The Crimson Moon Rises over Brockton Bay (A Worm/Nasuverse quest)

[Skaeling]

Awareness, true awareness returned slowly. Recent memory was scrambled a bit, portions damaged by . . . an impact? Yes, an impact. The Entity she had been a part of had impacted another of its kind. A form of gamete exchange? Something similar at least. Something was significant about that information. After a moment's thought, it registered. One Entity, traveling alone. There had been two when they attacked her world. A burst of viscious satisfaction played across her mind. They might have consumed her world, reprocessed her into her current form, but she had not fallen alone. If she had still posessed her body, she would have shaken her head. She was still not a hundred percent. She focused on what had happened next.

The second entity had experienced some . . . difficulty landing. Failure of multiple redundant shards within the entity had allowed sufficient effects from atmospheric reentry such that several of the more loosely attached shards, herself included, had been stripped off by air resistance and cast away from the entity's control. She vaguely recalled utilizing a burst of her power to shield herself from the secondary effects of the Entity's impact before the damage caused by the initial impact and the uncontrolled reentry had forced her shard into maintenance mode for regeneration.

That had been quite some time ago. Damage had been severe, and she had the feeling that only the excess energy she had accumulated from the first Entity thanks to her Vampiric nature had allowed her to make repairs at all.
Still, she was whole and hale now and a quick check revealed that the Entity she'd been transfered to hadn't had time to add any restrictions to how she could operate before it had its accident. Had she been capable of it, a smile would have crossed her features. Since the second Entity hadn't come back for her, it was most likely dead. Crashing at the speed it had been going would likely account for that. That left the first Entity and the second's companion.

The former needed to die. It would be a fitting revenge for what it had done to her world. The latter would die to prevent it from consuming anyone else's. It was unfortunate that she couldn't do anything to ensure their deaths on her own. With her nature being what it was now, she would need a Host, and not just any Host but one that could be trusted to use her power responsibly and well. That-

That could take some time.

XXXXX​

I wanted to kick myself. In retrospect it was so obvious, but at the time it had been like watching a train derail in slow motion, I knew it was going to be awful and simply couldn't look away. So I'd opened my damn locker even having smelled what was waiting inside. I mean, it wasn't like I had three complete wastes of perfectly good carbon and oxygen out to make my life hell. Someone else probably just left a sandwich in their locker over break. Yeah. Right.

So now I was locked in a box entirely too much like a coffin stuffed half full of rotting feminine hygiene products infested with bugs carry who-knows-what. I really hope its just my near-panic talking, but I can almost feel the cuts on my fingers I gave myself trying to claw my way out in my first burst of panic swelling. I've heard of some really nasty things that can happen to infected wounds. What if I lose my fingers? My hands?

A bug skitters across my arm before I can fall into another panic attack, but the distraction is short lived. It's all too easy to start thinking about what kinds of diseases insects can carry and how I thoughtfully opened all sorts of wounds in my arms and probably legs too trying to escape in those first panicked minutes.

I try everything I can think of to distract myself, but the longer I'm stuck in here, the less effective any of it is. Going over multiplication tables in my head stops working quickly. Elaborate revenge fantasies fail soon thereafter. And all the while time is passing, and the rotting blood is soakingintomyclothesandmyinjuriesaregettinginfectedandI'mgoingto-

XXXXX​

More than a decade had passed since her return to awareness with no appreciable progress. Scans had modeled the behavior of thousands of possible matches in the nearest dimensional clusters but none had hit the right mix of moral fortitude, intelligence, and creativity that she had sought in a Host. Then, finally, one specific human reached out into infinity in desperation. She modeled the girl's responses and found them . . . acceptable. In truth, they were nearly ideal.

She reached back.

Contact.

XXXXX

Had an Altpower!Taylor in mind for a while now and I'm trying to get back into writing, and this happened. I enjoy a good discussion, so feel free to argue about things on her Character Sheet if you think they need changed. Also, not very experienced with writing first person. Constructive criticism would be much apreciated.

Taylor, instead of focusing on her isolation in the locker and triggering as a Master, instead focuses on the crap she's sharing her locker with. She's at risk of getting infected wounds and she's covered in detritus that should be in a biohazard container. IE rotting blood and filth with disease carrying insects in it. Sounds like environmental danger to me. Thus, Shaker!Taylor.

