Event: The Leopard's Spots (Update #6)

[thelostmods]

With the shapeshifter captured, we have reached the home stretch! Please check out the new Part 4 starter for speaking with a very angry (but currently cooperative) cat. Time to clear up what's been going on!

Additionally, once your character has had a chance to get answers to their burning questions, please use this post for discussion of how your character(s) would like to resolve this situation. The two main questions to keep in mind are:

1. What does your character think should be done with the totem?

2. What does your character think should be done with the captured shapeshifter?

Please take your time finding out all the information you need to know in order to make those decisions. I'll keep an eye on this post and answer any logistical questions that come up. Thank you!


General Status Updates, July 25:

After the people of the Meadous have talked with Okota and the other NPCs, the general attitude of the NPCs is as follows:

1. Okota is becoming grudgingly willing to at least consider foregoing their attempt to revert their people to total savagery in favor of influencing the world in smaller ways, but they're clearly not thrilled about it and there's a clear risk that they'll go back to their old ways if left to their own devices.

2. Tawnya and Mitch are willing to take guardianship of Okota, but only if they have some way to keep a god in check. Summer is on board with a rehabilitation effort and will also assist. They acknowledge that a few of the points Okota has made about the negative effects of conformity and a move away from instinctive behavior are true, but on the whole they find her views extreme and are strongly opposed to her original plan.

3. Wyatt just wants to hide the totem, and can be persuaded to leave it in the Meadous.

4. Several players have suggested devices to help Mitch and Tawnya keep Okota in check. Currently those suggestions include a cage that can contain Okota in any form and a tracking device Okota can't remove. Each device would cost 1,000 wishing points; there will be another update on Saturday to gather points from any characters who want to contribute to one or more wishes.


The deadline for voting on solutions is Sunday, July 28, at 11:59 PST.

Update, July 29: Voting is now closed. Thank you all for your input!

Comments

[harmony_city]

In all seriousness though, wishing for a rocket with which to shoot the totem into space is an option. Would you like to add it to the list of wishes to which people can contribute? There would also need to be a majority vote to send the totem into space.

[0thingsonmymind]

eh, unless someone else gets the idea i doubt brian'll put that much effort into it. leave it off

[ignes_fatui]

1. Ienzo's more than a little anxious about the idea of stealing a god's power permanently even if it's clear that Okota can't be trusted with it, and will suggest it be brought back to Harmony City and hidden from her. He's willing to help work out the details of this if others are on board.


2. He's similarly wary about sending Okota back in a cage, but admits that that's probably the safest way. He'll also suggest some kind of visible marking (eg. odd eyes, specific coloration) that they can't shapeshift away or hide in order to keep them from impersonating others. His hope is that she can be talked around to his social reform idea and eventually released, but he recognizes that might be a bit optimistic.

[rubikscomplex]

House will tell her this is a load of bull and she's an udder coward. Because he clearly wants everyone to kill him for the puns.

[bywolves]

Royce isn't particularly like... interested in arguing or debating or anything and won't lobby real hard in any direction. He's pretty against putting Okota in a cage/the tracking device, but after the last event he refuses to get up in arms about it, so he just offers his opinion once and then fucks off into the ether.

He also doesn't really have any other solutions so he's leaning towards keeping the totem in the Meadous so they can figure out how to maybe like. Destroy it or something.

That being said his opinions are: one keep the totem in the Meadous and two put that shapeshifter back where they came from or so help him

[harmony_city]

1. If they decide to go this route, they do have historical precedent to examine re: where Brother Gray hid it (or at least where Hoofmann found it thousands of years later).

2. Perhaps in horror at the possibility that some kind of permanence could be forced on her, Okota will reveal at this point that she's only able to impersonate specific people if they are already deep under her influence, and inducing that state is only possible when she has both her totem and her temple in relatively close proximity.

[harmony_city]

Okota volunteers to kill House for his puns.

