The Taste of Peaches (Worm AU)

[Almech_Alfarion]

I really don't think the PRT relevant to Taylor deciding to the Celestial Realm on her own. Which she has done. Also if I was in the PRT I would be really worried about Taylor accidentally manifesting her domains, even if I didn't think of them like that. Imagine the disaster if she manifested her industry domain in the middle of the city! The storm domain was already a problem. I would fast track her somewhere safe to do it as fast as possible. Doesn't matter if she deletes the island.

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Keep in mind, the latest chapter also is "only" the Weekend After the BBQ where Taylor first went back to the Celestial Realm. It hasn't even been three days since then, and while the idea has been floated by Inari during the aftermath of her PRT power testing, they haven't made any plans to do so yet. Also, I think the feasibility of such a trip is going to be dependent on Taylor's control over where any given portal opens to and from between Earth Bet and the CR, since right now I think she's only good enough to open portals from and to points "relative to each other" instead of from anywhere to any particular intended precise destination, going on how she opened the portal into an area several districts away from the peach tree and fountain instead of inside the courtyard. Any "training trips" she makes out to the CR are going to have to be regulated on how long they take, especially if they want to keep her ability to open portals as a secret ace, since if she has time commitments on Earth Bet and if takes too long on a trip people are going to start asking why they couldn't find her. This plays into the need to increase the precision of her ability to open portals to particular intended destinations because the "best" training spots in the CR are going to be "remote", and currently the only place she can open portals to in an at least semi-private location is smack in the middle of the Great City.

 

[cloakable]

Did you forget Coil? People seem to forget that he was one of the big three gangs, He controlled the Boardwalk or parts of it.

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Yeah. At the start of Worm, the big three were the ABB, the E88, and Coil. The Merchants were small time trash with less respect than a team of teenage supervillans because at least the Undersiders got stuff done and weren't fuckups.

They only got large after, you know, Lung got taken out and Leviathan gave the Bay a good fucking. And then the Slaughterhouse Nine killed basically all of their capes and that was it for the Merchants.

 

[Fisherman]

Don't forget that we are year before Worm timeline. Coil didn't get Lisa yet (and unlikely to ever get her), what would be Merchants are now just a bunch of disorganised drug dealers and other forgotten. For now there are only three major forces (PRT, EEE, ABB) and some independents.

 

[Jake]

For now there are only three major forces (PRT, EEE, ABB) and some independents.

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At least as far as the PRT knows. Coil's operation looks like a very modest-sized fish in an extremely large pond if you don't know about his ties to the Undersiders and later the Travellers, not to mention Calvert's various financial interests under his own name.

 

[FaerieKnight79]

I really don't think the PRT relevant to Taylor deciding to the Celestial Realm on her own. Which she has done. Also if I was in the PRT I would be really worried about Taylor accidentally manifesting her domains, even if I didn't think of them like that. Imagine the disaster if she manifested her industry domain in the middle of the city! The storm domain was already a problem. I would fast track her somewhere safe to do it as fast as possible. Doesn't matter if she deletes the island.

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She was manifesting one of them, then got interrupted when Armsmaster got upset about her disassembling his tinkertech while complaining about it not working properly.

Don't forget that we are year before Worm timeline. Coil didn't get Lisa yet (and unlikely to ever get her), what would be Merchants are now just a bunch of disorganised drug dealers and other forgotten. For now there are only three major forces (PRT, EEE, ABB) and some independents.

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The Archer Bridge Merchants would already be a thing. I think they became a thing shortly after Amy's father got taken down by the group that would rebrand as New Wave. They might currently only have 3 capes in the form of Skidmark, Mush, and Squealer. But they are already a thing. I'm not sure when Coil sent Trainwreck to be a mole in the Merchants, and later cape members didn't even trigger until Levi and the S9 arc. But the Merchants are around already.

EDIT:
Don't forget, Taylor's public debut in this story was her breaking up a fight between the E88 and Merchants... and taking apart one of Squealer's monstrosities by hand.

