EVENT ONE: JUNE 21ST-28TH

[luminals]

TAKE BACK KNOWHERE
When: June 21-28
Who: Everyone.
Where: All over Knowhere, ending in the Continuum Cortex and Observation Deck.

Event details are here, IC announcement is here.

Prose & Action brackets are both acceptable ways of posting to these comments, please be mindful of what threads you are posting under!

Comments

Robbie Baldwin | Open

[walkingballpit]

It's 'night', according to the station time. It's not any different from 'day' as far as he can tell. Long corridors. Artificial lighting. What windows there were would never open. NASA gave its astronauts a full battery of psych tests for a reason. The Navy did the same for submarine operators. People weren't meant to be in boxed up with no fresh air. It drove them crazy.

In a little alcove in one of the endless hallways that snake through the space station like pixels on an old Nokia, Robbie was sitting up against the wall, keeping a weary eye on anyone that came along. The Observation Deck isn't far. It's close enough that he heard the occasional skirmish, but he ignored the stops and starts as best he could. He didn't want to think about what caused each ceasefire.

A gun rested against his calf; one hand loosely wrapped around the grip. He scavenged it off one of the invaders when it became clear that they were going to need to sleep. The weapon wasn't for him to use, though. It was meant to be a warning. Nothing said armed and dangerous like a gun, no matter what language was spoken.

Honestly, he wasn't even sure if it worked. Robbie aimed at a random spot on the wall and pulled the trigger. It fired, but his aim was about two feet off, judging by the scorch mark. It didn't matter. The gun was the suggestion of the weapon.

[littlecousin]

Robbie?!

[When she hears the shot, Nita's a few hundred feet down the hall and around a couple corners, checking to make sure they haven't backed themselves into a dead end before either of them takes a nap. She does zero to sixty fast enough to make race drivers weep with envy, and almost before the echoes have had time to die, she's hovering next to Robbie, spoiling for a fight against...nothing, apparently.]

Everything okay?

[walkingballpit]

Nita?

[The shout had startled him; he hadn't realized she would hear the shot. Robbie is getting to his feet when she asks him if everything's okay. He looks past her, down the hall that she had been clearing, to make sure that she isn't being chased by anything. Nothing.]

Yeah, everything's fine. I was seeing if it still worked.

[littlecousin]

[She puffs out a breath. Robbie.]

Well, anyway, the hallway in that direction ends with a drop off. Looks like about three stories down to the next level, so we're in good shape.

[Tiny mutant ankle wings, kinetic field--they're not trapped. Nita settles back to the floor on bare feet that somehow never seem to get dirty. Maybe it's an Atlantean thing.]

[walkingballpit]

[How many times in his life is he going to be holding a ray gun, Nita? How many? This was an opportunity that could not be passed up. It made a zwip sound. There's a sheepish smile beneath the dark circles under his eyes. He knows he got caught goofing off.]

Works for me. You want to get some sleep, or do you want to figure out what we're going to do with that?

[Robbie jerks his head in the direction of the Observation Deck. He won't say it aloud, but he's running on fumes nearly. The thought of storming a room full of deeply entrenched aliens would be daunting if he hadn't been up for days and knew about them. Without knowing why they're attacking the station or anything else about them, it's screaming recipe for disaster at him.]

[littlecousin]

[Jeez, if he wants a ray gun that bad, she'll get him one from Atlantis.]

I don't think we're gonna be able to take those things on our own. They're so good at predicting attacks that we're probably going to need to hit them with so much at once they can't dodge.

[Nita loves team-ups, but she's really not at her perky best right now, and she hasn't seen any of the people she'd spoken to earlier. Sailor Pluto could be a big help, she bets.

Ugh. Knowhere is too big and too confusing.]

You should get some sleep. I'll be okay for a while longer.

[Sub-Mariner stamina and all...even if the lack of water isn't helping with that.]

[walkingballpit]

[This one's from space. It wouldn't be the same. Nita is lucky that he hasn't made a Star Wars reference yet. He's clearly slipping.]

