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Amelia, Worm AU [Complete]

Reader mode
TanaNari said:
It was inspiring and beautiful in its own way. Exciting, even. I let my eyes linger a bit on Taylor's figure. Oh dammit... I set my armor to combat mode so I could hide the red creeping up face. Even so, when Taylor turned her head toward me, I had to look away. ShockedAmusedPleased. I will never be able to look her in the eyes again. I turned my dimensional viewer on, letting me see the city itself. Anything to distract myself.
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Will Taylor be getting a sexy version of her armor and prancing around her and Amelia's room in it?
TanaNari said:
More aggressively than I had ever expected him to be
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Incomplete sentence.
TanaNari said:
Combat Thinker?
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Italics
TanaNari said:
fronts.
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fronts."
TanaNari said:
every other possible tell
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every one else possible and tell
 
TanaNari you are the greatest and worst person in the whole world and I love it. This is gonna be good.
Also, here's hoping that Taylor does the actual brain mod for Khepri in the face of this, partially for the awesome destruction, and partially because then there could be really cute recovery scenes.
Yeah, I know its not likely to happen, but a man can dream.
 
MVP: Eidolon.
And Lily.

Fuck it, they can share the title.

Legend: Mr "I used to be relevant!" :p


"Fuck that!" Taylor shouted. "Dragon, contact the CUI and every other possible group and tell them I'll provide troops to their Endringers if they're willing to help us with the others after theirs have been dealt with." AnguishDisgustHate. "D-deploy Moord Nag against Beelzebub." She just ordered that city murdered. "Atropos, you go after Bohu. Without Tohu running defense, it should be a easy kill for you. We'll send you from point to point after, kill as man of the fuckers as possible. I can split my forces fifteen ways and still have more per Endbringer than I had fighting the Simurgh. We can still fight back."
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Endbringers
an
many
 
Ack said:
I'm calling it that the word is "No." and it's uttered by Eidolon; he's just realised that he's the Endmaker.
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Yep, either Eidolon or Lisa. He got a month of advice from GU, is doing awesome, is soloing an Endbringer without even making it look hard. He's finally being a hero... and then Pantheon steals his thunder again.
 
TanaNari said:
One of these days someone's going to make my job easier by naming the new Endbringers for me.
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I see you're forgotten about Death Machine Fred.
TanaNari said:
WorryReliefFremdschämen.
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I genuinely appreciate that you went to another language to keep with the three worded theme of the link.
TanaNari said:
That's when a single word changed the future of our world.
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"Conga!" Eidolon activated his Endmaker Master power. The Endbringers are forced to dance. They dance in the form of the Taboo imagery. It is the Entity version of a forced reboot. The Endbringers die.

edit: In all seriousness, I think it will be Scion sending "Partner" at Taylia. 'No' seems too obvious.
 
I refuse to play your games!


Pizazz.

Horticulture.

Shrubbery.

Sleeper.

Hepatitis.

Slapchop.

Some-random-codeword-to-unleash-the-dragon-to-ill-effect

Scion.

Moist.

Shit, those started getting kinda serious there. You know, after Hepatitis.
 
"Anything?" Ciara asked. If she was surprised at his frankness she didn't show it.

"Anything. The Endbringers are attacking all over the planet. There's no time for negotiation, too many lives hang in the balance. Name your price." David didn't have time for her usual nonsense.

"Hm, in that case there's only one thing worth so much of my time, High Priest." The way her eyes traveled up and down his form was almost suggestive. With her child like body, it was deeply unsettling.

He brushed those feelings aside. It was just an illusion, after all. She wasn't looking at him, but rather through him to his Agent. Eventually her eyes found his and she smiled. Even without a social power running it was obvious what she wanted. "I can see you already know my price."

Ciara presented her hand to him, like a queen to a lesser noble.

David was resolute. This was the only way to save what was left of his world.

He took her hand.
 
GiftofLove said:
"Anything?" Ciara asked. If she was surprised at his frankness she didn't show it.

"Anything. The Endbringers are attacking all over the planet. There's no time for negotiation, too many lives hang in the balance. Name your price." David didn't have time for her usual nonsense.

"Hm, in that case there's only one thing worth so much of my time, High Priest." The way her eyes traveled up and down his form was almost suggestive. With her child like body, it was deeply unsettling.

