RFC on a character's ability

[RustedPantheress]

Just a specific ability, which I want to make sure isn't breaking the laws of Handwavium.

???? Ability – Could be mundane, could be her biomod. Nobody knows, but her father shows a slight bit of it, as does her sister.'Ride The Wave': Has a near-instinctual understanding of 'wavium, and is able to get a very low quirk rate, and high success rate, out of her stuff. It's almost like she can communicate with the wave... (Not intelligently, she just has this amazing ability to force an imprint on 'wavium that isn't part of something or was deliberately turned into a strain – e.g. she can make a generic manufacturing strain twist its imprint a bit before it gets applied, but she can't make seibertron do anything except what it's supposed to do.). First showed up during her biomod, allowing her to get more out of it than the others who went through it. Applications of Ride The Wave are-'Memetic Manufacturing Mindset!': Can reliably imprint a batch of wavium and make it not stray from her intent. Also prevents the imprinted batch from growing (Making more is a simple matter of taking part of an imprinted batch and dropping it in a batch that hasn't been imprinted). Name chosen because Added Alliterative Appeal. Can't break Slapstick. Takes about 1 hour for the initial imprint (for a complex device or concept, far less for a simple one) on a small amount (about a soda cans worth), then 1-48 hours for the imprint to spread to the rest of the batch (dependent on size).'My Wave senses are Tingling': Given about 2 minutes handling a 'waved object or bucket of 'wave, can sense and interpret the following -

• Type and Level of the 'wave (level for a bucket of 'wavium is interpreted as “I just hit the ocean floor and am now drowning”), according to the advanced hex scale, but only for the two most dominant strains in an object.
  
• A general sense of the objects quirks – nothing specific, but nothing too vague (“it might respond well to reminiscent love songs” is the general idea, not “it might need music” or “it needs Reba McIntyre's Somebody's Chelsea”). Quirks that are required to be fulfilled for functioning are sensed more clearly than ones that aren't, and quirks that don't impact functioning (the objects, not the users) at all are the fuzziest (“The start-up code is 'FOR GREAT JUSTICE!' yelled over 'Mars, Bringer of War'” is sensed more clearly [“a battlecry over martial music”] than “The fourth equipment locker on the port bulkhead in engineering will always have 13 hentai doujins in it.” is barely even noticed [“Something about sex”])
  
• If not known already, the general purpose of the object (It might not be a gun. It could be a combo laser-pointer/barbeque-lighter/water-bottle shaped like an AK-47...).
  
• The three strongest intents applied to the object during its 'waving (sensed like the quirks are). This can also give her an idea of the base media used, if there was any used.
  
• The order of magnitude of people that worked on it (1, 2-9, 10-99, 100-999, you get the idea). Can be thrown off by people touching it while or after being told what the object was/is supposed to be during the manufacturing.
  

 

Questions, comments, FenRage?

[Rajvik]

Sounds legit to me, but limit I would put on it is that when she imprints a wave strain it mustbe used within a certain time limit or else it "goes bad"
 

[RustedPantheress]

Hmm... That does sound interesting, in that can force a "use it or lose it" plotline when it comes to using her abilities for mass manufacturing, but at the same time we lose the possibilities of "I kept this in a safe for the last 40 years".
Well, if I do allow a specific thought pattern that allows the waveium to last for as long as other strains do at the cost of the imprint resolution...

[Cobalt Greywalker]

Most of this IMO is learnable. People who work with the wave in large doses tend to work out how to get what they want, how to work out quirks, etc... It'd be pretty much THE major skill-set for Mads; sure it won't work as well as this ability, but it doesn't have the downsides. I agree with Rajvik's suggestion on limitation for 'use it or lose it', but as soon as this becomes known (and it will, laws of Drama demand it) she'll have a LOT of people wanting her services. Some may even be willing to pay her.

[LynnInDenver]

If the time limit doesn't work, I might suggest a "mass" limit... basically a (relatively) low limit of the amount of handwavium she can have "set" at a given time. Depending on how it's set up, it could be either a "no more until earlier batches get used", or earlier batches go bad as she goes over the limit. The latter might, at least at first, be mistaken for a time limit.

For the "relatively" part, it might just be enough for her to completely handwave, say, a car. Which would make it useful enough she'd have a steady job for that sort of thing (very low quirk space vehicles and tech are gold), but wouldn't necessarily create a potential manufacturing "blow out".

She'd probably also find work with organizations like Great Justice, helping to identify traits of captured devices.
--

"You know how parents tell you everything's going to fine, but you know they're lying to make you feel better? Everything's going to be fine." - The Doctor

[HRogge]

Most of this IMO is learnable. People who work with the wave in large doses tend to work out how to get what they want, how to work out quirks, etc... It'd be pretty much THE major skill-set for Mads

I would guess thats one big part of what the Catgirls at Jenga have been doing since 2015...

[RustedPantheress]

Most of this IMO is learnable. People who work with the wave in large doses tend to work out how to get what they want, how to work out quirks, etc... It'd be pretty much THE major skill-set for Mads; sure it won't work as well as this ability, but it doesn't have the downsides. I agree with Rajvik's suggestion on limitation for 'use it or lose it', but as soon as this becomes known (and it will, laws of Drama demand it) she'll have a LOT of people wanting her services. Some may even be willing to pay her.

So, it's a fairly useful ability that can be replicated via knowledge and hard work, but as she gets that knowledge she still peaks out over people who have equivilant knowledge.

Oh, and this is when she's not having a Blue Hair Day. When she does have a Blue Hair Day (also called by her friends "Blue Eye Week, since her eyes glow dark blue and it lasts about a week or 1 project), she gets a boost to Ride The Wave in terms of resolution - clearer info, sharper and less "noisy" imprints, stuff like that.