Synesthesia
is a fanfic cross between Worm and The World Ends with You. It involves Taylor, the main character from Worm, gaining powers inspired by the Composer from TWEWY and using them to gift powers to others, forming a "gang" of sorts known as the Reapers, who spraypaint art around town and can summon Noise for use in combat.
The story can also be read here on SpaceBattles.com and here on FanFiction.Net.
Synesthesia contains examples of:
- Ambiguous Situation: It's not clear whether Coil actually released the Empires secret identities or if Tattletale did it before he could and then framed Coil. Either way the bastard deserved it.
- Animal Motif: Grunge is a Bear, Chicago is a Wolf, Southern claims a Boar, Gangsta takes the Raven and Psychedelic the Fox, to name a few among the Reapers.
- Art Attacker: The Reapers' main way to fight, using spray paint to turn themselves into Half-Human Hybrids or by summoning music-themed monsters.
- Art Initiates Life: From spray paint to Noises.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: This occurs in Armsmaster's conversation while he attempts to clean his helmet of Reaper paint - several powerful acids, including lemon juice, were not enough to remove the paint.
- The Reapers had this as part of their comments as to why they decided to host their own party after not being invited to a PRT one.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: By virtue of being the most powerful Reaper thanks to Combo Platter Powers and the founder of the movement, Taylor/The Composer is the de-facto leader of the Reapers.
- Atrocious Alias: Gangsta likes using these. An example is "ab-bastards!" in reference to the ABB gang.
- Awesome by Analysis: In Sonata 8, Kaiser attempts to complain about Hip and Hop. They counter by pointing out that Hookwolf's watch is fake. and offering to sell him a new one.
- Chicago tends to do this when he interacts with the Travelers.
- Badass Crew: the Reapers in general are just regular people empowered by the Compser's powers, but damn if they kick ass!
- Benevolent Boss: Taylor, as the Composer, keeps claiming she's not the boss of the Reapers. They don't tend to listen and treat her as one regardless.
- The Protectorate heroes, when watching what is essentially a Reaper political debate, are a bit surprised that the Composer backs off and lets the other Reapers speak their two cents. Apparently the only other parahuman gang Armsmaster's heard about that isn't explicitly led a parahuman is the Sicilian Mafia if the Don appoints an non-parahuman as a successor.
- Big Bad: Maybe Piggot, the leader of the Protectorate.
- Lung could count, but the Reapers managed to take him out with a Tinker Tech bomb.
- Body Horror: The Composer's Noelle generated clone, possibly due to her escaping Noelle before it was created, is twisted and deformed, devoid of skin and with bones barely covered by muscle. And it only gets worse as the fight goes on!
- Blatant Lies: Turns out Hookwolf was not in Boston.
- Blank Slate: It's implied that following his drawn out battle with Psychedelic, this happened to Oni Lee. It's also implied Psycho being there for him and understanding what he went through is what caused Oni Lee to latch on to him.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: After Gangsta shows her brains by figuring out the Composer's identity, the latter makes her redo her algebra homework because she wants Gangsta to apply herself fully.
- Buccaneer Broadcaster: The Reaper Review, hosted by Synth and Chiptune, likely counts as this
- Character Development: The main character from Watch_Dogs gets this, in his cameo as one of the Reapers.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: As soon as the Reapers leave Somers Rock, Coil tries to unite the other gangs against them, despite the truce they just agreed on. Luckily The Composer had Psychedelic watch them after the Reapers leave, so it never comes to anything.
- Clark Kenting: Gangsta paraphrases the trope name when explaining how she figured out the Composer's identity.
- Classy Cane: The Composer has one when Armsmaster meets her at a party she's hosting.
- Combo Platter Powers: The Composer. An incomplete list includes; Super-Strength, teleportation, flight, pyrokinesis, projectiles, enhanced hearing, summoning the Noise and the ability to grant some of those powers to anyone via Power Tattoo. And of course, her Noelle Clone has all the same powers.
- Cool and Unusual Punishment: The Reaper's utterly outclass the PRT's gala party with their own, all in response to not being invited.
- After Gangsta ferrets out the Composer's identity, the Composer makes her redo her math homework - because she has shown that she is smarter than she pretends to be.
- Cooldown Hug: Taylor to Aisha in Sonata 7.
- Lisa to Amy in Sonata 12.
- Combination Attack: The Composer makes some art using Waltz's cloth at a party.
- Conspiracy Theorist: Chicago believes that Paige's trial was a setup. Turns out Chicago is right
- This is Chicago's entire shtick, he's not a parahuman, but he's extremely good at finding information and exposing scandals and corruption.
- Crossover: Between Worm and The World Ends with You.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: What Lung's gang went through when facing the combined might of the Reapers, the E88 and Undersiders.
- Dance Party Ending: One arc (Sonata 10-13) involved a massive party.
- Didn't See That Coming: Averted. When Armsmaster tries to arrest the Reapers, he gets spray-painted. He knew what came next.
- Dynamic Entry: The Reapers saving the Undersiders from Bakuda in Sonata 7 probably counts.
