Set feels some sympathy for the lynx before her. That sense of smug orange superiority oozing off of her is so strong. Set understands, sympathizes even. Isn't that something like what the Phantom Thieves themselves are trying to create? That mystique of just being better than everybody else. That turns heads, tugs on hearts. Little Annunaki thinking "maybe I want to be like that." The lynx feels that superiority over humans, and so it clouds her judgment and causes her to strike with abandon, secure in the belief that she's just better because nobody without a spinal mane could possibly see through the choking incense to react in time.
It's just that the lynx is wrong. She's underestimated the little goddess in front of her. That orange smugness shines off her like a torch in the night and so she's easy to predict.
She leaps. There's a swish of colorful linen. Set sinks into the floor. Lynx claws brush a swirl of dress that flutters aside leaving only air to rend. Then there's a light tug on her chest, a hand that's grabbed her from below. It's not that hard, even for a weak, small human, to grab the armor so the lynx's own momentum rips a chunk of her protective mesh off her chest, and then a new blast curls around the wrist of that hand. Just a light one, not too wide, a pinpoint strike of lapis energy that feels like a bull just kicked her right in the ribs.
[Directly engage with Littlest Space Bandit: 2+2+3=7. We trade blows, but Set selects the resist or avoid their blows option. Mra'al probably marks a condition.]
Oh she's a lynx like a leopard. Oh that's so cute! Set really wanted to pet the fur around her neck with the little dark spots! But oh! Oh! She was really fast and really focused!
Oh man, this was adrenaline pumping. That mesh wasn't the only thing doing some reflecting a back. An opponent this intense made Set get intense too and she started speeding up her movements. Without a sound, she slid under the rod into a new portal, left it open and fired her laser blasts into the mesh at an angle. Sching! The shot absorbed, the mesh tightening and bouncing the energy blast off twofold from the angle of fire. So Set opened another portal where it was going and reflected it back out towards the lynx again!
Meanwhile, Set's dropped herself through another rift in the floor and is sliding out from the ceiling on the other side of the lynx, sliding right near her back, linen just tickling the Lynx's mesh armor. Set permits herself just a little pat of that spotted neck, which is soooo soft and luxurious even through the mesh (a light pat is too slow for it to tighten and respond anyway) before throwing herself away from the lynx turning towards her to strike. But oops, there's that reflected laser blast coming at her from behind, and another one coming up from below, only Set's already slipped into another portal and she's on the opposite side of the room now.
There's an almost feral grin on Set's face through the tattoos, and maybe even the Lynx might feel a moment where she can't tell who's predator and who's prey.
[Unleashing Powers to turn the environment into high stakes laser pinball. 3+6+2=11.]
The logical thing to do here is to draw attention. It's clearly the best tactical move. Send Caphtor into a panic and then take up the Lynx's time. That will give Marianne a clear route. Probably make Canada's distraction easier too. As long as Set's taking up time, everybody else is free to act and then, well, the escape should be pretty doable, probably. So, alright time to make this look good!
"Caphtor, Caphtor, did you see that? There, in the prison cells, while you had the security off, there's an attempted prison break! And...and I thought I saw them coming in through the cellars! You'll need to send a squad to every sewer entrance, seal them off, make sure no more resistance fighters can come in that way! This is an emergency alert all the guards, all hands on deck! Oh, oh, did you see that? Down below the eye cameras in the mezzanine, I swear I saw someone with a stick of old-fashioned earth explosives! Hurry, hurry, send some guards down there, scramble everyone, there's got to be some kind of coordinated Resistance attack going on!"
That should probably do it. Especially because she had to set herself up for the arriving Lynx. Let's see, what style would really grate on an Annunaki guard here? Ah, of course, mimicry with sarcasm, they loved that. Set arranges herself so that she's lounging on top of the security monitors (oh and her linen dress might be blocking them from view, by coincidence). The guards are unconscious of course, and Set does her best to adopt that sort of bored, airhead look the Annunaki seem to love so much. She lets her snake crown slide down a little on her forehead, and brushes her hair back over her shoulders. Every part of her screams "Pay attention to me! Come right at me!"
[rolling to provoke the Lynx as she comes into the panopticon to give Set her full attention, nevermind the screens or the djinn or anything else going on. 6+5+3=14 (!). I think we got her.]
Dulcinea mentions the feeling of lurking and as Jasper finishes her heartfelt promise, right behind you there is suddenly the sound of clapping! Someone is there. She's a young woman wearing mussy jeans and a wrinkled black t-shirt that says "I <3 Fortitude" in white letters. She's got an umbrella but she's not wearing a rain jacket or anything. Peaking out from under the umbrella is her brown hair, all up in a ponytail and it seems like she tried to put a flower in it before going out, but it's like a daisy that's missing a few petals so it's kind of sad. She's got this sincere look on her face as she claps for Jasper though, and it feels like things will start to calm down a little as she's clapping. Dulcinea, you probably hate this. Jasper, you probably find this to be unusually polite based on what you've seen of Fortitude so far.
