Once upon a time, about three years ago, I posted this quest as I juggled a few at a time. Nowadays I don't really run quests anymore, although I'll throw up Functional Sorcery and Necromancy Quest updates every now and again. Now that the dust has settled in my life a little bit, I'll spin up these wheels again. It's a concept I found interesting, and I hope you all will too.
The Main Character (technically) will sometimes "say" things that are crude, rude and otherwise generally in poor taste. This warning will appear again in particular egregious updates, but I thought I'd set the expectation now if all the swearing wasn't going to.
Additionally, while Hindrances may be superficially similar to real-life problems, I am in no way attempting to accurately portray or say anything about the people whom may have Hindrance analogues in real life. They are solely vehicles for fiction and are intentionally supernatural for this reason.
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You open your eyes once again. Your ceiling, your fan, your poster all slowly focus into your field of vision.
Your room.
Yours. For now. We'll all be awake within moments.
You sigh and shake your head; it's too early to worry about something you've been worrying about for literally your entire life. Taking a glance over at the alarm beside your bed, you curse at yourself silently. It's 5:45 AM. You've woken up early, again. Another day of suffering through your Hindrance, a lack of fitful rest, and general ennui.
Joy of joys.
You complain Master, but we're by far not the worst Hindrance around.
Fuckin' Christ, all he ever does is complain. Between us making his life more interesting and less mistake-filled, getting free naps in the day without consequences, and literally three times more processing power I can't imagine what else we could do to get him to just shut the fuck up.
Steve, let's table this conversation for when I can yell at you properly.
Gladly, as long as we go back to fuckin sleep.
Apologies Master, but we very much should take this time to get ready and socialize before class. This is your Senior year, it's prudent to put your best foot forward!
Oh my god you're actually fucking serious.
Quiet, both of you. Clearly Greg is already keen on all of us being awake, so shouting at him is useless. Not that you're expecting Steve to stop anytime soon.
The cacophony in your head ceases for a few brief sweet moments. This is your Hindrance, the reason you were 'allowed' to grace the campus of Edgewood Academy. Everyone else here is Hindered, like you, but in various fun and interesting ways. You're part of the Lower Class, having Broken in high school, and so you're living out a nice life away from your parents and everyone else who could possibly be considered normal.
Not that you're bitter or anything.
Trust us motherfucker, the normie ship has long since sailed.
It's been two years Master, can you please stop fighting us at every turn?
You sigh. Maybe this year you can figure out a way to live with these two.
Your headmates quiet down for as long as it takes you to get your clothes ready and shower. The Academy recently renovated and bought an old abandoned hospital in town to move the infectious Hindered into, which means the old Quarantine Ward is now filled with your fellow Senior class, the west side of which you reside in with the rest of the guys. East side is where the girls live, and you're separated by no less than two airlocks owing to old containment protocols.
Which is just as well, because two of us are fucking worthless with women anyway.
I sincerely hope you're counting yourself in those two.
Containment protocol says you get your own attached bathroom that Hazmat comes by and cleans every week, which is pretty nice of them since they probably have their hands full with the actual Quarantine Ward.
Actually Master, attrition rates for Infected students is at an all-time high.
Pssh, and how many percentage points of those rates are self-inflicted? I swear, the pussies get wimpier every god damn year we've been here.
That...isn't even remotely appropriate!
Oh shit, you're right. Too bad I can't apologize to them anymore, huh?
Steve, maybe if you acted like a decent human being for once in your life Master would let you leave-
DON'T EVEN GET ME FUCKING STARTED ON HOW HE KEEPS US TRAPPED HERE-
You've had just about enough of him. You do the only thing that works reliably and scratch at the back of your head quickly and forcefully. You try and take care not to draw blood this time; it causes a lot of embarrassing questions. You're not sure if it's the pain or the symbolism of the act itself that gets rid of the voices for a while, and it's a temporary relief, but sometimes you have to let yourself on track or you'll stand in one place arguing with nobody until the end of time.
You sigh, again. It's 6:30 AM, you've got to get moving if you're going to make it to Home Central and socialize enough to appease Greg while still getting a decent meal.
Still, that requires getting dressed. It's the first day, what face are you going to showing to the world?
--
[x] A nice black jacket over a white muscle shirt, with a darker pair of jeans. This is more of Steve's look, but it isn't the worst thing you could be seen in. Plus, maybe it'll shut him up a little.
[x] Dark purple dress shirt, black dress pants. It's the first day, not exactly a black tie event but something you should at least make an effort on. Greg might get uppity about the buttons or belt or whatever, but you're sure he'll appreciate the effort.
[x] Red shirt, black sweatpants. This is another day at school, nothing more. You normally wear stuff like this, no reason to change it up simply because you're done with summer break.
[x] Trendy shirt, lighter ripped jeans. Your brother sent you these as "hand-me-downs", but it always seems like people talk to you more when you wear stuff like this.
[x] Basic long sleeve shirt, newly starched jeans. Mother sent you some more clothes, and this is about the only outfit you'd consider wearing from it. It's basic, but it blends in with the rest of the students. A boon, perhaps.
The name placard outside your door reads:
[x] Jason Issac Kieffer.
[x] Write-in First name, optional Middle name, Last name.
Male protag with voices in their head? I can work with that, I guess.
That said Green > Red.
[x] Basic long sleeve shirt, newly starched jeans. Mother sent you some more clothes, and this is about the only outfit you'd consider wearing from it. It's basic, but it blends in with the rest of the students. A boon, perhaps.
Red >Green, clearly. Sure Steve swears a lot and is as irreverent as they get, but Greg wakes us up at 5 AM! I am not fooled by the facade of politeness, the guy is a certified sadist!
[x] A nice black jacket over a white muscle shirt, with a darker pair of jeans. This is more of Steve's look, but it isn't the worst thing you could be seen in. Plus, maybe it'll shut him up a little.
Red >Green, clearly. Sure Steve swears a lot and is as irreverent as they get, but Greg wakes us up at 5 AM! I am not fooled by the facade of politeness, the guy is a certified sadist!
[x] A nice black jacket over a white muscle shirt, with a darker pair of jeans. This is more of Steve's look, but it isn't the worst thing you could be seen in. Plus, maybe it'll shut him up a little.
[x] Basic long sleeve shirt, newly starched jeans. Mother sent you some more clothes, and this is about the only outfit you'd consider wearing from it. It's basic, but it blends in with the rest of the students. A boon, perhaps.
