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CONFLUENCE 24
A Confluence, capitalized, is the converging of one or more supernatural forces.
There don't seem to be any people falling from the sky this month. The Seers view it as a sign that the New Year is going to be a peaceful one. So, for the first time in two years, the Guilds can throw a celebration.
In commemoration of the hard work from both sides, they opt to hold a shared celebration on neutral ground. Sunset Falls is, as ever, the perfect place to do so. The Willow Maiden is still dreaming deeply and though most of the town is blanketed in a fine coat of snow, the meadow in her forest is warm and lush. There are wedding tents set up on either side, and the middle of the meadow appears to have been claimed by civilian metas and human allies who aided in the efforts.
The Alliance and The Society have set up both of their usual holiday setups in this space. An anti-gravity dancehall has people dancing in the sky. And as the Starfallen are the only reason anyone is still here right now, those who haven't picked a side are also welcome. Francis Starling has set up a small lounge between the two spaces - something she isn't finding much humor in.
Each side is elaborately decorated. The Alliance has its more humble and relaxed aesthetic, and The Society has its usual ostentatious presentation. Some magicians have conjured an enormous clock, ticking down the moments to the New Year… which is a day later than when the rest of the world celebrates it. Who can say how this tradition started, other than that time travel sucks?
There's alcohol for the adults and juice for the kids. A magically refilling buffet table. Desserts that appear with a thought. It's a miracle that everyone got this through the year, and the Guilds have spared absolutely no expense.
There are party games, some as basic as Pin the Tail on the Donkey. And other far more elaborate - high contact sports where the super strong can go all out. Hide and seek turns into a cerebral game of cat and mouse.
There is a fortune-telling booth set up in the far corner of the meadow, nearer to where the Villains tent is than the heroes. Chaos Gate sits behind it, watching the party unfold with a slightly guilty smile. It is, after all, her fault that things got so wildly out of control... but at the same time, one can't deny that the world is more interesting. Perhaps even better for it. Characters can approach her and for a small fee (mostly a drink ticket, though she'll take whatever you have in your pockets, even if it's lint) they can be assigned a constellation.
This constellation doesn't correlate to any known star you've heard of. When asked, she says it's unique to you. It's not just your star sign, it's the star sign that all the celestial bodies across all worlds created when you were born. Whether she's kidding or not is hard to say, she is collecting drink tickets after all, but she thinks that as the Willow Maiden's head priestess, it's her right to slack off when her boss is sleeping.
You can ask questions about your past, your present, or your future. Each person only gets three, so think carefully about what you want to ask. If you're stuck and in dire need of guidance - she's right here for you. She'll answer with her limited omniscience.
With that said, there is a side-effect of having your fortunes read. As this is chaos magic, being perceived puts everything in a bit of flux - you'll have an unfortunate side-effect for the next week or so. Your horoscope for each day is suddenly far more accurate. These can be quite serious, or quite silly. Such is the danger of asking anything of Katherine West.
STARS FALLINGJust as the exuberant gathering of heroes and villains countdown to 1, and the screams of Happy New Year die down - something begins to streak across the sky. Unlike the distant shooting stars, this is… close. Far more reminiscent of one of the Starfallen abruptly appearing and tumbling toward the Earth.
For a moment, the partygoers can only stare at it. Wondering if perhaps the Seers had missed something. A few flight-capable heroes move to take off to intercept the falling thing, anticipating that this is a Starfallen and that tonight's festivities are about to be disrupted by their disorienting arrival - only for one of the Seers to hold out a hand to stop them.
Unlike the Starfallen, the object is burning up as it falls.
"Well, it's been a while since we've seen that," Mechanima buzzes, mask switching from a giant question mark to a firework. "I suppose we're all a bit paranoid about space debris being people these days. Let's get back to the party, shall we? I don't want to remember this tomorrow."
And though some return to partying, others… don't. Atomight, Mechanima, and Frances all look notably perturbed and when approached with questions, don't have answers. The best they can offer is that wayward spaceships aren't uncommon, but the last time they saw anything like this - the Starfallen were the result.
Chaos Gate herself looks notably… disturbed. If asked, she says this is an all too familiar sight. Two years ago, she was standing on a farm in Little Love feeling the world shift as things that were never meant to be here fell to Earth. And this feeling is the same.
Stars continue to fall through the rest of the night.
Come morning, those within the Guilds will be called to base. The phenomenon happened the world over, and though there's no indication that anything made contact or damaged anything - that's more concerning. While the usual missions are there to request, there are new ones to investigate what happened.
And for once, these are not limited just to the metahuman cities. Whatever happened, happened everywhere.
