Charm Learning Shard (Worm/Exalted) (COMPLETED)

[omni001]

The Manton limited is an arbitrary limitation set in place by the Entities to balance patch the Cycle, powers aren't actually limited to only effecting living or nonliving things. The Endbringers count as both living and nonliving for power usage because the Entities hard coded them with a tag that says so.

Also when and where did Aisha get a pimp for this?

 

[Stanley_Jeb]

Also when and where did Aisha get a pimp for this?

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Shapeshifting Taylor I'm guessing.

 

[Waterfly]

engineer an infection that would kill an Endbringer dead.

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That sounds and awful lot like

Spoiler: Tiberium!

 

[TapTwice2]

y'know, these thoughts on methods to take out endbringers have brought me back to the old idea brought up in canon. The potencial horrific synergy between Taylor and Bonesaw.

Bonesaw suggested to put Taylor in control of a giant mass of cape brains, grafted to some form of arachnoid nuerology.

Of course in canon this was foresahdowing for Taylor going Khepri and then further foreshadowing for Red Queen, Riley and Sabah going full on ultra rockem sockem abominations in ward.

But yet, Bonesaws original idea hits me hard. Because that is effectively what our protag in this fic is doing. just with less bio-horror and more master-trump nonesense.

It's why my number one most important capes for taking out endbringers, titans, entities and whatever shard fuckery around are always going to be the same two gals.

Amy and Riley.

Oh and Nilbog too, just we never really saw his proper potential on the subject. Though I reckon he can do something similar too, given what he made of some capes.

They both have the ability to mess with host-shard connections and when combined they can pretty much do anything. ANYTHING.

 

[Daniel Snuts]

