2/2 Polo 2013/12/24(Tue)13:01 No. 553486 ID: 9cd8ad
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There is not much that changes for Rokoa's life, actually. Plenty of events will occur, but I'm still set on making Rokoa defend and love her hive, and when she gets angry and attempts to attack another hive for no good reason, have it backfire.

The events are simple. Hunting and encounters with other hives.

I cross a few when Katzati comes in

>"Am I in, Polo?"
"Yes."
>"Where should I go?"

Either assist me with Rokoa's memories, which are fuzzy for the next two or three years, or have her go into my college to try to get my past self to learn that picking a fight with everyone is not good. Which I know that now, and I know that I did not used to do that, but that is what I remember.

Katzati's purpose is to keep you together and a friendly 3rd party that can perceive events. She's defense and works best as defense. You're offense.

If the red queen is the one we killed, then we need to... make a similar but weaker and slightly friendlier queen to destroy both of them. IS one of Rokoa's children strong and old enough to become Queen? Might really want to start confusing things. This may lead to an event where she A. Asks you to kill her own child because in the end it will lead to the destruction of her own hive because it's the only thing that would make sense, B. We add another motive to kill the original Red Queen when she kills one of her children, giving much different context to your future alliance.

Give one of her children a redder pallet. Give the father a redder pallet too, to make things confusing if you can.

Glitchy dream arm. She both thinks it should be there and not there. I don't think it would help to comment on it, though.

I think you'd be better off with her working to correct or protect your memories than helping you mess Rokoa, especially now that you have evidence of drift. Her idea of who you're supposed to be may be more solid than your own at this point, and she won't have to worry about meta-memories while trying to correct things.

Not sure if she'll need support, at some point. Rokoa may try and use the arm as a way to get to her, but I can't guess how successful that will be.

>children
...crazy and somewhat disturbing idea, but would Rokoa exiting your body via your reproductive system be an option? You're probably too mixed up at this point for her to disengage, I suppose.

Have Katzati stay on defence.

You must remember to NEVER neglect the defence of your own territory.

Defense.
Calmness and emptying of self is key to the silence.

>>553486
Start making Rokoa behave like you would. Remember, after this is over, you will eat eachother. That means she will become part of you. For the least troublesome merging, having her personality be close to yours is optimal.

Say, Polo, I've been thinking. Katzati needs to be able to feel your empathy to be able to interact with you this way, right? But, while she was doing that last time, you were also using your silence, both "inside" the memories and "focusing" them around your memories to make it harder for Rokoa to interact with them.

Do you realize what this means? It means you can partially silence your empathy. It's not all or nothing.

If you learned to use that... you still wouldn't be able to lie, exactly, but you could deceive by omission. During a fight, for example; if you were feeling, for example, a blend of fear and anger, how would a neumono opponent react if you were only releasing the fear or the anger? Someone like Rokoa would be used to fighting either with full empathy or with none at all; if they were receiving misleading signals, their trained combat instincts would be confused, and that might make the difference between victory and success. Or what if you were being interrogated, and released most of your normal empathic signal, but suppressed those signals that would tell when you lied? It might even be something you could use against a predator, or to resist the bugs, if we end in one of the worst-case scenarios.

Something to consider. In the meantime, I suggest sending Katzati to defend. Aside other concerns, I think she'll be more focused and motivated when she knows she's protecting something; mental strength is a key factor for all this. I'm sure she'll try her best in either case, but she might not be able to help being more hesitant if she's on the offensive.

>Do you realize what this means? It means you can partially silence your empathy. It's not all or nothing.
Not necessarily. Being able to apply her silence, or the techniques behind it, in certain ways inside her own head or in a dreamscape doesn't really tell us anything certain about her capabilities outside.

Lets keep her on defense like before.

As for you subtly weakening her confidence is the best route I think. If she ends up remembering a life full of second guessing herself and her own judgement steering her wrong it should help in the end.

The pivotal moments will be once we reach the memories you have of meeting her and what went on in the spire before and after she met you. But until we get there learning as much as we can is the way to go.

1/3 Polo 2013/12/25(Wed)15:57 No. 553600 ID: 9cd8ad
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>Do you realize what this means? It means you can partially silence your empathy. It's not all or nothing.
It's something I may investigate in the future.

"Defense. I need someone to tell me what Rokoa is screwing with."
>"Right."

>Rokoa exiting your body
Not by some sort of extraction. By now my body has absorbed Rokoa's brain all over the place.

>Change who the Queen was
That will be ineffectual to begin with, unless I thoroughly rewrite all of her memories to do so. I doubt Rokoa will allow me the luxury, so I must do what I can in a more or less closed environment that does not change the outcome of her life's relations.

I may attempt to change her outlook on the red hive, however, by making one of her kids a redder tint. I am not entirely sure if it will accomplish much, but the moment I start to, the moment that Rokoa nearly flips out on me. She does not want her effecting her children at all. I will not antagonize her when I am not confident it will help me significantly, and since she is so attached to the authentic memory of her children, I will respect what few good attributes she has. I simply hope it is not me being soft, or empathizing with her own wishes.

>Start making Rokoa behave like you would. Remember, after this is over, you will eat eachother. That means she will become part of you.
It is not a bad idea. I will do so when it doesn't conflict with what I am doing already.

Rokoa has her 10th kid. Her 7th, nearly to adulthood, gets snatched by a large bird of some kind. Rokoa spends days searching the wild, but she never finds a body. The only thing I change is making her less angry at the hive for trying to move on in migration, giving up sooner than she did.

2/3 Polo 2013/12/25(Wed)15:57 No. 553601 ID: 9cd8ad
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Rokoa has me start ditching class to study martial arts.

I don't know if she picked up on it, but if I really did go back and do it all over again, maybe I would do exactly that. Perhaps things like biology have their place as common knowledge, but it does not come in handy in day to day application.

Where she steers me wrong is using those martial arts to continue beating up everyone that would fight her.

Katzati tries to have it backfire by having me banned from the martial arts clubs, or getting me terribly beaten up. She will have to catch on that Rokoa does not care about that. Rokoa retaliates by either picking on Katzati, or letting me get beaten up.

3/3 Polo 2013/12/25(Wed)15:57 No. 553602 ID: 9cd8ad
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I've got to keep focusing on offense, though, so I don't pay attention to what's going on with me for long, because a critical moment comes up. A critical couple of years. Rokoa doesn't remember them well at all, and I may be treading on forgotten territory, or more literally, yanking her less used memory banks out to remember.

One of her kids went missing during hunting. Rokoa goes out searching for him.

She finds her mother holding Kirrac, her 5th child. Everything around me is quiet.

>"This arkot thought herself a neumono. She said her mother was the strongest. You want your child back? Prove that to me."

>It's something I may investigate in the future.
Hard to do in the short term, where we're surrounded by jammers at all time. Experimentation would have to come later, under safer circumstances.

Assuming you can partially hide your empathy (allowing empathic deception, lies of omission, and/or misleading) that's probably something you want to keep even more low key than your silence. That's the kind of thing that would make people very untrusting. (It's one thing to accept you might have a jammer, or that you can be like an alien. But that you could lie...).

>skipping school for fight club
Well, knowledge is pretty useful actually. Your understanding of tech and biology has proven useful quite a few times before. You've had ideas, understood enemy action, and come up with plans of your own that you might not have if you were less educated. (Even if occasionally it hasn't been enough, like what you were taught about stomach injury hibernation). And there's the trade off that even if you're better at hand to hand, your size puts hard limits on the mechanical advantage fighting skill gets you.

Katzati's best bet is to try and correct your behavior. Get you using your skills responsibly instead of recklessly. If Rokoa forces you into accepting a little more hand to hand, fine. But you're no bully or maniac, and nor should you be.

>>553602
Which one is Rokoa's child? The one in her hand, or strapped to her side? (Depending on who she is, I'd expect the other to be a hivemate traveling with Kirrac, or a younger sibling of Rokoa's).

How did this go down originally? What happened and what impact it had on Rokoa plays a big part in how we might want to change it.

>>553602
I feel practically angry and outraged about this enough that I want it left alone if she kills the ever loving shit out of her mother.
What does Rokoa even usually do here?
Shit Polo I just want to watch this go down normally but I know that's not practical for you.

Maybe make her fight with her father if possible? Make this fight more about how her mother devolved into a total bitch from the kinda cool fighter she was before than vengeance? Make it a fight of principle instead of anger that I assume it becomes? This might actually be the moment where Rokoa truly becomes the Rokoa we know, that or that's coming up soon. We don't have that many years left do we?

We could spin this into how Rokoa becomes antagonistic towards her own queen in the warhive after Polo meets her. Throw in disgust at the old ways and throwback to how we modified the first fight between her mother and father. May want to make Rokoa aim for crippling her mother and leaving her in the snow while focused on carrying her own kid away.

Any idea what happened originally here?

Also is the kid the baby in the belt or the beaten up one? If its the beaten up one is her mother just carting her own children around in her sash?

As for your own memories never second guess how you lived your life. Maybe some more fighting experience would have helped here and there but you are not built like Rokoa. Any hand to hand fighting you would want would be a different style than what she uses.

Your biology knowledge comes up all the time. Helps you know more about creatures you are hunting. Helps with first aid and finding food. Avoiding poisons and other nasty things. You have been doing fine learning fighting on your own. Do not need someone taking away perfectly good knowledge that might save your life one day for a bit of punching practice.

For the memory of her mother this could go either way. This seems like one of those landmine memories. We need to be very careful here. I have a feeling she did not remember this one for a reason. It might be very painful in the original version. Maybe she fought her mother but that baby got hurt in the fight or something.

>>553601
I disagree with this approach. If neumono want to fight you, let them. You aren't beating up people who don't want to fight, and your reputation would precede you anyway- they know what they're getting into. Even a vicious approach is fine so long as it is not against innocents. We can take this opportunity to mold ourselves into a better warrior, and gain more close combat experience. Katzati should be directing you to still study your schoolwork alongside beating down everyone that thinks they can take you on, and maybe keeping your compassion alive by making sure you never hurt those who aren't going to fight you. Be educated, be strong, be dutiful. That is still you.

>>553602
Change the terms. Tell her that you will fight her to your last breath and show her how strong her daughter has become if she allows your stupid arkot son to live to learn from his mistakes even if you lose. You will do whatever it takes to save your child, and so should she. Ownership of the dumbass can go to whoever wins, of course.

Do not at any point threaten her child. You will lose, no matter what happens, but you can claim moral strength over her after the fight by not stooping to threatening her child, like she is now. Then you will win by losing.

First of of, simple question: What would you do? Seems to me like you'd do a quick analysis of the situation and keep your head. Prepare to attack, and see if you can get her to keep the children out of this.
Having learned what the word "Rokoa" actually means, and the suspected challenge behind it, I suggest going freeform with this. Opening words:
Say...
My...
Name!
There's an ass-kicking about to go down, and it's not in our best interest to even try and stop it.
If handled correctly, this situation can reinforce what we did earlier in Rokoa's memories. If we can get her to view her mother as a crazed berserker, then win or lose this could be progress in not seeing her mother as an idol and/or role model. On the other hand, if handled wrong, this could result in a Rokoa that bears little resemblance to the one you fought. The more we make her like you, the worse the Sniper Duel will go for you later.

Rokoa will defend her children with her life. This is not something I'm inclined to change. Tell her to keep him... her? out of it, and that you will fight her either way, fair combat.

Also would like to note that her child looks sorta like you. Might be your psyche rubbing off in the memory, but either way it has no bearing at the current moment.

I'd expect Rokoa to have acted on impulse here and attack. Instead call out her mom on her cowardice, using children as bait.

>>553602
Alright, I just have to say, I honestly, genuinely, feel sorry for Rokoa.

If only due to the fact her children keep fucking dying on her.

Seriously, are mortality rates for young neumono usually this high, or do the Fates get off on killing her offspring?

Also, I agree with calling her mother a coward, as well as one-on-one combat if she leaves her kids out of this.

>>553613
Actually let me add something further on this. If Rokoa's mom demands to know why Rokoa would hold back and not endanger her sibling, she could say that she knows what it's like to lose a child and she would not wish that on her own mother.

Alright- we can be pretty sure this will come to violence. I'm not sure there's anyway we could write a believable memory that would involve Rokoa backing down, or talking her mother down. It's too much in both of their characters- possibly more so now that you've been redirecting her aggression into defending her hive rather than attacking.

Best we can probably due for immediate restructuring is making a point of throwing this in Rikora's face (haven't we both seen enough kiddnapping?) and insisting she set the kids aside first. If she wants to fight, you'll fight.

We can probably also mess with the end here. I'm assuming Rokoa wins this, originally? We could make her lose (that would hurt deeply, but I'm not sure in the way that we want). Or we could make sure she spares her mother when she wins (and in doing so, make Rokoa more like you- set it up to be as parallel to your sparing Rokoa after your duel as possible. Also, potentially makes her more sympathetic to sparing you instead of continuing?).

>Rokoa goes out searching for him
>This arkot thought herself a neumono. She said
Wait, what's Kirrac's gender? Did you slip up, or is Rokoa's memory confused?

1/5 Polo 2013/12/26(Thu)00:27 No. 553625 ID: 9cd8ad
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>Which child is Rokoa's?
The beaten one. Rikora is holding her own child in her sash.

>What's Kirrac's gender?
Female. Kirrac is more of a male name, so I got confused.

>Make this fight more about how her mother devolved into a total bitch from the kinda cool fighter she was before than vengeance?
I don't think that's the case. She seems mostly the same, here. The only difference is that back then, she was defending her child and herself. Now, she is attacking. The only difference is the scenario that paints her as an uglier color. Still, she is after something than just beating up her grandchildren.

>Seriously, are mortality rates for young neumono usually this high?
For pre-uplift neumono, they were high. Post uplift war hives also took heavy losses, but more often as adults than kids. For Rokoa to have lost every child, though, is still a bad stroke of luck.

> Any hand to hand fighting you would want would be a different style than what she uses.
Yes, I will never be able to fight like Rokoa and be effective at it, but that does not mean I should have completely ignored it.

Perhaps I am doubting my general knowledge too much. There are plenty of things I have never used, but if I learn 10 things and 9 are useless yet the one thing is a lifesaver, it was worth it.

In any case, she is rewriting my memories, but I will retain my knowledge. I simply won't know where it came from.

"Katzati, let people who want to fight, fight. I will retain my original education, only stop Rokoa if she picks wrong fights."
>"Sorry!"
"You are helping, nonetheless. Thank you."

2/5 Polo 2013/12/26(Thu)00:28 No. 553626 ID: 9cd8ad
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>We don't have many years left, do we?"
We are only halfway through, but after a point, Rokoa lives a day to day life that does not change much. It will not take long to get through.

It's been nearly 50 years since Rikora first lost Rokoa.

>What does Rokoa do/How does this go?
I don't know, at least not off the bat, that is what makes this memory strange. I'm not certain there are rails right now. Yet the real Rokoa messing with my memories starts remembering this. No, not this, particularly, just that everyone else she's fought ended up in this memory, and Rokoa was waiting for me to get here. I don't know why.

Memory-Rokoa is generally aggressive, and right now, the angriest she's been in her life. It doesn't take a wild guess as to what Rokoa did. I play it cooler, though.

"Are you looking for another fight with your father?"
>"No. I do not care about him."
"His group beat you in a fight."
>"Yes, and I was weak to be so careless. I am not so, anymore."
"Now you're a careful coward, using my child as bait and threatening her."
>"Threatening her? You do not know what I am doing. It is this child that attacks me, and yet I still let her breathe because of the opportunity she brought to me. Her legs are intact. She is going back to her hive to huddle with her hive, cowering from the snowstorms. I am not after her. I am after you. Bait? I did not hunt for her. You would expect me to run into your hive to drag you back, and let myself get killed when your hive challenges me with numbers, not strength? I have many other kids. You are not worth my death. Not yet. I am bringing you back. You will not leave until you either surpass me, or die trying. That is my goal, and that is the opportunity your child gave me."

That works, I was aiming for a one on one regardless. 'Rokoa', I know now, means the feeling of continuing a fight when everything, including your own body, says stop.

"I am going to fight you. Say my name."
>"Your name was given by me, girl, not your father, not your hive. They don't know what it means. You don't know what it means. You had the potential, and I blame myself for losing the fight so far back. But now I have a chance to make you into what you were supposed to be. I will teach you, and if you do not learn, you will die. If successful, you will be free to do as you will."
"You'll have to make me." I have Rokoa say, and approach Rikora. "Stay out of it, Kirrac. Go back to the hive." There is hesitation, but she runs.

3/5 Polo 2013/12/26(Thu)00:28 No. 553627 ID: 9cd8ad
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I'm not certain who won or lost, at first, but I simply try to remember, and try to have Rokoa remember. Step by step, it happens on its own. Rikora does grant an even fight with Rokoa.

So Rokoa runs at Rikora, as a powerful assault has worked wonders for her before. It doesn't go well here. Rokoa's arm is yanked off course and leaves Rokoa wide open.

4/5 Polo 2013/12/26(Thu)00:28 No. 553628 ID: 9cd8ad
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>I'm assuming Rokoa wins this, originally?
..... no. No she does not. Not even close.

Rokoa doesn't know what hit her. I don't know what hit her. Every move is called out via empathy, but Rokoa's unable to do anything while a dozen slices cut muscles, and half a dozen bones get broken. I have to remind myself that this is just a memory, and is subject to exaggeration, as the level to which Rikora picked apart Rokoa does not seem natural. I also have to remind myself that this is Rokoa long before I knew her, back when she felt normal, sapient creature things like 'fear'e.

It takes what feels like a few seconds, and Rikora ends up snapping while Rokoa twitches.

5/5 Polo 2013/12/26(Thu)00:30 No. 553630 ID: 9cd8ad
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She tosses Rokoa down on the snow.

>"What is your name?"
"Ro...koa..."
>"Get up."

She tries, but the leg with a broken toe and ruptured calf muscle is the best limb she's got.

>"You have lost your name. I forgave myself for losing you, so I will forgive you for forgetting yourself."

This seems wrong. For a forgotten memory, it's powerful, now. Even if I attempted to change it, I don't think that I could have even made Rikora lose. She is on a different level.

No, Rikora captures Rokoa, as she says. I can enter that memory, or go to another one. This one is significant, though, possibly the most significant. There's something about this memory that takes a hold of me, but I can neither pinpoint why or how that is.

Can predators modify memories? Rokoa said the salikai broke her. 'You have been broken before' (and by her own mother no less) is a powerful tool.

It's... could it... could it be a trap? A hidden trap, planted into her memories, to be found by whoever she was assimilating? It would explain why the next related memory is drawing you towards it. Presumably, this memory is mostly authentic save for the fact that Rikora seems to completley own and destroy Rokoa, with no way for you to manipulate it. The next memory... think carefuly. Does it seem to be too inviting? Ask Rokoa, maybe she has something to say.

You better see this memory to the end if it is so strong. Even a small change on it could have a profound effect on Rokoa.
I also want to see why Rikora was so obsessed with Rokoa that she painted herself with predator markings to come hunt her.

I think we just saw the difference between snow and plains style fighting. Rokoa has to loose this fight- she really learns to fight with Rikora, afterwards. (And I think it's leading up to the smile scene on the snowy mountain, later).

>everyone else she's fought ended up in this memory, and Rokoa was waiting for me to get here. I don't know why.
It's a critical point, and something of a trap, I think. Remember, one of her previous victims was winning, until they made a serious mistake. I'm guessing that happened here. Tread carefully.

>This one is significant, though, possibly the most significant.
The fight we just witnessed, or the memory that comes next? If it's this one, I'm not sure we should move on, yet. Even a small change could alter things powerfully.

>There's something about this memory that takes a hold of me, but I can neither pinpoint why or how that is.
...maybe this is what Rokoa thinks she's doing to you. The exercise you just reran with her mother, it's an echo of what she's trying to do to you. It's one big metaphor for the mental battle.

