Session 18

Prev: Session 17
Next: Session 19

• Auchenda, Arkari
  • Asper asks Kalervo Turred what the aspers do
    • Choking necks - mostly just clinging on
    • Do physically touch the person but cant enter
    • Al: turred buddy wheres mine!
    • “Me point?”
    • Al: yes please!
    • Reaches hand into miku, inbetween mouth and head
    • Almado cant touch it
    • He points at all of them, at least all of them are in the same place except almado bc it had to shove itself into the head.
    • Most just hang out around the neck and shoulder region
    • “They whisper into ear and heal us. Theyre making love.”
    • “I’m going to go with the others. Voz Ricander and Halrex Korr. They have motel room.”
  • Al: can i have my phone back! Is yours working now!
  • He presses the button on his own phone, still fried
  • He heads on out
  • Zmena wasnt Actually kidnapped “he left to protect me. There were rumors going on about shapeshifters and it was- there were rumors.”
  • R: there are rumors
  • Z: still?
  • R: yeah. They think ur one as well. The bookstore owner stopped folks from getting you dna tested. She said it went against her religion but it hasnt stopped ppl from presuming
  • Z: she never mentioned any of that. I didnt realize they were still suspecting me after he left? We prob shouldnt stay here too
  • Dakine “do you mind if i got to the interview with you all? If its going to be livestreamed anyways, u better have a professional camera around.”
  • We agree, its likely shes looking for info or looking out for us
  • Interview with the Mayor Aleria Venn
    • Guards here
    • Why did you want to become mayor
      • “I grew up in a nearby town, i wanted to bring the wealth back to the community. I found my money in a data-vault.” shes thriving nowadays
    • What have you accomplished since becoming mayor
      • She bankrolls failing businesses, in return she rules the area as a pseudo lord. More like a patron of the arts
    • What are your thoughts on the anti shapeshifting laws
      • “Theyre an unfortunate necessity in times where people don’t trust each other. I’m sure you understand.”
      • There is one motive there that almado understands. Profit, of course.
      • Al: just good business
      • “What was that?”
      • Al: sorry! I said smth off record! Im sorry!
      • “It is a conglomeration that holds it up. It falls under the nearby bay of cities that rule this part of the planet. It would require a unanimous decision to revoke said laws.”
    • What are your goals for the future of this city
      • “My plan is to incorporate those cities into my own.”
      • M: how?
      • “Theyre beginning to falter. One of their mayors didnt even show up to his inauguration
      • M: was he sick?
      • “I believe he may have fallen off a pier. Idk. maybe he was on his way and the lasagna was in his oven, he realized he left it on, and he ran back.”
      • Al: just to be clear, the mayor hasnt been seen since?
      • “Of course not.”
      • M: thats so tragic!
      • “He was a close friend of mine, of course.”
      • M: im sure he was!
      • (friends like almado and miku.)
    • “I can deafen them, if you wish. Some people get shy. Besides, its basic procedures for soldiers such as this.”
    • Asper asks abt the data-vault
    • “I was exploring the new system of arlenom. We got lucky with a scan, and the rest is history”
    • (Arlenom System is a far reaches recent aetherion space where a colony ship was next slated to go.)
    • As: what did you find within?
    • “Data of course, i sold it to the nearest broker.”
    • M: u werent curious?
    • “Oh i know it. But if you want to know it, you have to buy it from them.”
    • “Now why have you deemed it fit to stop at my planet? Is it because youre travelling with one of our old locals?”
    • Z: i wanted to visit home
    • “Where have you been?”
    • Z: i was off getting an education
    • “Where?”
    • Z: Ksate
    • “Where were you getting education?”
    • Z: one of the universities. Why?
    • “I have friends at k’sate. I play politics at a much larger scale than this. U mightve run into one of my peers. Esp if you took any civics classes.”
    • R: what were their names? Im an anthropology major
    • Z: Myrrhex Institute of the Infinite
    • (small ping in the air that goes silent as some of the equipment blinks for a second.)
    • “Ore-17.” (heard of him, didnt take him, for upperclassmen. Android that had been there since 2nd iteration. Each time going thru renewal, the new one studies a different culture)
    • R: i didnt have the privilege, but it was v interesting, i may contact them for resources and info
    • “Of course. He is a lovely man. Have you ever stopped by the department for coffee before?”
    • R: not a coffee man unfortunately
    • “Its an old fashioned drink, but he does appreciate it.”
    • R: ive tried it but eh
    • “Does it not affect you as it does humans?”