 

[Iridesce]

At least as far as the PRT knows. Coil's operation looks like a very modest-sized fish in an extremely large pond if you don't know about his ties to the Undersiders and later the Travellers, not to mention Calvert's various financial interests under his own name.

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Undersiders don't exist yet. He does have the Travelers yet either, they might not even be ziz bombs yet. He doesn't even have his bond villain lair yet I think. It definitely isn't finished. He's just a bond villain who just starting out at this point.

 

[Jake]

I see him as more wanting to coslife as his own GI Joe fanfic self-insert but fair.

 

[Iridesce]

The Archer Bridge Merchants would already be a thing. I think they became a thing shortly after Amy's father got taken down by the group that would rebrand as New Wave. They might currently only have 3 capes in the form of Skidmark, Mush, and Squealer. But they are already a thing. I'm not sure when Coil sent Trainwreck to be a mole in the Merchants, and later cape members didn't even trigger until Levi and the S9 arc. But the Merchants are around already.

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They are also unimportant at this point. They barely existed pre Leviathan. The Undersiders, 5 teenagers with no minons, were considered more important.

 

[Arawn_Emrys]

I see him as more wanting to coslife as his own GI Joe fanfic self-insert but fair.

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What makes this extra funny is that there's a fic on SB where Coil is secretly Destro and Danny is Cobra Commander.

 

[ForestGardener]

He does have the Travelers yet either, they might not even be ziz bombs yet.

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Ziz hit Madison, WI in December 2009, so they've been travelling and ticking for seven months at this point. Where are they? Not BB or Boston, that's all I know.

As for Coil (who has only been mentioned from Lisa's perspective), how Taylor's existence fouls his power depends on how willing his Shard is to model based on observed behavior, and whether it
A) looks to the future without simulating anything to predict which path he will choose and then simulates the other in real time,
B) simulates both paths to their conclusion immediately, then sets him on the path he chose while showing him the other, or
C) simulates both paths to their conclusion immediately, then puppets him to the end.

(Yes, simply viewing the future is a thing the Entities can do. Scion uses it to check (accurately!) and tune parts of the Cycle before they even reach the Milky Way. This does not alert him to Eden's death. Getting the data produced by the Cycle with future sight would be much more expensive than actually doing it, though.)

If it bothers to try modeling Taylor and lets Coil use his power, then option A) will feed him increasingly wrong results from the simulated timeline as it interacts with Taylor, meaning he gets bad intel. He is unlikely to notice it is bad intel as the real him has two-way real time interaction with the simulated him. This leads to making plans based on false information, which leads to plans failing. Possibly he tries to select the simulated timeline, which of course fails.

B) will see the simulated timeline diverging from truth even faster AND the thoughts and actions of the simulated Coil desyncing from the real Coil to the extent Taylor's actions affect the real Coil. He will notice, it will cause confusion and consternation. Even if he figures out the timeline he doesn't get to keep is bad intel and why, that still means his power is unreliable, which is possibly worse (for him) than not having his power at all. He is likely to attempt to close the 'wrong' timeline and make his choice at the 'wrong' time; in both cases his Shard has to make a decision. To the extent Cauldron vial powers can make decisions.

C) means that Coil's Shard has to decide whether to end the simulation when puppet-Coil ends up in an unexpected situation. Does Coil suddenly find himself 'back in time' with only one timeline active, possibly a headache, and no idea what went wrong, or does puppet-Coil continue to act out increasingly nonsensical actions until he wakes up and has to deal with the consequences?

All of which assumes Coil's power tries to model Taylor (and Vicky, and probably Inari) instead of canceling the simulation as soon as it involves her.

 

[Iridesce]

Ziz hit Madison, WI in December 2009, so they've been travelling and ticking for seven months at this point. Where are they? Not BB or Boston, that's all I know.

As for Coil (who has only been mentioned from Lisa's perspective), how Taylor's existence fouls his power depends on how willing his Shard is to model based on observed behavior, and whether it
A) looks to the future without simulating anything to predict which path he will choose and then simulates the other in real time,
B) simulates both paths to their conclusion immediately, then sets him on the path he chose while showing him the other, or
C) simulates both paths to their conclusion immediately, then puppets him to the end.

