[LP CYOA] Epic

[m4davis]

A

 

[Kipeci]

B

Remember, without Yua to adjust the sensitivity, we're still pretty awful in a CF.

 

[Esquilax]

Remember, without Yua to adjust the sensitivity, we're still pretty awful in a CF.

This, and, well, I don't want to take the chance of accidentally chopping Kyrie in half because we can't control our powers. Oops.

B

 

[Smashing Axe]

I'm leaning towards B. Obviously, Naim, Grimrock, and everyone on the Kaguya-hime knows it was us at the colony. I think B plays better with the common soldiers. Once we make our escape it should also give us an opportunity to gather information from the inside. I think we're going to have to depose the Empress and/or the Board of Directors. With someone more level-headed like Kyrie in place, we could possibly even try to wind down the war. Citizens around the world are hot-blooded now, but I'm sure they'll get fatigued and desire peace soon enough.

My concern is our detainment will involve plenty of dissection and torture. I just can't see the overall benefit to B.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Duh, A. Siding with the Empress always gets us killed.

Besides, this is the weeaboo choice for more character development between us and Kyrie - ie, make out scene. The Empress hates us so much she's ok with killing us here and now. No way we're getting out of this without violence unless we kidnap her.

...on hindsight perhaps I made the consequences for not going to the Atman Foundation too severe and random. Sorry guys.

Nope. In this case we got what we deserved. I said back then that we had to find out what the cult was up to before it was too late. Pity I didn't listen to my instincts and flopped.

This, and, well, I don't want to take the chance of accidentally chopping Kyrie in half because we can't control our powers. Oops.

B

eyepatch. frankly it's more likely in b when they remove it.

"Gentlemen, My Lady...you will always remember this as the day you almost caught Ensign Senya Hoshikawa!"

A

This.

 

[Baltika9]

I'm guessing Kyrie would be happy to run away with us and play pirate princess, but the question is do WE want her along or do we want her in place as the eventual Empress for future machinations? I suspect with either A or B we can fuck off and do our own thing, it's just A has that happening earlier and comes with Kyrie.

You may be right, in which case the smart thing for us to do would be B, since Kyrie is far, faaar more competent at being a politician than she is at being an adventurer. That, and without her calming influence, I suspect there will be no one to calm the tempers of the masses, thus no one to diffuse their passions. And if we do get her killed, hoo boy. Considering that I want the whole world under one Empire, her absence may be for the best.

On the other hand, we have A. Independent power-player, smuggler, outlaw (seriously, we pissed off everyone here, the only people not looking for our head will be the republics of Europe), dodging and weaving between politics, intrigues and warfare, assembling the best team ever, finding Shulgi and yadda yadda.
So, yeah, going with fukkin' Rogue Trader. A.
That, and Kyrie could use some real-life experience before becoming Empress. With us as the Emperor, of course.Since Senya will be losing his chastity and innocence, might as well do it in style.

Exellent, this is will just make things more interesting.
Also this has never been about the "best" choice, but the "oh fuck" moments, making things to fair makes them boring.

That, and the rare instances where we succeed against all odds. But, yeah, surviving all manners of clusterfucks and waking up some time later to find that nothing's really changed and we're Public Enemy #1, or a nobody stripped and cheated of all his accomplishments, does have it's charms.
Edit:

...on hindsight perhaps I made the consequences for not going to the Atman Foundation too severe and random. Sorry guys.

Nope. In this case we got what we deserved. I said back then that we had to find out what the cult was up to before it was too late. Pity I didn't listen to my instincts and flopped.

Speaking of which, why didn't I believe you? You warned me that Nahim was unbro, that he was Theseus 2.0, but I refused to listen. And now he stole our MEGA GLORY and almost stole our girl.
How could I have been so blind?

 

[Zwist]

Jup. Happy

Naim.
I somehow doubt this is entirely his doing. And in trusting him the empress might have made a grave mistake.

B. We might still have people inside who at least have sympathy to us

 

[GreyViper]

Well that was interesting.

B Im tired of running and honestly wouldn't political intrigue suit us better. because Im damn sure Senya can get out from this with his cold calculating mind, he would like little Dio. So many enemies, so many to bring down Count Monte Cristo style as cyber hacker.

The first leads to cult again and that's not interesting in a least.

 

[Baltika9]

I'm guessing Kyrie would be happy to run away with us and play pirate princess

Huh, I guess we do have an eye-patch and a hook hand now, don't we?

