Powers borne through suffering

[TheMonotonePuppet]

What's a traumatic event you could feasibly go through or have gone through?

Don't tell me! Just keep the event in mind.

Now, if you received a power that lets you prevent the traumatic event from happening again, but doesn't solve the root problem of the traumatic event, what would you get?

For example, the worst day of my life was when my sister betrayed me, manipulated by my mom in a fashion that made my identity and worldview crumble. The power I would receive would make it so others see me how I want to be viewed, but it does nothing to actually make my identity problems go away. It would prevent this betrayal, this traumatic event, by forcing others to align with my perceptions.
But in the end, it wouldn't solve the root problem: my body.
Instead, it would be a sick, revolting power that does nothing to truly help. It would even make things worse. Worse, it infringes on the right of other's mental sovereignty.

I want hear the twisted powers that would be born from your suffering, the nasty ones that would exacerbate your suffering by being a monkey's paw. Are you able to create such powers or are you too tied to making positive ideation for the future?

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Money.

 

[TheMonotonePuppet]

Money.

I-Money?

Okay, I'll bite! Time to read far too much into that singular word and do the work for you!
Assuming your traumatic event is related to absurdly high financial stress (let's say you go from a stable life to bankruptcy. Not only that, you get sued and are stuck in trials for an excruciatingly long time, and the fines just keep getting higher and higher. There's no way out).

You become a Tinker capable of making machines that counterfeit money really well. You also are capable of creating machines that cover up financial tracks and hack into government programs so the government can't find you. Unfortunately, the Tinker fugues shoot your focus to hell and back (think ADHD and mild autism). So the root causes of your financial instability (let's say it was relationship problems and not being able to focus on keeping track of your finances, procrastinating) still stick around. You continue to get into relationships with people who take advantage of you, and fritter away your money as the IRS takes away its pound of flesh because you can't focus on the tax sheets to save your life. Instead, you throw yourself mindlessly into your Tinkering work to procrastinate.

 

[SRB]

Endless motivation.

 

[TheMonotonePuppet]

Endless motivation.

But that has zero downsides. It won't exacerbate your suffering. You can move the world with endless motivation, you know.
That isn't twisted at all!
*pouts*

 

[RepresentingWrath]

I-Money?

You didn't specify it has to be convoluted. ?‍

 

[Deleted member 84247]

I guess it would be some power that makes it impossible to be abused. Maybe I have an indestructible body like that movie unbreakable? The problem is I wouldn't feel any pain at all. So physical sensations would evade me altogether. There would be no more intimacy or pain.

 

[SRB]

But that has zero downsides. It won't exacerbate your suffering. You can move the world with endless motivation, you know.
That isn't twisted at all!
*pouts*

Too many ideas, not enough time. Die with countless regrets, because you were too motivated to do everything.

 

[2wordsperminute]

But that has zero downsides. It won't exacerbate your suffering. You can move the world with endless motivation, you know.
That isn't twisted at all!
*pouts*

It's endless motivation, not endless time, energy, or resources. Cursed to have the desire to do all things but the burden to choose only few.

 

[SRB]

It's endless motivation, not endless time, energy, or resources. Cursed to have the desire to do all things but the burden to choose only few.

Leads to an almost same outcome as no motivation. The feeling of not doing enough. Never enough.

 

[MatchaChocolate69]

The power to calm people, make them feel good, comfort them, and improve their mood with just my words.

 

[RedMuffin]

Power to consciously erase my existence, but the downside is that I need to exist for me to have a self awareness which would enable me to erase my existence. Such a paradox...

 

[Deleted member 84247]

The power to calm people, make them feel good, comfort them, and improve their mood with just my words.

Don't you already do that?

 

[SRB]

The power to calm people, make them feel good, comfort them, and improve their mood with just my words.

You're already-

Don't you already do that?

... You stole my compliment. But you're right, Matcha-kun has a way with his words.

 

[TheMonotonePuppet]

Don't you already do that?

Aw, cute.

 

[MatchaChocolate69]

Don't you already do that?

You're already-

... You stole my compliment. But you're right, Matcha-kun has a way with his words.

It’s not fair to use my own power against me!



So isn’t the game that @TheMonotonePuppet has to figure out what trauma and dark past gave me this power?

 

[SRB]

It’s not fair to use my own power against me!



So isn’t the game that @TheMonotonePuppet has to figure out what trauma and dark past gave me this power?

It's not figuring it l out, more like thinking about things that could lead to such a power.

 

[RedMuffin]

Power to consciously erase my existence, but the downside is that I need to exist for me to have a self awareness which would enable me to erase my existence. Such a paradox...

I think I know exactly what power I want.

I want to be Schrödinger's cat, but consciously.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

Don't tell me! Just keep the event in mind.

But I love oversharing personal horror.

So I got eh shit beat out of me from 7 yo to 17, most of the bullies were older than me, so they graduated leaving it to only three-on-one.
I finally kicked their ass.
So, my senior year was nice. I was left alone.

Then that summer, they came back from college and I got jumped 7 on 1 and they used a baseball bat to beat me into a coma and leave me for dead. My skull is held together by strips of metal and screws. Why did nothing happen to them? Because the leader of the bullies was related the the town sheriff.

So What's my superpower?

FACE BLINDNESS and Progressive AMENSIA!

I can't remember what people look like and have learned to recognize people by their outlines. I remember people by the space they occupy, not their appearance.

I also have large portions of my childhood just vanish because an enzyme in my head didn't shut off at age 25 when it should have, so it does its job of pruning unused memories. LIKE MY MOTHER! I not only don't know what she looks like, I don't even miss her, because every memory of her has been deleted. It's like I never interacted with her.

So I can't remember what people look like and forget everything more than a few years ago. Thus I have no trauma of the beating because I can't remember anything! My personality is constantly being eroded and I'm vanishing!

See? Problem solved without being solved!

 

[ChronicSleeper]

Redirecting your personal misfortune on everybody else you know, come into contact with, or are just nearby. The degree of misfortune scales with how much you know them, how close they are to you (both physically, and in relationships), and how much you value them. If you try to seclude yourself, your powers draw others closer. If you try to kill yourself, your action is applied to a random person that you were close to (the power knows who you truly value, so you couldn't apply it to kill someone you hated.)

Born from the intense desire to just feel normal, to feel loved, and to not feel like the World is constantly targeting you.

The monkey pawl curls, and now, the World targets everyone else, while making you still loved.