Marcus and Samantha  were, ultimately, pleased with the results.  Despite whatever had happened to Gagamba, they'd managed to confirm Exalt-related incidents and uncovered some disturbing information.  Exalt could have a direct impact on both flora and fauna.

The South Creek at Seahurst Park was now an active police investigation, as human remains had been found inside the cave from whence the spider-thing had come.  Professor Cortez, though a professor in Astronomy, was able to put the group in contact with a Biochem professor David Strong, who had been the lovelorn Glen's work-study advisor.  Strong theorized that prolonged contact with Exalt by the newly hatched cluster had transformed the clusters that Punching Bag had come into contact with into something much more.  The remaining clusters held by the group may hold the key to discovering who the remains belong to.  The unspoken assumption is that the remains are of someone with metahuman powers...

Glen's had been cultivating a small crop of Exalt-infused potatoes and had actually had a plan to integrate small doses of those potatoes into the university food supply.  Ultimately, Strong performed some tests, but found that his yield was not a threat.  The potatoes were disposed of by the university.  Glen, however, did appear to have an Exalt-related power.  He simply scaled people's intelligence up or down in a large radius around him, linked to his emotional state.  Without regular contact with Exalt, he was not a threat.   Btu he was still being charged with various counts and is currently under suspension.

More to come on the Mob Mentality thread as it plays out.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:53, Fri 21 Oct 2022.

Through these events, you've also gained contacts with the University of Washington Faculty, the University of Washington Police Force, the Seattle Parks department and Washington State Department of Natural Resources.

The demonstrated success of the ARCHIE program has netted you guys an invite to meet with Tech mogul Carter Wilson.  Marcus, your computer guy, was beyond ecstatic.  While you've all had some exposure to Wilson, he's mostly kept a low profile for the past several years.  You've had way more exposure to his wife, Jennifer, the former meta Radiance and current spokesman for The Foundation Program a Washington State housing initiative to promote legislation and projects pushing affordable housing.

You are invited to meet to discuss the potential of your group taking on a more active and recognized role in Seattle.

Edit to remove location...
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:58, Mon 24 Oct 2022.

Chrysanthemum Noodles had become  a semi-regular place for the group to go to.  And it was one of the first places Marcus suggested when Carter Wilson's secretary had called to make the invitation.  The wait-staff were familiar with them now, and waved them to the rear

The garden area surrounded by lattice-works and creeping vines, flowers in high bloom.  For all that it was really just a back porch in an inner-city restaurant, it still felt like a great escape.

Cater and Jennifer Wilson were there already.    Jennifer waved them over as they entered.  Carter offered a slightly more formal--perhaps slightly more uncomfortable--greeting.


My goal with this thread is to broach the conversation about you guys  taking on a recognized role in the city.    There's also likely going to be codename and public-relations discussions.  We can go in-depth or as big-picture as you want.  I just want to establish that the conversation has happened.

Really it's kinda an open thread, too... for whoever is actually active.

Jennifer Wilson Radiance	Carter Wilson Vigil

This message was last edited by the player at 03:07, Mon 24 Oct 2022.

"Hey!"  Jennifer waved as the folks came in.  "How new is this place?  I didn't know it was even here!  And given how often I'm at the gym..." she gave a mock surprised look.


--
OOC: Both Jennifer and Carter are in civilian clothes.  Her identity as Radiance is publicly known.  Carters isn't "public" as having been inside the Vigil suit, but it's not exactly a well-kept secret.

I prefer that you are okay with Carter and Jennifer knowing your secret identity, if you have one.   I will not penalize you down the road for being in civvies here.  This is to be considered a private enough place.

PB and Stitches enter the establishment and make their way to the back. Handshakes and smiles are exchanged before sitting down. PB nods and motioned to the backyard setting. With a small chuckle at the situational irony he said, “Yep pretty new. Best kept secret in the city. We hope you’re having a good day today.”

