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A Worm Fanfic
The Taste of Peaches
By: Grounders10
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2
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When Taylor woke up she was surprised to find herself tucked under the covers of her own bed. It wasn't that she had expected to wake up in jail, or in the hospital, but after the last couple of days waking up in her bed with the sun pouring through her window was odd. It felt strangely surreal after walking through a battlefield that was literally pulled from myth. Assuming she hadn't just imagined it all.
She tried to sit up, but stopped and slid back down to lie on her side instead when she felt a sharp pain in her backside. She rolled to the side and flipped back her covers.
Nine long and fluffy raven-haired foxtails greeted her. As she watched they twitched and moved in an irritated manner, matching her mood.
She let out an explosive sigh and fell back onto her pillow. "I have a tail, tails." She said to the room. That hadn't been a strange dream. She really had climbed a mountain, explored a battlefield frozen in time, and maybe been turned into a god? Assuming they weren't just crazy parahumans.
She held out a hand in front of her. Her skin tone was normal, her fingers looked normal. Still that wasn't enough to know what her experience had changed. She needed a mirror. Her covers were knocked to the floor as she sat up and swung her legs under her.
The door to her room clicked as the doorknob turned and it swung open before she could stand up. Her dad, Danny Hebert, paused in the doorway. "Taylor." He smiled, "you're awake."
He stood in the doorway, looking awkward. "It is you Little Owl?" He asked.
She grimaced at the doubt, but then glanced back at her tails. In a world of strangers and masters, it was only natural doubt when your daughter shows up after being missing for several days with new body parts. Not that it meant it hurt any less.
Taylor nodded. "Yeah. The last couple of days were, rather strange." She admitted.
Danny hesitated for a moment before crossing the room and pulling her into a hug. "I was so worried." His breath tickled her ears. Her ears?
"Dad." She asked, giving him a tentative hug back. "Um, is there something on top of my head?"
He pulled back looking hesitant. "You don't know?" He said.
She shook her head. "What does it look like?" She asked. It felt like her ears had moved.
He swallowed nervously. "You have animal ears on top of your head." He said, brushing one with a hand.
She flinched and withdrew, her hands going to her head. She quickly found the twin triangles of fur that her ears had become. She gulped and her hands dropped into her lap.
"What happened?" Her father asked.
She licked her dry lips. "A lot." She said. A low rumble interrupted her and they both glanced down at her stomach. She blushed as her father chuckled.
"You're hungry?" He asked with a smile.
"Maybe a bit." She admitted. Two days without food was a long time. Even if she hadn't seemed to need it then, it now felt like all that time was catching up with her.
He patted her on the shoulder and stood up. "I'll get started on food then." He said, "Get cleaned up and come on down."
Taylor paused. "Are you saying I stink?" She asked flatly. Her father merely chuckled as he left the room. She gave herself an experimental sniff and coughed. Well, it might not have been flattering, but she definitely needed a shower. Turned out that two days of walking built up a sweat even if you weren't paying attention.
She shot a glance at her new tails. Could she even fit in the shower anymore? Did she have enough shampoo? She sighed and stood, her tails waved about and for a moment she nearly overbalanced before something clicked and she found her balance. A couple tentative steps proved that she wasn't in danger of falling over… though she did need to learn to control her tails. Her alarm clock was undamaged, but next time it might be something more valuable.
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One awkward shower later, wherein she discovered that yes she did have enough shampoo, just; and that a normal shower was a fairly tight squeeze for a tall fifteen-year-old teenage girl with nine fluffy fox tails about as long as she was tall (the suds had coated everything); she entered the kitchen.
She paused at the base of the staircase. Through the doorway into the kitchen, she could see her dad working at the stove. She could hear the snap-pop of cooking bacon and the smell was heavenly. Her stomach growled and she blushed as Danny glanced over his shoulder at her.
"I was wondering when you were going to come down." He said, flipping some bacon as she entered. "I was about to come and check on you."
"Washing nine tails took a bit longer than normal." It hadn't taken too much longer, but there were nine of them. She went to sit down at the table and paused. Sitting in what was usually her spot was a very familiar fox. It looked up at her and she would swear it was smiling at her.
"Dad, why is there a fox here?" She asked, staring it in the eye. It looked away without a care as her dad came over and placed a plate of bacon, eggs, and toast in his seat.
"Sit, eat." He told her, "And I was hoping you could tell me. It showed up last night and has been sitting here since."
Sliding sideways into the offered chair she frowned at the fox that was eyeing her breakfast. "Don't you dare." She said to it as she piled bacon and eggs on toast. It smiled at her, tongue lolling out of its mouth as it tried to play innocent. She knew better, however. It was a fox, it was far from innocent by default.
