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Charm Learning Shard (Worm/Exalted) (COMPLETED)

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Daniel Snuts said:
shitty Tinker minion
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Jess Christ Taylor be a bit more brutal why don't you


Also, is Taylor a sociopath in this fic? I'm getting the sense from her interactions with Bitch and Vista that she no longer values people as people, but only for how she can obtain their powers.
 
Bad tinker minion? Wouldn't he be a much more valuable PRT/Wards/Protectorate spy? The dudes a technology tinker tapped into the PRT's system! the potential!

All the PRT's data? yours! All the protectorates manifests and up to date records on capes who may be of interest for you to put in a basement and extract their power? Yours! Random looted tinkertech from villains? Yours! Random Armsmaster tinkertech? You guessed it, yours!

I mean, you could even use him to trick wards and protectorate capes so you could capture them and introduce them to the basement! Free powers!
 
Daniel Snuts said:
shitty Tinker minion
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Either this is a bad read or Taylor is the most bafflingly uncreative person ever. There is just so much you can do with modular designs.

Like Armsmaster's "a gadget for every situation" thing, but better. You don't need a bajillion different weapons or armours that all do a specific set of things, nor do you need to do generalist equipment that A- fails to really excel at anything, or B- is so cutting edge it was only possible with years of experience collaboration with Dragon (the nanothorns). Warehouse and a teleporter, bam; you have all the mods.
 
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Ok now i don't undestand, why stop working on Cliff just because you don't have an easy way of making minion but want KW as one even if that actualy can put you in BIG problems? Fuck this Taylor's logic is weird. Well at least that give me a little more hope for future minion Vista
 
eeda said:
Ok now i don't undestand, why stop working on Cliff just because you don't have an easy way of making minion but want KW as one even if that actualy can put you in BIG problems? Fuck this Taylor's logic is weird. Well at least that give me a little more hope for future minion Vista
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Hence her debate on what persona she wants to attach said minion to. She doesn't want to shit where she eats I think, that means she wants to keep the real dirty work like mastering wards to personas that she can easily do away with and that can't ever be linked back to any of the other persona's.
 
Prognostic Hannya said:
Jess Christ Taylor be a bit more brutal why don't you


Also, is Taylor a sociopath in this fic? I'm getting the sense from her interactions with Bitch and Vista that she no longer values people as people, but only for how she can obtain their powers.
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My best guess is that it's the author's way of conveying the personality altering effects of the Great Curse.
 
I don't think we've seen a one off souls' price like Kid Win's used yet. Would the loyalty last forever if she told him?
 
Nero918 said:
Dragon's is similar.
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sorta? You gotta wonder where the focus is though. Is it on the 'removal' or the 'they are removed' part? One is a single instance and the other could become perpetual.

The same goes for kid wins soul price. Depending on how the mechanic and up working and what the exact wording means to the power itself... It could go either way, either perpetual or just temporary minionhood.
 
TapTwice2 said:
sorta? You gotta wonder where the focus is though. Is it on the 'removal' or the 'they are removed' part? One is a single instance and the other could become perpetual.

The same goes for kid wins soul price. Depending on how the mechanic and up working and what the exact wording means to the power itself... It could go either way, either perpetual or just temporary minionhood.
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Know the soul price, fades after they go against it 10 times, or if the price is undone. Dragon might instantly become free as Know the soul price effects, could be considered another restriction. Kid Win would have to force it but can overcome it the hard way.
 
Giving him the speciality means he'll be forever in debt, because every sucsessfull invention after that point is thanks to Taylor. So I think it'll be a low maintanance kind of thing, or even no maintanence. Because a debt of that nature can't go away. It will always keep on paying dividens, without Taylor would he have ever discovered it or if he did would it have been too late to do what matters?
Besides, it's a power like Teachers. They can be pretty permanent if the power wants them to be.
 
Edifier said:
Because a debt of that nature can't go away.
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It can, technically, memory modification exists in Worm and probably exalted, and he could always get hit on the head real hard, so he could be made to forget the specialization after discovering it, but yeah it ain't going away easy.
 
L.14
  • Threadmarks
    • Wasn't it just yesterday that you were contemplating how well everything was going? Shouldn't you have learned not to jinx yourself like that by now? Those are rhetorical questions, btw.

