Patreon Snippets 36 – SPHERE Edition (Summus Proelium)

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Welcome, Todd Drakeson (click hereto log-out) to the Summus Proelium HERE forums, or SPHERE. It has been (seven hours fifteen minutes) since your previous log-in, and there have been (0/Zero) rule clarifications or updates and (0/Zero) administrator announcements. Click here to read them, and be aware that the system will not allow you to post any replies or make any new topics until you click the button at the bottom of any announcement(s) and rule update(s) acknowledging you have read and understand them. 

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<> Topic — Pencil (Nick Sanvers) Killed By Cup (Amanda Sanvers) (Boards – Places – United States – Michigan – Events)

LemonyLand (Moderator – Original Poster)

Posted on June 2nd, 2020:

Oh I hope I’m doing this right. It’s my first time setting up an official-type thread for something like this. Right, so! Please use this thread for all the discussions about Nick Sanvers being killed by his own sister, and her subsequent surrender. It was crowding out the thread about the quarantine in general. If you’d like to talk about other criminal activity in Detroit, use this thread. 

For a play by play rundown of the events from start to finish, as they were put together based on various eyewitness accounts, video footage, and official releases, check thisblog entry by @Constructicon. And to see an edited version of the stream that went out for the fight between Pencil and Paintball, check here. Don’t ask for footage of Pencil’s death, because if it exists, they haven’t released it. And even if they did, it would be against basically every rule in the book to share it. 

You can also find official statements from the Chief of Police here, the Conservators and Spartans joint release here, and two statements from Ten Towers here and here. On the political side, the Detroit mayor’s office has given a text statement here and a video of the press conference is here. The governor has released her own statement here. I guess more will be added to this post as they come out. For now, try to keep things… maybe respectful isn’t the easiest ask given the subject, but stay within the rules and all that, kay? There’s gonna be at least one mod watching this thread at all times for the next couple days, so just be cool and don’t get yourselves suspended or banned. 

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—> CrabScavengersInDisguise

Replied on June 7th, 2020

Sorry, I don’t believe it. I know they keep saying it was real and all, but no. It has to be a trick. It’s a game he’s playing. He made a fake body, or some sort of hologram laid over another body, or something. I don’t know the details, but I know there is not a single chance in hell that Pencil is actually dead. He wouldn’t go down that easily. This whole thing is one big game for him. He’s just waiting for enough people to buy it and then he’s going to pop up again with a brand new massacre just to laugh at all of you. He’s too dangerous.

—> BrightFireOfIthax

Replied on June 7th, 2020

I’m with you. Who could ever actually believe this bullshit? His own sister killed him? His own sister who, I might remind you all, is also an irredeemable monster. What are they trying to say, that someone as bad as Cup just randomly grew a conscience and decided to take out her own brother? Are we actually supposed to believe that she was forced into doing all that evil shit? Is that really the story she’s sticking to? Fuck that. She could have put a stop to it at any point. She could have revealed his identity, could have gone somewhere for help, could’ve done plenty of other things, anything really, besides go along with all that killing. Don’t forget all those witnesses who talked about how much she obviously loved every minute of it. She’s worse than him. 

And no, I don’t mean worse than he was, because she definitely didn’t kill the bastard. They have some sort of gross incest stuff going on, and she’s just as into it as he is. No chance would she actually kill him. It’s a game they’re playing, a strategy. They had this whole thing planned out from the start and when it’s over, they’re going to kill even more people and then mock everyone who actually believed that they would turn on each other. I’m saying it right now so I can link to this post later and you can all see it’s not edited: they’re in on this together just to screw with people. 

—> Sickstalker

Replied on June 7th, 2020

You’re right about one thing, this is a strategy. But it’s just Cup’s. It’s her trying to escape the consequences for her actions. If anyone would know how to set up his death, it would be her. And she did it just to walk away from what she did. That’s all this is, just her pathetically transparent attempt to get away with everything. She used her brother, got to play super powered serial killer for a while, and now she’s trying to get a free pass. 

—> OnceWereWarriors

Replied on June 7th, 2020

Trust me, dude, everyone understands that instinct. Pencil was a terrifying piece of shit for a long time. But he wasn’t a god or anything. He lost a lot of his power once his identity was revealed. That kind of broke the aura of mystique he had and made him seem less imposing. Then he handed a lot more power away when he tried to trap Paintball just to prove he was better. He was pissed off about that whole identity thing. So he stopped thinking and let his emotions take over. That’s where he fucked up.

—> Fionannoy22

Replied on June 7th, 2020

I mean, honestly, I think the part where he really fucked up was going up against Paintball to begin with. That’s just a bad idea all around. His bright idea for getting his mojo back and making people afraid of him again was trying to fight that ridiculous kid by willingly trapping himself in a room with him? Are we absolutely sure Pencil wasn’t suicidal? I mean, to the point that Cup knew she had to finish the job. 

