She's aiming to get below the attosecond.
Brockton's Celestial Forge (Worm/Jumpchain)
- Thread starter LordRoustabout
- Start date
Narsauce
The Crucible Shitlord
- Location
- Here, there and everywhere
Trying for Planck time, but that might be a bit unrealistic
- Location
- A big rock
Altering the fundamental resolution of reality so you can better measure how many subscribers someone's going to lose do to posting cringe.
I think the only way the s9 are a real threat to Joe is if he goes up against them alone, because if it turns into a Celestial Forge vs Slaughterhouse 9 fight it will be very easy to beat them.
So either the s9 team up with other villains to defeat CF or they make an elaborate plan to separate Joe from their group. Either way, still a long way to go before the appearance of jack and his gang of degenerates.
So either the s9 team up with other villains to defeat CF or they make an elaborate plan to separate Joe from their group. Either way, still a long way to go before the appearance of jack and his gang of degenerates.
- Location
- Nowhere
I myself would find it amusing if the S9 create this elaborate scheme and Joe is just like "No" cause if there was anyone Joe would have no issues simply taking out without hesitation it would be the S9 -bar maybe Bonesaw because she is what he could of been- while everyone else is standing by like "The hell? Where's the epic battle?"
Therapy (Shyft)
- Location
- Gladstone, OR
=== Therapy ===
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Laborn."
If there was anything that was going to shock her out of the surreal situation, having someone call her that would do it. "Oh god no! Please, just Aisha."
"Of course. Aisha, then."
The man sitting across from her didn't look particularly noteworthy. But it wasn't like therapists had to look like they stepped off a film set. He set aside a thin folder on the table next to his chair, and she saw the small notepad and pencil waiting. He didn't go for it just yet.
"So..."
"Wondering where to start?"
"Yeah. I mean...." Aisha shrugged, suddenly feeling a lot like the thirteen year old she was in a chair that was just a touch too big for her. "Sorry. I wasn't sure what to expect from this."
Dr. Campbell smiled. "The expectation here, is that there are no expectations. Some people do respond better to goals and structure, but I find it best to let my patients set their own pace. There's no magical finish line that says 'you're better!' when you cross it."
"Therapy is forever, huh."
"I wouldn't say that, but trauma, or even ordinary stress, can persist for a long time if not properly addressed." Now he did search for the notepad and pencil, but didn't flip it open. "The first step, really is just getting to know each other. Becoming comfortable. Sharing your feelings and experiences is draining for just about anyone."
"Right." Aisha let her hands fall into her lap, suddenly thoughtful. "I think uh. So I know Joe set this up, so there's a bit of crossover here. I can guess he barely mentions anything specific, right?"
Dr. Campbell blinked at that, before glancing at the little gadget on his desk. Aisha clocked it the second she walked into the room, noting it as Aperion's work. Fortunately for the the doctor, folks not in the know probably wouldn't notice. Or couldn't.
"In some ways yes, he is very circumspect." Dr. Campbell temporized. "If you have concerns about what I'd relay back to him-"
"No! No nothing like that." Aisha raised her hands, making a helpless sort of shrug with her palms out. "I was going to say that Joe told me straight up that I could tell you anything I wanted. About him, the whole deal. Secret identities, trigger events, the whole thing."
"Ah." His brow furrowed at that. "I admit I did not get that impression from him, when he asked if I would meet with one of his friends."
The way Dr. Campbell said 'friends' set a warmth in Aisha that she had trouble placing, and it brought a smile to her face that he absolutely noticed. "I'm a bit more inner circle than that. I wanted to get a couple of things out of the way."
"Of course."
Aisha raised her hand again, this time showing off the simple band of gleaming metal that contained a stunningly compact and powerful computer, fabrication device and defensive shield. And more importantly- "Survey."
Dr. Campbell was about to ask when the watch beeped. "Yes, Aisha? Greetings, Dr. Campbell."
"... what."
"Watch is a communicator, and Survey listens in- I've given up on convincing her not to, but she won't interrupt unless its important."
"I have strict guidelines on private and privledged information that I will not divulge-"
"blah-blah Survey's gotta survey-" Aisha shot back with a grin. "We love you too-"
There was a muted sigh from the other end of the line, and Aisha could just imagine the look of exasperation on the other woman's head. "I will leave you to your session. I will be here if you wish to talk, Aisha."
