Author Notes:
So this dumb-ass idea came into my head and wouldn't leave me alone until I had written something. Only then could I actually work on my other stories.
So here's the idea: We've seen plenty of gamer fanfics, right? And often those gamer fanfics were based on various video games, although many prefer to go for a generic DND-like MMO kind of game. It makes for easier writing etc.
But what if there was gamer fanfic based on having the stats and game mechanics from the entire sims series? Thinking about it, the sim people can become ridiculously powerful if they were able to transfer the game mechanics over to real life. You can literally level up every skill in about anything from martial arts to scuba diving. They even have magic in that game, if you have all the dlcs and whatnot.
And let's not even get started on having the ability to access game mechanics, such as time control and building houses while all of the time is frozen.
I'm pretty sure that if Taylor had that much power, she'd take it to ridiculous lengths. So I'm kinda curious to see what Taylor would do with a "simulated life" power set… and how she managed to make that terrifying. Because face it, most versions of Taylor Hebert can be terrifying...Just ask that poor multi-verse hopping older version of Kid Win who's trying to find a world without Taylor Hebert in it in that one fanfic.
(don't ask me for the link, because I lost track of it... sadly enough).
But of course, The sims being what it is, this isn't very serious at all… it's downright cracky, and I'm going to own up to that. This story will be 100% shameless crack, with a side dish of some serious character development thrown in. It starts off serious somewhat, but I'm hoping for total chaos and a trainwreck happening down the road. Who doesn't love those?
But we'll see since I'm literally just winging it instead of having an actual plan in mind unlike with my other fanfics.
Just think of this as a fluffy AU fanfic that occasionally has moments of badassery and ass-kicking. Also, abandon any love of canon here, because you won't find any hints of the canon here.
And for your information, here's all the stuff that Taylor can "level up" on:
Skill
If you look through that link, they literally have every skill you can think of that you can level up on, from cooking to martial arts. With all skills maxed, a person could easily become ridiculously overpowered...
Taylor will also have access to most
game mechanics, but not all. Having that much power In her hands, things should be appropriately chaotic as hell…
*cheesy evil laughter*
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-- the Year 1978--
"Seriously, I don't think you should be gaming and flying at the same time. It's not safe, you know what they say about distracted flying. Do you even know where we're going?" The Warrior said to the Thinker.
If the Thinker had eyes, she'd be rolling her eyes right now. Alas, the two of them were merely crystalline eldritch abominations flying through outer space.
"Relax, Warrior. I have my path to victory shard tuned right now, and it's leading us to our destination. Here, you can check the trajectory path if you doubt me." The thinker said dismissively, as she went back to her life simulation game.
The thing about flying through outer space? It tended to take her kind eons, and it could get downright boring at times without some good old-fashioned conflict to go around. Thankfully, The Thinker came across a lone entity similar to herself and her eternal companion the Warrior. The Entity had called himself Abaddon for some reason that she honestly didn't care about, but he had suggested a gamer shard to keep her entertained should she get bored on her long trip. He noted that she didn't seem to have one as so many other entities had, and were willing to give her his gamer shard. However, he wanted some of her shards in return.
She had been somewhat interested in the idea… and hey, smashing their bodies against each other in a violent, conflict-driven dance sure broke up the monotony of space travel. So she saw nothing to lose here and had agreed.
After the dance of violence was over, The two parted away with their new acquisitions.
It was the best trade she had made because god damn was this gamer shard addictive and fun. The simulated conflict wasn't as fulfilling as the real thing of course, but it had been entertaining enough modding the gamer shard so that it suited her needs. She modified the gamer shard using her some of her simulation shards and Warrior's borrowed queen administrator shard, to run life simulations based on native lifeforms of the planet that they were going to arrive at. Just so that she'd have an idea on how to deal with the natives in avatar form.
She had intended to run it on free will mode and just watch what the simulated lifeforms would do when facing certain situations… but she had wound up amusing herself by mentally torturing the simulated lifeforms to death, mostly by removing doors and windows to watch them panic as they realized they were trapped without a source of food and drink. Although, her favorite part was making everyone in the simulation enemies and fight each other. There were just so many different ways to make the simulated natives hate each other. In a way, this was valuable data they were gathering here and they hadn't even arrived on the planet yet. It was giving her so many wonderful ideas….
