Poem: "Snappy Action"
Jul. 30th, 2014 05:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis poem is spillover from the June 3, 2014 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from rosieknight. It also fills the "first person narration" square in my 6-1-14 card for the ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
genprompt_bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by Anthony & Shirley Barrette. It belongs to the Polychrome Heroics series.
By the way, this was my mother's favorite poem of the last batch I sent them; she said it made her laugh. We have some family stories about snapping turtles. My grandmother got chased by one. Honestly, I probably would have skedaddled too.
"Snappy Action"
At first it was funny when
we found the snapping turtle
in the little employee park
behind our factory.
It got strange when she
started climbing up
the chain-link fence
to get back to the pond
where the wastewater collected.
We all laughed
when she fell off the fence.
Duke just had to go over
and poke her with a stick.
She hissed at him
and bit the stick in half.
It was a two-inch-thick stick.
Then she started chewing
on the chain-link fence.
Tink.
Plink.
She was cutting through the metal
as if her jaws were wire snips.
"Okay," I said, as I
backed slowly away
from the super-turtle.
"It's time to call SPOON."
* * *
Notes:
Ironsides -- She is a Common Snapping Turtle, about 20 inches from nose to tail tip. Rescued from a factory pond, she is now the mascot for the SPOON base in Easy City. She lives in their rain garden full of brightly colored plants.
Super-Durability means she is tougher than most things around her, so she can bite through wires, and she has survived having a truck backed over her. Super-Intellect for a reptile with a small brain means she's about as smart as an ordinary dog, so she can figure out simple puzzles and is difficult to contain. Super-Strength is not as much as a human's, but she can dig through concrete or lift fallen logs. She is smart and strong enough to climb or chew through most fences. Also she once bit the forefinger off a supervillain who teased her. Yeah, that's on YouTube.
Origin: Hatched in a polluted pond full of runoff from a Louisiana factory.
Qualities: Master (+6) Snapping Turtle, Good (+2) Agility
Powers: Average (0) Super-Durability, Average (0) Super-Intellect, Average (0) Super-Strength
* * *
Ironsides is a common snapping turtle, one of Louisiana's native reptiles. If you're surprised by the smooth shell, you're thinking of alligator snappers, a distantly related species.
Factory pollution is a serious problem with many negative effects. In Terramagne, mysterious chemicals form one of the commoner causes of superpowers. There are ways to prevent pollution and things you can do to fight it.
Animals can be quite smart and many excel at solving puzzles. Chimpanzees, like humans, may solve puzzles just for the fun of it. Some reptiles show complex and flexible behavior too.
rosieknight. It also fills the "first person narration" square in my 6-1-14 card for the genprompt_bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by Anthony & Shirley Barrette. It belongs to the Polychrome Heroics series.By the way, this was my mother's favorite poem of the last batch I sent them; she said it made her laugh. We have some family stories about snapping turtles. My grandmother got chased by one. Honestly, I probably would have skedaddled too.
"Snappy Action"
At first it was funny when
we found the snapping turtle
in the little employee park
behind our factory.
It got strange when she
started climbing up
the chain-link fence
to get back to the pond
where the wastewater collected.
We all laughed
when she fell off the fence.
Duke just had to go over
and poke her with a stick.
She hissed at him
and bit the stick in half.
It was a two-inch-thick stick.
Then she started chewing
on the chain-link fence.
Tink.
Plink.
She was cutting through the metal
as if her jaws were wire snips.
"Okay," I said, as I
backed slowly away
from the super-turtle.
"It's time to call SPOON."
* * *
Notes:
Ironsides -- She is a Common Snapping Turtle, about 20 inches from nose to tail tip. Rescued from a factory pond, she is now the mascot for the SPOON base in Easy City. She lives in their rain garden full of brightly colored plants.
Super-Durability means she is tougher than most things around her, so she can bite through wires, and she has survived having a truck backed over her. Super-Intellect for a reptile with a small brain means she's about as smart as an ordinary dog, so she can figure out simple puzzles and is difficult to contain. Super-Strength is not as much as a human's, but she can dig through concrete or lift fallen logs. She is smart and strong enough to climb or chew through most fences. Also she once bit the forefinger off a supervillain who teased her. Yeah, that's on YouTube.
Origin: Hatched in a polluted pond full of runoff from a Louisiana factory.
Qualities: Master (+6) Snapping Turtle, Good (+2) Agility
Powers: Average (0) Super-Durability, Average (0) Super-Intellect, Average (0) Super-Strength
* * *
Ironsides is a common snapping turtle, one of Louisiana's native reptiles. If you're surprised by the smooth shell, you're thinking of alligator snappers, a distantly related species.
Factory pollution is a serious problem with many negative effects. In Terramagne, mysterious chemicals form one of the commoner causes of superpowers. There are ways to prevent pollution and things you can do to fight it.
