Once Upon a Time...

[morethanmyth]

They likely felt the world shift, a fragmentation of all they thought they knew. It was the way a fictional character might feel if they could feel every page turn in the book they lived in. It was the beginning of a new story and that meant an end to an old one and they would each feel that.

To some it would feel like they had just died. To others, it would feel like they had just been born. To many, it would feel like both at the same time. It all really depended on who they were and what they were leaving behind.

In any case, this world had something New appear in it. After lightning crackled in the evening sky without any storm fueling it, they would find themselves waking up in the streets of a small town called Burgess. It was a perfectly ordinary Pennsylvania town, a place where the modern mixed with the old, American suburbia at its finest, making it all the stranger that something extraordinary would happen somewhere so ordinary.

[ooc: Make a subthread for each character and those of you that would like to toss your character at someone else before Bunny and Jack show up, tag a subthread already there.]

Comments

[mywarrenmyrules]

Speaking of arriving, one did just then - leaping from a hole that just fell out of the ground and landing at Jack's side.

"How's this coming, mate?" Bunny asked, glancing at Nico and glancing again, harder, at her staff.

[letskicksomeice]

"We're not exactly sure - hey, Bunny," Jack said amicably as Bunny appeared. "Bunny, Ms. Suspicion. Ms. Suspicion, the Easter Bunny."

He went on, "My name's Jack, by the way. Jack Frost."

[amazing_amazon]

She let that sink in for a moment. "Jack Frost. I've heard of you. Or, perhaps, a version of you." The fact that he'd said pulled over certainly meant that she hadn't just been shunted across the globe.

She'd been shunted across realities.

A good-humoured smile graced Diana's face, though. "Funny. Most already say that I am a woman born of myth and magic. Here I am once more, another world, and a myth again." She took her lasso and gracefully reattached it to her golden girdle. "I suppose you'll want further questions to wait until the rest of us who have been brought here are gathered together?" She understood how these things worked, for the most part.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"I can touch objects." Howard doesn't want to say he could grab the wallet, because that would be admitting that he was trying to pickpocket, but he can mention other things. "I climbed a fence earlier. Did you...did you also just open your eyes here? Like you didn't fall asleep or anything?"

He heads over to a patch of flowers - standing there means no one's going to come walking through it.

"That's what a dream person who wanted me to think I'm not a dream person would say. I got no way to know you're actually dreaming and not just saying you are." Howard raises an eyebrow, then sarcastically says, "I was at fat camp."

[letskicksomeice]

Jack perked up at her saying she'd heard of him, but then he liked attention.

"Actually, we figured it'd work best if everyone got their own personal explanation. Anyone else I've found already got the rundown. We figured we'd work on the 'Where do we go from here?' once we have you all gathered together. So I guess what I need to know is what you want explained first: the why or the how?"

[spellitonce]

Nico took a step back -- annoying weirdo is one thing, annoying weirdo plus giant rabbit is a different kettle of fish, since it means that she's out-numbered. And she doesn't care for the way he's looking at her Staff.

"Rabbits are an invasive species in Australia," she said pointedly, then resumed chewing on the inside of her cheek.

[amazing_amazon]

"The why, first, I believe," Diana replied after a moment's thought. "The how seems a little less pressing," she said. And then, "Out of the others brought here, are any of them anyone from my own world?" It was as reasonable a question as any.

[fromfryingpantofire]

"Okay, fair enough. I kind of avoided climbing things." Good to know he can't just walk through walls. It might have hurt a lot if he'd tried. Also, it saved him from being embarrassed while trying.

Sam looks over Howard and raises that eyebrow again. Because, seriously. "Well, good to know that your sarcasm defenses are in good working order." Between himself and Dean? He knows sarcasm very well. "There's not exactly a lot I can do to convince you otherwise, man. I was in a hotel in north Texas before I woke up here. My brother was in the other bed and he's not here, near as I can tell."

[letskicksomeice]

"Oooh. She does not hold her punches, does she."

[mywarrenmyrules]

Eyeroll. That and the "gonna eatcha" taunt make up, oh, about 50% of what he hears from new acquaintances who don't already know what a pooka is.

"Humans are an invasive species on every continent but Africa. What's your point?"

