling but weather

>>4408523
Hope you get better rain protection bro

>>4408523

AW rats my IP changed...

I don’t know how I should feel about this.

>>4408225

>>4408225
>>Attempt conversation with your more recalcitrant fugitive

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>>4409000

Dat post number.

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>>4409000

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>>4409200

! ! !

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>>4408259
>>4408337
>>4408997
>>4409000

“So I’m just curious— what are you going to do now? Keep being a douchebag while we shelter you from FutureLabs and make sure you don't get dissected on a table?” Feeling brazen, you decide to make conversation with the former Crux leader.

“Ha ha ha… very funny.” Valjean is not amused. “You guys are going to keep holding that over my head as long as I’m here, aren’t you?”

“No.” You shake your head. “But would it really kill you to be nice to us?”
Valjean doesn’t answer, completely silent where he is. Eventually, he asks, instead of answering your question, “Is it really that bad in FutureLabs?”

“We wouldn’t be working so hard to stop them if it wasn’t.” You immediately return. “And shouldn’t you know this by now if you were going out as Sopor? Didn’t you interrogate any of the agents you put to sleep?” You wonder if Valjean’s power had given him any advantage as an interrogator.

“I did.” He tells you. “And it was the all the same stuff your brother told me last night— experiments, tables, and the dead body disposal room. He forgot to mention the prison though.” The last part is added as an afterthought.“Dead body disposal room?!” Bernard sounds shocked. “I don’t remember seein’ that when we went there. Where was th𝘢t?”

“Dunno.” You shrug. “Guess we missed it.” For all that you’ve gotten used to seeing, you’d rather not know how FutureLabs disposes of its dead bodies, and you really hope you never find out.

“Wait a second. If you already know what’s goin’ on in there, then why are you askin’ if FutureLabs is as horrible as we’re sayin’ it is?” Green eyes stare down Valjean. “You know denial’s a river in Egypt, right?”

“I’m not in denial.” Valjean says vehemently, brow furrowing deeply. ”Every time I think about it, my blood absolutely boils.”

>(1/2)

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>>4409419

“Hey, while we’re on the topic of FutureLabs, what’s Julia’s deal?” Bernard inquires. Julia, who’d been silent the whole time, perks up at the mention of her name.

“Has no memory about her past, but has retained her intelligence.” Valjean is immensely blunt. “She managed to finish a three-hundred page novel in a couple of hours, and, when I asked her about it, she was able to give me the basic summary of what it was about.”

“Really?” You thought she’d just lost interest.

“Yes really.” Valjean tells you. “But that’s about it.”

>”What if you tried to use your power on her again?" See if Valjean's willing to use his power on her.
>"Does she look like anyone you know?" Maybe Valjean recognizes her from the Crux.
>Ask Julia if she remembers anything before her “room.”
>write-in

>(2/2)

>>4409430
>"Does she look like anyone you know?" Maybe Valjean recognizes her from the Crux.

>>4409430
>"Does she look like anyone you know?" Maybe Valjean recognizes her from the Crux.

He'd have to, right? She's got high tier powers, and we know she was former Crux. Put those together and she'd be upper echelon.

>>4409483
I'm curious whether they knew each other before the mutations.

>>4409430
>”What if you tried to use your power on her again?" See if Valjean's willing to use his power on her.
>"Does she look like anyone you know?" Maybe Valjean recognizes her from the Crux.

>>4409430
>>"Does she look like anyone you know?" Maybe Valjean recognizes her from the Crux.

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>>4408526
Like this IP

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>>4409458
>>4409483
>>4409510
>>4409686
>>4409736

“Does she look like anyone you know?” You ask Valjean, because, if Julia was from the Crux, then of course he had to know her. “From the Crux, I mean.”

“If we had Julia’s kind of power in the Crux, do you think we would’ve lost?” Apparently not. “This Julia could’ve taken on the whole police force and won.”

“You said ‘this Julia.”’ You hadn’t missed Valjean’s words. “Was there another Julia you knew before the Crux?”

Valjean stays quiet, likely mentally arguing with himself on whether or not he should divulge what could be important information. Even she doesn’t remember her past, you can at least reunite Julia with her family members if she happens to have any left.

“Come on. Spill the beans already!” Bernard fidgets impatiently where he sits.

“Maybe if you stop pestering me I will.” Valjean bites back. Just when you thought you went a step forwards with his attitude, he goes several steps back.

“We’re not trying to pry into your personal life.” You tell Valjean. “Just tell us about the other Julia.”

