Worm Idea Thread

Fellgrave

Well-Known Member
#1
As the title states, this a thread for any vague Idea you may have concerning Wildbow's Worm.

I mainly created this because... well access to Spacebattles is sporadic at best lately, and the thread over there is more conducive towards snippets rather than ideas. Any ideas are welcome.

My vague ideas to start:

Marvel #1:
Taylor wondered if if she wasn't Taylor, then maybe things would be better. And then... she wasn't. Although the blue skin was a bit unusual.

Taylor with Mystique's powers.

Marvel #2:
The metal walls of locker felt as if they were bearing down on her, squeezing her, she could feel them, feel the steel in them. She could feel the way they called to each other on a level she could only just grasp. She wanted out, and the metal bent itself to her will.

Taylor with Magneto/Polaris' powers.

Kim Possible:
The darkness was the worst of it. She couldn't see anything, just felt everything pushing against her. A light, a light, what she wouldn't do for a light. A fire would be grand. Something she could use to burn away the garbage. Wouldn't they just love that. Just let it all burn...

Through the vents of the locker, a flickering green glow blazed to life.

Taylor with Shego's powers.

...I'll probably add more later.
 

Prince Charon

Well-Known Member
#2
Taylor Hebert of Earth Bet, you have the ability to overcome great fear...

A crack version would be several different Rings going to her.


Another one: While she's trapped in the locker, she reaches out and touches a mind that also belongs to a girl who feels trapped. A girl who misses her mother. A girl named Alma Wade.

My current thought is that this is pre-game Alma, like the one EarthScorpion had Louise summon in The Fearful Void, but having Alma's ghost show up works as well. Could be a very short story, with a very tragic ending, but I'd prefer that Taylor and some of the other not-really-evil Worm characters get to have a happy ending - plus, Alma is the most sympathetic Horror Game Boss I can think of.


EDIT: Another short idea: Louise de la Valliere accidentally reverse-summons herself to Earth Bet, and joins the Undersiders.


I have some more ideas, but they'll take longer to write up, I think.
 

Emerald Oracle

Well-Known Member
#3
Wasn't there a ring snippet or three to that effect over on SB in the Wormverse thread? As far as vague ideas go... Taylor is secretly a Daemonite or Kherubim crossbreed! or both, I don't judge. Because clearly Worm needs even more horrific background events.
 

Fellgrave

Well-Known Member
#4
Yay! Responses!

Hmm... horror... aha!

Huh... longer than I thought it would be. Oh well.

_____ #1
So cold... did they turn on the air conditioning at night? So cold... she could see her breath in front of her face, though only barely given how dark it was. Why... why did this have to happen to her? Why could they just leave her alone? So cold... if only her mother was there, she'd know what to do...

Something changed and suddenly she pushed at the locker door with renewed intensity. Mother, yes, if mother was there... she needed to reach her mother, to see her again!

The cold deepened and the door suddenly crashed open as the hinges holding it shut cracked. Taylor fell onto the floor and barely wasted a moment before she began to run. She had to see her mother!

She didn't notice the way the cold wind failed to bother her, or how her lungs didn't seem to burn, or how she wasn't tired, but she finally reached the small graveyard where her mother was buried. As she walked through the rows of tombstones, she barely payed any attention to the trail of frost she left on the grass behind her.

Her mothers grave was in front of her, and she stared at it for a while. An urge, a need hit her, and she made her way over to the groundskeeper's hut, her mouth stretching into a smile as she saw the shovel leaning against the corner of the building.

In a frenzy she began to dig, her arms moving like a machine. A dull thud caused her to stop and drop to her knees. Scrapping the dirt away, she grabbed at the edge of the coffin before pulling at it with all her might. The wood gave way with a crack and she found herself on her butt.

Crawling on her hands and knees, she stared with wide eyes at the desiccated corpse that still, roughly, looked like her mother. Her eyes began to water as she jumped into the coffin and wrapped the corpse in a tight hug. She rocked back and forth as she mumbled nonsense into her mother's shoulder, before she leaned back and studied the corpse. She frowned in thought and set her back down gently.

"Don't worry mommy, I'm gonna make it all better..." she said with a wide grin as she stood up and grabbed the shovel. She jumped out of the hole and looked around her, her eyes wide as she looked at all the graves just full of material. "All better..."

...yeah...that went dark fast...

Basically, Taylor as the Lich King, like a Necro-Tinker with minor frost powers. And she brings back her mother into a patchwork Sylvanas-esque body. I'd say that's pretty horror-ish right there.
 
