The Telepathic Disaster Test Drive Meme

[letsgolegion]

THE TELEPATHIC DISASTER MEME

The Time Trapper, the being responsible for bringing people into the Legion's universe, is up to some strange tricks! It's now creating illusions of alternate universes and dumping the Legionnaires into them to try to test them as Legionnaires. Each time this happens, the captives -- er, participants have knowledge of the scenario, their role, and what they're supposed to accomplish planted into their heads, but still remember who they once were. To complicate things, the Legionnaires from the 31st century aren't the only ones pulled into this adventure. Strange people from many worlds are being yanked in and finding themselves thrust right into the heart of these conflicts. These universes are technically just illusions (probably!) and all the participants have an inherent knowledge of this placed in their heads, but it's up to them if they believe it -- and the danger is real. If you die in one of these scenarios you stay dead. This time everyone is being dumped into a scenario where they're dealing with... AN ATTACK ON TITANTHE SETTING SIE SIND DAS ESSEN UND WIR SIND DIE JAGER-- Er, a different attack on Titan. Titan, Saturn's moon, is a beautiful colonized world with elegant cities and black methane seas. It has long been inhabited by the Titanians, a race of human-looking telepaths that live in the shadow of Saturn's rings. Renowned for their mental abilities -- and sometimes feared for them -- the Titanians are instrumental to the ongoing function of the United Planets. Titan's capital city, Titanopolis, is home to the Titanet Tower, the central hub of the telepathy-fueled communication networks that allow for long-distance communication and data transmission for the entire whole UP. That's why Titanopolis is under attack by terrorists in the employ of the cosmic horror known as Chronoblivion. This attack is slamming the city on multiple fronts, causing a variety of different disasters, and some of them are a special kind of nasty thanks to the telepathic nature of Titanopolis' citizens. Your character has found themselves in the middle of the chaos. The streets are filled with the sounds of running feet, breaking glass, and methane explosions, but the voices of the Titanians are strangely silent, due to their tendency to speak via telepathy instead of with speech. Instead of hearing it with their ears, your character's mind is filled to the brim with the Titanians' mental screams. While it's possible that the civilians in this scenario aren't real, there's no way to be 100% sure. What your character can be sure of is that if they are real, they need their help. (Based on player preference, for the purposes of the meme, characters can either lose powers, retain their canon powers, or find themselves with new powers. It's up to you.) SCENARIO A: CHILDHOOD FEARS Psionic devices all around the city are telepathically injuring Titanians and causing their powers to go berserk, which is leading to a nasty slew of effects. One type of device is causing Titanians to bring the childhood fears of themselves and others to life and make them tangible. Whether those fears are puppets, the clown from IT, being sucked through the drain in a swimming pool, Bloody Mary, or spiders, those fears can come to life and become tangible enough to do damage to more than just your character's youthful psyche. They can be as simple as scary animals like snakes, or complex enough to be capable of speech, based on player preference. Fortunately, the devices seem to be focusing only on old childhood fears, but that still won't be all that reassuring when your character is facing down the living embodiment of an illustration from "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" that they never could quite get out of their heads. Still, these constructs can be destroyed several ways: by the character facing the fear, destroying the device causing the effect in that particular area, or good ol' fashioned brute force. SCENARIO B: METHANE IS APPARENTLY FLAMMABLE The city is a bit like Venice on Earth, connected by various canals and channels. While standard hover-craft, threshold gates, and monorails are responsible for most transportation, gondolas still ferry around those who want a scenic route over the sluggish methane streams and lakes. The concentration of gases in the atmosphere, and a vast network of outdoor fire suppression systems help keep any methane burnoffs from being dangerous -- usually. But explosive devices that have been planted around the city's canals and methane-ways are also pumping explosive accelerants into each blast. This means there are quite a few people that need rescue. Some are trapped in debris from structures collapsing due to explosions. Others are trapped in buildings that are rapidly becoming consumed by fires that the firefighters are having difficulty fighting due to methane feeding into them. The firefighters and rescue workers are overwhelmed and definitely need a hand rescuing civilians and containing the blazes. SCENARIO C: MASS PANIC Sometimes people panic in the face of disaster. Sometimes crowds can get violent with each other, due to their fear, and that effect will be ten times worse due to the Titanians accidentally projecting their fear via telepathy and torquing each other up as they try to get to safe places or loot stores for supplies. This projected panic won't affect only the Titanians, either. While working to calm crowds and usher the Titanians to safer places, rescuers will have to fight through a range of negative emotions being projected onto them by the scared telepaths -- everything from terror to frustration to hopelessness. SCENARIO D: PROP HUNT Some nasty creatures have been released in the chaos -- dangerous Sitrekian trillifs. These small, vicious, semi-sentient creatures have amorphous bodies that can sharpen into harder forms -- usually ones with dangerous teeth and claws, capable of maiming or killing sentients. These mimics take on the form of random objects to hide from threats and to lay in wait so they can ambush their prey and feed on their blood. The only thing that can give their location away is the low-level psychic feedback they give off while transformed into an object. The closer someone is to a trillif, the more they hear their psychic whispers and the more they get "the creeps," sensations of hair standing on the back of the neck, skin crawling, etc. Trillifs are much easier to kill while in solid form, meaning that it's ideal for your characters to work together and figure out what objects they're hiding as before they transform back -- the moment they transform into their real forms, they're much harder to destroy. Unfortunately, the trillifs that have been released into this conflict to cause even more suffering are fairly intelligent, and thus are hiding in places that are to their advantage. To hunt them down, characters will have to face them in areas with lots of potential objects they could be hiding as, such as in abandoned futuristic malls. SCENARIO E: AFTERMATH Want to have an option that's a little more conversational? Characters can chit-chat in the aftermath of the attack and meet each other only after everything is over. There are still injured Titanians to help move to safer places and work to be done, but the characters can have a moment to bond while finally getting a breather. SCENARIO F: WILD CARD Have an idea for something that you don't see an option for? There's lots that can be done with telepathic threats. Perhaps a device causes the Titanians to make your character suddenly ruled by their id, or to have their entire personality invert to be its opposite. Players are free to make up their own threats and scenarios. (Don't worry about getting anything "right," this is a test drive, and the bubble universe is a little slippery and mutable! Get messy!) OOC INFO ✦ Current players in game can jump into this and do starters if they like so they can play with new players and each other. This meme will count as part of the game canon for those that opt in, though they'll find their memories somewhat fuzzy afterward. These threads can count toward your AC, however the "new CR" credit cannot be applied since not every character joining in is guaranteed to join the game. This takes place just before "The Spies Who Sprocked Us" and "Through the Looking Glass." ✦ Potential players can use this as a standard test drive and may use these threads as their log samples. However, at least one post in their thread must fit the requirements for apps, both in length (200 words) and in quality. If you do plan on using a thread as a sample, please make sure the writing throughout your threads is a good example of your writing skills and has some solid examples of the character's voice. ✦ Potential players can also opt to keep these threads as game canon when they app in, so that their character remembers the scenario and then suddenly finds themselves in the game universe. However, this is opt in and players can choose to introduce their characters fresh if they'd prefer that and no other characters will remember they were there. Please just note which you'd like in the additional info field on your app. ✦ If you are considering apping to the game, currently 2 of 40 player slots are available, but new player reserves open and close at the game fairly frequently, and slots open regularly due to natural drops. The character limit is 4 characters per player. You can also scope out some of the game's upcoming plots here to get an idea of what kind of plots are in the game and what's to come. ✦ Non-players who like the meme but aren't really considering apping to the game are free to jump in. The more the merrier! The Time Trapper wants a confusing situation and will enjoy the chaos of lots of strange people trying to figure out what's going on.