Consider the parallels: Rokoa saw you as someone worthy. Someone with potential. And then, before she has the chance to really see that, she's separated from you (the clone diverges before making it to the duel). And then she finds you, later. She thinks you weak, not living up to your potential ( >>/questarch/515848 ). And so she's going to remake you in her image, or kill you trying. Make you like her, or make you her. It's for you/her own good. Hell, the fight even ends with her losing her name!

And by making you live this memory, she's trying to get you to accept that. To accept that she's stronger than you, and that you need her.

If this is a real memory (and not one inserted or tailor made for this purpose by the salikai) it explains why Rokoa was the one person able to survive the brain-dart procedure, and why she's been able to win these fights in the past. Because one critical moment in her life- the one that made her what she is today, is so compatible with what one has to do to fight and win in this sphere.

>what do
The danger here is that if this memory can affect you, personally, it strengthens Rokoa's position. If you accept the metaphor, even subconsciously, you're accepting that she can / should change you. It's kind of an insidious trap.

The advantage here is that if we can affect some kind of change, this event is pertinent to Rokoa's whole outlook, and how she's treating you. The right change could be extremely powerful. It could decide this fight.

Will memory-Rokoa's injuries allow her to speak? (If not, could you make it so she can speak?). I think if we say the right thing here, we can change the tone or impact of the memory.

I will take your lessons and grow stronger for them. But I have not lost my name. I will not lose my self. I will not be you.

Ask Rokoa why she would forget this. How she could forget this. Wait. I know how.

She's about to learn the needle trick. Abandon ship, head to a different memory. That path leads to madness.

>>553630
Have the hive interfere.
Shoot her with a bow or something. Act like you would if someone like Rikora would be doing this to someone of your hive nearby, even if said person was her mother. Get others. Whatever.

I don't care, fucking wreck this memory now Polo. Ruin this. If this is THE critical memory, do not let her use it for any reason against you. You must win against this memory, because FUCK what she thinks.

If the next memory is that significant we probably need to take a look at it. It probably is the major turning point in her life. When she finally lives up to her name and becomes the start of the person we know.

As for you getting drawn into it be very careful. This Rokoa does not have the knowledge of what happened with you and the original in the latter part of the spire and the ship. You remind her of her children and how she failed to prepare them for the world. In a way she wants to make you stronger like her mother did so that you never have to go through the pain of loosing a child like she did.

But the dangerous part here is you are already as strong as her in your own way. This version of Rokoa just will not know it until you both get to later memories. While you will learn from this experience and become stronger you do not need Rokoa living in your head to help you. While these memories are a interesting insight into her personality they are not your life or your lessons.

We have two priorities in this next memory. First whether you can change it or not you need to not let it change you. It was a big turning point in Rokoa's life but to you its just more knowledge about her you can use later on. Secondly be very careful of what you do change here. What she does in the next memory will shift her whole outlook on life and will probably be very hard to change. Just watch for the trap that might have gotten her earlier victims.

If it's so powerful a memory, it may be essential. Even if we can't change it itself, it may be important to know before we change others; if we don't learn the key elements that form Rokoa's personality, we might make mistakes while trying to make changes.

In any case... if Rokoa's going to be remembering how she was trained herself, maybe you can pick up a thing or two. You don't have claws for cutting muscles, but you have knives. Not strong enough to break a bone, but you have guns. Learning the anatomy that backs such techniques up could help. And, even if not... you're going to fight more Rokoas at some point. If you're very lucky, watching her learn might reveal some weakness.

This memory is probably the trap that previous test subject got caught in. If you try to change to much of Rokoa's memories before this one it can overwrite everything you have been doing. I bet she got caught in a loop trying to change previous memories enough so she could change this one. Then she never got to the end and could not fight Rokoa properly.

And on the other end am guessing the Sniper clone just watched it and moved on. Probably never bothered to change anything. But was strong enough to hold her own against Rokoa's personality so took the top dog spot when they mixed.

While this is most likely a real memory watch for any "enhancements" that might have come from Four stripes. The Salikai have done this several times and if they noticed this being a critical part of the process they might have had Four stripes strengthen it somehow.

Before you get to the next one is there anyway to continue along the same line we have been going? Have her hive show up and save her and drive off or kill her mother? Might be a long shot but you never know.

Am starting to see why she was so interested and confused by you during the events in the Spire. You look just like one of her children that she lost so she instinctively wants to protect you. But she has a guilt complex because she lost all of her children. Probably to stuff that was unavoidable but try telling that to any mother. Then one day along came her mother and taught her she was not as strong as she thought. She eventually surpasses her mother and from then on takes on any challenge in order to become stronger. Thinking that if she gets strong enough she will never lose anything she loves.

And of course she does not have the memories of you saving her and her hive several times in the spire. So she is going through your memories trying to make you stronger the only way she knows how.

>>553630
If this memory and the next are so powerful, so engraved into her mind. It could mean it's the event, the catalyst that caused Rokoa to become what she is now.
No turning back now, delve forward. But be as cautious as you can.

This is one of the moments that defines Rokoa.
I remember it being said that modifying a memory too heavily will make that memory be reject as a fake. Can we exploit this by trying to get this defining moment rejected as a fake?

>>553678
I don't think that's how it works. If the new memory is obviously fake, it lets her reject it. So the alterations don't take. It shouldn't taint the original.

It's beginning to seem like it would be better to go silent and ghost through all the memories without changes first, to make sure any alterations are straight with each other. I don't think there's time, though; and, for all we know, it might make the memories harder to overwrite, pulling them up in their unaltered form first. Then there would be memories of those memories to be eaten back by the victor, though maybe that's the case anyway, since this Rokoa apparently got something out of your memories of the original.

As for this memory being powerful... maybe it's a trap from Four Stripes, or maybe it's the opposite. Maybe this memory seemed forgotten to begin with because Four Stripes tried to suppress it, and failed; maybe this memory is one of the ones that gives Rokoa what mental strength she manages to hold onto, one of the factors in what made it hard for Three Stripes to control her, way back when.

>>553676
I have to agree with this guy. I suspect what follows is the "training" at the hands of Rikora that turns Rokoa into the psychotic nutcase she became.
By the way, did you notice how you seem surprised that it calls to you? Beware! I suspect it calls to you as the new, more aggressive Polo that Rokoa is trying to twist you into.
In other words, someone call Admiral Akbar, this is a trap.
The only thing you can possibly get out of going into that next memory is some idea of the physical and psychological torture that young Rokoa was put through. Perhaps learning some good moves and so on, but the risk outweighs it, in my opinion.
The potential damage to your own sanity isn't worth it. Bail out. Go check on how Katzati is doing and shore up your defenses.

Polo 2013/12/27(Fri)12:25 No. 553832 ID: 9cd8ad
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>Needle trick
I do not have much reason to believe the needle trick has sometihng to do with it, but with that said, there had to have been something with a profound impact on her mentality to forget about something like this.

>Can predators insert/modify memories?
I doubt they can make a memory from scratch. Non-myth predator data is rare, but there were some studies made via a reluctant Three Stripes. He could modify memories enough to barely resemble the original, and then modify it back the way it was. The neumono in question reported that when he remembered it, it was like he constructed the memory himself so powerfully that it was like it was a real memory. But that artificial sense remained. Four Stripes is not Three Stripes, but that is all I can think of. If that is the case, then this memory is most likely authentic, as I doubt Four Stripes could alter a memory that Rokoa couldn't modify in the first place. Perhaps there would be a way around it, but the Salikai have not had years to train and test Four Stripes.

"Rokoa, what is this memory?" Katzati is doing fine on her defense. Once Rokoa decided to bring me to a martial art's club, she's stopped making me into as much of a monster.
"You know as well as I do that I don't remember it well."
"But you remember your opponents going in." I get her thinking about it so that she gives me empathic hints about whether or not this is a trap of some kind. "... and the memory hurts them, somehow."
"You got me. It's not even a trap or anything."
"How do you know that?"

She doesn't know why, but she doesn't think it's a trap, and is honestly curious about what is in that memory. There is something that's prevented her from going in herself.

"Rokoa. Are you scared of going in there?"
"Nah."
"But you want to know what's there, and you're not going in despite thinking it's not a trap."
"Are you trying to taunt me into coming with you?"
"No. You're not the real Rokoa, and I'm coming to the conclusion that this memory was something the real Rokoa held with her, while you lost it in your translation to cloning. Even your abominable smile feels forced the more I see it now."
"For not trying to taunt me, you're doing a good job. Okay, Miss Apparently-defeated-me, I'll call a truce and we can just see how things play out with me. You don't touch this memory, and I don't touch any more of yours until we see what happens. Agreed?"

>>553832
Agreed.

Agree to her terms. You know Rokoa well enough, fake her or not, to know she'll honor those terms.

>Miss Apparently-defeated-me
Miss you surrendered to, spared your life, and then helped save your hive from following a mad Queen to a pointless death, or being set up by the Salikai.

Do you not believe what happened? Would showing you my memory of what happened end this? (Potentially a risky move since these were recent memories for you).

Yeeaaaahhh this is the memory that gave Rokoa her never give up, keep fighting even if you will lose personality, and that trait was going to play merry hell with the Salikai attempts to use her for their own purposes. They suppressed this memory on purpose.

SO. Showing it to her will remind her how to be something the enemy does not want her to be, but it will also make her that much harder to BEAT in this contest of wills we have here.

So the question becomes, can we somehow negotiate an outcome where we save our enemy (again) and Polo still gets to be Polo at the end?

Sounds about as good as a deal as you can get. Have Katzati stay out of it and be ready to pull you out if you get overwhelmed.

I have a feeling that this memory might be resonating with the part of you that made you a soldier. Most of the previous absorbies have been soldiers and fighters like yourself. Maybe that's what is pulling at you.

The only person we know who made it through this without getting completely absorbed was the sniper clone. And from what we know of her she was a civilian so her upbringing would not resemble Rokoa's in the slightest.

Yours life is close to being completely different from hers except for you also became a soldier.

So whatever is in there remember to learn what you need but do not get pulled into it. It may have been a life changing event to the original Rokoa but to you its just a means to a end.

Oh man I did not even think about that. If she was blocked from this memory by Four stripes then you going in there will let her remember it.

So if it is the memory that gave her the never give up attitude it could either help us or hurt us.

Either she will be more stubborn about fighting us here or it will help her realize that this is not a battle she should be fighting and the real fight is against the people who did this to her.

I honestly think you are more than strong enough to fight her even at her best and win. And if she does find her strength and becomes more like the original she might be willing to stand down knowing you are strong enough to avenge her.

ok so the Salikai found this memory and had Four stripes suppress it as much as possible. They never knew what was in there but hiding it made Rokoa easier to deal with.

So be careful going in there. Good or bad it might make Rokoa more into the one we know.

Humans have a saying that curiosity killed the cat.

Whatever is in that memory probably gave the original the strength of will pull off her resisting predators trick. For the other dart victims opening this memory would have strengthened the Rokoa they faced.

For you I am not sure if its a good or a bad thing. None of them had prior history with her much less saved her life and hive on several occasions. If you do not go in you will end up fighting the half complete Rokoa you have now. A shadow of the original that does not really understand you yet.

Seeing this memory will give you valuable information about Rokoa but might make the final battle a bit harder. Or it could make her realize who she is and how much she owes you and make it much easier. Honestly we do not know enough to tell.

If this is the memory that made her weird, then it's probably also the memory that gave her her strange personal honor system. I don't like planning for failure, but at least if you open this memory, and then you eventually lose, the strange Polo-Rokoa you end up becoming will be a worse enemy to the salikai than before, and possess more of what parts were good and admirable in the original Rokoa.

Of course that's not what we want, and opening this memory might give her more mental strength, which would be bad. However... do you remember, way back when, during your duel, Rokoa mentioned that she lived with another hive who treated her roughly? I think this is that, and if that's the case, then it may be that the previous take-overs just couldn't handle the punishment that was dealt to her, and the trauma made them weak. Now, they were mostly science hive nerds, and possibly a brain-dead clone body or a hunter hiver who had already had their mind half mushed by bugs and predator influence. You're made of tougher stuff, Polo. And, while enduring suffering can toughen you up, it can also leave cracks in the psyche that can be taken advantage of if assaulted from exactly the right angle. You could learn weaknesses in Rokoa's mental make-up.

Another point: the original Rokoa considered herself defeated by you, but that was based on her bizarre notions of self-worth and needing to beat you on your own ground. As it stands, this Rokoa might not agree with her when she reviews those memories, and she might lose respect for you, meaning she'll start attacking harder and faster and stop making any mutual agreements. Making her more similar to the original Rokoa will keep her respect for you, and thus decrease her willingness to change you.

Go to it, I say.

>possibility this may backfire
There's really no way around that. All we can take comfort in is that this is probably not what the others did. We know Rokoa, and are somewhat comfortable with her- I doubt the others would have tried to talk to her about this memory, or agreed to a cease fire to examine it. We're likely not repeating their mistakes.

In light of this new information and Rokoa calling a truce, I'd say go in. Truce meaning you shouldn't try to change any of it, but beware. Memories don't end up repressed like that for no good reason, and my suspicions still stand. This memory is going to be personally painful, as Rokoa is "trained" by Rikora. The risk of damage to your own sanity just from witnessing it is pretty high. You don't seem like you have much experience with torture. Watch yourself.
Also, Katzati may suffer from this, too, so watch out for her.

You know if this memory is just month of torture by her mothers tribe to toughen her up I can understand why the others got blocked here. But you will have to see plenty of torture eventually when you get to her memories of the Salikai.

Us your silence to deaden the emotions if need be. You might have to feel all of this once but a bit of silence here should help.

1/4 Polo 2013/12/28(Sat)14:27 No. 553999 ID: 9cd8ad
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"... Agreed. Katzati, watch if you want, but I believe Rokoa can be trusted, so just be ready to get back on defense."
>"Yes."

Rokoa and I go in to watch. Rikora hoists Rokoa onto her back, retrieves her kid, and starts heading back home.

Simple escape may not have been easy for Rokoa, as a boat is involved. Rikora apparently inhabited an island.

2/4 Polo 2013/12/28(Sat)14:28 No. 554000 ID: 9cd8ad
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That, and Rokoa ends up tied to a post in a shack, anyway, to recover for a few days. Rikora has every intention to place is in an uncomfortable position that is difficult to heal in. At least Rokoa is fed well.

This memory pulled me in as much as I'm afraid it would. Time starts seeming like it passes normally, hour by hour. The snow starts feeling too cold, and Rokoa's body aches too much for my own comfort.

3/4 Polo 2013/12/28(Sat)14:28 No. 554001 ID: 9cd8ad
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Rikora comes back with the intention to start training. I'm not sure training is the right word.

She starts by undoing Rokoa's bindings, pinning her hand to the floor, and breaking her wrist again.

It hurts. And I don't mean it hurt the memory of Rokoa, it hurt me.

>"Use that hand to punch me. Do not stop until I tell you do." Rikora tells m- tells her.

4/4 Polo 2013/12/28(Sat)14:28 No. 554002 ID: 9cd8ad
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The real Rokoa feels it, too.

"Rokoa, tell me why, despite us just watching, we can feel everything more vividly despite you forgetting this?"
>"Because I'm remembering it like it's happening right now. Goddamn. And no, I don't know what happens next, so it's more like, uh... that one human deja vu thing, you know?"
"I don't."
>"Nevermind. Think of it like a suppressed memory making a flashback. Don't look so mad, at least that girl you're sleeping with isn't here."

That's right, I think Katzati fell out of the dream. I don't know if it's because of this memory, or if it's simple probability that she wouldn't be able to share my dream all the time, despite somehow reliably doing so up until now.

It's not really surprising that this is such a vivid recollection. With her mother involved, this is an emotionally important memory, and with all this pain, a mentally traumatic one. Combine that with the weird self-flagellating gotta-be-strong mentality Rokoa ended up with, and the experience of pain making her tougher, I wouldn't be surprised if the original Rokoa has, herself, run through this memory again and again in her head. She might have had a habit of going back to this memory every time she did get hurt, telling herself "well, this isn't as bad as that was, so suck it up". If that's the case, it'd be the most solid memory she has. So, still no trap or predator influence or anything, I think.

What I don't quite like is that, with both you and dart Rokoa experiencing this, it might sync you both up more. Which is as disadvantageous to her as to you, probably, but you should try maintain a little mental distance. Try to think about what you're experiencing in ways only you can; compare it to your own training, or consider what you think of Rikora, or think what you would do in Rokoa's place; things like that. Keep watching, still no interference as agreed, but remember you're Polo.

>>554002
I think it's because she woke up. You're in a deep, deep sleep and can't wake up now. Let's hope everyone else is fine and this dream won't last for days on the outside too.

Anyway, try to actually participate in the training. This made Rokoa strong. It shall make you strong too, and I know you can endure it. Remember, you had problems with pain tolerance? This will fix that problem!

I do not understand how you could have forgotten. She is going to make you you, the madwoman who doesn't know when to stop. Did the Salikai need to make you forget this to have a hope of controlling you?

The danger to yourself is obvious, Polo. Whether by design or not, this forget-and-flashback forces you to relieve one of the most powerful moments in Rokoa's life- what makes her her. By living her life, it threatens to make you her too. (And potentially, by allowing Rokoa to remember this, we might make her stronger, more herself. We're taking a calculated risk for more information, here).

That said, I'm not sure how to proceed. We kind of need to understand what happens here if we want to make meaningful changes or fight her, (despite the risk involved in being here). We're also under a truce with Rokoa, for the moment. And if we break it before Katzati returns, she'll have a chance to attack us without our ally opposing her.

...maybe the best thing to do is remember you're not Rokoa, even as you feel her live through this. Don't experience her reactions to torture and pain, focus on what yours should be / would be. How would you respond to torture from hell training? How do you feel? (Although you're not trying to write this into the memory, since that would violate our truce. You're just trying to protect and preserve yourself).

>>554002
"Hey Rokoa, fuck your mother."

So that's the danger of this memory. Its so vivid you might not be able to just skim through it like the others. Might have to endure lots of suffering in what seems like real time. If you are not careful you might start getting to involved. Start thinking of yourself as Rokoa and as her mother as trying to hurt you personally.

That and torture will damage even the strongest of people. This may have made Rokoa stronger but it also made her a person that was never comfortable with her own hive again. You do not want that sort of damage happening to you.

Can you use your silence to distance yourself from the memory a bit? Make it feel less fresh and more like something that is years past? You might have to deal with some pain but if you can dampen it to manageable levels it will make this experience less traumatic.

It may be horribly unpleasant but if Rokoa could survive it so can you. The trick will be with a minimum of mental scars.

Tell dream Rokoa that its all her fault if we get eaten by a cave monster while stuck in her mom's torture hut.

>>554010
This might actually be a good idea. If nothing else it'll shake her, and it'd disrupt the training thing. Make it happen.

>Tell dream Rokoa that its all her fault if we get eaten by a cave monster while stuck in her mom's torture hut.
No, that would be our several allies' fault for not dealing with the cave monster.

Don't goad Rokoa with insults that don't go anywhere, or give her an advantage.

You might have to go through this crap but at least you got Rokoa to come with you. Sure you plan on getting rid of her later in a rather permanent way but for now it gives you something to distract yourself from getting pulled to deep into this memory.

I know its not something you enjoy doing but coming out of the memory and talking about it with dream Rokoa every once in awhile will make things safer for you. Will give you a breather and keep you from getting pulled in to deep. Plus you get to see her suffering just as much.

1/5 Polo 2013/12/28(Sat)16:51 No. 554032 ID: 9cd8ad
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>Tell Rokoa to fuck her mother
My desperation meter is not nearly full enough to even consider saying things like that in the off chance of shaking Rokoa.

>Can you use your silence to distance yourself from the memory a bit?
No. My silence does not shut this out.

The state of this memory is dangerously close to getting Rokoa and I closer, given we are given the same stimuli.

Since we are unchanging the memory, I will simply keep in mind how I would react differently from her. She is more proactive than I am.

The Rokoa memory punches Rikora's face. She barely blinks, and Rokoa's arm shakes. Another punch comes, weaker than the first. To try and get a better performance, Rikora stabs at Rokoa's better arm. It helps somewhat, until Rokoa tries to kick Rikora away.

