/qst/ - Quests » Searching for posts with the image hash ‘VHlY8eZb8jpBPHak7YA56g==’.

Bathic !!1oQZB1czRDh

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO charlotte & gil - @centipede (...).png, 518KiB, 754x934

Bathic !!1oQZB1czRDh ID:koQjHkwi Sun 22 Dec 2024 12:02:13 No.6162935 View View Report

Quoted By:

>I'm sorry I have literally no idea what your deal is

"Um, yes." Will Anthea think less of you if you're too grateful? No, you doubt it. She's nice. "I wanted to say... thank you... for helping Gil. Not that he couldn't have handled himself, but, um, I'm usually there to help him, and this time I couldn't be, so I appreciate... I think Gil appreciates your help. But I also do. Yeah."

"Wow," Ellery says. You imagine him getting torn into one million pieces. Gil is looking at you, but you refuse to look back, so it could be a good or bad look. Chin up. Eyes forward. You're only being polite, like your Aunt Ruby taught you, it's not weird for you to thank her...

"Aw! You're so welcome!" Anthea is clasping her hands together. "It wasn't anything, really, if anything he was helping me— it was teamwork, was all! I just felt so bad, because I judged him, you know, on appearances— most unpeople aren't trustworthy. By nature! Not their fault! But I was so impressed by how smart he was, and brave, and the way he broke out of the Friend programming— I mean, it takes someone special for that. You too, Charlotte, really. He said a lot of nice things about you."

Right. Because he was (is?) god-addled. You understand. Still, you redden. "He did?"

"Yeah! About how he owed you his life, and how he couldn't let you down, and how you were just about the specialest person he'd ever met, and on and on, and—"

No avoiding eye contact now: you look questioningly, accusingly, at Gil. He doesn't flinch, but does produce a sheepish smile. "Well, I meant it."

"Oh," you say. (God-addled.)

"I was pretty worried about you, was all. And I missed you. Not that Anthea wasn't nice to have around, but— you know."

"Oh." (Practically insane. No— not 'practically.')

"No hard feelings!" Anthea says. "I'm so happy you could find each other, honestly, I felt so bad for Gil, and he was such a big help with my runaway—" She tugs Ellery's sleeve. "—I can hardly believe it! Can I hug you?"

Now, you'd ruled it out previously, but there is still an infinitesimal chance you're dead. "What?"

"Both of you! For everything!" And before you can protest, or even process, Anthea is hugging you. Both of her arms are around you. But she is a woman, and (you think) not far from your age, so it's acceptable, if... ungainly. You make a strangled sort of noise and she releases, only to grab Gil and squeeze him too. "Oh!" she says, as she withdraws. "You're cold!"

"I think that's the goo," Gil says, shockingly undisturbed. "Sorry about that."

"No, no, no worries! Just surprised me. Whatcha looking at, Ell? Did I skip you?"

Ellery attempts to loosen his expression. "No, I think— ah!" Anthea has grabbed him into a side-hug. "Uh... thanks, Thea. Charlotte, was that it, or—"

(1/6?)

Bathic !!1oQZB1czRDh

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO charlotte & gil - @centipede (...).png, 518KiB, 754x934

Bathic !!1oQZB1czRDh ID:68pcOfFW Sun 09 Jun 2024 09:05:46 No.6030136 View View Report

Quoted By:

"Okay." He exhales, approaches the window, and holds the mantis up to it. He jiggles it, and— yes! You suppress a cheer. The window's cracked, right where the little punch landed. Gil taps the mantis's side, and it smacks the window again: the cracks spiderweb outwards. One more blow, and—

CRACK!

"Woohoo! YES!" You can only restrain yourself so much. "That's how you do it! Can you tell it thank you?"

"Um, i-i-it's not very smart. I-I-I can send... reward signals?"

"You can?"

Gil shuts his eyes (because of exasperation, or because he's communing?). You size up the brand-new person-size-and-then-some hole in the window, and lean your head out to see the shards twinkling into the abyss. Boy, that's a drop. Um. Positive thinking.

"I-I-It wants to know where the snails are," Gil reports.

"It'll get a lot of snails when we're done, okay? We can go out and harvest a whole bucket of snails. We need to jump first."

"Right."

"Okay, here goes!" You screw your eyes shut. You dive headfirst off the edge.

"SHIT! LOTTIE!"

You can't see Gil, on account of the shut eyes, but you can imagine: him stashing the mantis, scrambling to the edge, clinging to the window, peering down, down, down, maybe admiring your impressive gumption, maybe raising a forlorn hand, probably swearing under his breath, but screwing up his courage (you know he has it) and screwing up all his muscles, all of them, so tight they have to burst. You don't know how he does it, but it's probably something like that. And they do burst, will burst, are bursting, right now, and he's all in crawly bits. Crawly bits with rapid flimsy wings. He could fall after you himself, but he won't: he'll zip down, noise like a ripsaw, and you midair will reach a hand out. And you'll fall together.