"Taylor?" Her dad prompted.
She sighed. "I think it's the same fox I spent two days following around." She said.
"Excuse me?" He asked, "You followed a fox around for two days?"
She grumbled and took a bit of her breakfast. The bacon was a bit overcooked, but the crunch made her mouth water more. She moaned slightly as she ate, one eye constantly watching the fox as it tracked each bite, that same silly expression on its face. Finishing that slice of toast she started piling another one up.
"Taylor."
She paused. "Can I finish eating first?" She asked, looking up at her dad. Without realizing it her tails and ears had both drooped as she pouted at him.
"I- Sure." He said with a smile, before promptly stealing one of her pieces of bacon.
"DAD!" She complained before going back to her food. She paused and counted the bacon. Her eyes slid up to the fox. It chewed twice before swallowing the two pieces of bacon it had stolen. Its tongue lolled out and it yawned smugly before curling up into a ball. "Can I get more bacon?" She asked.
"We've got a little more."
Twenty minutes, three more stolen pieces of bacon, and enough eggs and toast to feed ten people Taylor and Danny retired to the living room. Taylor curled up on the couch, her tails wrapping about her legs like a large fluffy blanket. It was rather cozy. The fox stole the foot stool while he father sat down beside Taylor. She leaned against him and he wrapped an arm about her shoulder.
"How long was I gone?" She asked once they were settled.
"You were gone for two days. I called the police when you didn't come home." He said quietly, "They… they found your locker."
Taylor winced. "Some bullies decided I looked small enough to fit and shoved me in. An end of year prank." There was no way she was telling her dad about who had actually done so. "I'd have been out just if it wasn't for that janitor leaving me in there." Stupid cowardly old bastard. Leaving someone locked in their own locker just because of a stupid prank someone else had done? She scowled, baring teeth as she did.
"They found out about the janitor." Her father said, "He's in quite a bit of trouble as far as I understand it."
"Good."
"They also found that your locker had been forced open from the inside. Then slammed shut hard enough to break steel." Danny continued, "They called the PRT."
"Oh." The Parahuman Response Team was the federal organization responsible for handling all crises involving parahumans. Whether it was as minor as someone with the power to create bubbles from nothing or a murderer who could levitate a car it fell under their responsibility. The moment parahuman involvement was hinted at the police were required to call them in.
The PRT was partnered with the Protectorate, a government sponsored team of Parahumans who operated jointly with the all normal agents of the PRT. Brockton Bay played host to the Protectorate East North-East team, or ENE for short. They were responsible, as Taylor understood it, for the protection of Brockton Bay and a large part of New England.
"They had a team here last night. It was their paramedic that said you just needed sleep." He said with a sigh.
Then they knew she had powers. Even just looking like she did was enough to fall under their jurisdiction. She shifted nervously and hugged a tail to her chest. The fluffy appendage was comforting, like a teddy bear. Her father hugged her tighter.
"Relax. You aren't in trouble." He said quietly, "They've got a team around the house for the moment. Just in case of more trouble. I let them know you woke up while you were in the shower. A representative of the PRT will be arriving in an hour with someone from the protectorate."
She sighed and leaned against her dad. An hour until she had to answer questions. What did she tell them? 'By the authority invested in me by Thor, Poseidon and Amaterasu I am a Goddess, bow down and worship me!'? She snorted at the thought. It was absurd and would only end with her in a nice padded cell eating horrible hospital food. Or the birdcage if they thought she was dangerous enough.
"Hmmm?" Her dad prodded her. "So, how does getting stuck in a locker lead to…" He waved at her then the fox. It continued to watch them passively, but preened for a moment when Danny gestured to it.
Taylor sighed. "Well, it started with me kicking open my locker after the Janitor left me locked inside…" She said, launching into a very abbreviated description of her two day trip. She made sure to leave out the whole 'god' thing. He didn't need to know that. Hell, she didn't know what it meant. When she finished ten minutes later her father was staring at her with an expression she was having a hard time recognizing.
"You ate the peach, because of that." He looked to the fox who yipped.
"Yes?" She said tentatively. It hadn't been the smartest thing she'd ever done that was for sure. Right up there with taking her mother's flute to school. "In my defense I was frustrated from climbing a mountain for two days. I… really wanted there to be a point to the whole thing…" She sighed.
Danny echoed her before pulling her into a hug. "Just- don't do anything that foolish again. If I lost you to- I just…"
She hugged him back. Their lives hadn't been the same since her mother died, neither talked much anymore, but the thought of losing her father as well was… "I'm sorry." She whispered. They stayed that way quietly hugging one another for a few minutes before her father released her and she slowed pulled back as well.
