yui

We're an OOC now! I've said this in like three different places already, but please do contact me with your character ideas so I can help blend their backstories into the overall plot of the RP.

(maybe a logo here someday) IC June 11th, 2030. This auspicious date marks exactly 100 years since the end of The Crisis, a near-apocalyptic event that changed the fabric of reality itself. In the century since, nations have risen and fallen, wars have broken out and been quelled, and mankind has fought to reclaim the world that was nearly ripped apart by the breaking down of reality. On this momentous centennial anniversary, the leaders of the world prepare to address the people, many of whom have gathered to massive festivals meant to both celebrate making it this far, and remember what it took to reach this point. Hopes are high, and many believe that at long last, the world has settled down, and soon, the world will return to a sense of peaceful normalcy. Just behind the curtain, however, not all is as well as one might think. How did The Crisis happen, and what stopped it? How it is connected to psychics? And can the world ever truly reach a sense of normalcy? To learn the answers to those questions means following a chain of events that starts at one of these 100-year anniversary festivals... Rules: App Format & Accepted Apps: Database!

“...Perhaps now, is not the time for such a discussion? Though I do not look on my memories of death in a fully negative fashion, I… Cannot help but assume, them to be painful memories for the others." Hm. Fair point. “Additionally, I’d like to… Take a step back, and discuss our journey ahead and potential Night-Watch.” Abby listened intently as Marshall explained the futility of her attempts to sleep since coming here, but also the reasons why a quick break come nightfall would be a good idea all the same, nodding along to the explanation. All stuff she agreed with, and all stuff the others agreed with too, by the sound of it. With no objections from anyone, it seemed the plan was more or less set. As Abby took a look around her immediate surroundings and the horizon both, one thing really stood out to her. Besides the literal elephant in the room. They really like towers here, don't they? Not that she or the rest of her world was one to talk. After all, everybody loved skyscrapers, right? Abby was aware of the elephant, but tried to not look directly at it. She didn't want to get in a tangle with that thing if she could help it, and she wasn't sure if something as simple as eye contact would set it off, nor was she about ot find out the hard way. That left the various towers dotting the horizon as the only thing worth looking at. One in particular was a lot further off than the others. "Might be that one?" Abby suggested, pointing to the southward tower. "I'm not one of those Accursed myself, but if I was, I'd want my lair to be as far away from everything else as possible. To stop some plucky band of prophecized heroes from breaking in, or to have plenty of prep time if I see them coming. ...though now that I've said that, they really would see us coming from a mile away, huh?" Abby briefly glanced at the apparent burrows and tunnels the smaller animals had retreated into during their escape from the elephant of doom. I wonder if we could get under the tower like that... nah.

"Uh, I didn't mention this before but I'm not...tired. Like, at all? I don't know if I have to sleep to begin with." "Hm. I felt the same way last night. Must be part of the Exalted package deal." With a shrug, Abby then suggested as an alternative "You can stand watch with me then, if anyone else wants to get some rest overnight. Normally I'd go on for a bit about how sleep is good for you and the human brain just isn't meant to go on for days at a time without rest, but now I am curious if that's been addressed on our way over too..." Well, that was something that would need to be measured out over the course of a few days with firsthand experience. Which suited Abby just fine; even when she was alive, she wasn't much of a sleeper. Now that the need for sleep had been removed entirely, it almost felt more natural than when she was alive. To hell with insomnia; THIS was the way to live! Oh, maybe she's just got insomnia? I'm only half a doctor at best, but I really want to study the four of us and see how being an Exalted has changed our bodies. But saying it that way makes me feel more like a creepy stalker or a mad scientist. "Well, we can worry about it when it's night time. But man, what a weird world we've wound up in! Shame we all got here how we did though, speaking of sleep. Mowed down by a truck, turned into a fine red paste along the train tracks, stabbed, and... whatever happened to Sabrina. Would be nice if one of us could've just died peacefully in our sleep or something, huh?" Come to think of it, how DID Sabrina die? Abby didn't recall her mentioning it when everyone met at the church. She wasn't about to just ask straight to her face "So buddy, how did you kick the bucket?", but the seeds of curiosity had definitely been planted now that Abby realized she didn't know what happened.

