CONFLUENCE 03

[metamods]

THUNDERSTRUCK

This time there was warning. Any being with precognitive abilities finds themselves brought to their knees a few hours before the event, plagued with a hazy vision of chaos and fear. There's not enough detail to say what is to happen, but at least they have the where and when.

Excelsior, Washington.

The people seem annoyed when they are told to evacuate. After all, Excelsior was built to last. This is a city exempt from the unpredictability of nature. They have weather control systems set up to ensure nothing disrupts their research. This a city built upon scientific advancement, with every inch of infrastructure reliant upon it, and they are confident that they are safe within its borders.

And even without the stubborn minority, the Alliance knows there isn't enough time for a full evacuation. But still, they try. They call upon every available hero to race toward whatever chaos may be about to drop over the city. The Society has sent a few faces too, more quietly. Whether to help or hinder is anyone's guess, as there's whispered encouragement to do both.

The city isn't anywhere near empty when the air goes very still. Everyone and everything pauses and looks skyward as a few drops of rain begin to fall, and the artificial sky fades to reveal roiling clouds.

The Confluence begins.

ITS RAINING (SUPER) MEN

Rain slashes sideways as the skies darken, taking unnatural colors with every flash of lightning. It's beautiful and awe-striking, but knowing that somehow this bizarre phenomenon is the calm before the storm keeps anyone on the ground from enjoying it. Even the those who lack self preservation in the scientific community don't want to investigate the cause of this.

There's a flash of light and a boom. Those still caught in the streets waiting evacuation brace themselves.

And then people begin to fall.

If you are one of these people, you awaken to find yourself hurtling towards the ground at breakneck speed. You come into awareness just in time to register you're about to make impact with the ground, or a car, a building, whatever is underneath you. The impact pulverizes the surface strike, leaving a sizable crater, and as you pull yourself up you find yourself unharmed. Yet there's energy crackling in the air around you. If there are bystanders near you they whip out cellphones to capture the occurrence for their followers or for scientific posterities, crowding around the craters a buzz of excitement. Some of the more fearful ones simply turn and begin running in hopes they can beat the storm.

CRYPTO OR CRYPTID

Confluences give people powers. That's part of the deal. And while those of you who just fell from the sky are discovering your new gifts, others are also suddenly uncovering their own brand new talents.

Excelsior isn't exactly known for natural superpowers. Most of its heroes are self-made geniuses, armed with metasuits or other augments. Those that do have powers got them from scientific accidents, transforming due to experiments gone wrong or accidentally tumbling into toxic waste. They have emergency medical protocols ready for that - not for random people on the street suddenly gaining abilities.

Newly empowered townspeople may jump in to help deal with the evolving chaos, but their lack of control of their powers makes them a bigger threat than whatever threat they were trying to stop. Others will shamelessly take advantage of the chaos to live their villainous dreams, robbing stores and taking revenge on their shitty bosses, landlords, or exes.

The reserve members of the Guardian Alliance spring into action. The heavy hitters are elsewhere, trying to deal with the loss of power and getting the city back online, and so you're left with the rookies trying to keep pace. Many of them are inexperienced and unable to keep up with the raw power and ruthlessness of newly awakened metas. Fantastic, an aerokinetic and one of the newer recruits, seems to be the only one even remotely holding his own.

It's clear they need your help to contain this!

The storm doesn't peter out after the new arrivals have all landed, either. The panic and chaos below seems to fuel it to a second peak. Clouds roil, electricity snakes, and the thunder builds into a deafening crescendo. Then with one final, blinding burst of light, everything goes dark and quiet.

The power is out.

More than just the power — Excelsior is out. The powergrid has been downed, its internal networks corrupted, anything that makes the city function is completely fried, that last surge of the storm apparently having acted as an EMP blast. All of Excelsior's internal systems are now offline. The lights are all out.

Vehicles are stalled out in the streets. And then comes the first crashing boom of a falling hover car. There are more still in the air, but anyone who might be in a position to save them will have only moments to do so before they smash apart on whatever or whoever is unlucky enough to be stuck below them.

And it's not just that. Hospitals are now without power.

VLOG SQUAD STRIKES BACK

In every disaster, the best and worst of human nature can be found. The best shines in every outstretched hand and combined effort, in every life saved. The worst is a gaggle of young adults that live together in the city's least favorite content creator house, known with equal parts irritation and secondhand embarrassment as The Vlog Squad. It seems five of the eight streamer/vlogger/influencers have developed meta powers, including one with the power to record, edit, and broadcast with her mind. The entire group made an on-stream pact to become (non-guild affiliated) supervillains, and their views are skyrocketing.

