Charm Learning Shard (Worm/Exalted) (COMPLETED)

[Rask]

The Monster at the End of the World. This tells me two things.
1. Taylor does not get better. Figures.
2. She's gonna kick off the Golden Morning. Figures x2.

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Alternatively, she has or will have Infernal Monster Style, which, among other things, screws with all precogs within one mile. All they get is "The monster is here."

 

[ses]

Alternatively, she has or will have Infernal Monster Style, which, among other things, screws with all precogs within one mile. All they get is "The monster is here."

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Oh fuck you're right, good catch. It's absolutely future Taylor using Infernal Monster Form.

The Monster is Here

Huh, what capes would be viable source of Infernal Monster Form? Is Mantellum the only option for it? It's pretty notable as it's a charm that's genuinely capable of singlehandedly shutting down the Simurgh. It doesn't just make you unprecoggable, it flat out shuts down all precognition powers within one mile. It's a perfect effect not contestable with higher essence or anything too. Completely blinding the Simurgh.

@Author-san I also wanted to say that I really appreciated the funnies in this chapter. I was starting to get worried that the dedication to grimderp was going to mean a loss of comedy. This fic/taylor is hilarious and the comedy is one of my favorite parts. I've cracked up and nearly died laughing many times at your jokes.

 

[Requiem_Jeer]

In this fic, it's explicit that it takes a little time for the Soul's Price to kick in. Using indirect means and severely limiting direct contact plausibly makes it work for me. She was straining her power to dance on a knife's edge and came out of it okay. Even the Exalted can get bamboozled by a mortal every once in a while.

As for Taylor not getting it on purpose? She's interacted with Lisa without pursuing the loyalty, she's not as obsessive about it as she is getting powers. Getting the secret to Double D's power is shiny enough to distract her that I buy it.

 

[TriedgeThePK]

an then mush rolls up an hes like slurpin up shiz all over an he gets 1 of teh bonfires an 1 of teh spreakers an hes like surprise muthafocka an punches her rite in teh snoofle wif a fist thats on fire while blastin sick beets from his hed! was ill af fam

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I think I had a minor stroke trying to read this.

 

[Zxzx24]

Alternatively, she has or will have Infernal Monster Style, which, among other things, screws with all precogs within one mile. All they get is "The monster is here."

Click to shrink...

Then she wouldn't have been able to predict Taylor period yes?

Finding out things like coke and the dragon transformation would have been impossible.

She would have just gotten a deluge of "The Monster is here."

Unless it gives her statistical analysis of the monster. Which would defeat the entire purpose of that infernal charm.

 

[Dakkah]

As for Taylor not getting it on purpose? She's interacted with Lisa without pursuing the loyalty, she's not as obsessive about it as she is getting powers. Getting the secret to Double D's power is shiny enough to distract her that I buy it.

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Lisa was a sort of friend though, whereas Dinah is just a powerful precog. Infact perhaps more importantly a unbound Dinah is a danger to her, since she's already proven that she can see more than just numbers, and see through her disguises.

 

[ses]

Then she wouldn't have been able to predict Taylor period yes?

Finding out things like coke and the dragon transformation would have been impossible.

She would have just gotten a deluge of "The Monster is here."

Unless it gives her statistical analysis of the monster. Which would defeat the entire purpose of that infernal charm.

Click to shrink...

Infernal Monster Form gives two separate and distinct forms of precog-blocking. It makes the Infernal Monster herself a blindspot while infernal monster form is up (Not range limited) and it blanket causes all attempts to use precog powers within one mile to only give the result [The Monster is Here] while the form is up regardless of if the precog is attempting to ask questions about the blindspot or something else entirely.. Dinah isn't locked out of using her power at all since Taylor isn't currently an Infernal Monster. And she's also not a blindspot until she uses the charm, so she's precoggable up to that point, at which point she probably by strict RAW should just disappear from readings, but I don't see anything wrong the DM adding some flavor by putting a brick wall of [THE MONSTER] in Taylor's future.

We know for a fact that Taylor isn't currently using Infernal Monster form because she hasn't turned into She-Hulk.

 

[Caerwen]

Then she wouldn't have been able to predict Taylor period yes?

