Current Energy: 20
Current Training: Left Hand of Reconstruction 5/10 -- This Omake Bonus in SPECIAL thanks to Semantron who did this sick piece of art for all of us that you can see here. Go like him. Do it. Do it for BHG.
Saturday, February 26th, 2011
The Heap, Brockton Bay
You don't go through your usual morning routine, having spent the night and the better part of the early morning just chatting with your Master. Instead, the two of you - plus Nemesis - watch the sunrise through the walls of the Wizard Tower.
"So, what's the plan for today?" You ask your Master as the warm light of the sun passes over you, leaving you feeling content in a way this emulation rarely felt during his adventures. You are sitting at the small table with your Master still. Taylor sits across from you, having consumed significantly more cake than you, with Nemesis held in her lap - like a mother with an unruly child.
"Well, I still have to talk to the news guys outside. I have to figure the PRT has a shortlist for resurrections from the Canberra fight too, so I'll have to see Piggot... again..." Taylor says, shooting you a dirty look at the 'again' part.
"I accept no responsibility for actions of previous emulations," You say bluntly. Taylor squints at you, not immediately responding, and you start to get nervous as the silence stretches on - but you don't show it. Being the strong silent type was one of your current emulations 'things' for a while.
Besides being a serial killer, you mean.
"That's your story and you're sticking to it huh?" She eventually sighs.
"Yes," You say flatly.
"I think it was cool." Nemesis chimes in, tilting her head backward to look up at your Master's face. Taylor, for her part, glances down at her sword spirit with one eyebrow raised.
"Oh? I thought you didn't like Gram," She asks.
"I don't! That's the best part! He left the dumb thing behind! See?" Nemesis says, flailing her arms excitedly and gesturing at you, and your complete lack of a weapon.
"I don't think that's-" Taylor starts to clarify but is cut off by Nemesis's continued ranting.
"No weapon! Just a bunch of weird tattoos! Emmy, tell her! You ditched that hussy right?" Nemesis demands imperiously. You make a single languid blink at her, then open your mouth to respond.
"See! He agrees! It's just like Jess says, happy wife, happy life!" She declares before so much as a single sound can escape you.
Your Master turns to you with a dryly amused look on her face.
"Well, you heard her," she says with a snort of barely restrained laughter.
"...Yes," you respond flatly, before changing the subject. "So, besides that, what else are we doing today?"
Taylor shoots you a pensive look while she effortlessly prevents Nemesis from leaping out of her lap, her eyes trailing down from your face to your arms.
"...What did you say those things could do again?"
"You know boss, I've been thinking, I'm pretty sure I've got a scheduled patrol this morning so I'll have to take a raincheck on this whole media appearance thing." Trainwreck says nervously, sidling towards the exit to his garage while making sure to keep an eye on your Master, who is patiently adjusting her costume, along with Sabah, Oliver, and Jamie.
"We don't even have morning patrols," Oliver points out in annoyance, obviously determined not to be forced out into the limelight alone.
"Yeah it's crazy, just popped up on my schedule at the last minute," Trainwreck hurries to clarify, still eyeing your Master.
"You're the one who writes the schedule!" Oliver cries out in outrage, turning away from where he is lacing up his boots to glare at the tinker.
"Yeah, but what if-" Trainwreck begins to continue to explain himself, only to be cut off by your Master.
"Wreck quit being such a baby. No one else is making a big deal out of this. We fought the Ziz and this is what sets you off?" She asks with a roll of her eyes.
"Fighting is easy though!" He complains, flinging his arms into the air. "Besides they're fucking cheating!"
"He probably turned off his ability to panic or some shit, he's supernatural hot, your supernatural hot, and she's a fucking fashion designer!" Trainwreck gripes.
There is a pregnant pause as the entire group pauses to look at each other before turning back to Trainwreck.
"...he's not wrong." Aspirant finally points out.
"Look, you don't even have to answer any questions okay?" Taylor soothes the larger man, padding over to rap her knuckles on his armored torso, then looks up at him with a cheeky smile. "It's gonna be fine."