#5
I think that a interesting posibility could be that, when Taylor triggered in the Locker, she could get a Master power, as in canon, but the difference could be that she only can control one being in the world: The Simurgh. When she discovers what exactly her power entails, Hebert is going to have one hell of a freakout (And I can't get out of my mind the image of the Simurgh looking at Taylor like a puppy, asking for a petting for good behaviour).

That would change a lot of things, because, if Simurgh is under Taylor's control, she won't take part in any of the endbringers attack. And the fact that the scariest Engbringer has stopped attacking is going to be discovered pretty soon.

And Taylor could borrow Simurgh powers (Pre and postcognicion, maybe telekinesis...) to work by herself without bringing the Endbringer to fight her battles and that the trick is discovered. And I think that the moment when the truth about her power is revealed, the reactions are going to be hilarious. And Tattletale is the one that is going to arrive to the truth the first so...

But this could be a good way to change events, because I think that Taylor, Panacea, the Undersiders or Dragon deserve a good end for once.
 

Fellgrave

Well-Known Member
#6
Hmm. Sounds interesting.

Also, reposting from Spacebattles:

Fire's Hot, But I'm Hotter!

Taylor grimaced as she heard her tormentors leave the bathroom. She inhaled shakily as she tried to calm herself down, to keep herself under control and from tearing Emma and her little clique apart. No, she wasn't that kind of person. Plus it would be way too much work. Instead she grabbed a spare hoodie, black, like most of her clothing lately, and swapped it for her juice stained one.

Opening the stall she let out a relieved sigh when she found herself alone. Walking over to the sinks, she leaned down and put her head as far under the faucet as possible before turning it on. Turning it off, she lifted her head and gave it shake, speckling the mirror with droplets of water. At least her hair was clean.

She stared into the mirror, and sighed. There was little about herself that she found attractive. Maybe a little more, and maybe less after the Locker.

Another rattling inhalation as she squeezed her eyes together.

The Locker. Even now, months later, all she could remember about those hours stuck inside was the feeling of rot and the deep, crushing darkness. All she had wanted was for the darkness to go away, and then, it did. She remembered the feeling of euphoria as the shadows receded, fought back by the soft light that had appeared before her.

She opened her eyes and found herself staring at her reflection in the mirror. Tall and thin, she didn't have anything that would make a boy give her body a second look. But her eyes, those were different. Before the locker, she had always found her large eyes out of place, but now they seemed to be almost perpetually half-lidded, and without her glasses, the brilliant neon green pupils were startling.

That was another thing she had to thank her powers for; no longer was she cursed to wear glasses. Her eyesight seemed to have cleared up almost over night after she snuck back home from school, and she had to lie to her dad that she was using contacts instead. He seemed to accept her lie, but it still made her cringe inside.

She gave her head another shake and paused to pull out a tube of black lipstick and reapply it. Her skin, already rather fair to start with given all the time she spent indoors and away from the world, had paled further after the Locker. It was likely another side effect of her power, and given the futility in fighting, she gave in and started dressing in darker colors and wearing thicker clothing. In a way, the changes from her powers made it both easier and harder for her. She grabbed the edge of the sink as she let her breath hiss through her teeth.

Emma and Sophia had, of course, torn into her the first day she had come to school in a heavy black jacket and working boots. But no-one would bother to steal an ugly pair of boots, and her jacket was water repellent and much easier to clean than her shirts and sweaters. And of course today of all days was the one where she forgot to grab her jacket before leaving home.

She eyed her backpack, noting the myriad stains seeping into the fabric, and growled. Her fingers tightened on the sink and she heard the sound of something cracking, but she wasn't listening.

It was tempting, oh so tempting, for her to go out there and leave a swathe of destruction behind her as she tore through the school, but she was better than that.

She pulled out her mother's flute from her pocket and rubbed it gently. Emma had had it, no surprise, but it had been surprising in how easy it was to break into her locker and retrieve it. Taylor didn't know why her former friend had kept the flute at the school, though she had a few suspicions, but it didn't matter. They didn't matter.

She put the flute back into her pocket and grabbed her backpack before leaving the bathroom. Later, the janitor would completely confounded as he tried to figure out how one of the sinks had ended up split down the middle.

xxxxxxxxx

The Docks were oddly quiet tonight.

It was something that had Taylor on edge as she hopped from rooftop to rooftop. The Docks were never quiet. For as long as she had been doing her late night runs, there were always the sounds of shouting, plus the occasional scream or gunshot. But not tonight.

She hadn't come across a single person, outside of a the usual drunks and addicts passed out or dead on the street. It was good, because that meant less chance of getting recognized, which was rather low, since have someone manage to see her who was actually sober or cognizant enough to remember her face the next morning would be a miracle. They might remember her costume though.