Spoiler: M/S interview transcript

Date: 5/13 2011
Location: M/S Containment Room 1, Protectorate ENE Headquarters "The Rig"
Subject: Colin Wallis a.k.a. Armsmaster, Leader Protectorate ENE (A)
Interviewer: Emily Piggot, Director PRT ENE (P)
P: Tell me what happened yesterday.
A: Only yesterday? There were events leading up to it that-
P: Start at the beginning, then.
A: On the tenth of May, I received an email from an unidentified source-
P: On your Protectorate account?
A: A private account.
P: They contacted your civilian identity?
A: No, an anonymous account.
P: How did they know to contact this account?
A: I'll come back to that.
P: Very well. Continue.
A: They claimed to have come into possession of Tinker schematics by Smith, and offered to sell them to me.
P: And this 'Smith' would be?
A: They didn't specify, but I assumed - and was later proven correct - that they were referring to the latest Tinker. The third to take that name, I think, if you want to look him up.
P: Ah, yes. The gold Tinker. I remember. He contacted you with that ridiculous proposal of his.
A: Yes. I suspect that my contact details were among the documents that were obtained from Smith.
P: Stolen, you mean.
A: In all likelihood, yes.
P: According to your report on the matter, your only communication with Smith was over official channels. Why did you later contact him using an anonymous account?
A: Can I plead the fifth?
P: Not in M/S containment, no. As you well know. Besides, you will be turning this email account over to our investigators regardless. So that they may verify that you were in fact attempting to buy schematics, and not... other services.
A: ...yes.
P: Will they find anything objectionable there, aside from purchasing stolen goods and procurement of unapproved tinkertech?
A: ...no.
P: Very well. So, you agreed to buy the schematics?
A: Not quite. They demanded an outrageous price for the documents, but I was eventually able to negotiate a deal where I would get to examine them before they sold them to someone else. I was given an address, 52 Mercer street, Apartment 402.
P: Where the pictures were taken.
A: Yes. And a time, five o'clock on the twelfth of May. I kept the appointment.
P: You showed up in civilian clothes?
A: That was the deal.
P: You weren't worried about it being a trap?
A: I, ah, I arranged the evening's patrol routes so that there would always be backup within a few blocks while I was there. Anyway, a man on the street outside let me into the building, and led me to the apartment. I can provide his description-
P: Later.
A: Very well. He never spoke, merely gestured towards the kitchen once we were inside the apartment. I followed his direction, and found the documents on the kitchen table.
P: Did he follow you into the kitchen?
A: No, he remained by the door.
P: Was there anyone else present in the apartment?
A: I... I remember doing a sweep of the apartment, and not finding anyone.
P: What did you do next?
A: I sat down at the table and examined the documents.
P: Were they genuine?
A: Yes. I recognized the handwriting. And the design was brilliant! Only someone intimately familiar with the subtler properties of orichalcum could have come up with it.
P: What made you stop reading?
A: As far as I know, I never did.
P: You do not remember any of the... events depicted?
A: No. I remember finding the chair uncomfortable. I got up and tried a different chair. It didn't help, so I moved to the couch in the living room. I didn't find that very comfortable either. But at no point did I leave the documents behind.
P: Or at least, you do not remember doing so.
A: True. As far as I could tell, I finished studying the schematics, paid the agreed-upon fee and left without incident.
P: You merely studied the documents? You didn't attempt to make copies?
A: Ah, I was planning on photographing them, but found that I had forgotten to bring my micro-camera. At the time I chalked it up to simple absent-mindedness - I'm not used to preparing for an operation without the to-do list on my visor HUD. But in light of what happened...
P: Is this the camera in question?
A: Ye- Ah, it appears superficially similar to my camera, but without disassembling it I couldn't-
P: Yes, yes. Consider your ass covered. As far as you are aware, is your camera the only one of its kind?
A: As far as I'm aware, yes.
P: Can you spot anything that would indicate that this is not your camera?
A: ...not from in here, no. Where did you find it?
P: It was on the kitchen counter in your home, when we executed the search warrant earlier today.
A: I see...
P: Kid Win was able to interface with it. Would you care to venture a guess as to what kind of pictures we found on it?
A: As I recall, I last used it to photograph the control board of my prototype nanite factory. It had burnt out unexpectedly, and I wanted a second opinion on-
P: There were some pictures of that nature, yes. There were also a number of salacious pictures of young girls. Very young girls.
A: Damn it! They must have been taken after they stole the camera. The timestamps-
P: The timestamps were from as far back as February.
A: They must have been tampered with!
P: Our forensic analysts were unable to confirm either way, due to the non-standard formats used. Kid Win also said he wasn't sure. Is there any Tinker who could verify your claim?
A: Yes, Dragon! She has full access to my systems, she'd-
P: Let me rephrase the question: Is there any Tinker other than your Canadian girlfriend - someone a judge would consider unbiased?
A: Well... no.
P: Oh, don't look so glum. I'm entirely convinced you're innocent.
A: You are?
P: Yes. The PRT has not been idle while you were sitting in here. The girl in the pictures - the ones that were published, not the ones in the camera - has been identified as one Aisha Laborn. The sister of Brian Laborn, a.k.a. Grue. The apartment where the events took place also belonged to the late Mr Laborn.
A: Oh.
P: Indeed. It appears that miss Laborn has chosen to blame you for the, ah, negligent homicide of her brother, and to enact a peculiar sort of revenge. No doubt she reached out to associates of his for help - the stolen documents, the falsified timestamps. I now also suspect that she triggered with a Master or Stranger power on learning of her brother's death. These things do tend to run in families, and the way you described your experience does not match the power of any local villain.
A: I see.
P: You will still be suspended from duty pending an official investigation.
A: What?
P: We can not be seen to treat this matter with anything but the utmost seriousness. It remains a PR disaster of the highest magnitude, and thanks to the Aster Anders affair the public trust in our institutions is at an all-time low.
A: You signed off on that operation!
P: I did, and it cost two of my men their lives. Think about that, before you bemoan your own fate. The investigation will be thorough and entirely above-board, and a few weeks from now it will clear you of all charges - though you will probably have to eat a disciplinary action for the unapproved procurements.
A: Lovely.
P: Don't pretend that you don't deserve it. Believe me, with things as they are I would much rather have you out in the field. But we cannot afford even the faintest whiff of impropriety right now. If you want a silver lining, consider that you will retain access to your workshop during the suspension. Without patrols or administrative duties, I imagine you will rarely leave.