“…Fine.” Finally seeing the futility in arguing against both you and Bernard, Valjean has no choice but to relent. “I knew another mutant Julia, but she had red hair and a different power. She was one of the first members of the Crux, along with FastBall and Bernard.”

“What was her codename?” That’s the more important information.

“Jewel, and her power had been glass control.” She had been one of the nicer mutants you’d known during your time in the Crux, enough that you’d talked with her quite often. You’d almost forgotten about her, since it had been so long since she’d been captured. However, you had always wondered what happened to her.

“I don’t remember what she really looked like cause she was always wearing a hood, but she definitely didn’t have white hair.” Though she was particularly good at hiding her face, Jewel was unable to hide her very distinctive red hair.

>(1/2)

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>>4409890

“Yeah, I remember her too. She was with the Crux long before I was there, wasn’t she— back when all of your time was spent sittin’ at a table and talkin’ about dumb ideologies.” So that’s what they did before they had Bernard.

“Shut up, Bernard.” Valjean seethes, though his eyes are transfixed on Julia for some reason. “Julia.” He starts, and blue eyes snap up to meet gray. “I’m going to say some names. Tell me if any of them sound remotely familiar:” Valjean pauses as he takes a breath. “Pharos. Jewel. Blink. FastBall. Nina. Victor.” Julia just looks confused at his words. “If she were Jewel, then she’d be responding to these names.”

“So maybe FutureLabs fried her brain into nonexistence, and that’s why she can’t remember squat.” You had been thinking the same thing, and, although the one with the answers to that is still sound asleep, there’s still something you could try right here and now.

“What if you tried to use your power on Julia again like you did before?” You suggest to Valjean. “If you could open up her mind before, you could probably do it again.”

“It’s going to kick back on us if I don’t do it right…” He grumbles, obviously hesitant to the idea.

“If you want to start helping mutants again, then this is a good starting point.” You attempt to appeal to Valjean’s love of mutant-kind; if he refuses, you’ll just have to think of something else with Matt.

“Julia,” Valjean starts again. It 𝘢ctu𝘢lly worked? You kind of want to pat yourself on the back right now, but you withhold that urge for now. “I’m going to try to do something to help you. It might hurt you a little, but, whatever you do, don’t try to fight it.” He explains everything slowly to her, without any of the usual bite that had laced his voice before.

“Like what you did on the roof?” Well cr𝘢p. You didn’t expect her to remember that. “That hurt. Badly.”

“Yes, Julia. It hurt for me too, but I promise I’ll be very gentle this time so that doesn’t happen.” He’s explaining this to her as if he’s talking to a little kid, though she still looks reluctant.

With Julia unrelenting, you think it’s only a matter of time before Valjean decides to either force his power on her or give up. However, you’re proven wrong, as he seems to have another solution for the crystalline mutant, and it was one you weren’t expecting at all.

“Will you do it if I say please?” He doesn't sound happy at the prospect of saying the magic word again, but Julia’s face positively lights up.

And just like that, she’s about to put herself on the tail end of Valjean’s power.

“You should probably lay down for this one, Julia. Make yourself as comfortable as possible.” Valjean tells her, and Julia lies herself on the hardwood floor.

>(2/2)

>>4409923

>Roll d100 (Bo3)

Last reply of the day btw! I need to get up early for IRL business tomorrow, so see you next session!

Rolled 71 (1d100)

>>4409925
Let's go

Rolled 55 (1d100)

>>4409925

Rolled 61 (1d100)

>>4409925
Uhhhhh good luck, Pharos

"Weird, I'm getting the memories of some black dude named Jamal from 1990's Brooklyn. What did they do to her?"

Sorry kings. Can't run tonight.

Meant to start running in the afternoon, but I kind of blacked out and am still feeling tired from that incident.

>>4411366
OOF hope you’re better now, man

>>4411366
Bro the curse isn't supposed to be this bad

I hope you feel better soon

>>4411438

Thanks king!

>>4411452

I guess when it rains, it pours. :^(

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Dropping this here cause no update
.
Brings be back to thread #03-- back when life was easy and we didn't have to worry about family members unwittingly trying to blow our brains out...

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>>4411470
Get better OP.

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>>4411460

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>>4411470

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>>4411801

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>>4412028

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>>4412067

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>>4412111

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>>4412149

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>>4412179

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>>4412210

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>>4412253

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>>4412271

what the heck am i reading?

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>>4412288

>>4412300
...NOTHING...

