by Louis IX
Check first chapter for disclaimer and global warnings.
No GamerYay!
I triggered!
Or… so I think, anyways: there's this translucent blue window in front of my face, which tells me that I slept well and refilled my energy. Said energy was even cleanly displayed as a bar, in my field of view – in front of my face, again. It means that it moves with my head, but not with my eyes, thankfully, as it allows me to actually look at it.
And, apparently, I'm the only one able to notice it. Mom didn't seem to have noticed it when she woke me up, and afterwards too, when I go about my morning rituals.
I read, somewhere, that powers are bullshit, and that powers can be vastly different from each other. Watching the window, and the others besides it, I quite agree. Apparently, my power is not some fixed Brute or Blaster or anything easily categorized (according to the PRT).
My trigger seems to have given me a way to live my life as if it was a video game. If it's coherent with what I know, I can be anything I want! I can choose my own path! Like the hero Dauntless, but with even more versatility… I believe.
I can't help but smile, even as I brush my teeth, as I realize that my power has adapted to me. I can even customize the "interface" to really look like those online games I spent hours playing in – yeah, they might stay in the past if I can play my real self as a character.
But enough daydreaming! I have played this kind of game many time before, and I know the basic concepts already! Which means… time to grind! And as I start to run to catch my bus to school (and jog around the stop to wait for it), I smile as I notice the increases in the related skills.
In the bus proper, I take advantage of the lull in physical activity to completely customize the "screen" to my tastes, and observe my surroundings.
And acknowledge the various notices the "game" sent me already: Observe skill unlocked; Running skill improved; Vitality improved… and then there were those from yesterday, too.
I realize that it must be when I triggered. Given the fact that I wasn't sure, it means that it was relatively harmless, and that I'm quite lucky in that regard. I believe that neither of my parents is a cape, which means that I would normally have to suffer a "first-gen trigger" which, studies say, are quite awful.
Me? Given that I read notices of the Running skill being unlocked, as well as some basic resistances to damage and street fighting, it must have been when I was pushed around by the jocks, whom I fled as soon as I could – it was their idea of a monthly joke: stuffing me in a trashcan, head first. Since the previous time, I had gotten an infection from the glass shards at the bottom, I really really didn't want a repeat occurrence.
I haven't even noticed the windows opening in my field of view, and soon ended up back home, and then in bed, dead on my feet. I haven't even logged onto PHO for my normal evening's worth of trolling their forums – I still will do it from time to time (between bans, I mean) because it's still easy money from the contact that started me on them. Some NumberGuy or something.
Greg Veder vs. the World? You can bet that I'll win!
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Dear Diary,
I just got home from yet another Wednesday at Winslow.
Yet another day spent in school, yet another day of fitful and fruitless playing the sycophant for Emma. I still wonder why I had been approached for this task… and paid, too. Especially as the shawl-covered woman with the sunglasses, not discreet enough to hide the fact that she was Emma's mother, had paid others to do the same, such as Julia. And the less said about what Emma's dad gives to Sophia, the better.
Not that, creeps.
I'm not stupid, you know? A violent girl like Sophia would normally be at the bottom of the totem pole, in the eyes of the faculty. But since she has a lawyer in her corner, Blackwell couldn't bend far enough backwards to accommodate her – yes, she's a track "star", but she's far from the only one good enough in sports to gain a grant, later, and certainly not the better adjusted.
Whatever the case, I must have found our upending of colourful drinks on Taylor and her things particularly repulsive, today, because it seems that I triggered.
Empathic triggering by proxy? Is that even possible? I sought answers online, only to find none… and I gained a new skill: "Information Gathering".
That's a thing, apparently. As is "Social Networking"… without internet. Who would have thought?
Also, I don't care that I'm feeling more and more like one of those nerdy gamers: those various little quests, giving all those experience points, leading to levels, leading to better scores, leading to better popularity?
Colour me interested, indeed. Emma's gonna freak, though.
Now, if only I had the answer to that question: if I could trigger from that, why didn't I when Sophia pushed her in the locker? Proximity? Sophia was the closest. Did she trigger?
My new skills seem to make me more observant, and I'll get to the heart of the problem. In the meantime, there's homework to be done. And with said skills, it's really a breeze, now. Perhaps I'll stop stealing Taylor's?
Write to you later,
Madison
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In the dead end of a dead end alley, two shadowy characters exchanged words.
"I dunno, Jorg, it's like this screen, ya know?"
"What, Matt? Like this one, in the apartment there? The telly?"
"No! Like those games the rich kids play. I have one in front of mine eyes, now, like, all the fucking time."
"Have you tried closing it?"
"I'm no genius, man! If I was, I'd know what all this shit means."
"Try poking at it with your finger. See anything looking like a button?"
"Yeah, there's this "Warning, low Int" stuff, there, and another one. Wait, it goes… "click-here-to-allocate-starting-resources-" Oh! It changed!"
"Surely because you can barely read it already."
"Shut it. You're no better! They said so, in school: everybody's the same, and undispunsible or sum'thing."
"So, what does it say, now."
"Sigh. Just click here."
"Sigh?"
"Yeah, it's written "Sigh". And "here" is all bold, with many arrows leading to it. It might be to attract the attention so that users are encouraged to target the button."
"Your speech… you clicked it?"
"Yeah, I did. And it's frustrating to suddenly discover that you've been a dumbass all your life."
"Watch it, dumbass. I can still knock your teeth out!"
"Well… yes. For now. As soon as I gain enough points, I'll select Strength, and Brute powers."
"Back to being a grunt, then?"
"At least I'll be one able to read. Who knows? I could be grunt-in-chief."
