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

Poor Leo B)

[levelshift]

[And that, therein, lies the problem.

Accelerator hits the button for the right floor, and while Leo leans against a wall he sticks near the doors, staring at them harshly as they close.]

I could have. I can whitelist individuals, objects, singular phenomena -- even though its default state is to always be 'on,' I have perfect control over it now when my attention is on it.

[faceguy]

Wait… so you could have just whitelisted me?

[Suddenly Leo is not leaning back against the elevator, but up in Accelerator’s space.

He reaches over with his not-damaged arm (which hurts the broken one from the loss of support, but he’s willing to hurt a little for this) and tugs on Accelerator’s cheek, sharp.]

You could have whitelisted me!? Wait, what about Donnie, do you have him whitelisted!?

[levelshift]

[Accelerator remains stock still, staring at the elevator doors at they head up, resisting the urge to either push Leo out of his space or move away himself. It's taking a lot of willpower, but he figures right now he doesn't exactly have the right to do either of those things.

Or bat Leo's hand away, even though being touched is the last thing he wants right now. He just clenches his free hand into a fist and puts up with it, choosing to answer only the third question (the answers to the first ones go without saying).]

No. The only people I have whitelisted are the Sisters.

[Which includes Last Order, though he doesn't specify that.]

[faceguy]

[Leo lets go, sagging back against the wall again. On one hand, he’s glad he wasn’t the only one left out, but on the other, he’s annoyed Accelerator was using a very dangerous power around his already injured brother. But alright, fine, guess they aren’t special enough for the whitelist treatment.

Leo decides to channel his annoyance into theatrics.]

You know, I changed my mind: this is your fault. In fact, I think… I don’t think it was just my arm! [He swoons dramatically.] I think it’s my legs, too! Oh, oh Accy, you may have to carry me. Oh, oh the paaaiiin…

[levelshift]

[Honestly, Accelerator is kicking himself for not expecting this, but he really isn't. He understands the seriousness of the situation, he knows just how brutal his reflection can be against unsuspecting people. That he hasn't even bothered to whitelist two people he likes hanging around, meaning there's a chance they could be seriously injured at any time he's in esper mode, it shows just how big of a piece of shit he is.

The normal thing someone in Leo's position would do is to get mad, probably yell at him, definitely storm off. The whole thing with the Sisters wasn't a breaking point for some bizarre reason he still doesn't understand, but this definitely should be.

So instead getting Theatre Kid Leo with Extra Drama, instead of a very serious falling out is... it's a lot. Accelerator is already feeling guilty and upset and on edge over what happened, he isn't sure what to do with this. There's a lot of emotions going on and it's not like he can just walk off.

That's why he's snapping instead, grabbing Leo's good arm on the off-chance he's going full throttle into that swoon so he doesn't end up on the floor of the elevator.]

Goddamnit, are you fucking incapable of taking anything seriously?!

[faceguy]

[Leo lets himself be grabbed, but does not go full throttle into the swoon, so they are both safe from ending up in an impromptu pile.

These days, Leo doesn't like being accused of not taking things seriously, but in this case it (mostly) rolls off his back. He is deliberately trolling Accelerator right now, after all, so it's a fair question.

His grin smooths out as he moves his weight off Accelerator, though he doesn't pull his arm away.]

I take things as seriously as they need to be taken.

[Though the way he shows it probably doesn't jive with everyone. Case in point.]

I'm not kidding. This was just an accident. You could have whitelisted me, you didn't, whatever. I still did something you told me not to and that wasn't cool.

[Just let him take a little responsibility here, jeez!

His grin does falter a little, though, as he comes back to what bothered him more than his arm getting broken.]

I guess what sucks more is... you put Donnie at risk, back at the museum.

[When he was already hurt.]

[levelshift]

[He'd really like to yell some more or better yet, utter some violent threat, even though it's clear Leo is just riling him up. Both of those are easier for him than dealing with the problem, especially when he doesn't fully agree. It might have been something of an accident, but it's still his fault and only his fault.

