You wake up and get out of bed, only to stumble as your limbs feel a bit too short. You write it off as just being tired, only to find that your viewpoint is… significantly lower to the ground than you would have expected. You look down at your limbs… and they seem wrong. Not only are they the wrong color, but they are also smoother, younger looking than you remember. Your glance around the room shows you that this is not your room, but rather a hotel room.
Quickly, you run over to the bathroom to look in the mirror, and you find yourself looking at yourself. Except it's not you. You're looking into the reflection of a…
[X[Sex] Boy
[Sex] Girl
that's just started to go through puberty, transitioning from the childlike frame of before into a newer adult one. You have dark brown hair and proportions that seem just a touch wrong for your body. Your arms seem slightly longer than they should be, your head looks a touch too large. All in all, you look like a generic pre-teen.
All of these things would not be so odd if you did not remember being a twenty-five-year-old junior software developer at Nile, the premier online marketplace. Did you switch bodies, and now there's some tweenager that's now in the body of an adult, or were you ripped from your body in your sleep, and whoever comes to check on you next will find you either dead or in a coma. You don't have a partner or roommate, but your boss will probably call if you don't show up for work on Monday.
Right now, though, you need to figure out whether you are currently reenacting Freaky Friday or if your spirit has possessed some poor kid's body. Ideally, you would also figure out where you are, and if the date is still February 23, 2019, like you think it should be.
Then, someone knocks on the door, and you hear a woman call out, presumably to you, "Wake up…
[Name] Gareth
[Name] Elise
[X[Name] Tony
[Name] Write-in.
, I have someone for you to meet."
At first, you're thrilled, you need an adult to help you sort out your current situation. Then you realize that no adult would believe a pre-teen saying that they were an adult in a pre-teen's body. So that avenue is probably not open to you. First, you'll need to figure out what exactly this person's current situation is, and that woman seems to be your best bet.
"I'm getting ready," you call back, as you search the room for any clothing other than your flannel pajamas.
Under the hotel bed, you find an unzipped suitcase full of children's clothing, wait, you're a child now, so it's just clothing. Anyway, you quickly change into jeans and a t-shirt and go to the doorway.
Outside is a woman wearing a rather nice pantsuit and holding a briefcase; who is smiling down at you. It's going to take a while to get used to this new perspective, hopefully, you won't have to. She's got some short-straight brown hair that barely reaches her shoulders and she's just as caucasian as you've become.
"Come now," she says, and then takes your hand. You are annoyed at her momentarily, you don't need her to hold your hand. Then you realize that you sound exactly like a sullen pre-teen, and you decide that you want out of this situation as soon as possible, if that means having someone hold your hand, then so be it.
She takes you down towards the ground floor of the hotel, but rather than go to the breakfast area, she takes you into a conference room. The conference room itself is empty, but once you are inside, she let's go of your hand and puts the briefcase on the table, opens it up, and pulls out a manila folder. You look up at her and then reach for the folder, hoping it will enlighten you about your situation. The woman doesn't stop you but instead smiles fondly at you. There's a hint of some other emotion in your gaze, but you don't have the context yet to pick it out.
Reading the papers, you find out that you are the twelve-year-old child of Elizabeth and Travis Martin, who have both died in a car accident recently, making you an orphan. You would be sad, but you have no emotional connection to any of these people. Your old address was apparently in Montreal, but that doesn't mean that you're still in Montreal. You scan further, looking for any clues about the date, everything around you looks relatively modern, which points to you hopefully being in the same time that you were, but you want to be sure. Then, you find your birth date, Feb 12, 1999. That… that can't be right. That would make you just over 20, not barely 12, not unless…
You flip back to the first page and see that it's been filed on February 20th, 2011. Somehow, you've not only become a different person, but you've also apparently time traveled back 8 years. This only brings up yet more questions. Is there some version of you right now that's attending university. Did some kid replace you while you were at college? None of this makes any sense.
You don't have any more time to ponder the nature of your existence though, as another woman in business wear enters the room. This one has golden blonde hair and is wearing a crisp pencil skirt and business jacket over a white shirt. She gives the brown-haired woman a smile and then you a somewhat sadder smile, which you recognize as pitying. You would appreciate the sentiment, but you still feel somewhat out of place.
"This is Mrs. Munson," the brown-haired woman introduces her to you. "She will be your social worker while you're in Brockton Bay." Brockton Bay sounds familiar, maybe it's somewhere I've been before? "I know you've been practicing your English, can you say hello to her?" Abruptly, you realize that this entire conversation has taken place in French. Which is really odd because you didn't know French yesterday. You glance back down at the paper, and it's definitely in English, which hopefully means that your English skills still carry over, that's a relief.
"Hello… Mrs… Munson." The language feels off coming out of your mouth as if you'd prefer French
"Hello Tony, I'll be taking you to your Uncle's house today. How does that sound?" she asks.
"It sounds good," you manage to speak without pausing between every word. You quickly flip through the document you're holding again and don't see any information about an uncle on either side of the family, so it seems you're out of luck there.
"I've already told the bellhops to take your stuff down to Mrs. Munson's car. So you can leave as soon as possible," she says.
"Alright, let's go," Mrs. Munson also takes your hand, and this time you suppress the spike of irritation without any comment.
The car ride itself is relatively uneventful as you drive through the pouring rain, but it does allow you to look out on the city. At first, everything appears normal, but slowly the places you drive through appear more dilapidated and run-down. It sort of reminds you those videos you saw of Detroit after the United States car manufacturing industry collapsed on itself. You can't help but wonder what exactly happened to the city to make it look like this, and yet there's this nagging sensation in the back of your head that you should already know the reason, as if you'd learned it before, which definitely fits your theory of 'city I've visited once before.
You have managed to confirm from Mrs. Munson that you are in the United States, Massachusetts specifically, which is poking a bit of a hole in your theory. You've never been to Boston, much less a smaller city in MA considering that you spent much of your life on the West Coast of the US.
The world won't slow down just because you wish to ponder something, however, and the car stops in front of a small, slightly run-down home.
Mrs. Munson goes to pull out an umbrella but stops when you ask her a question.
"What's my Uncle like?" The nervousness that comes through that question is genuine, as this is the person that you're going to be living with for the foreseeable future, at least until you can figure out what happened to you.
"Daniel Hebert is known in the community as a respectable family man with a stable job. Unfortunately, I can't say I know much more and it seems that his wife died only a couple of years ago. Maybe he'll appreciate you more since you are the child of his sister-in-law. Huh?" she says.
You can't exactly say you agree, but then again you weren't exactly paying attention to the second half of her statement, as your brain finally makes the connection as to why Brockton Bay seemed so familiar.
You're in Worm.
Oh you are so fucked.
Well, actually that's not necessarily true, although the city you are in and the man who's home you are going to are supporting that claim.
"Is everything ok?" Mrs. Munson asks, looking back on you in concern.
"Yes… I'm fine." If your shaken up look causes her to believe you are reliving some long-lost memory of your parents which results in her not prying, well that's just a bonus isn't it.
She gets out of the car and opens up the umbrella, then opens your door and holds the umbrella over you so you don't get wet, even if it causes her shoulder to be rained upon. Well, at least your social worker seems like a good person.
You go up to the run-down looking house and go up the front steps. Mrs. Munson promptly trips as her foot goes straight through the second step, but she catches herself before she topples over. Then you get up in front of the door and she knocks on it.
The man who opens it is rather tall and lanky, with dark hair on his balding head to go with his circular glasses. You don't know if this is the Danny Hebert of kiddo fame but he fits the description well enough.
"Are you Daniel Hebert?" Mrs. Munson asks.
"Yes, that'd be me. Are you with Child Protective Services? I got a call the other day asking if I would be home on the twenty-sixth but they didn't say anything else."
"Yes, I am with CPS."
He tenses up, although you kind of wonder if he's actually noticed you exist yet, what with the way he hasn't looked down at you at all. "Is there some sort of problem?"
"Actually, yes," You think this is the worst possible way for Mrs. Munson to start this conversation, but here we go. "This is Tony Martin, your Nephew. His parents died last week in a car accident and you are his next of kin."
Daniel (Danny, Mr. Hebert, Uncle Hebert, Uncle Dan? What the heck are you supposed to call him?) looks down at you as if finally realizing your existence. "Oh," he says eloquently. You give him your best puppy dog eyes, even if you may be a bit too old for such things. "I-" Mrs. Munson cuts him off.
"If you're worried about the funds, his parents have left him enough to keep him clothed and fed until he's an adult, and even a college fund, so I assure you Mr. Hebert, he won't be a drain on your finances and the agency does it's best to reunite children who've lost their parents with their closest family."
"Anette never mentioned anything about siblings, but then I guess she never was all that close to her family. Come on in, I don't have a room set up for you, but I think I have an air mattress."
"I'll go get his luggage from the car," Mrs. Munson says.
Once you've got your luggage, and Mrs. Munson has left with a "Take care." Danny (You're just going with that until the man himself tells you what to call him.) goes… somewhere to look for the air mattress. Leaving you feeling a little out of place in an empty living room.
You're not alone for long though, as Taylor comes down the stairs, pausing at the bottom of the stairs. She gives you a suspicious look, "Who are you?"
"I'm your cousin, Tony," you reply. "My parents died in a car crash, so I guess I'm living with you guys now." Her expression softens when you mention the fate of the parents you don't remember.
"I'm Taylor," she says, sounding unsure of herself. "I'm going to make lunch now. Is there anything you'd like to eat?"
Your mind immediately goes to that fucking lasagna meme but you refrain, instead saying "No, anything is fine," politely.
You sit at the table as Taylor prepares lunch. Idly, you grab a pencil and start doodling on one of the napkins Taylor had laid out on the table. Once you finish, you examine your doodle.
Oh. Apparently, this new body is very talented at drawing, at least whatever it is that you'd drawn on that piece of paper. It looked like some sort of intricate diagram, some sort of tech-"
Oh. You're a tinker… and you live with the person who is hyper-aware of their surroundings at all time.
Judging by the way she didn't know who you were, she hasn't figured out hearing with her bugs yet, but even then, it will basically be impossible to hide something in this house since it's not like she can not constantly be aware of everything and especially if your tinkertech registers as weird to her bugs
Oh you are so fucked.
You quickly hide the napkin before anyone can see it, crumpling it up into a ball and throwing it in the garbage. You take a brief look at it first so that you know what you drew…
Your first design was from...
[First Fiction] Marvel (Did you ever want to be Iron Man?) (Power Armor, Gamma Radiation, Pym Particles; Magnum Opus: Infinity Stones (Lite))
[First Fiction] RWBY (It is in passing that we achieve immortality…) (Mechashift Weapons, Dust, Aura (At least a device that simulates having Aura); Magnum Opus: A Machine that Actually awakens a person's Aura)
[First Fiction] Bleach (Do you think I should give up just because you're stronger than me?) (Devices that simulate the following: Spiritual Power, Kido, Shunpo; Magnum Opus: An Asauchi)
[First Fiction] One Piece (Miracles only happen to those who never give up.) (Devices that simulate the following: Haki, The Six Powers, Absolutely Inhuman Levels of Fitness; Magnum Opus: Devil Fruit)
[First Fiction] Starcraft (Battlecruiser Operational) (Acess to the tech trees of all three playable factions (Warning!: This stuff is designed for interplanetary war. Don't expect it to be small, easy to build, or non-lethal); Magnum Opus: A Battlecruiser Flagship, A Mothership, or An Overmind)
[First Fiction] Write-in. (Pending Approval from QM) (Please also give examples like I've done above, along with a description of what you're expecting)
Votes for next chapter:
Plan voting, please. Non-plan votes will not be counted
Gender
Name
First Fiction
QM Note:
I'll edit out the insert name parts once the vote is closed so that the chapter flows better, but I really wanted all of this to be in the introductory chapter.
The binary gender options weren't meant as a snub towards non-binary people, I'm just not confident in my ability to write a convincing non-binary protagonist.
Last edited: May 12, 2019
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May 11, 2019
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Threadmarks 2. Tinkering Withdrawal
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Monk Penguin
Monk Penguin
Way of the Open Flipper
May 12, 2019
#64
Spoiler: Winning Vote
Alright, that napkin you just threw away definitely had a diagram for making a repulsor gauntlet, just like Iron Man's suit has, no exactly like Iron Man's suit has, your power informs you. It's literally just the diagram for Iron Man's suit scaled down to fit onto your hand. That's… interesting. Are you some kind of knockoff Tony Stark? You're named Antonio, but the name that you are apparently going by is Tony, so that fits. You can already think of diagrams to build the rest of the suit to fit you, although it seems to be the Mark III armor rather than any of the later builds. You can even picture the Arc reactor and a method to build it, although where on Earth you'll get the Palladium, you really don't know.
