metalogs | CONFLUENCE 25

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CONFLUENCE 25

CONFLUENCE.

A Confluence, capitalized, is the converging of one or more supernatural forces.

Whoever you are, whatever you had been getting up to - it doesn't matter, because suddenly you're falling. The sky opens up, and out comes you. You tumble towards the ground above the city of Little Love.

Something ancient and alien hums underneath the Earth. The spells in place Summoner vines that snap up to catch you catch you just before impact, carefully binding your limbs before easing you carefully down to the ground in front of a sign that proudly proclaims this to be Little Love,Kansas. Welcome to the world of Metaheroes.

ALIEN ACTIVITY

Little Love is the kind of sleepy little town where nothing is really meant to happen. It’s the kind of town where people go if they want to start over. With space faring possible again, the population is notably… nervous.

Old technology appears to be coming to life. The moment the new arrivals touch down, they will hear the hitch-pitched hum of something dangerous coming alive beneath the Earth. Something golden glows dimly in the middle distance, and suddenly a fist is punching up and through the Earth.

A massive terraforming machine in the shape of an enormous scorpion has come back online. And it is intent on making this alien world more habitable for its long gone owner. The machine sets eyes upon the new arrivals and any who have come to greet them, throwing its arms out wide. The magic that set them down onto the Earth oh so gently turns in on itself, vines becoming thorny and lashing out at all present. The machine itself attempts to scan and douse any creatures that get too close with a mysterious chemical compound.

The machine might be attempting to destroy the crops and all life-forms, but that fluid has a shelf-life that is well past… mostly. Getting splashed with it has an immediate strengthening effect rather than a weakening one.

Fight to bring the machine down, and then get whisked off to the wonder of Arcadia.

The strengthening effect from that chemical soon fades… however, it isn’t without side-effects.

While the effects aren’t immediate for those doused, there are some… after effects. Throughout the next two weeks, you will find yourself surprisingly sensitive to different minerals. Some augment your strength and some weaken it. ARCADIA, WASHINGTON

Upon arrival, all newcomers will eventually be directed to Arcadia, which is located near Excelsior. This community has an unusual history for some of the Starfallen, but for the wider world, it's simply an AI-generated, AI-run community put together to offer metahumans a place to call home. Unconditionally (for the most part). There are two ways to get to Arcadia: through a building designated as a transport/teleporting point in Excelsior, or through the front door off the outskirts of the city proper. Either way is acceptable.

All newcomers will be greeted by an AI named Virgil. Friendly and welcoming, Virgil will do everything they can to help someone adjust and feel comfortable. Their goal is to help metahumans and Starfallen alike have a place to stay, and their housing complex acts as that for many. Always adjusting and always changing, Arcadia is an important resource, and it's helped along by funding from Winters Industries.

Virgil will provide everyone the rundown they might need, as well as their new living quarters. These quarters are fully adaptable to the needs of its occupants — aesthetically and otherwise. If someone needs special conditions to live, Virgil will work alongside the AIs that directly run Arcadia to help someone find what they need.

Arcadia offers additional resources to its' Starfallen occupants. If anyone's eager to brush up on their knowledge of this world, they can sit through a bunch of (only a little boring) informational videos. For anyone unused to powers, Virgil has designated training centers. However, all training centers are unavailable to metas who aren't affiliated with a Guild. All newcomers are recommended to join a Guild as soon as possible to receive additional support beyond what Virgil themselves is able to offer.

After settling in, all Arcadia occupants receive a credit card to manage their expenses (this card is typically intended to help someone buy food, clothing, and other necessities). It's very apparent that these stipends are provided by Winters Industries and not Virgil.

MISSIONS

The 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!

CLIFF NOTES.

➢ New arrivals land in Little Love, where a terraforming machine comes to life and begins to terrorize the town. It douses anyone it can in a terraforming fluid which enhances their strength for a total of two hours, before leaving them with some strange sensitivities to earth's minerals. Line the colors of your favorite precious stones up with Kyrptonite for some fun effects.

➢ All Starfallen will be granted a place at Arcadia, though no one is required to take that spot. Everyone who decides to live there will be provided with a stipend, as well as fully customizable living quarters.

➢ Guild members are expected to participate in missions at least once monthly. However, this does not have to be the missions offered on this post and can be handwaved. PCs are also welcome to switch missions between themselves for one that better suits, if their monthly assigned one won't work for them.

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

The Weather Girls would get a kick out of this.

