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Charm Learning Shard (Worm/Exalted) (COMPLETED)

Reader mode
ungodlyone said:
God I wish I knew more about exalted to know what the hell is going on with those powers. Still, great chapter!
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If you've made it this far you should be fairly familiar with sorcerer's sight and soul price. Whenever there's mention of "weak Brute powers" that's part of the 'basic exalt package'. Exalts are slightly more durable than mortals, can stop bleeding with an effort of will, and are more resistant to disease and poison.

Basically the ruleset goes to some effort making the point that the post-apocalyptic magitech bronze age is a dark and gritty place, and if you get cut by a sword you won't just lose some Health Levels, you'll probably bleed to death, and if you don't you'll probably die of an infection. And then it goes "but the shiny magical people don't need to worry about any of that!"

Though in this case there's also the fact that Exalted models drugs as slow poisons that gradually fill up your Health Track with damage until you pass out, so Taylor is 'helped out' by having gotten a bunch of extra Health Levels from Aegis.

Whenever Possible said:
Wait, what? Did she have a conversation with Lung while she was drugged out of her mind?
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Yes. Things happened, but the narration is limited to what she will remember tomorrow. I may have underestimated the confusingness of this literary device in a magical setting.


On a possibly related note, this was the very first chapter I wrote for this story - a proof of concept, when my checklist looked like this:

An idea for a story? ✓
A rough outline of the plot? ✓
Enough scenes to flesh it out? ✓
Can I actually write?

In a fit of positively deranged optimism, I saved it as "chapter25.txt". Ignore the coincidental numeral after the "L", this is chapter 48.
 
Ah, that explains the jump cut, it's a flash forwards.
 
L.26
You wake up in a strange bed, with no idea where you are or how you got there. Uh... Last night you... Lisa, talking you into joining her. Skidmark. Oh, right. Enough drugs to kill a non-Brute, judging by Lisa's reaction. That would explain- Brian? You blush as more of your actions last night came back to you, but a quick check reveals that you're alone in the strange bed. That's... good, right? Maybe you wouldn't have minded...

You're itching, you realize. A lot. Shit, didn't you hear somewhere that druggies can end up with 'ants crawling under their skin' hallucinations? Like, permanently? Or was that from a Philip K. Dick novel? Only, uh, Phil did an awful lot of real drugs before he started writing about them, didn't he? It could still be real! You definitely remember hearing that doing drugs just once could fuck you up forever, if you were unlucky. You really hope that was just scaremongering bullshit propaganda like your old classmates said.

Eventually the sheer itchiness grows enough to overcome the horror you're feeling. You're just going to scratch yourself. Gently! You're not going to tear your skin open to get at the ants! You- oh. There's dry, flaking paint all over your body. And all over the sheets. No wonder you're itchy. You were panicking over nothing. Oh right, what's-her-name, Aisha. More memories return. She painted you like Lung, because you- why do you know Lung's soul price?

This fresh bout of panic makes you sit bolt upright, and take better stock of your surroundings. It's a small room, with a single window (you've slept quite late, judging by the light). The only furnishings are the bed, a dresser and a bedside table. There are several items on the table, each accompanied by a note: A large bottle of orange juice ("drink this"), a handful of pills on a saucer ("take these") and a laptop computer ("read this <3 Lisa").

The name makes you relax somewhat. You're among friends, or at least people who damn well ought to feel guilty over what they got you into.

"What the fuck, Brian? You had one job!"
"What the fuck, Aisha? You had one job!"
Dear diary,
Today was the best day ever. Also Brian said I was grounded like forever, but I just told him that if he was gonna be like that I'd just go back and live with mom, and he folded like a chump.

Now let me tell you about the greatest mastermind in Brockton Bay, and how she is behind the events everyone is talking about.

You get started on the orange juice right away, but you're not about to scarf down a bunch of unidentified pills, especially not after the events of last night. Thankfully the bottles and cartons they came from are piled up behind the note, and you're able to verify their provenance: Vitamins and other supplements. Can't hurt to take them, you suppose, especially as a Thinker seems to believe they will help with the hangover from... whatever the hell you ingested yesterday.

After washing down the pills with another gulp of juice, you turn to the laptop. It wakes up without requiring a password, and the only open window is a browser displaying a PHO thread (the logged in user is 'DD', probably a throwaway account). 'Brockton Bay dragon megathread', the title reads. It has 134 pages. Rather, it had 134 pages. You hit the refresh button. 217 pages. You have a hunch that a) you're about to find out why you know Lung's soul price, and b) you'll be one of the last people in the city to know.

But it's going to take forever to read, and you could really use a shower to get rid of this paint. But knowing what the hell happened last night could be really important. You decide to compromise, and click the link named 'the moderators agreed to allow a link to this video' in the first post. You'll watch that now, then go back and read more once you're not itching so badly.

The actual title of the video, once it opens in a new tab, is 'Druggie dragon footage compilation (censored version)'. You have a bad feeling about what those last words imply. Please be censoring violence, please be censoring violence...

