Amelia, Worm AU [Complete]

[pheonix89]

Ignorance is bliss, they say.

On the subject of cloning, if I agree to it before the fact? I will be slightly bitter I die, I will hope to be consigned to oblivion (No Souls theory) or restored to life in the clone's body (Souls Exist theory). And I will wish my clone to never be burdened with cloning blues and identity crisis.

Function might not be everything. But in the grand scheme of things, "functionally identical", "willing before and after the fact" and "no more than one at a time" are just about the only things that really matter. Well, "same soul" comes damn close if they exist, but we can't prove they exist or have a bearing on the results.

On the latest chapter:
GU is not blind to power interactions.

I repeat. Glaistig Uaine is not blind to power interactions. She noticed the existence of Lisandria bond. That is what "hummingbird near the eagle" means.

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Why is anyone surprised by that? She's a mindbogglingly bullshit trump with shard-sight, a "Third Trigger", and she knows more about the cycle than anyone not named Contessa. She not only has completely smashed through the taboo, but she has thinker abilities that interact with powers directly.

TanaNari, I think you may be overplaying the Taboo a bit. The logic you've been using for power interactions triggering it is that entities are basically giant power interactions, but in canon, no one had issues processing entity-related information other that the trigger vision itself.

 

[gatewaewanderer]

Ignorance is bliss, they say.

On the subject of cloning, if I agree to it before the fact? I will be slightly bitter I die, I will hope to be consigned to oblivion (No Souls theory) or restored to life in the clone's body (Souls Exist theory). And I will wish my clone to never be burdened with cloning blues and identity crisis.

Function might not be everything. But in the grand scheme of things, "functionally identical", "willing before and after the fact" and "no more than one at a time" are just about the only things that really matter. Well, "same soul" comes damn close if they exist, but we can't prove they exist or have a bearing on the results.

On the latest chapter:
GU is not blind to power interactions.

I repeat. Glaistig Uaine is not blind to power interactions. She noticed the existence of Lisandria bond. That is what "hummingbird near the eagle" means.

Click to shrink...

I agree, she's not blind to power interactions; having her witness Trigger Events and power interactions during the testing of said power interactions proves that (at least, I think I remember seeing mention of the latter in a recent chapter, can't remember which chapter though.) But am I right in thinking that Glaistig Uaine does seem to have some difficulty effecting some of the more powerful and err, 'intimate,' power interactions like the Taylia bond?

 

[dasstan]

But am I right in thinking that Glaistig Uaine does seem to have some difficulty effecting some of the more powerful and err, 'intimate,' power interactions like the Taylia bond?

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Well, it would follow that she'd have to have some way of reducing the impact of calling forth a power nullifying ghost, otherwise the moment she'd call it forth, she'd be affected by it. I think that Taylor and Amelia still retained some power either as a courtesy from GU, or because the EB tissue in the armor negated some of the power nullification aura. Or maybe both. Or because the unique power interaction lol-noped it because that precious data sharing.

 

[pepperjack]

It's probably Legend.

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Isn't Legend the Coruscant Knave? (E.01)

The Charioteer sounds like maybe a Tinker or somebody. Or some kind of Mover, like maybe Eric.

 

[Ack]

I have a question.

Suppose Taylor (the original) had apparently died, so they decanted a clone, dumped her memories into it, and kicked it over.

Six months down the track, Taylor!original pops up; she's suffered irreversible amnesia, so she's lost all memories back to just before she joined the Undersiders. Now, she's been trying to rebuild her life, which has apparently been stolen by someone who looks just like her.

She shows up, a little gaunt, a little bedraggled, a little crazy around the eyes, and she accuses clone!Taylor of being an imposter.

Now, she has no memory of meeting Amelia, of defeating the Nine, of forming Pantheon. As far as she is concerned, it was someone else who did that. In the meantime, clone!Taylor remembers everything, because the memories were implanted when she was decanted.

My question is this: which one is the 'real' Taylor? The one with the memories, or the one with the original body? Is even the 'original' Taylor truly the real Taylor, now that she's lost continuity of consciousness?

 

[evildice]

My question is this: which one is the 'real' Taylor? The one with the memories, or the one with the original body? Is even the 'original' Taylor truly the real Taylor, now that she's lost continuity of consciousness?

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Neither has the "original" body, because metabolism.

Neither has "continuity of consciousness", because sleep and amnesia.

Neither of those criteria are actually a substitute for "souls", and souls don't exist (or can't be detected), so there is no singular criteria which can meaningfully distinguish between them.

