Just a Phase [Worm]

[KingCrimson1081]

No natural parahuman is psychologically fit to be a 'superhero' either. Hasn't stopped that from becoming an institution.

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True, but unlike the military the PRT and Protectorate are newish organizations so Cauldron was able to set the standards for entry so it is safe to assume that the psych evaluations are much lower than those for a police officer or someone joining the military.

Also on the topic of psychological issues one of the worst things Piggot did to the ENE Wards was remove the onsite therapist because without that she is effectively harming every Ward that joins her department by not giving them the help they need to get over their trigger events. It is also an issue if any of the BB Wards want to sue their department since it appears that therapy is one of the things required for a Wards program and is likely included in the standard contract so it wouldn't be difficult for someone to put together a case against the ENE department for not upholding their terms and conditions.

 

[Nikas_Zekeval]

One other thing, Taylor is only fifteen. The minimum age to enlist is 17, plus you have to have graduated high school or I think a GED will do. But to do that you also need parental consent. And AFAICT that 17 is more for cases where their birth-date happens after graduation, like mine.

So as a practical matter, Taylor can't get into the military till she is already out of the Wards or near enough to it.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

Been thinking about how Taylor can mess with the movie night and what I have come up with is basically she will either sit on the other side of the theater from the rest of the Wards, or she will just take a nap during the film thus defeating the point of the team bonding event. The other thought of what Taylor could do depends if they let Taylor pick the movie which they might since the whole event has been setup to get her to interact with her fellow Wards and she just picks a movie everyone would hate.

 

[SlickRCBD]

Honestly 'accepting her situation' would not only be capitulation, but reward the PRT for their complicity.

Sure it started out as a ENE branch problem, but that's no longer the case, due to Armstrongs part in this kerfuffle it went from a local problem to a regional one.

Not to mention the utter lack of actual punishment for the folks involved there really isn't a realistic way for the stubborn hell or high water Hebert to roll over for them, since spite is all she has left.

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Ah, but Taylor's a teenager. To the adults, refusing to accept her situation, move on, and make the most of it is "being childish and immature". Her defiance is just her being a petulant kid, refusing to get with the program.
Who is she to say who does and does not get punished? Whether or not Sophia and Emma are punished is none of her concern. She should be worried about her anti-social behavior, and maybe her attitude towards the Boston Wards is why she didn't have any friends at Winslow? Maybe she was making herself a target because of her attitude?
Remember, this is from the adult's POV, and a teenager who refuses to comply when an adult makes decisions for them against their wishes is just being petulant.
Get signed up for something you have no interest in and refuse to participate? It's YOUR attitude that's the problem.

Sorry, I'm kinda projecting my experiences as a teen and what I was lectured on by school authorities.

I'm sorry, but are you actually suggesting that because someone is a minor, they are obligated to cooperate with a group that is quite literally attempting to force her into labor for them while protecting parties who attempted to murder said minor?

And that a minor who refuses to cooperate with said organization is 'being irrational' and 'just as wrongheaded' as the group attempting to coerce her into laboring for them while protecting the ones who tried to kill her?

That's pretty fucked up.

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Welcome to being a minor interacting with an Authority.

 

[Santo]

Snip.

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Well, her thought process in the chapter itself already said that she plans to show up just before it starts, and leave the very moment it ends.

Which is probably as far as she'd need to go, really.

Well, that and sitting as far as physically possible from everyone else, phasing through the door the moment the movie is over if they try to chat her up.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

Well, her thought process in the chapter itself already said that she plans to show up just before it starts, and leave the very moment it ends.

Which is probably as far as she'd need to go, really.

Well, that and sitting as far as physically possible from everyone else, phasing through the door the moment the movie is over if they try to chat her up.

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True but there is still more she can do to show her displeasure even if it is something as small as getting up to go to the bathroom every couple minutes.

 

[BF110C4]

True but there is still more she can do to show her displeasure even if it is something as small as getting up to go to the bathroom every couple minutes.