Virginia comes in next. She smiles and is cordial with everyone.

"Hi! How is everyone?"

After friendly greetings she noses into the menu looking for the next thing she has not tried yet.

Carter was the quieter of the two, even in private.  The press used to joke that he kept himself so busy with a huge slew of projects in order to avoid some inner demons...  But try though they might, there just weren't that many demons in his past.

Those familiar with neurodivergence would probably see that he was likely on the spectrum as he started a lot of projects he never finished... But then, he'd made so much of his fortune just from starting things.  He was the operations lead for Vigilance (former super-team, disbanded about a decade ago); And the technology he'd created then opened up so many avenues that he was still on the frontier of innovative science.   But now... he was a healthy man in his fifties with a beautiful wife on a late summer day.

Carter shook hands with Kevin.  "We needed the chance to get out.  I hit a roadblock or two and Jenny's... well, we both need the break.  Heard about your thing in Burien.  No offense, btu I'm glad it was you dealing with spiders and not me." He grinned.

Burien - where Seahurst Park is, and the whole spider-cluster thing.

Jennifer gravitated to Virginia immediately.  While they might not have been friends, they'd both run into each other often enough at Piasa Square, when Jenny came to work out.  Usually in the off-hours.  Though that was starting to get harder and harder to book as the city was starting to cotton to the fact that several metas seem to gravitate to the place.

"I heard about Angel." Jennifer said.  "Is there any word on how she's doing?"

Angel == Gagamba.
Any of you can make something up for what happened to Gagamba after her seizure and rush to the hospital.   I assume she's not coming back to the game.  Just... don't kill her off.  I lean towards a recovery... perhaps even her family (meaning Portia) taking care of her for a few days.  I'll roll with whatever you choose to make up.  Better drama than inconsequence!

Kevin smiled and shrugged. “I hope I lived up to the stereotype of the crocodile wrestling outback animal enthusiast. It was certainly a first for me. Not too thrilled to see what long term exposure to that drug will do. How are you enjoying the cafe? A little hidden gem right?”

"Angel? Yes, yes, she is fine. We got a message from Portia. They seem to think her seizure was the result of a CNS infection. She is being treated for viral encephalitis! They are going to run more test once that clears to be certain there are no other underlying causes. And for safety's sake, the doctors have grounded her for the next six months. No driving. That would be the worst!

So you guys have not ordered yet? I am not eating any squid!" Virginia replied to Jennifer and made a face!

Cythi had just arrived.  As she spent half of the night with Angel giving Portia a chance to do anything she needed to and upon return home needed to sleep before visiting her Café.  Now however that she is awake and good to go she arrives at the noodlehouse.

"My apologies for being late."  Not that it mattered not needing to eat she also generally did not eat at all.  That and she was super picky.  But here had a really good house made ice cream and they even let her put chocolate syrup on it.

She at least caught the end of what Virginia said in the end which makes her feel better.

It turned out that Portia was actually genuinely concerned for Angel.  The two had known each other for most of Portia's life...  Their relationship was complicated.  Like many sisters.

And Portia was brought in to be Gagamba's foil./  Without Gagamaba, I don't see any reason to keep Portia front and center at the moment.  But it's always nice to have name & face recognition in the back pocket for down the road.

Cameron entered the cafe and with a wave to the wait staff, walked back to the garden area to join the rest of the team.  The tall auburn haired young woman arrived just as Jennifer was asking about Angel.  "Cythi and I checked in on her after the mission and her sister Portia was taking her home for recovery," she informed the others with a tinge of sadness in her voice as she shared what she knew.  "We weren't family so the Doctors weren't willing to share her condition with us,"

"Hello Jennifer," there might be a bit of hero worship in her voice, at the least a lot of respect for someone who has taught her a lot about fighting in the air.  She turned to Carter and nodded at the man respectfully, "Carter." She nodded at Punching Bag, "Hello Kevin," respect in her voice for her martial arts teacher.  "Hey Virginia," she smiled at the blonde, "I think I meet someone like you," she informed the blonde hesitantly.

