Session 99

Chancel_Amyra
Chapter 11

Random_Nerd: So, anything before we start?
Snow: Not from me!
Theresa: I have left the stuff from last week off of the wiki as it is super seeekret knowledge.
Theresa: Oh and Sara, I put up the rest of the Shadow Creek hospital episode.  :)
Brian_: I don't even really remember it :p This is good :p
Snow: Woot!
DanteE: I remember the main thing.... (muahhahhah)...
Theresa: So, when last we left off, we have a James. A James with a missing chunk of memory and new eye job.
Snow: Possibly covered in Snow-barf.
Random_Nerd: Okay, then, let's go.
DanteE: naah, he actually was Snow-barf
Brian_: this reminds me, I haven't actually read the session log yet :p
DanteE: ('Secret Origin: yarfed up by Pillar of the Universe.')
Random_Nerd: Ready?
Theresa: (There's a Frank Miller comic...)
Theresa: Ready.
Brian_: (or Moore)
Brian_: ready
Snow: ready!
DanteE: probably not, but let's go anyway
Random_Nerd: ____________START______________
Random_Nerd: James pulls himself out of the kiln.

• Snow scampers up to James in coyote-form.
  
• DanteE follows James...
  

Theresa: (Does he go plink like cooling ceramics?)
Random_Nerd: (Sure.)
Random_Nerd: J: "Okay, I think there must be something wrong here." *plink*
Brian_: (so we've got a Noble that goes "PLINK!"?)

• Snow dances around James. "Hiii!"
  

Random_Nerd: James looks oddly at Snow. "Am I supposed to know you?"
Theresa: "Wrong in what way? Or sense of the term?"
Snow: "Nope!"
Theresa: "Oh, yes. James, Power of Urbanization, meet Snow, our Sister, Power of Capriciousness."
Snow: "Nooooooooooow you are."
DanteE: "She's just friendly that way..."
Brian_: "She flicks her tail and flicks through forms."

• DanteE quietly says to Theresa "You do see the eyes, right?"
  

Random_Nerd: J: "But I don't seem to sound like me, and I'm not acting the way I'd expect to. Under the circumstances, even /I/ think I might be an Excrucian plant."
Brian_: "You're currently made of brick"

• Theresa murmurs back. "Yes. And commented on them to him. They _are_ awesome looking, though. The Aides are going to plotz."
  

Snow: "Don't look like a plant."
Theresa: (Darn it, I know there's a joke in there with Excrucian plant but I'm too tired to find it.)
Brian_: "Not that kind of plant, dear"
Random_Nerd: J: "Okay, so that's new too. Okay, am I even me? Or, rather, am I even James?"
Brian_: "You claim to be."
Theresa: "Not sure. Do you have a connection with Lesson still?"
Random_Nerd: Lesson suddenly stands up as close to straight as he can.
Brian_: "The best test, I suppose, is to try a direct Miracle?"
Random_Nerd: Lesson, in James' voice: "Yes, looks like."
Theresa: "Well, that covers some bases."
DanteE: "We're still in a warped-miracle zone
DanteE: "

• DanteE touches Lesson...
  
• Snow scampers around Lesson and James now, singing quietly to herself.
  