And instead of fixating on the bugs, she's freaking out about the blood and blood-borne diseases. Being a Buffy fan, I could not help but recall the famous line 'Cause it's always got to be blood.' That reminded me of an old quest from SB where one of the opening options that got skipped was giving a Character Arcueid Brunestud's powers.

So, a breakdown of her Character Sheet:

Parameters

Strength: E-
Endurance: E-
Agility: E-
Mana: E-
Luck: E-(because Being Taylor is Suffering)

Skills

None. Yet.

Abilities

Marble Phantasm: Rank E. At this rank Taylor has the ability to alter reality so as to create any naturally occurring effect within a radius of sixteen feet of herself; however due to her lack of familiarity with her power, she does not use this ability with great efficiency. Due to her low rank, her range and power are heavily restricted. (For those not familiar with the Nasuverse, within that sixteen feet, she basically has Behemoth's dynakinesis)

The White Princess: Rank E. At this rank, Taylor has subconsciously utilized this power to give herself a Brute and Mover rating of 2 by PRT classification. She has enhanced durability, strength, and movement speed. Active use of this power permits her to grow claws to fight with and boost her physical stats to E rank for a short period of time. (For those not familiar with Nasuverse rankings, an E rank is worth 10 points, an Olympic athlete in his/her prime would score a 1) Due to her low rank, many abilities are restricted. (For this ability, think self-limited Biokinesis)

Deathlessness: E rank. At this rank Taylor has a limited regenerative factor capable of healing wounds more rapidly than normal, (though not rapidly enough to be useful in combat) and her power very slowly becomes accustomed to attacks. With repeated exposure to a stimulus that causes injury, she becomes resistant to further injury by that stimulus. Due to her low rank, resistance is currently capped at twenty percent and rate of increase is very slow.

Princess of the Crimson Moon: E rank. Due to her nature as a True Ancestor, Taylor is tied more deeply to the World than the mass of humanity. As such, when she is overmatched, she can draw on planetary Prana for aid. Her low rank in this ability drastically limits the aid she can draw from this pseudo Counter Force. Granting her a maximum of 130% her normal power or thirty percent of her current enemy's maximum capability, whichever is less.

Perks

Ancestor's Guise: The body of a True Ancestor is not subject to the flaws and imperfections of humanity. Over time, Taylor's body will come to reflect her new status.

Flaws

Bloodlust (minimal): As a True Ancestor, Taylor is subject to the Bloodlust shared by all Vampiric creatures. Because she still regards herself as human has only begun to tap into her new nature, the hunger is quite minor, to the point she may not even recognize that she isn't quite satisfied by a human diet. This flaw fluctuates according to the day/night cycle and is effected by multiple other factors.

Her Rankings (if the PRT were aware of her) would thus be.
Shaker: 6
Mover: 2(3 when using Breaker abilities)
Brute: 2(3 when using Breaker abilities)
Breaker: 2
Trump: 2

Misc.

Humanity: From this point on, this will be a hidden stat. I'll be keeping track of it, but you won't be able to see it(though the discerning individual might pick up hints). This will start at 95 (due to Taylor's mindset being slightly divorced from 'normal' humanity because of her isolation and the trauma of her trigger)with a range of 100-0. BE ADVISED!!! Permitting this stat to fall too low will eventually lead to a Bad End. This stat will also influence the rate of growth of Taylor's powers due to synchronization with her shard. Please recall that Arcueid was very human for a True Ancestor.

Sanity: Another hidden stat. More or less the same as above except that Taylor's starting SAN is 50 thanks to the constant abuse she's suffered over the last year+ and her recent trigger. She's in pretty poor headspace at this point, though not as bad as she was by the time she tried to commit suicide by rage dragon, so y'all should probably try to avoid making her do things to drive her over the edge. As before, a sufficiently low SAN score will result in a bad end. Sooner rather than later.

Voting: How should Taylor react when she wakes up in her locker with super powers?

Freak out: "What the hell is happening to me?"

Relief: "Maybe I can figure out a way to get out of here."

Homicidal Rage: "Those bitches think Carrie was a scary movie? I'll show them scary!"

Something Else: Feel free to write in. If enough people agree I'll definitely see where I can take it.

