HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

Herein lies the various threads in which our characters live out their lives
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Thursday Violist
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

Post by Thursday Violist »

[Fairy Tales]

Even though Venus isn't exactly an expert on this subject, she still is the type of person to ask dumb or obvious questions during a lecture.
So she does come up with a suggestion!

"Smaller changes would be the easiest to make effect than a big, massive change to the story, right?" Venus asks.
She pauses, as if looking for confirmation from one of the three people who seem to know what they're talking about. "Like maybe if, instead of saying he conquers the land and succeeds, maybe we say he tries to conquer, fails or realizes it's too hard, and then flees to start his own land elsewhere, where he's not bothering anyone?" she suggests.

Oh, but wait, she's done this kind of brainstorming thing before. Just giving one suggestion isn't good enough, she thinks. So she quickly thinks of another one that could work: "Or, maybe we could find someone else with this kind of fairytale story-thing to them, and change their story to clash with his. I mean, that won't directly affect his story but it would give us some control over how it ends up."
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

Post by Zefir »

The stone scorpion seems less moved by this. Stories aren't his kinds thing so he is not sure what to add.

Maria migth find it hard to remove just like said gum. The moment she thinks she got t off she may notice it right in front of her on the files she had their.. Strange.
He then looks at the warlock.
"Excuse me Miss Zhareen profession warlock, I am not 'something'. I'm Mr.C, libriarian of the library of Alexandria and also HALO member." he tells her proud and confident befor turning to the moderator Reinholdt.
"I suggest either someone here in the room or someone from Vigil we can trust. BUT, taking into account that his story adapts to different worlds we migth need someone or something that is either common everywhere or unknown everywhere. "
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

Post by Shadowcaller »

[Fairy Tales]

"Well, then you need get off miss Maria, Mr. C. It's terribly impolite to stick to someone like that. Not to mention rather distracting." Since now they were discussing that instead of the matter at hand.

"As for ideas, I don't think smaller changes are particularly effective. Since those are always bound to happen over time either way. Details change as people retell the story over and over again. We need something big and impressive, something that turns head. A... book perhaps. One that's inspired by the story so that people make the connection, yet is different in significant ways."

She pauses as she considers Rein's actual question. "As for protagonist, it should be someone young. A young rebellious woman perhaps? As different as you can be from an old goat of a king."
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

Post by Ironsmith »

[Fairy Tales]

"Hold on a minute."

Vlad steeples together the fingers of his suit as he addresses the rest of the room for the first time, silently thankful that the sensors inside have twitch dampeners that make his body language look much more confident than he felt. "...Why would we drag someone else into this 'King in Rags's story?" He asks. "If we write in someone to oppose him, they... I mean, the King in Rags is a real person, isn't he? Won't we be forcing someone else into this conflict by making them the heroine's real-life counterpart?"

Vlad crosses his suit's arms with a heavy clunk. "The way I see it, the King in Rags is already the protagonist of this story. But that isn't the same thing as him being the hero, or the victor when the conflict resolves. Why don't we just keep the story circulating, but frame it as a tragedy, a cautionary tale about trying to bring back something that has been lost forever? The King in Rags, as a character, will eventually destroy himself with his obsession. If his real counterpart is beholden to the story, wouldn't that mean he would have to do the same, as well?"
Who're you? ...Don't matter.

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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

Post by Reinholdt »

[Fairy Tales]

"I wasn't intending to base it on a real person. I was imagining some sort of everyman- everywoman. Someone who learns to defeat fear with knowledge or something along those lines," Reinholdt admits. "But if there's a fey out there with a real grudge against him, it would be worth considering. Dangerous to involve more fair folk though. Who knows how they'll twist it in the end?" Could end up with someone even more dangerous.

"This book isn't a retelling of the old tale, it would be a new one, though drawing inspiration from the Banished King would help keep it connected and strengthen its power," Rein clarifies. "I find it doubtful the King in Rags would follow our story to the letter though. We know that the Banished King ends with him back in charge of his kingdom and the King in Rags is only attempting to do that at this point. So while he's playing out that story, it also hasn't come to completion. When I suggest the King is defeated in the end of our book, I don't necessarily mean destroyed or annihilated and I doubt that would come to pass if we tried that. We're looking to weaken his image in the eyes of public, expose some exploitable weakness, or drive him to destroy himself psychologically. That would be a pretty handy outcome." Vlad's proposal certainly opens up different possibilities.