What kind of psychopath puts peanut butter in the fridge and then eats cold-ass peanut butter on their room-temperature bread (or hot toast/waffle/whatever)?

All's well that ends well, and after some team deliberation, it was decided that the course of action was to head for the castle. Viva la revolucion! All this walking through nature suited Abby. It reminded her of running off into the woods as a child, in search of cool rocks and weird bugs to bring home. And while there wasn't much that stood out to her in terms of rocks and bugs here, she did make one interesting observation. The fauna. It was bigger than she was used to back in her world. And some animals had even more remarkable qualities! Like that lion, whose mane was seemingly made of lightning. "Oooh...that looks so cool. I wonder...if I could catch one of them...and keep it as a pet." "M-Maybe not a good idea...l-l-least right now... I-I mean, probably need to get the animal handling thing down...I mean...i-is there even a skill tree like that...?" “We should watch them with caution. ...But perhaps, as he implies, we may be able to find some way to call upon them using the strength we have gathered from the foes we have fought. ...It was said that we would be getting ‘stronger’ from these fights we've been partaking in, wasn’t it? Perhaps we can unlock new abilities, like our weapon-skills and magic.” "Humans didn't need magic to tame horses and wolves back in our world," Abby mused. "At the same time though, last I checked, horses and wolves don't have electric manes. The smart move would be not to chance it, but if you girls and Gene are feeling a bit reckless, I'm down to find out the hard way." Adjusting the fit of her sleeves and her coat in general, Abby added on "Unrelated side note, but if we stop to camp out for the night when it's time for that, I'll stay up so the rest of you can sleep."

collectively these videos are like a minute long in total so i don't feel bad about posting the entire three-part(?) series

“While your concern is noted, and appreciated, if you recall, I had discussed the matter with River during our initial puzzle expedition; taking her at her word, I… Simply had complete, and utter faith that the rest of you would survive the encounter, allowing me to return from the ‘nothing’ of Death unscathed. ...Still, I will try to take the mental ramifications of my actions into account before I make further mistakes; and apologize for acting without thinking. It seems some old habits are harder to staunch than we thought.” That was good to hear. Abby made a mental note to keep an eye on Marshall in future battles if she had a moment to do so though, just in case. Following this, Marshall presented a question about weapons, to which River had a helpful explanation. Abby for one was quite pleased with the hammer she'd received, but if she ever felt a change in weapon was appropriate, it was good to know that she'd be able to change it out fairly easily. As the other Exalted made for the water portal exit, Abby did much the same, giving River a wave goodbye on the way over. River was a good person, and Abby was looking forward to their next inevitable meeting. The feeling of rushing through water hit her again on the way out, but sure enough, she and the rest found themselves at the entrance of the shrine once it was over with. Which left the question of what to do next... "The Accursed! Come on we should go right there, I feel like I could take on ten Accursed right now!" Well, maybe it wasn't a question of what to do, but how. “...That would be the most prudent of our actions, though I wonder if perhaps we should rest given the ordeal we have just completed, or let the village know of our success here. ...There’s always the fact that they may have more information for us about the Accursed; though, it is also true that time could be of the essence here…” "It would be quite a detour, for sure," Abby nodded. "And we know enough to get a general idea... probably. Whoever's the Accursed around here's in charge of the regional cursed weather, so they'll probably be flinging a lot of lightning bolts at us or something. Can't imagine anyone back in town's actually met them, so I don't know what more they could tell us."