2/5 Polo 2013/12/28(Sat)16:51 No. 554033 ID: 9cd8ad
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That's met with another display of combat superiority, and Rokoa gets beaten down. She has her own kids use Rokoa as a training dummy. I have to remind myself it is her that is getting beaten, and not me.

This goes on for what feels like weeks. I know it does not take long, as I imagine I would be dead by now if I was out for weeks in the real world. I intentionally focus on the outside world so that I do not think I am actually living this. And to keep my sanity, focusing on the fact that if I can go through this, I will come out better at the end. I do not have to be strong in the same way Rokoa does, but the things that make us stronger do not have to be different. In some ways, this feels more vivid than real life.

Rokoa just gets weaker and demoralized as the constant wounds and cold gets the better of her. She doesn't eat as much, and doesn't improve in Rikora's training despite Rikora's empathy trying to goad her on with what she's got to do. Rikora stabs Rokoa through the stomach, and spars with her outside. It's about 20 seconds before the exertion and the impalement gets Rokoa to vomit on the snow.

>"I brought you back for nothing." Rikora says. "Your hive destroyed you." Rikora says, getting an axe. She's unhappy, and neither Rokoa or I like that.

3/5 Polo 2013/12/28(Sat)16:51 No. 554034 ID: 9cd8ad
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She swings her axe down and after a few chops, beheads Rokoa.

Then keeps swinging down and... kills her?

4/5 Polo 2013/12/28(Sat)16:52 No. 554035 ID: 9cd8ad
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"... what?"
"What the fuck? That didn't happen."
"A predator messed with this memory?"
"No. Four stripes is pretty strong, but he's got bad form."
"Nevermind the things wrong with you, what is wrong with your mother?"
"Don't judge, it was a different world back then. You'd either be similar or dead. You never asked your cuddlehive much about what they were like before the uplift." True, but they also didn't want to talk about it much. That is normal among modernized hives.

5/5 Polo 2013/12/28(Sat)16:52 No. 554036 ID: 9cd8ad
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The memory continues. Rokoa is back on the post. She didn't make some kind of miraculous recovery. Rokoa denied the memory and it reset back to the beginning, when Rikora first brought her back.

Rokoa is starting to realize that the reason she won so cleanly before isn't just because of superior willpower over her foes. Everyone who touched this memory so far did not do well afterwards. If I made a mistake coming here, then so did she. Since the real Rokoa presumably survived this, then I do not think that I made a mistake.

I'm thinking now's not the time for sitting back and watching.

Turn this into a sneaking mission! Can you escape?

Ok this is definitely a trap set by someone. Four stripes might have started out as a simple predator but months of Salikai control might have improved there control over him. If not him who else could have put this here in just a way that anyone hit by a dart would notice it and get drawn in but Rokoa would not? Only other people with access are the original clone Rokoa and I guess Rokoa's mother?

One advantage we have is that whoever or whatever set this trap set it for you and not the both of you. Any other person hit by a dart would not have convinced Rokoa to come in here with you. Heck maybe that's how the Sniper clone avoided this trap. She was curious enough about this memory that Rokoa came in with her to watch and they helped each other out.

Whatever caused this you both need to work together to get out. If you fight each other here you both might be stuck in this memory until you die. So work together and decide on a plan of attack. Each of you use your strengths to overcome this and take turns handling the burden so you do not get burned out.

If the predator didn't suppress this memory, then you did so yourself? It was so terrible you repressed it to survive?

...no. There's a way out. You found a way to live with this memory. You commented on it, once. Before our duel. You showed up in their tribal markings, and I asked about it. And you mentioned being their prisoner and plaything. But you never told me how it ended.

>Everyone who touched this memory so far did not do well afterwards.
That's the trap. The others who tried to mess with this memory to harm Rokoa got caught in a loop here, while she was free to run rampant. (Which might mean Katzati will be free to run rampant messing up Rokoa's other memories, or fixing some of yours, if she comes back while you two are still trapped).

>I'm thinking now's not the time for sitting back and watching.
I would agree. The memory is forcing us to relive it. If we don't respond in a way that satisfies your mother, or find some other escape, she kills us.

I would suggest we cooperate. Neither of us wishes to be trapped here.

I think proving yourself with ninja training would be preferable to painful torture. Rokoa with a blow dart and a garrot could do alot of damage if you can get free unnoticed.

Something is definitely wrong, here. I don't know if this is just one of those memory glitches you have sometimes anyway, but Rikora lost her painted stripes in that last bit of memory before the decapitation. In fact, how could you have that bit of vision in the memory at all, given Rokoa was presumably decapitated? And the... atmosphere of it is different. It doesn't fit.

I wonder; maybe this memory is going wrong because another memory was removed somewhere? Maybe Four Stripes, or a previous takeover duel, overwrote a previous memory, which changed how the Rokoa in this memory behaved, and resulted in a wrong conclusion? And then this memory causing that glitch was why it was pushed down to be forgotten.

I guess what you should do for now is see if you can get this Rokoa to survive. So; what's missing? The main thing the real Rokoa had, and the lack of which is getting this one killed, is that spirit of hers, the will to keep going no matter what. However, we don't know what gave her that, originally. So we'll need a substitute. Polo, this is going to sound kind of like a cheesy pep talk, but you've had moments or relentless determination before. Think about the things that get you going. Duty to your hive. People relying on you. The need to be prepared for the future. Concern for others, even, like you had with the voklit, or with Three Stripes. You can translate those into feelings Rokoa would have had for her hive, and give her will enough to keep going, enough for Rikora to respect and hope for.

And it will help make memory-Rokoa more like you.

...Based on what little we got when Polo "remembered" why Rokoa smiled... I think Rokoa runs away here. Maybe she kills some of the tribe, maybe she doesn't, but her mother comes after her. And then her mother butchers part of her tribe.

>>554032
I meant to say "fuck your mother" as in "fuck her, she's a bitch and awful", like a "fuck you," only directed at a family member. But whatever, what's done is done, and you've already said you don't like her and that she's awful pretty much. It just wasn't as poignant.

my bet is that since this was actually a crucial memory of Rokoa's that she probably remembered very well, what Four Stipes did here was make it hard for Rokoa to remember, intentionally suppressing it, so that once somebody would go in here, it would act as a shocking revelation like when a therapist would introduce the fact of a supposed suppressed memory to his patient, the patient now sternly believes such an event happened, and it can happen vividly. However, four stipes implanted nothing but feelings here, and each Rokoa victim would go through their own personal interpretation of events, there is only feelings of "terrible vivid things happened" so you will feel all of the horrible things.

This right here is brainwashing given visual and auditory context. Here is where a victim is broken, all that is known is that Rokoa was twisted here in her past, and it is here where all the victims will be twisted. A perfect memory for breaking people. And the only thing four stripes has to do is suppress and lure the victim here, and the victims own mind will do the rest. Rokoa's mind, combined with yours, just accidentally came up with the conclusion that Rikora beheaded her, like a wandering mind just might. It doesn't need to make sense. It just needs to hurt. Fortunantly, you both made enough sense of it to nullify it for now.
It is such a simple, subtle thing. It makes our own mind our enemy. Four Stripes doesn't need to do anything, he only needs to be told to find the worse memory and suppress it. Your people found a way to commune with Three Stripes with simple requests, the salikai obviously did the same.

We MUST escape, Rokoa was here for a while and came back different, so will you as well if this turns into a fucking loop. Get the fuck OUT of here. And if you can BURN everything here. Rip this memory to shreds, this reality. Make it NOTHING. I don't care if it sounds impossible, do it. Now. All shapes into blobs. Names are gone. Colors are grey. Make it forgotten.

That, or turn this into Inception and go into Rikora's dreams and modify her memories because at this point the Salikai is trying to pull off an Inception.

This memory could be happening this way because we weakened her previous ones enough so that without intervention she is just not strong enough.

Or it could be a combination of things. A trap gone wrong or some memories partially erased. We are not fighting the original Rokoa or even the original clone. We are fighting a third or fourth gen thing they stuck in a dart. They have fucked with her head so much its a surprise anything we know of the original is left.

Luckily we got Rokoa in here with us and seeing this has shaken her resolve. She started out thinking she had easily taken over several people. Now she knows about the sniper clone and that the others might have just failed due to a trapped memory.

If we can keep it up and save the day with planning and tactics instead of brute force we will put a big dent in her ego.

>memory went wrong because we changed something?
I don't think so. It's wrong because it's too real, and we're just sitting back and letting the torture happen instead of beating it. In the universe of the memory, we're failing Rikora's test, so she kills us. We need to actually fight back to pass the test. Or to escape, and avoid the test all together. It's a game, not a movie. It won't progress on autopilot- it needs user interaction. (And judging by how the others were hurt and trapped here- it's a hard game, not easy to win).

I think our best bet is working to overcome the torture, with Rokoa. Yes, we run the risk of exposure to what made her her, but Polo can work to keep her reactions distinct, instead of living Rokoa's. Be hardened in her own way. A different kind of determination, and strength. The two of them working together can overcome this much easier than Rokoa could alone. More willpower in the cooperation of two than in one.

The problem with trying to escape is it would fundamentally change the memory, and likely break our truce. Rokoa wouldn't go for it. Which means we'd be fighting the trap and Rokoa at the same time, and neither of us would get anywhere. Meaning we just run out the clock until no-one wins, and we end up a permanently fused chimera like the sniper-clone.

(I would guess the unnamed victim who was winning went into this memory alone tried to fight it and lost. And Ramella went into this memory with Rokoa, and both of them ended up stuck. Until they ran out of time and biology merged them into one).

>I think Rokoa runs away here.
Preposterous. Her pride wouldn't allow it. Totally out of character for every version we've seen of her.

>>554065
>Preposterous. Her pride wouldn't allow it. Totally out of character for every version we've seen of her.

Her past self hadn't been through something to this extent before, and I think it's what comes after that teaches her to never do it again. This is a defining moment for her, but that doesn't necessarily mean how she acts is how she'll act from then on out. It's how it changes her that's important.

This Rokoa gets executed because of how we've been turning her into a pantywaist with our earlier antics. Let's just be tougher.

Oh hey, here's one way we can tell, for sure, that this wasn't caused by our memory changes.
Rokoa had one victim who didn't fight back. If he was hurt by this memory too, then it couldn't have been caused by her opponent changing things.

>>554036
She's right, of course. This isn't the right memory nor is it Four Stripes. The Salikai's torture did this. The Salikai probably got Four Stripes to view her memory then put Rokoa through a VR simulation so similar to the memory that it became this. Or maybe the torture was so fundamental that it caused her self-image to degrade, so that she doesn't think she was strong enough to complete this training. Or maybe it's because of you, Polo- because of the alterations you did. I believe there was a domino effect mentioned?

Make the memory-Rokoa succeed. Not to fight back directly against her mother. But to endure, gain the pain tolerance, and finish her training. Gain, I must point out that you need this training.

Help the Rokoa-clone do this. BOTH of you can control the memory-Rokoa, can't you?

Well, you're both up the proverbial creek, but between the two of you, you do have a paddle. Memory-Rokoa (Which is to say the one being tortured) needs help. Between you, Polo, and Implant-Rokoa the two of you can give her that help. Switch off, each giving her the pain tolerance, clarity of mind, goal-oriented thought, and general badassery to impress Memory-Rikora so that she doesn't execute you. This will only succeed if the two of you can work together and beat this trap.
I'm going to recommend breaking this down into a case-by-case basis of mistake correction. The first one I see, Memory-Rokoa trying to kick Rikora away during the arm-stabbing-punch-me episode. Rikora saw that as weakness and punished it. Instead, keep going with the punching.

I think the issue here is that very last moment.

All that you need to completely fuck up everything in a memory like this is less than half a moment's worth of time, altered at an exact moment.

The axe could very well be part of the original memory. The beheading, that exact moment, could very well have been altered in the slightest amount. A single slight slip changing from a serious wound to an outright fatal one.

At that exact moment, the memory fucked up. The stripes painted on Rikora glitched out. In such a small amount of time, under a great amount of stress from all of that torture, that slip-up would be easy to miss. Four stripes could have very well done this, after all such an otherwise glaring mistake is pretty bad form.

I think the first thing you need to do before anything is mention that the memory has been clearly altered at the end to Dart-Rokoa. A single doubt to the legitimacy of the moment could go a long ways into ending the loop.

Look at what Rikora is holding in her other hand. Rokoa's kid is somehow here dead. That is part of what changed.

>>554088
You talkin' about here >>554034? That's Rokoa's head, not her kid's.

Ouch. How're you two holding up? Going through it once might be alright, but it'll start to stack up the more you live through it. How long did it take from here to Rokoa's 'death' by the way? A couple of weeks, one month, two months?

Experimentation is key now. It doesn't matter whether you do something so preposterous that it would be rejected instantly, that's going to happen anyway, so you might as well push limits to see how much you can influence this strange memory, then come up with a plan next time. Can Rikora be controlled? Get Pilon to crash through the roof in a daring rescue plan. Rokoa has said that she doesn't remember this much anyway, so we should test the limits of that as well.

Wait, did you just hear clone-Rokoa's thoughts? Perhaps you two are already partly merged.

1/6 Polo 2013/12/29(Sun)12:07 No. 554144 ID: 9cd8ad
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>Did you just hear clone Rokoa's thoughts?
Maybe. I am not certain if she spoke them or I felt the thought.

>Can you escape?
It may be worth trying. Later, when there's a chance. Right now, I cannot get Rokoa to break her bonds.

We start by deciding to follow Rikora's training, and get to the broken-wrist punch. We both try to mentally push memory-Rokoa into punching. She does. And again, without much loss of power. And again. And again. Then it's too much, and she doesn't do so on her own.

"Take over her directly." I tell implant-Rokoa. She does, and gives more punches. It's enough to make noises when she punches Rikora, but it sounds more like it's coming from Rokoa's wrist than any vocalization Rikora is making.

"Ffffuck, I want to punch, but my arm's not having it. You try it." That's unusual, for the body to refuse the brain's orders.

I take over memory-Rokoa, and also try to clench my first. That makes the whole arm explode in pain. Then I punch.

2/6 Polo 2013/12/29(Sun)12:08 No. 554145 ID: 9cd8ad
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Fuck. The hand.

"Again! I got her 6 times, you've got 5 more to go."

3/6 Polo 2013/12/29(Sun)12:08 No. 554146 ID: 9cd8ad
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I don't even try to make memory-Rokoa act a certain way about how she punches. I just try to detach from the pain and go for it. I match Rokoa's six.

>"Your punches are more gentle than a snowflake landing on my nose. That is fine. You are not punching me anymore. That is not fine. Why have you given up? There is nothing wrong with your arm's muscles."

"We can both take over you in your memory." I tell implant Rokoa. "Except instead of fighting each other for control, if we both try to punch, then maybe the effect will be greater." It's true, there's nothing wrong with our arm muscles, but there is a point when the body just refuses to damage itself more. Even with regeneration. I am in company and memories of people who prove that can be overcome.

We manage... I don't know how many more punches. I'm not impressed with this clone of Rokoa. She is still able to ignore pain far past my level, but even that seems like a flawed copy of the real thing. I do not know if that is because of imperfect cloning, or if that is because I have modified her memories to be less effective without something to actively protect.

>"And now your arm drops again. 18 times? Are you so weak you can only push your arm forward 18 times before it collapses from exhaustion?"

I've had moments of desperation and determination before. I try to focus on those, to regain the feelings, and know what will happen if I lose myself to Rokoa now. I keep punching.

Rokoa gets a second wind as well. She starts treating it like a game, a competition, to match me punch for punch, and we both have Rokoa's memory punch away at Rikora.

4/6 Polo 2013/12/29(Sun)12:08 No. 554147 ID: 9cd8ad
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Rikora is satisfied. Not proud, but I don't think Rikora is easily impressed. She's not easily satisfied. Rokoa is tied back onto the post.

I am just going to lie down here for a moment.

"Are we going to have to do this every time we see your mother?"
"Probably. We're still going real good, memory wise."

5/6 Polo 2013/12/29(Sun)12:09 No. 554148 ID: 9cd8ad
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Another training session comes two days later. It is like the first. The goal is to keep standing in place, feet in one spot. Her kids take turns whacking us with staves. Some just hit wherever, some specifically go for knees, ankles and our head.

"She's not teaching you how to fight at all. She is just beating the shit out of you."
"Yeahhhhh. I'm gonna guess that she wants us to toughen up, first, so that we don't just scream and cry during the fighting practice. You're gonna have to get used to it, cause we're gonna be here for while."
"You don't remember this memory."
"Yeah, but the next thing I remember is nearly 2 years in the future."

I want to leave.

6/6 Polo 2013/12/29(Sun)12:09 No. 554149 ID: 9cd8ad
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And there's a chance. One of Rikora's kids ties up Rokoa. The bindings on her limbs are tight as ever, but there is more mobility now. Rokoa's teeth can reach up to her hands.

Rokoa, however, does not want to leave.

>Her kids
Rokoa's siblings. If she's choosing to see them as Rikora's children, rather than her own brothers and sisters, that's significant. She's distancing herself from them. She's saying "they're her family, not mine". Make the conscious choice to do the opposite in your mind. Another way to differentiate you from her.

>or if that is because I have modified her memories to be less effective without something to actively protect.
Okay, creepy as this sounds, would she be more effective if she were trying to protect you? We certainly got some of that vibe off her in the salikai base, and it would sort of make sense now if she were trying to preserve you for a fair fight back in the main memory duel. (Plus, any effort that makes her sympathetic to you might mean this all ends better for you).

>chance to leave
>Rokoa doesn't want to
First thing: no matter how much you want to, you cannot try to leave on your own. Right now, it's you and Rokoa fighting the memory together and making slow progress. If it turns into a three way fight, you against Rokoa against the memory, you will stop making any meaningful progress, you will prevent each other from escaping or completing the training, and memory-Rokoa will die and reset again and the two of you will remain trapped here. That leads to slow death, running out the time left on the biological clock to kill each other, and ending up as the second sniper clone.

Now the problem is, ideally, you don't want to endure two years of torture if you can help it. Yes, if it doesn't break you, it will make you stronger. But there's the serious risk that it makes you more like Rokoa, or that it makes her more like herself. Either could give her the edge in the mental battle.

Try to see if you can convince Rokoa we should leave. We don't have time for this. We only have so long to finish this fight before we end up like that sniper clone. There are other memories. Leaving this one to neither of our satisfaction is better than working on it until we run out of time.

If that doesn't convince her, we'll have to stay. (Slow progress is better than none). But is there any way you could turn this into something more useful? Say, use the hardship as a basis for meditation. Honing mental technique- learning to better wield your silence on a mental landscape, or to silence only parts of your empathy, as suggested before. Time compressed training of mental mastery could put you in a much better situation for the rest of the mental battle. Rokoa may think she's getting her determination back from this- but you can use the time to get yourself something stronger, more useful, and that she doesn't see coming.

>>554149
Undo your bindings, but don't leave. Just get more comfortable. Exercise, maybe. Pump yourself up for the next test. Make it so the training goes faster.

Hell, you could even ambush one of the kids to get some injured-combat training in. Find out what the clone-Rokoa wants to do if she were free of those bindings. Work out a compromise.

Rokoa do you want to stay here until its to late to get revenge on the Salikai? Until you get absorbed and forget everything but one painful session from your past? Did you like what you saw in the Sniper clone? Two years of training might go faster in the mind but it still could take hours or days of real time. If we do not finish our fight soon there might not be anything left to fight for.

Don't get me wrong if I could get this sort of training normally I would probably go for it. But right now I am the only thing standing in the way of our enemies getting there way.

So make your choice Rokoa. Do we stay here and improve our pain tolerance a bit? Or do we make a daring escape so we can get get out of here before its to late?

>>554158
...undoing our binding but not leaving is kind of entertaining in a way. Especially if we then make a point out of complaining about the sibling who didn't do a good enough job restraining us.

(Sort of a compromise? Rokoa gets what she wants, but you're kind of pulling a prank, making a joke).

