Board 8 > The Notes of Cain, Topic 3 [CYOA]

(+) Yeah! (+)

New Character: Cait
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https://imgur.com/aFcXvYh

more promo!
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Yay Moth!~ <3
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it'll all "bee" okay
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I guess I should vote huh? Uh...

A

????

leone - 111111
enoch - 111
kidd - 0

I also decided on the name but you can keep suggesting more if you want to feel bad when I don't choose your submission
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outline for 23 done but I can't really decide on a chapter name. also I probably won't have enough time to finish writing and posting the whole chapter tonight anyway. really bugging me that I can't think of a chapter name, though!
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MariaTaylor posted...

outline for 23 done but I can't really decide on a chapter name. also I probably won't have enough time to finish writing and posting the whole chapter tonight anyway. really bugging me that I can't think of a chapter name, though!

http://alexanderlozada.com/iasip/?IkFsbCBZb3VyIEZhdm9yaXRlIENoYXJhY3RlcnMgRnVja2luZyBEaWUi
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haha I wonder if that's true

does anyone have a favorite character in the story who hasn't died yet?
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MariaTaylor posted...

haha I wonder if that's true

does anyone have a favorite character in the story who hasn't died yet?

Big A (don't care if he's officially named Valter. He's Big A to me)
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ah yeah THE BIG GUY is probably the most 'main' character left despite not appearing for several chapters now. he's been in the most artworks I've done, pretty sure he has appeared in the most chapters overall though I could be wrong about that, and he's the only character (edit: only human character) from the first chapter that is still alive. I wouldn't be surprised if more than a few count him among their favorites either -- he's also had essentially one of the most badass moments so far. hell, he might even hold the top 2 or 3 spots for badass moments.

and he has his own giant angel waifu. what more could a character ask for?
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Clearly to chill with his angel waifu in super Heaven after everything, blessed by the head goddess lady
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Valter and Ermine bro for me.
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anyone like Leone? I would say he's probably my favorite character right now... literally author bias...
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Leone is definitely up there for me. He's A-tier where the other two are S-tier.
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<3
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B

Valter and Aaron are probably my favorite living characters. Leone and Zeph are also great.
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Mine is of course Valter. Honestly didn't expect him to make it this far really haha
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Valter and Aaron are probably my favorite living characters, with Kidd and Zeph coming close.
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hmm I ended up going out and doing some stuff with a friend today. I might not be in the mood to write before I start wanting to go to bed or just relax for the night. we shall see how things go in the next few hours.
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https://imgur.com/mVVO55B

hmmm
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Entry 23: Scratching The Inside

"Go forth, my guiding light." It was a woman's voice from a place outside of his skull, speaking now. Not to him, but through him. "Shine with such intensity that they cannot perceive." If that was true, if he couldn't see it, then he'd probably never find his way home, right?

This ship was going to keep sailing on open waters, and-

Leone's eyes opened. It was like a shock, like being hit in the face with water. They widened and his vision narrowed to a single point. Then he realized that there was something in the air around him. Tiny specks of light, like spores released from the wings of an insect.

Like they had drawn from the flower and taken flight.

Owen stumbled forth, falling to one knee, but caught himself by thrusting his hand forward. His palm, spread open wide, was all that was holding him up. His back heaved with deep, strained breathing. His glasses had fallen to the ground and, facing away from him, reflected the light backwards at Leone.

"What did you see?" Owen asked.

Leone didn't want to talk about it. The flaying horrors of the mind were something he'd rather bury in that moment, and focus on what was going on ahead of him. While he was scratching the inside of some illusion frantically, trying to break free, he saw a symbolic vision; his brother as a great and terrible monster. He'd seen it ripped apart. And he couldn't reconcile his reaction to those images. "I'd rather not," was all Leone said in reply. "What... is going on here?"

A part of him was still scratching at the inside of his own mind.