It would take Marie awhile to show up, but it always took Marie awhile to show up. They always knew why though, she felt uncomfortable about her powers in groups and in public and this place was exactly that, in public and a group. Still, she would come because they wanted her too. Cythi would always say it'd 'help her'. Right. She'd walk up to the group, and in her usual emotionless tone offer a small wave. "Hello everyone. Sorry I am late."

"Oh? How nice..." Virginia gave a clinched smile and froze for a moment. She was not sure what that meant or if she even wanted to know. It could go in so many directions!

Her eyes slid to the side and she continued, "Sooo, it is nice to get everyone back together! And without all the craziness going on. Oh look, here comes Marie!"

Marie lifted a blonde brow as she glanced to Virginia. She wasn't sure how to take the other woman's way of announcing that she was coming, so she simply shrugs it off for now.

Ace nodded her head, "Yeah, he used something that looked a lot like your fairy dust, but it changed people," she explained to Virginia as she sipped from the glass of water in front of her.

As Marie stepped up to their table, the redheaded young heroine nodded at the other woman, "Glad you could make it Marie."

Marie looked to Ace and gave a simple shrug. "Thanks." She said in her usual emotionless tone, finally she would sit down at the table with the others.

"Fairy dust that morphed people??", Virginia's eyes darted about as she worked out what that could possibly be like. Did he drink of the same strange water? Were there others like her?

"Did he shrink or have wings like me?" she asked Ace. "Do we know where he came from?"

Camron shook her head, "No, he didn't have wings or shrink.  At least during our encounter, but he could have been hiding that."  The tall red head shrugged her shoulders as she sipped from her glass.  "I didn't get to find out where he was from," Cameron hummed thoughtfully, "or anything else about him.  We were trying to maintain our cover as regular people."

"Since he used something that looked like fairy dust, I thought I would mention it to you," Cameron shared with her teammate.

Kevin looked to their host and hostess to see if the description of the Meta rang a bell. “Does this individual sound familiar to you? Didn’t know if you might have a file on this person or not.”Stitches looked to the ladies and pondered something. “If the group was to gain a more public image, would you ladies consider doing a swimsuit calendar? It would boost your reputation and be an additional sort of income.”

Virginia thought for a moment, "His using what looked like my dust may or may not be an associative power. But thanks for mentioning it to me." She sipped at her water waiting for some sweet tea to be delivered.

Virginia's face went to an expression of doubt at the suggestion of a calendar shoot.

"Hmmmm..."

"Well..."

"I..."

"Ok so, I am not against calendars but...that could be a big can of worms, could it not? I mean, does that not alert the criminal element in town that 'Hey, these people are around! We need to adjusts plans for them. And they look just like these pictures!'?

Explain to me how this helps??

What reputation do I have now??" she finished meaning to be funny.

Cameron looked over at Kevin, "Before we get to the question of a calendar, what exactly do you mean by going more public?  Does this mean revealing our identities?"  She looked around at the others to see what they were thinking.  She didn't know about the others, but she was hesitant to reveal her real identity to the public, she wouldn't want to put her Aunt in danger or any other family member.

Kevin shook his head and looked over at Stitches. “I believe what Stitches here meant was masks stay on and identities concealed while being less concealing in other areas. Just ignore him. He sometimes falls back into his MMA fight promoter ways like he used to be with me.”

"Dibs! I get July! And either October or December!" Virginia exclaimed jumping way ahead. "Are we using bogus monikers or our hero names? I haven't figured one out yet...... Is it just us? What are we doing? We need theme. Bikinis? Beach? I don't want to do cars. What would be more funny would be to have us using our talents but make it looked obviously photoshopped. Can we photoshop me some bigger boobs??"

