metalogs | HARVEST MOON

HARVEST MOON

November is a month of transition. As fall slips by and winter begins extending its icy hand, it feels like a good time to let go of the burdens accumulated in the last year. The Willow Bough Harvest Festival is the ideal time to do just that.

Overnight, the town is transformed. A carnival pops up along the leylines that cross the city, with the center being an altar to the Willow Maiden. Metahumans and humans alike can give small offerings in the hopes that it will sway her dreams for the future.

While this is a festival for metahumans, there are a great number of regular humans in attendance as well. They seem more here for the celebration than any actual worship or tribute to the Goddess herself. For metahumans, it seems to be something… more. Deeper. Strengthening their connection with each other, with the world, and the Goddess who grants them all strength.

While one might think that a celebration of a sleeping Goddess would involve the sharing of dreams with the Gods, this is more a celebration of connection. There are bonfires settled in the woods, with logs set around as a space to share stories of all that you’ve experienced. There are rides to hop on, thrills to seek, and games to play.

This might be the only festival in Sunset Falls that isn’t vaguely associated with ancient murders. In fact, it’s guaranteed you won’t be killed here. Today, Sunset Falls is under the protection of the Willow Maiden. And just this once, for this one week of the year in the town of Sunset Falls - everybody lives.

This is the only time any travelling carnival feels safe setting up in the most cursed city in all the country. The carnival is filled to the brim with things to do. Festival booths sell sugary sweets, savory goods, and some locals are selling something they call ethically sourced zombie fingers... it's not recommended to eat those. There are sneakily rigged carnival games as far as the eye can see, and tricky metas are rewarded for their cleverness in discovering the games.

There are also rides, rides, and more rides! Ferris Wheels, Gravitons, fun houses, impossible roller coasters that run the length of the whole town - if you can think of it, it’s here. Including a small inflatable pool filled with balls. The rides are magically imbued and the carnies can be convinced into creating new ones to match whatever you may need, though they're taking some... interesting short cuts. A Tunnel of Love can go through a sewer, right?

These rides are perfectly safe. Seriously. Thoroughly magicked against destruction and tampering for as long as the festival is active... you might want to get off of them as things come to a close, though. Things will start to fall apart as the Willow Maiden drifts into a deep slumber.

The festival offers a whole host of other attractions for metas and humans alike, however the Starfallen are treated to some.. extras in these festivities.

➢ EMPATHY LINKS

Every attendee is given a small stone pendant called the Willow Seed. These pendants prevent any attendee from using their abilities to cause harm to any other wearing a pendant, a holdover from the days where metahuman conflict ran rampant.

These are magical items meant to help you commune with the Willow Maiden. Wearing it will make you feel stronger than you ever had - both literally and figuratively - and ready to face anything.

You will also feel your connection to the Willow Maiden, her deep and genuine love for you and all you are, all you aren't, and all you could be.

It will also connect you to your fellow Starfallen. While metahumans native to this world are unaffected, the Starfallen will find themselves suddenly feeling each other’s, well, feelings.

➢ MEMORY SHARE

Along with emotions, you may be able to send memories through the link as well. Given the positive energy, positive memories are easier to call forth than negative ones.

➢ THE WILLOW VINES

As this festival is all about connection, the chaotic energies of Sunset Falls try to get involved in the form of trying to force people to form new connections.. in the form of vines snapping two people together by the wrist as they walk by. If you co-operate and get to know this new person the vines will let go on their own after about thirty minutes.

Attempting to resist the connection will make them last longer... much.. much longer.

These will not let go until you connect with this other person - but luckily for you, you recluse, it doesn't require the connection to be positive. A fight - physical or verbal - is as much a connection as a candid conversation. All the vines ask for is some emotional honesty. The easiest way to get free is to make a new friend... or enemy. Connections don't have to be positive.

Attempting to speak with the Willow Maiden will be met with silence. Her Dream Guard will tell any Starfallen who ask that she expended a great amount of power recently to aid them. She will wake in the New Year and will be ready to guide them on what comes next then. 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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh, it's not too hard.

[Grinning, Donnie rubs his hands together as he steps up to grab the hammer. It's not terribly heavy but it feels so foreign compared to his ridiculous weapon. He hefts it a bit in testing before getting himself situated.]

Heeere we go!

[He hauls it over his shoulder and then brings it down with all his might...! -and the thing goes up almost about three-quarters of the way before dropping down rather anticlimactically.]

....

[To be fair, he is not built for strength.]

[ For her part, Ororo tips her head to the side as she watches the mechanism rise and fall, eyes glowing slightly.

If he looks to her again, she's already paid for him to have another go. ]

Try it again? Then I will have a go.

