Current Energy: 2
Current Training: Ozma Sub Emulation (5/10) - (9/10)
Thursday, February 10th, 2011
???, ???
"I dislike this, just on principle." Taylor states bluntly, eyeballing the line of students, each one spaced roughly five feet apart from the others, arrayed before her on the edge of a massive cliff face overlooking a brilliant emerald forest.
The forest, coincidentally, is named, 'Emerald Forest', which just goes to show that fighting a war for freedom of expression doesn't make you a poet.
"This is how we've always done things. I don't see why you are only now taking issue with it." Glynda Goodwitch state primly, eyes firmly locked on the digital table in her hands as she finalizes her preparations for the test.
Taylor, bless her heart, returned to the simulation at exactly the same point in time at which she left it. This meant that she went from 'blissfully falling asleep' to 'standing in front of a crowd of rowdy superpowered teenagers' in the space of about four seconds. The fact that she really just grumbled irritably before moving on instead of freaking out at her suddenly changed situation is a testament to her tolerance for weird occurrences. You can't tell if that's a good or a bad thing, but it's something.
Currently, your Master, along with Glynda - who you suppose was Ozpin's assistant in life or something - have taken to the immense cliff the school rests upon, in order to... well...
"I'm taking issue with it because your plan is to catapult teenagers you know nothing about, into a forest full of grimm, and are then going to force them to spend the next four years working with the first person they encounter!" Taylor scowls, sticking a hand out emphatically to point at a blond boy who has frozen in place, turning with a shakey expression to stare incredulously at your Master in response to her outburst. Not of the other students seem to notice. Or if they do, they don't appear to care one way or the other.
"The life of a Huntsman is a hard one. It's best that we learn if they can make the cut now, instead of when lives are on the line." Glynda entreats, as though attempting to explain to a child why bad things happen to good people.
"Bullshit! Look at that guy! He looks like he's going to piss himself! How is he supposed to know what to do if he hasn't been trained to do it yet? They've been here for like a day!" Taylor counters, pointing at the blond boy.
"Um, I think maybe she has a-" He begins to yell across the field to them, raising one arm for attention, only for Glynda to glance his way and then flick her tablet screen. This results in the ground beneath the boy exploding upward to reveal a metal pad carefully hidden beneath the grass. It rises with such force that it catapults the boy forward, eliciting an immediate girlish scream of terror from him that is quickly drowned out by the sounds of the other students as they launch. To your Master's annoyance, with the exception of the first boy, the noises they make are overwhelmingly those of excitement.
"I assure you, they are in no real danger. A preteen with the bare minimum of experience in a combat school could manage in the Emerald Forest. We keep the grimm there culled down to a manageable level for just these occasions." Glynda says with a sniff, her tablet screen changing to display a top down view of a ginger haired girl landing atop the skull of a Beowulf with a resounding crash, before cackling madly as she dashes off to viciously bludgeon another with her absurdly sized hammer.
"If even one of these kids gets badly injured..." Taylor grumbles menacingly, even as she crowds closer to Glynda to watch what is happening below.
"They won't," Glynda answers with a roll of her eyes.
Several minutes pass in tense silence as your Master watches the ongoing struggles of the fledgling Huntsmen below in the forest. She cheers quietly when the first boy encounters his partner - a red haired girl with a gentle and friendly demeanour. She quirks a brow in annoyance when a smaller girl and her white haired companion continually argue for the entire trial. She laughs raucously when the ginger haired girl from earlier forcibly begins riding one of the bear shaped Grimm through the forest, ultimately arriving at her final destination just in time for the thing to die of exhaustion.
Ultimately, your Master spends the better part of an hour watching a bunch of teenagers murder their way through the Death Forest and loves it.
That is, until two of the groups get into a fight with a pair of Grimm that are just a bit above their skill level to handle. Your Master barely pauses in her switch from observant amusement to homicidal intervention, sticking a hand out for her sword and moving through the beginning motions of opening a gap to her destination.
