Blade (UBW!Taylor Worm Quest)

[siflux]

Bet Japan went third world not just cause the the Sinking of the Island and attendant massive geological effects, but from the lost in the economy, death in it' parahuman population, culutural backlash, and the conjoined effects of reduced globalism surging villain population, and the CUI being cunts.

Click to shrink...

Bingo. Remember, Japan and China are traditional enemies. Within a few years, virtually all that was left in japan were poor people. Almost all the capes on both sides who survived Leviathan ended up leaving the country. Japan is still an independent country in a somewhat similar manner to how Hong Kong is, but in reverse -- where Hong Kong is effectively independent but officially owned by China, Japan is officially independent but effectively owned by China.

I'm also declaring that Emperor Akihito was a Cauldron cape and died leading the Sentai against Leviathan at Kyushu. This means that the current emperor is Naruhito, who amusingly enough is highly interested in water policy and water conservation according to Wikipedia.

 

[Jack of Olives]

So, here's my idea for the vote:

[ ] Go to the library and figure out how to get a GED/start working on one
Since this will save us a lot of trouble later-on for our social life.

[ ] Go to the library and do some cape research
We need info about the cape scene other than just 'They're cool, have powers, tend to travel in groups, and they fight/cause crime.'

[ ] Try to meet your new friends at the arcade
Because I want to see us end up befriending/working with Uber and Leet.

Thoughts?

 

[luc-as.]

[Χ] Try to meet your new friends at the arcade

[Χ] Go to the library and figure out how to get a GED/start working on one

[Χ] Find some kind of armor, either real or something that you can make with your power (Plan = go to one of Armsmasters outings and look at him for a bit to try and get his armor which in turn could get us his Halberd as well.)

 

[siflux]

Friday night happened. This post should morph into a story post by two am. Vote won't lock until I start writing in two hours or so.

EDIT: Got a bunch of votes after this, so this isn't morphing. There will be an actual later post instead. Just didn't want to double-post. Counting and then writing votes now, expect a post soon~

 

[Fishyface]

[X] Try to meet your new friends at the arcade
[X] Go to the library and figure out how to get a GED/start working on one
[X] Go to the library and do some cape research

 

[Snake/Eater]

[X] Go to the library and do some cape research

 

[Jack of Olives]

[X] Try to meet your new friends at the arcade
[X] Go to the library and figure out how to get a GED/start working on one
[X] Go to the library and do some cape research

 

[CKirk]

[X] Try to meet your new friends at the arcade
[X] Go to the library and figure out how to get a GED/start working on one
[X] Go to the library and do some cape research

 

[siflux]

You want to save people. You're going to start with yourself. Once you get your GED, you'll never need to deal with The Trio again. While you're at the library, might as well do some research to see exactly what you're up against. After you've had a productive morning, it's back to the arcade to see if you actually have new friends or if it was just a one-time thing. It's a plan!

GED is pretty straightforward. There's an exam you can study for. It isn't a particularly high standard, either. If you put in some time every day, you feel like you could probably handle it in a month or two (roll 1d30 plus the number of times after this that you've spent studying this, need a 30 to pass the test. May only attempt the test once per month).


You consider creating a PHO account, but decide not to quite yet. Mostly, you're just not sure what username you want to use, especially since it'll probably become tagged as a cape account eventually. For that matter, you're not sure what your cape name should be.

There are four major villain factions in Brockton Bay, plus some independents. Most of this you already know, but haven't considered this in the context of your power yet.

The ABB holds the docks. You're not even slightly asian, so they'd attack you on sight whether or not you were there as a cape. The difference is whether they'd try to rape or murder you. Not fun either way. Fighting Lung is a bad idea, at least for now -- there's probably some kind of Tinkertech you could copy that could deal with him, you just don't know what it is. Maybe a sedative or restraint foam in the lungs before he changes too much. Oni Lee is also likely to a be a problem before you grab some more gear, but you could probably copy his grenades if they didn't kill you first.

The Merchants will attack you if you enter their turf unless you join them -- not something you're willing to do. They're druggies and they take sex slaves. Scum who need to be taken down to save others. Skidmark and Mush are useless to you, and Mush is gross. You're fairly certain that you don't have enough prana to copy any of Squealer's vehicle's yet, even if you copied them. Might be worth doing eventually if you can build up your prana capacity over time.

