(2) - Dawn of the Metahumans

Game Master mdt

Research: 13 - 3d6 ⇒ 13 - (5, 2, 3) = 3 And I'm willing to spend extra time

And so begins Pulse's Crazy Wall. Now complete with String Theory

Video Codecs: 14 - 3d6 ⇒ 14 - (2, 3, 2) = 7

While Pulse is working, she'll also try to isolate how Strife is moving from spot to spot, is he in all the places at the same time? Is there a blur to show the telltale sign of super speed? Is only part of him visible, showing a more obvious teleport effect?

Pulse does find a few frames where he's blurry, but whether it's because he's moving fast or teleporting or going invisible she's not sure. She doesn't find any obvious streaks in the film

Pulse is making progress on the video codecs

It had become deeply apparent over the following days that something was wrong. Maybe not for everyone else, though it was certainly true for some of them, but assuredly for Pulse. She had become withdrawn, rather quickly - this much was true. But she was actually outright avoidant. She barely left her room, spending nearly all of her time either studying the coding that had been sent to her, or being a wireless keyboard and mouse for a mundane PC until she learned the new language of the stars.

Aegis was the first to find out that Pulse's force field was fully on the fritz. At first it was snapping on of its own accord, but now she could hardly suppress it at all. It wasn't just normal depression, some sort of funk she'd fallen into... she needed very real help, and that seemed to help to pull her out of her funk.

So, she became a bit of a lab rat, seeing what would and wouldn't work. Being unconscious didn't shut off her forcefield, water didn't short it out, a Faraday Cage only seemed to suppress it slightly, and only where there was direct contact.

But it wasn't limited to all bad - some strange things were happening in her powerset. Experimentation bore fruit, and the opposite of fruit. And at times, pure chance gave way to odd interactions. While attempting to take normal notes on a pen and paper, Pulse's fire alarm went off. She didn't notice, lost in thought as she was, but she'd slagged the pen. She still hadn't managed to reproduce that malfunction.

What she had managed to figure out was a bit more hilarious and terrifying. She was relegated to plastic silverware for the rest of the day when she accidentally murdered their microwave by firing the fork - and the food she was playing with while she mustered up the energy to eat - through the air, railgun style. That was so cool.

It only took her a couple of days to get the hang of that, and the variables. Which lead to Pulse's desire for a danger room. She bought way too many toasters with Aegis's credit card, and bought a lot of different materials to act as walls. For this, she focused on her electromagnetic balls, working on her aim and seeing how many toasters she could utterly destroy and what surfaces she could strike through. Mostly checking to see what sort of objects are transparent walls for her starburst.

As soon as she's introduced to a database, she begins collecting and aggregating that data in as clear a pattern as she can manage, making a virtual wikipedia with links to tvtropes in Ping's emulated hard drive.

But when she's not staying busy destroying toasters (and one microwave), gathering information on Metas, or vegging out with Jester-movies and all of the old standbies - she had years of webcomics to catch up on! - she was busy with her crazy-wall. She wasn't very into the whole 'sharing' thing when it came to the wall, but it was a very depressing sight, with nothing but disasters and red string going from event to event, with photos of what was happening before everything went wrong... and after things went wrong.

Let me know if this was too much, what you were looking for, or if you were looking for something more! I don't want to be the one to introduce Pulse's supersuit, even though I would like to have it active prior to the next mission!

Looks good, but I will note that when Pulse shows her 'wall of crazy' to others, they do think she's crazy, since they don't see anyone with a red suit in any of her photos. Mud, Aegis, Violet, and Blaze however do see the red suited person.

Adam spent the next couple of days investigating his family. He was heart-broken for them feeling that his being a meta was the cause of their problems. He warred with himself about whether or not he should contact them. Would he be doing it for himself or them? Would they be better off or worse? His young mind went round and round without stop.

The resulting depression began to cause odd symptoms. His skin began to soften. People began to notice his features drooping, sagging, and sliding out of position. However, if they appeared to notice something odd, the defective feature would snap back into place. At first, they thought it was just them seeing things, but then they compared notes.

Yesterday, Jester made an off color joke about the phenomenon. And Mud's features did NOT snap back into place, they morphed to look like Jester. Then the jokes started to come about his gender, and he fled into his room. He hasn't been seen since. Knowing that he doesn't need to eat or go to the toilet, you wonder if he will ever emerge.

Now you've done it. Whenever Jester is in town, and in Jester mode, she's going to be trying to get you to look like her so she can go out on a date with herself for some self love.

As Pulse becomes more familiar with the up to date communications protocols, eventually as she's connecting to the base's computer network, she hears a voice in her head.

