[x] D. Serve her tea and slip chloral hydrate into her cup when her back is turned. Steal the comic while she’s knocked out.

Giving up our mint copy just isn't possible.

[x] D. Serve her tea and slip chloral hydrate into her cup when her back is turned. Steal the comic while she’s knocked out.

[X] A. Trade it for your own mint copy of Sigurd the Norseman, vol. 1.

Fair's fair.

[x] D. Serve her tea and slip chloral hydrate into her cup when her back is turned. Steal the comic while she’s knocked out.

[.] Confiscate it under the pretenses of reclaiming it for the Vault archives: Lecture her that all pre-war literature must be cataloged and stored for posterity.

[X] A. Trade it for your own mint copy of Sigurd the Norseman, vol. 1.

Temüjin ;_;

[\!/] A. Trade it for your own mint copy of Sigurd the Norseman, vol. 1.

Mongols Can Breathe in Space

I'LL PUNCH THAT FUCKING SUN!
I SWEAR IT!

[Yeah] A. Trade it for your own mint copy of Sigurd the Norseman, vol. 1.

[Idort] E. Trade her to the slavers for bottlecaps, then sit back and read both books.

[x] A. Trade it for your own mint copy of Sigurd the Norseman, vol. 1.

Manliness can only be traded for more Manliness!

[X] A. Trade it for your own mint copy of Sigurd the Norseman, vol. 1.

Ayup.

D

[x] D. Serve her tea and slip chloral hydrate into her cup when her back is turned. Steal the comic while she’s knocked out.

At the rate we're going we'll end up as the new fry cook.

[x] A. Trade it for your own mint copy of Sigurd the Norseman, vol. 1.

Question 9. You decide it would be fun to play a prank on your mother. You enter her private restroom when no one is looking and…

A. Use screwdriver to remove the face plate to the light switch and mess with the wiring. When she tries to flip the switch to turn on the light, she’ll get a slight shock.
B. Throw out all her razor blades, then make fun of her later for going au natural.
C. Break into the locked medicine cabinet and replace her glaucoma medication with lamprey oil capsules.
D. Get some advice from a fairy. They’re the experts.

[_]

[X] B. Throw out all her razor blades, then make fun of her later for going au natural.

[x] D. Get some advice from a fairy. They’re the experts.

[x] D. Get some advice from a fairy. They’re the experts

[x] D. Get some advice from a fairy. They’re the experts.

[x] A. Use screwdriver to remove the face plate to the light switch and mess with the wiring. When she tries to flip the switch to turn on the light, she’ll get a slight shock.

[x] D. Get some advice from a fairy. They’re the experts

[X] A. Use screwdriver to remove the face plate to the light switch and mess with the wiring. When she tries to flip the switch to turn on the light, she’ll get a slight shock.

They're fun shocks, really.

[x] D. Get some advice from a fairy. They’re the experts

C. Break into the locked medicine cabinet and replace her glaucoma medication with lamprey oil capsules.

And that, kids, is how your grandma died.

[\!/] D. Get some advice from a fairy. They’re the experts

[x] D. Get some advice from a fairy. They’re the experts.

Question 10. Who is indisputably the most important [“STROИGEST” is handwritten above the crossed-out portion in a child’s print] person in Vault ⑨: She who shelters us from the harshness of the atomic wasteland and mutation, and to whom we owe everything including our lives?

A. The Overseer.
B. The Overseer.
C. The Overseer.
D. The Overseer.

[_]

>>72908
I can't answer this question, it's too hard

[_]

(Leave it blank)

{X} Leave it blank.

:>

[x] (Leave it blank)

[x] (Leave it blank)

[x] (Leave it blank)

HAHA

Oh god, what have I done?

A. The Overseer.
B. The Overseer.
C. The Overseer.
D. The Overseer.

ALL HAIL THE OVERLORD

[\!/] (Leave it blank)

[X] C. The Overseer.

[_]
(Leave it blank)

This would, however, explain why our vault is so messed up (seriously, who leaves cirno in charge?!).

do you guys really think leaving it blank is the best idea? I mean the vaults are like prisons, and the overseer is the warden. its his job to smack down dissent at the first sign. And if this IS cirno acting as overseer as some have suggested, then it definatly won't be seen as a joke.

>>72957
That really depends on the vault.
If this is like Vault 13, the Overseer probably wouldn't give a shit and break the water chip and make you go fix it.
If this is like Vault 101, yeah that'd sorta suck, I guess.
If this is like any rational, sane vault, then it really wouldn't matter.
In before Cirno, rational, sane, reactionface.jpg.

[x] (Leave it blank)

A. The Overseer.

>>72957

It will be fun.

A. The Overseer.

E. The Cirno.

>>72957

We can say we it was impossible to answer that question. The most important or strongest person is The Overseer, however, if we pick answer A, we won't be picking answer B, C or D, therefore not picking the correct answer (The Overseer), and thus, making a horrible mistake three times.

If there were only one option, or a "E. All of above" option, then all would be fine. But choosing between the Overseer and the Overseer is just too impossible.

>>72958

Except the overseer didn't break the water chip in vault 13. That was an honest to god accident as their spares had been, upon the furnishing of the vault, sent to the wrong place. (IIRC, Vault 13 got a GECK instead). Vault 13 was supposed to remain sealed for... it was either 100 or 200 years, but the broken water chip meant the dweller had to go get a new one for that to be possible.

Of course then the overseer kicked you out permanently afterwards, and pretty much doomed the vault to events in Fallout 2.

Also.
>Rational, Sane vault.
THERE IS NO SUCH THING. out of the 100+ vaults only about 5-6 were actually even vaguely acting as advertised (because their task was to open, IIRC, one vault every 20 or so years with no other conditions)
Hell, vault 15 was built with a door that couldn't shut just to see what the radiation would do to the people inside - so it's not just the overseer being an asshole, the entire vault project at large is the asshole here.

>>72994
Just because the vault's original assignment may be fucking nuts doesn't mean that the people inside it can't be sane and rational.

[_] (Leave it blank)

G.O.A.S.T. Auxiliary Battery A — S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Seven Factor Personality Questionnaire

The following portion of the exam is a weighted index of your attributes compared to that of your peers, and is designed to filter out self-report bias (e.g., filling in all 10s or all 1s would be result in all factors averaged to be around 6).

Strength: "S is for Strength, and that means I have lots of muscle! I can smash, rip and tear and take on anyone in a tussle!"
Rate your strength on a scale from 1-10, with 1 being the least strong (e.g., you can be overpowered by a fairy) and 10 being the strongest [“CIRИO” is above the crossed-out portion, in the same hand as above] (e.g., you wrestle oni for fun):
[_]

Perception: "P is for Perception, without which driving is illegal! I can smell better than the wolf, and see farther than the eagle!"
Rate your perception on a scale from 1-10, with 1 being the least perceptive (e.g., you didn’t notice that you’re wearing two different-colored socks) and 10 being the most perceptive (e.g., you could be mounted on spy-plane to serve as its camera):
[_]

Endurance: "E is for Endurance, and that means I resist fatigue and radiation! My healing time is fast as a youkai's regeneration!"
Rate your endurance on a scale from 1-10, with 1 being the least endurant (e.g., you get winded climbing a moving escalator) and 10 being the most endurant (e.g., your life is a training montage):

Charisma: "C is for Charisma, and makes others give instead of take! I can make youkai laugh & smile, and want to be my mate!"
Rate your charisma on a scale from 1-10, with 1 being the least charismatic (e.g., you have no more backbone than a chocolate éclair) and 10 being the most charismatic (e.g., you can fend off a hill giant by convincing it that it doesn't exist):
[_]

Intelligence: "I is for Intelligence, that means I'm smart when I want to focus! I can use my brain for lots of stuff, like science, math, or even hocus-pocus!"
Rate your intelligence on a scale from 1-10, with 1 being the least intelligent (e.g., you can’t even read this, you illiterate) and 10 being the most intelligent (e.g., you don’t need to take this test to know your results, because you wrote it):
[_]

Agility: "A is for Agility, that's holding Shift for focused movement! I am swift, and I am silent; there’s no room for self-improvement!"
Rate your agility on a scale from 1-10, with 1 being the least agile (e.g., you used a bomb at “Icicle Fall ~Easy~”) [scribbled in the margin: “ITS CALLED EASY MODO FOR A REASOИ”] and 10 being the most agile (e.g., you can dodge lasers, and, whenever you make a dive, you feature in a slow-mo triple-take):
[_]

Luck: "L is for Luck, and with this I don’t need wits! I can live carefree and get lots of SMAAAASH!! hits!"
Rate your luck on a scale from 1-10, with 1 being the unluckiest (e.g., FUCKING TEWI) and 10 being the luckiest (e.g., ＼TEWI／):
[_]



—

And with this last part, we are out of Namek.