They're not censoring violence. When the video loads, there's you, dressed in pants, shoes, and a mask that looks to be made mostly of tinfoil. And that's it, unless you count the badly drawn (painted) dragon-themed body art. At least you were still blonde? You offer a silent prayer that the flimsy-looking mask stays on all the way through before hitting play.

Because this is the censored version, there's a pair of googly-eyed cartoon dragon heads superimposed over your chest. As the video plays they jerkily follow your movements, preserving your modesty and occasionally making funny faces. Whoever edited this was clearly enjoying themselves.

The footage is, as promised, a compilation of many different videos, all of them from cellphones. Judging by the scenery changes you spent a considerable amount of wandering around topless last night. And every time you saw someone you walked up to them and cheerfully introduced yourself with "Hi! I'm a dragon!"

This was usually met with laughter, and occasionally fear, but a gratifying number of people also asked if you were alright ("Yes. I'm a dragon."). Not everyone believed your answer, but no one actually tried to stop you from wandering off afterwards. You don't exactly blame them. Accosting an unknown cape is a terrible idea even before taking into account that this particular cape is clearly high off her tiny, naked tits.

One courageous lad does help you to your feet when you accidentally walk into a lamppost and fall over. The mask holds up surprisingly well, making you suspect that your Tinker 0 powers were involved in its creation. If- oh fuckballs there's Lung. And you just walked up to him like any other person. And you're pretty sure you recognize the neighborhood as ABB territory.

The fact that you're demonstrably still alive and well does relatively little to set you at ease.

Lung does prevent you from wandering off, one comparatively huge hand closing on your shoulder and holding you in place. This part is filmed by someone standing sensibly far away, so you can't actually make out the ensuing conversation beyond the occasional "dragon!". But after a while he releases you, and you hold out a hand for him to shake. He does so. The picture whites out.

"Hi! I'm a- you're a dragon too!"

"Are you mocking me?"

"No, I'm a dragon. We're both dragons!"

"You're... Yabai, what are you on?"

"Dunno? Skidmark just, wham! All over my face!"

"I see... Did he put you up to this, too?"

"Up to what?"

"Dressing as this mockery, coming here."

"Nononono, that was the other girl. She was going to take care of me. But she left me all alone? ...is she a bad friend?"

"So, you're a mere tool..."

"No, I'm a dragon!"

"Truly? You're claiming to be parahuman?"

"Yes! That's why she painted me, you know. She found out I'm a dragon. Like you!"

"Well then, little dragon. I will forgive your offenses against me, on one condition: That you call upon your power, and fight me here and now."

"...fight? You're Lung."

"Hah. A friendly duel, no more, with the loser walking away free and without further harm."

"...promise?"

"On my honor."

At this point the video switches to another viewpoint, one looking across the Brockton Bay skyline. A pillar of white-gold light shoots up up to tower over the rooftops. It switches again, showing the same thing from a different angle. And again. Over and over it switches between several different viewpoints, playing the same footage repeatedly, each time accompanied by an increasingly loud organ chord. Until finally, on the last shot, a fountain of spinning cartoon dragon heads erupts along with the light, mouths open in shock and eyes googlier than ever.

Whoever edited this had way too much fun.

"All units! Calling all units!"
"Now! Commence the operation now."

Then it cuts back to the previous, all-white viewpoint. The camera quickly adjusts to the new light level, showing that the girl across from Lung has been replaced with a giant (like, three times Lung's height), glowing, golden-scaled (but paint-smeared) dragon-girl. You pause the video right there, to properly let the mortification sink in.

From the way the two censoring cartoon dragons remain in place, you learn that dragons are mammals. From the way a third one shows up to join them, you learn that unlike Fenja and Menja, your size-increasing power does not work on clothes. RIP your pants, and dignity. The fact that the PHO moderators will delete links to the uncensored version of this video will do approximately nothing to stop its spread.

You open a new tab just to confirm the obvious. Yep, there it is, the top search result for 'druggie dragon uncensored'. You do not open it, do not check its view count. You already know that it is higher than the total number of people you have met in your life.

Your name is Taylor Hebert, and your privates are on the internet. And as the AIDS cherry on top of the shit sundae, because you were tripping balls at the time and don't remember any of this, you still don't know how Lung's power works.

Silver lining: While the transformation destroyed your mask, it also turned your face into a proper dragon snout. Unrecognizable. Your identity is still safe. Enough self-pity, you need to finish watching this video and take a goddamn shower. You hit play again.

The dragon-girl - you grab Lung by one leg, lift him into the air, and proceed to smash his head into the pavement over and over until he stops screaming. Which is fairly soon, he barely has time to grow at all. Score one for instant dragon transformation, you guess. You know Lung can grow bigger than you did, but taken by surprise as he is he can't do more than lightly singe your scales with pyrokinesis before his head is a mushy lump and you drop his limp body to the ground.

Then you start walking towards the cameraman, who - from the way the video shifts to a blurry, flailing view of surrounding buildings - promptly turns on his heel and books it out of there. Again, you don't blame him, even if you're pretty sure you were only going to politely inform him as to your current status (a dragon). The video ends after that.

