CONFLUENCE 019

[metamods]

Who: Everyone!
What: A Confluence! With a change of pace for everyone, thanks to one Fantastic fellow.
When: Beginning of June – setting the tone for the month.
Where: Primarily Little Love.
Content Warnings: Fascist ideology.
Notes: We do suggest that all new and older players review the mod message about Fantastic’s takeover, as well as the State of the Game for June that outlines what that means in detail.

ARRIVAL

A Confluence, capitalized, is the converging of one or more supernatural forces. Typically, these are the occurrences throughout this world of Unnatural Change.

Wherever you were before, it doesn’t matter anymore. Now, you’re in a wide field full of – well, nothing. There are many, many rows that have been sown in preparation for the corn season, though the corn has yet to be planted. Stay tuned for that exciting development. Your landing in this field could either be rough (earlier on in the Confluence’s appearance) or calm, soft, and safe – it all depends on who’s arrived to help.

Once you gain your bearings, one of two things will happen: if you’re early, someone will rush over to try to assist you, leading you over to a large, haphazardly set up booth to begin to gather your information. If you’re late, there are balloons and flags set up to guide your way. If you’re feeling rebellious, don’t worry – someone will pop in to try to direct you to that booth. After all, it’s time to register yourself in this new world.

Welcome to Little Love. Yes, you’re on a farm. Yes, the corn hasn’t grown yet – but please don’t trample any farmers’ work after they’ve gotten them ready for planting!

LITTLE LOVE

Typically, LITTLE LOVE is a quiet place in this world. When velociraptors are running wild in Excelsior or parasitic worm people are taking over in Central City, the cows in Little Love are going on strike. While Little Love recently had a little girl who (very nearly) came into her meta powers by drowning the whole world, it’s calmer. Rain only seems strange when it comes and doesn’t stop. Again: this is a calm, rural town where nothing bad really happens.

There is nothing wrong in Little Love, Kansas.

What newcomers won’t know is that Little Love is a perfect landing spot for Fantastic’s new regime: a takeover to enforce registration and control of both the metahuman and Starfallen populations. Instead of appearing threatening and disruptive, everyone’s arrival will seem frantic at first and organized by the end. After all, trying to guess how or when a Confluence will happen is difficult – especially since little hints of Confluences will be popping up all over. None of them lead to new arrivals. Not yet anyway. So, that’s a good thing for Fantastic and his cronies loyal members of the Alliance who believe that this is obviously better for the state of the world.

So, welcome! Enjoy your stay in this sleepy little town. Everyone will be treated to an indefinite stay at a bed and breakfast. That is … assuming they don’t run off without registering. Don’t register? Well, as far as Fantastic is concerned, you’re better off living on the streets.

➢ For the first leg of new arrivals, the Alliance representatives will be showing up and trying to organize them at a booth to get registered. Their late arrival will be explained by “we never know when these will take place, pardon our tardiness!” with no further explanation before they make it clear that any newcomers are obligated to be registered. No, other options will not be presented.

➢ From the second leg onward, the Alliance representatives will be far more organized and welcoming. They’ll be using telekinesis and advanced technological devices to provide safe landings and offer any comfort to arrivals through their disorientation. The same spiel about registering will be there. Pick between the Society or the Alliance (and choosing the Alliance is clearly the better choice). That is how you’re allowed to survive in this world.

➢ Once registered, new arrivals will be given directions to a local bed and breakfast that will provide indefinite stays to them, as well as a rundown on how to access other parts of the country (outside of Central City, which is – most unfortunately – still under quarantine).

➢ Should anyone skip the whole registration process, a nice fellow will introduce herself, offer to shake her hand, or open a door and brush against them or some similar form of contact – and leave them marked for the next few months. This means that any contrary individuals will find their movements tracked for the next few months.

➢ The bed and breakfast will be tacky but homey, offering homemade breakfast every morning, as well as meals two more times a day. An old couple runs the place, and while they are most definitely humble and disarming, they are both members of the Alliance and have powers of their own. But, boy, in their old age they’re reluctant to show those powers off!

➢ Anyone who arrives is not obligated to get registered, but they will find their arrival lacking. Communication devices? Teleportation? All of this will be off the table. Fantastic wants to set a new trend, and that’s to force people to follow his rules. Newcomers are the best place to be strict about enforcing it. After all, they won’t know any better!