Comments

Jade Harley | Homestuck

[clamberlass]

a: encounters with him are kind of............intense!!!

[ it's probably easy to miss the sight of a dog eared girl with a swallow tailed grey hood pulled up over her head, regardless of how loud she's yelling. her shouts are mingling with the titans', but her's aren't mental, so maybe that might allow you to notice her. furthermore, there's something about her tone... she's arguing with someone. an old man with a curly mustache, his figure still and his expression unreadable. ]

I will not get off this planet and go get a rifle! I don't need one to help the people here, and if you are not noticing, they kind of really need help!!!!!

[ her expression's fierce, fists balled up by her sides, and her frown is so deep set that it's a little worrisome. the old man is uh, still not talking. ] No! You listen to me, I am already here and there is so many sad things happening so I will not focus on this argument with you!!

[ the girl turns on her heel, red shoes sparkling, and then jade harley positively bellows out, fury still lacing her voice: ] Love you!!!!

b: i would like to think that i would still do the right thing!

[ jade harley is nothing if not plucky. despite the sheer amount of debris coming from the explosions, the utter chaos littering the street, she's on a mission and it shows. she's lifting a chunk of what looks and feels a lot like stone, but it's twice her size and probably triple her weight. despite this, jade removes one hand to wipe at her brow, and a streak of ash stains in her wake. she's still holding up the stone, and she flips it. it lands a few inches away.

now that it's been removed, jade can see there's an opening. this must have once been a building that collapsed, because there's a gaggle of titans inside and it's a steep drop, but jade smiles triumphantly, confidently, and her chipper voice matches that mood. ]

I am going inside. Can you spot me?

c: you will just have to be brave and strong!

[ jade's not particularly fantastic with people, but she cares a lot about them. as such, when it came up that they'd have to get the natives somewhere safe, she made sure she was in on that. (jade also made sure she had a hand in just about everything going on, but shush.) jade's not an expert in titanian ages or anything, but she gets the feeling she's dealing with a boatload of children here. they look like they might be grade school aged, and she's chewing on her lip as she tries to console a smaller child. ]

Oh, I know it is pretty scary but do you think that the moon just gives up floating around out there just because space is big and scary?

[ she isn't doing an absolutely amazing job at it, and when that becomes apparent through the child sniffling and looking down, jade's expression shifts in a near perfect imitation of the "D:" emoji. ] Oh nooooo...

d: stop being a big baby!!!

