Worm (Parahumans #1)

Chapter 310: Sequel Teaser: Glow-Worm P.7



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Connecting to “gChat.ParahumansOnline.Treefort_Lookout(6667)” (Attempt 20)

Resolving Host Name

Connecting…

Connected.

Using identity “Heart_Shaped_Pupil”

Welcome to the Treefort_Lookout! A hangout for those 16 and under with inquisitive minds and an eye on the goings on around them. Keep conversation focused on sharing info. Other discussion belongs in our Pillowfort_Lazytalk or Snowfort_Mission rooms.

Maxtag: Hi Kenzie

Toxicfish216: Heya. Wanting to get right to business?

Thistlesoup: *hugs* Hi love

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: *hugs back* Hi thistle, hi max, hi tox.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: no rush on business. i’m starting my day

My_Own_Gren: Hi K. We were talking about stuff just now. There’s a bit to catch up on.

Dogtooth: Heya, optics. Good to see you.

Magnep: hi kenzie. what’s up?

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: hi Peter, hi Megan, hi nep

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: not much is up

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: how are you guys? does anyone need help with anything?

Asnag: I don’t think so. We were talking about your stuff, actually.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: neat. i’m getting breakfast so i’ll be a second before I’m settled

Tockta: How are you doing? You said you were feeling down in Pillowfort last night.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: i’m better

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: i’m ready to start the day. i’m excited at the idea of getting info.

Thistlesoup: That’s good to hear.

Milldross: You wanted us to nag you about your punctuation and capitals. Your friend got irritated about it.

Flying_Kevin: this is the girl that was the Ward, right?

Flying_Kevin: I’m new btw

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: I did. Thank you mill.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: I did. I just woke up.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: I am. Hi Kevin.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: *rubs hands together* get me started.

Johnsonjar: Hi K. You wanted us to keep an eye out for your old teammates.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: !

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: who? where?

Johnsonjar: We found two of them. One second.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: !! Who?

Johnsonjar: Aven and Houndstooth

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Thank you! Good job! You’re awesome!

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Ima go talk to Aven first.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: /Away

You have marked yourself as away.

♦ Private message sent to AvenG

AvenG: ?

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Hi Aven. It’s Kenzie

AvenG: Oh. Kenzie M?

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: That me.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: I’m not supposed to be sharing out my name and tying it to this account but I figure in this context it’s okay. You’ve seen my face, you know my name, you know my powers, I trust you.

AvenG: Yeah.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: I don’t want to be a pest. I just wanted to say hi and say I’m glad you’re alive. I always thought you were cool.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: and if you ever want to talk or meet or whatever, you know where I’m at and you can send me a message.

AvenG: Ok.

AvenG: No offense, but I probably won’t.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: ok.

AvenG: Sorry. I’m trying to get a fresh start, the Wards were pretty good times but that was then. You and I didn’t talk then, with the age difference, so it’s strange to talk now.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: It’s okay. You were frontline and I was backline. You were a teenager, I was the brat.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: There are lots of reasons I’m sure but ‘no’ is the only one that matters. I wish you the best.

AvenG: thank you. Good luck with whatever you end up doing, Kenzie.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: /back

You have marked yourself as back

Welcome back to the Treefort_Lookout!

Tockta: How did it go?

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Not great. She didn’t want to talk.

Tockta: Aw.

Thistlesoup: *hugs*

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: *hugs back*

Maxtag: We’ve got your back.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: I’m going to talk to the next one. Wish me luck!

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: /Away

You have marked yourself as away.

Doones: Good luck!

♦ Private message sent to Houndstooth

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Hi H.T.

Houndstooth: Hi Kenzie.

Houndstooth: I’m in the middle of a conversation with Ave. She said you reached out.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: I’m keeping an eye out for my old teammates.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: I’m glad you’re alive, houndstooth.

Houndstooth: I’m glad you’re alive too, Kenzie.

Houndstooth: What are you up to these days?

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: I’m looking at joining a team. Kind of. We’re still figuring a lot out. It’s exciting. they’re neat.

Houndstooth: That’s really good to hear

Houndstooth: I’ve talked to some of the others offline. We made out better than most. The only question mark is 10-59, but I’m suspicious they’re okay.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: I already found them. they’re alive and well.

Houndstooth: Did you? ok. good. great. Then we only lost Pigeonhole, but you knew about them. We made out better than most.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: it’s great. I’m so relieved.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: I really liked the team. Everyone was so cool.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: It was an important time for me. Coming back to Baltimore to join the team was the first time I got to stop and settle down.

Houndstooth: Yeah

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: It was home

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: so it means alot to me to hear you say **we** when talking about us making it out mostly okay.

Houndstooth: You know that was then, don’t you?