Getting our hands free should be our first priority whatever we decide to do. Might want to stay a bit to absorb some training and if we keep getting free without trying to escape they should let there guard down.

You need Rokoas help if you want a escape to work. So get to talking with her. Say you are willing to put as much time into this memory as the other ones but after that we need to go. The longer we stay in this one the greater the chance of something going wrong in the real world.

Turning this memory into a bit of training and a daring escape is better than staying here so long we risk becoming another sniper clone.

>because I have modified her memories to be less effective without something to actively protect.

Nothing to protect? I don't think so. Kirrac was pretty beaten up when she was told to go back to the hive - doesn't memory-Rokoa want to be sure she got back safely? Doesn't she want to become strong enough that Rikora and her hive won't ever try to mess with her again, or with her children ever again? Maybe if you try to push that sort of thing in, the memory-Rokoa will be more determined.

As for leaving... it's a chance to squeeze some Polo behaviour in there. Remember, you crossed freezing water in a boat to get here; there'll be no escape without a plan. Not to mention members of Rikora's hive around the place to sense memory-Rokoa's empathy, in case you can't cheat and turn it off. Undo the bindings quietly, and then see if you can scope anything from the hut, through a crack in the door or something. Go carefully, very carefully, gather info. Rokoa got out eventually, so her memories of what was around this place should be available to fill the exploration. Then just stay inside, and wait for them to come see that she could have tried escaping but didn't. That should satisfy clone-Rokoa, and get you some of what you want as well.

1/4 Polo 2013/12/29(Sun)20:52 No. 554243 ID: 9cd8ad
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"Rokoa, we do not have two years. It will not take that long in real time, but it may take hours or days. Do you want to have the outcome of the sniper clone? Or for the salikai to keep getting time?"
>"We don't have to spend two years, you know. That's just how long it originally took me to beat up Rikora, I guess. All we have to do is beat Rikora in fair combat. If we did that right now, then I can accept that memory if I just decide to stick around for a couple years. I guess. So I tell you what. If we give it our all, and for whatever reason it's taking too long or it fails or whatever, then we'll bug out. Till then, I'm not going"

I don't think I'm going to convince her otherwise, but getting her to a compromise will be fine. She's certain we can beat Rikora before long, although I don't like the ambiguity of 'if it takes too long.'

"Six months, including any resets."
"Yep."

>Would she be more effective if she were trying to protect you?
That is a possibility, but the forefront goal in her mind is to slay me or die trying, and that is superceding any impulse to protect me for whatever reason.

>Push determination in memory-Rokoa
I am thinking we are beyond that. Trying to push her externally has been proving ineffectual. Rokoa and I are having to take direct control of her through this.

Memory-Rokoa bites off her bindings anyway, and sits still. The shack is nearby the hive, but we are out of empathy range. We will not have the strength to fight Rikora if all we do is let ourselves get beaten, so we snap the pole off, put it across a couple of beams, and grab a hollow log from outside.

"We're not going to be able to stand up if we make our arms and legs snap off. There's a difference between giving it our all, and giving it our all all at once."
"We're not going to be able to punch her lights out unless we show this weak body how weak it is. Trust me, Rikora will show slack for this."

2/4 Polo 2013/12/29(Sun)20:52 No. 554244 ID: 9cd8ad
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She knows her mother better than I do, thankfully. When Rikors comes back to find out that we not just escaped, but didn't run, and instead trained ourselves with the intent of beating her, that is when I first get a feel for Rikora being impressed.

Her training involves forcing us to run around the island. She smacks us if we slow down. As I feared, our exercise did not let us perform at our best, but Rikora does appear to be more concerned about Rokoa's empathy this time around, making sure that we're not mentally giving up even if Rokoa's legs give in.

"Come on, Polo, pick up the damn slack!"
"I don't care if you're five times as strong as me, it doesn't matter if you weigh five times as much! Lose some weight!"
"Fuck that, you want to block blows and slashes with muscles? We've got to put on some expendable absorption!"

3/4 Polo 2013/12/29(Sun)20:53 No. 554245 ID: 9cd8ad
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A beating still occurs when we finally collapse, but her strikes are held back to make sure that we are so exhausted that we can't move even if she smacks us.

She does not tie us up. A neumono is put on post to make sure we do not escape, but after a week of reporting that Rokoa does not intend on escaping, we are left alone in the shack.

I convince Rokoa to dedicate a portion of time spent on meditation. I use this to study the possibility of using my empathy selectively, and to let certain emotions come through and omit others. There is no guarantee I can do this, or if it will be useful if I do succeed. For what meditation we do, nothing can be concluded as of yet. In actuality, I also simply want to focus on my own self rather than let Rokoa's life absorb me.

4/4 Polo 2013/12/29(Sun)20:53 No. 554246 ID: 9cd8ad
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This continues on for another couple of weeks. Most of Rikora's training involves us doing an action through a grievous injury. We spend our time healing from the recovery by doing exercise. We do get stronger. I am having trouble solidifying whether I think of Rokoa as Rokoa or as 'us'. It continues to feel authentic, and I am wondering if my real body is thinking it is getting a legitimate workout.

Yet she is going to do the same thing and stab us through the stomach, she doesn't think we deserve an even fight yet, as she is still testing our physical endurance rather than having us display any sort of combat skill.

Oh man, the boys at home are going to get a kick out of this. The possibility of giving years of training to a soldier in a matter of weeks would be amazing. If you get out of this... no, when you get out of this, you'll be stronger than before. If not physically, then at least mentally. You can take comfort in that.

Tell Rikora you want a fair fight. Endurance is good and all, but what good is it if you don't learn to fight. I expect a heavy beat down, with all of your bones being broken, but you need to practice fighting her.

Is clone-Rokoa showing any changes from all this? Becoming less "fake" the more she remembers?

Anyway. Getting stabbed. At least you have had pointy objects jammed in your torso before, Polo. Maybe we can earn some more respect, and start getting more skill as well as toughness, if memory-Rokoa asks/insists to be put through fighting techniques or even a sparring match, while having that thing through her? The adrenaline might help push the pain aside, as well as just having something else to focus on.

One up her then. Tell her to fight us until she gets the stomach stab in and then we will fight as long as we can with the wound after that. Explain we want to see the results of our training our self and know how far we have to go yet. And then once you get the wound put everything you can into fighting until you black out.

Heck start asking Rikora for advice on fighting and strengthening yourself if you can. The more we take the initiative in this training the faster things will go.

If we want to get this over with faster we have to outdo the original memory in every way possible.

The original fight with her mom was very one sided but now that you both are working together you have many more years of combat training than the original memory Rokoa had. This body might not be trained yet but you both have years of combat training to enhance her skills. Heck make time for learning archery if she lets you.

You are still on track for your original goal as well. If you can train harder and push longer than dream Rokoa she will know that this memory was a success more because of your efforts than hers. Every time you impress her you gain ground for the end battle. The more respect she has for you at the end of all this the easier it will be to defeat her.

Now that you and clone-Rokoa are both in on changing the memory, would it possible to have memory-Rokoa go silent without the memory getting rejected? Having an ability to go silent long-term like you might lead to some logical inconsistencies with later events, but being able to for short bursts might provide a useful boost. It wouldn't make sense to start now, but maybe gradually when memory-Rokoa meditates...

...I am going to be very amused if when we finally get out of this, we find Katzati's been free to run amok in your memories, setting anything she wants in yours right again, and anything she wants in Rokoa's wrong.

>That is a possibility, but the forefront goal in her mind is to slay me or die trying, and that is superceding any impulse to protect me for whatever reason.
Well yes... that was kind of the idea. If she took on the short term goal of protecting you in order to do better in this training, it would likely undermine her larger efforts to kill you. Manipulating a change in her outlook from her desire to be strong.

>meditation, not sure if it's working
Well, the upside of this dream time-compression thing is if it's going to work, this gives you a chance of doing so in a useable timeframe.

>Most of Rikora's training involves us doing an action through a grievous injury.
...unpleasant as this training is, that's a useful skill to have. And you have the advantage of picking it up without actually having to sustain real injuries and recover from them to master it. Assuming you survive the mental battle, that's a skill that could save your life, someday.

>I am wondering if my real body is thinking it is getting a legitimate workout.
Well, with your regeneration and Rokoa's fighting over your biology, it's not completely absurd that the two of you actually agreeing on something and cooperating might direct changes in a more productive manner. Theoretically, physical training might pay off. Maybe. Kind of a big if, but it's not completely crazy.

>Yet she is going to do the same thing and stab us through the stomach, she doesn't think we deserve an even fight yet
Then show her up. Attack her before she can stab you, and see if you can prevent her from getting the stab in.

I suggest having Rokoa act as the main pilot the body, while you go silent as the co-pilot. She's sense Rokoa's moves coming- but not yours. Attacks with Rokoa's strength and speed but with your lack of a telegraphed empathic warning is one hell of an advantage. It's kind of the same idea as hiding part of your empathy to mislead an opponent- she can only sense half of what's happening, and that half of the picture may be misleading.

At the very least we can impress Rikora by making a better showing than she expected. Even if we don't win, yet.

>>554246
I don't think we're ready yet. It's only been like a month and this is the first time you got the stomach stab treatment. Accept the stab, don't make an attempt to fight her yet.

>>554246
Stab yourself, offer to run around the island.

1/5 Polo 2013/12/30(Mon)12:58 No. 554336 ID: 9cd8ad
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>Would it be possible to have memory-Rokoa go silent without the memory getting rejected?
Perhaps. It would help, but the thought of rebooting the memory is enough that I would rather not risk it. Even if I took it slow, and acted like Rokoa took a couple of months to get it.

"Show me how to fight." Memory-Rokoa says, letting herself get stabbed through.

Rikora then has her attack, but she treats it as a proper sparring match rather than just snapping every bone in Rokoa's body. She pulls her punches marginally, while judging every punch, kick and attempted grapple thrown at her. It doesn't stop her from kicking the stick lodged in Rokoa's stomach every once in awhile.

There is no way Rokoa could win an even fight right now, but she would have given a far better fight than the first round.

2/5 Polo 2013/12/30(Mon)12:58 No. 554337 ID: 9cd8ad
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The tone gets different. After some long period of time, our arms drop, and our legs follow shortly. Rikora catches Rokoa when she falls and yanks the stick out. For the first time since Rokoa was a baby, Rikora shows affection for Rokoa. That obviously means a lot more to Rokoa than it does to me, but it confirms we are doing extremely well.

3/5 Polo 2013/12/30(Mon)12:59 No. 554338 ID: 9cd8ad
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Rokoa and I keep relentlessly training. The days and weeks continue being a constant stream of aching, eating and training. Rikora has her kids show us proper fighting techniques. Some are even advanced and involve fake-outs, for fights that don't involve other neumono that can sense your intentions. There is some training in melee weapons as well, although there does not appear to be much interest in archery.

The meditation is going well. The more I toy around with my silence, the more I think it may just be possible to be selective about it. There has not been luck yet, but I will continue trying.

Punching wood with a broken bone somewhere along the arm continues to be a Rikora favorite. Implant Rokoa and I take turns at it.

"You trying to break the wood with your stare, there?"
"The pain doesn't ever go away."
"You either learn to ignore it, tolerate it, or love it. Whatever you gotta do. Or, you know, get mad about it like this."

4/5 Polo 2013/12/30(Mon)12:59 No. 554339 ID: 9cd8ad
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CRACK

"... anger suits you, huh."
"I'm not angry. I want to get this over with."

5/5 Polo 2013/12/30(Mon)12:59 No. 554340 ID: 9cd8ad
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I start running around the island with a log. Rikora won't care we abandoned our post when she sees the broken wood. I am attempting to out-do Rokoa on this, but every time I so much as catch up to her efforts, she gets a second wind.

>"You have been wanting to fight me in an even fight." Rikora is back at the shack. "You want to leave. Rest for two days, then I will give you the chance to prove yourself. You will not be shown mercy if you accept." She says it like she's ever given mercy. Nonetheless, she does also hope we're able to beat her while she tries to snap us in half.

Honest self evaluation time, here. Do you think you and Rokoa working together can beat her yet? I kind of think the answer is no. And it's not worth getting killed and resetting the memory early.

Your response should be honest. You want to, but you're still not ready.

>>554340
Does no mercy include death, or just lots of broken bones? If it's the latter, let's attempt it. We might have a chance, if a bit of a small one, and the experience will help for the next attempt.

Go for it. You will learn how far you have come and if you fail you know how far you have left to go. Let Rikora know that if you lose you plan on training twice as hard. You are grateful for the training but you have children of your own back home.

Make sure you use everything you have. Your partial silence to do fake outs if you can pull it off and every trick you can think of.

I know you do not want to use your anger if you can help it but if it gives you strength then use it. This whole situation is worthy of anger. As long as you don't let it overwhelm you then you should be in no danger of losing yourself to Rokoa.

Just remember to never think of Rikora as your mother and this as something that happened to you. Treat it as a opportunity for more training you would not get anywhere else and stay focused.

>anger will give you strength
No. Polo can't afford to power herself with anger. The last time that happened was before the duel. When she tried to kill Rokoa, shot up Kork and Tirrek, pushed away Rakae and Rikek, and spent weeks training for vengeance. She lost herself to grief and anger. She shouldn't go back to that place. Certainly not by choice.

Anger isn't the answer.

Lets take her up on the fight. We will only get proper combat experience in actual combat. If we lose then we keep training and if we win then we can get on to the next memories. Make sure to tell Rikora win or lose you expect a honest opinion on what you need to train to improve.

Try to use your partial silence to do fake outs and feints if you can. Nothing full on silence but if you can get even a bit of misdirection in it will be a huge help.

Anger works for some people but you had a bad run in with controlling your anger when you first fought Rokoa. You let it grow into a nasty hatred and it made you someone you did not want to be for awhile. Learning to control your anger and not let it change you is a valuable lesson but not one for today I think. If you are going to get angry at anyone make it the Salikai and not Rokoa and her memories.

Take a moment to ask Rikora if her own parents made her go through this kind of training and why is she so intent on having Rokoa surpass her.

She says no mercy, but if she's developing affection again, she probably doesn't mean absolutely no mercy. However, there is a risk that if you fail, whatever corrupted this memory to begin with will make it end in death and resetting again. But, if you refuse, it might lose some Rikora-respect. On the other hand, maybe she's testing for wisdom. In any case, at this point, I think it's still certain Rikora would win the fight. Either way, Polo, you're not getting out of here yet.

I would have Rokoa answer: yes, she wants to leave, and yes she wants to beat Rikora in an even fight. But, more than that, she wants to be sure she doesn't lose any more children of her own, as she could have so easily done if Rikora hadn't had a use for the one she found. She doesn't just want to be as good as Rikora, she wants to be better. She wants to become so scary that no-one who hears of her will ever want to mess with her or hers. So she'll postpone that fight, to keep training... for now.

I wonder if the original Rokoa never actually got the fair fight with her mother she wanted, and that's part of why she's always trying to prove herself?

1/5 Polo 2013/12/30(Mon)17:57 No. 554364 ID: 9cd8ad
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There is no danger of death, only extreme pain. Rikora only killed her when she thought there was no hope and no improvement, and did not consider Rokoa her kid. That is different, this time.

"Did your own parents have you do the same thing?" I have memory-Rokoa ask.
>"Yes. From birth, we are prepared for this training. If you feel you are being treated unfairly, it is because you have many years to make up for."
"And why are you so concerned about me surpassing you?"
>"No matter how strong we get, we are not immortal. My parents and my parents before them ensured that they can pass on their strength throughout the generations, making sure each is stronger than the last. I am the bearer of the lineage. I have trained my children how to surpass me, but I have never sensed the potential strength with them as I did with you, so many years ago. To lose you was my greatest failure, as you would have been the greatest child of mine. Now that I have the chance, I will have you surpass me. It does not matter if you go back to your hive, as long as you hold onto your ancestor's strength and eventually pass it to your own children. Only then would I die happy."

Rikora stabs Rokoa in the stomach, but Rikora also sheds her outer clothes and stabs herself. Apparently this is how duels went back then in her hive.

We go at it. We're stronger than before, so getting grabbed by Rikora is not instantly followed by broken arms.

I attempt to use the trick in earlier memories of letting Rokoa give off empathy leading into an attack, but use my silence and have Rokoa do something else. That is cut off by Rokoa.

"We're not fucking around with that, we're doing it real!"

2/5 Polo 2013/12/30(Mon)17:58 No. 554365 ID: 9cd8ad
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We get grabbed for real, and before we break the hold, a claw slashed up our eye.

3/5 Polo 2013/12/30(Mon)18:00 No. 554368 ID: 9cd8ad
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Rokoa manages an elbow strike that shoves Rikora away long enough to get room.

"Come on, Polo, we have a chance! We can actually do it, fuck how big she is."
"Like you have to tell me like I need motivation to get out of this hellhole! I have a life of my own, you know, that I've got to --"

4/5 Polo 2013/12/30(Mon)18:00 No. 554369 ID: 9cd8ad
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Wha -- I'm going to vomit! Somethings wrong. Both Rokoas and myself get a sense that our empathy snagged on itself. I sense myself. Again. And both Rokoas twice each, echoing off of each other. Our motivations and goals and emotions get racked on top of each other in a nauseating sense that I couldn't take for more than...

"Shit! The needle trick?!" In this case, it's not a needle, it's a pointy stick, but that's the culprit.
"Your damn right. I remember. I remember why I forgot." She's ecstatic.

I focus my attention elsewhere to stop my own empathic reverberations getting caused by this.Rokoa and I are locked together enough that even with my silence, I can still feel some internal reverberations going through myself.

5/5 Polo 2013/12/30(Mon)18:00 No. 554370 ID: 9cd8ad
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The real Rokoa does not focus elsewhere, and intentionally keeps her empathic channels completely blocked up to keep these insane reverberations up. She punches Rikora hard enough to knock teeth out and, judging by the pain, nearly broke our wrist again.

This is what happened to make her how she is. After a couple of years or so, I guess, Rikora eventually stabbed through the right place so that Rokoa's physical empathy channels would get snagged if she thought a certain way. It wasn't just the fact that she ended up silent that helped her fight Rikora.

The feelings of getting stronger, surpassing her challenges and just generally having a great time fighting piled up onto each other that ended up giving her the ability to override what her physical body wanted to do, be it rest or pulling back muscle strength. Rikora won't go down that easily, so Rokoa, which I now believe happened to the original, will have to take too long to beat Rikora. Too long to avoid brain damage.

It's not the sort of brain damage that heals, either. Her neutral mood ends up being the mood she's in when she fights, here, mixed with Rikora's own strong empathy at feeling happy and proud how strong Rokoa can get. I don't know if I'm going to even bother explaining this in a debriefing session, but to me, it all makes sense now.

I might be able to overpower implant Rokoa's insistence on going through with this, but to even compete with her overdriven state, I would have to overdrive my own state with this method. She is not silent to me while she is inside my brain, I can hear her a hundred times over. I'm in a terrible position that either needs to tolerate Rokoa's echoing reverberations inside of myself, which I do not like the implications of, or try to overpower Rokoa by using the needle trick for myself. I also do not like the implications of that.

I would not have thought that this memory of a needle trick would be able to emulate the real thing, but given this memory's vividness and the extreme circumstances of which my brain is being put under, I should assume that this emulated needle trick is the real thing.

This is not good. The needle trick is dangerous with one person. If you keep it up there is a real possibility you will both end up in a loop you cant get out of. Your body will keep reacting to a imagined stimulus and no one will win your body will just burn your brain out with the stress. Forget getting combined with Rokoa you could both end up just dead at this rate.

So jump into the frenzy to power yourself up with her so the fight ends faster than it should have or stop the cause of the reverberations by removing the stick. Best case we win the fight and get out of the reverb before any permanent damage is done. Worst case throw the fight to save the both of you.

Hiding and meditating might work but going on the defensive here seems like it will give up to much ground. If you just hide you give Rokoa power over your fate. This is your body and your brain. She is the intruder and you need to make your empathy remember that. The best defense is a good offense after all.