And he's so focused on that that he doesn't even consider the whole museum incident. When Leo brings it up Accelerator stares at him, surprised.]

.....

[Well, he's not wrong.

Accelerator doesn't have any experience using his ability for anything like a rescue mission - not really. The closest times he ever came to that were when he rewired Last Order's brain, which required shutting his reflection off entirely, and saving her from Kihara, after his battery had run down and his reflection wasn't working. There's never been an instance where he was fully functioning, trying to help someone, with his reflection up. Leo is right. He did put Donnie at risk.

But that isn't actually anything new for him, is it? That state is how he's always been, right up until he was shot in the head. Things have only changed recently because of his brain injury, before anyone here ever knew him. That means he can't fault Leo for being bothered by this when he's only ever experienced his vector manipulation being used on such a limited scale.

He sighs, releasing Leo as the elevator dings and the doors open.]

I put anyone around me at risk whenever I use my ability. That's how it fucking works.

[faceguy]

[The door opens, and Leo steps through. He can see a sign pointing toward the medical wing, but he doesn’t head that direction just yet.

The hallway is deserted, so he turns his attention back to Accelerator.]

You can do good stuff with it too, though. You helped save him.

[He came when Leo asked. And Leo will be forever grateful that he did.]

It could have been worse without you. Probably would have been. So I’m annoyed, but that’s all.

[levelshift]

[Accelerator has that typical look on his face that says he wants to argue, that he entirely disagrees with Leo. He hadn't done very much, anyone with any kind of person-or-signal-seeking ability or technology could've done what he did. Sensing a Bluetooth signal is... it's nothing, really. And he doubts he and Huvrye had really needed his help moving the rubble. They likely would've been fine on their own. None of that changes anything.]

Tche.

[He follows Leo out into the hallway, feeling fed up with everything.]

It's this way.

[Obviously, in the direction of the sign. Because it's late the wing is pretty empty, though there's someone at check-in to take down Leo's information. Even she looks a little wary, but Accelerator, having been here before, gets everything sorted out pretty fast. The staffing tonight is minimal, with only a doctor and healer on-call. Thankfully, both are more than enough to handle a simple broken arm.]

[faceguy]

[Leo sighs, but lets the subject drop for now. If Accelerator wants to be like that, then fine.

His information is taken and Leo is told to wait until the healer is ready. He sinks into a chair, cradling his arm to his chest.

It’s not the same as a hospital so he doesn’t know why he still feels a prickle at the back of his neck telling him he needs to get out of here. It’s fine, just get his arm healed and get going.

He glances up at Accelerator.]

I got it from here, if you wanna leave.

[He’ll be totally fine by himself! No worries!]

[levelshift]

[To be fair, Accelerator is strongly considering leaving. There isn't anything else for him to do now, the only reason people stick around in hospitals at this point is for emotional support, and they both know he's the last person anyone would want for that.

But he goes and sits down in the chair next to Leo, still looking annoyed.]

I might as well stick around.

[faceguy]

[Leo doesn’t say it, but he immediately feels better not being here alone. Donnie can’t come in here and he’s not wanting to tell Huvrye about this, so Accelerator is really the only person left he feels comfortable being here with in this universe.

Which may be an impossible thing to explain to anyone else, even Accelerator himself, but that’s just how it worked out.]

Awww, you’re worried about me.

[Though maybe immediately teasing him is not the best way to express it.]

[levelshift]

[He's going to remove his arm from his crutch solely so he can fold his arms and increase the amount of annoyance he is currently radiating. It's very impressive, he must practice this when he's bored.]

I'm not, you pain in the ass. This is just the least troublesome option. If they need someone to vouch for you I'm the only one around here who can, or if they don't fix it right I know you'll just call me. And if whoever the hell they have in right now decides they'd rather experiment on a mutant turtle instead of doing their goddamn job I'm gonna have to start breaking heads.

