Safe For Work Worm Ideas thread

[Azreales]

Either the shard's precog is good enough that it doesn't need to "sleepwalk" Coil through anything, or there will occasionally be weird errors and glitches where Coil says or does something that doesn't match up to reality. As the latter clearly doesn't happen, we can conclude that no, there is no "sleepwalking" going on, except for the instants where he thinks he's splitting timelines with his power but is really having to make the decision on which to keep based on data the shard hasn't told him yet. At all other times he's acting normally while getting fed "what if" scenarios in the back of his mind.

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No, once Coil's power has chosen one of the two timelines, it "sleepwalks" him through the choices of that simulated timeline. The sleepwalking isn't about the quality or accuracy of the simulation. It's basically the shard hijacking Coil so he doesn't fuck up and stays faithful to his chosen simulated actions.

 

[seeing_octarine]

No, once Coil's power has chosen one of the two timelines, it "sleepwalks" him through the choices of that simulated timeline. The sleepwalking isn't about the quality or accuracy of the simulation. It's basically the shard hijacking Coil so he doesn't fuck up and stays faithful to his chosen simulated actions.

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Except that if the shard's precog is really as good as it would have to be to make that power work in the first place, any such "sleepwalking" is completely unnecessary and wasteful and pointless and... You know what? That's completely in character for a shard, so whatever. Doesn't even matter if you don't understand how stupid it is.

 

[evildice]

Except that if the shard's precog is really as good as it would have to be to make that power work in the first place, any such "sleepwalking" is completely unnecessary and wasteful and pointless and... You know what? That's completely in character for a shard, so whatever. Doesn't even matter if you don't understand how stupid it is.

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Yeah the asshole precog power mechanic is pointless, wasteful, in-character, and also dumb ... and also very plausible.

Here's one way the shard could handle desync:
- Being a precog shard, it's actually pretty good at predicting the future.
- Therefore, when the future varies from what it had previously predicted, it detects this difference before Coil could detect the desync.
- The shard immediately aborts the unreal timeline and gives Coil a headache, because fuck Coil.
- Coil now thinks something horrible happened in the other timeline and becomes even more of a paranoid asshole.
- Yay conflict!

 

[Ragura]

Either the shard's precog is good enough that it doesn't need to "sleepwalk" Coil through anything, or there will occasionally be weird errors and glitches where Coil says or does something that doesn't match up to reality.

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Yeah the asshole precog power mechanic is pointless, wasteful, in-character, and also dumb ... and also very plausible.
- Coil now thinks something horrible happened in the other timeline and becomes even more of a paranoid asshole.

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Or the shard edits Coil's memories in real-time while he "sleepwalks" in order to hide any glitches. Of course, this does require Coil to be unconscious, thus "sleepwalkig."
What people experience of Coil is a simulation of his personality (because his Shard specializes in that) based on his decisions based on the first two iterations of precog.
While Coil is sleepwalking his Shard probably precogs a minute or so ahead to avoid accidentially walking into cars etc. Unless of course Coil walked into a car in his "safe" timeline - then it counts as "intentional" to his shard and must be matched in reality.

Honestly I kind of imagine Coil's movement glitching out like a video game character from time to time while "sleepwalking" - and nobody comments on it because he doesn't mention it and everyone in the know suspects he got from Ellisburg.

 

[Necrovore]

How is discussing the one of the worst interpretations of the mechanics of Coils power for so long in this thread relevant to Story ideas? Isn't there a debate thread for this stuff that has retread the topic repeatedly? Or PMs?

 

[Azreales]

Except that if the shard's precog is really as good as it would have to be to make that power work in the first place, any such "sleepwalking" is completely unnecessary and wasteful and pointless and... You know what? That's completely in character for a shard, so whatever. Doesn't even matter if you don't understand how stupid it is.

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Sure, I understand how convoluted and probably almost intentionally confusing his power is, but thats how it's described. The "sleepwalking" thing is something I didn't even figure but its what it said on the wiki so ‍I just try to work it into the rest in the way it makes most sense. To be honest the longer you think about Coil's power the less it makes sense and the more needlessly complex it is but that is in character with the entire point of the Cycle no?

 

[Ragura]

What would be the psychologically worst power for Taylor to trigger with in the Locker? I'd go with Mush (and it being AU, Mush (Buzz) having Insect Control instead)

 

[macdjord]

The point is you never need to wonder whether you're a simulation.

