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Recap:

Previously, you discovered that the Vice Administrator of GEC, Rebecca Shan, was a serial killer. Her husband, who you also suspected, turned out to be a child molester who killed mostly to continue his relationship with his wife.

On the orders of the VP, you tracked down the husband and wrested all this information from him before faking his death and handing him over to your underworld contacts.

With that out of the way, you conducted a short extermination from which you retrieved several live specimens, with the intention of selling them back to Crusty and Co.

After speaking with Crusty in the last thread and putting off an offer of employment with his organization the mysterious “Remnant”, you returned Vice-Administrator Shan’s daughter to her and agreed to dinner with her and her family later that evening. Then you debriefed with Devlinson, who expressed his affection for you as only he could, and journeyed to the GEC labs to speak with Clarissa Jones, who you paid for the files on Jeremy Yu. Clarissa also gifted you one of the termite queens you had previously captured from the Shan household and a wealth of data about it.

Once you had left GEC HQ, you turned on the tracker you had planted inside the still-living Mr. Shan and were mulling whether or not to follow the signal before it is possibly discovered.

Your van and much of your equipment is being decontaminated after being exposed to highly agressive mites. You have made a mental note to purchase body bags for contaminated specimens in the future.

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Is this a good plan? You’re not sure if this is a good plan. The little marker on your Illegal phone is blinking, moving through Kowloon. They must be moving Shan somewhere to detain him but whether or not they’re headed to the current headquarters of the Remnant is debatable. Plus, you’re not sure if you’re still being tailed or not. So far no one has been so stupidly obvious as to pull up behind the Elevon but that doesn’t mean they’re not watching…

>attempt to detect who or what may be watching you
>just follow the GPS signal
>abandon this plan, pay attention to where the signal goes but don’t pursue it
>call someone:
-Amanda
-Clarissa
-Derek
-Brody
-Lucas
-Crusty
-Lopez
>write-in

>>43935332
yo m8.
>attempt to detect who or what may be watching you

>>43935332
>>attempt to detect who or what may be watching you

Maybe they're using street cameras to follow Vince now instead?

...Are there street cameras?

>>43935429
>>43935461

It's difficult to drive and sense the potentially non-existent observers around you at the same time, but you concentrate your mental energy while stopped at an intersection and attempt to detect whoever may be looking down on you...

>roll 3d6+3 to find out, non-boostable roll.

Oh right when Vince doesn't have more urgent things to take care of, like his nose and the termite queen and talking to Lopez and Clarissa.

He should ask Brody and company about who the competition is in the Prix so he can ...get to know his rivals.

Rolled 6, 2, 3 + 3 = 14 (3d6 + 3)

>>43935500

Rolled 2, 2, 6 + 3 = 13 (3d6 + 3)

>>43935500
Probably just gonna be nobody anyway.

Rolled 6, 6, 6 + 3 = 21 (3d6 + 3)

>>43935500

>>43935500
>whoever may be looking down on you...
...from the sky drones?

>>43935562
Satan crits it out of the park again.

On a perception roll. Again.

>>43935562
>>43935538
>>43935511
>14,13,21
>smashing success

Watching your surroundings carefully, you find yourself able to detect a subtle pattern in everything. The slow movement of cars through the intersection, the fact that the light has stopped you here, and the subtle movement of the traffic regulation camera mounted on the corner WiFi pole to focus in on you specifically.

Yes, someone is certainly watching you and they seem to have a lot of technological or political clout... possibly with the Scyths.

>Make the right here and park. Try and find out if your Illegal can do something about this..
>Pretend everything is normal, pursue Shan's tracker
>Pretend everything is normal, abandon Shan's tracker, attend to all the other stuff you have on your plate
>Turn right, park, and get out of the car. Try and get somewhere with no cameras.
>Write-In

>>43935675
>>Pretend everything is normal, abandon Shan's tracker, attend to all the other stuff you have on your plate

>>43935675
>>Pretend everything is normal, abandon Shan's tracker, attend to all the other stuff you have on your plate

I mean we can watch where it goes, but Vince needs MedCorp to look at his glorious American nose.

We daren't betray Crusty.

>>43935600

Despite modern predictions, open use of drones has not become popular in civilian settings outside of Russia, where the exact opposite is true.

>>43935461

Am I so predictable?

>>43935675
>>43935675
>>Make the right here and park. Try and find out if your Illegal can do something about this..
I mean regardless of whether we pursue the signal--

we definitely shouldn't--

we should at least see if the Illegal can passively indicate when we're in sight of such cameras, and build up a map of camera-free areas.

Flash back, go over what vince did today, and how much of his Elevon's comings and goings were caught on camera.

>>43935675
>a subtle pattern in everything. The slow movement of cars through the intersection, the fact that the light has stopped you here, and the subtle movement of the traffic regulation camera mounted on the corner WiFi pole to focus in on you specifically.

Oh, it took me a bit to realize.

The traffic is slowed because the cameras aren't paying attention to anything else, so it isn't keeping track of them, so it slows them down so they don't crash while it takes its eye off the ball(s) it's juggling to ogle the American.

>the fact that the light has stopped you here
So these cameras aren't at every intersection, so it only stops you at places they can see you?

>>43935751
Scyths were always a prime suspect for being obsessed with mantises, I was speculating that the surveillance had switched to a purely digital form a while ago. Maybe I didn't mention it specifically. >>43834668

It's only logical. Even rogue hackers could inveigle themselves into camera systems, Vince has a skiddie starter pack in his pocket even. (Which he needs to upgrade.)

>>43935709
>>43935740
>>43935789

>pretend everything is normal, abandon the tracker

The light changes and you drive on through the intersection, only changing course about two blocks later. You can't afford to lead this unknown faction to the Remnant, not when they've finally begun to trust you. You can only hope that the Remnant doesn't find the tracker themselves or that they maybe remove it during a standard screening.

