Current Energy: 4
Current Training: Crystallized Wisdom (7/10) - (9/10)
Side Story - Off The Rails - Activated! (Information on this upgrade can be found in Informational, Under Omake Shop)
Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011
Hebert Household, Brockton Bay
"One." Taylor spits.
"Correct. Next?" You continue to call out sternly, your voice firm but not unkind.
"Two." She fires back, her gaze flicking around the room as you walk around her, changing and taking away variables she was using to determine how many fingers you had out behind your back.
"Correct. Which ones?" You slip in to the monotonous but rewarding training program you've being running through. It isn't particularly complicated, but if nothing else, your Master has devised a list of variables she can accurately use to determine how many fingers you are holding up. That same set of variables should, provided they are interpreted correctly, more or less be just as good for answering your second question.
Should, being the key word.
"...Pointer and... pinky?" Taylor tries lamely, likely falling back on just guessing out of sheer frustration.
"Incorrect. How many fingers now?" You ask cheekily, having already noticed your Master reorienting towards trying to figure out the correct answer.
"What - no go back to the other thing!" She complains loudly.
"The skill isn't as useful if you can't adjust on the fly." You explain.
"This is what you do in your free time? I feel cheated." Mun - short for Munnin, which the former Dinah clone and bird girl finds particularly stupid sounding - grouses from atop the television.
"What did you think I did to get new powers? Go on an epic quest? It's all just training." Taylor replies in annoyance before absently rattling off a number that you nod at, then raise an eyebrow.
"This isn't training! This is a few days of carnival games and then blam! New powers. This sucks!" Mun complains again.
"There is clearly some form of sympathetic transfer of knowledge being completed beneath all of this. I wish I could measure it." Mem adds in. Taylor - as a result of noticing Mem's habit of sneaking out of bed to do research, assuming she even makes it to her bedroom at all - finally put her foot down, and simply forced the Shikigami to come home with her that evening - where she would be unable to reach her Workshop.
She hadn't been particularly enthused by the enforced sleep, but she did look much better than she had the last time you saw her. Which is important, you think.
Now, the Shikigami was clad in a set of dull blue pajamas you once used when last you emulated Oscar. She was sitting perched on the edge of the couch, next to Taylor, while furtively darting hungry looks at the Wisdom. Mun had been much more enthused about things - assuming she was going to get watch you and Taylor fight no doubt - which is how you find yourself here and now. Listening to her bemoan her fate.
"...Middle, index and... thumb?" Taylor offers tentatively. You smile at the small success, before continuing.
"So what, there's some cape stuff going on in the background. Cape does bullshit cape things. News at eleven." Mun complains.
"I do not see why you refuse to acknowledge that magic exists. You have helped me do it. We actively research it." Mem points out.
"Cus Nexus is literally a Trump who makes other Trumps. You can call it whatever you want." Mun says stubbornly.
"...why are you so angry today?" Mem finally asks, genuine annoyance showing through in her tone for the first time.
"I'm a bird. A. Bird. My moods range from being angry I'm a bird to genuinely wanting to try and eat bugs. And you jerks just took my name from me!" She angrily yells at the group. There is silence at that. It's not unreasonable really. Anyone else you could care to name would already count as being extremely patient to have weathered this situation for as long as Mun has. It's all very easy to justify and ignore if you consider her an Evil Clone.
Much less so when that starts to wear thin as an excuse.
Unfortunately, there isn't much to be done about it. You doubt your Master has experience in Human to Bird transformations so-
"Oh. I actually figured out a solution to the bird thing a day or two ago. Did you want-" Taylor says sheepishly, with an expression on her face as though it had completely slipped her mind.
Mun however, interrupts her by quickly flying over, landing on her head, and then craning forward until she is looking Taylor directly in the eyes from barely a few inches away.
"Yes." She intones with the kind of barely restrained fury only possible when someone you are very mad at, also happens to have something you want.
'I don't recall you doing any research on this topic?' You ask your Master curiously as she stands, causing Alter to flutter away to stand rigidly on the table in the center of the room.
'I didn't. Oz just already knows a spell for turning a bird into a human and back again. He can't do it properly anymore but since I can cheat and power it for him...' She trails off apologetically.
'So... you simply... forgot to bring this up?' You ask incredulously.
'It's a really specific spell okay? It's not nearly as useful or interesting as filling a person with elemental magic until they all but breathe the stuff.' Taylor defends herself.
Carefully, Taylor stands up, and her entire posture changes. If you had to describe it, you suppose it's almost as though her body was a puppet, and that an entirely different puppeteer has taken over duties controlling it.
"Now, this won't hurt, but it will feel... odd." Ozma - because that is most certainly not your Master speaking - states placidly, and if the way Mem's eyes have lit up with recognition and joy is anything to go by, she too has noticed that fact.
