I'll have to take your word for it I'm not to familiar with the Worm universe but if that's the case then I'm all for us trying to prevent that where ever possible I don't like the idea of civilization slowly falling like that. Not without us at least trying to stop the descent wherever possible of course. And it will help that again Arturia and Shirou aren't parahumans they won't have those negative effects on society.
Of course I want to help too, but as I said, with the way Parahuman work, anywhere Arturia isn’t will eventually get back into trouble, power in worm are literal conflict engine pushing their hosts to violence, to the Entity, Humans are computer through which they experiments by given them powers, Shard Influence personality and action to maximize research gain by making them seek conflict, sometime, they can even briefly take overs.
Of course I want to help too, but as I said, with the way Parahuman work, anywhere Arturia isn’t will eventually get back into trouble, power in worm are literal conflict engine pushing their hosts to violence, to the Entity, Humans are computer through which they experiments by given them powers, Shard Influence personality and action to maximize research gain by making them seek conflict, sometime, they can even briefly take overs.
Welp that sucks and just one more reason to destroy the entity maybe as time go's on and we gain an IC understanding of whats happening maybe Shirou can build a device to counter that to some degree. Surely there must be some sort of device from the Silver Millennium that can help and if not Shirou is intelligent enough to possible create such an item from scratch.
Welp that sucks and just one more reason to destroy the entity maybe as time go's on and we gain and IC understanding of whats happening maybe Shirou can build a device to counter that to some degree. Surely there must be some sort of device from the Silver Millennium that can help and if not Shirou is intelligent enough to possible create such an item from scratch.
It’s Grim for a reason
Well, the best way to counter that would be to somehow manage to take the parasites off people (along with the power).
You can’t really dissociate power/conflict engine, since they both come from Shard, which are the cell equivalent to Entities.
Unless the Entity in question is dead of course
It’s Grim for a reason
Well, the best way to counter that would be to somehow manage to take the parasites off people (along with the power).
You can’t really dissociate power/conflict engine, since they both come from Shard, which are the cell equivalent to Entities.
Unless the Entity in question is dead of course
Yes it is grim and I plan to do everything in my power to make it less grim if only for the future family that Shirou and Saber will have but yeah that's a tall mountain for us to climb. With a lot of challenges to overcome but then I wouldn't be here if this was suppose to be easy!
Super powers make things complicated, especially when they come from a terrible day in your life. Think about who is mostly likely to get a trigger event.
Thing is neither Shirou nor Arturia are parahumans. They don't have alien super computers messing with them and if I understand right, they can get stronger.
Arturia is a king, from a time magic was common, she has killed a high level dragon, she has fought powerful foes, trained by merlin a highly skilled (and not human) magic caster, she has taken part in holy grail wars... this will likely be a challenge but she has overcome them.
This Shirou has fought legends come to life, has a decent understanding of his magecraft, has faced magi and dead apostles, appeared in the middle of a demonic invasion and stopped the end of a high level magitech civilisation, he has worked with a magical tinker and contributed. He knows about several mistakes that his world made...
Although there is a thought Shirou knows magic died earlier in this universe so he doesn't know how the absence of a magi in this universe has changed it.
I imagine Saber will work better with politics, diplomacy, organisation, and actually fighting. What I imagine Shirou is better with, tracking, tech development (mostly due to past life seeing stuff, and his time with Mercury), and teaching people to think in creative ways (to help deal with weird powers).
We need to deal with the IRA, the longer they are around the more parahumans will appear due to triggers from their attacks
We also need to prevent organised parahuman crime, it is one thing if there is a single parahuman with a small gang, and another when a major crime family gain a parahuman or a group like the Merchants from worm. The longer this takes the more the ministry can grow.
Finally, we need to deal with A an S rank individual criminals, those who the police can't really deal with and take them down quickly.
If we can do the above, we can achieve internal stability and hopefully build our ministry to the point it will remain so (so getting highly trained normal people [hopefully with good gear as well], and a fair number of heroic parahumans). Then we can work towards general improvement and international support.
We will also need some sort of prison (like the birdcage, this will take a while)... but rehabilitation should be the main goal
Super powers make things complicated, especially when they come from a terrible day in your life. Think about who is mostly likely to get a trigger event.
Thing is neither Shirou nor Arturia are parahumans. They don't have alien super computers messing with them and if I understand right, they can get stronger.