    "Get the hell out," Hookwolf tells you.

    "What?"

    "You're not welcome here. This place is for people who want to learn."

    "I'm learning!"

    He doesn't even deign to respond to that. He just stares at you. You stare back, full of defiance and indignation. Having the truth on your side really helps you pull it off. Just because you're not learning martial arts doesn't mean you aren't studying your pants off in here.

    Unfortunately Hookwolf has figured out that the winning move here is not to play. Rather than argue further, he strikes you. It's a casual, half-hearted affair, more a slap than a punch. If you had paid any attention whatsoever to his lessons you could probably have avoided it easily. But you didn't, so you don't. Just before it hits, his arms splits open to reveal whirling blades.

    They hit you high in the chest and gouge uneven furrows towards your left shoulder. Motherfucker! Does he have any idea how long it will take to repair your costume?

    "Stop!" he barks at Othala, who was hurrying over to assist you. "Your healing is for fighters only."

    "You can't do this to me!" you scream declare firmly.

    "I own this place!"

    "Kaiser - your boss - told me to go here until I knew how to fight."

    "Fine. You know who decides that? Me. Congratulations, you just graduated. You know how to fight."

    "That's a lie and you know it!"

    "Get. Out."

    Rather than initiate another staring contest, and risk further damage to your costume, you pull out your phone and call ops. "Low Key here. Me and Hookwolf need to see Kaiser."

    "Why you little-"

    ---

    Kaiser, having heard the testimony of both parties, leans forward in his chair and steeples his fingers.

    "Self defense training is a right as well as a duty," he declares. "If her worst crime is being a slow learner, you have no call to refuse her."

    Hookwolf grumbles under his breath, but inclines his head.

    "And for god's sake, get Othala to fix that!" He gestures at your shoulder. You stopped bleeding as soon as was remotely plausible, but it still looks pretty grisly. "She goes on patrol tomorrow!"

    "Thank you, sir." You really weren't looking forward to trying to hide that from your dad. Not to mention trying to shapeshift around it, should you be kept away from Othala over the weekend.

    Hookwolf grumbles some more. Ah, sweet vindication. You have nothing to fear, when justice is on your side. Even if you did waste most of the evening waiting for Kaiser to deign to hear your case.

    ...though it occurs to you that if you had tried to get justice against a corrupt official in the regular court system, it would have taken months. Not to mention tens of thousands of dollars in attorney fees. Yes, you know that democracy is the only good system of government, you've been taught that your entire life. But this kind of... micro-empire? Autocratic sub-city state? It has its points.

    Wait. If you've been taught your whole life that the government you live under is the only acceptable way to run things, doesn't that mean you've been indoctrinated? You're pretty sure that's the definition.

    ---

    You meet up with Vista as planned the next day. Then things go off script before you can even finish greeting each other: Aegis comes flying around the corner, in costume, bearing down on you at full speed.

    "Vista!" he calls out.

    "Crap, it's the fun police!" you say. "Quick, hop on!"

    Vista obeys without thinking, and Fenrir takes off. With him and Vista on the same side, it's not even a contest. It takes less than a minute for them to leave Aegis hopelessly far behind.

    "I shouldn't have done that," Vista says afterwards, biting her lip. "I'm in for it now."

    You rest a hand on her shoulder in quiet solidarity. Yes, you did deliberately push her to act without thinking, and she did regret it afterwards. You're still quite pleased that she, in that unthinking moment, chose you over her boss.

    "Did you know he was tailing you?" you ask.

    "No. Yes. I don't know." She takes a deep breath. "I saw him around a couple of times."

    Really? Damn. You didn't notice at all. You've gotten sloppy, relaxing too much around her. This is why you don't trust people!

    "He didn't approach then. I though he was just being overprotective as usual. Why do it now?"

    When she puts it like that, you do in fact have a suspicion as to what may have changed since the last time you met. "I probably have paper on me now," you admit.

    "What?" Vista flinches back, throwing your hand off. "What did you do?"

    "I prevented a rape. And punished the offenders. Due to an unfortunate skin color mismatch, that's a hate crime."

