Current Energy: 10
Current Training: Warrior Monk 5/10
Base Status
The Heap - Current Upgrades:
Tinkertech Castle
Friend or Foe Barrier
Friend In Need
Improved Shikigami Network
Wizard Tower
Monday, March 7th, 2011
Hebert Household, Brockton Bay
"The principles of Ishbala-" You pause in the middle of your sentence, really contemplating what you were about to say.
You aren't trying to teach your Master about this emulation's religion. One, because even if the entity known as Ishbala is real - which you find debatable - it most certainly isn't real in this dimension. Thus, explaining what the precepts of that religion are is largely unnecessary to the skill you are trying to impart upon her.
Taylor - who is ever interested in acquiring any skill or ability you could choose to teach her - is sitting eagerly in front of you, head cocked to one side in somewhat childish curiosity as you try to force your taciturn emulation to explain something he hasn't believed in, in a very long time.
"...Meditate." You state bluntly, sinking to your knees in a rigid posture, placing your open palms on your legs in front of you and taking a deep calming breath, even as your mind swims with memories not your own.
This is the first emulation you have had that was so… conflicted about himself. About the world around him. About the results of his actions. If asked in the moment, he could say with absolute certainty that all the evil he perpetrated, the people he killed, the things he did, were a necessity. He would be clear and precise in his declared lack of remorse.
But was that really true? Or was that simply denial that could no longer stand in the face of the things he had-
You pause, eyes snapping open to stare at your Master who has wordlessly moved to follow your commands, sitting peacefully cross legged with Nemesis in her lap.
"Not like that." You grumble.
"Huh?" She grunts in confusion, one eye snapping open to observe you.
"You're meditating with your sword. Probably in that… weird place. Don't do that." You order, unimpressed, before closing your eyes again.
Several seconds go past when a faint light reaches your closed eyelids, causing you to open them again.
In front of you, your Master is sitting cross legged without Nemesis - who is standing off to the side and glaring at you - which is an improvement but…
She is glowing. And floating.
"Not like that either." You say in annoyance, standing and walking over to gently push her back down to the ground.
"...Okay what am I supposed to be doing? Because I actually know several methods of meditation at this point." She points out, clearly only mildly annoyed by the interruptions.
"This… this isn't about magic powers, or collecting your chi, or ruminating on the contents of your magic sword. It's about mastering your own mind. When you can ignore pain, because your strength of will is greater than it, when the only master of your body is your will, only then can a neophyte begin to comprehend the will of Ishbala." You explain easily.
"...So what am I supposed to do while I meditate though?" Taylor asks.
"Nothing. You are supposed to do nothing." You say adamantly, much to Taylors visible horror.
Monday, March 7th, 2011
Winslow Highschool, Brockton Bay
You are doing your usual patrols about the school that day when something interesting happens. As your Master departs for her first class of the morning, a student you don't recognize catches your attention.
This, on its own, would not typically garner your interest. However, a notable fact about this particular student is that he spends several moments tracking your Master with his eyes as she travels the halls. You wouldn't quite call the gaze predatory but it is certainly sharp. Add to that the fact that you are fairly certain your recognize every student in Winslow at this point, and your suspicions only rise.
Thus, you follow him through the school - invisibly, of course - for a time, observing him. Just as a precaution. Strangely, you find yourself feeling as though you recognize this person, but only in those rare few moments in which he speaks. He is almost painfully taciturn however, barely uttering more than a single sentence as he travels to the schools office, obtains a schedule, and then heads towards your Masters homeroom class.
This… instantly puts you on high alert.
"Master, there may be a problem." You finally forward to her. You can't put your finger on why, but it feels as though your Master is being targeted, and you don't like the feeling one bit.
"What is it?" Your Master returns to you instantly, mental voice filled with concern.
"There is a new student here who appears to be unnaturally interested in you. I am trailing him now." You inform her.
"Ugh. I hate to admit the possibility exists but he might have just transferred here to ask me on a date." She says irately before adding; "Stay on top of him - just in case he's a supervillain or something."
The foolish Tinker you caught in front of the Heap comes to mind, and you frown.
