Current Energy: 2
Current Training:
Crystallized Wisdom (9/10) - Complete
Magic Resistance (7/10), This Omake bonus in thanks to DragonGrimoire
Thursday, February 24th, 2011
Hebert Household, Brockton Bay
That morning, you and your Master are sitting in the kitchen while she fiddles with her copy of the Wisdom - a set of wire frame glasses almost identical to her own.
"Why didn't you tell me I could ignore them when they were making my nose bleed every morning?" She asks you with only mild annoyance, testing them by running a thumb along the outside of one lens and flicking them lightly, causing the entire apparatus to change into a single stylized monocle that she frowns at in consideration.
"Why would I? You have to use them to train with them - so teaching you how not to use them would rather defeat the point." You explain yourself, sipping at the cup of coffee before you.
You don't actually need the stimulant - not for assistance waking up, nor for base sustenance - but as with your continued habit of sleeping normally, you find yourself simply accustomed to eating like a normal person. You'd like to blame the Panda for that, obsessed with food as he was, but in truth it was only when you were Oscar that this really became the norm for you. Out of all your Emulations, Oscar was most certainly the closest in nature to a normal boy. He was uncomfortable around girls, enjoyed his free time liberally, and just generally experienced the world through a lens that a legendary figure such as Sigurd simply never could.
"Still would have been nice. I thought I was going to have to walk around with these things in my pocket all the time." Taylor complains, flicking her wrist and producing a pair of coke bottle lenses. Then goggles. Then sunglasses.
"Those can be any kind of facial covering that you have to look through. They don't have to be glasses." You note as she continues the arduous task of trying to find a pair of glasses she likes.
You doubt she is altogether bothered by their appearance. In truth, she is probably much more concerned with the hell Victoria will rain down on her when she discovers the transformative properties of the accessory.
"I'm an outed cape. A mask at this point would just be weird." She counters instantly, sighing and reverting the Wisdom to a form mimicking her normal prescription glasses, and then putting them on. You shrug.
"There are other reasons to wear a mask. I used mine as a gas mask for a time." You defend. Taylor lifts an eyebrow in your direction, then shrugs the comment off, turning to the other people at the table.
"So, any complications I have to deal with?" She asks Mun curiously, the raven haired - and yes, the pun was intentional - girl rabidly scarfing down her meal. While the stack of pancakes in front of her is actually portioned for a girl her size, and she lacks the insatiable hunger of your Master, it is clear that the girl who was once a bird has been missing real food dearly.
The girl in question pauses in her onslaught briefly to look up at the rest of the table, blink once as though having forgot anyone else was present, and then speaks a single word.
"Nope." She says, making a popping noise to accentuate the 'p', and then returning to her meal.
"You're being rude." Mem complains - in so much as a monotone can convey complaint - from the opposite end of the table. Her own breakfast is something of an outlier compared to the houses usual residents, being only a cup of tea and a hashbrown that she is slowly nibbling at.
"Oh- I'm sorry, let me try again." Mun says sarcastically.
"Hey, so actually, I do have some problems. See you made me look like me, but if you could just make me into a super stacked amazon with super strength and also a magical tiara, that'd be greaaaat." Mun states sarcastically.
"...Wow you are literally just Dinah if she was a bitch aren't you?" Taylor asks aloud, heedless of how rude her statement is.
"I prefer blunt. Practical even. If it were me, I would have just walked up to you and asked you to kill Coil for me or something. The cloak and dagger stuff was dumb." Mun grouses.
"Removal of existential threats is the best way to proceed in most cases." Mem adds, though her slight pout in Mun's direction over the perceived rudeness to your Master is adorable. Also concerning, since when you were that young your thought process would have probably included at least some consideration towards murdering the offending person.
You make a note to check in with the Shikigami on the topic later.
"Why did she do that? Not that I would just assassinate a guy because a random twelve year old asked me to." Taylor asks, before hurrying to add.
"I dunno. I - she's dumb. Asks binary questions like chances something will go well, and then just takes them at face value instead of expanding on it or going deeper. If I still had that power-" Mun starts then stops, growling in annoyance. You suppose that it might be difficult to possess memories that encompass what must seem like your entire life, only to be told that those memories aren't your own.
Your Master peers at the younger girl for a second, her expression softening in understanding.
