I watched the smoking crater that was once Coil's super secret underground base.
Coil was dead...
Coil was dead...
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Idiots (Worm)
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WyldCard4
It's needlessly complicated
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I watched the smoking crater that was once Coil's super secret underground base.
Coil was dead, thanks to Lung. He'd hit both forks of the timeline, thanks to my helpful tip.
I was free! When they finish his grave I would be sure to piss on it. I looked up and saw the cordons. Aegis, Kid Win, Dauntless, the government fliers, are circling above to make sure no one's stupid enough to rush in. I smiled as my power told me Aegis was in charge, not Dauntless. Armsmaster had the excuse that Aegis had more experience in a leadership role to kick Dauntless down a notch. Dauntless, for his part, hadn't actually noticed the power struggle, and just hoped he'd get to see Glory Girl. Huh, Dauntless had a crush on Glory Girl. Golden boy of Brockton Bay, golden girl of Brockton Bay, two of the strongest capes as far as he knew, close in age, shallow as fuck. Actually, it kind of grosses you out. Aegis is worried that he won't have time to study for a test and Kid Win is happy to be out flying and looking both cool and professional.
I always liked the chance to watch heroes do their thing when I didn't have a mission coming up, and now was exactly the wrong time for the Undersiders to make a move. We had money, and the criminal underworld would be in a big shakeup with Coil dead. Lung would probably go down eventually himself. Best to wait to do jobs until the new status quo made itself clear. Now was a time to watch the pretty boys in costumes and learn their deepest secrets.
I felt that ugly, annoying tug. Three pretty boys. I looked up, and did something stupid.
Heterosexual, insecure about his intelligence, insecure about his looks, insecure about his powers, weak family life, trigger related to insecurities, not used to dating, secure about role on his team, would notice discrepancies in habits.
I took in a breath at the pile of no in that. Kid Win was not going to be a romantic prospect, ever. My eyes moved to Aegis.
Bisexual, confident, pees in his shower, small deformities in penis make urination difficult, pees in showers not running or a pee bottle, triggered being beaten and his balls crushed.
Hell no. In a slight burst of desperation I focused on Dauntless.
Heterosexual, confident, attentive, likes younger women, likes blondes, they subconsciously remind him of his dead sister, sister's death related to trigger event, buries himself in work over trigger event, likes community outreach, likes kids, wants children, works hard to train and stay in shape, Arclance is a substitute for his small penis, grossed out by horror movies, finds science fiction movies boring, hates the taste of toothpaste, dislikes sweet things.
Dauntless was the closest. I could probably do it, if I tried. Dress like his sister subtly, meet him in community outreach, talk about wanting kids, avoid the subjects he didn't like, compliment the Arclance, laugh at his jokes. The whole thing would be a chore, and for what?
I sighed, and did one of the things I'd learned never to do. I turned my powers on myself.
Bisexual, most attracted to Dauntless because he reminds you of your older brother, needs to feel needed, needs to be the smartest person in the room, conflates her power with being smart, hates people who are smart without powers, hates people who are smart because of powers, lonely, desperately wants a girlfriend, looks to boys because she's scared of rejection, never went on a single date in high school.
I forced my powers off with a gasp. It's the greatest pain in the world, turning my powers on myself . In the end, I was no more of a prize than the pretty boys circling the pit.
________________________________________________________________________
Taylor looked worried when we met, later that afternoon.
"The ABB struck back." She said. "They say it was Coil's base. There's a huge investigation into Endbringer defense funds. What's going on?"
"Coil was Mr. Big." I told her. She froze up.
"What?" I focused my power on her.
Disbelief, confusion, does not want an excuse to leave, does not want to waste all this time on the Undersiders for a bad break, does not want to join the Wards with nothing to show for her efforts, does not realize how likely she is to get juvie for the bank robbery, does not realize the likelihood of civil suits for her cooperation against ABB, still understands she needs a big break to make herself look useful, does not realize how useful her powers would be to the Wards. Doesn't admit she's desperate to keep her new friends.
"Taylor, this is pretty big." I smiled at her. "Without Mr. Big matching certain jobs, well, we're still in a pretty good spot for money, but not quite as good. We're on our own now, independent. Without Coil and ABB the underworld will get shaken up. We'll probably be hired a lot." Tempt her with information on other criminal organizations. "We can still build rep, figure things out. The Protectorate has much bigger fish to fry right now." Suggest building a reputation, keep her focused on the idea of entering the Wards on a high note. Play down the risks. "We're still going to be fighting ABB, of course." I played to her desire to be a hero. Saving people from the big bad Bakuda.
"I see." She had enough of a reason to stay, for now. "Let's go get dinner." I put an arm around her shoulder. "We can talk there. I feel like tacos."
________________________________________________________________________
I considered Taylor for a moment, watching her eat a taco, and then did something stupid again.
Bisexual, never been on a date, heavily attached to girls due to experience with Emma, desperately lonely, wants to be less lonely, would do almost anything to feel less lonely, feels she's unattractive, not that perceptive about people.
I really shouldn't do this.
She kept making efforts. Brian and Bitch, definitely. She tried to help people, get to know them, things I should have done. She wanted to help people, save people, be good, so much. Not many heroes had so much sincerity. Glory Girl, Vista, Browbeat, Miss Militia, and Shielder pinged that. So did Purity, of course, so it wasn't sufficient. Still, she'd make a great hero.
"These are great tacos." Taylor said. She's enthusiastic, trying too hard, but still more at ease than she was when we first met. She could improve. Improvement was so easy for her. She'd make a great girlfriend.
I wanted a girlfriend.
I could flirt with a girl. I had flirted with girls before. I kept eye contact, that was important. With Taylor that was just a bit of a challenge. I'd kept up eye contact already.
"Taylor, you've really been amazing with the ABB." I smiled at her, tracing my hand up and down her arm, up to her hair, and twirled her hair a bit."