Houndstooth: Back in the past. Things have changed.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: uh huh

Houndstooth: You got a bad deal, Kenzie. Not the worst I’ve seen but I’ve seen a lot of people get better hands than what you got. You tried as hard as anyone and you did really good work.

Houndstooth: You were a better hero when you were four and a half feet tall than some adult capes I know today

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: I’ve heard this speech before H.T.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: variants of it

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: you gave me a version of it once

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: you don’t have to let me down easy. I’m tough.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: just cut to the chase.

Houndstooth: I think you shouldn’t contact the others.

Houndstooth: They have their own things to work through. They’re rebuilding. Everyone’s looking forward.

Houndstooth: You have a new team. That’s great.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: huh. was i really that bad?

Houndstooth: You weren’t bad okay?

Houndstooth: You weren’t bad.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: but?

Houndstooth: But…

Houndstooth: give me a second to type.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: HT… i was ten

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: iv’e grown up some

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: i was there for the end of the world

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: i did stuff. i actually really helped

Houndstooth: Absolutely

Houndstooth: I keep typing responses and deleting them

Houndstooth: People are gunshy

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: gunshy?

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: of me?

Houndstooth: Shit. Now I feel bad.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Don’t

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: i’m disappointed is all

Houndstooth: I can’t stress enough that I have a lot of respect for you.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: thank you

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: can you give me one shot then?

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: not even as friends. it can be business. I’m useful. you’ve been prasing my work ethic. I’m smart. I have a kind of team. If you do me the favor of giving me a shot I can do you one favor for free.

Houndstooth: I don’t know

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: you’re a smart guy and you were a good leader. you know how these things work. you know my power has its uses. others would kidnap me for it. I am offering myself to you and you would be stupid to turn me down. use me. please.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: if you respect me so much then let me prove myself

Houndstooth: Okay.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Yes?

Houndstooth: Sure. Absolutely.

Houndstooth: I can contact you here?

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: yes

Houndstooth: I will be in touch.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: ok

Houndstooth: I will also talk to the others. I will leave your contact info with them. If they are comfortable with it they can reach out to you.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: got it

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: I’ll cross my fingers.

Houndstooth: I have to run.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: thanks for making the time to talk to me

Houndstooth: Keep up the good work. Bye.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: /back

You have marked yourself as back

Welcome back to the Treefort_Lookout!

Tockta: How did it go? Is your day looking up?

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: The high point of the conversation was toward the end when he said don’t call us we’ll call you.

Tockta: I don’t understand

Flying_Kevin: ?

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: It doesn’t matter. I’m choosing to view this in a positive light. My day has to get better from here.

Tockta: That’s positive.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: It is!

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: For now I need a distraction.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Any other news?

Maxtag: Tattletale took on a new mission that’s taking her to Earth N. She’ll be busy for a short while.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: !

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Why didn’t you tell me sooner? Priorities!

Maxtag: I didn’t know it was important.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: It is. Information about my new teammates is key.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: be right back.

Thistlesoup: Bye!

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: /Away

You have marked yourself as away.

Joined Group Conversation: Cap, Mangled_Wings (away), Weird_Cephalopod

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: was R around?

Weird_Cephalopod has left the conversation.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Bye C.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Rawr. K is here. everyone run away! >:3

Cap: R left. he dropped off the grid

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Arrrg

Cap: C was saying he had to go get lunch soon.

Cap: I think that’s why he left

Cap: A is eating too. she practically living at library now I think.

Cap: but she has to leave it to eat.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: ok

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: it’s good that she’s there. good to learn and study.

Cap: why?

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Tattletale is out of town. They probbaly won’t attack without her around to act. There is a repreive. I got some info on her late last night too

Cap: that’s great. hopefully he swings by the library and we can let him know.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: great

Cap: is quiet today. lazy sunday. how are you doing?

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: today has been interesting. i’m looking forward to S getting here and to the next meet.

Cap: agreed on the first two parts. partial agree on the last. I think we’re going to get yelled at

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: I can not imagine that.

Cap: shoot. would love to chat but am being asked to go to church.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: at noon?

Cap: family is asking. church gets overcrowded these days so we attend during certain blocks of time.

Cap: you and me. we talk later, yeah?

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: for sure.

Cap: good work on the tattletale info. strategy will be so key if R ends up in trouble. you a champ.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: not a problem

Cap: sorry to duck and run

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: go, you dork! it’s ok

Cap has left the conversation.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: /twiddle thumbs

twiddle thumbs: Unknown Command

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Yeah

You have left the conversation.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: /back

You have marked yourself as back

Welcome back to the Treefort_Lookout!

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Hit me with some more of that business

Maxtag: Hi Kenzie

Maxtag: You said teammate related things were important.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Yes. You have more?