[harmony_city]

Noted! Okota is horrified at any suggestion that the totem might be destroyed (assuming he says it in front of her), but would appreciate at least one (1) vote against a cage and tracker.

[obeir]

Daryl: Would like to return the totem to Okota and return Okota to her world, with the hope that she'll agree to be chill and go easy on reverting her people completely — instead influencing the world in smaller ways so there won't be total anarchy and broken families everywhere. He's vehemently against any sort of cage or tracking implant!!! and would freely and loudly voice this opinion. He knows he's going to be in the minority though, unfortunately. If anyone tries arguing with him he'll probably just bite them tbh. So probably best to leave the anger catte be.

K: Is less certain what to do with the totem but doesn't want to destroy it. I think ultimately he'd vote to keep the totem in the Meadous if it can't be returned to where it's meant to be (could Zephyr take possession of it without being harmed?) and also wants to return Okota to her world with hopes of rehabilitation, presumably through the police. Except he's similarly very against any kind of cage or tracking implant and would voice this opinion, but isn't inclined to get bitey like Daryl over it. He'll probably sadface and apologise to Okota if she ends up caged or implanted (they could be tracking implant buddies :c), though.

Daryl and K would both be on board with Eliza's communication channel idea, too, and would be willing to communicate with Okota in the future if she wants to.

[aigue]

Firstly, Renart would like to bring Summer in to have a chat with Okota. An OOC summary is all that's needed for that!

Secondly, Renart would be echoing K's views: keep the totem in the Meadous, return Okota for rehabilitation, and keep a communication channel open to make sure things don't go south. She's also very against a tracking implant and cage for obvious reasons and would make her opinion known.

[telecosmetic]

Less related, but Eliza would also like to tell Wyatt at some point that he was actually the one they were supposed to come and help. Since she knows he's upset about his prayer supposedly not being heard...she might even hug him if he's okay with it.

Oh, and after learning the totem still has some influence even on humans, she'd suggest wishing for some way to protect people from its influence.

[harmony_city]

Okota is super into Daryl's plan! Give her totem pls. She's also glad to have some voices against the cage and tracker, ugh, what human ideas. Finally, she's more receptive to suggestions re: open communications from Daryl in particular; it's sounding promising on her end.

[harmony_city]

Summer is nervous going into the conversation with Okota. It seems she was right to be--as soon as Okota sees the coyote, she starts hissing and spitting and hurling accusations that Summer is a heretic, the descendant and the mother of thieves. It briefly looks like Summer is going to retreat with her tail between her legs, but she abruptly finds her resolve and locks eyes with Okota...and surprisingly, when she demands Okota stop her snarling and speak with her, Okota does so.

Being in Okota's presence and discussing what happened when the totem was originally stolen seems to unlock more of the ancestral memories Ienzo discovered Summer possesses, and she begins to argue on behalf of Brother Gray, the coyote who first stole the totem and caused the downfall of Okota's religion. Summer and Okota disagree vehemently on the causes and effects. Okota argues that Brother Gray and his cohort took away the gifts of all the other mammals to selfishly force them to adapt to a new civilization that best suited the coyotes, raccoons, and rats. Summer argues that Okota was holding them back--that the truce at the old temple to allow visitors to worship without fear of being eaten was proof that mammals could coexist peacefully without eating one another, and that Okota and the faithful members of their priesthood were forcing violence on a world whose people no longer wanted to live in the old ways.

Following the conversation, Summer's position is this:
1. She stands by what Brother Gray did--unchecked in the old days, Okota and their priesthood had actively prevented the mammals from developing a peaceful multispecies society. She does not want the totem returned to Okota.
2. She feels sorry for Okota, but does not trust them. She does not want to enact revenge or punishment, but she does want to prevent Okota from hurting people (including enacting their plan to turn people savage).
3. Summer was able to get Okota to confirm during the conversation that her aspect is Instinct. Summer thinks that instinct is not without its place in the modern world--indeed, she muses that Wyatt seems to have the totem based on an instinctual reaction to being in its presence.