There was a largely unnecessary beep signaling the end of the call, and Dr. Campbell smoothed out his tie, eyes wide. "That was... I suppose I should have remembered that Aperion debuted with his team recently, but that you can communicate with them directly..."
Aisha's grin grew just a bit wider, and she was savoring the moment to help before they got to the hard stuff. "Sure, Joe of course, Survey, Fleet, Proto Aima, Kataklyzien, The Matrix..."
Dr. Campbell nodded along, until he seemed to recognize something. Before he could voice the realization, Aisha struck. "And I'm Lethe- pleasure to meet you."
=== tbc ? ===
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Laborn."
If there was anything that was going to shock her out of the surreal situation, having someone call her that would do it. "Oh god no! Please, just Aisha."
"Of course. Aisha, then."
The man sitting across from her didn't look particularly noteworthy. But it wasn't like therapists had to look like they stepped off a film set. He set aside a thin folder on the table next to his chair, and she saw the small notepad and pencil waiting. He didn't go for it just yet.
"So..."
"Wondering where to start?"
"Yeah. I mean...." Aisha shrugged, suddenly feeling a lot like the thirteen year old she was in a chair that was just a touch too big for her. "Sorry. I wasn't sure what to expect from this."
Dr. Campbell smiled. "The expectation here, is that there are no expectations. Some people do respond better to goals and structure, but I find it best to let my patients set their own pace. There's no magical finish line that says 'you're better!' when you cross it."
"Therapy is forever, huh."
"I wouldn't say that, but trauma, or even ordinary stress, can persist for a long time if not properly addressed." Now he did search for the notepad and pencil, but didn't flip it open. "The first step, really is just getting to know each other. Becoming comfortable. Sharing your feelings and experiences is draining for just about anyone."
"Right." Aisha let her hands fall into her lap, suddenly thoughtful. "I think uh. So I know Joe set this up, so there's a bit of crossover here. I can guess he barely mentions anything specific, right?"
Dr. Campbell blinked at that, before glancing at the little gadget on his desk. Aisha clocked it the second she walked into the room, noting it as Aperion's work. Fortunately for the the doctor, folks not in the know probably wouldn't notice. Or couldn't.
"In some ways yes, he is very circumspect." Dr. Campbell temporized. "If you have concerns about what I'd relay back to him-"
"No! No nothing like that." Aisha raised her hands, making a helpless sort of shrug with her palms out. "I was going to say that Joe told me straight up that I could tell you anything I wanted. About him, the whole deal. Secret identities, trigger events, the whole thing."
"Ah." His brow furrowed at that. "I admit I did not get that impression from him, when he asked if I would meet with one of his friends."
The way Dr. Campbell said 'friends' set a warmth in Aisha that she had trouble placing, and it brought a smile to her face that he absolutely noticed. "I'm a bit more inner circle than that. I wanted to get a couple of things out of the way."
"Of course."
Aisha raised her hand again, this time showing off the simple band of gleaming metal that contained a stunningly compact and powerful computer, fabrication device and defensive shield. And more importantly- "Survey."
Dr. Campbell was about to ask when the watch beeped. "Yes, Aisha? Greetings, Dr. Campbell."
"... what."
"Watch is a communicator, and Survey listens in- I've given up on convincing her not to, but she won't interrupt unless its important."
"I have strict guidelines on private and privledged information that I will not divulge-"
"blah-blah Survey's gotta survey-" Aisha shot back with a grin. "We love you too-"
There was a muted sigh from the other end of the line, and Aisha could just imagine the look of exasperation on the other woman's head. "I will leave you to your session. I will be here if you wish to talk, Aisha."
There was a largely unnecessary beep signaling the end of the call, and Dr. Campbell smoothed out his tie, eyes wide. "That was... I suppose I should have remembered that Aperion debuted with his team recently, but that you can communicate with them directly..."
Aisha's grin grew just a bit wider, and she was savoring the moment to help before they got to the hard stuff. "Sure, Joe of course, Survey, Fleet, Proto Aima, Kataklyzien, The Matrix..."
Dr. Campbell nodded along, until he seemed to recognize something. Before he could voice the realization, Aisha struck. "And I'm Lethe- pleasure to meet you."
