Charm Learning Shard (Worm/Exalted) (COMPLETED)

[Daniel Snuts]

Spoiler: Danny-o-vision

"I take back what I said about 'party on a school night'", I say as Taylor gets into the passenger seat. "It's clearly a school morning."

She just shrugs. "What can I say? I'm a Winslow kid at Arcadia, I'm a juvenile delinquent by default."

I chuckle at that. Some delinquent. When I think back to what I did in my youth... I was never a party animal, but of the ones that I did attend, not all of them left me in a state that I would want my parents to find me in. As long as Taylor calls to be picked up, I don't mind losing a little sleep. The peace of mind is well worth it.

Yes, I want my daughter to do as I say, not as I did. Some would call it a double standard, but dammit, girls are different!

Regardless of lost sleep incurred, I much prefer this new Taylor. She really has... blossomed? since getting out of Winslow (I fight down a surge of anger, as I do every time I think about what they did to her there). She still acts fairly distant most of the time - we really did drift apart during those bad years, that can't be fixed just by snapping your fingers. But I can tell that she's much happier now, much more alive.

...Oh dear. A terrible, no-good thought just occurred to me. About some other people I have known, who appeared to suddenly gain a lot of energy. For a while. Who also went to parties, and didn't necessarily drink alcohol there.

I glance over at Taylor. Her eyes are closed, but she's frowning about something, so not sleeping yet. "Taylor?"

"Hm?"

"These parties... Your new friends... They aren't, uh... They don't..."

"Oh, we all inject heroin into our eyeballs and snort the ground-up bones of strangled orphans. You know how it is."

"Taylor..." At least she understood what I was failing to say, I think ruefully.

"I can pee in a cup if you like. Though I'm pretty sure they don't check for orphans yet, it's a fairly new fad."

"Was Cliff at the party?" I ask, changing the subject.

"We broke up."

"Oh. What happened?"

"Nothing bad." She's silent for a while before continuing. "It just wasn't love."

"I'm sorry." She doesn't respond, but her frown deepens. I decide to shut up and quit while I'm behind.

The worst part is, you can't even be mad at Newter. He apologized profusely for getting the dosage wrong and knocking you out for longer than intended (he also kept shooting weird glances at your forehead for some reason). It probably wasn't even his fault to begin with. His magic spit clearly interacted with your weird bullshit powers somehow, because the lingering olfactory hallucination went away as soon as you stopped using sorcerer's sight.

Then when you had finally gotten changed (body and clothes) and called your dad and had time to look inside yourself to try to figure out what happened, you found a brand new power in there.

Sorcerer's sight is fine by the way, it hasn't changed in any way you can detect and you didn't start hallucinating again when you turned it back on. Now if dad would just shut up and let you concentrate on the new one...

It's clearly not Newter's power: You're not orange. It almost appears... broken? It has ridiculously thick power conduits drawing energy from... wherever the fuck it is powers draw energy from, you still get vertigo whenever you look in that direction. Whatever it is, it requires much more energy than any other power you've seen.

But it doesn't seem to do anything. There's no functional part. It just draws in a bunch of energy, carefully divides it up and... stops. You'd call it incomplete, except you've never been able to anchor an incomplete power to your soul before. Though admittedly this time around you were tripping balls and/or on some sort of power-induced vision quest thing. Something may have gone wrong.

Until you figure out what's going on you're going to stay the hell away from Newter. Just in case it is half of his power and further exposure makes you turn orange.

---

"You know, we don't actually have to get rid of them all," the skinhead says. "We could just deport the men, and keep the women for ourselves. Don't import any new ones, and in a few of generations everyone will be white enough to be a citizen."

"Sounds like something the Romans would do," his buddy comments.

"Zeroth Reich best Reich," he agrees.

You're, like, 60% certain they're not being serious right now?

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," your delivery driver (what was his name again?) objects. "Did you just tell me to fuck a nigger?"

"No no no no, no bestiality. The niggers gotta go. But there are other races who-"

"Goddammit Steve, are you trying to justify an asian girlfriend again?"

"Mmmmaybe?"

Okay, make that 80% certain.

"I don't blame him," Fake Swede remarks to the bartender. "Giving up asian hotties was the hardest part of becoming a nazi."

"Word."

Things get a bit shouty then, as several people simultaneously try to instruct the straying flock on the problems inherent in asian miscegenation. Phrases you can make out include 'man up and stop playing on easy mode', 'they're not even hot', 'do you want your sons to have tiny dicks?' and 'burn the rice, pay the price.'

Luckily that's when salvation enters the building. "Rune, save me from these dorks!" you shout as you flee the argument.

"You don't have to fraternize with the rank and file, you know."

"But then who would transport my dog food for free?"

---

"Oh fuck my life," Rune says. "We're going to need reinforcements."

You study the deadly threat that is currently approaching your territory, clad in green and white. That's... uh... huh. Idea.

"I'll handle it," you say.

"You what?"

"Don't worry, I've got a plan. Put me down."

"Uh-huh. I'll just hang back here, ready to swoop in and get your dumb ass out of trouble. And also call for reinforcements."

Rune sets you down at what she considers a safe distance, then backs her rock up even further. You send Fenrir forward at a slow walk, timed to meet your target at an intersection right on the border. She tenses as you approach, but from what you can make out beneath her visor she appears determined rather than scared.

"Good evening, colleague," you greet Vista from across the intersection.

"What?"

"I said, good evening." Most pedestrians have already fled to avoid getting caught up in your confrontation, but a few remain. Rather than keep to the sidewalks, they spread out in a loose cloud surrounding you both. Predominantly young men, you notice. Legally they are innocent bystanders who just happen to have terrible self-preservation instincts. In actuality, they are loyal sons of the Empire who are using their bodies to interfere with Vista's power (much like Faultline's, it is blocked by living things). You didn't even have to ask them or anything.

Vista looks around at the 'bystanders', then over your shoulder at Rune, who is conspicuously maintaining a vantage point down the road. "You're with the Empire," she says accusingly.

"True."

