- Location
- Somewhere.
I wonder if we're going to interact with some of the other possible protagonists...You don't know.
No, but seriously, that information remains relevant IC.
Fragmentation (Original Superhero Setting)
- Thread starter Alivaril
- Start date
- Original
2.1: Pairs
- Location
- A single human dimension
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[x] First things first: Make sure this isn't a test.
"Just to be absolutely certain, this isn't a test, is it?"
Your mother shakes her head.
"To quote a certain wise madman, 'the time for such things has passed.' Now that you'll be going out into the world, we need you to be able to trust our advice and judgment. Failing that, to at least know we aren't trying to sabotage you."
"For what it's worth, I do support her reasoning. Having heroic character witnesses is important if you're ever up on the stand."
Dad merely grins when this response earns a glare from Mother.
[x] If Mom is serious...
[x] You're thinking of following Mom's plan - it is Mom's plan, she knows what she's doing, and Dad seems to be backing her up - but relay Skye's idea anyway.
-[x] Besides, you're not going to find a better set of rivals than one selected by Mom. Revealing your secret identities to them seems extreme, but…
You spent an extra thirty-odd seconds conferring with your siblings before you return your attention to Mother.
"Okay. Well, I guess we're not going to find a better set of rivals than one selected by you guys. So, we're thinking of following your plan, but Skye thinks she should be able to use some of Prism's walls, Upgrade, and our preexisting masks in order to make better identity concealment. If you're only worried about paper-thin disguises, we should be able to do something about that."
Your mother quickly shakes her head.
"As much as I know you'll probably chafe at the idea of failure, it is a possibility and it should be planned for. I don't doubt that you can conjure up some better disguises and I highly recommend doing so for most of your identities. But having sympathetic rivals opens up a lot of doors. I'd likely have had to serve a few months in prison were it not for some old heroic contacts I used to have."
This is honestly news to you. You'd always been under the impression that your mother had never, ever been caught, and never really had more than one crime linked to a single identity.
Celes doesn't take in the revelation as quietly as you do.
"Wait, really?"
Your dad snorts and shakes his head.
"She exaggerates. And they weren't her friends, they were mine, thank you very much."
"You underestimate the threat they could've posed had they been so inclined," Mother mutters.
Dad shakes his head again.
"How about a better example? Say, Mad Magic. Their identities are practically an open secret in New York, but nobody ever goes after them, not even the people who were burned by Celestial."
Mother seems to pick up on the gleam of fanaticism in Celes's eyes and quickly rolls with it.
"Seraph was arrested by Dragon once — apparently, Dragon is practically a goddess in their presence and nobody is quite sure why — only to have over a dozen heroes in New York alone personally vouch for him and his wife. Merely having a friendly rivalry is insufficient for that; heroes need to know that you're still good people beneath the mask. Since you are, we just need to have a few people who know that."
"Especially given the sort of thing you're likely to get up to at Dragon," Dad adds. "Honestly, I'll be shocked if you haven't effectively suborned half the school by the end of the first quarter."
"Blackmailed, dear," Mother corrects him.
"But that's such an ugly word."
Your mother winces.
"How did I miss that?"
"Stress?" Dad suggests. "At any rate, you girls should really get going. Go have some fun, get the lay of the land, set up some improvised deathtraps, that sort of thing. Your phones are charged?"
You and Celes both nod.
"Good. We'll go get Skye a cell phone of her own while you're busy."
Dad appears to think long and hard before finally turning to face Skye.
"Just so you know, we weren't trying to snub you with the gifts. Well, Elspeth was at first, but she came around. While your sisters severely underestimate how much those cost to make in the first place, we are going to try to duplicate some of them for you. It just might take until tonight or tomorrow to finish."
Your father shrugs.
"Personally, I think this is a great time for misunderstandings to lead to a broken family, so I just thought I'd make that abundantly clear."
Skye blinks slowly, appearing entirely indifferent to the declaration. Of course, she looks like that for pretty much everything, so she might be happy on the inside? Maybe?
"So noted."
Two minutes later, you're standing at the prismatic gates of Prism, staring at two girls a year or so older than you are. One of them is using her thumb to bookmark a coverless paperback while the other has been ingesting entirely too much sugar.
"Hellllo there, potential underclassgirls!"
"That is not a real word. Your mutilation of our language is an affront to all living beings," her purple-haired partner sighs.
The transformed MG promptly ignores her with the ease of long practice.
"You should already know this since we were requested, but my name is Julia. Little Miss Grumpypants next to me is Ayna. Also, we're dating, and if you have a problem with that we should get the mandatory butt-whooping out of the way right now. I reserve the right to make inappropriate sibling jokes if it comes to that."
Ayna's eyes narrow.
"Technically dating," she rebukes frostily. "I would like to make that abundantly clear. It's a good modifier to have."
Celes gives them an odd look and says what you're both thinking.
"I'm about seventy percent certain you're trying to bait us into asking for elaboration. Why?"
Julia looks genuinely taken aback.
"Wha'?"
Ayna glances at her partner, sighs, and shakes her head.
"Julia only has ten deceptive bones in her entire body. Nine of them fuel her own delusions. No, she's just at the stage where she wants to 'defend my honor' via beating up anyone who so much looks at me funny. After her next evolution, she'll be skipping class and smoking cigarettes."
