game Issue #02 - The First Day is the Hardest

[JubalBreakbottle]

Felix Neel - Magnet

---

With his questions hanging in the air unanswered, Felix is confused. Then, a blue-haired girl who seems to know the other girls says she is back from the future and we need to solve the apocalypse. After a few moments of tilting, he concludes this must all be part of the simulation. If they can create walls and shapes, then they can probably create scenarios to test their decision-making skills, like a 2D video game.

 

Feeling comfortable playing along with the simulation, the skater boy replies, "um. Who are you? And, what do you want us to do first to solve the apocalypse?" The words sounded weird coming out of his mouth, but it was just a game and he was role-playing.

Mechanics

 

 

Edited July 9, 2023 by JubalBreakbottle (see edit history)

[Streetrat]

     Sarah - Artifice

---

 Sarah tried to wrap her head around all this. Just a few hours ago she was going to her first day of classes, just a few minutes ago, she was working with the other misfits to defeat her now...missing(?) RA's. Then the world went sideways and now Jan was apologizing for what? "Did we just get a glimpse of the future?" And then Felix's comment struck her, bringing her back around to the impending doom.

She felt her pulse speed up again. What had she gotten herself into? Why was it placed upon her and this group to save the world, why not the Freedom League? Should she reach out to Raven? What could they do? But then...why not them?

But then...WHY THE HELL THEM?!? "I know that this may not be the right time, but how does this happen and what do you propose we do to stop it?" Sarah says finally sliding her wand into her jacket having just realized that it was still very much in her hand and this might be the wrong environment to be waving it around.

---

 

[Khakhan]

The two teachers don't immediately address the students, instead moving around and checking displays, marking notes down on tablets. The barrel-chested man, Tex apparently, looks over from his spot in front of a series of displays and smiles at Felix.

"Dontcha worry yerself. Becks and Ty are alright, and waiting for you lot. Why don't y'all head on over to your dorm and yer RAs will explain as much as they can. Ahm sure ya have more than a few questions, but we've got, ah, some things to handle here after that little mishap."

He nods encouragingly, but then his attention shifts back to the displays and he's back to taking notes.

[EDTA]

Megan - Newt

---

Megan didn't know why the people standing here right now couldn't explain what just happened, you know, here, but they weren't all bent outta shape about whatever went down so it probably really wasn't Megan's fault. So that meant she wasn't going to be blamed for it so that meant she didn't have to care as much about it.

 

The noisy girl from back at the house was saying something about... well Megan kinda tuned her out but it sounded like she was quoting some movie or something but Megan didn't know what it was so it was probably a lame movie and not worth worrying about anyway. Pinky wasn't worried. Or not worried about that or them so that probably meant something.

 

Whatever they were doing didn't look like anything Megan knew anything about anyway. "O. Kay. So we just leave yeah? Just the same way we came in or what?"

[Streetrat]

     Sarah - Artifice

---

"I guess so" Sarah offered. Not really sure herself. All she knew is that she wanted to be out of this place.

 

Did they experience time travel? Dimension Travel? What else? The only travel that she would want would be back to her home dimension. Until then, she had firmly decided she was not leaving this dimension willingly. She started toward the exit a little faster than she thought was prudent, but much slower than she wanted to.

 

---

 

[JubalBreakbottle]

Felix Neel - Magnet

---

Felix was really confused and only slightly mollified by the confirmation that Ty and Becks were alright. The past hour was the weirdest series of events which had ever happened to him, since his mutant abilities started to randomly emerge a few years ago.

He didn’t know what to do, so he shrugged and started heading for the door at a leisurely, ‘I’m cool’ pace to not draw attention from the surrounding girls.

Mechanics

 

 

[ManicPixieFatGuy]

 Jan -OOBLECK

---

Jan runs her hands through her hair and takes several metered breaths. She looks at the unknown skater kid. “Sup who are you? I’m Jan I was here for orientation and then zap. In the future.” Jan starts to walk with everyone else heading towards the dorm, “So I know it sounds crazy but I was doing work in my lab and I must have nodded off. I woke up and BLAM, fire, brimstone, destruction, I had to goo up so that I could dig out. Once I was out everything was wrecked and I mean everything. I couldn’t find anyone. I thought I was going to die alone. I found some newspaper, and some scraps of paper here and there that led me to believe I know someone who maybe will know something back here. I dunno I’m back, I’m here, and this is the type of thing that happens to us supers, this is super stuff and we have to stop the world from ending. I don’t want you guys to die. I know I just met you all and I disappeared and all that but still. The worlds going to end, everyone is going to die, and I need help stopping it. Please.”

