Chapter Text
Being unemployed in Brockton Bay was the worst possible thing. In a city where most jobs had a certain level of involvement with crime or you would be discriminated against if you weren't of the ethnicity of the resident criminal gangs, trying to have a stable life became a true hell on earth. Well, if you weren't from the wealthier parts, that is.
Which unfortunately doesn't apply to me – Kyan B. Smith – or my sister. Well, at least I left a spot at my old job for some poor soul, it was much better than many of the people I'd hear about in the city. The only ones who had any control over that were the capes.
Having powers opened many doors for you overall in this city, especially with powers that helped an entire group more than just you individually. Othala can attest to that, the Empire was extremely lucky to have someone who can heal other people's injuries and grant them temporary powers.
Maybe with my power, I'd fit into that category. Not that my passenger seemed very enthusiastic about the idea of being a support rather than being directly in the conflict, but I couldn't blame him much, many would kill to basically be the next Eidolon with an improvement regarding how many powers you could use.
And I don't doubt that some wouldn't mind going through everything a trigger means for something like that, many people couldn't grasp the full magnitude of what the worst moment of your life was, or maybe they could, and were so desperate for it that they wouldn't mind wrecking their own psyche for that power.
Was it problematic to think of myself as one of those people? Completely, but it was better than thinking about everything my trigger meant, even if my passenger seemed annoyed with this approach of mine.
But it was exactly to try to cheer him up and try to build a better relationship with him that I was doing what I was doing, which, well, getting ready to go out as a cape and appease his desire for conflict. At the moment, I was coming home, the place was quite decent overall, two bedrooms, a bathroom, a basement, and a garage. Our jobs allowed us to live a life as middle-class citizens and the house was left to us after our father passed away, so we were decently lucky in that regard.
The day was decent enough to buy some pieces for my costume, and since I didn't want something ugly but rather something with a touch of artistic beauty, I decided to give the thing a little style. I sorted out my paper bag with the clothes and walked quickly to the basement, I still had to test some things regarding my current powers and complete some plans this weekend.
The basement was something between half dirty and half clean, Amelie couldn't focus much on cleaning it even with all her will to tidy things up in it, who would've thought that regularly looking after a school would do that to someone, so I took the opportunity to use the place for myself.
I took the clothes that were in the bag, combined them with some hidden in a few cardboard boxes scattered around, and arranged them on an old wooden table that was there.
My costume consisted of a wine-colored fleece hoodie, a dark red cloth medical mask, a red cap, a pair of fabric gloves, straight-leg pants with some rips at the knees, and a pair of running sneakers. Simple, and good enough to be nice-looking too.
The aesthetic of black with different shades of red worked to create an intimidating look, and the choice of clothes created a decent idea of an urban cape while maintaining the ability to move through the night camouflaged.
Maybe it would give me a serial killer vibe? Yes, but it's not like my starting powers helped much in that regard.
[Sharpen]
|Rare Ability|
Allows you to sharpen objects you are touching, you can sharpen a blade until its edge is monomolecular or you can swing air and sharpen it to create razor sharp winds.
[Conjure Rock]
|Uncommon Ability|
Allows you to manifest rock constructs out of your own energy; you do not have control over the rocks beyond creating and shaping them, simply creating constructs made of rocks. Such as rock weapons, boulders, rock walls, stone blocks etc.
My power classified things into five categories, Items, Abilities, Traits, Skills, and Familiars. I hadn't come into contact with any Item, Skill, Trait, or Familiar, but from what I had of basic information, they were objects of all kinds, knowledge of some kind, permanent biological or supernatural things that affect me or the people around me, and the last ones were basically creatures I could control.
Ugh, which reminded me of my limitation regarding Abilities. Each one took up a slot so to speak. In the beginning I only had one, and every 5 Abilities I would get one more slot and I could swap my Abilities between these slots with a time interval between swaps, but all of that involved so many nuances of seeking out all kinds of conflict that it made me feel a bit discouraged.
But Abilities were basically powers in themselves, and it was easier to think about what I could do with the ones I had now.
Sharpen would be quite useful overall for cutting chains and restraints or simply to look threatening, if you could create a monomolecular blade you might as well use it to threaten someone and keep them away, nobody wanted to get close to the guy with a knife that cuts stone with ease, and I had tested that.
And Conjure Rock was a whole other story. My powers had a limited energy source that regenerated, so I couldn't do something like spam my power without thinking about the consequences.
Which would most likely force me to use Conjure Rock as a pretty weak shaker and a striker like Brandish, not that I had much knowledge of how to use melee combat weapons beyond internet tips, very basic videos about some weapons, and a pinch of creativity overall.
And needless to say, they helped far less than one might imagine, especially when your weapon is made of stone and weighs a lot more than a common martial weapon, which only made it harder when it came to the idea of creating an aesthetic with stone powers without involving dirt, metal, or anything that screamed brute force that I didn't have.
Because of that, I had two extra little things, a pocket knife and a hand fan. They weren't exactly the most useful things on the planet capability-wise, but if Sharpen allowed me to sharpen air, it was good to use that too, especially with something that created more wind than my hands.
Feat Achieved! Create your own Cape costume
+1x Bronze Item Gacha Ticket
And there it was, Feats, basically my passenger's way of nudging me toward conflict or doing something minimally noteworthy, and in return, earning Tickets that would give me things, not that I was complaining, at least he let me choose what to do, instead of messing with my head and pushing me toward dangerous things.
