Stage 1: Houston, Arc 2.3
Thursday, January 7th, 2010
"Are you Julia Catherine Mendez? Born September 24th, 1994?" The cop asks as Julia sits on the couch.
"Yes."
A closer look at the guy's uniform shows that although it seems well dressed with tie and jacket and slacks, the patch on the arm that says coroner foreshadowed what he says next.
"It pains me to bring you this news, but I believe we've recovered your sister and your father's remains from Galveston. I'd like you to come into the city for final verification if you can, go over what comes next and take possession of their personal effects."
Julia steels herself but I notice her choking back a sob.
Janet comes downstairs, apparently having heard the last bit of line and seeing the uniform as well, nearly stumbled as she mumbled 'Oh God...' Mrs. Beckett caught her and led her to the couch as well.
"Are you Janet Melanie Greene, born July 15th, 1992?" Janet nods in response, already beginning to shake.
The coroner goes about his duty saying nearly the exact same thing in the exact same way in a well-rehearsed manner or has said it so many times to so many people already it came by rote. Janet's parents have been identified and recovered off Galveston as well.
I hesitantly speak up. "I lost some friends and family, in the same location her sister was recovered from." I swallowed "Is there a way for me to look…"
The coroner nods. "We still have many unidentified and unclaimed, you can come along and review photos."
"I want to go too." I hear Rachel speak up behind me.
****
Getting through all of this is beyond awful, not as bad as during the attack itself but close enough. Julia and Janet are a wreck for the rest of the evening. Rachel and I aren't much better off. Janet and Julia at least have some closure now, but Rachel's family is still missing or unrecovered. Mine? I still have no idea.
I'm hoping I'll see a photo and my memories will trigger, and I can say that's my mother, father, sister, brother, weird Uncle Rob, friend from school, annoying neighbor, anything at all. Despite forcing myself to look through hundreds of photos of the dead, I get nothing, except gaining almost another two full levels in Gamer's Mind. It feels like just another fuck you from my power.
I don't know what else to do. Do I bring up the subject of being a Parahuman to Julia on the drive home? No, it seems like a really bad idea now. She has to deal with finding a funeral home and burying or cremating them and her mother is still missing. It's after a horrible catastrophe. The morgues are so overcrowded they've spilled into neighboring counties and cities, the funeral homes will be far worse. Some other cold-hearted coroner officer even said she needs the deceased out in 48 hours to make room for more. With no need to save mana to awaken my Golem to show Julia I just blow it all observing buildings as we drive home.
The world is becoming well practiced at dealing with the aftermath of Endbringer attacks. Wealthier countries like ours have funds set aside for survivors, cleanup and burials. It's not enough; definitely not on an individual level. Mass cremations or mass graves still occur out of necessity.
Mrs. Beckett drops Julia, Janet and I back off at the house. She goes back out with Rachel to visit other morgues, so she can look through more photos of the dead. She gives us all stern warnings about behaving while she's gone. Mr. Beckett will be back from work any time now.
Julia and Janet grieve in their room. The boys and Melissa are watching some movie, Katy is away on some parental visit, and Joanna is watching cat videos on the computer again. No one is downstairs. I stare at the office door, try it but it's locked. I've never tried to pick an indoor house lock before. It's not a deadbolt like the front, a lot less complicated. I can take it apart, but I'd never get it back together fast enough if someone comes down stairs. I'd observe it, but I'm stuck in 'buildings' specialty mode.
What did that feature I earned say? 'Improvised Tools (hairpins, nail-files, screwdrivers, whatever works)' I have access to all of those things here in the house. I crank up the volume for sound effects. It works on both footsteps and car noises if one comes into the driveway or someone starts going down the stairs. I get to work, several minutes later the office door clicks open, and Disable Device goes up half a level. Several minutes later I hack the office computer to get an admin account access, +50XP. I save force resetting the router for last, because Joanna is still on the computer upstairs.
To clear the password and force it back to factory default, which I already looked up given the brand and model number, put the hairpin in the reset hole and hold it for seven seconds. I hear Joanna get up and complain. Fully reset, the router starts booting back up and I get to the door as Joanna starts down the stairs. I lock and shut it behind me and sit on the couch right as she comes into the room.
"The internet's not working, where's Mrs. Beckett?"
"Still out with Rachel. You can watch TV here if you want, I'm done." Joanna takes that offer, so I get up and go back upstairs. I made sure no one's looking and type in the IP address of the router, and the factory default password, success, +100 XP. That also gets me the next Computers skill and prompts me for taking a specialty in 'Networks'. Yes, sure I'll take that. What specialty can I aim for next?