"I am good at this kind of thing." Taylor nodded, seeming a bit surprised. "Surveillance, surprise attacks. No good against heavy hitters, really."
"Only brutes, and only ones who don't have a normal weakness." I said softly, keeping my hand in her hair. "You know, you're hair is really nice today. What did you do with it?" Taylor mumbled something irrelevant about her hair while I thought about what to say next. I focused on body language. She seems comfortable, a bit nervous, receptive.
"...it takes a lot of time but it looks like it's paying off." Taylor finishes.
"You're advancing. Doing well." I said. "And the hair is really great. Just because we're supervillains doesn't mean we shouldn't look good." I whispered. Taylor smiled back at me. "And you look really good." Taylor blushed happily. "It's all about style. You're blooming, confident, growing into yourself. It looks good on you."
"Thanks." Taylor says. Her mouth looks a bit dry despite a soda being right next to her.
"I like you, Taylor." She nodded. She was clearly happy about this. "I really like you, Taylor." You put your hand over her hand. She kind of froze up.
Surprised, unsure of herself, mild disbelief.
"Um, thanks." She muttered.
"I really like you, Taylor." I closed my eyes, forced down the memories of the locker full of tampons, of crying her eyes out for weeks, of loving her tormentors. She was as good as I was going to get.
"Like, like like?" Taylor muttered. If I was going to break this off, that sentence would be sufficient.
"Yes." I answered instead. "If you're willing, I'd like to date you. Absolutely no pressure. Just say the word, and I won't bring this up again. No hard feelings. I get it if you're not feeling the same."
"Um, we can date." Taylor muttered. "Sure, we can date. I'm surprised, but, um, I thought you wanted me with Brian?"
"I needed a little shock to admit what I wanted. Mr. Big made that kind of harder. Working for him was risky. With him out of the picture I can focus on what I want." I traced my fingers up Taylor's arm, knowing she'd love the touch. The touch would excite her.
"Lisa." She said. "Why?" I refused to use my power for the answer.
"Because I like you." I answered. "Because, when I use my power on you, I get so much good that outweighs the bad. Boys typically aren't like that, especially the ones on the villainous side of the game."
"So, what do we do now?" Taylor asked, uncertainly.
"We finish our tacos and go see a movie." I grinned. "When I take you home, I kiss you goodbye on the front porch. Do you want something else?" Taylor blushed spectacularly.
"No." She nodded. "That sounds perfect.
It sounded perfect to me, too.
Coil was dead, thanks to Lung. He'd hit both forks of the timeline, thanks to my helpful tip.
I was free! When they finish his grave I would be sure to piss on it. I looked up and saw the cordons. Aegis, Kid Win, Dauntless, the government fliers, are circling above to make sure no one's stupid enough to rush in. I smiled as my power told me Aegis was in charge, not Dauntless. Armsmaster had the excuse that Aegis had more experience in a leadership role to kick Dauntless down a notch. Dauntless, for his part, hadn't actually noticed the power struggle, and just hoped he'd get to see Glory Girl. Huh, Dauntless had a crush on Glory Girl. Golden boy of Brockton Bay, golden girl of Brockton Bay, two of the strongest capes as far as he knew, close in age, shallow as fuck. Actually, it kind of grosses you out. Aegis is worried that he won't have time to study for a test and Kid Win is happy to be out flying and looking both cool and professional.
I always liked the chance to watch heroes do their thing when I didn't have a mission coming up, and now was exactly the wrong time for the Undersiders to make a move. We had money, and the criminal underworld would be in a big shakeup with Coil dead. Lung would probably go down eventually himself. Best to wait to do jobs until the new status quo made itself clear. Now was a time to watch the pretty boys in costumes and learn their deepest secrets.
I felt that ugly, annoying tug. Three pretty boys. I looked up, and did something stupid.
Heterosexual, insecure about his intelligence, insecure about his looks, insecure about his powers, weak family life, trigger related to insecurities, not used to dating, secure about role on his team, would notice discrepancies in habits.
I took in a breath at the pile of no in that. Kid Win was not going to be a romantic prospect, ever. My eyes moved to Aegis.
Bisexual, confident, pees in his shower, small deformities in penis make urination difficult, pees in showers not running or a pee bottle, triggered being beaten and his balls crushed.
Hell no. In a slight burst of desperation I focused on Dauntless.
Heterosexual, confident, attentive, likes younger women, likes blondes, they subconsciously remind him of his dead sister, sister's death related to trigger event, buries himself in work over trigger event, likes community outreach, likes kids, wants children, works hard to train and stay in shape, Arclance is a substitute for his small penis, grossed out by horror movies, finds science fiction movies boring, hates the taste of toothpaste, dislikes sweet things.
Dauntless was the closest. I could probably do it, if I tried. Dress like his sister subtly, meet him in community outreach, talk about wanting kids, avoid the subjects he didn't like, compliment the Arclance, laugh at his jokes. The whole thing would be a chore, and for what?
I sighed, and did one of the things I'd learned never to do. I turned my powers on myself.
Bisexual, most attracted to Dauntless because he reminds you of your older brother, needs to feel needed, needs to be the smartest person in the room, conflates her power with being smart, hates people who are smart without powers, hates people who are smart because of powers, lonely, desperately wants a girlfriend, looks to boys because she's scared of rejection, never went on a single date in high school.
I forced my powers off with a gasp. It's the greatest pain in the world, turning my powers on myself . In the end, I was no more of a prize than the pretty boys circling the pit.
________________________________________________________________________
Taylor looked worried when we met, later that afternoon.
"The ABB struck back." She said. "They say it was Coil's base. There's a huge investigation into Endbringer defense funds. What's going on?"
"Coil was Mr. Big." I told her. She froze up.
"What?" I focused my power on her.
