Masks 2

Orla looks up. And up. Oh wow!

Okay, well, if she ever decided to be tall by mutilating her bones and body, this was some proof that it probably wouldn't look bad on her, that was nice.

"Hi! I was, um, invited. By Emily. Hi! You're er, very..." She trailed off for a second, trying to find the right word to encompass her entire look. "Impressive. I'm Orla, the girl mentioned on the intercoms!" She offered a hand to shake.

"Uh, yeah? You said light a bunch in some weird craptongue with a bunch of other words vaguely meaning light. And like, it had inherent meaning associated with light I guess?" Darkmagic said, mouth full of nachos. "Listen, I might just not be a wizard."

***

As Sam was looking around for somebody to dance with, he saw a tan streak running right at him. His Dudetime triggered, allowing him to see a naked old man running by him. It was agonizing to see.

And then the old man rushed into his hotel room and stepped out a few moments later wearing some nice, casual dress clothes. He was an old white guy with gray hair and a handsome, clean-shaven face. He had a sprinter's build despite his age.

***

"Yeah, see you around," Tlaloc said to Lex, nodding.

And then he left to get back to the party!

Slow-mo terrified locked gaze with old man wrinkles.

Sam held up a hand.

"Actually, I need a drink before I dance."

He went to get another whiskey double.

Raven nodded, as if that confirmed something.

"Sure, maybe you're not, would explain the healing spells. I'll leave that with you. Emily will let you know how to contact any of us if it turns out you are and you need help. Thanks for indulging us anyway." He left given a light nod to Chef Emily before turning toward the bar.

<Well, I feel a bit better.>
<Still can't take on the entire multiverse, though> She groused to Everan.

Then, Emma got a text! <I'm covered in soot, thinking of getting changed and hopping into the pool>
She might be happy at the bar, but there was a hot tub!

"Seeya," Darkmagic said to him, turning to Emily and requesting some tacos.

Emily waved goodbye!

***

Sam went up to the bar, where Emily indulged his request and slid him a whiskey double.

"Something wrong?" she asked him.

***

"Alas, we are but gods, not God..." Everan said.

Emma looked to Lex and nodded. Then looked to the pool, as if to ask if Lex wanted her to tag along.

Finn crouches to meet Orla eye to eye and accepts her hand, givin' it a sturdy shake. 

"Yer a wee bit young, but I 'm nae about tae judge. Just dinnae hold it against me if I keep an eye out fer ya, yeah? Just do me one favor: keep yer name t'yerself, next time - dinnae want ye gettin' yerself hurt, or tracked down or anything. D'ye read the comics? Cause we're right there, mo laochain. I kinda made that mistake too, actually? Maybe we can brainstorm, if yer up to it. D'ye got any ideas? What're yer powers??? Yer favorite hero? I'm a wizert, apparently, so I've got a lot tae be workin' off."

"Saw a naked old man. Why was there a naked old man? Did anyone else see the naked old man?"

He sipped his whiskey, closing his eyes.

"I mean... Listen, ain't the first or last time I saw an old dude naked, but normally a guy gets a bit of a warnin'. I'm just gonna... Sip my whiskey and then get to dancin'."

Desmond looked at the dance floor briefly as it had materialized while he wasn't paying attention, but continued onto the bar anyway. He ordered a light beer.

Lex responded with a rather salacious text to the effect that, yes, if Emma wasn't happy where she was Lex would love for her to join her, and retired to their room to clean her armor and get changed!

"Oh, that's just the Streak. The Bare Bolter," Emily joked. "Most people don't see him."

She poured Desmond a light beer when he approached.

***

Emma returned to the room she shared with Lex to ALSO get changed, then.

"Well that's just inconsiderate for folks who have powers that automatically slow time down around them."

Sam finished his drink.

"... Reckon I drink anymore, and I won't be able to dance, callin' it there."

He looked around for a dance partner, preferable one who WASN'T naked.

A new stealth ship touched down on a landing pad. The cargo ramp lowered...

Sam could take his pick from the PCs and NPCs present!

While cleaning her armor, Lux checked in with Nocturne to let him know to tell her any special effects he wanted to make a splash for the meeting, and she would provide.

Eventually, she and Devana came out of the room and made for the hot tub. Devana looked like she'd been through her share of life and battles---Lux, on the other hand? Did not look like age or war had touched her. It was not implausible to suppose this was actually some movie star who played Lux, if not for the very visible magic powers. It was pretty unfair, frankly!