Finding out things like coke and the dragon transformation would have been impossible.

She would have just gotten a deluge of "The Monster is here."

Unless it gives her statistical analysis of the monster. Which would defeat the entire purpose of that infernal charm.

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In the here and now. Taylor would be precogable. If she gets infernal monster style in the future, then the future is all monsters.

 

[ses]

Just this once. Then never speak again, or the Monster At The End Of The World gets my soul.

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In the here and now. Taylor would be precogable. If she gets infernal monster style in the future, then the future is all monsters.

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Oh man now I'm reminded of The Monster at the End of This Book, I remember reading that as a small child.

Do you think whatever hybrid Bonesaw ends up making from Hatchet Face will be an Infernal Monster Form source? I'm only just now realizing that Hatchet Face is actually a spot on choice for IMF, even moreso than Mantellum.

 

[tronax]

I kind of didn't get what was the point for Lisa to risk herself? Aisha could go with her, and it'd be insta win. Literally anyone to kill the one at home, Victor to kill the one at work, and Aisha to kill the one angling to torture Lisa for info.
Well, no, I totally get what was the point from plot perspective, but in story perspective? Seems kind of... wrong.

Or it could be done even better. Aisha to trail him for some prolonged period, and then knock him off. No matter what splits he made, she'd win, because she's always after the real one. And captured Coil is way better than dead Coil. His power is just as good to be used while being chained to the battery as Dinah's.

I mean, seriously that scene looks like "nah, Taylor must be suffering, fuck reasoning".

 

[Daniel Snuts]

Brings up a question worth asking, seeing as I never finished Ward.

Daniel Snuts is CLS based on Worm alone? Does it include cosmology introduced in Ward?

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This is a Worm fic. The canon status of Ward is 'it hasn't been written yet'.

(I have not read Ward)

" The Exalt uses this Charm immediately after interacting with a target. "

She was absolutely interacting. She's straight up a valid target, no ifs ands or buts.

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She is not a valid target, by the definition of interaction that has been used all throughout this story. There have been other parahumans in the past who were too taciturn to extract a soul price from.

So Aisha accidentally killed Lisa by jumping the gun and killing alt-timeline Coil.

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Not at all. As explicitly mentioned in the text, Taylor has no idea where alt-timeline Coil was. Maybe he was ambushed by Aisha. Maybe he was shot by Victor. Maybe he was sliced into ribbons by Hookwolf. Et cetera. Whoever it was, they didn't jump the gun either - you'll note that it happened at a time when the attack on Coil's main base had already sent him scurrying off with the self-destruct activated.

Even the Exalted can get bamboozled by a mortal every once in a while.

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Parahumans are at the very least 'enlightened mortals' (mechanically Essence 2, and thus not subject to the various 'normies mortals go die' effects).

I kind of didn't get what was the point for Lisa to risk herself? Aisha could go with her, and it'd be insta win. Literally anyone to kill the one at home, Victor to kill the one at work, and Aisha to kill the one angling to torture Lisa for info.

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No, they can't attack early, no matter how thoroughly they do it. Because all those things would happen in timeline A. Then timeline A simply stops existing, and timeline B - where Lisa wasn't summoned, and the attack is set to go off on schedule - is forewarned.

 

[Valmit]

One way Taylor could have saved Lisa is by immediately killing Coil without talking to him (or at least killing him before he died in the other timeline). Doesn't matter if he managed to shoot Lisa before dying or not - the timeline would be dropped, then Coil would get killed in the other timeline where he didn't have Lisa as a hostage.

 

[klattmose]

No, they can't attack early, no matter how thoroughly they do it. Because all those things would happen in timeline A. Then timeline A simply stops existing, and timeline B - where Lisa wasn't summoned, and the attack is set to go off on schedule - is forewarned.

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So the choice was between "forewarn the target" and "send the incredibly powerful yet very vulnerable Thinker whose Loyalty you're just about to gain into the lion's den alone and without back and hope she survives somehow"? I would have chosen the other option, because the plan should have had a contingency for "Coil becomes forewarned somehow". His power is knowing things he shouldn't, they should have had a plan for that.

