No, you're just becoming more Taylor Hebert.
Skitterdoc 2077
- Thread starter SpiraSpira
- Start date
- Crossover
No, you're just becoming more Taylor Hebert.
Winged One
Not the Simurgh
- Location
- definitely the ground
- Pronouns
- They/Them/It
While this is probably for the best that he interprets it as a delusion, I kind of want him to see her do something that makes him realize it's not.
- Location
- So near, yet so far
I realized a lot of people (and probably you too) didn't want the rich family angle to trivialize Taylor's efforts and problems, but at this point what is the point? The rich family angle might as well not exist at all. To drive her further you could have used that fixer she sold the drugs arranging a hit, an interrogation where she escaped, etc.
Still a good story though I like this one even better than the fallout 4 one.
It might not have immediate consequences, but it allows for future plot hooks, and might give her some protection from the extremely wealthy in the future. She might suffer, but her family will try to prevent outright assassination. Also, I seem to remember original Annette also having estranged, rich parents, although that might just be fanon.
fanon. Next to nothing is mentioned about Annette's family, so they could be old money rich. They could be near anything! Grandma didn't approve of Danny, and Annette had the courage to become an English professor because she met Danny. So Taylor's grandma is not sympathetic to blue collar dock workers. That's really about it.
You swapped to third person here
- Location
- miami
Thanks for the chapter.
So her mothers family wants to look out for her but since this world is so messed up a family that manages to stay in power is also equally messed up. One that fine with her being imprisoned for years to slave away making tech for a Corp because it will build character. Lol.
Very nice world building btw.
So her mothers family wants to look out for her but since this world is so messed up a family that manages to stay in power is also equally messed up. One that fine with her being imprisoned for years to slave away making tech for a Corp because it will build character. Lol.
Very nice world building btw.
- Location
- Home
Taylor gonna start ramping up. 
- Location
- Elsewhere
What is this slowly?
She's already a parahuman-psycho, so I suppose she's "immune" that way...
"Darn it, all my flies are being eaten by pigeons!"
I might be wrong here but this sort of looks like we are seeing the potential late game or at least a plan of it by Grandma.
Taylor is apparently setting herself up for the start of a decent career in medicine and is very skilled at it to the point she has a viable product already at her young age. Meanwhile, The Astors do not have a good in with Biotechnica or any Pharmacorps which is something of a failing for a diversified group like them. So, while they are going to not intervene yet while she is only involved in a relatively small for them operation and will let her either succeed at this first attempt at corporate skullduggery or fail and let her learn the hard way it looks like a long-term plan to solve one problem with another exists.
Once she is ready from their perspective, they can bring her in and do one of two things. Start supporting her in the process of making a new Corp involved in a field they were previously locked out of and make more money since "a Billion here and a Billion there adds up to real money" as she said even if it is not as big as what they already have. Or try and turn that into her being their new in with Biotechnica or another Pharmacorp and end up on the Board as their rep. Not that one precludes the other since even in a world where ruthless sabotage of your competitors is standard, there are still buyouts and mergers. Could always arrange for their independent business to get taken in as long as they have a seat at the table their now.
Though personally I really hope Taylor ends up at Biotechnica in some capacity just so she can meet the CEO Niccolo Loggagia. Guy is actually cool assuming he is still alive, his last mention is in 2045, he leaves most of the business stuff to his grandkids and has a love of just creating cool bio-stuff. He made a Koala with Venomous fangs just because it is cool! Tell me you Don't want to see him and Taylor work together!
Career in medicine? Is that what you call remaking Night City into some HR Geiger city?
What no! Remaking Night City into an HR Geiger city is not Medicine, It's so much worse! it's branching out into Real Estate! Brand new ecologically friendly living home with next to no maintenance and only some feeding required! Brought to you by BioTechnica.
See far eviler.
- Pronouns
- he/him
i would guess there need to be an alep of bet after the earth part
Why do feel that the Astors will be watching Taylor's crusade to find the mercs like a tv show drama or entertaining a dog. Like the grandma is like 'whose a cute little Astor, here's a lead go get em!' also I'm really hoping that "turn myself into a mech" line is a chekovs gun to her being able to transfer herself into the battle mech left by her dad lol
I definitely didn't expect to receive the entire backstory of this random-ass blonde dude out of nowhere.
And this Taylor and Alt-Taylor are two completely, wildly different people, considering their life experiences, yet Astor's fancy mind reading tech hadn't detected it? They think that this amount of change is just a natural personality development? It looks like a complete personality transplant to me, tbh. If someone had gone through the trouble of impersonating an Astor, then they could've simply modified small part of their memories (or brainwashed themselves) to make themselves believe that their name is indeed Taylor Hebert.
Their response is kinda... naive. For a corpo family.
And this Taylor and Alt-Taylor are two completely, wildly different people, considering their life experiences, yet Astor's fancy mind reading tech hadn't detected it? They think that this amount of change is just a natural personality development? It looks like a complete personality transplant to me, tbh. If someone had gone through the trouble of impersonating an Astor, then they could've simply modified small part of their memories (or brainwashed themselves) to make themselves believe that their name is indeed Taylor Hebert.
Their response is kinda... naive. For a corpo family.
- Location
- spain
Aaah, so exciting! I love this cloak and dagger type stuff!
KISS.
They say they checked for DNA, and it matched. Taylor explained just how unlikely it would be for anyone to bother with that in this chapter. There are a lot of Astors, if they were gonna go that far... why someone that the family has shown no interest in?
She hasn't changed that much, either. The main difference was Emma, and while that did change Taylor a lot, underneath all that trauma they are extremely similar. They even have the same memories. And trauma can actually change a person to incredible lengths. Trauma like losing your father and facing the reality that you'll have to fend for yourself.
