A Second Chance (Reincarnation/Crossover)

[X] You like learning from your mother, even if she has to sacrifice a lot of time for your sake. Things are fine as is.
[X] Work on your 'special' talents.
[X] You discover how to use willpower far earlier than should be possible.

 

Regarding your education:
[X] Attempt to convince your mother that she doesn't need to sacrifice too much of her time for your sake, and that you can do a lot of self-studying.

What do you do in your free time?
[X] Work on your 'special' talents.

A breakthrough, your abilities have increased:
[X] You find another way to use your Nerve Control ability.

 

[X] Try to find out what happened to the rest of your tutors; if your mother doesn't know or can't tell you, maybe you could ask your uncle, the King?

[X] Exploring the castle, eavesdropping on castle residents.

[X] Your healing ability has a 'remember wounds' setting.

 

Regarding your education:

[X] You like learning from your mother, even if she has to sacrifice a lot of time for your sake. Things are fine as is.

What do you do in your free time?

[X] Work on your 'special' talents.

A breakthrough, your abilities have increased:

[X] You discover how to use willpower far earlier than should be possible.

 

Tally:

 

Change to
[X] Try to find out what happened to the rest of your tutors; if your mother doesn't know or can't tell you, maybe you could ask your uncle, the King?
[X] Your healing ability has a 'remember wounds' setting.

 

Then I'm changing to:
[X] Attempt to convince your mother that she doesn't need to sacrifice too much of her time for your sake, and that you can do a lot of self-studying.

I don't want to risk being killed by our uncle. You know, the uncle who killed our father? The one who will probably hold our mother hostage if we fail to save her? Yeah, that guy.

 

Stop overreacting.
It's way to early for there to be a certain bad end choice.
We'll also have to deal with the guy at some point and unless we take risks at some point this quest will be incredibly dull.

 

Did Inara Seraph say that? Because I'm pretty sure that kids die just as easily as anybody else. Well, easier actually, other than infants, cripples, etc. In YAHF quest, Xander died like 10 posts in or something like that.

 

I'm gonna be honest with you.
Even if there was a serious risk of dieing right the fuck now, I'd pick the king, because it sounds a lot more interesting than 'learning on our own'.

That aside, yes, there are a couple of GMs that would kill you before the quest really gets started without saving throws for picking a non-joke option they presented you with.
That's no reason to be paranoid.
The king is not going to execute us for asking about tutors.
He's almost certain to cause some some trouble, but honestly?
We need to do something that gets us out of character creation already.
The other option is sitting on our asses and waiting for canon events to happen.
Fuck that.

 

Still tied. Would anyone else like to add a vote/change theirs? If not, I'll simply flip a coin to decide. I'm planning on posting the next update today.

 

With the changes it's actually not tied.

 

Whoops, thanks for pointing that out. Forgot that Scope's vote change was a net +2. Votes are locked, updating soon-ish.

 

BGM Set

[X] Try to find out what happened to the rest of your tutors; if your mother doesn't know or can't tell you, maybe you could ask your uncle, the King?
[X] Work on your 'special' talents.
[X] Your healing ability has a 'remember wounds' setting.

You put forth great efforts in trying to improve your wire-crafting; it's a bit of a calming ritual for you, helping you center yourself. Resting on your bed, you weave strands together randomly, by design, or by hazy dream-memory- you practice many different ways. You wish you could share this with your mother, but you're the only one you've ever heard of who has an ability like this. You've shown her some of your work, but as they dissolve so quickly, she can't keep any of them you give to her.

Your hard work pays off when you finish your latest creation. You've managed to put together a coherent matrix of wires in the shape of a small bird. It chirps at you, and you blink at it, nonplussed. You can tell immediately this one is different from the patterns you've created before. You can feel it's presence. Even with your eyes closed, you can point precisely to where it is. When it dissolves, the feeling fades with it. It didn't last very long- five minutes at the most, by your guess.

You can create it again from memory- it's easy, now that you know how. This one is put together in just a couple minutes. You experiment some with it. You can direct it with your thoughts, sending it flying about the castle. You can't see what it sees, so your second pigeon dissolves when it collides with a wall you didn't know was there. Your third pigeon, you tell it to fly around the castle rather than directing it manually. This time, it doesn't collide with anything. It seems like it can follow simple instructions on its own.

It's neat, but the biggest drawback is that it doesn't last very long. You also doubt it would be very effective in a fight except as an annoyance. You want to figure out how to extend their lifespans, but you can't think of anything other than more practice. Hopefully it will improve with time.

Skill improved: Creation and Forging E-
New Section: The Wire Menagerie. By experimenting with your creations, you've stumbled across something effective and easy to recreate. Wire animals that you can currently make are listed under 'The Wire Menagerie.'
New Creation: Wire Pigeon

You find a stray cat padding across the castle grounds as you take a stroll under the midday sun. It's so fluffy and cute, you want to pick it up. How to entice it..?

"Here, kitty."

"Meow..?" It looks at you suspiciously. You try being as nonthreatening as possible, kneeling a few feet away from the cat, your hand held out for it to sniff. It treks over slowly, taking cautious steps. It takes all of your self-control not to try jumping the cat and scooping it into your arms. After it gives you hand a sniff, it rubs its head against your hand, meowing at you. Success..! You can't hold it in anymore, and grab the kitty before it can dash away.

