//AE 53, Sol 13
//Day 1 of the Play/Tech Expo
@PapiTan@DigmataTwinned silhouettes shot across the skyline of
Residential District Mu, one white and another pink. It was rare for two mainline Talents to share the same patrol routes, especially when their territories were often negotiated and purchased by Agencies, but for AGC Rising, such occurrences weren’t nearly such a rarity. Despite their reputation as a stepping-stone agency, where their Talents would often end up graduating to a larger corporation with more product lines, it couldn’t be denied that their Talents always came out as
exceptionally capable of handling real emergencies.
And for one of Aspera Agency’s latest Talents, getting that experience would be instrumental to advancing her own career. Sure, Elpis could play at being an indie Hero, pulling soccer balls off of tree branches or helping an old lady with her groceries, but there was a reason why the Opera Nova, for all the initial hype surrounding a Talent that took on such a meaningful name, was currently still such an unknown of a Talent that there were regular-ass idols who had a bigger follower count than him. Elpis needed a senior Talent, someone like the Moon Arrow, who could show her how to pick out actual emergencies along the road, who could tune in to the Public Safety Department’s radio chatter in order to filter out the meaningless noise and pick out only the most public disturbances.
For Amaris herself, of course, well…
With the recent surge in listeners to her podcast after that incident two weeks back at Neo-Spotlight, there was
undoubtedly a market for her voice too. Regardless of what she personally thought of it, forming a connection to Elpis and Aspera Agency would no doubt go some distance in linking her to future opportunities for voice acting.
That was how it was with Talents. Some needed to improve their personal abilities as a Hero, and others needed to work on their ability to grab the people’s attention.
@Taka@Psyker Landshark@Yu NarukamiIt was expected of Day One, but the
Play/Tech Expo was still such a bustling affair. A yearly convention where companies all across Neo-Astraea would congregate in the Sky Lounge to showcase and promote their latest gadgets and toys to superfans, shareholders, and news reporters, its three floors were filled with all sorts of gizmos. And, of course, with any event like this, it went without question that any corporation with a Talent branch would also use this to get their own people’s faces out there.
Heroes were ever-present, their regular outfits swapped out for something more sponsor-heavy. Some ran the booths themselves, scientist-Heroes who were more than happy to explain the inexplicable technological principles that went into these limited-edition toys. Others were called in through Agency-contracts to simply be devastatingly attractive models for anything from airsoft guns to sports cars to VR-rigging gear. And of course, there were those who were present only to present figurines of themselves and their fellow Talents. Hands were shaken, business cards were exchanged, future talks were promised, all while calculations were made in the minds of investors and journalists. On the Orchard Stage, live presentations were hosted by Talents with a million followers at a minimum.
And for Ladyice, Armada, and Zephyr, at their respective booths on the eastern wing of the second floor?
Though their official duties remained, this was nevertheless an opportunity to make up for their individual shortcomings through networking and brain-picking. Blackriver’s marketing department was seeing a plateauing of Ladyice’s numbers recently, and more importantly, her power itself hadn’t been developing the way they had initially projected. Team RESPAWN had yet to find a solution to the problem with converting their video game sales, which were still impacted by piracy and black market account-trading, into merch sales. And as for Carmine Corp?
Well, with all the money and hours spent, with her being their only Talent, how on earth was Zephyr still a sub-200,000 Hero? She needed to find a Rival, fast, someone beyond two-bit part-time Villains and common criminals to play off of.
@Yankee@CrowvetteThat was the problem, wasn’t it?
There wasn’t a hook.What had started out as a projected Fame count of 300,000 ended up only with half that instead, and that was
with the industry favours that Summit Studio called in. And now? It was already sinking, barely making past the minimum threshold of 100,000. It was only by the luck of branding alone that Astraeus even developed some supernatural power to begin with, but even with that, he wasn’t as if he could do something worthwhile with them. Enhanced durability and stamina? That didn’t make for good video.
Perhaps, they were just being stubborn, after all. Stuck in old days, idealistic fossils. True people’s champions, when Neo-Astraea no longer had nearly the same crime rate as before? A do-gooder who could whip up mass appeal, when even AGC Rising struggled with that, despite being THE Agency known for realheroics Talents? Astraeus couldn’t appeal with his aura and charisma alone, not when the City of Heroes has seen hundreds of Heroes being promoted the same way before. And anyhow, what was trendy these days wasn’t a regular person slogging their way through a dirty, brutal fistfight to a messy victory, but rather…
The Skybreaker, the scream of the sound barrier being shattered as she resolves all troubles with her very arrival.
The Technological Marvel, putting on a show and reveling in his own genius with every appearance.
The Moon Arrow, piercing through all defenses from five city blocks away.
The Maiden of Hearts. The Ashborn. The Unmade Song. The Grinning Maw.
Swift. Untouched, Flawless. Violence delivered without any of the messy, human element. If people wanted to watch fists and teeth fly, if they wanted to see a ten-count sound out ten times, there were
real athletes they could watch. But for a truly street-level hero with nothing more than a decent heart and no other standout elements?
If they were being charitable, people would say Astraeus simply hadn’t found his audience yet. How would he actually change the industry from within though, if he was nothing but a
niche? How could he get out there, into the spotlight, so his voice could actually be heard?
Perhaps it was sensing that discontent that had the senior Kerk produce two tickets to a concert for Cas and his sister. Officially, he was there to scout out a potential rival from another Agency that recently debuted their first Talent.
Unofficially…well.
It may just be a break from the grind.
Remram
Tpartywithzombi
stone
Lemons
Yu Narukami
kkotr
n0cturnal1
Taka
Zeroth
TaintedMushroom
