Brockton's Celestial Forge (Worm/Jumpchain)
- Thread starter LordRoustabout
- Start date
BethofDeath
Girls just wanna have pun
- Location
- Sector ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Just read The Gala, Pt 1 apocrypha. Loved it so much I want it to be canon when we get there, aside from the detail where Joe doesn't want to know secret identities, and everyones' been respecting that up to this point.
It's bland, repetitive, boring, flat, plain, and overall meh.
Well, aside from the stuff gay dudes wear, that at least has some color and coordination thereof to it. Aside from that, the only way to make it pop is to put a butch lesbian inside it.
Though at least the fabrics used tend to be less... flimsy.
It's bland, repetitive, boring, flat, plain, and overall meh.
Well, aside from the stuff gay dudes wear, that at least has some color and coordination thereof to it. Aside from that, the only way to make it pop is to put a butch lesbian inside it.
Though at least the fabrics used tend to be less... flimsy.
You clearly have not seen much of menswear. That only way for me to explain why you associate wearing colour with being gay. Even more formal good outfits have a way to bring tasteful colour to them with accessories (like ties) and secondary garment (like shirts), and one doesn't have to be gay to wear those (Well, as far as I know there no sexuality restriction to wear anything, but I've never been to America or some parts of Europe.). Tasteful is a key word, one doesn't have to look like an overblown acid coloured peacock to look interesting.
Also, women doesn't have to be butch, nor lesbians, to look good (or "make it pop") in menswear. Or any outfit for that matter. At the end of the day, looking good or interesting hinges not on clothes, but on presentation. Be it good, any outfit end up looking better for the fact you're the one who wears it. Be it bad, bland outfits end up looking even more forgettable and colourful would just make you look like an escapee clown.
Anyway, back to the story, there was a bit of WoG regarding the EFC, and I want to share this one in particular:
So, we gonna see more of locked Agatha and Joe-next-door, instead of being thrown into the deep right away. Be honest, not sure how I feel about this one. On one hand, I would love to see more of Agatha before she and her life have gone insane. But on the other, delaying the start of the canon events will mean delaying Joe interacting with certain parts of the world, and I'm incredibly excited for those. Trade-offs all around.
Secondly, GG's timeline will be a lot more resistant to Joe's meddling than Worm's. Guess no complete derailment of original story in a matter of week for Józef Ďuriš. I'm fine with this, the only other way to deal with time windows would be to not have them, as there is no way Apeiron level story influence would lead to them. This way, we might be stuck to stations of canon a bit, but at least Joe certainly will be meeting some character that he might have missed if everything got derailed. As I said, trade-offs all around.
BethofDeath
Girls just wanna have pun
- Location
- Sector ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha
- Pronouns
- She/Her
One, I was literally raised as if I were a guy. I saw and wore far more menswear than I'd ever like.
Two, you clearly don't get what I mean by color in clothing, that's probably my fault for not explaining it differently? I will say that everyone having to wear a tie just to express the slightest personality doesn't really help.
Yeah that explains it, some cultures have much less insistence on sticking to flat expanses of color and non-shimmery fabrics on men than British, French, etc-influenced fashion does.
Still not my styles, and would've been considered (by me and everyone around) to be cultural appropriation if I wore them, tho.
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- Location
- Brasil
So, are we going to have a bew chapter this week? Or is it going to be the next one?
I hope we get one, it would the first 3 week stretch with BCF content every week since August of last year or something like that.
Time to read WOGs...
Edit:
Something I just realized is that the reason Joe doesn't know Parian's identity, and other things like that, is likely his "Ignore It" power.
Eg, since he doesn't want to know secret identities, the correlations fail to impact or reach him, similar to regular parahuman or conventional attacks.
It's a power assisted status rather than Joe being stupid about things.
Time to read WOGs...
Edit:
Something I just realized is that the reason Joe doesn't know Parian's identity, and other things like that, is likely his "Ignore It" power.
Eg, since he doesn't want to know secret identities, the correlations fail to impact or reach him, similar to regular parahuman or conventional attacks.
It's a power assisted status rather than Joe being stupid about things.
