metaverses | Open | The city at the center of it all

Open | The city at the center of it all

Who: open to all, 4th wall visitors more than welcome!
What: New faces and new cracks in the sky
When: August 2022 4th Wall- Weekend
Where: Central City
Content Warnings: If needed

[As Friday night rolls into Saturday, the repercussions of this Earth rejoining the multiverse are starting to become more clear. Missing persons reports are flooding the airwaves, the OurPowers metahuman-only social media network included. In Excelsior, it seems the newly-sentient tech devices are adding to the noise. News coming from Sunset Falls is terse-- there is also a Strong Magical Effect of some sort active in addition to the disappearances. Not even Little Love is immune; thankfully, the residents report no additional hazards.

But here in Central City, the citizens only grow more tense with each resident taken. A powderkeg with a long fuse that has just been lit. The sky is starting to crack, and the feelings of homesickness and fear are starting to spread.

It’s not the warmest welcome a visitor could receive, but the meta population has been put on alert for new arrivals, searching from rooftop to water’s edge. Central’s a VERY big city, but hopefully some generous souls can point you to the swanky Diadem Hotel in the end.

Resident metas, you might want to check in on your nearest and dearest before heading out. Some of you might be deploying to Sunset Falls or Excelsior soon, or making plans to get to Little Love before Central gets… too rough. Some of you might be adventuring Elsewhere very shortly. But maybe there is time to help out a fresh face, extricate them from a confrontation, give them the lowdown about this alternate Earth? After all, you were once new yourself.]

((4th-wallers, feel free to touch down here! Network/”text” threads welcome. Mingle to your hearts’ content))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I. Arrival - Closed to Prodigy and Balthier

The change is significant, and utterly insignificant.

The whole universe melts and stretches and swaps around the teenager, clad in jeans, bandages, and blood, and he notices nothing in his current state. Even the smooth stonework becoming a pebbly concrete sidewalk is barely a blip.

He’s bled through the bandages and twin lumps of gauze on his back. It’s hard to say what could cause someone’s upper back to bleed so much, outside of deep stab wounds through the rib cage. One thing’s for sure - the redhead hasn’t moved in this universe. There’s no blood trail, just a thick, spreading pool as red as his hair.

The bystander effect is somewhat in play. There’s no immediate rush to his aid, although he stirs feebly when anyone comes near.

OurPowers - Video - UN: jayguthrie - OTA

[ The video is shot from out a window, up at a tear in the sky. It’s not a long clip, maybe a minute, narrated by someone who’s mostly offscreen except for the top of his them.

His voice sounds young, anywhere from 15-20, and the sadness in it fights against its inherently pleasing warmth and timbre. It’s a natural protagonist vice, easy on the ears with a mild Eastern Kentucky drawl. ]

I didn’t think I’d watch the end of the world with the new MySpace. I wouldn’t mind suggestions for something else to look at or listen to.

Thanks, if you’ve listened this far.

[ Social media was a lot different, in the days before hashtags and the explosion of Facebook and Twitter. ]

Edited 2022-08-18 02:24 (UTC)

Central wasn't the most common place for David to be these days, but there was a call for it with all that was going on. Being summoned to check in at HQ hadn't been a shock, especially when he heard there was a bit of a stir up going on with the locals with all that was happening. Why he was being called in when there was stuff in Excelsior he was FAR more suited to dealing with was a mystery. Maybe they just wanted to take advantage of some of the powers he'd told the guild he had?

But that meant teleporting in to a secure location. And from that location, walking to the HQ. Which meant walking down a street because he's not in the mood to summon a taxi right now. Probably for the best as he saw a collapsed figure on the street, bleeding badly. David doesn't think. He just lets medical training take over, and he runs forward, shedding his coat awkwardly from under his messenger bag as he goes because hell, he can replace a coat if someone takes it. He'd have to do it anyway if the thing got bloody.

What he wasn't expecting when he fell to his knees by the person (even while he was reaching into his bag for his first aid supplies of course), was to recognize the person.

"Jay," he gasped out, and then he was really wishing he had his smart watch on. He needed Josh. He needed Josh five minutes ago. Hell, from the look of it, Jay needed Josh years ago.

The Guilds seemed to be calling everyone in. Balthier didn't even know David was in Central, but given the weirdness of his week so far -- particularly a visitor he deeply wanted to send back to the right universe -- he was being as obedient as possible, knowing he'd want to pull strings later, and maybe he was hoping to overhear something anything useful.

