I think she's waiting to see how the Philly branch Test Group performs before bringing in other branches' Directors in on that.
Magical Girl Escalation Taylor (Worm/Nanoha)
- Thread starter Silently Watches
- Start date
- Location
- Georgia
She has considered this in an interlude way back when,, just after we told them about magic. That's part of why she's trying to groom Taylor to be part of the next Triumvirate, to be a successor should she grow old and die, or to just be a successor to Legend and Eidolon, who don't have her protection against aging.
Since, in canon, her brain wasn't protected as well as everything else in her body, it's possible her brain will grow old and die, even as her body continues to live as a vegetable, as happened in canon. They then got Pretender to pilot her corpse so her powers remained available to fight S class threats.
I agree with Landcollector that telling the directors is something she's withholding until she sees how well the Philly test works out.
Edit: Also, Merry Christmas, or whatever it is you celebrate.
I didn't want to clutter the thread with a post only saying that, but having a quest related question to comment on gave me an opportunity.
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Silently Watches
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- Right behind you
As both @landcollector and @Wyrd said, she has thought about that. She doesn't quite now how well the PRT's mages will do, but if (when) they excel, it'll be a matter that needs more consideration.
The bigger issue is what will happen when magic proliferates. Because once mages are public and spreading rapidly, the biggest threat will not come from the villains. It'll come from the natural capes in the Protectorate who are suddenly having all their rules of engagement thrown away, plus getting their groups rolled into the PRT proper. That's going to be a mess, and Alexandria is going to be relying on the AA and AAA mages to help quell any potential uprising from their own capes.
After all, how do you expect people like Armsmaster to handle being told that he's no longer needed because the PRT now has thousands of Tinkers who can build reliable manatech and, in the case of the technically minded mages, may pick up skills that let them adapt or reverse engineer Tinker tech like Tim does? Even if they can only do a narrower form of Exotic Physics, throw enough magiengineers at the problem and eventually all Tinker tech is un-black-boxed.
Better start taking those accounting classes at the local community college, Colin!
LancerisDead
Definitely not a cat
- Location
- Buenos Aires
Let me give this a try...
Knowing his attitude, he would probably be grouchy/stew in his anger for a short time and probably then start asking for a LCM+Device package.
Silently Watches
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You know, I meant that half jokingly, but I think you're right about that one.
Honestly the are probably a fair number of Protectorate members who would actually consider it a straight upgrade...
Or consider it a good time to actually retire
Of course, there are going to be those who go rogue... and not in the parahuman jobs manner but these might well be the minority
Also there are plenty of parahumans whose abilities might be useful enough, or known well enough to be celebrities
The big issue, villains will realise the rules have completely changed, the CUI will realise... and may well want to act or gain their own magic users... actually it is probably better to keep this as black ops until they have tested it and started producing mages in large enough numbers... and try to get some allied powers some mages...
... I do question the idea that non-template tech and gear types will be able to unblack box the tinker tech, I mean knowledge doesn't just come from nowhere, however a lot of magic tech will be very useful.
Completely unrelated, I wonder since the ritual given came from IAE knowledge, I wonder if there are any state first loyalty programmes hidden in the Guardian beast ritual.
... also merry christmas even though it is now boxing day for me
Silently Watches
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My problem with that idea is that I honestly don't know that they would. Considering that, depending on which Word of Wildbow you believe, either shards cause parahumans to seek out conflict or attach to people who naturally seek out conflict of their own accord, and combine that with the feelings people naturally have when they feel like they're being replaced...
I think many -- maybe not most, maybe even only a small proportion, but nonetheless many -- would see mages not as an upgrade but a threat. Less Missy and Standstill, more Eidolon.
Yeah... the coming cluster**** after the Endbringers are dead is part of the reason why I want Taylor and co. to be able to go to TSAB space. Or at least get non-combatant family members and the like over to TSAB space to claim asylum when things inevitably go to hell.
Taylor and those like Laura has the firepower to handle themselves. But Kayleigh and family?
Much better idea to remain friendly with TSAB for a ticket out if and when things go to hell.
- Location
- Georgia
While they may not be able to work out everything, this tech comes from a civilization stretching back millennia, with all the added knowledge of the laws of nature that comes with that, not to mention the understanding that would come from knowing about a fifth fundamental force of nature.
Giving people those extra tools would certainly let people extrapolate how to use at least elements of Tinkertech in new designs.
And then there are parahumans like Scapegoat, who would take a Device in a heartbeat just to get rid of his powers. Give him some actually useful spells out of the bargain and he'd definitely see it as an upgrade.
True, although I imagine a lot of them would already be troublemakers already.
Hm, the proper protocal would be to try and intergate them regardless.
There will be those whos identies will be too heavily connect to being parahumans and super heroes.
Basically there will need to be a fair amount of prep... a proper reveal should probably be hidden... hm maybe actually use the conspiracy theory that a tinker group has made super tinker tech as a cover while they expand (no statements)
They need to identify who needs what treatment.
I imagine the biggest troublemakers might be major thinkers, on the other hand there job is least on the line
Okay, by issue is basically
Where this knowledge comes from? A ritual is performed and somehow the guardian beast of the gear has the full knowledge of an entire civilisation, then why is the TSAB having so much difficulty? This ritual is simple and something we can teach to those without a device
I am explicity talking about Guardians fo the gear created by ritual and not those created by someone with a template... also would IAE's templates actually have the entire tech base, it is military tech so most of that should be available, but would it actually contain the sum-total of magical knowledge?
I mean dragon I assume doesn't have everything, we gave her a lot of magical theory and she can invent a lot, but while she was a traditional AI she had trouble understanding magic, and now she is an Device she now has a new set of limitations.
I honestly question how the PRT is so successful with making the first team and their equipment, although we haven't seen what they can do and if there gear is actually up to par (still a major upgrade). I assume Dragon and Tim have been helping them out from behind the scenes but still.
Edit: this is more me not entirely undestanding everything, I may have missed details being addressed or votes
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Silently Watches
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If Taylor were teaching the PRT to make mages and Gears and didn't have a high-level Gadgeteer at her back, this situation would have gone very, very differently. Because yes, they got a lot of help or at least several blueprints from Tim and Dragon.
Gears themselves are technically minded. I don't know if you've ever run into people who seem to be able to take something apart and figure out how it works and then apply that same knowledge to something else, but I have, and their ability is something like that. They have some knowledge that is hardcoded into their minds, but it's just the basics. Beyond that, they're skilled mechanics and electricians but that's basically it. It's enough to let them figure out how to use mana for lasers and mechashift. Having a tech base to work off of helps immensely.