Arturia is a king, from a time magic was common, she has killed a high level dragon, she has fought powerful foes, trained by merlin a highly skilled (and not human) magic caster, she has taken part in holy grail wars... this will likely be a challenge but she has overcome them.
This Shirou has fought legends come to life, has a decent understanding of his magecraft, has faced magi and dead apostles, appeared in the middle of a demonic invasion and stopped the end of a high level magitech civilisation, he has worked with a magical tinker and contributed. He knows about several mistakes that his world made...
Although there is a thought Shirou knows magic died earlier in this universe so he doesn't know how the absence of a magi in this universe has changed it.
I imagine Saber will work better with politics, diplomacy, organisation, and actually fighting. What I imagine Shirou is better with, tracking, tech development (mostly due to past life seeing stuff, and his time with Mercury), and teaching people to think in creative ways (to help deal with weird powers).
We need to deal with the IRA, the longer they are around the more parahumans will appear due to triggers from their attacks
We also need to prevent organised parahuman crime, it is one thing if there is a single parahuman with a small gang, and another when a major crime family gain a parahuman or a group like the Merchants from worm. The longer this takes the more the ministry can grow.
Finally, we need to deal with A an S rank individual criminals, those who the police can't really deal with and take them down quickly.
If we can do the above, we can achieve internal stability and hopefully build our ministry to the point it will remain so (so getting highly trained normal people [hopefully with good gear as well], and a fair number of heroic parahumans). Then we can work towards general improvement and international support.
We will also need some sort of prison (like the birdcage, this will take a while)... but rehabilitation should be the main goal
S class is a short list. From canon, the slaughterhouse nine, ash beast, the three blasphemies, the dreamer, the end bringers (thanks to Eidolon), and Scion.
True only question now is how do we do that? Cause Merlin being Merlin somehow Locked our most powerful ability's away. And the sooner we unlock them and return to full strength the better.
From Merlin’s perspective, the best part of dropping Shirou and Arturia into this particular universe was that he didn’t have to screw with their powers. The nature of metaphysics in this branch of reality did it for him!
That said, I haven’t gotten much writing done this weekend. I’ve had to work overtime again and the damage I took to my shoulders last December (I was involved in a motor vehicle accident) has gotten worse. Think I’m going to have to have surgery before much longer.
That said, I haven’t gotten much writing done this weekend. I’ve had to work overtime again and the damage I took to my shoulders last December (I was involved in a motor vehicle accident) has gotten worse. Think I’m going to have to have surgery before much longer.
Alright, to give y’all an update on what’s been going on: my shoulders aren’t really feeling better, but they aren’t any worse. Had an ultrasound done to help figure out what the issue is.
Had a root canal done. It made my jaw hurt a lot for a week, but now my jaw doesn’t hurt for the first time in six months and I can chew again on the right side of my mouth.
Windows Update borked the boot sector of my computer and I had to get it fixed. I hadn’t been doing my backups, but I didn’t lose any quest information thanks to google drive. This proves once and for all that Google is not totally worthless.
Update is in progress. Hope to have it done for this Sunday. Maybe it will only be two weeks late and not three.
Guys let's do this one step at a time, we can do our best to prevent as many disasters as possible
But not all of them
I have faith that Arturia will keep Britain stable at minimum (more realistically)
I wonder will people see her charisma as a superpower?
And Shiro's cooking?
Or will they just say they're Thinkers?
We're always gonna have more problems to deal with, let's just do our best to roll with the punches
[X] Associate Member. Locks in one action a month. May choose between multiple actions. (1.25)
-[x] With the understanding that Shirou would transition to Joint Commander once he finished dealing with certain issues in his civilian identity.
A Brave New World 17
“Welcome to the Baker Street Irregulars,” Maggie said and smiled at you. “I really do like that name.”
“I’m fond of it myself,” you admitted. “It evokes volunteer spirit and youthful fervor while still implying that a responsible authority is overseeing everything to prevent mischief or excesses of enthusiasm,” you detailed the symbolism behind the name with a smile. You might not like politics, but that didn’t mean that you couldn’t play the PR game at need.
“Personally, I like the nod to the Great Detective. There are far worse images for an organization that will assist with police work to invoke,” Arturia responded.
“Quite true,” Maggie said before switching gears. “Now, I’ll need the rest of the month to push everything through parliament. Even then, the Opposition will be running to the press complaining that due consideration hasn’t been allowed by the rushed schedule. Can you be available for an interview or two, Arturia?”
