3/3 Landi 2022/02/26(Sat)18:29 No. 1024823 ID: 8483cf
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“You’re stalling,” Tanwen snaps. “Who. Hurt. My. Dad?”

Dotti slowly raises her hand.

“You, fox? Are you serious?” Tanwen bares her teeth at Dotti. “Suddenly this all makes sense. You’re here to beg forgiveness, aren’t you?”

Dotti nods.

“Smart. But also stupid.” Tanwen hisses. “You hurt my father, fox spirit. You could have taken him from me. From my sister. From my family. Forever.”

“She tried to fix it!” you say. “She’s really tried to fix things. She’s learned a lot. She’s trying really hard to make things right.”

“She’s deceiving you.” Tanwen spits on the ground. “I don’t care how much you say she’s changed. A good person driving a laden cart can still topple it on an innocent father. They can beg for forgiveness, but the father is still dead. No, I won’t accept your apology, no matter how sorry you say you are. You tried to take my father from me, and I won’t forgive you for that. By my family’s honor, you harmed the blood of my blood. I demand yours!”

“Hey, Tanwen, maybe you should ask Mom fir-“

“Shut up, you lazy oaf! Since you won’t stand up for the family, I’m doing it myself! There’s a reason Mom wants to kick you out of the lair. I’m doing what she’d want us to do!”

Dotti looks to Serah, eyes wide.

“You don’t have to fight if you don’t want to,” Serah says.

“But if you do, fight” you add, “We’ll support you. And there will be rules.”

Dotti’s eyes glimmer. Oh, yeah. She definitely wants to be on the side of the fairy setting the rules.

“Rules?” Tanwen hisses. “There are only the rules of nature. Your fox spirit should understand that. One of us will die today.”

“Dotti’s our guest!” Jekster says. He hugs her tight. “Tanwen, you can’t fight to the death. Dad wouldn’t want that. He promised to protect her!”

“He’s wrong!” Tanwen says. “He can keep her safe from goblins and harpies, but he can’t keep her safe from justice.”

“Tanwen… that’s… Dad’s not going to like that.”

Tanwen pauses for a long minute.

“Fine,” she growls. “For my father’s sake, this fight will have conditions… but Dotti will pay in blood.”

Dotti turns to Tanwen and lights a blazing fire in her paw, then offers it to Tanwen to shake.

Tanwen smiles and accepts.

What do you say to Dotti before the fight?

Tell Dotti to do this for her own family honor: for Petra, and that Dotti promised to survive and reunite with Petra again to to restore that honor after hopefully saving her life. Should get Dotti more confident if she is fighting for someone she dearly loves.

Say it loud enough for Tanwen to hear too, it could go in too directions: Tanwen will know that Dotti understands family honor and might show a tiny bit of respect to not pull cheap punches or go for the kill

or

She might taunt Dotti and insult Petra which could get Dotti angrier to get her to put her all into fighting and surviving.

"Goad her around the arena, she uses her pride as a weapon, but it whips her around like a slave."

Tell Dotti that Gecko is totally beatable for her. There's no need to be scared, because Dotti can win. And if she doesn't, then her companions will be right by her side to ensure the loss isn't too miserable. And hopefully no matter how this ends, she'll be trading this for a far worse battle against Mai.

Then you should probably start relaying all of the battle strategies you have to her, and giving her all the buffs and equipment you planned before. I'm not gonna write them again, I made two perfectly good longass posts last time. I will toss out one more strat to consider though: Flashbang or Smokebomb into Solvent while her perception is shot.

Just try to emphasize that she's going to need to be a bit clever, and constantly on her toes to win this battle. She shouldn't blow her top or get too scared, that'll just make her predictable. What she needs is to keep a cool head and stay one step ahead of Gecko.

If you die, I call dibs on your stuff.

1/2 Landi 2022/02/27(Sun)13:06 No. 1024921 ID: 8483cf
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Serah and Raelynn relay to Dotti the strategies you planned earlier. Dotti listens carefully. Meanwhile, you’re setting some rules with Tanwen.

“So, like, this is for honor, right?” you say. Tanwen nods. “Well, dragon girl, I’m looking at this matchup and not seeing how this is an honorable fight at all.”

“She accepted,” Tanwen hisses. “This is for justice. Of course it’s honorable. What do you know about honor, fairy? I know your kind. You twist words to suit your sick definitions of honesty.”

“Me? I don’t know or care much about honor, I’ll admit that,” you say. “That’s Serah’s thing. But I do know gossip. And nobody’s gonna gossip about how awesome and cool it is for an invincible dragon girl to beat up on a cute little fox spirit who can’t even fight back.”

“Of course she can fight back,” Tanwen says. “No one would ever underestimate a fox spirit.”

“Shyeah. A fox spirit with fire magic against a dragon who’s immune to it.” You snort. “What’s she gonna do against your scales? She’s not a fighter. She’s shorter and slower than you, too. You have the advantage in every conceivable way.”

“She was strong enough to hurt my father. She has mind magic,” Tanwen says. “And foxes are quick.”

“Great. Mind magic against your cleaver and arm blades and tail and scales and shit. Oh, yeah. Real honorable. I’m sure your mom will be real proud of any victory you get out of that.”

“Fine,” Tanwen says. “Only my natural weapons. I can’t take those off.”

“You still have those nasty arm blades and tail,” you point out. “I say Dotti gets a chance to fight back against those, too. You get your natural weapons, she gets bombs.”

“Bombs?” Tanwen scowls, obviously sore your win over her. “She can see my weapons. I demand to know hers, too.”

“Sure, sure. She’s not getting a glue bomb, but she will get one that gives her a fighting chance against your arm blades and tail. Plus two others, and three potions she gets to bring with her in the fight.”

“What are those two other bombs? What potions?”

“You said yourself you don’t care about odds,” you say cheerily. “Were you lying back then?”

“Of course not, you little lantern-stuffer,” Tanwen hisses. “Fine. She can bring three bombs and three potions. Is that to your liking?”

“Love ya, Gecko.”

“Fuck you and your little fox too.”

With that exchange done, the terms are set. All that’s left is the pre-battle pep talk.

“I worded the rules so that Dotti gets to bring in the stuff you asked for,” you whisper to Serah, Dotti and Rae. “Pre-battle buffs are legal, but Gecko doesn’t know about that.”

“Well done, Landi,” Serah says. “Jekster is going to go distract Tanwen for a second so we can give Dotti an Elixir of Strength and a Potion of Mage Armor. Tanwen will still be stronger than Dotti, but with the elixir, it’ll give her a fighting chance if she gets grappled.”

Dotti nods. She’s shaking slightly.

“Dotti, you can totally do this,” you say. “You don’t have to be scared. I mean, I beat her myself! Just use that clever little fox brain of yours, be quick on your feet, drink lots of potions, and don’t lose your cool, and you got this! And even if you don’t, we’ve got your back. You can count on us to bail you out.”

“Landi…” Dotti says softly.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you. I mean it. If it looks like Tanwen is gonna hurt me real bad… I trust that you all can stop her from taking it too far. I don’t care if I get beat up, but I can’t die. Not until I find Petra.”

“Who’s Petra?”

Dotti looks at you funny. “She’s… she’s my best friend.”

“YOU HAVE FRIENDS?!”

The heartwarming conversation is interrupted by Jekster shouting at Tanwen about how she ruins everything and how he can’t invite friends over because she tries to kill them and she is the worst sister EVER.

“Okay! Now!” Serah shoves two bottles into Dotti’s grip. “Drink drink drink!”

Dotti drinks up without Tanwen seeing, then gears up with her bombs and potions.

It’s time to fight.

-----

“Upon my command to ‘Fight,’” Serah calls out, “Combat will begin, and will end when either or both combatant or combatants is or are no longer able to continue. This is an honorable duel called by Tanwen Terrorscale, who has sworn to not intentionally strike a lethal blow against Dorothea. Combatants, are you ready to begin?”

“Yes,” Tanwen says. She takes a full, deep breath.

Dotti nods.

“Very well,” Serah says. “Prepare for my command.”

“You can do this, Dotti,” you whisper.

“FIGHT!”

Tanwen’s learned from her fight with you. She doesn’t hold back at all, and unleashes a full-throated blast of dragonfire in the first half-second. Dotti’s engulfed in flame¬- and then she’s gone.

“DOTTI!”

There’s nothing left, not even a scrap of fur. It was an illusion.

2/2 Landi 2022/02/27(Sun)13:06 No. 1024922 ID: 8483cf
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Tanwen stares around the low-ceilinged cavern, searching for Dotti. She spies an orange tuft of fur poking from around a stalagmite and lunges, grabbing for the exposed tail, but it’s yet another illusion. She glances left and right- there are two more orange tails poking around stalagmites.

“You want to hide?” Tanwen roars. “Coward! I’ll flush you out!”

Tanwen slices a stalagmite from the ground with her arm blade, picks it up and throws it at one orange tail. It disappears in a poof of magic. She cuts another one out and throws it straight at the second tail, and this time Dotti darts out from behind the stalagmite just in time before it’s hit by Tanwen’s missile.

“Got you!” Tanwen shouts. She darts across the cavern and closes in on Dotti. She’s faster than the fox spirit, but not nearly as fast as she was earlier against Raelynn. Dotti just barely dodges a trio of strikes, but the fourth swipe of her claws scores a clean hit on her midsection, ricocheting off the mage armor and draining its protection dry.

Dotti lets out a high-pitched yowl and throws a smoke bomb at the ground as hard as she can. It explodes, filling the air with thick, acrid plumes of black smoke so thick even a dragon can’t see through it.

Silence. Then the sound of Dotti’s boots running, and Tanwen chasing after her.

What do you do?
1. Cheer for Dotti as loud as you can. This might throw off Tanwen’s hearing.
2. Boo Tanwen.
3. Ask Raelynn to point out where Dotti is, then you create a portal to her and send something through.
4. Other

Booo!

1 and 2. Loudly cheer for Dotti and dunk on Gecko while you do. Try to goad Gecko's siblings to cheer for their sister in response, as that helps Dotti hide while splitting the blame, so she can't blame your side alone for distracting her.

I think if you make a pun in your cheer, Jekster will try to shout his own in response.

"Come on Dotti! Make this Gecko Tanlose!"

Cheer for Dotti, remind her who she's fighting for, Petra!

booing tanwen would probably make her angrier after the fight and still refuse an apology

Boo Tanwen. She's vulnerable to taunts.

>>1024922
Dotti thrives on attention, slather her with praise!

Landi 2022/02/27(Sun)19:30 No. 1024966 ID: 8483cf
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“You got this, Dotti!” you cheer as loud as you can. “Gecko’s a lean green losing machine! You can outfox her easy! C’mon, guys, gimme a hand here.”

“Tanwen! Don’t lose or you’re officially the worst sister!” Jekster joins in. “Don’t let this fight drag-on!”

Everyone else joins in cheering and booing, even Rae, which is freakin’ awesome. Taranis gives a shrill war screech fierce enough to make even a dragon’s blood curdle.

“Shut up!” Tanwen screams. “Shut up, everyone, RIGHT NOW!”

That shouting was what Dotti needed to find her mark in the smoke. There’s a loud explosion followed by a very unexpectedly girly Tanwen shriek.

“Frozen Hells, that’s Cold!”

The smoke starts to clear, revealing Tanwen dripping in solvent, pressing two fingers hard against her bare breasts. Her armor’s gone, as are her blades and tail-tip dagger, leaving just two fins and a small, sensitive nubbin at the very tip of her tail.

“AHH! What did you do?! What did you do to my armor?!”

“Aaaaand it’s awkward now,” Hunny says.

“Shut it!” Tanwen hisses and peeks under her fingers, checking if she’s decent before lowering them fully. “I won’t be humiliated by this stupid fox.”

“Too late for that!” you shout. “Hey, I think I see a pink bit right there! Yeah, there! Hee!”