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As long as she doesn't forgets that her enemies are the adults in the Protectorate and PRT, not the Wards. She gains more by maturely and politely interacting with the Wards during movie time, and then excusing herself after the movie is over than by disrespectfully messing it.

After all, if she can points that she is 'socializing' without incident or complain then she is in a better position to ask Jim from YG, who probably got no problem at all with a teen being dragged by other teens to a supervised movie night inside the base, help to counter a different, less wholesome, scheme from the PRT/Protectorate.

 

[SlickRCBD]

True but there is still more she can do to show her displeasure even if it is something as small as getting up to go to the bathroom every couple minutes.

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That, or just play with her phone the entire time while ignoring everything around her.

If she gets a pick of the movie, she'll pick something relevant to her situation about being pressed into service by the same organization as the protagonist's enemy works for and expected to just forgive any past transgressions and be a good little solider.
I know a few are out there, but I'm drawing a blank on titles besides "Now and Then, Here and There" which probably didn't get made on Earth Bet.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

As long as she doesn't forgets that her enemies are the adults in the Protectorate and PRT, not the Wards. She gains more by maturely and politely interacting with the Wards during movie time, and then excusing herself after the movie is over than by disrespectfully messing it.

After all, if she can points that she is 'socializing' without incident or complain then she is in a better position to ask Jim from YG, who probably got no problem at all with a teen being dragged by other teens to a supervised movie night inside the base, help to counter a different, less wholesome, scheme from the PRT/Protectorate.

Click to shrink...

True, but at the same time Taylor can't let the PRT think they are winning because that would just embolden them into trying more things since she is obviously starting to open up to her teammates.

That, or just play with her phone the entire time while ignoring everything around her.

If she gets a pick of the movie, she'll pick something relevant to her situation about being pressed into service by the same organization as the protagonist's enemy works for and expected to just forgive any past transgressions and be a good little solider.
I know a few are out there, but I'm drawing a blank on titles besides "Now and Then, Then and Now" which probably didn't get made on Earth Bet.

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Well if it wasn't made on Bet there are still Aleph imports so she might still have access to it.

 

[Nikas_Zekeval]

If she gets a pick of the movie, she'll pick something relevant to her situation about being pressed into service by the same organization as the protagonist's enemy works for and expected to just forgive any past transgressions and be a good little solider.
I know a few are out there, but I'm drawing a blank on titles besides "Now and Then, Then and Now" which probably didn't get made on Earth Bet.

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"Full Metal Jacket" and "Good Morning Vietnam" might have been made on Earth Bet or imported from Aleph. (1987 for both) Maybe "The Great Escape" and Taylor picks up a mitt and ball and bounces it off the wall when out of homework.

Edit: That is if the Wards' theater doesn't have a deal to show current run movies.

As for interaction? Remember she thinks of the Wards as Emma and Sophia, or at least people that would accept people like them in their ranks. So she is suspicious of how much of what she sees of the Boston Wards is real, and how much a mask and pretending to want to be her friends because the adults want her on board. Roulette getting short with Taylor could be seen by the later as the mask slipping to show "the real Ward." At any rate unbending too much is a vulnerability.

Connie level interactions? Where it is clear that being a Ward is put away before talking to Taylor? About the best you can probably hope for. If she does think kindly of any of the Boston Wards it will be tinged with pity that they still think the organization is worth a fart in the wind.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

As for interaction? Remember she thinks of the Wards as Emma and Sophia, or at least people that would accept people like them in their ranks. So she is suspicious of how much of what she sees of the Boston Wards is real, and how much a mask and pretending to want to be her friends because the adults want her on board. Roulette getting short with Taylor could be seen by the later as the mask slipping to show "the real Ward." At any rate unbending too much is a vulnerability.

Connie level interactions? Where it is clear that being a Ward is put away before talking to Taylor? About the best you can probably hope for. If she does think kindly of any of the Boston Wards it will be tinged with pity that they still think the organization is worth a fart in the wind.

Click to shrink...

