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There will always be too many things to do at once.

My first night with powers, I went out in a...
BP 1

Bailey Matutine

(Verified Pooka)
Location
Pelican Town
Pronouns
They/Them
There will always be too many things to do at once.

My first night with powers, I went out in a hoodie and sunglasses. The world's worst starter costume, perhaps, but I thought I had a great power and wanted to go out and do something. I came across three thugs harassing a woman. I'd used my newfound power to act multiple times in the seconds that I had, using my pepper spray on each of them in sequence, and then found myself just... standing there, in debt to time itself, until the amount of time it would have otherwise taken to approach and spray the other two had passed. Luckily, they'd been blinded and were unable to hit me, and the woman got away with my distraction, so I was able to beat a tactical retreat until I could get a better handle on my powers.

A week later, I felt like I had one of the worst powers out there. I could do four things at once, sure, but I had to either save up the time standing there doing nothing beforehand, or go into debt and stand around doing nothing afterwards. I did find that I had two pools of saved up time. Every eight hours, I would get a few seconds that I could use BETWEEN the seconds, a time outside of time, and then I had my normal manipulation of saved time and time debt. Yay, I was low-power Mover who could be slightly better three times a day. Still, it was a power, and not one that I could really leverage into anything better if I took more time, well, beyond the twenty-four hours it took to fill up my pool of spare seconds. At that point it was either give up or go out again. I chose to keep moving forwards.

I went out again, looking for trouble over the next three nights, before I found another group of thugs. This time there were five of them, all in Empire regalia, laughing and joking about what they were going to do to the next minority they found. I could do four things at once, but not five. I took a deep breath. Would I take a risk with this? Could I take a risk like this? I released the breath. No, I could pick my battles. I'd wait until there were fewer of them together. I was a low level Mover and I knew it. As I turned to go, however, a dark-skinned woman in nurse scrubs came the other way down the street, paying more attention to her phone than where she was walking. My eyes went back and forth between her and the thugs, and my heart caught. They saw her. They weren't doing anything yet, but they saw her, and they were moving to stand in her way. I couldn't leave now. I couldn't let a cell phone take someone else's mother from them.

I began saving up time, getting ready, and had enough time for all four actions by the time they sneeringly informed the woman that if "her kind" wanted to go down this street" she'd have to pay "the toll." They were all facing the other way, so I would be able to strike before they knew I was here. I took hold of my saved time, and let it go. I effortlessly moved through their ranks, pointing my pepper spray at their faces as I moved past them, nailing four of them right in the face before taking up position beside the other woman, and taking a stance that I hoped looked intimidating. "So. Five of you to take on one person. Are you brave enough to take on two? I suggest you go home." I immediately began saving up time again, hoping that they would be confused long enough for me to get another three actions saved up, but the man I hadn't sprayed instead immediately moved to punch me. Miraculously, it didn't hurt as much as it should have. It still hurt, but I could somehow tell that it wasn't anywhere near as damaging as it might have been. I sprayed him as well and used my one saved action to also kick him in the balls.

"Cape!" With that, the five of them scattered as best they could.

I turned to face the woman I had saved. "You all right there, miss..." I trailed off. I knew this face. My silence was taken for another kind of question, though.

"Tricia Hess," she said, shaking my hand. "Thank you so much!"
 
Name: Madison Clements
Level: 4
Job: Freelancer
RHand: ----
LHand: ----
Head: ----
Body: Hoodie
Accessory: Sunglasses
Outfit: ----

Asterisks:
Freelancer 2
Ninja 1
 
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Bravely Default is basically a pseudo Final Fantasy (made by the Final Fantasy team) where the party can use different 'jobs' to fight. And Taylor just used Brave which lets a party member act 4 times in a row, Default which lets her defend to get some 'Brave' points back, and Second which lets her essentially stop time and use that for actions. Might not seem too broken now...

But once she gets jobs capable of unloading massive damage...

Just food for thought.
 
