(Wednesday July 8, 12:30 PM EST)
So the afternoon passed in a blur of dread and anticipation both. I returned to my usual routine: Looking for work, preparing for school, and generally taking care of myself. I'd spent so much time working on the new "superpowers" angle that I'd basically ignored my own needs. So I took care of all that while waiting for end of business day.
While working on that, I pulled out the computer again, and considered it. I knew I had some salvage in the weird dimensional pocket Paragon City techs had somehow bonded to me when I became a registered Hero. Heroine. Whatever. I'm still tripping over that one now and then.
Anyway, I started pulling out other things and considering them. A Nemesis Staff. A Blackwand. A vial of black sand which must be the Sands of Mu. An official card which states that Kara is a Gold card member of Pocket D. The real-world analogue of the Pocket D VIP card, apparently. A Tarot deck with the Major Arcana done up as heroes and villains from the game. I doubted it had any real magic anymore, since it didn't really feel special, if that made any sense. But I had to wonder... If I used it like a normal Tarot deck to fortell the future and reveal hidden mysteries, did it still have enough residual magic for that? I had another deck from way back, and had even worked up a fair patter for school festivals and stuff. I could probably still do it, if I needed to.
Another device, apparently for teleporting to the home base. It was meant to be attached to the computer, but I'd never joined a super group before the Event, so it stayed unused and un-tuned in the pocket. I put it back, since I wasn't likely to find a supergroup in this reality. And even if I did, we didn't have Paragon City's ability to create dimensional pocket superhero bases, much less the hyper-tech to put in them.
Half a dozen Merit rewards, like bills in a money clip. Used for much the same purpose, if I recalled correctly. They were the universal currency of the Vanguard, a top secret organization whose purpose was to protect Earth from alien attack. And they had to be somewhat... flexible... since they took in known criminals as well as heroes for their defense plan. Paying criminals in actual currency would be seen as aiding and abetting terrorism, which was why Vanguard had started issuing their own scrip. It worked, and was more or less overlooked, since the only place it could be spent was the Vanguard base near the mothership, and they had a very restricted list of what it could be spent on.
Another thing I pulled out looked like a palmtop computer. I'd always considered picking one of these things up, but I figured until I actually had a real need for one, it would only be an expensive toy. So I hadn't bothered. Still, looking at it experimentally, I switched it on.
A holographic screen appeared over the computer, surprising me. "What the hell?" I waved my hand through the display, making it waver a few times. "Bloody hell! Cheoptics eat your heart out..." I tapped a quick message into the computer, and pressed Enter.
[Broadcast] Foxfire: Anyone receiving this?
After a long pause, I considered the device in game terms. Broadcast only worked within a city zone. If it was like a CB radio with a text messaging front-end, then the range was probably just Ottawa.
But what about the global channels? A quick check of my global friends list showed an empty list. Crap. Apparently in this world the links were all cut.
I opened the configurable tab, and created a new channel, sifting through comm options. Team, no. Supergroup, no. Global, needed to meet people. Finally I settled on one I usually removed immediately on creating a new character. One just added recently, that used to be monitored in-game by a GM at all times.
Help.
I bit my lip and thought about it for a long moment. If others had tried this, the Help line could be jammed with other users. But at the very least, the Help line stood the best chance of being still active. And who knew? If I ran across any of the other Legendary heroes, maybe I could add them to my globals list again.
Creating a new Help tab, I set it active and waited. No immediate response. No sign of other users online at the moment. Taking a breath, I tapped in another message.
[Help] Foxfire: Is anyone receiving this message?
---
Those who fear the darkness have never seen what the light can do.
So the afternoon passed in a blur of dread and anticipation both. I returned to my usual routine: Looking for work, preparing for school, and generally taking care of myself. I'd spent so much time working on the new "superpowers" angle that I'd basically ignored my own needs. So I took care of all that while waiting for end of business day.
While working on that, I pulled out the computer again, and considered it. I knew I had some salvage in the weird dimensional pocket Paragon City techs had somehow bonded to me when I became a registered Hero. Heroine. Whatever. I'm still tripping over that one now and then.
Anyway, I started pulling out other things and considering them. A Nemesis Staff. A Blackwand. A vial of black sand which must be the Sands of Mu. An official card which states that Kara is a Gold card member of Pocket D. The real-world analogue of the Pocket D VIP card, apparently. A Tarot deck with the Major Arcana done up as heroes and villains from the game. I doubted it had any real magic anymore, since it didn't really feel special, if that made any sense. But I had to wonder... If I used it like a normal Tarot deck to fortell the future and reveal hidden mysteries, did it still have enough residual magic for that? I had another deck from way back, and had even worked up a fair patter for school festivals and stuff. I could probably still do it, if I needed to.
Another device, apparently for teleporting to the home base. It was meant to be attached to the computer, but I'd never joined a super group before the Event, so it stayed unused and un-tuned in the pocket. I put it back, since I wasn't likely to find a supergroup in this reality. And even if I did, we didn't have Paragon City's ability to create dimensional pocket superhero bases, much less the hyper-tech to put in them.
Half a dozen Merit rewards, like bills in a money clip. Used for much the same purpose, if I recalled correctly. They were the universal currency of the Vanguard, a top secret organization whose purpose was to protect Earth from alien attack. And they had to be somewhat... flexible... since they took in known criminals as well as heroes for their defense plan. Paying criminals in actual currency would be seen as aiding and abetting terrorism, which was why Vanguard had started issuing their own scrip. It worked, and was more or less overlooked, since the only place it could be spent was the Vanguard base near the mothership, and they had a very restricted list of what it could be spent on.
Another thing I pulled out looked like a palmtop computer. I'd always considered picking one of these things up, but I figured until I actually had a real need for one, it would only be an expensive toy. So I hadn't bothered. Still, looking at it experimentally, I switched it on.
A holographic screen appeared over the computer, surprising me. "What the hell?" I waved my hand through the display, making it waver a few times. "Bloody hell! Cheoptics eat your heart out..." I tapped a quick message into the computer, and pressed Enter.
[Broadcast] Foxfire: Anyone receiving this?
After a long pause, I considered the device in game terms. Broadcast only worked within a city zone. If it was like a CB radio with a text messaging front-end, then the range was probably just Ottawa.
But what about the global channels? A quick check of my global friends list showed an empty list. Crap. Apparently in this world the links were all cut.
I opened the configurable tab, and created a new channel, sifting through comm options. Team, no. Supergroup, no. Global, needed to meet people. Finally I settled on one I usually removed immediately on creating a new character. One just added recently, that used to be monitored in-game by a GM at all times.
Help.
I bit my lip and thought about it for a long moment. If others had tried this, the Help line could be jammed with other users. But at the very least, the Help line stood the best chance of being still active. And who knew? If I ran across any of the other Legendary heroes, maybe I could add them to my globals list again.
Creating a new Help tab, I set it active and waited. No immediate response. No sign of other users online at the moment. Taking a breath, I tapped in another message.
[Help] Foxfire: Is anyone receiving this message?
---
Those who fear the darkness have never seen what the light can do.