"I'll probably have to get you an identity and everything soon. Same as Mem. So you can go to school and stuff." Taylor interjects, changing the subject.
"I must decline." "Hard pass." Mem and Mun say at once, much to your amusement.
"Your little girls. You're going to school. You're going to make friends. You're going to get lunch bags and trade the snacks you don't like with the other kids, and you're going to like it." Taylor says with a beatific smile on her face that does absolutely nothing to reduce the brutal, ironclad tone in her voice.
Mem and Mun both immediately pale, flinching slightly away from your Master. Then Mem slowly lifts a hand, like a student requesting permission to speak.
"You don't need to do that, I'm not mad." Taylor says, her expression cracking as it returns to a normal, non-demonic smile.
"I will have less time to spend on research?" She asks tentatively.
"That's fine Mem. You don't need to be constantly working." Taylor says fondly.
"But-" Mem begins to resist only to be cut off by Taylor.
"Oz ran a school. You can understand the importance of socializing in your age group, right?" She slyly points out. This, of course, gets Mem to immediately stop arguing - the younger girl being completely incapable of doing anything she envisions Ozma would want. Which... isn't healthy, but also, isn't likely to come up frequently. And in this case, it's an incentive your Master is using to get the girl to behave in a more healthy fashion, instead of working herself to death - so you feel it's appropriate.
"Great job boss. Way to argue for those benefits." Mun says dryly before rolling her neck as though about to go into a prize fight.
"Okay so-" She starts.
"Dinah will be there." Taylor points out flatly.
"...Yeah, okay you win." Mun states, instantly changing her tune.
"Why are you so obsessed with meeting Dinah? Is this an evil clone thing?" Taylor asks suspiciously. Mun just snorts.
"I'm pretty much her sister right? She got to keep our parents and name, so I think I should be allowed to mess with her a little." She grouses.
"Define 'mess with'." You state curiously. The younger girl turns to you as you speak - you aren't very talkative to people besides Aisha and your Master, so she's been largely ignoring you - then blushes furiously and turns away.
"I dunno." She mutters sullenly.
"Sorry? I didn't-"
"I don't know okay!" She snaps at you before returning to eating her breakfast at a much more sedate pace.
The table falls silent at that declaration for a moment, before.you decide to move on to the next order of business. Clearing your throat, you make sure you have everyones attention before proceeding.
"Well. I believe some training is in order. I'll need Mem's help this time." You say with a charming smile. Taylor and Mem both instantly perk up.
"I will do anything I can." Mem agrees instantly. Taylor just watches you intently. Which is good. You doubt she'll be as happy with this particular training after she starts it.
"Great! Taylor, you can feel the energy of your Dragon Core, correct?" You ask, just to be sure everyone is on the same page.
"Hard not to. Feels like my heart is beating twice as loud all the time." She confirms with a nod.
"Well. What I'd like to teach you is an ability called Magic Resistance. It makes it harder for outside forces to affect you. Take your prana - the energy from your core - and circulating it through your body, like blood. When it is moving fast enough, you will find others have a much harder time doing things like... well." You pause, watching as your Master's expression screws up in concentration. Then you turn to Mem.
"You should be passingly familiar with hypnosis. It's a fairly simple application of Magecraft." You ask her, noticing that Taylor is barely paying any attention to you as she struggles to achieve that task you have set.
"Yes." Mem replies diligently, have shifted her posture to that of an eager student.
"While she is doing that, attempt to hypnotize her into doing something foolish." You say mischievously gesturing towards Taylor.
"This isn't that hard. I doubt-" she starts, then stops when Mem quickly turns to make eye contact with her. There is a snap of energy in the air, and then Taylor goes dull eyed and still.
"Pat my head." She commands cutely, before releasing her hold on your Masters mind.
"-she's going to be able to..." Taylor trails off, realizing her body has moved on it's own to begin gently stroking Mem's head before she could even finish speaking.
Taylor frowns. Mem puffs her chest out, pleased at the attention.
Mun, simply laughs.
Thursday, February 24th, 2011
Winslow High School, Brockton Bay
School that day goes about the same way as you've grown accustomed to. You largely spend your time making sure nothing untoward is happening, although admittedly, you find yourself having to do very little as time goes on.
