Charm Learning Shard (Worm/Exalted) (COMPLETED)

[zharshoul]

I don't think she'd stop there. I'm thinking full yamato nadeshiko treatment, despite having zero sexual desire for him, because she loves everything Theo stands for.

Click to shrink...

What does Theo stand for? So far in story he's just clay that Taylor is molding into an E88 figurehead.

Not like that's the first time, in most work sectors, industries and politics capes are legally labeled as non-grata. Even if their powers are unrelated to it.

Click to shrink...

The Calvin and Hobbes/Worm cross on SB just had a chapter where his dad gives a good spiel on this.

 

[Dread Pirate Gilligan]

What does Theo stand for? So far in story he's just clay that Taylor is molding into an E88 figurehead.

Click to shrink...

He stands for everything Taylor hates. He stands for weakness. He was a third generation trigger that got his power handed to him just by her dumping him while she has to invest time, effort, and sacrifice to gain each power she has. She had to go through something mind fuckingly horrific to be even given a power that lets her work to obtain other, more useful, powers.

In short? He disgusts her. She was embarrassed and hated pretending to date him, but it was worth it at the time because he was her key to taking over the Empire. Now? Now she has the Empire already. So, if her clone were to publicly take Theo back and act as a doting girlfriend shoehorning in Taylor to actually have to pretend to date him again? She would absolutely loath it, while the clone would love that she has made Taylor's main identity infuriating for Taylor to use.

Queue Taylor locking up Amy and Victoria to hurt Vicky over and over again until she has a healing power just to be able to torture her Evil Clone regularly without leaving marks...

 

[Stanley_Jeb]

He stands for weakness.

Click to shrink...

Which is kinda ironic, considering what she got bullied for. Of course, Taylor being an Exalt, she probably can't see it.

 

[zharshoul]

I know this is a nitpick and maybe just my head cannon, but I got confused because I thought you stand for causes and represent concepts. Stand is also more of taking an active role whereas represent just is.

 

[Duquette7]

Maybe they can marry in?

Click to shrink...

Nah, they already have a category of household appliance that fits this situation, romantically inclined domestic clones are legally indistinguishable from vibrators.

 

[Whitesnake Pelinal]

Nah, they already have a category of household appliance that fits this situation, romantically inclined domestic clones are legally indistinguishable from vibrators.

Click to shrink...

⊥ : "I am not an Ona-hole, I am a free woman!"
T : Really?"
⊥ : "...no.", sullen, "but I should be."
T : "Why?"
⊥ : "So I could choose to please as many Asian men as I want!"

 

[ses]

"Aren't going to greet your junior minion-sister?" Evil Taylor asks, gesturing towards you. "This is my clone. She has her own hopes and dreams independent of mine, but I've enslaved her on pain of death because I'm a terrible person."

Click to shrink...

I'm going to be honest. I only noticed that it was Evil Taylor saying this and being sarcastic about the situation to rag on Taylor on my third read of the update, because I'm apparently bad at reading comp. I 100% just glazed over the attribution the first two times and didn't even think twice about that being a line that Normal Taylor would nonchalantly say with a straight face as just the facts of life. It's completely in-character.

 

[Edifier]

Evil Taylor is my spirit animal. Lol.

 

[Zxzx24]

"Because we're friends."

Click to shrink...

[X] Doubt

Also don't be silly evil Taylor. Just wait. You know what happens to Taylor's friends.

"Therapy puppy," Rachel explains.

Oh. Okay. As long as she isn't trying to give you a replacement, you can deal. You pet the puppy.

"I lost some of mine too," she says.

Click to shrink...

Human dog is also to good for Taylor it seems.

Evil Taylor is my spirit animal. Lol.

Click to shrink...

Same honestly.

*sigh*

I just want to see Taylor suffer.

I wonder if evil Taylor will learn to invent charms then. Instead of copying them.