Gadgeteers don't even have all that knowledge in their minds. It comes loaded into their Device. So it isn't even the entire tech base of the Galean civilization, just enough to assist in the production of their weapons of war. The memories of magiengineering "experience" help them work on breaking down Tinkertech and figure out what's going on.
I suppose now's also a great time to mention that I'm basing this off one of Wildbow's earlier comments that Tinkertech CAN be maintained by non-Tinkers, but they would need multiple Ph.Ds to be able to do so. I'm not doing the whole metamaterials and missing parts being filled in by shard functions thing.
To my knowledge the Word of Wildbow situation is more that "people took a general idea and then extrapolated it to the point of ridiculousness".
Wildbow said that shards in general:
-Sought to gather data, so much as they had motivations. Shards are intelligent and can learn, but not necessarily in a human-compatible manner.
-Shards may seek particular types of data, and if said data isn't being obtained the shard may seek to motivate the host to get more data.
--However, as shards are very limited aspects of their parent Entity, said motivations may be ineffective or even backfire.
---The canon example is Leet, where the incentive to try new ideas by nerfing repeated techs backfired massively by incrementally encouraging him to be more and more conservative with the shrinking resources.
--Some shards will subtly encourage conflict directly to get the data they want. This is usually interpreted extremely crudely in fanworks, but what Wildbow actually suggests tends to play into preexisting traits. Someone prone to getting angry gets angrier slightly more often, the power becomes more cooperative when the host is indulging vices or getting flashbacks to their Trigger.
--Cauldron shards have their own issues, they just don't manifest the same issues as consistently as properly configured shards.
Generally speaking as far as the Wildbow WoG is concerned, the key damage originates from shards already picking from people with issues, then giving them powers on the worst day of their life. Ideally the shards never need to nudge the host beyond that, but the described level of influence isn't really much worse in its own right than puberty already does to your brainmeats.
In a world where parahumans are becoming obsolete, where Scion is dead?
The people who'd lash out are the people who were already going to lash out at becoming obsolete. Who knows, the shards might have a pretty good time with novel data from magic proliferation.
- Location
- Georgia
Some of this has been covered in the forums, so if you just read the story until you got caught up, you will have missed it.
The Dragonslayers learned how to cast a spell from the information we sent Dragon, as we sent her actual textbooks. IAE is a receptacle for the knowledge of an entire civilization. While he lost much of that, there is still clearly quite a bit detailed in the templates.
How fast people can start researching this new knowledge depends on how we distribute it, but we do have substantial data available.
A few specialty items that some tinkers need to make their tech work is fine, but I agree that I much prefer the interpretation that Tinkertech is just advanced enough that they don't have the necessary basic knowledge to be able to understand the advanced theories of their tech.
Greetings all. Still going through this, but near the end.
Correct me if I'm reading this wrong, the new mage setup isn't limited by a hard number of spells the mage can learn like when you were setting up the adepts, just the number of quickslot options a mage can spam in battle?
Correct me if I'm reading this wrong, the new mage setup isn't limited by a hard number of spells the mage can learn like when you were setting up the adepts, just the number of quickslot options a mage can spam in battle?
- Location
- Georgia
I think Trigger events are so extreme because the shards don't understand humans enough. That's why second and third gen capes Trigger so much more easily, so to some extent, I think they aim for Triggers because the mind gets simpler when it approaches the breaking point. I like the interpretation that the shards are at best just nudging people. For a canon example, Manpower, the depressed Dallon, is likely having his depression amplified by the shard trying to get him to do something, and not realizing that it is just making things worse. It would also be really easy to distract him at the right moments to keep him from taking his meds, once the shard gave up on him and wanted to kill him off and attach to somebody new.
The details should be back on the first post or in a threadmark. What Devices do now is gain spells with experience, just very slowly, so there is still a significant degree of benefit for Templates, but they aren't so limited that a D rank was approaching uselessness just because it would only give a Mage a couple of spells, ever, plus a Barrier Jacket and Master protection. Now, Kayleigh can get enough spells to let her be more than a one trick pony.
Merry Christmas again, to anybody who missed that earlier. I hope people had a good time. Now, tis time for bed.
Silently Watches
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Welcome, welcome!
Theoretically, this is absolutely correct. Practically, I think the learning speed will be slow enough (and the max slots high enough, especially for the A+ ranks) that we won't get to that point. If we do, Kayleigh in particularly, we'd have to talk about it when we get there.
- Location
- Ural, Russia, Earth
Yeah, you made your bed, now run away and let someone else lie in it. That's incredibly sleazy, IMO.
Especially considering that Taylor's unique ability to turn any mage into S-class juggernaut is a significant advantage that will let her end any war much faster than it would be without her involvement.
That is fair. But I wasn't saying entirely abandon Earth Bet. Taylor and co. can fight much better if their loved ones are out of harms way. Send away those that can't fight until situation on Earth Bet is stabilized.
Its not just capes that'll be the problem but also conflict between various Earth Bet nations that suddenly have this new resource to work with.
IIRC CUI is rather aggressive and has no compunction against kidnapping capes from other nations to brainwash and use as cannonfodder, Europe has rather powerful gangs and extremist groups with lots of influence in the component nations, and suppression of warlords in Africa and South America and elsewhere is going to cause a lot of bloodshed.
It won't be just the governments that will have access to magic. With how frayed society is with the constant Endbringer attacks and the sheer number of villains it'll get a lot worse before it gets better (if it does at all). I'm all for having Taylor and others stay to try to salvage what can be salvaged of the situation but I'd like to get friends and family that can't defend themselves out of the way safe in TSAB space so that Taylor, Dragon and company can put all their might towards stabilizing Earth Bet.
Edit: Of course using templates as Taylor and co.'s advantage may well end up being Taylor becoming god queen of Earth Bet ruling alongside Alexandra and Dragon.
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It depends, Aceraptor. Ironically, depending on how the PRT handles the Mages, by the time CUI (if they *can* brainwash mages... I'll point out Standstill, mind you, so capturing a Mage isn't *easy*) realizes they need to, it may be too late. The balance of power may be firmly on Lexy's side... and that's not counting if she talks Taylor into Orbital Death for the CUI's main cape camps.
The *real* issue, as much as it sucks to admit, isn't the capes, after the CUI is trimmed. It's the fact as discussed in an earlier interlude, the main powers have renuclearized. THAT is going to be the sticky widget. Europe, Commonwealth, remains of the REpublic of Japan and Korea? Easy enough to bring into line, South of the US Border? As sad as it is, punch out the leadership of the warlords, collect. It's India (assuming it's still functioning), Russia, Pakstian (as India), CUI even *without* capes.