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So I was doing my 5th reread of bbcf and I had a thought since the storage locker we only know about 2 people that have triggered slush and whirlygig what it wants to know is why there haven't been more trigger especially with the people with the implanted bombs, I do have 3 ideas as to why they being the boring, the gorey and the one I think has serious potential, the boring one would be that there was just no one captured that had the corina, the gorey one being that bakudan had them set to to go off if someone did trigger and my favorite being that if they have a bomb implant they can't trigger because of bakudan deadmans switch acting like a signal interference right there in their head stopping it and what would be interesting is what would happen when joe removes the bombs t the then PRT would have their cluster.
The gala omake was great. It's also a strategy that Lisa might want to try to implement in canon since obviously Joe cannot be relied upon to just chill for a week so might as well publically settle on a project rather than drive the world into a paranoid fit over what new bullshit he's cooking up discretely.
One, you appeal to logical fallacy, as wearing and seeing some types of menswear does not correlate to knowing shit about it, as proven by majority of men who don't know shit about the topic despite wearing it whole live. The only reason I wrote about you never seeing menswear was to underline how bizarre I found you saying that only gay wear some colour.
Two, you claim that I don't understand your argument, and then don't even try to elaborate on it, leaving me confused siting here questioning "So what DID you mean by colour in clothing?".
Three, you strawman my argument with this "everyone have to wear a tie" bullshit, when I never said such a stupid thing.
Four, you ignore my arguments and try to explain away me disagreeing with you by assuming that I'm from a drastically different culture, despite the fact that for all you know I could be French or British. Even beyond that, even if you're right about me being from a different culture, you just assume that means I either can know nothing about other cultures beyond my own or can never consider other cultures when building my argument.
Five, you start talking about what is "your style" and what you can and can't wear for whatever reason, despite the fact we were talking about quality of modern menswear in general, not about what you like and don't like to wear. Not only it's unrelated to the argument, it, along with four, exposes that when building your argument that menswear is "bland and overall meh" you have not taken into consideration clothing of cultures different from yours, despite agreeing full well that it doesn't fit your narrative that all menswear is bland.
That just leads me to believe that your argument that menswear is bland is not a genuine commentary on the quality of modern men clothing, but just an expression of subjective dislike fuelled by personal bias. And it's fine. You don't like menswear, I couldn't care less, just don't try to argue that it's "overall meh" when all you really want to say is "It's not in my taste".
Also, you are bad conversations. All you did was ignore or strawmen my arguments and make a bunch of baseless assumptions about me. The last one is particular bad. I mean, I had to say that I could be French or British. That just horrible!
I want to note that yes, if there will be no delays, we will be getting chapter this week.
Also:
While I don't really believe that Joe's Semblance can make him ignore things (and that what "correlations fail to impact or reach him" would mean - power induced ignorance), as it could just lead to a logical loop where Joe starts ignoring and never stops, I do find some implications of this idea very funny.
In particular, the idea that Joe's ability to be the densest mothercurbuncle this side of the Milky Way is due to his Semblance taking his desire to avoid romance related misunderstandings and running with it to the galactic scale. That's one way to use Semblance to create a black hole. Human shaped one at that.
Cape odds aren't that high it's only 1 in 8000 in urban areas even if you account for the bay's greater concentration having roughly 100 in 300,000-350,000 it'd still be odd to have more especially if you are meaning only from the people at the storage yard because otherwise Aisha and Scrub have also triggered since then.
- Pronouns
- He
Nah, you don't need a convoluted reasons, triggers are just rare. Really, really rare.
First, to trigger, you need to be previously "marked" as triggerable by a shard (which manifest as a Corona pollentia in your brain, through it's not always visible on brain scan). Which means most of the population cannot trigger at all.
Second, high stress is not enough, you also need the kind of stress that would lead to a power that the shard can provide. To quote Wilbow: "Some shards are almost always going to just trigger Master, for example".
(I know, it's the boring answer)
...nope, we had nearly 1 month of no chapter in December.
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- Location
- Up on a Hill
Joe won't be able to let Twitter raise this one
- Location
- Miami
But there are plenty of Minions around, and an animated pair of gloves wouldn't be too outside the range for that world. Now I'm picturing a Garment who takes to outfitting people like Jägers take to fighting.
Someone walks into a dark alleyway and gets mugged, but walks out with clothing 7 or 8 notches above what they had.
- Location
- Somewhere and Nowhere in a state of super-position
Make him? No.
But if he's trying to ignore something, then the Semblance should be of assistance: I.E. "I'm deliberately ignoring this" means that his sub-conscious augmented by aura doesn't wander in that direction (for both better and worse).