Putting it together had been both embarrassing and rather easy. Easy in that her costume was composed of a black leather bodysuit and leather jacket, partially dyed green like a harlequin's costume. A domino mask, half black half green, barely obscured her face and completed the outfit. The embarrassing part had come from the fact that she had been forced to go to a shop with a rather... exotic clientele to find the basic bodysuit. Thank god her father had never found the receipt.

Landing on the next rooftop on her route, Taylor shook her head of her thoughts as she dropped into a crouch. Something wasn't right, even beyond the silence. Crawling over to the edge of the roof, she peered over and almost immediately had to squash the urge to flinch back. The sudden movement would no doubt attract the attention of those below, which was something she had absolutely no intention of doing.

Landing on the next rooftop on her route, Taylor shook her head of her thoughts as she dropped into a crouch. Something wasn't right, even beyond the silence. Crawling over to the edge of the roof, she peered over and almost immediately had to squash the urge to flinch back. The sudden movement would no doubt attract the attention of those below, which was something she had absolutely no intention of doing.

Lung cut an intimidating figure with his mask and tattoos, and given his reputation, he was someone Taylor wanted nothing to do with. Thankfully it seemed that he was the lone parahuman among the gathered gang-members, as Taylor failed to spot either of his two lieutenants among the crowd.

A car pulled up and disgorged another group of thugs who joined the group waiting below. Lung grunted loudly and walked into the middle of the group and began speaking. Waiting a moment to make sure no-one was watching, Taylor began to edge backwards from the edge of the roof, though not before she caught a certain snippet of Lung's orders.

She froze in place, before getting to her feet, her face a cold mask of calmness that did nothing to hide the fury in her eyes. Taylor had intended to simply let Lung go about his business, considering he and Kaiser had been butting heads over territory lately she had assumed that this was another raid, but now that she knew his targets... she couldn't let him go.

Her hands blazed to life as they were surrounded by pure energy, the thermal portion superheating the air into plasma that lit up the rooftop with a bright green glow. A manic grin settled on her face as she leapt from the rooftop and into the fray.

She'd heard Lung's fire was hot, but plasma was always hotter.

Shego!Taylor. Because \/ see sig.
 

Fellgrave

Well-Known Member
#7
EO... this is all your fault.

The Toller of the Bells.1.1

The fog came out of nowhere.

One second the streets were clear, the old dilapidated buildings silently watching as Lung gathered his crew together, the next they had disappeared into the obscuring mists that had risen up from every direction at once.

It was obvious that it was some cape’s power; the way the mists seemed to have made all the buildings disappear was a pretty big clue. It didn’t take long though for the true nature of the cape’s power to reveal itself.

The thugs were smart enough to realize that staying as close to their boss as possible would be their best chance of survival. But as time passed and the fog failed to shift at all, and the perceived threat failed to emerge, one of them went off a little ways to release the pressure on his bladder.

He never returned.

A good five minutes passed before anyone realized he was gone. A group of three were volunteered by Lung to look for him, and they had only made it a few feet before they were swallowed up by the fog.

That was the last they saw of them.

Those remaining began to stir and mutter to each other, keeping their voices soft so that they didn’t attract their boss’ attention. Even a few tossed fireballs failed to impact the fog in any way, as the projectiles too were swallowed up and vanished.

With nothing else to do, Lung ordered his men to group up around him and head... somewhere. The fog clung to their skin and dampened their footsteps, enough so that Lung failed to notice as his men vanished in ones and twos until he was left with only the two men beside him.

A sign rose up out of the darkness, three arrows pointing in towards the direction Lung and his men had been heading as well as off to either side, the arrows hanging loosely from the metal pole. There might have been writing on them at one point, but the paint had been worn away by water and wind.

Lung grunted and turned to head along the direction of the right arrow, a sharp order sending his men down along the other paths. Odds were that none of them were making it out, but he hoped that splitting the fog using cape’s attention would work in his favor. He blinked, and he was alone, save for the sign. Shrugging, he turned and began to head on.

Out of sight of the sign, the fog lifted slightly, revealing the text written on the three arrows: Ashfield 168 Miles; Shepherd’s Field 132 Miles; Silent Hill... 13 Miles.
 

Ninsaneja

Well-Known Member
#8
I won't post stories on spacebattles just because it's a terrible place for fanfiction. It's disorganized, slow, and the mods are on near-constant power trips.

I'm working on another worm fic at the moment but I want to have a full outline before I break ground as it were. It's quite AU.
 