➢ Aside from all this Totally Normal Arrival Business with the Confluence, there is a Summer Carnival going on for the first two weekends of June! This was planned long before the Confluence to commemorate the planting season with corn and give the local farmers a chance to relax. The will be rickety old rides like Ferris Wheels, funnel cakes (or elephant ears, depending on your preference of names), trying to bounce balls into goldfish bowls to get pet goldfish, and carnival games that are hard to win! Any newly arrived Starfallen will be given free rides courtesy of the bed and breakfast they’re staying at, so have a good time!

CLIFF NOTES.

➢ New arrivals will be appearing in Little Love, Kansas during the corn-planting season. There will also be a carnival for the first half of the month (on the weekends!) for everyone to relax in this totally cool atmosphere. Nothing is wrong in Little Love! Enjoy your bed and breakfast.

➢ Elsewhere, Excelsior is still in the process of cleanup after a ravenous rough go of it last month. Anyone who’s keen to help out will earn some brownie points with the otherwise meta-resistant population. They clearly need the help right now, as their current problem is all their fault.

➢ Central City is currently under lockdown. New arrivals are often shuffled that way, but Mechanima has stopped all travel in and out of the city (as well as he can, anyway – there are powers involved, after all). Right now, a handful of Starfallen, including Dylan Brock and Pete Ross, will be working to solve the problem there with the parasitic invasion of the pod people.

➢ Sunset Falls has a visit from Silent Mystic, who’s clearly coaching a new (?) sidekick. Want a glimpse of one of the most secretive magicians in this world? Head over to see if you can see them on the job.

WILDCARD.

Metaheroes takes inspiration from all walks of comics. Take a look at the CITIES to get an idea as to what day to day life is like in the other cities. Perhaps you've encountered a supervillain (or hero) who needs to be thwarted, or a metahuman with unusual powers creating bizarre effects.

Comments

[harageous]

( he just can't for sure count on his friends to come through with an escape this time…

on the contrary, word has already made its way into eda's sphere—along with hunter's and amity's—that a potential new witchling had shown up in little love, kansas along with the latest confluence. on an average day, this was nothing that required immediate action. in fact, eda would argue for giving them some rope to experience the world on their own terms.

thing is, these aren't the average days.

things are rapidly changing and not for the better.

it's a bad time to arrive. an even worse time to be in an unfamiliar world where it's nothing short of an uphill battle not to get taken advantage of by opportunistic adults. absolutely wretched time to find yourself alone. it hardly matters which one of them has arrived—a rescue was the only direction that could be taken.

and the residents of the owl manor are on the case.

the first order of business is to actually locate said witchling, but that's easy enough when there's a very obvious crowd of shady looking adults trying to box someone in. hell, it's not even a question! obviously the prize is going to be right there, right in the most obvious spot.

as such, eda is immediately pushing her way past this idiot circle. )

Excuse me! Excuse me! Has anyone seen my child around here?

( then she settles her gaze on the fresh witchling. eager to confirm who it is. thankfully (or unthankfully), it's gus! the kid who didn't think she was worth interviewing!

bet he won't think so anymore.

there's no time to think too long about that. the priority is to remove him. by whatever means necessary. )

There you are. I've been looking everywhere! Momma's been so worried!

( hammed up, definitely a little forced. eda isn't actually the most natural of actors sometimes. it is, however, distracting and keeps anyone from noticing the odd way that she grabs gus by the shoulder, slipping some paper glyphs underneath his collar.

for when illusion magic just isn't cutting it.

she keeps her hold on him, but the ring of representatives have yet to disperse. their stance has relaxed, to a degree, but gus isn't any less surrounded than he had been. )

Do you still need something?

( challenging, authoritative.

one woman seems to believe that now is the opportune moment to express her concern over gus's lack of affiliation and how signing up could really help ease his transition into this new world. and as a parent, shouldn't eda want that for him? isn't it in his best interests to join the alliance, the guild of heroes? )

You're not off to a good start. This is a child and he shouldn't be making these decisions without a parent.

[ownchoices]

[ Amity had balked when she'd heard about the Alliance was starting to push even harder for people, new arrivals especially, to get signed up and in the system. It was natural, wasn't it? Knowing what Belos had tried to do--had done to so many people through his lies and manipulation. Slotting them into neat little organized covens where they could be regimented and monitored all to serve some larger, sinister purpose. No thank you. Even though the Alliance was helpful, Amity still didn't trust them any further than she could throw them.

