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Supergreen.

✖ EVENT HORIZON

Ⅰ. PARADISE
You can read all about your character's arrival in the game lore.
The heart of the station is beating.

MUTHER is online, and she has filled the station with the sound of music. Over that she occasionally warns in an emotionless voice, “Liberate tutemet ex inferis.”

Thick concentric thick metal rings rotate in different directions around a sphere in a steady, pulsing rhythm before they all line up. The dimensional gate opens.

The entire space station is momentarily subsumed in bright white light. You will be blinded for a second, and taken over briefly by a sense of joy so profound that it aches. The more emotionally or psychically sensitive Travelers may find it difficult to regain their equilibrium for a while and may be prone to laughing or crying fits.

After the dimensional shift, things are different. The most noticeable of which is that the space station is no longer abandoned. Crew members move about, but they aren't the only ones; the station is alive with what are pretty clearly tourists. Some are humanoid, some are not - maybe you even recognise some of the species. None of them are chasing you down and trying to eat your face, though - the most aggressive they get is ‘crabby from waiting in line at Disney World’ levels.

Doors that were once locked are now open. There are restaurants, spas, night clubs, swimming pools… anything and everything you could possibly want in a vacation destination. The sleeping pods are still accessible, but you’ll probably prefer one of the many fine hotel rooms now available to you.

Yes, the mystery space station is in fact an intergalactic resort. Who knew?

Where the dimensional gate once was, now is instead the High Temple. Travelers can access anything they have stored there, as well as have access to food that isn’t in paste form.

Notes:
1. The High Temple is available to everyone this month.

2. Please remember to mark threads appropriately with Content Warnings when necessary.

3. MUTHER will no longer communicate with any travelers.

4. Have fun!

Ⅱ. INFLUENCER
Now that the station is bustling with people, you’ll be quick to notice that some of them receive more attention than others. Crowds surround certain individuals who just exude an aura of ‘I am better than everyone else here.’ The staff bend over backwards to fulfill their every whim, and they are definitely getting the best of the best when it comes to food and drink and accommodations.

Yeah. They’re celebrities.

You’ll probably do your best to avoid the throngs of adoring fans, unless you happen to spot some intergalactic superstar you actually recognise. Why get caught up in all that nonsense, right? You can just avoid it.

At least, you can until a skinny, fabulously dressed person with the most fantastic hair you’ve ever seen slides out of nowhere right in front of you. They have a headset on, and hold a staff that doubles as a microphone. Around them float half a dozen spherical drones that can only be cameras. You don’t recognise them, but they seem to recognise YOU, considering that they all but shriek your name.

“And here we have the most beloved person currently living and breathing the air of this fiiiiiiiiiiiine establishment! After yours truly, of course! That’s right, loyal viewers, this is Vanity Apollonia streaming LIVE from seven to nine with all the deets you could POSS-ib-ly desire about the multiverse’s darling of the moment! Their dreams, their desires, their most INtimate of intimates! Right on! Say something to those fifty billion pairs of ears out there!”

They shove the microphone in your face, giving you an expectant look. You should probably say something.

Vanity reacts as if you’ve just given the world’s most brilliant and inspiring speech no matter what you say, following it up with, “More of that to come! Now a quick word from today’s sponsor, NordMan! The only intergalactic security I personally trust!”

The cameras suddenly close up, and Vanity sighs and adjusts their hair.

“Look, you wanna keep that follower count up, babe? You gotta play to the viewers a little more! Give them what they want. A little cleverness, a little vulnerability. Do it and I promise you’ll get the V.I.P. treatment! Don’t, and you’ll just go back to being a regular guest. It’s all the same to me, sweetheart.”

Looks like you have a choice to make.

Notes:
1. To achieve celebrity status, you must spend two hours a day live streaming with Vanity Apollonia.

2. Whoever happens to be with you is considered your entourage, unless you decide to pull some stunt to make them as (in)famous as you.

3. Your follower count will go up if you appear ‘real’ to your audience. For some this means actually being genuine. For others this means faking it so well nobody can tell.