The only way I see for this outcome to make sense is if Lisa would rather die than become Loyal to a suspected Simurgh bomb, but wanted to make sure to take Coil down with her.

 

[ses]

So the choice was between "forewarn the target" and "send the incredibly powerful yet very vulnerable Thinker whose Loyalty you're just about to gain into the lion's den alone and without back and hope she survives somehow"? I would have chosen the other option, because the plan should have had a contingency for "Coil becomes forewarned somehow". His power is knowing things he shouldn't, they should have had a plan for that.

The only way I see for this outcome to make sense is if Lisa would rather die than become Loyal to a suspected Simurgh bomb, but wanted to make sure to take Coil down with her.

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Yeah Fog should have been sent as backup assuming Lisa didn't have control over whoever was watching the cameras, which is a fair stipulation otherwise they'd have just used Aisha. I don't think Night and Fog even had assignments? But yeah the fact is that the Coil takedown was postponed until after Fenrir got gibbed despite Taylor having a perfect dodge and no relevant flaw of invulnerability because random brainfarts turn attacks unexpected precisely because Fenrir counters Coil's power so well.

Lisa did in fact last the required time under torture. She won fair and square against the challenge presented to her. Timeline A had no business still being ongoing after the attack had already started, so that's not much of an excuse when Lisa managed the heroic feat of lasting the full hour under interrogation. Idk, I don't like participating in content steering and I know grimderp was on the tin, it just leaves a sour taste when two of the only 3 major sympathetic supporting characters get fridged in a row.

 

[tronax]

No, they can't attack early, no matter how thoroughly they do it. Because all those things would happen in timeline A. Then timeline A simply stops existing, and timeline B - where Lisa wasn't summoned, and the attack is set to go off on schedule - is forewarned.

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Coil is not all that powerful. Even if they went with the, frankly, incredibly dumb plan to risk Lisa in order to win, they'd still win.

Early morning, Coil is safe at his home or bunker, he just finished sleeping and wiped the other timeline, the useless one, where he did not sleep. Now he splits.

Timeline A: Coil stays at bunker / comes to bunker. Summons Lisa. Lisa comes, unknowingly with Imp on her tail.
Timeline B: Coil is going to his day job. Simply works, can't do anything too suspicious, because this is supposed to become the main one later. Victor is aiming at him, waiting.

Both timelines: Travelers begin to leave.

Timeline A: Imp is killing Coil whenever she wants, and that's it.
Timeline B: Victor patiently waits either to receive a phone call, or for Coil to become jumpy and try to leave his position. Most often Coil dies right after timeline A, rarely living for up to one more minute, when the call comes. No matter what Coil does within that minute, Victor is onto him, there is no escaping.

Both timelines are safely dead, team Taylor wins. Obvious, easy plan. Far cry from the best I can think of. Yet even like this they couldn't really lose.

 

[Akuma-Heika]

Eh... still probably better than being enslaved by Taylor.

Fenrir would have been able to help with that situation easily wouldn't he.



Edit:
Also shit. There goes Coils power. What a loss. Q_Q

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Only thing I can think of for his power is either the Adamant Sorcery spell that transports a place to Elsewhere, and time travels much slower there with travel between their and real space being difficult; or the Spirit Charm that allows multiple bodies (honestly expected that for Crusader); last possibility is the Spirit Charm that allows them to create a spiritual quasi space that they can bring Essence characters into (and time stops passing in real space while its going on). Cannot actually physically interact with anyone, but social attacks are possible...might be possible to train mental/social traits and abilities

The Monster at the End of the World. This tells me two things.
1. Taylor does not get better. Figures.
2. She's gonna kick off the Golden Morning. Figures x2.

Click to shrink...

Or its literal, and she is destined to become a Primordial and die, becoming a Neverborn, a literal Monster at the End of the World. Taylor escalates, all if right with the world

Edit: if Taylor is currently Outside Fate to Dinah's power, how is it able to get predictions off of her?
Does Infernal Monster Style permnanently remove its users from Fate or only while MSF is in use?

Just realized that the fact the double was where Aisha was, the odds of her being the one to kill him in the other timeline rose dramatically.

