#billy wei

[sparkpluqs]

Of course; here are the six test subjects from the Fidanza, as we found them.

some were definitely. more worse for wear than the others. they've all changed so much since then <:)

[sparkpluqs]

Was listening to some music, thinking about the recent events in our campaign.

[Like Caleb slipping into a coma] and [Sparks getting a hold of documents detailing Caleb's backstory.]

[sparkpluqs]

i know that you've probably said it somewhere before, but i can't find it, so i wanted to ask- which character is which in Warped Beyond Recognition? i know you've listed off their subject numbers and titles in art, but i am struggling to figure out what actual names belong to which of the kids :(

I've laid it out a few times before; but here are the teenagers once more and how they're coming along in our care (heavy spoilers for the module "Warped Beyond Recognition", if you plan on playing or running it yourself);

Evander Budaj, Subject 01; "The Mech". Can psychically control any machine he can see and understand, including Androids. "Disfavored son" of a high ranking corporate figurehead. Went through an accelerated military training course and didn't come out with very good marks, but had an interest in machinery. Originally built his personality from watching old action movies, but is slowly relearning how to be a real hero with our crew. Learning strength, temperance, and selflessness from Adolfo. Still a bit of a goof, though. :)

Miriam Rios, Subject 02; "The Spider". Can extend her consciousness between multiple detached limbs (both flesh and prosthetic), controlling them apart from herself. Likely an orphan before the company got a hold of her. Had her legs brutally amputated with no anesthetic prior to her warp test, and experienced a mental break that reduced her to pure animal instinct. Has since gotten new prosthetic legs, and is slowly acclimating and finding herself again, through music. Caleb's adoptive daughter.

Billy Wei, Subject 03; "The Director". Was able to mind-control humans and puppet them into doing whatever he wanted. His parents had no hope for his future in theater, so they sold him off to the company for research and testing. We killed him the day we found him. Caleb has since been seeing him out of the corner of their eye, and the last time they saw him, he spoke to them. I don't think Billy's gone for good.

Jonesy Babbitt, Subject 04; "The Dreamer". Can put out psychic illusions, things that are ultimately not there but look and feel extremely real. Can also pull others into imagined alternate realities, trapping them within. Was brought onto the research vessel under false pretenses of earning credits in "academy classes for terraforming". Since rescuing, has become a younger brother to Sparks, living with her full time. Hopes to make better worlds, and into fantasy and medieval stories.

Yu Yin, Subject 05; "The Warp". Body became extremely unstable after her warp test. Anything she touched or interacted with would turn inside out on itself and violently fractal, including flesh. Previously a nun, company bought her from a slave trade to perform tests on. She's since been re-sleeved (had her consciousness uploaded into an entirely different body), and seems to have been stabilized that way. Never wants to participate in space travel again, in fear of losing herself again. We don't blame her. She'll likely find a religious body to dedicate herself to on Ortega Station.

Sonia Ellison, Subject 06; "The Ship". Cybernetically melded to the ship. Can see through the cameras across the ship, close and lock doors, redirect oxygen, and even engage warp drive. Has military intel training, and was at the top of her class in flight school. Was the catalyst in letting the other test subjects escape. Pretty chill with her current self, perhaps even happier as an entire ship now? Sparks handles mechanical upkeep across her new body, and in turn, Sonia does us the favor of acting as our ship while we do our freelancing. Sonia's the real boss, though. ;)

[sparkpluqs]

Did anyone catch what Caleb said to "Billy" when he last "saw" him?

Billy spoke to Caleb, really, not the other way around. Caleb was a bit too stunned to speak I think, perhaps they weren't too sure it was real?

Caleb woke from cryosleep alone, earlier than anyone else on the ship, after about a week's worth of warp travel on the way to our job on Indrid-17C (which was the planet Seas Gone Quiet took place on).

Since we've reclaimed the ship, most of the rooms aboard have become very lived in. There are stickers all over the place, lockers reassigned to the crew (including the kids), personal effects scattered around. It's a home now. Somewhere the crew can choose to be, as opposed to somewhere they're forced to be.

When Caleb woke, the environment looked very clean, empty and sterile. Like how we first found it.

A harsh silhouette was sitting at one of the tables in the crew barracks under one of the lights, completely obscured, but very distinct. Holding that same book full of scripts and wearing that same beanie. Caleb knew immediately that it was Billy.

When he spoke, Billy quoted Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 5. Specifically, when the Ghost speaks with Hamlet.

Mark me.

Before Caleb could even grasp what was going on, others began to wake from cryo, and their environment shifted back to reality, and the silhouette was nowhere to be found.

No one else saw, nor heard Billy.