Disbelief, confusion, does not want an excuse to leave, does not want to waste all this time on the Undersiders for a bad break, does not want to join the Wards with nothing to show for her efforts, does not realize how likely she is to get juvie for the bank robbery, does not realize the likelihood of civil suits for her cooperation against ABB, still understands she needs a big break to make herself look useful, does not realize how useful her powers would be to the Wards. Doesn't admit she's desperate to keep her new friends.
"Taylor, this is pretty big." I smiled at her. "Without Mr. Big matching certain jobs, well, we're still in a pretty good spot for money, but not quite as good. We're on our own now, independent. Without Coil and ABB the underworld will get shaken up. We'll probably be hired a lot." Tempt her with information on other criminal organizations. "We can still build rep, figure things out. The Protectorate has much bigger fish to fry right now." Suggest building a reputation, keep her focused on the idea of entering the Wards on a high note. Play down the risks. "We're still going to be fighting ABB, of course." I played to her desire to be a hero. Saving people from the big bad Bakuda.
"I see." She had enough of a reason to stay, for now. "Let's go get dinner." I put an arm around her shoulder. "We can talk there. I feel like tacos."
________________________________________________________________________
I considered Taylor for a moment, watching her eat a taco, and then did something stupid again.
Bisexual, never been on a date, heavily attached to girls due to experience with Emma, desperately lonely, wants to be less lonely, would do almost anything to feel less lonely, feels she's unattractive, not that perceptive about people.
I really shouldn't do this.
She kept making efforts. Brian and Bitch, definitely. She tried to help people, get to know them, things I should have done. She wanted to help people, save people, be good, so much. Not many heroes had so much sincerity. Glory Girl, Vista, Browbeat, Miss Militia, and Shielder pinged that. So did Purity, of course, so it wasn't sufficient. Still, she'd make a great hero.
"These are great tacos." Taylor said. She's enthusiastic, trying too hard, but still more at ease than she was when we first met. She could improve. Improvement was so easy for her. She'd make a great girlfriend.
I wanted a girlfriend.
I could flirt with a girl. I had flirted with girls before. I kept eye contact, that was important. With Taylor that was just a bit of a challenge. I'd kept up eye contact already.
"Taylor, you've really been amazing with the ABB." I smiled at her, tracing my hand up and down her arm, up to her hair, and twirled her hair a bit."
"I am good at this kind of thing." Taylor nodded, seeming a bit surprised. "Surveillance, surprise attacks. No good against heavy hitters, really."
"Only brutes, and only ones who don't have a normal weakness." I said softly, keeping my hand in her hair. "You know, you're hair is really nice today. What did you do with it?" Taylor mumbled something irrelevant about her hair while I thought about what to say next. I focused on body language. She seems comfortable, a bit nervous, receptive.
"...it takes a lot of time but it looks like it's paying off." Taylor finishes.
"You're advancing. Doing well." I said. "And the hair is really great. Just because we're supervillains doesn't mean we shouldn't look good." I whispered. Taylor smiled back at me. "And you look really good." Taylor blushed happily. "It's all about style. You're blooming, confident, growing into yourself. It looks good on you."
"Thanks." Taylor says. Her mouth looks a bit dry despite a soda being right next to her.
"I like you, Taylor." She nodded. She was clearly happy about this. "I really like you, Taylor." You put your hand over her hand. She kind of froze up.
Surprised, unsure of herself, mild disbelief.
"Um, thanks." She muttered.
"I really like you, Taylor." I closed my eyes, forced down the memories of the locker full of tampons, of crying her eyes out for weeks, of loving her tormentors. She was as good as I was going to get.
"Like, like like?" Taylor muttered. If I was going to break this off, that sentence would be sufficient.
"Yes." I answered instead. "If you're willing, I'd like to date you. Absolutely no pressure. Just say the word, and I won't bring this up again. No hard feelings. I get it if you're not feeling the same."
"Um, we can date." Taylor muttered. "Sure, we can date. I'm surprised, but, um, I thought you wanted me with Brian?"
"I needed a little shock to admit what I wanted. Mr. Big made that kind of harder. Working for him was risky. With him out of the picture I can focus on what I want." I traced my fingers up Taylor's arm, knowing she'd love the touch. The touch would excite her.
"Lisa." She said. "Why?" I refused to use my power for the answer.
"Because I like you." I answered. "Because, when I use my power on you, I get so much good that outweighs the bad. Boys typically aren't like that, especially the ones on the villainous side of the game."
"So, what do we do now?" Taylor asked, uncertainly.
"We finish our tacos and go see a movie." I grinned. "When I take you home, I kiss you goodbye on the front porch. Do you want something else?" Taylor blushed spectacularly.
"No." She nodded. "That sounds perfect.
It sounded perfect to me, too.
WyldCard4
It's needlessly complicated
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Darik29 said:
I plan to continue. This was very much intended as chapter one, setup, and giving an excuse for why a lot of canon events will go dramatically differently.
Thanks goes to Adyen, for his post in Cops and Robbers inspiring me to take things more seriously. DeAnno and serra2 helped significantly with editing as well.
spidermounky92k
Know what you're doing yet?
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did someone hack WyldCard4 account
Deathwings
Questionable French Guy
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spidermounky92k said:
he's finally doing something new, don't jinx it.
Peanuckle
Versed in the lewd.
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Oh God Skittertale. Or Skittles, depending how you say it.
I think you've got Lisa's power down pretty good, though her desperation for affection and/or sex is new. So is the "everyone is bisexuals" thing, but that's what fanfiction is for. The sheer squick of information she gets from her power isn't usually touched on in fics, so its nice to see just how potent it can be. Getting that kind of info on someone would turn anyone off.
Her disgust with herself is pretty telling, too. Everyone is human and Lisa is no different. Reminds me of "The Wyrm's Thrall" on SB, where Taylor uses her guilt-perception on herself.