—> Ala Carcass

Replied on June 7th, 2020

Yeah, let’s not even suggest that sort of thing. I know that was a joke and all, but still. Especially when we’ve got such a young Touched involved. Imagine what sort of mood the city would be in if he’d actually managed to kill Paintball. I just don’t think we should make jokes about that whole situation in general.

But yeah, Pencil is definitely dead. They triple-checked the body just to be sure, including running scans for any sort of tricks. Whatever Amanda’s reasons, she really did kill him. I think @Sickstalker is right about her doing all of it just to get away with her crimes. Which is kind of funny if you think about it. I mean, not funny ha ha, but still. Everyone always thought that Pencil was the smart one in that pairing, and that Cup never thought anything through. Now it turns out that she was the one with an actual exit strategy. She was always using him.

—> BloodsuckingSector

Replied on June 7th, 2020

Uh yeah, he’s dead. Let’s not give him more power than he deserves. He’s gone and it should be fine to celebrate right now. Come on, after everything he did and everything he was, it’s honestly kind of hilarious that he dies like a punk bitch in the end. He was betrayed by his own sister. Come on, you can’t tell me that’s not hilarious. I mean, in context for who he was and what he did. Turns out he got exactly what he deserved in the end.

—> SpeakerOfFables

Replied on June 7th, 2020

See, I can’t agree with that. I mean, I understand the urge for that sort of thing, but I think what he deserved was to rot in prison. By dying, let alone that quickly, he didn’t actually have to pay back anything. He just got out of the whole situation. He should’ve had to sit in a jail cell for a few decades so people can see how utterly impotent he was in the end. Having him be dead like this just makes all these tired conspiracy theories come out. Look at the people who think he’s not really dead even though they literally have his body. It’s not like he blew up or fell into the ocean, they still have his body right there. We needed to be able to put the son of a bitch on trial and let people see it. We needed to let people look at him in prison to take away that aura of power and mystique.

—> AvoidanceLamb

Replied on June 8th, 2020

Okay, gotta agree to disagree on that. I think there’d be too big of a chance for him to escape if he was just arrested. No matter where they put him, he’d have a bunch of monsters trying to break him out. He was basically a god for some of those people. And if they put him on Breakwater with the rest of the Fells, I’m honestly not convinced he wouldn’t have been able to find a way to get all of them out there. Then we wouldn’t just have Pencil and his little band to deal with, we’d have the entire population of Breakwater under his command. Can you imagine what they could do? 

 —> JoggingZombieIX

Replied on June 8th, 2020

See, that’s exactly what we mean when we say his mystique is too much. He was dangerous and a monster, yes. He had a very useful power for that, sure. Especially when no one knew how the power worked. But there’s no way in hell he would even be the top threat on Breakwater, let alone be able to make all of them listen to him. Have you read about some of the people on there? At worst, he’d put a few of them together into a new gang to play with on the island. He could probably pull that off. But organizing all of them? Not a chance. And he definitely wouldn’t magically find a way to leave. If it was possible to escape, there’s much stronger and more dangerous people on that island who would have managed it already. 

I totally get that he’s scary, but we need to have a sense of perspective. If he was put on that island, he would have been staying there for the rest of his life. Though all of that is a moot point now. 

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<> Topic — Pencil (Nick Sanvers) Killed By Cup (Amanda Sanvers) (Boards – Places – United States – Michigan – Events)

(Showing page 34 of 34, displaying ten posts per page)

—> FlowerOfBeauty

Replied on June 8th, 2020

It sure is! So why don’t we get back to what the actual point of this thread became? Remember, we really shouldn’t be focusing on Pencil, or on how big of a threat he was. He’s gone now, so it doesn’t matter. We should be talking about the other person in the thread title: Cup. As in, what’s going to happen to her now? Especially since it turns out she was responsible for Sleeptalk. Which means she managed to shut down one of the biggest cities in the country and paralyzed like half the Stars and Shields organizations. What the hell are they going to do with her? That’s what I want to know. 

 —> HeavenSketch

Replied on June 8th, 2020

I mean, doesn’t that seem obvious? We were just talking about Breakwater. Come on, if she was responsible for Sleeptalk, it means she’s responsible for every single person who died because of it. Not to mention everything she’s already done. She would’ve had a slam dunk Breakwater case even before all this happened. Now that it has and she’s been exposed for being behind that? There’s no question at all. She belongs in Breakwater. Drop her out of an airplane as it’s flying over, let her figure out how to craft a parachute on the way down, and be done with her. 

—> LaughingLad

Replied on June 8th, 2020

There’s no way it’s that simple. She also gave up the cure for it, remember? She wouldn’t have done that without getting some agreements in writing. And the very first agreement that she would have made was that she will not be sent to Breakwater. She made a plea agreement with them. She’s probably going to be put in some sort of protective custody. You know, a cushy five star hotel experience where she can relax and laugh at all the people who thought she might actually pay for her crimes. She had something the people in charge needed, so she was able to leverage that into getting a free pass for everything else. That’s just how the world works. Don’t expect the bad people to actually pay for what they do and you won’t be disappointed. At best, you can be pleasantly surprised during those very few times when it actually happens.

