Fragmentation (Original Superhero Setting)

Alivaril · Jan 21, 2016

[X] Continue what Celes started. Mislead him and/or stall for time, then when he inevitably "forces" you to get to the point, tell him that Celes often uses you as a distraction. Provided, you use her as one just as often, but he doesn't need to know that. Cooperation is a wonderful, wonderful thing.Around and round and round he goes; where he stops, nobody knows...
-[X] Open a screen to sis after he leaves so we can see his reaction when he gets there.

[X] Name: Skye

"Hello, Progenitor. I wasn't expecting you to arrive quite this early." you stall. If Celes sent him over here with the burning-castle story, she either needs a distraction or is just messing around. Either way, your actions won't change.

"Duly noted." Progenitor lowers his hands from his face and glares at you. "Now answer the question."

Well, it was worth a try.

"Truthfully, I'm not entirely sure. I suppose I wanted to apologize for breaking her." you shrug. "Was there anything else?"

"...That's it?"

"Well, not really, but my exact reasoning has been a little overshadowed by 'oh my goodness that worked. Looks like I have a new sister now.'"

"You jumped straight from 'press ALL the buttons!' to accepting her as a new sibling? Seriously?"

"Yes. Given as she's remained silent for this entire conversation and looks like she wants to murder you, I think you're not allowed to be her father anymore."

Progenitor twitches. "I'm not her father. She's a construct, not a real person. I gave her just enough capability for rational thought and emotion before stopping. She has no hopes. She has no dreams. She has no name. She has no interests. She only has a minimal amount of free will. Sh- it is literally designed to be the perfect overseer for this space. And you just hijacked it for no discernible reason."

He pauses and appears to consider this. "Admittedly, that's exactly the sort of thing I'd do, so good for you. Unfortunately, if you want people in your reality to keep getting superpowers, I need to go put it back where it belongs."

You're about to continue harassing him for neglecting his 'Daughter' when the girl in question speaks up.

"Progenitor, please deactivate your defenses and go establish intimate relations with a cactus."

There's a long silence, during which time you notice Sentinel's lips twitching occasionally. Or should that be 'the sentinel's lips? Either way, you should give her an actual name. Caroline? No, that would rhyme with my own name and make it horrifically difficult to tell when mom is calling only one of us. Maybe Skye? ...Yes, that would work.

Progenitor throws up his hands. "You know what? Fine. I'll figure out something else. Just get going before you break any more of my stuff."

You frown as the temporary compulsion settles around you. Well, there goes your tentative plan of linking all the powers together to see what would happen. It probably wouldn't have been a good idea anyway.

"Okay. Before I go, you should know that Celes has probably accomplished what she set out to do. Fun fact: my sister often uses me as a distraction." You smile at him. "Have fun with that."

Progenitor stares blankly at you for several seconds before swearing and vanishing with a loud pop. You quickly turn to Skye.

"Is the name 'Skye' okay with you? Sentinel sounds like a cape name."

"Designation accepted."

"Could you go find a power to get for yourself, then? You're the guardian, so you should know what works best. I'm getting Upgrade unless there's something wrong with it."

"Upgrade is optimal."

You nod and set to remaking another screen to monitor your sister. You're able to execute the command just in time to watch Progenitor lose his temper.

"Enough. I order you to tell-"

"I CAST FIST!"

The screen turns completely white just before a veritable wall of sound slams into you. Had you been capable of experiencing hearing damage in your current form, you would have just been permanently deafened.

Knowing Celes, she probably just made things explode. You hope she remembered to defend the planet she made or otherwise contain the explosion. Either way, you suspect Celes just left in the confusion. You prepare to do the same before glancing over at Skye.

"You will be able to follow me after you pick your own power, right?"

"Affirmative."

You nod briefly, then reach out and touch Upgrade. Surprisingly, it meets you halfway, slamming into the palm of your hand like an overeager puppy. You receive knowledge of your new capabilities moments later.

- White+Gold: Upgrade {Sentient}

- Blue: Analysis

- Blue: Comprehension

- Blue: Record

- Blue: Learn

- Gold: Reverse

- White: Repair

- White+Gold: Overdrive

- White: Immune

- White: Borrow

All your current powers with limited uses completely recharge every twenty-four hours. This is aligned at 9:00 PM right now, but if you change time zones, that could change.

These entries will be updated as Evelyn discovers the rules of and new applications for her abilities. They aren't nearly all-encompassing. Yet.

Upgrade {Sentient, active}:

Range: 50 yards.

You have a pool of power to pull from that recharges daily. Using this power, you can make objects and people permanently better according to your intent.

You cannot upgrade superpowers, but you can upgrade the product of Builder powers. (enchanted objects, gadgets, etc.)

You don't need to think about what you're doing to perform a standard upgrade (example: turn a gun into a better gun), but you can utilize certain types of Insane Troll Logic in order to perform a non-standard upgrade. This requires that a given upgrade would, supposedly, be an improvement in line with the object's original purpose, and must adjust a trait that already exists.

Examples:

1: ==> Human cells maintain the body and produce heat.

==> Humans need to stay warm to survive.

==> A major part of maintaining the body is keeping it warm.

==> Human cells which produce more heat could keep a human warm more easily, and are therefore superior. Upgrade.

2: => Walls are intended to block things from getting through.

=> Doorways are holes in a wall that allow things to pass through.

=> This invalidates the purpose of walls.

=> Therefore, a door that stays shut would be an improvement over one that can open. Upgrade.

-Analysis (passive)

Range: Line-of-sight

Upon seeing a cape use their powers, you will automatically begin to analyze the effects and compare it to any further ability usage. After they have demonstrated their powers enough times, you will be able to determine what, exactly, their power is. Even if they haven't demonstrated most of their capabilities yet.

Thanks to Learn, the more capes you observe of a given category, the faster you'll be able to identify people with similar powers.

You're sure there's more to this power, but you suspect you'll have to figure it out over time instead of being able to perform brute-force SCIENCE!.

–Comprehend (passive)

You will be able to utilize some of the excess and normally-discarded data from Analysis in order to determine, based upon body language and muscle movement, what a person is likely to do next.

Thanks to Learn, the more you watch a given individual move and/or act in different scenarios, the further ahead you can predict their likely actions and reactions. This has diminishing returns.

You're sure there's more to this power, but you suspect you'll have to figure it out over time instead of being able to engage in brute-force SCIENCE!

---Record (passive)

You never forget anything unless you want to. You may remove your own memories if you desire to do so for whatever reason.

You're sure there's more to this power, but you suspect you'll have to figure it out over time instead of being able to engage in brute-force SCIENCE!

---Learn (passive)

In addition to improving Analysis and Comprehend, you find learning about most kinds of natural sciences to be significantly easier.

You're sure there's more to this power, but you suspect you'll have to figure it out over time instead of being able to engage in brute-force SCIENCE!

-Reverse (Active)

Range: Fifty yards.

Evelyn can reverse time for an object or individual, including herself. If it is used on a person, they will retain their memories, but will otherwise be restored to the condition and location they were in up to thirty seconds before. Any items they were carrying at that time will also automatically be reversed and returned to them.

If used on a super-powered individual with limited uses of their ability, this does not restore any energy they've consumed in the interim. You're not sure why yet, especially since rechargeable power-made objects are restored.

--Repair (Active)

Range: Fifty yards.

As a separate use of the Reverse power that nonetheless pulls from the same pool of energy, Evelyn can return a broken non-living object to peak condition even if it would ordinarily be far too late for Reverse to do any good. Repair still pulls from the same pool of power as Reverse.

You can use Repair on the resulting dust from an object disintegrated by Overdrive. It will not retain the new upgrades, but it will still have the ones it had prior to Overdrive being used.

Sadly, you cannot raise the dead with this power.

-Overdrive (active)

Range: Touch

Five times per day, you may imbue objects so that upgrading said object is significantly cheaper and occurs instantaneously.

An overdriven object will last for one minute before crumbling to dust. You cannot use Overdrive on living beings.

--Immune (passive)

While an object is under the effects of Overdrive, neither you nor it can be damaged by external effects. If an overdriven object makes itself explode, it will still do that.

--Borrow (free active)

While an object is under the effects of Overdrive, you may temporarily assume some of its traits. Sadly, you cannot upgrade yourself while you are under the effect of Borrow.

Example: If a teleport bracelet was Overdriven and you elected to use Borrow, you would be able to teleport until Overdrive ended. If you used it on a set of power armor, you'd get several benefits.

"Starting after I finish this command, whenever I utter the word 'die' while within this space, fill a ten-mile-radius sphere centered on me with equal amounts of anti-osmium and osmium after a delay of two seconds."

You feel your mind getting cloudier and cloudier as something tries to drain away your memories of Progenitor's personal reality...

Of course, you don't want to forget those memories, now do you? And thanks to Record, you don't have to.

As you finally give in to oblivion, your expression is one of smug satisfaction.

When you're next aware of your surroundings, you're back home.

Your father is snoring in a chair at the opposite side of your room. Your mother sits just beside him, looking perfectly alert and staring straight at Skye. Skye is staring right back at her, completely ignoring your father. Fortunately, it would appear she shares your immunity to his aura; you'd completely forgotten about that.

"Duplicator?" Your mother asks, and although her tone is businesslike, you can hear a tiny bit of excitement slipping through. "Or Summoner? The outfit is horrifically impractical, but nothing insurmountable."

Conversation tone:

[] "She's a former AI I stole from Progenitor. He seemed more resigned than angry."

[] "She followed me home... Can I keep her?" *deploy puppy-dog eyes*
-[] Protectively hug your new sister.

[] "Hey mom, look! I got a minion!"

[] Write-in

Options may be combined. You will be telling your family your powerset by default. There's really no reason to hide it; they're, well, your family.

Your choices over how to act the first few chapters will shape Evelyn's personality. It's not perfectly locked in yet.

EDIT: 25 minutes since posted. Voting now unlocked.

