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Twinning(s) [Worm Altpower]

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This is what I was looking for. I hope that Taylor can reach an equilibrium, a stable state where she lives fulfilled. Sure, it'll probably be for only a moment before a bullet to the brain, or a life with the Slaughterhouse Nine, or inside the Birdcage, but so long as she's at peace with herself I can be happy for her.
 
Anzer'ke said:
Aaaand she's lost it.

Sure she's still coherent, but we are clearly entering crazy town at this point. No more palling around on the outskirts. It's time for things to get seriously messed up.
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kokuenDG said:
Taylor. Taylor don't stop.

We'll see this crazy train through to the end. And see how far down she goes until she snaps completely.

This is only one timeline out of many after all...
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There is a musical tune for this, a classic even!

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Silver719 said:
Hush, hush, hush...
Here comes the Boogieman~
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Thomas - *Takes a sip* It's not... what you did, that angers me so. But who you did it too.
Maddison - *Shivering* The fucking Worm?
Thomas - *Looks at her with a stern expression* That Fucking Worm, Is Taylor Hebert. *Finishes Drink on one big gulp*
Maddison - *Looks shocked*
Thomas - She once was an associate of ours, we called her Baba Yaga.
Maddison - The Boogieman?
Thomas - Well Taylor wasnt exactly the Boggieman, she was the one you sent to KILL the fucking Boogieman.
 
Seclorum said:
Thomas - *Takes a sip* It's not... what you did, that angers me so. But who you did it too.
Maddison - *Shivering* The fucking Worm?
Thomas - *Looks at her with a stern expression* That Fucking Worm, Is Taylor Hebert. *Finishes Drink on one big gulp*
Maddison - *Looks shocked*
Thomas - She once was an associate of ours, we called her Baba Yaga.
Maddison - The Boogieman?
Thomas - Well Taylor wasnt exactly the Boggieman, she was the one you sent to KILL the fucking Boogieman.
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Oooooh, story where Madison is Coil's kid. Oh I like that.
 
You know, a part of me can't help but think that on some level, taylor is aware that she's part of an alternate story where she never saved brian. That she just has this gut instinct that something about all this split somehow, not even fully consciously realizing it, but enough to make her doubt reality.

Also I agree with Yak, I would totally be okay with S9 taylor. Because let's be honest here, Jack would actually be able to stabilize her.
 
Harbin said:
It was JUST a fuckin' FLUTE!
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Thomas - I once saw her kill three men with a pencil, a fucking Pencil. *Makes a quick series of mocking jabs*
Maddison - Father, I can make this right... Let me make this right!
Thomas - *Grabs her and hugs her tightly to whisper in her ear* You will do nothing, because you can do, nothing. When she comes for you...
 
Thozmp said:
Can someone tell me what is meant by this?
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Thrasymachus is from Plato's Republic, especially the discussion of justice. In essence (and this is very abbreviated and not nuanced), he argued that justice consists of whatever the strong say is just. "Might makes right" at its most basic. So yeah, really up Sophia's alley, in terms of worldview.

Edit: The implication being, Sophia was right because she was strong, and Emma defended her in court because Sophia was right.

Edited for spelling
 
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Seclorum said:
Thomas - Well Taylor wasnt exactly the Boggieman, she was the one you sent to KILL the fucking Boogieman.
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Harbin said:
It was JUST a fuckin' FLUTE!
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Seclorum said:
Thomas - I once saw her kill three men with a pencil, a fucking Pencil. *Makes a quick series of mocking jabs*
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...you people are not helping me resist my persistent desire to write a Gun Fu Taylor story. Just sayin'.
 
Seclorum said:
Thomas - *Takes a sip* It's not... what you did, that angers me so. But who you did it too.
Maddison - *Shivering* The fucking Worm?
Thomas - *Looks at her with a stern expression* That Fucking Worm, Is Taylor Hebert. *Finishes Drink on one big gulp*
Maddison - *Looks shocked*
Thomas - She once was an associate of ours, we called her Baba Yaga.
Maddison - The Boogieman?
Thomas - Well Taylor wasnt exactly the Boggieman, she was the one you sent to KILL the fucking Boogieman.
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This seems like the place to leave this:

 
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1.9
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    • 1.9​

    It took surprisingly few iterations. One, two, three, were all arguably failures. Taylor went and drank some orange juice from the fridge. Well, two had gotten close, so she hadn't exactly tried with three.

    Oh well.

    Fourth time was the charm. Taylor had expected more. Emma was looking for something to latch onto, someone who affirmed her little view. Things were broken inside her, a result of that alleyway. That was easy enough to portray. Taylor was certainly strong in that sense, now. She explained her ability to Emma. Combat precognition. All she needed was the last piece, to prove it. She closed the timeline.

    "Put some fingers behind your back. Ready?" Taylor was patient, splitting it once more. In one, she slammed Emma back into the bed, one hand at her throat, the other grabbing behind her back, dragging her fingers out.

    "Three." Taylor said, smiling in both places. Above Emma, next to her. She closed the other, then repeated the process. "Four. Two. None."