Animals can be quite smart and many excel at solving puzzles. Chimpanzees, like humans, may solve puzzles just for the fun of it. Some reptiles show complex and flexible behavior too.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Definitely call SPOON!
Date: 2014-07-30 11:05 pm (UTC)But I wonder... what will her offspring be like?
Re: Definitely call SPOON!
Date: 2014-07-31 12:30 am (UTC)Yay! That's good to hear.
>> But I wonder... what will her offspring be like? <<
It's likely that the pollution altered her genetics. Breeding with an ordinary snapping turtle, I would expect a few of the offspring to be super, probably just one ability each. But some lizards are parthenogenetic, so I wouldn't rule out that possibility, and such a clutch would probably be most or all ... turtle soup.
Re: Definitely call SPOON!
Date: 2014-07-31 12:44 am (UTC)You WENT there? You really, really did!
AGH!
Must, must, read both the poem and your comment to hubby in order to share my pain!
LOL
Re: Definitely call SPOON!
Date: 2014-07-31 12:47 am (UTC)But don't make that joke at EC-SPOON. They hear it like three times a day. Thank gods nobody named the poor critter Turtle Soup.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-31 01:05 am (UTC)Easy City is growing on me like mad. :) I have biases in that direction anyway, I admit.
Yes...
Date: 2014-07-31 01:09 am (UTC)They are aggressive, and it's best not to handle them.
>> Easy City is growing on me like mad. :) I have biases in that direction anyway, I admit. <<
Yay! Drop by
Re: Yes...
Date: 2014-07-31 01:42 am (UTC)Re: Easy city: Iiiiiii now want to see a couple folks having a marvelous time fitting in with the colorful city down thataway. You can probably intuit who. I also want to meet more of the EC-Spoon regulars.
*marks calendar* This, and the discussion of another post, have solidified a prompt or three in my head. I'll be late due to work and travel delays, but I'll be there.
Re: Yes...
Date: 2014-07-31 02:13 am (UTC)Rural southerners damn well know, or should. But in cities or farther north, not so much, and snappers go farther afield than people think. We have them here in central Illinois. I saw one a few years ago at our local nature center, in the pond. The thing was nearly 3 feet from beak to tail-tip, alligator snapper, and I was on a deck. I still kept a sharp eye on it.
They're one of the inspiration species I used to make the Giant Sea Turtles of Torn World, who are known for biting arms or legs off the warsailors. Those are not as aggressive, but they compete for food and will get into fishing nets where they are very dangerous to remove.
>> Re: Easy city: Iiiiiii now want to see a couple folks having a marvelous time fitting in with the colorful city down thataway. You can probably intuit who. <<
Ask for whatever floats your boat, and I'll see what I can do.
>> I also want to meet more of the EC-Spoon regulars. <<
Let's see, so far we have the twins from "The Walking Trees," and Leapfrog from "To Save Those in Peril Upon It." One of their outreach people, Pointer, appears in an unpublished story, "Look Both Ways." I also know the three founders of Easy City and its SPOON base: Stormtreader, Mudslinger, and Lagniappe. If you read the Easy City posts by
>> *marks calendar* This, and the discussion of another post, have solidified a prompt or three in my head. I'll be late due to work and travel delays, but I'll be there. <<
Yay! I look forward to seeing those.
Re: Yes...
Date: 2014-07-31 04:28 am (UTC)Re: EC-Spoon: I've been sniffing around the discussion post, and yes, I definitely want to see the trio of founders in action. ... Oh, dear. I've just had another prompt hit me on the head. It has to do with Seraphina settling in. I'll save it for Tuesday.
Darnit, there are two characters who I can see in Easy City, but they're AU in a couple of 'verses already in addition to their originating universes. That probably doesn't make a lot of sense. Heh. I may have to backchannel you something to clear it up a smidge.
Re: Yes...
Date: 2014-07-31 04:39 am (UTC)Yeah, that makes sense.
>> Re: EC-Spoon: I've been sniffing around the discussion post, and yes, I definitely want to see the trio of founders in action. <<
That's doable.
>> ... Oh, dear. I've just had another prompt hit me on the head. It has to do with Seraphina settling in. I'll save it for Tuesday. <<
This one I'd like to see, but it's contingent on matching what's already planned for Saraphina.
>> Darnit, there are two characters who I can see in Easy City, but they're AU in a couple of 'verses already in addition to their originating universes. That probably doesn't make a lot of sense. Heh. I may have to backchannel you something to clear it up a smidge. <<
Sure, ask me backchannel.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-31 01:10 am (UTC)Yes...
Date: 2014-07-31 01:11 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-31 08:34 am (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2014-08-02 05:27 am (UTC)Yay!