That hadn't proven useful. He wasn't entirely convinced his coming wasn't a waste of time.

He's also trudging back to a secure location to head back to Excelsior when he catches David's silhouette turning down another street. Well, fine, this wasn't a total waste; they haven't checked in with each other in longer than he'd like, and the walks to and from transport locations give the excuse.

Except when he turns the corner, David's crouched over someone who looks like they aren't doing well at all. Balthier picks up his pace; he's been shifting a lot of wounds around this week until an actual healer can look at them.

Before he even reaches them, he's gone into his magic, reaching out to the man to pull bits of his pain off and stick onto random passerby. Except something feels wrong. Wrong like a missing limb. Wrong like Balthier's teeth hurt and his stomach churns.

"What's the injury I'm not seeing?" he asks by way of greeting. Because it's clear by David's expression this is someone he knows, and Balthier isn't letting David lose someone else. But Scions, this might be out of his depth.

He knows that first voice, turns his head towards David with what feels like urgency but is in fact lethargy. He would’ve preferred Sooraya found him, she’d understand the sacrifice, or Sofia, at least she’d empathize and agree not to tell anyone. Melody would rat him out to Mama or Sam before the night was out.

David will have to be convinced that Jay giving his wings back to God was the right thing, and that’s… that’s a tall order when he’s so tired. So cold.

In the whirlwind seduction of religion and grief and turmoil, Jay never stopped to consider how he would explain agreeing to the amputation. He’d tried to tell his friends he thought Stryker might be right, but no one wanted to listen. They never did when they were upset.

Someone else is coming, and every new person is a chance that the wrong person will find him. Tomorrow. He’ll get David on his side after he sleeps it off, if David just helps him get inside now. He can’t manage the heavy door on his own. Must be reinforced again; he couldn’t get it open.

Jay reaches a bloodied hand towards his friend and slurs out, “m’room?”

Balthier. His heart jumps because this is not the healer he needs now, but he'll take what he can get he supposes. Still, Balthier is asking, and David has to answer.

"Wings. His wings are gone," he tried to explain to Balthier, but then Jay seems responsive, and David has to focus on that.

"Balthier, I need a fucking place to take him. Now," he says, scooping Jay up in his arms. "Jay, I promise I'm going to get you somewhere safe. Just... Once I get you there, I'm gonna seal up the wounds. You have to let me do that. We're going to find you a healer."

"There's a shop two streets over. The storage room is secure." One of the places he does business with and has access to the back for picking up and dropping off goods. It's Society; their movements won't be recorded, but he's already pulling an illusion over all three of them so anyone looking won't notice more than normal people having a normal walk, their faces and clothes too regular to remember.

He isn't sure about wings, but he can pull some of the pain, at least. It takes more focus, moving and trying to take a piece of the wound and not the wound itself, but he'll start syphoning bits of Jay's discomfort to people they pass. It's not much, but it should give him a little bit of relief. For the rest -- Balthier will need a minute to think and a lot more concentration.

The pain lessens, but the shock and blood loss keep the change from registering. The only thing that really sinks in is that David's going to find a healer, and that... he can't let that happen. They'll try and fix it; they'll ruin everything. Sacrifices don't mean anything if you take it back. He has to suffer so that God will be moved and protect the bus.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.

He can't let David get a healer. He can't. Jay pushes weakly at David to try to shake him off. "No, don't..."

Yeah, that's not how this is going to work, Jay. Not at all. Don't fucking test David. It's not that often that he's going to ignore the wants of a patient. But he'll figure this one out if he hurts himself in the process.

"Lead me," David says to Balthier. And fuck was Jay always this light? Must be a mutation thing and hte lack of wings. "Fast."

He's glad for hte spell, he can sense it too.

"Jay?" he says, and fuck he's going to lie and it's horrible. "Jay, Ruth told us what was coming. They want to use you as bait, to make us scared and vulnerable. To get a chance to hurt all of our classmates. You were lied to."

Classmates. Terrible wounds. Balthier knows enough to know this is even worse than it looks. He doesn’t need David’s disposition to tell him that.

“I can speed us up,” he suggests, because he knows that’s a touchy one for David but also…given the situation. “Just to get there. I can’t—this is out of my depth, but I have healing potions. From home. I can go get them once you’re secure and I have him stable enough.”

As they start moving he’s still pulling bits of pain off Jay, and some of the exhaustion. He wants to stop the bleeding but he’s afraid he’ll throw the entire amputated wing stem.