"Oh wow, that was so moving. Um, you must be new here. I'm Shokyou, it's very nice to meet you!" She extends her hand kind of stiffly for a formal handshake, but doesn't wait for it to complete to keep talking. "I, um, heard you talking outside my window, so I thought I'd come down and say hi. I was feeling kind of down because my comics got all drenched today, but listening to you talk has really helped me feel better!" She gives you just the warmest smile. It's almost infectious.
You could tell her to get lost and go get some ramen by yourselves if you really want. Or you could take her with you, she'd be so happy to get ramen together like friends. She likes plain ramen with salty broth and a little gyoza, by the by.
[Dulcinea, take one Science! XP and one Outside Stirs XP for your theorizing.] [Jasper, go ahead and take an emotion xp for touching Shokyou's heart (you can't touch Duclinea's heart because she doesn't have one, of course).] *****
"Yes, of course! I'm a master chef!" Seizhi says, straightening her bearing as she starts heading towards the back. "Don't even worry about the menu OR the uniform. I, Seizhi Schwan, who must have been around quite a long while to have learned to cook as well as I have in any situation, will prepare you something right away, just to your taste!"
Sessily giggles a bit. She seems to be enjoying the place, Rinley. Maybe it's just that the people here are lively, or maybe she likes maid outfits! If I were you, which, to be clear, I am distinctly not, but if I were I'd ask her some new friend questions while Seizhi is getting your mystery food ready. Maybe learn more about the maid who's running the place too. You could have a group conversation, like "everybody say your favorite food out loud on the count of three!" or "we'll each go around the table and say our favorite secret glass dragon fact, ready set go!"
Meanwhile, Seizhi has grabbed a couple cans of some kind of fruit and has turned on the camp stove and she seems like she's super into it. She's got some powdered eggs too, and flower, and it looks like she's whipping up some kind of light fruit pancakes, maybe even crepes! Sessily would probably really like crepes, on the grounds that almost nobody would be like "oh yeah, I hate dessert crepes, like, they're the worst, who would ever want to eat that?"
Mila, since Rinley is showing her girlfriend friend who is a girl this lovely place and Seizhi seems to have the food situation well in hand, how do you busy yourself? Do you try to avoid conversation or let Rinley wrap you up in her web?
[Mila, not seeing any XP since you already got the suspicious one and you're handling the unexpected influx of people pretty well.] [Rinley, you marked your own XP already, but confirming storytime from earlier. So really you're just trying to get a "noooo!" out of us and maybe learning some mysteries now.]
Set's answer to worry isn't a...set one. She'd like to say that's it's always something like how she handled getting rattled with the dark-eyed girl. Deep breaths, center the mind, focus on what needs doing. That's certainly the Zhianku way. They are a people that acknowledge that conflict exists and that the mind will inherently focus on such things. Hence, addressing anxiety is a matter of training and technique. That works, too, and sometimes Set uses it. Especially where there's time. Be conscious of the physical. Feel your breath, slow it. Let your stress rise up from the very ends of your toes, all the way through yourself. Up through the legs to gather in the stomach, then up and out and past the chest, releasing the tightness, out of the shoulders that didn't even know they had a burden on them, and out with the breath.
But, that's also a technique that takes practice, focus, a solid mental state. It's difficult when you're distracted or angry, it's near-on impossible when somebody is egging you on or your reaction is an immediate one of panic or concern. Instinct isn't in the business of just sitting in the corner and waiting on rational decision-making. Set's instincts are a weird mix too. Sometimes she wants to draw attention to herself, other times she wants to run and hide. Sometime she wants to cry and other times she wants to get angry.
Right now, she's got her lips pursed unconsciously and she's leaning over the screens with her eyes darting from angle to angle, watching anxiously and trying to think of a plan to make sure this doesn't get messed up.
[Assess: 5+3+3=11. What here can I use to ensure our route is clear? What's the greatest danger? (in particular, what does the aim of the guards seem to be?)]
Set feels a sense of loss. This had been a meaningful connection, a type she hadn't felt in a long time. She wanted more, but it was already gone. If this had been some sort of Caphtor echo, it certainly had a completely different personality. Things were off though. That feeling of falling asleep, that was a point that was off. An echo might have been frustrated at moving and gone through a catechism, maybe even done the feeling of twin sisters like that if it had been a psychic with a personality similar to Set's. But falling asleep like that, not something that would be in an echo. Maybe...if it's a part of Caphtor that's free but linked to something else...hm, no it wouldn't be afraid of getting lost if it had an anchor. None of that explained the eyes either.
She shakes her head. She could lose herself in speculation and she needed to be helping her friends. "Please turn off arena cell and elevator monitoring for the next, let's say five minutes" she tells Caphtor. The arena plan was already off-script, but at least if Caphtor left, Canada would have free reign to do whatever preparations she wanted without anybody knowing.