Yua 2.0 will be a parrot.

So, uh, since we're going to play a pirate, we'll need our own saber, right?
Considering that Senya reached Tjaru in that text game, and it follows Ean's adventures, then we have access to the secrets of the Honourblade/Anbar'shi, right?
Our last stunt considered, Senya just shifted his alignment 50% towards Ean, on the Ean-Dio-Shulgi-Naram scale, no?
Edit: oh yeah, Shulgi still owes us that drink. Might as well make him our first stop and team up with him. I bet our scars will get us MASSIVE RESPECT from OG Shulgi.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Well that was interesting.

B Im tired of running and honestly wouldn't political intrigue suit us better. because Im damn sure Senya can get out from this with his cold calculating mind, he would like little Dio. So many enemies, so many to bring down Count Monte Cristo style as cyber hacker.

The first leads to cult again and that's not interesting in a least.

How do you get "political intrigue" from "I can try to look for chances to escape later"?

What makes you think A leads to the cult? Assuming it's not a straight bad end, I would think that, once in the Empress' custody in B, our only hope of salvation (apart from cutting our way out) would be that the cult would break us out and drag us in front of our "mother" to answer for our crimes or to play at making up so they could use us.

Kyrie has a hard time going against her mum, Grimrock doesn't have the authority to release us (and may be a bit busy with the whole war thing...), the Emperor is probably dead or half-dead (I'm suspicious about that and other things...), and Naim is too much of a prick - at most he'd let us loose just to be rid of us and then try to cozy up to Kyrie again.

A means we're a free agent and have the princess along for the ride. We could look up the cult or we could look up Shulgi and investigate all the weird shit like insane tech breakthroughs etc. Sure we'd be hunted, but the same thing would happen in B, only with less princess. Right now, no one can counter the Empress' orders and she wants us dead bad, so we're running eventually either way.

Our last stunt considered, Senya just shifted his alignment 50% towards Ean, on the Ean-Dio-Shulgi-Naram scale, no?

Yep. It was classic Ean. *sigh* (Nostalgic...)

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Of course, if your really tired of running, there's always C - Take off the patch and use Kyrie as a shield while slicing apart the Empress and her guards...

 

[aleam iacis]

Man... that's terrible, poor Senya. Also, awesome job, Treave! Also the whole bit about us having fake memories of parents, very JC Denton. Final stop for us should be to create a super Yua controlling the world's computers and merge with her. Bring everyone forward into a technological nanotech/superpower singularity with us as the GodKing.

Anyway, A. How could we choose anything else? Let's finally meet up with Shulgi, Erika, and our sis, and make them all join our party (make Senya god-king political party, not some rag tag group on the run in some super run-down or prototype stolen ship). Also the empress sucks. I hope her Karmic death comes soon and we profit from it. Also fuck Naim, he's definitely no bro to steal our credit like this. He's practically a Theseus. I bet he won't even semi-turncoat and feed us information and then actively take our side later at a pivotal moment.

 

[treave]

A - 7
B - 4

Sorry, but I'm forced to update early today because it's going to be another computer-less weekend.

***

Lost

I raise my mechanical hand and clamp it – gently – around Kyrie’s throat from behind. I have the pleasure of seeing the Empress’s eyes widen in shock as she shrieks. There is a roar of surprise from the crowd of military personnel in the hangar, as they begin to rush towards me.

“Nobody move,” I shout. “Or the princess gets it!”

“You have balls, I’ll give you that.” murmurs Kyrie softly.

“You can check them out for yourself later.” I whisper in return. She turns red and starts struggling, attempting to hit me. Good, just the response I needed for it to look realistic. I back away from the soldiers, holding her in my arms.

“You show your true colours at last,” says the Empress, a look of disgust on her face. “Give up the Princess now or we’ll shoot to kill.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” I sneer. “Not with your precious daughter’s life in my claw.” I make a show of tightening the rusty metal hand – gently – to prove my point. True enough, none of them make a step forward. The hangar is full of nervous faces. So far, so good; I’ll use my ability to pilot the frame without calibrating it. Things are going just as planned.

“What do we do after this?” whispers Kyrie.

I keep an eye on the soldiers, continuing to retreat towards a frame as I reply, “’I’m not too sure, but let’s get out of here first.”

“Reckless as usual, I suppose.” She sighs, the edge of her lips twitching up slightly in the faintest hint of a smile.

