Kintsugi Plays Fallen Hero: Retribution (ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷ …(^_^)…)

Consider: can we talk to a therapist, and then erase their memory of the conversation ?

 

I mean, we are pretty good at that sort of thing.

 

Next character arc of Kintsugi Plays Fallen Hero: 50 First Therapy Appointments

 

well, regardless of what we end up doing, I think we have our new thread title!

 

love it
anyway, I vote that we see a therapist to get Ortega off our back
no rule that says we have to actually try in the therapy session
or, y'know, not erase the therapist's memories, that too

 

They probably don't have a "a villain is in my room" panic button

 

Being perceived by a therapist for an hour is an acceptable level of risk, we suppose. (Jury's still out on being remembered.)​

> Fine, I'll see a therapist to get Ortega off my back.

You know Ortega well enough to know that she won't stop nagging you. You made a promise. A stupid, impulsive promise and now she'll hold you to it. It's easier to pretend to go along with her ideas, you know that from experience. You can do this, go to a few sessions and listen to some platitudes. Camouflage. It should be safe, you vetted the person as thoroughly as only a telepath can. No ties to the Rangers, or worse. Without allegiances.

As close to an innocent professional as can be found in this cesspool of a city.

That's why you're sitting here now, in this drab office.

Mouth dry. Hands clenched.

　‣ A part of me knew I needed help.
　‣ Ortega just wouldn't shut up about it.
　‣ I didn't want to arouse suspicion.

Spoiler: Show Stats (no change)

CLASSIFIED

Subject: Anathema

Secret Identity: Josie Jacobs
Gender: Non-binary.
Description: A tall mixed person in their thirties with brown eyes and short and styled curly dark brown hair.

Their sense of style is androgynous, secondhand streetwear, with many piercings in their ears, nose, and tongue. They have a short, scruffy beard and mustache.

Standard of Living: Josie is well-off.
Josie is living in a comfortable apartment.

Josie Jacobs is a seasoned, tech-savvy tactician.

Physical Status
Stamina: You are rested.
Willpower: You feel calm.
Injuries: You are bruised, with no significant wounds.

Telepathy
Strength of Mind: 50%
████████████████████
Subtle Manipulations: 74%
██████████████▒█████

Anathema
Anathema runs a criminal syndicate. They are a known killer.
Infamy: 51% / Obscurity: 49%
██████████▒█████████

Armored Suit
Anathema's suit is a shadow with a mirror for a face, revealing nothing. The cape conceals and obfuscates what's underneath.
In its left hand, the suit has a neutered colony of nanovores, functionally similar to having disintegration touch. The suit is also equipped with telepathic boosters and enhanced speed as well as jump-jets.

Armor Status
Need Repair: 15% / Fine: 85%
████████████████████

Leadership: 55%
████████████████████

Psychological Profile
Arrogance: 36% / Anonymity: 64%
███████▒████████████
Ruthlessness: 40% / Empathy: 60%
████████████████████
Daring: 59% / Caution: 41%
███████████▒████████

Back in the day, Sidestep was known as a vigilante working with the Rangers.

Main Puppet
Name: Barbara
Puppet Status: She is fine, and has no serious wounds.
Description: A tall white woman in her twenties with blue eyes and long straight blond hair.

Allies and Enemies

Charge
Josie's Relationship with Ortega: Friend and ally.
Ortega's Connection with Josie: 80%
████████████████████

Ortega thinks Anathema has made some good points.

Barbara's Relationship with Ortega: Eternally flirting. Josie is using Barbara as a spy.
Ortega's Connection with Barbara: 59%
███████████▒████████

Dr. Mortum
Barbara's Relationship with Dr. Mortum: friend.
Mortum's Connection with Barbara: 66%
█████████████▒██████

Lady Argent
Josie's Relationship with Lady Argent: Distant.
Lady Argent's Impression of Josie: 1%
▒███████████████████

Lady Argent respects Anathema's abilities.
Lady Argent's Interest in Anathema: 43%
████████▒███████████

Marshal Steel
Josie's Relationship with Steel: Friendly.
Steel's Connection with Josie: 61%
████████████▒███████

Marshal Steel thinks Anathema needs to be brought in.

Herald
Josie's Relationship with Herald: He seems nice.
Herald's Connection with Josie: 64%
████████████▒███████

Herald thinks Anathema is a villain.

Other Characters

 

>everything is ortega's fault

 

yeah okay, I definitely should have seen that one coming​

> Ortega just wouldn't shut up about it.

Ortega just wouldn't shut up about it.