"We're not colleagues."

"No? You patrol your area of the city, I patrol mine. If we happen across a crime, we stop it. How are we not colleagues?" Some of the bystanders chuckle at that. "Quiet!" you snap. They quiet.

Vista is rendered briefly speechless by your impeccable logic, and you take the opportunity to extract a soul price.

Vista wants the respect of her peers.

How unfortunate that she is so resistant to considering herself Rune's peer. She's missing out.

"Are you going to fight me?" she asks eventually.

"Should I?"

"Are you going to let me pass?" Vista takes a step to her left. Fenrir does likewise to remain in front of her.

"Good question," you say. "I honestly don't know the policy on that one. Skin color checks out, but I don't think you'd be very popular. Do you promise not to try to kidnap- sorry, 'arrest' anyone during your stay?"

"You're not worried that I'm going to arrest you?" Vista takes another step to the side. She's cheating subtly by compressing the space beforehand, letting her cover more ground than she otherwise would. Well, it's subtle to other people, to you the compressed area is literally a huge glowing sign indicating the use of her power.

"Arrest me? What for?" Your smile might not be visible beneath your mask, but your amusement is clear in your voice.

"What for? You're a nazi!"

"Funny thing about this country: Unpopular political opinions are not actually illegal."

"You're with the Empire!"

"Oh, I know this one too: Freedom of association! Good old first amendment, ain't it grand?" Of course if you were to ask anyone in the Empire itself they would tell you that freedom of association died a long time ago - just try putting up a 'whites only' sign and see how free you are to choose who you associate with.

Vista's attempts at sidling around you has at this point failed completely. You have left the intersection behind and are now walking together down opposite sides of the street, Vista cheating all the while. She's either planning to try again at the next intersection, or it's a ploy to get you away from your meatshields before she attacks. But with Rune maintaining an eye in the sky you're not overly worried.

"You're seriously claiming to be innocent?" she asks.

"Never committed a hate crime in my life, guv'nor."

Vista maintains her causal walking pace, but starts cheating more blatantly. The distance she's covering with each step is clearly unnatural, now.

"I suppose you could attack me for no reason," you continue. "Like a true hero. But my backup is a lot closer. Speaking of which, aren't Wards supposed to only go out in pairs?"

"Shadow Stalker ran off on her own," Vista admits. "I was trying to find her."

And that led her in this direction, huh? You pull out your phone, call ops. "Be advised, Shadow Stalker may be present in Empire territory." You hang up.

"Why'd you do that?" Vista demands.

"Because it's my job?" Also because Sophia getting counter-ambushed and having the shit beaten out of her would make your day. "Say, are you seriously trying to outrun a wolf?"

Vista picks up the pace.

It's a pretty interesting contest. Fenrir can outrun a horse, Vista can bend space. Sure, there's little doubt what would happen in a fight - there's a reason Rune was reluctant to engage - but by unspoken agreement this is a street race. You quickly figure out that the effects of her power are permanent (or at least sticky), much to her detriment. That is, she has to constantly split her attention to manually untwist the space behind her as she goes, lest she vandalize the continuum.

Traffic is another problem, as both cars and pedestrians sharply limit how big an area she can affect. Considerably more than pure 'can't affect the living' limits would predict, too: She's too polite to suddenly bend space that a civilian is about to step or drive into.

Even then she'd quickly win against the majority of capes out there, because once she's at the limit of how much she can speed herself up she starts expanding the space in front of you to slow you down. Unfortunately for her, sorcerer's sight lets both you and Fenrir see it coming in time to dodge. Said dodges typically involve some less than polite proximity with pedestrians, occasionally jumping over their heads.

You're pretty impressed with how well she manages to split her attention four ways (she has to undo the attacks as well), she's even pulling ahead. So you direct Fenrir to move over to her side of the road. Vista instantly realizes what you're up to and expands space in the middle of the road to block you. She can't allow you to get into the compressed space behind her before she can undo it.

But she can't do something as simple as just putting up a barrier down the middle, because there's a limit to how thin an area she can affect - the blocking fields she puts up are wide enough to impede traffic, and so have to be deployed judiciously and undone quickly. Fenrir still ends up running flat out, juking and poking back and forth across the street to dodge and bait out the obstacles she throws up.

The little monster is way too good at what she does, in your opinion. You can't believe a goddamn twelve-year-old is giving you this much trouble. Indeed, a relatively empty stretch of road finally spells your doom, as Vista finally manages to completely encircle you and sprint ahead before Fenrir can work his way through.

"Ha! Got you!" She stops running and looks back at you with her hands on her hips, panting for breath but triumphant.

Yep, she beat you fair and square. But she certainly seems to have had fun doing so. Thus, you deploy your secret weapon: "Best two out of three?"

Of course you're not going to be beaten the same way twice. You have a pocketful of change, and the next time traffic threatens to clear up you start throwing it at her to distract her.

"Ow! That's cheating!"

"Oh I'm sorry, I wasn't aware that there were rules."

Vista grits her teeth and starts trying to put even more unpredictable twists in the space between you, in order to throw off your aim. Such a shame that you can see them all clear as day, isn't it?

---

Okay, even if sorcerer's sight shows you how you ought to adjust your aim, you don't actually have a power for hitting what you aim at.

"Best three out of five?"

===

Spoiler: Updated status

Charms:
Taylor: All-encompassing Sorcerer's Sight
Tattletale: Know the Soul's Price
Bitch: Spirit-Tied Pet
Aegis: Ox-Body Technique
Browbeat: Shaping the Ideal Form
Dragon: Implicit Construction Methodology
Newter/Four-armed Scion/???: ???

Spoiler: Mechanics corner

Oh my, did she get something more than just Essence 3?

 

[Saltedboi]

Newter/Four-armed Scion/???: ???

Click to shrink...

Is this, all the gods forbid, Zeal? The original version? Is this how she's going to kill brutes now? I'm sure it could be a hell of a lot of other things, but that one's the first one I thought of. Wait, are you using combos at all? Does it give her combos?