One of them jumps off a building to demonstrate how he can put holes in everything below him.

Playlist, the ringleader with a sizable following on Youtube and TikTok, has the ability to Freeze, Rewind, Fast Forward reality. Be unlucky enough to be caught in her gaze and find yourself frozen in place, talking in reverse, or zipping around faster than you can control. Good luck getting someone to understand you when you sound like a chipmunk.

Then there's there's the second in command, Filter, an up and coming Instagram star. Filter's powers seem to be tied to their phone. If they get a picture of you in the air - welcome to anti-gravity, you're now stuck floating like a balloon until someone can get you back to Earth. If they slap a sepia filter on an unflattering photo of you, you're now encased in stone until someone drops a compliment. Each filter does something a little different and the unfortunate effects are yours to find out.

The rest of their squad is less notable, both in terms of power and in terms of following. There's a young man who can project his voice for miles around. A young woman who can compel people to dance to the beats dropped by her literal soundcloud. There's one unfortunate fellow whose only real power seems to be to turn people's heads into emojis for 30 seconds.

They're targeting known heroes, but will settle for property damage if it means getting attention. New metas may find themselves accosted by a unpleasant young adult with a camera, mockingly asking if they plan to become heroes. No matter the answer, the result is the same - they'll mock your choice and reasoning and try to get away with a cruel prank.

POWER RESTORED

The power is restored. With it, a belated message makes it to guild and society phones: the guild says restrain the Vlog Squad however you can and await authorities.

Meanwhile a very different message hits the airwaves. Mechanima's digitized voice comes across official channels, torn between amusement and annoyance. He says deal with them, don't care how you do it, but start with the broadcaster.

Once that's done, the guild places a call back to its headquarters to bring everyone back with a teleportation spell. The spell reaches out for whatever metahumans it can find in the area and pulls.

All the metahumans who were involved in the Confluence — new arrivals and old — to a white training space that has already transformed into a luxurious waiting room.

Atomight arrives quickly and makes the following announcement:

Thank you for your help out there. The casualties would be so much higher were it not for those of you who risked your lives to save strangers. To those of you grappling with your new abilities, please rest assured that this room will give you a much needed reprieve. We have staff on site who can work with you to gain control of you new abilities, and nullifiers if you find it's still too much.

You are the third set of newly powered individuals this confluence has brought. Though many of you are native to this world, others among you have come from far off universes. To those of you who have been flung far from home, we'll put you in connection with the others. Many of them are here today and can advise you of what your new reality is here.

We of the Guardian Alliance are committed to doing everything we can to get you home, and to give you some time to get your feet under you. And as this may be your home for a while longer, I wish to formally extend an invitation to those of you who wish to use your powers to defend the innocent to join us.

They hand out cellphones to all present. Once everyone gathered has been looked over and attended to they're directed to the Diadem in and handed a credit card.

Later into the night, another message comes across those phones. The Society of Villainous Reformation formally extends an invitation to all those villainously inclined. Reply for more info.

IN SUMMARY

• New arrivals are falling from the skies. They're unharmed despite what should be a lethal impact. People in the city also begin developing superpowers upon landing.


• Players are free to create their own powered NPCs for these encounters and can use them.


• A notable group of online content creators called the Vlog Squad have developed powers and are terrorizing the city and are livestreaming every minute thanks to their powers.


• The Vlog Squad has declared on camera that they do not intend to join any guild and are already showing signs of disrespecting the code. For those already committed to guilds, this means:

  Atomight will ask player characters in the Guardian Alliance to deal with them peacefully.
  
  Mechanima demands that members of the Society of Villainous Reformation deal with them — whether this means incapacitating them, forcing them to join, or killing them is their choice.

• If anyone wants to engage Mechanima or Atomight, HERE is a top level where we will summarize their responses to PC questions and comments. Please also reply to this comment with what your character plans to do with the Vlog Squad. We encourage you to make posts on the OOC comm plotting out conflict and responses. You may also use this top level to ask event-specific questions about the effects on this page! (Please refer general questions about the setting to the FAQ, and refer any player plots to the PLOTTING page.)

VLOG SQUAD ENCOUNTERS

For each event with a clear antagonistic NPC force — such as the Vlog Squad, in the February arrival — interested players can pitch their characters' encounters with those NPCs. Whether characters are heroic and suited to the role or not, the aim is the group effort of pitching in, so we highly encourage collaborating on these encounters. Once enough NPC encounters have been submitted, we'll determine if and how the trouble has been addressed, and select one of those encounters to be the final, conclusive one in the game. Everyone else's encounters will also have taken place, but may have been temporary stopgaps in addressing the conflict rather than a conclusive blow. For this Confluence, we are asking that submissions be finalized by 3/5.

