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Brockton's Celestial Forge (Worm/Jumpchain)

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travellersside said:
Nah, this didn't look like a second trigger event. This was a threat that the Elite would move in and employ Joe. It's tense and hits her traumas, and I can see panic attacks, but it's not trigger-worthy. Yet. Once they do move in, and if Joe takes a position, things would be so much worse, and now we're looking at a good chance of it.

Sabah's trigger involved a long build up over time. This was something she heard about just now. There's been no long drawn-out period of mounting dread, where she sees the inevitability of becoming trapped and nothing she does seems to be able to get her out, and she feels more and more helpless. No, but she can see the start of it. She feels insignificant next to Garment, and her attempts to frame Joe backfired badly. She's lost out as a result of trying to avert the problem. It's another step on the way.
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It was definetly close to a second trigger, the evidence being how her power was reacting at the end, actually becoming stronger.

But it wouldnt have been one since stuff was missing, but it was the closest second trigger to ever happen in this fic... Maybe... If you dont count Vicky and Triumph.

The situation itself did slowly build up around her, the second trigger doesnt have to be an exact replica of the first one, it just has to remind her VERY strongly about it, which it did, but was missing that final push, which could have even happened had Survey not intervened. What the loss could have been? That i dont know.
 
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WillRobinson said:
I'm actually not so sure that this situation wasn't engineered wholly or in part by Joe's luck powers. The way he came up and how the conversation played out didn't feel quite natural to me, especially the way so many people were there to specifically refute her claims. The most convenient path for Joe would actually be to have her initial accusation go unchallenged, be blackballed by a company he wasn't planning to apply to, and forgotten by everyone else.

Instead the conversation played out in a way that drove her trigger trauma to the forefront, and might have escalated things to the point where Survey has to tell Joe her identity so he can deal with the issue proactively.

iirc there was an element of this with Emma's attack on Taylor as well. Overall I'm of the opinion that Joe's luck power sees problems it can resolve in his favor as opportunities...and is perfectly willing to make opportunities.
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I'm not familiar with Binbougami-ga! But it IS an anime luck power...
 
Lopezelpesado said:
It was definetly close to a second trigger, the evidence being how her power was reacting at the end, actually becoming stronger.
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Powers becoming stronger when the host is in a similar mindset/situation to when they triggered is normal. It doesn't happen to everyone, but it's so common that it's no suprise at all. Second triggers are very, very rare. Which means that brief exposure to a similar situation is not going to be enough, or everyone would be doing it. It needs to be really bad. There's a visible potential ahead, but this, this was just hitting a trauma button.
 
I think that one thing some people didn't connect when it came to Parian's reading of the situation with Joe being in the event was that Joe had previous history of showing up at places specifically to meet her.

It changes things so that it's easy for her to read her randomly running into him instead being purposeful action from him. She after all has no idea what Joe's life had been after she left the college and clearly expected he'd just continued his life like he'd previously been.

From outside perspective it's clear that that's not happening, but from her point of view it probably hits uncomfortably close to his behavior before her trigger event.
 
Thanks for the chapter and happy New year everyone.

May SJ-chan have a wonderful rest and my condolences to her friends and family.

Sabah/Parian is a traumatized b*tech who can't accept her own mistakes.
 
The Shallow said:
Iirc her phrasing was closer to "doing him good", as in "its good that they shut him down because I can't handle this asshole god can he just fuck off already???"
She never cared about Joe, so really that outlook makes sense if you don't give it critical thought for like 5 seconds, which she obviously wouldn't.
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Yeah that definitely came across as "I prefer this, therefore it's good", with zero further analysis.
To be fair, I assume that analyzing the problems of people you dislike isn't something most people bother to do.

Looks like the paranoia and narcissism feed into a downward spiral of self-fulfilling prophecies, so that'll probably keep getting worse until she gets some kind of therapy from somewhere, if ever.
 
Kenshkrix said:
Yeah that definitely came across as "I prefer this, therefore it's good", with zero further analysis.
To be fair, I assume that analyzing the problems of people you dislike isn't something most people bother to do.

Looks like the paranoia and narcissism feed into a downward spiral of self-fulfilling prophecies, so that'll probably keep getting worse until she gets some kind of therapy from somewhere, if ever.
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It'll be a cruel trick of the universe if Sabah actually went to Therapy and her therapist is the same one as Joe's.

On one hand, he will definitely help her pretty well as he did with Joe but there's that percentage of bumping into Joe that might cause her to further spiral.
 
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Oh yeah, Gully came off very professional in that exchange. Not just friendly towards Joe but alert and aware for a parahuman abusing their position and noting that they were in a manner best used to educate and ensure that the person would not proceed to continue doing so instead of to slander and accuse them.

And I doubt they did it with Apeiron in mind, which the Celestial Forge would notice.

I'm seeing a recommendation for a fast tracking of diagnosis on her condition to Joe for her by the team in her future.
 
Tackyseven said:
she's LUCKY she doesn't know the truth
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Those kinds of comments remind me that Joe ticks enough boxes in "Eldritch Horror" archetype that he ought to have himself a page in Kitab al-Azif.