Now I am imagining what Taylor's reaction would be if Boston's Wards team suddenly gets a new probationary Ward like Sophia, and to make it worse said new probationary Ward attaches themselves to Taylor due to Taylor's noncompliance.

 

[Daemir Silverstreak]

Just toss on"Grave of the Fireflies" or "Shindlers List"

Might cause psychological damage to the wards, but it will make her displeasure known.


EDIT: oooooor Tokyo Gore Police, Robo-Geisha or Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter. The sheer WTFuckery will ensure she's never asked to movie night again.

 

[SlickRCBD]

Just toss on"Grave of the Fireflies" or "Shindlers List"
Might cause psychological damage to the wards, but it will make her displeasure known.

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I haven't seen Grave of the Fireflies, but when Shindler's List came out, there was a movement to have all the high school students watch it during history class.
I think Steven Spielburg or somebody related to the movie (i.e. the studio) donated copies to school districts.
In any case it was shown to me in my junior year history class, although I missed part of it because my father died and I was at the wake and funeral.
However, my father was an avid WWII buff and I had already seen it twice, once when he brought me to the movie theater and later when he bought it on VHS.
I think mom still has the tapes, unless she donated them to the library two years ago. I know she got rid of a lot of movies during the COVID shutdown under the premise that "If I haven't watched the in 20+ years, I'm probably not going to watch it again" and I lost track of what she kept and what she donated to the library.

My point is that I don't see how Shindler's List would be traumatizing, but maybe I'm an exception because

1. I was already traumatized like Taylor pre-Locker from being a Target in 8th grade and slightly lessor extent in high school.
2. I'd already seen scores of other documentaries on the Holocaust (and lots of other WWII subjects. If it related to WWII aired on TV or TCI's cable between 1985 and 1996 I probably saw at least part of it since Dad would have insisted on watching it on the only TV, at least the only one until mom bought one at a garage sale cheap for her bedroom around 1992)
3. I had to do a research project in 8th grade on Dachau.
4. Also had Night Elie Wiesel as assigned reading freshman year.

 

[BF110C4]

True, but at the same time Taylor can't let the PRT think they are winning because that would just embolden them into trying more things since she is obviously starting to open up to her teammates.

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Distant but polite is a very good way of not giving too much ground while at the same time gaining the high ground by showing she can be mature enough not to make a scandal of every little action done by the PRT and saving her more stringent complaints for the important stuff. Taylor's current plan is to hold up until she is 18, she needs to carefully pick her fights in order to last that long, and that means not making herself an open enemy of the Wards while at the same time gather more support from her only meaningful ally, Jim, the YG guy. And despite hating him as a person I admit that he is at least moderately uncomfortable with the amount of socialization Taylor is currently missing (as depicted in the first interlude) so showing him that she's at least doing a token effort to appear to interact with people her age will prevent him joining the 'Let's force the teen girl to have friends' out of not completely misplaced concern (Taylor do need friends and to talk with people of her own age, but it would be better if she get those in her own terms).

 

[Nikas_Zekeval]

Just toss on"Grave of the Fireflies" or "Shindlers List"

Might cause psychological damage to the wards, but it will make her displeasure known.


EDIT: oooooor Tokyo Gore Police, Robo-Geisha or Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter. The sheer WTFuckery will ensure she's never asked to movie night again.

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I think Taylor would be more subtle in her picks. Stuff that is fun on the surface, but subversive when you think about it while lying in bed later.

Full Metal Jacket, about a bunch of civilians getting turned into Marines and how it took normal people and made them willing to kill when ordered. Particularly Joker, who apparently did his best to avoid an actual combat posting where he might shoot someone, and how the film ended.

Good Morning Vietnam, Robin Williams role of the subversive Air Force radio DJ trying to bring a spot of humor and truth to the soldiers stuck fighting in that country. And bucking the system to do what he thought was right, rather than what the Army wanted. Then there was the whole subplot with Tuan, and his rant to Willaim's character about why he was part of the Vietcong, even though Tuan twice pulled Willaim's character out of danger.