Brian_: "True"
Brian_: (... what does coyote-song sound like?)
DanteE: (Yip yip yip aroooo would be my guess.)
Theresa: ('coyote coyote coyote' if this game has presedence...)
Snow: (Heh, I was gonna say something realistic...but now she's singing "coyote coyote coyote" because that's awesome)
Brian_: (:D)
Brian_: (Happy X Noise is now "X X X!" for always)
DanteE: (SOmebody make a 'brick brick brick brick coyote coyote' flash animation quick...)
Random_Nerd: L: "That... does not feel good."
Theresa: "Standing like that? Or the mental contact?"
Random_Nerd: Lesson shrugs.
DanteE: (I thought he meant my touch)
Random_Nerd: L: "Contact. Also standing. But was talking about contact."
Random_Nerd: J: "Now, let's see. My first impression is to tell you not to trust me, since I'm fairly certain that whatever happened, I've been changed in ways I don't understand."
Random_Nerd: J: "But that seems like I'm trying to make myself seem trustworthy by saying that I'm not..."
Brian_: "So, uh, I guess ... wait a second." *pauses* "Ok, if the Cult was to scatter you about, then that means that they were trying to prevent your return."
Theresa: ("But of course, I would say...darn it, I need to type faster...()
Brian_: "Either way, we need to get back in-Chancel as soon as possible"
DanteE: "You sure about that?"
Brian_: (me?)
Theresa: "Or the bricks weren't connected really in any way and this was just a convenient way for James to reform. I mean, who wouldn't want a brick and blood facial?"
DanteE: Prayer to Brian: "The eyes, Brian..."
Brian_: (how about our boss saying "if you have contact with James, tell me IMMEDIATELY"?)
Random_Nerd: The broken bricks that make up James' body start to shift some, and he looks less like James than he did beforehand.
Brian_: "We need to get back in-Chancel, now. Trust me."
DanteE: (Do we want a potential Excrucian... whatever in Amyra, though?)
Brian_: (I would prefer in there, where we have Realm and Domain, than here, where we only have Domain)
Theresa: (Telling him immediately can be done via Realm Heart, Brian.)
Brian_: (... true, I'd forgotten)
Brian_: to the boss: "Sir, we have a being claiming to be James."
Random_Nerd: Kudzu: "Fuck. Ah, that is to say..."
Theresa: "Do you remember anything tween when you went Out and when you came back?"
Brian_: ttb: "It is able to jump into Lesson's head"
Brian_: ttb: "Request further instructions."
Random_Nerd: James: "Nope. But this obviously isn't then... oh, wait. Is this what being Outside is like? Things you remember, but they all seem twisted, and you do too?"
Random_Nerd: J: "...well, I'll put off the existential doubt for now, at least."
Brian_: "We don't know what it's like to be Outside. Can't answer"
Theresa: "Dunno. Apparently not that many people, if at all, actually come _back_ from being Outside."
Brian_: "I've heard stories that some do, but are just ... shells"
DanteE: (Question: wouldn't he get back the memories of before he was sent outside?)
Theresa: "Pun probably not intended."
Random_Nerd: Kudzu: "Bring it back to me, and try not to alarm it or make it suspicious... I don't recall now, did Urbanization have enough representation in the Heart that he can hear this?"
Brian_: (whose pun?)
Brian_: ttb: "Um. I don't know if I ever knew."
Brian_: ttb: "We'd be screwed if he could, I think."
DanteE: (I grabbed James' gear when he disasppeared)
Random_Nerd: Kudzu: "Just get him home."
DanteE: (So, it's in my office)
Snow: loudly, through the RH: HIIIII KUDZU!
Snow: (with quotes even, sorry)
Brian_: "Come on. We've got to get to the tower. The boss wants to welcome him home"

• Brian_ turns around and heads toward the car
  

Theresa: "What do we tell the Aides?"
Random_Nerd: Kudzu: "...hello, Snow. But I don't have time to play."
Brian_: "That we were recalled?"
Brian_: "I don't know"
Random_Nerd: James' brick-body reshapes itself a bit more.
DanteE: (reshapes to... what?)
Theresa: "I meant more about James. And should we leave behind the rest of this brick blood stuff?"
Brian_: "Um."
Brian_: "Can you wall it in with nigh-impregnable vines?"
DanteE: (Isn't that pretty much all in James-oid now?)
Random_Nerd: (Mostly, but not all.)
Random_Nerd: (And there were various bricks that they didn't even bring back.)
Theresa: (Are there any containers still hanging about in the factory? Preferably with lids?"
Theresa: )
Random_Nerd: (Some rather sturdy cardboard boxes...)
Theresa: (And preferably blood-proof?)
Random_Nerd: J: "Okay, let me see. Is there any way you guys can prove to me that you're really you, and this isn't some kind of weird metaphorical experience Outside?"