THe more things change...
Edit: NOW, to be fair, I *know* a way to do it, or at least go a long way to helping, but I doubt SW would go that way, or want it.
It'd require fuck off politics, and well, Lexy putting Taylor in the hot seat from hell and gone. I'm not sure Taylor wouldn't run screaming to Mid, if it came out, and I'm not sure Dragon wouldn't try to kill Lexy if she pulled it.
(And to be fair, I'll be even more honest, it'd not suprise me if you couldn't buy off a fair bit of the warlords and like. Money talks, and bullshit walks, and if you toss in moving to a world for themselves, or one where they could not have to worry about others coming for them? Well, now. There's even one earth as is where it'd be easy to dump small colonies, and IIRC Canon Worm correctly at least 3-4 of those.)
The *real* issue, as much as it sucks to admit, isn't the capes, after the CUI is trimmed. It's the fact as discussed in an earlier interlude, the main powers have renuclearized. THAT is going to be the sticky widget. Europe, Commonwealth, remains of the REpublic of Japan and Korea? Easy enough to bring into line, South of the US Border? As sad as it is, punch out the leadership of the warlords, collect. It's India (assuming it's still functioning), Russia, Pakstian (as India), CUI even *without* capes.
THe more things change...
Edit: NOW, to be fair, I *know* a way to do it, or at least go a long way to helping, but I doubt SW would go that way, or want it.
It'd require fuck off politics, and well, Lexy putting Taylor in the hot seat from hell and gone. I'm not sure Taylor wouldn't run screaming to Mid, if it came out, and I'm not sure Dragon wouldn't try to kill Lexy if she pulled it.
(And to be fair, I'll be even more honest, it'd not suprise me if you couldn't buy off a fair bit of the warlords and like. Money talks, and bullshit walks, and if you toss in moving to a world for themselves, or one where they could not have to worry about others coming for them? Well, now. There's even one earth as is where it'd be easy to dump small colonies, and IIRC Canon Worm correctly at least 3-4 of those.)
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Problem: Mage telepathy means they can't use Masters....
Only if the mage has a device. Deviceless mages are still vulnerable if they aren't constantly putting out near deafening amount of telepathic static.
- Location
- Georgia
It depends, Aceraptor. Ironically, depending on how the PRT handles the Mages, by the time CUI (if they *can* brainwash mages... I'll point out Standstill, mind you, so capturing a Mage isn't *easy*) realizes they need to, it may be too late. The balance of power may be firmly on Lexy's side... and that's not counting if she talks Taylor into Orbital Death for the CUI's main cape camps.
The *real* issue, as much as it sucks to admit, isn't the capes, after the CUI is trimmed. It's the fact as discussed in an earlier interlude, the main powers have renuclearized. THAT is going to be the sticky widget. Europe, Commonwealth, remains of the REpublic of Japan and Korea? Easy enough to bring into line, South of the US Border? As sad as it is, punch out the leadership of the warlords, collect. It's India (assuming it's still functioning), Russia, Pakstian (as India), CUI even *without* capes.
THe more things change...
Edit: NOW, to be fair, I *know* a way to do it, or at least go a long way to helping, but I doubt SW would go that way, or want it.
It'd require fuck off politics, and well, Lexy putting Taylor in the hot seat from hell and gone. I'm not sure Taylor wouldn't run screaming to Mid, if it came out, and I'm not sure Dragon wouldn't try to kill Lexy if she pulled it.
(And to be fair, I'll be even more honest, it'd not suprise me if you couldn't buy off a fair bit of the warlords and like. Money talks, and bullshit walks, and if you toss in moving to a world for themselves, or one where they could not have to worry about others coming for them? Well, now. There's even one earth as is where it'd be easy to dump small colonies, and IIRC Canon Worm correctly at least 3-4 of those.)
If our goal was to take over the world, we'd be producing a TG every two weeks, and focusing them as soon as they can into studying tinkertech to reverse engineer and sharing the results of that reverse engineering with each other. Give us a year of that and we could steamroll all other nations as easily as a battalion of modern troops with tanks and machine guns against the Persian army the 300 held off at Thermopylae. That's not the direction we're trying to go, but it is certainly within our capabilities to do.
We have around 20* habitable worlds, most of which are populated by some level of humanity. There are a number, though, that don't have any signs of civilization so far as the TSAB spotted when they did a quick survey after crash landing.
*I don't recall the real number.
The CUI doesn't actually use Masters in canon Worm. They use brainwashing techniques to beat their capes down to nothing and make them completely dependent on their squadmates. A Storage Device isn't going to be able to help Mages against that, though the advanced Devices might have enough independence to hold it off. Of course, since the CUI would be providing the Devices, they would likely program the Devices' personalities to work to reinforce the brainwashing.
Realign 14.5
Silently Watches
Professional Stalker
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- Right behind you
Realign 14.5
Monday, August 8
The bell in the hallway rings, and you save the code you spent the last hour working on to the desktop in the computer lab. «You have a copy of that, Storm?»
«Affirmative. Will upload file upon completion.»
This is one of the advantages of having a supercomputer that is also an accomplished hacker hanging around your neck. It can pull your half-done assignment into its internal databanks and let you finish it, and when you're done return the completed file into the school network. Back in Brockton Bay, when you completed your work ahead of time, Mrs. Knott would let you do whatever you wished with the rest of your time. The new computer teacher has a similar policy, though that is not why you want to get your work done early. The computers at Winslow were far better than the old desktop you used to have, making them your preferred access for idle web surfing, but thanks to Perfect Storm you no longer have such a restriction.
No, the reason you want to finish early is that Mrs. Larson is willing to let students work at their own pace, which means you can start work on the next assignment as soon as you are done with the one before it. When you have completed the syllabus, she has a stack of books on more advanced programming that you can flip through at your leisure.
Sure, you could ask Perfect Storm to download all those books and work on them in your own time, and you probably will do that closer to the end of the year just to have them, but you know you need a solid foundation before you start building towards the sky. The idea you had of going to college for a degree in programming has not left, and while working as a hero for your actually career – though more likely than not not within the Protectorate – is certainly viable, Missy's issues are proof enough that you need something else besides that, if only to keep you anchored to the world of normal people. Being able to do freelance programming on your own schedule would help with that and give you an extra source of income to boot.
«Communication from Kayleigh. Requests your location.»
