(each part will show 3 Guilds. Please enjoy.)
Skitter Across The Planes Omake past 1
Alt Taylor snippets.
Azorius Taylor with Coils power
"...And just sign form 27-6-9b and your golden!" Said Taylor, handing a form to a rather confused elf in fancy Selesnyan robes. Holding out a blue pen for the Elf to borrow to sign the form.
Joining the Azorius was both a simple and difficult process for Taylor. Signing at least a dozen or formsperfectlytook her almost two weeks. She' had to start over twice from some small error, though Taylor's power had let her dodge most of them. The ability to split her consciousness along two different timelines had taken some time to get used to.
The stability of the Azorius had drawn Taylor's eye. Despite their focus on bureaucracy and stasis had made her wary at first, but their loyalty to law had made her inner hero rejoice at the chance to shine.
The Azorius had given Taylor a position as a precognitive mage due to her powers ability to know where the most advantageous position to place guards. Though most of the time she was working as a scribe, covering her tracks so the other guilds can't plan for it. Such as now, due to a message from one of her superiors, a Vedalkan arrester, about a possible raid on a Rakdos den. Taylor split the timeline to determine whether or not it was a good idea. One timeline saying to go, one saying to stay.
Timeline A
"Alright, I'll be there with you soon." Taylor said, getting up and going to clock out and help the arrester. Having quickly signed the form to leave and getting up. Rushing towards the arrester station, holding up her blue hood as she walked. Finding Alesha, the Vedalkan and her squad. Holding out her blue hand for Taylor to shake.
"Hey Taylor. We were just about to start the raid." She said, smiling down at Taylor. Watching as the arresters moved forward down the street. Holding up shields coated in law magic runes for protection and swords held in their sheaths.
As the arresters shuffled down the street, they made a circular formation to be able to see a threat from any angle. Taylor herself in the middle ,protected by the heavily armored soldiers around her. Making sure their most valuable asset was safe.
As they reached the entrance to the den, a simple iron door in what looked like an abandoned warehouse. Grabbing the handle of the door carefully, the squad began their descent down the stairs. Hearing the faint sounds of screaming, of both pleasure and pain, the crackling of fire and the laughter of demons. Taylor being in the very back of the line of the line of arresters now. Protected behind a shield of runes.
Slowly the squad reached another iron door at the end of the stairway. As they opened the door, a wall of flame shot out of the door. The flames overpowered the runes through sheer heat and power. Laughing could be heard from beyond the flames, the trap sprung.
Timeline B
"I'd stay back for now. Maybe bring someone to remove any enchantments or traps. " Taylor told the Arrester. Hearing grumbling on from Alesha.
"Fine, we'll wait and grab a disenchanter." Replied the Vedalkan, causing a happy sigh from Taylor. Glad she wouldn't have to watch the arrester squad burn with Rakdos flames.
As Taylor dropped the first timeline, she smiled. As another person came in to petition the Senate, a human wearing simple grey robes. A low ranking Orzhov priest from the sigil around their neck.
That night in her apartment, Taylor started one of her nightly rituals using her power. One timeline doing the ritual, the other working on dinner.
Timeline A
The ritual was a faux trial with herself as judge, using her kitchen table and chairs as the stand. Several custom made dolls on one chair representing the Trio, and one representing Taylor herself on another.
"Emma Barnes, Sophia Hess and Madison Clements, you stand accused of assault, destruction of property and attempted manslaughter. How do you plead?"
Taylor said in her best official sounding judge voice. Using a small bit of magic to project her voice into the doll of Sophia, doing her best impression of her as well.
"The little nobody deserved it." Said the doll, echoed by the doll of Emma and Madison. Causing a disgusted snort to go through Taylor. "in what way?!" Judge Taylor replied, looking down at the dolls.
"Emma, you were my friend!" said the Doll Taylor, unloading the real Taylor's pain and despair onto the doll. Trying her hardest not to cry.
"Who'd want to be friends withyou?!"giggled the Emma doll, causing real Taylor to try to steel herself. "For your crimes, I sentence you all to 6 months in juvenile prison along with a demand to the school district to expell you." Real Taylor finished, taking a deep breath to calm herself as well.
Timeline B
Dinner was a small meal of rice and beans. Nothing she wouldn't make at home, though she didn't know any types of beans that were bright blue. Most likely they were created by the Simic, tasty ether way. Using her powers helped her deal with her anger and frustrations without making a ruckus, allowing her to scream and break as many things as she wanted without having to worry about clean up
Dropping the first timeline, Taylor began clean up from her dinner. Wondering if her arrester friends had managed to bypass the Rakdos's trap. Taylor could still remember the pain of watching the squad get roasted by the flames, knowing she was helpless to stop it from happening. But that timeline had been dropped, so Alesha and her squad were probably fine. A bit scorched probably but ultimately they were alive.
"Maybe next time I'll go with them. Make sure their ok." Thought Taylor, washing the bowl clean with a rag. Happy to do something so simple and relaxing.
Boros Taylor with Glory Girls power
"That's the last of them captain!" Taylor said, gently dropping another civilian scarecrow into a holding pen.
