Fragmentation (Original Superhero Setting)
- Thread starter Alivaril
- Start date
- Original
- Location
- Germany
[X] Offer Upgrade a position as your super-powered evil side when you're a magical girl.
-[X]Bonus points if she can convincingly come off as too adorable be evil, but still actually win.
--[X] Also if she refuses to admit they share a body, regardless of any evidence.
[X] Ask Skye whether she'd postcognition the 'tweak' to our loyalty/love
[X] Upgrade: Polymorph spell to foil true sight
Dark doesn't mean evil, so where's the problem?
-[X]Bonus points if she can convincingly come off as too adorable be evil, but still actually win.
--[X] Also if she refuses to admit they share a body, regardless of any evidence.
[X] Ask Skye whether she'd postcognition the 'tweak' to our loyalty/love
[X] Upgrade: Polymorph spell to foil true sight
Dark doesn't mean evil, so where's the problem?
Last edited:
- Location
- A single human dimension
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Since you weren't trying to have that identity be Serious Business in the first place, I don't see any reason they'd be mutually exclusive.
Kai Merah
Hound Hearted Hedonist
- Location
- Somewhere in the corners of my imagination
I suspect Upgrade might take things more seriously if the stuff she does impacts us. We're probably a real person to her, even if she considers the rest of the world NPCs. So if she's our superpowered evil side, and we have to live with the consequences of what she does, she might be more mindful.
ltmauve
"Excuse me?"
- Location
- Earth
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X] Offer Upgrade a position as your super-powered evil side when you're a magical girl.
-[X]Bonus points if she can convincingly come off as too adorable be evil, but still actually win.
--[X] Also if she refuses to admit they share a body, regardless of any evidence.
-[X]Bonus points if she can convincingly come off as too adorable be evil, but still actually win.
--[X] Also if she refuses to admit they share a body, regardless of any evidence.
we're an eldritch abomination wearing a human mask ... so what exactly did Upgrade upgrade when we did those body improvements?
On a related note, if Dad was always a living celestial entity, then what was up with him having power clusters during the power selection?
Is Dad even a legal target for most powers? If so, I wonder if we could Upgrade other celestial bodies.
On a related note, if Dad was always a living celestial entity, then what was up with him having power clusters during the power selection?
Is Dad even a legal target for most powers? If so, I wonder if we could Upgrade other celestial bodies.
Possibly it's less 'has powers', but rather 'is powers'?
Perhaps that's another reason why she said to leave any particulars to her.
Or maybe power selection was not completely literal. Or he does have a power, but it's some auxilarry/convenience thing, like letting him assume human shape.
Nixeu
Lord of Madness, Harbinger of Llamas
- Location
- Your nightmares.
Our dad may very well be the manifestation of the Abomination power applied to a black hole. Given that Progenitor's predecessor was a douche, it's entirely possible he granted a black hole sentience via powers "for teh lulz", as it were.
Also a possibility.
Makes sense.
Nixeu
Lord of Madness, Harbinger of Llamas
- Location
- Your nightmares.
Not entirely sure how you get that from a power summarized as "Abomination". Not unless Progenitor (or maybe the powers) really dislike how humans look.
pantherasapiens
you were always my best friend
- Location
- somewhere over your shoulder
Humans were the real abominations all along.
It's
(and should probably be "Aberration", @Alivaril?)
which, I think, is a subject to unreliable narrator, since it's a label we assigned to it. Besides, with our father not being human in the first place, a name "Aberration" for a power to turn into a human is quite fitting. Sadly, no one asked for a description of that power, IIRC.
Cheat sheet:
It can really go both ways: making our father what he is or letting him to turn into a human. Both options would involve this powerset.
- Location
- Somewhere on Earth
Hold up, I thought the father had a human form with an artefact the mother made? It's not an intrinsic power for him to take a human form, and I think he even finds it uncomfortable.
To be fair, it was never elaborated how he looks without it (aside from "terrifying").
Nixeu
Lord of Madness, Harbinger of Llamas
- Location
- Your nightmares.
...But it's not a label we assigned it, though. It's a one-word description that we discovered by experimenting. It's been heavily implied those names are either granted by Progenitor, or just the innate names of the powers. Either way, we didn't make up that name.
Oh, I completely forgot about this. And missed it on the re-read.
It doesn't change the other point, anyway.
3.4: Big Sister Is Watching
- Location
- A single human dimension
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X] Offer Upgrade a position as your super-powered evil side when you're a magical girl.
-[X] Bonus points if she can convincingly come off as too adorable be evil, but still actually win.
--[X] Also if she refuses to admit they share a body, regardless of any evidence.
Do you want to be my super-powered evil side for when I'm a MG? Given as I think you taking control is supposed to be an emergency safety thingie in the first place, you could do it, right?
You can have bonus points if you convincingly come off as too adorable to be evil and still win. And even more if you refuse to ever admit we're sharing a body despite any and all supporting evidence.
...So, any suggestions for Cape names? I'm not very good at coming up with them. Especially when, like, we've had several thousand years of Capes taking pretty much every word in every language between them.
Right. Not a good method for transmitting names. My mistake.
To escape the beguiling warmth of your bed, you ultimately resort to using Overdrive and rolling onto the floor. Good bedsheets are a little like Medusa; if you let them have their way, you'd never move again. You use Reverse to undo the effect and make your way downstairs.
Celes is in the downstairs living room, an uncharacteristically serious expression on her face and her laptop on a portable table in front of her. The black and white screen of some sort of debug page is open before her. More importantly, she's made the mistake of leaving her back to most entrances. You're able to ghost up to her ear undetected. You lean in, take a deep breath, and try to imitate Dad's unpatented Voice of Doom.