>>73016


Strength: "S is for Strength, and that means I have lots of muscle! I can smash, rip and tear and take on anyone in a tussle!"
Rate your strength on a scale from 1-10, with 1 being the least strong (e.g., you can be overpowered by a fairy) and 10 being the strongest [“CIRИO” is above the crossed-out portion, in the same hand as above] (e.g., you wrestle oni for fun):
[4]

Perception: "P is for Perception, without which driving is illegal! I can smell better than the wolf, and see farther than the eagle!"
Rate your perception on a scale from 1-10, with 1 being the least perceptive (e.g., you didn’t notice that you’re wearing two different-colored socks) and 10 being the most perceptive (e.g., you could be mounted on spy-plane to serve as its camera):
[7]

Endurance: "E is for Endurance, and that means I resist fatigue and radiation! My healing time is fast as a youkai's regeneration!"
Rate your endurance on a scale from 1-10, with 1 being the least endurant (e.g., you get winded climbing a moving escalator) and 10 being the most endurant (e.g., your life is a training montage):
[6]

Charisma: "C is for Charisma, and makes others give instead of take! I can make youkai laugh & smile, and want to be my mate!"
Rate your charisma on a scale from 1-10, with 1 being the least charismatic (e.g., you have no more backbone than a chocolate éclair) and 10 being the most charismatic (e.g., you can fend off a hill giant by convincing it that it doesn't exist):
[10]

Intelligence: "I is for Intelligence, that means I'm smart when I want to focus! I can use my brain for lots of stuff, like science, math, or even hocus-pocus!"
Rate your intelligence on a scale from 1-10, with 1 being the least intelligent (e.g., you can’t even read this, you illiterate) and 10 being the most intelligent (e.g., you don’t need to take this test to know your results, because you wrote it):
[7]

Agility: "A is for Agility, that's holding Shift for focused movement! I am swift, and I am silent; there’s no room for self-improvement!"
Rate your agility on a scale from 1-10, with 1 being the least agile (e.g., you used a bomb at “Icicle Fall ~Easy~”) [scribbled in the margin: “ITS CALLED EASY MODO FOR A REASOИ”] and 10 being the most agile (e.g., you can dodge lasers, and, whenever you make a dive, you feature in a slow-mo triple-take):
[6]

Luck: "L is for Luck, and with this I don’t need wits! I can live carefree and get lots of SMAAAASH!! hits!"
Rate your luck on a scale from 1-10, with 1 being the unluckiest (e.g., FUCKING TEWI) and 10 being the luckiest (e.g., ＼TEWI／):
[4]

I love this.

<3

>>73018
If the average is to be 6, you're 2 points over.

S: 3
P: 6
E: 7
C: 9
I: 6
A: 7
L: 4
[X] Signed, Anonymous.

[\!/]S: 3
[\!/]P: 6
[\!/]E: 7
[\!/]C: 9
[\!/]I: 6
[\!/]A: 7
[\!/]L: 4

S: 3
P: 6
E: 5
C: 9
I: 9
A: 6
L: 4

Diplomatic Max is diplomatic

[x]S: 3
[x]P: 6
[x]E: 7
[x]C: 9
[x]I: 6
[x]A: 7
[x]L: 4

Seems to be a decent distribution to me

[x]S: 3
[x]P: 6
[x]E: 7
[x]C: 9
[x]I: 6
[x]A: 7
[x]L: 4

>>73021
oh, you're right. I suck at math, my bad.

[x]S: 5
[x]P: 6
[x]E: 7
[x]C: 7
[x]I: 6
[x]A: 7
[x]L: 4

We need some strengh to survive. Charisma alone won't save us, and running away won't solve anything.

>>73035
Isn't this Fallout?

If so, no, we do not need strength to survive. We don't even need it to kick ass.

>>73038

Indeed, strength only affects our ability to melee and then what we can carry. I doubt we'll be actively needing to worry about what we're carrying and then we can make up our lack of offensive power elsewhere

High agility and intelligence, go for small guns. Pretty much god mode.

>>73042
Judging by the s.p.e.c.i.a.l. rhyme above, with these stats we should be able to danmaku and maybe even magic.

Strength: [6]
Perception: [5]
Endurance: [5]
Charisma: [7]
Intelligence: [7]
Agility:[6]
Luck: [6]

Side note: tewi = lucky.
fucking tewi = fucking lucky.

>>73038

I dunno, I haven't played any Fallout game.

We really do not need strength! It's pretty much useless in Fallout 3, unless you're going for a pure melee game, and that is hard mode indeed.

[x]S: 5
[x]P: 6
[x]E: 6
[x]C: 7
[x]I: 6
[x]A: 6
[x]L: 6

While small arms are all the combat power you need, I do recall a minimum strength of 4 for wielding heavy pistols.

S 4
P 4
E 4
C 10
I 6
A 4
L 10

dumpstattan for the dumpstattan god.

seriously, having a couple of key stats maxxed is MUCH more important than overall okay stats, considering the nature of CYOAs.

>>73108
further justification: we're gonna lose most fights anyway. might as well dumpstat all combat stats and go for diplomancy.

>>73110

If there is danmakunin this CYOA, then P and A would be much better.

>>73111
why bother fightan at all? with cha and luk maxxed good things will just fall into our laps without having to lift a finger.

[ODIN]S: 5
[ODIN]P: 6
[ODIN]E: 5
[ODIN]C: 7
[ODIN]I: 5
[ODIN]A: 10
[ODIN]L: 4

You always take 10 agility. Always.

>>73112
in fact, it might be okay to go

S:3 P:3 E:3 C:10 I:10 A:3 L:10

THREE maxxed stats. you'll be as weak in combat as the unhealthy neckbeard you really are, but you can JUST AS PLANNED the shit out of everything.

>>73112

You can't avoid boss battles.

>>73115
you can convince the little girls that don't suck at fightan to do the boss battles for you.

"Time is up, class! Pencils down, please." Miss Ellen's voice rings out like an egg timer. You hear mixed groans and sighs of relief from your fellow classmates. Miss Ellen has put her novel and her cat aside and sits on her desk expectantly for your class to hand in their tests. Renko is among the first to stand up from her desk.

"Here you go, Teach." She hands her test to Miss Ellen who begins to pour over it. Despite her interpersonal failings, Miss Ellen has a savant's memory for numbers. She's sort of like a computer that way, impersonal but efficient. Where most teachers would put standardized tests through a scan-tron to get the results, she can tell the outcome at a glance. "Ciao." Seems Renko doesn't want to stick around to find out, however.

"Hold on a minute, Miss Usami." Miss Ellen doesn't take her eyes off the paper. "According to this, you're next in line to be the Vault butcher."

Renko winces visibly. "What? How am I supposed be butcher here? Are we keeping livestock somewhere that I haven't heard about?" It doesn't surprise you, though: Most of the hard work is done by automated dolls and all the food is pre-packaged. But since having something to complain about seems to be a legitimate human need, there's a lot of nonsense jobs that get filled—shrine maiden, for example.

"I don't know what to tell you, Miss Usami. It's rare to have a student so well suited to the profession. I have an introductory leaflet somewhere around here..." Miss Ellen starts rifling through the scattered papers on her desk, and Renko throws her hands up in the air in frustration and walks out the door while her back is turned, not so much as glancing at you and the other students lined up at the teacher's desk. After a few minutes, it seems she finds what she's looking for but, predictably, she is at a loss by the disappearance of her student. "Well, I, um... where is Miss Usami?"

Normally it can take forever to snap out of these helpless states on her own, and can be kind of depressing to witness, but it seems her sense of recollection is particularly strong today, as her face lights up in recognition when her eyes fall on you.

"Maximilian! You're friends with Renko. Could you bring her this introductory pamphlet when you next see her?" You step up to her desk and take it. You only need a glance at the vivid diagrams of dissected animal carcasses to tell it's really not worth your time reading. Gross.

"I'll tell you your results before you go, at least." She takes the your test sheet from you and scan over it momentarily, while making some (probably faked) gestures concurring with what she's reading.

"Well, it seems you'll be the next Vault ⑨ Marriage Counselor! Of course we don't get many of those, but I'm sure the skills you'll develop will help you maintain your own marriage, some day!"

Acquired: Vault ⑨ Butcher's Introduction Packet

[ ] "There's got to be a mistake. Let me re-check my answers." [Change your tag skills]
[ ] "Gee, that's just swell Miss Ellen." [Keep your tag skills]

And:

[ ] Ren said she'd be at the diner. Give her the packet in person. You haven't eaten yet anyway.
[ ] Drop off the packet at Ren's dormitory. Mary should be at the subterranean shrine.
[ ] Drop off the packet at Ren's dormitory. Go back to your room; have a bowl of Sugar Bombs, clean yourself up, maybe take a nap.

—

WELCOME TO LEVEL ONE

Strength: 4
Perception: 6
Endurance: 6
Charisma: 9
Intelligence: 6
Agility: 7
Luck: 5

Barter (Cha): 23
Danmaku (Agi): 17
Explosives (Per): 17
Guns (Agi): 17
Lockpick (Per): 32
Magic (Int): 17
Medicine (Int): 17
Melee (Str): 13
Outdoorsman (End): 17
Science & Repair (Int): 17
Sneak (Agi): 32
Speech (Cha): 38

(Skills in bold are tag skills.)