Caleb hasn't seen him since. At least, that we know of.

[sparkpluqs]

I don't know if it's ever been asked. But how did they break the news to the other test subject kids about Billy?

Well, all things considered, I'm sure Sonia watched the entire situation go down.

She IS the ship. There are cameras in nearly every room.

And while she's not omniscient (she has to concentrate and focus in on one room at a time), I'm sure Sonia was following the boarding crew of three strangers very closely. She would have definitely watched us kill Billy.

Which is likely why Sonia threw a 50 lb PC monitor into Caleb's chest in the very next room and later smashed the edge of a sliding door into Spark's head. 😵‍💫

I don't know how close the test subjects were with each other at the beginning. They didn't know each other existed before Tannhäuser got a hold of them. They each came from extremely different backgrounds and really, they were from six different corners of the universe. I don't know if they even had opportunities to talk with each other. They were confined to locked cells with guards posted outside.

I can imagine it never really was a conversation. Never really talked about the specifics of what happened in that room.

Just that Billy is dead, we killed him, we deeply regret it, and we gave him a space burial during warp. It was Adolfo and Caleb who cleaned the rooms and prepared the bodies; Sparks didn't have the stomach to.

Evander, Yu and Sonia probably try not to think too hard about it. I'd like to hope they recognize that nobody was really right, and that it was a bad situation. Evander pulled a gun on them, too, after all. We were just as scared as they were.

I think Jonesy and Miriam know more specifics.

Sparks would confide in Jonesy, talk about how much she wishes she tried harder to save Billy. That if she could do it all over again, she'd say something different, she wouldn't freeze up, she'd be a better person and make a better effort, do anything else to understand and change the past. I don't think Jonesy would add his input, just listen.

And Caleb tells Miriam everything, anyway.

[sparkpluqs]

will you ever share the lore about what happened to billy?

I think, at the end of the day, Billy Wei had the unfortunate pleasure of being the first test subject we encountered.

At this point, we had just boarded a pharmaceutical corporate research vessel dead in space, and stumbled across multiple mutilated bodies of researchers and scientists, with no real background on what exactly happened on the ship, just that something was on the ship, and actively killing people.

Billy was in the crew barracks on the ship, mind-controlling two of the three adults left alive on the ship (two marine guards named Janice and Elias). He was having them perform Hamlet, Act V, Scene I.

When Janice and Elias got the lines wrong, or tried to resist his control, he would break their fingers and toes.

We entered the room, then our marine Adolfo (correctly) assessed a threat and brandished his flamethrower without asking any more questions.

After nearly burning him alive, Billy (also correctly) assumed we were threats to him, and talking was no longer an option.

Some back and forth happened. It happened so long ago, specifics are hazy. Caleb tried to stabilize Billy, Billy kept Elias's gun pointed at the back of Caleb's neck. Sparks admittedly kind of froze, tried her best to keep the attention off of Caleb. Adolfo meant to continue attacking Billy with his boarding axe, but Billy forced Caleb to step in the way instead.

Billy wasn't backing down. He was prideful. I don't blame him.

In the end, we killed him. It was Caleb who dealt the final blow, lodging a scalpel into his forehead.

After learning more the longer we explored the ship, it became clear that the test subjects weren't the ones in the wrong. And even though Billy might have been a megalomaniac on a power trip, playing director with active participants (no matter how willing)... Billy was still a scared teenager.

We gave Billy a space burial during warp after finding everyone else aboard. We tried to give him the respect we should have offered him in the beginning.

Of course, that wouldn't be the last we see of Billy.

Our mistakes haunt us.

Caleb is taking it the worst.

[sparkpluqs]

so what happened/where are all the test subject teenagers you posted currently at? :O we know Jonesy lives with Sparks yeah?

Yes, Jonesy lives with Sparks now :) She works at her mechanic shop while giving Jonesy his space to do whatever, usually continuing his research on planetary development, reading fantasy novels, doing whatever it is he hadn't had the freedom to do these past few years.

Miriam lives with Caleb in their apartment--along with Percival, who is currently couch-hopping it seems. I believe Yu is also taking residence in Caleb's apartment after her recovery. Things must be cramped over there. 😅

Evander likely bounces between Sparks, Caleb, and Adolfo. I wouldn't exactly call him independant (he's still the type to rely on and search for praise and compliments from others), but he also doesn't seem like the kind to stick to one place very often. He also strikes me as the type to want to learn from all of them <:)

Sonia's body is confined to a vat of biogel on the bridge of the Lethe (the renamed, commandeered Fidanza, the research ship we found them on), but she's okay with that. In fact, I think she prefers it that way.

Billy... isn't here anymore. Caleb has started getting nightmares about him.