Disclaimer: I don't own Worm, Worm belongs to Wildbow. I'm planning on writing an original work along the same lines in the near future though ;).
A/N: Man this chapter was a real pain in the ass to write. I spent a lot of time on this chapter, and I've gotta say I find slice of life pretty hard to write but hopefully it'll get easier as I improve. I've done so much research on NYU and the school's traditions in the last two weeks it kind of hurts to think about.
Now to get the ball rolling on the cape-thriller plot I've been outlining for weeks. Expect the pacing to pick up here quite a bit.
[Monday, 8-25-14, 6:28 A.M]
*RIIING*
*RIIING*
I gasped, waking up from what felt like an endless series of surreal nightmares.
My entire body was tingling and drenched in sweat, and my skin was flushed hot to the touch. My stump of a right arm ached with a dull pain, although hadn't really bothered me at all in the last couple of months. The unpleasant sensations wracking my body were topped off by a deep throbbing in my spine and hips.
A wave of fatigue and pain washed over me, and I wondered if I might have gotten sick yesterday. I'd felt some aches waking up yesterday, but they weren't nearly this bad.
I reached over my alarm clock and turned it around - 6:28 A.M. I had a little over an hour to get ready for the convocation event.
I groaned, struggling to push myself out of bed with my arm, and I felt a numbing vibration through my hand. I was struck by a surge of vertigo, I collapsed back onto my bed with a small whimper.
Come on Taylor, you spent the better part of yesterday filling out the leftover paperwork. It's orientation day, and you really don't want to sleep in and miss this.
There was no way I was going to stay in and miss the opening convocation ceremony after all the effort I'd spent getting into this damn college.
With a grunt of effort, I rolled over out of the bed and put on my slippers, staggering slowly to the bathroom. I flinched as I felt a jolt of pain in my lower back while shuffling over the freshly polished wooden floor. Yup, I was definitely going to skip out on the morning run today.
I turned on the shower, letting the apartment's aged heating system work as I brushed my teeth.
Three minutes later, I was blissfully standing under the hot stream of water as steam filled the room. The odd tingling sensation rapidly diminished as the soothing water cleaned the soap off my body, as did the aches and pains I felt all over my body.
I got out of the showers, shivering as a draft swept over me from the bathroom door.
Fuck, everything felt cold as shit all of a sudden.
The aches and tingles were still there, but it was much more bearable now. I finished drying myself off, and went back to my bedroom to get dressed. I threw on a simple purple crew neck t-shirt and a pair of jeans, put on my running shoes, and made my way out the door.
-o-
Walking down the street, I lazily bit into a breakfast bagel I'd bought from a deli around the corner from my apartment. One thing to do in New York checked off the list I guess. Finishing off my sandwich, I tossed the wrapper into a nearby garbage can, before taking the final step up the coach bus. Say what you will about New York, but this city really did have some of the best food in the world.
After a brief opening introduction in our respective faculty buildings, the students had been shifted outside towards a small fleet of coach buses for the university-wide convocation speech at Radio City Music Hall.
The seats on the bus I'd been assigned to were slowly being filed by my fellow students, and I sat down by a window near the back of the bus.
"Hey there!" A girl exclaimed as she walked up to my seat, "Hope this seat isn't taken. Mind if I sit with you on the ride over?"
"Go right on ahead" I replied absently, pulling my gaze from the sidewalks.
I turned towards the girl and looked her over for a moment. She had long, brown, wavy hair that reminded me of my own. She was tall and thin, standing at around five feet eight inches, just a bit shorter than me. She wore a white shirt that had the words "NYU Class of 2018" printed on it. Her green shorts were extremely flattering for her long, slender leg, and I couldn't help but feel a momentary flash of envy.
Her thin, expressive lips were curled up in a faint smile, and she had a heart-shaped, feminine face. Her brown, almond-shaped eyes were open wide with a look of curiosity and wonder as her gaze swept over my arm.
She blinked out of her stupor, and made eye contact with me.
"Hey there, my name's Holly, Holly Barrette" she said with a cheer as she sat down next to me.
"I'm Taylor, nice to meet you too Holly" I said, smiling back nervously.
"Excited about NYU?" she said with a small bounce.
"Definitely. New sights, new faces and all that, a fresh start, you know?" I responded, staring down wistfully.
With a faint clamor, the bus started up and began to drive uptown.
"Oh, are you from out of town, Taylor?"