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Just as a note, I've decided that the Final Fantasy series up through VI were released as normal, Tactics was produced, and then things happened such that VII's release date was delayed until January of 2000. For obvious reasons, this ended up not happening, and divers were unable to recover most of the files. Some years later, the majority of the team managed to get back together in Newfoundland and release something nearly identical to IX as Final Fantasy Rebirth, which got them back on their feet well enough to put out something with a strong resemblance to VIII without the flaws, to great critical acclaim. On May 9th, 2005, they were celebrating with their new lead programmer, Andrew Richter.
 
Well damn unlucky bastards. Is this really Taylor though? She's not paranoid enough, and this power is starting off way weaker then Adminisrator. I would like for it to be a OC protagonist, because I am sick and tired of people hijacking Taylor. No offense if that's the route you take, but it would be a lot cooler if you can fight her and the Undersiders in a all out brawl.
I played bravely default. Good game. I hope you stick with only this power. See how another, less fortunate parahumans would make their way through Worms clusterfuck. Avoid the 'I win' mess alt powers eventually devolve to.
 
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Well damn unlucky bastards. Is this really Taylor though? She's not paranoid enough, and this power is starting off way weaker then Adminisrator. I would like for it to be a OC protagonist, because I am sick and tired of people hijacking Taylor. No offense if that's the route you take, but it would be a lot cooler if you can fight her and the Undersiders in a all out brawl.
I played bravely default. Good game. I hope you stick with only this power. See how another, less fortunate parahumans would make their way through Worms clusterfuck. Avoid the 'I win' mess alt powers eventually devolve to.
Well, not to give too much away, but the main character does have the entire Freelancer asterisk, so she'll eventually have access to the hilarity that is Mimic, which boils down to "do the same thing my friend over there just did except without paying any of the costs." That assumes she lives long enough to get that far, though.
 
Just as a note, I've decided that the Final Fantasy series up through VI were released as normal, Tactics was produced, and then things happened such that VII's release date was delayed until January of 2000. For obvious reasons, this ended up not happening, and divers were unable to recover most of the files. Some years later, the majority of the team managed to get back together in Newfoundland and release something nearly identical to IX as Final Fantasy Rebirth, which got them back on their feet well enough to put out something with a strong resemblance to VIII without the flaws, to great critical acclaim. On May 9th, 2005, they were celebrating with their new lead programmer, Andrew Richter.

So... Dragon's gonna be a party member then? Cool.
 
skills included in freelancer include treasure sensing, ignoring trap damage, poison immunity, increasing luck, guaranteed flee, limited healing, reducing threat (via begging) passive 3/4 chance to survive a mortal blow if relatively uninjured, increased learning speed, and increased enemy encounter rate, all in all you're basically Indiana Jones with superpowers.
 
So... Dragon's gonna be a party member then? Cool.

Makes me wonder if the Canadian superteam being named The Guild might have additional implications for this fic...

Imagine half the Capes in Brockton Bay on one side, The Guild on the other, playing Team Fortress 2... Then later discovering who they were trash talking with. This could in turn lead to odd friendships. Taylor and Hookwolf as gaming buddies, perhaps? Saint and Armsmaster? Regent and Rune? The possibilities are endless! :rofl:
 
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Oh, I can hardly wait until Taylor can pull off some of the more broken combos. For example, the classic Utsusemi/Transience anti-physical combo. Or even worse, the ever deadly 4x Life or Death Rage.
 
Oh, I can hardly wait until Taylor can pull off some of the more broken combos. For example, the classic Utsusemi/Transience anti-physical combo. Or even worse, the ever deadly 4x Life or Death Rage.

If the Bravely Second stuff is being considered, there's the Ghosted Double Meteor Rain strategy. As the vid shows, it's pretty OP:



Yes, that is a superboss. Yes, she kinda evaporated.
 
BP 2
"Sophia's mom, right?"

She started at that and peered suspiciously at me. "Is this a threat?"

"What? No! We go to school together! I'm just, this was my first fight as a hero, and I… Do you want me to walk you home? Sophia would be upset if she lost you and I, I don't want that." I felt awkward explaining myself like this, and I knew I was expressing something wrong, but it was hard to get the words out. I don't know why. Normally, it was easy to talk to an adult. Just tell them what they wanted to hear and let them tell themselves the rest.