"Are you ok?" Taylor calls to you as she pokes her head out of the kitchen, spooking you.
"I'm fine," you reply once you've calmed down, you must have been staring off into space or something similar if she noticed. That's another problem you're going to have to deal with. You're a tinker now, and that comes with all the disadvantages included apparently. So you'd best prepare for tinker fugues and the constant urge to build something. Even now when you look at the household appliances, you can't help but feel that the materials making them up would be put to much better use as a part of your new power armor.
No, you can't go around disassembling household appliances. You are not an actual twelve-year-old. If Taylor or Danny find out that you're a cape, you want it to be on your terms, not because they found you in a fugue as you were turning their stove into a forge. That presented another issue. You couldn't exactly tinker inside their house. For one, you knew that Taylor had already co-opted their base to fill it full of spiders and you desperately didn't want to know how many spiders you were currently on top of. Even if Taylor was controlling them all so that they were 'perfectly safe' it still sent chills down your spine. That left, what, the attic? From the limited description you had of this house, you knew that the attic was where they kept all of Annette's stuff. You doubted they would really appreciate you rooting around in there.
From your brief look at your surroundings, the first floor basically consisted of a living room that transitioned into a kitchen with the exits being the front door, the stairs, and two doors. One of which was probably the garage and the other was Danny's bedroom. You didn't know what exactly upstairs consisted of, but judging from the size of the house, you weren't exactly hopeful that there was enough room for a tinker workshop just lying around unused, and that didn't even take into account the issue that Taylor, through no fault of her own, is essentially constantly aware of everything that goes on in the house. Maybe if you were a little bit older, Danny would let you out of the house on your own, but as it were you doubted you would be able to go anywhere without him driving you or supervising. If you argued hard enough he might just let you out with only Taylor as a chaperone. Danny was, not the best father from what you knew, but you doubted he was stupid, and he'd taken Taylor's safety seriously in a city like Brockton Bay. Now that you were his dependent, you didn't see any reason why he wouldn't for you.
It was touching, but inconvenient. That's when Danny comes back from the garage, carrying your suitcase and also an uninflated air mattress. He leaves both kind of in the middle of the living room and comes over to you.
"Mrs. Munson gave me your stuff while I was rooting around in the garage for your air mattress. She also told me a bit about you and what they know about your past. I won't pry but I just want you to know that if you need anything you can come to me. I know I'm not your father, but I hope that I can be a good Uncle to you." It's a much better speech than you were expecting, although maybe the shock of suddenly having another kid has caused him to pull himself together somewhat. You nod at him, showing your understanding. Hopefully, if you speak as little as possible, people won't suspect you're an adult, although they wouldn't have anyway and no one here knows what you were like before, so maybe you're just avoiding the disquieting feeling you get when English feels off to you.
"I made lunch," Taylor calls out. She comes and collects your plates before returning them with some simple spaghetti and grilled chicken.
"Alright. How about we all get to know each other during lunch, and then afterward we can figure out where you're going to sleep," he says.
Taylor and you voice your agreement and you settle into eat lunch. It's not amazing or anything, but it's not bad, and you were getting hungry anyway.
"Taylor, this is Antonio Martin. His mother was your mother's sister who lived in Montreal, Canada, which makes you cousins. Both his parents passed away in a car accident recently, and he's going to be staying with us now as we are his closest family. He's twelve and he'll be going to Fenway Middle School. I'll have to start leaving earlier to drive him over and make it to work on time."
"Ok, Dad," Taylor says, she gives you another look full of pity.
"Tony, this is Taylor, my daughter. She's fifteen and she goes to Winslow High School." Both of them wince when he says that, clearly they still haven't gotten over what happened to them about two months ago.
"If you have the chance, don't go to Winslow," Taylor advises.
"Ok," you nod. You're going to be as taciturn as possible to try and hide that you don't feel sad about the demise of Tony's parents. Hopefully, people will interpret it as either your coping mechanism for grief or your lack of English fluency.
Danny apparently picks up on one, "Oh yeah," he turns to Taylor, "English is Tony's second language, so I'm expecting you to be accommodating young lady,' he says in a faux strict tone.
"Mhmm," Taylor says.
"We'll do our best to make you feel at home. Do you have any questions for either of us?"
You're about to demur when you remember that you still don't know how you should address your uncle.
"Umm, what should I call you…" you trail off
"You can call me Uncle Danny or Uncle Hebert if you're not comfortable with that," he says, giving you a grin as if he finds some part of his statement amusing. You have no idea what though, even with all your meta-knowledge. Maybe there was an Uncle Danny somewhere in his family or something
"Ok, Uncle Danny," you try it out. .
At that point, most everyone's finished eating lunch, so you and Da-, Uncle Danny start working on your stuff.
"Now there isn't much room in the house, but I might be able to clean out the attic on Sunday and we can see if there's enough space for you to keep your stuff there and you'd be sharing a bathroom with Taylor. Alternatively, we could just put some dressers here and you could share with me. What sounds good to you?"
[Accommodations] Ask to live in the attic
[Accommodations] Ask to live in the living room.
[Accommodations] Ask to share with Taylor (Haha, No)
[Accommodations] Write-in. You have some other idea for living space.
The two of you spend most of the afternoon going through your stuff (It consists of clothing and some family photos, apparently everything else is in storage in Montreal until you turn 18 and go claim it all.). According to D- Uncle Danny, everything that can't go into storage, like Tony's old house was likely auctioned off with some of the proceeds going to taxes and the others going into his trust fund. His parents hadn't left any conditions on said fund or his inheritance, other than that he had to be eighteen in order to claim it, and that it couldn't be claimed by a guardian. Apparently, they had in their will stipulated that a separate account be created which would have a certain amount of funds added to it from his inheritance very month and that Uncle Danny would have access to that account.
Taylor leaves shortly after lunch to go to the library and 'study.' Ok maybe that's a little unfair. For all you know, she could actually be studying, though you doubt it with how the trio mess with her work. Which reminds you, your first day of repeat middle school is going to be the day after tomorrow. You are distinctly not looking forward to dealing with eighth graders. Maybe you'll spot Vista or Missy. She seemed mature for her age, at least from what you know. One thing is for certain though, being around people half your age, even if you don't look it anymore, is going to be weird.
You're downplaying it, but the feeling that you should be tinkering keeps building over the course of the day. It's not too bad, but you can see how tinkers would get outed to anyone watching them with more than a passing interest. At dinner, it's really hard not to write down ideas for your suit intelligence on the napkin, even though you'd have to stand up and get a writing utensil. You settle for tracing words with your fingers, which seems to quell the urge a bit.
The rest of the night progresses in silence and you end up going to bed on an air mattress in the living room.
Your dreams are full of ideas, from hitting someone with large amounts of gamma radiation in just the right way to turn them into the Hulk, or creating a miniaturized simulation of the Big Bang in order to create a replica of an infinity stone.
You wake up bursting full of ideas, and yet, you still have no way to tinker. You're going to have to figure out some sort of solution to this problem, as you doubt you can last much longer. You were this close to dismantling the electric air pump inflating your bed in order to make a pneumatic mechanism that would unfold your suit around you allowing you to put it on quickly.
You were pretty sure any normal twelve-year-old would have already given in to the desire to tinker, and your own restraint was fraying. You needed to do something. In this aspect, Taylor was a bigger problem than Uncle Danny. As Taylor has been demonstrating for the last two months, it's probably not that hard to hide your powers from your uncle. Taylor, on the other hand, would probably find out relatively quickly. You can think of two ways to go about this right now. Well, three if you count trying to tinker while hiding it from everyone, but you doubt that will go over well. You could tell Danny, though he would likely have you join the Wards, which, might not be so bad. After all, they're probably the safest place for a twelve-year-old tinker in this city. On the other hand, you could tell Taylor, maybe she would even help you gather materials, although she might tell Uncle Danny, or insist on you joining the Wards. It would be hypocritical, considering her own situation, but it's not impossible, especially considering your age.
[Tinker] Tell Taylor you're a tinker. Maybe you can bond over the fact that you're both parahumans.
[Tinker] Tell Danny. This is probably the fastest way to join the Wards, but hey, the Wards aren't exactly bad.
[Tinker] Try and grab what materials you can and tinker secretly without letting anyone know.
[Tinker] Write-in. You have some other ideas about how you can get your tinkering fix.
Votes for next chapter:
Accommodations
Tinker
QM Note:
Fair warning, a lot of my understanding of Marvel is colored by the movies. This is not to say that I won't allow things that come from the comics, simply that I probably won't know them.
Wow, this chapter turned out better than I thought it would. I'm not sure if my interpretation of Danny is quite correct. I sort of got the impression that dumping another child on him would actually be a great way to force him to pull himself together, but maybe I'm wrong. Let me know what you think.
Last edited: May 12, 2019
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Threadmarks 3. Middle School, Again
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Monk Penguin
Monk Penguin
Way of the Open Flipper
May 13, 2019
#115
Spoiler: Winning Vote
"I think I'd prefer to have my own space," You tell Uncle Danny.
"That makes sense, I'll get to clearing out the attic tomorrow."
Sunday consists of going through your stuff in the living room, while Uncle Danny moves boxes from the attic either to his bedroom or to the garage. You get to watch as he experiences several different stages of grief, which makes you feel pretty guilty about what you asked. You offered to help him but he said that he'd rather do it on his own. Thankfully, he doesn't break down crying or you would have drowned in your own guilt.
To distract yourself, you try and figure out how much Palladium you could get if you cannibalized various electronic appliances in the household. The best source, would, of course, be the exhaust of Uncle Danny's truck. You're even sure that you could make it so that the engine would still work fine, other than pumping out more carbon monoxide than it's supposed to, but that still seems bad. Your tinker knowledge is telling you that the amount of Palladium you could get from the household electronics would be small, as it's only really used in small amounts in the plating of connectors and you'd lose a lot of the other valuable materials trying to recover it. Not that you could without a whole other set of specialized tools you'd have to make, although all you needed for those was enough metal and some mundane tools to shape it.
Not that you were doing any actual tinkering, imagining it seemed to relieve the compulsion a little bit. You weren't planning on doing any actual tinkering any time soon either. You had a plan now. You would reveal yourself to Taylor, but you would do so after trying to spend a bit of time with her first. In the intermediate time, you would satisfy your tinkering urges by drawing up some schematics, in code hopefully so no one would be able to tell what exactly it was that you were designing. Speaking of codes, your mind came up with several different ideas for to cipher or encrypt your schematics, the majority of which would require a computer to decipher, even if you knew the key, so you had to scrap them. Instead, you settled for a simple Vigenère cipher after translating everything to French of course. You'd probably just set the keyword to Marvel so that it was easy to remember. It had the additional benefit of being a cipher from France, so it was thematic, and it had taken about three hundred years from the 16th to the 19th century for it to be broken. You knew it wouldn't stand up to any intense scrutiny from any other technologically competent person, but your goal was mainly to hide it from Taylor and Uncle Danny, neither of which could be described with that phrase.
"Alright, I think that's the last box," Uncle Danny said, after moving one more box to his room, he looks… OK? He's clearly troubled, but that's to be expected.
"Should I start moving my bed and my stuff upstairs?" you ask him. English still feels weird to speak but you have school tomorrow, and you refuse to allow discomfort to keep you from speaking a language you're more than fluent in.
"I can move the bed, you grab your things, then we'll head out to get you some school supplies. I noticed you didn't bring any with you."
You… hadn't, but then again you, or past you had long gotten used to all your work being digital, so you didn't take note of the lack of notebooks or writing implements.
Shopping for school supplies with Uncle Danny was, well it was a distinctly average experience. It made you feel nostalgic in some ways about when you used to be a schoolchild and he would always wait patiently for you if you ever simply stared at something, likely assuming you were reminiscing, but incorrect about what.
You did notice that he would always eye the prices on whatever you picked. You knew that it was likely your parent's money that was being spent, but you also knew that the Heberts were lower-middle-class at best, so you always bought the cheapest supplies suitable, pencils, notebooks, folders. You got the plain versions rather than the ones with graphic designs or capes plastered across the front. It was partly that you wanted to save money, and partly that you wanted to have extra of everything, so if 3 plain paper notebooks cost the same as one that had Armsmaster on the front of it, well, it's not like you were actually 12. You didn't care all that much about fancy notebooks or folders so long as they were functional. To his credit, Uncle Danny didn't comment when you picked out about twice as many supplies as an average eighth grader would need. Only asking, "Are you sure you need that many?" once and then letting the matter drop when you said you did.
Dinner was, an awkward affair, as you were coming to expect was the norm in the Hebert household. You tried breaking the ice with Taylor by asking her what she did in her free time. Your reasoning was that you couldn't exactly ask her about school, what with how much she evaded the topic in front of her father, you doubted she'd appreciate it. That left basically only what she did outside of school.