I'm from Brockton B-
"I'm from New Haven, but I've spent the last couple of years traveling around. What about you, Holly?"
"Newton, Massachusetts. It's one of those white picket fence suburban towns near Boston. It's a real drag compared to the city here though."
"I can kind of see that, but I've always been a city girl myself" I added. "Although the longest time I've spent in a major first tier city was a year in Chicago. Chicago's gorgeous and all, but New York feels like a whole different world."
It helps that the Teeth aren't running around causing trouble here.
"So, are you dorming by any chance,Taylor?"
"Nope, I live in an apartment on the Lower East Side. It isn't exactly glamorous, but I can't really afford to dorm right now."
"Oh that's a bummer, I'm dorming in the Ivory Towers, if you ever want to come hang out" she offered. "Hey how about tonight? I make a mean souffle."
People out of their way to be nice to me just for the sake of it? Well, that was something sadly new in my life.
"Heh, maybe I'll take you up on that offer..." I muttered timidly.
We continued to make small talk as the bus made its way up Broadway. It was made pretty clear that I sucked at it but Holly didn't seem to mind. She blabbered on for a good ten minutes about how amazing everything seemed in the city, and how everything was a dump where she grew up. She'd just moved in the night before, and seemed to be well into the honeymoon period. I couldn't help but smile at her enthusiastic attitude.
"Woah." Holly suddenly whispered as the bus pulled in view of Times Square.
I whistled in agreement, staring up at the painfully bright billboards that lined this world's version of Times Square. Like on Earth Bet, the New York City of this world had had a rough patch with drugs and gang violence in the 70s and 80s. Legend's Protectorate did eventually bring the city to order, but the presence of multiple supervillain teams along with Behemoth's appearance had left a lasting injury that the city never fully recovered from.
The Manhattan of my home world had never become the commercial and cultural mecca Earth Samek's Manhattan had become.
"I-gah" I started, before a stabbing pain caused my vision to explode into starbursts.
"Taylor? Are you alright?!"
My bus companion touched my arm with concern.
I rubbed my eyes furiously, and the pain dissipated.
"Yeah, I just have a bit of a headache, that's all."
I looked up at the skyscrapers around me as the bus crawled to a stop. The Rockefeller Center of this world was virtually identical to the one I'd once visited on Earth Bet, aside from the one neat diagonal line that cut neatly through the skyline. One of Scion's stray beams had sliced through some of the skyscrapers in this area, and most of the damage hadn't been repaired yet. It was a living, somber testament to the half a million New York residents who had perished by Scion's hand.
Shaking away the dreary thoughts, I climbed out of my seat as our Orientation Leader beckoned us to get off the bus, and I made my way down the steps right behind Holly.
"Let's go!"
I yelped in surprise as Holly suddenly grabbed my hand at the bottom of the steps and rushed us into the music hall. My head still spun a little from the sudden headache, and I nearly puked as we rushed ahead. Forcing the bile down, I tried my best to keep up with the energetic girl pulling me along through the entrance hall.
Radio City Music Hall was...much more glamorous on the inside than it was from the outside. We ran ahead of the groups, and I could see thousands of students filing in behind us through the entrances, scrambling to take their seats at the direction of the Orientation Leaders.
I scanned the crowd and actually caught a glimpse of Alex standing out in the distance. He had an "Orientation Leader" t-shirt tightly stretched tightly across his impressive frame, and he was herding a rowdy crowd of incoming students into their seats on the right side of the hall.
Walking down the aisle with Holly, I took a seat near the edge and waited for the rest of the rather large incoming class to settle down.
I found a seat in the mid-corner, and slumped down comfortably into my chair. I was still a little bit on edge after the run-in with the bum on Friday and the bookstore incident on Saturday, but it was nice to have a semblance of normalcy for a change.
A plump woman in a business suit walked on-stage, and stepped up to a podium. She blew into the microphone, causing the room to fall silent.
"Good morning ladies and gentlemen, my name is Tracy West, and I am proud to introduce myself as the acting president of New York University. In the days, weeks, and month to come, we'll have thousands of hours to get to know each other, and to discuss issues of concern and importance to you."
She paused for a moment as the room erupted into a welcoming cheer. Holly clapped her hands and stood up, like everyone else, but something about the woman rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe it was the haughty way she stood despite the cheerful face she put on, like an empress towering over her empire.
"You're probably wondering why I gathered you all here today. Well, first and foremost, congratulations! You are all officially Violets!"