You might want to try and use your empathy to push disappointment at Rokoa. Beating her mom because she got a lucky form of brain damage seems like cheating after all the previous training. She did not beat her mother because of hard work she got halfway there and then luck did the rest.

So, when Rokoa first used the needle trick, she got "stuck" so that her default mood became the one she was in when that happened? Like... leaving an old monitor on too long, so the image gets left over on the screen forever? That's... interesting. And alarming. I don't know if using it yourself is a good idea; maybe you'd get stuck feeling what you're feeling now. Or feeling what Rokoa's feeling now.

I'd put more faith in just holding on and withstanding what the Rokoas are putting out. You trained to suppress your own empathy by force of will; you infiltrated a warhive that had once shaken you to the bone with just their empathy, and reached a point where you no longer felt anything for them, enough to drop your silence and show them that you felt nothing. And you trained to resist a predator's influence without using your silence at all. You can do it, Polo!

Not sure what to do, but if using the needle trick in the dream for too long could cause you brain damage, then no matter what that threshhold should not be passed.

>So jump into the frenzy to power yourself up with her so the fight ends faster than it should have or stop the cause of the reverberations by removing the stick. Best case we win the fight and get out of the reverb before any permanent damage is done. Worst case throw the fight to save the both of you.
This sounds right. The needle trick will likely damage your brain with time no matter who inside your head is doing it, but time is a factor that we can effect.

Ah, so an accidental use of the needle trick gave her a way to win, but cost her the memory.

I would suggest a third path. Don't attempt to hide from the storm, or fight it by riding it. Your meditation is pretty relevant to this. Instead of trying to shut down your own empathy, or parts of it, shut down the parts of the memory-Rokoa's empathy that is entangled. Cut the needle out of the circuit, so it can't cause anything to short circuit anymore.

Rokoa won't like it, but she hasn't practiced using her empathy this way. You have. She won't be able to stop you.

>>554370
I FUCKING CALLED IT.

>>554387
Do this. We practiced selective silence, let's use it. Turn off the reverberations, or at least dampen them so they're tolerable.

>>554387
Do this if possible. What we want is for Rokoa to be insane enough that she beats Rikora, but not insane enough to drive you both completely mad. Work with Rokoa, channel the reverberations properly instead of letting them run wild, limit them, be the balance to her insanity.

>>554380
Agreed. Trying to resist completely ends with Rokoa dying again and the two of you being stuck here forever. You need to WIN this time. Win FOREVER.

>Best case we win the fight and get out of the reverb before any permanent damage is done.
I think "no permanent brain damage" and "using the needle trick" are mutually incompatible.

Use your silence, then frenzy to end the fight as quickly as possible. The risk of brain damage isn't worth it if we can avoid it.

The more I think about Rikora just said about passing on her legacy...
I think Rokoa's trying to do that through you, since she's lost her children, or she doesn't have the heart to do it to her own. At least this clone matter of Rokoa.

Oh I'm sorry I got distracted about the main concern there for a moment. Just something you should talk with Rokoa about later. Just do your silent bullshit to prevent your insanity. If Rokoa gets uppity about it, you're just trying to keep yourself yourself and FUCK her if she continues to get mad about that. You can handle a workout but you will NOT risk your identity for her strength. That feels more like giving up for something SHE wants and you're not going to give that to her, no matter what kind of respect you have for her. You're not her daughter and you're not her and you're not becoming her for anything in the world.

>>554387
Okay, I really want the third option of using selective empathy shutting down to bypass the needle and cut off the whole empathy cascade thing at the root to work.

But in case we can't do that, maybe there's still a way we can use the meditation to help. If Polo goes for her own cascade or amplification, it doesn't have to be uncontrolled. She can be picky about what parts of her empathy she's amplifying. (Which parts she's letting out). And that discrimination might allow her to be more effective than Rokoa, and set up an empathic configuration that would be a lot less damaging to her long term than Rokoa's was to her.

I cant imagine Rokoa would just let us remove the needle, so this guy has the best idea
>>554387
Trying to create an empathetic pressure valve by allowing some of that empathy to escape down normal channels might help. If that fails we are left trying to win the fight faster than the speed of brain damage, probably not a good idea.

The way Rokoa is fighting this is going to be a dragged out boxing match. So get in there and end it quickly before the brain damage point.

Aim for her joints. No matter how tough she is or how much pain she can endure if you take out her knees and elbows she will not be able to fight until they heal.

Gouge out her eyes go for dirty tricks that would cripple anyone but a neumono. And the second she is down or even just weakened enough to fight normally you rip that stick out of your side and beat her unconscious with it.

Rokoa will win the fight so will not be able to refuse the memory but will avoid the happy fighting time brain damage.

1/3 Polo 2014/01/04(Sat)22:28 No. 555231 ID: 9cd8ad
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I decide to go for it. My meditation towards selectively suppressing certain thoughts is not good enough to use, but I attempt it anyway while going along with the needle tricks in the hopes of defeating Rikora as soon as possible.

We punch her hard enough to hear cracks, and kick her hard enough to send her stumbling and falling, but she doesn't admit defeat and she doesn't stay down. She just keeps launching herself at us, but we can read her moves as clear as a cloudless day, while she's stuck guessing.

"Is this your success, Rokoa? You didn't beat her normally, you got lucky brain damage!"
"That doesn't matter. It made me stronger. Besides, it took two years originally, and I was getting better. Even if it took 3 or 4 years without the needle trick, I would've gotten her anyway."

After a few moments, as mentally painful as the needle trick is, all of a sudden it seems like it would be difficult to actually pull the needle back out. It's like the body's reaction to this is just to try to force the empathic channels through even while blocked, and not to pull the needle out. That makes this trick even more dangerous than I thought, since it takes willpower just to end it.

Rokoa keeps having the reverberations go through her. I try to yank the stick out, even if it's just to beat Rikora with it, but I can't overpower Rokoa and the way the memory is 'supposed' to go. In fact, she corrupts the idea by having her pull Rikora's stick out, and beating her with it.

2/3 Polo 2014/01/04(Sat)22:28 No. 555232 ID: 9cd8ad
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I don't know how long passes with the revererations in place. Maybe we beat Rikora soon enough, maybe we didn't. Rikora finally blacks out in the snow, and memory Rokoa just stands there, dumb as a brick.

Maybe it's the reverberations giving me mental strength, maybe it's coincidence, and maybe it's just sheer desperation, but after a minute I'm able to cut out the emotions that I am associating with the reverberations. Then I move it to Rokoa's memory, and manage to stop the reverberations without cutting off her empathy. I think I've got it. I will have to test this when I wake up to see if this is not just some kind of dream logic. That will be consolation, as our beating Rikora did not go as smoothly as I had hoped. Rokoa takes her stick out, but takes an infuriatingly long time in doing so.

"Rokoa. I do not like this funny feeling that isn't going away."
"You'll get used to-"
"Don't even say that." I'm going to need to see Three Stripes after this. This did not hit me as hard as the real Rokoa, but I cannot convince myself I did not get some kind of effect. I'm not smiling, so I'm not too worried about it.

Implant Rokoa was affected, too. She is making sense of herself, as I am.

3/3 Polo 2014/01/04(Sat)22:29 No. 555233 ID: 9cd8ad
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We did successfully complete the abnormal memory, though. It continues for Rokoa in what ends up as a month long coma, but this feels like a regular memory. I don't bother changing it, as there isn't much to change that is significant. Rokoa becomes a creepy vegetable for awhile, but Rikora and her hive successfully get her back into the world.

Rokoa has a minor case of amnesia in that she forgot much of what happened, or where she is. Rikora has a duel with her again, without stabbing themselves, and Rokoa, with her that mentality of combat and determination I've been trying to avoid, proves that she can defeat Rikora steadily. Rokoa ends up on decent terms with Rikora and even her half siblings.

So, she will return to her hive with Rikora's blessing. That brain damage, though, will ostracize her despite the short celebration of her return. The red queen already had a few misgivings about Rokoa, but seeing her come back as she is made her, and by proxy the rest of the hive, disassociative of Rokoa. Even without my memory's modifications, though, Rokoa was still loyal to this hive to the degree that she wouldn't let herself go rogue despite that the slightest hint of hive ostracization is enough to make many people go rogue. These memories aren't very important.

I am sensing Katzati again. Not with empathy, as we are both asleep, and if I could sense her empathy asleep then she would be in my dream. She is in physical contact with me, so it is likely that she is trying to get back to sleep. She may come back anytime now, now that the abnormality of Rikora's sequence is done with.

I am also tempted to wake up for a moment just to confirm how long I've been out. Given that Katzati is still lying with me, I doubt I have been out of it too long, but my mentality wants to say I've been gone for months of excruciating Rokoa snow hive training. In fact, I am going to not care about the salikai, the caverns, Rokoa, the aftereffects of the needles, and anything but myself for the next 5 minutes. I am going to go play with my toy tanks again. I don't care if Rokoa sees. I know she is. I know she's staring at me right now as I very nearly literally cry for my mother. I loved these toys.

>>555233
Ask Rokoa if she would like to play
Justify it as your own training. Tell Rokoa to try before just waving it off and be a child in the modern era once. She has some respect for you and sees potential in you for some reason enough to see that your own way has its strength as boring and simple as it is.
Try the simple life Rokoa.
Let's play pretend and have a friendly pillow fight, play house, and make rumble sounds with our tongues.

Ppppppfffffbbbbbbbbbbtttt. Pew pew pew. You can be the Mom and she can be the Dad. Or the two outlaw sisters out in the wild west getting hunted down by Butch Katzati and the Moonshine kid.

>>555233
Ask her if she's jealous. Does she have any nice memories to take solace in? If she wants she could play the part of your mother, so long as she doesn't distort the memory again. It's obvious at this point the clone-Rokoa thinks of you as a kid, and is trying to make you stronger to pass down her legacy. It's almost like you went through the Snow Hive traditional training, even!

Then ask her what was up with that OTHER memory. The first one you almost had, that was supposedly the reason why Rokoa smiles. Was that one fake? I think that one was an implanted memory, because according to what we know, it doesn't belong.

Also admit, begrudgingly, that what you just went through has made you stronger. Still gonna eat clone-Rokoa though. In fact, she's in serious trouble now.

Stay asleep, you can get updated via Katzati directly, and also keep in mind nobody woke you.

If Rokoa really is jealous of you, then we could give her a Deal With the Devil. Offer to make her memories more like how she'd want them to go in exchange for her not making you into a villain. Isn't there anything she'd rather do differently?

You did good Polo. You managed to avoid most of the damage you could have got and learned a trick or two for later.

More importantly you got through what will probably be the hardest memories Rokoa had in her past. The only ones as bad or worse might be what the Salikai did to her. But those should not suck you in like these.

So you survived the trap intact and if you need help after all of this you have your hive and Three stripes to help you through it.

You also showed Rokoa that her previous victories were more because of a trapped memory than her own power. No matter how confident she acts she is getting very worried. And its only going to get worse for her as she gets into the memories of the spire. You saved her live there several times and saved her whole hive when you could have left them to die.

So enjoy your toys and find your center again before we continue. If it had been a long time your friends would have woken you already and hopefully Katzati will be here soon. If Rokoa is watching you here that means she is not meddling in your memories elsewhere. Honestly she is probably watching you because you remind her so much of her children like this.

Well, that went about as well as could be hoped. The damn memory didn't cripple you, or leave her superpowered. It's a pity you couldn't completely protect yourself, or break the memory to undermine Rokoa, but we'll take what we can get.

Also: you have a damn good rebuttal to use the next time Rokoa criticizes you for exploiting your silence. She won one of the most important battles of her life the same damn way. And you didn't pull it off by accident.

>I'm going to need to see Three Stripes after this.
I just imagine how complicated it's going to be trying to explain this to him in pictures. See, this is Toothy. And the Salikai made another her and put her in my head. And then, inside my head, we both went inside the head of a dream Toothy and... Hopefully they've made some progress with language lessons, or a translator.

How does he fix it anyways? You show him the problem and hope he can remove it? He compares how you are to what he and your hive remember you being, and tries to change you back?

...kind of funny how you started all this avoiding a predator's control, and now you're planning on ending this by going willingly to one.

>I will have to test this when I wake up to see if this is not just some kind of dream logic.
Test with Katzati and physical contact, and ask her not to tell the others if it works. If you can make your empathy misleading by hiding parts of it, you need to know that now (it might be useful trying to infiltrate the salikai base, posing as something or someone you're not), but it's not the kind of thing you want to share around. It would just raise more trust issues. (And hopefully, unlike your silence, you can keep this ability secret from the wider world).

>wake up, play
Do whatever makes you comfortable, makes you feel like yourself, gives you a moment of peace. We don't need to wake up to check the time, but if it would make you feel better to be awake, then wake up for a little bit. You've earned the breather, in your childhood or the caves.

There's no reason to be ashamed of having a happy, safe childhood, even if Rokoa and many of her family were denied it.

>what do
We may have to reassess before continuing the battle, talk with Rokoa again. Presumably, if she re-experienced the smile, she's more like herself again than any of the flawed clones she's encountered. Has this changed her outlook on the situation?

>>555233
You've more than earned a breather Polo.

Besides, no shame in enjoying a happy memory.
A happy childhood.
You look so adorable. Let's take a break, if only a brief one.

Suggestion 2014/01/05(Sun)15:00 No. 555359 ID: c86015

>I think Katzati fell out of the dream.
>I am sensing Katzati again.
Polo you need to wake up immediately, something is horribly wrong.

You know it might be good to wake up just to check that everything is not falling apart on us. Also to reassure the group we are not taken over if they noticed our empathy going wild during that fight.

If we haven't been asleep for long, there's not much to be gained from waking up. You should all be exhausted (since your last sleep period immediately turned into more running and fighting as soon as you lay down), and there hasn't been enough time to get rested or for people to heal up. It'll just cut into your rest and dream time.

The only good reason to do so is if your mental state would be helped by it. If so, then it's worth it.

1/8 Polo 2014/01/05(Sun)16:51 No. 555371 ID: 9cd8ad
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I will continue sleeping.

>How does Three Stripes fix it anyways?
Right now my default emotion is not true neutral, it is... different. This should not interfere with my silence, as I am able to undergo emotions and still remain silent. Three Stripes will simply need to take me at a neutral state, and then re-calibrate my emotions.

That is probably easier said than done. Perhaps risky. I will think of it more when it is relevant.

>More importantly you got through what will probably be the hardest memories Rokoa had in her past.
In terms of sheer trials, there is only one more in her normal life that was more painful. Then the salikai's torture. Those, however, are regular memories, and I expect I can stomach the salikai parts.

"Are you jealous of my childhood, Rokoa?" She's not.
"No, I was pretty happy with beating each other up. You're pretty adorable as a kid though. Man you didn't even know what a tank sounded like, did you?"
"Somehow, at my age, I don't think you did either."
"You sure did want to be a fighter pilot when you grew up. Too bad I don't think they make mini-planes."
"I also wanted to be a tank commander. I wanted to pilot flying tanks when I grew up. And for your information, they do make planes in my size. I could still be a fighter pilot if I wanted to, but that was as fickle as childhood dreams get. Anyway, even if you're stronger because of your needle experience, you are a hypocrite for criticizing my use of silence. It is the same thing, except mine is on purpose."
"Hey, I was just kidding." She really wasn't. "Seriously, though, accident or intentional isn't important. You're still right, your silence is part of your strength, and just cause it's unusual doesn't mean it's unfair. I may as well ask for a fair fight by telling you to tie your hands behind your back. And untill we revisited that needle trigger, I didn't realize how far I fell from the original. I bet the real Rokoa could take me in a fight, easily. I guess she doesn't remember the needle trick, though, huh, from what she told you?"

Apparently she is loosely skimming my future memories. She still doesn't think she's as good as the original, since the needle trick was also a shadow of the experience of the original. Even so, it struck me, and so it struck her, and she is closer now. She is no longer as concerned about victory or defeat as she was when she was injected in my head. All she's going to do, is everything she can do. Nothing more, nothing less.

2/8 Polo 2014/01/05(Sun)16:52 No. 555372 ID: 9cd8ad
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"What is with that memory I first saw? It sounded like it was soon after your Rikora thing."
"Yeah. Couple weeks after I got back, or so I heard. It was the first thing I remembered afterward, least till now. I was still recovering, you know. You know how after Ranra - kid number one, feels like am millenia ago - I was seeing lights in the sky? Well, about a year after Rikora started training me, I started seeing lights again. Pretty sure the first case was either a fucked up memory or something else entirely. That's relevant, since it was that memory you're talking about when we saw the first sign of aliens. One of our enemy hives came to town with weapons we had no idea how to fight. A bunch of us already ran out there, thinking it was just three dumbasses with too much confidence trying to raise up a stink. So a few of us go out to have fun with them, and, well... look at your toys, they're noisy as hell. You got a TV in here eventually. You grew up on noise. So think of it, when you live your life when you only hear distant roars and the only noise are war cries and all that. Everyone's cozy in bed, and the night guard goes to get some easy neumono meat for the next morning. They give shouts, then the next thing you hear are a series of booms laid out on top of each other mixed with your hivemates confusion, panic, then silence. That was one of the scariest moments my hive ever had, cause it had the unknown element to it. Me, though?"

3/8 Polo 2014/01/05(Sun)16:52 No. 555373 ID: 9cd8ad
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"My name is Rokoa, and fear was beaten out of me a long time ago."
"It's too late for you to act all badass now."
"Shush, I had trouble keeping rapport with my hive, and this helped a lot. It fits in pretty well with what you're doing, too."
"It also made you overconfident."
"It was pretty great."
"You were naked."
"I can see and remember that. It worked out fine."
"These guys weren't taught how to use the guns beyond point and aim. They can't even stick their fingers in the guards. They're not holding the guns right. They're still trying to fire when they're out of ammo. The-"
"I get it, you want to take them over and show them how it's done."
"Yes, but I've already indulged enough memories."

4/7 Polo 2014/01/05(Sun)16:52 No. 555375 ID: 9cd8ad
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It would be only one year from now when their nomadic life would bring them back to the same area, and Rokoa would go hunting. She would see three more with guns, and just try to charge them. One of them held a tazer meant to take out things on more of a voklit scale. Once she got riddled with bullets and electrocuted and still lived, that hive decided to screw around and put Rokoa straight into another awful several weeks of little but pointless pain. That hive was sadistic, and with enough food to feed neumono prisoners, they kept her alive, if just to see how much she could take and still live.

Her hive tried to rescue her. It's probable the aliens took an interest in this hive since this hive built a castle to house 230 or so hivemates, although there were only 50 by the time Rokoa was captured. The rest were doing work for the aliens. Corners were tight, and to make up for poor aim, the red hive ran up to the snow hive to shoot them. After several losses and nearly everyone wounded, Rokoa's hive succeeded.

They knew they would lose a lot of people, but saving Rokoa was just part of the purpose. Pilon, who would use his ears to block shots with surprisingly good results, shares the rest.

>"Now that we've beaten these guys, we can eat them to gain their spear's magical powers!"

"I.... Pilon, that..."
"Yeah, the guy fr... oh yeah, you really do know him already, huh. If it makes you feel better, we still tease him about sayin that to this day, or at least as far as I can remember. Course, he always counters us with the other stupid shit we used to say. It turns out, for instance, stars aren't our past queens lighting our nights up."

Pilon did take a liking to many of the red hive members, and fathered a bunch. That was the norm, actually, the red hive was effectively absorbed and assimilated into Rokoa's for their magical boomstick and metalbending powers. Given it were two stereotypically tribal hives, assimilation wasn't pretty, needless to say. Rokoa had a few more kids, but not out of the red hive.

5/7 Polo 2014/01/05(Sun)16:53 No. 555376 ID: 9cd8ad
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It took about the time it takes to accidentally shoot themselves a lot of times and run out of ammo - mana - hunting before the aliens paid them a visit. They were self profiteers, and only wanted to supply neumono that would get them territory and labor. They took them in to teach them about modernization. The Queen was introduced to topics like military ranks, and secrecy from the common rank and file hivemate. She didn't like that, but was shown the importance of it. After being shown what X-rays were, Rokoa was put under weeks of surgery to gradually take out the dozens of bullets that were too deep for her regeneration to kick out.

