Earth Field Trip [MOD PLOT]

[letsgolegion]

Who| Anyone who wants in!
What| A field trip
Where| New Metropolis on Earth
When| After the steampunk pirate meme.
Warnings/Notes| N/A

Earth is the multicultural jewel of the United Planets, a world known for its diversity and culture. It's a place where people can find almost anything: any technology, any food, any style of clothing from any world. It's also a place people can learn about other species, from the planetary cultural centers that can be found there -- where aliens engage in cultural practices from back home and share them with others, to theaters and entertainment venues where music and entertainment events, to stadiums where people can catch alien sports like Magnoball, to museums filled with all different works of art from myriad worlds.

And if there is a city that best represents what Earth has to offer, it's New Metropolis, on the North American continent, where both Earthgov and the UP Council are located.

[ooc: ooc info and requests are here!]

Comments

The Trip Over

[legionnpcs]

The threshold hub is awful busy today and that means they have a slight wait until they'll be waved through for the trip. Timber Wolf is using this time to tell everyone about Earth.

"So here's the deal. You're allowed to leave whenever you want and go wherever you want, but we know some of you aren't familiar with our universe or traveling to other worlds or the level of technology. So juuuust in case you find yourselves in over your heads with anything, we figured I'd hang around the city so I'm right there if you need a hand. At least for your first trip."

A little boy is with him, dressed all in white, and he peeks around from behind Timber Wolf and smiles. He has a gap-toothed little smile, like many eight-year-old's.

"'Sides, I gotta take the cub here to grandma's," Timber Wolf goes on. He rolls his eyes slightly. "She's the president of the UP and for some dumb reason she thinks that means she has the right to be a bossy, sprocking piece of--"

"Da," says the boy. "I thought you said sprock is a bad word."

"--A bossy lady. She thinks she has the right to be a bossy...lady about me getting him there exactly on time for his visits." He musses the boy's hair, mostly as a distraction from what he just said. "Anyway, while we're waiting for a navigator, I can answer any questions you have about Earth. I'm from Zuun, by way of the 'Bor, but I've been to Earth often enough."

New Metropolis - Don't forget the buddy system!

[letsgolegion]

This city is the crown jewel of the UP and that means there's lots to do and see. Right now, thanks to climate control, it's a perfect day, no rain showers scheduled, a balmy 21 degrees Celsius, with a slight, artificial pleasant breeze. Some possible sights:

Cultural Centers
Interested in alien cultures? There are many cultural centers run by aliens from a variety of UP member worlds where you can learn about alien culture and history, and sometimes view live performances of theater, music, and dance.

Museums
Art museums have art from a variety of worlds and some of it is perhaps incomprehensible to people new to this universe. Modern art has gotten even stranger over the last millenia. But don't worry, some will find familiar works by some of the ancient masters, like Vincent Van Gogh, Leonardo Da Vinci, Frida Kahlo, and Pablo Picasso. Patrons will also find sculptures with impossible dimensions, restored clips of ancient movies and other media, as well as art made with soft and hard-light holograms.

For those not inclined towards art, there are history museums, with ancient Earth artifacts like automobiles, televisions, and Apples (primitive Earth computers that were barely more than calculating machines). Perhaps you might take interest in such strange artifacts as the "floppy disk," a form of data storage that held a miniscule 1.44 MB of storage!

Old Metropolis
Want to try alien food? You can find absolutely everything in Old Metropolis, where all the best restaurants and bars are located. Just make sure to let your server know your species and pay attention to the menus to make sure the food and drink is safe for you to consume. And watch out for those alcoholic beverages -- synthehol doesn't taste noticeably alcoholic, so it's very easy to forget you're drinking it. Also, don't expect to find many meat products -- the UP is heavy on the vegan food and soy substitutes. At most, you can maybe find lab-grown meat in some specialty restaurants off the beaten path.

Old Metropolis is also the best place to find shopping. Here you can find art, clothes, and countless other items to buy from countless worlds.