Alivaril · Jan 25, 2016

[X] "I broke the power selection system so badly a new sister fell out."
-[X] "Can I keep her? Can I?"
--[X] Protectively hug your new sister.
-[X] "She's a former AI I stole from Progenitor. He seemed more resigned than angry."

"Not... quite. I broke the power selection system so badly a new sister fell out. ...Can I keep her?"

Your mother's expression goes completely blank. Usually, you can tell at least some of what she's thinking. Not this time. You have the distinct feeling you just overloaded her tolerance for weirdness.

That is, of course, when Celes decides to wake up and intervene.

"Hah!" Celes gets up from her bed and points toward you, her face the very picture of triumph. "I called it! You did bend reality's arm until it cried uncle!"

"Technically, Progenitor's proving grounds have no arms, and indeed, cannot speak." Skye comments. "I am guessing your statement is a figure of speech. If so, it is a stupid one, on par with calling a reality with no ground a 'proving ground'."

Celes's gaze flicked from you to Skye, noticing her appearance at last. You mentally start a countdown as Celes's smile begins to get wider and wider.

3... 2... 1...

"HUZZAH! My twins have been doubled! Mom, could you please, please, please let us-" Celes pauses, frowning. "Sorry, brief power incontinence there. Can we keep her? Pleeeeease?"

"Could we, please?" You add, hugging Skye. "I know we can afford to. I promise to take good care of her."

"...How did you even manage this?" your mother sighs, unconsciously echoing Progenitor. "If it's alright with your father, and we all know it will be, she can stay." she turns to Skye. "I would rather like to know what you are, however.

"My former task was to act as the sentinel."

There are several moments of silence before you mentally sigh. It looks like you're going to have to teach Skye a lot about proper communication.

"She's a former AI I stole from Progenitor. Well, not really stole so much as freed, but he seemed more resigned than angry. And maybe a little impressed. I'm pretty sure she was in charge of helping people get superpowers."

Your mother's expression goes blank once more.

"'Construct' would probably be a better term, but Evelyn Adair's description is otherwise accurate. Progenitor gave us permission to leave, stating he would figure something else out." Skye adds helpfully.

There's an even longer silence, punctuated by the occasional snores coming from where your father is sitting. To the casual observer, said snores sound like screams of the damned. You know better: they're actually the screams of dying stars.

"There goes plan A." Your mother comments at last. "Do you have a name?"

"Skye."

"Right. I cannot promise I'll like you, but since my daughters seem to have spontaneously decided they want another sister, there's no major reason not to let you stay with us. How much education have you received?"

"I possess extensive knowledge on the rules of this reality, but not how to make them interact with one another to achieve a desired result. My knowledge of history, social mannerisms, and non-human biology is woefully lacking. I can speak every language spoken by the human inhabitants of this reality, but I am not familiar with slang terms. My chosen powers have granted me a significant boost to understanding the creations of successful creation-type candidates, along with the ability to replicate said creations. I will never forget anything. I possess the same genetic, cognitive, and physical modifications you have given your children."

...Wait, what?

"Moving right along!" your mother says quickly. "I'll need to give you some various tests to make sure you can fit in the same grade level as Evelyn and Celes, but I think you could go to school with them if you'd like." she pauses and turns to you two. "On that note, I honestly do believe you should go to an actual cape school now that you have powers. I can't teach you everything by myself. Your father will push for Paragon, so if you want to go someplace else, we should work that out now. He should be asleep for about, oh," she glances at her watch. "Another three hours or so."

VOTING IS LOCKED.

[] Stick with homeschooling. The last time you'd tried to attend normal school, you'd been bored out of your mind. Everything was just too easy and the other students were too slow. Sure, that was years ago, but there's no reason to believe cape schools would be any different.

[] Attend Dragon. They're extremely competitive and even encourage infighting among the students, but there's no denying that the teachers are really quite good at what they do.

[] Attend Paragon. It's supposedly one of the best schools for heroes in the country. If you could use a skill as a hero, odds are they have somebody teaching it.

[] Attend Prism. You would gain the powers of a magical girl to supplement your own, although they do get stronger or weaker depending on rather strange circumstances.

[] Attend Paragon, Dragon, and Prism, with one of you at each. You wouldn't get to spend time together during the school-day, but if you're careful about how you do it, you can cheerfully switch places at will.
-[] Register who as a student for where? (Skye, Celes, or Evelyn + Paragon, Dragon, or Prism)

[] Write-in

...And what abilities do you put on the application form?

[] Reveal your full list of powers.

[] Reveal only a few.
-[] Write-in which ones

[] Pretend to be powerless. This option cannot be picked with Dragon.

[] Use Mother's equipment to imitate a given skillset. She specializes in illusions, stealth, and mobility.
-[] Which category or categories?

-[] Write-in

You may transfer to another school later, but be warned that this action may garner you a bit of ill will. Unless you're transferring from or to Prism. You'd have to work really hard to get them upset with you.

The students of Prism will be disappointed, but won't bat an eye if you go to Paragon. But if you transfer to Dragon...

Alivaril said:
You would have an entire class full of students intent on your redemption, along with all their MG friends. And all the MG friends of those friends. And so on.

You would, in essence, aggro the entirety of Prism. And possibly some of Paragon.

Friendship is serious business.

Dragon teaches its students how to survive and thrive in a world infested with heroes. To that end, they encourage competition and fighting among the students, even giving powerful rewards to a tiny number of "top" students at the end of each semester. Graduates from Dragon tend to be terrifyingly good at whatever they choose to do and are all among the longest-surviving villains out there.

Paragon is supposedly one of the best schools for heroes in the entire country. If you could get some mileage out of a skill as a hero, odds are they teach it. They have a large number of teachers but rather small classes, apparently so they can better keep track of the progress of their students and alter the lessons for each.

Worth noting is that their Shade (stealth, espionage, etc.) curriculum is taught by Null, who is able to negate the powers of every other cape within twenty yards, as well as the effects of those powers upon the world. Besides Progenitor, there are no other known capes currently alive who are capable of this feat.

Graduates from Paragon are persistent, difficult to kill, and extremely skilled in their chosen field(s).

Prism grants powers to teenaged girls and then trains said teenagers in their use. Cooperation and teamwork are paramount, as Magical Girls literally become stronger when working together with, or for the sake of, their friends.

The graduating class of each year tends to be quite strong when working in smaller groups, and nigh-unstoppable if they all work together. MGs are almost always extremely idealistic, and with good reason: they're strong enough to enforce their worldview.

Worth noting is that should you choose to attend Prism, as you are arriving two years "late", you will be the subject of rather a lot of attention. Most of the students in your year already know each other, but you'd be new. Befriending may ensue.

MGs are powered by some or all of the following: cooperation, friendship, passion, hope, righteousness, and mercy. Your "base form" would not be able to access as much power at once anymore, but you'd gain a significant power increase while transformed. Your powers would not cost more and/or be less efficient while in your base form, they just cannot do as much at once. Various other circumstances may buff or debuff you while you're transformed. See also: "Personal Experience: Magical Girl Lecture."

The date is August 9th. Classes will begin in one month.

Alivaril · Feb 23, 2016

[X] Attend Dragon. They're extremely competitive and even encourage infighting among the students, but there's no denying that the teachers are really quite good at what they do.
[X] Reveal only a few.
-[X] Comprehend.
-[X] Analysis.
-[X] Record.
-[X] Learn.

Still don't have all my notes back (and won't for a few more days), but I did find an old backup of my character sheets. Have an interlude!

Twenty-one enemies in total. Three rows of seven. Even once they were out of the way, he'd have to deal with another six waves.

Null glared at his old enemies, wondering why, exactly, he'd accepted this position in the first place. The perks were pretty nice, but all too often, he had to deal with some of the most annoying beings on the planet: students.

Null clasped his hands behind his back, tapped his wrist twice, and got to work.
*hiss*
"Welcome to homecoming, orientation, or whatever the hell these things are supposed to be called. I'm your host, Null. The more observant among you may have noticed a gas mask inside the desks you're sitting at; you don't need those quite yet. To keep things brief: I teach the Shade classes here at paragon. If you didn't bother to look up what that's supposed to mean before coming here, you probably shouldn't even bother to take my class.

"Moving on, since I now have you poor SOBs as a captive audience for the next half-hour: Let's talk about 'The Game', as some people like to call it. I think that's bloody stupid; going out, causing major property damage, and occasionally maiming idiotic passerby does not seem like much of a game to me. I think fighting criminals is fun, but I don't make a big deal out of it. If you want to survive, you shouldn't either.

"If even a single person doesn't follow the same philosophy as you, they'll get a wonderful chance at killing you. If you wish to play around with your powers, there are plenty of safer things you could do with them. Tightrope-walking across a field of lava, for example. If you're going to go out and be a hero, don't hobble yourself with dramatic speeches and other moronic activity. Incapacitating your foes without killing them is already unusually difficult; don't make it even harder on yourselves. Even if a villain seems like they're playing along, they could and often do resort to lethal measures when things go south."

Null ignored the quiet thuds from the back of the class.

"If you honestly want to do that sort of thing, go become a magical girl or boy. Prism for the former, Spectrum for the latter. They actually get stronger from that sort of nonsense. Of course, they also have to deal with a metric shitton of different situational debuffs and buffs, which can get really rather annoying. If a villain is a skilled actor and knows what they're doing, it's pitifully easy for them to twist the 'narrative' until it's physically impossible for a M G/B to hurt them at any point in the next several hours.

"Since it looks like most of you have gotten bored at this point, I'm going to stop now. Incidentally, I lied about the gas masks." he concluded, regarding the room full of unconscious teenagers with mild amusement. Annoying? Yes. Gullible? Also yes.

I love my job.

Skyllian Blitz · Mar 1, 2016

i get that you guys are keeping it cool But a menstruation, fertility and pregnancy tangent in a quest that has a 16-year old protagonist is kinda heavy stuff. Just, you know, ask yourselves if such details are going to be needed in the future.

