Graypairofsocks
What is Grammar?
- Location
- earth
All Exalted are crazy. Some are just a little less crazy.
Alchemical Solutions [Worm/Exalted] Thread 23: We Wonder Where Who Wanders When Watchers Wane
- Thread starter Gromweld
- Start date
Uh...absolutely the opposite. Essence mechanics enforces no takebacks for death. You can reincarnate, but never revive
sainen
Elder Lich
? resurrection Nanites where a 4 medicine dot project.
wasn't taking about the 5 dot Essence conversion nanites.
I said until, as in before we convert things to Essence we can do resurrections, but both need Medicine to create so why not learn medicine?
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Random question. Does converting people to operate on essence physics actually give them souls? I mean the reason resurrection is not possible in Exalted is because of souls right? So where does the soul come from?
Or would the nanite conversion project also require a soul-injection from the soul storage Iris has to actually work?
Or would the nanite conversion project also require a soul-injection from the soul storage Iris has to actually work?
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Chapter 9.3: Part 6
Gromweld
Learning By Mistake
Chapter 9.3
(Part 6)
(Part 6)
***
There comes a point where your mind can only take so many shocks - ups and downs and ups and downs… - before it starts growing numb. As a result, while Taylor walks you through locating, activating, and identifying your charms, the process becomes easier as you fall deeper and deeper into a mechanical mindset.
It all starts when you discover that your fears were true: you can't turn it off.
"Right, so before we go any further, let's figure out your augmentations. They'll probably feel like… passive, always-on charms? They simply make you better at everything that part of yourself does - like Strength or Dexterity, for example. They come in a bunch of different types, but so far Autochthon has given us mostly Fourth Augmentations... and I can see you have a whole bunch just looking at you right now, but just to be sure let's go down the list for what you'd need for some basic charms: Fourth Stamina Augmentation? Fourth Intelligence Augmentation? Okay, good. Now, I'm guessing you're like Prayer, so…"
You already know where this is going.
"Fourth Appearance Augmentation? Fourth Manipulation Augmentation? Fourth Charisma Augmentation? Yes? All three? Well… that makes sense, I guess - Prayer is our front line and you're… our public relations."
You only nod, the calm settling over you suppressing any further, needless panicking. The Great Maker saved you, but nothing is ever free.
Things move more quickly from that point onward, and you find yourself feeling more and more distanced from the process.
"... and you mentioned having a 'background charm' to Legend- yes, what you used on Lord Grasp when you first woke up. That sounds like the description of Radiant Iconography Array, so let me know- ah, great. This… sounds really cool, actually: it's basically a customizable illusion generator for making you look more awesome. Could you show us what you did for Lord Grasp…?"
Detached, observing but caring less and less about how great or awful these things in your body might appear at first glance.
"Does the name 'Rogue Cell Isolation Protocols' spark any-... ah, okay. You... already used it? When-? On the platform? Oh! Yes! That's a great example: getting rid of a phobia! See, just because it sounds bad doesn't mean it can't have good uses..."
It is not difficult to observe Taylor's own discomfort with your increased lack of concern or emotiveness, but you also discern a degree of relief. Is it due to how poorly you were reacting before, shutting down at every revelation and drawing out the process longer than it needed to be?
"Body Language? That's… huh. Emotive Aesthetics of the Body Electric...? Alright, and Dr. Rose, let's just call that the 'Body Language' charm because that's what it does: it lets you have actual conversations using only body language. Hmm. Since Earth has so many more languages than Autochthonia, do you also have Interpolative Syntax Emulator…? No? Well, I guess this works…"
Compared to the sudden wash of relief that you struggled with before, it becomes easier and to pull back into the calm, logical mindset that the Great Maker must have built to cushion against such existential shocks.
"I'm… not sure? There are a few that match that description. Coincidental Unity Commands, Covert Battle Schematics, Unobtrusive Repartee Baffles, Ordered- Oh, well, yes, that makes sense. Anyway, as you said, you use it with other charms like Aura-Dampening Component, except Unobtrusive Repartee Baffles only works with- ah, I know this sounds odd, but… 'social interaction charms'? As for what it does… it… well, it makes it difficult for observers to notice when you use them. Not impossible, of course- ah, yes, Doctor, I... believe... it works on Personality Override Spike-…"
It is not your fault. Your insular and kind-hearted nature - Sakura has always been more "pragmatic" than you - is in no way suited for many of these charms.
