Charm Learning Shard (Worm/Exalted) (COMPLETED)

[GiantAnteater]

She tried-
I'm disappointed Taylor only took Theo's virginity and didn't also give him a blowjob, it was a missed opportunity to make a joke about her having a net zero loss of head this chapter.

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But good Exalt girls don't give head, they throw them. Into the fucking ocean.

 

[Akuma-Heika]

Ghosts and dragon kings don't even have charms, they have 'arcanoi' and 'paths' respectively - I don't think eclipse castes can even learn those. Not that it's much of a loss in the case of ghosts, as their powerset is specialized to the point where it's completely useless for people who aren't dead/immaterial/living in the underworld/receiving ancestor worship/haunting something.

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I just count them as Charms while remembering that the Dragon Paths are more like Sorcery merged with Charms broadly speaking (I believe that might actually be how they are described, at least once, broad in use like Sorcery, and not quite as powerful as a focused Charm).

I am positive the Eclipse Caste can learn Arcanos Charms, but as you said a quite a few of them require unique body traits/Material Status, which can be acquired with other (Spirit) Charms/Arcanoi, but that requires huge investments of XP, so I believe most would believe it not being worth the cost, outside certain Charm sets

I cannot remember reading anything that says one way or another (definitively) that the Paths are beyond the Eclipse Caste power...but on the other hand, their XP cost is in the right ballpark, so it doesn't seem like it would be impossible either. I believe Jadeborn Charms do have a hard cap limit to the min-Essence that is able to be learned (wanting to say E4, but it has been awhile, and checking is nigh impossible for me now )

 

[Paralein]

I'm thinking grimderp.

Remember how all those Brockton elites spent an hour stuck in Grue's suffocating darkness falling down stairs and generally being humiliated? Perhaps one of them took it personal and paid to have him killed.

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Sure. But who did they pay? Coil generally doesn't do commissions. There's no (pseudo) precogs except him and Dinah (who he, presumably, controls at this point in time) in Brockton. At least as far as we know.

The same goes for Strangers (or Masters): Sure let's assume they paid a Stranger to murder Brian. But... Which stranger? Brockton isn't exactly crawling with them.

Did they pay random PRT grunt Bob to do the deed? I have my doubts.

 

[GiantAnteater]

Could it be that Grue isn't dead, it's just that someone substituted him with a convincing corpse? Few reasons to do this, though, as parahuman powers are usually a dead giveaway - first time he uses it, everyone would know that he's not really dead. Maybe it would be Coil getting leverage on Aisha - and a foothold in BITN this way? Between three thinker powers, he could pull off really zany shenanigans now.

 

[Paralein]

Yeah, possibly. I'm just pretty sure that Brian's death (or whatever happened in his cell) will become important later. Or the "who" of these events. I really doubt "oh, Coil had him killed, nothing more to it" is correct.

Although I do admit that there's a chance I'm just overthinking things.

 

[Whitesnake Pelinal]

Yeah. He was still emotionally processing that when she left.

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"I mean... I love strong women, who doesn't? Isn't this what I always fantasized about? Getting off was nice..."

Femdomming Theo may have been a quick loyalty get, but I imagine it's a crummy way to work towards Kaiser's soul price. Taylor leading him around by his lust will take forever, all of it time spent around Theo trying to make her into his replacement mummy who also fucks him. Charms would be so much faster.

Edit: or okay, other obvious direction, break Theo to saddle, to the point where his catchphrases are "yes, dear" and "happy wife, happy life". That seems like the sort of thing Kaiser would respect, and a solution to his problems. When the current management isn't up to snuff, you bring in a hungry outsider with a proper wolfish spirit to run things.

VEE can only grant attributes, abilities and specialties, not charms. And Taylor refuses to use it on Fenrir, because that would require gaslighting him into thinking he's not perfect already.

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Well, nuts. Looks like I won't be getting my Nazi Furry any time soon.

Sure. But who did they pay? Coil generally doesn't do commissions. There's no (pseudo) precogs except him and Dinah (who he, presumably, controls at this point in time) in Brockton. At least as far as we know.

The same goes for Strangers (or Masters): Sure let's assume they paid a Stranger to murder Brian. But... Which stranger? Brockton isn't exactly crawling with them.

Did they pay random PRT grunt Bob to do the deed? I have my doubts.

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Isn't that Coil's way of doing things? There's thousands of PRT personnel to choose from, and he hunts down the ones who are vulnerable to recruitment. The secretary who sucked too many dicks puts a USB stick somewhere it isn't supposed to go, an HVAC guy with an Oxy habit enters a code into Rig equipment, and Grue suffocates in a 100% nitrogen environment while Piggot stands around waiting for an attack.

