Character creation 1.2

For a moment clarity clashed with obscurity.

It was like I knew everything yet was unable to grab it.

Unlimited power at my fingertips but without the ability to understand the vastness of what I experienced.

It was almost maddening. Yet the feeling didn't go away and I was able to choose something.

I felt that I needed better potions and suddenly I felt improvement. It wasn't what I'd call significant since my knowledge of potions hadn't exploded. It simply became more efficient and I felt tougher, not stronger just tougher.

The change wasn't anything huge but it was noticeable. Up until now I progressed slowly but surely increasing my skill. But now, now it leapt, would this ever happen again?

I shook my head clear of those thoughts. It was odd, it was hard to remember anything I just experienced, my mind seemingly fogging over.

Just another mystery when it came to my powers.

Grabbing my bag along with a box filled with sandwich bags I made my way outside. I wanted nothing more then to test the limits of my new alchemy skills but right now I had to do some research and find out how much the average anvil cost.

Hopefully life would cooperate and not do anything too ironic like dropping one on my head.

Making my way outside I idly grabbed a passing bee and some weeds growing on the sidewalk.

I could go out to a hardware store right now but I wasn't too well versed on the stock they carried. I didn't want to rock up and ask for something they didn't have so I decided to go to the library.

The books were nice of course but my true target was the computers or more specifically the internet.

With that I'd be able to see if any place was selling locally. On my way there I grabbed some more plants, making sure no one could see what I was doing of course.

Arriving at the library I signed in, before settling down.

I'd been coming here more often as of late just for the computer, last week I was here looking up herbs and where to find them both in the wild and in urban environments. My luck in replicating my research was mixed at best. I could find plenty of mushrooms and weeds in my area. Anything else required the plundering of gardens or a trip to the parks.

The last two were kind of frowned upon and I tried to avoid that sort of thing.

It had nothing to do with the fact that I didn't want people thinking I was weird picking plants in the park. None at all. They were public places, there could be gang members lurking around! Yeah that was it!

As a habit I opened up the PHO. Maybe I could find out why I had that mini-stroke earlier?

Right the anvil. Let's see how much they cost…

Around a hundred bucks. Greeeaaaaaat. I only had about forty dollars saved up. There were cheaper options but they all required themselves to be delivered and frankly I didn't want to get into a situation where Dad could get any inkling on what I was up to.

I suppose I could have them deliver to some abandoned warehouse but something in my gut told me that it was a bad idea.

Shit.

Wait delivery.

Maybe I didn't need to sell my stuff in person, perhaps I could just send it or make some kind of dead drop!

I had a potion that could make me invisible for a short time, they'd never know I was there and I could pick up the cash the same way!

But how would I even begin to offer my services?

AHHH Why did this all have to be so complicated! I just wanted to be a hero! If I was a brute I could just put on some crappy looking outfit and kick ass. As a tinker however I needed the money to even think about it!

Okay, okay, let's calm down and think about it. Maybe I've been going about this the wrong way.

Let's think about my goal.

I wanted to be a hero.

How do I do that? By going out and stopping crime.

Why did I need the anvil and money? So I could wear armor so that if someone tried to hit with a crowbar I'd be fine so I could sell potions to get more money to make better potions.

Let's try to break it down and simplify as much as possible. I need armor to not die.

Well. I had a potion that increased how tough I was, not much at this stage unfortunately.

I banged my head against the desk. Loudly.

"SHHHHH!" Was the immediate response. I shrank into myself, willing my existence to simply stop when I felt something. It was tiny, a small tingling in the back in my mind as if an orchestra whispered triumph into my ears.

I had felt it before! When I felt my alchemy improved drastically! It was the same feeling but smaller. I didn't have the impulse to look to the stars for example but I had noticed it.

In fact, it's happened before. It was such a small feeling of improvement. I had felt it when hiding from Sophia and getting away. I felt it after hours of eating plants and turning them into potions.

If I hadn't had that mini-coma from before I wouldn't have recognised it. Now that I thought about it I felt something similar back in the locker. The dark, terrible place… I hadn't recognised the feeling until now.

Though to be fair I was too focused on my previous tasks of not being attacked by the bitches three, spitting out toxic mushrooms and trying to not die inside a cramped space to really notice it at the time.

The point was that I could get really good at hiding!

I wouldn't have to worry about being smacked in the head by a crowbar if the bad guys didn't know I was there! Unless I was being too optimistic this stealth was clearly another aspect of my power, a pseudo stranger ability of sorts.

I had doubts that I could take on an entire gang or even a cape.

But a single mugger with a knife? With my potions making me a minor brute I'd be able to get the drop and save whoever they were attacking!

The more I thought about this the more I thought that this might work! I'd start small and my powers would slowly grow over time making me better at sneaking around, better at fighting, before too long I might even be Dauntless material!

I knew I was being presumptuous to compare myself like that but the similarities were there. Just like him I got stronger over time, as far as I could tell I had no limit! At least not yet.

This could work.

I nodded to myself, I needed to prepare. For once I looked forwards to school, I looked forwards to Madison, Sophia and Emma. They were the grindstones of which my sneaky powers would sharpen! They would be how I trained, to become a hero! Winslow was the Brockton bay to my… okay this metaphor was going nowhere, I put a brake on my thoughts right there.

The PHO wasn't kidding.

Powers do make you mad! It made me look forwards to school!

Well first thing first. Dinner for Dad.

Another odd thing about my powers is that they put in a bunch of recipes in my head but unlike potion brewing I never got the impression that I could get better at it. The food was just there.

Still I didn't complain, Dad really liked the sweet rolls I made. He even joked that they kept being stolen. The crumbs on his chin said otherwise of course, not even bothering to save them until he got to work.

Maybe I would make some tonight just as a treat.

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Author note: If anyone is wondering on Taylor's odd thought process or why she's not doing the optimal build my answer is simply that she doesn't know the optimal build. She's not a video gamer, the closest thing she has is fantasy novels of which she's probably read more then most considering her background.

Also keep in mind how conflicted she is in Canon. Something that Tattle tale picked up on.

It wasn't smart to attack Lung when she did but she did so anyways, a mix of selfless heroism and well depression.

She justified a lot of stuff to herself and since we read things from her point of view a lot of what she had done was justified to us as well.

She's an unreliable narrator and it's not her fault.

Onto the soul gem thing folks have brought up.

Even if she could she wouldn't and I feel I must remind everyone that she would most likely see them as evil.

You might think why would she think it's evil?

Well fantasy books, not even kidding. Her only reference to souls being used to power stuff would come from fantasy books.

For the most part characters who power stuff using souls in fantasy books are evil or at least described as evil.

So that's why she wouldn't use them. Overly simplistic I know but that's my take on this.

As to questions on why I would mention stuff that she would never use?

Well I think it's better to mention that they'd never be used rather then keep it murky and have people think that they might be used in the future. I don't want to get people's hopes up that she'll get a dragon shout for example and yell Jack Slash off a building.

If anyone wants to write an omake based on her having the Thu'um though be my guest.

Anyways I hope people will like it or even be inspired to write something better because of it.

Edit: Turns out I am TERRIBLE at spelling and Grammar.