( though it's more mumbled under his breath than anything else, as he follows along with tim. throws a look over his shoulder towards the scorpion and considers just - offering to clean it up right now, he probably could. wish it toy-sized, or to dust, or - well, whatever works. but that's less important currently since it's not moving any. getting clear of the fall-zone's in both of their best interests, so billy's not going to argue.

especially not when rook knows david, who's here. somewhere. )

Prodigy? When did he show up? ( was billy delayed in transit? and are there others lurking around? he won't ask after them, because he figures--if david is around, he'll be able to fill in what billy's missing. ) And the wood thing? A terrible stereotype. My cape alone would weigh me down and I'd drown. Do you know how hard it is to swim with this thing? ( grabbing onto the side of it with a hand. is it made out of magic? absolutely. but it's still an almost floor-length, cloaky cape. )

Edited 2024-02-09 17:52 (UTC)

[ He snerks and continues alternating between leading Wiccan past a barricade and falling behind to keep a lookout for everything. People. Plants. Robots. Busy night. ]

Don’t you lose your head. Pretty good advice, if you ask me.

[ He picks up a corner of his cape between two fingers like it’s a specimen and holds it up for inspection for five. Ten seconds. Until the silence makes the point for him.

Then, he gets two fingers under his collar and demonstrates the breakaway clasp, leaving him holding his cape a flourish. ]

Wouldn’t know anything about it. Prodigy has been here longer than I have. You’ll have to ask him for the details.

[ He likes David, but Tim recognizes some of his own traits there. He’s not going to open the door to blabbing each other’s secrets. ]

( his cape might not be as detachable as rook's, but it doesn't take more than a thought for it to shorten into something more similar to what his asgardian cape had been: artfully ripped towards the bottom, still wrapped snugly around his neck with enough fabric to make a nice hood out of it if he feels like hiding. not great for protecting one's head in case of any drowning incidents. great for being dramatic, which is the whole point of it.

billy pulls in a breath, shakes his head. ) Sorry. Not on you. ( a wave of his hand. ) Wood witch and potential drowning in capes whining I mean. I've had a day and getting inter-dimensionally kidnapped got in the way of my plans to lay down and never move again.

( david'll get it. unless he's a different david, which he might be. how many davids has billy met? and how many of them were evil? too many to count. he's walking at a steady pace though, and letting rook move as he wants around him. falling behind, walking ahead, wherever. )

Edited 2024-02-10 00:44 (UTC)

[ Another flash of magic, and no chanting this time. Hm. He's rather adept at that, but Tim bites it back. Wiccan's understandably pissed at the situation. No one can blame him for that, and they can blame him less if he was planning on laying down and never moving again.

He's - yeah, he's felt like that wearing the Robin costume. He didn't feel like that on a good day. ]

It might mess up those plans for a few more hours, but I promise the guild'll set you up in a hotel for awhile. You can lay down and never move farther than the room services cart for at least a week before you get cabin fever.

[ A whip-thin vine sprouts up and catches Tim around the ankle right as he rips it in half with a throwing star. Budget batarangs, but they work. He can make the way smoother for the guy, and leave out obvious questions from the guild script for How to Meet Newbs. Keep the conversation here and not there. ]

You're handling the interdimensional kidnapping well for someone who got zapped out of bed and dropped in Kansas.

( a small, grim smile. )

I was dropped here from the sidewalk outside of a Happy Noodle, which wasn't in my usual side of the multiverse. So not quite out of bed, and aside from missing my friend who's usually the one to punch holes through the multiverse--the being somewhere else thing isn't all that abnormal.

( he'd just found out about his whole.. future as the demiurge thing. just had teddy leave him, was hoping to go back to noh-varr's ship and not move for a while. it wouldn't have worked out for him long anyway; he still needs to find tommy and save him, and find a way to get mother to go back to wherever it was she came from and leave their parents alone. )

If you stay close to me, I can try to keep the vines off.

Happy Noodle sounds like it’s trying too hard, but it’s better than how I got here. I was in an alley, the last time it happened. I crashed my bike, and a brick wall and garbage bags helpfully stopped the fall.

[ He gives it a good twist of humor, the kind of you’ll never believe the day I had story for catching up with friends on a Friday night. Here, have a slice of Tim’s shitty luck for some heartwarming schadenfreude.

But he does shrink the distance between them as he chatters. Rook only has so many blades on him. ]

Then I was in Central City. The wrong Central City, and yeah. All multiverse traversing friends and tech did not make the trip with me. I know the guilds can send you back temporarily, but it sounds like torture. You’ll get snapped back here like you’re on a rubber band.

