Turn 84 (Pt. 2): Demented Database, Depressed Deviants, And Missing Meadows
--- Maya Williams ---
With barely a nudge of thought, the whispers took over once more as her mind and fingers began to move on their own, dancing across the keyboard and modifying Scan in the direction she’d decided upon.
All of the ideas presented to her had value, but it was the ultimately the Database upgrade that had the most long term value, because while some of the others might have more immediate use the Database upgrade would allow her to steadily improve upon and adapt to whatever she faced, if requiring a little more time and effort than what the other options offered her.
Whatsmore, in spite of the fact that she’d had to clear her various data caches prior to giving her base Scan some temporary memory, the whispers were able to somehow access and restore the information she’d gained from her previous Scans, giving her Database a nice starting point with: Anavi, DJ Decker, those Husk Creeps from the fair, the Bloodhounds from the hospital, a number of the Gamer Guild’s monsters, and even some of the creatures she’d faced in the Bloody Ballroom. (Though I… I don’t think I actually scanned some of those…)
(No need to thank us, we’re aLwAYs WaTChinG after all…)
Out of the corner of her eye she noticed that the shadows sitting around the edges of her lab looked significantly darker than normal, and she couldn’t help but swallow as a bit of anxiety filled her as the whispers began offering even more ideas as her eyes moved around the lab.
(I think… I think I need to get out of the lab for a while…)
Scene Consequences
-Scan upgraded to Database Scan() V 2.0
--Maya now has a database that stores all Scans(), allowing her to more easily access similar scans. Additionally, Maya can devote an Action each turn to studying one of her Scans to unlock new inventions, studyable perks, and more. (This counts as a Build Action.)
---Note: Scan Database only records notable enemies and creatures, simply passing a unit will not register them. Due to gaining this upgrade via Version up, previously fought enemies have been added to the database. Future enemies may require multiple Scans depending on enemy Rank, and some enemy ‘types’ may have different variants out there.
--Unlocked Scans:
---Masks: DJ Decker, BB: Andre The Orkin, Anavi.
---Boss Creeps: Bloodwolves, GG: Rat King, GG: Huntslizard, GG: Kobold Cultist
---Creeps: Husks, Bloodhounds, GG: Rat Beasts, GG: Kobolds, GG: Blitz Wolves, BB: Will-o-wisp, BB: Goblins, BB: Fairy, BB: Storm Wolves.
---
Looking around the cafeteria her eyes fell on Ying sitting all alone with no Aisha in sight. (Well it’s not like we were expecting to see her today…)
She couldn’t help but grimace at that thought.
But instead of letting herself focus on it, she focused her attention on Ying who… (is looking kind of rough…)
With no small amount of concern she sat down across from her best friend. “Hey, you… doing okay?”
Ying gave her an irritated glance before grimacing and letting out a sigh. “Not particularly, but given how you’re looking I doubt you’re doing much better.”
“It’s… been a rough couple of days.” She admitted.
Ying let out a snort of amusement. “Tell me about it.”
“Only… only if you do the same?” She offered a little unsurely.
Ying looked at her for a moment, before her eyes drifted to the side thinking about something. “You mentioned something a while back about your brother, Tommy, being put under a Slaver effect, right?”
“Right…” She nodded, her concern growing.
“While I was with Miss Edna I… I was exposed to a… cursed object that made me… do things until Miss Edna and her son could restrain me.” Ying explained, looking extremely uncomfortable to be doing so.
She frowned, pretty sure whatever Ying was talking about was significantly worse than drawing pictures like Tommy. “What kind of things?”
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“I…” Ying swallowed, closing her eyes. “I tried to… assault a very good friend of mine, and I think I would’ve hurt him… very badly if he hadn’t stopped me.”
She grimaced, remembering that Ying was the kung fu equivalent of a black belt, and that if she didn’t hold back she could bend Maya in half.
“He’s… okay, right?” She asked, knowing that it would be significantly worse if he wasn’t.
“I think so… Given how Jon’s head is… different, from others he might not have even realized what I was really trying to do…” Ying sighed, looking extremely guilty. “Which makes the whole thing worse since I know he won’t actually hold it against me, but…”
“You’re holding it against yourself?” She figured.
