NotInventedHere
MSV, Desert Class
- Location
- UK
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Autochthon, massive ham, same thing really.
Alchemical Solutions [Worm/Exalted] Thread 23: We Wonder Where Who Wanders When Watchers Wane
- Thread starter Gromweld
- Start date
- Location
- The Hub
Which one, BLESSED, Shatner! or Wakamoto?
Autobot: "YES."
Okay, fair enough
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Chapter 10.5 (Part 15)
Gromweld
Learning By Mistake
Chapter 10.5
(Part 15)
(Part 15)
***
It's a little weird how most people react the same way to getting to see what it's like to have your power: waving their hands in front of peoples' faces, poking shoulders, moving stuff around and watching oblivious people non-react. PRT eggheads, Bro, Ames, even Lisa - though she was constantly mumblin' stuff under her breath while she dicked around under your Charm-Power's effects - all were various amounts of weirded out that you had to deal with this all the time before. 'Bout the only person who didn't react much was Alec, which wasn't really surprising 'cept for his muttering about how it 'explains a lot'.
You left him locked in a closet for the rest of the afternoon.
So while Missy silently does the same hand-wavy, shoulder-poking stuff to her folks as they eat dinner (though she's more nervous and kinda-sad than any of the others have been), you grab a fork and start eating some of the extra lasagnas from the tray on the counter. It's… pretty good, actually. Not too much sauce, more spice in the meat than you'd expect from a soccer mom, and the pasta's got a decent amount of bite to it. Nowhere near as good as the batch Taylor made a few weeks ago, of course, but normies can't really compare to her bullshit-level wizard-cooking - it's not like they can make your brain go all fuzzy and your whole body tingly with a grilled cheese sandwich.
It's kinda funny that the Youth Guard cry bullshit about Tay workin' her ass off fixin' PRT red tape to make sure people aren't dyin' in the streets, but are totally cool with pushin' her to accept the offers she's gotten to fly around the world to cook for super-rich jackasses. Prolly part of why Taylor was okay at all with taking a vacation in the first place. Huh, that reminds you…
"Mrmf," you grunt with a mouthful of food, getting Missy's attention away from pokin' her folks. She glances at you for only a split-second, then does a double-take when she realizes you're eating what was… probably originally supposed to be her dinner. Whoops. "You convinced yet?"
She scowls and opens her mouth, but then stops and looks back to her folks still talkin' about how they'll need to wait for the rain to stop to mow the lawn and take care of the garden in the back since they've been away. The same kinda borin' shit they've been talkin' about the whole time you've been down here. Eventually, Missy closes her mouth and nods, stepping away from the table and starting to walk out of the dining room.
"Hey."
She stops, then looks back to you with a tight expression, mouthing a "what?"
"You said you'd bring back milk for Fuzzface, remember?"
She blinks for a second, then some of the worry fades as she smirks and nods before turning and heading back into the kitchen. You toss the fork you were using into the lasagna pan and follow her in. As she gets one of those plastic mixer bottles and starts filling it with milk from the fridge, you pick up the thought you just had.
"So if you were totally off the grid, how much do you know about what's been goin' down around here since you left?"
Missy's mouth twists in a slight frown and shakes her head as she closes the fridge and grabs the bottle's top from the cupboard. Spinning the top on and giving it an extra twist to make sure it's on tight, she looks at you again and-
-you ignore the flare of alarm from your ISF again, having now gotten a bit better at detecting the weird stretching feeling of what Missy's power feels like as she starts to pull you along-
-then you're back in her room, the door never having even been opened either time you warped out or back in. She snorts as she shakes her head and puts the bottle of milk on her desk, then steps over to her closet and starts digging into the back of it.
"We still had TV and Internet and a phone at the ranch," she sighs. "Part of the deal with the PRT was that Molly had to talk with the PRT and the Youth Guard every night to let them know how I was doing and what they had scheduled for the next day. It's not like the PRT would've just… let us run out to a farm in the middle of nowhere without telling anyone."