 

[Edifier]

I just hope that Low Key can get a reroll power from Pancakes, before he's thrown into the incinirator.
Cause that is what Pancake's power is in practice. Roll twice, take best roll.

 

[Earth-Destroyer]

I just hope that Low Key can get a reroll power from Pancakes, before he's thrown into the incinirator.
Cause that is what Pancake's power is in practice. Roll twice, take best roll.

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That would be the third excellency and the writer has stated that keeping Taylor away from those is a goal. As any excellency would make her much more powerful at basically everything.

 

[Dakkah]

Femdomming Theo may have been a quick loyalty get, but I imagine it's a crummy way to work towards Kaiser's soul price. Taylor leading him around by his lust will take forever, all of it time spent around Theo trying to make her into his replacement mummy who also fucks him. Charms would be so much faster.

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Probably will just go down the list of his greatest deficiency and slap another uplifting mastery charm ontop of him. Though depending on Levy and Armsy she might not have the time to actually reap results through Kaiser.

 

[ses]

That would be the third excellency and the writer has stated that keeping Taylor away from those is a goal. As any excellency would make her much more powerful at basically everything.

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Coil is Avoidance Kata. This is pretty firmly established already.

Femdomming Theo may have been a quick loyalty get, but I imagine it's a crummy way to

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Just stuff him full of VEE and give him the "Nazi" specialty in everything and extra dots of appearance and charisma. Honestly if Taylor is actually dedicated to helping the Empire win this crisis she should make a VEE identity as a "friend from out of town" and start empowering the troops.

I just realized she should TOTALLY make a VEE identity and name it Santa Claus, just imagine her showing up to the E88 rallying point dressed in a Santa outfit to hand out super strength and super marksmanship to all the good little nazi boys and girls.

 

[Whitesnake Pelinal]

Just stuff him full of VEE and give him the "Nazi" specialty in everything and extra dots of appearance and charisma. Honestly if Taylor is actually dedicated to helping the Empire win this crisis she should make a VEE identity as a "friend from out of town" and start empowering the troops.

I just realized she should TOTALLY make a VEE identity and name it Santa Claus, just imagine her showing up to the E88 rallying point dressed in a Santa outfit to hand out super strength and super marksmanship to all the good little nazi boys and girls.

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If Taylor wanted to riff on Nazi history (and perhaps fuck with Kaiser for some reason), she could hack together some way to pose as a one-eyed spirit of Allfather, come back from the grave to aid the true believers. Taylor actually knows which ones live for the fourteen words, too!

 

[Waterfly]

Coil is Avoidance Kata. This is pretty firmly established already.

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No Coil is pancakes. Pancakes are flat. Flat is justice. Coil=Justice.

Go anarchy?

 

[Daniel Snuts]

How should you explain Coil? Perhaps like this: You are at war with Coil. It's a shadow war, fought behind the scenes. You are a shapeshifting, power-copying Trump - he does not know this. His chief lieutenant, a high-powered Thinker, is on your side in this war - he does not know this either. In fact, he doesn't even know he's at war. And you're still not winning.

You know where his base is. You have a giant wolf who can walk through walls. You're still not winning. Because Coil's power is to exist in two separate timelines simultaneously, and he's almost never in the same place in both of them. Also, the identity of the wolf's owner is public knowledge, and Coil has snipers on his payroll. If Coil gets his head bitten off in timeline A, timeline A will stop existing and you'll get your brains blown out in timeline B. Because all he has to do to avoid wolf-based assassination once forewarned is hide in the closet - or any other space too small for a giant wolf to materialize inside.

But it's worse than that, because Coil has a second Thinker on his side, who can see the future. If you plan to have your wolf bite his head off in timeline A, timeline A will stop existing and you'll get your brains blown out in timeline B. Lisa once again makes you promise not to make any moves against Coil. Because if you were going to attack him, he would have already found out.

Just because you're not winning doesn't mean you're helpless, though. "Go to his base," you tell Fenrir. "Get his scent. Follow him home. I want his civilian identity."

"I can't do anything that has visible results in the future," you tell a horrified Lisa. You tap the side of your head. "Gathering knowledge is fair game. He has a precog, not a mind reader."

"Unless he tortures me for information in a throwaway timeline," Lisa says. "Don't tell me your plans!"