He brushed those feelings aside. It was just an illusion, after all. She wasn't looking at him, but rather through him to his Agent. Eventually her eyes found his and she smiled. Even without a social power running it was obvious what she wanted. "I can see you already know my price."

Ciara presented her hand to him, like a queen to a lesser noble.

David was resolute. This was the only way to save what was left of his world.

He took her hand.
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Made me think of this...
 
GiftofLove said:
"Anything?" Ciara asked. If she was surprised at his frankness she didn't show it.

"Anything. The Endbringers are attacking all over the planet. There's no time for negotiation, too many lives hang in the balance. Name your price." David didn't have time for her usual nonsense.

"Hm, in that case there's only one thing worth so much of my time, High Priest." The way her eyes traveled up and down his form was almost suggestive. With her child like body, it was deeply unsettling.

He brushed those feelings aside. It was just an illusion, after all. She wasn't looking at him, but rather through him to his Agent. Eventually her eyes found his and she smiled. Even without a social power running it was obvious what she wanted. "I can see you already know my price."

Ciara presented her hand to him, like a queen to a lesser noble.

David was resolute. This was the only way to save what was left of his world.

He took her hand.
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I'm posting Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra's "Kiss The Sky" because for David to ask Ciara's help it would be too little too late.
 
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The Shadowmind said:
"Horror," as he accidentally activated a power to connect to the internet.
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I've seen horrors, horrors that you've seen. But you have no right to call me a murderer. You have a right to kill me. You have a right to do that, but you have no right to judge me. It's impossible for words to describe what is necessary to those who do not know what horror means. Horror! Horror has a face, and you must make a friend of horror. Horror and moral terror are your friends. If they are not, then they are enemies to be feared. They are truly enemies.
 
And I'm piling unrelated things on, but this really strikes me as elder scrolls (and srsly, Vivec, Almalexia, Sotha sil? Legend, Alexandria, Hero, which leaves Eidolon for Dagoth Ur):

Cause others to suffer: "Why did I cause others to suffer? I respect that question, and you for it. The most I can say is: I did the best I could, as I saw things. Can you, mortal, presume to judge the actions and motives of a god? But, because I need you, and you need me, I will make an accounting for my sins, to you. But not now. Destroy Dagoth Ur, and then we will discuss my sins. Then, perhaps, you will have earned the right to judge me."

How do you justify your crimes? If, by my crimes, you mean the inevitable suffering and destruction caused by war, then I accept the burden of leadership. The Sixth House cannot be restored without war. Enlightenment cannot grow back without the risk of upsetting the tradition-bound and complacent herd. And the Mongrel armies of the Empire cannot be expelled from Morrowind without bloodshed. As I have charity and compassion, I grieve. But our mission is just and noble.
 
so I've how active is Eidolon control over the endbringers cose I thought it might be that when his powers first started weakening he might have just been flicking though powers while thinking "I need a challenge something to push me" and accidentally connected/activated the endmaker shard just for a second and that's the only order it ever received
 
Amelia, Ch 368- David
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    • Amelia, Ch 368- David


    Ciara stepped through the portal. I noticed immediately that she was taller, her robes no longer needed to be carried by one of her spirits to keep them from brushing off the ground. "You look different today," I offered as a prompt for her to explain.


    She looked up, and I got a brief glimpse of her face. She looked more like thirteen than eight, now, though of course her true age was still somewhere in her thirties. "I felt that I was not getting due respect and it is time to let my appearance reflect my status better."


    Hmm. Maybe Minerva's little gamble paid off. Wonder if it was her own idea, or something Contessa cooked up. Then again, it may have been a joint project. Minerva has a proven talent for working with precogs in a way that improved their performance considerably. "Hopefully I'm not one of the ones you feel have disrespected you?"


    She swung her now longer legs forward in a stride, animating her arms a little. Behavior that made her seem more alive, instead of her usual serene hovering method. "Do not be absurd, David. You have been nothing but a credit to your station."


    A credit to my station? That brings up an interesting question.


    ....


    "I've been wondering about the titles you grant. What they really mean. Especially after you spoke with Minerva about her Agent being inferior to, say, ourselves. Or the Empresses which she served. What do you mean by superior and inferior? Their level of strength? Or is it something more specific?"