You tilt your head. "Wait, but you said-"
"I didn't use them," she huffs, but her shuffling stops as she gets quiet and stares into the darkened closet for a few seconds. "What happened with…"
She trails off, and it's almost half a minute before she starts talkin' again.
"It… it was everywhere. News reports, talk shows, everywhere on the Internet and the radio and the TV and the paper… I just didn't…" she shakes her head. "Molly and Dan thought it'd be easier for me to get my mind off it if..."
"Yeah. I get it," you grunt, walking over to the window and opening it so Mr. Pinchy can float in outta the rain again. "You missed a bunch'a crazy parties, though. We even managed to get Dean drunk once."
"W-what?!" she splutters, whipping around to face you with her costume in one hand and her eyes wide. "H-how?! Did you-?"
"No, I didn't spike his drink," you sigh, rolling your eyes and crossing your arms over your chest as you plop down on her huge bed. "There was booze everywhere we went, both in and outta costume. But this happened when we were all outta costume getting pizza near Penn Abby - we'd been helping Ernest's folks clean up their place - and this pack of college guys roll in and start handin' out six-packs to everyone in the restaurant," you snicker.
Her jaw drops. "B-but none of us look old enough to drink! That's illegal!"
You shrug, still smiling. "Yeah, like people actually care about that? I had my first drink when I was seven."
Missy groans and covers her face with her spare hand. "Of course you did. Ugh. Did all of you get drunk? I can't believe-"
"Nah," you sigh, waving a hand. "Dennis, Dean, and Ernest were the only ones who tried a can. None of 'em even could stand more than a few sips, said it was awful."
"...wait, but you said-"
You grin again. "Turns out Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes is a suuuuuper lightweight. Guess he'll be a cheap date!"
Instead of her usual blush and sputtering at your teasing about Dean, she gets… sad. Lookin' down at her costume as she grips the padded green outfit in her fists, Missy stares at it for long enough that you start to get worried.
"Hey, uh... I was joking, alright? They didn't even get a chance - Taylor was spyin' on us and had a bunch of robobugs fly in and-"
"No," she interrupts, voice tight as she shakes her head. "I… it's just that I've had a lot of time to… think. About things. Do… do you remember how-..."
Her hands ball up even tighter, making the fabric attaching the ceramic plates creak under the awkward strain.
"I didn't even realize Bobby liked me until Sakura and Saki tricked me into seeing that movie with him. I mean, he's been a hero for a while and spends so much time doing it… healers are so rare, and he's helped so many people! But… but he's ten! He's so young! And… and then, just as I was sitting down next to Bobby before the movie and he- he looked so happy, I realized:"
You hop off the bed and wrap an arm around her shoulders as she goes all weepy again.
"This is what Dean must think about me."
You glance at the unusually-quiet Mr. Pinchy for a little help, but he just shimmys on his little cloud in a mock head-shake.
Hmm. This… prrrrrrobably wouldn't be a good time to ditch her meat and go full magic-robo. Yeah, it'd help since Godbot'll give her a rockin' new bod if even Tay's before-and-after pictures are anything to go by. Just doesn't... feel like a good reason to upgrade, though. Could just ask Ames-... err...
"Hey, no sweat? We can… uh… ask Saki to get Ames to help you out, you know? Speed shit up for ya?"
Missy flinches and swallows hard, but doesn't say anything for a bit.
"I… I still need to see her to turn my hair back. I guess…" she sniffs, then tilts her head the side and up to meet your own eyes with a wet, confused look. "Wait, why should we ask Saki-?"
Her eyes go wide as realization hits, her jaw dropping open as she finally remembers.
"Wait! That's right, she- Taylor chose-... they're back, too?! What are they like?!"
You take a hissing breath through your teeth as you look away awkwardly, using your free hand to brush your hair back into place.
"Uuuhhhhhhh… yeahhh. About that…" you groan. "Saki's back, but Sakura… sorta got... stuck in Roboland?"
You can feel her blank stare.
