With the Hunter situation concluded as best as currently possible, Mistral managed to locate Talion (not a particularly difficult feat. He stood out like a magical lighthouse) and teleport to an inconspicuous place nearby and rejoin the kids. They were finished with their candies and everyone was headed to Yankee Stadium, where shelters had been set up for a great many who had lost everything.

 Many had left, seeking shelter with friends or relatives... but there were many remaining for whom that simply was not an option. It was there that Talion met a few men who were unloading a truck. He pitched in to help (along with the kids, without needing to be told).

 During his unloading, he was met by Mayor Watson (who had gotten his old job back after the previous Mayor was found guilty of consorting with terrorists) and was led away.

Noah was already in the city so he took off flying well over the city but low enough to not have to worry about local air traffic, likely pissing someone off at the local military control tower. It was a short landing on a nearby rooftop that allowed him to take the Tass suit out and still be well dressed even in his natural form. Snaking down the side of the building was something that he was getting used to anyway.

He needed to present himself to the public as the videos and sneak appearances had done well but there was more to do. Always more to do... The stadium was a good choice as Noah was absolutely thrilled that he could get in a door without having to duck to get in. He smiled and greeted anyone with a positive response to him, and respectfully kept his distance to anyone who didn't.

He came up to where Talion was doing his thing hand leaned down to Grey holding out a jack-o-lantern filled with confections. "A special treat, as the normal stuff doesn't really do it with you. The red ones are safe for others but any other candy in there is really only something you can eat." The Mayor may be there but kids came first.

Since they were potentially bound for more Halloween festivities, Mistral once again donned the illusory Mystique cosplay.  Blue skin, yellow eyes, scarlet hair and a white gown ornamented with skull accents.  She gazed out over the tent city in the old stadium where refugees of the New York apocalypse took shelter.  In the supervillainess voice Mistique wondered aloud, “Still there is no place for them all.  One wonders if the city will ever return to its former scope.”

She approached the trucks where workers and the children were presently offloading some form of cargo, where Talion had just left and Noah arrived in full dapper-dragon form.  Mistique raised a scarlet brow and remarked, “Bonsoir, mon dragon. Hiding would never do for you, non?  And so the world will meet a dragon.”

Turning to one of the elder of Talion’s children, she asked, “What is it that is happening here?”

With the Hunter threat dealt with for now, Michael joined the others in his costume and looked around at what could be done to help.

Fate joined the group quietly, still in costume.

 As Grey munched happily on her new tass candy, the eldest boy (Jamie, who was dating Amy, the mayor's daughter (she was there too)) turned around and spoke up. "It's a charity event. We're setting up to feed all the people who lost everything in the storm."

 Meanwhile, there were many people shocked at the sight of Dapper Dragon, but just as many who wanted pictures. He was becoming something of a celebrity.

 As the table got set up, the mayor took his place on a stage. "Hello, my fellow New Yorkers. I've come here today to address each of you who have been impacted by this disaster. Thanks to a generous pledge of time, money, and manpower, we are now on track to begin the reconstruction of the city. This same benefactor has likewise pledged material support for all those currently taking shelter here in the form of food, water, and places to live."

 There were murmurs of growing energy and building expectation as Mayor Watson put the mike up and Talion took center stage. He paused for a long moment, taking a deep breath and letting the silence build before he took the mike. "Hello, everyone. Before we begin, there is something I wish to address. There have been recent breakthroughs in synthetic medicine, leading to a few pioneering individuals having undergone full body prosthetics."

 He briefly gestures to Noah in the crowd. "He is one of many. Because of this, the good Mayor has finally managed to pass through legislation granting basic human rights to synthetics."

 The energy in the crowd had turned to confused muttering. Talion continued. "This tidbit of information is important because of what comes next."


 He gestured to the big screens above him which flickered on, revealing a legion of trucks. Some were carrying relief supplies. Others were carrying building supplies. "With the aid of synthetics, we will rebuild New York... and we will do it faster than anyone will believe possible.

… and now for a special guest to help with the Halloween Festivities."

 Over the loud speaker came the sound of something that sounded almost like... sleigh bells.

Noah offered the mayor a flash drive before he was speaking to everyone. "This contains the picture and a scan of the photo ID of everyone who has abused their synth, including a detail of the damage done. I surrender this information to you with no expectation, though I do assume what you will do with the information."