“Certainly,” your wife responded, “though later in the month would be easier. I committed to working out two weeks’ notice when I accepted the job.”
Maggie seemed stuck somewhere between amusement and incredulity there. She’d learn.
“I have a bit more restrictive agreement on my end. I can spare some time to help out, but it will be at least a month before I’m available full-time, and may be as much as three months.”
Arturia turned and stared, surprised.
“Shirou-” she began, but you interrupted her.
“I’ve had fun working as a chef, but if you think I’m going to miss out on a chance to work side-by-side with you …” you trailed off meaningfully and Saber smiled happily.
Maggie had the expression of a woman trying to piece together sections of a puzzle that had looked like they fit, only to discover a tab out of place when she had tried to slot them together.
“It will be good to have you onboard as well,” Maggie admitted. “If you mean to work together in the position, what do you intend the primary division of duties to be?”
“Well, Arturia is much better with people than me. Paperwork too, for that matter. On the other hand, I communicate well with geeks and I’m good with my hands. As combatants, I’d say I’m actually a little more durable and versatile, but she has the edge on me in most oth-”
ASTtM
Returning to work after taking your unexpected trip to Ireland was a bit surreal. You had a little bit of paperwork to catch up on, but the restaurant was running smoothly, so once you’d caught up with the most important bits, you dropped by HR to speak with the department head. It was easy enough to get a few moments of the man’s time, so you started in on the cover story you and Arturia had come up with for why you needed to depart from your job.
“Hey, sorry to do this to you,” you began, “but I have to put my notice in,” you managed, fighting the urge to look away in embarrassment.
That was why you had a front-row seat to John, the head of the hotel’s Human Resources department turning almost grey.
Before you could draw in a breath to ask if he was okay, the man practically fell forward onto his desk, scrambling to grab your hand..
“No, no, no, please! You can’t leave! You can’t!” he cried, sweat beginning to bead on his forehead. “Not when we’re finally turning things around!”
“Uh,” you began, but he spoke right overtop of you.
“Whatever they’ve offered to pay you, we’ll match it! No, we’ll double it! Please tell me you’ll reconsider!” the overweight man begged pathetically as he clasped your hand in both of his. The poor guy was literally trembling.
“Uh, actually, we need to move. My wife just landed her dream job, so I won’t be able to make the commute here every day,” you corrected his mistaken impression, trying to work your hand free without breaking John’s fingers along with his grip.
“No, no, no, we can make this work. We can still make things work,” he mumbled. There were damp spots growing under his arms; he was sweating so profusely. Was he having a heart attack or just a nervous breakdown? Did you need to call an ambulance? Should you break his fingers if that meant saving his life?
“Can you make it in at least one day a week? Physically make it here?” he demanded, suddenly intent, and you realized you’d been lost in thought long enough for him to collect himself at least a little bit.
“Ugh, well maybe?” you replied and immediately realized it was a mistake, because a ‘maybe’ might as well be a ‘yes’ in context.
“I can not understate how much we need you in this job Mister Emiya,” he told you, eyes level. “For the first time in years we have averaged an occupancy rate of over fifty percent for the last month, and we’ve already got people booking rooms for the end of June and into July when they find out that we’ll make sure they can get access to the restaurant. Your restaurant, Mister Emiya. And your food. We desperately need you to stay on and finish working your magic on the menu. And I know you’ve been up to something training the chefs. We desperately need to modernize, and you’ve put us ahead of the curve with your Classical British and Japanese Fusion Cuisine.
“If we can build momentum, can show that we’re still profitable, we can get the money we need to update the decor and get back on the lips of High Society again. But right now, everything hinges on you and that restaurant. I can hire someone to do the books for you. I can hire more people to do the cooking. I’ll even pay you your full salary just to come in one day a week and teach the rest what they need to know, but we need you to do what no one else can! Please, will you help save us Mister Emiya?”
The last word made you flinch, just a bit, but … Did you really want to turn him down? Could you afford to, when he was offering you a consulting job paying as much for the equivalent of sixteen or so hours a week as you had been making for putting in fifty or more?
“Well John, I-
[ ] - can stay.” (1 AP remains committed to working at the Ritz, effective beginning next month. May be spent on various actions. Keep getting paid 3 dots of income from the Ritz, ???)
[ ] - really am sorry.” (3 AP committed next month for working out your notice, but no further AP needed. Lose revenue from Ritz income, ???)