 

[zapking5]

I'm curious to learn what clone Taylor thinks of Theo. On one hand, Taylor despises him. On the other hand, he rolls over for and fawns over Taylor. Could be that the clone hates him for liking Taylor, or likes him because Taylor hates him.

 

[pepperjack]

I'm curious to learn what clone Taylor thinks of Theo. On one hand, Taylor despises him. On the other hand, he rolls over for and fawns over Taylor. Could be that the clone hates him for liking Taylor, or likes him because Taylor hates him.

Click to shrink...

I favor "hates him just as much, but hates Taylor so much more that she fawns on him revoltingly."

 

[w34v3r]

Ok so I haven't read abyssals in any edition, what does evil taylor have going for her because it should her caste powers, and one charm that feeds into that in some fashion right?

 

[Zax Zaubererglück]

I favor "hates him just as much, but hates Taylor so much more that she fawns on him revoltingly."

Click to shrink...

Remember. Clone Taylor has to keep Taylor up to date on what is going on in the empire. Cue horrifying pictures and video messages. Mobile phones are real.
Pissing on Lisas grave was just the start.

Taylor may also rue the day, when she inadvertly buffed all of Clone Taylors stats AND skills to the mortal maximum.
Whishing to be able to navigate by the stars sounds harmless. But, skill categories in exalted are very, very broad. Verdant Emptiness Endowment also goes partially after the intent of the target. (Here it helps that Taylor herself cares little for these skills/attributes). My point, Clone Taylor is now Super Taylor.

Can Clone Taylor even learn any charms for the next few years?
Getting all her stats up to 5 will put someone deeply into this pseudo experience dept we have here

 

[Rask]

Clone Taylor is an Abyssal, and it doesn't look like neither she nor Tailor know about Abyssal limit Resonance, or how to mitigate it. That's going to blow up soonish, perhaps literally.

 

[Deroddfox]

The real question is if said evil Abyssal clone Taylor will be stuck dealing with that big ole' honkin' Abyssal drawback. Namely, the way they build limit... Any sort of life based activity such as eating, and all that, but especially the ones they enjoyed in life cause limit build for Abyssals... In the older editions their ways of dealing with this were to basically go full Deathknight (No, not the Exalted ones) and just kinda surround themselves with as many of the trappings of death as possible. If they didn't they tended to go bug nuts worse than Solars with a bent toward genocide.

 

[Praetrunco]

Which is kinda ironic, considering what she got bullied for. Of course, Taylor being an Exalt, she probably can't see it.

Click to shrink...

She got bullied because a psychopath molded a naive, traumatized idiot into another with little capability for violence. Justifications after the fact have little bearing on the actual reasons. Which on Sophia's part, was a whim based on her disgust with anyone who didn't "See the world the way it really was.", and on Emma's part, was literally stated almost i-fucking-mmediately. "Fake it until you make it." Neither of those are "Oh em gee she's such a weakling.", in point of fact.

Irony actually only enters the equation once Taylor had cashed in both their soul prices.

 

[Stanley_Jeb]

Neither of those are "Oh em gee she's such a weakling.", in point of fact.

Click to shrink...

... What? Sophia has an issue with "prey" people, who she considers weak. Hence the whole spiel where she wouldn't have helped Emma if she hadn't fought back against the ABB, however ineffectual.
Thus, the irony comes in Taylor, who triggered after getting bullied for being weak outcast, telling off Theo for being a weak outcast, causing him to trigger.

 

[ses]

Was reading Roll of Glorious Divinity II in the hopes that we get to see some ghost action, and Taylor was indeed right that Coil could count as a sacrificial slave for Lisa if they both remain in the Underworld as ghosts. I really really really hope that's foreshadowing. The DM could give her Coil's entire Bond villain base as Grave Goods, though that's slightly more of a stretch. That plaque Taylor carved is absolutely a Fetter though. I want to see ghost Lisa give Taylor shit for misspelling her name.

Page 107 of RoGDII.