I pinched the bridge of my nose as I felt my headache return again, this time with a dull, buzzing and tingling sensation resonated through my body, and the dull throbbing at my right temple turned into a searing headache.
Next to me, Holly yawned and her eyes began to droop.
"I would like to start the convocation speech with a few pieces of advice. Call your mother, often! She'll worry about you every day for a while and it'll make her happy if you call her."
I felt another throb of pain, and the sounds coming out of her mouth began to distort. I ebbed in and out of consciousness.
"Alw... laund- lot- don't-"
What started as a faint buzzing rapidly escalated into something more. The sensation was awful - far worse than it had been while I was on the bus or when I woke up. I bit back the urge to scream as the buzzing intensified further.
Then, my field of vision fragmented, shattering like glass.
Everything went black.
-o-
My entire body was covered in dust and blood, and I wheezed and gasped for air as I pulled myself out from a mass of rubble.
The sky was stained red overhead, with the sun's light reflecting off of a hundred ongoing fires. My costume had been torn to shreds, and was hanging off my body in several places.
I leaned up against a wall, convulsing on the ground as warm, sticky liquid flowed and pooled around me from my wounds. The building around me was burning, and a thin, wispy cloud of smoke filled the room. Red liquid flowed freely down my torso, trickling down and dripping on the ground from my right arm, which ached with a sharp pain. I nearly choked from the blood that filled my throat, and I coughed, spitting out the sharp coppery fluid.
What the hell happened to me? Everything was so hazy and I couldn't remember.
"Well well well, If it isn't my favorite little ball of vicious terror" I heard a voice speak mockingly through the miasma.
No.
It couldn't be him.
A figure leaned against the wall on the side. He wore a simple white, blood-splattered open button-down shirt and brown slacks. He was casually twirling around a hooked knife with one hand.
"What?" he said with a lopsided grin, "Surprised to see me? You didn't think something as silly as what happened back there could keep little ol' me down, did you?"
"Fuck you" I hissed. "Stay in hell where you belong."
In an instant, I had a swarm forming around us, flooding into the building.
"Oh come on Skitter! Or is it Weaver now? That habit of yours has always been a little bit endearing, you know. Always reaching for the insects whenever something bugs you" he giggled, laughing at his own joke.
Suddenly, I felt my connection over the swarm disappear.
He laughed gleefully, relishing in my shock and surprise.
"The hell do you want?" I growled.
"I'm just here for a casual chat with an old friend" he replied idly, taking a seat on a pile of debris. "A pity I didn't nominate you when I had the chance."
"Like I would have joined your petty circus of murderers" I spat, trying to get the taste of copper out of my mouth. My right arm flared up with a stabbing pain. Yup, it was definitely broken.
He stood up, smirking at me as I struggled in vain to stem the loss of blood.
"Oh come on, Skitter. Think about it - you'd have fit right in! You hate authority figures and you're willing to rampage over entire empires to get your way. You can't deny that you've also left quite a pile of bodies in your wake getting what you want" he pointed out.
He continued his rant, "Consider all the steps you took to get here. You weigh the ups and downs of your actions, then you do what you know what has to be done, and tell everyone who disagrees to go to hell. We're the types of people who move the world, you know. Which, if I may add, you did quite literally at the end, with the entire cape population of the world and all."
Everything was so foggy...what is he talking about?
"Go fuck yourself. You're a sad, pathetic murderer with delusions of grandeur" I replied coldly, glaring up at him defiantly.
I tried to stand up to no avail. My body simply refused to obey.
Why couldn't I control my insects? The connection to my power was still there, it just refused to respond. It also didn't help that I had no idea what the hell he was talking about.
"I'd just like you to see things my way, for a moment. We terrorized the world with our reputations alone, Skitter. People would look in our general direction and shake and quiver in fear. But then we talk...and they listen oh so intently, oh do they listen. You miss it don't you? The ability to inspire and capture the attention of those around you. The ability to topple empires, to control the fates of worlds."
He stepped closer to stare down at me as I spasmed again in pain and helplessness.
"Honestly, the path you've chosen to take here will likely go down one way. I just wanted to give you a fair warning."
He pulled at his face, tearing it off like a thin paper mask. My own reflection stared back at me with a malicious grin and hollow black eyes.
The figure raised the knife, reveling gleefully at my look of shock and horror before stabbing it down at my helpless form.
-o-
"Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do.
Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do
65 calories in slim milk yogurt!
110 calories in a can of fat-free tuna!
I never have more than 400 calories a day!"