[ jade's easily amused by the smaller things in life, so when she enters what might be a vintage looking candy shop - she thinks because it smells sweet and the decor is a little more to her taste - she pauses to look around. it's empty, of course, so with a little giggle, she cups her mouth and shouts out: ] Let's all be friends, and work as a team! Squiddles for you, Squiddles for me!

[ all right, so she's actually singing the squiddles theme into an abandoned candy shop, supposedly thinking she is alone, but. details. ]

e: i know what it is now and i know everything is going to be ok!

[ the aftermath isn't actually something jade has a lot of familiarity with. for years now, she's been hurtling towards the climax of her journey. the fight against jack has never been over, and now she's here, immediately tossed into the chaos... it's quiet. the lights of the shelter are dim, and she thinks she hears snoring here and there. jade, however, cannot sleep. instead, her mind is wandering a million miles an hour, and she finds herself shuffling off to the drink station to grab something warm and comforting.

water cooler conversation, then. ]

You know... we have a full day tomorrow. You should sleep. [ pot, meet kettle. jade deduces very quickly that the most likely reason someone would be up is because they, too, have a lot on their mind and can't think calmly. relatable, then, but she's still concerned for others over herself. ]

d. screams into the abyss

[turntex]

[The tune is distant and muffled but oddly familiar. And when he gets a little closer and it gets a bit clearer, it's even more odd in its familiarity, because he's pretty damn sure Squiddles isn't actually a thing in this world.

He only recognizes the voice as he's just ducking into the abandoned store to check it out. In his defense, he's only ever talked with Jade with actual spoken words on a handful of occasions, but he still feels like an idiot for not realizing sooner than when he's already got eyes on her, unexpectedly present and unsurprisingly cheerful in the middle of a warzone.

Actually seeing her is like a punch to the heart, in a not necessarily unpleasant way. There's the faint surge of anxiety, all the shit he hadn't yet had a chance to talk to her about suddenly a pressing issue again. But for the most part it's a pang of relief and excitement.

Shit, he's missed her.

Dave is quiet a moment, hanging back in the doorway. A breath to steady himself -- keep it cool, Strider -- before he actually speaks up.]

Jesus, Harley, this universe was lucky enough to be spared the kiddie show squid hell. Don't go inflicting that shit on an unsuspecting reality.

Commander Shepard | Mass Effect

[thebioticwoman]

A - Garrus Must Never Know

Shepard had forgotten this particular nightmare decades ago, but her subconscious missed the memo, coughing up a bit of long-buried terror in response to the telepathic misfires of the Titanians. Silhouetted by the methane fires licking along the canals stands a monster, three times the height of a human, almost skeletally thin but covered in jagged scales and baring needle teeth in a snarl, a crest of spikes protruding from its skull and its clawed hands dripping red with blood. While she can barely remember the dreams this bad boy starred in even with a telepathic assist, Shepard has to give her toddler self credit for whipping up a pretty impressive bogeyman...unless that's just the Titanians' powers filling in the gaps.

It's a turian, twisted by the fear of a confused child into a looming demon of sharp teeth and razor claws. The disciplined, reliable turians, the people she wants very much to have at her back in the coming war, are among the last things in the universe that can scare her now, and Shepard almost laughs. If she had her armor, it wouldn't have been "almost," but she's not certain this thing can't rip her apart--baby Jane had certainly believed it could, and had woken her poor father in tears night after night, too young to adequately explain her fears or to understand that the war with the turians had ended almost before it began.

"Okay, handsome." Shepard's eyes shine blue-white and the glow of a biotic barrier envelops her. "One dance."

Good thing Garrus isn't here. She'd never live it down.

B - If You Have Open Hydrocarbon Lakes in an Oxidizing Atmosphere You Really Ought to Install More Hardened and Fault-Tolerant Fire Suppression Systems

'Seal your hardsuit and pump down the compartment' only works on a ship or station...and when you're wearing a hardsuit, for that matter. Currently, Shepard comes up short on both counts, and she ducks behind a sturdy planter that can provide a blast shadow to shield her all-too-burnable skin if anything should explode while she's thinking. Telepathic monsters aside, this feels like an N school exercise. Only her special forces trainers would be sadistic enough to take all her gear, set fire to Venice's canals, and then dump her in the middle of it. No one who seriously wants her dead would bother to be so elaborate about it. Shepard briefly considers the possibility none of the screaming people around her are real, but that's a hell of a gamble without better evidence than a general feeling of 'oh, come on.'

So. Time to be a hero.

Shepard vaults over her cover, destroying a few plants as she does so, and starts doing what only a fool would--sprinting towards the burning buildings.

E/F - Come Here Often?

Things have more or less calmed down, but in Shepard's experience, that's when the surprise follow-up catastrophe happens, so she's not relaxing just yet. Malfunctioning machinery can still explode. Over-stressed buildings can still collapse. Injured people can still bleed out. The corpse of the asshole who caused all the trouble can still be reanimated by an ancient, vastly intelligent warship bent on wiping out galactic civilization--okay, maybe that last one is overly specific.