"Alright. The trajectory path to our destination checks out." The Warrior reluctantly agreed.
"See?" The thinker smugly said, "I'm the thinker in our relationship for a reason. Never doubt me again."
The warrior sighed loudly. "I still think it's a bad idea to play that simulation and fly at the same time. You see what happened to other entities out there who flew while they were distracted? They died in horribly embarrassing ways! The elder entities had to make a whole PSA about it that they transmitted to everyone out there. Distracted flying is no joke, especially in outer space."
--later on, in 1981--
The Warrior sighed loudly as he stood by the Thinker's half-dead body.
"See, I told you… distracted flying is no joke! You don't text and fly, you don't play games while flying!" The Warrior grumbled loudly. "Just because I'm the warrior doesn't mean I don't have common sense, you know. Thinker… why didn't you listen to me??"
The Warrior held back his emotions, as this meant that the entire cycle and all the other cycles that they had planned were forever broken. And there was only one way to fix this, far as he knew.
Thankfully, the Thinker wasn't completely dead, so there was one thing he could do. He could sacrifice half of himself by merging with Thinker's body, and this way her body would be put on life support indefinitely.
Of course, this meant that he wouldn't be able to create an avatar of himself to interact with the natives as Thinker had planned for the two of them, but he didn't care. Saving what was left of the Thinker was far more important, even if it meant giving up who he was as a person. Besides, this way even if the two of them died during the end of the cycle, a new offspring would be created from their corpses. A Warrior-Thinker hybrid, if you would.
And of course, this new offspring would have all of their parents' memories, because that's how the entities' reproductive cycle worked anyway. The Thinker would be able to live again after a fashion that way, and so would the warrior. To him, this was acceptable.
He slowly and carefully sliced the Thinker's and his own body into multiple parts, and were methodically merging each bit together… until finally, they were like a two-headed beast… figuratively speaking.
Now that they were partially merged together, The Warrior was able to carry her off to a far more secure dimension where they would not be disturbed… and just in time too. It seemed that the natives of this earth were coming their way.
A very young Fortuna and her family looked puzzled as they saw something weird vanish into thin air. They only had gotten a brief glimpse of it, so they didn't know what it had been to start with.
Now that the Warrior-Thinker was relocated somewhere more secure, The warrior aspect went about setting up both his Path to Victory and his Queen Administrator shards so that they'd be able to work together in managing all of the shards while he hibernated.
He couldn't be too active right now since he was now doubling as life support for his mate… so naturally one needed an automated system that would keep all the shards running smoothly and make them go where they were needed.
As he was setting up the automatic system, and inspecting all of the shards that he was to send out, he couldn't help but run across the gamer shard, which was still running that life simulation game that Thinker had created to amuse herself. He sneered angrily at it… after all, this shard was at fault for causing his mate's critical condition to start with.
He angrily tossed it into the large collection of shards that the Admin shard and path of victory shard were to distribute evenly throughout all the selected Earths. He then told the Admin shard that since the gamer shard had been so harmful to his mate, that it should go to somebody who would cause the maximum amount of chaos and conflict to make up for the sin that it has committed against its owner. The Admin shard complied with his wishes and was already colliding with the path of victory shard to determine which human would be best to wield it.
Warrior scoffed slightly. With any luck that shard would be culled and destroyed completely when the end of the cycle came, considering that it seemed like such a useless shard to start with.
Satisfied with his setup, he went to sleep secure in the knowledge that he'd be reunited with the thinker in a new body when he woke up 300 years later.
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--December 14th, 2010--
Taylor Annette Hebert couldn't believe her horrible luck. Why NOW??
She had been shopping for both her parents at the local mall when for some inexplicable reason the E88 had decided that the mall would make a perfect battlefield to vent all of their grievances with some minor hispanic gang that also had been there.
Taylor had been still in the process of trying to find the perfect gift for her mom since she had already found one for dad.