I think you've got Taylor's situation down pat, too. She thinks that she can just walk up and say "I was undercover!" and have everything be okay. Not gonna happen, Taylor. It'll be up to Lisa to keep her from walking into jail, while keeping her happy with the current situation.
With Coil gone, she can assume control of his operation pretty easily. Tattletale just jumped up in the world. I wonder how she'll leverage this.
One thing I'm unsure about is:
I don't get this. Lisa loved someone in the Trio and she regrets it, or is this commenting on how Taylor used to love Emma?
The title "Idiots" makes me think that these two are going to be fooling themselves into a relationship that isn't the best for them, but they want anyways. Or maybe something else will happen in typical WyldCard style. I'm hoping it turns out well since these are my favorite characters.
I think you've got Lisa's power down pretty good, though her desperation for affection and/or sex is new. So is the "everyone is bisexuals" thing, but that's what fanfiction is for. The sheer squick of information she gets from her power isn't usually touched on in fics, so its nice to see just how potent it can be. Getting that kind of info on someone would turn anyone off.
Her disgust with herself is pretty telling, too. Everyone is human and Lisa is no different. Reminds me of "The Wyrm's Thrall" on SB, where Taylor uses her guilt-perception on herself.
I think you've got Taylor's situation down pat, too. She thinks that she can just walk up and say "I was undercover!" and have everything be okay. Not gonna happen, Taylor. It'll be up to Lisa to keep her from walking into jail, while keeping her happy with the current situation.
With Coil gone, she can assume control of his operation pretty easily. Tattletale just jumped up in the world. I wonder how she'll leverage this.
One thing I'm unsure about is:
I don't get this. Lisa loved someone in the Trio and she regrets it, or is this commenting on how Taylor used to love Emma?
The title "Idiots" makes me think that these two are going to be fooling themselves into a relationship that isn't the best for them, but they want anyways. Or maybe something else will happen in typical WyldCard style. I'm hoping it turns out well since these are my favorite characters.
WyldCard4
It's needlessly complicated
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Peanuckle said:
Been going with Skittertale. Seems fun.
They are partially conceits of the story for it to work, and partially extrapolation.
Lisa's need for affection is basically that she's a teenager who gets all the squick, and it is canon that she does not handle isolation well. Specifically wanting or needing a romantic relationship is my own elaboration. Lisa definitely needs friendship given the shape of the Undersiders. It is a story conceit that she was largely lying to herself about not wanting or needing romance, and uncovered it about herself with an inward look she couldn't afford in canon.
Taylor being bisexual is purely a device to allow for Taylor/Lisa shipping. With Amy such lines are arbitrary, but it's vastly easier just to say she's bisexual for a shipping fic.
That is, in canon, why she doesn't date.
The second one.
There's more to it, but the title is supposed to evoke a "fools in love" vibe, and also comment on Lisa denying what she really wanted and needed. More about the title will become clear, but this story is supposed to be going against the terrible habits I've built up lately.
Peanuckle
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WyldCard4 said:
So much hope.
One of the reasons I react badly to your other works is because despite how offensive I find them, they're written rather well and that makes it difficult to just ignore them. It's easier for me to internalize a well-written darkfic than it is a poorly-written brightfic. The horror stays with me stronger than the happy.
So I'm really eager to see this one come out.
UrsaTempest
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Ha! So finally it's posted!
Yeah, good start. I have a... I don't know, some kind of slight disrepancy? with the dialogue, but I'm not sure. Will read this again.
Yeah, good start. I have a... I don't know, some kind of slight disrepancy? with the dialogue, but I'm not sure. Will read this again.
Larekko12
Connoisseur.
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... This is well the primary emotion i feel with this is a sort of giddy amusement. It's really cute in a sense. But there's also a slight yet deep feeling of squick? Or what should be squick. I mean when you see it through her eyes through the framework of her powers there is a massive and important power discrepancy in social dynamics.
Like how she just broke them down like that and came together with a seduction gameplan that read like a yandere stalkers handbook collated after 5 months of intense reasearch.
The information disparity feeds a massive manipulation based power one and so now Taylors dancing to Tattletales tune like a well child to a man with ice creams does ya know?
Like how she just broke them down like that and came together with a seduction gameplan that read like a yandere stalkers handbook collated after 5 months of intense reasearch.
The information disparity feeds a massive manipulation based power one and so now Taylors dancing to Tattletales tune like a well child to a man with ice creams does ya know?
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serra2
Not too sore, are you?
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Larekko12 said:
That is part of the charm and drama of it. You will notice how, towards the end, she is trying to avoid using her powers to figure out the right things to say. Lisa does, in a way, love Taylor, and understands how easy it would be to turn her into a virtual slave to Lisa's whims with the right words and actions. The struggle then is to give Taylor a genuinely positive relationship without pushing to far into creepy Thinker control mode.
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Peanuckle
Versed in the lewd.
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serra2 said:
Kinda reminds me of how Contessa was trying to be her own person at the end of Worm, rather than just a puppet for the Path to Victory.
If you just listen to your power, who's really in control?
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DeAnno
Power over Versatility
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Peanuckle said:
But is Lisa Wilbourn her power? Where's the line really? Lisa strongly correlates her self worth with the intelligence her power gives her, and it's a large part, perhaps the majority, of her entire identity.
Sarah Livsey arguably died when she triggered.
WyldCard4
It's needlessly complicated
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Larekko12 said:
There is some of that, and it is interesting.
Still, what Lisa actually did was compliment Taylor and flirt with her. She knew what to compliment and how to flirt. There were some power dynamic issues. I really don't see it as ugly. It's a seduction of someone who wanted to be seduced, someone naturally receptive to her.
