Charm Learning Shard (Worm/Exalted) (COMPLETED)

[Disminded]

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

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… I want to call bullshit, but I can't, considering she just yadayadayada'ed boinking Theo so I might have just missed it.

 

[GAMB42]

I suppose this neatly slots into how far along Taylor's mentality went into the whole blue vs orange morality. She literally throws away her original identity because it's no longer useful. Truly her "exaltation" as usurped her past self.

And now Coil is about to discover why Taylor is a terrible enemy to have. As it is she has so many diferent avenues of attack it's not even funny. She could simply find her current "boyfriend" with the travellers and use him as a bridgehead. Else she can just straight up infiltrate thanks to shapeshifting. Coil is done for and he does not even know it.

As it is I'm more concerned with Taylor's minion. Aisha might have a very adverse reaction to Grue's death. And thanks to the rumours with Kaiser is most likely going to ask Taylor to end the Empire, which she will gadly do since her days as part of it are coming to a close.

As always this fic walks the razor's edge between batshit insanity and straight up sociopathic exalted shennigans.

 

[Rerororororororororo]

You sigh again and cuddle closer. Sweet, perfect Fenrir, who doesn't mind if you get gross snotty tears all over his fur when you can't keep it together any more (it all falls off when he dematerializes anyway). You don't know want to think about what you'd do without him. You haven't had any nightmares so far, and maybe that's because you're a natural-born badass, but maybe it's because you're so undeniably warm and safe sleeping next to a giant wolf.

Poor Fenrir though. You have him, but all he has is you. What have you done to deserve him lately? Less than nothing, because you're making him unhappy by visibly hurting. Wouldn't he be better off without you? A thought occurs to you as you consider the question. A terrible thought that you'd normally dismiss out of hand, but... it's all ruined anyway, isn't it? What does it matter anymore? If not him, then who?

You lie there for a while, letting the idea bounce back and forth through your head. Perhaps it's not so terrible after all.

"Hey," you whisper to Fenrir. He doesn't open his eyes, or move at all beyond twitching one ear in your direction. But you can tell that he's fully alert, hanging on to your every word. Because you are the center of his universe.

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Damn, she fucked the dog. Why would she fuck the dog?

 

[bornagainpenguin]

If that's what that was I have to admit it completely flew over my head.

And I'm afraid to ask for clarification at this point because I really don't want to know and can maintain my denial by not asking.

 

[AppleGrowth]

Damn, she fucked the dog. Why would she fuck the dog?

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It would be bad. It should be bad. But then I remember that she can choose whatever form she wants. I'm guessing this includes wolves….Now if she's a wolf, and we have an human level intelligence wolf, is that still illegal…

Or can Spirit Tied pets take human form or something? Like I know they can be classified as Familiars.

 

[Robert413]

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)

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Well, yeah. Of course they're gonna tap Danny's phone lines. So what? She can just snag some gingers burner phone and give the house a ring. What is the PRT gonna learn from it? That... she escaped? Where she lives? That she's hanging out in empire territory? Not exactly SECRETS there... though that she cares about her dad might give them leverage over her. You know, if you actually DID care. Which seems unlikely at this point. I mean, really, a 30 second message o. The old answering machine aaa too much effort?

"Hey dad! Sooooo, yeah. I'm a cape. Surprise! Also I joined the E88! Double surprise! Oh, and I broke outta jail. It was SUPER easy. It's like the PRT isn't even trying! Which would be why I passed on the wards. Also, cause shadow stalker is a psycho and triggered me. You catch that PRT Survelience Van #3? Anyway, just wanted to let you know I'm A-OK, but proooobably won't be making it home for dinner. Like.... for a while. So don't wait up for me. All good? Great! Chow!"

 

[Zxzx24]

Damn, she fucked the dog. Why would she fuck the dog?

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As she put it in that update. Who else?

As for what that says about her mental state...

Poor Fenrir though. You have him, but all he has is you. What have you done to deserve him lately? Less than nothing, because you're making him unhappy by visibly hurting. Wouldn't he be better off without you? A thought occurs to you as you consider the question. A terrible thought that you'd normally dismiss out of hand, but... it's all ruined anyway, isn't it? What does it matter anymore? If not him, then who?