"... what do you mean 'stuck'?"
Clearing your throat, you pull away and shrug like it's no big deal. "Godbot prolly figured she'd be more help over there than over here? I dunno, I got told she was super busy when I was over there, and since everyone was treatin' me like fuckin' robo-Jesus she's prolly got people fallin' over themselves to make sure she's all set up with what she needs..."
You tilt your head as a thought pops up.
"Prolly got dudes throwin' themselves at her, too. Heh. Wonder if she's gotten-"
"Aisha!" Missy huffs, sniffing away her last tears as she slaps your arm. "That's not funny! Saki must be going crazy without her! And..." she squints, "...what do you mean they treated you like… 'robo-Jesus'?"
You snort and roll your eyes, but sigh at havin' to tell your whole story again. "Ugh. Alright. I guess you haven't gotten the deets 'bout what's been goin' on 'round here yet. Get dressed and I can catch you up as we're cruisin' around."
Missy opens her mouth to complain, but you make another 'hurry up' motion at her costume and she sighs before grudgingly turning back to grab her helmet from whatever secret compartment in her closet she pulled her costume from. You nod to yourself in satisfaction-
Wait. Shit. Queenie.
Uhhhhh… what was her real name again? Saki mentioned it a few times before you upgraded-... Sierra? Yeah, that sounds right. Okay, so… no way Missy knows what Queenie is supposed to look like, so she prolly won't freak out right away - thank Bot she looks nothing like Bonesaw, that'd be a complete clusterfuck. You just gotta tell her that Mr. Pinchy was preventin' her from seein' or hearin' anything. But… why would you be lettin' Sierra roll around with you and not tell Missy straight-off she was there...?
… you don't wanna lie to her, so… you guess the truth actually makes some kinda sense here? Weird. 'S long as you just start with the good facts first, that is.
Hrm.
You turn to Mr. Pinchy and wave a finger at the little hut on his cat-sized back. "Hey, can you fold out so I jump in for a sec before she finishes dressing?"
The little blue eye-gems tilt in a way that makes you think he's quirkin' an eyebrow at you, but after a brief, silent stare he bobs up and down in a sorta 'nod' then moves to the center of the room and starts expanding again. In less time than it takes Missy to worm her way into her costume's leggings, the big silver-gold bug is minicar-sized again.
Sliding through the silver-with-gold-patterned curtains, you ignore Fuzzbutt's raised eyebrow from his spot next to Queenie and crouch down to her eye level.
She slowly opens her eyes after a second of you staring at her eyelids, then blinks again when she notices how serious you look.
"You know if you mess up Missy I'll kill you, right?" you whisper.
There's a small flicker of something across her face. Confused? Sad? It's gone before you can figure it out, but her eyes never leave yours.
Slowly, she nods once.
You hold your stare, making sure she's got her shit on lock, then grunt and stand back up-
"Aisha? I'm ready- oooh, wow! This place is so-..." Missy's voice calls out as her head peeks nervously in past the curtains, shock evident as the sheer bling level of this place hits her… only for her mouth to freeze open in shock as she then notices Queenie.
"Hey! Yeah, Vista, chill - it's cool!" you wave, desperately shifting your Mask to make sure your expression is as relaxed and friendly as possible. You gesture to Queenie with your spare hand like the little murder-fairy is no big deal. "This is Sierra! She's new, so give her some slack."
"Ciara."
Both of you look to the tiny blonde, who hasn't opened her eyes despite Missy's entrance. You turn back to the youngest of your group and shrug. "Right. That's what I said. Ciara."
Missy winces, which- ah, shit, uhh… gonna have to clarify she's not one of the new Philly triggers from the Nine's bullshit later. Still, your approval and no-shits-given-attitude seems to be enough to get a weak smile from Missy as she steps fully into the lounge.
"O-oh. Um… H-hi… Ciara?" she tries, but when Queenie doesn't really react she turns back to you with a 'what the fuck is goin' on' look. You wince and rub your neck. Yeah, this wasn't the smoothest thing you've done.
