Eden's Edge (Worm/Sonnie's Edge [Love, Death, and Robots])

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Well, shit. That complicates things.
abyssmal_kismet said:
So basically, Vicky fucked up, Annette is just trying to get some funds together to collab with Cranial, and proper communication would fix this whole deal.
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I doubt it. Annette's a bit beyond reason, at this point, even if her intentions are good.
SolarFlare said:
Has Annette joined up with the Merchants? Or has Sherrel not joined them in this AU due to butterflies? I do like non-merchant Sherrel in fics since her power has so much potential to be awesome. I forget which fic it was but she joined the light side and ended up going by 'Major Zeppelins' and building heavy transport airships for disaster relief supply transport.
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It does look like she's with the dockworkers in this. I'd be suspicious that Annette had done something to her, but that was the case in another one of the author's fics, as well, so I think it's probably an AU element.

Also, Major Zeppelins was from Monster.
 
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Ffffuck. I'd wondered if a "car accident" might not have been a little too tidy for the source material, but I wasn't bothered and I didn't think it meant anything because I assumed it was just the author's choice not to write about a sex assault plotline (or anything else comparably awful, for that matter). But honestly, I think that this approach to that trauma bomb has so far been much stronger than it was in Sonnie's Edge, and this fic is stronger for it. Not constraining yourself to the structure and expository decisions of a minisode was a very good choice.

More speculatively (and Worm-ly), the amplification of Taylor's Bad Memories is itself very interesting - we know she's "just" a biotinker creation, but the blazing trauma hot-button reminds me of what happened to the S9000 and the other cape clones we've seen in canon. I wonder if Taylor triggered before she died and got all of her (fucked up, cape-pertinent) memories logged to her Shard, or if whatever memory copying process Annette hacked together is subject to similar distortions.

Actually, if Taylor triggered sometime before she died (or otherwise managed to find herself in a position to disappoint her passenger), and Annette triggered with the same passenger, that could explain why Annette's power "wanted to let Taylor die" - it wanted a better host.
 
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God I want Taylor's perspective on that last part so bad. Also, I love your update speed, it's making following this as it updates much less nerve-wracking for me :p. Also, I really appreciate that there doesn't seem to have been any messing with Taylor's memories for anything we've seen from her perspective. One of my fic pet peeves is the whole "MC doesn't remember events of the last X chapters because of Sudden Amnesia" thing so I'm really glad that there's none of that here.

So it looks like that narrow path to reconciliation may exist after all, since as fucked up as I think memory manipulation is, removing memories from someone that are actively, immediately harming them, memories that they might consent to have removed if they could is at least in the same ZIP code as "not completely monstrous". I mean, even without Annette just hammering that "make bad go to worse" button at every opportunity (though I now suspect she might be getting the Leet Treatment by her Shard) I don't see how there could ever be true trust there ever again, but if somehow it could be arranged for Full Memories Taylor to give a proven-unaltered message to Memory Wiped Taylor...

The Hebert family is steeped in tragedy and I just really want everyone in this story to eventually be OK.
 
So as I understand it, Annette Triggered when she found out her husband and daughter had been kidnaped, then tortured, one to death, one to near death. Then she tries to 'fix' Taylor by making a copy, however, the copy is 'to perfect' and thus not truly Taylor(or something like that). So Taylor sometimes with the right stimuli Remember. How she and her dad got tortured to death by the ABB. Because she would have bled out, were it not for Annette finding her. Thus Annette has tried to find a way to bury that memory, for good, the last 2 years, all the while not telling her daughter that. So each time she Remembers, (most of the time because of Emma?) she tries to kill herself, because of the sudden trauma of 'I can't trust my mother and my father and myself got tortured to death'. There is also the whole Chevkovs Cancer that is probably going to be relevant, because of meddling powers and such.

Is that right? I don't know if that is right?

WhoAmEye said:
"I know. I'm a literal monster. My skin's also drying out and starting to crack, please can we- do something about that?" The synthesised voice was becoming pained.
"You're not a monster." Victoria kept her voice firm.
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WhoAmEye said:
Amy's mouth was moving and the monster - Taylor
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Well damm that was short
WhoAmEye said:
"Powers aren't alive like that."
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Ironic considering who saying that.
 