Vault-Boy’s inspirational quote: “If any man should seek greatness, let him forget greatness and seek truth.”

Intelligence 6?

I don't know if that's good or that's bad. With regular intelligence we're too smart to be able to communicate properly with fairies and low INT touhoues and we're not smart enough to be able to completely follow the razor sharp intellect of the likes of Eirin, Asakura or Nitori's technobabble.

[ ] Drop off the packet at Ren's dormitory. Go back to your room; have a bowl of Sugar Bombs, clean yourself up, maybe take a nap.

[x] "Gee, that's just swell Miss Ellen." [Keep your tag skills]
[x] Ren said she'd be at the diner. Give her the packet in person. You haven't eaten yet anyway.

Damn looks like we'll be thieving and talking our way through the wastes.

[x] "There's got to be a mistake. Let me re-check my answers." [Change your tag skills]
Untag: Lockpick (Per)
Tag: Guns (Agi)
[x] Drop off the packet at Ren's dormitory. Go back to your room; have a bowl of Sugar Bombs, clean yourself up, maybe take a nap.

Really, what kind of wasteland wedding counselor doesn't specialize in shotgun weddings?

i still say we should have dumpstatted the physicals. you can even pick up magic, apparently, which will prevent complete uselessness in combat.

still, if we're not gonna do that, we need at least one combat skill:
[x] "There's got to be a mistake. Let me re-check my answers." [Change your tag skills]
Untag: Lockpick (Per)
Tag: Magic (Int)

more versatile than guns. easier to do nonlethal damage.

[x] "Gee, that's just swell Miss Ellen." [Keep your tag skills]

[x] Ren said she'd be at the diner. Give her the packet in person. You haven't eaten yet anyway.

I like this setup... finesse is always the way to go. Would have liked a little more smarts but meh.

[x] "There's got to be a mistake. Let me re-check my answers." [Change your tag skills]
Untag: Lockpick (Per)
Tag: Magic (Int)
[x] Ren said she'd be at the diner. Give her the packet in person. You haven't eaten yet anyway.

[x] "There's got to be a mistake. Let me re-check my answers." [Change your tag skills]
Untag: Lockpick (Per)
Tag: Guns (Agi)
[x] Drop off the packet at Ren's dormitory. Go back to your room; have a bowl of Sugar Bombs, clean yourself up, maybe take a nap.

Ha! Exact same job I ended up getting my first playthrough. Served as a good laugh for me.

As much as i'd like to leave things as they are, not having one combat skill is almost certain death.

[Z] "There's got to be a mistake. Let me re-check my answers." [Change your tag skills]
Untag: Lockpick (Per)
Tag: Magic (Int)
[Z] Drop off the packet at Ren's dormitory. Mary should be at the subterranean shrine.

[\!/] "There's got to be a mistake. Let me re-check my answers." [Change your tag skills]
Untag: Lockpick (Per)
Tag: Magic (Int)
[\!/] Drop off the packet at Ren's dormitory. Mary should be at the subterranean shrine.

[x] "There's got to be a mistake. Let me re-check my answers." [Change your tag skills]
Untag: Lockpick (Per)
Tag: Magic (Int)
[x] Drop off the packet at Ren's dormitory. Mary should be at the subterranean shrine.

[X] "Gee, that's just swell Miss Ellen." [Keep your tag skills]
[X] Drop off the packet at Ren's dormitory. Mary should be at the subterranean shrine.
[X]be cautious of black cats along the way

>>73160

There is no cause for alarm, Vault citizen. Kasha are kept securely away in Vault ⑥, along with yatagarasu and satori.

What kind of marriage counselor needs lockpick skills?

[x] "There's got to be a mistake. Let me re-check my answers." [Change your tag skills]
Untag: Lockpick (Per)
Untag: Sneak (Agi)
Tag: Danmaku (Agi)
Tag: Guns (Agi)
Danmaku for the marriage counseling, guns for when the marriage counseling fails.

[x] Ren said she'd be at the diner. Give her the packet in person. You haven't eaten yet anyway.

>>73166

In during a clever comment on unlocking the love in couple's hearts.

>>73169
its... kinda clever. 6/10.

[x] "There's got to be a mistake. Let me re-check my answers." [Change your tag skills]
Untag: Lockpick (Per)
Untag: Sneak (Agi)
Tag: Danmaku (Agi)
Tag: Guns (Agi)

Two different attack skills? Put those tags to better use guys.

[X] "There's got to be a mistake. Let me re-check my answers." [Change your tag skills]
Untag: Lockpick (Per)
Tag: Magic (Int)
[X] Drop off the packet at Ren's dormitory. Mary should be at the subterranean shrine.

[x] "There's got to be a mistake. Let me re-check my answers." [Change your tag skills]
Untag: Lockpick (Per)
Tag: Magic (Int)
[x] Drop off the packet at Ren's dormitory. Mary should be at the subterranean shrine.

Tag skills changed:
Barter (Cha) 23
Danmaku (Agi) 17
Explosives (Per) 17
Guns (Agi) 17
Lockpick (Per) 17
Magic (Int) 32
Medicine (Int) 17
Melee (Str) 13
Outdoorsman (End) 17
Science & Repair (Int) 17
Sneak (Agi) 32
Speech (Cha) 38

Readying broadcast... Stay tuned.

"There's got to be a mistake, Miss Ellen. Let me re-check my answers." Without waiting for a response you unceremoniously rip the paper out of her hands and walk over to the marker board to use as a surface to write on. It's rude, and you're sure you're getting confused and angry glares from the students, but this is your livelihood at stake; you can't be bogged down with useless formality. You quickly scan through the sheet and make some minor adjustments with your eraser and pencil. You still skip the Overseer question; you'll stick by your decision to blow the figurative raspberry at authority (or "the man" as Renko might say). After a few corrections, you hand the paper back over to Miss Ellen, still sitting on her desk with her hands out in the position you left them and a blank look on her face.

"Here's my test Miss Ellen." You smile at her, your words ushering her back into reality.

"Oh, Maximilian? All done?" Totally oblivious.

It's a little bit heartbreaking, taking advantage of her like this. Of course you're only doing what you've done for years, but in usually in private and where previous effort has failed, not only because it doesn't feel good, but also because you don't want the other students to catch on, otherwise both your and your teacher's future here at the Vault could be at risk. The secret to using Miss Ellen's senility to one's advantage is to surprise her. At her mental age you theorize there's simply not enough room for most of what she's taking in, so only after matching the present experience with past one is she able to understand what's going on and engage in higher-level thinking. This may be enough for most situations where standard social conventions are followed, but someone savvy enough to interrupt the process and not give her time to confabulate a justification, well they could do all kinds of unconscionable things to her and she'd never remember a thing. All the more reason to keep this on the down low, right?

Seems she's done with reviewing your test, what is to her for the first time. "Well, looks like you're suited for managerial work. Fairy work shift supervisor. Straight to the top for you, my boy!"

Okay. This is workable. Sure, fairies may not be your favorite people to hang around with, but then again you're going to be the boss not their friend, and most you've seen have been rendered quite obedient by decades of work training. Besides, dealing with their earnest clumsiness and the occasional prank is better than throwing in your lot with the tittering shrews that most of the female human Vault population has degenerated to. Satisfied with a job that suits your modest need for standing, you thank your teacher with a smile and leave the classroom, pointedly ignoring the stares you recieve from your class "mates".

Speaking of interpersonal relations, you've got that packet, causing you to consider under the fluorescent hall lighting the manila envelope containing the wonderfully illustrated instructions on how to best gut animals that probably become extinct two centuries ago. Ironic, since the only thing Renko will be carving up for the foreseeable future is people. You remember two years ago when she reasserted dominance over her "Tunnel Snakes" by taking Meira's ear off. Though she'd get a vat-grown replacement for it later, you couldn't believe how much blood the human body could pump through such a small part itself. "Like a stuck pig," Ren said, laughing. Pretty funny, in retrospect.

Anyway, you decide to drop the packet off at Ren's domicile later, for two reasons. First, it plain sucks to be around her when she's with her lackeys. Second, you have to see Mary. About exactly what, you're not too sure. Maybe you're tying up the loose ends from your childhood before you begin your life as an adult? Well you can figure it out when you get there; Mary was never the kind to turn down an excuse for company, and from that display this morning you think she could definitely use some.

Among the Pre-War chems Mentants were known for their slick packaging, relative respectability, and ubiquitous usage among the elite—the artists, the businessmen, and the scholars—though you'll remember them for being the most boring high you've ever experienced. Sure being smarter is nice, but the groggy come-down more compensates for this benefit, and not like the pleasant numbing of alcohol, too introspective. Somebody who likes to dwell in the past maybe could get used to it, but trading a few hours of studying for a few hours of stupor just never seemed appealing—not when you can just cheat—and considering you'll be working with fairies, you don't see yourself developing a hankering for mint-flavored chewable tablets in the near future.