High above the streets of Manhattan, a woman looked down from her rooftop perch. Through the black miasma that filled the world's atmosphere, she couldn't see the streets from up here, but she could still hear the traffic, always buzzing about. She wasn't sure how long she'd been sitting up here, but she did know she was getting impatient. "Eden Brock, stop where you are!! We're taking you back to Alchemax, dead or alive!" An exasperated groan escaped Eden's lips. The kind one would make when simply trying to relax, but the same interruption gets in the way every five seconds. Her gaze did turn, but rather than behind her, it was to her right, where, stuck to the wall by what resembled a black, tar-like web, was a young man still struggling to break free. "Who's that?" One of the armed men demanded, nodding toward the trapped man. "What's he doing here?" "Bait." "W--" "Do you even know who you're trying to capture?" "...an Alchemax intern who got fired after stealing Project Venom. Fisk's orders are to bring that thing back to Alchemax so it can be disposed of. With or without you still intact." "Very wrong, very false, and very hostile too." From beneath Eden's jacket came a loud snarling noise. "Oh, we don't like liars, by the way. And we really don't like people threatening or badmouthing us." Getting up to her feet, Eden finally turned to acknowledge the armed squad of men behind her, counting them up real quick in her head before concluding that Alchemax had once again not sent nearly enough people. There was only six of them. "Now, you seem to have been fed false intel, so let's set the record straight, one last time." WE ARE... "My name is Eden Brock, though I've almost forgotten that a couple of times. Seven months ago, I was an unpaid intern at Alchemax who was dragged on-board - against my will, I should add - as the first human test subject for the top-secret Project Venom, which was designed to kill Spider-Girl. We'll give you the short version from there. We got fired, the project was scrapped, and we argued for a few days because two distinct life-forms sharing a body just didn't sit well at first. We reconciled, united under a common goal, and jointly decided to kill Spider-Girl, not because Fisk says so, but because that's what we want. Of course, we want Alchemax destroyed too, each for our own reasons." A black ooze worked its way up most of Eden's body, before branching off at the neck. From the suit of chemical armor, an extra head sprouted, looking directly at the squad of assailants. "We can never go back to our old life. One of us was powerless and afraid, and the other was a lab project not supposed to think or act on its own. Together, we perfectly compliment each other; we're able to do whatever we want, and don't have to be afraid of anyone or anything. We can't describe how liberating that is. And we're certainly not about to let you take that away from us. Not that we think you could, no matter how hard you try or how many of you there are." The head of the suit slid itself into place, wrapping itself around and over Eden's, encasing her entirely in its pitch-black form. "After all, we are Venom. We'd recommend running and saying we evaded your capture attempts, just FYI." "Like hell we're backing down from this kind of paycheck!" With that, the men opened fire, spraying bullets on Venom with every intent to bring the beast down. Only to stop in shock as the chemical suit of armor seemed completely unaffected, its form shifting and churning to push the bullets back out and spill them onto the ground. "Well, we tried." VENOM Venom shot one of their arms forward, as if to punch, despite the distance. From the symbiotic bioarmor's fist, an extra appendage sprang forth with the punch, its end taking a form roughly like the head of a spear, which thrust itself directly through one of the armed men. Their other arm, meanwhile, reached out toward a man on the side, extending into a long, prehensile tentacle. It wrapped itself tight around him, before flinging him up into the air, and he soon disappeared out of view through the miasma. The tentacle then grabbed the next man over, before slamming him into the roof beneath his feet and then dragging him closer to Venom. Once he was close enough, the armor's torso erupted into an array of tentacles, grabbing him and pulling him into the armor, where his form could be seen thrashing and struggling under the bioarmor before slowly stopping, followed by the Venom suit returning to its original size, leaving no trace of the man it had just swallowed. "Die, dammit!" One of the men had managed to reload his gun and open fire again in the time it took to dispose of the first three. Venom simply ran up to the assailant and put all