“No,” Jay gasps out. He doesn’t want to believe that David and Ruth would lie. They’re good people. They wouldn’t want to lead him astray. They’re his friends.

But Stryker is a man of God. They just don’t agree with him, and David doesn’t want to se how not being mutants could be a miracle. His didn’t hurt his life, like it did Kevin’s. Like it did Jay’s. If Jay hadn’t been so readily identifiable, then his girlfriend would still be alive. Kevin’s dad would be alive. David’s the exception. “Stryker has foresight too. This… the earthquake…”

Ruth could be wrong. If William Stryker was ordained by God, why would he be the one who was wrong? Maybe he misjudged this. What if he can’t convince David? The other man - he needs to appeal to him too. Jay looks over at him, and it’s like the pain has cleared enough to see properly.

“No healing potions.” That’s a a student or an X-Man. That’s- they’re not even at the school. “Where…? Are we in the Danger Room?”

Fucking hell, Jay, were you always so stupid? It's a genuine thought from David in his panic.

"Do it," he whispered to his boyfriend. The spell would help, and they needed to get somewhere that David could treat Jay. And hopefully force these potions down his throat.

"Please," he added, because no reason not to be polite. Okay, a lot of reasons, but most of those are being turned on Jay.

"Nimrod, Jay. That's how he's getting his future knowledge. And Nimrod will have him kill Laurie and Sooraya and Max. And more than seventy more of our classmates. So please, don't idolize that bigot. His word means nothing."

Permission granted, Balthier pulls for the spell. There's the temptation to limit it to him and David, as his magic is going to be stretched thin as it is. There's no telling what it will do to Jay's already fragile state to be suddenly moved at inhuman speed, though, so he'll take the higher strain and cast it on all of them.

It's a weird sensation, not one he cares for. They still feel like they're moving at normal speed, but everything around them feels slower. Nothing so strong as a speedster, but definitely faster than any normal person can move. Which means they'll draw some attention, so he makes sure the illusion is still on them as well.

A low headache sets in, and he knows it's only going to grow. No more healing until they reach the safety of the shop. With the spell in place, though, it's not that long until they're ducking into the alley, lock picks coming out of his pocket and magic going to pull down the additional security.

"There's a hidden door," he says to David, lingering to lock the first.

Inside is the public-facing backroom of the shop, boxes and odds and ends stacked somewhat neatly. There's an obvious door to the front of the shop, but he crosses over to a seemingly messy bookshelf. Illusion, and a good one. It's gone in a moment, revealing a door into a much more secure room. He goes in first to clear the work table. If he had more energy he'd cast a stop spell to keep it from absorbing blood, but, priorities, and that's not one.

"What does he need to be stable? I'll give him that much, then I'll go get the other." Jay might be protesting, but Balthier's taking his orders from David. "I don't think I can touch the wound itself without complications."

He doesn’t have a history of being the smart one. If life is a boxing match, Jay leads with his heart and follows with his stubbornness. His brains aren’t involved in the fight.

“Sooraya? … no, that’s the bus.” The talking is quickly running through the burst of adrenaline that David brought with him, and the gaps between words drag out longer. Jay’s shaking now, and his accent unearths a lot more twang. “Gotta tell ‘im when, so he can stop it. He saw it too…”

They’re somewhere new. Still not the mansion. “Me and you, we’re gonna fix it.”

Balthier was a blessing in this situation, because David's freaking out. That's just how life can be. The table is useful, and he's careful as he lays Jay on it on his stomach. Then he holds his hands out to create scissors with his powers. Time to cut these horrible bandages off so he can get what he needs.

"Balthier, we're going to need bandages. Can you grab my bag and start grabbing things out? Don't reach for the wound magically. I need to slow the bleeding until I can get him to understand the healing he needs."

Except... Except then Jay says the thing and David freezes. Just stands there, staring, hands frozen in the air. Did...

Did Jay tell them when the buses were leaving? Everyone had assumed it was Nimrod. Had Jay...

No. He can't deal with that now. He can't have Jay die. He can talk to Jay when the guy is stabilized. Because it can't be true.

"Jay, I'm going to be blunt here. You're horribly injured right now, and you're not thinking straight. But frankly, I'm from the future, I'm twenty-four, and I can tell you with certainty that he murdered us. He is killing us. And he convinced you to destroy a beautiful part of yourself and I refuse to let that stand."