How it works:

• Reply to the relevant top-level comment with an encounter and/or questions about the encounter. The mods are happy to go back and forth with before locking in exactly what a character or group of characters does. Any conversations between characters and NPCs will most likely be happening prior to combat unless specified by the players.


• The mods ask that players present two options. In one version, the character or group of characters kills, immobilizes, or otherwise apprehend the villain(s). In the other version, one way or another, the villain escapes or overcomes the character or group of characters. Players who wish to have a specific spot in the timeline (near to the beginning or near to the end) should make this request explicit, and the mods will make efforts to accommodate this.


• The mods will RNG the results for the final encounter. For all other submissions, the escape/overcome option is selected. Open calls for collaboration which result in multiple player characters contributing to an idea or solution (see: Kamala Khan's solution to the Cerberus fight) have a much higher chance of being the final encounter, as we want to reward player collaboration and innovation. Please be sure that after everyone has weighed in you return to the top-level comment to report exactly what is happening and who is doing what.


• The mods will reply to player submissions with a brief outline of how all of the run-ins go, whether it's a fight or a slapstick series of hilarious accidents that involves the character(s).

Request NPC encounters using the following form —
<B>Characters involved:</b> Name (username) <b>Details of the encounter:</b> What's the plan? <B>How might the villain escape or overcome the player character(s)?</b> <B>How would the player character(s) kill, immobilize, or apprehend the villain?</b>

EXAMPLE—

Character(s) involved: The Iron Giant and Hank Hill
Details of the encounter: Hank will ride in Iron Giant's hand as they search the city for the Vlog Squad, eventually spotting them in a public park. They land explosively in the middle, throwing all of the squad off of their feet while the Iron Giant sends out a signal to scramble their livestreams and begins trying to catch the offenders up in both hands. Hank will try to tackle at least one of them.

How might the villain escape or overcome the player character(s)? Playlist slow motions Iron Giant and they easily duck its grasp, and Filter leaves Hank floating upside down as they make their escape.

How would the player character(s) kill, immobilize, or apprehend the villain? Iron Giant grabs Playlist before she can slow it, then picks up and captures all but Emoji; Hank throws a branch and beans that guy right in the head. Iron Giant gathers him up too, and they turn them in to the first batch of emergency responders they find.

Comments

David Alleyne | Marvel Comics | OTA

[helpdesk_hero]

A. Gimme A Nikon Camera [Vloggers]

This was not the sort of day David had expected. He'd been working on the final steps of his transition to being a resident of Excelsior. But of course, warnings of a confluence came, and David? He couldn't turn away from that. While most of his early time as the confluence hit was caught up on helping the new arrivals, there was no denying there were other things happening. Like a person floating away like a baloon. Which David of course, hadn't liked. He had to do something, which in this case meant forging a rope of power and light. This he whipped toward the leg of the person floating away and he hauled them back down.

"No fun man, no fun," the newly proclaimed Filter said as he realized what David was doing. "And who are you supposed to be, the fun police?"

David rolled his eyes and, once the man was on the ground, he turned to the new meta, only to be shocked by the man raising the camera and taking a picture.

The problem with someone using a cat face filter on him was that, well, David was altered by it. A shiver overtook him, cat ears spouting from his head. It distracted him, enough to make him turn his attention away from Filter. He had the patience and focus of a cat after all. And until he was pet and declared to be a good kitty, he was going to be stuck like this.

And lookie there, a little bird flying by in distress. David's new ears twitched and he moved to give chase.


B. Tired Of These Four Walls [Power Restored]

The magic finds them and pulls. And when they appear in the training space David lets go and curses loudly.

"I'm so TIRED OF THIS ROOM!" he snapped. Listen, he wasn't normally the sort to make a big deal of things, but damn he felt it so much right now. This was, after all, his third time here.


Exasperated, he flops down into a seat. "I just want to go back to my room."

Outburst done, he turned his attention to the next person and offered a tired salute.

"I'm sorry. Not trying to make a scene."


C. But In The End Life Goes On [Wildcard]

[OOC: I'm truly down for anything, and would love to talk out ideas. Standing CR are welcome to put forward anything that might amuse them. Otherwise David is happy to try and guide new arrivals through things, and has been picking up care of people who are less familiar with the tech age. I'm happy to handwave first meetings if you note so and that's cool. Easy way to meet him is either helping a character out doing the confluence, or just by nature of being around the Diadem.