She's your friend. Unfortunately, that also means she cares about you and wants to help you. A futile prospect, you know that, but you can't very well tell her so.

That would only make her work harder.

Eyes closed, you focus on your breathing. Tongue pressed against the roof of your mouth, breathe in through your nose and count to seven, hold for four, breathe out through your mouth for eight. You need to be calm. In control. She's not part of the sessions, but Ortega walked you here. Of course she did; that way, you can't run. She doesn't trust you to have your best interests at heart.

She's not wrong.

So here you are, sitting on a chair, smiling at a psychologist that would run screaming from the room if she realized who you really were. Anathema, up-and-coming crime lord, the scourge of Los Diablos. Criminal. Killer.

> Re-Gene

It's an unavoidable fact, but that doesn't mean you have to like it. You've spent years pretending to be human, layering clothes as camouflage so you can keep what might reveal you out of sight. Your body. Your skin. Under your clothes, you are covered with distinctive orange tattoos spiraling out from the central barcode on your chest that holds the information about you for anybody who can read it.

You've tried removing them, to no avail. Lasers. Fire. Knives. They are still as slick and shiny as the day you were processed.

Over the years, you have become very good at hiding. Just like you were designed to be, a cuckoo with a smiling, human face. A Re-Gene, but not a blue one, perfectly normal…as long as you keep your clothes on. You don't like removing them, even in private.

Luckily, only your soul will be laid bare here.

> Small Favors…

The gray Los Diablos skies are turned striped by the blinds, lending a stark white contrast to the shadows outside. The office interior is bright and happy, and the visitor's chair is far too comfortable. You sit on the edge of it like a crow, ready to take flight.

Comfort is nothing you trust.

The clock on the wall has marked off five minutes. Five slow minutes. An awkward greeting, and then silence.

You know the drill. Dr. Finch wants you to open up. To let her in. To start talking.

　‣ I won't go first. I'm not about to let her win that fight.
　‣ Fine. I'll talk. Get this over with.

Spoiler: Show Stats (no change)

CLASSIFIED

Subject: Anathema

Secret Identity: Josie Jacobs
Gender: Non-binary.
Description: A tall mixed person in their thirties with brown eyes and short and styled curly dark brown hair.

Their sense of style is androgynous, secondhand streetwear, with many piercings in their ears, nose, and tongue. They have a short, scruffy beard and mustache.

Standard of Living: Josie is well-off.
Josie is living in a comfortable apartment.

Josie Jacobs is a seasoned, tech-savvy tactician.

Physical Status
Stamina: You are rested.
Willpower: You feel calm.
Injuries: You are bruised, with no significant wounds.

Telepathy
Strength of Mind: 50%
████████████████████
Subtle Manipulations: 74%
██████████████▒█████

Anathema
Anathema runs a criminal syndicate. They are a known killer.
Infamy: 51% / Obscurity: 49%
██████████▒█████████

Armored Suit
Anathema's suit is a shadow with a mirror for a face, revealing nothing. The cape conceals and obfuscates what's underneath.
In its left hand, the suit has a neutered colony of nanovores, functionally similar to having disintegration touch. The suit is also equipped with telepathic boosters and enhanced speed as well as jump-jets.

Armor Status
Need Repair: 15% / Fine: 85%
████████████████████

Leadership: 55%
████████████████████

Psychological Profile
Arrogance: 36% / Anonymity: 64%
███████▒████████████
Ruthlessness: 40% / Empathy: 60%
████████████████████
Daring: 59% / Caution: 41%
███████████▒████████

Back in the day, Sidestep was known as a vigilante working with the Rangers.

Main Puppet
Name: Barbara
Puppet Status: She is fine, and has no serious wounds.
Description: A tall white woman in her twenties with blue eyes and long straight blond hair.

Allies and Enemies

Charge
Josie's Relationship with Ortega: Friend and ally.
Ortega's Connection with Josie: 80%
████████████████████

Ortega thinks Anathema has made some good points.

Barbara's Relationship with Ortega: Eternally flirting. Josie is using Barbara as a spy.
Ortega's Connection with Barbara: 59%
███████████▒████████

Dr. Mortum
Barbara's Relationship with Dr. Mortum: friend.
Mortum's Connection with Barbara: 66%
█████████████▒██████

Lady Argent
Josie's Relationship with Lady Argent: Distant.
Lady Argent's Impression of Josie: 1%
▒███████████████████

Lady Argent respects Anathema's abilities.
Lady Argent's Interest in Anathema: 43%
████████▒███████████

Marshal Steel
Josie's Relationship with Steel: Friendly.
Steel's Connection with Josie: 61%
████████████▒███████

Marshal Steel thinks Anathema needs to be brought in.