“Well then,” I call out to my would-be captors. I’m almost at the service elevator that would take me to the CF’s cockpit. “Gentlemen. Your Majesty. You’ll always remember this as the day you almost caught-“

A sudden blooming sensation of heat in my abdomen interrupts my words. I hear Kyrie give a slight gasp. She begins to fall limp in my arms – as I turn her around to face me, I see a spreading patch of red on her clothes.

“Kyrie-“

Her name chokes in my throat.


Why?

I look at the crowd in bewilderment. None of them seem to have fired their guns. Where did that shot come from? Kyrie’s face is rapidly turning pale. I need to think of what to do quickly. Do I bring her with me in search of medical aid? Should I leave her here and hope for the best?

The Imperials make that choice for me.

“He shot the princess! That cultist shot my daughter!” screams the Empress in panic and anger. “Kill him! Kill him now!”

The soldiers rush at me, murder in their eyes. Words are of no use now. I lay Kyrie down on the floor. Her eyes are closed, but she’s still breathing. Her fingers try to grip mine as I slip them away. “I’ll come back for you,” I whisper. She nods weakly as she lets go.

The first soldier is upon me – I submerge my mind in ice. As he swings his rifle butt at my head, I intercept his wrist and twist at just the right angle to cause him to drop it. With a kick I push him away and jump up on the elevator. It rises. The soldiers begin firing at me, but they don’t manage to hit me in time, the service elevator blocking their shots, before I drop into the cockpit of the frame.
There’s a technician inside, a fearful look on his face. I’m about to threaten him to unlock the frame’s controls for me, but he just salutes and taps a few buttons to do what I was about to ask for. Seeing my puzzlement, he tells me, “I served on the Kalai, Ensign.” before he leaps into the elevator.

I slip my arms into the slave controls. It’s been a month since I piloted one of these. The gigantic war machine groans to life as I tear it away from the scaffolding. The hangar’s bay is still open from the Empress’s arrival, so that’s at least one stroke of good luck for me. The small arms fire from the soldiers’ rifles ping harmlessly against the CF’s armor. I take one last look at Kyrie – she’s being carried away by some soldiers, her body limp. She should be alright. I hope she’ll be alright. Turning away, I rocket out of the cruiser. Controlling the thrusters manually is harder than I expected, without Yua to help me. Still, I manage to make my landing without crushing the frame’s legs. Maneuvering in the Earth’s gravity is far different from fighting in space, and I stumble. The frame recovers soon enough and I break it into a run.

It doesn’t take long before they come after me – two Onuris frames; one grey, the other yellow.

“Senya! Hey, Senya!” It seems that Jean is in the grey one. “What the hell happened back there?”

I don’t respond yet; I’m still gathering my thoughts. The two make a few half-hearted attempts to shoot at me, which I dodge easily.

“Ensign Hoshikawa.” Naim is piloting the yellow Onuris, sounding conflicted. “I’m sorry. I…”

“Are we going to fight here?” I say coldly. “If you’re going to do it, then do it.” I’m in no mood to talk about anything right now. Naim draws his beam saber and leaps at me. He’s not piloting anywhere near his best – I easily block him with my own saber, even in an uncalibrated frame. He pulls back, landing a few dozen metres away. Sensing incoming danger, I have my CF leap to the right, dodging a rifle shot from Jean that gouges out a small crater in the ground.

If I’m going to have to take the two of them down to escape, I’ll do it.

“Senya, just come back with us! I’m sure the Princess-“

“No, don’t.” interrupts Naim, his voice now composed. “Jean, we didn’t manage to capture Hoshikawa. He managed to fight us off and escaped where we could not track him.”

Jean lowers his rifle.

“Are you sure about this, Colonel?”

“Affirmative.”

“Thanks,” I reply, but those are all the words I leave them with. Without looking back, I set the frame off at full speed.

***
I cover the Onuris up with camouflage – after three days, I’m near the border city of Akka, a commercial center for both Imperial and Hispalis traders. Satisfied that it should not be found for some time, I make my way into the city. I need information.

In hindsight, I needn’t have bothered looking.

The giant TV panels set up along the buildings were displaying the latest news.

“…cult terrorist… Hoshikawa… assassination of Shinari Crown Princess….”

It takes the words sometime to sink into my mind.

Kyrie’s… dead?