You hold onto the cat tightly, not letting it go, and savoring the feeling of its soft fur. The cat jerks and twitches in your grasp; something about the way it is doing so causes you to let go in concern. When you lower it to the ground, the cat doesn't run away like you expected. You can see.. blood. Blood is leaking out of the cat onto the dirt. Looking at your forearms.. they too are slick with blood, and the cat is mewling piteously on the ground as its life-force rapidly seeps away. It is a scene that will haunt your nightmares for years to come.

You try frantically to heal it, to reverse whatever you just did- but you only end up making it worse. In no time at all the cat is dead, the wounds all over its body killing it in less than ten seconds. There is nothing but a hideous corpse left.

"No.. no.. no.." Tears stream down your face as you stare fixedly at the dead animal lying on the castle grounds in a pool of its own blood. Minutes pass as you try to process what you just did. If anyone stumbled across the scene, they didn't interrupt you. You finally snap yourself out of your trance, and decide to bury it properly.

You procure a shovel to dig out a shallow little grave for the dead cat. You are thankfully uninterrupted. It probably made for a very undignified scene; the Princess carrying out manual labor like this, but you won't get any rest until you finish. You're not a very strong girl, so even the tiny hole you make takes you hours of work to dig and fill in again. When you're satisfied, you make back for the castle before you worry your mother. You hear a few high pitched mews as you're walking back, and you freeze.

You carefully make your way over to the source of the noise, and find four tiny little kittens behind a bush gazing back at you. They bear an uncanny resemblance to the cat you just buried. You can put two and two together.

You swallow thicky. These cute little kittens are looking up at you with such innocence, after you had just murdered their mother. It's overwhelming. You have to look away guiltily. There's something you can do here to try to fix your mistake. Wiping away the tears threatening to fall, you fetch a blanket to carry the litter of kittens. You'll just have to convince your mother to let you take care of them as pets.

She might've protested, but seeing the incredibly earnest expression on your face combined with the sheer cuteness of the kittens eroded any doubts she possibly had. She impressed upon you that you'd be totally responsible for them, and that she wasn't going to help you. You think she just wants to see how you'll handle it.

Thinking back on the incident, you hover your hand tentatively in front of your face, inspecting it. Your healing powers were always very abnormal, but this is one you're not going to show anyone. The way the mother cat just died from wounds appearing all over its body was horrifying. It makes you seem like a walking plague of some kind. You don't want to take any chances that you'll repeat your mistake. You take to wearing a white pair of gloves just to make sure. To your relief, there are no more incidents, though you become just a little bit wary of touching people or animals, even with your gloves on.

You practice the ability on yourself covertly over the next few weeks. It's incredibly painful, as your Nerve Control ability is reset every time you 'remember' a wound. You persevere- the dying cries of the cat you killed echo in your ears, driving you to master this ability no matter what you have to endure. Your efforts pay off, allowing you a measure of control over it such that you don't risk killing people by hugging them. Whereas your healing ability erases the memory of the injury, your decay ability makes past injuries reappear. Heavier injuries are harder to 'remember,' and the longer it's been since the injury occurred, the harder it is to make it reappear. You don't take off the gloves, though- you've grown attached to them. You snuggle one of the kittens in your arms, petting it's soft fur as it mews in discontentment, trying to break free from your grasp.

"So cute~"

Skill Healing F becomes Healing and Decay F+
New Skill: Pain Tolerance F-
New Trait: Contact Phobia E
New Item: White Gloves

Asking your mother yields no information, so you decide to go straight to the top- if anyone knows, it would be your uncle. It's hard arranging a meeting with him, but as a privileged member of royalty, you can slip into his schedule with minimal fuss. You pose your question to King Joseph sitting on his throne, feeling incredibly nervous.

"I've been learning a lot from the tutors, but mother says there aren't any left to teach me, that they kept going away until there were none left. I want to know what happened to them. Can you tell me?"

He looks down at you from his elevated position, apparently thinking. "Really.."

You squirm under his gaze. You can't help but feel very small and overly self-conscious. Was this a bad idea after all? You can't tell anything from observing his expression. What is he waiting for? What is he thinking? The silence stretches long enough to be uncomfortable before he finally breaks it, calling from the shadows a woman you hadn't noticed was present.

"Sheffield."

She kneels before him in respect, awaiting his instructions.

"Accompany my niece. See that she learns what she wants to know."

"As you wish, my lord." She turns to you and gestures for you to follow before exiting the hall. You spare one last glance back at the King, but his expression remains inscrutable. You rush to catch up with Sheffield.

You're not sure precisely who this woman is, but if Joseph says that she can help you, you'll listen to her. You try asking Sheffield questions as you travel, but she completely ignores you. You like to think you have a lot of patience for your age, but you have your limits. You snap at her in frustration.

"Hey-!"

She interrupts you before you can say anything rude. "We're here."

Taken aback, you look around. "Huh.. we are?"