ASTtM
In the wake of your talk with poor John in HR, you did find yourself helping out in the kitchen more than you had been. Room service orders were through the roof, for reasons now explained to you, and at peak hours your chefs were having trouble keeping up.
Between that and your surprise trip north, you didn’t make much progress on the renovations for the first couple weeks. The good news was that a lot of the demolition work had already been done as part of bringing the electrical up to code. The bad news was that there were specialist tools you needed that you couldn’t simply Trace. In a combination of disgust with yourself for slacking and a need to get ahead of the curve before your wife started giving you the Evil Eye, you did manage to get a list together for the tools you’d need to rent and the precise work needed to get the old plumbing into a better state for habitation.
Monday of the third week of August, you got up early and went out to rent the specialist gear you needed. Then you got to work. The main stack was relocated to be out of the way for your open concept second floor, pipes were soldered, and fixtures were connected. By the time you had to return the rented tools Tuesday night, you were ready to call and schedule the inspection …
You just had to improve your methodology for concealing the sewer access. Unlike the electrical, you didn’t think just shoving something in front of it and ensuring that nothing that needed inspecting was nearby was going to work.
You were still mulling the problem over the next day at work when a routine glance out at the dining room made you freeze mid-step and look back just as you were beginning to look away.
There was a man sitting alone at a table. That, in and of itself, was not entirely unusual. The pen he had stuck in his breast pocket was. Your reflexive scan of it had revealed that it was used to write food reviews.
… There was only one acceptable response to that knowledge.
“Has the gentleman at 3-B ordered yet?” you asked as you stepped into the kitchen proper.
“Uuuh, yeah,” one of the assistants answered. “All three courses. Beef tartare, Langoustines, and the mousse for desert.”
You nodded. Another point of evidence for your assumption; the man knew what he wanted
“Very well, I’ll be handling his meal personally,” that statement drew glances, but even this early your people were all too busy to really comment. It was one less thing for them to have to deal with, after all.
You were glad you’d sorted out the trouble with the restaurant’s suppliers. The taste of round steak melded much more smoothly into the flavor profile you wanted to create for your beef tartare, and it was barely an effort to whip up an order. In only a few minutes, you had the appetizer portioned out on top of the grilled crouton and drizzled on the last of the dressing. While you would have delighted in observing the man’s reaction to your dish, you instead busied yourself in preparing his main course.
Preparing the main dish was as simple as putting the ingredients in their foil pouch to cook, but you wanted no mistakes with the coleslaw.
You selected the pickled cabbage, edamame, and carrots carefully and cut them thin for the base, then moved on to grate the ginger root while toasting the sesame seeds.
As soon as those were done, you turned off the burner and set them aside to rest while you whisked together the sesame oil, vinegar, garlic, ginger, sugar, salt, and pepper. Once the dressing was perfect, you tossed the pickled vegetables together with some freshly chopped scallions, and the sesame seeds with the dressing until it was coated perfectly, then set it aside to cook for a few minutes. The contrast between piping hot seafood,asparagus spears, and chilled coleslaw was an integral part of the experience.
Once the langoustines and asparagus spears were done, you plated them along with the coleslaw and dispatched them to the front. A part of you wished the man had ordered a desert that you could have micromanaged as well, but making quality mousse was not something to be done in the time it took to eat a single course.
That did, however, give you the opportunity to watch the man’s reaction to the middle third of his meal.
It was gratifying to watch a professional react to your playing decisions. Though you didn’t yet have the stark white hardware you would prefer, even 80’s tableware couldn’t ruin the elegant plating of the dish, with the rounded stack of coleslaw balancing the longer hot elements.
The man carefully noted the arrangement before tasting, and right away his eyebrows shot up. His first bite was quickly followed by a second before he visibly forced himself to remain professional. Still, you could see that it was a struggle for him not to attack the portion as enthusiastically as Taiga at her most voracious. Whoever he worked for ought to be leaving the Ritz a rave review.
ASTtM
A few days later, you finally managed to make time for a visit to Jimmy Port, the builder parahuman who seemed fixated on improving his gym equipment.
The question, of course, is how you want to proceed from here. You could move forward with your original plan to commission equipment from him for your home, or you could attempt to convince him to join the not-yet-fully-established Baker Street Irregulars. He certainly seemed to need a consistent source of income.
