--- 2010/08/09(Mon)13:45 No. 216745 ID: b0020f
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It is the third year of the operation. Absolutely no success has been achieved in attempting to subtly control this planet, Earth.

The main factor that lead to this stagnation is that you simply didn't want to take over Earth.

You know exactly what will happen if you try. You will fail miserably and end up being vivisected, or you will succeed, become a hero, and end up killed for failing to meet the alarmingly high expectations you will have set for yourself.

Fortunately, you are very good at faking exactly how much progress has been made to your superiors.

--- 2010/08/09(Mon)13:45 No. 216746 ID: b0020f
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You awaken from your sleep, and begin to tear the membrane of your dormancy cocoon. What is your name? And what talent was it that made your overseers choose you, you out of so many writhing larvae, so many expendable and replaceable creatures, the one worthy of becoming a planetary infiltrator?

>>216746
Your name is...

UORIE.

Your name is Quiet Resolution! And your talent is hugs!

>>216747
Oh, right, talent. No idea what talents are common in your species, bub. You're on your own for that one.

>>216747
Also if you want to write that "Wo-ryeh" or something to make the pronunciation more obvious, feel free.

But that's your name. I will not be dissuaded.

>>216746

Your name is Sanchez, and your talent is making friends through your Mexican cooking skills.

Kth'haQ. Or Kith for short.

You have the gift of altered sense of time. Your brain operates much faster than that of others. In laymans terms, it means that you perceive time slower than the norm, causing an almost bullet-time effect where you can react to external stimuli and events far faster than should be possible.

You are also in possession of a favorable mutation - two hearts. Working in tandem with each other, they grant you greater stamina and endurance.

>>216757
I like these ideas.

(But Wo-ryeh is your name!)

Lalid

You have a really great voice that makes people more susceptible to whatever you have to say.

Krythix

the ability to consume things not normally consumable without ill effects.

Tiddlywinks, and a minor empathic talent.

>>216746
>What is your name?

Dave.

>And what talent was it that made your overseers choose you, you out of so many writhing larvae, so many expendable and replaceable creatures, the one worthy of becoming a planetary infiltrator?

You slept with the programme co-ordinator.

Your name is Zappa.
And you have a talent.
A very special thing.
You have a digital mind wave.

Zim, and because your madcap experimental machinery always seems to work, somehow.

Except for bees.

Woryeh 2010/08/09(Mon)16:43 No. 216776 ID: b0020f
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Your name is Woryeh. You have always been both blessed and cursed with having two hearts, which, while granting you greater stamina and endurance, have also lead to desynchronisation and periods of unconsciousness when met with sufficiently heavy blunt trauma to the torso.

As well as a mutant cardiovascular system, you also have a mutated brain. It operates faster than your peers' brains do, and allows you react to potential threats far more quickly than most. However, this does have a side-effect. Thinking at an accelerated rate produces heat, and overheating will not outright cook your brain, but will lead to temporary loss of consciousness until it cools again.

Your mutations may have lead to you being purged back when you were plucked from the pool you hatched in, but you were permitted to live. And for this incredible act of benevolence, you have been in debt to the empire ever since. At least, that's how it was explained to you.

Woryeh 2010/08/09(Mon)16:43 No. 216777 ID: b0020f
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You are not alone in this operation. There is another. Her name is Zyeryh. Like you, she has mutations that would have demanded her destruction, if not for another incredible act of benevolence forcing her into eternal obligation much as yourself.

The two of you were paired together for more than just the operation at hand. Given both of your bizarre genetic structures, your superiors had the grand and completely simple plan of forcing both of you into the same situation. The intention was for both of you to grow close to one another during the course of the mission. The resulting offspring would then be taken and studied for any further beneficial mutations.

Of course, both of you absolutely detest and loathe one another, and the only thing that has stopped you from killing one another so far is the thought of having to explain the sudden absence of the other to your superiors.

Woryeh 2010/08/09(Mon)16:43 No. 216778 ID: b0020f
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Or that's how it was working before. The moment you split the cocoon open, she is waiting for you.

She stares at you coldly.

The last time she had an expression like that, neither of you left the room with same amount of limbs you began with. Fortunately, your species has an excellent capacity for regeneration.

"They're waiting for a report. From both of us."

That doesn't make any sense. You file your reports separately to Zyeryh's reports. Then both of them are compared for discrepancies. That's how it's always worked.

"Get out now or I'll rip your mid-limbs out again."

>>216778

Obviously they noticed you were not making sexy time and figured that if you two worked together you could experience some bonding.