• Brian_ flashes a count from 10 down to 0 ... in one-second increments, as he walks toward the car
  

Theresa: "Well, Snow is really new. Hmm...well, do you remember Monty? Oh and I donated some fingers for wisdom." *wiggles8
DanteE: "I've tried perching where you sat for centuries and the view's not that great."
Random_Nerd: (Hmm. No watertight containers seem present, although I'm sure you could try stealing people's ziplock bags or something.)

• Theresa creates a waterproof wooden box with a sigh and collects what is left of the blood and brickbits. Nods to the giant. "You should probably come too. We'll heal up your arms."
  

Random_Nerd: Giant: "I don't want to be anywhere near you. Any of you. This is weird stuff, Outside stuff, and I stay away from that."

• Snow gives the Giant her Adorable eyes.
  

Random_Nerd: Giant: "...stop that!"
Theresa: "And the fact that your blood is involved?"

• Snow gives even more sad puppy-dog eyes.
  

Theresa: (Is that an Aspect gift?)
Snow: "I thought we could have fun...)
Brian_: (*sighs* *facepalm* the giant is going to think Snow's hitting on him ...)
Snow: (That is an excellent question. I don't know. I assume so. I whispered the stuff I have about it to RN.)
Random_Nerd: Giant: "I'm not saying you're /evil/. Just that you're dangerous, and involved in dangerous things. I stay alive by avoiding this kind of thing."

• Snow siiiighs.
  

Snow: "I /guess/...sounds /boriiing/..."
Random_Nerd: (It's Aspect-linked, but uses a miracle of Domain. It's based on Glorious.)
Theresa: "Where will you go?
Theresa: "
Random_Nerd: Giant: "Somewhere far away from all of you, maybe far away from humans if I can manage it."
Snow: "You wanna go to the bunny moon?"
Random_Nerd: Giant: "Even though it doesn't seem like the Moon that doesn't like me... I'm not comfortable with moons."

• Snow looks thoughtful.
  

Brian_: "We have hamburgers?"
Snow: "Why don't you hide on a cloud? Stay with the sun all day?"
DanteE: "If we go to Amyra I can heal you immediately. And we can continue on our little quest to find whoever did this."
Snow: "'round and 'round, never see the moon."
Random_Nerd: The giant looks at Snow for a moment. "Okay, I'll come, but you have to agree to let me back out into the real world if I want."

• Snow shrugs.
  

Snow: "I'm just sayin', you don't have to come with us. But if you want a way to not see the moon, that's it."
Snow: "The, uh, cloud thing, I mean."
Brian_: (... he's Non-Miraculous. Therefore, we have to make him come if he doesn't want to, and we do want to. Or else we can be highly screwed)
Theresa: (He's the kid of an Imperator.)
Random_Nerd: (Beg pardon? I don't quite see what you're saying.)
Snow: (Me or Brian?)
Random_Nerd: (Brian.)
Brian_: (me, I think. I'm just thinking of the whole "don't take shit from non-Nobles" bit)
DanteE: ah
Brian_: (but then, when do we ever pay attention to the Laws? :p)
Random_Nerd: (As the kid of an Imperator, he's in something of a grey area as far as that Law goes.)
Brian_: (My reading is that it applies to sub-Noble stuff. He's not even Noble class. Therefore.)
Brian_: (or, rather, that's the pessimistic approach)
Brian_: (which is also the CYA approach)
Random_Nerd: (It mainly seems to deal with humans, specifically, and by extension human-equivalent beings.)
Theresa: "Wouldn't we have been worrying about that earlier when he was calling me a beast and other names?"
Theresa: )
Theresa: (Sorry, ( ) around that. My brain seems to begone tonight.)

• Snow looks up at the Giant.
  

