>>19226500Or, WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE>Previous Threads:http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=Metahuman%20Renaissance%20QuestPREVIOUSLY, ON METAHUMAN RENAISSANCE: After getting a good... morning's, rest, Dan discussed his plans with his traveling companions, then set out for a day looking around Tokyo. After a couple hours of being a tourist, the group arrived at the Tokyo Learning Institute for Metahuman Youth, and got in after working their way past their automated reception. Once inside, they met a member of the faculty responsible for the Extracurricular Activities Club, and decided to take a tour of the school before speaking with some of the students.
>>19226537You enter the room, followed shortly by Roxane and Anna. It looks like a relatively normal room, arranged like a class room, though the back has a number of storage bins and lockers you don't think are standard. And, while there are also desks, a number of them have been shoved together in places to allow people to sit around them. While Dr. Masters-Hamasaki continues saying something to the students in Japanese, you take the opportunity to scan the group, counting maybe 20 of them. Most of them seem fairly normal at a glance, just kids wearing the school's uniform. You notice Mastuoka and Nakamura sitting closest to the door. The girl, Mastuoka, nods professionally when you glance at her, but Nakamura, the guy, gives you a thumbs up and a wink when you look at him, you return the gesture.You scan the rest of the group. While most of them do seem like normal Japanese High-Schoolers, some of them stand out. One girl, for example, you think is wearing some kind of head gear reminscent of airplane fins, but then realize those *are* her ears. Another girl has ash-grey hair, and amber eyes, and you think you might see thin trails of smoke as she exhales. There's a boy with his right arm entirely wrapped in what looks like red silk, with various images in gold embroidered on it. Some people stand out more by what they have, though, like a girl with an unstrung bow and quiver sitting next to her, who is kitted out in archery gear over her uniform. Another kid catches your eye by flipping a coin, then you realize his eyes are the *exact* same shade as the old coin he's flipping.
>>19226896MAGE SIGHT! CONSEQUENCES BE DAMNED!
>>19226955Honestly, there aren't really any consequences any more, since Dan got his second HD in Command. It's pretty impossible for him to fail a Stability check unless I bring in penalties.
>>19226988Then perhaps it can't hurt. Let's see just how much raw potential the youth of Japan have.
>>19226988Oh, well kickass then!
>>19227004>>19227003>>19226955(2x1, 2x5 and 2x6 on Magesight)You decide to take a look at the youth of Japan with your paranormal senses, and press two fingers to your forehead, close your eyes, and then open them again with your magesight.On the metaphysical plane, the best way to describe this room is either an esoteric art-piece, or some kind of rave. You perceive people's auras all of the place, detecting a variety of phenomena you understand and some you don't. A decent number of them, somewhere between 8 and 10, look like relatively normal humans, though with some oddities that make you wonder if that's the right word. Matsuoka for example, has a relatively normal appearance under your sight, but something about her is slightly off, a flickering of unusual color in it. You spot a couple of psychics in the group, including the ash-haired girl, who is clearly a pyrokinetic. >You got enough success to ask detailed questions or examine specific students closer, or you can just kill the sight after a general look(Sorry about the delay. There was some incedents in my quest to acquire coffee, which delayed me. I can tell you the story if you *really* want to hear it)
>>19227507I always am interested in stories of overcoming obstacles to acquire caffeine.Keep it on, no reason to turn it off.Investigate Matsuoka more, try to get a hint of what the flickering is. Does Nakamura have a strange aura at all.Pay special attention to the auras that we don't have any experience with.Introduce ourself to the class as Dan Fortesque, History Major and Psychic Space Wizard.
>>19227608Ooh, and introduce Roxy as "Super crazy genius, of the benevolent variety" and Anne as "Fitness and romance novel enthusiast, and former servant of the Red Star."
>>19227507(Sounds fun. Go for it.)Let's home in on those auras that don't make sense, see if we can't put things together. Ask if there are other students in the group or if this is the lot of them. There's no overt mages in the group?
>>19227632We should probably not mention the Red Star. "Fitness, martial arts and romance novel enthusiast, makes physics her bitch using math."
>>19227608>>19227632Let's be a little more professional about it on all counts."I'm Daniel Fortesque, from Liberty City in America. These are my associates, Roxane Murdock and Anna Ellsworth."If they ask about our powers:"Well, if you must know, I got most of my powers from a...chance encounter with noted supervillainess Dr. Eve Moreau. Funny, that. In any case, I'm part Cyrean now along with heightened human potential. Magic, too, though that came later."Roxane here is a case of BSRMD. A mad genius without the mad."And Anna is an accomplished martial artist and arcanomathematician."
