ʁʍ oo1; text

[inhisherosimage]

[Maybe he's being overly cautious, but Tim isn't entirely sure if he's still in the Unternet and thus the city is just some trick, and so he chooses to make his first entry on the cities network text only. His decision is further bolstered by the uniform stowed away - the uniform further complicating the location decision. If he wasn't in the Unternet, then logically he shouldn't have that uniform. Still, Tim knows at least how find if he has any allies in this unknown city - virtual world or not.]

Well. That was a pretty rude awakening. I'm not used to waking in the tub surrounded by strangers. I mean, sure the tour of the city was different and the welcome pamphlet is a nice touch. But I'm not a huge fan of waking up in some fantasy movie and being told I'm going to fight some big bad evil. I'm not really the hero type.

Heck, I haven't even had my morning coffee.

Oh! Name's Todd Richards. Don't suppose anyone here has heard of Star City? Or knows where to get that coffee? [That should pique the interest of anyone familiar with his dimension. And the name should alert any close allies...]

Comments

[laylaknowsstuff]

[Layla's interested.]

Heard of Star City, never been. I tend to stick to New York and the tri-state area. Welcome to the Turtle, hope you enjoyed the Cylon awakening experience.

There are a couple of decent places around to get coffee, Todd. D'you want loaded with sugar, or greasy spoon?

[inhisherosimage]

[Someone familiar with the city suggests someone from the same world as him. Or, it could simply be someone who knows of the world. From what he's been told about this city and from what he's parsed from the network, he can't be sure. If any of it is real, of course.]

I'd tell you that you should drop by sometime or something, but it's just home, nothing special. Unless we're being attacked by some villain or another. One of my brothers worked in New York for a while, though, so that's pretty cool. [A shred of truth in what he's saying.]

Thanks. I'm not sure I'm getting my head around the Turtle thing. And the wake-up ceremony was... well.

Oh. Actually, I need somewhere that serves it strong and black. When I said coffee, I meant the stuff that's pretty much highly caffeinated tar.

[backwordscompatible]

[The name...means nothing to her. At all. As for the City? Well, she recognized it, of course, and was immediately curious. Not enough to give everything away just yet. Not until she knew for certain.]

[...and once she realized exactly what her train of thought had been leading her to, she immediately blamed contagious Batparaoia and all the awful influences around her.]

There's a few cafes in the area where you might be able to get a decent cup. It's no Starbucks, but it'll do.

[inhisherosimage]

[Giving nothing away then.] Starbucks isn't really my style to be honest. But I'm taking recommendation for the place that sells the strongest, worst tasting coffee.

text;

[modernized]

[Star City is certainly a familiar location, but he's not going to focus too hard on that right now. Questions, if they come up, can be saved for later when the new guy's feeling up to it.]

If this is a flick then I think everyone is willing to let the credits start rolling by now. Coffee can be found in some cafes around in the city. Or what I assume is the closest thing to coffee they have here. Fantasy turtle you know.

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[inhisherosimage]

[Tim decides to play dumb in keeping with the persona, and to help him confirm what he's learned so far from the network.] Things that bad here? I mean, being told I have to fight That-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named was bad enough, but is this thing that bad?

You mean they might not have actual coffee here? This day is getting better and better.

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[animosus]

[Well of course he knows Star City.]

Star City, home of Green Arrow.

[He's far less cautious in his approach since the lanterns are all public here. Hal is guessing this is one of Bruce's kids with that kind of name, it's just a question of which kid and which universe.]

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[inhisherosimage]

[Now that's a face he recognises, which is a bit of a relief. But he stays on text and he stays anonymous for now - there's no such thing as being too safe when you're a Bat. And just because he recognises the face, doesn't mean he's not still slumming it in digital world.]

Sure is! Though I got into an argument with a classmate once about that. He was convinced Green Lantern was from there - needless to say he knows nothing about superheroes.

[Text]

[tactile_telekinesis]

At least you didn't wake up in the ocean and have to get fished out. You wake up in fantasy movies often?

Heard of Star City and there's cafe's about which'll get that coffee for ya.

[Text]

[inhisherosimage]

I don't know, that sounds much better than having a bunch of people watching me in the bathtub. [That said, salt-water has a horrible habit of leaving precipitation on things.]

Yeah, I don't really make a habit of it. This is kinda my first time. Any advice?

video

[backinakidflash]

[Bart can't ignore a Star City name drop, so many of the people that arrive here were from planets so different that some major cities never happened. He almost replies back in kind, as he generally matches network styles, but he knows people from Star City and wants to draw them out. With a name like Todd Richards, it is probably not Mia Dearden. Probably. that doesn't mean it's not another passenger on the SS Arrow.

Besides, the name Todd Richards sounds weird. Todd. It's such a stupid name. What mean parents you have to get saddled with Todd. To-odd. Blech. He flips on a video feed.]

It's no Keystone, but, yeah, I've heard of Star City. Too many indie bands playing in coffee shops, not enough trucks blasting country rock in the DQ parking lot.

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[inhisherosimage]

[Tim knows that face, and all paranoia aside it's still one of his best friends and he likes to think that he knows when it's them and not a trick. Which would then mean that he wasn't in the Unternet? Not that he knew the ins-and-outs of the virtual world enough to be an expert and know what was to be expected. But bare with him while he tries to figure out how to encrypt messages on this computer anyway.]

At least they're all better than Gotham, right? [Maybe Bart might run with that?]

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[andaway]

[Star City.

While Todd Richards doesn't run a bell out of the blue (which he will feel stupid about later if he ever finds out), it's a name that hasn't come up often, so he doubts there are Star Cities all over the other universes. Still, there are a ton of other possibilities- like their own particular multiverse. Is this the young, not-Green Arrow Oliver trying to pass as someone else out of paranoia? Clark never thought he'd say that, but he misses the young man.]