"What about 'Programmed Catechism Rebuttal'...? Yes? Okay, just a moment-... right. This… may sound weird, but it… lets you ignore people trying to change your mind… by forcing you to quote Autochthonian dogma at them. No, it doesn't make sense to me, either, Doctor, but it doesn't actually affect anyone else so don't be afraid to use it, Tatsu; it should kick in automatically when you need it…"
And you do have many charms - far more than Taylor did at her start, somehow. Percentage-wise, your charms actually tend towards a defensive nature rather than the 'mind-controlling terror' impression generated by your earliest discoveries.
"Okay, phew. Good. You have Industrial Survival Frame. You… haven't felt the need to use it yet, though? I suppose you've been lucky so far, but I think when we're done here you're going to want to keep it up all the time…"
"... can't turn it off? Alright, well, what do you think-... 'prevents exhaustion'? Oh! Is that Alloyed Reinforcement of Flesh...? Yes? Wow, that's great - it's main purpose is to save your life if you take a lethal hit, actually. Prayer has it and it saved her when she was cut in half last week…"
But the terror-inducing charms you do have are certainly memorable enough.
"... Maker… Right, yes. Just a moment, Doctor, I'm reading… okay. These extendible soulsteel fingernails are the charm… Transcendent Brutality Programming. It's… huh. I'm sorry, but this one really doesn't have any way to dress it up: it causes so much pain, the person loses the will to fight back… and after enough uses they automatically scream their deepest secrets. Hmm… it can be used in a fight like tiger claws, actually, so against hard targets it might be useful to hit them once or twice to force a peaceful surrender..."
But even after all that, the penultimate charm in your repertoire takes things in a direction that still manages to surprise everyone.
"... a scorpion tail?"
Taylor's confusion lasts for more than the usual pause, as she very clearly averts her eyes to check with whomever she has been consulting during this process. In the meantime, you look down to your hands as you cradle the source of her confusion: a segmented, prehensile whip that protruded from your tailbone (bursting through your jumpsuit in the process), capped by an injector similar in design to Lord Grasp's own ornate stinger. It shares the general 'futuristic' aesthetic of your charms, with its dull grey and polished silver metalworking back-lit by glowing blue wires, while also maintaining the elegant and seamless design that makes it an obvious work of techno-magic wonder.
Controlling the tail, you find with a twitch, is much like your other charms - a limb or finger that you suddenly remember possessing - though none of them have made the metaphor so literal before. Tugging with the tail against your hands reveals it also shares your vastly-increased physical strength, though trying to wind it through your fingers demonstrates its similar lack of agility.
"Alright, Tatsu," your leader coughs, turning her attention back to you with an observable increase of interest. "Let me know if either of these resonate: Manifold Transhuman Implants, or Multifunctional Hypodermic Apparatus."
You only need to blink slowly to gauge the status of your charms now, and you nod in acknowledgement. "The second."
Her posture continues its shift from resigned to eager, and an anticipatory gleam flashes across her face as she points at your tail while also gesturing to the scientist team.
"Good, good! Now, this charm is two parts: the… tail, which is just a delivery mechanism and usually only a long needle, and a micro-factory which produces a number of alchemical treatments based on installed templates. There's… a lot of different possible templates, but as far as I can tell most are medicinal or steroidal. Can you tell which are installed, Tatsu?"
This takes… longer than a single blink; not due to the complexity of the charm itself, but rather the sheer number of templates that keep lighting up under your internalized scrutiny.
"Lots," you voice, so that she understands you are still counting. After what feels like at least a few minutes in your head, you open your eyes again to her concerned expression. "Fifteen."
She blinks.
"...Alright. That's more than I was expecting, but not all of them. Can you understand what any of them do? I'd read from the list, but it's… over two-hundred templates."
A frown flexes your face, but you try again. It is no easier than the first time, and you waste another two minutes trying to uncover names amidst buzzing energies and complex mechanical structures.