 

[eeda]

Very funy interaction with Vista, now i want Low Key to try to out pun Clockblocker

 

[R.A.G.]

lmao, is she going to master Vista into the E88? Surely no way that'll go wrong, kek

 

[eeda]

lmao, is she going to master Vista into the E88? Surely no way that'll go wrong, kek

Click to shrink...

Kek, as funny as that idea is i think Vista only consider other Wards and young Heroes her peers.

Maybe a new heroic persona

 

[Rerororororororororo]

We do a little nazi indoctrination

 

[Prognostic Hannya]

"I don't blame him," Fake Swede remarks to the bartender. "Giving up asian hotties was the hardest part of becoming a nazi."

Click to shrink...

irl neo-nazis actually love East Asian women, the stereotypes about them push all their "le respectful dutiful submissive tradwife" buttons. There's a reason an internet forum that used to be full of people fapping to imaginary Japanese girls is now full of nazis, and it's not because 4chan stopped doing the first thing.

 

[OldSpartan]

It says something about how bad things were for Taylor before her trigger that her dad considers her to be in a better place now. But I suppose it makes sense. Taylor and her fascination with powers at least gives her a hobby to focus on. And in the last couple of weeks she has likely done more socializing than in the last couple of years. ..

I imagine the PRT will not be too happy with Vista. I'm sure that some bystanders recorded their street races on their phones, and to the public that might look like the Heroes are taking it easy on the E88. Not a good look when they probably want to be seen as tough on crime.

 

[Mr Zoat]

irl neo-nazis actually love East Asian women, the stereotypes about them push all their "le respectful dutiful submissive tradwife" buttons. There's a reason an internet forum that used to be full of people fapping to imaginary Japanese girls is now full of nazis, and it's not because 4chan stopped doing the first thing.

Click to shrink...

**John Rabe disapproved of that**

 

[Daniel Snuts]

Is min damage a thing (having trouble remembering the other effects permanent Essence has besides min damage, prereqs, and mote pool calculation, although I feel like they exist)

Click to shrink...

Sure, let's say min damage is a thing. I assure you that I will never write a fight scene detailed enough to tell the difference.

irl neo-nazis actually love East Asian women, the stereotypes about them push all their "le respectful dutiful submissive tradwife" buttons. There's a reason an internet forum that used to be full of people fapping to imaginary Japanese girls is now full of nazis, and it's not because 4chan stopped doing the first thing.

Click to shrink...

Those people exist, but aren't the only 'faction'. The more dedicated/ideological types are vehemently opposed to that sort of thing due to the resulting lack of white children to secure a future for. Thus the shouty internal policing.

 

[vox_vis]

Those people exist, but aren't the only 'faction'. The more dedicated/ideological types are vehemently opposed to that sort of thing due to the resulting lack of white children to secure a future for. Thus the shouty internal policing.

Click to shrink...

And in Brockton Bay the Empire is a big enough institution that splinter groups can't actually break away and expect to have enough membership to have a clubhouse where everyone knows your name, or an affiliated church group.

 

[Akuma-Heika]

Sure, let's say min damage is a thing. I assure you that I will never write a fight scene detailed enough to tell the difference.

Click to shrink...

Little sad you glossed over the more relevant question

 

[Eyemore]

Now here's the real question people should've asked by now - is Taylor Exalted enough to pull off Stunts? Because the scene with Mush makes me feel like there might be something to this line of thought.

 

[Daniel Snuts]

Spoiler: Aegis-o-vision

"Alright, listen up," I tell the assembled Wards. "Yesterday Vista encountered a new parahuman affiliated with the Empire 88. There have been rumors about a new recruit circulating - apparently she goes by 'Low Key' - but this is the first solid info we have. Vista, why don't you tell us what you observed?"

Vista - Missy - stands up and clears her throat. "Alright. I was proceeding down Acker street when I spotted Rune in the distance. She did not move to engage, but dropped off another parahuman and hung back to observe. Said parahuman did approach me, but stopped several yards away and made no hostile moves. She then initiated a conversation."

"Where was Shadow Stalker during this?" I ask, already suspecting what answer I'm going to get.

Missy glances at Sophia. "Shadow Stalker was scouting ahead at the time. Seeing that the parahuman was not hostile she remained at a distance, ready to intervene but not wishing to provoke a fight unnecessarily."

This is obviously a big, steaming heap of bullshit. I would be able to tell even without Dean giving the game away (it's not that his poker face is bad, it's that he only ever wears it when he's trying to hide something).

Scouting ahead? Sophia, not attacking an Empire cape on sight? She clearly ran off on her own again and never even saw Low Key. And Missy is covering for her. They don't even like each other, but you simply don't tattle on a colleague.

I can't even complain, really. I did my fair share of covering before leadership was thrust upon me.

"Console? Can you confirm this sequence of events?" I ask Chris.

Both Missy and Sophia are giving Chris some rather unsubtle glares. "Uh, yeah? That's what happened." I repress a sigh. As console it was his job to keep Sophia on task, and send it up the chain if she refused orders. He was no doubt caught up in some Tinker project or other and completely forgot about his duties. Again.

At least that's an honest fuckup. Unlike Dennis, who deliberately lets Sophia have her way in a misguided attempt to get into her good graces (and/or pants).

"Alright, moving on. Can you summarize your conversation?"

"She, ah, stated that we had no reason for conflict. She admitted to being part of Empire 88, but appeared to consider herself a 'fellow crime fighter'."

"What, like the crime of being black?" Sophia asks sarcastically.

"She claimed to not have committed any hate crimes," Missy says.

"Bullshit."

"We cannot prove otherwise," I interject. "There are no outstanding warrants for Low Key."

"That just means she hasn't gotten caught yet," Sophia insists. "Of course the nazi bitch has done something."

"That's as may be, but we can't arrest people on a charge of 'you've probably done something'. Please continue, Vista. What happened then?"

"I, uh... Since she was a potential future threat but not currently hostile, I challenged her to a friendly contest in order to gather information about her powers."