Fenrisulfr said:
One of my fic pet peeves is the whole "MC doesn't remember events of the last X chapters because of Sudden Amnesia" thing so I'm really glad that there's none of that here.
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if she doesnt remember it, eg the date, then those perspectives will be a bit fucky as she doesnt remember them, ergo the reader doesnt get to see them from her perspective either :p
 
WhoAmEye said:
Mrs. Hebert kept her face very still. "So that's that, then. You'll group me with the ones who did this to her, do this to her while heroes like you do nothing.
[...]
If I'm to be a villain, then I'll play that role. I'll be your villain, down to the bone. And when you fail, when Taylor realises that you always will fail to keep her safe, she'll know what a villain actually looks like."
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I'm seeing a lot of Skitter in you, Annette. I think you might be her mother after all. Imagine if you had become a Tinker back in your Lustrum days--a whole lot of things might have happened differently, but compromising/cooperating with the authorities or establishment probably isn't one of those.

WhoAmEye said:
"TAYLOR! Roan - no - " Mrs. Hebert gabbled the words. "Thait gesine wearth,
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So the command word used to be Roanoke? I wonder what happened to convince Annette it wasn't secure enough.

Subrosian_Smithy said:
I wonder if Taylor triggered before she died and got all of her (fucked up, cape-pertinent) memories logged to her Shard, or if whatever memory copying process Annette hacked together is subject to similar distortions.
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I was wondering the same thing. I'm also wondering why Annette's shard would be angry about her using it in clearly novel and creative ways. Seems like that sort of pushing the envelope and testing the boundaries is exactly what it ought reward.
 
The Pillow said:
And now Taylor can never be stable mentally with all of her memories.
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Sure she can. She can never be her old, pre-trauma self, but she can be stable. She just needs more refined care than basement brain surgery, such as from a fucking therapist.

Also, did anyone else get the sense that Annette was implying that she knew about Amy being the daughter of Marquis? Calling her Amelia, saying she was a villain to the bone...
 
Shard Frippery
  • Apocrypha
    • ccstat said:
    I was wondering the same thing. I'm also wondering why Annette's shard would be angry about her using it in clearly novel and creative ways. Seems like that sort of pushing the envelope and testing the boundaries is exactly what it ought reward.
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    NOOOO!!! YOU CAN'T JUST BUILD A MEGAPROJECT WITHOUT EVEN USING IT TO ROB BANKS!!! YOU HAVE TO USE YOUR MINIONS FOR CONFLICT!!!!

    Haha daughter cloning machine go brrrr
     
  • Apocrypha
    • I don't appreciate the blatent aggressive response. But I can state with 100% confidence that my opinion isn't wrong. Because it's an opinion. They arnt wrong or right they are different. I would appreciate it if you didn't get offended by me disliking something or even misunderstanding something but the author hasn't really bothered to try to correct any of my assumptions. I won't speculate on why and I don't mind if he does or doesn't that up to them. But my post is as I understand this story and worm canon which frankly holds less weight in this story because of the whole au aspect.

    I think I'm gonna make my signature good luck writing.
     
    ccstat said:
    So the command word used to be Roanoke? I wonder what happened to convince Annette it wasn't secure enough.
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    Tay keels over in the middle of high school history class, it's blamed on a seizure?


    Pillow, if you don't like it or have anything constructive to say, you can leave the thread and not come back. And WhoAmEye is a girl.
     
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    Subrosian_Smithy said:
    NOOOO!!! YOU CAN'T JUST BUILD A MEGAPROJECT WITHOUT EVEN USING IT TO ROB BANKS!!! YOU HAVE TO USE YOUR MINIONS FOR CONFLICT!!!!

    Haha daughter cloning machine go brrrr
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    Yeah, I feel her shard wouldn't be too against it. Maybe at first, but especially right now, this is some tasty cape-on-cape conflict.

    Ganurath said:
    Sure she can. She can never be her old, pre-trauma self, but she can be stable. She just needs more refined care than basement brain surgery, such as from a fucking therapist.
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    Agreed. Not that it would be trivial or even easy, but the worm-verse doesn't lend itself well to good therapy. :/

    EDIT: Oh, also since I didn't say it in my original post, I really loved this chapter. Great job Eye.
     
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    ccstat said:
    I was wondering the same thing. I'm also wondering why Annette's shard would be angry about her using it in clearly novel and creative ways. Seems like that sort of pushing the envelope and testing the boundaries is exactly what it ought reward.
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    But how does it help with weapons testing?