Julia was given the personal effects of her sister and father, what was salvageable anyway. She only kept some jewelry, and their cellphones, even though they don't work. I wonder if the phones can be repaired, or if the data can be recovered? Would she want me to?
Phone Phreaker
Repair or recover the data from Julia's broken cell phones.
Time Limit: 4 days
Success: +100 XP per phone, improved relationship with Julia, ???
Bonus Condition: +50 XP per phone, complete the task in 2 days.
Failure: None
That answers that. Since Julia hasn't come out yet I can start researching smartphones on the computer. Specifically how to repair and recover data from them. Computer skill starts ticking upwards again. Mere web-browsing hadn't done that before. No, that isn't true. It did when I was researching how to hack the admin accounts and the router. I guess researching things related to Computers gives me gains; whereas when I researched lock-picking that didn't net me gains in Computers.
I should focus. I don't know the conditions of the phones, which is an important starting point. I'll have to ask her about them. First thing to check is if the various cards are intact. There has to be something recoverable, some chance to succeed, or why get the quest? Is there some kind of precognition power going on with these quests? Why the bonus for doing it in two days? What other things might that affect vs. completing it at the later date?
Julia finally comes out of the room. "Hey." She looks a disheveled mess, bloodshot eyes, and wasn't even trying to hide the tear stains on her face.
"What did you want earlier?"
It's pretty late now. I hear Mr. Beckett's car turn into the driveway, that means dinner soon. I can't throw this on her yet, it will be awful, and I would be awful for doing so. "Nothing, it can wait, given what's happened today." She sighs. "Though, I might be able to fix your…" I stammer a bit not knowing how best to phrase stuff. Maybe I should have activated speech, still trying to figure that out. "The phones you got today, I might be able to fix them or get the data off them for you; if that's something you want."
She looks at me confused for a moment. "Why? Is that why you have those articles up on the computer?"
"Yes, you don't want to try and retrieve their contact lists? Have you informed anyone yet?" She sniffles, and wipes at her eyes and face, but I don't think she has any tears left.
"Didn't have the means…okay." Julia gets up and goes back to the room, returns a moment later with two sealed plastic bags each containing a broken phone. Then Mr. Beckett calls everyone down for dinner.
****
Dinner is quiet, nobody wants to talk. Mrs. Beckett and Rachel arrive half-way through. Rachel doesn't eat. Janet never comes down from her room and Julia says nothing before also leaving to go back upstairs.
Neither phones are working, but her sister's phone is intact. Her father's phone isn't. The phones don't smell good, but don't make you run away. The recovery people must have cleaned them up.
The only thing I can do for her father's phone is take it apart and retrieve the sim and memory card, the rest is a loss. Her sister's phone has a protective case and a screen protector, which go into the trash. The articles said not to turn it on, until it is very thoroughly dry. Given how long it was submerged and in the condition it was in, it needs to be super dry. After cleaning as best I can, wiping it down, and taking the vacuum to it, vacuuming is my chore tonight anyway, I take out its battery and cards. The articles say to stick everything in a zip lock bag filled with dried rice and desiccant. That's all I can do this evening. Once dry, viewing the sim and memory card data will need a reader or a compatible phone to swap them into. Her father's phone wasn't wet, but also not compatible with Julia's other phone.
I hoped to research how to crack those combination locks, but got too busy. I use free camera again to observe the houses in the neighborhood. I make some progress, but I've exhausted all the ones I can see after wasting a lot of mana on ones I had already looked at, and got no skill gain from. To make more progress I'll have to go out tomorrow. Guess I practice meditation again and start all over again tomorrow.
Friday, January 8th, 2010
I get up early again, get breakfast and do research on the computer. They haven't changed the alarm yet, because Mrs. Beckett comes upstairs, and scowls at me.
"I need my pain meds, and my money."
"What do you need your money for?"
"To get a haircut." I actually do, but need to go to several stores. Mrs. Beckett fights back a yawn and goes downstairs. I'm ready with my free camera, to watch the safe numbers as she opens it, committing more to memory. She comes back up and hands me my pain pills.
"How much for your haircut? You have counseling today."
"I know. I need all my money."
"A haircut does not cost $120. Here's 10."