Sports Exhibitions
There's a magnoball exhibition in town, where people can see one of the most exciting sports in the galaxy, one where Braalians can show off their powers in high stakes games of magnetic skill. Sports fans can also catch Earth's most beloved sport -- Robo-ball. Baseball's changed over the years and that means trying to hit baseballs past robotic obstacles. One thing hasn't changed: you can still get old-fashioned Cracker Jax from one of the hovering vendomats just like in olden times!

Superhero History
For those interested in superhero history you might enjoy the Hall of Justice Museum, a museum dedicated to the heroes of the past. The Superman wing is one of the most complete, with statues of Superman with the various costumes he wore through his life and archival footage, images of news articles, and infomatics about his many accomplishments. The rest of the super-family is represented here too, with sections of their own, honoring the accomplishments of the various Supergirls, and other heroes that were part of the S-family, such as the hero known as Steel. The Superman II section is especially complete, thanks to Superboy visiting the 31st century. It chronicles his life rising up from being a Superboy into being Superman's equally beloved replacement.

But there are more heroes than the Supers to learn about. You can also explore a recreation of the Batcave and learn about the mysterious Bat-clan, visit the Wonder Wing and learn about the Themysciran hero and the sisters she accepted into her Wonder family -- all heroes in their own right, and see the holographic Memorial of the Last Martian, honoring the great hero and last survivor of Mars, the Martian Manhunter, who mysteriously disappeared at the end of his life.

for rich

[ringslinging]

If there was one thing that got Hal's attention, it was the chance to find some new shit to rib the rest of the Justice League about whenever he made it home from all of this.

So the Hall of Justice Museum was the natural first item on the agenda, and while he wasn't sure if Rich was sticking with him out of genuine curiosity or simply because he knew there was bound to be some alcohol in the future by the time they made it to the exit, the company was appreciated either way.

Everything was better with someone to rant to about it.

"I'm impressed, honestly," he said, poking at a mock-up of the computer terminals in the Batcave. "They managed to make Bruce look kind of reasonable instead of like a pathological dickhead."

he loves you, spooky. really.

[iamresponding]

Rich grinned.

"And I thought my friend Thrash was bad. You know, with the whole gloomy, vengeful vigilante shtick." He figured he ought to explain a little more. "Thrash's superhero name was Night Thrasher. He led our team, the New Warriors. Mostly black costume, endlessly hostile attitude, major chip on his shoulder. He got better over the years, though."

The smile that followed those words was a little sad and fond. It was a smile many a superhero had probably had on their faces when talking about the friends that were gone.

"Anyway, now I'm just glad he didn't hold our practices in a damn cave."

[ringslinging]

"With bats. As much as it looks like dramatic embellishment, the bats were absolutely there."

Hal dropped into the chair in front of the console, leaned back, and put his feet up on the keyboard. Exactly the kind of thing he'd never, ever get away with in Bruce's presence. Sure, it wasn't the real deal, but come on - like he was going to pass up the chance?

"Night Thrasher, though, damn. That's a name that screams 'compensating for something' if I've ever heard one."

[iamresponding]

"Hey," he said, only a little defensively, "at least he wasn't running around dressed up like a giant rodent. I've seen some ridiculous costumes in my day, but that is...that's something."

He went on, "Thrash's was a little more generic. Just a combat suit with vibranium mesh and a bunch of gadgets. And escrima sticks." He briefly smirked, clearly having to hold a laugh in. "And there was the skateboard."

He struggled to hold another laugh in. "The rocket-powered skateboard."

That was when a mental image suddenly popped up in his head and he lost it a bit. He held a hand over his mouth, but couldn't stop the laughter from tumbling out.

It was almost a giggle. Almost. Like one of the boyish giggles he used to make before the war, when he was teasing Nita or messing with the Toothpick.

