Auragreedia

Austin Is Dead

I imagine it will be fine. I normally write out dialogue in PMs, are you okay with that?

@JFK

Yeah, that's fine with me! Just gimme a bit since it takes awhile for me to get in a writing mood o7

Austin Is Dead

Small post erebody.

Everyone for the most part (not exactly at the same time) is at the entrance of the Cemetery.

This will allow for full introductions for everyone who didn't meet in the intro, which was most tbh.

Also this week is kicking my ass so I hope some passive RP will help bridge us to the next post.

That being said @Auragreedia is our next collab (yaaaaaay)

Expect a google doc in the PMs ... uh maybe this weekend if I'm not dead X_X

@LanaStorm

Will get to working on a post soon! I wanted to ask earlier if an in between post was okay (for chris and cass to meet), but I get held up by my allergies ;-; hopefully this week eases up on you soon, and take your time!

Dispatch: Heroes of Claremont

---

MEET YOUR HEROES

_{Mentioned - @FourtyTwo@Pragia12@cosmiccowgirl@BigPapaBelial@SonnetNSunbeam@Redking0380@Thayr}

---

[A SLIDESHOW OF THE SDN'S A-TEAM ROSTER, POSED HEROICALLY AGAINST A RAINBOW BACKGROUND.]

"Have your KIDS meet their HEROES in Giggle's Playground for Little Heroes, like Lightning WOMAN. She is a grown woman who shoots LIGHTNING out of her FINGERS."

[AN IMAGE OF LIGHTNING GIRL FLASHES ON SCREEN. THE NEXT IMAGE IS OF HAT TRICK.]

"And HAT TRIP. He is a HOCKEY MAN with ice POWERS."

[AN IMAGE OF ASTEROID IS THROWN ON SCREEN.]

"AND METEORITE. Gravity MAN. He has gravity POWERS, but cannot make your kid FLOAT. We do not offer REFUNDS if he cannot make your kid FLOAT."

"He is also Phoenix PROGRAM, but he is safer around your CHILDREN, so give us your MONEY for PHOTOS."

[AN IMAGE OF BLACKSTAR NEXT.]

"AND DARKSTAR. She has POWERS like a STAR and can FLY."

[PHOENIX PROGRAM HERO IMAGES ASSEMBLE ON SCREEN. PRINCESS'S PHOTO IS LABELED: QUEEN. PAYBACK'S PHOTO IS LABELED: PAYBARK. MADCAP'S PHOTO IS LABELED: MATPAT. ECLIPSE'S PHOTO IS LABELED: ELLIPSES.]

"And the Phoenix Program heroes, because we did not have the budget to pay a video editor to make a longer video. DO NOT LET YOUR CHILDREN NEAR THEM. THEY WILL STEAL YOUR WALLETS AND SELL YOU THINGS."

[IMAGE OF FENOM POSED HEROICALLY.]

"Fenom-man."

"Do not let your CHILDREN speak to Fenom-man, he is for pictures ONLY."

---

Claremont Rooftop, SDN Office

_{Interactions - @FourtyTwo@cosmiccowgirl}

---

Everyone's clocked in.

Mostly.

Just waiting on a few more heroes and villains. Then James talks about some paperwork or something, Eclipse has already completed his, just waiting for it to be delivered. He stifles a laugh; he wishes he could see the look on James's face once his paperwork gets to him. It would've been hilarious.

A static shock wakes him back to reality, a slight buzz on his armor. Lightning Girl sits beside him.

"This is my schtick. You saw me on the roof thinking you could do it. Admit it. You're a little envious."

"Envious? Be honest, I do it a lot better than you." Eclipse leans back, helmet resting on his lap. "It's better at midnight. The helmet's eyes glow crimson, the rest of the suit blends into the night."

He purses his lips, Lightning Girl reaches for his Cheetos, and he playfully smacks her with the bag after.