Trainwreck looks touched for just a moment before stiffening and turning away.
"A-anyway. Speaking of fine. Where's Mouse been?" He asks, suddenly changing the topic and - noticeably - stopping his sidelong shuffle towards the door.
"I believe she has been spending a majority of her time with Jess and Danny. She apparently finds them-" Parian pauses to glance at Taylor then back down to what she was previously doing, "-amusing."
"Man screw Danny. Dickhead attracts chicks without even trying but won't even do anything with 'em!" Trainwreck grumbles, before blinking and looking down at your Master whose face has gone blank.
"Uh. I mean. You know, he's uh... a busy guy now... with all the... uh..." Trainwreck backpedals.
"It's fine. I'll wait outside." Taylor states neutrally.
"Real smooth, Wreck. Real smooth."
"Go to hell Chuckles, you're just as bad! You're fucking Dojo-" are the last words you hear before following your Master out the door of the Garage, the sounds of the team behind you vanishing the minute the door closes behind you.
You spend a moment trying to find a way to console your Master for a moment, only to be quickly shown that your concern is unnecessary.
"Ew! Why!? He made me think about my Dad having- Ugh!" Taylor whines, stomping her foot in annoyance.
"Is... that all that was bothering you?" You ask curiously, becoming solid next to her.
"Yes! I have better ways to do teenage rebellion than getting mad that he has a girlfriend! That doesn't mean I want to think about it!" She cries out, throwing her arms into the air in distress.
"Like getting a tattoo without telling him?" You ask dryly.
"Yes!" she cries out again, before rolling her shoulders and wandering over to the area of the courtyard that now contains a giant tree. The grounds of the Heap aren't open yet - your Master chose to keep everyone out until she could address the press today, and the Dockworkers working the gates were more than happy to acquiesce, only allowing the locals in to reach the gym or go to their rooms in the castle. As a result, there isn't anyone currently trying to draw Gram from where it sits at the base of the massive tree.
Well, there shouldn't be anyway.
As you approach, you are only partially surprised to find Aisha having somehow snuck in. Dressed in exercise clothes, with her chain sword laying on the ground next to her, she currently has her feet planted on the tree while she attempts to use the extra leverage to yank Gram free from its position in the tree.
"Hey, how'd you get in here?" Taylor calls out to her, causing her to freeze in place, still effectively standing horizontally on the tree with her hands around Grams handle.
"Uh...Emmy let me in?" She tries.
"I did not." You instantly respond, causing her eyes to go wide as her head jerks towards you and her grip on the sword loosens - causing her to fall on her back in front of the tree.
"Holy shit! You've got melanin!" She cries out in surprise before scrambling up and towards you. Before she can reach you, your Master steps in her way.
"Aisha right?" She says disapprovingly.
"Nah you're thinking about my twin sister, I'm Shannel - don't worry that that happens all the time. Actually, if you're looking for Aisha she just went that way and-" Aisha pauses in her backpedaling, now standing next to her sword, and sighs.
"No dice?" She asks hopefully.
"Nope," Taylor responds lightly.
"Emmy? Some help?" She turns to you, her face set in a pout.
"...She... does visit me often," You say carefully.
"That doesn't explain why she was trying to steal Gram," Taylor points out turning towards you slightly.
"Hey! It's not stealing! He said it himself, if I pull it out, it's mine!" Aisha challenges hotly.
"I sincerely doubt you can manage that," Taylor says with some amusement. You wince. You know your Master well, so you know that - despite Gram being set to be claimed by another - she is still weirdly possessive of it. More so, she is mildly possessive of well, you. That's all well and good normally - it's not like she actively stops you from doing things with Aisha - but Aisha herself is more than a little combative. She doesn't take to being dismissed easily.
"Who else? He taught me how to fight, I know all his stories, who the hell else is going to claim it? Everyone else just wants it cus it killed the Ziz. That's bullshit!" Aisha scowls, seemingly temporarily forgetting that she is effectively yelling at one of the people who helped kill said Endbringer.