When you asked her, she tensed up for a moment, before saying "Typically, I read," evasively. Then, you realized that she probably was worried that you'd find out about her cape identity, what with her being extremely suspicious. Thus, you couldn't really afford to bring up capes in casual conversation or anything that could relate to her cape identity if you didn't want to trip on her suspicious nature. This was going to be harder than you thought, it's not like you were particularly amazing at socializing anyway. At least any faux pas you made would be excused due to your age, probably.
Your first day of middle school was… well… basically what you'd expected. The other children largely acted like obnoxious brats, from your perspective at least, but it's not like you could blame them. They didn't exactly know better or have time to mature. You could probably find the quiet and mature people and maybe hang out with them once the whole new kid thing settled down, but even then you'd feel a bit out of place as an adult among children.
One thing you did keep an eye out was for one Missy Biron. If you remembered correctly, she would be the same age as you, and your middle school wasn't that far away from Arcadia, so if you had to guess she would come here. There was also Dinah Alcott to look out for, but you didn't know her age, or whether she went to school here. Your search yielded no results, at least for the first day. Apparently, they were using some sort of 7-day rotating schedule that Arcadia used, so not every class met every day.
Other than that, it was boring. You had done this once, and you hadn't even reached the point where you could maybe try and specialize in something you hadn't done before. If you were in college, you could maybe have majored in something other than Computer Science. If you were in high school, at least you could probably have focused on humanities electives this time. Unfortunately, you were stuck in middle school, where the curriculum was the same for everybody.
The rest of your week could be described as more of the same. The same boring middle school classes, the same awkward meals with Taylor and Uncle Danny. You tried a different approach with Taylor, instead trying to discuss topics of your interest. Momentarily, you had seen her reading an entomology book, and considered striking up a conversation with her about it, but you were pretty sure that would definitely cause her to raise her hackles. Instead, you talked about computers. You knew quite a bit about the software side of things from your past life, and your tinker power would helpfully fill in any sort of gaps you had when it came to the physical aspects.
Taylor, well, she had mixed reactions. There were times where you could tell she was annoyed and only didn't tell you to go away out of politeness. You tried to cut off those conversations earlier. Other times, she seemed genuinely interested or at least feigned it well enough that you couldn't tell. She didn't add much to the conversation, only interspersing your chatter with 'Uh-huh's and 'Really?'s in a way that made you unsure if she was just indulging you because she pitied you or actually interested. You guessed this is what happened when two people with poor social skills tried to interact, at least it was progress of a sort.
In your other free time, when you weren't doing the busy work provided to you by school you were tinkering, or rather, planning your tinkering.
Spoiler: Tinkering Mechanics
You tried to keep things within the bounds that you could actually manage. A couple of designs you came up with several simpler ideas that wouldn't require a lot of resources beyond electronics, like a simple repulsor gauntlet from Iron Man's suit, Spiderman's web slingers, or Star-lord's element gun. Your power didn't let you stick with small stuff though, it kept pushing you towards bigger designs even as you pushed for smaller and easier to build ones. If you cannibalized more and more necessary devices, like say the fridge or the stove, you could probably get enough Palladium to actually build an Arc Reactor, at least the first variety, or enough materials to make that weird, portable, variation of Cerebro that would extend Taylor's range significantly. Still, you were steadfast and didn't act on any of these designs, only noting them down in your encoded notebook.
It finally happened on Wednesday. In your first math class at this middle school, you met the person you were looking for. You shared math with Missy Biron. From the way she was interacting with the other kids around her, she seemed a bit bossy, but that could also just mean that she was more self-confident than the other kids. After introductions were finished, the teacher allowed you to pick a seat. Coincidentally, there was one, not right next to her, but in front of her, which was as close as you were going to get. On the other hand, you weren't planning on joining the Wards any time soon because of the restrictions they were placing on your tinkertech, and there was definitely no way for you to play off knowing her identity any other way, but she might be the most mature person here either way.
You…
[Missy] Took the seat in front of her and greeted her
[Missy] Took the seat in front of her and ignored her
[Missy] Took a different seat.
Around Friday, it became clear that whatever shard or other source giving you your tinker powers would only let you dodge the compulsion to tinker for so long. You'd managed almost a week straight without making anything, but you were starting to draw unencoded designs on your homework if you weren't focusing, or you'd find yourself starting to dismantle some random appliance. It didn't help that you had no electronics of your own. You didn't have a personal computer, and of course, living with the Heberts, you didn't have a personal phone either, so you couldn't quietly fiddle with those.
Your progress on Taylor was slow but noticeable. The number of times she got annoyed when you would chatter on about computers or technology was less frequent and sometimes you even thought you'd see her smiling. It was a slight smile, not broad or full of teeth, but it was progress. Plus, you were going to go crazy if you couldn't tinker. So, it was time to enact your master plan and wow that sounded pretentious. You were going to reveal your status as a tinker to Taylor, but the question now was… How?
[Reveal] Get 'caught' tinkering by Taylor when Uncle Danny isn't home
[Reveal] Just confess to her, then prove it by assembling something
[Reveal] Write-in. Some other plan.
What was the first item you built?
[First Tinkertech] You cannibalized some small items, like the toaster and a lamp to make…
-[First Tinkertech] Repulsor Gauntlet
-[First Tinkertech] Web-shooters
-[First Tinkertech] Element Gun
-[First Tinkertech] Write-in. (Pending QM approval)
[First Tinkertech] You took parts from those items and an additional larger appliance to build something larger
-[Appliance] Refrigerator
-[Appliance] Washer/Dryer
-[Appliance] Stove
-[First Tinkertech] Arc Reactor
-[First Tinkertech] Energy Shield Gauntlet
-[First Tinkertech] Write-in. (Pending QM approval)
-[First Tinkertech] Bug Cerebro (You have decided not to reveal to Taylor that you know about her powers)
Votes for next chapter:
Missy
Reveal
First Tinkertech
QM Note:
I'll try and be around to approve write-ins. I'm also still working on the exact numbers for how long you can stick with a single tech tree and how soon you can switch back to it. I'm trying to make it an actual limitation without preventing you from making basically any progress, so please go check out the tinkering info post and let me know what you think.
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Threadmarks 4. A Reveal
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Monk Penguin
Way of the Open Flipper
May 14, 2019
#189
Spoiler: Winning Vote
You sat down in front of her and then before class started, you turned around and greeted her. "Hello, I'm Tony."
"I'm Missy, it's nice to meet you." and that was that. Then the class started and she was back to paying attention. You were tempted to start writing down ideas in your notebook instead of the incredibly basic algebra you were being taught, but instead, you dutifully stared at the chalkboard. Even without your tinker powers, you could do this math in your sleep, but with them, being stuck in this class honestly felt insulting.
As far as you could tell, you didn't have any other classes with Missy, although math met frequently enough, five of the seven days of the schedule. On the other hand, you weren't really sure what you wanted to do when it came to Missy, you could try and befriend her, or just have her as an acquaintance you sort of new. If you tried too hard, though, she might get the wrong idea. She might even think you were interested in her, you thought to yourself. Idly, you wondered how she'd deal with that, considering her current crush on Gallant. Then you pushed that thought out of your mind. The idea of dating a twelve-year-old was just wrong. Even if you were also twelve, it didn't change how you felt about it. You got the feeling that if you lived through the year, you were going to have a confusing puberty.
That still left the question of how you were planning on getting to know Missy, especially considering you had decided not to join the Wards, at least not now.
[Missy2] Try and get into her social circle. It consists entirely of girls, but you might be able to manage somehow.
[Missy2] Just be a casual acquaintance. You don't want to get close enough to know her well since you might give away that you know more about her than you should.
[Missy2] Write-in.
Alright, it's Friday afternoon. Uncle Danny has gone back to work after picking you up from school, and Taylor is upstairs in her room. You are downstairs, having gathered a lamp, a toaster, and some tools you took out of the garage. You suspect Taylor is working on her suit, although it's possible that she hasn't developed good enough bug sight to work on it extensively without being in the room. Still, this is probably the best time for you to reveal your tinker status and what better way to do it than to indulge in some tinkering. You already had something in mind for your first item. Kimoyo Beads, the holographic, modular, smartphone. Unfortunately, you weren't actually going to be capable of giving it the ability to operate on cellular networks with the materials before you. You settled in, started dismantling the toaster and the lamp, and let your power wash over you, directing your hands as they expertly pieced apart the light bulb of the lamp and the heating element of the toaster.
Your current version of Kimoyo Beads was, well, not exactly the best. You were lacking in a key component, Vibranium (your power helpfully informed you that all you needed to acquire Vibranium was an industrial smelter and several different metals ranging from common to rare), so you weren't capable of making the actual Kimoyo Beads, but you were capable of making something very similar. The LED's of the desk lamp were dismantled and repurposed into the holographic projector. None of the devices you dismantled had anything resembling a computer or a wi-fi adapter, so you had to piece those together from scratch using a soldering iron you found. You didn't have any filler metal on hand, but somehow you made some out of the heating element of the toaster. How that worked, you actually didn't know, but it did and that's all that mattered. You had all the pieces laid out individually, now to put them into beads.
That's when you heard a snapping sound next to your ear. You looked up. Oh, you didn't notice Taylor coming down the stairs, or walking through the living room to get right next to you.
"What's this?" she asks, sounding simultaneously suspicious and confused.
"Umm," you say, still pulling yourself out of the tinker fugue. "I think I'm a tinker…" you trail off. Then, to demonstrate, you assemble the spread out parts into a set of beads. Most of them are hollow, empty to both fill out the bracelet and to leave room for upgrades. Then, you flicked your wrist and the holographic screen came on. Your version wasn't the trademark light blue of Vibranium based technologies, rather it was the pure white of the LED's you'd used to create the display. Additionally, these weren't as durable due to said lack of Vibranium, nor did they consist of a power source in and of themselves something you'd had to remedy. The end product was functional though and quickly displayed what amounted to the BIOS screen of a computer.
"What does it do?" Taylor asks, interested
"It's essentially a portable, holographic, computer, but I still need to add the Operating System so that it'll be easily usable," you explain as you set about doing so. It's a little bit odd not to feel the keys as you touch the hologram, but you quickly get used to typing on a holographic keyboard. It's not a short process, but with your bullshit tinker powers helping, you, you manage to cobble together a functional operating system along with a couple of basic apps like a word processor and a web browser. Proudly, you display your finished work to Taylor.
She looks unimpressed, perhaps the wow fact of the shiny tinkertech wore off while you were programming it. "So you're a tinker?" she asks. Her tone is serious now.
"Yes?"
"What are you planning on doing?"
"What?"
"Do you want to be a hero? Do you want to join the Wards?"
"I uh, I kind of don't want to join the Wards. I heard there's a lot of restrictions on what you are and aren't allowed to make as a Wards tinker," you explain.
"And have you ever considered that those restrictions are in place to keep you safe? To keep the people of the city safe?" Oh boy, this argument. It's not exactly like you could say you knew that they were stricter than that because you didn't know whether such things were public information or not, which could lead to more problems because of you using meta-knowledge. You then go for the second question, "I wasn't sure if I wanted to be a hero, to get into fights, it sounds kind of dangerous." She nods, waiting for you to continue. "I thought about being a rogue, selling my tech to the PRT and other people."
"And villains?" she prompted.
"Uhh… no?"
There's a poignant pause in the conversation, where Taylor just looks at you.
"I must admit that I don't know a lot about Tinkers, can your bead things connect to the internet?"
"Yes, I made sure of that."
"Can I see them?"
Obligingly, you hand them over. Taylor puts them on, and then it takes a couple of seconds for her to get the activation right, but then she does and she opens the browser and starts looking up information about tinkers. It's interesting to you as well, as you read over her shoulder, what information is publicly available about tinkers. It's common knowledge that people go crazy if they don't use their powers, and it's also common knowledge that tinkers express this by having an urge to tinker.
"Ok, so I think I'm a little bit more informed now. You said you didn't want to join the Wards right?
"Right?"
"So how were you planning on satisfying the requirement to use your power, to tinker?"
"Just, doing it on my own?"
"Where are you planning on getting the materials? I guess you could scrounge around for trashed electronic parts, or buy from hobbyist stores," she muses.
"Actually, I'm pretty sure the gangs are watching those, at least casually. As is the PRT."
"Ok, so you have some other plan for gathering resources?"
[Resources] No, do you have any ideas?
[Resources] Yes, I was planning on… Write-in.
"Ok, so say you manage to gather materials and tinker on your own… Wait? Were you planning on telling Dad? I really think you should."
"No, I uh…"
"You thought he'd make you join the Wards."
"Yeah."
"You know he's going to find out eventually, right?"