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>>4412300
>>4412306

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>>4409983
>>4409990
>>4410002

As Valjean begins to hum, you watch Julia’s body tense like a coiled spring, but, gradually, she begins to relax.

You don’t know the specifics of Valjean’s power, but you think he must be taking extra care not to hurt Julia like he did last time. That, and there’s also the fact that he’ll end up hurt if he’s booted out of her mind.

Slowly, he begins to relax too, and you and Bernard sit back as you wait for something to happen. It’s when Julia’s face begins to twist you think that she’s about to reach her pain threshold. Valjean, on the other hand, doesn’t look pained at all.
“Stop— Stop!” Julia shouts, jolting upwards. “I don’t want to do this anymore.”

Immediately, Valjean stops, lifting a brow at the white-haired mutant. “I wasn’t hurting you at all.”

“No. No.” She says. “It wasn’t you. It—It was the things I was seeing.”

“You mean your memories.” He clarifies for her. “That’s what we’re trying to find for you. Mind telling me what you saw that you needed me to stop?”

“They were giving me needles, and— and it was really painful. Every part of my body just really hurt.” You and Bernard exchange a glance, knowing already what her words entail.

“Did you see anything else?” Valjean asks, looking at her with renewed intensity.

“I think…” Julia’s eyes are fixated on the floor. “…I think there were others with me.”

“How many?” The next question’s fired off quickly.

“Two. Maybe three or four.” Julia tells him.

“Okay. What about anything else— anything else besides the needles? Any names, people, or places?” The former Crux leader is prying for other information.

>(1/?)

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>>4412516

“Maybe…” It takes a moment for her to answer; Julia has a hand to her head. “Can we just stop for now?”

“Well, what is it?” Valjean is more insistent.

“I don’t know!” Julia’s tone is a cross between frantic and angry. “Do I really need to know what they are if they make me hurt like this?”Seeing that Julia is on the verge of a mental breakdown— a mental breakdown that could ultimately lead to a power breakdown— Valjean doesn’t push his luck by saying anything else, but he looks completely frustrated by the whole endeavor that really hadn’t given you more than what you already knew.

“…It’s not the end of the world if you don’t remember anything.” Valjean says, his bedside manner as good as a rat’s. “Maybe it’s better if you don’t know.”

Julia doesn’t look like she completely agrees with that, though she doesn’t say anything to object. She’s silent now, staring at one of her hands for whatever reason, but she doesn’t look like she’s on the verge of tears anymore.

However, you think she’s finally grasping the reality of her situation. Should you say something to her to make her feel better? Then again, maybe it’s best if you leave it be for now.

>Yeah. Tell her you’re trying to stop the people that did this to her, etc.
>Nah. Valjean did the comforting job for you.
>write-in

>(2/2)

>>4412562
>Yeah. Tell her you’re trying to stop the people that did this to her, etc.

>>4412562
>Yeah. Tell her you’re trying to stop the people that did this to her, etc.

>>4412562
>Yeah. Tell her you’re trying to stop the people that did this to her, etc.

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>>4412575
>>4412582
>>4412625

“Julia, you didn’t do anything wrong, and you don’t deserve what’s happened to you.” Whether or not she is Jewel or a different mutant altogether, Julia is still another mutant who’s in need of comfort.

“They took my memories, didn’t they? The men with the needles.” She says, and the fact that Julia had come to that conclusion herself suggests that they hadn’t completely taken everything from her. “Is that why you took me here?”

“Yes.” You nod. “We’re trying to stop the man who’s in charge of them, so he can’t hurt other mutants like he did to you.”

She hardens her hand until her arm is encased in a million jagged points, looking at that one hand like it could hold all the answers to her problems. “…the man who’s in charge…” She repeats lowly, and it’s in that moment that your phone buzzes with a text that you come to find is from Matt. You think it’s only been five hours— maybe five-and-a-half— since he went back home to sleep, but you can’t really argue with him if he wants to come back to the warehouse.

“Matt’s up.” You tell Bernard. “Wanna get him so he can see the loft?”

“Yeah.” The dour mood that had overcome the loft is easily forgotten with yours and Bernard’s excitement, and off the teleporter goes in a flash of green.

When he reappears with Matt, Matt nearly throws the pair of crutches he’s carrying onto Valjean, which had been used by both your brother and yourself on two separate occasions. “Look. You’re mobile again.” He deadpans. “Happy Birthday.”