She stared at me with narrow eyes for what must have been a full moment, before her expression softened and she nodded. "We will walk, and I will talk, and you will listen."

I nod, and fall into step behind her as she resumes walking.

"My daughter is a troubled girl. She sees everything in terms of people hurting each other, when I wish she would think of helping. Tonight, when you saved me, I could tell from your words and your actions that your goal was to save me from violence. This was the action of a hero. Another person might have instead had the goal of hurting those gangsters. With such a goal, I, as the innocent bystander, would have been at greater risk of being hurt myself.

"I have tried to get her to see this distinction, but she ignores me. She thinks she knows better than anything an old person can say. You, as her peer, I hope that you can reach her in a way that I could not. She needs a positive influence in her life that she listens to. If you can be that influence, you have my blessing. If you become yet another thug dragging society down you will lose that blessing. Do we understand one another?"

She wheels around sharply, looking directly at me, and for a second I look around to make sure she's looking for an answer from me and not spotting a threat. A dark shape flutters briefly above the alley behind me, perhaps a sheet on a line, but other than that there is nothing. "Um, I think so, Ma'am."

"Good." She resumes walking. "Now let's talk about you. You said you're new at this, and it shows. You need a real costume. What name are you using?"

"Um, I'm going with Shift right now, but I'm not entirely sure about it."

We walk in silence for a short time. I look at her, and her face is thoughtful. "Simple, straightforward, references the Doppler Shift for those red and blue flashes when you switch between your brute and mover abilities. Powerful without being threatening, and memorable without being overly assuming. It's a good name. Be careful though, it could give people too much information about how your power works."

I think about this. "Wait, brute? I save up time and use it later."

"You flashed blue right before that one thug hit you, and you seemed barely hurt. If you are saving up time to use later, perhaps you're also absorbing part of the impact of anything that hits you. Did the PRT do any testing yet when you went to join the Wards?"

"I, uh, I haven't actually-"

"You should. Soon. Approach them with the same sort of heroism you did today. You want to save people. Let them know, and soon, and they can get you a costume, and training, and help you find any little bits of your power you haven't figured out yet. I have their number in my phone," she said, pulling it back out of her purse.

"Please don't!" I flushed, speaking without meaning to. "I mean, please don't look at your phone while moving. I, my mom was crossing the street when she was hit by some guy who thought a video on his smartphone was more important than a red light. Phones are used when you're staying in one place. Phones in motion are dangerous. YOU almost got attacked tonight because you were looking at your phone instead of watching out for thugs. Sorry, I…"

"Fair enough. When we get to my home I'll take a look, with your permission, at where you were hit just to make sure there's no unexpected damage, and then I'll give you that number."

We walked in silence the next two blocks, turning onto Stonemast Avenue. I followed her up a driveway with a tricycle in the middle of it, and into the garage. There was a stain like a car had been parked here for some time several months ago, and the concrete had been cleaned multiple times since then. A lawnmower sat off to the side. We went through a door into the house, through a laundry room, and into what looked like an office, with a serious computer system, and a big first aid kit on the floor.

She caught my gaze. "I had two great passions in school, and couldn't decide which one to major in, so I majored in both. Medicine, and programming. If I had focused on the medicine, I might be a doctor right now, but in the end, I just couldn't give up on the computer. Now, I work two jobs. One from the hospital, and one from home. I might have gotten further if I had focused my efforts more, but such is life. Now, let's see how hurt you are."

---------------------------------

In the end, it turned out that I just had a minor bruise, no internal injuries, and I should be fine in the morning. I also got the number to call the PRT. After exchanging our thanks, I headed home, only to find a dark shadow in a mask blocking my way and holding a crossbow before I was even halfway there.

"What were you doing with that woman?" I can almost place the voice, but there's just something off about it.

"I was helping her get home, and then she looked at one of my injuries. She's really nice. What's this about? Aren't you that new Ward?"