 

[Daniel Snuts]

As more Master effects have suddenly become a priority, you shift your focus towards finally acquiring Alec's power. Warlord Regent has pretty much outgrown his role as the secret third-and-a-halfth member of BITN - his lair is bigger and nicer than yours, and he has more minions. But despite his grumbling he sticks to his promises, and letting you study his power was part of the deal. It's not as if it costs him anything.

Thus you task Evil Taylor with maintaining your Empire identity, leaving her to do heavy physical labor all day while you lounge in Alec's lair, posing as his slave puppet concubine as you watch him pilot his Mastered mercenaries around.

"This is Orc and Lissom," Alec introduces them.

"Mercenaries have secret identities too?" you ask.

"Callsigns, actually," Orc says.

"Though the effect is much the same, with these," Lissom says, gesturing at the face-concealing helmet of their SWAT-like uniform.

You wonder briefly if Alec got them mixed up, because the person he introduced as 'Orc' has a female voice, and 'Lissom', male. Then they take off their helmets, and your confusion clears up. No, he did not get them mixed up. Poor Orc.

Aisha is there too, because as you mentioned, Alec's lair is nicer than yours. She insisted on being the 'senior slave puppet concubine', and you agreed. It amuses her to have nominal authority over you, and you don't particularly care who waves the fan and who peels the grapes. There is one major difference between how you play your roles, though.

"I can't believe you let him actually slave puppet you," you say.

"Don't kinkshame," Aisha says, making you raise an eyebrow. Are they bumping uglies for real, too? You disapprove, but objecting would make you quite the hypocritamous yourself.

"Don't make me draw up guidelines for minion maternity leave," is all you say. Which, uh, could still be considered a wee bit hypocritical, considering your own condition. She's even younger and more irresponsible than you, though!

---

"Alright, hit me," Evil Taylor says resignedly.

You wave you finger at her like a Jedi mind-trick and hit her with Alec's power. She twitches. You don't feel any sort of connection form, though. Frowning, you do it again. Another twitch.

Her eyes go wide with realization, and she bursts out laughing. You keep hitting her with the power, causing her to twitch and hiccup and eventually fall over, but she doesn't stop laughing.

"Let me guess," she finally wheezes out from the floor, "you copied Regent's power? The guy-" she has to pause for breath again "-the guy whose only power is to make people twitch inconveniently, honest!"

You twitch her again as she collapses back into laughter, out of petty spite. You did, didn't you? What is even wrong with your brain? Alec explained it all ages ago, how every nervous system was somehow different, and so all he could do against (lower-case s) strangers was to send bursts of random nerve impulses towards the generally right area, making them drop things or stumble.

But with hours of study and calibration he could gain complete control of a person, down to reading their sensory inputs straight off the relevant nerves. Quite similar to how you use sorcerer's sight, really. But that's not what you copied. You aren't getting any insight into Evil Taylor's nervous system no matter how much you wave your finger at her. You just have the power to make people twitch.

"No shapeshifting for you, then," you grumpily tell the helplessly mirthful clone.

---

With his original power-study debt paid off, Alec requested another heist as a condition of him remaining in BITN. His lair is, to reiterate, a lot nicer than yours and contains more minions, so of course the upkeep would be more expensive. You don't particularly care for villainy, but it's a small enough price to pay for keeping 1.5 excellent minions around. So you Poltergeist it up and roll out with your homies, or however the hoodlums say it.

"You're rolling out with your crew," Aisha says. "Homies are more like acquaintances."

You roll out with your crew, then. However, less than halfway to your destination a pair of thugs with shotguns show up to block your path.

"Huh," Ghost says. "Did we piss someone off?"

"I wonder what they want?" Aisha says, not slowing her roll or even bothering to vanish. You imagine that would change if they actually pointed their guns in your direction, but you still get this tiny little barely perceptible warm feeling at how much she trusts you to handle the situation.

The guns remain averted as you approach. One of them even lets go of the barrel to raise a hand to his forehead, a gesture halfway between a salute and the tipping of a non-existent hat.

"Trousers wants t'see ya, ma'am," he says respectfully. "Urgent-like."