    Emma was amazed, and terrified, in the other. Taylor revelled in the two extremes, grinning at her in both.

    "Should I show you how I can take you in a fight, Emma? Should I be doing that, as well? Or maybe—" Taylor reached into Emma's bag, closing the other timeline after slapping Emma a few times. Cathartic. "Here. Catch."

    Emma didn't catch. The coin fell to the ground next to the bed, and she bent to pick it up.

    "Flip it." Taylor said. Emma complied.

    "Heads.

    "Tails."

    In one, Emma laughed, the illusion broken, and Taylor made good on that, calmly walking forward.

    In the other, Emma tried again, her expression awed. Taylor only got two punches in before she closed, then branched them again. It went on about five times. Emma had a very cruel laugh when she wanted to. That peal of hurt, ringing out again, and again.

    "Believe me now?" Taylor said. Emma did, and expressed as much with a very serious nod. She couldn't nod very well on the other side, split lip, eye starting to swell up.

    "...Why?" Emma asked. "Why tell me this? After what I've done. After everything."

    "I've come to terms with it," Taylor said, taking out the knife as she stared down at Emma, whimpering on the floor.

    A slow, awkward smile crept onto Emma's face. Taylor liked that one, the Emma who was popular but not bitchy, the Emma who she made cookies with in third grade, wanting them to be crispy but not realizing what happened when you left them in for that long. Maybe there were pieces of her old friend left inside after all.

    Taylor kicked Emma in the stomach. "Come on. Is that all you can do?"

    Emma coughed and twisted on the floor, hugged her friend— apologized in both, sobbing in one, tears trickling down her face in the other.

    Taylor accepted her apology, patting her on the back, patting her on the head. Emma was a good friend.

    --​

    It was as if nothing had ever changed. It was a brand new source of amusement. The ability to stab her in the back, watch that brittle thing called trust snap. "Hey, Emma."

    Hug her, cut her hair off, in the same moment. To watch that break and the tears grow in her eyes, hair shoved into her mouth. Emma gagged, choked, and Taylor forced her to finish what she started.

    Most days, she chose ear.

    Emma was fun to chat with, to talk with about inconsequential things. Things that Taylor wouldn't have thought about. Mr. Barnes smiled when she came over, gasped in horror when she came over, cried, etcetera, etcetera.

    The range of emotions and the breach of the implicit trusts were another thing broken, that she delighted in making abundantly clear. It was a poetic justice, to show him exactly what his daughter had been doing to her, to act upon that, to tell him it was his fault, after he thought they had made up.

    She could see that expression. Teenagers, always worried about something. One day they're friends, the next day they aren't. Just being dramatic. Wiping that away, forcing that stark realization into place—

    It was pure indulgence.

    Taylor was happy.

    --​

    Her grades went up. Why wouldn't they, when she could just cheat off whoever she wanted, splitting things off, listening to the vague cries of fear as she punched someone walking up with their test, reading it over, then copying it.

    Simple.

    She went into ABB territory with Emma, an imitation of Shadow Stalker's routine. Sometimes she impressed Emma, sometimes she pushed her forward and walked away. Those days were 'just not good ones, bad things happen if we go out.'

    A shame. They'd just have to go tomorrow.

    Sometimes Emma was scared, or cried. Taylor comforted her, struck her, screamed at her. She was the perfect friend. They went shopping together. Sometimes, she pushed Emma down, just to watch the food go everywhere.

    She could do anything with Emma. They truly were, best friends.

    --​

    Taylor went into the PRT for power testing.

    She went through the tests for thinkers, finding out what they wanted, looking at cards that she couldn't see the other side of, and pretending to know the answers.

    Taylor failed power testing, and shut the timeline.

    She'd try again tomorrow. The process was repeated, twice more, before she went in to take it in both timelines. She punched the proctor and looked at the other side of the cards, broke out of the room, got sprayed with containment foam.

    Thinker 5. Not bad. Taylor hadn't gone all out, for obvious reasons. Limited combat precognition, enhanced awareness, so on, so forth.

    She went to meet the wards, in one timeline. In the other, she politely declined, and went to go see Emma. Gallant flinched, but Taylor just kept smiling and shaking their hands. Right, he could see emotions. Maybe she had some issues with pent-up anger.

    Maybe not the wards.

    She closed that timeline, and went to go tell her best friend Emma about her new designation, and work out some frustration about not being able to join the wards.
     
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    • Harbin said:
    She went to meet the wards, in one timeline. In the other, she politely declined, and went to go see Emma. Gallant flinched, but Taylor just kept smiling and shaking their hands. Right, he could see emotions. Maybe she had some issues with pent-up anger.
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    Gallant (rocking back and forth): "Oh god, she's worse than Shadow Stalker..."
     
    I...I can't stop watching. It's like if a trainwreck married a ten-car pileup and they gave birth to a disaster movie which involved every car in the world getting into a grisly accident with every other car in the world.

    I'm going to hell for watching this, I just know it.
     
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