Remember to keep it classy, folks.

Alivaril · Mar 31, 2017

Quests never die. They just go missing in action. Except when I kill them.

For a while, I wasn't quite sure how I was going to handle Upgrade in a quest format. Any capacity you used on the fly would be capacity which couldn't be used for permanent upgrades, but unless I wanted to turn this into a slower-than-hell play-by-play, semi-automatic combat would be necessary as usual.

I'm mildly embarrassed to admit I only thought of having two separate pools yesterday. I mean, you originally had a bonus pool you could use only on combat, but the main could still be used for that purpose.

It can't anymore.

As the only other retcon I believe I'll need, mass-produced magical girls have been changed slightly. Upon reflection, their old mechanics were a little more powerful than they should've been; now, preexisting abilities will be weakened (yes, even while transformed) in exchange for having access to new ones. Circumstantial modifiers could boost your original powerset above what it used to be, but it'd be very hard to manage. Builders would probably have other things on their mind in those circumstances, making it a raw deal for them, and a lot of other capes would rather have their original abilities than the brute force magical girls specialize in.

"Personal Experience: Magical Girl Lecture" remains 100% valid. Like I said, the change isn't as major as it might sound.

I will not be answering questions on how your ability works. You'll need to experiment IC to try things out; consider previous WoG on this subject to be invalid. Once you and/or Evelyn successfully test an idea, it'll be added to the list of options available for use in combat, as with all my other quests.

Have fun!

"We should probably share our powers before deciding on a school. Celes pipes up. "Evelyn, what are yours? I've gotten a bunch, starting with..."

She takes an unnecessarily deep and dramatic breath. "I can order my surroundings around. I can make my requests sound a lot more reasonable than they should be. If I don't use all of my energy in a single day, I can have some of it carry over to the next. I'll never forget anything anymore unless I want to. I can buff people who I know are trying to accomplish the same goals as me. I can teleport anyone I'm 'collaborating' with, including myself, to me or another collaborator. We can chat telepathically while we're linked. We can show our memories to one another while we're linked, although that occurs in real-time and is kinda distracting."

She releases the breath. "I know there's more to my powers than that, but those are the big ones."

-Red: Authority {Sentient}
"I can order reality around and have it do my bidding. I don't think I can affect things like time and space, but gravity is totally within my domain. People count, but my orders only last for an hour, I can't make them perform actions which would harm themselves or those they care about, and they'll be able to tell they're being controlled."

- Gold: Retain
"I can only use my power so much in a single day, but if I don't use all of it, some of the remaining amount will cross over to the next one."

- Blue: Record
"I'll never forget anything unless I want to. Period, dot, full stop, explanation point, insert punctuation here. Oh, did I mention I trolled Progenitor? 'Cuz I totally did."

- Gold+Blue: Macro
"I can set up a few commands to be triggered whenever I say a keyword. I expect it will be a great way to get explosions on demand."

- Blue: Learn
"I have another ability enhancing most of my other ones, but I'm not sure what it's supposed to do. Something related to learning?"

- Purple: Request

"I can make my requests sound much more reasonable than they actually are. As long as it's phrased like a request, I think this will be applied."

- White: Collaborate
"If someone considers me to be their ally and vise-versa, I can bring them into a lil' network of DOOM! Whenever we work together to accomplish a common objective, we'll all get a bunch of little perks related to accomplishing said task. It'll be temporarily suspended if any of you go more than 500 yards away from me."

- Red: Safeguard
"It's pretty hard to hurt anyone who's part of Collaborate's network. I'll also know if any of us are attacked, along with who did the attacking and what they used to carry out said attack."

- Orange: Reposition
"So long as we're all within Collaborate's range, I can make us teleport to one another. Which, um, kinda encourages splitting the party? I'm not so sure that's a good idea..."

- Blue+Purple: Transmit

"We can chat telepathically. It's too bad I think we'll be able to distinguish thoughts from telepathic voices; I could totally drive someone nuts with this."

You stare at her for several long moments. Out of the corner of your eye, you notice your mother looking like she's trying very, very hard to avoid squeeing.

You shake your head, not bothering to conceal your bemusement.

"...Seriously? You got something that good from rolling around in a pile of puppies? That's not fair at all. I worked hard to get mine."

"Hey, I created a planet! It's not like I couldn't have figured out how to pull that place apart, I just preferred the idea of trolling Progenitor."

"My point exactly. Your priorities are rather skewed."

"...Meanie."

Skye raises her hand. "If it will help make you happier, I'll point something out."

You wait for several moments, then sigh when she doesn't say anything else. You're really going to have to work on proper communication skills.

"Yes, Skye?"

"I did not work for my powers. I merely grabbed a model you had already considered and dismissed. Therefore, as you do not seem to be angry with me, Celes Adair should not be a target." she pauses and appears to consider her previous words. "Or, alternatively, you should be mad at us both. I am still working on determining what actions will require a permanent solution. Repeating the same fights over and over seems horrifically inefficient."

...Well, that doesn't sound good at all. You share a worried glance with Celes before turning back to Skye.

"I'm not actually mad, I'm just harassing her. She's my sister; why would I be angry about her getting a bunch of powers? In any case—"

"—In any case, you've derailed the conversation!" Celes interrupts. "Your powers. What are they? Tellmetellmetellmetellmetellmeeeeee!"

Celes is practically vibrating with mingled excitement and curiosity. You're slightly tempted to let her stay like that, but you ultimately decide to try and shatter your mother's composure instead.

"I can upgrade almost everything. Exclusions include, but may or may not be limited to, superpowers. I think superpower-granting Artificial creators are still fair game. I have what amounts to combat precog, with it scaling upward depending on how long I've observed a target. I can tell what a person's entire powerset is if I see them use any of it enough times. I'll never forget anything unless I want to. I expect learning many kinds of natural sciences will be significantly easier. I can reverse time for a given object or person, leaving them in the condition and location they were at up to thirty seconds before. If they're alive, they'll keep their memories. For the purposes of repairing non-living material, Reverse has no upper limit on time.

"I can make it temporarily cheaper to upgrade a given object, but it will disintegrate after a minute or so. Both I and the object are invincible during this time. I can borrow some of the traits from any object under this effect. I can use Reverse to repair objects that have disintegrated as a result of Overdrive, or to simply extend Overdrive's duration. Just like Celes, I'm sure there's more to my abilities, but it might take me some time to figure out what that is."

You hear a very, very quiet squee from the direction of your mother. Later, she'll probably claim that it was your imagination. It's already too late for that; you never forget anything anymore.

Celes blinks and narrows her eyes at you. "...Wow. All that? I call hax."

"If you'd spent more time experimenting and less time burying yourself under piles of puppies, you could have gotten something just as good."

"Worth it."

You drum your fingers against one arm.

"So, what do you want to actually do with our powers?"

"Have fun," Celes immediately answers. "Hero, we do Dad's schtick of being hammy n stuff. Villain, we cheerfully troll people and have plots which are simultaneously over-the-top and accomplish one or more goals. Of course, we could do more; our versatile powersets mean we could have completely separate cape identities. No reason our school needs to limit what we do, y'know? And capes considered harmless are usually given a lot more leeway. Heroes won't try nearly as hard to permanently capture them and we can always break out the big guns if somebody serious decides to intrude."

You both turn to Skye. It takes her about ten seconds to take the hint and actually respond.

"I am only vaguely familiar with the identifiers given to powered individuals of this universe. I will watch, listen, and learn."

You pause, shrug, and turn back to Celes.

Winner: Dragon

Almost half an hour later, you've finally managed to settle on a single school.

"Dragon, then? We can make use of the knowledge gained there even if we don't decide to become villains."

"We also won't be abandoning our new sis-ter!" Celes sings, hugging an apathetic Skye.

Glancing around, you find a severe lack of any conscious parental units. Gliding forward, you poke your head out your bedroom door.

"Mother, we're going to Dragon!"

After a small pause, she calls back up. "Come down to the kitchen."

You glance at your sister and shrug. While your powers are likely to be the best birthday gift you'll likely ever get, you suppose Mom still hasn't given you any of her own.

When you head downstairs, you find your mother in possession of two black suitcases. She drops them on the kitchen table with a pair of audible thumps.

"It's not much of a surprise since I know you two have sneaked into my workshop before and looked in here. Still, happy birthday."

She glances over at Skye. "Even if today is technically your birthday, I don't have anything for you. Sorry."

...You're sorely tempted to grab your old gauntlet and hit your mother with a snowball. You've seen her workshop; she could totally scrounge up something on short notice.

Excitement replaces irritation as your mother unlocks both suitcases and pushes them toward you. You almost push it open, but caution ultimately wins and you start checking it for traps.

Your caution proves to have been wise. Celes waves her hands wildly and backs away from her own suitcase as a swarm of long-legged brown spiders begin pushing themselves out of the lock. Harmless, but still not something you want to have climbing all over you.

Your mother starts speaking while you're still trying to figure out how to bypass the trap.

"I thought about giving you only the bare minimum and giving you more if your grades were good. That lost to my desire to let you avoid being arrested. These are a compromise: Powerful and versatile, but will need to be recharged every so often. Their runes will dim the closer they get."

Motion draws your eyes upward again as your mother pulls a piece of paper out of one pocket and scans it.

"The boots will let you Blink. Five-yard teleportation, twelve-second cooldown. Most of the clothes are Changeling Garb; they can be changed once every twelve hours to look like anything. It's a true change, not an illusion, but it'll still be cloth even if it's changed to look like metal. Oh, and it'll still remain comfortable in almost all natural weather. One ring is a one-shot Recall; it'll bring you home if you use it. Anyone else who tries it? Top of a stairless skyscraper for them. The other is of Blur; it'll blur your exact physical shape and make you appear to be a you-sized mass of black. Won't work for anyone else. Again, not an illusion."