"Hello Master. I miss you." She says scooting slightly closer to Taylor's body.
"I... missed you too." Ozma answers after a period of bewildered confusion, as though he wasn't expecting anyone to really acknowledge him. Then he clears his throat and inclines his head towards Mun.
"There's some kind of Cape shit going on right now isn't there." The bird interrupts, hopping from foot to foot as though nervous, which might just be the case, all things considered.
"Do not-" Mem instantly snaps, whirling on Mun in an uncharacteristic display of anger at her disrespect towards the old wizard.
"Please, I'm not offended. This young girl has suffered enough, I think." Ozma gently stops her, placing a hand atop her head kindly before seemingly pausing to change tracks. Despite her pleased look at the contact, Mem continues to shoot a glare at Mun until the bird looks away.
"Now then. Fire, please." Ozma says casually, lifting a palm into the air in front of himself as though cupping something breakable in it, and then jerking backwards when conflagration of flame roughly a foot across appears hovering over it.
"...Less fire please." He adds patiently, ignoring Mem who has continued to move in his general direction until she was practically rubbing herself against him like a particularly pleased cat. The orb shrinks... slightly... and he frowns, before his expression smooths out and continues.
"Earth please. Just a smidgen." He asks again, nodding much more pleasantly now at the fist sized ball of dirt that appears next to the fire ball, glowing softly.
"Hm. Adequate. You need to work on your portioning, however. A normal Wizard would have exhausted their stores of flame with this. Yes, I am aware you are not normal. No, that was not an insult." Ozma says, seemingly speaking to thin air. You know he is talking to your Master. Mem knows he is talking to your Master.
Mun however...
"Oh fuck me, she has some kind of split personality bullshit going on doesn't she?" The bird murmurs, hopping backwards on the table as though to flee. Unfortunately this movement really only serves to draw Ozma's attention to her, because he peers at her, clenching his fist in a way that condenses the whirling orbs of pure magical potential hovering his hand into a marble sized orb of light that that he flicks in her direction.
There is a popping sound, a loud squawk, and then suddenly, a naked girl huddled up in the middle of the living room, nearly identical to Dinah save for her raven black hair - which is a scraggly mess.
"How do you feel?" Ozma asks kindly.
Mun - apparently to shocked to move or speak at first - slowly looks down at herself, then back to Ozma. Then she smiles. It isn't a pleasant smile. There is a decidedly malicious tinge to it.
"Great! So great I'm gonna totally forget I saw any of this weird me myself and I shit! So great, I won't even complain that you named both of us Memory-"
"It is both appropriate, accurate, and cute." Mem mutters.
"-heck, I feel like I could even... where the fuck are my powers!?" The preteen screeched suddenly, bolting upright.
"You lacked them as a bird. Why would you possess them now?" Mem points out churlishly.
"Because I'm not a fucking bird!" Mun screeches.
"Ah... well. Not... entirely true." Ozma says carefully. This immediately draws Mun's attention back to him, like a bloodhound on a scent, or a cat spotting a rodent.
"What." She hisses.
"You are a bird that can take human form. That is all I have provided you with." Ozma explains.
"I- but- that-" She splutters.
"You should still be able to do magic with me though." Mem adds.
"It's not- I can't just wave my hands around and make magical bullshit happen!" Mun shouts angrily, demonstrating by waving her hand to the side.
Of course, when the gesture causes a volley of black, featherlike projectiles to lance out from her to embed themselves in the bookcase she is pointing at, she freezes.
"...Alright that was pretty cool." She admits begrudgingly, staring at her hand. Then she grins.
"So when are we going to see Dinah?" She says, the malicious grin returning.
This, of course, is when the phone starts ringing.
Taylor - because Ozma has clearly returned to his position in the rear of her mind - quickly fumbles her phone out and answers it.
"Were you going to tell me about the skyscraper you decided to magic up, or were you waiting for a police escort?" Piggot's dour voice growls out of the receiver.
Your Master instantly blanches.
Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011
Alcott Household, Brockton Bay
After the entire thing with Mun and Mem, your Master's day at school is downright placid.
Since she planned to look into talking to Dinah's parents today, your Master opted not to bring the near perfect duplicate of their daughter with her for this. Arguing with the adults is liable to be hard enough without that particular complication hanging overhead.
It is clear, however, that while she couches the request in terms that seem malicious, that Mun misses her family just as much as one might expect, and so Taylor promises that she will try her best to smooth things out for the next time. Naturally, this is means that it is fairly important to her that the Alcott's come away from the discussion with a positive opinion of her.
Yet more pressure, you suppose.