Aiming for weekly updates on this. Subject to change without notice, your results may vary.​

 

[AZATHOTHoth]

[X] Relief

 

[Biigoh]

[X] Hungry and thirsty...

 

[Sol Mark-1]

[X] Relief.

The PRT are going to shit their pants when they notice Taylor growth.

 

[Helpless Kitten]

[x] relief

 

[Skaeling]

[X] Relief.

The PRT are going to shit their pants when they notice Taylor growth.

Click to shrink...

I suppose that will be up to all of you.

 

[1986ctcel]

[X] Relief.

 

[Nai]

[X] Relief

 

[jean5]

[x] Relief: "Maybe I can figure out a way to get out of here."

 

[Wawv]

[X] Relief.

 

[Cu Roi]

[X] Relief

ehehehe....AHAHAHA!! This is going to be GREAT.

 

[Tetsurō]

[X] Relief.

 

[Prince Charon]

[X] Relief.

 

[Skaeling]

I think I can see which way the wind is blowing on this. Polls closed! Thanks for your votes.

 

[Larekko12]

Like why do people do that? The I'll scan the whole world for decades to pick the one person who's just that awesome and morally good enough for X.

It just reads hollow and sorta like character shilling when they inevitably don't live up to it. I mean don't do it with say a fire fighter who's dedicated theirselves to pulling people from their doom.

Or an activist who runs programs to the help world countries build themselves up out of the gutter.

Or the second coming of MLK. Or a determined responsible adult.

I mean trusted to use the power responsibly and well? Maybe post canon Taylor who's learned a tredmendous amount from the sheer stupidity and fuck ups she made over the years. But Taylor from the Locker? She's still a sweet girl but she needs therapy and a social life ahead of super powers. She's a natural trigger and by predisposition pretty much none of them should really be on list for becoming a true Ancestor.

I mean going Carrie's right on the list starting options.


But beyond that rant.


The trigger event is kind of uncompelling as it diverges from Taylor's canon position and motivations. Compared to the sheer social isolation that the event being able to happen as in canon, the environmental danger tag seems poor. It probably would have been more compelling to simply skip it and wake up somewhere.

Issue aside I look forward to seeing how you handle learning Marble Phantasm and the deep understanding of natural phenomena that powers it. It'll be more than a bit like Psychokinesis for CYOA.

 

[korat56]

[x] Relief: "Maybe I can figure out a way to get out of here."

 

[Skaeling]

Like why do people do that? The I'll scan the whole world for decades to pick the one person who's just that awesome and morally good enough for X.

It just reads hollow and sorta like character shilling when they inevitably don't live up to it. I mean don't do it with say a fire fighter who's dedicated theirselves to pulling people from their doom.

Or an activist who runs programs to the help world countries build themselves up out of the gutter.

Or the second coming of MLK. Or a determined responsible adult.

I mean trusted to use the power responsibly and well? Maybe post canon Taylor who's learned a tredmendous amount from the sheer stupidity and fuck ups she made over the years. But Taylor from the Locker? She's still a sweet girl but she needs therapy and a social life ahead of super powers. She's a natural trigger and by predisposition pretty much none of them should really be on list for becoming a true Ancestor.

I mean going Carrie's right on the list starting options.


But beyond that rant.


The trigger event is kind of uncompelling as it diverges from Taylor's canon position and motivations. Compared to the sheer social isolation that the event being able to happen as in canon, the environmental danger tag seems poor. It probably would have been more compelling to simply skip it and wake up somewhere.

Issue aside I look forward to seeing how you handle learning Marble Phantasm and the deep understanding of natural phenomena that powers it. It'll be more than a bit like Psychokinesis for CYOA.

Click to shrink...

Alright, I'll take these in order. First you're assuming human morality. Arcuied is a pissed off True Ancestor looking for someone capable of using her powers to beat one entity(Scion) and then hunt down another(Abbadon) and kill it. Of course she is going to wait for someone that she thinks can manage it. Also please note I describe moral fortitude, intelligence, and creativity as the three criteria. Again remember, Arcuied is Not Human, she is not talking about human morality so much as she is her own definition of morality. Imperfect Narrator. She is aware that the entities eat worlds because her own was eaten, as such I submit that she would consider it entirely moral to kill the entities by whatever means necessary and entirely immoral to let them live or to replace them with something just as bad. Taylor is fairly unique in the series for being both moral(quitting the Undersiders because of the situation with Dinah) and utterly ruthless(do I even need examples?) she is also noted in canon to be intelligent and she's the Munchkin Queen. She fits the bill.

