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 Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2022 10:58 am
Quote: Disappearances (14) : People are missing. Maybe they’re people you know, maybe you’ve just heard about it on the news. They’re just disappearing. In front of you one second, gone the next, sucked into some between-space. Into some hole that flickers out of sight once it’s swallowed them up. Maybe you got sucked in–right into a strange strange black expanse, with no access to anyone else or any exits. The pull would have been magnetic, almost unavoidable. Some might escape, but maybe you didn’t. Electronics don't work and characters cannot power down. There’s no way to reach the outside world. You might feel the sensation of creatures following you, you might run into obstacles or strange environments in the darkness. While you are in this strange location you may feel hungry but will not starve to death; you may feel tired but you will not need to sleep. Maybe you were lucky and got sucked in with someone. Maybe you’re trapped there and run into someone and team up. One thing is for sure, though–once you’re here, you can’t get out on your own. Characters who get sucked into the strange between-space will not be able to participate in the ORP immediately but will have an opportunity to join partway through so if this is something you’re interested in, please keep your eye on that! If you have questions on if something is permissible, you can PM The Space Cauldron to ask!)
Vyn and Surtur stuck together, because the alternative might be worse. Wandering around alone would get them no closer to a solution. If anything, it might lead them further astray. Vyn didn’t particularly like relying on someone not of the Vanguard, but he had no other options.
He missed his friends. He missed home. He wished Aliez were here, even if he knew Aliez would fret and maybe cry about their circumstances. Vyn felt like crying, too. He wished the Commodore would appear and whisk him back to Earth, but quickly thought that was foolish, and a terrible waste of the Commodore’s time. Then he hoped no one had told the Commodore he was missing. He couldn’t bear the possibility of earning the Commodore’s disappointment.
He was a Corporal now, not some fledgling Cadet. He should be able to handle this on his own.
Time had no meaning in the darkness. Without a functional ComTech, Vyn couldn’t tell how much time had passed, if a day had gone by, or less. He was hungry, but didn’t yet need food. He was tired, but didn’t yet need sleep. Perhaps it hadn’t been very long after all.
Vyn sighed and continued his search for a way out, even if it seemed hopeless.
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Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2022 5:40 pm
For Surtur this was nothing too unusual for him. Sure, the surroundings were different, and having company was new, but after being alone for decades… centuries... knowing how to survive in a desolate place was basically second nature to Surtur.
“Let me know if you’re hungry, I might have a few things I packed away,” he said to Vyn, in relatively good spirits, all things considered. He didn’t have a lot of food in his subspace, but he always kept enough, just in case. All Ilian had wanted to do was take the trash out. He drew in a breath and he let out a sigh as he looked around the place he’d been suddenly sucked into. He’d managed to land on his feet, so that was good. But he was unable to power up, so he got to walk around in his pajamas and, thankfully, slippers. He’d considered just walking out of the house without wearing them, but was glad that he stopped to slide them on his feet.
He still had his bag of trash with him as well. He should just leave it somewhere, but he was a little too preoccupied with attempting to contact Lovely to be bothered.
Unfortunately, his cell phone didn’t work. Great. That means Lovely was going to be insufferable to absolutely everyone until he could get back.
There were others there, he noticed. At least two. A Senshi and a Velencian.
“Excuse me, do you know the way out?” he asked, putting on his most pleading expression he could manage without sneering at the Senshi.
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Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2022 8:14 pm
Vyn didn’t trust Surtur to have anything palatable. They’d had the opportunity to talk during their wanderings, so he had a rough idea of how long Surtur had been on his own (perhaps that was why he was so odd?), and doubted Surtur had much to offer that was actually edible, given how little time he’d spent on Earth before arriving here.
The approach of another figure immediately raised Vyn’s hackles. He lifted his blaster to aim, but lowered it just as quickly as soon as he noticed that the man in question was just a normal human. Not a Senshi, or a Negaverse agent, but a powerless man, defenseless in the darkness.
Vyn tried not to panic. They were still meant to keep a low profile on Earth, had to hide their ears and the shape of their pupils and their non-Earth skin tones, but he couldn’t exactly do that here.
“Um…” If he’d known they would be running into hapless civilians, he would have tried to keep a lower profile. Clearly it was too late for that. “We’ve been searching for one but haven’t found anything yet.”
Maybe the shadows would hide the parts of him that stood out? Unlikely. He would have to come up with some excuse. Humans liked to modify their bodies. Maybe this one would believe he’d done so.
“Have you been here long?”
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Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2022 8:15 pm
Surtur looked up in surprise when a civilian approached them with no fear. Very brave, this one! Or stupid. Maybe he wasn’t used to being stuck in shadow places like this and just wanted help?
“Greetings! If you’re looking for a way out, you’re welcome to stay with us,” Surtur offered with a smile. His trigger happy new friend would keep them safe from anyone trying to attack them, surely.
He eyed the bag that the civilian was carrying, curious about it.
“Do you happen to be carrying any food with you? We haven’t eaten in a while.” It didn’t occur to him that he should be weirded out by the ears or skin color or eyes. He was so used to seeing youma (and now Velencians around) that he didn’t think about it.
But being asked about his bag of trash was weird.
“Not very long. I was just dropped in by one of those… tears…” He didn’t know what else to call it. He was frustrated though. He wanted to get back before Lovely started freaking out that something happened to him.
He glanced at the bag and held it out for the Senshi with the black hair, again trying not to make a face. If he wanted to carry around his trash, Ilian wasn’t going to stop him.
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Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2022 8:19 pm
That the tears were appearing randomly throughout the city seemed to be a given, at this point. Vyn was pulled through one in the forest along the perimeter of the city, where he and Aliez were training. Surtur was pulled in from elsewhere. And this civilian man would have probably been at home or wherever he worked, if he’d been pulled in while disposing of a bag of trash.
Vyn showed Surtur a look of concern. And mild disgust.
“You shouldn’t eat anything in there,” he said. “It might make you sick.”
Who knew what might be lurking in the trash. Bits of raw meat, or rotting vegetables. There was a slight smell coming off of it, given that it was meant for the garbage.
Just the thought of Surtur digging through it made Vyn vaguely nauseous.
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Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2022 8:24 pm
Surtur obviously didn’t care if anything was going to make him sick. He had a strong stomach! He gladly took the offered bag and pulled it open so he could investigate what snacks this civilian brought with him.
“Oh? But there’s some good stuff in here,” he insisted, pulling out what looked like some potato skins. “Where I’m from, I couldn’t afford to be picky. Had to eat what I could find, when I found it. Are you sure you don’t want anything?”
Maybe it was pretty weird for him to go through what seemed to be scraps, but he had no intention of starving in this place. And he wasn’t going to eat those mushrooms first.Ilian made another face and took a step back from the man with the bag of trash, letting him dig around. There really was only trash in the bag. Things that he and Lovely couldn’t use. Used napkins. Packaging from things they’d purchased.
But there was something weird about how the man was speaking. It was dark, so maybe he was just imagining the weird eye shape, or maybe it was just a Senshi thing.
“Where you’re from? Where are you from? You look like you might be from a convention or something,” he pointed out, even though he knew where the Velencian came from.
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Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2022 8:28 pm
Vyn almost gagged.
He, too, took a step back. As soon as Surtur opened the bag, the smell grew stronger. Maybe Surtur could stomach it, but Vyn most certainly could not.
The civilian’s question made him jump a bit. Vyn blinked a few times, struggling to come up with an answer. He couldn’t tell the truth to someone who didn’t know anything about the war, but he also hadn’t been in a position to have to come up with a believable lie before.
So he said, “Yes.”
That seemed to be the safest answer when people questioned him about things he didn’t know how to explain. Just agree to whatever their assumptions were.
“A… uh… convention.” He knew what one of those were. A large gathering of people celebrating a shared interest. A coworker went to one once. Something about spaceships that weren’t even real. “In the city. I was… I took a break to enjoy the festival, and… ended up here.”
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Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2022 9:00 pm
Surtur popped one of the potato peels into his mouth to chew. It was still soft, which was good. There was even a little bit of salt to it. He dug through the bag to see what else he could find. Something red and sweet smelling, and the tops of what looked like some kind of fruit. He pulled out a yellow and brown fruit peel to sniff at and then tried biting off a piece.
“I’m from Surtur, it’s a moon that orbits Saturn. I’m sure you’ve heard of it,” he said proudly as he spoke around the large chunk of whatever it was he bit. It didn’t taste that great, but there were probably enough carbohydrates in it to keep him going. It was the others’ loss if they didn’t want to take advantage of it.
“My world was taken over by some kind of Chaotic fog, but now I am here and will find help to destroy that and then I’ll unite the worlds.” The Velencian trying to lie about where he was from was almost enough to make Ilian roll his eyes. He was not going to give away who he was though. He wasn’t stupid.
But the strange Senshi digging through his trash made him do a double take. He said he was from… where?
“What?” he repeated as he stared at the Senshi. He could care less about what the Velencian said. He knew about them, but this Senshi was… from a world taken over by Chaos?
“What do you mean? You’re not from Earth?”
Ilian could feel his stomach churning, and it had nothing to do with the smell of the trash. What were more Senshi from other worlds doing on Earth??
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Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2022 9:03 pm
Vyn cringed. Visibly. He hadn’t thought they’d run into any civilians here, so he’d neglected to tell his Senshi companion that discussing where he was from probably wasn’t the best idea.
“Um… he’s in character,” Vyn said, voice a bit strained.
There was a term for that, wasn’t there? One of his other coworkers talked about it before, from one of their classes at DCU. Meta acting? No, that wasn’t quite right. Method?
Beyond that, Vyn thought it best not to try explaining. He’d probably just make it worse.
He cleared his throat, casting his gaze around so he didn’t have to look at the civilian, or watch Surtur eat things he probably shouldn’t put anywhere near his mouth.
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Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2022 9:04 pm
“In character?” Surtur tilted his head curiously at his companion. That was a weird thing to say in response to him telling this civilian where he was from. Maybe it would help jog his memory as to who he was!
Oh, but the way Vyn was cringing away made it seem as though maybe he said something taboo? Maybe he shouldn’t have talked about Chaos? But they should all know about it and know how to fight it.
“No, I’m not from Earth. Is that so strange? Aren’t there others? Vyn here is from his own world--”
Oh… there was that look again. Surtur frowned in confusion and then decided that maybe he really should stop talking if it was making Vyn uncomfortable. There really were other aliens on Earth, and this Surtur had admitted to wanting to take it over. Unite the worlds was basically the same thing.
He tried not to look too frustrated, so he tried to grit his teeth as subtly as possible. He would have loved to power up right then, but once again he was unable to tap into the Chaos inside him.
“Ha ha, that’s so weird,” he made himself say. “Come on, let's look for another one of those openings.” That way he could get out and make sure everyone else was warned about what the Senshi really planned to do.
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