Your Master takes a moment to consider that for what it is, before snorting.
"He trained you for what, a couple of hours? Are you sure you can even hold that thing up?" She asks eventually, gesturing to the tinker tech sword at Aisha's side.
"Wanna find out?" Aisha says with an expectant look on her face, quickly crouching to grab the handle off the ground.
"Sure. Just not right now. I've got stuff to do today. Go ahead and go back to failing to draw the sword and get in line like everyone else when we open," Your Master says, eyeing the sword and obviously recognizing that it's one of Trainwrecks.
You glance back and forth between your quickly departing Master and your annoyed-looking friend before waving at Aisha and leaving, receiving a smug smirk and a wave in return. It occurs to you, that from a certain point of view, Aisha has effectively just tricked your Master into teaching her how to sword fight, while also securing her continued ability to sneak in and try her hand at drawing Gram whenever she wants.
"...I can't tell if you dislike her or not." You finally say to your Master as you head towards the gate at the front of the property.
"She's your friend. I can't say I care for the way she dresses, but if all she wants is to learn how to be more like Sigurd was I can't argue with that." Taylor points out begrudgingly.
"...thank you. My previous emulation enjoyed training Aisha. He - I was sad that I had to stop," you put forth.
"Yeah well, next time you adopt a street urchin, try and find one a bit more modest. I swear if the ladies at the dojo weren't so aggressively thorough I'd be worried about her coming here dressed like that." Taylor grouses, finally arriving at the front gate of the building and stepping into place at the center of the team.
"Ready?" She asks everyone, getting a chorus of responses in the affirmative.
Then she waves her hand, and the blue glow of lesser magic spreads out before her, creating a raised platform in front of the gathering crowd at the gate that she and the rest of your team quickly step onto. Another wave and the large metal gates are gently pushed open by glowing blue hands that your Master manipulates to ensure no one is struck by the gate as it is opened.
"All right, this is only my second one of these, and I kind of hate them - so let's get this over with," she tells the crowd, before frowning and doing something with her hands that causes her voice to suddenly grow louder, spreading all the way up and down the street.
"Let's get the easy stuff out of the way. Yes, it appears we killed the Simurgh," she calls out calmly.
The reporters surrounding the platform immediately start bombarding her with questions.
"How closely did you work with the Triumvirate to achieve this?"
"Nexus, survivors from Canberra report that you weren't even part of the fighting, how could you have killed the Simurgh?"
"Is it true that you and the Triumvirate had been planning this for months?"
"Do you still have the hand that Trainwreck was photographed with?"
"Is Alexandria your Mom?"
Your Master waits for the flurry to die down, shooting a stink eye at the man who asked that last question.
"I didn't, with overwhelming violence, no, no, and ew - no." She rattles off flatly. There is a pause as the reporters take in that succinct series of answers, and Trainwreck leans in to whisper something to Taylor.
"Boss, aren't you supposed to like... make 'em like you and shit? You know, PR and stuff," He whispers to her, earning himself a shrug and a muttered response.
"I've decided to start treating reporters like cats," She says before explaining when Trainwreck ends up staring dumbly at her. "I'm not going to feed them - they'll just come back."
"I - I don't think that's how that works," Parian says with some exasperation.
"Nexus, is it true that you'll allow anyone who can pull that sword out of its spot there to keep it? The weapon that killed the Simurgh?" A reporter finally jumps in, the first to regain his equilibrium in the face of Taylor's overwhelming and obvious apathy.
"That is correct. I'm told the Triumvirate will be around at some point this week to attempt to draw it." She projects.
"Why not just give someone the sword? If Alexandria had-" A different reporter asks.
"If she's worthy she'll have it," Your Master says with a shrug.
"Are... are you implying she might not be?" Another incredulous reporter asks.
"We'll see, won't we? Speaking of Alexandria - who I'm sure is going to watch this - Wreck's schedule is open all week. You can come to pick him up at any time," She notes, turning to make sure she is peering directly into the nearest camera as she speaks.
