1.4
Sixteen hours passed since the meeting with Alan, which earned me 5 PER, 2 WIS, and 250 bonus EXP for recruiting him for my Quest.
Quest: Reeducation (46 Hours)
You have decided that it was time to move on from Winslow High and leave your past behind. Finalize your plans to do so before school begins next week.
Success: 500-EXP:
Bonus: 250-EXP: arrange the punishment of your tormentors. (Success)
Failure: Continued enrollment in Winslow.
I also made massive progress in my Speed Reading and Restorative breathing Skills. Speed Reading reached Level 13 while Restorative Breathing reached 16. I would have gotten further on Speed Reading if our internet wasn't so slow. I noticed my Restorative Breathing Skill wouldn't progress if my Stamina was full, so I made sure to always keep it low. I also figured out many more aspects of my power. My immunity to physiological and psychological Status Effects seemed to include not needing to sleep, which was how I was able to improve my Skills so much. I learned I will need a different way to really work on my DEX and that contemplating my view on world events over how others present the news slowly improved my WIS. I also learned that pushing my muscles to the limit of my VIG with dynamic tension required more DEX. Draining my stamina quickly improved my VIG more while doing it slowly improved END. With how important END was for being able to train more, I decided to focus more on that end. Lastly, all my stats took longer to train the higher they got.
Through the process of bringing my INT up to 34, I did a lot of research on local capes and capes that claimed to use magic. I learned that the latter group were full of themselves. None of the PDF's that I was able to find triggered my power's ability to develop Skills, including a few by Myrddin. I wouldn't be surprised to find them void of Mana like everyone else I've seen so far. The real question was, why was I so special, and was I even a parahuman? Everything my power had told me about Titles said that all parahumans were hosts to their powers. Did this mean they were infected somehow? What that meant for the world at large wasn't an idea I wanted to play around with until I had more information.
I also looked up a lot of info on how to properly be a hero, including bits about how dangerous hitting the head really was, soft spots that don't come with permanent damage, and other such advice. I made sure to spend my time wisely.
At that moment, I was looking at my inbox.
From: legendhairystyles
Hey speed reader
I know we just met today, but I figured, no time like tomorrow
I'd love a chance to meet up with you at the boardwalk
Fugly's at noon
We can go shopping after lunch
I'll be really sad if you don't come
I might drown myself in a challenger
Pray that I survive
See you tomorrow!
Quest: A Day Out
Someone you've met just recently reached out to you in friendship. Will you accept the offered hand or will you choose to reject her offer?
Success: 150-EXP; A good friend and confidant.
Failure: Your powers revealed | Remain lonely.
Rejection: Remain lonely.
I was already leaning towards accepting her offer up until I received the Quest. The cost of Failure made me recall the betrayal my last friend put me through, which added to me delaying my decision. I mentally argued that I would have less time to train if I went out, but this was defeated by knowing I could move around semi-naturally while maintaining my dynamic tension. I also remembered that human interaction seemed to improve my PER and WIS as well as rationalizing that my secret coming out would only happen if I failed. I finally decided to accept the Quest with the final grounds of the cost of Rejecting the Quest making me feel pathetic.
I then looked at my bare reflection and felt floored by the young woman looking back at me. Gone was the paunch I had over my waist, and in its place was a ripped six pack you could grate cheese on. My arms and legs were toned with dense muscles. I still didn't have anything that could be called a bust, but at least I had an ass. Even the way I stood was more attractive thanks to how the Tai Chi training was influencing my stance. To be honest, I would have been grateful to not look like a mountain of muscle, much like the strongmen I was allegedly equal to. This was much better.
I looked at my limited wardrobe and was glad for all ten of my tops and my three pants being baggy numbers that would hide my newly developed build even without the help of my hoodie. I still wasn't sure if I wanted to explain my powers to Dad or not, and being suddenly forced to was not high on my list. After stuffing my whole wardrobe into my Inventory, I went downstairs dressed in a baggy set of clothes. My preparation paid off when I found him waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs. "Morning kiddo." He was still tense, which made sense after finding out just how much I hid from him. Over a year of torment, losing mom's flute, and my former best friend being behind it all.
"Morning dad. Can I go to the Boardwalk today?"