Anyway, the point is, she's still alert, and a good thing too, as above her a damaged section of skyway gives out under the weight of an insufficiently cautious firefighter. The man leaps back to relative safety quickly enough to avoid a fall, but a rain of steel and concrete is still falling. Without a word, Shepard all but slams into the person standing nearest to her, throwing her hands out to both sides, an aura of blue-white light surrounding her. Around the two of them appears a glowing, crackling sphere of that same light, the air electric with biotic power as she raises a barrier. It sparks and flares under the barrage of rubble, and Shepard hisses with the effort of sustaining the protection. Fortunately, it's over quickly, and she lets the shield drop, straightening from her defensive crouch.

"Hi."

[OOC: I'm fine with brackets if you're not feelin' prose.]

B

[mercurypowermakeup]

Shepard wasn't the only one running towards the burning buildings. Another woman, no wait, a teenage girl was running towards them as well. She didn't appear to be scared or seem to notice that what she was doing could be suicidal. There was a clear blue visor over her eyes and she seemed to be muttering to herself as her eyes darted from one burning building to another.

She really didn't have time to make it to all of the buildings at once and she knew that her powers couldn't put out all the flames. Still, she was going to try and do what she could. People were in danger and it was her job to help out in any way possible, even it it meant putting her life on the line.

She hated making the decision, but she came to a stop in front of the closest building and created a ball of water in her hands that seemed to grow as she lifted it above her head. Once it got big enough, Ami threw it at the flames, attempting to create a way in.

B!

[goddamnwingman]

It's not the first time that Dick's dropped into the middle of a crowd of people running away from something. Usually, though, he knows how the hell he got there.

Still, he's not the kind of person to turn away from people who need help. Wouldn't have been even without Batman's training. Which is why he takes off toward the burning building as well, weaving through the panicked crowd fairly easily.

When he notices that he's not the only one running that direction, Dick changes trajectory just a bit so that he finds himself meeting up with her. A quick glance at her uniform left him with the impression that, like him, she probably wasn't from around here. At least, she wasn't dressed like anybody else around them.

"Don't suppose you know where the water pumps are around here?" Well. It was possible that she WAS from around here, after all.

E

[pffft]

[Shepard's shield bubble companion in this case happens to be a car. A black and white space car, to be exact. One that had skidded to a stop upon seeing the the crumbling skyway snap free of its supports. Before Prowl can shift into reverse and back away to safety, he finds himself brushing up against some kind of blue force field. He can recognize this one as one of the Legionnaires.]

[There's a pause as the danger subsides. If Shepard looks closer, she'll see that there are a handful of Titanians held in its cabin. He's a patrol car, not an ambulance, but he can still ferry a few of the injured. The car clears its car throat as it speaks.]

Ahem - yes. Good work. Though with the debris I will need to find an alternate route to leave these locals at the nearest repair clinic.

[The car begins to back up the way it came.]

E

[prettycoolguy]

The Chief is lugging a generator when he hears the crack of the skyway overhead. He's fast, but he's not going to be fast enough to save the equipment. (He'll be fine, he's always fine, and that's not the important thing here.)

But then, the hit doesn't come. He looks up at the blue shield, surprised, then down at the woman who made it when she speaks.

"...Thanks," he says. There's a question in his voice, though. Who are you? Where did you come from? It's something along those lines.

A

[calibrates_big_guns]

Well. About that.

It just so happens that Garrus is here, picking his way through the chaos and doing what he can. He'd managed to break one of the devices, but it didn't seem to be doing too much good -- he figures there's more than one of them out there, and the signals are overlapping. He's been hunting around, looking for more, but he's still new in town. He can barely find his way around even without the city tearing itself apart.

So you can imagine the relief that washes over him when he actually spots a familiar face.

"Shepard, over here! I--"

Of course, that relief sinks in his chest rather quickly when she fires up a biotic barrier at the sight of him.


"Oh." His mandibles shift uneasily, and instinctively he takes a half-step back -- a half-step closer to cover. "That's not good."

He doesn't know what he looks like to her. All he knows is she can tear him apart with her mind, and if this is getting to her, things just got very complicated very quickly.

[son_of_eos]

A: And They Shall Know No Fear

A rather massive and imposing armored figure suddenly found himself in the streets of Titanopolis, the expressionless helmet betraying nothing of it's wearer's thoughts on the situation.

Out of the smoke and flames, dozens of cackling phantom warriors appear, barreling straight towards the armored figure. Despite having little time to react, he swung his Thunder Hammer with practiced ease, trailing arcs of energy as it slammed into one of the psychic constructs, sending it flying. As his first victim landed, it vanished in a cloud of psionic energy. He chuckled, in a somewhat dark sense of humor.

"A pitiable attempt at deception," he said, his unnaturally deep voice booming through his helmet's vox grille.

Silently, he raised his shield, readying himself as the rest of his phantom assailants rushed forward, howling blood curdling war cries.

B: Fire Cleanses the Soul

Making his way through the city streets, Memnon cautiously scanned the buildings with his suit's autosenses. He hoped, at least, to find someone alive who could give him answers as to his current situation.

Eventually he came across two life-signs...trapped beneath burning rubble. A support pillar of a nearby building had collapsed in one of the blasts, knocking down the nearby walls and pinning a mother and child underneath. Judging by the scans, they seemed to still be alive.

Despite the situation, the old Astartes felt compelled to help. His honor, at least, demanded it.