Tanwen shrieks and covers up again.

“Landi, stop embarrassing her,” Raelynn says putting a hand to her forehead.

What do you do?
A: Keep embarrassing her
B: Convince Tanwen to stop the fight now
C: Yell for Dotti to go for a specific Tanwen weak point
D: Other

Keep embarrassing her.

As much as I love all of these options, I think I'm gonna have to toss my lot in with D: None of the above (Or conditionally A if it's tied).

A feels great, don't get me wrong, A is the choice my heart is drawn too, but it's not a great play. Pissing her off is just going to make more trouble for Dotti, since she's the one Gecko will vent her anger onto. It may also result in Gecko complaining after the fight that your taunts interfered with the match, and being less willing to accept the results afterwards. If Rae is telling you to knock if off, it's probably best to stop while you're ahead.

Of course, there's the argument that if you keep embarrassing her Dotti may be able to get in an extra shot while she's covering. Add that to the fact that A is just so much more fun than not A, and you can honestly swap this with A if it's tied between doing it and not. I like letting Landi be mean to Tanwen, it's the evolved form of Landi being mean to Dotti because it feels infinitely more deserved.

B is a non-starter. She's not going to submit this easily, and starting surrender talks may make Dotti stop kicking her butt to listen and see if she needs to keep going. That'll mess up the momentum she's building, don't interrupt for that.

C is just a terrible move on all levels. Firstly, you would be telegraphing Dotti's play by telling her in front of Gecko what to do. Second, you would be telling her to move into Gecko's preferred range to deal a direct attack when that isn't the best option for your physically-underpowered fox companion. And finally, you already let her know that the tip of the tail was a weak spot for her, so Dotti is fully capable of making the decision to strike there.

So yeah, the best move at the moment is to sit back and let Dotti do her own thing rn... But if Landi ends up embarrassing Gecko further, I certainly will not complain.

D. Summon pants for Hunny with fairy godmother magic to make Tanwen feel more out of place with her nudity (since Hunny isn't wearing pants). Make her feel not only the only person naked, but the only terrorscale naked!

>>1024966
D: Act like you have pity for Tanwen, nothing will unbalance her more than feeling like she's being looked down on!

>>1024969
This, don't say anything, just make pants for Hunny. Don't insinuate anything, you're essentially doing A and expecting Hunny to say *something* about it, this throwing Gecko off her game. You're not interfering with the fight, nor are you embarrassing her farther. Everything after that point is pure implications made in Gecko's mind. Honestly you should be proud of yourself for this 4d chess you're playing.

Landi 2022/02/28(Mon)20:40 No. 1025068 ID: 8483cf
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You don’t say a word. Instead, you bestow upon Hunny the greatest gift of all: pants.

“Oh, hey!” Hunny exclaims. “Slacks! And they even match my bear pelt. Nice.”

“Look at fancy pants over here,” Jekster says. “Very classy.”

Tanwen looks over, sputters incoherently for a moment, then does her level best to ignore the fact she’s the only naked person in the room. Well, except for you, but you’re glowy so she doesn’t know.

This power is starting to go to your head.

“How’s Dotti doing?” Serah whispers to Rae. “I can’t see anything in the smoke.”

“She just drank two potions: mana and mage armor,” Rae says quietly. “She’s setting up more duplicates, too. Moving ones. I don’t know how much mana she has left now.”

A Dotti duplicate dashes out of the smoke. Tanwen moves to slice a stalagmite from the floor, but bashes her blade-less elbow against instead. She curses in pain and has to dash off to chase the illusion herself, and when she catches it with a low kick to the feet, it vanishes.

“More illusions?” Tanwen shouts. “Fine! I’ll crush them all!”

Dotti obliges. She sends out every single illusion at once. Tanwen lashes out as fast as she can, chasing them all down, tiring herself out just to whittle down their numbers, until her posture slouched and her tail drooping in exhaustion. She turns to the third-to-last illusion and gives it a half-hearted punch to the midsection.

Dotti blocks with both arms. Tanwen looks up in shock, and for that one unlucky moment, her instincts lead her to look her opponent in the eyes.

Dotti and Tanwen stand locked eye-to-eye, both of their breathing coming in ragged gasps. Dotti leans forward, pouring all her will through her gaze.

Tanwen’s eyes are blazing rubies. Her will is unyielding. She does not blink.

Dotti shrinks back and whimpers. She blinks.

Tanwen snarls, takes a step forward and lashes out with her tail, encircling it around her throat. Dotti gives a choked gasp and strains as hard as she can against Tanwen’s tail. She just barely gets it free from her grip for the briefest of moments…

“Dotti, use your instincts!” you shout.

Dotti sinks her teeth into Tanwen’s exposed tail tip.

Tanwen gives an ear-splitting shriek of pain and slams her fist into Dotti’s face, sending her sprawling across the cavern floor.

“You bit my tail!” Tanwen hisses, nursing her tortured tip.

Dotti gives an angry gekker.

“You bit my tail!” Tanwen shouts back. “You low-down, underhanded, slimy fox spirit, you’re as despicable a fighter as you are a person! I should kill you and do the world a favor! No one will ever miss you!”

“That’s not true!” Dotti shouts back with her magic. “Petra would miss me! She’s my best friend, and I won’t let you or anyone else kill me until I find her!”

“You act as if you’re the only person with loved ones,” Tanwen says. “If I were to take Petra’s memories away, would that make us even? Go on, answer me! What would you do?”

“I’d want to kill you!” Dotti shoot back. “And I’m sorry, okay? I understand! I’m really sorry!”

“You’re pathetic,” Tanwen says. “You gave me your best shot a second ago. I could hear you in my head, telling me to yield, to give up, so you could see your friend again. Well, you disgust me. The only reason you were able to hurt my father was because he let down his guard. The only times you were able to hurt me in this fight were by dirty tricks. You’re a pathetic little worm and it sickens me that anyone’s ever shown you kindness.”

Tanwen is disgusted with Dotti and doesn’t even move to attack.

What do you do?

>>1025068
So she's saying it's her father's fault he got hurt, huh? And if you're immune to an opponent's main offense then it's fine to insult them, apparently.

With this pause, I think it's our chance for a little heart to heart with Tanwen.

Specifically, first ask what family honor means to her? What is her definition of it even? Because from what you have seen, a lot of the terrorscale family members aren't wishing death upon Dotti for what she did. Jek, Jekster and Hunny are forgiving, and while Kayke was upset, she still insisted on cooking meals for us despite us telling her she didn't have to, and Cadmus is considerate enough to think things over and consider Dotti as a person before deciding to forgive or not. From what it is looking like, it seems like that all, if not, the majority of the terrorscales have the same definition of family honor: to forgive, have patience, and understand.

Then Tell her about our disfunctional party, and how in a way, we see it as a family. Sure we have messed up multiple times, but we gave each other second chances even if it may have tarnished our party's honor, and from those forgiveness, the person grew from the experience, and became kinder, stronger. Use your examples of how you treated Serah, and how Dotti grew from our patience in getting her to learn social cues and become a wild animal to almost human. That is why we showed kindness to Dotti, so she can learn kindness in return

Tell her With her trying to kill Dotti, she is in a way disrespecting her own family honor, and doing it more for the pride of her own ego and power of being a family member of a powerful dragon than she is respecting her family's wishes as well. Ask Tanwen to give people a chance to grow a learn from their faults because otherwise, if she keeps seeking revenge on others for mistakes, and never forgive, she's going to end up alone, maybe even make new enemies she wouldn't want to make because she killed someone for her so called definition of family honor. Eye for an eye makes the world blind.

Okay, you gotta speak up here. Not just because Dotti is too stupid to defend herself, but because some of that maaaaayyy have hit closer to home than you'd like to admit.

Dirty tricks and getting people when there guards are down is your preferred strategy when you don't have the dust to straight up overpower a problem. And also, just something you kind of rely on in day-to-day life constantly. Just double checking: How did you become Serah's adventurer partner again? And how did that original draft for Dotti's contract go?

If you really think about it, you've probably taken advantage of people just as much as Dotti has in the past. So yeah, Gekko's words are probably gonna make you feel a little like garbage right now. You're gonna want to stand up for yourselfDotti.

Don't put too much stake in her words though, because you and Dotti may be worms, but Gecko's something worse. She's a bully.

She won the genetic lottery and flexes her strength whenever she gets the chance. Of course Gecko would care about honor, because she always wins fights when they're fair. And by fair, she means fair by her standards. Stealth isn't honorable, because she's not good at it. Neither is outwitting your opponent, or having better equipment, and any form of magic that she can't do is prrrrooobbaaabbblllyyy bullshit, unless it's ineffective against her.

An HONORABLE fight has to be all about strength and combat ability, because that's what Gecko is good at. Anything else is cheating.

And yeah, Dotti fucked up, but to Gecko that's ALL that matters. Dotti fucked up, end of story. There is literally no other context that matters.

It doesn't matter that her siblings don't agree with her. It doesn't matter that her father has already forgiven Dotti. It doesn't matter that Dotti is genuinely sorry. It doesn't even matter that Dotti agreed to this stupid fight she didn't want to have because she really wanted Tanwen to forgive her.

Because this has shit all to do with honor. That's just the flag Gecko waves around to make everything she does good, and everything Dotti or whoever Gecko doesn't like bad.

This is about Pride. Showing off how good she is by pulling off important feats. Watch as she kills the fox who dared to harm a fellow Terrorscale! What, no lethal blows? Fine, but she's still gonna kick her ass. She was ready to end a fucking bird over a misdemeanor. What, was her fight with Taranis going to be honorable?

That's all she is. A bully who has to take others down to make herself look good, because the truth is: her strength is all she has going for her. She has no real accomplishments, so she has to take any opportunity she gets to show off how strong and cool and honorably she is. Because if she isn't any of those things, then she's nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Oh shit I just realized she's super mega insulting her father there.
The whole reason Jek was in that situation was because he was being kind to Dotti! So we can nail her with that:
"Your father showed her kindness."

Call her out. By rejecting Dotti's existence, as a scrapper who studied and innovated every trick in her arsenal, Tanwen is rejecting the fundamental law of nature; the universe doesn't love strength, it just spares convenience.

Is this really how Tanwen wants to live for the rest of her life? Kill the weak, kill the dishonorable, kill the bratty children and their spoiled parents and their simpering servants and anyone related to them and anyone who questions you and then starve. If the strong deserve to exist and have everything handed to them on a silver platter, we wouldn't be in this situation! Nobody can stay sane without supporters!

Does Tanwen think she's the greatest mutt to stride the land? By screaming and beating up everything she can't accept? By complaining about her siblings' lack of initiative when she can't bother to study enemy fighting styles? By beating up a little girl and calling it an act of angelism? She's a thug.

Everyone fights for two reasons: profit and experience. Tanwen squanders both.

Keep cheering. "Woo, Dotti! Go team Fox! Sock her in the venom sacks!"

>>1025085
Specifically, I think we want to point to the kindness he showed Dotti AFTER getting his memories back. Pointing out that Tanwen's dad was kind AGAIN, even after he knew what Dotti had done, shows that there's more to righteousness than just honor.

Did Tanwen learn honor/justice from her mom but fail to learn chivalry/kindness/mercy from her dad? Has she never received forgiveness she didn't/couldn't earn?

Landi 2022/03/01(Tue)19:27 No. 1025131 ID: 8483cf
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You have a lot of feelings right now and it’s hard to fit them all in your head, which is okay because the only thing that matters is how much Tanwen’s pissing you off.

“Oh, yeah?!” Ignoring Serah’s protests, you zip onto the battlefield at full speed and place yourself right between Worst Fox and Bad Dragon. “Well, your dad showed Dotti kindness, and we both know he’s more honorable than you’ll ever be. He forgave Dotti, so how about that, huh?”