This is a grand opportunity though. Though you detest the very presence of Zyeryh, this is your first opportunity to conspire with her to generate a totally trumped up report full of lies your superiors will never be able to detect. The only tricky parts are it can't provoke their direct presence, and it can't be too widely different from your previous reports.

well shit. go "ugh! let's get this over with" and go, quickly. fighting while a report is needed will do no one any good.

quickly check earth's news network and check a nearby disaster that you could have caused.

claim that it was yours and that it serves as a small step in educating the population ablut the need of a higher kind being.

also warn of this to your wife.

meanwhile, how much of a procastinator is she?

>>216778
They're waiting for you Woryeh.

In the report chamber.

>>216778
Not a great idea to say no, so.

You know, there's always angry sex.

>>216795
and bsdm.

and angry parenting.

Yeah, refusing can't possibly end well. May as well begrudgingly go.

You guys do know that your species mates by ripping each other's limbs off, right?

What kind of mutations does your forced spouse have? the same?

>>216778
Well shit. You had better make sure your stories add up so they don't catch you lying. I would imagine that shit would be bad.

Woryeh 2010/08/10(Tue)09:32 No. 217005 ID: b0020f
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"Ugh. Let's get this over with."

You wriggle out of your dormancy cocoon and hit the metal floor hard. Of course, Zyeryh does not even try to hide the schadenfreude she feels watching you fall to the ground like that. You suppress the desire to slice her across the face or something right now in favour of planning a more appropriate revenge. Something she won't see coming. When the time is right.

Woryeh 2010/08/10(Tue)09:32 No. 217006 ID: b0020f
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While checking Earth's news network for disasters you could reasonably claim credit for sounds like a good idea, it really would not mesh with what you've been fabricating so far. You have kept so low-key that no-one is even aware of your existence, except for those you are in direct contact who act as the strings to the rest of your puppets.

Attempting to blow things up to educate the populace about the need for entities that would be able to prevent blowing things up seems, to you at least, easy to screw up.

Woryeh 2010/08/10(Tue)09:32 No. 217007 ID: b0020f
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Zyeryh's mutations are not something she is willing to discuss with you. Then again, she is not willing to discuss a lot of things with you these days. You never thought to ask her back when you were on somewhat friendlier terms, and there is no way she is willing to listen to a perfectly reasonable question like that now.

Of course, whatever her various mutations are, one of them she can't hide. Her eyes have an abnormal structure that allow her to pick up on motion even in poor lighting conditions, and you are quite honestly terrified of the idea of being in a dark room with her. So far, you've stayed out of dark places when you don't know where she is.

She has also somehow discovered the existence of your two hearts, and knows your anatomy well enough to know exactly where to strike for the quickest disable or the greatest amount of pain. Whether this is some trained skill of hers or something to do with another mutation, you have no idea.

Woryeh 2010/08/10(Tue)09:32 No. 217008 ID: b0020f
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The two of you walk to the communications room, far apart enough to be able to tolerate each other's existence, but close enough to not appear intimidated by one another.

"We need to collude and ensure what our stories are match up, or they're going to know."
"What 'stories'? I don't know what lies you've been telling them. I've been telling them exactly what's been happening."

That tone of voice. Condescension tinged with vague menace and a smug superiority, three sentences that say so much with context and yet say so little. She is so easy to hate.

But if she's been telling the truth...

Woryeh 2010/08/10(Tue)09:33 No. 217009 ID: b0020f
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You and Zyeryh used to like each other. You were good friends for a short time. Then Zyeryh realised what was going on when each and every single one of her attempts to gain influence over the planet ended in failure.

It was your sabotage, every time.

At first she was confused. You tried to explain but she didn't quite understand. Then came the polite requests to stop meddling in her plans. Then came the arguments. Anger, but still rational. Then it just built, and built, and the two of you became mortal enemies.

If she's reported your sabotage to your superiors... You are concerned about two things. Just how painful your method of execution is going to be, and why they haven't mentioned anything sooner.

Woryeh 2010/08/10(Tue)09:33 No. 217010 ID: b0020f
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You both arrive in the communications room. On the viewscreen is Praetor Raagaras. You are not able to read his species' expressions well, but he does not seem pleased.

"Infiltrator Woryeh. Infiltrator Zyeryh. It has been [three years]. Your reports have been analysed, and you each blame the other for your lack of progress. I am more inclined to believe Zyeryh, as if I was to believe Woryeh's reports, I would be living in some perpetual fungal hallucination where everything goes perfectly and without a hitch."

You stand there quietly. So does Zyeryh. When a Praetor is talking, you do not talk back unless explicitly given permission.