of their might into a single punch, shooting him off the rooftop, across the street, and into the next building over. Their hand then reached out, simply grabbing the next man over by the neck and squeezing tighter and tighter until he stopped moving. Just in time for the man who had been flung up to land back on the roof. With five out of the six armed men disposed of in no time flat, Venom turned its eyes toward the last one. "Tell Fisk to use something much bigger than rifles if he wants to stop us." "So do you just never take a vacation day or something?" Immediately disregarding the last of Alchemax's men, Venom snapped their attention directly behind them, a hungry elation in their voice at the sight of the masked heroine before them. "SPIDER-GIRL! We were getting tired of waiting! We set up bait and everything!" From the back of the bioarmor, a singular tentacle emerged, reaching out and grabbing at the webbing keeping Venom's hostage in place before ripping it out, setting him free. No later than that, however, did the hostage find himself in Venom's grip, and promptly flung off the roof. "Why!?" Immediately, Spider-Girl sprung into action, sprinting past Venom and getting a running start to leap off the roof. Not even a second after taking the leap, however, her spider sense was already going off. Something was behind her and approaching fast, and it didn't take a genius to guess what, or rather, who. Spider-Girl swung her arm out to the side, shooting out a string of webbing to a nearby building, and immediately yanking on it to fling herself to the side. Not a moment too late, either, as she right after saw Venom dart past her, in a trajectory that would have definitely let them catch Spider-Girl had she reacted just a moment later. "DON'T IGNORE US!" Venom roared, as they fell past Spider-Girl and faded from view through the miasma. BATTLE ABOVE NEW YORK Ignoring Venom's demands to not be ignored, Spider-Girl started forward again, using the same method she'd used to avoid Venom's attack. She had to find that hostage, and catch him before he turned into a red splat on the pavement. She liked to think she was getting pretty good at the whole web-swinging thing, but even so, she was putting everything she had into a mad dash down the street. Not long after her initial dodge, however, she could sense it again. Venom wasn't giving up that easily, and they were leaping for Spider-Girl at a point in her swing where she didn't really have the ability to dodge well enough to escape. Venom and Spider-Girl collided, crashing into the walls of a nearby building where the pair stuck themselves. Once on the wall, Venom reared back their right fist, making sure to keep the left hand on the wall to prevent Spider-Girl from chasing down the hostage any further. Their fist shot forward, but Spider-Girl moved her head aside to avoid the punch, and all that happened for it was Venom's fist went through the steel walls of whatever building they were on. They tried to swing their arm from where it was, but Spider-Girl ducked out of the way, slipping out of Venom's range by letting herself fall through the gap between their legs, and leaving a gaping gash where once there was a fist-sized hole in the wall as the only sign either woman was there to begin with. "Spider sense... how annoying." "Maybe you should take some time off to relax," Spider-Girl called out, starting off in the hostage's direction again. "I bet a good spa day would do wonders for that complexion of yours!" As Spider-Girl sent out her next web line to continue swinging, Venom extended a tentacle from their hand, wrapping it around the heroine's leg and pulling back, stopping her escape once again. In return, Spider-Girl grabbed the tentacle with both hands, and with the full, unrestricted use of her strength, pulled on both ends, ripping the end that had grabbed her off from the rest of the tentacle. A surge of pain shot through Venom's bioarmor, and the pair let out a horrible, primal shriek as the sudden sensation shot through them, causing them to lose their focus and fall to the streets below, leaving behind a loud thud and a small crater at the point of impact as Spider-Girl started retreating yet again. "Ohhh... we're gonna enjoy killing her, and we're gonna do it slowly so we can savor the moment," Venom growled, as they got back up to their feet. Back above the streets, meanwhile, Spider-Girl could hear someone shouting for help. A wave of relief washed over her on the fact that, based on where it was coming from, Venom's unlucky victim had found himself something to hang onto before taking a fatal fall to the streets below. As she got closer, however, she heard something large and metallic from below. Even without the spider