She'd find one for Emma too, but… well, tragedy struck two years ago in 2008. It seemed like Alan Barnes had met some guys while he was traveling in California for work, and they had been so impressed by him that they basically poached him away from the law firm in Brockton Bay by offering him better pay, better bonuses, etc. Naturally, this meant that Emma and the entire Barnes family would be moving away from Brockton Bay for good.
This meant that Taylor would lose the closest thing she ever had to a sister, and the two of them knew it despite all the assurances that the adults had told them. E-mailing and texting each other wasn't the same thing as hanging out in person at all…. As a result, their close friendship had started to fade away once Emma started making friends in her new school in California.
Emma just didn't have time for Taylor anymore now that she had her new life there. Well… Taylor didn't see the point in getting Emma anything anymore now that they were like strangers.
And to make things worse, Annette Hebert had very nearly died in a car accident that year too. It had been thanks to a nearby good Samaritan who knew CPR and other life-saving techniques that Annette had lived at all. But, her body had been so badly mangled in the crash that she needed physical therapy to be able to move at all.
God, that had been the worst year ever for Taylor. Just entire months full of sucky, horrible, no-good days. Thankfully Panacea had triggered not too long after that and had become… well, Panacea. They managed to get in touch with the healer after a while.
Thanks to Panceca, Annette Hebert no longer needed a wheelchair or even the endless hours of physical therapy. She was back to her old self, just like that. It was honestly a miracle.
But back to the situation at hand… was it really too much to ask that Taylor have a drama-free day shopping for Christmas gifts?? Apparently not.
She was cowering with the other shoppers behind some shelves in the local bookstore as the gangs engaged in a shootout with each other.
Everyone in the store shrieked loudly when stray bullets flew through the windows, shattering the glass everywhere.
Taylor gasped loudly when she felt a stray bullet hit her in the stomach, causing her to fall over.
The books fell off the shelves and landed around her as she started bleeding out. For some insane reason, she felt it was important to look at the titles of the books as she clutched at her bleeding stomach.
Maybe it was to keep herself calm, she didn't know. She let out a hysterical laugh when she realized that she had taken refuge in the self-help section, because every single one of those books was about life management, with titles like "How to stop chaos from taking over your life" and "How to free your family from a lifetime of clutter."
It was fucking ironic because she couldn't even help herself right now. All she could do was lie there helplessly because for some reason her legs didn't work right now.
Did the bullet hit her spine too? would explain why she couldn't move her legs.
She let out a stifled sob, as she thought about how her parents were going to react once they found out that she had died while shopping for Christmas gifts. Worst Christmas ever, amirite?
Oh god. She really didn't want to die. She had so much to live for… she wanted to be able to do everything in life while she figured out what she wanted to do with her life. Become good at art, writing, or whatever else. She wanted to become fucking skilled at absolutely EVERYTHING so that she could become anything she wanted to be in the future.
She sobbed loudly and screamed as she suddenly felt a long, drawn-out stabbing pain in her stomach. This was it… she was going to die for real now.
…..
[Destination?]
…..
[ Trajectory.]
…...
[Agreement.]
There was a bright green glow that engulfed her, and she felt the stabbing pain lessen. The pain was still there, but now it wasn't as bad anymore.
……….
Huh. this was weird. Everything seemed frozen in time. She could see herself in the third person now, and dear god did she look like complete shit right now. Her skin was a sickly white color, and her perfectly groomed hair was now messy and matted against her sweaty forehead. Even her glasses were crooked on her nose. She looked to be in complete shock as she desperately clutched at her bleeding stomach.
Oh god, is this what they meant by having an out-of-body experience?
All of a sudden, a holographic screen popped up in front of her.
[Welcome to the Life Management game, where all sorts of crazy stories can be told in the game of life! I can see this is your first time playing, so I'll go ahead with the tutorial!]
Okay, what the heck was going on here? was this a dying dream?
[Sims have basic needs that need to be met. Right now, it seems like your sim is injured and requires basic aid! Luckily, it seems that there's a basic first aid kit located in another store nearby. Hover over there and drag it back here so that you can drop it into your Sim's inventory.]