Julia glares at her partner and tries to clear her throat. It sounds disgustingly similar to a rat with congestive problems.
"We don't actually evolve. Ever. That is not a thing that magical girls do."
"Actually, that's not one hundred percent true, especially as you get older. Just look at Princess Pink; I guarantee she'll change before she hits thirteen. I will enjoy mocking her mercilessly in subsequent years."
"Teasing," Julia says firmly. "Mockery leads to angsty Darks. Anyway, that's beside the point! We're supposed to be bringing these three on a tour, not having a lover's spat."
Ayna gives her a flat look.
"Two out of ten, get better bait. Anyway, you couldn't navigate your way out of a cardboard box. My own knowledge of Prism's architecture and history is sorely lacking. And yet, their parents asked for us specifically. The tour is just an excuse for socialization and everyone here but you knows it."
"Well, she's not wrong," Celes remarks telepathically before switching to speaking aloud. "We're right here, you know."
Celes is completely ignored by the two arguing magical girls.
"They could want to explore. Or meet the one mirror twin in the school who's open about her status and picked me to fill out the minimum requirement. I mean, look at them." Julia waves in your general direction. "Cheerful, analytic, and cloudy. A bit obvious, don't you think?"
"Still right here," you interject.
"They're not mirror triplets, dummy. I checked already. And anyway, our redemption story isn't exactly the type most parents would try for, is it? If they're anything like you, they'd spoil it by polishing firearms in the living room."
"I don't think you've ever met mirror triplets. We don't know if you can sense them."
Celes leans close to you.
"'Only technically dating.' Riiiight. So what do you think their kids will look like?" your sister stage-whispers.
Ayna freezes completely. Julia doesn't seem to care about the comment until her partner reacts, after which point she immediately turns to glower at Celes.
"We're both girls. That doesn't even work."
Celes rolls her eyes.
"Oh yeah, like that's ever stopped anyone with powers. Adoption is a thing, too."
Julia's eyes narrow even further. For her own part, Ayna swallows and forces herself to start moving again, pulling her partner back.
"We can take a hint. We'll stop ignoring you; good job, now I have to ask directly. So. Why are you here? Why us? You'd think backstabbing one villain—"
"Literally."
"—Would discourage others from trying to recruit me."
Julia leans forward and mock-whispers, apparently having forgotten she was upset with you.
"I keep telling her she should go for it just to get the bonuses from Comedic Chronic Backstabbing Disorder."
"Too risky. Anyone with so much as a smidgen of intelligence could easily turn me into the foolish girl who tried to infiltrate a group beyond her capabilities."
"And then you go full-fledged chessmaster 'everything according to keikaku' and are perfectly K."
Ayna rubs at her forehead with one hand.
"No. Villains aren't dumb and you have a bad habit of underestimating them. Just stick with dating me. The risks are easy enough to mitigate as long as we keep our heads."
"See? You don't have to insert 'technically' in there. Especially since it might classify me as a stalker with…"
Julia trails off and narrows her eyes.
"Waaait a second. Are you trying to be identified as a tsundere? Because this is how magic decides you're a tsundere. Have we even had classes on them yet?"
Ayna's mouth opens slightly as she stares blankly at her partner.
"...No," she manages eventually. "That's stupid. You're stupid. So stupid, in fact, that everyone here just got a little dumber from hearing that. Apologize."
"I get the feeling they've forgotten us," you silently remark.
"No kidding. You ask?"
"Sure."
"You know, we're not actually villains in the first place."
Technically, it's true. You're effectively unaffiliated right now.
"And what's this whole backstabbing story? I wanna hear," Celes adds.
Julia visibly brightens. Ayna takes one look at her reaction and immediately facepalms.
"Okay, so Ayna here is the mirror clone of a, um, thoroughly unpleasant individual."
"Psychopathic bitch," Ayna translates dryly.
"Yes, that. Um. So, anyway, dark mirrors aren't intended to produce good twins and the spell got a bit confused. Long story short, she rescued lil' ol' me from a potential S-Minus-Class Serious Business villain."
"Quit exaggerating. She was A-class at worst."
"We'll compromise and call her an A with those little dot thingies."
"...Accent marks?"
"Probably."
Ayna slumps and closes her eyes.
"Why do I put up with you?"
"You know you love me."
Ayna covers her face with both hands and quietly groans. Julia grins widely and takes the opportunity to resume her story.
"So, yeah. Backstabbed her evil twin — literally, it was awesome — and flat-out stated she loved me."
Ayna doesn't bother raising her head.
"It was the best route at the time. It made sure I wouldn't be classified as an ambitious lieutenant, let me keep my affinities, and provided a rather significant boost."
"Suuuuure. See, I'd believe you except for the part where I'm pretty sure you didn't need to do the bit after that."
Ayna's head whips up to stare at her partner with a mixture of horror and betrayal.
"That's private!"
"You're being a tsundere. Hard choices must be made to break you out of it."
Ayna swallows and tries to mold her expression into something approaching anger. You're suspect she might be more exasperated than anything else.
"I will literally launch you through the far wall if you tell them."
