I woke up with a start, I could feel a nervous sweat cake my body as my heart was beating a mile a minute. My breathing was fast and I tried to calm myself down.
'It was just a dream.' I thought, taking deep deliberate breaths. It seemed to work, as I could feel my heart rate return to normal. "It was just a dream... right?" I couldn't help but voice my doubt. That dream felt like I was in a different place entirely; where a white void stretched beyond eternity.
Then the most damning fact remained. The fact that I could still remember that dream as clear as day. What the voice sounded like, and what it said.
"You will be exalted amongst your mortal peers." I repeated what the voice said, wondering what that even meant.
'Was that a trigger event?' I asked myself, getting out of my comfortable blanket in order to get ready for the day.
I was somewhat of a cape geek to the point of even, much to my embarrassment, getting underwear with Armsmaster's logo on it. So really, all it took to find out about those was a curiouser search on PHO; which always makes me wonder why bullying still exists today... after all, everyone could be a ticking time-bomb.
I sighed from the remembrance of what that dream also showed me. Which was something I needed to prepare to deal with today.
'I am not going to be their perfect victim anymore.' I thought with barely contained anger. 'I had enough, it doesn't matter if they would just escalate or double down on me if I start fighting back.' I got up off my bed and stretched my back. 'I have a notebook full of evidence... all I would need to make the Principal actually take my complaints seriously would be either a video recording or a voice recording; something that she couldn't dismiss at hand.' I stood up straight, my bangs shadowed my eyes.
"And if that doesn't work." I muttered darkly. "I'll just have to come up with a plan B... possibly leaking my evidence to the media."
The alarm clock chose that moment to come to life; announcing it's presence to the world with a blaring, annoying beeping noise. I quickly rushed to shut it off, gathered my cloths for a shower and then muttered darkly about how I was going to re-purpose that stupid alarm clock that dad bought for me after I broke my old one. All while leaving my room.
The way to the bathroom was quiet, but I heard dad shuffling around downstairs. Not for the first time I wondered how early he gets up as I shut the door and sat my cloths down. I was just about to undress before I saw my reflection in the mirror.
I stared at my reflection and my normal, too wide mouth self greeted me. I couldn't help but sigh in relief. After all, that voice had said at least a certain definition of human, even though he never clarified what he meant.
Still, I felt a cold shiver run down my spine as I turned on the water for the shower in order to get it heated up.
'Knowing my luck I would have been turned into some pink bubblegum monster; or something stupid like that.' I couldn't help but think as I shrugged off my pajama's and threw them in the hamper. 'Well nothing to worry about now, I'm still human afterall.'
With that, I got in the shower; taking care to wash my hair as I always did.
After finishing my shower, and carefully drying my hair, I headed downstairs; smelling food cooking along the way.
'I guess dad decided to cook breakfast today.' I thought and my stomach chose that exact time to rumble embarrassingly. So with a slight blush tinting my cheeks, I went to the kitchen to see what dad decided to make.
When I got there I found him stirring something in a pan around while I heard bacon sizzling.
'Looks like we're having scrambled eggs and bacon today.' I thought, unconsciously smiling. Dad normally only cooks breakfast if something good has happened lately, if not we generally just eat cereal.
"Good morning dad." I called out to him, nearly startling him. He put the pan down and turned towards me; a tired smile lighting up his face. I couldn't believe how long it took me to truly notice how weary he looked; what with his sagging shoulders, the dark circles under his eyes, and his balding hair that might have something to do with him being over stressed.
"Good morning." He said back. "Breakfast is almost done."
"Did something good happen?" I couldn't help but ask. I was curious after all. The TV showed just how far he withdrew himself in his depression after mother died. 'Like father like daughter I guess.' I thought depressingly as I realized I was doing the same thing when the bullying started getting worse.
"Yeah, managed to get some jobs for the boys." He stated proudly, and yet with a tired tone creeping in his voice. "It may be low paying grunt work, but it's better than losing more people to the gangs." His expression darkened as he mentioned the gangs.
"That's great!" I exclaimed, trying to be my old cheerful self; even if I need to force it. Which lead to me having what I could tell was an obviously forced, awkward smile and dad looking at me funny. I felt my cheeks heat up again.