There was a pulsing mat of hair blanketing Owen's head now. Almost as if his hair had formed a helmet to protect his mind. The tendrils that extended from his forehead were swaying back and forth as ripples of invisible energy continually pulsed through the corridor they were-

Corridor? No... wait. Hadn't they been in a room? What was this place...?

"I'm trying to shield-... To protect everyone, but..." Owen opened his mouth, slurring his words. Saliva and drool slipped outward, falling to the molded carpet beneath him. "It's all I can do to keep them alive. I could barely divide my focus enough to wake you up."

As Leone's sense began to return he started to get a picture of what was going on here. What was real, and how much of that had been an illusion. Glancing over his shoulder he saw the ruined doors, thrown aside. After opening those he must have walked through into this open passage.

Rather, it looked more like some kind of long and rectangular room. A portrait hall with trophies, ribbons, relics, and paintings hung on the walls. Everything here was molded over and in disrepair, just like the rest of the estate. It was nothing like the illusion he had been shown moments ago. There was no finery here, and no sign of the old man who had shown himself and claimed his title as Avel de Contelard.

But, there were probably-

Yes, Leone turned back the other way and heard the sound of growling. "We're not alone," he pointed out.

"Yeah..." Owen seemed to agree. "That's why I need -you-."

Leone was starting to understand what was happening, then. It sounded like Owen was using all of his power to shield them against some kind of invisible, psionic threat. Meanwhile, that enemy commander was sending monsters to attack, maim, and probably kill the group while they were stunned.

Looking back through the open door he saw his allies scattered around in a daze. There was no defensive positioning and no sense of awareness of their surroundings. It took every ounce of Owen's ability to shield them from being instantly killed -- there was nothing he could do to break them free from the visions that overwhelmed them.
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Jen had drawn her sword but was holding it outward while examining her surroundings frantically. It was almost as if she couldn't see the enemies that she must be imagining right now. That was probably for the best. If she stepped forward and began lashing out with that weapon it was likely to hit one of her own companions.

Meanwhile, Kidd had thankfully dropped his gun while trying to pry it free with his injured hand. The saving grace here was that if he had started shooting it blindly into the corridor there was a guarantee of friendly fire. Instead, the gunslinger seemed to -think- that he was still holding it, but was instead firing an imaginary gun at the invisible assailants in his mind.

Past there, Leone saw two hairy creatures creeping forward through the darkness. They looked exceptionally cautious but certainly capable of performing deadly attacks if given the chance. Once they were done lurking and prepared to strike they'd be able to kill these dazed companions with ease.

Counting the sounds coming from the corridor ahead, Leone knew this was going to be trouble.

"I can't do this alone," he told Owen. "I just-... I can't." He wasn't strong enough to take on multiple attacks in an open melee like this. And defending from both sides at once? There were few who could do that. Fewer who could do it while injured and only using one hand.

"I'm trying to wake up Enoch," Owen said. "You'll have to... Wait..."

Owen's right eye had began to twitch and there was some kind of flattening force that was trying to crush his skull from the outside. He pushed himself halfway to his feet, raising a hand and clenching it into a fist. Then, even as the attack was repelled, he slipped and fell forward.

Whether Leone could make sense of such a combat it was clear that Owen was busy.

"Fine," Leone said. There was no time to argue, regardless. If he stood around here complaining about the situation he'd be leaving his friends unguarded. All he could do was slip back through those doors quietly and wait to attack.

One of those hairy little beasts had seemingly gotten brave and slithered forward into a position close to Aaron. It had a hand raised forward, claws extended, and was moving them toward the throat of the lancer.

Leone grimaced and reached for his knife. Here, now, in this moment, was where it had all paid off. All the times when he reached with the wrong hand and then corrected himself. The way he forced himself to practice, volunteering to do any task that he could, so that he could get used to doing things with one hand. He had made mistakes over the past two days, sure, but the best way to learn was by making mistakes.

And, in this one instant where it counted, he didn't hesitate at all.

