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The Promise - Second Star to the Right, and Straight on 'til Morning.

The Story So Far...

1.0 Houston, We Have Liftoff

• The cast, currently consisting of Archie- a young man with one hell of an alter-ego, Lynn- a spitfire physically and metaphorically, Natalie- who takes girl power to a whole new level, Keaton- who can put Sherlock Holmes to shame, and Amelia- to whom distance means nothing, are all brought aboard The Promise through various means, and meet one another during orientation. As soon as introductions are made and the event is underway, Freaky-D - a unknown variable that found their way aboard through mysterious circumstances, falls from the ceiling to make his presence known to the station. Due to some unfortunate circumstances, Archie is injured and begins turning. Freaky-D makes his escape and Amelia follows, while Natalie and Lynn stay to evacuate the others and fight the reptilian goliath. They are successful, with Natalie using her strength to grapple the great lizard into the kitchen and Lynn setting off a makeshift bomb. Lynn and Archie are sent to the hospital.
  
  While the fight is taking place, Freaky-D and Amelia stumble upon an interrogation in which an unknown entity is torturing a Promise staff member. Freaky-D makes his escape and Amelia disappears from the scene, rather than confronting the entity- who then escapes uninhibited.

---

2.0 I'll Keep Coming

• A week has passed since the cafeteria skirmish. Our cast have gone their separate ways. Archie and Natalie have been placed under quarantine but have shown that they have regained relative control again. Archie visits Lynn in the hospital, and assist her in sneaking out. While doing this, he is confronted by Freaky-D who gifts him an item known as the 'apology ball' which has unknown effects, and then escapes once more- only to be seen and chased by Promise security. Freaky-D is spaced, but gets better. As night falls the cast finds one another again, and Archie- intending to present flowers to Natalie in his apology to her, treads off the beaten path and into the woods in his search. He discovers the body of a staff member who had been tortured. He screams, attracting Lynn, Natalie, Amelia, and Keaton from the street. Amelia immediately recognizes the body, Lynn begins freaking out thinking that this is a ploy to pin the crime on her, and Natalie is reminded of her past. The cast fought one another over what to do, ultimately driving them apart when Natalie calls Promise security. Lynn, Amelia, and Keaton leave the scene. Archie and Natalie remain and are apprehended by Jacob Radvi- a good man with an unfortunate past.
  
  All of the cast are brought in the next day for questioning. Archie and Natalie are questions by Radvi, while Keaton, Lynn, and Amelia are questioned by Promise head of security- Gennedy Hardin. Information is shared, Archie eats a life changing donut, and Amelia is kept for further questioning. Archie invites Lynn, Natalie, and Keaton to a Chinese restaurant for lunch. During this time, the unknown entity from the previous arc sets off a series of events that results in the vast majority of Promise security and enforcement agents being trapped in one area, while also simultaneously releasing an entire wing of lunatics and dangerous criminals into the general population.
  
  Salamandra, one of the most well known criminals in the parahuman world, happens upon the group while Death Head- a hulking vampire animal lurks outside the restaurant. Lynn tries to appease Salamandra, but is laughed at. Salamandra attempts to cradle rob Archie- but is stopped by Lynn. A large fight ensues. Natalie makes her escape, but is intercepted by Death Head and begins fighting for her life. Archie crawls away, in the throws of transforming once more- only to be directed by Keaton- who had taken to pulling away from the battle in the main room and telling his deteriorating mind who is friend and who is foe. Lynn is getting creative in her defense against Salamandra, but the criminal is far more adept at battling with people and her ability. As Salamandra gains the upper hand- a newly turned Archie throws an entire refrigerator at her and cripples her- evening the fight.
  
  Archie leaves the premise- intent on stopping Natalie from losing herself further in blood rage after her narrow victory over Death Head. Their battle is short, but handled with utmost care unbecoming of a monster of Archie's size. Feeling awaken between the two. Salamandra's powers of heat absorption are put to their limits and she begs for mercy. Lynn beats Salamandra to death and leaves the premise to hunt down Archie despite her incredibly beaten state, and narrowly avoids the explosive withering affects of Salamandra's power withering her body postmortem- killing several innocent bystanders in the process and emotionally scarring Lynn for life.
  