The newscasters seem convinced about this. A state funeral is to be held today in Ankida. My face – well, what I used to look like before becoming a meteorite – is displayed prominently over the screens, warning everyone of my danger. The show cuts to a speech from the Empress, presiding at the funeral. The Emperor is in the background, his face gaunt and bloodless, a far cry from the man I saved in Olympia so many months ago.

“The Apostles of Hiranyagarbha, knowing that they cannot win, have killed our beloved princess and my daughter in a vile, spiteful attack. One of their operatives, a relation of their false messiah, shot her in the back when cornered by our brave security forces.”

Shot her in the back? I could still feel the sting of my own bullet wound – it had passed through Kyrie and I.

“My daughter had but one wish for the world – peace. She was planning to negotiate with the cult for their surrender, but they rejected her peace and slaughtered her in call blood. I call upon our brave rivals, the UNS and the Indus Confederation, to see what their support of the cult has wrought. They cannot give anymore shelter to mass murderers and assassins! Not satisfied with committing the worst atrocity in mankind’s history, they would also kill those who offer them an olive branch.”

She’s turning her own daughter’s funeral into a rallying speech? That… bitch. I bite into my lips so hard that a spot of blood appears and begins trickling down. My fists are clenched. No one notices me; everyone is raptly watching the screens.

“We have lost our shining young light of hope, but does this foretell our defeat? No, it is our new beginning!”

She’s still continuing her rally, but I’ve heard enough. I walk away.

***

It’s funny. I would have expected thunderstorms and heavy rain at this time, but the weather has no sense for drama. It’s bright, breezy and sunny, the sort of weather you’d expect to find children frolicking in. I slump by a wall, wondering what to do next.

What can I do?

“What you can do, kid, is to go home to Higashi and settle down.”

A gruff voice startles me. As I look up, a familiar face, scarred and one-eyed, glowers down at me.

“Shulgi?”

“You’re starting to look like me, kid. That won’t do, not for someone as young as you. Go home and hide out there. Minister Azo will keep you safe.”

So he was in contact with Azo.

“Why are you here?”

“To tell you to go home. This is not a life for you. Just stay out of trouble, and trouble won’t find you.” He grins. I don’t trust him. Between all his half-truths and Erika's mention of him during the colony drop, he is not someone I can trust. He came here for something else.

“How did you find me?”

“Coincidence.” He shrugs.

“If I do go home, what then?”

“Live a good life. Die in bed. Whatever peaceful end to your story that you want, kid, or if you prefer adventure still, I can have Azo arrange something for you.”

“I think you have something else in mind. This is not why you are here.”

Suddenly, Shulgi sneers, his rough, easy-going mannerisms fading away from his face, replaced by a cold mask that looks entirely out of place on that rugged mug.

“Perhaps I do, young Senya. Who knows what I am thinking? My advice and offer still stands – go home. I will arrange for everything from now on.”

“You know,” he continues, when I fail to respond. “It is only now that I truly understand why Saeko threw you away and tried to have you killed. You really are useless. A reject. A freak with more brains than it has muscle to back it up. You somehow managed to fail to grasp every single chance I offered you. I am, however, more kind than your mother. I will give you the chance to have a good life, even though you are a miserable failure.”

“Are you taunting me?” I ask quietly.

“Oh? You think I came here to laugh at you?”

“It seems like it. If you want to provoke me into doing something, this is entirely the wrong way to go about it.”

A smile spreads across his face, creasing the scars.

“You may think what you wish. I have no answers for you. I merely came here with my offer. If you want to accept it, there will be a plane waiting for you tomorrow at Akka’s airport.”

“Perhaps I should force the answers from you, then.” I raise a hand to my eye-patch, but Shulgi just smirks.

“It’s far too soon for that.”

An unseen force freezes my entire body; I can’t even breathe.

“Try that again and I will end your miserable existence. I hope our paths never cross again.” says Shulgi nonchalantly. Was this telekinesis? It’s far stronger than anything the Dunamis leader displayed. As the force dissipates, I collapse to the ground, gasping for breath.

When I look up, he is gone. All I see is swirling motes of dust caught in the bright sunlight.

***

A. I accept Shulgi's offer and return to Higashi. I will decide what to do from there, but perhaps for now I need some rest and relaxation. Kyrie is dead, Yua is gone, and I am wanted by almost everyone in the world. I should be grateful for any safe harbour.

B. If the Empress is keen to paint me as a terrorist, she'll get her wish. Two can play at this game. There will be no more holding back... To create, you must first destroy. I'll carve out my own path in this world.