Herald
Josie's Relationship with Herald: He seems nice.
Herald's Connection with Josie: 64%
████████████▒███████

Herald thinks Anathema is a villain.

Other Characters

 

personally I am inclined towards option one
as if we would lose at therapy

 

!

 

Get a good grade in therapy? Please. We're going to win at therapy.​

> I won't go first. I'm not about to let her win that fight.

"Why don't you tell me why you're here?" Dr. Finch spoke first. That means you won that battle. She thinks communication is more important than principles.

"You know why." You shift uneasily on the chair. "I told you the first time."

"Then tell me again." Her smile is infuriatingly patient. This is your third session, and you still have not managed to get her to lose her temper.

"Because my friend won't take no for an answer." You can't quite stop the annoyed frown.

"Ortega." Her smile is pleasantly neutral.

"Yes." As if you had any other friends.

"She's worried about you."

　‣ "Don't tell me we're talking about her again."
　‣ "She feels guilty. Ortega should be here. Not me."
　‣ "She doesn't need to be. I'm fine."

Spoiler: Show Stats (no change)

CLASSIFIED

Subject: Anathema

Secret Identity: Josie Jacobs
Gender: Non-binary.
Description: A tall mixed person in their thirties with brown eyes and short and styled curly dark brown hair.

Their sense of style is androgynous, secondhand streetwear, with many piercings in their ears, nose, and tongue. They have a short, scruffy beard and mustache.

Standard of Living: Josie is well-off.
Josie is living in a comfortable apartment.

Josie Jacobs is a seasoned, tech-savvy tactician.

Physical Status
Stamina: You are rested.
Willpower: You feel calm.
Injuries: You are bruised, with no significant wounds.

Telepathy
Strength of Mind: 50%
████████████████████
Subtle Manipulations: 74%
██████████████▒█████

Anathema
Anathema runs a criminal syndicate. They are a known killer.
Infamy: 51% / Obscurity: 49%
██████████▒█████████

Armored Suit
Anathema's suit is a shadow with a mirror for a face, revealing nothing. The cape conceals and obfuscates what's underneath.
In its left hand, the suit has a neutered colony of nanovores, functionally similar to having disintegration touch. The suit is also equipped with telepathic boosters and enhanced speed as well as jump-jets.

Armor Status
Need Repair: 15% / Fine: 85%
████████████████████

Leadership: 55%
████████████████████

Psychological Profile
Arrogance: 36% / Anonymity: 64%
███████▒████████████
Ruthlessness: 40% / Empathy: 60%
████████████████████
Daring: 59% / Caution: 41%
███████████▒████████

Back in the day, Sidestep was known as a vigilante working with the Rangers.

Main Puppet
Name: Barbara
Puppet Status: She is fine, and has no serious wounds.
Description: A tall white woman in her twenties with blue eyes and long straight blond hair.

Allies and Enemies

Charge
Josie's Relationship with Ortega: Friend and ally.
Ortega's Connection with Josie: 80%
████████████████████

Ortega thinks Anathema has made some good points.

Barbara's Relationship with Ortega: Eternally flirting. Josie is using Barbara as a spy.
Ortega's Connection with Barbara: 59%
███████████▒████████

Dr. Mortum
Barbara's Relationship with Dr. Mortum: friend.
Mortum's Connection with Barbara: 66%
█████████████▒██████

Lady Argent
Josie's Relationship with Lady Argent: Distant.
Lady Argent's Impression of Josie: 1%
▒███████████████████

Lady Argent respects Anathema's abilities.
Lady Argent's Interest in Anathema: 43%
████████▒███████████

Marshal Steel
Josie's Relationship with Steel: Friendly.
Steel's Connection with Josie: 61%
████████████▒███████

Marshal Steel thinks Anathema needs to be brought in.

Herald
Josie's Relationship with Herald: He seems nice.
Herald's Connection with Josie: 64%
████████████▒███████

Herald thinks Anathema is a villain.

Other Characters

 

every single possible response is telling in such different ways. I love it. let's project some >guilt

 

incidentally, I feel like this is the part where I should mention how delighted I was by this comment way back at the start of book 2:

because while that line is... not precisely foreshadowing (that is, I'm pretty sure Josie does in fact smell human when not wearing airtight armor), it screams of the author having too much fun.