MISSIONSThe headquarters of the Guardian Alliance are easy to find. It’s located in one of the taller and more ornate skyscrapers of Central City
The first floor is something of a public space. There’s a small museum dedicated to the Alliance’s most famous exploits, standees of famous heroes for tourists to snap selfies with, and even a little gift shop! For metas, though, the real business starts upstairs. You’ll have to check in with a receptionist, who will unlock the elevator to HQ proper. There’s not a lot of visible security beyond that, but you still get the feeling that any kind of trouble here wouldn’t end well for the troublemakers.
The Guardian’s Club is the central hub of the headquarters. It’s an open and sunny lounge area with shining white walls and floors. The furniture is modern, in bright primary colors, and there’s a high ceiling that allows for people of any size, or those who just want to fly around for fun. Off to one side is a large games area - the main attraction is the large pool table, but there’s also some board games, co-op video games, a snack bar, and even a DDR machine. Bonding with your fellow heroes is a great thing!
Outside of this area is where you’ll find the mission board. It’s a modern touchscreen display, on which Alliance members can tap their member ID, input mission preferences, how many they intend to take out with them, and receive a mission.
Where the Guardian Alliance’s headquarters gleams, The Society’s headquarters is much darker. The two buildings are actually quite close to each other. Entering here, you’ll find a similar reception desk where your credentials must be verified before going into the headquarters proper. Security here is far more visible, with clear cameras on the walls and buff guards, often with visible powers such as rocky skin or hands that crackle with lightning, posted nearby. You have to imagine, though, that the real safeguards here are the ones you can’t see.
Inside the Society Lounge, the furnishings are classy in a far more toned-down sense. The furnishings are dark wood, with chairs and long couches upholstered primarily in reds and violets. Here, there’s a full bar! According to the sign posted above it, however, any disorderly conduct within the Lounge will be swiftly dealt with.
The mission board is a sleek electronic display posted on the back wall of the lounge. It’s quite high-tech, updating itself regularly. You can use the touchscreen to request a job. After inputting one's member ID and the amount of people they intend to take along with them, it will assign out tasks based off of what it thinks they will be able to handle. But be careful; who gets assigned what is all public information, and it sure would be a shame to fail.
Please fill out the form and post it below our MISSION REQUESTS header.
CHARACTERS INVOLVED:
GUILD: What guilds are the characters affiliated with?
REQUESTED DIFFICULTY: Easy/Medium/Hard
REWARD REQUEST: Is your character after money, or a specific item?
LIMITATIONS: What do you not want your character to get assigned? Please note we are happy to offer new missions if our initial offer doesn't work!
➢ Welcome to the first Confluence of Arc 3! We've outlined what can be expected throughtout the month STATE OF THE GAME for January.
➢ All Starfallen are invited to a lavish New Years party - taking place on the evening of January 1st, as due to some temporaral shenanigans that is actually the start of the new year.
➢ Players can have their fortunes read by Chaos Gate, who is set up. They get three questions and she will answer with what appears to be some limited omniscience. Doing so may result in your luck and overall reality being a little bit wonky throughout the next week.
➢ As the party goes on, a starshower will begin. Though nothing dramatic appears to be happening just yet, players can be sent out on investigative missions to see just what happened. This is happening the world over. It also is happening in space itself - space exploration is now on the table.
➢ Any missions will feed into the January event, as well as any fortunes or questions asked.
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[He glances over at Leo before sinking his own chin against his arms.]
I haven't given up yet.
[He knows, it's not all on him, but he still feels like he should have found something out by now.]
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[He does know. He trusts Donnie. This isn't about his progress or lack thereof, and Leo doesn't want him to feel guilty.]
I haven't, either. [He'll do whatever he has to, not to go back there.] I know we'll figure it out. I just...
I wish... my last real conversation with Raph hadn't been a fight. [He cringes.] If I'd known it would be this long... Well. I guess I wanna believe I would have said something different.
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Hey. It's taking longer than we would have hoped, but... We'll work something out. We'll get you home.
I don't know if the methods the Alliance has to let people visit their home timeline functions now. Last I heard, something weird was going on with them before they stopped altogether, but that was before we went timeskipping to the past.
[He lifts his head some.] Maybe if we both went, we could figure something out on that side..! And sure, maybe cause another fracture in the timeline but how many different paths have already branched out by now just from both of us not being where we're supposed to?
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At Donnie's suggestion, he lifts his head, too. Donnie seems... surprisingly cavalier about potentially breaking the time stream, but then he is right that it's probably already broken in ways they can never know anyway.
And going back... even if it's just for a short time, even if they don't remember later, just to see them again...
Leo can't help but fidget anxiously. It's not that he doesn't want to try, but...]
It wouldn't... let me, before. Wouldn't let me go home.