Even with an abomination, it wasn't that far.

Amity has tagged along on the 'rescue a witchling' mission, because like heck is she letting anyone get taken in by these guys--and the feeling is only intensified when she sees Gus. She doesn't know him quite as well as Willow or Luz, but he's still her friend. Luckily Eda is there to take the lead, or else Amity might have gone straight to doing drastic things.

Instead she hovers just outside the circle of "concerned" and "helpful" adults, her hands jammed into the straps of the backpack she's wearing. What's in the backpack? Don't worry about it. ]

Gus! Hey! I'm glad your mom found you!

[ Amity adds, with even less convincing acting than Eda. But at least it'll clue Gus in that people are here to help him, right? ]

[badbutsadboy]

[A scared child, a concerned and an upset parent, and a concerned friend are the kind of things that make one try to explain rather than attack. After all, the Guilds want people to come to them by choice.]

[Barraging them with seemingly normal, upset people rather than attacking from the word go was by design.]

[Hunter suddenly appears next to them, breathing out the breath he was holding for the sake of his invisibility spell, then slams down several glyph papers onto the ground at once, activating them in a row, bambambambambam.]

[The end result is total chaos around the witches. Vines sprout and slam into multiple people, pushing them back and entangling them, gusts of wind swirl hard enough to knock people off their feet, gouts of flame flare up in front of people to force them back, and columns of ice shoot out and slam into some of them.]

[This is both a distraction and their signal to book it and start fighting their way out.]

[Hunter, a long way from being the coven guard showing up to wild witch gatherings to try to arrest people now gets to be the person throwing down a metaphorical vase and screaming "Scatter!"]

[It feels way better to be on this side of things.]

[Especially if it means keeping one of his dearest - and first - friends safe.]

[He grabs Gus's hand - part of the plan in case he needs to be flash-stepped away from people - and starts running towards the rendezvous point.]

MOVE!

[paperclipsong]

[He feels Eda stuff some paper into his collar -probably glyphs- sees Amity fiddle with a backpack -probably full of abomination slime- and then Hunter grabs his hand and starts to lead him away from the representatives and Gus decides to do now as he did back at Hexside: just go with it.

Even in the Demon Realm "the magic of friendship" is kind of a corny, syrupy sentiment and Gus is never going to make fun of it again for as long as he lives. The horrible sense of deja vu has was having flipped on a dime to...well, not a comfortable sense of deja vu, they still have to escape, but Eda, Amity, and Hunter showing up in quick succession has released a lot of the tightness in his chest.

...If these "Alliance" coven goons were better at catering, maybe sandwiches would have been involved this time too.

He's got glyphs (he's pretty sure) but he doesn't need them yet. Instead, he uses the hand Hunter isn't holding to draw a spell circle. Suddenly, there's another 5 Hunter and Guses all running in different directions. Even if the representatives don't chase the illusions, it's certainly confounding enough to give them a head start.

More convincing than pretending he was Eda's kid at any rate.]

What was that?

[He's sort of addressing all of them, anyone with an answer will do.]

Why is there a Covention in the Human Realm? Why are there Covens in the Human Realm!?

[harageous]

( the fight starts with a bang, the first several blows delivered in rapid succession by hunter. it's a great start. a fantastic start. there is enough going on to send the offending alliance representatives flying in multiple different directions, offering plenty of leeway for the kids to start their dash to success.

it's enough to make eda confident in their plan and their ability to execute it. these are good kids, smart kids. they've got this. she just needs to help keep these bootlickers off of them until they can get out. she's always heard there's nothing good in kansas anyway!

there's only a brief window of time before the representatives begin to recover, already hitting with a counter-attack. the ground underneath them quickly begins to splinter and crack as one of the metas smash their fists into the dirt.

lightning crackles in the distance.

eda kicks her heel down, grounding herself as she flicks several glyphs through her bony fingers. )

Mask!

( a loud, clear warning for the kids about what's to come.

it's followed by the sound of shattering glass and the immediate, overwhelming wave of smoke. none of them are here to get caught in a real fight, not when they have too much of the upperhand and resources. this is just grab and go.

and it's time to goooo! )

[ownchoices]

I don't know!