"Just wait," Glynda instructs tiredly, frowning at Taylor for a moment before turning back to the screen. Hesitantly, she relaxes but doesn't relinquish her grip on her weapon.
Slowly, as the fight progresses and the eight students your Master has taken most note of prove that they can handle the situation, Taylor relaxes slightly. As the group begins to make its way back to the cliffside in order to take the long and arduous path back up to you, she squints at Glynda, who quirks a sardonic eyebrow in response.
"I thought you said nothing that big would be in there." She says suspiciously.
"We can't monitor the area twenty-four seven. Even if we could, it's a large area. Some things were bound to slip through." Glynda answers with a shrug, completely unphased by the accusation.
"Hm. Are they the last students left?" She asks, gesturing to the tablet Glynda is holding.
"Yes. By now the rest of the staff should have already worked out their team names. We should get back so we can be ready before the assembly." Glynda notes with a pleased expression on her face, obviously glad the hard part is over for the day.
"Just one second," Taylor states, turning back to the forest and concentrating. Slowly, an orb of vaguely blue energy begins to swirl about between her palms. The orb grows more vigorous as your master focuses until it is roughly the size of a volleyball, different shades of blue whirling madly about as though trying to escape the confines of the orb. Carefully, she pulls one hand away from the thing, draws her sword, and opens a gap to somewhere, then returns the hand to the orb while sweating slightly.
"Headmaster? What exactly are you doing?" Glynda asks worriedly as she eyes the glowing ball with no small amount of trepidation. In lieu of answering, Taylor twists slightly, encasing the orb in a shield of hazy green energy. Then she shoves the entire strange apparatus through the gap, and withdraws her hands, closing the gap behind them with a sigh of relief.
"Just making sure the forest is properly cleared. We won't need it again until next year anyway." She states brightly, although there is a hint of something malicious in her tone that Glynda obviously catches onto, because her head swivels quickly to the left in order to stare down at the forest - just in time for a tiny spec of green in the distance above it to flicker, and then pulse, releasing a hail of blue energy blasts down upon the entirety of the forest as if a giant had decided to fire a scale automatic weapon down at the locale. There is - very briefly - the deafening sound of hundreds of trees, Grimm, and stones, being broken by the onslaught of firepower, after which the silence is deafening.
Your Master takes a moment to gaze proudly down at what is left of the once proud forest, and then promptly blacks out.
Thursday, February 10th, 2011
Hebert Household, Brockton Bay
"Emmy?" Taylor asks you as her eyes snap open in bed.
"...Yes?" You ask hesitantly.
"Can you do cool simulations like that all the time, like, for fun?" She asks curiously as she gets up.
"Unfortunately, no. It's just a..." You pause grasping for the correct terminology to use here. It isn't that you can't do that kind of thing casually, just that your current configuration won't allow it.
"Side effect? Yeah, it's a side effect of moving Ozma over." You say eventually with a shrug.
"Oh... damn," Taylor says with a frown.
[Please do not rain down hellfire on my home if ever you should find yourself there.] Ozma states blandly, and you smile wryly as you pass on the message. Taylor just snorts as she gets dressed for the day.
"I don't see the problem. I made sure all the kids were out of the forest first. I bet I could clear the area around that city in no time." She says obstinately.
"You just want an excuse to go all out without getting yelled at don't you?" You note with some amusement.
"No one will believe you~" She sing songs at you as she pulls a sweater over her head, wiggling until her head pops out through the neck of the thing.
"Fair. What's the plan for today?" You ask easily transitioning the topic.
"The usual I guess. Can't take the team out right away with the way things went the other day. We'll have to get Oliver's -sorry Huntsman's equipment finished and get him trained on it before we move out again. Plus there's Aspirant." She says with a one shouldered shrug. At this, you clear your throat then eye her pointedly before speaking.
"Do you think we could spend some extra time in the ah... simulation, today?" You ask carefully, trying to allude to your limited time remaining in this world as 'you' without saying it directly.
"...Sure." Taylor answers, then exhales slowly. You wince, already knowing what she is likely thinking about.
