Charm Learning Shard (Worm/Exalted) (COMPLETED)

[Whitesnake Pelinal]

Yeah it's certainly nightmare fugue vigilance. Not something Taylor's fraying sanity needed lmao.

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I wish I knew Exalted well enough to make educated guesses. Looked this one up and yeah, sure would fit, essence 2 and that'd be a fifty DKP minus to sanity for sure.

 

[Stanley_Jeb]

All morality, reason, and capability for rational thought aside, why the hell hasn't the Empire used the Elite as a propaganda piece?

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Can't say for sure, but knowing Kaiser he might have some dealings with them or something along those lines. He is a businessman first and a nazi gang leader second, so it wouldn't surprise me if he had a hand in that pie in some capacity.

 

[R.A.G.]

I'm guessing they're gonna think she 2nd Triggered after the rape huh.

 

[Aurora Raven]

How sure of that are you, in a setting where the Nazis have heart-felt debates about the merits of socialism?

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You do know there's an entire branch of Nazis that are actual socialists?

Look up Strasserism. They were a major component of the NSDAP until Hitler's faction killed most of them.

 

[Daniel Snuts]

Lisa probably wants to kill coil herself.

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No 'probably' about it. Lisa wants Coil dead is the very first soul price Taylor ever extracted.

Didn't Arcadia have a Faraday cage?

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I thought I knew my worm, yet this is the first time I ever recall hearing about that.

...yep, there it is on the wiki. A single throwaway sentence within 1.7 million words of text. Which is how much I'm going to care about it.

Please mentally insert your own preferred cope from the list below:

1) AU
2) Maths building is an older and less fancy structure that was reopened to handle overflow as the student population grew
3) It was opened up temporarily to let the Wards receive the exact same message, except prefixed 'GET IN'
4) Lisa haxxor powers + Wards-only local area network

Oh my, did Taylor send Purity & her kids to the safehouse where her main minion (Aisha) and basement gimp (Sophia) are currently located?

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She planned ahead for that:

eventually you're able to explain to her that she should be careful about going home, because you might have company over. And that she's still expected to water the plants, but that she should do so quietly. And that she should tell your mutual friend to stay away entirely for the time being, as he doesn't have her talent for being quiet.

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Aisha will not enter the lair without stealth, and is required to feed the basement gimp without anyone noticing the basement door opening.

You know I've been kind of surprised there hadn't been some name confusion between Low Key and Loki made by people who only went by the way the name was said. It's the kind of thing I as a hard of hearing (Politically Deaf) person tend to notice with narratives like this which rely on punny names. I keep expecting people to trip over them and so far it doesn't seem to have happened.

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It helps that this particular pun is a literary reference.

Huh, I just realized they never mentioned Sophia's actions against Taylor while in Winslow being a concern about recruiting her.

I think the PRT are still, somewhat unsurprisingly, somehow ignorant of that.

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The school administration would have reported something like that, right? No need for a more in-depth investigation when they already have enough to arrest her.

I forget what one kW means

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Total dots of requirements. So for example There Is No Wind at Archery 4, Essence 1 would be 5 kW.

I am surprised that no one so far, not in chapter or outside, has pointed out that the stranger breaking Taylor out obviously would also give her the knife.

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Vista and Clockblocker didn't know the details of her escape. Armsmaster knows about orichalcum, and about Ottawa, and so thinks she had it all along. Somehow.

Did Taylor just ride off on Bubble's wearing nothing but a pair of socks, and not in the fun way?

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She ditched her prison jumpsuit, but she's still wearing her one-size-fits-none underwear.

 

[AppleGrowth]

No 'probably' about it. Lisa wants Coil dead is the very first soul price Taylor ever extracted.
.

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Nah I just meant that Lisa had a plan in place to kill Coil that was being enacted now. But I'm pretty sure that not the case. I think she just got info tortured out of her, or she gave Taylor's Low Key along with other empire capes persona away to avoid suspicious. I doubt Coil knows about their friendship or Taylor's actual powers.

(Also if she did end up enduring torture to protect Taylor in an alternate timeline I kinda want to see a little Extra or sumthing about that)

 

[Zhaulot]

Total dots of requirements. So for example There Is No Wind at Archery 4, Essence 1 would be 5 kW.