You push the laptop away. Shower time. There are no clothes laid out for you, but (with a small effort of will) you don't let that bother you. If Lisa put you to bed she's already seen you naked. She and several hundred thousand- no, don't think about that. Leaving the bedroom, you find Lisa lounging on a couch, texting someone on her cellphone.

"Hey. Finally awake. On a scale from one to ten, how are you feeling?"

You pause to consider this for a moment. "Three," you decide. "More like seven after a shower."

"Through there." She points to a door.

"I only watched the video," you shout from inside the bathroom, "Can you spoil the ending?"

"A friendly Thinker decided to investigate what had everyone so excited - she had a hunch, you might say, as to who might be responsible. Brilliant as she is, she was able to find you before anyone else and sneak you out of there, even though the area was swarming with heroes. For the record, you were sleeping in a dumpster, still glowing faintly."

Why would- oh, you must have crawled in there to hide the glow. Good thinking, past-Taylor. Lisa sounds entirely too pleased with herself, though. "Don't think I've forgotten who got me into this mess to begin with!" A stray memory returns to you. You weren't paying much attention at the time, but... "Weren't you in a meeting with your boss? Like, a really important one?"

"He decided to call the whole thing off when you happened. Your clothes from last night are in the dryer, by the way."

---

"How did you manage to copy his power so quickly?" Lisa asks as you, paint free and no longer naked, go to fetch the laptop.

"Ha, I've had that one for ages. You didn't figure that out? Some Thinker you are." You normally wouldn't say any more... But if there's one time Lisa won't silently judge you for your life choices it's today, the day when everything is her fault. "I'll tell you about it in exchange for breakfast?"

It's not a long story, so you quickly settle down to read the PHO thread while shoveling cereal into your mouth. The only new thing you learn from the OP is that Lung is in custody. You might have celebrated this, if you were incredibly stupid. But you know exactly how much of a revolving door the parahuman prison system is: All his arrest means is that the most powerful cape in the city is now your enemy. Lovely.

You start skimming the thread itself. It's rather disjointed to start, as the first several pages are made up of several different threads, merged together. They also reference a number of non-existent posts, which you gather from context were deleted because they contained links to uncensored videos. But you are able to piece together a rough timeline:

Reports and videos of a knockoff Lung start to appear. As you saw in the video title, they quickly settle on the cape name 'druggie dragon'. As more of those start trickling in, another set of threads appears speculating about the bright light in the sky. No one makes the connection yet. Then, breaking news: Lung has been captured! This sets off yet another storm of speculation. Your favorite post so far:


► relatively_anonymous_gentleman
Replied on April 8, 2011:
Guys. Guys! *That's* who druggie dragon was! Leet finally invented the girlifier ray he was talking about and used it on Lung! And then the heroes swooped in and arrested him/her while he/she was still disoriented.
​

This theory gains a surprising amount of popularity, considering the obvious size and ethnicity mismatch between the two dragons. It's at this point that censored versions of the videos start to appear. An influx of new people who didn't read the previous, mostly deleted, discussion start calling you 'derpy dragon', in honor of the cartoon dragons adorning your chest. A minor flamewar breaks out before a compromise is reached:


► Oftenest
Replied on April 8, 2011:
The obvious solution is to just call her Double D, and let everyone decide for themselves what the initials stand for.
​

Everyone loves this suggestion, especially smarmy assholes who make posts along the lines of:


► ropey
Replied on April 8, 2011:
I would of course never *dream* of looking up the uncensored videos, but if you say that Double D is an appropriate name I have no reason to doubt you. I shall henceforth refer to her thusly.
​

Next order of business, find a power that lets you punch people over the internet. Not only are hundreds of thousands of people looking at your naked chest, they are mocking you for- Waaaait just one second. You scroll back to the top of the page.


You are currently logged in, DD (Unverified Cape)
​

DD has made one post, and has received 769 private messages.


► DD (Unverified Cape)
Replied on April 8, 2011:
Hi! I'm a dragon!
​

"You are the worst," you tell Lisa.

"Me?" She bats her eyelashes at you with feigned innocence. "I just made sure to grab the name for you before someone squatted it. Because I'm a friend." Under your unamused stare, the faux innocence turns into a smug grin. "The password is 'lisaistheworst', all lowercase, no spaces." To add insult to injury, sorcerer's sight lets you see her power informing her of the exact moment you decide not to punch her. Her grin grows even wider.

The private messages are exactly what you would expect. Though weirdly many of them give off the impression that they're more attracted to your scales and dragon snout than they would be to a regular eighteen-foot woman (but there is also a fair share of disturbingly sexual requests on the theme of 'please sit on me and squash me flat').

One message in particular stands out as something you didn't expect:

♦ Private message from Vegas Fleshcrafters:

Vegas Fleshcrafters: Tired of not living up to your name? Vegas Fleshcrafters! No knives, no implants, only biokinesis! Message us on PHO, or call 555-NEW-YOU
​

You're not going to use their services (you're perfectly capable of crafting your own flesh), but you feel somewhat tempted to give them a call just to tell them that their social media manager deserves a raise.

