Remove ads

Magical Girl Escalation Taylor (Worm/Nanoha)

Reader mode
Was surprised that the events of Unexpected Consequences wasn't mentioned, but I suppose it just happened offscreen or not happened from this PoV yet.
 
Jannika said:
It's code, the families aren't in on the secret.

Edit: and the reason they are doing it inside the PRT is practise, same as with capes using capenames when costumed.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
A good point. Maintaining OpSec is easier, especially for such miscelleneous staff like former janitors, when you exclusively use code no matter where.

The more you switch the more you breach.


Also the doggos are Good Dog.
 
Silently Watches said:
Costa-Brown had a tendency to give out just enough information for people to figure out what she was really saying, but little enough that it was never obvious. It was an odd quirk of hers that he had heard a few people attribute to a need to be the smartest person in the room
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Does she have a tendency to wear a vulpine grin while doing so? Could it be she's Tattletale's long-lost aunt? :D

Silently Watches said:
Six mages. Four adults with dog ears and tails, joined by a teenaged girl and a twelve-year-old boy. It was hard to believe they might be the group who would be front and center in the attempt to curtail all major parahuman gang activity in Philadelphia.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Vista: :mad: :rage: :mad: "...Okay, I'm calm, I'm calm. Hey, Tim, is there a way for me to acquire animal ears and tail so I could pretend I'm a Guardian Beast too?"

Silently Watches said:
The PRT and the Protectorate were never intended to remain separate organizations. Once parahuman law enforcement became accepted, even normal, the plan was always to merge the Protectorate into the wider PRT.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I applaud this decision.
Eventually, all silly conceptions of the Parahuman Dark Ages, like masks, the Unwritten Rules and artificial separation of capes and normies should be abandoned...

Silently Watches said:
Samuels and I are going to try making a special operations team out of you, a group that can move against the gangs and lone villainous capes in ways the Protectorate's customs and rules of engagement do not make easy.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
...on the other hand, I said eventually.
I hope he doesn't plan to ignore the Endbringer Truce, pretending that just because mages are not parahumans the Truce does not apply to them.
 
Last edited:
Shaseyu said:
Vista: :mad: :rage: :mad: "...Okay, I'm calm, I'm calm. Hey, Tim, is there a way for me to acquire animal ears and tail so I could pretend I'm a Guardian Beast too?"
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Tim: "Yes. What kind of animal ears and tail would you prefer? While we're at it I can throw in some LCM which will probably give you a Linker Core so you can perform magic."

Animal features + altered hair and eyes + magic really would make Vista seem like a Guardian Beast to someone who didn't know better.

It would also make quitting the Wards and rebranding a lot easier. Sure the Protectorate/PRT would be upset at losing Vista to Calamity Witch but if she rebrands in the process it won't have the same PR hit since it would seem like Vista is simply retiring rather then jumping teams.

Of course it would also mess seriously with Missy's persona life since obvious animal features kinda ruin civilian identities but from what we've seen it doesn't really seem like Missy has a life outside of Vista.
 
UberJJK said:
Tim: "Yes. What kind of animal ears and tail would you prefer? While we're at it I can throw in some LCM which will probably give you a Linker Core so you can perform magic."

Animal features + altered hair and eyes + magic really would make Vista seem like a Guardian Beast to someone who didn't know better.

It would also make quitting the Wards and rebranding a lot easier. Sure the Protectorate/PRT would be upset at losing Vista to Calamity Witch but if she rebrands in the process it won't have the same PR hit since it would seem like Vista is simply retiring rather then jumping teams.

Of course it would also mess seriously with Missy's persona life since obvious animal features kinda ruin civilian identities but from what we've seen it doesn't really seem like Missy has a life outside of Vista.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
@Silently Watches, how much of a political/legal mess will it be if we take the plunge and give Vista our full works - genemods, magic AND Device - the last one to make her factually not-a-parahuman?
 
Faraway-R said:
@Silently Watches, how much of a political/legal mess will it be if we take the plunge and give Vista our full works - genemods, magic AND Device - the last one to make her factually not-a-parahuman?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Oh, that would be all sorts of a legal mess, but it would be one for EVERYBODY (us, Vista, and the Protectorate). Mostly because of something odd I noticed while reading Worm: capes and their "secret identities" seem to be considered two distinct legal entities.