«Tell her to meet me at the front doors. I'm not going to try to find her in all of this,» you think back as your eyes land on the stream of your fellow students already rushing for the exit after the first day of the new school year. You hike your backpack higher on your shoulders and shove your way into the crowd.
Thinking of Missy reminds you of just where you are heading once you hear what Kayleigh wants and find a safe place to transform. Even after spending the weekend in Canada working with Tim as his assistant and seeing firsthand what undergoing mutation involves, she is apparently undeterred in her desire for a Linker Core serum. You received a message from Tim last night requesting your presence during the injection this afternoon to make sure that if something does go wrong, like her growing gills, you are there to get her wherever she needs to go to survive.
Stepping to the side, you wait for the rest of the crowd to pass you to make it easier to see Kayleigh. A substantial portion of the student body is still around when she pushes her way through. "There you are! You know, it's going to be harder to keep track of you this year. I don't know why they couldn't have put us in any classes together."
"Because there are multiple English classes, you did chemistry last year when I didn't, because I've already passed geometry and am in the calculus class…" You count the reasons off on your fingers and grin when her glower becomes more and more intense.
Finally she breaks and sighs. "Fine. Fine! I get it. Just keep being mean to me, why don't you." That just earns a chuckle. "Anyway. How's your day back gone so far?"
"Not too bad. Lots of 'welcome to the class' speeches. I have to head to 'work' in a few minutes, though," you add on. Not that you mind talking to Kayleigh, but the longer it takes to get to Vancouver, the longer everyone has to worry about how badly Missy's mutation will go.
"Kayleigh, where did you run—" Laura turns the corner and sighs when she spots the two of you. "You could have just said you wanted to talk to Taylor." She adjusts her uniform jacket, the gold trim marking her as a senior compared to the junior green trim you and Kayleigh wear. "I wanted to talk to you too, though, so I suppose it works out for the best."
There are a few things both of them might want to talk to you about, but considering how the gun range trip ended, you think one of them is probably at the top of the list. You wave them to follow you, and you walk around the front of the building towards the hedges that along the sides. This was where Laura revealed that she is Cailleach, now that you think about it, which makes you wonder what revelation is about to come out now.
"This is cozy," Kayleigh says once the three of you are mostly out of view and out of earshot. "I bet you want to ask her the same thing I do, don't you?"
"Magic?" you ask.
The two girls nod, and Laura continues, "We never exactly talked about how magic actually gets done. I know you said it was computer programs, and I've seen some of the tech stuff… Perfect Storm, wasn't it?… can do, but the details got lost in the shuffle."
That is a fair question. It's unfortunate that there are several problems with answering their questions. "Any chance we can push off that talk for a few days? I would have to arrange some things with Dragon and Shipwright first. I don't actually build Devices, so if you have any technical questions, they'd be better equipped to answer them."
Kayleigh's eyes are wide, no doubt at the mention of you hanging out with Dragon. Her mouthing that name clears any lingering confusion.
"That's the first reason I'd like to wait, anyway. The second…" You weigh your words and after a few moments give up. There is no way to make this sound nice, so you'll just have to be blunt. "The second is you."
Laura follows your pointing finger. "Me?"
"You. Specifically, you and Winter Hill." Both girls grimace, but there is nothing you can do about that. "I don't have a problem with you personally. If you wanted to go straight, I'd be more than happy to have you watching my back. Right now's the problem because you're a member of a gang. You're a villain. You tell me you want to get out, I'll help you in any way I can, but I will not give more power to Winter Hill."
She runs a hand through her blue bangs, but immediately after she nods. "I get it. If one of the Maras or the Warlocks or one of the other gangs asked me for a power up, I wouldn't exactly be eager to help them out either."
"Kayleigh, you I would be more than happy to give a Device right now, but—"
"Yeah. I know." She looks over at Laura and then back at you. "Give us a couple of days? Unless this offer has a time limit?"
"No time limit. Just a requirement for entry."
Kayleigh nods. Laura looks at her and grimaces at the expression on her face. Considering Kayleigh's outburst about her best friend's gang membership the last time the three of you were together, you expect this will be one conversation you do not want to be anywhere near.
Thankfully, you don't have to be. "While you two have your talk, I need to head out. Dragon's expecting me to help with an experiment this afternoon. Bye." Stepping deeper into the hedge, all anyone will be able to see of your exit is two flashes of light.
You arrive in Dragon's main base and stare at the setup waiting for you. A new contraption sits in the middle of the room, large curved arms reaching up from the base and spinning at a decent clip. Within those arms stands Missy, wearing a sports bra, gym shorts, one arm, and a bored expression. Dragon floats in the air typing on two different keyboards and staring at twice as many screens. Tim is testing the straps on a metal chair that looks like something out of a prison movie. Lacey is sitting in another chair petting a raccoon, and you sidle up to them and look at everything more closely. "What in the world is going on here?"
"We do not know what effect the serum will have on Missy, but we know there will be some physical change," Dragon says, not looking over from her screens. "We are therefore gathering a large number of images to construct a full-body appearance that I can load into another illusion projector like Samantha's. This way no matter how her appearance changes, it can be masked in public."
That explains Missy's outfit, you suppose. It lets them map as much as they can for her current appearance, and if she mutates into a hulk, she has not lost any valuable clothing. You sit down next to Lacey. "You wanted to see what happens, too?"
"Tim asked me to come just in case she is injured during the process. I don't know how much help I'll be, though." She shrugs at your inquisitive look. "Work is just draining me dry every day."
You blink at that. "That shouldn't be still happening. Not unless they're working you until you physically can't do any more. The template we gave you should increase the size of your Linker Core, or at least I thought it would."
"Mistress correct. Linker Core growth designed aspect of template implantation. Should be approximate A rank at this time based on projected growth rate."
"Once we get Missy situated, I'd like to rescan you," you tell her. "It's probably just that they've been working you more, but better safe than sorry."
She shrugs. "If you want. It doesn't feel like I'm seeing that many more people than I was when I started, but maybe I am. They all start blurring together after a while, especially with all the traumas rolling in. There's a lot more gang violence happening now than there was just a couple of weeks ago, particularly against blacks and Latinos. It seems like every day there are lots of people coming in for gunshots and knife wounds. Especially the second one," she adds after a moment's thought, "which is odd, now that I think about it. It's been a lot more of those than the gunshots."
The scanner-thing slows down to a stop, and Missy hops lightly off the platform. "That give you everything you need?"
"With duplicates as well," Dragon says. "Now I just need to combine them into a 3D image. I think we're as prepared as we are going to get."
"Then let's—"
"Now we just need to record your consent." At those words, Tim pulls out an old video recorder and holds it up.