Both are real.

 

[TanaNari]

It also implies that at least one of the Capes down there was a Cauldron Cape.

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Ummm.... half the people involved in the interaction were the Ambassadors.

TanaNari, I think you may be overplaying the Taboo a bit. The logic you've been using for power interactions triggering it is that entities are basically giant power interactions, but in canon, no one had issues processing entity-related information other that the trigger vision itself.

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Not really. Only precogs are truly noped by the interactions- because they can't see shards in action.

My question is this: which one is the 'real' Taylor? The one with the memories, or the one with the original body? Is even the 'original' Taylor truly the real Taylor, now that she's lost continuity of consciousness?

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In a dropped arc I thought of, Butcher!Taylor survived and would be a storyline. I dropped it because the story is already WAY too big. I did not want it to run this long already.

 

[sephlington]

My question is this: which one is the 'real' Taylor? The one with the memories, or the one with the original body? Is even the 'original' Taylor truly the real Taylor, now that she's lost continuity of consciousness?

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As evildice says, definitely both, or neither, as "real" isn't an accurate term to apply.

Mentally, clone!Taylor is the 'real' Taylor, as she has the closest to a continuous stream of being, barring sleep, concussion and ~one months worth of not-backed-up memories. Obviously, though, she doesn't have the continuous stream of body.

Physically, amnesia!Taylor may have the closest to the original body, but she's lost all of the memories she's done with that body.

A similar scenario would be this: take Taylor, copy her mind, and then mind-wipe her. Put the full memories into a fresh clone, and a heavily edited version of them into the mind-wiped body. Clone!Taylor is mentally the "real" Taylor, but not physically. Mind-wipe!Taylor is physically the "real" Taylor, but not mentally. If left to be, they'd rapidly diverge into significantly different people (see Taylor before/after Taylia-related suicide).

Identity terms become much more complicated when cloning and mind-transference technologies come into play.

 

[Twilight666]

I didn't get that at all. How'd you reach that conclusion?

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It was actually the telecommunication before they met back in ch 333 :

"Speaking of memory tech, was your resident terrifying little girl placated by our latest project?" I asked, despite already knowing the answer. We still wanted to keep just how thorough our communications could be a secret. There was reading subtext, and then there was the ability to plot incredibly complex details using nothing more than the flutter of the eyes or the positioning of a finger based upon millimeters. "Did having the duplicate active alongside the original cause any significant side effects?"


"Impossible to say for certain," Alexandria responded back. "There was no time for the pair of them to really stress their abilities. We are, however, quite confident in our belief that the power will go mainly unused. She refers to it as a 'poisonous fruit'. Remarkably biblical imagery all considered."


"She's insane," I responded. "She's borrowing mental images from every source possible that she understands. Besides, the telling of the fall is an old one, older perhaps than her usual metaphors of choice. I doubt she'd consider it in any way dissonant from her usual. Still, it's an interesting line of thought to follow.".

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[Peanuckle]

Ah, that makes sense looking back. Feeding her a Contessa clone is a lot easier than feeding her Contessa.

Though I wonder; would Contessa lose access to her shard when that happens? GU is harvesting them for return to the entity, after all. I wouldn't think that she'd leave connections to other hosts.

 

[dasstan]

I did not want it to run this long already.

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The End is Nigh!

But assuming Brian doesn't make an appearance at the End, we can all imagine that Abomination Brian and Butcher Taylor are living happily ever after.

Though I wonder; would Contessa lose access to her shard when that happens? GU is harvesting them for return to the entity, after all. I wouldn't think that she'd leave connections to other hosts.

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S9000 arc proves that to be untrue. She has the original Gray Boy. There are Gray Boy clones in the s900. Q.E.D.

 

[evildice]

S9000 arc proves that to be untrue. She has the original Gray Boy. There are Gray Boy clones in the s900. Q.E.D.

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Yep. We know that, but they wouldn't know until they experimented.

 

[GiftofLove]

Why would you ever give GU a Contessa if you want to end the cycle? Talk about shooting yourself in the foot with a shotgun.

 

[dasstan]

Yep. We know that, but they wouldn't know until they experimented.

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I think we can safely assume that Cauldron experimented by cloning someone non-mission critical and experimenting that way before they moved on to anything else. Or maybe they didn't. No one has ever accused Cauldron of working logically.

Why would you ever give GU a Contessa if you want to end the cycle? Talk about shooting yourself in the foot with a shotgun.

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The Path told them to do it.