Ying licked her lips, not quite meeting Maya’s eyes. “This… this isn’t the first time something like this has happened, and I… I really did hurt him the first time it happened… He won’t admit it, but… I’ve seen him tense up when I make certain… movements around him.”
“Oh…” She said, her mouth going dry as she tried to process that.
“What scares me is that this keeps happening, and every time it does I come closer and closer to hurting him again.” Ying continued, looking increasingly conflicted but unable to stop. “What’s more it’s not just him, I know the last time this happened if the person we were with wasn’t a Deviant I absolutely would’ve hurt her, and I don’t… I don’t know what to do…”
She watched Ying sort of close in on herself, before realizing, “You’re scared of yourself…”
Ying flinched as Maya hit the nail on the head.
She bit her lip, not entirely sure what she could tell Ying, but knowing that she needed to say something. “You know… You know none of this is your fault, I mean just because you keep getting hit by Slaver effects doesn’t mean that you’re responsible for-”
“But I am.” Ying practically growled, glaring at Maya. “If you knew the truth about…” Ying shook her head, before standing up. “Forget about it…”
As Ying walked away, Maya couldn’t bring herself to stand up.
Not because Ying was upset with her, but because… (Ying’s eyes were yellow…)
Scene Consequences
-Maya suspects Ying is a Deviant.
---
“Where are you off to?” She asked Izzy as her younger sister made her way to leave the house.
“I’m going to Autumn’s house.” Izzy answered with a shrug.
(Autumn, as in the sister of Audrey Meadows?) Her inner logic reminded her.
“Uh, why don’t I walk you over?” She offered, hopping off of the couch.
Izzy gave her a look. “Why?”
“I uh, just feel like stretching my legs.” She shrugged.
Her younger sister narrowed her eyes, before relenting, “I guess…”
“Great, then let’s get going.” She smiled, not really feeling it.
(Okay, so I get to the Meadows’s house, where hopefully Audrey will be by now.) She told herself, trying to work out how she was going to do this.
(Her school lets out at the same time as ours, and there’s been plenty of time for her to make it home even if she had to walk.) Her inner reason assured her. (Whatsmore I doubt that she’d have to do that, given how often Mr. Meadows gives Izzy a ride to our house.)
(Right, okay… so I just need to figure out how to broach the topic of… her dead mom not actually being dead… Fuck.) She ran a hand down her face. (I really need to work on that.)
(Careful, the urban druid would strangle you in thorns if you don’t improve.) Her inner Madness warned her, the odd tone still to its voice from the day previous. (I’ll be riding this Madness high until the end of the Turn, hermanita…)
Given all that happened with her whispers yesterday, all of that felt ominous for reasons she felt perfectly justified in.
“So are you going to tell me the actual reason you’re following me to Autumn’s?” Izzy asked, interrupting her thoughts about half way to their destination. “You look like you’re thinking about something pretty hard.”
“Uh,” She grimaced, realizing that her younger sister was obviously the one most likely to catch her in a lie, before deciding to tell a half-truth, “I heard Autumn had a sister about my age and I thought… maybe we could hang out?”
Izzy snorted. “You’re trying to be sociable?”
“Hey, I’m plenty sociable!” She frowned. “I’ve made like… ten friends in the last couple of months!” Admittedly she didn’t actually consider two of those people her friend, part of her wanting to kill them, and half of that number were actually her minions, (but none of that really matters!)
Izzy narrowed her eyes. “I don’t believe you.”
“Where do you think I spend all my time away from the house?” She wondered.
“I don’t know, holed up in some dark room like a hermit.” Izzy told her going straight for the throat.
“That’s not… entirely true.” She grimaced, since that kind of was what she did most of the time. (Hey, I have the minions at least.)
Izzy smirked smugly before shaking her head. “Either way, even if you really were trying to be friends with Audrey, she doesn’t live with the rest of her family.”
“She doesn’t?” She frowned with a bit of concern.
“Yeah, there was… a thing last year, and she moved out.” Izzy explained, without really looking at Maya. “She still comes around to check on Autumn every once in a while but she calls more than she actually visits.”
“Oh…” (That complicates things…)
Scene Consequences
-Maya is now aware that Audrey does not live with the other Meadows and has some kind of family ‘issue’ with her dads.