You really hope you don't have to get involved but you won't hesitate if it comes to it.
"Alright everyone, we have a new student with us today. Jamie, why don't you introduce yourself." The Teacher of your Masters homeroom class announces kindly to everyone else, all of whom are staring at the student you have been following for the better part of the morning.
Named… Jamie.
Which is quite the coincidence, because you are immediately brought to mind of-
"Hello everyone, my name is Jamie - but I most often go by Aspirant. I have decided to follow my leader's example as an open cape, and I hope to get along with all of you." He explains in a somewhat amused tone as your Master's eyes all but bug out of her head at the brown haired boy who looks nothing like any iteration of Aspirant you have ever seen. Even before he acquired the skill to truly morph his physiology to the degree he does now, he always looked like a roided out adult. You and your Master of course knew he was a teen - but you had never seen him as one.
"Holy shit." Someone in the class whispers.
"Ah- that- detention, Jeremy." The teacher says in a fluster, clearly unsure of how to handle this situation. Aspirant, who is more amused than you have ever seen his typically neutral expression and tone, smiles and nods at the speaker before walking to the nearest empty seat and sitting in it. On his way there, he nods at your Master.
"Taylor, Emmy." He greets both her and you despite not having any idea where you physically are.
Your Master pinkens slightly in embarrassed confusion.
"Jamie what the fuck?" Your Master asks him some time later, at lunch, where she and her teammate are sitting at an isolated table in the rear of the cafeteria. There is a visible bubble of space around the table, a palpable no mans land that no other student is willing to cross today, despite the students usual tendency to bring their problems to Taylor for resolution,
"You told me I had to go to school and talk to my parents." He points out, lifting a thermos of premade tea to his lips and frowning at the quality.
"So you decided to come to my school and out yourself?!" She hisses back.
Jamie takes a moment to ponder the question, before lifting a finger into the air meaningfully.
"Yes." Is his succinct response.
Your Master drops her face into her hands and groans.
"What could possibly make you think this is a good idea?!" She half yells at him.
"You did it." He replies easily.
"And people keep telling me I'm a crazy person! Come on, I can probably figure out how to mind wipe everyone, and Dragon and I are sorta friends so any pho posts-" she begins to plot, tenting her hands in front of herself.
"That feels unnecessary. Here, you haven't taken your lunch out yet." Jamie cuts her off, lifting his bag onto the table and beginning to withdraw several small containers of food. Frankly, it looks less like a lunch and more like he prepared a small buffet as he continues to open and lay out small containers. When he is finished, he places a set of chopsticks in front of your Master, picks up his own, and begins eating quietly.
"…are you trying to bribe me into shutting up?" Taylor asks suspiciously.
"I enjoy cooking. It is more of a science than an art, but it appeals to me regardless." He deflects.
Taylor stares at him in wordless judgement, slowly lifting a piece if something you can't identify to her mouth and chewing slowly.
Then she does a double take and surreptitiously shifts the container closer to herself protectively.
"Also, yes. Is it working?" Jamie asks with a slight smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
"I'll get a cooking emulation some day, and then it's over for you, you realize that, right?" Taylor admits begrudgingly - slowly increasing her food intake exponentially the longer the containers remain open.
"But that day is not, today it would seem." Jamie notes sardonically.
Taylor can only grunt annoyedly in response.
"What's the plan for this afternoon?" You ask your Master curiously, as she steps off the school grounds and casually rips open a gap to the Heap.
This isn't an unusual occurrence. In fact, it has become so common at this point that under normal circumstances, no one would even bother giving the phenomena a second glance.
Today, however, things are slightly different, in that your Master has a second traveller accompanying her home from school.
"Have some Tea, do some wizard stuff. You know - the usual." She answers with a yawn. Your Master isn't likely very tired, but she's almost certainly bored. School - while something she considers a necessity - isn't exactly exceptionally engaging for her compared to everything else going on in her life.
"I, as well, have to return to my normal tasks. It is hard to fit teaching into my schedule now that I have to come here every day." Jamie notes with some derision directed at the school.