Anyway! The next thing to happen is that the video of the fight itself is released. Someone quickly identifies the scenery, confirming that it matches the location of the pillar of light. Everything is thrown into chaos as speculation runs rampant and threads are merged wildly. All kinds of speculation:


► rrqn
Replied on April 8, 2011:
I ship it.

► Frederick T. Great
Replied on April 8, 2011:
Dude, gross. He's gotta be like twice her age.

► rrqn
Replied on April 8, 2011:
Counterpoint: Dragon. Who's going to stop him?

► Forum Playwright
Replied on April 9, 2011:
You mean, aside from *her*?

► rrqn
Replied on April 9, 2011:
Point conceded.

► Mentats
Replied on April 9, 2011:
Hatesex shipping?

-User received a suspension for this post. Reason: This line of discussion ends *now*.
​

The more sensible, unbanned speculation involves your affiliation. Everyone had initially assumed Merchants, for obvious reasons. But the video of the fight combined with the news of Lung's arrest has some people theorize that you're a new Ward. The more thoughtful members of the audience note that if so, better archive the entire thread quickly, because it's going to vanish from the internet forever as soon as the PRT PR division wakes up. Then another bombshell drops:


► road_to_hell
Replied on April 9, 2011:
Check this out. Here's screenshots of the press release, before and after the video dropped:
before.jpg
after.jpg
Notice how the first one says "Armsmaster was able to subdue and apprehend Lung', but the second just says 'apprehend'?

► happyman69
Replied on April 9, 2011:
Hahahaha! Busted, you glory-stealing ******!

-User received a suspension for this post. Reason: We do not use that word here.
​

The opinion firmly swings to you being a Merchant after that.

"Which one of you pustulent, cum-stained assholes recruited a new cape without telling me, your fucking boss? Maybe if I'd had some cock-gargling backup out there I wouldn't have gotten fucking shot!"

===

Shockingly, Lung has a soft spot for people who (he believes) triggered with Dragon powers due to an involuntary faceful of drugs. Maybe he shouldn't have let down his guard that much, though.

It was By Rage Recast! A charm that lets you turn into a custom-designed monster (in this case the design consists entirely of dragon-y bits, for obvious reasons), but requires anima flare to activate.

To explain it simply: Exalts have two separate mana pools, 'personal' and 'peripheral'. If they spend mana from the peripheral pool they start glowing. This is known as 'anima flare'. But Taylor isn't really an exalt, she's a parahuman. Without a peripheral essence pool, she couldn't flare her anima and trigger the charm.

Luckily(???), eclipse caste solars also have a pact-sealing power, the use of which automatically causes anima flare. She just never tried to sanctify an agreement before.
 
I started laughing half way through and haven't really stopped. Taylor truly is the ultimate nemesis of Lung. Hopefully, or not, she will never have to use this ID again.

This Fic really is a roller coaster, with chapters running on pure crack alternating with serious issues all the time. Definily a treat.
 
I called it on By Rage Recast, but I admit I didn't see Eclipse caste anima ability as an activation condition.

The question is, who would give her Devil Tyrant Avatar Shintai? That's the only other way to access the mutations.

There's not really many capes that are obvious... Any changer or breaker could theoretically do it... Might be what you've got lined up for Hookwolf.
 
So... she can turn into a dragon, but only as a condition of settling a bet or agreement? That's a hell of a power, especially if "Hey Lisa do you agree to give me a dollar if I turn into a dragon" counts as an agreement.

Also, I feel like DD should just make a post saying: "Not a Merchant, but warning: if a one of them ever offers you a 'totally regular' weed, don't take it. Worst. Blackout. Ever." and then never post again.

Or "Tonight, I have learned that Skidmark can in fact use a block of Tinkertech cocaine as a projectile. Fml."
 
Add me to the 'laughing myself sick' column. This was a great addition. Know what would be even funnier?

If Lung had superior senses and recognized Taylor as DD when in her civilian mode and notwithstanding the unwritten rules bee-lined to her begging for training in her superior Drunken Dragon-Fu..... When ends up resulting in an impromptu battle as a bit of a running joke. Taylor eventually figures out the way to access Lung's charm and drops him telling him to get stronger.

Then at some random point in the story it comes out that Lung ran into Contessa and due to the fights manages to defeat her, meaning Taylor actually delivers him his heart's desire....
 
Daniel Snuts said:
It was By Rage Recast! A charm that lets you turn into a custom-designed monster (in this case the design consists entirely of dragon-y bits, for obvious reasons), but requires anima flare to activate.
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IIRC, this was my first guess, with the Shintai that builds off it as my second (with Lunar Fury Charm/Beastman Transformation as my distant third), so happy I was in the ballpark. Would BRR allow enough mutations to be manifested to become the Dragon she did? I know the Shintai (I think it was Tyrant Shintai or something) allows all mutations in the pool to be manifested (unless they would logically be mutually exclusive, such as Small and Large), but I belie BRR only allows 8 mp 6 (or maybe all 8?) points of which would be used for Giant, unless the Dragon scales and traits are purely aethetical.

