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Our Powers | Voice | Open

Display Name: Goillot
Profile Photo: A shot of the Central City skyline from the top of the Diadem Hotel.

[Despite aiming for semi-anonymity, Danny goes with using his voice instead of text. Because if he has to type this and give himself the chance to overthink things, it might never happen.

The mic picks up the light sound of wind, and when he speaks up, Danny's not putting in the effort to change his voice, beyond playing down his slight New York accent and shifting his tone to something softer and more professional. It's a stark difference from his usual laid-back drawl, but the kid's naturally scratchy voice is still easy enough to recognize.]

So...did anyone else who caught Fantastic's speech find that a little worrying?

For anyone who was caught in the Confluence, or just fell from the sky, welcome, or welcome back. Here's what you missed.

[A recording of Fantastic's speech starts playing. Tinny and rough, like it's coming from one speaker picking up another. It sounds awful scripted for a "heart-felt" speech. Not meant to comfort or inspire confidence but to rally soldiers. The kind of speech Danny became familiar with when he was far too young. And when he'd heard it coming from Fantastic, it settled in his stomach like lead.]

You can probably find a better version of that online, but this gives the gist.

Can't say I'm crazy about him talking to us like we're a bunch of soldiers, but then, I'm guessing that speech wasn't actually for us.

Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but I have a bad feeling that if this guy gets to be the Alliance leader, the way he wants everyone to think he already is, things might get worse for us.

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You're not the only one worried. And I'm sure not voting for him if it gets democratic. Not that we'll ever be allowed to choose our own leadership.

Thanks for video though. I was caught in the bubble. Wish I wasn't, so I could punch him.

Validating to hear it's not just me.

[Always good to know he wasn't just taking the spy paranoia too far.]

And no problem. I figured it might get lost in the news shuffle for people that weren't here to see it.

Is this the first time he's pulled something like this or is this part of a pattern for him?

I personally would have found it sooner or later, but I'm glad to not have to dig. This continues to be disgusting.

It's a bit of a pattern.

[Well, fuck. Of course, it is.]

What else has he done?

He keeps acting like he's in charge, he's reinforcing the 'Metas are personalities' over the heroics thing... Dude's an ass.

[And Prodigy is confident enough to say that without privacy. Fuck Fantastic.]

Edited 2023-03-08 17:49 (UTC)

What do you expect? He’s an adult. This is what happens.

[That voice strikes him as familiar, but not enough to put a name to it or remember where he might have heard it. School maybe? He doesn't put much thought into it because...well, that answer sure is alarming.

And Danny thought he had trust issues. At least he didn't assume all adults would treat him like a little soldier or something to use...He just had a deeply seeded insecurity that they wouldn't keep him around if he wasn't useful. Totally different.]

...You run into a lot of adults like him?

You’ve met adults, right?

They boss around anyone with less power than them, make other people do they actual work, act like it’s a chore to give actual directions, and then waltz in at the last minute to steal most of the credit.

Yeah. Yeah, I've definitely known a few adults like that.

[One person, in particular, comes to mind. Though Faraday definitely wasn't unique among the CBI.]

...I'm sorry you've had to deal with more than a few.

[He means it. And tries to sound like he means it, though open sincerity has never been his strong suit.

There's a temptation to add that they still shouldn't treat Fantastic like he's just another adult acting like "all adults" do, but for once he bites his tongue. No one who had to deal with most, or all, the adults in their life treating them that way needed to be lectured like that.

Raven had cautioned him that he needed to be more considerate of people's feelings. He'd brushed her off at the time but he'd started trying to take it more seriously as of late. After seeing the kind of person Faraday became, and knowing how much of a hand that man had in shaping his own personality, the fear that he could end up like him had been eating away at him.]

It’s not like I’m a special case. Most of them are like that.

[ Nico just casually breezing past this pity, as much as he knows how. He can hear that it’s another kid. Somehow, that’s worse. ]

You’ll be just like them, and then you won’t mind.

[Well...that struck a hell of a nerve. There's a pause before he can answer this time.]

Or we can remember what they did to us and be better.

It's not like some flip-switched when they hit twenty. They're not shitty because they're adults. They're shitty because they chose to be.

[Well. Dick wasn't expecting that. Accent is different, voice is softer than it might normally be. But Dick KNOWS that voice. Hasn't heard it in a pretty long while, but he knows it.]