You nod. Speaking of civilian identities, you have to concede that faced with the task of compiling information on the Empire, and with alternate timeline interrogations on the table, Lisa's choice to out you as Low Key - but not as a shapeshifting, power-copying Trump - was in fact the minimum possible betrayal.

"You can make it up to me by getting me more lairs," you tell her.

---

While she does that, you turn into Quicksilver and call Ballistic. He's quite eager to see you again. It's fine with you too. Didn't you say once that you liked having a simple, repetitive physical task to attend to while studying a power? That's all it is.

---

When you arrive at the soon-to-be-former lair to start moving things, you find Aisha already there. She's pointing a crossbow at you.

"Did you kill my brother?" she demands.

Judging by her face she's been crying her eyes out all day, but on hearing you arrive she must have dried her tears and womanned up enough to confront her number one suspect. Unsurprisingly, she also had to overcome - and thus damage - her Loyalty to accomplish this feat. It's all so tiresome.

"Put the crossbow down," you say wearily, invoking her karmic debt to you. She drops it as if stung - and it goes off when it hits the ground. You turn into shadow as the bolt passes through your ankle. "And don't do anything clever with stealth," you add.

"Fucking hell," Aisha says shakily. "I could feel the terrible fate hanging over me if I didn't obey. That was for the smarts?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Uh..." She laughs nervously, looking at your uninjured leg. "Still worth it?" It's meant to be a statement, but it comes out more like a question. "I mean, we've sort of established that I'm your bitch, here. But I don't suppose you could at least deny it to my face?"

"If you could provide a remotely plausible motive for why I'd-" You stop yourself, and start over in a milder tone. Employee morale is important. It keeps people from picking at their Loyalty. "I did not kill him."

You place a hand on her shoulder as you say it - something that quickly turns into a hug as she throws herself against you and starts crying again.

"I'll kill whoever did it," she manages to get out between sobs.

"I'll help," you say, sort of truthfully. 'Coil had Grue killed to keep him from talking' was a footnote in Lisa's info dump about Coil, and you're going to kill Coil. Somehow. Eventually. But you're not about to trust Aisha to pull off a multi-timeline, precognitive shadow war of her own. Maybe you'll set her loose on the man who did the deed, if not the one who gave the order. Yes. You nod to yourself. You'll lean on Lisa until she gives up the mole in question.

By the time Alec drops by the lair Aisha has calmed down a bit, for 'simmering murderous intent' values of calm.

"'Sup," Alec greets you as he saunters in. "Did you kill my boss?"

"No."

"'Kay."

"See?" you tell Aisha. "That's how civilized people do it. Without pointing weapons at each other."

Aisha shoots you a half-hearted glare, before turning to address Alec. "That's it?" she demands. "That's how much you care?"

"She said she didn't do it, what else do you want from me? She's clearly the slave-owning kind of white supremacist, not the lynching kind."

Aisha giggles, while you roll your eyes. At least he's cheering up your property.

"She is, isn't she? When I saw her with Brian, she-" Her voice catches, but she's not going to let grief get in the way of a good zinger that easily. "-she was definitely looking to force him into heavy physical labour beneath her. Eh? Eh?"

You don't give her the satisfaction of seeing you blush, which may or may not have required dipping into your shapeshifting abilities. "Shut up and take a new dose of smarts," you tell her. You don't add 'because I may need to make you drop another crossbow,' because Alec doesn't know you're a Master. If he found out you were Mastering him, he'd... well, he'd probably laugh his ass off, and then stab you in the back just to see if he still could.

From there your Sunday proceeds... almost exactly like your last Sunday. It feels really dumb to tear out all the furniture and move it (and rebuild the secret room back into a regular room, and scrub everything down with bleach) after just one week, but that's what you get for not planning ahead better. Low Key absolutely must not share a safehouse with BITN.

---

Unfortunately your escape from the Rig involved letting everyone know that Fenrir can be summoned on consecutive days without trouble, so now Ops wants to assign you daily patrol shifts. But on the positive side, your revealed flight capabilities means you're no longer paired up with Rune. You don't know who is taking her place, though, they only tell you to wait for 'your new partner' at the usual spot. Someone ground-bound, presumably. Fenja/Menja, perhaps, if Kaiser can spare a bodyguard. But would they really need a ride, when they can take such big steps?

When you arrive at the bar, you find Theo waiting for you. You blink in confusion, and turn your sorcerer's sight off and back on again to be sure, but no, he hasn't triggered. So why is he here? It's not until he awkwardly grabs your hand that you realize your mistake: You granted his soul price so he'd be nice and tractable for your campaign of turning him into a worthy heir. But there's a word for people who trade sex for loyalty, isn't there? It's 'girlfriend'.