He didn't lose a second of time by taking the wrong actions or doing it the way he was used to before.

Reaching across his belt he slid one of his flat knives free, gripping it between his fingers, with the handle pressed inward against his palm. Then, almost hopping forward, he twisted his hips and threw his entire upper body forward with the momentum of his entire stride.

As his arm came down he held onto the tip of the blade until the last moment. And, rather than throwing it, he let it slide of his palm and forward. The weapon was slung through the air in a measured half turn... the handle spinning down and then back toward Leone...

And, at the final moment of its arc, it struck the enemy -- blade first -- right in the eye.
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While Leone stumbled into a standing position the enemy toppled over backward. Nothing was going to survive a clean shot to the brain. Nothing. His prying knife was already drawn and in his hand before the other foe noticed him and rounded on him.

This one wasn't suitable for throwing but it had a blade about as long as possible while not restricting his movements at all. Due to the low weight of the blade he could move it cleanly as an extension of his own arm. Using that to his advantage, he pointed the trusting weapon at the enemy and stared it down.

The foe bent its legs, going into a crouching position, and wobbled forward. Its lips twitched, showing sharpened fangs, and it glared up at Leone from there.

Then, without warning, it vaulted into the air and jumped straight for Leone. The enemy pulled back its claws and prepared for a downward slash upon impact.

Leone, taking advantage of that motion, lunged forward. The enemy had made a mistake in drawing back its primary weapons. Doing that created a wind up motion to its attack, and it meant that the slash would be delayed. As long as Leone moved in and made his strike at the enemy first he could at least draw first blood -- and possibly interrupt that action.

Because of the quick attack and the enemies trajectory through the air, it made landing an exact blow impossible. Leone aimed it as best he could at the enemy torso. But, in the end, he had gotten unlucky. His prying knife got stuck on the rib of the enemy instead of going straight through into its abdomen and piercing its organs.

As the creature landed on Leone, its heavy body knocked him to the ground. Without a free hand to defend himself Leone could only thrust his elbow outward to try and deflect the incoming slash. Perhaps because this motion was unexpected, because most would try to use their hand to defend, the enemy was somewhat caught off guard.

The clawed hand was knocked aside just enough that it landed in the wooden floor beside Leone's head. The enemy, its claws now stuck in the floorboards. Reared back and prepared its other claws for a secondary slash.

"You didn't learn your lesson, did you?!" Leone shouted. He ripped the prying knife free and thrust upward again. This time, at close range, and expecting the follow up attack, he had plenty of room for error. He went right for the vulnerable and exposed throat of the enemy.

This knife wasn't made for slashing, either. It was made for thrusting. Because of that reason it punched a hole directly into the neck of the enemy and touched his spinal cord at the back of his throat. When Leone pulled it out, blood dribbled out of the hole.

The corpse on top of him went limp and was easy to push aside.

As Leone started to get back up he craned his neck back and saw that one of these furry humanoids had appeared in the adjoining passage. It was on its hands and feet both, charging slowly with four limbs, and looking prepared to do a tackling attack on Owen once it reached him.

Then, as Leone turned and began to push himself back to his feet, he noticed a third had entered this passage with him. Its face was exceptionally close to his. And he was in no position, with no proper balance, to defend himself. He couldn't see its claws but he could imagine a few vital places where those might be. Ready to be closed into a fist, constricted, and then pulled back to rip out a mortal ribbon of flesh.

"You gotta be-"

CRUNCH!

Enoch's boot slammed into the side of the enemy skull, cracking it, and pushing the enemy down to the ground. The creature was struggling beneath him, but he drew a short sword from a holster on the side of his leg and thrust it downward to kill the enemy.

"Enemies," Leone started.
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"I know," Enoch replied. "Knife."