Cameron shrugged, "I think it is too early to talk about a calendar, but later maybe, as long as we can preserve our identities."  The tall, willowy red headed agreed with a shrug.

Looking over at Kevin, "Are we going to do some group exercises, would help us work better together," Cameron asked currently because she felt woefully unprepared to work with Cythi during their last mission.

"I already have a 'more public image'." Marie said a bit, bluntly. "I am not sure you want me to be a part of this, calendar business." Then she looked over to Ace. "I have no identity to hide, it was agreed to keep mine public to demonstrate I can be 'fixed, redeemed, whatever'." She actually shrugged at that.

"Anyway, what is this about pixie dust?" She said, deciding to change the subject before someone decides to bring up HER attractive boobs.

Jenny and Carter shared a smile. then Carter leaned in.  "And that sort of leads to why we wanted to meet.  Since Vigilance disbanded, things had been fairly stable, right up until the Exalt stuff hit the streets.  Combined with some of the more recent overtures of the Thresh, and I'm not convinced that things are going to stay stable."

"Jennifer has told me all sorts of things about you and I want to discuss assisting your, ah, extra-curricular activities.  Ideally, I would like to position you to leverage the public goodwill you've currently got going for you.  I don't know about calendars and merchandising quite yet, but I'm also not the marketing expert.  I can put you in touch with some very talented people in that regard."

Jennifer leaned back, and held her drink close to her face, pensive.  "It's not entirely altruistic, mind you.   Our history isn't exactly a secret.  I'm about to make a big announcement soon that will bring out some old acquaintances looking to settle even older scores.  Having a more pronounced meta presence in the city--embraced by the city--will simply do everyone some good."

Stitches both elated and sad at the responses from the ladies depending on their interest in the swimsuit calendar. When the topic of promoting the group’s public image came up, he went into full manager mode. “Oh yeah! Now that’s something I can get behind! We’ll have to get your statements ready at the press conference. Outfits and makeup need to be ready. I’ll call up my old friend Nine-Finger Jimmy to get us some pyrotechnics. Can’t have a reveal without fireworks am I right? I need to put a fresh set of batteries in my megaphone. Can’t cheer on a hero if they can’t hear their name. Then there’s meet and greets along with pictures with the kids. That’s always a good PR move. This is going to be great! I can already imagine it.”

PB started laughing at Stitches and slapped him on the shoulder. “Calm down old man. I don’t think these ladies are quite ready to see you in full peacock mode just yet. Besides, I’m sure the two veterans here already have thoughts on how they would like to handle it.”

Carter seemed a little uncertain, glancing between Stitches and Kevin, but Jennifer continued, after waiting a long moment for the wait-staff to step off of the terrace.

"Mayor Hartnell is retiring from politics.  His second bout with cancer was rougher than he expected.  I am concerned about council president Spohr taking over and I plan to press for a midterm election.  If council votes in favor, I'm going to run for the office."

--
As a council-woman, Jennifer Wilson has pushed heavily on the municipal protectors packages (by which metas can be employed by the municipality for limited-term contracts), the housing affordability crisis and some "innovative" approaches to the drug problems. After two terms on council, she has a strong support network but her past as Radiance and her sometimes progressive liberal leanings  have made her some definite political enemies.  For the past couple of years, she's focused on her role a a spokesman for the The Emerald Shelters Program, which is now Seattle's premier Emergency Weather Shelter provider.

"Kirk Moore was a friend of mine." he said, referring to the remains found in the spider-cave in Seahurst Park.  "He was a good guy.  Careful..  But the minute you wear the tights, you get a big bullseye painted on your back.  That's just the price of the outfit.   So, if you do this, it's going to put a target on your back bigger than the ones you've already got just by existing. "

"The trade-off, though, is that it could mean you get more teeth for your project." Carter said.  "A chance to do some real damage to the criminal element."

"Seattle needs a team.  Between Exalt and the Thresh, there's going to be some serious conflicts coming soon.  This isn't the kind of thing that requires an answer right now. Take the time to think about it. Talk about it."