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So at 2 kW, I'm betting it's Counting the Elephant's Wrinkles. Perfect recall Lunar charm with Int 1/Ess 1 prereqs, which fits MM's power in complexity and function. The charm *does* have a lot of immediate narrative utility in helping Taylor unravel the mystery of her dragon and oath-binding powers, if she uses it to remember her wild night with Lung.

Author/ST call obviously, but CtEW might also enable Taylor to pick up Aisha's power. Say that Taylor gets a ciphered note telling her to stare at a knife mark in a wall for hours. Aisha stands in front of the mark with her power active for the duration, and Taylor activates CtEW afterwards, perfectly "recalling" hours of power observation that Aisha's power prevented from from being written to Taylor's memory.

 

[Silvercrystal]

Spoiler: Angry Mod Face

This Thread…

STOP REPORTING THE STORY POSTS!!!

"From the start of QQ, the purpose of the site was to host fiction writing, and especially fiction that was unwelcome on other platforms due to their content censorship."

"Our rule regarding stories has always been that we allow everything except what we're legally required to remove."

If you have a problem with the content in this story then kindly leave this thread.

Discussion in the story thread, of course, is a separate topic, and rule-breaking posts there will be hit as they happen or when we get to them.

Thank you for your time

 

[Saltade]

Lmao who are the sweet summer children getting so triggered by fictional nazis?

 

[Dark Lord Bob]

It helps that this particular pun is a literary reference.

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To American Gods?

 

[Whitesnake Pelinal]

So at 2 kW, I'm betting it's Counting the Elephant's Wrinkles. Perfect recall Lunar charm with Int 1/Ess 1 prereqs, which fits MM's power in complexity and function. The charm *does* have a lot of immediate narrative utility in helping Taylor unravel the mystery of her dragon and oath-binding powers, if she uses it to remember her wild night with Lung.

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Oooh, that would be less unpleasant to have than the infernal sleeplessness charm, and Taylor would fall in love with her oath-taking ability. Such an easy master power to deploy, no troublesome soul prices required, merely an obviously supernatural agreement. Though remembering inflicting a curse on herself probably wouldn't be pleasant.

On a related note, I'm curious how far Taylor will push the 'wolf powers' angle as she gains more powers to allocate. Grab-bag capes are a known entity and she's already played up wolf senses, and got away with sometimes wolves fly. Maybe a wolf form from By Rage Recast? Though I don't recall if that charm is flexible or locked in form.

 

[GiantAnteater]

The wonders of Conviction 5.

I can't remember who wrote 'basically every problem in Exalted is due to all the PCs taking Valour and Conviction and passing on Compassion and Temperance', but they were right.

I'd guess Call the Blade.

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Wait, couldn't Taylor raise Regent's Compassion and Temperance back when he was asking to feel more emotions? She raised Aisha's intellect with one of her Charms already.

 

[Robert413]

You know, I was really expecting / looking forward to Taylor delivering a "Reason You Suck" speech to the heroes. You know.. "Do you seriously expect me to join after your pet psycho triggered me? Oh, you didn't know? So you're just incompetent and not evil?" Pointing out that everyone she's "hate crimed" has been an evil doing criminal. Chewing them out for breaking the unwritten rules. "Oh, sure. I totally believe it wasn't you that released those names. *eyerolls* You sure were quick to start shooting energy blasts at me in the hallways of Arcadia when word got out though, weren't you?" Though admittedly, I think she had summoned Fenrir by the time Gallant opened fire... So that would actually be legit. If they bring up accessory to Purity vaporizing a few PRT agents, simply describe them as kidnappers. "Oh, so having differing political views is cause for the government to kidnap your children without warning? Ah, it's because she was a criminal? Really? Did you guys get a warrant for the arrest of her civilian identity issued already? No? So you just busted in and took her kids without any actual legal basis? Wow. Heroes, huh?"