Noah leaned down with a wide smile at Mistral. "Indeed, It's been a plan from day one of the change. Helps with paradox to if people are able to go 'oh, that is how he comes out of terrorist attacks unharmed.'" His great wings spread wide. His voice dropped into its deep baritone. "Oh, and this is for all the times you bamph and scare the life out of me." He wrapped his wings around her hiding her away, a public act of affection that he did so attention would be drawn to her. If she wasn't in disguise and entirely untraceable as Mistral he wouldn't have done it. But as she was extremely well disguised... well, it was a fair game now.

If she didn't escape of her own efforts he was sure to pull the wings back before the main event started.

He did wave at people as if there was no other explanation as to why he was a giant scaled monster from myth. "It was this or one of the spider tanks from the classic Ghost in the Shell anime." He winked at the kids.

This was not Noah's first appearance as a supposed mecha-dragon, so Mistique wasn't entirely surprised by his intent to go public.  Amused, she shook her head and sighed, "Spectacle typique."  The dragon then proceeded to enfold her in his wings, to which she reacted with a small yelp.  She did not vanish nor become insubstantial, which Noah knew she would have if she'd a mind to.  Instead, Mistique looked up from the wing cocoon and said, "You are fortunate I am déguisée.  You are not concerned for the optics of the dragon consorting with a villainess?  The public may be concerned you have joined the Brotherhood of Mutants and are planning mischief.  The latter is certainly true, at least."

Then came the presentation from the Mayor about the disaster relief Jamie had mentioned, followed by announcements from Talion.  Mistique listened, but her attentions were more on gauging reactions from the crowd.  Mayor Watson and Talion both had enemies, and security was not exactly airtight at this open refugee camp in a stadium.  She took particular note of the crowd when Talion announced the granting of synth rights, which remained a contentious issue among regressive thinkers.

Then, Santa Claus seemed to be coming for Halloween.  Neither Noah nor Talion could resist the temptation for showmanship, it would seem.

 As Talion gave his speech, the mayor took the flash drive. "Thank you. I will see that this gets to the proper authorities."

 As Mistral looked around, she realized that there was more security here than she realized. The military had been brought in as part of the relief effort and there were several dozen soldiers in uniform in various places in the crowd. Trying anything overt would be extremely stupid (not necessarily impossible, since stupid people did indeed exist). If an enemy to this movement did exist, any real threat would be of a more subtle nature.

Without looking away from the presentation Mistique whispered to Noah and Fate if she is nearby, “One of our kind at four o’clock, a dozen paces out.  Do you know him?”  Her scarlet lips moved with quiet intonations of magic.

"I always knew you would be the means of my evil origin story." Noah chuckled. When she asked about the mage he stood upright and looked about without turning his head, with a focus on his left eye as it held the Omnisight.

 The sounds of sleigh bells get louder and louder until a bright red light appears over head and a sleigh pulled by 9 reindeer (the lead reindeer being the source of the red light) lands in the middle of the stadium in front of several hundred Sleepers.

 In the sleigh was War, dressed head to toe in black and red leather lined with white fur, a scarf, and aviator goggled. Rather than being a fat man, he looked very much like a bodybuilder and stood nearly 7ft tall.

 As he took off his headphones, you could hear "back in Black" playing.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjJe1rBdm9U

 He stepped his massive muscular body out of the sleigh and lifted the massive burlap sack. "oh! Hoho!"

 The sound seemed co come more from exertion than any fake belly laugh as he sat the massive sack (fully three times his own size) on the ground. "Happy Halloween everyone!"

 All of the children present... and even many of the teenagers came to gawk at buff Halloween Santa.

 One of the children looked up at him. "Santa! Why are you here? It's not Christmas!"

 To which he responded by kneeling down and ruffling the child's hair. "If Jack Skellington can invade Christmas, then surely I can come down and help good little boys and girls in their time of need?"

 Their eyes lit up as he opened the sack filled with costumes and Halloween candy as the trucks pulled up and hundreds of synths dressed like elves poured in with food of all shaped and sizes, from all over the world, and in such quantity that even a few thousand people would need several days to eat it all.

 Among so many filled with elation at the food and gifts for their children, there seemed to be a growing number of adults that were offended by Halloween Elves... or perhaps by the presence of so many synths.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:12, Sun 28 Mar 2021.