I don't think you're paranoid, for what it's worth. I think that speech was for the people who weren't there listening, who aren't metas. The ones that watch his videos online and think he's this perfectly relatable guy who happens to be gorgeous. That speech makes him sound like a leader. Unless you've ever done much off the cuff speaking. Then you can hear how practiced it is. He's making a play, I'm pretty certain.

I agree he's making a play here, but the vibe I'm getting is more like he's auditioning to lead an army, not a superhero team. The divide can seem subtle the larger a team gets, but as someone who used to lead a pretty sizable team myself? The divide is still there. And if even half of what @Huvrye says is true, Fantastic seems pretty intent on stomping all over it.

Edited 2023-03-06 00:43 (UTC)

If he's auditioning to lead an army, he's cribbing notes from Patton. The movie, not the actual general. It sounds good. The sound bites are great. It plays well on the nightly news. People see him in the field when none of the "real" leaders are in sight, and they feel like he's doing something. I'm not sure whether he actually believes it. Like I said, it sounds good. There are members of the public who obviously want the metas to be treated more like soldiers, to be kept more under control. Fantastic goes out there, making himself seen and sounding like he's in charge, even if nobody else listens to him. Have this happen a few times and the public starts getting mad at the leadership of the Alliance, wanting change since the ones there obviously aren't doing anything. So all he really has to do is bide his time.

[It's not surprising to see other people in this thread choosing to stay anonymous. It was the kind of talk that, if things went as bad as Danny feared they would, could end up very dangerous.]

Yeah. That's pretty much exactly what I was afraid of.

Feels like he's campaigning. Showing the non-meta public how he'll run things in their favor, or more likely, his favor.

[For Dick, it's more that he's new. He's still getting the lay of the land. But he also can't be silent.]

[Also, it's Danny, and he's just not sure how the kid's going to handle him being here.]

He's definitely campaigning. The fact that he was on the scene but none of the 'leadership' was made one hell of an impression. So did his very pre-written speech. He's been waiting for a reason to give it. It was a little too practiced, a little too ready for off-the-cuff.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of how he was speaking. It wasn't really good thing to hear. I like, just joined the Alliance right before that too.

Same here actually. Thought it was the safest bet. Now I'm not so sure.

[That's not entirely a lie. He did recently join, and it had certainly felt like the best option, but he'd also suspected the worst of them from the start. This was just the first real recent red flag to show him he might have been on to something.]

I mean the only other guild option is the one that has "villain" in the name, so it's not like we really had much of a choice.

[ Unless you wanted to have no money at all for superhero related stuff and possibly getting sued for property damage or whatever.]

I hated it. It didn’t feel right at all. I wish I had confronted him…

I mean, maybe we should have, but I don't think yelling at him then would've done any good. Probably would've just gotten us locked up or something.

Yeah… but, we can’t just sit around and wait. I don’t like this at all.

Same.

I don't think trying to punch him is going to do anything to help though. And if the government was worried they... probably would have done something I'd think? So it's going to be hard.

I guess we can leave if it bugs us but... uh... [They kinda needed money to live. Or deal with colleterial damage that doesn't magically fix itself after the fight is over. ]

We’re gonna need a plan…

[Yeah. And if she's someone who's thinking that it's... really obvious and important. Long term planning is not Erika's strength. ]

We're probably going to need to talk to people who are smarter than us.

[Who also aren't evil. Obviously. ]

I’ve been keeping to myself, so I’m not sure who to trust…

Same here. I don't know who to ask either.

[Sure, she knew some people now, but not anyone who she thought would be smart enough to plan something against the leaders of the Alliance if it were needed (Sorry Leo and Nico). ]

Yeah, I was DEFINITELY not psyched about how that whole thing went down!

Were you there when he gave the speach? I only saw the broadcast.

Trust me, it wasn't any better in person.

[Huvrye's voice is terse when he talks - it's not a challenge to the post itself so much as it is anger at Fantastic.]

I am a soldier. It's not the first time I've heard that kind of propaganda. Anyone who talks like that doesn't actually care about anyone under them. If you step out of line, he'll cut you down.

[Huvrye has a sample size of one here; that said, Effiom leaves a lasting impression. Scarring, even.]

[Huvrye's tone downshifts from anger into thoughtfulness as he continues.]

I challenged him after that speech. He told me to butt out and called every meta a soldier by birthright. He was also annoyed at me - enough for me to see it. I think if we hit him enough, he'll break his image - we just have to make sure it happens in public, before he gets a chance to take over the Alliance.

I also don't think he's a coincidence he made that speech while the real leaders were distracted.

[He may have been thinking about this quite a bit.]