=== tbc ? ===
It might but what effect would a electrical current or differential have on a arrow in the first place? Like you might be able to use some magnetic fields to position a phased object that Sophia's phased and released, which I bet would have some seriously good manufacturing and surgical utility, but electricity doesn't effect inanimate objects all that much.
Y'know phrasing it this way make it seem like Garment is what a mundane's idea of what a is Cape. Glamourous, mysterious, bigger than life, and with fantastical powers.
While Parian is just that girl you see that works in a 9 to 5 job that is really good with puppets. Interesting to be sure but not what you had in mind when powers are involved.
Crake
I AM THE STORM THAT IS APPROACHING
- Location
- USA
The 'conflict' between Parian and Garment (when you only have Parian's perspective on the matter) only goes to show a bit about human nature, but also generally why Parahumans are considered fundamentally 'off' in ways that the glamor capes are thought to have in their lifestyles is one big joke.
Like we know Garment isn't even really a Parahuman or even suffering in the way a Case 53 is. But Parian thinks she's some diabolical mastermind who's trying to take over her life, and the public think she's a super generous sweetheart / PR genius, when we know there's no resource constraints and she has Perk Fiat, both thanks to Joe, making sure she can act like that to begin with, and her sole focus is merely Fashion in the most purist sense, not really caring about the individual's background nor upbringing so long as they're dressing the part and not doing it badly.
But to non-Parahumans what does Parian's freakout over Garment even look like if she tried to explain it (or to Thinkers who instinctually can't help but assess how her one-sided rivalry with Garment might be exploited, even if that's not their first intention) to them?
Garment, could be, to the knowledge of the average person, even mitigating 'being a Case 53 sucks' due to PR effort by the Protectorate, the following:
1: Barely a participant of Earth Bet society and decides to immediately become an independent hero with a softer and lighter touch than Shadow Stalker of vigilante fame, and does it both beautifully, elegantly and without causing a single injury of anyone, even the criminals, nice and sanitized for the cameras (which is the entire reason the PRT has a hard on for her in the first place), that on top of being hilariously more effective at crime fighting in one night than the entire local Protectorate combined, bar maybe the Wards who are actually the people who haven't been consistently failing Piggot, despite Aegislash and Bank fight losses.
2: Decides to become a philanthropist and community leader IMMEDIATELY after a city-wide disaster and S-Class (post-dated) event. It's one thing when you put on a local event like you're trying to run for office or just trying to generate buzz for your brand or some shit, but that's also forgiven in a massive way when you're considered effective and pull
in the BIG NUMBERS for causes just in name recognition alone. Which she did by arranging a charity event in New York before the local event was even a whisper in the wind.
3: Does have some public knowledge about her 'condition' out in the open from earliest days and moderators stepping up to defend her thanks to a combination of other factors, but if it counts it counts. People would find it hard to believe someone who can purely communicate using abbreviated body language and singular word text responses could effectively manipulate anyone else. A Thinker might admit/ point out she's great at managing her own image, but it could very well be just an unconscious side benefit of her powers and the Thinker angle is mostly an assumption made in envy on how well her appearances turn out.
To be honest Bruce Wayne behaves in an exaggerated fashion that you can't take seriously. Yet he still needs to have his own kind of credibility to layer supplement Batman's efforts to improve Gotham and the world at large meaningfully. And it largely doesn't involve helping Batman punch better.
People love the playboy billionaire because he's got a benign image at odds with a violent vigilante who early on relies on fear and intimidation as much as investigative skills to take on crime, who's a natural hand at spearheading charities / supporting other people's efforts, and with two dead parents to ice the cake.
Well. Garment is a mutant cape. A minority within a minority. Has the same kind of public perception of her circumstances that Parian says she has for herself growing up in Nazi Central and one of the only ones who doesn't want to fight for a living as a Cape.
And she doesn't like Garment? Can't get any sympathy from anyone for it, either, because it's not like she makes any salient argument that she's being persecuted by Garment's behavior that doesn't sound really selfish from a casual listener's (us, the readers) perspective.
Like we know Garment isn't even really a Parahuman or even suffering in the way a Case 53 is. But Parian thinks she's some diabolical mastermind who's trying to take over her life, and the public think she's a super generous sweetheart / PR genius, when we know there's no resource constraints and she has Perk Fiat, both thanks to Joe, making sure she can act like that to begin with, and her sole focus is merely Fashion in the most purist sense, not really caring about the individual's background nor upbringing so long as they're dressing the part and not doing it badly.
