Current Energy: 18
Current Training: Aura (5/10), You can all thank Turbonator for this Omake Bonus!
Saturday, January 29th, 2011
Hebert Household, Brockton Bay
"So it's another Soul based Brute power?" Your Master asks you bluntly. You might have expected to be offended by the statement - something about the value and importance of individuality and the soul? But, honestly -
"Yeah, pretty much." You respond easily.
[Ah, Aura isn't standardized here so you have a separate category for Semblances that improve physical capability. Interesting.] The old man notes, which you pointedly ignore. The guy would either figure out what was going on well enough to follow, or he wouldn't - you didn't actually care at this point.
"Huh. And the Cane thing?" She asks you curiously, peering at Long Memory where you have left it on the table.
"Wizard Staff." You say helplessly.
[Are you sure casual reference to magic is really a good idea?] Ozma asks you in a slightly condescending tone.
"Can I try it? Does it actually do anything or is it just a cool stick?" Your Master asks you curiously.
"I - I don't know actually. I think it's just a cool stick." You answer honestly.
[It is a relic nearly as old as I am, and has stood the test of time where many other weapons have not.] Ozma responds quickly, obviously slightly miffed.
"Yeah, it- it's just a stick." You say after Ozma inadvertently confirms the point for you.
"Then why - eh, whatever. Soooo~" Your Master says after a minute, standing and walking around to drop into the seat next to you. Actually, way to close to you. And now she's wrapping an arm around your shoulders like there is nothing wrong with this.
Puberty sucks and you resent that you have to emulate it. You want off this ride!
"Wha-wha-" You splutter out, trying - and failing - to lean away from your Masters enhanced strength. Is this your previous Emulations fault? Did your Master absorb some of her sadism?
"So I don't have to train Aura right? You said it just unlocks with a poem?" Taylor teases you.
"Y-yeah. Uh. I just..." You pause accessing the memories of Ozma in order to get this right, and then gingerly put your point and middle fingers on your Master's forehead.
"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death. I release your soul and by my shoulder protect thee." You intone unsteadily, concentrating enough that your aura - a mellow green - glows across your skin.
You Master stares at you expectantly as you do so, and you wait for the glow to travel to her, signifying the awakening of her Aura.
It doesn't.
"Should something be happening or...?" She asks curiously.
"I- hang on!" You say, removing your hand from her forehead and huddling in on yourself to think.
Your Master already has a plethora of Soul based abilities and powers. You had assumed you had gotten the physics involved in that kind of thing sorted already, and sine Aura was a soul based ability... Unless Souls had different rules in every universe? Why did everything in this place have to be so damn hard? You're beginning to hate all this Esoteric stuff - none of it is consistant. You should only have to model something properly one time in order to understand how it works.
"Okay, I think I got it. Um. You're going to have to do it the hard way." You say hesitantly.
"Which is...?" Your Master asks.
"...Mostly meditating on the poem. I think." You say, cursing that you were going to have to go through this entire process the hard way just so you could examine it properly and make adjustments as time went on.
[It's not a poem, it's a resolution. A promise.] Ozma chimes in.
Again, you ignore him.
"Seriously? I was kind of hoping for something a little more active this go around." Your Master huffs, lifting you up and depositing you on the couch in the living room like you are merely a particularly large cat.
"Uh? What are we doing now?" You grunt in confusion.
"Meditating. Duh." Your Master says easily. You squint at her, noting the similarity in that statement to the Panda's, and then yelp when your Master promptly hops up and lays down on the couch with her head in your lap.
"This is not meditation!" You squeal.
"Anything can be meditation if it's relaxing enough." Your Master points out, crossing her legs and swishing her feet left and right.
[She reminds me of a student of mine.] Ozma says, and the image of a lackadaisical blond flashes through your mind.
You don't find these words comforting.
Saturday, January 29th, 2011
The Heap, Brockton Bay
You are standing very still as Danny examines you. He doesn't... look mad, but neither does he look particularly happy either. The balding man is mostly just staring at you right now, having just been introduced to you by your Master, who is either completely oblivious to her father's tension, or willfully ignoring it.
"...and you're how old?" He asks after a while.
"Fourteen. Sir." You say politely. You realize that - barring the single Emulation where you were very friendly with the man - you've given Danny every reason to dislike you.
You suspect this is about to bite you in the ass.
[He reminds me of the father of one of my students.] Ozma muses lightly. You wonder if Ozma ever actually experiences distress. You know he's been studiously avoiding the topic of his home reality and its troubles, but you also know that probably won't last for very long. The man is too driven for that. Even still, he seems entirely too casual in his other commentary, seeming to almost enjoy needling you as you go about your day.
"Dad, come on. I can bench press buildings. This isn't necessary." Taylor points out from nearby where she is slowly disabusing a fresh notebook of every piece of paper within it. You have no idea what she's working on, but since arriving at the base she's been manic in her creation of talismans and other such mystical objects that you no longer have any understanding of.
"Sweetheart, when you have a daughter of your own you'll understand," Danny says without even turning away from you, continuing to keep you pinned to the spot with his stare.
"Yeah but I can throw any stupid boy I don't like into the ocean from here. You can't." She points out again. Then pauses, looking from you to her Father and back again. Then she smiles slyly at you.
"But you could." She says pointedly.
"N-now Master let's not be hasty." You whimper.
"No this is perfect! We can see if your Aura thing just doesn't work here, or if it's just me! And then Dad would be bullet proof!" She says excitedly, the idea gaining traction in her mind as she continues to ponder it.
"...so you can just hand out superpowers now?" Danny asks curiously, this newest topic finally drawing him away from you and causing him to turn to face his daughter.