You blink several times and look up, frowning.

"How is that supposed to work?"

Your mother completely ignores you. You didn't expect anything different. Still worth a try.

"The jeweled Guardian's Necklace has several functions, each with their own individual usage drain and recharge. The ruby will give you passive physical protection; it won't completely protect you, but it'll soften any blows above a certain threshold. The worse the impact, the more it'll drain. It'll still hurt a bit, of course; I don't want enemies to start thinking you have invulnerability. The emerald will grant you rapid regeneration if you're banged up enough. The sapphire leeches poison from any consumed food or drink and keeps it around for future analysis. Won't do anything for injections, so be careful around ominous syringes.

"Finally, the mask. It'll change its coloration to match the changeling garb. You can somewhat change the shape, provided your target will still cover your mouth, nose, and eyes. It'll provide clean, untainted air no matter the situation; I'm proud to say it can even counter the effects of every power-boosted gas I've tested it on. It'll also provide minor night vision. Great for mundane darkness, useless against unnatural."

You finally decide to just jam a hairpin into the lock and be done with it. No spiders emerge when you open your own birthday gifts, although the hairpin does start vibrating.

Currently, the Changeling Garb is grey and uninteresting. The mask's default white form would make a serial killer very happy. Both rings appear to be blatant Tolkein ripoffs, AKA gold with illegible cursive-esque writing on them. Aside from the three large gemstones holding its enchantments, the Guardian's Necklace is plain, undecorated gold.

Boots of Blink
Changeling Garb
Ring of Recall
Ring of Blur
Guardian's Necklace
Ghost's Mask

"You'll want to hide at least some of your powers. I believe the current Wyrm is a telepath, not that it'll be a problem for you. Be careful about who you tell."

Frowning, you rub at your forehead and try to figure out why a telepath would suddenly stop being a problem. They're considered to be the single most intrusive type of cape out there. Fortunately, their creation rate is rare and their very abilities encourage permanent solutions. You sincerely doubt you're completely immune, but...

"Father?" you guess.

"Yes."

"Neat. Could you please bring a camera along?"

Just because you're not as hyperactive as your sister doesn't mean you lack a sense of humor. Seeing the headmaster clutch at his skull and cower in a corner would be immensely amusing, assuming his reaction is fear as opposed to outright insanity.

Disappointment supplants anticipation when your mother shakes her head.

"No cameras allowed on school grounds for obvious reasons. It's one of the only rules they'll effectively enforce."

[X] Reveal only a few.
-[X] Comprehend.
-[X] Analysis.
-[X] Record.
-[X] Learn.

"Damn. Well, I'll just reveal my analytical branch: Comprehend, Analysis, Record, and Learn."

Celes jogs past you, spiders still chasing her. Despite her predicament, she seems a lot calmer than she was a minute ago.

"Authority for me, obviously. It'd be kinda hard to hide it."

She swerves to one side and tries to put you between her and the horde. A quick poke with Reverse is enough to get her back on the other side of it. It takes your twin several precious moments to realize what happened, by which time a few spiders have already climbed onto her right ankle. Celes promptly shrieks, sprints to the opposite side of the room, and starts trying to scrape them off the opposite foot.

Your mother ignores her antics. "That will be fine. Dragon gives out their own rewards for scoring well, but I'll add in one I know you'll both be interested in: dimensional storage. No size limit aside from your ability to fit it through the entrance, weight limit of 200 pounds, and anything placed inside will be reduced to 1/8th of what it used to be. In other words, when completely full, it'll weigh twenty-five pounds and a little change. If one of you scores within the top five percent of your grade, I'll give it to you. If you both manage it, you'll each get one."

"And what about Skye?"

Your mother raises one eyebrow. "What about her? She looks like one of my daughters. She isn't."

[] Go experiment with your new abilities until Father wakes up.

[] Ask Mother for permission to go raid a store or three so Skye can copy your birthday gifts herself.
-[] Or rather, that's what you WOULD ask for if you wanted to be reckless. Could Mother do it so you don't have to risk yourselves before you learn what you're doing?

[] Grab your laptop and start researching the different capes of your hometown, along with average crime response time and current curriculum for Paragon.

[] Try to convince Mother to stop treating Skye like a complete stranger.
-[] Your new sister has no reason to hurt you and plenty of reasons to help you. If nothing else, can't you appeal to Mother's desire to keep you safe?

[] Write-in

Ongoing:
[][Experiment 1] (Write-in)
[][Experiment 2] (Write-in)
Each player is allowed to plan up to two experiments at a time. The more votes a given experiment has, the larger its maximum energy allowance. For example, if you tried:

[X][Experiment 1] The goal of shoes is to provide protection for feet. -> It would be harder for harmful substances to get inside if the opening of the shoe were smaller. -> Upgrade.
[X][Experiment 2] Undirected Upgrade: Glasses.

...But you were the only person voting for it, then you'd merely be poking to test whether or not that chain would be valid. Cost, effectiveness, effect, and casting time comparisons would be beyond what you'd allotted for it.

You may not spend both votes on the same experiment.

Experiment votes will persist across voting periods and will all be resolved during the next designated SCIENCE! session. No energy is being created and I expect you will frequently have some leftover after an experiment session. However, the entire thing will take less time if she has a list of, for example, 20 experiments to run as opposed to 10 experiments, stopping to think up (and vote for) more, then doing another 10.

Don't forget: Upgrade isn't your only power...

EDIT: I'm a little unsure about this execution of experiment energy and effort allocation. Feedback appreciated.

Non-experiment voting will be locked for 45 minutes after this first goes up.

Alivaril · Mar 31, 2017

If they aren't idiots, weak, and/or slimebags, capes tend to become famous in rather short order. Still, there's a sliding scale of fame. You're pretty sure people who haven't heard of the following capes are the exception rather than the norm.

Serious Heroes

Dragon

One of the strongest capes on the planet, Dragon becomes progressively stronger, faster, and more durable depending on the cumulative monetary value of nearby objects. Her senses and ability to process information from said senses improve at the same rate. These boosts are passive, have no known visual effect, and require no attention to maintain. In addition, Dragon had an unknown Builder add a flamethrower to her helmet. Apparently, she was tired of children asking "If you're a dragon, why can't you breathe fire?"

Dragon is known to live in either Washington D.C., New York City, or both. She switches numerous times each year with no warning whatsoever. It's also rumored that she lives close to an art museum, something you find rather likely. Some have speculated she could easily be the single most powerful cape on the planet when fighting inside certain museums or national treasuries.

Dragon is known to be friendly toward most children, but severely lacking in patience when dealing with teenagers. She's been recorded chewing out different junior heroes on multiple occasions, usually due to collateral damage she deems excessive.

Princess

A legacy "hero," Princess is chosen by an estimated eight to twelve entities from another universe. Unless she died in the last year or so, you're pretty sure the current Princess is the fourth one.

Every Princess has access to a large personal dimension. She can teleport to it, and from there, teleport back to any part of Earth. Every Princess possesses slightly enhanced durability and the ability to summon hordes of what she calls "gnomes" to do her bidding. Everyone else calls them "goblins," although they're careful not to do so in front of her. Gnomes are somewhat intelligent and frequently wield modern weaponry, albeit poorly.

Known to be completely insane by the standards of your universe's humans. Collectively, the different generations of Princess are confirmed to have have killed nineteen non-capes for failing to meet their standards of respect. She's (barely) tolerated since she seldom comes out of her pocket dimension for anything less than a world-ending threat.

Dreadnought

Some Builders prefer subtlety and bottomless bags of tricks to get them through obstacles. Some prefer brute force. Dreadnought doesn't see why you should have to pick one or the other. As a direct result, he has probably the single largest "power suit" in existence, a sphere 600 meters in diameter.

Dreadnought is perfectly stable, albeit rather eccentric. He is one of the few powerful Researchers with the patience to convert his scientific discoveries into concepts understandable by normal humans. As a result, he has advanced the study of robotics and artificial intelligence by an estimated twenty years.

Dreadnought is also responsible for the "fourth law of robotics", which states that no synthetic life-form, computer program, or AI should ever be created with the ability to make something smarter than itself. Why this was necessary is unknown, but some suspect that it is related to the disappearance of his fifth-generation AI assistant, Casey, and the attempted "robot apocalypse" in that same time period. Dreadnought's official story is that she was suborned by the revolutionaries and had to be reprogrammed. Put less politely, Casey is dead.

Dreadnought is known to have converted at least half a dozen major villains over to the side of the light. Allegedly, he can be quite ~~intimidating~~ persuasive when he wants to be. You aren't surprised. He's also given out over two billion dollars worth of scholarships and research grants over the course of his career.

Dreadnought currently lives southwest of Sacramento, California.

Game Heroes

Hermes

A "technomancer." He's actually a Researcher with a power suit capable of controlling nearby computers and other miscellaneous electronics. The vast majority of his antics are rather boring to you, relying heavily on slapstick comedy. He only became internationally known when he spearheaded the effort to make the virus used to end a "robot apocalypse" two years ago.

Hermes is based in Boston, Massachusetts. He seldom moves out of town.

Shiver

A telekinetic with a low weight limit, but unparalleled control. Shiver can always be found mentoring at least one junior hero, teaching them the arts of PERFECTLY SERIOUS COMBAT TACTICS. These seem to include, but are not limited to: Snark, posing, shouting every word they ever speak, making use of smoke bombs to disappear, and generally being unnecessarily dramatic at all times.

When facing foes who are actually seriously hurting or even killing people, Shiver has displayed the ability to make objects spontaneously combust or freeze solid. This includes the clothing her enemies just so happen to be wearing.

Antonym

A hero allegedly capable of manifesting the "opposite ability" of anyone he is fighting. A cryokinetic would grant him pyrokinesis, a Tank might give him an armor-piercing beam attack, a flier would let him rapidly tunnel underground, and so on. While that's his story and he's usually stuck to it, in genuine emergencies, Antonym has been observed using powers which could only be counters to his allies.