>> I'm sad it ends there, though. I would've liked to see how SPOON handled the situation. ^_^ <<
I think this dynamic works best with the short length. It could be picked up later from the SPOON side though.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2014-08-02 07:58 am (UTC)Oh, yes. This is a great spot to end the poem on. ^_^ But the story is far from over and I would dearly love to see how SPOON deals with Ironsides and how she got to be their mascot sometime is all. ^_^
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2014-08-02 08:28 am (UTC)Feel free to prompt for it. As for the mascot thing, well, they didn't feel it would be safe to let her go, and people got kind of attached.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-08-01 06:44 am (UTC)I have a pretty good idea how much pressure a normal snapper of that size can exert with its jaws. It doesn't surprise me at all that a super-powered one effectively has heavy-duty dykes that blast right thru fencing wire.
Thoughts
Date: 2014-08-01 06:46 am (UTC)That was mighty brave of you.
>> I have a pretty good idea how much pressure a normal snapper of that size can exert with its jaws. It doesn't surprise me at all that a super-powered one effectively has heavy-duty dykes that blast right thru fencing wire. <<
Ordinary ones can cut light wire such as fishing wire or hooks.
Snapping Turtle
Date: 2014-08-02 02:36 am (UTC)Re: Snapping Turtle
Date: 2014-08-02 02:37 am (UTC)Yep, they're formidable even without superpowers.
>> so my dad relocated it, using the garbage bin, to a nearby swamp. <<
Good plan. You don't want to get within reach of them.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-30 11:18 pm (UTC)Yes...
Date: 2014-07-31 12:15 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-31 10:59 am (UTC)Seriously though, I like the way you're considering the fallout of pollution in a world where you can gain super-powers by exposure to 'mysterious chemicals'. I bet the Terramagne version of the EPA has a bite worse than Ironsides!
Thoughts
Date: 2014-07-31 07:03 pm (UTC)Square root, dude!
So far, I have not found anthropomorphic animals. They are almost certainly present, given their prevalence in comics and the dynamics of Terramagne as established. I wouldn't be surprised to see them as a minion race. But sewer people would be a possibility too. It's a thing people could prompt for, if they want to see it.
>> Seriously though, I like the way you're considering the fallout of pollution in a world where you can gain super-powers by exposure to 'mysterious chemicals'. <<
Yay! I've been enjoying the exploration of origin stories, which I've always loved. They cluster a lot. One of the most common is innate ability, which can be simple family inheritance or a result of environmental exposure. Both chemical and radiological agents feed into the latter. Both can also cause later manifestations, which is more typical of mainstream comics. Chemical can be either deliberate -- people who were experimented upon or modified themselves on purpose -- or accidental, and there are a lot of accidents. And sometimes the changes can be passed down to offspring, not just from germline alterations, but epigenetic ones.
Then there's another large group of people whose talents grow in slowly as they push the envelope in a specific direction. I'm starting to think that's what you get if a latent person throws their whole weight at mastering a skill, it can ramp up to super level. Intelligence becomes Super-Intellect, Gizmology becomes Super-Gizmology, etc.
Some people are directly given their superpowers; this has several subcategories including gifts from higher powers, artifacts or technology from a person who makes those things, and the Power Bestowal ability. I haven't done aliens yet but it's on my list.
Beyond that are the weird-ass ways that only show up for one person.
>> I bet the Terramagne version of the EPA has a bite worse than Ironsides! <<
SPAZMAT does. They're not as indifferent to human suffering as the Men in Black -- they have to do a lot of casualty care -- but they can swoop in and take over a scene. They are pretty effective at containing Gizmology or Super-Gizmology mishaps, and if someone reports a supercritter in conjunction with pollution, this is who gets called in to deal with the root cause.
The EPA is still trying to catch up, hampered by corporate interests. So people know that this sort of thing is possible but they think of it as very low, like a cancer risk (which is often grossly underestimated also).
One serious problem is that the results are erratic, sometimes hard to replicate, sometimes impossible. Take an Average (0) Metagen, and douse a hundred people with it. One of them will turn into a soup. Ten or so will drop dead. Most of the rest will just get sick, and recover. Some metagens have worse effects; for instance, the ones Judd had in the wagon killed everything they touched except for him. Nasty stuff. Metagens intended for human use -- makeup, tattoo ink, etc. -- are less likely to kill, so you'll see a pattern where most people have unpleasant reactions and one or a few will gain superpowers. Most metagens work by activating someone's latent potential.
Far less common are metagens with a higher rate of manifestation. These may work by creating a power where no latent potential existed, although some of them also bring latents into manifestation. It creates a different shape of transformational footprint in the population exposed.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-04-27 01:06 am (UTC)One of my few superhero fanfics bounces off of a canon story about pollution:
http://archiveofourown.org/works/2814566