“I say leave my father out of this!” Tanwen swipes the air with her claw. “Dotti hurt him, so I had to avenge my family’s honor. It’s as simple as that. Now get out of the way so I can end this!”

“Honor this. Honor that. You talk big, but how honorable are you really? You were gonna fuckin’ end our bird over a pair of fishnets!”

“That was a joke, you gnat. This is serious!”

“You sure? ‘Cause it sounds like you’re seriously joking,” you say. “You getting upset over dirty tactics and insults to honorable fights is just rich. Didn’t Raelynn tell you a real fight isn’t even close to fair? Didn’t you yourself cite the rules of nature to Dotti? The same Dotti who’d just roast you if you weren’t immune to fire? Well, nature doesn’t care about fair fights. Nature just kills things. I think at the end of the day, if we strip away all your talk about honor, you’re just a naked green lizard using her dragon blood as a crutch.”

Tanwen covers her chest with an arm. “Fuck off and get out of the way, you glowing little insect.”

“No, you fuck off. Serah said the fight’s over when one of you can’t continue. Well, the only reason Dotti agreed to this fight was to try and gain your forgiveness, and now look at her! Does she look like she can keep fighting?”

Dotti is sniffling and trying very hard not to cry. Gecko stares at her, revulsion written on her face.

“I’m here ‘cause as messed up as Dotti is, I’m willing to give her another chance,” you say. “Even if I know she was a terrible fox yesterday, she’s a better fox today. Your dad knew that. Are you smarter and more honorable than he is? Are you really fighting for justice? How about to improve yourself by studying Dotti’s fighting style? Or is this just about fixing your wounded pride, Gecko?”

“Shut up!” Tanwen cracks her tail like a whip. “Fox, are you going to let this bug speak for you, or are you going to stand there sniveling like the worm you are?”

Dotti whines.

“If she’s a worm, you’re worse,” you say. “You’re a bully.”

“This fight is over!” Tanwen slashes the air and whirls around for the exit. “You’re in no fit state to continue. I’d spit in your face, fox, but you’re not worth it.”

It barely takes a second after Tanwen declares her own victory for Serah to swoop in and hug Dotti tight. The poor fox collapses into the embrace, dissolving into a quivering wreck of adrenaline and shot nerves.

“It’s okay, Dotti. You’re safe now,” Serah says. “Everything is going to be fine. You were so brave, and I’m so proud of you.”

“Yeah, that’s right! Get outta here!” you shout as Tanwen leaves the cavern. “And go put a top on, Miss Nipplescale!”

Hunny follows Tanwen out. You can hear his voice echo around the stairwell. He’s as close to irritated as you’ve heard him all day. Jekster just kind of stands in the corner, not sure what to do.

Rae leans against the cavern wall, equally exhausted, and probably equally stressed. Taranis, who’d been circling the arena’s edges, lands on her shoulder and gives her pointy ear a tiny nibble.

Dotti, still shaking, lets Serah hold her and stroke her hair. She closes her big black eyes and nuzzles against Serah’s chest.

“Do you want dinner?” Serah asks.

“Will Tanwen be there?” Dotti asks, voice quiet.

“Probably not,” you say, “But if she is, I’ll not-so-politely ask her to leave.”

“Thank you. Thank you, Landi. Thank you so much.”

Wow. Dotti’s had it rough these last few months. There’s a little time before dinner and some time after, assuming Dotti doesn’t go straight to bed.

Maybe it’s worth a little effort to patch things up between the two of you… just a little.

How do you want to spend the evening making Dotti feel better?

Jekster looks sad too. I think he'll feel better if he manages to make Dotti feel better. So you are going to team up with Jekster and act out a stand up improv comedy routine. Tell Dotti to give you and Jekster a topic or scenerio, and you'll both act it out to try to make her laugh .

Oh yeah, and remind dotti she still has one more favor. The improv comedy doesnt count as one, but she should definetly know she can use it.

Float over to Jekster, and invite him over to your little Dotti comfort pile. She could use a friend right now, and those two seemed to be getting along well earlier. Plus, being around a Terrorscale who forgives her, full stop, would probably help.

Other than that, just spend some time with her. Lay on her head and let her tell you when she needs something, whether it's space, a favor, or someone to talk to. When she's feeling a little less shitty, you should remind her that you still owe her a favor, don't just let her forget because that'd be more convenient for you.

And just for one night, for the rest of tonight... Maybe you can tell her she's a good fox.

Landi 2022/03/05(Sat)15:55 No. 1025395 ID: 8483cf
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“Hey, you.” You flit over to Dotti and give her a big reassuring snoot hug. “Serah said everything’s gonna be fine and she is totally 100% right. Long story short, we think big scaly mom dragon probably can’t hurt you now ‘cause of how great you did handling Gecko.”

Serah nods in agreement and gives Dotti chin scratches, earning a satisfied fox warble.

“You can relax tonight,” Serah says. “We’ll take care of everything.”

“Well, most everything,” you add. “I think we can ask for some help with food and entertainment. Hey, Jekster! How good’s your juggling?”

“It’s great!” Jekster hurries over. “I’m up to seven balls at once!”

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” you ask.

Jekster looks at you and grins. He pulls six balls out of nowhere, gets a rhythm going, and a second later you hop aboard.

Dotti gives a big, long fox laugh.

Tonight’s gonna be fun.

------

Thankfully, dinner is uneventful. Kayk is still a little upset, but she’s a lot calmer than earlier, and you suspect she’s more than a little embarrassed of her sister’s duel. You and Jekster keep Dotti entertained so she doesn’t have to focus on that.

Once you’re out of material for fairy and dragonkin improv night, you take a seat on Dotti’s head. Her hair is a curly mess and her bow is tied into it with a nasty hairy knot. Dotti gratefully accepts you offer to spruce her up, and you get to work with a comb that’s basically as big as you are. It’s hard work, but Dotti’s earned a floofing. You offer to undo the horrid knot keeping that bow in her hair, but Dotti shakes her head so hard you nearly fall off.

You finish floofing the fox and she is SO POOFY. You’re so proud of your work you hold up a super shiny knife and show Dotti her reflection. Dotti still doesn’t seem to like it, though.

“Thanks,” Dotti says, but she sounds a little sad and tired.

“What’s wrong? You sound pretty beat.”

“It’s just…” Dotti touches her snout. “I like being fluffy, but… I’d rather look like Serah. Or you. I want to try transforming again, but I’m afraid I’ll mess up even worse.”

“You’ll get there with practice,” you say. “Don’t worry about it. You’re a good fox just the way you are.”

Dotti gives the best smile she’s ever given you and quite frankly it feels pretty good to see.

“Oh! Oh! I’m sure Cadmus could give you some tips,” Jekster says. “He’s the best out of all of us at shapeshifting. You know, aside from Mom. But he’s always busy.”

“Best?” Hunny shrugs. “Dunno bout that. He’s the most flexible, but I’m the strongest of us and fastest going back and forth between forms.”

“Which is better?” Dotti asks.

“Depends,” Hunny says. “Are you looking to transform quickly, for combat? Or do you want to pick one or two forms and focus on making those better? Or be a master of disguise and have lots of options?”

“I never really thought about it,” Dotti says. “I guess I just want to be human, that’s all.”

“But you could do so much more!” Jekster says. “Why be one thing when you can be lots?”

“What if I get stuck like I am right now?”

“It’s not a big deal. Every shapeshifter can get stuck if they’re too tired,” Hunny says. “That’s why I always stay well-rested.”

Kayk snorts.

“Landi,” Dotti says, “As my last favor, can you… um… can you get Cadmus to help me turn into a human?”

“Sure,” you say. “But are you sure you want to focus on just that? There are so many options for you!”

Suggest options for Dotti to ask for tips on shapeshifting.

A. Specialization: Focus on one human form, but make it special (suggest enhancements/perks)
B. Disguise: Try out lots of different human forms. Advantage over illusions in that disguises cannot be spotted with true seeing.
C. Speed: Quickly changing from 100% fox form to other forms
D. Endurance: Increase efficiency of transforming, able to transform multiple times
E. Flexibility: Try shifting to forms other than human; suggest options

A. keep things simple, all Dotti wants is to be human and nothing more. Her showing restraint like this is an improvement we should encourage

As for her form: It will be whatever Dotti draws in the lazy fairy side story: Human quest

We will talk to Cadmus, but lets wait until he actually decides to forgive Dotti, let him focus on one thing at a time.

A and D would best suit Dotti. A most of all imo.

Dotti should have a human form that's distinctly her. I think that's a point we can all agree on, and I doubt she's looking to have a rotating wardrobe of identities she can take on, that's not her goal. It may have been at some point, but rn Dotti isn't trying anything sneaky that would benefit from quickly changing between personas. She just wants to fit in.

As for enhancements/perks, I think Dotti would take after her three main party members in different ways.

Serah is Dotti's favorite non-Petra human, so Dotti would take the most from her. I think Dotti's human form would come very close to Serah's "Jotund's Might" enhanced height. Human Dotti would be tall, making for a nice contrast with her other forms. She may let her hair grow out to a similar length as Serah's as well, though she'll still maintain her striking orange curls.

Rae isn't a human, but Dotti likes her anyways. You could have Dotti style her own eyes after Rae's, thinking hers is pretty (though she hasn't seen the one under her hair, since she wasn't at the bath). This'd mostly be in the shape and lashes, Dotti should retain her black irises to make them her own.

Last but least, it's Landi. Yeah, Dotti and her don't really get along, but they've been on better terms lately. And seeing as Dotti probably won't want jugs like Serah, why not have her match Landi's assets? Yeah, I think I'm sticking with that.

As for the D part of this suggestion: it's all about giving Dotti the options to represent herself however she wants. Yes, disguises are similar, but there's a fundamental difference. Increasing her Endurance helps Dotti to choose which "Dotti" she wants to be. Her human self, a fox, or something in-between she initially scorned. Dotti's self-image is going to be heavily impacted by finally getting what she currently thinks she wants, so it's important that she be able to express herself in whatever way she wishes while dealing with it. Maybe she'll never want to change back, or maybe she'll find that actually being a human feels unnatural and wrong. Maybe in the end she'll realize that neither form is always right, and she appreciates the fluidity of using both.

Giving her the option to change multiple times a day will be very helpful for this transitionary period Dotti's going through, when a fox becomes a woman.

E. She just learned that if she can't use fire in a fight, she's in a lot of trouble. Taking this opportunity to develop a backup plan is a good idea.
I think the best combat form for a spirit fox would be a BIG FOX. It would also be pretty easy to learn, so maybe she can learn something else too? She'd probably want to try to fly... how about a gryphon, but fox themed? Just slap some wings on a fox, that seems like Dotti's style. Also she'd want to try deep swimming, so... something that could breathe underwater.

Also I want it to be impossible for her to lose her fox tails when she shapeshifts, even if she's turning into something that isn't a fox. Maybe fox ears too, because that would be funny. She could hide them under a dress though.

D, E. Humans aren't universally dominant, and there's advantages to preparing all kinds of forms.

Also, as far as how she should look goes, she said once she likes being smol, and also wanted bigger breasts, so suggest she go with that.

A: Enhance knockers. The ultimate in cuteness and persuasion.

primarily D, lots of transforming

secondarily E being human is over rated. she should try some fun shape shifting things like blade arms or generating armor plate

1/2 Landi 2022/03/05(Sat)23:01 No. 1025455 ID: 8483cf
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“You don’t have to be just a human,” you say. “You could be lots of things. Haven’t you ever wanted to be a giant fox? How about putting on some wings and flying around? C’mon, you know you wanna. It’s awesome!”

Taranis bobs his head in approval.

“I don’t want to be big or have wings. I like being small,” Dotti says. “I just want to be a human.”

Serah puts a hand on Dotti’s shoulder. “Your focus is admirable. I’m sure Cadmus has advice for you.”

“Okay, human it is,” you say. “But what kinda human? Don’t you want to try different stuff? People come in all shapes and sizes. Don’t you wanna try having huge boobs like Serah? Or pretty lashes like Rae?”