Finally the Great Escape, the partially fictionalized (the US airmen had been moved to a sister camp before the actual escape) mass breakout from the "inescapable" Stalag Luft III. The parallels draw themselves.

Three films you can watch, enjoy, and then only later go "wait a minute..."

 

[KingCrimson1081]

Distant but polite is a very good way of not giving too much ground while at the same time gaining the high ground by showing she can be mature enough not to make a scandal of every little action done by the PRT and saving her more stringent complaints for the important stuff. Taylor's current plan is to hold up until she is 18, she needs to carefully pick her fights in order to last that long, and that means not making herself an open enemy of the Wards while at the same time gather more support from her only meaningful ally, Jim, the YG guy. And despite hating him as a person I admit that he is at least moderately uncomfortable with the amount of socialization Taylor is currently missing (as depicted in the first interlude) so showing him that she's at least doing a token effort to appear to interact with people her age will prevent him joining the 'Let's force the teen girl to have friends' out of not completely misplaced concern (Taylor do need friends and to talk with people of her own age, but it would be better if she get those in her own terms).

Click to shrink...

That is good in theory but the PRT is currently operating under the rule of 'if she gives as an inch we're going to take a mile' so even if Taylor does decide to take the high ground it leaves her open for more 'encouragement' from the PRT which Taylor does not want. So her best option is to keep things civil with Valve in order to mitigate socialization complaints while distancing herself from the rest of the team.

Three films you can watch, enjoy, and then only later go "wait a minute..."

Click to shrink...

This has the same energy as Taylor openly reading Catch 22 in Implacable. Also it would a good way to make what the others are hoping to be a fun team building experience and turning it on its head and making everyone feel uncomfortable for the rest of the night.

 

[Nikas_Zekeval]

This has the same energy as Taylor openly reading Catch 22 in Implacable. Also it would a good way to make what the others are hoping to be a fun team building experience and turning it on its head and making everyone feel uncomfortable for the rest of the night.

Click to shrink...

Or even have the realization happen later:

Omake- The Cooler Queen.

Weld wasn't sure why Taylor dug the baseball and glove out of the Wards' sport gear for her latest round of Common Room PR tour duty. When one of the tourists asked if Phase liked baseball the girl just shrugged and said it was something she started to pass the time. At least Taylor caught her latest bounce and put the ball into the glove when a group walked in.

Now if only he could place the song Taylor was whistling when she did her solo game of catch...

----

Armstrong sighed as he recognized the ring from his phone as O'Hannon on the line, with another PR emergency. He picked up immediately.

"I'm going to need another open ended overtime authorization." The voice coming over the line sounded both angry and resigned in equal measures.

Armstrong went with his most likely source of PR headaches, "Phase?"

O'Hannon snorted, "Who else? I was trying to do interest pieces, implying Phase liked Baseball. Steering discussions into debates about which team she'd support. Only for someone on PHO to notice something. Every hear about a film called "The Great Escape"?"

Armstrong frowned, something tickling at the back of his mind. Only to suck in his breath as the information came forth. "Isn't that the one..."

O'Hannon finished the thought, "With a mass Allied POW escape from a German prison camp? Got it in one. Phase has been whistling the show's theme tune and the ball bouncing? The signature move of the film's star! PHO already made the connection and asked where her escape tunnels were. I've got God's own shitstorm to deal with, because if she is the chief Allied POW, then we are"

Armstrong finished this time, "Her Nazi guards. Right, get your people on this. I'll find somewhere in the budget to cover for their pay, somehow."

 

[KingCrimson1081]

Or even have the realization happen later:

Omake- The Cooler Queen.

Weld wasn't sure why Taylor dug the baseball and glove out of the Wards' sport gear for her latest round of Common Room PR tour duty. When one of the tourists asked if Phase liked baseball the girl just shrugged and said it was something she started to pass the time. At least Taylor caught her latest bounce and put the ball into the glove when a group walked in.

Now if only Weld could place the song Taylor was whistling when she did her solo game of catch...