I activate speech again. "That's a cheap-o haircut that wouldn't even cover sales tax. My looks require something better. Plus I need better shampoo, and you know I don't even have my own personal deodorant yet? Buying some would make me and the rest of the house much happier, what with me trying to go to the gym and all." She hands me only two more twenties. I'm tired of this. "I still would like the rest of my personal money."
"A haircut still doesn't cost that much."
"Look Mrs. B. You obviously take very good care of your hair, but I doubt it comes cheap. It's a shame the way marketers create these artificial price differences between men and women's products, but If one of the girls had asked for money for what I just described I needed, do you think a mere 50 dollars would even remotely cover it? I'm just asking for a fair consideration. I want to make myself look good for school, make some good first impressions." I swallow my pain meds with my glass of OJ while she looks at me. She puts my money down on the table and walks off.
Your Speech skill has increased by 1
You have unlocked the feature 'Good First Impression'
I go back to free camera mode and watch her return my pill bottle to the safe. I look over my skills and read the description. 'If you make a good first impression, automatically add a one time, unadjusted CHA / 2 bonus to your relationship score for that person.' That's neat. Now that I'm at an even level 5, I really do need to figure out a Speech specialty to aim for.
There's a trend here. For most skills, it stops gains at the next whole number. This is good for specialties, it's bad for losing gains that might have gotten you further. If I was at 99.99%, and do some action that normally would have granted a lot, including a lot of percentage points past the next level, I still get stopped at the next level at 0.00%. The only skills I haven't seen that happen to, are the Gamer skills, when I get level jumps or gain them normally, but those don't have specialties. Actually, my resistance skills don't do that either and they don't have specialties. This might be another way of determining if a skill supports specialties or not, in case observing doesn't tell me. I suppose it makes sense. If you can't gain a specialty in a skill, there's no need to do a progress halt to provide a chance to gain one.
I write down the list of stores to check and can tell I won't be back for lunch. I'll have to take the bus to get there too. I want to go to the gym but won't have time. I do need to get back in time for the counseling thing. It's the best way to regain stress points and grind Psychology, Empathy, and Gamer's Mind, in the least traumatic manner. I wait until 6 for the motion alarm to be off, and write a note.
Going to some stores, gym and to get haircut, will eat lunch while out. Be back in time for trip to counseling. Simon
I'm not going to ask permission, they probably won't give it. I'll get in trouble later, but I don't care. To get that bonus XP or finish that quest at all, I have to be on my own. I doubt they'll be willing to drive me around to specialty electronic stores with a lot of other crap to do. They'll also want to know why. I have $168 bucks and $50 something on that visa gift card they don't know about. I place my note on the table and sneak out the back door, and then snuck around the backyard gate and down the alley.
For performing a repeated action you may gain the 'Stealth' skill.
Oh hell yeah. I click 'Yes' right away. I may not be able to use Observe on it right now, but that sounds awesome. Will it have any specialties?
Stealth (AGI, PER, WIS) (Active): Level: 1 (0.00%)
Not just a magnificent bastard, but a sneaky one too. This represents your ability to move about unseen and undetected. Proper use of appropriate prepared equipment can aid you even more in remaining unnoticed.
I activate it right away. At least there's no silly stealth animation I have to make while moving. I use it right up to the bus stop. No one pays attention, but also don't react when they do turn and see me. It breaks when I'm noticed and I can't turn it back on if I'm being looked at. I succeed once more and try to board. It breaks again when the bus driver demands fare. Still, it has gone up slowly. I try to activate it again on the bus, but it fails repeatedly, too many eyes on me. Instead I just grind Observe on all the buildings we drive by.
****
By the third store I find a sim reader compatible with Julia's Dad's old flip phone. During the bus rides, I practice with Meditation, but lose it whenever we hit a bump. That's getting annoying. Stealth rises very slowly. Trying it out during the day inside well lit stores isn't a good grinding strategy.
I finally get 'Architectural Eye' as a specialty. Now I'm back to level 9 and 0.00% again. I won't aim for a specialty this level. I should unlock a feature at level 10. I confirm that buildings now only cost 2 MP. I'll go for another, eventually. Vehicles, cars, trucks, even a plane and helicopter I saw flying overhead, still cost 3 MP. After that I don't know what else to try for, maybe nothing.
I wake up my Golem, but leave it in my backpack passively gaining me skill for being awake. I didn't want to do it before, it drains my MP too fast. Shit, I could've done that last night, and avoided mana losses. Note to self, create a Golem wake time schedule to never waste MP again.