Speaking of your aversion to introspection, you'll need something to occupy your thoughts across through the Vault corridors on your way to the "shrine". You fiddle with the knobs of your Pip-Boy to tune in the Vault ⑨ PA System, and the elevator music starts pumping out. Ah, that's better. Not so much because you like the repetitive, computer-generated sound and occasional propaganda, but it does the trick of distracting yourself from your own thoughts. Vault radio music is wordless and carries no real emotion behind it, as not fostering any sense of rebellion, individuality, or anything else that might go against standard Vault protocol you suppose. You can hardly blame them though for doing their utmost to preserve the Vault way of things though: Life underground may not be any brighter (not with its flickering fluorescent light panels), but at least it's a future. And the outside? Well, you've seen it as a kid; it wasn't pretty.

As the concentration of Vault residents turns from younger humans into the elderly and the fairies, you know you're getting closer to the Shrine. The Vault has a huge geriatric population as the result of the extended lifespan of most humans here, including most of its males. However, the fact that they're well taken care of by the fairies and rabbit nurses means that the presence they have in most of the Vault is pretty minimal. Many of them still cling to the beliefs and traditions of Old Japan, which made it the natural place to re-establish the Vault's Shrine, and against the advice of their physicians (honestly it's a miracle no one broke a hip), much of the labor in its construction was done by residents over the age of 60, with the aid of their fairy handlers. While you, Ren, and most of her peers looked on Mary's vocational choice with differing amounts of suspicion and bewilderment, to the old folks, it was like the Second Coming. Their excitement was such that the administration became worried, afraid that their parents might come back into view and berate them on how bad a job they were doing. In the end, nothing came of it: The first Vault cultural festival went off without a hitch, no old people raising pitchforks and demanding we secede from the Union. Still, Mary is an object of pride in the eyes of many of your elders, and despite how you feel about the effect her job had on your personal relationship with her, you're loath to take the smile off those wrinkled faces.

This sector of the Vault was built with Japanese culture in mind, a sterilized version of the actual traditions of Old Japan: Fiberglass bamboo siding, Styrofoam rock gardens, animatronic koi ponds, polyester kimonos, a filtered and chlorinated "open air" hot spring, cellophane sliding doors, probably even have those old-fashioned squatting toilets in the bathrooms. Still, the residents have had time to reclaim some of their losses, as you note hand-painted kanji wall-scrolls decorate the corridor. Through his silhouette in the faux-rice paper door, you can see some retiree working at some kind of handcraft; if he sells it, he'll probably donate the money to the Shrine.

Speaking of which, you're at the entrance. You turn off your radio, as you're forced to sidestep a procession of old ladies waddling out the open bulkhead after their morning religious devotions. The history of Shinto in the post-WWII Japan is a strange one. Their continental masters knew better than to impose secularism on the territory during the following decades, but if Japan was to ever acquire statehood it would be forced to mold its traditions into something the Americans could more easily digest. Couching the animistic and polytheistic nature of Shinto in terms that were easy to understand would be key in the marketing of Japan to a generation of American children. You've seen the holodisk recordings of the actual broadcasts—two-dimensional cartoon personifications of Susanoo, Orochi, Amaterasu having their legends Bowdlerized into slapstick hijinx akin to Popeye the Sailor.

You step through the bulkhead and into the brightly-lit Shrine area. The place is unique in the Vault, not being a part of the original construction. It has dirt floors, real rocks, even patches of grass growing under high-intensity sunlamps and an azure-painted ceiling. The closeness to nature once led a fairy to reincarnate here spontaneously instead of coming from a spawning tank, which nearly caused the Overseer to close the place down. The crisis was averted when the fairy was determined to be the incarnation of a listed resident, but it did cause quite some alarm among most of the younger Vault population that rarely steps foot in the place. Fairies do love the place though, and rest there is the indicated treatment for mild fairy psychodegenerative syndrome, the etiology of which is believed to be partly from nature-deprivation, though serious cases are still probably handled by re-immersion in the spawning vats.

You walk across the rubber millings toward the structure, which looks more like a shack than a shrine, cobbled together from every surviving bit of presswood in the Vault. Mary is there, sitting cross-legged on the balcony, eyes closed, mouthing mantras silently. She's wearing her shrine maiden uniform of course, and as you get closer you see the gohei clutched in her hands and a tattered scroll of parchment in front of her. Seems she hasn't noticed you yet.

You wonder if her breath tastes like Mentats.

[ ] "So are you are going to show me where the donation box is, or do I stuff the bills into your sarashi?"
[ ] "I see the world didn't perish while I was away; thanks for holding the sky up for all of us."
[ ] "Mary, we need to talk."
[ ] Sneak around from behind and surprise her. Armpit attack!
[ ] Do nothing for now. Try to read off the scroll in front of her.
[ ] Write-in

>At her mental age you theorize there's simply not enough room for most of what she's taking in, so only after matching the present experience with past one is she able to understand what's going on and engage in higher-level thinking. This may be enough for most situations where standard social conventions are followed, but someone savvy enough to interrupt the process and not give her time to confabulate a justification, well they could do all kinds of unconscionable things to her and she'd never remember a thing. All the more reason to keep this on the down low, right?

Poor, senile Miss Ellen.

[x] Do nothing for now. Try to read off the scroll in front of her.

[x]Unzip your pants
[x]Come on Mary's face
[x]Use charisma stat to excuse yourself.

>[ ] "So are you are going to show me where the donation box is, or do I stuff the bills into your sarashi?"
>[ ] "I see the world didn't perish while I was away; thanks for holding the sky up for all of us."

Oooh, sarcastic respones or moderately nicer sarcastic response
I can't decide

So I'll go with both

[x] Do nothing for now. Try to read off the scroll in front of her.

[x] Do nothing for now. Try to read off the scroll in front of her.

[ ] Sneak around from behind and surprise her. Armpit attack!
[ ] "So are you are going to show me where the donation box is, or do I stuff the bills into your sarashi?"

Looks good together. Firendshi points up.

>[x]Unzip your pants
>[x]Come on Mary's face
>[x]Use charisma stat to excuse yourself.

You don't have the Awesome.jpg Perk yet. Better to hold off on that one.

[x] Sneak around from behind and surprise her. Armpit attack!
[x] "So are you are going to show me where the donation box is, or do I stuff the bills into your sarashi?"

So many good choices... Might as well combine what can probably be combined

[x] Sneak around from behind and surprise her. Armpit attack!
[x] "So are you are going to show me where the donation box is, or do I stuff the bills into your sarashi?"

Loving the sarashi comment.

[ODIN] Sneak around from behind and surprise her. Armpit attack!
[ODIN] "So are you are going to show me where the donation box is, or do I stuff the bills into your sarashi?"

Let's bug Waki Miko Mary.

[⑨] Sneak around from behind and surprise her. Armpit attack!
[⑨] "So are you are going to show me where the donation box is, or do I stuff the bills into your sarashi?"

DO IT!

[\!/] Sneak around from behind and surprise her. Armpit attack!
[\!/] "So are you are going to show me where the donation box is, or do I stuff the bills into your sarashi?"

[X] Sneak around from behind and surprise her. Armpit attack!

Always wanted to do this.

[〜] Sneak around from behind and surprise her. Armpit attack!

Hmmm...

[x] Sneak around from behind and surprise her. Armpit attack!
[x] "So are you are going to show me where the donation box is, or do I stuff the bills into your sarashi?"

You're still trying to map your mind around how to best approach this. What is the best way to overcome the awkwardness of sex and shame and separation? You don't have anything to offer her: No reason for a present (even if you had one to give), no belonging left in your possession to give back to her, no senior prom to invite her to, no parent who wants her over for supper, not even a friend in common to gossip about—not anymore.

Then again, wasn't it always like that? Ren was physically fit and sharp as a tack, Mary was creative, spiritual, wise beyond her years, and you... you were the one who struggled to keep pace, baggage, dead weight. Not even the love interest, apparently. Token useless side character whose purpose was to fill the race and gender quota. Not even that, really: I mean sure you could lug around a few more holodisks and scrap, but a paragon of masculinity and hybrid vigor you are not. Apart from your DNA and genitalia (and that tail they claim you were born with, but you're pretty sure the old folks were just fucking with you) there's not much to differentiate you from any other resident of Vault ⑨. You don't even have weird-color hair, apart from that Kool-Aid phase you went through in sixth grade.

But you're selling yourself short, aren't you? So what if you can't talk to gods like Mary or do the thing with the knife like Ren does? You're still heads above the rest of these jokers. For example, who could forget the time you broke into the food stores high on Jet by shorting the electromagnetic lock with a lightning cantrip and then proceeded to light barrels of dried corn on fire, just so you could watch it pop? You know a few people who personally thanked you for preventing the Vault from ever celebrating Thanksgiving again (seems the unpopularity of the rehydrated giblet gravy spanned multiple generations). That one time may have been a bit excessive, but you're not a fairy; you have a sense of moderation. You can gauge the mood and change gears appropriately if needed. Right now, you and Mary need to drop the decorum and pathos and just... laugh. And if you got to cop a feel in the process? Then that's fine too.