[JubalBreakbottle]

Felix Neel - Magnet

---

At 5 feet 9 inches, Felix is a lanky teenager with unkempt, blonde hair, and brilliant blue eyes.  While he doesn't have his skateboard, you can easily imagine him with one. "Hi Jan. I'm Felix. Arrived here late."

"I don't know if this thing is an initiation thing for the school or what, so I'm just going with it."

Probably quite incredulously he asks, "So, what do we need to first to save the world from ending?"

 

 

[Streetrat]

     Sarah - Artifice

---

Sarah followed the others and sat down at the table. Her mind had swirled with all kinds of doomsday scenarios and how she could have been involved in them. Now that Jan had spoken it seemed to have broken the doom spiral spell. Sarah felt a kinship with Jan, they were both artificers...well, Jan was an inventor, but that was merely a semantic difference between science and magic.

Now Jan was spinning this tale, and had she not been in that apocalyptic landscape for a short stretch she would have found it difficult to accept. Well, not that difficult, Sarah herself was here due to being cast across dimensions, so as she thought about it all of her arguments fell away.

"No Felix, this is certainly not an initiation thing" She then turned to Jan, "So you were able to work out the when by the newspaper. Any idea of the how? Any radiation readings or something on your scanners?" Right now Sarah had accepted the inevitability, that she would be involved and would do everything in her power to stop this event.

---

 

[Khakhan]

Before the conversation has the chance to get much further, a sudden tumble of noise can heard on the other side of the wall, and Ty and Becks appear in the doorway to the kitchenette in a rush. The both of them are wide-eyed and worried looking as they move into the kitchen area, checking you for injuries. Ty is on alert, his whole being bristling with energy. The magically inclined individuals can feel a pressure against their magical senses, but rather than being suffocating, the energy is warm and comforting, like a plush quilt fresh from a dryer.

Becks looks at the group a moment, and rests her hands on the island and breaths out a sigh of relief. "Thank god you are okay. Where in the hells have you been!? You've been missing a week!"

As if there wasn't already quite enough on the group's plates, they hear the front door open and close. A sound of a bag being dropped and heavy boot clomping steps near the doorway to the kitchen where a strange, handsome young man with short dark curly hair and lean features appears. He looks at the group with an expression of total boredom, pulling the headphones he was wearing out of his ears, tinny hissing and thumping emanating from them. "So, they showed up. Bummer. Guess I gotta share the room now." He squeezes past Sarah and Felix and Ty, making his way to the fridge, where he grabs a soda and an orange before turning away to leave.

Ty rolls his eyes and gestures at the newcomer. "Another late addition. Nothing unusual. This is Darius Montgomery." The name sounds familiar to the group, or those who at least browsed the covers of gossip magazines. The Montgomery family was old old money, and old old scandals, though some of those scandals weren't as old as they might like to be. Darius was the youngest son in line of scions who might charitably be called "black sheep" and was well on the way to earning the championship belt of black sheep.

Jan recognized him for a different reason however...

[EDTA]

Megan - Newt

---

Ugh. Them too? Was this some sort of prank? Was someone gonna pop up and say they're on camera or something? They were the ones who up and vanished and they're trying to make them into the weird ones?

 

Well whatever was going on it wasn't funny or clever or cute or whatever they were going for and some of the more gullible ones were eating it up. It was getting annoying! "Okay, that's enough. What, you got bored so you planned out whatever this is? First we get that glitch, then the late girl's saying she's from the future even though we all saw her yesterday. Then there was the whole thing with those teachers. Now we got you who disappeared on us saying we've been gone a week. If you guys are gonna try and pull something maybe at least coordinate your stories or something first, geez!"