One can only be stopped from physically bullying someone so many times by an invisible man before one realizes it might be unwise. As such, you find yourself with significantly more time to follow your Master around. She jokingly describes your tendency to drift quietly behind her as 'puppy like' which you ignore.
The relaxed and generally dull air in the school is abruptly cut short when your Master takes a single step into one of her afternoon classes - and freezes.
The desks in this classroom are arranged in groups of two. This is not uncommon for the school. What is uncommon, is for any student to have the courage to attempt to sit adjacent to your Master. Even with the Panda Gang existing, an overwhelming majority of the students here are painfully aware of the torment they helped levy on Taylor Hebert before she had the ability to smear them across the nearest hard surface like so much paste.
There was only ever one soul in the building with such a complete lack of a self preservation instinct. And truthfully, he is the last person you would think should test your Master's patience.
Unfortunately, as has become something of a theme with Greg, the blonde boy has managed to comppetely subvert all expectations just by existing.
You wouldn't quite say the air in the room grows heavier with each step your Master takes towards the boy. But you also wouldn't dare insinuate it was a pleasant feeling surrounding her when she finally took a seat next to him, turning her head woodenly with a mix of expressions on her face. Eventually, the tug of war between relief and anger settled into a muted scowl as Greg watched your Master sheepishly.
"You know I can literally hunt you to the ends of the earth if I want to right?" She hisses at him.
"Hot." Greg replies instantly, seemingly by reflex, before blanching and lifting both hands as if to ward off attack.
"I mean uh. Can we talk later maybe? Uh you know. Cus..." He waves his hand at his face, obviously indicating his lack of a mask.
Taylor narrows her eyes at him annoyance, then - with great concentration and focus - traces a rune in the air beneath her desk. When the symbol is completed, the entire classroom goes deathly silent. Except... not. You can still see students moving there mouths and responding to each other. You just can't hear anything. Experimentally, you step slightly away from your Master's desk, and are met with a wall of sound as the effects of her spell fade. Nodding in satisfaction at the effect, you quickly step back in.
"There. They can't hear us." Taylor states flatly, still staring at Greg like she might a live grenade.
"Oh. Uh. Okay so-" Greg starts, rubbing the back of his head and then flinching when Taylor cuts him off with a shrill yell.
"WHAT THE FUCK GREG!" She hollers at him, grabbing him by an ear and tugging sharply on it - something so blatantly out of character for her that despite not being able to hear her, the entire class pauses to stare at.
"Ow! Taylor stop I- Listen I didn't have a choice okay!" Greg complains weakly, swatting at the hand pulling at his ear. For the first time, you notice that his physique is distinctly more refined than it should be. Not obscenely so - Greg isn't walking around as a body builder - but you doubt he's using his own body presently.
"Didn't have a - Greg you know where I live! I own a castle! I have a phone. You literally stopped coming to school and then the next thing I new you were a fucking supervillain! Give me one good reason not to bring you in right now." Taylor growls angrily.
"I just told you! Coil was blackmailing all the Undersiders! None of them want to be villains!" Greg squawks, hands dropping and face turning red as he resigns himself to just weathering the pain.
This statement finally gives your Master pause, and so she slowly releases her grip on Greg, frowning. Carefully, she lifts one hand to adjust her glasses - no, to adjust the Crystallized Wisdom - causing a flash of light to glint across their surface, obscuring her eyes for a moment. Then her frown deepens.
'Well he at least believes that.' She grouses silently to you.
'Is that bad?' You respond in confusion.
'No, but the PRT already has Coil. I don't have anyone to take this anger out on.' She continues to complain grumpily.
"...So you aren't a supervillain?" Taylor asks suspiciously.
"No! I mean, kinda but - we're going straight! Private Contractors! I swear!" He starts, then rushes to clarify at the dour look Taylor sends him. Taylor opens her mouth to respond to that - probably with something acerbic and biting given her mood - but then pauses as she suddenly observes something strange happening outside of her bubble of silence.
Every student in the classroom has abruptly gone still, followed a few seconds later by quickly filing out of the room. Confused, your Master dismisses her silencing spell, only for both her and Greg to freeze in place at the wailing sound of a siren blaring throughout the school, no the entire city.
You honestly have no idea what this means, and are about to say so, when a pale Greg answers your question for you.
"Endbringer." He whispers.