It was also the kind of laugh that made him sound like he was a little out of practice with this laughing thing. Like it happened, but not nearly enough, or nearly as much as it once had.

"Imagine if --" snort "--imagine your friend there." He gestured towards one of the mannequins with a replica costume. "Your bat-friend. On a bat-skateboard. Like bats all over it. Maybe the front is kinda bat-shaped. A rocket-powered, bat-skateboard."

He laughed again, plopping down and sitting on one of the consoles because why not, his arms crossed.

"This little crossover needs a name. The Bat-Thrasher? Grimbat the Thrashman? Ooh, ooh, Night-Grim the Batslasher-Thrashman." He said the second name the way you might say the name of a couple that combined their last names when they got married. "Hyphenated."

[leverageintceo]

Parker hates the buddy system. She doesn't even care for it much when her buddies are in the same reality that she is, but she hates it when they're not. Still, she's enjoying the opportunity to get out of Legion World, and art museums are places where you can mostly ignore your buddy and enjoy the art.

Or, in Parker's case, enjoy the art and go into raptures over the security systems.

"Would you look at the motion sensors on this thing!" she says, clapping her hands together in delight. "I have got to get someone to let me look at the schematics!"

[dupaindots]

"Um."

Marinette had been dutifully following Parker through the city, because buddy system, right? It was best that they followed the buddy system since everything was so unfamiliar. And she knew the women was another Legionnaire. Naturally. So she'd just followed along.

The thing was, the lady that she was following hadn't, you know, introduced herself or anything like that, she'd just sort of started talking. And now they were looking at security systems in a museum like they were casing the place.

Which she was pretty sure was illegal?

"So," she said awkwardly. "...Who are you again? Other than another Legionnaire! I know that. I just mean. In general."

Because she'd kind of just...followed along because hey, grown up, right? Probably a good idea to follow along with a grown up.

"I'm Marinette! So maybe you can tell me your name since I told you my name and then we can look at art." Another pause. "And security systems! If that's what you want to do."

It was good to know the name of someone you were apparently accidentally casing a joint with.

Under her breath she muttered, "Just so I know the name of what will possibly be my future cellmate."

[leverageintceo]

Parker abandoned her inspection of the museum's security to regard her 'buddy' for a moment. Her relationship with teenage girls -- or at least teenage girls who weren't already engaging in criminal activity -- was still fairly fraught. One job where she'd had to babysit an entire team of cheerleaders hadn't done much to change that. This 'Marinette' might not be a cheerleader (maybe. Parker honestly wasn't sure how you could tell if they weren't wearing uniforms), but she also definitely wouldn't have been at home in a chop shop either.

"I'm Parker," she answered. She leaned forward and reached out to pat Marinette's upper arm and give her a reassuring smile.

"I am very good at what I do. We won't get arrested," she said softly, then straightened up again. "Let's go see what kind cool spacefuture stuff they have around that statue over there. Also the statue, since it's there. I don't think I know the artist, not from this distance."

[dupaindots]

She was totally going to steal something. 'I am very good at what I do. We won't get arrested' wasn't the same as 'we're not going to steal something.'

Marinette just followed along anyway because hopefully she could be a Good Influence (tm) to keep Parker out of jail.

"Okay," she said in a tiny squeaky voice.

Hiccup

[captainbuzzkill]

Dipper had found himself in a strange new place, without his sister, unsure of what his place in all this was. With nothing else to hold onto that was familiar, his instinct was to cling to anything he could that made it feel like he was where he was supposed to be.

So he was more than willing to be the personal tour guide for someone else in a museum where he actually knew what stuff was. There was little else in life that Dipper loved more than explaining things.

"That right there is a floppy disk," he explained. "Used for information storage in computers -- like our omnicoms -- in the ancient times of the 1990's. It could only hold 1.44 megabytes -- which is a really, really small amount of information. Our omnicoms can hold that times a few million, probably."

He pressed his hands against the glass to look at the faded plastic artifact inside.