    "Oh." Obeying your subtle gesture, Fenrir nuzzles her comfortingly. Maintaining physical contact, so that she can't use her powers effectively should she turn hostile. She absently pats him in return, clearly at a loss as to what to do next.

    "You still want to hang out tonight?" you prompt her. It would suck to lose access to her now, when you're so close to understanding her power.

    She shrugs listlessly. "I guess. I already burned that bridge."

    You take a step forward and place your hand on her shoulder again. "I'm sorry," you lie.

    She looks up at you. "Tell me about it?"

    You do, casually spilling details that Kaiser really would rather that you didn't share.

    "Rune is a bitch," Vista observes when the subject turns to your patrol partner.

    "She is," you agree. "The secret is to have her inside the friendship tent, pissing out."

    She snorts, some of her good humor returning. "I'll take your word for it."

    ---

    You're out even longer than usual. Vista is reluctant to part ways, knowing that her scheme to save you from the Empire has failed, and that the next time you meet it will be as enemies. You do nothing to mitigate the somber mood, at least not until her power is secure. Once that's accomplished, you give her a hug and wish her luck in apprehending a subset of villains that does not include you or your personal friends. She smiles a bit at that, at least.

    Phew, she's finally gone. It's really hard, acting properly downcast when you're practically bubbling over with glee. When people talk about the most powerful capes in the city, they say 'Lung, Labyrinth, Vista(, future-Dauntless)'. Of those, you now have two down, one in the kitty. Never mind that the dumb dragon doesn't work properly. You'll figure it out one of these days.

    You try not to visibly bounce with eagerness as dad drives you home. You do feel a bit bad about how little sleep he's been getting. Everyone would be happier if he was a slightly worse parent and just let you run around unsupervised at all hours. You shake your head. 'I wish my dad was more neglectful' goes on the list of things you never expected to think before you got your powers, along with 'losing a thousand dollars wouldn't particularly hurt' and 'Lung is a big pussycat'.

    You rush down the stairs to your room. Time to test your power! Let's try... shortening the distance between the bed and the nightstand? You mentally reach out-

    With a flash of light, your alarm clock goes flying across the room as if shot from a cannon. It passes through the dematerialized Fenrir and shatters agains the wall.

    That power... mutated a bit more than you expected. Less battlefield control, more direct weapon? Let's-

    "Taylor? Are you okay? What happened?" Your dad comes rushing down the stairs.

    Oh. Of course he heard that. "Just an accident."

    He looks at the plastic fragments scattered across the floor. "An accident?"

    "Yes. I accidentally threw my alarm clock at the wall as hard as I could."

    "Um. So. About you getting enough sleep..."

    You roll your eyes. "Yes, dad. You're right about everything. I'll buy a new one tomorrow. Later today."

    "You know you can tell me anything, right? If there's anything bothering you..."

    "Yes dad. Go to bed dad." He does, thankfully.

    Okay. Interruption dealt with, let's try this again. Carefully, very carefully, try to move one of the fragments ever so slightly.

    A tendril of white light appears, coming out from the center of your chest and stretching to the piece of plastic on the floor. Said piece rises to hover a few feet off the ground, leaving a trail of ripples in the air as it moves - no, not the air. It leaves a trail of ripples in space itself.

    Huh. It's still a warping power, that's for sure. A bit obvious who's doing it, though - Vista doesn't get the glowing tether pointing back to herself when she warps space. You bring the fragment up to your face for a closer look. Wait, you did what? Oh. You swish it back and forth in the air for a bit. Now that you know what you're doing, you can move things with your mind as easily as with your hands.

    You mentally reach out for another fragment, and another mind-hand appears to pick it up. Neat. A third hand grabs a third piece without issue, but when you try for a fourth the first mind-hand flickers and disappears, dropping its burden. That's fine. Three extra hands are plenty.

    Perhaps unsurprisingly, mind-hands turn out to be considerably more dextrous than regular hands. Speed of thought, and all that. No inefficient nerves or muscles involved. Your three hands can easily juggle six objects - probably more, but you don't want to cause any more accidents tonight. You just enjoy the sight of glowing tendrils weaving around each other to catch and throw various knick-knacks.

    You're not sure how long your 'mind-arms' are, beyond 'longer than the entire width of your basement'. A trip to the boat graveyard is in order, for further research. All in all, an excellent Shaker power.