Coil's organization holds territory, but they don't really do much to hurt people. As villains go, you're okay with waiting on dealing with them. He's supposed to have mundane soldiers with some Tinker-made guns, sort of like a nega-PRT. If you spot his soldiers, you can probably copy some gear off of them, but they only appear for defense and during operations, and you don't really want to attack there yet.

Finally (at least among the groups that hold territory), there's the Empire-88. It's the fucking Nazis. On the bright side, you're white, so you'll probably be safe in their territory until you start attacking them, and still safe in civilian guise even after that. You could easily join them, but again, it's the fucking Nazis. Not happening. You can't think of much in the way of useful stuff to copy from them, either. You could grab some giant weaponry from Fenja and Menja, you guess, but they don't have any fun Tinkertoys to clone. Much as you hate to admit it, their territory is pretty safe, at least as long as you're white, and there aren't many non-white people dense enough to still be in their territory after all these decades.

First of the groups that don't hold territory is the Travelers. They're new in town, but again, no fun gear. They're supposed to be mercenary, so nobody needs to be saved from them yet.

Next, the Undersiders. Small-time crooks, no awesome gear. They try to minimize civilian involvement and don't have any fun gear either. Robbed a casino a few nights ago, but they've been lying low since then, and again, minimal civilian involvement. They need to go down eventually, but you can also wait on them.

Finally, there's Uber and Leet. They've done some nasty stuff, like the time they beat a woman to death, but that was a few years back and they haven't anything like that in a while. Apparently that was for a Grand Theft Auto video. Makes sense, but still bad. Leet has all kinds of fun toys that you'd love a chance to copy, but there's no way to tell where they are until they start streaming. If you subscribe and keep an eye out, you should be able to track them down as soon as they next start filming.

For heroes, there's New Wave, the Protectorate and the wards, and the PRT. New Wave as useless to you, but the PRT has restraint foam, which should be incredibly useful. Between the Protectorate and the Wards, there's Armsmaster and Kid Win. Kid Win has those stun guns for ranged, and Armsmaster has some awesome powered armor and that halberd. With those as primary weapons, you could probably take on anything in Brockton Bay shy of Lung and Kaiser. The Protectorate might have an issue with you copying that gear if you don't register as a hero first, though.

You're pretty sure those are all the major players in town. There's a chance you might have forgotten one or two, though.


As it turns out, you DO have real friends again! Daniel and Ted are both at the arcade by the time you get there. Apparently, Tetris has a multiplayer mode where two blocks drop on the same field, with each player controlling one of them. You cycle through with them for a few hours. Daniel's significantly better than Ted at the game, but they're both quite skilled. You spend a lot more time watching than playing despite the fact that you play two rounds out of three.

"Interested in being Internet Famous?" Daniel asks after a while. "Ted and I have a Youtube channel. Video-game themed, of course. You'll get a cut of the ad revenue."

"We're thinking Metroid," Ted adds.

Noticing your confusion, Daniel explains. "Exploration game featuring a girl in powered armor. Normally I'd play the protagonist, but that just doesn't seem right in this case."


Response?:
[ ] Yes! These are your friends, and this is a good chance to copy some powered armor.
[ ] Wait… two guys with Tinkertech and a video game stream? Are you secretly Uber and Leet?
[ ] Not that you don't want to do this, but you don't think you have the time. You need to study for your GED.

What about a cape name and a PHO username?
[ ] Write-in. No urgency, but you won't log in to PHO until you decide on a name.

What to do tonight?
[ ] Gotta save someone. Even if you just fight unpowered people, you can help!
[ ] Sneak out at night to gear up. Gotta get ready so you can save people from capes.
[ ] Sleep. If you stay up all night, you'll be dead on your feet if you go jogging, or you'll have to sleep in and miss it. Either way, you're not ready and can better spend your time sleeping.

 

[CKirk]

[X] Yes! These are your friends, and this is a good chance to copy some powered armor.

[X] Sneak out at night to gear up. Gotta get ready so you can save people from capes.

 

[Snake/Eater]

[X] Yes! These are your friends, and this is a good chance to copy some powered armor.
[X] Prima Materia
[X] Gotta save someone. Even if you just fight unpowered people, you can help!

 

[Larekko12]

That's was fast.