"DIE, MORTAL."
Good enough.
Your sister yelps and flings herself to one side, twisting in midair to get a better look at you. She goes limp and harmlessly falls to the sofa when she realizes who ambushed her.
"So, whatcha doin'?" you ask cheerfully.
Celes forces her expression to go blank, blatantly pretending you hadn't just scared the daylights out of her. After a second or two of silence, she scoots back to the laptop.
"Nice to see you too, Sis," Celes says darkly. You make a mental note to hide your snowball gauntlet. "I'm plotting our next move. Dad isn't really comfortable with us going to Dragon without a healthy amount of public experience, so he said we need to start on that within the next three days and maintain that rate until school starts. Mom is planning to bring us on a few stealth raids of her own, too, starting with Prism tomorrow if we don't go back in legally. I know we'll want multiple public identities sooner than later, but right now, we need supplies, materials, whatever, so I'm just looking for villainous targets. The more toys we can make, steal, or buy, the more abilities we can give to our identities and the less likely we are to be forced into a corner. I feel as though we will be at some point, if only during a genuine Cataclysm-class emergency, but I feel like we can still have fun 'til then. Either way, Progenitor gave Authority more power and a new Node for ordering around computer systems, so that's been fun. I can just skip the various programming steps and go straight to telling it what I want it to do. Which reminds me: we should aim for a supercomputer or admin access to one. I could do a lot of gloriously diabolical stuff with either."
You climb over the bed and settle down next to Celes.
"And right now?"
"Looking into local Cape Insurance. I don't wanna raid anyone who can't shrug it off."
Celes tilts the screen further toward you. Countless chains of numbers stare back at you, many of them sharing the first few digits. It takes you only a few seconds to identify them as IP addresses.
Your sister pulls the computer back to herself after a few moments.
"That's everyone illegally looking at the insurance registry system right now. I told it to display and record a fake IP just in case, but this system already has more holes in it than Progenitor's morals. It'd actually set off more red flags if I researched this stuff legally. Anyway, most places in the city are safely insured. Unfortunately, quite a few of the more lucrative targets have 'put sizable bounties on any offenders' as part of their protection policies. The valley shared by lucrative, insured, and safeish is a narrow one."
Celes alt-tabs over to what appears to be a perfectly ordinary white retailer.
"First, 'Bob's Birdbaths, Squirrel Feeders, and Other Outdoor Supplies.' They have normal hardware stuff like wiring, wood, metal, tools, etcetera, but also have an overpriced stock of living crystals from an Earth with point-one-nine divergence. The local ConsumerPaths cameras say they only get a dozen or so customers daily — certainly not enough to keep the business afloat. Between that and the number of Cape fights recorded in the surrounding area, I think it's safe to say it's villain bait. We go there if we ever want a fight. Also, I think we can grow them into two-piece pairs of crystal wings and I know we can if you Upgrade them."
"Strongly suspect," you correct absentmindedly.
Wings would be nice, you'll admit that much, but they're also incredibly distinctive. Also, just because you and Celes might just be a teensie bit fangirlish doesn't mean you want to broadcast that fact to the world.
...I'm not even sure what you're trying to say there.
In favor?
Meanwhile, Celes ignores you and switches over to a glass-fronted, three-story glass tower.
"Second, Silicone Singularity. Huge computer shop owned by a low-tier Builder, lots of nice stuff, well-priced, and generally the most popular physical computer store around. They also do online ordering, but reviews recommend against it since their employees 'probably know more about computer parts than you do.' Second and third floors are his living area, so we'll just be doing stuff on the first. No reason to be rude."
Celes clicks on yet another tab. You're left looking at an image of a menacing robot spider using several dozen red lasers to sweep the surrounding area.
"Also, they have some of Arachne's tier two security bots, but I consider that a plus. Those things are supposed to be really nice if you can disable the self-destruct mechanism and suborn them afterward, which we totally can."
You inhale through your teeth, your mind already going over all the ways that could go horrifyingly wrong. Invulnerability would only prolong your survival against those things. Arachne made her name with spider robots wielding electrified metal whips and has only gotten more dangerous in the years since.
"Isn't Arachne's stuff insanely lethal?"
"It can be. However, Arachne is known to have a weak spot for kids. Her stuff doesn't scale that high for us, not even if we start collapsing the building. Instead, they basically try to capture or delay us with something approaching outright fanaticism and a severe lack of self-preservation in general. And again, tier two. Her only stronger bots are the kind guarding the White House or other government buildings. Basically, I was going to put it on our 'raid later' list and go for something easier in the interim."
Celes tabs over to what appears to be a large spherical building made from polished wood. Your brain automatically reclassifies it as either synthetic or covered in only a thin layer; barely-enforced international law bans excessive use of wood in construction. You remember there was a bit of a diplomatic incident with elves from another Earth that provoked that particular policy. Nobody wants to fight a war across dimensions.
"Third, and my current favorite, Casa D'aste Ascesita. It's a bit of a crapshoot when it comes to actually being good or not, but their owners act as auctioneers-slash-agents to sell Cape-created equipment. This close to the ICCC, when Capes are trying to show off their stuff and keep getting rejected? Betcha they have some really nice ones. One owner is a technopath, other is a one man army with his clones lasting a 'handful' of seconds. Twenty, tops. Also, at least the OMA is known to have some really, really toxic beliefs when it comes to women, so I wanna kick their butts just on general principles."