"So…" He paused, then looked at the fox. "That leads to the question of why your guide there is here."
"Maybe it's part of my powers?" She offered. Honestly as far as powers went having pet fox that stole your bacon was far from the worst.
"Or," a third smooth asian accented voice said, "You could ask the fox."
Both of them turned to look at the fox. It smiled smugly at them. "Hello~ Magical Spirit Guide Inari-Chan~ Reporting as needed Desu~!" She saluted.
Taylor stared for a long moment at the talking fox before turning to Danny. "How old was the Bacon?" She asked.
"Kurt brought it over yesterday." He replied absentmindedly. "It should have been fine. Maybe it was the apple juice."
The fox dropped its salute and sighed. "You are not crazy. I, the great and glorious Inari-Chan, am here to explain everything." It paused. "Also the food was delicious. Can I have some more? Especially the apple juice."
"No." Taylor said at the same time her dad said, "Maybe."
She glanced at him. "Dad." She complained.
"Depends on what she has to say." He replied, looking pointedly at the fox.
'Inari' grinned. "How about that your daughter left a few things out." She said.
Her dad turned to look at her as she realized what the fox was saying. "Don't." She said forcefully.
The fox just smirked. "What? You're more than one of these mortals playing with cursed power." It did.
"Taylor, what is it talking about?" Her dad asked. He frowned at Inari. "And why is she saying mortals?"
"I-" What did she say? What could she say that wouldn't sound like she'd lost her mind?
"Just tell him." She glared at the fox, who was still smirking at her. "Seriously?" Inari sighed. "Fine I'll do it."
"Why can't you stay quiet like on the mountain?" She ground out.
"Because if you can't trust your father then who can you trust?"
Taylor stopped, her next angry remark on her lips died before it could be properly vocalized. It was a simple question. No, not a question. It was a statement. Family and trust. This was her dad, the only person she could call family left in the entire world and yet…
When had she stopped trusting him?
"Taylor?" Her dad asked gently, resting a hand on her arm.
She could feel her ears flattened against the top of her head. It was easy to know. She'd complained to herself about how lifeless he was for years now. Ever since her mother died. "I left a few things out." She admitted quietly.
He wrapped an arm around her. "I gathered." He said, "But what did you leave out?" He didn't say it, but she could almost feel him asking, 'and why didn't you trust me with it?'
"Because you'll think I'm crazy." She said, answering the unsaid question instead.
"We're sitting here." Danny said, waving at the room. "You have a bunch of very pretty fox tails." She blushed at her dad's compliment in spite of herself. "And we've just discovered that the fox that has been hanging around all day talks. At this point I'm fairly open to ideas."
She snorted and looked away. "Get on with it." Inari said from her seat on the footstool. "Booooo. More admissions, less stalling."
"Just… just be quiet." Taylor groaned before sighing. "I left out a bit between when I bit into the peach and when I got home." She admitted before telling Danny everything she had left out.
"Poseidon? Thor?" He repeated back to her.
She nodded. "And Amaterasu. I'm not sure where she's from, but I'm guessing mythology somewhere?" She said.
"Shinto, from Japan." Inari interjected. "Amaterasu was the Goddess of the Sun and ruler of the heavens."
"Gods." Danny repeated.
Taylor sighed. "Probably just a bunch of ancient parahumans who thought they were gods without knowing better." She said. No one believed in the classical gods these days. There was a reason they were 'classic'.
Inari scoffed. "A God and Parahuman are very different things." She said, sitting up.
"Oh really?" Taylor asked challenging the fox with a frown.
"I know, because I was a Shinto Goddess before." Inari said before coughing daintily into a paw and waving it in the air. "Now, sit back, relax, and let your Magical Spirit Guide Inari-Chan explain everything."
Taylor frowned, but leaned back against her father who wrapped an arm around her. "Let's hear your explanation for this then." He said. He sounded worried to Taylor. More worried than he had in a long while.
Inari made a noise that sounded like she was clearing her throat, an odd sound to hear from a fox. "The difference between a Parahuman and a God is at its most basic one of internal versus external power. The power of a god is born from their nature and informed by the perceptions of others and themselves." She said. "Their powers can be broken down into those general and domain. Increased durability, strength, speed, intelligence. All gods have these to differing degrees and can increase most of them through time and effort. Magic also falls under here, but not all gods pursue the mystical arts so we'll cover that later."