--
Of course, you can answer right now if you want.   I'm working on the chapter-two threads right now.  It'll be a couple of days before they're ready...  I'm still building the broad-strokes of the bad-guys.

Cythi takes a moment to take it all in what was said and really does not weigh it at all.  Since she was told about being a superhero she wanted to go that route.  "I would so be happy to do it.  I mean that is like a dream come true!"  Cythi says over exuberant.

She does realize the problem of her still not having a name which may come to pass.  Mind you if it is a public team maybe a contest to name some of them....or no that is silly.  Maybe she should think more.  Either way she bobs happily to the news.

Kevin nods in understanding of the gravity of the situation. “We’ll just have to make sure we keep our noses clean until then. I’ll certainly be on board for this. I’ll have to adjust my suit and wear a mask to at least have some sort of normalcy in my daily life and keep the gym from being targeted.”

She just stared at Stitches for several long moments before speaking. "Could you slow your hyper roll please? I am the most publicly known out of any of us because I 'have' to be. But that doesn't mean I have to go about blaring my presence. It means I go about using what I have helping others to the best of my abilities as I gain more control over them." For a second there her eyes flashed behind her sunglasses, and the room shook before everything calmed as she took a deep breath.

"...anyway. So you guys are here to see if we want to make an actually...to and true team? I thought we..?" She scratched her head a bit confused.

Carter nodded and tilted his head at the same time... a sort-of-yes sort-of-no response.

This is your choice.  It's your call how you do it, too.  I can see a path for being Seattle's protectors.   If that's too public for you... there are other options.  If you want the work, I mean."

Carter spread his hands.  "I've been there.  We've been there. he glanced at Jenny, then down at their hands which were clasped together.  And, boy, we've made mistakes--mistakes we might be able to help you avoid.  But if this is too much...  Seriously.   It's only an offer.  That's all.  There's no hidden judgement, no shame of blame in saying no--or yes.  "

Cameron's loses her normal, slightly lost look and gets really focused at the mention of the Thresh, "If it will help stop the Thresh, I am up for it." She immediately jumps in on the affirmative, "I still want to protect my identity, I have family to protect." She explained and several people here knew about her Aunt.

The usually relaxed Cameron was trying to slow her breathing down as she reacted to the mention of the Thresh.  She looked down at her food as she unclenched her hands as she set her silverware down and put her hands in her lap as she regained her composure.

"Being a public team does have its pitfalls. Being 'vigilante' has much more freedom! But when you think about it, none of the most famous heroes were morally perfect yet most of their reputations are still intact. Having a public endorsement seems to give alot of them 'tarnish immunity'. As long as we don't get out of hand, no reason it will not work for us. But...

Jennifer I love you, but I am not wanting to get into personal political endorsements." Virginia does a goose bump shiver.

"So many of them take the creep factor way off the scale!" She made several repulsed faces. "Bleck!"

PB crossed his arms and smiled. “I’m in. Being in the public eye has never been a problem for me. I need a good challenge anyways.”

A groan can be hard as Carter spoke about mistakes and having made them. "Mistakes? I attacked two officers... Mind you, it wasn't on purpose, but I did it. I robbed and stole to feed...those that couldn't afford to feed themselves. They tried to cuff me, through me down, wouldn't listen, and my...curse went out of control. That's one hell of a public mistake I have to live with sir." Another visible flash of her eyes behind her sunglasses, but this time she squashes whatever it was rather quickly before any rumble ever happens.

"...it's what she wanted though..." A soft sigh.

"She?" Virginia asked with the side eye.

"I'm sure they know." Marie said, pointing to Jennifer and Carter. "She is Samantha Swan. If not for her, I'd be in jail, possibly even prison, not here, not living in one of Cynthi's rentals."

"Oh ok. My mind went to the wrong place on that" Virginia blushed slightly.