(Yes, simply viewing the future is a thing the Entities can do. Scion uses it to check (accurately!) and tune parts of the Cycle before they even reach the Milky Way. This does not alert him to Eden's death. Getting the data produced by the Cycle with future sight would be much more expensive than actually doing it, though.)

If it bothers to try modeling Taylor and lets Coil use his power, then option A) will feed him increasingly wrong results from the simulated timeline as it interacts with Taylor, meaning he gets bad intel. He is unlikely to notice it is bad intel as the real him has two-way real time interaction with the simulated him. This leads to making plans based on false information, which leads to plans failing. Possibly he tries to select the simulated timeline, which of course fails.

B) will see the simulated timeline diverging from truth even faster AND the thoughts and actions of the simulated Coil desyncing from the real Coil to the extent Taylor's actions affect the real Coil. He will notice, it will cause confusion and consternation. Even if he figures out the timeline he doesn't get to keep is bad intel and why, that still means his power is unreliable, which is possibly worse (for him) than not having his power at all. He is likely to attempt to close the 'wrong' timeline and make his choice at the 'wrong' time; in both cases his Shard has to make a decision. To the extent Cauldron vial powers can make decisions.

C) means that Coil's Shard has to decide whether to end the simulation when puppet-Coil ends up in an unexpected situation. Does Coil suddenly find himself 'back in time' with only one timeline active, possibly a headache, and no idea what went wrong, or does puppet-Coil continue to act out increasingly nonsensical actions until he wakes up and has to deal with the consequences?

All of which assumes Coil's power tries to model Taylor (and Vicky, and probably Inari) instead of canceling the simulation as soon as it involves her.

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I give decent odds on everything going normally until he gets within range of Taylor. Then a voice off in the distance say fluffy and he blacks out. Later he wakes up in the hospital very confused with no idea what happened. Helps that tech and shards release nonsense information when trying to analyze divinity as well as predict it. Example A is the attempted blood test on Taylor's ichor giving back fox art.

 

[ForestGardener]

I give decent odds on everything going normally until he gets within range of Taylor. Then a voice off in the distance say fluffy and he blacks out. Later he wakes up in the hospital very confused with no idea what happened. Helps that tech and shards release nonsense information when trying to analyze divinity as well as predict it. Example A is the attempted blood test on Taylor's ichor giving back fox art.

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Ah, I suppose I had an unstated assumption. I was assuming that the observation and analysis Shards will figure out that trying to examine her too closely doesn't work and so stop trying. How do her powers work? No idea. Read her mind? Complete failure, and painful. In the face of which, they revert to more mundane observation: how has she behaved and what powers has she displayed, especially in the presence of parahumans. You don't need to know or care how she flies or what her electrokinesis, aerokinesis, and cloud control have to do with each other to know that she can do those things. You don't need to know why she is strong and tough to observe that her face bounced bullets, her hands rent steel, and Hookwolf flew a hundred meters when she used her tails as a bat, and to predict that she can replicate those feats.

A model can be built. That model will always be incomplete and out of date, but it can be done. Just as soon as they learn to ignore the cognitohazard.

 

[Candesce]

I was assuming that the observation and analysis Shards will figure out that trying to examine her too closely doesn't work and so stop trying.

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Given the known reaction of observation and analysis Shards to investigating Divinity - "fluffy!" as demonstrated by Tattletale's Shard - I don't think they're going to stop observing, or that they find their mishandling of the DATA painful.

That standard does suggest that Coil is going to know his power is wonky, though.

 

[Bobismeisbob]

no secondary domains, and the person you quoted had the right names for them.

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But mine has alliteration

Weren't the first 3 given by the main gods of those aspects (Poseidon, Thor, and Amaterasu) while the other 4 were given her by Inari and didn't need unlocking meditation to use?

 

[Iridesce]

Snip because long.