Snorts were heard for a while, afterwards.
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"Hello, Wards!" Assault exclaimed in his usual over-the-top manner… which always made Dennis smile. "I come with news… and a new friend! This is Charlotte!"
"Hi!" the new girl said shyly.
"She goes to Winslow, so, Sophia, you can explain things better."
"Wait, you are a Ward?" Charlotte asked when Shadow Stalker removed her mask, only to sneer.
"What about it, short stuff?"
Charlotte looked at the girl and stepped forwards… and up, since the entrance was lower than the rest of the room. But the two small steps weren't enough to explain the size difference that was apparent when the newbie reached the vigilante: Charlotte was now towering over Sophia by a good head, even though the angry Ward was standing up with her heels raised, almost on her tip toes. She still winced in preparation for what could be quite a fight.
The other there were quite surprised and didn't react despite the sudden move. Thankfully, that wasn't warranted, as Charlotte only smirked before stepping back.
"You've grown?" Vista asked. "Not that I mean, like, normally, but… my power, it's based on space, and I noticed some changes."
"Yeah. It's been a few days already, and my power gave me some boosts to defend myself around my parents' apartment. I can grow on demand. It costs mana points, though."
"Mana points? What are those?"
"Well… it's like a video game, right? And there's this character, which I play…"
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"That's bad, Skids."
"No shit, Sherlock." the called Merchant leader nodded. "This cocksucker died before he could do great things."
"Why did you put him in such an arena?"
Skidmark rubbed the various scars that he'd gotten thanks to his peculiar lifestyle, while searching for a valid answer. "Power, like, they're bullshit, right? Normally, people trigger, and, bam! They're capes, and can do stuff."
"He couldn't do much, though. Complained about having locked himself out of the options menu because of his drunken choice of "insane and gory" as difficulty level. Of what, I've no idea."
"Insane and gory, huh?" the Merchant leader asked, toeing the fresh remains. "Works as designed, I'd say." he mumbled, before shrugging. "Whatever. He said he triggered when smoking pot in Winslow. Go there and offer discounts, see if we can get more. If it works, you can even offer freebies all you want, and we'll have a militia. To fuck with Miss Militia."
He grinned, but his lieutenant wasn't interested in his puns – or his mouth.
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"Oh great Lung, we have a new cape among us." underling lieutenant Roku said, bowing low to his Lord.
"Bring them." the beast rumbled.
A girl was brought forwards, trembling. "Greetings, Lung-dono." she forced herself to utter.
"This one is polite, at least." Lung remarked. He then approached. "What can you do?"
"Not much, for the moment. But I have made research, and I can tell you that, with training, I'll become stronger."
"Like those animes? Mangas? Dragonballs?"
"I don't know about that, great Lung, but I will train, and train again, and report to you. That is, if you agree, of course."
A snort conveyed a puff of smoke. "I agree." the gang leader turned to his lieutenant. "Train her well." A pause. "In combat."
"Of course, great Lung."
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The first to notice that something was amiss was Madison. Thanks to her numerous increases, over the days, in Charisma and related skills (and perks), she realized that she wasn't the only one to have triggered recently… and in the same manner.
She also realized that many of them got quests in the same vein, when they were close to each other. Such as when a fire broke out and all the "Gamers" (a name she had come up with spontaneously) got a quest to flee to safety and help the others.
She noticed Charlotte's glances between her face and something she was undoubtedly reading, given her eye movements. And she could Observe the fact that Charlotte was now a Ward, too. The two of them got closer.
"Secret identities are going to be a pain in the ass, you know that?" the Ward said.
"I hear you, sister." Madison sighed. "And we're not alone."
The third wheel to attach to the party was Greg, and he was smiling like mad. Only the lack of response to his "high-five" request brought him back to his normal level of ebullience. That is, like a toddler on caffeine. "Hi! Are we going to make a party out of this?"
"A party?" the two girls asked.
"Yeah. You don't know? It's like those MMO games, and I tried with Sparky, my friend over… well, he's not here right now. So I know it works with normal dudes. So I guess it can work among us players, rights? Let me just find the menu. And here it is!"
The two Gaming girls got the notification, as well as some explanations, and chose to accept… for the moment. And as they went their own ways afterwards, they met others and brought them to the party too.
Despite the fact that two of them belonged to gangs, yes. Teenagers could have the cognitive dissonance to make associations with disreputable figures if they were interesting enough.
And once the party was full (well, the Merchant one was dead, so it was a dead end on his part), they got a group quest… one that made Madison's breath hitch.
"Free Taylor."
Several of them had worried, at a time or another, that their power might be Mastering them, because they got rewards when doing things a certain way. That worry had always been pushed to the side, because they were still free to choose, and reject quests… despite the fact that these overgrown kids all had hard-wired gratification disorders, and generally chose to indulge in their various quests, each with a specialty or several (and a reward or several).
As the most socially able, Madison noticed that more and more students joined their group – or, instead, their "group of people with similar power". And that didn't stop when Taylor was freed from the bullying and from Emma and Sophia.
Because, as she soon realized when Taylor joined their group with a specific title, Taylor wasn't a regular player. As the human host for Queen Administrator, she was a Game Master. In some universes, she could rule millions of insects. Here, she could guide thousands of freshly-triggered parahumans.
And she made good use of the Rule Zero.
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To be continued… with an eventual level-appropriate adventureAuthor's Notes: Inspiration for this one? One too many re-read of all the (mostly good) Worm/Gamer fanfics around the place, especially those where Taylor is not the Gamer. To cite a few: Greg Veder vs the World (obviously), Co-Op Mode (for the party idea), A Bad Name, The Most Dangerous Gamer, etc.