"You know, I never thought it was possible to mess up a sunset on the water," I mused out loud...
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Stand By Me (Worm/JoJo SI)
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Session One: Sitting on the Dock of the Bay
Leingod
Immaculate Blooming Lotus
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"You know, I never thought it was possible to mess up a sunset on the water," I mused out loud, legs hanging over the water as I looked out on the bay. "But then I came to Brockton Bay."
Well, perhaps someone of poetic inclinations could find some beauty in this. Make some cogent connection to the last, fading light of the sun and the rusting, skeletal hulks of the ships that were once the lifeblood of this town, their carcasses now just one more sickness contributing to its slow, painful demise could be made. But Mama didn't raise no poets.
"You are procrastinating," came the reply to my musing, in a voice that was androgynous and a bit stilted, still not quite used to forming words, seeming to sound them out as they were spoken.
"No shit," I replied dismissively. "You know me well enough to know that I know when I'm procrastinating."
"It has never helped you, and this time is no different. You cannot keep living this way. Something must change."
"No. Shit," I reiterated, gritting my teeth. "You think I haven't been telling myself that?"
I drew my knees up and wrapped my arms over them, resting my chin. "… This is some scary shit, you know?" I muttered, looking out over the setting sun. "You know why I never got a driver's license? Because every time my parents put me behind a wheel I was a bundle of nerves. I had anxiety attacks in a fucking empty parking lot. And now I've gotta deal with this!? Whose bright idea-!"
A cool hand rested on my shoulder. "Breathe."
I did. It's a real change when you learn how to really breathe. Energy wells up in you on the inhale, making you feel warm and alive in a way you've never felt before. On the exhale, it doesn't leave, but becomes a part of you, coursing through every bit of you. It's both a vigorous rush and a calm, cool feeling at the same time.
In just a few breaths, I was calm again, my resurgent panic disappearing for now. I wish I was good enough at this to do it constantly, but for now I needed occasional reminders from my new best friend to be mindful of my breathing. It was about the only thing keeping me from a nervous breakdown.
"You need to make your decision," came the reminder.
"I know," I said, taking another calming, empowering breath. "This universe sucks. I end up in a superhero universe, and instead of DC or Marvel I get some stupid grim and gritty 'deconstruction' bullshit that I don't know a thing about!"
There was a twitch from my ever-present companion at that. "You are sure you have no knowledge or memory of this world?"
"You know damn well I don't," I said irritably. "I don't care if you 'feel' like I should know this shithole, I don't, and asking me again isn't going to change that."
"… Yes. My apologies."
"Don't worry about it," I said, waving my hand. "It's just… a government-sponsored, government-led superhero organization? I know this is a real place and not a comic book, but that is always bad news in superhero universes. If it's not a government conspiracy flat-out, it's secretly being puppeteered by someone else's conspiracy."
"But as you said, this is a real place, not a comic book."
"Yeah, I know, but it's just… bad vibes, you know?" I asked, rubbing the back of my neck. "Human beings have instincts for good reason, and it's a bad idea to just ignore them. Especially what with… that."
"You mean the [prophecy] you received?"
"… Yeah, that. We need a different name for it; I hate all that Nostradamus crap," I said, rubbing my temple wearily. [Hamon], also known as the Ripple, was part of the package I'd gotten from whatever the hell had sent me here. One of its less-utilized powers was divination; as soon as I got over my initial freak-out, one of my first attempts to figure out what had happened was to desperately try to figure out how to use it. And it worked!
Except that, just like in the series, it worked in the form of cryptic bullsh*t whose meaning doesn't become fully clear until it's already happened. So, all I got was the gist, and the gist was that some bad shit was going to go down unless I did something that would stop it, and I had no idea what that was or where to start.
Clearly, this metric ton of responsibility did wonderful things to a guy who can barely handle a pound of it. Without the combined boons of calming Ripple Breathing and an endlessly patient ear… Yeah.
Anyway, the divination of my Ripple could tell me why the hell I was here, but it didn't really give me much guidance on how to do anything about it.
But then my Stand explained its powers to me, and I got a great idea. Eventually.
[Stand by Me]. A Stand whose native form was powerless, with the exception of an utterly broken power that I'd have rolled my eyes at hard as bargain-bin creativity if I'd read it in a fanfiction: the power to become other Stands, powers and all.
Obviously, my immediate reaction was Gold Experience Requiem, whereupon I was helpfully informed by my Stand that attempting to manifest a Stand that powerful would cause a very short yet painful death for me. Turned out, Stand by Me has some very hard limits built into it.
Manifesting a Stand would be draining for me in proportion to its strength, and that drain wasn't physical, so healing powers or Stands wouldn't help. Even a Stand that was more modest but straightforwardly powerful, like Magician's Red, was too much for me to handle right now. According to Stand by Me, that would change as I "grew," whatever that meant, but for now, it was low-power utility Stands or nothing. At least the cost of manifesting a certain Stand decreased as I used it more. Therefore…
I shook my head to clear it. I was stalling again; letting my mind go off in tangents to keep from putting off taking action. I wasn't going to count out the idea of joining up with the local super team, but first I was going to try the idea my Stand and I had had this morning.
I picked up the clear plastic water bottle I'd set aside. It was half empty, and some of it had started to evaporate in the fading sunlight before recondensing on the edges. Floating in the water was a small leaf.
"So, you will entrust the future to [fate], then?" my Stand asked. There was no judgment in its voice, or any emotion, really.
"Well, at the risk of sounding like a heretical priest, 'gravity' is a powerful force," I said with a wry smile. I may hate fortune-telling in general, but when something works, it works.
"And it absolves you of responsibility in your own mind, should this decision later prove a poor one," my oh-so-tactful partner observed.
"Don't you have better things to do than point out my coping mechanisms?" I asked irritably. Trust me, I've catalogued my many failings and foibles extensively.
"Of course," replied a featureless, sexless mannequin-like figure that floated in the air to my other side.
[Stand by Me – Hermit Purple]!
The featureless mannequin dissolved into thousands of tiny motes of light, which started flashing purple before fading into my body. With a thought, a few creeping tendrils of purple, thorny vines started to poke out of my wrists.
A very useful and versatile Stand with low parameters? What else was I going to start with other than the Stand of the undisputed master of being more threatening than he had any right to be? If the author hadn't wanted to keep Joseph Joestar from stealing his grandson's thunder, he probably would have won half the fights in Part III single-handedly with this thing.
[Hermit Purple] could summon these vines and manipulate them to use as a tool or weapon, sure, but that was a side note compared to its true power: divination. It could give you a view of distant people, places, and even let you hear thoughts. The only problem was that you need to know what the hell you're looking for, which I sure as hell didn't.
On the other hand, the divination of Hamon didn't need any kind of specific person or destination in mind, just a question or goal or something, but on the other hand it was cryptic and didn't give much direct guidance. But Hermit Purple could be used seamlessly with Hamon for offensive or defensive purpose… why not divinatory ones, too?
"[Someone who can help me save the world]" was too vague for Hermit Purple, and too specific for Hamon, but both at the same time? As I channeled Ripple Energy through the vines of Hermit Purple as they wrapped around the bottle, the leaf began to stir until, like a compass, it stopped and pointed steadily in a given direction.
"Oh my God, it worked!" I exclaimed with a grin, quickly walking in the indicated direction, the bottle of water held steady in front of me.
Though I made sure to keep the two divinatory powers active and focused on my goal, I started thinking aloud again as I walked. "I wonder if I should change the name from 'Hermit Purple'? I was never a big fan of the color-plus-tarot card names… But what to pick? [Deep Purple] is just a slight change, and it's nice and short. But [Through the Grapevine] is really appropriate to the appearance and powers…"
Well, perhaps someone of poetic inclinations could find some beauty in this. Make some cogent connection to the last, fading light of the sun and the rusting, skeletal hulks of the ships that were once the lifeblood of this town, their carcasses now just one more sickness contributing to its slow, painful demise could be made. But Mama didn't raise no poets.
"You are procrastinating," came the reply to my musing, in a voice that was androgynous and a bit stilted, still not quite used to forming words, seeming to sound them out as they were spoken.
"No shit," I replied dismissively. "You know me well enough to know that I know when I'm procrastinating."
"It has never helped you, and this time is no different. You cannot keep living this way. Something must change."