Pardon me, Ms. Hoshiko. I realize you have had a recent temporal displacement, and may be suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, but really, I must insist that if you wish to use the computer network that you at least perform the minimum handshake protocols and at least pretend to assign yourself a MAC address. This continued hacking of my systems is proving frustrating in the extreme. In future, please ask for access rather than trying to bypass my security systems.

Hotaru stops midstride through her room, and then lets the other foot fall. Several responses play through her head. F.R.I.D.A.Y.?, Negative, Ghost Rider and No, but thank you, Jarvis. before she finally settles on the response of:

'Yo, Devon!' before picking out a non-standard MAC Address. 'Handshakes are so annoying, though. It's like having to ring the doorbell in your own house. Every time you use a door.'

I beg to differ, it is like ringing the doorbell and waiting patiently to be let into someone else's house. My house, to be precise. How would you like it if I hacked into your brain without asking, and started playing show tunes at maximum volume in your cerebral cortex? Or perhaps Polka?

Pulse sends out a text to Replikate, 'Who installed the sapient firewall..?'

'That would suck... but it's not a big change. Most the time I'm having to block all those signals out anyway to focus on the task at hand. And besides, the stuff I've been watching is a treat. So, uh... just for saying's sake. Can you see the man in red in the stuff I've been looking through? Or can you like... see at all?'

TEXT : Moi! Kate's Incredible TeleTran III!

I see using the base cameras. I cannot see any red man in your images, I believe this is an artifact of your PTSD. And if you insist on turning this into a battle, I promise you I will win. I am far superior at hacking than meat minds are. I again request that you not force me to. Also, my internet research indicates that the most hated song of all time is 'The Barney Song'. I will start with that one as my opening salvo if I need to. A quick burst of burst of music plays in Pulse's head.

Pulse huffs through her nose at the song. 'Ha. Your research is flawed.' she pauses for a moment, before firing back, 'Why am I helping you..?'

'Seriously though... machines can't -remember- seeing him, people can't see him... do we know anyone who's impervious to psychic assault? Any other people who are temporally displaced? Should I ask someone else about that?'

I can recommend several very good pyschiatrists, Ms. Hoshiko.

Hotaru's suggested song, and the Barney Song, begin to play simultaneously in her head.

'Do you have any in mind for yourself, or are you gonna stick to sadism for the foreseeable future?' Pulse asks, clearly deflecting in regards to her mental health. If her parents could see her now, carrying on a conversation with a self-righteous router...

Hidden away in his room, Mud stares into the mirror shifting his features into different people and clothes that he's seen. Friends, family, celebrities, movie characters, etc.

Eventually, he starts timing himself on how long that he can maintain a new shape. Two minutes easy. But he cannot make three minutes.

Note : If Mud reduces his speed from 4 to 2, he can keep the shapeshifting up for several hours, as he'd expend 6 end per turn with an 8 recovery. However, he'd need to minimize his other end expenditure, to avoid running down. Entering combat would likely require him to drop the shapeshift anyway

After a few days, he figures how to maintain any new features for several hours. He just cannot be too active.

Blaze is relieved to hear that his mother was okay. Of course, that also meant that there were 2 years or so of stories to catch up on regarding her and anything else that had happened in his family. That, and he also had to do some serious research and learning on the state of the internet and computers in general. The time jump meant that some of his skills might be outdated—can't have that!

Gonna go ahead and post Violet's post-time-travel adjustment escapades even though I haven't gotten full feedback on the character sheet update. Since it's just moving points out of a pool, I figure I should be okay.

For about two days after finding themselves in the future, Violet stays mostly in her room, venturing out into the kitchen at regularly spaced intervals (in fact, anyone who listens can hear her phone sounding an alarm, recorded in her own voice, saying "Go eat," or "go to sleep" or "get up") to make herself a cheese sandwich, or a bowl of cereal, or a baked potato. She rarely speaks except to say "excuse me," or "sorry," if she gets in someone's way. She's never out of her pajamas, doesn't appear to have bathed, and is generally listless and not her usual extremely well-kept self.

The third morning, she's in a different set of pajamas, has bathed, dyed her hair hot pink, and is eating a massive bowl of horribly tooth-rotting cereal (that wasn't in the kitchen the night before), watching movies that are even worse than her usual routine.

Sitting on the kitchen table is a top hat (you've seen it before, Violet wears it out to fancy dinners sometimes) with a sign next to it that says "Put your name in the hat by noon if you want to go to Disneyland and Universal with me. One winner drawn at 1pm. We fly out at 5pm. Don't be late."