Your tail twitches in your hand. You remember cartoons with characters that possess tails and the amusing disparity between their own appearances and the traitorous behaviors of their tails. Thankfully, you can retract yours.
"No."
Taylor hums, then quickly sighs and turns to the scientists with a shrug.
"Understood," Dr. Rose's even voice calls out over the intercom. "Ms. Tatsu, add this to the list of powers we'd prefer you avoid experimenting with until you have completed your meditations."
"Or in the case of a life-or-death emergency," Taylor adds, giving you a knowing look.
"Un," you nod. The list includes most of your charms at this point, but if it will allow you to walk free without constant oversight then you follow their rules.
The hologram nods and waves away something to her side. "Are there any other charms you can feel, Tatsu? Besides your… parahuman-power charm, I mean."
Closing your eyes once more, you survey the field of glowing connections and vastly-shrunken essence pool that are the result of this multi-hour exploration of your own workings. As you study the lines leading from your peripheral pool of essence, counting the number against the charms you have identified…
… the number doesn't add up.
"Five connections," you voice, emphasizing it with a small frown. "I can't see where they lead."
"That's-..." Taylor begins, cautiously, before cutting off to turn to the side again. After a moment, however, her eyebrows shoot up and she turns back with a blink. "Did Crushing Grasp say anything about a 'vat' or holding onto your extra charms?"
You take a moment to review all of your interactions with your mechanical companion, but you don't recall anything like that. However, something tugs at your mind when you consider those words…
"When he first awoke, he complained about having a metal pole stuffed inside of him, and an upgrade from 'Debok Moom.'"
There is a snort of amusement to your side, causing you turn and look at First Prayer of Perfection. The massive cerulean-crystal juggernaut has not moved, but… yes, that sounded like her, though she isn't reacting to your stare. Turning back, you notice that Taylor is having an animated, silent discussion off the side of her hologram-camera.
"Did he say 'Pole of Metal', Tatsu?" she asks, humor being overridden with concern as she casts her eyes (all of them) in your direction.
"Yes. That."
"Okay-" she starts, then stops and sighs. Refocusing on you for a moment, she swivels the hologram to address the scientists at the same time. "It sounds like Crushing Grasp has the ability to serve as a… repair and refitting station for Tatsu, allowing her to switch out charms with a few hours of downtime. I know we're almost done with our scheduled time, so I'd like to suggest we just wait to test those after she has meditated."
Twenty yards away, the scientists share a quick set of glances and mumbled words before Dr. Rose taps his tablet to allow him to talk over the intercom.
"Ms. Tatsu is unable to access or identify the powers held by Crushing Grasp without that downtime?"
"Correct," Taylor nods.
"Will they… align themselves correctly if they're separated from her?"
After a quick back and forth from Taylor and her unseen assistant, she frowns and shrugs. "Probably? This alignment process isn't the way normal Alchemicals work, so it's possible she might need to equip them and perform another meditation… but since they're still maintaining an arcane link even while Crushing Grasp is in her pocket dimension, I don't think it'll be an issue."
"Very well," the older latin man muses, though you can hear an undercurrent of restrained curiosity in his voice. "I'll make a note of it in our records. Will we progress with the dimension tests, now, before the 'anima' check?"
The semi-transparent hologram nods before fixating back to you. "Anything else, Tatsu?"
You shake your head, then deactivate your hypodermic tail - causing it to twitch once more before neatly retracting into your spine with a series of soft, quick clicks at each segment. It feels… peculiar.
"No."
"Then, yes, Doctor."
"Alright, then, Ms. Tatsu - if you could come back to the tables here..." his voice calls out, and you see him sweep his arm out to where some of the scientists have begun unpacking one of the crates that was under the second table.
You approach with smooth, efficient steps, while Taylor's humming drone follows behind.
A quick turn of your head shows that Prayer is, in fact, following behind you… but yet is making no sound. Odd, but impressive.
"We're going to repeat the same tests done last time with you and your sister," Dr. Rose nods. You did not notice the light greying in his dark hair before - it's not a natural pattern. Must be the result of recent coloring. Trying to impress someone, most likely. "Since you've used your… altered power since your return, are there any major differences you'd like to point out before we begin?"