sense, she could tell Venom was up to something. From underneath her, a large semi truck quickly came into view, springing out of the miasma and heading straight for her. With no time to dodge, the best Spider-Girl could hope for was to take the truck head-on. Once she'd been hit by a projectile truck, Spider-Girl rolled over, moving herself to the side of the truck and using it as a springboard to close the rest of the distance to the hostage, scooping him up from his precarious perch before running up to the building's roof as fast as she could, setting him down on solid ground. "Sorry I can't take you down from here, but I've got a maniac trying to kill me. Call the police or fire department or something; they'll get you down." Next order of business: the truck. Spider-Girl perched herself on the edge of the roof, shooting out a pair of webs from her arms across the street to the building opposite her. Once those were connected, she disconnected the webs from her web shooters, and secured them onto the roof she was standing on. Then she repeated the process as many times as time would allow for, before the truck started coming back down. Once the vehicle came into sight, two things immediately registered in Spider-Girl's mind. One: The truck. Two: The familiar sensation of her spider sense alerting her that Venom was coming, and fast. New plan. Spider-Girl leapt off the roof, shooting herself through the air and landing on top of the truck. On the way, she made a point to check through the windshield for any occupants. Nobody was inside, and the driver's side door was open, meaning whoever was driving had managed to get out before Venom threw the thing. Good. Naturally, once Spider-Girl landed, Venom wasn't far behind. The latter landed with such force that the webs beneath the truck gave in faster than they would have otherwise, and the truck began to fall again. Something Spider-Girl already knew she'd have to deal with. Spider-Girl planted her feet and one hand firmly on top of the truck to stick to it, and with the other, shot a web line to the closest building. She was not looking forward to this next part. The impact of the truck hitting an entire building was enough to shake Venom off, giving Spider-Girl a precious moment to reinforce her web line, slowing her descent until she was able to set the truck down on the sidewalk, free of pedestrians who had since vacated its landing zone. It was a strain both on her web shooter and her arms, but a sigh of relief escaped Spider-Girl's lips when she realized she'd done it. But fans and other bystanders were of course not the only thing waiting for her down there. Spider-Girl jumped, leapt, climbed, and hopped around, but the distance was closed, and Venom was not somebody she wanted to take a direct hit from. While her spider sense was saving her up until this point, eventually, Spider-Girl's luck ran out. After enough time, she found herself in Venom's clutches, the villain holding Spider-Girl up by her wrist, keeping her at arm's length to prevent her from striking back effectively. "We finally caught you. Now, we are going to kill you - slowly - and then we are going to eat you so that nothing is left, and then we are going to destroy Alchemax." Venom's grip began to tighten. Spider-Girl could hear the cracking and creaking of one of her injectors getting crushed and eventually broken in Venom's grip, and the bioarmor began to crawl its way up Spider-Girl's arm, constricting everything it was able to wrap itself around. Spider-Girl began looking around for something, anything to get her out of this bind. The bioarmor had taken her arm entirely, and was making its way around to her neck and ribs. Then she saw it. Unsuspecting, red salvation! A fire hydrant. Spider-Girl took a deep breath, and with her free hand, she shot out one last web line of desperation, catching the hydrant by one of its valves, and subsequently ripping it off. The resulting blast stream of water knocked Venom off their feet, washed the chemical bioarmor clean off of Spider-Girl's own suit, and forced the dangerous chemical lifeform that was Venom to retreat into the body of its host as the combatants rolled and crawled out of the hydrant's aquatic assault. "Not the spa day I suggested, but you sure look better after a good rinsing," Spider-Girl said, shaking her arm to get the blood flowing normally again once she was back on her feet. "You think this is over?" Venom taunted. "We'll dry off, and we'll hunt you down, again and again. You can't escape us, Spider-Girl. We'll chase you to the ends of the earth if we must." "Sure will, champ." As she dismissed Venom's threats, Spider-Girl hopped over the stream of water to get closer to Venom, lifting them up and putting