Oh it's just a curious glance. With that-could-be-more-deadly-than-it-looks curiosity.

[letskicksomeice]

"I don't really know. Hopefully when we take you to the others, you'll see a familiar face."

Jack seemed to be the type to have trouble standing still. As he spoke, he started walking along the top of a fence on his tippy-toes, much like a child would challenge themselves to balance on something. While he seemed capable of carrying himself with a measure of authority, as if he was confident in his actions, he seemed to find it just as easy to act like a child.

"As for the why, it's because there's something horrible threatening this world. An enemy of ours, Pitch Black, tried to open a door to what he tought was an army of nightmares he could control, but it really led to something even worse: a being that lives outside the universe, one that's been trying to worm its way in since the beginning of time. We call it Kuk after the Egyptian god of darkness, but my team-mate thinks that people have been worshiping facets of it as dark gods and evil goddesses throughout history. It's captured all the myths of this world it thinks is a threat - including some of our team-mates - and it has them imprisoned in its realm, where it's been feeding on the belief humanity has in them."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Sarcasm is the foundation of any good relationship." Howard squints a bit, kicking at one of the flowers just to see how it crumples under his foot. Yes, he can definitely affect the environment. "You were in Texas? I was in California. Perdido Beach, to be exact."

And he's certain of that, because the only way to leave would be to poof out or die, and he missed his shot at the former and didn't think he did the latter.

"Bet you're missing your family vacation right now." Howard doesn't really know how to talk to adults. It's been a while.

[lifelinked]

Mami was not feeling much safer. Unlike Jack, this one looked just unusual enough to possibly be witch-like. A subtle check of her Soul Gem didn't reveal any warning glow, but she kept it at the ready.

"What do you mean by 'out of dreams'?"

[hellofhisown]

Al's entire existence was alarming. You get used to it. Sort of.

"I'll be there," he said quietly, walking towards the edge of the roof. He looks back at Bunny for a brief moment.

"Name's Al, by the way. Al Simmons."

An olive branch, of sorts. He doesn't always give out his real name.

And with that, he turns back towards the edge of the roof. Leaping from the top of the building, he spreads his tattered cape wide, gliding away towards the meeting spot.

[mywarrenmyrules]

Bunny might understand that.

He never gave out his name at all.

He didn't spend a lot of time watching after the disappearing figure before leaping off the opposite way. There were others to find, and if any of them were more aggressive than Al, Jack might need backup.

Still, if the others were much like Al, if they were all curiosities to watch out for - hopefully they'd all prove more heroic than they seemed at first glance.

[letskicksomeice]

"This world is in danger," said Jack. "That's why you're here."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"You're not dreaming, the giant talking rabbit with the boomerangs said." Howard looks incredulous for about half a second, before switching back to serious-mode (although the fear on him is evident in the way his shoulders quake slightly). "Okay. Sure."

Color him shocked that the world is in danger. Or not.

"And what are we supposed to do about it? I'm not exactly bred out of fighting stock." A sarcastic 'genius' is left unspoken at the end of Howard's words.

[lifelinked]

Mami looks surprised to hear that---at least partially. She'd assumed that they were all lost and in trouble, but knowing that this world is in danger changes a lot. She holds her arms straight at her sides, trying to look far more mature than her fifteen years. That's what burdens will do to a person.

"I already have a city under my protection. I'm afraid I can't stay."

[mywarrenmyrules]

"Yeah, well, we're afraid we can't send you back. We don't know how."

It could have been a taunt, but it was not. There was real regret - and resignation - in Bunny's tone.

"Soon as we figure out a way to, though, we will. You won't have to do any fighting."

He nodded at Howard. He, clearly, was not Guardian material - maybe the spirit was there, maybe he was protective of kids as much as he was one, but he was clearly no warrior.

The girl, though, by the way she stood between the boy and them, was. But that was moot, too. She was a child. She carried herself like she was trying not to show just how much of one she was, and maybe it would have fooled someone not several centuries old and inherently perceptive, by virtue of the animal shape that shaped him, to body language.

They protected children. They didn't fight alongside them.

"Neither of you."

[letskicksomeice]

Jack was absolutely on the same page as Bunny on this one. Mami looked...young. Young in that way that a young person looks when they're trying to look older than they are. And Howard looked... severely unwell.