You arrive at the lair to find a peculiar sight. Sophia is up and about - not Ghost, because she's not in costume. Or, well, she's not in her cape costume. She's walking around the lair in a maid outfit, carefully cleaning everything with an honest-to-god feather duster. Black and white and lace and ruffles, contrasting against the fresh red scars all over her body.

When she sees you she stops, and curtseys. "Welcome back, ma'am," she says, demurely not meeting your gaze. "Can I get you anything?"

"No, that's fine," you answer a bit non-plussed. "Carry on."

"Ma'am."

Normally you'd chalk this up to Alec having a bit of a laugh and move on, but something niggles at you as she turns away and resumes her dusting. It's not a real maid outfit, because real maids (do they even make those anymore?) would have a lot more skirt, and a lot less cleavage. Not to mention that someone expected to do actual housework for a living would pick footwear more sensible than the stripper heels she's currently sporting.

But at the same time it fits her far too well to be some halloween crap straight off the rack. And every layer is real lace and real cloth with no cheap plasticky substitutes. You grab her skirt and feel the material between your fingers. You don't think you own any clothes of this quality. Not even Quicksilver's dress, not even when it was new.

You find Alec lounging on the couch in the living room, nursing a tall goblet of something fizzy and orange and full of sliced fruit.

"Did you have a sexy maid outfit custom tailored?" you ask incredulously.

"My money, isn't it?"

You don't really have a comeback for that, so you just shrug and sit down next to him. Having just finished another date with Ballistic, you have a few hours free to study his power before you need to change into Low Key.

Even between the two of them you haven't quite been able to fill up your entire no-school, no-sleeping schedule with cape bullshit - you're not Ballistic's boss, just his incredibly clingy girlfriend, and no amount of Loyalty can make Alec get out of bed before noon. At least Ops is happy about someone voluntarily taking all the worst late night/early morning patrol shifts.

You do have Purity's Loyalty, but that doesn't automatically translate into her power. Loyalty is not mind control. You could probably convince her to blast the shit out of some stretch of land no one cares about, just because you want to watch things go boom. You could maybe convince her to keep doing that for hours on end without demanding a better explanation. But not enough hours, and it wouldn't exactly be subtle. Heroes would show up, and if not arrest her, at least ask "why?". And that's not a question you ever want heroes to ask.

Things will no doubt pick up once Kaiser's soul price comes in and you're able to bend the bureaucratic machinery of the Empire to your will, but for now Low Key's patrols remain as downtime, power-wise. Not that you're complaining too loudly right now - with a more demanding schedule you wouldn't have been able to clown on Circus so easily.

"Want her to make you one of these?" Alec asks, indicating his drink. "I forget what they're called, but they're good."

You politely refuse. Nothing that fruity could possibly be nonalcoholic, and you've had bad experiences with mind-altering substances. Oh and also you're fifteen and it's illegal for you to drink. Funny how that kind of concern has fallen by the wayside.

Instead you just kick back and relax and watch Alec pilot Sophia around.

"Should I read something into how good you are at walking in stripper heels?" you ask.

"You can read whatever you like, it's a free country."

When Aisha shows up she just stops in the doorway and stares. She looks at the lounging Alec, then at the cleaning Sophia, then back again.

"What," she says flatly.

Alec ignores her. You offer a shrug and a 'what can you do' half-smile.

"No, seriously: What?"

Sophia curtseys again and pays her the same respect she did you: "Welcome back, ma'am. Can I get you anything?"

Aisha waves her away distractedly, before pointing an accusing finger at Alec. "You're making her do that."

"Well, duh?"

"No, I mean... you're making her do that, not ordering her to do it. You still have to, like, move all the muscles and focus on the task, and stuff. It looks like you're being lazy and pampered, but how is this different from you cleaning the lair yourself?"

"Shut up bitch, you're ruining it."