I put aside the feeling of enthusiasm coming from him and focused on using the Ticket, it was like a kind of mental push, more of an imaginary push, and then a silent snap.
[Saw Cleaver]
|Common Item|
Bloodborne - Iconic weapons of the hunters. This saw can transform into a long cleaver or a serrated saw depending on your needs. In addition, this weapon is stronger the more beastlike your opponent is.
Ok, I wasn't expecting something this big, it's a strange mix of a huge saw with one serrated side and the other side with a plain blade, with a somewhat crooked handle at the end, the whole thing with old and grimy-looking bandages wrapped around the blade and the handle.
I held the thing with some care, it was heavy, but it certainly had better weight balance than the stone weapons I had made, not that I would know how to use this thing properly without the chance of cutting my fingers off, but well, my power at least gave me something I didn't need to worry about depleting the rest of my current arsenal, even with me not knowing how to use it in a fight. So yay?
"On the bright side, I have a weapon in case I want to try cutting a whole person in half and disembowel myself in the process." I swung the huge saw lightly a bit, according to the description, there was a second form to this thing, so maybe there was some kind of trigger.
The saw spun out of nowhere with sparks flying from the metal joint that connected the handle and the blade, and there was the cleaver form of this thing, the name made sense now. This way it was easier to swing, it would be much easier to act with this thing like an axe where I could swing and let inertia do part of the work.
In a city where a guy could turn into a huge pile of walking trash, another into a mass of iron in the shape of a wolf, and some idiot turned into a dragon, having something like this could be justifiable at least.
With a strong swing, the blade spun and ended up alongside the handle again. I should probably get a bag or something to carry this.
My body tensed at the sound of the front door opening, I quickly grabbed the clothes and stuffed them in the bag while placing the Saw Cleaver behind some boxes.
I paused for a second, breathed, and then slowly went up the stairs to the ground floor of the house calmly, my sister was already in the living room dropping her bag on the couch. "Ame, how was work today?" I approached her, Amélie wasn't exactly very similar to me, probably the whole having different mothers thing. She was a thin woman, dark blonde hair, a hair dye choice that didn't suit her by the way, a bowl cut, which yes, was actually done using a bowl, and her taste for ruffled black dresses didn't help the aesthetic.
"Hey Kyan, Stressful, some girls spilled juice and soda on the bathroom floor, and the janitor decided that today was the day he'd complain to me." She walked over to the couch and flopped onto it. It was kind of painful to watch, and from the boredom and mild annoyance of my passenger, it wasn't the kind of thing he liked very much to see.
"Want some coffee?" She mumbled and taking that as a yes, I went to the kitchen and prepared the coffee the way she liked it, with sugar and milk and then came back with a cup for her.
She sat up and took the cup from me, drinking so fast that I felt a slight panic that she might choke or spill it on her dress. Amelie lowered the cup and let out a sigh, we stayed silent for a few seconds before she handed me the cup.
"So, how have you been?" Ah, the million-dollar question, I was doing fine, ok, maybe fine was a bit much, I was doing minimally decent, I was unemployed now, I had had a horrible mental breakdown a few days ago and my sister was basically taking care of me as if I weren't a grown adult who should have the bare minimum of responsibilities in life. "Doing fine, I've been organizing things, it's calming you know." Ok, having a mental presence that granted me powers feeling sorry for me because of my traumas was slightly demeaning and annoying, was this how people who were constantly encouraged to go to therapy felt?
"That's good, but look, if you want some time to rest, just say so, I know how things can get hard." She gave me a smile.
I couldn't even get properly mad at her, she was being empathetic, but I also knew I couldn't just take a break like that.
"Sure, but don't worry, I've been managing, and on the bright side, at least I'll know to avoid jobs at fast food restaurants." I went to the kitchen with the cup and left it in the sink.
"How about we go out on the weekend? I don't know, something like the movies, there are some films I think you'd like, action stuff and some animations." I heard Amelie say from the living room.
"This weekend I'll be busy, I wanted to stay home you know, it's been a long time since I just let myself exist a little, without worrying too much about things."
"Alright, but anything, even if it's just to vent, I'm here ok?" I walked back to the living room, Amelie was standing in the room, she smiled at me and came closer.
It was kind of embarrassing, but I opened my arms and just stood there, hugging her. It was like I became a child again for a few seconds, that same innocent boy who liked giving hugs as a show of affection all the time.
"If you need anything, I'll be in my room after a shower." She pulled away from the hug, grabbing her bag from the couch and heading toward the hallway.
"Hey, it's not like I'm gonna set the house on fire." I protested with a smile.
"Look, I'm not the one who played with matches hidden around the house when I was little." Amelie smiled while I rolled my eyes, ignoring the positive feeling from my passenger at the mention of that little fact. Ok, remember to add pyromania to the list of things that amused my passenger, not concerning at all.
When she closed the door I felt a little less tense. The hug made me feel a bit better. Maybe that was my goal as a cape, to improve things for others, maybe if the gangs disappeared the city would get a little better. Maybe the people here could have more possibilities.
And maybe I could manage to have done something great. Well, I had two days before heading out, it was now or never.