Floating down from near the top of the Boros Garrison. Wiping sweat from the exertion and standing in front of Alger Helmsmasher. The Boros commander in charge of training Taylor in civilian rescue. The Minotaur gave a hearty belly laugh and tussled Taylor's hair. A breeze blowing Taylor's Boros cloak around the same time.
"Good job! Nothing broken this time?" Alger said, giving a small smirk, knowing yesterday during training Taylor had accidentally gotten started and squeezed a training dummy's arm too hard. Causing the pretend civilians wooden arm to snap.
"Not once! Made sure I was careful." Taylor replied, giving a small salute. A big grin on her face, the euphoria of feeling like a superhero coursing through her veins.
"Excellent! Take ten minutes to rest and we'll work on some sword fighting next." The Minotaur smirked and said, heading off back into the Garrison himself for some water. The day was oddly hot for nearly winter, probably the last gasp of warmth before the cold truly set in. Plus Alger's armor was making him bake like a potato.
Taylor herself just flew up into the atmosphere and into a few clouds. Letting the moisture hit her and cool her off. Enjoying the feeling for a few minutes before heading back down in to the Garrison. Taylor went downwards fast at the beginning, before slowing down about 20 feet away from the ground. Allowing her to reach the stone floor with barely a thud.
As Alger walked back into the training area, Taylor noticed the Minotaur was holding two wooden practice swords. One for each of them, a normal sparing match.
Alger tossed a wooden sword to Taylor, who fumbled for a second before catching it. The sword nearly clattering on the floor from the failed catch. Thankfully it didn't bop her on the nose like the last time, Taylor was unharmed by it due to her power of course. But a few recruits had seen it and teased her for it for hours afterwards. She'd teased them back after a while, causing everyone to have a good laugh and make Taylor feel accepted and loved.
"We'll start some basic techniques for now. Something to build up to. Sound good?" Alger said, holding out his training sword. Taylor nodded her head in response, taking a deep breath before the sparing began. Bracing her self seconds before the Minotaur began his first swing. Nearly smacking the training sword out Taylor's hand.
Taylor swung back as best she could but the instructor was still too fast for her. Dodging her strike and whacking her on the arm. Though the strike gave Taylor an opportunity to strike the Minotaurs belly. Unintentionally knocking the breath out of him through his armor.
"Easy easy! Watch your strength!" Alger wheezed, causing Taylor to pull back in regret. Only to get whacked on the head again. "You should also never let your guard down. You got me good on that strike, but next time ease up a little. I'm not invincible like you." The Minotaur continued, taking a small breath to get everything working again.
"I know, I know. I saw an opening and I took it. Like you said." Taylor smirked a little bit and said. Letting her trainer get back into working order. This time she made the first swing, going for the Minotaurs helmet, and thick skull with a semi light swing. Hard enough to sting, but not enough to do any damage. The swing was easily blocked though, and punished with a jab to the ribs.
The strike caused Taylor to flinch and miss a strike to her leg, making her fall to one knee. The next strike would have hit her in the head but Taylor managed to parry it seconds before it would have struck. Allowing her a few seconds to get up and strike a counter attack.
"Nice save." Alger nodded and said, holding his blade down for a second, and getting nearly tripped by a sudden swing at his left hoof. The strike only succeeded at knocking the Minotaur onto one leg. ""Don't let your guard down"" Taylor quoted, a satisfied grin on her face. Getting a small chuckle from the Minotaur in response "Good thing your paying attention!" he added, getting back up in a few seconds.
"Thanks! It's easy when I have such a good teacher." Taylor said, planting her sword in the ground. Taking a few deep breaths to reinvigorate herself. "Mind we take a small break? I'm a little hungry." She added, rubbing her stomach a small bit.
"Yeah we can break for lunch. Then we can practice some flying exercises with one of the Angels." Alger nodded and said, planting his sword down as well. Catching it easily as Taylor tossed it back to him.
As the two headed into the Garrison mess hall, Taylor lazily flew behind the Minotaur. Looking like she was swimming in the air from the motions she made, and her cape fluttering in the air. The smells of baking bread making her stomach turn. The daily bread rations were surprisingly good, the perfect food after training.
Floating into the loud and busy mess hall reminded Taylor of back home at Winslow in the school cafeteria. Though no one would be trying to dump food on her or trip her so she flung her plate onto the floor. The biggest difference waspeople actually wanted to sit with her!She didn't need to sit in the bathroom stalls to eat to avoid rampant bulling.
Heck Aurelia, after learning what happened to her on Winslow from Jace, had temporarily forbid people from hazing her. Just until Taylor properly settled into the Legion of course. Which, given how quickly she was acing training would probably be soon. Taylor would go from recruit to official Legionnaire in just a few weeks.
Taylor nearly got lost in daydreaming about being a Legionnaire and bumped into the wall. Causing a small chuckle from a nearby cadet. Giving Taylor the clarity to float down.
Everything was going perfect, a little mishap like is nothing!