Daniel Snuts said:
Luckily(???), eclipse caste solars also have a pact-sealing power, the use of which automatically causes anima flare. She just never tried to sanctify an agreement before.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Would other Charms that cause anima flare work as well (such as Sorcery Charms for the obvious, but Shintai Charms also usually cause Iconic Anima Flare, and they are not the only ones)?
 
Daniel Snuts said:
It was By Rage Recast! A charm that lets you turn into a custom-designed monster (in this case the design consists entirely of dragon-y bits, for obvious reasons), but requires anima flare to activate.

To explain it simply: Exalts have two separate mana pools, 'personal' and 'peripheral'. If they spend mana from the peripheral pool they start glowing. This is known as 'anima flare'. But Taylor isn't really an exalt, she's a parahuman. Without a peripheral essence pool, she couldn't flare her anima and trigger the charm.

Luckily(???), eclipse caste solars also have a pact-sealing power, the use of which automatically causes anima flare. She just never tried to sanctify an agreement before.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Huh. So peripheral essence it was. Sort of.

Wonder if QA is gonna hook her up with a peripheral essence pool now that it knows the charm needs it. Sort of.
 
Didn't think of this before but.

Daniel Snuts said:
The actual title of the video, once it opens in a new tab, is 'Druggie dragon footage compilation (censored version)'. You have a bad feeling about what those last words imply. Please be censoring violence, please be censoring violence...
Click to expand...
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This is America, since when do we censor violence but not sex.
 
Prognostic Hannya said:
So... she can turn into a dragon, but only as a condition of settling a bet or agreement? That's a hell of a power, especially if "Hey Lisa do you agree to give me a dollar if I turn into a dragon" counts as an agreement.
Click to expand...
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To be precise, it has to be a handshake agreement - none of her previous deals, with Bitch, Kaiser, Faultline, etc, involved ritual physical contact. On the other hand, the exalt doesn't have to be part of the agreement - she can put her hand atop a handshake and sanctify an oath between two other parties. Nor does it have to be reciprocal: "I swear to rule fairly and without bias in this court case." "Witnessed!"

So what does the power actually do, some people may be asking? If you break such an oath, you incur the wrath of heaven and suffer (pact-sealer's Essence) automatic critfails. But not right away, oh no, those critfails will hang around waiting for "the worst possible moment". 'Without bias'-man from the above example won't accept a bribe and immediately trip over his shoelaces. He'll accept a bribe, and two weeks later when he goes hiking he'll trip over his shoelaces and fall off a cliff.

Akuma-Heika said:
Would BRR allow enough mutations to be manifested to become the Dragon she did? I know the Shintai (I think it was Tyrant Shintai or something) allows all mutations in the pool to be manifested (unless they would logically be mutually exclusive, such as Small and Large), but I belie BRR only allows 8 mp 6 (or maybe all 8?) points of which would be used for Giant, unless the Dragon scales and traits are purely aethetical.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I have this transformation noted down as Size 4, Scales 2, Fangs 1, Claws 1 Wings 0. I believe the 4-point size mutation states that it makes you "twice as big as the biggest example of your kind". The world's tallest man was 8'11" (due to crazy hormonal issues, but I say it still counts), so Taylor clocks in at just shy of 18 feet. You may rule it differently at your own table, but I like giant dragons.

Akuma-Heika said:
Would other Charms that cause anima flare work as well (such as Sorcery Charms for the obvious, but Shintai Charms also usually cause Iconic Anima Flare, and they are not the only ones)?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Yes.

Akuma-Heika said:
IIRC, this was my first guess, with the Shintai that builds off it as my second (with Lunar Fury Charm/Beastman Transformation as my distant third), so happy I was in the ballpark.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Yes, I'm quite pleased that people were able to zero in on the correct answer. Cookies for all those who did, with an extra large cookie for the boi who even called out the anima issues:

Saltedboi said:
Unfortunately, Taylor would need By Rage Recast first, that's the Charm that actually gives you the library of Mutations that manifest when your Anima flares. Devil-Tyrant Avatar Shintai just makes all of the mutations manifest at once. Wait, does she even have an Anima? I don't think we've seen it yet, outside of maybe with Newter, but without one BRR is pretty much unusable without DTAS, maybe that's why she's having trouble making it do anything?
Click to expand...
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Any guesses for upcoming charms, cookie crew? Othala, perhaps?
 
Daniel Snuts said:
Any guesses for upcoming charms, cookie crew? Othala, perhaps?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Othala is pretty obviously that one SWLiHN Charm. Forgot the name, I use the Revild rewrite but I think it's Wholeness Rightfully Assumed? There an upgrade to it that let's you give them effects to other people, and most only know Othala for healing anyway.
 
For Othala put me down for something from the Cecelyne wish granting tree most likely Verdant Emptiness Endowment. Perfect for taking over the E88 by handing out power like candy just like Othala, and combos perfectly with Know the Souls Price.
 