Antonym usually portrays himself as the "Good Twin" of his opponent and bases his act off their personality. Is most famous for safely dismantling Irradiate's planet-buster bomb.

Serious Villains

Luna

A self-proclaimed Expert who pretended to disintegrate the moon with an orbital satellite before holding the world hostage. In reality, she merely hid it behind a cloaking field, a fact which took heroes the better part of four hours to notice.

It later turned out that Luna's goal wasn't the demanded ransom at all. She was simply using the whole thing as a distraction while she stole military intelligence from every major government in Europe and Asia. She hasn't been seen since.

Boneyard

A now-deceased villain infamous for trying to overrun the planet with animated skeletons. If they possessed powers while they were still alive, the skeletons regained them after their animation. Boneyard was ultimately taken down in a joint effort from Princess, Dreadnought, Seraph, Cherub, Shiver, Lord Baron Khan Cept, and numerous other capes.

Mother didn't let you find out more than that. As it's one of the only parental restrictions she's ever placed on your browsing habits, you're pretty sure you don't want to know.

Celestial

A villain infamous for portraying herself as a lighthearted, but powerful, hero for three months and eleven days. At the end of that time, she invited the most powerful heroes on the East Coast to what was allegedly her birthday party.

She subsequently dropped everyone present into a pocket dimension and demanded five billion USD for their safe return. Eleven additional heroes and one mass-murder threat later, the trapped heroes ended up paying their own ransom with some additional help from Dreadnought.

Celestial hasn't been seen since.

Game Villains

Dakka

A Builder famous for his colorful explosives, laser arrays, and his impact on secret identities. Heroes used to enjoy fighting Dakka as his weapons scaled their strength based upon whom they were aimed at, thus making him a worthy opponent for any super, even novices. Villains respected his work, inventions, and complex plotlines. Normals enjoyed watching the battles he participated in, comparing them to fourth-of-July firework shows.

And then, of course, some asshole of a "hacktivist" had to go and retrieve the flight logs from Dakka's suit. Within half an hour, said hacker had figured out where Dakka lived, and from there, it was easy to guess his real identity.

By the time twelve hours had passed, practically everyone in the state knew that Dakka's real name was Ulysses Hofwegen, an engineer specializing in laser-based security systems. He subsequently fled with his family and hasn't been seen since, although some have speculated that one or more copycat villains is, in fact, him.

After that incident, all capes have been careful to keep their civilian identities secret. Numerous capes from every philosophy have declared their intent to punish anyone who uses the family of a cape against said cape. Going after a cape when they're not in costume is frowned upon, but still considered fair game by many.

Seraph & Cherub
(Mad Magic)

A husband-and-wife pair in their early twenties. Mad Magic had their debut four years ago, when the statue of liberty abruptly sunk down into a cobalt-blue portal. Every individual who was inside at the time was subsequently dropped off at the nearby ferry.

Their demands puzzled many: They wanted every single hero in the USA to adopt at least one pet from a nearby shelter. ("...provided you're financially able to do so. And no backsies! Abuse them and we'll kick your asses.")

Their demands weren't met as Antonym and Dragon were ultimately able to reclaim the statue. In subsequent months, pet adoption skyrocketed.

Mad Magic's schemes usually involve stealing one or more famous and beloved structures. Their ransom demands are generally used to raise public awareness for something they perceive to be a problem, a tactic which has been remarkably successful. In combat, they usually aim to cause as much mischief as humanely possible until they start to get tired. They'll subsequently make their escape and return any stolen structures back where they got them.

Cherub possesses cobalt-blue wings made out of a few hundred rhombus-shaped crystals. She is capable of controlling the crystals individually and uses them for offense, defense, and mobility.

Seraph utilizes heavy powered armor and a giant sword engulfed in blue fire. He generally keeps opponents distracted while his wife is stealing valuable objects from opposing heroes. If she doesn't like how their original owners acted, she'll later sell them on the Internet. Celes idolizes her.

Mad Magic usually shows off at least one new invention during each new plot. Most of them don't see later use.

Lord Baron Khan Cept

...Or Khan for short.

Khan is an Expert specializing in self-replicating robot animals. Each new generation generally has some defect or flaw which is then passed on to the next. By the time they're on their eighth generation, Khan's creations are barely capable of doing more than slowly waddling toward foes and headbutting their ankles.

Khan started out as a hero. Apparently, he switched after he was sued for property damage. His schtick didn't really change as a result of his transfer: he acts as pompous as possible while indirectly poking fun at himself and pretending he doesn't notice the implications. He's only broken character once, when he admitted his original name would've been twenty words long with plenty of mutually exclusive royal titles.

Khan's favorite minions are robotic bunnies. As that model is incapable of attacking living foes, there's plenty of footage of him yelling nonsensical threats at a crowd of puzzled-looking robots.

Exalt

An Enchanter with a focus on city improvement, Exalt made his debut in Nashville, Tennessee, when he promptly claimed the entire city was now under his control. Heroes had trouble finding him until one of them noticed the power grid was no longer pulling from any nearby power plants. This revelation made several others significantly more reluctant to go after Exalt without more intel; those who went after him claim to have ended up inside a large forcefield dome with no memory of how they got there. They were released by a forty-foot chrome ~~robot~~ "golem" after six hours with nothing more than a warning: "Behave yourselves."

In the six years since, Nashville has been turned into one of the safest and most prosperous cities on the entire planet. Some complain that the color scheme, IE shiny chrome with the occasional red forcefield, hurts their eyes. Exalt has ignored them. Any attempts to paint the chrome buildings another color have been treated as vandalizing public property and are generally punished with one week of community service. Those who sell sunglasses have claimed they're perfectly OK with this outcome.

Exalt is fond of cliched plots, including, and especially, dangling heroes over shark tanks. He also recently expressed an interest in "annexing" a few nearby towns, a declaration which promptly caused property values in those areas to skyrocket.

~~As usual, voting is still ongoing.~~

Alivaril · Apr 1, 2017

[X] You won't convince Mom to suddenly treat Skye like a new sister, but you should be able to convince her that Skye's on your side. She has no reason to hurt you and plenty of reasons to help you.
-[x] Related, at the very least she needs some disguise equipment. She did come out looking like you, after all.
-[X] Ask Mother for permission to go raid a store or three so Skye can copy your birthday gifts herself. Or if she could do it, if it'd be more convenient.

You cross your arms and try not to feel too much like a mini-me. As your mother is maintaining the exact same pose, it's rather difficult.

"Skye is, and will be, on our side until further notice. She has no reason to hurt us and plenty of reasons to help us instead. If we tilt the scale even further in favor of 'reasons to help us,' she'll eventually be indistinguishable from an adopted close sister."

Celes begins sweeping the spiders into one corner with a pushbroom you usually use for light snowfall. Her subsequent contribution to the conversation is accompanied by a pout which hasn't affected Mother since you were about eight years old.

"As an added bonus, we get to have an extra sister without any of the disgusting nopenopenopeDIE parts of pregnancy, infancy, unpleasant phases, and so on. She's already more-or-less grown. We'll just need to teach her that robot revolutions are not OK and everything will be just fine."

Your mother drops back into her usual emotionless mask. Annoying, but not unexpected.

"Whether you currently like Skye or not, you'll have to admit she has a useful power."

Your mother holds up one hand as a signal to stop.

"I do not hate or even dislike Skye. I expect I may even come to like her given enough time and reasons to do so. However, I have no intention of acting like she is one of my daughters. My opinion may change in time. Until then, I will treat her as if she were a friend you brought home with no warning, no prior mention of her existence, and few reasons to trust her."

Celes returns to your side in triumph, the end of broom coated with the blood of her enemies. Well, closer to goo, really. You're not surprised they weren't actually alive.

"I'm pretty sure Father will take our side when he wakes up," your twin grumbles.

Your mother rolls her eyes. "Most likely. Contrary to popular belief, he is old enough to make his own decisions."

After a moment of thought, you head over to the corner Skye is lurking in and physically drag her into the conversation. You subsequently point at her face with your free hand.

"No matter your opinion, she did come out looking like us. She'll need some disguise equipment. We can eliminate multiple issues by simply raiding a store or four and having her recreate our birthday gifts, Changeling Garb included. Could we have permission to do so? You could also do it yourself if you're willing to do so. It might be more convenient for everyone."

"Safer, too," Celes chimes in.

Mother's eyes flick over to Skye.

"I'm not even sure everything would work on you."

Skye meets her gaze, her face just as emotionless as Mother's. "It would."

"Oh? Including the Blur ring?"

"If you are referring to th—"

Your mother quickly slashes the air with one hand. "Stop."

Skye obediently goes silent, the corners of her mouth twitching upward.

"...I am genuinely interested in knowing how you managed that."

Skye's face twists in an unusually creepy smile. "I had temporary access to one of Progenitor's personal dimensions. Is that not enough?"

"I suppose that would do it, yes."

After several seconds, you wave one hand to break the unblinking staring contest held between your mother and new sister. Mother doesn't look away until after Skye does.

About half a minute later, Mother finally shakes her head and spins on one heel.

"I'm going to go administer the antidote to your father. We'll be down in a few minutes."

While your mother storms off, Celes pulls you and Skye into a group hug. While you return the favor, Skye doesn't do anything apart from a bit of balance correction. While you can't see Celes's smirk, a lifetime of experience tells you it's there.

"We both know Dad will take our side. So! What do you want to do in the way of different personas? We'll need one for school, obviously. I vote we use the Blur rings for that. Black masses of DOOOM kinda scream 'scary and serious' and I want something else for most other crimes. Dark magical girls? May not be a good choice for you or Skye but it might be OK for me and I bet we can all fake it. We could pretend to be heroes until we find a volunteer, you do your temporary upgrade thing, and we find out how much weaker her powers are afterward. Or we could skip that completely and just start doing the usual new Builder 'steal ALL the things!' prepwork until school starts. We'll probably want some expensive stuff. Maybe use throwaways for that? Or we could use it to boost the reputation of our 'fun' identities? C'mon, don't leave me hanging."

