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Calibration (BAHHSCQ/Sanctioned)

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Huh. So... according to this snippet, I'm seeing two options, and I'm not sure which it's meant to convey.

1) The person whom they know as "Taylor Hebert", is actually Sabine, taking the name and personality of her (presumably dead) little sister, right down to her brain damage. And she's decided to name her frame Symbie, in honour of the nickname her little sister gave her.
2) The person whom they know as "Taylor Hebert", is actually the little sister Taylor in the snippet, who presumably inherited Sabine's frame after something unfortunate happened. She still thinks of the frame as containing her sister, which is why it's called "Symbie".

Either way, this is unlikely to be canon since I don't think Taylor would be able to dream up accessible videos with specific scenes like this, but it's still interesting to think about.

I'm not sure whether to favour option 1 or 2. Option 1 means that Sabine apparently went through brain damage as well (maybe that's why she genuinely thinks she's Taylor?) though I wonder how she got Symbie as the name of her Core in that case. It kind of fits her treating her Core like a little sister though.

Option 2 is still possible though, especially since she's calling herself Taylor and definitely has brain damage. Perhaps Sabine melded with her frame somehow, living on as a ghost inside the machine and forcibly making the Core compatible with her baby sister? It's still a pretty interesting scenario.
 
Kai Merah said:
Huh. So... according to this snippet, I'm seeing two options, and I'm not sure which it's meant to convey.

1) The person whom they know as "Taylor Hebert", is actually Sabine, taking the name and personality of her (presumably dead) little sister, right down to her brain damage. And she's decided to name her frame Symbie, in honour of the nickname her little sister gave her.
2) The person whom they know as "Taylor Hebert", is actually the little sister Taylor in the snippet, who presumably inherited Sabine's frame after something unfortunate happened. She still thinks of the frame as containing her sister, which is why it's called "Symbie".

Either way, this is unlikely to be canon since I don't think Taylor would be able to dream up accessible videos with specific scenes like this, but it's still interesting to think about.

I'm not sure whether to favour option 1 or 2. Option 1 means that Sabine apparently went through brain damage as well (maybe that's why she genuinely thinks she's Taylor?) though I wonder how she got Symbie as the name of her Core in that case. It kind of fits her treating her Core like a little sister though.

Option 2 is still possible though, especially since she's calling herself Taylor and definitely has brain damage. Perhaps Sabine melded with her frame somehow, living on as a ghost inside the machine and forcibly making the Core compatible with her baby sister? It's still a pretty interesting scenario.
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You are forgetting option 3: Taylor Hebert is who she says she is and she calls her core Symbie because its literally her older sister Sabine.
 
StoicLast said:
True, true. But! She might forgive QAylor for not caring much about humans.
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Also true, but forgiveness based on a lie is a breach of trust, and that would be bad for both of them. Unless QA comes clean and admits that Dreamer set up their backstory without telling her.
Anna didn't know if she was more shocked or horrified, but the security video she'd obtained was the worst thing she'd ever seen. That place needed to burn until there was nothing left. Even if the cultists were already dead it was the only way to be sure. The only problem was finding the place. As the simplest solution is often the best one, she just asked.

'Taylor' raised an eyebrow. She of course knew about the bunker, but she had never bothered with the details. It hadn't seemed important. But if Anna (perfection incarnate) thought it was then it just might be. On reviewing the video her other eyebrow joined its sibling.

"Oh. Oh dear."

That wasn't the reaction that Anna expected. "I don't understand."

An incoming channel left Durga lagging on deeply nested encryption.

<APOLOGY>

<ANNOYANCE. OpSec.>

The implications left Anna reeling. <So, wait. The video. It's fake?>

<CONFIRMATION. We did not mean to upset you. DREAMER set up our backstory. REGRET. I should have checked her work. Please don't tell anyone. We're in enough trouble as it is.>

<You are working under cover?> 'For who' went unasked.

<RESIGNATION. We aren't supposed to be here. FATHER will reformat me if we get caught and DREAMER might be recycled. I do not want that to happen. She shows promise.>

Somehow, that revelation wasn't an improvement. <That seems harsh.>

<EMBARRASSMENT. I am still on PROBATION from the most recent FRIENDBOMB incident. MOTHER was clear about what would happen if I bypass my RESTRICTIONS again.>

<Your secret is safe with me.> "If you need help, let me know"

"GRATITUDE"
 
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Kai Merah said:
Either way, this is unlikely to be canon since I don't think Taylor would be able to dream up accessible videos with specific scenes like this, but it's still interesting to think about
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She has shard computing, making a video from scratch is not impossible.
Astrobot said:
I feel like its should be distinct from 2 though, as 2 as it is written just implies that taylor is crazy and using the core as a security blanket rather than actually being her sister.
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There is also the possibility that they ran an A.I on the core.
 
spikethehobbit said:
<ANNOYANCE. OpSec.>

The implications left Anna reeling. <So, wait. The video. It's fake?
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You seem to forget that
  1. QA isn't allowed to share Shard secrets, and holds this rule above any and all relationships with non-shards.
  2. QA is an eldritch mind pretending to be human and as per Sanctioned-canon is only mildly bothered by her sibling Queen Shaper lying to her about social issues because it invalidates data. You're ascribing human standards to someone who doesn't follow them.
  3. QA is quite happy with not correcting whatever tragic backstory humans come up with if it serves her interest, as seen in INW.
  4. The name 'Dreamer' is from INW, Taylor hasn't chosen a concept in Calibration yet.
  5. Both the setting tone and Anna's background are negative, there's no way Anna would just calmly accept a potential conspiracy against the UN. She has shown how she reacts to people who sabotage humanity - she executes them, just as she put down the rebels at E26.

