CRISIS ON INFINITE DREAMWIDTHS: EVENT END

[metamods]

AT THE END OF THE WORLD

The sound isn't unlike thunder when the universe begins to crack apart. Loud, thrumming thuds that tear the sky and the fabric of reality. The nexuses are being stomped out, engulfed back into the void one by one.

Characters may be in these nexuses as they're slowly engulfed by the cracks. Some may be saying they're final goodbye's to old friends, new friends, or simply watching as the apocalypse descends on whichever world they're in.

And then, just before they're about to fall into oblivion - they're snatched away.

IN CENTRAL CITY —

Outside The Alliance HQ, Chaos Gate and the Silent Mystic stand with their eyes tightly shut, hands linked together as one. Above you the sky has turned a deep crimson. The crack is a yawning chasm as buildings are torn apart brick by brick, falling into the abyss.

If something isn't done soon then you're all dead.

This world is a nexus and this can't be changed, but it can be pulled from the 'between' it has fallen into, and restored to its proper place. This will require an enormous amount of energy. The mystics bid the gathered to join hands: they ask you to remember their world, the one they left behind and tether this world to it. Your strongest memories may bleed out, giving the people around you a glimpse of who you are, what you were.

The universally displaced are here with you. This is a last mingle opportunity. The comm will remain open so people can continue to play any threads they didn’t get a chance to during the run of the event. They too can join hands and share their memories, but as they are not tied to this dimension, when it’s restored they will either return to their own worlds or the nexuses they left behind.



CONNECTION —

Everything goes dark.

It feels endless, swallowing your sight as well as all sound as it closes in. Slowly, glowing threads begin to appear, tying one person to the next, then to the next, and so on. Only those who are linked to Metaheroes are tied with these golden glowing threads. The threads flow down to their feet and then shoot up towards the sky.

There's a boom, different to the thunderous cracks of before. The sky rushes back into place, day and night speeding by as it hurries to realign itself to the proper date and time. It's dizzying, for a moment, before it begins to feel grounding. Right.

The air feels different. Fresher, somehow. The sky is brighter; the world seems fuller, like it has been allowed to become what it should have been all along. A cheer goes up. The people are elated, relieved to see the sun again.

Players may be troubled should they have ventured into other worlds. They have seen the nexuses that have fallen to ruin, know how they too once felt exactly like this.



THE WORLD CONTINUES TO TURN —

The world has been restored to its proper place. Interdimensional communication is coming through again. The Guilds, exhausted as they were putting fires out across the non-meta cities, are relieved. Perhaps this is finally over.

With the return of interdimensional communication comes the return of interdimensional travel as well. This technology has been used in this world before; it was only with the advent of the recent powerful Confluences that it all went dark. Now that it’s back, the Guilds start to make plans immediately. It will take a little time to organize everything, but once they have a system in place, it shouldn’t be too difficult to locate everyone’s home universes and return them there. They set a tentative date for September 4th to start trying to return everyone home.

That being said, the government is none too happy with any of this. The Guild Systems were put into play by two metahumans who wanted the best for the world, as a means to protect them from those who would do them harm. Years have been spent slowly wrestling control from those two and now there is an opportunity.

Behind the scenes a storm is brewing. If they can spin this to blame the Unaligned then perhaps they have no more need for the Guilds. The Society is a thorn in their side that they’d like to finally be rid of, but they’re essentially untouchable. The Unaligned, however, are flagrantly breaking the law. Constantly putting themselves in the spotlight, making it all too easy to yank the rug out from under the metahuman leaders.

How wonderful for them that these strangers from away have made such a wreck of the trust in the systems that protected the metahumans of this world.

Mechanima is all too aware that things are about to go to hell. The Society is welcoming all metahumans, regardless of moral alignment, to join them. It is heavily encouraged among the rumor mill that the Unaligned should start reconsidering their position.

As the days go on, things begin to change across Meta.