You raise an eyebrow. You're not outstandingly surprised Celes wants to clobber some dirtbags, but you'd normally expect her to keep such desires separate from something as important as your debut.
"How toxic?"
"Something about our brains mattering less than our breasts or something, I dunno. Also a sexual harassment lawsuit that got settled out of court for a yeah-I'm-totally-guilty-but-hush amount of money."
You blink. It's been almost two centuries since women got the twin rights to vote and make their own marital decisions in the US, courtesy of the superpowered activists of the time. Even then, the United States was itself one of the last nations to (grudgingly) grant those.
How is there literally anyone who still thinks one gender is inherently better than the other? Even their great-great-great grandparents wouldn't have been alive back then.
"...Wow. There are actual people who still think trash like that? I thought they just existed in some of the TV shows trying too hard to be edgy."
But — ugh, never mind. I get hereditary teachings are still a thing. It's just stupid, I guess.
"Apparently. I dunno what rock they climbed out from. Quarterway convinced they're trying to bait antiheroes or magical girls for some weird reason. They do wear neat black suits, and those are the traditional attire for some of the more infuriating antagonists..."
"Usually that's the masterminds, though," you point out. "Not the middlemen. They're not subordinate to anyone, are they?"
"Nope. But I suppose we could just let the local MGs or MBs handle them if they do turn out to be bigoted and evil. So, next up..."
Celes tabs over to what appears to be an ordinary set of metal panels underneath a highway overpass. Or at least, "ordinary" aside from the giant #13 formed out of thin red forcefields. Further inspection reveals the vague outline of a badly-hidden doorway.
"Diplomatically Immune Station #13. It's technically one of Exalt's embassies instead of a store or somewhere insured, but he's happy to give a bit of free stuff to fortnight-since-reveal-or-newer heroes 'As small tastes of what the rightful overlord of Earth could offer them' and seems to expect villains to break in to claim the same. There's a site we can reserve raid times for and everything. Only two gift-bags out in the open at a time, with exponentially more stuff stashed behind an increasingly vicious security gauntlet operated by a full AI. Comes with the sorta-perk of releasing high-quality footage of raids and sometimes highlight reels."
"Actual exponents or...?"
"Yeah. I think it's something like a base of three plus two per person, but that's just speculation. Quantity and general quality of enemies scales to number of people, though, I know that much. Anyway, it sounds fun and is my second favorite, but I displaced it from first 'cuz we might have a tough time making it halfway through even if we weren't limiting ourselves to different identities. From what I can make out, Authority agrees. I'll run out of power before they run out of challenges to throw at us. And to be perfectly honest, unless Upgrade has some easily-hidden attacks of her own to contribute, I think we'll get hard countered as soon as I run out."
"I promised she could be my MG superpowered evil side, so she might actually be able to do that."
"Guessing that's an exuberent yes," Celes remarks dryly. "Call that tied for my favorite, then. I still like the idea of beating up the toxic guys."
"Noted. Now tell me why you can't just Suggest the AI let us through?"
Celes produces an unhappy eeeewue noise.
"Exalt promised painful retribution upon 'anyone who attempts to control the eventual overseer of Earth and ruler of all she sees, Lady Error 666 True Name Not Found The Second.' So, yeah, definitely not controlling her. And that's, y'know, ignoring the trigger potential for Skye. Not fun."
Your twin taps at the keyboard and replaces the embassy entrance with a dull, three-story brick building. The chrome gleam of solid metal can be seen through several of the windows.
"Last and honestly kinda the least, we have the local Cape Countermeasures HQ thing. But, um, going as heroes instead of villains. Anyway, I don't think we'd get much loot out of it, but I think we'd have a better chance of getting into the ICCC meet-and-greet good n early if we don't wait 'til the last minute to register and make concrete travel plans. My current plan A for that one is to reveal my own ability to control computers, say Skye is a Builder specializing in imitating Cape effects, and have you reveal Upgrade. The combo is kinda attention-grabbing, but that's the whole point; if we want the likes of Dreadnought to treat us as more than more faces in a crowd of fans, we need to be interesting enough to not just hi-bye-next. I'm sure anyone capable of causing a Cataclysm-class disaster automatically qualifies."
Celes stifles a yawn with one hand, blinks, and proceeds to pretend she doesn't need sleep. You're still stuck on her claim you could be Cataclysm-class if you wanted to.
"Wait, what? Rewind. Unless I start upgrading a bomb or a robot or a virus or…"
You trail off, slowly coming to realize just how many ways you have to end the world. Or give it a good try, anyway. You don't intend to devote serious thought toward breaking the world so thoroughly that even other Capes couldn't fix it.
...You can't possibly be serious.
You shake your head and gesture for Celes to continue.
"Basically, yeah. Meanwhile, Skye's new Nodes will let her imitate the effects of powers she's seen and then you can upgrade those. But don't worry, the set of potential CC Capes is apparently larger than it looks. The best comparison I've seen compares our situation to that of self-driving cars. Sure, people could futz with them by drawing lines on the highway or whatever, but that would cause problems with human drivers as well. Our best defense is the fact that most people just aren't murderous psychopaths. Anyway, I was thinking we could name that one 'Progeny' and maybe go in our Dad-ish forms, but that part of the plan is a bit fluffier. I do think it's a good idea, though, and one Skye is OK with — assuming we don't somehow have Dad's fear aura now that we're older, anyway."
"You won't!" Dad calls from elsewhere in the house.
You share a startled look with Celes and try to recall similar past incidents. It doesn't work out too well; you're pretty sure your memories were pretty good prior to getting powers, but they were still imperfect. You didn't think he had super-hearing, but after thinking about a few of the times he somehow knew you were misbehaving in the past...