Ⅲ. HOLODECK
CW: potential violence, sexual situations.
Depending on what world you're from, virtual reality may be fairly commonplace, or it may be so far out of the realm of possibility that the idea seems magical. Here it’s the former, with entire rooms devoted to a VR experience that is completely immersive.

Step inside the holodeck and pick from any of the preset scenarios the computer has to offer! Would you like to swash a buckle on a pirate ship? Lead an Elven army? Have relations with a bunch of anthropomorphic animal people? Hey, we’re not judging, just warn for that shit. The computer is also happy to tailor an experience just for you if you tell it what you want! And it’s probably more fun with a friend so grab someone and have a great time!

No matter what scenario you choose, after some time you’ll notice that certain elements from your actual life are sneaking in. Even if you’re in the middle of fighting Godzilla, you’ll find that an important moment from your past has inserted itself into the narrative.

For once you don’t seem to have to do anything about it, but it sure can be embarrassing depending on what memory has decided to shoehorn its way into your leisure time. How you react to it may reveal a lot about your character.

Notes:
1. The memory can be good or bad and it is entirely up to the player’s discretion as to how it interrupts the VR experience. Maybe Godzilla suddenly becomes your mother.

Ⅳ.PARENTHOOD
CW: disturbing image in link, forcible togetherness.

Even in a nonstop party space station there are moments of quiet. You and someone else are walking down a hallway, maybe, or having a relatively quiet time poolside, or star-gazing at one of the viewing decks. Wherever you are, you come to realise that you are being watched.

A quick look around will reveal that a hideous child-sized humanoid is half hiding nearby, watching you with huge blue eyes. It looks very young and very frightened, and it seems to be drawn to you.

Maybe you try to speak to it. It doesn’t talk back, but it will approach you shyly.

Maybe you ignore it because it’s ugly. It doesn’t seem to care, and will approach you shyly anyway.

The little alien takes one of your hands, and one of your companion’s hands. It still doesn’t speak, but it radiates a mental image of loving parents surrounded by rainbows and hearts.

Congratulations! You’ve just adopted a MAC!

The MAC wants only to eat candy and have fun, which doesn’t sound that bad in theory. In practice the MAC is the most accident prone dumbass you have ever seen in your life. Lucky for it, it seems completely invulnerable to any sort of injury. That luck does not, however, extend to you, so when the MAC accidentally sets a fire or breaks a toilet or blows up a fuse box you could very well be the one taking damage.

The MAC refuses to leave you and your companion alone. It fully expects you to all stay together as a happy family unit. The little guy is freakishly strong, and may physically hold on to the two of you in order to keep you around. He sure loves to hold hands. It must bring him comfort. Or maybe he’s just exchanging long strings of complex proteins for sustenance with you. Either or.

The only way to get rid of the MAC is to find its real parents.

Notes:
1. Maybe you find the parents right away. Maybe it takes days. Weeks. The whole month. You poor bastard.

2. How you treat the MAC will affect the colour of your ScryWatch. So, yes, if you punt it into the sun you probably won’t be rewarded.

Houston, we have a banging playlist!

Network · Logs · OOC · Memes · Plurk

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David smiled at Jay's flying figure. In the distance Jay waved, and David raised a hand in greeting too.

"There are a lot of flying mutants, but that one? That's Jay Guthrie. We were on a team together in high school. Mutant history is a complex thing, so he's only about eighteen at the moment. His powers are flight, his wings heal him, and he sings like a bird. Well, not exactly like a bird, but he can harmonize with himself and all that."

He hadn't bothered to program in Warren or some of the other winged mutants. Just Jay. And of course Sofia, the other figure, flew too, but she was aerokinetic.

"A lot of people I know fly actually."

Hawks watches for another moment before turning back to David. He's a bit in awe of this place, the realism of it, the way those people in the distance — Jay, his name is — interact as if they're real, too.

"Wow. All I got was flight and speed," he says. That's not entirely true, of course; his feathers can do so much more than fly. He can also see much further into the distance than most regular people. His eyesight is quite advanced.