• Excelsior has become vehemently anti-metahuman. While this outrage may pass, they’re passing new AI laws in rapid succession. Limitations on what AI can and can’t inhabit. Limitations on robot bodies, on mechanical prosthetics, on the research that can be done into what gives things the spark of life. Magic is essentially forbidden within the city. Any abilities that can be mistaken as magic are treated as suspect.


• Sunset Falls is worse for wear. Yet the people remain as grateful as ever to the metahumans who stepped in to save them. That gratitude outweighs any fear that they could have caused this - Sunset Falls has disasters all the time that have nothing to do with interdimensional weirdness. They continue to be unbothered by the metas among them.


• Central City, having witnessed all the off-world metas stepping in to save them, is oddly grateful for this - but they haven’t forgotten what happened. The disappeared are among them again and are unharmed despite their sojourn through the universe, but the fact that it happened at all is cause for concern. Confluences are a problem. They want answers, they want solutions.


• Little Love remains untouched and unchanged.

I DREAM A DREAM SO PRETTY —

Two days after the apocalypse is averted, every off-world meta will find a pillow lying on their doorstep. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you live - one of these pillows will find its way to you.

If you’re quick or wary enough, you may be able to catch a glimpse of the being that placed it there: a figure clad in blue robes. They’ll appear seemingly out of nowhere and lay the pillow down before vanishing into dust. Should they happen to notice they’ve been spotted, they’re clearly started, and lay a finger to their lips before departing.

Atop the pillow is a note: an invitation from the Dreamers of the Willow Maiden. You would have undoubtedly heard of this group: they have a presence in this world, though their reputation’s benign. They’re oddballs and weirdos, but ultimately harmless. They believe in the power of a good night’s sleep - literally.

If the note is to be believed, then the Willow Maiden herself has requested an audience with you, and this audience can only be granted in the world of dreams. Should you accept this offer, the note explains, all you need to do is lay your head upon this enchanted pillow. Sleep will come to you quickly.

Your dreams will be extremely vivid. There are recurring themes bleeding through them: your greatest accomplishment juxtaposed with your greatest failure. The moment you could have acted but stayed still. Highschool embarrassments. Falling. Flying. Here in your own dreamscape, you’ve got more control than anywhere else; you feel as though you can do anything. But beware: these dreams grab for you, both the nightmares and the fantasies. It can be easy to lose yourself and forget what exactly is real.

Luckily, the dreams grab for others as well. Sleeping metas may find themselves involuntarily wandering into one anothers’ dreams. Visitors to a dreamscape don’t have any powers outside of what they normally would, but they can reach out to the dream’s host, should they want to.

If no one else arrives, don’t worry. She is patient and waiting, and doesn’t mind that you stumble. Fall too far into the abyss, and she’ll reach out her hand to steady you.




THE WILLOW MAIDEN —

As you find your way out of the haze of your subconscious with uour allies at your side, the Willow Maiden greets you. She is a massive tree nymph, long-limbed and wooden. She is curled against an enormous tree, looking like a statue. At your approach, she lifts her head from the crook of her arm and extends a hand in greeting. Her smile is warm and motherly. You may feel distrust, but that feeling of safety and protection that guided you home radiates from her.

“You from a far away land, come to this world and made its own.” Her wooden lips don’t move, the words echo through your soul itself. “I can do little for you now but issue warning. Danger is waiting in the dawn, in the shine of her sword. You won this battle, your strength and the strength of all those you have touched has saved you… but she is coming.

She is coming.


“My time is short… your words cannot reach me as you are now. Carve yourselves a new future. One in this world and all others. Dream, and in those dreams, you shall become more powerful than even she can stand. My gift is the gift of new life, new lives, new futures… I have shielded you from her gaze until I could no longer bear it and now… I must rest. May the next time we met be true conversation.”

The Willow Maiden lays her head back down on the curve of her arms. Within moments, she’s asleep.

You wake. Not with a start, but as though you’ve been gently roused from a deep and restful sleep. The dreamsharing effect lingers, and can reoccur off and on throughout the month of September, but you will not find your way to the Willow Maiden’s realm again.

