April 1st - Arrival

[cartesio]

Arrival

It feels more like waking up from a very restful night, instead of the jarring feeling of waking up in an unknown bed. That feeling may not last long, though, because you're definitely not looking up at any ceiling you're familiar with.

It's some kind of motel room -- maybe cleaner than you'd expect from such a place. There's a comfortable bed, a trunk with a military uniforn and a gas mask and enough space to stash whatever you get during the next two months, a closet with a familiar outfit or two...no other belongings in this room, and certainly no answers as to why you're here.

There's one thing that may bring more questions than answers: a calendar. Today's date is marked there: April 1st. Happy April Fools day? The entirety of April and most of May is empty, but the week from May 21st to May 25th is filled with one word:

END

The moment you step out of your room with AC you're hit by the warm, sticky air of Cartesio. Today is a rather dry day. You're not the only one who seems to be lost -- other people come out of their rooms. At some point, once you get to the lobby, you find a few things of interest: a guestbook, a rack of maps, and a note pinned to the wood of the counter:

"Meet me at the Lodge in two hours -- The Sergeant"
You now have a place to go to in two hours. In the meanwhile, how about you get accustomed to the motel and the town?

Links

IC Rules
Guestbook
Room Assignments
Locations

Comments

[burgerprince]

[what the hell where's the #1 superhero this is bullshit]

Quirk?

[He sounds incredulous.]

No, no, see my hat? That's a quirk. That's - [He gestures to the wing thing.] That's full on eccentricity.

[icariot]

[first you stare, now you can’t respect a guy’s sick leave? wow who raised such a heathen]

Pretty sure a hat isn’t a quirk, unless it’s covering some kind of physical manifestation of something else.

[Wings aren’t even Hawks’ eccentricity. That belongs to his love of chicken foods of all kinds as a birdman.]

[burgerprince]

[the answer is no one good and that's the problem]

It's a quirk. It's quirky. It's my...thing that sets me apart from everyone else.

[Jughead's claim to a stable identity: one (1) stupid hat.]

[icariot]

[RIP]

I’m not sure where you’ve been the last hundred or some years, but Quirks have been around for a while. Most are unique to a person, though themes usually run through families.

[Hawks says he doesn’t know where you’ve been, but he’s pretty sure it’s a toss up between “under a rock” and “hippy commune with no outward appearing quirks”.]

[burgerprince]

[He just...squints at that.]

Are you getting existential about this or are we running on different definitions here?

[icariot]

Probably different definitions, at this point. These wings are my quirk, which is called Mighty Wings. And they’re plenty real. There’s a couple others with quirks I recognize, if the guestbook is to be believed. I haven’t seen them in person yet.

[This whole time his wings have been moving gently as he talked, surely no mere cosplay pro.]

[burgerprince]

So it’s...a superpower.

[A beat.]

You’re a superhero.

[He thought the “hero” part of his bio might have been in more of the small town way. An outstanding public figure that gives talks at public events and no one’s really sure what he did to earn that privilege but doesn’t question it.]

[icariot]

“Superpower” is a pretty old fashioned way to say it, but yeah, if that’s the one that works for you.

[Hawks dips slightly in a theatric bow, one arm and wing tucked close and the other set stretched to the side before straightening back up.]

The winged hero: Hawks, at your service. Number two pro hero of Japan, only after the flame hero Endeavor. [Can you hear the quotes? He’s copying how he was last introduced at a public function. He still would rather not be the #2 hero, but generally you don’t tell fans that. So he can play up the rank for now, and maybe it can be handy later]

I’m going to take a shot in the dark and say you don’t have heroes where you’re from?

[burgerprince]

[God that's so much to take in.]

No. Only in comic books or...metaphorically.

[He takes a moment.]

...Hawks, though? That was the best you could come up with?

[icariot]

....You've never met a real hero before, and you complain about their name?

[Kid. Kid. You've got some weird priorities and manners]

Sometimes the public gives the hero their name, kid, and they don't have a choice in the matter. Either way, if it's not your name, what's it matter?

[Hawks could bring up the name "Jughead" isn't exactly flattering either, but he's going to pretend to be a true Adult(tm) here]

[burgerprince]

I’m a writer. My priorities lie in the creative.

[And sometimes if you don’t know what to do in a situation, criticism is a valid option.]

So what, they just called you Hawks and you ran with it?

[icariot]

More or less, that's what happened. I've been known by it since I was younger than you are, so I'm rather fond of it. Plus, hero names are supposed to be your "brand," so something simple and iconic to you is always the best to go with.

[Hawks could have had a much worse name, with a quirk like this. He already gets called "birdie" enough, at least let him be a bird of prey!!]

[burgerprince]

Guess it's better than 'Birdman'.

[Now he's probably going to tell him that Birdman is taken or something.]

Does that mean it's your day job? You guys have unions and stuff? Cops?

[There are SO many questions.]

[icariot]

It's my main job, I run my own hero agency, but a lot of heroes have second ones. Hero work is only paid on how many crimes you stop, so for some people even if they're a pro they'll have a true 'day job' they do too. Like an office job 9-5 and heroing after.

[you can't live off of waiting for crime to happen, that's not fun or sustainable]

Police are still needed, heroes can't exactly detain or solve all the small crimes of the world. We usually act as contractors with the police.

[burgerprince]

Right.

[It's easy enough to follow, but, then there's the inevitable conclusion he's going to have to come to.]

So the police contact you for, not petty crimes, but...supervillains?

[So much disbelief in his voice even though at this point there's literally no reason for it.]