She ordered fruit cocktails to continue getting drunk before the very important meeting, apparently? At least she ordered low alcohol content ones...

Esen just spaces out for a hot minute as she is very distracted both by the thought of extradimensional shenanigans as well as the fight between the god she just offered a mixtape to and Lux. She shakes her head and looks around, remembering that she was talking to Theraea.

"Yeah, that would be cool, getting the long version! You can come by sometime too. Just, uh, not as a giant alien bug?"

Esen looks at Maria expectantly, hoping that she has managed to successfully talk to yet another way-out-of-her-league superpowered person somewhat okay. But wait, she's gone! Oh no! Panic! Esen begins to sweat as suddenly her conversation coach is no longer in the room.

Some sunglasses-clad teenager comes in, blackbox in hand. While his clothes seem to be clean, the discoloration, the scratches and scrapes, make him look more grubby than he should be.

"This is certainly, a mixer," he commented, cocking his head. His sunglasses were aviators and definitely new. "And crowded."

"Er. Everyone I have a problem with including the corps already knows my name, and Emily trusted you people with my name, wasn't really on me, but if she trusts you, I'll trust you. And yeah, my brother had a bunch I read through. And what's a laochain?!" She asked, a little frazzled by all these questions from some adult, who was talking to her like an equal though, that was nice. Sort of.

"I liked Coyote's comics, but Lux has the best like, er, merch, and style. I can...Regenerate, and that's about it for now. I used to have more stuff but, I'm pretty glad I don't, long story, don't like talking about it, wizard huh? That's pretty cool! Are you just starting?"

"Ah, sounds like yer a step er two ahead'a me, yeah? Already had the chance ta gain AND lose yer powers! Still, regeneration's pretty lovely, if ye don't mind my sayin', mo laochain. An' its a Scottish thing - just a term of endearment. Means lil' hero. Which ye are!!! Ye must be doin' wonderfully, if ye got an invite here. I'm proud of ye, lassie."  Finn grins!!! 

"And those are my favorites too!!! Hell yeah!!! Well, let's figure out yer supername before the newsfolk can toss one atcha, yeah? We dinnae want them callin' ye the Healinator or sommin' stupid like that. D'ye have any ideas? I've been thinkin' it might be fun tae reference an old wizert wi' mine - somethin' like Nimue or Morgana. But those are just ideas, fer now. What about you?"

"Oh. That's lovely. Thank you." She said politely, a little flattered. Laochain. Weird word, but she wasn't sure if she was saying it right or just mishearing that accent. "I'm doing... Better than some probably? Chin up and all. Could be worse always. Crying about it doesn't get anything done, except making one feel better of course, I've nothing against a healthy amount of crying." Orla babbled on, thinking about a name. That was a weird one.

"Did those guys actually exist though? Like, was Merlin actually thing and all that? Could be weird if so maybe. Although hopefully hero names don't end up like race horses where the names are just silly now because they all have to be unique. That's the case, right? Er, I dunno, my family wasn't really one for nicknames or anything. I can go unnamed, it's fine! I don't think I'm ever going to be like, super-big or cool like Lux, or maybe you one day."

Cadence stood six foot two inches. Her hair was wavy and pulled back into a loose ponytail styled with bangs and loose hair perfectly framing her face. The color was neon blue and pink for right now with more neon blue than pink! She has a cool fashionable visor over her eyes, it is translucent right now so you could see that her eyes are purple! Her cloths consist of an armored bodysuit that's currently the color neon blue to match. She has a loose fabric white skirt on over it with the bottom hem being slanted to her left leg. Right above that was a pink sash and above that at torso area Cadence was wearing a lovely white tailored vest with a large collar and a C embroidered on the chest and it had some lapels. She had a lovely cute little pink ascot around her neck as well! She had white skin tight gloves on and a white knee high boot with a wedge and the soles of it were pink too. Oh, and she had make up on. It looked professional.

She walked down the ramp, talking to the other arrivals already. She did wave to anyone who looked their way though.

(Lux would know Cadence’s previous title as Kid Echo who worked with Nocturne for a while on safe mission as a side kick. Anyone else feel free to make this connection if it’s in character for them! I don’t mind c: )

Theraea looked... a bit confused at what Esen said, actually.

"Um... not as a... okay, well, um, I'm not a bug, and I... didn't actually mention anything about... Uh, okay, okay, I mean, either way, I've got a pretty good human disguise that I use when I'm just out there! Here, watch this."