His surprised expression was exactly what I was expecting. "Can you tell me why you want to go?"
Thankfully, there was no need for excuses or lies there. "Kendra, from the library…she wants to hang out with me today. I promise that I'll come straight home if I feel tired, and I won't be alone. Please." That much was a lie since I planned on running there.
That left the moment of truth up to him. "Are you sure, after what happened?"
"Yes dad. I'm not going to let what happened to me stop me from moving on." I had already told him about Emma, and had to stop him from calling Alan afterwards. We had him on our side and I didn't need my dad ruining that.
He stared at me for a few seconds then walked up to me and pulled me into a firm hug. "I'm so proud of you little owl. Go get'm."
I hugged him back, but pulled away when I heard his back crack. "Dad! Oh God, I'm so…"
He put a pause to my rant with his palm. "I'm fine, best hug I had in ages honestly." He did a few stretches and shivered while I felt giddy at proof of my strength and subsequently promised myself to control that strength in the future. "Wow! Where did that come from?"
Me being as strong as an Olympic weight lifter wasn't something I wanted to tell him, so I went with a half-truth. "I think I feel better than ever."
"I think I believe it. Hold on a second." He pulled out his wallet and handed me a hundred-dollar bill. "Get yourself something nice Taylor. With Alan helping us out, we can afford it." It was impressive that he was able to say that with a smile on his face.
I couldn't refuse his offer, so I made my way to the Boardwalk with…$164.92 in my inventory? 64 cents coming from out of nowhere was unexpected, but appreciated. I still had nearly an hour left before I had to be at the Boardwalk, so I decided that it would be a good opportunity for a run. I kept my arms and core flexed while letting my shoulders move more freely. The stamina costs for my running seemed to go as high as ten per second, which I could keep up for about thirty seconds. It was shocking how suddenly that cost dropped off once I was down to jogging speeds and stopped flexing my muscles. With careful management of my movements, I was able to match my cost to my Regeneration with only a few fluctuations here and there. Part way, I began using Observe on everything and everyone I came by and closing them on the following breath. Altogether, it earned me quite a bit of progress by the time I finally reached my destination. Looking at how the info was displayed, the extra time spent fiddling with the settings overnight felt worth it.
END+1=31 (62-EXP)
DEX+2=18 (70-EXP)
Observe is Level 3.
Kendra was already waiting for me. She wore tight fitting jeans and a pink windbreaker over a white embroidered sweater. I Observed her from a distance.
Kendra Sonders: LV: 3
HP: 170 / 170
SP: 60 / 60
MP: N/A
VIG: 2
END: 6
DEX: 7
INT: 9
WIS: 17
PER: 9
An intelligent and cheerful girl, but many dismiss her as a pretty ditz. Those who get acquainted to her know differently, and she likes it that way. She is happiest meeting people that can see past her surface behavior.
That was some surprisingly high Wisdom. "Taylor, you're here!" She ran up to me and pulled me into an affectionate hug. "I get to live."
I shook my head at her holding onto that joke while internalizing what I read about her. "So, what are we going to do?"
"Well…first we have lunch, then I ask you what you want to do. You'll say something like not having any idea, so I'll drag you over to get some real clothes. I try to bring up why you didn't have any friends yesterday while we try stuff on, with you most likely not sharing. Then we spend hours window shopping and talking about boys, capes, cape boys, and whatever else we can think of."
"O…kay then." I didn't have much of a response to her onslaught of options and how completely she planned out the day, so I followed her to the restaurant/bar/shack that was Fugly Bob's, home to the greasiest burgers in the bay. Every Brocktonite has eaten there before, and those with any sense waited a year to do it again.
When it came time to put in our orders, I was thinking about a minor aspect of my power that I had the perfect chance to test out. It wouldn't be too hard to explain either. The only real risk was if I was wrong. There was only one way to find out. "Give me, The Challenger." The waiter and Kendra both gave me incredulous looks. Even pushing 5'7", I was still a beanpole of a teen who weighed…I didn't know how much I weighed when taking my new figure into account.
I made a mental note to check once I got back home.
"Are you sure Miss?"
Half-truths were working so far. "The last thing I ate was a bowl of soup last night, and I ran here." My still recovering stamina and the fact that I wasn't wearing my coat helped sell my story.