>>19227720>without the madThere's no reason to lie to them.
>>19227608>>19227643Well, I don't know how funny it will be, but it's this. First, I need to preface this story with the fact that my mom taught me how to make coffee, which is with milk. So, I'm feeling some caffeine lack, and decide to make me a cup before I write the next post. I pour the milk in the mug, stick it in the microwave, and go about my business (which is unloading the dishwasher at that moment.) Milk's done a few moments later, I pull it out, and something is wrong. The milk looks off. Kinda bubbly, maybe got somethings very tiny floating in it. I even go for a sniff, but all I can smell is last nights butter and salt smell (From when I repopped the half-popped bag of popcorn) so my first thought is that some of the salt or butter spray stuff had somehow infused my milk. So I dump it, wipe the inside of the microwave, and try again. Now I'm running out of good coffee mugs, so I go back to the dishwasher. Milk finishes again, and somethings up again. Looks weird again, and I have to conclude something is wrong with the milk. So I smell it again, and now it definitely smells wrong. So I pour mug down the sink, too. While I can't remember seeing or smelling curdled milk before, "curdled" is the word I'd use for it. So, now that I've confirmed that the milk is bad, I check the jug. And lo and behold, it was four days past the sell by date. I give that a whiff, and it's got a bit of a tang to it. Not turn your stomach sour, but not how milk should smell (And somehow I hadn't noticed using it in my cereal those past four day, including this morning), so I dump that down the sink too, wash out the container, and throw it in the recycle. Got the next think of milk out, and made coffee from that. The end.
>>19227825Clinically, yes, without the mad.She makes up for it by being Irish, though.And on a separate note, we're assumed to be under national edict from Uncle Sam himself not to say anything unnecessary about the Red Star incident. Remember, the official story is that the perpetrator is in custody.
>>19227873Ain't that some shit, when milk smells tangy? It's like aww fuck.
>>19227608>Investigate Matsuoka more, try to get a hint of what the flickering is.Looking at Matsuoka closer, you try and find the flickering of color. The best you can explain it is that her spirit seems shot through with iron filaments. You assume this is a reflection of her special training, or whatever. You recall that Huan, who was also trained in Anti-Demon martial arts, had an unusual aura.>Does Nakamura have a strange aura at all.Nakamura is perfectly human, though the weird ammo canisters for his gun have some strangeness in them. They seem slightly more luminous than normal.>>19227643>There's no overt mages in the group?Sitting in the back, there's one kid, looks a little younger, and scrawnier than the others. He's wearing glasses and studying a small leather-bound journal. You stare at the journal for a bit, and hear whispers in the corners of your perception. They stop when you focus on something else. There's also a girl who seems like she has some magical talent, though you're not sure what at first. She's wearing some gaudy plastic jewelry and has a guitar slung over one shoulder. Then you notice the guitar is radiating weirdly, and notice something attached to it. You look over her shoulder, and spy an apparition. Looks a bit like an 80's rock star. He notices you staring, and waves, saying in a very colloquial british accent "What's happening, mate?"
>>19228074The reaction was compounded by the thought "Wait, didn't I have this on my cereal like, three hours ago?"
>>19228085Wave back to ghost bro. "Not much, just giving these kids a once over. Wacky possessed guitar shenanigans treating you well?"
>>19228118Now THAT would be some shit. I'd take a bite of cereal and think, "Waaaaaait a minute."Take another bite.Wince.Check the jug.FUCK>>19228085Salute back. Wonder if others can perceive Nerio and Veritas on our person.
>>19227873> I pour the milk in the mug, stick it in the microwaveWell I've not seen that before.
>>19227873>>19228175Yah, is that any good? Do you make instant coffee or do you make actual coffee machine coffee?