—> Woodywoodeater

Replied on June 8th, 2020

I don’t want to be quite that negative, but seriously, Cup definitely isn’t going to pay for her crimes. I wouldn’t be surprised if the government starts making even more deals with her. I mean, why not? If they already have her in custody, they can convince her to use her power to make more stuff for them. All they have to do is find something else she wants, some sort of creature comfort, and tell her that they will give it to her in exchange for more Touched-Tech. 

 —> MinimumLuthor

Replied on June 8th, 2020

Well that just sounds really dumb. Who would be stupid enough to give someone like that equipment and tools to build stuff? That’s just begging to end badly. Oh right, it’s the government. Of course they’re that stupid. Dammit, that’s gonna happen. She’ll be back out on the streets doing anything she wants within a couple months, I bet you anything.

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<> Topic — Minority Thread Forty-Six (Boards – Places – United States – Michigan – Touched-Teams – Heroes)

Berryonalake (Moderator – Original Poster)

Posted on June 1st, 2020

It’s a new month, so it’s time for a new thread. We realize this is a rather chaotic time in both the city and the Minority in general, but let’s try to stay positive about our favorite teen heroes in Detroit! At least, the ones who are still considered heroes. 

As always, the prior threads can be found archived here if you’d like to see what you missed or go through memories. Other than that, be sure to follow the rules. I say this every time, but it bears repeating, especially now, these are minors. It’s right there in the team name for a reason.. 

The current membership details of the Detroit Minority can be found here

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 —> HoolaHoops

Replied on June 7th, 2020

I’m telling you guys, there’s no way any parents or guardians of any teen Touched are going to volunteer to move them here. Not a chance in hell. Not with the way the city has been lately. Things just keep getting worse. No one is going to volunteer to bring their children here with everything that’s been happening. Especially when you add in the whole Whamline thing. Who the hell would trust the people in charge of the Detroit Minority when they didn’t even know that one of their members was an evil, murderous piece of shit? They put him on a team with innocent teenagers. No one is going to trust their verification and background research process anymore. Not until they do a lot of deep cleaning. 

 —> Steampunk Mechanoid

Replied on June 7th, 2020

I mean, that’s a fair point. It’s kind of hard to believe they could be on top of things when they let someone like that be on the team for so long. Who knows what else they could have missed? Or what kind of problems they might miss in the future. If I had a kid who had super powers, I wouldn’t want them to be on that team. Hell, look at Skip. She’s a teenager and they don’t have her on the Minority. They just put her with the regular Ten Towers team.

 —> PalaceHearth

Replied on June 7th, 2020

Sure, but that’s because her sister runs the whole thing. So that’s kind of cheating. Besides, we’re talking about them reaching out to established Touched all across the country and actively recruiting. Do you guys honestly think that there’s absolutely no guardians out there who would either want their kids to help put the city back together, or would just want the attention and fame for doing so? It could be altruistic reasons, or selfish reasons. Either way, I’m just saying, they’ll have plenty of offers. There’s absolutely no way the slot on the minority stays empty for very long.

 —> AProtectionRacket

Replied on June 7th, 2020

Speaking of slots being empty, don’t we lose at least one other pretty soon? I think Syndicate is supposed to graduate before too long. I mean, obviously we don’t know how old he is (they are?) for certain, but I’m pretty sure it’s close. If he does graduate and head off to one of the adult teams, that’ll be two empty slots. With everything that’s going on, they can’t possibly expect a team consisting of That-A-Way, Carousel, Wobble, Raindrop, and Fragile to deal with everything. Seriously, two of them are kids! Actual kids. No way the adults will leave them on their own like that. They’ll be aggressively recruiting from outside the city. And yeah, they’ll definitely be able to convince some parents somewhere to bring their teenagers here. Even if they have to offer big incentives. 

—> FiefdomOfFeelings

Replied on June 7th, 2020

That’s true, and there’s another side to it as well. They recruit into the adult teams from the Minority. So they’ll want to have as many choices as they can get. They want teen Touched to have a lot of training and experience in the city so they can move up into the big leagues easily. It’s like having a minor league sports team. Well, a minor league team that gets into life and death situations, but still. It’s the same general idea. They’ll want to have some more Touched with actual experience working in the city and getting to know how everything works before moving them into one of the main organizations like the Conservators or the Spartans. Putting them on the Minority is the best way to do that. Yeah, it’s dangerous. Everyone already knew that, and it’s only gotten worse. But that doesn’t change the facts. There are always going to be parents or guardians who will look past that for whatever reason. Pretty soon we’re going to see at least two more members added to our Minority. 