Dotti thinks for a moment, beckons you closer and whispers in your ear. “Um, what if I hurt someone with shapeshifting magic like I did with mind magic?”

“Huh?” What crazy shit is she talking about? “How is it even possible to hurt anyone by turning yourself into a human?”

“I mean… is it okay to have bigger boobs than Serah? She wouldn’t get jealous?”

“Oh!” You give a giggle. “Nah. It is absolutely okay to enhance your knockers. Go nuts. Just don’t brag about ‘em.”

Dotti ponders the weighty responsibilities of such awesome power.

2/2 Landi 2022/03/05(Sat)23:02 No. 1025456 ID: 8483cf
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“So yeah,” you say, “I’ll go ask Cadmus for tips on shapeshifting n’ stuff. I’ll make sure to ask how to make it easier on you, Dotti, so you’re not so drained after shapeshifting. That way you won’t get stuck. As much. I hope.”

Dotti whines.

“It’s hard,” Kayk says quietly. “But you get better with time. You did a very good job for your first try.”

Dotti smiles.

“Yeah, we all had to practice a lot,” Jekster adds. “Mom made sure to teach us that picking the right form is all about, uh, I think headspace? If you try and change your body into something your mind isn’t comfortable with, or something you don’t think you can do, then things get really messy.”

“You just gotta be chill,” Hunny says sagely. “Throw ideas at the wall like pasta, see what sticks. Add some big claws, maybe an armor plate or three. Have fun and don’t be afraid to mess up.”

Dotti grumbles.

“Cadmus will explain it better, I’m sure,” Serah says. “He hasn’t come down for dinner, though…”

“Yeah, he forgets to eat when he’s really into studying,” Jekster says.

“It’s why he’s so skinny,” Kayk says.

“Guess I’ll ask Cadmus all about shapeshifting tomorrow,” you say. It’s still within 24 hours of your dare, and hopefully Cadmus will have forgiven Dotti after sleeping on it.

And speaking of sleep, Dotti is tired. Really tired. Frankly, you’re tired too, and so is everyone else, even Rae.

And so, after a very, very long two months, you, Dotti, Serah, Raelynn (and Taranis) finally get to sleep in warm, fluffy beds.

----

You wake up the next morning. You know it’s morning ‘cause there’s this fancy clock with gemstone hands that says it’s just past 7:00. Raelynn is gone, but Taranis, Serah and Dotti are still snoozing.

You could use an extra hour or three of sleep.

Do you go back to sleep? If you get up, do you wake anyone else up too?

Take an extra hour. You've earned it.

Live up to your title as the lazy fairy and sleep a little more, have a dream even, maybe about the victim of the panties you stole from. All that stuff about Dotti's guilt is starting to make you feel guilt for your own crime subconsciously. (You cant get a good view of them unfortunately)

>>1025456
Be lazy, lazy fairy.

Poke Serah. Hey, Serah. Serah. Get up, Serah. Seraaaaah. Get up so you look your best for meeting the dragon lady, Serah. Serah.

Landi 2022/03/06(Sun)13:11 No. 1025489 ID: 8483cf
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Sleep. Sleep is good. You’ve earned it after being forced to wake up before dawn every day for the last two months to avoid getting spotted by bandits and beasties.

You drift back to sleep and wake up to the smell of pancakes. It’s just before 9:00, and everyone’s out of bed except Dotti. Her blue coat and winter clothes are laid out on a chair next to her bed, freshly washed. Must be Kayk’s work.

You spend a few minutes sprucing yourself up, but really, what’s the point? You’re gonna be naked all day anyway. The only one who could notice is Mai, and full-blooded dragons are naked all the time anyway. Why would she care? She probably won’t even notice. Yeah. Totally.

Soon the siren song of pancakes draws you downstairs to the dining hall. Jekesson is seated at the head of the table and talking with the Terrorscale kids about his adventures. Kayk is leaning in closest, Jekster is starry-eyed, Cadmus is taking notes, and Tanwen is sulking in a corner.

Rae is feeding Taranis with a fork and he is gonna be so spoiled you can just tell.

“Good morning, Landi,” Serah says. She’s wearing her adventuring gear, but her hair and makeup are immaculate. “Kayk made you some milk-free pancakes on that plate there. Did you sleep well?”

“Hell yeah!” you say, grabbing a very tiny fork and knife. “I bet Jek did too, hehe. Um, are we gonna see the head honcho herself soon?”

“Oh.” Jek pauses at hearing that. “Mai won’t be joining us quite yet. This breakfast is delicious, Kayk, but your mother said she wanted something, ah, special to eat.”

“Special?” Kayk asks. “We have lots of food. What was it?”

“Hot wings and green beans.”

“Hot wings and… what?!” Tanwen says in an indignant shout. “I was going to handle those harpies and goblins myself! Mom didn’t even give me the chance!”

“That reminds me,” Jek says. “Tan-tan, your mother would like to speak with you as soon as she gets back.”

Tanwen shrinks down in her seat.

“Is she angry?” Serah asks. “Not with Tanwen. Just… in general? How did she take the news about what Dotti did, and how you’ve forgiven her for it?”

“As well as could be expected,” Jek says vaguely. “I cannot speak for her. I may be her husband, but she is her own dragon.”

Well, that’s not very promising. But now that Jek has had time to catch up with his family, Kayk has calmed down a great deal, and Cadmus is much more relaxed and open. You even get the chance to get some tips on shapeshifting endurance out of him for Dotti. He seems very interested in her efforts to fit in with society.

Your quick read of the family is that you have achieved 83.34% Dotti Forgiveness.

1. Jekesson: FORGIVEN
2. Jekster: FORGIVEN
3. Kayk: FORGIVEN
4. Hunny: FORGIVEN
5. Tanwen/”Gecko”: UNFORGIVEN
6. Cadmus: WON'T STOP ASKING QUESTIONS BUT DOTTI'S PROLLY FORGIVEN


You can now talk to Jekesson and plan for your meeting with Mai Terrorscale.

What do you ask Jek, and what do you say to the Terrorscale kids?

Tell Tanwen to stop sulking in the corner and join the family! Despite some issues, her family would appreciate her company you know? Maybe offer to give Tanwen something to give to Mai to make things less hard on her when dealing with Mai with your magic... nothing too complicated tho, don't wanna lose fairy magic.

Cadmus: would be cool to ask for shapeshifting tips now. Just be ready to take a survey or something beforehand.

Remind Jek and everyone we got that tiara for Mai, so that should probably help for forgiveness when talking about plans.

for Kayk: Tell her about how she should ask her father to spend more time with her. She seemed really depressed about him not being able to see her so often, and was worried they didn't make as much memories together hence her distress after Jek got mind whammy'd

Immediately start asking Jekesson for details regarding his presumed intense sex with Mai, making all of his children uncomfortable.

Then maybe ask each of the kids what their general life status is. They're all here in the cave rn, but how many of them have gone out into the world and made something of themselves? Presumably at least SOME of them have if Hunny is getting complaints for hanging around for too long. Proceed to tease Tanwen if she has less experience than even Dotti.

Landi 2022/03/07(Mon)18:58 No. 1025592 ID: 8483cf
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“You were really busy yesterday,” you say, floating up to Jek and nudging his big, broad shoulder. “So how was the welcome wagon, huh? Did you get room service, or did you have to eat out? Wink wink, nudge nudge?”

“Ew!”

“Landi!”

“Gross.”

“Could you not, please?”

“I don’t get it.”

Everyone except Jekster disliked that. He thought you were asking about Kayk’s food.

The conversation awkwardly shifts to how everyone’s doing and if they’ve thought about venturing beyond the home mountains. While there’s a fairly regular stream of visitors and hangers-on to the Terrorscale lair to see Mai, Jek and Mai are eager for the kids to get out and see the world.

Jekster is too young to go out by himself, but he wants to go on a trip with his dad to see a real live circus someday.

Tanwen hasn’t ventured further than the nearest military barracks. She gruffly reminds everyone about how she’s trained against the strongest bodyguards on the continent, since obviously those are the ones that come protect people visiting Mai.

Hunny is perfectly happy where he is. Jekesson mentions he met a wonderful dragonkin girl helping at one of Tate Yempi’s temples and Hunny should go say hello. Hunny is noncommittal.

Cadmus is about to leave on a continent-wide visit to all the universities he can find. After careful consideration, he plans to join whichever one has the best curricula on everything. Jek is proud, but reminds Cadmus that there’s more to becoming a well-rounded person than being well-read.

Kayk says she’s working off her debt to Mom, who generously bailed her out of the deductible for damages from an accident at her last bakery. She’s not sure if she can ever set up shop again in a city because none of the fairy actuaries will quote her a reasonable premium for fire insurance. Jek is sad, but he says the rates will go down in time. He also promises to spend time with her to teach her to control her stress levels in bad times, and she seems to relax a bit. Hopefully it’ll help her control her fire breath.

You talk with Cadmus about shapeshifting, and he gives you plenty of useful tips on how to increase Dotti’s metaphysical elasticity and decrease her morphological friction. Thankfully, Serah is taking notes, so you’re free to forget everything that doesn’t sound vaguely naughty.

Jek tries to get Tanwen to join the conversation more, but she’s agitated and withdrawn, spending most of her time picking at a loose string of one of Kayk’s oversized borrowed sweaters. She leaves the table as soon as she’s done eating.

As soon as Tanwen disappears, Dotti sneaks into the room and pulls up a spot at the table. Jek, Jekster and Hunny welcome her warmly, and Cadmus gives her a nod. Kayk says nothing, but gives her a slight wag of her tail.

Dotti wolfs down her breakfast of pancakes, sausage and bacon, making sure to thank Kayk with her newly learned manners. Kayk’s tail wags a little harder this time.

“My lovely wife will be back in an hour or so,” Jek says once Dotti has finished eating. “I imagine she’ll want to make herself presentable, and then she’d like to meet with you after Tanwen.”

Dotti gulps.

“We are available at our host’s convenience,” Serah says, putting a hand on Dotti’s shoulder. “We await her summons.”

You have about two hours until you meet with Mai Terrorscale.

This is it.

What do you tell Dotti?

Relax. The hard part is over.

No matter how upset Mai ends up being, she isn't going to be able to hurt you. Physically at least, she'll probably be able to lay on the guilt like a steamroller. Gecko already messed up her chance to use the excuse of honor to punish you, and everybody else here is on your side. Even if Jek massively downplayed how much of an irrational bitch she is, nobody here is going to let her hurt you.

She may forgive you, or she may not. You'll feel better if she does, but it won't be the end of the world if she doesn't. You don't need her approval Dotti. The only person who gets to tell you if you should feel bad is you.

And hell, if everyone else's opinions really matter that much to you, then you've still got Serah, Landi, Raelynn, Taranis, Kayk, Hunny, Jekster, Cadmus, and Jek himself on your side, as opposed to just Gecko and possibly Mai. And Gecko's a stupid bitch, so she basically doesn't even count.

You have some time before she shows up, so your options are that you can sit around and dwell on how bad this last apology will go, or you can do something that'll make you happy. Your choice.

Unless you make a stupid-ass choice, in which case Landi is going to overrule you via Favor.

Give Dotti the tiara to present to Mai as an apology gift

1/3 Landi 2022/03/20(Sun)16:41 No. 1026796 ID: 8483cf
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“Almost showtime,” you say to Dotti. “Don’t be nervous! The hard part’s over. Momma can’t eat you as long as she cares about her honor. If mommy’s still mad despite that, well, that’s her problem.”

Dotti gulps.

“Hey, honor counts for a lot here, or at least to Gecko. But you know what else counts for a lot? Ass-kissing. Ass-kissing and gifts. Hold out your paws, mmkay?” You conjure the ever-ice tiara from your inventory and land it in Dotti’s outstretched paws. “Make sure to give her this. Let Serah do the talking, and hand it over when she tells you to.”