Spoiler: Vista-o-vision

Yeah, that's the ticket. I'm a professional. I most certainly did not get caught up in the moment. There was no childlike glee.

"That would be the 'spacewarp footrace' that has been making the rounds on the internet all day," Dennis helpfully points out.

Missy blushes slightly. "Uh, yeah."

"I can't believe how much footage there is," he continues. "How much of your patrol did that take up?"

Her blush deepens. "...essentially all of it."

"Console can confirm," Chris says cheerfully.

I make a cutting gesture, indicating that they should stop their teasing. "Please describe her powers."

"She's a Master. Not the scary kind. She has this giant wolf that she rides. I'm not sure how she does it-"

At that phrasing, all eyes in the room turn towards Dennis. "What?" he asks. "You're clearly already thinking 'Dennis is going to say 'doggy style'' - which means it wouldn't be funny if I did." He waves at Missy. "Please, keep telling us about Ilsa, she-wolf of the SS."

I groan and massage my temples. "Dennis..."

"I don't get it," Chris says. "Was that a joke?"

"It was," Dean confirms. "...I don't get it either."

"No, see, the joke is that Carlos clearly got it," Dennis explains, "which tells us amazing things about his taste in movies. Whatever you do, don't google it at work." He leans back in his seat and gives me the smuggest goddamn smirk.

"Are trying to get console duty?" I ask.

"Fucking seriously?" Sophia exclaims. She has her phone out, and is looking at it with a mixture of shock and disgust. "A porno set in the holocaust?"

"I just told you not to google it at work," Dennis says. "Seriously, it would have been so much funnier if everyone found out on their own and came back tomorrow not wanting to be the first to bring it up."

"I didn't watch it," I say defensively, "I just heard about it."

"Uh-huh, yeah, we definitely believe you," Dennis says.

"You realize that you knowing about it is equally damning, right?"

"Yeah, well, only one of us has any dignity to lose."

"Ain't that the truth," Sophia says.

"Two weeks of console duty for inappropriate behavior," I decide.

"I accept your just and unbiased judgement, o fearless leader."

"Should'a just gone with the doggy style joke," Chris tells him.

"Worth it."

I sigh, and gesture for Missy to continue.

"Uh, right. As I was saying, I'm not sure how she does it, but she never once had any trouble directing the wolf. I'd be tempted to say a direct mental link, like it was part of her body. Except she congratulated and petted the wolf when she won a race. Why would you pet something that's part of yourself?"

"Oh god," Dennis says, "right across the plate. I'm already out, someone else lay bat to it."

"We'll explain when you're older, squirt," Sophia says with a less than good-natured smirk.

"Three weeks of console duty," I say. "Each."

Sophia turns to Dennis. "You owe me, Clock."

"Still worth it."

"Your thoughts on threat rating?" I ask Missy over their banter, trying to keep things on track.

"Master 4, sub-rating Brute 4, Thinker 2, Mover 2," she answers crisply. She's obviously thought about it in advance. Sophia scoffs, probably because it's higher than her own rating. I'm inclined to side with Missy, and not just to get this trainwreck of a meeting over with. One thing confuses me, though.

"Thinker 2?" I ask.

"I was able to obtain confirmation that the wolf has superhuman senses."

Spoiler: Vista-o-vision, last night

"How do you keep doing that?"

"Doing what?"

"Dodging my power! Warps that gentle are practically invisible!"

"I don't know if you've heard, but wolf senses are considerably more acute than human ones."

---

"Sir?" Missy approaches me and stands at attention. "Requesting permission to approach Low Key with the goal of recruiting her into the Wards."

I try not to smile. I know she hates being seen as cute, but boy are her attempts at military bearing backfiring on her in that regard. At least she doesn't try to salute me, I would definitely crack up if she did.

"Permission denied." If Low Key had been hostile, if Vista had been attacked while Shadow Stalker was missing and console was goofing off, that would have been all our asses. I'm not going let her wander into that situation on purpose.

"Please?" She completely abandons her military bearing as she leans forward and deploys puppy dog eyes. "I believe her, you know? About being innocent, I mean. She should be one of us. We have to get her out of there before the Empire makes her do something awful!"

"So you were planning to what, wander around Empire territory looking for her? You can try to message her on PHO or something, but you are not to approach her, understood?"

"But-"

"Permission denied, soldier."

"Sir!" She snaps back to attention, then turns on her heel and marches off.

"I have some hot info you may be interested in," you (that is, Quicksilver) tell Faultline.

"Oh?"

"There's a-" crap, what's the PC term for monster cape again? "-a Case 63?"

"You mean Case 53?" She gestures towards Gregor.

"Right, a Case 53 in town that you don't know about."

"A potential recruit?"

"No. Not a chance."

"Then I don't see why I should-"

"I will pay for this information," Gregor interrupts. "You may take the cost of this session out of my next paycheck," he tells Faultline, who shrugs in response. His money, his business.

"Gallant," you say.

"Of the Wards?" Faultline asks, her disbelief evident in her voice. "What does he look like underneath the armor?"

It's your turn to shrug. You of course know that he looks perfectly human in street clothes. But while you may personally be a giant walking violation of the unwritten rules, you're not about to share the love.

"How do you know?" Faultline asks. "If you are able to convey it in English, that is," she adds archly.

"They're color coded for my convenience," you say with a smile. "You, me, every other parahuman I've seen, our powers all have the same color. And texture. Except it's not really texture texture-" Faultline motions you to get on with it. "Right. Everyone except Gregor, Newter and Gallant. Those three are different in both color and texture. But they're the same as each other. As far as I can tell, there are only two kinds of parahuman."

"What's your sample size?" Faultline asks.

"Uh, twenty-ish? Twenty five? Less than thirty, at any rate." There were a lot more capes than that in Ottawa, but you weren't really paying attention then. Were some of them off-color? Almost certainly. You don't remember.

Not that you could tell Faultline about that, regardless. Quicksilver never went to Ottawa. But speaking of Ottawa, another thought occurs to you.

