Magical Tinker Lyrical Taylor Worm/MGLN
- Thread starter Hoyden
- Start date
Hoyden
Hugbot v0.28
- Location
- UK
omake - The Athlete
Hoyden
Hugbot v0.28
- Location
- UK
omake - The Athlete
The stands were filed, friends and family standing to cheer and support their efforts. She shook slightly, nervous as she always was before, her hair bound tightly away from her face. The temperature was just starting to climb from cool to warm, the sun shining down over the packed stands. This was it, make or break. She'd worked hard for this, toiled and suffered to get to this point. The coach was giving some last minute encouragement, the tactics they'd employ already firmly fixed already.
A coin flip had decided who was up first, she adjusted her cap, tugging the strap so it wouldn't shift around if she needed to sprint. A tug secured her glove tightly to her hand. She'd miss it, she'd be over the age cap before the next game, so this was it, her last softball game. She'd not made Arcadia, or Oldwood, and her parents couldn't afford Imaculata's fees. Winslow did not have a mixed, or girls softball team.
It wasn't fair, she'd worked hard, was good at it, pitching, catching, batting. She'd lived and breathed softball for years, she'd dreamed of playing professionally for as long as she could recall. Her obsession had lead to her being somewhat of an outcast at school, even some bullying and name calling. It was so stupid too, just because she liked sports didn't make her gay, and who cared if she was or wasn't gay these days. She wasn't even a teenager yet, boys, girls, both, neither, it didn't matter yet, she just wasn't interested.
The ball cracked off the bat, three quick strides had her under it as it dropped into her waiting glove as she dove to catch it. A triumphant grin breaking out as it thumped solidly into her gloved palm. She'd gained a reputation for locking down whichever part of the field she defended, no balls dropping in her zone landed on grass whilst she was nearby. They switched positions, her team running rather than pitching, the bat a solid, familiar weight in her hands.
The ball cracked out towards the boundary far from the nearest catcher, her team freed to make their way around the bases, her own pace barely above a steady jog. She could have sprinted it, but the other team hadn't a hand on the ball yet, they had plenty of time.
~~~
Here she was, Winslow, her new school wasn't an improvement on the old in many ways, save one. Here she was unknown, she wasn't the Maddi the Softball Maddy. She wasn't the unrepentant tomboy, she wasn't the nerdy one. Here she could be someone new, someone different. Sure she couldn't escape her small stature, the height difference that made her look like the younger sibling of a student rather than a student here herself. But she'd spent the summer working out her look, grew her hair out into a complementary style.
She'd be the cute one, the innocent looking one. She'd make lots of friends and be popular, and someday, someday she'd try out for the big leagues, play alongside her heroes and role models. But first, art. She'd never had a great eye for painting, but she thought she'd done okay with the class project, a small set of coloured shapes, cubes, spheres, pyramids. Relatively simple, but se'd got the shading just right somehow.
She stood to empty her water when she tripped over in her unfamiliar slightly heeled shoes. She watched in mute horror as the muddy water covered the soft, silky dark locks of the girl she'd sat next to, part splashing over her canvas, ruining the colourful painting before her. Oh god, she knew she should have practised walking in these damned heels more. Most of the class tittered and laughed quietly, she recognised the type of laugh, it was the laugh of the in crowd seeing the loner humiliated. It the same sort of laughter she'd been on the wrong side of at her last school.
Shame made her cheeks burn and wet her eyes, the teacher simply accepting her word that it was an accident without rebuke. The poor girl, Taylor fled the room as soon as the bell rang, she'd have to go apologise to her. It really was an accident. A dark skinned girl and a redhead cornered her before she could begin her search for the wavy haired girl. Oh god, was this it, was this the start of the bullying here, she'd shown weakness, been clumsy and now she'd suffer for it. She didn't want to be picked on again, not again. She couldn't take it, not after loosing her career, her dreams. No, anything but that.