—> Paragone

Replied on June 7th, 2020

I was going to say that they could just start recruiting from one of the other teen groups, like Avant-Guard, but I guess that would kind of leave the same overall number of Star-Touched. They’d just be shuffled around a little bit, so unhelpful. On the other hand, hey what if they try recruiting some of the younger Fells who haven’t done anything too bad. There’s Clime on that Sherwood gang. She doesn’t seem like a monster. She’s just sort of an airheaded hippy girl. I bet they could convince her that working with them will help the planet more. Plus, her powers are really cool. I bet she’d be nice if they could get her away from those other people. 

—> Hermetican Beer

Replied on June 7th, 2020

Dude, that would be so cool. Seriously, why don’t the people in charge offer those teen Fells the opportunity to work off their crimes on the Minority so they don’t have to go to Juvie? It’s a win-win for everyone. And it’s not just Clime either. Look at people like Pack or Eits over on La Casa. Sure, they’ve stolen things, but they don’t seem like total monsters. They’ve even helped Avant-Guard a few times. Why wouldn’t they jump at the chance to have their records fixed so they can go over to the Stars side for real and not have to worry about landing in prison for the shit they’ve done? 

—> Todd Drakeson (You) 

Replied on June 7th, 2020

Um, to be honest, probably for the same reasons that they didn’t join the Minority to begin with. They’re criminals. I mean, sure, they’re not psychopaths or anything. They’re not out there killing people at the drop of a hat. But they’re still criminals. And for the ones on La Casa, they probably make a hell of a lot more money working for Blackjack than they would as part of the Minority.  As for Clime, she’s one of those true believers. There’s no chance in hell she would actually believe that working for the government would be a better place for her to save the planet.That’s not how they think. 

 —> Marconi’s S

Replied on June 7th, 2020

I guess you have a point there, cool as it would be to see some of those guys join the Minority for real. But if that’s not going to happen, then we should focus on possible recruits from outside the city. Now that they’ve got the cure for Sleeptalk and the quarantine is supposed to be coming down, they’re definitely going to start looking for those replacements. They’ll want to bring the city back on track so we can get tourists here as soon as possible (and yeah, I think we all heard the Ninety-Niners start screaming the second I wrote that). So, looking at different Minority teams all across the country, who do you think are the most likely to get transferred over to Detroit? After all, we may have our problems, but don’t forget that Detroit is still considered one of the best places for Touched-Tech development. Not to mention having a top-tier economy in general thanks to all the manufacturing we’ve got here. With Sleeptalk taken care of, they’re gonna get all of that back on track. I wouldn’t be surprised if they make arrangements to raise the salaries and other benefits for the Star-Touched here, Minority and otherwise. To go back to the sports analogy, Detroit is like the Lakers. They’ll definitely be able to bring in some good names just by throwing offers at them.

—> StriderOfTheSphere

Replied on June 7th, 2020 

Dude, now I know you’re an old guy. The Lakers have sucked for over a decade. They never recovered after that Collision Point in 2009 completely wrecked half the team. Now everyone thinks it’s bad luck to go there. Besides, where is your hometown pride? You should have brought up the Pistons. They’re the ones who’re going all the way this year. Two weeks to a new championship, baby. And for those keeping track, that would mean we’ll have won top prize in the Prev NBA and Touched basketball too. How lucky was it that our boys were on a road trip when the quarantine came down? They had to play distracted this whole time and they’re still about to win it all. 

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<> Topic — Minority Thread Forty-Six (Boards – Places – United States – Michigan – Touched-Teams – Heroes)

(Showing page 3 of 5, displaying ten posts per page)

 —> Flaboran

Replied on June 7th, 2020 

Anyway, uh, just to actually stay on the real topic, I’ve been hanging out in the Minnesota forum a little bit, and they’ve got this guy called Flashflak. He can throw away these little metal ball things that explode into thousands of tiny pellets flying in every direction. But the thing is, each pellet can only have active damage to one thing. So whenever he explodes one of his bombs and it does a bunch of damage, if he throws another bomb and uses all the pellets again, then the damage the first bomb did is completely erased. Which includes damage to people.

Basically, if he throws his ball thing and explodes it right in front of someone, it could tear them apart. Then someone takes the time to put handcuffs on the body, he throws the bomb again and lets it damage something else, and suddenly the person he hit is completely fine again. But they’re handcuffed. He’s only like fifteen or something like that, so we’d have him for a few years. I think he’d be a really cool addition. Who knows what other power stunts he could come up with. Especially if he can control where the pellets go. 

—> Crematen

Replied on June 7th, 2020 

I mean, sure, that sounds cool. But what makes you think he’d want to leave Minnesota? Personally, I think we’re going to have more trouble with that. The only people who are going to want to leave their own teams are those who are only in it to make a name for themself, or the people who are in trouble where they are. After what happened with Whamline, do we really want to take a chance on a new member who has disciplinary problems? Besides, how effective could they be if they have to come learn everything about the city? They’d probably take months to get up to speed, or even a year. Then you have to add in the fact that the Niners would totally see them as a fair target.