Prince Charon

Well-Known Member
#9
Another 'Taylor with a different power' idea: She has a Shaker power, complete perception and control (including manipulation and transformation of the available mass) of all non-living matter within her range - which starts out at a radius of about sixteen feet, for reasons of canon referencing. Interestingly, hair and the outermost surface of the skin are non-living, though she isn't planning on cluing anyone in on that part, outside of emergencies (yes, she recognizes the Power Perversion Potential, here, which is the other reason she doesn't want to tell people about it). This is an interesting and very munchkinable power, even with the limitation that she can't transform matter into objects that she doesn't understand (making a rain of swords is fairly easy; making a gun would require her to either have the design reasonably memorized, or have a gun in her range to copy; making Tinkertech is a lolnope, unless it's especially simple, but she can use her Shaker power to fake it - destroying it usually works just fine, though).

A side effect of her Shaker power is that she can fake other powers, in a way that will probably make her look like a Tinker (something I think she would take advantage of): She can make a suit of armour, and can reinforce it to resist damage, very rapidly repair the damage it does take, fake enhanced strength by moving both the armour and whatever she's trying to move/damage, and fly by moving the armour while she's wearing it. She could also do Blaster powers in various ways. If she's careful, opponents might never realize her true power, unless she's forced to in extremis, like she meets Mannequin.

She probably needs a new name, as 'Skitter' will only work for this version if the process of reformatting matter always looks like something like 'stuff dissolves into fake bugs, and then turns into whatever she wants to make', which would be a rather more blatant myth gag that might annoy the readers, and potentially contradicts the suggested strategy above, unless maybe she has some part of her armour move, glow, and/or make noise when she does that.

Say, does this idea need its own thread?
 

Ninsaneja

Well-Known Member
#10
My upcoming fic is titled "Titans."

The main character is not Taylor.

The setting diverged from canon before Taylor was born.
 

nixofcyzerra

Well-Known Member
#11
When I was reading Worm, specifically Sophia's interludes where her predators and prey philosophy is brought up, I was always reminded of a chapter of Bird of Poetry's Animorphs/His Dark Materials Crossover fic, The Cowardice of Lions (part of a series I can't recommend enough,) that brings up an interesting point about prey:

Kirianor bared her teeth and laughed. "I don't know if you've noticed, Abineng, but you're an antelope. Lions eat antelope."

"Is that how you think it works? Haven't you learned anything?" My face split into a terrible grimace that might have been a smile. "Listen to me, David, because I've been morphing for a long time, and I know more about animals than you ever will. My battle morphs are elephant and grizzly. I've felt their minds, and I know which one I admire more. Grizzlies, the predators, they're cowards. They're powerful, but when the odds are against them, they back down. They pick the fights they know they can win. They're bullies, not fighters, and every time I face down an army of Hork-Bajir, all the grizzly wants to do is run. But elephants? When a lion attacks, they fight to protect themselves and the herd, and they don't stop fighting until the threat is gone. They don't pick battles with weaklings or back away if they might lose. They just fight.

"And there's one more thing I know that you don't. Abineng is a sable antelope. And sable antelope kill lions."
So yeah. A scene in Worm fanfiction I'd like to see is Taylor bringing this point up to Sophia, immediately followed by a Curb-Stomp Battle.
 

Prince Charon

Well-Known Member
#12
nixofcyzerra said:
So yeah. A scene in Worm fanfiction I'd like to see is Taylor bringing this point up to Sophia, immediately followed by a Curb-Stomp Battle.
I thinik I've seen at least one Worm fic where something like that was pointed out to Sophia, but I'm blanking on the exact quote, author, or title.
 

nixofcyzerra

Well-Known Member
#13
Interesting. Post here or PM me if you recall, would you?

Say, a Parahuman's powers are controlled via their newly-developed Corona Pollentia, right? Does that mean that if a cape with Superman's vision powers gave a Parahuman a "Manchester Black" special, then they would lose either their powers, or their control over them?
 

Oni_kawaii

Well-Known Member
#14
nixofcyzerra said:
Interesting. Post here or PM me if you recall, would you?

Say, a Parahuman's powers are controlled via their newly-developed Corona Pollentia, right? Does that mean that if a cape with Superman's vision powers gave a Parahuman a "Manchester Black" special, then they would lose either their powers, or their control over them?
I think Bonesaw mentioned that it just Removes control.
of course given she got the medical Hax power this could just be what happens when she does it.
 

shinzero01

Well-Known Member
#15
nixofcyzerra said:
Interesting. Post here or PM me if you recall, would you?

Say, a Parahuman's powers are controlled via their newly-developed Corona Pollentia, right? Does that mean that if a cape with Superman's vision powers gave a Parahuman a "Manchester Black" special, then they would lose either their powers, or their control over them?
It really depends on the Parahuman.
That probably wouldn't work against say... Lung.
Probably wouldn't work against someone with a completely inhuman form like Weld.
And then there is Dragon...
 
Top