I can see a bit of squick, but I think this was about as normal as Tattletale could be in a a relationship. Not using her power at all and it wouldn't be her
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Peanuckle
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DeAnno said:
WyldCard4 said:
I think these two posts kind of reach the same point: How much of a parahuman is them and how much is their power? We saw that Taylor's shard had developed to the point that it thought it was Taylor, presumably the others do so as well. The shards alter their hosts in small ways, but the shards are altered even more extremely. I doubt they had any identity before attaching to a host.
You could see this as Lisa using her power to seduce Taylor, but that implies Lisa and her power are two different people. Could they be two parts of the same person? After all, humans change radically after brain damage, the shard could be seen as an additional brain function. In that case, you wouldn't be talking to Lisa if she wasn't using her power, you'd be talking to half of Lisa.
WyldCard4
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I had to admit, dating Taylor was fun, but also exhausting. She'd become a bit of a chatterbox to cover up what was left of her awkwardness. I couldn't really tell if I kept using my power because I was nervous or because I was really worried about her, but either way she was sapping up a dangerous amount of juice.
Currently, we were shopping. I felt her body image issues would be improved if I was a bit enthusiastic with dressing her a bit sexy. More than a bit, to be honest. Okay, I was a teenager, and it was so fun to have her show a bit of skin. I'd enjoy it, and she'd feel good about it, so what was the harm?
I held up and considered a pair of shorts. It was a warm spring, and hopefully we'd last a while. Actually, buying clothes for summer would send a really interesting message. Tell her this was a bit more serious, long term. I used a brief jolt from my power. She'd like that.
I had to stop using it so much for this, but she'd be so happy once she understood.
"Hey, Lisa!" Taylor sounds excited. "Half off for two of these." I moved over and suppressed a sigh at the ugliest pair of shoes I'd seen in, well, minutes. "They look durable." Taylor says hopefully. "I probably need another pair of running shoes." Well, she did seem excited about them.
"Sure, hon. We can get those too, but we need to get you into some heels." Taylor looked vaguely worried. "I'm not really used to those."
"Trust me, I'll teach you." I assured her. She needed to show off every part of her body. Taylor smiled at me, and seeing her smile really did make me happy.
The two of us continued to browse. The best thing about being a supervillain truly was money. Coil's accounts were variously self destructed, out of reach, or safely secured, and even with an 80% loss and a lot I couldn't move because it would look suspicious I still had more money than ever before in my life. Spoiling Taylor would be good, at least subconsciously reminding her of Emma. We carried a lot off to the loft, and I stashed it away neatly.
Lesbian, odd word, really. It was odd, thinking of myself as one. It was an adjective, describing what I was doing more than what I was. I could have liked boys, after all, but only dating a girl made it odd to use the word bisexual. Labels were stupid things, anyway. Fuck them with a nice, round, glass bottle of coke.
"I got you something." Taylor muttered suddenly. "I meant to give it to you earlier, but..." I was surprised. My power hadn't tipped me off. I'd kept too much control over it, given how much I'd been taxing it lately.
"What is it?" I asked, turning around.
"It's a wristband." Taylor pulled it out and handed it to me. "It's, um, spider silk, to show you how tough it is, for the costumes. Um, do you like it?" I examined it. It said "Tt." I clamped down on my power, hard, and examined it. Strong, light, comfortable. I put it around my wrist.
"Thank you Taylor, I love it." I refused to let my power tear into this, firmly, and hugged Taylor in thanks. "It was really sweet of you to think of me." She hugged me back, seeming to be hugely relieved.
"So, um, what..." Taylor asked, muttering, unsure of what to do.
"You can just hang out a bit, but I really have to work." I explained. "You could go hang out with Rachel, or Alec." Taylor looked disappointed. "Sorry, honey, but this is big." She sighed.
"Okay. Rachel." Taylor walked off. Hanging would have been fun, and a nice step towards more intensive kissing, but it was time to work. I headed to my room and turned on the computer, and pulled out my threat dossier.
On the top was the Azn Bad Boys. The definitely strongest parahuman in Brockton Bay, the second most dangerous parahuman in Brockton Bay, and another in the top ten. Lung, Bakuda, and Oni Lee. Even boxed in by literally everyone else, they still might go after the Undersiders given our history. I didn't have a really bad feeling about them tracking us down, but it was possible. They were the only ones who had tried to come after us and murder us, and had done it twice.
Second on the list was the Protectorate and the PRT. The ABB situation was a big part of why we'd gotten away with the bank robbery. That kind of shit, so public, would normally have made life much harder for us. Coil would have slowed it down, but if he hadn't been forcing me I'd never have gone through with it. Without his inside men this would be harder, though I still felt safer than before without Coil breathing down my neck. Ideally, I wouldn't want to pull another job until I ran out of money, and definitely nothing so public. My main concerns were the rest of the team, they could get a bit dangerous without being out in the field. Seven of the most dangerous capes in Brockton Bay, I wouldn't want to take them in a straight fight for long, not without really favorable circumstances or backup, hopefully both.
After that the threats went rapidly down. Empire 88 hadn't lasted this long be picking a fight with everyone they could. Empire 88 was cautious, slow, and survived by always having enough combat capes that no one could risk taking them on. Sure, if the Protectorate tried, they'd win, but the casualties would be unacceptable and the rewards would be moderate. Kaiser used expendable members and thugs to protect himself and road on reputation. Empire 88 would only go after us if it was easy and they were sure they'd win. If they could catch and execute the Undersiders, they would, but there was no pressing need to. It would be best if they didn't get desperate. If they ever had a reason to focus they'd crush the Undersiders.