Leone rolled over and, with a flick of his wrist, drew two of his knives and threw them in a half turn motion. This would keep them suspended in the air for a moment and make the handles easy to grasp at. Taking two of them out with his knuckles was the best he could do, restricted to one hand, but he figured that Enoch should be able to catch at least one of them and make use of it.

To his surprise, Enoch snatched one knife in mid air and then, as he began to spin, caught the other one. Once the second knife was in his grasp he stopped his spinning motion, facing Owen, and threw the first knife he had caught. It shot through the narrow gap in the open doorway, surprisingly difficult to hit at this angle, and almost seemed to curve as it slammed into the side of the monster's skull.

The foe that had been approaching Owen was knocked off of its feet in a spray of blood.

Then, folding the original knife into a proper throwing grip, Enoch turned to Leone and yanked him back to his feet.

"... My thanks." Leone said. He saw a returned but quiet nod from the other man as Enoch was still examining the area. Likely, Enoch was still somewhat confused and trying to make sense of his surroundings. "I think this hall is clear, do you mind waiting here a moment and protecting the others?"

It was easier than trying to explain things to Enoch all over again, since that would take time they might not have. Leaving someone behind as a precautionary matter was better than coming back and finding someone dead.

"It also means I'm not going to have any backup," Leone grumbled to himself as he emerged into the forward hall. He took a position beside Owen and looked down at him. "Hey, are you doing alright?"

"This isn't working," Owen said. His eyes were pulsing now, growing from small to large almost between each second, and it looked as if he were ready to vomit at any moment.

Leone got the impression that if Owen did lose control, if he did -- for even a second -- have a moment of weakness, the enemy was probably going to crush him instantly. Once Owen was gone the rest of them would have no line of defense against what was coming.

He glanced up the length of the passage, wondering how much of what he saw now was real and how much was still in his mind. Could it be that he was already dead? Had he been trapped in some kind of -.... No, the enemy wouldn't do something like that. He needed to remain logical and focus his will on the task at hand. It was the only way to keep his mind protected.

Well, he had no idea, honestly. But that was his theory, anyway.

"I'll go ahead," Leone said. "Something is doing this to you, right? We can use their own strategy against them." While they were sending monsters to try and kill the dazed adventurers, this meant Leone could also be sent ahead to try and kill the enemy psionic.

"I don't know if I can shield you at that range," Owen told him. He looked up, giving Leone a serious gaze.

"Yeah, and... You know..." Leone shrugged. "If I stay here I'm dead anyway, right?"

He tried to force a smile but it was difficult to force this persona of nonchalance for so long. The further and further he got pushed into a corner the harder it was to pretend that he didn't care. Leone's breathing was steady, still, and yet in the back of his mind... as he made his way down that hall... he kept thinking 'I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to...'
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This might be it, though. He had no idea what might wait around the next corner or behind the next door. He didn't know if the enemy could detect him and when Owen would stop being able to protect him. If he crossed that threshold without knowing it, that would mean he was most likely already dead.

Leone found himself on the inner balcony of a courtyard that had been built into the estate. The lack of a roof here meant there was a beam of light shining down in through the grass, onto the garden below. One could see benches fashioned from worked metal there, as well as pottery which held more specialized plants to the side. Those were kept separate from the groves of shrubs, small trees, and vegetables which were growing more in dirt patches around the perimeter of the garden.

There, in the courtyard below, was a woman dancing by herself to some kind of inaudible noise with a low tempo. Her movements brought her in and out of the light, lacking any kind of symbolism or agency.

To Leone's eye she was all lavender and cinnamon fawn, burning from beneath like the bright pink of the harvest moon. The light shining off of her eyes at the perfect angle. An Abnormal? Her hands waved forward and back in curved lines, forming shapes as she conducted the music that was missing from the air.

No, looking at her now, it was almost like he could hear it.

Before he knew it, Leone was standing at the railing and already halfway through mounting it. Before he knew it, the world around him had begun to distort. Leone threw himself forward into a leap and, he was pretty sure, he caught the branches of one of those trees before falling.