C. I need to see Kyrie one last time, to make sure she is really gone before I do anything else. Since Shulgi was so nice as to offer me a plane, I'll take it. I hijack the plane and have them fly me into Ankida, where I can make the last day of her funeral. It's the only way I can make the trip in time.

 

[Bloodshifter]

Called it so fucking Called it Empress is the Masternind our Weeboo gets shot and is "dead" the "cult" is taking the fall and our mother now has the world dancing in herr palm.

 

[Tigranes]

Oh, great. I miss the thread a day, you people get the girl killed. And here I thought we'd have some Eureka 7 going on...

 

[Baltika9]

Alright, Shulgi. You wanted to provoke Senya, see what he's made of? Challenge accepted,
C.
P.S.: one thing that always pissed me off about these "shadowy puppetmasters," they always expect you to read their minds and know which chances come from them and which don't, without any fucking hint. And then they throw hissy-fits when you don't play to their orchestra. Know what, this guy wanted to drop an asteroid on the planet. Fuck him, the only way he'll actually respect Senya is if Senya proves himself an equal in his eyes.

Time to open up a can of Ean on this planet.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Crap.
C

 

[Baltika9]

So, treave, serious question: should we take this as the "End of Innocence," so to speak? No more easymode, from here on out weeaboo rules no longer apply?

Edit: to further elaborate, no more romantic frolicking and cartoonish lololoing around for our boy Senya, from here on out it's the real world?
Edit 2: we're also in top physical shape for our age, right?

 

[treave]

What are weeaboo rules? I don't quite get it.

Yes, top physical shape.

 

[Baltika9]

Uh, I meant the ones where the protagonist and his friends always pull through in the end, and his girlfriend never dies (sometimes comes close, but never dies). Poor wording on my part, should have said "softcore popamole rules."

I also must salute you on the C&C

This was one EPIC Consequence, I doubt anyone here really saw it coming.

What would have happened to Senya had we gone with the Empress?

 

[treave]

So... You mean the rules the LP seems to have been playing by from the start?

Option B leads to Rei and Keiko breaking you out. The Empire perpetually drugs you so you can't think straight. You need to get bailed out. There's other consequences of course.

 

[Kipeci]

Um, remember how we went for ice instead of fire at the beginning? We're supposedly supposed to be more practical and composed than impulsive and loose-cannon? Choosing impulsive decisions based on wild emotions is what directly led us here.

I vote for A, we need to simmer down for a moment.

 

[Baltika9]

So... You mean the rules the LP seems to have been playing by from the start?

Naw, the way I recall it is this: we never do die (and our "girlfriends" don't, because our protagonists never had any, a tradition we're proudly following), but the consequences keep piling on and on and in the end, bad shit happens that can only be fixed by either pulling an hero or mobilizing the Hivemind to full effectiveness and pulling off a stunning victory. And even then, it was never "soft" in relation to any of the characters either (poor Gudersu, he died a hero); it's just that I get the feeling that these were, ah, softened for the first two parts of Senya's adventure and now, unexpectedly, shit got very real.

Yes, top physical shape.

Good, we'll need it.

Um, remember how we went for ice instead of fire at the beginning? We're supposedly supposed to be more practical and composed than impulsive and loose-cannon? Choosing impulsive decisions based on wild emotions is what directly led us here.

I vote for A, we need to simmer down for a moment.

Thing is, we've already gone full balls-to-the wall. Now is not the time to stop and go sit in the corner, but to take our destiny in our own hands. Senya, Kyrie, Erika, Rei...all of them were being played from the very beginning by forces we (Senya) can't comprehend yet. And it is clear Shulgi is one of them, so going back into our gilded cage to be surveyed and toyed with at his leisure doesn't seem all that good. Yes, B will be violent, it will be ugly, but that's what the world needs right now. Too many assholes decided they can wantonly shit on this planet and toy with lives at their whim.
It's time to clean up the motherfucking house.

 

[treave]

It's not exactly softened. There's a few points where you guys avoided choices that would sink the Kaguya-hime, and the consequences for stoking the Empress's animosity have been piling up. Not to mention there's a link to the first chapter which is yet unrevealed. Also you guys didn't go to the cult. They aren't soft on characters over there.

 

[Baltika9]

Ah, I see

I eagerly await the chance to find out the truthz (something that I doubt Shulgi and Azo will allow us to do).