[ The answer is shot at Gus. As Amity shouts, she's already swung the backpack off her shoulders and torn it open to unleash a bubbling torrent of slime that forms itself into a pair of massive fists on each side of Amity that she uses smash aside anyone unfortunate enough to get in their way--especially if they look like they might mean it. She lashes out, smacking at the meta trying to break the ground underneath them.

Amity is close at Gus' heels and when she hears Eda shout she tugs her mask into place, coughing in spite of it as some of the smoke manages to sting at her throat. The rendezvous and hopefully safety is just ahead, they just have to keep going a little further. Forming the slime into a humanoid shape, she sends it running off in another direction from them. In the smoke, it might be enough to convince someone--or at least provide a distraction and now that the potential fight is over (hopefully) she won't be needing it. ]

People everywhere just really want to control us, I guess.

maybe nico can tag in now?

[badbutsadboy]

[At the warning, Flapjack briefly turns into a bird flying alongside them, as planned, so Hunter can fish an N95 mask out of his pocket. He manages it to get it on Gus's face while they're still running, and also gets one on his own.]

[He throws down some more glyphs for cover, causing a wall of us to form behind the group but they have multiple directions to guard from and some of their pursuers can fly over it. Flapjack turns into a staff just in time for Hunter grab Gus's hand again and flash step them out of the way of a superhero diving towards Gus so they eat the dirt instead.]

[Then he keeps running, hand in hand. The words he says next aren't exactly comforting.]

It's not the same version of the human realm. It's a different one that pulls in people from other worlds. Some humans here have power and so do the people from other worlds, so most of the humans want everyone with power controlled.

[That's at least enough basics to operate on for their escape. Gus now knows how his impressions of the guilds being like the covens wasn't entirely off base.]

[Not far off is an abandoned barn, the shape looming up through the smoke.]

We're almost there! I have a friend waiting to teleport us away.

[He runs Gus inside it. As soon as the others are in, he wraps vines around the door handles and barricades it with ice glyphs.]

[A teenage boy with black hair is waiting for them.]

Nico, take Amity and Gus first.

[demigoth]

[ The boy in the barn looks decidedly irritated. Nico's not super fond of letting other people do the fighting - yes, even when it's not really his fight - if it means just sitting around in a barn.

Okay, yes, the plan kinda hinges on his ability to get everyone out, and the barn is wonderfully dark so he won't even have to try to wrap the shadows around them. Still.

Nico grabs ahold of Amity and Gus - no question who's Amity and Gus, as he knows Eda and Hunter. ]

Hi, nice to meet you -

[ He'll have two conversations almost simultaneously. One friendly if matter of fact, and the other shouty and grumbling. ]

Hunter, are you sure you'll be able to hold them off? I need at least five minutes in between trips -

So, this is going to feel... not great. Hope you didn't eat recently.

[paperclipsong]

[Gus tries to take this all in what little time they have. Which right now is the space between breaths, but he's made that work. And right now he's picking up that he was totally and completely right to panic and he and his friends are under the thumb of a brand spanking new Emperor Belos.

Probably the guy on all the banners and brochures. Fantasma? Fatalistic? Whatever his name was.]

Oh, don't tell me there's another Day of Unity coming. We only barely stopped the last one!

[The barn is dark and musty and is just homey enough that Gus can relax a little, lose a little of the tension in his shoulders. OK, this guy's name is Nico and he's Hunter's friend which is all Gus needs to know to fully trust him.

Except for one little extremely alarming fact.]

Wait, hold on, Hunter, you don't know you could hold them off? We should-

[And then Gus has the worst case of searing burning frostbite he's ever had in his life as he's teleported out of the room. And then he's in someone's foyer wheezing out the word:]

Nevermind.

[ownchoices]

No Day of Unity as far as I know--

[ Amity offers that scant comfort as they pile into the barn, one hand reaching out to take hold of Gus's arm. Nico gets a brief, business-like nod. ]

Hey, how's it going--

[ And then she's yanked through space in a way that leaves her stomach twisting and her face burning like she's been dunked into the Boiling Sea and the coldest snow all at once. She exhales sharply in a sharp, painful gasp and crouches down, restraining the urge to barf. ]

Ouugh.

[ She wheezes. ]

You weren't kidding.