"I know plenty of people who can fly, too, just not many with wings. The guy I work with most at home, Endeavor, he creates fire, and he can use that as propulsion. I just gotta stay a little far away, you know, 'cause I wouldn't wanna go up in flames." He laughs a little, but he also means it. Flames are probably his greatest weakness. Ironic that he's so starry eyed for Endeavor.

"This is so cool, David. You must be homesick."

Hawks is, too, of course, especially in this weird space station.

"Speed is an important one. Jean-Paul, I don't know if you've met him mere, he's my boss. He's a speedster. Of the sort that get to fly. A bit like you."

But with the initial view out of the way, David pulls Hawks toward the edge so they can sit and enjoy the view.

"I know a guy who can do the fire flying too. And yes, I am in some ways, homesick. I'm also not eager to go home, because I'm scared of losing everything I've become."

Rather than push more in that direction he lets his hands spread out to look at hte island.

"This is the paradise of my people. You're really lucky actually. I can literally count on two hands how many humans have ever seen this place. It's not for them."

Hawks shakes his head. "I haven't met him. I should make a point to, see if he gives me any dirt on you." He grins; of course he's joking. He wouldn't really ask someone for dirt on David. That's not the kind of person he is. He's been a spy for awhile, but very reluctantly. The Commission made him do all of that. He much prefers honesty.

He considers David's answer. Truth be told, he's a little worried about that too. If they go home, they lose each other. Hawks goes back to a war and to the chokehold of the Commission. He's not certain of everything David goes back to; he assumes there's good and bad, just like everywhere.

He lets David take him to the edge, happy to sit here and take it all in. The level of detail is breathtaking.

"Your people. You mean mutants, right? Technically I count anyway, right? All quirks come from a mutation." Though Hawks has never considered himself anything but human, and he has no idea about the politics of that distinction in David's world, it seems like a logical response to him.

"Either way, I'm honoured that you'd go to all the effort just to show me."

"Dirt on me? That could be amusing. See what he thinks of as dirt."

Because Hawks already knows about David's death, so he didn't think it was that bad. Still, he supposes this is pretty interesting to consider for right now. Would Hawks be considered a mutant? That's a lot to unpack there.

"I don't think you would count that way, if only because a mutant actually has a genetic definition. A certain gene existing in a person. I mean, there's a chance one day that my world will be more like yours, if genetics pushes that way. Then my people won't be weird, we'll be the standard. But your people, it happens from a young age, right? Your powers manifesting?"

The effort to show him? David has to shrug.

"You'd be welcome I think. And I like that. And I wanted you to see what's important to me, Hawks."

Hawks laughs. Maybe he'll talk to Jean-Pierre just for fun, but he still doesn't actually want to gossip about David. The only time he's talked about David, he was talking about how cool he thinks David is. That's what being into someone freely is like, apparently? Wow.

"Fair enough. Our mutations probably aren't the same gene thing you're talking about. I mean, I always considered myself human. Even people who look less human than me, we're the same in the end." He gets that there's some discrimination thing in David's world, but he has no idea just how deep it runs.

"It happens from a young age, yeah. I mean, I don't remember ever not having wings, though learning how to use them right took awhile. Some people's quirks take a few years to develop, but it's when we're kids. Or it's not at all." He's not yet aware of the truth about Deku's power, that he didn't have a quirk and inherited it from All Might, but he knows that some transference is possible, since the big bad in their time can steal quirks from others. That guy's locked up where he belongs, but...well, peace never lasts, does it?

In the moment here, though, he looks back out at the scene before them. He reaches for David's hand. He'd take David to Kyushu and Tokyo if he could. Sharing your home with someone, that's...a big deal.

"Can we, like, go down there or is it just visual effects?"

Oh after the ways David has spoken of Hawks, and teased Jean-Paul, there was a chance talking might happen. Might well happen indeed.

"There's a different sub-species name for us where I'm from. Even though we can interbreed viably. So humans don't consider us human. It's frustrating. But yeah, you guys sound different from us."