New Wave was dangerous, but cautious. Unlike Kaiser, who sacrificed forces to keep going freely, New Wave refused to sacrifice anything. Reputation, members, resources, the organization was immensely conservative, focused on direct violent crime and accidents. They had survived when most independent hero teams died in a fourth of the time. They would respond to anything they could, and if the Protectorate asked for help they'd gladly give it, but they wouldn't be proactive. I flipped through the pages of New Wave members, and got an uneasy feeling when I got to Laserdream. The kid capes, soon Victoria and Amy would be adults. With three adults in the new generation their dynamic might change, grow less cautious. I got the feeling Eric would be eager to join that. It was a good ways off, but worrisome. We couldn't take New Wave in a fight, and they'd be much harder to run from than the Protectorate.
Then came the non-threats. The Wards lacked any real agency, and at most would support the Protectorate if needed. The Merchants were stupid and weak, unable to mount any offense and unlikely to win a battle against us. Faultline's Crew had no reason to fight us unless hired, and no one would be willing to spend the money. The independent villains were a mix of scrubs, individually dangerous, but lacking any reason to support anyone who could hurt the Undersiders.
I paused on the Travelers. I hadn't heard anything about them since Coil's base went down. I decided not to use my powers, cursing my silliness in using my powers. I'd want to have some rest before I tried to use my powers to work out what was going on with them.
Being a hero was easier than being a villain. Safer, too. It took a lot less for the heroes to be a threat than for the villains to be a threat. Could I make a deal with them? Turn myself in, turn everything I knew about Coil's organization in, give a sob story, and become a nicely paid PRT watchdog for the stock market? The idea was horribly boring and unpleasant. I'd heard horror stories of how PRT thinkers were treated, days of office work and middle class incomes for billions of dollars of value. The sheer stupidity of the system was astounding, and the Wards little better. $50,000 dollars a year, and minimum wage in a trust? No, I couldn't imagine that lifestyle. Maybe if everything went to hell, I could do it, but not if I could keep living like this.
That just left the problem of keeping a certain bug girl from turning herself in...
_______________________________________________________________________________________
The visit to the Protectorate HQ, and the tour of the Wards rooms, was a calculated gamble.
There was always the chance that Taylor would hear something that made her go all googly eyes at the prospect of heroism, but I was there, and it seemed like a good way of shaking her convictions.
"See, they give tinkers really neat stuff, but you aren't a tinker." I whispered to Taylor. "Sure, they might like your silk costumes, but do you think they'll buy them from their own employee at market value? Their penny pinchers would have a fit. Now, if you went a little rogue, maybe through some nice shell company, and sold it to them then all the heroes could get your costumes and you would be able to devote all that money to charity, if you really felt bad about it. The Protectorate loves how they can squeeze their tinker employees and not get shit about it because the tinkers love to build. Honey, being a thinker gives you insight into these nasty little secrets." My running commentary had the advantage of being true. Most tinkers were so delighted to get raw materials they never considered how much value they added, and being a rogue tinker was so shitty most didn't notice how much they were screwed.
"Why would I armor our enemies?" Taylor asked. How cute, trying to be all hard and villainous. She was amazingly cute when she did that, actually.
"Oh, babe. Just wanted you to think about how the other half lives." I adjusted the arm that had sat comfortably on her shoulder for most of the tour. "Ooh, they're going to show us some training." The PRT fucking loved showing tourists some training when they could. I focused my power. Velocity, Dauntless, and Battery were working together, down below, far away from the window. I was very surprised they were training with the ABB situation. Ah, this was critical. Armsmaster was out on his own a lot of the time, searching for clues, fighting his own fights, and they were trying to copy moves that he usually directed them towards, learning more initiative for a direct fight with Bakuda. Dauntless was working on the timing of his force field bubble and flight, working to coordinate with Battery. Velocity was there to spot them in slow motion, give advice, and help to manage imaginary combatants. Battery was trying to figure out exactly how much time she had, accelerated, and how much she could move and do before she got back to the cover of Dauntless's bubble to recharge.
The rest of the tourists, and Taylor, just saw blurs of bright color, and loved it. Heroes, preparing to save the day for truth and justice.
I clamped down on my power once I had the tactical information. I didn't need to ruin the image. Then, I watched the pretty superheroes.
Currently, we were shopping. I felt her body image issues would be improved if I was a bit enthusiastic with dressing her a bit sexy. More than a bit, to be honest. Okay, I was a teenager, and it was so fun to have her show a bit of skin. I'd enjoy it, and she'd feel good about it, so what was the harm?
I held up and considered a pair of shorts. It was a warm spring, and hopefully we'd last a while. Actually, buying clothes for summer would send a really interesting message. Tell her this was a bit more serious, long term. I used a brief jolt from my power. She'd like that.
I had to stop using it so much for this, but she'd be so happy once she understood.
"Hey, Lisa!" Taylor sounds excited. "Half off for two of these." I moved over and suppressed a sigh at the ugliest pair of shoes I'd seen in, well, minutes. "They look durable." Taylor says hopefully. "I probably need another pair of running shoes." Well, she did seem excited about them.
"Sure, hon. We can get those too, but we need to get you into some heels." Taylor looked vaguely worried. "I'm not really used to those."
"Trust me, I'll teach you." I assured her. She needed to show off every part of her body. Taylor smiled at me, and seeing her smile really did make me happy.
The two of us continued to browse. The best thing about being a supervillain truly was money. Coil's accounts were variously self destructed, out of reach, or safely secured, and even with an 80% loss and a lot I couldn't move because it would look suspicious I still had more money than ever before in my life. Spoiling Taylor would be good, at least subconsciously reminding her of Emma. We carried a lot off to the loft, and I stashed it away neatly.
Lesbian, odd word, really. It was odd, thinking of myself as one. It was an adjective, describing what I was doing more than what I was. I could have liked boys, after all, but only dating a girl made it odd to use the word bisexual. Labels were stupid things, anyway. Fuck them with a nice, round, glass bottle of coke.
"I got you something." Taylor muttered suddenly. "I meant to give it to you earlier, but..." I was surprised. My power hadn't tipped me off. I'd kept too much control over it, given how much I'd been taxing it lately.