 

[Zege]

Oho, a UBW!Taylor? I am highly interested for a variety of reasons.

Watched carefully.

 

[ryune]

So, question on some things we could try out. Can Taylor project a bade and then enhance it through alteration and save the result? I was thinking about altering some of the blades we have stored to such an extent that they no longer even resemble the original.

 

[siflux]

So, question on some things we could try out. Can Taylor project a bade and then enhance it through alteration and save the result? I was thinking about altering some of the blades we have stored to such an extent that they no longer even resemble the original.

Click to shrink...

Yes, this does work. One example here (a sword being created as an arrow instead).

It's not a good plan to save a prana-reinforced blade, though. Apparently, it's massively more efficient to create a weak item and then reinforce it than to create a powerful item. That said, the higher the item quality, the more you can reinforce it without breaking it.

 

[ryune]

Yes, this does work. One example here (a sword being created as an arrow instead).

It's not a good plan to save a prana-reinforced blade, though. Apparently, it's massively more efficient to create a weak item and then reinforce it than to create a powerful item. That said, the higher the item quality, the more you can reinforce it without breaking it.

Click to shrink...

Ah, I was thinking less using reinforcement and more the use of alteration. Making tiny changes here and there that produce a superior item from what we started with. Effectively changing our blueprint of a dinky little kitchen knife into an actual sword of... middling capability.

 

[siflux]

Ah, I was thinking less using reinforcement and more the use of alteration. Making tiny changes here and there that produce a superior item from what we started with. Effectively changing our blueprint of a dinky little kitchen knife into an actual sword of... middling capability.

Click to shrink...

Yes, that should work... if you know how to build a middling sword. Which you can learn to do by researching how to build a sword or by scanning a bunch of swords. Without a reference pool or experience, that won't work as well.

 

[Jack of Olives]

Huh, that progressed a bit more quickly than I thought it would. Not complaining, though.

[X] Yes! These are your friends, and this is a good chance to copy some powered armor.

This may end badly, but I'm a sucker for stories with Uber & Leet.

[X] Sleep. If you stay up all night, you'll be dead on your feet if you go jogging, or you'll have to sleep in and miss it. Either way, you're not ready and can better spend your time sleeping.

Mostly because I'm worried that Danny will get suspicious or something if we're out/wake up late more than we need to.

 

[siflux]

I'm waiting an extra day for more votes. Targeting next story post Sunday afternoon sometime between 4-10P PDT or so.

 

[ryune]

[X] Yes! These are your friends, and this is a good chance to copy some powered armor.
[X] Prima Materia
[X] Sleep. If you stay up all night, you'll be dead on your feet if you go jogging, or you'll have to sleep in and miss it. Either way, you're not ready and can better spend your time sleeping.

Forgot to actually vote...

 

[Fishyface]

[X] Yes! These are your friends, and this is a good chance to copy some powered armor.
[X] Prima Materia
[X] Sleep. If you stay up all night, you'll be dead on your feet if you go jogging, or you'll have to sleep in and miss it. Either way, you're not ready and can better spend your time sleeping.

 

[siflux]

You've never played a Metroid game, but this sounds interesting, and even if it wasn't, that powered armor is likely to be your first step towards saving others. "I'd love to try," you tell the two.

"Great! We'll be busy tomorrow morning setting things up, but stop by here in the afternoon and everything will be ready to go. It may take a while, so make sure you don't have any other commitments that night," Daniel tells you.


That night, you dream of blood and fire and swords. But also of friends and heroes, of those you will protect. Ever since you became more than just human and stopped going to school, your life has gotten a lot better.

You talk to Dad over breakfast after your morning run. "I met some new friends and they've invited me to hang out. I'll be back late or in the morning."

"Where is it?" Danny asks.

"Downtown. It's safe, and I don't plan on being outside in the middle of the night.

"Alright, just stay safe, kiddo. I worry about you."

"Thanks, Dad. Oh, I've decided to try for an early GED. I can't go back there. Can you help me study over the weekend?"

"I'll clear some time for you. Are you sure you don't want me to try to get you transferred to Arcadia instead? School is still a good chance to socialize with people your age."

"That's actually a pretty good idea. I'll keep studying for the GED until then, in case it doesn't work. You don't need to let it come at the cost of work."