 

So dumb! And like the dumbest part, why was Megan in the group getting the runaround? What was so special about the loud girl or the new guy? Like who even was that, like why introduce someone new now? Name sounded familiar. But it sounded like a lot of work for something so stupid.

Edited August 31, 2023 by EDTA (see edit history)

[JubalBreakbottle]

Felix Neel - Magnet

---

"A week?!" Felix blurts out after Becks comment.

Then he stares at Sarah, "Not an initiation prank? C'mon. Really? They can make this stuff up using that tech in that Simulation Room, and now they're just messing with us. I'm not buying it." He shakes his head and grabs some chips.

Heading to a comfortable seat, he nods at Darius, "Hey new guy. I was the last new guy. Wonder what crazy stuff they're going to throw at us now. Buckle up."

 

 

Edited September 14, 2023 by JubalBreakbottle (see edit history)

[Streetrat]

     Sarah - Artifice

---

Sarah wanted to follow Megan's train of thought. Was this just a prank? To get the teachers and everyone else involved? But they had been in the ruins of the school. But could that have been a simulation of the practice room? Suddenly Sarah had quite a bit of doubt filling her. She was tempted to start a ritual to verify the current placement of the planet with the sun but that would not be kosher in the moment. She really wished she had a cell phone or something that would auto-sync with the date and time right now.

For the moment Sarah remained quiet.

---

 

[Khakhan]

A loud BANG, accompanied by the rattling of dishware breaks the silence. Turning, you see Ty with a massive hand splayed on the tabletop, and an unusually serious look on his face. "Everyone. Table. Now." The tone of his voice gives the impression that challenging him at the current moment would be a Very Bad Idea.

Once everyone has begun to make their way over, he casts a glance around. "I get it. Everyone here is too cool for school. However, we are in charge here. We can be friendly, we'd like to be friendly. But right now, I'm not playing games. You WILL tell us what happened. This is not in question. Are we understood?" The stern look on his face is without question the most serious you've seen the large sophomore, and his entire demeanor has shifted from friendly to, not intimidating, but one that brooks no argument.

Becks takes a step forward, resting a hand on his arm for a second, before turning to face the group. "We're a little stressed, but Ty is right. This isn't a joke, or a game. We're not pulling the wool over your eyes. Something happened, something that wasn't supposed to be able to happen. We need to figure out what happened so that we can prevent it from happening again. We've been entrusted with your safety and we take that job very seriously."

She moves around the table and picks up a tablet, that springs to life and projects a holographic image of what appears to be footage of the Wreck Room from the Capture the Flag game. "We know what happened right up until you vanished." The footage plays forward, slightly sped up. The various figures move around the environment, and she slows the footage down frame-by-frame. "We know that there was a power surge around the same time I was knocked out, and at first we thought it was due to my connection to the room. But..." The image jumps to the next frame, and suddenly where there had been empty space between the freshman, a scintillating nimbus of energy has appeared. The frame jumps forward again, and the energy has vanished along with the teens. She speeds the footage back to normal speed after that and immense shockwave ripples away from the point, slamming into the two RAs and lifting them from where they were slowly getting back up, throwing them across the simulated warehouse before the footage crackles into static.

"Clearly, something else happened there. Now. Your turn."

[EDTA]

Megan - Newt

---

Megan was willing to take that this might have been legit now. Ty hulking out only had a little to do with it, honest. Videos could be edited but there was only so much effort she figured anyone would go to do pull a prank or teach a lesson. They did this much, well, maybe they deserved to point and laugh at tricking her. If that's what was happening. Megan figured it was 70/30.

 

"If it was such a big deal somebody coulda said something first. Didn't have to freak out on us. That Tex guy and Pinky didn't say nothing about any of that, just we should go back here and you'd explain it."

 

Sounded like it was the teachers who were acting 'too cool' in this. Or were passing the work. If they'd been gone a week or whatever shouldn't they have been the people to tell them? Or like keep them there and bring Ty and Becks and all that to them? Like wouldn't they want to know what happened and not play this telephone game stuff? Not that Megan knew anything about anything. Or any of them did. So why were they getting yelled at for it? Especially when... "Hey! It's all her fault anyway!" Megan declares, outing Jan. That was probably right anyway.