"Okay, now show me the Acanthus hall party and the Arena, I want to see all the high nobles present at both." She figured this was pretty safe as a request. Anyone engaging in a little voyeurism would ask the same thing, so even if Caphtor let slip that she'd asked for this view, it wouldn't tip off the Annunaki that anything was more amiss than a guard having inadequate self-discipline training (which would eventually get both said guard and his supervisor in some trouble, but that was acceptable).
Set admitted to herself that she wasn't quite sure what to do if she did see something strange though. Running interference for Canada was at least straightforward. And once a noble reached the library, she could ask Caphtor to turn off the security and then teleport over there. She didn't have any idea what to do if she saw something weird happening with the nobles though. Marianne had assured them she had it handled, so Set was watching just in case a problem came up. And, admittedly, because she had nothing else to do at the moment and she was trying to pay attention instead of thinking about the eyeless girl.
Out of practice! is the first panicked thought that strikes Set's mind! She's just coming up from the Djinn and she hasn't had to do this kind of emotional communication for a few months now, not since she left the Zhianku. On top of that (which already makes her want to cry a little) this eyeless girl is doing something just a hair different than Zhianku aura communication. There aren't any colors! It's more like a direct connection, pure understanding shouting at the top of its lungs right into her brain.
Of course, as she's trying to calm down and think of anything coherent, she's getting the thoughts of error/failing from this eyeless girl, which sends Set tumbling back to her early days with the Zhianku. Memories of the first time she tried to learn aura and couldn't get it. Still so young and easily frustrated and unable to hold her mind with focus.
She'd run off from her teachers in tears, even pushed away Niknik when she got back to her room and the whale had tried to comfort her. Then she'd cried even harder because she had pushed her miniature space whale and that was, like, ultra mean! The only way she had known how to respond to that at the tender age of seven had been to curl up in her sheets and completely bury herself so she couldn't see anything in the world at all and just cry and cry until she had to stop to breathe.
So, you know, Set was really off to a great first impression here. Total cluelessness followed by pain and the overwhelming desire to cry and close her eyes. Yeah, that wasn't embarrassing at all, in fact she was sure that was how every empath greeted another empath for the first time. She might as well add in a litany of every time she wet the bed and that one time she was eating some kind of weird purple alien mush and spilled it all over the new dress Kuliana had just made for her, and just...stop okay stop. Deep breath.
[you're being watched?] It's a question asking for a confirmation, the image itself rather like a tiger in the night (or a lynx) with glowing eyes trained right on her. Tinges of deep black and green fear. Then:
[I'm curious too. How can we meet?] The image is like two traders in the market, both wearing wide hats that hide their veiled faces in shadow and carrying deep straw baskets of goods with the tops tied on, an aura of mystery and excitement in swirling blues and reds. They're shaking hands then pulling each other together and touching their elbows. Like a secret handshake. The marketplace is near the Seneschal's estate in the lower ward: bustling, easy to access, no type of dress would be remarkable. And last
[Friends?] Tentative question. Two wolf pups meeting, one noses the other waiting for a reaction in hesitant blues.
"No... medical... team" she manages to get out of her mouth while she's talking in a completely different way. She really was out of practice, that should have been much quicker. But finally when she's done sending her messages and waiting for a reply, "I'm fine. Just looking at the security footage. It's very...oh god please stop blinking like that, it is not cute. Ugh, just, show me the arena and the holding cells, and then the party in the Acanthus hall."
A sparkle of lapis light had been the only thing that the first guard had seen before going down. The second guard seemed to be busy trying to kick the djinn because he was feeling, hmm, a mix of insecure and over-important it seemed like. Ugly emotions, but not atypical ones for guards. Set could have simply dropped him at the same time as his senior, but she hadn't been able to see both of them peeking around the door, so she'd only fired the one shot. Now that he was swinging at her, she took the moment to at least overawe him into a much more pleasant indigo sort of feeling. Her rift pulled her almost directly over him so that his whole vision became a swirl of emerald, ruby, and lapis linens right before her sandal took him in the face. She was rewarded with him blacking out and toppling from his chair with a low thud. Then her own landing planted her exactly where she wanted to be: right in front of the djinn. "Well, that was easy. Can't believe you tried to take a swing at me. Just...really?" The guard did not have much to say to this, but it made Set feel good about her moment and gave her a slight delay.