After the cost of the USB sim reader, a bag of desiccant packs, tools for disassembling a smartphone, in case I need them, a haircut, and various sundries. I drained my visa gift card plus $10 and change. That and my own MP3 player so I don't have to borrow Julia's anymore. I skip lunch to save money and keep the Golem awake during the bus ride back to the house.
****
"And where have you been?" Mrs. B asks and gets in my face as soon as I walk in.
I point to my head. "A haircut, just like I said I would. Didn't you see my note?"
"I saw it afterwards, I was expecting to bring you to a place after breakfast, and instead you've been gone for hours and missed lunch."
"Well, what can I say? I don't know why you were expecting to do that. Clearly I can take care of it myself."
"You are not supposed to just wander off whenever you feel like it. We need to be informed--"
"I informed you, the note said where I went and what I was doing."
"That's insufficient, we need to know directly so we can make accommodations and—"
"Whatever, you didn't need to accommodate anything, I got everything done on my own." I say as I shove past her.
"Let me see your bags."
"Fine…" I can help but roll my eyes at her as she sifts through my crap, and pulls out my receipts. The ones I wanted them to find. "See shampoo and deodorant and stuff, like I said. Now are you done?"
"What is this?" She asks, holding up spider-bong. Damn, I should've been more careful.
"Just my crappy artwork, can I go now? I got stuff to do."
"You don't seem to be taking this seriously. Hand me your money."
"That's because I'm not." I mumble, not quietly enough, and hand over only part of my cash.
"You should be, and don't take that tone with me young man. This is all that's left?"
"Yeah, I ate while I was out."
"You should not have left, you should have been here for lunch, and—"
"I said on the note I'd get lunch while I was out!"
"I'm not finished, get ready for counseling, and you've lost TV privileges for the weekend."
Is that all? Big deal, wait no, fake it. "What?? Come on, that's not fair!"
"Maybe next time you won't run off without asking us in person"
I storm off in exaggerated annoyance, but then I see Julia on the landline upstairs. Her overhead tag now says 'Level 15.' The fuck? "Observe"
Name: Julia Catherine Mendez
Level: 15
Alias: None
Gender: Female
Age: 15
Ethnicity: Hispanic, Spanish, ??
Class: Foster Kid / Delinquent
Faction: None
STR: 13 (??) ??
AGI: ?? (??) ??
CON: ?? (??) ??
INT: ?? (??) ??
PER: ?? (??) ??
WIS: ?? (??) ??
CHA: ?? (??) ??
LUC: ?? (??) ??
Allure: 5.5
Armor: ??
Speed: ??
Attack: ??
Dodge: ??
Summary Description:
Born 9/24/1994, Julia is a 15 year old fellow survivor from the Galveston 2009 Leviathan attack in which she lost her family and home. Forced into the state foster care system, she has endured more grief, hardship, and legal problems. She has a significant distrust of authority and a strong desire for self-reliant independence. She has experienced great difficulty in adjusting to recent events and changes in her life. That same mistrust and stubbornness makes it hard for her to seek help. Counseling and recent confidence and understanding of her own abilities and mental state has begun to mitigate the trauma she has endured.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
...
She has straight, dark reddish brown hair with the hints of leftover red hair dye, brown eyes and light skin. She is 5'9" tall, and weighs around 175 lbs. She appears to be relatively fit and athletic. Although of mixed descent she considers herself Hispanic but is frequently mistaken for Caucasian.
Her left lower leg bears burn scars. The nail of her first toe right foot is broken. Her left cheek is slightly scarred. Her left and right palms are mildly singed.
Currently Feeling: Sullen, Depressed, Reckless, Traumatized, Grieving, Very Stressed
Known Status Effects:
Mental: Depression, Adjustment Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Aqua-phobia, Very Stressed, Conflict Seeking
Physical: Scarred, Very Tense.
I cringe at seeing Chupacabra's name, but am over that now, does my power know that? There's some minor changes, but still a lot of question marks obscuring numbers. How the hell does she weigh more than me and look like that? What does Conflict Seeking mean? What does recent confidence and understanding of her abilities and mental state mean?
I dive into a chain of Parapedia Observes to get more details. Depression, Adjustment Disorder, PTSD, and Aqua-phobia are straightforward. 'Very Stressed' is 'a condition between Stressed and Extremely Stressed, when Stress points range from 51-76. It imparts negative modifiers to INT, WIS, and CHA.' I remember having that one. All mental status effects usually give related stat penalties, or they did to me. I can't see the stats on other people, (yet?) but I'll assume they do the same. Blah, blah…, that's the clinical definition of stress.