"…You have got to be kidding." She points at Tim and then Dragon. "Digital is a thing. You two can record stuff right now!"
Dragon nods and rotates the screens and keyboards around her to move them out of the way. "True, but digital recordings are more easily manipulated than film. Not that film can't be altered, but it would take far more work to do so. If we need this for any kind of legal defense, which is unlikely but never impossible, the fact it is on tape should make verifying its authenticity a simpler matter."
Missy takes a deep breath and lets it out in a sigh. "Fine. Push the button." Tim trains the camera on her, and she says in a bored voice, "I, Missy Kaye Biron, formerly known as the Protectorate Ward Vista, do hereby give consent to Dragon and Shipwright to alter my genetic code in an attempt to give me a Linker Core in accordance with all relevant federal and international laws. I give this consent of my own free will and have not been manipulated or coerced into doing this. Unless we consider that I'm not capable of magic or using a Device unless I have a Linker Core, but I think that's less coercion and more physical impossibility." She props her right hand on her hip and stares at Tim through the camera. "That good enough?"
"Could have done without the sarcasm at the end, but I'm sure Miss Militia and Chevalier can confirm that's normal for you," Tim shoots back. He puts the camera down. "Sextant, let's record this. I want to be able to review it if something goes wrong."
Missy sits herself in the chair and cannot help but watch warily as Tim tightens the straps around her wrist and ankles. "Is that really necessarily?" you ask. If Missy is willing to go through this but is still nervous, you feel justified in being worried for her.
The girl nods, as does Tim. "I wish it weren't," the Gadgeteer tells you, "but the mutation process itself is painful, or at least it looked like the mice were in pain. Tying her down will actually keep her from injuring herself. Hopefully this will, too."
He wheels what looks like a tank of compressed air next to the chair and puts an oxygen mask over her face. "Last chance to back out," he tells her as he lays his hand on the knob on the tank.
"No chance. Shoot me up, doc."
"Okay. This is nitrous oxide mixed with oxygen. More commonly known as laughing gas, best friend of dentists the world over. It should anesthetize you and hopefully will keep you from remembering the actual change."
"I'll take a blank spot over hurting," Missy mutters.
That sounds like an agreement to you, and apparently to Tim too because he turns the knob. "Take some deep breaths. Once you're out of it, I'll inject the serum and we'll take it from there."
Lacey sits up straighter, and Samantha hops out of her lap and returns to human form. "This is where we come in, right?"
"Hopefully we won't need either of you. Best case scenario, nothing goes wrong, it's a relatively mild or even cosmetic mutation, and we all laugh at ourselves for being worried over nothing." He wipes his forehead. "But we can't guarantee a best case. Part of the experiments we did was trying to figure out what could influence the probability of different severities of mutation. Other mutations can channel it to a certain extent, but that doesn't provide much benefit in terms of not looking inhuman. Instead we're just rolling the dice."
Nostromo walks over with a thin cylinder that looks almost like a pen injector and hands it to Tim. Tim in turn presses the end against her exposed quad muscle hits the button on the other end. A soft click comes from the device, and he hands it back to the Gear. "Now we just have to wait for it."
Just a couple of seconds after he says that, Missy starts shaking uncontrollably.
Lacey jumps out of her seat, but Tim holds a hand up to stop her. "It's okay. I know what it looks like, but she isn't having a seizure. It's a lot of muscle spasms for sure, but we think that's the after effect of having a new kind of energy shooting through her body. It'll calm down in a few seconds, and then we'll see what kind—"
Something is wrong with Missy's head. You narrow your eyes, and after another moment it becomes clear it isn't her head that is changing. It is her hair. A bright red is spreading from her roots and overtaking her natural blonde, though the hairs themselves are not growing any longer. Instead she is changing so that her new hair color is entirely natural. On its own, it does not look more than mildly eye-catching at all.
Then patches of black and white overtake small portions of the red in turn, leaving her with a strange tricolor hairdo.
Samantha cocks her head and stares at the no longer twitching girl. "Is it just me, or does she look like an evil calico?"
"Not helping, Sam."
Tim bent down and picked Missy's head up from her chest to check both her eyes. "Eyes look normal. Body structure is unchanged. Looks like she got out of this with just a change in her hair pigmentation, though I would presume it is all hair over her entire body." He points to her face, and you see her eyebrows got a similar treatment, though they are least are unicolored with red on her right side and black on her left.
"I'm perfectly fine with that, and I expect Missy will be too," Dragons says. A few swipes of the keyboard, and large swaths of Missy's 3D scan vanish. "If all we have to do is account for her hair color, I can dedicate all the illusion projector's processing power to match her hair movements in real time rather than covering them up entirely."
"Okay. I'll turn off her nitrous oxide and let her wake up."
You leave the Tinkers to do their stuff and look over at Lacey again. "While they're busy with that, let me scan you again."
"Alright. I don't think its worth all the trouble, but if that's what you want, might as well get it over with."
You raise Perfect Storm's staff up and let the lines of light wash over her. "What do you think, Storm?" you ask when it has finished its task.
"Abnormal. Linker Core rank C. Unchanged from previous scan. No detected mana structure changes consistent with template installation."
You look over at Lacey and then back to your Device. "How is that possible?"
"Template installation failure occurred rarely in first decade of Immortal Assimilation Engine use. Complication with gene duplication process. Corrected. No further instances.
"Infinite Enhancement template possesses Rare Skill. Installation failed. Transcendent Gadgeteer template possesses no Rare Skill. Installation success. Theory. Mistress's Flare Mana Conversion Affinity Rare Skill interfered with gene duplication. Boost Device created but contained no template."
You think back to how much effort Frost Beam needed the one time you used it. That your mana affinity would work against you with other elemental spells is reasonable, so is it so hard to believe that it would fight against other such talents? "How did Galea handle that problem?"
"Immortal Assimilation Engine not designed to use natural Linker Core as energy source. Designed to pull energy from mana supply infrastructure. Method Mistress uses emergency protocol."
A light groan from Missy interrupts your thoughts of how you could possibly overcome the lack of an industrial mana power grid. "How are you feeling?" you ask instead.
"Like I got run over by a truck." Nostromo releases the straps holding her limbs in place, and she wobbly climbs to her feet. "I don't… feel different?"
"We got incredibly lucky." Tim pulls up an image of her new look and shows it to her. "From what I can see, your hair is the only thing that changed."
She lets out a triumphant laugh. "Fine by me. I was willing to become a magical monster, but I'm not complaining about magic and not being a monster. Taaaaaylor, can I get a reading or something?"