That got a shrug from our waiter. "Your funeral. You have 15 minutes left to live." I simply raised an eyebrow at her bleak comment.
Quest: The Challenger
You have decided to take on Fugly Bob's Challenger burger. Finish it in 45 minutes or else.
Success: +100-EXP; Your photo on the wall
Failure: Pay $35
100 EXP sounded like a good bonus reward for what I was about to do. I was glad this quest was automatically accepted.
While I mused over my new quest, Kendra got a large order of fries. After a few seconds, she placed her hand over mine. "I just want to say; you are so brave." If not for the grin she was failing to keep off her face, I might have bought that line. "I will never forget your sacrifice."
What followed was a battle of wills, her near-grin verse my expression of neutrality. With naught but a raised eyebrow, her facade was shattered. It didn't take much of her laughing to get me chuckling alongside her. "If you don't finish in time, I'm helping you eat it."
That threw me off for a bit. "Isn't that when someone offers to help pay for it?"
She just raised a knowing eyebrow. "Do you want me to help you pay?" She had me there, so I could only shake my head. This was something that I decided to do myself, damn the consequences. It was too bad those consequences included the attention of every patron around. If only they didn't have to loudly announce every attempt but it wouldn't be much of an attraction if they didn't draw attention to it at every opportunity.
The Fugly Bob's Challenger was four one-pound slabs of 'beef' nestled between two pounds of bun, cheese, and fixings, including a large order of fries. It was not the kind of thing anyone would expect a skinny white girl to be able to eat, but I knew that there was a precedent for skinny girls winning eating challenges.
Once they set the monstrous meal before me, I had 45 minutes to eat all of it down to the last fry, and I had sixteen people rooting for me. I decided to put on a show and get some info in one go. "Observe!" They cheered.
Fugly Bob's Challenger:
A heart stopping, gut wrenching, food coma inducing bad idea. Eat it in 45 minutes to waive the cost and earn a photo on the wall. +20 HP REGN/min. for the next 6 hours. Can cause Acid Reflux, Indigestion, Bloating, Food Coma, Stamina Damage, Clogged Blood Vessels, Asphyxiation, Cardiac Arrest, etc.
Those all looked like physiological problems, so I ignored them and began eating at a steady pace. It took around five minutes before I started seeing drops in my stamina every time I swallowed a bite. That must have been the Stamina Damage. From there, it was child's play to carefully use up my Stamina. By time the last fries entered my mouth, I had ten minutes left on the clock and was still nearly full on Stamina. Restorative Breathing made it far too easy.
Restorative Breathing is Level 17.
When I broke my attention away from my plate, I was assaulted by cheers and clapping from dozens of people who came by just to watch the show. For me, the challenge boiled down to simple math. But to them, I achieved something only a select few had been capable of. Even with my powers, it felt like something I could be proud of because I still earned the Stats I needed to accomplish this feat. It was a drastic shift from what I was used to.
After things quieted down, I was directed to pose near my empty plate so they'd have a picture of me on the wall. A more cynical part of me thought that it was a way to keep track of big eaters so they didn't try to return for a free meal.
WIS+1=16 (32-EXP)
And cynicism wins the day.
After five minutes of congratulations, Kendra and I were on our way, me with a comfortable weight in my stomach. "Question."
I blinked. "Yes?"
"Do you worry about gaining weight?" That was an easy no. Even before my powers, it took over a year of lethargy to gain a little paunch. She sounded out a 'dignified' raspberry when I said no. "Lucky you."
"If it makes you feel better, that might play hell with my skin."
"Why would that make me feel better. I'll still have to be careful of how much I eat and you get pizza faced. That's only funny if you're a bitch. You're not a bitch, are you?"
I thought about the three bitches who were half the reason I wanted to drop out, and knew that I was not going to be anything like them. "No. I'm not."
"Then we can be friends, and if we're going to be friends, we'll need a better way to get in touch. Follow me!" In moments, we found ourselves at a mobile phone vendor. I felt another bout of muted nervousness, but couldn't justify not having a phone anymore. "How much do you have?"
"160 dollars."