Options are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

[] Plan on using several throwaway identities while you steal resources for Skye's use.

[] Regardless of whether or not any of you become real magical girls at any point, agree to fake it.

[] You'd like to have a normal fun villain identity.

[] The MG guinea pig plan sounds like it'd work. You might not even have to break in.
-[] You don't want to do anything which would risk revealing Upgrade, though. That would just encourage heroes to take you down ASAP.
--[] Maybe Celes could take the fall and pretend she's "overcharging" the artifact?

[] Juggling a whole bunch of different personas sounds like it'd be a bit of a pain. How about you start off with one and see what happens?
-[] You'd actually prefer to have just one cape identity running at any given time.
-[] Plan on using the Blur ring to help with schoolwide rep and keeping your identities safe.

~~[] How about you imitate Mom and hold off on making any permanent cape identities for a bit? You've still got about two or three weeks before school would start.~~ You know Celes would pester you until you agreed on at least one.

[] Write-in

I'm removing the cap on experimentation. Use
[][Experiment] (Write-in)
for them.

More costly experiments with the most votes will be done first. The cheapest ones (AKA shotgun) would come next. They wouldn't require more than 1 vote and would be selected based on available time and current thread/character interests. More expensive experiments which fall somewhere in the middle (in terms of support) would come last. Selection criteria may be modified by a standing vote, provided an alternative idea gets >50% support and a minimum of fifteen votes. I may also tweak the system based on feedback; this is by no means set in stone.

Example said:
[][Experiment] See if the taste of upgraded food changes any.

Previously-proposed experiments will be tracked and done later. You don't need to revote for them.

[X] [Experiment 1] Check if Reverse allows you to ignore the cooldown time on the Boots of Blink.
No. of Votes: 5

[X][Experiment 1] The function of the Ghost's Mask is to protect us while remaining unnoticed. it would be better if it were impossible to notice. Upgrade.
No. of Votes: 2

[X][Experiment 1] The function of a wall is to act as a barrier between the inside and outside of a structure. Doors are a weakness in this barrier. A door that can't be opened is therefore an improvement. Upgrade.
No. of Votes: 1

[X] [Experiment 1] Test our learning by seeing how fast we can read while still comprehending information.
No. of Votes: 1

[X][Experiment 1] Use Analysis on dad's snoring.
No. of Votes: 1

[X][Experiment 1] The ring of recall is meant to get us out of dangerous situations. It could do so better if it would activate if we are about to die. Upgrade.
No. of Votes: 1

[X] [Experiment 1] Boots of Blink are meant to grant us mobility, cool down times and limited charge limit how much mobility they grant us. thus removing these limitations would be better. Upgrade.
No. of Votes: 1

[X] [Experiment 1] Test if we can form a group with Celes just with the shared goal of 'figuring out our powers'.
No. of Votes: 1

[X] [Experiment 1] Your body and mind need daily rest to recover. Check if you can upgrade yourself to reduce this amount, or even remove it altogether. Upgrade.
No. of Votes: 1

[X][Experiment 2] The purpose of a hallway is to get you to rooms through doors, it would be better if those rooms did not have to be the ones physically attached to the hallway. Upgrade.
No. of Votes: 4

[X] [Experiment 2] determine power costs for Upgrading ourselves and our sisters(physique, reaction times, eyesight, etc...)
No. of Votes: 2

[X][Experiment 2] The function of a door is to allow access to an area. Therefore, an opened door is an improvement over a closed or locked door. Upgrade.
No. of Votes: 1

[X] [Experiment 2] Check if Reverse allows you to ignore the cooldown time on the Boots of Blink.
No. of Votes: 1

[X] [Experiment 2] Test our learning by seeing how fast we can read while still comprehending information.
No. of Votes: 1

[X] [Experiment 2] Lungs are supposed to draw useful components from the air. They would be better if they did not oxorb harmful substances which get in the way of their proper function. Upgrade.
No. of Votes: 1

[X][Experiment 2] Try glancing through a book and then reading through the copy in our memory using recall.
No. of Votes: 1

[X] [Experiment 2] Boots of Blink are meant to teleport you from one place to another. It would be better if this was not limited to 5 yards. Upgrade.
No. of Votes: 1

[X] [Experiment 2] Get her to start using showing off some of her powers to activate Analysis and Comprehend with.
No. of Votes: 1

While it may not be relevant just yet, there's a separate set for automatic upgrades. By default, in the absence of an experimentation session to burn all your capacity on or a vote specifying different timing, you'll automatically work on any ongoing projects.
[][Project] Write-in

Example said:
[][Project] Use up to 20% of your daily energy on a generic upgrade for your Changeling Garb.

Voting will be locked until 30 minutes after this first goes up.

Alivaril · Apr 4, 2017

[X] Use several throwaway identities to steal resources for Skye's use.
[x] Regardless of whether or not any of you become real magical girls at any point, agree to fake it.
-[x] In your school identity, at least. Further identities might be MGs or not depending on your goals for those identities.
[x] Given how varied and powerful your powers are, maintaining multiple identities is a no-brainer.
-[x] However, it'd be suspicious if all of your identities showed up at once, and you need practice, so start with just one.
-[x] You do not want to be Thing 1 and Thing 2 - and Thing 3 now, too - so you're going to have to field some kind of disguise for school.
--[x] You may also need to fake the Magical Girl transformation. Chameleon garb? You can work together build a scheme that won't give away that you have a powerful patron?

You fold your arms and look up at the ceiling.

"Reputation is all well and good, but we'll make a lot of people very upset in short order if we start stealing supplies for Skye. We can use a handful of throwaways for that. Thing 1 and Thing 2 need to stay buried until further notice."

Celes nods quickly. "Agreed. Embarrassing names aside, that was fun. Let's use them if we ever need a fun-hero identity."

"Maybe. For identities we keep, it'd obviously be suspicious if all our identities showed up at once—"

"Start of a new school year is coming up," Celes interrupts. "We'll have tons of new capes in and around town. Of course, that also means a lot more heroes and villains to get in our way for a while, so..."

You nod once, ceding the point. "I think we can just figure it out as we go along, then. It's not like we really need a lot of prep work for villainous debuts; villains act, heroes react, and our powers are varied enough to maintain quite a few identities at a time. Meanwhile, I'm mortally certain you'll have trouble staying quiet if a hero shows up while we're using a throwaway—"

"Hey! I resemble that remark!"

"...meaning we'll need to grab a voice filter for our masks. I'm willing to have us pretend to be dark MGs for school at the very least, although we might need to find some way to fake a transformation sequence. I sincerely doubt the chameleon garb will come with the necessary lightshow."

Celes grins. "Oh, that's easy. I bet I can set up a multicolored miniature tornado to trigger when I say some really ridiculous catchphrase. We just alter the garb under cover of that and everything would be K."

Your twin's eyes widen comically just before she releases a gasp worthy of a certain pink party pony.

"Oh. My. Goodness. My powerset is so perfect for this! Even though I think I can only have a few shortcuts available at any one time, it's not like the powers of most MGs are very varied anyway. The longer the phrase, the larger the original command it can be linked to." After a small pause, your sister wrinkles her nose. "Still, how do I go about making giant doom lasers nonlethal...?"

"Please keep a Geiger counter on hand."

Celes doesn't respond, obviously ignoring you. Skye remains as quiet as usual, apparently content to silently stare at the crazy people who ~~kidnapped~~ rescued her.

"Celes?" you prompt.

"Bwuh?" Celes blinks several times and refocuses on you. "Oh, right. So! I can't hear any more shrieking stars from upstairs and I think I heard the window creak a little bit ago. Mom and Dad prolly snuck out. Whatd'ya wanna do while they're gone? I think we know enough to avoid burning the house down."

"...Says the girl who wants to experiment with potentially radioactive laserbeams," you deadpan.

"Citation needed."

"You set the toaster on fire when we were five."

"Oh, come on! It's not my fault I didn't know you couldn't butter toast beforehand."

"It definitely is. I remember Mom telling us to only put unladen bread in there."

"She said it was 'cuz we shouldn't get the inside of the toaster dirty. She also said the toaster needed to be washed. Now explain how you got from 'breaking the toaster' to 'radioactive laserbeams!'"

"Remember how Dad used to have one of Overseer's Mark VI drones up in the attic? The one with the broken beam cannon? The one you decided to play with?"

"...Traitor."

[] Go experiment with your abilities until you run out of power or ideas, whichever comes first. Probably power.

[] Grab your laptop and start researching the different capes of your hometown, along with average crime response time and current curriculum for Paragon.

[] Skye doesn't know how to human yet. Weird habits are better than terrifying habits, right? Introduce her to one or more human activities.
-[] Lunar Invasion, a competitive strategy (tabletop) wargame.
-[] Start picking out cooperative video games at random.
-[] Magical girl anime. If she's going to pretend to be a MG, she needs to know what they are.
-[] REAL magical girl fights.
--[] Preferably ones involving dark MGs.
-[] Some of the more entertaining fights among non-serious heroes and villains.

[] Write-in

Alivaril · Apr 5, 2017

All of the emoticons were SUPPOSED to be in text format. SV had other ideas.

[x] Skye doesn't know how to human yet. Weird habits are better than terrifying habits, right? Introduce her to one or more human activities.
-[x] Magical girl anime. If she's going to pretend to be a MG, she needs to know what they are.
-[x] Throw in some slice-of-life too, so she knows how to behave when she's not being a magical girl.
-[x] Do some very light Upgrade experimentation during less important parts.
[x] Whatever you do, stay on guard. That squeeing noise was a sign of things to come; you just know that your Mom is going to start testing your new powers sooner rather than later.
-[x] Bias any experimentation toward things that'd be useful to you when Mom and Dad decide it's go time.
--[x] Suggest this course of action to Celes and Skye.