IN SUMMARY.

• The fourth wall ends in a near apocalypse. Characters will have a chance to say goodbye while the metaphorical walls are closing in. They will be pulled back from the brink at the last second.


• Through the collective effort of metaenergy, Metaheroes will rejoin the multiverse, tethered to the worlds which playable characters come from.


• As a result, there's tentative optimism that characters will be able to go home
.

• Anti-meta sentiment is growing across Excelsior, and within governing bodies. Government officials will begin looking to blame Unaligned heroes for various crimes and disturbances.


• It's a good time to pick a side. Or don't.


• Amidst all this, The Willow Maiden invites players to Meta's first dream share event. The dreaming effect lingers and characters may find themselves intermittently sharing dreams throughout September.


• However pleasant this is, however cathartic - it doesn't change that things are tense in the waking world. The Willow Maiden's warning will ring in your ears, too: who is coming?

Comments

[retromix]

This is when I realised it, for real. That I wasn't a good person. That's why I ran away.

[ Hands in his pockets, he sits down on the window ledge that has a little alcove of cushions. ]

I begged her to take me back.

[camarod]

[Eddie’s better at this, he thinks. not just because there’s an intimacy between Steve and him, but he’s just better at understanding the complexities of what Steve needs. usually. mostly.

Billy doesn’t think he’s allowed that. certainly not allowed in that quiet, cushioned space with Steve, so he opts for the wall opposite. slides down onto his ass, one leg bent and the other stretched out in front of him. ]

Steve, [he says, very quiet. he thinks the music has maybe stopped. thinks he might look a little haunted. ] You’re not a bad person. Not then, not now. I know bad. Bad people don’t grow, or change. They don’t cling to old break up’s and wish they’d been better people. You’re not bad, Steve.

[retromix]

[ He looks around the hallway, the ghostly figures laughing soft and low like echoes as they pass by. He and Billy are the only things that look real and solid, so his gaze drifts back to him. ]

Neither are you.

[camarod]

- I’m trying, [he says, above the echoes of old conversations. the floor feels like cotton under his fingertips, the wall a little spongey. ]

It’s all any of us can do now, you know? Try to be better.

[retromix]

I never thought you weren't ... trying.

[ He leans forward on his knees, shaking his head. ]

You ever feel like you aren't real? That you don't recognise yourself?

[camarod]

Yeah. Yeah - all the time.

[it’s weak; painfully honest. ]

[retromix]

Eddie's real good at seeing people.

[camarod]

I know, [and there’s a hint of a smile. something sad, something fond. ] I trust his gut.

[retromix]

Yeah.

[ Steve gets up, looking around the hallway. The party's all misty now the main focus is gone, reshaping itself. It's a decent distraction since he doesn't know where to take the conversation. ]

What the hell ... ?

[camarod]

[it doesn’t feel like falling when the floor becomes less tangible, more water-colour cloud than carpet. he frowns, looking from Steve to the surrounding, watching as it all explodes into colour, reshaping. ]

- It’s your dream, Steve. You tell me.

[retromix]

[ The scene turns misty, showing the spraypainted front of the theatre: Showing tonight, NANCY THE SLUT!

Nancy storms up to where Steve is standing with his friends behind the movie theatre, red spraypaint on the old doors nearby. Leftover from the can. When she slaps him, they howl with the force of it, but Steve just glares at her as she snaps, 'What's wrong with you?!'

'What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you! Can you believe I was actually worried about you?'

'What are you talking about?' demands Nancy.

Carol sidles closer. 'Oo, wouldn't lie if I were you. You don't want to be known as the Lying Slut now, do you?'

'Speak of the devil.' Tommy H hops down from the steps, wolfish eyes on Jonathan who is approaching on Nancy's heels. 'Hi.'

Nancy looks at Steve, who stands coldly amid his friends. King Steve, backed up with the popular kids entirely on his side, all glaring at her. She realises what's being implied and why. 'You came by last night,' she says to Steve, whose face is stony.