The first thing Valjean does with his new gift is take a swipe at Matt, but he deftly backs out of his reach. “You know a ‘thanks’ would’ve sufficed.”

"...Thanks. But next time don't throw them."

>(1/2)

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>>4412857

Matt takes a look around on where he is, and you can tell by the look on his face that he is quite impressed with the loft, enough that he darts across it to leap over the rails behind you and inspect the spacious first part you built. “When Bernard said you built a loft, I thought you meant one of those shitty things from Picterest, but this is really well-done.”

It might be a compliment from your brother, but his words have you grinning like an idiot.

“Hey guys, what’s for dinner tonight?” Bernard asks, popping right next to you and Matt. “I’m kinda hungry after all of that work we did.”

“You get the text?” You ask Mat lowly.

“Mhmm.” Matt affirms. “I was thinking we’ll all eat pizza tonight, but what about you Ellie?”

“I’m not that hungry, but I’ll just eat that chicken we have or something.” You tell him, and, as soon as the word chicken falls from your mouth, you already feel the drool forming. Heck, maybe you are hungry and have failed to realize it; you might just for a real meal right after you finish off the chicken.

“By the way, who’s gonna watch Julia and Pharos tonight?” Bernard addresses something the three of you had largely forgotten. “I was thinkin’ we all take turns, but, if either of you has a better idea than that, I’m all ears.”

>Who watches over the fugitives tonight?
>You
>Matt (again)
>Bernard
>None of you. Just tell Julia not to let Pharos down from the loft no matter what.
>write-in

>>4412869
>You

Julia is too much of a sucker for random requests to be trusted.

Maybe Val stumbled onto one of her triggers?

Test it, ask her to if she minds barking like a dog.

NOT IN FRONT OF PHAROS THOUGH

>>4412869
>You

>>4412869
>>You

Just realized how late it is, so I'm gonna come back to count the votes tomorrow. See you next time!

Also even though I'm still trying to interpret this, it's a 10/10 thread hijack.
>>4411801
>>4412028
>>4412067
>>4412111
>>4412149
>>4412179
>>4412210
>>4412253
>>4412271
>>4412288
>>4412306
>>4412341

>>4412869
>>You
After we glut ourselves on fish

>>4394919
Isn't that just the plot of the webcomic monster pulse

>>4413691

Never read it senpai.

>>4413696

Monster Pulse sounds more like a rip-off of Parasyte with the whole body part schtick to me.

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>>4412875
>>4412894
>>4412944
>>4413056

“I guess I’ll volunteer for tonight, cause Matt watched them last night.” You suppose you’ll have to take turns until you can come up with a more surefire solution for watching your mutant fugitives— one that doesn’t involve making yourself dead-tired.

“Alright.” Matt nods. “So… pick up or delivery?” It takes you a few seconds to get the joke, and you give Matt a light elbow to retaliate.

“Who’d deliver to this warehouse anyhow?” Bernard asks both of you, not seeming to realize that Matt was being serious. “Outside’s a total dump if I’m being honest.”

“It’s free real-estate, B. Just roll with it.”

“We should take Julia out so she can see some Konigsburg— get her used to being in the city again and stuff like that.” That, and there was something else you wanted to test while out of Valjean’s observant gaze.

“Yeah. I think I can do that. Plus I know a really good pizzeria somewhere by the café where the jerk used to work.” Bernard’s penchant for finding the best food has yet to fail you.

“Knowing you, it’s probably going to tab up to like two-hundred or something.” There’s also the fact that the blonde’s taste in food happens to be super-expensive.

“Well not this time, stickface, cause this place gives really gives you the best bang for your buck— I ate like a king for five dollars last time I was there.”“I guess we’ll take your word for it then.” Matt seems to believe him.

“So what are we waitin’ for? Let’s grab Julia and go!” Bernard’s ready to get moving, and, after giving Julia a talk on what not to do in public, you’re off, but not to the pizza first.

“I thought we were going to get food.” Julia says.“We were, but first I wanted to see something here.” First thing’s first… “Julia.” You start, saying her name in the same way Clyde had done. “I want you to bark like a dog.”

“Why would I do that?” She doesn’t look amused.

“Jog in place then.” You give her a different command.

“No.” Julia immediately refuses. “Why do you keep trying to make me do stupid things?”

