Furcate
<infobox> <title source="name"><default>Furcate</default></title>
<image source="Image"></image> <image source="image"></image> <group><header>Basic Information</header> <label>Civilian Name</label> <label>Aliases</label> <label>Gender</label><default>Unknown</default> <label>Death</label> <label>Age</label><default>Unknown</default> <label>Post-timeskip</label> <label>Ward start</label> <label>Relations</label> <label>Family</label></group> <group><header>Professional Status</header> <label>Occupation</label> <label>Classification</label> <label>Unique Features</label> <label>Alignment</label>
<label>Status</label><format><label>Location</label> <label>Teams</label> <label>Previous Team(s)</label> <label>Base of Operations</label></group> <group><header>First Appearance</header> <label>Worm Debut</label> <label>Ward Debut</label></group> </infobox> Kay, known publicly as Furcate, is a young member of Team Reach.
Personality
Kay was a young kid with a grandmother's taste in sweets. They seemed initially shy and somewhat defensive about their transition.<ref name="9.x 2">Do you have a preferred pronoun?” Tristan asked, voice quiet.
“Hm?” Furcate asked. Her entire posture was immediately more defensive.
“Sorry if I’m totally wrong. I was listening to see what they said, but they dodged around it.”
“They,” Furcate said, guarded. They looked over at the group, then added, “I’m saving the ‘she’ for when I feel done.”
“You know if I have a shot with any of the guys on the team? Figurehead?”
The tension in Furcate’s neck and shoulders relaxed. The response was a head shake. - Excerpt from Interlude 9.x II</ref> However, Kay seemed to be comfortable partying and dancing with others.<ref>What followed was a roller coaster ride with no stopping or option to get off, a series of scenes that was soon blurred around the edges, as Tristan drank.
Kay danced with abandon, with boys and girls, and when nobody else was dancing, they continued on their own. - Excerpt from Interlude 9.x II</ref> They cared deeply about their teammates' well-being.<ref name="9.x 1" />
Kay had a semi-objective diagnostic system where they would work out who would stay after using their power. The criteria were based on physical well being, than mental wellbeing, and the progression of their transition.<ref>"health, mind/emotion, girl." allegedly said by Wildbow on Cauldron Discord server and the IRC</ref> A tiebreaker exists based on the aforementioned candy.<ref name="9.z 1">“We all need something to fall back to,” K said. “When we lose track of ourselves. If we run into a tie and we’re supposed to decide among ourselves, we have a fourth number we track. Physical health, mental health, girl-ness, and the tiebreaker.”
“The candy?”
“Reminds me of the woman who raised me,” K said, sucking on the candy “If I ever don’t like it or I don’t feel reminded of those days, I’m not me.” - Excerpt from Interlude 9.z II</ref>
Relationships
"Mom"
Women who raised Kay, they still thought of her fondly. Not explicitly stated to be their mother.
Tristan and Byron Vera
Kay got on well with both of the Vera twins. They gave a candy and a hug to Byron following a busy week for Team Reach.<ref name="9.x 1">Kay nodded.
“Okay,” Byron said. He swallowed hard, then nodded.
Kay approached, until they stood behind him. “Open.”
“Wha-” Byron started. A hard object was pressed between his teeth.
One of Kay’s old lady lemon candies, that tasted like menthol, citrus, and ass. Kay’s favorite.
Just as he was coming around to the idea that this too could be masochistic, he felt Kay’s arms around his shoulders. A hug from behind, Kay’s face smushed against the side of his head. - Excerpt from Interlude 9.x II</ref> Byron noted when Kay settled on a duplicate with a low mental health score, prepared to comfort them if need be.<ref>Two?
Byron tapped his head.
Mental. Emotional. He’d keep an eye out for Kay, some shitty candy and a hug ready if Kay seemed low. - Excerpt from Interlude 9.y II</ref>
Kay and Tristan were close, with Kay comforting him following Byron's supposed death.<ref>Furcate bodily collided with Tristan. Their arms wrapped around him in a hug. Again, as it had with Figurehead’s half-hug of support, the armor prevented Tristan from feeling the body contact.
Furcate moved their mask, pulling it so it sat sideways. The side of their head pressed against Tristan’s.
“I’m so sorry,” Furcate whispered. - Excerpt from Interlude 9.z II</ref> Tristan considered them an ally, though not someone he could open up with.<ref>Furcate stood off to the side, staring.