"What the hell?" you demand, ripping your hand away.

"I just-"

"What the hell made you think I wanted to be seen with you in public?"

"You slept with me!" A murmur of astonishment passes through the rank and file at this outburst.

"Just announce it for the world to hear, why don't you!" You turn slightly to address to room at large. "I had just gotten out of prison. You know how it is." There are a few scattered chuckles, but mostly disapproving faces.

"You were in there for two days!" Theo complains.

"I'm sorry, are you trying to argue your way into my pants?"

"I-" Theo swallows his words as a hand lands on his shoulder. It belongs to a skinhead twice his size, with none of his body fat.

"You're bothering the lady," your knight of shining pate rumbles.

"Outside," you hiss, pointing at the door. Theo slinks away, and you stalk after him.

"Do you know why I don't want to be seen with you in public?" you demand. "Can you guess?"

"Uh-"

"Do you want to know the secret to getting a girlfriend?"

"I guess?"

"The secret is to be someone a girl would want to be friends with. Look at yourself. Are you handsome?"

You can tell that he knows the answer, though it hurts him to say it. "Not very," he understates.

"Are you charming?"

"Well-"

"Does your mom tell you you're charming?"

"She does!"

"Is she lying to make you feel better? Are you actually a loser with no friends?"

"...I am!"

"Crying is also very unattractive," you tell him. "Are you smart? Are you funny? Are you?"

He silently shakes his head. Good. Now that he's admitted as much in your presence, you use emptiness endowment pump him full of charm and wit. 'Handsome' will have to wait until you start tackling his other physical shortcomings, and much like 'being emotional', your power doesn't recognize 'having a spine' as an enhanceable attribute at all. What else would a worthy heir need? Well for starters, Kaiser is an excellent public speaker.

"Are you a stuttering mess?" you ask. He is momentarily thrown by the tack your questioning is taking, but nods just to be safe, tears still streaming down his cheeks. You make him an excellent public speaker.

"If your father died, could you run his empire?"

"I wouldn't want to-"

"Could you?"

"No." You make him an excellent statesman. It works, which confirms that he's lying about not wanting to be emperor. Everyone wants to be emperor.

You hear someone clearing his throat behind you, and turn around to see who it is. "Am I interrupting?" Alabaster asks.

"No, I'm about done here," you say. You look back at Theo "If you want to be with me, you're going to have to shape up. But you can do that, right?" You turn back without waiting for an answer. "Come forth!"

Fenrir appears on command. You and Alabaster mount up and fly away.

"Relationship trouble?" Alabaster asks after a while.

"Offer advice and I'll push you off."

---

That was an empty threat, as it turns out. Whatever else you might say about Alabaster - like for example 'why would they give me the one partner whose power I can't afford to internalize!?' - his work ethic is excellent. He doesn't fear being pushed off a flying wolf because he frequently leaps off on his own, landing on top of unwelcome visitors and breaking multiple bones in both their bodies. Four seconds later he's fine, and they're not. Then the squashed guy's friends shoot him, which he also recovers from, and you pounce on them while they're distracted.

The heroes have given up on their siege/invasion, so things are a lot less frantic than last night. But there's still plenty of diversity that hasn't gotten the message, so having a (sorta) bulletproof distraction on hand is quite welcome. Or in other words, Alabaster excellent at the intended role of a patrol partner. You can't even fault Ops for assigning him to you, more's the pity.

Alabaster agrees. "A pleasure working with you," he says at the end of your shift, despite having taken enough wounds to kill a dozen people. You studied his power a little bit - not enough to turn alabaster yourself! - and you can conclusively say that he's not immune to pain. He's just badass. Or possibly the world's kinkiest masochist, you're not going to ask.

"The pleasure was all mine," you reply, because the pleasure of not being shot was all yours. You tried being shot once, and didn't care for it. You're happy to delegate that part.

Speaking of sorta bulletproof things, you should make a replacement costume. Yes, you said you would pay someone else to make it for you, but it's not like you have anything better to do at this hour of the morning. Hm, do you have enough leather on hand, or do you have to wait until the stores open?

It's at this point you realize that it's been 40-some hours since the last time you slept. You don't feel tired, but you should probably take a nap anyway, for health reasons.

 

[Fernando]

No Coil is pancakes. Pancakes are flat. Flat is justice. Coil=Justice.

Go anarchy?

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Yes-yes manthing. Hail-praise Anarchy! Praise Malal!

