text | un: realbrucewayne (☑)

[menarebrave]

There are more new faces here than I've seen in a long time. Let's keep introductions short. My name is Bruce Wayne, multi-billionaire who now works on the board for Mr. Wechester's company. I'm sure you'll have heard of him at some point the longer you are here.

You're in a reality known as Haven. It's a desert filled environment with people who seem to believe in survival before anything else. Given the state of this outpost - city? I can't say I blame them. It seems like they'll let us take up odd jobs. Most of us have our current jobs in tact, even if the buildings outside have changed in appearance.

Your phone will allow you to contact any of us who are your fellow reality travelers. We seem to flux into new realities every few months, but, there's never any guarantee how long we're in one place for. Magic exists among your fellow travelers - so do superpowers and superheroes. We all come from different realities. Some of us come from the same ones.

I'm starting a project... a team. If you're willing to help gather information on the realities we traverse to and keep an eye on things? Get in touch with me.

For everyone else that's new? Introduce yourselves to one another.

( threadhop all you'd like! bruce will be keeping an eye out on things. )

Comments

[finalrequest]

The end of the world does have ways of making countries collapse. I know the last president died some months back, but there wasn't much of a country left when she passed. Just a bunch of disconnected Knot Cities and people trying to rebuild them into a new county.

No, there isn't. The cycle of life and death itself was broken, and even if the Cities manage to hold on and not turn to infighting immediately, it's not something that can be fixed.

That's a big downer, I know.

[menarebrave]

Humanity always finds a way to rebuild and be better. We have to. Otherwise, we're not going to see a future in any reality.

There's no way to fix that cycle? Or, you just haven't found it yet?

[ Meet the world's greatest detective, Higgs. ]

[finalrequest]

Well, nobody is having kids anymore. You're lucky to get any kids at all in the smaller towns. In the cities, you're looking at maybe 100 new births a year or thereabouts.

There isn't a way to fix it.

Or, well, there's a way to STOP it from happening anymore, but that involves a being known as the Extinction Entity destroying all life on Earth.

To tell you the truth, there was a time when I wanted that and was the Herald, but I don't want it anymore. There's still nothing that can be done about it, though. It will happen, it's just a matter of when the Extinction Entity goes through with it.

[World's greatest detective, meet world's most cynical man.]

[menarebrave]

I'm guessing the danger is too great for people to want to create families.

[ What A Pair. I dig it. ]

What happens when your Extinction Entity goes off? There has to be a way to restart life in your version of Earth. Things are... persistent to say the least.

[ Unfortunately, Bruce has no idea about the Mother Boxes. So there goes that idea. ]

[finalrequest]

It's more like nobody wants to bother getting close enough to even attempt to procreate. Most people live alone, even in the cities.

In the past, life has survived. Mammals emerged from the extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs, for instance. That much is true.

In this latest case, though... well. Maybe the Earth will start over with bacteria, but even that is doubtful. Sea life was completely wiped out by the Stranding, and that WASN'T the Extinction Event that's to come.

The Extinction Entity isn't a hypothetical for the record, She's a person. I've spoken with Her on multiple occasions. She's had a whole plan cooked up for decades. Likely longer than I've been alive.

[menarebrave]

The end of the human race comes down to fear as opposed to a disastrous event. Fitting.

A person that can't be reasoned with? Made to see the value of what she destroys? Or, is it, something she can't stop no matter what? Sounds like a rather infuriating god-like being to know.

[finalrequest]

it's both.

You can't reason with a force of nature, after all. There have been other Extinction Entities in the past, five, to be exact. The whole gradual or sudden changes in environment stories they tell is because the truth, that one Entity has the power to wipe out all life on a whim, is incredibly frightening.

She'll feed you a lot of feel-good lines about how helping Her is the right thing to do, but at the end of the day the Extinction Entity doesn't care about anyone, and likely never has.

[menarebrave]

[ You can't reason with a force of nature? No. But, argue and try to stop it? Bruce Wayne certainly would. This is the man that found a way to bring a near-godly like being to a mortal level for a toss around an abandoned building. ]

Did you fall for those feel-good lines? Or, did the possible extinction and resetting of life on the planet just sound like a good idea? I'm guessing that the idea of it all ending when the world is in a dire place seems more appealing.

[finalrequest]

I was told I had a part in it. I just didn't realize that my part was "be turned into a villain against your will to manipulate a man She had wrapped around Her finger his entire life".

I did horrible things, because I was so taken in by something I couldn't even begin to understand I thought I was the one in control.

I wasn't.

[menarebrave]

I'm not sure why she'd need someone else to manipulate him if she could just dangle him in any direction she'd need to.

[ Then again, it isn't like Bruce Wayne has luck with women long term. Or luck with anything long term other than being a broody vigilante. ]

Well, I know a thing or two about thinking you're in control when you're not. What matters is the steps you take next. So, what do you have planned for us here?

[ Way to be nosy and on the point, Bruce. ]

[finalrequest]

She cooked up a story about how I'd kidnapped Her. Knowing him, he wasn't going to do shit otherwise. That, and She's been pretending to be his beloved older sister his entire life. It's fucked up.

You'll be either disappointed or relieved to know I don't plan on doing anything.

Unless you end up in the library in which case I'll probably have to help you out.

[menarebrave]

It sounds like it. Well, the other realities I've been to haven't been as complicated as that. At least, not at the level we get involved in. I guess you could consider it a vacation.

Maybe both. You have no plans of doing anything at all? No jobs or home business?

[finalrequest]

I work at the library.

I know a lot about books; I'm currently working my way through what the library's got. That's about it, really. I'm not much of a figuring out the mysteries of the universe guy. I got my fill of that back home.

[menarebrave]

That's more mundane than I expected.

Any favorites that you've come across so far? Moby Dick?

[finalrequest]

I used to be a porter. That was dangerous enough of a job I couldn't say no to something a bit more safe.

My favorite book's Cat's Cradle, but I haven't found a copy of it around here. Kind of a shame.

[menarebrave]

A porter. [ Name relation? ]

The children's book?

[finalrequest]

Delivery man, if you prefer.

Children's book? I'm talking about the Kurt Vonnegut novel where a mad scientist created a type of ice that, if it were to touch water, would immediately freeze over all of the world's oceans and lakes.