  Promise Security eventually breaks free, with Freaky-D rescuing Radvi and assisting occupants into safe havens with the help of Eli- a new comer who makes hangovers seem like nothing at all. Eli and Radvi assist one another in saving as many as possible while Freaky-D searches for stragglers- happening upon the unknown entity. Freaky-D and the unknown entity begin fighting, only for Freaky-D to quickly turn the tables with high volume meme power- discovering a weakness. Freaky-D collects a sample of the unknown entity as it makes it escape, and returns it to Radvi.

---

3.0 Where Anything Goes

• A month has passed since the breakout, and the school has finally addressed the accident. While doing so, as a form of damage control the headmaster has announced that the yearly homecoming dance will be a station-wide event. Radvi presents the sample to Trevor, one of Promise R&D and acquires tracking chips and glasses that recognize the unknown entity's presence. Archie, Natalie, Lynn, Keaton, Eli, and Radvi all convene at a Panda Express to make further plans- with Eli pep talking Archie into asking Natalie out.
  
  While convening, Black and White- two incorporeal entities serving a greater force appear and make the cast aware of their importance in a grand scheme, and Freaky-D once again falls from the rafters. This garners various reactions from the cast- most notably, Lynn storms off. Archie goes after her, but is burnt and runs away. Lynn, guilty continues on her way and goes to the gym to meet Gen- a man who likes his space and can really remind you of that fact if need be. Radvi explains to the cast that the event shouldn't have happened and has evidence of foul play involved. Freaky-D displays the recording of the battle that he was involved in. Archie recognizes the unknown entity as a woman who referred to herself as Arianna the first day he arrived at The Promise. The cast disperse, with Radvi speaking to Gennedy and Trevor- being given the first ever nullification technology and being reprimanded by Gennedy.
  
  A few days pass, and it is now Homecoming night. The streets, forests, and buildings are alive with spirit. Amelia makes her return. Amelia- looking to rejoin the world, Lynn- celebrating some good news, Eli- mourning the loss of close friends, and Keaton- looking to learn more about Arianna all begin heading to the woods to drink and enjoy some time away from the prying eyes of Promise Personnel. Archie nervously makes his way to pick up an equally nervous Natalie for their first ever date.
  
  To be continued...

---

The Promise - Second Star to the Right, and Straight on 'til Morning.

@Nightrunner

Accepted homie. Go ahead and move him over to the CS tab.

The Promise - Second Star to the Right, and Straight on 'til Morning.

Archie

---

Natalie: I'll see you by the front door.

Archie stopped walking and stared at his phone for a while after that message, resisting the urge to write out one last text message trying to explain himself. He figured Nat might get a kick out of his message or maybe insult him some more or even not reply at all, but how flat she sounded makes him… feel really weird. He's never ever felt out of place like this before, so it's strange.

Natalie: And thank you, Archie. I'm glad you're my date for this.

He looks up and sighs, and trudges on. He can still turn this one around, he thinks. As he makes his third step, his phone vibrates in his pocket again. He checks his phone, and he feels his heart jump. A heart monitor fastened to the underside of his wrist begins beeping in slow succession before fading away again. Over the previous few days it had been discovered that his beat of burden reacted to stimulus outside of time, emotion, or danger. It also reacted to automatic reactions in his body- the most commonplace being his heart rate reaching 200bpm. He didn't want to turn just because he got excited, and while the momentary jump hadn't been much to worry about, he didn't want to think about what would happen if he and Natalie-

No, stop right there. His heart monitor beeped again. Archie realized that he hasn't replied, and not one to leave someone on read, he typed out another message that is composed of a bunch of smiley faces and emoticon hearts and sent it without much thought. He breathed as he stepped out outside, and was instantly greeted by the chilly air. One thing he missed about home was how gently and subtly it eases into autumn. The island was mostly tropical year long with buttercup summers and temperate springs. But when fall and winter comes along, the region settles into a cooler sort of warmth, like a stream bathed in golden sun. It's hard to explain, but Archie has missed it nevertheless. The chill in the air of the space station was nice, but it didn't quite feel like the real thing.