You release a sigh of relief at the motion.
"I think so. Do you... not want to?" Taylor asks, her confidence cracking as she fully comes out of her scribbling spree, her eyebrows furrowing in concern.
"No. I - Taylor, you fought half the city this month. I know your strong but... when the Empire attacked the PRT I couldn't do anything. I tried. God, I tried. But I just... I don't really want Superpowers. But I want you to be alone even less." Danny declares firmly. Then he turns back to you and nods once.
"Do it." He says, and despite himself, manages to bring to bear just a smidgen of what you see in your Master sometimes.
[He's one of the better ones isn't he? A bit old to be going to a school though.] Ozma notes.
"There are no schools for this here. They all just make it up as they go." You mutter under your breath for the wizards benefit.
[Well - that's somewhere to start I suppose.] He answers ominously.
You choose not to address that one. Again. You feel like you're going to get a lot of mileage out of 'literally ignore it' this Emulation.
Very carefully, you walk up to Danny, and place your hand on his chest. An action you starkly refused to do when attempting this on your Master. Then you repeat the mantra.
"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death. I release your soul and by my shoulder protect thee." You say, and just like before you begin to glow a faint green. Unlike before, Danny begins to glow a faint lavender colour, and your own Aura drains appreciably, leaving you tired and weak.
Energy: -1
"Huh. I don't... feel that different..." Danny says after a second of examining his glowing hand before the effect fades and he returns to normal.
"Aura... requires... training..." You gasp out, falling on your ass as you explain. Your Master immediately jumps up and rushes to you, but you wave her off as you get your breath back.
"It's like a muscle. You need to know how to use it." You continue to explain as you get to your feet.
"So... I need to learn to fight? Should I start jogging or-" Danny asks hesitantly but is cut off as your Master turns to him and examines him carefully.
"I'm gonna punch you okay?" She says causing the older man to blink as she carefully reaches out and taps him on the chest with a very light jab. Danny takes a step back at the force of the blow, and a ripple of purple energy spreads out from his chest. He winces slightly but pauses to poke at his own chest experimentally.
"It still hurt but... I think I'm okay? What does this stuff do anyway?" He asks, turning to you.
"Super strength, reflexes, enhanced healing, a random personality-based power-" You begin to list off.
"Wait what was that last-" the man begins to ask before his Daughter cuts in.
"Dad, focus. Training." She intones in an oddly pleased tone that sends a chill down your spine.
Then she reaches to the side, opens a Gap, and throws the man bodily through it.
"Five minutes, don't die!" She yells after him before jumping through the Gap herself.
"...So... schools?" You ask after a second, noticing that your Master has left the Gap open so you won't be randomly reconstituted every three seconds as she leaps about.
[...Yes. Strong people do tend to need some curbing.] The ancient wizard replies, clearly amused by your suffering.
You seriously can't wait for this Emulation to be over. It's exhausting.
Saturday, January 29th, 2011
Uptown, Brockton Bay
"This is the place?" Your Master asks Vicky curiously as they descend from above to land in the middle of a fairly empty street near her house.
"Yeah. I usually don't like coming here." Vicky admits, slightly downcast.
She and your Master had come to have a look at the ghost of her aunt. Their trip here had been pleasant enough - Vicky certainly enjoyed having a friend who could keep up with her in the sky and wasn't limited by Wards patrolling rules - but as they drew closer to the location the blond had become more and more despondent.
"You can stay up here if you want," Taylor says quickly, shooting her friend a glance.
"I- yeah. I'm just gonna... wait up here." Vicky says after a moment of looking like the wants to protest.
"Uh, um. I- I kind of would like to be put down?" You whine, having been carried by your Master like a princess the entire way here - ostensibly because your current Emulation couldn't easily keep up with her and Vicky. You had pointed out that you don't really mind just falling infinitely through the sky as she runs ahead but then she had gotten that mischievous look in her eyes again. Even Vicky had thought it was weird how much Taylor likes messing with this version of you.
Even though she still laughed.
Eventually settling down in the middle of the road, you and your Master look around for a bit, until your Master pivots to look off to the side at something that you... can't see.
Hm. You can't see ghosts. But your Master can. And you find that deeply infuriating.
"She's... just sort of standing there." Your Master whispers to you as she looks at... something. Then a woman in a business suit exits one of the buildings and begins to walk past you, and your Master's face takes on an alarmed look as she steps forward slightly, but stops when nothing appears to happen, letting the woman continue on her way with only a cursory glance at the two of you.
"What happened?" You ask hesitantly.
"She... kind of grew? into this really long limbed... thing. She pawed at that woman for a second, then got bored and changed back. I don't really know why." Taylor says, taking another step forward.
"I'm... going to try and talk to her, I think." She says slowly.
This is, of course, when the street explodes into a riot of colours and sound, before abruptly settling with a complete lack of any of those things. The colour gradient in the area drops until everything around you is a flickering, hazy white and grey, and all sound seems to drain out of your surroundings.
"You have crossed me for the last time, Musashi. Draw your blade - we shall see who the greatest swordsman in all of Japan truly is." A man says, stepping into view from around a corner, wearing an ornate robe, and hoisting a disproportionately large katana overhead.
His words are out of sync with the movement of his lips, and it gives you the uncomfortable sensation that he is somehow failing to lip sync with himself.
"...What." Your Master says flatly, her voice coming out a few seconds after she actually moves her lips to speak.
Dimly you can hear some kind of... string instrument... begin being plucked in the background.
You have no idea what's going on and you hate it. You hate this Emulation. You hate this situation.
And most importantly, you hate this asshole.
You draw your weapon.