them against the wall, before spraying them down with webbing to keep them stuck in place. "We both know you'll just break out of whatever prison they put you in, so just stand there for a while and think about your actions. I'm getting out of here before the press shows up. See ya!" "You aren't going anywhere without us!" Venom shouted, struggling with all of their might to break free of the web Spider-Girl had ensnared them in. Alas, without the might of the symbiote, they were but a normal person, and escape was impossible. As Spider-Girl continued to leave, it was all Venom could think to do to continue trying to provoke the hero. "This is an underhanded tactic that a hero should not resort to! You haven't won anything yet! Get back here! Spider-Girl! Fight us, you coward! You... you're already gone, aren't you?" In Eden's throat, the feeling of a large, moving lump could be felt, before the head of the symbiote stuck itself out of Eden's body through her mouth. "Cutting us free," it said, lowering its head down to dig its rows of dagger-like teeth into the webs holding them in place, essentially eating its way to freedom before retracting back into Eden's body. We have lost once again. "That's fine. No matter how many times we lose, we only need to win once. We're going home, I guess." HOME SWEET HOME After a long day of heroics mixed with keeping up with her job at the Bugle, there was nothing quite like going home. Once she got her Bugle job, Joanna insisted on moving out to live on her own, and found a one-bedroom apartment before long. The place was cheap and certainly not something to be proud of, but it was well within her budget, and the landlord was a pretty good guy, too. She easily could've gotten a new place by now, but by the time that was on the table, Joanna had grown pretty fond of her little home, for better or worse. Plus, the neighbors were interesting people. Door's stuck again. That, however, was her one real complaint. The door. She'd brought it up several times, and by the sound of things, getting it fixed was definitely on the to-do list, but she'd yet to see any signs that it would actually happen. Putting about as much force into it as she would have been able to before becoming Spider-Girl, Joanna gave the door one push after another, until it finally gave way and let her into her own apartment. With a door like that, she probably didn't even need to lock it, but she wasn't about to test that the hard way. Inside the apartment, every sign pointed to the place being decently old, predating the chemtech boom of the 90s and having received no real renovations since. The easiest giveaway was the windows. They were sealed away behind an extra pane of glass now, but the windows themselves were an older type meant to be opened to let in fresh air. Not getting to live in a time where that was a viable option was something Joanna would have regretted, had she any say in when she was born. But it wasn't like she could control that, so moping over it would accomplish less than nothing. Plus, this was her place to relax after another day in the life of Spider-Girl. Joanna tossed the bag hanging from her shoulder onto the couch, opened the refrigerator, and pulled out a box of pizza she'd ordered the other day, grabbing a slice and sitting down without bothering to reheat the pizza. "Pizza time. Finally." As she worked her way through the piece of cold pizza, Joanna opened up the bag and reached inside. Feeling around past her Spider-Girl suit, she grabbed onto what felt like a bent, warped piece of metal, and pulled out the injector Venom had crushed earlier. Based on the look of it, it was - in her untrained opinion - completely fucked. "Damn. Parker's not gonna be happy about that." She'd have to drop by his place tomorrow to get that fixed. If something urgent came up between now and then, she could certainly manage with just one injector, but having both just felt better. The day was just about over though, so Joanna could kick back, eat her cold pizza, and watch some garbage TV programming. News channels were mostly talking about Spider-Girl's actions of the day, which she didn't need a recap on. There was one that mentioned one of Oscorp's lead engineers was getting laid off, but what Oscorp did was frankly none of her business; her beef was purely with Alchemax. Drama channels, nothing interesting. Movie channels, nothing interesting. Comedy channels, nothing new. Joanna chose to go back to the news channel talking about Oscorp; it was a story she wasn't aware of, which by default made it the most interesting thing on TV right now. It was also one of Norman Osborn's very rare press appearances. "Letting go of Doctor Octavius isn't a decision I made lightly. His contributions