You lie there for a while, letting the idea bounce back and forth through your head. Perhaps it's not so terrible after all.

"Hey," you whisper to Fenrir. He doesn't open his eyes, or move at all beyond twitching one ear in your direction. But you can tell that he's fully alert, hanging on to your every word. Because you are the center of his universe.

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"What can I do to keep fenrir around"

That's extra tragic.

Since he would be perfectly happy to die for her even without getting to bury his bone.

Speaking of her mental state.

I doubt she considers Lisa a friend. Lisa's power probably has a better read on Taylor's actual feelings towards Lisa.

I wonder how Lisa feels about having prevented her... let's be honest "her new master" from commiting suicide?

Probably complex feelings, given how much she doesnt like being enslaved.

Daniel Snuts out of curiosity. Did Lisa soul price change?

I miss than running tracker with soul prices and charms.

 

[eeda]

Fuck yeah! About time Coil go down

 

[Dakkah]

You know, if you actually DID care. Which seems unlikely at this point. I mean, really, a 30 second message o. The old answering machine aaa too much effort?

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Runs in the family

 

[Ruy]

she can choose whatever form she wants. I'

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She can't do non humans. The charm is limited to human shapes.

Edit: My bad, just checked and I thought it was Impenetrable Flawless Disguise.

Daniel Snuts Do you mind, putting an informational with the current charms? I had to search through a few chapters to find it.

Also whose Charm is this? I don't recall.

 

[Whitesnake Pelinal]

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.

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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.)

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Fenrir was just uplifted (kind of like Aisha) and much of his first weeks of sentience were around the Empire. He really could be a true believer, the Earth Bet version of that pug some guy trained to do the Nazi salute.

Damn, she fucked the dog. Why would she fuck the dog?

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Playing devil's advocate: Solars normally have an assigned Lunar soulmate. Taylor is now intuitively doing what she needs to do to create one through a series of uplifting charms.

Well, yeah. Of course they're gonna tap Danny's phone lines. So what? She can just snag some gingers burner phone and give the house a ring. What is the PRT gonna learn from it? That... she escaped? Where she lives? That she's hanging out in empire territory? Not exactly SECRETS there... though that she cares about her dad might give them leverage over her. You know, if you actually DID care. Which seems unlikely at this point. I mean, really, a 30 second message o. The old answering machine aaa too much effort?

"Hey dad! Sooooo, yeah. I'm a cape. Surprise! Also I joined the E88! Double surprise! Oh, and I broke outta jail. It was SUPER easy. It's like the PRT isn't even trying! Which would be why I passed on the wards. Also, cause shadow stalker is a psycho and triggered me. You catch that PRT Survelience Van #3? Anyway, just wanted to let you know I'm A-OK, but proooobably won't be making it home for dinner. Like.... for a while. So don't wait up for me. All good? Great! Chow!"

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I don't think it's apathy so much as desperate avoidance. Serious, serious things have piled up that Taylor should really talk to her father about, to the point where even contemplating dealing with the backlog is painful.

 

[Prognostic Hannya]

I wonder if Coil's involvement in Grue's death, and Taylor's subsequent murder of him, will fully bind Aisha and Lisa to Tay-tay

 

[zharshoul]

I'm guessing shadowstalker somehow, been getting a lot of curveballs with this fic, so I can't rule her out.

 

[R.A.G.]

Yeah Taylor has not been doing well since the rape tbh

Playing devil's advocate: Solars normally have an assigned Lunar soulmate. Taylor is now intuitively doing what she needs to do to create one through a series of uplifting charms.

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YOU JUST KNOW that she'll devote herself to that pretty hard once she realizes uplifting him is even a possibility.

 

[Whitesnake Pelinal]

YOU JUST KNOW that she'll devote herself to that pretty hard once she realizes uplifting him is even a possibility.

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I'm curious if Taylor has already used VEE on Fenrir. It could have been for something like Performance (erotic). If she hasn't, it could be used to teach a charm for shapeshifting into a humanoid form.

Then... this:

 

[ses]

Yeah Taylor has not been doing well since the rape tbh

YOU JUST KNOW that she'll devote herself to that pretty hard once she realizes uplifting him is even a possibility.

