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Argue posted:TWI: I'm surprised at how much people cared about Brunkr dying; I think even killing the wagon driver Mr. Termin would have displeased me more than killing Brunkr. Also I'm not wholly convinced it'll stick anyway as the only deaths that have stuck in the past were the Horns, and even then one of them came back. If anything I was worried the author had an aversion to killing off named characters, which I guess is another problem altogether. Honestly, I was surprised by how much I was affected by Brunkr's death. I think part of it is that he is one of the very few character's who have shown actual growth in the story so far. Others include Pawn, Lyonette (although she experienced less "character growth" and more "became an entirely different person"), Toren, arguably Pisces.... and not many beyond that. So offing one of these characters right after he had come to a personal epiphany felt like a particularly large gut check to me. Which I guess is the point. I honestly think I would have cared less if Krshia had been the one killed. One an unrelated note, Practical Guide: So Cat has chosen to keep Akua's soul on a leash and allow it the freedom to interact with her and provide advice on matters of state. No way THAT will come back to bite her. 
Silynt fucked around with this message at 13:50 on Apr 18, 2018 |
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Apr 18, 2018 13:43
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TWI: I don't mind Bru dying - at best I went "meh" about him as a character. I'm more annoyed by how out of place with the tone of the rest of the chapter it is, and how it serves to undercut the tension established throughout. Naming the chapter death, then having your readers wondering if it's Ryo the whole way through, is masterfully done. Then the ending of the chapter manages to feel just 'bleh'. It's not that Bru died, it's the way and reason that felt like letting the air of out a bag slowly. Erin is great - I laugh every time she has the focus because the entire joke from my pov is that usually in these portal fantasy stories the main character is OP as gently caress and goes on to conquer the world etc where here the main character is OP as gently caress and gives zero shits or thoughts to consequences and it comes back to bite her. Her mary sueness is the joke to me. IDK.
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Apr 18, 2018 14:34
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Anias posted:Naming the chapter death quote:Erin is great - I laugh every time she has the focus because the entire joke from my pov is that usually in these portal fantasy stories the main character is OP as gently caress and goes on to conquer the world etc where here the main character is OP as gently caress and gives zero shits or thoughts to consequences and it comes back to bite her. Her mary sueness is the joke to me. IDK.[/spoiler] Yeah actually; for this reason I think it's better to have her the way she's being presented in this volume--as a very OP force of nature that only Ryoka can comprehend. The stakes feel less real every time Erin is the POV because things turn out dandy for her every time, but it's a good source of comedy and/or plot movement if viewed through a third party.
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Apr 18, 2018 14:49
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Ward 6.2 I wonder where Rachel recognizes Chris from, seeing as him being the feather creature seemed to be new news to her when Aisha made that connection. Do we know the tentacle form Aisha mentioned? That's something we don't know the context of, right? Since we've only seen him as Wan Indulgence, Mad Anxiety, and Dark Introspection so far, and none of those have tentacles.
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Apr 18, 2018 16:27
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The tentacle form might have been referring to Mad Anxiety?
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Apr 18, 2018 16:34
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PetraCore posted:Ward 6.2 ward 6.2 You are correct, we don't. She mentions both Mad Anxiety and Dark Intro (bird and crawly skull), which are two of the three forms we've seen. She mentions that Tattletale showed them a tentacle form in a video, and he really freaked out about that. I think Rachel's non-standard reading of people (her shard poo poo) let her connect him to bird form to tentacle form or by normal inference (she knows he was also the spider-skull, and we also know she isn't dumb), and not anything based on having met him before as a person. I'm sure we'll find out more about Chris' forms and why he is so secretive, I think this is just priming us on it some. We get told that the Undersiders have more knowledge about Chris than we do, and with the planned cooperation it is decently likely that some of that will come to light. Especially as he is the only remaining main member who has a huge question mark (everyone still has small ones, but he is almost all mystery).