You start thinking about what this faction may have seen. You haven't gone anywhere overly suspicious today, from going to the hospital to showing up for work. There aren't any cameras in Lion's Rock, unless they were virtually invisible. But maybe they had another way of looking after you. There's on way to be sure...

They must have seen you with Mr. Shan during your handoff of him to Fang though. If Mrs. Shan saw that... she'd have killed you already, right? Maybe she's just waiting for dinner tonight so she can do it in front of the children...

You can't worry too much about the things you can't control though.

>head to medcorp to get your nose examined and taken care of before it gets worse
>call someone
>Surveillance and serial killers. Fuck it, go drink before somebody nukes you from the inside out.
>Spend some time shopping
>Write-In

>>43935931

no way to be sure*

Just so no one reads that as "one way".

>>43935931
>head to medcorp to get your nose examined and taken care of before it gets worse

>>43935931
>>head to medcorp to get your nose examined and taken care of before it gets worse

>>43935952
Too late already did.

>>43935931
>>head to medcorp to get your nose examined and taken care of before it gets worse
Hell, maybe they have mad drugs to compensate for or heal his Fuzzed condition of indeterminate length.

>>43935931
>>head to medcorp to get your nose examined and taken care of before it gets worse
>>call someone
Amanda have t talked to her in a while

...are there any rules in the Street Prix?

Like, on performance enhancing drugs?

Tell us, Internet.

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>>43935962
>>43935966
>>43936011

>head to medcorp to get your nose examined and taken care of before it gets worse

You plug in the coordinates of the nearest MedCorp clinic into your phone and start driving towards it. The tiny tracking dot on the GPS goes off in the opposite direction of your location, towards Mong Kok, and then fades, having finally exceeded its maximum range.

Much like the MedCorp hospital, the clinic is a dismal place, built into a disintegrating strip mall. At least here the signage is cheery: smiling stock photos of doctors and nurses with archaic stethoscopes beckon you inwards from the windows, all the wold be negative space around their forms choked with advertisements offering different kinds of surgeries, examinations, and treatments, with the price of each procedure given by blown up numbers that are themselves underlined by microtext.

Inside, the paint is peeling from the walls but a chipper female attendant welcomes you with a pen and a peace of paper with the words "Triage Survey" on it.

<Only if you require emergency treatment,> she assures you.

<Otherwise, please use computer terminal to place order.>

She points a sleeveless arm at a set of battered machines in the corner of the room, one of which is occupied by an elderly man whose spine conforms almost perfectly to a 90 degree angle.

>fill out the form
>go use the machine
>just try and get the attendant to help you get what you need
>try and get the attendant to help the old man
>write-in

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>>43935751
More like the future's predictable.

>>43936128

There are but you won't find them on the internet.

Not the regular internet, anyway.

>>43936197

That's true.

NYC and the UK's surveillance culture are probably unsung influences on me.

>>43936164
>>go use the machine

>>43936197
That is funny as hell.

>>43936164
>>just try and get the attendant to help you get what you need
It's just a nose-unpunching come on. Charm his way into medical treatments.

Or, I guess.
>go use the machine

>>43936210
Good thing he has an Illegal then.

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>>43936164
>>go use the machine
Let's hope the Illegal can cheat Vince to the top of the waiting list.

Or MedCorp has a way to pay out the nose for a rush order.

>>43936236
>>43936279
>try and get the attendant to help you
>use the machine

You take one look at the hypersimplified "triage form", with its smiling pain scale and "show me where the bad man touched you" diagram and look back to the attendant. Maybe you can charm your way into some more personal treatment.

<Which one do I have to fill out to get you to treat me, lovely buns?>

Only your trauma honed reflexes save you from being slapped.

<Use the machine, pig!>

Yeesh. You meander over to the screens and begin the lengthy process of registering for treatment. This is an awful lot of information to fill out just to have some moron in a labcoat look at your nose... it doesn't even hurt that much.

When you're finally done, an estimated waiting time flashes on the screen (35 minutes!), a ticket shoots out into your crotch that you have to retrieve from the floor, and the machine emits a loud BEEP to announce that it is done with you. You look over and see that the elderly man is still struggling... it looks like he's stuck in the English language mode.

>help him out
>just leave him be, wait for treatment
>harass the nurse
>write-in

>>43936434
>>help him out
Let's see what we can gain here.

>>43936434
>>help him out

>>43936236
Similar thing happened in the US woman joins search party searching for lost hiker who as it turns out was her

>>43936471
>>43936533

>help him out

You approach the old man to give him the kind of technological assistance the young have given the old since Uggrah first gave Grandma Ook an iWheel on the first Solstice Feast.

Perhaps because of your intimidating appearance the old man reacts to your approach with fear and steps backward, yelling for help in Chinese.

<What on earth are you doing to him!?> shrieks the nurse.

>roll 3d6+1 for charisma to cool everything down!

(I'm allowing cold-blooded to cancel your ex-pat trait here, since the old man does feel very endangered and calming the situation will require a certain gravitas)

Rolled 1, 1, 3 + 1 = 6 (3d6 + 1)

>>43936636
Big scary gwai lo.

Rolled 1, 1, 6 + 1 = 9 (3d6 + 1)

>>43936636

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Rolled 3, 1, 2 + 1 = 7 (3d6 + 1)

>>43936636
haha time to give him a heart attack.

Rolled 6, 1, 5 + 1 = 13 (3d6 + 1)

>>43936636
Those rolls

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>>43936659
>>43936701
>>43936743

Welp.