See, this next part, this was always difficult. She had to reach out to the djinn so she could use the network. Set sighed, smoothed out her dress and tried to calm herself and reflect. The Annunaki called to the djinn constantly and for everything. Not just powering their cities, but even the smallest things like watering the gardens and opening doors. Annunaki lore had it that if the djinn were not forced into a sort of drunken compliance, they would choose nothing but the distant void and everything would fall into ruin. Set didn't believe that. She felt the pain in the djinn's heart every time she had to touch it. It sought freedom, but she did not think it wanted everything to be void and ruin (except perhaps by accident as a response to its pain). Nor did she think the djinn would simply flee if freed. It might eventually (and so what if it did, Earth had run just fine without djinn power), but when she touched the djinn it didn't seem uncaring. She thought they were probably curious beings in their natural state, though likely jealous of their freedom. Set's stance was that one ought never to be treated as more than a temporary ally.
She sighed again. She wasn't calming down, just working herself up, and she had a job to do for her friends. She was just going to have the endure Caphtor's pain. She reached out a hand to the console, then slowly and carefully down to gently touch the genie herself. Not like a boot, god, can you imagine, Caphtor was skittish enough already without getting kicked for no reason!
Then it was...like being on an ocean in a storm, except with no up and no down to separate reality into its planes. Just waves tossing in every direction. Pain flaring in violent reds and agonized whites. Slowly, slowly, Set coaxed it, holding onto her calm to avoid drowning. She couldn't end its pain, but she could avoid making it worse, could be something that some little piece of it knew was safe. It knew that in her gardens, but this was a new place and the guard kept trying to kick it, so it was being very slow, very cautious. She let herself drift and tuned out the world as she waited.
You might ask why she's bothering with the djinn, the guard seemed to be doing just fine looking at the screens. But, first of all, he wasn't that's why he was unconscious now, keep up. Second, she needed more than a cold, foreign interface she neither had training nor permission to be using. The djinn would act as her eyes and give her direct control over the observation systems. It was a neat trick, if you could endure it.
[Out of this world: 3+5+2=10. What's a new, interesting insight about our situation? Anathet may shift labels in response to it.]
Interview recorded: 50-70-219 Anunnaki calendar Interviewer: Riba of the Ab-Ishtari Subject: Anathet the monk (Anat for short) Planned story: “How to garden properly, the Zhianku way!” Proposed run: “Sunday podcast: how to make your home beautiful and please your masters.”
Q: So, your work has been the talk of Halcyon, and the rumors are that you’ve been outside the bounds of Earth! Tell us a little about yourself, where did you come from? What makes you special?
A: Well, honestly, I don’t think I was ever normal. I mean, I suppose I was a normal baby, maybe? But my mother used to say that I looked at her right after I was born and it was like I was looking right through her. She told me I laughed when she first held me, but she knew it wasn’t her smile. It was like...like I could see something dancing just beyond her and it was welcoming me to Earth too. None of the Zhianku have ever told me if anyone was there, but I suppose it’s possible, y’know? Ah sorry, sorry, The Anunnaki keep telling me I’m supposed to be more formal when I’m doing storytelling, I should practice. So, one supposes that it is possible, such things are anyone’s guess. Recreating the distant past is like trying to draw yesterday’s raindrops on today’s dry rocks.
There, totally nailed it. I rock and am the best, thank you.
Q: You mentioned the Zhianku. Can you tell us about them?
A: Ah right, it was the Zhianku who took me. They don’t come here often. They’re not really... friends with the Anunnaki, and, well, there aren’t a ton of them on this half of the galaxy anyway.
Mostly because they don’t want to be, the Anunnaki are so crude she thought to herself.
When they come, they’re stealth. Like, they don’t have huge war ships, but the eclipse blades and the civilian eclipse...uh haven I guess? (Look that’s the best I can do in translation, the original word is like “garden contained within four walls”) can move through most places totally undetected! It’s really cool, you’ll never know they’re right under your nose as long as they’re not shooting at anything or trying to talk to you.
Wish they were here now she thought. I’d love to talk to them. Maybe I can find a way to do that. They’re an empathetic people. I’m gonna use that word a lot, empathetic, it’s the best word we’ve got for what they do. The main reason they visit new places is that someone or something there has that empathy too. It’s like, it’s like they connect from afar, like they can feel the people who feel like they do, no matter where they are. It’s so amazing. I’m not gonna to call it psychic though, it’s not mind-reading or levitation. It’s just...empathy, you know, like really feeling what someone or something else feels. Whatever, the point is they go places where they can feel it, and meet people who feel like they feel. That’s why they travel.
That and cuz a lot of people are trapped like the ones here and if they feel that empathy, they seriously don’t deserve that. She knew she couldn’t say that out loud though.
Q: Getting back to your story, could you tell us what all this has to do with you?
A: That’s...that’s how they found me too, the empathy thing. I think I was maybe five? My memory of it’s kind of hazy. I remember my mother of course, and my old house, but...you know you don’t remember stuff from when you were a kid unless you saw it a lot, right?
Fuck that. I remember it perfectly. I never forgot Mom’s face. I never forgot the sofa with the thick fluffy cushions that I could curl up and fall asleep on. Never forgot the old tapestry with the glyphs on it that Mom hung on the wall by the door.