"So I have drawn the conclusion that, for [three years], absolutely no progress has been made. I have also been informed that there was a secondary project. A research project. While I am completely against the idea of my sector's scientists wasting their time playing matchmaker for genetic rejects, have you sent even one larval cluster to this sector?"

Neither you nor Zyeryh respond, too afraid of saying the wrong thing.

"No? What have you two been doing all this time?"

You think you should try to defend yourself somehow before Zyeryh gets a chance to ruin your reputation any further.

>>217010
uh.

wow.

make your prayers.

the most convincing lie is that you wanted the perfect breeding/fucking grounds for your childen, and that would require the planet in a certain condition that goes a bit against how your mate wants to run/ruin/conquer it.

unfortunadely you screwed up too hard and now you two hate each other along with the possibility that both of your lives are on the line.

if you dont want to speak the truth on the last part, say it was a gift for her and you lack subtely. also shenanigans involving mating seasons.

>>217012
also since you are going to die you could as well call a scam on keeping you both alive (as in, it would be more expensive to kill both rather that not give you work, wich you didnt did) and wanted to have a actual goal that you could choose for the empire but has been cockblocked even in the part where you cant interact with your mate because she is a frigid bitch that loves being a tool and hurting you for amusement.

>>217010
Tell them that you have been conducting an indeepth study of mankind to make the ultimate plan for how to take them over. To make this plan possible you needed a long period of study and thus you had to make sure they couldn't notice you.

But the plan is nearing fruition now. But sadly the planning has consumed all of your time, so you missed out on the babymaking. It was hard to ignore, but the greater good demanded it from you.

And the somewhat false reports were simply to give the impression that work was progressing as planned and to make sure there was no interference from above with you plan. That's also why you keept it secret from your partner.

Tell it that after a long period of study, you have decided that the planets' sentient race are adorable, and that the optimal strategy for dealing with them is to cuddle.

>>217010
Say that the inhabitants of this world are somewhat above average intelligence level, and are therefore difficult to manipulate without proper subtly.

"nothing, due to the fact that i feel any method of control would be destroyed disastrously and result in backlash for the empire. the humans have an espionage network spying on each-other, making any control of one group instantly noticed by another"

Aw. You faked your reports. Badly. You are so dead. You knew they were checked for disparities, dawg. You were supposed to tell the truth but blame it all on Zyeryh. So about the only thing you can do now is...

Blame it all on Zyeryh.

This is a bad time to mention it but I missed the chance to respond earlier. I think it's quite funny how you act like an old married couple.

Woryeh 2010/08/10(Tue)14:34 No. 217145 ID: b0020f
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You find your mind racing with things to say. Different plans of attack. Lies. Accusations. Excuses. Doubts. Anything to buy more time. Why didn't you leave any of Zyeryh's plans alone to begin with? You don't know. Your mind is racing and you can feel your hearts thumping.

"We wanted a better environment to raise offspring first-"
"Raise them? You're meant to send them to us for examination and research!"
"We're studying the native sapients to figure out how to conquer them and the planning and studying has taken a very long time-"
"And this was never mentioned in your reports... because?"
"It was a secret-"
"Pathetic excuse."

Zyeryh is saying nothing. She can see you're doing a fine job of ruining yourself already.

"Okay, we haven't done anything yet because the native sapients are smarter than we expected and have so many groups infiltrating one another that attempting to control one group would be regarded with suspicion by another."
"Wonderful excuse. Well done. I am impressed. If you hadn't already revealed your incompetence and failed to convince me, that excuse may have actually saved you."

Woryeh 2010/08/10(Tue)14:35 No. 217146 ID: b0020f
File 128147610453.png - (36.10KB , 512x512 , 13.png )

"And it is this level of general incompetence that leads me to believe that Zyeryh is equally incompetent. Your reports blame Woryeh for sabotaging and ruining every plan you put into action. If you cannot cope with interference from this sorry excuse for an infiltrator, what did you hope to achieve against the civilisations of this planet?"

Zyeryh stares at the screen, mouth shaking. "What? No, it's all his fault! He had physical access to all the systems, the humans wouldn't have had that!"
"But you stated, and I will use your own words here, that your colleague is 'incapable, destructive, incompetent, and utterly idiotic.' For such an individual to sabotage each and every project you have reported, including projects that by their nature were designed to be foolproof, speaks volumes about your own level of competence."

Woryeh 2010/08/10(Tue)14:35 No. 217147 ID: b0020f
File 128147611780.png - (28.03KB , 512x512 , 14.png )

"This leads me to conclude that either you are both drooling imbeciles who ought to have been squashed as larvae, or you are both highly competent individuals who are wasting our time and your effort over personal differences. Your efforts to fool us have not gone unnoticed, but we see potential. Potential that demands we intervene, in order to exploit it."