“He took the Who’s feast, he took the Who pudding, he took the roast beast. He cleaned out that icebox as quick as a flash. Why, the Grinch even took their last can of Who hash.” The tip of Noah's long tail snaked about and found it way between Mistral's shoulderblades granting her access to his laundry list of spheres. "Don't know that one. Though I can only think of a hand full of peoples who would be spreading hate and discontent." He leaned down. "Thinking it's a demon pawn but I can't be entirely sure without pinning them down. We could alert Talion but that would be brain surgery with a sledgehammer."

Michael was certainly amused at everything that was going on including War Santa and the synth elves. Again, never would have thought something like this would have happened a month ago. Mages are crazy.

Even Fate found herself amused at this display of the holiday's cheer. She smirked more to herself then anyone when she heard Noah reciting the piece from the Grinch who stole Christmas.

Noah nodded once and sent a message to the Cabal server. -There is a mind mage screwing with the crowd. We are gathering information, but half a guess its earthbound. Nothing confirmed yet-

Michael read the message from his slate and casually looked up at the crowd. His supernatural vision was still active from when he saw Fluffy.

Fate read the slate being sure not to make a scene and sharpened her eyes to look around in the crowd.

 As the angry mumbling continued to mount, War Santa was bombarded by the questions of children, things like "Why aren't you fat?" to "Are those real reindeer?".

 Meanwhile, Talion stepped down from the stage and back into the crowd. Behind him were synths dressed as elves setting up what looked to be a fireworks display on the stage he had vacated.

 As he made his way back toward the group, he was stopped by a woman berating him on how "inappropriate" it was to bring in such a realistic Santa and how she had always tried to keep her son grounded in reality.

 He took her berating for a minute or two before he cut her off. "You sound just like the nuns. 'Keep the children grounded in reality, don't turn people into dragons, reindeer aren't supposed to fly.' I bet you're real fun at parties."

 He left her with her mouth open, trying to process what he'd just said. He took a bottle of water from the cooler nearby and took a swig. "Seems like my experiment regarding suspension of Disbelief has been a success."

Someone is messing with the flow of natural events using magic. There may be more than one.was the message Fate sent through the slates.

Mistique appreciated the appearance of muscular Santa of War and Generosity, but there was no time for that now.  There was work to be done.  By the time Noah’s tail made to snake her way, she was already gone.

The blue-skinned supervillainess quietly sauntered up alongside the covert willworker and without turning her eyes away from the spectacle she inquired of him in a low conversational tone, “You are warded, mon ami.  You will be going nowhere unless I allow it.  With that said, what is it you think you are doing?”  Mistique stood with one hand on a hip and tapping a thin iron wand against a thigh as she awaited an answer.

 The man was dressed to fit the part of someone who has been living in a tent for the past several weeks but closer inspection revealed that he likely had not been. He didn't take his eyes off the scene. "The same thing any Willworker with any sense should be doing. What we have here is just another in a series of massive rips in the Veil. Synthetics are enabling it all to happen. Each and every one is an arcane construct walking around Sleepers. Each and every one is a magnet for Paradox."

PM

Noah tilted his head side to side at all the comments about reality. "'You cant do that' should never stand in the way of 'watch me'. This is reality, some times people go to great lengths go give children back their laughter. Sometimes people make the world a better place than they found it. And maybe, just maybe, tomorrow can be better than today if we bust our backsides enough."

Noah grumbled as Talion came up. "Minor situation, It's being well handled. Is it too late to name the new city all "Grey's Halls"?"

Mistique spoke a single supernal syllable while twirling the iron wand gently at her side, and in one fell swoop shut down this disguised stranger's attempted will-working.  She said, "A commendable sentiment, but I am afraid that you labor under a misunderstanding, mon ami.  Synths do not cause paradox.  They mitigate it."  Those with arcane sights active would recognize that the magical fabric of reality in the area had just been repaired in the wake of her casting.  Mistique asked succinctly, "Who are you with?"

 The mage stopped and turned to Mistral. "Mages already broke the world once trying to bridge the gap into the Supernal Realm too quickly. So much magic made so fast couldn't possibly have been proofed against all forms of paradox.