You can learn about David here and you can PM me or add me on plurk at churbooseanon. Also I will match format, though have a preference for prose]

B

[anthropophagite]

No, no, Kaneki gets it. They keep being thrown around, they keep being teleported back and forth, and it's really annoying at this point. He doesn't say it out loud and instead just nods softly with a tiny smile although he fully agrees with the sentiment.

"They could just meet us there and at least tell us we are going to be teleported..." it's just common courtesy, right? If teleportation has common courtesy, that is.

"I think this sort of thing just makes us more frustrated."

[helpdesk_hero]

"You'd think. But of course we're just outsiders to them. Sure they're trying to recruit us and all that, but they sure seem like they have communication issues."

He's more frustrated to be here than anything else.

"I just wanna go home and get some rest. I was supposed to have a job interview today."

[anthropophagite]

"Aha, even the people who are already part of the Alliance end up here, though" like Kaneki. yes, kaneki joined. Because of course he did, he had no other choice that didn't feel like getting in bed with people who want to be assholes all the time.

But that's beyond the point.

At the mention of the interview, kaneki hums. "I'm sorry. I wonder if they'd reschedule if you meantion you were somehow caught up with the Confluence."

[helpdesk_hero]

Like David to he was recently signed up. So he really hated it.

"Given my interview was in Excelsior I don't doubt that I have an e-mail about it already."

[anthropophagite]

"Ah-" ah indeed. But well, at least they won't penalize David for it? Yay?

"I suppose this place is kind of used to situations like this..." or were used to it once before, until it stopped and now it's starting all over again.

[helpdesk_hero]

Yeah, there were some benefits for the interview being in that city. And his guild rep probably could have come up with some other way to fix it too.

"I don't know. It sounded like this was way off the mark of normal.

[anthropophagite]

There is a small pause.

"Honestly, I'm not sure what is normal. The world I came from doesn't have heroes or guilds." kaneki touches the back of his neck, thinking for a moment. "But Atomight seems to know what he is talking about." KINDA?

[helpdesk_hero]

Knows what he's talking about. David snorts in amusement at that. He doesn't buy it as far as he can throw it.

"You can believe that if you want. However I find that everyone here seems a bit lost."

A. Vloggers

[portolan]

Balthier arrived shortly after the warnings, using his bike to help evacuate as many people as he could. He's a little fatigued from riding for the last few hours, though it's been good to be back in the skies, to feel like he's doing something meaningful.

Once the Confluence hit, that comfort and utility shriveled up. New metas with uncontrolled powers wreak havoc, destroying property and attacking others. He doesn't have any combat magic (he's learned it doesn't have a k here) to stop them. All he can do is try to throw illusions over the innocent and sweep for stragglers that he can get to safety. The Society message goes out to stop the Vloggers, dead or alive, and he thinks about it, but he doesn't even really understand what their powers do. The best he can contribute, for now at least, is continuing to get people out of here.

He turns a corner on his bike to see a trashed street and a fleeing Vlogger. He hangs back so they don't see him, but his attention immediately lands on the person with cat ears who appears to be...chasing a bird? He's not a stranger to humans with animal ears, but he's not used to them being...animal-like.

Filter gone to other targets, he pulls his bike up close, hovering slow just a few inches from the ground. "Hey, come on, let's get you out of--David?"

[helpdesk_hero]

Filter would have a long term enemy in David if he survived all of this. There was something undignified about all of this. Especially since he was far enough out of his thoughts to not think of using his powers to make claws to try and catch the bird. No, he was just trying to jump after it ant catch it with his hands. WHich was going exactly as poorly as one might expect.

But then, the voice. David purred in delight to hear it. Which of course was impresive on its own because human vocal cords cannot properly purr. But there he was, purring as he looked to Balthier. And immediately moved closer to the bike to touch the other.

"Pretty," he purred.

[portolan]

Balthier immediately parks the bike, swinging off of it about the same time David reaches him. His first thought is that this is some sort of illusion conjured out of who he wants to see -- but that does not explain the cat ears or the strange low vibrating quality to David's voice.

"David, are you alright?"

He takes David's shoulder in one hand and feels the his forehead with the other, like a fever could explain this. He feels like David. This close he smells like David, too. So not an illusion. But significantly more concerning. He thinks to the Valentine's Day spell...and to the bit about people literally combusting. He would like to get rid of whatever this is as quickly as possible.