There's a range. I remember going through them all. Stressed: 76-100, Very Stressed: 51-75, Extremely Stressed: 26-50, Julia was at that level the last time I observed her. Near your Breaking Point: 1-26, Mental Breakdown: 0. Can I tell what people's Stress points range is from this status effect? There was something about Mental Breakdown, buried in my old notifications. Where is that?
"Simon it's time to go to the counseling sessions. Get ready and get in the car."
Mrs. Beckett interrupts my search. I grab a snack, put the desiccant into the rice bag with the cell phones and go to the car. I keep an eye on Julia during the drive, by not closing her Observe window. Sullen is an apt descriptor for her mood. Here they are, the fourth notification I ever received.
You are suffering from the Status Effect 'Mental Breakdown'
…
You are suffering from the Status Effect 'Drowning'
You are no longer suffering from the Status Effect 'Drowning'
You have recovered 6 Stress points
The Status Effect 'Mental Breakdown' has been downgraded to 'Near your breaking point'
The three prior notifications were for gaining the Gamer skills: Mind, Body, Interface. The 42nd notification was when I was fucking drowning in the sink hole. All of those have the same exact timestamp. 'No longer drowning', my stress point recovery, and getting downgraded to 'Near your breaking point' occur simultaneously a moment later.
That's my trigger event isn't it? At the exact date, hour, minute and second on those 42 simultaneous time stamps, when my Stress Points hit 0. Does that mean…does that mean I can tell how close someone is to triggering by using Observe and viewing their stress status effects? If that's true, I'm not sure I want to know.
Your Parahuman Lore skill has increased by 1
You have unlocked the 'Parahuman Database' feature
Really? Fuck you troll. Hmm, didn't stop at exactly 0.00%, no specialties for that skill?
Stress points aren't on a 100 point scale. I have a max of 350, which I think, is INT + WIS times 10. What happens to people with crappy stats? Like a 5 in each? Are they always stressed, do they have an 'Ignorance is Bliss' effect going on, or are stats that low just rare?
I'm losing focus. Sullen, Depressed, Traumatized, Grieving, there's nothing unexpected Observe is telling me there. 'Scarred' is 'a permanent effect reducing Allure due to scars from injuries marring a person's appearance. Reduction amount is dependent on severity, visibility, and the opinion of the viewer'. 'Reckless': 'Willing and desires to engage in dangerous acts, while ignoring concerns for the safety of her own life, due to not caring if she perishes as a result of the consequences.' combined with 'Conflict Seeking': 'Influenced by forces to search for and pursue conflict and the experiences and data such an encounter provides. While informative and can drive one to advance one's skills and abilities, it is just as equally dangerous given the risk of host death,' looks like a recipe for disaster. Also, forces, host? Parapedia won't delve further into those.
Now what the hell is Cape Database? There's numerous entries, all based on parahumans I've encountered, seen, seen pictures of, read or heard about. The number of Parahumans I've actually encountered are smaller, Rappel, Granite, Sparky, Lifeline, Gatling, Eidolon. Wait, Eidolon? When did that happen? When we were in the sinkhole? Julia, is she on the list? Uh, why is there a civilian ID section? Why is there a single blank entry with a generic silhouette in that section, next to an entry representing me? My 'Cape Status: Not-debuted.' Where did the photo of me come from? 'PRT ratings: unknown'…
That each entry for parahumans has a very thorough dossier is disconcerting. Sure a lot is blank and listed as unknown, but still. The fact it had entire sections split between civilian and cape, and known vs. unknown/speculated is mind boggling. I'll explore this more later when I have more mana and time.
****
At counseling, there's more group and exposure therapy, and one-on-one stuff. I get gains in Empathy and Psychology, stress points and Gamer's Mind. Subsequent Observe use on Julia doesn't reveal new changes. Everyone but me has the 'Stressed' status effects, among other things.
Julia was not in the group session today. Should that be a goal in the 'Help Julia Recover' quest? What can help her recover stress points, mechanically speaking? Damn, I think busting out the Parahuman talk will do the opposite.
When I get back, I have stupid punishment chores, but with piddling XP quests so no big deal. I keep an eye on Julia in case there's a chance to talk but she gets on the house phone again. Some free camera and volume setting tweaks let me eavesdrop. She's calling dozens of funeral homes and facilities, CPS, insurance companies, credit card companies to halt charges, and her state trust manager for emergency money to pay for stuff. I feel really creepy so I leave her alone.