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Apr 18, 2018 17:12
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Oh you're right I missed that.
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Apr 18, 2018 17:19
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Argue posted:Are there chapter titles I don't know about? All I see are numbers and the occasional letter. I think it's just the way my browser formatted it. I had 4.28 Death. It's definitely inconsistent, usually it's just Number, occasionally it's Number + <secondary viewpoint letter>
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Apr 18, 2018 17:29
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The first word of the body of 4.28 is "Death" so that might be part of it.
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Apr 18, 2018 18:07
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ZypherIM posted:ward 6.2 Chris (Curious_Cephalopod) mentions back in Glow-worm 0.6 that he's being surveilled. Maybe it's connected to his powers, which are pretty weird even by Wildbow's standards, or maybe it has something to do with that person he killed. Could be both, like maybe he's an escaped experiment from Teacher's new Cauldron and he killed someone during the breakout. Whatever the reason, it's probably linked to his personal history in some way. On the topic of Glow-worm. It's worth reading again now that the various players are better established. There's also a nice paired down summery that Wildbow posted if you find the chat room writing style particularly grating.
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Apr 18, 2018 19:11
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Skippy McPants posted:Chris (Curious_Cephalopod) mentions back in Glow-worm 0.6 that he's being surveilled. Maybe it's connected to his powers, which are pretty weird even by Wildbow's standards, or maybe it has something to do with that person he killed. Could be both, like maybe he's an escaped experiment from Teacher's new Cauldron and he killed someone during the breakout. Whatever the reason, it's probably linked to his personal history in some way. However, I don't think you're entirely wrong. When Chris freaks out about the video he says he hates being videotaped without consent and that he gets enough of that from 'a teammate' (aka Kenzie). I was wondering if his extreme response was because he was sick of Kenzie watching him or if it predated her and tied in with a dislike of observation in general, and I tentatively get the feeling this is a pre-existing thing when you combine it with how private Chris is, to the point of him being a massive question mark. Not that there's anything unusual about disliking having been recorded without your knowledge or permission, of course. But Chris' response was pretty startling given how much he tones thing down.
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Apr 18, 2018 19:24
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Crazy theory territory time. Chris has a fierce .. independence .. and dislike of being recorded, etc. We know Teacher has control of Cauldron's facility, remains of Eden, and only recently got some vials from Dealer. Meanwhile all the existing stock was destroyed by Scion. Perhaps Teacher started up the whole "grab people and experiment" plan (plenty of opportunities to nab people after an apocalypse!) and Chris was a victim from this. While Scion damaged Eden's body I don't think it was completely destroyed (and damage/displacement would mess up existing Cauldron data on what samples do what). It'd also explain why Tattletale had a video of him in an unknown form, as one of the things she was doing was trying to stymie Teacher.
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Apr 18, 2018 19:52
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Dude, I just said that! But yeah, something weird is up with Chris' background. Another point, he has way more control and knowledge about his power than you'd think likely considering how varied it is. Even if he triggered really young, it seems like it'd take a long time to map out all the various forms, along with their specific strengths and weaknesses.
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Apr 18, 2018 19:59
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Haha, somehow I completely missed what you posted. Like I read the first part, and then my mind blanked and went "oh he was talking about kenzie in glo-worm" and somehow didn't register anything else. I'm literally laughing out loud right now.
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Apr 18, 2018 20:16
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Bear in mind Chris is also feeling the effects of Dark Introspection right now. That might make him view things in the worst possible light, so his reaction here might be stronger than it otherwise would be. I have to say, as little as we know about him, I'm really fascinated by Chris. He's got the coolest power in the bunch (imo), and I have a soft spot for deadpan snarkers. I look forward to learning about his deal (and being appropriately horrified, I'm sure.)
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Apr 18, 2018 21:51
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My hope is that Chris and rest of the Therapy Crew have crap going on that leads to ever more horrible crises, which is already a pretty high bar considering Rain's situation.