----

Armstrong sighed as he recognized the ring from his phone as O'Hannon's on the line, with another PR emergency. He picked up immediately.

"I'm going to need another open ended overtime authorization." The voice coming over the line sounded both angry and resigned in equal measures.

Armstrong went with his most likely source of PR headaches, "Phase?"

O'Hannon snorted, "Who else? I was trying to do interest pieces, implying Phase liked Baseball. Steering discussions into debates about which team she'd support. Only for someone on PHO to notice something. Every hear about a film called "The Great Escape"?"

Armstrong frowned, something tickling at the back of his mind. Only to suck in his breath as the information came forth. "Isn't that the one..."

O'Hannon finished the thought, "With a mass Allied POW escape from a German prison camp? Got it in one. Phase has been whistling the show's theme tune and the ball bouncing? The signature move of the film's star! PHO already made the connection and asked where her escape tunnels were. I've got God's own shitstorm to deal with, because if she is the chief Allied POW, then we are"

Armstrong finished this time, "Her Nazi guards. Right, get your people on this. I'll find somewhere in the budget to cover for their pay, somehow."

Click to shrink...

Later on Taylor puts this poster up on her wall.

Gauss later came into her room to check for escape tunnels.

 

[Rymu]

I mean as entertaining as that omake is, it would be more entertaining if Taylor were a Ward in BB and some Inheritance level shenanigans of the PRT being able to not shake all the bulshit claims of being nazis or nazi sympathizers was ongoing.

 

[tarrangar]

As long as she doesn't forgets that her enemies are the adults in the Protectorate and PRT, not the Wards. She gains more by maturely and politely interacting with the Wards during movie time, and then excusing herself after the movie is over than by disrespectfully messing it.

After all, if she can points that she is 'socializing' without incident or complain then she is in a better position to ask Jim from YG, who probably got no problem at all with a teen being dragged by other teens to a supervised movie night inside the base, help to counter a different, less wholesome, scheme from the PRT/Protectorate.

Click to shrink...

The Wards are her enemies, not her chief enemies, but they're working for her enemies, and that make them enemies too.

The grunts might act sympathetic, but if their superiors are your enemies, and they aren't mutinous against said superiors, then they are your enemies.

Some times it's more advantageous to subvert them instead of opposing them, but that don't change that they're your enemies by default, you can choose to work at getting them to change sides, but they start out on the enemy side.

 

[BF110C4]

The Wards are her enemies, not her chief enemies, but they're working for her enemies, and that make them enemies too.

The grunts might act sympathetic, but if their superiors are your enemies, and they aren't mutinous against said superiors, then they are your enemies.

Some times it's more advantageous to subvert them instead of opposing them, but that don't change that they're your enemies by default, you can choose to work at getting them to change sides, but they start out on the enemy side.

Click to shrink...

Not exactly, the Wards as a whole are not her allies and take orders from the enemy, but they themselves are more or less neutral even if they lean at all sides of the spectrum. Lily for example is actually an ally of Taylor, if a slighty conditional one, while Valve is in a state that could be called neutral cordiality. And the rest of the Wards are not exactly being actively looking to ruin her day, in that sense it is to her short and long term benefit to take care that her actions won't actively turn the Wards against her without a clear payday.

Plus there is the fact that messing with the Wards during movie night when they have been corteous despite being caught in the middle of a fight between Taylor and the government would be bullying. In fact if she does that then Taylor becomes Madison, a girl who restlessly bullied Taylor in petty ways not because she was a psycho or she hate anything about her in particular, but because doing so was an easy way of getting in Sophia and Emma's good graces and due to her circumstances Taylor couldn't properly defend herself. And in this case attacking the Wards who are at worse a reluctant tool of the adults, knowing that they have to take the abuse for as long as the strategy of the PRT/Protectorate is for her to make friends would be far too much like being like Madison tripping her in the classroom or make rumors where she can hear, and Taylor most certainly is no Madison.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

I mean as entertaining as that omake is, it would be more entertaining if Taylor were a Ward in BB and some Inheritance level shenanigans of the PRT being able to not shake all the bulshit claims of being nazis or nazi sympathizers was ongoing.