[This is.

Absolutely.

Not about being worried.

Absolutely not.]

[faceguy]

[Oh no, absolutely not.

Leo is still grinning, and he leans back in his chair, as much as he can with his shell and without aggravating his arm.]

Uh-huh. And someone carting me off to experiment on me wouldn't make your life easier?

[He'd never have to deal with Leo again! Imagine!]

[levelshift]

[Leo, you fool! Clearly he has all of this perfectly logic'd out.

He snorts.]

No. [Obviously not!!] I'm not going to stick with people who perform those kinds of experiments anymore. [Not after the Sisters.

There's an awkward beat where he should've said that out loud, but doesn't. Then he continues.]

Besides, Donatello would want help breaking you out. That'd take up half my fucking day.

[faceguy]

[In retrospect, joking about unethical experimentation to Accelerator is maybe not the most tactful thing to do.

Oh well, no way to take it back so he’ll forge ahead.]

Half a day is a pretty optimistic estimate. I’m kinda impressed.

[levelshift]

[It's all good, what's life if you can't sometimes make jokes about unethical experimentation.]

It would be five minutes if taking the entire building down wouldn't cause more problems.

[And it wouldn't be just him doing that, he's fairly sure Donnie would be all for it, too.]

[faceguy]

[Donnie absolutely would do that, actually. Leo can’t get kidnapped, for the sake of peace.]

Aww, you’d destroy a whole building just for me. I’m flattered, you know.

[Batting his eyes at Accelerator.]

[levelshift]

[Donnie would go full villain if Leo was ever kidnapped, they both know this.

Accelerator just scowls.]

Don't be. It's not like that kind of thing is hard for me to do. The calculations to borrow the energy of the earth's rotation using its vectors and transferring it into a single fucking building are simple.

[faceguy]

[Somehow Leo is the most rational of these three… what a scary situation.]

You know, you say terrifying things sometimes, Accy.

[He says that like he’s more amused than anything, though. But right about then he gets called to the back.

Time to find out if they’ll treat his arm or cut him open, it seems! Leo will just hop to his feet and flash Accelerator a peace sign before he goes.]

[levelshift]

[Accelerator is sure Leo shouldn't be taking that as lightly as he is, but this is Leo. Half the reason the turtle hasn't given up on him is because this is just how he is.

So he he frowns but doesn't say anything. Hell, he'll even stick around while Leo is back there, slumping in the chair, stretching his legs out and closing his eyes boredly. No point in leaving if he's stayed for this long.]

[faceguy]

[Should he be taking it more seriously? Probably. Will he? Not likely. Not unless he thinks Accelerator is actually going to do it in the immediate future.

And luckily he isn't going to have to, since about thirty minutes after going back, Leo returns, arm as good as new.

He's going to have to do a few jobs for the Society to make up for it, but since he's a minor it's nothing too dicey. (It helps that neither guild knows the full extent of his abilities, not that they're much use to him so far.)

He's less surprised to see Accelerator waiting for him than he was when Accelerator stayed initially. He comes over and gives his foot a light kick with his own.]

Don't tell me you're asleep.

[levelshift]

[He may have been dozing a little. :( But at the nudge he makes an irritated noise and opens an eye. That seemed pretty quick.

His tone is very dry.]

Congratulations, no buildings have to come down tonight.

[faceguy]

I'm sure you'll get your chance eventually.

[Actually maybe he shouldn't joke like that; this universe has a way of kicking them when they're down.]

I didn't tell them what happened, not that I think they were interested anyway. [He rolls his shoulder and flexes his newly not-broken arm.] So we're all good!

[levelshift]

[No one needs Accelerator getting to building levels of destruction.

He stretches before getting to his feet, grabbing his crutch. So Donnie is really the only one who's going to know. He still doesn't like it, but it's Leo's decision.]

What'd they use? Magic?