have been invaluable in seeing Oscorp develop into the chemtech titan it is today. However, over the decades, Oscorp's philosophy on chemtech has changed, and while I still see Otto as a dear friend, and a great man, the distance in ideology between him and Oscorp has only gotten bigger over time." "Mr. Osborn, can we get official word on the rumors that various national governments have denied extensions to the rights for Oscorp's chemtech testing fields!?" "I would like to keep tonight's headline focused on Doctor Octavius." "Mr. Osborn, what is--" "Mr. Osborn, would you--" "Mr. Os--" "Mr. Osborn, Alchemax's CEO Wilson Fisk has openly decried Spider-Girl's acts of vigilantism, does Oscorp hold the same negative view of Spider-Girl?" Joanna leaned in close to the TV for this one. Suddenly, she was invested in this press conference. And based on the time he took to think about an answer, it sounded like Norman was willing to answer this one! Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through her body, and a bizarre, additional sensation she couldn't fully describe. It wasn't anything like an injury. More like... a feeling that she wasn't even there in the first place? And then, a hole appeared above her. Just, a hole, in the air itself. There was no chemtech in the world that could accomplish this, and before she had time to think about it further, she realized the hole was sucking her in. THE PORTAL Joanna tried to push herself back down, but that certainly didn't work. She could feel herself getting pulled up still. Her web shooters weren't even on or she'd use that, but she made certain to close and grab her Spider-Girl bag, stuffing the broken injector in as well for good measure. She reached down to the floor, hoping to stick to it like she would on any other surface. Which worked. For a bit. Soon, however, that too proved ineffective, and there was nothing Joanna could do but be swallowed up by this unknown hole above her. She did, however, manage to grab her pizza on the way out. The non-reheated familiarity of cheese and sauce on refrigerated crust was a small comfort in the extreme unknowns surrounding her. In her mind, the place she'd been flung into looked like outer space, not that she'd ever seen it herself. Moreover, it was as if a giant, infinite web was spread out across the entire... wherever she was. As she fell - though in what direction she couldn't tell - Joanna could see many other sights. Things that simply did not - could not - exist in the world she knew. Worlds of brilliant vibrance, bursting at the seams with color and sound. Worlds of cold, unfeeling steel, where all was machinery. Worlds of stark nothingness, seemingly devoid of anything at all but dry, gray dirt. Worlds of... was that a pig in red spandex? Eventually, the visage of one of these worlds was moving straight toward her. Or rather, she was moving straight toward it. Joanna braced for impact, crashing through the image of the world, and landing... IN ANOTHER WORLD... ...face-first on the pavement. "Oww..." Upon getting up to her feet, Joanna quickly noticed she was outdoors. In a sudden panic, she reached into her bag, grabbing her gas mask... before realizing something very unusual. She'd been breathing before she got up. She was doing it right now. Not choking on a toxic miasma, but... breathing. Like, breathing air. Slowly putting the mask back where it was, she realized more and more about her surroundings. The open feeling that came with not having your visibility cut down by the miasma. The breeze that felt more like a gentle caress from the air, rather than a clammy hand wrapping its gross fingers around her. People just going about their daily lives, without a care in the world. Okay, that last one applied normally too, but the general vibe was completely different! They dressed similar enough, but sometimes, something about somebody's attire just felt slightly off from what Joanna would expect clothes to look like. Plus, a lot of the windows she saw were those old-style windows, like the ones in her apartment. Some were even wide open, letting the surprisingly clean air just go inside. Okay. Calm down, Joanna. Use your context clues. Clean air, blue sky, all that jazz... this must be Latveria. The more she thought about it, the more that made sense. It was famously the last "clean" place in the world, owing to benevolent dictator Victor von Doom's affinity for chemtech simply being on an entirely different league from even the combined forces of Alchemax and Oscorp. At Doom's level of genius, suddenly, some mystery hole that sucks people out of their apartments and drops them in Latveria seemed fairly plausible, if not downright possible. But something bugged her about that