In the end, you decided to-
[ ] - Commission gym equipment, as originally planned. (Variable cost. Get workout equipment for your home.)
[ ] - Ask him if he’s heard of the Thatcher Initiative and try to convince him to join the Baker Street Irregulars. (No direct cost to you. Unknown odds of success.)
[ ] - Why not both? (Likely improved odds on getting him to sign up. Maybe more cost? Maybe less? Delay on getting your personal equipment?)
HR manager trying not to panic over the Golden Goose wanting to quit: 8d10=1 success. Queue the shenanigans, I guess.
Coming up with anything to keep Shirou from quitting: 9d10=5 successes. Desperation breeds innovation?
Shirou’s resistance to begging and bribery: Charisma+Integrity+Appearance bonus=2 successes. I guess that’s a fast talk success. Noted for weighting purposes.
Random event roll for restaurant: 1d100=97. In the background, Rin Laughs in Tsundere.
How good is Shirou’s cooking today? Dex+Craft(Cooking): 13d10=8 successes. So, yeah, he’s on his game.
A/N: So, this took forever, partly because I simply wasn’t ready for where the dice decided to drag this story yet. I also needed to do a bunch of stuff in the back end to get ready, and really didn’t want to deal with it, so I kept putting it off. Finally got around to dealing with all of that, so I’ll try to go back to weekly updates on this.
Thanks to Seraviel for beta reading, idea bouncing, and making sure I don’t accidentally mess up Worm lore.
Damn given it's 80s UK and the occupancy is up that much I'd feel bad for leaving.
[X] - can stay.” (1 AP remains committed to working at the Ritz, effective beginning next month. May be spent on various actions. Keep getting paid 3 dots of income from the Ritz, ???)
[X] - Commission gym equipment, as originally planned. (Variable cost. Get workout equipment for your home.)
[X] - can stay.” (1 AP remains committed to working at the Ritz, effective beginning next month. May be spent on various actions. Keep getting paid 3 dots of income from the Ritz, ???)
HR use « Please save us » on Shirou Emiya! It’s super effective! Critical hit!
[X] - Why not both? (Likely improved odds on getting him to sign up. Maybe more cost? Maybe less? Delay on getting your personal equipment?)
Really curious about what the Prime minister thought of our interaction.
First two RERs for England were a single digit roll that caused the assassination attempt on the PM, and a 16 which caused the terrorist attack. Since the quest voters decided to go after the attacker, that means getting drawn into government circles, which means Thatcher (no dummy) decides to try to get Shirou and Arturia on her side more officially.
Wasn’t ready for serious mode yet. Was expecting to write a year or two of mostly WAFF.
First two RERs for England were a single digit roll that caused the assassination attempt on the PM, and a 16 which caused the terrorist attack. Since the quest voters decided to go after the attacker, that means getting drawn into government circles, which means Thatcher (no dummy) decides to try to get Shirou and Arturia on her side more officially.
Wasn’t ready for serious mode yet. Was expecting to write a year or two of mostly WAFF.
Ah yes, I was the same, I wanted more waff and fluffiness for both of them, they really deserve a break, but at the same time, they wouldn’t be the characters we love if they shied away when duty call.
I guess the good thing is that we can get a handle on things early on?
I found the scene where she was a bit dumbfounded the two of them had normal job and life a bit funny, I guess she expected them to be ex/present secret service/Military/Police or something.
Ah yes, I was the same, I wanted more waff and fluffiness for both of them, they really deserve a break, but at the same time, they wouldn’t be the characters we love if they shied away when duty call.
I guess the good thing is that we can get a handle on things early on?
I found the scene where she was a bit dumbfounded the two of them had normal job and life a bit funny, I guess she expected them to be ex/present secret service/Military/Police or something.
Not so much surprised that Arturia had a normal job as she was surprised that she intended to work out her two weeks. In a job that she clearly dislikes. When the alternative is jumping right into a job that she’s clearly very interested in.
Saber is stubborn about her integrity, and she gave her word. That’s an asset, but very uncommon in politics.
[X] - can stay.” (1 AP remains committed to working at the Ritz, effective beginning next month. May be spent on various actions. Keep getting paid 3 dots of income from the Ritz, ???)
[X] - Why not both? (Likely improved odds on getting him to sign up. Maybe more cost? Maybe less? Delay on getting your personal equipment?)
So, Shirou will be doing a lot of instructing for his job and ensuring a good replacement