"No. Shit," I reiterated, gritting my teeth. "You think I haven't been telling myself that?"
I drew my knees up and wrapped my arms over them, resting my chin. "… This is some scary shit, you know?" I muttered, looking out over the setting sun. "You know why I never got a driver's license? Because every time my parents put me behind a wheel I was a bundle of nerves. I had anxiety attacks in a fucking empty parking lot. And now I've gotta deal with this!? Whose bright idea-!"
A cool hand rested on my shoulder. "Breathe."
I did. It's a real change when you learn how to really breathe. Energy wells up in you on the inhale, making you feel warm and alive in a way you've never felt before. On the exhale, it doesn't leave, but becomes a part of you, coursing through every bit of you. It's both a vigorous rush and a calm, cool feeling at the same time.
In just a few breaths, I was calm again, my resurgent panic disappearing for now. I wish I was good enough at this to do it constantly, but for now I needed occasional reminders from my new best friend to be mindful of my breathing. It was about the only thing keeping me from a nervous breakdown.
"You need to make your decision," came the reminder.
"I know," I said, taking another calming, empowering breath. "This universe sucks. I end up in a superhero universe, and instead of DC or Marvel I get some stupid grim and gritty 'deconstruction' bullshit that I don't know a thing about!"
There was a twitch from my ever-present companion at that. "You are sure you have no knowledge or memory of this world?"
"You know damn well I don't," I said irritably. "I don't care if you 'feel' like I should know this shithole, I don't, and asking me again isn't going to change that."
"… Yes. My apologies."
"Don't worry about it," I said, waving my hand. "It's just… a government-sponsored, government-led superhero organization? I know this is a real place and not a comic book, but that is always bad news in superhero universes. If it's not a government conspiracy flat-out, it's secretly being puppeteered by someone else's conspiracy."
"But as you said, this is a real place, not a comic book."
"Yeah, I know, but it's just… bad vibes, you know?" I asked, rubbing the back of my neck. "Human beings have instincts for good reason, and it's a bad idea to just ignore them. Especially what with… that."
"You mean the [prophecy] you received?"
"… Yeah, that. We need a different name for it; I hate all that Nostradamus crap," I said, rubbing my temple wearily. [Hamon], also known as the Ripple, was part of the package I'd gotten from whatever the hell had sent me here. One of its less-utilized powers was divination; as soon as I got over my initial freak-out, one of my first attempts to figure out what had happened was to desperately try to figure out how to use it. And it worked!
Except that, just like in the series, it worked in the form of cryptic bullsh*t whose meaning doesn't become fully clear until it's already happened. So, all I got was the gist, and the gist was that some bad shit was going to go down unless I did something that would stop it, and I had no idea what that was or where to start.
Clearly, this metric ton of responsibility did wonderful things to a guy who can barely handle a pound of it. Without the combined boons of calming Ripple Breathing and an endlessly patient ear… Yeah.
Anyway, the divination of my Ripple could tell me why the hell I was here, but it didn't really give me much guidance on how to do anything about it.
But then my Stand explained its powers to me, and I got a great idea. Eventually.
[Stand by Me]. A Stand whose native form was powerless, with the exception of an utterly broken power that I'd have rolled my eyes at hard as bargain-bin creativity if I'd read it in a fanfiction: the power to become other Stands, powers and all.
Obviously, my immediate reaction was Gold Experience Requiem, whereupon I was helpfully informed by my Stand that attempting to manifest a Stand that powerful would cause a very short yet painful death for me. Turned out, Stand by Me has some very hard limits built into it.
Manifesting a Stand would be draining for me in proportion to its strength, and that drain wasn't physical, so healing powers or Stands wouldn't help. Even a Stand that was more modest but straightforwardly powerful, like Magician's Red, was too much for me to handle right now. According to Stand by Me, that would change as I "grew," whatever that meant, but for now, it was low-power utility Stands or nothing. At least the cost of manifesting a certain Stand decreased as I used it more. Therefore…
I shook my head to clear it. I was stalling again; letting my mind go off in tangents to keep from putting off taking action. I wasn't going to count out the idea of joining up with the local super team, but first I was going to try the idea my Stand and I had had this morning.
I picked up the clear plastic water bottle I'd set aside. It was half empty, and some of it had started to evaporate in the fading sunlight before recondensing on the edges. Floating in the water was a small leaf.
"So, you will entrust the future to [fate], then?" my Stand asked. There was no judgment in its voice, or any emotion, really.
"Well, at the risk of sounding like a heretical priest, 'gravity' is a powerful force," I said with a wry smile. I may hate fortune-telling in general, but when something works, it works.
"And it absolves you of responsibility in your own mind, should this decision later prove a poor one," my oh-so-tactful partner observed.
"Don't you have better things to do than point out my coping mechanisms?" I asked irritably. Trust me, I've catalogued my many failings and foibles extensively.
"Of course," replied a featureless, sexless mannequin-like figure that floated in the air to my other side.
[Stand by Me – Hermit Purple]!
The featureless mannequin dissolved into thousands of tiny motes of light, which started flashing purple before fading into my body. With a thought, a few creeping tendrils of purple, thorny vines started to poke out of my wrists.
A very useful and versatile Stand with low parameters? What else was I going to start with other than the Stand of the undisputed master of being more threatening than he had any right to be? If the author hadn't wanted to keep Joseph Joestar from stealing his grandson's thunder, he probably would have won half the fights in Part III single-handedly with this thing.
[Hermit Purple] could summon these vines and manipulate them to use as a tool or weapon, sure, but that was a side note compared to its true power: divination. It could give you a view of distant people, places, and even let you hear thoughts. The only problem was that you need to know what the hell you're looking for, which I sure as hell didn't.
On the other hand, the divination of Hamon didn't need any kind of specific person or destination in mind, just a question or goal or something, but on the other hand it was cryptic and didn't give much direct guidance. But Hermit Purple could be used seamlessly with Hamon for offensive or defensive purpose… why not divinatory ones, too?
"[Someone who can help me save the world]" was too vague for Hermit Purple, and too specific for Hamon, but both at the same time? As I channeled Ripple Energy through the vines of Hermit Purple as they wrapped around the bottle, the leaf began to stir until, like a compass, it stopped and pointed steadily in a given direction.
"Oh my God, it worked!" I exclaimed with a grin, quickly walking in the indicated direction, the bottle of water held steady in front of me.
Though I made sure to keep the two divinatory powers active and focused on my goal, I started thinking aloud again as I walked. "I wonder if I should change the name from 'Hermit Purple'? I was never a big fan of the color-plus-tarot card names… But what to pick? [Deep Purple] is just a slight change, and it's nice and short. But [Through the Grapevine] is really appropriate to the appearance and powers…"
Last edited:
Snarky_Hastur
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SI stories are always good for a bit, and its nice to see Hamon being used. While it was a generic anime fighting power, It was kind of disappointing that it was just phased out and not used in any way after Stands. It grants Longevity and youth through proper breathing for petes sake, how is it not something popping up more!
Any way you chose a good name for your stand, here ya go.
Any way you chose a good name for your stand, here ya go.
Leingod
Immaculate Blooming Lotus
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Because Hamon + Stands would have added too many dimensions to the fights for even Araki to handle, especially with his schedule for working.
And thanks. I was going to go with [The Stand], but the sequel to The 7th Stand User has a Stand already that's kind of similar in concept.
BTW, that question as to whether to stick to the tarot names, and what to call them otherwise, is totally intended as an open question. Feel free to give your own two cents!
Snarky_Hastur
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All right, in my opinion the song title naming system for stands is better, especially since you started with one named by a song. I just never like the tarot naming scheme.
moon so bright
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I love the concept, and look forward to where you take this! I like Jojo crossovers, mostly because of all the hamminess.
GiftofLove
A Gift From The Heart
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Name's are important. Stand names seem to just come to their users and they all hold a lot of meaning. Hermit Purple is no different. The hermit card is one of awareness and spiritual attainment. It fits Joseph's stand pretty well.
Names represent identity, and trying to change that should, in my opinion, make a different stand manifest. One who's name is actually Deep Purple, or Through the Grapevine.
Leingod
Immaculate Blooming Lotus
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The Stands manifested from Stand by Me aren't ACTUALLY those Stands, though. They're still just Stand by Me, so what they're called doesn't actually matter.