It's not making him do anything anymore than how feeling good gets me to exercise.
It also logically wouldn't block out unknown unknowns since it has (more or less) always been "known knowns" and know unknowns that would hurt him. Only specific known unknowns and only at the sub-conscious level where "free" will isn't directly interfered with.
TL;DR his aura is only augmenting Joe's will, NOT altering it.
True, I badly worded myself. Let me rephrase: I don't really believe that Joe's Semblance can help him in ignoring things.
I have two reasons: First, both text and multiple WoG states that Avoidance's usability heavily hinges on Joe's ability to ignore things (As example, duplicates are worse than Joe at setting a thing into "deal with later" category, so they worse at engaging Avoidance). Now, if his Semblance could enhance his ability to ignore things it would not be a problem, which is the main point. The difficulty of engaging in Avoidance is supposed to be its main drawback, if it could help Joe with ignoring things then that drawback becomes much less significant than both text and WoG imply it is.
Second, that logical loop of Joe starting ignoring thing and not being able to stop. Let me explain that problem with RWBY-themed theoretical example: In a fight with a horde of Grimm Joe decides to temporally ignore smaller Grimm to deal with a big one. While dealing with a big one, if Avoidance helps Joe ignore small ones it would mean it helps him to not think about them as it would be detrimental to ignoring them. So, even after the big one is dealt with, as Avoidance keep on helping Joe to ignore smaller Grimm Joe can't stop ignoring them, as to stop he would need to consider them, and he can't consider them on his own becouse he's ignoring them. It is Mettle situation all over again, where engaging in mental enchanting Semblance just leads to the user being unable to disengage from it without someone else's intervention.
Which might be yet another reason. After Mettle situation, I don't want to see any more examples where a character's stupidity is explained away by their Semblance. "One is one too many" is a third, admittedly very biased, reason.
All in all, in theory there could be Semblance that helps user to ignore things, but from all I've seen from text and WoG I'm fairly certain that Avoidance is not it. It is purely physical defence with some applications for offence, no mental augmentations involved. Plus, Joe was always a bit of a clueless idiot, his origin story is build around that fact, we don't need Aura to explain that character flaw away.
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You know I bet that with this Perk, and with Black Thumb and his more conventional vehicular management Perks, he could probably slap one engine onto another, adding to the original piston-banks and/or adding additional banks a la a W or X Engine, and pretty quickly get a single much larger and more effective engine with minimal down-time.
Perhaps not ideal as a conventional vehicle but as a emergency people-mover you can't go wrong with a high-speed land-train.
- Location
- USA
With the way LordRoustabout generally interprets perks, I'm pretty sure that those 'engines' would have to somehow qualify as explicitly a weapon or energy shield system as its intended design function with a secondary use as an engine more as a convenient side effect. And if only part of the 'engines' qualify as primarily a weapon or shield, then only those specific parts could be squished together by the perk.
The Gala part 2 (Mariadreaming9)
The Gala part 2
Rebecca kept a close eye on the assembled capes. She'd rarely seen so many together outside of Endbringer fights, and the tension between heroes and villains was familiar.
The high fashion on display and the feel of the cool night air against her bare throat were not.
"Any luck telling what's on the other side of the orb?" she asked David.
"No," he said curtly, glaring at the issue the PRT and Protectorate had been trying to see through since shortly after the Celestial Forge had purchased the plot of land.
Overnight an enormous black orb had appeared on the land, one that dwarfed the size of every other building in the area. Every attempt to discover what was going on inside the orb had failed.
"Hey," said Keith, in a comforting tone. "Almost time. Besides, I see Khepri here. I doubt he'd put her at risk." He'd be the one to talk to Apeiron on behalf of the Protectorate, as Apeiron had shown the ability to tell when someone was attempting to manipulate him, and Rebecca no longer knew what it was like to try and influence everyone she talked to.
David harrumphed.
Rebecca was about to respond when she was distracted by the sound of a large bell. Everyone's heads turned towards the orb where the sound had originated from. After a moment, the front of the orb ripples, and eight figures stepped out.
The Celestial Forge.
Rebecca glanced towards the note she had written on the inside of her helmet. 'THE CF HAVE 8 MEMBERS'.
Good, she hadn't been strangered.
With that she looked back at the Celestial Forge. What should have been framed in darkness shone as Apeiron's knack for beautiful creations showed itself once more. Each member wore outfits that wouldn't look out of place at a high-end fashion week, and each outfit was perfectly tailored to them.