"Nonsense. Not that what I do isn't important, but the most important thing is that it pays to keep you happy and healthy. Since you won't be around this evening anyways, I'll work on it then."

"Thanks, Dad."

You give each other a hug before you head out for the day.


You have a chance to get some stuff done before you become internet famous tonight. You have three time slots, the third of which is pre-emptively locked in for Metroid, as is your night slot. If things wrap up faster than intended, you expect to be so exhausted that you'll easily fall asleep. For those wondering, it's currently Thursday, March 24, 2010. You're about two weeks ahead of the normal Worm timeline.

Pick Two:
[ ] Go to school
[ ] Go to the library and study for your GED
[ ] Go to the library and browse PHO
[ ] Find a weapon for your power (Write in a plan)
[ ] Find some kind of armor, either real or something that you can make with your power (Write in a plan)
[ ] Other (Write In)

 

[CKirk]

[X] Go to the library and figure out how to get a GED/start working on one
[X] Go to the library and do some cape research

 

[Garahs]

[X] Go to the library and figure out how to get a GED/start working on one
[X] Go to the library and browse PHO

 

[Dromeosaur]

[X] Go to the library and figure out how to get a GED/start working on one
[X] Go to the library and browse PHO

 

[Xryuran]

[X] Go to the library and figure out how to get a GED/start working on one
[X] Go to the library and browse PHO

This is kinda interesting. The one problem I Have so far is how short and clipped the scenes are. Hopefully it will get a bit more descriptive as the story progresses.

 

[siflux]

This is kinda interesting. The one problem I Have so far is how short and clipped the scenes are. Hopefully it will get a bit more descriptive as the story progresses.

Click to shrink...

Sorry, that's just my writing style. Unless I have a solid editor to make me fill in the connective tissue, I tend to write like that. If someone who's good at that wants to PM me, I'm more than willing to edit what's already been posted.


Also, apologies to all about the huge delay in posting the next part. I'm currently writing an interlude, then I'll be doing the start of chapter two. At least one of those should be posted tonight. Lesson learned: I'm too exhausted to write after working ten-hour days. Probably still worth it since it means I can take four-day weeks. Still feel bad about the fact that I don't write enough for you guys. At the current rate of replies, it's looking like I should probably be writing stuff every second or third day. I'll do my best and have no regrets!

 

[Xryuran]

Sorry, that's just my writing style. Unless I have a solid editor to make me fill in the connective tissue, I tend to write like that. If someone who's good at that wants to PM me, I'm more than willing to edit what's already been posted.


Also, apologies to all about the huge delay in posting the next part. I'm currently writing an interlude, then I'll be doing the start of chapter two. At least one of those should be posted tonight. Lesson learned: I'm too exhausted to write after working ten-hour days. Probably still worth it since it means I can take four-day weeks. Still feel bad about the fact that I don't write enough for you guys. At the current rate of replies, it's looking like I should probably be writing stuff every second or third day. I'll do my best and have no regrets!

Click to shrink...

I would offer to help but I am stuck on my phone for now. One thing that I found dead that helped when I would write for language arts was to read it back to yourself out loud and fill in any words that you thought in your head but didn't say out loud. It helps separate what you think you wrote with what is on the paper.

 

[siflux]

Reading aloud definitely helps, but I consider my writing style eminently readable. Not very florid, certainly, but what I leave out is stuff that generally doesn't need to be said, either because it's fanworks where a reader is expected to know enough details from the original to fill in the backgrounds and character descriptions, or because the detail just isn't directly relevant to the story.

My thoughts on my style are kinda reflected by something Asimov once said. "I make no effort to write poetically or in a high literary style. I try only to write clearly and I have the very good fortune to think clearly so that the writing comes out as I think, in satisfactory shape."

I am not as good of a writer as Asimov. I wish I was as good of a writer as Asimov. I'm aware that I'll never get there because I'm not really willing to put in the practice to get there. I'm an engineer; creative works (including writing) are just things I do sometimes. Games, fanworks, original fiction, whatever. Most of it will never be seen except by myself and a few friends. If I create stuff that's good enough to share, I'll probably do so.