I fluttered my eyes, and I slowly lifted my head with an agonized moan.
"W-w-w-what?!
I know that I keep dropping pounds on a scale, but I look in the mirror and I still see a fat, disgusting whale.
Ch-ch-ch-check yo self!
I hate the skin I'm in!"
I swept my gaze over the room, but I really couldn't see much because the lights had been dimmed since I passed out. There was a troupe of theater students performing on the stage, half-singing and half-rapping out a Broadway style musical performance about life at NYU.
It was pretty obvious that the university was using the medium as a means to quickly but futilely deliver urban street wisdom to a room full of privileged, sheltered teens and twenty-somethings.
"Anorexia, Bullimia, and hurting yourself are only temporary solutions. If you're feeling these urges, call the hotline at 1-212-443-9999..."
I felt something shift on my left shoulder, and I turned to see Holly slumped over on my arm, fast asleep.
This girl was way too friendly and outgoing for her own good. I couldn't help but put on a faint smile - I didn't usually take to strangers well, but her personality type was all too rare in the crapsack city that was Brockton Bay.
I checked my phone, and groaned when I realize I'd somehow been passed out for over three quarters of the opening ceremony. I had been asleep for well over ninety minutes, effectively sleeping through the entire convocation speech.
So much for not missing the convocation ceremony, Taylor.
"Take time for yourself. Love yourself."
On the plus side, I felt pretty refreshed, although I still felt a lingering soreness and ache. I relaxed my body, and sighed, allowing my spirits to be lifted up by the catchy, upbeat showtunes.
"You're in New York Citayyy!
Got so much to see!
And noone can stop me, as I'm
standing on the edge of something new!
There's a million things to do -
Ready to take a bite! Out of the big oll' apple"
"Don't leave me mom...please" Holly whined next to me, clutching at my shoulders in her sleep.
Umn...
I was at a loss for how to react to that.
"Now you're in New York, New York! There's so much to see! The city that never sleeps!"
I knew better than to rely on first impressions, but god, this girl just oozed a vibe that seemed familiar to me. Holly reminded me of... well, me. The excitable, dorky pre-teen girl I had been before my mother died in the car crash. Before I experienced all the torment the Trio put me through in high school, and the nonstop slew of trauma I had to cope with in my two years as a cape.
Well Taylor, looks like you've made your first 'normal' college friend, let's not screw things up with her already.
"Ice skating in the park, holding hands after dark. We can see a barber shop! Stop for a bit of soda pop! Take a train out to Co-ney Island."
Suddenly, tears began to leak out of Holly's eyes and she sobbed faintly in her sleep. I paled a bit at that, and I gently began to nudge at her.
"This is the city that never sleeps, but watch out for the creeps on the streets and trainsss. Let's go!"
"...Mom?" she murmured slowly shifting in her sleep.
Sheesh.
"New York, New York, the city that never sleeps!"
"Show's almost over, Holly" I whispered, moving her off my shoulder.
"Get ready for the ride of your lifeeeeee!"
With one last dramatic cadenza, the song ended. Then the lights switched on, and the crowd roared into applause.
-o-
It was a warm and cozy evening, and the sun was just starting to set. Holly and I had spent most of the afternoon sightseeing around midtown, and I couldn't help but marvel at how the city managed to continue as normal despite the horrific damage Scion had inflicted. The sightseeing consisted mostly of Holly staring doe-eyed at points of interest, while I followed along and kept her company. Now she was taking me to the Ivory Towers to get a glimpse at what the NYU dorms were like.
"Ta-daaa!" Holly cheered, as she opened the door to her dormitory.
A room in the Ivory Towers was capable of housing six students per suite, and surprisingly, a good chunk of them were co-ed dorms. Holly was one of the lucky few who won the housing lottery and got her own room, and
The dorm was pretty big- I could immediately see an oversized couch facing a nice big screen TV. There was also some kind of breakfast nook with a big table, which had several bookshelves surrounding an array of comfortable looking beanie chairs
Sweeping the room, I could see two of her suite-mates - a blonde boy and a dark-skinned Hispanic girl, were sitting on a living room couch mid-conversation.
There was a faint smell of paint from the kitchen next to the entrance door, and I could see a tuft of black hair from someone who was leaning over a canvas. The two people on the couch turned their attention towards us as we walked in, and the boy walked over to greet us.
"Evening Holly, who's this? Did you bring your sister for a visit?" the guy squinted at me for asecond, looking back and forth. "Cousin?"