Maybe even go so far as to point out a) the Empire's track record for busting out it's capes, and b) she's got a pet wolf. And wolves are TRACKERS. And since the Protectorate doesn't seem too interested in the unwritten rules anymore, no reason NOT to 'follow your nose' anymore, huh? "I mean, how did you think I knew Sophia was Shadow Stalker? Did you think I WOULDN'T use my power to follow my bully and trigger instigator? You think I had Fenrir chomp on her hand because she's BLACK? Hell no! It was the content of her character, not the color of her skin! Only reason I left it at that is because I don't need Legend gay-rainbow lasering me for whacking a Ward." Though threatening to unmask the protectorate would likely be a bridge too far.

Honestly, I don't know WHAT I was thinking.

Because while all of that WOULD have been entertaining.. It does NOTHING to advance her in her one true goal... Getting more powers! If it doesn't help her get more powers, she doesn't give a shit. Even her revenge on Sophia was partially about getting more powers.. Shadow Stalker's AND Regent's. And getting loyalty fro more capes (Regent) so they can help her get MORE powers.

So, everyone wondering what Taylor's gonna do when Leviathan shows up? Is she gonna show off that trump rating and duke it out? Ask yourself this: Will that help her get more powers? She'd be able to see LOTS of powers in use in an Endbringer fight.. But only for a brief period of time. Potentially VERY brief, given the mortality rate. She seems to need from a few hours to months to nail down someone's powers. She's not likely to get that in an Endbringer battle. But hey, I bet there will be a LOT of capes who's soul prices will very suddenly become "Wants to survive this Endbringer fight." And Fenrir is PERFECT for S&R! So I expect her to not fight at all, show off no new powers, and reap a bumper crop of loyalty she can parlay into new powers.

I can't wait to read more and see how accurate or off base I am!

 

[Earth-Destroyer]

Wait, couldn't Taylor raise Regent's Compassion and Temperance back when he was asking to feel more emotions? She raised Aisha's intellect with one of her Charms already.

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The base wish granting charm VED only raises stats and skills. Their are other charms that upgrade it to give background dots, and mutations. But the virtues are not covered, by the base form at all. It can change what you can do, how well you can do it, even your fame. But the why is untouched.

 

[bornagainpenguin]

It helps that this particular pun is a literary reference.

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Other than what it says on the face of it, I am not aware of this literary reference. Could I get a link to the reference?

Thanks.

 

[ses]

Jesus christ Taylor's a sociopath

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I think the whole "not being willing to sell out Rachel to get Hookwolfs soul price" proved she's not a sociopath. she does have empathy and some morals not based on her own self interest. Her problem, which has been talked about in authors notes and some of the authors other comments, is that she's got a BAD case of "when all you have is a hammer" syndrome regarding lying and manipulating that it's her default approach to interacting with people. I'm sure someone could chime in with what diagnosis that matches, but it's something different than sociopathy

 

[bornagainpenguin]

I think the whole "not being willing to sell out Rachel to get Hookwolfs soul price" proved she's not a sociopath.

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I want to agree with this but then I recall how much has happened in story since then. The Taylor Hebert of that point in the story's timeline wouldn't give up Rachael for Hookwolf's soul price, sure. The real question though is would the Taylor of all the events which have happened since then do so?

I really don't know the answer to that question and neither do you. None of us will unless or until our author revisits the issue and settles it one way or another.

 

[Daniel Snuts]

"Nothing personal," you tell Aegis's severed head. "I just didn't have a better way to stop a Brute of your caliber."

He glares at you, and his lips move. But just because he's currently absorbing oxygen through his sinuses doesn't mean he can pass air across his vocal cords.

"Sorry, not a lip reader. Blink twice if you just called me a psycho bitch."

Aegis, slowly and deliberately, blinks twice.

"That's really hurtful, you know. And unfair. A psycho would have cut down the street, not across the road." You trace a finger down his forehead and along his nose to illustrate your meaning (said nose is twitching in a rather amusing fashion as it takes over the function of his heart).

When your finger approaches his lips, he lunges forward and tries to bite you. Yes, he can still fly. The important parahuman bits are all in the brain, after all. He can't muster enough force to break your grip on his hair, though, and you manage to pull your finger away in time.

"Rude. I was going to let you go reattach yourself, but if you're going to be like that maybe I should just take you prisoner instead."

His lips move some more.