Besides, that wasn't the case until like Part 5 or 6; Jotaro and Josuke both had no name for their Stand until someone else named it for them.
Ty2bp
Know what you're doing yet?
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Leingod
Immaculate Blooming Lotus
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Both of them factor into it, and it's more a case-by-case basis than something I've got a hard definition for. In general, a Stand that can win a fight against the average cape without any clever application or leverage is out by default, at least at the start, and it's sort of weighted against direct combat in general.
Prince Charon
Just zis guy, you know?
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I have no problem with the tarot naming scheme, but I do agree that since he started with a song-title name, he might as well continue with it. Mind you, given what he said in post #8, it doesn't really matter that much.
Leingod
Immaculate Blooming Lotus
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Incidentally, the classifications and parameters for Stands really don't make sense in a lot of ways, or are effectively useless. For example, even though Hermit Purple's vines aren't especially durable, it's got a Durability of "A," presumably because Joseph can't be harmed by harming the vines. But The Fool doesn't harm Iggy if it's destroyed, either, and yet despite being nearly impossible to actually destroy, it's Durability is only rated at "C." So if I bother to list the stats of Stand by Me's forms, they're probably going to differ from the ones presented canonically.
throwaway_8282
Getting sticky.
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Eh dunno you gave him an overpowered ability but he cant fully use it at the start. Imo that's even more terrible then power manipulation.
worm fic where the mc's power slowly becomes more powerful are almost always trash.
If he isnt at 100% power from the very start everything is kinda pointless .
You could have introduced his power fully and focus on something else, but now every interaction with a future obstacle will lead the same way more or less ---->can't do it------->number crunching ----->pass the obstcle at a latter time.
Now you'll need atleast 30k words to get into the meat or the story(depends how fast you write but by average that it would be around 5 months, interest will wane from both the reader and author. You might say "But from the perspective of a reader from te future it will look just like a Book!. Yeahhhh it would if you don't abandon it by then. ).
What's even the point of the cyoa if you are weak at the start . Literally 95% of Si/cyoa discarding fandom suffer from this phenomenon.
Sigh Wish i can go back to the times when i didn't evn read Si stories or automatically closed the tab. It's pretty discouraging seeing to what extent you can go when you are starved for fiction.
You don't really need to make character balanced to make a compelling story ya know?
worm fic where the mc's power slowly becomes more powerful are almost always trash.
If he isnt at 100% power from the very start everything is kinda pointless .
You could have introduced his power fully and focus on something else, but now every interaction with a future obstacle will lead the same way more or less ---->can't do it------->number crunching ----->pass the obstcle at a latter time.
Now you'll need atleast 30k words to get into the meat or the story(depends how fast you write but by average that it would be around 5 months, interest will wane from both the reader and author. You might say "But from the perspective of a reader from te future it will look just like a Book!. Yeahhhh it would if you don't abandon it by then. ).
What's even the point of the cyoa if you are weak at the start . Literally 95% of Si/cyoa discarding fandom suffer from this phenomenon.
Sigh Wish i can go back to the times when i didn't evn read Si stories or automatically closed the tab. It's pretty discouraging seeing to what extent you can go when you are starved for fiction.
You don't really need to make character balanced to make a compelling story ya know?
Leingod
Immaculate Blooming Lotus
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I'm not really familiar with any of those, so I can't comment. Though pretty much any "kind" of fic is at least 90% trash by default.
That seems like a silly argument. It's like arguing that all of Worm was pointless except for the part where Taylor was Khepri, or at least the parts where her mastery over her powers and her resources were both at their peak.
Again, not familiar with this particular subset of Worm fanfic tropes, so can't comment. But from my experience with Gamer fics/quests, 99% of the time that's because the MC has meta-knowledge on top of their power, so there's always a lot of exposition about and focus on the MC trying or planning to leverage that meta-knowledge by gaming his power to tailor it to that. In this fic, the user of Stand by Me is suspiciously lacking in meta-knowledge, as I took care to point out, so that's not going to happen.
You're making a lot of baseless assumptions on what I consider the "meat" of the story to be.
Good thing I didn't use a CYOA, huh? Also, "weak?" Yeah right. The very first Stand that's been used by Stand by Me is one that can find and track just about any specific person or object the user knows enough to ask after and display it in just about any form you care to name, and can even read their thoughts if they're close enough to be touched by the vines. And that's on top of the Ripple, which the vines can also channel.
I didn't make these limitations to make the SI weak, I did it so there could even be conflict other than the purely social/intellectual, which would remove the whole point of incorporating elements from JJBA, a series which is all about using really clever applications for powers in super-fights. Those limitations are there to give the SI a sensible reason not to just spam time-stopping/time-erasing/universe-piercing powers at all times in every fight, which is what any sensible person would do if they had full access to every Stand.
And I wish people could give constructive criticism without feeling the need for passive-aggressive comments like that. It seems neither of us can have what we want.
Telling that to a Superman fan is a little redundant. See the above point: I want there to be actual physical conflict in the vein of JJBA fights, but the nature of Worm's setting makes that kind of story hard to tell without providing an option for later escalation. Overpowered shenanigans straight out the gate can indeed be fun and well-done, but only if: a.) it's played for laughs, b.) the conflict is all social/intellectual rather than in terms of actual combat, or c.) it's short enough that a big setting-wide curb-stomping doesn't drag on and become tedious.
Besides which, that's like saying that you can turn the basic premise of Twilight into a good story. Sure, you can, but the idea itself is of basically no interest to me in terms of writing it, and the effort required to do so wouldn't be worth it to me. Other people have done it, and I've read and enjoyed their work in doing so, but I don't particularly care to write it myself.
Oniele
Not too sore, are you?
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Don't worry! I like it and what the other people say is mostly nerd rage! A nerf is a good way to deal with a lack of conflict!
throwaway_8282
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Neither we nor the protagonist knew the full extent of her powers or what they might become. It's a bit different then your case in which the Mc know from the very start how his powers operate and the full scope.
That actually kinda false from what i;ve read. He knew where he was , the situation of the universe he was, the social norms revolving around the axes of interest in this universe, and even the parahuman illuminati level conspiracy.
INdeed its a bit early to judge.
Still that's chump change to his overall abilities he could theoretically posses. Still feels hamfisted to me atleast. Some might even enjoy it. to each their own.
fair enough.
Well i repeat its your story. You can write what you want. I'm merely stating the reasons which could prevent someone from enjoying what you write. Good luck with your writing
Cap'nSmurfy
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You're not though. You're stating your points in a really infuriating and judgemental manner. I mean lines like this:
This doesn't help anyone and it takes away from whatever points you're trying to make.
Leingod
Immaculate Blooming Lotus
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Thanks, but I'd rather not dismiss someone's critique out of hand, and I definitely don't want to make an atmosphere where people feel like they'll be attacked if they criticize the 'fic. There are valid points in there, so I'd prefer to address them than write them off.
Case in point, that's a point. I don't really see it as being a big deal, personally, since it's a creative choice in storytelling, and people are going to have their own opinions on every kind of creative choice an author makes. Some people like it, some people don't, it's not really a mark for or against quality IMO, just a matter of taste and what you look for.
No, he knew the name of the city he was in, that he was in a universe where superpowers exist, that the PRT is an organization that is overseen and led by the government, and that just about everything he's ever read in superhero fiction means that usually isn't a good thing and what's happened to him is already straight out of a comic book, so he doesn't want to just jump into their arms. And that said, he's not entirely convinced it's a bad idea, and the right person making the pitch to him could still see him joining up.
People treat Worm like this huge deconstruction of superhero stories or whatever, but it emphatically isn't. It's just a superhero story that contrives ways to explain the tropes and cliches that are the underpinnings of the genre, and then shovels a few handful of grit and sand in there to make it seem more realistic and less contrived than it actually is. A lot of the developments, setting and reveals are pretty stock superhero stuff, just dressed up in a way that leads you to not realize that until it happens. Occasionally, the SI will correctly guess certain things because of that. But sometimes, he'll be way off the mark.
And this is after he's had a non-specific number of days to figure this out, as I suppose I should have made clearer in the narration. Those days were glossed over because it was mostly just him freaking out, recovering from said freakout, learning the basics of what his new powers were, and working to get himself situated and find out what the hell was going on.