Snow: "You called Theresa names?:
Snow: "
Theresa: (She didn't say that outloud.  :) My bad typing.)
Brian_: (we did talk about it, and I think we concluded that we could apply threefold, but if we did, it could be loopholed into us being wrong. Well, whichever way we go on any of these Laws concerning him, we could be highly screwed anyway)
Snow: (Ah, retcon then.)
Random_Nerd: Giant: "Don't like humans. Modern humans, at least."
Random_Nerd: Giant: "If you can even call them humans."
Brian_: "Come on, guys, get in the car!"
Theresa: "We'll let you out into the real world if you want." *makes sure she gets as much of the blood and brick in as possible*

• Brian_ seems a little impatient, to anyone who's capable of figuring that out :p
  
• Snow shakes her head sadly. "Oh, /Giant/..."
  

Random_Nerd: James walks, in a somewhat preoccupied way, towards the car."
Random_Nerd: (Err, no ")

• Theresa will head to the car.
  

Random_Nerd: Giant: "Look, you're an animal, but at least you aren't calling yourself a human being. That's better than the rest of them."
DanteE: to Theresa: "Is that disaster on the horizon, or am I just being paranoid?"
Snow: "They can't help what they are. And they try really hard. Saying all people are bad is iggerant."
Theresa: "Yes."

• Snow ignores the others in favour of her conversation with the Giant
  

Brian_: (is snow in the car?)
Random_Nerd: Giant: "Bad, maybe not, but they go around with their animal blood and call themselves humans. I remember what the real humans were like, and the ones you get now just seem... in poor taste."
Snow: (Not unless the Giant went in while I wasn't looking.)

• Theresa will hold her box in her lap on the ride home and will wait for the whatever it is to leap out of it for her throat.
  

Brian_: (*nods*)
Snow: (Whatever, Snow's with the giant.)
Random_Nerd: James gets to the car, but seems to be too busy working out his "Am I really me, and is this really happening" ponderings to actually get in.
Snow: "But why're you mean to them? It's not their fault they are what they are."
Random_Nerd: The giant reluctantly follows the others.
Random_Nerd: Giant: "What's wrong with calling them what they are?"
Brian_: "Snow, come on to the car. We'll have food once we get back ... pizza, burgers, anything you want"
Snow: "But your'e not. You're being mean to them. What's my name?"

• DanteE hops in the car...
  

Random_Nerd: Giant: "I don't remember. I... don't think much about names."

• Snow headtilts.
  
• Theresa gets in. "Come on, James, you can ponder existence in air conditioning."
  

Snow: "Maybe you're just new at this stuff. My name's Snow. What's yours?"
Random_Nerd: Giant: "I don't have a name."
Random_Nerd: James gets inside.

• Theresa gives a weary smile at the Aides.
  

Snow: "You gotta have a name. Or a smell, or a taste. They call me Snow but my name's really--" *ghost smell of snow melting in spring* "--so what name do you think of when you think of yourself?"
Random_Nerd: William and Samuel both look very oddly at James.
Random_Nerd: Sam: "Okay, you guys are signed up for the Monster Of The Week Club, aren't you?"
Random_Nerd: Giant: "I don't need a name to think about myself. I know who I am."
Brian_: "It feels like years have gone by ... I can't remember if you two have met our brother James, returned in a different form"
DanteE: "Kudzu signed us up"
Random_Nerd: Sam suddenly reverses the direction of his swirling-in-place.

• Snow sniffs Giant to get his scent.
  

Brian_: "Snow, if you want food, you better get in the car"
Snow: "There. It's good to know who you are, but it's good for other people to know who you are too. I'll remember now."
Random_Nerd: William: "Ah. I see. I don't believe we've had the chance to meet you yet. My name is William, and this is my associate Samuel."
Snow: (Is the Giant in the car?)
Brian_: (I got the impression that he got /to/ the car, but not /in/ :p Like, chatting while leaning on it :p)
Random_Nerd: (The Giant crawls into the back, leaning far to one side of the interior.
Random_Nerd: )
Snow: (Whatever, wherever he is, Snow is.)
Random_Nerd: Lesson crawls into the back, scowling slightly more than usual and trying to fit himself into the space not occupied by the giant.
Brian_: "Snow, I can't remember, have we fed you chicken wings yet?"
Theresa: "These are our Aides, James. They've been quite helpful while we've been straightening out the Chancel. Lesson has been extremely helpful as well with his organization."
Snow: "So I'll--what? I don't know. You don't feed me."
DanteE: (Those aren't Buffalo Wings, are they? :) )