"Yes," you nod, quickly tallying what you've figured out for yourself. "The visual effect is now black-and-white hexagons weaving together in a collapsing spiral. Inside is an empty horizon of black, foot-wide hexagons, except for large, circular portal. Sky is empty, white. Portal is now used to enter and exit dimension, instead of leaving or returning anywhere within. It is… difficult to tell what is inside the dimension from outside; there is a layer of fog when I try look at Lord Grasp right now, for example."
You note that the scientists are giving you a more appraising look than the last time you were in front of them, which causes a different type of fear than before; earlier, you were afraid they would lock you up, while now you are concerned they will like this version of you better.
You remember how Taylor was during the road trip.
This is not how you want to live your life, calming as it may be.
"Very good, Ms. Tatsu," Dr. Rose comments, casting a quick glance at Taylor's hologram-projecting drone as it moves to a few feet to his right - Prayer remains just out of her arm's reach to your own left. "Do you still possess the ability to reshape the terrain and place objects or people into stasis?"
"I can reshape, yes. Not as easily; it no longer is automatic when I think of it," you frown, considering how it felt before and comparing it to how it's felt to use your other charms in the past hour. "It does not take essence, but was still tiring. I have not tried placing something into stasis, but Lord Grasp was trapped when I awoke and required extracting."
All the scientists, including Dr. Rose, tap at their computers and tablets as you explain, while Taylor's eyes occasionally flicker off to the side.
"Crushing Grasp is in there now, isn't he?" she asks, distractedly. "Why?"
"He complained that Earth feels… 'barren' compared to it, and wanted to rest."
The dark heroine's eyebrows shoot up, but just as she opens her mouth she quickly snaps it shut in exasperation before slapping something away off-camera. This continues for a few moments, but eventually the situation settles down and her attention focuses back on you.
"I think, Tatsu…" she begins, nodding slowly with a growing, relieved smile, "that your dimension is now natively essence-derived, so a spirit like Crushing Grasp would be able to recover their motes there. It's not infinite, or Autochthon wouldn't need us in the first place, but it could be a big help towards enriching some materials or places here on Earth with essence."
You blink, because outside of 'Lord Grasp can recover inside' most of that doesn't make sense to you.
"Okay."
She waves a hand absently, while looking at both you and Dr. Rose. "Sorry - that's well outside of the scope of these tests. Doctor, will Crushing Grasp being inside pose a problem?"
"He is in his pagoda form," you note with a raised index finger. "You have not seen it yet, correct?"
A murmur of surprise and nods from the scientific group as they gather up the dimensional beacons and scanning devices. As they begin to assemble the tripods and box-like detectors around you, Dr. Rose nods. "Yes, Ms. Tatsu. He's apparently a bit too tall for this chamber without modifications. If it is as spacious as before there should be more than enough room for the test, but do you think he may try to interfere?"
You consider this as you flex your transport power-charm, then shake your head.
"No... but he may insist on giving autographs."
***
On the positive end, Lord Grasp largely leaves the scientists be during the test. He preens for a few pictures they snap of his grandiose form, as well as lifts up on his enormous scorpion legs to rotate and show off his "best sides."
"Of course, all my sides are my best sides!"
Unfortunately, the test takes significantly longer than initially expected… due primarily to the projectile speed at which any visitors are ejected from the portal upon entry.
You honestly did forget that - there's small, understandable vengeances, and there's pointlessly petty. Interfering with the testing would fall directly into the second category.
After the second trip it was eventually decided to simply have Prayer carry the instruments between transitions, as she always managed to land perfectly… even with arm-fulls of delicate science equipment. Beyond that, she also assisted in place of the camera drones for the purposes of a small scouting flight when it was (abruptly, by Taylor's drone) discovered that any and all connections to the outside world do not penetrate your Safe Space - even Tinkertech specifically designed to cross dimensional thresholds.
You, of course, noted the 'penetrate' innuendo, but saved it to memory for later so as not to disrupt the testing.
Tests on the Power Test Dummy showed that yes, you can place people in stasis still… but instead of willing your Safe Space's bizarre geometry to grow up and encase them, it is now the opposite:
You have to actively stop your Safe Space from being very unsafe for visitors.