[ There's a little device at the bottom that, to her eyes, had glowed with a very faint electromagnetic current once he was about to start. She sends a gentle pulse back to keep it off, this time, while he has his second go. ]

[Bruised ego? ...not at all! But Donnie looks surprised when Storm asks him to try again, so he shrugs, gathering himself for another swing. This hammer isn't nearly as effective as any of his- yes, he'll just reassure himself with this point as he brings the hammer down again.

It slams on the switch and up goes the ringer, this time well past the three-quarter mark but juuuuust shy of the bell.]

Ye- aww.

[His shoulders sag with a sigh and there's that slight waver of disappointment coming through that pesky emotional connection but it doesn't last too long at least. Donnie turns to offer the hammer over to Storm.]

Show that thing who's boss.

[ Ororo frowns when he doesn't win on the second round - she can feel that disappointment, and it's rather surprisingly infectious. After all, she'd been very sure he'd make it! But she takes the hammer anyway and steps up for a turn of her own. ]

Hmm. It's just a game. [ She weighs the mallet in her hand carefully, considering the height of the game. ] Unless there was a prize you had your eye on?

[ So she could at least claim some sort of motivation other than petty vengeance for the game being rigged. She gets into a proper stance and swings the hammer in a large arc, no fancy tricks other than making sure there was no force pulling the ringer down! If even she didn't make it - well, she'd be even more disappointed, but she'd live. ]

[He's already going through what could have been the problem, a compilation of things- cheap mallet, wrong angle of attack, wind resistance versus the velocity of the parabolic path of travel...

Donnie blinks, glancing back at the prizes. They're not exactly his taste; Raph's definitely more of the stuffed animal guy.]

Not...particularly?

[His eye is however drawn to a big purple plush dragon and while he's had questionable experiences with Purple Dragons, this one looks non-scheming and potentially comfortable to lie on.

Ororo has good form as he looks back to her, watching as she positions herself and then swings away. A natural! The hammer comes down with an almost satisfying smack, sending the ringer up high with just enough force to ping that bell.]

[ The ping is very satisfying indeed! But it'd have been more satisfying if Donnie had made it first, so she's frowning a bit to herself even as she claims a prize. Luckily it's not hard to miss what he seems to want, so she asks for the purple dragon and promptly offers it to him. ]

I do not want anything in particular either. But please take this for indulging me. [ He didn't have to play anything with her, after all! ] Unless you wanted to try again?

[A victory is still a victory, so when that bell is rung, Donnie pumps a fist with a cheer.]

Nicely done! [He blinks at the plush, some slight embarrassment transmitting through those pesky connections, but he smiles almost shyly as he ducks his head behind the thing when he takes it, giving it a brief squeeze- testing- oh yes, this is actually nicely squishy.]

Oh, no, I'm good. But that was a very nice swing!

Thank you. [ Hard to miss the flash of embarrassment, but she appreciates that he doesn't refuse out of some... insistence that he's too old for it. That's nice.

They can start walking off then, though, and once they're out of earshot she adds: ] There was a slight magnetic pull on the ringer. I think it is in place for... an added challenge, perhaps?

So do not feel too bad. If it were fairly set up, you would have won the prize yourself twice over.

[He doesn't often get things from others, and Storm's being terribly nice. It would be silly to refuse. It's also easier to see it as an exchange.]

Magnetic, huh? Hah! I knew there had to be something. [Magnets are amazing. At least Donnie doesn't seem to be angry about it, but he's not too surprised that games here are rigged. It does make him feel a teensy bit better though.]

You are not bothered? We could have had more prizes than what we have now. [ Which is just the one, purple dragon. What if he'd wanted a blue one, a red one, and an orange one?

... Not that Ororo herself wanted more prizes. She just liked for things to be fair. ]

True, but I guess you have to expect some amount of trickery for games like these. If they were as simple as they looked, then people would clean them out. It's like a challenge in itself when you decide to play, but I guess if you take it too seriously then that's when you end up with an empty wallet.

[He grins at Ororo.] But figuring out how the game is rigged is one thing, getting around it is another. Getting any prize out of it is just icing on the cake.

That the prize is something you'd appreciate is a separate matter entirely. Imagine if we did this, only to receive a reward that was not worth it? [ Ororo grins a little, then takes a look around at the rest of the fair. ]

Though I am not sure what else we can expect from the other booths here. If you wanted to win anything else? [ What else could you expect from a county fair? Ororo wasn't entirely familiar. ]

I guess that's true too. As a side note, I am pleasantly surprised at how squishy and durable this thing is. [Totally giving this plush another squeeze.]

Hm. Well, it'd probably be a lot of the same. I wasn't really eyeing prizes too much, I just thought it'd be fun to play some games. There's food too though. Have you gotten to try anything? My expectations are that there's probably copious amounts of unhealthy things that shouldn't be fried, but we might be surprised.

HARVEST MOON

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