Setting his weapon and shield on the ground, he knelt down, grabbing the fallen pillar. With a mighty heave, the Space Marine's enhanced physique and ancient power armor granted him the strength to lift it high, enough to release the young girl. The child rushes forward, clinging onto Memnon's leg, still distraught. He looked over at the mother as the child psychically pleaded with him to save her.

The woman was unconscious, having shielded her daughter from the impact of the rubble. She was not trapped by anything at the moment. However, if he carelessly dropped the pillar now to go save her, more rubble could collapse, killing her instantly.

As the flames continued to rise, he held the pillar up with one arm, placing a large, gauntleted hand on the girl's head.

"Worry not, child," he said gently, seemingly uncharacteristically. He looked around, hoping that aid would come soon.

If not, he would have to leave this woman to her fate, so that he might still be able to save the child.

E: A Moment of Respite

As the situation died down, Memnon pondered slowly over towards the edge of the city, where the last of the evac ships were being loaded up.

Despite wading through flames and rubble, his regal suit of armor seemed rather pristine. Even his cape was unharmed, being crafted from the tough hide of an Eosian Chimera. And despite hours of dealing with psychic constructs and rescuing civilians, he did not seem to tire at all.

He slowly made his way to the evac site, walking straight up to the first person he found.

"You there," he boomed, menacingly in an unintentional manner. "I demand answers."

B

[thebioticwoman]

Imperial Space Marines, it turned out, were hard to miss, and Shepard changed course, skirting piles of flaming debris as she ran up to see what all the surprising lack of commotion was about. That armor sure was something, but the exchange of 'who the hell are you's could wait.

"Need a hand?" He clearly needed a hand, and Shepard's eyes flicked from the pillar to the prone woman to the scattered and likely unstable debris.

Hiryu | Strider

[disciplined]

C - I Will Eliminate All Obstacles

Being instantly transported to a different location was not a new experience for Hiryu. What was a new experience, however, was the sensation of multiple mental screams hitting him all at once, causing him to lower to one knee as he gathered his bearings. He needed a moment to realize what was happening, to understand that the screams weren't a fabrication, but something real. And when he finally raised his head, and beheld the sight before him...

That was when he saw the world lit on fire. Buildings being destroyed, explosions going off every second... and what looked like armed soldiers gunning down fleeing civilians.

Hiryu narrowed his eyes. One hand moving behind him, and gripping the side-handle of his cypher. Immediately, he could feel the familiar hum of his cypher's generator coming online, coating the blade with plasma. Although for a moment, he hesitated. The appearance of the soldiers and civilians shifting, morphing...

And for a moment, in the place of the soldiers, were children. Young brainwashed children, mowing people down without hesitation.

Hiryu shook his head, trying to will the images away. He didn't know where they came from, but he would not let it distract him. Every second he wasted was a second people died. So, using every ounce of his willpower, he pushed all the mental screaming aside, ignoring the distraction. Shooting forward, as fast as his feet could carry him...

... And slicing one of the soldiers in two.

The two halves disintegrated, the excess plasma taking care of the body. The rest of the soldiers momentarily frozen by the sight, and giving Hiryu the chance to shoot forward, and slice another one in half. By then, the soldiers finally shook themselves out of their stupor, and began to open fire on the new threat. But it didn't matter anymore.

He was already on the move. They were all as good as dead.

Rome | Hetalia

[aburbecondita]

A - Not Quite From Under The Bed

Rome has fought wars. Rome has faced down armies, and beasts, and the terror of the wild sea. Rome is old and strong, scarred and burnished and pitted as a weathered blade and just as carefully honed.

And Rome is currently hiding around the corner of a building, trembling like a leaf and gritting his teeth in humiliated terror as yet another spirit of the restless dead glides past, hollow-eyed and sighing like a mournful wind. He's already looted through three buildings. He can't find beans anywhere, and the usual signs to warn them off just aren't working, and neither breastplate nor gladius is much good against the voiceless dead. He's turned to peek around the corner when a soft, too-large hand settles on his hair, and his blood goes still as a sweet, sibilant voice croons.

"Oh, don't be frightened, little one."

There is a massive woman inclined over him, as high over him as a mother might be over a child, and even twisted beyond kindness there is something eerily beautiful in her features. But her eyes are viper-yellow and pitiless, her face stretched and hungry, and her limbs shimmer with a fish-scale opalescence. She smiles, and her teeth are sharp, numberless white thorns set in black gums.

He screams and bolts for the street, ghosts or no ghosts, the lamia screeching with laughter and loping after him.


C - The Punchline Isn't Phallic. Probably.

Rome isn't bothering with the looters, as much. Looting feels like an inevitability at this point - he's never seen a crisis without it, himself. What's more important is the evacuation effort, where he's shepherding along lines of frustrated, despairing, enraged citizens into safe zones or transports. The concept of telepathy is still a fuzzy one, but he knows and fears water enough to recognize that a drowning man can drag you to both of your deaths. And intuition is telling him that this is the same, that keeping his head in the air is the only thing that will bring all of them through this alive. It's definitely is the only thing that keeps him moving the crowds along with a blithe and immovable smile, as well as a steady stream of jokes that range from merely inane to utterly filthy, babbled out in cheerful stream of consciousness as he files people into a shelter.