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Oh thank God someone else said it. You have no idea how many YOU JUST KNOW/ white woman jokes I've typed up and deleted without posting over the last week

 

[eeda]

Wait if Brian is dead (i blame Coil), Taylor alredy is friendly with Reachel and Lisa (assuming Lisa can convince Taylor she is still friend worthy) and have the loyalty of Alec... What is stoping her for making a second gang?

 

[Paralein]

Taylor is such a psycho. I love it.

Unfortunately having Kaiser claim he sent a Stranger to the Rig to save Low Key while Brian was mysteriously murdered in his cell has a good chance of making Aisha very, very angry at the Empire. Which might put a lot of strain on her loyalty to Taylor.

But I'm curious who actually did it... Coil might have a motive, but from what we know so far it's not a very strong one. And even if he did it: How did he do it? By shutting off the camera and going down there himself? By using (and probably burning) one of his PRT moles? That seems either quite risky, even with his power, or quite expensive. Would he really risk so much for killing Brian?

The timing is also weird. Someone was using Taylor's escape as a distraction - did they have a plan already in place and just put it into motion at an oportune moment? Is there a precog involved? Lisa/Dinah?

I'm thinking of the "Kaiser sent a Stranger to rescue Low Key" thing here too: it's not just a good excuse for how Taylor could escape, it's also a good excuse for how a black cape got killed while the escape happened. Just a coincidence? Am I too paranoid?

Currently I'm really wondering if there's not a third party at play here we do not know about yet. Or one we do know about but who's working towards goals we haven't seen so far.

 

[GiantAnteater]

Oh, yeah, I completely forgot about Dinah, unlucky coincidences should be quite likely by now.

 

[Whitesnake Pelinal]

Taylor is such a psycho. I love it.

Unfortunately having Kaiser claim he sent a Stranger to the Rig to save Low Key while Brian was mysteriously murdered in his cell has a good chance of making Aisha very, very angry at the Empire. Which might put a lot of strain on her loyalty to Taylor.

But I'm curious who actually did it... Coil might have a motive, but from what we know so far it's not a very strong one. And even if he did it: How did he do it? By shutting off the camera and going down there himself? By using (and probably burning) one of his PTR moles? That seems either quite risky, even with his power, or quite expensive. Would he really risk so much for killing Brian?

The timing is also weird. Someone was using Taylor's escape as a distraction - did they have a plan already in place and just put it into motion at an oportune moment? Is there a precog involved? Lisa/Dinah?

I'm thinking of the "Kaiser sent a Stranger to rescue Low Key" thing here too: it's not just a good excuse for how Taylor could escape, it's also a good excuse for how a black cape got killed while the escape happened. Just a coincidence? Am I too paranoid?

Currently I'm really wondering if there's not a third party at play here we do not know about yet. Or one we do know about but who's working towards goals we haven't seen so far.

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I'm thinking grimderp.

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

 

[zapking5]

I feel like no one has an obvious motive to kill Grue, whoever did it probably was motivated by precog thinker nonsense. So Coil or Cauldron if I had to guess.

 

[Edifier]

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

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That puts things in a new and funner light. She really is Loki.

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.

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My guess is that It's Aisha's fault. Taylor explicitly said that Undersiders have a plan to break him out, interfering with it would complicate and jeopardize.
And I've got a great guess what Aisha would do when told not to do something.

One thing I do not understand at all how Lisa managed to twist things around so all the blame falls onto Pancakes. Like considering Pancakes isn't an aquintance to Taylor, so him harming her shouldn't push any buttons other than simple eye for an eye, I'd expect it to be rather impersonal that that Taylor got caught up in the crossfire.
Besides it's Lisas fault for asking Taylor not to take Pancakes down early. Like Taylor could have given it a proper go at it when she discovered Lisa's loyalty condition. Lo and behold, thanks to not securing Lisa's loyalty she betrayed. After all, she couldn't betray when there are no more Pancakes, and loyalty is enforced by a master effect.

 

[John Doey]

Taylor has been spiraling so hard recently that I'm curious as to how deep in Limit Break we are. Feels like it's been a constant since at least the rape.
If so, I'm guessing that means a nasty second flashpoint soon to snap out.

 

[Amberion]

If she even does snap out. She may be too far gone by now. We may need a sidereal to put her out of her misery.