[helpdesk_hero]

No heat, no fever, but David? David's happy to see his partner here. The purring continues as he leans in to rub his ahead against Balthier's neck, making special care to ensure that the back of his new, fluffy ears rub against Balthier's skin. Sure he can't actually claim Balthier as territory like that, but damn if he isn't trying.

"Warm. Good. Safe."

All thoughts just running through his head. With Balthier he feels he is all of these things.

[portolan]

Even the day's events and the thick cloud of worry currently hanging over him don't make Balthier entirely immune to David rubbing against his neck like that, and those ears are incredibly soft. A shiver goes through him, even as he registers that the vibrating sound is purring. He tries to step back, to gently pull David away from him.

"David, dear, do you know who I am?"

Because as stupid as it is right now, there's part of his brain that is stuck on that love spell, that is terrified if he hadn't found David first, he'd be nuzzling up to whoever found him. That would be terrible for David given the sort of metas running around tonight, and filled Balthier with a swell of jealous insecurity he hadn't known was within him. He will definitely be having to sift through that when this night is over.

[helpdesk_hero]

No, don't go away warm good safe! The distance earns a sad little mewling of protest, but he listens to the question, even if it is weird.

"Good safe," David answered because that was what Balthier was. "Mine."

The word was added because for him, it was true. This was his. Claimed even. So he reached for Balthier again, trying to bring him back to nuzzle more.

[portolan]

The sad mewl of protest deepens Balthier's worry, both because he viscerally dislikes hearing David in any sort of pain and because he's not thrilled about the stilted speech or cat noises.

He lets David nuzzle back into him, wrapping his arms around him protectively as he tries to think. He hadn't gotten caught up in the love spell at Sunset Falls, but it had played its course rather quickly from his understanding. Still, it had had the potential for bad side effects, and he had no idea if a spell from Eros and a Confluence and/or meta spell worked remotely the same. He could try to find Filter, but how was he going to keep an eye on David and take on a meta at the same time? Maybe he could drop David somewhere. But like this?

"I'll keep you safe, David," he says, and he means it.

[helpdesk_hero]

"Mmmmm, good," David said, still purring. Of course Balthier would find it harder than assumed to put David somewhere safe. This man was his, and he would protect the man. Simple as that.

And then there was a tweeting noise, and David's ears flicked to the side. He immediately pulled from Balthier. Must catch. The cat in him moved immediately away, eyes darting around to look for the source. Had he a tail, it'd be flicking in excitement.

B

[forasecond]

Five can't help the sharp smirk that rises to his lips at that little outburst. It's about how he feels at the moment, though he's managed to keep it contained so far. "Rough day?" he asks, lifting one eyebrow in curious question before taking a sip of his coffee.

[helpdesk_hero]

The last time David had seen Five, they'd been in this very space, though in a different level of comfort. But there he was, the kid-sibling back.

And David was jealous of the coffee.

"I'm really fucking tired of this is all," he sighs. "I see you're around."

[forasecond]

"Here I am," he says, spreading his arms as though to put himself on display. He's also really fucking tired, David, just of a slightly different thing. This room in particular is irritating at best.

"Everything we buy with these things really complimentary and unlimited? What's the limit on them?" He twirls the credit card between the fingers of his free hand. He's incredibly doubtful over the idea of something with no real limits in place.

[helpdesk_hero]

"I told Allison I saw you. I hope she found you," he noted. He kept his word. Five just hadn't been there for it.

The question on the card earns a sigh.

"Yes, you can. They do start questioning you if you spend too much. I suggest not over spending. And of course using them to buy pre-paid purchase cards to cover tracks."

[forasecond]

He nods, "She did. Thanks." It's a curt sort of gratitude, but hey, it exists and who can ask any more from him, really?

He hums softly, something curious and suspicious in equal measure. "All right," he says as he pockets it once again. He still isn't sure he will trust it, but it might be handy. "No one knows anything about how to get us home yet, I'm assuming." He knows the answer, but sometimes, it's better to have it solidly in hand.

[helpdesk_hero]

"No," David answered. "I'm guessing this is something we're not getting out of easily."

They might have to adjust to this for a while.

[forasecond]

"I spent forty-five years in a post-Apocalyptic wasteland, I can handle being stuck in a cushy city for a few years." He shrugs, the look on his face entirely unapologetic for the sudden drop of what is presumably a pretty heavy thing in such a light manner. Klaus isn't the only one that can be facetious in spades.

[helpdesk_hero]

Forty-five years. David gives Five one look. Then doesn't comment on his age. He's heard worse. Hell, one of his teammate back home was more than eighty and he didn't look much older than David.

"Then you'll definitely get by."