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Lady Vanatos
Cancer of Society
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Awesome Stand name. Glad to see the tradition of naming Stands after songs be honored.
Leingod
Immaculate Blooming Lotus
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I mean, there are so many good musical references that are just a quick Google search away, it seems weird to do anything else.
Canon hasn't even touched Blue Öyster Cult, yet, for one, and that gives you a whole slew of names like "Fire of Unknown Origin" or "Cultösaurus Erectus."
Leingod
Immaculate Blooming Lotus
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I really figured this exchange alone would be enough to make clear that something happened to the SI's metaknowledge of Worm:
TMTMTM
Directed by Dick Wolf
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Well shit, this has a LOT of potential with this setup. Also, I wonder what kinda fuckery the SI could unleash with『Made In Heaven』 when he gets to that level, or hell, even weaker gimmick stands like 『Cinderella』. Also, just a question: Can 『Stand By Me』 copy autonomous stands like 『Anubis』 or 『Cheap Trick』?
On an unrelated note those brackets are really fun to use.
On an unrelated note those brackets are really fun to use.
dnkru135
Getting out there.
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I'm wondering if the SI got Spin along with the ⌈Stand⌋ and Hamon due to the SI stating that he got more powers in the package
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Leingod
Immaculate Blooming Lotus
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Thanks!
Probably. It would probably be a bad idea, though, since most of those Stands have pretty awful, hostile personalities.
True.
He was referring to stuff like a strange natural inclination toward fabulous posing, actually. Basically in the future whenever he's talking to someone or just hanging out, at some point his body is going to just naturally rest in positions like this:
IsaacTheAutobot1229
Not too sore, are you?
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Oh yes, I will be putting this in my watched list. Prepare yourself Brockton Bay, for someone is going to take a {Stand]!
Leingod
Immaculate Blooming Lotus
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Jeez, at this rate my Stand is going to become [Under Pressure]. I really don't think it's as promising as you're finding it, but thanks!
Session Two: The Insect Trust
Leingod
Immaculate Blooming Lotus
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Sweat was beading on my forehead and keeping up my breathing was becoming a bit difficult as I walked through the poorly-maintained streets of Brockton Bay, holding the water bottle in front of me and following the leaf floating in the water.
"Yeesh, doing this is harder than I thought it'd be," I muttered to myself, careful not to lose my breathing. No wonder Joseph didn't use Hermit Purple and the Ripple in tandem much until he was fighting a vampire, this shit was exhausting. Or maybe it was just because I still wasn't used to doing this?
Either way, the real problem was that I had no idea how long this would take. I hadn't been at this very long, and for all I knew my destination was clear across town.
"… Or not," I muttered aloud as the makeshift compass started moving. With a few experimental movements, I realized it was pointing toward a particular house. A rather narrow two-story affair that had definitely seen better days; at least one of the steps on the small wooden staircase to the front porch looked rotted through, and in all it had a definite air of age and neglect.
Still, the compass was definitely pointing to a room on the second floor with a light on. A bedroom, most likely, given that it was night…
"Wait, shit, what am I even supposed to do now!?" I realized, swearing under my breath. I couldn't just knock on the front door and say, 'Why hello there, I'm here to save the world and my magic prophecy powers tell me you can help'!
"… And now I'm standing around in front of someone's home at night, staring up at their bedroom like a fucking stalker while talking to myself," I muttered, pinching the bridge of my nose. "I think I'm done here."
Taking one last glance at the house number and the street, I walked away, shaking my head as I dismissed… Deep Purple? Through the Grapevine?
"Maybe I could name the Stand itself Deep Purple and name the power Through the Grapevine?" I mused aloud. "What do you think?"
Stand By Me took a moment to reply, looking around for any approaching threats as we walked the dark streets of New England's answer to Detroit. "I think that you are embarrassed that you finally found the resolve to take decisive action only to realize that you had no plan for what to do once you reached your destination."
"Well, would it really kill you to play along instead of pointing out why I'm doing stuff just once?" I asked, throwing up my hands. "I know what I'm doing and why, alright? I don't need you pointing it out."
"You know, but do not do anything with that knowledge. You ignore it by focusing on minutia like changing the name of your Stands, and go on to repeat the same mistakes."
"I don't remember anyone else's Stand trying to play therapist," I grumbled.
"Every Stand is unique. But if you desire a Stand that merely floats beside you silently without offering feedback or opinions, you need only use my power to transform me into another. It is only your desire for someone to talk to that leads you to leave me in this nigh-powerless form."
"You know what? Fine, I could use a bit more cash anyway," I said irritably.
[Stand By Me – Harvest]!
Once again, my Stand's mannequin-like form exploded into a shower of lights like stars. Rather than disappearing into my body, though, they started expanding, their light dimming and disappearing as they each took on the same shape: ovoid bipeds with four arms and a vaguely bee-like look to them. Once all the lights had disappeared, there were exactly 500 of them in all, each about the size of my palm, all looking up at me expectantly.
"The ten closest to me stay with me and stand guard," I ordered. "The rest of you, look for coins and coupons. And don't let people see you!"
"Hee-hee!" the Harvest units cried out as one as they took off running in every direction at a speed that would put Olympic sprinters to shame. They'd all back in about 3-4 hours, each with a coin or coupon stuck into the pocket on their head for me. Not counting the coupons, each trip would usually net me anywhere between $50 and $100 in random coinage; luckily, there were a few stores around here that had those machines where you dumped in a bunch of coins to get bills, so I didn't have to try to shop with a jar full of pennies.
And hey, most of those coins were in grates or under vending machines or whatever, so technically I was just putting it back in circulation and helping the local economy. And even in a shithole like Brockton Bay, most people didn't think much of it if they lost a quarter.
The hotel I'd been staying at was $80 a day and had a complimentary breakfast, so just one or two trips was enough to ensure shelter and one hot meal. For that kind of price, I'd probably be better off renting a cheap apartment, but I had no ID in this universe; I'd just been lucky the hotel staff was desperate enough for customers to just accept payments in cash and not ask questions. The rest of my needs, other meals and laundry and such, could mostly be covered by another Harvest trip or two. And the rest… Well, between Hamon, Harvest and [Deep Purple], shoplifting a few items here and there or slipping some bills out of a Boardwalk tourist's wallet without them noticing was so easy that getting caught would just be sad.
It had occurred to me that the Harvest trips would probably be shorter and thus more profitable if I didn't order them to hide from people, but it's a lot better to be safe than mistaken for a supervillain. So far, no one had been able to see my Stand, but it would only take one hero with some kind of super-perception or whatever who could detect it to track Harvest back to me, and then I'd have a lot of explaining to do.
With nothing else to do, I returned to the hotel, confirmed and paid for another day, and returned to my room for a shower before waiting for Harvest to return so I could get some sleep.
---
"CAUTION: Beware of pickpockets" read a yellow sign that hadn't been there the last time I'd come to the Boardwalk.
'Oh, come on, I haven't stolen that much money!' I thought to myself. I mean, maybe it was coincidence and there just happened to be a rise in general pickpocketing around here, but that didn't help my situation. People were going to be on guard now, and I'd already had to keep a wary eye on the hired security and the store cameras, even with my powers.
I walked away from the sign, careful not to let my consternation show; I might have lingered too long on that sign already. 'On the plus side, unless I make it really obvious, I probably won't be anyone's first suspect when things go missing,' I assured myself.
Human beings are not driven by logic and reason; they're animals of instinct and snap judgments that they often make without being conscious of them, and they judge by appearances more than any of them care to admit. When you grow up in a mixed-race household where you can pass for white, but your siblings are obviously minorities, you learn that lesson very quickly. And even discounting race, just entering a store while wearing a hoodie could draw wary looks, depending on the neighborhood.
Before, my appearance was so nondescript that I was usually beneath suspicion; now, I was above it. Maybe it was a byproduct of gaining my powers, or perhaps whatever force or entity had given them to me and brought me to this universe had also decided that my pasty, out-of-shape body wouldn't do for whatever it had planned, but either way, looking in mirror showed me a tall, handsome stranger. A stranger with the build (and body language) of a Greek statue. The only points of familiarity that told me my reflection was still my own were the thick, curly black locks and the almond-shaped hazel eyes.