He breathes out, and smiles when his breath fogs up and disappears into the air. It sure is something, though. He turns the corner and enters the women's wing. Memory reminds him that Natalie is only one stairwell up, which is nice because he is particularly lazy when it comes to stairs. He finds himself standing in front of Nat's door only a few moments later when his phone pings.

Eli: Hope you make it tonight! There's plenty of booze and firewood. Let me know if you need help finding the campsite.

Archie smiles down at his phone and sends the same shrimp emoji he sent to Natalie in response, followed by a 'See you soon!', and then pockets his phone. He stares at Natalie's door for several long moments. He should probably let her know that he's here. He also thinks that he should run, move to a small island off the coast of Indonesia and begin his new life as a fisherman (or would that be resuming his old life?). It's apparent that his mind isn't the most rational thing when it comes to Natalie. He pulls at his own hair, closes his eyes so tightly that he sees spots when he opens them. Now or never.

He reached out and tentatively knocked twice, a soft rap of his knuckles.

The Promise - Second Star to the Right, and Straight on 'til Morning.

Archie

---

"Is you hand, uh, better?"

Archie felt heat rush to his face, but at least he wasn't alone he thought idly. An idea popped into his head at her question, however, this time, his stomach knotted up, and he's one-hundred percent sure that he stopped breathing. Blushing even more at a small, absentminded scheme in his head, Archie swallowed his pride and embarrassment, leaned over and summoned every once of charisma and suaveness that he could. He took her hand in his own somewhat burnt one, not bothering with the pain. It didn't seem important right now.

"Yeah," he began, his lips curling up into an awkward, lopsided, but incredibly Archie smile for Natalie's benefit. "It is now."

---

A few more days passed in relative peace. School chugged along, power training occurred on the regularly, and no extraordinary circumstances arose that seemed to require security's full attention. But despite the relative peace, it was very obvious that all factions of The Promise, security, faculty, and occupants alike, were gearing up for something. That something being the station wide Homecoming dance. Sold as an excuse for the students to burn off all their pent up worries and fears for a night of laughter and party.

As with any large scale party, there was alcohol, and even substances if you knew where to find them. While the later was highly regulated, the former was much more difficult to enforce. The Promise took a worldwide audience and operated under the jurisdiction of international waters. For the most part, the age at which alcohol was allowed for purchase was eighteen, but several other countries only required a drinking age of seventeen to sixteen. All it took was flashing state ID to purchase below the standard age, although it wasn't like there was a shortage of student of age to begin with either. The atmosphere of the station was thick with a whole concoction of emotions. Romance, heartbreak, anxiety, courage, and the smell of teen spirit seemed to give the very air its own personality. As if the station was in the eye of a hurricane, or in the calm just before a storm.

Night was falling, and in the distance the early festivities are already beginning. While the school prepares its gymnasium, the campgrounds are creating bonfires, the restaurants and food trucks are open late, and the alleys are making deals. The whole station was coming alive, given a second wind of celebratory spirit when it normally would have long since fallen quiet until morning.

---

Archie's not drunk. He's been pacing himself, being careful in his pregaming. He knows what happens when he drinks too much—-it's happened at least four times before, and he's determined to put a stop to it and prove to himself that he has at least a semblance of self-control left in his body. That and with his recent condition, he wasn’t sure a few drinks too many simply was worth the risk of Hyde coming out to play.

For the first time in a month, everyone's in high spirits. Everyone seemed to have a reason to celebrate, either in memory of a friend, surviving a brush with death themselves, high grades, graduation, or the upcoming holidays. A few weeks from now, many of the people he had met in his power class would be walking across a stage with a diploma in hand and either catching a ride back to Earth for the first time in what was likely their entire adult lives or moving forward to pursue higher education through The Promise. So, right. Being careful. Take a few shots of alcohol and down a half glass of water. Archie mostly falls into the category of a Social Drinker—-only really drinking when he's surrounded by others that are partaking in alcoholic beverages as well, but he was starting early tonight because he needed the liquid courage for when he goes to pick Natalie up.

With a sigh of resignation, Archie sets his half-full cup on his desk. He's almost positive that he’ll find a way to knock it over in like, two minutes, but he can't say that he cares. Archie hates that he goes to this extreme every time he drinks; the alcohol feels good when it blurs his mind just enough to forget all of his predicaments, but feels not as good when he drinks enough to make himself sad.