You hadn't even noticed your surroundings had changed this much. How did you reach a place like this so quickly? You weren't that preoccupied. "What is this..?"

"What does it look like?"

You can see headstones lined up in neat rows, some of them adorned, others forgotten. "It's.. a graveyard.."

Kneeling at the foot of a dusty grave, you brush off some of the dirt, recognizing the name on it. "No.."

The old maid you learned from just a few weeks ago.. she's dead. Was she truly that old? She seemed healthy and hale the last time you saw her. You don't want to accept that she just passed on naturally.

"I see you recognize this one. I thought you might. There are others, in different places."

"They all died under mysterious circumstances. Almost like being around you too much was a curse." The way she says it indicates that she's taking way too much pleasure in your distress.

"That can't be it.." You shake your head in denial. A small part of you fears that maybe it's true.

She smirks. "I can help you discover the truth. You won't be able to do much on your own. What do you want?"

[ ] Accept Sheffield's help. You want to unearth the truth of their deaths.
[ ] Decline Sheffield's help, and try to investigate on your own.
[ ] Leave it be. There's nothing you can do for them anymore.
[ ] Something else. (Write-in.)

Also, name your kittens. (There are four.)

[ ] ? (Write-in.)

 

DRAMA!

 

[J] "Obviously somebody has been killing the servants to lessen my education, sow fear in the ranks of those willing to take up the position and destabilize my mothers political power by creating a basis for rumors about me. Sadly, I must decline your offer of help as all are suspect and your obvious pleasure at my distress marks you as somebody unlikely to actually assist me."

Anyway, that's what I'd like to say, but we're probably too young and don't know enough to.

[X] Decline Sheffield's help, and try to investigate on your own.

 

[X] Leave it be. There's nothing you can do for them anymore.

 

See, you see this and think 'Oh, we're too young to be that obvservant!'

I think this is a good opportunity to get that observational skill as a trait.

[X] Think- "Obviously somebody has been killing the servants to lessen my education, sow fear in the ranks of those willing to take up the position and destabilize my mothers political power by creating a basis for rumors about me. Given Sheffield's obvious pleasure in my distress, she's unlikely to be any help."
-[X] Politely decline and investigate on your own.

 

[X] Think- "Obviously somebody has been killing the servants to lessen my education, sow fear in the ranks of those willing to take up the position and destabilize my mothers political power by creating a basis for rumors about me. Given Sheffield's obvious pleasure in my distress, she's unlikely to be any help."
-[X] Politely decline and investigate on your own.

 

[X] Decline Sheffield's help, and try to investigate on your own.

On the kittens...
I'm tempted to name them Eins, Zwei, Drei and Vier. They're... simple names. And kinda cute, but that might be Reinforce Zwei affecting my judgement.

 

Why do you hate kittens, QQ?

Name us, nya~

 

If there was a physical description for the kittens, it would be easier to name them.

 

Aren't you supposed to avoid naming things one of your enemies is inevitably going to murder and sneak into your dinner, so you have an emotional breakdown and they can spread rumors about you eating your pets?

 

[X] Decline Sheffield's help, and try to investigate on your own.
-[X] The MacroDaemon+Vindictus thought plan if we're capable of it. The one about realizing Sheffield enjoys our suffering.

Yes, the kittens are probably going to be killed after we start becoming emotionally invested in them, but that's no reason not to play into it.

Names, made up physical descriptions, and other traits:

Smudge, who is named for the small spot on his forehead.

Hawk, this crazy girl is always getting up in trees, realizing she's stuck, then jumping down onto peoples heads in order to reduce her fall.

Night, completely black, and refuses to meow, no matter how he is petted or tickled.

The fourth cat has a deformity, an extra pair of paws growing out of his front legs. They're small and don't get in his way, but they're more than enough reason to name him Wolverine. He is a mutant with extra claws after all.

 

Well, I was fond of the names Cutie, Smartie, Fluffy and Grumpy...

 

Good point.

They're grey/white short-haired kittens with a striped color scheme; just picture a generic American house-cat, times four. Obviously, there are some variations in precisely what they look like. You can do what useless101 did and give them more descriptive traits.

 

[X] Think- "Obviously somebody has been killing the servants to lessen my education, sow fear in the ranks of those willing to take up the position and destabilize my mothers political power by creating a basis for rumors about me. Given Sheffield's obvious pleasure in my distress, she's unlikely to be any help."
-[X] Politely decline and investigate on your own.

Her thinking that isn't to far out there. She does have experience with "Sharks" thanks to her previous life, she's just experiencing it for herself for the first time though, so... might take her looking back on the situation to actually come up with this as she's emotionally shaken. She would still have the feeling of declining being the good idea in the back of her mind possibly subverted a bit thanks to the innocence trait, although it is a false trait so maybe it would only look that way. *shrug* meh.

 

It is possible for you to follow this line of thinking, at least basically.

The Innocence (False) trait is more about how others react to you. As in, people will tend to underestimate you or believe you to be more naive than you really are. As it applies in this situation, Sheffield would interpret your refusal as you being scared off by the spooky graveyard, rather than you refusing because you doubt her intentions.

Also, as it is the kittens are still nameless.