Ouch.

( sounds like a rough landing. billy at least can cushion his own falls, most the time. and the whole--leave but get snapped back here thing? definitely doesn't sound fun. he's ripped holes through the multiverse before, but it's--well. it hasn't turned out well for him, and as much as he kind of wants to get back home but also kind of never wants to go back again, trying to rip his way back through doesn't sound like a great idea.

david's around somewhere. he might have a better plan. )

I can theoretically get myself elsewhere in the multiverse, but it's--not a great idea to try.

( given uh, well. )

Last time I dragged in an interdimensional parasite. Very bad experience. I wouldn't recommend it.

Ouch indeed. Actually, I was fine.

I’m not dressed for theoretical multiverse free climbing. Let’s call that Plan G, and we can talk about it in three months when someone explains how to prevent getting death-gripped right back.

[ When he does get to go back home, he wants it to be once. Having to explain what happened multiple times … explaining what he’s been through once will be difficult enough. ]

Especially since every extraterrestrial, interdimensional parasite I’ve met would use us as meat puppets to do their bidding. That’s not how you should start your week, and there’s no purple-and-pink starfish suckered onto your face, so it’s not Starro. You wouldn’t tell me if you were a parasite.

Wasn't offering to make a try for it now, trust me. As a not interdimensional parasite, inviting another one in is definitely not part of the plan. The first one was bad enough as it was.

( starro doesn't sound particularly familiar, which is probably for the best. or maybe for the worst, because hopefully starro isn't here, but also hopefully whatever that is, it doesn't exist anywhere near here. it's too early for round two; billy still hasn't figured out how they're going to take down mother yet. )

I’m very convinced that you’re not an interdimensional parasite.

[ He is, actually. A parasite wouldn’t have brought them up in the first place. To think it’s some sort of double bluff is stupid. It’d be like walking into a party and announcing that he wasn’t going to start modelling for figure drawing classes. No one asked.

And on the mental track of questions no one asked, Tim has one. ]

Does your space suit have pockets?

Oh, good. Because I really don't have a better way of convincing you.

( continuing to not be one only really goes so far. the question of pockets makes him - stop and look down at himself. at the space that doesn't move when billy moves like fabric should behave.

(he always was one for dramatics. having a boring spaceprint wouldn't be much fun, would it?)

his old messenger bag would come in handy here, given his suit does not, in fact, sport pockets. but he does reach a hand down for the side of his thigh, pinching fabric between his index finger and thumb. it breaks loose into a stretchy pocket. )

My space suit has pockets now.

( that counts, doesn't it. )

I’m officially jealous. I don’t have an infinite bag of holding.

[ He taps his belt, with its finite number of pouches, and he has to make do with that.

(His plans for a Batchel are forever on the back burner.)

He steps in closer, acting like he’s getting a better look by way of getting a better look. The galaxies hang on the fabric when Wiccan moves. Tim thinks it would make his head hurt if he stared too long. ]

I think I met someone like you before. He turned a polo shirt into a punk rock Henley. How did you do that?

[ He can’t sleight -of-hand the card that he’s palmed into a tight uniform. No one is that good. But he can maneuver himself into a situation where hooking a finger on the already stretched out pocket is curiosity running away with him, and not suspicious.

Rook lets go almost immediately and looks embarrassed at having caught himself being weird. The flimsy business card left behind in the pocket simply says If you feel pressured to enlist. 215-555-1212.

(He joined a guild. Other people don’t have to.) ]

Sorry, the rest of us have to actually change our clothes, we can’t just change our clothes.

Reality warper. The outfit changes are surprisingly simple.

( less exciting than speeding into a telephone booth to quickly strip off a suit into a super-suit, but billy will take what he can get. rook looks embarrassed, and billy's curling up the corners of his lips into a small smile. he caught that. isn't quite sure if he'd call it smooth yet, but it was either smooth or mildly embarrassing. as a professional self-embarrasser, he'd pull that off with way less finesse. )

I'd show you how if I could, but it's not really a replicable talent. And I have no idea how I do it either.

( the smile fades, hands raising up in surrender. )

Not in a concerning way. Promise I mostly know what I'm doing even if I don't know how I'm doing it. ( does that make sense? because it doesn't sound like it does. but he's also still--reeling from the whole demiurge conversation. but that's something for a later conversation. )

Hm.