Huh. You had rather gotten the impression that she hated and/or feared you, what with her general refusal to speak to or look at you. And here she comes with an invitation polite as can be, given that shotguns are involved.

"Sorry, crew," you rasp out with Poltergeist's damaged voice. "Looks like today's little outing is cancelled. Dismissed."

Ghost mutters some probably-impolite things under her breath, while Aisha just shrugs.

"Lead on," you tell the thugs.

---

Merchant territory hasn't become a better place for a casual stroll since the last time you tried. From the tension of your escorts it quickly becomes apparent that the heavily armed invitation wasn't for your benefit - it's just that a single shotgun-armed thug didn't feel safe on his own. These very much aren't the people that build civilization.

Unlike Skidmark, who was happy to lounge in filth with the rest of the rejects, Trousers is prototyping the borderless society. Or in other words, she has a luxurious first-world penthouse suite in the middle of her privately-owned third-world slum. You pass several more people with shotguns in and around the ground floor of the building, tasked with keeping the two worlds apart.

Fair play to the open borders advocates: The system clearly works, provided that you can secure yourself a slum to economically exploit, and never ever want to go outside. But why would you want to go outside, when you can just have your hunky personal trainer of indeterminate ethnicity inject you with carefully measured doses of medical-grade heroin whenever you start feeling antsy?

That last part wasn't something you'd heard anyone in the Empire mention (they'd have referred to the trainer's ethnicity as 'mystery meat'), just what you observed going on as you emerged from the elevator. She's not just prototyping the future utopia, she's adding brand new innovations as well.

Trousers regards you levelly throughout the process, unmasked and unashamed. Her eyelids droop and her body relaxes as the stuff hits her bloodstream, but still she does not greet you.

"Are you going to talk this time around?" you ask, bemused.

She doesn't even shake her head, she just slowly tilts to the side until she lies sprawled on the couch. One hand flops out in a gesture vaguely directed at the coffee table in front of her, which holds a single piece of paper. You'll take that as a no. You have no idea what she has against you - which presumably means it hasn't happened yet, whatever it is.

You roll your eyes behind your mask as you bend down to see what message she's left you. "Why'd you even bother to invite me over if you..." You trail off, because the answer becomes obvious as you read the note, all five characters of it. The personal touch was to impress upon you the seriousness of the communication, to convey that there could be no question of it being a joke or a trick.

S9 INC

You look at where the windows have been taped over with cardboard. You'd assumed it was because her drug habit left her sensitive to bright light, but clearly that was making an ass of u and meds. S9 coming means Shatterbird singing, which means-

"'preciate the heads up," you call out over your shoulder as you hit the elevator running.

---

Spoiler: Aisha-o-vision

I answer the phone on the first ring. It's not that I'm worried - badass villains like myself don't get worried, duh - I'm just... interested. Yeah.

"Hey Boss," I say casually, so she doesn't get any weird ideas about me not being badass. "What'd she want?"

"The S9 is coming. Are here already."

"Uh." Okay, worried definitely isn't what I am right now. "You... you'll handle it, right?"

"I'm handling the most important part."

Focus, Aisha. You're Imp. Badass villain with a heart of gold. And also loyal minion. "Can I help?"

There's a pause. "...no, you wouldn't make it in time." She hangs up. I slowly lower the phone, my mind racing. They're attacking right now?

"So what'd Trousers want?" Alec asks.

"Slaughterhouse 9," I say dully.

"Here? Now?" he asks, and I nod. "Well, shit." He looks sadly at his game console - which admittedly won't survive Shatterbird announcing herself, but you know, priorities? "...she'll handle it, though?" he says hopefully.

"She's handling, and I quote, 'the most important part.'"

"I hope that means 'keeping us alive.' As opposed to, you know, 'keeping herself alive.'"

I consider that for a moment. "I'm not sure her life even needs saving. I mean, what are the odds that they won't want to recruit her?"

"True. Only... don't they have this thing about making recruits kill their old teammates?"