"Yes…?" Not necessarily what with your future knowledge, but you can't exactly say that.
"Back to what I was saying, you just want to gather materials and… tinker?"
Your mind, unbidden, brings to your attention all the atrocities that will happen in roughly one and a half months. Dinah's kidnapping, Bakuda's bombing spree, the Empire's rampage, Leviathan, the Slaughterhouse 9, Echidna, the list goes on, well not that much further on really. Do you have any plan to stop those things? Are you going to try and stick it out? Run? That's probably the most important question.
[Plans] You'll stick around, and you'll do your best to help. That probably is going to put you as a heroic leaning cape, and that's what you tell Taylor.
[Plans] You'll stick around, but you're just going to do your best to survive. You'll struggle enough keeping yourself alive rather than trying to save everyone. You'll agree with Taylor's assessment, and it's not like anyone would be willing to force a twelve-year-old to fight.
[Plans] You're going to run, you can't stay here because Brockton Bay is not only a shithole, but one that's about to explode, and you don't want to be there for the explosion. You don't tell Taylor any of this though, she doesn't need to know.
[Plans] Write-in.
Votes for next chapter:
Missy2
Resources
Plans
QM Note:
I think one of the limitations of Smite Quest is that since the protagonist essentially has no life outside of caping, you miss the civilian aspect, like school or work. I want to sort of touch on that more in this fic, so you can probably expect parts that deal with school and possibly even votes. It generally won't give you any benefit when it comes to tinkering, but you're stuck there so it's not like you can get out of it, yet that is.
Also, for the resources vote, I legitimately couldn't think of any other options to give you. I'd like to give you some, but I genuinely couldn't think of any of the top of my head. I look forward to hearing what you guys suggest.
Not super happy with the end vote, but I'm not sure rephrasing the question in a flowery way helps the core of the issue.
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Threadmarks 5. Talking with Taylor, Planning
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Monk Penguin
Monk Penguin
Way of the Open Flipper
May 16, 2019
#230
Spoiler: Winning Vote
You decide not to get in too close, you'll talk to her occasionally, maybe sit with her friend group for Lunch every so often, but you won't get too close. You know a lot about Missy, she's Vista, she has a crush on Gallant/Dean Stansfield, she feels that the Wards are coddling her, her parents constantly fight with each other, but you have no way of actually explaining that knowledge, so it's best that you try and minimize the possibility that you give it away. Still, it does make your first week of school a tad lonely, but surely you can make other friends. Surely.
"I had several ideas, initially I think I can make do by scavenging yard sales or garage sales or something for some basic stuff. Then I could build drones to harvest for me, probably small ones but hopefully, I won't need much. Finally, as I said, I could sell my stuff once I'm an established tinker which would give me funds to buy more materials.
Taylor mulls this over. Hurriedly, you add, "I'm also open to suggestions from you, of course, and I would appreciate any help you could give me."
She considers some more, "I'm not sure about your idea with the drones unless you have some way to prevent the drones from being followed back to you. On the other hand, you just showed me that you could dismantle finished products into materials. If they're watching junkyards and electronics shops then maybe you could just buy some appliances?" you nod, her idea makes sense. "I think that the major issue in all this is dealing with Dad. There's no way I'm letting you wander around Brockton Bay on your own. I don't know what Montreal was like, but it's not safe for a kid like you to be on their own in this city, and I know dad isn't giving you an allowance or anything yet. If you want to go look for yard sales with me, then we could try and hide it from Dad, but what if he comes home when we're out. He'd probably freak out if I didn't leave a note for him. If you really don't want him to know, maybe say you're picking up stuff for your hobby?"
"Those all sound like good ideas. Thanks for the help Taylor," you say sincerely.
"Ok, so say you manage to gather materials…"
"I do want to be a hero. Just, maybe not getting in as many fights?" you suggest.
"That sounds reasonable." Taylor frowns. "If you'd just wanted to tinker and stay out of the cape scene then I would have suggested going to dad. He'd probably try and support you if you didn't want to go out and fight, but you're saying that you do. He'll probably try and push you into the wards, which you don't want to be a part of."
"It's not like I never want to be a member of the Wards, I'm just hoping that maybe if I make a name as an independent hero or rogue then maybe I can argue for fewer restrictions on my tinkering projects."
"Didn't I just say that those restrictions were to keep you and others safe?" Taylor sighs.
"I know that, and I also know they won't lift those restrictions for me. What I'm really afraid of is that they'll restrict what I can build due to imaging concerns."
"They wouldn't do that, would they?"
"Maybe not if I was a bit older, but these beads are probably the tamest thing I can build. Do you really think they'll let a twelve-year-old go around with anything that's capable of significant force?"
Taylor mutters something under her breath, "Fine, I understand your concerns, but I expect you to run all your ideas past me, especially if they could put you in danger. I know this city a lot better than you, and even if you've only been around for a week it would kill dad if you got hurt or went missing," Taylor says severely.
"Okay," you acquiesce meekly.
"Do you have a name yet?"
You consider naming yourself after something Marvel related. Iron Man is definitely taken, as are most names that come from Marvel-verse heroes, but maybe you could come up with some-... No, something feels off about selecting a name solely off of Marvel, as if your power is telling you it can do more. You'll just have to wait and see.
"I don't have anything yet, and I don't want to decide just now since I don't quite now my specialization."
"Ok, fair enough."
Afterward, Taylor helps you hide the evidence of your tinkering from Uncle Danny, then goes back to her room.
It's time for some Weekly Planning:
This is the week that begins on Monday, February 28, 2011
Plan voting, please. Non-plan votes will not be counted
First, we have School actions. These will relate to what our plucky protagonist does during his government mandated school hours. Beyond acing everything that is.
You can pick up to two. Options can be selected more than once, like joining two different sports teams.
[School] Maybe you could join a sports team? Physical fitness might help in cape life.
-[Sports] Football
-[Sports] Track & Field
-[Sports] Basketball
-[Sports] Baseball
-[Sports] Soccer
[School] You'd already done the STEM thing once, but this time you could be a prodigy, though that might draw attention to you. Still, there were several clubs in this vein that you could try and join.
-[STEM] Science Olympiad
-[STEM] Science Bowl
-[STEM] Robotics Club
-[STEM] Computer Club
-[STEM] Math Team
[School] There were other groups, on the fringes, maybe you could try and join one of those.
-[Other] Cape Geeks
-[Other] Gamers
-[Other] Are those people emo, scene, or goth? Is there some way you should be able to tell the difference?
[School] You're still weirded out by associating with middle schoolers. You'll be alone and you'll like it.
[School] Write-in. (Please be reasonable, this is a nice middle-school)
Next is your other stuff, the important stuff, the meat, but first, you gotta decide:
[Tech Tree] Stick with Marvel for another week
[Tech Tree] Switch to something else
-[Tech Tree] Bleach
-[Tech Tree] One Piece
-[Tech Tree] Starcraft
-[Tech Tree] Attack on Titan
-[Tech Tree] Pokemon
-[Tech Tree] Overwatch
Then, you gotta decide what you're gonna end up doing for the week. Now Taylor won't exactly let you go out on your own so you can assume any time you're going out of the house, she's coming with you.
Currently, you have: No Materials congratulations and access to Basic Tools
Pick 5:
Each time you vote to work on a tinker project, that counts as using one action, so to use 2 actions you would do this:
[Plan] Tinker stuff
-]Repulsor Gauntlets
-]Repulsor Gauntlets
Hopefully that made sense, but if it didn't please @ me so I can answer your questions.
[Action] Gather Materials by…
-[Action] Go scrounge around a yard sale with Taylor's money (1d6 Common Materials, 1d4-1 Uncommon Materials, 15% chance of a Rare Material, 0% Chance of Gang Discovery, 0% Chance of PRT discovery)
-[Action] Go buy an appliance with Taylor's money (1d4 Common Materials, 1d4 Uncommon Materials, 60% chance of Rare Material, 0% Chance of Gang Discovery, 10% Chance of PRT discovery) (Taylor's poor allowance can only handle this once every other week until you acquire an alternative source of money)
-[Action] Go to an electronics hobby store, cheaper, but with a higher chance of discovery (1d4 Common Materials, 2d4 Uncommon Materials, 90% chance of Rare Material, 30% Chance of Gang Discovery, 50% Chance of PRT Discovery)
-[Action] Go root around in a Junkyard, it's free (3d4 Common Materials, 1d6 Uncommon Materials, 30% Chance of Rare Material, 50% Chance of Gang Discovery, 70% Chance of PRT Discovery)
[Action] Research…
-[Action] Toybox
-[Action] Wards Tinker-specific restrictions.
-[Action] Write-in.
[Action] TINKER!
-[Action] Repulsor Gauntlets (Yes, 2 of them) (Basic Tools, 2 Actions, 3 Common Materials, 1 Uncommon Material)
-[Action] Web Shooters (Basic Tools, 1 Action, 2 Common Materials)
-[Action] Element Gun (Basic Tools, 1 Action, 2 Common Materials, 2 Uncommon Materials)
-[Action] Arc Reactor (Basic Tools, 3 Actions, 1 Common Material, 3 Uncommon Materials, 1 Rare Material)
-[Action] Energy Shield Gauntlet (Basic Tools, 2 Actions, 4 Common Materials, 3 Uncommon Materials)
-[Action] Bug Cerebro (Basic Tools, 3 Actions, 2 Common Materials, 2 Uncommon Materials)
-[Action] Upgrade Kimoyo Beads to function as a Cell Phone (Basic Tools, 2 Actions, 2 Uncommon Materials)
-[Action] Iron Man Helmet with HUD (Basic Tools, 3 Actions, 4 Common Materials, 3 Uncommon Materials)
-[Action] Write-in.
[Action] Write-in.
Plan voting, please. Non-plan votes will not be counted
QM Note:
I think someone asked, but yes, your tinkertech functions like other tinkertech in that it's largely a black box to you, with Antonio only understanding enough to build/improve the device and little about how it actually works. Similarly, tinkertech you build will require regular maintenance unless specified otherwise.
Edit: Maintenance won't require materials or actions, but it will require that you have access to whatever you are maintaining during a time when you had the time and tools to repair any minor issues.
As to mixing different tech, as long as it's from the same franchise it's fine.
As to the percentages in some of the actions above. I will be rolling dice to determine those outcomes. They will be up to chance rather than narrative convenience.
Last edited: May 16, 2019
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Threadmarks 6. Accosted by Abhorrent Antagonists
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Monk Penguin
Monk Penguin
Way of the Open Flipper
May 17, 2019
#293
Spoiler: Winning Vote
Your second week of middle school is still uninteresting. You are acing basically every assignment, but then again at least a third of the class is doing the same, Missy included. Frankly, you were itching for something to stimulate yourself in some way if you were going to be stuck here six-plus hours a day. Luckily for you, Fenway Middle School is trying a revolutionary new program, yes that is how it was described to you, where you can take sports as an elective. Instead of that useless computer applications class that's teaching you how to use Microsoft Office, again, you can try and work on your physical fitness during school hours. Unluckily, you don't know how to join a school sport. So you go to your number one resource, the principal's office.
"Hello darling," the middle-aged woman with greying brown hair greeted you kindly. "What did you need?"
"Hello… Mrs. Nisen" you read off of the nameplate on her desk. "I was wondering how you join a sports team?"
"Well, which one did you want to join Tony?"
"Uh…" you think for a moment, what do you want, ideally something where you can get a lot of exercise. "Soccer."
"I'll call up Coach Rhee and let him know. Why don't you head out to the track today instead of going to your elective? They'll be out practicing."
Come elective time, you find yourself out in the field, wearing your gym clothes and watching a whole bunch of twelve-year-old boys going through soccer drills. The coach, a young looking Asian man, comes up to you.
"Are you Coach Rhee?" you ask him.
"Yeah, but you can just call me Coach Glenn," he says.
"So what do I need to do to join the Soccer team?"
"Just show up to practice, the office will handle all the paperwork. What position did you want to play?"
Goalie immediately springs to mind, as something you can use to practice your hand-eye coordination, but that won't involve running, "I think I want to play goalie and midfield."
"Awesome, our last goalie is off at Clarendon, so I was looking for someone to fill that spot. Come on now, let me introduce you to the rest of the team."
He pulls you by your shoulder out to the middle of the field, then he blows a whistle to get the attention of the rest of the team. "This is Antonio," "I go by Tony," "This is Tony, he'll be joining the team this year."
The rest of the period was spent doing soccer drills with the rest of the team. You're not sure what you were expecting, maybe some sort of tryouts, or hazing. No, you're just on the team now.
That afternoon, you ask Taylor, "Can we go out to look for parts today?"