You plot a path to sneak up on her as silently and quickly as possible. From the look of how deep she's in her trance, it shouldn't be too difficult. It's only when you pay more attention to tactile sensations, like the sense of pressure on your toes that you need to step lightly, that you notice that you're sweating. It's not your nerves; those sunlamps are throwing off a lot of heat. It must be every room in the complex but this one that has its temperature meticulously maintained at 69.8 °F by the Vault AI. Mary has seated herself just inside the shade. What's the best way to startle someone who is hot? Something cold of course.

You carefully step over the two foot wicker-wire fencing that seems to demarcate Shrine dirt from not-Shrine dirt, the difference being that Shrine dirt seems to have been swept clean of rocks. Seems Mary is keeping up appearances. Good for her. You walk over to the side ledge of the shrine building and carefully slide yourself onto it. The construction is surprisingly solid, and there's not a creak as you move from kneeling to standing. A few more steps, and you're right behind her. You're casting a shadow over her, so if she had her eyes open, she'd notice immediately, but she's made no movement, though now that you're closers you notice that her chanting is just barely audible.

You crouch down and place the packet on the presswood silently. Wetting your fingers with saliva, you mouth the necessary power words, cooling the liquid to what feels like a only a few degrees above freezing, and...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Oh, you got her good. Right in the armpits. Her back arches, lordotic, and the gohei flies out of her hands landing somewhere into the patch of brown in front of you both. She makes as if to stand up quickly, but her cross-legged posture seems to get in the way, resulting in a face-first tumble off the ledge of the balcony and turning your chuckle into a full-on guffaw. You bring your hands to your face, half to warm your numbed fingers, half to stifle your laughter—you didn't mean to hurt her!

By the time you get a hold of yourself, she's already stood up and dusted herself off. Her face is red as a beet and she seems to be trying hard to keep the grin from spreading any further across her features.

"When I find my gohei, I'm going to bring down the heavens on your ass, Max."

"Heh. I'm sorry, I didn't actually think you would fall off the—" And your momentary composure is lost again to laughter.

"Yeah, well, nice to see your testing went well." She bends over to pick up her stick.

"No, actually; I cheated." By now you're serious enough to pretend to be thoughtful, "Though in a way, I guess it did go pretty good then."

She balks for a moment, before rolling her eyes and sighing in dismissal, and so you continue, "Fairy work shift supervisor. I get told by the computer what to do and relay it to the actual workers, instead of having the computer tell the workers directly." You lay your back down on the presswood balcony with your arms behind your head, eyes closed, knowing full well you're leading yourself open to reprisal. "I always thought I was cut out for middle management." A darkening in the lighting causes you to open your eyes. Mary is standing over you. You'd try to look up her skirt, but really can't see anything other than a darkened silhouette.

"Yeah, I always thought you'd turn out to be a glorified gopher too."

"Ouch." Ouch.

"Get up, Max. This is a shrine, not a place to work on your tan." She reaches her hand out to you, and you take it of course. It's a scene that has played itself out countless times in your childhood. Sure, you don't feel like you need her help (or that you've ever really needed her help) but the gesture itself expresses a caring intent, and that is something you find is worth returning.

"But I do have business here."

"What kind of... business?" Her eyes flit to the open bulkhead and she crosses her arms nervously. It seems the ruckus you've caused has drawn an audience. An old woman waves at you, and you wave back, which seems to serve as a signal for her to start shuffling toward you. This could be bad.

You lower your voice, "Ah, yes. I'm here to make a donation of course. You going to show me where the donation box is, or am I supposed to stuff the bills in your sarashi?"

"Not a good time for jokes, Max." Her voice low and serious. A swing and a miss. You'd pout for effect, but the growing proximity of the old lady means you'll keep that fake smile plastered on your face. "Remember what Ren said about my reputation? I do need to talk to you in private, so stick around and I'll recieve you formally after we're alone or come back later tonight. Your decision."

[ ] Stick around. Perhaps you can prevent the rumor mill from churning out anything unsavory.
[ ] Leave and come back later tonight.
- [ ] Go back to your room. Eat something. Bathe. Kill time.
- [ ] Swing around by the diner; Ren still might be there, and you need to eat.
- [ ] Stop by Ren's dorm. Drop off that packet.

[x] Stick around. Perhaps you can prevent the rumor mill from churning out anything unsavory.

Waki Miko Mary~

[ ] Leave and come back later tonight.
- [ ] Swing around by the diner; Ren still might be there, and you need to eat.

[x] Stick around. Perhaps you can prevent the rumor mill from churning out anything unsavory

Let's play this "Go Wait Outside" quest straight and come back later.

[x] Leave and come back later tonight.
- [x] Swing around by the diner; Ren still might be there, and you need to eat.

[x] Leave and come back later tonight.
- [x] Swing around by the diner; Ren still might be there, and you need to eat.

>>73361
>Let's play this "Go Wait Outside" quest straight and come back later.

Attempting a speedrun? If you're in a rush to get to the Retrieve the MacGuffin main quest, the fastest way would probably be to go back your room, though.

[X] Stick around. Perhaps you can prevent the rumor mill from churning out anything unsavory.

[X] Stick around. Perhaps you can prevent the rumor mill from churning out anything unsavory.

[x] Stick around. Perhaps you can prevent the rumor mill from churning out anything unsavory.

FLAWLESS VICTORY

>>73373
Its not flawless unless its unanimous.

[Z] Stick around. Perhaps you can prevent the rumor mill from churning out anything unsavory.

[x] Leave and come back later tonight.

As I understood it from earlier reading, we were already dating this girl earlier, so what is the rumor mill going to say?

>>73380
>As I understood it from earlier reading, we were already dating this girl earlier, so what is the rumor mill going to say?

That was before she decided to become a shrine maiden.

{@} Beg for updates

>>73488

Sorry. Expect it some time today.

>>73495
so this is what the bitter taste of lies tastes like.

>>73567

You clearly have not LURKED MOAR enough here.

[x] Stick around. Perhaps you can prevent the rumor mill from churning out anything unsavory.

"I'll stay. It'll look worse if I run off just because I'm spotted with you."

Mary doesn't have time to reply before the old woman comes within firing range. Time to work your word magic! You open your mouth to greet—

"おはようございます 巫さん."

FFFFFFFFFFFF—

Int check failed.

The Old Language? Goddammit! You slept through Japanese class; it was that or something more important, like math or history, right? Come to think of it though, nothing you learned probably has any bearing on your future career. Oh well. Maybe it's for the best. At least you won't be able to talk above your employees.

Mary seems to be able to carry on some kind of conversation without even pausing--seems those Mentats are working for her. The old lady glances at you and then says something to Mary that seems to make her giggle. Oh great, the old biddy is making fun of you in a language you cannot understand. Mary at least seems to notice your strained smile, and give you a playful nudge with her elbow, which just serves to make your expression more sheepish.

It takes a few minutes of standing awkwardly and looking off into space for the exchange between Mary and the woman to end, completing with the woman pressing a bill into Mary's hand with a wink and Mary bowing in gratitude. The woman gives a wave to the both of you before she makes for the bulkhead, which you return.

You sigh in relief, "I didn't think she would be talking in Moon." The Japanese language lost a great deal of its language base in pre-War Japan when it became associated in the rest of the world with the Lunarian Menace, and some weak efforts were made to change the state into a monolingual one by making only the learning of English mandatory in its school curriculum. It was during this time that Japan made its bid for statehood, and so rice became "freedom grain", tofu became "victory curd", green tea was replaced by coffee, sushi became fish sticks. (Who could forget those cute Hello Kitty and Mickey Mouse shapes? Your stomach can't, wrenching itself).By all accounts--corroborated by the endless amount of holotape recordings you've watched as a child--the pre-War Japanese people became more white bread than the country they sought to emulate.

"Yeah, well, it's probably for the best," She mutters, shoving the bill the old lady gave her down her shirt.

"What is that supposed to mean? And did you just stick that—"

"No pockets." She pinches at the sides of her hakama for effect. "And to answer your earlier question, there is no donation box--not since one of Ren's 'Tunnel Snakes' decided it would be funny to take a dump in it," she hisses, sneering at the image it brings to mind. You'll refrain from laughing; if she bends that magic baton gripped between her fists any harder, it'll snap in two.

"Come on inside. I'll perform tea ceremony, and we'll be able to talk without being disturbed." You follow, and she slides it shut behind you.

It's not quite a shack inside, but still very humble, a single large room was all the presswood the Vault could afford. The floor is a patchwork mess of (undoubtedly synthetic) tatami, looking like it was sewn together out of various smaller mats. There are the hand-painted wall scrolls, bearing the standard propaganda: "A brighter future underground." Undoubtedly ironic, since the place seems to be lit by a single, unadorned 40 watt light bulb hanging from the rafters.