"You suck, Dad!" you call back.
"More than you know!"
You and Celes exchange another uncertain glance. You don't think either of you is quite sure if that's supposed to be a sex joke or not. If it is, engaging will only lead to you getting more and more horrified until you're forced to drop it for the sake of your sanity. If it's not, you might be able to safely reference it in future conversations.
"...I'm starting to think Mom is giving him new toys just to throw us off the scent," Celes admits eventually. "They're still hiding something. I'm just not sure what."
"I... am... your father!"
No words, spoken or otherwise, pass between you and Celes. You both automatically ignore your cliché-spouting goofball of a dad.
"Back on topic, upside of the Cape Countermeasures registration thingie is that they let Builders keep whatever they make to demonstrate their abilities. I'm ninety percent certain we can rules-lawyer that into letting you keep an Upgraded object, especially since Upgrade is broken and I'm sure a lot of people would be interested in it."
Your twin flips the laptop shut and turns her full attention to you.
"I'd actually be OK with any of these, so up to you. Whatcha wanna do first? Well, second if we count the scheduled artifact stuff."
Attempting modified Approval voting at the suggestion of @Vebyast, who beta-read this along with @Nixeu. Part of why updates have frequently been so slow for this is that I haven't been sure how to prioritize potential targets without trampling on player agency; I'm hoping this will help. Please note that all options have Skye's tentative approval, but it's more "I'm willing to try this" than "I'm sure I'll enjoy it." You can attach sub-options for IC reasoning or overall objectives under each one, and as usual, don't worry too much about vote-splitting.
[] Approve: Bob's Birdbaths, Squirrel Feeders, and Other Outdoor Supplies.
-[] Reasoning?
[] Disapprove: Bob's Birdbaths, Squirrel Feeders, and Other Outdoor Supplies.
-[] Reasoning?
[] Approve: Silicone Singularity.
-[] Reasoning?
[] Disapprove: Silicone Singularity.
-[] Reasoning?
[] Approve: Auctionhouse for Jerks.
-[] Reasoning?
[] Disapprove: Auctionhouse for Jerks.
-[] Reasoning?
[] Approve: Diplomatically Immune Station 13.
-[] Reasoning?
[] Disapprove: Diplomatically Immune Station 13.
-[] Reasoning?
[] Approve: Cape Countermeasures HQ.
-[] Reasoning?
[] Disapprove: Cape Countermeasures HQ.
-[] Reasoning?
-[X] Bonus points if she can convincingly come off as too adorable be evil, but still actually win.
--[X] Also if she refuses to admit they share a body, regardless of any evidence.
Do you want to be my super-powered evil side for when I'm a MG? Given as I think you taking control is supposed to be an emergency safety thingie in the first place, you could do it, right?
ヾ(０∀０*★)ﾟ*･.｡
( ƅ✧∇✧)ƅ
☆*~ﾟ⌒(^ω^ ❀)⌒ﾟ~*☆
( ƅ✧∇✧)ƅ
☆*~ﾟ⌒(^ω^ ❀)⌒ﾟ~*☆
You can have bonus points if you convincingly come off as too adorable to be evil and still win. And even more if you refuse to ever admit we're sharing a body despite any and all supporting evidence.
c(＞ω＜)ゞ
...So, any suggestions for Cape names? I'm not very good at coming up with them. Especially when, like, we've had several thousand years of Capes taking pretty much every word in every language between them.
...?
Right. Not a good method for transmitting names. My mistake.
(◠‿◠✿)
To escape the beguiling warmth of your bed, you ultimately resort to using Overdrive and rolling onto the floor. Good bedsheets are a little like Medusa; if you let them have their way, you'd never move again. You use Reverse to undo the effect and make your way downstairs.
Celes is in the downstairs living room, an uncharacteristically serious expression on her face and her laptop on a portable table in front of her. The black and white screen of some sort of debug page is open before her. More importantly, she's made the mistake of leaving her back to most entrances. You're able to ghost up to her ear undetected. You lean in, take a deep breath, and try to imitate Dad's unpatented Voice of Doom.
"DIE, MORTAL."
Good enough.
(o.⊙)
Your sister yelps and flings herself to one side, twisting in midair to get a better look at you. She goes limp and harmlessly falls to the sofa when she realizes who ambushed her.
"So, whatcha doin'?" you ask cheerfully.
Celes forces her expression to go blank, blatantly pretending you hadn't just scared the daylights out of her. After a second or two of silence, she scoots back to the laptop.
"Nice to see you too, Sis," Celes says darkly. You make a mental note to hide your snowball gauntlet. "I'm plotting our next move. Dad isn't really comfortable with us going to Dragon without a healthy amount of public experience, so he said we need to start on that within the next three days and maintain that rate until school starts. Mom is planning to bring us on a few stealth raids of her own, too, starting with Prism tomorrow if we don't go back in legally. I know we'll want multiple public identities sooner than later, but right now, we need supplies, materials, whatever, so I'm just looking for villainous targets. The more toys we can make, steal, or buy, the more abilities we can give to our identities and the less likely we are to be forced into a corner. I feel as though we will be at some point, if only during a genuine Cataclysm-class emergency, but I feel like we can still have fun 'til then. Either way, Progenitor gave Authority more power and a new Node for ordering around computer systems, so that's been fun. I can just skip the various programming steps and go straight to telling it what I want it to do. Which reminds me: we should aim for a supercomputer or admin access to one. I could do a lot of gloriously diabolical stuff with either."
You climb over the bed and settle down next to Celes.
