CONFLUENCE 020

[metamods]

Who: Everyone!
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

 

CONFLUENCE

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.

EXCELSIOR

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?

DOWNBURST II

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.

CLIFF NOTES.

➢ 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.

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

[purplexing]

He hears it faintly, that familiar voice, and it manages to keep him from trying to pull further away again. That hasn't been helping his position anyway, and while it doesn't necessarily loosen up the knot of bedsheets around him, it keeps them from getting pulled any tighter around him.

Calm down, wake up- wake up? Those things won't let go, pink creepy tendrils still wrapped around him. The soft voices of the Sisters overlap with his brother's- or are they just repeating something he's said?

Donnie still looks like he's struggling as unspoken emotions war upon his face, but he finally opens his eyes with a gasp.

[faceguy]

Donnie’s eyes are open, but Leo recognizes this from his own nightmares - and from Huvrye’s, weeks ago. When your body is awake, but your mind is still locked somewhere else.

“You’re okay. We’re in Dylan’s apartment, remember? We’re safe.”

That’s the kind of stuff Huvrye says to Leo when he’s talking him down, but Leo doesn’t know if it will help Donnie. Though he remembers Donnie begging to be let go, and how he thrashed against the blankets…

“You’re tangled up in the bedsheets,” he adds, hoping that helps pull Donnie back to reality.

[purplexing]

He's still panting but he's listening now, gripping onto those words as they become more clear. "L...Leo?" Right. Leo's here. Dylan's apartment. Donnie sags tiredly, and while it doesn't necessarily loosen up the sheets, at least he's not struggling against them anymore.

We're safe.

[faceguy]

Leo lets out a relieved breath; at least Donnie is more aware now.

“Yep, it’s just me.” He gives a little wave of his hand, then settles back down on his arm. “Bad dream?”

It’s pretty obvious that it was.

[purplexing]

"Mmf." Donnie buries his face into his pillow for a moment as he tries to ground himself in the present, anxiety giving way to frustration as he finally tries to work his way out of the knot of blankets he's made.

"...yeah," he mutters. No real point trying to play it off, not when Leo's been there the whole time. He manages to pull one arm free before flopping on his back with a sigh. "I knew sharing a room was a bad idea."

[faceguy]

Leo lets Donnie shift around, still not reaching to help. He’s about to ask if Donnie wants to talk about it, but Donnie’s declaration throws him off track.

“What, sharing a room with me gives you nightmares?” Sheesh, and he’s even been trying to keep it clean!

…Wait, no, that seems wrong now that he says it out loud (give him a break, he just woke up). He recalculates, leaning further into Donnie’s line of sight. His voice gets softer.

“Or, were you already having nightmares?”

[purplexing]

That conclusion reached is like a shock of cold water in his face, and Donnie goes rigid, completely unprepared for an argument he hadn't even expected. Leo at least seems to work things out on his own, but it doesn't make Donnie relax right away. He's still keyed up from the nightmares, but he tries to ease his fingers from where they'd clenched at the sheets again. His eyes briefly met Leo's before looking away.

"...yeah," he admits. "You can probably guess why." He sighs, trying to play it off. "'s just nightmares though, they'll...go away or something eventually, right?"

The last thing he'd wanted to do was give Leo more to worry about. Great job he's been doing with that so far.

[faceguy]

He can guess why. The nightmare room.

Has Donnie been having dreams this bad all this time?

Leo feels bad, because he didn’t know. It makes so much sense now, in hindsight, but he hadn’t checked. Hadn’t asked.

Then again, given what he just said, Donnie probably wouldn’t have answered him anyway.

Donnie may not want him to worry, but Leo can’t help it, now that he knows this has been an ongoing problem. Now that he knows it’s this bad.

“…It might help if you talk about it,” is what he finally says. An open invitation.

[purplexing]

That sounds familiar. It takes Donnie a moment to remember why. Right, Huvrye. Had it really helped? Talking about it didn't make things go away, but...there was something in having someone know about it, at least. He hadn't wanted to go into detail with Huvrye, not when some of those horrors hadn't been solely his own.

But Leo was there. Leo knows. But Donnie hates the thought of dragging him back to those moments. Is there a better way to do this? He's trying to work that out and it shows on his face with every frown, every knitting of his brow even without a bandanna.

"I'm not sure how to even start..."

[faceguy]

Leo sees Donnie's big brain turning it over, and while he waits, he props up his pillow and twists so he's leaning more comfortably against the headboard. Or, well, as comfortably as the curve of his shell will let him.