- Enemy Mine: Mandatory during an Endbringer fight, but Othala reluctantly empowering Squealer despite her distaste for her definitely counts.
- Et Tu, Brute?: The view of most heroes towards the Reapers. Armsmaster appears to be the only one who dislikes them.
- And Piggot, the PRT head.
- Empowered Badass Normal: With the rare exceptions of The Composer, Waltz, Lady Freestyle and the Travelers who joined the Reapers, most of the gang is made of people who were empowered by the Composer.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Sabah, when told of the reason why the effects of Noise and Melodies fade when not in a tattoo, has the bright idea to infuse Sound into cloth.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: The Composer in Allegro 5. She lists off the superpowers she and her clone have and gets as far as 'enhanced hearing' before realising that her clone, which is on the other side of the wall, can hear them.
- Expy: The MC from Watch_Dogs appears in this fic as a Reaper, going by the name Chicago.
- Fantastic Racism: During the Leviathan fight prep, Bambina insults the Reapers for being non-parahumans and showing up to the Endbringer fights, a traditionally parahuman only event.
- Feed It a Bomb: Mush gets the Time Stands Still grenade to Noelle by stuffing it down Krouse's shirt and throwing him at her.
- Fix Fic: Could be turning into this, as Paige, a person who got sent to the superpower prison known as the Birdcage in canon, is freed by the Reapers before this can occur. The Composer also seems to be trying to engender friendship or a truce between the different factions of the world (Villain, Hero, PRT, etc).
- Flat "What": Piggot's reaction to the first part of the Composer's speech.
- Friendly Enemy:
- Most of the Brockton Bay Protectorate and Wards like or at least respect the Reapers, and Clockblocker is a big fan.
- Most of the villains in town are starting to develop respect for her too. Skidmark of all people defends the Reapers from Bambina during the Leviathan fight prep.
- Fridge Logic: In-Universe, Parian questions why the Composer's point needs to be in tattoo form to last.
- Gilligan Cut: used repeatedly, often to hillarious effect.
- Go-Karting with Bowser: Both Villain and Heros set aside differences or past actions and just have fun at the party the Reapers host in the latest arc.
- Go Look At The Distraction: Averted. Taylor is not fooled by Bakuda's shenanigans during Sonata 7.
- Gotta Catch Them All: There are LOTS of different Noise types, and the Reapers employ a bartering system for the different types, which are kept in cans made by the Composer.
- Miss Militia gives a variant in Sonata 5 as for why Glenn wants to get his hands on the Composer: "Collect them all."
- Groin Attack: given to Assault by Battery in Sonata 5 when he accidentally insults her looks and tries to backpedal.
- Half-Human Hybrid: The effect "melodies" have on a person.
- Hazy-Feel Turn: The Merchants have gotten more respectable. Now, where they stand on the Hero/Villain scale is not clearly defined.
- Healing Factor:
- Heel–Face Turn: The surviving Travellers after Trickster and Echidna's death, and Purity/Flare after joining New Wave. Also, after the ABB's fall, Oni Lee apparently bonded with/Psychedelic befriended Oni Lee and the two work together.
- Heroic BSoD: Taylor goes through this upon discovering Sophia, one of the bullies tormenting her at her local high school, was a Ward of the PRT - a supposed "hero".
- Heart Is an Awesome Power: Taylor's description of the way 'Noise' and 'Melodies' work is that it is based of a persons inner 'sound'.
- Armsmaster appears to be a C Flat.
- Home Base: Jangle's, the distribution center Taylor has for her Noise cans.
- Southern's Bar also counts, as the general meeting place of the Reapers
- Humiliation Conga: Coil suffers throughout multiple timelines in his attempts to escape the heroes and villains, including being killed by Skidmark, only to be cornered and killed by Tattletale.
- I Am Not Left-Handed: The Reapers are most well known for being painters and artists, although the Noise the Composer grants them also has combat applications...
- Aisha does it at the villain meetup to deal with the out-of-control Lung and Bakuda.
- Coil notes that it isn't unusual among parahumans to have a trick up their sleeves in case of emergencies, but the Composer hides it the point that Dinah predicts his chances of beating her if she goes all out is barely over 5%. He is also unable to understand her motivations for downplaying her powers so much.
- I'm Your Biggest Fan: Clockblocker is like this towards the Reapers, much to his superior's frustration.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: After learning the view of the Heroes towards Reapers, this occurs among a few of the Heroes.
- Piggot's reaction after the Heroes return from the Echidna fight and the following gathering, and most of them are drunk.
- I Shall Taunt You: Most Reapers tend to do this to basically anyone who's not a Reaper.
- Kill Steal: A downplayed variant. The Heroes did help the Villains and Reapers deal with the ABB, but they (well, Piggot) then went on and gave themselves full credit, earning the Reapers' wrath.
- Kleptomaniac Hero: Hip and Hop, two of Taylor's five lieutenants, have rather...sticky fingers.
- “That’s that! I’d say we’re done here. Gangsta, Chicago, Grunge, South, let’s bounce. Hip, Hop, give back the silverware.”