He blinked and he was standing in the dining hall. The dishes clattered quietly on their own, trembling slightly against the curtained table. The other were here, watching on with empty eyes, from each angle around him. No, no. He had to hold on. His feet weren't planted.

Leone was standing here, now, looking out the window at the rainy hills to the north. Yet, he knew, in his mind he knew, that he was holding onto that tree branch for dear life.

There was a shadow on the wall and the dark lavender woman appeared behind him. The weight of her against his back felt so real. Even as she raised a hand toward the side of his head. It wasn't real, it wasn't, he knew, that and yet...

Instinctively, Leone raised his hand to try and protect his ear. Then he felt blood shoot out of his mouth as a sharp pain slammed into his side. Stumbling, the world seemed to tilt. The table broken the floor collapsed. He had to imagine he'd just fallen out of that tree but it was hard to make sense of this world around him.

Now he was laying in the burning sand. The water, salted and stinging, rolled upward and over him as he lay in the shallows. Leone could feel coral growing up from the ground beneath him. Something was definitely growing. He couldn't deny that.

"Yield," Leone sputtered. He didn't know what else to do or say in that situation. Most of all, always, from the bottom of his heart, he'd always admired the people strong enough to never back down. But he wasn't.... even if he tried.... he wasn't that kind of guy. The first thing he thought to do was beg for mercy. "Hold, just a-"

The sand ignited with volcanic fury and rolled into a ball of spiraled glass with Leone trapped at the center. The refracted light had cut through the design as the uneven heat shaped it into - no - this wasn't -.... but how? Everything behaved so real that his mind couldn't help but believe it.

Who could craft such a complex illusion, that the varying heat of the volcanic moment could give rise to such unique patterns. Nothing could replicate that kind of artistic expression. The only explanation was that she had really transplanted him to some other kind of dimension.
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Even as that ball tilted and rolled with him inside of it, the edges began to chip inward. He heard the pre shattering sound of glass ready to impale him from each direction, and he wondered if he was being dragged across the ground in real life or just writhing in place and imagining this hellish ride.

Then, out there in the dark, he saw the cruel gods staring at him with their bemused smiles.

Ah.

So that's how it was.

Yes, Leone knew, the moment this glass shattered... they were going to fight over him. He was nothing more than a toy that would be ripped apart. Desperately torn in many directions as they each lay claim to him, and bickered over who would earn the right to devour his mind, body, and soul. But his body wouldn't last that long, now, would it?

No, his mind was already -- "-a moment-.... have..."

The ball spun forward rapidly and he felt his face slam into the glass. His mouth opened. Blood and vomit sprayed out, covering the inside of his prison. A large cracked ran through the center of it as he heard something break.

Then Leone tumbled forward, face first into the dirt.

He heard nothing else.

The quiet garden around him, and nothing else.

Something had caused her to hesitate. Looking up, Leone saw the antennae on top of her head... it was as if she was struggling with something. "Pity?" she muttered to herself. Her hands closed as if in prayer, and then were touched against her forward as she leaned forward. "Is there something there asking for pity...?"

Now her bright pink eyes were shining with curious intensity. What was that? The guiding light that couldn't be perceived?

Leone was actually covered in blood and vomit. His ribs actually felt like they were broken. If nothing else there was an unbearable pain in his stomach. And, if he was right, that meant he was actually laying here in the dirt, where the kings of the dirt lorded over him.

His prying knife had fallen out of his hand at some point but it was laying there, buried in the ground, halfway between himself and the girl. Then, without thinking, he lunged forward and grabbed it. Pushing himself to his feet he already saw the trees rising around him.

She spun, her eyes growing wide.

Branches, boughs, roots, they rose like spikes. No, more like a wall of spears around him on some kind of giant's battlefield. But at the same time the leaves were falling. Green, at first, then red. But before long they started to flash in many different colors.