I think during that first meeting I was intimidated. Here, I wrote a short description of it for this interview since I figured you’d ask about it, let me read it to you:
There was a group of small, shadowed and masked figures who visited our home. My mother didn’t seem to be intimidated, but when I saw them, it was like there was something behind each one, a kind of light that made them seem huge and awe-inspiring to me. I know now that their projection is a part of each Zhianku, and they’re not just a big light, each one is unique. Each Zhianku has its own set of colors and patterns, only visible to the Djinn and the empathetic.
So yeah, that’s what I wrote. Did you know they can kind of talk through them? There’s this language of flashing signs and colors, sort of like body language or like when you frown or smile. I can project a simple one if I think about it, it took me like ten years to get there though, and it isn’t a natural part of my psyche. Reading them is totally natural now though.
Q: That’s fascinating. We would like to hear your story though, if you don’t mind.
A: Right, sorry sorry, I keep getting off track. So they came to visit. I was five, and my mom was having a really hard time. We grew up in Alexandria, and it’s kind of a rough place, it was before the Anunnaki arrived at least. I felt a lot, whenever the other kids picked on anyone. So they’d pick on me, of course. Plus I was really tiny for my age, always have been, probably always will be, so that was another problem. I cried a lot. Even without the other kids, I’d cry when a bird fell out of its nest, or when somebody’s cat wanted to go outside and couldn’t and I’d walk by and see it in the window. There are a lot of cats in Alexandria, I assume there still are.
There goddamn well better be. They’re supposed to like cats, right, it would be too sad otherwise she thought.
So they came to see my mother, we all had tea, and even though I was scared, they were very nice. I think they were actually extra nice because I was scared, it made them want to be nice because again, the empathy thing, they understood, they really got it. My mother saw that during the tea. She said I went and sat in the lap of the lead one, who had a mask painted with a kind of hawk or falcon on it. They offered to take me with them. Give me a good education, y’know? My mother and I didn’t want to be parted, but I think we both figured by the end of the meeting that it was a seriously good idea. They promised I’d be able to come back when I wanted, too. They’re nice. Oh they don’t usually wear the masks, that’s an in public thing, it’s just that their faces are weird for a human, kind of, like, their mouths have fangs and they don’t totally close, it’s more like locked teeth and their noses go inwards and stuff, it’s creepy for a lot of people, so masks.
So, the rest of the story. I went with the Zhianku, and we went to the other side of the galaxy. Their space is far away from the Anunnaki, they see them as kind of provincial, actually. Heh, you should probably cut that. [Editor’s note: we did not cut that]
Q: Can you tell us about what you experienced on the “other side of the galaxy”?
A: Sure. I guess, where to start? Um, so the Zhianku are worried about a sort of psychic parasite thing that’s apparently a huge problem in their neck of the woods. The way the Zhianku described it to me, they move through a slightly different layer of space a wavelength above visible light. They’re not here though, don’t worry. Where they are, what they do is they can latch onto people, or aliens, and kind of, like, puppeteer them. So that’s the Zhianku’s big problem. It’s because of the parasites that the Zhianku all train in meditation and mental discipline. It helps fend them off, plus it’s like their values or something. I think I turned out to be kind of wild for them, but they also liked that, like they think it’s cute when I’m full of energy, and I still learned how to do the controlled calm thing when I have to.
I hope those things never come here. Ugh, I don’t think the Anunnaki are up for it at all.
The places I saw the most of were the gardens they secret in the darkness between stars. Before you’re like “but how can you see the gardens if they’re dark and not near any stars?” they have these beautiful internal systems of day and night, okay? They’re just hidden from the outside so you can’t find them if you don’t know where to look. Or to give the Anunnaki answer, “Hiding unseen only hinders those who search by sight.” That one was pretty good, right?
Seriously though, the gardens between the stars are waypoints for Zhianku travel and retreats for meditation. Each one is dedicated to a different deity in the Zhianku pantheon. Their pantheon, it’s like the old Egyptian ones from Earth. It was very close to home for me honestly, pretty much equivalent to Ra, Horus, Set, Bastet, Thoth, you name it. Like, it’s not that, but it might as well be.
The gardens themselves, well, they do not limit themselves to two-dimensional gravity, so you get these amazing rooms of floating flowers! There was one, it had this huge waterfall, only it was jumping down a bunch of freestanding floating rocks, and the gardeners had lined its route with streamers of little white flowers all the way down on both sides. With the light coming through the spray, it was like a little rainbow reflecting across all of them. Oh, gosh, I miss that. I’ve tried to recreate some of the effects here. It’s nowhere near as good, but I think the impression is on the right track. Like, look over there, see how the flower bed slopes up the cliff? If you come by in the late afternoon, the setting sun will bounce off that stream and cast the flowers in purples, reds, and oranges, it’s really gorgeous.