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I disagree with you on two levels about this:

• On a philosophical level, I'd argue that a perfect copy of you is you. If someone took a complete, neuron-for-neuron scan of my brain and plugged it into a neuron-simulator, the resulting copy of me would not only think it was me, it would have just as good a claim on the identity as the instance that's still running on squishy wetware. And the Shard-sims are a much deeper and more accurate simulation than that.
• On a practical level, if you think 'cogito ergo sum; I'm here, I'm real, therefore this must be reality', then simulated!you will simulated!think 'cogito ergo sum; I'm here, I'm real, therefore this must be reality'. Any decisions you make based on that belief will also be made by simulated!you. In order to be safe, you must act in every way and respect as if reality might really be a Shard-simulation. Which raises two questions:
  • What better way to act, in every step, every choice, as if you might be in a simulation than to actually consider that you might be in a simulation?
  • Even if you could, somehow, perfectly act as if reality might be a simulation without believing it, is that any different from actually believing it?

Coil can't handle all the info at once because puny human brain and so receives the info in "real-time."

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Pretty sure the 'real-time' limitation is entirely an artificial one on the part of the Shard for 'game balance' purposes.


Incidentally, if you did want to trade with Coil, and you know of his power in advance, and are willing to let him know you know, there's a simple solution: make it a condition of the deal that the exchange occur as follows:

1. Coil will give a final confirmation that the deal is on
2. You will then flip a coin 10 times in a row; Coil must call each one correctly (after you've caught the coin, but before you reveal it to anyone, including yourself)
3. You will exchange whatever it is your trading
4. If, after the confirmation in step 1, Coil tries to back out of the deal, or does not call the coins correctly, or fails to deliver his side of the exchange even if the reason appears to be entirely outside his control, you will assume that he's cheating you in the other timeline and react appropriately
   • This, of course, assumes that you can react in some way that Coil will actually care about. But then, if you can't, he could just rip you off conventionally with no need for timeline shenanigans

 

[Azreales]

I disagree with you on two levels about this:

• On a philosophical level, I'd argue that a perfect copy of you is you. If someone took a complete, neuron-for-neuron scan of my brain and plugged it into a neuron-simulator, the resulting copy of me would not only think it was me, it would have just as good a claim on the identity as the instance that's still running on squishy wetware. And the Shard-sims are a much deeper and more accurate simulation than that.
• On a practical level, if you think 'cogito ergo sum; I'm here, I'm real, therefore this must be reality', then simulated!you will simulated!think 'cogito ergo sum; I'm here, I'm real, therefore this must be reality'. Any decisions you make based on that belief will also be made by simulated!you. In order to be safe, you must act in every way and respect as if reality might really be a Shard-simulation. Which raises two questions:
  • What better way to act, in every step, every choice, as if you might be in a simulation than to actually consider that you might be in a simulation?
  • Even if you could, somehow, perfectly act as if reality might be a simulation without believing it, is that any different from actually believing it?

Pretty sure the 'real-time' limitation is entirely an artificial one on the part of the Shard for 'game balance' purposes.


Incidentally, if you did want to trade with Coil, and you know of his power in advance, and are willing to let him know you know, there's a simple solution: make it a condition of the deal that the exchange occur as follows:

1. Coil will give a final confirmation that the deal is on
2. You will then flip a coin 10 times in a row; Coil must call each one correctly (after you've caught the coin, but before you reveal it to anyone, including yourself)
3. You will exchange whatever it is your trading
4. If, after the confirmation in step 1, Coil tries to back out of the deal, or does not call the coins correctly, or fails to deliver his side of the exchange even if the reason appears to be entirely outside his control, you will assume that he's cheating you in the other timeline and react appropriately
   • This, of course, assumes that you can react is some way that Coil will actually care about. But then, if you can't, he could just rip you off conventionally with no need for timeline shenanigans

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Look, I'm not arguing if the simulated you has some claim to your identity or personhood or not. The reason you never have to wonder if you are in a Shard sim is because that Shard sim is exactly like running a computer simulation, if infinitely more complex and accurate. Coil can run as many sims as he wants, but those are just information that his shard is beaming into his brain, they have no interaction with reality on an existential level! The world isn't suddenly in a Schroedinger's Cat state until Coil decides a timeline. The shard simulates two timeline based on what Coil wants to do, picks which one he would want to live and hijacks him to fulfill that timeline. That's it. He isn't placing the entire universe in some state of quantum uncertainty where everyone is simulated!them and not at the same time.