You and Zyeryh both keep your eyes fixed on the screen.

" From this point, you are both authorised to kill each other. The research project is a pointless waste of time, anyway. In [24 hours] I will contact this base once again. Complete control of the mission will be granted to whichever of you is still alive. I trust this situation will resolve itself."

The screen goes blank.

You look at Zyeryh. Zyeryh looks at you.

You can act faster than she can. You can react faster than she can. You have the advantage.

>>217147
Stab her eyes out. Then rip off her limbs. After which you have time for a nice little chat with her. Get her to cooperate with your plans or you will kill her.

Get some sort of killswitch installed in her to make sure of her compliance.

>>217147
Leap back, assume defensive procedures.

"Well, we can do this one of two ways then. Either we act like adults and quit bickering like a bunch of pre-adolescent larvae, or we -both- end up as corpses. Because if I'm going down, I'm sure as hell going to make sure that you'll be following me to (insert your particular species version of an afterlife here) soon after."

>>217147
Well, not like you have much choice, is it? Your options are "kill" and "get killed;" this isn't really a catch-22 or anything like that.

use upper limbs to attack eyes and use lower limbs to protect heart(s).

>>217152
This, and be ready for any attack that she might make.

>>217147
There is basically no positive outcome to this situation. Run away, take your chances elsewhere.

Flee to Mexico, start new life.

>>217161
i has a crazy idea.

a uprising from inside.

she may be butthurt that she was also dismissed so easily. simply plot with her the downfall of the empire. this may or may not involve using earth as a lever. she also needs to consider that the possibility of her death is imminent even if her future plans suceed.

alternatively, run like fuck and attempt to raise hell from any of your contacts that she has no acess to.

>>217164

Yes, run away! They'll never expect that!

Woryeh 2010/08/11(Wed)16:27 No. 217439 ID: b0020f
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Part of you screams to run. Screams to hide. Another part of you considers insubordination. But your overwhelming thoughts are of killing her where she stands, ending her once and for all.

You strike and impale her eyes. You shift your mid-limbs to guard your thorax, expecting her to counter by exploiting the weaknesses of your two hearts.

She doesn't counter. Whenever you have both attacked each other before, whether consciously aware of it or not, you've never attacked anything that would not heal by itself. Slices across the body surface, removal of limbs that grow back in a matter of days, nothing permanent, nothing lasting.

Eyes, though. Eyes do not regenerate.

She stumbles back, screaming in pain. She misses her opportunity. You lunge at her, and pin her to the ground.

Woryeh 2010/08/11(Wed)16:27 No. 217440 ID: b0020f
File 128156926219.png - (51.92KB , 512x512 , 16.png )

"Stop!! Please!! I'm sorry!!"

You have had enough of her lies. You place a blade to her throat. You can feel her pulse, her heart racing in fear, her weak, pathetic single heart.

"I'll do anything! Stop! Don't kill me!"

This has to be a trick. Zyeryh has never acted so weak and submissive before. All the more reason to kill her now and...

and...

and you can't do it. You hate her. This can't be denied. But you just can't bring yourself to kill the only other individual of your kind you've known for the past three years. Not like this.

You get up and stand back from her.

Woryeh 2010/08/11(Wed)16:27 No. 217441 ID: b0020f
File 12815692774.png - (32.06KB , 512x512 , 17.png )

She stays on the ground, waving her arms around frantically in the air.

Ah. That's why she's acting differently. You blinded her. You've taken away that advantage she had over you - her superior sight, her detection of motion even in the darkest of places. Now she can't even see. She's helpless.

"...Woryeh."

She gets up slowly, clawing at the air, stumbling towards a wall.

"Woryeh, I can't see you. Where are you?"

You don't make a sound.

"Woryeh. Come back. I can't see anything. I'm not going to hurt or kill you, but, please, come back, I need help, I don't know where I am."
"Good."

You walk off.

"Woryeh! Woryeh, come back! COME BACK!"

Indirectly killing her by leaving her to starve or dehydrate, however, is something you can cope with.

Woryeh 2010/08/11(Wed)16:28 No. 217442 ID: b0020f
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You think.

Something is gnawing away inside of you.

At first you think it might be some kind of parasite, until you realise the sensation gets worse every time you hear her call your name again.

It's guilt. Or pity. Probably both.

She would have done the same to you anyway, right? And you would have begged her for mercy and she would have just left you to die.

"WORYEH! PLEASE! I DON'T KNOW WHERE I AM ANY MORE!"