"Yes," you muse to yourself. "An exchange of hostages. How many others did you capture so far?"

Aegis doesn't blink at all.

"C'mon, you can level with me here. You must have gotten someone, right? Once for yes, twice for no."

He blinks twice, scowling. Huh. Your escape was predicated on the idea that the Empire was in severe crisis and your Get Broken Out Of Jail Free insurance might therefore have lapsed. Should you have been more optimistic?

"Wow, you guys really suck. Shitting all over the unwritten rules like that, and all you caught was little old me?"

One blink. Poor guy doesn't recognize a rhetorical question. Or the evidence right in front of his eyes.

"Bzzt, wrong. You clearly did not catch me. I just came by for a brief visit."

He silently mouths off again. Probably something about how crime does not pay and they'll get you eventually.

"May as well let you go, then." You're almost to the shore anyway. No way will he be able to get to his body and come back in time to catch you now. You twist around to look behind you. Huh. No sign of his body. "I guess you sank. Don't worry, I bet your ears will turn into gills when you dive down and search." You give him a shove/throw in the right direction.

Ah, if your eyes don't deceive you, that's Armsmaster coming over in a boat to help fish him up. He'll be fine.

---

On the one hand, you got away clean. On the other, your civilian identity suffered one hell of a one-two punch, and is out for the count. Now, there are silver linings - more free time for one, because no one will think it strange if you stop attending the school full of Wards - but before you can enjoy that free time you have so many things you need to deal with urgently. How to prioritize?

First off, that was your one free brush with government. Low Key is irreversibly tied to Taylor now. Yes, you were already outed before you were arrested. And you'll certainly mete out appropriate payback for that... later. But crucially, none of your other identities are tied together yet. That will not be the case anymore if you ever get careless about what forensic evidence you leave behind, now that they have your prints and DNA.

You can't really do anything about your DNA (Panacea's soul price?), except resolve to not bleed on things unnecessarily - fortunately you're pretty good at not bleeding. A few seconds of concentration is enough to get you a brand new set of fingerprints, though. An irreversible operation, most likely, which is why you've always held off before. But it's not as if the Taylor identity serves a purpose any more.

In fact... A smile tugs at your face as a thought occurs to you. If you ever get caught as Low Key again, you'll have to blame the new fingerprints on a rogue biokinetic. And since you'll be making a new costume anyway, why not skip the padding, wear the body you've always wanted full time, and blame everything on Vegas Fleshcrafters? Yes.

What next? Well, if Kaiser isn't already aware of your escape he'll be soon enough, and he's likely to get miffed if you don't report in right away.

As you approach Empire territory, you can hear gunfire. Drawing closer reveals a gang of thugs in Merchant colors having a shootout with a couple of skinheads. Surprise wolf airdrop, motherfuckers!

"It's Low Key!" "Thats a lot of blood, are you okay?" "Holy shit, it can fly?"

"He," you say sternly. "And don't worry, it's hero blood. Can I borrow a phone? I need to call Ops and report for duty."

"Sure, here you go." He also offers you his jacket, because chivalry isn't dead.

"Which hero?" "Never try to arrest Psycho Bitch, huh." "They weren't kidding about the padded costume."

You glare at the last commenter. Chivalry may not quite be dead, but the doctors sure are looking longingly at that organ donor card and eyeing the life support machinery.

---

"Low Key." Kaiser looks you over, but makes no comment about your state of dress, or the blood. Metal spears spring up from the ground all around the two of you, widening to form solid walls and bending into an arched ceiling above, with thin gaps to let a modicum of light in. Instant privacy.

"There are a lot of things we could talk about," he says, his voice grave. You don't say anything, keeping your expression neutral as you wait for him to continue. You very much agree that there are a lot of things you could gravely talk about... but you don't know which ones he's found out about, so it's better not to give anything away.

"Like the way you appear to have taken a longer vacation than was warranted."

He seriously checked Taylor Hebert's school attendance records and compared it to Low Key's vacation? While his Empire was under attack? What a jew. "I was trying to avoid synching my cape and civilian lives too much, to avoid precisely this situation." That was one of your considerations at the time - though admittedly far from the main one.