Dotti nods.

“Hey. You got this, foxy girl. We’re all rooting for you.”

Raelynn takes you aside and asks for you to give her back Samhain, that super-sharp elven shortsword. You don’t think twice about handing it over.

You, Jekster and Dotti spend the rest of the time playing card games. Jekster likes Go Fish, you like Poker and Dotti likes 52-card pickup after getting frustrated trying to remember all the types of poker hands. Dotti won easily at Go Fish, but lost at poker. Even with a stupid amount of good luck, Dotti still managed to lose at that because she didn’t know when she had a good hand. There’s a lesson somewhere in there, but you don’t feel like looking for it.

At long last, Jekesson’s voice calls down the main stairwell.

“Lady Kensington? Mai will receive you now.”

Everyone follows Jek upstairs, even the Terrorscale kids. Jekster gives Dotti a big smile. Serah puts a hand on her shoulder.

Here goes nothing…

-----

Jek leads you into Mai’s hoard and you immediately go blind with greed.

There’s gold. So, so much gold. Silver. Platinum. Jade idols. Crowns bedazzled with jewels. Scepters encrusted with pearls and gems bigger than you are. There’s more than enough to capsize a galleon, and that’s just what you can see in front of you.

Oh, and there’s also a dragon as big as a barn.

2/3 Landi 2022/03/20(Sun)16:41 No. 1026797 ID: 8483cf
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Mai Terrorscale is covered in brilliant red scales sharp enough to cut you just by looking at them. Her wings, frill and underscales are light pink and shimmering softly from a fresh cleaning. There’s not a scale out of place, and nothing to indicate that she’s just come back from eating a breakfast of goblins and harpies.

“Mai, my beloved,” Jekesson says, “May I present Lady Serah Kensington, Heir Countess of Kensington, and her retinue. They have ensured my safety on the long and treacherous trip home, at great risk to themselves.”

Serah gives a deep curtsy, as does Dotti. Raelynn gives a bow. You move to curtsy, too, but quickly realize there’s nothing to, uh, curtsy with. You dive hide deep in Serah’s hair and hope this all ends fast.

Mai raises her chin to Serah before giving Dotti a long, silent stare. Jek nods, giving the signal that it’s okay for Serah to speak. She clears her throat.

“Your Magnificence,” Serah says, her voice strong, “I am honored to meet you. My father has always spoken of your unaccountable wealth and fearsome visage. To see your splendor with my own eyes is a momentous occasion, the likes which I shall never see again. Should it please you, I have a gift to add to your overflowing coffers, a mere trifle when compared with such riches, but one I hope you may find acceptable.”

Mai’s dark eyes glimmer. “Your father has taught you well, little heiress. I accept your gift.”

Serah smiles and motions as if to present something, but instead gestures to Dotti, who holds out the ever-ice tiara you made. Mai’s eyes narrow, but she allows Dotti to approach and place the tiara on a pile of gold coins before her. She looks to Tanwen, who’s standing next to her hind leg. Then she looks back to Dotti, then to Tanwen again.

Tanwen shrinks into her shame sweater.

“Lady Kensington,” Mai says. “I see your family has made a habit of collecting spirits. First Malazar the Mad, now this fox. I do not sense Malazar’s presence here. Is this fox your new attendant? What grave crimes has she committed to take Malazar’s place?”

“Malazar? Who…” Serah clears her throat. “Ah, you refer to his living name. No, Dorothea is not bound to the Kensington family as Archibald is. She is here of her own free will.”

Dotti nods.

“Was it of her own free will that she tore my husband’s mind asunder?”

Dotti bites her lip and shrinks back toward Serah.

“Dorothea deeply regrets her actions,” Serah says forcefully. “She has sought to make amends by bringing him home safely. By my honor as Heir Countess of Kensington, I speak for her honesty and good character.”

“As do I,” Jekesson says.

“Me too,” Hunny says.

“And me!” Jekster says.

“She’s sorry,” Kayk says softly.

Tanwen scoffs.

Everyone looks to Cadmus. He shrugs. “I can draw no conclusions about her moral character. However, this fox spirit is, as far as the recorded histories go, unique in her desire to fit in and live within human society.”

“That is quite unfortunate for her, then,” Mai says. “To humans, all they know is whether an animal is a pet or a threat. Which are you, fox?”

“I’m neither,” Dotti says. “I’m allowed to be more than one thing. I’m not just an animal, and I’m not a pet either. I don’t want to hurt anyone, and you can’t hurt me! That’s not honorable ‘cause Tanwen already fought me!”

“Is that so?” Mai asks. She bares her maw of wicked teeth. “You think I am bound by my daughter’s actions? That she has the power to speak for me?”

Tanwen shrinks into her sweater and stares at the ground.

“We would never assume that, Your Magnificence,” Serah says, putting a hand to her chest. “We can, however, attest to the fact that she called the duel for the purposes of satisfying her family’s honor.”

3/3 Landi 2022/03/20(Sun)16:42 No. 1026798 ID: 8483cf
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“Honor,” Mai hisses. “Your understanding of it is as juvenile as my daughter’s. Lady Kensington, what do you truly know of honor? It is a reward for following a set of agreed-upon rules. Honor is given in exchange for loyalty, honesty, and fairness. Knights and kings are expected to behave honorably, and do you know what happens? Knights murder. Kings lie. They both betray, murder, cheat, steal and still their subjects kneel and declare the lot of them honorable. Their honor only matters in the light of day, when they meet and make nice and pretend what happens in the dark was not their doing.

“My sweet children,” Mai says, “Honor has never stopped an assassin’s blade. The world will kill you simply for who you are. Dragon-kin. A Terrorscale. This family’s honor is meaningless without the certainty of fire, death and terrible vengeance should it be slighted. My wings keep you safe from more than you know.

“Little fairy, if you were Salt’s chosen, if you asked it of her, would she turn my daughter to dust? Would my family’s honor stop her, should the mood strike her? If only I were just and noble, would she spare my daughter from her insanity? There are some forces my children have no hope against. Just as they are targets because I am their mother, only I can protect them with my own bloody vengeance.”

You are trying real hard not to freak out and worry about Mai staring RIGHT AT YOU right now so you hide deeper in Serah’s hair and say nothing. Plus you don’t want to tempt you-know-who right after Mai said her name.

“Lady Kensington,” Mai says, “All I have is my fire and my family. I would burn the world to keep them warm. I will not set the deadly precedent of forgiveness. The consequences would be far too great. And so…” Mai takes a deep breath. “My offer to you is death, fox. A swift and painless death.”

Dotti shrieks and hides behind Serah. Rae’s arm twitches toward Samhain’s sheath.

“Crackles, we talked about this!” Jekesson says, taken aback. “You said you’d go easy on her.”

“I am,” Mai says. “She won’t feel a thing.”

“Mom, no!” Jekster shouts. He hugs Dotti too. “You can’t!”

“I agree!” Cadmus speaks up. “Mother, killing this fox spirit is terribly hasty. You should do more research before making such a decision.”

“Caddy is right,” Kayk says. “Mom, don’t hurt them.”

“Stand aside, Jekster,” Mai says. “You as well, Lady Kensington, lest you be incinerated as well.”

Raelynn is staring hard at Mai. Sweat is running down her brow, and every muscle in her body is tense. Jekesson sees Rae instinctively moves between her and his wife.

“Mai,” Jekesson says. “Don’t do this. You are not the same dragon I met all those years ago. You’re better than her.”

Oh shittttttttttt you CANNOT get roasted by a dragon that is NOT COOL

What do you do?
1. Do nothing and trust that Serah has it under control
2. Summon Salt to try and tip the scales in your team’s favor
3. Suggest that Mai punish Dotti less severely than death; suggest a punishment
4. Other

It doesn't take a psychologist to estimate Mai has P.T.S.D. and is taking it out on someone who could accidentally tear at her insecurities.

Insult her. Address how she manages to declare her race's superiority while simultaneously demanding extra security and deterrents to address absolute security. Her conservative nature is unbefitting of a city-conquering dragon.

"Hey Tanwen, how important was Honor to your mother again? I think this impostor just wants to roast a fox-au-fait in front of her nieces."

>>1026798
3, suggest that if Dotti has not made up for what she's done, she could do more. Further service in exchange for her life.

4, Call in some unlikely support. What does Tanwen think about Mai's choice?

She's been quiet this whole chat, likely because she got a stern talking to already and is in a shit mood. Now that things are coming to a head though, she has an obligation to at least pick a side.

One of two things are true: Either honor doesn't mean shit, and everything she believes in is wrong; or her mom's fucking up big time and it's Tanwen's duty as an honorable warrior to do something about it.

Maybe she's not sure what to think right now. If her mom says Dotti burns, that should be it, right? But if Mai is really right, then why is literally everyone else in the family trying to stop her right now? Tanwen may not accept her siblings' reasons, but she WILL follow her father. And right now, Jekesson is begging Mai not to do this.

If Tanwen really believes in the principles she claims to, then it's her obligation to protect Dotti. The Terrorscale clan has no further qualm with the fox spirit who has by all accounts made amends, and Mai cannot strike her down just because she fears what sparing her will do to her reputation. That's just cowardly.

If Tanwen stands in Mai's way, I think that'll encourage her siblings to fully stand against their mother on this issue. Well Jekster's already holding onto her, so maybe he doesn't need convincing. But I'd wager that if Tanwen stood between Dotti and Mama Terrorscale, that others would follow suit. Fire resistance or not, I doubt she'll burn her own children.

>>1026803
>>1026808

I'm on these two posts side.

Personally I think this is Mai attempting to push for a growth point in Tanwen, for her to realize both the severity and the hipocracy of the situation. She wants to get Tanwen to either defend her perspective, or drop it since she doesen't like it as she wants her kids to become their own independent people (thus leaving the nest and forging their own path) we've heard as much from the other terrorscales.

I think you should push for Tanwen's response to this as we can be damn sure that if honor was this bad Mai would have beaten the notions out of Tanwen's head long ago.

That or, legitimately, this is an imposter, I don't buy it one bit, but it's still a low hanging possibility. I dont subscribe to.

B. Does she really want an answer to her question? No, it’s rhetorical. We don’t, either. And that’s why honor is an important tool in the balance of power.

I wish we were controlling Sera right now, because this situation requires tact and Landi.... Landi is Landi.

"Um, Lady Terrorscale, miss. I get you dread having a forgiving reputation. But you can't get a reputation without people who spreading.
And honestly? When the only two choices are secrecy or the smell of scorched fox fur on your face, silence really is golden."

Forgot to add my username to the post above, oops.

If she wants her reputation to protect her family then she should consider this: Dotti did what she did without knowing who Jek was. Her reputation would not have worked as a deterrent.

Sometimes bad things happen and there's nothing you could have done to prevent them.

1/2 Landi 2022/03/22(Tue)22:20 No. 1026990 ID: 8483cf
File 164801285194.png - (102.85KB , 720x720 , LF5 55.png )

Mai slips her massive claw between Dotti and Jekster, shoving her son aside over his shouted objections and a tiny tantrum, but he’s soon silenced by his mother’s low, throaty growl. Raelynn grips her shortsword’s hilt, but doesn’t draw it. She looks to Serah, and for the first time you’ve seen, she’s genuinely scared.

OKAY. Big scary dragon about to roast everyone. This was NOT supposed to happen. Serah said it wouldn’t, and she knows big scary dragons better than you do, right? Right? RIGHT?! This isn’t fair. It’s all Dotti’s fault!

Wait a minute…

Dotti actually did everything RIGHT. She fought Gecko and got her to drop the feud. That SHOULD have been the end of it. So as much as it might be easy to blame Dotti for this, she’s not to blame here.

This is all GECKO’S fault.