[At first, it didn't work at all, but that was apparently normal. Later, he may have been able to use the machine, but it wouldn't have put him where he wanted to be. It would have stuck him back in the Prison Dimension, and that's...]
What if you try to take me through with you, and me being there messes it all up?
[Even worse than Leo going back to the Prison Dimension would be taking Donnie there.]
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[The possibility was already losing steam even as he tried to lay it out. He didn't know too much about the details, of bringing two different people, if that were even possible or if it would just split them up and cough them out where they were supposed to be. Donnie grimaces at the thought.]
...
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One good outcome, one unacceptable outcome, and the last... well, it is what it is.
There are other options here, though.]
You know, you can go back by yourself. Or try to take someone else. Like Accy.
[It doesn't have to be Leo. He can stay here.]
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[He seems genuinely surprised at the suggestion.]
I'm not going anywhere, what would be the point? You're still here and stuck.
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That thing the Alliance has can't send anyone home permanently, so... you go back, I wait for you here. See if anyone back home knows anything about interdimensional portals. Draxum, maybe.
[It's not a bad idea, in Leo's mind.]
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[He frowns, listening. It's not a bad idea either.]
...we can potentially change things. Maybe we can stop the Krang from even coming, now that I know what to look for.
[Or did that weird memory shift he experienced some months back mean that things happened already for him? He has no idea. This is maddening.
Donnie shakes his head.]
Anyway. No, you're right. If we can head off that problem, then I'll have time to look into that business.
[And try not to look insane- well, any more insane in front of his brothers while he tries to fix things. Great. Yeah.]
Wouldn't it just be convenient if it worked out like how it did here, going back to the past?
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You’ve sure come a long way from telling me about time paradoxes and physical determinism.
[Donnie fully embracing that time can be changed. What a development.]
I can give you the same picture Casey gave us. It has a drawing of the key on the back. And… maybe write a note to myself. [Leo grimaces.] Even if I believe what you’re telling me, back then I would probably just try even harder to fix it myself and end up making a bigger mess than I did before.
[Amazing what this has done for his self-awareness!]
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[Donnie smiles crookedly at the admission. He's not the only one who's changed. It's kind of weird thinking about it.]
Well, if I bring Accelerator maybe he can help smack some sense into you.
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[If he knows, he may feel some kind of responsibility about it. And, no thanks.
He can't help but laugh at Donnie's suggestion though.]
If anyone could, it'd probably be him. Or worst comes to worst he could just hold me down until you guys had the key secured.
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[Granted it's mostly timeline potentials he's been trying to map out, but that's enough to suggest how fractured things are.]
True. The key, huh. Hey, how big is it?
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[Sounds terrifying.
At the question, Leo holds up his hands, to indicate an object only a foot or so tall and about half a foot in diameter.]
About like that. It's made of wood, but indestructible. Just looks like any other old relic they might have in a history museum - it's why I didn't think too much about it when I lost it in the first place. Raph did, though.
[Of course he had, because Raph was thinking and Leo wasn't.]
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Hmm, too big for me to disintegrate. [Donnie frowns as he eyes the rough size Leo shapes with his hands.]
Maybe I can just...change it into something else?
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[Would it really be that easy...?]
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[Leo shakes his head. No, he can’t just dismiss it out of hand - it’s entirely possible that Donnie’s powers will be able to do it.]
It’s worth a shot though. If it doesn’t work, though, you’ll need to secure it good. The Foot Clan’ll be after you as soon as they know you have it.
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Those guys just never know when to quit. [He sighs. ] But okay, got it.
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[There’s probably more Leo could tell him - probably more he should. But he doesn’t want to overload Donnie with information; it’s not like he’s leaving right now. They don’t even know if the Alliance’s methods are working right now.
So he’ll stop that for now. Instead, he leans in and gives Donnie a light shoulder check - just for the contact.]
Thanks. For coming to check on me.
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What was more important was that Leo's mood's picked up. Donnie'd almost forgotten why he'd come out here in the first place, so he blinks at the contact before offering a faint smile back.]
Anytime. Would be nicer if you just invited me along next time.
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Asking you to come watch me be sad on a rooftop kinda ruins my whole carefree, fun loving image, you know?
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Don't worry, I wasn't recording. But if you're done with being sad, maybe we can get off this cold rooftop and grab something hot to drink on the way back.
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Yeah, that sounds good.
[He hops to his feet, extending a hand for Donnie if he wants it.]
Maybe we can crash on the couch with Jupiter Jim after we get back?
[He may be done being sad, but he doubts he’ll be able to sleep if he’s alone after this.]
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I'm down for that.
[He's more than willing to oblige. Leo making suggestions is better than Leo sneaking off to mope in his lonesome.]