"Or the way the rank and file have started to refer to me as 'the Iron Jew?'"

There goes your neutral expression. His gauntleted fist clenches slightly as you don't quite manage to hold in an amused snort. "I have never uttered that phrase," you say. It's true! You may have made occasional reference to his penny-pinching ways, and perhaps speculated on the size of the nose behind that visor from time to time - but someone else came up with that specific moniker!

"Or the way your wolf can apparently fly, and be manifested on consecutive days without any problem."

"Always Be Sandbagging," you say without an ounce of shame, looking him straight in the eye as you admit to lying to his face. "The resummoning delay is real, by the way. Just exaggerated."

"Hm. As I said, there are a lot of things we could talk about. But we won't, because whatever else you might have done, you also saved my son and daughter."

You shrug. "'s my job, innit?" You're pretty happy that's everything he wanted to forgive you for, all things considered.

"Is it?"

"Says right there on the tin: 'A future for white children.'"

"Ha." He doesn't chuckle at your witticism, merely pronounces the word 'ha'. "Nevertheless, few would claim that letting yourself get captured in order to distract their Mover long enough for Kayden to escape was not going above and beyond the call of duty. Ask of me any boon, and you will find that the 'Iron Jew' is not ungenerous."

You stroke your chin as you consider his offer. It's a bit redundant, because now that you know who he is you'll have his soul price squared away soon enough. But that doesn't mean you'll pass up this little preview of your future relationship.

"I guess no details about my escape have come out as of yet..." you begin.

"You'd be surprised at how quickly certain things come out," Kaiser says.

"...but if anyone asks I'd appreciate it if you told them that the Stranger who helped me was a mercenary you hired from out of town, rather than a personal friend of mine who would prefer not to make their debut quite yet."

Kaiser doesn't answer immediately. You get the impression that wasn't what he expected you to say.

"...did your friend kill Grue?"

"Grue's dead!?"

"As far as I can make out the timing, he was found dead in his cell before you reached the shore."

"I didn't even know he was at the Rig. Though I suppose that makes sense in retrospect, I did hear he was arrested at the Forsberg thing." You shake your head. "No, my friend wouldn't do that."

Kaiser studies your face. Perhaps you should keep wearing a mask despite your identity being public now, to prevent that from happening in the future. Right now you have to rely on being an excellent liar, who also happens to be telling the truth. More or less.

"I believe you," Kaiser says finally. "No one will believe me when I say the same of my 'mercenary', but I will honor your request."

"Thank you."

"But perhaps I can expect a Stranger to join the Empire sometime in the future?"

"Ineligible, I'm afraid."

"A pity," Kaiser says, but doesn't otherwise make an issue out of you having non-white cape friends. Note to self: If you ever end up creating a camera-proof Stranger identity, remember to make her non-white.

"I should get cleaned up before joining the defenders," you say, since the main part of the conversation seems to be over. "And pants. Pants would be nice." It's not the hottest of days, and the ride across open water had your goosebumps just about ready to form their own Brute rating.

"Your home is likely under surveillance. You may-"

"I got this," you interrupt. Kaiser nods, and the metal room around you retreats back into the ground.

You ride Fenrir back to your lair. Now that he can officially fly, parking him inconspicuously is much easier - just pick a roof. You are the problem right now, bloodstained and pantsless as you are. But with some mild cheating via turning into shadow and slipping through cracks, you make it to the safehouse unseen. Theo answers the door when you knock.

"Anyone else in here?" you ask as you shove past him. A quick glance shows the secret door securely closed. Good, they haven't found Shadow Stalker. Not a huge surprise, Kaiser would probably have had some more questions for you otherwise.

"Aster is asleep in the other room," Theo says as he trails after you. "Kayden- Purity is out fighting."

"Good." You spin around to face him. "Give me your wallet."

"What?"

"Wallet," you repeat, holding out your hand. He hesitates for a moment, but complies, and just stands there fidgeting while you rifle through its contents.

Is there a- there is! Hope does spring eternal. His eyes open wide when you hold up your prize and drop the wallet on the floor, but he doesn't resist when you push him down on the couch. His brain clearly can't believe what's happening right now, but fortunately other parts of him are quicker on the uptake. By the time you've stepped out of your government-issued underwear and yanked his pants down, he's ready.