Archie stood up to dress himself for the evening. He wanted to look presentable, but not so much so that he would ruin his clothing if he and Natalie found their way into one of the campground parties that Eli had mentioned. He slid on a pair of dark blue jeans, but the less worn ones that he normally kept on himself, and tossed a pair of black dress shoes on. He put a black dress shirt on. He had purchased it pretty recently, it had been his size when he bought it but now it hugged his body more than most clothes did after he had washed it with warm water instead of cold. Archie wasn’t sure whether that was a good thing or a bad thing yet. He fiddled with the buttons on the way up to his collar, giving himself funny looks into his mirror as he dressed himself.

Go for it.

A smokey smirk grew on his features, and he left the top two buttons undone- exposing his neck and collarbone. He feels confident now, and a part of him laughs at how quickly he can go from a cool to fool. He moves back to his chair and falls a little while he tries to sit down, after all, he's uncoordinated when sober and nearly dysfunctional when drunk. He pulls out his phone, clicks on the all to familiar conversation thread, and attempts to send a 'Hi'. It looks more like a shrimp emoji. Archie's tired.

Regardless, the message buzzes through. He squints a little in an attempt to follow up.

Archie: I KNOW that partie s arnet yor thing but
Archie: i’ll be heading ovcer soon

A thought comes to him then, and Archie just knows it's a brilliant idea.

Archie: and partys arent you4e thibg , but your my thing

"Smooth," he congratulates himself out loud. "Good, good reply." He reaches for the glass of water he had placed next to his drink and downs it. He didn’t want to be stupid when he met her. Sure, the alcohol wasn’t helping- but Natalie had found out fairly quickly that his fat fingers regularly made spelling errors. Although, perhaps not to this degree yet. He heads for the door to go and pick her up- fortunately and unfortunately, she was a problem student like him. This meant she lived in the women’s wing of his dorm facility so it wasn’t like he had to go far. It was nice in a way, having her so close. As he opens the door to head to hear dorm he takes an extra moment to stare at the text thread before shrugging and pocketing his phone. If anything could sum up his feelings, it's his (not-so) artfully done keysmashing.

The Promise - Second Star to the Right, and Straight on 'til Morning.

Archie

---

”Oh, that's less weird. Yeah, sure. Give me a sec."

Archie, hearing his cue to leave, just about scurried off to the restrooms.

The men’s washroom wasn’t particularly interesting. It was just that, a men’s washroom. Tile flooring and blue walls. It was well maintained, which was better than a good portion of the bathrooms he had seen in his life, but there wasn’t a whole lot else to it aside from a small cork board that listed items for resale or club activities on the station. Archie let himself into the largest stall, the one that was usually reserved for disabled, and promptly shoved his hand under the sink.

He inhaled a short, sharp breath when he felt the cool water hit the inflamed skin of his hand. It was a stark contrast from the painful heat, but it felt nice. He continued to let the water run over his hand and in the meantime, Archie found himself staring down his reflection.

“You can do this.” He said, putting on a face that was as serious as he could. He would deal with all the schemes and villainy later. Today he was just a boy telling a girl that he liked her.

You’re an idiot. his reflection almost seemed to say back.

Archie had always been a person who wore his heart, stitched in bold red, to his sleeve. His mouth contorts at the thought. “I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna ask her out.” He declares, glaring daggers into his reflection succeeding only in making it seem more intimidating.

You’re still an idiot.

He breathed in, and pulled his hand out from under the faucet and gave his reflection the middle finger when he stepped away. Deciding to pay his uncooperative reflection no more mind, he stepped over to the air drier. He glared at it. He always hated air driers. They were loud and sounded over his own thoughts. When he stepped out of the stall, there were two other young men that glanced to one another, then at him, and then averted their eyes as if pretending they didn’t hear him give himself pep talk. Archie opened his mouth, debating whether or not to apologize for their secondhand embarrassment or not, but decided not to at the last moment. He put his head down and quickly ducked out to avoid further scrutiny.

When he left the bathroom, he just about collided with Natalie. Despite her smaller stature, he knew well enough that she would probably not budge an inch even if he ran into her at full speed. He took a deep breath, hoping she didn’t notice his anxiety. He goes nothing- oh, she was speaking.

