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Infernal Conundrum: [Exalted/Worm] - Part 2: Hell is Other Exalts

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Thief of Words said:
None of them are sitting well with Taylor right at this moment. One made her a sociopathic serial killer who had no emotional reaction to the prospect of murdering a person who the majority of her happy childhood memories involved as well as every single member of Winslow's staff by having them eaten alive by ants...while she could taste their flesh and blood.

The next felt disappointed that doing so was too merciful.

The one after that was so offended that Sophia would try to defend herself that she slammed her through the wall, set her on fire, and left her die of the rabid mutant lovechild of radiation sickness and the Ebola virus. And it thought that an appropriate punishment for having annoyed it.

The next was a mad Yandere slasher movie villain who was convinced she was in love with Madison Clements and so tortured the poor girl to death by displays of affection before dissolving into a massive storm of flensing winds so huge and destructive that they set off the Endbringer sirens because of her.

So yeah...they all freak Taylor more than a little out right now. The worst part being how right it felt right up until the moment she woke up and realized that monster in that nightmare was her.
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*STUNNED SILENCE*

Well then.
 
Thief of Words said:
None of them are sitting well with Taylor right at this moment. One made her a sociopathic serial killer who had no emotional reaction to the prospect of murdering a person who the majority of her happy childhood memories involved as well as every single member of Winslow's staff by having them eaten alive by ants...while she could taste their flesh and blood.

The next felt disappointed that doing so was too merciful.

The one after that was so offended that Sophia would try to defend herself that she slammed her through the wall, set her on fire, and left her die of the rabid mutant lovechild of radiation sickness and the Ebola virus. And it thought that an appropriate punishment for having annoyed it.

The next was a mad Yandere slasher movie villain who was convinced she was in love with Madison Clements and so tortured the poor girl to death by displays of affection before dissolving into a massive storm of flensing winds so huge and destructive that they set off the Endbringer sirens because of her.

So yeah...they all freak Taylor more than a little out right now. The worst part being how right it felt right up until the moment she woke up and realized that monster in that nightmare was her.
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How many of these things happened in Coil's B timeline where Rachel attacked Taylor once she left the cocoon?
 
earthboy said:
THE MONSTER IS HER.

"No, mistress, you need to put your heel a bit more to the left. There."

THE MONSTER IS HERE.

"Much better."
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.

<Speaking of, if I'm going to be so far above you, shouldn't you call me Mistress or My Lady or something?>

<Haaaaah! Ohhh, that is a good one, Taylor. Firstly? Because going to be and is are very different propositions. Even if an acorn is going to be an oak tree, that doesn't mean you should go ahead and try to make a chair out of it.
Secondly? I already have a Mistress, and, my hopes for you notwithstanding, you are a minimum of a millennium from even beginning to compare to her at all, much less favorably.>

 
Ashmaker said:
How many of these things happened in Coil's B timeline where Rachel attacked Taylor once she left the cocoon?
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Not a one. Most of her charms were instead the entirety of Infernal Monster style. Though all insects in her canonical range did suffer from a constant uncontrolled berserk anger limit break from the moment she learned Untamed Apocalypse.
 
Thief of Words said:
Not a one. Most of her charms were instead the entirety of Infernal Monster style. Though all insects in her canonical range did suffer from a constant uncontrolled berserk anger limit break from the moment she learned Untamed Apocalypse.
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Right, some entirely different Very Bad Thing™ happened in Coil's timeline to make Dinah go
Thief of Words said:
Yet no matter where she looked, she couldn't find the reason. Until she did. And then she could see nothing else. The knowledge pulled her in with the ineffable force of a black hole. She screamed until her throat bled. She didn't notice. She could not escape those four words. That one horrible, inevitable fact. She screamed them out time and time again. Eventually, blessed unconsciousness took her. But not before she screamed her warning to anyone who could hear:​

"THE MONSTER IS HERE!"​
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I apologize for the awkwardness of this. I was doing better earlier on this week and last week than I am now. Due to a combination of real life factors, my writing is looking like it just isn't going to happen for a bit. As it stands, I may be homeless in a month or so, if I haven't found a job. My nerves are understandably shaky as a result. Sorry. I thought things were looking up. I...I was wrong, and I'm not handling it as well as I'd thought.
 