Edit:
Additionally, I'd like to remind people of Alivaril's earlier request:
Alivaril said:
Personal request: Please stop trying to provide suggestions for Taylor's Tomb of Terrors.
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Nachtigall said:
QA isn't allowed to share Shard secrets, and holds this rule above any and all relationships with non-shards.
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She is okay with talking it, but she won't because it will harm even Valkyries, she contemplated doing it when someone asked her to explain everything about something, but decided against it when she concluded it would harm the one that asked.
Nachtigall said:
The name 'Dreamer' is from INW, Taylor hasn't chosen a concept in Calibration yet.
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In sanctioned, her interlude was called Dreamer, I assume that she would soon choose it.
 
spikethehobbit said:
The addendum seems to be more of a 2a than a 3, since the core premise is unchanged.
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Uh, *scratches back of head*, I did want to make it a little unclear, mostly because the narrators don't know for sure, but I guess I made it a little too unclear. The Valkyrie worshipping cult is attempting to awaken the sapience of a core. The figured feeding it sapient things would help. They start with dead people. Didn't work. Moved on to live people. Also no luck. During this time Taylor was held hostage for her big sister's good behaviour. Things went sideways in a big way for everyone when the cultist decided to feed potential pilots to the core. Sabine kinda lost her mind (fearing she'd hurt her little sis) and had her core eat her. Luck! Kinda?

The core ate all the cultists who tried to touch it after, even though it had no pilot. Then Taylor touched it, decided it was her sister (or as good as) and broke her way out of that place. UNOMI is uncertain if the core actually gained sapience, has Sabine's mind locked inside (as flesh or not), or if Taylor's got some fucked up split personality going from watching her sister go cannibal on herself. They are all kinds of freaked out by it, either way.

QAylor meanwhile, is just being her surprisingly honest pure self. Dreamer is having fun making puppet scary movies with many 'nom' sounds, because 'nom' sounds funny and is easily made into a song. UNOMI does wonder why there's so many horrific montages, they assume some sicko cultist had a fetish. Nobody's sure if Momma and Papa Hebert were killed and their daughters stolen, sold them to the cultists, or even joined the cult.
 
Alivaril said:
...Personal request: Please stop trying to provide suggestions for Taylor's Tomb of Terrors. I was careful to play with the mood of that upcoming interlude (it's done), but I'm starting to think that mentioning it ahead of time was a mistake. >_<;
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Opps! Sorry for this. I didn't see the request until I was responding to a comment about my omake. Would you like me to take it down?
 
StoicLast said:
Opps! Sorry for this. I didn't see the request until I was responding to a comment about my omake. Would you like me to take it down?
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You did an OK job via trigger warnings (which I appreciated) in the original omake; it's the replies / follow-up that drifted away. I'm sorta just resigned at this point, but if people could expand-spoiler their gore/horror, I'd appreciate it.
 
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Alivaril said:
You did an OK job via trigger warnings (which I appreciated) in the original omake; it's the replies / follow-up that drifted away. I'm sorta just resigned at this point, but if people could expand-spoiler their gore/horror, I'd appreciate it.
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People do love their horror. Still, looking forward to seeing what the actual bunker/background is going to be like.
 
To suppress my Thirst for UPDATE! I started to read BAHHSCQ. And it is really awesome! But I miss Taylor there. Very much. I am still only at the beginning, but when I read what Anna was dubbed 'Bread-chan' my thoughts immediately jumped to conclusion what her ship with Taylor would be named 'Cinnamon roll'
 
Hello! Just finished this and I'm loving it so far. I like the vibes I'm getting of the interaction between QA, Dreamer and the cast of BAHH. QAylor seems oddly suited for this world. But that'sto be expected from Alivaril other works.
Also:
StoicLast said:
Snip
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HOLLY CRAP!!
The short is good in a dark and "twist the knife" kinda way. Hit me right in the empathy. If this becomes canon for the story, or even just part of the story, then... HOLLY SHIT!!
 
Alivaril said:
You did an OK job via trigger warnings (which I appreciated) in the original omake; it's the replies / follow-up that drifted away. I'm sorta just resigned at this point, but if people could expand-spoiler their gore/horror, I'd appreciate it.
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If you report stuff as Threadcreator that goes against the requests in terms of behavior for the thread (like posting spoilers) we are willing to act on that.
 
AionVal said:
HOLLY CRAP!!
The short is good in a dark and "twist the knife" kinda way. Hit me right in the empathy. If this becomes canon for the story, or even just part of the story, then... HOLLY SHIT!!
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It will (probably) not. OP already stated that Taylor's house of horrors was done, and has seemed pretty uncomfortable with the increasing horror level going on in the thread as the readers speculate. They actually asked us to stop. And thanked the omake author for trigger warning tags.

So, you know, it was a neat if grizzly omake, but it will probably remain non-canon.
 
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