I copy the data of the sim cards with the reader onto the computer. The format of her dad's data is so old though I need to research it more, or find some program that can read it. Her sister's data may be easier if Julia can just swap sims. Damn it's already late. I'll have to talk to her about it tomorrow.
I reawaken my Golem and let it stay like that while I meditate for a couple hours. I want to see what happens if I keep it awake, hidden in my backpack, without commands, while sleeping. Meditating doesn't come close to offsetting the 3 MP per minute cost of an active golem, but sleeping should give me a positive MP gain, even if it means waking up with less than max mana.
Saturday, January 9th, 2010
I wake up with 354 MP, about what I calculated. The Golem is still active, but I don't want it draining me, so I put it back to sleep. This is good. It means I can have a guard when I'm sleeping. Skill gains for having the Golem awake is slow, but free skill XP, since I'm not doing anything. Oh! I can make this a 7th simultaneous skill if I do the same thing as before. Creating one Golem brought me from level 1 to 2. I guess making them is a faster skill gain method. If I want a golem that's not crappy, I have to do a much better job at it.
I activate stealth for practice and get started on research. Twenty minutes later a sleepy Mrs. Beckett pokes her head around the corner of the stairwell.
"I need my pain pills," I say. She leaves without saying anything. I activate my free camera to watch and she comes back later and puts the bottle on the desk and leaves again. I'm pretty sure I can get into the safe if I want to now.
By breakfast, I find a program to access the sim data. Julia comes down and makes herself another gigantic bowl of cereal, and a huge glass of milk. Janet is staring vacantly, ignoring the eggs she is making until they nearly burn. Mrs. Beckett takes over, and tells her to sit down.
"I recovered the data from one phone and copied it onto the computer upstairs. The other you might be able to get by swapping sim and memory cards, if they've dried out okay." I tell Julia during a lull in the table chatter.
"Really?" She garbles a surprise through a mouthful of cereal.
"Yeah, I can show you after breakfast. How are you holding up?"
Julia ekes out a mournful sigh, and speaks slowly between mouthfuls. "I don't know. Memorial and funeral service is tomorrow."
"So soon?"
"Has to be…so many are gone, took forever to find a place."
"Do you want me to come?"
She shrugged. "It's far, an hour's drive. It's the closest location with space."
"I don't mind whatever distance or time that involves. I just want to lend my support."
"Thanks" Julia says as she finishes off the last of her cereal.
"At least there is something for you to bury." Janet says as she gets up and walks off. I throw an Observe at her as she goes away. Still 'Extremely Stressed', among other things. Julia makes an angry grimace as she leaves, then gets up to make a plate of eggs. Is the depression making her eat more?
I read all of Janet's Observe info. "She didn't get informed soon enough to claim them before forced cremation. She's hurting just as much, with more stress and lashing out. She'll be 18 in the summer, and age out of the foster care system, and be entirely on her own."
"Doesn't make me feel any better."
"Wasn't supposed to, but we have a place to sleep, as stupid as all their rules are."
"Maybe, I'd rather be on my own."
"You ready to look at the data yet?"
"Not sure. Did you look at any of it?"
"Only enough to verify it's readable. Contact list, text history, phone photos. I haven't looked at your sister's. I wanted to try the card swap first."
"Alright," we finished eating and I retrieve the Ziploc that holds her sister's phone, sim and memory card and we trudge upstairs. I pull them out and hand the sim and card to her.
"What happened to the case?" Julia asks.
"I'm sorry, I hope you didn't want to keep it, it was falling apart, and smelled really bad."
She sighs at me again. "Show me what to do."
I show her how to swap sim cards, and soon her phone is up with all her sister's contact, photos and history. I show her how to go through her Dad's phone data that I got onto the computer.
"You should probably write all the contacts info down on paper, and put the photos on a USB stick. Keep the cards anyway," I mention after giving her some privacy.
"Thanks, a lot, really. I had no idea how I was going to reach any of their friends or even some of my extended family… to let them know what happened. It means a lot to me."
+15 relationship with Julia Mendez
Quest: Phone Phreaker completed.
Bonus Condition successful, completed within 2 days.
Quest XP gained: 200
Bonus XP gained: 100
Increased relationship with Julia Mendez.
A broken smartphone, maybe? Ask.