    Glaistig Uaine looked at me, and I could have sworn I saw her shrug. "They are mere approximations, High Priest. The faeries do not carry themselves in a way that mortals can imagine. They certainly have their own hierarchy, but not as humans practice the concept. All serve in harmony, and none are dissident. All commands are dealt in much the way you give commands to your hands and feet. Each has a purpose and serves that purpose faithfully. That is part of why your rebellion is doomed to failure, David. It is not a rebellion at all, but part of the game. You play the adversary because that is your role."


    Right, her claims that our quest to resist Scion is simply part of his plans. It was a troubling concept, and one none of us could rule out. Contessa believed herself immune, but she wasn't perfect . The Simurgh demonstrated what an Entity could do if it so desired. Whatever the origins of the Endbringers, there was no doubt the Entities had all those abilities and almost infinitely more at their disposal. But that was an old conversation, I wanted to focus more on what our stations meant. "Yet there are ranks, some more important than others?"


    "Are your eyes not more important than your fingernails, High Priest? Is your heart not more important than your toes?"


    I offered a smile. "I imagine I'd rather keep all of them, if it's quite alright with you."


    She laughed, and I couldn't decide if the chorus behind her made her voice beautiful or horrifying. Probably a significant amount of both. Or likely more horrifying, and I am simply getting used to her voice. "Yes, I imagine you would be quite fond of them."


    I joined her laughter for a moment, though mine was a little on the forced side. I waited for her to take another sip of her tea. "Are the royal fae more powerful than the commoners?"


    "Of course they are," Glaistig Uaine said as if patiently talking down to a child.


    "What about when you give them similar ranks?" I pressed. "You are the Faerie Queen, and you call Khepri the Queen Administrator. Which begs the question, which of you Queens have the greater power?"


    She paused, taking a minute of thoughtful contemplation. "That is truly an interesting question, David. I am afraid I do not have a simple answer to give. As it currently stands, the girl known as Khepri is not my equal. However, the Queen Administrator is likely superior to myself. The faeries do not choose to wield their full power during the dance, all are much greater than they pretend themselves to be for the game. Some either choose, or are ordained by the True King and True Queen, to use far less of their strength than others. There are few whose majesty equals that of the Queen Administrator in her full glory."


    That is interesting. She's talking about unlimited Agents. This might be extremely important. "Is there a way to convince the faeries to grant their full strength?"


    She looked at me thoughtfully. "Perhaps. It is not within my own power, nor do I know which faerie can offer such blessings. Mayhap one kin to the Appraiser or the Courtesan could do such a thing. Though both of those faeries demand a significant price for their blessings. I imagine such an event as witnessing the faeries at full strength would require a grand sacrifice, though I am unsure what would be considered a worthy enough offering."


    "What about me? Maybe I could release the full potential." I have all the powers, right? Is there one in my repertoire? I fished through my pool, seeking the option. I could accept not being able win the war against Scion, if I could create the one that did. That would be the same in the end. There was no shame, except I would need to ask someone else to sacrifice themselves for the cause. But I could not find a power that would allow me to delimit the Agents.


    "I do not know, David. I cannot know. You are the High Priest. Your power is ordained to be greater than the rest of us. The True King of the Faeries is the only one allowed to be greater than you in stature."


    I frowned. "What does that mean? That you can't kill me?"


    "There are none that can kill you. It is your true power. The power of Excalibur, that no matter the foe, you are ordained to victory."


    Ordained to victory? "You mean I can't lose, no matter what I do?"


    "That is correct, High Priest," Ciara looked me in the eyes. "You are not allowed to be bested by any of the fae. If they believe they are likely to win, they will find a way to forfeit their victory to you. If you wish to take from them, they must yield to your will. Even those of loftiest station are supplicants before your desires, whatever those desires may be. Not merely success in battle. All things that you desire, the faeries must give to you if it is in their power to do so. You can only fail if you wish it for yourself."


    Unable to lose? All my conflicts and struggles, all of my victories were simply plays being acted out? Is that what she was trying to tell me? If it were anyone else that tried to tell me this, I would have been angry. But this was Glaistig Uaine, everything we could puzzle through of her words proved she knew what she was talking about. Was my whole career as a hero was an act, a sham? There was never any possibility of my failure at any time. Except against the one enemy that truly matters.