Leo doesn't know where to tell him to start. He'd had the same thought, when he'd first told Huvrye about his dreams - how to condense such a massive amount of feeling into something someone could understand. Leo hadn't been working with limitations like Donnie, though; his mistakes and fears were his to tell.

He mulls it over, then decides to prompt Donnie with a question.

"When I touched your arm, you told me to let go. Did you know it was me, or... did you think I was one of those girls?"

Or did he think Leo was something else entirely?

[purplexing]

Donnie drops his arm across his forehead as he stares up at the ceiling, still frowning. Having questions to answer is so much easier than an open forum. He is not good at this. It's not like this is common practice for him, but then the situation that had caused it wasn't exactly commonplace either. Thankfully.

"No... it wasn't you, I didn't know it was actually you but ...I thought I heard you. Except it was them too, and I wasn't sure."

He squeezes his eyes shut for a moment. "And then I couldn't move because I thought those things were all over me..."

[faceguy]

Leo nods slowly as Donnie answers. He’s a little glad Donnie didn’t know it was him he was begging to let go, even if he still feels bad for touching him at all. Well, if this ever happens again, he’ll know better.

(For Donnie’s sake he hopes it doesn’t happen again, but his own nightmares didn’t magically stop and he doubts Donnie’s will either.)

When Donnie mentions the “things,” his blood runs colder.

“The things… you mean the girls, or…?”

[purplexing]

"Or..." Donnie confirms, not even bothering to try clarifying. He knows Leo knows, and he regrets having to even bring it up. There's probably much more to the Krang then what they'd glimpsed when they were stuck in that magical terror of a room.

"I know nothing was supposed to be real back in that room, but even not seeing it, it was hard ignoring everything else when it still felt real." He huffs out another sigh, letting his hand fall back beside him as he glares up at the ceiling.

[faceguy]

Or indeed.

Leo reaches over the side of the bed and flicks the lamp on the bed stand on. It’s not very bright, but it still helps when thinking of those things makes the darkness press in too tight.

But it’s okay; he can talk about this.

“I know. It was really convincing. And super gross.”

He makes a face.

“It was too much all at once, huh?”

[purplexing]

"..."

Even without visuals, everything else was still enough to get to him. His being there had probably just ratcheted things up another dimension and while he's not sure how bad it had been for Leo and Accelerator, it had been absolute hell for him.

"Yeah..." Donnie says quietly. That's no big surprise, really. If there was any way he could have gripped Leo tighter that day, he would've probably snapped him in half.

"There wasn't anywhere to get away from them, and I couldn't tune them out. If they weren't trying to pull me away, they were trying to get under my battle shell." He shudders, pulling the blankets around him again.

[faceguy]

Ah… under his battle shell. Leo winces.

Leo’s always had the hard shell - never had to deal with a fully sensitive back the way Donnie does. Sure, he can feel some sensation (which is why shell scritches feel so good), but he knows it’s not the same as how something touching his arms or legs feels. And he knows it’s not the same as how Donnie feels, either.

Usually, when he thinks about Donnie’s soft shell, it’s only in terms of how Donnie can get hurt that way; not really in terms of how it must feel to have something touching it.

Even if it’s not something Leo fully understands firsthand, he knows Donnie, and he doesn’t have to imagine the effect it had on him because he saw it. He can’t remember a time Donnie clung to him quite so fiercely.

“And all the noise probably didn’t help either…”

That part had sucked for Leo too, mostly for emotional reasons.

“…You gave me your goggles, though. Were they just… not helping?”

[purplexing]

Donnie rolls onto his side, but at least he's not facing away from Leo when he does so, even as he curls up a bit, pulling his pillow closer beneath his head.

"Not really, no," he says, shaking his head. The noise had been pretty bad, the voices, well, it was creepy how the girls would say things that were so personal to them, but if it had just been that, it might have been more bearable. Even so, they were like knives, slipping between armor gaps.

"They only let me see what was actually there. I could still hear everything, feel everything else. I saw how you responded when we first walked into that room. I figured...so long as you couldn't see it, you were still better off than I was."

[faceguy]

Leo winces at the reminder - not his finest moment. Donnie’s right that not being able to see it had helped a lot, though; right until the end, anyway.

“It helped,” he agrees, curling his legs in closer to him. “I just… hate that you had to feel all that. That you’re dreaming about it.”