"Not today," Tim cuts in before you can say a word. "We only just created your Core. If we want an accurate reading, it would be best to give you a day or two to let it settle and stabilize."
The now-redhead sighs. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. I've waited this long to get magic. A couple days more to get my results isn't too bad. I just need that illusion thing sooner than later. Showing up like this"—she fluffs her new hair—"to school? That'll cause questions."
"You're not worried about Chevalier and Miss Militia seeing it before you leave?" you ask.
"Already left. Dropped off my resignation letter on Saturday. Not that they'll notice for a while, anyway." She shrugs. "Paulson has some big press conference this week, but the details are all hush hush. Nobody in the Protectorate knows what's up."
You suspect you do. The only big change they made recently was related to magic. Is Paulson planning on telling the whole world about it already?
You shake your head. Probably not, not when people would think he's just crazy. It has to be something else.
«Speaking of scans,» you send on a tight channel to Tim. It is getting harder and harder to have private conversations now that so many of you can talk in your heads. «There are a couple of people I found who are also capable of magic. Depending on what they decide about some other things, I might bring them over to ask about getting Devices.»
«It'll have to wait a couple of days. I've already arranged to take some time with Legend to go to some Grey Boy bubbles and see if I can disrupt them. That'll take at least a day, maybe day and a half. Plus I need to find a time to go back to L.A. and give Alexandria her new eye. She wasn't confident it would work, but I think I figured out a way to keep it in that doesn't require any surgery. Since, you know, no one would be able to do that to her in the first place.»
Sounds like he has a full plate. Knowing your tendencies, in just a couple of days you will too.
Vista's Missy's character sheet updated.
Aeris's character sheet reworked.
(Plus some general clean up.)
With school back in session, it's time to pick out this week's activities. Exciting, right?
Keep in mind that you can pick TWO main quests…
Monday, August 8
The bell in the hallway rings, and you save the code you spent the last hour working on to the desktop in the computer lab. «You have a copy of that, Storm?»
«Affirmative. Will upload file upon completion.»
This is one of the advantages of having a supercomputer that is also an accomplished hacker hanging around your neck. It can pull your half-done assignment into its internal databanks and let you finish it, and when you're done return the completed file into the school network. Back in Brockton Bay, when you completed your work ahead of time, Mrs. Knott would let you do whatever you wished with the rest of your time. The new computer teacher has a similar policy, though that is not why you want to get your work done early. The computers at Winslow were far better than the old desktop you used to have, making them your preferred access for idle web surfing, but thanks to Perfect Storm you no longer have such a restriction.
No, the reason you want to finish early is that Mrs. Larson is willing to let students work at their own pace, which means you can start work on the next assignment as soon as you are done with the one before it. When you have completed the syllabus, she has a stack of books on more advanced programming that you can flip through at your leisure.
Sure, you could ask Perfect Storm to download all those books and work on them in your own time, and you probably will do that closer to the end of the year just to have them, but you know you need a solid foundation before you start building towards the sky. The idea you had of going to college for a degree in programming has not left, and while working as a hero for your actually career – though more likely than not not within the Protectorate – is certainly viable, Missy's issues are proof enough that you need something else besides that, if only to keep you anchored to the world of normal people. Being able to do freelance programming on your own schedule would help with that and give you an extra source of income to boot.
«Communication from Kayleigh. Requests your location.»
«Tell her to meet me at the front doors. I'm not going to try to find her in all of this,» you think back as your eyes land on the stream of your fellow students already rushing for the exit after the first day of the new school year. You hike your backpack higher on your shoulders and shove your way into the crowd.
Thinking of Missy reminds you of just where you are heading once you hear what Kayleigh wants and find a safe place to transform. Even after spending the weekend in Canada working with Tim as his assistant and seeing firsthand what undergoing mutation involves, she is apparently undeterred in her desire for a Linker Core serum. You received a message from Tim last night requesting your presence during the injection this afternoon to make sure that if something does go wrong, like her growing gills, you are there to get her wherever she needs to go to survive.
Stepping to the side, you wait for the rest of the crowd to pass you to make it easier to see Kayleigh. A substantial portion of the student body is still around when she pushes her way through. "There you are! You know, it's going to be harder to keep track of you this year. I don't know why they couldn't have put us in any classes together."
"Because there are multiple English classes, you did chemistry last year when I didn't, because I've already passed geometry and am in the calculus class…" You count the reasons off on your fingers and grin when her glower becomes more and more intense.
Finally she breaks and sighs. "Fine. Fine! I get it. Just keep being mean to me, why don't you." That just earns a chuckle. "Anyway. How's your day back gone so far?"
"Not too bad. Lots of 'welcome to the class' speeches. I have to head to 'work' in a few minutes, though," you add on. Not that you mind talking to Kayleigh, but the longer it takes to get to Vancouver, the longer everyone has to worry about how badly Missy's mutation will go.
"Kayleigh, where did you run—" Laura turns the corner and sighs when she spots the two of you. "You could have just said you wanted to talk to Taylor." She adjusts her uniform jacket, the gold trim marking her as a senior compared to the junior green trim you and Kayleigh wear. "I wanted to talk to you too, though, so I suppose it works out for the best."
There are a few things both of them might want to talk to you about, but considering how the gun range trip ended, you think one of them is probably at the top of the list. You wave them to follow you, and you walk around the front of the building towards the hedges that along the sides. This was where Laura revealed that she is Cailleach, now that you think about it, which makes you wonder what revelation is about to come out now.
"This is cozy," Kayleigh says once the three of you are mostly out of view and out of earshot. "I bet you want to ask her the same thing I do, don't you?"
"Magic?" you ask.
The two girls nod, and Laura continues, "We never exactly talked about how magic actually gets done. I know you said it was computer programs, and I've seen some of the tech stuff… Perfect Storm, wasn't it?… can do, but the details got lost in the shuffle."
That is a fair question. It's unfortunate that there are several problems with answering their questions. "Any chance we can push off that talk for a few days? I would have to arrange some things with Dragon and Shipwright first. I don't actually build Devices, so if you have any technical questions, they'd be better equipped to answer them."
Kayleigh's eyes are wide, no doubt at the mention of you hanging out with Dragon. Her mouthing that name clears any lingering confusion.
"That's the first reason I'd like to wait, anyway. The second…" You weigh your words and after a few moments give up. There is no way to make this sound nice, so you'll just have to be blunt. "The second is you."
Laura follows your pointing finger. "Me?"
