HeroCon - A Shared Epilogue

[Quellian-dyrae]

Music!

In the southern reaches of the region of Arbera in the country of Ilessia, a wide river flowed lazily by, marking the limits of the Arberan region. Not much further to the south, just far enough away that one might just be able to make it out if they had good eyes and perhaps a bit of a vantage, the terrain began changing to the dry sands of the Adaran desert. But here in Arbera, all was grassy green fields, speckled lightly with trees and intermittently covered with patches of flowers. If one hunted around, they might find the holes leading to the dens of a few small burrowing animals, or even catch their makers occasionally popping out or running around outside. A few colorful birds could be spotted flying around, along with a modest abundance of bees and butterflies - with fireflies expected for the evening.

It was a beautiful day in late spring - Heirday, the 23rd of Thrissdawn, to be precise, in the year 125 PA. One wouldn't have to go too many miles south to feel the scorching heat of pre-summer Adaros, but up here it was temperately warm, the brightly shining sun unchallenged by the few white clouds drifting through the sky, but tempered by a gentle breeze that sent grass and flowers swaying and rustled the leaves in the trees. The area was on the whole pleasant. Empty and quiet.

Or at least, it had been.

For today was the anniversary of Meteor Day and the First Annual HeroCon, and this charming expanse of open grassland had practically overnight (thanks in large part to the efforts of Assembly speedsters and paragons) transformed into something between a large fairground and a small town, with a crowd estimated in the tens of thousands having come from all over Ilessia - and some from even further afield - to celebrate their Heroes.

Little shops and stalls formed a loosely-spiralling ring leading towards the center of the fairgrounds, offering all manner of crafts, trinkets, souvenirs, and delectably unhealthy food. Games and challenges of all varieties could be found, many of them run by Dreamers offering the chance to Sleepers to challenge their powers, or even in some cases by powerful Dreamers or even full-fledged Heroes giving lesser talents the chance to test the strength of their powers. But nearer the center, more space was cleared for larger buildings, tents, and arenas, where people could meet their Heroes, sign up for Hero Corps or the Assembly Cleanup Crew, register their powers, or watch Heroes and celebrity Dreamers alike engage in high-level tournaments ranging from Dreamer-friendly sports, to obstacle courses, to races and tests of strength, to a full-contact combat tournament that had a solid 20,000 seat arena packed.

There was even a theater, but that could hardly be a surprise - since the con corresponded with the premiere of the much anticipated Heroes of Millaine movie.

124 PA had been a long and difficult year in Ilessia. The SIDE breakout. The APEX meteor. The death of Arcanis. There were more than a few people who more than a few times feared that life in Ilessia might never be the same. But it seemed that the peril was winding down. Things were starting to get back to normal. Our Heroes had earned the chance to relax, and to celebrate.

Spoiler: OOC

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Go wild guys. You can feel free to play NPCs connected with your character (including any former PCs that might be in attendance, although like, the ones who are on the run will probably need a disguise or something ) or ask me to as suits you. I'll do GMy stuff as situations require and opportunity permits.

You're also welcome to cameo your Indelar or Heroes Abroad characters here if you'd like.

If any of you want to throw down with each other in the tournaments or whatever, Luck is disabled, you start with three Hero Points, and whenever one of you spends a Hero Point the character you're spending it against gets it. I'm sure you guys can run combat yourselves just fine but I can adjudicate as necessary.

If you need a place for die rolls or other OOC stuff I have an OOC thread set up here.

[Llyarden]

Sean had ended up roped into helping at one of the stalls. This wasn't because he was a Hero of Millaine - thankfully (as far as he was concerned), while people were beginning to kinda know who he was he didn't have even close to the fame and reputation that Maestro, Declan and Darla did - but simply because Emily had volunteered to help and just sort of volunteered him too. (Not that he could really say he minded.)

As one of the physically stronger Dreamers, he ended up acting as the opponent in playful contests of strength to win little stuffed toys and such, his aura tamped down enough that it didn't do much more than send a little spike of adrenaline through anyone that got close. He won most of the time - partly because he ended up being kinda popular with weaker Dreamers (or just strong Sleepers) by dint of being able to control his strength enough to make it seem like his opponents were close to winning even if they weren't - though of course there were some Dreamers who were strong enough to beat him. And then there were the odd little incidents when somehow, when someone deep down just really needed a little victory, if they tried hard enough, were somehow able to beat him despite being hundreds of times weaker than he was.

(Of course, some people, chiefly other Heroes that knew what his power was, picked up on what he was doing...but it wasn't like he was the only one doing it. It just became a quiet little conspiracy among the stallholders - a refreshing change, to Sean, from the very real conspiracies he'd been dealing with.)

---

There were, as you might expect for the first inaugural HeroCon, a fair number of Heroes who'd arrived in full costume. One particular group drew some attention chiefly due to the costume of one of their members - a suit of totally-impractical metal 'armour' (which seemed to be more used as an accent than for any real protective value) over a red bodysuit, an equally-red cape fluttering behind her, with the ensemble topped off with a mask and helmet that made her look a little like she was trying to cosplay as a playing card. Oh, and then there was a sword in a sheath at her side, incongruous mainly due to its plainness.

Now, of course, Arbera wasn't exactly unused to esoteric costumes (as evidenced by the fact that one of the woman's companions appeared to have come dressed as an amplifier and sound mixer). But this one sort of had the air of being rather hastily-flung-together without anyone actually checking how it looked beforehand.

The costume's wearer seemed to agree. "This is completely ridiculous, you guys," she grumbled.

"And who called herself the Red Queen of Hearts?" one of the others retorted, grinning with a look that suggested this was an argument that he'd had (and won) with her before.

"I told you, I didn't invent that name!"

"Then who did?" the sound-mixer-costume woman asked. Red went quiet.

"Hey, c'mon, Yaen, chill."

"We all have our secrets," the apparent leader of the group said - her voice was gentle, but either the admonition or the fact that they were at a fair apparently convinced Yaen to drop the argument.

Spoiler: OOC

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Sorry for the large number of NPCs conjured up out of nowhere here, but I kinda wanted to take the opportunity to portray them in...let's say happier times...before Red heads off to Indelar in a few years.

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Elsewhere on the plain, a somewhat unassuming man, probably in his mid-twenties, strolled through the stalls idly, pausing to watch the festivities on occasion, though never taking part himself. It was a nice break from the constant pinging of emails on his ACCS (which was turned off and stowed in a pocket) from all manner of notables in the scientific community wanting to get in his good graces all of a sudden when previously they wouldn't have given him the time of day.

He paused in a slightly-less-crowded part of the fairground, watching with a small smile.

If only this could last longer than a day. Everyone can be happy here, can challenge themselves and have fun, no matter whether they're Sleepers or Dreamers.

Everyone's equal here.

This is how the world should be.

[manwithaplan]

Connected to the fighting tournament arena, a block of small waiting and training rooms have been prepared for those who are soon to do battle.

Thomas Chide is in his own room, engaging in a series of stretches. For the occasion, he has come dressed in a way that makes it clear he has spent the last couple months on exciting, and very heroic, overseas adventures. His well-tailored traveller's pants are tucked into a pair of cuffed leather boots, and his very low open-cut sailing shirt is just hidden underneath a padded vest with the symbol of the Pretorious house inscribed on the back. He wears a sturdy satchel and a privateer's cap. His dark hair has grown, and he ties it off in a small bunch behind his head. He is smaller now, leaner but less imposing; it appears that he has not been engaging in as much physical exercise, and has also reduced his food intake.

Let's see, he thought to himself as he performed a set of push-ups against his wall.

If they can bring me a worthy opponent.