"You're in a good mood today." He observed before he turned around and shut off the stove. I guessed that breakfast was done cooking. But I could tell he was relieved.
"I guess I just woke on a good note." I stated with a shrug. He nodded in acceptance.
"That's...good." He said before the usual silence greeted us.
'Heberts, good at small talk we are not.' I thought sarcastically to myself as I helped bring out the food and set the table. After that was done, we started to eat, the silence was still there but it didn't feel as heavy as it normally does in mornings.
Dad excused himself to get the orange juice out of the fridge as he forgot, so I just started to think and poke at my eggs with a fork.
'Seeing my actions from an outside perspective was different.' I thought, spearing one of the scrambled eggs and then eating it. 'I wondered if all parahumans get dreams like that, forcing them to see just how exactly they were handling life instead of blinding themselves.' I swallowed and then reached towards a glass before remembering that dad went to get the orange juice. 'Still, I wasn't sure that I was a parahuman at all since nothing feels different. Parahuman's get a base understanding of their power when they trigger right?'
I didn't know. There was a lot of information I don't really know regarding parahumans; the same could be said for everyone else. No one knows where the powers truly come from. Still, my thoughts started to stray from trying to figure out if I got powers or not from the dream, and I barely acknowledged dads return and him poring me a glass of juice. I only muttered a thanks before going back to my thoughts and poking my food with a fork. This time my thoughts went towards math surprisingly. I started to do an equation in my head and nearly giggled when I realized all it would take is for me to channel a bit of mana and I would have a flashlight handy.
That was when I started to realize that I knew terms that I shouldn't know, and I was already starting to list some things in my head I would need to build a basic device to help me calculate and channel mana from my linker core. I estimated that if I had all the resources needed, it would probably take around three days to make one. A week or two for the more complicated devices.
'Am I a Tinker? Is this what being a Tinker feels like?' I asked myself, ignoring my fathers attempts at getting my attention. 'Where is this knowledge coming from... was it the voice? If he could put knowledge in my head without me thinking it's strange for me to know it... then what else did he do?' I started feeling paranoid, I went through too much shit to take anything at face value.
I felt myself pale as I started to over think about the various worst case scenarios I started imagining. But at the same time I couldn't help but feel a growing sense of excitement. Afterall, there is a high chance the dream was real and I have powers now. That I would be able to change my life finally for the better.
"Taylor?! What's wrong?" Dad asked shaking me out of my thoughts, literally. I looked at him and he seemed rather worried about me and I wondered just how long I was sitting here spacing out.
I decided to think about what I should say. Whether I should tell him about my dream and the possibility that I have powers now; which I could prove easily enough. Or whether I should just keep it to myself so he doesn't have to worry about me. Though he would probably need to know if I decide to join the Wards. While I'm not really enthused about the idea of joining highschool except with superpowers, joining would probably allow me to get what I need to build and program my first device faster than on my own...
What shall Taylor do? You decide!
[]Tell him about the dream and prove to him that it was real by casting an F-rank spell.
-[]Tell him that you want to join the Wards as you are also a Tinker and would require resources that are currently out of our budget.
[]Don't tell him and just play it off like you got lost in thought.
-[]Write-in, What does Taylor say if he asks what she was thinking about so hard.
[] Panic and blurt out that you might have been Mastered.
[] Panic and blurt out that it's your time of the month, while embarrassing, it would kill any further inquiries Danny may have really quick.
[]Write-in; Got a better way on how to handle this then the options I gave you? Write it in here, but please keep it short and simple.
A.N
I got distracted from completing the EXP shop by writing a chapter instead. I decided to post it since you can't buy anything yet from the exp shop in the first place. Anyway, hope I'm not butchering Taylor's characterization too much, I'm used to writing a silly Taylor or a fundamentally insane Taylor than what would be the cannon characterization of her.
I'll finish the EXP shop later on. The vote will last for three day's btw, unless there is a rather decisive vote winner.
Incidentally, I'm accepting Perk idea's as long as they aren't too broken or aren't going to be already covered. I'll decide what rank they would go in though, unless you have a good idea on what rank they should be.