—> Todd Drakeson (You) 

Replied on June 8th, 2020 

Okay, yeah, the Niners would absolutely go after them. But you could say the same thing about any new Touched who comes in, no matter how old they are. The Ninety-Niners hate outsiders, period. That’s just something that anyone new is gonna have to deal with. And I’m pretty sure they accept younger people easier than older ones. That’s what my friend said anyway, and he spent some time in their territory. So someone coming in to join the Minority would have an easier time than any of the adult Touched. Besides, let’s not forget that the Niners happen to be fucking criminals anyway, so we really shouldn’t care about their opinions. 

—> JKagger

Replied on June 8th, 2020 

It’s not about caring what those assholes think, it’s about making sure that any teenage Touched who comes here knows what they’re getting into. There’s a lot going on in this place even before you add in one of the main gangs hating them just for their presence. So if we do get anyone new for the Minority, they need to be on top of things. They need to be the best of the best if they’re gonna hit the ground running like they’d need to. And what established, skilled, powerful Touched teenager like that is going to want to uproot their entire life and come live in Detroit just so they can risk their lives even more. With all that in mind, it’s just far more likely that we get a problem Touched. 

—> Flaboran

Replied on June 8th, 2020 

Hey guys, I didn’t just bring up Flashflak for no reason. Of course it’s going to be hard to attract new young Touched here. Especially the ones with real skills who don’t have discipline problems. But this guy doesn’t really get along with his team. There’s no disciplinary problem, just a clash of personalities. All the people over there know he’s been looking for another team to join. He just needed an opening. And this is the best one he’s gonna get anytime soon. He’ll be able to come in and make a real name for himself, and show that he can get along with others who aren’t his current team. Yeah, we might have our problems, but we’re still one of the best cities in the country, Sleeptalk be damned. That’s just one little hiccup. Well, sure okay, a really big hiccup. But we dealt with it. And now that NICKY is dead, that’s another threat off the board. This is a good time for someone like him to come in and show what he’s got. 

—> BabblingSpriggan

Replied on June 8th, 2020 

Well, I never get to be the one to do this, but you should all go check out the announcement post on the official Detroit Minority site. Turns out that guy was right. Flashflak really is being brought in to join our Minority. But they’ve also got two others, a couple I don’t think anyone’s ever even heard of. They’re definitely not on any of the established teams unless I missed them somewhere when I was trying to Google the names and powers. Check it out. Has anyone even heard of them?

Edit: OK, fine, I guess I should actually paste the information about them for those who don’t want to click. Here’s the three new members of the Minority

Flashflak – creates handheld bombs whose previous damage is erased whenever a new bomb is exploded.

Yeet – creates glowing balls which transform the target into energy and send it in a single direction. 

Facsimile – creates solid energy duplicates of any object he touches. 

 —> Anonymoton 

Replied on June 8th, 2020 

Okay, looking at that, it’s obvious that Yeet and Flashflak are related, right? Must be brothers or something. Which, if Yeet hasn’t been on the Minority with his brother already, must mean he’s really new to all this. Which would also explain why no one’s heard of him. As for the other one, making energy copies of things could be cool, but can he make them move after that? I mean, making an energy duplicate of a chair or a truck or something doesn’t seem that helpful if he can’t do anything with them after that. It could be pretty limited.

—> Mach3

Replied on June 8th, 2020 

Just a quick correction for you. Yeet is a girl. If you look at the actual announcement, they use she and her whenever they talk about her, and he and him for the other two. So we’re getting two guys and a girl for the team. From the sound of things, Yeet and Facsimile are on the younger side. Maybe they all come from the same place. If Yeet is Flashflak’s little sister, Facsimile could be her friend or boyfriend or something. That could work. I mean, if they could convince their families to move together. And if they all know each other, it’ll probably be easier to start out in a new place like this.

Or maybe they’re not related at all and the similar powers is just a coincidence. Either way, getting three new Touched, even if two of them are completely untested and we don’t know anything about them, is really good. I feel like we’ll need them too. Say what you will about Pencil being gone, but I’m pretty sure that’s just going to attract even more Fells now that the quarantine has been dropped. Or, you know, will be very soon. Either because they think it’s safer here now that the Scions aren’t around, or because they want to come in and fill their spot. There’s gonna be all sorts of psychopaths trying to prove themselves. 

—> FullBass

Replied on June 8th, 2020 

I don’t disagree with your overall point, but could you maybe change that P word? Mental health is a touchy enough subject as it is without tying psychological instability with people who are intentionally choosing to be violent monsters. And that’s something that bugs me in general media too. Yes, some of them have legitimate issues with that sort of thing, but still. There are plenty of people who take their meds and are just fine. Especially in a thread about teenage superheroes, I just don’t think we should be contributing to the general stigma against mental health, that’s all. Thanks! 