 

[Whitesnake Pelinal]

This is a Worm fic. The canon status of Ward is 'it hasn't been written yet'.

(I have not read Ward)

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Thanks, good to know I won't have to wiki-crawl to recognize stuff.

Fuck! Of course I only got the body double, and the Boss got the real guy. I know I'm nowhere near her level, but I really thought I managed to avenge my brother just now.

I kick the wall in frustration. Great, now I've been upstaged, and my foot hurts.

Click to shrink...

Huh. All this time, and Aisha was actually on mission for at least some of it? I guess aside from encouraging her to commit multiple premeditated murders, Taylor has been a good influence on someone.

Don't talk and the Monster won't get my soul. Don't talk, and 87.54918% chance the Monster won't get my soul. 86.97363% chance. Don't talk. 86.13474% chance. No body language. 88.44529% chance the Monster won't get my soul.

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► Unfortunate Sobriety
Replied on June 2, 2011:
Nah mang u dun geddit trousers is the new boss lol

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Dinah has seen the shape of things to come. Her apparent plan of action is to spend the next two years kissing her own ass goodbye, blasting music so she can't hear shit, and consuming enough drugs that when she can hear she's too wasted to understand.

Come to think of it, the drugs are one of the only things that could ward off the monster. Torture, rape, and murder? No problemo, but it's convinced that drugs are bad and avoids coming around when they're everywhere. A rolling clam bake could be one of the best protections against it.

Edit: almost forgot this one,

You clasp it, and seal your pact. There is golden light, followed by violence.

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Aww, I was hoping for at least one purely comedic heavenly oath sealed with a high five before Taylor figured out how it worked.

 

[Daniel Snuts]

You look at the piece of paper Trousers gave you in exchange for her new gang. There's a single word written on.

CUFF

You have no idea what that means. But apparently the information will save your life at some point in the future, because fucking Thinkers.

An internet search does not turn up anything beyond the obvious. You guess you'll just... carry around a pair of handcuffs wherever you go now? And a set of the appropriate lockpicks. And a pair of tasteful cufflinks, because why the hell not? Maybe they'll save your life when... you're disguised as a man and somehow end up at a formal dinner with Accord present, or something. Who the fuck even knows?

---

The Travelers are holed up in Lisa's warlord lair - that much, at least, went according to plan. One of Coil's mercenaries lets you in.

"We were told to expect you," he says. "Though, we haven't heard from the boss at all since then. Do you know if-"

You don't know which boss he's referring to, but the answer is the same either way. "Tattletale and Coil are both dead," you say.

To your surprise, he reacts to this piece of news by inclining his head and tracing the sign of the cross. "May they rest in peace," he says softly. Then he looks up, and is all business again. "Will you be taking over the base? I would be willing to stay on under the same terms..."

You shake your head. "You'd have to take that up with the Travelers. Speaking of..."

"Of course, ma'am."

You look around as he guides you to the Travelers' quarters. The lair looks to be of recent construction, with a lot more exposed concrete than you'd normally look for in a home. But it's dry and intact and it has electricity, which is more than you can say for a lot of the city even now.

Your reception from the Travelers themselves consists of Sundancer walking up to you and slapping you in the face.

"That's for what you did to Luke," she announces (Luke himself is nowhere to be seen).

"I'd do the same, if I could reach that high," a girl in a wheelchair says. Genesis, clearly, because she then manifests a gangly monster with seven hands, all of which slap you in the face.

You stand there and take it, because the alternative is getting in a fight with Sundancer. Also you kind of deserve it, you guess.

"If you're quite finished," Trickster drawls. "Quicksilver has a job to do."

The slapping-monster dissipates, and Genesis turns around and rolls off with a huff.

"Thanks," you say.

"They all hate you," Trickster says simply. "I'm willing to give you a chance, but if you can't help her you might not be walking out of here. Just saying."

You make some token protests at his blatant threats - not because you mind, but to have enough of a conversation for soul's price to trigger.

Trickster wants Noelle to be cured.

Ka-ching.