"Hah! As if. That just means I'll get to beat sense back into you and I will savor it. And take pictures. And lord it ove—"
A burst of unnatural darkness renders you momentarily blind. Your vision hasn't even completely recovered before a rather loud oof heralds Julia's journey toward a nearby wall. The magical girl transforms with a white flash just before the crystal wall visibly thins and allows her to crash through it.
A second burst of darkness once again renders you momentarily unable to see. By the time you've finished recovering, Julia is standing in a hole in the wall while Ayna is back in her base form. A quick scan of your memories confirms what you'd feared: you never did manage to get a good look at Ayna's transformed state.
"Not if it's simple slapstick," Ayna remarks blandly.
Julia recoils away. If you didn't know better, you'd say she was actually going to cry.
"That's cheating."
"Reforming villainess, remember? And anyway, I thought Good doesn't need to be right, just righteous?"
Julia slowly frowns as she considers this.
"First off, you were a VINO. Secondly, I don't remember saying that. Like, ever."
Ayna waves one hand dismissively. "It's the logical extension to my morality lessons. 'As long as your means are good, other heroes will help you ensure the ends are desirable. Never think the end justifies the means; the mistakes and interference of antiheroes outweigh their cumulative positive impacts on the world.' Ergo, as long as the means are morally justifiable, any negative impacts will be outweighed by the positive ones. Righteous, not right."
Julia stares at her partner as though the purple-haired girl had suddenly grown horns.
"We're not putting that one on any recruiting posters," she eventually decides. "It sounds like we're encouraging people to be reckless."
Skye slowly turns to look at you.
"Why? It seems very encouraging. Were it not for your previous promises of multiple identities, I may very have decided to join them."
Celes winces.
"Is this because of the MG shows? Because I am going to feel so guilty if one of my mistakes is responsible."
"No. If anything, the clear attempts to repair damage from a perceived mistake have encouraged me to give you more justification in the future. However, Ayna's mere presence indicates the heroes have a learning track for those with little to no practical knowledge of the world at large; 'righteous, not right' only confirms this. Overall, I believe I should request an exemption from non-heroic cape activities for the foreseeable future, with the exception of school, school-related activities, and innovative processes. My sense of humor is still developing and I sincerely doubt I would enjoy extracurricular villainous activities as a result."
[] Skye doesn't need to request anything. She can just do whatever she wants.
-[] You'd much prefer it if she at least tried each alignment before condemning them, though.
-[] Heck, didn't you already tell her that part?
-[] Especially when it comes to these two. Despite the claims of your parental unit, they're clearly not going to be incorporating a third member any time soon. 2v2 is nothing to worry about.
[] Tell Skye to ask your parents later. Dad is a hero and Mom is a villain, so they'll both be able to provide a perspective of their own. Admittedly, Mom is of the serious variety, but maybe that'll appeal to Skye more than the silly ones.
[] While you're at it, introduce yourselves to Julia and Ayna. They've been going on and on without even asking.
-[] And what is Julia doing with her voice? You're shocked Celes hasn't asked for lessons yet.
[] Write-in
"Just to be absolutely certain, this isn't a test, is it?"
Your mother shakes her head.
"To quote a certain wise madman, 'the time for such things has passed.' Now that you'll be going out into the world, we need you to be able to trust our advice and judgment. Failing that, to at least know we aren't trying to sabotage you."
"For what it's worth, I do support her reasoning. Having heroic character witnesses is important if you're ever up on the stand."
Dad merely grins when this response earns a glare from Mother.
[x] If Mom is serious...
[x] You're thinking of following Mom's plan - it is Mom's plan, she knows what she's doing, and Dad seems to be backing her up - but relay Skye's idea anyway.
-[x] Besides, you're not going to find a better set of rivals than one selected by Mom. Revealing your secret identities to them seems extreme, but…
You spent an extra thirty-odd seconds conferring with your siblings before you return your attention to Mother.
"Okay. Well, I guess we're not going to find a better set of rivals than one selected by you guys. So, we're thinking of following your plan, but Skye thinks she should be able to use some of Prism's walls, Upgrade, and our preexisting masks in order to make better identity concealment. If you're only worried about paper-thin disguises, we should be able to do something about that."
Your mother quickly shakes her head.
"As much as I know you'll probably chafe at the idea of failure, it is a possibility and it should be planned for. I don't doubt that you can conjure up some better disguises and I highly recommend doing so for most of your identities. But having sympathetic rivals opens up a lot of doors. I'd likely have had to serve a few months in prison were it not for some old heroic contacts I used to have."
This is honestly news to you. You'd always been under the impression that your mother had never, ever been caught, and never really had more than one crime linked to a single identity.
Celes doesn't take in the revelation as quietly as you do.
"Wait, really?"
Your dad snorts and shakes his head.
"She exaggerates. And they weren't her friends, they were mine, thank you very much."
"You underestimate the threat they could've posed had they been so inclined," Mother mutters.
Dad shakes his head again.
"How about a better example? Say, Mad Magic. Their identities are practically an open secret in New York, but nobody ever goes after them, not even the people who were burned by Celestial."
Mother seems to pick up on the gleam of fanaticism in Celes's eyes and quickly rolls with it.
"Seraph was arrested by Dragon once — apparently, Dragon is practically a goddess in their presence and nobody is quite sure why — only to have over a dozen heroes in New York alone personally vouch for him and his wife. Merely having a friendly rivalry is insufficient for that; heroes need to know that you're still good people beneath the mask. Since you are, we just need to have a few people who know that."