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Given the known reaction of observation and analysis Shards to investigating Divinity - "fluffy!" as demonstrated by Tattletale's Shard - I don't think they're going to stop observing, or that they find their mishandling of the DATA painful.

That standard does suggest that Coil is going to know his power is wonky, though.

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Considering his Shard might get brain dead depending on how Eden Shards actually work. Also that Amy's shard just got locked in while trying and failing to analyze divinity. I kinda doubt his power would adjust.

 

[FaerieKnight79]

They are also unimportant at this point. They barely existed pre Leviathan. The Undersiders, 5 teenagers with no minons, were considered more important.

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Being considered less of a threat doesn't make the Merchants unimportant. They are considered less of a threat due to only having 3 capes at this point in time, and being drugged out the majority of the time. Yes, it took the city basically getting wrecked for the Merchants to grow in power. But adding Trainwreck didn't suddenly make Skidmark, Squealer, and Mush suddenly effective capes. Remember they are considered less of a threat compared to Literal Super Powered Nazi who outnumber the local government cape team AND independent heroes combined, and Lung who kicked the ass of the entire local Protectorate and everyone else when he first showed up. Oh, and Lung's pet serial suicide bombing lunatic.

The merchants are known for abducting and forcefully addicting people to the crap they peddle. They aren't "unimportant", it just means that the Protectorate and PRT don't see taking down the druggies who serve as a useful buffer between the other 2 (known) major gangs as a high priority.

Remember, at this point in time Coil is considered a minor threat, who's only known activities are maybe white collar crimes and hiring mercenaries. Assuming his existence is even known yet. It's not known to the PRT or Protectorate at this point in time that Coil's actually behind much of the problems in the city, or that he's the reason their information security looks more like a sieve. The fact he's playing the gangs off each other while undermining the local PRT is not public knowledge.

 

[X9Killbot]

But mine has alliteration

Weren't the first 3 given by the main gods of those aspects (Poseidon, Thor, and Amaterasu) while the other 4 were given her by Inari and didn't need unlocking meditation to use?

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No, the only ones Taylor has received are those Inari gave her. Any others are hers alone.

Remember, at this point in time Coil is considered a minor threat, who's only known activities are maybe white collar crimes and hiring mercenaries. Assuming his existence is even known yet. It's not known to the PRT or Protectorate at this point in time that Coil's actually behind much of the problems in the city, or that he's the reason their information security looks more like a sieve. The fact he's playing the gangs off each other while undermining the local PRT is not public knowledge.

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His mercenaries kept territory in the Boardwalk he is considered one of the big three gangs, they know he is a gang with deep pockets because of the tinkertech lasers. The PRT does not leak like a sieve, Coil had to have the Undersiders break into the PRT to gather information for him.

 

[Iridesce]

No, the only ones Taylor has received are those Inari gave her. Any others are hers alone.

His mercenaries kept territory in the Boardwalk he is considered one of the big three gangs, they know he is a gang with deep pockets because of the tinkertech lasers. The PRT does not leak like a sieve, Coil had to have the Undersiders break into the PRT to gather information for him.

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Considering they've had three internationally wanted criminals that Dragon found in a lazy afternoon working for them for a good bit at this point I think, they should be leaking like a sieve. I mean... Either they aren't doing background checks or Coil is in deep enough to intercept them before they ever got to someone.

 

[X9Killbot]

Considering they've had three internationally wanted criminals that Dragon found in a lazy afternoon working for them for a good bit at this point I think, they should be leaking like a sieve. I mean... Either they aren't doing background checks or Coil is in deep enough to intercept them before they ever got to someone.

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Just because she found three people doesn't mean the entirety of the PRT ENE is leaking like a sieve or has no OpSec.

 

[Iridesce]

Just because she found three people doesn't mean the entirety of the PRT ENE is leaking like a sieve or has no OpSec.

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Dragon did it with basically no effort and what I think was searching a database. Police officers have background checks. That means that Coil somehow got around that. That needs a pretty through level of subversion of the Hr department. That means that he can basically decide who gets hired. He's had this for years. Ergo, he has as many moles as he wants. PRT information security should have more holes in it than Swiss cheese.