Maxtag: I’m not sure. It’s minor but you said it was related to two of your teammates.

Maxtag: Weld is back. Article here.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Oh. He was away? The people I’d tell about it are away for lunch.

Maxtag: I don’t follow.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: It’s okay.

You currently have one alert about possible admin action. Please click to review and open a conversation with a site administrator about conduct issues.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Hahahahaha XD

Doones: What’s so funny?

Magnep: ?

Flying_Kevin: I don’t understand.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Today has been quite a day. I’m having a run of bad luck. Admins want to talk to me and I think I know why. Haha.

Doones: Good luck!

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: can I get a bit of a hug, Thistle?

Thistlesoup: *hugs*

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: You’re the best.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: /Away

You have marked yourself as away.

Private Conversation with Shower (Admin):

Please note that conversations with site administrators may be recorded and reviewed.

Shower: I’d like a moment if you can spare it.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Hello.

Shower: Thank you for the prompt response. I’m Graham. I’m with the PHO IT team. You can call me by my name or just ‘shower’.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Hi Shower. What can I do for you?

Shower: We had some unusual search activity that seemed to be causing congestion. Would you happen to know anything about this?

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: I might. It would have been during off-peak hours though.

Shower: We update infrastructure during off-peak hours. it slowed us down. It stalled us for three hours last night.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: oh that’s not good.

Shower: You’re piggybacking off of our servers?

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: I was trying to help. We’ve been updating the wikis as much as we can and three-fifths of the work is gathering data that’s helpful to others.

Shower: We?

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: It was a stupid hobby project. I was thinking of what everyone wanted the most and information seemed most critical. I had some guys I knew from way before and I thought I’d get everyone up to date and on the same page.

Shower: We often encourage hobby projects on PHO, though we cannot when resources are as tight as they are, and it would depend on scale and the amount of mess created. How easy is this to dismantle, and do I need to talk to anyone else?

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Nobody else. It was me alone. I can fix it right now.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: How bad of a problem is this? Is there any leeway?

Shower: It’s interfering with others’ ability to access things. It might not seem like a problem here, because you’re close to the home node, but there are people on the periphery or far-flung regions and they’re going from satellite to ground to satellite to here, across several Earths.

Shower: I think it’s best if you clean up as much of it as you can.

Shower: I think that since you’re a chat member in good standing, we’d be willing to let this slide with a warning if it can be promptly dealt with without any mess.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: I’ll have to reboot.

Shower: I’ll talk to you shortly.

You have left the conversation.

Connecting to “gChat.ParahumansOnline.Treefort_Lookout(6667)” (Attempt 32)

Resolving Host Name

Connecting…

Connected.

Using identity “Heart_Shaped_Pupil”

Welcome to the Treefort_Lookout! A hangout for those 16 and under with inquisitive minds and an eye on the goings on around them. Keep conversation focused on sharing info. Other discussion belongs in our Pillowfort_Lazytalk or Snowfort_Mission rooms.

Toxicfish216: Heya. Wanting to get right to business?

Maxtag: Hi Kenzie

Thistlesoup: *hugs* Hi love

My_Own_Gren: Hi K. We were talking about stuff while you were disconnected. There’s only a little to catch up on.

Dogtooth: Heya, optics.

Magnep: hi kenzie. how are you this afternoon?

Tockta: How are you doing? You sounded positive the last time I asked.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: yeah

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: right to business

Johnsonjar: What do you need?

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: I need everyone to be quiet.

You have been auto-set to away as you have been idle for five minutes

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: /Kill Toxicfish216

You are no longer set to away

Toxicfish216: BusinessOrPleasureBot disconnecting…

Toxicfish has left the conversation.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: /Kill Maxtag

Maxtag: MissionBot1 disconnecting…

Maxtag has left the conversation.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil:

/Kill JohnsonJar

JohnsonJar: MissionBot2 disconnecting…

Johnsonjar has left the conversation.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: /Kill My_Own_Gren

My_Own_Gren: NewsAmountBot disconnecting…

My_Own_Gren has left the conversation.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: /Kill Dogtooth

Dogtooth: HTBot disconnecting…

Dogtooth has left the conversation.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: /Kill Magnep

Magnep: CasualConvoBot disconnecting…

Magnep has left the conversation.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: /Kill Flying_Kevin

FlyingKevin: InstantNewGuyBot disconnecting…

FlyingKevin has left the conversation.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: /Kill TMI_Mom

TMI_Mom: DelayedNewGuyBot disconnecting…

TMI_Mom has left the conversation

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Thistle, can I ask for something?

Thistlesoup: You don’t even need to ask, love

Shower (Admin) has joined the conversation.