Aisha rolls her eyes and plops down on the couch. "Whatever. You, servant girl. Make me one of those fruity things."

Once Aisha has her drink Sophia starts dusting behind the TV - and in the process bends over in a way that reveals what lies beneath her too-short skirt. It matches the dress, in that it too is heavy on the lace, and too small to be practical.

"Just like in my Japanese cartoons!" Aisha exclaims with extremely sarcastic enthusiasm. "You fucking dork."

You study the view with clinical detachment. "Do you ever... make use of your slave puppets?" you ask Alec.

"It's been known to happen," he says in the diffident tones of someone worried that an authority figure is about to step in and ruin everyone's fun.

"Can I watch?"

---

"It's no good when you make her act like she's into it."

"Sorry, I find screaming and attempted murder to be a turn-off."

"At least leave her face alone. You can do that, can't you?"

Sophia starts crying. Not sobbing - he's keeping too tight a hold on her breathing for that - but tears start streaming down her face.

"Yesssssss," you hiss, leaning in close to get a better view. "This is what you get."

You lean in closer still, and taste her tears for yourself. They are salty, but oh so sweet. Like justice.

You giggle a little. There have been other trespasses against you, that you are willing to leave in the past. Emma? That chapter of your life is done. You beat the shit out of her, physically and mentally. Maybe she killed herself, like Alec said. That would be nice. But it's over with either way. Sophia, though... Sophia is yours forever. For ever and ever and ever.

"Forever," you whisper in her ear, and a small keening noise makes it past Alec's control of her throat. Your giggle turns into full-blown laughter.

You partake in more of her bounty, tenderly kissing the skin just below her eye, running your tongue along her scars (your scars) as you lap up her tears. Who else did you leave behind? Madison? Dear, sweet, guileless bitch cunt Madison. You forgive her. You hope she finds her handsome husband and big house and adorable kids. You have Sophia. As her juddering movements intensify and it becomes difficult to accurately trace the scars with your tongue, you settle for gently suckling at the corner of her eye.

"If you'd told me you were going to make out with her I wouldn't have charged you for this," Alec remarks.

"Shut up bitch, you're ruining it."

 

[PlasticSoldier]

Impressive amounts of evil.

 

[Zxzx24]

You arrive at the lair to find a peculiar sight. Sophia is up and about - not Ghost, because she's not in costume. Or, well, she's not in her cape costume. She's walking around the lair in a maid outfit, carefully cleaning everything with an honest-to-god feather duster. Black and white and lace and ruffles, contrasting against the fresh red scars all over her body.

Click to shrink...

Mmm. Creepy.

You lean in closer still, and taste her tears for yourself. They are salty, but oh so sweet. Like justice

Click to shrink...

Pffffft. Lol Taylor is becoming quite the degenerate isnt she?

You fuck one dog and then look at you...

 

[Whitesnake Pelinal]

You study the view with clinical detachment. "Do you ever... make use of your slave puppets?" you ask Alec.

"It's been known to happen," he says in the diffident tones of someone worried that an authority figure is about to step in and ruin everyone's fun.

"Can I watch?"

---

"It's no good when you make her act like she's into it."

"Sorry, I find screaming and attempted murder to be a turn-off."

"At least leave her face alone. You can do that, can't you?"

Sophia starts crying. Not sobbing - he's keeping too tight a hold on her breathing for that - but tears start streaming down her face.

"Yesssssss," you hiss, leaning in close to get a better view. "This is what you get."

You lean in closer still, and taste her tears for yourself. They are salty, but oh so sweet. Like justice.

Click to shrink...

It's like a scene from Inglorious Bastards.

Alec really did find a wizard.

 

[GAMB42]

That ending was just perfectly in character. Now that's the psycho villain with no morals inside Taylor that we all know and love. No quarter, no mercy and no regrets. Truly this fic goes to some dark, dark places...

On the other hand Armsmaster getting schooled was also very nice. I'm surprised Piggot has not had an total medical shutdown from all that's happening.