Originally they were simply going to have the hive use manual labor, but given how they were able to take out the alien's original uplift hive with nothing but non-magical spears, Rokoa's hive ended up being mercenaries for virtually no pay. What they were paid in was food to eat and safety for their children, which for a tribal hive, was well worth fighting for even if it was incredibly cheap for the aliens.

With the influx of food, plus the numbers from the red hive, Rokoa's hive started booming in population. Kids one after the next, Rokoa included.

It ended up being over 60 years of fucking and fighting for some no-name alien faction. It will be a lot of work for me to go through and change things, but it's all the same, so it can go by smoothly. Katzati eventually gets back as clone Rokoa goes back to messing with my memories, and I mess with hers in the same way I usually do.

In those 60 years the population exploded from perhaps 100 to well over a thousand or two members. It was bigger than Rokoa could understand. There was no more death for Rokoa's children by starvation or hunting accidents, from then on, all her kids died in combat. That was common, in actuality. All of their kids were safe, but as soon as they got into adulthood, the hive's mortality rate skyrocketed. Despite her mentality of doing everything she can, Rokoa lost interest in getting more kids. I believe it was largely in part to the Queen not wanting Rokoa's misfitted genes getting into the hive or something. The more I examine it, the more Rokoa's participation in the hive was an anomaly. Nearly everyone in her position would have gone rogue.

For non-ultrahive hives, they were one of the most successful fighting forces. Rokoa edged her way into the queen's personal guard despite the queen's own distrust. A few times, Rokoa's hive would get involved in the wars that lead to ultrahives being formed. I've heard veterans refer to those days as the glory days, but I am not jealous seeing what I see through Rokoa.

There are plenty of specific memories that I gloss over. More voklit encounters, quality time spent with her family, a quick encounter with a predator that ended up with modern shooty guns winning the day, but Rokoa's life isn't mine. I don't believe there is much to gain by running through those memories in detail.

6/7 Polo 2014/01/05(Sun)16:54 No. 555379 ID: 9cd8ad
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The hive fought whoever the faction told them to, which was just about anyone. Rokoa was only vaguely aware of the politics involved, and didn't like what she saw. The hive made an enemy of the world. Eventually they had to back off into the middle of nowhere, and a few soldiers go missing while securing one of the surrounding caverns in the terrain.

Rokoa is sent in as a QI, and is excited when she gets to test herself against one of the legendary predators she barely saw many years back. She even wanted to see if it could pacify her.

So she chased it back where I, Rakae, and Rikek were. The rest I remember just fine. There is nothing Rokoa did that I did not either see or know about, before I blew Rokoa up. All Rokoa did for a couple weeks after that was heavy recovery, during which the sample that would become her clone was taken.

"Although I can't help but notice that while you were chasing us, you weren't even holding your gun right, either! Did the aliens just not bother to teach you guys?!"
"Hey, I held it just fine when I actually caught up."

7/7 Polo 2014/01/05(Sun)16:54 No. 555380 ID: 9cd8ad
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Rokoa is already past this point. She is reviewing my own memories, and watching herself do what she does.

"Did I just stop eating?"
"I wished you would."

She feels better, even relieved, oddly, at my performance despite Rokoa being weakened. How I beat her, then ran around their warship to eventually commit regicide on her own queen. What she is not comfortable with is the fact that she is the one who requested that I kill the queen.

What she has more interest in, though, is my training after that. While I can say I gave good effort and work ethic towards silence and marksmanship and other studies, I treated it like a hobby. The severity of what I was doing, and of what I could do, was not something I fully understood until that first authentic mission of mine. Therefore, the following months of heavy study and mental training with Three Stripes had far more determination behind them, without the grief-driven training that was prior to my first duel with Rokoa.

Clone Rokoa does not appear to have any interest in touching those memories.

"Not to try and convince you otherwise, but..."
"Yeah, you know what? These are perfect the way they are." She is getting difficult to read again.
"Could I hope you're giving up?"
"Nope. We've given our brains a good feel for each other and they're gonna start having at each other soon enough. I'm not gonna be benign. So, I want to see the salikai dead, blown up, jailed forever, whatever. You're tougher than I thought, you know, but you've still been having problems. So if there's a single element that I'm tougher in, I'm still gonna try and work that element into you whether you like it or not. You're gonna have to be tougher than me in every single way, now, otherwise I'll be there to pick up your slack, is what I'm saying. We're going to beat the salikai, Polo, along with all the other clones that were too flawed from the original to resist the salikai and Four Stripes. If not you, then you and me."

It isn't like I feel our brain cells frying as they eat each other, so until that starts happening, I can go back to any select memories and change things.

Otherwise, the only part of Rokoa I want in my system is the memory of everything involving the new salikai base.

The only things you are lacking that Rokoa could "teach" you would be the ability to resist a predator without your silence. That the hand to hand and pain tolerance training. But you where there with her for a lot of that and she put some in your memories so that should help.

Not sure if I can think of anything in any of Rokoa's memories to change. At this point I think it would be better to put more training into your memories if possible. Maybe go back into your training with Three stripes and try out your new partial silence trick with him or someone else. Will know if it really works once we wake up.

Whatever she says it looks like Rokoa is starting to accept the fact that she is going to get eaten shortly. Hopefully the worst you will end up with is some improved training you do not remember how you got and the odd memory from her life.

So improve your training or meditate or work on your silence. Don't let her convince you that you need anything from her and you should come out fine. While you may have made a few mistakes none of them would have been avoided with a little Rokoa talking in your head.

Ask her the big question. Why did she not go rogue when her hive started to drift from her? Was it just her being stubborn? Or does she have her own reasons?

>>555371
Aw crap. They're both smiling.

>Right now my default emotion is not true neutral, it is... different. This should not interfere with my silence
...it's not your ability to go silent I'm worried about it influencing. If your judgement or decision making is at all effected that could be very bad.

>>555379
In this memory, can you figure out how she was actually able to resist three stripe's control? It may not come up with your silence, but knowing how to fight off mind control might be relevant.

>What she is not comfortable with is the fact that she is the one who requested that I kill the queen.
She took the only route that would save her hive, while not going rogue, or betraying them and committing regicide herself. She walked a fine line between her loyalties, obligations, and personal honor. And she pulled it off. There's no reason for her to be ashamed of that.

>Rokoa's decision
I am glad at least we share an enemy. And while I am, in theory, not opposed to self improvement, or doing what it takes to achieve victory here, understand I will not sacrifice who I am or what I believe for that end. You wouldn't break your codes of conduct just to make things easier. Don't insult me by expecting me to do so.

Consider that what might make me strongest would be the ability to focus my attention on that one enemy.

...and whatever understanding we come to, this is regrettably not over. Perhaps I would spare you again, if I could. But I have no intention of giving you my mind or body. And I would see the both of us dead before I would suffer the sniper clone's fate.

Which means, unless there's a magic cure waiting in the science hive that can cut you out and return you to the corrupted clone they harvested you from, one or more of us still has to die.

(If the science hive can do that, it would be sort of cool. Saves Polo, and clone-koa can return to the broken and corrupted clone and fix her).

I believe Rokoa's resistance can be attributed to the fact that she is brain damaged. Yes Polo, instead of saying that she's insane, you can now simply say that she's brain damaged! Of course you can always try to mimic what she did.

Anyway, I don't think there's much else for you to improve on, Rokoa has already somewhat trained you in hand to hand combat, and your training together should help you somewhat. The one thing she beats you in is experience. She's over a hundred years old, and experience like that is useful. You've lived through it somewhat, but in the end, she still has more of it.

Say goodbye to Rokoa, Polo. It's probably the last time you'll speak.

>>555373
Maybe this is a stupid question, but why was she naked?

>There's no reason for her to be ashamed of that
Expanding on that, honestly, that might be something you should respect her for. And her baffling loyalty.

Actually, did you ever see where or when she developed her code or honor? Honestly, that's not something we want to change about her (removing it certainly isn't to your advantage) but it might be interesting to check on, while we have the chance in this lull.

>What she is not comfortable with is the fact that she is the one who requested that I kill the queen.

Hm. Didn't the original Rokoa say that part of why she did that was because her Queen sort of broke her trust? Sent her on a suicide mission, if I recall. If that memory's still around, we could tweak it to make that queen a "what not to be" influence.

>>555532
Probably because she'd been sleeping and had just woke up. My question is why Pilon was naked. It's not like he was in the same position by that point...

>>555380
>It isn't like I feel our brain cells frying as they eat each other, so until that starts happening, I can go back to any select memories and change things.
Think we've done what we can. Let's go blow up some milipedes.

>>555720
I was assuming he's just not wearing a shirt.

1/3 Polo 2014/01/12(Sun)17:47 No. 556988 ID: 9cd8ad
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>Why was she and Pilon naked?
They slept in the nude under communal blankets. Rokoa simply did not bother to get dressed to kill. Pilon was simply shirtless. I expect it would have been standard for the females to go shirtless as well if it were at all practical.

>Actually, did you ever see where or when she developed her code or honor?
Over her life. She did not start thinking philosphically, let alone sitting down one evening and writing her book of honor. It simply developed like a habit on its own, which explains its haphazard construction that only makes sense to her, and even then she has given me the impression she is not even consistent at her own code. I would hardly call it honor in the first place.

I still have no plans on changing that, regardless of shortcomings. I continue speaking to Rokoa as she enters one of her own memories. Kakra, one of her more favored children.

"I expect you would not break your own code to make your fights easier, don't expect me to do so."
"From what I see, you do what you've got to do to win. Nothin' wrong with that, since you're not being selfish."
"I don't need anything from you, nor do you have anything for me."
"Perfect, that's the point. If that's true, then you'll completely slaughter me. Once we exhaust each other's memories, then our brains will effectively begin to recognize each other physically and have at it. I guess that won't be too long, from now."
"Then this is likely the last we will talk. I have gotten the impression from you that we do not need to be in vocal contact with one another beyond this point."
"Yep. We won't ever speak again, in fact, cause no matter how much we blend, we won't have seperate consciousness anymore."
"I don't intend to have so much as half an ounce of your matter to make its home in me."
"That's how it is, huh?"
"You don't belong here. I am not interested in killing you, but I would sooner see you dead than let you live through me."
"You like having long goodbyes, huh."
".... Goodbye, Rokoa. I'm done with modifying your memories."
"Thanks for not messing with the memory of my kids too much. I mean it. I think I'll indulge in some of my own memories, too, till our brains get impatient. Give me some alone time, you too."

She believes that she won't get much real estate in my brain after all. I would be relieved if that meant she would become benign, but she will be giving it her all. So I leave her to relive her memories. A memory is all she's considering herself, so it fits, so she thinks.

"Wait. One more question."

2/3 Polo 2014/01/12(Sun)17:55 No. 556992 ID: 9cd8ad
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"Why did you never go rogue?"
"Because I love them. Duh."
"They don't love you like a hive should."
"Then you tell me, why haven't I gone rogue?"
"I asked you."
"Fine, if love isn't enough, then I haven't given up on them or myself."
"You eventually could. You gave up on having kids."
"I don't remember saying I'd never have any again. I'm just going to do it carefully, if I do it again. Do it right. Preferably with a good father. That's the hard part."
"I would've agreed if not for Pilon."
"Hah, there were other good guys in my hive, Pilon sounds more like your decision if you were in my place."
"... nevermind."
"I'm serious about there being other guys. I just got too damn picky for my own good. Never really saw a guy or felt his empathy and said 'yeah, I really want to have his - "
"We're digressing. If you ever went to an alien college, the first thing you learn in cultural studies is that going rogue is natural, and even necessary for new hives to form and adapt. Furthermore, I would have attempted to get the real Rokoa to go rogue, if I knew what I know now, if I did not think of her as an awful person who should be constrained within her hive, and if I would ever speak to her again. All of these are implausible."
"You don't hate me as much as you say you do."
"That says little, there are only a few redeeming qualities. You have no reason to be ashamed of having me commit regicide, it was, I'm trying to say, a good decision."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"I felt like telling Rokoa that without actually telling Rokoa that. You're perfect for it. Now I'll leave you alone. Leave me alone in return. Goodbye."
"See ya, Polo, it was nice. Go kick some ass for me. Oh, and give Rikora my regards if you ever see her, she's probably still kicking around somewhere. It's not right to judge a person based off another's memories, you know. Just do me a favor and remember your old pal R-"
"Like I could forget. Katzati, go ahead and wake up, or leave the dream. Don't give me that concern, I won't be long, I just have to review another memory."

3/3 Polo 2014/01/12(Sun)17:55 No. 556993 ID: 9cd8ad
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Before I wake up, I use what time I have in order to study her memories in the salikai facility. Vanski treats her poorly, but the ordeal is easier to manage, now. They're only memories after all. I learn everything that Rokoa learned about the base, and will make sure I've burned it into my memory when I wake up. Some of it is more concerning than others, but that doesn't affect me yet.

There's are two entrances to the salikai base that Niam did not know about. One is large and easier to sneak into, but it is far longer and likely involves sneaking past salikai forces in the caves for longer. There is also an exit at the top, closer to the surface, that is more likely well guarded.

I wake up to what feels like a hole in my stomach. And fur in my mouth.

>"Polo, you're..."
"I'm sorry. Agitated, yes. I'll be fine." That isn't a lie by any stretch, I feel surprisingly well rested, aside from the hunger.

>>556993
Ask about food, and an update on how things are going. Tell your allies about what you learned about the salikai base.

Huh. That's an awful... open ended result to the mental conflict. No one's dead yet, and all we can do is wait to see how much you merge or wipe each other out. Which I guess means the only thing you can do at this point is believe in yourself.

Kind of corny, but if you couldn't believe in yourself, you'd have never made it this far anyways. There could be worse odds.

>give Rikora my regards if you ever see her
Hmm. She'd be at least... 150 now? Probably more, but that depends on how old she was when she had Rokoa. It's certainly plausible she's still around, if she wasn't killed in any of the modernization conflicts. Hell, assuming you survive this mission, the unfortunate publicity you've attracted and your connection to Rokoa will probably prompt her to seek you out. And the clones too, if any of them survive, or are taken alive.

>fur in my mouth
You bit yourself? Or Katzati?

Eat something, check if your dream training led to any noticeable physical changes (anything healed faster than it should have? Do you feel stronger or faster or anything?), and check the current status of the group and your allies. (Are Lucera or Kort awake or lucid yet? Be nice if they were out of danger, or to hear what happened, from their perspective. Marra was going to test the regenerators- how'd that go over?). How long has it been, real world time?

Possibly we should test the partial empathy silencing (empathy deception?), but I'd want to do that more... alone. Maybe with just Katz. Neumono are weirded out enough by your silence, but they can get used to is (it's just like a jammer, or like you're a bit like an alien). The ability to lie or deceive via empathy would really throw thrust for a loop though, and you should keep that more secret than your silence, and only test it with someone you trust. The only reason I'd suggest risking testing it all in the field is there's the chance you'll need it against one of the Rokoa clones, or if and when you infiltrate the salikai base.

I think half the reason Rokoa never went rogue was because everyone was expecting her to go rogue. Especially people like the Queen you killed. Letting herself go rogue would be like admitting they were right. So long as she thinks of it in those terms, like she's in some sort of fight against it, she can never give in. She keeps herself from going rogue by sheer contrariness. And as for kids... most likely, she wants to continue her line the same way Rikora did, aiming to produce some perfect little hero warrior heir.

Better ask Katzati if you feel different, and how, aside from the agitation. Get food, ask how long you've been out (or maybe you can tell by how much Katzati's arm has grown back?), get updates.

Then, perhaps, you should consider testing whether your memory-training in partial silence has given you the ability to empathically "lie"? If so, you should tell someone, Katzati most likely. It'll lower trust levels, but not so badly as if they found out by themselves. On the other hand, telling anyone might mean losing the advantage if they get caught by the salikai. On the other other hand, we don't know if being bugged can make someone spill every secret detail they have. Do you have to ask for specific information? Just ordering them "tell me everything you know that I'd want to know" sounds almost too vague to result in anything more useful than an hours-long stream of general information. The salikai seem like they might be too impatient to sit through that sort of thing. You could ask the hunter hivers about that, if you knew where Biles' group was.

At least we are well rested now. Lets check in on the team and make sure nothing odd has happened while we were out. See how long we were sleeping and take stock of the situation.

Then we tally our supplies and discuss what we have learned about the enemy base. Can we still go through with our original plan or do we make another one.

We might not want to get right into the thick of things until we know how this absorption process is going to affect you. Do not want you getting dizzy or something in a dangerous spot.

No idea if we can track down Biles and Moi but they would be handy to have along in a infiltration attempt. Finding them down here would be tricky even without Salikai forces running everywhere.

>>557003
Considering the degree of freedom bugged people have to interpret orders allowed Biles to find a way to free himself, and Moi the chance to run away to where she couldn't be given orders, I suspect bugged information extraction is a long, slow process of asking very exact questions that don't leave any room to deliberately misinterpret or obfuscate information. It probably has to be combined with more traditional interrogation tactics to be effective. Granted, a bugged interrogation probably goes faster than otherwise, but it'll still take time.

1/2 Polo 2014/01/13(Mon)16:49 No. 557196 ID: 9cd8ad
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>You bit yourself? Or Katzati?
I did not bite anything to my knowledge, but I have been laying on a large pile of fluff for hours at least. With the lack of recent combing, showering, or basic hygiene, loose fur was inevitable.

"Katzati, I want to test something. Please keep this to yourself. Look at me."
>"Yes?"
"I am looking between your eyes. Which eye am I focusing on?"
>"My left?"

I was focusing on both. I can do it. It wasn't just my imagination.

"Thank you."

2/2 Polo 2014/01/13(Mon)16:49 No. 557197 ID: 9cd8ad
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We get dressed, and I move out to see Korli and a woken Lucera. He looks better.

"How long have I been out?"
>"14 hours. I hope you're ready to hunt for food."
"I should be ready. I would like my rations, then I will go searching."
>"You ate your rations."
"While asleep?"
>"Yes. Katzati woke up for awhile and said your stomach was growling. Then she fed you her rations. Then she fed you her ear. She hasn't eaten. Your gas tank is large, Katzati, but going so long without any food is still dangerous."
>"I'm weak right now, but I'll be fine."
>"Anyways, Marra and Viln are out hunting in one group, with Rokann hunting solo. Marra's wounds are nearly gone outside of the eye. We'd suggest giving you a dose. I'd suggest avoid waking Kort. He has cooled off, but he didn't like seeing you two sleep, or Polo eating so much."
"You appear decent."
>"... thanks, I guess. My glasses broke, but I have not done anything damaging to my eyes recently, so I don't need them. Kort's still got more broken bones than I do, but I can stand.."
"He still dislikes me, then."
>"If not for that, it sounded like he was starting to cool off. Don't mind it too much. I don't think he will do anything drastic anymore. Just let him be."
>"Hello Polo hello Katzati how are you doing Polo?" Korli says, back in her usual spirit.
"I'll be fine, thank you."
>"You beat up Rokoa?"
"... in a sense, I guess. If she tries to take over, it will be soon. I don't know what it will feel like, so I am reluctant to put myself in great danger. Hunting should be fine, but I may get dizzy out of nowhere. Why are you not in your armor?"
>"It's uncomfortable and if we're found out here in our hidey hole, we're kind of screwed anyway."

I hate to be the angry drill Sargent here but is anyone armored up right now? If a group of roaming bugs got in here having at least one armored person would save us all.

I know we have mostly civilians here but a bit of discomfort is better than having to get robots dug out of you with a knife for hours.

Anyway lets check on everything to make sure no one got infected while we were out and then do a once over of the camp before we head out to hunt. We might want some backup if possible in case the Rokoa fight pops up at a bad moment.

>>557197
Wouldn't a regen booster make you hungrier, because of the energy required to fix things? This is probably also why you're so hungry, because you've been regenerating to fight Rokoa's regeneration. I wonder if you're any bigger? Check.