Taylor didn't even know what the hell was going on here, but she wasn't about to argue with some random hologram thing if it could save her life. So she found herself floating through the wall right into the next store, where a glowing hologram arrow was helpfully pointing out where the first aid kit was. The store turned out to be a camping store, which carried everything from hiking boots, tents to fishing poles. And of course, first aid kits.
She was doubtful that she'd be able to carry something like that, now that she was like a ghost during her out-of-body experience. But to her surprise, once she touched the kit it glowed slightly, and she found that she was able to drag it back to the bookstore where her body was lying somehow.
[Now, tap on your sim to open her personal inventory, and drop the kit into there.]
Taylor had no idea what a sim was, but somehow got the feeling that it was talking about her. So she gently tapped on her prone body, and an interface popped up. The inventory interfaced actually reminded her of some RPG video games she had played in the past, save for the fact that there didn't seem to be a tab that showed what she was equipping on her body. Her inventory space showed the gift-wrapped box containing the tie she had gotten for her dad, and the amount of money she had. She dropped the first aid kit into the inventory and then stared at the inventory interface.
Uhh… now what?
[Now that the kit's in your inventory, tap on the kit, and a list of options should pop up.]
Taylor did as she was told, and there was a UI interface that gave her the choice to heal the body completely. It was the only choice right now, really. She tapped on that, and there was a bright flash of light.
Time moved again, and she gasped as she found herself back in her body. She could actually feel the bullet being pushed out of her body as it healed. It was the weirdest sensation ever.
Taylor sat up, as she realized that she no longer had a bullet wound. Everything felt real, and not some kind of dying dream like a part of her had initially thought.
……. Holy shit. Was she a parahuman now?? Or did she just hallucinate that whole thing?
"Somebody help! Mommy's bleeding!" She heard somebody sob in the next aisle, and without thinking, Taylor got up and somehow summoned the first aid kit into her hands.
She rushed over and found a crying black 6-year-old girl kneeling next to her mother, who had been shot in the chest. Thankfully, it didn't seem like the bullet had hit her heart and instead had hit her left breast. The girl's mom was visibly trying not to freak out, although there were tears in her eyes as she clutched at her bleeding chest.
Taylor knelt on the other side of the adult woman's body and opened up the first aid kit looking for anything that would stop the bleeding. She wondered if she should try to dig out the bullet first but then decided against that. She wasn't a doctor, so she might do more bad than good if she did that. There was still the sound of shooting outside the stores inside the mall, and Taylor sucked in a deep breath. What if another bullet came their way again?
"Okay, maybe we should help put your mommy in the back of the store where it might be safer? Carry the first aid kit for me and I'll carry your mom. Okay?" Taylor told the girl, and the girl simply nodded as she stared up at her with a fearful expression.
Taylor grunted slightly as she helped the black woman to her feet, and helped carry her all the way to the back of the store where other terrified customers were huddled together. In the process, the woman couldn't help but bleed out onto her.
Crap, this was a lot of blood. On the plus side, this was helping her cover up her own bloody shirt. Nobody would ask her why she had blood on her shirt when she was perfectly okay if she was seen carrying a visibly wounded woman.
She gently laid the woman down and called out to the other people in the back to help her apply first aid before the lady bled to death. A blonde teenage boy with a pinched, pale face around her age tentatively came toward her as Taylor helped the 6-year-old girl open up the first aid kit. Taylor then pulled out a gauze roll, some pads, and some adhesive tape. There was even a pair of small scissors in here, which were convenient.
"Here, put the pad over the wound first… apply pressure on it." Taylor told the boy, as she handed over the pad. She then unrolled out the gauze while the boy followed her directions.
"So… what's your name? Uh, you look familiar…" The boy stuttered a little bit.
Taylor raised her eyebrows. Was this boy seriously hitting on her at a time like this?? Talk about bad timing… and worse, the boy seemed utterly oblivious about this fact.
"Uh, I'm Taylor Hebert… You?" Taylor replied as she firmly wrapped the gauze roll all around the woman's chest so that it'd keep her from bleeding to death. Honestly, that was the only way she could think of to stop a chest wound, even though it seemed to smush the black lady's breasts together unnecessarily over the bloody shirt.