Welcome, Todd. I'm Clark Kent, and even though I've never heard your name we must be from a similar universe. We also have Star City where I'm from. Ever heard of Green Arrow?

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[inhisherosimage]

[Well, whatever this place is, people he's familiar with seem to be pouring out of the woodwork. If the whole being brought here to fight some evil being, then that wasn't really all that surprising. There was an abundance of hero-types back home. Yet to be able to bring so many people - powerful people - into a place with apparent ease? That he couldn't make sense of quite yet. At least it would give him something to keep busy with...]

Clark Kent? I know that name from somewhere? TV?

Hasn't everyone from Star City heard of him?

[looksfine]

[A young, green-"skinned" teen appears on screen, preferring speech to impersonal texting. While she was under certain confidentiality orders from her superior, there was nothing wrong with greeting new persons in a friendly, casual manner.]

Hello, Todd Richards.

I currently do not possess any records of this Star City. Is that the name of your place of origin?

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[inhisherosimage]

[He doesn't recognise the face, and so it's safer to keep to text.]

Hey! Yeah that where I came here from.

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[lookedtothestars]

[The message appears to be innocuous enough unless he is missing some subtlety -which is not out of the question- and it will give him an opportunity to actually put the English he has learned to practice.]

Coffee is available at the markets and cafes.

[Or something similar enough to it. The substance isn't one he was acquainted with before arriving, so he can't judge on actual authenticity, though Lois finds it acceptable and considers it coffee.]

Tea is more common.

You will find that not only hero types were brought here.

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[inhisherosimage]

Cool! I'll head out and grab some. I think it'd be cool to do a bit of exploring anyway. Only so much you can see on the trip from the palace.

[Tim had suspected that a number of the people on the network were without traits immediately useful in this war they were apparently brought here. This confirmed it. Still, didn't hurt to dig.] Wait, so there's more people like me? Who don't even know why they were brought here? How are we supposed to fight a war if we don't have any skills?

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[justlittle]

[Bean memorizes the ID that comes along with the post and assigns it the name "Todd Richards." He's never heard of Star City, but a quick peer through the other comments on the post reveals the names of other cities-- notably Gotham. So this Richards is from a similar world to that of Damian, Grayson and Damian's father. And still no one from his own world since Ender left.

He'll have to ask Damian if he knows anyone by the name Todd Richards. Or knows anyone from Star City.]

Welcome to Keeliai, Todd. Depending on what Sector you have been housed in, I can recommend a number of good cafes.

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[inhisherosimage]

Yeah, thanks. Not sure I want to be here, but whatever.

Oh. I'm in metal sector. Anywhere that sells a good strong coffee around here?

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[starcharter]

There is information on the network about this ancient evil we are expected to fight. Perhaps you would want to settle in first, however.

As for coffee, I prefer this cafe in Metal Sector. [He usefully gives very clear, very precise directions.]

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[inhisherosimage]

[Tim was beginning to like that information was so readily accessible on this network...] Thanks, I'll be sure to look it up. Not like I have anything better to do with my time than familiarise myself with whatever I'm expected to fight. Not sure how I'm expected to do that though. I guess I could lecture them on business management or something?

Oh! Great! Best answer I've been given all day! Coffee, here I come.

[text]

[apologiesmyking]

[If nothing else, Kaldur recognizes Star City, but it seems like such a common name that it may mean nothing. He doesn't like to make assumptions before he meets someone, but there is enough of a chance that this person could be from his world. Based on his other conversations he knows of Green Arrow, so perhaps he is a civilian from his world, or one similar to it.]

Greetings, Todd Richards. It can be disorienting to find yourself in such an unexpected location, but most of the kedan and Foreigners like you and I are helpful. We accomplish more together than we do at odds with each other.

I do not drink coffee myself, but some of the shops in Fire Sector are well patroned. I do not know if we are thinking of the same city, but Star City in my world is a lively place.

[text]

[inhisherosimage]

It is more than a little weird, yeah. I guess I'll have to get used to it, hu? Anywhere I can go to get more information without having to ask around?

Cool! I'll check out Fire Sector too. By the end of this week, I'm going to be a kedan coffee expert!

Oh, yeah, Star City can be pretty crazy!

voice;

[hulkintraining]

There's a decent cafe in the Water Sector. I can send you the directions. It's not the best you've ever had type of place, but it's no worse then what you'll find anywhere else.

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[inhisherosimage]

Nice! Send them my way! I have recommendations for every sector now. I'm sure one of these places has to do coffee strong enough.

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[sonofsamcro]

You better buckle down, because that fantasy bullshit's just gonna get worse.

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[inhisherosimage]

Hooray! Just what I wanted!

But seriously? It's going to get worse?

text; anon

[cowled]

Star City don't mean much around here, kid. If it's coffee you want, though, your best bet's bound to be on 16th ave and 21st street.

[Coincidental dates? Maybe just a little.]

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[inhisherosimage]

[The anonymity of the response was the first suggestion that whoever he was talking to had a special brand of paranoia; he was a new arrival and the general assumption should be that he wouldn't be able to tie identities to their network presence. So responding anonymous was a little strange.

But those street numbers? Tim might not be great at remembering his own birthday, but everything he could possibly know about the other members of the Bat family was firmly stored in his memory. August 16th - Jason's birthday. March 21st - Dick's birthday. Had he not used the name that he had, Tim might not have thought anything about the anonymous message.

But he had. Still, he doesn't jump to conclusions - certainly not publicly.]

I dunno, a few people seem to know it. 16th and 21st? What district would I find them in?