    "You say I would win any conflict, no matter how implacable the foe, except of course for Scion?" This can't be right. I've struggled before, I've had battles where I would have lost if not for my teammates fighting alongside me. There are times that I've been injured to the point of almost dying. She has to be wrong.


    "Naturally the True King of the Faeries is beyond your power," Ciara answered with confidence. "He carries with him the same power of Primacy as you, and as such he may only lose if he chooses to do so. That is the other reason why your rebellion is doomed to failure, it has been ordained by the same faeries that you wish to use to fight it. Should the two of you clash, his shall prove greater in the end. I would prefer if you did not choose that path. You should remain in the grand festival as long as possible. I would miss our discussions if you left."


    I hesitated for a moment. "What of the Endbringers? If I am ordained to never lose, why do they still live? Unless you're wrong and they truly are Scion's pawns, since his power is beyond mine, as you say?"


    Ciara looked at me, removing her hood. A rare, but not unheard of event. Her face and jawline had changed from the almost cherubic visage I remembered from the last time. She no longer had the roundness of childhood, instead replaced by the youthful but not childlike features of a young woman in her late teens or early twenties.. "You fail to listen, High Priest. Only Scion is above you. The abominations are your inferiors, yours to demand of as you can demand of me or any other Gifted. The only reason you have not destroyed them is because you have not wished to."


    ....


    I do not wish to destroy them? I faced the Endbringer with the three weakest powers I could justify. A teleportation power simply to guarantee it could not escape from me. A power to sense when death is near for those around me, and a high end gravity manipulation power to give me maneuverability and offensive potential. I sensed the death of Legend several times, stepping in the way of the Endbringer. To force it to choose between killing Legend and letting me live. It could have killed me time after time. I wasn't trying very hard to avoid it.


    Where I could not evade its energy weapons, it missed. It missed on purpose and pretended I was not the target. Where it charged forward or tried to claw, but I refused to get out of the way, it stopped its attacks right before they hit. Whatever Ciara's assumptions on why it couldn't kill me, the fact was absolute. The Endbringer could not kill me. And with me vulnerable to injury and in close quarters, that meant it couldn't even wound me for fear of risking my death.


    I am capable of destroying the Endbringers. I have always been capable.


    When Dragon's weapons shredded my opponent, I felt nothing. I was numb. Is she right about all my powers? I had demanded to know the truth, and now I knew that truth. The Endbringers were never once a threat to me. No parahuman could ever be, only Scion. And Scion was beyond my power. It was... depressing. For everything I had done, and everything I could do knowing what I was truly capable of, I was still functionally powerless.


    Then the alarms sounded, announcing multiple Endbringer attacks. Fifteen more in total. Is that your new ploy, Endmakers?


    I had trouble forcing myself to care as I listened to Khepri give her commands. We can't win, no matter what we do. We failed before we even began, because we were built to fail. Scion and Heiress saw to that before they gave us powers in the first place. I was proof of that because I had Heiress' copy of the power that Scion possessed that made him as immune to me as I was to the Endbringers.


    ==================


    A/N- Plot Armor, the power. Yup.

    One person guessed I would troll you guys with a PoV switch. S/he gets bragging rights.
     
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    • Their are few whose majesty equals that of the Queen Administrator in her full glory."
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    There are few whose majesty equals that of the Queen Administrator in her full glory."

    But this was Glaistig Uaine, everything we could puzzle through of her worlds proved she knew what she was talking about.
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    But this was Glaistig Uaine, everything we could puzzle through of her words proved she knew what she was talking about.

    The only reason you have not destroyed them is because you have not wanted wished to."
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    The only reason you have not destroyed them is because you have not wished to."
     
    So this doesn't quite seem like it would lead to David deciding he's the source of the Endmakers, but even just having him shut down would be a body blow to defense.
     
    I... just... wtf? Sheesh, thought Tananari wasn't going to retread the canon ending of Worm, but how can what's happened now mean this can go anywhere but there?
     
    gatewaewanderer said:
    I... just... wtf? Sheesh, thought Tananari wasn't going to retread the canon ending of Worm, but how can what's happened now mean this can go anywhere but there?
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    They can decide that Ciara is wrong in her interpretation of things and continue fighting? Remember, she thinks that this is part of the cycle. We know that it isn't. The same way that we know the cycle is broken because the Warrior can't do it alone.
     
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