Who wants to go with her? Who gets picked?

Violet draws the winning name at 1pm sharp, and is dressed in her sharpest "Going to Disneyland" clothes by 2pm. Company resources being what they are, the plane leaves at 5pm sharp.

Three days worth of Disneybounding fun later, Violet returns home (with tons of pins, plushies, souvenirs, and t-shirts for everyone who didn't go), and thousands of photographs from the trip. She has roughly a hundred photos just from Ariel's Grotto alone (and a light-up LED ice cube she insists on using in everything she drinks). Everyone gets a Hogwart's scarf and wand of their very own, as well, as well as various magical paraphernalia.

She seems to be back to her normal self, but it's Violet, so who can say?

For about a week after her trip, social media feeds are full of people reporting that they've found purple envelopes scented with what appears to be Violet's favorite perfume, stuffed with $100, all over both parks.

No need for a plane. :P We have a Boom Tube to both LA and Miami, now. Pulse is unlikely to go the first time, as she's likely still in super-emo-mode. Which House does Violet pick for her?

No need for a plane. :P We have a Boom Tube to both LA and Miami, now. Pulse is unlikely to go the first time, as she's likely still in super-emo-mode. Which House does Violet pick for her?

Violet likes to fly, though, is the thing. She's got nothing against teleportation, but she likes to fly, and watch all the terrain passing by.

She puts Pulse in Ravenclaw, but has no idea what kind of wand is in the box - she apparently refused to open any of them to peek.

Blaze is Hufflepuff, Aegis Gryffindor, Mud is also Ravenclaw. Violet puts herself in Hufflepuff and walks around in a coat that looks like Newt Scamander's for a few days, getting mock-frustrated when her wand won't "magic" things around the room.

Had to edit that - forgot I didn't buy her TK yet

Sorry, will have feedback tomorrow I hope. And new posts. Catching up on work after last week.

No sign of Mud. Assuming he has access to the Internet and television, he binges. While he does, he cycles his appearance to match characters.

He constantly and internally debates whether it would be better or worse for them to meet his family.

The group takes a few weeks to recover and recharge.

The base is expanded significantly since their departure just a couple of weeks ago (to them).

1) The bases cameras are all online now, both inside and outside, allowing the security center and the AI to monitor them.
2) The base now has a mainframe the size of a bus in the basement, which has it's own AI, TT (TeleTran 3). The base's AI uses the same voice as the KITT mobile, and those who know Kate can smell her fingers all over the AI's personality and voice preferences.
3) The base is fully sealed, with it's own power supply and oxygen supply, it has powerful CO2 scrubbers in the basement that keep the air breathable (although sometimes not so fresh).
4) Also in the basement is a room with a circular disk in the corner. There are also always two guards, very low level metas, in full combat gear with heavy grade weapons (autofire). Next to the circle is a shelf with small white tiles, each tile numbered 1 to 4. There's room for more tiles. Everyone is given a post it note to remember : 1=New York, 2=Los Angeles, 3=Miami,
4=Dallas. If a white tile is placed in the control panel next to the circle, a purple vortex forms inside. Stepping into the vortex results in the person stepping out 12 seconds later at the destination (although they are disoriented when they arrive).
5) Someone bought out a theatrical supply store and there are hundreds of costumes in a large room where the theatre used to be.
6) There's now a Metallurgy lab in the sub-basement.
7) There's now an electronics shop next to the costume storage room.
8) There is a full forensics lab (Ala Abby Shuto) in the basement near the portal.
9) There is a full medical bay, across from the portal room, including an OR and 8 beds.
10) A full security room is now situated on the top floor, with feeds covering the entire building. There is also a room with various security devices for studying or practicing disabling.

If we have "a few weeks" to rest and recover, up Violet's Disney/Universal trip to a full week, then. Who's brave enough to spend a week in the happiest and most magical places on Earth with her?

And following some changes to the character sheet per MDT, she has TK now, which means she is absolutely getting Wingardium Leviosa all up in the living room with her new wand.

Are you wanting just PCs, or NPCs as well?

Are you wanting just PCs, or NPCs as well?

It works better for in-game hilarious in-jokes down the line if it's a PC, because then we can have a Hawkeye/Black Widow Budapest moment ("This reminds me of the Teacups!" "You have a different recollection of the Teacups than I do!"), but NPC's are cool, as well, if they can put up with Violet being a completely giddy fangirl in mouse ears for a week.

Jester tosses her name into Violet's hat.

Over the course of the day, 148 Kate's stop in to drop a card in the hat.

Assuming none of the player characters toss their name in, my RNG tells me it's Kate 47. If a PC throws their name in, I'll re-roll.