Mary motions for you to take a seat at the heated table, and starts rifling through a cupboard, likely searching for the proper materials for which to draw this ceremony thing out. Honestly, it's plain from your appearances that neither of you are ethnic Japanese, but Mary always seemed to be the one with something to prove. Maybe that's because you already have enough to make you dissimilar from your peers, being male and all.

"There's no reason for that, Mary. The reason you wanted wanted to see me in private wasn't so you could play Shrine Maiden. Your last name is Hearn. You're a blonde for godsakes."

"Han." She stops you and after pausing for a moment continues scrounging together whatever from the cabinet. "The birth certificate says 'Han'. My name is 'Maribel Han'."

"Everyone knows that's just a bad romanization for Maribelle Hea--"

"Shut up, Maximilian Rocka-whatever." Looks like she remembers your weakness from her days as your classmate.

She turns around carrying a tray with a sorely out of place Western teapot and glass tumblers. Setting one before you, dropping a handful of ice cubes in it, and filling it before pouring one for herself, which she fills to the brim.

"It's cold. How do you manage iced tea with no refrigerator? Magic?"

"It's not Magic, it's Divine Power," she deadpans. Mary always was using magic to bridge the gap between her laziness and her curiosity.

Well, whatever, it will quench your thirst and cool you off after sweating under those sunlamps. You gulp down the stuff expecting refreshment, only to find your throat burning. It takes you a moment for you to stop cough, while Mary sips at her beverage calmly.

"...The hell Mary? I thought you said this was iced tea?"

"Long Island iced tea." A wry smile on her face. Oh, so this was payback. "Still can't hold your liquor, eh Max?"

You quaff the stuff down to give yourself time to think of a retort. Who could ever think this tastes anything like tea?

"If we're talking about mixed drinks, then I'd prefer a Virgin Mary." With a big shit-eating grin. Yeah, that'll do.

Mary chuckles to herself at this, "If only I could indulge you Max, but you're not the only boy in Vault ⑨."

Not quite the response you expected. "But I am, Mary. The next youngest male is Cobbler Oda and he's got to be at least--" This seems to get a reaction from her, a moment's hesitation pouring herself a second round. "Oh ho ho! You did not... with...?" Her face starts to redden, and you break into a peal of laughter.

"Yeah, well, not all of us were going to wait for you to grow up, Max." She throws the glass back and slams it down on the table, which she stares down at it, either in stupor or in reminiscence. You however are sent reeling by the resentment in her words.

"How long have you been saving that one for, Mary?" You toss out and laugh nervously, desperately wanting to get back to the more playful atmosphere it was a minute ago. You lift the teapot to refill her glass and top off your own, starting to fear you won't get any response at all.

"Sorry." It is after that pregnant pause where you were trying to word an apology that she preempts with her own. Not waiting for a reply, she retrieves a small paper box from her blouse and taps it against her empty palm. A single tablet comes out, and when it's apparent that no more will be coming, she throws the box across the room and chases the pill with her drink. You can see the tears welling in her eyes, looking like she did this morning: Miserable but intent on not burdening you with her troubles.


[ ] Write-in


—

Been forgetting to mention points at which you accrue Karma.

Saved Mary +100 Karma
Cheated on the G.O.A.S.T. -50 Karma

I'm glad I was able to update this within the projected timeframe: Remember /th/, we've always been at war with Luna!

>Saved Mary +100 Karma
>Cheated on the G.O.A.S.T. -50 Karma

what size is the scale? 1000? 10000?

I'll have you know that a good Long Island goes down smooth as silk as long as you wait to top off the glass with sweet and sour after you're done with the liquor. That's before shaking the concoction with ice, I'll have you know. Only after is when you can add the splash of Coke. Even then that's assuming you're using a highball glass and not a beer stein or some equally retarded. Ice, liquor, sweet and sour, shake, pour, Coke, serve.

Then again, the quality of a Long Island is determined solely by the quality of the liquor going into it; 200 years after the end of civilization probably saw an end to Zyr...

[X] "Mary... I'm not one to criticize someone on their lifestyle choices, but... you're undermining the fundamentals of the faith you represent. Your devotion is admirable, but it's not worth a damn if it's based, even a little, on an addiction. The people that trust you deserve more than that, and that includes any of your faults."

In Fallout 3 terms, this would be: "You're not helping anyone if your faith exists as far as your addiction," but since there's no write-in limit...

I wrote this while half-drunk off rum and coke; it's well within the abilities of our half-youkai character.

[X]"Come on, Mary. When's a better time to get everything off your chest than in front of a drink with your friend?"

[\!/] "Mary... I'm not one to criticize someone on their lifestyle choices, but... you're undermining the fundamentals of the faith you represent. Your devotion is admirable, but it's not worth a damn if it's based, even a little, on an addiction. The people that trust you deserve more than that, and that includes any of your faults."

Haha, old men and young girls.

>Then again, the quality of a Long Island is determined solely by the quality of the liquor going into it

A good barman never uses the good stuff in a mixed drink, not unless it's part of the namesake, like in a 7&7. That's like serving the cheap wine first at a dinner party--utterly wasteful.

[x] "Mary... I'm not one to criticize someone on their lifestyle choices, but... you're undermining the fundamentals of the faith you represent. Your devotion is admirable, but it's not worth a damn if it's based, even a little, on an addiction. The people that trust you deserve more than that, and that includes any of your faults."

wait, am i missing something? what addiction?

Is Mary going to explode at us using Scrabble words?

[X]"Come on, Mary. When's a better time to get everything off your chest than in front of a drink with your friend?"

I want to lecture just a little but I can't think of anything and I'm dissatisfied with the current lecture write in.

>>73726
Mentats addiction. and... I'm not sure you should lecture her too hard.

in terms of Fallout lore, Jet addiction happens real fast and is VERY hard to come off of. So if the protagonist did jet in the past and is not currently an addict, does that mean the vault got their hands on the Jet Antidote from Vault City? or did they synth something similar on their own? or did he, as Myron said, 'go cold turkey, for like a year'?

incidentally, we should get some mentats for ourselves. we can max our int on a mentat high, that's gotta be awesome.

[X]"Come on, Mary. When's a better time to get everything off your chest than in front of a drink with your friend?"

So, she did it with an old man? Hot.

[X]"Come on, Mary. When's a better time to get everything off your chest than in front of a drink with your friend?"

Going with this one cause the other one is a bit preachy for my tastes.

[X]"Come on, Mary. When's a better time to get everything off your chest than in front of a drink with your friend?"

>>73715
If this is like fallout one and two, then there is no max or min. here are the values:
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Karma
I should note that it looks like writer anon is giving out karma about 10 times faster than it should be given out, so you might want to multiply the numbers on the wiki by about 10 to keep the scale appropriate.

>>73732
>So, she did it with an old man? Hot

Well, I didn't like it.

[X]"Come on, Mary. When's a better time to get everything off your chest than in front of a drink with your friend?"

>>73744

Go! Go! Westermark Effect!

>>73747
Mary's neck ... yeah.

[ODIN]"Come on, Mary. When's a better time to get everything off your chest than in front of a drink with your friend?"

What's up with the moralizing? This is Fallout, dammit.

>>73765
Even after nuclear war, scum don't deserve to live.

>>73767
Also I can't remember if I voted or not
[X] "Come on, Mary. When's a better time to get everything off your chest than in front of a drink with your friend?"

>>73744

You know, the more I think about it, me neither. Mainly since she seems to resent the fact it wasn't us and I'm visualizing Cobbler as some lech in his late 50ies taking advantage of her.

>>73767

Made me smirk.

>>73767

I admit it, I lol'd.

>>73730
>So if the protagonist did jet in the past and is not currently an addict, does that mean the vault got their hands on the Jet Antidote from Vault City? or did they synth something similar on their own? or did he, as Myron said, 'go cold turkey, for like a year'?

Jet is essentially the equivalent of the real-life Benzedrine inhalers (containing racemic amphetamine) that were abused in the 20s through the 50s. Of course, they couldn't call them that for the same reason they couldn't call Med-X 'morphine'. In it's more common street form as methamphetamine, chronic addiction can be hard to withdraw from, sure, but no more so than for opiates, nor is there the potentially life-threatening complications involved in alcohol withdrawal.

Besides, you have to remember that addicts to specific substances are self-selected; people who experiment with the substance and don't like the experience simply move on to something else. In Max's case, the short-term withdrawal and consequent punishment for what he had done may have been more than enough to dissuade habitual use.

I wasn't going to bring it up until a point in the story where you actually used a one, but as a half-youkai, you essentially have the "Chem Resistant" trait, meaning that chems only half the normal plasma half-life due to your hard working liver, of course leading to less euphoria and consequently less likelihood of addiction.

>>73776

You know, even after what you said on your first post, you might want to adopt a tripcode. It's the only difference between your CYOA and the rest.

>>73776
>Chem Resistant

judging by our starting stats, our other trait is Gifted?

well, at least one of our traits isn't useless.

haha, i read chem resist as "Chen" resist.