One is a frightening precognitive abilities which allows him to gain information and always take the best option in any situation he decides is worth opening a new timeline for. The other is the ability to force all of existence into a state of quantum superposition which diverge solely based on your actions until you decide which is preferable to you then delete one of those options at will. One is significantly more broken and downright ridiculous than the other.

 

[Sydonai]

And the Shard-sims are a much deeper and more accurate simulation than that.

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They really aren't, we have seen what they are like and they tend to lack memories of their lives before triggering and have spotty recall of events that didn't involve conflict.

 

[macdjord]

The reason you never have to wonder if you are in a Shard sim is because that Shard sim is exactly like running a computer simulation, if infinitely more complex and accurate. Coil can run as many sims as he wants, but those are just information that his shard is beaming into his brain, they have no interaction with reality on an existential level!

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The simulated realities are just as real to the simulated people inside them as this reality is to you and me. Saying I don't have to worry about being in a Shard-sim is the same as saying that simulated-me doesn't have to worry about being in a Shard-sim, which is, by its very premise, false.

They really aren't, we have seen what they are like and they tend to lack memories of their lives before triggering and have spotty recall of events that didn't involve conflict.

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... are you talking about Capes like Weld, who have their minds running on ShardOS because their biological bodies no longer have functional brains? Because I'm talking about the simulations Coil's Shard runs in order to precog his 'two timelines'.

 

[Sydonai]

... are you talking about Capes like Weld, who have their minds running on ShardOS because their biological bodies no longer have functional brains?

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I'm talking about any of the times where a Shard attempts to pull a "restored from backup" on their Host, like those times where a clone Parahuman gets memories from their original from after the point where they were cloned, which would theoretically be as close to an exact copy of their Host as they can manage.

 

[Azreales]

The simulated realities are just as real to the simulated people inside them as this reality is to you and me. Saying I don't have to worry about being in a Shard-sim is the same as saying that simulated-me doesn't have to worry about being in a Shard-sim, which is, by its very premise, false.



... are you talking about Capes like Weld, who have their minds running on ShardOS because their biological bodies no longer have functional brains? Because I'm talking about the simulations Coil's Shard runs in order to precog his 'two timelines'.

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Dude read that sentence you just wrote again. Even ignoring the fact that some would say that the simulated people aren't real, just like how the AI chess player you play isn't, what you said doesn't make a goddamn lick of sense. If this reality is to you, what the shard sim is to the simulated people, where the fuck are those two crossing over in your logic? Those are two completely qualitatively different levels of reality, just like the infinity between 1 and 2 is incomparable to the infinity between 1 and 10.

It's like saying that if you write a book about a character based completely on you down to the mole on your left asscheek, you couldn't tell which one is the real you anymore. You can't be in the simulation because that's how simulations work. They simulate reality.

If what you're getting at what I figure you are (it's the only thing that makes sense) then it doesn't really matter. If you are in the simulation then there's a real you who will do the job of putting a bullet in between Coil's eyes. From a literary perspective it just doesn't work if you suddenly switch from your character's perspective to the simulated version of your character to do a "what if the original is a sim too?" because thats a ridiculous way to write. If we were talking as if we were in the Wormverse then I wouldn't pay it any more mind than the "brain in a jar" hypothesis'. That's even if the simulation is good enough to be basically an AI based on myself, and thats a big jump.

 

[macdjord]

Dude read that sentence you just wrote again. Even ignoring the fact that some would say that the simulated people aren't real, just like how the AI chess player you play isn't, what you said doesn't make a goddamn lick of sense. If this reality is to you, what the shard sim is to the simulated people, where the fuck are those two crossing over in your logic? Those are two completely qualitatively different levels of reality, just like the infinity between 1 and 2 is incomparable to the infinity between 1 and 10.

It's like saying that if you write a book about a character based completely on you down to the mole on your left asscheek, you couldn't tell which one is the real you anymore. You can't be in the simulation because that's how simulations work. They simulate reality.

Click to shrink...

Consider two copies of me: One in physical reality, the other in Coil's Shard's simulation. Assume they are aware that a simulation exists, but not, prima facie, which side of the simulation they are on.