>>19227608>>19227673>>19227720You point at the guy and say "Sup, ghost-guitar guy." The girl looks a little surprised. "Excuse me, Mr. Fortesque?" You hear someone off to your side. You realize you've been silently studying the room for a couple of minutes. You quickly close your eyes and focus on releasing the power. Off your other shoulder, you hear Anna comment, "Don't worry, he's only using his Psychic Space Wizard powers. He'll be fine." As you open your eyes and stand up straight, you say, "No, I am only Daniel Fortesque, History major. Just as you are Anna Ellsworth, Arcaneomathematician in training." "Hey," she objects, and raps the back of her hand against the thing slung over her shoulder. "I also have this. Even if we're not 100% sure about what it does." Suddenly a large number of the students exchange glances around the room. A few of them mutter something under their breath. Anna raises an eyebrow, but the doctor cuts in. "I believe all of use here know that feeling." She turns back to the crowd, and in English says, "Right, so, now that I have your reports, as stated, this is Daniel Fortesque, Roxane Murdock and Anna Ellsworth," the kid in the back looks up at the mention of her last name, and puts his book away. "Mr. Fortesque helped Matsuoka and Nakamura a hand last night, so they invited them her to come speak with you, and share their experiences." You nod. Open your mouth to say something, then correct yourself, and instead say, "Uh, you guys can use our first names, if that's not to weird. I'm sure my last name's a little hard to say.">Open the floor for questions>Give a little background>Ask specific people questions
>>19228184>>19228175Right, I should clarify;It is instant coffee, but I learned to make it by heating up a mug of milk first, then adding the coffee and sugar after. I think it's like a latte, but I'm not 100% sure, because when I go to like a starbucks, that's what I order, and when I put in enough sugar it tastes mostly like the coffee I make at home. (I use quite a bit of sugar)
>>19228404I want to believe that is a real picture from Avatar.Anyway, give some quick background about all three of us, then open it up for questions.
>>19228439I'll have to try that, sounds pretty good.
>>19228404Give a little background first. Let them know who they're talking to, a History Major/Psychic Space Wizard who got his powers from Dr. Moreau, a not that Mad Scientist and a martial Artist/Archanomath. Tell them a bit about how long we've been doing this business and a small anecdote about something we're allowed to talk about. Then open the floor to questions.
>>19228439Then again, they STEAM the milk, not cook it, since that makes it curdle.Like the others said, give some background, detail our powers, offer an anecdote or two, then open the floor.
>>19228657>>19228595>>19228451You cough, politely. "Uh, okay. Well, I'm Daniel, and as my colleague alluded too, I'm kind of a Psychic Space Wizard." You pull up a sleeve, showing the alien markings glowing under your skin. "I was implanted with some Cyrean module reading tech a while back." You pull the sleeve up. "And also I was kind of 'awakened' as a mage a while later. I never really set out for this whole metahuman business, but I tried to take it in stride, and do some good when I can. I fought some golems who were trying to rob a museum, I happened to be at for instance. Guess I'm just in the wrong place at the right time." Most of the students seem suitably impressed. You turn to your compatriots, and shrug. Roxy steps forward. "Well, I'm probably not as impressive as Dan, but I have been diagnosed with BSRMD, so I am kind of a mad scientist. I specialize in Robotics and Signals Tech, but I've been branching out into Genetics, and thinking of moving from there to some Chemical Engineering and Microbiology, then onto Nanotechnology. Mostly I do IT and R&D for Dan in his quest to find something interesting and worthwhile to do with his powers." As interesting as your story was, you notice a number of the older, probably more knowledgeable students seem more impressed by Roxane's resume. Probably because if you understand all those words she just used, it is kind of impressive.(cont)
>>19229193Anna steps up. "Well, I'm Anna Ellsworth, I do Arcaneomathematics. Don't try it at home. Also I know some kickboxing and some mixed martial arts." She touches the sword again. "And I now have this thing, even if I don't know completely what it is for." She then picks up a piece of chalk for the board in this room and twirls it around her finger. You get an eerie, slightly foreboding sensation from the action. "Since you probably haven't heard of my field, allow me to do a demonstration." She begins writing an equation on the board. "Uh..." You say, "Is that a good idea?" You ask. Anna responds, but doesn't look at you, instead focused on her math. "Just one of my parlor tricks. Don't worry, it wont open up any holes in the universe if I use the wrong exponent." You study the equation. It's relatively short, and you don't understand all the symbols she uses, which are a mixture of mathematical and scientific representations, and occult or alchemical symbols. You notice Anna leaves a few spots blank, then once the equation is complete, she fills in the variables. There's a burst of white noise in your universal translator, and you feel a tingling in your chest. A number of the students wince, or look uncomfortable. After a couple of seconds, Anna smudges the equation with her sleeve, which you notice has a lot of chalk dust or dry erase marker on it. "Little trick they teach you early on. Privacy screen. Does something with ambient fields to generate white noise on electronic devices. If I'd left the equation, it would have run for exactly 1 minute." Anna pockets the chalk. (Wow, Dan's infodump about himself was kinda lengthy. Anyway, I'll be right back after I get some dinner.)