There was a hissing sound of her breath passing through her teeth. "That's a small budget. Prepaid flip phones it is!"
She practically dragged me into the store, but she and Observe made the process of finding a $25 prepaid phone quick and painless. So long as I didn't use it much, it should be much cheaper than a plan. I was feeling pretty good about the whole deal up until I remembered that I left my money in my inventory.
"Bathroom."
The cashier looked at me funny, but I had someone to back me up against her scrutiny. "That Challenger finally getting to you, huh?"
"You ate the Challenger?" the clerk asked in surprise.
"She beat the Challenger?" Kendra answered proudly.
That got an appreciative whistle with only a hint of pity. "Okay then, follow me." The photogenic brunette led me to a back-room restroom which I used to pull out all of my…$166.86? I nearly vocalized my confusion when I saw that the boxes were holding paper, plastic, aluminum, rubber, and steel scrap. I only knew that much because I Observed each one. They were all listed as crafting materials.
It wasn't a mystery I could solve by staring at it, so I pulled all my money out, faked flushing, washed my hands, used up a lot of my Stamina, then returned to the counter to find Kendra handing me a receipt. There was no entitlement from her expression, more of a curiosity towards what I would do next. I decided to give her the $27.25.
She gave me a smile and nod then skipped off without a word. It made me wonder if I passed some kind of test, which was made weirder by how we went over me wanting to pay for myself earlier. I continued wondering up until Kendra pulled me into a seat at the nearest bus stop. "Where are we going?"
"We're going somewhere else to get you some clothes."
I tilted my head at that. "Why not go to the Boardwalk boutiques?"
"You're not ready for that yet." I felt affronted for a second from that. "No offense, but Boardwalk people are mean if they think you can't afford their stuff and are even meaner when they know."
"So, I need to…"
"Start small and work your way up."
"Not how I was going to put it, but close enough."
"Yep. That, and you only have $130. That'd get you a nice pair of sunglasses."
"So where are we going?"
"Goodwill silly. They won't charge you an arm and a leg. You kinda need those to go places." She snorted at her own joke. "It's a good place to get clothes if you have the time to look for them, and we have all day."
That sounded like a much better idea than her original one. I was feeling pretty good about things up until Kendra went totally silent and pulled out her phone on the bus like many teenagers do. I doubted that she was suddenly rethinking us spending the day together, but I was expecting her to strike up some sort of conversation before deciding that something else was more worthy of her attention. The silence was a little stifling after a few minutes, so I tried starting a conversation myself. "Why are you helping me?"
END+1=32 (64-EXP)
"Why not? We're friends after all." And with that, we lapsed into another short silence. After a minute or so of watching her do whatever on her phone, I realized that I wouldn't be able to contribute to the shopping trip if I didn't know what to look for, so I asked her.
"Well you're tall and thin, so you automatically have great legs, but you want to try to make yourself look shorter sometimes. Maxi dresses are a must. Skinny jeans and giant waist belts too. Knee high boots if you want to buy shorts. Skirts reaching your knees to go with anything else you want to put your feet in. We need to look for stuff that pops, but no vertical stripes. Horizontal is good though. For make-up? You have a great complexion, which is good because makeup on pimples is bad. Definitely lipstick; eye-shadow and mascara you can do without. Lastly, we need to find stuff that hasn't had a visit from the moth fairy. Holes around the knees are fine, but everything else needs to be in one piece. We don't have a big budget, so the bargain bins are our first targets. If that doesn't work out, we can try the outlet a few miles out. Sounds good?"
"What? Where did all that come from?"
She turned her phone towards me, which was on an online article about how Goodwill handled clothing. I thought about that for a few moments before realizing that she didn't just look up Goodwill, but what kind of clothes I would look good in. It would explain the word vomit, though the bits about makeup sounded specifically tailored to me. It was a far cry from how even pre-bitch Emma was like. Emma's fashion knowledge seemed entirely focused on things that she liked and looked good in. Thinking back on it, half my wardrobe before high school was almost a mirror of hers.
In comparison, Kendra seemed entirely focused on what I would look good in. Even with me earning points in only END so far, I felt like I was getting to know what a good friend should be like. Something like that wasn't a waste of my time. "Oh, and you can relax Taylor. It's weird seeing you be tense all the time." Of course she noticed my dynamic tension exercise. I could have toned down the intensity to make it less visible, but I decided Kendra was the type of person to be impressed by what I was trying to do, so I told her.