"And right now?"
"Looking into local Cape Insurance. I don't wanna raid anyone who can't shrug it off."
Celes tilts the screen further toward you. Countless chains of numbers stare back at you, many of them sharing the first few digits. It takes you only a few seconds to identify them as IP addresses.
Your sister pulls the computer back to herself after a few moments.
"That's everyone illegally looking at the insurance registry system right now. I told it to display and record a fake IP just in case, but this system already has more holes in it than Progenitor's morals. It'd actually set off more red flags if I researched this stuff legally. Anyway, most places in the city are safely insured. Unfortunately, quite a few of the more lucrative targets have 'put sizable bounties on any offenders' as part of their protection policies. The valley shared by lucrative, insured, and safeish is a narrow one."
Celes alt-tabs over to what appears to be a perfectly ordinary white retailer.
"First, 'Bob's Birdbaths, Squirrel Feeders, and Other Outdoor Supplies.' They have normal hardware stuff like wiring, wood, metal, tools, etcetera, but also have an overpriced stock of living crystals from an Earth with point-one-nine divergence. The local ConsumerPaths cameras say they only get a dozen or so customers daily — certainly not enough to keep the business afloat. Between that and the number of Cape fights recorded in the surrounding area, I think it's safe to say it's villain bait. We go there if we ever want a fight. Also, I think we can grow them into two-piece pairs of crystal wings and I know we can if you Upgrade them."
"Strongly suspect," you correct absentmindedly.
Wings would be nice, you'll admit that much, but they're also incredibly distinctive. Also, just because you and Celes might just be a teensie bit fangirlish doesn't mean you want to broadcast that fact to the world.
✽-(ˆ▽ˆ)/✽ ✽\(ˆ▽ˆ)-✽
...I'm not even sure what you're trying to say there.
☜(⌒▽⌒)☞ ☜(⌒▽⌒)☞
In favor?
( ƅ^▽^)ƅ
Meanwhile, Celes ignores you and switches over to a glass-fronted, three-story glass tower.
"Second, Silicone Singularity. Huge computer shop owned by a low-tier Builder, lots of nice stuff, well-priced, and generally the most popular physical computer store around. They also do online ordering, but reviews recommend against it since their employees 'probably know more about computer parts than you do.' Second and third floors are his living area, so we'll just be doing stuff on the first. No reason to be rude."
Celes clicks on yet another tab. You're left looking at an image of a menacing robot spider using several dozen red lasers to sweep the surrounding area.
"Also, they have some of Arachne's tier two security bots, but I consider that a plus. Those things are supposed to be really nice if you can disable the self-destruct mechanism and suborn them afterward, which we totally can."
You inhale through your teeth, your mind already going over all the ways that could go horrifyingly wrong. Invulnerability would only prolong your survival against those things. Arachne made her name with spider robots wielding electrified metal whips and has only gotten more dangerous in the years since.
"Isn't Arachne's stuff insanely lethal?"
"It can be. However, Arachne is known to have a weak spot for kids. Her stuff doesn't scale that high for us, not even if we start collapsing the building. Instead, they basically try to capture or delay us with something approaching outright fanaticism and a severe lack of self-preservation in general. And again, tier two. Her only stronger bots are the kind guarding the White House or other government buildings. Basically, I was going to put it on our 'raid later' list and go for something easier in the interim."
Celes tabs over to what appears to be a large spherical building made from polished wood. Your brain automatically reclassifies it as either synthetic or covered in only a thin layer; barely-enforced international law bans excessive use of wood in construction. You remember there was a bit of a diplomatic incident with elves from another Earth that provoked that particular policy. Nobody wants to fight a war across dimensions.
"Third, and my current favorite, Casa D'aste Ascesita. It's a bit of a crapshoot when it comes to actually being good or not, but their owners act as auctioneers-slash-agents to sell Cape-created equipment. This close to the ICCC, when Capes are trying to show off their stuff and keep getting rejected? Betcha they have some really nice ones. One owner is a technopath, other is a one man army with his clones lasting a 'handful' of seconds. Twenty, tops. Also, at least the OMA is known to have some really, really toxic beliefs when it comes to women, so I wanna kick their butts just on general principles."
You raise an eyebrow. You're not outstandingly surprised Celes wants to clobber some dirtbags, but you'd normally expect her to keep such desires separate from something as important as your debut.
"How toxic?"
"Something about our brains mattering less than our breasts or something, I dunno. Also a sexual harassment lawsuit that got settled out of court for a yeah-I'm-totally-guilty-but-hush amount of money."
You blink. It's been almost two centuries since women got the twin rights to vote and make their own marital decisions in the US, courtesy of the superpowered activists of the time. Even then, the United States was itself one of the last nations to (grudgingly) grant those.
How is there literally anyone who still thinks one gender is inherently better than the other? Even their great-great-great grandparents wouldn't have been alive back then.
"...Wow. There are actual people who still think trash like that? I thought they just existed in some of the TV shows trying too hard to be edgy."
♪~(✿☯.☯) (♥ω♥ )~♪ ___ щ(ºДºщ)
But — ugh, never mind. I get hereditary teachings are still a thing. It's just stupid, I guess.
"Apparently. I dunno what rock they climbed out from. Quarterway convinced they're trying to bait antiheroes or magical girls for some weird reason. They do wear neat black suits, and those are the traditional attire for some of the more infuriating antagonists..."
"Usually that's the masterminds, though," you point out. "Not the middlemen. They're not subordinate to anyone, are they?"
"Nope. But I suppose we could just let the local MGs or MBs handle them if they do turn out to be bigoted and evil. So, next up..."