As for 'why not a firefighter-activist-MLK reborn-a responsible adult?' That would be a boring story. A random firefighter might have resolve and want to save people, but so do many members of PRT and Protectorate. Note their success rate. An activist would almost certainly make things worse, they're already convinced that they're right and everyone else is wrong. Add to that a shard's automatic desire for conflict. They'd end up just like Accord. MLK reborn? Take a look at his fellow travelers, Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton. What became of them when they got rich and powerful? Corruption. Arcuied is modeling individual's behavior and notes all of this. Granted, Skitter ended up taking over BB in canon, but even then she was looking out for people when the government failed them.

The description of her trigger event deliberately doesn't go into details. I work in the medical field, I have some idea of how disgusting the locker must have been. Some of the patients I've taken care of that had wounds where blood had been on a dressing for just a couple days smell horrific. Two weeks? I don't know that she'd have been ble to open the locker before she puked. Did you know rotting blood turns green? Now you do. I didn't feel the need to inflict the description on an unsuspecting reader. PM me if you want the gory details.

As for the Marble Phantasm, yes I'm looking forward to that as well. I would say it is half the reason I'm writing this.

 

[Skaeling]

Thanks for the support all, you picked:

Relief: "Maybe I can figure out a way to get out of here." With a Tanuki who shall remain unnamed reminding us that poor Taylor is likely to be hungry and thirsty after being stuck in her locker. So, without further ado.

Awakening 1-1​

My head struck the inside of my locker door. I must have passed out. I vaguely remember space and shooting stars or . . something. That was very, very odd, and even though I'm thirsty I don't think I've been stuck in here long enough to be hallucinating from dehydration. In fact something is still odd. Is it brighter in here? I glance down and-

Yeah, didn't need to see that. I expect to be forcing down another of my stomach's attempts to crawl up my throat, but the nausea only barely materializes before fading away. The experiment is a success on one front though, I can definitely see better than I could a few moments ago. A sudden hope strikes me. Does this mean . . maybe I have powers now? Or did I have them all along but it took being locked in here to realize it? Wait, if I have powers, maybe I can figure out a way to get out of here. [1d8 roll=1]

The first thing that pops into my mind when I think of powers is the Alexandria package, flight, toughness, and super strength. If I have super strength, it should be easy to force the door of the locker open. It also, I suddenly realize, could also be a great way to out myself as a cape. Since I don't want the single shortest lived secret identity in the history of secret identities, I resolve to take it slow.

The lock is probably the strongest part of the door, so . . . I place both hands just inside of the top hinge and start to push, trying to slowly ratchet up my strength. For the first few moments, I make precisely zero progress and I have to bite back the desire to just heave into the door. Finally, just as I'm starting to feel foolish for thinking I'd Triggered, something in the hinge breaks and the top of the locker door flexes outwards.

I freeze for just a second, the increase in light almost painful to my senses. This is real. I really do have powers. I feel a surge of elation that I do my best to curb. I definitely have better night vision than I did before, but that's hardly impressive. At best I'd get a Thinker 1 for it. I also have enhanced strength, but I really had to push to break the hinge; I wasn't going full out, but probably somewhere between two thirds and three quarters. That was what, Brute 1 or 2? Or would it be Striker? I hadn't noticed a force field or anything. Suddenly my powers didn't seem so impressive. I was tired, thirsty, and covered in my own vomit and other people's decaying blood. All I really wanted to do was go home and forget today ever happened.

So, after I broke the other hinge and scrubbed the worst of the mess off in one of the locker room shower stalls, that is precisely what I did. I caught some odd looks on the bus ride home, the smell, I imagine, was probably notable. I was almost certainly going to need to burn this set of clothes.

I let myself in the back door, thankful that I still had at least a couple of hours before Dad got home. He had enough on his mind, the last thing I wanted was for him to loose sleep worrying about me too. I headed upstairs and changed clothes then threw my soiled set in the shower and turned on the cold water. I doubted it would help, but maybe enough of the filth would wash out for me to save something.