"Yum. Thanks. And....cheers for the other night. I wasn't all myself. But, you probably saved me from doing something really stupid." She retorted, smiling to him, looking out. "I appreciate that. Very heroic of you. Bet you fucking hate it, don't you. You wanna be nothing but shadowy rather than that. You would fit in perfectly in Manchester with all of how grey it is and people don't talk as much as me."

Eclipse furrows his brows at her. "Hm."

If it were anyone else, he would've cut them by now. "You make a lot of assumptions."

Helping an ally isn't heroic by any means, not in his eyes, not at all. It comes naturally--he's done it before in Red Ring, he's been saved and held back a few times in Red Ring, too, it all came with the job, really. What Lightning Girl deemed heroic was just Tuesday for him.

Maybe he was cut out for hero work. Maybe not. But Lightning Girl's constant reinforcement of him being a hero, or at least mildly heroic, was something to go by.

Maybe he was starting to believe it.

Lightning Girl walks off to recharge herself, throwing herself onto a nearby power transformer, and is promptly thrashed around as if she were an oversized pill bottle. He might've seen her bones as she electrocuted herself; it was that cartoony. But, fuck, if it wasn't strangely hot all the same. Reminded him of that one night where another electricity girl zapped everyone at the same time while.... By now, Eclipse is staring far too strangely and far too long as Lightning Girl walks back over, an aura of power around her.

"I appreciate what you said you'd be willing to do. You don't have to do that for me.....but....thanks. See you at work."

Eclipse cracks a wry smile as she leaves.

---

10 minutes pass.

By now, Eclipse is standing up and getting ready to leave for the break room. He tosses the last bit of his Cheetos at a few late employees, who begrudgingly tolerate his hazing and mutter a few curses as they step inside.

"Waste of perfectly good Cheetos,"

He turns face-to-face with an upside-down Blackstar. Flyers always love to show off. "Try it sometime, it's fun." By now, he's more than eager to get his helmet on and head into the break room, only sticking around because he felt Blackstar had more to say.

"Tell Lightning Girl I said hi,"

He lets out a tired sigh as Blackstar hurriedly escapes the rooftop.

---

Break Room, Claremont SDN

_{Shut this guy up already, will ya?}

---

Everyone funnels into the break room, little by little. James announces the carnival job, and the room seems to deflate. Eclipse gets especially pissy, and the shadow around his corner seems to darken as he sulks. Madcap, ironically, is neither excited or annoyed by the news, just lost in thought, though he does raise a hand when Asteroid breaks his question to the others.

The news goes back to normal, Madcap gets up and stretches, and approaches Eclipse as everyone else figures out a way out to the carnival.

"Hey," Madcap wraps an arm around Eclipse's shoulder, his frown is heard clearly. " Can you take me to the carnival? I don't wanna be left out."

Eclipse nods his head, and Madcap's feet begin to sink into the floor. It's a slow descent into darkness, and Madcap feels the cold envelope him, but persists as he manages to yap Eclipse's ears off. "You saw the ad, right? ' Cuz I've seen it a thousand times, and something is really wrong with it. Total villain plotline. Something will go wrong at the carnival, and a bunch of people are gonna die, but then we gotta save the day cause we're already there."

Madcap pokes his chest. "You probably know that already though, 'cuz you're an ex-villain and all, you've probably done stuff like this sooo many times before."

"Shut up."

"Okay," Madcap sniffles, sinking further alongside Eclipse, "IT'S SO COLD!"

---

Dispatching Corner

_@FourtyTwo

---

James gets all of his requested paperwork, some later than others. Regardless, he has it all, and while it's hard to fit on his desk, it's there. All he was missing was Eclipse's time sheet and dispatch... logs...

A short, shadowy creature, like some kind of bipedal, stout rabbit, stumbles up to James's feet, the cat sniffing it tentatively. The creature holds a stack of papers over its head, and the moment James grabs it, it melts into a black stain.

Well, that's... certainly a way to get a time sheet and dispatch log.