>>19229275>She then picks up a piece of chalk for the board in this room and twirls it around her finger.>Anna pockets the chalk.You sneaky git.
>>19229275Now class, any questions for any of us? Don't hold back on our account.
>>19226537>Body 3I thought we had Body 4?
>>19229550Yes, you did. I've fixed it now. >>19229275Anyway, got tied up in the debacle of that thread where someone was posting Nextwave, and then some other guy came in and tried to post another comic at the same time, and now there is no more Nextwave. I mad. So I'll get on the update now.
>>19229377"Yeah, so, that's what we do." You say, in response to Anna, in general. "I'm not sure how you want this to go, but we're open for questions." A student asks you about how you got your Cyrean abilities. You give an abridged version of the story. When you're done, the teacher says. "Oh, Doctor Moreau. I met her, once, I think. It was at a conference." Everyone looks at her, several with eyebrows raised. "She was in disguised at the time. We didn't know until she had to flee from Interpol agents." You answer another handful of generic questions about powers, and even some from a couple of seniors about LCU. In general, you try to be informative and not necessarily persuasive, freely giving information and advice to those who need it. >Let's get some freeform storytelling here. You're a Japanese High School Student with access to superhuman powers. What do *you* ask Dan?
>>19229909"Bitch ass hoe! How you be doin dat shit where you seen my guitar demon asshole?!"She's really into American gang culture...
>>19229909Mr. Fortesque, what's it like to be able to fly?Also I heard from Nakamura and Mastuoka that you can summon armor, could you show us?
>>19229909What do you think of Japan so far?What's Dr. Moreau like?Do you work for the government?Do you ever worry you'll lose control of your powers, especially since you have so many?Have you ever met/seen [famous local Japanese meta]?Have you ever met any famous metahumans in general?
>>19229936The girl with the guitar says "Uh, excuse me. How did you see my f-" she cuts her self off, shoots a glance at the teacher and continues "freaking guitar ghost?" "Magic." You reply, in the most deadpan wizard voice possible. She opens her mouth as if to make a comment, then remembers she has a possessed guitar so she can't really say anything. >>19229954"What's it like to fly?" One of them asks. "Well, it's kinda hard to describe. But it's pretty cool, that sensation of defying gravity. The sights are amazing too. But I don't fly very far or fast outside of my gear so I can't comment to much on the feeling."The girl with the archery equipment says, "Nakamura and Mastuoka said you have some armor? Could you show us?" "Of course," You say. " You make an gesture spreading your arms wide as if to show off, and then the armor encases you. There are a number of appreciative and surprised sounds. "It's a variant of some Cyrean armor I found. I've made a few modifications to make it more useful to me." Nakamura asks, "Hey man, how do you make it appear like that." "Wizard did it." You reply, and dismiss the armor. You get the feeling it would be rude to do the entire conversation like that. (cont)
>>19230169>"Magic.">"Wizard did it."We go in-depth on our tech and psychic phenomena, but it seems we're kinda shit at talking about magic.
>>19230199Well, magic is both really simple to explain, but also really hard. Dan is not lying when he says those things, and everyone understands him when he says it.
>>19230234Magic always seems like this nebulous thing, like one's inner energy. It can manifest at anything, and there's no say to the upper bounds of its power.
>>19230169Is there good employment as a metahuman?What's Liberty City like? Should I check things out there?