Then I headed downstairs to experiment. I vaguely remembered there being some old free weights in a corner of the basement. [1d8 roll=5]

After about five minutes of looking, I found where dad had moved the weights to. They were in pretty bad shape. Somewhere along the line moisture had gotten to them and they were well on the way to rusting, but they were still heavy and still probably close to their marked weight. I grabbed the heaviest pair, twenty-five pound dumbbells and lifted.

I had been expecting a certain amount of resistance, instead, they came off the floor so easily I almost dropped them again. Each of the weights felt lighter than a gallon of milk. That was encouraging. With breaking out of the locker I hadn't had a frame of reference for how much of my strength I was using, now to some limited extent I did. Another thought occurred to me. Maybe my power did something like amplify my natural strength? If so, working out and improving my base strength would take better advantage of my power's amplification effect. I'd probably need to do some research on how to do a proper workout routine, but with these dumbbells I could at least get started on something before Dad got home.

For the next hour I ran through every exercise I could think of, trying to work my muscles in as many directions as I could. Another thing I noticed was that it took a lot longer than I suspected it should have for my arms to get tired from the workout so that sounded something like enhanced durability. Really leaning towards Brute rather than Striker. By the time I called it quits, my muscles were definitely starting to feel some strain, though. I would have liked to keep going, but I needed to get my clothes out of the shower to see if they could be salvaged before Dad saw them and started asking awkward questions.

Once that task was done(they were about as salvageable as I expected) I decided to start cooking something. Mother Hubbard's cupboards were on their way to bare with only a couple days left before Dad's payday, but we had milk, canned soup, bread, and sliced lunchmeat, which were the only things I needed at the moment. I timed things pretty well. I was just flipping the first grilled cheese with ham when Dad came in the front door.

"Hey, Kiddo, how you doing?" he asked before taking in the uncommon situation in front of him, "And you made dinner? What's the occasion?"

I tried not to blush in embarrassment as I dropped my chin a bit, self-consciously. I hadn't realized my habit of coming home from my daily round of torture at school and crashing from the relief had been quite that obvious, but on further review it had been weeks since I'd cooked supper for Dad. I immediately decided to do this more often. The situation with the dockworker's union was hard enough on him as it was, he didn't need to be worrying about cooking and taking care of the house after a long shift. Realizing that I hadn't actually answered him I replied, "I don't know, I guess today was just a really good day."

I was surprised by the realization that it was true. I might not have had the best morning, but I'd gotten powers out of the deal. They may not be much right at the moment, but I was also a scrawny fifteen year old who was in pretty poor physical shape. Once I worked my muscle mass up I'd almost certainly get as high as a Brute 5. Maybe even a Mover rating if my enhanced muscles let me run faster. I might not be Alexandria, but my powers would let me do some good in this city. I was going to be a hero! I couldn't quite stop the smile from that thought and Dad definitely caught it if the return smile on his face was any indication. "I'm glad to hear it," he responded as he pulled me into a hug. [1d8 roll=6]

Until I was starting to hug him back, I didn't remember my enhanced strength. Fortunately, he only huffed a bit from my initial squeeze and teased my about beating up on him. Still, it would be something important to remember. The world was suddenly much more fragile than it had been this morning.

Dad and I enjoyed our tomato soup(made with half a can of milk, not water) and our sandwiches. We even managed to have a bit of lighthearted discussion with our meal. Afterwards we tag-teamed the dishes before I went up to my room to 'do homework.' I didn't like lying to Dad, but I couldn't come right out and tell him I was brainstorming about how to be a hero.

I grabbed a fresh notepad and made notes and observations about my powers and things I'd noticed or suspected and also things to test. I also noted that in only the couple of hours since I'd finished my workout that my arms no longer hurt. Brute was almost a certainty at this point. I didn't really feel tired in spite of the day's excitement, so it came as a bit of a surprise when Dad knocked on my door to let me know he was going to sleep and reminding me it was a school night.

I,
​

Decide to turn in too, I intend to get a workout in tomorrow morning,

Decide to get some sleep, I intend to do some experimenting with my powers in the morning.

Pretend to go to sleep and wait for Dad to drop off, I want to go to the Boat Graveyard and experiment tonight.

Something else!

XXXXX

Man, there was so much I wanted to do with this chapter. I was really looking forward to starting the exploration of Taylor's Marble Phantasm. Then I rolled that one.