It's over fairly quickly, which is nice.

You remain just long enough to watch the Loyalty bloom before getting off him and heading for the bathroom. Maybe you're just a pampered little Brute 0 princess, but after running around underdressed for so long the hot water feels divine. Finally getting rid of all that hero blood is nice too.

"Tell Purity I want you out of here by the time I get back," you tell him when you return from your shower. "And forget about this address." With both of them loyal, maybe you don't have to get BITN a new lair after all... no, that's stupid. You have way too much money to take that kind of risk. Tomorrow is lair-moving day. You'll have to get in touch with... Lisa. Almost forgot about her for a moment there. You need to talk.

---

You spend the rest of the night patrolling, and see more action in one night than in your entire career up till now. For the second time ever you're assigned to inner patrol, but it's not the sedate beat cop experience it was the last time. Truly, people are slaves to fashion. It's not just Merchants and heroes, it seems like every lunkhead with an unregistered firearm and melanin to spare wants a piece of the Empire right now. And when they detour past the big flashy cape fights on the border to go after the civilians inside, they become your problem.

But Fenrir can fly, and no one ever looks up. You'd think they'd figure that one out when they're going after a cape gang, but apparently not. Like shooting fish in a barrel, except if you're not careful the fish shoot back.

The pressure lets up as late night turns into early morning. Purity flies by to give you back your keys, and thank you for everything. You wave her off with a smile. Yes, yes, you'll be sure to tell her if there's anything she can do for you in return. You really will, because that was the whole point of fulfilling her soul price in the first place. You're just a bit busy right now.

When early morning turns into Lisa-hasn't-gotten-out-of-bed-yet morning, you call Lisa.

"We need to talk," you tell her.

"I know," she groans. "Could we do it without a knife at my throat, though? We both know you don't need the knife."

"The knife makes me feel better, friend."

---

Of course the first thing that happens when you meet Lisa face to face is that she finds out everything that you don't want people finding out about you. Her eyebrows shoot up as she looks at the invisible wolf next to you.

Your eyebrows furrow.

"Not judging!" Lisa says says quickly, holding up her hands. "Human-level intelligence, right? Whatever makes you happy."

"We're here to talk about you," you remind her. "And how you totally didn't betray me."

"Yeah." She sighs and sits down next to you. "Let me tell you about Pancakes."

===

Spoiler: A/N

In case anyone forgot, 'Pancakes' is their code word for 'Coil', from all the way back in T.03

Spoiler: Lisa-o-vision

Taylor doesn't say anything for a long time after I've finished my explanation.

"Are you okay?" I ask. I could use my power to find out what she's thinking... but I already know what it would say, and I'd like to stay in this nice warm Egyptian river for a while longer, heedless of the crocodiles. "I tried to make sure you wouldn't be captured, but-"

"I'll live," Taylor interrupts me. "Pancakes, on the other hand..."

 

[Alucard 109]

Spoiler: Lisa-o-vision

Taylor doesn't say anything for a long time after I've finished my explanation.

"Are you okay?" I ask. I could use my power to find out what she's thinking... but I already know what it would say, and I'd like to stay in this nice warm Egyptian river for a while longer, heedless of the crocodiles. "I tried to make sure you wouldn't be captured, but-"

"I'll live," Taylor interrupts me. "Pancakes, on the other hand..."

Click to shrink...

Well damn, that's how you know she's pissed. She doesn't even consider taking that good of a power, no, he just has to die.

 

[Logos01]

Welp. Pancakes are on the menu now.

I've never thought about the torture porn that could result from someone capturing Coil in such a way that they can know when he's using his power... and then flipping a coin to see if he should be tortured to death.

I wonder how many times she's going to murderize the pedosnake before she lets him stay dead.

 

[Fernando]

Well. Escalation it is then.

Also, getting Theo's, um, Loyalty conditional with nary a mention.

Compartmentalization, not thinking about it for a while more, or straight up no longer caring about shame and only considering the cost/benefit equation that Loyalty/Powers would get her?