• One of these copies says "[logical argument] Therefore, I am in physical reality."
• Meanwhile, the other copy, being an exact and identical copy, says the exact same thing.
• One of these copies is wrong. They cannot both be in physical reality.
• Both copies know a simulation is happening. Both copies know there is another copy of him saying the exact same thing.
• Ergo, both copies must dismiss '[logical argument]' as flawed. It cannot be a valid, sound argument, because if it is true - if he is in reality - then the other copy is saying the same thing and coming to the same conclusion and being wrong about it. An argument which cannot distinguish truth from falsehood is useless.

 

[Azreales]

Consider two copies of me: One in physical reality, the other in Coil's Shard's simulation. Assume they are aware that a simulation exists, but not, prima facie, which side of the simulation they are on.

• One of these copies says "[logical argument] Therefore, I am in physical reality."
• Meanwhile, the other copy, being an exact and identical copy, says the exact same thing.
• One of these copies is wrong. They cannot both be in physical reality.
• Both copies know a simulation is happening. Both copies know there is another copy of him saying the exact same thing.
• Ergo, both copies must dismiss '[logical argument]' as flawed. It cannot be a valid, sound argument, because if it is true - if he is in reality - then the other copy is saying the same thing and coming to the same conclusion and being wrong about it. An argument which cannot distinguish truth from falsehood is useless.

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Yes, if the Wormverse was our reality sure I could get what you're saying even if the practical and inevitable conclusion is, "So what?" We run into the exact same problem in our reality with the Brain-In-a-Jar, Solipsism, Just-a-Dream and a dozen other theories but they have no practical use and so must be, not considered impossible but useless questions. But in a narrative sense? It's completely implausible. What, are you going to write chapter after chapter of character interactions, fights, planning, dialogue (which I am legally obligated to say: Fuck Dialogue, because that shit is difficult) and the other dozen details that make a story a story, to then just reveal, "Oh that was all just one of Coil's simulation, now we go to meet the real MC!" I mean, I guess it would be funny but it's also something that would almost certainly make me drop a story because What The Fuck, author.

So yeah, I can see your point but it's not really something without practical utility at the end of the day and from a narrative or reader's perspective then it's a question that can be and should be considered an automatic "No."

 

[macdjord]

So yeah, I can see your point but it's not really something without practical utility at the end of the day and from a narrative or reader's perspective then it's a question that can be and should be considered an automatic "No."

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I've seen plenty of fics which had section, sometimes up to most of a chapter, happen in a dropped Coil timeline, sometimes without the reader knowing until he dropped it. It's a potentially powerful narrative device, though also a dangerous one that needs to be used cautiously and sparingly.

 

[Prince Charon]

Um, speaking as the OP, I feel that the discussion about Coil's power has gone on too long, and has become a derail. Please take it to a more appropriate thread.

 

[LurkingInTheDeceit]

Um, speaking as the OP, I feel that the discussion about Coil's power has gone on too long, and has become a derail. Please take it to a more appropriate thread.

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Sorry for bringing it here, it was the best fit I could find at the time, but I've managed to find this-
https://forum.questionablequesting.com/threads/unrestricted-worm-discussion-thread.7824/page-2
-after narrowing down my search terms.

I don't really care if the convo continues over there, but thought I'd give the option.

 

[Prince Charon]

Sorry for bringing it here, it was the best fit I could find at the time, but I've managed to find this-
https://forum.questionablequesting.com/threads/unrestricted-worm-discussion-thread.7824/page-2
-after narrowing down my search terms.

I don't really care if the convo continues over there, but thought I'd give the option.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, if I'd remembered what it was called, I'd've pointed to it. Thank you.

 

[ezok]

Idea, one where Taylor is older than her canon self and she in the same age bracket as Emma's sister Anne. A storyline in which this older version of Taylor ends up in a relationship with an overstressed girl named Alice (Bakuda), Taylor is already a cape (wrong place at the wrong time) by the time of Alice's triggering into the Bomb Tinker and instead old holding Cornell University hostage they go back to Taylors hometown so Taylor can introduce her girlfriend to her parents.