"If it helps, I'm almost certain that it's a case of a non-standard power causing non-standard biology, not the other way around. I mean, most people probably think that, but I'm the expert saying they're right."

"I was not born a snail?" Gregor asks, clearly confused as to why you'd feel the need to specify something like that.

"Well, yeah. Not many snail people around. But I meant you weren't born with some congenital brain issue that messed up your trigger event." Dragon has a regular power, after all, and she's a robot. Hard to get more non-standard biology than that.

---

When Kid Win's power burns itself into your soul you literally fall out of your chair in surprise (you were admittedly tipping said chair back dangerously to get a better viewing angle, since you're sitting in the same row today). That's ridiculous! That can't have been more than - you do some mental math as you pick yourself back up - eight-ish hours of study time? There's no way you should be able to get it right that quickly.

Maybe if you had been sleeping at night like a sane person, you wouldn't have been too groggy to notice how unreasonably well it was going. You could have spared yourself a bit of pain and a lot of embarrassment.

You're not sure how useful it will be, really. You already have Dragon's Tinker power, which was like ten times as hard to learn. Even if difficulty doesn't map directly to power level, there must surely be some correlation, right?

You'll take it, though. You've lost count of how many times you've been stabbed in pursuit of Cricket's power, you'll happily accept a bruised tailbone in exchange for a mostly redundant Tinker boost.

You surreptitiously activate the power to see if it gives you any neat ideas. If Kid Win can think Tinker-thoughts in class, so can you.

Well, now you know exactly how the mechanical pencil in your hand works. That's neat, you guess. You never paid enough attention to pencils before to notice that you didn't really know how they worked. Now you're pretty sure you could build a pencil factory on your own. No ideas for building a pencil-cannon or a graphite laser or anything, though.

You slip your hand into your pocket and touch your cellphone. Wow, cellphones are complicated. Radio frequencies, voice compression algorithms and chemicals for etching circuit boards march across your brain. And you finally figured out how to make it stop suggesting that you upload every picture you take to social media!

Wait, social media? You fall out of your chair again as a tide of internet-related technical knowledge washes over your brain like a tsunami. Clearly, mental discipline is required when using this... industry and forge wisdom... around connected devices.

Still no tinkertech ideas, though. All his power did was to make you even more of a Tinker 0. Looks like it's still orichalcum or bust, if you want to go beyond the bounds of conventional science (you stifle an inappropriate giggle when you realize that you did in fact bring your bust beyond the bounds of conventional science, didn't you?).

Seriously, though. You really should decide what to make with your orichalcum. It doesn't do any good just lying around un-forged. The problem is that you don't have the time to forge anything right now, much less use the result in some clever new scheme.

The day passes without any further surprises. You catch a brief nap after school, then it's off to enact your old clever scheme, that of getting stabbed by Cricket a lot.

Or not, as it turns out. Cricket has finally gotten fed up with your complete inability to learn martial arts even on pain of large amounts of pain, and passes you back to Hookwolf. Oh goody, broken bones incoming.

And once you finally get Cricket's power working you're still not done here, because Othala is next. Your schemes are so clever.

---

Turns out that your (highly publicized - your classmates have been talking about it all week) encounter with Vista counts as a cape fight, as least as far as getting paid by the Empire is concerned. You did technically keep a cape from a hostile faction out of their territory. If you squint a bit you could even spin it as a taxing battle that lasted for hours.

Maybe next time you'll challenge Clockblocker to a dance-off.

"For, uh, dedicated service to the Empire," the bartender says.

Well, if you get paid, Fenrir gets paid. That's the rule you settled on. You find whatsisname, the delivery guy. Eric, right! "Please have another sheep ready on Monday," you tell him.

The other patrons are also talking about your exploits, you realize: "Who knew that Vista's secret weakness was her bedtime?" "I can't believe Low Key solved a problem without violence." "I know, right? Do you think she's been Mastered?"

"You shouldn't talk about Low Key like that," Rune calls from the doorway. She pauses for a beat. "She might beat you up."

===

Spoiler: Updated status

Taylor: All-encompassing Sorcerer's Sight, ???
Tattletale: Know the Soul's Price
Bitch: Spirit-Tied Pet
Aegis: Ox-Body Technique
Browbeat: Shaping the Ideal Form
Dragon: Implicit Construction Methodology
Kid Win: Industry and Forge Wisdom

Spoiler: Mechanics corner

If you have no idea what Industry and Forge Wisdom does, I don't blame you. It's from that least beloved of splats, the Mountain Folk ('Mary Sue Dwarves', for you non-exalted fans).

It calls on their connection to Autochton ('Elder God of Technology') to give a modest dice bonus to all interactions with mechanical and/or magical objects. In the Wormverse, that probably shakes out as a side-channel to Dragon's shard or something.

I wanted an appropriately weak charm for Kid Win (it will make artifact crafting roughly twice as fast going forward - compare to Dragon's charm that shook out to an 8000x multiplier), that would nevertheless have appropriate fluff for also letting Taylor maintain regular tinkertech (though she doesn't know that part yet).

 

[Vealie]

Instantly understanding How Stuff Works could be a pretty great thinker/striker power tbh.

 

[Fernando]

"Please, keep telling us about Ilsa, she-wolf of the SS."

Click to shrink...

...

You can't keep getting away with this! Filth! FILTH!

 

[Prognostic Hannya]

Taylor maintain regular tinkertech

Click to shrink...

OH. This... this could be really big. Would this work on Leet's tech to prevent it breaking down? If not, there's still Coil's laser rifles, Kid Win's hoverboard/pistols, and any tech she can strip of Squealer's trucks (invisibility, anyone?)

How many chapters until she gets Rune, Cricket, Hookwolf, and Othala's charms? Possibly Victor's as well.

Also, anyone else worried about Coil 100% knowing about Taylor's abilities thanks to torturing it out of Lisa in an alternate timeline? Unless something about the charms interferes with his precog abilities, but even then, that might not stop him from just extracting what Lisa knows, if the precog shard takes scans of the world before Coil splits each timeline.