 

[pheonix89]

Why would you ever give GU a Contessa if you want to end the cycle? Talk about shooting yourself in the foot with a shotgun.

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Because there are ton more Contessa jammers in play now.

 

[Mr. Tebbs]

Isn't Legend the Coruscant Knave? (E.01)

The Charioteer sounds like maybe a Tinker or somebody. Or some kind of Mover, like maybe Eric.

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I figured it was Strider, who was killed when Levi hit BB

 

[CptTagon]

people."

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people?"

HesitationCaution

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HesitationCaution

 

[Snake/Eater]

The Elite's lab hiding in a pocket dimension sounds like what Toybox did/does. It raises the question of if Toybox sold this particular pocket dimension technology to the Elite, or if the Elite came up with their own way to make a pocket dimension.

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This could also mean Toybox and the Elite are working together in a partnership.

 

[tordg]

This could also mean Toybox and the Elite are working together in a partnership.

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i thought that at this point the Toybox was pretty much in Pantheon's pocket? I don't recall that definitely being stated, but I get the sense it was implied a couple of times... In either case I would expect Toybox to consider the fact that the Elite are Pantheon's enemies to mean that an alliance would be a bad idea. For looser classes of relationship I wouldn't be surprised if they just sold the relevant tech though.

 

[Daunmi]

Taylia was born of Taylor's emotions having an effect on the bugs her power controls, being picked up by Amelia's understanding of the bug bits in the Yggdrasil.

If the Hatchet Face ghost knocks out Taylor and Amelia's powers, but the Taylia connection is still there (but muted somewhat), does that mean that the shards themselves are starting to communicate with each other more freely, and passing what they get on to their hosts?

Hatchet Face doesn't sever shard connection, just makes the hosts not be able to use them. So in his influence, Taylor can't connect to her bugs, and Amelia can't understand an adjacent biology. But the shards are still connected and getting/sending information from/to their hosts.

At least, that's how I've read it...


Also, am I the only one who's looking at what Glaistig Uaine is doing/getting access to and thinking the story's going to end when she bitch slaps Scion down by herself because of all the powers she's been fed? Taylor couldn't deal with her in canon, the people who remained couldn't deal with her, and Contessa's social-fu is getting broken apart by power interactions. And I can kind of see the 'darkest fix fic' ending on 'Scion's dead, now we can all die to a human, oops' being valid...

 

[dasstan]

Also, am I the only one who's looking at what Glaistig Uaine is doing/getting access to and thinking the story's going to end when she bitch slaps Scion down by herself because of all the powers she's been fed? Taylor couldn't deal with her in canon, the people who remained couldn't deal with her, and Contessa's social-fu is getting broken apart by power interactions. And I can kind of see the 'darkest fix fic' ending on 'Scion's dead, now we can all die to a human, oops' being valid...

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I've always been a sucker for depressing endings...

 

[Projectile]

Also, am I the only one who's looking at what Glaistig Uaine is doing/getting access to and thinking the story's going to end when she bitch slaps Scion down by herself because of all the powers she's been fed? Taylor couldn't deal with her in canon, the people who remained couldn't deal with her, and Contessa's social-fu is getting broken apart by power interactions. And I can kind of see the 'darkest fix fic' ending on 'Scion's dead, now we can all die to a human, oops' being valid...

Click to shrink...

It does look like she'll be a problem in the future. Hopefully, her absolute faith in the cycle will inform her actions; after all, Scion wouldn't die unless it was part of his plan, as far as she's concerned.

Also, GU's mention of the Negotiatior's limitations gives me hope for a restoration of Lisa's and Taylor's friendship. Maybe Lisa will reconsider what her power had to say about Taylor's Taylorness? No, there hasn't been nearly enough angst about the revival tech yet. Everyone has, for the most part, been surprisingly cool about it. I don't trust it in the least.

 

[dasstan]

No, there hasn't been nearly enough angst about the revival tech yet. Everyone has, for the most part, been surprisingly cool about it. I don't trust it in the least.

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Riley edited out the angst. She then edited out editing it out, so that no one would know.

 

[GiftofLove]

Riley edited out the angst. She then edited out editing it out, so that no one would know.

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Then she replaced her kitten shower. No one has gathered the courage to investigate.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 352- Taylor


The dimensional barrier made my power feel sluggish, creating a frustrating half second delay to my minions' responses. After the third humiliating time a shadowcat walked face first into a wall, I started to get a handle on the slow response, having them walk along the area instead of their usual trotting speed.