 

The jury is still out on AXE® Body Spray

 

You know, I do recall some ominous foreshadowing to that effect…

 

tfw your friend sends you to therapy to manage her emotions :/​

> "She feels guilty. Ortega should be here. Not me."

"She feels guilty. Ortega should be in this chair. Not me." You keep looking at the window, avoiding her eyes.

"But she's not," Dr. Finch smiles softly, leaning a little closer. "You are."

She feels like a predator, even though you know she's not. She doesn't know anything. Not about you. Not about Ortega. You're just a nobody to her, a blank slate she's trying to fill in.

"And from what you told me last session," she continues, "your friend has indeed been exactly where you are right now. It helped her, so she hopes it will help you—"

"Fix me," you interrupt, surprising yourself. "Ortega hopes that this will fix me."

　‣ I'm not fixable. These sessions are just camouflage.
　‣ I'm not fixable. There are too many shards to put back together.
　‣ I'm not sure how to feel about that.
　‣ I hope that optimism is not misplaced.

Sure, maybe Ortega thinks this will help with whatever problems we're not talking to her about, but do we actually expect these sessions to accomplish anything for us? Are we just going through the proper motions for harmless, traumatized retiree Josie, or did we think the therapy part might be worth a try as long as we're here?​

Spoiler: Show Stats (no change)

CLASSIFIED

Subject: Anathema

Secret Identity: Josie Jacobs
Gender: Non-binary.
Description: A tall mixed person in their thirties with brown eyes and short and styled curly dark brown hair.

Their sense of style is androgynous, secondhand streetwear, with many piercings in their ears, nose, and tongue. They have a short, scruffy beard and mustache.

Standard of Living: Josie is well-off.
Josie is living in a comfortable apartment.

Josie Jacobs is a seasoned, tech-savvy tactician.

Physical Status
Stamina: You are rested.
Willpower: You feel calm.
Injuries: You are bruised, with no significant wounds.

Telepathy
Strength of Mind: 50%
████████████████████
Subtle Manipulations: 74%
██████████████▒█████

Anathema
Anathema runs a criminal syndicate. They are a known killer.
Infamy: 51% / Obscurity: 49%
██████████▒█████████

Armored Suit
Anathema's suit is a shadow with a mirror for a face, revealing nothing. The cape conceals and obfuscates what's underneath.
In its left hand, the suit has a neutered colony of nanovores, functionally similar to having disintegration touch. The suit is also equipped with telepathic boosters and enhanced speed as well as jump-jets.

Armor Status
Need Repair: 15% / Fine: 85%
████████████████████

Leadership: 55%
████████████████████

Psychological Profile
Arrogance: 36% / Anonymity: 64%
███████▒████████████
Ruthlessness: 40% / Empathy: 60%
████████████████████
Daring: 59% / Caution: 41%
███████████▒████████

Back in the day, Sidestep was known as a vigilante working with the Rangers.

Main Puppet
Name: Barbara
Puppet Status: She is fine, and has no serious wounds.
Description: A tall white woman in her twenties with blue eyes and long straight blond hair.

Allies and Enemies

Charge
Josie's Relationship with Ortega: Friend and ally.
Ortega's Connection with Josie: 80%
████████████████████

Ortega thinks Anathema has made some good points.

Barbara's Relationship with Ortega: Eternally flirting. Josie is using Barbara as a spy.
Ortega's Connection with Barbara: 59%
███████████▒████████

Dr. Mortum
Barbara's Relationship with Dr. Mortum: friend.
Mortum's Connection with Barbara: 66%
█████████████▒██████

Lady Argent
Josie's Relationship with Lady Argent: Distant.
Lady Argent's Impression of Josie: 1%
▒███████████████████

Lady Argent respects Anathema's abilities.
Lady Argent's Interest in Anathema: 43%
████████▒███████████

Marshal Steel
Josie's Relationship with Steel: Friendly.
Steel's Connection with Josie: 61%
████████████▒███████

Marshal Steel thinks Anathema needs to be brought in.

Herald
Josie's Relationship with Herald: He seems nice.
Herald's Connection with Josie: 64%
████████████▒███████

Herald thinks Anathema is a villain.

Other Characters

 

My answer to this is heavily, heavily weighted by Spoilers and my own personal run, so I'm going to abstain unless no one else has any opinion here.

 

I mean I definitely want to go with one of the "not fixable" options, but idk which one.

 

The context of going "oh btw I'm not human" here really weighs towards a Josie thinking "I'm not fixable, this is camouflage" to me

:(