At the head of the group, Apeiron stood, perfectly confident and in control, and opened his mouth.
…
Why the hell did I think this was a good idea?
I stared at the Triumvirate, the childhood heroes of just about everyone I knew, and prayed that Classy Contortionist hid any sign of how nervous I felt.
"Welcome guests!" I said, my voice carrying perfectly through the crowded street. "I am honored that so many chose to come to my little get together. Today, I have invited everyone to celebrate the end of some of the worst monsters the world has ever known, murderers that delighted in bringing terror and pain."
I gestured at my team and continued. "We saw what they desired, and we refute it! For those who wanted tears, let there be laughter! For those who wanted sorrow and fear, let there be joy! For though there will always be people who want a world of misery, as long as we can still smile, we have won!
And so, welcome to the Hellfire Gala!"
As I finished my little speech, I let my shadow magic fade from the forcefield Sphere, allowing it to finally be revealed, and allowed my pride to grow as I heard the appreciative oohs and ahs at what my team had been working so hard on.
I just hoped it would be enough for the plan I'd come up with at therapy a few days ago.
…
"So how are you feeling about the party?" Dr. Campbell asked.
"Annoyed," I said. "I get why I have to do it, but just because I get it doesn't mean I enjoy it."
"Unfortunately, life is full of that sort of thing," he commiserated.
"I know," I said, "it's just, when is it going to be enough? I freaking killed the Slaughterhouse Nine, and people are still assuming that one day I'll take out the government. When are people going to get that I'm not evil?"
"Many people believe you to be on the side of the angels. At the very least, those you rescued from Bakuda certainly do."
"Just not the people in power," I said, and tried not to sound bitter.
Dr. Campbell watched me for a moment, then he said, "Joe? Let's try a thought experiment. Tell me, in five years from now, how would you like people to treat you? Not what you are doing, but how you are treated."
My first thought was to be seen as a hero, like those I had looked up to so long ago. But… these past few weeks had really torn away the glamour of hero work. I would always look up those who risked their lives for others, but the politics had soured me on the rest of it.
And truly, were those people happy? Maybe it was just Brockton Bay and the state of emergency over the past month, but it seemed as though most of the heroes I had met since dawning my mask had been absolutely miserable.
Then again, the villains weren't much better, and even if I didn't have to act like them I still didn't want to be seen as one.
I suppose… the happiest cape I had seen, who wasn't one of my own team members, had been Uppercrust.
"I guess that I'd want to be treated like Uppercrust," I said, trying it out. "Sure, not everyone likes him, but everyone respects him and his work. And nobody is mentioning kill orders regarding him.
"And honestly, he has it pretty good," I said, warming up to the idea. "Aside from money, he has plenty of time to tinker, does a lot of good in the world, and has friends."
"That's good!" Dr. Campbell said, and I was happy to feel that he was genuinely happy for me, instead of trying to find a way to direct me to hero work. Not that he would, but it was nice to get confirmation that at least one person who knew who I was outside of the Celestial Forge was trying to make sure I could do what I wanted, not what they wanted me to do.
"Now, how do you think Uppercrust got to where he is?"
"By providing an essential service, that no one else could," I said. Even with the rest of the Elite's… issues, that made sure that he was always treated fairly and respectfully.
Dr. Campbell smiled at me. "And do you think you could do the same?" he asked.
"Yes," I said. I most certainly could.
…
"I feel as though I should apologize for your outfit," I told Legend as we led the way into the venue. "I should have known what Garment would try to do considering all the times she's tried to get me to wear barbarian chic."
He laughed good naturedly and looked down. His outfit had been military inspired, but instead of having his insignia on his chest, his coat had instead been cut to show a deep cleavage in a lightning bolt shape.
"Honestly, I can't complain," Legend said. "And my husband certainly appreciated it. Besides, it's not like she's focusing on one gender."
He waved his hand at Alexandria, who was wearing something best described as fantasy armor meets Jessica Rabbit, with a metal bustier dropping into a long black split leg skirt. The look was completed with a black cape, metal gauntlets and boots, plus her signature helmet with added metallic details.
Eidolon walked stiffly on her other side, the only one of the Triumvirate who could be considered more dapper than sexy, with a full body emerald green suit with gold mesh cutouts, and an emerald scarf with gold details that flared off the shoulder into a long, trailing cape.