“We’re just making sure that your mind is okay.” Her frustration gives way to perturbation. “Don’t worry, Julia. Your brain’s fine.” The crystalline mutant relaxes considerably at that. Now to get that chicken…

>(1/2)

>>4414433
if she minds! the phrasing is very important!

or not, I know you wouldn't jew me like that OP

>>4414433
>“Alright.” Matt nods. “So… pick up or delivery?” It takes you a few seconds to get the joke, and you give Matt a light elbow to retaliate.
I don't get it

>>4414465

Delivery... to the warehouse.

OP might've been sleepy when I wrote this.

>>4414468
I didn't get the joke, english is not my first language sorry

>>4414471
It's not all you, you can get it delivered to a street corner or some nearby address if you don't have a good address or want to withhold it.

>>4414484
but what's the joke ? that's what i wanna know dude

>>4414494

The joke was that Matt was asking if they wanted it delivered to the warehouse.

It's okay, anon. you're not the retard. The real retard is the guy that started the thread.

>>4414503

I've been told I have a very dry sense of humor.

>>4414494
The joke is getting pizza delivered to the warehouse, which we cannot do because we don't want to give the address out and it introduces a chance for the pizza guy to see our two mutie fugitives, and wonder why the hell he's delivering pizza to what should be an empty warehouse.

>>4414503
Okay, I was frying my neurons trying to understand the meaning behind it.

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>>4414433

Excitement fills you just thinking about it, which is why you make a beeline for the fridge. You faintly remember that a very impressionable, amnesiac mutant is probably watching from across the hall right when you’re biting into it, but, as soon as the first morsel of flesh hits your tongue, it’s all over.

One of your last cognizant thoughts before you completely lose yourself to the taste of meat is that you probably were hungrier than you thought you were, and the chicken carcass is gone in a mater of minutes. However, it’s not enough— you want more meat, more flesh. MoRE!

The rampaging thoughts are so numbingly loud that you don’t even realize when there’s a hand against your shoulder, and suddenly you’re in freefall, the crashing of your body against ocean waves wholly unexpected.

But, now that you’re in the open water, you feel the presence of fish all around you, and it’s not until you’ve fed to your heart’s content that you’re able to come back to your senses. You think that if Julia saw you, then you probably just scarred her for life or something. Hopefully, Bernard came up with a good excuse for that.

Making your way back to your deserted beach, it’s not surprising to find that the blonde is waiting for you on the rocks. There’s no doubt he had been the one to catch you and teleport you to the water.

“Hey Ellie.” Bernard says, cocking a playful grin. “Have a nice swim?” At the joke, you have the decency to blush, and you find yourself laughing at his joke.

However, you can't help but wonder how much time has passed since you were dropped off.

>What do you say to him?
>”So… I guess I was hungry again. Thanks for dropping me off.”
>”You weren't waiting for me that long, were you?”
>write-in

>(2/2)

>>4414484

Plz excuse OP's lack of awareness on this topic. Most of my life has been spent in bumfuckville, where amenities such as street corners are non-existent.

>>4414511
>”You weren't waiting for me that long, were you?”

>>4414519
No problem OP. The big problem is you never watching DBZ. Goddamn zoomers.

>>4414511
>”You weren't waiting for me that long, were you?”

>>4414511
>”So… I guess I was hungry again. Thanks for dropping me off.”
>”You weren't waiting for me that long, were you?”

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>>4414536
>>4414576
>>4414717

“You weren’t waiting for me that long, were you?” You ask after hopping up onto the rock next to his. Water’s still dripping from your hair and clothes, and the first thing you do once you’re on a solid surface is wring the water from your hair.“Nah. Not that long, fish-face. Besides, it’s kinda nice out here when it’s quiet.” Bernard’s right. It really is nice to listen to the sound of the ocean waves.

“By the way, did Julia see me acting weird?” You want to know if you freaked her out, because your eating isn’t typically the most pleasant sight for those who aren’t used to it.

“Yeah, but I told her you were just hungry.” It seems like Bernard was able to convince her that all was fine and dandy, so you cross that off your list of worries. “Too bad I didn’t have my phone with me to take pictures.”

“Did I really look that bad this time?”

“No, not at all! It’s just you’re… you know?” He rubs the back of his head, green eyes not quite meeting yours. “You’re honestly really funny— not in a bad way of course.” For some reason, he looks a little anxious.

“So I guess I really was hungry this time.” You think that must be true by the way he’s acting. “Thanks for dropping me off, Bernard.”

"It was no big deal." Bernard says, putting his hand on your shoulder yet again. “But let’s get back to Julia and jerk-for-brains now!”