"What is it?" I asked, turning around.
"It's a wristband." Taylor pulled it out and handed it to me. "It's, um, spider silk, to show you how tough it is, for the costumes. Um, do you like it?" I examined it. It said "Tt." I clamped down on my power, hard, and examined it. Strong, light, comfortable. I put it around my wrist.
"Thank you Taylor, I love it." I refused to let my power tear into this, firmly, and hugged Taylor in thanks. "It was really sweet of you to think of me." She hugged me back, seeming to be hugely relieved.
"So, um, what..." Taylor asked, muttering, unsure of what to do.
"You can just hang out a bit, but I really have to work." I explained. "You could go hang out with Rachel, or Alec." Taylor looked disappointed. "Sorry, honey, but this is big." She sighed.
"Okay. Rachel." Taylor walked off. Hanging would have been fun, and a nice step towards more intensive kissing, but it was time to work. I headed to my room and turned on the computer, and pulled out my threat dossier.
On the top was the Azn Bad Boys. The definitely strongest parahuman in Brockton Bay, the second most dangerous parahuman in Brockton Bay, and another in the top ten. Lung, Bakuda, and Oni Lee. Even boxed in by literally everyone else, they still might go after the Undersiders given our history. I didn't have a really bad feeling about them tracking us down, but it was possible. They were the only ones who had tried to come after us and murder us, and had done it twice.
Second on the list was the Protectorate and the PRT. The ABB situation was a big part of why we'd gotten away with the bank robbery. That kind of shit, so public, would normally have made life much harder for us. Coil would have slowed it down, but if he hadn't been forcing me I'd never have gone through with it. Without his inside men this would be harder, though I still felt safer than before without Coil breathing down my neck. Ideally, I wouldn't want to pull another job until I ran out of money, and definitely nothing so public. My main concerns were the rest of the team, they could get a bit dangerous without being out in the field. Seven of the most dangerous capes in Brockton Bay, I wouldn't want to take them in a straight fight for long, not without really favorable circumstances or backup, hopefully both.
After that the threats went rapidly down. Empire 88 hadn't lasted this long be picking a fight with everyone they could. Empire 88 was cautious, slow, and survived by always having enough combat capes that no one could risk taking them on. Sure, if the Protectorate tried, they'd win, but the casualties would be unacceptable and the rewards would be moderate. Kaiser used expendable members and thugs to protect himself and road on reputation. Empire 88 would only go after us if it was easy and they were sure they'd win. If they could catch and execute the Undersiders, they would, but there was no pressing need to. It would be best if they didn't get desperate. If they ever had a reason to focus they'd crush the Undersiders.
New Wave was dangerous, but cautious. Unlike Kaiser, who sacrificed forces to keep going freely, New Wave refused to sacrifice anything. Reputation, members, resources, the organization was immensely conservative, focused on direct violent crime and accidents. They had survived when most independent hero teams died in a fourth of the time. They would respond to anything they could, and if the Protectorate asked for help they'd gladly give it, but they wouldn't be proactive. I flipped through the pages of New Wave members, and got an uneasy feeling when I got to Laserdream. The kid capes, soon Victoria and Amy would be adults. With three adults in the new generation their dynamic might change, grow less cautious. I got the feeling Eric would be eager to join that. It was a good ways off, but worrisome. We couldn't take New Wave in a fight, and they'd be much harder to run from than the Protectorate.
Then came the non-threats. The Wards lacked any real agency, and at most would support the Protectorate if needed. The Merchants were stupid and weak, unable to mount any offense and unlikely to win a battle against us. Faultline's Crew had no reason to fight us unless hired, and no one would be willing to spend the money. The independent villains were a mix of scrubs, individually dangerous, but lacking any reason to support anyone who could hurt the Undersiders.
I paused on the Travelers. I hadn't heard anything about them since Coil's base went down. I decided not to use my powers, cursing my silliness in using my powers. I'd want to have some rest before I tried to use my powers to work out what was going on with them.
Being a hero was easier than being a villain. Safer, too. It took a lot less for the heroes to be a threat than for the villains to be a threat. Could I make a deal with them? Turn myself in, turn everything I knew about Coil's organization in, give a sob story, and become a nicely paid PRT watchdog for the stock market? The idea was horribly boring and unpleasant. I'd heard horror stories of how PRT thinkers were treated, days of office work and middle class incomes for billions of dollars of value. The sheer stupidity of the system was astounding, and the Wards little better. $50,000 dollars a year, and minimum wage in a trust? No, I couldn't imagine that lifestyle. Maybe if everything went to hell, I could do it, but not if I could keep living like this.
That just left the problem of keeping a certain bug girl from turning herself in...
_______________________________________________________________________________________
The visit to the Protectorate HQ, and the tour of the Wards rooms, was a calculated gamble.
There was always the chance that Taylor would hear something that made her go all googly eyes at the prospect of heroism, but I was there, and it seemed like a good way of shaking her convictions.
"See, they give tinkers really neat stuff, but you aren't a tinker." I whispered to Taylor. "Sure, they might like your silk costumes, but do you think they'll buy them from their own employee at market value? Their penny pinchers would have a fit. Now, if you went a little rogue, maybe through some nice shell company, and sold it to them then all the heroes could get your costumes and you would be able to devote all that money to charity, if you really felt bad about it. The Protectorate loves how they can squeeze their tinker employees and not get shit about it because the tinkers love to build. Honey, being a thinker gives you insight into these nasty little secrets." My running commentary had the advantage of being true. Most tinkers were so delighted to get raw materials they never considered how much value they added, and being a rogue tinker was so shitty most didn't notice how much they were screwed.
"Why would I armor our enemies?" Taylor asked. How cute, trying to be all hard and villainous. She was amazingly cute when she did that, actually.