"Especially given the sort of thing you're likely to get up to at Dragon," Dad adds. "Honestly, I'll be shocked if you haven't effectively suborned half the school by the end of the first quarter."
"Blackmailed, dear," Mother corrects him.
"But that's such an ugly word."
Your mother winces.
"How did I miss that?"
"Stress?" Dad suggests. "At any rate, you girls should really get going. Go have some fun, get the lay of the land, set up some improvised deathtraps, that sort of thing. Your phones are charged?"
You and Celes both nod.
"Good. We'll go get Skye a cell phone of her own while you're busy."
Dad appears to think long and hard before finally turning to face Skye.
"Just so you know, we weren't trying to snub you with the gifts. Well, Elspeth was at first, but she came around. While your sisters severely underestimate how much those cost to make in the first place, we are going to try to duplicate some of them for you. It just might take until tonight or tomorrow to finish."
Your father shrugs.
"Personally, I think this is a great time for misunderstandings to lead to a broken family, so I just thought I'd make that abundantly clear."
Skye blinks slowly, appearing entirely indifferent to the declaration. Of course, she looks like that for pretty much everything, so she might be happy on the inside? Maybe?
"So noted."
Two minutes later, you're standing at the prismatic gates of Prism, staring at two girls a year or so older than you are. One of them is using her thumb to bookmark a coverless paperback while the other has been ingesting entirely too much sugar.
"Hellllo there, potential underclassgirls!"
"That is not a real word. Your mutilation of our language is an affront to all living beings," her purple-haired partner sighs.
The transformed MG promptly ignores her with the ease of long practice.
"You should already know this since we were requested, but my name is Julia. Little Miss Grumpypants next to me is Ayna. Also, we're dating, and if you have a problem with that we should get the mandatory butt-whooping out of the way right now. I reserve the right to make inappropriate sibling jokes if it comes to that."
Ayna's eyes narrow.
"Technically dating," she rebukes frostily. "I would like to make that abundantly clear. It's a good modifier to have."
Celes gives them an odd look and says what you're both thinking.
"I'm about seventy percent certain you're trying to bait us into asking for elaboration. Why?"
Julia looks genuinely taken aback.
"Wha'?"
Ayna glances at her partner, sighs, and shakes her head.
"Julia only has ten deceptive bones in her entire body. Nine of them fuel her own delusions. No, she's just at the stage where she wants to 'defend my honor' via beating up anyone who so much looks at me funny. After her next evolution, she'll be skipping class and smoking cigarettes."
Julia glares at her partner and tries to clear her throat. It sounds disgustingly similar to a rat with congestive problems.
"We don't actually evolve. Ever. That is not a thing that magical girls do."
"Actually, that's not one hundred percent true, especially as you get older. Just look at Princess Pink; I guarantee she'll change before she hits thirteen. I will enjoy mocking her mercilessly in subsequent years."
"Teasing," Julia says firmly. "Mockery leads to angsty Darks. Anyway, that's beside the point! We're supposed to be bringing these three on a tour, not having a lover's spat."
Ayna gives her a flat look.
"Two out of ten, get better bait. Anyway, you couldn't navigate your way out of a cardboard box. My own knowledge of Prism's architecture and history is sorely lacking. And yet, their parents asked for us specifically. The tour is just an excuse for socialization and everyone here but you knows it."
"Well, she's not wrong," Celes remarks telepathically before switching to speaking aloud. "We're right here, you know."
Celes is completely ignored by the two arguing magical girls.
"They could want to explore. Or meet the one mirror twin in the school who's open about her status and picked me to fill out the minimum requirement. I mean, look at them." Julia waves in your general direction. "Cheerful, analytic, and cloudy. A bit obvious, don't you think?"
"Still right here," you interject.
"They're not mirror triplets, dummy. I checked already. And anyway, our redemption story isn't exactly the type most parents would try for, is it? If they're anything like you, they'd spoil it by polishing firearms in the living room."
"I don't think you've ever met mirror triplets. We don't know if you can sense them."
Celes leans close to you.
"'Only technically dating.' Riiiight. So what do you think their kids will look like?" your sister stage-whispers.
Ayna freezes completely. Julia doesn't seem to care about the comment until her partner reacts, after which point she immediately turns to glower at Celes.
"We're both girls. That doesn't even work."
Celes rolls her eyes.
"Oh yeah, like that's ever stopped anyone with powers. Adoption is a thing, too."
Julia's eyes narrow even further. For her own part, Ayna swallows and forces herself to start moving again, pulling her partner back.
"We can take a hint. We'll stop ignoring you; good job, now I have to ask directly. So. Why are you here? Why us? You'd think backstabbing one villain—"
"Literally."
"—Would discourage others from trying to recruit me."
Julia leans forward and mock-whispers, apparently having forgotten she was upset with you.
"I keep telling her she should go for it just to get the bonuses from Comedic Chronic Backstabbing Disorder."
"Too risky. Anyone with so much as a smidgen of intelligence could easily turn me into the foolish girl who tried to infiltrate a group beyond her capabilities."
"And then you go full-fledged chessmaster 'everything according to keikaku' and are perfectly K."
Ayna rubs at her forehead with one hand.