I found Sabah and the rest of the team near the entrance to the building. They were very much alive, though naked and doing what they could to cover themselves.


Only Anima had any clothes on. She and a blonde woman I assumed to be one of Accord's were both unconscious, but the bioscans from my zerg didn't indicate any immediate health risks.


"Don't worry, everything's fine now," I informed the collection of people. I had some of the 'cats expand their wing membranes and wrap around the nude men and women, giving them some semblance of privacy. Fortunately, we never found a way to install a sense of touch into the EB zerg. Why does the idea of seeing them nude bother me? It's not like I couldn't already use echolocation and various nonvisible light spectrums to see through clothes.


"Could you create some clothes, ones that are shunt capable?" I asked Amelia. "I'm estimating ten sets." ConfusionConcern. "Umm... Anima's the only one whose suit survived the power interaction. For whatever bizarre reason, everyone else has been stripped naked."


"Yeah, just give me a minute," Amelia agreed.


"We'll have clothes and medical attention for you in a couple minutes," I let the group know. "The interaction's over and the area's secure, cooperate with the shadowcats and we'll get you out of ground zero for a real checkup.


"Everyone appears to be alive, don't worry," I informed Lily and our medical teams. "I'm bringing them to our deployment zone. The power interaction appears to have destroyed everyone's clothing. Possibly something Manton Effect related, don't know for certain."


"Is..." Sabah hesitated. "Is Anima alright? What about GL? Uh, Genius Loci." I frowned, him I didn't see. His armor seemed to have been destroyed along with everything else. His power meant he was a living shaker effect, and this interaction was a blending of shaker powers. Did... was he caught in the mess and destroyed? There's nothing I could do to figure it out.


"Anima seems to be fine," I told her. "I don't know how to find Genius Loci."


By the time Amelia got the full body covering outfits ready, I'd brought her another shadowcat to transport them to our survivors. I'd also been cataloging the other stuff in the area. The wounded men and women who were the defenders of the drug den had been stripped naked as well, but left where they fell. Most of them were badly injured by shallow wounds spread all over their bodies. If left to heal naturally, their own families wouldn't be able to recognize them after the recovery.


Their weapons and electronics had been gathered in tidy little piles, almost as if they were being inventoried, although I couldn't figure a logic in their sorting method.


"Lisa, do you have a minute?" I asked. The sixth conversation I was running simultaneously. One of the others was the universe's dumbest mugging. Why the guy thought it was a good idea to try to mug someone on Avalon, I wasn't sure, but he was wrong. What passed as local police were happy enough to take my word for everything, but it still required a conversation with a bunch of officers and someone to take down my testimony.


"Kinda busy," she responded.


"No you're not," I countered. "You are doing literally nothing except fantasizing about Alexandria. We're having this conversation now."


The drugs, and in fact everything on the top few floors in the building that wasn't on a person seemed to have been left untouched, save as casualties in the fight itself. Things got uglier as I worked further into the building, with a number of bodies that were reduced smears on the walls. I guessed that the Interaction had a fight with them over the limited space in the lower levels. It wasn't the humans that won.


"I am not fantasizing about anyone," Lisa retorted.


"Lisa, I know you know exactly how good my senses are," I sighed. "I'm linked into your suit, I know what your eyes are following. Infravision, bioanalytic stuff built by some of the best biomanipulation experts on the planet. I know what crushing looks like, and right now you're acting like a schoolgirl who's hoping to salvage a ruined prom date."


"I am n-" she hesitated. "Fuck. I am, ain't I?"


"Pretty much," I confirmed. "But that's not the problem. The problem is how you've been acting lately. Seriously, I have no idea what's with you lately. You're prodding the Protectorate like you want them to retaliate."


My zerg finally got our teams' survivors to the medical staging area. I did the best I could to avoid watching as Lily kissed the still quite naked Sabah, use her own armor's wings to give her girlfriend privacy to dress. At least, privacy from everyone else. Clarice, Emma and Elena were there to check on Anima and the other unconscious woman. Boost was enough to take care of the others' minor injuries.


"They're pompous blowhards, they don't have the balls to retaliate," Lisa countered. "They keep trying to act like tigers, even after we've proven they're declawed kittens. We should be past the point where we have to pretend to care about shit like that."


"News flash, Lisa, most of us do care about shit like that," I reminded her. "Stomping all over everyone else's rights just because they're not as strong as us? That is quite literally the very thing Pantheon exists to stop."