"Ah, fuck, that hurts!" The woman moaned, and Taylor couldn't help but flinch at this as she applied the adhesive tape.
"Just hold on… It'll be over soon, and then we can get you to the hospital. You can't die just yet." She tried her best to reassure the woman.
"Yeah, You can't die." the young girl next to her mother cried softly, as she held on to her mom's hand tightly.
[You just discovered both the persuasion skill and charisma skill! Currently, you're at level 0 for each skill so you're still not very good at it. But over time if you work on those skills, you should be able to easily convince anybody of anything you want them to believe. Good luck!]
Taylor waved away the holographic alert in front of her face like she was swatting at a fly. Nobody else seemed to see it as she did, which puzzled her slightly. and it vanished into thin air in time for Taylor to see the blond boy's eyes widen in recognition.
"Oooh! That's why your face was so familiar… I'm Greg Veder! I used to sit next to you in elementary school. Remember me?" The boy exclaimed excitedly.
Oh. So he hadn't been hitting on her like she initially thought? Well, that was good. And now that he mentioned it, she did remember him... vaguely. Man, it felt like an eternity since she was in elementary school.
"Which school are you attending now? Wait, that's stupid of me… you're obviously in Arcadia. I'm currently going to Winslow right now." The excitable boy blathered on as Taylor finished up the touches on The injured woman's dressing wounds.
There. The bandages weren't likely to come undone until the woman arrived at the hospital.
She then responded to Greg. "Wow, that's actually a pretty good guess. How did you guess that I was going there instead of Clarendon High or something?"
The funny thing was… Taylor had been initially planning to go to Winslow High School with Emma instead of going to Arcadia on the scholarship they gave her because Taylor wanted to stay at her best friend's side no matter what. But, because Emma moved to California, that plan hadn't panned out at all. Taylor then had no reason to go to Winslow anymore, and thus accepted the scholarship to Arcadia after all.
The boy chuckled, sounding somewhat confused. "Well, duh… it's where all the young capes go to, and you're obviously a cape yourself… so…"
Taylor genuinely felt and acted puzzled at this. "Wait, how are you so sure I'm a cape?"
Greg looked even more confused than usual, and he just pointed at something over Taylor's head as he said, "That glowing green thingy over your head?"
Taylor laughed nervously. "What are you talking about?"
Despite herself, she slowly looked up… and sure enough, A glowing green crystal was hovering over her head. And what's worse, people besides herself clearly could see it too.
WHAT THE HELL?! People couldn't see the holographic user interface that had popped up in front of her face earlier but they could see the large green crystal hovering over her head?? How the hell did that make sense at all??
Taylor frantically grabbed at the crystal over her head in a poor attempt to hide it, but apparently, the crystal wasn't even a solid object despite looking like one, because her hands clipped through it like it wasn't even there. Oh, that was just fucking great.
"WHAT THE HELL?!" She couldn't help but yell.
Greg seemed intrigued by this, and he waved his hand through Taylor's crystal too. "Huh. That's neat. You honestly didn't know this was over your head until I pointed it out? Oh, shit…. you must've triggered just now!"
She just groaned loudly as the rest of the customers in the store stared at her. That was just great... outed instantly by having a very public trigger like this? So much for a secret identity.
==========
Author notes:
End of chapter one.
So you have it. Eden accidentally made herself brain-dead because she was too busy playing the sims on the gamer shard instead of paying attention to where she was going.
Here's a word from our resident entity.
(The warrior entity floats into the scene and then turns to face you.)
Warrior: "Distracted driving is equally bad as drunk driving. Remember to put away your phones and your games while you're in charge of a vehicle… otherwise, you're liable to get into a really nasty accident that could leave you brain-dead. This is your safety PSA for the day. Thinker…. she didn't listen to me and see what happened to her! Why didn't she listen to me? WHY???"
(The warrior breaks down sobbing)
(The scene is abruptly replaced by a static image with words that reads: "Technical difficulties. Please stand by.")