Hastily recalling the memory of willing your Safe Space to recognize Lord Grasp as 'welcome' saved the scientists from being similarly entombed; the first two had initially professed feeling a profound sense of unease, like they didn't belong in your Safe Space, and within three minutes they had been rendered so sluggish as to barely be able to move or talk.
Prayer had not felt anything upon entering, and initially appeared immune to the slowing effect, but upon request by the scientists you did eventually find that you could 'revoke' her immunity - at which point she experienced the same effects as the first two scientists, even with Industrial Survival Frame active… though it took her nearly nine minutes to be rendered to the same degree of paralyzation
She recommended the scientists begin a proper workout regimen.
The portal - a 'sanctum gate' Taylor mentioned it might be called - still isn't behaving quite like you'd expect it to, since there doesn't yet seem to be a way to travel into your Safe Space without being flung out of it. The best you could manage is an... awkward shove it felt like, when you deliberately took as long as possible to relocate instead of letting the charm work at its quickest speed.
Thankfully, Prayer was inside to catch you when you tried testing your emergency, do-or-die relocation to confirm that - yes - you probably still can dodge a bullet like that.
Most helpfully, however, a few dedicated tests at the outset revealed that a slightly-twisting vision of the portal's destination appears within the ring whenever you focus on leaving, allowing for much more control of where you are placed on exit; before, even your clearest mental image before relocating (a quick enter/leave) still randomly placed you within a few feet of where you intended.
Hopefully there will be significantly less 'appearing into thin air, several stories up' moments with this version of your power. Even if you never sort out the 'projectile entry' problem, you will take that trade.
The final tests for your new power were focused primarily on its offensive capabilities, which turned out wildly different results from your previous round of tests.
Before, there had been… alarmingly few limitations on how much you and Sakura could pull into your Safe Space. Working together, you had pulled in an entire eight-story derelict building seeded with a dozen Power Testing Dummies. If you wanted to relocate something or someone, all you needed to do was get within arm's reach and they were gone.
Now… you can barely relocate as much as you can lift. Prayer could resist getting pulled in, though Industrial Survival Frame blocked the relocation completely. The first few scientists couldn't resist, but eventually they started being able to (if only slightly, because noodle arms), and trying to relocate more than one trying to resist quickly became impossible. The Power Testing Dummy, however, was sucked up immediately, as were any empty boxes or light testing weights.
It was not difficult to notice Taylor's disappointment, and the scientists' relief.
Prayer, however, was heartened.
"Athleticism breeds strength, even for us," she intoned, placing a confident gauntlet on your shoulder as she looked out into the open horizon of black and empty sky. "We shall add weights to your training."
You are determined to ship her with anyone but Bladedancer, now.
Maker help you if they were ever to get together.
***
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It's the classic problem of swallowing the spider to catch the fly; the solution tends to end up being worse than the disease.
Teacher's Tinkers tend to be pretty poor as they go; we've seen their original tech, and it isn't particularly impressive.
Neither mass produced, nor advanced.
Ditto this.
Remember that post-Gold Morning, he still was only one player among many, and was considered within the ability of the Undersiders to knock him out.
That really puts a high end limit on how effective/how many off those guys he can pump out.
You are establishing a corps of specialists personally loyal to Teacher and his power though.
In a setting where a certain white feathered lady has demonstrated the ability to reprogram people from orbit.
Single point of failure in a delicate system, and he plain isn't important enough to us to assign him an Alchemical permanently.
I'd say there is too high a risk of Bad Things.
Removing him as a hostile? Sure. Rehab? Sure.
Having him building stuff for the public? That's where we get issues.
Especially since his methods aren't duplicable.
Assuming we can get GU to give up her heroes, or Autobot to send us their soulgems, he might be useful in resurrecting the dead.
You are talking about Earth Bet right? Where they built the Birdcage?
Where the PRT can confine you without a warrant under M/S protocols?
I suspect the legal code is less protection than it is IRL.
And the law has never stopped foreign govts or NGOs anyway.
For this quest? It's either Mayhew or Mayview.
In canon, it's never stated AFAIK.
Too iffy, if you asked me.
Coercion as a means of running a group never ends well.