"All right! So there's a barber and a bald man - I'm not sure what he does, it's not important, he's just bald. Oh! And they're travelling with this professor, who is just clueless, right? You know the type. Anyway-"


E - Another Day Another Ruined City

With the immediate attack over, Rome's turned himself to searching. It's less active than he likes, and certainly, these are not his people. But he's defended them, fought alongside some of them even, and that makes them fellows enough to find their wounded and dead. After being hounded and terrified by spirits earlier, he's none too eager to leave more without recognition or rites on this world. And gods willing, maybe he'll even find someone alive.

He's still as strong as ever, at least, and he wedges his shoulder under a fallen section of wall, grunting in effort as he lifts it up enough to peer under. The area beneath is deeper than he'd imagined, and he glances back at the first passerby, jerking his head in greeting. "Hey! You there! Do you have a light?"

A

[thebioticwoman]

Like all good protagonists, Shepard runs towards the sound of screaming, rounding a corner at a sprint--and bouncing off a Roman legionnaire headed in the other direction, her hands scrabbling across steel and leather in a reflexive attempt to keep both of them on their feet.

She can ask him about the cosplay later. It's a good reproduction; most people would use plastic rather than carry the extra weight. In the meantime...

"The hell is that?" she asks, a hand on one of the man's shoulders as she squints over the other one at the approaching monster. It sure looks like a giant creepy woman with bad intentions, and Shepard wants whatever information she needs to kill it.

Matt Holt | Voltron: Legendary Defender

[tookashirototheknee]

C

This isn't good. People are running around, there's chaos going on, and Matt's not sure which way's up at the moment. He's backed himself against a wall, curled up in on himself, and shaking. He's back in the Arena, he's back in prison, and they're coming for him.

Anyone who approaches him, he'll pull back, a bit frantic and wide-eyed, looking like he's about to take off running.

D

This is not how Matt ever thought he'd spend an afternoon. He thought that he'd be engaging in a bit of urban exploration to clear his head. What he found was an abandoned mall that looked like something out of a zombie movie or a creepypasta. It was great at first, there were some fantastic signs, some interesting printed materials in a language that he didn't recognize, and a spectacular broken glass ceiling.

But then it all went to hell. He goes into a former clothing store to look at what he was pretty certain was a tank top with three arm holes, and he stopped, feeling like someone or something was watching him. Turning around a few times, and glancing behind the racks, there was nothing, but he got out of there before anything could happen.

Once he got out of the shop, he happened to notice a handbill plastered on a wall beside the shop. It informed him about some dangerous creatures masquerading as ordinary objects. Well, this could get interesting. He grabs a metal pole, holding it in front of him like a staff, and takes off to another store. Might as well take on a few crazy creatures while he's here.

C

[isthisapidge]

Pidge's feelings, as she rounds the corner to deal with the possibility of an attack, are...incredibly mixed.

On the one hand, it's her big brother. It's Matt. She'd know him anywhere. The brother who was taken away from her by a genocidal alien dictator. Who she wasn't even sure was still alive until this point. She wants to run up and throw her arms around him and drag him back to Legion World so he can recover.

On the other hand, she's seen this before. In Shiro's occasional panic attacks, in Wash's eyes when she accidentally set him off. A lot has happened to Matt and he's never been a fighter. Running right up to him out of the blue would probably hurt more than help.

On the, um, third hand?

They have absolutely no time for this. Either he gets trampled or he dies in another attack. Those are the two options and neither one are acceptable. Ultimately, in those few seconds she has to think about it, her practicality wins out.

"Matt!" She shouts, grabbing his wrist as she runs up to him, "we have to go!"

Agent Starr | Elite Beat Agents

[ebd_starr]

C:
Well, this was new. Normally when there was a mission, it was somewhere on earth. Not... wherever she was now. The Music she heard was chaos, and she could see the physical indicator of it too. People running around in different directions, and apparently causing her to feel their panic at the same time. So, she wasn't the only one who could influence others.

But, it was apparently just her. Foxx and Missy weren't nearby, and she couldn't Hear them either.

"Ok Starr, you can do this. Just focus."

D:
Whatever was making that sound wasn't good. Some sort of whispering interjecting itself into the Music she heard in the area, causing shivers up and down her spine... and not the good kind either. She'd followed it as well as she could, ignoring the impulse to go the other direction, and found herself standing in a mall... still hearing the sounds getting louder and louder. Hoping it wasn't anything like what was attacking outside, and that the building wouldn't come down on top of her, she walked inside and closer to the creepy 'Music'.

F:
(Yeah, I can sometimes super suck at starting things, so hit her with something random?)

yondu udonta l MCU l minor spoilers!!

[marypoppinsyall]

A. I know you play like you're the meanest in the heart but actually you're the most scared of all.

It isn't enough that he's found himself on some extra backwater planet this time, it isn't the chaos in the streets (it's got nothing on some of Knowhere's back allies if he's being honest), it isn't even the fact that things seem to be on fire every which way he looks. No, what's currently pushing all of Yondu's buttons on a rather delicate level is the fact that amidst the crowds and cacophony that rattles about in his head is the fact that, beyond all sane and logical reasoning, towering before him are a plethora of Kree slavers, far larger and more monstrous than they would have any right to be, weapons and chains at the ready and sharp sneers slashing across their faces as they leer at him.