[purplexing]

That's a point Donnie's all too aware of. He'd hoped to get Leo to that door before that huge thing had seen them. At least Accelerator had managed to help them all out then.

"...is that how it's been for you?"

Leo had told him he'd had trouble sleeping when he'd first arrived, and even if he still doesn't quite know exactly what his brother had to endure, might still have to endure, Donnie unfortunately has a better idea of how bad something can be that it'd keep you from wanting to sleep at night.

[faceguy]

Leo stares up at the ceiling, hugging his arms a little more tightly around himself.

“…Yeah.”

He doesn’t want to worry Donnie with it. Doesn’t want him to be more concerned than he already is.

In that way they’ve both been trying to shield each other, but is it even worth it?

He sighs and relaxes his arms again, turning over so he can face Donnie now. Mirroring his position.

“I… Every time I closed my eyes, I saw it. I got to where I just didn’t even want to sleep anymore.”

He doesn’t really like admitting it. Even though he’s turned toward Donnie, his eyes are focusing on other things.

“But it’s better now? I mean…” He shrugs. “Some nights are worse than others, but it got better, so… maybe it will for you, too.”

[purplexing]

That sounds familiar. Given how reluctant he's been to talk about it, Donnie isn't surprised to see Leo still apparently feels the same way.

"I...thought it wouldn't be so bad. I mean, I pull all-nighters anyway, had plenty to keep me busy. Eventually if I had to pass out, there wouldn't be much chance for dreams." It hadn't really been a foolproof plan, and not exactly a great idea to work on things when you were nodding off.

"...did it?" He looks searchingly at his brother's face, even as Leo's own gaze is diverted. Even though he'd said as much earlier, Donnie couldn't say how certain he was about it. And Leo... He's still struggling with it, even now. That tugs at something deeper.

[faceguy]

Leo snorts at that, his lips curling in a tired grin.

“Yeah, that goes great for one night, but by day three it feels like death warmed over.”

Leo also employed the “stay awake until he passed out” method, and it sucked. And he wasn’t even trying to do the kind of work Donnie does! (Just a little light bad guy fighting… Okay, that wasn’t smart, either.)

But his grin falls at the next question. Does Donnie have to sound so skeptical? Now he can’t lie.

“…It hasn’t gone away,” he admits, looking at Donnie now. “Not gonna lie, I kiiinda thought I would be the one waking you up like this.” Actually, he would have preferred that, if only because it would mean Donnie isn’t suffering.

“But it’s not every night anymore. It’s more like… when I get really stressed out. Then my brain converts the stress into that same dream because brains suck like that.”

[purplexing]

Well...Donnie can't really disagree there. He snorts quietly at that, but the wry smile tugging at the corners of his mouth is a definite improvement. "Yeah..."

While Leo's answer isn't exactly reassuring, at least he's looking at him again. His smile turns rueful as he can't imagine the reverse situation would be any better. He wouldn't have known how to comfort his brother very well.

At least in a way things have gone better, but what Leo says makes sense, and Donnie only looks guilty at the admission of stress as a factor. He looks at the bed again.

"Sorry. I for sure haven't been a great help with that lately..."

[faceguy]

Leo snorts again, dismissive of the apology because he doesn’t think it’s necessary.

“Yeah, because you asked for a building to get dropped on your head.”

Leo knows that scared Donnie more than it scared him, especially before they were sure how well he would recover. If anyone should feel stressed out here, it’s him.

The answer is still illuminating in an important way, though.

“…Is that why you didn’t want me to know?” So it wouldn’t stress Leo out?

[purplexing]

He didn't need the reminder, thanks, not that it's something he's forgotten. True, Donnie doesn't remember much of what actually happened past realizing he was surrounded by explosives seconds from going off, but being buried alive isn't a pleasant experience, and knowing things could have been much worse in a myriad of ways just gives him cause to draw himself into a tighter ball.

"...." It's not much of an answer but it says plenty in itself. Then again, it shouldn't be surprising either. Donnie's always trying to figure out ways to make things better or easier for his brothers. Being a liability is the last thing he ever wants to be. It's why he's made his battle shells, why he'd leaned so hard into his tech.

Here they had a new set of problems and still Leo had adapted some air of responsibility and it's been strange to get used to. He's been shouldering so much even before Donnie was there.

"...you've had enough to deal with. Anyway, the main reason we got stuck in that room was because I wanted to get equipment. We could've just avoided all that trouble if I'd just stuck to junkyards..."