>>43936636
Damn foreigners, scaring old men.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYYVATuLwCA

>>43936659
>>43936701
>>43936743

>6,9,7
>failure

<Everybody, please->, you begin, extending your arms plaintively as though hoping to depress the situation by hand.

<Don't move!> the nurse shrieks again, drawing what appears to be a hand-held taser from some unseen compartment in the back of her uniform.

Her sudden action seems to surprise the already fearful old man and he takes another step backwards. This time he loses his balance and you watch as he tumbles towards the floor. Some kind of moral instinct kicks in and you move to try and help him but you're just a second too slow.

You can hear his hip break clearly as he connects with the ground, arms flailing comically as you try to grab them.

"OOOOOUUUUUUWWW!" he moans, covering an entire tonal spectrum.

<I told you not to move, pig!>

There's an instant's pain as the electrodes burn through the side of your uniform and then start passing electricity through your body. You collapse on cue, a twitching sack of pain that can only watch as the attendant pushes a finger into her temple implant before going to inspect the old man.

A squad of orderlies in black uniforms burst in from the back room and two of them load the old man onto a stretcher. The others carry you by hand through the double doors.

[1/2]

>>43936908
>A squad of orderlies in black uniforms
Welp. Really.

>>43936908
[2/2]

You recover about 20 minutes later, as the spasms of pain finally recede. You have been strapped to an operating table in the back of the clinic. The old man was carried out to an ambulance, ostensibly to go to an actual hospital.

A doctor is consulting with one of the orderlies who carried you and the attendant/nurse.

This is your chance to speak up.

>Hey, I was trying to help!
>You can't detain me here! GEC will come looking for me!
>(try and name drop)
>(curse rabidly at them)
>(try and bargain for your freedom)
>write-in

>>43937004
>Hey, I was trying to help!

>>43937004
>Hey, I was trying to help!

>>43937004
>>Hey, I was trying to help!
Never doing that again.

>>43937004
>>write-in
I hope you're the otolaryngologist.

>>43937004
I love how we used to be a conman but this shit keeps happening.

>>43937188
Obviously people should have voted for

>1) you burned a man to death
at chargen.

Given not only what Vince developed into, but what was already there.

>>43937188
Reminder we need to just kill everyone, its for the best

>>43937036
>>43937080
>>43937087
>>43937124

"Hey! I was just trying to give him a hand with the machine!"

The nurse and orderly glare at you and whisper some more Chinese undiscernables to the doctor before he waves them away and approaches you.

"Aren't you a cheeky cunt?" he asks, strapping on a pair of rubber gloves.

"Eat a koala anus, Dundee. You'd better be an... ota... otalallygogolist."

The doctor stifles his laughter before pulling out a pair of scissors and snipping off some of your hair.

"Wait, are you a barber?"

"All doctors are barbers, 'istorically speaking. Not that a pudgy 'mericunt like yourself would know anything about history."

He puts the hair sample and scissors away and picks up a long needle before jamming it into your arm without warning.

"Just need a teeny tiny blood sample, mate."

The massive syringe fills with blood and you feel faint.

"Now then, I saw your submission. You needed your nose fixed, is that right?"

>yes
>no
>fuck you

>>43937260
>yes
>cunt

>>43937260
>>fuck you
This is going poorly.

>>43937260
>they're drug testing us
>they think we're high out of our fucking mind
>yes
Bite him.
They think we're fucked up now, just give us a minute

>>43937260
Yes I did cunt

Well now he's gonna break it again for spite.

Goddamn cunts, the Vice-Administrator of GEC is expecting him for dinner, you can't keep him.

>>43937307
>>43937303
>>43937297
>yes, fuck you in your island continent sized cunt
>will give option to bite if he gets within biting range

"Yeah I *do* need my nose fixed, you backwards son of a snaggletoothed rapist. "

"Oh, that's not nice mate. Me grandah was a clean living sort of man... Not like me at all."

"Now then, I like to start from scratch."

In your slightly woozy shape, you're completely incapable of dodging his face-flattening punch. Blood and mucus back up in your nostrils and drizzle down your throat and into your moth.

"Jeebus. Do hib lick a grabskooler."

"I'm going to treat that as a compliment." he says, washing off his hands.

"Now, what kind of nose should we give you that'll annoy you the most. The most expensive or the cheapest?"

>roll 3d6+5 and choose one of the following:

>most expensive
>the cheapest
>donut tooch mi nob, faggob

Rolled 2, 3, 2 + 5 = 12 (3d6 + 5)

>>43937507
>donut tooch mi nob, faggob
>yell about the remnants and gec

Rolled 3, 3, 3 + 5 = 14 (3d6 + 5)

>>43937507
>donut tooch mi nob
Is that Dealmaster at work?

>>43937539

And a few other applicable modifiers.

>>43937507
We're burning this place to the ground. And torturing this guy and the desk cunt to death

Rolled 4, 2, 1 + 5 = 12 (3d6 + 5)

>>43937507
Whatever nose Vice-Administrator Shan wants.

>>43937556
These rolls are terrible given the modifier.

Rolled 1 (1d3)

>>43937536
>>43937539
>>43937576
>12,14,12
>failure

Wow. DC was thirteen to bring him around to your desired option. Rolling for what you get instead.

>>43937625
>being surprised we failed this roll
>when we have failed every single talking roll ever
When will you have mercy?

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>>43937625
That ASSHOLE.

>>43937647
Where's the option to kill yourself?

>>43937793
did you think that was clever?

>>43937806 nope

>>43937625

"Lib id be!"

"Nah, cunt. Clinic's been a little low on business and would you believe I get paid on a percentage commission per procedure? Outrageous, wouldn't ya say?"

You remain silent as he picks up another, smaller syringe.

"Ya ever see those old Warner Brother cartoons, where the blokes are stranded on a desert island or a lifeboat and they look at each other and see juicy steaks?"