Reinholdt writes down under protagonist Fey Adversary, Rebellious Everywoman, and the King In Rags as options.
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

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[Fairy Tales]

Zhareen raises her hand at the mention of a 'fey with a grudge'. "We actually know a few fey with a grudge against him. There's even a rich person who-" Zhareen's black eyes widens as she abruptly stops that train of thought and looks down at the notebook in her lap.

"Oh yeah, here it is. 'Kingy has sent someone back in time'." She raises her finger while still looking at the notes. "Likely related to a story but not to the Banished King narrative." Now she looks back to the audience. "I, uh, should have mentioned this earlier but the fourth tower were actually commissioned by a client to conjure a being to find out more about the king. What they found out, as confirmed by one of our students, was that he had sent someone back in time to get something which would help him bring back the fairest lands. The client, whose name I'm not sure I should mention-" She glances at her wife as they did have a policy against revealing a clients name to outsiders. But did HALO count as 'outsiders'?

...she might also even have revealed the name to Maria but that was a detail that she had forgotten about until just now.

"-seemed to have a similar goal to us. As in, to change the Kings narrative."
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

Post by Morty »

[Fairy Tales]

"Do we know what it was?" Dorota asks Zhareen. "The thing that is meant to help the King in Rags."
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

Post by Reinholdt »

[Fairy Tales]

"Are you speaking of Eliot and Neshiyahel?" Maria obliviously asks as she sits back down. "I believe you strenuously emphasized neither the news-person nor the Empyrean qualified as fey. Which fey then are you referring to which hold a grudge upon the King in Rags? Though I believe you mentioned the Empyreans stand against fey as a matter of principle in their war: the Great Game. Do we wish to utilize an enemy of my enemy tactic in this endeavor?"

Reinholdt frowns, looking at Zhareen for elaboration. "Someone capable of time traveling for him must be a powerful mage and the thought is terrifying, but the minions of the King in Rags may better fall to VIGIL to eliminate. Or these... Empyreans??? I don't know if I want to involve too many outsiders in this process, to avoid hidden agendas muddling our objective." To come up with a cool story about how the King in Rags is basic and not scary at all.
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

Post by Gullara »

[Fairy Tales]

Vax raises a brow at Zhareen. She ought to know better than that. Using the info they gleaned is one thing, but directly involving a client without their consent? "We'd be wise to get permission before wrapping an unexpecting third party up in this."
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

Post by Shadowcaller »

[Fairy Tales]

Zhareen starts fanning herself once she feels Vax's gaze upon her. All while still trying to answer Maria's question. "Uh... yes, neither of them are fey. But as, um, Vax and Rein said, we shouldn't involve anyone else." If her clothes had a collar, she would have felt pretty hot under it right now. "A-and the fey I know would be people the fourth tower has worked with too so w-we would need to ask them first anyway."

The merfolk then turns to Dorota. "We only know that 'gods' were involved in the time they went back to. Which, uh, could mean any number of things."
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

Post by Zefir »

[Fairy Tales]

"I would tend to the everyperson." Teh stone scorpion states. "I'm not rally a friend of fey."

"She startet it" Mr. C replies to Zhareen about the topic of beeing unpolite. shoving someone aside without asking is unpolite.

"Time travel? hmm we might be able to track them, but do we have the means to time travel too? I mean if they go for that it's not just a visit Rom bevor it#s fall kinda travel." Mr. C says.
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

Post by Reinholdt »

[Fairy Tales]

"I don't believe we have time travel capabilities, but I'm willing to be surprised." Maybe someone in here had a really cool time traveling car or something. Not that Rein thinks it's a good idea to use.

Rein's going to mark out Fey Adversary from the list and put one mark next to Rebellious Everywoman. Which makes Rebellious Everywoman 1, the King in Rags 0.
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

Post by Morty »

[Fairy Tales]

"Gods? This might cross over with my own research, then. I believe the King in Rags comes from the same world as I do... and that means we have an interest in the same gods." Dorota frowns. "We'll need to find out more. For our main topic, I think the story of a rebellious everywoman would suit us best." Definitely no bias on her part here...
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

Post by Thursday Violist »

[Fairy Tales]

For the past bit of time, Venus has been a little quiet. (Her player being slow and busy and unable to post notwithstanding,) Likely for several reasons: in the first place, everyone else seems to be much more versed on the topic than her, so she's not exactly sure what she could contribute by speaking up. And, second, she's figured out that at least two of the people here think it would be dangerous for fey to be involved in this — and Venus is both fey and completely unable to refute their points, as much as she would like to.
Of course, she can't refute it: not because she's dangerous, but rather because she doesn't know if she is.

