Monday, July 1, 2013

Page 115

--donation bonus (day #4, post 4/5)--
Those powers are the result of a marriage between something real and something imaginary. It’s the same for Geoffrey’s shield.

I think I get it... maybe...

So, in order to fight it, you have to add a mental--or imaginary--side to your attacks.

And how do I do that?

Oh, it’s not that difficult. Because your body has already had its soul “hollowed” out, so to speak, you’ll be able to gain a stronger sense of your own presence and even begin to manipulate your soul in different ways. You’ll be able to get the basics down fairly quickly. It’s only when you want to become genuinely proficient that things go less smoothly, but we won’t be worrying about that too much yet. For now, we’ll mainly focus on trying to grow your materialization ability. I expect that’ll be more immediately useful.

Hmm.

By the way, in the interest of full disclosure, there are actually two ways that your metal power can grow.

Oh?

The first is meditative training, just like you’ve already been doing. It takes a while, but it's the more reliable of the two.

The other way is faster?

Very much so, yeah. The second method is to throw yourself into an incredibly dangerous situation, almost get us both killed, and hope that the desperation and rush of adrenaline are enough to force a breakthrough.

What the fuck? That sounds...

Reckless and stupid? Yeah. We won’t be attempting that one. The almost-getting-killed part is a dealbreaker for me.

Huh. Okay... But, um... about this soul power or whatever. When should I, uh... start working on that?

We’ll get to--

“Hector? You okay?”

Finally reaching his locker, he turned and saw Micah standing there. “Uh... hi. I’m--I’m fine. Why?”

“Well, it’s just, you’re walking like you’re half-dead or something.”

“Ha... that’s, um... yeah...”

“Did something happen to you?”

Shit, what do I say?

Uh... You fell down the stairs!

That’s stupid!

Just say it!

14 comments:

  1. Of course we won't do it the second way! *Geoffrey breaks in through the wall* looks like we're doing it the second way...

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  2. *facepalms* For a several thousand year old reaper, Garovel's randomly bad at thinking on his feet.
    It's still pretty amusing though. Especially since I recall Hector took a lift out of that building.

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    1. Occasional silliness is important, you know. Though, Garovel wasn't referring to any specific set of stairs. He was just making stuff up. And hey, it worked out for him.

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  3. So I've just finished reading through your whole story after discovering it through http://www.meilinmiranda.com/intimate-history. I love it! I'll be coming back for sure :)

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    1. That is marvelous. Thank you for reading and commenting.

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  4. Stairs. The oldest excuse in the book. But then, it's coming from a really old guy isn't it?


    Like Anonymous below, I have the strangest feeling this IS going to come down to method 2. Because while it makes bad survival sense, it does make dramatic storytelling. Unfortunately for Hector, he's in a story. Nothing gets to be easy. Ever.

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  5. Garovel is horrible at thinking on his feet huh? ...wait, does he even have feet?

    We all where this is gonna be going with the two ways of traininghis materialization lol. He was already in that position once.

    About the imaginary power, is that anything like psychic powers? Cause that's the way I interpreted it.

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  6. If I understand the explanation right, sounds like we're talking about something more like an astral projection than a mental attack. Is that right? If so, I think Garovel should say something to that effect. I'm pretty sure that we're not talking about abstractions or possessions. There's a mention of shaping your soul, as well.

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  7. Actually, it's neither. It's more like "thinking your powers stronger". If you do it right, your materials or energies start to become slightly more real than anything else, making them stronger than unempowered objects and forcing other soul-empowered abilities (like Geoffrey's shadow) to take yours seriously.

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  8. Come on, you two, keep your lies close to the truth.

    "...I had real bad insomnia last night."

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  9. Breaking Physics with the Power of Positive Thinking! (Death and Resurrection Required)

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  10. He doesn't even have a real Boyd....remember?

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  11. He doesn't have feet...

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