She ended up staring at me for a few seconds, making me feel nervous. "That's actually pretty cool. You've been doing that this whole time?" I nodded. She thankfully didn't know exactly what kind of forces I was putting myself under.
Suddenly and without any prompting, we settled into having an unofficial staring contest. It didn't get awkward for me until she zoned out. No one has truly been stared at until they've sat under the scrutiny of someone who isn't really looking at you. Before I could snap her out of it, the bus stopped, jolting Kendra out of her trance. She grabbed my arm and bulldozed through the departing crowds with me in tow. I had to jog to keep up with her mad dash to the Goodwill building.
She split from me almost immediately, leaving instructions to only look for skinny jeans and anything with colorful patterns. Observe proved its worth all over again thanks to Stamina translating into a garment's durability. It also told me what the price was, tax included. Shopping for clothes was never easier or cheaper. I managed to gather enough to want to use my Inventory to store them before Kendra returned with enough clothes to fill her own shopping cart, all without powers. I even earned a Stat Point.
PER+1=11 (22-EXP)
"Wow. First speed reading, now super shopping. Are you sure you're not a cape?"
"I am not a cape." I wasn't lying there either. Technically, someone isn't a cape by the slang definition unless they've gone out under an alias and/or in costume.
"Do you have powers?" I tried giving her my most incredulous glare. "I'm not hearing a no."
"You're not going to hear a yes either."
We stared each other down for a few seconds before she fell into chuckling fits. "This is fun, and we haven't started trying clothes on yet."
"Joy of joys." I was not looking forward to that part of our excursion, but like every other intense emotion which would have normally had me running for the hills, my anger and trepidation were muted. This left only my strong desire to not let Emma dictate my future. It was amazing what some logic and a lack of detrimental emotions could do for someone's thinking process. I thanked Gamer's Mind and Kendra both for the Skill the amateur fashion show earned me.
Basic Self Presentation: (Sustained) (TS: 1 / 5)
The ability to shape your behavior and appearance in a ways that affect how others perceive you.
(Fashion: [LV: 2] The use of clothing and hair styles to appear more attractive or break up your body shape.
Looked at another way, it was a Skill that could be used to make me unrecognizable. Nothing else could be better for a hero aspiring to keep their identity secret. Learning more about how I could change clothes instantly was just icing on the cake; though I had to make sure to take the clothes out of my Inventory lest I become a thief.
I was having fun jumping from outfit to outfit, using my improving judgment to decide which combinations to show off to Kendra. She wasted no time commenting on my physique, which reminded me that I wanted to hide my muscles. Her idea of a compromise was giant belts, scarfs, and coats that all made me look smaller. I could only talk her into one baggy outfit and tops that billow out, earning me another Stat point thanks to dynamic tension.
VIG+1=23 (46-EXP)
END+1=33 (66-EXP)
The new settings were absolutely worth it.
At the end of it all, I came away with four new outfits, an exercise outfit, two belts, and three massive satin scarves. The total cost ran up to $143.79, bringing my total funds down to 59¢ even after Kendra chipped in. I tried not to think about where the additional 59¢ came from or how Kendra insisted on paying for the rest. I would normally think that I wasted my money, but everything I knew about myself seemed to point towards me not needing money for anything other than clothes. Until I figured out how my power was spontaneously generating money, I couldn't afford to turn any assistance down. Giving in had nothing to do with her begging to pay for the rest.
***L3: V2; E6; D7; I9; W17; P9***
Taylor had powers, just like Carlos, Chris, Denis, and Dean. (Shadow Stalker didn't go to Arcadia as far as she could tell.) It wasn't hard for her to figure out who was who since Kendra knew what to look for and what not to look for. When accused of being a cape, parahumans had all sorts of reactions. It's the normal people who look confused. Capes also had a sorrowful intensity that Taylor had in spades. If it was just that, Kendra could have been happy with just being a friend, but Taylor needed more.
She needed a best friend.