 

[FaerieKnight79]

No, the only ones Taylor has received are those Inari gave her. Any others are hers alone.

His mercenaries kept territory in the Boardwalk he is considered one of the big three gangs, they know he is a gang with deep pockets because of the tinkertech lasers. The PRT does not leak like a sieve, Coil had to have the Undersiders break into the PRT to gather information for him.

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*laughs*

You really think that, don't you? What the PRT and public at large know about Coil at this point in time:
1. He exists
2. He has a smallish group of mercenaries
3. Said mercenaries have tinkertech laser attachments on their guns (may or may not be supplied by their employer)
4. He may or may not just have a body suit fetish and not have any powers
5. He's doing... something, suspected to be white collar crime of some sort but nobody's sure what he's actually doing.

By comparison, the Archer Bridge Merchants have been around since some point shortly after the Teeth got kicked out of Brockton Bay. They're known for abducting people to addict them to their products. They are considered one of the city's "big three gangs", even if they're considered minor when compared to the Empire Eighty Eight and Azn Bad Boys. They get no respect, but are considered one of the major players even before Levi. And the PRT treated the Merchants as a useful buffer between the other two gangs.

The reader may be aware that Coil is a bigger threat then the Merchants. But in-universe, that's not the known to the public or the PRT.

 

[Almech_Alfarion]

A model can be built. That model will always be incomplete and out of date, but it can be done. Just as soon as they learn to ignore the cognitohazard.

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For all their miraculous and terrible power to twist reality, Shards are not particularly creative, especially during their cycle configuration. That's what the host species is for after all.

 

[Iridesce]

*laughs*

You really think that, don't you? What the PRT and public at large know about Coil at this point in time:
1. He exists
2. He has a smallish group of mercenaries
3. Said mercenaries have tinkertech laser attachments on their guns (may or may not be supplied by their employer)
4. He may or may not just have a body suit fetish and not have any powers
5. He's doing... something, suspected to be white collar crime of some sort but nobody's sure what he's actually doing.

By comparison, the Archer Bridge Merchants have been around since some point shortly after the Teeth got kicked out of Brockton Bay. They're known for abducting people to addict them to their products. They are considered one of the city's "big three gangs", even if they're considered minor when compared to the Empire Eighty Eight and Azn Bad Boys. They get no respect, but are considered one of the major players even before Levi. And the PRT treated the Merchants as a useful buffer between the other two gangs.

The reader may be aware that Coil is a bigger threat then the Merchants. But in-universe, that's not the known to the public or the PRT.

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He's kinda right. There's a reason nobody thought it was weird that Coil was basically running the meeting at Somer's Rock. There's also a reason why nobody cared about Kaiser making Skidmark sit on the sidelines but let Grue sit at the big boy table. Again, according to canon the Merchants basically barely exist pre Leviathan and are kinda a joke. I also believe there is no mention of them kidnapping people off the street to addict them to drugs. They're just kinda there. Like the other minor gangs that exist but were never mentioned because they weren't going to be important.

 

[SlickRCBD]

Yeah. At the start of Worm, the big three were the ABB, the E88, and Coil. The Merchants were small time trash with less respect than a team of teenage supervillans because at least the Undersiders got stuff done and weren't fuckups.

They only got large after, you know, Lung got taken out and Leviathan gave the Bay a good fucking. And then the Slaughterhouse Nine killed basically all of their capes and that was it for the Merchants.

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Actually Coil wasn't known by much of anyone until after Leviathan. So it was only the ABB and the E88, the Merchants were very minor, as was Faultline and the Undersiders. Coil was unknown, even if he was operating in the shadows.

 

[Iridesce]

Actually Coil wasn't known by much of anyone until after Leviathan. So it was only the ABB and the E88, the Merchants were very minor, as was Faultline and the Undersiders. Coil was unknown, even if he was operating in the shadows.

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I think that Coil was known. Kinda. But basically he was a known unknown in that they knew they knew nothing.