The warehouse is dead-silent when you get back, which makes you suspect that both Julia and Valjean are fast asleep; though, you can’t be entirely certain. Jumping up onto the loft, you find Matt sitting against the inner set of rails, looking like he wants to pass out.

“I’m buying myself a knife for this.” The words tumble out of his mouth.

“You gonna make it, Matt?” You ask in jest, but he still looks like he got hit by a bus.

“If I get more than six hours of sleep tonight maybe. Missed a good pizza party by the way— I don’t think I’ve seen anyone pack it in more than Valjean.” Matt tells you with a trollish smirk. “He gave Julia a run for her money, and Bernard and I were taking bets on who would stop first.”

“Well who won?” You ask, because this is very important information.

“Valjean. B had his money on Julia.” The smugness from your brother is palpable.

“But she’s a power-type mutants. Why shouldn’t she have won?” Bernard is still bemoaning his loss.

“Never underestimate the ability of a full-grown man to fit ten tons of food in his stomach.” Matt says sagely, and you know for a fact that when John wants to he could eat the whole fridge and then some.

>(1/?)

>>4414766

“Can I go home now? I want my beauty rest, and, the longer I lay here, the stiffer my back gets.”

“Hey— since when did you become such a princess?!” Bernard’s surprised at the amount of complaining he’s doing.

“Since I stayed up for thirty-two hours straight.” Matt quips back.

“Touché, mio fratello.”

“It’s ‘mon frére.’” Matt corrects reflexively.

“I still like ‘fratello’ though. Easier on the tongue.”

“K den.” It seems that Matt is too tired to care about anything else. “Now kindly take me home.”

Once they’re gone, it comes to your attention that they’d forgotten to leave you a sleeping bag. You really shouldn’t be sleeping (even though Julia and Valjean are both asleep; you looked for yourself), cause you still don’t really trust Valjean, and, even though Julia proved herself to be not completely brainwashed, you still don’t want to leave her around the Crux leader unattended.

You still have John to visit, and you wonder how you’re going to be cognizant for him if you plan to be awake all night.
You think an hour--maybe two— passes before all of that food you ate is weighing down on you like a ton of bricks. Your limbs feel leaden, and your eyes are drooping of their own accord. Stubbornly, you try to keep your eyes open by focusing on a point on the wall, but it stops working after a while.

It’s when you’re right on the verge of falling asleep that the familiar light of a teleport rouses you from your near-slumber. “Hey fish. I forgot to bring you this.” Bernard’s back with a sleeping bag.

You unfold it but don’t even bother to slip inside, because you’re too tired to do so. “…thanks.” You murmur, exhaustion prominent in your voice.

“Ellie, don’t tell me you’re fallin’ asleep on the job?” “I am.” You don’t deny it, because your brain-to-mouth filter is gone like Matt’s, and you snuggle deeper into the sleeping bag, though you shift back to your normal form so your fins don’t cut it up.

“Well…” Bernard doesn’t seem to have a good solution to keep you from falling asleep; you can’t drink coffee, and he can’t make noise, lest he wake up Valjean and Julia. “Want me to stay and keep watch with you?” It takes him a few seconds to ask you the question.

“I’d like that.” That’s all it takes for him to plop down on the end of your sleeping bag.

“Good. We can take turns then.” He says, and the blonde props his back against the back rails so he’s comfortable.

“Sounds good…” Your words are becoming slower with each passing second. “Wake me up in like an hour.” You tell him.

>(2/?)

Imma thread block tonight. Just realized what time it is.
Expect moar bad puns and jokes tomorrow. See you lads!

>>4414805
see you soon bro

slight delay. OP has some stuff to take care of before posting. I have most of it written though, so yeet!

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>>4414805

You don’t know when you fell asleep, but something poking you in the side rouses you from your slumber. “Hey Ellie. Rise and shine.”

“Whad—What time is it?” You blearily ask the owner of the voice, and, blinking open your eyes, you come to find it’s Matt, who’d been standing directly over you.

“Nine forty-five. You fell asleep on guard duty.” He tells you.

“But Bernard said he’d wake me up in an hour.” You want nothing more than to curl into your sleeping bag and never get up. “Where’d he go anyways?” You ask, looking around for the teleporter who’s no longer there. “And where’s everyone else?”

“On the ground. Now wake up, Ellie, so I can get down from here.” Your eyes slide close, and he pokes you with his foot again, this time harder. “Wake up before I start doing pull-ups on the rafters.”