But to non-Parahumans what does Parian's freakout over Garment even look like if she tried to explain it (or to Thinkers who instinctually can't help but assess how her one-sided rivalry with Garment might be exploited, even if that's not their first intention) to them?
Garment, could be, to the knowledge of the average person, even mitigating 'being a Case 53 sucks' due to PR effort by the Protectorate, the following:
1: Barely a participant of Earth Bet society and decides to immediately become an independent hero with a softer and lighter touch than Shadow Stalker of vigilante fame, and does it both beautifully, elegantly and without causing a single injury of anyone, even the criminals, nice and sanitized for the cameras (which is the entire reason the PRT has a hard on for her in the first place), that on top of being hilariously more effective at crime fighting in one night than the entire local Protectorate combined, bar maybe the Wards who are actually the people who haven't been consistently failing Piggot, despite Aegislash and Bank fight losses.
2: Decides to become a philanthropist and community leader IMMEDIATELY after a city-wide disaster and S-Class (post-dated) event. It's one thing when you put on a local event like you're trying to run for office or just trying to generate buzz for your brand or some shit, but that's also forgiven in a massive way when you're considered effective and pull
in the BIG NUMBERS for causes just in name recognition alone. Which she did by arranging a charity event in New York before the local event was even a whisper in the wind.
3: Does have some public knowledge about her 'condition' out in the open from earliest days and moderators stepping up to defend her thanks to a combination of other factors, but if it counts it counts. People would find it hard to believe someone who can purely communicate using abbreviated body language and singular word text responses could effectively manipulate anyone else. A Thinker might admit/ point out she's great at managing her own image, but it could very well be just an unconscious side benefit of her powers and the Thinker angle is mostly an assumption made in envy on how well her appearances turn out.
To be honest Bruce Wayne behaves in an exaggerated fashion that you can't take seriously. Yet he still needs to have his own kind of credibility to layer supplement Batman's efforts to improve Gotham and the world at large meaningfully. And it largely doesn't involve helping Batman punch better.
People love the playboy billionaire because he's got a benign image at odds with a violent vigilante who early on relies on fear and intimidation as much as investigative skills to take on crime, who's a natural hand at spearheading charities / supporting other people's efforts, and with two dead parents to ice the cake.
Well. Garment is a mutant cape. A minority within a minority. Has the same kind of public perception of her circumstances that Parian says she has for herself growing up in Nazi Central and one of the only ones who doesn't want to fight for a living as a Cape.
And she doesn't like Garment? Can't get any sympathy from anyone for it, either, because it's not like she makes any salient argument that she's being persecuted by Garment's behavior that doesn't sound really selfish from a casual listener's (us, the readers) perspective.
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Could you give me a quote for the line(s) that shows that? I don't recall reading anything like that, but I might have just failed to notice an implication or two, so that's why I'm asking.
- Location
- Isekai'd to this shitty world we're live in
That was nice to read, so yes, please continue.
Also, about Dr.Campbell's looks, I think it's confirmed, that he's based on Sean Maguire character from Good Will Hunting, so no tie, and he does look like a stereotypical therapist. The stereotype created by Robin Williams in said movie.
- Location
- Gladstone, OR
That makes sense- the main reason I included a tie was that Joe made him a tie clip. Not that you need a tie to wear said clip, but it seemed appropriate.
Holy shit, I left this story for a LITERAL YEAR and it's just past Somers Rock.
Crake
I AM THE STORM THAT IS APPROACHING
- Location
- USA
Main issue, apart from the writing conventions the story is based around, is that the lead up to not just Somer's Rock and the arc immediately after it are based around competing interests coming to Brockton Bay, multiple factions, each with nuanced goals, taking actions, responding to actions, and the disruptive ripple effects of the protagonist and the ensemble cast, which also needs more responses and the coverage / counter / parallel responses.
I think that to some degree this would be a legitimately cool build up to an explosive finish, but I doubt it'll play out like that, or not how it does in a conventional story where every character's level of individual agency is relatively static instead of increasing exponentially.
It means we spend a lot of time observing the stuff going on, careful plans, people making mistakes, trying to fix mistakes, take advantage of them, or trying to deescalate. But all of it is largely invalidated because the main character is going to take one big action that overturns the board and largely invalidates a lot of that legwork. Then you get to watch everyone scratch their heads over it and it's the same as the Ungodly Hour, magnified since the main character never stopped escalating.