"Ah poor Jamie, forced to spend less time around a bunch of fit women who think the world of him. Woe is he." Taylor deadpans.
"It would be highly inappropriate for me to think of them that way." He returns heatedly.
"Sorry, sorry. Just saying." Taylor apologizes before stepping through the gap with you and Jamie hot on her heels.
As you step into the garage, you are immediately met with the clang of metal, as Trainwreck does his part working on what will become Aisha's weapon. As you enter, the large tinker slowly lifts his head from the piece of metal he is closely examining, before turning to observe the three of you.
"Sup Boss, Emmy. Who's the new guy?" He asks blithely.
Jamie sighs.
Monday, March 7th, 2011
The Heap, Brockton Bay
It happens when you are in the kitchen that evening. Your Master - after several hours of magical busy work and enchanting - is sitting down to eat what you can only really describe as an unholy amount of pizza.
She had to order to the front gate, call ahead to the guards, and make sure they allowed the Pizza guy through at this late hour, but by god did she clearly consider it worth it.
Of course, feeling bad about it, she had also then told Kurt to buy everyone living on the grounds dinner on her, to which he had shrugged and ordered more pizza.
You suspect that Fugly Bobs is going to have some competition from Big Rico's Pizza soon - not that it's really any of your concern.
Regardless, it is while scarfing down more pizza than is entirely reasonable, that your Master looks up to find Oliver sheepishly entering the room.
And he's not alone. There is a slight looking girl with him, firmly holding his hand, and staring intently at Taylor, her posture rigid.
"…Madison?" Taylor asks in a perplexed but resigned tone with a glance towards Oliver.
"Yes." She says in a weirdly dull voice that earns her a strange look from Oliver, who proceeds to take over.
"Ah, um. Maddy asked me out on a date and I know you have history so she- we wanted to… talk." Oliver states lamely.
"O…kay…" Taylor says slowly, carefully lowering the slice of pizza in her hand onto her plate.
"So uh… Maddy had something she wanted to say to you." He says, slowly releasing the girls hand and glancing towards her.
She turns to look up at him, and genuine affection passes over her face, before she returns to flat neutrality.
"I'm sorry," She says at first, slowly walking around the table to the sink, keeping her eyes on Taylor the whole time.
"That's- I mean it's not okay but at this point I-" Taylor flusters. You know from long experience that Taylor barely registered Madison as a problem most of the time. She was an annoyance at best compared to the other two.
Which is not to say she likes her.
"I'm sorry for being born, only to hurt you," Madison continues in an eerily calm voice.
"Uh…" Taylor glances at Oliver who seems just as confused as her.
"I'm sorry for failing to understand my place. I'm sorry for breathing your air and living on your earth. This is my apology - a gift from your secret admirer." She says sounding more and more like a prerecorded message the longer she speaks.
"What the fuck?" Taylor blurts out - just in time to witness Madison reach into one of the drawers, draw out the first utensil she lays hands on - and begin repeatedly stabbing herself in the eye with it.
"Fuck!" Taylor yelps in surprise, bolting across the intervening space between them to hold her hands away from her face, then being forced to pin her to the ground with a knee in order to free a hand to jam it in Madisons mouth - to prevent her from grinding her tongue off with her teeth.
Worldless, silent, tears stream down Madison's face from her good eye as she struggles to do anything to injure herself.
"M-Madison!?" Oliver blurts out, finally catching up with the situation, then rushing to help.
"Hand!" Taylor barks at him, yanking his hand down to take over blocking the struggling girl's mouth. Then she leans away and traces a rune across Madison's forehead - instantly knocking her unconscious.
Like a puppet with its strings cut, she goes limp, and your Master breathes a sigh of relief, waving a hand in a burst of light and healing the wounded eye.
"Taylor?" Oliver asks, the single word question so full of heartbreak and sorrow that your Master can't help but wince.
"I didn't do it. I don't know what happened. I'll take her to the hospital and…" she trails off sighing.
"… and I guess I'll see if Amy can find something, or if Piggot has anything she'd like to tell me tomorrow." She finishes, noting how late it is.
"…Alright." Oliver says, clearly struggling not to cry.