 

[Vealie]

Taylor fucking her ~human intelligence soulbound wolf is one of the least harmful and/or objectionable things she's done in a while tbh.

With her obvious and understandable trust issues it even makes a lot of sense.

 

[omni001]

I'm curious if Taylor has already used VEE on Fenrir. It could have been for something like Performance (erotic). If she hasn't, it could be used to teach a charm for shapeshifting into a humanoid form.

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She tried-

It doesn't work either. If it only works on humans, you're going to be pissed - or realistically, mildly disappointed. Super strength? you suggest without much optimism, but it seems your power likes that better. You feel a connection form, above and beyond the ever-present connection of a spirit-tied pet. Your mind brushes against his, and you perceive... contentment? Your power can't improve Fenrir, because he is happy the way he is?

Really, subconscious? You gave yourself a power-granting power that only works on people with body image issues? Really? Could you maybe pretend to not be a broken person for just one single power? (trick question, you're a parahuman)

You put further experimentation on hold, because you're not about to try to convince Fenrir that he isn't awesome. He is awesome, but he also loves you enough that he might believe you if you told him otherwise. And you'd rather kill yourself than abuse his trust like that.

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-but Bubble's is already the goodest boy.


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

 

[AppleGrowth]

Taylor has been spiraling so hard recently that I'm curious as to how deep in Limit Break we are. Feels like it's been a constant since at least the rape.
If so, I'm guessing that means a nasty second flashpoint soon to snap out.

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I totally disagree with you. It's been a while since Taylor is actually not spiraling. Right now she actually has priorities straight. She wants more powers and wants to enjoy Bubbles' company.

Fucking the dog in the literal sense might have been one of the more sensible decisions she has made to protect her psyche. If I'm not wrong there's a Solar Charm that's like Dedication/Goal or something that firms someone's conviction and makes them more or less immune to Master effects. I dunno if she copied Regent's power but if she did then it would make sense to get a self-Mastering power. I don't think there is a Charm based on nervous system control.

Either way, got off track there…Bubles dying is the only way I see Taylor Snapping and going crazy I'm-gonna-chain-up-all-capes-to-get-their-power-until-I-can-revive-him. Actually can Spirit-tied pets even die? Or will he just got immaterial and come back later?

 

[Daniel Snuts]

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

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Clockblocker is certainly going to cling to that idea.

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

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Taylor has gone for the 'my body is nothing but a tool to be used, therefore they cannot have taken anything precious from me' coping strategy. It's healthier than suicide?

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

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

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.)

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No, it couldn't have been - Fenrir can't materialize twice in quick succession like that.

It would be bad. It should be bad. But then I remember that she can choose whatever form she wants. I'm guessing this includes wolves….Now if she's a wolf, and we have an human level intelligence wolf, is that still illegal…

Or can Spirit Tied pets take human form or something? Like I know they can be classified as Familiars.

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Taylor is limited to human forms, and Fenrir can't shapeshift at all.

As for what that says about her mental state...

"What can I do to keep fenrir around"

That's extra tragic.

Since he would be perfectly happy to die for her even without getting to bury his bone.

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She knows that 'what can I do to keep Fenrir around?' does not even include 'having a heartbeat' - should she die, Fenrir would stand eternal vigil over her grave. The question was 'what can I do to deserve that?'.

Daniel Snuts out of curiosity. Did Lisa soul price change?

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It did not. Taylor would have noticed, and commented on it.

Daniel Snuts Do you mind, putting an informational with the current charms? I had to search through a few chapters to find it.

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Sorry, I'm not going to maintain a continuously updated giant block o' spoilers. The charm list will appear again on Friday's chapter, though.

Also whose Charm is this? I don't recall.

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The shapeshifting? Browbeat.

I'm curious if Taylor has already used VEE on Fenrir. It could have been for something like Performance (erotic). If she hasn't, it could be used to teach a charm for shapeshifting into a humanoid form.

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

 

[Ruy]

The shapeshifting? Browbeat.

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I meant as in which type of Exalted was this from. AFAIK it's not a Solar exalted nor lunar.

Nvm just found it is a lunar charm.

 

[Akuma-Heika]

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

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Spoiler: A/N

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

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Spoiler: I was a little surprised that I...

without you having to explain it (even if I had forgotten the specific chapter number though)