L.27
50 chapters, huh? It hadn't quite sunk in what a monster I'd created until I decided to finally get off my ass and get it up on AO3, despite that site consuming html instead of bbcode. Even after the css was in place and the conversion script written and debugged, it still took over an hour just to paste everything in! And it's still not quite up to date there, because I saved everything as drafts and hit the rate limit trying to post it all at once.

And the story is nowhere near done!

===

"You really shouldn't do this right now," I say.

"Really," Taylor says. It's not a question. I sigh. I don't need powers to deduce that there's no arguing with her.

"Fine, whatever. But I'm coming with." If it was someone else, I might have been able to spin it as helping, making up for my mistake. But Taylor is entirely too good at spotting such things, so I don't even bother. Weird really, considering her- her social abilities are the result of a minor Thinker power. Yeesh, another one? But it makes sense, she- no, focus.

"Yes, I'm babysitting you," I tell the bristling Taylor. "Because you are mentally incompetent." The unexpected bluntness leaves her momentarily speechless. "Brute powers or no," I continue before she can retort, "it's going to be days before your neurotransmitters are back to normal levels."

For just a moment her lips form a silent 'oh', before her control reasserts itself. "I see," she says with affected calm, before turning to leave. "I'm fairly certain I would make this decision the same way, though," she adds over her shoulder as I follow.

I think so too, to be perfectly honest. Which puts me in a bit of a bind.

Before you do anything else, you need to go fetch your wolf. Dad is at work when you get to the house, so that particular issue is put off for later. It's not super cool, leaving him to worry for an extra day when you already got back, but you can safely blame that on Lisa and her brilliant plans.

Fenrir must have heard/smelled/insert-bullshit-wolf-senses-here (seriously, how did he track you teleporting across Canada?) you coming, because his translucent form comes shooting out of the ground in front of you as you walk up the driveway - a faster way to leave the basement than stairs and doors, when you're intangible. He barrels right through you, turns around and starts running in circles around you, panting happily.

"Missed you too," you say softly. A quick glance around shows no witnesses, so you give him a quick pat with a mind-hand. In response he leaps into the air, performs half a barrel roll and skids to a stop in the belly rub position. You shake your head. "Later, I need your help with something first."

He looks a bit disappointed at that, but scrambles to his feet and follows you anyway. He's a good dog.

---

As you wait, you once again reflect on the fact that having a wolf is cheating. While you hide in this alley, Fenrir stands dematerialized outside watching the street. No one else can see him, but he'll indicate to you exactly when you should act. This way, you can appear right in front of your target like some omniscient horror movie villain.

Go time. You pivot around from where you were pressed up against the wall and take a single step into the street. Aisha jerks back in surprise, barely a foot away from you. The look on her face when she recognizes you is an excellent start.

Shit!

"Hello, friend," you say. She starts to turn to run away when a hand lands on her shoulder. Lacking a wolf, Lisa uses her giant super-powered brain to cheat at ambushes. Aisha wilts, giving up thoughts of escape. "We need to talk," you continue, as Lisa hustles her into the alley.

Double shit!

"H-hey. You're here to thank me, right? For helping you beat up-"

"You don't realize how much shit you're in," Lisa says, shaking her head. "I'm not talking about the front you're putting up. Behind that, that fear that you're trying to hide? It's not nearly enough."

"She's fine, right? Everyone is fine. Lung got taken down. No harm no foul, eh? Eh?"

"You were entrusted with my life," you hiss. "I was helpless and placed in your care, and you use me in a prank?"

"Whoa, back up there. I painted dragons on you, sure, but you ran off all on your own! I just turned my back and you were gone.

"A lie," Lisa says. "She deliberately led you towards ABB territory, hoping that a confrontation would occur."

"I had faith in you!" Aisha protests. "I was sure your dragon powers would beat his."

"Another lie. It didn't occur to her to consider your safety at all."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" you shout. You're supposed to be the other person, the calm, polite, scary person, but you find yourself unable to calm right now.

"Uh, mom didn't stop doing drugs just because she had a bun in the oven?"

"...what?"

"Hey, you asked," Aisha says with a shrug. "Pretty sure that's what's wrong with me."

She smirks at you. Smirks. She thinks she gets to be funny. Does she get to be funny?

No. No she does not. You haul back and punch her in the solar plexus, as hard as you can without using mantis form. Aisha staggers back into the wall and slides down to the ground, gasping for breath. She looks quite scared as you loom over her.

Good. She should keep doing that. You pull out your knife.

Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit!

"Point of order," Lisa says. "No one is going to complain if you rough her up a bit, because she certainly deserves it. But if you do anything permanent, Brian will try to kill you."

"What makes you think he's not next on my list?" you snarl.

Shit shit shit shit sh-

DESTINATION

AGREEMENT

You wake up in an alley, with no idea how you got there. You- you were completely out of your head on drugs, weren't you? You remember that. That would explain how you fell asleep in an alley.

Only... you're pretty sure you already woke up from that? And then someone told you that you had accidentally arrested Lung in your sleep and the internet was thanking you by exaggerating your cup size. Was that all a hallucination? It sounds like a hallucination.