“If you do…” Your eyes snap open, but you’re to tired to come up with a threat; even though he’s in no real danger with you and Bernard around, you still don’t want Matt doing that when you’re half asleep, because you don’t want to have to explain to John why and how he broke his legs.

“Too late!“ Matt crows, and then he’s up and over the guard rails. “I— am— swole— and— you— are— slow—“ His reps are cut off by you grabbing him by the arms and hefting him over your shoulders.

While you’re busy swinging your brother around like a ragdoll, you’re able to catch a good view of your fugitives: Valjean is back to that textbook— why he’d want it is still beyond you— while Julia’s busying herself by making small trinkets with her crystals. You suspect that the extent of that part of her ability is quite small, otherwise she would’ve been able to imprison you in crystal during both times you fought her.

“OW my stupid burn!” Matt’s now wriggling around to get free. “You’re aggravating my waist Ellie.”

“Ack—I totally forgot about that!” You immediately set him down.

“It’s fine. Still hurts like a bitch though.” He grumbles.
“What time do you want to go see John?” You ask lowly.

“Any time is fine, but visitor hours close at five-thirty or something. I looked while you were sleeping.” That’s plenty of time for you two to wait until Bernard wakes up, so you pass the spare time you have by looking at the additional construction supplies you have and discussing plans for them with Matt such as expanding your loft or fortifying the entryways in case some random squatters decide this is a good place to squat.

In the meantime, the former Crux leader is acting considerably less prickly today, which you count as a good thing (though you still don’t trust him).

>(3/?)

>>4415866

“Hey Ellie, I found a pipe in here.” Matt says, and, situated in the corner is a small pipe-drain system. Even though you’re not a plumber, you definitely see the potential in that. With a little trial-and-error, you could probably fix something up— you’re feeling rather confident with yourself after your success with the loft.

Once Bernard wakes up, he seems to have his usual energy, though you feel pretty bad for letting him take over your guarding shift like that.

Knowing him, he probably did it on purpose; because, if there’s one thing that Bernard is, it’s nice. Extremely so, and you’d totally expect him to do something like that. Mentally, you resolve to do something nice for him when you get the chance— and you will, because what kind of friend would you be if you didn’t?

For now, you need to get home so you can shower and change into something that doesn’t smell like seawater.

When you’re clean and dressed in something that you haven’t been wearing for the past two days, you feel quite good about yourself, and, as you steal a glance in Matt’s room, you notice that the only source of light is coming from a laptop that’s situation on his desk, and attached to the computer is a code. It looks like one Matt’s old laptops, and, if you had to fancy a guess, you’d say that Eddie’s changed his base of operations to that computer.

It looks like he’s coding something, judging by the rapid blue text lines crawling across the screen.

You haven’t really said anything to him since you brought him back to your place, but maybe you should so you can see what’s up with him.

>What do you do?
>See what Eddie’s up to.
>Don’t bother for him for now.
>write-in

>(4/4)

>>4415893
>See what Eddie’s up to.

Maybe we can have him set up an automated security system to watch Val real quick.

>>4415893
>See what Eddie’s up to.
We need to talk a little with our brother former friend

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>>4415952
>>4415909

“Eddie.” You call to the computer. “What are you doing in there?”

“Coding.” Eddie says succinctly. “But call me Ermac instead. I don’t want you to call me my real name by mistake.” That would raise some awkward questions for when John returns.

“So can you get back to your body the same way you got out of it? How does that exactly work?” Your curious as to how Eddie did that.

“My physical body just needs to touch a device in order for me to retransfer my consciousness.” He explains. “How is John’s condition?”

“Haven’t visited him yet.” You tell Eddie. “We’re going to do it pretty soon.” It’s kind of hard to tell what he’s thinking when there’s no face to look at, but you suspect that Eddie is rather upset about John getting hospitalized.

“I wish you didn’t fight him.” Eddie says after a few seconds, for lack of anything else to say. “John was never meant to be put on the field, but at least he won’t have to see another gun for a while.” As much as you hate John being injured, you can’t help but think that’s a positive. “Elise.” Eddie says very seriously. “By any chance would you know what happened to Clyde Thomson?” You’re pretty sure you know which Clyde he’s talking about.

“He tried to kill us all with Julia’s kill code— me, John, Pharos, himself— so I punched him in the face.”

“That bastard.” He seethes. “I can never understand why Doctor Charles would even think of making me work with him.”

“Cause he’s a psychopath who gets a rise out of other people’s sufferings.” You don’t mince your words.

