Just checking, did she know that that discussion was still ongoing? If so, why did she sign the contract before they were done?
I've thought it over more, and the conversation would have happened off-screen while she was reading through her final contract. It would go something like this.
"So, I see they didn't give me a discount on Safe Word."
"Yeah, they decided they weren't going to change the contract to reduce the price. Something about setting a bad precedent. On the other hand, they are still discussing if they should give you any off-the-books compensation for it, since they do see why you might want it."
"Well, that sucks. Still, I want my safe word. Hopefully they'll give me something neat, but if not... I don't really care."
And then she signed the contract.
My problem with the safe word is that they can feel free to revoke it if you 'abuse' it. But there's no definition of 'abuse' in the description.
Use the safe word once, and have it taken off you forever more? I can see an asshole owner doing just that.
The problem here is that the
dictionary definition doesn't define what abuse is in concrete terms. The closest applicable definition is "use (something) to bad effect or for a bad purpose; misuse." Which is expanded with "make excessive and habitual use of (alcohol or drugs, especially illegal ones)."
What is the definition of excessive, habitual, or a 'bad purpose'? By the time you're done defining everything, you'd have half a page of text at minimum for this entry alone, and would then need to go and define every
other ambiguous term. Granted, this is probably something that should be done for actual, real world contracts, but this is a CYOA and I'm not writing up any descriptions that could be considered legally binding.
Frankly, combat training is probably something you can't flash-learn, or rather if you could it'd require a constant regimen of biological editing to fast-forward the muscle memory part of the skill. It's probably better not to open that can of worms at all; after all, she's going to be getting a lot of fitness training during her run along with free combat training with the magical girl job.
Muscle memory is a misnomer. Actual muscle memory is still in the brain. On the other hand, just because you brain knows what you want to do, doesn't mean your muscles are developed correctly to do so effectively. Still, I'll keep stuff like that in mind.
Gotta agree with others here; if that wasn't settled, why did she sign? There wasn't a rush to sign, after all: she still had to get the scientists to okay her for interplanetary travel, work out the magical girl rituals, etc. There were enough complications to string things along for weeks before she had to sign anything; after all, she's determined to travel back in time 13 months after the show is over, what's another few weeks?
There was a pressure to sign sooner than later. If you push off signing, then other people could get annoyed and start trying to apply pressure or get you to sign up for things you don't want. More importantly, it was settled for the moment, just off screen.
As for the complications you mentioned? None of those exist until after she signs the contract. The scientists don't get to prod her to see how things work and if she can leave work until after the contract is signed, making them one of her owners. The magical girl rituals don't get set up until she's signed up to be a magical girl. Whatever preparations are needed for her body mods can't be started until they know what body mods she'll be getting. Nothing happens until after she signed the contract.
"But what about informing the Cutie and the scientists that they were selected?" That was a courtesy thing and Taylor could easily have changed her mind later with no repercussions (other than a sad Cutie and disappointed Scientists).
would really doubt the owners could revoke the safeword; it'd have to be something like the producers, and only if she does it often enough to trigger a ratings slump (which it certainly would after more than a few times; this is after all a porn show), sort of like that "spankings if your ratings flatline" punishment.
Pretty much this. If you're using your safe word to get out of every sexual encounter, they're going to stop you. If you use it because you're on your seventh blowjob in twenty minutes and are about to pass out from lack of oxygen? You're probably fine using it to get a breather if they won't give you one any other way.
Would effective communication be something that can be flash learned? Because that sounds important for what she wants to do.
Possibly, but it would also probably break the story. It's a bit hard to write something you don't know how to do, and I'm not a communications major. If I made the attempt, I'm sure I'd have angry hoards descending upon me because Taylor was suddenly able to social fu her way out of things while not actually acting in a manner that would allow it to work in the real world.
Not only is Taylor being made into a Green Lantern, but Smaug is taking her under his wing for a year. If by the end of that Taylor can't assert herself in a conversation no amount of flash learning is going to help.
I'm not sure why everyone seems to think Taylor is going to be a Green Lantern. She's not.
Also, Smaug Ironwing is explicitly *not* Smaug from the Hobbit.
To be perfectly frank, I'd almost rather "fade to black" for all of Taylor's actual run, especially given the "barely SFW" nature of the story: show her month of prep before going live, then flash forward to her waking up in the hospital bed next to her dad with all sorts of plans on how to derail things, with the occasional retrospective snip to give highlights on stuff that happened during/after her run. Heck, she might have been able to finagle a bit of a sneak peek onto Bet-that-could-be just before the rewind, so there could be elements of a Peggy Sue; those are fun when done right.