Figuring out how to actually do that for the girl was proving to be a challenge. The whole shopping trip was more Kendra going by the cliché of what two teen girls are supposed to do to get to know each other. Even in the face of frequent silence, she was having fun. She wouldn't soon forget personally witnessing a skinny girl eat the Challenger with ten minutes to spare.
She didn't even look like she had to try.
Kendra thought back on every strange thing she'd seen Taylor do in an attempt to figure out her power. So far, Taylor seemed to have some kind of power that made her able to do things faster than normal. It didn't sound like a strong power until she applied the concept to everything Taylor did. The tower of lean muscle Kendra was shopping with was not the same as the stick thin girl she hugged tightly 24 hours prior. If she could do anything like Über and Victor, Taylor had some potential.
That still left her with the conundrum of truly befriending Taylor. Capes all seemed to prefer to talk about cape stuff with other capes while trying to keep all the non-capes out of the loop. Kendra couldn't be a real best friend until they talked about everything. There were a lot of capes that should be able to do a lot more than they do, and no friend of Kendra's was going to be one of them. She was also going to make sure Taylor had at least a little bit of what a normal girl should be like. "Alright, next is makeup."
"I thought you said I didn't need makeup."
"Nope," she said with that popping sound she loved.
"Oh yeah. You said something about makeup over pimples not being good."
"Yep." It was nice of Taylor to bother remembering that detail. Kendra hadn't. Fast memory recall? She wondered if Taylor had any relation to Velocity. Powers worked like that sometimes. "I know a good place a few blocks from here." She grabbed Taylor by the hand and dragged her in the desired direction. There was a little resistance, but Taylor let herself be dragged along.
It was too bad that it was too soon to seriously dive into the topic of capes. Barring some minor disaster, getting Taylor to talk will take time, maybe a week. Her line of thought cut off when Taylor jerked her into a sudden stop. It was really jarring, and there didn't seem to be a good reason why.
Sure, there was a man, at the end of the alley, walking towards them, with an unpleasant smile, a menacing gait, and pulling out a knife.
…
Apparently, Taylor was fast on the uptake…or was that supposed to be quick? She could think about that later. The bigger problem was that the winter sun was setting, and the surrounding streets were mostly deserted. "What do you think you're doing nigger bitch." And he was a Nazi who decided not to look like one. That wasn't fair.
"Get out of here." The iron like voice drew both of their attention to Taylor. Her new friend placed herself between her and the Nazi.
He seemed to smile more at that. "Oh, I get it. You're a dyke race-traitor. Don't think being white's gonna save you then."
Kendra's mind decided that it was a good time to remind her that she hadn't confirmed her theory on Taylor. The may-be-a-cape dropping her bag of clothes attracted her full attention. Most would see it as just a bag, but Kendra saw something she could distract him with and give them both a chance to escape.
She had a simple plan: grab the bag, throw it, tackle his legs, roll away, run. He was pretty close, so she made the first move. "Bitch!" She flinched at the guttural yell and looked up to realized that the Nazi had a knife throwing hobby. She put her arms up in a slapdash attempt at self-defense.
The pain she expected never came, only the sound of feet scuffling across asphalt, the thumps of fists against flesh, and the thump of a body hitting the ground.
"Fucking." There was one more thump, then silence.
Kendra let her arms fall and saw her friend towering over the unconscious racist. She had imagined being in similar situations before, but none of those took into account how imposing someone who easily beat another someone unconscious could be. She watched Taylor turn around and pull the knife out of her hoodie, from her left breast specifically. "Kendra, are…are you okay?"
She heard Taylor well enough, but that took a back seat to having seen her newest friend take a pretty big knife to the heart for her. A glance at the knife showed just how good at throwing them the Nazi was. "He hit your heart. You should be bleeding out." She was bleeding, but not nearly as much as she should be.
"It's not that bad. I think he hit a rib."
Kendra shook her head at Taylor's attempt at an excuse. Her anatomy grades were pretty darn good. "Ribs are shallow. That knife went in at least an inch." Suddenly it wasn't about the near-death experience. Instead it was about Taylor thinking Kendra could be fooled. "I'm not an idiot."
Taylor looked ready to come up with another excuse, but sighed in inevitable defeat instead. "We should call the cops and…talk."
Talking: that sounded like a good plan.