The cat's ears sink, and it lets out a confused meow.

---

WELCOME TO THE CARNIVAL!

_{Soundtrack: Warped Carousel}

---

The carnival is lively and seems to pulse with a life of its own; kids run around with gleeful abandon, and parents are somehow comfortable within the colorful borders of the attraction despite the abundance of clowns. A Ferris wheel sticks out in the distance, alongside various other carnival rides, all themed after big-name SDN heroes. Phenomaman's face is practically plastered on the side of each and every ride.

A merry-go-round rests in the middle of all the chaos, the animals aboard it being themed after horses dressed as clowns, a tired worker managing it all as a horde of kids stumble aboard.

Eclipse and Madcap manifest just a little walk away from the carnival, and head inside, almost losing each other in the horde of kids before finding their place within the madness. Eclipse found himself in the darkest spot he could manage, a corn dog food stall to the side of it all, and decided it was better to work on cooking than it was dealing with hordes of screaming kids. The employees in there, however, seemed a bit put off by his arrival, but tolerated him nonetheless.

Madcap, on the other hand, ran off into an employee's only room, probably in the back of some odd attraction, and began searching the whole thing from top-to-bottom. He was absolutely convinced something was up with this carnival, and no amount of convincing could change his mind. As long as he wasn't pestering any of the kids, then it was probably fine to let him conduct a quick search...

The other A-Team heroes, however, would have to find their place among the ever-growing crowd.

It should be an easy dispatch, right?

Just don't be weird, and everything would be a-okay!

Austin Is Dead

Thanks. I don't normally do things this grounded so I'm curious to see where I go. It's good reading so far at least.
Do you have plans for your character? Maybe our people could run into eachother and have a bit of dialogue before the funeral? Send a message if you'd like to discuss dialogue. :D

@JFK

Same here, I don't really do grounded things much either haha, you're doing great at it though! :D

For plans, I'll see if I can have Cass wander a bit after coming into Elysian and find Chris, then they can chat a bit before the funeral! If not, then they might able to share some dialogue at the funeral, I don't really mind either way

Austin Is Dead

@JFK Great post! I love the segments where Chris's characterization so far, and the river scene was dope

@LanaStorm Excited to see the next big GM post, and love what you did for Cass's middle reply! :D Mr. Goodnight really caught her ass LMFAO

Austin Is Dead

---

The Drive In

_@LanaStorm

---

"Most people that knew Mr. Witten stayed in Elysian, the vultures that wanted to make a buck off him already came and 'gon. Whatever you're looking for, coming back to Elysian after so long - I hope you find it ma'am, now go to his funeral and when it's done, don't overstay your welcome. We've had enough tourists this year - you're free to go."

"It's fine," she says, grabbing her license back. "I'll be out as soon as possible."

So nothing changed after all? Cass furrows her brows. She doesn't take it personally, she wasn't local anymore. If anything, it was probably more offensive for her to come back into Elysian, especially now.

Why did she come back? The other journalists were faster than her, it seems; money had already been made, just as Mr. Goodnight said. She sighs and gets back to driving. She couldn't prove anyone wrong; she really doesn't think so. She doesn't even know why she drove in, but something drew her back to Elysian after Austin's death, and she'd have to figure out what.

Her eyes stay on the road.

Writing Austin's biography, could she really do it?

Austin Is Dead

@themaybreeze@h8k8m8 Great posts!! I love the characterization you guys did for both characters summer's guilt over her use of powers was really well done, and I love how awkward jaxon is
they're both awesome x3

Austin Is Dead

---

Home Coming

_{Interactions: @LanaStorm | Mentions: @themaybreeze@JFK}

---

Coming back to Elysian Heights after all this time... Cass sighs and takes a right turn. The road looked the same as it did when she first left. Were the people the same too? It feels as though the moment she reenters Elysian, it would all be the same again: she'd be sixteen again with her little clique, Austin would still be alive and chatting with Chris, and he'd still be exchanging glances with Summer in the middle of class.

Her brows furrow, she passes one or two cars driving out. The road is mostly empty besides that, so, she figures nobody would mind her speeding a bit; it's just a straight line into Elysian now, and she doesn't see any cops around.

Why did she come back to Elysian Heights? She never liked Austin, sure, but she knew him, partially. That was probably more than the general public could say, and it'd make a fine story to write on Austin's personal life, share that heroes are human too. Even if they don't feel like it sometimes.

It's hard to fake hatred, and for her, it shows all too well in her writing.

But Austin was a good person, even if he was childish. Hate or not, it's... weird knowing that even a powered person can just up and die one day doing the right thing.

The public deserves to hear about his story, and she'd be the first to write about it.

"Shit." Cass mutters to herself as she's pulled over by a cop. She got spotted, god dammit. She was so close to Elysian, too.

Her window rolls down and it take a moment for both her and the officer to recognize each other.

"License and registration." Pausing for a moment "Cass Warden."

"Mr. Goodnight?" Cass gawks at the older sheriff, her driver's license and registration in one hand. "You're still working? I haven't seen you since I graduated..."

Hell, Marcus Goodnight still looked exactly how she remembered, just a little older now. It's hard to hide aging like that. He's been sheriff ever since she was a kid, and from what she remembers, he was well-known around the neighborhood for his love of the Elysian community. if you had any trouble, you'd come to Mr. Goodnight, and he'd handle it all for you.

Despite being deathly afraid of the old sheriff when she was younger, she always saw him as a cool, neighborhood uncle of sorts. It's both nice and somewhat concerning to see him still working at his old age--he should've retired by now, right?

"If you still need the stuff, then," she holds her driver's license out awkwardly, "I'm coming back for Austin's funeral to write his biography--the public deserves to know that he was human--a hero, but same as us."

Austin Is Dead

Posted, honestly looks good - feels good.

I'll leave it to you guys to reply ^_^

We're launched~!

@LanaStorm

Love the track you chose, and your descriptions are awesome! It's so cinematic, I'm invested already
I'll get to replying sometime this week or tomorrow if my schedule allows it!

Dispatch: Heroes of Claremont

GIGGLE'S PLAYGROUND FOR LITTLE HEROES

_{Soundtrack: Warped Carousel}

---

[CARNIVAL LOGO OVERLAYED ONTOP OF A CARNIVAL BACKGROUND. THE LOGO IS A CLOWN BALLOON AND SPEAKS TO THE VIEWER.]

"Are your kids BORED? Do you have MONEY to SPEND on OVERPRICED DRINKS and FOOD? Do you like losing rigged CARNIVAL GAMES for 2-dollar TOYS and PLUSHIES?"

[THE SCREEN FLASHES BETWEEN RANDOM CARNIVAL VIDEOS OF CHILDREN PLAYING, RUNNING AROUND, AND HAVING FUN. THERE ARE HEROES IN THE BACKGROUND SUPERVISING THE WHOLE EVENT.]

"Come to Giggle's Playground for Little Heroes for fun in the Thursday SUN, and let your KIDS be HEROES."

[A MULTITUDE OF SAFETY WARNINGS FLASH ON SCREEN.]

---

THURSDAY - California Dreaming

_{Welcome to My MTV Crib}

---

Carmen was walking home that night. He took the bus. It was cramped. Someone got mad at him; a lot of people got mad at him. He doesn't remember why. His front door feels cold, and his vision is blurry.

Why is the room sideways?

Why...

What was he dreaming about? Carmen wakes up on the floor, passed out beside pairs of spare shoes. His suit is caked in dirt, and his clothes are still damp with rainwater. His helmet is still on--actually, his whole hero uniform is on, but he doesn't remember sleeping here. He doesn't remember walking home, either; his head aches as he tries to recall yesterday's events.