Anyway, I wanted to give a bit of attention to what Uppercrust just did in this chapter. As we've seen, he all but announced the intentions of his branch Elite to set up in BB, plus with bringing up "alternative lifestyle" entertainment first he underlined that at least some local organized crime will not even try to stop his expansion, effectively swashing any theory of even a possibility that Elite will meet resistance or start another gang war. All that he announced to a room full of well-connected people, including a PRT PR subordinate, by which he de facto announced Elite's intention to the whole BB's suite of officials, allowing them to prepare and accept the inevitability of some powerful force sweeping in and taking over considerable chunk of Brocton's economical and societal influence.

What Uppercrust didn't announce is that he sold his soul and the souls of his subordinates to Apeiron, making them all subordinates of Celestial Forge. So while officials prepare to give up some power to Elite (Uppercrust's branch is fairly good neighbours comparatively to someone like Empire and ABB, so the only one who will try to resist would be someone like Piggot), in actuality they will be giving power to Celestial Forge (the group wildly regarded as unstable and garnering too much power already, so giving more power to them would cause more unrest then if it was someone well known like Uppercrust's Elite). So old man prepares the city for take over by CF, while using his reputation and maintaining "All as usual" attitude about it to minimize the resistance to the event that would normally rise waves of panic. Damn, he is good.

And all of that in an interlude from PoV of a girl that hardly hears past the point the topic stops touching her. Thous kinds of events wasted on you, Sabah. Wasted! Can't believe that I want Lisa to be a PoV for this interlude, at least she could provide some insight. She might be wrong sometimes, but at least it's entertaining when Lisa wrong, when Parian wrong it's just... pathetic.
 
Condolences.

Damn~ Tetra being the first one Parian sees after a near breakdown, then with the attraction to tetra implied(?) in previous chaps, I'm really nervous if Parian gets shipped with Tetra. Cause hell no. Might be funny, since Parian will be in a similar situation as Josef before dropping out. Miscommunication and assumptions, but Parian being with anybody from the forge, implied or otherwise, will be enough to make me drop the fic. Keep Tetra pure and wholesome.
 
LordRoustabout said:
In late November SJ-Chan, the author of the Personal Reality Supplement, passed away.
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Yeah, SJ-Chan was great, and she will be missed. I lit a candle for her on New Year's.

LordRoustabout said:
No matter what Jozef had thought about his family, they were clearly good for him. He had easier to deal with whenever he spent time at home. In the wake of holidays or long weekends he would be more reserved and less talkative, but that would always fade and she'd have to deal with him again.
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At this point the lack of understanding is enough that I'm almost surprised that they knew each other's names correctly.

LordRoustabout said:
Sabah felt her breathing grow shallow again. Everyone, the entire room, and possibly everyone connected to them, was against her on this. Her desperate gamble had not only failed, it had left her in a worse situation. Everyone against her, heading for isolation, and once again, Jozef.
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Damn, that sucks.

LordRoustabout said:
Parian pressed into Delphine's side and watched a report on the Celestial Forge's actions against the Empire. She still had problems, lots of them, but maybe things weren't quite as hopeless as they had seemed. They were bad, but she had come back from one disaster in her life already. She could do that again.
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Some optimism though. Good for her.
 
Manoy said:
Condolences.

Damn~ Tetra being the first one Parian sees after a near breakdown, then with the attraction to tetra implied(?) in previous chaps, I'm really nervous if Parian gets shipped with Tetra. Cause hell no. Might be funny, since Parian will be in a similar situation as Josef before dropping out. Miscommunication and assumptions, but Parian being with anybody from the forge, implied or otherwise, will be enough to make me drop the fic. Keep Tetra pure and wholesome.
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Nah, Parian's doting on the delightful Delphine. You're right about the situations being eerily similar though. Especially since Survey delegated a semi-autonomous drone to talk to her because she was being too overbearing.
 
Manoy said:
Condolences.

Damn~ Tetra being the first one Parian sees after a near breakdown, then with the attraction to tetra implied(?) in previous chaps, I'm really nervous if Parian gets shipped with Tetra. Cause hell no. Might be funny, since Parian will be in a similar situation as Josef before dropping out. Miscommunication and assumptions, but Parian being with anybody from the forge, implied or otherwise, will be enough to make me drop the fic. Keep Tetra pure and wholesome.
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I thought Parian had a thing for Delphine (Survey's civilian ID) not Tetra.

On another order of things, this chapter made me go from feeling mostly sorry for Parian to full on schadenfreude as her attempts to throw Joe under the bus were rebuffed again and again.
 
Manoy said:
Oh?.......... Yayyy~

must have focused too much on Tetra. The possibility of ParianxTetra really disturbed me, not gonna lie.
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Not your fault, person of unknown gender. In Canon, Parian is a pedophile of no remorse, and is only justified if don't consider parahumans people. Fletchette was 17, Parian was 21. moral rules are a thing that transcend law, and you don't go for almost legal after you turn over 20, without looking like a major creep.

Edit because I forgot relevancy for a second: Tetra is a literal baby compared to Parian, so is Survey. It is still creepy.
 
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BazDog25 said:
Not your fault, person of unknown gender. In Canon, Parian is a pedophile of no remorse, and is only justified if don't consider parahumans people. Fletchette was 17, Parian was 21. moral rules are a thing that transcend law, and you don't go for almost legal after you turn over 20, without looking like a major creep.
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So they got together before Flechette became 18?
 
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