[harmony_city]

Wyatt will accept a hug! And for the record, oocly, his call was what Zephyr heard.

With Okota's power imbued in the totem, it can't really be shielded or nullified. The options for preventing it from affecting anyone are:
1.) Put it where no one can get to it to touch it
2.) Destroy it, destroying that portion of Okota's power with it
3.) Okota says she can reabsorb its power, leaving it as nothing but an inert stone carving

[0thingsonmymind]

actually now that i think about it brian will vote against cage just cause its john's idea.

he'll note that he thinks both control methods are pointless, too

[telecosmetic]

For that third option, would it give Okota the power to affect people mentally again?

[harmony_city]

Noted on both counts!

[harmony_city]

Okota won't say so, but Summer strongly suspects that it would.

[ignes_fatui]

1. Ienzo's happy to look into this and make his arguments for returning it to the world of Harmony City, even if he knows he's in the minority here.
2. Okay, nix that idea then. He's been listening to the others' arguments and is going to back Renart and Daryl on not wanting to cage Okota, figuring they're the people in the Meadous closest to understanding her point of view. There does need to be some way of keeping her in check beyond just hiding her totem, though, and he's not certain what the best way would be. Possibly binding her to a promise of some sort, either magically or just by finding someone she likes enough for her word to matter (Daryl, maybe?). This would obviously be easier with the open channel of communication that's been proposed elsewhere.

[harmony_city]

1. It'll be pretty easy to get information from the museum regarding where the totem was found. The most striking thing about the archaeological site is that it's about as far away from the temple in Black Rock Park as the priests could get it. The site showed signs of a small settlement from that period, as though a small number of people had relocated there along with the totem and occupied the area for at least a few hundred years afterward.

2. Okota seems willing to make a promise to Daryl and the others who have listened more openly to her cause. Summer suggests, after some discussion with Tawnya and Wyatt (who aren't thrilled with the idea) that she could enter a pact with Okota to act as the god's voice in exchange for a lack of shenanigans. Okota seems shocked by the offer and distrustful of it at first, but since their argument about Brother Gray it seems like Summer is able to get Okota to listen to her, if only very grudgingly.

[telecosmetic]

Once the pact option is brought up, Eliza will be willing to support that over the cage/tracker plan. Though she's still a bit annoyed at the people who just want to let Okota go without any way to guarantee her proper behavior.

[harmony_city]

Noted! And Summer is pretty uneasy with the idea of an Okota without anything holding them back, too.

[zunesareawesome]

1. Peter thinks it should be kept in the Meadous and far away away from Harmony City as possible. Possibly even to destroy it later. Agrees with Brian in yeeting it into space.

2. In his experience with gods who have great plans and think they know better than everybody, he would not be willing to trust Okota at all, ever, and doesn't think they could be rehabilitated. He's also pissed off at what happened to him and like, they really could solve this problem by just killing her... Not that he really means it?

Maybe?

They could just yeet her into space too.

[obeir]

K and Daryl would both back Summer's suggestion, provided Summer is genuinely willing and Okota promises to uphold her end.

As I mentioned in the event plurk, Daryl would also offer to essentially worship Okota as well to help lighten Summer's burden (hey, magical contracts are his thing and he's outlived all of his previous ones, so he's free here /pointed glance at Stephen), but I understand that's a no go. He still would've made the offer though, if this influences things in any way.

K is of course already worshipping Zephyr and he's strictly monogamous so no godly cheatin' for him.

[harmony_city]

1. Noted! Since we're so close to the deadline, if the totem stays in the Meadous and enough characters do want to yeet it into space, we will handle a rocket-related wish for that later.

2. Okota indicates that yeeting her into space would accomplish the first suggestion of killing her, and tells Peter he's a goddamn savage for not killing her with his own teeth and eating her carcass. She's been saying that one to a lot of people, though.