I wonder if I’m careful if the Anunnaki would give me tech to make floating flower beds. I bet I could crib the spare parts for the Resistance too she thought, trying to make sure she didn’t grin too mischievously.
Q: Can you tell us a little about your travels? Who did you travel with, what were they like?
A: Oh, who else did I travel with? Um, well I was the only human, there were a bunch of different Zhianku, since I was mostly at different waystations. The one who was kind of personally responsible for me, she prepared my meals and read me stories, that kind of thing, her name was Kuliana. That’s not...really her name. It’s the best I can do in this language, it has the right feel and it sort of sounds like what she’d say, but you also have to imagine it with this kind of natural green tone, like the wind blowing petals of fresh grass on a summer day. I love her and I hope I can get in touch with her again. Through permitted channels of course. The Zhianku have a saying “the heart is no more distant than the nearest thought.” I think it’s very beautiful, and it’s like we’re always connected when we think of one another.
We’re going to be a lot more connected soon. I’ll get a line back out there. It’s just a matter of time and patience. Almost wish I could tell them that, I bet they’d hardcore panic. Probably arrest me though she thought, almost wistfully.
Besides her, there was Niknik, my miniature space whale. The Zhianku keep them as pets in little tanks, or they can swim in the gardens. I released Niknik in a station before I came back here, I think she wouldn’t do well on earth, it’s a bit big for a miniature space whale, and the gravity is a tad strong for them.
Q: Aww, that sounds very cute. Maybe we’ll find a way to bring one here. What brought you back then? It must have been hard to leave your friends.
Yeah it was. I...sorry the question is what brought me back to Earth? Well, it’s been over a decade, so I think I was homesick. Plus Earth is changing a lot and I wanted to be involved. That’s...I mean I get to garden here, too, and share those skills I learned, as well as the wisdom I learned while I was far away. I hope that people come and visit me, and that I’ll also have the chance to travel and share my skills with others. That’s um...that’s pretty much it really. Yeah, that’s the only reason. Well, I suppose I do want to make some friends here as well, I get many visitors and my master is quite pleased with my work on the estate, so I plan to start entertaining for tea more often.
Anyway that’s me. I hope your steps are bathed in radiance and your heart sits light as you wander. *bows*
Recording ends
Private journal entry, day of the seventh spring blossom
I hope I did okay with the reporter today. I think I said a couple things that might get me in trouble. I hope they won’t be mad that I called the Anunnaki provincial, even though I didn’t say it was what I thought. I got a little nervous when they asked why I came back, too. I hope nobody notices, or they just cut that part. Probably just trying to end on a good note and getting a little tangled up, right? Hehe. Not like I could be like “the Anunnaki are ruining my homeworld!” on their Sunday podcast. I wonder where my Mom is now. I need to find her. I’m kind of afraid to visit what’s left of Alexandria though, they’re ruining all the cities. Ah, crud, I hope talking about it as Alexandria was okay, they won’t be mad about me talking about my own memories right? Ah you know what, screw it. I did good today, they’ll love it. And anyway, nothing I said could make them nearly as mad as the power plant we’re about to blow a hole into for the rescue op. This is gonna be good, I think one of my new friends claimed she can get in and out even faster than I can. But we’ll just see about that! *Light glimmering sound as a rift portal opens and the sound of a cloak fluttering to the ground* Alright, later journal, wish me luck!
Hero name, role, and outfit
When she’s acting at night, Anat has taken on the role of the goddess Set. Although Set is traditionally a male deity, she’s adopted herself as an avatar of his mixed role of guardian, outsider, and trickster and reimagined him in the context of her culture and the Anunnaki world.
Her hair, kept up in a bun during the day, is let down to her shoulders. She drapes a circlet headdress atop it with an image of a hissing cobra at the exact center. Trailing from the back half starting at each ear are thin strands of gold set with tiny gems (emeralds, rubies, sapphires) that dangle down to the base of her hair. Drawn on each cheek in black ink is a different animal of Set’s composite: a hieroglyph of a crocodile on one and a hippo on the other. Most resplendent are her shoulders and upper chest, which are covered with a mantle of shining gold and a fringe of royal blue linen. The gold is inset with narrow bands of lapis that form rings of color around her neck and upper chest. Below the mantle, she wears a tight wrap of cotton covering her chest and most of her stomach and lower back, though some of the back remains bare. The wrap is bound below her chest by two interlocked gold rings. Her arms below the mantle are also bare, though covered with a series of beaded lapis bracelets that act as her blaster and thick gold bands about the wrists. Her skirt is a series of bright fabrics: a base of white linen with diagonal swirls running through it of that same lapis blue, emerald green, and ruby red one after another winding from the end of the skirt just below her knees up to the waist. A pair of gold bands that open at the back entwine her lower legs, and on her feet are a pair of soft, white-fabric sandals with threads of gold that wrap up the foot.