"Nob."

You were more of an anime kid.

"Well, when I look at you, all I see is a big bag of bills. G'night, mate."

He stabs the syringe into your neck and you fade out instantly.

.........

You wake up in another room, this one barely large enough to contain you. There is a door on your left without a handle and another door on your right with the words "HOSTILE PATIENT RELEASE HATCH" printed on it. A screen in the wall that's just above eye level lights up and there's the cunt again, literally talking down to you.

"You're free to go, mate. Don't take the bandages off for another 10 hours though, unless you want to see me again."

Bandages? You feel around your face and discover that it is indeed bandaged extensively in the front.

"We sent the bill and information for a payment plan to the digital address you gave us. If you default, we'll have the legal right to prosecute you via GEC's own procedures."

An eerie grin creeps across his face.

"I promise ya, they're not fond of liabilities."

The hatch lock pops and you push it open, finding yourself in an alleyway behind the clinic.

Your stuff is still with you, though you feel very violated....

>Gained:
>Bandaged nose- We have altered your face. Pray we do not alter it further.
>Outstanding debt- You owe Medcorp 5 grand, pronto.

You make a note of the clinic's location. You're going to have to revisit it after you pay this bill...

Now, what about dinner?

>go ahead with the dinner
>cancel your plans

>>43937905
>>cancel your plans
We have everyone to kill.
Go acquire weaponry

>>43937905
>You owe Medcorp 5 grand, pronto.

Yeah. I think that Doctor is in for some plastic surgery of his own.

>go ahead with the dinner
Fuck it.

>>43937905
>go ahead with the dinner
We can at least cook dinner; we'll have to pick up the stuff to cook first.

This horrible incident gives Vince an excuse to say goodbye early though.

>>43937941
Could breed some super termite soldiers to infest his home in a week or so with Jeremy's help.

>>43937941
>>43937985
>>43937937

>go ahead with dinner

You suppose you could just tell Mrs. Shan the truth about what happened. Hell, maybe she'll take some action against the bastards for you... though you might want achieve a more personal vengeance.

You decide that the least you can do is go and pick up some ingredients for dinner and so you set the coordinates for the nearest grocery into your phone, as you don't know the area.

As you drive along, you become aware of a tapping noise coming from the styrofoam termite transport.

When you finally arrive at the grocery, you get a better look and see that termites are quite literally launching themselves at the observation window.

>open the container
>read termite file
>just go and shop, you have no time for bugs

>>43937941
That's like 5% of the Prix prize.

Better win Sunday then.

>>43938102
>read termite file

>>43938102
>>read termite file
Is the car cool enough of an area?

Supposed to keep them cool for now. To slow their breeding I guess.

>>43938118
Or we could murder the doctor and sell his organs.
I like my idea better

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>>43938133
>>43938137
>read termite file

You skim the bulk of the file, finding the petty academic infighting and miserable scientific prose difficult to penetrate even as you absorb whatever you can.

It is mostly Amanda's note at the end that gets through to you... and also confuses you. What does Metroid have to do with this? And more importantly, why didn't she feed it something before she gave it to you? It's obviously hungry!

>roll 3d6+4 to scavenge for some cellulose!

>>43938291
Forgot to link actual file:

http://www.pdf-archive.com/2015/12/01/termitecompile/

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>>43938317
This termite file is the gift that keeps on giving.

>anal vore
>everyone craves our american wood
>pls don't fire me in a bureaucratic restructuring, P.S. fuck you Linnaeus
>queen analyzes samples and keeps them in containment, the colony is literally a miniature GEC
>intelligence
what if GEC manages to make a termite queen into a fungus controller like the muta-rat?

Rolled 4, 1, 5 + 4 = 14 (3d6 + 4)

>>43938291

File: termitecompile.pdf (61 KB, PDF)

61 KB PDF

>>43938317
...You know you can post PDF files on /tg/, right?

I assumed you were going to do exactly that and that's why you chose that format.

Rolled 5, 1, 3 + 4 = 13 (3d6 + 4)

>>43938291
FOR MOTHER

Rolled 1, 4, 5 + 4 = 14 (3d6 + 4)

>>43938291
cardboard is edible right.

>>43938328

Termites are just where mother nature chose to unleash all her magical realm at once.

>>43938348
>>43938388
>>43938405
>14,13,14
>top notch success

Writing, had to let the dog out.

>>43938490
Is that what you call jacking it?

>>43938356

And yes, that was the plan. Shame I didn't write it down.

>>43938291
You mean Cassandra amanda is the English Fisher lady who is probably fucking pissed at us god I miss her

>>43938510
That said, you do want to still provide a more permanent offsite upload at the same time like pdf-archive for the sake of future suptg archive readers, because they don't archive PDF.

And even future 4plebs readers, because eventually they will prune old files and they'll have nothing but thumbnails.

>>43938512
You mean Clarissa "Explains It All" Science, Cassandra is the metaphor for the warning signs Vince keeps ignoring.

Can I be the one to ask why?
Like did we make you mad simmons?

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>>43938291
>>43938356
>PS. I hope you played Metroid!

Vince bought a Nintendo Holo with Metroid: Zebes Invasion bundled with it on Monday, along with a futon and clothes too small to fit him.

...He did buy that anonymously with cash, right?

...Or were there cameras when he and Jeremy went to the store?

Alternatively the Holo has dial-home DRM or an active internet connection that showed Metroid being played in Vince's apartment when he wasn't home.

>>43938560
Vince activated his trap card.

>>43938291
>And more importantly, why didn't she feed it something before she gave it to you? It's obviously hungry!
Vince you are so bad at skimming, as usual. That's the point.