"Also, I can't say it doesn't fit the venue," Legend added, gesturing around us.
With the use of my team's alchemy skills, I'd made the floor and decorative Grecian columns out of jet-black marble shot through with gold. Lighting was not only provided by golden spheres atop the columns and the grand hearth fire at the center of the floor, but also the river of lava that lazily wound its way throughout the space.
"Yes, well," I said. "I took the theme of hellfire and rather ran with it. Don't worry," I raised my voice, not that I needed it as everyone was listening and could hear me clearly. "The lava river is surrounded by force fields so no one can fall in. Likewise, the Rainbow Racetrack is also surrounded by forcefields designed to slow down anything or anyone that hits them in order to prevent injury."
I could feel the amazement through alkahestry as people looked up at the Mario Kart-inspired racetrack that floated above everyone's heads, clearly visible as the venue could technically be considered outdoors. From here, it reminded me of a stable aurora borealis.
"I'm assuming that the racetrack is the promised entertainment?" Legend asked.
"Part of it," I said. "I've also included lava-proof boats if anyone wants to go on a lazy river ride, and a mecha-basketball court towards the back, with playability via sign-ups." Aisha had been very insistent on finally being able to trounce people in mecha-basketball. "Lastly, I am well aware of the many requests to be able to fight me and mine. To that end, I have designated several combat arenas throughout the venue. You may book these through signups, although the only member of the Celestial Forge you may fight is Kataklyzien, and any annihilator capes will not be able to join in. In order to prevent harm and follow truce, everyone who wishes to fight must wear one of the protective armor suits."
I smiled at Legend. "In this case, so long as everyone is able to follow the rules, I will allow for other people to fight each other in the designated combat arenas."
"Will you be fighting in any matches?" Legend asked.
"I may be willing to put on a demonstration match towards the middle of the event," I said.
"I hope that you do," Legend said. "I'd love to see what you are capable of when it's not an emergency."
I laughed as we reached the buffet tables that surrounded the hearthfire and stopped. The Matrix walked behind the counter, while Kataklyzien, Fleet, and Survey went to their stations at the combat arenas, Rainbow Raceway sign-up area, and basketball court respectively.
Meanwhile, I turned and faced our guests.
"Again, thank you everyone for joining me!" I announced. "Behind me are the buffet tables, and if you would like anything special, please feel free to ask the Matrix, and don't be shy. They love a challenge, and we may or may not have been able to recently synthesize dinosaur meat.
"As one last note before I set everyone free, I would like to let everyone know that at the end of the Gala I have a special announcement, so please, stick around. Now, with that taken care of, please, eat, drink, and be merry, for finally, finally, the threat of the Nine is over!"
People cheered and started moving out to explore.
One of the duplicates contacted me over the implant to say that the Mantic generators were up, running, and collecting energy from everyone's emotions.
I felt my smile broaden.
If I could pull this off? I was going to be Untouchable.
...
AN: Yeah, I'm gonna need to do a part 3. Let me know if you want to see inspo pics for the Triumvirate's looks.
Rebecca kept a close eye on the assembled capes. She'd rarely seen so many together outside of Endbringer fights, and the tension between heroes and villains was familiar.
The high fashion on display and the feel of the cool night air against her bare throat were not.
"Any luck telling what's on the other side of the orb?" she asked David.
"No," he said curtly, glaring at the issue the PRT and Protectorate had been trying to see through since shortly after the Celestial Forge had purchased the plot of land.
Overnight an enormous black orb had appeared on the land, one that dwarfed the size of every other building in the area. Every attempt to discover what was going on inside the orb had failed.
"Hey," said Keith, in a comforting tone. "Almost time. Besides, I see Khepri here. I doubt he'd put her at risk." He'd be the one to talk to Apeiron on behalf of the Protectorate, as Apeiron had shown the ability to tell when someone was attempting to manipulate him, and Rebecca no longer knew what it was like to try and influence everyone she talked to.
David harrumphed.
Rebecca was about to respond when she was distracted by the sound of a large bell. Everyone's heads turned towards the orb where the sound had originated from. After a moment, the front of the orb ripples, and eight figures stepped out.
The Celestial Forge.
Rebecca glanced towards the note she had written on the inside of her helmet. 'THE CF HAVE 8 MEMBERS'.
Good, she hadn't been strangered.