Izzet Taylor with Dragon's power
Taylor was currently struggling with one of Guild master Rals little "puzzles" he liked to try and teach her power with.
A Mizzium device she was supposed to analyze and then replicate. See what it could do and then create a copy of. But the strange little box was eluding her at every turn! One the surface it resembled a steel box with Izzet runes all over it. But Taylor's magic allowed her to sense the Mizzium core and the mechanics within it, if only she could figure what it did!
One her colleges at the Nivix just smirked at her as she struggled with the box. Aldubuss was a Vedalkan teacher for new recruits, the red robed engineer whispered to Taylor "Try using a bit of lightning magic on it.". Smirking as Taylor conjured a bit of electricity into her palm and touched the box.
The electricity made the runes glow a bright blue and made the box begin vibrating. Rising into the air, the box exploded into a series of fiery letters saying "NICE JOB." along with a thumbs up. Making Taylor smirk a little bit.
"I probably can't tell Ral you helped me. He'd probably consider it cheating." Said Taylor, picking up the scraps of the box. Putting all the Mizzium left In one pile for later.
"I mean, Even Niv Mizzet required someone's help a few times." Aldubuss replied, cleaning off some soot from his robe. "I know. My powers probably still learning about Izzet tech. So once I'm fully immersed in their designs and functions, things like this will be easier." Taylor said, gathering up the tools needed for replicating the box.
Gathering Mizzium from a box on one of the laboratory shelf along with some steel and wires. Molding the Mizzium with some small fire magic.
Magic seemed to come pretty easy to Taylor anyway. The magic the league wielded anyway. Once she'd seen a mage do something, copying it was pretty easy. Especially when it involved technology like Rals bracers. She'd studied how they worked and built a pair for herself in just a matter of hours.
The copy of the box would probably have been easier had it been not been scorched to hell and back. But it was a simple contraption nonetheless. It was basically a bomb designed to trigger when exposed to electricity. Something any Izzet engineer could probably whip up in an hour or so.
The hard part was getting the fireworks to spell something out and not just spray everywhere. Taylor would need someone with skill in fireworks to learn from. To understand how to get thingsjustright to impress the Guild Master. Taylor knew just the person to see for such a thing.
The Laboratory of Pyrology was the best place for such an experiment. One of Taylor's Goblin friends worked there, so she'd be a great help with this assignment.
Grizvida, the goblin in question, was currently working on what looked like a Bunsen burner. Tinkering with the flaming end, which seemed like it didn't want to light. Grizvida was fiddling with the knob, and grunting in annoyance.
Until the burner suddenly it came alive and singed her nose. Causing a small chuckle from Taylor. The Goblin would be fine, worse things happened then a simple first degree burn on the nose in the Izzet League.
"Hey Griz! You mind helping me with something?" Taylor said, grabbing a small burn cream from under the desk for her friend. "Eh? Like what?" Replied the goblin, wiping the cream on nose. Watching her reddened skin turn back to a healthy green.
"You know those "puzzles" Ral assigns me? I need some help with one of them." Taylor said, having brought the skeleton of the device, and placing it on the work bench. "I want this to explode and make fireworks in the shape of a message. "
The goblin perked up at the word "explode", grabbing the box's materials and immediately fiddling with it to figure out how it worked. "A Mizzium Flarebox? That's easy!" Grizvida beamed and said, showing off crooked teeth. "Give me 5 minutes and we can get everything done!" she added, connecting a few wires here and there to the Mizzium core.
After a good hour of tinkering with the box and Taylor was ready to hand it to back to Ral Zarek. Waiting on the lift to take her to Ral's office. Watching the stormy sky rage around the top of the building, Rals magic taking hold of the weather. From the way the bolts smacked random buildings, Ral wasn't in a good mood."hopefully he likes my Flarebox."Taylor thought as she reached the top.
The former home of Niv Mizzet was currently filled with the crackle of electricity and the humming of machinery. Ral Zarek was currently working on some of new version of his bracers, smaller and less bulky.
"guild master Ral?" Taylor squeaked as a bolt of lightning nearly hit her. It was at least ten feet away but it still surprised her. Usually Ral was a bit more careful about such things, but he probably didn't even know she was there. Her footsteps were so quiet and the storm so loud.
"I brought back your puzzle." She said, placing the box on the table. Waiting for the mage to find the small surprise she'd hidden in the Flareboxs message. Ral gave the box a small zap and it glowed just like last time.
"GIVE ME A HINT NEXT TIME.". Was the message spelled out by the flames. Eliciting a small smirk from the Guild Master. " You know Flareboxs aren't that complicated right?" He said, putting down his gauntlet. Turning towards Taylor as he spoke.
"I mean,doneed something to work with. I'm still getting used to magic." Taylor replied, looking a bit nervous as well. Hoping Ral approved of her response.
"True. I'll give you something a bit more obvious next time alright." Was Rals response. Scooping up the Mizzium from the explosion and putting it in a metal box for reuse.
"But for now, maybe help me with my gauntlets. I think that would be a fair reward." The Guild Master said, tossing a wielding torch to Taylor.