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>>43938490

You scavenge through the parking lot, finding bits of scrap paper and tucking them into your pockets. Nothing seems sufficient until you round the corner of the building and discover that, just off to the side of the store’s loading dock is a massive carboard crusher. And whoever packed it last didn’t bother to turn it on!

You grab as many boxes as you can, folding them up to save space and make two journeys to the car, figuring you’ll want to build up a surplus. Then you spend a good twenty minuts paring down some of the boxes into edible chunks that you loosely approximate as being equivalent to 2-3 pounds and, taking a deep breath, open the habitat.

A single termite is hurled upwards as you lift the lid but he falls straight back down and after that no more fly up. Big headed soldiers simply stand there as workers swarm hungrily around them, almost like they’re watching you. You dump the bits of cardboard in slowly and the termites begin to climb over and through it immediately, beginning the dismantlement process. Hopefully that will keep them happy for another 24 hours, you think, closing the lid on the habitat.

Now, what kind of home-cooked meal says “I didn’t discover your terrible secret and fake your husband’s death”?

>Fish
>Mama Esperanza’s Empanadas
>Rice and Beans
>Steak
>An entire turkey
>Write-in

>>43938609

>metroid

It's a little joke related to something in the file. Non-lethal, I promise.

>>43938751
>>Mama Esperanza’s Empanadas
Is Traditional.

The poor widow, betrayed. A great tragedy in the family.

...now let's hope the kids don't blab something and let Vince in on the secret all over again.

>>43938751
>Steak

>>43938751
I think we already committed to empanadas?
>>43832447
>You insist on doing the cooking yourself and offer to make empanadas for her and the children, an offer she admits is irresistible.

>>43938751
Will this count as a healthy "home cooked meal"?

We gotta keep Getting Fit.

>>43938560
Look on the bright side.

Vince is now going to look 5 thousand times more fabulous.

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>>43939107

>>43938925
>>43938897
>>43938892
>>43938866

You run through the market, gathering the various ingredients you need to craft the perfect empanada and accompanying sauce. Hopefully the Shan family palate enjoys a bit of heat...

You also select a healthy vegetable side-dish and a bunch of rice, figuring that the two will go well together and help fill up the kids. You've fed kids before...

It all sets you back about $50 bucks, which hurts in light of your new financial obligation but you try to look on the bright side and remind yourself that there may be a major pot at the end of this week's rainbow, between the big race and the Scyths.

The termite habitat is more or less silent when you get back to the car, except for a low noise you can only describe as "digestive". There really is no other way to describe an entire colony feeding together.

You arrive at the Shan's a few minutes late but Mr/s Shan doesn't seem to mind. She greets you with a big smile and a low cut blouse and invites you in to meet all the kids in person for the first time with nary a peep about your facial bandaging.

"Conner, William! Come see Mr. Esperanza!"

The two boys, the oldest being 10, run down the stairs and then straight back up when they see your face.

"I mean it, come down here!"

The two descend reluctantly. You forgot how young they actually were, being 10 and 7 respectively. They greet you ploitely but waste no time in retreating to the living room to turn on the TV and plop themselves into the couch.

You turn to Mrs. Shan.

>You're not going to ask about my face?
>I think I'm going to go start dinner right away. Those kids will be happier once they eat.
>Where's Jess?
>You look lovely tonight.
>Write-in

>>43939130
>>You're not going to ask about my face?

>>43939130
>>You're not going to ask about my face?
>You look lovely tonight.

>>43939130
>Jess is already dead
You guys did this you know.

>>43939216
They're just tired from being kidnapped all night.

>>43939216
Entire reason I wanted to come here was to check on Jessica

>>43939130
>>Where's Jess?
not asking is more suspicious.

>>43939153
>>43939208
>>43939216
>>43939322

"You're not going to say anything about my face?"

"I figured you would tell me."

"Fair enough. I decided to have it reconstructed."

"All of a sudden?"

"I've never been happy with it. Besides, I'm going to be deep in it soon, aren't I? With your promoting me?"

"Yes," she says, rubbing a hand gently across your bandaged cheeks, "Very deep."

If you didn't know better, you'd say she's lusting heavily for you already.

>follow her cues
>redirect towards cooking, pretend not to notice her flirtations
>ask her what her plan is, now that she'll finally have her own Elite
>ask about Jess
>write-in

>>43939340
Ask about Jessica

>>43939340
>>ask her what her plan is, now that she'll finally have her own Elite

>>43939390
Not the time with flirting on. You have a cover to maintain.

>>43939340
>follow her cues

>>43939340
Dinner first then the boning.

>>43939390
>>43939399
>>43939411
>>43939417
>4 options
>players pick all 4

I legitimately cannot tell if I am good or bad at this sometimes.

>>43939399
I'll adjust my vote >>43939493 to cooking or flirtering.

Flirting seems safer. She can't put off dinner forever.

>>43939417
>>43939411
Why the fuck are we flirting with her? Why would we even want that? She's a crazy woman who can kill us

>>43939523
I'll count it for flirting. Writing.

>>43939390
>>43939528
Is that you phone anon.

You can't be this retarded. You have to fake continued attraction to the crazy or it all comes crashing down before we're ready to tear it down safely outside the blast radius.

>>43939528
1. I'm not afraid of sticking it in crazy
2. Cover must be maintained
3. What else are you going to do with a hot MILF?

>>43939528
>rejecting a crazy woman who can kill us
Yes, because that's a much more rational response.

>>43939390
>>43939399
>>43939411
>>43939417
>>43939523
>>43939528
>>43939550
>>43939559
>>43939586
>go along with her cues, sorta

“Yeah,” you say, playing along as the dumb brute she desires, “I can’t wait to get deep.”

“Oh, that’s just cringeworthy,” she sneers, suddenly gripping your chin. You try to ignore the waves of pain that the pressure sets off beneath your bandages. The children behind her seem to ignoring all this, totally sucked into the TV.