Celes tabs over to what appears to be an ordinary set of metal panels underneath a highway overpass. Or at least, "ordinary" aside from the giant #13 formed out of thin red forcefields. Further inspection reveals the vague outline of a badly-hidden doorway.
"Diplomatically Immune Station #13. It's technically one of Exalt's embassies instead of a store or somewhere insured, but he's happy to give a bit of free stuff to fortnight-since-reveal-or-newer heroes 'As small tastes of what the rightful overlord of Earth could offer them' and seems to expect villains to break in to claim the same. There's a site we can reserve raid times for and everything. Only two gift-bags out in the open at a time, with exponentially more stuff stashed behind an increasingly vicious security gauntlet operated by a full AI. Comes with the sorta-perk of releasing high-quality footage of raids and sometimes highlight reels."
"Actual exponents or...?"
"Yeah. I think it's something like a base of three plus two per person, but that's just speculation. Quantity and general quality of enemies scales to number of people, though, I know that much. Anyway, it sounds fun and is my second favorite, but I displaced it from first 'cuz we might have a tough time making it halfway through even if we weren't limiting ourselves to different identities. From what I can make out, Authority agrees. I'll run out of power before they run out of challenges to throw at us. And to be perfectly honest, unless Upgrade has some easily-hidden attacks of her own to contribute, I think we'll get hard countered as soon as I run out."
"I promised she could be my MG superpowered evil side, so she might actually be able to do that."
" (((o(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)o))) "
"Guessing that's an exuberent yes," Celes remarks dryly. "Call that tied for my favorite, then. I still like the idea of beating up the toxic guys."
"Noted. Now tell me why you can't just Suggest the AI let us through?"
Celes produces an unhappy eeeewue noise.
"Exalt promised painful retribution upon 'anyone who attempts to control the eventual overseer of Earth and ruler of all she sees, Lady Error 666 True Name Not Found The Second.' So, yeah, definitely not controlling her. And that's, y'know, ignoring the trigger potential for Skye. Not fun."
Your twin taps at the keyboard and replaces the embassy entrance with a dull, three-story brick building. The chrome gleam of solid metal can be seen through several of the windows.
"Last and honestly kinda the least, we have the local Cape Countermeasures HQ thing. But, um, going as heroes instead of villains. Anyway, I don't think we'd get much loot out of it, but I think we'd have a better chance of getting into the ICCC meet-and-greet good n early if we don't wait 'til the last minute to register and make concrete travel plans. My current plan A for that one is to reveal my own ability to control computers, say Skye is a Builder specializing in imitating Cape effects, and have you reveal Upgrade. The combo is kinda attention-grabbing, but that's the whole point; if we want the likes of Dreadnought to treat us as more than more faces in a crowd of fans, we need to be interesting enough to not just hi-bye-next. I'm sure anyone capable of causing a Cataclysm-class disaster automatically qualifies."
Celes stifles a yawn with one hand, blinks, and proceeds to pretend she doesn't need sleep. You're still stuck on her claim you could be Cataclysm-class if you wanted to.
"Wait, what? Rewind. Unless I start upgrading a bomb or a robot or a virus or…"
You trail off, slowly coming to realize just how many ways you have to end the world. Or give it a good try, anyway. You don't intend to devote serious thought toward breaking the world so thoroughly that even other Capes couldn't fix it.
(T＿T)
...You can't possibly be serious.
ꉂ(⌒▽⌒)
You shake your head and gesture for Celes to continue.
"Basically, yeah. Meanwhile, Skye's new Nodes will let her imitate the effects of powers she's seen and then you can upgrade those. But don't worry, the set of potential CC Capes is apparently larger than it looks. The best comparison I've seen compares our situation to that of self-driving cars. Sure, people could futz with them by drawing lines on the highway or whatever, but that would cause problems with human drivers as well. Our best defense is the fact that most people just aren't murderous psychopaths. Anyway, I was thinking we could name that one 'Progeny' and maybe go in our Dad-ish forms, but that part of the plan is a bit fluffier. I do think it's a good idea, though, and one Skye is OK with — assuming we don't somehow have Dad's fear aura now that we're older, anyway."
"You won't!" Dad calls from elsewhere in the house.
You share a startled look with Celes and try to recall similar past incidents. It doesn't work out too well; you're pretty sure your memories were pretty good prior to getting powers, but they were still imperfect. You didn't think he had super-hearing, but after thinking about a few of the times he somehow knew you were misbehaving in the past...
"You suck, Dad!" you call back.
"More than you know!"
You and Celes exchange another uncertain glance. You don't think either of you is quite sure if that's supposed to be a sex joke or not. If it is, engaging will only lead to you getting more and more horrified until you're forced to drop it for the sake of your sanity. If it's not, you might be able to safely reference it in future conversations.
"...I'm starting to think Mom is giving him new toys just to throw us off the scent," Celes admits eventually. "They're still hiding something. I'm just not sure what."
"I... am... your father!"
No words, spoken or otherwise, pass between you and Celes. You both automatically ignore your cliché-spouting goofball of a dad.
"Back on topic, upside of the Cape Countermeasures registration thingie is that they let Builders keep whatever they make to demonstrate their abilities. I'm ninety percent certain we can rules-lawyer that into letting you keep an Upgraded object, especially since Upgrade is broken and I'm sure a lot of people would be interested in it."
Your twin flips the laptop shut and turns her full attention to you.
"I'd actually be OK with any of these, so up to you. Whatcha wanna do first? Well, second if we count the scheduled artifact stuff."
