Drip [Worm AU | Alt-Power]

[Franklymydear]

I don't see HOW she could have targetted Eidelon using her Thinker power when CONTESSA couldn't.

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As far as I can see, it's kind of along the same lines as Dinah's power. She knows the world is going to end in two years, knows who's going to do it, but she can't see exactly why or how because of the restrictions.

Taylor isn't figuring anything out directly, she's just running with a blanket "Give me X from person who meets these criteria.", where the only solution is to affect Eidolon. There's no 'target'.

What's actually strange about it is that his power didn't throw something out to compensate for whatever Taylor was doing. His ability to defend himself is pretty damn insane, to the point she'd have to totally kill him within seconds so his power didn't automatically give him something that regenerated whatever Taylor was taking, or turn him into some sort of non-liquid form, or make him immune to remote manipulation or something.

 

[dhasenan]

What's actually strange about it is that his power didn't throw something out to compensate for whatever Taylor was doing. His ability to defend himself is pretty damn insane, to the point she'd have to totally kill him within seconds so his power didn't automatically give him something that regenerated whatever Taylor was taking, or turn him into some sort of non-liquid form, or make him immune to remote manipulation or something.

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The story probably could have progressed similarly even accounting for that. Eidolon figures out what's happening to him, but not in time to defend himself. (His power lets him use a wide array of other powers, but it doesn't, on its own, automatically defend him from an attack before he realizes it's there.) Or he figures it out, defends himself from the unexpected attack, and the Endbringer kills him. Or he figures it out and survives, and then he's able to report both the attack and the mechanism. All this can lead to a very similar ending.

It would have been months to the actual episode, which would have been tons of time for our Intrepid Author to consider and reconsider how best to approach that part of the story.

 

[anondymous]

What's actually strange about it is that his power didn't throw something out to compensate for whatever Taylor was doing. His ability to defend himself is pretty damn insane, to the point she'd have to totally kill him within seconds so his power didn't automatically give him something that regenerated whatever Taylor was taking, or turn him into some sort of non-liquid form, or make him immune to remote manipulation or something.

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By this point in the story her skill at phrasing her requests would have advanced to the point where she could kill somebody in seconds by selectively draining the water from the cells in their brain stem. Eidolon would not be able to react fast enough, and would be using a set of powers suited to mitigating damage from Leviathan, not protecting against a Manton-bypassing attack.

 

[jacobk]

Another issue is that I underestimated the thinker aspect of her power going into this. There isn't a great justification to avoid yes/no questions, and being able to tap into her power's omniscience is way too broken for good storytelling. Death Note (a similar power) was better in this respect because despite the omnipotence of the notebook, the protagonist had to work with limited information. Wellspring can divine pretty much any information she wants with creative queries.

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I thought the initial setup was interesting. I was on board for a Taylor with the non-Monkey's Paw version of her power swashbuckling across Brockton Bay. The Death Note twist seems a little odd, but it would have been interesting to read.

I do think it would have been easy to nerf the power. Manton limits are all completely arbitrary and exist more or less for the purpose of game balance. Taylor could just get a Thinker headache whenever she tries to fish for information that is too remote to work. Especially when it relates to the Endbringers.

If you're not feeling the story you're not feeling the story, though.

 

[arromdee]

Killing Eidolon because her power (correctly) tells her that that stops the Endbringers isn't a violation of the Endbringer truce, because Eidolon violated the truce first by making the Endbringers attack. He may not have done it consciously, but it would make no sense for the Endbringer Truce to have an "unless unconsciously" clause.

Of course, Cauldron could simply be pissed and using the Endbringer Truce as an excuse.

 

[Grigori]

Killing Eidolon because her power (correctly) tells her that that stops the Endbringers isn't a violation of the Endbringer truce, because Eidolon violated the truce first by making the Endbringers attack. He may not have done it consciously, but it would make no sense for the Endbringer Truce to have an "unless unconsciously" clause.

Of course, Cauldron could simply be pissed and using the Endbringer Truce as an excuse.

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The PRT wouldn't know Phantom's reasoning though, since Taylor can't come forward; and Cauldron don't need an excuse to kidnap Capes, nor would they need to justify themselves to anyone.