More than that, 'Keep It Simple, Stupid'. What's more likely? Trauma? Or alien powered body swap shanenigans?
KISS.
They say they checked for DNA, and it matched. Taylor explained just how unlikely it would be for anyone to bother with that in this chapter. There are a lot of Astors, if they were gonna go that far... why someone that the family has shown no interest in?
She hasn't changed that much, either. The main difference was Emma, and while that did change Taylor a lot, underneath all that trauma they are extremely similar. They even have the same memories. And trauma can actually change a person to incredible lengths. Trauma like losing your father and facing the reality that you'll have to fend for yourself.
More than that, 'Keep It Simple, Stupid'. What's more likely? Trauma? Or alien powered body swap shanenigans?
This Taylor was born in Brockton Bay, a city that shouldn't even exist on this Earth (and if does, it's literally on the other side of the country).
Her Dad was a Dockworker, Alt-Taylor's dad was a marine.
Her mother was a literature teacher, Alt-Taylor's mother was a corpo.
Her mother died in a car crash, Alt-Taylor's mother died in an explosion.
Earth-Bet is very different place from CP-2077 Earth, not only technologically, but culturally. Who are 'The Triumvirate'? What is Protectorate? What the hell is with this flying indestructible woman?
There are so many differences that I can literally sit here for hours typing, and I'm not even sure I'd manage to cover any significant portion of them.
Any random question about her background should've immediately revealed that this Taylor is definitely, absolutely not their Taylor.
There is KISS, and then there is trying to ignore an avalanche of facts staring you in the face.
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There's also the fact that the team has done their due diligence on Taylor.
This operation is done after six month of observation.
Not six month after Danny's death, but after it was flagged as possible Changeling event.
So I'd assume that they already has a time series DNA data to establish baseline and drift/damage, profiling to build a quite accurate data to entrap her, probable armament/upgrade/change from Biosculpt/Cyberware (excepting the one she does herself), probable network, be it social, environmental and professional that she had (and thus, people and institutions that she can call upon), and all other stuff that their work needs.
I'd assume, one of those 'due diligence' is ensuring that she's free from Soul Killer-esque shard and other physical modification of the brainmeat that might be used.
Maybe not to the level of the Relic subsuming you brain, but portable x-ray scanner is a thing IRL, and I'd assume that the Astor has something even better.
Furthermore, it was known that Engram is a thing, and the Astor do utilize AI of their own, so at least the metadata of the scan of Taylor's brainwave when they use the "totally not mind reader" thing showed no sign of conflicting or trace of implanted personality.
Thus, when they asked Taylor whether she is born as Taylor Hebert, it kinda fill the missing piece that this girl is Taylor.
So no, not naive at all. Just, not excruciatingly shown how they come to that conclusion is all.
I think it's more accurate to call it Occam's Razor.
Since I'd assume that the conclusion is taken after a certain amount of time after analysis that I'd assume is quite comprehensive.
After all, they are very competent.
- Location
- Pacific Rim
I, personally, love this chapter. The cloak and dagger, or slice of life, SHOULD be like two thirds of a good cyberpunk story. Though I'm not a fan of the movie (novel was much better) Bladerunner shows this heavily, same with Ghost in the Shell. Cyberpunk should be all about the dichotomy of the setting and the corpos vs the individual. This chapter did a very good job of that in following the previous action and tension.
The only...not negative but little quirk in this chapter, and perhaps this was intentionally put in to show her surprise, is Wakako sounds...a little lower class in how she speaks. A little less chosen in her words perhaps? It's not major, and I know I read far heavier into tonal and word choice then most (I literally did this as my degree) but Wakako both as an individual and as someone who has risen in Japanese social position would be almost paranoid about what words she uses.
Glad your feeling better and loving having this chapter to go with my morning coffee before I have to go start buttoning up for this new storm hitting later today.
The only...not negative but little quirk in this chapter, and perhaps this was intentionally put in to show her surprise, is Wakako sounds...a little lower class in how she speaks. A little less chosen in her words perhaps? It's not major, and I know I read far heavier into tonal and word choice then most (I literally did this as my degree
) but Wakako both as an individual and as someone who has risen in Japanese social position would be almost paranoid about what words she uses.Glad your feeling better and loving having this chapter to go with my morning coffee before I have to go start buttoning up for this new storm hitting later today.
Akasha
The Only Truth
- Location
- 「̛̛́́ ͏̨҉̕͏ ͏̶̴」
Buddy, you have no idea what you're talking about. The mind reading tech isn't fucking telepathy. It's an advanced word-association device. You say a word, you see if it produces an emotional response, you see what the word is associated with, and then say that other word. Rinse and repeat until you have a list of words and emotions associated with them. Then, you interpret them. What the conclusion Not-Bond presented was, was the interpretation of the words and feelings through his own understanding of the world, which does NOT include dimensional dopplegangers and superpowers. The device doesn't produce exact thoughts like "Daniel? He's my dad, but he's not a marine, he's a dockworker that works in a Union in Brockton Bay". You get "Daniel? Love. Disappointment. Family." Then you say one of these words and get something like "Family? Daniel. Annette. Sadness. Alone." All of which serve as evidence of Taylor being Taylor.
In addition, Taylor has access to an uncertain amount of Alt!Taylor's memories and feelings. Here is the quote proving so.
Not only that, the entire interrogation took maybe ten or so minutes. Do you have any idea how long a proper, detailed interrogation takes? They didn't even have the time to finish the word association, let alone ask exact questions about the results. There is no "avalanche of evidence". There's barely anything that can't be excused by the trauma of losing one's parents, and what is there can be justified as them NOT having video records of every single second of her life, before and after replacement. Because they don't.
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