"Let me just... call Trainwreck then." She says with some conviction, turning away from you and snatching her older model cellphone off the table, dialling a number and then walking out of the room with you trailing behind her as it rings.
"Wreck?" Taylor asks as the call connects and she reaches the kitchen, pulling the phone away from her ear and changing it to speaker as she puts it on the counter and begins to search about for food.
"Boss, I love yah, but it's fucking six am. What?" You hear in response over the phone, causing Taylor to roll her eyes as she searches a cupboard, finds nothing to her interests, and then frowns.
"I won't be coming around after school today like I want. If you get started on Olly's stuff I'll do my part tomorrow. Can you see if Miss Militia will tell you anything about the other cape groups in the city? What's been happening recently?" She asks, ignoring the pitiful moaning coming from Trainwreck through the phone as she speaks.
"I already did that. Accord is getting all the local Yakuza types squared away. Guy seems to really dig what some of the older ABB guys consider 'manners'. Coil hasn't done shit, which aint a surprise. His part of the city has always been pretty safe overall. No reason for him to screw that up now. Uber and Leet, I'm pretty sure ran the fuck away. No one with two brain cells to rub together would willingly work in a city you live in. The-" He begins to rapidly reel off only to be stopped by your Master, who looks at the phone in confusion.
"What? I'm not that bad. I've never even permanently injured anyone!" Taylor says in annoyance.
"What Uber and Leet? Those guys are C listers. They're used to goons like Armsmaster showing up and putting on a show with them that they can run away from afterwards. You'd just show up, dick punch their souls or whatever, and then throw them into a nightmare portal until you remember to drop them off at the PRT. Risks are too high. Better to just go somewhere else." Trainwreck explains with a sigh.
"That's not stopping all these other guys from showing up." She grouses.
"Boss. That ain't a good thing. Only crazy stupid, and crazy powerful people choose to hang out in Alexandria's city. You've got the same vibe to yah." He says helpfully before continuing his explanation.
"Anyway. The Undersiders haven't been doing much. Mostly hitting some of the small time groups that have been popping up, stopping them from getting any traction so they don't balloon to fill the power vacuum. The Travellers have been quiet, but they sorta share working space with the Undersiders, popping bubbles before they get too big. The PRT have been avoiding sending any of the Wards anywhere near there established turf, on account of one of their kids offing one of them. Afraid of some of that eye for an eye shit I guess." Trainwreck continues dully, his tone obviously trying to get across how tired he actually is as he speaks.
"What about the Teeth?" Taylor asks, tensing slightly.
"Dunno. Haven't heard shit about 'em. The ones that got away from us I mean. The PRT is trying to arrange transport with Dragon cus they're afraid a ground vehicle would be too easy a target though. Their prison is getting kind of full." He says stonily.
"What about-" Taylor starts to ask but Trainwreck groans loudly cutting her off.
"Boss. Please." He pleads. Taylor huffs in response.
"Fine. I'll talk to you later." She says, stretched a hand out to hang up the phone after Trainwrecks on half mumbled goodbye.
"Well that's one down." She mumbles.
"Who else is there?" You ask curiously.
"Dad and Jess." Taylor explains quickly, then frowns staring up at the ceiling, and adds; "Also, Mouse I guess."
"I haven't seen her since the day before yesterday actually. I'm not sure she actually came back at all." You note with a frown.
"Hm." Taylor grunts noncommittally, returning to her cooking - pancakes, by the look of it. Several minutes pass, during which time, your Master carefully plates enough pancakes to feed roughly six people.
You take two. Not two 'peoples' worth, or two 'plates'. You had two pancakes. Your Master ate the rest. All of the rest.
"I will never understand where you put all of it." You state bluntly, carefully sectioning off a piece of pancake to take a bite out of. Taylor shrugs at you, her current eating habits having formed not long after she got her powers and having done nothing if not get worse the longer you've been around.
"Muffles." She states blandly, the word coming out muffled by the two and a half pancakes she is current trying to swallow whole as she speaks.