 

[Daniel Snuts]

Little sad you glossed over the more relevant question

Click to shrink...

Other effects of Essence? Well, you get to raise your base stats to superhuman levels at Essence 6+, but that's literally 100 years off. More accessibly, many infernal charms get more powerful with higher Essence, but there's no unifying rule, just a lot of "this charm does X and also has bonus effect Y at Essence Z".

 

[Edifier]

I absolutely love this story! It's got a lot of things I like.

Now here's the real question people should've asked by now - is Taylor Exalted enough to pull off Stunts? Because the scene with Mush makes me feel like there might be something to this line of thought.

Click to shrink...

I much feel like the way Taylor made Dragons suit should be considered a stunt. Even before that she has had minor epic moments.

 

[Akuma-Heika]

Other effects of Essence? Well, you get to raise your base stats to superhuman levels at Essence 6+, but that's literally 100 years off. More accessibly, many infernal charms get more powerful with higher Essence, but there's no unifying rule, just a lot of "this charm does X and also has bonus effect Y at Essence Z".

Click to shrink...

I thought there were other things mentioned in the core rulebook, for mechanical effects of Essence that was uniform for all beings with Essence (maybe even if unenlightened [which can create strange scenarios, since most humans won't raise their Permanent Essence before Awakening it, and all Spirits/Exalted have it Awakened by default {I think it goes back and forth on whether PE can be raised without it being Enlightened/Awakened, not sure if the Scroll of Errata mentioned it, but besides that the later books I read seemed to be of the consensus that yes it was possible, but most wouldn't waste the time or energy aka XP raising it without it being Awakened}])

'Mary Sue Dwarves', for you non-exalted fans).

Click to shrink...

I don't think they could be called Mary Sue Dwarves even before the Geas placed on them crippled their physical, mental, and magical capabilities (ignoring the fact that they are also Elves and Homo Magi). The Clayman, the OG Jadeborn, might qualify as a Mary Sue though, but he was a level above his brethren even when they were at full capacity; like the difference between a 2CD and a 3CD or a Rank 3-5 God and a Celestine.

It calls on their connection to Autochton ('Outer God of Technology')

Click to shrink...

FTFY (quasi nitpick, since Elder Gods are generally still humanish in most religions that have a previous generation of the gods that currently rule [where the Primordial are, as the name implies inhuman Primordial Deities {even Auto, after doing severe spiritual and brain surgery to his Fetich soul, can still only mostly comprehend a human's thought processes at the speed a mortal/average human can aka he loses a ton of dice on his rolls when doing so}])

Edit: How did I miss this update?

(he also kept shooting weird glances at your forehead for some reason)

Click to shrink...

...Caste Mark is the obvious option, but which one? Sorcerer Sight is Obvious because it makes the Caste Mark visible, but that hasn't happened before.

Is this, all the gods forbid, Zeal? The original version? Is this how she's going to kill brutes now? I'm sure it could be a hell of a lot of other things, but that one's the first one I thought of. Wait, are you using combos at all? Does it give her combos?

Click to shrink...

What is Zeal? I was thinking a BS Ignis Divine Charm (he has many both canon, and Ink Monkey fanon, with a couple from each that could be applicable to this, at least to a degree)

 

[Daniel Snuts]

I don't think they could be called Mary Sue Dwarves

Click to shrink...

Mountain Folk before the Scroll of Fallen Races:

"A strange, reclusive people that live beneath the Imperial Mountain and pay annual tribute to the Scarlet Empress. This one-liner is literally all that has been written about them."

Mountain Folk after the Scroll of Fallen Races:

"They were so awesome that the exalted were shitting their pants in fear and had to go crying to daddy and beg him to nerf them and even after the nerf there's still ten million of them and they live spread out underneath the entire world and they are constantly fighting off the million zillion evil darkbrood monsters that no one has ever heard of but which would otherwise rise up and easily consume the entire surface world but it's cool because my pet dwarves have sworn not to interfere in surface affairs and their forever war against the evil gribblies is a perfect stalemate and therefore my super radical take on this throwaway faction totally doesn't fuck up the entire setting!"

I think they could be called Mary Sue Dwarves.

I was thinking a BS Ignis Divine Charm (he has many both canon, and Ink Monkey fanon, with a couple from each that could be applicable to this, at least to a degree)

Click to shrink...

Are you sure it's a charm?

Now here's the real question people should've asked by now - is Taylor Exalted enough to pull off Stunts?

Click to shrink...

An interesting question, because what are stunts but a mechanical way of saying "I'm a protagonist, look at the cool shit I'm able to pull off"? But this isn't an rpg session, and Taylor is the protagonist. Does that make her actions into 'stunts'?

 

[Eyemore]

An interesting question, because what are stunts but a mechanical way of saying "I'm a protagonist, look at the cool shit I'm able to pull off"? But this isn't an rpg session, and Taylor is the protagonist. Does that make her actions into 'stunts'?

Click to shrink...

IIRC, canonically Stunts are just Reality itself seeing what the Exalted is trying to do and going "holy shit that'd look cool, I'll nudge Fate a bit and make it a little more probable to happen with less drawbacks because I absolutely want to see this happen".

 

[Daniel Snuts]

"Now that you're internet famous, you really should get set up with a PHO account," Rune tells you once you're underway.

"What for?" You understand that many people your age live what's practically an entire second life online, but you can not fit any more extracurriculars into your schedule right now.

"What for?" Rune exclaims in disbelief. "To troll your enemies! To see them driven nuts before you, and hear the lamentations of the moderators!"

"Eh. You stole my best material already."

"I did? Oh right, the NASA stuff. I completely forgot to use that." She pauses to consider this, then continues on with even more enthusiasm. "Now you have to get online, so you can drop that line on someone!"

Rune will not be dissuaded. She goes so far as to make let you borrow her phone to register right away, and takes a selfie of the both of you posing with Fenrir to get you 'verified cape' status. She then guides you every step of the way through the 'shitposting' process.

"Here, use this thread. It's perfect!"