"No. Villains aren't dumb and you have a bad habit of underestimating them. Just stick with dating me. The risks are easy enough to mitigate as long as we keep our heads."
"See? You don't have to insert 'technically' in there. Especially since it might classify me as a stalker with…"
Julia trails off and narrows her eyes.
"Waaait a second. Are you trying to be identified as a tsundere? Because this is how magic decides you're a tsundere. Have we even had classes on them yet?"
Ayna's mouth opens slightly as she stares blankly at her partner.
"...No," she manages eventually. "That's stupid. You're stupid. So stupid, in fact, that everyone here just got a little dumber from hearing that. Apologize."
"I get the feeling they've forgotten us," you silently remark.
"No kidding. You ask?"
"Sure."
"You know, we're not actually villains in the first place."
Technically, it's true. You're effectively unaffiliated right now.
"And what's this whole backstabbing story? I wanna hear," Celes adds.
Julia visibly brightens. Ayna takes one look at her reaction and immediately facepalms.
"Okay, so Ayna here is the mirror clone of a, um, thoroughly unpleasant individual."
"Psychopathic bitch," Ayna translates dryly.
"Yes, that. Um. So, anyway, dark mirrors aren't intended to produce good twins and the spell got a bit confused. Long story short, she rescued lil' ol' me from a potential S-Minus-Class Serious Business villain."
"Quit exaggerating. She was A-class at worst."
"We'll compromise and call her an A with those little dot thingies."
"...Accent marks?"
"Probably."
Ayna slumps and closes her eyes.
"Why do I put up with you?"
"You know you love me."
Ayna covers her face with both hands and quietly groans. Julia grins widely and takes the opportunity to resume her story.
"So, yeah. Backstabbed her evil twin — literally, it was awesome — and flat-out stated she loved me."
Ayna doesn't bother raising her head.
"It was the best route at the time. It made sure I wouldn't be classified as an ambitious lieutenant, let me keep my affinities, and provided a rather significant boost."
"Suuuuure. See, I'd believe you except for the part where I'm pretty sure you didn't need to do the bit after that."
Ayna's head whips up to stare at her partner with a mixture of horror and betrayal.
"That's private!"
"You're being a tsundere. Hard choices must be made to break you out of it."
Ayna swallows and tries to mold her expression into something approaching anger. You're suspect she might be more exasperated than anything else.
"I will literally launch you through the far wall if you tell them."
"Hah! As if. That just means I'll get to beat sense back into you and I will savor it. And take pictures. And lord it ove—"
A burst of unnatural darkness renders you momentarily blind. Your vision hasn't even completely recovered before a rather loud oof heralds Julia's journey toward a nearby wall. The magical girl transforms with a white flash just before the crystal wall visibly thins and allows her to crash through it.
A second burst of darkness once again renders you momentarily unable to see. By the time you've finished recovering, Julia is standing in a hole in the wall while Ayna is back in her base form. A quick scan of your memories confirms what you'd feared: you never did manage to get a good look at Ayna's transformed state.
"Not if it's simple slapstick," Ayna remarks blandly.
Julia recoils away. If you didn't know better, you'd say she was actually going to cry.
"That's cheating."
"Reforming villainess, remember? And anyway, I thought Good doesn't need to be right, just righteous?"
Julia slowly frowns as she considers this.
"First off, you were a VINO. Secondly, I don't remember saying that. Like, ever."
Ayna waves one hand dismissively. "It's the logical extension to my morality lessons. 'As long as your means are good, other heroes will help you ensure the ends are desirable. Never think the end justifies the means; the mistakes and interference of antiheroes outweigh their cumulative positive impacts on the world.' Ergo, as long as the means are morally justifiable, any negative impacts will be outweighed by the positive ones. Righteous, not right."
Julia stares at her partner as though the purple-haired girl had suddenly grown horns.
"We're not putting that one on any recruiting posters," she eventually decides. "It sounds like we're encouraging people to be reckless."
Skye slowly turns to look at you.
"Why? It seems very encouraging. Were it not for your previous promises of multiple identities, I may very have decided to join them."
Celes winces.
"Is this because of the MG shows? Because I am going to feel so guilty if one of my mistakes is responsible."
"No. If anything, the clear attempts to repair damage from a perceived mistake have encouraged me to give you more justification in the future. However, Ayna's mere presence indicates the heroes have a learning track for those with little to no practical knowledge of the world at large; 'righteous, not right' only confirms this. Overall, I believe I should request an exemption from non-heroic cape activities for the foreseeable future, with the exception of school, school-related activities, and innovative processes. My sense of humor is still developing and I sincerely doubt I would enjoy extracurricular villainous activities as a result."
[] Skye doesn't need to request anything. She can just do whatever she wants.
-[] You'd much prefer it if she at least tried each alignment before condemning them, though.
-[] Heck, didn't you already tell her that part?
-[] Especially when it comes to these two. Despite the claims of your parental unit, they're clearly not going to be incorporating a third member any time soon. 2v2 is nothing to worry about.
[] Tell Skye to ask your parents later. Dad is a hero and Mom is a villain, so they'll both be able to provide a perspective of their own. Admittedly, Mom is of the serious variety, but maybe that'll appeal to Skye more than the silly ones.
[] While you're at it, introduce yourselves to Julia and Ayna. They've been going on and on without even asking.