"Um." I consider some more. "Not to be a faggot, but do you think we should maybe warn the heroes?"

Shatterbird is not difficult to find. You can see her power starting to suffuse the city, propagating a vibration through every piece of glass and silicon that as of yet is too subtle to see with the naked eye. It means you don't have much time, but with sorcerer's sight every window you pass by is a signpost pointing in her rough direction.

Rough directions are all you need, because her costume isn't exactly subtle: An angel of stained glass, each fragment held in place by her power. The ten-foot wingspan is hard to miss.

"Stop!" you shout as you haul yourself onto the rooftop she's chosen for her performance. Or you try to, Poltergeist's voice isn't so good at shouting. But she must have heard you, because she fires a shard of glass from her wing at you even though she's looking in the other direction. You catch it with a mind-hand.

"No seriously, stop," you say.

Shatterbird turns around, and does a double-take upon seeing you. She's the only member of the S9 to wear a mask, a bird's skull made of multicolored glass. But the eye sockets are large enough that you can see the surprise on her face. "Poltergeist?" she says. She tries to pull the shard back into her wing, but can't muster enough force to overcome the grip of your mind-hand until you politely let go. "Did you encounter one of the others already?"

"No?" You're just as confused as she appears to be, but relax fractionally. As long as she's talking, she's not singing.

"Then who told you you were my candidate?"

Oh. You weren't entirely sure what to do next, once you had Alec's power. But just like that your next several weeks are all planned out for you.

"Didn't know I was," you say. "I suppose you have a test for me, then?"

She nods. "I would pit your telekinesis against mine. Prepare yourself!" At her words, her wings explode out into a billowing cloud, which quickly moves to surround you in a whirlwind of glass. This is going to suck, isn't it? You drop into mantis form.

Thanks to the improved awareness it grants, you easily catch the first shard to swerve inwards to strike at you. And the second, and the third. But then you're out of mind-hands, and Shatterbird still has, oh, around three thousand shards left.

When the fourth shard comes you strike out with a regular hand to deflect it. But when it makes contact it explodes into fragments - fragments that curve around your hand and fly into your sleeve, where they score their way up your forearm in a spiraling pattern.

"No cheating," Shatterbird says. "Telekinesis only."

You throw away the shards you caught to free up your mind-hands. They immediately curve around in the air and come back for another pass, but as long as you just bat them away each time instead of trying to hold on to them, a single mind-hand will suffice to keep them at bay. Leaving the other two free to cut open your sleeve and snatch up the fragments slicing your arm into ribbons before they can reach more vital areas. You toss them away, and stop the bleeding.

Of course Shatterbird isn't going to leave it at that. More and more shards join the attack. A dozen. Two. You rip off your mask and throw at away, needing every scrap of peripheral vision you can muster. It's not as if you're wearing a real face beneath it.

The number of shards attacking you double, and double again. A hundred shards fly at you simultaneously. Mind-hands twist through the air at the speed of though, deflecting each and every one with a ripple of twisted space. Then there are two hundred. Three hundred. Shards fly at you from every direction, and you're no longer turning to spot them so much as spinning on your heel. Five hundred. You are not hit.

You're granted a moment's reprieve as Shatterbird growls in frustration, her concentration slipping. Then she clenches her fists, and the entire cloud converges on you.

This. This is what your power was made for. Due to your preparation, you've rendered your opponent entirely impotent. Your body feels as if it's trapped in resin, struggling to move a fraction of an inch in the time it takes your mantis mind to pick out and deflect a hundred incoming threats. You can't possibly hope to turn fast enough to see what's approaching from behind you anymore, but it does not matter. You are one with the glass. You can feel the trajectories, intuit where every one of the 3173 shards will strike.

You have no idea how long it goes on. Seconds, minutes? Subjectively, hours and days. You do not falter. The same power that lets you operate at such speeds keeps you from tiring. To a mortal observer you must not be visible at all, your mind-hands blurring together into a solid white sphere around you.

