The Figment is a play by Strix Obscuro.
In a small North Shore town in Massachusetts, teenage loner Sasha spends her time trying desperately not to be noticed, especially by her abusive grandmother. But then, one day, an impulsive act causes her to come on the radar of a group of other teenagers like herself, setting in motion a chain of events with dire consequences.
This play contains examples of:
- Abandon the Disabled: When it becomes clear that their mission is blown, June makes the panicked decision to leave Sasha to fend for herself.
- The Ace: According to the other kids, Billie's older brother Paulie had all the makings of a superhero.
- Against My Religion: Maya is a devout Jain, and thus does not eat meat or engage in violence, and thus also refrains from using her powers, as the Jain concept of ahimsa mentions not harming people through words.
- Ambiguously Human: Exactly what the hell Sasha and her grandmother are is not clear.
- Bad Powers, Good People: Maya has mind control abilities, but is the last person who would ever want to use them.
- Blessed with Suck: As a side-effect of the treatments that saved his life, Niccolo has heightened sensitivity to electricity.
- Blind Without 'Em: Sasha is almost completely deaf without her hearing aid.
- Came Back Wrong: The Palimpsest used to be more human, but after Ackerman's failed attempt to sacrifice him, he's become a vessel one of the Lytonian gods.
- Capepunk: The play takes place in a universe where superpowers exist, albeit rarely and often in the hands of less-than-heroic individuals.
- Captain Ersatz: The Progeny are loosely based on the Runaways, being a team of kids rebelling against their parents using abilities they gained from various sources.
- Compelling Voice: Maya's voice can make people do whatever she wants. She tries very hard not to accidentally use it.
- Deal with the Devil: June made a deal with The Queen in order to gain superhuman abilities. Unfortunately for her, the contract was open-ended, and The Queen keeps coming up with new demands.
- Dramatic Irony: In the end, the other kids finally accept Sasha as one of them - after she's been exposed as The Mole.
- Empty Shell: According to Ackerman, this is what has become of Paulie; his body's intact, but there's nothing inside. This turns out to be a lie, and Sasha manages to restore his personality.
- Five-Token Band: Being that the Progeny are based on Runaways, this was bound to happen, with June being Chinese-American, Maya being Indian-American (and a Jain), Niccolo being black and disabled, Billie being Latina, and Sasha being deaf.
- Gosh Darn It to Heck!: Maya (almost) never uses profanity.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Billie's mother was an alien heroine, while her dad was a Mexican, making her part alien. This also applies to her brother Paulie.
- Hates Being Touched: Sasha is a profound haphephobe, the consequence of years of abuse.
- Humanoid Abomination: After years of experiments on himself, Dr. Ackerman still looks human, but he treats the people around him as though they're all members of some lesser species.
- Inconvenient Summons: The Queen and Her associates have an annoying habit of calling upon June when she's talking to her friends, which doesn't do her sanity any favors.
- Insistent Terminology: Sasha is hearing-impaired, not deaf.
- Lovecraft Country: The play takes place in Queenshead, a small North Shore town in Massachusetts with a creepy fortress that houses an ancient evil... thing.
- The Mole: Sasha was supposed to lead the Progeny back to Ackerman.
- No Communities Were Harmed: Queenshead is based on the town of Marblehead.
- Mutants: Maya is an Aberation, which is essentially this universe's version of a mutant.
- The Reliable One: Niccolo handles all the practical matters in the group.
- Secret Project Refugee Family: The Progeny all fled from one of Ackerman's projects.
- Shout-Out:
- The name "Queenshead" is a riff on "Kingsport", H. P. Lovecraft's version of Marblehead.
- The Progeny derive their group name from Creator/Sophocles' lost tragedy of the same name.
- Stress-Induced Mental Voices: All the other Progeny think that June's claims that she's receiving orders from a god are just hallucinations from the stress of trying to lead a team.
- Total Party Kill: This was what actually happened to the Progeny, according to June; they all died from Ackerman's experiments, but she made a deal with the Queen to bring most of them back in exchange for killing Ackerman.
- Town with a Dark Secret: Queenshead is the home of a creepy fortress with something evil inside it.