 When God broke the world, he didn't smash it. He touched it. What more damage could a god like this do, stomping around the foundations of reality? We are the Sons of Roc and we are dedicated to making sure that a titian does not obliterate the foundations of our world."

 He gestured with his hand at the ruins around him as if to confirm his statement.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:35, Tue 30 Mar 2021.

Fate flicks her fingers covertly at the mage she see's before her. Then she send another message through the slate, I see one, but there are definitely more.

Fate:

Mistique crossed her white-gloved arms and looked levelly at the Son of Roc with blank yellow eyes.  She remarked, "Je vois.  This is about repairing a world that has been broken for millenia.  I contend that the Quiescence is not the ideal state of the universe, nor is it worth fighting for."

She cocked her head slightly, then asked, "Your stratagem to thwart this impending doom is to disrupt a charity event, then?  Pardonne-moi, but I have difficulty in seeing the good in this."
This message was last edited by the player at 21:17, Tue 30 Mar 2021.

 "Quiescence is less of a concern than a Marauder testing his theories on an open crowd.

 We're trying to get people to focus on the fact that Santa came for Halloween instead of the fact that he flew in on a magical sleigh pulled by reindeer.

 We're trying to mitigate Paradox by getting people to look away from the magic. There are already too many Paradox Spirits in New York, some of a size we have never seen before.

 I remember the effects of a marauder. I've lost friends to them. The grandiose display of Arcanum that levelled New York feels just like that.

 Synthetics are sympathetically connected, all of them. All it takes is a big enough Paradox event for them all to become miniature holes in the bedrock of reality."
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:41, Wed 31 Mar 2021.

Noah was doing his best to hedge the crowd. If part of the hoard was getting influenced then he would run interference to screw with their spell. True, they seemed to have numbers as Fate said, but it only takes a moron with a hammer to screw with intricate spells. And Noah was one giant moron with a giant hammer.

All he was doing was buying time.

PM

Fate:

In reply to Asimov's Folly (msg # 33):

Fate:

"Marauder is not the correct term.  The word you seek is Hieromagus.  Recent events make better sense in light of this understanding."  Mistique shook her head to the claim that synths are likely to turn into black holes of Paradox, "Conjecture sans fondement.  Your hatred is founded upon misinformation and falsehood, as hatred for entire peoples always have been since temps immemoriaux."  The claim of paradox spirits in the city was new to Mistral's ears, but it was plausible.  It did not bear discussing with this one, but it would be worth following up on.

Mistique demanded in a level, icy tone, "Be gone, and do not think to stand in the way of the synthetics who will rebuild this city."

 The mage was not armed, nor did he make any hostile movement. Instead he was watching the scene unfold around him. Halloween Santa, flying reindeer, an impossibly deep bag of goodies, and a legion of synths bringing in supplies. "It's not hatred. Whatever you may think of us, not all of us hate synthetics. Many of us have had synthetics of our own.

 What we worry for is the fate of reality when they're overloaded with Paradox. My own synthetic sacrificed itself to save me from a paradox spirit. I've seen what happens to them. It's not pretty.

 A man is not a savior simply because he fixes what he destroyed. The same is true for him. A Marauder is not the Heiromagus simply because his bubble is bigger than everyone else's."


 Despite his argument, the man made his move to leave peacefully. It seemed that he had no intention to fight.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:17, Fri 02 Apr 2021.

Fate sends another message through the slate, There's more than 68 of these guys.

Mistique turned and walked away, letting the man go though she still watched his every move by other senses.  She returned to Noah, Fate and Michael and told them quietly, “The Son of Roc intended to mitigate paradox by diverting Sleeper attention from the arcane aspects of ce spectacle.  He was reasonable, albeit laboring under incorrect assumptions.  If such views remain a difference of opinion then I take no issue.  I worry that his order may be less reasonable, and its aims less benign.”

She glanced to Talion and considered, then approached and asked forthrightly, “Are you aware of Paradox spirits roaming the city?If it is so, it is a matter to be dealt with.”  Mistral had her own means to investigate that claim, but it would take time.  It would be more expedient to have an answer from Apocalypse himself.

 Talion was present, overseeing the setting up of food and of the fireworks display which had just been completed.

 As Mistral approached, the fireworks began, filling the sky with vibrant colors and patterns...

… and, immediately thereafter, all the magic turned off. Mistral could feel it like a sour note, the threads of reality bound with so much magic that they could not be strummed properly.