"Now, domain refers to that which defines a god's personal powers. Things like Zeus and Thor being Gods of Thunder. Both summon lightning and have influence over the sky. Poseidon, who was there as well, is god of the seas and naturally has a great deal of control over both them and anything that can affect them. Storms over the ocean for example. Amaterasu is the Goddess of the sun and if you recall even her ethereal echo glowed like the sun." Taylor nodded.
"She was hard to look at, but the light was so warm and comforting." She admitted.
"Exactly. Now, with Zeus and Thor both are Gods of Thunder, but if you look back at their legends this manifests itself fairly differently. This is because as I said before their powers are informed by their perceptions, and those of others. Others being the culture in which the God originated. Some of this is psychosomatic, personal perceived limitations of a concept. The perceptions of others, however, tend to be more physical in its presence. I, as an example, was the Goddess of Foxes. Part of the reason I shaped this fragment of me as I did. It was one of the earliest Domains of mine that I discovered. Now, being Goddess of Foxes this led to me commanding Foxes and many of my servants were thus Foxes. On the other hand Foxes have a reputation in Japan as tricksters and this shaped how my power manifested. I could shapeshift, taking whatever form I desired."
She paused. "With me so far?" They nodded. Taylor continued frowning. It was interesting, but she was waiting to see how this was different than just any other parahuman. "Good. Well, Domains can be gifted. I set aside some of my own, including my domain of Foxes, and gave them to you last night at the peach tree."
"What?" Taylor flinched as her father jerked forward suddenly.
Inari's ears laid back. "I'll explain later. This is a really detailed subject and we've only got…" She glanced at the clock on the wall. "Twenty minutes before your PRT is supposed to arrive. I'd like to get through this before they get here."
"Dad." Taylor said, taking her turn to calm him. He grumbled, but sat back. She was worried as well. Hadn't there been a cape that had the ability to give temporary powers a while back? Only he'd been sent to the birdcage after it had been discovered it was addictive and he'd been using it to influence those he had gifted.
"Right, where was I… I gave you my Domains of Foxes, Industry, Agriculture, and Fertility." Inari smirked at the last one.
"Excuse me?" It was Taylor's turn to glare at the Fox.
She seemed unconcerned as she did that wiggle thing again. "I'm sure you'll find a use for it somewhere." Taylor hadn't known that Foxes could waggle their brows before, now she could say that yes they could and did.
"Moving on." Her dad said with a tight voice.
"Yes, yes. Let's ignore the implications of the last three and focus on the first." Inari said, still smirking. "Foxes. I've already said how my people's perception of Foxes coloured my ability to interact with that Domain. With you it has had something of a more obvious effect." She gestured at Taylor's tense and twitching tails. "Something about modern perceptions has caused you to have a more permanent sign of your divine status as Goddess of Foxes. What else this might have done I have no idea. Time and experimentation will be your friend. At the same time if you recall back in the Peach Garden you showed off some lightning. So you probably have some form of Thunder as a domain."
Inari stretched. "And that is the basics of where a God's powers come from and how they are shaped. Very basic, we can cover more later when we have time. Now, Parahumans. Mhmm, mhm mhm. Parahumans. Mortals playing with power that they don't understand and many never asked for."
"Remember how I said internal vs. external?" The Fox spirit asked. They both nodded. "Excellent. Well, as I've shown a God's power comes from within, growing as they age, experiment, and practice. A Parahuman's power does none of these things because it isn't their power. A parahuman is a conduit for extra-dimensional entities perceive this realm and they grant some form of power to those they connect with. Why? Well I have no idea why the modern ones act like this, but back during our last war, the one whose battlefield you walked through, the Entity we were fighting granted our enemies powers in exchange for acting as it's weapons."
She paused as they digested that. "That Entity failed. It can't provide powers to anyone on Earth, any Earths, because it can't get close enough to make such a connection. Not anymore."
"So where do modern parahumans come from? If they aren't gods, and they aren't natural…" Taylor trailed off. She still wasn't convinced, but… Something about it… Felt right? It was an odd feeling that seemed to tell her she could trust what this strange fox was saying.
"That is connected to why I'm here and you aren't just blundering around blind like every other new generation of Gods." Inari said.
"Why would they be wandering around blind?" Danny asked.
Inari sighed. "Because somewhere along the way leaving cryptic messages to the next generation became the 'thing' gods were supposed to do. Make cryptic references, a little encouragement, just tell them to follow their heart. Sound familiar?" She asked Taylor.
She nodded. That sounded exactly like what the three at the Peach Garden had told her. "Yeah." She admitted, "It does." And by the Gods it had sounded completely useless.