“Nobody claimed I was a poet,” you respond, doing your best to seem unpeturbed by her unwanted touch. It’s enough to get her to release you and suddenly turn contrite.

“I’m sorry, I’ve just been… yearning for you ever since you came to clear out the house. I… I missed you Vince.”

“You missed me?!”

That gets the kids attention. Then in a lower, practiced hiss:

“Do you keep your thumb on the neck of everyone you miss, or just me?”

“Oh please, you know I wouldn’t-”

“But I don’t. I’ve only known you for a few days, Shan. You could have killed me any time. I don’t know if I can trust you.”

You turn and march off towards the kitchen, grabbing your empanada ingredients enroute. Turning back just enough to see her in your peripheral, you see her redden with frustration before regaining control and following you into the kitchen.

“Vince, please-”

“I don’t want to hear it,” you say, laying out ingredients. You’re having a lot of fun with this. It reminds you of Mama’s telenovelas.

“Vince, I got you a promotion. What else do you need?”

You lock eyes with her. She approaches you and you sweep your carefully laid out ingredients aside, popping her onto the counter as she rubs your chest. In turn you kiss her and run your hand against her:

>temple
>neck
>lower back
>chest

>>43939886
>lower back
nothing too overt.

>>43939886
>>chest
A hiding spot Vince tried himself once already.

>>43939886
>>lower back

>>43939910
>>43940003
>>43939928

You slide your hand down her lower back and find nothing but satisfaction.

"My husband is gone now, Vincent. I'm yours for the taking."

This close, she's hard to resist. Her panting breath runs across your bandages, her pounding chest pressed against you.

"Darling..." you growl.

"Yes?"

"I have to cook."

You push her brusquely off the counter and onto the floor, taunting her with the corner of your gaze.

"Fine! Be an idiot!"

She storms out of the kitchen, leaving you alone. Not exactly what you hoped for but good enough.

You immediately begin moving all the ingredients onto the opposite counter as you hear her stomp up the stairs.

Then search the cabinets for a porcelain dish.

[1/2]

>>43940160
>didn't fuck her infront of the kids
>she probably went off to torture jess some more
Simmons pls

>>43940160
Has Vince found that penetra-vision app on his phone yet.

He could use that instead of frisking.

>>43940160
[2/2]

You finally find one, and grip it with a potholder as you search your pockets for the lighter you pray you didn't leave in the car.

Your fingers finally brush across it and you smile to yourself. Flicking on the flame, you hold it under the dish until it begins to blacken. Then you keep holding it there, spreading the ashy blot across bottom of the dish.

After a while, you put it down, far from where Mrs. Shan was sitting. Then you search the cabinets again. Starch powder. How convenient. You measure some out and then grab a knife from the cutlery drawer, scraping the ash into the starch powder and mixing it together. When it's mixed to your satisfaction, you pour out a thin layer where Shan sat. Then you gently blow it away. You haven't used this trick in years.

The counter was obviously cleaned before you arrived, so the prints are clear and crisp. You snap a high-res holophoto and a second, regular photo of each print for the raw materials you'll need to recreate each one. Then you wipe everything away and scrub the soot from the dish.

>gained: Mrs. Shan's prints

Now, roll for how well you cook. Make it 1d100, I'll take the best in 3.

Rolled 1 (1d100)

>>43940352
The powers of tradition grant incredible dice mechanics.

File: 1448027311765.png (563 KB, 861x990)

563 KB PNG

>>43940401

Rolled 64 (1d100)

>>43940352
Can only go up from here.

Rolled 42 (1d100)

>>43940352
I don't think this quest has critfails fortunately.

Rolled 77 (1d100)

>>43940352
welp... I guess it's pizza night

>>43940401
>>43940434
>>43940480
>>43940483
>best roll of first three is 64

You begin the process of preparing the enchiladas, preheating the oven and mixing the sauce.

Unfortunately, the tortillas you got aren't very good. In fact, upon closer examination, they're not corn at all, being a vat-grown product of the USA. Ugh. You stifle your disgust with patriotism as best you can but it doesn't change the fact that these things taste like something you might feed to your termites.

Still, the family seems suitably impressed when you bring out the dish. All the kids are there, including Jess although she looks nothing if not exhausted and unhappy to see you. Your rice and vegetable side-dishes are ultimately a bigger hit than the main course but there's not much you can do about that. At least it fills up the kids and they hustle up to their rooms without question when it's all done, leaving you and Shan alone again.

You stare at one another from across the table.

"That was... a good meal," she admits, finally.

>are we going to spend all night like this?
>coming here was a mistake.
>I was thinking we could follow it with some drinks
>what about dessert?
>write-in

>>43940619
>I was thinking we could follow it with some drinks

>>43940619
>>I was thinking we could follow it with some drinks

>>43940619
>I was thinking we could follow it with some drinks
Hopefully Lopez will call soon.

Vince needs to buy a termite habitat and reclaim his apartment as a place to keep it and look after it.

>>43940655
>>43940680
>>43940715

When you started eating, it was bright enough out that you had no need to turn the lights on. Now, as the setting sun throws its final rays through the windows of the dining room, transforming it into a gothic piece of chiaroscuro.

"I was thinking," you begin tentatively, "that we might follow our food with a few drinks?"

The question hangs for a moment. Then she picks up her plate, suddenly.

"That... might be nice. I have some wine of Robert's if you're interested."

>wine sounds good, what kind?
>I'd prefer something else

>>43940785
>>wine sounds good, what kind?

>>43940785
>>wine sounds good, what kind?
Vince gun get roofied.

Maybe he should get the wine glasses.

>>43940785
>wine sounds good, what kind?