“HEY GECKO!” you shout at the top of your lungs, too terrified to do anything but follow your instincts. “You’re pretty fuckin’ quiet for a bitch that’s so big on honor! WHAT THE FUCK, GIRL?!”

“Landi, please be quiet,” Serah whispers, still holding Dotti tight. She looks up at Mai, fully expecting to be staring into a fiery maw, but to her surprise Mai hasn’t prepared to roast you. Yet.

Silence.

“Winnie,” Mai says quietly, “The fairy asked you a question.”

Tanwen does her absolute best to be absorbed by her sweater and fails miserably. She looks around and sees the entire lair looking back: her brothers and sisters, mother and father, and the “honored guests” her mother’s about to roast. She looks up at her mom, and Mai looks straight back at her. Tanwen can’t maintain the gaze for long and drops her eyes to the shimmering gold coins strewn on the ground.

“M-mom…” Tanwen rubs her arms. “Mom, if you were just going to kill her anyway, then… what’s the point?”

“To keep you safe,” Mai responds.

“Y-yes, but…” Tanwen shuffles her feet. “I meant to ask, um… what the point of honor was. If you were just going to kill Dotti even though I… I made her fight, and… everything… then… why does our family’s honor even matter?”

“Does it matter?” Mai asks.

Tanwen looks to her father, but his back is turned to her. He’s watching Raelynn closely, his hand ready to go to his spear at the first sign of movement. Tanwen is on her own.

“I… I don’t know,” Tanwen says, her voice wavering. “But… Mom, if you kill Dotti, I won’t feel any safer.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know!” Tanwen shouts through barely-held tears. “Mom, just… d-don’t kill her. It doesn’t feel right, okay?! It just doesn’t!”

Mai lets out a long sigh, her hot breath blasting the four of you like a hurricane and you thank your lucky stars she has better control over her fire breath than Kayk.

“It seems you have turned my brood against me, fox,” Mai says, showing her teeth in a wicked smile. “Their hearts are soft like their father’s, easily swayed by tragic tales and sob stories based on what my sweet husband has told me. Tell me, fox, is your bond with this Petra girl stronger than the love I have for my children?”

“Yes!” Dotti declares, shoving her way out of Serah’s hug despite her warnings. “Petra is the nicest, kindest person in the world and she saved my life. I took fire in my mouth and danced with death for her, and I’ll do it again if I have to!”

“Dotti, don’t get carried away!” Serah says, but Dotti steps closer to Mai and growls.

“Such misplaced loyalty,” Mai says. “Humans are such untrusting creatures. You should run along back to your foxhole, tiny one. You do not understand the company you keep.”

“I don’t care, and I’ll find Petra no matter what,” Dotti says. “I won’t hide in a hole like a fox or a big mountain like a dragon. I’m done being alone. I have to go where the humans are and find Petra. She gave me this bow, and it’s proof that at there’s at least one human I understand that cares about me.”

2/2 Landi 2022/03/22(Tue)22:21 No. 1026991 ID: 8483cf
File 164801286601.png - (259.92KB , 720x720 , LF5 56.png )

“How trite. Alas, dear fox, your sad tale has moved even my hardened heart,” Mai says, grinning wide. She points at Dotti with a sharp claw. “Perhaps I shall even aid you in your quest. With my magic, it would be a simple task to find a simple human like her.”

“Really?!” Dotti asks, completely taken aback. “How?”

“Like this.”

Quick as a flash, Mai slashes a knot of Dotti’s curly hair and seizes Dotti’s pink-spotted bow for herself.

Dotti stands for a moment in stunned silence. She pats her head in disbelief.

Then she lets out an ungodly yowl and lunges straight for Mai.

“Dotti!” Serah leaps for her and barely catches her by the coat. Dotti pulls at Serah’s grip, snarling, snapping and tugging, but Serah holds her tight to keep her from attacking Mai. Dotti’s ear-shattering feral fox screams fill the cavern, followed by Serah’s own surprised cry as Dotti bites and claws at the arms restraining her.

Dotti holds nothing back. She’s fighting Serah just to get at Mai, damn the danger. It’d be hardcore if it wasn’t so fucking stupid and scary seeing her turn rabid.

“Dotti, please, stop!” Serah begs. Red blood is flowing around her bracers where Dotti got a few good bites in on her arms.

Rae looks from Serah, to Jekesson, to Mai, and she’s gone from scared, to confused, to frightened.

“Fascinating,” Mai says, examining Dotti’s bow. “Such a little thing, and yet so important. Go on, fox. Tell me, do you want it back? I’m happy to return it if it means so much to you.”

“Mai,” Jekesson says coldly, disapproval dripping from his tone.

“Why, dear, I’m just following young Cadmus’s advice and conducting research,” Mai says. “Go on, fox. Tell me. Would you like this back?”

Dotti snarls and snaps at Mai and tries to break free from Serah, but she has no luck. She looks up at Mai and bares her teeth… and then her eyes go wide.

“Most curious,” Mai says. “You’re unable to speak with your illusion magic, aren’t you? It’s quite out of your reach at the moment.”

Dotti screeches at Mai and struggles even harder.

“Such rudeness,” Mai laughs. “It’s almost as if you don’t want me to find your precious Petra.”

Dotti is boiling with rage, but the prospect of finding Petra is enough to slow her down.

You’ve been pretty quiet so far, but seeing Serah get torn up by Dotti’s biting and clawing is freaking you out.

What do you tell Dotti? Do you tell her to let Mai cast her spell and find Petra?

Tell Dotti that her memory of Petra is FAR MORE important than a heirloom given to her from Petra, and that with how fierce she is being with trying to get her bow back, it just shows how much PASSION she has to keep her memory of her the strongest it's ever been! That alone should be something to be proud of! her memory is strong enough to not forget petra even after losing the bow.

And as such, if she wants that powerful memory of Petra to be more than just a memory and become a reality to be with her again, she should learn to let go, and let Mai work her magic.

Okay, that is a step too far (I mean she also was literally about to kill her, but somehow this feels meaner). By all accounts, that bow is the most precious thing Dotti owns, and it's currently in the claws of a dragon who hates her guts.

Act fast, because Dotti will be inconsolable if it gets burnt.

Portal between her claws and swipe the bow back. Deliver it straight to Dotti to calm her down, and inform Mai that she's a total fucking bitch. If her grip is too strong, get creative. Hopefully the surprise will be enough to get it past the tips of her claws (she can't exert full force without damaging it, which she thankfully hasn't done yet)

If you're considering letting her find Petra for Dotti, consider the following: Even if Mai really will cast the spell, do you REALLY want this powerful dragon who hates Dotti with a passion to know where the most important person in her life is?

>>1026991
Tell her to focus. If she can't use illusion magic, try shapeshifting a working voicebox.
Also no don't ask Mai to cast a spell, as there's no reason for Mai to help us; she's either going to give us false information or claim to know the answer and then NOT tell Dotti, as revenge.

>>1026994
Seconding that, im on team -we absolutely do not want mai scanning for that-

Im still kind of floating on the theory that dotti inherited the soul of Petra, but if Petra's really in a real place you'll be able to figure it out.

Honestly I think portalling in and getting the bow back is actually a good bet for several reasons.

The first is that you're topped up on magic, the second is that everyone's in a moment of panic and you promised to be good to Dotti today. Just *letting this happen* doesent really fit your forte. You're scared, terrified even, and it might fail disasterously, but you'll be damned if someone fucks with you and your kind in this way, dragon or not. Plus you're already naked, so you cant really disrespect her more and could even respond to the inevitable "WHO DARES" with a "A NAKED FAIRY TIRED OF YOUR SHIT THAT'S WHO" Which would be very cathartic.

If you DON'T attempt to get it, you should probably be prepared for a "if you're an all powerful fairy why did you do nothing here" regardless of all the logical reasons why you shouldn't do this. Also you're just getting frustrated.

(please don't die Landi you gotta go mack on some Sunshine some more)

“Easy girl, wait til she reveals her intentions before you go rabid. For all you know she might have a spell to find petra using the bow so just play along with her stunt for now.”

"Do you also not care about honesty and fairness? While destroying that bow might seem like an eye for an eye, you're punishing a dumb mistake with unreasonable cruelty. What makes you different from a king? That you don't play pretend?"

Landi 2022/03/23(Wed)23:35 No. 1027157 ID: 8483cf
File 164810372222.png - (123.15KB , 711x975 , LF5 57.png )

Dotti’s a terrible fox and deserves to be made fun of, but what Mai’s doing to her is just fucked UP.

Dotti LOVES that bow. You’ve NEVER seen her without it. It’s the only memento she has of Petra and she’s literally trying to tear her way through Serah to get it back.

Every instinct you have is telling you that letting Mai cast that locator spell is a capital-B-capital-I Bad Idea. Jekster was right: Mai is ten thousand times worse than Gecko, and giving her any bit of leverage over Dotti is going to backfire spectacularly. You remember just enough of your “making deals with unreliable and/or malevolent djinni 202” class to sense that Mai’s not bargaining in good faith here. Plus she’s got a lock of Dotti’s hair, and there’s all kinds of bad juju she can do with that.

Serah’s stopping Dotti from getting herself murdered and Rae’s blocked by Mai’s boy toy. You’re the only one that can stop this disaster. There’s no time to think, only act.

Luckily for Dotti, you NEVER take time to think.

You conjure a portal right next to Mai’s outstretched claws and reach through it. The expected drain on your mana is slight since you’re only passing your arms through. There! You’ve got the bow. Now to pull it back to safety and oh SHIT Mai’s grip is strong and suddenly you YOURSELF are being pulled through the portal because the portal isn’t moving but Mai’s claw is. You flap your wings as hard as you can but you’re losing the battle and OH NO YOU DON’T WANT TO RIDE THE PORTAL BUS

“What have we here?” Mai asks, dangling you by the bow in midair. “Could you explain your state of dress, little firefly?”

“Landi!” Serah shouts, realizing you’ve disappeared from her shoulder.

Dotti’s stopped fighting Serah and looks up at you with worry.

Mai’s big beady dragon eyes are looking at you and your bare ass and you know what? Fuck it.

“I’m no firefly,” you declare. “I’m Landi, and I’m naked ‘cause I never back down from a dare! Now give my pillow back her bow, you big red bully!”

You flap as hard as you can and pull that bow at just the right angle to slip it free, and… and… and… it’s still not moving.

Uh-oh.

“Are you holding on tight, little Landi?”

“Fuck yes I am!”

“Thank you.”

Mai lifts her claw to her nostril and you get the worst feeling in the world. There’s a great WHOOSH of air that sucks your hopes of being a badass with it… and taking every last pinch of your dust right up Mai’s nose.

“Ah,” the great dragon says, shuffling her wings excitedly. “I’ve forgotten how good a pick-me-up feels.”

Jekesson puts a hand to his forehead and mutters something under his breath.

Now you’re hanging ten meters off the ground, totally naked, totally dull.

“Now,” Mai says, “Could you repeat what you said earlier? I’m not sure I heard it clearly. You are quite small, after all.”

“Um, nothing important,” you say sheepishly. “Could you put me down, please, ma’am, thank you.”

“No, I don’t think I will,” Mai says with a smile. “This high up, no one can see you clearly, I imagine. I’m doing you a favor, keeping you up here.”

FUCK

You’re really high up and with no dust, it’s gonna be REAL HARD to make a soft landing with Dotti’s bow and hair. It’s like flying in molasses at the best of times, and you’ve got cargo. And EVERYONE IS FUCKING STARING AT YOUR ASS LIKE IDIOTS

What do you do?

A. Give her a piece of your mind! She’s a binch!
B. Ask again to be set down softly, thank you very much
C. Demand to be let go like a total badass, and trust that you can glide safely down
D. Other

A

or

D: Swing and jump right on her snout, attempt to poke her eye afterwards

First off: they're fucking lucky to be staring at your ass, it's great. Flaunt it, and stand tall as the queen of truth or dare!