>>73794
The idea of resisting Chen is both silly and impossible.

>>73813
wait...does yukari have a camera? or is it some sort of me-killing-device?

It's been a while now since the last update, but one thing I must praise Anonymous/Writefag for is making Renko and Maribel NOT friends. Or not friends anymore. It's strange, I know, but it's working nicely.

Now update.

[X] "Come on, Mary. When's a better time to get everything off your chest than in front of a drink with your friend?"

Aw, jeez. You came here hoping to put the past behind you and Mary starts with the waterworks. It always made you nervous to see Mary upset, since she was always the emotionally stronger one, the one who you turned to as a child when the slings and arrows of Vault life got to you. You sigh and stand up, Mary's attention now occupied with quietly sobbing into her cocktail, walk around the table, kneel down behind her, and wrap your arms tightly around her bare stomach. She neither stiffens up at the sensation nor pushes you away, a dubious signal--it tells you that you did what she expected but says nothing as to whether or not it was what she wanted.

You affect an ironic tone, like you did with Ren in the hall earlier, "Come on Mary. When's a better time to get everything off your chest than in front of a drink with your friend? And besides," your voice lowers to a whisper, gravelly but not breaking, "You know I can't bare to see you cry."

"Heh." Sniffling. "You always were such a crybaby."

You can't retort, because it's partially true. When you were very small, you went through a phase where you would imitate whatever emotion played on Mary's face, without regard for its context. "Monkey see, monkey do," as Ren would later say.

"I can't help that. You are the older one." Not by much, though; you can almost hear her eyes roll.

"Don't remind me." She snorts. "I have enough people falling over themselves telling me 'how mature' I am and that I'm a 'good role model', 'a pillar of community'--that grandma back there essentially told me that I am carrying the 'fate of the country' on my shoulders. You can stop groping me, by the way."

"I'm not gropin--" Your fingers stop playing across the soft skin of her flat stomach. "Oh. So I was. Begging your pardon." You withdraw from your embrace and sit back across from her. You see no evidence of sadness earlier, though now she seems to be hiding a faint blush behind her drink. Oh ho. You decide to be a gracious guest and change the subject. "So, what was it you needed to see me about?"

"Yeah, that..." she sighs, shaking her head, "I guess the best way to start explaining is by finding out how much you already do know. Remember when we were kids and we snuck out into the wastes through the secret exit in the overseer's office?"

"Jesus, Mary, how the hell am I gonna forget that? That feral fairy damn near eviscerated me. I still nightmares about it." Probably the only reason you weren't severely punished was because you were already half-dead when you returned. You owe Ren and Mary your life. Ren for fending off the feral, and Mary for keeping you alive until could get proper medical attention.

She bites her lip, "Yeah, that was bad. I was only beginning to learn the healing arts."

"Wait, you had already started her training as shrine maiden then?"

"Yes. Now remember how I told you I found out the password to the overseer's tunnel?"

"Yeah. Ren was beside herself trying to figure how you managed to break the encryption on the her terminal to get the Vault layout schematics."

"Okay, and do you know who the patron god of this shrine is?"

"No, I'll admit that I don't."

"Let me tell you, then. The patron goddess of this shrine is named 'Daiyousei', literally 'greater fairy'. She was a fairy who sacrificed her immortality and physical form during the internment. According to the records, when the Great Border fell, the Vault had not yet been sealed, and because of this an inordinate amount of magical power was needed to complete the barrier. It is thought that she gave her life so that the Vault might be saved, and she remains a symbol of the fundamental compatibility of human and fairy survival."

"And what is the connection between this and the outside or myself?"

She takes a sip from her drink before setting it down, "To be short, it was Daiyousei that told me the password to the overseer's terminal, and now it seems she wants to meet you."

"Wait, what?" Gods don't really exist, right? Youkai, magic, danmaku, sure. These were things that had been once thought to be mystical in nature but are now well understood phenomena that obey universal physical laws.

"I thought maybe the Mentats or the alcohol would help me find the words, but I suppose it's not sounding any more sane than it does in my head. She said it would just be easiest to show you, but I didn't want you to freak."

[ ] Surely there's some rational explanation behind all this. Ask her to explain herself more clearly.
[ ] Those Mentats seem to be taking their toll on her psyche. Make like a tree and get the hell out of here.
[ ] A fairy goddess? Why not? If nothing else, you'll learn something that grants you a little more leverage over your future subordinates.
[ ] Always leave room for a write-in.

[X] "'K."

>>73971
Rationale: She just said she can't explain it any better, running away is obviously stupid, and the third option is patronizing, to me.

[\!/] I'll bite. Okay.

>[X] A fairy goddess? Why not? If nothing else, you'll learn something that grants you a little more leverage over your future subordinates.
>more leverage over your future subordinates.

Think about your future, anon! You need to be well prepared, knowledged and capable of handling situations your subordinates cause in order to become a sucessfull professional.

[x] "K."

[x] "I, that's--to show me what?"
Playing it by the cliche book.

[X] Listen, at least, We'll decide if she's insane after we've seen what she has to show us.

miko stomach is not quite as good as armpit, but still soft.

[x] "K."

Why not?

>>73980
Hara miko, Mary hen na no ni
Hara miko, Mary natsukareru~

[x] "K."

Way to go, Daiyousei.

[x] "K."

i just had a thought. if we had tagged Magic, Medicine and Speechcraft, would we be a shrine maiden too?

>>73986
With Chem Resistant, we might have fared better than Mary, anyway.

>>73986

No, because dudes can't be shrine maidens, bro.

That is, unless they can pull off cross dressing really well, and I don't think Max can.

[x] "K."

[x] A fairy goddess? Why not? If nothing else, you'll learn something that grants you a little more leverage over your future subordinates.

I have no fucking idea what you guys mean by "K.". Are you complying with what she said, or are you going "Lol, okay" and brushing her off?

>>73988
cha 9. i think we can pull it off at least as well as Cloud did in FF7.

[X] Wry grin. "Don't worry, Mary. I'm actually pretty curious as to what a god would want with me, especially one that indirectly almost got me killed before. But before we go meet her I have a quick question. Do you know why she gave us the password back then?"

{X} "K."

>>73990
"Sure, I'll have some fairy."

[X] "K."

Don't be anything, just DO.

[x] "K."

The shrine maiden wants you to meet her fairy godmother? Okay, sure. You can play along with that. Maybe Mentats were more fun than you thought?

You try to affect your most pleasant smile, but by the look on Mary's face, you probably only managed a sneer. "'Kay."

"Wait, what? No backbiting epithets about my Mentats dependency? No demands for verification of what is almost surely a hoax to get Max Rockatansky to believe in something he hasn't seen with his own eyes? Just 'k'?"

"You know, man, I just thought, like, why not? I mean, when I'm going to bang some chick, I at least pretend to show interest in whatever it is she cares about," You making a dismissive gesture with your hands, "Even if I never plan on talking to her again."

Mary looks like she just swallowed something rotten. "Oh, you're a real sweet talker, Max."

"Don't I know it. So what is this about some fairy goddess who nearly got me killed once already?"

Mary sighs, as if she expected the comment. "That wasn't her intention. She just needed us to verify that the radiation levels were survivable."

"So, she didn't expect me to die from a feral attack; she expected me to die from rad poisoning?"

"I--you know--" She laughs despite herself, at least showing that she's grounded enough to appreciate the absurdity of the situation, "Will you just the fuck shut up and let me finish?"

Fine. You shrug and nod disaffectedly.

"As I was saying, there is a fairy goddess who is the patron of this shrine, and has watched over the Vault since its creation. She knows almost everything that goes on here. For example, she knows about the time you tested Miss Ellen's memory deficit by beating off in her morning coffee in front of her and then watching her drink it afterward."

Well that's a new look on you, Mary. Malicious and well-humored at the same time; it leaves you sputtering. "Wha-what? No, that's impossible! No one else should know of my--"

"'Rockatansky-style non-dairy creamer?'"

Rage. Smoldering rage. Objection! You slam both hands on the table, rattling the china. "That, good madam, is bullshit! You're just been reading entries out of my diary!"

"Au contraire mon frère," She shakes a finger at you, "You don't have a diary and in fact you've never had a diary. You had a 'journal'--since as you very pointedly stated 'dairies are for girls'--for a week in elementary, and all that you put in it were drawings of penises and a hundred different ways of signing the name you wish you were born with! Max Power. Pfft--hahahaha!" Seems she can't keep the laughter in anymore.

"It was a pseudonym; I was going through a phase." You sigh, close your eyes, and cross your arms huffily, "Okay, so you got me ludicrously drunk and I spilled the beans on every stupid thing I did since I was two years old. I don't see what your this proves other than your inability to let the past lie."

"Well, if that's how it's going to be Max, you leave me no other choice."