"It was," Lisa corrected. "Now it's stopping Scion and saving lives. If the bureaucracy gets in the way of that, it's a problem."


"And goading Glaistig Uaine?" I followed up. "If she wanted to kill you, we'd have to stand there and watch because we wouldn't be able to stop her, and trying probably would have gotten all of us killed."


"Wouldn't have happened," she replied. "I've read all her transcripts, she wasn't going to attacked me, not over words. And I got all kinds of useful mental models off her that I can actually use in the future. Worth the nonexistant risks. Now I have a better feel for what she's wrong and right about."


There was only one survivor on the lower levels, hidden behind a a metal wall that had been clawed open, but apparently not filled by the interaction. A middle aged man whose tongue had been ripped out and his hands and feet severed. The injuries had been burned after, which probably saved his life. Judging by the other stuff in the room, I guessed he was Synth. We didn't know what he looked like out of costume, but it fit what we knew.


"Was she right about you?" I prompted.


"That I'm not one of her 'royal court'?" Lisa shrugged. "The Entities don't have political structures. That'd be like asking you if your zerg are royalty, compared to the special bugs Amelia makes you, compared to the natural insects you grab. I probably don't have one of the most powerful Passengers, not like you and Amelia have, but the idea of 'royal' anything is a delusion."


"I was more thinking about the 'hummingbird and eagle' thing," I pressed. There was no doubt she knew what I meant the first time. "Seriously, the way your acting makes me think that's what this is. You're operating way outside your actual limits and it's getting to you. Passenger mind fuck or whatever."


"Sorry, Taylor, that armchair psych isn't going to work," Lisa responded. "I'm doing quite nicely for myself. My power's being pressed constantly, I've got power, resources, all the success anyone could ever ask for. Fuck, my Passenger should be happy beyond all reason right now."


"What?" I asked.


"Remember all those conversations about Taylia? The addictive nature of the link?"


"Yeah," I responded, a mix of dread and irritation coming to mind. If she's going to make this another Taylia argument... ConfusionWorrySupport.


"Well, turns out there are other ways to achieve it," she chuckled. Alexandria gave her a look, no one else was paying much attention. "Rebecca and I found out that if you're a couple really good Thinkers, you can achieve it using sign language. My Passenger and hers are apparently quite happy together."


"Is that why you've stopped pressing us on the Taylia thing?" I asked. "Because you've tried it for yourself?" Maybe now she can understand how happy it makes us, and how clear it makes everything that was no doubt fogged by our Passangers, before. But then... "Wait, is that why you're acting this way? Because you've thrown out the 'conflict' excuse with what you just told me. You've been a bitch lately. You screwed with Crystal's team without even giving them a warning."


"It was good practice," Lisa argued. "Give them a chance to think on their feet."


"You did it for an excuse to spend more time with Alexandria," I countered. "Don't bother trying to lie to me, you know it won't-"


"I am secretly the ghost of Abraham Lincoln, sent back in time from the year two thousand one to stop Prussia from conquering Australia," Lisa interrupted dryly. To my surprise, the lie detection tech read her as telling the truth. "So, you were saying?"


"Cute," I managed to carry the sarcasm through the speaker of her suit. "But I am not dropping this. I want an answer. The real answer. Don't turn this into a scenario where I have to choose between our friendship and the wellbeing of the team. I'm sure you know how that ends."


"Not a threat that matters," Lisa retorted. "You prefer Amelia to me, anyway. And, before you start, no that has nothing to do with this."


"Then tell me why," I begged. "Please. We need to work this out. And I want to help. You're my friend, you've been with me since the beginning of the team."


"Yes, I have," she responded. "The problem is, you haven't. None of you have. The only founding members left of Pantheon are me, and fucking Bonesaw. Taylor died, and Amelia, and Crystal. Missy and Theo. You're their replacements, and I am the only one who even cares enough to mourn their deaths."

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A/N- And by "only one", she includes the audience.

 

[VaporDeagle]

Oh...oh dammit....I....

Fuck.

 

[Slayer Anderson]

Oh...oh dammit....I....

Fuck.

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I second this.

There is no good answer.

 

[Swingline#57]

Eh, Lisa is entitled to her opinion. I think she's wrong.

 

[GiftofLove]

I've been waiting for this forever.

So how long before Lisa feels bad for picking on the mentally advanced ... 4 month old?

 

[pepperjack]

And I am the only one who even cares enough to mourn their deaths."

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Doesn't help that we didn't get to see the deaths. Perspective-wise, the narration has followed the clones, creating an impression of continued consciousness.