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Well shit.
Autobot built an Autochtonian catgirl.
Taylor's trying hard. But it's hard to social fu the social master.
Especially when they retreat into Clarity.
Well, on the bright side they're getting numb to horror!
Oo, that's interesting. So Autochton sent the high Compassion one home, left the high Conviction one to deal with Autochtonia. This is looking more and more logical a division.
Does work on others though, defensively.
See the cape formerly known as Crawler.
Clocksy will have fun with a prehensile tail.
Clarity 3 now?
She's leaning on it rather heavily.
Definitely higher Clarity.
...you get a diplomacy bonus to sufficiently dedicated scientists while in Clarity...I can see that happening.
With his tail or the scythes?
Hmm...makes sense, since normal dimensional breaching tools aren't designed for this.
So it'd hold Scion if we somehow sucked him into Saki. Might just count as avatar death though, he'd just reform once it disconnects.
Hmm, she could do the imprisonment clause previously, but never mentioned it huh?
Huh, it's not resistable even to ISF?
Cool, but also intimidating.
All she needs to do is trick you into not resisting.
So she gets a viewport. We can use this as a spying utility for ANYWHERE she's been to before then. World tour, then invisible world tour.
O.O
I did not realize how swole the shard originally was.
Might be a submodule.
Mwahaha.
sainen
Elder Lich
reminds me of Chimera Ant Zazan from Hunter x Hunter.
Actually, post-Gold Morning is the worst scenario to put Teacher into. His Thinkers and Tinkers ALL work best with a coherent society to leverage...and he lacks that in the aftermath. He has a lot of force multipliers, but nothing to multiply then.
If he's reprogrammed positively, then the control lynchpin can be turned to a positive. We can employ him to reinforce controls on resocialized criminals for instance...or just Penance Stare the implanted vulnerabilities out.
That said, the best use for him is mostly as a force multiplier on Penitent Birdcage Society.
Not so much in general circulation.
Gromweld
Learning By Mistake
I have not seen/read Hunter x Hunter, so I had to look this up.
Fixed both. Thank you!
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I consider this a heartening reaction.
Transcendental Imprisonment, indeed. I'm a little concerned that even the dedicated protection charm doesn't really help though. *shrugs*
Saki ought to prepare to be disappointed.
Probably the 5-7 range at this point.
Twei
I have a face!
- Location
- the land where they write things
- Pronouns
- They/Them
rofl:rofl:...it almost makes up for Being Saki Is Kind Of Suffering.
Almost. Poor girl.
Gave her a Tyranid Codex.
POSing him would probably be best, if only to make him walk us through his anti-Dragon measures and disable all of them. What to do with him afterwards is a question for later.
Speech patterns match Clarity 3.
You contradict yourself then, or least were using vague language. "Definitely higher Clarity." implies higher than the earlier stated 3 imo.
- Location
- Budapest, Hungary
Taylor:Actually they are together.
...it almost makes up for Being Saki Is Kind Of Suffering.
Almost. Poor girl.
Saki:Nooooo!!
Eyeballing it, she was at 0-1 when she started out, then reached 2 during the POS discussion, and finally hit 3(producing perceptible verbal tics) by the time she was done with the rest of the charms.
-We have an App 7 girl who was installed with a functional tail, and who has HSA to give her literal cat ears.
And who is near peak human strength, for those punching people through walls anime shenanigans.
Looks like Autochtonian expectations of beauty in media are really no different from Earth Japan's.
Well, at least Geode will be pleased.
-The tail thing might give Saki a legup with Case53s.
Not that she really needs it.
-Saki's disappointment at being less swole suggests that Strength Augs and charms are in her future.
And that the bonus BP might go here, instead of Perception.
-Wonder if IEU speeds up the time required for neutralizing people inside SoTI.
Since SoTI use is linked to Man/Cha, both of which have Augs installed, Saki might be able to reduce incapacitation time by 6 at E3; from 7 minutes to 1 minute 30 seconds for Prayer.
I wonder if it's the lower Valor or lower Conviction that makes body issues so stressful for her.
Taylor didn't seem to manifest any of these issues when she was tested; didn't even manifest Clarity until the Behemoth fight.