-[] And what is Julia doing with her voice? You're shocked Celes hasn't asked for lessons yet.
[] Write-in
As seems to be the trend with certain events, I was afraid of the reception this one would receive. From now on, I'm just going to accept that Skye is going to throw unexpected hurdles around and post them anyway. Hopefully.
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Vebyast
Nascent Transhuman
Skye keeps having good arguments. Leaning toward going back to the "try to attend multiple schools" plan. Trying out each alignment out before condemning them is good advice, though. Especially since each school does have something to offer her - Dragon has "how to not get caught" which I'm sure she'd like, Paragon has good "how to have good PR" on top of probably ethics courses, and looks like Prism teaches ethics as well, just it'll be a very different kind than I'd expect Paragon to go for. Remember that magical girl ethics are going to be optimized for powering up the magical girl that learns them and may not reflect reality or may be totally ineffective in real application.
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BBBence1111
Harbinger of Bad Luck
- Location
- Magyarország
This was one colorful update.
- Location
- va
[X] Tell Skye to ask your parents later. Dad is a hero and Mom is a villain, so they'll both be able to provide a perspective of their own. Admittedly, Mom is of the serious variety, but maybe that'll appeal to Skye more than the silly ones.
- Location
- From the moon
Been a while since I last looked at this quest. What was the plan again? If I remember correctly the whole thing with the multiple identities thing where the triplets rotate was so we could do ALL THE THINGS and gain maximum ammount of knowledge and friends/connections.
- Location
- A single human dimension
- Pronouns
- She/Her
If it helps any, although my policy on standing votes and your own limitations both prevent changing your current school plan right now, you will have the opportunity to transfer or to incorporate one or both other schools at the end of the first quarter. Since the acquisition of powers is tied to birthdays in this universe, it'd be foolish to force someone to wait another year just because they were born in September. The schools have adjusted their policies accordingly.
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Ugh. It seems like every time Skye appears on screen I hate her more and more.
Don't get me wrong; pretty much everything she has said has been both reasonable and fits what little we've seen of her character so far. It's just they also serve to suck the fun out the scene, and to a lesser extent the story as a whole, for me.
Eve and Celes are powerful, cunning, and generally smart people. They are also cheerful, don't take things too seriously, and know how to have fun. Skye has the first set of traits but instead of cheerful she's dull, instead of taking things easy she's 200% all of the time, and seems to be made entirely out of anti-fun.
What makes this especially jarring is that Skye just doesn't fit the tone of the story since every character we've seen, and IIRC most described, lean far more to the Eve/Celes side of things then the Skye side. Eve's dad is self explanatory, her mom might be serious on the surface but it's clear she's got a good sense of humor from her interactions with her husband and children, then there are these two MGs who had me smiling the entire update.
So as much as I love Skye's character concept I feel that in practice she's a detriment to the story's enjoyability, at least for me. Which is really frustrating since everything else here is so much fun.
Skye: Tone Whiplash
- Location
- A single human dimension
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Skye is outside the normal tone of the story. Progenitor originally intended her to be an intelligent being who would forever watch over the power selection process without complaint, a serious individual to contrast his own desire to do things just for fun. Your QM expected her to break free following the damage done by Evelyn, act as an antagonist or even just a footnote for an "arc" or so, and finally be folded into one of the schools.
As you can see, the last did not happen, and now you have an amoral (Former) Construct as a sibling. Fortunately, she'll inevitably change over time; when she talks about needing to learn or develop one or more traits, she's genuinely working on doing so. However, that is an ongoing process and may take some time.
I actually have a relevant snippet from a scene that will never be:
"How does that work, exactly? I thought souls could only ever handle one mirror. None of you is glaring homicidally at me, so you're obviously not one person split into good, evil, and neutral personalities."
Skye raises her hand.
"If homicidal tendencies are expected, I must admit to ignorance as to the socially acceptable number of murder plans."
You cover your forehead with one hand and sigh, your default reaction for when you need time to think. You can later pass it off as one of a variety of emotions, including embarrassment, exasperation, or a poor attempt at disguising amusement.
Damage control necessary. Assets: Myself, Celes, Skye, telepathic communication. Targets: Julia, Ayna, and anyone they discuss this incident with. Potential pitfalls—
"Skye, nobody ever discusses those and a lot of people think you're weird if you make them. Please say that was a joke."
"Is that a figure of speech?"
"No. Literally, say it. It'll seem like damage control if either of us does so."
"That was a joke," Skye adds blandly.
The two magical girls relax slightly, still keeping a wary eye on Skye. Unfortunately, she then tries to help.
"I thought murder was supposed to be amusing? It's the logical conclusion to violence, which is allegedly comedic in nature."
Skye raises her hand.
"If homicidal tendencies are expected, I must admit to ignorance as to the socially acceptable number of murder plans."
You cover your forehead with one hand and sigh, your default reaction for when you need time to think. You can later pass it off as one of a variety of emotions, including embarrassment, exasperation, or a poor attempt at disguising amusement.
Damage control necessary. Assets: Myself, Celes, Skye, telepathic communication. Targets: Julia, Ayna, and anyone they discuss this incident with. Potential pitfalls—
"Skye, nobody ever discusses those and a lot of people think you're weird if you make them. Please say that was a joke."