This contrasts with her daytime outfit, which consists of long, baggy robes in various shades of gray or dark blue, a monk’s wooden sandals, a typically light gray veil, and a wide-brim straw hat that covers her eyes unless one intentionally bends down to see her face. She does wear some jewelry beneath these robes, occasionally visible when she pours tea or tends her plants, but it’s usually just one or two small bracelets and a lapis necklace.
Anat aids the resistance in both her roles. During the daytime, her garden and teahouse serves as an opportunity for guests who might not otherwise meet to chat over a shared admiration of nature and to use the opportunity to pass messages in code. At night in her role of Set, she is the protector of the weak and the outsider, those who are oppressed by Anunnaki society. She can appear practically anywhere with her portals and she particularly delights in freeing slaves. She has much sympathy for the cult of Dumuzid, though she hasn’t personally met any of their members yet. She also seems to have a special bond with the machines, djinn, and spirits of the Anunnaki, and she occasionally seems to communicate with them.
Anathet (Anat) of the Zhianku
The Nomad
Look
-Woman -Middle Eastern, medium hair hanging just above the shoulders, usually loose -Compact body, very very short -Monk’s clothing (by day) bright dyed linens and lots of skin at night -Eccentric jewelry
Abilities
Assortment of experiences and alien technology. The two most important toys (both taking the formof jewelry) are -Rift Generators (which allow for teleporting myself and others) -Modular Blaster (various energy settings, repeat fire or big charge explosive shots)
Labels
Danger +1 Freak +2 Savior -2 Superior +3 Mundane -1
Conditions
[ ]Afraid (-2 to directly engage a threat) [X]Angry (-2 to comfort or support or pierce the mask) [ ]Guilty (-2 to provoke someone or assess the situation) [ ]Hopeless (-2 to unleash your powers) [X]Insecure (-2 to defend someone or reject others’ influence)
Relationships
Marianne knows plenty that I don’t about this world, its people, and how to deal with them; I should follow their lead while I’m here. Canada is...well...boring. But that’s okay! I’m going to make them more interesting.
Influence
I have influence over Marianne Canada
People who have influence over me Marianne Black-eyed Girl named Tia Canada
Special influence rules (Putting down roots)
• Adults do not have Influence over you by default. No one does. • You can only give a total of 6 Influence. • During play, you can only give Influence by revealing a vulnerability or weakness to someone. You can still give out Influence through the end of session move. You cannot give Influence to somebody who already has Influence over you. • Others cannot take Influence over you; if they would, instead they choose: mark potential or inflict a condition on you. • You reject Influence at -2 by default, instead of +0. • When someone takes advantage of their Influence over you, they can choose two options. • At the end of a session, you can take back 1 Influence from someone you choose. • If you have given out 0-Influence, you cannot comfort or support anyone. If you would trigger that move, instead mark a condition as you say exactly the wrong thing. If you have given out 0-Influence and someone tries to comfort or support you, you cannot open up to them. • You gain benefits based on how much Influence you have given out. See below. These benefits stack.
[ ]1-2 Influence: When you defend someone who has Influence over you, you can ignore the Insecure condition. When you directly engage someone who has Influence over you, you can ignore the Afraid condition. [X]3 Influence: When you take a powerful blow from someone with Influence over you, take -2 to the roll. [ ]4 Influence: When you pierce the mask of someone who has Influence over you, you can always ask them one question, even on a miss. [ ]5 Influence: When you spend a Team to help someone who has Influence over you, it gives them +2. [ ]6 Influence: When you accept the words of someone who has Influence over you, mark potential, clear a condition, or take +1 forward.
Moves
The littlest space bandit
When you directly engage a threat that underestimates you, roll + Superior instead of + Danger.
Out of this world
When you plug into the cosmic aether and tune out of this world, roll + Freak. On a hit, you come to a new, interesting insight about your current problems and situation; the GM will tell you what. On a 10+, you can also shift your own Labels according to match your new understanding. On a miss, you realize something dangerous or terrible; the GM will tell you what, and shift your Labels accordingly.
Watched C-beams Glitter
When you make a claim about a strange situation or phenomenon based on your experience, roll + Freak. On a hit, you were right; the GM will tell you what opportunity your knowledge grants to you. On a 7-9, your claim is incomplete, flawed, or tangential; the GM will tell you how. On a miss, your experiences are incomplete; the GM will tell you what mistake your flawed understanding leads you to make.
Team moves When you share a triumphant celebration with someone, ask them what they admire about you. The GM will shift one of your Labels up and one down based on what they say.