 

[Requiem_Jeer]

Taylor IS focusing on getting Alec's power while doing this, right? Because while her character development into a sadist Nazi doesn't make this break character, leaving Alec's power unstudied in the meantime definitely would.

 

[Dakkah]

On one hand I'm not surprised that this Tay went off the deep end, on the other, holy shit talk about schadenfreude.

I'm surprised Piggot has not had an total medical shutdown from all that's happening.

Click to shrink...

"She ain't got time to bleed for leave"

 

[Dread Pirate Gilligan]

Some people see evil here, but...

Some people see Justice. Old, old, old school Justice. Biblical Justice.

She ambushed Taylor, and then she left her in an alley to be gang raped by leftover ABB and killed. Effectively raping her and taking her life.

Taylor ambushed her, and then she hijacked her body and had her gang raped. She's still taking Sophia's life. She just happens to make better use of it than Sophia tried to.

Just because Sophia failed with the second half of her plan doesn't mean Taylor should get less even with her. It just makes Taylor better at accomplishing her goals.

 

[Zxzx24]

Some people see evil here, but...

Some people see Justice. Old, old, old school Justice. Biblical Justice.

She ambushed Taylor, and then she left her in an alley to be gang raped by leftover ABB and killed. Effectively raping her and taking her life.

Taylor ambushed her, and then she hijacked her body and had her gang raped. She's still taking Sophia's life. She just happens to make better use of it than Sophia tried to.

Just because Sophia failed with the second half of her plan doesn't mean Taylor should get less even with her. It just makes Taylor better at accomplishing her goals.

Click to shrink...

I'm glad we can still find it in ourselves to call Taylor the hero of this story.

Wise and Just Solar Queen

 

[AppleGrowth]

I really really, want to see a Sophia POV. Am I a sick bastard for wanting that? Maybe…

Also considering the fact that Taylor is getting off on sexually abusing Sophia and has started considering her own body as a tool…how long until Taylor uses her auto-biokinesis to stop getting Alec to do her dirty work and start doing it herself…

 

[Malexander]

I really really, want to see a Sophia POV. Am I a sick bastard for wanting that? Maybe…

Click to shrink...

Maybe but if you are so am I! Wonder if Sophia can second trigger from this and if Taytay can get a new charm from that?

 

[Zxzx24]

Taylor and Aisha just framed Armsmaster for raping an underage black girl last update.

Not bad author not bad.

 

[omni001]

I'm glad we can still find it in ourselves to call Taylor the hero of this story.

Wise and Just Solar Queen

Click to shrink...

That's the thing with Worm fics, it's so grimderp and the people in power. the PRT ENE and Cauldron, are so deep into Stupid/Evil alignment you have to work really hard to make a protagonist that would be a worse ruler than them.

Maybe but if you are so am I! Wonder if Sophia can second trigger from this and if Taytay can get a new charm from that?

Click to shrink...

Second Triggers require matching conditions to their original Trigger Event, and Sophia Triggered from learning her step fathers obsessive attention on her was predatory. So Second Triggering from accepting she has no purpose other than to be used by her abuser could work.

 

[Korttihai]

Imagine actually thinking that Taylor is the good guy. Sure she's a multiple times traumatised teen, but no one in their right minds would think shes doing the justice and cheer her on right?

She is the baddie. Remember that. What she is doing is evil. Just because we see everything from her perspective does not mean she is the hero.

None of that means that I'm gonna stop reading though. This is such a horrifying car crash thay I have to keep watching in awe.

 

[Ruy]

Worm fics, it's so grimderp and the people in power. the PRT ENE and Cauldron, are so deep into Stupid/Evil alignment y

Click to shrink...

I wouldn't consider them evil as they weren't truly malicious in their intentions. More like incompetent good, even if that isn't a thing.

 

[Waterfly]

She is the baddie. Remember that. What she is doing is evil. Just because we see everything from her perspective does not mean she is the hero.