"Boss what the fuck!?" Trainwreck hisses at her, doing his best to make his sudden distress invisible to the cameras.
"Well not on the first date I hope," She says, turning to stick her tongue out at the large tinker who ends up staring at her speechlessly.
On the magical stage, before the camera's and therefore the entire world - the rest of your team begins to grumble and exchange handfuls of cash.
Saturday, February 26th, 2011
Downtown, Brockton Bay
"So you decided that calling out Alexandria on live television was a good idea?" Vicky asks your Master incredulously.
"If there's one thing I've learned about normal Capes, it's that they live and die by PR. Alexandria sort of can't afford the PR hit that comes with crossing me here. People were already pretty cross about her whole 'subversion of the federal government' thing," Your Master says, trying to shrug but pausing when your hand snaps up to press her back into the chair she's sitting in.
When your Master had picked up Vicky and asked if she wanted to come with her while she got a tattoo, Vicky had obviously been under the impression that she was going to be getting a 'normal' teenage girl tattoo. A heart or something on her shoulder, maybe the name of her mother or a boy she liked. So while she didn't have any tattoos herself, she was aware of a number of tattoo places downtown.
What she hadn't been expecting was for your Master to ask how much she'd have to pay the guy who owned the place to borrow a needle and a chair.
There had been some obvious confusion when the man had assumed she meant to get a tattoo from him, then more confusion when she had reiterated that she just wanted the chair and the needle, and for him to leave her alone pretty much.
If she were any other cape, you're pretty sure she would have been told to piss off. Well, no, that's a lie, if she were any other Cape the owner of the parlor would have probably charged her an absurd price that she couldn't possibly afford. Being herself, and therefore, the baddest Cape in the city even before one factored in your recent achievements, the guy had pretty much just politely asked that she sit somewhere where people could see her through the front window, uttered a soft prayer, and gotten out of the way.
So now you were standing over your Master with a device you just barely understood well enough to use, hovering over you're Master while she chatted away at Vicky - who was recording the entire thing.
"Careful, calling Alexandria a 'normal cape' kinda makes you sound pretentious as hell," Vicky jokes.
"Hey, there's nothing wrong with normal! I'm just saying, she's the archetypical Cape. You're literally called an Alexandria Package," Your Master points out as you delicately continue your work on her arm.
You don't know if the tattoo is taking because it's part of your power acquisition process, or if Taylor's various forms of enhanced durability are being intentionally lowered for you, but you'll take it.
"So what you're saying is... you're weird," Vicky teases.
"No! I'm a normal girl! I go to school, am uncomfortable that my Dad is dating again and everything!" Taylor whines. It's mostly for show. She's perfectly aware that she's weird. She just doesn't like it.
"Uh Huh. So normal girl, I'm setting up a double date thing for Amy - I know a lot of decent guys if you wanna join in." Vicky says, hovering up to rotate the chair she's sitting in nearby so she can lean forward over its back.
She peers at your Taylor who is halfway between a frown and a blush, then continues when there is no immediate answer.
"I know a lot of decent girls too?" She tries again.
Taylors expression remains roughly the same but she does speak up this time.
"I don't really know if anyone would actually want to date me," she says sheepishly. Victoria shoots her a queer look, as though having heard something particularly heinous.
"Taylor you... you know you're hot right? Like, make me question my preferences if I think about it too hard hot." Vicky says flatly and possibly a little annoyed.
"Which is super useful for the first fifteen seconds of interaction. I don't want to date someone who wouldn't have even looked at me before I got my powers," Taylor responds in annoyance.
"Weren't you like, the least liked person in your school before-" Vicky starts.
"Yes," your Master grates out grumpily in response.
"Well, that seems unfair. Is that on top of the beat you in a fight thing?" Vicky asks with a pout.
"...probably." Taylor finally admits.
"So is dying alone the plan or..?"
"Shut up, I'll find the right uh... person... eventually," she groans.
You idly reach out to press her back down into her seat.