• Brian_ will get his cell phone out, ready to order vast quantities of munchies when we get back in town :p
  
• DanteE drives off once everyone's aboard
  

Random_Nerd: William takes on the facial expression of someone who has heard little about James, nearly all of it ominous.
Snow: "Aaaannnnyway," Snow says, turning her attention back to the Giant, "I have decided that you are new to dealing with people. And that is why you sound mean. You're like a grumpy badger in the spring."
Snow: (Snow sounds friendly and concerned this entire time, btw.)
Random_Nerd: Giant: "I have been dealing with people for longer than any contemporary civilization has existed."
Snow: "So?"
Random_Nerd: Giant: "Often by running away from them, eating them, or hitting them with rocks. But those are ways of dealing with people."
Snow: "Well, /some/ people. Not /all/ people."
Snow: "Some people need bricks thrown at them."
Random_Nerd: Giant: "Bricks are too small. Rocks come in various sizes."

• Snow nods solemnly.
  

Theresa: (Bricks are civilized rocks.)
Snow: "Still, maybe these aren't the humans you knew before, but that doesn't mean they're better or worse. Just different."
Random_Nerd: Giant: "The humans I knew were miraculous beings one step away from godhood. These things have so tiny a fragment of humanity among their animal ancestry that I would have to use complicated forms of notation to describe how small it is."
DanteE: (OK, are we back in Kaerkoven so whatever the HG's planning can hit?)
Random_Nerd: (Cutting to there works for me.)
Theresa: (Fine with me.)
Snow: "So what? You're all hung up on this silly thing. Just because it's the same word to describe two things doesn't mean they're the /same/ or that it's /bad/ that they're /not/."
Snow: (Sorry, good.)
Brian_: (sure)

• Brian_ calls up the pizza place, places an order for lots of chicken wings and several pizzas
  

Random_Nerd: Standing directly outside of the Tower is Red, looking about as nervous and out of place as a giant animate tree can.
Random_Nerd: Cars are backed up for some ways away due to his roots blocking the road, and a cow wanders aimlessly along the sidewalk.

• Theresa smiles at the sight and will wait for the car to stop before getting out. Will leave box in Dante's car.
  
• DanteE checks the area by ghosting a letter opener into existence...
  

Random_Nerd: The miracle seems to take place without any interference.
DanteE: (Brian: OK, but what will the rest of us eat? :) )
Random_Nerd: Giant: "What would you think if all the... what are you, again?"
Brian_: (Snow seems to be polite enough to allow us to claim some food :p)
DanteE: "/Nobles/".

• DanteE heals the giant with a thought...
  
• Snow shrugs.
  

Random_Nerd: (The giant has anchor-like immunity to direct miracles.)
Random_Nerd: Giant: "Her. The shapeshifter.
Random_Nerd: "
Snow: (His wounds are external, right?)
Theresa: (But the healing plants from the police station are indirect healing, yes?)
Snow: "Me?"
Theresa: "She's a Noble too. Also a coyote."

• Snow nods.
  

Random_Nerd: (Yeah, those would work, as their effects are mundane.)
Random_Nerd: Giant: "Well, if all the coyotes in the world died, and in there place, someone left some vaguely quadraped soap carvings with 'coyote' written on them, how would you feel?"
Snow: "I'd be sad all the coyotes were gone. You're asking if I'd be angry that the soap coyotes weren't the old coyotes though, yes?"
Random_Nerd: Giant: "Yeah."
Theresa: "Someone send a runner to the police station and get some of the healing leaves from the plant I left there. i don't think the cutting at the hospital is at full potency yet."
Snow: "I wouldn't be angry at the soap coyotes. Maybe they'd turn out really neat and fun!"
DanteE: "Theresa, you moved that to the college's bio lab, remember?"
Random_Nerd: A bunch of the abandoned cars near Red's feet pull themselves together into one huge figure that looks vaguely like a cross between a junkyard and an offbrand Voltron.
Random_Nerd: Giant: "They're made of soap! Soap isn't generally neat and fun!"
Theresa: "No, I'm sure I would have sent it to the hospital first...the biologists can take their cuttings once the greenhouse is ready... oh, hello Boss."
Random_Nerd: The giant pulls himself out of the vehicle, and starts pacing.
Random_Nerd: Kudzu: "Where is he?"