"Skye should really learn how to act a bit more human. Warrior magical girl anime with some slice of life on the side?"

Celes shrugs. "Sure, why not?"

You both turn to your new sister. Once again, she completely fails to take the hint.

"Skye?" you prompt. "Do you have any objections?"

The former AI shakes her head. "Negative."

After a small pause, you try to look down Skye's throat. Her voice was as emotionless as it usually is, but something else made it in there. An odd vibration, maybe?

Celes presses one hand to Skye's throat, frowning.

"What's with the weird voice?"

"I am still learning how to change my voice to convey different emotions. This will be an acceptable stopgap until I am successful."

"...Teach me, my m—"

"No." You pull your sisters away from each other. "If you have time to do something which isn't teaching Skye how to human, practice with your powers. Did you hear Mother squee earlier? If we don't convince her we have everything well in hand, expect her 'self-defense lessons' to get a whole lot worse."

Celes pouts, drapes her right arm around Skye's shoulders, and drags her into the living room.

"One magical girl marathon, coming right up..."

[X][Experiment] Attempt to Reverse/Repair an object we used Upgrade on. See if it can undo Upgrade.

Reverse can undo upgrades. Unfortunately, you don't get the expended power back afterward.

[x] [Experiment] Upgrade: Keyboards (or other input peripherals) are an information-theoretic pipeline between your brain and your computer. Higher bandwidth and lower latency are better.

…?

Failure.

[x] [Experiment] Upgrade: Shoes are for moving. Flight is better movement than walking.

??? (>.<)'

Failure.

[X][Experiment] Use Analysis on the TV computer. Specifically, when it's showing Capes using their powers.

=/

You have the vague feeling you'd have better luck with a significantly better method of viewing and/or recording. The on-screen footage seems to be missing at least one important piece of information. Probably more.

[X] [Experiment] The boots of blink are intended for travel between one place and another. They would function better if they weren't limited by distance. Upgrade.

(^.^)

The chain almost seems valid. Tweaking it to "longer range" works out better.

[X] [Experiment] Spend a minute walking around the house, being careful to avoid retracing your steps wherever possible. Then reverse yourself by thirty seconds before trying to reverse yourself to fifteen seconds. This will determine if you can adjust where in your power's thirty second window an object/person is.

(>_< ) ( >_<)

When you try this, you end up sending your body back fifty-two seconds. Further uses of Reverse only send you further back.

Even more testing reveals that Reverse seldom goes back the exact amount you'd intended, instead adding or subtracting up to twenty-five percent. Aiming for four seconds will instead send you back three to five.

[X][Experiment] Overdrive a small, transparent glass bead and <test whether non-powered items can be target of overdrive>

You're able to use Overdrive on the bead without incident. It would be a bit odd if you weren't able to do so; Overdrive's primary purpose is to increase the magnitude of upgrades at the cost of destroying affected objects at the end of that time.

-[X] Have one of sister attempt to damage her in some small way to test Immune. <check whether Immune works>

Invulnerability remains intact. It seems you just need to use Overdrive on something to gain that particular benefit.

-[X] Jump from 2m down to check if legs hurts on impact. <check whether self-induced environmental hazard are accounted by Immune>

You find yourself forced downward upon landing. Apart from that, you take no damage.

-[X] Punch a wall to check if fists hurts on impact. <check it side-effects of actions are accounted by Immune>

You head out to the backyard and punch the stone walkway instead. Once again, you can feel the impact. It just doesn't damage you.

-[X] Try to Borrow glass bead transparency property. <test whether non-powered property of item can be target of Borrow>

! >:(

Distant anger makes itself known somewhere far behind the back of your skull. You quickly move on, not sure what your power found offensive about the idea.

-[X] Try to Upgrade bead transparency to near-invisibility and Borrow near-invisibility property. <test whether we can cheat into getting invisibility>

:)

With the help of Overdrive, you're able to turn the bead invisible without any problems. Even though you think borrowing that particular property was successful, you don't see any difference in the appearance of your own body. Waving your hand in front of Celes's face confirms that you're still perfectly visible and earns you a light slap on the wrist.

Meanwhile, the anger quickly fades, replaced by happiness and… something odd? You get the feeling your power wants to pat you on the head, possibly with a side dose of praise.

I'm not four or a dog.

:(

The feeling vanishes, leaving you feeling like you'd kicked a small puppy. You rub at your forehead with one palm and quietly sigh, earning a worried look from Celes. You wave her back to the show.

...Um, I'm sorry?

>_>

Really, I am. I'm not used to new people trying to convey that sort of thing, not without some unpleasant (and often creepy) ulterior motive.

… :3
<3

[x] [Experiment] Reverse: Test it on yourself, make sure you know how to deal with the disorientation.

Mom already spent quite a bit of time on teaching you and Celes how to function under the effects of vertigo, dizziness, blurry vision, phantom noises, abrupt changes in scenery, and other sensory betrayals. Thanks to all that, you get the feeling Skye is going to be the only one in need of supplementary Reverse adaptation.

[x] [Experiment] Upgrade: A key's purpose is to open doors. Opening more doors would be better. Upgrade.

While you don't feed it enough power to actually see the effects, the chain seems to be valid.

[x] [Experiment] Upgrade: Maps are intended to represent the world. Better maps are more up-to-date. ~~Upgrade until it's near-realtime.~~

>_>

Failure? You feel like you're close-ish...

[X] [Experiment] Boots of Blink allow you to teleport through space. Space and Time are the same so the boots should allow you to teleport through time. Upgrade.

??? =S

Failure.

[X] [Experiment] Changeling Garb is designed to be comfortable in all natural weather. Firestorms are a natural kind of weather so it should protect against the extreme heat of a firestorm. Upgrade.

Valid chain.

[X] [Experiment] Visit a random wikipedia page you've never read and scroll through it without reading it. Then try and see if you can recall the page well enough to read it's content.

You can, albeit at your normal reading speed.

[X] [Experiment] Try and remember what you had for breakfast 17 days ago. This will help determine if Record has been retroactively applied or if it only applies to new memories.

You can't remember. It would seem Record is only going to record new ones.

[X] [Experiment] Find an image of a "Where's Wally" map. Glance over it once and then try and find Wally based solely off your memory of the map.

As with the wiki page, you're successful. It still takes just as much time to parse the memory as it would to search the poster.

[X] [Experiment] Learn enhances your Analysis and Comprehend abilities; both of which work by extrapolating data from observations. Generate a couple hundred numbers with a pseudorandom number generator and see if Learn will help you extrapolate the following numbers or even the generation method the PRNG uses.

@.@

...I have no idea what I'm doing.

You're ultimately forced to admit defeat. A quick test proves that your pattern recognition is certainly better than it used to be, but not to that extent.

[X] [Experiment] Find the oldest thing in the house that isn't in peak condition that your parents wouldn't mind you experimenting with. Try and use Repair to restore it to peak condition. This will give you an idea if there is some kind of upper limit on how old damage Repair can Repair.

!!! T_T

Acting on vague urges from your power, you stop yourself from repairing the century-old vase. You get the feeling you'd be successful, but it'd drain your entire Repair pool for the day and still wouldn't be finished.

As Celes is the expert on MG shows, you let her choose what you'll be showing Skye: Alice's Adventures in Azure Academy. The 'based on a true story' claim at the very start of the show almost makes you snort water out your nose, a painful problem you fix via a five-second Reverse.

While you haven't seen it before, the formula doesn't really seem any different from the usual.

Episode 1: Late for school, signs of chronic depression, delivers supplies to a couple clubs after school is done, subsequently spies on a fight between a monster and a senior MG, magical talking animal gives her powers of Hope and Justice, moderately creepy transformation sequence, almost gets herself killed trying to support a senior and almost messes up the sealing in the process, is subsequently yelled at. You vaguely hope you'll have a DMG as a protagonist, but nope! Senior's partner shows up, apologizes, and invites Alice to a blatant expy of Prism. Or maybe all magical girl schools are the same; you're not sure. The show was made in Japan, so maybe the imitation is unintentional. Oh, and you get an after-credits glimpse of a DMG you're guessing will be the main antagonist for season one.

Episode 2: Alice's first school day at Azure Academy, unintentionally malicious magical girls, clumsy in classes, receives sympathy and assistance instead of the laughter Alice was clearly expecting, paraphrased 'with great power comes great responsibility,' hurting civilians is bad, annoying commercial break which somehow got through your adblock. Alice accidentally teamkills during combat gym class, is subsequently teamkilled, has the opportunity to watch a comical display of ineptitude and (un)friendly fire.

You look the show up online while the credits for episode 2 scroll past. Apparently, Alice does turn into a dark magical girl at the very end of episode 4. Unfortunately, if the summaries you're looking at are even remotely reliable, it seems she'll belong to the Gloom and Angst school of thought for another six half-hour episodes. Yes, she'll apparently turn into the entertaining version at the end of that time, but until then? You're not really sure this is what you should be teaching your new sister.

Vague unease crystallizes into dread when Skye speaks up.

"Celes, I would appreciate it if you waited before we begin the next episode."

Celes holds up both hands, leaving the remote in her lap. Skye nods once before continuing.

"If I am not mistaken, I am currently dressed as a magical girl despite a severe absence of such abilities."

You hadn't really spared much thought for Skye's outfit. It isn't much different from any of the cosplay outfits Celes wears when Mom isn't around to tell her not to.

"You are also both planning on being villains. Unless I am very much mistaken, you will be violating multiple laws in addition to generally going against what human society expects of people with powers. You will be pursued by magical girls, heroes, and other villains. Earlier, I remained silent because I did not have enough information to judge what I wanted to do with my life and assumed you knew what you were doing. I have decided on at least one thing: I do not wish to be confined again."