The stands were filed, friends and family standing to cheer and support their efforts. She shook slightly, nervous as she always was before, her hair bound tightly away from her face. The temperature was just starting to climb from cool to warm, the sun shining down over the packed stands. This was it, make or break. She'd worked hard for this, toiled and suffered to get to this point. The coach was giving some last minute encouragement, the tactics they'd employ already firmly fixed already.
A coin flip had decided who was up first, she adjusted her cap, tugging the strap so it wouldn't shift around if she needed to sprint. A tug secured her glove tightly to her hand. She'd miss it, she'd be over the age cap before the next game, so this was it, her last softball game. She'd not made Arcadia, or Oldwood, and her parents couldn't afford Imaculata's fees. Winslow did not have a mixed, or girls softball team.
It wasn't fair, she'd worked hard, was good at it, pitching, catching, batting. She'd lived and breathed softball for years, she'd dreamed of playing professionally for as long as she could recall. Her obsession had lead to her being somewhat of an outcast at school, even some bullying and name calling. It was so stupid too, just because she liked sports didn't make her gay, and who cared if she was or wasn't gay these days. She wasn't even a teenager yet, boys, girls, both, neither, it didn't matter yet, she just wasn't interested.
The ball cracked off the bat, three quick strides had her under it as it dropped into her waiting glove as she dove to catch it. A triumphant grin breaking out as it thumped solidly into her gloved palm. She'd gained a reputation for locking down whichever part of the field she defended, no balls dropping in her zone landed on grass whilst she was nearby. They switched positions, her team running rather than pitching, the bat a solid, familiar weight in her hands.
The ball cracked out towards the boundary far from the nearest catcher, her team freed to make their way around the bases, her own pace barely above a steady jog. She could have sprinted it, but the other team hadn't a hand on the ball yet, they had plenty of time.
~~~
Here she was, Winslow, her new school wasn't an improvement on the old in many ways, save one. Here she was unknown, she wasn't the Maddi the Softball Maddy. She wasn't the unrepentant tomboy, she wasn't the nerdy one. Here she could be someone new, someone different. Sure she couldn't escape her small stature, the height difference that made her look like the younger sibling of a student rather than a student here herself. But she'd spent the summer working out her look, grew her hair out into a complementary style.
She'd be the cute one, the innocent looking one. She'd make lots of friends and be popular, and someday, someday she'd try out for the big leagues, play alongside her heroes and role models. But first, art. She'd never had a great eye for painting, but she thought she'd done okay with the class project, a small set of coloured shapes, cubes, spheres, pyramids. Relatively simple, but se'd got the shading just right somehow.
She stood to empty her water when she tripped over in her unfamiliar slightly heeled shoes. She watched in mute horror as the muddy water covered the soft, silky dark locks of the girl she'd sat next to, part splashing over her canvas, ruining the colourful painting before her. Oh god, she knew she should have practised walking in these damned heels more. Most of the class tittered and laughed quietly, she recognised the type of laugh, it was the laugh of the in crowd seeing the loner humiliated. It the same sort of laughter she'd been on the wrong side of at her last school.
Shame made her cheeks burn and wet her eyes, the teacher simply accepting her word that it was an accident without rebuke. The poor girl, Taylor fled the room as soon as the bell rang, she'd have to go apologise to her. It really was an accident. A dark skinned girl and a redhead cornered her before she could begin her search for the wavy haired girl. Oh god, was this it, was this the start of the bullying here, she'd shown weakness, been clumsy and now she'd suffer for it. She didn't want to be picked on again, not again. She couldn't take it, not after loosing her career, her dreams. No, anything but that.
- Location
- The end of all things
That's... actually disturbingly plausible.
Hoyden prety much confirmed it in the thread.
Edit: Go ninja go ninja go.
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Hoyden
Hugbot v0.28
- Location
- UK
Should do, since I write both and it's canon for both. I wanted to give Madison a little depth and character, a backstory, a history. She doesn't have to be likeable, but should be some degree understandable.