Of all forms to be locked in as a spirit...

"In a moment of absolute stupidity, an enemy of ours opened a gateway that led outside the universe, and now an evil...thing is trying to get all the way in. We've been trying to stop it, but it's captured all the myths and spirits of our world that have stood a chance at fighting it and its army," Jack explained, knowing they'd both need more information to maybe loosen up that distrust a little.

"It's broken our world in more ways than one and made it so the belief - and the fear - of people in this world, especially from the kids, is making our world more changeable. That's how you were brought here. The kids are unconsciously reaching out for heroes and you got pulled in through the cracks from your homes to our world and changed into spirits - myths - like we are."

He gestured to himself and Bunny.

"The spirit that chose us as Guardians chose you, too, now that you're here, to help us fight against it all, but Bunny and I don't agree with it. That said, it's still dangerous for you to be wondering around alone. We wanted to find you and keep you safe until we found a way to change you back and get you home."

If there was a home for them to get to. If they weren't new.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Wait wait wait wait wait. We can't go...we can't go back?"

Howard waves his hands a little, still stuck on the 'you can't go home' bit, because he has never wanted anything harder than to leave the FAYZ, and yet he knows right now that he has to return. Orc needs him. He may have physically escaped, but it's incomplete. He feels like something is bursting in his chest, a little nuclear explosion that's vaporizing the air in his lungs, and he takes a quick breath, then another, then another, as if he's hyperventilating. He hunches over a little, sucking in air too forcefully, covering his mouth and nose with his hands.

He should be happy he's safe.

He should hate himself that he's alone here.

[lifelinked]

"Not now. Hopefully soon," Mami repeats, whispering in a voice she hopes is reassuring. She simply stands guard, her eyes sharp. How...patronizing. The silver-haired one hardly looks older than her.

"I'm not new to the battlefield. I've been risking my life on my own for over a year, and if you need that help to set this world right and even give us a chance of returning, it would be a waste to sit idly by."

[mywarrenmyrules]

"Hey, hang on a tic."

Howard's breakdown sent Bunny from gruffness straight to softness with rabbit speed.

"You can't go back yet," he repeated, walking closer to the pair, slow so as not to alarm them. Bounding over would be more efficient, but it definitely was not the time for that. "But we'll get you there, mate. Nobody's gonna ask you to leave your world behind."

Nobody except Manny. But that strangeness could wait for another moment, when a child wasn't in crisis.

"Look, until we can get you home, we'll keep you safe." Though the way that kid was emaciated, it would have made Bunny wonder why he wanted to go back at all, if he wasn't so versed in losing people himself. "You just gotta wait it out for a bit, right? This isn't hopeless."

As for the girl - her claim of battlefield experience gave Bunny pause. He thought schoolyard defender, at the most, and for a moment he looked at her with unmasked surprise.

"Little Sheila, anyone who'd ask you to fight is no friend of ours, and no friend of yours. We liberate child soldiers. We don't recruit 'em."

The few times they HAD recruited childrens' help, it was either the final hour, or they knew the kid in question meant there wouldn't even be a fight. Jamie against Pitch wasn't so much a battle as it was a defusing.

[letskicksomeice]

"Waste or not, you didn't get asked to get pulled into this. So we're going to do our best to help you stay safe and get you where you want to be," Jack said.

He paused.

"Do you...do you need me to try to find a paper bag or something?" he asked Howard gently. "For you to breathe in?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard shakes his head quickly, still gasping for breath. No, he doesn't need help. He's gotten through worse than a little shortness of breath on his own. He just needs a moment to process everything Jack just said, which sounds insane, and sadly, way too coherent to be some kind of dream objective.

"Don't - no - stay away!" he backs up from Bunny. "I'm fine! Just give me space."

He can talk, he tells himself, which means he can breathe, no matter what his instincts are telling him. He takes a few more deep breaths, now a little more controlled. He listens as Bunny talks to Mami, as Bunny tries to paint this as a nasty situation for everyone when Howard's feeling as if somehow, Jack and Bunny are at fault. He wants them to be at fault. It's easier to rail at things in front of you than intangible spirits.

"You can't keep me here. There's someone..."