Anyway, let’s talk about something even more important. Namely, why does the Minority still not have any TONIs? Three brand new members, and not a single animal friend? For shame. There must’ve been at least one somewhere out there in the world that they could’ve recruited. I’m just saying, I’d like to have a real superhero pupper to root for. The only TONI dog around that gets any attention is Shovel, and he’s a very, very bad boy. If he’s even still in the city. I heard he’s like one of the last Scions who didn’t get arrested with the rest of them. But now he could be anywhere. Maybe he’s keeping his head down until all the heat blows over. 

—> SirAnthonyWatcher

Replied on June 8th, 2020 

Personally, I’d prefer a cat TONI. or something really exotic that you don’t see in the city that often. Like a rhinoceros. Can you imagine a rhino running around as a member of the Minority? I don’t even care what other powers they would have. It’d just be fucking cool to have a rhino TONI here in Detroit. Though I guess they’d either have to choose to transfer from another country, or be one of those zoo animal TONIs that happen sometimes. And now I want to commission someone to make a picture of a rhino in a superhero costume. 

Actually, speaking of which, what kind of costumes do you think those new kids are gonna have? Facsimile and Yeet I mean, since Flashflak already has one. Though I guess he could decide to change it up to a new city? Either way, what do you think those other two are going to look like? They can’t have costumes already, or the announcement would’ve come with pictures. So they must be completely new to this. And I hope they get some help from the Ten Towers people. They’ve got a better sense of style. And deeper pockets for it.

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<> Topic — Minority Thread Forty-Six (Boards – Places – United States – Michigan – Touched-Teams – Heroes)

(Showing page 5 of 5, displaying ten posts per page)

—> MarsSpider

Replied on June 8th, 2020 

Are we sure that these other two, Facsimile and Yeet, aren’t established Touched being repackaged with new names and identities? Has anyone looked at any teen Fells from across the country to see if there’s anything close to a match? I mean, we know for a fact that they like to give young Fells a chance to switch sides and pay off their debt to society by being Stars in a new area that might not know them that well. That would explain how they could come out of nowhere and join the Minority. Or maybe they’re actually  from another country entirely. That happens sometimes too, doesn’t it?

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<> Topic — Garden Of Badb Spotted In Detroit (Boards – Places – United States – Michigan – Events)

4D-Daniel (Moderator – Original Poster)

Posted on June 8th, 2020

Yes, it turns out the rumors spreading through the Quarantine thread and a few others were true. We have official sources confirming that members of the Garden of Badb, including Badb herself, have appeared in Detroit. It’s currently unknown what their exact business here is, who they may be targeting, or what they hope to accomplish. We will add more details as they come in. For now, be aware that it seems to have been this group who were responsible for the attempted attack on the medical facility where the now-completed cure for Sleeptalk is rumored to have been worked on. See more about that situation by checking out this thread. 

In the meantime, please keep most speculation about this situation relegated to this thread except where relevant to the thread in question. If you’d like to know more about the Garden of Badb, check their thread here

(Showing page 11 of 12, displaying ten posts per page)

—> HoolaHoops

Replied on June 8th, 2020 

Of course, because after everything that’s happened in this damn city over the past couple of months, what we really needed was the fucking Garden of Badb fuckers to show up and start their fight club bullshit. Couldn’t they have picked another city to migrate to? I’m just saying, it would have been nice to get through at least one goddamn week after the quarantine was lifted before a new problem decided to present itself. Instead, we couldn’t even through one single day. Hell, technically they started shit before the quarantine has even officially been lifted at all. FML.

—> Emanater

Replied on June 8th, 2020 

Well, if it makes you feel any better, the way those people tend to gradually ramp things up, I wouldn’t expect anything big to happen for a while. I did a college report on those guys and they can usually take a couple weeks, or even a month, before they really start what they call their tests. They want to fight strong opponents, so they do their research. They put out spies and shit to find out not only who some good people to pull into their matches would be, but how to convince them to actually fight and try to win. You know, rewards they can offer, blackmail they can use, any sort of incentive. 

—> KoryBrand

Replied on June 8th, 2020 

Hold on, what do you by matches? Sorry, I’ve barely heard of these people. Aren’t they some sort of religious cult or something? I’ve only ever seen them mentioned alongside groups like that. I thought they were just some assholes who go around praising the Orb and making up stupid little ceremonies devoted to worshiping the thing. The way you guys are talking, it makes it sound like they’re playing fight club. What are they going to do in Detroit, start forcibly putting people into the ring to make them punch each other just for the hell of it? How far do they go with that? 