• Theresa gets out and talks to Red. "Hi Red! How are you?"
  
• Snow laughs. "Soap makes bubbles and gets all slippery and it can disappear in water and coyotes can't do that."
  

DanteE: "And somewhere several insurance adjusters' heads explode..."

• Snow paces with the Giant.
  

Random_Nerd: Red: "Do you know why I'm here? The Big Boss said I had to come here and look scary."
Random_Nerd: Red: "Do you think Bessie will be okay?"
Random_Nerd: Red twitches his brances.
Random_Nerd: (Err, branches.)
Brian_: (11PM. I'm about done. *zonk*)
Random_Nerd: Red: "That /is/ an appropriate name for a cow, isn't it?"
DanteE: "James, come on out..."
Random_Nerd: Giant: "But they'd just keep reminding you of how alone you feel, how the real ones aren't there..."
Theresa: "I think the Boss is nervous about us bringing someone here to the Chancel. And I think it's a _fine_ name for your cow, Red." *smile* "Do you feel like you're looking scary?"
Snow: "Are you human, Giant?"
Random_Nerd: James gets out as well, and the animate heap of cars bends down to look at him.
Brian_: (Optimus Prime!)
Random_Nerd: Giant: "Nearly a third of the way human. My mother was mostly a real human, I believe."

• Theresa will LC a note on the desk of the person nearest the healing plant to bring a basket of the leaves to the Tower. Now. Signed, Theresa.
  

Random_Nerd: The note appears on the desk.
DanteE: (Ah, you can magic them here for free?)
Random_Nerd: May take a while for them to get to you, though, because of the gridlock.
Theresa: (Ah, good point.)

• Theresa now has some healing leaves!
  

Snow: "That's sad." And Snow does, indeed, look very sad.
Snow: "It's not their fault though."
Brian_: ('night guys.)
Random_Nerd: (G'night.)
Theresa: (Night, Laz. *HUG*)
Random_Nerd: Kudzu: "I'm... It looks like James, at least mostly. And you said it could take over the demon?"
Snow: (About there myself too.)

• • • Brian_ has signed off IRC (Disintegrated: Leaving.).
      

Theresa: "Hey Snow, Giant, these leaves should be able to take care of those broken bones."
Random_Nerd: Red pats the wandering cow with an immense prehensile root.

• Snow encourages some wayward breezes to bring the leaves in her general direction.
  

Random_Nerd: The cow looks mildly puzzled, but cows often look that way anyway.
DanteE: "Yes, it could... so it seemed."
Random_Nerd: Kudzu: "Do you believe that this is actually him?"
DanteE: (Did James say he remembered Kudzu sending him outside?)
Theresa: "How have you been doing, Red? What have you been doing, out with Bessie?"
Snow: (I'm gonna head out. Last words from the Giant?)
Random_Nerd: Red rumbles: "I've been talking to the people who got turned into trees."
Theresa: "Oh? Sharing experiences?"
Random_Nerd: Giant: "My father was an angel. Him I know, at least distantly. My mother died in childbirth."
DanteE: "... don't know, chief"
Random_Nerd: Red: "Well, the humans that are good at talking to emotionally confused humans thought that it might help them have someone to relate to. Even though I was never a human."
Random_Nerd: Giant: "That's why I don't have a name, neither of them gave me one."
Theresa: "True, but you have had experience with dealing with being in a world that isn't like how you knew before."
Theresa: (Kudzu should give him one!)
DanteE: (Kudzu would give him a random noise)
Random_Nerd: Kudzu: "Now, I think there's a good way to deal with this... but is it a trap? Would They have expected me to act the way I usually do... no, no. Don't second-guess Strategists, it doesn't work."
Snow: (We'll discuss names next session. :) G'night all!)
Random_Nerd: Kudzu: "James! Come to me, now. If you are really yourself, you will not be meaningfully hurt in any lasting way."
Random_Nerd: (Later, Sara.)
Theresa: (Night, Sara!)