It's everything he's ever remembered from childhood, and for a moment a cold sensation drains down his spine as he fights the urge to take a step back. Logic would dictate that there was no way any of them could have followed him this far, be it due to distance or due to the threat of ravager retaliation, but the fear is still something primal and buried deep within him.

As one of the Kree steps forward, Yondu fights back against the swell of emotion within him and instead squares his shoulders and stands his ground, lips curling into a crooked sneer as one hand strays to his coat and fingers brush over the shaft of the yaka arrow holstered at his hip. "Gentleman. It's been a while."

A fight in the middle of a crowded street may not be exactly helpful to those attempting to flee right now, but this is something he's sure as hell not going to back down from. It may be in everyone's best interest to keep right on running.

C. You're scared because you're soft, in here. Here! Right here!

"Animals, all of you!" Yondu's voice barely cuts through the mess of noise ringing through his own head. Frustration has begun to bubble up through his entire being quicker than he could even realize, and every small thing is starting to set him on edge. With a shrill whistle his arrow streams through the crowds, embedding itself in an invading terrorist, but it isn't enough to quell any of the residual anxiety and only serves to send his heart racing even faster. "Shut up!"

Of course the command isn't heeded, and he throws himself into a fury, arrow zipping between civilian bodies and passing through any suspected terrorist that he can find because if he can't figure out how to make the empathy stop then by damn he's going to destroy the cause of everyone's fear just so he can get some peace and quiet in his own head.

F. I slaved putting this deal together...

[wildcard!]

A

[iamresponding]

It throws Rich to see Kree suddenly appear in the crowd. At first, it's almost a welcome sight. After the war, his first instinct upon seeing some Kree show up is "backup, hell yes" but this isn't the Annihilation War. They shouldn't be here on a totally alien planet, in another dimension, and they're not kitted out like soldiers. They look like bounty hunters or slavers, which means even if they are real, they're not likely to respect his authority.

Fantastic.

Rich had already been hit himself with telepathic fear constructs that'd taken the form of Annihilus' bugs so he figures out quickly that this must be someone else's fear. When he sees the blue-skinned man fighting them, he knows whose fear it might be.

Huh. Well, if this guy's fear was a bunch of Kree, he wasn't native to the Legion's universe like the Talokians, he was a blue-skinned species from back home, right? Centaurian, possibly? The fin was mechanical but it looked exactly like the fins they usually had -- maybe some kind of prosthetic?

Rich makes his grand entrance by blasting one of the Kree fear constructs with Nova Force, right into one of the methane canals. (It's not like they're actual people, after all).

Then he lets out a low whistle when he sees the arrow zipping around.

"That's a yaka arrow, right?" he says, blasting another Kree slaver. "I've always wanted to see one in action up close. You're not even using a bow, are you."

He'd had a few Centaurians under his command during the war but it wasn't like he'd had the time to stand around and watch them fight. Even so, he's pretty damn sure he's never seen one so proficient with a yaka arrow that they didn't even need a bow. This is next-level.

The man that has joined Yondu wears something that looks similar to a Nova Centurion's uniform, but the details are...off. The helmet is gold instead of grey, and the gold arm braces and knee braces are pointy and a little brutal-looking. Despite said pointy bits, it's a lot less clunky and little more...stylish, like it's more uniform of office than tactical armor.

Despite the differences, there is one major thing his uniform has in common with the Novas from Yondu's universe -- the star symbol that denotes his rank. It may be on the faceplate of his helmet instead of on a shoulder patch, but it's the same 8-pointed star worn by Irani Rael, designating the rank of Nova Prime.

Trunks | Dragon Ball Z/Super

[saiyanspawn]

[ Childhood Fears ]

Most children would fear common things such as snakes or separating from their parents or even being lost in the dark. That wasn't the case for Trunks however. True, he was actually still a child, but that didn't excuse him from past fears. One of which was a very real threat and the very same one who nearly put an end to his Earth. That fear was none other than the muscularly lean Majin Buu. The one that had long since been defeated and replaced with the favorably chubby one. His mere presence alone was enough to make Trunks freeze in place just by existing.

Did he fight him, or did he wait for help? It's not as if Buu could be defeated with how things were now. Trunks was conflicted between fight or flight (literally).

[ Prop Hunt ]

The young half Saiyan was doing well to diligently search for these so-called props. It was dangerous to leave these creatures alone, so they had to be dealt with as quickly as possible. Trunks found himself floating around some vendor booths inspecting the random souvenirs and trinkets. There was an especially large jeweled necklace that seemed out of place at an accessory vendor. The curious kid closed in on it, with the intention to provoke it.

It would have been better had he dealt with the monster-thing directly as it was, but kids tended to lose sight on occasion. This was one of them.

Prop Hunt

[4starsaviour]

Thankfully, Goku had a bit of an advantage when it came to this hunt. Since he still had his ability to sense ki, it make it pretty easy to tell what was really a small object and what was one of these creatures. Destroying them was a pain in the butt without ki blasts, but he'd managed so far.