—> CultureClubber

Replied on June 8th, 2020 

I’m not sure, I never really looked into them too much myself, but I’ve gotta say, Bad B makes it sound like they want to say Bad Bitches but they’re afraid of being censored or something. Really not the first thing that would jump into my mind as the name of some sort of badass, dangerous group of bare knuckle fighters who are gonna be the next big threat around the city. Sure, Bad Bitches wouldn’t be a good name even before you add in the censoring, but with it, they just sound silly. And then you add in the whole Garden thing? Yeah, maybe they’re a real threat, but I just can’t take it seriously. Can anyone tell me why we should?

—> EnemyOfTheGoose

Replied on June 8th, 2020 

Well, see, you’re making some assumptions there that you probably shouldn’t. They don’t call themselves Bad B. That’s not how you pronounce it. They’re named after their founder and leader, Badb. The name is pronounced like ‘Bive’, basically. So it’s the Garden of Bive. The mythological Badb was an Irish war goddess who could transform into a crow. The Touched version is this woman who can transform anyone’s blood in these bird shapes and make them move around. When she sends the blood back into the person, it changes them back to the exact physical shape they were in when she took the blood. So she can take blood from a couple people before a fight, let them kick the living crap out of each other and go all out, then give them that blood back so they’re perfectly fine again. 

Oh and she can do some other stuff with it too, I’m not too sure about the details, but I know she always has a huge swarm of blood birds all around her. And a lot of them are from her own blood. If anything happens to her, one of her blood birds will just fly up and completely heal her again automatically, even if she’s incapacitated. So it’s hard to make anything stick.

—> Paragone

Replied on June 8th, 2020 

Wait, so hold on, they pull people into these fights, but then they can just undo all the damage that’s done? Because it sounds like you’re saying there’s no permanent injuries or death or anything like that. If this Badb chick just takes their blood before a fight and then heals them afterward, what’s the big deal? Not to sound callous or anything, I get that just fighting and being injured could be traumatizing or whatever, but in the grand scheme of things, that doesn’t sound too bad. Just compared to the sort of shit that Touched scene to get involved with anyway. I’ve definitely heard of worse situations. 

Anyway, they pull in both Stars and Fells for these tournaments, right? OK, so you know for a fact that Sandon is going to be involved in this. It’s a no-brainer. They’re outsiders and she’s part of the group that hates those. Hell, she’s the leader of that group. So you know she really hates those people. She’d want to fight them anyway. And they all want her because her whole thing is being super strong. Actually, I bet they’ve got some strength-based Touched in their little cult that she’d want to grab a bone or two from to enhance her own power. If it comes down to that, are we supposed to root for her or them? Maybe we could root for a giant meteor to come down and wipe all of them out?

—> ABSOLUTELY! 

Replied on June 8th, 2020 

Yeah, I’d definitely be on team meteor in that situation. Although if she really does heal the people after making them fight, I guess I could root for her gang against Sandon. I’m just saying, the last time I checked, the Ninety-Niners don’t heal the damage they do to people after picking a fight with them. Besides, getting pissed about people moving to Detroit after the year 2000 is just such a stupid and pointless motivation. The city is so much better now than it was back then. I can say that as someone who was actually old enough to have tried to get a real job in the early 90s around here. And yes, before anyone asks, saying that does make me realize that I’m fucking old. As we speak, I’m disintegrating into dust and blowing away. 

Anyway, do those morons really want to go back to a time when this place was falling apart and couldn’t even sustain basic services? Because if they do, maybe they should move to Pittsburgh or something.

—> AttacksInDarkness

Replied on June 8th, 2020 

Okay, I’m not sure why Pittsburgh is catching strays there, but sure. And you’re right about the rest of it. The Niners seem to want all the benefits of the city being turned around with our economy, our new manufacturing centers, and everything else, but they don’t want any new people to move here. Which is just moronic. You need more people if you’re going to have a bigger economy. I don’t think they’ve thought any of that out, to be honest. They just seem like pretty angry people in general.

And as far as the actual subject of the thread goes, I’m pretty sure there’s more to the tournaments these Badb people set up. There’s something about the motivations and rewards they offer. Can anyone else chime in with actual details about all that?

—> KA12Audrius

Replied on June 8th, 2020

Hey, we just had the huge emotional arc with people being sick, the city being locked down, and one of the main villains in the city, Pencil himself, being taken out for good. Now we’re literally having a tournament arc? When did we start living in a manga?

Honestly, I’m only sort of half-joking about that. Seriously though, I think one of the big problems with the Garden of Badb is that they offer bad things to people who win their tournaments. Sure, they’ll heal the damage done to everyone regardless, but to motivate Fells to fight, they offer them rewards that could be really bad for other people. They held one tournament in Albuquerque, and the reward that one of the fighters won was this bit of stolen Touched-Tech that turned them from a mediocre gang into one of the biggest threats in the entire state. And there’s other potential bad things too, like secret identities, knowledge of weaknesses, taking enemies away from them for good so they’ll never be a problem again, and more. Seriously, they offer big rewards to both good guys and bad guys, and they don’t particularly care who wins. They just want to make a good show. 