["Soldiers by birthright". Well. That put a chill down his spine.

Danny switches over to private because this has the potential to turn into a talk that definitely shouldn't be public.]

I've seen how the people who make those speeches treat the people under them, too. If he really thinks all meta's are soldiers by birthright, then this is somehow worse than I thought.

That might as well be political speech for "you're all disposable" if you're part of the Guilds, and possibly worse for anyone that's unaffiliated.

[It's also not comforting to hear that Fantastic probably orchestrated a distraction for the real leaders in order to make his speech. That wasn't just making a play or taking advantage of a situation to make a campaign speech.]

And if he set up a distraction to make that speech, that...that's bold. Feels like the kind of behavior you get from someone a breath away from starting a coup.

But it's good to know Golden Boy cracks under pressure. [And it's a little bit instantly endearing to hear that Huvrye's first instinct had been to call the prick out.] If that's all it takes to get him annoyed, I'm betting he could be cracked in public. The only problem is making him break without going so far that he and his fans can argue he was somehow justified.

It might be even better if he doesn't know the public can see him.

[Guess who hasn't really known about privacy settings until seeing them in action? Huvrye's internet fluency is severely lacking, but this is definitely going to help.]

I don't think he's going to discriminate between Guild and unaffiliated. He might expect Alliance members to obey him, but I don't think it'll stop there.

So we need to stop him first.

[Huvrye would rather die than let another Effiom rise to power. At least he can do something about it here. Be on the right side for once.]

[(Hopefully.)]

You're talking about a sting.

I'm happy to be the thorn in his side. The question is whether we should build up to it or try breaking him all at once.

[Not being sure if Fantastic would stop there was what had Danny worried. He wouldn't put it past someone like him to push for making things even harder on people who refused to join a guild. And if he did, how far would he take things?

That was going too far into the theoretical though. By the sound of things Fantastic might be egotistical and power-hungry, sure, but Danny didn't know enough about the guy to know if he would really stoop to that. So he keeps the thought to himself.

Stay focused.]

Agreed.

And, yeah, a sting could be the best way to catch him.

I could help with being a thorn in his side too, if it takes more than one person. I've been told I'm good at that. [And depending on the kind of ego Fantastic had, getting called out by some snot-nosed brat could help make him snap.]

Not sure what would be the best way to go. I don't know enough about the guy to know what would be more effective.

Trying to break him all at once would definitely be faster and could give him less time to come up with rebuttals. But if it fails he could catch on to what we're doing and it could get a whole lot harder to make him slip up or catch him off guard.

[This, he can do. He hadn't done much with planning Interground operations in the past - mostly just covered for their existence, for all the good that hand done them in the end - but he'd still been in on a number of the meetings, and he knows how these things work, at least to a point.]

So we need more intel. He's a public figure - there's got to be more information about him available. There are probably people from this dimension who don't like him either - the question is whether they'd be willing to whatever they have on him public, or at least accessible. If we find something we can use, we can build on it.

[Huvrye is barely familiar with the internet, let alone internet culture. There's probably a Fantastic Fails youtube compilation out there somewhere - he just wouldn't have any idea where to start looking.]

If we can find enough people we trust to help, it'll make intel gathering - and the op - easier to handle.

What do you intend to do about it?

Me? A whole lot of nothing. I'm not exactly in a position to do anything about it even if I wanted to.

I'm just trying to get the word out and get some perspective on whether or not I'm overreacting.

As an outsider to the guilds, it does not surprise me. But if this is what alerts you to what you're a part of then I take that for a good thing.

Wait, is the Alliance a militia? I thought it offered support in exchange for using your powers in a helpful way.

Is the only "help" they're interested in just soldiers?

In theory, and for now, largely in practice, they do give support to meta's willing to help, and not always just as soldiers.

But that's why Fantastic's speech is an issue. He's making it sound like that might change if he takes over the Guild. At least, that's what it sounds like to me.

He knows there are children in the Alliance, doesn't he?
He has to, if he's aiming to lead it.

How much support is he getting? He can't possibly be popular, if he's treating recruits like soldiers.

There's a time and a place for more militaristic leaders, but I never got the impression the Alliance was supposed to be a military.

[This isn't Providence, after all.]

Worked under contract for people like Fantastic but I knew what I was getting into then. Most of the people with the Alliance didn't sign up for that. If he takes command, I imagine the Syndicate is going to get a lot of new recruits if not more people going freelance as risky as that is.

Edited 2023-03-12 01:38 (UTC)

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Our Powers | Voice | Open

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