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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.
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.➢ EMPATHY LINKSEvery 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 SHAREAlong 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 VINESAs 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.
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.
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Sounds like I would've gotten along with them.
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Bellona was suuuper scowly all the time. Zelda wasn't, but even she was a bit stiff. Not that I can blame them.
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... Because they had a lot on their plate, huh?
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Well, yeah. There was a lot of torture. We couldn't feel pain, so sometimes they had to get creative. And then . . . we were dying. We couldn't handle what they did to us.
So we got out.
[ she pauses, letting her feelings turn over for a moment. sorrow, loss, frustration. ]
. . . I got out.
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[God, he shouldn't be hearing this. He has no right, he's the last person Gabby should be telling this to. He's the same as the monsters that killed her sisters, and are making her feel that sorrow and loss that's creeping into his mind.
Could the Sisters have felt that way when they felt each other die? He had tried again and again to get them to say they hadn't wanted to die during the experiments, and their programming was specific to Level 6 Shift, so they never did.
But they're still human. Even if they don't understand those feelings, they still must experience them.
Do they feel sorrow now, for the Sisters he killed?
There's another wave of guilt and he slumps, quiet for several moments, sipping his soda. He should say something to her, something -- reassuring. Comforting.]
They'd....
[Fuck, is he even capable of that?]
They'd be happy you did. You deserve a better life than what those shitty scientists had planned.
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[ revenge was a large part of it. taking back their agency. their freedom.
but she knew they were fighting for her too. ]
Still. I wanted my sisters too.
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Yeah. [He sighs a little, knowing he should keep his mouth shut. It's absolutely a mistake to say this, but he can't help it.]
If you want to talk some more about them, I've got two ears and know some clones back home, so....
[It makes him nauseous to say that, but he doesn't want to deny Gabby the chance to chatter a little if she wants to.]
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I didn't know you met some clones before. Of whom?
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[Not one he ever wants to know well, given everything.]
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No. Absolutely-fucking-not.
[There's no way he'd ever want to be around one of the people he holds responsible for the clones' miserable lives.]
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It's fine. People don't usually pick the nice ones to clone. It's always the powerful weird ones.
I mean, Laura is great but that's not why they picked her.
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That's a disgusting thought. He tries to put it out of his mind.]
Why'd they pick her, then?
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[ the hero worship is clear from her voice. ]
That's why she's so good, you know? She fought all the stuff they put into her and became the best on her own.
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So she doesn't do the assassin thing anymore? She got out of that life?
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[Like himself.]
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Besides, it's boring. You don't get much out of it.
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You're right on both counts. [Not on that bad people should be the ones doing the killing, she's wrong on that. The other two things sound reasonable, though.]
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[It maybe isn't what Gabby means, but a certain Level 0 and his right hand comes to mind. He had shut down the entire experiment with one his fist. A little violence, sure, but only towards someone who deserved it. And no one had to die. It was impressive, what that third string did. No one else could've done what he did.
... He's thinking about that boy, and without considering it there's a whole tornado of emotions that come with it. A visceral kind of anger - if that Level 0 ever showed up here he's pretty sure he'd try to fight him again - but also awe, maybe a little gratitude? Jealousy. A nervous kind of reverence.
His tone is a little absent when he speaks up again.]
There's more to life than killing.
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Yeah. That's why I didn't want to do it anymore.
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