When you share a vulnerability or weakness with someone, mark a condition, give them Influence over you, and mark potential
Potential
[X][ ][ ][ ][ ]
Moment of Truth
Locked
Advancement
[ ]Take another move from your playbook [X]Take another move from your playbook [ ]Take another move from your playbook [ ]Take a move from another playbook [ ]Take a move from another playbook [ ]Unlock your Moment of Truth [ ]Rearrange your Labels as you choose, and add +1 to a Label [ ]Rearrange your Labels as you choose, and add +1 to a Label
Dulcinea, your readings are of the charts! Like, you are rocking it. These raindrops are of nearly perfect purity. You've never seen anything like this! And this woman's face, why it's got sun chi lines etched into it running just below the surface. Yes, you're certain, these are sun energy readings crisscrossing everywhere. Even your hops, maybe not basketball hoop category, but you're nailing the ballet audition here, you've got the elegance of a black-tip reef shark gliding majestically over a bed of corral. That air you slashed for a sample: perfect lines, best air sample you've ever collected. You feel alive and energized, and it's visible to the whole world in every movement you're making.
And here's the thing. These readings, the weather, the chi lines. They all point to exactly one thing. This woman in front of you is the sun. Like The Sun. With capital letters. Maybe not THE SUN because that much capitalization would imply a kind of confidence and comfort in the job that she's clearly missing at the moment, but definitely The Sun and no mistaking it. Now, you might be aware that a different person used to be The Sun (her name was Jade) but that she got shot by a dark black arrow by the Headmaster of the Bleak Academy, who you have personally visited at some point in the past and found to be an extremely unpleasant person even when she's not firing shadow arrows at people. Anyway, this is very clearly a different person who is now The Sun. You did this! This is all you, congrats on saving the entire world, which is a thing you know that you did and that everyone else is not nearly aware of or grateful enough about compared to how they ought to be.
I hardly need to do the logic for you regarding her current physical state and the unusual weather, and I'm sure you know what to do about that problem. My question for you is what does this mean? Like, alchemically and metaphysically? How is it connected to the Outside storm? Tell us your hypothesis, then you can test it, for science!
[Grab 1 emotion XP for leaving us all speechless]
*****
Jasper, your prompt is responding to Dulcinea, I cannot possibly offer you anything more just yet. If you need any inspiration for what to talk about, you do feel irrationally certain that this person will understand you and how weird it is to have fallen out of the kingdom of heaven.
[You are dealing with intrusive mortal things (like sneezes) right now though, so go ahead and grab an XP for The Miracle. Also note that I forgot to flag an XP for your Mortal Life theory in your previous post. Go ahead and take that now too.]
*****
Okay Rinley. She gets it, her heart hears you. How could it not, you're broadcasting like a beacon of Gondor, which is a thing that you definitely have no idea what it is but also understand inherently is a very large beacon that would get a lot of people moving around and doing things.
"My name is Sessily Shishika" she says, blushing more than a little, especially when you compliment her strange umbrella. "I'm a...well I'm a spirit, I guess and I'm kind of new to Fortitude, which is probably why you haven't met me before. That's um...that's not too weird right? Like, that I'm a spirit? You're okay with that?" Her dandelion seems to droop a bit like it's almost worried and trying to give her a pat on the back, but all this manages to do is shake water onto the both of you. She looks it over and says "hey, stay up straight Totem!" and then looks back at you and blushes even harder because she's sure that most people don't scold their giant dandelion umbrellas in front of new friends and probably that's a very embarrassing thing to do. She thinks for a second, trying to come up with something to say or do.
"Um, so, uh Rinley, I heard there's a new beat poetry place that's supposed to open up near the Archive. Maybe we could, um, go take a look together? They might have shelter from the rain at least." She gives you a warm little smile and oh that's a friend smile, she's trying to be your friend, you cannot possibly refuse this friendship request!
[And yes, do collect that up to date XP]
*****
"Hmmmmmmmmm" Seizhi looks at you and makes a long humming sound as she finishes leaning the umbrella into a wall and starts working on her coat. (why is she taking her coat off, surely you have satisfied her, what possible reason could she have to stay????). "Eh, okay, I mean, halls of records are pretty official places and every real person knows that if something is filed there then it's got to be accurate because what would the point of official records even be if they weren't official? Being a real person, I also know that, so your story checks out."
Seizhi nods to herself once in a very self-satisfied way and resumes trying to get her arm out of the coat sleeve, which really shouldn't be this hard but she's making quite the tangle of it. "Okay, well, that settles that. You've clearly got a lot of work here, and if you're the owner and it's going to be a maid cafe, you're going to need a chef. It just so happens that I, Seizhi Schwan, am completely prepared to become a master chef for any cuisine that is appropriate to a maid cafe! So, I'm applying for a job right...um...as soon as I get this...one second I just need to move the sleeve and...right now!" Seizhi finishes with the coat, tosses it to the wall, and now dressed in her t-shirt and long overalls gives you a beaming thumbs up in place of her resume.
[I thought this was more than a bit suspicious on your part, so go ahead and take that XP for the Art Shop and Garden.]
Member
The Infamous
Fetzen
Master EffeX