SkinnyTy

Worm - The Malfesant Throne

@PlatinumSkink If Bryson were there, he wpuld blink twice and say "Damn girl...."

Worm - The Malfesant Throne

Wow, she literally just halted Manny solving her problems because she wasn't finished speaking. I have no words, and neither will my character.

@POOHEAD189

She seems like the... principled... type. She is really setting Sickle up to put her in a position with a serious crisis of faith later on. What will she do when what is right or wrong gets blurred? I am setting up my character for something similar... Should be a good time.

Worm - The Malfesant Throne

All this sleepiness and loopiness.... ;)

@PlatinumSkink I don't think there would be any harm in replying before @banana at this point, it all happened in pretty quick succession and now that @POOHEAD189 replied I think it would feel more natural to have you respond first here anyhow. Either way though, just my opinion.

Capes of Denver: A Worm RP

@ProPro Congrats on finding out that you are not dying! So I am interested in this one, but oh man, do I feel like it would be a hell of a job catching up or even getting reasonably up to speed enough to be a solid participant. Still, just letting you know I am going to try and read up on this one, working backwards until I feel like I have a reasonable understanding of what is currently going on. Just letting you know that I am interested, I appreciate you inviting me, and congrats on being (eventually) healthy! :)

Worm - The Malfesant Throne

Bryson Green (Ifrit)

The Zenith - Protectorate HQ

---

The further I was lead through the labs, the more impressed I became..... In the movies, laboratories are always pristine and clean, organized, with everything labeled. In reality this was not the case, movie laboratories were as true to labs as movie bedrooms were to real bedrooms. This place however.... this was the inverse. The tinker workshop had been built by someone who cared. The whole thing was well designed, everything looked as though it had been well thought through. Despite the lab spaces being messy, they were designed in such a way that they didn't feel messy, they felt natural. I doubted I could manage to actually make it look disorganized, and the slightest effort in maintaining order made every lab here look like a work of art.

Every lab we passed made my draw droop just a little further. We passed what looked like it was Replicant's lab. I thought I could hear... a pig? In my quick glimpse I saw increasingly confusing looking containment units, an incubator normally used to store microorganisms held a bunch of rats that looked a little too muscular for normal rats. Even more confusing, the unit was labeled with a genus of microorganism, but it was a eukaryotic micro-organism, which normally couldn't possibly survive in a mammalian body but... I resolved to stay well clear of that particular laboratory.

As Walter continued: “I’ve been given the privilege of showing you to your own private lab. The good news is, given how much potential you’ve shown, we’ve cleared out one of the larger ones for you. As such, it comes with a number of perks that you usually have to earn. For a start, basically any tools or materials you need should be kicking around somewhere. It was fully stocked not so long ago. If you ever need a hand finding anything, let me know. Until about a week ago, it was mine.”

I found the compliment enormously flattering, not only the words but the actions to back it up! I wasn't one to prioritize glory, or recognition. I tried to be pragmatic, but having someone as prominent and experienced as Walter call me promising, that was nice... it went a long way. In the back of my mind I knew both the compliment and the gift (in the form of his former lab) was probably a maneuver meant to make me feel more indebted to the team, to quickly build trust by making such a kindly offering, but I wanted to appreciate the gift and feel like I was part of the team, so I dismissed the thought.

Walter continued to talk about Foucault, I could tell that he probably knew and missed the man, I had no doubt that working in the same laboratory would be a bitter sweet experience for him. Still, I felt my sympathy get sidetracked at the last statement, “We can eliminate it entirely.” That sounded a little... ominous. Praetor certainly seemed like an ambitious man, a fact I appreciated. I liked the idea of using all the tools at our disposal, but I was also suspicious of ambitious people, (who wasn't?) and I could see the danger in providing such tools to the wrong hands... Still, I decided to give the benefit of the doubt and resolved to worry about it later.

As the lab doors opened, I felt all my resolve and thoughts melt into a big puddle on the floor. They would likely be mopped up by automated cleaning drones, but I did not even care at the sight of the gorgeous room which I had just heard Walter describe as mine. I barely managed to stand up straight as I already felt new ideas, new designs, faster and a thousand times more sophisticated then any human should ever be able to comprehend flooding into my mind. I could imagine building a new 3d printer, one that operated faster and at a greater scale, yet with more precision then my relatively primitive prior generation. I could imagine finally being able to implement the aerial dispersion mechanism I had thought of, but lacked the material, I could build something that could actually be described as a vehicle using all this space, I could.....

I had to catch myself, almost literally, slow down, and remember that Walter was still here, I think he had asked a question or something and I hadn't even expressed my gratitude. I got a hold of myself and turned to him, "Thank you, so much! I can't tell you how much I appreciate you giving over your space, I know how hard that can be, I really owe you one. If there is ANYTHING I can do to help you, let me know. If you need any specialized materials, want something 3D printed, want a.... whatever! Just let me know. I uhh... I think I will be just fine. I have some things to bring in but not much, I can take care of it. I kinda want to just explore.... I'm sure you understand. If you need anything in here, you are always welcome of course. Let me know when you guys need me, I'm ready for anything, uhhh... or whatever! Thank you!"

I normally would have been quite embarrassed, or would have felt bad, but I could not help the rush of information coming to my brain, and it needed an outlet. I had to get to work, start ordering my priorities. First I would need to maintain my current equipment, get it in here, make sure I was still in fighting ready shape. Second I would need to start on the new 3D printer, get processes running, get a chemical reactor started on the material I would need.... Third I would.....