The space between each tree showed a different neon reading, cutting the world into many fragments that couldn't synchronize. And, all the while, he kept running for that shining harvest moon and its twin. Eyes framed by lavender. Abnormal? She must be... That was...

And Leone realized, even as he drew close, that he couldn't do it.

Killing monsters was one thing, but he didn't want to kill a human being. Just like yesterday. He had tried to play it cool and remain distant. But the reality was that it scared him when Aaron acted as if he was going to kill Owen. Leone wouldn't have wanted Owen to die there. Abnormal, or Psionic, or Beastkin.... No matter what, to Leone, they were all human. And those lives had value.

The point of his knife rested there in the air, forever. A place between the earth and the moon. Locked in a gravitational pull. Unable to back down but unable to keep moving forward, Leone couldn't do anything but wait for the end.
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Stella Cosmo stood there, a curious expression on her face. Her head was ever so tilted to the side. In truth there was no way he ever could have reached her, or that he ever could have killed her. Yet, there he was. And he probably knew, or remembered, where she had been standing... It was clear the illusion wasn't holding him back. It was something else.

That bizarre courage to stand and fight had been undercut by the even more bizarre form of courage that came next; the absolute madness needed to show mercy to an enemy that could have killed him right then and there. Yet, Leone didn't look like he wanted to do it. Even if it meant he might die, he didn't want to kill her.

Perhaps if he was put in a situation where he was fighting for his life he could murder someone. In this primal state, however, trapped in this illusion, his raw emotional state was easily affected. And if there was even that one tiny part of his brain that hesitated at the idea of taking a human life -- it was going to overwhelmed his senses and lock him in this state.

He was trapped there, and he looked-...

Stella remembered something, then. A young girl who had been trapped, herself. There were six walls for certain. Or had there been seven? She remembered how dark the room was, and how the door never opened from the same side.

Like a ghoul festering over rotted bones she would pick at the food that they brought her. Like a feral animal, she could remember, scratching at the walls and trying to find the exit. Till the room started to smell like iron and the wet, fleshy scabs on her fingers hurt so badly that she couldn't bring herself to scratch any more blood from the surface.

Taking a step back, Stella looked at her nails, still crooked and broken. That kind of trauma didn't go away so easily. Then, she looked at the young man trapped before her once more. There was something in his face that seemed familiar.

Stella remembered when she saw light for the first time. Or, at least, the first time that she could remember. Her eyes were shining like pink lights in the dark. And this time the door seemed to open from a place that was real, not from the seventh wall.

Her shoulders were hunched in an unseemly way, her neck bent forward as her lack of sense and grace had given way to bad posture. Looking through the open portal she thought to see one of those ritual masters, a lord of the dark god who had put her in this place until she had forgotten what light looked like.

No, this wasn't the first time she saw the light. It was coming back to her now.

"Young man, you-..." Stella was the one hesitating now.

Why did he remind her so much of those distant days?

The face of the one who had freed her from that prison, who had appeared in her formative moments as her new life began. Not as an aberration doomed to a life locked away in some hole, but as someone who could be considered human. Was he the same way? Did he see her as a human, too?

It was all coming back to her now, the face of Avel de Contelard.

What was it then? If they needed her power they might open that door one day and let her free. Or, if they didn't, she would rot there until her last day. It was a fitting end for an Abnormal, a heretic created in sin.

No, this wasn't-

Had she ever really left that room or was she just going mad? Was she still there right now...?

Stella took a step back.

"He was right." She was laughing softly to herself. "This is all just a dream, isn't it?"

And in that moment, the illusion broke.

[The End]

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23. What will Leone do?
A. Steel his nerves and go for the kill.
B. Try to capture the Abnormal.
C. Try to parlay with the Abnormal.
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...None of these feel particularly wise, but...

C.
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in case you guys were curious about what the votes exactly did, they determined how much of his energy that Owen spent toward 'waking up' each person. so most effort toward waking Leone up quickly, then waking up Enoch as a secondary function.
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23.A

https://imgur.com/a/9QKvuIT

Scourge and Purge. The others have no time and are probably still illusion locked.