You have gained a level! You are now level 7
Your Gamer's Body skill has increased by 1
You have unlocked the feature 'All Weather Friend'
Your Gamer's Interface skill has increased by 1
Your Gamer's Mind skill has increased by 1
A broken smartphone… is that the question mark reward? Gee, way to be obvious. "What do you want to do with your sister's phone?"
"Does it work at all?"
"I don't know. I dried it out, but can't tell unless we turn it on."
"Do you need the cards back to do that?"
"No"
"Go ahead and try then"
I put its battery back in and try to power it up, but it won't turn on. "Nope, but battery might have no charge."
"Let me see the battery." I take the battery out and hand it to her. She turns away and does something with her own phone. "Battery is dead." She says as she hands it back to me.
She seems rather sure. I whisper 'observe' to check the battery. I should've done that earlier. Not only is it without charge but also non-functional. "How did you know it was dead?"
"Oh...just guessing really. We can try the battery from mine. They're the same phone." Julia hands it to me, and turns back to the computer to sift through the data from her dad's phone.
I take her battery out, put it in the dead phone and power it up. Amazingly, it comes to life, only to show error messages on a non-responsive screen. "Damn. It works and powers up, but there's an error and the screen won't respond. 'Input interface not detected'."
"So it's broken?"
"Yeah, it's borked."
"Can you fix it?"
"I don't know. Depends on what's wrong. Even then, it may have to be taken to a repair place."
"If you think you can fix it I'll sell it to you."
"Really, are you sure? It was your sister's phone."
"Not the cards. It's identical to mine anyway. As I have the data, that's what matters. I need the money."
"Well, when we were on the island in those stores, you could have..."
"Yeah, I could have, probably should have with you, but I didn't."
"Okay, but I don't know what it will cost to fix it, and get a new battery."
"Yeah, I need my battery back. I have to make a bunch of difficult phone calls."
"Do you have service again? I thought it was suspended." I ask as I hand the battery back to her.
"No service yet, I have to use the landline. I still need to sign up for a prepaid account on my phone and buy minutes. That's why I need money."
I'll need to do that too. Maybe I shouldn't have bought that MP3 player. "Can I still look over it, to see what might be wrong, or take it to a repair shop to see if it is savable and what it would cost?"
Julia nods, and goes downstairs, leaving her sister's broken phone with me. I have no idea what I'm doing. Recovering data off memory cards is one thing; actually fixing the hardware is beyond my knowledge. But does it have to be? Observe is pretty powerful, it told me exactly why the battery was dead. Maybe I can use it on the individual components?
I spend a couple hours researching the specs and internals of the phone on the computer. I'd prefer to just go to a repair shop; I looked up several, but I'm 'grounded' because I didn't ask for permission to walk to the damn stores yesterday. It's still progress. Researching the smartphone is gaining my computers skill, as is opening it with the toolkits I bought. Abusing my micro-vision camera zoom-in cheat, I can use Observe on each component, connector, resistor and circuit, inspecting each one. I'm grinding Observe and Gamer's Interface. The latter is getting noticeably more difficult. The component parts and circuitry still count as mundane objects that cost 2 MP. I just need to look at a few hundred of them.
For testing and training your senses, you have gained 1 PER.
Awesome, by noon, and 420 something uses of Observe via micro-vision later, I've gained 'Smartphones' specialty for Computers and am close to leveling Observe again. I'm nearly out of mana. I won't get another specialty in Computers next level if I have to keep doing smartphone stuff to verify what I've found is the only issue that's wrong with it. Using Micro-vision, I find a few more tiny water drops that I removed with a micropipette, as well as specks of dirt grains with some magnifying tweezers.
One tiny component was shorted-out from water damage. Its job, according to the helpfully descriptive Observe info, was to receive all the touch screen inputs and send them to the main board. So I can see the screen and touch the screen, the computer inside isn't getting anything. It's like if the mouse or keyboard I/O controller wasn't working on a PC. I still have no idea how that's fixed or replaced. At least I got the part number info. I can try calling the repair shops in the area.
****
Lunch has come and gone. Julia left to attend her anti-youth violence class. I manage to call and email a few repair shops. There won't be any more progress without waiting. If I can get the phone repaired it will be way cheaper than trying to buy a new one. Hopefully it will satisfy my smartphone quest.
No TV, not that I care, can't go out, grounded, the other kids are using the computer, and Julia will be gone for several hours. I spend the whole afternoon reading the Earth Science book. I should get a skill and a free specialty like Mathematics. Should I take it? This time I can use Parapedia to gain more insights about it and what other future skills may be capable of.