You arrive at a door which he opens a crack. You can hear heavy breathing from within. Trickster's tone is completely different when he speaks again. "Noelle?" he asks softly. "Quicksilver is here." There's no response. "Remember how she was coming to help you?" No response. "Are you ready to meet her?"

After a long silence, during which trickster grows increasingly uneasy, he speaks again. "Noelle-"

"She can enter," a female voice comes from within.

"Go on," Trickster says, motioning you ahead. "Whatever you do, don't touch her. Don't make any sudden movements or loud noises. Do whatever she says - unless she asks you to touch her. Then you run away." You're reminded of Faultline taking you to see Labyrinth, though you take note of how he doesn't bother to threaten you anymore, just warn you.

Inside is a garage area, which has been repurposed as a cozy windowless Noelle-holding facility. Not because they don't want to be around her, but because they're the only doors she can fit through. Although they also don't want to be around her, because they're afraid she might go crazy and attack them (and also, as you discover as soon as you enter, because of the smell).

You've had Noelle described to you, which only somewhat prepares you for encountering her in person. She is the upper half of a reasonably attractive teenage girl, connected to... something less attractive. The words 'nightmarish amalgam' spring to mind. A hill of flesh with three giant mouths (responsible for the heavy breathing) and dozens of eyes both human and non-. It paces back and forth on a combination of hoofed feet and human fingers the size of legs, though it grows still when you enter.

"I disgust you, don't I?" Noelle asks.

You take a deep breath before answering. "Don't worry, that's what we're here to fix," you say, trying not to sound too insincerely cheerful. "Now, tell me about yourself."

"I don't really want to talk about... this." She gestures towards her lower half.

"Tell me about your life before, then."

"I... don't want to talk about that either."

"You're going to have to, if you want to get better."

Noelle swallows heavily. "Okay. Krouse, will you hold my hand?"

Trickster takes a step back. "Noelle, you know you can't-"

"Maybe it won't be so bad this time?"

"I'm sorry," Trickster says. Then he runs away, because Noelle asked him to touch her.

You retreat into a corner as Noelle starts to chase after him, before regaining control of herself. Her human half slumps in defeat.

"Will you tell him I'm sorry?" she asks. "I, I know the monster is lying when it says it would be fine if I touched him, but..."

"You can tell him yourself," you say.

Noelle shakes her head. "He won't come back for a long time now."

"You can tell him yourself once you're better. Which will be very soon."

"Okay." Noelle takes a deep breath, and start talking about herself.

---

Her name is Noelle Meinhardt, and her life sucks. She spends hours going into detail how and why, as you prod her for every detail she can remember. At one point a mercenary shows up to feed her. You watch with mildly disgusted fascination (and your sorcerer's sight safely off) as her lower half gobbles down an entire pig carcass, and another hoof grows out beneath her. So, the human parts are from people she's eaten? That's unreassuring to know.

Noelle wants to be cured. Obviously.

"Can you fix me?" Noelle asks once her narration is finally done.

"Yes. But I'm going to have to touch you."

"No!"

"Yes. Just one touch, and it'll all be over." Paradoxically, it's the giant monster that retreats into the corner, as you advance on it.

"You don't understand! They always come out wrong, and I can't-" Her words cut off as you touch her, and activate Flechette's power. Not to destroy, but to change.

The giant monster vanishes, and two girls appear in its place - one of them wearing clothes, the other naked. The first is Noelle, but with both halves made of human girl. The other is you.

She is already lunging for you as she appears, her lips peeled back in a smile that all hunger and malevolent glee (are her canines longer than they should be?).

"No, stop!" Noelle shouts, but it's too late. Before you can properly process what is happening, the other Taylor has touched you back.

Nothing happens. Her face falls.

"No!" she screams. "No no no no!" She slumps to her knees, whimpering. "Why does everything have to turn into ashes?"

You study your evil clone - for that is obviously what she is. That's what happens when you touch Noelle. Her skin is almost inhumanly pale, but otherwise she looks just like you. Or rather she looks like you would, if you didn't look like Quicksilver right now. She looks like Taylor Hebert. When you turn sorcerer's sight on, you can see that she has done the same. But she isn't using graceful crane stance.