"Oh, babe. Just wanted you to think about how the other half lives." I adjusted the arm that had sat comfortably on her shoulder for most of the tour. "Ooh, they're going to show us some training." The PRT fucking loved showing tourists some training when they could. I focused my power. Velocity, Dauntless, and Battery were working together, down below, far away from the window. I was very surprised they were training with the ABB situation. Ah, this was critical. Armsmaster was out on his own a lot of the time, searching for clues, fighting his own fights, and they were trying to copy moves that he usually directed them towards, learning more initiative for a direct fight with Bakuda. Dauntless was working on the timing of his force field bubble and flight, working to coordinate with Battery. Velocity was there to spot them in slow motion, give advice, and help to manage imaginary combatants. Battery was trying to figure out exactly how much time she had, accelerated, and how much she could move and do before she got back to the cover of Dauntless's bubble to recharge.
The rest of the tourists, and Taylor, just saw blurs of bright color, and loved it. Heroes, preparing to save the day for truth and justice.
I clamped down on my power once I had the tactical information. I didn't need to ruin the image. Then, I watched the pretty superheroes.
Peanuckle
Versed in the lewd.
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It's a little sad how Lisa has to lock herself down to enjoy things. I don't feel this is particularly true to canon, given the clear enjoyment she gets out of knowing stuff. Here it seems like it's a burden to her, something to control and restrain, only used when necessary.
The part where she clamped down about the bracelet Taylor wove was pretty telling. Lisa really wants this to work and is willing to hobble herself for it.
The little tokens of affection throughout the snip are nice. Hugs, arms around the shoulder, shopping together. All the things that go into making people happy.
On the negative side, she almost seems too jaded at things. Particularly at the end where she dives into ignorance to enjoy the "pretty superheroes," that's a pretty hefty dose of cynicism. Where's her trademark grin? She's almost always got a smile on. She loves learning things, loves using the knowledge she gets. Blanking herself out for a lightshow doesn't sound like her at all.
Her belief that Taylor would be happy about Lisa using her power to date her... possibly true. If it's used in good faith, is such a thing really that bad? Relationships depend heavily on manipulation anyways. Still might be some fallout if Taylor believes that Lisa was taking advantage of her.
The part where she clamped down about the bracelet Taylor wove was pretty telling. Lisa really wants this to work and is willing to hobble herself for it.
The little tokens of affection throughout the snip are nice. Hugs, arms around the shoulder, shopping together. All the things that go into making people happy.
On the negative side, she almost seems too jaded at things. Particularly at the end where she dives into ignorance to enjoy the "pretty superheroes," that's a pretty hefty dose of cynicism. Where's her trademark grin? She's almost always got a smile on. She loves learning things, loves using the knowledge she gets. Blanking herself out for a lightshow doesn't sound like her at all.
Her belief that Taylor would be happy about Lisa using her power to date her... possibly true. If it's used in good faith, is such a thing really that bad? Relationships depend heavily on manipulation anyways. Still might be some fallout if Taylor believes that Lisa was taking advantage of her.
WyldCard4
It's needlessly complicated
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Peanuckle said:
Note, she did it under very specific circumstances. One was Taylor, largely because the gift was objectively kind of pathetic and Tattletale was worried it came from a sad place, and the other was seeing the heroes fighting, where she didn't want to know their dirty little secrets, just wanted to enjoy the show. There's other times she'd love it, but both were situational times where it would have made it harder to enjoy things.
The part where she clamped down about the bracelet Taylor wove was pretty telling. Lisa really wants this to work and is willing to hobble herself for it.
The little tokens of affection throughout the snip are nice. Hugs, arms around the shoulder, shopping together. All the things that go into making people happy.
The thing was, she was worried she'd be getting the nasty details of Dauntless, Velocity, and Battery. She didn't want that right at the moment. An actual light show, or something with a larger group, would have been much easier, but she didn't want to pry it apart.
I see the issue, but I stand by it for this very specific case.
Larekko12
Connoisseur.
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The bracelet is porbably laded with minor amounts of distrust and identification of Lisa as a supervillain as much as a symbol of a fledging relationship. It can also be an effective tramp stamp. A bracelet is like a manacle. And theres' not telling what tiny bug she could slide in there. And considering Taylor trust nad control issues...
That we saw the Dauntless plug could have come from.
That we saw the Dauntless plug could have come from.
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mc2rpg
Versed in the lewd.
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I am greatly amused at a thought of a Taylor who has worrying about Tattletale figuring out she used to want to be a hero as her biggest fear. Not worrying about Endbringers or the apocalypse, just whether or not her girlfriend will dump her over her moral inclinations.
Prince Charon
Just zis guy, you know?
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This. Of course, I'm worried about how long this happy time can last, but there's at least a little hope, here.mc2rpg said:
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Adyen
Experienced.
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So now that there's 2 chapters out, let me comment on this a little bit.
This. This is always how I felt TT was in a nutshell before everything went to hell (as she is going to eat her words soon). Very well done on the characterization here, and as we're reading this from her point of view, it's alright to have more information about people and organizations than we would have had otherwise.
One thing I'm not too sure on is on the timeline of this... but I think the question that should be on the reader's mind is: Where's Noelle?
This. This is always how I felt TT was in a nutshell before everything went to hell (as she is going to eat her words soon). Very well done on the characterization here, and as we're reading this from her point of view, it's alright to have more information about people and organizations than we would have had otherwise.
One thing I'm not too sure on is on the timeline of this... but I think the question that should be on the reader's mind is: Where's Noelle?
BobTheNinja
Horny Aspiring Multiversal Adventurer
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Dammit, wrong thread, sorry.
WyldCard4
It's needlessly complicated
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The structure of this fic is actually a spoiler if I go with my current plans. I do plan to continue. I should probably have a more solid update schedule put into place.Disminded said:
