[MM3]Sunstormers IC

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pathfinderq1
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Re: [MM3]Sunstormers IC

Post by pathfinderq1 »

Vickie Pulaski (Charger)
HP: 1; LP: 1; Condition: Normal

This time Vickie got to the general area a little early. It wasn't difficult to land in a darkened and deserted park of the park- not too much foot traffic after dark in January in Chicago. She bundled herself back in the warm and nondescript coat she had worn earlier, and made her way on foot in the direction of the fountain.

Even so, it looked like all of the others were there first- or, at the very least, the irght number of people were already in the area as she walked closer...
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Tony Jones
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Re: [MM3]Sunstormers IC

Post by Tony Jones »

Khemis
Hero Points: 1; Current Condition: Fine

"Hello everyone," says Khemis approaching everyone else. "Thanks for coming. Something has happened that I thought you should all know about. So let me tell you about it, then maybe we can discuss it afterwards."

"I appear to have attracted the attention of the woman of darkness I mentioned before, and whose picture I posted," she begins, pacing up and down nervously as she speaks.

"We had a conversation, and now I am worried, particularly as she seemed sincere in her claims, and believed what she was saying, though she was also definitely not sharing the whole picture, and did not present any evidence for any of her claims."

"She calls herself Nemesis. Which is not at all ominous!"

"And she claims to be the 'mother' of all Sunstormers! According to her she created an age of wonders, great and terrible things, presumably long ago. Then she had to abandon us, though she was not clear on why she had to do so. And the wonders she created withered away, leaving the world in the state it was before the Sunstorm."

"Now she is back, and - as she put it - has given out her gifts once again. I guess via the Sunstorm and people gaining superpowers since then."

"And having done that, she wants to 'help' Sunstormers. Help them 'realise their full potential', 'understand their place in the world', and 'be free of concerns and constraints'. She claims to be here to 'prepare' Sunstormers. 'Teach' them, and give them 'the strength and will to survive'. Not rule them, or the world, but 'do as a mother would', make them ready for the world." The quote marks are almost audible around some of the things Khemis says, repeating what Nemesis told her.

"She thinks she needs to do this because in her view people will turn against Sunstormers as Other, out of their fear and Sunstormer's superiority. On the other hand, given that she may well have pushed Harold into murdering those two people in the Plaza yesterday, she appears to be trying to push that process along as well. Manipulating Sunstormers into becoming feared (she claims to have been seen by many more than Harold and I), making a self-fulfulling prophecy, as non-Sunstormers turn again Sunstormers, and Sunstormers seek her aid, are driven into her arms."

"And she claims space does not constrain her. That she can appear in widely spread locations. Appear as a woman of darkness who is only visible to certain people, or nobody, just a voice. And I realise there is a risk this just makes me seem like a ranting madwoman talking to voices that only exist in her head! But I believe others have seen her too, in widely spread locations, and she is too far from anything I might imagine to have her be just a figment of my mind!"

"She also claimed that she could give other Sunstormers the same ability. Make them 'gods among men'. Though she was unclear on the cost or such a gift. I wonder if any of the particularly powerful-seeing Sunstormers are ones who have taken up this offer? Or are some Sunstormers just intrinsically more powerful?"

"But she did say that we will soon hear of her works. That something very visible will happen. Perhaps now you can see why I am worried..."

"Also, if she is acually what she says she is (though I'm not sure what that actually is, perhaps an very old, very powerful sunstormer from some previous age of superpowers?), that is a problem. But if that's true, are there other beings like her out there too? And if so how are they involved in this?"
TLDR wrote: There is a woman out there who believes and claims she is responsible for the Sunstorm and the powers it brought. She wants people to turn against Sunstormers as it drives Sunstormers to her, and is manipulating Sunstormers into violence to make this happen. She claims and believes she can make Sunstormers even more powerful if they come to her.
pathfinderq1
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Re: [MM3]Sunstormers IC

Post by pathfinderq1 »

Vickie Pulaski (Charger)
HP: 1, LP: 1; Condition: normal

Vickie listened as Khemis laid out what she had experienced, or claimed she had experienced. Since the Sunstorm, Vickie had found that she did things just a little faster, and that included processing information. But this was a lot, in more ways than one.

As Khemis spoke, Vickie's eyes grew progressively wider, but she did not (quite) take a physical step back. While she was not nearly as much of a streetwise city dweller as her roommate Rashida, she HAD learned the basics about dealing with the inevitable crazy people one encountered in modern cities. Mostly you avoided them- the glance away, the sidestep, the "just keep walking"...

But sometimes you actually had to deal with them. When that happened, you kept your voice soft and reasonable, you looked for allies, you kept an eye for escape routes. Once Khemis started to wind down, Vickie looked at the others- Sunny first, then Deborah, before turning to face Khemis directly. "You know that sounds absolutely crazy, right? You understand that?" Without even realizing it, she had shifted her weight slightly. In terms of "Fight or Flight" she had no interest in getting into a physical altercation- but Flight was a ready option...
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Tony Jones
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Re: [MM3]Sunstormers IC

Post by Tony Jones »

Khemis
Hero Points: 1; Current Condition: Fine

Khemis does glance over at Charger as she sees her nervous 'fight or flight' reaction to what she is saying, but does not let that stop her from talking.

"I do realise that saying I am in communication with someone only I can see doesn't sound good!" she tells her once she has concluded. "As I said, I realise there is a risk this just makes me seem like a ranting madwoman. But since I distributed the picture of the woman onto the internet I have had a couple of responses about people - Sunstormers - who Nemesis appears to be trying to influence. In places hundreds of miles apart. And if it's true this is too important to worry about what you might think about my sanity!"

She looks over towards Deborah. "You've got mental powers? Telepathy, right?" she asks her, voice almost pleading. "Can you use them to verify what I am saying?"

[OOC: Anyone checking Khemis with Insight skill should be able to tell that she believes what she is saying to be true.]
jmucchiello
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Re: [MM3]Sunstormers IC

Post by jmucchiello »

"We do know, or at least I know for a fact, that someone tampered with Harold's mind," Deborah says. "So that isn't beyond the realm of possibility. There is someone who wants to do sunstormers self-harm.

She turns to Vickie, "And I agree with you, that it all sounds crazy. But I also find it very plausible.

"And Khemis, with your permission I could read your mind, but I kind of doubt that will verify your testimony to her." She turns back to Vickie, "Should I bother or would my telepathic verification persuade you at all?"
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Tony Jones
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Re: [MM3]Sunstormers IC

Post by Tony Jones »

"I think it's more than self harm," chips in Khemis. "I think she's trying to influence Sunstormers to lash out at everyone else, which she hopes will isolate all Sunstormers from the non-Sunstormer population, and drive us into her arms."

"I feel she may have revealed herself to me because she - wrongly! - thinks my appearance makes me more susceptible to her gospel of hostility."

"But I will take someone believing me over no one!"
jmucchiello
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Re: [MM3]Sunstormers IC

Post by jmucchiello »

"Well, it ended up being self-harm for Harold. Even if we had not talked Harold down from his anger, he would most likely have ended up dead," Deborah says. "She does probably see you as a threat simply because you turned her down. Her considering you a threat on a PR level just makes you more of a threat."
pathfinderq1
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Re: [MM3]Sunstormers IC

Post by pathfinderq1 »

jmucchiello wrote: Sun Oct 02, 2022 7:18 pm "And Khemis, with your permission I could read your mind, but I kind of doubt that will verify your testimony to her." She turns back to Vickie, "Should I bother or would my telepathic verification persuade you at all?"

Vickie Pulaski (Charger)

HP: 1; LP: 1; Condition: normal

"Unless you're an awful lot better than years of comics have led me to believe about telepaths, that would just show that she honestly believes what she is saying. And if the last few years worth of politics have shown us anything it is that 'sincerely held beliefs' don't compare well to actual facts... I'm gonna have to digest this on my own, in my own time..."
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Tony Jones
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Re: [MM3]Sunstormers IC

Post by Tony Jones »

"Though I'm pretty confident that a lot of what some politicians say are their 'sincerely held beliefs' do not even match up with their true beliefs, let alone any actual facts..." comments Khemis.
Last edited by Tony Jones on Mon Oct 03, 2022 6:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
kenmadragon
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Re: [MM3]Sunstormers IC

Post by kenmadragon »

Sunny

Sunny hadn't said much more than the usual "hello"s and "what is this about?"s when he met up with the others. Deborah's text said that Khemis had something important to tell everyone, and that they'd be discussing her social media interview with everyone now that it had been posted. So Sunny had gone in expecting something along the lines of "how to win over the public and prevent future tragedies".

Khemis spouting out what amounted to a Real-Life Info-Dump about some unexplainable woman who said and did some terrifying things was... not that.

Sunny had done his best to keep his face from twitching every time she stopped to take a breath, doing his best to process it. He wanted to drop into super-speed mode just so his mind would be kicked into high enough gear that he could take the (relative) time to process all this unforseen bullshit, and maybe dart off to the other side of the park, scream for a little bit, and then dart back to where he was standing faster than the blink of an eye.

Once Khemis was done for a little bit, Sunny did just that. Didn't say anything, just buried his head into the snow banks on the other side of the park nearer to the waterfront and screamed incoherently at super-speed before going right backVery cathartic. To the others, it looked like he'd shuddered a little and was suddenly much calmer and less agitated.

And so he let Charger and Deborah say their piece as Khemis did what she could to convince the rest of them that she wasn't going crazy. Sunny... he was skeptical of her claims, but then again, he could honestly see what she was saying as true. At least, from her perspective anyways. And even from the maddened perspective of this so-called "Nemesis". So, he didn't think Khemis was crazy because of her claims about this Nemesis-person. Because of other things... well, jury was still out on that, in Sunny's opinion.

Didn't help her case that Khemis clearly sounded like she'd lost her mind though.

Still, he would at least entertain the notion that Nemesis existed... just that Khemis didn't have the full picture and was operating off of incomplete information and panicking about it.

"Look," Sunny finally spoke up. "In my view, this so-called 'Nemesis' person is someone - or perhaps, something - to be concerned about. If what Khemis says is true, then this being does exist. And if we accept that Nemesis exists, then the next big question is whether this entity's claims and statements are objectively true and legitimately verifiable. I could claim to be the second coming of Jesus Christ and perform all sorts of impossible feats to back up my claims of being the Son of God or whatever, maybe even believe my own claims myself whole-heartedly, but that doesn't mean I would necessarily be right about being the second coming."

Sighing, Sunny waved to the group of women before him, "But then, look at us here. We have powers straight out of comic books. Khemis is a rubbery-shadowy-being. Deborah is a telepath. Charger can control kinetic energy. I can lift a car, shrug off bullets and fly. Who's to say whether Nemesis is telling the truth or not? But the better question is why should her claims, true or false, have any affect on what we've got to do in the upcoming days? In the next few weeks, and in the months to come?"

His arms gestured to the rest of Chicago around them, the skyscrapers reaching out over the edges of Millennium Park. "The city's still here, and people are still going to have to deal with the aftermath of the Sunstorm. Even without a bunch of people worldwide getting superpowers and causing chaos globally, the damage to global infrastructure has already caused problems, and exacerbated problems that existed long before the Sunstorm. Those problems still exist, and people still have powers. It doesn't matter what this Nemesis person says, nor whether she is factual or not in what she says. The world has problems, and it's up to the people who live on this planet to help fix it."