With that she looked back at the Celestial Forge. What should have been framed in darkness shone as Apeiron's knack for beautiful creations showed itself once more. Each member wore outfits that wouldn't look out of place at a high-end fashion week, and each outfit was perfectly tailored to them.
At the head of the group, Apeiron stood, perfectly confident and in control, and opened his mouth.
…
Why the hell did I think this was a good idea?
I stared at the Triumvirate, the childhood heroes of just about everyone I knew, and prayed that Classy Contortionist hid any sign of how nervous I felt.
"Welcome guests!" I said, my voice carrying perfectly through the crowded street. "I am honored that so many chose to come to my little get together. Today, I have invited everyone to celebrate the end of some of the worst monsters the world has ever known, murderers that delighted in bringing terror and pain."
I gestured at my team and continued. "We saw what they desired, and we refute it! For those who wanted tears, let there be laughter! For those who wanted sorrow and fear, let there be joy! For though there will always be people who want a world of misery, as long as we can still smile, we have won!
And so, welcome to the Hellfire Gala!"
As I finished my little speech, I let my shadow magic fade from the forcefield Sphere, allowing it to finally be revealed, and allowed my pride to grow as I heard the appreciative oohs and ahs at what my team had been working so hard on.
I just hoped it would be enough for the plan I'd come up with at therapy a few days ago.
…
"So how are you feeling about the party?" Dr. Campbell asked.
"Annoyed," I said. "I get why I have to do it, but just because I get it doesn't mean I enjoy it."
"Unfortunately, life is full of that sort of thing," he commiserated.
"I know," I said, "it's just, when is it going to be enough? I freaking killed the Slaughterhouse Nine, and people are still assuming that one day I'll take out the government. When are people going to get that I'm not evil?"
"Many people believe you to be on the side of the angels. At the very least, those you rescued from Bakuda certainly do."
"Just not the people in power," I said, and tried not to sound bitter.
Dr. Campbell watched me for a moment, then he said, "Joe? Let's try a thought experiment. Tell me, in five years from now, how would you like people to treat you? Not what you are doing, but how you are treated."
My first thought was to be seen as a hero, like those I had looked up to so long ago. But… these past few weeks had really torn away the glamour of hero work. I would always look up those who risked their lives for others, but the politics had soured me on the rest of it.
And truly, were those people happy? Maybe it was just Brockton Bay and the state of emergency over the past month, but it seemed as though most of the heroes I had met since dawning my mask had been absolutely miserable.
Then again, the villains weren't much better, and even if I didn't have to act like them I still didn't want to be seen as one.
I suppose… the happiest cape I had seen, who wasn't one of my own team members, had been Uppercrust.
"I guess that I'd want to be treated like Uppercrust," I said, trying it out. "Sure, not everyone likes him, but everyone respects him and his work. And nobody is mentioning kill orders regarding him.
"And honestly, he has it pretty good," I said, warming up to the idea. "Aside from money, he has plenty of time to tinker, does a lot of good in the world, and has friends."
"That's good!" Dr. Campbell said, and I was happy to feel that he was genuinely happy for me, instead of trying to find a way to direct me to hero work. Not that he would, but it was nice to get confirmation that at least one person who knew who I was outside of the Celestial Forge was trying to make sure I could do what I wanted, not what they wanted me to do.
"Now, how do you think Uppercrust got to where he is?"
"By providing an essential service, that no one else could," I said. Even with the rest of the Elite's… issues, that made sure that he was always treated fairly and respectfully.
Dr. Campbell smiled at me. "And do you think you could do the same?" he asked.
"Yes," I said. I most certainly could.
…
"I feel as though I should apologize for your outfit," I told Legend as we led the way into the venue. "I should have known what Garment would try to do considering all the times she's tried to get me to wear barbarian chic."
He laughed good naturedly and looked down. His outfit had been military inspired, but instead of having his insignia on his chest, his coat had instead been cut to show a deep cleavage in a lightning bolt shape.
"Honestly, I can't complain," Legend said. "And my husband certainly appreciated it. Besides, it's not like she's focusing on one gender."
He waved his hand at Alexandria, who was wearing something best described as fantasy armor meets Jessica Rabbit, with a metal bustier dropping into a long black split leg skirt. The look was completed with a black cape, metal gauntlets and boots, plus her signature helmet with added metallic details.