Dimensional divergence refers to, essentially, how different a given Earth is from your own. The further away an Earth is, the harder it is for people to interact with it.
The scale involved isn't linear and effectively goes from either 0-100 or 0.00-1 depending on who you ask, but most people follow the 0.00-1 scale. Which is to say, basically everyone but some parts of the US and you're convinced those people just want to make things confusing for everyone else.
0.00 is the world you're currently on and is also called "Earth Zero" or "Earth Prime."
Worlds with divergence 1 and higher are worlds so alien or they might as well not be Earth at all, and indeed, some have theorized that such worlds aren't. After all, one of the things that's different is the night sky. Numbers higher than 1.0 should technically exist, but given the energy requirements involved and general lack of traits shared with your own world, it's easier to just lump them all under 1.0.
Most worlds with superpowers are within 0.11 divergence, but oddly enough, there are also a few unpowered worlds with disturbingly similar histories to your own. Some claim the existence of such worlds means that your planet is the center of the multiverse, but given Progenitor's recent comments, you aren't really one to buy into that.
0.12 and onward are often somewhat similar to your own Earth, but seemingly start incorporating universal rules that make "magic" commonplace. Humanlike creatures such as elves also start appearing around this point.
0.55 to 0.59 are completely inaccessible. Nobody is quite sure why.
0.6 and higher almost completely stop having humans. Usually, some other bipedal variant has taken their place, although you heard there was a 0.67 with evolved dolphins as the dominant species. The human Cape who made the comparison was, in turn, called an "evolved monkey."
You don't know the exact cost formula, but you think it's supposed to take about ten million dollars to travel to and from a 0.19 world. That's excluding what you'd have to pay the natives for any trade goods, mind, which would probably be a great deal more than that. So cross-dimensional trade is certainly possible with the right Cape assistance, but it's usually used for luxury items that can be rushed through portals in a hurry — living crystals, for example.
This cost can be reduced by taking multiple steps, but the multidimensional map does not appear to be three-dimensional. It could easily get you further away from your intended destination instead of closer to it.
The scale involved isn't linear and effectively goes from either 0-100 or 0.00-1 depending on who you ask, but most people follow the 0.00-1 scale. Which is to say, basically everyone but some parts of the US and you're convinced those people just want to make things confusing for everyone else.
0.00 is the world you're currently on and is also called "Earth Zero" or "Earth Prime."
Worlds with divergence 1 and higher are worlds so alien or they might as well not be Earth at all, and indeed, some have theorized that such worlds aren't. After all, one of the things that's different is the night sky. Numbers higher than 1.0 should technically exist, but given the energy requirements involved and general lack of traits shared with your own world, it's easier to just lump them all under 1.0.
Most worlds with superpowers are within 0.11 divergence, but oddly enough, there are also a few unpowered worlds with disturbingly similar histories to your own. Some claim the existence of such worlds means that your planet is the center of the multiverse, but given Progenitor's recent comments, you aren't really one to buy into that.
0.12 and onward are often somewhat similar to your own Earth, but seemingly start incorporating universal rules that make "magic" commonplace. Humanlike creatures such as elves also start appearing around this point.
0.55 to 0.59 are completely inaccessible. Nobody is quite sure why.
0.6 and higher almost completely stop having humans. Usually, some other bipedal variant has taken their place, although you heard there was a 0.67 with evolved dolphins as the dominant species. The human Cape who made the comparison was, in turn, called an "evolved monkey."
You don't know the exact cost formula, but you think it's supposed to take about ten million dollars to travel to and from a 0.19 world. That's excluding what you'd have to pay the natives for any trade goods, mind, which would probably be a great deal more than that. So cross-dimensional trade is certainly possible with the right Cape assistance, but it's usually used for luxury items that can be rushed through portals in a hurry — living crystals, for example.
This cost can be reduced by taking multiple steps, but the multidimensional map does not appear to be three-dimensional. It could easily get you further away from your intended destination instead of closer to it.
Attempting modified Approval voting at the suggestion of @Vebyast, who beta-read this along with @Nixeu. Part of why updates have frequently been so slow for this is that I haven't been sure how to prioritize potential targets without trampling on player agency; I'm hoping this will help. Please note that all options have Skye's tentative approval, but it's more "I'm willing to try this" than "I'm sure I'll enjoy it." You can attach sub-options for IC reasoning or overall objectives under each one, and as usual, don't worry too much about vote-splitting.
Example (provided by Vebyast) said:
[] Approve: Bob's Birdbaths, Squirrel Feeders, and Other Outdoor Supplies.
-[] Reasoning?
[] Disapprove: Bob's Birdbaths, Squirrel Feeders, and Other Outdoor Supplies.
-[] Reasoning?
"First, 'Bob's Birdbaths, Squirrel Feeders, and Other Outdoor Supplies.' They have normal hardware stuff like wiring, wood, metal, tools, etcetera, but also have an overpriced stock of living crystals from an Earth with point-one-nine divergence. The local ConsumerPaths cameras say they only get a dozen or so customers daily — certainly not enough to keep the business afloat. Between that and the number of Cape fights recorded in the surrounding area, I think it's safe to say it's villain bait. We go there if we ever want a fight. Also, I think we can grow them into two-piece pairs of crystal wings and I know we can if you Upgrade them."
"Strongly suspect," you correct absentmindedly.
Wings would be nice, you'll admit that much, but they're also incredibly distinctive. Also, just because you and Celes might just be a teensie bit fangirlish doesn't mean you want to broadcast that fact to the world.
"Strongly suspect," you correct absentmindedly.