Something has to be done about the noise. With her shouting and the echoing sounds of her clumsily smacking into every piece of equipment going, it's hard to focus on a way out of your current predicament. And it's getting harder to ignore the feeling you should go help her, when clearly the most rational and entirely objective thing to do is to just let her die.

Something has to be done. Now.

do you have any bindings? if so then tie her upper arms so she cannot attack you. and then her into the eating area, not the food storage area though. she will need to rely on you for sustenance, she will ether forget about hating you, or beg for death.

>>217442
Y'know, if you wanted to work with her, it'd be a lot easier now. Hell, you guys might even wind up being friends, as improbable as that probably sounds right now. :V

Oh and that guilt will never go away. Whether you kill her now or leave her to die, leaving you with only memories, or help her, leaving you with a physical reminder atop that, you're going to remember you did this for the rest of your life.

And she didn't strike back, even.

>>217442
That feeling.. won't go away when she dies. It will only change, become ever stronger as it slowly consumes you. She is helpless now, no matter what else she might have done you can't just leave the helpless to die and hope to be any less vile than she could have ever been.

Turn back and say "Zyeryh", then walk back. You have about 24 hours to either find a way to stabilize this, or at least find a guiltless method of killing!

As for how to say things, its time to let the megalomania flow baby! Your going to be in charge now, let it be known.

>>217447

Heck maybe that guilt will go away. He's an alien after all.

What I want to know is why didn't you run away? When your superiors see that you are, against all expectations, the victor, they're going to destroy you anyway. They know you are disloyal to them, no matter who is alive. Defeating her serves no purpose. It only deepens your already hopeless situation.

Okay here's an idea. Be kind to her. Save her life. Treat her gently. She doesn't need to see to give you offspring. With a large enough force you might be able to defend yourself from any wrath that the empire wishes to bring down upon you for ruining their project here on Earth.

>>217452
Ahh bringing short term planning to long term goals, quite nice, I like it.

However, we have a problem, can we actually jackboot up a kind of global defense initiative powerful enough to hold back the agents of the empire? What enemies does the empire actually have? What resources? How willing are they to act in the open to accomplish their goals?

Say out loud that you'll be back within 24 hours. Tell her she should sit down before she cracks her head open on a monitor or something.

>>217450
>>217459
think of what to do in 24 hours before you say that you will be back.

>>217470
doesn't mean i support their idea. want to just get some robe and tie her up.

Woryeh 2010/08/11(Wed)18:08 No. 217477 ID: b0020f
File 128157529453.png - (33.67KB , 512x512 , 19.png )

Guilt continues to gnaw at you.

Gnawing away. You can't stand it. You realise what you've done. You get memories resurfacing of the times when you two worked together. Happy co-operation. And then you ruined it. You ruined everything. You were too scared of failure. Too scared of success. You just wanted mediocrity. To fly under the radar.

But she wouldn't listen. She wanted to succeed. You had to stop her. You tried to convince her, but you couldn't dissuade her.

Woryeh 2010/08/11(Wed)18:08 No. 217478 ID: b0020f
File 128157531264.png - (29.73KB , 512x512 , 20.png )

And despite the fact that you took so much away from her, all she ever did was wound and maim and injure you in ways she was fully aware would recover by themselves.

By inflicting such damage, such permanent damage, you broke the unspoken rules you had between yourselves.

"Stand still before you hit a monitor or a console. I'm coming."

You walk back up to her and hold your arm out. She touches it and immediately grabs hold of it with force. She clings to it like a frightened larva clings to its brood mother.

"You've ruined everything for me. Everything. I've worked on so much and you've ruined that for me, and you've ruined my chances of impressing the Praetors, and you've ruined my eyes. What do you want, Woryeh? What have I done to deserve this?!"
"Shall I start with the casual violence every time I happen to be in the same room with you or should I take that as something that just happens these days?"
"If I don't attack you, you attack me first! You always strike if I don't strike first! You just stabbed my eyes and I can't see and don't leave me I can't see I need you to help me you can't leave me here."

She is starting to hurt your arm with the vicelike grip she has on it now.

"Medical room. Then we need to talk."

Woryeh 2010/08/11(Wed)18:09 No. 217480 ID: b0020f
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You lead her to the medical room.

It is an awkward, tense walk. She is totally dependant upon you, and she hates this fact with a burning passion. She has reached an equilibrium where she is holding on tightly enough to cause you discomfort and pain, but not so much as to risk you leaving her behind.

Then, in the medical room, you listen to her instructions for what has to be done in order to artificially regenerate her eyes. It turns out that she has actually been fearing this happening for a while. While natural regeneration is impossible, your medical technology will make it possible to regrow her original eyes. Her original mutant eyes that see things as fast as you think things.