    The tendrils aren't bright enough to cast shadows in a lit room, but with the lights off they provide enough light to read by, if only just. A book-holding hand that never tires, that comes with its own night light? Sorry sorcerer's sight, you might have a new favorite power.

    You get ready for bed, using your mind-hands to get undressed and put on your PJs. There is no awkwardness, reflexes and familiar motions translating cleanly to your new appendages. But when you try to use them to deposit your clothes across the room, they bump into Fenrir. Fenrir, who hasn't materialized yet.

    Your mind-hands can pet immaterial doggies! Best. Power. Ever.

    ===

    Charms:
    Taylor: All-Encompassing Sorcerer's Sight, ???
    Tattletale: Know the Soul's Price
    Bitch: Spirit-Tied Pet
    Aegis: Ox-Body Technique
    Browbeat: Shaping the Ideal Form
    Dragon: Implicit Construction Methodology
    Kid Win: Industry and Forge Wisdom
    Lung: ???
    Vista: Mind-Hand Manipulation
     
  • Threadmarks
    • What a cute and useful power!
    What can't you do with a set of stretchy translucent hands that can even feel the immaterial?

    What are the odds since a tentative friendship with Vista is formed that she'll seek Taylor out to her flummoxed annoyance? After all, they're friends now. xD
     
    Daniel Snuts said:
    ...though it occurs to you that if you had tried to get justice against a corrupt official in the regular court system, it would have taken months. Not to mention tens of thousands of dollars in attorney fees.
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    Does Taylor not realize the only reason she's getting such good treatment is that she's basically a member of the aristocracy? Does she think some random Empire mook could get a dispute settled by Kaiser.

    Also, obviously autocracies are more efficient than democracies, that was never in doubt. The problem is everything else.

    Also please please please please don't be a nazi
     
    Prognostic Hannya said:
    Does Taylor not realize the only reason she's getting such good treatment is that she's basically a member of the aristocracy? Does she think some random Empire mook could get a dispute settled by Kaiser.

    Also, obviously autocracies are more efficient than democracies, that was never in doubt. The problem is everything else.

    Also please please please please don't be a nazi
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    The thing about nazis isn't that they are wrong. We all know the obvious reasons why they are. So do they.

    The real issue is the many truths they cloak themselves in, in order to perpetuate themselves.

    The government IS corrupt. There ARE differences in the races. And so on.

    That corruption doesn't justify destroying the government. The differences in races don't justify treating one as being superior to another. And so on.

    But that's the part they hope to smoke-mirrors-and-loathe their way past.
     
    >viciously attacked by superior
    >suffers what would be a serious injury to anyone else
    >denied medical care
    >abuses her privileged status as a cape to get a meeting with the autocratic leader of the empire
    >autocratic leader overruled the superior who injured her on issue of training
    >her injury is treated, but the fact that she was assaulted by a superior isn't addressed
    >autocratic leader only rules in her favor because it costs him nothing and her desire to learn benefits the Empire, and only gets involved because Taylor is an almost irreplaceable asset to the Empire.

    Taylor: wow, maybe the Empire isn't so bad after all.
     
    Daniel Snuts said:
    "I prevented a rape. And punished the offenders. Due to an unfortunate skin color mismatch, that's a hate crime."
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    If this is true, I would have liked to see some indication in the original scene that the perps were not white. It seems very odd that everyone would let it pass without comment.
     
    Osiris said:
    If this is true, I would have liked to see some indication in the original scene that the perps were not white. It seems very odd that everyone would let it pass without comment.
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    She called them youths which was previously used as a euphemism for black people.

    I suspect no attention was drawn to their race due to that other site breathing down the author's neck, not that that's a problem anymore.
     
    Logos01 said:
    That corruption doesn't justify destroying the government.
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    Funnily enough, Thomas Jefferson disagrees. He thought regular revolutionary wars would be a better alternative then just letting a system of government last for too long. I think his 20 years is way to short an estimate though, but to be fair to him, he never lived through an actual civil war, so he likely had no idea how devastating they are, at least not on a personal understanding level (and this is ignoring how destructive modern warfare can be) :V
     
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