"You. Specifically, you and Winter Hill." Both girls grimace, but there is nothing you can do about that. "I don't have a problem with you personally. If you wanted to go straight, I'd be more than happy to have you watching my back. Right now's the problem because you're a member of a gang. You're a villain. You tell me you want to get out, I'll help you in any way I can, but I will not give more power to Winter Hill."
She runs a hand through her blue bangs, but immediately after she nods. "I get it. If one of the Maras or the Warlocks or one of the other gangs asked me for a power up, I wouldn't exactly be eager to help them out either."
"Kayleigh, you I would be more than happy to give a Device right now, but—"
"Yeah. I know." She looks over at Laura and then back at you. "Give us a couple of days? Unless this offer has a time limit?"
"No time limit. Just a requirement for entry."
Kayleigh nods. Laura looks at her and grimaces at the expression on her face. Considering Kayleigh's outburst about her best friend's gang membership the last time the three of you were together, you expect this will be one conversation you do not want to be anywhere near.
Thankfully, you don't have to be. "While you two have your talk, I need to head out. Dragon's expecting me to help with an experiment this afternoon. Bye." Stepping deeper into the hedge, all anyone will be able to see of your exit is two flashes of light.
You arrive in Dragon's main base and stare at the setup waiting for you. A new contraption sits in the middle of the room, large curved arms reaching up from the base and spinning at a decent clip. Within those arms stands Missy, wearing a sports bra, gym shorts, one arm, and a bored expression. Dragon floats in the air typing on two different keyboards and staring at twice as many screens. Tim is testing the straps on a metal chair that looks like something out of a prison movie. Lacey is sitting in another chair petting a raccoon, and you sidle up to them and look at everything more closely. "What in the world is going on here?"
"We do not know what effect the serum will have on Missy, but we know there will be some physical change," Dragon says, not looking over from her screens. "We are therefore gathering a large number of images to construct a full-body appearance that I can load into another illusion projector like Samantha's. This way no matter how her appearance changes, it can be masked in public."
That explains Missy's outfit, you suppose. It lets them map as much as they can for her current appearance, and if she mutates into a hulk, she has not lost any valuable clothing. You sit down next to Lacey. "You wanted to see what happens, too?"
"Tim asked me to come just in case she is injured during the process. I don't know how much help I'll be, though." She shrugs at your inquisitive look. "Work is just draining me dry every day."
You blink at that. "That shouldn't be still happening. Not unless they're working you until you physically can't do any more. The template we gave you should increase the size of your Linker Core, or at least I thought it would."
"Mistress correct. Linker Core growth designed aspect of template implantation. Should be approximate A rank at this time based on projected growth rate."
"Once we get Missy situated, I'd like to rescan you," you tell her. "It's probably just that they've been working you more, but better safe than sorry."
She shrugs. "If you want. It doesn't feel like I'm seeing that many more people than I was when I started, but maybe I am. They all start blurring together after a while, especially with all the traumas rolling in. There's a lot more gang violence happening now than there was just a couple of weeks ago, particularly against blacks and Latinos. It seems like every day there are lots of people coming in for gunshots and knife wounds. Especially the second one," she adds after a moment's thought, "which is odd, now that I think about it. It's been a lot more of those than the gunshots."
The scanner-thing slows down to a stop, and Missy hops lightly off the platform. "That give you everything you need?"
"With duplicates as well," Dragon says. "Now I just need to combine them into a 3D image. I think we're as prepared as we are going to get."
"Then let's—"
"Now we just need to record your consent." At those words, Tim pulls out an old video recorder and holds it up.
"…You have got to be kidding." She points at Tim and then Dragon. "Digital is a thing. You two can record stuff right now!"
Dragon nods and rotates the screens and keyboards around her to move them out of the way. "True, but digital recordings are more easily manipulated than film. Not that film can't be altered, but it would take far more work to do so. If we need this for any kind of legal defense, which is unlikely but never impossible, the fact it is on tape should make verifying its authenticity a simpler matter."
Missy takes a deep breath and lets it out in a sigh. "Fine. Push the button." Tim trains the camera on her, and she says in a bored voice, "I, Missy Kaye Biron, formerly known as the Protectorate Ward Vista, do hereby give consent to Dragon and Shipwright to alter my genetic code in an attempt to give me a Linker Core in accordance with all relevant federal and international laws. I give this consent of my own free will and have not been manipulated or coerced into doing this. Unless we consider that I'm not capable of magic or using a Device unless I have a Linker Core, but I think that's less coercion and more physical impossibility." She props her right hand on her hip and stares at Tim through the camera. "That good enough?"
"Could have done without the sarcasm at the end, but I'm sure Miss Militia and Chevalier can confirm that's normal for you," Tim shoots back. He puts the camera down. "Sextant, let's record this. I want to be able to review it if something goes wrong."
Missy sits herself in the chair and cannot help but watch warily as Tim tightens the straps around her wrist and ankles. "Is that really necessarily?" you ask. If Missy is willing to go through this but is still nervous, you feel justified in being worried for her.
The girl nods, as does Tim. "I wish it weren't," the Gadgeteer tells you, "but the mutation process itself is painful, or at least it looked like the mice were in pain. Tying her down will actually keep her from injuring herself. Hopefully this will, too."
He wheels what looks like a tank of compressed air next to the chair and puts an oxygen mask over her face. "Last chance to back out," he tells her as he lays his hand on the knob on the tank.
"No chance. Shoot me up, doc."
"Okay. This is nitrous oxide mixed with oxygen. More commonly known as laughing gas, best friend of dentists the world over. It should anesthetize you and hopefully will keep you from remembering the actual change."
"I'll take a blank spot over hurting," Missy mutters.
That sounds like an agreement to you, and apparently to Tim too because he turns the knob. "Take some deep breaths. Once you're out of it, I'll inject the serum and we'll take it from there."
Lacey sits up straighter, and Samantha hops out of her lap and returns to human form. "This is where we come in, right?"
"Hopefully we won't need either of you. Best case scenario, nothing goes wrong, it's a relatively mild or even cosmetic mutation, and we all laugh at ourselves for being worried over nothing." He wipes his forehead. "But we can't guarantee a best case. Part of the experiments we did was trying to figure out what could influence the probability of different severities of mutation. Other mutations can channel it to a certain extent, but that doesn't provide much benefit in terms of not looking inhuman. Instead we're just rolling the dice."
Nostromo walks over with a thin cylinder that looks almost like a pen injector and hands it to Tim. Tim in turn presses the end against her exposed quad muscle hits the button on the other end. A soft click comes from the device, and he hands it back to the Gear. "Now we just have to wait for it."