Now in this timeline, Annette is a mocha skinned goddess from New Orleans who fall in love with the Defiant dockworker that was Daniel Jean-Paul Hebert and is the heiress to a large multi-million dollar company. Danny is the youngest son of the Hebert clan, having no less than six elder brothers spread across the Eastern seaboard of America and like his brothers he is the grandchild of a pair of former French Resistance members who had emigrated to America post-war. Also in this timeline, the Dockworkers Union have not decayed too badly and are by far the largest force of manpower in the city with the majority of them being former military.

Personally I like storylines were certain villains who got the short stick or are irredeemable in canon get redeemed in canon, so what I am further proposing is that the Merchants do not exist here and instead their members are instead employed with the Union. Now in the place of the Merchants, let's say the Teeth returned to the city they were born in or if Marquis' old gang had restructured itself after his arrest and keep itself going years later.

Click to shrink...

I was thinking about something like this. Take cabon cirscumstances and altwr them slightly and wtch the fireworks.

Like, instead of joining the E88 after her trigger Purity joins Marquis and enters a relationship with him. Amy is his child from an old relationship but she ends up loving her as her own child.

Contentious as some revelations are im canon, I think there's some potential on it. So, in ward, Carol has an affair with her sister's husband. What if Eric is born from said affair instead of being born to Sarah. So Sarah is the one who ends up having to take Amy in since Carol has two children to take care of. And since Sarqh actually encourages her children to use thwir powers in non-combat setting then I can see this Amy actually being a more competent Shaper user that could end up being hired by the PRT to enhance their troopers.
(Coincidentally, while searching for info on Eric I just discovered he was actually 14 years old. Christ, he died way too young.)

 

[Knightfall]

(Coincidentally, while searching for info on Eric I just discovered he was actually 14 years old. Christ, he died way too young.)

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A lot of people in Worm die young.

 

[Blackenedthorn]

Recently I had this further idea with the same powers that I put forth for Taylor except this time she's in an active relationship with Amy, a relationship that has resulted in Amy being dragged out of the closet by her bisexual girlfriend and getting a full makeover courtesy of Taylor's powers. Part of this makeover, which Taylor tells her what she did thus allow Amy to perceive her new appearance, involved making Amy into a futanari and making her drop dead gorgeous. Funnily enough, thank to Taylor's powers everyone who knows of Amy or her alter ego Panacea just sees what Amy used to look like while Amy and Taylor get to indulge in Amy's new appearance.



A different idea of mine is set in the days when Marquis was running about the Brigade was still establishing itself, Sarah decides to go some footwork for herself by infiltrating Marquis' organization. At first it's slow going, she gets in at the lower ranks and slowly climbs up the ranks. It isn't until she attracts the attention of who she thinks is one of Marquis' lieutenants and is invited to his room, it begins as little more than Sarah sleeping with the man in exchange for whatever information she could glean but soon it becomes something more especially after she discovers about the affair between Neil and Carol. The tipping point comes when Carol unexpectedly announces that she was pregnant with her second child and Sarah realizes that it's likely Neil's rather than Mark's child, Sarah just confesses everything to the man who she had been sleeping with for information on Marquis. Much to her surprise, the man turns out to be Marquis himself and Sarah finds herself at a crossroads. Does she turn on him and go back to increasingly dysfunctional Brockton Bay Brigade or does she continue her "infiltration" of Marquis' organization and continue like usual?

 

[evildice]

Like, instead of joining the E88 after her trigger Purity joins Marquis and enters a relationship with him. Amy is his child from an old relationship but she ends up loving her as her own child.

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This feels kinda in-character for her, given how she kinda even cared for Theo after escaping Max.

She might be a lot warmer to a kid whose parent she actually likes.

 

[Blackenedthorn]

An Assassin's Creed Crossover where in Taylor's Shard contains the collective knowledge of the Order of Assassins and has given her teachers in the form of the main protagonists of the Assassin's Creed franchise, so Taylor learns the ropes of being an Assassin while also dealing with being a denizen of Brockton Bay. On the brightside, she has the best window to look into historical events through the eyes of her teachers and she can learn from their experiences the more she delves into her powers. On the downside, by the time she sets out on her first night Taylor is a well oiled killing machine in the form of a teenaged girl.