Regardless, with the hopes of two young girls riding on her shoulders, you and your Master have once more found yourself in the Alcott household, though this time Dinah isn't present.
"Here you go." Mrs.Alcott says in a clipped but polite tone, placing a cup of tea on the table in front of Taylor before retreating to the opposite side to send her a wary glance. Mr.Alcott is also present, and the sizable man presents as much more calm than his wife, although he shares her slightly bedraggled appearance.
"Thanks. So..." Taylor thanks politely, before reaching for the glass and taking a sip at it, clearly trying to find the words to get across what she wants. Presently, all three of them are positioned in the kitchen of the house, Dinah having gone to a friends house for the afternoon. You aren't sure if that was intentionally planned or not. It's impossible to tell with someone capable of seeing the future as Dinah can.
"You want to recruit my daughter." Mr.Alcott says bluntly and gruffly.
"...Well... yeah. But mostly because that seems to be what she wants in the first place." Taylor points out quickly.
"Because she predicts you'll be big and famous someday. She told us." Mrs.Alcott chimes in tiredly, clasping her hands together in front of her and nervously rubbing one thumb back and forth across the other.
"I don't really plan on being famous. I... started my team because I didn't want to be forced to join someone elses. I wanted to get a group of people together who would protect each other, from the gangs and stuff." Taylor admits easily.
"Seems like it's working." Mr.Alcott says, smiling faintly before his expression smooths out again.
"A bit." Taylor says with some pride.
It isn't a secret that Taylor is the strongest Cape in the city. It's a fairly open fact that - should she want to - she could systematically demolish the lives of nearly every other Cape in the city, given a concerted effort. Thus, at least in terms of her primary goal of being left to her own devices - her Oathbound have more than succeeded.
However, there is also the subtle knowledge that Taylor is, for lack of a better word, somewhat laconic as far as capes go. She rarely patrols, or acts much at all. Rather than saying she is the proverbial 'bigger stick', to be feared and defended against, she is much more of a nuclear deterrent. Already the status quo in the city has shifted such that criminals are largely policing themselves, for fear of Nexus becoming active. What few new triggers or cape sightings have occurred have been refreshingly low key as far as Brockton Bay is concerned.
"Look I... know that Dinah says you're important. And strong. And... all of that." Mrs.Alcott eventually says after an awkward silence falls over the room.
"But people don't get famous by doing nothing. And that's what we want. Nothing. We just want our girl to stay out of all of this Cape nonsense. Er, no offense." The father continues seamlessly taking over for his clearly distressed wife.
"Like I said, I don't really plan on doing anything extravagant like that-" Taylor begins carefully.
"You don't have to. Dinah says you'll be big and famous, fine. But I bet if you ask her how you get big and famous, the answer will be bloody." He replies pointedly.
Taylor's mouth opens and closes for a second at that. Because truthfully, the man isn't even really wrong. Knowing your Master will be known worldwide someday as a great hero is one thing. But how that comes to be is very much up for debate. And knowing your kin, as well as looking back at the last few months... you would honestly be lying if you said you believed it would be peacefully.
"We... started with the idea of a Union." Taylor says after a few seconds of thought, her mind clearly whirling with ideas and answers to this dilemma.
"I think it should be possible for Dinah to join the PRT and still be part of my team. She'd work with them, but would have our fully backing for things like negotiation, defense, etc." Taylor finally states contemplatively.
"A Cape... union." Mr.Alcott says somewhat skeptically.
"Unions have dues. And benefits. What exactly would be the cost, and what 'backing' can you actually produce?" Mrs.Alcott says shrewdly.
"Well," Taylor answers licking her lips.
"I have been offering my services as a healer to the PRT - I'm sure you heard of Dauntless and Miss Militia's return to action? In addition, I can offer a fair starting wage that the PRT would have to match or exceed - so that she wouldn't be making minimum wage working for them. An office in my castle, and the ability to call on us if she is ever in danger again. There are other things, and well, I probably need to figure some legal paperwork out but..." Taylor trails off.
The Alcotts look at each other, communicating in that silent way only a long time couple can manage, before turning back to your Master.
"If you can draw up a legal contract union dues should be possible for us..." Mr.Alcott says carefully.
"I'll get it to you as soon as I can." Taylor affirms quickly. Probably too quickly, but really, this isn't actually a business negotiation.
"Just er... one last thing before I go." She adds awkwardly, looking anywhere but at the Alcotts, causing both parents to stiffen suddenly.
"I sort of... have been taking care of a clone of Dinah for a while that misses you?" She blurts out.
'Smooth, Master.' You send to her, even as Mrs.Alcott promptly feints.
'Shut up. There's no good way to have that conversation.' She replies grouchily.