When he sees Trunks approaching the necklace, he doesn't realize that Trunks has figured out its identity, so he can't help but yell out to him. "Trunks, wait!"

Sam | Sam and Max

[hitstheroad]

D.

Well, this is familiar. There is no one in the entire universe better at carefully collecting a massive quantity of random, questionably-useful objects than Sam. And there is no better way to check for said usefulness than to try every object with everything in the immediate vicinity...

...But it's about as efficient as trying to hunt aliens by hiding in a duck blind and putting out decoys made of pie-tins and Christmas lights.

So a six-foot bipedal dog standing over a massive pile of everything that made his detective sense tingle (which is pretty much the same thing as paranoia anyway) might raise some eyebrows, but even more when he turns to the nearest Legionnaire and says:

"You got a massive mallet or otherwise equivalent piece of equipment? I'd interrogate this junk one at a time with my gun, but that takes a lot of time and dimensional travel always makes me urpy."

Rico Dredd (the original) | Judge Dredd

[truefaceofthelaw]

[c]

[For Grud's sake, Rico has no patience for this. A full-fledged riot is underway in front of him. Plenty of fists flying, yelling, shouting, screaming. Nothing he's not used to, only about forty or so by his estimates. He can taste the fear and anxiety and anger in the air - it buzzes in the back of his brain, and he's not sure if it's just him or something else. He knows that the proper, compassionate thing to do is to calm the crowd and usher them to a safer place - it's what they gave him the training for, after all. But that doesn't disperse a riot fast. As far as he's concerned? They're all criminals now. And criminals don't get the benefit of the doubt. He strides closer on a confident swagger, loose amusement tugging at his lips. Then he speaks up, gravel voice projecting easily and authoritatively over the din.]

I'm only giving you one warning! Disperse, or face the full consequences of the law!

[A savage smile twists his face up, wide and anticipatory. He raises his hand and fires two shots into the air. The sound of shots fired doesn't help the mental haze of terror and fear in the air - rather, it sharpens it to a fine point where it draws everybody's gaze to the cocky figure standing there, soaking in all their attention. His grin stretches.]

[Then almost as an afterthought; an exaggerated reluctance in his voice, dripping with insincerity, mock exasperated.]

But unfortunately I'm obliged to direct you to the shelters down that way instead. Get gone, won't you?

[There's angry buzz. Some don't take to his tone, hostility leaking out. It simmers, until the violence is bubbling just under the surface, ready to burst at the target in front of them. But Rico stands there, seemingly completely oblivious, still grinning. But it's a faked innocence.]

[He's really just waiting for somebody to try it.]

E

[actionishisreward]

It's tired Spider-Man that scans the area, still ready and willing to help despite his exhaustion.

"Okay Karen, what's next on the list?"

"Nothing, Peter. Law enforcement and emergency services are handling all current issues."

"Oh thank god," he said breathlessly, collapsing on the spot. Had the AI said otherwise, he would have jumped straight into action without a thought, but, to borrow a quote from Futurama, while the spirit was willing? The flesh was spongy and bruised.

Zenyatta | Overwatch

[orbislife]

A: Childhood fears can be a bit strange for an Omnic

[ There are giant fridge magnets of every shape and type wobbling about. Anything metal, regardless of type, are drawn to them. The size and number of magnets are more of an issue than their magnetism. And maybe how ridiculous some magnets look. Is that one from a tourist trap on Route 66? Who is in that custom photo magnet dressed as a banana?

Zenyatta watches as large Pachimari magnet grabs a bicycle and continues down the street with it stuck to its side. He hasn't quite figured out that the magnets are supposed to be his "childhood" fear when he was told that all magnets would destroy his systems; he was too newly activated to catch the lie then. They clearly do not cause him or other Omnics harm. ]

I believe that bicycle may be too small for that Pachimari to ride.

[ He says plainly. Out of all the other fears going around, this one is among the least worrying. Though... they are blocking the streets, and that gets in the way of rescues and emergency evacuations. ]

D: There is time for patience and a time for action

[ The more worrying things are Sitrekian trillifs scattered around the city. Once the call is put out, Zenyatta switches gears in order to search and eliminate them. He hovers quietly to the abandoned mall. Static builds up in his processes, and he hears snippets of words that are not his own. He throws an orb at a mall 50% off sale sign, but it causes no reaction. It merely falls over with a clang. Wrong object. But a trillif is near by. Zenyatta is sure of it. The feeling of discord is stronger here. ]

F: Wild card/pick your own adventure

[ Exactly what it says up there. ]

D

[justice_from_above]

[Fareeha's scouting the area not far behind, going slow and paying attention to the way the hair stands on end on her arm, the prickles at the back of her neck. She watches Zenyatta focus on the sign, waits a moment with bated breath, and then when it's clear that wasn't their target she moves on. She's hoping between the two of them they can narrow down where the trillif might be, and it's not long before she feels all the tell-tale signs they'd been warned about.]

Zenyatta,

[She calls to get his attention, her tone steady, and then makes the smalles motion to a trashcan to her left.