He tries to get up, but he's glued to the floor. Every muscle aches and cries out for it all to end--every limb broken and battered. No, no, no. This isn't a hero's death. He's not supposed to die in the suit and at home, of all places. That's not how a hero dies.

It's Carmen who has to inch forward and into his living room.

It's Carmen who has to ignore each and every shooting pain in his legs as he hobbles upward.

And it's the Mighty Madcap that has to decide his new outfit for work 'cuz showing up in a dirty suit and messed up boots is nasty! The helmet and tie are an easy wash, though.

---

SDN CLAREMONT OFFICES - MARTHA'S OFFICE

_{Early Morning
Mentions: @FourtyTwo@Thayr@SonnetNSunbeam@cosmiccowgirl@Pragia12@BigPapaBelial@Redking0380}

---

The sound of the clacking keys fills the room. Martha's office is painted a dark green, and stacks of files are piled neatly on the corner of her desk. Most of them are about HR violations: stinky cat, inappropriate workplace behavior, workplace policy... that stack is high. Martha grabs a nearby document, an SDN training program to boost hero performance.

"Hm." She adjusts her glasses as Gayatri enters the office, gracefully setting a cup of coffee down on her desk. "Morning, Gayatri."

"Good morning, Mrs. Baxter." Gayatri smiles, her eight-arms filled with office and cleaning supplies as she begins to clean Martha's office. "How is A-Team doing? Is James OK?"

Yesterday's events. It was slow, and Tyler had to pick up the slack. How Kat thought it'd be a good idea to let A-Team drink at SDN's expense on Tuesday was beyond her, especially not with the... incident that Martha had to manage--Tsunami's transfer to Hollywood and all.

"He met with Alan yesterday for pain meds and whatnot."

"Ohh."

Martha isn't exactly sure how Gayatri does it--cleaning, chatting, and somehow refilling staplers at the same time. "Solaris and Lunara were transferred out to Pasadena, too, you know how the situation is there."

"First Riley, now those two." Gayatri shakes her head. "I hope the rest of the team sticks around. They're very sweet."

"The heroes are great to work with, Blackstar especially. I'm surprised it took so long for Mayors to find her." Martha sips her coffee. "Phoenix Program is surprisingly well-behaved, too, even after their little pub stint. There's just one problem."

Gayatri tilts her head, busy dusting off a shelf.

"The bug one, Gayatri. The bug one." She begins to type faster. "We're lucky he couldn't clock in yesterday; he's a ticking time bomb. "

Gayatri pauses for a moment.

The rest of A-Team was doing amazingly; Blackstar, Asteroid, and Princess were all surprisingly sweet, especially considering the latter's criminal history. Hat Trick was amazing for PR, and Lightning Girl was still Lightning Girl, the shining star of A-Team. Payback, Fenom, and Eclipse were also strangely easy to work with, even if the former seemed to have some kind of compulsive stealing habit. She swears that Payback has tried to steal some of the newly reloaded office supplies whenever she wasn't looking.

But the bug one?

"Oh! Hold on, I'm sorry!" A jumble of sound erupts in the quiet office as all eight of her phones go off. "I have to take these, I'll come back to chat later!"

Martha waves Gayatri off and continues her work. She'd find that woman an assistant or two someday.

---

SDN CLAREMONT OFFICES - Rooftop

_{Early Afternoon}

---

Eclipse arrived earlier than usual, maybe by a few minutes, or maybe the others were just late. He shrugs and rips open a bag of Cheetos. It didn't really matter what they did. He finds himself sitting on the edge, overlooking the parking lot, as the others begin to clock in. Sometimes he throws a few Cheetos down at people to annoy them.

It's fun.

Tuesday drinking was fun too, but he'd never admit that outright. Even if he... can't really remember what happened outside of being on the rooftop with Lightning Girl and that Tsunami chick crashing the party.

He does remember some of the dispatches that he went on... the balloon kid's birthday. Did he still have that balloon? Did it fade away already? And the school kids from his first dispatch, were they doing fine? Would he have to come back and put on another show?