Wings would be nice, you'll admit that much, but they're also incredibly distinctive. Also, just because you and Celes might just be a teensie bit fangirlish doesn't mean you want to broadcast that fact to the world.
[] Approve: Silicone Singularity.
-[] Reasoning?
[] Disapprove: Silicone Singularity.
-[] Reasoning?
"Second, Silicone Singularity. Huge computer shop owned by a low-tier Builder, lots of nice stuff, well-priced, and generally the most popular physical computer store around. They also do online ordering, but reviews recommend against it since their employees 'probably know more about computer parts than you do.' Second and third floors are his living area, so we'll just be doing stuff on the first. No reason to be rude."
Celes clicks on yet another tab. You're left looking at an image of a menacing robot spider using several dozen red lasers to sweep the surrounding area.
"Also, they have some of Arachne's tier two security bots, but I consider that a plus. Those things are supposed to be really nice if you can disable the self-destruct mechanism and suborn them afterward, which we totally can."
Celes clicks on yet another tab. You're left looking at an image of a menacing robot spider using several dozen red lasers to sweep the surrounding area.
"Also, they have some of Arachne's tier two security bots, but I consider that a plus. Those things are supposed to be really nice if you can disable the self-destruct mechanism and suborn them afterward, which we totally can."
[] Approve: Auctionhouse for Jerks.
-[] Reasoning?
[] Disapprove: Auctionhouse for Jerks.
-[] Reasoning?
"Third, and my current favorite, Casa D'aste Ascesita. It's a bit of a crapshoot when it comes to actually being good or not, but their owners act as auctioneers-slash-agents to sell Cape-created equipment. This close to the ICCC, when Capes are trying to show off their stuff and keep getting rejected? Betcha they have some really nice ones. One owner is a technopath, other is a one man army with his clones lasting a 'handful' of seconds. Twenty, tops. Also, at least the OMA is known to have some really, really toxic beliefs when it comes to women, so I wanna kick their butts just on general principles."
[] Approve: Diplomatically Immune Station 13.
-[] Reasoning?
[] Disapprove: Diplomatically Immune Station 13.
-[] Reasoning?
"Diplomatically Immune Station #13. It's technically one of Exalt's embassies instead of a store or somewhere insured, but he's happy to give a bit of free stuff to fortnight-since-reveal-or-newer heroes 'As small tastes of what the rightful overlord of Earth could offer them' and seems to expect villains to break in to claim the same. There's a site we can reserve raid times for and everything. Only two gift-bags out in the open at a time, with exponentially more stuff stashed behind an increasingly vicious security gauntlet operated by a full AI. Comes with the sorta-perk of releasing high-quality footage of raids and sometimes highlight reels."
"Actual exponents or...?"
"Yeah. I think it's something like a base of three plus two per person, but that's just speculation. Quantity and general quality of enemies scales to number of people, though, I know that much. Anyway, it sounds fun and is my second favorite, but I displaced it from first 'cuz we might have a tough time making it halfway through even if we weren't limiting ourselves to different identities. From what I can make out, Authority agrees. I'll run out of power before they run out of challenges to throw at us. And to be perfectly honest, unless Upgrade has some easily-hidden attacks of her own to contribute, I think we'll get hard countered as soon as I run out."
"I promised she could be my MG superpowered evil side, so she might actually be able to do that."
"Guessing that's an exuberent yes," Celes remarks dryly. "Call that tied for my favorite, then. I still like the idea of beating up the toxic guys."
"Actual exponents or...?"
"Yeah. I think it's something like a base of three plus two per person, but that's just speculation. Quantity and general quality of enemies scales to number of people, though, I know that much. Anyway, it sounds fun and is my second favorite, but I displaced it from first 'cuz we might have a tough time making it halfway through even if we weren't limiting ourselves to different identities. From what I can make out, Authority agrees. I'll run out of power before they run out of challenges to throw at us. And to be perfectly honest, unless Upgrade has some easily-hidden attacks of her own to contribute, I think we'll get hard countered as soon as I run out."
"I promised she could be my MG superpowered evil side, so she might actually be able to do that."
"(((o(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)o)))"
"Guessing that's an exuberent yes," Celes remarks dryly. "Call that tied for my favorite, then. I still like the idea of beating up the toxic guys."
[] Approve: Cape Countermeasures HQ.
-[] Reasoning?
[] Disapprove: Cape Countermeasures HQ.
-[] Reasoning?
"Last and honestly kinda the least, we have the local Cape Countermeasures HQ thing. But, um, going as heroes instead of villains. Anyway, I don't think we'd get much loot out of it, but I think we'd have a better chance of getting into the ICCC meet-and-greet good n early if we don't wait 'til the last minute to register and make concrete travel plans. My current plan A for that one is to reveal my own ability to control computers, say Skye is a Builder specializing in imitating Cape effects, and have you reveal Upgrade. The combo is kinda attention-grabbing, but that's the whole point; if we want the likes of Dreadnought to treat us as more than more faces in a crowd of fans, we need to be interesting enough to not just hi-bye-next. I'm sure anyone capable of causing a Cataclysm-class disaster automatically qualifies."
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Vebyast
Nascent Transhuman
Ooh, that's a neat ability. What do you want to bet that that was us pulling out a bit of our true form? Albeit pink to Dad's red.
This family is great. Everything they do is hilarious.
I like how Celes doesn't even blink at this.
Apparently not impressed by our scary voice.
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...how can Eve not get what dancing cheerleaders means? It's about as obvious a form of approval as you can get. Honestly out of all Upgrade's communications this update this was the clearest to me.