...
. . .
. . .
Venus opens her mouth and tries to think of something she can say, to add to the conversation. She's starting to feel a little guilty for not actually being able to add anything at all, so she bites her lip.

She waits for a decent moment to speak up, and then asks, "Do we already know what methods he's going to use to accomplish his goal?" she asks. "Or do we have some way to find out?"
...Still feeling a little guilty for just asking questions that might already have an answer, instead of coming up with a solution.
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

Post by Shadowcaller »

[Fairy Tales]

"I don't know anything about time travel. There's certainly kami- uh, concept spirits which represent the concept but they're not actually capable of it. So maybe-" She pauses and then gestures to Venus. "-well, his method is spreading his story further. Which is probably what all that time traveling was for. I'm guessing to make more people believe that he's really cool and fearsome." She taps her notebook with her finger thoughtfully.
"Maybe we could lead that into him actually being massively insecure? Since that's what people that really care about what others things usually are and he certainly does. Just more magically."
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

Post by Reinholdt »

[Fairy Tales]

"We know of a swamp where he likes to hold court is, but going into his domain to spy is perilous." Rein knows of someone who confronted the King in Rags in his domain and it didn't go well for them.

Reinholdt ends up circling Rebellious Everywoman and erasing the other names. He also writes down Massively Insecure towards the right-hand side under the King in Rags name. "That can be something of an underlying theme for the King in Rags. Alright, so now we need the skeleton of a plot. Something that gets our Rebellious Everywoman from her every day life to where she's facing the King in Rags, realizing he's just terribly insecure and taking advantage of that. What's the motivation that kickstarts her journey?"
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

Post by Morty »

[Fairy Tales]

"Well, the King in Rags could destroy her home, kill her loved ones and all that," Dorota suggests. "But it's pretty cliched, isn't it? Unless that's what we're going for."
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

Post by Zefir »

[Fairy Tales]

"That was what I thought of at first, too." Mr C replies. "But then we would need to connect it to the existing story, since this is the only actions we could relate to. OR..." he makes a dramatic pause as lightning strikes somewhere. Wasn't it a cloudless day? This thunder is part of the enchantments on Mr.C for entertainment (Comic relive or dramativ sounds etc)
"We take the story itself as a reason. I'm not sure if you are aware, but those stories seemed to suddendly poped up in everyones minds. In my case it's rather strange as I was a librarian of any book ever writen in any universe. I couldn't remember storing any of the stories as a boo, yet I remember several versions of it. Something is wrong with that story and maybe our protagonist feels the same?"
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

Post by Reinholdt »

[Fairy Tales]

"A storied reflection of our own discoveries? Interesting. Could work. Has a strong skeleton to work with."

Reinholdt taps the table in thought at Dorota's suggestion. "We may not need to go so far as to have him kill her whole family. What about a simple case of Eminent Domain? The Banished King returns and immediately takes her house because it's on the fairest land, kicking her family to the street. She takes offense."

Rein writes down Dead Family, Eminent Domain, and Full Meta as possible plot options.
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

Post by Shadowcaller »

[Fairy Tales]

Zhareen turns her focus to note taking for a few moments as others start to come with their own suggestions.
However, as Reinholdt mentions 'strong skeleton' she looks up from her notebook. "We have a strong skeleton! It's in my office- uh-" She eyes the HALO members. "-and... is very metaphorical. Yes." The warlock nods as if she understood exactly what they were talking about. "Since maybe the girl has a skeleton... as a pet? Skeletons are cute. Would have a lot of appeal."
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

Post by Morty »

[Fairy Tales]

Dorota looks at Zhareen for a long while. Is she joking? Is this some cultural thing she doesn't understand? Best to focus on what Reinholdt and Mr. C are saying.

"Giving our heroine the same goal we do? To prevent the King in Rags from corrupting everyone's memories and stories? This would cut right to the heart of the matter and show him we know what he's up to. If not, then a simple motivation would also work. Everyone likes a common hero sticking it to powerful bullies." She might be a tad biased.
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

Post by Arkhosia »

[Morbid Adventures in Medical Science]

One quiet day at HALO, the labs are graced with a polite knock on the door - or at least, it seems fairly polite before the one doing the knocking opens the door immediately after.