Taylison might have used the idea before it came out here, but I was scrabbling to give Madison some background detail there and so kinda pinched some of her backstory from my plot ideas for this story.
You've got to keep in mind that I had no real intention of continuing Taylison as I wrote it initially, so there are huge blank spaces that needed filling up, moreso since the focus is partially on Madison and her history as well as Taylor and Amy's histories. I had a lot of gaps to fill, and didn't want to spend a lot of time building up a separate idea for her background.
I'll probably reuse Madison the softball star if I write more Worm fics, unless the story calls for different, it's easy and gives her a bit more depth than she is in canon. It might turn up in the spin off fic for this story too.
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Insomnius
Sleepless
Sorry to break it to you Annette, but Germany lost the war.
zaiaku
The Ignorant Guru
- Location
- Alamo, Texas
Annette perfers German due to its similarities (read: exactly the same) to Belkan. Pretty sure that Annette has more cause to dislike the E88 than anyone out there. my headcannon of course.
Syqadelic
That's not a mountain.
- Location
- Earth
Hate to break it to you, Annette, but Ancient Belka got lost in, well, ancient times.
You're assuming that this isn't set in the distant past, relative to Nanoha canon. Which it pretty clearly is.
- Location
- United States
At this point, U97, which is NOT EARTH BET, has just decided bronze is the new big thing. Earth Bet temporally runs parallel to Ancient Belka. The device Annette was working on before her death is the original Tome of the Night Sky, which later becomes the Book of Darkness.
I thought Nachtwall was the virus that made the Tome of the Night Sky into the Book of Darkness? Also, seeing as how she is dead (and on Earth Bet), I don't think the Book is going to be a thing later, so yay?.
GeshronTyler
Kleiner Giftzwerg
That reminds me, Hoyden, the existance of the Entities/Spacewhales, and Taylor's presumed involvement in fighting against them, supplies a reason for the Belkan Empire to either develop or make use of the Saint's Cradle (depending on if you have them build it, or the Belkans find it as in canon). Perhaps Precia's "Garden of Time" Interdimensional Fortress also hails from the need to have a Space Whale defense.
GeshronTyler
Kleiner Giftzwerg
"Nachtwall" was the corrupted defense program of the Tome of the Night Sky. Taylor has been confirmed to be the heir to the Belkan Empire, which is still several hundred if not thousands of years before its final collapse. Nachtwall and the Tome of the Night Sky have yet to be created according to the circumstances of this fic, though Taylor is in fact working to complete Nachtwall.
Thanks for the clarification!
Hmm, that would explain the Garden's interdimensional cannon that Precia used to attack Lindy's ship. No way a single mage could power that herself, especially with her obvious state of illness, nor could it be aimed across such a distance with an ordinary Device. No, Precia's blast was targeted and amplified by something that was part of the Garden since before she found it. Something designed to target and destroy an Entity's main body, no matter what pocket dimension it was in.
Jonen C
F.M.D.G.
- Location
- Lincopense, Ostrogothia, Suecia
What a waste. Interdimensional Space Whale Oil has to have some use!
Canis
Shoulder Puppy
- Location
- United States
*shrugs* Could be they harvested all of that before dumping it, but you do realize that the oil only makes up a tiny portion of a whale's body-mass right?
Chapter 12
Hoyden
Hugbot v0.28
- Location
- UK
And here is the last of my forgotten month chapters, each was a right pain to work with as it was too long a stretch to just gloss over, and focusing too much on minor details would have ruined the pacing. Next two chapters are partially written already and have been for a while. Anyway onto the story.
School without the trio wasn't half as bad as it was with, classes were still far too easy, but without the trio pushing the rest of the school were mostly content to leave Taylor alone. The fact that they were all suspended probably helped, the aura of invincibility had been shattered, no longer certain that they could get away with anything. It honestly felt strange not to be dodging attacks from various angles, not fending off grasping hands after her classwork. Not being followed by the wave of whispers and snide comments, well that hadn't entirely ceased, but it was less controlled, less focused.