That hurt. It threw him.
He couldn’t tell Furcate, he realized. They’d never been someone he could really talk with, but they’d been an ally. He couldn’t tell Nate. He couldn’t tell anyone. - Excerpt from Interlude 9.z II</ref> Nevertheless, Tristan almost confessed to Kay before stopping himself, afraid of hurting them.<ref>What was he supposed to say? Any words he uttered, any proof he gave, it would be as good as sealing his own fate, and it would devastate K.
Could he hurt them that badly?
Irrationally, he knew the right thing to do, but with the small sorts of pain he would inflict so clear in front of his face, looking at him with worry, he couldn’t bring himself to say it any more clearly. - Excerpt from Interlude 9.z II</ref>
Moonsong
Due to Moonsong's prejudices, Furcate's relationship with her was strained. Tristan called Moonsong out for "[making] Furcate more miserable than anyone"; at one point, Tristan noticed Kay crying once after talking to Brianna.<ref>[A18 12:11:47] Cap: a thinly veiled outline of furcates many problems
[A18 12:11:56] Cap: you couldn’t resist saying you didn’t like them
[A18 12:11:23] Moonsong: Are you done?
[A18 12:12:13] Cap: you made furcate more miserable than anyone
[A18 12:12:26] Moonsong: Apparently not
[A18 12:12:29] Cap: you never once tried to understand them just like you never once tried to understand me - Excerpt from Glow-worm P.2</ref><ref>Tristan could only think about Furcate, sitting on stairs outside, back to the windows, wiping at their face. It had been after Brianna had said something to them. He wasn’t sure Byron got it, despite having seen. That, or that Byron hadn’t wanted to get it. Willful ignorance. - Excerpt from Interlude 9.y IIx</ref> Kay disliked Brianna, and was generally distrustful of her.<ref>He had to move his head to see Furcate’s mask. “Two huh? I don’t want to pry, but-”
“You can pry,” Furcate said. They looked back. “So long as it’s you, and not you and Moonsong together.”
“Moonsong has your back, Furcate,” Coiffure said.
“She cares about you,” Byron added.
Furcate shrugged. - Excerpt from Interlude 9.y II</ref>
Following Furcate's death during Gold Morning, Moonsong stated that she had respected Furcate, despite their tense relationship.<ref name="GW P.2 2">Furcate decided to fight on that monumental day and that says so much when not everyone was brave enough to do that. Furcate was wild and tortured and beautiful. They were a handful and yet they rewarded us with ten positive things for every negative we had to overcome. I’d like to think they got something out of putting up with us in much the same way.
I want what I say here to be honest. I did not get along with Furcate the vast majority of the time. Furcate did not get along with me. I still respected them immensely. They said one word for every thousand the rest of us said and yet they could convey so much in their actions. I keep saying those things, using math like ‘ten times over’, but it’s so very Furcate. They overflowed, they swelled. The cup runneth over. I look back and I’m dazed by how much of a place they found in my heart and my thoughts. - Excerpt from Glow-worm P.2</ref> Moonsong held and comforted Furcate as they died, but she nevertheless misgendered them even after their death.<ref name="GW P.2">[A18 12:16:39] Moonsong: I didn’t like furcate. I did love and respect him as a teammate.
[A18 12:16:51] Moonsong: I damn well held him at the end. For a long time. I talked to him the entire time. - Excerpt from Glow-worm P.2</ref>
Appearance
Furcate generally wore a cat-themed costume featuring a cat-eared mask and various chain links, as well as clawed gauntlets that they could use for attacking.<ref>Another person Byron couldn’t identify, hadn’t seen in marketing. Newer, maybe. Lean, skinny, and fidgety. Her mask was like a cat’s, with ears that were worked into the side, sweeping back. Chain links ran down the black-bodysuit-covered neck and draped over the shoulders and over a flat chest. More chain decoration extended down the hands to oversized claw-gauntlets, which dangled from the elbow, leaving her hands free.
[...]
The newer member was introduced as Furcate. - Excerpt from Interlude 9.x II</ref> Due to their power, their costume changed; on one occasion, Furcate had a duplicate who wore long bladed gloves and a narrower mask that resembled a fox.<ref name="9.y 1">Each of the two Furcates was different, one of them resembling the original, the other with an arm free of the sling, a costume of a different cut.
Tristan climbed to his feet as Furcate started swiping and slashing at Paris with their claws. They were nimble, but it was an ordinary human nimbleness, nothing augmented.