'Well, I probably need to hold off on lifting any wallets around here for a while, just to be safe,' I thought with an internal grimace as I picked up a hot dog from a cart and sat down at a bench. I wasn't sure where else I could go where I could be sure I wasn't ruining someone's livelihood by snatching a twenty, and I'd rather not escalate to burglary or robbery, so my options were starting to feel limited. Maybe that fancy-sounding private school? No, the local dumping ground for rich kids would probably be even more guarded than the Boardwalk in a city like this…
I sighed as I finished the hot dog, tossing the wrapper into a nearby trash can. While I hated to admit it, this was just confirming what Stand By Me had said: I couldn't keep this routine up for much longer. I needed to bite the bullet and commit to some course of action, whether that was joining the Protectorate or trying to make it as an independent hero. I'd considered going "rogue," but from what I'd gathered, unless they joined a group like Toybox or made enough money quickly enough to ensure some proper security, often rogues lived in constant fear of ending up forced onto one side of the hero/villain divide or the other (and it was usually villain). Besides, a liberal arts major from a low-income household who didn't trust corporate or financial institutions in general probably wouldn't make for a very good entrepreneur.
Lost in those thoughts, my eyes naturally turned skyward, and I saw a hero in person for the first time. I couldn't help but stare. I thought I'd gotten used to the idea that this was a universe where heroes and villains were a thing, where I had superpowers, even, but it was something different to see someone who seemed to have stepped right out of a comic book, live and in the flesh.
Standing on the rooftop was a blonde girl who looked to be in her early teens at most. Panels of green-and-black body armor and a green visor were added to what was otherwise a rather normal-looking outfit, with a skirt covered in wavy, swooping lines of white and forest green. She was keeping an eye on the foot traffic below, her head moving back and forth over the Boardwalk from her vantage point.
[Vista], the youngest but most experienced of the local Wards. Probably the strongest of them, too, at least right now. No matter the limits, warping space could hardly be anything but pure bullshit as a superpower.
I must have stared too long, because her sweeping gaze stopped. I couldn't see her eyes, but I knew that she was looking at me. I forced a smile and a wave, hoping I'd come off as just a cape fan who stared a bit when he got to see a new hero in the flesh; surely she got plenty of that? I breathed an internal sigh of relief when she returned the gesture and went back to her lookout.
Nonetheless, that was one close call too many in a place I no longer had any business in, especially since I doubted Wards were allowed to patrol alone. That I couldn't see the other one just put me more on edge. I grabbed the cheap backpack I'd picked up in a thrift shop and left. Leaving the boardwalk, I pulled out a water bottle and took a swig to calm my nerves, then started taking some calming breaths as I tried to figure out my next move. I could still get money through Harvest, but that was barely enough to keep my head above water; it wasn't workable in the long term.
"Perhaps you should take this as a sign to find a source of income more worthwhile than petty thievery," Stand By Me said as it manifested itself beside me.
"Well it's not like a guy with no ID has a lot of opportunities for gainful employment!" I hissed.
"I was not referring to 'gainful employment'," my Stand replied. "You heard on that program on these 'heroes' that law enforcement often looks the other way if they choose to pocket the ill-gotten gains of their prey."
"Only if it's just cash and it isn't known to belong to someone else," I added.
"And there is a gang in this city that is considered a nuisance rather than a threat," Stand By Me continued. "It's soldiers little more than addicts and petty crooks armed with cheap weaponry. Even its 'parahumans' are considered to be jokes."
"A joke shouldn't have a kill count," I pointed out. "Hamon can't fix roadkill, so I don't think I feel like charging out on my own and getting run over by some white trash bitch on the [Mean Machine]."
"Perhaps you do not have to be alone," my Stand said, raising a finger. "It is no longer night; why not speak to the person our divination has led us to?"
"Uh, because I'd sound crazy trying to explain why I want to talk to them?" I pointed out.
"And when will a circumstance arise in which that is no longer the case?" Stand By Me asked in what I would have called a pointed way, if it weren't still speaking like a robot. "This world's fate does not operate on your schedule."
I put a hand to my forehead, thinking it over. "… Maybe I can leave out the 'fate of the world' bit and just tell them I looked for someone who could help me in general?"
"Whatever you think best."
"Okay, that might work. And if they seem like the starry-eyed type, I can say I was looking for someone who could help me… be a hero, or make life better, or something like that. And if I can show them Deep Purple's power, they might even buy it."
---
Unfortunately, no one was home.
'Okay, this might actually be a blessing in disguise,' I thought to myself as I materialized only a few Harvest drones and sent two of them through the window while the rest kept lookout, all while doing my best to look inconspicuous as I hung around near but not in front of the house, pulling out a cheap paperback I'd picked up and pretending to read it.
Unfortunately, I couldn't see through the eyes of Harvest, but even though their intelligence and vocabulary were pretty limited, they could still look for and relay basic information. If they could just find something with the names of the people who lived here, I could look them up on my own time and return later with more of an idea of who I was dealing with.
"Ah!" I gasped, as I suddenly felt a small but shooting pain in my body. It passed in an instant, but it took the breath out of me for a second. 'What was…?'
"Don't move. There's a black widow ready to bite you if you do," came a flinty voice from behind me. My eyes widened as I saw there was indeed a spider with a red hourglass on its abdomen on my sleeve, its fangs hovering right over exposed skin. "It probably won't kill you, but the effects aren't pretty."
'Shit, how do I expel venom with Hamon!?'
"What are you-"
"You were here yesterday. You flinched like it hurt when I popped those weird projections," the female voice continued. "Who are you, and why were you casing my house!?"
"Okay, I know this looks bad, but-"
I stopped short, the words dying as I heard the buzzing of a bee just below my head. Looking down, I saw it land on my shoulder, then turn around to point its stinger at my throat. My eyes darted around, and I saw that, in the dark corners of this neighborhood, insects were converging, just out of sight of casual observation.
"You have no idea how bad a mood I'm in right now," she almost seemed to growl. "I don't know which cape you are, but you picked the wrong day to try to rob my house."
"This wasn't a robbery," I said calmly, slowly closing my paperback. "I didn't come here to hurt anyone, I swear. I just want to talk."
"Then talk fast."
"It's kind of a heavy subject," I said apologetically. "And a bit of a long story. So maybe you can call off the swarm, and we sit down somewhere and talk this out? You can even keep the black widow on my arm just in case I try anything."
She seemed to pause at that, not talking for a few seconds. That gave me a bit of hope, but it seems she wasn't in the mood, as a second bee landed on the other side of me.
"I've had enough of getting stabbed in the back," she said, her voice low, almost hollow. "So, no dice. You'll explain it here and now, and then I'll decide what I'm going to do with you."
"I was really hoping you wouldn't say that," I sighed heavily, shivering as it disturbed the insects on my body and they got all crawly to stay on. "This doesn't really bode well for a strong partnership in the future."
"Partner-?"
"So how did you pop the Harvest drones? Did you seriously just sting them with bugs?" I asked suddenly. That wasn't supposed to be possible; Harvest was a Stand, it shouldn't be able to be damaged by anything other than another Stand! Then again, she shouldn't be able to see them, either… Did these parahumans have the ability to see and injure Stands with their powers, even when their power was apparently just controlling bugs? Or was it a trait of my Stand itself that it was vulnerable to them?
"You're not the one asking questions-"
Three Harvest drones suddenly manifested, long, thin needles erupting from a hole in their foreheads and impaling each of the insects on me. 497 more followed in a loud cacophony of high-pitched laughter as they formed a protective ring around me, ready to spear any bug that got too close.
I turned around to my assailant. She was… normal. A plain, if rather tall, teenage girl, with long black hair, glasses, and very plain, "I'm an awkward teen with no self-confidence, please don't look at me" clothes; a fashion statement I was very familiar with. She was covered in some dried, sticky-looking gunk. There was fear in her eyes, obviously, but she wasn't lost to it. Her eyes rapidly darted around this way and that, but not in a panicked way, more like she was looking for options, for a way out.
"Don't feel bad about the turnaround," I said reassuringly, rubbing my now bug-free arm and shoulders in turn. "You couldn't have guessed about how quickly I could send out Harvest, or how many drones I had. Information is key to a fight.
"Look, I meant it when I said I didn't want to fight," I said. To prove my point, I dismissed Harvest. "I came here looking for help."