Eidolon walked stiffly on her other side, the only one of the Triumvirate who could be considered more dapper than sexy, with a full body emerald green suit with gold mesh cutouts, and an emerald scarf with gold details that flared off the shoulder into a long, trailing cape.
"Also, I can't say it doesn't fit the venue," Legend added, gesturing around us.
With the use of my team's alchemy skills, I'd made the floor and decorative Grecian columns out of jet-black marble shot through with gold. Lighting was not only provided by golden spheres atop the columns and the grand hearth fire at the center of the floor, but also the river of lava that lazily wound its way throughout the space.
"Yes, well," I said. "I took the theme of hellfire and rather ran with it. Don't worry," I raised my voice, not that I needed it as everyone was listening and could hear me clearly. "The lava river is surrounded by force fields so no one can fall in. Likewise, the Rainbow Racetrack is also surrounded by forcefields designed to slow down anything or anyone that hits them in order to prevent injury."
I could feel the amazement through alkahestry as people looked up at the Mario Kart-inspired racetrack that floated above everyone's heads, clearly visible as the venue could technically be considered outdoors. From here, it reminded me of a stable aurora borealis.
"I'm assuming that the racetrack is the promised entertainment?" Legend asked.
"Part of it," I said. "I've also included lava-proof boats if anyone wants to go on a lazy river ride, and a mecha-basketball court towards the back, with playability via sign-ups." Aisha had been very insistent on finally being able to trounce people in mecha-basketball. "Lastly, I am well aware of the many requests to be able to fight me and mine. To that end, I have designated several combat arenas throughout the venue. You may book these through signups, although the only member of the Celestial Forge you may fight is Kataklyzien, and any annihilator capes will not be able to join in. In order to prevent harm and follow truce, everyone who wishes to fight must wear one of the protective armor suits."
I smiled at Legend. "In this case, so long as everyone is able to follow the rules, I will allow for other people to fight each other in the designated combat arenas."
"Will you be fighting in any matches?" Legend asked.
"I may be willing to put on a demonstration match towards the middle of the event," I said.
"I hope that you do," Legend said. "I'd love to see what you are capable of when it's not an emergency."
I laughed as we reached the buffet tables that surrounded the hearthfire and stopped. The Matrix walked behind the counter, while Kataklyzien, Fleet, and Survey went to their stations at the combat arenas, Rainbow Raceway sign-up area, and basketball court respectively.
Meanwhile, I turned and faced our guests.
"Again, thank you everyone for joining me!" I announced. "Behind me are the buffet tables, and if you would like anything special, please feel free to ask the Matrix, and don't be shy. They love a challenge, and we may or may not have been able to recently synthesize dinosaur meat.
"As one last note before I set everyone free, I would like to let everyone know that at the end of the Gala I have a special announcement, so please, stick around. Now, with that taken care of, please, eat, drink, and be merry, for finally, finally, the threat of the Nine is over!"
People cheered and started moving out to explore.
One of the duplicates contacted me over the implant to say that the Mantic generators were up, running, and collecting energy from everyone's emotions.
I felt my smile broaden.
If I could pull this off? I was going to be Untouchable.
...
AN: Yeah, I'm gonna need to do a part 3. Let me know if you want to see inspo pics for the Triumvirate's looks.
- Location
- Right Where I Am
Those dreaded 3 A.M. thoughts.
are we expecting a main story update this week?
- Location
- Right Where I Am
Sure. Every other week. Last one was two weeks ago.
What I wanna know is he going to attempt to fix Weld. That would make an impact for sure.
Hmmm...Possibly. That said though even if that couldn't be applied, even if only to a lesser degree, to other technology I think that he could swing it from the perspective that vehicles, and possibly heavy machinery of any kind, are viable weapons and thus subject to the Perk.
Send over Matrix, and possibly Survey, to give him better metallic cells? That seems like it would raise his quality of life to basically the same degree as fixing his powers themselves to give him basic Amino-Acid-based cells.
They might want to hook him up with some Metalloprotein-based cells, of variable metal and Amino-Acid content so that he ends up with more dietary flexibility rather then more dietary requirements, so that he could be partially fleshy without merely being a nano-cyber chimera.
- Location
- Texas
It was mentioned that he can already fix even the problematic ones just they would have vestigial features from their powers.
He isn't so far because of the national response his actions causes, and more specifically wanting to avoid an army of superhumans with poor decision making habits to decend on an already volatile city.