Your alarm blares out into the small, shitty apartment you rent. You blink, your eyes blurry as you swing your legs out of bed. Looking around, you breathed in, rising to your feet as you started getting ready for the day.
There was a small bathroom attached to the apartment, but you had to be careful as you maneuvered around it. The landlord hadn't gotten around to fixing the broken cabinet, so it didn't close. The wall was close enough that even propped open, you had to be careful.
You hated your landlord. He was a greedy whale of a person, but he was also one of the few people who would rent to somebody in your state. Your hands clenched around the sink as you peered into the mirror. Your eyes were baggy, and your hair was greasy. You couldn't help but think back.
Things had been going well. It was not amazing, but it was better than you had thought. The military had been your path forward, but after being rejected—your hand drifted to your chest, and you could almost imagine the thump, thump, thump of the malfunctioning organ under your skin; you tried to settle down with your folks and—
You shoved those thoughts aside and shucked off your pajamas. Stepping into the shower, you turned the heat up as high as it would go, but it wasn't very high. You then sat there and started to clean yourself.
Toiletries were pricey, so you squeezed as much as you could out of your bottle of shampoo and mixed a bit of shower water with the soap you had left to stretch it a bit further. You quickly cleaned yourself. The landlord had threatened to raise the price of utilities if you stayed in too long. You doubted he would actually do that, but you would rather not risk it.
Stepping out of the shower, you scrubbed dry, moving quickly, and managed to finish quickly. Stepping back into the tiny bedroom/kitchen mix, you pulled on your uniform, thankful that it was Friday.
This was the last day of the week you'd be working, and while setting your schedule on Sunday, you had two days off this week. A few ideas swirled around your head about what you would be doing next week, but you ignored them.
Stepping out of your apartment, you closed the door behind you with your key, making sure the door was locked. You then jammed the key deep into your uniform pocket as you started walking towards Fugly Bob's.
It was fast food, not exactly what you'd have hoped, but you didn't have many options. With about five hundred in the bank and your expectation of joining the military being a wash, you didn't have many options. I mean, who would hire an eighteen-year-old whose only experience was with military-related things? It didn't matter that you were decent at training and were fit if you couldn't crunch numbers.
The walk wasn't that far, thankfully; Something you were happy about since the early April weather was a bitch. The Bay was nasty in the spring months, Something you had learned since moving here. However, you set those thoughts aside as you stepped inside the warm restaurant and slapped on our customer service smile, your fingers crossed that Stacy wouldn't be the manager today.
"Why are you late? Your shift started two minutes ago!" Stacy demanded, her tone snappish as you gritted your teeth. You didn't say anything aside from a mumbled apology as you hurried over to your station.
Thankfully, Stacy didn't seem to be focusing on you, instead harassing the new hire. You bit your tongue and kept your head down. Your paycheck was today, and while you didn't think she would mess with it, you couldn't miss even a handful of dollars.
So you kept working, a false smile ever present on your face the entire shift.
You sighed as you stepped inside your apartment, closing the door behind you with a faint thump. Making sure to lock it, you hissed at your slightly burnt fingers. The fry cooker was a bit run down, and Stacy, the head manager, had refused to do anything about it.
You ignored the faint pain and sat down on your bed, head dropped in your hands. You hadn't wanted this. You had a road paved for you ever since you could walk and talk. Now that you had fallen off it through no fault of your own, you didn't really know what you could do.
That's when Something wriggled inside your mind, a memory from a few days ago. Rising to your feet, you headed over to the tiny table that took up a portion of your "kitchen." Brushing aside the handful of envelopes, you picked up the paper that had Something delicately inked on its surface.
You had been having that itch, the itch to build and create, to raise a creature, and to go out there and fight. You had been suppressing it, but was that really what you wanted to do? Did you want to be a person slaving away at a dead-end job in this shitty city?
Of course not. You wanted to be known and to do something that mattered. You needed to get set up for building a proper foundation, so you sat down and started sketching the blueprint for your first and greatest creation.
It would be marvelous.
[] What is your Focus? (This is your main creature; you can create other minor ones, but this is what the vast majority of your efforts will revolve around.)
-[] A person: It resembles a person, and that has all the upsides and downsides you think it would. It can handle tools, is somewhat smart, and could even fake being a cape, but a handful of people will be really scared of what it represents.
-[] A wolf: Bipedal, covered in hair, and very loyal. You don't have to worry about the last bit, but the other two are nice. It might be able to pass for a large shaggy dog, and there is Something to be said about passing yourself off as having a projection of some kind.
-[] A lizard: Can crawl up a wall, has thick scales, and could possibly be made into a dragon one day. There is something to be said about the ability to have your own dragon or just a creature that can ignore small-arms fire.
-[] An insect: A big creepy crawly. It's got pincers, a stinger, or mandibles; this is the sort of thing that'll give people nightmares or just kill them. Well, you don't care; it's great, and you enjoy having this carapaced monstrosity around.
-[] Something else: It's not one of the above; it's something completely different. (The creature must be based on a real-life animal; fantastical augments can come later.)
You had worked long into the night and were finally done. Your first creature had a blueprint, along with a handful of other things to get you started. You looked up, stretching when you caught sight of yourself in the mirror. You almost flinched back; you had something you hadn't seen before.
A smile, stretching from ear to ear and perhaps somewhat mad. Yet it was true and free with yourself behind it.
This is who you are now.
[] Who are you?
-[] Name
-[] Gender
-[] Appearance
-[] Any other details