Taylor looks up from the homework she's doing (maybe re-doing, to your shame you haven't been paying close attention to Taylor's school situation, it seems so small in comparison to what you know could happen). "Sure, beats homework. How are we going to find one anyway?"
Most people on any given day are not having a yard sale but in a city as big as Brockton Bay the law of large numbers simply means that someone is having a yard sale on any given day, the issue is finding it, and "That's what the internet is for," you say, pulling up Facebook on your bead/computers. "Someone is posting about local yard sales, I just need to find them."
A couple of searches later and you find yourself with a decent list of local yard sales. You pick the nearest one, only a couple of blocks away, Taylor leaves a note for Uncle Danny, and then you're off. The way over is, slightly awkward, as things have been since you outed yourself to Taylor. It seems like she just has no idea how to act around you. It might have something to do with her own parahuman status, but it could just as well be atrophied social skills. Being a loner will do that to you. You know from experience.
"So, how was school?" Taylor asks.
"I joined the soccer team today!" you tell her eagerly.
"That… sounds… good?" she says, sounding even more unsure of herself. She's saved by the fact that you've reached the yard sale.
"What are you looking for?" she whispers to you.
"Anything made out of metal, wood, and plastic are ok as well but metal is preferable, electronics are ideal."
The two of you split up a bit to look around the meager offerings. It looks to be mostly children's toys, and not even anything electronic. On the plus side, it's cheap, and you get some materials out of it.
Spoiler: Material Rolls
"Next time, let's find someone with a bit more stuff," you say to Taylor as you take your children's toys with you.
"Where are you planning on keeping that stuff?" Taylor asks.
"It may not be as big as yours, but I can fit a decent amount in my room," you say.
Taylor nods.
That night at dinner, you tell Uncle Danny the big news, "I joined the soccer team today!" you tell him, with just as much vim as you had when you told Taylor.
He takes a moment to process this, as dinner previously had been utterly silent, "That's great, do I need to pick you up later so that you can go to practice?"
"No, practice is during school hours."
"Well, I'm glad you're making friends."
Taylor is looking between the two of you as if she's seen a ghost, and there's a hint of something else when she looks at you, but you don't know what it is.
The next day, instead of going to the nearest one, you pick a 'yard sale' at a wealthy apartment downtown. Hopefully, they'll have something that's more worth your while.
On the way over, Taylor's giving you the same look that she gave you last night while you were talking with Uncle Danny. You're still struggling to piece together what that look is. It's not anger, nor is it suspicion, pity, or disbelief. Maybe it's sadness, but why would she be sad looking at you.
Maybe something particularly bad happened at school? Man, now you really feel guilty about not trying to help her out there. Realistically, you don't have a good way to help Taylor. You haven't come up with any ideas about doing so, or even thought about that much, which compounds your guilt. Maybe you should broach the subject with her. She does her best to avoid talking about school, though, so maybe she wouldn't like it if you brought it up.
You waffle back and forth on the matter until you reach the actual 'yard sale.' The 'yard' is the ground floor of the apartment building, and the seller, a college-aged guy with blonde hair, brown eyes, and a stick-figure-physique. That's not what's important though, what's important is that this idiot is selling a whole tower PC. You even checked inside to make sure it wasn't just a case. It's definitely not the cleanest PC since it's covered in dust, but you're practically salivating at all the materials you could pull from this thing.
"You're just selling this whole thing?" you ask the guy
"Yeah, 30 for the whole thing, it doesn't work anymore and I never bothered figuring out why."
You give Taylor your best pleading look. She gives you an exasperated and slightly fond (hopefully) look in return.
Spoiler: Material Rolls
Spoiler: Event Roll
Things do not continue going your way though, as, on your way back through downtown, hefting your slightly used PC, you are accosted by someone yelling "Hey!" at you.
You and Taylor both turn to look at the voice, you in curiosity and her in horror. You find exactly what you were expecting and hoping you wouldn't meet on an outing such as this. Coming out of a nearby chain coffee store is one bitchy, unstable redhead, and one possibly deranged athletic black girl. Yes, that's right, you've finally met the notorious Emma Barnes and Sophia Hess.
"Hey Tay," Emma says with faux cheer, "I didn't expect to see you here."
"Yeah, looks like the loser's stooped to hanging out with middle school boys," Sophia chimes in.
"I guess you're not just a slut but a pedo as well."
With each word, Taylor seems to cringe in on herself even more. Clearly, now is the time for you to intervene somehow. You could probably knock over Emma's psyche like a house of cards with only four words, but then Sophia would definitely have… questions.
You…
[The Bitches Two] Let Taylor handle it. You're not a coward. Not at all.
[The Bitches Two] Get Taylor out of the situation.
[The Bitches Two] Insult them back (Suggest some insults)
[The Bitches Two] Kick them in the shins.
[The Bitches Two] Write-in.
Votes for next chapter:
The Bitches Two
QM Note:
Between this and my other quests (not including Smite Quest), this is the one that both is fun to write and seems to have some sort of direction to it. I've pretty much put it right below Smite Quest on my priority list just because of how much fun I'm having writing it.
Also, this quest is my experiment in dice-based quests. Like, I probably still won't have combat dice rolls, but expect a lot of things to be based on dice rolls. I'll try and limit it somewhat, but I'm interested in how some of the longer/more popular quests just have tons and tons of dice rolls.
At first, I considered doing a week per update, but that seems kind of fast, so I think I'll do like 2 updates/week of BB time.
Also, I can't believe you literally rolled for the lowest event I put on my event table, holy shit, you're so (un)lucky. Not sure how well I wrote their insults because I was sort of waffling between, these are too childish, and then these are too sophisticated/subtle.
Last edited: May 17, 2019
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Threadmarks 7. Taylor's Dilemma
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Monk Penguin
Monk Penguin
Way of the Open Flipper
May 18, 2019
#362
Spoiler: Winning Vote
You nudge Taylor with your elbow, she looks down at you in your encumbered state and you mouth 'recording' at her, while letting your sleeves fall back a little to show the Kimoyo Beads. They're not lit up, but you did manage to set them to record the two bullies. You're not sure if Taylor gets it, but she does set her mouth into a line.
"Going to your middle school boyfriend for moral support, Tay? You know he won't help you because you're dirt, and worth even less. You probably sleep with a new guy every day, don't you?" Emma continues on, unabated.
"For your information, this is my cousin," Taylor says, sounding angry.
"It must be terrible to have such a slut for a cousin," Emma says as if pitying you.
"Why are you doing this? Why any of this? Why me?" Taylor says, sounding slightly hysterical.
"Don't you get it Tay, you're weak. You're weak and I'm strong so I can do whatever I want to you."
"Is that why you destroyed my mother's flute? She loved you, you know! You were like a sister to me!" Taylor is only getting more hysterical, maybe you should intervene, but you don't have anything on video that would really help, at least from your limited knowledge of the law.
"I took that away from you because you didn't deserve it. You're the one who killed her after all." That's at least an admission of theft.
Taylor physically staggers at this comment and starts to shake. "Are you going to cry Tay? Are you going to cry for a week straight?"
"A-and the locker?" Taylor asks weakly.
This time, it's Sophia who speaks up. "We did that because we could Hebert. No one's going to stand up for you, not even your twit of a cousin. Look at him, just standing there. We're going to keep doing things like it and keep getting away with it." She gets all up in Taylor's personal space, but there is no shoving involved, so it's not like you could claim assault.
You judge that this is as much as Taylor can take. Regardless, it's as much as you're willing to watch Taylor take. You adjust your new acquisition under one arm and then use your other to take Taylor's hand and pull her away, back towards home.
"Running away already, Hebert," Sophia says, but makes no move to pursue you.
Taylor is silent the whole way back, and you can't quite see her face so you can't tell if she is crying or not. You're not really sure what to say to comfort her, so you just squeeze her hand to remind her that you're there for her.
As soon as you get home, you connect to the home wi-fi network and then upload the video to as many cloud storage websites as you can find. Then you go about setting up some VPN's from your connection and creating several throwaway accounts. Then, you do your best to start editing the videos. The angle isn't perfect, but since you're a bit behind Taylor, you can make it look like someone zoomed in from a bit further back. You have everything set up to upload the video to multiple websites in so that there's no way that the PRT can miss it.
That's when Taylor pulls herself together, "What are you doing?" she asks you shakily.
"Taylor, what they said they did is more than just schoolyard bullying. I'm pretty sure they broke several laws so I'm going to upload it to video-sharing websites so that they won't be able to cover it up."
"And o-other people would be able to see it?"
"Yes," you say, pausing your work.
"I'd really rather you didn't."
"Why not?"
"If they see it, it won't stop them. I-If anything it'll make them harsher on me."
"Then do you think we should take this to the police?"
"We can't. Massachusetts is a two-party consent state."
"Let me read up on recording laws before we rule this out."
After some quick reading, you find out that Taylor is correct in that Massachusetts is a two-party consent state, but that there's a key basis to the law that she's overlooked. "The eavesdropping laws only apply when one or both parties could have a reasonable expectation of privacy," you stress to Taylor. "We were in a street in the middle of downtown. I don't think they could expect privacy from a conversation out there."
Taylor grimaces and then fidgets for a bit, "How would we get the video to the police. We'd have to tell Dad wouldn't we, and then he'd want to know how we got the recordings, so you'd have to out yourself, wouldn't you."
You think about it for a moment. Uncle Danny might not be a great parent, but he's not stupid, and he's currently taking a pretty active role in your life, so it's not like you could slip this one by him. "Yeah, and you'd also have to tell him what exactly is going on at school," you say.
She blanches, "How do you-?"
"I've seen the way you avoid the topic at mealtimes Taylor, and I was there for what just happened. I'm not stupid."
"But what about the legal costs. We can't afford a lengthy legal battle, and Emma's dad is a lawyer!" She's starting to work herself up again.
"Doesn't Uncle Danny do a lot of political legwork on behalf of the dockworkers. I'd be surprised if he didn't know anybody with a legal background that owed him favors or was willing to help him out."
She wilts."I don't know if I can tell Dad, but I also don't know if I want everybody to see me fall apart on camera." She shifts around restlessly. You wonder if the bugs in the basement are going haywire. "What do you think we should do? You're the one who recorded it, and if we go to Dad you're the one who is going to get outed."
You…
[Recording] You'll post the recordings online. (90% Chance Sophia/SS is 'Transferred, 10% Chance Emma faces legal consequences, You keep your parahuman status secret from Uncle Danny)
[Recording] You'll go to Uncle Danny to see if you have any legal recourse (80% Chance Sophia/ss faces consequences (either transferred or juvie), 70% Chance Emma faces legal consequences, You out yourself to Uncle Danny)
[Recording] Write-in. (I'll tell you the odds, literally)
The two of you resolve that you'll deal with the recordings on the weekend, to give both of you some time to prepare for whatever happens, and so that Taylor won't have to go to school for a bit after whatever happens. The next few days, you fall into a sort of routine. There are classes, soccer, and then you get home and work on your beads in your room.
It takes a bit of doing, but eventually, you manage to get a bead to function as a sort of SIM card, which will allow your beads to pick up a cellular signal. The best part is that they can piggyback off of other connections so you don't need a service provider. Take that telecommunications companies.
One thing you do note as you work is that you have a lot of ideas, but most of them require better tools than what you have right now, and that's not even counting what will happen if Uncle Danny ever goes looking for his tools. It's not like you even need to buy the tools you need. With materials and time, you could make them. You look around your slightly cramped attic room. Space is also a concern. You could get better tools with materials, time, and space. You'd guess that this is right about when most tinkers would establish a workshop. Inevitably, your mind drifts to the basement. Prime workshop material if it wasn't already a breeding ground for hundreds, if not thousands, of spiders. You were considering asking Taylor to share once she unmasked to you, but on second thought, maybe not.
Normally this is where I'd like to have you vote on what you're doing next week, but that will obviously change greatly based on the above vote, so instead, have an interlude.
[Interlude] Taylor Hebert
[Interlude] Danny Hebert
[Interlude] Missy Biron
[Interlude] Write-in (Really just about any character that has appeared in the story so far is fair game)
Votes for next chapter:
Recording
Interlude
QM Note:
Really sorry about late/not updating but I've been a bit busy the past few days. I'm really only updating this quest over Smite Quest because this quest is still sort of getting off the ground, while Smite Quest is established, and I am trying to alternate which one I update first. It just turns out that on the days I update Smite Quest, I have time to write for both quests. Oh well.
Edit:
In the case of going legal, there is a chance Sophia goes to Juvie, though I'm not going to say what it is and it's smaller than the chance that she's transferred. Also, for any rolls in this quest, you can consider higher always being better for the protagonist unless stated otherwise.
