I know Worm fics don't really have a lot of shipping, but I was wondering if there were any that focus on either character, or their relationship, or even just have them as prominent characters. I always thought they were great characters that were fantastically explored for how little screen time they got.
Posted Sep 29, 2015, 8:06 AM UTC
There's Security! by ack1308, SI story. Sveta's in it.
I generally don't like SI's, since it sort of breaks my suspension of disbelief, bringing the reader (or a reader, anyway) into the story. It's one thing if there's a thinker or precog who knows how things are going to play out, but when you have someone who read the story as fiction, it just hammers home that the story isn't real (or at least, wasn't, before they got inserted).
I like most of Ack's stuff, and I've heard Security is supposed to be one of the best, but I've been putting off reading it because of my bias. I think I read maybe a paragraph, not enough to get any real sense of it but enough for my prejudice to kick in. Is it worth it to grit my teeth and force my way through?
I don't like SI's either, but I've read all of Ack's stuff. Mostly as a personal challenge after I saw how many stories he had. Security! is one of his ones I enjoy the least (only things lower are One More Trigger and the recent Amy-centric stories: Hostage Situation, Another Way, and Yet Another Way).
But as an SI, it's definitely the best one out there. There are a lot less references to the fact that Worm is fictional than in any other SI I've seen, mostly just some enigmatic comments Mike makes to villains along the lines of "if I told you how I really know what I know, your brain would explode," which are a bit annoying, but infrequent. The truth has recently been revealed to some characters, IIRC, but they don't make a big deal out of it.
Security! doesn't really feel like an SI as much as something like Administrative Assistant does, or even Ack's other SI: I, Panacea. It probably helps that Mike is unpowered. And the relationships he has are actually pretty entertaining (particularly Piggot, Contessa, Taylor, Ms. Knott, and Kaiser).
It has a pretty bad start, though. The first chapter was terrible, and the first arc (including the Lung fight) was pretty bad, too. It didn't really interest me until people started showing up in his apartment and Amy moved in with Taylor. I quite liked how Bakuda was dealt with, but I don't remember when that was.
I'd say it's worth a try, but if you can't get past the bad start, you're not really missing out on much. It's a pretty typical fixfic, really. Taylor and Amy become besties, Sophia gets fucked over, Bonesaw becomes Riley, Theo gets away from Kaiser, Purity becomes a hero, S9 get curbstomped, Coil gets axed, etcetera.
Probably not worth reading if you just want Sveta, though, as I said in my other comment. She never shows up in person, and she has absolutely no role on the story.
Thanks for the write up, I appreciate it. Security will probably go on my to read list, but near the bottom. I'll try to get past the first arc or so before passing judgement.
Out of curiosity, what don't you like about One More Trigger? I found that one fairly decent as far as worm fanfic goes.
I rather enjoyed One More Trigger, but I will say, it's kind of a Saturday Morning Cartoon version of Worm -- with a couple really jarring exceptions. The Saturday Morning Cartoon part, in and of itself, isn't inherently bad. I like the cartoonishness of it, I like the overall theme, I read it and I put myself in this headspace like "it's worm, for kids!" It's kind of an interesting alternate-theme take on the same universe, interesting how it shows that even such a grimdark world can be told in a largely uplifting way. (That said, that aspect could turn some folks off, which is understandable. That, in and of itself, didn't bother me personally though.)
But then, there's spoiler. Even regular Worm never used that subject matter as a trigger, and I feel there's a very good reason for that. It was just like, what, whoa, is this actually happening in this story? Then, credit where credit's due, it didn't actually fully happen, but the subject matter was still raised and the concept of a character experiencing that was brought to mind. Put me off a bit. Not quite to the extent that I felt like quitting, but... eh.
And then there's Lisa cursing up a storm, which is less of a big deal and I don't mind that at all in a normal fic, but it kinda weirdly doesn't fit with the "worm for kids" theme that this fic actually does pretty competently the rest of the time.
I'm not the guy you responded to, but I'll give you my take. I enjoy the story, but I think the fix fic plot armor goes to far. Them getting trained by their own parents, then that making them into better fighters than all the other heroes? Ridiculous. Things like how Lisa, Vicky, and Amy joined them were a bit hard to believe too. Not to mention how easily they got to beat Coil and the damn Slaughterhouse Nine. The latter in particularly was plot armor-y as hell.
I feel like Security and I, Panacea are relatively good at fixing things with intelligent plans. One More Trigger went about it with plot armor.
I'm still reading One More Trigger, but I wanted to set it on fire for the pillow fight scene.
Security really isn't like other SI's. It's not universally loved, but it's one of his most popular, and rightfully so. Expect few of the cliches in the genre, and a take on the concept more realistic than any other I've seen. It's relatively fix fic-y, but less with plot armor and more with the SI going about things intelligently.
It's also spawned two fantastic sequels. One where, some time after his adventure in Worm, he ends up stuck in there again, but this time as a voice inside Panacea's head. It's called I, Panacea.
The other one is I, Scion, where he ends up in Scion's body, with full control. It's short and hilarious.
Also, someone mentioned a few parts are bad, and I have to agree. Don't judge it for the Lung parts.
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Link. It's worth noting, though, that her only involvement is occasionally playing an RPG with Mike (and Dragon) via online chat on PHO. She never shows up in person, and has absolutely no role in the story.
Manager has Sveta as a fairly prominant character.
Only fic I've seen that even features a Sveta/Weld pairing is Amelia. They don't get a lot of screentime, but they ascended at the end.
If you okay with fics where those characters appear, but don't have a relationship, then just off the top of my head there's Manager and Journey of the Dragonfly for Sveta, and Weld shows up in Alchemical Solutions. Though they don't get a lot of screentime there, either.
Ah, I had forgotten. Yeah, they have relatively minor parts, but they're there.