… but, like her own attempts at repairing the fabric of reality, the threads here seemed strengthened by the act.

 Fate's supernatural senses shut down and all magical protections vanished in an instant... but the synths still worked. As she looked around, Fate could now pick out several mages by the dumbfounded looks upon their faces.


 Talion turned to Mistral seemingly without having done anything at all. "It wouldn't surprise me. There was a lot of energy released in that storm. There were bound to be tears in reality. Normally, the synths would have handled it but they were not in a position to do so.
 I'll see if Noah is up to retrofitting the synths with his backup systems and we can root out and contain the paradox within the city tomorrow."

Noah looked up at the dust in the air as the fireworks popped off. He twisted around and spread his wings around Mistral. If she had cast her illusion to disguise herself without use of the Tenna casting method she would either poof away or reveal herself. So it was the least he could do to block line of sight for her just in case she wanted to remain an unknown without operational magic.

Tenna casting was new to him after all.

Once he had ensured the conversation was nice and out of line of sight his tail reached out for Fate.

Tenebremancy: Cooperative casting does not operate with this merit.

 As Noah jumped in in full dragon form, shielding Mistral as the magic turned off, Talion looked up with a slight smile on his face. "There you are. I was planning on granting you custody of Pestilence as Ark's own personal server unit. You should be able to roll out your backup data in a cascading update overnight with her assistance.

 If you're up to it, then tomorrow we can all go and seal the Paradox in the city. I'll bring snacks."

Noah shrugged, "No doubt I can set that up. Though I think a double backup is needed. I've been meaning to set up a server off-planet. We could set up a relay that does a constant backup. That way if someone screws with the system we can just overwrite." He was thinking of a Cerberus system. A physical memory sample vault, the server unit, and a stationary digital backup. "We may want to make a list before I drag a hab up there to set up the server."

The fireworks went up and Mistique became Mistral again in nondescript hoodie and jeans, and looking none too pleased about it.  She waved off Noah as he made to envelope her in his wings, though she did appreciate the gesture.  She turned to Talion and asked plainly, "What just happened?"

Returning to the subject of the paradox spirits, Mistral nodded in agreement with the plan to go deal with them tomorrow.  "C'est bon.  Such spirits are a danger to our kind, mon ami, and allowing them to manifest freely earns no favor with your critics.  I have just spoken with one."

 Talion pointed up at the colorful explosions in the sky. "Antimagic. Wards and bans are useful when setting up an area of exclusion for an operation in advance but it's faster to just throw an antimagic blanket down. I laced the firework payloads with mana-infused iron filings so, when the fireworks went off, then all the magic in the area was dampened. It'll last a few hours then dissipate harmlessly."

 When she made mention of his critics and the paradox spirits, he took a deep breath and sighed. "You're right. It was not my finest moment. I lost control of myself and I have much to atone for."

 He took a moment to shake himself out of his melancholy before turning to Noah. "You want to set up a server off planet? Make sure to take Grey with you. You'll need to protect the site from asteroid impact and Grey can help with that."

"Off planet? That'll be something to see." Fate mused at the idea now that there didn't seem to be a threat anymore.

Noah nodded and smiled at fate, "Once we get some space suits we have an awesome space master, add in the fact I can give us thrust out there, sky is no longer the limit." He was already nerding out on the idea of a space base even if it was going to be a shed with servers. "I can't really not take Grey with me, but I think she would enjoy a Magic Schoolbus ride to the moon... I am afraid I am at best the short bus."

"Anything you want me to take up there? There isn't a lot of current claim up there." He was totally going to put a bigger Ark flag than the American flag up there.

 Talion grinned. "I already have what I need up there. There's a mountain range up there that I've been using for R&D purposes.

 Once I get the proper infrastructure up planet-side, I'll be able to use it as a relay point."

On the discussion of off-planet operations, Mistral looked up to the stars and pitched in, "Reaching extraplanetary localisations is not difficult.  La lune is plainly visible to the eye, after all.  The trouble is surviving once we've arrived."

 Talion turned his gaze skyward as well. "That shouldn't really pose a problem for any of you either. Grey is a space ship, after all."

Noah nodded, "Right, Ill let grey in on "Flight of the Navigator" but no alien movies. I could expose her to the stargate series."