Last edited: May 18, 2019
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Threadmarks Interlude 1: Taylor Takes out the Terrible Trio
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Monk Penguin
Monk Penguin
Way of the Open Flipper
May 19, 2019
#414
Spoiler: Winning Vote
Through my bugs, I felt two people standing outside. Shortly afterward, I felt one of them knock from the vibrations going through the walls. Dad answered the door, and they talked for a bit. Then, one of them left while the other one stuck around. Dad took them inside, and I could hear them talking downstairs. I could make out that the other person was a kid, was it someone from Winslow? What were they telling my dad? After a bit, dad went into the garage, and I went downstairs to see who it was. It would be best if I could talk to whoever it was without dad overhearing. If I was lucky, I could convince them to leave me alone, but who was I kidding. If they came all the way to my home, I doubted anything I could say would convince them to leave.
I went downstairs, and standing in the living room was a boy that I did not recognize. He looked a little young, but maybe he was a freshman that Emma had set on me. "Who are you?" I asked him, suspicious.
"I'm your cousin, Tony." As far as I knew, I didn't have a cousin. "My parents died in a car crash, so I guess I'm living with you now." The way he said that he sounded so devoid of any feeling. It reminded me of Dad after Mom had died, and his parents had died in the same way, supposedly. I was still suspicious, but it had a ring fo truth to it. I couldn't help feeling sorry for him.
That first weekend, I was still waiting for the other shoe to drop and for this to be some sort of extended practical joke, at least that's what I tell myself as I remember all the failed conversations between Tony and me.
Afterward, though, I sort of realized that Tony wasn't a lie or a joke, he was my cousin, and he was around to stay. He spent a lot of time trying to get to know me, or to talk to me, or something. At first, I found his repeated attempts to initiate a conversation annoying. I was still working out how to use the senses and insects of my bugs, especially spiders, to weave myself a costume. I had a sort of model in the basement which the black widows I had found were currently working on, but progress was slow, and it didn't help that Tony refused to stop bothering me. Eventually, though, I started to realize that Tony had just gone through something traumatic and he was all alone right now, far away from everything he knew. If I was going through something like that, I would want someone to help me, so I did the right thing, and tried to get a feel for his emotional state
All of those conversations died horrible deaths of awkwardness. Were my social skills really so atrophied that I couldn't interact with another human being who wasn't trying to hurt me in some way? Another thing to blame the trio for, I suppose. At least Tony seemed to be able to carry on a conversation entirely on his own. He seemed just like the chatterbox I had been before mom had died and Emma betrayed me. I hoped he could retain that innocence in Brockton Bay, at least for a little while, it was refreshing in a way, but I worried that it was just a coping mechanism for him, and any day now he would break down on me or dad.
I stared at the holographic screen in front of me. Tony was a cape, well not a cape yet, but he said he wanted to be one, to be a hero. Like me. I just now realized that he hadn't mentioned anything about his specialization. Maybe he just didn't know. I speculated based on the beads he had left on the dining table. It could be Holograms or Portable Technology, both useful specializations that the Wards would want. I felt a brief surge of envy as I compared his power to my own, but I pushed it down. I knew better than anyone that we didn't get to choose our own powers and I could lament all I like about the unfairness of the world, but that didn't mean anything would change. Conversely, it would also make Tony a target, when I was researching Tinkers I had read about how gangs snapped up tinkers faster than any other class of parahumans other than maybe Thinkers.
I couldn't let that happen to Tony. He had just integrated himself into our family. It would kill dad if he was kidnapped by a gang. I was starting to feel like I agreed with dad, it would be much easier if he didn't want to be a hero and just wanted to tinker, but how could I deny him that dream when it was the same as my own.
I decided then, that instead of trying to prevent him from doing what he wanted, I would do my best to assist him while keeping him safe. That's what a big sister is supposed to do, right?
Walking Tony home from a yard sale that he found, I was a mess of conflicting emotions. On the one hand, hearing Tony and dad talk at dinner had made the house feel… warm, homey like it used to feel before mom died. Yet, all of dad's attention was directed towards Tony, utterly ignoring me, his daughter, who was suffering constantly. I was torn, on the one hand, I hoped that it would continue, and dad would become more of the father I remembered from before mom died, and on the other hand I was jealous of Tony. I knew I shouldn't be, he was only trying to find help after his own troubles, but sometimes we can't help our own emotions.
He had better powers than mine. He had dad's attention. He had a decent school life. He had everything that I didn't. Regardless of how I felt though, I was here, with Tony, allowing him to spend my allowance on things for him to tinker on. He was happily chattering away about all the materials he could use from the broken computer he bought. I had stopped paying attention already, some of the things he was saying were way above what I could understand possibly devolving into tinker babble, but he was enthusiastic, and hearing him like that left me with a fuzzy feeling.
Then, I saw Emma and Sophia walk out of a coffee shop, and that fuzzy feeling died a swift death. I kept my head down, hoping that they wouldn't see me. Unfortunately, the world hates me, so they immediately spotted me and started to head in my direction, eyes alight with cruelty. I steeled myself, no matter what they said, I would take it in the hopes that they wouldn't switch targets onto Tony. This was my problem, and I could handle it.
The first few insults hurt. Accusing me of being a pedophile in front of my own cousin made me angry, but my rage was impotent. After all, what could I actually do to them? Then, Tony came up to my side. I tried to urge him back with my eyes, this was my problem. I didn't want it to become his as well, then he mouthed something at me. I couldn't actually tell what he said, lip reading wasn't my strongest suit, but he did let his sleeves fall away from the bead-computers he had made and I got the message.
"I think we should tell Uncle Danny," Tony said to me.
"You'll have to reveal your powers to dad though."
"It's better than posting it all over the internet, at least this way only the police should see it."
It was… touching that he would be willing to out himself to dad for me. I couldn't help but feel that he was being a bit stupid, or sentimental, but his gesture was touching nonetheless. It didn't change the fact that I was going to have to tell dad about Emma. That wasn't a conversation I was looking forward to.
I breathed a sigh of relief when I managed to convince Tony to wait until Saturday to show dad with an excuse about 'preparing.' I did have to prepare but it was more of a mental and emotional thing. I wondered, should I reveal my own powers to Tony and dad. Tony had been willing to trust me enough to show me his own, and he was willing to go this far to help me. Dad deserved to know. I didn't want to burden them with it though. Tony would probably spend all his time making something for me to try and keep me safe, and dad would… I don't know what dad would do, but knowing who had been bullied was bad enough. I hoped that having another dependent would make it so that he wouldn't spend everything fighting a losing court battle if it came to that.
Saturday rolled around far too quickly and judging from the way Tony was fidgeting with his beads at the breakfast table, he wanted to get this over with quickly. Dad sat down with his own breakfast, looking between the two of us curiously.
"I was planning on staying home this weekend, but it seems like something's up. Care to explain?" he said
Tony looked at me, and I gave him a nod. It would be good to get this over with.
"Uncle Danny, I have a confession to make." Dad put down his utensils, looking concerned and slightly confused. "I'm a parahuman." To emphasize his point, Tony placed the beads on the table and then activated the hologram.
Dad stared at it in shock, "How long?" he said in disbelief.
"I'm pretty sure I've been one since before I came here, but I only figured it out a week and a bit ago," Tony explained.
Dad looked at me, "and you knew?"
I froze, like a deer in the headlights. "I only told Taylor because I was afraid you would force me to join the Wards."
"You don't have to," Dad said, seeming to get his bearings. "I'd be perfectly happy if you stayed out of this whole cape business."
"But that's the thing, Uncle Danny, I want to be a hero." Tony looked at dad earnestly.
Dad crossed his arms, "Young man, you are far too young to be doing that by yourself. The Wards are there to keep you safe until you're more experienced and don't think I've forgotten that you said you weren't planning on telling me. Clearly, plans have changed."
"See the issue with the Wards, especially in Brockton Bay, is that even if it's not on purpose, they do get deployed against villains. Generally not the ones that the PRT considers 'too dangerous' but they do get into fights."
"Fights you were planning on getting into anyway since you plan on being a hero. I'm not seeing a good reason for you not to join the Wards yet." This is just what I'd been afraid of. Dad getting scared and pressing me into the Wards. I decided to try and intervene on Tony's behalf.
"Tony was telling me about all kinds of restrictions Ward tinkers have on what they can build. Not just from a safety perspective but from a PR perspective," I interrupted, not yet sure where I was going with this.
"PR is an important part of being a hero," Dad argued.
"But what if they don't let him make some sort of tinkertech that could make him safer because of PR concerns," I try.
"Fine, I'll drop it for now, but only because I'm pretty sure that something serious happened if you decided to tell me anyway," Dad sounded angry, but it didn't seem like he was angry at us. Maybe he was angry at himself, at the world?
Then came my dreaded explanation.
The lawyer dad had called was sitting down at the dining table. He was a stocky-looking man with short hair, and he wouldn't look out of place with the dockworkers. Tony was fidgeting on the couch, looking half like he wanted to flee and half determined to stay.
"This is Chuck Lewis. Chuck, this is my daughter, Taylor, who you'll be representing. Chuck has helped out more than one dockworker get out of a tricky legal situation, and I trust him implicitly."
"It's nice to meet you, Taylor," Chuck said, standing up to shake my hand and then sitting down again. "I heard that you have some new evidence, a video?"
"Yes," dad answered, placing the beads on the table and playing the video like Tony had shown him to. The video of Emma and Sophia admitting to what they had done played on the holographic screen.
"This is tinkertech, right?" Chuck asked.
"Made by my nephew over there, Tony."
"I see. This is some pretty solid evidence. The only issue is that anything relating to tinkertech isn't admissible in court." I felt my heart sink, the trio were going to get away with it, again. "Can you get this video into a format compatible with a regular computer?" Chuck asked Tony.
"Yeah, it shouldn't be too hard," Tony replied.
"I see, then we can make the case that Tony here managed to sneakily record it on his cellphone rather than on tinkertech." He was planning on lying, that was… that seemed wrong. Even if it was to get at the trio.
"Neither of them have cell phones."
"Then I suggest you correct that immediately."
I couldn't take it anymore, how could they not see how wrong they were being. "How can you be willing to do this?" I asked both of them, although mostly dad.
"Taylor... Little Owl... It's either this or have the evidence thrown out on a technicality." Hearing him call me by that nickname again, my resistance broke down. I complained some more, but in the end, I let dad handle it. He was only looking out for me after all, just like I had always wanted.
There were about two weeks of the police contacting Chuck, Chuck contacting dad, and dad talking to me about other evidence I had, which would go all the way back along the chain to the police, or sometimes Chuck would stop me from sending things, or saying certain things to the police who interviewed us. It still felt wrong to me, but I trusted dad, and he was handling it.
Apparently, after two weeks they had so much evidence that Chuck joked that they would be convicted even if I didn't show up at the court date. Apparently, somewhere along the way dad and Mr. Barnes had several arguments. Still, I was nervous about the trial itself and it took the form of me wringing my hands and pushing my nervousness into my bugs as I sat at the prosecutor's table next to Chuck and dad.
Emma was sitting on the other side with her own father. Every so often she would turn and glare at me like I'd wronged her somehow. Aunt Zoe and Anne were sitting behind her, in the pews and they were only looking worriedly at Emma. Mr. Barnes was very focused on the papers he had before him.
Sophia was nowhere to be found. Apparently, she'd already been slated to go to juvie but been put on probation due to the glowing character testimony of one Alan Barnes. It suited a thug like her, I thought darkly, to already be on probation. Apparently, she'd been found in violation, and shipped to a juvenile detention facility out of state.
At least it was much easier to face Emma alone rather than both Emma and Sophia. They always seemed more threatening together.
The actual trial passed by in a blur. Neither Emma nor I were ever called to the stand to testify. Ostensibly, both lawyers thought that they had enough evidence to push the case through without any testimonies from either of us. Since it was the trial of a minor, the actual courtroom wasn't open to the public, so it was empty aside from the judge, Chuck, and our families.
Right now we were waiting for the Judge to decide the verdict. Emma had taken to ignoring me, though she was obviously shaken by how things didn't immediately go her way. Dad and Mr. Barnes have taken to glaring at each other occasionally.
After what seemed like forever, the Judge spoke, "Mr. Barnes… It is clear now that your daughter has harmed Mr. Hebert's daughter, and done so in ways that are in violation of the law. You will be required to pay 46,000 as monetary restitution for the damage your daughter has caused to Miss Hebert."
Mr. Barnes goes to argue but the judge cuts him off, "In regards to your daughter's punishment, it seems that she was not wholly in a sound state of mind if she was so easily manipulated by another delinquent after such a traumatic event. As such, Miss Barnes will be required to undergo therapy to get her back on track as a productive member of society."
Mr. Barnes goes to speak but the judge interrupts him again, "Mr. Barnes, I am being lenient in this case, taking into account Miss Barnes's young age and circumstance." Mr. Barnes deflates. "I will remind you that this sentence will be enforced in the same way that probation would. Do not presume you can ignore it."