Theraea tapped the computer-thing on her arm, and very rapidly shifted into the shape of a tallish human, with tan-brown skin and long, sorta curly bright white hair. Her clothes changed size to match, except for her big colorful scarf, which was just... way too long now. "There! Look at me, the normal human."

She turned and waved with her human hand to the very colorful Cadence and the very un-colorful Ken, who had both definitely just seen her Human It Up.

Several more dropships arrived over the coming hours!

-----

One carried Cadence from LA, Zilvala from San Francisco, and Lady Light from Oakland.

Lady Light had a golden suit (with white as a secondary color), the entire chest region depicting a sun with the back region depicting a golden moon. The legs were white, and the boots were the same gold as the chest area. She wore a golden full-face mask and a hood, as well, to conceal her identity. The arms were white as well, with golden gloves. The costume was a bit bulky, hinting at some sort of armor built into the suit. She stood at around 5'6", and seemed friendly enough.

(Zil and Candy can be described by Bigshot and Pail!)

-----

Another carried Salamandra from Denver, the Blue Archer from parts unknown previously seen fighting in the Robot War, a grizzled resistance leader from Ciudad City, and Don Diamante from New York City (formerly from Scath).

Salamandra was a massive red salamander woman usually dressed in punk attire. She could apparently transform between an average-sized human form and a salamander form at will. In salamander form, she could breathe fire, had incredibly durable scales, and possessed super strength.

The Blue Archer was a somewhat tall archer in blue armor armed with a bow and arrow. She didn't say much, and nothing was really known about her.

Don Diamante was quite a legend, being a big strong mobster made of goddamn diamond that dressed impeccably in pinstriped suits. He didn't seem to age, and his diamond skin made him almost impervious to harm. On top of that, he seemed to have a degree of super strength.

----

The next few dropships carried a bunch of resistance militia leaders, some of whom were former KNIGHT agents still active despite their advanced age. Seemed that KNIGHT was a legacy that kept on giving, even after all these years.

----

Solar Flare arrived by flying himself. He was old now, appearing to be somewhere in his mid to late fifties. Despite that, he still seemed as spry and strong as ever in the daylight.

-----

Various other heroes were also dropped off in dropships. These included:

The Depth Dweller from Atlanta (a crazy swamp man who had...swamp powers as he called them)
Harpwn from Seattle (a cyberpunk man who fought the corps with a magical harp)
Philabuster (a corporation-fighting power fisted woman from Philadelphia)
Mary Gold (a woman from Chicago that could apparently control and shift flowers)
Alexander Hamilton (a man from Jersey claiming to be Alexander Hamilton. He had moneymancy: the ability to control anything identified as currency)
Walter Concrite (a burly mustached man from Kansas City with the ability to control concrete. His hero is Walter Cronkite if you couldn't fucking guess).
Gullgirl (a woman from Portland with the ability to grow talons, enhanced durability and strength, a giant metal flail, the ability to talk to gulls, and huge gull wings)
Blaster Master (a man from Louisville with a giant laser cannon for an arm. He's really good with it.)
Folly (a woman from Las Vegas with the power to strike anybody she wishes with foolishness.)
Chef Marco (a man from Newark who can transform inanimate objects into food of his choice with concentration that scales with the size of the object.)
Bloodsport (a man from San Jose dressed like a gladiator with superior melee combat skills)
Deluge (a woman from Tampa with the power to control storms)
Action Tom (a man from Columbus with enhanced durability and a love for improvised weapons and unorthodox combat styles)

-----

With everybody here, a staircase formed nearby with a large sign above it. It read "THEATER", and Emily guided everybody down there for the actual meeting.

The theater was as described: a very nice theater with comfortable seating and a clear view of the stage. Once they were all seated, the lights dimmed and the curtains went up, revealing Nocturne.

He was dressed in black, sleek, powered armor. The armor was vantablack, seeming to absorb all light cast upon it. Outwardly featureless due to its lack of apparent texture, a black cape flapped in behind him.

"Hello, thank you all for coming," he said to them. "I am Nocturne, leader of the Rainbow Network, a resistance organization active in New York City. I am also close friends with our hostess, Emily, and for her I would ask a round of applause."

An optional applause followed.

"I've been fighting the Omnicorp for close to twenty years with everything I have," he explained. "And mostly? It's been ineffective. They aren't an enemy to be fought alone. It'll take concentrated effort, a lot of resources, and a very good plan. Fortunately? I have resources, we can come up with a plan, and we can provide the concentrated force. The omnicorp, for all its strength in the cities, is weak in the countryside. Their supply lines are poorly guarded, as are their resource operation. Some places already have active militias operating as resistance cells in the countryside. That's good."