Plus the list of people in this room who haven't seen it and might care is limited to Jek, Kayk, and maybe Gecko. Hunny don't give a fuck, Cadmus doesn't care because it isn't a book, Jekster is baby, and Dotti is more focused on the bow than the butt. On the three who care, if Jek checks you out then consider that a moral victory against Mai that her husband is staring at you over her, you've been staring at Kayk's butt plenty so this is just fair, and Gecko will surely only become saddened by how flat her ass is at the sight of your juicy booty. All in all, no reason to feel ashamed in present company.

A, Give this bitch a piece of your mind. You can start by complaining to Jek that he mislead y'all about the mega bitch you were dealing with. You came here to do her a favor, dropping off her husband and making ammends, and her response is to try and kill your fox and then bully her when it becomes clear she'd be abandoned by everyone if she went through.with it? Fucking disgusting.

May as well demand the tiara back to, because Mai isn't worth even a particle of the dust you spent making it. A powerful force of nature with absolutely zero worth to anyone other than herself, that's what she is. The best thing she'll do for the world is die and leave her fortune to her kids, all of whom will grow up to be better than her IN SPITE of having her for a mother.

Yeah, hold nothing back here. Goad her to the max. She's trying to be in control, toying with you because she knows it's all she can get away with given her family's feelings. Throw that shit right in her face and tell her to fuck off.

And at the end of your rant, make it clear that if she doesn't return this stupid bow that Dotti cares so much about, that you will get Salt to turn her kids' inheritance, all of Mai's treasure, to naught but salt and ash.

A. With the intent to annoy Mai enough she gets distracted from her plans to torment Dotti. Ruin the mood!

Fly into her nostril and into her brain.
Mess with her neurons until she is nice.

>Intel: Mai snorts dust
Ȉ̴̞͚n̶̝͐͠t̶̤̓e̶͇̋r̵͖̅͊e̵̛̳͑s̸͔̺͒ţ̶̛i̸̘͗̂ṇ̶͋̀͜g̶͚̑.̶̯̣͘.̵̠̺̿.̸̜̊

D) Just fall already. Square cube law says you taking maximum air-resistant fall damage hurts less than you getting hit by a beer mug.

>>1027162
Upvoting this because the idea is terrifying and also interesting

Landi 2022/03/24(Thu)22:58 No. 1027250 ID: 8483cf
File 164818792195.png - (36.95KB , 779x950 , LF5 58.png )

Ten meters up, out of dust and staring down a dragon is pretty terrible as far as things go. Also, you’re naked, and you’ve pretty sure you’ve had this nightmare before, in which case reality is really running out of ideas.

Maybe it’d be better to just curl up and let Serah handle this. You gave it your best shot, but sometimes your best isn’t good enough.

“Please accept my companion’s gift of fairy dust!” Serah calls out. “I hope it pleases Your Magnificence.”

“It does,” Mai replies warmly.

Good work, Serah. Always good at that ass-kissing, even though Mai’s ass is all ugly and scaly. Not like yours that Gecko is totally jealous of. You know what? Let ‘em look. Let ‘em look at the best ass they’re ever gonna see and WEEP at what they’re missing ‘cause as soon as you’re done here you are NEVER coming back.

“In that case,” Serah says, “may it please Your Magnificence to return Landi to the ground?”

“I would like to hear her say it, for herself,” Mai says. “She has been most discourteous.”

Oh that BITCH.

“Landi,” Serah says, “If you would please ask the Great Madam Terrorscale to let you down?”

You look up at Dotti’s bow and see not pink, but red.

“Yeah, sure, whatever,” you say. “I’d totally beg for your forgiveness if you hadn’t literally just said you’ll never ever forgive anyone. So you know what? No. No, I won’t! I’m not gonna get set down until I get Dotti’s bow back.”

The corner of Mai’s lip turns upwards in either a smile or a snarl and you don’t care which it is ‘cause you are just that pissed.

“Hey, Jek!” you shout. “What’s the big idea, huh? You led Dotti here just to get beat up by your idiot daughter and tormented by your bitch wife! Some paladin you are!”

“Landi!” Serah gasps. Rae recoils in horror and Taranis flaps his wings wildly.

“Yeah, that’s right!” you tell Mai. “You’re a heartless bitch, you know that? No one’s ever gonna do you any favors ever again when this gets out. Dotti came all this way just to make things right, and you’re treating her like week-old shit! You don’t deserve respect or tribute. In fact, I’ve got half a mind to take that tiara back, and if you don’t stop being such a giant asshole to Dotti I’ll tell my patron Djinn that there’s a big ol’ pile of gold that’s just begging to get turned into teeny tiny grains of SALT! Sooner or later someone’s gonna come along and give you what you deserve, so what’ll you leave to your kids THEN, huh? They’re just gonna have to deal with the fact that their mom’s a giant, ugly, heartless red CUNT!”

The air whips and whirls around you, and you find yourself flying through the air as Mai moves you and deposits you straight into a glass prison. Before you know what’s happened, you’re stuck inside a lantern, your ears are ringing, and the door slams shut.

“Winnie,” Mai’s voice echoes in the glass cage. “Please do give the lantern a shake if this impudent pixie cannot control herself.”

“WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!” you scream. Gecko looks up at Mai, who nods, and all of a sudden you’re being bashed against the wall of the lantern. There’s some angry voices you can’t quite make out, but when your ears stop ringing, you can hear Mai speaking again.

“I understand that guests are due a certain amount of courtesy, my love, but this is what happens when I don’t put my foot down earlier,” Mai says. “We can discuss this later.”

“After you return the bow,” Jekesson says. “And then we talk.”

“The bow? Ah,” Mai says. “I’d forgotten all about it. Here. Take the bow, fox. Do keep a hold on that lock of hair. I won’t have a single strand of it dirty my hoard.”

“Thank you, Your Magnificence,” Serah says.

You’re about to make another smart remark, but Gecko is still holding your lantern and frankly you like your brains where they are. Serah sees your predicament, the good girl, and speaks up like the awesome leader she is.

“If I may,” Serah says, “My companion has behaved discourteously, yes, but she is my responsibility. I ask that you not burden your family with the task of ensuring her civility.”

Mai nods to Gecko. She sighs and walks forward with the lantern.

Who do you direct Gecko to give the lantern to, and what do you tell them to do to cover you up?
1. Serah
2. Dotti
3. Raelynn
4. Taranis

1, Give the lantern to Serah, as then you'll be close enough to speak to her about whatever is going on. For cover, well, Mai DID just say not to let any of the hair that she came off with Dotti's bow litter her floor, so you may as well put it to use. Have Serah pass it to you, and press it against the glass as makeshift censor bars for your bits.

1. You are her responsibility.

Let them cover the lantern in cloth of some sort.

2. Dotti. Tell her she was right to be mad. Start quietly scheming a revenge plot with her

or

4. Have him fly you far enough away from everyone...

Oh, and tell someone to cover Jekster's eyes plz.

Serah. Got any mana potions left? If not, just cover Landi up with a hand, by holding her.

4. Be pissed and sulk and fly off with Taranis, wheeeeeeeeeeee.

Raelynn. She is the most responsible one.

And what to say? I don't know, something so asinine it makes other people's brain start growing extra neurons to avoid becoming like you. As usual.

1/2 Landi 2022/03/31(Thu)21:21 No. 1027819 ID: 8483cf
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You don’t trust Dotti with the lantern. Raelynn probably wouldn’t cover you up. Taranis has admitted to crushing on fairies, which means he is ABSOLUTELY not getting a front-row seat. If there’s anyone here that’s gonna stand up for your decency and NOT give you a hard time, it’s Serah.

You motion for Gecko to go to Serah, and thankfully she shield your lantern from Jekster’s little brother eyes. You can’t go about setting unrealistic standards of fairy butt in such an impressionable half-dragon. That’s just not fair to other fairies.

Serah quickly takes ahold of your lantern. She’s already gotten a mana potion out, and she moves to open the lantern to give it to you, but Mai gives a tut, tut.

“If that fairy should leave her lantern, she should not do so in my presence,” Mai says with a pronounced sniff. “It’s for her own safety. My breath is very strong; she might lose her dust a second time by an unfortunate accident.”

“Yes, it would be safest for her to stay in the lantern,” Serah says, deferring to Mai. “But Your Magnificence, how am I to, ah, use the lantern if there’s no glowing fairy inside?”

“Look closely, Lady Kensington,” Mai smiles.

You both examine the lantern, and to your shock, there’s a reservoir for liquid not at the bottom of the case, but at the top. What kind of lantern gets fueled from the top? It’s almost like the lantern is designed to “fuel” something fairy-sized…

Serah nearly drops the lantern when she realizes that yes, Mai has very likely used this lantern before, and for probably the very same reason she is now. She recovers quickly, though, and she pours the reservoir full of mana, then pushes a button to pump a tiny fountain for you to drink from. It’s messy, and the potion drips down your chest… probably by design. You’d be scorching mad if you weren’t so focused on topping off, and thankfully you get a bit of your glow back.

“Oh, don’t be so dramatic,” Mai says, noticing Serah’s reaction. “I assure you, the previous occupants were honored guests at a most exquisite party.”

“Your bachelorette party, you mean.” Jek rubs his eyes. “Mai, I will say that Landi is as well-behaved and quiet now as she is likely to get.”

“Very well,” Mai says. “Lady Kensington, I must say that the good behavior of your retinue is hard-won indeed. Neither your fairy nor your fox are welcome to return, and shall leave on the morrow. If I see them again on this mountain… their welcome will not be kind.”

“As you wish,” Serah says. “They shall both depart, appropriately chastened and humbled, their business concluded, never to return, and speak of Your Magnificence’s watchfulness over your family and terrible vengeance awaiting those who threaten it.”

Mai nods.

Jek has the oddest expression on his face, almost like a cross between a grimace, a smile and deep confusion, but he shakes it off. Jekster isn’t able to keep a grin off his face, though, ‘cause his mom just let you and Dotti off the hook. She was a complete bitch about it, but really, you’re not going to complain about getting to insult a dragon to her face and live to tell about it. Even if everyone saw your ass.

“They may also speak of my family’s great generosity and hospitality… as well as our excellent fashion sense.” She pats Hunny on the head. “Those are very handsome pants.”

“Thanks, Mom!” Hunny hitches up his godmother-magic’d pants proudly. “If only I knew what they were called.”

“They’re Landsknecht pants,” Cadmus says. “Pants are very fashionable these days.”

“They’re Landi sknecht,” you mutter under your breath, but nobody hears.

2/2 Landi 2022/03/31(Thu)21:22 No. 1027820 ID: 8483cf
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With Kayk’s help, Dotti ties her precious bow back in place. She’s upset and rattled, but in one piece, and still holding one paw to her bow. Jek shakes his head at the sight.

“My lovely and most certainly NOT merciful wife,” Jek says, “Shall I escort our guests downstairs?”

“No,” Mai says. “Let them gaze upon my terrible beauty for just a little longer. Why, this fox is positively quaking in her boots- surely”

“They already know how beautiful you are,” Jek says. He motions to Raelynn to move her hand away from her blade’s sheath, and she complies, if reluctantly. “What if you show them a glimpse of your power instead?”

“Just a glimpse,” Mai smiles. “So they may know how utterly outmatched they are. Especially the one quaking in terror. Yes, you, elf. No need to worry… I won’t bite!”

Mai stands up, flares her frill, gives a great yawn, stretches her legs out long, arches her back… and with shocking grace and speed, launches herself through the air towards the party. There’s no time to even scream before she’s on top of you.

But… you’re still alive. How are you still alive?

You look out from between your wings and see that Mas has somehow, in the split second between launching herself airborne and hitting you, she shapeshifted into a… a…

She’s a cute, cuddly poodle-sized dragon. Her tail frill and blade are gone, giving her a softer look, and she’s giving Jek the smuggest snuggle in the history of the universe.