You roll over, and see Lisa lying next to you. Did Lisa take drugs too? You distinctly remember her being the sober one, though.

Oh, she's saying something. She's mumbling, and what few words you can make out don't make much sense. Something about an infinite number of worms having sex in her brain? Maybe she did take drugs.

"Lisa?"

"But where are they- whuh?" Her eyes snap back into focus at the mention of her name.

"Why are we lying in this alley?" you ask. You get to you knees, and the two of you sort of help each other up from there. Lisa frowns as she looks around.

"I don't know. I don't know? I don't know? How- Stranger!"

Fuck! Lisa pulls her gun, and you dive for your knife - you must have dropped it at some point. No, you must have been made to drop it, which means that trying to pick it up again is pointless. But what else is there to do?

Your hand closes on your knife without incident, much to your surprise. Wait, why would that be surprising, it was just lying th-

"Stranger," Lisa reminds you.

Fuck! You scramble to your feet and move to stand back to back with Lisa, for all the good that will do when you can't even... you can't even...

That's odd. You could have sworn there was something you were supposed to be doing. "Uh-"

"Stranger," Lisa explains before you can even ask. "There's a Stranger in the alley with us, I can't tell what they're doing but I can tell that they're here! Stranger, Taylor! I'm freaking out over here use your bullshit powers to save us from the Stranger! You're too out of it to manage that aren't you? Use your goddamn sorcerer's sight! Just do what I say, you don't have to understand why."

Wow, no need to be rude. "Sorcerer's sight is on," you report.

"Okay. We're going to spin in a circle so that you can take a look all around us. Tell me at once if you see something invisible."

"Just the dog," you report after you've somewhat awkwardly shuffled through a full circuit, still backed up against each other and brandishing your weapons at nothing in particular.

"Damn. If you-"

She's interrupted by Fenrir lunging into solidity, interposing himself between you and, well, thin air as far as you can tell. He's sure as hell intent on protecting you from said air though: Teeth bared, hackles raised, growling up a storm. He takes several slow steps forward, as if he's forcing the imaginary threat further down the alley.

"The dog can smell you, Stranger!" Lisa shouts triumphantly. A Stranger? That would explain why everyone except you is freaking out.

Lisa grabs your shoulder and guides you to press yourself up against one of the walls.

"Please escort our friend out of the alley," she says. When nothing happens, she has you repeat it.

Fenrir steps to the side, then starts walking towards the exit. Lisa keeps her gun trained on a spot just in front of him as he passes you, but you cannot for the life of you figure out why.

You start to get a bit worried when Fenrir approaches the mouth of the alley. Not only are you unmasked, it's Tuesday. You're not supposed to be able to summon him on Tuesdays. You're going to have to deal with a bunch of nazis asking pointed questions if anyone sees him today. But Lisa is clearly up to something, and you don't know how important it is.

"I suggest you run," Lisa says loudly, drawing a strange look from you. "Run and don't stop until you hit city limits, because there'll be an invisible wolf at your heels.

"Nod if they're running away," she adds in a much softer tone. Fenrir nods. "Send him away," she says to you.

A quick "begone" from you and Fenrir is once more intangible.

"Did you want him to go somewhere?" you ask. "He won't be able to affect the physical world again for a while, you know."

"I know, I was bluffing. It worked, but the big problem is that someone sent a- oh. I get it now. That's funny."

"...are you going to share with the rest of the class?"

"Yeah, that should be doable now that she's out of range and no longer stepping all over your short-term memory."

She proceeds to make the situation make sense again, and you have to agree with her verdict: It is funny. You wonder how far Aisha will run before she gives up and discovers that there was no wolf chasing her after all.

Some healthy exercise and a bit of mortal terror is no worse than she deserves.

"You did good," you say. Granted that you weren't in nearly as much danger as she thought you were, at least she didn't just stand around being useless. Like you did. You need more Thinker powers.

"Sorry about outing you."

"Eh." You wave away her concern.

"No, seriously. She's seen the dragon, the wolf and the sorcerer's sight. If she blabs to someone clever, they could figure out what you are. We have to find some way to make sure she keeps quiet." She sighs. "Between the knockout effect and the mental invisibility, dealing with her is going to be awful."

"Pretty sure the knockout wasn't her. Faultline said that always happens to parahumans who witness a trigger event."

At your words, Lisa power starts going off so quickly you can't even make out the details.

"What? But why- how- communicating? No!" She pinches the bridge of her nose and clamps down on her power. "Can't afford to waste headaches on that, have to deal with your compromised identity."

"You worry too much, Lisa. I'll just ask her nicely."

"You'll- okay, spill. What's her soul price?"

You laugh happily, and tell her.

===

Taylor can't spot Aisha, because sorcerer's sight explicitly does not work against magical stealth (though it does give a bonus to spotting magical people using mundane stealth, because they're glowing)

The spirit charm Tracking, on the other hand, lets you do a contested roll to completely ignore magical stealth. With Fenrir's 7 dice and 3 autosuccesses against Aisha's 4 dice, it wasn't much of a contest.