You quirk an eyebrow at her, but before you can say anything else on the topic, the front door of the house bursts open, and Danny half stomps half stumbles past you. His shirt is torn in multiple places. One of his pant legs is missing. And there is a pidgeon sitting on his shoulder cooing periodically at nothing at all as he moves past, a sour expression on his face.
"Dad!?" Taylor blurts out, in obvious concern, standing up suddenly to rush over to him.
"Danny! Your truck is on fire again!" a womans voice yells frantically from outside - Jess. Danny stops in his tracks, turns to look at Taylor, then turns to look back out the front door, then turns back to Taylor, his eyes closed as he gathers his thoughts.
"Let me... I just need to deal with this." Danny says tiredly, turning around with a completely fake smile and stumbling into the garage, which already has a thick plume of black smoke coming from under the door.
"Dad what the hell?! Why do you look like a bear mauled you?" Taylor asks in distress.
"Because a bear mauled me." He says in a matter of fact way, pushing the garage door open and stepping in to stare at his old beat up truck. Where before, the thing was old but well cared for, now, it looks like it might be held together by literaly duck tape and prayer. Your not even really sure which one of those would be most effective given the state of the thing. It's a small wonder the machine even turns on. It is missing all the doors on one side. One tire has clearly gone flat. The hood is missing, and a small fire appears to be raging across the innerds of the vehicle, one that doesn't appear to actually have any source or fuel, but burns regardless. To one side, Jess is desperately using the household fire extinguisher on the blaze to little effect, her clothes in a similar state of disrepair to Danny's.
"I'm going to kill her...! I don't care what Mike says, I'll do it in public!" She hisses angrily, leaping away as a tongue of flame reaches towards her.
"Taylor can... can you throw the car in the Bay? Please?" Danny says with a hollow look in his eyes.
"Um... okay?" She says hesitantly, looking back and forth between her father and the vehicle, the fire reflecting in the mans unblinking eyes. Of course, he quickly shakes himself free of his trance when Taylor concentrates for a second, opening a Gap beneath the vehicle and dropping it presumably somewhere out in the bay.
There is silence for a few minutes, and the Danny says;
"We will never talk about this." Jess nods along emphatically to his statement.
"I'd still like to know what the hell is going on?" Taylor puts forth, drawing the attention of both adults, who look to her, then eachother, and then back to her again.
"We respectfully refuse." Danny states.
"But-" Taylor tries to reason.
"I'm going to bed." He says, cutting Taylor off and beginning to do that half stumble half walk to get back into the house and up the stairs, Jess trailing behind him without thinking.
"...I have so many questions." Taylor states after the pair vanish up the stairs, the pigeon in tow.
"Maybe he'll feel like talking after he wakes up?" You offer.
"Yeah..." Taylor says pensively, still staring after her Father.
"Dad?" Taylor yells up the stairs as you appear in the entryway of her home, school having gone by largely without incident.
Her loud yell is met with silence, and so, frowning, your Master tentatively climbs the stairs, rounds the banister, and knocks on the door to her father's bedroom.
"Dad?" She repeats, now growing worried, then pauses to listen. Quietly - almost too quietly really - you can hear loud snoring coming through the door. Eyeing the thing warily you pointedly gesture towards the door then become intangible.
Unlike every time in recent history that you have offered to break and enter to get information for your Master, this time she hesitates for just a moment before shaking her head at you with a grimace.
"I'll just ask him what happened when he wakes up." She finally decides, glancing once more at the door with a frown before travelling to her own bedroom, kicking her shoes into a gap that likely leads to the shoe rack downstairs without actually looking at the hole in spacetime.
"Right. So. Weird simulation thing. Ready?" She asks, taking a seat on the edge of her bed. You nod at her, smiling.
"Yep. Might want to lay down though. You'll just fall over if your sitting when we start." You warn carefully. Taylor frowns at you but leans back in her bed to stare at the ceiling. Carefully, you spool up the process that will drop her consciousness into the scenario, only for your Master to clear her through loudly and pointedly at you, causing you to blink owlishly at her.
"We have rules in this house." She states seriously, patting the area of the bed beside her and drawing a snort from you. You're going to miss this.