Or maybe it's due to our OOC decisions: Taylor wholeheartedly embraced her new condition.
Saki is more ambivalent.
Yeah, Taylor wants this.
Could be that Saki is paying more attention now with higher Clarity.
Or it could be because Saki is reacting like Taylor did in a stressful situation: upping the Clarity.
Which confirms to Taylor that nothing went wrong during the conversion process.
We still don't know what Taylor saw when she put the Twins in the Cradle, besides the fact that it blew her mind.
Huh.
The high Compassion twin got the heavy duty charms that require consideration and forethought before using.
The high Conviction twin got the less sinister feel-good charms.
Displays significantly more forethought and planning than people tend to assign to Auto.
If anyone was wondering why Saki was stressed, I present Exhibit A.
The casual way in which Taylor drops little nuggets of information on a Valor 2 girl who has never been in a real fight?
Don't tase me bro!
Use it as a taser, or as tiger claws, depending on the person.
So Saki and Crushing Grasp match.
Looks: check.
Surprising strength: check.
Tail: check.
Potential cat ears(HSA): check.
I will not be surprised to find that Autobot drew on Japanese cultural imagery when customizing the Twins powers.
Especially since a lot of the Japanese manga and anime history predate 1999; Dragonball Z was finished by 1996, for example, and Japanese media have showcased nekomimi since 1924.
Catgirl - Wikipedia
As long as Saki doesn't start saying Nyaa.....
Saki's costume is going to need to be redesigned to accommodate this feature.
And I suspect this is one charm that is mirrored across the Twins.
I foresee shenanigans.
And at least one hysterical article claiming that succubi are being sent to Earth.
Needs higher Perception.
Maybe next time she goes into the Vats.
*raises eyebrows*
Iris or Riley?
Probably Riley; I don't expect Iris needs to be slapped away.
Lol.
Note the difference between a converted shard that was new to it's parahuman like Saki's, and that of Prayer, which had spent 10+ years with her.
I'm betting the scientists will conclude that this change was made due to the Nine kidnapping thing.
And I don't think they'd be wrong.
Fail-deadly defenses become very attractive when that happens.
But yeah, we should probably consider the time interval for Prayer as the minimum standard for hostile big guns.
Portal on a Starmetal Caste?
Kid Win is just going to call it a Stargate; it'll draw cries of nerd, but it'll probably stick.
This is the (Perception + Awareness)*100 yards radius scan thing.
At Perception 2, Awareness 3, that's a half-sphere of 1000 yards diameter.
Yikes!
If I didn't know better I'd think their power was trying to kill them.
Given that dialing the gate is an Int + Lore roll?
I suspect more Lore will improve her control on what speed people emerge from the portal.
Either that, or an increase in the Specialty.
Possibly both.
Cooperation rules apply? That was an alarmingly potent shard power.
Wonder what it would have been like with IEU applications on both Saki and Sakura.....
I'm beginning to think that the movie theater attack was for them; Bobbie and Missy were just bonuses.
Which suggests that a submod will likely unlock that feature again.
Or allow them to teleport entire areas.
Given that the last section established that she could literally lift a small car?
Not as much of a limitation as one would think.
Okay, now Prayer needs to learn Water Dragon Style.
So when she flares her anima, she can manifest the image of crashing waves of water in addition to the full moon:lol
But yeah, Saki knows ARB, so fatigue from exercise isn't even an issue.
So Lee-style training weights are a thing she could do literally all day long; probably under arm/leg warmers.
Between Prayer, Blades and Grasp, someone is going to get run ragged; good thing she can perform the dreaded Puppy Eyes Attack.
PermaClarity 1 because Rogue Cell.
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Two piece outfits.
Something like this:
As long as your shirt isn't tucked in, said tail can slither in and out without issue.
Or she could just have Taylor custom-mod her clothes
Scify
It always starts with a lighthouse.
Marrow, not the twins, but yes.
As has been pointed out, Ascalon as a whole is no, and the others... Probably not, though it'd be amusing to see a social parry used to deflect a damaging attack.
Hmm. Now I'm imagining fighting off Ascalon's attacks on Dragon's code as a Tron/anime-esque battle in cyberspace sequence.