• • • Snow has left #nobilis.
      

Theresa: (*raises eyebrow at Kudzu/GM*)
Random_Nerd: James nervously walks up to the junkyard figure. His wings, which seem little more than vestigial bricky flippers, twitch a bit as he walks.
DanteE: (Humongous Plot Point approaching, brace yourselves)
Random_Nerd: The assemblage of cars hurls itself all around James, swallowing him up inside it. For a moment, you see him trapped within a green VW Bug, and then the mass of cars dives into the ground like a vehicular sandworm.
Theresa: "Oh dear."
DanteE: "Didn't know he could do that..."
Random_Nerd: It seems to burrow very deep indeed, and leaves a hole roughly twenty yards wide and quite deep.
Theresa: "We just fixed the holes from Monty! The roads budget are already stretched thin!"

• DanteE looks down the hole
  

Random_Nerd: The hole goes down about a hundred and fifty yards, and then curves to one side, like a worm's burrow.

• Theresa looks at Dante. "Want to race?"
  

Random_Nerd: A few bits of gravel around one side pull themselves up into a short figure.
DanteE: "Not yet... yeah chief?"
Random_Nerd: Kudzu: "Now, don't worry. He's not dead, just... consumed, for the time being. I devour bits of myself all the time, this is nothing unusual."
Random_Nerd: K: "Okay, that's not true. But still."
DanteE: "You ... temporarily ... ate him."
Theresa: (Without ketchup. The fiend!)
Random_Nerd: K: "This way, I know exactly where he is, and if I need to digest him and put his soulshard in another Urbanization, it will be easier."
Theresa: "If you're going to eat me, Boss, can you give me a little heads-up time so I can make sure that stuff happens okay while I'm devoured?"
Random_Nerd: K: "I'll agree to that if you agree not to try to run away."
DanteE: "What effect would that have if he's actually Excrucian, though?"
Theresa: "It's a deal, Boss."
Random_Nerd: K: "I don't know. I've never eaten a full Excrucian. Shards just seem to digest normally, though."
Random_Nerd: (Mind if we stop here? I figure there's probably one session more's worth on this storyline, but I'm not sufficiently brainful to tie things up properly.)
DanteE: "You intend to /digest/ him?"
Theresa: "You've digested Shards before?"
Theresa: "We should have had Snow save you a doggie bag from Mexico."
Random_Nerd: K: "I intend to have him correctly placed in case I choose to digest him."

• DanteE hmms.
  

Random_Nerd: K: "What's wrong with eating Excrucians? And if he turns out to be the real thing, I'll spit him out, no harm done."
DanteE: "...oh.
Random_Nerd: Red: "Okay, this is rather unsettling."
DanteE: "All right, just wanted to check that last part."

• DanteE is deliberately trying not to think about this too much because his head hurts when he tries that...
  

Theresa: *to Red* "Because of the digestive tract talk?"
DanteE: "Can you fill this hole, by the way? It's blocking the route to the tower."
Random_Nerd: Kudzu: "I'm practically the living embodiment of autocannibalism. If that were an Estate, there's no way it wouldn't be mine. This is the sort of thing I /do/."
Random_Nerd: K: "Eh. Filling in the hole sounds boring. I have people to do that kind of thing. And as it turns out, you're them."
Random_Nerd: The Kudzu-figure turns back to scattered gravel.
Random_Nerd: (Anyone want to do anything before we stop for the night?)
DanteE: (Just gibber for a few minutes. Oh, wait, you mean the character... :) )

• Theresa will fill in the hole with roots.
  