Still... It raises the question of Hawks' name in David's mind. Surely he wasn't born with that name. But prying would be... wrong. He decides it would be wrong and lets it go.

"I did program it, if you want. Thought you might like the open air here, given space. But if you're willing to go down, we can head down the stairs. I think we sort of need to given this is a holodeck, and I doubt it would be able to change things fast enough for you to fly down like the others would."

"Wow. I guess I didn't realise you were that different. I assume our genetic mutations aren't like this specific gene of yours, especially since it's everyone, and it's been generations since it started. I don't know if people distrusted quirks way back when. It's kinda opposite now; the few who are quirkless get treated worse a lot of the time." Hawks himself is even guilty of being dismissive of them, something he realised when Kyle pointed it out. He's trying to reframe his way of thinking about it, but he's not immune to societal indoctrination, much as he tries to be.

"I love it. But don't worry, I got no problem walking." He tugs David towards the stairs so they can see what's down there.

"See, there's been theories that, given enough time, Earth may go in that direction too. Mutants are becoming more and more common. Or they were. And they are again. Or will. It's complicated."

But he's happy to let Hawks bring him toward the stairs, and he smiles as he starts down the wide, spiraling staircase into the building proper. This was good, because the upper levels of the tower tended to be the living quarters. Was he bashfully considering showing his boyfriend his room? Yep.

"It sounds complicated."

The nuance of David's world is still beyond Hawks, but that's all right. It's probably true in reverse, and it's not as if Hawks is all that good at explaining it. He takes some things for granted; unlike mutants where David is from, it's not like he's dealt with persecution for his abilities. He dealt with stuff when he was a kid, but that was mostly his parents' doing. He had thought the world was a cruel, lonely place. He…doesn't generally think that now, but he's aware that it can be.

Hawks isn't sure what he's actually expecting to see when they get to the bottom of the stairs. More of what David created, a glimpse into his world. He's got an open mind about it.

What awaits them, however, isn't David's doing. Instead, something about their surroundings changes. Even with Hawks's superhuman eyesight, it's something subtle, untraceable, until they're actually standing in it.

The first sign is a superhero doll sitting a few feet away from the bottom of the stairs. Hawks glances down at it; of course he knows what it is. He still has that doll, the only thing leftover from his childhood worth remembering or holding onto. But what is it doing here?

He looks up again and his fingers tighten reflexively in David's. The building walls are nondescript but in disrepair. Across the hall, a dishevelled woman and two men in suits stand, having a conversation. They're here in time for the end of it:

We will erase any connection to the name Takami and allow you to start over.

"What the hell," Hawks says aloud, stopping in his tracks. He hasn't heard his family name — his father's name — said aloud in a long time now, but he recognises those Commission lackeys. Of course he does. Again, though, what is any of this doing here?

David does the only think he can think to do when he's faced with something dangerous. David steps between Hawks and the strangers.

"This isn't part of my program," he whispers to Hawks. "Something's wrong."

Hawks puts a hand on David's shoulder. He's usually a pretty chill person, but this definitely has him tense.

"This is…mine, I guess. This happened when I was a kid. I don't know what it's doing here, though."

In front of them, the others don't notice. While little Hawks doesn't actually appear here, he was there when it actually happened. For now:

"Finally you'll be useful for something, Keigo," his mother says. Her tone isn't very nice.

The conversation continues somewhat inaudibly; Hawks doesn't really remember all of what came next, since he was very young and it was a whirlwind of the commission moving them into real housing and the years of training that made him an asset to them, not just a hero but a spy.

Keigo. First name. David files it away. He doesn't know that Hawks would ever want him to use it. Still, he stands there, waiting, ready to act in Hawks' defense.

"Did..."

His mother give him away? No, David doesn't want to ask. So instead he turns to Hawks and takes the man into his arms, holds him. Maybe he can't change the past, but he can be a barrier against it.

Hawks very rarely even hears his actual name these days. It's a reminder of this right here: his mother finding a use for him as a way to keep herself off the street, not because it was necessarily in his best interest as her son. But his parents had both been…something else.