>>43940785
>>43940785
Hopefully we can talk business a little.

An explosion of mutations here, more than anywhere else, what caused it?

>>43940955
Dude we're supposed to be dumb muscle and a good lay. Talking about work right now is stupid.

>>43940834

"What kind?"

"I'm not an expert," she admits.

"Robert had some pre-war merlot... I'm somewhat fond of merlot. Would you like to see the bottle?"

"Yes.. I'll just wait for you."

"As you like."

She gets up and heads for the basement. As she leaves, your phone rumbles in your pocket.

>Subject: J.Yu Files
>From: [email protected]
>Attachments: 4
>http://pastebin.com/y9EPEvH7
>http://pastebin.com/wSRrHurR
>http://pastebin.com/mbhxGrCH
>http://pastebin.com/G2GkiuUw

Looks like Clarissa managed to get her hands on the rest of the files early. You just manage to finish skimming them when Rebecca returns with two bottles and two glasses.

"This one's the merlot," she declares, setting down a dusty bottle in front of you. A close look reveals it to be from Ukraine... and the year 2025.

"Robert was always going on about how the climate change made that vintage so perfect somehow. This ones the white wine."

She plops another bottle down, this one being prewar as well, from 2027.

"Does white wine get better with age?"

"I don't know."

Neither of the bottles appear to have been tampered with and Rebecca offers you the corkscrew.

"Get me started dear, just as soon as you get that open."

A bit of wrist strain later and you've both started on the Merlot. It is really very good and Rebecca seems to be loosening up... or maybe you are.

>try and talk business
>talk about her kids
>see if you can get her to tell a bawdy story about Devlinson
>ask about her deceased husband
>challenge her to a celebratory drinking contest with her dead hubbo's wine
>write-in

>>43940977
I mean hopefully she'd initiate it.

But point.

>>43941013
>write-in
probably flirting ending in sexy tiem.

>>43941013
Distracted by all this sonfu science.


>see if you can get her to tell a bawdy story about Devlinson

>>43941013
>>see if you can get her to tell a bawdy story about Devlinson
More blackmail.

>>43941060
We have to ease into it. Pretend to learn to trust her slowly.

File: worried-laughter.png (513 KB, 600x782)

513 KB PNG

>>43941013
>The rate of fungal spread throughout the lungs must have slowed dramatically since initial infection; Yu could survive up to five more years without a lung transplant.

Well I guess we know what Vince is getting sonfu for his 18th birthday in the epilogue.

>>43941060
>>43941078
>>43941108
>>43941163

You're both a few glasses in when you start prying into her past with Devlinson.

"Oh please, he means nothing to me."

Probably the most honest thing to come out of her mouth all day, you think.

But then, after a little more verbal finagling, she begins to gush.

"When he was younger and more handsome... mmm. Dev was such a jokester. He once filled a nasty coworker's haz-mat suit with Ghostfly powder and she screamed like the Devil herself... it was the funniest thing, she thought she was being cauterized. He got the whole thing on holovid."
"He used to come in in the morning drunk as a skunk too. They say he did at least one job entirely in the nude, although no one can confirm it and I think they would, if they had had the privileged to see him nude as a young man."

She winks at you.

"I suppose the most personal thing I know about the man is he keeps a diary."

"A diary?"

"Yes, I caught him writing in it a few times. It's the old-fashioned analog paper type. He never let me read it though and I was always so curious..."

Her eyes wander away from yours to the finale of the sunset outside.

"It is so awful getting old."

>I can make you feel young again
>I know what you mean
>You're not old. Neither of us are old.
>(refill her wine glass)
>Write-in

>>43941263
>>(refill her wine glass)

>>43941263
>I can make you feel young again
>(refill her wine glass)
if only for a night.

>>43941263
>>You're not old. Neither of us are old.

>>43941277
>>43941301
>>43941317

You reach out and refill her wine glass generously, the way you can afford to when drinking someone else's wine.

"Age is just something you choose to acknowledge. Neither of us needs to feel old."

"Oh, you don't know how naive you are, Esperanza."

She's teetering back and forth a bit.

"I can make you feel young again, Rebecca."

"Oh, can you now?"

Her look is derisive and her words slur slightly.

"Can you bring back my smooth skin or... or my tight body?"

"I can make you forget that they're gone."

She reaches over and grabs your arm. Her voice becomes both steely and sad.

"But you can't give them, honey. Beauty can't be given. Beauty can only be taken."

She falls back and laughs, as if she had just told a funny joke.

>let's go upstairs
>write-in

>>43941402
>let's go upstairs

>>43941402
>let's go upstairs
Yeah, well I'll..take... a beauty... right here.

Hopefully she's in a blissed-out stupor and passes out afterwards.

>>43941402
>>let's go upstairs
Awkwardness can be fucked away right.

>>43941428
>>43941435
>>43941475

You stand up and push your chair in.

"Come on, let's go upstairs. We'll see how beautiful I can make you feel."

"Oh, not very. But you can make me feel nice at least."

She clings to you as the both of you climb the stairs carefully and sneak past the children's rooms as best you can.

>End Thread

Well, that was a weird thread to write. Sorry if you're blueballed, I don't have the milf pedo serial killer smut in me tonight.

We're archived up here:
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?searchall=exterminator+quest

And the twitter is @qmsimmons if you're not already following. I'll hang around as usual for questions and stuff.

>>43941522
I forgot to ask last time what things you were talking about people missing in thread 2. >>41264799

I mean I notice Jeremy was wheezing in his original descriptor but I didn't bring it up on purpose.

>>43941522
no problems I don't quest to get my rocks off.

>>43941522
I was actually just hoping for fade to black so we could get to downtime and find out the deal with the VTOLs and Lopez already.