Click to shrink...

If Taylor was still a Ward in BB she would be dealing with Piggot who is simultaneously easier and harder to put the screws to than Armstrong. Easier in the sense that Piggot actively goes against her own regulations so Taylor has more to work with, but harder in the sense that she wouldn't put up with Taylor's noncompliance half as well as Armstrong.

As Taylor making the ENE look like nazi sympathizers perhpas her little baseball routine comes right after a gala at Medhall which the ENE roster attended, and the day after Coil decides to release the identities of the Empire members. Cue PHO theorizing that Phase is either a precog or was actively trying to warn the public about the true allegiances of the 'heroes'.

The Wards are her enemies, not her chief enemies, but they're working for her enemies, and that make them enemies too.

The grunts might act sympathetic, but if their superiors are your enemies, and they aren't mutinous against said superiors, then they are your enemies.

Some times it's more advantageous to subvert them instead of opposing them, but that don't change that they're your enemies by default, you can choose to work at getting them to change sides, but they start out on the enemy side.

Click to shrink...

Exactly Taylor can't risk genuine friendship with the Wards because of how the PRT would twist that friendship into getting Taylor to do what they want, so at the moment Taylor is stuck in a prison with some friendly guards but at the end of the day no matter how friendly they are they are still guards who are obligated to not let her go.

 

[tarrangar]

Not exactly, the Wards as a whole are not her allies and take orders from the enemy, but they themselves are more or less neutral even if they lean at all sides of the spectrum. Lily for example is actually an ally of Taylor, if a slighty conditional one, while Valve is in a state that could be called neutral cordiality. And the rest of the Wards are not exactly being actively looking to ruin her day, in that sense it is to her short and long term benefit to take care that her actions won't actively turn the Wards against her without a clear payday.

Plus there is the fact that messing with the Wards during movie night when they have been corteous despite being caught in the middle of a fight between Taylor and the government would be bullying. In fact if she does that then Taylor becomes Madison, a girl who restlessly bullied Taylor in petty ways not because she was a psycho or she hate anything about her in particular, but because doing so was an easy way of getting in Sophia and Emma's good graces and due to her circumstances Taylor couldn't properly defend herself. And in this case attacking the Wards who are at worse a reluctant tool of the adults, knowing that they have to take the abuse for as long as the strategy of the PRT/Protectorate is for her to make friends would be far too much like being like Madison tripping her in the classroom or make rumors where she can hear, and Taylor most certainly is no Madison.

Click to shrink...

It's war, the Wards might be sympathetic to Taylor to some degree, but they would choose the PRT over Taylor in a heartbeat, that make them enemy combatants in the PR war, and that make them valid targets.

Which don't mean Taylor should target them for no reason, but hurting the PRT by going though them is in no way unwarranted, they have chosen the PRTs side, that mean they are valid targets.

 

[FirstSelector]

Or even have the realization happen later:

Omake- The Cooler Queen.

Weld wasn't sure why Taylor dug the baseball and glove out of the Wards' sport gear for her latest round of Common Room PR tour duty. When one of the tourists asked if Phase liked baseball the girl just shrugged and said it was something she started to pass the time. At least Taylor caught her latest bounce and put the ball into the glove when a group walked in.

Now if only Weld could place the song Taylor was whistling when she did her solo game of catch...

----

Armstrong sighed as he recognized the ring from his phone as O'Hannon on the line, with another PR emergency. He picked up immediately.

"I'm going to need another open ended overtime authorization." The voice coming over the line sounded both angry and resigned in equal measures.

Armstrong went with his most likely source of PR headaches, "Phase?"

O'Hannon snorted, "Who else? I was trying to do interest pieces, implying Phase liked Baseball. Steering discussions into debates about which team she'd support. Only for someone on PHO to notice something. Every hear about a film called "The Great Escape"?"