"Bullshit. She doesn't approve of capes. Doesn't understand us. No way she'd ever help you. What were you really doing to her?"

"That's the truth! We talked, she helped me; told me to join the Wards, I didn't do anything but save her!"

"Liar!" Shadow Stalker shot a bolt at me. Keeping in mind what Mrs Hess had told me, I saved up time, hoping to lessen the impact of the bolt. It didn't hurt, but for some reason after I was hit the number five dominated my mind.

"Listen, I'm telling the truth! Why won't you believe me?" I glanced down at the bolt to make sure it wasn't sticking anywhere vital, and found that it was some weird tinker thing. Probably a tracker, which would explain why it hadn't hurt.

"The world doesn't work like that! Nobody just helps someone else! It's always hurt hurt hurt. The trick is to hurt the people who want to hurt you, before they can do the same to someone you care about, and that's why you're going down!" This time the bolt she loaded looked real. I called on my power to protect me again, but thankfully she missed.

The number in my head changed ominously to a four. "The world doesn't have to work that way! People try to make the world be that place, but it isn't! As long as you try, you can always find a way to help people!"

"That's bullshit! The world is very simple, from animals to people! You have predators, and you have prey, and the only person you can help is yourself!" She nocked another bolt in her crossbow and aimed it at me.

"The world isn't that simple! Not even for animals! There are parasites and symbiotes and remoras and hippos! The most successful animals, though, are the ones that work together. That's especially true of humans!" I protected myself again, but she held off on firing.

As the number changed to a three, she slowly lowered her crossbow, and I took a few steps towards her in response. "It's just like at school. You don't get ahead going it alone, you work together like a team. If you want to be some kind of predator, be a wolf, Soph-". She raised her crossbow at me, fury and terror in her eyes, and fired.

This time, instead of storing more time, I acted between the seconds. I moved around the bolt, hanging in midair, and used the last of my pepper spray on her, quickly following up with kicks and punches, using all the stored time from both pools.

She dropped to the ground, unconscious.

"Shit." She was one of my best friends. Now what was I going to do?

I took a deep breath, and called the number Tricia gave me.

Two.

"Hi, I'm an independent hero. I'm here with Shadow Stalker and I'd like to join the Wards."

"Hold please."

One. That was REALLY ominous, the more I thought abou-
 
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"Please don't!" I flushed, speaking without meaning to. "I mean, please don't look at your phone while moving. I, my mom was crossing the street when she was hit by some guy who thought a video on his smartphone was more important than a red light. Phones are used when you're staying in one place. Phones in motion are dangerous. YOU almost got attacked tonight because you were looking at your phone instead of watching out for thugs. Sorry, I…"
"The world doesn't work like that! Nobody just helps someone else! It's always hurt hurt hurt. The trick is to hurt the people who want to hurt you, before they can do the same to someone you care about, and that's why you're going down!" This time the bolt she loaded looked real. I called on my power to protect me again, but thankfully she missed.
"Shit." She was one of my best friends. Now what was I going to do?

ahhhhhhh

This is... an AU?

I mean, I can't see most of the canon characters acting like this were it to go the way of canon.
 
ahhhhhhh

This is... an AU?

I mean, I can't see most of the canon characters acting like this were it to go the way of canon.
Is your objection based on an assumption that the main character is Taylor?

Would a generalized grudge against people who cause accidents while texting explain the actions of any canon characters?
 
Is your objection based on an assumption that the main character is Taylor?

Nope. At this point I'm assuming Emma, and, well, emma's mom is fine.

Would a generalized grudge against people who cause accidents while texting explain the actions of any canon characters?

There's only 1 canon character who's mother died like that as far as I know.

As I said, it seems to be an AU.

Or an OC(less likely because of the "best friend" thing, but possible), one of the 2.
 
Nope. At this point I'm assuming Emma, and, well, emma's mom is fine.



There's only 1 canon character who's mother died like that as far as I know.

As I said, it seems to be an AU.

Or an OC(less likely because of the "best friend" thing, but possible), one of the 2.
Not Emma.
 
Well that just happened. Maybe asterisks time soon?
 
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