 

[Ragura]

An Assassin's Creed Crossover where in Taylor's Shard contains the collective knowledge of the Order of Assassins

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Assassin's Creed memories would fit better to Sophia IMO. Or you have a Tinker specializing in genetic memory recovery tech. Originally he was hired by the E88 because they try to recover one of the fabled hidden nazi gold treasures from WWII, but they needed to test it on somebody "expendable" first, and there is this freshly caught (pre-Wards) vigilante. Suffice to say, they get more than they bargained for.

Currently thinking that the locker incident (or some other horrible thing the bullies do that makes Taylor trigger), and the fact that they didn't know that anything like that was going to happen, and couldn't prevent it, causes the stalker to trigger. Not sure what power, but Taylor now has the option of teaming up with another newly-triggered parahuman, who is crazy about her, and may or may not be crazier than Taylor is.

Click to shrink...

Or maybe the student had a crush on / affair with Annette. Or it could even be Taylor's real father - maybe Danny's long lost brother who faked his death to escape the E88 (or the Protectorate!) if we go full Soap Opera.

A good power would be an empathic teleport link - either one senses when the other is in distress, and can teleport to them, or teleport them to themselves.
Technically he could link to another person than Taylor, but he can only link to one person at a time The only time he is not linked to Taylor is during Endbringer Battles.

Come to think of it, manifesting soap opera tropes would also be an interesting Shaker/Master power, and it would work as a trigger for Taylor - when somebody (Blackwell's Secretary?) accuses her of having see too many soap operas, nobody does that kind of bullying in real life (notably this is AFTER the Locker, ot something similarly dire) - when in truth Emma and Madison (Sophia does not watch them) have been using Soap Operas as inspiration for their bullying.

 

[Prince Charon]

Weird thought: Tattletale is arrested and sentenced to community service as an Emotional Support Person for a girl who is believed to have survived a suicide attempt. The girl, Taylor Hebert, is avoiding talking about it, but Lisa pretty quickly realizes that while Taylor is some degree of suicidal (as well as being a newly-triggered parahuman), she did not try to kill herself. Rather, she survived a murder attempt that looked like a suicide attempt, and just doesn't think anyone would believe her if she contradicted them.

 

[evildice]

Moving this from the Stories You Just Gave Up On thread ...

I used to agree with you, but per WoG Jack basically has near-total subconscious control and influence over the parahumans he works with. Now, she's definitely become her own monster because of him, but any time in his prescence she's little more than a sockpuppet.

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No, see, he didn't have much of a control on the second one considering Jack got bubbled.

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Honestly is anyone surprised that WB says things as WoG which are not consistent with canon?

 

[Prince Charon]

Honestly is anyone surprised that WB says things as WoG which are not consistent with canon?

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Not surprising at all, he's been doing that for a while.

 

[The Rat]

I had a safe-ish idea that I wanted to share.

********

Untitled ship story

************

Lisa woke up in an unfamiliar place. She was laying on a pad sticking out of the wall and hanging in the air. The pad was not shaped with a human body in mind and wasn't the most comfortable thing. She was still in her Tattletale costume and there was nothing to indicate that she was restrained by anything.

There was an older man laying on another pad across the small room. The room itself was a little off for some reason. {Room was designed for humanoids by a nonhuman mind.}

Shaking the thought off she focused on the screen above the bed that the man was sleeping on. {Screen is showing vital signs of bed occupants. Is not calibrated to human norms. Language on screen is not a known Earth language or alphabet.}

Yeah, she's was not touching that at the moment and focused her attention onto the man. He was wearing business casual clothes and was pretty fit. More than likely he was a LEO that was working a desk job but kept himself in shape for some reason. He was also slowly awakening.

She saw him surreptitiously case the room like she had earlier and was just as unfamiliar with it as she was. She felt that she might as well greet him and slowly sat up dangling her legs toward the floor.

"Hi there," Lisa said with her friendliest smile. The man blinked at her and sat up as well. Interestingly enough, he was familiar with her appearance but didn't have much contact with her.

"Hello, I don't suppose you know where we are?" The man asked looking around the room.

"You're in the infirmary of my ship," an unknown woman's voice startled them. They turned to face a lanky teenager who was dirty and had greasy brown stringy hair standing in a doorway that they had not spotted before it opened.

"Who are you?" he asked before Lisa could do the same, "why did you bring us here?"

"Ah, Taylor," Taylor answered absently, "you were hurt and I brought you here to heal." Lisa had a flash of memory. They were being chased by Lung and she had been thrown off her ride and impacted a wall.