>>19230169>>19230035>What do you think of Japan so far?"Well, I've only been here like a day, but It seems okay. Tokyo is pretty amazing. Reminds me of home, but at the same time is different, unique. I'd love to see more of it. Especially historical sites.">What's Dr. Moreau like?You have to think about this one for a moment. "She's... interesting. The MSRMD makes her unstable, so she seems kinda sporadic. Helpful at times, other times not." "Makes sense seeing how she's clinically insane." Roxane comments. "I want to say her heart's in the right place," You say, picking your words carefully. "But she doesn't sweat the normal ethical, moral, or even basic safety concerns. She's also, very, very smart. And can talk in your brain." >Do you work for the government?"I don't think so." A couple people laugh at this. "Not directly, anyway. I've kind of helped some people employed by the government, and been compensated afterword, though. I guess that makes me like, a freelancer or a contractor?" You shrug. "You're just a concerned citizen, Daniel." Anna comments, dryly. "Helping your country is natural. And they feel inclined to help back." >Have you ever met any famous metahumans?"Well, I briefly ran into Miss Mystery, the second one, once. She was on a job and it intersected with the thing I was doing at the time." You pause for a second of consideration, then say, "I also had lunch with Lady Ashwood after I did her grandson a favor which turned into the aforementioned museum incident." You notice that name actually doesn't get quite as many flashes of recognition. "She was quite interesting for a 90-year old." (cont)
>>19230445>>19230669>Is there good employment as a metahuman?"Well, I don't know about here," You reply, "But lots of people with talent can make a decent living stateside, more-so the more specialized your talents are. I just made a pretty sizable amount of money salvaging Cyrean caches from the war using my abilities and some logistical help," You nod in Roxy's direction. "which is part of the reason why I'm here." >What's Liberty City like? Should I check things out there?"Well, I already described it as kinda like here, and it is," You state, "But is also has some very varied districts there, and this means plenty of variety in people, and jobs too, I guess. I'd recommend visiting it sometime, sure. And, like those people asked earlier, if you're thinking about studying overseas for any reason, LCU has schools and departments for just about everything, and is very metahuman friendly as far as I can tell.">That's enough questions from the students. Anything you want to ask them before time moves on?(Also, probably gonna have to wrap this soon. I need to finish preparing to run a Delta Green one-shot tonight.)
I guess if you guys *don't* have any questions, I can just wind up to a conclusion anyway.
>>19230856Pretty much.
>>19230856With their questioning done, you ask a couple of your own, but feel like you're taking up a large number of their time. So you turn back to the Doctor and ask, "Hey, not that I want to derail this train, but uh, maybe we could do that thing I asked about earlier?" She looks puzzled for a second, then says "Oh, right. You had a strange encounter last night, right?" She turns and talks to one of the students in Japanese. You catch the drift of sentence as a question about scanning equipment arriving, and gets an affirmative response. She then heads to the back and starts rummaging through storage containers. "Now, where was that..." She mutters, actually in English. The scholarly looking student stands up. "Not to interrupt, Sensei, but I believe I have a solution." He walks over to you, and gives you a bit of a half-smile. "My father was very interested in Western style magic. A lot of his peers didn't respect him for it, but I have learned a lot from him and his notes. I have attempted to make a charm that detects the Shadow Seeds." You nod at him, and say "Well, then go for it." He removes a small charm on a chain from his sleeve, letting it hang from his wrist. It looks a bit like a cross, only all its ends are pointed. He mutters something in Latin, and you feel magic build in the room. He finishes the spell, and the charm snaps to attention, pointing directly at you for a couple heartbeats, then falls slack. "Well," the boy says "Either my spell didn't work, or you're free of evil spirits." (cont)
>>19231427"Ah-ha!" Comments Dr. Masters from the back, as she pulls out an interesting looking device. "Found it. Here let's make sure it works." She approaches with the thing, a wand in one hand that looks like a hand vacuum, connected by a hose to a hand-held display. It emits an electronic beep every few seconds, regularly. She brings it up to you and waves it over you a few times. You notice is has, in addition to some Japanese text "DETECTS BAD SPIRITS" in English written on the side. It continues beeping at its regular intervals. "Guess you're clean." She says. The kid smiles to himself a little, and starts walking back to his seat.As the doctor has the detector resting at her side, it starts to beep more frequently, however. She looks down at the display puzzled. Then you hear some distant scuffling sounds, and an alarm suddenly starts blaring all over the campus. It is followed up shortly by a too-calm voice giving a message in Japanese over the PA. The students are suddenly rushing to get their things together. You say "What's going on?" but before anyone can respond, a pair of pitch black, clawed hands burst through the door and try and grab Anna, who was closest. She spins on her heel out of the way, and draws her black stone sword in a single swift motion, slicing diagonally through the door and whatever is beyond it, which lets out an unearthly shriek. You notice the edges of the door she cut in two glow red hot. She looks over her shoulder at you. "Well. Shit." You say. Thunder rumbles outside.METAHUMAN RENAISSANCE PART 44 END
>>19231619Those must be some demons if they can get past the security of Tokyo's premier metahuman academy so handily. "Well shit" is right.
>>19231699Yep, sure are some sneaky demons. it's not like the shades are raining down from the from the ominous black cloud over head, or anything.
>>19231722Well, that works too.
>>19231722Fucking ominous black clouds.
>>19231807I know, right?Anyway, I won't say exactly when the next thread will be (because stating my intent seems to cause it to not happen, somehow) but I may or may not do one Friday, and keep your eyes open over the weekend, because I'm planning at least one-thread, and will pull off a double-header weekend if I can.