They spoke more, but I could only think about how it was over. Two long years of hell, and now it was over. Sophia was gone, somewhere out of state, and Emma had to see a psychiatrist. I doubted I'd see her back at school any time soon. Madison, well, she hadn't actually been prosecuted due to a lack of evidence, but she'd never been as bad as the other two.
I could only sit and wonder how odd it was going to be not to be constantly looking over my shoulder at school every day.
Guess what guys, It's plan time, and it's already March 13th, just look at how time flies.
Let's talk about Tech Trees, you've only got one week of Marvel left, but I suppose you could switch early, anything listed here can be considered approved by me:
[Tech Tree] Stick with Marvel for another week
[Tech Tree] Switch to something else
-[Tech Tree] Attack on Titan (On that day, mankind received a grim reminder.) (3D motion gear, Sharp swords; Magnum Opus: Mecha-Titan)
-[Tech Tree] Overwatch (Heroes Never Die) (Basically anything any hero uses; Magnum Opus: Omnic Titan)
-[Tech Tree] Subnautica (What do you mean I need more tablets) (Lots of utility stuff, good for transportation and building, not so much good for fighting; Magnum Opus: Precursor Facility, with medical, research, and weapons included)
And Also your weekly plan:
New Options are bolded
[Action] Gather Materials by…
-[Action] Ask Uncle Danny to collect what he can from the dockworker's part of the docks. Anything will do really and hopefully, no one is watching there for tinkers gathering materials. (2d4 Common Materials, 1d4 Uncommon Materials, 25% Chance of Rare Material, 10% Chance of Gang Discovery, 5% Chance of PRT Discovery)
-[Action] Go scrounge around a yard sale with Taylor's money (1d6 Common Materials, 1d4-1 Uncommon Materials, 15% chance of a Rare Material, 0% Chance of Gang Discovery, 0% Chance of PRT discovery)
-[Action] Go buy an appliance with Taylor's money (1d4 Common Materials, 1d4 Uncommon Materials, 60% chance of Rare Material, 0% Chance of Gang Discovery, 10% Chance of PRT discovery) (Taylor's poor allowance can only handle this once every other week until you acquire an alternative source of money)
-[Action] Go to an electronics hobby store, cheaper, but with a higher chance of discovery (1d4 Common Materials, 2d4 Uncommon Materials, 90% chance of Rare Material, 30% Chance of Gang Discovery, 50% Chance of PRT Discovery)
-[Action] Go root around in a Junkyard, it's free (3d4 Common Materials, 1d6 Uncommon Materials, 30% Chance of Rare Material, 50% Chance of Gang Discovery, 70% Chance of PRT Discovery)
[Action] You have some tentative permission from Uncle Danny to build some better tools for yourself in the garage (Basic Tools, 2 Actions, 3 Common Materials, 2 Uncommon Materials, 1 Rare Material)
[Action] Research…
-[Action] Toybox
-[Action] Wards Tinker-specific restrictions.
-[Action] Write-in.
[Action] TINKER!
-[Action] Repulsor Gauntlets (Yes, 2 of them) (Basic Tools, 2 Actions, 3 Common Materials, 1 Uncommon Material)
-[Action] Web Shooters (Basic Tools, 1 Action, 2 Common Materials)
-[Action] Element Gun (Basic Tools, 1 Action, 2 Common Materials, 2 Uncommon Materials)
-[Action] Arc Reactor (Basic Tools, 3 Actions, 1 Common Material, 3 Uncommon Materials, 1 Rare Material)
-[Action] Energy Shield Gauntlet (Basic Tools, 2 Actions, 4 Common Materials, 3 Uncommon Materials)
-[Action] Bug Cerebro (Basic Tools, 3 Actions, 2 Common Materials, 2 Uncommon Materials)
-[Action] Program Kimoyo Beads to function similarly to a commercial OS (2 Actions))
-[Action] Iron Man Helmet with HUD (Basic Tools, 3 Actions, 4 Common Materials, 3 Uncommon Materials)
-[Action] Heavily Nerfed Mandarin's Ring (Good Tools, 1 Action, 1 Common Material, 2 Uncommon Materials)
--[Ring] Choose one from the following: Remaker, Influence, Spin, Spectral, Nightbringer, Zero, Liar, Lightning, Incandescent, Daimonic
-[Action] Write-in. What Tinker Item do you want to build
[Action] Write-in.
Finally, your School vote:
Event! Missy is asking around if anyone knows a Sophia Hess, apparently, she got in trouble and Missy wants to know why. As it turns out you do know, and in your civilian identity as well.
You…
[Missy's Curiosity] Sate her curiosity, inform Missy of what's going on with Sophia
[Missy's Curiosity] Drop hints that you know, see how much Missy will hound you for info.
[Missy's Curiosity] Pretend that it's not happening and that you know nothing.
[Missy's Curiosity] Write-in.
QM Note:
Warning, there is some serious timeline spaghetti going on here since I've basically gone and summarized the lengthy process of the legal battle from Taylor's perspective. When we go back to Tony's perspective no time will have passed, just know that all this is going on in the background.
Reminder, Taylor is still an unreliable narrator, and she doesn't have the context that Tony would have.
Also, @Keani, do you mind if I steal this thing you did?
Keani said:
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Monk Penguin
Monk Penguin
Way of the Open Flipper
May 20, 2019
#484
Spoiler: Winning Vote
Well, your reveal with Uncle Danny could have gone better, but not that much better. So far, he wasn't going to force you to join the Wards, but rather than settle that discussion, it was more than it had been delayed due to the more pressing matter of him prosecuting Sophia and Emma to the best of his ability. Still, you had tentative permission from him to set up some larger, standing tools in the garage, and he was even going to bring you some random scraps from the dockworkers.
In fact, that's what you were doing right now, dismantling what he gave you to see what you could find. Unfortunately, there are no electronics, so you have no hope for getting any of the really rare materials. Still, there's a whole lot of metals and plastics that will form the basic shell of any project you might hope to build. There are also a lot of the less common plastics, most likely used in some sort of waterproofing considering these things used to be part of boats or other water-adjacent technology.
Spoiler: Material Gathering Rolls
It also seems like Uncle Danny was able to get them without anyone noticing, which is helpful. It's also much more efficient than going out with Taylor to Yard Sales, judging from the amount of Material you recovered from the random parts.
You did end up meeting with Uncle Danny's lawyer on Monday, one Chuck Lewis. You had no idea who he was, but apparently, Uncle Danny trusted him, and that would have to be good enough for you. He did know you were a tinker, but from what you knew of Worm, Lawyers were supposed to be good at keeping quiet on that front. You had easily converted the video you took to an MP4 and placing it onto a USB drive for Mr. Lewis.
Interestingly, the day after you noticed Missy asking around for information about Sophia Hess. That traveled a lot faster than you'd expected, or the PRT had caught wind of what Uncle Danny was doing before any official filing and made some sort of move to try and get ahead of the legal proceedings. Interesting. Unfortunately, you didn't exactly know what was going on with Sophia either, other than the accusations your family was leveling at her of course. You would tell Missy later, if only because it would be enjoyable to see her reaction. From what you knew Shadow Stalker had never been very nice to her, so perhaps she could join you in some schadenfreude and righteous anger at the possibly former Ward.
In other news, you were using up some of the materials you had gotten from the scrap Uncle Danny brought you to make some better tools in the garage, where Uncle Danny had said you could build better tools. He had also offered you to use the basement, but you're pretty sure Taylor breathed several sighs of relief when you chose not to exercise that option. Still, what you made ended up being roughly similar to a workshop, except your tools were far more chrome and futuristic looking. Overall, they would function the same as regular tools, except they would jam less, require less power, and need less maintenance. Of course, this maintenance could only be performed by you, which put a damper on things.
You also had a field trip to the Rig with your middle school class on Friday. You weren't going to lie, you were pretty excited. You'd seen it several times when you went to the boardwalk but you hadn't had the chance to go inside of it, and you were very curious. You wondered if Missy thought it was a pain or if she was just as excited as you. It was hard to tell with her sometimes.
You also had an idea for a Pym Particle Generator, which would help you get into the breaking field of shrink-rays and other such shrinking nonsense. You had wanted to research what restrictions the Wards placed on underage tinkers, but you would need that time to work on your Pym Particle Generator. You could always postpone one until next week, but the real question is, which one. You had a bad feeling about something, so you decided to finish off the Pym Particle Generator rather than do the research. You felt like something would happen with your power on Saturday, you just didn't know what. Hopefully, it wouldn't be anything too drastic.
You didn't get to see much of Taylor or Uncle Danny this week. They would occasionally come and speak with you, but they were often busy going to meet either Uncle Danny's lawyer or the police.
Spoiler: Event Roll
Friday had rolled around, and you were very excited to be sitting on a bus heading towards the Rig. You didn't actually know the name of the boy you were sitting next to, but he had elected to talk to his friend across the aisle rather than you, so you weren't going to be conversing with him any time soon. You were pretty sure Missy was on another bus, so you didn't get to talk to her, and you didn't know many of the kids on this bus either.
The bus itself was abuzz with arguments about which hero was cooler and speculation about which one they would get to meet. If you had to guess, it would be Dauntless or Miss Militia. Dauntless was a native and Miss Militia was supposedly quite good with others, especially children. Armsmaster would probably do his best to pawn off PR duty to someone else, and Battery and Assault usually worked together, and anyone who put Assault with a bunch of children was just asking for complaints from parents. Triumph was a little young, and you knew nothing about Velocity's personality, so it could be him as well.
These were the thoughts going through your head as you looked out the window. The bus was just passing by the Boardwalk when you noticed two figures sitting at what looked to be a desk. This would be totally normal except them and the desk was floating over the Boardwalk using some sort of shimmering support.
Then, a whole bunch of screens appeared, showing a close up of Uber and Leet at their floating desk. Leet was basically wearing a tattered black cloak that did a great job of hiding his face and body, while Uber was wearing some very familiar looking red plate armor with white trim and a white cape. His armor and shield were emblazoned with stylized crosses. It took you a moment to get the reference, but when you did, only one thought was going through your head.
"No fucking way."
At that moment, Uber started to speak, "Hello residents of Brockton Bay and faithful fans," you had to admit, he had a good announcer voice, "Today, we'll be playing a little game."
Then, you and, probably everyone else in the radius of whatever tech Leet had set up, were teleported. You wound up in the middle of a field of grass, except it didn't look like a real field of grass. In fact, when you touched the grass, it felt off somehow. After a moment's consideration, you realized it was computer generated. You weren't sure if it was you who figured it out alone, or if you had assistance from your power, but this definitely wasn't the boardwalk, no it was probably a [i[certain floating tower with 100 floors/i].
Uber's voice somehow continued to boom around the area, "There are only a couple rules to this game, you have to find the exit and beat the floor boss, then everyone will be freed."
Leet jumped in, and his voice was definitely being augmented somehow to make it very echoey, "To make it a bit fairer, we've given each of you a weapon to defend yourself with."
"And also placed you with a partner, good luck working together," Uber added
"Just remember, if you die in the game, you die in real life," Leet warned in his spooky, echoey voice.
"Not really, but you will be stuck in jail until someone wins or time is up.," Uber disclaims.
The first thing you check is for your weapon, which appears to be a two-handed hammer. You'd expected that it would be heavy to lift but a couple of test swings showed that it was actually quite light, or at least seemed so to you. Now, to look around for your partner, you didn't see anyone at first, then you turned around and…
There she was because of course Missy Biron was your partner. She was also holding a kusarigama and looking very confused about how to use it, but there was a grim set to her mouth.
"Tony was it?" you nod, "I guess we're going to have to play by their rules for now, but once I get my hands on them…"
You feel a shiver go down your spine. You're not sure you should be hoping Uber and Leet escape before Missy can catch them, but you feel as though you might be traumatized if you witness her 'punishment' for them.
You and Missy wander around for a bit, but you don't encounter anything, whether it's a mob or another group of people. The whole time, something seems off. You know the world is computer generated, but you get this niggling feeling that there is something that you're missing.
You don't realize what it is until you adjust your grip on your hammer and your sleeve falls back a bit showing your beads. 'That's right' you realize. You were so focused on completing the challenges the way Uber and Leet set them, you forgot you had other methods to employ. The competitive part of you was just itching to see if you could use your beads to hack whatever Leet had set up to generate the world. You would have done it too, except you had an audience. Any other middle schooler might have been convinced your beads had to do with the Uber and Leet situation rather than having to do with your tinker status, but you doubted something like that would get Missy. She's the most experienced Ward after all. Still, if you don't mind unmasking to another person, this time an active Ward, it would probably be the fastest way out of this situation.