"Those were dark days, those 90's," he said with a slight shudder, thinking of the few tiny, tiny documents the floppy could hold. "For many, many reasons."

Re: Hiccup

[wherenoonegoes]

Hiccup couldn't resist the urge to roll his eyes.

"Dipper, apparently I come from the actual Dark Ages. We don't even have indoor plumbing. So, this is pretty impressive, if a little less impressive than everything else."

[captainbuzzkill]

"Okay, but you don't understand. The 90's were a time when apparently everyone tried to make things 'rad' and 'all that' and that meant --"

He spotted something else, and gestured to it.

"--that. It meant the creation of things like that."

It was a VHS tape of Cool as Ice.

Dipper walked over and looked at it closely, shaking his head, wondering who the heck the curator of this museum was. Seriously.

"It's just so sad. I know this is supposedly a universe where mankind faced years of darkness and a total breakdown of society in this 'Cataclysm' that happened 500 years ago--" according to some of the exhibits anyway "--but really if you think about, the tragedy had already begun," he said reflectively. "Slowly -- and then all at once."

[wherenoonegoes]

"I think you're being a little dramatic." He of all people would know, given his expertise in being dramatic.

"But" Hiccup said, taking a better look at the poster next to the tape, "I will grant you that this Vanilla Ice person is vaguely disturbing in ways I can't quite put my finger on, so point to you. Seriously, I thought some of the Legion uniforms were clashy, but whatever he's wearing is just wrong."

Thad

[dupaindots]

Oh, look, Thad, it seems that you have a new buddy inviting herself to hover around you. Marinette was still feeling a little insecure in such a sprawling and strange city and it was reassuring to be around other Legionnaires.

So when she saw Thad in the Hall of Justice, she started to hover near him, without really saying anything about why. Doo de doo, don't mind her. Hanging around near you and following you from room to room. Doo de doo.

If Thad turned to look at her she'd just give him an awkward smile.

[mirror_soldier]

At first, he thought it was just a coincidence that he kept seeing Marinette. The Hall of Justice Museum had to be a place plenty of the newcomers to this universe would be interested in, and the two of them just so happen to show up at the same time and took a similar route through the building. Not a big deal.

But when he'd eventually doubled back through the halls to head back to the area dedicated to the Flash, he caught sight of her again.

Okay, this was no coincidence.

"Did you need something?"

[dupaindots]

"I was just following you."

Then she thought about how that sounded like she was stalking him.

"I just mean since everything is so unfamiliar, maybe it would be a good idea to stay with people from the ship? So I was just...staying near you."

Buddy system! Not stalking!

Elsewhere

[letsgolegion]

One of the great things about the threshold system is that traveling to other parts of the planet is as simple as stepping through a threshold gate and following your Kwai guide.

This means the world is your oyster and you can spend the day in other cities and places around the world before returning to New Metropolis to be guided home.

The Lost Legion Memorial

[letsgolegion]

Those interested in the Legionnaires that came before them can visit the Lost Legion Memorial, a memorial dedicated to the many lost Legionnaires that died in past conflicts or were assumed dead due to the conflict last year. The memorial is a massive holographic construct, over 50 feet tall that switches between images of the many Lost Legionnaires.

Information kiosks are located around the memorial so people can learn about the each of the missing Legionnaires. If you push a button, you'll get a random profile to learn about the life and accomplishment of a Legionnaire that was lost.

The UP Council

[letsgolegion]

The new Legionnaires have an open invitation to visit the UP Council hall and speak to representatives from a variety of UP worlds.

Or even Madame President herself, Winema Wazzo!

The UP Council hall itself is even worth a look. The massive circular hall has many floating platforms and a center platform where the group can be addressed. At the center is a large statue that represents the UP, a large golden globe with stylized sculpted planets attached to it.

daxam maybe?