Armstrong frowned, something tickling at the back of his mind. Only to suck in his breath as the information came forth. "Isn't that the one..."

O'Hannon finished the thought, "With a mass Allied POW escape from a German prison camp? Got it in one. Phase has been whistling the show's theme tune and the ball bouncing? The signature move of the film's star! PHO already made the connection and asked where her escape tunnels were. I've got God's own shitstorm to deal with, because if she is the chief Allied POW, then we are"

Armstrong finished this time, "Her Nazi guards. Right, get your people on this. I'll find somewhere in the budget to cover for their pay, somehow."

Click to shrink...

This is hilarious, and reminds me fondly of Monkeywrench Factory

I love when Taylor uses obscure references that the PRT miss but the wider public eventually identify.

 

[Nikas_Zekeval]

This is hilarious, and reminds me fondly of Monkeywrench Factory

Click to shrink...

Thanks, that one was mine as well.

 

[Praetrunco]

Plus there is the fact that messing with the Wards during movie night when they have been corteous despite being caught in the middle of a fight between Taylor and the government would be bullying. In fact if she does that then Taylor becomes Madison, a girl who restlessly bullied Taylor in petty ways not because she was a psycho or she hate anything about her in particular, but because doing so was an easy way of getting in Sophia and Emma's good graces and due to her circumstances Taylor couldn't properly defend herself. And in this case attacking the Wards who are at worse a reluctant tool of the adults, knowing that they have to take the abuse for as long as the strategy of the PRT/Protectorate is for her to make friends would be far too much like being like Madison tripping her in the classroom or make rumors where she can hear, and Taylor most certainly is no Madison.

Click to shrink...

Since all they have to do is pretend Taylor doesn't exist instead of constantly harassing her, the two situations are nothing alike at all. Particularly since not being your friend is not actually bullying, whereas academic fraud, emotional and mental abuse, battery, theft, etc, etc actually are.

It's why I see Connie as being Taylor's only actual ally. She's the only one who has even acknowledged Taylor's voice. Lily might want to be her friend, but so far it's only been a fair-weather one and those don't really matter.

It has nothing to do with being a tool of the adults. They can make their own choices, and just like the adults, are denying Taylor's. That makes them just as culpable and responsible for what Implacable illustrated as a textbook example of hostile work environment.

Which made me just notice

Simple, because if asked what her issues are that makes her want to quit, she'll tell them and they can't do anything about it.
They have been reasonably accommodating in Boston.

Click to shrink...

going back to check 2.6 again to plumb the Wards in it.

No, they haven't been reasonable. They've treated the dirt outside more reasonably than they have Taylor. Particularly considering that as 2.6 demonstrates in abundance, virtually everyone in Department 24 doesn't even recognize Taylor exists, and expects Phase to stop being so heathenistically villainous and fall into conformity because that's the only route her life has now and it'll all be better once she sees the light, their treatment of her is in essence nothing more than a continuation of what she received at Winslow. Less humiliation in exchange for more callous disregard to agency and independence. Sure, the verbal abuse that was a mainstay in Implacable only just now started (face to face with Taylor, that is) here with Roulette, but I'm sure that'll pick up given most of the reactions to the tour.

I think the fact that they can very much do something about her issues, but in point of fact refuse to do so to such an extremity that they won't even accord her the same dignity they (did) Shadow Stalker pre Jim, or a canonical post-Leviathan Armsmaster, is only frosting on top of the incompetency cake.

Which is why I felt mentioning FirstSelector's Implacable omake the other page to be so poignantly ironic. Because Pisces wanted nothing to do with Wards, the "honor" of serving under Legend didn't matter anymore than the fact she only had "issues" because Piggot was a cunt to such a degree that Dolores Umbridge would ask for tips. Ironically, Armstrong has the Dumbledore vibe to him to accompany that.