That's him now, the noise:

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU THINKING?!"

And you open your eyes and see beetles, and you laugh and fall Below.

>[END THREAD]

Bathic !!1oQZB1czRDh

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO charlotte & gil - @centipede (...).png, 518KiB, 754x934

Bathic !!1oQZB1czRDh ID:+Qd7zAX2 Tue 05 Mar 2024 02:36:36 No.5943557 View View Report

Quoted By:

"Okay. I think this one's a good match." Pat is standing over one of the infinite vats herself. (You could also push her in, but she'd probably just absorb all the goo and turn into a giant goo monster and try to eat you.) "I'm going to dump, then it could be a few minutes, just like last time. Don't get pissed."

"I wasn't going to! I knew that." You pause. "Can I, uh, do the dumping? It doesn't need any special technique?"

"No. Just don't get any on the floor." Pat steps aside, and you pick up the little tank that Gil's in. It looks like a lot of goo with some beetles stuck in it. "Hi Gil," you whisper to it. "It's me. Lottie. I hope you're okay. I'm getting you your body back, and if you wind up with any nasty intruders in there, just let me know. I'll set them on fire. Um, anyways. Good luck?"

"Done?" Pat says.

You pay her a look, then turn back to the tank. "I'm doing it now. Bye."

After that, you dump all the goo in the vat. That's it. It slides right out and plops in and vanishes. Then you wait, and try not to think about the possibility that nothing will ever come out, because that isn't positive. Also because Horse Face is standing right next to you again, and you don't want him to see you not being positive.

Of course, there was never anything to worry about! A couple minutes later— you don't know how long exactly, but less than last time— the surface of the goo begins to vibrate, then to bubble, then to stretch, and out of it flails a figure. A Gil? Maybe, from its wobbling beetle-shapes, but then it looks up and at you and its face is not Gil's. Not that it's far off— the chin is there, and the nose is close— but the closer it is to the real thing, the worse it gets. The ears are wrong, and the eyes are the wrong color, and your instinct as the goo-thing flops to the ground is to draw The Sword and stab it.

It is good fortune, then, that before you can do so— before anybody can do much of anything— the goo-thing groans, and contorts on itself, and streams from its chest blue light. You recoil, throwing your hand over your eyes, and when the light fades and you look again Gil is there on the ground. Face and new clothes and everything.

"Goodness!" Horse Face says. Pat rubs her face. You crouch over Gil. "Gil!"

"Mmm," he says.

"Hello! You're alive! I think you magycked yourself," you say in a lower voice. "That was a good idea. Thanks. You know who I am, right?"

"...Lottie...?"

"Yes! Excellent job! You'll be back up to speed in no time. Pat said you got liquified, basically, so if you feel weird... well, we can talk about it later. Also, I saved your life again, but that's not important. Can you walk?"

"...I don't..."

"Can I help? How about I help you!" You lift his arm over your shoulder and drag him up. He sways. "See! You're doing great already! We'll be out of here in no time!"

"He still needs cured," Pat says.

"...We'll be out of here after you get cured!"

(Choices next.)

Bathic !!1oQZB1czRDh

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO charlotte & gil - @centipede (...).png, 518KiB, 754x934

Bathic !!1oQZB1czRDh ID:XXbIhewW Mon 29 Jan 2024 08:56:45 No.5907484 View View Report

Quoted By:

>It's not that deep

The Wyrm? You're not the Wyrm. Maybe you have a teeny little bit of murdery godness stuck in you, but that doesn't make you anything close to— you mean, you saw the thing. There's no comparison. Also, you have a pure and honest heart, so you don't want to lie to Claudia. She knows Gil, so maybe you should say something about Gil? Does she know what a retainer is? Did they have retainers back then? You thought retainers were an old-fashioned thing, but nobody around seems anything like your books. They don't even say "forsooth." Maybe you better use a... different word. "Uh. No. Nope. I'm, um, Gil's friend?"

"G- Gil? You're Gil's—? What? You're not..." Claudia crosses her arms. "I don't believe you! Tell me the truth!"

"I am his friend!" You cross your arms back, more righteously than she did hers. "I am way more his friend than you are! You're his— his— his fake friend. I bet you haven't even saved his life multiple times. Or looked in his head and saw all his dumb embarrassing memories. Huh? Have you done that? Because I have, for your information, and we have also shared a... a proper, retainerly embrace, which— you didn't even know him before I made you know him! So there!"

"I— I don't— you're trying to confuse me! This is what the WYRM does. It's wily." Claudia straightens her shoulders. "You're in my mind. And you're— you're watching me. If you liked Gil so much, you'd be watching him, except you're not. Because he's a square. So—"

"I am watching him!" you protest. "Via... via you."

Claudia rolls her eyes at you. Rolls her eyes! "Cool. Uh-huh. I bet. Can you just skip to the whole 'infusing me with incredible power'? Or to murdering everybody? Whatever it is. The anticipation is killing me."

>[A] Oh boy.
>>[1] Attempt to tell her that there will be no incredible power and DEFINITELY no murdering. You are highly anti-murder. (...Except for, uh, special circumstances.)
>>[2] Attempt to tell her that she's being awfully blasphemous right now, and she better shape up or she's going to get smited.
>>[3] Ask her if she actually wants incredible power / mass murder, or if she's just being snotty.
>>[4] Ask her what she thinks that wind-up bird is. (Does she remember being you?)
>>[5] Tell her that the inspectors are probably Management. Then explain what Management is.
>>[6] Ask her about the pageant. What happens during it? Why do people die occasionally?
>>[7] Write-in.

> Okay, clearly this isn't enough explanation to sate Claudia's inquisitiveness. Tell her that you're also... [OPTIONAL. Votes that don't include a will be taken as a vote against explaining more.]
>>[1] A WYRM-daughter.
>>[2] A time-traveler.
>>[3] A famous heroine.
>>[4] A... snake?
>>[5] The spirit of Iceover? (She's awfully un-jolly.)
>>[6] The Herald? Does she know what that is?
>>[7] Write-in.

>[C] Write-in.

Bathic !!1oQZB1czRDh

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO charlotte & gil - @centipede (...).png, 518KiB, 754x934

Bathic !!1oQZB1czRDh ID:tYcBUOmA Fri 04 Aug 2023 02:51:23 No.5728314 View View Report

Quoted By:

Gil was not looking you in the eyes when you grabbed his hand and shook it vigorously— so vigorously, as a matter of fact, that there was a bit of a 'squelch', and your hand became moistened. And when you pulled away after that, Gil's hand was a tad squashed out of position, and there were gooey bits of it on your own hand.

"Uh," you say, and examine Gil, who's examining the damage. Not the 'damage.' That sounds bad. The minor rupture. The small amount of oozing. He flops his hand around, then really, properly looks you in the eye, and you contemplate the potentiality that he's been turned against you— that resentment has been breeding in him for hours, incubated by Horse Face's poison lies, and now this has done it, really sealed the deal, and he hates you now, for abandoning him, and popping his hand open by accident, and all your other crimes. Hates you. And now he's going to abandon you, is going to run off with Horse Face and be his retainer, aiding in all of his sinister machinations, never—

Gil laughs. Not super sanely. (An attack of male hysteria?) But he laughs, real loud and hard, half-choking on his spittle— does he have spittle?— half-choking on mystery fluids, wheezing and dangling the mildly displaced hand, clutching onto your wrist with the intact one, so that to be polite you titter along too. It's all downhill from there. He gasps, and you laugh at his gasp, and he laughs at your laugh, and pulls you abruptly into a hug.

It doesn't last very long. He recovers his senses before you recover yours. But when he pulls away, he takes your wrists instead. "You're alive!"

You process. "...Indeed!"

His hands are cold. One of them is sticky. "Not that I-I-I-I thought— I mean— I mean, I-I wasn't sure— you never came back! You and Earl and— you said you were on a heist—"

"Um, I— yes. Um. It didn't go to plan."

"Well, I-I-I-I figured— but you're okay?"

"Y-es?"

"Of course you're okay." He laughs a little more. "I-I'm glad— I-I'm glad it all—"

"You're okay too," you volunteer.

"Now I am! Now I am... um..." He wipes his nose.

"No, I mean— I mean you. In my head. I went and talked to you."

"...Oh! Oh, I-I— I forgot I— that's good. That's good. Lucky bastard."

There's a period of silence. Gil releases you, curving the busted hand inside his normal one. He looks over his shoulder. "...Uh, sorry, Garvin, I-I-I..."

"No!" Horse Face waves it off. "A momentous occasion! Carry on."

The moment, whatever it was, has passed. Gil is biting the inside of his lip. You straighten.

(Choices next.)

Capcode	All Only User Posts Only Verified Posts Only Moderator Posts Only Manager Posts Only Admin Posts Only Developer Posts Only Founder Posts
Show Posts	All Only With Images Only Without Images Only Spoiler Images Only Non-Spoiler Images
Deleted Posts	All Only Deleted Posts Only Non-Deleted Posts
Ghost Posts	All Only Ghost Posts Only Non-Ghost Posts
Post Type	All Only Sticky Threads Only Opening Posts Only Reply Posts
Results	All Grouped By Threads
Order	Latest Posts First Oldest Posts First

Searching for posts with the image hash ‘VHlY8eZb8jpBPHak7YA56g==’. 5 results found.

On these archives

Your latest searches