Thistlesoup: *Big Hugs*

Shower: I thought you might be dealing with the problem. Or is it dealt with?

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Haha. This is embarassing.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: I’m dealing.

Thistlesoup: Do you want another?

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Be quiet thistle.

Shower: Are they A.I.?

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Haha. No. They’re as dumb as dog farts.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Trigger phrases or phrases a set time after login. Different bots for different tasks. I’ve taken care of some of the most problematic. I’ll clean up the ones that are here for appearances.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: I wanted to see if I could make them just realistic enough to fool anyone who accidentally stumbled in.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: /kill thistlesoup

Thistlesoup: HugBot disconnecting…

Thistlesoup has left the conversation

Shower: I see.

Shower: I don’t know if I was here long enough to be fooled, but I’m definitely confused.

Shower: You’re sure they’re not AI?

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: If they were A.I. I could be a potential S-class threat.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: I’m just really lame

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: it’s hobby programming. Not my focus or specialty.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: /kill Doones

Doones: LuckBot disconnecting…

Doones has left the conversation

Shower: I’ll leave you to it, unless there’s something I can help you with?

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: I built a server to manage any CPU load from the more complicated search bots. Can I donate it or something?

Shower: You built a server?

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: I emulated what you guys run and set it up intermediary.

Shower: I don’t even think that’s possible. But it might explain some of the other things we’ve had go wrong, actually. No, we’ll need you to shut it down.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: You can have it. It’s probably better than what you have.

Shower: Absolutely not. The security issues with that would be horrendous. It would allow snooping, spoofing- no. Take it down ASAP

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: ASAP. Got it

Shower: We’ll talk before the day is out. I need to make sure we have a handle on everything involved here.

Shower has left the conversation.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: okay then.

You have been auto-set to away as you have been idle for five minutes

Executioner404 has joined the conversation.

Executioner404: /Kill Goatfish

Goatfish: WIP_Capbot is disconnecting…

Goatfish has left the conversation.

Executioner404: /kill Shameful_Manatee

Shameful_Manatee: WIP_Chrisbot is disconnecting…

Shameful_Manatee has left the conversation.

You have set the topic to: “.”

Executioner404: /kill AvianB

You have set the room name to “Chat114”

You have cleared the chat logs.

You have left the conversation.

♦ Private message from Mangled_Wings

Mangled_Wings: I have a question. Are you busy?

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: staring at a blank screen.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: What’s the question?

Mangled_Wings: I’ve been called Queen Dark twice and King Dark once.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: oh

Mangled_Wings: What does it mean? there are no dictionary websites that explain. I searched and I keep seeing the same paragraph.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: The paragraph is a paste. Queen Dark is a mean joke.

Mangled_Wings: they mock me?

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: I’m sorry.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: You’ve gone quiet. You shouldn’t reply to them, you know.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: You’re still quiet. I don’t think the internet suits you, A.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: I think you are beautiful and stunning and terrifying in person. In a good way, I think. Because you and I are on the same side.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Your voice doesn’t translate well.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: I think you’re intimidating and you want to be intimidating on the internet and that doesn’t work at all. C is the intimidating one here. Somehow. He has that knack. That atmosphere. The skill.

Mangled_Wings: C is?

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Funny, isn’t it?

Mangled_Wings: I think I hate the internet to the very center of my being.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: If you think about it, with powers and all, the center of your being could include the vast monster in another dimension that’s all hooked up into you. Passenger stuff. The center of mass could be in the middle of an alien god monster the size of a mountain or moon. I imagine it has the energy of a small star stored in it.

Mangled_Wings: This serves to illustrate the depth and energy of my hate for a setting where C might be more intimidating than I am.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: I think I might agree with you on the hate thing. I want to meet face to face and hang out with S and you and maybe C and definitely Cap and R. I want that to work out.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: If that fails, I dunno.

Mangled_Wings: You don’t know?

Mangled_Wings: I thought we had a deal.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: I wasn’t sure if you were being serious.

Mangled_Wings: I am always serious.

Mangled_Wings: We’ll handle this project. I aim to learn all I can. When or if it falls through, I will be an independent villain again. I aim to be a successful one.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Yeah.

Mangled_Wings: You’ll work for me. I’ll pay you, of course.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Hm.

Mangled_Wings: What?

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: people run scared from me. it seems even non-people run from me, if I pay attention to what happened in the last hour.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: you aren’t running

Mangled_Wings: I don’t scare.

Mangled_Wings: The world is filled with blithering idiots. More are only blither and more are silent idiots. You’re the exception. If you will work for me then I’ll damn well make good use of you. I’ll incentivize you to stay around.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: okay.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: you’re one of the cooler people I know, you know?

Mangled_Wings: See? Not a blithering idiot.


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