Spoiler: PH-O-vision

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♦ Private message from modmail:

modmail: You received a 3 day suspension for your post in the thread: Boards > Places > America > Brockton Bay > Uber and Leet escape custody! Again!

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■​

♦Topic: Uber and Leet escape custody! Again!
In: Boards ► Places ► America ► Brockton Bay

Uber (Original Poster) (Verified Cape)
Posted on March 9, 2011:

Why hello there, fans of the show! I'm happy to inform you that everyone's favorite dynamic duo will soon be streaming again after our unscheduled break (followed by an unscheduled breakout, haha!). Without revealing too much, let me just say that Leet has something special planned to celebrate our newfound freedom. You don't want to miss it!

I'm a bit disappointed that I had to make this thread myself, though. Why, last time we escaped we arrived back at the lair to find a thread chronicling our exploits already up.

You have to be on your toes to keep up with the likes of us, loyal viewers!

- Love and kisses, Uber

(Showing Page 7 of 7)

► rrqn
Replied on March 10, 2011:
It's a shame they couldn't stream the escape, I bet it was awesome.

► Clovis66
Replied on March 11, 2011:
@rrqn
inorite?

► Cuddly Octopus
Replied on March 11, 2011:
What do they make those cells out of, swiss cheese?

► Low Key (Verified Cape) (Temp-banned)
Replied on March 11, 2011:
At least NASA got to the moon eventually.

► rrqn
Replied on March 11, 2011:
@Low Key
Who are you? Are you a new cape?

► Clockblocker (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)
Replied on March 11, 2011:
That note was you? Fite me IRL!

► Low Key (Verified Cape) (Temp-banned)
Replied on March 11, 2011:
@Clockblocker
I probably will end up doing that at some point, yes.

-User received a suspension for this post. Reason: Threats of violence are against the board rules.

► road_to_hell
Replied on March 11, 2011:
@rrqn
That's the wolf girl from the videos. You know, Vista's buddy.
​

End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 5, 6, 7

"Nice even-handed moderation," you comment mildly as you hand the phone back to Rune.

Rune reads through what transpired, then throws her head back and shouts to the heavens. "Two posts! Witness me, gods! She got banned after two posts! She truly is my son." She mimes wiping away a tear.

---

At one point during the patrol you notice that you've picked up a tail. Since Rune doesn't notice, and you recognize who it is, you don't say anything. Once you've parted ways for the evening you direct Fenrir into an alley, and wait.

"Good evening, colleague," you greet Vista as she rounds the corner. Rather than her usual colorful outfit, she's dressed in street clothes, with the hood of her jacket pulled up and - you squint in the evening gloom - a domino mask? So, she's incognito. Like there were any other parahumans her size in the city.

"Hey." She doesn't bother to object to the form of address this time around. "Wanna hang out?"

"Yeah, sure. One sec. Can you keep a secret?"

"What?"

"Well, I'm going to call home. I'd appreciate if your bosses didn't get a time and place to trace the call from."

"I wouldn't do that!"

"'Kay." You get out your phone and dial home. Trusting a hero? Well, it's Vista. And while young does not necessarily mean innocent, you're pretty sure Armsmaster would have provided her with a tinkertech wire if she was going to fuck you in that particular way. And sorcerer's sight shows that she's clean.

Spoiler: Vista-o-vision

Maybe it's a bit rude, but I stick close enough to listen in on the call. It's not that I don't trust her (it's not!), I just want to know more about her.

"Hey, it's your favorite daughter. Just calling to tell you to go to bed."
...
"No, it's not another party. I'm going to hang out with my friend Vanessa for a while."
...
"I know it's late. She works part-time too, this is the only time we can hang out."
...
"It's fine. She lives in Empire territory. Name one safer place for a pair of white girls to be out after dark."
...
"Fine, if it gets too late I'll stay over at her place. Just go to bed, okay?"
...
"I'm trying to make sure my terrible life choices only affects one of us."
...
"Love you too."

"'Vanessa?'" she asks.

You shrug. "It sounds a bit like 'Vista', helps me keep my lies straight. Feel free to refer to me as Louise, or Kayden or whatever, if you need to."

"Uh, we - I mean, the Wards - already have a name for you." Wait, is she blushing?

"Do tell."

"It's... Ilsa." Yes, definitely blushing.

"Oh, a German name," you say, your voice flat. "How clever."

"Wasn't my idea," Vista defends herself.

"Whatever, you can use that too. Or wait, as a Ward you're already out to your parents, aren't you? But seeing as you're incognito right now..."

"They won't care," Vista says with a certain heat. "If I'm out of the house that just means they don't have to feel guilty for screaming at each other in front of the kid."

"Sorry."

"It must be nice, having parents that care about you," she mutters, half to herself.

"Don't assume the plural," you tell her.

"What? Oh."

"Sooo..." you say into the awkward silence. "You wanted to hang out. With less publicity than last time, I assume."

"Yeah. Here, let me just..." Vista compresses the space between the ground and the rooftops enough to easily hop up. "Ta-da!" she calls, her voice echoing strangely as the sound reaches you both the long and the short way.

"Neat," you tell her as Fenrir jumps after. Yeah, if she hadn't stuck to the roads when you raced, you'd have been completely helpless.

Rooftop rides with Vista is even better than with Rune. Rune can only provide elevator service when the rooftops don't match up properly. Vista tells the concept of distance to go fuck itself without even breaking stride.

"Why are you with the Empire?" Vista asks after a while. So it's not just your company she's here for. Or should you say, she's trying to acquire your company on a more permanent basis?

"I can only do as my conscience directs," you say. You're bullshitting, but with all the unfair advantages you have you're pretty sure you can talk rings around the young hero.

"If you had a conscience, you'd be a hero!"

"Really? The worst villain may call himself a hero, for being seen as a hero is desirable. But a nazi? There is no more hated existence in all the world. Only a man of utmost conviction, with a brave and honest heart, who holds his principles above all else, would dare to stand up and proclaim himself such. To be true to himself, though he be reviled by all others."

"Nazis are evil!"