Click to shrink...

obviously. This Taylor would kill you for calling her a hero, she's obviously the big bad. Tough in her twisted view that is a good thing. After all It's good to be bad and evil always find a way.

 

[Eyemore]

I really really, want to see a Sophia POV. Am I a sick bastard for wanting that? Maybe…

Also considering the fact that Taylor is getting off on sexually abusing Sophia and has started considering her own body as a tool…how long until Taylor uses her auto-biokinesis to stop getting Alec to do her dirty work and start doing it herself…

Click to shrink...

Idea for a lewd: Taylor makes herself a fat schlong and asks Alec to use Sophia as a living fleshlight while they shitpost.

 

[Malexander]

Idea for a lewd: Taylor makes herself a fat schlong and asks Alec to use Sophia as a living fleshlight while they shitpost.

Click to shrink...

Stop stop I can only get so erect! Alec probably.

 

[GiantAnteater]

I really really, want to see a Sophia POV.

Click to shrink...

Meh, Sophia's all about that predator/prey philosophy, she probably takes her defeat and suffering in stride, since that's basically what she was advocating for the entire time. Should make for one boring POV.

 

[Zax Zaubererglück]

How long until she pimps out Sophia to Fenrir?

Meh, Sophia's all about that predator/prey philosophy, she probably takes her defeat and suffering in stride, since that's basically what she was advocating for the entire time. Should make for one boring POV.

Click to shrink...

Remember, Sophia triggered from sexual abuse from her father. He chained/tied her up in the room, so she could not flee.

Tailor recreated Sophias trigger scene and intends for it to be permanent.
Evil. Very evil.

 

[Whitesnake Pelinal]

Imagine actually thinking that Taylor is the good guy. Sure she's a multiple times traumatised teen, but no one in their right minds would think shes doing the justice and cheer her on right?

She is the baddie. Remember that. What she is doing is evil. Just because we see everything from her perspective does not mean she is the hero.

None of that means that I'm gonna stop reading though. This is such a horrifying car crash thay I have to keep watching in awe.

Click to shrink...

It's something of a relief when I find wormfic in which Taylor lives up to her namesake without bowdlerization. Where she is the protagonist and at best heroic in the Greek sense.

Like, the shit with Sophia, if (when?) it comes out, it's so far gone that more than a few people will be pondering if they'd better keep their distance because it's a little too much like something out of the Eddas or the Odyssey for comfort. If lasers can turn corners...

Edit: though now I wonder, would operating as a deity even offer any mechanical advantage in this setting? She isn't limited by motes.

 

[Malexander]

Meh, Sophia's all about that predator/prey philosophy, she probably takes her defeat and suffering in stride, since that's basically what she was advocating for the entire time. Should make for one boring POV.

Click to shrink...

You think so? I've always seen her as a bit of a hypocrite who talks big but when it comes down to it she won't accept that she's also can be prey.

 

[Dakkah]

You think so? I've always seen her as a bit of a hypocrite who talks big but when it comes down to it she won't accept that she's also can be prey.

Click to shrink...

Eh, in the end she might take it as her being right all along, à la the poem but that would be after she's been utterly broken* currently I sincerely doubt that she's taking it in stride.

*And/Or after Stockholm syndrome kicks in.

 

[Malexander]

*And/Or after Stockholm syndrome kicks in.

Click to shrink...

Man imagine Alec spontaneously dieing and Taylor running into Sophia.
Sophia: Hello mistress.
Taylor: What?
Soul price: Sophia wants you to accept her undieing love and devotion.
Taylor: What?!!

 

[Edifier]

Taylor has gotten into an habit of doing erotic play when studying powers. Nice!
This is like the third time, isn't it. Now it's playing to Alec's kinks. And possibly a few vengence fantasies Taylor has kept around. I suppose it's a compromise, a middle ground between the 2.

Started with Browbeat, didn't it. Then moved onto Ballistic. And now it's Alex's turn.
Tho if there have been more I don't quite recall.

 

[Kennethil]

Elsewhere, Jack Slash begins to feel an inexplicable urge to go shopping for a wedding ring...