    • R: i get the jitters
    • Odd spinning particles behind her
      • Sign of wealth. Its powered by credits
      • This is enough credits that you could buy ur way out of aetherion corp
      • It reminds ripley of the little odd symmetry, light inside, made out of credits. It looks eerily similar to the ground/floor of kiliv-vi
      • “The last android that tried to touch it…” looks solemn “is no longer with us.”
        • Something hidden under the surface, but that part is the truth
      • M: do u know why its so volatile?
      • “Ur made of credits, and its likely stronger than ur wills. Similar to a being of flesh having a dominate spell being put upon them. Its not necessarily that youre weak, but it affects you exclusively instead of us.”
    • Almado stares at painting
      • Paparazzi mssg almado “there’s a secret door behind the painting.”
      • Al: wheres the activator or switch
      • “No clue.”
    • “How do you feel about your kidnapper? We never got the chance to ask you.”
      • Z: odd. Kinda traumatic for me. Little hard to talk about
      • “Yes, but if we’re to change laws, we have to know how the victims feel.”
      • Z: complicated for me. The shapeshifter was the only one that i- i thought he was my brother at the time. So it was difficult for me to realize my life was a lie, in that moment
      • “You still had Hevkono, did you not?”
      • Z: ur right, and she was family to me. Its just- you might not know how it is when theres someone whos close to u did smth so terrible. Ur childhood was a lie
      • “So youre saying we shouldnt forgive them?”
      • Z: i have complicated feelings about the matter, i do think everyone can change. He never harmed me physically. I dont exactly know what he attempted to gain. But it hurt emotionally, was a lot to process. As far as forgiveness.. I have mixed feelings. Ive never been able to come up with a proper answer. (staring her down hard)
      • At some point, gets a message from dakine “dont overcorrect. Liars often overcorrect by doing excessive eye contact.”
    • “If there’s nothing else, should we adjourn here?”
    • Z: what are ur plans changing the laws?
    • “If there are no incidents, id like to relax them. But if there are, we’d have to enforce again. Im glad u see it as reasonable.”
    • Z: i just think the train of logic makes sense
    • “Of course. Its the aedryn way, we follow logic and democracy thru slow and incremental change.”
    • Asper asks abt the data temple nearby
    • “It would be fortunate, but unfortunately the sailor that reported it went comatose. It would be a wonderful windfall for the nearby community.” (its a lot of info, u have to do a lot of steps to prepare for it)
    • (zmena has a feeling that he could catch her off guard by asking boldly abt the shapeshifting)
    • (fun fact: almado’s homeplanet grew coffee)
    • Starbucks = Moondough, niceish, oldfashioned somewhat
    • Almado miku asper leave, rip zmena stay
    • She dismisses her 2 guards
    • “Is there a final question off the record?”
    • Z: i wanted to talk. We both know whats going on, to a level. Youre a shapeshifter, as am i.
    • “That’s a wild accusation, but continue.”
    • Z: the shapeshifter we talked about, my brother. Do u know what happened?
    • “Idk what happened. But i know who does. He lives by the docks in the ocean. They might have registers there.”
    • Z: name?
    • “Name? No. company? Yes. The Peltragow Shipping Company.”
    • Z: i wont cause trouble. I have heard the rumors. Ppl are still suspecting me?
    • “Most forgot, until you arrived.”
    • Z: makes sense. How long can we stay before we have to laeve?
    • “U could stay for 2 weeks. Its a small town, they wont ask. Not without prompting.”
    • Z: i’ll keep a low profile. Before we leave. Ur contact information?
    • “The public office’s phone.”
  • Almado asks voz abt spaceships and low air travel
    • “Yes??? Why”
    • Al: we’re just thinking abt doing highspeed low altitude flying
    • “Highspeed, no, low, yes. Ship is meant to go highspeed in 0 gravity.”
    • “Theres smth i meant to talk abt this town. Its a little bit creepy-” call disconnects. Call him back, and phone rings on
    • Try calling korr, feel odd air as she picks up drunkenly “asper”
    • As: hello. Are you with voz?
    • “He’s downstairs, one second.”
    • As: are you alright?
    • “Just wasnt expecting to be awake for another… six hours.”
    • As: sorry
    • Shes so drunk and hungover, stumbles downstairs
    • Hear the sound of turred talking to voz, phone gets shuffled over to him
    • As: u were trying to warn us of smth?
    • “We finished the conversation?”
    • As: huh
    • “We talked for a bit about how the town was-” call disconnects
  • Scurry to cheap motel
    • Waffle house-esque
    • Pancake Home
    • Turred voz are eating and korr is barely coherent, shoving down hashbrowns
    • Paparazzi follows us slowly on her motorcycle
    • “You should really buy a car.”