"Let me guess," you say. "You're a clone of me, the girl whose only power is sorcerer's sight."

"Yes," Evil Taylor says. She looks up at you, glaring defiantly, but at the same time baring her throat. "Go on, then. End it."

"End it? We've not even started yet, newest minion."

Evil Taylor seems taken aback by your words, which only goes to show that the cloning process isn't perfect. "You... realize that my only purpose in life is to destroy everything you hold dear and watch you die screaming, right?"

Evil Taylor wants to destroy everything you hold dear and watch you die screaming.

Huh. That's almost word for word Sophia's new soul price.

"So it says on the tin," you agree. "But I won't kill you as long as you don't betray me." You hold out your hand to shake. "Servitude or death?"

She actually hesitates in front of that choice. "Servitude," she says finally, and takes your hand.

Golden light explodes out from you as you seal the pact, though you don't elect to become a dragon. Good thing Trousers explained how that works. What you didn't expect was the black anti-light exploding out from her in an equal but opposite reaction. Light and darkness clash against each other and boil around your clasped hands, and you feel the bargain being twice sealed.

Wait, you could seal pacts all along? And because of that, your dumb brain created a dragon power that only works for pact-sealing people? Trousers didn't mention that. Which, you suppose, means that you're not going to explain it to her in the future.

In the wake of your deal, the walls in your half of the room have been bleached as if they had been exposed to the sun for years on end, while those in her half are stained and corroded.

"What is even going on?" Noelle demands, looking back and forth between you.

"You don't need to know that. In fact, you shouldn't tell anyone about the clone at all."

"Okay."

"Oh, and give her your pants." Noelle is wearing pants, because of course a Noelle who didn't have her power would wear pants around the house. But you don't need the others asking just how Quicksilver fixing a malfunctioning power caused clothing to appear out of the aether.

Luckily the rest of her wardrobe (a couple of t-shirts in a laundry hamper) was on your side of the room, so the clothes are only faded, not destroyed. You won't have to exfiltrate a half-naked clone. For once your true form is good for something, as its complete lack of womanly curves or muscle definition lets your clone fit into a former anorectic's clothing without issue. Hmph.

"Stay here while I finish things up," you tell Evil Taylor. Then open the door a crack and stick your head outside. "Hey!"

"What?" Trickster startles awake from where he'd been dozing off against the wall. "What's wrong?"

"Noelle needs to borrow some pants. You know, unless you're into having your girlfriend display her charms to the world."

"You mean-" Trickster lunges forward and tries to barge through the door. You draw back and shut it in his face.

"Pants first!" You shout through the door.

"Right." you hear from the other side. "Mars! Noelle needs to borrow your clothes!"

---

You trail behind a (re-)clothed Noelle as she rushes out to hug her teammates. As Aisha would put it: It's all heartwarming and shit. A good 5/6ths of the Travelers are crying tears of joy. Ballistic may or may not be a bit misty-eyed as well, but he's steadfastly refusing to even turn in your direction, so you can't tell. As if your awkward outsider status needed any reinforcement right now.

Then Noelle pushes Trickster away, breaking the hug. "It's happening again," she says, her face pale.

"What?" Trickster asks. "Wh-"

"Don't touch me!" Noelle cries, backing away from him. "I can feel it happening again!"

Trickster whirls around to face you. "I though you were going to fix her!"

"I thought I did!" you protest. "She looked fixed to me."

"The monster is still there," Noelle mutters to herself, curled up in a corner while the others stand uncertainly around her - wanting to comfort her, but getting yelled at whenever they approach.

Trickster is the odd man out, too busy hurling threats and imprecations at you to hover ineffectively around his girlfriend, but her next words cause him to forget all about you.

"Kill me," Noelle says.

"Wha-" "Noelle!" "You can't-"

"Please! I can't go through that again!" She fixes Sundancer with a stare. "Before the monster gets too strong, while I'm still in control. Burn me to ashes so it can't regenerate."

"I- I can't." Sundancer chokes out.

"Noelle, no," Trickster says. "It, it didn't work completely, but you're better now. We can keep looking for a solution, and Quicksilver can do her thing again if it gets too bad-"

"If it gets bad?" Noelle demands. "If it gets bad!? I killed and ate forty people the last time it got bad!"