Skippy McPants fucked around with this message at 02:29 on Apr 19, 2018 |
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Apr 19, 2018 02:24
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And hey, while I'm thinking about it, a Twig question. Does anyone know what happened to Dog and Catcher? They were cool dudes, but they dropped out of the story somewhere around the midpoint and never popped up again.
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Apr 19, 2018 03:37
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Skippy McPants posted:And hey, while I'm thinking about it, a Twig question. Does anyone know what happened to Dog and Catcher? They were cool dudes, but they dropped out of the story somewhere around the midpoint and never popped up again. I'm pretty sure they were sighted with Fray in Radham, but by that point her entire group is kind of gone. It may just be that they expired at some point prior to the end, but there's no confirmation about their status, alive or dead.
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Apr 19, 2018 05:27
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Sy spotted them in Radham, but they didn't say anything and he was pretty sure they were hallucinations. They also weren't around when the lambs ran into Warren, Avis, and Wendy. The last time I can recall them showing up was way back in Tynewear.
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Apr 19, 2018 05:41
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They probably died from horrible mega-cancer or something given the care given to experiments and 'undesirables' in the setting. I mean, I hope not, they rocked, but the entire continental United States ended up almost razed by the red plague and the black wood, so prognosis is not great for any character not explicitly stated to be alive at the end. I like to think they lived, though. re: Chris, I'm pretty sure he's been confined, recorded, and experimented on at some point, perhaps for a prolonged period of time, given various context clues. Teacher is a good candidate given Tattletale's specific beef with him, but is it possible he was a Cauldron abductee? They kept non-horrible-mutated people around for prolonged periods to test them and figure out where best to place them, I mean. And his reactions would make sense for someone who had started going through that process but not completed it with the mindwipe at the end, similar to Shamrock.
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Apr 19, 2018 06:55
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PetraCore posted:They probably died from horrible mega-cancer or something given the care given to experiments and 'undesirables' in the setting. Yeah, a few others characters didn't get a proper mention as stuff was wrapping up, but I thought I might have missed something. I'm glad Wendy made it out okay. She was probably my favorite minor character and was so endearing that I worried she'd suffer some horrible fate while doing something kind and selfless.
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Apr 19, 2018 07:10
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This is dumb and not what's going on, but it would entertain me to an incredible extent if Chris's secret turns out to be that he's a dog who had a trigger event, and he's such a massive weirdo because his human form is one of his bizarre changer states. (And then he and Yips become best friends, and he joins the Undersiders.)
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Apr 19, 2018 07:24
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I dunno about a dog, but having one of his changer forms be "human boy" would be awesome.
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Apr 19, 2018 07:29
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Silynt posted:All that said, regarding today's Patreon chapter: HOLY loving poo poo THAT ENDING! This author has a real hard-on for cliffhangers right now, today makes 3 brutal ones in a row. (TWI) Just came out and aw poo poo. I don't care if it's another Mary Sueing, Erin ferreting out Regrika was real satisfying, and also I started getting the sense that Ryoka might actually die. Although with the Necromancer requiring her head I have to wonder if he's going to be bringing her back somehow. I hope everyone else at the inn is going to be okay though but I predict at least one more of the gold-rankers is gonna bite it 
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Apr 21, 2018 15:08
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Ward6.3: Good loving job Kenzie!
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Apr 22, 2018 01:01
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NecroMonster posted:Ward6.3: Good loving job Kenzie! Also more on Chris, “I’m pretty mama’ed up,” Chris said. “I’m dealing but it’s distracting.” “Distracting?” Capricorn asked. He sounded slightly incredulous. “Seeing the surface of everything peeling away to show the shrieking flesh beneath distracts me. Sue me.” That boy ain't right.
