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- !confluence,
- !event,
- a certain magical index: accelerator,
- marvel comics: carol danvers,
- rtmnt: donatello hamato,
- rtmnt: leonardo hamato,
- ✗ archie hopper | once upon a time,
- ✗ augustus "gus" porter | the owl house,
- ✗ aurican | dragonlance,
- ✗ hitori gotoh | bocchi the rock,
- ✗ raine whispers | the owl house,
- ✗ roy harper | dc comics,
- ✗ six | generator rex,
- ✗ vision | mcu
CONFLUENCE 020
What: A Confluence! + Part II of the Downburst plot
When: The beginning of July
Where: Primarily Arcadia & Excelsior, Washington
Content Warnings: Just a little of Fantastic's fascist ideology
A Confluence, capitalized, is the converging of one or more supernatural forces: it encompasses all occurrences that cause sudden, unnatural change in this world.
The Starfallen only arrive during Confluences. For this Confluence, the sky over Excelsior, Washington opens up after a ripple rolls through the clouds, seeming to cause a visual glitch for anyone who’s watching. The glitch itself looks more like an adjustment to reality than anything, and time – if but for a moment and nothing more – stops. Everything stops, and then it starts again.
It’s that stoppage in time that makes the arrival of the Starfallen easy and safe. Rather than forcing the people of Excelsior to contend with their new arrivals, they find them suddenly on the ground, standing as if they were there the entire time. How did that happen? How did they get here? It’s unclear.
The effects of this flicker in time won’t be immediately obvious. As the newly arrived Starfallen take in their surroundings, they’ll notice that the rather advanced city they’re in is experiencing a bit of trouble. Large, carnivorous plants walk the streets and people are chasing after them one by one. Moving in and out of the scene is a rather dashing-looking man – one they’ll soon learn is named Fantastic. He’ll stop by the Starfallen once or twice, flash a smile and offer some help, but he’ll otherwise be occupied.
Well, that aside, time for you – one of the many new Starfallen – to adjust to your new surroundings. Welcome to Excelsior and welcome to an era of political turmoil. Don’t worry about the time dilation that may have occurred. That’s the least of your worries.
A safe “landing” of sorts means that the newly arrived Starfallen will need to look up to get the full scope of where they have arrived: a city with tall buildings, flying cars, and visuals that make it seem as if it’s further in the future than it is. Technological progress and prowess is the name of Excelsior’s game; it’s just too bad that this progress sometimes comes with its share of hiccups. In this case, those hiccups are the dangerous plants roaming the streets and causing problems. These plants had been a problem very recently, and it seems that any weed whacking only temporarily dealt with the issue at hand. That, or whoever made them in the first place wasn’t put off of their experiments.
Or … maybe something else is afoot?
After all, it’s rather surprising that someone as enterprising and industrious as Fantastic is roaming the streets to stop the problem at hand – but then again, these plants are rather troublesome!
Aside from his occasional greetings and offered help to the newly-arrived Starfallen, he’s otherwise occupied. In his stead, several rather official-looking individuals will be approaching the Starfallen once they recover from the time stoppage. They’ll offer the newcomers a mobile device as well as a teleporter, along with a place to stay in a state-of-the-art facility named Arcadia. After all, Arcadia is meant to be there for Starfallen – a safe haven when they might otherwise be caught up in the chaos around them.
No one is obligated to go to Arcadia, but it appears that anyone who’s newly arrived will be given their teleporter with the intention of forcing them there. Once they’re given freedom to move on their own, there is a good chance that they will be teleported right into Arcadia proper against their will. Upon arrival, they’ll find that their teleporter is now glitched. A guard, upon spotting their arrival, will greet them and apologize if they can’t go anywhere else. “Our system has been buggy lately.”
At least they’re trying to keep the Starfallen away from the plants?
➢ Everyone arriving during this Confluence will be given the same story: that Fantastic and the Alliance have been working hard to provide a safe home for all Starfallen because the world itself views them with a great deal of animosity. Just recently, a man hypnotized a number of Starfallen in order to force them to cause harm to others and themselves – and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
➢ Once someone who’s been forcibly teleported to Arcadia either accepts their place there or manually leaves – by exiting through one of the gates on foot – they’ll find that their teleporter is working. Somewhat. From time to time, it’ll just drop them right back into Arcadia even if they intended to use it to go elsewhere. Like Dorothy always said: there’s no place like home.