    Shards don't have an "innovation drive" they have a "conflict drive" - and there's a reason for that.
     
    The Pillow said:
    But I can state with 100% confidence that my opinion isn't wrong. Because it's an opinion. They arnt wrong or right they are different.
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    When you have an opinion about something that is a matter of fact, opinions can be (and frequently are) wrong.

    The element I referred to was agent influence. From the preceding chapters and this one, it's evident that, given agent influence is a thing and shards nudge or shove their bearers into emotional and thought patterns they hope will incerase the amount of useful data they get based on the limited snapshot of the host's mind formed during their trigger event.

    There is an implicit nod to this fact in the chapter in question.
     
    wow i wonder who is going to have to explain what happened to Taylor and how to make sure it doesn't make her try to kill her self again
    WhoAmEye said:
    Apparently that was a lie to excuse her ferocity/edge. She got wasted and ended up driving. Which of course resulted in a car crash.
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    oh that's clever so what Sonnie told everyone what happened did happen to Taylor and vice versa
     
    I actually agree with Annette, the heroes at the end of the day are government agents first and heroes second. They only really stop villains when they cause a public disturbance. Are the unpowered members of parahuman gangs even under their jurisdiction?
     
    Whether or not Annette's villain monologue actually has good points is irrelevant I feel.
    My instant gut reaction is 'shoot her! SHOOT HEEEER!'

    My reaction after a few minutes of contemplation...

    "SHOOOOOOT HEEEEEEER!"
     
    Tl;dr
    Annette's Shard is mad at Annette for rules lawyering her way into breaking the canon rule of "powers granted must never actually fix the source cause of the trigger event"

    Glory Girl is canon Glory Girl, which means shit is fucked.

    Taylor suffered the same fate as Sonny did in Eden's Edge, and Annettes Shard made it worse by hyperclarifying the memories of rape and torture in order to push Annette towards conflict, but Annette went Skitter Mode and blocked out Taylor's memories and made her Shard angry in the process.
     
    WhoAmEye said:
    Hey!" The driver leaned out the window. "It might be loud but a tank couldn't punch through this!" I'm willing to bet I can.
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    Fucking merchants and Dockworkers? Jesus, you'd think at least Kurt or someone would object to the stuff Annette's doing, like they know it's not Taylor, the original, and even with her memories she wants out.

    Next time they meet GG had better fucking full punch Annette. I say that as a compliment, because she's so well written that I absolutely hate her.

    abyssmal_kismet said:
    Edit: On the other hand, the command phrases are super fucked up. She may just have installed them as a failsafe to keep Taylor from hurting herself, but still, shit's fucked.
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    Yeah, communication is great, but the fucking master phrases are what piss me off and rile me up. Like everything else is standard worm but the moment the command phrase comes into play... I completely get why people hate Masters so much, just by the idea of them existing.
     
    In a way, the command phrases are even worse than just making a device that mind controls people. Implanting controls in someone, that's intentionally rewriting them so they'll never have full autonomy again. Even if the phrase is never used, there's always a chance it will be. You could, if you really wanted to, just stop working and punch your boss in the face. This is rather like putting shock collars on workers when they walk in the door, I think. You could even draw a parallel to Dragon's situation, though she of course has it way, way worse.
     
    xdarkbladerx said:
    I actually agree with Annette, the heroes at the end of the day are government agents first and heroes second.
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    1312! <3

    Nyx the Author said:
    Fucking merchants and Dockworkers?
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    No...remember that the Archer's Bridge Merchants didn't become movers and shakers until Leviathan significantly expanded the Bay's homeless population. It's the dockworkers, with support from the Mere-wif and Sherrel (who would've been Squealer) due to an infusion of feminist self-respect thanks to meeting Annette.

    Menthewarp said:
    Annette went Skitter Mode
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    No, Annette went LEET mode and tried to make her shard act against its nature, so her shard decided it fucking hated her.

    Skitter mode would mean she leaned *in* to her shard-based limitations.
     
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    Jesus Christ Annette... You need to medicated woman. Like you need all the medication. All. Of. It.

    What happened to Taylor was pretty god damn fucked up, combined with perfect recall from the memory copy... Jesus... How the hell hasn't Annette monstermurdered every god damn member of the ABB I don't know. At first from the descriptions I thought that Danny and Taylor had ran into the SH9, but nope, it was just the local evil bastards.
     
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