Distant but polite is a very good way of not giving too much ground while at the same time gaining the high ground by showing she can be mature enough not to make a scandal of every little action done by the PRT and saving her more stringent complaints for the important stuff. Taylor's current plan is to hold up until she is 18, she needs to carefully pick her fights in order to last that long, and that means not making herself an open enemy of the Wards while at the same time gather more support from her only meaningful ally, Jim, the YG guy. And despite hating him as a person I admit that he is at least moderately uncomfortable with the amount of socialization Taylor is currently missing (as depicted in the first interlude) so showing him that she's at least doing a token effort to appear to interact with people her age will prevent him joining the 'Let's force the teen girl to have friends' out of not completely misplaced concern (Taylor do need friends and to talk with people of her own age, but it would be better if she get those in her own terms).

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Every offense of indoctrination and attempted violation of her rights is "important stuff". That she's a victim of the very organization and not a ward of the state simply because of stuff like Aisha, Burnscar or hell, Vasil type CPS issues, or examples from other fics like No Good Deed (or for more lewd ones, The Infamous Hebert Temper) where she was all-out orphaned, it's doubly important that the simple fact of the matter is the minor not only has the ability to say "No, I won't fly the flag.", but an entire organization mandated by Congress backing the validity of such a choice up by ensuring it is treated with respect and not farcical appellations of typical teenage rebellion, and that the PRT can't void their base human rights because "I say so.", as the one bad parental phrase goes.

Considering the date of said interlude, I'd say that anybody who expects her to be socializing, especially with Wards, is undeserving of being pissed on were they to be on fire.

Hell, given what I said above about 2.6 and Roulette, all it takes is one of the kool-aid drinkers to say something like "Nobody likes her. Nobody wants her here." and oopsies, there goes Boston pretending they can say they're any different from ENE. At that point, how many days, months, or years it's been doesn't matter.

 

[Xicree]

Most people who trigger need immediate therapy and counciling, which I admit is something the Boston department is providing to Taylor and will most definitely help her out in the long run, but yeah no natural parahuman will pass any potential psych evaluation required to join such organizations.

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Successful Therapy and counseling will often reduce the utility and power of the Parahuman... which is why for every Director Armstrong wanting to help the troubled people who become parahumans... you have a Director Piggot who will let their issues fester so long as they don't interrupt the team overall, because those issues are the backbone on which their powers are built.

And one needs one's Super Soldiers at peak power...

No natural parahuman is psychologically fit to be a 'superhero' either. Hasn't stopped that from becoming an institution.

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Yes but it's an outcropping with different expectations to Police and Military. One that carries a wider connotation of 'Im allowed to get into these fights without it being seen as a problem'. Superhero comic book culture just got appropriated for the job of providing a useful social construct for containing and guiding superhumans who were going to be at each other's throats anyway.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

Successful Therapy and counseling will often reduce the utility and power of the Parahuman... which is why for every Director Armstrong wanting to help the troubled people who become parahumans... you have a Director Piggot who will let their issues fester so long as they don't interrupt the team overall, because those issues are the backbone on which their powers are built.

And one needs one's Super Soldiers at peak power...

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That kind of thought process would just lead to all your super soldiers to commit suicide rather frequently which would lead to less super soldiers in the long run, meanwhile with the parahumans that actually get the help they need while they may end up a little weaker they will be better mentally and physically due to actually getting help to resolve their issues and will thus be the superior force overall.

 

[macdjord]

FYI there were no rewrites. Basically nothing changes since the time Worm was first posted.

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There were a few edits - there's a thread on SV IIRC that lists all of them - but AFAIK, most of them are just edits to tone and wording; the only change to events transpired was adding Browbeat to the list of dead in the Leviathan fight.

Later on Taylor puts this poster up on her wall.

Gauss later came into her room to check for escape tunnels.

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Lily came into her room to check out the poster~

 

[Evilreadermaximum]

And one needs one's Super Soldiers at peak power...

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Pretty sure that only happens if a parahuman is in a situation that mirrors their trigger to a significant degree. Otherwise, their powers just remain at default. So honestly I doubt getting them therapy would actually adversely affect power levels in any real fashion as the overwhelming majority of parahumans avoid situations that remind them of their trigger events like the plague anyway.