He scowls at the thought.

No more kid missions. He hoped the dispatcher would listen to him.

Speaking of, what was James's relationship with Lightning Girl anyway? Co-workers? Both from the UK, at least, that's a mighty coincidence. But it doesn't say much, considering A-Team is a motley crew of heroes and villains. Hell, he doesn't even know where Princess is from.

Eclipse's eyes stay on his hands, a bit warmer from the sun.

Lightning Girl was a nice character. She just seemed to be that way, really, so why... was he the first one to help her that night? Tsunami wanted her dead, almost killed her, that's reasonable. He sighs; he's done far worse in Red Ring--allies and enemies all blur together in his head. If someone almost kills you during work, then you stab them in the back and leave them behind to send a message.

Apparently, heroes did that too, considering Tsunami's attack on James.

If getting revenge for Lightning Girl's sake is what gets him a better rapport with SDN higher-ups, then so be it.

---

SDN Break Room - Clocking In

_{Early afternoon - choose how you arrive!}

---

The break room smells of citrus today; the counters are quickly wiped, and a vase of flowers is set in the middle of the table. The AC hums, the vending machine is completely emptied--no one's gotten to restocking it, somehow--and some SDN employees come and go to grab their things from the fridge.

Someone took the time to add a small TV to the break room, planted firmly beside the vending machine on a dinky stand.

"And for today in Claremont, the long-awaited Giggle's Playground for Little Heroes opens to the public!" The news broadcaster gestures to the screen behind them. "Similarly to last year, SDN heroes will be making an appearance at the carnival to teach your kids all about heroing..."

"SORRY I'M--" Madcap kicks the break room door open with unmatched vigor, a fluffy slipper nearly falling off his foot. He hits the ground and gawks at the empty break room. "Early?"

Where was everyone? Did he actually make it early? No way... was everyone just hiding from him because of his super awesome superhero aura?!

For anyone arriving after Madcap, they find him glued to the TV. His usual bug helmet is on, along with his signature tie, but the rest of his outfit? Walking fashion disaster. He fumbles with the hem of his pink fur coat's sleeves, a black unitard underneath. If questioned on what happened to his usual suit, he chirps a quick: "laundry," and continues staring at the TV.

---

Dispatching Corner

_@FourtyTwo

---

"Hey, James," Raul turns from the terminal screen, "was just fixing up your account a bit and doing maintenance. I'll be moving soon, just give me a moment or two."

There's a large display of candles and flowers littering James's cubicle, no doubt put there by Raul, considering the cart of various tech and decor beside him. Raul kneels down and begins to pray a bit more before smacking the terminal on for James. "One warning, though, keep the candles lit, it's what keeps the machine spirit in there happy, 'nd don't go tampering with the flowers either, same reason." His voice takes on a sterner note, but dissipates the moment he notices the cat.

The cat from Tuesday is well-taken care of now, cleaned, and fed, but still scrawny. It sniffs Raul's shoe curiously.

"Whoa, whoa, I didn't know you had a cat!" He remarks, backing away slightly. "I know Samson brought in his today. Think you two should meet? Anyway, no touching the flowers or the candles, and keep cat hair off the keyboard. Your machine is sacred like a temple, and if you anger it, I'm gonna be the one fixing it."

Raul begins to take his leave, hands on his cart as he prepares to make it to the next cubicle. "Before I go, Kat wanted me to tell you this: she signed up your team to show up at Giggle's carnival, playground, or something. Your team's gonna be holed up there all afternoon just making sure the kids are safe and entertained."

And it's a great PR stunt.

The cart is hauled off, and James is left alone at his cubicle, cat hanging around his feet. Strangely, on his desk, he finds a small box of Fisherman's Friends with a post-it note over them, just signed by Eclipse, nothing else.

Regardless, work was going to start soon, and he'd have to break the news to the team somehow.