”So what did you want to talk about?"

In a moment of courage unlike anything he had expected in his life, Archie answers her by sweeping her grandly towards him, dipping her downwards, and kissing her passionately on the lips. Or, at least, he tries to – he gets stuck on the first step, when he tugs Natalie's arms in his direction and they end up bumping their foreheads together.

“Ouch.” Archie says, more out of social convention than actual pain. He steeled himself further- hoping that this would be the one type that Natalie couldn’t bend.

“Will you go to homecoming with me? Not just like with me, but with me?”

The Promise - Second Star to the Right, and Straight on 'til Morning.

Archie

---

"You guys must be pretty unlucky, huh? I mean, in your first week you came across a murder. I've been here for four years now and I've never experienced something like that. I hope your friend is okay. She seemed pretty upset when she left."

"Unlucky." Archie parroted, giving Eli a disjointed smile. That was certainly one way to put it, all things considered. His life had been exceptionally eventful over the past few months. Developing a superpower, turning on the first day, surviving a breakout, and now they were being involved in a scheme to save The Promise. Archie sighed. He missed the days when the most complicated thing he had to worry about was when a homework assignment was due or he has chores to do.

He glanced over to Natalie and the crux of that issue hit him. Perhaps that's why he liked her. There, he said it. He liked her. She brought some inkling of normalcy back to his life. Six months ago he lived in a small island off the coast of the Carolinas who had never left the country and now he turned into lizards and orbited the planet in a space station that was facing a doomsday level threat. Liking a pretty girl that scared him a little and made him think of things that weren't so oppressive to his life was probably a good thing. It would keep him from lashing out or having a mental break. Trusting someone like that would keep him grounded. He hummed, and didn't have much more to think on that one. Eli had asked him about Lynn, though. "I hope Lynn's okay, too."

He looked from Natalie to Eli and shoved his hand back into his pocket when she mentioned his hand, a little too quickly for it to have been natural. Shit. She had noticed and while he had wasn't particularly worried about telling her given that he was mostly fine, he didn't want to vilify Lynn to her and Natalie. He tried to play it off as best he could. "Oh, yeah, hit it on somethin' on the way back." he lied, then shrugged. "But that's... probably a good idea." In that moment he had the idea to open up a new contacts page and hand his phone to Eli. He gave her a small smile for her benefit. She seemed smart. She'd get what he was wordlessly trying to say. He looked to Natalie for a moment, and then to the last remaining chip. It was between Natalie and Keaton now, since Eli had one and he was far too clumsy to have such a necessary device. He wanted Natalie to have it, if only because it gave him an excuse to stick around her more. He was sure he'd be seeing more of Eli, so it's not like his bases wouldn't be covered in the event that it became necessary, but the idea sounded good in his head nevertheless. Keaton knew things though, maybe she'd find use for it? He was still unsure of how her powers work, just that she could guess things that he never could. Like calculus. Archie hated calculus.

"When uh, when you two figure out who gets the chip I'm gonna head to the bathroom." Archie said, shaking his arm with the damaged hand for emphasis as to why. He looked to Eli when she handed his phone back, and pocketed it. He gave her a lopsided smile and tried to remember her advice. "When you're done, Nat, could you uh-" he faltered for a moment, then resumed. "Could you come with? Not like, into the bathroom or anything. That'd be weird. Just like, over there? I gotta talk to you about something."

The Promise - Second Star to the Right, and Straight on 'til Morning.

And found it - Okay! I'll figger somethin' out, yeh? CS forthcoming.
edit: Pardon - app forthcoming.

@ClosetMonster

Looking forward to it!

So since Discord isn't really a thing in this world - where would you like characters set, ideas and such? Here? Or somewhere I've missed somewhere?

This is our Discord, should you choose to use it. It’s where we do all our scheming. The GMs will be happy to help you there in the character workshop section, or over DM if you'd prefer not to use it.

The Promise - ASTRO-NUT

@ClosetMonster

We are still accepting!

The Promise - Second Star to the Right, and Straight on 'til Morning.

@banjoanjo

unbanned

get in the cs tab, fuckboy

The Promise - Second Star to the Right, and Straight on 'til Morning.

@banjoanjo

banned