She looked around, as if trying to see if I'd hidden a drone or two to attack her when she wasn't looking. Insects buzzed and hummed for just a few seconds; I didn't notice a change in their movements or numbers, but it was still kind of off-putting.
Finally, she looked back at me. Her gaze was still wary, posture guarded, but not outright hostile anymore. "How did you know about me?" she asked.
"Well, it's not that I knew about you, per se," I explained. "More that my powers… guided me to you. The explanation is going to be kind of long, so we should probably do it inside before people start wondering what we're doing out here."
She balked, obviously unwilling to let me into her house. Couldn't blame her for that. I sighed and held out my arms.
"Alright. Put as many black widows as you need on me to feel safe. I can summon a lot of drones at once, but now that I don't have the element of surprise, I probably won't be able to kill them all before one bites me so long as you keep an eye on me," I said. "Just, uh, don't put'em anywhere that's sensitive, please?"
---X---
AN: Once I start giving stat sheets for Stands, the stats might be different from those in canon. Part of the reason for that is that [Stand By Me] does not perfectly clone the Stands it copies; rather, it becomes the user's own "version" of that Stand. It remains the same in the basic strokes: the general powers and appearance aren't going to undergo any drastic change, because then it would be a different Stand altogether, but the details change, and some minor tweaks might happen.
Changes to appearance are most likely in Bound Stands, or Stands that manifest as objects of some sort; just as examples that may or may not show up in the story, if [Emperor] were used its appearance might be more like a Colt Peacemaker than Hol Horse's weird fusion of a revolver and an automatic pistol, or [Anubis] would be more strongly curved and with a wider blade, to fit my own mental image of a scimitar. Most "traditional" Stands, though, will look and act basically the same, with maybe some minor aesthetic tweak where appropriate, like maybe [Black Sabbath] not having a gold arrow motif on its clothes because the SI doesn't have an Arrow, and if he did he probably wouldn't have a desire to set the thing loose to stab random people on the street with it.
There's precedence for that from the manga, incidentally. DIO and the alternate Diego Brando both used The World, which had the same powers, but their appearances have slight differences: Diego's The World has the letter "D" on each knee and gears on the back of its hands, for example. Meanwhile, the two Kira Yoshikages both have a nearly identical-looking Stand called Killer Queen, but there are some differences in their powers.
In addition, well, I honestly just don't always agree with the stats as given. I think Araki himself doesn't really like the stats either, since he increasingly tends to not give Stands stat sheets these days except in supplementary material like artbooks.
Part of the problem is that the terminology is kind of confusing and can mean multiple things. For example, "Power/Destructive Power." Sometimes that refers to the Stand's ability in physical combat, but other times it refers exclusively to its special power. "Range/Firing Range" is similarly a problem, since it's not always consistent if that refers to the range of the Stand's power or the Stand itself. Emperor has Range "B," presumably referring to the maximum range of its bullets, but the Stand itself never leaves Hol Horse's hand (and would be useless if it did, since he needs to pull the trigger). But Ratt, a Stand that works very similarly in that it manifests on the user's person and fires projectiles that can travel a reasonably long distance, nonetheless has a Range of "D."
"Durability" is a bigger problem, since that's actually a mistranslation and it's actually something like "Duration" or "Staying Power." It refers to the amount of time the user can make use of the Stand's power, not how good the Stand is at taking a hit; this is why Star Platinum had this stat at "A" while Star Platinum: The World was at "E" and later "C": before it could stop time, Star Platinum's only "power" was its absurdly high strength, speed, precision, etc., which of course it could use indefinitely. Problem is, most of the time differences in duration don't really matter unless the duration is really, really short (1-2 seconds of stopped time for Part IV Jotaro) or really, really long (i.e. effectively permanent unless the Stand or user is defeated). A Duration of "C" never proves to be a disadvantage over a Duration of "B," and it's very rare, in both JJBA or Worm, for a character to be defeated by just stalling them out until their power craps out; in fact, I can't really remember any such case, unless you count the times Jotaro was hamstrung by the strain stopping time put on his heart.
Meanwhile, how well your Stand takes a hit tends to be a lot more important in deciding who wins and who loses, at least when we're talking the standard "punch ghost" Stands. So that's what I'll be using. I'm not sure whether Colony Stands should get high or low ratings in that yet, admittedly, since most of the time the individual units are very frail but the Stand itself could be considered durable because it transmits little to no damage to the user and there are multiples.
"Precision" also kind of confuses me a little in some cases. I don't really get why Hermit Purple has Precision "D" when it can flawlessly find pretty much anything Joseph thinks to look for. Tower of Gray is even weirder; the thing is really maneuverable and has deadly accuracy with that stinger, but it has Precision "E" for some reason.
So yeah, there'll be some changes to stats. Some of that might be minor tweaking of the Stand's capabilities outright, others will just be based on what I think fits better with how I interpret them. Sorry if that gets on anyone's nerves.
While we're talking about that, I think I'm going to start making a list of the Stands that the SI has manifested through Stand By Me (incidentally, I've only just realized that [Take On Me] would have been just as fitting a name without being quite so on-the-nose. Oh well, live and learn, and I think it makes for a better title anyway). So far, it's a short one:
Deep Purple (Hermit Purple)
Harvest
Most likely Stand to show up next: [Fun Fun Fun] OR [Survivor]. Which would you rather see?
"Yeesh, doing this is harder than I thought it'd be," I muttered to myself, careful not to lose my breathing. No wonder Joseph didn't use Hermit Purple and the Ripple in tandem much until he was fighting a vampire, this shit was exhausting. Or maybe it was just because I still wasn't used to doing this?
Either way, the real problem was that I had no idea how long this would take. I hadn't been at this very long, and for all I knew my destination was clear across town.
"… Or not," I muttered aloud as the makeshift compass started moving. With a few experimental movements, I realized it was pointing toward a particular house. A rather narrow two-story affair that had definitely seen better days; at least one of the steps on the small wooden staircase to the front porch looked rotted through, and in all it had a definite air of age and neglect.
Still, the compass was definitely pointing to a room on the second floor with a light on. A bedroom, most likely, given that it was night…
"Wait, shit, what am I even supposed to do now!?" I realized, swearing under my breath. I couldn't just knock on the front door and say, 'Why hello there, I'm here to save the world and my magic prophecy powers tell me you can help'!
"… And now I'm standing around in front of someone's home at night, staring up at their bedroom like a fucking stalker while talking to myself," I muttered, pinching the bridge of my nose. "I think I'm done here."
Taking one last glance at the house number and the street, I walked away, shaking my head as I dismissed… Deep Purple? Through the Grapevine?
"Maybe I could name the Stand itself Deep Purple and name the power Through the Grapevine?" I mused aloud. "What do you think?"
Stand By Me took a moment to reply, looking around for any approaching threats as we walked the dark streets of New England's answer to Detroit. "I think that you are embarrassed that you finally found the resolve to take decisive action only to realize that you had no plan for what to do once you reached your destination."
"Well, would it really kill you to play along instead of pointing out why I'm doing stuff just once?" I asked, throwing up my hands. "I know what I'm doing and why, alright? I don't need you pointing it out."
"You know, but do not do anything with that knowledge. You ignore it by focusing on minutia like changing the name of your Stands, and go on to repeat the same mistakes."
"I don't remember anyone else's Stand trying to play therapist," I grumbled.
"Every Stand is unique. But if you desire a Stand that merely floats beside you silently without offering feedback or opinions, you need only use my power to transform me into another. It is only your desire for someone to talk to that leads you to leave me in this nigh-powerless form."
"You know what? Fine, I could use a bit more cash anyway," I said irritably.
[Stand By Me – Harvest]!
Once again, my Stand's mannequin-like form exploded into a shower of lights like stars. Rather than disappearing into my body, though, they started expanding, their light dimming and disappearing as they each took on the same shape: ovoid bipeds with four arms and a vaguely bee-like look to them. Once all the lights had disappeared, there were exactly 500 of them in all, each about the size of my palm, all looking up at me expectantly.
"The ten closest to me stay with me and stand guard," I ordered. "The rest of you, look for coins and coupons. And don't let people see you!"
"Hee-hee!" the Harvest units cried out as one as they took off running in every direction at a speed that would put Olympic sprinters to shame. They'd all back in about 3-4 hours, each with a coin or coupon stuck into the pocket on their head for me. Not counting the coupons, each trip would usually net me anywhere between $50 and $100 in random coinage; luckily, there were a few stores around here that had those machines where you dumped in a bunch of coins to get bills, so I didn't have to try to shop with a jar full of pennies.