You understand everything she says. But do you do it? After all, she can't do it herself. She's blind. She doesn't know where the specialised equipment is. She has no choice but to trust you, because if you betray her trust, she has nothing else to turn to.

question yourself, who REALLY started the fights? did she really start it every time? if not then you do indeed share the blame and she deserves to have her eyes back.

Woryeh, in your interactions with the beings of Earth, have you never encountered the term "Tsundere"?

What have you done Woryeh? What have you done?

>>217480
Design them with a flaw. She's adept at seeing in the dark? Make her sight super-sensitive to bright light. Then you can have a little bit of private pleasure at the fact by how humiliating she'll look when she has to wear a silly looking pair of sunglasses whenever she has to go outside in the daylight.

>>217480
Okay, question.

Would it be possible to have this "talk" before you fix her eyes? I mean, based on the way your relationship appears to be, I wouldn't be surprised if she tried to attack you as soon as you got her healed (and for that matter wouldn't put it past you to do the same), which rather completely fails to solve the underlying problem in your relationship. This is a really good opportunity for a heart-to-heart.

Of course, you have to not do anything stupidly emotional (like, I don't know, running off, or sinking something through her arm) if she says something you strongly disagree with. You guys can verbally harangue each other all you want, but you still need to talk, and getting in a physical altercation as a result of said talk is not going to help matters.

Seriously, though. It's in both of your own best interests to at least start getting this ironed out, because you'll still have the Empire to deal with.

>>217487
... that is a good idea, do it. work while you talk though. just don't do the last step until you are done talking.

also on the before you fix her eyes part, fi you actually do feel bad about this. You may want to start with like... an apology. Ironing out this is probably the best idea about now, or killing her and finishing the job.

lol fix her eyes? just give her a cane. tell her to "walk it off"

Seriously man, do you understand her all that well? It's possible she was mortal enemies with an incompetent idiot, and only now does she realize that idiot isn't you. I think you should calibrate it to keep her blind, say that it's to keep you safe and to teach her a lesson. Say this way neither of us has to die. Then you can go about deliberating how to resist, or otherwise negate the hostility from this empire.

Remember even empires can be thwarted by those who convince the empire that removing you would be more trouble than it's worth.

Θ][Σ 2010/08/11(Wed)20:04 No. 217520 ID: dad664
File 128158229342.png - (3.48KB , 225x251 , ZyeryhPyrope.png )

Alternatively, modify her senses to taste colors.

>>217480

We should heal her eyes, but first we must come to terms. We need to reach an understanding, and for the moment she HAS to hear us out. We also can hear her out if she's willing.

>>217480
Give her a normal set of eyes instead. And don't forget to install a killswitch on her. Something like a bomb in her spine that goes off if both your hearts stop beating.

And you can tell her of your dreams and hopes during the operation. How you just wanted to be unoticeable in the grand scheme of things and live out a life of quiet and contentment. And she was trying to ruin all of it, you had to act.

Woryeh 2010/08/12(Thu)07:38 No. 217626 ID: b0020f
File 128162388214.png - (38.76KB , 512x512 , 22.png )

You think. Both of you have started fights before. If anyone started it, it was you. Yet another one of her plans was unfolding and turning out successfully. Rather than sabotage it and watch it crumble beneath her, as you usually had done, you were so irritated by the constant back-and-forth that you elected to just try breaking her instead of the machines she was using.

Of course, at the time you immediately regretted it and loathed yourself for what you did. You took her to the medical room as fast as you could but by then the damage had been done. She would never look at you with anything more than seething hatred again. Eventually, this stopped bothering you.

It's bothering you now, though. You've done it again. You've gone too far a second time. You'll give her back her eyes. First, though, a discussion needs to be had.

Woryeh 2010/08/12(Thu)07:38 No. 217627 ID: b0020f
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"Woryeh?" She sounds panicked. You realise you haven't really made any noise since she finished explaining. "Woryeh, are you still there?"
"Yes. I will fix your eyes after we've talked-"
"No, now! It's going to take long enough to restore them, start now!"
"We'll talk while I work, then."
"Why do you hate me?"
"I've kept trying to explain this to you. If we ever succeed in what we were sent here for, we'll be considered exceptional. And sent to do more dangerous things. Infiltrate more worlds. Over and over again until we die. Which will happen."
"But what's wrong with that?!"
"I just want to live a quiet life. Is that so wrong?"
"Well, you shouldn't have become an infiltrator!"
"We both know neither of us exactly had a choice in the matter. We could have collaborated. Made it look like the world was theirs for the taking. Watched the arrogant Praetors send their fleets straight into a completely prepared and heavily defended planet."
"We could have this world for ourselves and we could have still done that!! Think of what you can do with an entire world at your disposal! We could have done whatever we wanted!!"
"What? Why didn't you tell me you just wanted the planet for your sake and not the empire's?!"
"Oh, yes. A hero's welcome. Paraded around for all to see then thrown into an acid pool for deviating too much from the genetic baseline? No. I'll have my own planet over that any day. And why would I tell you any of my plans when you were so determined to ruin every single one of them?"
"Because I thought you were going to get us killed!"