Balthier does one better and clears off an adjacent counter, setting out the bandages then moving to lay out the rest of David's tools. The reality is, that's a lot of blood, and with the city -- skies above, the world -- the way it is right now, the best path he sees is getting those healing potions here as quickly as possible.

They're speaking of things he doesn't understand, so he's only paying them half a mind. David freezing like that, though, that he knows, and suddenly he's attentive.

"Tell me what else you need." Whatever this revelation is, it can wait until the man is stable.

He hears David, but Jay's listening skills are failing him. He's lost so much blood, and his back feels like its on-fire. That would be some of the stitches ripping - the amputation work was utilitarian and meant to keep him alive only until he completed his mission, although Jay has no idea of that. It probably wouldn't stop him from trying to swat away David's words, as if that can be done physically.

Because no. David has to be lying. Has to. Nobody's murdered. Not yet. They're gonna get saved, and it's all going to be f-

The shock finally overwhelms his brain's ability to stay conscious, and Jay's eyes roll upwards, lashes fluttering shut.

[ OOC: If I could request that there be a time-skip? He can wake up when he's stabilized. Feel free to do extra David and Balthier rounds to get us there if necessary. ]

[OOC: We'll do a little and I'll ping you on plurk when we're done.]

Shit, shit!

"Blood loss. Fuck, we're running a shock risk. Shit. Balthier, I'm going to talk you through stopping the bleeding as best we can, but he needs a transfusion."

And given David's type O (because of COURSE he would be), he's got to act fast.

"Damn you, Jay, don't you die on me. I have a lecture I have to repeat to you by memory for doing this. One you might need to hear more now than you did on Krakoa."

Balthier hasn't seen David this rattled, and he isn't thrilled to be the best option for assistance; he'd like the man to live. But he's a quick learner and has steady hands. He'd rather be here than David handling this on his own.

The demands of the job take over, and his face is serene and his mind clear. He'll think about this later. Not now.

He's pulling off his vest and rolling up his sleeves. "Ready when you are."

"Here," he says, taking the gauze and throwing it to Balthier. "Press this against the stubs the best you can. The major arteries that feed them aren't easy to get to."

Meanwhile he's pulling out tubing and tools for a transfusion.

"Once we slow that down, get your potions."

Balthier catches it, proceeding to cut unravel it and follow the instructions. He's done the basics of this before; not everyone has magick, and sometimes the Mist is blocked.

He has to dislodge his mind, turn this into any regular operation. Thank the Scions Jay has already passed out, as the pain has to be immense. Still, he works steadily.

"Have you worked on winged anatomy before?"

“Studied his actually,” David said with a sigh as he cleaned a part of Jay’s arm for his work. “The reason I only care about getting him just far enough is that if your potions do what you think they might, it should be enough. His wings, they’re… I don’t even know how to explain it. But they are sort of where his healing magic is stored. If they are restored, his mutant abilities should start healing the rest of him, if a touch slowly.”

Alright, well, that makes him feel better about the success rate. He still flinches, though. "I am a fool who keeps thinking I've reached the edges of cruelty. Convincing him what he is is wrong, taking that away..." He doesn't waiver in his work but his voice does.

"There are four. I can probably get the fifth but I presume if they work two or three should suffice. They are potent, and the one I used worked strongly."

He'll will it into being until there's some indicator that path must be abandoned. Hells, maybe that's his real magic.

"If we don't do it, he'll end up very weak. I don't know that I can get Josh here, much less get Josh to agree to ignore Jay's history of stupidity on this," David said as he set the line for the transfusion.

"He... Dies. Jay dies, very shortly after this. His own actions lead to all those deaths at my school that I told you about. I didn't... I didn't know for sure. But he dies, because he goes back to the man and demands to understand because he thought the guy was saving us."

Balthier puts a hand on David’s shoulder, because what is there to say to being faced with possibly repeating the death of a friend? Other than, of course, I’m here for whatever I can do.

“As far as we know, that man isn’t here, and Jay wasn’t supposed to be. If there’s a way to save him, this is the best shot he’s got.” Whatever David can do, it’s more than he’d have had.

But if this goes badly Balthier will absolutely use the potions on David first.

"Then you'll use the potions?" he asks, his voice soft and nervous. "I have to try. I really have to try."

It's as simple as that. And he's desperate for it.

Open | The city at the center of it all

Jay Guthrie | Marvel Comics | CW: Grievous injury

I

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I’m clearly sporadic so if you want to send Balthier off, go for it

nah

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