"Hello, is this the laboratories of Dorota Glińska?" A chipper, pink-haired teenager stands in the doorway, one hand resting on a cane. "I hope I'm not being a bother, but it was suggested that I talk with you! I have some very promising research material you could do wonders with, from what I understand."
"Are we living a life that is safe from harm? Of course not, we never are. But that's not the right question. The question is: are we living a life that is worth the harm?"
~Welcome to Night Vale
SliiArhem wrote:Arkh I may be slightly delirious but I don't think that would make sense even if I was coherent.
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

Post by Thursday Violist »

[Fairy Tales

Venus speaks up: "I don't think we should consider 'Dead Family', especially since there's other options that are just as good," she says.
As reasoning, she adds, "Because, like, creating the story will make it happen, right? I mean..." She trails off, since even if in the story it was the King in Rag's fault, it may as well be their fault for killing the family in the first place.

Killing off someone's family definitely wouldn't make them appreciate HALO's efforts in using them. "On that note, having the hero realize something that's wrong with the sudden appearance of the stories would ensure it's someone who's committed to opposing the Banished King for something he definitely did, and not just the circumstances.
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

Post by Felandria »

Thursday Violist wrote: Feb 09, 2023 7:36 am [Hallway]

Fel may be proud of her, but Venus just feels gross.
She shivers again.

Venus bites her upper lip.
"Um. Well, if you want to know their home base, I already know where it is," she says. "They took over and moved into my house. Um...well, it's more of a church than a house. But it's where I slept and everything." Hence, why she calls it her house. And possibly explains why she looks so tired.
Venus exhales. "It's just a couple blocks away from the Black Dragon's Den. Unless they started up a new location, that's where they do all their planning and worshipping and everything."

Even so, the tracking device would still be useful to see if they end up doing anything unusual or major.
Oh god, Venus, I’m so sorry.

As I said, if you want me to go down there and help you take it back, you just say the word.

In the meantime, all HALO members get their own bedroom here, so I would hope you’ve been able to get some rest there.
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

Post by Gullara »

[Fairy Tales]

Vax clears her throat lightly and gives Zhareen a meaningful look. "Yes, I would say it's best to stick to more broadly appealing story elements."
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

Post by Morty »

[Morbid Adventures in Medical Science]

The newcomer will face a withering glare from the lab's occupant, a blonde woman wearing a labcoat and goggles. She silences the teenager with a finger over her mouth and gets back to what she was doing, which is monitoring a chemical reaction occurring in a metal pot over a fire.
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

Post by Arkhosia »

[Morbid Adventures in Medical Science]

A moment passes, and Dulcinea blinks. "Oh! Apologies, I didn't mean to interrupt," she states... but does not leave and close the door behind her. Instead she very politely skirts around to stand a safe and unobtrusive distance away from the fire and accompanying metal box.

A few moments of awkward pass, and she studies the box in idle curiosity.

"...so, what are we examining here, exactly? I take it some form of reaction under heat?"
"Are we living a life that is safe from harm? Of course not, we never are. But that's not the right question. The question is: are we living a life that is worth the harm?"
~Welcome to Night Vale
SliiArhem wrote:Arkh I may be slightly delirious but I don't think that would make sense even if I was coherent.
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

Post by Morty »

[Morbid Adventures in Medical Science]

Dorota turns to respond to Dulcinea, which draws her attention from the pot for a moment and it starts to smoke. She immediately turns back to it, thrusting a metal rod inside and pouring some pinkish liquid in. The smoke subsides.

"Something I must monitor extremely closely. So please just wait."
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

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[Morbid Adventures in Medical Science]

"Oh! Of course! Sorry." Dulcinea flashes a quick and cheery smile, her expression a perfect mask of innocent apology. She seems to get the memo - but her eyes scan the lab to pass the time, casually picking up on any personal affectations in the room. Never hurts to know who you're winning over, after all.
"Are we living a life that is safe from harm? Of course not, we never are. But that's not the right question. The question is: are we living a life that is worth the harm?"
~Welcome to Night Vale
SliiArhem wrote:Arkh I may be slightly delirious but I don't think that would make sense even if I was coherent.
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Re: HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

Post by Reinholdt »

[Fairy Tales]

"A meta-narrative would be tipping our hand to the King, it's true. Though I think he'd probably figure out what we're up to either way if it has any effect to begin with," Reinholdt muses. "I don't think making the story would cause it to happen in real life though. He draws power from people's perception of him more than anything. I'm pretty sure we're not condemning some person to act out all the events in the story." He's just not completely sure. Just in case, he'll cross out Dead Family from the plot options.

And add Pet Skeleton under Rebellious Everywoman while giving Vax and Zhareen a suspicious glance that he'll have to resolve after the meeting. "We should probably go ahead and give her a name while we're at it." So they don't keep having to call her hero or protagonist over and over.
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