[SAO] Pull out your beads and try to hack Leet's device with your own tinkertech (90% Chance Missy figures out you're a tinker, 50% Chance you succeed in breaking Leet's Game, if you fail, Leet will definitely notice.)
[SAO] You don't want to unmask to Missy, not yet at least. You'll try and do this the way they intended you to. (35% Chance you and Missy find the exit, 20% Chance someone else finds the exit, ??? if no one finds the exit)
[SAO] Write-in. (Missy and You are alone, and the exit is somewhere around here along with whatever interference Uber and Leet have set up)
Votes for next chapter:
SAO
QM Note:
Added like a whole bunch of info to some Informational posts, including @theflyingbiscuit 's reward, which helped you build the Pym Particle Generator on time. You didn't have enough time to do both that, and the research, so while I considered giving you a vote, I assumed that it would pretty heavily favor finishing your Pym Particle generator before you lose Marvel.
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Monk Penguin
Monk Penguin
Way of the Open Flipper
May 21, 2019
#542
Spoiler: Winning Vote
"So, Missy, any ideas?"
"I've got nothing, I guess we'll just pick a direction and start walking. Follow me and make sure to stick close," Missy easily takes charge.
With that, the two of you start wandering off into the grassy plain. There are no landmarks to head for other than the computer-generated sun, but Missy has you heading East, at least you would be heading East if the sun rises in the East, but you don't know how much detail they actually put into this. You're also not sure how it translates to the physical world, you'd have to pull out your beads to figure that out, and you don't want to out yourself to Missy. You've just outed yourself to Taylor, Uncle Danny, and Uncle Danny's lawyer. It'd be best to stop this trend now before it gets out of hand.
You walk for a bit, scanning in all directions, but it appears totally empty for the most part, though the grass is tall enough to reach your waist so you can't say for certain. Suddenly, Missy stops, she holds out a hand for you to stop as well
"I think I heard something," she whispers urgently.
"What is it?" you whisper back
"Behind you!" she yells, and then promptly flings the sickle end of her kusarigama.
You turn around just in time to see it sail wide of the large hunting cat that has managed to sneak up on you. It pounces and you can practically feel your heart speed up as it closes the distance. You flail wildly with your hammer, swinging it with both hands, and through either luck or some sort of aiming assistance, you slam the hammer right on it's muzzle. The cat explodes, not in a shower of gore, but rather into some brightly colored light and gold coins, which promptly vanish. After taking a moment to process that it's dead, you make a mental note to train your situational awareness.
"Thanks for the warning," you say, turning around to see Missy is blushing furiously as she drags the sickle end of her weapon back through the grass.
"Tony, you're a smart guy, right? Do you know how I'm supposed to use this?" she says, clearly embarrassed about her previous attempt.
You're about to say that you don't know how to use traditional Japanese weapons, but then your power latches on to it and informs you that you could make a tinkertech variation on it, and you can infer how it would normally be used by the upgrades you're seeing when you compare your tinkertech version to the one in her hand. "I think you're supposed to use the weighted chain to tangle up limbs and then use the sickle as a melee weapon."
She examines the sickle, "But it's so small?"
"I'm pretty sure it was designed to be used on human opponents with swords, rather than large cats."
"I guess that makes sense. Let's go."
You continue following Missy in your adventure through the grassy plains. The biggest landmark you see is a particularly large tree, or maybe it seems large because you have nothing to compare it to. You don't get a chance to examine it up close because Missy decides to avoid it. The uneventful walking continues until you spot what looks to be a mass of black some distance away.
"I think I see something over there," you whisper.
Missy puts her hands up to her forehead like a visor and then possibly cheats with her power, or maybe she just has better vision than you. "Those are wolves, we've gotta get out of here."
Unfortunately, either the wolves spotted you, or they instinctively know where all the 'players' are because of how the simulation was built. Regardless, they start chasing you.
Today you learned that wolves are fast and significantly faster in a sprint than humans. It's not long before some of the wolves are nipping at your heels, a quick flick of the chain has them tripping up, where you finish them with your hammer, but it's only buying time for the other wolves to catch up to you. Now that they're closer, you can see that there's about ten of them, along with one larger wolf that looks like some sort of Boss Wolf. Is that the floor boss?
Once the wolves catch up to the two of you, they surround you, and in a fantasy reenactment of every buddy cop movie everywhere, you and Missy end up back to back facing them. At first, only one or two small wolves break from the encirclement which you and Missy deal with easily. Missy seems to have adapted to her unusual weapon at this point and is using it to dispatch wolves with frightening efficiency. Your advantage doesn't last long, though, the wolves give up on enclosing you after 2 waves and all charge at you at once. You manage to keep them off of you by swinging your hammer in a wide arc, and out of the corner of your eye, you see Missy using the same tactic with her weighted chain. The stalemate holds for a few short moments before you hear Missy shriek and turn around just in time to see her freeze up as the boss wolf leaps at her.
Needless to say, she is "killed." The wolves make short work of you immediately afterward. It doesn't hurt, but you can't say you cherish the memory of being mauled by wolves, digital as they were. Afterward, you wind up in a jail cell with Missy. You can see that they didn't bother replicating the floating island jail tower thing that SAO had, but you do a quick sweep of the place. Missy is staring at the screen which according to Uber's commentary that you can now hear, depicts the pair closest to the exit. She's fisting her hands so tightly that you can see her knuckles turn white. It might have something to do with Hookwolf, but that's not an issue you can really pry into as just a classmate. Instead, you examine the rest of the cell.
It's pretty barebones, all said, there are four walls made out of what looks like poorly computer-generated stone and one wall that's made up of bars. The bars are actually just for show since when you try and reach your hand through them, you find that there's actually an invisible wall there. You can see in front of you that there are other cells line up in a row, with gaps between them, so it's probably safe to assume that there are other cells beside yours as well. It's actually quite hot in here as well, even compared to the sunny grasslands.
You fan yourself a bit before you think you see something on the floor. It's in the middle of the room though slightly closer to the bar side. You would have missed the slight distortion or written it off as Missy's power except for the fact that your eyes seemed to just slide right off of it.
You turn to Missy and the screen, which is showing a pair of what looks like high-school or college age guys who made it to the final boss. They have your attention for a couple of moments as they fight it before getting mauled by the massive werewolf-looking thing.
"Hey Missy," you get her attention as Leet starts talking about how everybody failed to make it to the exit and how you'd all die on Aincrad. "Do you see something odd about this spot on the floor."
She comes over and you both examine the slight distortion that's doing a poor job of forcing you not to pay attention to it. Your power is pinging off something about it like crazy, maybe Missy can help you figure it out.
"Looks like a stranger effect," she summarizes.
"Why do you think it's here?"
"Who can say what goes through those two idiot's heads."
Unfortunately, it's only just then that your power helps you put together the pieces of what it is and what's going on. It's some sort of pylon or hologram generator for the world. The distortion is because it's failing. The heat is because it's overheating. Add on to that your knowledge that Leet Tech has a tendency to fail explosively, and you have a feeling you know what's coming next.
Your deduction is proved correct when the stranger effect fails, revealing a sparking disc.
You tackle Missy in some hope to get both of you out of the way.
Then there is pain.
You scream for a bit, though it feels like you're a bit far away from your body.
Your voice gets hoarse, you scream some more.
Finally, the pain lowers to manageable levels, somewhere around a 7 on a 1-10 scale and you see that you're still on top of Missy. She's looking up at you with a worried expression and in your deliriousness, you note that she has very pretty eyes, green as spring grass, and sparkling like dew in the morning sun.
"Are you ok?" she asks, breaking you out of whatever state you were in to be looking lovingly into her eyes.
"Well… that hurt," you say. This would be the ideal time for you to pass out so you could stop being in pain. Unfortunately, it seems like life has other plans for you so you're still awake. You manage to flop off of Missy while keeping your back off the ground, which means you're lying face down. You just now realize that this means you're no longer in a computer simulation but instead somewhere in the physical world.
Missy sits up and examines you.
"Oh my god! Your back!" That's not good.
As if to add insult to injury, whatever holo-jail you were in fails, and instead of resting on the smooth stone of the cell, you're face down on the concrete of the sidewalk.
After that whole debacle, you find yourself in a hospital bed. Shortly after you are admitted, Uncle Danny and Taylor arrive. Uncle Danny's lawyer is there too, for some reason.
"Normally burns like these would take two to three weeks to heal, but Panacea makes the rounds pretty consistently in Brockton General. I'm afraid, Tony, that you're not an urgent case since you're stable, but you probably won't be here longer than five days."
You get out of the hospital on the evening of Tuesday, March 22, 2011, and you have yet another week before you:
Marvel's time is up, it's time to find out what Technology you'll decide to use next.
[Tech Tree] Switch to something else
-[Tech Tree] Portal (The Cake is a Lie)
--[Projects] Companion Cube (Basic Tools, 1 Action, 4 Common Materials)
--[Projects] Long-fall Boots (Basic Tools, 2 Actions, 6 Common Materials)
--[Projects] Propulsion Gel (2 L) (Good Tools, 1 Action, 2 Uncommon Materials)
-[Tech Tree] Overwatch (Heroes Never Die) (Basically anything any hero uses; Magnum Opus: Omnic Titan)
--[Projects] Storm Bow High Tech Arrows (Basic Tools, 2 Actions, 3 Common Materials, 1 Uncommon Material)
--[Projects] Barrier Shield (Good Tools, 2 Actions, 3 Common Materials, 2 Uncommon Materials)
--[Projects] Biotic Grasp (Healing Only) (Good Tools, 3 Actions, 3 Uncommon Materials, 1 Rare Material)
-[Tech Tree] Subnautica (What do you mean I need more tablets) (Lots of utility stuff, good for transportation and building, not so much good for fighting; Magnum Opus: Precursor Facility, with medical, research, and weapons included)
--[Projects] Fabricator (Basic Tools, 2 Actions, 2 Common Materials, 1 Uncommon Material)
--[Projects] Solar Panel (Basic Tools, 1 Action, 2 Common Materials, 2 Uncommon Materials)
--[Projects] Stasis Rifle (Good Tools, 2 Actions, 3 Common Materials, 1 Uncommon Material, 1 Rare Material)
And Also your weekly plan, unfortunately, you only have 3 Actions this week:
[Action] Gather Materials by…
-[Action] Ask Uncle Danny to collect what he can from the dockworker's part of the docks. Anything will do really and hopefully, no one is watching there for tinkers gathering materials. (2d4 Common Materials, 1d4 Uncommon Materials, 25% Chance of Rare Material, 10% Chance of Gang Discovery, 5% Chance of PRT Discovery)
-[Action] Go scrounge around a yard sale with Taylor's money (1d6 Common Materials, 1d4-1 Uncommon Materials, 15% chance of a Rare Material, 0% Chance of Gang Discovery, 0% Chance of PRT discovery)
-[Action] Go buy an appliance with Taylor's money (1d4 Common Materials, 1d4 Uncommon Materials, 60% chance of Rare Material, 0% Chance of Gang Discovery, 10% Chance of PRT discovery) (Taylor's poor allowance can only handle this once every other week until you acquire an alternative source of money)
-[Action] Go to an electronics hobby store, cheaper, but with a higher chance of discovery (1d4 Common Materials, 2d4 Uncommon Materials, 90% chance of Rare Material, 30% Chance of Gang Discovery, 50% Chance of PRT Discovery)
-[Action] Go root around in a Junkyard, it's free (3d4 Common Materials, 1d6 Uncommon Materials, 30% Chance of Rare Material, 50% Chance of Gang Discovery, 70% Chance of PRT Discovery)
[Action] Research…
-[Action] Toybox
-[Action] Wards Tinker-specific restrictions.
-[Action] Write-in.
[Action] TINKER!
-[Action] Write-in. What Tinker Item do you want to build
[Action] Write-in.
And as to your school, the fact that Leet's failed technology nearly roasted you alive has apparently made you cool, or at least the flavor of the month. What do you do about this?
[School] Lean into it. Tell exaggerated stories about how you saved Missy from a bomb.
[School] Avoid people who ask you about it entirely, and refuse to answer any questions.
[School] Act as if nothing of note happened to you.
[School] Write-in.
QM Note:
Not sure how well I got done the Uber and Leet schtick, but my interpretation was, "starts out ok, but then turns out to actually be poorly planned which results in unintended consequences."
Also, it may seem like a pretty big coincidence that you ended up in that specific cell, but you did roll pretty badly for the Event itself the last chapter. Any lower and… wait this is the part where I'm supposed to not tell you what else could happen since I'm just spoiling possible future events.
Also, since Tony/you know about shards and how they work in general, I'm writing Tony personifying his shard/power and seeing it as more independent from him than most other capes.
Last edited: May 21, 2019
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