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Apr 22, 2018 01:13
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Not specific to today's Ward but, okay, you guys remember how in Worm they had containment foam, and it was the most useful substance in the universe that they should've been constantly using in every possible situation? I know there are probably reasons why it wouldn't work, but it seems like a really good way to take care of the Mathers clan would've been to have Dragon make some of those autonomous (non-sentient) AIs she used in Worm, stick 'em in robots, and have those robots roll through the fallen encampment foaming everything that moves.
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Apr 22, 2018 04:31
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Argue posted:(TWI) Honestly, when she does Magical Innkeeper stuff, I don’t find it Mary Sue. Some of the world class Chess Player and Shakespeare Expert and Great Singer stuff strikes me that way, but this was cool and good.
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Apr 22, 2018 04:38
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Omi no Kami posted:Not specific to today's Ward but, okay, you guys remember how in Worm they had containment foam, and it was the most useful substance in the universe that they should've been constantly using in every possible situation? I know there are probably reasons why it wouldn't work, but it seems like a really good way to take care of the Mathers clan would've been to have Dragon make some of those autonomous (non-sentient) AIs she used in Worm, stick 'em in robots, and have those robots roll through the fallen encampment foaming everything that moves. Dragon isn't part of the Wardens and the containment foam production facilities probably got destroyed during Gold Morning.
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Apr 22, 2018 04:58
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Omi no Kami posted:Not specific to today's Ward but, okay, you guys remember how in Worm they had containment foam, and it was the most useful substance in the universe that they should've been constantly using in every possible situation? I know there are probably reasons why it wouldn't work, but it seems like a really good way to take care of the Mathers clan would've been to have Dragon make some of those autonomous (non-sentient) AIs she used in Worm, stick 'em in robots, and have those robots roll through the fallen encampment foaming everything that moves. Not going to lie, it's really satisfying to see Mama fall so hard for Kenzie's tricks and end up with a gaping head wound and the confirmation that hey, if she's not pulling the strings, the hallucinations end. Eat poo poo, Mama Mathers!
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Apr 22, 2018 05:13
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Omi no Kami posted:Not specific to today's Ward but, okay, you guys remember how in Worm they had containment foam, and it was the most useful substance in the universe that they should've been constantly using in every possible situation? I know there are probably reasons why it wouldn't work, but it seems like a really good way to take care of the Mathers clan would've been to have Dragon make some of those autonomous (non-sentient) AIs she used in Worm, stick 'em in robots, and have those robots roll through the fallen encampment foaming everything that moves. It's probably a good thing if he's forgetting containment foam exists/shoving it in the bin then. It was a substance that was basically magic and invited all sorts of questions like the one above.
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Apr 22, 2018 05:33
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TWI Patreon spoilers: Welp, I guess that's one long-running complaint about the story done and over with! 
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Apr 22, 2018 05:38
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Omi no Kami posted:Not specific to today's Ward but, okay, you guys remember how in Worm they had containment foam, and it was the most useful substance in the universe that they should've been constantly using in every possible situation? I know there are probably reasons why it wouldn't work, but it seems like a really good way to take care of the Mathers clan would've been to have Dragon make some of those autonomous (non-sentient) AIs she used in Worm, stick 'em in robots, and have those robots roll through the fallen encampment foaming everything that moves. Mama causes problems for tinker tech too. If Taylor can talk a drone to a standstill, I can't see allowing one to see actual ghosts ending well.
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Apr 22, 2018 05:39
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Coq au Nandos posted:Mama causes problems for tinker tech too. If Taylor can talk a drone to a standstill, I can't see allowing one to see actual ghosts ending well. Literal ghosts in the machine 
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Apr 22, 2018 05:40
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Chaos341 posted:Dragon isn't part of the Wardens and the containment foam production facilities probably got destroyed during Gold Morning. Dragon and Masamune were with the Guild. Masamune and the Guild are still around (Glow-worm ch 1), so it seems plausible that they could mass-produce it once more assuming Dragon is available, but who would they even give it to?