Sundancer, Genesis and the nameless Changer all recoil at this, then turn to look at Trickster.

"You said-" Genesis begins.

"He lied!" Noelle shouts. "He lied to protect me! Please, Mars. If you have any love for me at all. Help me. Keep me from hurting anyone else."

Sundancer is shaking her head, tears streaming down her face. But she holds up her hands, and flashes of solar plasma start appearing between them. The others back away from her.

"No," Trickster says. "Don't you dare, Mars." He tries to approach her, but the sheer heat of the miniature sun forming in front of her sends him staggering back.

"I'm sorry," Sundancer whispers. Once the sun has grown to be the size of a person, she sends it flying towards Noelle.

Just before it hits her, she vanishes and Ballistic appears in her place. He dies before he can even cry out.

"Krouse!" Noelle shouts from where Ballistic just stood.

Sundancer screams, a wordless noise of rage and pain, and sends the sun careening towards Trickster. Genesis starts to manifest another monster.

You, on the other hand, run the fuck away. As much as you'd like to know how it's all going to turn out, this is an excellent time to not be in Trickster's line of sight.

"We're leaving!" you shout at your clone as you burst into the garage. You keep running right across it and slap the 'door open' button. When that has no effect, you channel the charm of unmaking into the door itself. There's a time for subtlety and scrupulously remaining within the powerset of your current persona, and that time is not now. The fold-up door collapses into a neat pile of metal slats, which you leap over.

Evil Taylor keeps pace with you as you sprint away - which is weird, now that you think about it. She gets the benefit of the exercise you've been getting over the last couple of weeks, but not the powers?

Behind you the entire building vanishes, consumed from within by a growing sun.

===

Spoiler: Mechanics corner

Of course the twisted clone of Taylor's eclipse caste solar is a moonshadow caste abyssal.

If you're not familiar with Exalted and the above statement means nothing to you, don't worry about it. The pale skin and elongated canines mean exactly what a naive observer would take them to mean: She's basically a vampire. But because she draws power from a parahuman shard just like regular Taylor and doesn't have to worry about essence pools, she's not an obligate haemovore.

Pattern Spider Touch can't really be used to modify a single aspect of a person as such. On application, it rewrites them into some other person. Changing 'a random rat' into 'a random cat' doesn't require any particular thought, but Taylor needed to know Noelle's entire life story so that the new person she created would be a properly accurate Noelle-but-without-powers. Unfortunately the new Noelle was such a realistic imitation that the shard was able to find her again and reattach itself S9000 style.

Well, either that or she replaced Noelle with a slave puppet programmed to reassure the Travelers that Quicksilver had done her job as well could be expected, and then self-terminate before they could examine her in detail. How would anyone tell the difference?

 

[zharshoul]

For a minute there I thought things were going to end well, but then worm reality set in.

 

[Zxzx24]

You make some token protests at his blatant threats - not because you mind, but to have enough of a conversation for soul's price to trigger.

Click to shrink...

-_-

Evil Taylor keeps pace with you as you sprint away - which is weird, now that you think about it. She gets the benefit of the exercise you've been getting over the last couple of weeks, but not the powers?

Click to shrink...

Shouldn't that be good Taylor?

Also what? Shards can just crap out solar exaltations? What the fuck Daniel Snuts

 

[zharshoul]

-_-


Shouldn't that be good Taylor?

Also what? Shards can just crap out solar exaltations? What the fuck Daniel Snuts

Click to shrink...

She is good if you use the logic the worm verses are generally lost causes/cancer and need to be destroyed before they spread, just like wh40k where everything is fucked and not even death will save you.

 

[Fernando]

... and it wasn't even lunchtime this time!

smh my head of course Taylor would enslave her alter, it's not like she's into the Solar better than Moon sorta thing...

oh wait is she?

 

[tronax]

Can Genesis really manifest new monsters without falling asleep first? I don't quite remember if she could do it like this

 

[Stanley_Jeb]

Shouldn't that be good Taylor?

Click to shrink...

