You are Valiant Gold. And finally, finally, you have a chance to breathe.
A moment in your schedule that doesn't need to be spent in the hospital, recovering. Or in the workshop, making sure the EXCEED BEYOND is repaired after the dynamite blast it was caught in. Or in the meeting room, planning how you'll rescue your alliesfriends family stuck in the Frozen Throne's domain, or figuring out what needs to be handled as an even more urgent priority.
Or spent sleeping, or eating, or making sure Mona is actually doing the same (however much your check-ins leave her bothered). It's been hardly a week since you bore a godlike power, and your mortal nature is very much reaffirming itself.
Still, this thirty-minute block is free. It is a chance to reflect. To breathe. To cry, if you wanted.
So of course, you immediately pull out your phone and call Uncle Gabriel.
You spend almost fifteen minutes just filling him in on what had happened in Red Iustitia's court. In your court. To be fair, that is largely the fault of your confusion rather than his lack of comprehension -- your recollection is fuzzy, the black hole that is power distorting the light of your memory.
But you get across the important pieces. The way Yara spoke up. The power that filled her when she did. Black Swan's memory of the Stage's acausal nature. The potential consequences.
After you finish, you hear Wolong take a deep breath, before he responds. "Let me get this straight. You think because we thought of inducting Yara into Project Prometheus, and speculated that might involve a psychic-related power though thankfully not an anti-psychic power, the Stage took that as a given?"
No. He's not understanding.
"No." you say, your voice firm. "Because we will give Yara a dose of Ambrosia, and that power will be a psychic power, the Stage acknowledged this fact and therefore Yara had that power."
Wolong mutters something you can just barely pick up, "I thought if I kept an eye on my sleep, Project Prometheus wouldn't give me any more headaches..."
His voice is a little uncertain, but now he addresses you properly, "Okay, I follow. Are you suggesting I turn to my focus to other possible power-sets, then?"
You reply, "Well, maybe, but I think--"
He cuts you off, suddenly excited, "One second. Ellie, I need you to confirm I'm understanding this correctly. The stage enforces some sort of stable time loop? Which requires the dose of Ambrosia we give Yara to induce psychic powers?"
You really don't have the degree of confidence he seems to be looking for, but your understanding is all you've got. So you keep your reply short, "Yes."
Wolong's scream of joy echoes through the workshop. He exclaims, "Brilliant! This is an amazing opportunity!"
You can almost hear the smile on his face as he continues, "Stable time loops open up all sorts of possibilities! I remember reading about this as a kid. Because we know that whatever DNA combination we use will grant psychic powers, we can test exactly which combinations will! We just need to solidly pre-commit to following a given path, and see if the universe lets us proceed down that path or not! The only doses we can create will be the ones that give us a psychic power! We can chart every possibility!"
His grand proclamation is followed by silence.
You strangle the first thought you have on how to reply. How would someone who's good at talking handle this -- what would Mona say? Considering that she'd be talking to someone she likes, here?
You think it through for a moment. And then kindly, gently, you reply, "Wolong. I know everyone here is reeling from knowing JU members are trapped in the Frozen Throne. And I know that debrief was hard on your team, what with the havoc your clones caused."
Oops. Maybe you shouldn't have brought that back up. A little bit of you is leaking through the voice of Mona you're trying to emulate. You press on, "And I know we all need a break."
You take a breath. You're not wrong. You've been stretched too thin. So you can't help the question that escapes your lips. "But are you out of your mind?"
I love using Wolong as a vehicle to ponder the mad ideas this thread comes up with in power discussions. And the best part is, there will be always be more mad ideas to write about!
That is, submit random builds until you get one that isn't veto'd, by process of elimination you now know something of that has a Psychic Synergy and can extrapolate after you have enough of them 🤔
Please let's play around with the acausal nature of the stage to try to scrounge scraps of synergy knowledge. This is a good idea that will lead to an improved experience with no narrative ramifications whatsoever. Indeed, think about how productive the Movement has been, surely the aftermath of the Time-Rending will be only advantageous to our plans!
No no no, that's the whole point! Augur likes time as a smooth fabric he can weave as he wills, and the advantages he claims as the only one to do so. After we turn it into well-worn cheesecloth, tangled and snarled and full of holes, he'll be basically powerless! I'd say this is almost necessary, if we want a chance at taking him on!
The Universe: Oops, Ibis accidentally spilled the Ambrosia on the bench destroying it, and R-Train found out and confiscated the remainder that was left in the lab.
Final Result: -[Number of Pre-Committed Attempts] Ambrosia, and the R-Train would like to have words with you
Long ago, someone jokingly mentioned in-universe writers doing a Mona x Black Swan fanfic, and ever since, I've been trying to write what idea that would be like.
I'm likely going to scrap and rewrite the snippet of the in-universe fanfic on Ao2 (their version of Ao3), but I did decide on the fic tags! My favourites so far are: cannibalism, them's are fighting flirts, and biblically hot Leizi. I have a reason for each, even if I'm unlikely to show said reasoning.
Im still pulling for a Deadman base, because I think that lends itself to the funniest cover story (It turns out I had death activated powers the whole time, I just never died before)
Power expression: Red Huntress places mark on person through, gets stronger through a transformation that scales with enemies power while tracking them. Daggermaw transformed into a bipedal reptile. Mister Hunch touches an object then can it's surroundings for the past 24 hours.
Possible power result: Keeps TRH's power scaling transformation while focusing on fighting an individual opponent. Battle Precognition is likely linked to somehow marking an enemy Song has targetted. Telekinesis takes the form of his attacks having longer, invisible reach? Intangility allows to avoid blows/bypass defenses.
Turns out this build also has Intangibility! Which provides an alternative to "I am Invulnerable".