Let's get equipped then head out where Rokann went. Hunting solo isn't a good idea for anyone, what with the risk of bugs.

>>557198
Speaking of bugs, has there been anyone unarmored and unmonitored for any length of time? If so a bug sweep might be in order.

>Eye focus
Ooh, clever. Not even she knows for sure you can do it. Just remember: use this ability sparringly, and only when it really matters. Don't fall into the habit of using it unconsciously.

>what do
You should ask Lucera what happened when he and Lott were separated from you. How did they come to be bugged? The voklit turned on them?

Any movement or sign of the enemy?

Check to see if you've healed more than expected, or if any of that exercise turned out to be real after all. All that food had to go somewhere.

At least now we know where Katzati was when she woke up. Feeding you. ...try not to imagine her feeding you in your sleep like a baby.

Still, as embarrassing (and adorable) as that image is, she really put herself on the line for you. She's been taking care of you, and hasn't eaten since she was injured. And she lost a lot of blood. We'll have to get a good amount of food.

Did Marta report the regerators making her hungrier? If we're already in food debt, we should delay using the drugs. If it doesn't matter though, go ahead.

>I can do it. It wasn't just my imagination.

Well, congratulations, Polo. You've leveled up. You are now 100% number one at empathy control among neumono, and are no longer in any danger of your unique skill becoming obsolete from the invention of personal jammers. How does it feel to be the best?

Of course, there are probably lots more people trying to learn how to turn off their empathy, now, and there'll be more after this mission finishes; and if you figured out how to do this, it's possible someone else could, especially once it gets out that you can. Perhaps when you get back to your ultrahive, you should suggest some sort of regulation or policing body be set up with other ultrahives. Neumono-specific crimes are probably only going to go up anyway, what with all this scientific predator use, and empathy-manipulating technology, and clone darts, and drugs tailored to your physiology, and who knows what else that'll show up. Some sort of species-wide security initiative will probably become a very good idea. Seems like something you'd take to well. Just a thought for the future.

For now, take a moment to thank Katzati for all her help. Korli seems slightly more effusive than normal; when was the last time you got a glimpse of her empathy? As for the regeneration booster, seems a waste for you to use it now, everyone's sure to get more injuries later, sad to say. Don't know how it'll affect your internal battle, anyway. Most likely it would accelerate it, but you might be trading getting it over with sooner for more intense side-effects while it's happening. And fill in the group on what you know RE: the salikai base.

How are we managing with jammers, with the group split up? We needed food badly enough, and got far enough away from the enemy / it's been long enough since we saw any sign of them that it was worth sending out un-jammed hunting parties?

Only problem with I see with Polo hunting is her size limits how much food she can bring back, unless she takes something down near enough to camp for the civies to help harvest.

>>557198
I assume Marra and Rokann are kitted up, although they don't have full armor sets, and are away from base.

I wouldn't give Korli a hard time about it now. It's not much added risk at the moment (we're already spread out and out of our hidey hole), and constant uncomfortable vigilance probably isn't worth the moral hit. We need to be paranoid, yes, be we need these people to keep functioning too.

>neumono empathy crime increase?
It will only happen if people know it can be done. People already see Polo as a curiosity- and silence training as a lot of work to duplicate what a jammer can do without a decade of work. The simplest solution isn't to police it- it's to just never let on that there are other advantages.

>seems a waste for [Polo] to use it now
Depends on how bad her injuries are. She's still down an eye, and has a somewhat bum leg, and weak arm. And we have 15 (minus whatever was used) doses left. It could be well worth spending one dose to get her back to full strength, especially if she still wants to infiltrate the base on her own. That's the kind of situation where full maneuverability, full range of sight, and not having a twinge in your arm at a critical moment might make all the difference.

>>557197
you might mention that on the slim chance Rokoa brain wins that she will most likely be on their side anyway. If she was tell the truth then she doesn't think her chances are very good. And if she dose it probably going to be more like sniper clone, so a lot of who you are will survive on in that new amalgam person.

Don't get me wrong here though. I'm pulling for you to just win.

Also what is with Katzati. She has been as good to you as your own hive. And she's not even the same ultra hive as you. This is good news for your species. She can care deeply about other neumono outside of her hive with greater ease than anyone we have seen. I mean you and your hive found Rikek likable. But from what she has show us; I don't think Katzati's behavior is because of the desperate situation. Maybe she's part of some experimental love people hive program.

I not trying to be silly here. What makes her tick has been bugging me for a while. She bonds with people very easily, more like a human. Or am I just seeing one possible extreme of neumon psychology here?

>>557341
Exo-hive friendships are possible. They'd certainly be rarer pre-uplfit, or if any of the individuals came from more xenophobic hives, or had an older, tribal mindset. Katzati would seem to have a very modern mindset, paired with a deep compassion and unexpected strength of character.

I wouldn't worry overmuch about factoring ultrahive status into that, as the ultrahives are more political constructions than personal relationships or loyalties. For instance: Biles sure didn't get along with the hunters, but did with Moi, and Rokann. Polo befriended Korli well before either of them joined an ultrahive. And if Marra and Rokann have known each other most of their lives, that suggests their friendship predates the war Rokann fought in when their ultrahive was being established.

And heck, there's Pilon and Polo. If they could strike up a friendship from opposite sides of a war, (and with him initially not being able to comprehend kindness from a non-hivemate!), I don't think it's so crazy seeing Katzati act this way.

...although what is it with you and giant grey fuzzballs, Polo. You seem to get tangled up with a lot of them.

1/2 Polo 2014/01/16(Thu)21:48 No. 558032 ID: 9cd8ad
File 138993770493.png - (18.84KB , 800x800 , 724.png )

>Also what is with Katzati. She has been as good to you as your own hive. This is good news for your species.
Katzati is not normal.

>What is it with you and giant grey fuzzballs, Polo. You seem to get tangled up with a lot of them.
This is also not normal.

"Thank you once again, Katzati. Now it's worth mentioning that even if Rokoa wins, then I believe she is not on the Salikai's side. They have ill tested tools to work with, and things like this will backfire. Are we so low on food that we had to send out non-jammed parties to hunt?"
>"Marra and Viln are scheduled to come back in 15 minutes. Rokann in 5. Our hunting trips are fast and short so that if we run into problems, we will know." Lucera says.
"Also, none of us are armored. Given the existence of bugs, this is bad. Korli, put yours on. I will put mine on. Then go hunting so that I can get enough food to justify a regen shot. Do you know where Rokann went?"
>"Yes. From the overhang here, right, left, upright, downleft, down, forward. That's what has been scouted, and what she will not stray from much. It isn't far, given that she is alone."
"Did Marra say she was hungrier after taking the dose?"
>"She acts too tough to tell us that sort of thing."

We have our backpack of supplies left here, so I scan everyone for bugs. Everyone is clean.

"Did the voklit from earlier turn on you?"
>"Yes, that is how we got bugged."

My current state is decent. I believe I can stand on my leg reliably now, and the only thing of concern is my eye. It does not hurt much anymore, but I am reluctant to attempt to open it. I will do so later when there is a more pressing need to see out of both eyes, as I have heard that it is difficult to tell when an eye is ready to be seen out of until I try.

>You are now 100% number one at empathy control among neumono
To my knowledge, I was already the best. This new ability simply pushed that.

2/2 Polo 2014/01/16(Thu)21:48 No. 558033 ID: 9cd8ad
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I am hesitant to share my knowledge of the salikai base, as if any of my allies were to be captured, then the salikai would know that I know about their base. However, if I were to become incapacitated, then my knowledge would be trapped with my outcome. therefore, I recount what I know about the base and write down the overall layout on some stationary that Lucera had in his pocket.

There are over 2,000 arkots in cryogenics, but there has been hints of power failures in the past.
There are 2 fufas. At least 6 fully grown vernauts, 8 grottles, and 8 Rokoa's. Almost definitely more Rokoas, and there are at least several in the process of being made. There are also 600 bots of varying degrees of use. Some use heavy weapons, but are slow and predictable. Most are not thoroughly tested. The salikai still own the one CAI, and lastly, one predator.

The clone Rokoa watched another Rokoa fight several things. She can take an average voklit if both have a spear. Without weapons, a voklit has a decent chance of winning by simple mass and strength. Rokoa can handle up to 9 dozen arkots that are sent at her a dozen at a time, faltering from exhaustion and blood loss. She cannot handle a fully grown vernaut with a simple blade, but she is able to frustrate it until it decides to roll over on her. A fight with a fufa is pathetic on Rokoa's half. No grottles were used in the experiments due to a lack of control the Salikai have been able to exert over a grottle. I do not know what I will do with this information, or what the Salikai care about what an unarmored, often barefisted Rokoa can do. This is all, of course, a clone Rokoa's abilities.

Both Ohidi and Vanski own a killswitch for the CAI. Or at least what Rokoa believes is a killswitch. Neither of them have gotten a good rest in months. Salikai do not sleep in the same manner most beings do, and can remain active, but constant exertion takes their toll. Vanski would be able to think far more clearly if he took so much as half a day off, but he may have lost the sheer ability to relax, now.

Vanski talked a great deal about dealing a blow to the surface world and a lot of ways to do it in. Everything he says is presented like a cool headed madman's presentation, and it is impossible to tell how much is feasible for the salikai and how much is just wild daydreaming.

"Korli, how many did you say were in your hive?"
>"About 13 or so? We don't see each other much though, so I only know several really well."

There are about 23 or so, and they barely know each other through unjammed walls. They blend in together so much that it feels like there are only a handful. Clone Rokoa broke in and got them to talk about themselves before the salikai dragged her out.

Rihhin, Likol and Momu are the CAI handlers. Likol was a developer before he suicided.
Mirim is the primary clonist, with help from Lollu and Saitul the biologists.
Moi is one of the younger ones at age 24, and is seeking to take over Seca's job as the armor engineer. The latter is 125 years old.
The oldest, at an alleged 208 years, is Quokko, the manager and most knowledgeable of the hive.
Ramella's title was a Rocket Engineer. I would have been concerned that this meant the salikai have rockets, but they put a Rokoa dart in her. Then again, Niam was cloned, it's possible that so was Ramella.

Everyone else does not seem to be worth note. Generalists, architects, chemists and so forth.

That is about all Rokoa knows to any degree of reliability, and even then, everything must be taken with caution. Four Stripes dealt with all of the Rokoas extensively, and I doubt any made it out unscathed. This information also includes the vague knowledge of one extra entrance at the top of the base, and one at the bottom. The upper ceiling ceiling has an extensive reinforced layer, and it extends down around the base in a protective cylinder. The bottom side does not have appear to have this.

>voklit from earlier turned
Weird that they'd be willing to use bugs, but not modern weapons. Maybe because the bugs attack on their own, or seemed alive to them, the same reluctance didn't apply? Still, less remorse over what happened there. Though I think it's pretty obvious they felt they were trapped between a rock and a hard place.

>tiny science hive
Huh. I was expecting more. Dozens, maybe getting up towards a hundred. That makes the salikai's willingness to sacrifice them for Rokoa clones or Fufu food more surprising. Also it raises the question of where they're getting all the other neumono bodies needed for the invasive cloning (the tribals, I guess?).

Still, on the upside, I suppose a smaller hive is a lot easier to move or rescue when it comes time.

Oh, and I suppose there's the other 7 or 8 pinkie-hivers or so the warhive captured that ended up with your ultrahive. That brings the total to the 30s.

You have Seca to thank for your armor, then.

>Everyone else does not seem to be worth note.
...what about the sniper rifle designer? Rokoa didn't meet them, or he or she was one of the ones already rescued? There's someone you owe compliments to for sure, some day.

>map
Any idea where they keep Four Stripes?

>what do
Any plans regarding the base will have to wait. Immediate concern is getting some food. Pick a route with advice from Katzati (her map making is relevant again), so they know which way you went if anything goes wrong. Pick your rout so that on the way out you should pass Mara coming in.

For the Salikai base we need a in of some sort. If you could find and debug the sniper clone she might be able to help you get in undetected. But that depends on finding her and debugging her. Otherwise we need to cause a distraction or something to get into the base undetected.

The big targets inside the base are the two Salikai, four stripes, and the CAI. We might be able to strike a deal with the CAI if it thinks we have a chance of stopping the killswitch.

As for the others I think we should work on causing several large "accidents" at several points inside and outside the base if we can. Spike the grottles food so they go nuts, turn off whatever they use to control the fufu, or heck just kill Four stripes so all the Rokoa's go nuts for awhile. If we can do something like that while remaining undetected we might be able to free the Cai. At that point we can probably just sit back and watch the Rokoa's tear the Salikai apart.

Honestly we do not have enough info for any plan to survive more than a few minutes in so lets concentrate on getting enough food for the moment and keeping a eye out for anything we can use for later. We do not want to try anything until you are fully healed and do not have to worry about mental Rokoa bullshit.

I suspect there is a lot more science hive cloning than they are informed about.

The top entrance is probably a chimney. The bottom is a sewer. We entered through the sewer once before, they'll be expecting it. Chimney's dangerous but... maybe we should go for it. Alternatively, if we can get a good amount of explosives from somewhere, we could blow a hole in the floor and come up from there. Or use that for the exit! ...yeah let's use that for our exit.

Four Stripes is either in the Tribals building or the Another Building. I'm betting on the Another building, because it's right next to the cloning facility. That should be our target. Get in, assassinate Four Stripes, get out through exploding the floor.

>>558039
Four stripes might also be in cloning (for training or doing other things to Rokoa clones) or in the central command (that's likely where the control systems for the bugs are located, and he'd need a place to connect to the network when he's controlling hunters directly).

Assuming of course he's still mobile at all and not living in a tube somewhere with metal screwed into his brain.

>>558037
I'd say another big targets is the central control for the bugs. We're already planning on blowing the salikai's external communication array on the way in, as per Niam's plan (which should release the hunters outside from anything but standing orders, and make coordinated enemy action difficult), but the enemy might still be able to give orders to bugs inside the base. If we can take out central bug control, that would release their controls on the science hive, and any Rokoas who might be looking to switch sides (or who are just crazy). That means more people working against the salikai in their base.

Of course, we might also be able to accomplish shutting down that system if we turn the CAI.

Extensive team planning will have to wait until a time where everyone has come back together. Then again, knowing your luck, there's a chance that that moment will never come.

I suggest going through the bottom, 5. It is sure to be heavily guarded, but at least that you can do something about and sneak past, unlike a concrete wall. The biggest danger inside the facility would be the 2000 arkots in cryo. What happens when the power is cut off? Do they just... defrost? Or is there some sort of damage that happens to their bodies? If the former, heavy explosives might have to be planted. If there is a possible kill switch to dispose of all the arkots, it's probably in control of the CAI. Killing Four Stripes is also a big goal, the problem is he could be anywhere. I think he would be in central command, under heavy guard, he is pretty much essential to the salikai's plans.

It is very tempting to take control of the CAI, seeing as it probably controls all the systems of the facility, not to mention the fact that it is apparently held hostage in a sense. However, it's probably located in the center of central command, under heavy surveillance. The only other people that would have access to it would be Rihhin and Momu, probably under surveillance as well. It might be a good idea to make contact with the science hive, and have them help out, but with more people brings a greater risk that you'll be caught. Making contact with just Quokko would be a good idea, just look for the oldest of the bunch. There's always the risk that he's bugged however...

There are also the three timed explosives that have to be planted outside the facility, although I have forgotten where or if there was a plan to do that.

Timing is very critical here, you have to time everything correctly so that everything happens at once. The three time bombs will go off, the cryo suddenly fails, Four Stripes is disabled or dead, the CAI is no longer under control, basically get as many things to happen at once to distract and hinder the salikai while everyone else escapes.

Summary of the plan:
Plant time bombs
Enter the facility through entrance 5
Check what the building below cloning is, hope it's an armory
Sabotage or otherwise disable the arkots in cryo
Sneak your way to the science hive
Make contact with Quokko
Sabotage as many systems as you can, time them to go off at around the same time

>>558032
>Katzati is not normal
Man, Katzati is what happens when you make a pacifist version of Rokoa that's extreme but also make it sane.

Think about how wrong Katzati is for a moment. It's right in a weird way, like it's supposed to be wrong, but it's not quite wrong either which is how you can describe Rokoa. Or, at least that's how I think you describe Rokoa. Hard to understand. So like, Katzati is cuddle-Rokoa or Bizarro Rokoa or something like that. But by all means her empathy output is actually sane and normal feeling. Like she's nothing out of the ordinary.
I want to ask Katzati if she's ever had any kids before.

You know Rokoa never seemed to be the time to be good exclusively to her own hive either. At least when you met her. Maybe before Rikora's training she was like normal Neumono in that regard.

I'm worried what might happen if Katzati gets darted too. I do not want to know how that would go, to say the least. Or even how they would mix or fight.

Polo 2014/02/01(Sat)15:50 No. 560470 ID: d470e9
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>What happens when the power is cut off for the arkot cryogenics?
Rokoa wasn't sure, but it was not good for the arkots. It most likely unfroze the arkots, but did not let them out of their tank.

>Ask Katzati if she has kids.
Somehow I feel that the time for talking about her home has passed.

"That's not including your hivemates that were rescued onto the warship, Korli. So, around 30 or so."
>"Huh."

>What about the sniper rifle designer?
Rorrili. He was also worth note, and the one who I owe thanks to.

>Any idea where they keep Four Stripes?
Not definitively, but most likely in central command.

>There are also the three timed explosives that have to be planted outside the facility
This was primarily to distract the salikai so that my group could make an escape out to the surface. Although that plan is not necessarily dead, that goal has become farther away. It may be all I can do to lay those bombs where they were originally planned, but only to sneak in myself while their radios are out.

It is somewhat early for me to start thinking of this while I still have healing to do, and Rokoa is still lingering inside of me.

"Katzati, please help me in making a route that will cross with Marra's, so that everyone knows where I went."
>"Okay."

She draws out a map based on what little she knows of the direct surroundings, in the path Marra took.
>"Okay... to be honest, I wanted everyone to record their paths to make a map, but if they get caught, having a recording... bad idea. Sooo, I've been trying to map things out based on people's memories and all that. I can get you to the path Marra took, but past that, I can't really say go right, left, straight, and so on because I won't be able to know if there's stuff that sort of straight, right and all. It works with Marra's path, but if you go farther, then, well, I just need you to remember what you can. When we move into unknown territory, just go as straight and level as possible at each intersection. Make sure to watch your back so you're familiar with what everything looks like on your way back. Since tunnels curve, you won't actually be going straight, I just mean that if you hit an intersection, please go straight as possible. If there's too paths that just look too equally close to straight and level, then please take the upper one as priority, and the leftmost one as second priority."
"Alright. Help me put on my arm... er."
>"Then please give me a hand."
She can crack jokes now.

It has been sometime since I swapped items. I have set my pile of things in a pile nearby the communal pile, and should decide what to take and what to leave.

You are still recovering and want to be able to carry as much food back as possible. So lets go with one sidearm and your rifle. Take one of the Regen medicines in case we need it for knocking someone out or you know regening.

>She can crack jokes now.
That deserves cracking a small smile, at least. (She's coping, and/or picking up your habit, there).

>inventory
You shouldn't be carrying all the medical supplies, especially the regenerators. In general, make sure you're carrying low enough weight you can bring something back. Maybe taking some of the rope to secure what (if anything) you kill.

>>560470
Katzti has obviously been darted with a Polo dart
Everybody start panicking

I'm good with side arm and sniper rifle
We got a knife right? Might need to engage in CQC, especially if we're going to hunt for some food too.

>radio plan meant as a distraction
Yeah, but there's the added advantage that for as long as those com systems are down, all the spread out forces' bugs have to fall back on standing orders. Which means no coordinated efforts, and they're free to get away with some stuff.

>We got a knife right?
We currently have the armor, bioarmor, sniper, pistol, machine gun, grapple, LED lamp, knife, 2 frag, 2 smoke.