➢ Despite the rather forcible welcome, Arcadia is … rather nice. Constructed in collaboration with the people of Excelsior, Arcadia is an odd mix of modern-day and historical architecture, leaving it to be a beautiful view for anyone to witness from a distance. All aspects of Arcadia are pristine, and it’s apparent that this structure is meant to be safe and protected. Each Starfallen who chooses to take a room will find that their quarters are designed to their liking: they’re allowed to choose anything and everything they want.
➢ There are a few … quirks when it comes to Arcadia. There are suns emblazoned throughout, as well as guards standing post. These guards are equipped with strong armor and power nullifiers if anyone tries to fight them. Finally, the entirety of Arcadia gives off a sense that it’s resonating with magic – with this being the strongest near its lowest level. That level is, of course, blocked off to anyone who may dare to enter.
➢ If Arcadia seems a little … empty, that’s because it’s been shunned by the current population of Starfallen. Thanks to their antics and ungrateful tendencies, they’ve decided that they’re too proud to take what’s been offered to them. Instead, they’re causing problems all over the country, and Fantastic is working tirelessly to stop their mayhem. Surely this is all there is to it, right? … Right?
Right around this Confluence, Fantastic begins making frequent television appearances in order to try to assuage any worries that the people he’s promised to protect might have in the wake of the chaos following his rise to power. What does this mean? Well, a lot of bloated speeches that no one wants to listen to, as well as countless television programs interrupted so that he can ensure that everyone hears the sound of his voice.
Even with his frequent messages, his message largely remains the same – so here are some notes.
➢ Fantastic always apologizes for the chaos happening everywhere. While he hoped that he would be able to bring order to the Alliance and use his new opportunity to help others, it appears that some bad actors have attempted to frame him in a bad light. These bad actors are not limited to the Starfallen – while he doesn’t name Atomight or Mechanima, it’s apparent that he is likely referring to them.
➢ After all, Fantastic inherited Atomight and Mechanima's messes. The biggest and most recent "mess" is just about everything in Central City. Everything. But he mainly means Jinx's destruction of the city on Father's Day – which is an event that could only take place with Mechanima's intervention. Had the city not been placed under an unwanted quarantine, Fantastic would have been able to intervene and help.
➢ When it comes to Mechanima, he reassures the citizens of Central City that he is doing everything in his power to restore its autonomy so that Alliance processes can proceed as normal. Otherwise, it appears that all Alliance operations have been moved to Excelsior for the time being. He alludes to the “problem” being solved by some heroic Starfallen there, so there is no reason to keep it under quarantine … but some villains just can’t help themselves!
➢ Overall, Fantastic alludes to countless problems. Guards who are just trying to protect reticent Starfallen are being attacked without provocation. Many people are speaking out against Fantastic and even calling what he’s doing a “regime.”
➢ The more Fantastic appears, the more he seems desperate – frazzled. At first, it seems like an act: him appearing desperate to win viewers’ hearts and minds. But soon he’ll seem less calm and collected, like he’s aware that he’s lost control (or never had control in the first place). He won’t admit this outright. He’ll never admit it. No, he’ll always smile. Always seem pleased to help anyone, even the Starfallen who hate him for some reason. Always.
➢ Welcome to the midway point for our Downburst event! This Confluence is meant to double as a means for all of our new players to integrate into the middle of an event. We reused some assets from the most recent TDM in order to help, but if you would like any additional help keeping your TDM threads canon, please hit us up below!
➢ No players will be forced to place their character into Arcadia if they don't like the bizarre and not-at-all-biased intro to this world – their teleporters can merely glitch out if they so choose. After all, it doesn't seem like anything is going as planned.
➢ Even though this batch of Starfallen have just arrived, they will be followed by Guards as if they've been here all along. Isn't it fun to suddenly be under unwanted surveillance upon arrival?
➢ Incoming players can check our prior event log for more information about Arcadia and the Guards in detail.
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.
no subject
When he mentions 'fucked up soundwaves' her eyes go a little wide, and she looks down at herself. She hadn't even realized she was doing something - but apparently it was enough that he could notice, at least. The guards probably did to.]