He said this gesturing to the various militia leaders in the theater.

"But we need more of you guys out there, and I'm ready to fund and supply them with guns, food, ammunition, clothes, whatever they need. We need to be quiet at first, set up cells and recruit from the countryside. This part's important. Recruitment, networking, we need to pull together a resistance army. We are going to need a lot of people with guns in their hands. And then strike hard against their resource operations. Their factories depend on them. If we do that, they'll be forced to draw their forces away from the cities to guard their supply lines. Once they do that, we'll start liberating their megacities. Bit by bit, we'll take down the Omnicorp and everything it stands for. Corporatism, greed, tyranny, autocracy. All of it will fall with their monstrous regime. But to do that, we need to fight together against them. Aiding in that will be Prism, a woman capable of contacting you via your dreams. She will keep all the resistance cell leaders in communication with each other by proxy, and will also help keep the resistance operatives informed. That will be most of you guys."

He said this gesturing to the various heroes in the theaters.

"Some of you might want to be frontline fighters in the resistance armies. The rest? We'll call on you from time to time to help out. A fight here, some sabotage or infiltration there. You all have special abilities that'll help with that, and those abilities will be taken into account. This also isn't my movement alone. If any of you have concerns, suggestions, or ideas? Feel free to say them now, or say them to Prism in the future. She'll visit you all each night to keep you updated. This part is important. I have my own ideas, but I'm not going to decide alone what will happen to America if we win."

He looked to them all, seeing if anybody had anything to say.

SpoilerShow

Feel free to state who you are sitting next to as well.

"Bah, enough of the prattlin' about how yer not enough, hon. Yer a big enough hero tae be invited t'this sorta thing, are ye nae? An' yer half m'age!!! Yer doin' amazin', Orla, an' I'm damn'tedly proud o'ye. Nae more o' tha' rubbage about bein' unimportant. Lux got 'er start a' yer age, ye know."

"If they're still 'round, they aren't exactly bein' super public, aye? So tae hell wi' em, if they got complaints. An' if yer gonna be a big hero, a name's importan', mo laochain!!! Nae t'say that Orla ain't a beauty o' one, 'course - didja ken it meant princess?? But still!! Lessee... yer a regenerator, which must mean yer practically invincible!!! Wha' about... Bulletbreaker?! Or maybe somtin' about how unstoppable ye are, like 'Tidal'!!! Might make people think ye have water powers, though... Maybe an animal theme??? I'd say Rhino, bu' I think that's taken up by some vintage shite... Maybe The Train??? Aye, tha' could be spectacular!!! Or-- Or Cosmos!!! 'Cause yer gonna be there, surroundin' yer enemies, undaunted n' undyin', aye?!"

But then it came time to talk about big shit. Alright. Whoops. This was serious shit. She goes silent during Nocturne's speech. When he's done, she puts on her best whitebread anglo voice and speaks up.

"Alright - not about to throw a fuss about a rebellion or anything, sir - think it's pretty clear one's been needed for a while now - but. Do you not really have any plan for what comes next? I mean, if what we set up after this is just as bad, what's the point?"

There was a small murmur of agreement when Finn spoke.

"If I were the only one fighting this revolution? Yeah, I know exactly what I'd do," Nocturne said to her politely. "But you guys are all fighting too. I'm only one guy, and really shouldn't be deciding the future of America alone. That's why I'm asking for everybody's input. Oh, and small clarification? Just needed some information from some of the people involved. Prism isn't one person, she's a single avatar shared by multiple people for maintaining anonymity when communicating through dreams."

"Mrr." Finn nods. Oof. That's a big ol weight to be carrying. She pulls the scarf back over her face, sorta self-conscious. A little bit of the scots gets back into her voice as she speaks, feeling an obligation to answer the call.

"Well. Uh. The constitutional republic thing didn't really work out. Capitalism, either. And they're both... sort of obsolete? I mean, tech's advanced to the point where democracy's more viable, and where private ownership's sort of... silly??? So. Maybe a sort of... worker's co-op system? I read about those, once. It doesn't really make sense for a small group of people to reap the profits when producin' tech is as advanced as it is."

"A little weird, though, maintaining anonymity when we're all... sort of bare n' open here. I mean, Orla was introduced by name, an' she's a damned child."