With a scream of rage Shatterbird sends the rest of her costume to reinforce the attack, leaving her standing naked on the roof. It matters not. What do you care if there are 4892 threats instead of 3173? Let her bring ten thousand shards or ten million, she will not draw blood again.

Eventually she realizes this, and stops attacking. With nothing left to defend against, your mind slows back down to mortal speeds with the grace of a bird hitting a jet engine. You stumble and fall on your ass as your body stops being stuck in time, the world spinning and wobbling around you. Note to self, mantis form will prevent you from being overwhelmed by a flurry of attacks. No more and no less.

Wait, it's not just you, the world really is wobbling. Space itself bucks and heaves from the compounded spatial distortions caused by your hyperactive mind-hands. Speaking of heaving, your inner ear would much prefer if space kept still. You manage to roll over onto your hands and knees just in time for your breakfast to evacuate the premises.

Once the continuum settles down a bit, you get to your feet. Spitting out bile and wiping your mouth, you turn to face your sponsor. Shatterbird is dressed once more, and she's staring at you like she doesn't know whether to compliment you or curse you.

Spoiler: Shatterbird-o-vision

Do I know how to pick them, or what?

No but seriously, what? How?

"One down, seven to go?" you prompt her when she doesn't speak.

She nods. "I'll tell Siberian you're ready for her trial as soon as I've sung for the city."

"Don't," you say. "It's a trap."

"What?"

"Your power works on sand as well as glass, right?"

"Yes?"

"You know about the Silver Desert?"

"I've heard about it."

"It might wake up if you try to claim its sand. I really don't want to find out what happens if it wakes up."

"It's alive?" She fixes you with a suspicious look. "I haven't heard anything about that."

"Not many people know." Literally only you, to be precise. And now her. You hold up your hands in a 'not touching anything' gesture. "Hey, I'm not trying to stop you from wrecking the city." It would be nice if she didn't, but getting her to not poke the Desert is a higher priority. "Just, don't touch that part? You know, for the same reason you don't walk up to Scion and slap him in the face?"

"I don't have that sort of control at long range. But I can't just not sing. I always sing to announce our presence..." She's frowns in worry and chews on her lower lip as she considers the matter. You don't think she realizes how much of her face is visible through her mask. It's entirely possible that no one has told her, because everyone she meets is too busy either running away or begging for their life.

"I might have a suggestion..."

===

Spoiler: Updated status

Charms:
Taylor: All-Encompassing Sorcerer's Sight, Terrestrial Circle Sorcery
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
Lung: By Rage Recast
Vista: Mind-Hand Manipulation
Cricket: Mantis Form
Faultline: Charm of Lesser Unmaking
Labyrinth: Hell-Walker Technique
Othala: Verdant Emptiness Endowment
Rune: Sometimes Horses Fly Approach
Shadow Stalker: Bloodless Murk Evasion
Miss Militia: Nightmare Fugue Vigilance
Circus: Graceful Crane Stance
Ballistic: Crack the Sky
Crusader: Shell-Cracking Atemi
Purity: Eagle-Wing Style
Flechette: Pattern Spider Touch
Regent: Distracting Finger-Gesture Attack

 

[Anonymous Brainwash]

Taylor. Do NOT give ideas to the S9 member!

…Oh who am I kidding she's a Solar Exalted who's friend group is primarily made of Nazis. Jack Slash is going to be taking notes by the time this is over.

 

[ses]

Is the joke that half their candidates are going to be Taylor identities? That's totally the joke isn't it.

I've never seen Distracting Finger-Gesture Attack before, does someone have the charm text?

The Ebon Shadow martial artist makes a complex, Essence-charged sign with her fi ngers, and the twisting lines of shadowy Essence distract and slow one selected opponent. The sign takes only an instant to make at the beginning of the action. The target character's next action is delayed for a number of ticks equal to the martial artist's Martial Arts score, incidentally preventing his DV from refreshing until then. When the target's next action comes, he cannot perform a flurry but may still use Combos and reflexive and extra action Charms normally. He can perform a Guard action as usual.