He still sees his mom sometimes but they aren't close. She's just a person he knows to him now.

Hawks is still staring at the scene when David hugs him. It takes him a second, but then he returns that embrace, feathers fluffed up.

"That's the Hero Commission for you," he says. "They wanted me for my abilities, but they also wanted to erase my murderer father. I didn't want his name anyway."

"You were just a kid," he says, because that much he can tell from this. "Am... I allowed to dislike your mother? Just a bit?"

He doesn't know anything about Hawks' past, at least this depth of it. He doesn't know how to express his concern.

Hawks nods against David's shoulder. "Yeah, I was pretty young. They wanted me because of what I could do. It didn't matter who I was unless that name was attached to it. His name is a disgrace, so as a hero, I can't have it."

Names are tricky. He doesn't need the name Takami. He's rarely used the name Keigo and most people don't even know it. He's never felt like he matters as a person, but that's just how it is. On some level he knows that's pretty fucked up, but what else can he do? He was raised like this. He wants to never be like his parents, but whether other people value him as a person or not doesn't always get to matter.

He does laugh a little, though it isn't funny. "Oh, yeah, man. You can dislike her all you want. She wasn't as bad as my dad, but she was pretty awful. They didn't want me and I always knew it."

Alright then. maybe he needs to tell Hawks something he needs to hear.

"You're nothing but amazing, and you don't have to live up to their names. You've made your own, and it's beautiful. You're beautiful, whether you're Hawks, or you're Keigo."

Hopefully the guy doesn't hate him for the name.

Hawks leans back enough so he can smile at David, soft and genuine instead of his normal cocky grin. That's a practiced look, after all, and he doesn't need that fake crap with David.

He's not sure anyone's ever called him beautiful before.

"I think I'm just Hawks these days," he says. "I didn't pick any of these names for myself, but this is the one I earned, y'know?"

He's not upset about his other name. It's his name, after all, and not something he feels negative towards. He hasn't heard it in awhile; it's rare anyone bothers using it.

"I have no idea how this weird shit messed up your simulation. Sorry about that."

"I have no idea either," David answered, but he's smiling back. He doesn't care so long as he can make Hawks feel better.

"Want to get out of here? So you don't have to see it any longer? You don't deserve this, and the tower can't be as entertaining right now."

Hawks glances back at the fading simulation of his mother, a few years younger and much more down on her luck then, and the nondescript men in suits. He doesn't recognise them; they're lackeys, not the people who sit behind the desks and bark orders.

"Yeah. You had something else to show me in the tower anyway, right?"

"I mean, I was going to show you my room, but that wouldn't seem right at this moment."

What, making out with his boyfriend as part of a date is something he was allowed to do, right?

Hawks manages a small laugh. "I'm okay, David. Don’t let this intrusion bullshit ruin your plans."

Really, there was a lot worse they could have been subjected to, he thinks. At least it was just his mom and not his dad, not the things that happened before this particular thing.

"It's just like this whole stupid place to ruin all the work you put in"

Well, for right now his fingers come up to curl in Hawks' hair. The gentle pull is a hope that Hawks will let him rest their foreheads together, but he doesn't know for sure.

"It is just like this place. But I still have you here, so that means that the day can't be ruined."

Hawks doesn't resist, letting David draw him close until their foreheads touch. He closes his eyes for a brief moment just to feel. One hand finds David's waist and rests there.

"Good point," he says with half a smile. "I'm not gonna let their weird intrusive memory thing get me down, long as I'm with you."

"You make me sound like a positive influence on your mood. Amazing, I like it. Now come on, I still need to show you my room."

While it isn't as impressive as the roof, he did think it reflected on him some.

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nanban - 2022-05-17 23:03 (UTC) - Expand

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helpdesk_hero - 2022-05-17 23:05 (UTC) - Expand

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Supergreen.

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I finally picked a memory to use to mess this up so that will come next tag!

excited. wonder if David's going to know his real name now.

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