And hey, most of those coins were in grates or under vending machines or whatever, so technically I was just putting it back in circulation and helping the local economy. And even in a shithole like Brockton Bay, most people didn't think much of it if they lost a quarter.
The hotel I'd been staying at was $80 a day and had a complimentary breakfast, so just one or two trips was enough to ensure shelter and one hot meal. For that kind of price, I'd probably be better off renting a cheap apartment, but I had no ID in this universe; I'd just been lucky the hotel staff was desperate enough for customers to just accept payments in cash and not ask questions. The rest of my needs, other meals and laundry and such, could mostly be covered by another Harvest trip or two. And the rest… Well, between Hamon, Harvest and [Deep Purple], shoplifting a few items here and there or slipping some bills out of a Boardwalk tourist's wallet without them noticing was so easy that getting caught would just be sad.
It had occurred to me that the Harvest trips would probably be shorter and thus more profitable if I didn't order them to hide from people, but it's a lot better to be safe than mistaken for a supervillain. So far, no one had been able to see my Stand, but it would only take one hero with some kind of super-perception or whatever who could detect it to track Harvest back to me, and then I'd have a lot of explaining to do.
With nothing else to do, I returned to the hotel, confirmed and paid for another day, and returned to my room for a shower before waiting for Harvest to return so I could get some sleep.
---
"CAUTION: Beware of pickpockets" read a yellow sign that hadn't been there the last time I'd come to the Boardwalk.
'Oh, come on, I haven't stolen that much money!' I thought to myself. I mean, maybe it was coincidence and there just happened to be a rise in general pickpocketing around here, but that didn't help my situation. People were going to be on guard now, and I'd already had to keep a wary eye on the hired security and the store cameras, even with my powers.
I walked away from the sign, careful not to let my consternation show; I might have lingered too long on that sign already. 'On the plus side, unless I make it really obvious, I probably won't be anyone's first suspect when things go missing,' I assured myself.
Human beings are not driven by logic and reason; they're animals of instinct and snap judgments that they often make without being conscious of them, and they judge by appearances more than any of them care to admit. When you grow up in a mixed-race household where you can pass for white, but your siblings are obviously minorities, you learn that lesson very quickly. And even discounting race, just entering a store while wearing a hoodie could draw wary looks, depending on the neighborhood.
Before, my appearance was so nondescript that I was usually beneath suspicion; now, I was above it. Maybe it was a byproduct of gaining my powers, or perhaps whatever force or entity had given them to me and brought me to this universe had also decided that my pasty, out-of-shape body wouldn't do for whatever it had planned, but either way, looking in mirror showed me a tall, handsome stranger. A stranger with the build (and body language) of a Greek statue. The only points of familiarity that told me my reflection was still my own were the thick, curly black locks and the almond-shaped hazel eyes.
'Well, I probably need to hold off on lifting any wallets around here for a while, just to be safe,' I thought with an internal grimace as I picked up a hot dog from a cart and sat down at a bench. I wasn't sure where else I could go where I could be sure I wasn't ruining someone's livelihood by snatching a twenty, and I'd rather not escalate to burglary or robbery, so my options were starting to feel limited. Maybe that fancy-sounding private school? No, the local dumping ground for rich kids would probably be even more guarded than the Boardwalk in a city like this…
I sighed as I finished the hot dog, tossing the wrapper into a nearby trash can. While I hated to admit it, this was just confirming what Stand By Me had said: I couldn't keep this routine up for much longer. I needed to bite the bullet and commit to some course of action, whether that was joining the Protectorate or trying to make it as an independent hero. I'd considered going "rogue," but from what I'd gathered, unless they joined a group like Toybox or made enough money quickly enough to ensure some proper security, often rogues lived in constant fear of ending up forced onto one side of the hero/villain divide or the other (and it was usually villain). Besides, a liberal arts major from a low-income household who didn't trust corporate or financial institutions in general probably wouldn't make for a very good entrepreneur.
Lost in those thoughts, my eyes naturally turned skyward, and I saw a hero in person for the first time. I couldn't help but stare. I thought I'd gotten used to the idea that this was a universe where heroes and villains were a thing, where I had superpowers, even, but it was something different to see someone who seemed to have stepped right out of a comic book, live and in the flesh.
Standing on the rooftop was a blonde girl who looked to be in her early teens at most. Panels of green-and-black body armor and a green visor were added to what was otherwise a rather normal-looking outfit, with a skirt covered in wavy, swooping lines of white and forest green. She was keeping an eye on the foot traffic below, her head moving back and forth over the Boardwalk from her vantage point.
[Vista], the youngest but most experienced of the local Wards. Probably the strongest of them, too, at least right now. No matter the limits, warping space could hardly be anything but pure bullshit as a superpower.
I must have stared too long, because her sweeping gaze stopped. I couldn't see her eyes, but I knew that she was looking at me. I forced a smile and a wave, hoping I'd come off as just a cape fan who stared a bit when he got to see a new hero in the flesh; surely she got plenty of that? I breathed an internal sigh of relief when she returned the gesture and went back to her lookout.
Nonetheless, that was one close call too many in a place I no longer had any business in, especially since I doubted Wards were allowed to patrol alone. That I couldn't see the other one just put me more on edge. I grabbed the cheap backpack I'd picked up in a thrift shop and left. Leaving the boardwalk, I pulled out a water bottle and took a swig to calm my nerves, then started taking some calming breaths as I tried to figure out my next move. I could still get money through Harvest, but that was barely enough to keep my head above water; it wasn't workable in the long term.
"Perhaps you should take this as a sign to find a source of income more worthwhile than petty thievery," Stand By Me said as it manifested itself beside me.
"Well it's not like a guy with no ID has a lot of opportunities for gainful employment!" I hissed.
"I was not referring to 'gainful employment'," my Stand replied. "You heard on that program on these 'heroes' that law enforcement often looks the other way if they choose to pocket the ill-gotten gains of their prey."
"Only if it's just cash and it isn't known to belong to someone else," I added.
"And there is a gang in this city that is considered a nuisance rather than a threat," Stand By Me continued. "It's soldiers little more than addicts and petty crooks armed with cheap weaponry. Even its 'parahumans' are considered to be jokes."
"A joke shouldn't have a kill count," I pointed out. "Hamon can't fix roadkill, so I don't think I feel like charging out on my own and getting run over by some white trash bitch on the [Mean Machine]."
"Perhaps you do not have to be alone," my Stand said, raising a finger. "It is no longer night; why not speak to the person our divination has led us to?"
"Uh, because I'd sound crazy trying to explain why I want to talk to them?" I pointed out.
"And when will a circumstance arise in which that is no longer the case?" Stand By Me asked in what I would have called a pointed way, if it weren't still speaking like a robot. "This world's fate does not operate on your schedule."
I put a hand to my forehead, thinking it over. "… Maybe I can leave out the 'fate of the world' bit and just tell them I looked for someone who could help me in general?"
"Whatever you think best."
"Okay, that might work. And if they seem like the starry-eyed type, I can say I was looking for someone who could help me… be a hero, or make life better, or something like that. And if I can show them Deep Purple's power, they might even buy it."
---
Unfortunately, no one was home.
'Okay, this might actually be a blessing in disguise,' I thought to myself as I materialized only a few Harvest drones and sent two of them through the window while the rest kept lookout, all while doing my best to look inconspicuous as I hung around near but not in front of the house, pulling out a cheap paperback I'd picked up and pretending to read it.
Unfortunately, I couldn't see through the eyes of Harvest, but even though their intelligence and vocabulary were pretty limited, they could still look for and relay basic information. If they could just find something with the names of the people who lived here, I could look them up on my own time and return later with more of an idea of who I was dealing with.
"Ah!" I gasped, as I suddenly felt a small but shooting pain in my body. It passed in an instant, but it took the breath out of me for a second. 'What was…?'
"Don't move. There's a black widow ready to bite you if you do," came a flinty voice from behind me. My eyes widened as I saw there was indeed a spider with a red hourglass on its abdomen on my sleeve, its fangs hovering right over exposed skin. "It probably won't kill you, but the effects aren't pretty."