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Thief of Words said:
I apologize for the awkwardness of this. I was doing better earlier on this week and last week than I am now. Due to a combination of real life factors, my writing is looking like it just isn't going to happen for a bit. As it stands, I may be homeless in a month or so, if I haven't found a job. My nerves are understandably shaky as a result. Sorry. I thought things were looking up. I...I was wrong, and I'm not handling it as well as I'd thought.
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I'm going to be honest: No one is blaming you for what life does. We all have emergencies, issues, etc. pop up all the time, and I speak from personal experience that it really messes up your writing. If you feel that you can continue the story, we might like that, but we definitely understand if you can't go on.
 
Critian Caceorte said:
I'm going to be honest: No one is blaming you for what life does. We all have emergencies, issues, etc. pop up all the time, and I speak from personal experience that it really messes up your writing. If you feel that you can continue the story, we might like that, but we definitely understand if you can't go on.
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Agreed, though I think Thief was meaning more of a hiatus rather than letting the quest die.
 
I'd certainly like to tell this story til I finish or can't. This is more an "I may vanish for an indeterminate amount of time if end up homeless." If I don't, then so long as I'm able, the quest will continue so long as people remain who would want to read it and life permits me to post. Just didn't want to end up vanishing without warning or preamble, should I not find work before the deadline.

I remain hopeful, if worried. I have a little time yet. And if it comes to the worst, well, I will endeavor to return as swift as I'm able, for lots of reasons.
 
Imago 3.1 (Preview)​

The day following that nightmare, you awakened groggy and stiff, with the taste of vomit still in your mouth. Staring blearily around you, you tried to figure out where your bed had gone. A sudden and stabbing horror knifed into you as you realized you were in a holding cell, the walls heavily embedded with an absolutely stunning variety of tinker-tech. A solid third of which you were tempted to try and take apart to figure out why it worked. You could clearly tell how it worked. It's just...it shouldn't. Not that way. Still, as pleasant as a distraction would be right now, you felt it as tears began to burn your eyes. As you were about to spiral into a cycle of self loathing and fear over the nightmare, Uncertainty cut off your train of thought.

<Taylor! Shhh. It's alright. It was a nightmare. It wasn't real. Emma is alive, and none of that happened. You're at the oil rig with your father and the Protectorate. You didn't kill anyone.>

<I...U-Uncertainty? What...what was that?>

You moved to the door, grimacing at the reek of your own vomit-scented breath.

<That, Taylor...was, well.> He paused for a long moment as you spit into the trash can to clear the taste of puke off your tongue. Blech, crab and cafeteria food do not make a good smelling mix on the way back up. <That was a nightmare, and perhaps a caution not to tread the precise path of the Titans you can learn from.>

You froze a moment, shuddering. <You mean that's...a-an actual risk? That these powers might turn me into into a monster like that?!>

He didn't say anything for long moments, clearly marshaling his response carefully. <If you are reckless? If you are not careful in how you choose to emulate them? Yes. There are titanic charms that will change the way you think. It is possible for that to lead you to become someone significantly inhuman in their thoughts.>

Your stomach threatens to rebel again as you make your way to the shower room the heroes have made available to you. <That...Oh. Um. H-how do I prevent it?>

<There are a variety of ways that have been attempted, but if I'm honest...the best method is likely to ground yourself. Spend significant time with mortals that you trust. Make friends. Find confidantes.>

Confidantes. People you trust. The last person that fit both of those you had was...well, Emma. Or Mom. A part of you insisted that was proof enough that you couldn't, shouldn't trust anyone that heavily. They'd just abuse it. You'd loved Emma. She'd been one of the three anchors of your whole world. Last of the three to abandon you, a bitter and angry part of you insisted. And at least Mom and Dad didn't choose to do it. You chewed on your lip at that thought, it was angrier than you were expecting and you forced down the vitriol by insisting that no, neither Mom nor Dad had betrayed you. They hadn't abandoned you at all.