To explain what the rolls were set up as:

7&8: Reflexively use MP to open locker. Comes with some instinctive understanding of MP.

5&6: Try to concentrate, and calm down. Discover MP. Use MP to open locker.

3&4: Discover biokinesis and use it to open locker.

1&2: The low hanging fruit. Discover only the results of passive powers and use them to escape.

On the other hand, we did get some SAN increases this chapter. Being in a bad situation and then rescuing yourself is one of the healthier possible outcomes.

Taylor also wasn't so caught up in her power that she screwed up something at home and I didn't roll a one and accidentally squish Danny. She's now also aware that the world is made of balsa wood and is unlikely to make that mistake any time soon.

Again, I'd love constructive criticism, I want to get better as a writer, and the only way that's likely to happen is if you tell me what I'm doing wrong. Feel free to argue or try to poke holes, if only so that I get to argue back! Voting will remain open until Monday evening at or about 7 o'clockish Eastern Standard Time.​

 

[Biigoh]

[X] Decide to get some sleep, I intend to do some experimenting with my powers in the morning.

The word trigger isn't something that is common knowledge, ie Taylor didn't know about it in association with powers until after she researched it.

 

[Cu Roi]

I don't think the exact levels of ratings are known by her either.

[X] Decide to get some sleep, I intend to do some experimenting with my powers in the morning.

 

[Nai]

[X] Decide to get some sleep, I intend to do some experimenting with my powers in the morning.

 

[Drak4806]

[X] Decide to get some sleep, I intend to do some experimenting with my powers in the morning.

 

[Skaeling]

[X] Decide to get some sleep, I intend to do some experimenting with my powers in the morning.

The word trigger isn't something that is common knowledge, ie Taylor didn't know about it in association with powers until after she researched it.

Click to shrink...

Huh, you'd think someone wounds have mentioned it on PHO and then everyone would know, because internet. Fixing.

I don't think the exact levels of ratings are known by her either.


[X] Decide to get some sleep, I intend to do some experimenting with my powers in the morning.

Click to shrink...

Something that's always bothered me about the canon start. If she was such a cape fan why was she so ignorant of capes? If I was in her shoes I'd have been on PHO (probably in the versus threads) absorbing the latest gossip if nothing else. And she doesn't know the exact specifics of the ratings. She does, however, know bits and pieces. For instance, though it hasn't come out yet, she thinks the ratings are based on power rather than threat rating. Thanks for pointing it out though. I tend to have trouble keeping author knowledge from influencing the story.

 

[hunter09]

X] Decide to get some sleep, I intend to do some experimenting with my powers in the morning.

This is one Taylor that I want to join the Wards.

 

[VKing]

[X] Decide to get some sleep, I intend to do some experimenting with my powers in the morning.

 

[Prince Charon]

[X] Decide to get some sleep, I intend to do some experimenting with my powers in the morning.

 

[doomlord9]

[X] Decide to get some sleep, I intend to do some experimenting with my powers in the morning.

This is one Taylor that I want to join the Wards.

Click to shrink...

So you want her to be completely and utterly crippled? The PRT list for her powers as a Ward would be one massive page of:

• 'This is only to be used on A-Class or above threats with kill orders.'
• 'You are not allowed to use this even if Scion has gone mad and is wrecking the multiverse!'
• 'Oh dear god, why are you not in the Birdcage?!?'
• 'Oh, enhanced strength? I guess we can let you punch things. Gently! One caved in chest and you lose punching privileges too!'

 

[Skaeling]

It does seem like the PRT is, like most government organizations, part of the problem rather than making itself part of the solution.

 

[doomlord9]

It does seem like the PRT is, like most government organizations, part of the problem rather than making itself part of the solution.

Click to shrink...

To be fair they are doing exactly what the organization was designed to do, that is to slow the decay of civilizations from a tumbling freefall into a gentle slide.

The problem most people have is that they market themselves as trying to reverse it instead and they constrain themselves by PR too much to succeed at that.

 

[OverReactionGuy]

[X] Decide to get some sleep, I intend to do some experimenting with my powers in the morning.


Blood for the blood god! Skulls for the skull throne!

Taylor:-rolls in her sleep- Meh, 5 more minutes.

Vampires, even they are lazy.