'Ding, ding, ding!' laughs Tina.

Carol asks, 'Is she gonna cry?' Tommy H puts his arm around her.

Steve feels so cold, angry to the pit of his stomach as he looks at Jonathan then back to Nancy. 'What, you just let him in your room to ... "study"?'

Tommy H has his back, nodding. 'Up for another pervy photo session.'

Nancy shakes her head. 'We were just ...'

'You were just what? Finish the sentence,' snaps Steve, stepping closer. Glaring down, Say you were cheating, admit it. 'Finish. The sentence.'

She can't, almost crying.

Steve takes a step back. 'Go to hell, Nance.'

Jonathan starts cajoling Nancy to leave, his voice grating on every raw nerve Steve has and he rounds on Jonathan's heels, sneering slurs and shoving him.

'Y'know, I always had you down for a queer but I guess you're just a screw-up like your father.' Steve keeps dogging his steps. 'Oh, yeahyeahyeaaah, your house is full of screw-ups. I shouldn't be surprised, I mean, your mom?' Steve laughs nastily. 'I'm not even surprised what happened to your brother! Sorry I have to be the one to tell you but the Byers? Their family's a disgrace to the entire -!'

Jonathan whirls around and punches Steve in the jaw.

Steve first instinct is to body-slam him against a car, throw him to the ground, both of them punching their way back to their feet with Tommy H yelling 'Kick his ass, man!', there to steady Steve when he stumbles. Steve gets in a few punches but Jonathan lands one right to Steve's nose that rocks his head back and the next thing he knows he's on the ground with fists repeatedly pummelling his face with Nancy screaming 'Stop, you'll hurt him!'

Tommy H stays to try and shove Jonathan off, telling him Steve's had enough and to stop as the cops pull up, and he manages to haul Steve into a staggered run ('Gogogo!') so they can get away, the girls having already fled. The police latch onto Jonathan after he hits one of them, unable to catch up with the rest. ]

[camarod]

[It’s not pretty. The way Tommy had spoken about Steve - all reverence and bitterness - had been nothing compared to this. Billy watches the Steve of ‘84, less of a King and more just a lost kid trying to make sense of his first real betrayal. It’s so human, the way it all goes by. Steve runs and turns to smoke, and Billy glances between it and the real Steve, solid and kinder, with a kind of understanding.

The alleyway is tiny; restrictive. He reaches for Steve’s arm, takes his wrist and squeezes. ] It didn’t make you feel better, huh.

[retromix]

[ He leans slightly into the touch, wretchedly lifting his gaze from the ground where it fell somewhere around the time he starting snarling at Jonathan in the dream. ]

I'd climbed Nancy's window and seen her in bed with Jonathan. I was ... [ He shakes his head, the words sticking in his throat. ] I felt like all I saw was red.

[camarod]

[He’s still not sure about the boundaries here: what’s okay and what isn’t. He knows what he’d do for Eddie, though, so he does that. A gentle tug, lifting an arm around Steve’s shoulder to squeeze, to anchor.

And, honestly, as if Steve has to explain himself to Billy.] It happens. Sometimes you just can’t control how the hurt makes you react.

[From experience. Ha. ]

[retromix]

[ He blinks back into the present, looking at Billy at his side. Thinks Jesus, yeah. A small smile curls the corner of his lips, finding the amusement beneath the pain. The irony of Billy giving advice here. ]

You're being really wise in my dreams.

[camarod]

Yeah? I’m wise all the time.

[those shoulders get another little squeeze, so careful. ]

We gotta make you some happier memories. This shit would drag anyone down.

[retromix]

That's when I lost Tommy H and the others. Told them to fuck off, pretty much, for painting the sign.

[ The dream is unthreading, the scene dissolving into a grey space. ]

I think I'm waking up.

[camarod]

Their loss.

[a beat, while the floor dissolves, becomes liquid. ]

I’ll see you soon, pretty boy.