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CONFLUENCE 25
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.
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.
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!
➢ 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.
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Still, he reaches out to lay a gloved hand on Billy's shoulder.]
Alright, I won't tell you anything. But I will promise you this. The future is a whole hell of a lot brighter than I think you're imagining.
As for going back...
[His hand falls to his side. How does he explain that the man he is now doesn't want to go back?]
No I don't have a route home, and honestly, my boyfriend might be very upset if I bounced on him.
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( a breath in, audible enough that it's obvious billy's going to go off on a tangent-- )
What if you tell me we find a way to take out Mother, we get Tommy back, and things with Teddy and I turn out... better, and then I go back home and I'm just the wrong shade of too confident about the outcome and I mess everything up and ruin it for everyone? What if me knowing how things go just makes everything go even worse? Or even worse - what if it's a lot brighter, but it's not brighter in the way that I think it would be? What if Teddy and I just don't work out but he goes off and gets engaged to someone else and I'm fine but I'm fine on my own which is--it's fine, I'd be happy for him but I'm totally not ready for that, I don't want to hear it. What if we handle Mother but we lose people in the process? What if I know that, and I go into it trying to save them, and then ruin everything? What if you tell me and it changes nothing except now I'm just sitting here imagining a happy future that I might never get to live because while you're now Earth 616-A David, I'm Earth 616-B Billy, and while this place can temporarily snap us to and from realities it's never permanent and I end up stuck here for forever while Earth 616-Prime Billy is off having a happy life and all I can do is sit here and know that somewhere, it exists?
( another breath in, because he'd gone through all of that without taking one. )
Your boyfriend?
( see, david! you have a boyfriend here, it's been eight years, clearly that last scenario has plenty of weight behind it. )
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And Jean-Paul says I think too hard.
[Then he reaches out to touch the guy's shoulder.]
Billy? Breathe. It's complicated. People come and go from here, but so far as I can tell from the last time this happened to me, the memories didn't go back home. So I can understand some of that concern. So my advice is live for today. We'll figure it out as we go. And I've got your back.
Once you're settled, him and I will have you over to dinner. He'll be amused to see you again.
no subject
everything is a mess and now he's here, he doesn't even have kate around to - what, mope around with? david's fine, he likes david, they're friends, but david hasn't known him since he was sixteen and still figuring out what he was. david wasn't texting him through breakdown after breakdown. which is probably for the best, because if he had someone to mope on and the space to mope, which - it doesn't look like they've got the opportunity to chase down tommy and avoid mother here anyway, so there's plenty of space - he'd go find a nice blanket, curl himself up in it, and just not move. for a while.
breathe.
right. breathing's good. no need to panic. everything's fine.
and david's got a hand on his shoulder, which is - steadying. it's physical contact he knows is there, and billy is leaning into it a little.
he raises a hand. pinches his nose between his index and middle fingers. )
Sorry. I'm good. Just--you know, long day.
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[But he wants Billy to not feel like he needs to hide from him.]
We're teammates, even if I've taken another path. I promise, every time you've called, I've been there. That isn't going to change.
[And maybe he always would be? David doesn't need to share the theory he has of his own ties to the Patrinot, how he might be Billy's Harbinger or Herald or whatever.]
If I could take you somewhere safe right now to calm down, I would.
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( he's tired. between the amount of magic it took to take down the scorpion, the one he'd already taken down before this one, the outburst--the weariness is beginning to weigh on him a little heavier. it's enough it's leaking into his voice, the tired tone it takes on as he leans into david's hand a little, his own hand dragging over his face. )
Once a Young Avenger, always a Young Avenger. Right? ( billy tried to leave once. took down the whole team with him, and look where that got them. ) I'm calm. Calmer. I'll be better as soon as we clear out the rest of these mechs.
( work first, naps later. )
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[He laughs at the once and always line.]
Given I still get called for tech support back home while being on an X-Team, yeah. Always.
Stay out of the way, take a rest. I know better than to try and interface with these things now so I have ideas to take down more.
[And, of course, now he has an awkward offer to make.]
Listen, if you want, since the guild will try and corner you in Excelsior adjacent areas in your adjustment period anyway, you could come stay with me and my guy for a bit. It's got an almost Dr. Strange vibe with his magical hobbies and antique tastes, and the dinners are home made and gourmet every day. Bed's pretty comfy too. Though I warn you, Excelsior is not always friendly to magic inclined Metas.
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( being wanda's kid came with its own prejudices when he'd first shown up. they'd lessened as time passed and people got to know him better, but there was still that period when the avengers had technically locked him away for a bit to try and figure out what to do with him. and even discounting his entire powerset--well. school hadn't been the easiest either.
( he'll stay out of the way with the scorpions. mostly. unless david or someone else looks like they need a hand, and then he'll jump in and interfere. )
billy leans back enough that he's no longer pressing his weight in against david's hand. runs fingers through his hair. )
I don't want to intrude, but if you're sure--it's not like I have somewhere else to stay anyway.
( he hasn't been accosted by the guilds just yet. )
no subject
[Being a mutant was as good of a way of being taught that as being black or bi.]
You wouldn't be intruding. Helping a friend get on their feet is a good reason for a guest room. And he was the one to suggest it.
[In a round about manner. Nothing like texting with your boyfriend about career changes, house guests, and teenaged angst while talking to an old friend.]
Small question. Your knowledge of the amounts of magic used by spell size isn't exactly something my ability ever pinged on, so just a quick check. Would it be a small spell to pinpoint where the narrowest point in the armor on these things is? I know I can pierce it with a blade if I know where, but my powers are a bit taxed from the technopathic backlash.
no subject
( a loose lift of his shoulders. billy's particular brand of magic is unpredictable, even when it comes to him using it. he's burned himself out casting spells he was fairly certain wouldn't cost much at all, and managed a lot more than he thought he could. par the course for being a chaos witch maybe. it's not as if he has much to go off of. and weak points is so--vague. maybe a break in the scorpion's armor is something simple, surface-level, easy to pinpoint. maybe it's magically protected and therefore would burn him out easier. not that they felt particularly magical when he took down the one with rook and this one with david. but. )
Next one we find, I'll take a closer look at. I won't get in the middle of it unless you need a hand.
( decent middle ground, right. )
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Thank you. I'd rather you not burn yourself out energy wise. Though...
[He considers for a moment then pulls something from one of the sealed interior pockets of his coat. It's an old style flip phone, and really, do they need more than that for a burner.]
In case we get separated. I'll be able to find that and you. Type a message into the notes program and save it, and I'll get it.
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so he reaches out for the phone. tucks it into the pocket along his the thigh of his pants that absolutely wasn't there before he'd crash-landed here. )
How many phones are you carrying on you?
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On me? Only three. Why?
[Don't tell him that's too many. He's a technopath. They're too useful to him. Miniature computers he can abandon at a moment's notice? Useful.]
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( considering he handed billy one. but he's quirking his lips up into a small smile. )
Thanks. If we get separated I'll re-remember how to work the dialpad.
( or just find david, either way. you know. )
I might take you up on that housing offer. Since I'm betting Noh-Varr's ship isn't around.
no subject
[Yeah, that's pretty much a silly skill for him, but he typically doesn't type on those phones.]
Yeah, no Noh. We're the only ones here right now. Sorry. Now...
[Once more a blade of glowing energy forms in his hand and David signs a smile at Billy before heading back toward the general distress.]
Stay safe.