Additionally, if it inherits the scaling factor, it'll allow Song to hit harder then his Potency would imply, while likely also meaning his base powers are on the weaker end, which would help with the "I never noticed" excuse and make it less suspicious that JU is so stacked.
Will he reach the heights Harper could? Don't know. He's a Potency lower, but has seem really good keywords and a lifetime of martials arts. Could be weaker, could be stronger, could be the same.
So fundamental force manipulation has four variants right? Gravity, Electromagnetic, Weak Force and Strong Force? Are they considered different synergies or all the same synergy or am I making this all up.
So fundamental force manipulation has four variants right? Gravity, Electromagnetic, Weak Force and Strong Force? Are they considered different synergies or all the same synergy or am I making this all up.
So fundamental force manipulation has four variants right? Gravity, Electromagnetic, Weak Force and Strong Force? Are they considered different synergies or all the same synergy or am I making this all up.
I did ask for if friction would count though I was coming from the opposite end with someone who removed friction to slip out of grabs and make people fall on the floor.
I get the "its funny" element but genuine question for the people voting that way. Do you think Doctor Silver and potentially Menagerie Witch can be controlled here without both of the primary leaders here to force them back into line? That MW won't let her rage take over and do something dangerous if she catches a whiff of PLP's involvement, or Doctor Silver won't try do something we can't take back to Jorogumo and Sparksurfer?
I would say it's a stress test/opportunity for character growth. Doctor Silver is willing to tamp down on his desire for revenge because he respects Leizi's authority and Maddie has her own issues to work through. What happens when they're no longer being watched over?
This is a relatively safe opportunity to check for points of friction.
The next morning Gabriel Kwan rolled over, turned off the alarm clock, and found his hand also struck a post-it note. Picking up the note, he found in his own handwriting DO NOT MESS WITH TIME.
There were a limited number of possibilities for how it could have happened, and none of them were favorable, Gabriel considered upon a single brief usage of his power, so it seemed as though it would bear more thought.
Drifting in through the window a paper airplane landed on his breakfast table. He unfolded it and found another note. "REALLY. DO NOT MESS WITH TIME."
Gabe shook his head. "All right, all right, I get the idea. But what about..." Pouring out of the box of cereal was a prewrapped prize toy. Look, you find children's cereals to be the tastiest, you deal with the fact that they put toys inside.
Instead of instructions in the toy's use, there was one more note. Still in his own handwriting. "Parallel Timeline Confirmation 38 Q Potato. This message comes from me to me, from a timeline where we tried to use fixed points in time to our advantage to a timeline where we have not yet made this foolish attempt."
Even if this was just Augur playing tricks, the last time Augur really got serious trying to hurt someone they died in such an unpredictable freak accident that even if he spent the rest of his days in Wolong Mode he wasn't entirely sure he'd be able to see it coming, even though of everybody affiliated with JU he would be the most well-positioned to do so, and if he was telling himself not to do it, clearly his other self had a very good reason.
Another call to Ellie. Voicemail. "Just thought I'd let my favorite niece know that I must have been half-dazed with the need to sleep when I had the idea of messing with time to do power synergy predictions. It's like setting off a nuke to be able to read a wonton recipe to know how much chicken to use. It would work, but the consequences would be far-reaching and sufficiently negative as to not be worth the hazards."
A/N: I would be deeply surprised if the references floated past people, but in the instance the set of experiences I've had is more unique than I might imagine...
You can almost hear the smile on his face as he continues, "Stable time loops open up all sorts of possibilities! I remember reading about this as a kid. Because we know that whatever DNA combination we use will grant psychic powers, we can test exactly which combinations will! We just need to solidly pre-commit to following a given path, and see if the universe lets us proceed down that path or not! The only doses we can create will be the ones that give us a psychic power! We can chart every possibility!"
Sparked an idea in me. A character encountering a note "do not mess with time" is not an idea original to me. Nor is the last line about "it's like Something Big to accomplish something little", but part of the art of originality and creativity is sufficiently masking your sources and stealing ideas before filing off the serial numbers to make them a little bit less recognizable.
Anybody else ever get bit by a writing bug and need to dash off a quick bit even though you meant to sleep an hour ago?
No never not me. I did not get up out of bed where I was reading the thread just before sleep when I was struck by this idea, only to get up and get onto my laptop and pound out an omake. That would be silly and foolish and why would I ever do such a thing.
The goal is an elemental psychic build based on the mermaid of Brazilian myth that is the namesake of both Uiara and Yara. Assuming my guess is correct, the synergies are True Telepathy, Telekinesis, Battle Precognition, and Intangibility, which is pretty comparable to the current voting options (wow Daggermaw is OP). I also referenced the Master of Water build from a while ago that I really liked and would like to see in some form these days.
I envision the elemental control (not necessarily water, but come on now) as becoming an amplifier for psychic effects within a certain range in conjunction with the singing that mermaids are known for. So remaining within close range of her is especially unwise if you an enemy and great if you are a friend.
I think it's a nice thematic way to pay homage to Uiara while firmly establishing her own identity in choosing the hero life.
Finally, if the guess is correct I'm sorry Bitterman but I couldn't resist
Interesting, this makes me think that True Telepathy is actually a combination of other psychic synergies, or the first build hit a synergy considered equivalent to True Telepathy. Either that, or the second build was merely vetoed for being completely stupid
This was what I was envisioning when I first made the plan, although it was more going through people's minds in a manner I imagine is similar to X/1999's dreamseers.
I hope Katie is an affiliate member instead of going on missions, she needs a normal childhood.
Also it's a good thing we don't need to spend any money or Global Actions on empowering Yara and we're getting the OID and thus Ibis's base next turn. We really need more room.