Just a couple of seconds after he says that, Missy starts shaking uncontrollably.
Lacey jumps out of her seat, but Tim holds a hand up to stop her. "It's okay. I know what it looks like, but she isn't having a seizure. It's a lot of muscle spasms for sure, but we think that's the after effect of having a new kind of energy shooting through her body. It'll calm down in a few seconds, and then we'll see what kind—"
Something is wrong with Missy's head. You narrow your eyes, and after another moment it becomes clear it isn't her head that is changing. It is her hair. A bright red is spreading from her roots and overtaking her natural blonde, though the hairs themselves are not growing any longer. Instead she is changing so that her new hair color is entirely natural. On its own, it does not look more than mildly eye-catching at all.
Then patches of black and white overtake small portions of the red in turn, leaving her with a strange tricolor hairdo.
Samantha cocks her head and stares at the no longer twitching girl. "Is it just me, or does she look like an evil calico?"
"Not helping, Sam."
Tim bent down and picked Missy's head up from her chest to check both her eyes. "Eyes look normal. Body structure is unchanged. Looks like she got out of this with just a change in her hair pigmentation, though I would presume it is all hair over her entire body." He points to her face, and you see her eyebrows got a similar treatment, though they are least are unicolored with red on her right side and black on her left.
"I'm perfectly fine with that, and I expect Missy will be too," Dragons says. A few swipes of the keyboard, and large swaths of Missy's 3D scan vanish. "If all we have to do is account for her hair color, I can dedicate all the illusion projector's processing power to match her hair movements in real time rather than covering them up entirely."
"Okay. I'll turn off her nitrous oxide and let her wake up."
You leave the Tinkers to do their stuff and look over at Lacey again. "While they're busy with that, let me scan you again."
"Alright. I don't think its worth all the trouble, but if that's what you want, might as well get it over with."
You raise Perfect Storm's staff up and let the lines of light wash over her. "What do you think, Storm?" you ask when it has finished its task.
"Abnormal. Linker Core rank C. Unchanged from previous scan. No detected mana structure changes consistent with template installation."
You look over at Lacey and then back to your Device. "How is that possible?"
"Template installation failure occurred rarely in first decade of Immortal Assimilation Engine use. Complication with gene duplication process. Corrected. No further instances.
"Infinite Enhancement template possesses Rare Skill. Installation failed. Transcendent Gadgeteer template possesses no Rare Skill. Installation success. Theory. Mistress's Flare Mana Conversion Affinity Rare Skill interfered with gene duplication. Boost Device created but contained no template."
You think back to how much effort Frost Beam needed the one time you used it. That your mana affinity would work against you with other elemental spells is reasonable, so is it so hard to believe that it would fight against other such talents? "How did Galea handle that problem?"
"Immortal Assimilation Engine not designed to use natural Linker Core as energy source. Designed to pull energy from mana supply infrastructure. Method Mistress uses emergency protocol."
A light groan from Missy interrupts your thoughts of how you could possibly overcome the lack of an industrial mana power grid. "How are you feeling?" you ask instead.
"Like I got run over by a truck." Nostromo releases the straps holding her limbs in place, and she wobbly climbs to her feet. "I don't… feel different?"
"We got incredibly lucky." Tim pulls up an image of her new look and shows it to her. "From what I can see, your hair is the only thing that changed."
She lets out a triumphant laugh. "Fine by me. I was willing to become a magical monster, but I'm not complaining about magic and not being a monster. Taaaaaylor, can I get a reading or something?"
"Not today," Tim cuts in before you can say a word. "We only just created your Core. If we want an accurate reading, it would be best to give you a day or two to let it settle and stabilize."
The now-redhead sighs. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. I've waited this long to get magic. A couple days more to get my results isn't too bad. I just need that illusion thing sooner than later. Showing up like this"—she fluffs her new hair—"to school? That'll cause questions."
"You're not worried about Chevalier and Miss Militia seeing it before you leave?" you ask.
"Already left. Dropped off my resignation letter on Saturday. Not that they'll notice for a while, anyway." She shrugs. "Paulson has some big press conference this week, but the details are all hush hush. Nobody in the Protectorate knows what's up."
You suspect you do. The only big change they made recently was related to magic. Is Paulson planning on telling the whole world about it already?
You shake your head. Probably not, not when people would think he's just crazy. It has to be something else.
«Speaking of scans,» you send on a tight channel to Tim. It is getting harder and harder to have private conversations now that so many of you can talk in your heads. «There are a couple of people I found who are also capable of magic. Depending on what they decide about some other things, I might bring them over to ask about getting Devices.»
«It'll have to wait a couple of days. I've already arranged to take some time with Legend to go to some Grey Boy bubbles and see if I can disrupt them. That'll take at least a day, maybe day and a half. Plus I need to find a time to go back to L.A. and give Alexandria her new eye. She wasn't confident it would work, but I think I figured out a way to keep it in that doesn't require any surgery. Since, you know, no one would be able to do that to her in the first place.»
Sounds like he has a full plate. Knowing your tendencies, in just a couple of days you will too.
Aeris's character sheet reworked.
(Plus some general clean up.)
With school back in session, it's time to pick out this week's activities. Exciting, right?
Keep in mind that you can pick TWO main quests…
- Final Frontier – The
TriumvirateDynamic Duo is interested in what resources Earth Bet would have access to with convenient interdimensional transport. "Adventure of the week" format. - Bone of the Father – You have heard whispers of several new gangs taking up residence in Philadelphia despite the PRT's and the established gang's best efforts. One may be interesting than the rest. Be available if you need to help out.
- Daddy's Little Girl – It's been a while since you last checked on your dad. It hurts to see him and know that he doesn't and probably never will recognize you, but you should probably stomach the hurt and go to his nursing home.
- Burn the Sinners – The Fallen made a BIG mistake ruining your vacation. The Protectorate should have the most information on them out of anyone, and you need that info to make the Fallen wish they had never been born.
- Law and Order – The PRT has announced a press conference to show off their newest strategy to stop crime in your city. Are they planning to reveal magic to the world? Pop over and see what's up.
- Participate in Law and Order as a social event instead of as a subquest event.
- Hang out with another character(s). This is by definition a non-combat activity.
- Go on patrol. You can vote for one non-Samantha character to join you if you want.
- Explore somewhere on Earth Bet. A location must be included. You may bring 1-3 other characters with you.
- Explore another world. If you do not select a world where Taylor has been or already knows about, one will be selected randomly.
- Train, either in the real world or in Perfect Storm's simulator. SPECIFY which spell or skill to work on.
- Write-in (subject to my approval)
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