But even if the trio had gotten away with their old tricks Taylor felt like she might hardly notice, her mind drifting elsewhere. The Endbringer attack, the damage to her mother's device, to the phantom feeling of soft lips touching her own. It was all muddled together in her mind, distracting from the change that had taken over the school in her absence and with her return.
She felt conflicted and confused, the date had been nice, good even and she'd had a lot of fun just spending time with Amy. No, she wasn't confused or conflicted about the date itself, but more the end of the date. She'd put Amy down somewhat clumsily and had to steady her as she found her feet, then they were standing so close, the heat of her breath and scent of popcorn subtle and sweet on her breath. She wasn't sure which of them had leaned in, maybe they both had, but she'd ended up hesitantly tilting her head, eyes fluttering closed.
Soft and warm, buttery and sweet from the popcorn. Her first kiss. A light drizzle of rain dusting and discouraging continuation. It was sweet, it was exhilarating, she couldn't imagine a more perfect first kiss. So why did she feel so conflicted, why did it feel, off, wrong. Was she really straight afterall? She tried to imagine kissing a boy in the same way, a wash of guilt and mild disinterest flowed over her. No, probably not straight.
This was why Emma's betrayal hurt, why the bullying campaign was so devastating. She was already set apart from her classmates by her intelligence, but the campaign had prevented her from really making any connections, even tentative friendships amongst her peers. Other girls had friends to talk to, she imagined this would be just the sort of thing she'd talk to friends about. Hmm.. Maybe not, it might be weird talking about liking a girl to other girls. Being gay wasn't as unusual or remarked as it might have been ten years ago, but that still didn't make it normal.
Mr Gladdy was frowning as he looked at her, like it was her fault that his favourite students had been suspended.
"Ahh Taylor, I'll see you after class"
His tone was firmer than he'd usually use in class, a tone he reserved for troublemakers and the unpopular. Greg was a frequent recipient of the tone, but Taylor had only felt its touch a few times, when the trio stole and then returned her classwork, getting her in trouble for copying was the last time she'd had it directed at her.
The class should have been more interesting, world economics and trade since the emergence of the Endbringers, and how it differed from before monsters walked the earth. It was surprising how much international trade still existed, millions of tonnes of cargo flowed from one nation to another each year, though the numbers appear small compared to Earth-Aleph's robust international trade routes. Most of the trade reduction wasn't directly stopped by Endbringers, but more caused by the aftermath of their attacks.
Whole cities quarantined, flooded, or burnt into radioactive ash. It had a huge impact on global population and unsurprisingly birth rates. Parahumanity's rise had not been kind to the rest of the species, Earth-Bet had less than half the population of her sister world. Many nations had suffered, some smaller ones had even come fully under parahuman sway. War might be less common here, but the number of parahuman lead states, dictatorships and other non-democratically ran states was higher.
The bell saved them from the frankly depressing topic, a rush of bodies and chattering almost drowned out the suggested reading, not that Mr Gladdy ever really bothered to test them on it. Not really. He'd always given a warning before he sprung a test on his classes, never wanting to be the uncool teacher, always trying to be a friend rather than a teacher. It wasn't an awful teaching style, except he focused on the popular crowd, always had time for them and their problems. Not quite so much for the loners, the uncool kids, the bullied, pretty much everyone that actually needed a friendly teacher helping them would be passed over to gain praise from a track star, or junior model.
Soon the classroom had cleared, desks and chairs slightly askew giving the room and air of disorder and abandonment far longer than the dozen or so seconds it had been since it cleared. Mr Gladdy was at his desk, rifling through a small stack of papers, her test papers if she recognised the page correctly.
"Taylor, I had my doubts before when I was grading the work you were turning in during your suspension, now I'm certain. I don't know how you did it, but I simply can't allow such flagrant cheating to pass, I'm going to have to mark you as failing the class this semester"
What. The. Fuck!