"And I don't know about you, but now that I have powers, I say we should try to make the world a better place. Be an example and symbol that people can aspire to and follow. Something to inspire them and stir the embers of hope in their hearts that even in the chaos of the Sunstorm and the damage it wreaked, that from that darkness can come the light of heroism, and that we Sunstormers can still help the world be a better place." Sunny put his hands on his hips, feeling a stirring in his chest, unconsciously mimicking the classic stance of the greatest of comic book heroes. "My grandfather had a saying - the truest measure of one's life is by how much what you do positively affects the lives of others. That we should put good into the world and help those we can so that they can help others and put more good into the world themselves. Before the Sunstorm, I didn't really do much of that. Now... now is different."

"I think we all agree that the world devolving further into anarchy is a bad thing. So I say we do what we would have done if this Nemesis person never showed up and we still had our powers. That we put more good into the world than we do bad, and fight against the darkness. That we give people something to be hopeful about, an example to follow, an ideal for them to aspire to."
jmucchiello
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Re: [MM3]Sunstormers IC

Post by jmucchiello »

"Regardless of that, I think you should keep Nemesis to yourself, Khemis," Deborah says. "Your social media presence has been positive so far. If you start pasting about some global mastermind manipulator you will burn that positivity away. We can continue to look into Nemesis, whether we individually believe they exist or not. Quietly. Until Nemesis does something to step out of the shadows, I don't think we have any other way to play it."
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Tony Jones
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Re: [MM3]Sunstormers IC

Post by Tony Jones »

Khemis
Hero Points: 1; Current Condition: Fine
kenmadragon wrote: Sun Oct 02, 2022 10:12 pm ...
"I think we all agree that the world devolving further into anarchy is a bad thing. So I say we do what we would have done if this Nemesis person never showed up and we still had our powers. That we put more good into the world than we do bad, and fight against the darkness. That we give people something to be hopeful about, an example to follow, an ideal for them to aspire to."
"Well said!" Khemis gives Sunny a small and un-ironic round of applause for his inspiring words.

"You are absolutely right about her claims!" she continues. "Every time I asked her to provide some actual evidence for what she was saying - and I asked several times - every time she did not. Only words. As I said, she seemed to believe what she was saying, but in the same way as you are doubting me, now, I also doubted - and still doubt - her."

"Given her smug and smirking expression when I have encountered her 'in the flesh', I am not sure whether that is just the sort of person she is, or whether she is just trolling me."

"But in my view it is worth letting someone know what has happened. You guys are the only ones who I feel are at all capable of getting involved. Even if your reactions are less ... positive ... than I had hoped for," she says, glancing at Charger and Sunny.

"And you're right. Whether she is speaking the truth or not doesn't matter right now," agrees Khemis. "You're absolutely right that that should not stop us from helping as much as we can. Making the world a better place. As I have been attempting to since I woke up like this."

"But depending on what happens in the future, if her warning of things happening soon is true, then it may come to matter in short order. I pray to Allah that it does not, that she is just some kind of super-troll. But I fear it may..."
jmucchiello wrote: Sun Oct 02, 2022 11:10 pm "Regardless of that, I think you should keep Nemesis to yourself, Khemis," Deborah says. "Your social media presence has been positive so far. If you start pasting about some global mastermind manipulator you will burn that positivity away. We can continue to look into Nemesis, whether we individually believe they exist or not. Quietly. Until Nemesis does something to step out of the shadows, I don't think we have any other way to play it."
"I am way ahead of you, Deborah," replies Khemis seriously. "I have no intention of saying anything in public at this point, and trashing what reputation I have built up, for exactly the reasons you say!"
pathfinderq1
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Re: [MM3]Sunstormers IC

Post by pathfinderq1 »

Vickie Pulaski (Charger)
HP: 1; LP: 1; Condition: Normal

Vickie brightened up a bit, listening to what Sunny had to say. It was funny how, nearly two years into the pandemic, how much easier it had beccome to read someone who was wearing a mask. She nodded briefly in te direction of Khemis, and her applause... "She's right, that was really good. Get some 'motivational speaker' in your power set? Or are you really just Christopher Reeve in a mask?"

But then she took a step back, a literal physical step backwards... "And I am going to do my best to make the world a better place, to help people, to shoulder the great responsibility that comes with great power. But..." She glanced briefly down at the ground, then back up, looking at each of the others in turn.