That thought in mind, you carefully sidle over to the bed and lay down next to your Master, who promptly snakes an arm around you to draw you into a pseudo hug.
"Now, you may begin." She says smugly, closing her eyes. You roll your own in response, and then comply, completing the process you had already started, and blinking once, before finding yourself in an entirely different locale.
"Ah. Not our... greatest... moment..." Ozpin says with a somewhat pained tone to his voice as the pair of you look around, along with a slightly dazed Taylor.
"Yeah..." You agree, unsure how to feel about things. Presently, you are located in Ozpin's office at the top of his tower. That is the only familiar sight to be seen. The walls of the tower have been blasted apart, leaving it open to the air outside, and beyond, you can clearly see dozens of small fires, along with the sporadic yells of people fighting throughout the castle, and the city beneath it.
"What the hell is going on!?" Taylor screeches frantically, obviously confused by the sudden change to the area. In the distance, an honest to god dragon is flying about, laying siege to the city without tremendous blasts of flame. Small dots of black flake away from it as it flys about, and upon closer inspection, it becomes obvious that each one is a small Grimm, the black creatures fully taking shape only as the hit the ground below.
"Strange though. Right now, I would have been, well. I believe I had died by this point." Ozpin notes, glancing down at the city with a grimace.
"I extrapolated. Taylor isn't as useless as you are." You say smugly.
"...Quite," Ozpin mutters neutrally.
"Some warning! Would have been! Nice!" Taylor yells, as she sprints for the edge of the tower and keeps going, rushing across the sky like a comet as she slowly gains speed towards the Grimm Dragon. Blessedly, unlike your usual method of keeping up with your Master at such speeds, which consists largely of 'falling infinitely' until she slows to a stop and catches you, in this simulation, you can simply shift what passes for your Avatar along next to her, seamlessly floating in the sky adjacent to her as she runs, skidding to a stop on the air as the dragon whirls about the meet her - fairly obvious - approach.
Obviously, because your Master's power flares behind her like a cloak, leaving her spidery emanation of pure energy travelling across the sky like it was somehow crawling across the stars themselves. Your sure the sight must be very impressive from below.
"Nemesis!" Your Master yells hurriedly as the thing turns towards her, flicking her sword hand to the side and swinging the blade upward sharply, causing a precise edge of pure spiritual power to flit forth, scouring the point that attaches the dragon to one of it's wings, but not hitting deeply enough to sever the thing.
"Did she actually think that would work?" Ozpin asks curiously.
"It probably would have if she wasn't being mindful of collateral damage." You point out. Typically, your Master could just use a contract card to avoid such concerns, but that obviously wasn't an option against things she actually wanted to kill. Not a lot of prisons designed with 'giant dragon' in mind after all.
"Come the hell on! Why do you guys have Endbringers! This is bullshit!" Taylor complains, quickly leaping to the side to avoid a blast of flame from the beast's maw as it flys through the space she was just occupying. Annoyed, she looks down at the city below, and then at the skys nearby, where a number of airships are quickly evacuating as many people as possible. Scowling, she waves Nemesis at the Dragon, causing it to freeze in place as the air around it suddenly becomes solid. The strain on your Master at doing this to such a large target is obvious. The futility of the task even more so, as cracks begin to form across the night sky while the thing struggles to escape it's binds.
"How the hell does this even happen?" She asks no one in particular, turning to dash towards the nearest airship, where she lands on the deck and immediately begins yelling at people.
"Oi! Who's in charge of these things!" She yells, causing a terrified looking man to emerge from the crowd and salute to her for some reason.
"M- M'am! We're nearly done evacuating everyone!" He reports loudly.
"Get on the radio or whatever the hell it is you people have here and tell everyone to stay away from that side of the city." Taylor instructs, pointing to the area with the fewest visible airships hovering over it, in the direction of the ocean.
"M'am!" The soldier salutes shakily, before running off.