"Thanks for the save," Tattletale said, "by the way you can call me Tattletale."

"Colin Wallis, did you build this ship?" Colin asked as he looked around, "why?"

"I wanted to be a hero but Sophia caused my trigger and the Protectorate knows about it and have me listed as a villain," Taylor answered.

"What?" Colin asked shocked. This was something that he felt that he would have known if it was true.

"If I said anything, then they would say that I was a villain trying to unmask a Ward," Taylor answered sadly, "so I decided to hunker down and build up so that I would be powerful enough that the villain label won't have any affect on me and the gangs will be too afraid of me to try something but, Coil found out about me somehow and has been trying to flush me out before I'm ready. So I have to move my timeline up a little faster than I'd like." Taylor kept rambling on as she walked down the hallway unnoticing that her two guests had stopped and stared at each other. Mr. Wallis didn't look happy at what she had said.

"Do you know what she's talking about?" Tattletale asked the man who she was certain was part of the PRT now.

"No I don't and it doesn't make sense to me," Collin replied, "if she's a good a tinker as this ship implies, nothing short of murder would get her labeled as a villain."

"And if she's good enough? They might look the other way if they could cover it up right?" Tattletale smirked. Colin grimaced but she could see his unspoken agreement with her statement.

"Hey guys, you should really stick close to me," Taylor said as she returned to where they had stopped, "this ship is still not finished yet and it could be dangerous to wonder about without me."

"Sorry, we were discussing something and lost track of you," Tattletale answered, "where are we going now?"

"I've only got the captain's quarters finished enough that someone can stay there," Taylor answered her, "so the three of us will have to hot bunk it unless Mr. Wallis wants to stay in the infirmary to sleep."

"I'll take that in consideration," Colin said, "how long before the ship is ready to get underway?"

"I've finally got enough mass in matter containment to get her air worthy and have the stealth systems working. So I set the auto repair systems to fabricate and install everything. Now I have time to get a shower before we sneak out and start mining the ocean for all of the trash that matter storage can hold. I want a few ships built before I make my first appearance. Dad always said that you needed to negotiate from a position of strength."

"Or at least give the illusion of one," Tattletale added, "but what about us?"

"I don't have the time to drop you off and get out of town before it's too late," Taylor answered honestly, "but once I get things started I can get something done to take you back home."

Her two guests were stunned by her answers as they arrived at the Captain's quarters and she slipped into the bathroom and closed the door behind her.

"Did she just Shanghai us?" Tattletale wondered outloud, "you don't happen to have anything that we can use to get out of here do you?" She asked him looking at him expectantly.

"I've got an emergency transponder that might broadcast our location to anyone who can listen in on the PRT and Protectorate frequencies," Colin said, "but it's range and other limitations would mean that they could only get our rough area and depending on how well hidden this thing is; they might not even find us even if they were right on top of us. That's if it could get a signal through the walls of this thing. Besides I can't help but be curious about what she is doing."

"Damn and there's nothing I could do to get help either," Tattletale sighed, "I don't think that she's malicious and I admit that I'm a little curious too."

"Curious about what?" Taylor asked as she toweled her hair. She looked worlds better than she did when she had entered the bathroom. Her hair was shiny and curly with any split ends eliminated. She was wearing a new pair of gray coveralls and her face and hands were cleaned of all stains.

"Curious about where we're going next," Tattletale answered not missing a beat.

"Oh we're going out to sea and my mining beams will be extracting all of the trash from the ocean water." Taylor responded.

"Mining beams? What would that do to a person caught in them?" Tattletale asked shocked. Mr. Wallis looked on curiously at her statement.

"Don't worry, they're Manton limited," Taylor reassured them, "you can stand in the beam and it won't remove any of the trace metals in your bodies or any metal that is covered by flesh. You might lose any metal fillings if you keep your mouth open very long though."

Taylor had led them to the bridge during their talk and walked to the pilot's chair.

"So how high a level tinker do you think she is?" Tattletale asked the thoughtful man.

"Probably atomic disassembly and assembly and no knowing what she can make," he muttered, "at this point, assuming that Taylor only needs raw materials to work with."

"And even with her mining beams being Manton limited, any tinker, troopers or gang members would be stripped of their gear and be vulnerable to what ever she has cooked up," Tattletale concluded.

