41.2 - Tugging on Heartstrings

Expands on Adam leaving the bunker to check in on Charlotte.

There was something unbelievably cool about being in some underground secret base in a swamp. Sure, the world had all gone to hell and it seemed like everyone’s lives sucked now, but this was the Future and Adam loved it. Bot had collected all sorts of cool looking equipment and had it stashed in piles. Adam didn’t know what any of it did but it sure looked neat and he appreciated the distraction it brought.

Thinking about Leo, Bot, and both the Arias was a lot more than Adam felt like he could deal with right now. Bot was almost unrecognizable from Leo in almost every way. Even his aura had something missing to it. Movies and television had taught Adam that cybernetics ate your soul but that wasn’t true of Vector, so something else must have happened to Bot that diminished him… like Jason tearing into his mind with tiny robots…

It was thoughts like that that Adam really didn’t want to dwell on. Seeing Future Aria was probably going to be just as bad. It was what was keeping Adam from going down to check on Leo in the… basement? Sub-floor?

What was the proper term for anything in this mobile building? Presumably since the whole thing was supposed to rise out of the swamp, the floors wouldn’t really be below ground anymore. Maybe it would count as normal floors then. That would get awkward quick though, names changing depending on the position of the building.

Adam thought on the topic of names for things for a long while. Much longer than was really necessary, but it helped distract him. By the end of it, Adam determined that he was just going to refer to floors by individual designations: this was the Entry Level, below was Aria’s Floor, and presumably with it being built in a swamp there would be an area known as the Spooky Zone that no one went to. Also, the long tubing in front of him with unknown purpose was Schlooping Hose. It was important for Schlooping (whatever that was).

With the important work finished up here, Adam really couldn’t think of anything else that kept him from checking in on Leo, no matter how hard he tried. It was important and Leo was his friend, as were all the Newmans. This Aria hadn’t known Adam that much, never got to find out she had a soul from him. Maybe that could help with what Leo was doing…

Just then, the squeal of the commlinks going live went off in Adam’s being. “Cheese and crackers,” Charlotte cried out.

Adam didn’t even wait for conformation. “On it!” he shouted out as he already focused on the invisible strings of light flowing out from his body.

Adam didn’t originally know what they were for. Sol had some sort of Weird explanation for what they were, but Adam knew when he looked into them: links to everyone he cared about. Back home (in the past) there were so many Adam could barely count them, but here most just trailed off to nothing. The closest was Leo’s, followed by Otto’s then Harry’s. Quickly, Adam found Charlotte’s and grabbed tight. It ran hot with Truth as Adam was pulled from where he was and to wherever Charlotte was at.

And where Charlotte was at was in a storage closet. Adam had not expected poor tidiness to elicit the strongest expletive he’d ever heard out of Charlotte, but there was an odd bit of sense to it given her background.

At least Adam got out of the bunker and that was nice. For a second or two at least…

So I wrote this mainly because I’d thought of how Concord’s teleportation fit into the rest of his power set. Everything else worked off emotions and things related to them, makes sense the teleportation would too. It’s probably not too accurate unless Adam has a strong bond with the person in question (either from them having Influence over him or spending the two points of Burn for the actual move).

Like everything else, I have a visual in mind for this but I’ll see about putting it to canvas later. It too will include a crap ton of glow effects.
cutscene

author: Mike
url: Community Forums: 41.2 - Tugging on Heartstrings | Roll20: Online virtual tabletop

1. That’s an awesome Adamcentric explanation of teleportation.

2. Adam’s narrative dawdling is very, very cool.

author: *** Dave H.
url: https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6441675

There’s this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhizome_(philosophy)

Years ago, in an online text-based game, I wrote a version of this concept. The idea was an underground transit system - places that were socially connected were physically closer. So this sounds pretty familiar to me.

author: Bill G.
url: https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6441692

Huh, never heard of a Rhizome before but that is very cool. I highly doubted I was treading new ground (in fact, I was basing some of the look and feel of this off something the protagonist does in one of Max Gladstone’s books [Two Serpents Rise]) but it’s always nice to learn something new.

*** Dave H. said:

2. Adam’s narrative dawdling is very, very cool.

That was my favorite part of writing this, though I will tell you the secret behind why I did it: I like being funny (and like to think I’m mildly successful at it) but I feel like I always slip into the melodrama eventually. I’ve made a conscious effort to try and make Adam more dorky kid (like Peter Parker in SM: Homecoming) and less emotional punching bag for the last couple of weeks to try and avert that for a while. Hopefully that has felt more like character growth and tone change and less like character derailment and tonally off putting.

author: Mike
url: Community Forums: 41.2 - Tugging on Heartstrings | Roll20: Online virtual tabletop

Mike said:

That was my favorite part of writing this, though I will tell you the secret behind why I did it: I like being funny (and like to think I’m mildly successful at it) but I feel like I always slip into the melodrama eventually. I’ve made a conscious effort to try and make Adam more dorky kid (like Peter Parker in SM: Homecoming) and less emotional punching bag for the last couple of weeks to try and avert that for a while. Hopefully that has felt more like character growth and tone change and less like character derailment and tonally off putting.

Adam has always had (esp. in Cutscenes) a charming dorkness and blissful unawareness of the teen _sturm und drang_ about him. He is very much a breath of fresh air opposite the melodrama of Leo, Alycia, and Jason.

author: *** Dave H.
url: Community Forums: 41.2 - Tugging on Heartstrings | Roll20: Online virtual tabletop

*** Dave H. said:

Cutscenes

Ah poop! Forgot.

cutscene

author: Mike
url: Community Forums: 41.2 - Tugging on Heartstrings | Roll20: Online virtual tabletop

You should edit your original post and put the tag there :slight_smile:

author: Bill G.
url: https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6441809

#HaHa

(Which I include only because it seems so applicable to the Adam experience.)

author: *** Dave H.
url: https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6441811

Bill G. said:

You should edit your original post and put the tag there :slight_smile:

Done and done.

Yeah, I forget these are a thing and how they work sometimes. Proves I should be writing more. :stuck_out_tongue:

author: Mike
url: Community Forums: 41.2 - Tugging on Heartstrings | Roll20: Online virtual tabletop

I case anyone’s interested, the other power I wanted to delve into with a story like this was the Weapon of Final Compassion (a.k.a., Concord’s laser) and how Adam is using in completely the wrong way. I haven’t thought of a good way to setup such a story, but if anyone has any ideas I’m open to suggestions.

author: Mike
url: https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6443418

Post-battle discussion and planning among the alien Concordance agents?

author: Bill G.
url: https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6443427

Bill G. said:

Post-battle discussion and planning among the alien Concordance agents?

As much as that would work, I’d feel super uncomfortable writing that because I really know nothing about their character. That might sound weird since these are tailor-made nemeses for Concord with artwork I made for them, but honestly Doyce came to me and said “I’m thinking about another character empowered by the Concordance” and I just arted out a lot of character designs and guesses about things that would look cool to me.

This also might be my self-consciousness talking so if Doyce gives me the go ahead I’ll do it.

author: Mike
url: Community Forums: 41.2 - Tugging on Heartstrings | Roll20: Online virtual tabletop

If they stay on topic (discussion of proper or improper power uses), I can’t see why it’d be a problem. We’ve also had a lot of NPCs get fleshed out by players, so I think he’d probably be just fine if you expanded on their personalities a bit too. But always best to ask and get confirmation, yeah, especially for adversary types.

author: Bill G.
url: https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6443489