[ringslinging]

The hall was impressive, even if Hal had seen enough of the impressive places in the galaxy not to be visibly overwhelmed. His gaze tracking across the room wasn't really taking in the spectacle - well, okay, maybe a little - as it was taking in the people. Noting the species he recognized (of which there were a good number), the ones he'd never encountered but was pretty sure he could match up to some he'd heard of back in his own era (still a good number), the ones he was at a loss about (definitely a decent handful of those, too, as to be expected with a thousand years of first contacts and new discoveries yet to be made).

It probably would've been a great time to have the ring around to check Oa's database and see if that filled in some of the gaps in his knowledge, but who was he kidding? Even if it were here he probably would've just started by walking into the next conversation blind anyway.

[legionnpcs]

"Ah yes, you're one of the new Legionnaires, aren't you?" said a bald man nearby, spying Hal's ring. "Come come, we really must chat. The UP Council has been so eager to speak to you new recruits, but the Legion said you needed some time to adjust and that most of you had taken ill when you first arrived, from the conditions on the planet where you appeared."

The man and his partner were wearing yellow tunics, brown pants, and extravagant robes in reds and blues. It was clearly some kind of formal attire. They both had armbands on their arms that indicated they were using something like the Legion's transuits to protect themselves -- something that made sense given the Daxamite weakness to lead.

"I am Ambassador Relend Met and this Ambassador Cira Dak," he said of his partner, a woman with short black hair and skin as tan as Relend's. "We are the delegates from the planet Daxam. I don't suppose the Legion has already familiarized you with the worlds of the UP?"

The two of them kept their hands in the sleeves of their robes, something that was either an innocent habit or possibly some of the subtle xenophobia Daxam was known for shining through.

[ringslinging]

"I'm Hal Jordan. A pleasure, Ambassador Met, Ambassador Dak," Hal nodded, keeping his hands at his sides - that much was simple habit anyway, given how many species he'd encountered who had no idea what to do with a handshake (or weren't equipped for it at all anyway), but it seemed even more appropriate not to try for one once he heard the word Daxam.

That Daxamites were here at all, interacting with the rest of the UP, even perhaps with a bit of aloofness, was a far cry from what he'd expect given the politics of his own era.

For all that Hal's brashness and - lack of forethought, to put it gently - were somewhat infamous in his own time, he wasn't entirely without the ability to behave himself. The fact that he deeply preferred the kinds of missions that ended in punching things in the face didn't change the fact that he couldn't shove every assignment in his sector that required subtlety off to John. Politics wasn't his arena, but he had some idea of what he was walking into by coming here.

Dental work sounded like more fun, frankly, but duty was duty.

"They've briefed us, yes. On some worlds better than others, given how much information it is to take in at once, but in my case it's more a matter of catching up than starting fresh."

Roboticans?

[mirror_soldier]

This may have been a mistake. He couldn't get over the feeling he didn't really belong here. While that didn't stop him from holding himself with all the confidence and pride he could muster, every new occurrence of someone assuming he'd joined the Legion, only to look disappointed or incredulously ask 'why not?' when he revealed he hadn't, only furthered the feeling.

But he had been invited, and no one had tried to stop him or tell him to get out, so mistake or not, he was determined to stay and get something from this.

Still he'd unconsciously slipped further back into reclusiveness as the meeting had gone on, staying at the edges of the gathering, and regressing back to old habits of merely watching and listening. Hoping to have his curiosity sated by passing conversation instead of continuing with seeking out answers. It was admittedly proving to be a very flawed strategy.

Re: Roboticans?

[legionnpcs]

"Greetings!" said a nearby robot. "I am Mechanoid J567/KST series and this is my partner JT84/LRD Series. We are the ambassadors from Robotica. You are one of the new dimensionally displaced Legionnaires, correct? We would like to register our fascination."

The eye lens apertures of the two robots widened with curiosity.

"Fascination!" enthused JT84. "Please, come speak with us. We would like to satisfy curiosity and offer you salutations for your arrival to this universe."