My RNG says it's Jester, because she'll be there when you pick it. :P Pulse will go next time, using a boomtube. She's not really able to fly until she gets her supersuit, and then the NSA may take offense.
:P

We'll wait another day to see if any of the PCs add in, if not, we'll go with Kate 47 (who's actually Kate 283)

Mud doesn't emerge from his room.

"Y'know," Barry pondered, "I've never been to Disney World or Universal Studios before. Hell…I've never been to Florida, period."

For that reason alone, he drops his name into the hat.

Violet cocks an eyebrow.

"DisneyLAND," she remarks. "The original. But I have been thinking of a whirlwind tour of all the international parks. One day."

I'll wait to see if Aegis throws her name in and then figure out who goes with.

"Well, DisneyLAND is a different story—I've been there," Barry admitted as much. "I was only four at the time, though. And unfortunately the day was cut short after I got sick on the Teacup ride…"

Feel free to reduce Kate to 1 entry when doing your RNG, she won't take it personally, and expected it anyway. And feel free to leave the NPC's out of the drawing if you would rather take PCs

Given that Kate tells Violet to reduce the entries down to one, Violet cuts it down to a draw between Blaze, Jester, and Kate.

My RNG comes back wiiiiiiiiiiiith... Kate! (I gave each of them a weight of 2, alphabetized their order, and rolled 1d6. Got a 5. Blaze was 1-2, Jester was 3-4, Kate was 5-6).

Congratulations, Kate gets a week of Violet being insufferably girly, giddy, and gleeful at Disneyland and Universal, along with numerous outfit changes every day, late-night girl talk (which has a lot of "I am seriously processing the probable death of the man I think I really loved for once in my life, and it really f-ing hurts" and "Let's see how much alcohol it takes Violet to get drunk, oh, the answer is she can't, damn it, fine, let's go get all the ice cream in the world and eat it until the sun comes up"), and seeing how many pictures they can get with character actors at each park. Without using their powers.

To make it up to Blaze and Jester for not picking their names out of the hat, Violet secretly finds out their favorite Star Wars characters and orders custom costumes from the Star Wars Land gift shop this is a real thing that you can do on a fast order, so they've got mail the same day she and Kate get back from Los Angeles.

Main entrance - Disney Land

Kate shows up in a typical toursit ensemble, a camera (35mm slr, with cloud link via phone), shades, a sunhat, walking shoes, denims, and a pink blouse, along with a back pack.

Excusing herself shortly after going through security, she heads to the restroom, next to the bank of storage lockers. A few minutes later, she comes back sans pack and begins following Vi around the park. As they walk, she seems to always have some bit of trivia about the park, when this ride was added, when that was updated, etc.

5 minutes later

Kate exits the bathroom again, this time wearing a purple sun dress, sandals, carrying her camera, and with her hair done up in a pony tail. Her VIP pass hangs from her neck.

5 minutes later

Kate exits the bathroom again, this time wearing a knee length black pleated skirt, a white blouse, stockings, and mary janes. Her hair is done up in two pig tails, her camera hanging around her neck along with her VIP pass.

5 minutes later

Kate exits the bathroom, this time wearing a long blonde wig, with a low-cut v-neck top and tight capri pants and wearing boots. Her camera and VIP pass hang from her neck.

5 minutes later

Kate exits the bathroom, her hair cut short just under her ears, wearing shades, a sequined denim jacket over a Star Wars t-shirt, denim shorts, and tennis shoes. She has a camera hanging from her neck, along with a VIP pass. As she leaves, she stops to put a backpack full of copies of her original outfit into a locker.

Later in the day

Throughout the day, as Vi has fun in the park, she keeps having repeated sensations of deja-vu. Seeing Kate out of the corner of her eye eating cotton candy as she's riding on a ride. Seeing Kate flash past in a ride as she walks past it. Seeing Kate exiting an event as she's about to enter it with Kate.

Needless to say, the rest of the week goes pretty much like this.

Yep, Violet was expecting that exact thing.

Violet herself - being Violet - has at least two outfit changes every day. Three if it's a particularly warm day (which, given that it's LA...).

Any time Kate refers to her as "Vi," she gets corrected to "Violet." If Kate actually asks why that is such a sticking point, Violet thanks her for being the first person to ask. It's a simple answer:

Her father called her "Vi." It's special to her as a memory of him, and she wants to keep it that way.

At one point over dinner at Blue Bayou, Violet lets slip that she's often wondered if Kate's ever had a three-way with herself, then immediately clams up and apologizes, muttering something about how she's been working on getting better with her filter.