Oh god. Oh god. I'm dying. I can't breathe, I can't think. This still counts as running, right? Right, mister giant invisible wolf sir? Please. I'm trying. I'm sorry I'm not faster. Please don't eat me.

Is that? Oh yes. Praise baby Jesus, the sign says 'you are now leaving Brockton Bay'. Just a few more yards. Just a few of the longest yards on earth.

I collapse underneath the sign. For a while I'm too busy puking my guts out to be properly scared. When I still haven't been eaten alive by time I'm finished, I allow myself to relax. And by relax I mean collapse in a sobbing heap. Crying is very relaxing right now.

I should have gone along with Brian. If I was grounded for life he'd be around to protect me from crazy bitches and their monster pets. But nooo, I had to be all 'I could always just stay with mom, she never tries to ground me'. Why did I do that?

Because it worked, dammit. I love you, bro, but you are such a chump. Though I could really use your chump ass and its superpowers right about now, mine don't work on wolves.

Dammit. I have no idea whether the wolf is still watching me, either. Just my luck, no sooner do I get invisibility powers than I run into a monster that has better ones. It can see me, I can't see it.

And I can't risk going back until I'm sure it's buggered off. Taylor - she's that Empire chick isn't she, not Rune, the other one - is going to need it back sooner or later. She'll definitely call it back in a day or two, right?

Unless she's holding a particular grudge against my black ass. Which, uh, yeah. Maybe a little bit. Better make it a week.

Dear diary, today was the worst day ever.
 
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This was actually awesome. I think this is one of the few, if ever, times I have seen were Aisha's bullshit is called upon for consequences. She generally always escapes given how people like her on the fanbase or how useful her power is for stealth and escape purposes but this time there is some very good counters in place.
 
I wonder if Brian still remembers he has a sister before she gets into her power's range with him.

Another level of irony to this clusterfuck is that in most cases causing a trigger event and getting the Soul's Price together would be amazing for Taylor. A juicy new power and a way to compel them to let you get it, but she just can't because Sorc's right doesn't penetrate the perception field so she can't study the power at all.
 
Rerororororororororo said:
Why would Aisha lead someone who hasn't been hostile to her to their death? I know she's rebellious and dislikes drugs but that seems a bit psychopathic.
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Prolly had a bit of a powertrip when it comes to having a person who she knows (or at least strongly believes is at the very least) is a cape, has a grudge against the terribly terrible dragon and decided to do something about it? Poorly thought out plans do tend to be a teenage staple.

When you take into consideration her shitty childhood, suspiciously iffy self-control and a lack of forward planning? It makes a bit of sense. Nowhere near justified, but man, having two social Thinkers, one that has a Limit Break against betrayal (with backstabbing via taking advantage of a drugged state being a strong example), tearing into a teenager with the corresponding level of bad planning and impulse control is not a good combination.
 
Rerororororororororo said:
Why would Aisha lead someone who hasn't been hostile to her to their death? I know she's rebellious and dislikes drugs but that seems a bit psychopathic.
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Because she doesn't care about Taylor, and whatever happened the consequences would've been for other people AKA irrelevant.

(Taylor would've died to the ABB, Lisa's hands would be bound because anything permanent would mean Grue killing her, and Grue himself would fold like a sack of potato's at the mere threat of going back to their junkie mother.)

Edit: Fernando probably a miniscule delay before the actual power kicks in, so she could theoretically get it by having Aisha act like a strobe light.
 
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Daniel Snuts said:
I have this transformation noted down as Size 4, Scales 2, Fangs 1, Claws 1 Wings 0. I believe the 4-point size mutation states that it makes you "twice as big as the biggest example of your kind". The world's tallest man was 8'11" (due to crazy hormonal issues, but I say it still counts), so Taylor clocks in at just shy of 18 feet. You may rule it differently at your own table, but I like giant dragons.
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For me the key point in this is the tallest man was 8'11, which is why I thought she would need 6 points for the Giant mutation which I believe is up to triple the size. PS: just searched and the tallest woman was about 8'1 (she died young though, I think she was 18 if I am doing the math right), and that would fir for 16, so close enough :p

Guessing wings are purely ascetical with that 0.

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Fernando said:
one that has a Limit Break against betrayal (with backstabbing via taking advantage of a drugged state being a strong example),
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Does that mean Taylor suffers from the Great Curse (or Torment)? Limit Break is very different otherwise...and lacks a trigger I believe. Scroll of Errata had a good summarization of Limit Break for Alchemicals, redeemed Abyssals, and those who broke the curse (which in the case of Dragonbloods means their descendants are freed of the Curse as well, as long as it is not brought back into the bloodline)
 
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Dakkah said:
Because she doesn't care about Taylor, and whatever happened the consequences would've been for other people AKA irrelevant.
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But also in this story in particular, Taylor is a E88 member who won't shut up about her moronic nazi talking points, and in this scene she was drugged so she lacked a filter.

I can easily see Taylor throwing out a slur or saying one of these and Aisha going "well, this is karma"
 
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