For proof of that, look at what we're told (though admittedly not shown) about parahuman trials. Uber and Leet have both been arrested at least once, but despite continuing to commit crimes, no one ever knocked down the door of their homes. Hookwolf was actually sentenced to the Birdcage, yet again, no efforts to grab him by surprise at home. The only instances we see of parahumans being tried or sentenced with their real names are Taylor and Canary (known publicly) and Lung and Bakuda (when they go to the Birdcage). It seems like unless it is those specific circumstances, they are tried as capes, not as real name AKA cape name.

Now what this means for Vista. As Missy Biron, she is not quite 14. She by law cannot give consent for procedures like this and would need consent from her guardian (Miss Militia's civvy ID). Tim therefore could not give her the serums, but he also couldn't do the surgery for the prosthesis. Yet nobody threatens legal action because as Vista, she has more latitude. Wards need parental permission to go to S-class threats, but that is a Youth Guard restriction that only applies to the Ward program. We didn't see anybody asking ages of the capes who came to fight Leviathan or Behemoth or Echidna. By that logic, definitely as an independent but arguably as a Ward, Vista's okay is all the protection Tim needs to give her the genemods. Giving her magic and taking away her parahuman ability could muddy the waters up even more thanks to what you know now is RCB's and Paulson's thinking that non-parahuman mages technically don't qualify for the Protectorate, and as far as I know the Youth Guard's restrictions only apply to the Protectorate and Wards (mostly because the PRT until now did not have minors who would been in this kind of situation, but the why really isn't relevant).

So you have the following sides:

The Protectorate arguing that she could not consent to the genemods because Missy is a non-emancipated minor and did not get permission from her guardian and therefore the procedure was illegally performed.

Tim, Taylor, and Vista arguing that they gave the genemods to Vista, who can argue that as a parahuman who is allowed to put her life at risk in an S-class situation, she does in fact have the right to give such consent. Vista would further state that she was given enough information to make an informed decision, so the procedure was legal.

The PRT (if Vista gets rid of her shard powers) doing their best to stay out of it because they don't have rules about minors and consent that would apply to this situation, so while they don't officially approve of Vista's decision, she has not technically broken any of their protocols and this whole thing was decided before she became a non-parahuman mage anyway.

And the Youth Guard getting mad about the whole thing but blaming the Protectorate because 1) it was the Protectorate's responsibility to keep track of Vista and 2) they don't have any degree of authority over Tim and Taylor in the first place, so trying to punish them is a waste of time.
 
Silently Watches said:
And the Youth Guard getting mad about the whole thing but blaming the Protectorate because 1) it was the Protectorate's responsibility to keep track of Vista and 2) they don't have any degree of authority over Tim and Taylor in the first place, so trying to punish them is a waste of time.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
...since when did "having no authority over someone" stop crusader-types from attempting anything? I submit they'd do everything they could think of to get at Tim and Taylor's group, too, whether there was any legal basis or not. :p
 
Kellcat said:
...since when did "having no authority over someone" stop crusader-types from attempting anything? I submit they'd do everything they could think of to get at Tim and Taylor's group, too, whether there was any legal basis or not. :p
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
But what could they actually do?

I mean Tim has kinda made himself a little vulnerable by signing up with DragonTech but as a (presumably) private company they are under no obligation to disclosure their employees.

Aside from that however no one on Team Calamity Witch really has a publicly accessible identity for people to go after. They could complain online or the news in order to try and drum up some bad PR for us but since we have no HQ, no base, no customers, no nothing there isn't really anything they can actually do.

About the worst that could happen would be someone trying to take Tim to court over the matter and even then that would have to be the PRT since they are the relevant legal body not the Protectorate or Youth Guard.
 
Hate Fish said:
Don't forget all sides involved's lawyers getting paid hand over fist to sort it out and generally going "Look, it'll take us fucking decades to work out who's at fault here, by which point it won't matter. Are you sure you want to do this?"
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
No, they'll happily fight it out, and the courts will let them for a very good reason: precedent. Because everyone wants to know how this will be handled for if (when) it happens again.
 