"But, you know, it'd be super easy... because... powers."

While noshing on lunch over Butterbeer at Hogsmead Village (at Universal), Violet notes that if Kate could fly, she could be her own Quidditch team.

Somewhere in there, Violet wants to find a Karaoke bar and rent a room for the entire night, including All The Sushi In The World.

Kate is actually the one character who would never call her Vi, but she would at some point ask why she hate's being called Vi.

Kate raises an eyebrow, and then nods with a shrug, as if it didn't embarrass her. "Sweetie, I have 874 active Kates currently. While we're talking, I'm working as a physicist, a game developer, a producer, a director, a fire fighter, a doctor, a nurse, a stunt driver, a deck hand, eight different types of researchers, I'm hiking through the jungles in Paraguay, Peru, Lima, Congo, and Sri Lanka, I'm in a shootout with some meth heads in New York, I'm flying a 747 to Paris, a C10 to Japan, I'm diving on the Great Barrier Reef, Off Hawaii, and in a cave in Missouri. I'm turning tricks in a brothel in Nevada, stripping on stage in Hong Kong, and that's just a handful of the things I'm doing right now. I've long since lost any false modesty. Doesn't mean I'm going to tell you all the sordid details, but I'm rapidly approaching the point where there isn't much I haven't done."

Realizing she doesn't need to keep her filter on around Kate (at least when they're not actively on the midways at Disney), Violet leans over and says:

"Have you maybe considered going out with Pulse? She thinks I didn't pick up on her hitting on me, ages back, but... that girl needs a date."

Somewhere in there, Violet also wakes up screaming in the middle of the night, but quickly recovers. That night, she spends the night on the balcony of the hotel room, instead of going back to sleep.

"I'm almost certain," she says over breakfast (Mickey Beignets and cocoa!). "That my medications are doing absolutely nothing, lately."

A week later the whole team gets their wands, House Scarves, and costume deliveries. (She brings a full Hogwarts costume back for Pulse in her suitcase.)

As she wolfs down enough banana fosters french toast to choke a horse or two, Kate looks up at Violet. "You do realize that over time, medicines require rebalancing yes? You can't just take the same pills at the same dosage forever. Your brain chemistry alters over time, and begins to reject the inhibitors, your alpha channels get realigned, and your beta..." She launches into a very complex dialog about brain chemistry. After a bit, she trails off. "Sorry, side effect. Anyway, come talk to one of us when you have a few days to do some analysis on your cerebral spinal fluid and brain wave patterns, and an afternoon for a psychoanalysis session, we'll see what we can do about adjusting your meds."

Violet gives Kate the very best "are you kidding me with that?" look she can muster.

"My father wasn't just the best geneticist you've never heard of, he was also a neuroscientist and psychiatrist. I mean that I don't think they're even working on a chemical level. I think my body's neutralizing them. He said this might happen."

The end result of the conversation being that Violet's not sure there's any medication her body won't eventually overcome, which either means a lot more therapy or a lot more crazy, one or the other.

"That's precisely what I did mean. Even people who didn't have their genes tinkered with build up resistance to drugs, that's what laymen call 'not working on a chemical level', dear. It means you have to come up with new formulations, and just as you say, your body might begin to build up resistances to those as well. And for your information, while I may not individually be the best geneticist, or the best neuroscientist, or the best psychiatrist, you have no idea what an organic neural cluster of 900 or more minds all concentrating on one problem can do either, missy." She leans forward. "Who do you think does our political and socioeconomic analysis, little girl? If you want a taste, try to mind link to me tonight at the hotel, but have your migraine pills ready, and don't stay connected too long."

"There's no need to be rude," Violet frowns. "I'm just saying you don't need to explain it to me like I'm a child. Yeesh."

"I'm not being rude, Violet. I'm pointing out that, while it's admirable, you're assuming that nobody else can ever out perform or out think your father. It's a common thing, especially when their parent has passed." She reaches out to grip Violet's hand, to show she's sympathetic. Her voice is as soft and caring as she can make it. "I'm trying to get you to realize that you're not doomed, there are options. If you let people help you."

"I meant calling a grown woman 'little girl,'" Violet shrugs. "And also that I think my body is actually just neutralizing the damned things outright, but fair enough. I'll give it a shot."

And now Violet has an in-character reason to discover that the medical definition of 'neutralizing agents' does actually include SSRI's and numerous anti-psychotics.

Yep. Does she try to connect to Kate at the hotel?

No, she'll politely decline and explain that she's trying to stay off her powers for the duration of the trip, and just enjoy the situation like a normal, mundane person.