End of Page. 1, 2, 3 … 10, 11, 12

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<> Private Messages From Escher 

Escher: 33252 4734 2014 93 93532 2356230 2353252 03052352 623532 0032532 6234532 253245 21421412 0234532 862305 23623420 53125312 32523421 99392 512341 0124214 2194125 2512509 756317 932572342 1294512451 93529342 8123421 45623 23959124 095141 862934523 9591324123 625324523 04515 056234052 6234512 05329?

Todd Drakeson: 2351213 0923523 195219 623451324 0512412 623549239 145 050234 8623523 9100 52352 8692359 571238451 5623523 92935231  3524529  562341995 623452345 932956523 3295239452 65326230 1256161 236293945

Escher: 63295 9623952938 23692395 156692 6236002  62345299 0024299  41241 959141 9591491 623523q4 01757 512351234 959213489 51234120 325214178 001299 5124156 6149199 5156919 0081845

Todd Drakeson: 032584528 1251259109 65123591289 5613951929 06013518  63252030 3562352 73456343 2352352 92962399 62577679 112510 626200 992357 790231 0023135 2415 9239 901775

5193459817 2362300 1561680 156679920  2352388 23523452  88918  50917 952352 99620 1421569 729820 

(DECRYPTED VERSION OF MESSAGES) 

Escher: Simon, I take it you’ve heard about the newcomers. We have one of them requesting a meeting. It sounds like they’re willing to at least make a show of playing along with our rules. They’ll pay the taxes for coming into the city and starting their tournament. You have the most contact with your parents right now. How do they want to handle things? 

Todd Drakeson: They said this isn’t the right time to pick a fight with a new group if they’re going to follow the rules. But we’ll see how that goes. Tell their representative that we’ll meet with them and decide on some ground rules. But how did they know to reach out, exactly?

Escher: It seems that Pittman had contacted them before and attempted to recruit them to serve as soldiers for his attempted coup here. They refused, but when Detroit ended up in the news, they decided to pay a visit anyway. Do the Ms still want to set up a meeting? 

Todd Drakeson: Yes, now more than ever. We need to find out exactly what Pittman said to them, and why they’re really here. They don’t believe that these people showing up so soon after his death is just a coincidence. We need to speak to them face to face. 

Something else is going on here, and we can’t afford to be taken by surprise again. We deal with this up front, one way or another

———————————

True Identities In Order Of Appearance With Note Of Being Canon Character Or Reader

Todd Drakeson – (Canon) – Simon Evans

LemonyLand – (Reader) – skyeLime

CrabScavengersInDisguise (Reader) – Three Cremlings In A Trenchcoat

BrightFireOfIthax (Reader) – PrometheusDarkflame

Sickstalker (Reader) – Plaguehunter

OnceWereWarriors (Reader) – Tamahori

Fionannoy22 (Reader) – fionag11

Ala Carcass (Reader) – Abra Cadaver

BloodsuckingSector (Reader) – Zoneleech

SpeakerOfFables (Reader) – Storyteller

AvoidanceLamb (Reader) – sheep-dodger

JoggingZombieIX (Reader) – DeadmanwalkingXI

FlowerOfBeauty (Reader) – Liliet

HeavenSketch (Reader) – CelestialDrafts

LaughingLad (Reader) – ChucklingBoy

Woodywoodeater (Reader) – Termite

MinimumLuthor (Reader) – maxlex

Berryonalake  (Reader) – Pondincherry

HoolaHoops (Canon) – Wobble

Steampunk Mechanoid (Reader) – Clockwork Automaton

PalaceHearth (Reader) – Hestia And The Court

AProtectionRacket (Reader) – Safety System

FiefdomOfFeelings (Reader) – Touch Dom

Paragone (Canon) – Arleigh/Clime

Hermetican Beer (Reader) – Trismegistus Shandy

Marconi’s S (Canon) – Broadway

StriderOfTheSphere (Reader) – WalkerOfTheWorlds/Mikato1

Flaboran (Reader) – Blaforan

Crematen (Reader) – Nematrec

JKagger (Reader) – KJakker

BabblingSpriggan (Reader) – DeliriousSprite

Anonymoton (Reader) – AliasBot

Mach3 (Reader) – Tumach

FullBass (Reader) – TotalTrebel

SirAnthonyWatcher (Reader) – Giles

MarsSpider (Reader) – Ziggy Stardust

4D-Daniel (Reader) – danel4d

Emanater (Reader) – Emitter

KoryBrand (Reader) – BrandonCorey

CultureClubber (Canon) – Pack

EnemyOfTheGoose (Reader) – Duckfan

ABSOLUTELY! (Reader) – NO!

AttacksInDarkness (Reader) – lightdefender

KA12Audrius (Reader) – audriuska12

Escher (Canon) – Alcazar

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