UberJJK said:
About the worst that could happen would be someone trying to take Tim to court over the matter and even then that would have to be the PRT since they are the relevant legal body not the Protectorate or Youth Guard
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Again: since when did legal relevance have anything to do with crusader-types? They'll cheerfully (angrily, hatefully, whatever) take their targets to court whether there's any real legal relevance or not. Get enough lawyers involved, and you can cause a significant drain on your opposition's resources, as well as get "taken to court" stories in the media.

On that note, that would be another tack to take - demonize your opponents in any sympathetic media, if you can. For real news organizations, the effect of that can be somewhat limited, as they stick close to the truth (with added opinion and/or outrage, sometimes), but opinion pieces or supermarket checkout rags tend to spew "stories" with at best a dubious relationship with the truth. And there are plenty of people stupid enough to believe them.

I don't think this is taking place in the timeframe of "cable news personalities" like Tucker and other hate mongers, so that particular attack path might be somewhat limited... but then again, various "radio personalities" have been around for long enough that the concept might be usable, if somewhat less efficient..

Start building up some outrage among the right groups, and then you can even get legislators involved - lots of public speeches about the evils of (x), conveniently including your target as their target...

So yeah, crusader outrage over something isn't limited to their legal oversight powers in the least.
 
Last edited:
Hate Fish said:
Don't forget all sides involved's lawyers getting paid hand over fist to sort it out and generally going "Look, it'll take us fucking decades to work out who's at fault here, by which point it won't matter. Are you sure you want to do this?"
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Protectorate and PRT lawyers probably wouldn't be up for that since I assume as government lawyers they're paid the same either way.

Youth Guard lawyers on the other hand would be civilian attorneys and want to drag the case on for as long as possible to milk their civilian contracts for all their money.

Silently Watches said:
For proof of that, look at what we're told (though admittedly not shown) about parahuman trials. Uber and Leet have both been arrested at least once, but despite continuing to commit crimes, no one ever knocked down the door of their homes. Hookwolf was actually sentenced to the Birdcage, yet again, no efforts to grab him by surprise at home. The only instances we see of parahumans being tried or sentenced with their real names are Taylor and Canary (known publicly) and Lung and Bakuda (when they go to the Birdcage). It seems like unless it is those specific circumstances, they are tried as capes, not as real name AKA cape name.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Not explicitly relevant, but another point of reference for how another author took this idea:
In Mauling Snarks the author ruled that due to Congressional Cock Up the law pursuant to PRT and Protectorate Parahuman arrests require them to have a Federal warrant (including meeting federal requirements like kidnapping or interstate crimes) to arrest someone not actively committing a crime. In the last chapter Hookwolf regularly goes to the Protectorate gift shop to thumb his nose at the fact that even though he's Birdcage Bound he can't be arrested unless in the act of committing a crime.
 
Kellcat said:
Again: since when did legal relevance have anything to do with crusader-types? They'll cheerfully (angrily, hatefully, whatever) take their targets to court whether there's any real legal relevance or not. Get enough lawyers involved, and you can cause a significant drain on your opposition's resources, as well as get "taken to court" stories in the media.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I'm not at all versed in the details of the US legal system but my point wasn't about relevance and more ability. Can an unrelated* third party sue someone on someone else's 'behalf' without their permission? It doesn't seem like something that should be legal but that has never stopped the USA before.

*The Youth Guard's legal powers all revolve around interactions between the Protectorate/PRT and the Wards. Step 1 in this process would almost certainly involve resigning from the Wards and even if it didn't interactions between Independent Hero Transcendent Gadgeteer and Vista does not fall under the umbrella of Protectorate/PRT and Ward interactions.

They'd certainly have the grounds to bring a case against the PRT/Protectorate, possibly even in the scenario where Vista resigned first, but I don't see how they'd have one against Tim.

That would be the prerogative of the PRT (crime involving parahumans), the regular police (crime involving a minor), and/or Miss Militia's civilian identity (crime involving a child her care).
 