S-s-sorry. I-I'm sorry, I-I didn't know. I-I-I was never able to do a-anything like that before I came here.
[She nervously glances back to where the guards are, backed away from the two of them, and then turns back to face Accelerator.]
I-I'll try to not to do anything like that in the f-future.
no subject
(To be fair to him, that isn't exactly an incorrect assessment most of the time.)
She looks like she's going to fall apart at any second, so he's a little skeptical she won't end up accidentally breaking someone's eardrums.]
Are you sure about that? [He glances back towards the guards as well, frowning a bit more severely when he sees they haven't vacated the vicinity. It's probably because of the car that's still on fire, but the paranoid part of himself feels wary....
He turns his gaze back to her.]
Do you even know how the hell you did it in the first place?
no subject
[She's lying, and she's not particularly good at it. The fact that this boy seems to be staring daggers at her really isn't helping - she's sweating and stuttering like crazy.]
I-I definitely d-don't need to be, like, detained o-or anything. I-I'm in full control, ha ha...
[She's not sure what this dude's plans for her (or what the guards' plans for that matter) are, but after seeing what he's capable of, she's more than a little scared to go with him.]
no subject
If you don't want to be detained then you sure as fuck don't want to let those guards get too close.
[He's still salty about his first encounter with them, why do you ask.
Heaving a large sigh, and with the sirens of fire trucks approaching, he turns to head in the opposite direction.]
Come on, I need a goddamn coffee.
no subject
And then he tells her to come with him. And while Hitori doesn't necessarily want to do that either (this guy might be slightly scarier than the idea of being taken to some kind of government lab), she isn't exactly brave enough to look him in the face and tell him 'no,' either.]
U-Um. O-okay....
[As he turns and walks away, she timidly follows him. Eyes darting back and forth as she does so, as though she's not sure when she'll need an avenue of escape.]
no subject
Pretty soon they'll come across a perfectly normal coffee shop with a few people inside. It looks shiny and new, like most things in Excelsior, which makes Accelerator scowl. He's reaching into his back pocket for his wallet with his free hand as he approaches the entrance.]
What do you want?
no subject
[She wants to say 'nothing,' but would that be rude? It seems like he's offering to pay, and she wouldn't want to offend this man.
But at the same time, what if she's misinterpreting his social cues? Would it be ruder to just assume he was going to pay for her meal? She's certainly been faked out like this before by Ryo, and she certainly doesn't want to anger Accelerator by insisting he pay for her.
This (entirely imagined) conflict weighs heavily in her anxiety-riddled mind for a moment before she just blurts out:]
J-just a cup of water, please!
no subject
Again, he isn't offended. It's just weird that she isn't even wanting an iced latte or something (whatever it is girls his age drink, he doesn't know). It's probably nice? She may in fact be out-nice-ing him, which isn't exactly a difficult thing to do, since he's a terrible person and everything....
Eventually he sighs.]
Whatever.
[After heading inside he's ordering one coffee and one ice water, both of which come very quickly since those are two basic as hell drinks. At least the water has a lemon wedge in it, to give the illusion of it being fancier than it actually is.
Accelerator grabs his, leaving her to take hers (he only has one usable hand with his crutch, okay), before going to grab a table inside. It's nice out, but this one is placed near the window so he can keep a look out for those guards, in case they decided to resume following the girl again. He flops down, setting his crutch against the table before throwing that arm over the back of his chair and sipping his coffee.]
So, do you know why those dumbasses were following you?
no subject
Fortunately the water gets handed over with little issue. If it did cost something, it seems like Accelerator was offering to pay for it, which is a relief, so she grabs her cup and follows him to the table.]
N-No, n-not really. I-I just showed up here, a-and these people started following me pretty much immediately.
[She takes a sip of her water.]
I-I'm really sorry if I did something wrong. D-do you think that apologizing would help?
no subject
No. Chances are they were targeting you because you're new. Apologizing won't change anything.
[This also means she must be clueless as to what's going on with the guards, and Fantastic, and Arcadia. Sheesh, what bad luck.]
You familiar with the Many-Worlds Interpretation? It turns out some form of that bullshit is true, you aren't in your universe anymore.