If we're lightening the load for hunting, the mg is probably the easiest thing to prune. (Although, it's also our least valuable weapon, with the most ammo. So if we wanted to waste munitions hunting...). Maybe grenades, but looking at the list, those have already been pretty well distributed across the group, and they don't cost much weight.

The knife is useful in a lot of situations, and low weight too.

1/2 Polo 2014/02/01(Sat)18:30 No. 560502 ID: d470e9
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A side arm, my sniper, and my knife will be my weapons. I will keep one frag grenade. I would bring one injection of regeneration, but all of the doses are stored in a single bottle.

My grapple is only somewhat lightweight, but I will also bring it along since it can double as rope. Since we could be worse on light sources, I will bring my lamp.

>"Be careful." Katzati says, giving me a ... headbump. Empathy contact is too weak for me to understand what that is about.
"I shouldn't be gone for too long, but I always am. Please remain in good enough spirits to make jokes."

Rokann comes back just as I am leaving. I'll leave it to the others to help her down and explain what they will, as I don't wish to waste more time than I have already. It seems that she brought back some small game.

2/2 Polo 2014/02/01(Sat)18:30 No. 560503 ID: d470e9
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I say I shouldn't be gone for long, but I move slowly. I check every corner with my knife, and remain as absolutely quiet as I can. My surroundings also become terribly quiet.

Worse still is that my stomach growls, which sounds like a rumble in this silence. I think that Rokoa's brain is starting to act up in me, as I am starting to feel odd. Or I think I feel odd. I can remain attentive enough that it is not a concern, but I am far more hungry than I should be. Especially after eating all that I allegedly did.

It's a moderately long walk along Marra's route. I make it to the final direction, forward, at the intersection. When there is another junction, I've reached the end of Marra's designated path, with no sign ofher or Viln.

Well no use getting to worked up over not seeing them yet. Make sure you remember the path back and maybe make small scuff marks with your knife or something if you need to.

Start your hunt for food and if we run into any sign of the others we can follow up on that.

>>560503
Start hunting in the general area. Keep watch for signs of the two.

>really hungry
I think it's pretty obvious that having two systems in you actively attacking each other and regenerating as they go is consuming more energy than maintaining normal homeostasis.

You might also have needed extra energy to fuel the brain activity needed for all the dreamtime time-compression. Or if that dream-exercise had an effect, the energy might have gone to muscle growth.

>No Marra, Viln
How long are they overdue? If it's just a few minutes, they may have been delayed. So you could just a wait a minute or few to see if they show, and maybe to let that odd feeling pass.

If they're more than a few minutes overdue, that likely means something has gone wrong. In which, I think we'd be better off following their path than going on the other.

Polo 2014/02/01(Sat)20:06 No. 560518 ID: d470e9
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I stay close by this area, but do scout this location thoroughly. I was not aware if Marra was going to stray from this path, but I am expecting that she should be nearly back at the base by now. It is possible that she did not come back the way she came exactly, and that I managed to miss her. I get a good idea of my surroundings by the time Marra should have been back at base as of 10 minutes ago.

eat

Damnit, she isn't talking, but I can sense that much from Rokoa. If I felt this way in my sleep, then I understand why Katzati felt it necessary to sacrifice an ear. That odd feeling spiked up. There is no way to describe two brains eating away at one another. My mentality is getting touched, and the sensation is like nothing else.

"Hey! Come out already! I know I smelled dry blood!"

Wait. That one wasn't the Rokoa in my mind. There's a Rokoa around here. Her voice is different, but I recognize that tone.

I also smell a vernaut. These caves aren't too large in many areas, so it's almost certainly a young one.

Vernaut meat is awful, but I would eat it if I had to.

I don't think she noticed you so she must be talking to someone else.

If a young Vernaut got ahold of Marra or Viln it could be bad. We should investigate if you feel up to it. Will be no avoiding the brain eating sensation sadly. But keep your thoughts forefront in your mind and it should be mostly you doing the eating. If it gets overwhelming or starts to impact your performance find a safe spot to ride it out if you can. Stay focused on your hunt and finding the missing teammates and it should keep your mind off your mind.

>Vernaut meat is awful, but I would eat it if I had to.
Priorities. There's a Rokoa-clone in the area. A gunshot would be heard, and you'd never have time to butcher and eat anything before she found you. The vernaut and eating isn't the priority.

She's hunting something. That's really not good if it's one of your overdue allies. You need to get eyes on her, without being seen. Worst case, you may need to reenact your Moi-rescue. Or you may have to deal with her if she's headed towards your allies' camp.

Best case, you can let her go in another direction, and then kill eat something else. Worst case, you'll be killing and eating another Rokoa. (Kind of an amusing symmetry using one Rokoa to feed anther's hunger).

>>560518
Have you considered starving yourself might help you NOT transform into part-Rokoa?
Just something to think about. We figured out the transformation process takes a lot of energy, so maybe if you don't eat, you can't supply the process with energy and you won't transform as much, but your body and instincts will clamber for it and practically drive you insane, but it might be for your own good.

Or it could make everything worse or even kill you. Maybe small rations of food is okay, enough to make sure the harsh conditions of the transformation doesn't kill you from energy deprevation, but enough to make Rokoa's matter weak. She probably needs more energy to transform you than you need to stay the same considering your 99.99% Polo right now and the .01% of Rokoa has to grow and overtake that majority. And your body will probably give what little rations it receives to important processes keeping you currently alive rather than to your regeneration ability, which is probably what the body will use to rebuild you into more like Rokoa. The Rokoa brain mass starts deteriorating from starvation/inactivity and then disappears completely.

As for the clone Rokoa situation we're in...
Try and find that Vernaut, get it to fight Rokoa, and then kill Rokoa while she's distracted.

Rokoa meat is gamey but if you get all the bugs out of her she would feed the whole team. Plus if you aim well you can get a nice throw rug for in front of the fireplace back home!

>>560521
I think the biological process of the two brains eating each other and regenerating is going to require food, no matter the outcome. We can't starve Rokoa without starving Polo. If she wasn't getting energy from Polo's systems, her parts would have died off hours and hours ago.

Polo 2014/02/01(Sat)20:59 No. 560526 ID: d470e9
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>Have you considered starving yourself might help you NOT transform into part-Rokoa?
As much as I have considered that it might help me transform into part Rokoa. Either case is a tossup, so I will go with the one that does not involve impaired ability.

I'm not going to run out there and chomp on Rokoa. I do not know what she knows, or where she is going, so I attempt to tail them.

It doesn't seem that they have a specific direction. Perhaps Rokoa simply thinks we're around, and that it is a good idea to announce her presence.

The vernaut stops.

>"Smal."
"What?"
>"Smal f... noomono. Osserr.. snow hife."
"Must be the big one. Didn't think she'd be out here alone."
>"Vill vind."
"... yeah, you do that." She doesn't sound like she understood it.

Is it able to smell Katzati so much as touching my armor? It's starting to come closer, I can hear its thumps.

Either it's the hunger, or Rokoa is making me eat my big words, but I'm getting the urge to fight them. Which is stupid, I can expect that there are other salikai forces within gunshot hearing distance. I don't see them yet.

>>560526
Dammit. We're in a shitty situation again.

Lure the Vernaut away so that you can kill it without alerting others.

>vernaut speak
Small female neumono? Snow hive.

He smells you. And either he smells Katzati on you, or there's enough Rokoa in your system that you smell like a snow hiver to him too.

>fight them, stupid?
Depends on if the vernaut's nose is good enough to track you back to the others. If so, you don't have a choice. You need to either get back fast and move before they reach you, or you have to stop them from getting there.

...also, if you're starving now, you won't be able to survive annother hours long fight and run.

Which probably means killing the vernaut, and killing or disabling the clone.

If the vernaut's nose isn't good enough, we can sneak away and try to get the hell out of here. Maybe kill something small, quietly, on the way back.

If it sounds like it's coming alone, by the footfalls, and if the initial exchange was far enough that the Rokoa must be an appreciable distance, then maybe you could take it. If it's a young one then it's still growing, and they probably wouldn't have given it armor. It'll be hard to get away if it can smell you. And if there are other forces within gunshot distance... you could not use the gun. If you can manage to slice the tendons in at least two of its legs, you'll slow it to a crawl. It is risky, though.

If they can track where you came from based on smell, probably going to have to kill the Vernaut at least. Any other plans depends a lot on how this Rokoa has been changed. Leading her away may or may not be an option, but we'll likely need to kill her eventually either way.

>>560529
>Small female neumono
I think that might be smell instead of small.

When you have something capable of tracking you by smell its not a case of fighting or not. Now that it has your sent you need to lure it into a trap where you can dispatch it as silently as possible.

Is there any weak point on a small one of these you can take advantage of with your knife? Only other silent options I can think of are finding something to drop on it or lure it into another predator down here.

If you do have to fight both of them I would go for the clone first if possible. If you get the element of surprise it would be best used on the clone. If she is not heavily armored you could try knocking her out with one of the regen stims. Or just blow her head off depending how close you can get.

>small smell
Ah, right. Can't smell size.

>kill vernaunt with knife?
The quiet of not making a gunshot won't matter if the Rokoa-clone sees the body and shouts, or calls it in. Enemy forces will still know you're here.

If we can't kill it out of her line of sight, and keep the body hidden, the risk of trying to kill a monster hand to hand isn't worth it. (Remember, even Rokoa has trouble with these things in hand to hand. This may be a small one, but Polo's small too).

(Even if this would be an interesting test if you've really gotten better at hand to hand).

I bet it's more because you smell like Rokoa more than you do Katzati
You're in your armor, unless Katzati was all super nuzzlin' that shit the only thing that would permeate a fragrance on it is you.

Damn shame you can't use that fact against that Rokoa clone though, you both probably have a unique smell. Maybe, I don't know. We'd have to ask Viln he was there for the Rokoa fights and smells super good he probably knows what Rokoa smells like.

I might suggest building a trap and putting some of your blood bait to lead the vernaut into it. Little droplets here and there, lead it away from the other Salikai forces and BAM. Done. Hopefully Rokoa won't follow it.
But if she does, remember, if you get Rokoa to fall down, go for a quick beheading, starting with the esophagus or spine. In fact, try and get a spine sniper shot if you can to paralyze her and finish her off with the knife beheading. Wait, I don't know if spinal injuries paralyze Neumono. Crap.

1/2 Polo 2014/02/02(Sun)00:44 No. 560546 ID: d470e9
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A knife has more overall use, but I would greatly enjoy a plasma sword about now. I don't even know if my knife would be able to get past the skull of a vernaut. Probably not. Perhaps critical tendons, but if it roars, I may as well use a gun.

I start moving away as quickly as I can without making noise. The vernaut can still be heard, but I am gaining distance. It is, unfortunately, beginning to head in the general direction of our hideout. It is well hidden from sight, but this vernaut's smell may counter that.

There is a decent open area not far from our location that may be ideal to snipe in.

The greater parts of my mind know that trying to take a vernaut with a knife is suicide. The lesser parts want to give it a try.

>"Dry blood. Tral fund. Follow." Rokoa could smell it, so it was only a matter of time before the vernaut found a trail.

2/2 Polo 2014/02/02(Sun)00:44 No. 560547 ID: d470e9
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I run ahead of them to get between them and our base, and cut my finger to make a false trail of fresher blood leading away.

>Does a spine shot paralyze a neumono?
No. Our spines support the stability of our torsos, and breaking it would severely hinder a normal neumono, but I can assume that Rokoa's back muscles are strong enough to support herself alone.

>"New blood. Fund newmono tral. Alt Salkai."
"Not yet. We could've found a wounded native or something. Follow it."
>"Roka. Is dumb. Alt Salkai. Newmono found."
"Nope. Go forward. I'm gonna find Polo and fight her. Salikai aren't gonna interrupt."
>"Nut what Salkai want."
"They shoulda thought of that before they decided to make me the Polo hunter, first and foremost!"
>"No. Wull shout far Salkai. SAL---"
"You feel that? You're going to die if you shout. Keep walking."

Good. The salikai do have trouble controlling the Rokoas.

>>560547
Alright, now lure them into that ambush so you can shoot them both.

>"You feel that? You're going to die if you shout. Keep walking."

... It sounds like she's holding a gun or a knife to it or something. It'd be nice if you could make her or it have a sudden twitch or something. And... could it be she's riding on its back? Can you hear her footsteps alongside the vernaut's?

Hmm am not sure which one you should shoot first. The clone is a bigger threat in the short run but if that Vernaut gets the chance it will alert the other forces nearby.

Well if she is riding it you can start by shooting it out from under her. Just have to get into a good position for a ambush.

I am guessing they have been following Katzati's blood trail from all the way back where she lost her arm. So stopping them here before they can call in more reinforcements is vital.

The only reason they haven't sounded the alarm is because the Rokoa-clone wants to fight you. Meaning if you slip away and they reach the end of that trail without finding anything, they will call it in.

I don't think you have a choice, anymore. You need to stage an ambush. That's your best way to remove the threat.

Is the clone close enough that you can sense her empathy? How close is this Rokoa to baseline? Remember, dart-Rokoa was willing to surrender, provided you beat another her in fair combat. Well, you've as good as beaten drat-koa in fair combat, meaning another Rokoa with a similar mindset might yield.

>who shoot?
It'll depend on what the situation is once we get eyes on them, and how they're armored.

Off the top of my head though, using surprise to disable or disadvantage the clone is probably more valuable than killing the vernaunt. At least, if we want this to go the more the way things did with the amputee clone, and not the sniper clone.

Or, if it's possible, a two-for-one shot would be great. (Which might require an AP round if you expect it to go all the way through her and penetrate it's skull).

Polo 2014/02/02(Sun)10:06 No. 560600 ID: d470e9
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A fight is looking unavoidable. There is a decent straightaway that the vernaut is going in. If I am to use my sniper, the vernaut should not be a large threat. Since I have studied grottles and vernauts, I know that they do not have scattered brain systems, but their brain does not grow with their bodies. That means that it is difficult to shoot a fully grown vernaut in its brain to kill it, but this small one should not be an issue. The noise of the shot, however, is a large concern, but I am not sure how to do it otherwise. An AP round to go straight through both of them is tempting, but vernaut skulls and flesh are terribly tough, I'm uncertain if an AP round would go through it.

Rokoa enters empathy range. She is clearly not the real Rokoa, but she is surprisingly close. Somewhat calmer, but still exciteable. And she is fixated on a fight with me.

I make visual contact with the knife. It is difficult to see this far off, but it appears that Rokoa is riding the vernaut. It would make sense, since I have never heard her footsteps, although I doubt I would have if she was barefoot. The vernaut and Rokoa are wearing bioarmor, and Rokoa looks like she may have some loose clothes over that, but nothing more.

The vernaut is picking up its pace. I can hear it sniffing now.

If you have a visual with the knife, can your visor x-ray tell if she's bugged?

>what shoot
If Rokoa is riding the vernaut, I don't think it's in a position to move very quickly. And if she moves in response to being injured, that could very well pin or hinder the vernaut's movements enough that your second shot could kill it.

I'd say your best bet would be to open with a shot to her head (take out an eye again, if you can) to disable her as much as possible while you have the element of surprise. Then kill the vernaut before it can react. As nice as HE-ing her head again might be, I don't think you can afford the smoke and explosion obscuring the second shot, though. This needs to be one-two: disadvantage Rokoa, and kill her mount.

Polo 2014/02/02(Sun)11:12 No. 560604 ID: d470e9
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>If you have a visual with the knife, can your visor x-ray tell if she's bugged?
Not by looking at her through my knife.

I wait for them to reach a point that will give me the highest chance of shooting well. I leap out with the intention of hitting Rokoa's head.

Before I get the chance to shoot, she grabs one of the vernaut's horn and yanks his head up while triggering the plasma sword with her other hand. Her reflexes are good for her size, I did not spend more time than necessary in aiming my shot. The plasma sword impales his head. It was not a mistake. She is hiding behind the vernaut's head, but that is not why I hesitate in pulling the trigger.

"Hold that thought, Polo! Salikai are gonna come rushing if they hear a gunshot. Neither of us want that." She is not going to grab her sidearm, but if an AP round is able to get through the vernaut skull, I can still hit her if she suddenly changes her tune.

She looks like a gigantic steak. Now I can tell, also, that there are no bugs in her system.

"What are you here for, then?"
>"How's your hand to hand?"

>>560604
Tell her that's actually an answer you'd like to know yourself ever since her Mom put her through the hoops in the brain-dart memories.

Tell a your Mom joke.

How is my hand to hand? I can honestly say I have recently learned from some of the best.

If she is not bugged up she might have managed to fool the Salikai into trusting her to a extent. Would be nice to find one of the Rokoa's we could work with but honestly it would take a lot to gain any sort of trust.

Or she could be a big old trap to lure us in. So hard to tell these days.

Ha! That's convenient. Still, she's fast, one shot won't kill her, and as soon as there's a gunshot, any other enemies in the area will be alerted.

>She looks like a gigantic steak.
...if we actually get the chance to eat anyone, the vernaut might be a better choice than the Rokoa clone. I know the chances of getting anything of a neumono's personality or memories by eating them are low to apocryphal, but I don't think you want to take any chances at this point. You can't risk giving the Rokoa in your head any reinforcement if you want her completely gone.

...keep your weapon trained as you speak to her.

>How's your hand to hand?
Better than it was.

I've already beaten you in a fair fight, anyways. (Maybe take off your silence for just this beat, so she can see you're telling the truth. And/or speak part of it in her hive's language to drive home she was in your head). "Willpower- as fair as it gets." That was how you described it.

She said she'd yield if I beat another clone in a fair fight. Does that work in reverse?

>>560604
Not good enough to use a knife against someone with a plasma sword, that's for sure. In the reverse situation, it'd be worth a shot.

Also eating another clone sounds like a good idea actually. Brain matter does not survive digestion, and neumono meat is good meat.

>>560610
We take the Rokoa steaks for the others to eat
Obviously
Marinade it with some olive oil, kosher salt, and a stick of butter for 24 hours in a ziplock bag, then get the charcoal out to start grilling.

Polo I'm trying to get you hungrier so that you get a little more motivated to kill her to bits.

>no good using a knife v plasma sword
Except Polo actually won bringing a knife to a plasmasword fight, before.

(And assuming this Rokoa is looking for a fair fight, she wouldn't be using that anymore than her gun, anyways).

1/4 Polo 2014/02/02(Sun)12:12 No. 560622 ID: d470e9
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>Vernaut might be a better choice than the Rokoa clone
Although I do not want more Rokoa in my system, the idea that eating a neumono gives you any of their empathy is purely superstition. Vernaut is not just awful tasting, it is legitimately poor quality meat for neumono to eat. They are last resorts.

"I was recently taught by someone you know."
>"Who?"
"Your mother."

4/4 Polo 2014/02/02(Sun)12:13 No. 560625 ID: d470e9
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She slides back off of the vernaut into some rock cover. She manages to do so without giving me a clear shot.

"... oh, wait, right, I heard you got brain darted. It doesn't look like she's doing a very good job. Okay, here's what I want. A knife fight. No armor, no other weapons. If you lose, I just leave you here. If you win, you do what you want."
"I don't think you understand how sick of fighting you I am."
"If you run from me, I'm going to consider that a forfeit and pull the salikai over here. So a knife fight. I don't even want to kill you.
"I can't trust this is not a trap."
"Oh for fucks sake. I'll take off my bio armor if you take off your metallic armor. I don't mind the handicap. The salikai only sent me because they know how bad I want to fight you, since they made me like this. I know they must be desperate to have sent me when they haven't broken me in well at all. Plus, I don't trust 'em to give me a fair fight with you if I let you get captured first. I already took out the tracker they put in me."
"I've already beaten you in a fair fight."
"Yeah that sniper stuff I know that, but I don't even care if I lose. I just want a fight, Polo, you have no idea." I do have an idea, I can sense her, and she is way too happy to have found me first.
"I was talking about the clone." I say, in the closest translation to Rokoa's old language. "She said she would yield if I beat a clone in hand to hand. You showed up late by the way, but does that work in reverse?"
"Impressive! No. I don't care if I just saw you shank a fufa."