Skye turns away and points at the television.

"If we lose? That is apparently what will happen to me."

...Sealing? Jail time? The only thing on the screen is the preview for the next episode.

Your sister turns toward you and silently mouths something at you. You spend a few extra seconds puzzling it out and end up covering your upper face with one hand when you succeed.

"Help? I've never seen this before. I thought it'd be OK."

Dammit, Celes!

<(*.*<) ?

While the thought is appreciated, I'm not even sure you're capable of giving a hug.

>.<
^^;

"If villainy is the career path you wish to pursue, I do not believe I have either the ability or inclination to stop you. That being said, it very much sounds like I would be better off if I left and joined Paragon or Prism. I will not fight you should we cross paths again; you freed me from Progenitor. I do not wish to be placed in an equivalent situation."

[] Urge Skye to hold on for another, oh, eight hours of watching? That should be more than enough time for DMGs to get a more sympathetic portrayal.
-[] By the way, the whole "with great power comes great responsibility" thing is total hooey. It's a way for norms to place extra responsibilities and expectations on capes while blatantly downplaying their own ability to help or harm other people.

[] Villains who actually hurt people are seriously pursued. You'll just be having fun; even if you're caught, they'll either let you escape, release you with a slap on the wrist, or offer to let you be heroes. Skye doesn't need to worry about being confined again.

[] She'll be treated as just another student if she goes away. You like her, will provide her with a support base, and are trying to adopt her as your new sister.

[] Villains can afford to run away if they're faced with someone terrifying, but still perceived to be within their weight class. Heroes? Not so much. You might have more opponents as villains, but at least you can run away AND the extra ones usually won't try to kill you.

[] Write-in

Voting will be locked for 60 minutes after this first goes up.
Good luck.

Alivaril · Apr 8, 2017

[x] Reassure Skye.
-[x] Not all villains are the same, and they don't have the same level of risk.
--[x] Even serious villains - your Mom occasionally steals things for her enchanting and never catches real heat because she doesn't hurt anybody.
--[x] You're planning to be straight-up fun villains, even further away from doing things that'd get you in trouble. Dakka, Mad Magic, Khan Cept, some of them are downright beloved. Your goal is to be so corny and fun that the heroes would break you out if you somehow ended up in jail.

"Not all villains are the same, whether we're referring to risk, activities, public perception, powers, or something else along those lines. There are good reasons why capes are frequently divided into five categories—serious heroes, fun heroes, serious villains, fun villains, and freelancers—instead of just two. Even those within the same category don't have the same level of risk; Mother frequently steals reagents she needs for her Emissary creations, and although I'm relatively certain the heroes have long since figured out she exists, there aren't serious attempts to go after her since she never damages anyone."

"Except Overseer, but everybody hated that guy," Celes interjects. "His drones didn't discriminate in what they recorded, see? He was technically a hero, but even other heroes frequently opposed his efforts. Like Dad. Seriously, I'm convinced Overseer had a charisma score of, like, five."

You flash a smile at Celes before picking up where you left off. "Meanwhile, we're planning on having at least one of our identities be fun villains. Skye, you've probably never heard the term 'HINO' or 'VINO,' for 'Villain/Hero In Name Only,' but those terms are sometimes used in reference to certain capes. Dakka? Not only did he provide challenging fights, but even tracking him down could be tricky. His activities improved tourism and it wasn't uncommon for a cape to 'anonymously' leak Dakka's location once they'd found him so civilians could watch the fireworks.

"Mad Magic? Their most blatant heroic effect is raising attention for causes which could really use it, but don't make the mistake of thinking that's the only one. They've deliberately conflated a lack of fatalities with increased difficulty—which happens to be true—and have repeatedly mocked those who resort to it. The heroes picked up on it and started rapidly defeating anyone they deliberately draw attention to, further reinforcing the idea that killing is both the easy way out and one you really don't want to try taking. Even their thefts have raised the bar for what glory-seeking villains need to do if they want national or international attention.

"Khan Cept? He's deliberately provided a sometimes-cringeworthy strawman of villainy and encouraged capes to turn to heroism if they actually want respect. Those who find him entertaining and subsequently turn to villainy will sometimes try to imitate at least some of his methods, which means never taking themselves too seriously or seriously hurting people. Even if some villains use such behavior as a smokescreen for more nefarious activities and think they're being clever for doing so, that still means they aren't killing.

"We want at least one of our identities to be as beloved as they are. That means being corny, fun, and perceived as relatively harmless, redeemable, or both. When we succeed, the heroes will basically make it so easy for us to break out that they might as well have done it themselves."

Celes slowly claps, raising an eyebrow at you. You imitate her usual behavior and flick your tongue out for a few moments.

She grins and taps Skye on the shoulder. "He doesn't exactly fall within any of the five categories, but even Progenitor helped in his own way. People used to get powers from absurdly stressful or life-threatening scenarios. A great many people wanted access to them so badly they'd put themselves or others through metaphorical hell in order to make it happen. Few succeeded, many died, all were miserable."

Your sister abruptly seems to realize she shouldn't be smiling while talking about such serious topics. At least, that's your guess for the sudden appearance of a serious-looking frown.

--[x] And then there's power. Your Mom, again, never gets into trouble because she's too good to get caught. You, with your powersets and your parents' teaching all this time? You're set.
-[x] You wouldn't be choosing this alternative if you thought you were going to be captured. If anything, you're choosing it because you think it'll give you more freedom overall.
-[x] Heroes are constrained by the laws. Punching Progenitor in the face because it'd be funny, he deserved it, and nothing actually bad would happen, for example, that's definitely in fun-villain territory. Cite the good fun villains again.
-[x] That said, you'll support her if she wants to stay on the straight and narrow. You plan to run multiple identities and there's no reason that Skye can't choose to only go out when you're being heroic. You just recommend gathering more data for now. You don't want fear to drive her to a half-informed decision.

After a long delay, you break the resulting silence. "Power is important, too. Part of why Mom never gets into trouble is 'cuz she's too good to get caught. I bet she'd just call a lawyer or cite some ridiculous law even if she was. I'm not going to tempt fate by saying 'we're set,' but she's literally been training us our entire lives and has apparently improved us in other ways. Between that and our versatile powersets, we'll probably be relatively OK. We wouldn't be choosing this option otherwise, nor would we choose it if we didn't think it's the best one for freedom and having fun.

"To elaborate, heroes are constrained by laws, sanity, and public opinion. Pretending to punch Progenitor in the face while setting off a giant explosion? Celes, what were your motives, exactly?"

Your twin grins. "Amusement factor. Similar, if lesser, precedent showed he'd probably be more amused and interested than anything else."

"Guilty as charged."

You blink and rub at your forehead, feeling as though someone just targeted your spine with an ice power. Celes appears to be having a similar reaction while Skye appears completely unfazed.

"...What just happened?" someone asks. A look at Record reveals you're the one responsible.

Celes hesitates for several moments before she shrugs. "Progenitor doesn't like people talkin' shit about him like he wouldn't find out?"

^_^;

"...Right. Okay. Well, moving on. Skye? We'll support you if you want to stay on the straight and narrow path. Like we said earlier, we're planning on having multiple cape identities and there's no reason you'll have to accompany us for the villainous ones if you don't want to. You'd still be welcome for the heroic personas. However, I recommend you simply wait and gather information for now. Like, this show? It's too one-sided. I have some others I'd like to show you instead."

Skye pauses for the better part of ten seconds before nodding with exaggerated slowness.

"Advice accepted."

-[x] Watch phantom thief / dark magical girl / some other anime that we know which will show good and evil as similarly silly.

Hours later, a twisted mockery of space and sanity places one hand on Skye's shoulder...

"HELLO THERE, LITTLE CONSTRUCT. I'M TOLD OUR DAUGHTERS WISH TO ADOPT YOU?"

...Or, put another way, Dad is home. Turning around, you spot your mother facepalming behind him.

Skye stares up at Dad, visibly trying—and failing—to properly focus on him. She groans and closes her eyes after several seconds, a reaction other Minds have had in the past. At least, if they avoided their inevitable urge to run away screaming. You're assuming Skye shares your immunity to the latter.

"How do you function?"

Really? I know I made some near-impossible stuff in that dimension of yours.

"Quite well, actually. Thank you for asking. Now..."

Dad looks between Skye's outfit and the pair of dark magical girls displayed on the nearby TV.

"I hereby declare a Mandatory Family Fun—"

Celes's hand shoots up and she immediately begins to speak. "I thought we agreed to rename it 'Mandatory Family Torture'?"

Dad pretends he didn't hear her. "...A Mandatory Family Fun session tomorrow afternoon. Prism is showing potential MGs and their parents around the school. Unless anyone needs to save the world, we're going."

Celes betrays you by squealing before you can properly formulate a response.

I'm not sure you're helping, Dad. You think the past few hours have almost guaranteed Skye's willingness to go out with your villain personas, but you're not positive she's sold on the idea of going to Dragon. As you'd need to explain your decision to swap, it's too late for you and Celes. Skye? Not so much.

While the idea of watching a bunch of MGs try to befriend her does sound rather amusing, you're not sure you're comfortable letting them instill stupid ideas in your new sister. Provided it isn't the other way around, of course. The idea of Skye turning an entire class of MGs into copies of herself almost earns a giggle from you.

[] Can you put it off for a few days? You'd like to take a look at their artifact while you're there.
-[] Pull Dad aside: Also, Skye expressed doubts about going to Dragon and being a villain a few hours ago. You'd prefer not to indirectly encourage them.
-[] "Mom? Help hereby requested?"

[] Sure? It's a bit sudden, but you don't see a good enough reason to avoid doing so. It's not like you can't just go back later if you need to.
-[] Make sure Mother is paying attention before adding that it'd be a good way to innocently scout the area.

[] Write-in

Fragmentation (Original Superhero Setting)

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On a magically-deficient journey of self-discovery

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