And Dad...you shouldn't blame Dad. He'd been in the same boat you were, but his first anchor had given way before yours: like you, Dad had three grounding loves in his life. For him, it was you, your mother, and...you weren't sure whether to call the third the Union or the city. Maybe both? The city had failed your father by breaking before you were even born. When your mother was lost...you were left with just each other...except you had Emma. Well, for a while anyway. No, you couldn't blame Dad that it hit him harder, and neither of you had been in a fit state to support the other then.

Still...you weren't even remotely comfortable with the idea of your father being your sole confidante. The fact that you'd never been the Daddy's Girl type to begin with aside, if Emma's betrayal and the subsequent splitting of your life at the seams had proven anything to you, it was that it was a bad idea to have any single point of failure in your emotional support system. Of course, you might have made a start at building a new one. Surely, again presuming you could trust him and all your operating theories and assumptions held up, Uncertainty counted as part of it where he had relevant experience. And you had gotten contact information from both the Dallon sisters. Plus Lisa seemed, well, surprisingly nice for a supervillain. Maybe she was like Mom? After all, your mother had been part of a certain feminist movement in college back before the whole thing went all 'Lustrum is Good; the Penis is Evil!' and started cutting body parts off of people. Maybe you could help her if it turned out she was in over her head?

You shrugged. That was a concern for the future. For now, you desperately needed a shower and for your mouth to not taste like yesterday's clearly brilliant idea to eat seafood for breakfast.

ooo

Just a quick preview of some of what I've been jotting down in the time between job applications today. ​
 
Thief of Words said:
A sudden and stabbing horror knifed into you as you realized you were in a holding cell, the walls heavily embedded with an absolutely stunning variety of tinker-tech. A solid third of which you were tempted to try and take apart to figure out why it worked. You could clearly tell how it worked. It's just...it shouldn't.
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Thief of Words said:
<Taylor! Shhh. It's alright. It was a nightmare. It wasn't real. Emma is alive, and none of that happened. You're at the oil rig with your father and the Protectorate. You didn't kill anyone.>
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Well, Tinker tech is interesting. And why would she be in a holding cell as a guest?
 
Thief of Words said:
Your stomach threatens to rebel again as you make your way to the shower room the heroes have made available to you. <That...Oh. Um. H-how do I prevent it?>

<There are a variety of ways that have been attempted, but if I'm honest...the best method is likely to ground yourself. Spend significant time with mortals that you trust. Make friends. Find confidantes.>
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Speaking of grounding, I like the idea of Taylor adopting the mindset necessary for Exalted Martial Arts for story reasons, but I don't know how good of a choice that is mechanically.
Thief of Words said:
You shrugged. That was a concern for the future. For now, you desperately needed a shower and for your mouth to not taste like yesterday's clearly brilliant idea to eat seafood for breakfast.
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I wonder what made you come up with that particular idea.
Ashmaker said:
They're still standing there! Quick, say something! "Would you like some crab? There are leftovers in the fridge."
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I REGRET NOTHING.
 
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Thief of Words said:
Your stomach threatens to rebel again as you make your way to the shower room the heroes have made available to you. <That...Oh. Um. H-how do I prevent it?>

<There are a variety of ways that have been attempted, but if I'm honest...the best method is likely to ground yourself. Spend significant time with mortals that you trust. Make friends. Find confidantes.>
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He just gave us simple, yet very pertinent advice.

Thief of Words said:
Still...you weren't even remotely comfortable with the idea of your father being your sole confidante.
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Well, if things develop in the right way, we will have others we could call confidantes in the not-so-distant future.

Thief of Words said:
before the whole thing went all 'Lustrum is Good; the Penis is Evil!'
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I see that reference...

Nice snippet.
 
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