More words spilled forth, but she wasn't even listening anymore. Taylor stood and marched towards the main office. She knew it was too good to be true, that she'd managed to catch you, prove that she was more intelligent than her previously sabotaged work indicated. She'd been in a gifted students program before she'd started at Winslow, was bound for early college like her other before her. Now, now that same intellect was branding her a cheat.
"..see here young lady…"
The office lay ahead of her, a red faced teacher lay behind, she knocked before simply letting herself into the outer office area.
"...around me…"
The poor facsimile of an educator moved ahead of her to speak in hushed tones to the receptionist, the very same one that had watched her take the multitude of tests only a few days since. Her expression closing off as he spoke more at length before she waved him off to fiddle with the intercom.
The substitute Principal, a bottle blonde with unfortunate facial structure, Ms Howell was nominally deputy Principal at Arcadia, strode into the outer office, her well tailored suit tidy but no longer immaculate as it had been earlier in the week. A sheen of inexpertly applied makeup concealed bags hung under each eye.
Mr Gladdy disappeared into the inner office with the interim Principal, his face settled into the smooth cool expression he usually wore. What was wrong with him, seriously, she'd been watched throughout her test taking, there was no way she could have cheated. Double so given her workload that morning, even if the tests had been multiple choice, which only two were, she'd have been hard pressed to memorise just answer keys to any two of them, let alone the number she'd taken that day.
The red haze that had been slowly descending on her started to lift, Mr Gladdy had picked a poor battlefield for whatever vendetta motivated him. The current administrator was already sympathetic to her plight, had seen the number of tests she'd been instructed to take by the absent administrator. Better still, she'd recognised Taylor, the young genius, so far ahead that Arcadia had offered her a place halfway through her previous schooling.
No, this wouldn't go well for him, not at all.
Magical Tinker Lyrical Taylor
Chapter 12
Chapter 12
School without the trio wasn't half as bad as it was with, classes were still far too easy, but without the trio pushing the rest of the school were mostly content to leave Taylor alone. The fact that they were all suspended probably helped, the aura of invincibility had been shattered, no longer certain that they could get away with anything. It honestly felt strange not to be dodging attacks from various angles, not fending off grasping hands after her classwork. Not being followed by the wave of whispers and snide comments, well that hadn't entirely ceased, but it was less controlled, less focused.
But even if the trio had gotten away with their old tricks Taylor felt like she might hardly notice, her mind drifting elsewhere. The Endbringer attack, the damage to her mother's device, to the phantom feeling of soft lips touching her own. It was all muddled together in her mind, distracting from the change that had taken over the school in her absence and with her return.
She felt conflicted and confused, the date had been nice, good even and she'd had a lot of fun just spending time with Amy. No, she wasn't confused or conflicted about the date itself, but more the end of the date. She'd put Amy down somewhat clumsily and had to steady her as she found her feet, then they were standing so close, the heat of her breath and scent of popcorn subtle and sweet on her breath. She wasn't sure which of them had leaned in, maybe they both had, but she'd ended up hesitantly tilting her head, eyes fluttering closed.
Soft and warm, buttery and sweet from the popcorn. Her first kiss. A light drizzle of rain dusting and discouraging continuation. It was sweet, it was exhilarating, she couldn't imagine a more perfect first kiss. So why did she feel so conflicted, why did it feel, off, wrong. Was she really straight afterall? She tried to imagine kissing a boy in the same way, a wash of guilt and mild disinterest flowed over her. No, probably not straight.
This was why Emma's betrayal hurt, why the bullying campaign was so devastating. She was already set apart from her classmates by her intelligence, but the campaign had prevented her from really making any connections, even tentative friendships amongst her peers. Other girls had friends to talk to, she imagined this would be just the sort of thing she'd talk to friends about. Hmm.. Maybe not, it might be weird talking about liking a girl to other girls. Being gay wasn't as unusual or remarked as it might have been ten years ago, but that still didn't make it normal.
Mr Gladdy was frowning as he looked at her, like it was her fault that his favourite students had been suspended.