Random_Nerd: (I wasn't originally planning to end things this way, but when I thought about it, it seemed impossible that Kudzu would do anything /other/ than eat James.)
DanteE: (Well, there's still the cult influence back in Aniseed...)
Random_Nerd: (True. There are still loose ends, so this storyline isn't /quite/ finished. But nearly so, I suspect.)
Random_Nerd: The roots fill the hole. As they do, Red jerks two of his roots out that he had been feeling it with, withdrawing them fast enough not to get caught in the now-filled hole.
Theresa: (We have the box of blood/bricks in Dante's car. Oh, wait, the Aides are still in there too! Box: *RAWR*)
Theresa: "Find anything interesting, Red?"
Random_Nerd: Red: "No... but I put roots into gaps in the ground. It's a tree thing, you wouldn't understand."
Random_Nerd: R: "Okay, I guess you would."

• Theresa smiles. "Yeah."
  

Random_Nerd: (And that seems as good a place to stop as any.)
Random_Nerd: ______________________STOP__________________________
DanteE: (Yep.)

• • • You are now known as BethE.
      

Random_Nerd: So, thoughts?
DanteE: Weeeeeeeird. :)

• • • DanteE is now known as Knockwood.
      

BethE: Cool!
BethE: And the prediction that Kudzu ate James..is finally fulfilled!
Random_Nerd: I know that this current storyline has been a bit less... player-agency-ish? The idea is to set up some stuff for later on, but I think the execution has been lacking some.
Random_Nerd: Indeed! Clearly, you guys are prophets!
BethE: And it was nice seeing Red.
Random_Nerd: What did you guys like most and least about this one?
Knockwood: Hm... well, gotta figure we'll eventually... whoops, shouldn't say. :)
Knockwood: Brian took my place as He Who Moves The Bleedin' Plot
BethE: This session or this 'episode'?
Random_Nerd: Both, really.
Random_Nerd: (And it's fine to be critical. I need to know what doesn't work, so I can improve.)
BethE: This episode has seemed disjointed. But I think it's because we've been hit with missing people and my surgetry, not your fault. I liked seeing new people. New problems. I felt like I wasn't much help in this one, though. I mean, all I did was break a guy's arms and he wasn't really doing anything wrong.
Knockwood: OK, Kudzu arguably played Deus Ex Machina again
BethE: (I know, dear.  :) I say the same thing in Shadowcreek.)
BethE: Not completely. The Aides saw James and it'll hit the gossip train soon.
BethE: Liked seeing Red and Kudzu again best in this one. I also liked the fact that Kudzu said he's digested Shards before.
Random_Nerd: Hmm. And what in particular about Kudzu's actions bothered you?
Knockwood: We're wondering "OK, how do we deal with 'James'?" Then... Kudzu eats him!
Random_Nerd: Well, I figured that this would make the problem still exist.
Random_Nerd: For one thing, it's entirely possible that this is not a good thing. I mean, if you were trying to trap Kudzu, getting him to eat some part of himself would be a logical approach.
BethE: Also, if you were trying to prove that he is a Mimic or simpathizer, well, how easy to get a message from Outside by 'eating' the messenger. Heck, we don't even know he really ate James.
Knockwood: he ate something created by the blood (and bile) of a Noble and a half-angel. And bricks.
Random_Nerd: And it's something that looks decidedly weird to the Sight, and has at least some signs of being Excrucian-tainted.
Random_Nerd: The intended reaction, at least, was less "Thanks for solving our problem, Kudzu!" and more "Oh. Uh... this could be bad."
BethE: I agree with the bad. But it's not like we can smack him on the nose, stick a finger down his throat and make him cough James back up.
Random_Nerd: Eh, I don't know. I'll try to have Kudzu do less such things in the future.
Random_Nerd: Anything else?
BethE: Not I. I think my brain just crawled out into the living room.
Knockwood: We should speed things up next time, damn it. Too much time not typing. :)
BethE: Night, Knock. *HUG*
Knockwood: g'night Beth
Random_Nerd: G'night, Knock.
Random_Nerd: I go sleep now. Braaaiiins.
Knockwood: g'night RN

Chancel_Amyra
Chapter 11