[ He catches the smile and flashes a brief, apologetic half smile. He looks back towards where some of the native capes are dealing with another robo-scorpion. He wants to apologize for sticking his hand in the guy’s suit -

(Oh my god, what was he thinking? He put. His hand. In the guy’s suit.)

(Dealing with that later.)

(Wiccan kinda smiled though.)

(Also later.)

There are more serious things to talk about, and he doesn’t back up right away and keeps his voice too soft and rushed to carry. ]

Stick with saying you’re a witch. They get their reality wrecked regularly by these Confluences.

[ So be smart about words, because Rook can’t follow him to Arcadia. ]

You’re fine. Most of the metahumans I know just feel it. They don’t have to think about being fast or strong.

[ He feels injuries and feels himself healing them. He can’t tell you which tendons are severed. ]

( most metahumans just feel it. wanda once said no more mutants and even now, years later, people are still suffering. billy has possibly been manipulating his boyfriend into being in love with him since they met because he's that powerful, someone who's supposed to redefine the laws of magic itself sometime in the future.

but it's fine to just feel it. totally fine. he isn't ruining or breaking anything. he's not anxious or anything about the whole demiurge thing. it's fine. )

Yeah, I'm not going for a repeat of the last time someone higher up figured out who I was. ( not what but who. wanda maximoff's magically reincarnated witchkid comes with it's own prejudices. ) But thanks for the warning.

[ Tim touches his finger to the side of his nose. Nobody’s talking here, although statements like that make him itch with interest.

Wiccan’s alluding to Something like Rook should know, and he can poke around at a distance. (He’d be dead if was a cat.) He can’t just ask. ]

I’m full of warnings. Don’t join any religions - there’s a bunch of cults - stay away from clowns, and remember that Starfallen are second class citizens. Look up Frances Starling if you want to see how they treat “others.” What else would you want to know?

( a vine starts towards them, but it doesn't get very far before billy's noticing it moving and--a barrier blocks its path, zaps it when it hits against it and burns it away. see, he said he'd take care of any attacking shrubbery. )

So, not all that different from back home. ( mutants are generally treated fairly poorly. billy had the advantage of growing up well before things turned for the worst, and even now his parents are stupidly supportive. they're great. most people aren't. not that it's usually been an issue for him considering the circles he tends to stick to, but. . . that's not always the case. ) Starfallen, I'm guessing that's what we are?

[ Tim trusted that Wiccan would cover the vines, but he also whipped his bo-staff out of its holster. Keeps it out , although he wonders if he’d end up playing tug of war with a vine for it.

He comes within a centimeter of tapping it on the energy wall. Doesn’t, because he likes his bo, but he’d like to see how selective the destruction is. ]

You sure know how to make a guy feel superfluous I’m used to being the competent one.

[ He looks from the wall to Wiccan. ]

Didn’t even hear you chant that time.

[ Half-wondrous, half-teasing, and now fully returned to the matter at hand. ]

It’s their umbrella term for extra dimensional metahumans - all Starfallen are metahumans, not all metahumans are Starfallen. Looks like you had your powers before the Confluence, but if you didn’t, you’d have them now. Just know that you might find them changed.

I think they’re called Starfallen because most Confluences cause them to fall from the sky.

Just because I've got magic, doesn't mean you aren't the competent one. That swing you pulled off earlier? I could never. Like I'm not uncoordinated but, ( a gesture down at himself with his hands. you know. billy and his noodly self with barely any muscle-mass billy. ) you know.

( he'd been out of the game for a while before getting on noh-varr's ship, too. billy's been training, but not to catch a guy using while playing spider-man with a grapple gun. )

I don't always need the chanting either. It's more for uh - concentrating. Mostly for bigger spells or things I need to put a lot of power behind. Guarding against vines isn't a big deal.

( usually. as long as it stays small-scale like this. )

And I guess that makes sense. Given I did fall from the sky.

[ Rook's eyes follow Wiccan's hands, and he tilts his head from side to side while he considers form to size. ]

You could with some practice. You're really lean, so you don't need much muscle mass for a short, solo swing. If you can catch your falling weight and you can hold a dead hang for 90 seconds, you'd be fine.

[ Those are reasonable goals, right? He thinks they're normal. He hasn't been to a gym with normal people in it since freshman year of high school. ]

If you need a mental break, let me know. I have knives for the vines, and C4 can handle the bots.

I missed out on falling from the sky. I got buried in a field of potato monsters, also here in Little Love, Kansas.