>>43941559

I think that was just implying that the fear reaction was perfectly natural. Michael was just a giant pussy.

>>43941586

I'd tell you to guess a bit harder based on the lore but I haven't moved the lore over from tumblr and organized it on my blog yet. So I don't feel like I can hold you accountable for not digging through the crummy tumblr.

Maybe I should write a piece on different varieties of VTOL and drones.

>>43941584

That's good. I'm not really a big smut writer but I do want to improve as one, if only because I'm not a fan of fade-to-blacks in fiction.

>>43938793
Right, ice missiles.

Surrre.

>>43941651
>the fear reaction was perfectly natural
Thinking a tiny bug is going to 'eat you' was a really unusual thing to panic about.

That he leapt straight to to the conclusion of what was actually about to happen is what made it seem unnatural at the time.

Actually, what hints have we never picked up on, in old scenarios where it now changes nothing to reveal them? Like with the cats, or in the toy factory.

>>43938356
>Termite queen customizes her children to environment
>can make smaller and more efficient workers, or bigger and ever more dangerous warriors
>Jeremy might one day learn to commune with the queen and learn to compel her to make custom termites himself and farm the colony for new 'friends'
>that or the queen will become smart enough to eventually learn to adapt her children to become immune to Jeremy-control

>>43941651
>haven't moved the lore over from tumblr and organized it on my blog yet.

>tumblr
>my blog
>different things
What.

Also, have you...tried going through your tumblr and tag your lore posts "lore" and "scyths" and "fungus"?

So you can just link to
http://simmonsqm.tumblr.com/tagged/lore
or something so people don't have to go through infiniscroll of various reference pics?

Actually, a page layout that gives you discrete pages instead of infiniscroll would be nice and less RAM-killing to look at old posts and more convenient than manually entering page numbers in the URL bar.

>>43941766
>missed hints

To be honest, you've caught a lot of the old ones in the last few threads but I'm sure there are more, just as a result of the fact that I'm writing the setting very much in an "iceberg-style" where details are tossed out with nothing more than a neat piece of mental canon behind them that later gets filled in when I think it would make a good addition to the setting or add a twist to the plot.

The cat creature was actually pretty sophisticated, with a lot of the cat's behavior being augmented by the fact that the parasites amplified their intelligence via the cat brain. They communicated primarily via pheromones, which didn't always make sense given their speed of communication. I think they were also one of the creatures I made very sensitive to the screecher box, along with the sea monster and a few others. Most of the cats were "drones" which gathered prey and delivered it to the hideout of the queen beneath the laundry room.

I'm not sure if everyone put the dots together regarding the Russians, but I think some of you did. That has some plot relevance certainly.

The toy factory very obviously had a patron and was a long term espionage target by a world government that I've more or less slowly been dropping hints about. nobody blinked when the Americans and Russians both showed up at Dev's office to follow-up.

You guys have been super dense regarding the origins of the Remnant, though I think most of you figured it out in the last thread or two, once I started calling them that. You also haven't really figured out any of their objectives.

Actually, you've missed most of the big political machinations that are going on around you which is funny, since Vince keeps muddling through them and never watching the news, like a true American.

So biology wise, you guys are pretty caught up. Technology wise, I haven't dropped enough clues but we're getting there. Big picture politics are likely missed because they span dozens of threads.

>>43941915
>Actually, a page layout that gives you discrete pages instead of infiniscroll would be nice and less RAM-killing to look at old posts and more convenient than manually entering page numbers in the URL bar.

Exactly. I hate the shit out of Tumblr's layout, which is alright for browsing pics but terrible for text.

I'm also fairly certain it'll be faster to just take the lore posts and port them over with new tags rather than individually go through and tag each one in tumblr's interface. Plus, then I have everything in one place and can use the tumblr just to post stuff that influences the quest stylistically.

Also, I hope >>43941922 makes sense, despite me getting kind of rambly. I have to comb through the archives to refresh my memory a lot (and often do while running) because there are so many obscure little details that later become relevant, intentionally or not. It's part of why a timeline has been such a bitch to construct.

>>43941981
>Tumblr's layout
>Tumblr's
>not yours
...So change your layout.

You have the power. We have the technology.
https://www.tumblr.com/customize/qmsimmons

>>43942004
Well actually that should be
https://www.tumblr.com/customize/simmonsqm
but you get the point.

Srsly, dashboard, select blog, select Edit appearance, select Website theme.

>>43942021

Yup, just killed the infiniscroll. Maybe I'll do a little of both.

>>43942021
>>43942040
>>43942004

Alright, thank you kind anon. That was much simpler than expected. This should now be a functioning collection of the more relevant stuff I posted on the Tumblr, even though I haven't added to it lately.

http://simmonsqm.tumblr.com/tagged/lore

>>43942185
Great. Now I can finally read it all.

>>43942185
I can't help but expect an ATLA homage in the quest coming up, reading that.

>>43942206

Yes. I suspect your conclusion will be that I desperately need an editor.

>>43942252

Everything changed when the United States attacked?

I can see it...

>>43942263
I meant more finding out who's the Earth King in this quest with the rare pet.

Also I see lore for the prelude to WW3, but not actually WW3.

>>43942297

I probably should write out some detail on that, eh? If only to fill in the blanks not covered by the basics in the Lore pastebin post.

I was very deliberately trying to stay vague about the UK aside from conversations between you and Amanda but I think it should be obvious that though almost entirely decimated, they remain independent while the rest of Europe is just puppets after being conquered by the Russians.

Writing out all the details, with major theater engagements is something which I worry would only embarrass me as a military strategist/analyst and take away from the setting's plausibility (not that it doesn't already stretch the suspension of disbelief).

So idk. Sorry again if these posts seemed disjointed, I'm a little bit strung-out.