"Is that a figure of speech?"
"No. Literally, say it. It'll seem like damage control if either of us does so."
"That was a joke," Skye adds blandly.
The two magical girls relax slightly, still keeping a wary eye on Skye. Unfortunately, she then tries to help.
"I thought murder was supposed to be amusing? It's the logical conclusion to violence, which is allegedly comedic in nature."
(Un)Fortunately, one or more individuals in-universe have also noticed that she doesn't quite fit. We'll get to that soonish. EDIT: Ominous comment aside, don't stress or worry about that last bit. Everyone will be fine.
EDIT 2: Oh yeah, and in case it wasn't clear, I really appreciate the feedback. Trying to get it is often similar to herding cats without tools.
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- Location
- Bowling Green
[X] Skye doesn't need to request anything. She can just do whatever she wants.
-[X] You'd much prefer it if she at least tried each alignment before condemning them, though.
-[X] Heck, didn't you already tell her that part?
-[X] Especially when it comes to these two. Despite the claims of your parental unit, they're clearly not going to be incorporating a third member any time soon. 2v2 is nothing to worry about.
[X] While you're at it, introduce yourselves to Julia and Ayna. They've been going on and on without even asking.
-[X] And what is Julia doing with her voice? You're shocked Celes hasn't asked for lessons yet.
-[X] You'd much prefer it if she at least tried each alignment before condemning them, though.
-[X] Heck, didn't you already tell her that part?
-[X] Especially when it comes to these two. Despite the claims of your parental unit, they're clearly not going to be incorporating a third member any time soon. 2v2 is nothing to worry about.
[X] While you're at it, introduce yourselves to Julia and Ayna. They've been going on and on without even asking.
-[X] And what is Julia doing with her voice? You're shocked Celes hasn't asked for lessons yet.
BBBence1111
Harbinger of Bad Luck
- Location
- Magyarország
I don't think we should trust you on that one.
My only complain is a lack of best!cutest!power. Though I suppose you can't have too much of that, since it steals any scene it's in.
I have to admit Skye's attitude initially surprised me, and I wasn't too fond of the way she acts. Hopefully, once she starts fitting in, it will be even better since it actually took some work. Just, please don't take as much time as Ignition did with the trauma recovery.
That said, real world Skye seems to be lacking the sense of humor of Testing Grounds Skye. She did tell Progenitor to go fuck a cactus. I think if you brought out that aspect a little more, people would enjoy her a lot more.
- Location
- Illinois
You son of a bitch. NO HEAD JOKES!
- Location
- A single human dimension
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Would you believe me if I said that was entirely unintentional? Although I somewhat wish I could, I can't truthfully take credit for that one.
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- Location
- Illinois
YOU DAMN BASTARD! I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS! *shakes fist*
Vebyast
Nascent Transhuman
Interesting how their emotions are explicitly color-coded. We should see if we can experiment with that.
[] Cycle through emotions trying to provoke them from your guides so you can see which colors mean which emotions.
-[] When they notice, they did call you the analytic one, remember?
Edit: Analytic. I wonder if Celes is failing to go bonkers over the voices because she doesn't have an analysis branch to her power like we do?
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[X] While you're at it, introduce yourselves to Julia and Ayna. They've been going on and on without even asking.
-[X] And what is Julia doing with her voice? You're shocked Celes hasn't asked for lessons yet.
[X] Skye doesn't need to request anything. She can just do whatever she wants.
- [X] Include a note that we don't want to restrict her choices, and that joining them in some capacity is still on the table.
- [X] Also ask if she is fine with pursuing possible non-hero non-villain cape activities.
[X] Ask about Prism's rehabilitation program
'Righteous, not Right' is very much a practical MG philosophy that I fully support, and is an awesome piece of lore.
I also kinda noticed that Skye seems to only talk when prompted to (which, upon reflection, is probably intentional).
The fact that Prism is enhanted to not obstruct physical violence is at once terrifying a sensible.
It is interesting to see how previously colors seemed to be something associated directly with the person or power (with colored speech only happening in situation like Skye's and the powers (where it is always on) or when Dad invokes his fear aura.
Anxiously anticipating the experiment results!
-[X] And what is Julia doing with her voice? You're shocked Celes hasn't asked for lessons yet.
[X] Skye doesn't need to request anything. She can just do whatever she wants.
- [X] Include a note that we don't want to restrict her choices, and that joining them in some capacity is still on the table.
- [X] Also ask if she is fine with pursuing possible non-hero non-villain cape activities.
[X] Ask about Prism's rehabilitation program
What mistake that Skye is referring to is unclear.
'Righteous, not Right' is very much a practical MG philosophy that I fully support, and is an awesome piece of lore.
I also kinda noticed that Skye seems to only talk when prompted to (which, upon reflection, is probably intentional).
The fact that Prism is enhanted to not obstruct physical violence is at once terrifying a sensible.
It is interesting to see how previously colors seemed to be something associated directly with the person or power (with colored speech only happening in situation like Skye's and the powers (where it is always on) or when Dad invokes his fear aura.
Anxiously anticipating the experiment results!
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- Location
- Central Standard Time
[X] Vebyast
- Location
- A single human dimension
- Pronouns
- She/Her
You're going to be waiting a while, then. Experiments are pursued when you have free time, not when a new post comes along. I mean, I know you probably realize this, but figured I'd say it anyway.