"Ahh Taylor, I'll see you after class"
His tone was firmer than he'd usually use in class, a tone he reserved for troublemakers and the unpopular. Greg was a frequent recipient of the tone, but Taylor had only felt its touch a few times, when the trio stole and then returned her classwork, getting her in trouble for copying was the last time she'd had it directed at her.
The class should have been more interesting, world economics and trade since the emergence of the Endbringers, and how it differed from before monsters walked the earth. It was surprising how much international trade still existed, millions of tonnes of cargo flowed from one nation to another each year, though the numbers appear small compared to Earth-Aleph's robust international trade routes. Most of the trade reduction wasn't directly stopped by Endbringers, but more caused by the aftermath of their attacks.
Whole cities quarantined, flooded, or burnt into radioactive ash. It had a huge impact on global population and unsurprisingly birth rates. Parahumanity's rise had not been kind to the rest of the species, Earth-Bet had less than half the population of her sister world. Many nations had suffered, some smaller ones had even come fully under parahuman sway. War might be less common here, but the number of parahuman lead states, dictatorships and other non-democratically ran states was higher.
The bell saved them from the frankly depressing topic, a rush of bodies and chattering almost drowned out the suggested reading, not that Mr Gladdy ever really bothered to test them on it. Not really. He'd always given a warning before he sprung a test on his classes, never wanting to be the uncool teacher, always trying to be a friend rather than a teacher. It wasn't an awful teaching style, except he focused on the popular crowd, always had time for them and their problems. Not quite so much for the loners, the uncool kids, the bullied, pretty much everyone that actually needed a friendly teacher helping them would be passed over to gain praise from a track star, or junior model.
Soon the classroom had cleared, desks and chairs slightly askew giving the room and air of disorder and abandonment far longer than the dozen or so seconds it had been since it cleared. Mr Gladdy was at his desk, rifling through a small stack of papers, her test papers if she recognised the page correctly.
"Taylor, I had my doubts before when I was grading the work you were turning in during your suspension, now I'm certain. I don't know how you did it, but I simply can't allow such flagrant cheating to pass, I'm going to have to mark you as failing the class this semester"
What. The. Fuck!
More words spilled forth, but she wasn't even listening anymore. Taylor stood and marched towards the main office. She knew it was too good to be true, that she'd managed to catch you, prove that she was more intelligent than her previously sabotaged work indicated. She'd been in a gifted students program before she'd started at Winslow, was bound for early college like her other before her. Now, now that same intellect was branding her a cheat.
"..see here young lady…"
The office lay ahead of her, a red faced teacher lay behind, she knocked before simply letting herself into the outer office area.
"...around me…"
The poor facsimile of an educator moved ahead of her to speak in hushed tones to the receptionist, the very same one that had watched her take the multitude of tests only a few days since. Her expression closing off as he spoke more at length before she waved him off to fiddle with the intercom.
The substitute Principal, a bottle blonde with unfortunate facial structure, Ms Howell was nominally deputy Principal at Arcadia, strode into the outer office, her well tailored suit tidy but no longer immaculate as it had been earlier in the week. A sheen of inexpertly applied makeup concealed bags hung under each eye.
Mr Gladdy disappeared into the inner office with the interim Principal, his face settled into the smooth cool expression he usually wore. What was wrong with him, seriously, she'd been watched throughout her test taking, there was no way she could have cheated. Double so given her workload that morning, even if the tests had been multiple choice, which only two were, she'd have been hard pressed to memorise just answer keys to any two of them, let alone the number she'd taken that day.
The red haze that had been slowly descending on her started to lift, Mr Gladdy had picked a poor battlefield for whatever vendetta motivated him. The current administrator was already sympathetic to her plight, had seen the number of tests she'd been instructed to take by the absent administrator. Better still, she'd recognised Taylor, the young genius, so far ahead that Arcadia had offered her a place halfway through her previous schooling.
No, this wouldn't go well for him, not at all.
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