“Did Matt tell you he still has my brother?” Eddie inquires. “You might’ve known him by Conduit; but his real name is Ernst.”

Conduit is Eddie’s brother? Come to think of it, their powers are vaguely similar; just like Bernard and his sister have powers that revolve around the displacement of their bodies, Eddie and Ernst have powers that revolve around the mental interaction with things.

“I don’t know what you said to him, but he’s not taking it well. He’s been wasting away ever since you broke into the containment center.” Eddie continues. “Tell me what you did to him.”

“I showed him my memory of Pharos admitting his power to Matt, and I thought that we could use that to break him free from Pharos’ control that way, since that’s how Blink and I broke free.” Eddie is silent for a few seconds, obviously turning over this newfound information.

“So now my brother’s on a downward spiral because everything he’d been told was a lie.” It must be worse for Ernst, given that he was the Crux’s bomb-maker; if what Eddie says is really true, then you can’t imagine how Ernst must be feeling now that he’s aware of his actions. “But I’m going to make it up to him when we get him out of there.”

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>>4416103

>”What kind of plan did you have in mind?”
>”In case we have to deal with Clyde again in the future, you wouldn’t happen to know any of his weaknesses, would you?”
>”What about the other mutants in the prison? Have there been any that have been acting the same as your brother?”
>write-in

mmmmm... there might not be a GET on that last post, but just look at the timing on it...

>>4416105

Last post for the night-- should be using my update twitter for stuff but have forgotten. Whoops. But see you next time!

also can you believe that Summer break's almost up? How many of you guys are doing online classes?

>>4416105
funny thing is that the time here is 2hrs
>”What about the other mutants in the prison? Have there been any that have been acting the same as your brother?”

>>4416105
>”What kind of plan did you have in mind?”
>”In case we have to deal with Clyde again in the future, you wouldn’t happen to know any of his weaknesses, would you?”
>”What about the other mutants in the prison? Have there been any that have been acting the same as your brother?”
All of them

>>4416105
>”What about the other mutants in the prison? Have there been any that have been acting the same as your brother?”

>>4416121
>>4416288
>>4416840

Remembering what you had done no less than two weeks ago, there’s still the fact that Conduit— Ernst, you remind yourself— was supposed to tell as many mutants as he could reach about Pharos’ power with your memory. Did he ever do that?

”What about the other mutants in the prison? Have there been any that have been acting the same as your brother?” You want to know if your plan worked at all.

“I wouldn’t be the one to ask.” Eddie tells you, much to your disappointment. “Direct handling of the mutants is left to the researchers, technicians, and Level E Personnel, and I don’t go to the containment center for any other reason but to visit my brother. I’m guessing you tried to use him to tell the other subjects about Pharos’ power with your memory.”

“We did.” You say, and then it becomes quiet, awkwardly so. It sounds like Eddie expected you to do something like that; well, Matt did say he was freakishly smart, so it’s not too far-fetched for Eddie to be able to deduce that quickly. Fre𝘢king geniuses.

“Is there something else you wanted?” The electronic voice breaks the silence. Nothing really comes to mind, except when your thoughts stray to later tonight when one of you three has to look after your fugitives again. That’s when you have an idea.

“Yeah. I was wondering if there was a way for you to make some sort of security system for Pharos and Julia— something we can use to keep track of them so we know if they try to escape.” Maybe you’re not as dumb as you thought you were.

“That would actually be simple. I could have it done by tomorrow ” Eddie says, and you would almost feel like jumping for joy if you wouldn’t shoot yourself through the ceiling on accident. “You’ll need to buy an Internet-ready camera for me to connect to, and then you can hide in back in the warehouse. I assume you’re still keeping them in the same place as you were before?” You nod to affirm. “Consider this my thanks for punching Clyde.”

You really don’t know how you can sustain your guard-duty plan on a long-term basis if said plan leaves at least one of you dead on their feet at all times.

“I’m going to begin the code then.” It seems like Eddie doesn’t feel like talking anymore. “I’d tell you to give John my regards, but that would be weird.” Eddie says. “One of these days, I’m going to get him a girlfriend, cause he really deserves one for everything FutureLabs has been putting him through. Then I want to go out for drinks like we used to.”

>be intellectual
>start getting ads for hot intellectual singles in my area
>dafuq.jpg
>be John

>>4417710
>start getting ads for hot intellectual singles in my area
I thought this would be a joke, not the actual selection

>>4417729

Fuck it is a joke. I forgot to put the >(1/?) sign whoopsies.