[...]
Furcate split again. Unlike their usual gauntlets, this Furcate had gloves that extended to the elbow, with five long blades each, their mask narrow like a fox’s. - Excerpt from Interlude 9.y II</ref>
Abilities and Powers
Furcate is a specialized duplicator that can create one to three duplicates of themselves, who each act independently of the others.<ref>Furcate was used to fighting alone or as… a pair or a trio, a quartet if they felt like pushing themselves. Coiffure needed to reach out, and Tristan worked best with battlefields he could exploit, and he was limited in what he could do when any changes he made to footing could hamper either of the others. - Excerpt from Interlude 9.y II</ref> They have slightly different personalities and physical differences that can provide other benefits based on the separation.<ref name="9.y 1" />
When separated the Furcates need to decide who 'stays' and who 'goes', possibly meaning they draw down on their reserves for remaining separated and not choosing a possible Furcate to 'substantiate'.<ref>“It changed based on our relationship to each other,” Tristan said. “I did- I did something.”
“No. That was your power, and powers can be cruel.”
“I- it’s my fault.”
“No. Sometimes the powers do this. Sometimes I don’t get any good Furcates for weeks on end.” - Excerpt from Interlude 9.z II</ref>
Tactics
Very fond of flanking with the person they trust implicitly.<ref>As the darts started getting flung in their direction, they swapped back and forth, closing the distance, forcing Paris to retreat further. Furcate flanked, because they loved flanking. Coiffure moved out to the other side, her hair creating limbs she could move on, chains and whip noisy against the concrete of the dock.
Paris stopped being quite so conservative with the darts. He threw them out in messy ways, toward Furcate, who split into two, toward Coiffure. They were lower velocity, landing in clumps, but the resulting sprays were violent and harder to work around. - Excerpt from Interlude 9.y II</ref>
History
Background
Given Furcate's master power, they had a trigger that likely involved some form of isolation.
The Timeskip
They joined Team Reach not too long before Capricorn.<ref>Tristan approached the group, all smiles, shaking hands. There was a brief demonstration of his power. The newer member was introduced as Furcate. - Excerpt from Interlude 9.x II</ref> Kay got on well with both of the Vera twins; they attended a party for young heroes.<ref>“Got someone who can vouch for you?” a heavyset, twenty-something guy asked.
“Kay,” Tristan said.
The guy twisted around in his chair, opening the door and leaning in. “Kay?”
There was a pause. Then Kay appeared at the door, wearing skinny jeans and a top so small Byron suspected they’d have trouble breathing.
“Hi,” Kay said. They held the door open. - Excerpt from Interlude 9.x II</ref> They were one of the capes targeted by the villain Paris, and later helped confront Paris with the rest of Team Reach.<ref>“We found that asshole Paris,” Figurehead said. “He went after Furcate once, after Long John twice, and he got Reconciliation from Haven a second time, just a week ago. This is an all hands on deck thing.” - Excerpt from Interlude 9.x II</ref> They later were at the fake mission that Reach planned in order to free Byron.<ref>“Go go go!” Figurehead hissed the words. The entire group, Steamwheel excepted, ran down the slope and along the shadowy area where the fence-mounted lights didn’t reach. They reached the fence, and Coiffure cut the fence with her hair. - Excerpt from Interlude 9.z II</ref>
Gold Morning
Furcate chose to stay and fight during Gold Morning.<ref name="GW P.2 2" /> Moonsong kept them company as they died.<ref name="GW P.2" />
Post-Time Bubble Pop
Furcate was send to reinforce the assault on Teachers base, having been resurrected by Valkyrie and becoming a member of her Flock. She met with Capricorn brothers there. She was handling her resurrection better than some others.<ref>Dying 15.3</ref>
Trivia
- The word 'furcate' is an archaic version of 'fork' or 'branch'.
- As Kay had not completed their transition, this article reflects their choice of pronoun, they/them. Kay did intend to begin using she/her pronouns further on in their transition.<ref name="9.x 2" />
- The Youth Guard had stepped in to ensure that they were treated well.<ref>“I…” Mr. Vaughn said. “Find myself in a difficult position. On a certain level, I very much agree. Where I’m leery is that we have had attention from the Youth Guard. Gender freedom, freedom of expression, sexuality- they are touchy subjects.” - Excerpt from Interlude 9.y II</ref>
References
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