"Sorry, I shoulda' told you she was here, but… Mr. Pinchy's had the whole place blocked out so she couldn't see or hear anything outside. I didn't think it was a problem," you admit, ignoring the threatening grumble from the whole room to focus on what's important right now. "Anyway, she's only here because Taylor actually thinks she might-..." you turn to glance at Queenie- "...might fit for Orichalcum."
You turn back, seeing Missy tense up again as what you said registers, the hand not wrapped around the milk-filled bottle fidgeting at the costume's semi-transparent green skirt.
"O-Orichalcum? That's… the gold type of Alchemical, right?"
You nod and shrug again, but ignore the slight twitch from Queenie. "I've been grillin' her tonight, gettin' a read on her, ya'know? She's still sortin' her power out, though, so she'll prolly just stick with meditatin' while we go to work."
The reinforced neck of Missy's costume twitches enough for you to notice her pained gulp, but since most of her face is hidden by her helmet's visor you can't see her full expression.
"O-...oh. I… see."
… shit. Right. She probably won't want to talk about how her power is different now with Queenie here. Fuck. Quick, gotta think-
In a completely bizarre move, Fuzzface speed-wiggles back and forth across the carpet of super-soft pillows over to Missy, until he's close enough that his head can reach out and bonk the milk bottle she's holding. She makes a strangled 'eep' noise at the sudden movement, but after a few seconds she realizes the horse-sized saber-cat is just playfully trying to get her to spoil him some more.
She tries to hold in a laugh, but after a few more seconds she fails and just starts giggling as she kneels down and sinks into his fur and engine-strength purring.
If you weren't right beside her, you probably wouldn't have heard Queenie sigh quietly in relief.
Hmm.
You give Queenie a light pat on the head, then walk over and plop down within arms' reach of Missy as she starts to carefully pour a tiny stream of milk onto Fuzzbutt's palm-sized tongue.
"So," you sigh, shaking your head and ignoring your spoiled robocat for now, "you want the movie version or the talky version?"
She lifts the bottle to stop the stream as she turns to you in surprise, which gets you a glare from Carfield. "'Movie version'? You have videos?"
"Hah! Videos are for chumps," you laugh, grinning as you stretch your arms wide. "Prepare yourself for the ultimate in entertainment:"
Focusing on the memories, you let your RIA Charm start to fill the lounge with the scene that greeted you in Roboland - slowly enough so Missy doesn't freak out and so she sees the change is coming from you.
"Aisha-vision!"
...Okay. Maybe you don't hate telling this story.
***
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It doesn't come with popcorn or soda. Boo. 1 out of 5 stars.
Comes with cat tho
That's a demerit. The cat would swipe whatever snacks you brought.
-The vibe I'm getting from how Aisha talks about Alec is very much like they're siblings.
I mean, I know they dated in canon, but this feels very much like same age sibling behavior.
Let's see how that develops.
-Lol at Aisha stealing Missy's lasagna. Does she even realize that she's mirroring Mister there? Of course not.
-
I feel personally attacked.
More seriously, it's nice to see competence, and that they didn't hand Missy Biron over to complete kooks.
Jury's still out on the rest.
-Interesting if brief look at Missy's power thus far.
She's basically doing stuff with it that she was previously only able to manage with IEU applied, at least at that speed. Practice or trigger?
That's probably for the next set of power test to determine.
-Taylor's leveraging her Cooking Rep? It's been a while since we saw that in action.
Makes sense the YG would be ; a group of soccer moms would have their subtle biases. Plus, fundraising.
And since Taylor seems to find foodmaking almost soothing in it's simplicity, and something that doesn't take her very much time anymore......
-
Continuity error:
Bobby went on a tour of national parks with his family, at about the same time Missy was bundled off with hers.
Remember, the Nine turned him into a healing couch.
And while he apparently wasn't conscious to remember what happened, and is thus much psychologically better off, everyone else remains a little freaked out. Casey is the one who went on vacay with the rest of the Wards.