We're probably not, yeah. [Dying trying is not an option for her, to him, so he leaves it at that. He's not entirely comfortable with any of the alternatives that he can come up with anyway. They all seem to involving leveling the entire room at once.

Her plan means they need a lot more people, which could be a problem.] If there're any other Warriors here, old or new, I haven't found them. Just a babe who'd never heard of the Avengers.

[Robbie isn't scoffing; he's simply still surprised by this radical departure in Earths. He can't help but wonder what happened to them, in Veronica's world.]

I'm good. You're going to need time to get used to crashing on the floor, unless you want to find your quarters. You first.

[littlecousin]

I can dive to the bottom of the Marianas Trench. You think the floor's gonna bother me?

[She folds her arms, preparing for an argument.]

[walkingballpit]

[And she gets it.]

I'm not tired enough to pass out on the floor. I know how tired I have to be, and I'm not. There yet. This place is freaking me out, and I won't be able to sleep anyway.

Just go to bed, princess.

[littlecousin]

[ITT: Mature superheroes superheroing maturely.]

Are you serious? You're human, Robbie. You shouldn't be going this long without sleep.

[She doesn't mean to be insulting. It's just the truth! Ignore the fact that she really shouldn't be going without sleep, either. But she can bounce back faster.

Assuming there's water anywhere.]

[walkingballpit]

[The maturest is sitting right here cross-legged on the floor, pouting up at her.]

Not human. Technically speaking, if I was completely human, the High Evolutionary's death ray - er, ray of terrible pain, as it turned out, wouldn't have worked on me.

[He raises his eyebrows and ducks his head a little, when he flips her argument back around at her.]

You're half-human. Since the other half isn't shark, you can't survive on microsleep either.

[Robbie likes the Discovery Channel. Shark Week should be a national holiday.]

[littlecousin]

[Wait wait wait.]

The High Evolutionary built a death ray? And used it on you?

[NOT COOL, HERBERT]

[walkingballpit]

[Oh boy.]

On the - on the team.

[He almost said on the New Warriors, but he can't do that. He can't tell her how they've replaced her with an identical Atlantean and... everything.

Also how come she gets to be on a first name basis with the H.E.?]

It didn't work. Iiiii guess it actually did, until Sun Girl blew it up.

[gamora]

( Gamora's been spending the down time mapping out Knowhere - she knows the station like the back of her hand and much of it is the same as the one she knows. But there are differences: her quarters simply do not exist and neither does the room Quill's band of losers happened to be headquartered in.

Alternate universe? Probably.

She doesn't tire - thank Thanos for that - not at the rate people should, at any rate. But she's also not an idiot, snatching moments of rest when she can. Her temper is shot to hell and back, however, and when she sees Robbie her only comment is anything but encouraging or reassuring. Not that she ever is to begin with, however. )

You'd better not expect anyone save you if you're planning on wasting all of your ammo.

[walkingballpit]

[Robbie watched the woman approach, eyes looking her up and down. So apparently, they hadn't hit on every alien cliche yet. He had to admit, he greatly preferred 'hot green chick' to 'little green man'. He's not sure if she's an alien, a mutant, Aracely all grown up.

If she's that last one, wow. And he should probably keep her nosy mind away from Nita. ]

1, it's not my gun, so I'd rather burn the ammo than leave it lying around. 2, You'd better not keep assuming people rely on weapons, if you don't want to need saving yourself.

[He set the gun down between his legs and cocked his head to the side.]

Most of the people here are attack first, questions never. Who are you?

[gamora]

I've never needed saving. ( Well there was the once, but as Gamora has complicated feelings regarding her time as a select, she simply chooses to ignore it rather than dwell on it. ) And if you're going to use it, why not make yourself useful?

( Terrans. A half shrug of a shoulder as she runs a hand through her still-short hair, not completely used to the feeling of it growing in. It's the last thing to come back, however, and she'll take it over the option of being dead any day of the week. )

Gamora.

[walkingballpit]

Right, right. This princess saves herself. I get it. Anyway, I'm a terrible shot with guns. I've got other ways to make myself useful. You can ask the pink gorillas a few decks down, if they wake up and there's not too much nerve damage.