Woryeh 2010/08/12(Thu)07:38 No. 217628 ID: b0020f
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"Why didn't you just talk to me?!"
"I did! You didn't listen!"
"Well, I'm listening now! And I'm hearing stupid Woryeh thinking stupid thoughts because he was too stupid to just try and talk to me three years ago and we could have done a lot more together since then than just hack away at each other!"
"If you weren't so smug and self-absorbed maybe you would have actually listened when I tried to talk to you! ...wait. Done a lot more together in what sense?"
"Taken over the world. Strengthened the friendship we had. I don't know. It's in the past. It's too late now. You've ruined our chances and in less than [twenty four hours] we're going to get a call from a Praetor and they're going to realise we're both still alive because we don't actually want to kill each other."

You put the last solution into her eyes, and look for a blindfold. You don't miss her eyes at all. You can certainly stand seeing her like this. Of course you can. This is just for her benefit so she doesn't get her eye remnants infected or something.

The fact you've drawn on the blindfold what her eyes used to look like and that the only other being that's going to notice is you is neither here nor there.

Woryeh 2010/08/12(Thu)07:39 No. 217629 ID: b0020f
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She sits on the table, holding on to your arm. You sit next to her.

"I don't know how to feel about you, Woryeh. You're vicious, you're contrary, you attack without provocation. And you do things like this. You do things like blind me and then decide that you can somehow try to undo it and everything will be fine again."
"You hide in the shadows and strike when my back is turned. You're the sole reason I'm scared to go in dark places. I have no idea what waits for me in there."
"What makes you think I'd do anything worse in the dark than in the open?"
"The fact I wouldn't be able to fight back as well."
She strokes your thorax. "I only need one good hit here and you're on the ground anyway. Light or dark."
"Yes. You nearly killed me that time. And then you were on the floor, trying to get my hearts to beat properly before I passed out. You're as bad as me. Trying to kill me, then changing your mind and saving my life."

Woryeh 2010/08/12(Thu)07:39 No. 217630 ID: b0020f
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"I don't really think we can apologise to each other, can we."
"No."
"Well, I can try. I'm sorry I ruined your plans. I'm sorry I attacked you all of those times. I'm sorry I attacked your eyes. I went too far there. I'm sorry. I don't know if you knew it but I thought your eyes were nice. I drew them on your blindfold for you."
"It's been three years of constant pain and fear and discomfort. You can't apologise to me enough, and I can't apologise to you enough. We've made each other's lives miserable. I don't really think there's anything we can do to change that."

You put your arms around each other's backs. She holds onto one of your mid-limbs instead, with one of hers.

You sit in silence as you sit trying to resolve a few hundred conflicting ideas and emotions relating to your relationship with Zyeryh flying through your mutant brain. You feel hungry. With all the excitement of the day so far you haven't had a chance to eat anything.

You really are not sure what to do now.

>>217630
Go get something to eat and start plotting. See if you can't come up with a way to make one of your lifesigns go away and then you can take over the world together, lure in the fleet, annihilate it and then live a good life in peace and contentment.

yeah, ask if she wants to eat something and make something.

fake your death. vat grow a couple spare part and organs and when she gives her report she presents it as your corpse. when asked why it is mutilated she says she had some fun with it.

>>217630
Is there some way to trick the Praetors into thinking you're dead? Dummies or broken sensors or something? Might have to abandon the base if they're going to just send a new team to do the failed job, though.
Also, should probably say something sappy like "Even though we've made each other miserable, we can try to make up for it by making each other happy."

And then go get some food because being hungry sucks. Make sure to take Zyeryh with of course, and maybe help her eat if she's hungry. 'Cause, you know, the whole blind thing.

>>217626
well, how about playing dead?

this would need a accident that could have killed both of you or possibly enought tissue to make it look like you two clawed out do death.

we have around 23h to find a marriage councelor, save the earth from a alien empire and be wellcomed by earth for procastinating.

also ask what her other mutations are.

>>217636
>>217635
>>217637
damm. playdead-mind?

alternatively, pretend you are the winner and she died in a accident that ended most of her body.