-Aisha has certainly grown in confidence. First, repeatedly calling Grasp Mr Pinchy, now fullup threatening Ciara.
Either that or she cares more about Missy than she's willing to admit, even in her head.
IIRC, she didn't have any female friends of the same age in canon after becoming a cape. And with BB gone, any friends she had are gone.
-We have a fair look at Ciara's Virtues.
Aisha threatened her, and she didn't really bristle, or react with anything other than relief when Missy was diverted to Mister.
Conviction primary, Valor 2, Temperance 3, Conviction 3-4. Compassion 2.
And speaking of which, Aisha's doing a fair job of jiggling her for loose psych triggers.
I mean, can you imagine what her reaction to being called the wrong name would have been a week ago?
She's doing the same thing to Missy too, with the continuous mood whiplash.
-I'm looking forward to when Missy's memories kick in and she realizes who
Bladedancer used her face as a lesson in self defence class, after all.
Of course, the soulgem represents a complicating factor.
Gromweld
Learning By Mistake
I've looked, but I've yet to find a canonical reference to Missy having green eyes. She wears a green visor over her eyes, but I haven't seen any mentions of her eyes being explicitly called out as green. If you have a source, I'll change it.
That bit was supposed to be a hint that Aisha was lying about the whole thing, but I did some last-minute tweaks as I was posting that shifted the tone make it less explicit so... yeah, I guess it's needlessly confusing if I leave a Bobby mention in. I've changed it up.
Uhhhhh... what? I... don't remember writing that (which doesn't mean I didn't! This story is kinda huge now and my memory isn't perfect...) and searching through the story via the story-only thread I don't see Bladedancer ever posting GU's face anywhere in the training scenes. Do you have a quote or link?
RoninSword
Sky God
- Location
- Canada
One of the scenes where Taylor is complaining that Bladedancer won't let her use any of her powers while dodge practicing. Bladedancer just goes on to say thing about if you face a power nullifier, etc, or just someone plain better. And then uses GU as an example.
Sentinel 9.5
That was the reference for the pic I got a couple years ago.
Yeah, there's a superficial resemblance between Ciara and Missy.
I quote from the encounter at the Hunt's suite.
Arc 9.6
All the Philly Wards will probably recognize her.
The soulgem might distract them, but they should eventually.
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Gromweld
Learning By Mistake
Cool. Fair enough, changing it now.
Whoops, yes, so I did - for some reason the way you phrased it made me focus on all the Bladedancer training scenes, so I think I confused myself when there was nothing in those earlier scenes.
Regardless, Ciara looks vastly different now than the picture Bladedancer used before. The picture from before was with her shroud and while she was looking ominous and regal - not only does the soulgem and lack of a shroud throw her recognizability off a bit, but she looks more strung-out and weary at the moment with her unkempt hair due to the stress imposed both by the pressure of Saki's prison and of mentally trying to keep a lid on her shard while outside the prison. But yes, the recognition is coming.
The Clark Kenting gap?
Chapter 10.5 (Part 16)
Gromweld
Learning By Mistake
Chapter 10.5
(Part 16)
(Part 16)
***
As fun as telling your Roboland story is, you still struggle a bit when Mogerfucker shows up and those last parts before you get tossed into the portal. Missy seems to get it and gives you a hug when you stop for a sec after you and Fuzzbutt make it back to Earth… only for her to freeze up in the middle of the hug, tensing up hard enough that you start to get worried. What-
Oh. From your position, she's… looking directly at Queenie. Yeah, Queenie doesn't have that crazy burnt-scrap-robe or her ghosts floating around, and her hair's still hangin' all over her face, the soulgem throws things off, and she looks kinda like a strung-out druggie with those bags under her eyes...
She's not as regal and scary from her pictures that Bladedancer showed during training, but Missy's no idiot: Taylor isn't gonna take some fresh-faced trigger for the crew, and "Ciara" is wearin' what looks like a weird kind of prison jumpsuit. And since the meditatin' blonde is pretty obviously not Bonesaw, that sorta narrows things down to one pants-shitting possibility.
