Jul 23, 2017
Dude, long comments here are way better than "Great chapter! Can't wait for the next one!" so thank you with all my heart. Now, let's breakdown and resolve your questions. ;)
*It was mentioned before by Rio in chapter 9 that all of the [Renegades] superpowers a.k.a the [Laws], are constantly active and work immediately when their conditions are fulfilled. In Rio's case, "Reaper's Embrace" did its job as soon as Rio made physical contact (by hand) with that unfortunate passerby even though she was unconscious. Even if she didn't want to, touching her physically will begin the life-drain. Also in chapter 9, Rio did say that the factors on how the life-drain works depend on the love/hate feelings between Rio and the one she's touching. Since she pretty much never met the passerby before, you could say her feelings for him were neutral. I think you can guess why Yakumo is unaffected, but Rio still hasn't figured out everything about this [Law] as of now. After all, they were all discovered through trial and error.
One more thing, Rio also stated that the [Laws] a [Renegade] possesses are based on their overall character which includes their background.
*For Rio ripping her skin off, this ability was displayed as early as the prologue when the guy who revealed the Renegade's existence to the world ripped his skin apart to reveal he had a true form and that his human appearance was like a costume. Later in the same chapter, he displayed the ability to regenerate his human flesh (including every human part with it) back. Of course, it didn't bring back his clothes. Since he can do it, Rio and practically every other Renegade can do the same.
* Rio losing her genitalia was something that only happens in her true form so to answer your question of her possibly becoming a mother, she can't WHILE she's in her true form. The human skin may be treated like a costume, but it still functions just like a normal human does.
*I applaud you good sir for being quite perceptive on how you interpreted that Shockwave at the end. Relevant to the plot? It does answer another question asked by someone else.
*When Renegades take off their human skin to reveal their true forms, let's just say something they couldn't do in costume gets unlocked.
I'm always more than happy to answer questions if you need help understanding something and I definitely appreciate the constructive criticism. Pointing out my flaws alone is good, but I'll admit isn't so fun especially when you spent a lot of time working on this chapter, but I hope my answers to your questions can vanquish most if not all of the issues you have.
Thanks again and next time, we'll return to where chapter 13 ended. ;)