Locally Concerned: @Sickle-Cell@ProPro

Worm - The Malfesant Throne

@Sickle-cell Woo hoo! And excellent post.... I like the direction in Dorchester.

Worm - The Malfesant Throne

Bryson Green (Ifrit)

The Zenith - Protectorate HQ

---

The more the scene unfolded before me, the more I could feel a sly grin forming on my face. It couldn't be helped. Joining a new team was always difficult in the beginning, but each team had very different challenges. You had to build trust with your teammates, get a real understanding of their strengths and weaknesses, both in terms of combat and emotional health. The most painful part was always figuring out their baggage... As capes, we all had to pay a terrible price for our power. A trigger event always entailed what was essentially trauma, those with physical powers were sometimes considered lucky as it entailed physical trauma, although mental factors were usually still heavily in play, things like rape, being trapped, being chased, being tortured and so on. That was why it was more common for those in unstable political climates, like the middle east, to have more in the way of physical powers. On the other side, mental powers tend to correlate with mental trauma, emotionally disturbing phenomena or extreme pressure, they were a lot less predictable and in some people opinion, more mentally damaging. The downside, in other words, to having lots of tinkers on the same team would be that there was a lot of mental trauma, a lot of baggage. It could be challenging for people with similar emotional weaknesses to be a n effective team.

This team, fortunately, already felt familiar in a positive way. I could recognize the group dynamic, it was certainly unique, but I could tell I would get along with the others here. Definitely an advantage of having so many tinkers on the same team. As the woman I assumed was Vector headed off I started to make a gesture to call her back, but then thought better of it. She seemed rather determined and I got the sense that if she so much as perceived someone as hiving her the slightest hindrance, that someone may not live to regret it.

“Oh, Replicant. And… a new face? Ah! You must be Ifrit. Bryson Green, wasn’t it? I’ve been looking forward to meeting you.” the man, who I now recognized as Pallas, greeted me. I gave him a warm smile and offered him a nod, it would have been awkward to give a handshake from so far. "You must be Walter! I am very pleased to meet you, your NIKE suit was partially responsible for inspiring my primary suit. You were one of the first to demonstrate the advantages of using power-suits to enhance mobility, rather than just piling on armor for durability and upping the firepower." The lounge we were in looked to be a sort of hub for the Tinkers, and probably other capes, with no workshop equipment I could see, but it looked quite nice, probably higher quality then the other protectorate shops, but I couldn't really say for certain as I had always been limited to the Ward facilities before now. I gestured toward Astrid, "If she needs a ride via relatively stealthy means, I may be able to help, but fair warning it wouldn't be the most comfortable of rides."

Walter looked like a tinker. At his age and level of experience, it was relatively rare to still have a civilian identity really under wraps, especially given his background, and he seemed to have embraced that fact. His "civilian" clothes looked like they belonged to the future, like how Han Solo should have dressed if he were a space-scoundrel. His coat was made of high quality materials, and was large enough to hold what was surely an untold number of unpleasant surprises for anyone who found themselves his enemy.

"So what is the plan here? I know I haven't had time to really get fully acquainted with everything, but I am at least prepared for action. If we are up against specialized threats, with some time I can get something together as well. My biggest issue is.... I don't actually have any lethal weapons at the moment. In a pinch, I can adjust the dosages on my tranquilizers to kill, but it would be pointless at that point. If I have some time to prepare though, I can create some tools that would actually take advantage of the.... non-priority, for keeping a target alive." I couldn't quite keep the uneasiness out of my voice for the last part.

It was a pretty uncomfortable point for me. There were kill orders on multiple targets within the city, something that was exceptionally rare in the PRT and reserved for only the most dire circumstances, threats like the slaughterhouse 9. It wasn't expressly forbidden per se, but in the cape community there was something called "the unwritten rules." It was a... truce of sorts. An understanding that we wouldn't kill each other, since those in power wanted to stay in power, they would essentially go easy on threats that didn't really threaten their power. That is why most cities stayed in equilibrium, the PRT wanted more mild villains to be in power so that the more brutal ones didn't come into power. What was happening in Boston.... It was what happened when things fell out of equilibrium, when someone got too ambitious, or when they got desperate or careless. The city was falling into an increasingly viscous situation, and the smart people knew that it would trigger an escalation that would be the most punishing for whoever lost. That fact would only raise the stakes, and in the end, only the strongest side would survive. Fortunately, I was currently chatting with one of the most experienced battle tinkers, inside of our floating super-fortress. If that didn't say strength, I had no idea what did!

Despite this, I was still extremely put off. I had never killed anyone, and I didn't have any desire to. I was willing, I would do whatever was necessary, but.... on something like this I could not help but wonder if it would actually be necessary. I understood the importance of responding in kind, of deterring the most brutal of enemies from using such means, and I also understood that if my enemy was out to kill me, I would absolutely use lethal weaponry for even a 5% improvement of my odds. But still, that didn't mean I would want it.

Immediately concerned:@Sickle-cell@ProPro

Worm - The Malfesant Throne

@Sickle-cell No worries. Thanks for all you do, keep up the good work!

Worm - The Malfesant Throne

@Sickle-cell
Ya totally! As long as Ifrit doesn't do anything with too much of a lasting impact ;) You probably have a sense of his social personality though now so go right on ahead.

Worm - The Malfesant Throne

@Sickle-cell All of that sounds good to me, that is kind of what I was alluding to with the phone checking.

Ya, I figured based on Worm that the low level gang violence was common, but this fight seemed escalated to an open conflict, above what would ordinarily be tolerated in the Worm universe. If there is a kill order it makes sense though, as that would be the appropriate response by the PRT to groups that broke the unwritten rules.