Huh. Kinda weird that there's so many little blonde white girls hanging around your group, now that you think about it. Good thing Bonesaw has blue eyes instead of green, otherwise that'd be even freakier. Maybe you should convince Missy to keep the black hair, shake that up a bit?
"Aisha…?" Missy manages to strangle out, her voice a tight whisper.
You sigh and use the at-first-mushy-but-now-reassuring hug to both keep her from bolting and to pat her on the back. But just as you're about to open your mouth, Queenie breaks the silence with her own flat denial.
"We are no threat, young Host."
Of course, that only makes Missy tense up even more.
"Talkin' freaky isn't gonna make people think you aren't crazy, Queenie," you groan, turning your head just enough to see her out of the corner of your left eye. "And what's with the 'we' shit?"
She doesn't move much, but even the slight twitch of her clasped hands in her lap is enough to get Missy ready to bolt.
"While my Empowerment now affords me the Will to deny its agency, to claim that my Parasite is without the capacity of independent thought and action would be false," she states, her voice reminding you of Taylor bein' distracted by some gang fight that she's takin' care of herself halfway across the city while she's sittin' in HQ. "I use the plural not out of arrogance, but for clarity."
…
Keeping a firm grip on an equally-confused Missy, you wiggle in your accumulated pillow-horde to rotate the two of you so Missy's in your lap and the both of you are facing Queenie. Then, you glance up at the big gem eyes above the main lounge entrance and raise an eyebrow.
"... lil' help? I got nothin' on that one."
"A-Aisha, what…" Missy whispers under her breath without looking away, panicked and pleading as she reaches up to grip your arms tight, "a-are you serious? That's… that's Glaistig Uaine?!"
Mr. Pinchy's concerned hum makes the whole lounge vibrate as he mulls over Crazy-Fairy's last round of nonsense.
"I'm sorry to say that Miss Ciara is speaking to knowledge that neither you or Miss Biron possess, Miss Memory. Information that Enduring Order Administrator has... strongly cautioned us against passing on without her explicit approval."
That makes you go wide-eyed at the collection of eight big-ass gems, and you can feel Missy twitch as she glances up to where you're looking.
"The fuck?! Wh-... whaddya mean Taylor told you-... she said not to tell me?!"
Two clumps of curtain tassels lift up to form kinda-pincers, which he waves around nervously.
"Now now, Miss Memory, this classification was not aimed at you specifically - this is simply an unfortunate byproduct of Enduring Order Administrator retreating to her vacation before she had the opportunity to bring you fully into the Assembly's shared knowledge pool. However, I would be remiss to not note that Administrator had just finished spending the evening... educating Miss Ciara and a number of others when we arrived to retrieve you from Legend's debriefing in New York, so I suspect you were not immediately brought into the fold only due to her reluctance to repeat herself so soon. Ah-"
He pauses, raising one of the tassel-pincers to gesture to Queenie.
"- I do not mean to imply your ignorance regarding this matter prior to that gathering, Miss Ciara. I dare say you were among the few individuals in Nowhere that were already in that loop."
Queenie doesn't react immediately, but eventually nods after silent moment.
Narrowing your eyes, you glance between crazy-blondie and bling-bug's eyes. Yeah, you knew Tay and the crew weren't tellin' you everything when you were still meat-based, but… you don't like the feelin' of bein' left outta shit now. Especially after you went and filled 'em in on what went down in Roboland. And yeah, it sounds like this is prolly just a case of shitty timing, but…
Beside you, Catbot's tail starts twitching as he starts rumblin' in a way that matches your mood.
"... talkin' around me 'an Missy even more is not helpin' your case here, Buggo."
The eye-gems shift in their sockets, a light reddish tint creepin' in the sides of the blue stones for a few seconds before all the curtains flutter as he heaves a big sigh and the tints fade. Still, the way the light from the glowin' fake-fire lamps along the ceilin' lowers ominously, and the way that light glints off the gems… it's pretty clear he's glarin' right at you.