 

[Fernando]

But there's a word for people who trade sex for loyalty, isn't there? It's 'girlfriend'.

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Wow... umm.

Taylor really doesn't see emotional connections the same way anymore huh?

 

[John Doey]

Damn, so she's going to keep fucking Theo... in every meaning of the word.

 

[Placeholdername]

That's right, Theo, Taylor is reverse-negging you into a better minion.

 

[Vealie]

I hope Taylor ends up empress of the whole world and it's a dystopian nightmare.

It's the only suitable ending for this fic.

 

[podlizurko]

Wow... umm.

Taylor really doesn't see emotional connections the same way anymore huh?

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Well she is not wrong, but polite society demands you dont verbalize that. Also the monthly subscription to your wallet isn't to be mentioned either.

 

[omni001]

I hope Taylor ends up empress of the whole world and it's a dystopian nightmare.

It's the only suitable ending for this fic.

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I'm hoping she ends up Empress of the whole world and it's a utopia under a benevolent dictator.

At the very least she can't do worse than the PRT/Cauldron.

 

[Whitesnake Pelinal]

"Are you charming?"

"Well-"

"Does your mom tell you you're charming?"

"She does!"

"Is she lying to make you feel better? Are you actually a loser with no friends?"

"...I am!"

"Crying is also very unattractive," you tell him. "Are you smart? Are you funny? Are you?"

He silently shakes his head. Good. Now that he's admitted as much in your presence, you use emptiness endowment pump him full of charm and wit. 'Handsome' will have to wait until you start tackling his other physical shortcomings, and much like 'being emotional', your power doesn't recognize 'having a spine' as an enhanceable attribute at all. What else would a worthy heir need? Well for starters, Kaiser is an excellent public speaker.

"Are you a stuttering mess?" you ask. He is momentarily thrown by the tack your questioning is taking, but nods just to be safe, tears still streaming down his cheeks. You make him an excellent public speaker.

"If your father died, could you run his empire?"

"I wouldn't want to-"

"Could you?"

"No." You make him an excellent statesman. It works, which confirms that he's lying about not wanting to be emperor. Everyone wants to be emperor.

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ses stuff him full of VEE it is!

I can't tell if she's creating Future Hitler, a boy who can grab power but doesn't know how to use it, or giving him the tools he needs to bluepill the entire Empire.

Wow... umm.

Taylor really doesn't see emotional connections the same way anymore huh?

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[Earth-Destroyer]

That should have not worked, unless he had a lot of unspent exp. As VED can't be used on someone already in exp debt. It can send someone into exp debt, but not make the debt larger.

 

[ses]

That should have not worked, unless he had a lot of unspent exp. As VED can't be used on someone already in exp debt. It can send someone into exp debt, but not make the debt larger.

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This isn't a Gamer fic, XP doesn't exist. Author already said that using VEE for 5s in everything was on the table and the learning disabilities would be narrative rather than mechanical.

 

[Kennethil]

Damn, did not expect achieving Kaiser's soul price would would be on the table.

Grrgh, annoying she won't copy her patrol partner though. There's still so many Empire capes left, it's not like she'd be in danger of running out of targets any time soon... (meant in a Doylist sense)

 

[Dakkah]

Damn, did not expect achieving Kaiser's soul price would would be on the table.

Grrgh, annoying she won't copy her patrol partner though. There's still so many Empire capes left, it's not like she'd be in danger of running out of targets any time soon... (meant in a Doylist sense)

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Can't recall what chapter, but IIRC she's avoiding his for the same reason that she avoided C53's: The physical change, and potentially that she doesn't trust his "reset" rate to interfere with her shapeshifting and/or power acquisition. Both of which could seriously cripple her.

Edit: and Ouch she really doesn't respect Soyboy, Within two days she not only made him her bitch, but completely crippled his future non power reliant growth.. Talk about low expectations.

 

[DigBickBaddy]

I mean she could, I can't remember any permanent Charms that alter someone physically that aren't able to be toggled

 

[zapking5]

Won't Victor notice Theo suddenly having absurd artificial skills?

 

[Omnomimous]

I mean she could, I can't remember any permanent Charms that alter someone physically that aren't able to be toggled

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But she doesn't know that.

 

[omni001]

So I've seen comments in the chat reference Exalted skills having specialties. Do you think Aisha's new smarts might have a tech specialty that will help convince the PRT she's a Tinker?

 

[omni001]

Won't Victor notice Theo suddenly having absurd artificial skills?

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According to Ward he's not a Trump and therefor he explicitly can't effect a persons skill at using their power and presumably power granted skills either.