You've been expecting those words for a while now, those words that mean: "I don't have any reasonable way of convincing you to agree with me, so I'll have sex with you in lieu of providing evidence." You hear the sound of movement, she's standing up and doing something. How is this going to happen, is she going to play the shy maiden routine? No, no, she admitted she wasn't a virgin earlier. Maybe she'll frame it as some kind of secret ritual passed down through generations of shrine maidens? Yeah, that sounds pretty hot. You'll crack an eye and she'll be disrobed to only sleeves and--

"Hey, human." The voice somewhat nasally and electronic and brings you out of your fantasies with a wince.

Mary is not in the middle of disrobing like you hoped, rather, she's grabbed her gohei and is pointing it at you, and as such, you disappointedly note you are likely witnessing the tail-end of an incantation, rather than the beginning of a seduction attempt.

"Over here! No, not your pecker, kid--your Pip-Boy!"

Oh! Your Pip-Boy is displaying a smart-alecky cartoon fairy in place of the standard wavy-haired mascot on its beveled surface. How awful.

"Okay Mary, so you've just hacked my Pip-Boy with magic--"

"Divine power."

"Right, with divine power to channel the spirit of an obnoxious fairy, or at least an AI program masquerading as one, to some nefarious purpose no doubt involving my extortion and extreme annoyance."

"Aside from the bit assuming that I creating an AI program for the sole purpose of manipulating you is somehow less fantastical than invoking one of the gods of whom I serve, I believe you've summarized your current predicament nicely." Mary nods at her explanation unashamedly.

"Sucks to be you, kid!" You frown at the addition from your Pip-Boy and start messing with the dials and buttons to get rid of it. "Hey wai--" The voice is replace with nice, relaxing Hawaiian music.

"Three is a crowd, you little gremlin." You stand up, fully intent on reporting this no doubt illegal modification of Vault property to the overseer. You expected something nutty from this girl, but another needling voice in you ear, in addition to the already well-represented constituencies of gaggling schoolgirls, pro-Vault propaganda, and your own acerbic interior monologue, the idea is not one you relish.

"Max, wait." She grabs your arm tightly. She's still sitting down, and it wouldn't be much to shake her off. "I'm sorry, it's just I nee--we need your help." You don't need to look at her face to read the look on it, in fact that is precisely why you don't. Damn your pleading, Mary! "The entire Vault needs your help."

"Well then cut to the fucking chase already!" You tear your arm out of her grip and jab your index finger at the hijacked Pip-Boy, which seems to timely replace the Hawaiian music with static, "Instead of giving me the runaround with this stupid shit!" Mary winces when you raise your voice, which makes you feel kind of awful, despite your (justified) self-righteousness.

"How do you expect her to speak frankly with you when everything she says is met with contempt and incredulity?"

You don't have the words to respond to the surprisingly eloquent statement from the cocky neon sprite on your Pip-Boy. If this is an AI, its language core has been pretty well designed.

[ ] This is honestly pathetic, the lengths someone will go to feed her addiction. But she's pegged the wrong mark: Max Rockatansky is nobody's fool.
- [ ] Save yourself the tedium of going through with whatever confidence trick she is planning and just throw some money at her. Leave in disgust.
- [ ] If she needs your "help" (i.e., money) that badly she'll have to earn it. She's already all but said that she wanted it, so why the fuck not?
[ ] Park your ass down, drink your fucking highball, and listen to whatever it is they're demanding of you.
- [ ] <Speech> But that doesn't mean you can't be indignant about it! Demand a more palatable drink: A rum & Nuka on the rocks.
- [ ] Maybe the fairy-AI-caricature-god-thing has a point. Be open-minded. Be "k."
- [ ] You'll listen to Mary, but if you hear another peep out of that fucking fairy you swear to God...
[ ] <Magic> Use a lighting cantrip and fry the circuits on your Pip-boy right now. You can always get it repaired later, and that thing is getting on your nerves.
- [ ] Stay. Demand Mary tell you what is going on and without the magical gimmicks this time.
- [ ] Go. Leave all this emotional baggage at the curbside, where it belongs.
[ ] No time for this shit. Get yourself to the medical center immediately; even if they can't get this thing off you, amputation is still preferable to being figuratively shackled to this screwball nun and literally to her digitized, back-talking sock puppet.
[ ] She slipped something in your glass, didn't she? The Pip-Boy icon didn't grow a set of wings and start winking at you; it's merely a hallucination. You have a fast metabolism, right? Maybe you can walk it off?
[ ] Write-in.

[ ] Park your ass down, drink your fucking highball, and listen to whatever it is they're demanding of you.
- [ ] <Speech> But that doesn't mean you can't be indignant about it! Demand a more palatable drink: A rum & Nuka on the rocks.
[ ] <Magic> Use a lighting cantrip and fry the circuits on your Pip-boy right now. You can always get it repaired later, and that thing is getting on your nerves.

we will try to extort sex out of Mary AFTER we've gotten her quest. also, maybe skills will grow if we use them more, Morrowind style.

[ ] This is honestly pathetic, the lengths someone will go to feed her addiction. But she's pegged the wrong mark: Max Rockatansky is nobody's fool.
- [ ] If she needs your "help" (i.e., money) that badly she'll have to earn it. She's already all but said that she wanted it, so why the fuck not?

>>74022
You're in the wrong CRPG.

[x] Park your ass down, drink your fucking highball, and listen to whatever it is they're demanding of you.
- [x] You'll listen to Mary, but if you hear another peep out of that fucking fairy you swear to [some god other than it]...

>>74025
okay, then, fallout style: which options are more likely to rake in the sweet sweet XP? the ones involving skill use, or the ones without?

it all works out the same, in the end.

[X] Park your ass down, drink your fucking highball, and listen to whatever it is they're demanding of you.
- [x] Maybe the fairy-AI-caricature-god-thing has a point. Be open-minded. Be "k."

>>74026
How much XP do you get for killing a Pip-Boy?

[\!/] Park your ass down, drink your fucking highball, and listen to whatever it is they're demanding of you.
- [\!/] You'll listen to Mary, but if you hear another peep out of that fucking fairy you swear to [some god other than it]...

Atleast Mary is living up to Reimu's slut legacy.

[X] Park your ass down, drink your fucking highball, and listen to whatever it is they're demanding of you.
- [x] Maybe the fairy-AI-caricature-god-thing has a point. Be open-minded. Be "k."

[X] Park your ass down, drink your fucking highball, and listen to whatever it is they're demanding of you.
- [x] Maybe the fairy-AI-caricature-god-thing has a point. Be open-minded. Be "k."

[x] Park your ass down, drink your fucking highball, and listen to whatever it is they're demanding of you.
- [x] Maybe the fairy-AI-caricature-god-thing has a point. Be open-minded. Be "k."

>>74029

Not slut, a whore. One is an epithet, the other is a profession.

{X} Park your ass down, drink your fucking highball, and listen to whatever it is they're demanding of you.
- {X} Maybe the fairy-AI-caricature-god-thing has a point. Be open-minded. Be "k."

[X] Park your ass down, drink your fucking highball, and listen to whatever it is they're demanding of you.
- [X] Maybe the fairy-AI-caricature-god-thing has a point. Be open-minded. Be "k."

[Z] Park your ass down, drink your fucking highball, and listen to whatever it is they're demanding of you.
- [Z] Maybe the fairy-AI-caricature-god-thing has a point. Be open-minded. Be "k."
- [Z] "You better not be in there permanently, or I'll fry you nine ways to sunday."

[X] Park your ass down, drink your fucking highball, and listen to whatever it is they're demanding of you.
- [x] Maybe the fairy-AI-caricature-god-thing has a point. Be open-minded. Be "k."
- [x] Gesture to your Pip-boy "I would have prefered sex."

[x] Park your ass down, drink your fucking highball, and listen to whatever it is they're demanding of you.
- [x] Maybe the fairy-AI-caricature-god-thing has a point. Be open-minded. Be "k."

They may be all lies, but I still want to hear them. I'll decide how to react afterwards. At the very least I've been a little hard on mary, and should hear her out, for now.

[X] Sigh
[X] Park your ass down, drink your fucking highball, and listen to whatever it is they're demanding of you.
- [X] Maybe the fairy-AI-caricature-god-thing has a point. Be open-minded. Be "k."
- [X] "You better not be in there permanently, or I'll fry you nine ways to sunday."

[X] Park your ass down, drink your fucking highball, and listen to whatever it is they're
- [x] Gesture to your Pip-boy "I would have prefered sex."

[X] Park your ass down, drink your fucking highball, and listen to whatever it is they're
- [x] Gesture to your Pip-boy "I would have preferred sex."

[X] Park your ass down, drink your fucking highball, and listen to whatever it is they're
- [x] Gesture to your Pip-boy "I would have prefered sex."

[x] Park your ass down, drink your fucking highball, and listen to whatever it is they're
- [x] Gesture to your Pip-boy "I would have prefered sex."

[X] Park your ass down, drink your fucking highball, and listen to whatever it is they're
- [x] Gesture to your Pip-boy "I would have prefered sex."

OP, are you losing steam? I mean, I understand if you do. This IS quite a bit of a task...