"At least they own up to their shit!" you snap at her. Then you take a deep breath, and continue more calmly.

"Look, a nazi is all 'Me am hate faggots. Me go punch faggot now.'" You make your voice as deep as it will go and do your best caveman impression. None of the nazis you've met talk like that. One of them tried to engage you in a conversation about why a disgust reaction towards male homosexuality is natural and healthy, evolved for good reasons, and should not be suppressed. But it makes Vista giggle despite herself.

"Now a hero, a hero will tell you all about truth, justice and the American way, then stab you in the back and piss on your corpse. And then the government will cover it up!" Ok, Taylor, relax. You may not be bullshitting as much as you thought you were, but that's no reason to go flying off the handle.

"We're not like that!"

"Oh? Well, you're very young. I'm prepared to believe that the others are keeping their dirty laundry away from you, for the same reason people tell their kids that Santa Claus is real." Holy shit is that pissing her off. You are of course abusing your knowledge of her soul's price in order to get a reaction. "They find deluded innocence to be aesthetically pleasing. So if you tell me that you personally have never covered up the wrongdoing of a fellow hero, I'll believe you."

Ha, that sudden shift from bristling to abashed. Got her!

"Like, say, your buddy Shadow Stalker the other night. You of course reported her, and she was punished for going MIA, or AWOL or whatever you call it."

Vista says nothing. Yeah, you happen to know Sophia personally, she doesn't do shit she doesn't know she can get away with. Well, except that time when she apparently straight up murdered a guy, and was punished by becoming a government-sponsored hero.

"Nor has she ever, I dunno, kept kicking a perp who was already down or something. And maybe you half-heartedly told her off and she ignored you or maybe you didn't, but it never even occurred to you to report her for police brutality."

"How do you know these things?" Vista demands.

"Im guessing," you admit. "Funny how I guessed right on the first try. Isn't it, hero?"

Vista sets her jaw and does not respond. Ok, that felt really good, but you shouldn't scare off the powerful parahuman who is sneaking out after hours to have her power studied by you.

"Wanna talk about something else?" you ask.

Vista remains silent for a while, concentrating on her space bending. You do the same. But the next time you stop for a breather she speaks up again.

"Can I pet him?" she asks. "Uh, assuming he isn't part of you. I wasn't asking to, you know..."

Wow, that's adorable. She's hiding her attempt to gather information about your powers behind genuine awkwardness.

"Go ahead," you tell her. You dismount and back off a bit as she approaches, because you know what comes next. Indeed, Vista has barely started stroking his fur when Fenrir flops over on his back. He's a good boy, but you're not completely confident that he'd remember about having a rider when there's belly rubs on the line.

Vista takes a step back at the sudden movement, but quickly gets the message and starts enthusiastically providing said belly rubs. There's just something about a happy dog, isn't there?

You wait until she's really gotten into it, then let out a lewd moan. Vista pulls her hands back as if they were burned, her cheeks bright red.

"Just fucking with you," you say. "Metaphorically!" you hasten to add, because that last statement could be considered ambiguous. "We don't actually share senses. Pet him some more."

Vista just glares at you, her hands on her hips. She makes no moves to resume. Aw, is she confused about what's really going on with your power? Such a shame.

Fenrir is looking at you with an extremely hurt expression. Was your joke really worth it, at the cost of his belly rubs? Was it really?

"Awww." You kneel down by his side and hug him. "I'm sorry. I'll give you extra belly rubs later tonight, when we're alone." You try to for a salacious wink in Vista's direction, but between the poor lighting and the full-face mask you suspect that much of the effect is lost. "If you know what I mean," you add instead.

"You're horrible," Vista says.

"Come on, admit that it was funny."

She admits nothing of the sort. Her lips do quirk up a bit, though.

It was funny. Also, judicious teasing will create an association in her mind between you and her peers in the Wards, and make her subconsciously seek your respect.

 

[Saltedboi]

Are you sure it's a charm?

Click to shrink...

Yup, though the original, pre-errata version is extremely OP. It's from Lords of Creation, the second book in Dreams of the First Age, and is an Essence 7 Integrity 7 charm that lets a Solar succeed perfectly at any action, no matter the opposition, whenever they channel Willpower through a Virtue to perform an action, with the text specifically stating it ignores even Perfect Defenses, which goes against a long-standing ruling that Immovable Object trumps Unstoppable Force, i.e. Perfect Defense beats Perfect Attacks, with no "Perfecter" attacks or stacking multiple PAs to break through one PD.

The Scroll of Errata replaces it entirely with another charm called Should The Sun Not Rise (E6 Integrity 6), which lets those who know it retain the full effect of Holy charms against Creatures of Darkness even if the Unconquered Sun is currently dead, as well as reducing the mote cost of Holy charms by one, to a minimum of zero.

 

[R.A.G.]

She's really going to turn Vista into a /pol/ack, lmao.

 

[Cheiromancer]

I don't get the NASA joke. Can someone explain it for me?

 

[pepperjack]

I don't get the NASA joke. Can someone explain it for me?

Click to shrink...

I had to go look it up, myself:

Spoiler: Clockblocker-o-vision

"They left a note," Gallant says from where he's kneeling down by the unconscious Mush.

"Really? What's it say?" I ask.

He picks up the scrap of paper, looks at it. Turns it over. Hands it to me without a word.

HOW IS THE PROTECTORATE LIKE NASA?
(turn over for answer)

I turn it over.

THEY BOTH NEED NAZIS TO DO THEIR JOB FOR THEM

Click to shrink...

 

[zharshoul]

Heh, clock makes a joke bout fighting, Taylor gets banned for threatening violence, this isn't even inaccurate in other settings as well.

 

[eeda]

Well this actualy can work, Vista as a minion is just to good to let ir pass, i mean you have to be an idiot to just let the shaker 9 go without > Taylor "Yay new shiny! Thanks Missy bye". ..... OH FOR FUCKS SAKE TAYLOR!!!!!

 

[MaeHartchenko]

I do hope Taylor drops pursuing the empire powers soon. Its funny but in a cringe way.