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Vebyast
Nascent Transhuman
Aw, missed a chance to run the Analysis power on her.
More deeply flawed than Ayna's interpretation suggests.
First, this depends on having friends that are powerful enough to fix the fuckups you will inevitably commit by choosing means instead of ends. It's not recklessness that this advocates; it's a conscious choice to ignore the consequences and inflict the resulting pain on the friends that have to clean up after you. That is, of course, in perfect agreement with the magical girl ideal: As a magical girl it is axiomatic - necessarily, as they literally draw power from that belief - that you have friends that can cover your ass. It does not work for us. Our power is likely one of the twenty or thirty most flexible and most powerful abilities on the planet and Skye chose one of its peers. If we choose to be righteous instead of right, and we do something that seems right and damn the consequences, there will be very few people on the planet that can fix our mistake. Unless we consider Progenitor, of course, but I have a feeling that we don't want to be using him as a backstop.
Second, this depends on having an excellent grasp of what righteousness is. This advice would not even slow down a religious fanatic. It would not stop Deadpool or the Punisher. Those people consider what they do to not just be right but to also be righteous. Skye... might have some trouble with that kind of thing.
Third, the opposite of wrong is not right. The mistakes and interference of antiheroes may outweigh their influence on the world, but the influence on the world of a short-sighted paladin may also outweigh their intentions.
As Skye said, sounds like Ayna is having some trouble being the not-dark twin. Whenever she talks she gives me the same impression that Skye does when she's having a moment. So Prism may have a track for people that don't know how to people yet. Or it may not! Ayna came out with enough to fall hard for Julia, for example. Alternatively, given how alien the magical mindset is, it's entirely possible that what Skye interprets as "how to people" is actually MG-worldview boot camp, intended to tear down anything that's not useful for magical girls and replace it with something that will give powerups. I'd be extremely surprised if Paragon didn't have that an explicit track of its own, and, frankly, I'd trust their philosophy quite a bit more.
Also, I just noticed that Ayna's name is probably Anya backwards.
Pretty sure this will reveal the analytical branch of our power. That's what we intended, so good enough.
Interesting note: Skye hasn't said a word since we got here. So the distinctive voice-thing she's doing to cover for not being able to handle emotions hasn't been noted yet.
I'm starting to feel bad for her. This is happening way too fast; I don't think we should've made her go anywhere until she'd had time to talk to us and our parents for a while.
Working on a vote. Anyone have any comments on something like this?
[] No need to request anything.
-[] Not that you'd push back on that anyway, it sounds like Skye does need some time to settle in to things.
-[] Though you're not convinced her sense of humor is as troubled as she thinks. Recommending cactus intimacy was funny. As was poking your mother about the Blur Ring.
--[] Note to self: Let Skye know when funny happens.
[] The point about a track for people that haven't learned how to people yet is a good one.
-[] You're just not sure you trust Prism to do it right. You'd be surprised if Paragon and Dragon didn't have their own equivalents, which may be more suitable for Skye.
-[] You'll continue to recommend consulting a variety of sources and help her do that. Talk to your parents, spend time reading books, etc. Big decisions like this shouldn't be made on the spot when you have time to learn and optimize.
I, um, haven't voted yet? I think? o_o
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Alphadelta probably trusts you enough with good decision making that he/she is willing to vote for you before looking at whatever you do vote for or your reasoning.
Nixeu
Lord of Madness, Harbinger of Llamas
- Location
- Your nightmares.
I think you might have Deadpool confused with someone (unless Marvel drastically changed the character while I wasn't looking). Deadpool just doesn't care, at this point. He's too far around the bend to do so, and his psychosis/ability to break the fourth wall (however you like to interpret it) certainly doesn't help with him giving a damn, most of the time. He is known to sometimes care about people, animals and maybe even things, but not really right and wrong.
Also, Deadpool's a mercenary. He does what he does for the lulz, and for cash. Like...he's not a crusader, he's an immortal, relatively benignly psychotic goofball. I agree that this argument probably wouldn't convince him, but for completely different reasons. Namely that he's nuts, and could probably be convinced to do just about anything, just by making him think it's 'awesome'.
- Location
- Somewhere
Going to have to second the opinion about Skye; the update was fun, we had a nice bit of lore, and- SKYE INTERRUPT!
It's a bit annoying, but hopefully she'll grow out of it soon enough.
It's a bit annoying, but hopefully she'll grow out of it soon enough.
Remind me again why we were intending to do that? Were we trying to trick them into thinking that's our power?
There's a point where once a vote-crafter gets a long enough history of making good votes, voters vote for their plans before they are even made. You've long since passed that point, at least for Alivaril quests
Vebyast
Nascent Transhuman
That's pretty much it - it wouldn't stop someone that already thinks their current actions are perfectly good, whatever that reasoning may be.
Yes - support multiple identities by giving each identity a far more limited powerset than our full suite. We're pretending we don't have Upgrade or Overload. Celes is limiting herself to her "Voice of Command", since it's easy to use by accident, and concealing the analytical and teamwork portions of her powerset. Skye I believe is also sticking to her analytical branch and is concealing the fact that she can actually duplicate tinkertech. I think that we're all hiding our perfect-memory powers.