- Landmarking the Hidden Base: Jangles has a little Reaper symbol above the door.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Tattletale tries and fails to cheat at a game of Poker. To be fair, everyone else was cheating too; she claims most of the fun was seeing who could out-cheat the others and get away with it.
- Leap of Faith: Paige deciding to escape PRT custody with Chicago in Sonata 7
- A Lighter Shade of Black: The Composer recognizes that the capes in the Empire, Merchants, etc., are human beings with people they care about despite their actions, and considers them not the true monsters that Nilbog and the Nine are. This is part of the reason she's trying to find middle ground between them and the other factions.
- Loophole Abuse: To quote Gangsta: define 'insult'.
- Love Makes You Dumb/Love Makes You Crazy: Krouse's only explanation for defending Noelle when she goes on berserk rampage that forces the alliance to put out a Kill Order on her. it culminates in both their deaths.
- Magnetic Hero: The Composer, to the point that until Tattletale cleared her, she was honestly a bit worried that she was unknowingly Mastering the Reapers.
- Mirror Match: Psychedelic and Oni Lee's fight, given that both are teleporters.
- Mr. Exposition: Chicago is very good at gathering information, and can come across as this.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: After the combined capes of Brockton Bay deliver a decisive and deadly Curb-Stomp Battle to Coil, Lisa unfortunately neglects to mention the potential S-Class threat in the vault...
- "No More Holding Back" Speech: Aisha/Gangsta gives a speech fitting this theme when she doesn't want her brother blown up.
- Painful Transformation: Getting a tattoo from the Composer to summon a Noise at will hurts a fair bit.
- Pass the Popcorn: Assault responds this way to a Reaper Review beginning.
- Never Gets Drunk: Assault can drink insane amount of alcohol and remain perfectly fine.
- New Powers as the Plot Demands: When Bakuda's 'exotic effect bombs' go off, the Composer sends a different type of Melody to each bomb.
- To be fair, almost all of the Melodies/Noise used in response to Bakuda's bombs had already made an appearance in the story.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gangsta doesn't tend to care for the PRT much, and is vocal in the reasons why.
- Rousing Speech: Aisha gives one to the Reapers, convincing them to go to war against Lung and Bakuda.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: no matter the Composer's wishes, the Reapers will fight at her side.
- Secret-Keeper: Aisha is one for Acoustic, which is a persona the Composer uses sometimes.
- Sensory Overload: Taylor/The Composer's Super-Senses can be disorienting, which is why they wear headphones. This is also why their Noelle clone was so batshit crazy, the sound overwhelmed it.
- Shout-Out: "My name's Gangsta and welcome to Jackass!"
- Slave to PR: The Protectorate and PRT are both noted as these multiple times in story.
- Sticky Fingers: Hip and Hop have these.
- Super-Empowering: The Composer gives Aisha/Gangsta a Cornix Canor tattoo on her back that lets her summon one at will. More generally, the Composer does this for all the Reapers to some extent.
- Super Power Lottery: The Composer won it.
- The Stoic: Psychedelic. Taylor may or may not have damaged his brain when she gave him his Noise powers, as he received an experimental batch.
- Teleport Spam: Used by Psychedelic against Oni Lee in Sonata 10
- Theme Naming: Every Reaper is named after music.
- Meaningful Name: None of the names are given at random. The Composer is the leader of the Reapers and composes the Noises and Melodies, Southern is a former pig farmer from Texas, Grunge is a no-nonsense PRT officer, Gangsta is a black teenage rebel, Psychedelic has a few screws loose, Synth and Chiptune ate DJs and Chicago comes from the place.
- Time Stands Still: Noelle and Trickster end up frozen in time via a Bakuda bomb.
- Title Drop: Aisha does this with her first reaction to Taylor mentioning a Cornix Canor (a type of flying Noise).
- Together in Death: Noelle and Trickster end up looking into each other's eyes right as the time-grenade of Bakuda's goes off.
- Transformation Is a Free Action: No one attacks Reapers as they summon Noise to fight for them/for transport.
- True Companions: The Reapers are this. Even an Endbringer attack won't stop them from supporting their boss.
- Undying Loyalty: Gangsta, to the Reaper movement. It's enough that the Composer gives her a Cornix Canor as a Noise Tattoo.
- Unskilled, but Strong: The Composer's Noelle clone is so dangerous partly because it pushes her abilities to a degree that the Composer herself never even dreamed of achieving, like using Jellyfish Noise regeneration powers. It certainly doesn't help that it learns fast.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Armsmaster counts as this during the first Reaper Review.
- Wham Episode: Sonata 4, "Go Big or Go Home".
- The second half of Sonata 5 also counts.
- Allegro 2, all the way.
- Allegro 5. Taylor reveals in passing that her Noise sometimes drives her insane hence why she always listens to music to dim the effects.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Aisha reacts like this towards Chicago, before the Reapers battle Lung.
- Later, she gives a speech during a meeting about how she's sick of being scared every day because the heroes aren't doing their jobs right. Unbeknownst to her, said heroes are listening in, and Assault goes on patrol to "make them liars".
- The Worf Effect: Lung, the baddest foe in the area, got his ass kicked when the Reapers first fought him.