    • As: its on the docket
    • “Why not steal one?”
    • M: stealings bad
    • Z: not doing it here
    • “Why not? One of these people is the one that sold out ur brother”
    • Z: we’re keeping a low profile
    • “You always keep a low profile if you steal successfully. Thats the point of stealing.”
    • Turred waves
    • We approach, its a seat urself situation
    • Voz pays for us
    • “Is there something you want?”
    • As: our communication keeps getting disrupted
    • “It didnt. We talked twice.”
    • As: the call kept getting disconnected
    • “Have you tried having a less copyable voice?”
    • As: no
    • “Ok. maybe some inflection?”
    • Voz “doctor diagnosis?”
    • Korr “technomancer. Likely gained access to your unit at some point. Not ours. Thats why it only works one way.”
    • Almado tries to call voz, it connects
    • Al: there’s something abt the town, its so goddamn weird- (call disconnects)
    • Tactical xep
      • “Weird” and “town” are able to be flagged. Can copy asper, but not miku or ripley
    • Ripley thinking abt vocal installation
      • Some androids have damaged or old voice modules which mean they cant. But even if they have the capability, some need to train into using it. Too variable of an answer. Usually a form of “it kinda depends man”
    • R: can u tell us whats weird?
    • Voz points at korr
    • “I tried doing some good. Lots of equipment for checking dna back in medical staff.”
    • R: makes sense
    • “Yeah but why wouldnt they use it if theyre hunting for shapechangers.”
    • 26 can relay the info abt the mayor being a shapechanger
    • “The issue is, they were partially issued. On all exits outside of the docks.”
    • Zmena gets a text from tharn, asking if he’s coming home for dinner
      • Weird bc she said shed get fish and bread for dinner earlier
      • Zmena texts back abt chicken if its not trouble
    • “Maybe tomorrow i’ll get it for you at the market?”
    • Zmena tries to video call her, no response
    • Almado wants to leave town
    • Z: im not leaving town, not yet. Smth weird is going on, i want to go check on her
    • Al: well. Ig ur the boss in this case
  • To the bookstore
    • Lights are still on, store is closed tho.
    • Almado smells something burning, kicks down the door
    • Asper zmena sneak backdoor
    • Almado miku rip in the front
    • Burning smell is in the kitchen
    • Backroom has books and personal items
    • Almado opens the door to the kitchen, sees the oven smoking with burnt fish. Alongside a woman shot 15 times in the back with a semi-auto pistol
    • Shes been face down for an hour
    • They’re framing zmena
    • The texts are gone
      • There are devices you can create to act like towers where the databank is, so it wont go up to a satellite
    • Zmena changes to nivaya. There is a sudden flash in the kitchen from a corner. Pictures taken, 1 as he was, 1 as a starfish, 1 as nivaya
      • Special spy camera, meant to disintegrate. Camera burns away so u dont know where it was sent. Likely has a dummy sim card
      • Tactical xep, if we take him to a radio tower he might be able to get it. Obv wont stop it from being sent, but find out where it was sent.
    • Zmena goes up and finds that the 2 shirrens made a photo album, 1 of the 2 brothers, then zmena and the woman, then woman and her daughter, then daughter
      • Box left with fake name of gymic
    • Almado steals her car
    • She died happy, the last thing she saw was gymic before being shot in the back of the neck
  • Xep drives us away just as the red and blue lights go to the bookstore
  • One of aspers connections is moving and Fast. its going to the docks. Flies past the docks, onward and onward to an island
  • GO MY ORB TELL THE OTHERS WHATS HAPPENING
  • The others will meet us wherever we go
  • Go to the docks
    • Group of men is working
    • One looks at the van, looks at us
    • Red dragonkin stands tall
    • “Now whats wrong?”
    • M: we’re just passing thru
    • “Thats interesting. Thats the van that gets book. But shes not here, is she? And its an odd hour to get books from the docks, no?”
    • M: we were just borrowing it
    • “What ship?”
    • M: peltragow
    • “My company. Which of you can pass the dna scan?”
    • “Anyone that cant, walk out before i start scanning these people
    • Zmena scurries out
    • He scans the rest of us, tho confused abt bubbles bc no dna
    • Gets us on a tanker, makes sure that our party members will go where we all go
    • Hides zmena in a shipping container
    • Various workers pull out rifles and begin shooting zmena
    • Rolami Ta “You’re an idiot like he was.”
    • Zmena goes unconscious in the shipping container, illusion is broken, people scanning disappear from reality
    • We can track him wherever he goes. Gwuh tho