Owen at the very least definitely doesn't have time so use this window of opportunity to shut her down!

Potential downside is possibly attacking an ally but really if that is the case and he is illusion'd anyway at least you are taking initiative rather than being strung along. Judging by how it sounds she momentarily lost focus on Leone specifically allowing you a chance (gotta check through again for stuff...though it does seem Enoch is in the defense as well).
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Pirateking2000 posted...

Potential downside is possibly attacking an ally but really if that is the case and he is illusion'd anyway at least you are taking initiative rather than being strung along. Judging by how it sounds she momentarily lost focus on Leone specifically allowing you a chance (gotta check through again for stuff...though it does seem Enoch was fine for some reason unless that is also illusion shenanigans).

Leone and then Enoch were being shielded by Owen specifically.

then Leone goes forward on his own while Enoch/Owen stay behind to protect the others.

once Leone got far enough away from Owen, he no longer had psychic resist and got trapped again.
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Hmm... let's go C
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Ah okay wasn't sure how that worked with the previous choice or whatever

but yeah regardless best case scenario you kill her or disrupt her concentration as it's clear she can mind fuck multiple people at once so the others are still in great danger and wasting time isn't going to help Enoch and Owen

Worst case scenario he attacks an ally but in that case they'd be fucked anyway or he gets stopped but again that just a bad scenario all around in that case. If there is any point for his advanced points in stealth to come into play its probably now.

Perhaps if he was put in a situation where he was fighting for his life he could murder someone. In this primal state, however, trapped in this illusion, his raw emotional psyche was easily affected. And if there was even that one tiny part of his brain that hesitated at the idea of taking a human life -- it was going to overwhelmed his senses and lock him in this mental prison.

And in that moment, the illusion broke.

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C.

MariaTaylor posted...

The face of the one who had freed her from that prison, who had appeared in her formative moments as her new life began. Not as an aberration doomed to a life locked away in some hole, but as someone who could be considered human. Was he the same way? Did he see her as a human, too?

It was all coming back to her now, the face of Avel de Contelard.

I'm somewhat hoping its enough to get her to stop being murder happy psychic. Plus Leonne isn't in the best shape mentally at the moment.
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Being a person who usually goes Charisma, avoiding a fight is better than going into one, IMO.

C.
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A, I think this is the best choice right now considering this quote :

He was right." She was laughing softly to herself. "This is all just a dream, isn't it?"

And in that moment, the illusion broke.

I interpret this as she's steeling her resolve to finish the fight, throwing sentiment to the wind. Better to land the blow first.
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I'm going with C, and it's probably going to blow up in my face.
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C.

This will become a mothboy meets mothgirl romance, just wait and see
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trdl23 posted...

and it's probably going to blow up in my face.

but at least you had the freedom to choose

:^]
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https://imgur.com/nYzursa
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I took the illusion breaking to mean that everyone was freed, not just Leone. I also read it as the abnormal acknowledging that Leone was right about it all being a dream. Which sounds like she wants to talk to me. So with that said...

C
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MysteriousStan posted...

I took the illusion breaking to mean that everyone was freed, not just Leone.

if she lost her concentration its unlikely she's still sending out psionic pulses. at least, not at this moment.
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I haven't decided if this looks cool or tacky but it's my first time attempting such a thing

https://imgur.com/AdRuUWf
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MariaTaylor posted...

I haven't decided if this looks cool or tacky but it's my first time attempting such a thing

https://imgur.com/AdRuUWf

Neat
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bumpo for now
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another day, another bump
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so yeah my only plans for this week are to try and not get killed by florence

don't expect any updates in the near future

and let's try to make sure the topic doesn't purge! (I may lose internet access for an undetermined period of time)
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Stay safe!
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I don't blame you, you're close to ground zero.
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