[Someday, he's going to meet a green girl who doesn't have a no-nonsense attitude. Someday.]

Robbie Baldwin. Do you know what the heck's going on here? Because right now I'm trusting a Kree kid - which isn't exactly on my credible sources list - and Nita, who I thought was dead until I got here. Might as well trust you, you haven't tried to kill me yet either. I wouldn't, by the way.

[He has impressed himself by not making a Sodom and Gomorrah crack.]

[gamora]

( It comes with the color, Robbie. )

Beyond the Infinity Gems being shattered and ending up on a different Knowhere than the one in my universe? No. It's not my job to know things - try Adam Warlock for that.

( Especially about the Infinity Gems. )

Could do worse than the Kree.

( Skrulls. Church of Universal Truth. Honestly, the Kree are the least of their troubles. )

[walkingballpit]

[ He gives her a sharp look, trying to place her and failing. ]

There's a Knowhere in your universe, too? Nita said there's one in ours, but I've never been here. She was only here for a few days though, and it's not like Rich's here to ask about it.

[ Robbie shrugs and follows it up with a nod. Yeah, there's worse than Kree. He'd take listening some random Kree over Norman Osborn or a tv executive any day. ]

Yeah, I know. I missed most of the Skrull Invasion though, so I don't have that xenophobic urge to start punching people in the face until they Skrull out.

[gamora]

Quill's team operates out of it. ( She's not on particularly good terms with Peter Jason Quill at this point, thanks to a gentle brain rinse and betrayal of trust reasons. 'Rich', however, is a name she knows, or assumes she knows due to the mention of Knowhere. ) Richard Rider. ( Richard-human. Her on and off again lover, currently very much off? That Rich? )

There's an easier way to tell.

( Like killing them. But Gamora operates under the principle that if someone's behaving odd enough for her to suspect that they're actually a Skrull they'll appreciate the favor no matter what. )

[walkingballpit]

['It's a Small World' is suddenly stuck in his head, but his brain is substituting 'verse for World. It's a 'verse of Skrulls, and a 'verse of Kree, Inhumans and then there's humanity. There's so much we don't share, maybe we should beware. It's a small 'verse after all.

Robbie's head can be a strange place.]

Yeah, Rich Rider. [He's careful not to say Nova, though: space. Out here, that's probably what people would know him as.] You know 'im?

[He's making a face at her that clearly says 'please.'] I'm not about to kill someone on the chance that they're a Skrull.

[gamora]

( That gets a slow grin - she might not be on the best terms with Rider currently, but that doesn't change the fact he was a very sexy human rocket. )

We're familiar with each other. 'Operational knowledge' was the phrase once used.

I am. ( Terrans. Honestly. ) If they're a Skrull then you've solved the problem. If not? Well then they weren't themselves and would appreciate being put out of their misery anyway.

( Problem solving the Gamora way. )

[walkingballpit]

[That gets an eyebrow raise. He's not sure if joking and sarcasm are universal languages, but the smirk and 'operational knowledge' read loud and clear. Rich, your ex-girlfriends are cluttering up the space station.]

Is that what they're calling it out here? [A rather wicked half smile.] You poor thing.

[Really, who would date Richie? Well, Nita, but she was a lot like Rich.]

I'm not a Skrull, and most people wouldn't appreciate being 'put out of their misery' because they don't have a static personality.

[gamora]

I managed.

( Really, it wasn't difficult at all. Except for that part about emotions and talking about said emotions. Then she bailed. )

That's what all Skrulls say. ( Just going to point that out for him. ) I know I'd appreciate being dead rather than have my personality do a complete one eighty.

( Because that would be awful. And she's lucky that the people she surrounds herself with on a day to day basis get that. Or at least don't think it's odd. )

[walkingballpit]

[You'd think that most guys would jump at the chance to have something so uncomplicated. Darn him for being a nice guy.]

Yeah, yeah. I know. What if I told you I didn't kill them even when I knew they were Skrulls?

[Incapacitated, yes, but he'd been one of the only Thunderbolts not using lethal force. He has morals, okay.]

People don't stay the same forever. I'm not the same person I was a few years ago.