Raelynn is so pale she looks like she’s had three heart attacks in a row. Taranis circles down, lands on her shoulder and snuggles the petrified elf’s neck.

Dotti’s sniffing the air, ears back, both curious and deeply suspicious.

“That’ll show them, won’t it, dear?” Mai says.

“That was very restrained, but very scary,” Jek says, and the praise washes over Mai with a wide smile. “They’ll know not to mess with you, and you were very civil. Thank you.”

Mai lets the praise wash over her and gives him another smuggle.

Dotti looks up at Serah. Serah shakes her head no to whatever she’s thinking. No matter how powerful a shapeshifter Mai is, or even if she can find Petra, she’s not worth making a deal with. Even if she’s kinda cute with Jek like that.

Serah gives a deep one-handed curtsy, making sure to stow your lantern behind her so you don’t mess anything up. Smart girl.

“Your power is fearsome and… uh… very beautiful,” Serah says, struggling to use any word but cute. “With your permission, I would take my leave, with my attendants as well.”

“You may,” Mai says, and Jek gives a sigh of relief. Without a further word, you all practically race for the exit.

YOU FUCKING MADE IT OUT ALIVE HOLY SHIT. You want to celebrate, but frankly you don’t want to drink any of Mai’s wine. She’s made it clear you gotta GTFO tomorrow. It’s a long trip ahead, but the sooner you leave, the better.

As you descend the stairwell, though, you catch a glimpse of a Terrorscale’s terrible scales behind you. You’re being followed.

Are they angry? Happy? Embarrassed by their mother’s behavior? All three? Doesn’t matter, you’d better announce their presence, because Rae actually DOESN’T seem like she’s aware of them because that girl is fuckin’ SHELL SHOCKED.

WHICH TERRORSCALE KID IS FOLLOWING YOU? WHOEVER IT IS, THEY MIGHT STICK AROUND…

1. Jekster
2. Tanwen
3. Hunny
4. Cadmus
5. Kayk

The Terrorscale you vote for has resolved to join your party as a permanent member and will fight at Lady Kensington’s side. All Terrorscale kids have a potential motivation to go with Serah.

Tanwen or Kayk.

Rule the obvious out of the way first. Jekster is great, I fucking love Jekster, but he's also a child. Jekster isn't a fighter, nor is he aiming to be one when he grows, so bringing him with us would basically end up as a babysitting mission. Again, I love Jekster, but he really has the least motive to come despite getting along with the party better than anyone else. Ironic, ain't it?

Then there's Hunny. He's lazy. I still really like Hunny, but I don't think his dynamic with the group will really change much in the threads that follow. He's good at transformations, which will help Dotti, and he's an easy guy to get along with. That doesn't make for as compelling conflict.

Cadmus is the most neutral option available imo. I could see him wanting to stick by the party to monitor Dotti's growth out of curiosity. There's potential for him to butt heads with the others with his mild air of superiority and obnoxious curiosity. He would make a fine addition, but I feel that there are two who would be better.

Those two are Kayk and Tanwen, and I'm gonna run through my arguments for both and then end this with which one I picked and why. I'll warn you now, the deciding factor will be stupid and disappointing, but hopefully the rest of my points will make up for it.

Let's start with Gecko, because I think the case for her is stronger. To put it simply, Gecko is basically already a member of the party, in that she is a dysfunctional strong hot woman.

Gecko should join the party because that will make for the best drama. She's bullheaded, doesn't get along well with half the party, and has major personal grievances with at least one member (Dotti). Bringing her in will give her a greater chance to move past these faults, and develop into a more well-rounded warrior.

Plus, she wants to fight! Gecko is literally the only Terrorscale child who is actively pursuing a combat-centric lifestyle. Why wouldn't she join an adventuring party, her motivation is the most evident out of everyone present. Her motivation is intrinsic, whereas every other member's is extrinsic. Cadmus would come because he wants to study Dotti, Jekster would come to pal around with people he considers friends, but Gecko joins the adventuring party because she wants to adventure. She adventures for the sake of adventuring. No matter where the story progresses, this gives Gecko a clear reason to stay with the group, and lowers the odds that some other story arc might drag her away and take her out of the story.

And finally, Gecko just has fun interactions with the group. She's a rival to Rae, a rambunctious kid to Serah, a hated foe to Dotti, and a bitch who is fun to mess with to Landi. We would be remiss to lose out on these.

Now let's move on to Kayk, the baker. Now I'm definitely biased because I submitted Kayk, but I think there are real advantages to bringing her that are worth considering.

For starters, it gives an easy answer to a question raised in this thread. Cadmus asked what Dotti would do for work, and taking Kayk along provides an answer. Part-time waitress at her bakery (presuming Serah's willing to fork over that Kensington cash to help her get a new one). It'll be easier for Dotti to work under a friend than a stranger, someone who understands her faults and can be patient with her mistakes. So if we bring Kayk along, we open up a nice new story arc for Dotti's growth.

Now it's a little less evident why Kayk would take to the battlefield with the party, Gecko definitely wins on motive there. But she gets a pretty obvious reason once again if Serah forks over the cash for her bakery. We scratch her back, she scratches ours back.

As for party dynamics, Kayk is one of the more reserved Terrorscales. Whereas Gecko plays into the chaos, I think Kayk helps balance the party out by providing a voice of calm that's been previously only held by Raelynn. She's not without emotion, the fact that she took all night + some convincing from Jek to forgive Dotti shows that clearly. She's just more soft-spoken about them. It's an interesting addition imo, one that'll put her in her own position amongst the group.

Frankly, Kayk and Tanwen both have compelling reasons to bring them into the group on a more permanent basis, and I hope we can get both on at least a temporary basis if nothing else.

If I have to pick one though, it'll be Kayk, because she's got a nice fat butt. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

Tanwen would be funny to have in the team.

I'm going to vote Kayk because I want the party to have a chef and I wanna see a scene later of Kayk teaching dotti how to cook because I think its cute. My vote is also that bc I think if the composition is like this then the future adventure will lean on party dynamics more than the Tanwen pick which will lead towards combat.

At least that's how I feel about the pick. Though the Jekster pick could mean comedy and Cadmus could mean more sciencey? It's a tough call. But food currently wins my heart

Landi 2022/04/02(Sat)21:56 No. 1028131 ID: 8483cf
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“Hey! Sweetcakes! We can see you,” you call out.

Kayk, the soft-spoken baker, businessowner and building-burner, is not very good at stealth. She’s certainly trying her best to be sneaky and silent, but her generousness is getting in the way whenever she tries to hide behind the curve of the stairwell. She slinks around the curve ashamedly.

Raelynn snaps to attention and tenses for a moment, but she lets it go with a sigh. Crisis averted thanks to you!

“Kayk?” Serah considers her for a moment. “Ah… thank you for standing up for Dotti. She’s free to go, thanks to you and your siblings.”

“Um,” Kayk shuffles her feet. “Thank you. But… didn’t you say it had taken you two months to get here?”

“Yes,” Serah says, “Which is why we will need to leave as soon as possible to catch a caravan. We wouldn’t dream of taking advantage of your hospitality- your mother made her expectations clear.”

“My mother…” Kayk sighs. “This isn’t about that. It’s just… Dotti, Dad told me about Petra. I don’t want you to take a long trip back.”

“Well, I have to,” Dotti says. She looks up at Serah. “Right now I just want to get out of here.”

“Are you offering help, Kayk?” Serah asks. “A faster way?”

Kayk nods. “Very fast.”

“That’s very generous of you,” Serah says with a wide smile. “When you have a minute, let me talk to you about how I might repay you. You said you had trouble with fire insurance? I think I know a few people…”

Kayk has joined the party! She’s not a fighter, but she’s the best Terrorscale at flying the party around in her dragon form.

From that point everything is a whirlwind. Everyone packing, Jekster bursting in excitedly announcing a family vacation, Hunny shoving food at everyone, Cadmus scribbling notes on persons and places to contact for pen pal purposes, and a dead tired sleep before departing the next morning. You see a glimpse of Kayk talking with Gecko and can’t quite make out what they’re saying but it is definitely one of those talks.

You use a favor to get Dotti to give you back the Lucky Panties. They seem to have done her a lot of good here, but at what cost to how tolerable it’ll be to live with Dotti now that she’s faced down a dragon?

You get let out of your lantern by Jek, who apologizes profusely for how things went, but the one good thing that’s come out of it is that Mai considers Dotti and your accounts closed. You’ve lost your Lair privileges, and that’s as far as it goes. Dotti’s safe, which you’re only modestly happy about. It’s pretty meh as far as that goes. You listen to him prattle on about how the Terrorscale family is taking a family vacation to spend time with Dad, and they’ll pass through Minga to meet up with Kayk later.

None of that matters, though.

What actually matters is that you’re still the queen of Truth or Dare.

END OF THREAD 5: Lazy Fairy in the Dragon’s Lair

END OF POV 5 Landi 2022/04/02(Sat)21:57 No. 1028132 ID: 8483cf
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There will be a short time skip to get back to Minga in between Thread 5 and Thread 6. Human Quest takes place during this time skip.

Who Will be the POV of the Next Thread? RANK YOUR CHOICES.

A. Moonshine, a.k.a. Landi, a Fairy
>-Genre: Dating Sim focusing on Djinni, complete with affection meters.
>-Notes: Landi’s personal story will take a backseat to focus on other party members.

B. Lady Serah Kensington, Heir Countess of Kensington, a Human Alchemist
>-Genre: Political intrigue, like Game of Thrones but dumber
>-Notes: Focus is on worldbuilding and politics. You will be responsible for coordinating the search for Petra.

C. Dorothea, a.k.a. Dotti, a Fox Spirit
>-Genre: Slice of Life / Comedy
>-Notes: Focus is on Dotti getting a job as well as doing things on her list of Things Humans Do.

D. Raelynn, a Wood Elf Ranger
>-Genre: Open World Hunting Simulator
>-Notes: Focuses on Raelynn’s family issues and the Druidic Circle attracting malevolent spirits. This is the least social option.

E. Taranis, a Stormcrow
>-Genre: Lightning Bird Solid: Tactical Collect-A-Thon Stealth Looter Action
>-Notes: A silly thread about stealing shiny things and underwear. This is the worst option.

F. Kayk Terrorscale, a Half-dragon Baker
>-Genre: Cookie Clicker Dotti Management Resource Simulator 2022
>-Notes: Light resource management elements, but focus is still on inter-party relationships. Also you get to be Dotti’s boss.

---
Thread will remain open for one week to count votes. Remember to rank your choices!

my top two picks are E and F because they are characters we haven't played yet.

1. E
2. F
3. B
4. C
5. A
6. D

F>B>E>A>C>D

Obviously the superior choice is Dotti, but I'll rank because some people's opinions will be wrong~



C - Dotti

F - Kayk (because that's just managing Dotti)

A - Landi (dating sims are fun)

B - Serah

D - Raelynn

E - Taranis

>>1028132
F. Kayk!

LET'S RANK THIS SHIT:

1: C, Dotti thread! She's gonna need some support after all she's been through.

2: F, Also a nice and rather lighthearted thread, and we'd still be in a position to help Dotti with her new struggles in gaining societal acceptance.

3: E, Fuck it, it's stupid fun. Bird up!

4: B, Serah! It's been so long since we've been Serah, we're talking like, three whole threads! Since this one was so Dotti/Landi heavy, it seems fair to shift focus back to her arc for a while.

5: A, Landi will give us a nice overview of what everyone is up to, which is nice. But also, we were JUST Landi, so repeating that choice is lame.

6: D, We were JUST Raelynn a thread ago, I'm not really ready for more. Especially not if she'll mostly be doing her own thing like an asocial dork. Honestly, I'm just really not up for a dramatic thread after this one, would rather just deal with lighter conflicts and give the party a break

C

1. E
2. F
3. C
4. A
5. B
6. D

E
F
D

B
C
F