Law enforcement has a long history of giving k9 officers all rights afforded to human officers. The only difference here is that the bork bork nom noms are fully sapient, and have war forms.

You thought a 90lb fur missile was bad, try a 400lb fur missile that has a grudge.
 
Last edited:
UberJJK said:
I'm not at all versed in the details of the US legal system but my point wasn't about relevance and more ability. Can an unrelated* third party sue someone on someone else's 'behalf' without their permission? It doesn't seem like something that should be legal but that has never stopped the USA before.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Long story short? You can if you establish that you have Standing, or a stake in the suit.

As an agency claiming to safeguard all underage parahumans in government employ Youth Guard probably have enough of a justification to get into the courthouse and not be laughed out by the judge. Where it goes from there depends on the judge and how favorable they are to Youth Guard. A very favorable judge could go all the way to allowing Youth Guard to attempt to dictate policy to the PRT (which they can ignore since it'd be a civil suit) while an unfavorable judge could slap penalties on the Youth Guard for bringing a frivolous suit (Vista at this point having left the Wards and no longer being a Parahuman means they overreached)
 
Valdimarian said:
Long story short? You can if you establish that you have Standing, or a stake in the suit.

As an agency claiming to safeguard all underage parahumans in government employ Youth Guard probably have enough of a justification to get into the courthouse and not be laughed out by the judge. Where it goes from there depends on the judge and how favorable they are to Youth Guard. A very favorable judge could go all the way to allowing Youth Guard to attempt to dictate policy to the PRT (which they can ignore since it'd be a civil suit) while an unfavorable judge could slap penalties on the Youth Guard for bringing a frivolous suit (Vista at this point having left the Wards and no longer being a Parahuman means they overreached)
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
You seem like you know US legal practice, so if I may? What would be the legal standing if we attempted to use mutagenics to create mages, with the multiple minors beforehand to minimise the potential for catastrophic failure? I'm guessing it'd be a "fully informed consent" issue, but how does that apply to experimental procedures with potential for life-altering side effects?

@Silently Watches On a similar note, what would be the possibility of using mechanical augmentations akin to Vista's arm to compensate for stuff like the "Severe - Fish" mutation you mentioned in your post about it? For example, if you get Gills and no amphibious adaptions, a mechanical system to provide you with water to breath, aerating it as needed.
 
Hate Fish said:
@Silently Watches On a similar note, what would be the possibility of using mechanical augmentations akin to Vista's arm to compensate for stuff like the "Severe - Fish" mutation you mentioned in your post about it? For example, if you get Gills and no amphibious adaptions, a mechanical system to provide you with water to breath, aerating it as needed.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Such an interesting question. I mean, there's zero reason I can think of why he couldn't... :whistle:
 
Silently Watches said:
Such an interesting question. I mean, there's zero reason I can think of why he couldn't... :whistle:
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
This. This is the best possible answer. It's the perfect example of "Yes, but...", and I love it intensely. Thank you. I will begin planning and ask more directed questions when I have questions that have not already been answered, the first of which: I've been doing a re-read and, regarding what Storm said about templates, back in back in 9.19, specifically:
Heatwave 9.19 said:
"Installation of template changes subject on magical and genetic level. Changed Linker Core renders individually created spell difficult or impossible to cast without significant experimentation."
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Would this do anything to the severe mutations, if we just went in at the deep end and didn't bother with the preparatory mutagenics? I get that rolling a 2 means "Severe Mutation, No Linker Core", which renders it moot, but if we went in and got a 3 with no prep work, would a template revert them to natural human form?

Archeo Lumiere said:
So... Vista is literally the perfect test bed for the mutagenics? Being that she's already augmented, if she winds up with a severe, what's stopping her from just getting more augs?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Fully informed consent from both her and her guardian, in this case Miss Militia, need to be acquired for any literal human experimentation to go forward - I'd rather we test it out on some random nerd before we go potentially turning one of our closest allies into a weird fish thing. Eidolon, maybe - a chance at getting his powers back, in exchange for weird eyes? He'd go for that in a second, and it'd buy a shitton of goodwill with the Triumvirate as a whole.
 
Reader mode
You must login or register to reply here.
Remove ads
Back
Top