"Yeah, thing is normally there's a bit of a gap between one world ending crises and the next. A few centuries between extraterrestrial incursions. Now, Natural Gods, that is those who are born from mortals, crop up every hundred years or so. Gives them at least a hundred years to figure out what happened, how their powers work and all that jazz." Inari rubbed her cheek with the back of a paw. "That is how things normally go. Get killed, next generation, training montage, beat up next threat, rinse and repeat. This time the next threat showed up seventy years later. And not just one, but two."
"Hold on a second." Taylor's dad held up a hand. "How do you know this? According to you and Taylor this war happened a hundred years ago. How do you know what has been going on?" And that was the thing that Taylor hadn't been able to put a finger on.
"Seeing the future is well within the abilities of the gods. Especially those whose domains are connected to fate, time, or the future." Inari replied.
"Precognition." Taylor said.
"That. Also while I may be just a spirit now, I can still operate the many great machines we left behind. Including those designed to watch for such threats. Two more like the entity we defeated were foreseen to approach the planet. One had a collision with the previous entity we had encountered and then crashed and died on another Earth. I have no idea where the other one is or what it is doing. Unfortunately maintenance requirements became a bit more than a lesser spirit with paws like myself could maintain alone." Inari pouted and sighed. "Still, these parahumans are demonstrating powers like those from the war. This entity seems to pick those who are possessed by great despair and grant to them a power appropriate for the horrific situation they're in. At least from what I can gather. I don't know if some also make deals with it like with the other one, but for all I know this was what the other entity had intended to do after getting rid of us."
"I see…" Inari felt like she was telling the truth to Taylor. Maybe it was the emotion in her voice. Maybe the way she held herself. As much as that applied to a Fox. Danny stood up. "Dad?" Taylor asked.
He ran a hand hand through his frazzled dark hair. "Give me a second." He said, pulling off his glasses so he could rub a hand across his face. "Assuming you aren't taking us for a ride, what now?" He asked after a minute of silent rumination.
"Now I help prep your daughter to save the world." Inari said, "That's why I went behind the old fogies backs and set up this extra contingency."
Save the world? Taylor blinked and sank into the couch. Her? From… Some great extraterrestrial threat? A threat that was somehow behind every Hero and Villain in the world? "I don't… I got locked in my locker by a couple of bullies. How can I save the world?" She asked.
"Taylor..." He dad turned to face her with an anxious expression.
Inari snickered. "By getting stronger. No God starts out as some all power unstoppable warrior. Sure a lot of them spread stories that make it seem that way, but they didn't. I worked my way from a mere demi-goddess until I was, and technically am if you ignore my current state, the most popular God or Goddess in Japan." She rolled over, paws pointed at the ceiling. "I'm not saying you need to go out there, hunt down the bad guy and save the world like you are. You'll need time to learn and grow before you can do that. That's why I left this fragment of me behind. You may not have the traditional century to figure things out, but between the two of us we should be able to get you up to speed in a couple years."
"Still…" Taylor licked her lips. "One of these things fought every god that was alive at once and… he basically won. They all died."
Inari snorted. "We died because we had too many enemies to fight. Rogue gods, creatures that hated us for one reason or another, mortals that just wanted to blame us for one thing or another. We had enough enemies. All it had to do was give them the power and point them at us. We didn't realize what we were fighting until we were already pushed back. The beast itself isn't that tough, but many of its minions were able to throw down with us even without its gifts. With them?" She sighed. "The good news is that I don't believe this one has an army. And I'm sure there are more than a few parahumans who might be willing to help as well."
"Excuse me? They can do that?" Danny asked. Taylor nodded. It seemed ridiculous. Who gave away a power that could be used against them?
"We learned that a gifted power stays until death. Not even that entity could take them away without killing the user first. So, yeah. The Heroes will probably want to help if they learn of it. Though I wouldn't go telling them until you can actually prove it. I mean, extra dimensional aliens granting powers to people just because? It sounds like bad science fiction." Inari laughed.
"And Gods sound so much more real?" Danny asked as he sank back into his chair, glasses held in one hand.
"There's one in this room." Inari said, looking Taylor in the eye.
Was there? She frowned at the fox as she ran one hand through the long hair of her tails. It was calming. This… Why did Inari sound like she was telling the truth?
Because part of her really wanted this to be true. To be something more than just… just Taylor Hebert. Too tall, too thin, too ugly Taylor Hebert. Not being just that Taylor anymore, what would she give for that?
The doorbell ended any further introspection. Danny sighed and stood up, heading for the door and leaving the two of them alone. Inari hopped off her footstool and climbed up on the couch next to Taylor.
"So." The former Goddess said with a wide foxy grin, "You and me. We're going to save the world."
"Yeah." Taylor replied weakly, "Let's do that."