I took a brief second to look the boy over.
He had a average height and build, and a classic baby smooth prettyboy face. He had a neatly trimmed mop of golden blonde hair, and interestingly enough his eyes were a hetero-chromatic blue and green. He was wearing a red baseball jersey, and dark blue shorts.
Holly giggled at his awkward comment, and replied, "Nah, she's a new friend I made at the orientation. Her name's Taylor. Taylor? This is Grant."
I extended my prosthetic hand with a joking smile. To his credit, he returned the grin and shook the metal hunk in good faith, before replying.
"Sorry about that, you two really look alike you know? The wavy hair, the lips, the nose, the erm, long slender legs and oh uh uh don't take any of that the wrong way, I'm er, gay."
Me? Look like Holly? Don't make me laugh.
"Oh come on Grant, they look nothing alike," the girl on the couch said wryly while standing up to greet us.
She walked up to us with a confident swagger, and she had an interesting sense of fashion to say the least. Her wild shoulder-length mane was spiked up and dyed with a gradient of yellow to pink, and she wore a short tank top that bore her midriff for the world to see. Her denim jeans were cut off about an inch above her knee, and she had...assets. Her appearance and attitude reminded me of a grown-up, taller Aisha Laborn.
"Pleased to meet you Taylor, my name is Caitlyn. As long as you respect privacy and property rights, you'll always be welcome here... unlike a certain someone."
She mock-glared at the figure leaning over the canvas, who turned and waved with an awkward smile. The figure was a short girl of South Asian descent, who wore her hair at shoulder-length and was currently carrying a paint tray and brush. She had a musty old brown coat that was way too large for her draped over her as a paint apron.
"Namaste, pleased to meet you Taylor. I apologize Caitlyn, did you not like my color choices?"
"It has nothing to do with the colors! You got paint all over my Bass guitar and clarinet without asking, Jeevankala!"
"But they are so much more lively now, yes?"
"Erm, hold on Taylor, I need to get started on dinner guys," Holly excused herself.
"No! ...Well, just a bit, but I'm still mad because you should have asked before you took two of my instruments and turned them into a goddamn art project. You wouldn't want me to take all you art supplies and tape them together to make an instrument would you?
Jeevankala cupped her chin for a moment, before shaking her head,
"And there's the problem with-" Caitlyn began.
"I would not mind if you did that" Jeevankala answered with earnesty.
Suddenly, one of the doors in the corridor opened up, and a peach-skinned guy with square rim glasses and a ponytail poked his head out. I could faintly hear the sound of woodwind zen music emanating from his room.
"Man, what's the commotion all about? Can't a guy meditate in peace here?"
"Holly brought a friend over" Grant stated, his face frozen in a state of awkward perplexity from the exchange between Caitlyn and Jeevankala.
"The energy here is so hectic, we need more tranquility to balance it all out."
"Energy?" I asked.
"Energy! You know, auras? The fundamental forces that connect everything in the world? There are all kinds of energy, you know, if there's too much of one kind everything gets thrown out of balance!"
"I'm living with a bunch of lunatics" Grant muttered to himself. "Sorry to disturb you Carter, but we'll try to keep things down."
"Thanks! I'm going to keep meditating, any of you are free to join me."
He gave everyone a thumbs up, before shutting his door.
Jeevankala and Caitlyn took a moment to stare at the closed room before returning to their argument.
"See, I don't know where you got the ideas you have, but this is America, where we have private property rights."
"From one artist to another Caitlyn, have you never had an idea so powerful that it takes over your thoughts? When inspiration strikes, everything is like a canvas.
I couldn't help myself, and started laughing. Just a continuous, non-stop chortle, and everyone turned their heads to stare at me.
"Way to go you lunatics, you broke her" Grant deadpanned.
The last year had felt like a constant dream to me, like none of it was real and that I had truly died and gone to some sort of dissociative purgatory as I shambled day to day, living, but not quite living at the same time.
I knew I was a basket case - all the signs of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder were there. The only reason why I continued to live on was because Dad had been the singular source of comfort that had grounded me to reality where I felt like I could have snapped at any moment.
It would take a while for me to accept the peaceful, simple, normality that had fallen around me, laughing, chatting, just being in the company of human beings.
It was sobering to realize, then and there, that it was these small, seemingly insignificant moments that made life worth living.
Now if only I could keep these peaceful and simple aspects of life away from the psychopaths with superpowers this time.
The night is dark and full of red herrings.