"But I'm not going to start right off by patrolling the streets of Chicago, or going out in search of criminals to bring to justice. Not right now, maybe not ever. Legal and ethical questions aside, and well, there are a LOT of those to sort though, I'm not sure I have the temperment for it. Look at people who are cops or first responders- some of them have wanted to do that their whole lives- worked for it, trained, prepared. and it still breaks them. I never wanted that, never wanted this. I was probably going to be an accountant for goodness sake, some charity work, involved in the community. But how I was raised, how I live my life, it's this: Always have a plan. Sure sometimes the plan goes wrong, something goes screwy, and you have to deal with that. But having NO PLAN, just diving in, trying to improvise- that is a different kind of plan, a plan for disaster. And what I can do now, what some of you can do, what other Sunstormers can do, that kind of disaster maybe doesn't mess up just one person... I don't want to end up like some of those bastards on 'The Boys', just throwing my powers around in a way that I think is good."

She paused, took a breath. "I had a plan, a whole blasted layered engineering marvel of interlocked plans. And this Sunstorm has Jenga'd the everloving crap out of them. So I need to put together a new plan, a new structure, just to make sure I don't screw up my whole life with one crazy choice, or mess up a bunch of peoples' lives, even if it seemed like the right choice at the time. I mean, just my own powers... I've had them what, barely a week, and I haven't had a lot of time to practice, to really understand what I can do, HOW I do it. I mean, can I stop a plane crash? A building collapse? A tornado? I'm pretty sure that I'm NOT bulletproof, and in Chicago that could be a BIG problem. So I'm gonna take it slow, work my way up. Talk to some people that I respect, see if I can get some solid advice, moral AND practical. I'm going to study up some physics, practice, test myself and my limits in a way that doesn't put bystanders in danger. Study some legality too, what CAN I do, watch new laws and legislation, 'cause you know some of that will be coming. Probably need to get myself acquainted with a really good lawyer- Murdock, maybe... I'm not going to hide, I'm not leaving town. And if something terrible happens, I'll throw in as best I can. But I'm not going to be posting my powers on TikTok, like I said not patrolling for muggers either. Can you all accept that, and keep us on good terms?"
jmucchiello
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Re: [MM3]Sunstormers IC

Post by jmucchiello »

"I don't think anyone expects us to patrol for muggers or would think that was a good idea either," Deborah says. "Frankly, it would probably be seen by people as Sunstormers harming normal folk. No, if we want people not to hate us, we need to avoid video footage of stormers harming normal people regardless of who started it or what the normal person was up to when a stormer decided to use their power of them. Natural disasters are made for Sunstormer acceptance. Not that I want there to be natural disasters."
pathfinderq1
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Re: [MM3]Sunstormers IC

Post by pathfinderq1 »

Vickie Pulaski (Charger)
HP: 1; LP: 1; Condition: Normal

"Well, in Chicago, natural disasters is pretty much weather- no earthquakes or anything, and we haven't had a good fire in ages, but that sort of thing requires large-scale, area type powers. And between Nemesis and natural human nature, there's going to be more of what we saw on the plaza, trying to stop other Sunstormers from causing problems. Going after normals is one thing, but this could be seen as 'policing our own' or 'cleaning up our own mess', though that might reinforce a degree of "Othering". Someone with good PR skills could frame it as some degree of the whole 'Good Guy with a Gun' argument, although that has it's own problems too. And Susntormer conflicts are likely to be very situational, since there are so many power types, not everything will match well- and we don't want it to turn into Superman vs. Zod, and have the damage from the conflict be worse than the triggering Sunstormer attack. Or draw Nemesis-influenced people or just power-influenced egos towards us, turning it into some wandering gunfighter thing." Vickie spread her hands and shrugged. "See what I mean though? There are so many things that could happen, and so many things that could go wrong, things that could never have happened just two weeks ago, but now we have to examine them all. I don't suppose we know of anybody who turned out to be super-smart, who could help us plan stuff out?"
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