"Headmaster, what are you doing!?" A new voice calls out, causing Taylor to pause in her attempted leap away from the ship to turn towards the voice, which turns out to belong to a short pale girl in an entirely impractical red dress. You smile faintly at the sight of her. It's not the real Ruby Rose, any more than you are the real Oscar Pine. But somehow the sight of her is still comforting in a way you can't quite put into words.
"Handling the problem. Is the rest of your team okay?" Taylor says quickly, glancing towards the Dragon, which has already managed to break free of most of its bindings with a sound like glass shattering.
"Yes. But Pyrrha... she..." The girl says, downcast. Taylor's gaze hardens at the name.
"I'll deal with it. Stay safe." She repeats solemnly before taking off towards the Dragon again.
"Okay! Let's try this again!" She declares, waving her khopesh at the thing in a way that causes it to abruptly slow down. Not in a time dilated sense, but a momentum sense. As if each flap of the great beast's wings is barely enough to keep it aloft.
That task done, Taylor dashes forward, leaping over the biting maw of the beast mouth to land steadily on it's back, and stabbing her sword into its oily hide in order to gain purchase.
"Okay. Magic. Easy." She says under her breath.
"I highly doubt..." Ozpin begins dubiously only to pause when your Master's free hand rises and a tremendous blue collar of energy appears around the beasts next, with a series of heavy blue chains attached to it, leading to your Master's fist.
"You probably don't know me!" She yells grandiosely as she gets a firm grip on those chains with both hands, standing and using her prodigious strength to yank on them hard, forcing the dragon to bank to one side, flailing and thrashing as it tries to free itself of its rider.
"But the man who taught me how to deal with Dragons!" She continues, heedless of the fact that the creature almost certainly can't actually understand her. Through it all, she has been yanking on her adhoc reins, steering the beast towards the ocean while sweating and fighting against it.
"He was kind of a psycho!" She declares ruthlessly just as the beast of Grimm flies over the water. With that, she removes one hand from the chains to stab downward with and empty hand, causing a huge spear of blue energy to skewer the dragons back. And then another, and another. Very quickly, your Master finds herself riding the beast of Grimm deep into the waters of the ocean below, holding her breath driving the thing every further below the waves using an incessant barrage of glowing giant weaponry.
Despite the harrowing nature of the task, the inherent danger in the way she is obviously going about doing it, and the blatantly insane fashion in which she has chosen achieve her goals, you would assume that your Master would be somewhat scared. Or at least... worried. And yet... she is not. She is, if anything, elated by this fight, if not particularly enthused by it's immediate aftermath or causes. You would almost describe the sensation you get from your Master as blissful, if it wasn't so overtly violent.
Suddenly, your Master's question from that morning pops into your mind, her request for you to make more such simulations for her to partake in, and things just click. Your Master is many things, but, in particular, and despite all else, she always takes care to ensure that the people around her don't feel threatened by her. She holds back. She makes a point of not violently overwhelming her opposition with a despair inducing amount of force. She chooses not to be nearly as flashy as she could be.
So naturally, when faced with a situation that she ultimately knows isn't real, with consequences that she knows she will never have to face, she has chosen to... play... for lack of a better word.
Suddenly, your method for moving Ozma seems like it might not have been the best idea you ever had.
You are shocked out of such thoughts by a burst of bubbles from your Master's mouth as she exhales, finally being unable to hold her breath. You... think. She's smiling that slasher smile she picked up from your first Emulation, and might possibly even be laughing while she and a giant dragon mutually drown to death.
Your surroundings begin to darken as your Master continues to laugh, signalling her growing fall into unconsciousness, only to snap back into focus when a pocket of air pulses into being around her.
"Okay. This? I love this. Can we do this again?" She asks the air around her, obviously aware that you are present and watching if not necessarily from where.
"Emmy. Is it possible that Taylor might be a... what is the word..." Ozma says, trailing off thoughtfully.
"Lunatic? Nnnnooooo?" You try - and fail, to say convincingly. Ozma turns to you with a flat stare on his face.
"I was going to say 'Battle Junkie'" he says in a blank monotone.
"Oh. Probably." You answer with a shrug.