"What Memory Serves," he says, his voice low and level as it fills the lounge, "know this: I am more than capable of ejecting both you and your feline companion into the cold, wet night sky before you can so much as blink. Should you wish to avoid that damp, depressing fate and continue to avail yourselves of the superlative comforts I can provide, you will address me by my proper name."
You narrow your eyes right back at him. Yeah, no way're you backin' down at this. Not that he's bluffin' - you saw him hand Fuzzbutt his ass - but if you're gonna build a rep of not takin' shit from spirits like Mogerfucker then you can't just roll over for-
In your lap, Missy shakes your armored forearms as her grip ratchets up hard enough to make the plates squeak against the material.
"Aisha, stop! Please!" she pleads, voice more scared than you've ever heard from the tough little Shaker. "I don't-... please, just take me back..."
…
Shit.
You swallow the lump in your throat and sigh, hanging your head over her shoulder as you give Missy a long squeeze.
"M'sorry, Missy," you mumble, tilting your head to press against hers. "Shit's been crazy around here… guess I let it get to me."
She's quiet, but after a long few seconds you feel most of the tension bleed outta her as she sags in your lap. When she finally does talk, it's in a bare whisper with traces of tears behind it again.
"No, no… it's me. I'm sorry, I should be-… if this is how crazy things have gotten, I can't be afraid of stuff like this if I want to people to think I'm... ready. That I can help, even if my-... if I'm not the same as… before."
Something about what she just said makes you frown. Is she… talking about her power? Except… you aren't supposed to know about that yet. Damn. Uh… play dumb!
"Huh? What'dya mean? Plenty of capes have black hair."
… okay, old you wasn't that dumb-
"Oh my god," Missy snorts, sounding really tired all of a sudden as she lets go of your forearms to cover her face in embarrassment. "So much for your upgrades, Aisha."
…
Bot damnit.
"Okay, first of all: fuck you-"
"Conflict."
Both you and Missy nearly leap outta your seat as Queenie's harsh, disgusted voice cuts through the air like a knife. Both of your heads whip to look at the little blonde speaking in Old Realm, but she's not looking at you, she's looking to the side, out past the curtains...?
"What?" you blink, still keeping a tight grip on Missy as she tenses up in your arms again. "What's wrong?"
For the first time this night, Queenie's voice gains some of that weird multi-echo that you remember from when she jumped Saki, you, Miss M, and the Wyld Hunt in New York. Still no ghosts, but the weird glint in her eyes is also back as she stares at… something.
"A lone Host is converged upon by thrice its number," she bites out, almost sneering - showin' more emotion than you managed to drag outta her with all your proddin' in the last hour combined. "The veil of cowardice is lifted, Parasite; there is no delight in this chaos, only suffering and terror."
… hoookay. Maaaaaybe that won't sound as crazy once you get clued in on the whole picture. Until then, you grunt in understanding, pat Missy to reassure her that she's not gonna get suddenly Fairy Queen'd, and then turn back to the eight gemstone eyes and keep things in Old Realm.
"...Lord Grasp..." you admit with a slow nod. "What the fuck?"
He grunts and the tassel-pincers tap together once before the rightmost one points in the direction that Queenie is looking.
"Very good, Miss Memory. Now then, in order: First, Miss Ciara has detected a single parahuman either currently in conflict with - or soon to be ambushed by - three other parahumans, somewhere in that direction. Her second statement… relies upon too much classified information for me to elucidate its meaning for you at this moment. My apologies."
You blink. Oh.
Well... if they're just gonna make it easy for you to find some action, no reason to turn down the invitation.