'Shit, how do I expel venom with Hamon!?'
"What are you-"
"You were here yesterday. You flinched like it hurt when I popped those weird projections," the female voice continued. "Who are you, and why were you casing my house!?"
"Okay, I know this looks bad, but-"
I stopped short, the words dying as I heard the buzzing of a bee just below my head. Looking down, I saw it land on my shoulder, then turn around to point its stinger at my throat. My eyes darted around, and I saw that, in the dark corners of this neighborhood, insects were converging, just out of sight of casual observation.
"You have no idea how bad a mood I'm in right now," she almost seemed to growl. "I don't know which cape you are, but you picked the wrong day to try to rob my house."
"This wasn't a robbery," I said calmly, slowly closing my paperback. "I didn't come here to hurt anyone, I swear. I just want to talk."
"Then talk fast."
"It's kind of a heavy subject," I said apologetically. "And a bit of a long story. So maybe you can call off the swarm, and we sit down somewhere and talk this out? You can even keep the black widow on my arm just in case I try anything."
She seemed to pause at that, not talking for a few seconds. That gave me a bit of hope, but it seems she wasn't in the mood, as a second bee landed on the other side of me.
"I've had enough of getting stabbed in the back," she said, her voice low, almost hollow. "So, no dice. You'll explain it here and now, and then I'll decide what I'm going to do with you."
"I was really hoping you wouldn't say that," I sighed heavily, shivering as it disturbed the insects on my body and they got all crawly to stay on. "This doesn't really bode well for a strong partnership in the future."
"Partner-?"
"So how did you pop the Harvest drones? Did you seriously just sting them with bugs?" I asked suddenly. That wasn't supposed to be possible; Harvest was a Stand, it shouldn't be able to be damaged by anything other than another Stand! Then again, she shouldn't be able to see them, either… Did these parahumans have the ability to see and injure Stands with their powers, even when their power was apparently just controlling bugs? Or was it a trait of my Stand itself that it was vulnerable to them?
"You're not the one asking questions-"
Three Harvest drones suddenly manifested, long, thin needles erupting from a hole in their foreheads and impaling each of the insects on me. 497 more followed in a loud cacophony of high-pitched laughter as they formed a protective ring around me, ready to spear any bug that got too close.
I turned around to my assailant. She was… normal. A plain, if rather tall, teenage girl, with long black hair, glasses, and very plain, "I'm an awkward teen with no self-confidence, please don't look at me" clothes; a fashion statement I was very familiar with. She was covered in some dried, sticky-looking gunk. There was fear in her eyes, obviously, but she wasn't lost to it. Her eyes rapidly darted around this way and that, but not in a panicked way, more like she was looking for options, for a way out.
"Don't feel bad about the turnaround," I said reassuringly, rubbing my now bug-free arm and shoulders in turn. "You couldn't have guessed about how quickly I could send out Harvest, or how many drones I had. Information is key to a fight.
"Look, I meant it when I said I didn't want to fight," I said. To prove my point, I dismissed Harvest. "I came here looking for help."
She looked around, as if trying to see if I'd hidden a drone or two to attack her when she wasn't looking. Insects buzzed and hummed for just a few seconds; I didn't notice a change in their movements or numbers, but it was still kind of off-putting.
Finally, she looked back at me. Her gaze was still wary, posture guarded, but not outright hostile anymore. "How did you know about me?" she asked.
"Well, it's not that I knew about you, per se," I explained. "More that my powers… guided me to you. The explanation is going to be kind of long, so we should probably do it inside before people start wondering what we're doing out here."
She balked, obviously unwilling to let me into her house. Couldn't blame her for that. I sighed and held out my arms.
"Alright. Put as many black widows as you need on me to feel safe. I can summon a lot of drones at once, but now that I don't have the element of surprise, I probably won't be able to kill them all before one bites me so long as you keep an eye on me," I said. "Just, uh, don't put'em anywhere that's sensitive, please?"
---X---
AN: Once I start giving stat sheets for Stands, the stats might be different from those in canon. Part of the reason for that is that [Stand By Me] does not perfectly clone the Stands it copies; rather, it becomes the user's own "version" of that Stand. It remains the same in the basic strokes: the general powers and appearance aren't going to undergo any drastic change, because then it would be a different Stand altogether, but the details change, and some minor tweaks might happen.
Changes to appearance are most likely in Bound Stands, or Stands that manifest as objects of some sort; just as examples that may or may not show up in the story, if [Emperor] were used its appearance might be more like a Colt Peacemaker than Hol Horse's weird fusion of a revolver and an automatic pistol, or [Anubis] would be more strongly curved and with a wider blade, to fit my own mental image of a scimitar. Most "traditional" Stands, though, will look and act basically the same, with maybe some minor aesthetic tweak where appropriate, like maybe [Black Sabbath] not having a gold arrow motif on its clothes because the SI doesn't have an Arrow, and if he did he probably wouldn't have a desire to set the thing loose to stab random people on the street with it.
There's precedence for that from the manga, incidentally. DIO and the alternate Diego Brando both used The World, which had the same powers, but their appearances have slight differences: Diego's The World has the letter "D" on each knee and gears on the back of its hands, for example. Meanwhile, the two Kira Yoshikages both have a nearly identical-looking Stand called Killer Queen, but there are some differences in their powers.
In addition, well, I honestly just don't always agree with the stats as given. I think Araki himself doesn't really like the stats either, since he increasingly tends to not give Stands stat sheets these days except in supplementary material like artbooks.
Part of the problem is that the terminology is kind of confusing and can mean multiple things. For example, "Power/Destructive Power." Sometimes that refers to the Stand's ability in physical combat, but other times it refers exclusively to its special power. "Range/Firing Range" is similarly a problem, since it's not always consistent if that refers to the range of the Stand's power or the Stand itself. Emperor has Range "B," presumably referring to the maximum range of its bullets, but the Stand itself never leaves Hol Horse's hand (and would be useless if it did, since he needs to pull the trigger). But Ratt, a Stand that works very similarly in that it manifests on the user's person and fires projectiles that can travel a reasonably long distance, nonetheless has a Range of "D."
"Durability" is a bigger problem, since that's actually a mistranslation and it's actually something like "Duration" or "Staying Power." It refers to the amount of time the user can make use of the Stand's power, not how good the Stand is at taking a hit; this is why Star Platinum had this stat at "A" while Star Platinum: The World was at "E" and later "C": before it could stop time, Star Platinum's only "power" was its absurdly high strength, speed, precision, etc., which of course it could use indefinitely. Problem is, most of the time differences in duration don't really matter unless the duration is really, really short (1-2 seconds of stopped time for Part IV Jotaro) or really, really long (i.e. effectively permanent unless the Stand or user is defeated). A Duration of "C" never proves to be a disadvantage over a Duration of "B," and it's very rare, in both JJBA or Worm, for a character to be defeated by just stalling them out until their power craps out; in fact, I can't really remember any such case, unless you count the times Jotaro was hamstrung by the strain stopping time put on his heart.
Meanwhile, how well your Stand takes a hit tends to be a lot more important in deciding who wins and who loses, at least when we're talking the standard "punch ghost" Stands. So that's what I'll be using. I'm not sure whether Colony Stands should get high or low ratings in that yet, admittedly, since most of the time the individual units are very frail but the Stand itself could be considered durable because it transmits little to no damage to the user and there are multiples.
"Precision" also kind of confuses me a little in some cases. I don't really get why Hermit Purple has Precision "D" when it can flawlessly find pretty much anything Joseph thinks to look for. Tower of Gray is even weirder; the thing is really maneuverable and has deadly accuracy with that stinger, but it has Precision "E" for some reason.
So yeah, there'll be some changes to stats. Some of that might be minor tweaking of the Stand's capabilities outright, others will just be based on what I think fits better with how I interpret them. Sorry if that gets on anyone's nerves.
While we're talking about that, I think I'm going to start making a list of the Stands that the SI has manifested through Stand By Me (incidentally, I've only just realized that [Take On Me] would have been just as fitting a name without being quite so on-the-nose. Oh well, live and learn, and I think it makes for a better title anyway). So far, it's a short one:
Deep Purple (Hermit Purple)
Harvest
Most likely Stand to show up next: [Fun Fun Fun] OR [Survivor]. Which would you rather see?