Now, this might actually be satisfying in the sense that the involved characters collectively stop trying to fit Joe into a conventional box, and start treating that escalation as more than an emerging pattern, but a real change to the status quo.
But I do worry about that fitting the standard pattern of Worm, where thing keep needlessly escalating and the reader never has enough time to reflect on characters and their shifting motivations.
The bright spot there is that Taylor in canon couldn't really pick and choose her fights. She realized she could either have the initiative and strike first, or be caught off guard and always fight against opponents who were punching down while she is stuck punching up. And that fits the pattern of no opportunities to have elaborate, non-improvised plans.
But Joe and his entire power base is unassailable and undetectable to all but maybe a handful of characters in the setting, so we can at least expect a lot of handwringing first.
Well. That's debatable if it's a plus to the story in some ways, but fine if you mostly just wanna see Joe Tinker and upgrade then go 'haha, Thinkers plans being three days too old go brrrr'.
I think that to some degree this would be a legitimately cool build up to an explosive finish, but I doubt it'll play out like that, or not how it does in a conventional story where every character's level of individual agency is relatively static instead of increasing exponentially.
It means we spend a lot of time observing the stuff going on, careful plans, people making mistakes, trying to fix mistakes, take advantage of them, or trying to deescalate. But all of it is largely invalidated because the main character is going to take one big action that overturns the board and largely invalidates a lot of that legwork. Then you get to watch everyone scratch their heads over it and it's the same as the Ungodly Hour, magnified since the main character never stopped escalating.
Now, this might actually be satisfying in the sense that the involved characters collectively stop trying to fit Joe into a conventional box, and start treating that escalation as more than an emerging pattern, but a real change to the status quo.
But I do worry about that fitting the standard pattern of Worm, where thing keep needlessly escalating and the reader never has enough time to reflect on characters and their shifting motivations.
The bright spot there is that Taylor in canon couldn't really pick and choose her fights. She realized she could either have the initiative and strike first, or be caught off guard and always fight against opponents who were punching down while she is stuck punching up. And that fits the pattern of no opportunities to have elaborate, non-improvised plans.
But Joe and his entire power base is unassailable and undetectable to all but maybe a handful of characters in the setting, so we can at least expect a lot of handwringing first.
Well. That's debatable if it's a plus to the story in some ways, but fine if you mostly just wanna see Joe Tinker and upgrade then go 'haha, Thinkers plans being three days too old go brrrr'.
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What I am truly looking forward to, is the Apeiron Mecha vs Endbringer Leviathan fight.
People are gonna shit themselves.
People are gonna shit themselves.
You know the Celestial Forge should be an acapella group. It'd be like Pentatonix, only an S-Class threat.
- Location
- USA
The phrase "Standby for Titanfall" will be featuring in many nightmares.
Honestly though, it would just be for style points by the time that comes around. It's already likely a matter of just pointing Tybalt in Leviathan's general direction, forget what the Forge will look like by then... The hard part would be making sure the 'fight' doesn't break the city/planet.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I've run out of ability to read the thread before getting through all of it, but if no one answered your question the duplicates have been utilizing the workshop computer and brain implant to submit all of their work in the form of write ups for a long time. The newest change in them is related to the key crest thing, which is saving memories and personality of each successive set of duplicates. I'm guessing this is LordR's answer to their function in the source material, where they eat bits of the enemies you kill in order to grow stronger. So basically each set of duplicates is more and more a continuous other person. At some point the duplicates won't just be duplicates, they'll be more like a twin brother.
- Location
- Philippines
Can I continue this? Please, please, pleaseeee?
- Location
- Gladstone, OR
I had some ideas of where to go from here. The only concern I'd have is if we both worked on it, and people had trouble figuring who did what.
Either way go ahead! I don't mind!
- Location
- Philippines
Hm, just in case, I intend on writing a retrospective on Doctor Campbell's perspective on the hypothetical future where he's been helping Aisha deal with being the "normal" one in the Celestial Forge.
- Location
- Gladstone, OR
The next bit I was planning was Campbell getting a read on Aisha's character, of which her bold declaration gives him all the data points he needs.
Essentially
Aisha: "Well?"
Campbell: "It is suprising, but not too surprising. You crave attention, after all."