Solar or not, any of the answers above are concerning

 

[Whitesnake Pelinal]

Of course the first thing that happens when you meet Lisa face to face is that she finds out everything that you don't want people finding out about you. Her eyebrows shoot up as she looks at the invisible wolf next to you.

Your eyebrows furrow.

"Not judging!" Lisa says says quickly, holding up her hands. "Human-level intelligence, right? Whatever makes you happy."

Click to shrink...

Taylor, no! That's not what Lunar Mate means!

Is there a- there is! Hope does spring eternal. His eyes open wide when you hold up your prize and drop the wallet on the floor, but he doesn't resist when you push him down on the couch. His brain clearly can't believe what's happening right now, but fortunately other parts of him are quicker on the uptake. By the time you've stepped out of your government-issued underwear and yanked his pants down, he's ready.

It's over fairly quickly, which is nice.

You remain just long enough to watch the Loyalty bloom before getting off him and heading for the bathroom. Maybe you're just a pampered little Brute 0 princess, but after running around underdressed for so long the hot water feels divine. Finally getting rid of all that hero blood is nice too.

Click to shrink...

Did she just cowgirl the soyboy while covered in Aegis' blood?

I mean, the logic is obvious: he's gonna be a parahuman sooner or later, so he's worth grabbing now, but turning that pudgebucket into a man is going to require multiple Exalted montages and serious redpilling.

 

[Rerororororororororo]

"Not judging!" Lisa says says quickly, holding up her hands. "Human-level intelligence, right? Whatever makes you happy."

Click to shrink...

Is the implication here that Taylor got a bit frisky with Fenrir?

 

[Robert413]

Annnnd not even a second spend on dear old dad. Dropping by or giving the old man a call to say "Hey dad, just broke out of jail, and doing fine!" It's hardly a surprise, but still, Exalted, am I right?

 

[Fernando]

Is the implication here that Taylor got a bit frisky with Fenrir?

Click to shrink...

Oh, i missed that implication

Man, that's +1 to the only seeing the world in cost/benefit shameless theory that is Taylor's mentality

 

[ses]

Well, there goes Aisha's perfect record of loyalty. Who the fuck killed grue? Coil is the only one who could be responsible and its pretty weird for him to just die offscreen like that. Technically it could have been a Contessa job but that would be hack writing.

 

[Dakkah]

Hmmm, on one hand I could believe Coil offing Grue (hard to put pressure on someone when your only leverage can effectively remove themselves from reality.)
On the other, it could've also been Fenrir, if he used his newly acquired big brain and came to the wrong conclusion and put down the law paw permanently. (I mean he did potentially fuck off during the escape, and then arrived late for the leap of faith.)

You glare at the last commenter. Chivalry may not quite be dead, but the doctors sure are looking longingly at that organ donor card and eyeing the life support machinery.

Click to shrink...

I love it.


Rerororororororororo Yep, some chapters ago, post rape was something along the lines of he's always there for me, but I am all he has and everything is ruined anyway

Robert413 Eh, even before Solar induced sociopathy: post Annette he hadn't really been a part of her life. His focus is on the Docks, hers is Charms. (On a practical note it also wouldn't be the wisest idea to grab the first phone and call home since they are likely monitoring it. I mean there are limits to incompetency)

 

[wigg55]

The Exalted Escalation train has no breaks! Cho-cho mother fucker.

 

[AppleGrowth]

Oh, i missed that implication

Man, that's +1 to the only seeing the world in cost/benefit shameless theory that is Taylor's mentality

Click to shrink...

I dunno…I'm pretty sure Bubbles is like the only living thing Taylor truly trusts. Which probably means she loves him quite a lot but I don't think she went straight to bestiality..right? I mean why even do it? Could it be that Bubbles wanted to do it after seeing her and Theo go at it? No way right? But then again…Bubbles only ever meaningfully interacts with Taylor and dogs have been known to show a little too much affection…


Also Grue is apparently dead..cause of Coil? Aisha is probably gonna go bonkers. If Taylor cares about Aisha then it makes sense to be mad at Coil.

 

[Zxzx24]

Taylor and Bubbles fucked quite a few chapters ago at this point. Snuts just wasnt explicit about it. What a shame that