I can't even do a single pull up. I have flown while keeping Kate from falling on her face before though, so.

( kate is a little leaner than him though. and that was less holding her than holding on for dear life so she didn't go splat on the ground. )

Maybe I'll work on it. Just in case. ( he's been depowered before, knows it's a possibility to be on the lookout for. just in case. ) You should tell me about your potato monster adventure. While we're out here and all, just in case they pop back up.

[ Rook laughs good-naturedly, thinking it's a joke. Thinking they're both jokes, the lack of a pull-up and the flying but -

No, he thinks he remembers that Wiccan can fly. Magic usually goes hand-in-hand with flight.

(And Wiccan's not laughing, so the pull-up is probably real too.)

Someone please shoot him before he insults the new guy again. (Where is Jason when he needs him?)

It's fine he can salvage this. ]

If you join the Guardian Alliance, we have a gym and there's personal trainers available. I'm supposed to upsell you. Is it working?

[ He can point out that Wiccan could have flown and avoided the scorpion tail strike, but it won't make much of a difference. He's not going to develop faster reflexes from the news, so Rook will remember to grab him if they have to dodge quickly. ]

I woke up buried 3 feet down in the dirt - one of the more terrifying ways to come to - and there were these... voices, at the back of your head? Telling you how nice it was down there in the dirt. Safe. Quiet. Snug. When I dug myself out, I got in a threeway standoff with a potato and a raccoon.

Edited 2024-02-16 23:18 (UTC)

( rook laughs, and billy wonders what he's said that was so funny. takes a moment to connect that he's laughing over billy's complete lack of ability to do a pull up which is. embarrassing really. i mean fair, billy can't do those things, and considering he wears a cape and used to go out intending on hero-ing and is currently in a cape--well. you'd expect him to be somewhat physically capable. it's not like he has a good reason to not be, aside from a dislike of going to the gym.

personal trainers sounds terrible. he should probably get back in shape if he's going to be - out there again, but also he really doesn't want to be. only was back home because he ruined everything. and there's plenty of hero-types here, aren't there? like rook.

he opens his mouth, planning on ignoring the whole trainer and pull up thing, to laugh over the potato and raccoon traumatic dirt incident that rook went through that billy's glad he got to miss out on, except before he gets a word out, he's screeching as a vine sneaks up under him and grabs him by the ankle, picking him straight off the ground to fling him high into the air.

his cape flings itself around, covers his face, which makes seeing very hard. and makes figuring out how to get out even harder, but he's--flinging his arms around, trying to grab onto red fabric to take it off his face. )

[ He’s too dialed in on Wiccan’s face, trying to gauge his reaction to the laughter and getting a sinking feeling when Wiccan suddenly blurs out of frame and up.

Crud, the vines! Tim wasn’t kidding about having knives. He’s got his bo away by the time the screaming starts and a tanto knife out of his boot soon after, but he doesn’t immediately cut him. Wiccan’s cape has him entangled more than the vine, so Tim has to time this out properly.

(That slick fabric with its weird, moving galaxies is not conducive to tracking and predicting motion. Good against enemies, bad for allies.)

If his foot is angled there, and his arms are there and there, then he’ll fall right when he’s —— there!

Tim slashes through the vine hard, throwing the knife clear to get under Wiccan for a clean catch. ]

Gotcha!

[ It sounds a little like oof, but Rook sticks the catch in an princess carry and holds steady to make sure he doesn’t stagger and drop the guy. ]

You’re kinda having a Day.

[ he says with considerable kindness, because this is some bad luck. ]

( he's fine. this may be a first - getting attacked by vines, but he's been thrown around plenty of times. he just needs to get his cape out of his face, see where he's being flung around at, and he'll be able to get his bearings, figure it out. except he's being flung around one way and then the other, the wind it's making is keeping his cape over his face, and he's still screeching, until finally, finally he manages to get the cape away.

only to be immediately dropped down at high speeds. also not abnormal. this has happened before. it'll probably happen again but it's hard to concentrate when he's rushing to the ground and he's two seconds away from going splat when he's shutting his eyes tight, bracing for impact, only to have

two arms grab onto him instead of the ground. it's instinct to wrap an arm around tim's shoulders. not really intentional, more just - he's used to teddy catching him like this except this is definitely not teddy, teddy feels a lot bigger, and he's opening his eyes, looking up to rook and just.

lets out a low groan. )

Please, drop me now. I deserve it. Just let me hit the floor and I'll just stay there for eternity.

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