"Guys you're going to miss it," Taylor called out from the bridge. The two joined her in the cramped room and stared out of a tiny window as the ship lifted off and seemed to fly away unnoticed by the people milling around the area it had been hidden.

The ship moved smoothly to the sea. It's speed not felt by the occupants. Taylor focused more on the instruments she was flying by than the small amount that could be seen through the window. Her hands danced across the controls as the ship slowed down and the beams engaged.

"I've programmed the computer to avoid anything that could potentially be a shipwreck. Those are considered maritime graves right?"

"There are a lot of factors that go into whether a wreck is considered a grave or not but better to be safe than sorry," Colin answered. Suddenly a discordant tone sounded from the ship. Taylor's hands began to frantically move across the controls.

"What's going on?" Colin asked tightly.

"The beams hit something with a lot of matter in it," Taylor answered, "I'm having trouble getting the assemblers to work through the materials before they fill up the matter storage space."

"How much material are we talking about?" Colin asked curiously looking over her shoulder trying to discern anything he could from the display in front of Taylor.

"A massive amount," Taylor responded, "I've already used all that I needed to complete the first phase of construction of this ship and I have started working on the tier one upgrades that I had planned for the ship."

"Guys, the Simurgh is heading this way," Tattletale's voice disturbed the beginning of the conversation between Taylor and Colin.

"Do you have anything to fire at her?" Colin asked jumping to the question he felt was the most important.

"This is a mining ship," Taylor answered shaking her head, "it doesn't have any weapons."

"We better start running then," Tattletale said, "she's gaining on us." Taylor responded by turning the ship around and flooring it. The Simurgh increased its own speed and began to eat the miles between them.

"Is there anything that you can do?" Colin asked Taylor as a piece of debris from a cloud of them orbiting the Simurgh nearly hit the ship as it flung the debris at the retreating ship. Tattletale had a moment of inspiration at that point.

"Can you get rid of some of her ammunition with the beams?" Tattletale asked.

"Give me a moment." Taylor answered, "I need to widen the beams parameters and hope that there's nothing alive in the cloud."

When Taylor fired the beams again something very striking happened. A large chunk of the pursuing false angel disappeared along with the cloud of debris circling it.

"I thought that you said that it would not harm living things," Colin said in surprise.

"It shouldn't have," Taylor answered mesmerized by the damage done even as an even louder alarm started to blare.

"The Simurgh is not alive and not human," Tattletale had an epiphany, "that's why the beams did a number on it."

"What?" Colin exclaimed at that revelation as Taylor was typing away furiously.

"The beams are Manton limited and yet they have an effect on an Endbringer. QED the Endbringers can not be alive," Tattletale concluded. Colin didn't look convinced but he had more pressing problems at the moment.

"Taylor what is that alarm about?" Colin asked Taylor.

"Matter storage is overloaded," Taylor answered stressed, "I'm going to have to vent it as plasma."

Suddenly a stream of plasma shot out of the rear of the ship catching the startled Endbringer by surprise and slicing off a few of its wings before it gathered its wits and fled back into orbit a shadow of what it once was.

"I thought that you said that there was no weapons on this ship?" Colin said tersely.

"It wasn't a weapon," Taylor said contritely, "it was just emergency matter venting."

"We need to work on your definition of weapons," Tattletale sighed.

*********

That's what I've got so far in this one. I'm worried that Taylor is too OP in the idea and I don't know how to make it an interesting story if I was going to make it into a full story.

 

[Necrovore]

That's what I've got so far in this one. I'm worried that Taylor is too OP in the idea and I don't know how to make it an interesting story if I was going to make it into a full story.

Click to shrink...

Could try a comedy. Taylor has already given her goals and is detached enough not to realize how scary she already is. Run with it and use Lisa and Colin as the main points of view. They can be shown as the normal person dragged along in a crazy situation. They story doesn't need to be a massive epic in length on par with the source material, you already have a good way to deal with the endbringers, make the primary conflict of the story be trying to help Taylor overcome her lack of self-esteem and managing public perception and comedic misunderstandings so that she can be the hero she dreamed of being as a kid. You could have a fun subplot of the friendship between Lisa and Colin developing as they both deal with their respective world views and situations, being forced to get over any disagreements so they can work together to deal with what Taylor is doing. Just treat it like a movie instead of a multi season TV series.