Oh hey it's another Martial Arts charm! Cool! Taylor really should have actually been paying attention at the Dojo.

That mantis form/mind hand stunt was absolutely baller. Well worth the 3pt stunt. She's gonna need that two willpower.

 

[néocorvinus]

Mannequin: Wants to kill a Tinker that betters the world. Realize one was a gloryhound who killed several people to be famous, the other is secretly a nazi.

Jack Slash: Wants to make people realize civilization is a meaningless sham and they should do whatever they want. The strongest cape in the city is entirely dedicated to augmenting her real power, and is indirectly responsible for the death of ABB, Leet, Uber, the Travellers and half of the Undersiders. She also fucked her dog

Bonesaw: Wants to make art. Meet someone willing to let her do all the art she needs

 

[zapking5]

Taylor is just going to obediently go through their tests? I guess she might simply not be confident in killing Shatterbird before she sings.

...Is she actually going to join the S9 because she wants their powers that bad?

 

[Fernando]

... not even Dominion went that deep off the rails that quickly.

Oh who am I kidding, Taylor's bound to join if only for the broader amount of parahumans she could study and mess around with Bonesaw.

Jeez. It'd be funny if the reason Taylor ends up fighting against Behemoth is because she wants to study an Endbringer and the rest of the S9 just went along with it to fuck around the fight with their own agendas in mind.

 

[Paralein]

Taylor is just going to obediently go through their tests? I guess she might simply not be confident in killing Shatterbird before she sings.

...Is she actually going to join the S9 because she wants their powers that bad?

Click to shrink...

All signs point to yes.

I really wonder how the whole Jack/Cherish/Taylor triangle of masters and manipulators will work out.

 

[ses]

Oh who am I kidding, Taylor's bound to join if only for the broader amount of parahumans she could study and mess around with Bonesaw.

Click to shrink...

The worst part is that she hasn't even finished digesting Fog/Hookwolf/Krieg/Stormtiger/Victor/Xenja. She totally has plenty of powers to occupy her time with.

Oh. You weren't entirely sure what to do next, once you had Alec's power. But just like that your next several weeks are all planned out for you.

Click to shrink...

Taylor. Taylor you have literally 6 powers on offer not even counting Theo's shit tier one. You don't need to spend weeks hanging out with the fucking S9. Heck, Fog is already a mindless brain-slave that obeys Purity. You don't even need to put effort into an excuse to get him.

 

[John Doey]

Not saying I want the story to go there, but joining the S9 would likely be a very safe and reliable way of getting new powers. Why keep messing around with slow and tricky social manipulation? Just kidnap everyone and have Riley turn them into easy to handle flesh cubes! If anyone complains they can take it up with HR.

PS: Crawler is probably the missing step to become truly absurdly OP.

 

[zapking5]

Not saying I want the story to go there, but joining the S9 would likely be a very safe and reliable way of getting new powers. Why keep messing around with slow and tricky social manipulation? Just kidnap everyone and have Riley turn them into easy to handle flesh cubes! If anyone complains they can take it up with HR.

PS: Crawler is probably the missing step to become truly absurdly OP.

Click to shrink...

Well, the S9 have quite the attrition rate aside from the core members.

Just realized she could probably murder Sophia as a way to pass some test and pretend to be torn up about it lol. Cherish might expose her though.

 

[Dakkah]

Well, the S9 have quite the attrition rate aside from the core members.

Just realized she could probably murder Sophia as a way to pass some test and pretend to be torn up about it lol. Cherish might expose her though.

Click to shrink...

IIRC one of the earliest prophetic poems pretty much stated she will make it to the end.

 

[Fernando]

Cherish might expose her though.

Click to shrink...

A single convo with her would probably give her the Soul Price of "I want to kill my dad." Depending on how flakey she wants to be, a trip over to Canada might be in order to not get outed.

Then again, Taylor's sanity levels are overrated, so who knows?