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Apr 22, 2018 07:11
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I'm continuing to catch up with Ward, and this Spright guy's power is some pretty ridiculous almost-Eidolon/Valkyrie level poo poo. poo poo, stick him in a fight that contains either of those two people (ignoring that the former is dead) and he would instantly be the strongest parahuman, if I'm understanding his power right. His comments about being better at mover stuff might imply that he can only copy the mover-related aspect of powers well, I guess (so far he's only been shown copying stuff related to moving, though I feel like Sveta's power is a kind of indirect mover thing). His interpretation of Victoria's wretch force-field as "hands grasping at stuff" kinda implies that he might be copying a specifically mover-oriented version of powers.
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Apr 22, 2018 09:07
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While we're at it, the Wretch is a shard or whatever it's called of Svetas power, right?
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Apr 22, 2018 10:26
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Nettle Soup posted:While we're at it, the Wretch is a shard or whatever it's called of Svetas power, right? My understanding is that Vicky's invisible forcefield is shaped by her sense of self, not by her actual, physical body. The wretch is basically her forcefield creating a physical manifestation of her severe dysmorphia and associated traumas from the Squid Years. Sveta's power, on the other hand, is just glitched: she's one of Doctor Mother's failed experiments. Since Sveta's powers came from a dead shard (e.g. a bit of Eden that was blenderized and mixed with balancing agent), the same thing that made it freak out and configure itself incorrectly for a human makes it incapable of blossoming or whatever it's called.
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Apr 22, 2018 11:49
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The Shortest Path posted:TWI Patreon spoilers: Welp, I guess that's one long-running complaint about the story done and over with! Where's the damned "punch somebody through the internet" button.
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Apr 22, 2018 12:31
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Nettle Soup posted:While we're at it, the Wretch is a shard or whatever it's called of Svetas power, right? Victoria's forcefield used to just be "skin tight" thing that made her invulnerable and super strong as long as it was up. Spending a few years as a limb-blob confused the shard to some degree so now its shaped like the Wretch. Shards are more or less doing all this stuff for innovative uses of powers, from the shards perspective the idea that Victoria divorced her forcefield from her physical shape was brilliant and now its "helping" her by keeping it in this much more useful shape and taking autonomous action, moving and acting more or less the way Victoria's body did while she was the wretch. If I'm reading things right Victoria's Shard loves basically everything about whats currently happening which is why its perfectly happy to just let her control her new forcefield shape by telling it what to do. Continuing the theme of Powers being weaponized trauma her Shard is letting her leverage years of being the Wretch into a form of short ranged super-powered telekinesis. She can use, it but every time she does she is reminded of her years in the asylum. Because this is worm and nice things don't happen. If you look at how Taylor progressed in using her power you see that she'd try new things and at first they'd require effort and concentration. But as the story progresses those things become autonomous. Using your power in innovative ways can lead to having your power adapting and shorcutting those actions for you. This in turn can give you new avenues to explore for other ways to use your power. As an example: Taylor goes from controlling small swarms of bugs to do things like sting or choke and builds up to swarm clones that can talk. Finally her power autonomously makes impromptu clones for her when she isn't paying active attention to distract and confuse her enemies. I'm expecting seeing similar things happen with Victoria as long as she continues to engage with the Wretch as a separate entity she can control with mental effort or verbal instructions. If the Wretch starts catching projectiles unprompted or guarding her from thing she can't see in some way that'd not suprise me in the least. Similarly she's currently doing things with her aura she never used to do before, selective targeting, short pulses or hammerblows of emotion instead of a always on morale tool. I don't quite know how that's going to change or expand but I betting there is more there for her to do than just this. And that her Shard will be happy to let her expand it, maybe sense with it or communicate more than just her current limited set of emotions. Tzarnal fucked around with this message at 12:50 on Apr 22, 2018 |
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Apr 22, 2018 12:43
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