"Queenie says a lone cape's gettin' jumped by three other capes," you translate for Missy, grunting as you start to unfold your legs so you can stand up. "Prolly a new trigger gettin' shanghaied into a gang. Been hearin' a lotta that's been goin' on with Taylor outta town. Mr-... Lord Grasp can take you back home, Fuzzface and I can take Queenie-"
"W-what!? No!" Missy exclaims, shocked, then spins out of your arms. Her breath wavering and nervous for a split-second, she balls up her hands, takes a big sniff to get rid of the snot in her nose, and then stomps her foot down into the velvety pillow-carpet. "I-... Forget what I said! I can help!"
"Lady Warden also expects that I do not allow Miss Ciara to leave the confines of my walls, Miss Memory," Mr. Pinchy chimes in awkwardly, causing Missy to turn just enough to point to his eyes as if he's proving a point.
"Y-yeah! See! You can't send me away!"
…
You narrow your eyes at the little pipsqueak and tilt your head. This… is prolly a bad idea, but it's not like you can tell people that are keepin' you from bustin' heads to shove it and then turn around and boxblock Missy in the same way.
"Ehhhhh…" you drawl out, crossing your arms over your chest before shrugging. "Whatever. I'm gonna get yelled at either way. I was just gonna find some normies for us to kick around, but I guess a cape fight works. You just gotta promise to stick close to me so my cover on you doesn't drop, and we're not gonna dick around - gonna drop 'em quick, in-and-out like pros. Deal?"
Missy swallows once and takes a quick breath as if she wants to say something, but you catch a twitch of her head that makes you think she's remembering Queenie's right there… so she just nods once, mouth set in a determined line.
"Right. Professionals. Got it."
You arch an eyebrow, but she doesn't say anything more. Nodding to yourself, you pulse a thought to your Amulet to reform your complete armored Ward costume - then push enough Essence through your TIE to schloorrp your Omnisaber gloves on top of your gauntlets.
With another thought and a large chunk of focused Essence, three foot-long silver-lightsaber claws extend from the back of each of your hands.
"Yup," you grin. "Professionals."
***
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RoninSword
Sky God
- Location
- Canada
Thought for sure it was going to be Valefor. I can only imagine how terrifying it will be now that Aisha can cover more than herself.
ImperatorV
The Laughing One
- Location
- The Voyaging Realm
Ciara seems to be getting whammied pretty hard by her shard. She's holding together well though. And also calling out the space-whale fragment on its behavior. I'd be really interested to see if she gets Exalted how her relationship with her shard-charm would turn out. She's one of the best informed people on the subject of shards and would have a lot of reasons to think about them. Which sounds really interesting to me, so more things in favor of Ori Ciara.
Missy is definitely having doubts. I think what's driving her right now is her hatred of being seen as childish or unable to look out for herself, and it's pushing her in an even more unhealthy direction then usual. I'm wondering if Exaltation would help her (as it's a validation of her as a hero) or if it'd make her issues worse (by making her double down on the unhealthy behavior).
Missy is definitely having doubts. I think what's driving her right now is her hatred of being seen as childish or unable to look out for herself, and it's pushing her in an even more unhealthy direction then usual. I'm wondering if Exaltation would help her (as it's a validation of her as a hero) or if it'd make her issues worse (by making her double down on the unhealthy behavior).
- Location
- Germany
This was so good!
I wonder what the classified information is though
I wonder what the classified information is though
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Entities, shards being sources of powers, Scion.
The whole nine yards.
Ekzentric Lohner
I miss Wildstar...
It's going to be hilarious if the lone parahuman is actually Lung. There was a stunt a while back with Aisha going up against what sounds like him...
Whats-her-name who joined Kenta in Hawaii would have to be somewhere else - securing a hotel room, browsing the internet, stocking up on extra backup pants, whatever.
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TaliesinSkye
Occasional Editor
- Location
- Northeast Ohio, United States
Extra...backup...pants? XD
Ekzentric Lohner
I miss Wildstar...
Well, unless he's got special tinkertech pants that grow as he does and don't burn up, he's going to need replacements every time he dragons out.
This is interesting is she referring to Missy or one of the shards in the fight?
If she is referring to Missy then it implies her shard is hammering her new insecurities for some reason which is odd.