...I should probably post some of them, but it's not like they're particularly complete. As with many people, I'm good at starting projects, and not so good at bringing them to completion, even when I have a vision of how the final product will look. I posted this quest in part in the hopes that putting this on a public forum would get me to write more for it. Also because I originally started writing this as simple fiction, and kinda cornered myself with what I was writing almost immediately. Biggest change has probably been that everyone here has insisted on leaving Winslow High forever. Which is a fantastic idea, just not one that Taylor would have selected without voices in her head convincing her to do so.

 

[siflux]

Brian answered his ringing cellphone. Lisa. He hadn't heard from her in days.

"Rachel's dead," She said. Nothing more.

"How?"

"Didn't listen. Didn't stay home. Lung baited her with an underground dogfighting ring."

"Dammit!" Brian swore. "I'm out. I can't do this anymore. Even if I wanted to, we don't have enough muscle."

"We do if Alec stops lying about what he can do, or if we pick up another member."

"Wait, what else can he do?" Brian interrupted.

"He's one of Heartbreaker's kids. The twitch thing means he can take full control over people, even if only briefly. About 95% certain he can hold on to that for a lot longer. Basically, long-term puppeting, even of other capes."

"No. He does that, we're all getting a kill order. If he could use his power well enough to survive that, he would have by now. I don't like that he's been hiding his real power, but it's not my problem anymore."

"I bet he could get away with it if he only did it to other villains. Wonder if Lung's immune when he's a dragon."

"YOU KNEW?" He yelled into the phone. "You could have saved Rachel! Everything could have been fine!"

"It wouldn't have worked," The sound of grinding teeth filled a pause. "I know a precog, and we trade favors. Oni Lee was with Lung. Alec would have gotten killed too, and then Lung would be free to finish off Rachel anyway. The fact that Alec could probably control Lung just didn't seem important before this week, and since then there hasn't been a chance," Lisa didn't say anything for a few seconds, and neither did Brian. "I don't like it either. I mean, she wasn't exactly likable and she hated me, but she was loyal and honest and actually did some good in her spare time. When she wasn't robbing places with us, I mean. She probably could have been a hero if she wasn't so abrasive."

"To lost friends," Brian offered.

"To a girl who didn't believe in misdirection and just wanted better treatment for dogs," Lisa agreed.

They took a moment of silence for remembrance. Lisa spoke again next.

"How are you going to get the money to take care of Aisha?" She asked.

"How do you--never mind, of course you know. I hope you understand that my relation to her is a secret. Let anyone know and I'll hunt you down. This is important, Lisa."

"I get it, I get it," She cajoled him. "Actually, her home life is probably a lot like mine was just before I left, and she doesn't exactly have the superpowers to let her do that. If you need some help figuring out how to help her, I'll try to be useful. So, how do you plan on getting enough money for the adoption to go through?"

"I don't know, maybe I'll see if the Protectorate will take me. Not like any of our operations seriously bothered them. Even the casino belonged to the ABB."

"Won't they stop the adoption process if they know you used to be a villain?"

"I'll talk to them about it first, okay? If they don't, I don't know, maybe I'll get a job on the docks or something. If they lie about it, I'll leave the Protectorate afterwards. I just," Brian sighed. "I thought we knew what we were doing. I thought this was safer, was the only way to get enough money fast enough. But the casino job was a good enough haul. If I can keep that and hold a job as myself, that'll probably be enough."

"I might work for Coil next," Lisa offered. "Don't know about Alec, but he'll either leave town or join another team. Probably the former. My guess is he'll try for the Travelers, but they've got something going on where they won't let anyone join them. He couldn't go for two of the three gangs in town even if he wanted to, and he's too sane to be a Nazi. Unfortunately, still too crazy to be a hero."

"So almost every cape in town that I actually get along with is dead, about to skip town, or soon to be an enemy."

"Don't worry, we shouldn't have to fight each other. I'm not planning on committing crime in person when I'll have minions to do it. I was only doing that before because Rachel insisted on it. I've also got personal reasons for wanting to join his group that I don't want to talk about yet. If you do manage to join the Protectorate, can you see about helping me join up eventually? Depending on how Coil does, they might be the best choice to join next."

"Sure, but only if you make sure I make it in the first place. I know you're good enough at this kind of thing to ensure that I get custody of Aisha and get on the team."

"It's a deal. Until next time, Erebus."

"Wait, what?" Brian asked

But it was too late. She had already hung up.