You have less than twenty four hours to conquer the world and be ready when they return. Get on it.

>>217630
Eat.

But beyond that, you guys are probably going to have to cover for the "not killing each other" thing. Any ideas on how to hide from these guys?

(That is, unless they expected you to both die and have just written the whole damn thing off.)

Woryeh 2010/08/12(Thu)13:53 No. 217772 ID: b0020f
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"Are you hungry?"
"I haven't eaten anything today. I got the message we needed to give a report together then I went looking for you."
"...want to go talk over food?"
"...sure."

You guide her to the base canteen. For a base intended for an incredibly low amount of staff (just you two) it is far too big. This worked out well when you couldn't stand each other's presence.

Your species is almost exclusively carnivorous, but fresh meat is not something readily kept in a covert base of operations. However, your species also eats fungi. So that is all there is. Piles and piles of fungi, treated with chemicals and altered to provide nutrients that regular fungi doesn't.

You sit down with Zyeryh and guide her claws to the bowl in front of her.

"Hate this. Hate being blind. Eyes can't grow back quick enough."
"I'm really, truly sorry."
"Doesn't change anything about my eyes."

Woryeh 2010/08/12(Thu)13:53 No. 217773 ID: b0020f
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"What are we going to do?"
"Well, one of us needs to be dead in roughly [20 hours]. Any ideas? You're the one with the supposedly advanced brain."
"How do you even know that?"
"I don't know. Don't know how long I got prodded and poked by instruments trying to figure out why, but I can pick up on all sorts of things about others' bodies. Wanted to do something with that talent. Then 'we should have killed you but we didn't so you owe us for life blah blah blah have fun at Earth'. I've told you this all before, right?"
"A while ago, yes. I got prodded and poked too. Weird brain and all. What are your mutations other than those, then?"
"...that's it. Freaky eyes, freaky sense of others' anatomy. Doesn't carry across species, though. Just us. Oh. I think I have a slightly better sense of taste than most but that's not exactly useful. Especially when all we have to eat is this."

She picks up some fungi and lets them tumble back into the bowl.

"Well, I've got two hearts and a weird brain. But you already knew this."
"We're both freaks. The empire considers itself tolerant to let us live. As second-class citizens. Couldn't have been born into an era when mutant features were considered blessings by the gods, could we."

Woryeh 2010/08/12(Thu)13:54 No. 217774 ID: b0020f
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"I liked it when we were friends."
"Me too. And while I like this conversation and feel pretty hopeful and optimistic that we won't go back to trying to kill each other straight away, we do need to figure out a solution to that problem. Perhaps we could use the medical vats to fake one of our deaths. Grow a corpse."
"It takes a while to grow an organ from scratch, you know. [48 hours] minimum. A full corpse, not happening."
"How are they even going to know who's dead or not?"
"I have no idea."
"Well, if they need us to give reports and take this long to pick up on three years worth of contradictory stories, they're only going to base it on whoever answers."
"And whoever answers is in charge of the- sssssssss."
"What?"
"He never said we had to kill each other. Just that he'd give control to whoever was still alive. We've done exactly what he wanted."
"Which is?"
"Either kill the other party to focus on nothing but the mission, or reconcile and refuse to kill each other and then focus on the mission. Either way, he gets what he wants."

Of course. Praetors use a variety of tactics to motivate, and they tend to favour spite. A simple mocking comment leading to the harangued proving themselves just to spite the Praetor that treated them with such disdain. The chances Raagaras said what he did, fully expecting both of you to make amends just to spite him, are pretty high. Manipulative worm that he is.

"Well, personally, out of those options I prefer reconciliation."
"So are you going to help me now?"
"Now that I know what you want, yes."

She hugs you. You fall off the side of your chair, conditioned by the past three years to react to her sudden movements defensively. She falls with you.

"We need to remember that we can work better as a team. Two of us are better than one of us."
"You hugged me."
"I know. ...I liked it. ...Want me to stop?"
"...no."

What was it you were meant to be doing again? You feel a little distracted right now. She feels so warm and smooth and soft. You feel like... like...

Woryeh 2010/08/12(Thu)13:54 No. 217778 ID: b0020f
File 128164646474.png - (3.60KB , 512x512 , 30.png )

Like nothing else really matters.

--- 2010/08/12(Thu)13:55 No. 217779 ID: b0020f
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LOCATION: GLOBAL OVERWATCH BASE KAPPA-FOUR SOMEWHERE IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN TIME: 23:03 YEAR: 2137

"Welcome aboard, sir! And may I say it is an honour to be speaking to someone with your accomplishments-"

"Let's talk about the urgent matter at hand before you start asking the man for signatures, Johnson."