... Maybe? I mean, depends on what Taylor even still cares about. For all we know of current Taylor, we can at least say clone-Taylor has the defining trait of "not into beastiality."

 

[Fernando]

... Maybe? I mean, depends on what Taylor even still cares about. For all we know of current Taylor, we can at least say clone-Taylor has the defining trait of "not into beastiality."

Click to shrink...

Maybe even "anti-Empire"

 

[Malexander]

... Maybe? I mean, depends on what Taylor even still cares about. For all we know of current Taylor, we can at least say clone-Taylor has the defining trait of "not into beastiality."

Click to shrink...

That said, is the clone pregnant?

 

[Dakkah]

... Maybe? I mean, depends on what Taylor even still cares about. For all we know of current Taylor, we can at least say clone-Taylor has the defining trait of "not into beastiality."

Click to shrink...

Achshually, If Fenrir was still around Claylor would have cuckquean'd Tay at the first opportunity.

 

[Whitesnake Pelinal]

Your reception from the Travelers themselves consists of Sundancer walking up to you and slapping you in the face.

"That's for what you did to Luke," she announces (Luke himself is nowhere to be seen).

"I'd do the same, if I could reach that high," a girl in a wheelchair says. Genesis, clearly, because she then manifests a gangly monster with seven hands, all of which slap you in the face.

You stand there and take it, because the alternative is getting in a fight with Sundancer. Also you kind of deserve it, you guess.

"If you're quite finished," Trickster drawls. "Quicksilver has a job to do."

The slapping-monster dissipates, and Genesis turns around and rolls off with a huff.

"Thanks," you say.

"They all hate you," Trickster says simply. "I'm willing to give you a chance, but if you can't help her you might not be walking out of here. Just saying."

Click to shrink...

Sucks when they straight up join battle. Taylor could have darvo'd that scene like a pro if only she had a chance.

... Maybe? I mean, depends on what Taylor even still cares about. For all we know of current Taylor, we can at least say clone-Taylor has the defining trait of "not into beastiality."

Click to shrink...

Hey! That was the closest thing to a loving relationship in Taylor's life.

... and it wasn't even lunchtime this time!

smh my head of course Taylor would enslave her alter, it's not like she's into the Solar better than Moon sorta thing...

oh wait is she?

Click to shrink...

I figured Taylor as Bright Shattered Ice to Alec's Desus, but maybe I had it wrong.

 

[ses]

Golden light explodes out from you as you seal the pact, though you don't elect to become a dragon. Good thing Trousers explained how that works.

Click to shrink...

By Rage Recast isn't optional. It's very explicitly hammered in to not be optional. You have to manifest mutations, though obviously she doesn't need to manifest Giant and could instead just become a human sized American Dragon Jake Long, In fact Wings plus some enhanced senses would take up all the necessary mutations. It's fine though, I assume they went the same place her anima banner went when she wasn't shining a giant flashlight all over the Travelers upon leaving the room. Must be a part of the essence weirdness of being a parahuman knockoff.

Is Evil Taylor a valid ticket to the charm lottery? Please please please say yes, Nemesis Self Imagined Anew is one of my favorite charms ever.

Huh. Becoming an evil clone of the evil clone genuinely seems like Taylor's most likely shot at something resembling mental health.

Evil Taylor seems taken aback by your words, which only goes to show that the cloning process isn't perfect. "You... realize that my only purpose in life is to destroy everything you hold dear and watch you die screaming, right?"

Evil Taylor wants to destroy everything you hold dear and watch you die screaming.

Huh. That's almost word for word Sophia's new soul price.

Click to shrink...

Noelle wants to be cured. Obviously.

Click to shrink...

Trickster wants Noelle to be cured.

Click to shrink...

Glorious Solar Investigation being behind the ball on the blatantly obvious never fails to crack me up.

Trusting 5 or 6 botches depending on if Essence got copied to restrain a Nemesis Self Imagine Anew'd Moonshadow Abyssal seems like a bad idea to me. She's perfectly capable of taking the hit if it means fulfilling her Motivation. She'd need to make the first hit count though.

 

[zapking5]

Couldn't Taylor have just Pattern Spider Touched her clone into a version that doesn't want her dead?