'All Weather Friend' lets me ignore non-damaging temperature effects? No more 'Chilled' status effects? I think I can safely confirm that features get unlocked at level 5 and 10. A third feature must unlock at level 20 – 25. Gamer's Interface is at a 19, and I haven't had other features unlock for it since the 'Notes and keyboard interface' thing.
I'm tempted to use those unspent skill points on it to see because of that message about the Inventory feature not being unlocked. It might be some other skill or perk that grants it, but Interface seems the most likely. In the long run, using those skill points on the Gamer skills is a waste, since they auto-increment each level up. They'll max out on their own in time.
Julia and Mrs. Beckett aren't back by dinner. Rachel has to help with dinner, lasagna. Some compliments on it, earn a relationship point. Conversations are about the first day of school for us, me, Rachel, Janet and Julia on Monday. For the rest of the kids it's just the end of winter break. I don't know my schedule, none of us do. Mrs. Pearson is going to go with us to school Monday and get stuff sorted out. Hopefully I can get into some of Julia's classes. The other kids say it is an A day B day eight period schedule. Math, English and Science will be unavoidable, but that leaves five other classes. We still have to go to counseling after school Monday anyway.
I resume reading after dinner. Mrs. Beckett and Julia get home and Julia scarfs down the leftovers. Observe says she is currently feeling: 'Pissed the Fuck Off'. I don't think it's a good idea to ask, and we don't get to talk anymore today.
I tuck in early at 9 to grind meditation. There probably isn't anything, or anyone, left in this house, or neighbor's houses, or my interface left to grind observe and get decent XP gain on without wasting MP. I reactivate Spider-Bong to the Golem skill while I sleep and not waste any mana.
Simon's character sheet:
Name: Simon Clarence Anderson
Gender: Male
Age: 15
Race: Parahuman
Class: Foster Kid / Deceptive Snit
Faction: None
Money: $158.21
Title: Vermin Stomper
Level: 7 (14.41%)
XP: 3775
Primary Attributes
STR: 7 (-0.50) 6.50
AGI: 5 (-1.00) 4.00
CON: 10 (-0.25) 9.75
INT: 17 (-1.08) 15.92
PER: 11 (0.00) 11.00
WIS: 18 (-1.08) 16.92
CHA: 11 (-0.36) 10.64
LUC: 10 (0.00) 10.00
Unspent Points: 20
Secondary Attributes
Health Pool: 198/198
Stamina Pool: 171/171
Mana Pool: 505/1487
Stress Pool: 169/350
Attack: 6.25
Speed: 2.63
Dodge: 8.67
Armor: 0.20
Carry: 65.00
Allure: 2.50
Skills
Max Slots: 34
Free Skill Slots: 6
Artistry: 5 (46.76%)
Athletics: 2 (0.00%)
Basic Academics: 9 (0.00%)
Computers: 6 (10.44%)
Crafting (Stone & Pottery): 5 (56.63%)
Create Mana Golem: 3 (23.61%)
Disable Device: 5 (50.00%)
Disease Resistance: 4 (0.86%)
Drug & Poison Resistance: 5 (89.21%)
Empathy: 3 (87.86%)
Firearms: 1 (0.00%)
Gamer's Body: 10 (77.76%)
Gamer's Interface: 19 (88.45%)
Gamer's Mind: 16 (1.87%)
Language-English: MAX (0.00%)
Language-Spanish: 2 (45.87%)
Mathematics: 1 (0.00%)
Meditation: 7 (63.32%)
Null Resistance: 3 (13.69%)
Observe: 9 (60.93%)
Parahuman Lore: 6 (2.45%)
Programming: 2 (67.45%)
Psychology: 3 (65.97%)
Speech: 5 (0.00%)
Stealth: 1 (85.43%)
Strategy: 1 (0.00%)
Vehicle Operations: 3 (0.00%)
Video Games: 26 (5.87%)
Unspent Skill Points: 9
Perks
Free Perk Slots: 0
Gaia's Blessing: Mana Pool and Mana Skill access
Gaia's Attunement: Elemental Affinity access
Light Sleeper: Need only 5 hours to get fully rested
Mana Reserve: Bonus MP per level increased by 25%
Flaws
Selective Amnesia: We had to make room for stuff in your head
A Bit of a Troll: Sometimes you just can't help yourself
Unnatural Curiosity: Can't always resist the urge to find stuff out