conclusion. Latveria's foreign policy. "Nobody gets in. Nobody gets out." Latveria's isolation was infamous for how strict it was, so unless Doom knew Joanna was Spider-Girl, she saw no reason she'd be randomly abducted to this place. And how would he know that? He probably didn't even know Spider-Girl existed. As Joanna turned a corner to try and get some answers from the locals, another thing stood out to very clearly tell her this wasn't Latveria. A towering bronze statue. Dedicated to a man named "Mike Haggar" and the revitalization of a place called Metro City. That certainly didn't sound like a Latverian city name, but more importantly, Mike Haggar was NOT Victor von Doom. While his nation was infamous for its refusal to interact with the outside world, Doom's ego was nothing short of legendary. From what little she knew about the guy, there was no way Doom would raise a memorial to commemorate anyone else, and if one were to be raised without his approval, it would surely be torn down before dinner. So this wasn't Latveria after all. Which begged the question. "Where the hell am I?" As Joanna tried to get her bearings to figure out what this mysterious Metro City place was, a rather average-looking white collar salaryman looked straight at her. And then began to approach her. Quickly. Joanna's spider sense was telling her that this very average salaryman who was approaching her at a full sprint was trouble, but she had been on edge in general ever since that hole opened up in her apartment, so it could have just as easily been general parano-- Suddenly, Joanna found herself instinctively swerving to the left, barely dodging a punch thrown by this guy. AVERAGE DAY IN METRO CITY Okay, this guy's got a lot of anger to let out, apparently. Should probably deal with him. It wasn't really in Joanna's usual agenda to beat up random office workers, but he did start it. And he was clearly out for a fight, hands up and everything. Joanna was willing to humor him, not as Spider-Girl, but plain old Joan Joanna Jameson. It was a good opportunity to dust off her high school boxing experience. Joanna put her own fists up, ready to defend herself. At first, she wasn't sure if this guy was fighting her or some invisible foe in the air, based on his repeated kicking of the space in front of him. Joanna chose to believe his target was her though, as despite his bizarre tactics, his eyes were fixed on her. In high school, she wasn't much of the "bob and weave" type, but being Spider-Girl, that sort of thing came naturally to her. And so, she bobbed and weaved around his attacks, getting into punching range. As she approached, however, her spider sense alerted her to something. But even it didn't seem to be sure what. Probably just nerves. Joanna threw her fist out, hitting the man square in the chest... and stopping in utter shock at he was completely unaffected. Instead of hitting him properly, what appeared to happen was he was somehow immune to her strike, and was now shooting up with a strike of his own, catching Joanna in a rising uppercut attack. At this distance, even with her agility, there was no time to dodge, and Joanna felt herself get knocked off the sidewalk, shot up and away from this extremely normal person, and landed harshly on the pavement once again. What... the hell... just happened? As Joanna got back up to her feet, something unusual happened. The man who had assaulted her threw - of all things - a ball of sand at her. Not only was this extremely underhanded, it wasn't a very effective method of attack. Joanna simply closed her eyes, and was suddenly very surprised as the ball of sand struck her with all the force of a human fist. Physically getting her bearings back from the strike didn't take long, but in the time it took to mentally recover was enough that by the time Joanna opened her eyes, the man was right in front of her again, about to strike her with the same uppercut. Unable to react in time, Joanna was once again shot upward, this time staying down a while longer. Uuugh... wherever I am, I clearly need to be more on guard. Joanna watched the man who had just beaten the shit out of her then went about his day as if nothing had ever happened. Even the crowds that had stopped to watch the one-sided fight simply continued their daily routines, completely unfazed by what they had just witnessed. Joanna didn't get back up until her assailant was out of sight, upon which time she took in her surroundings again, watching for violent maniacs this time. It was definitely a city. Aside from the statue that wasn't of Doom, the only place that really stood out to her was a Japanese restaurant a bit down the street. Cold pizza was tasty, but it wasn't terribly filling. Maybe a good meal would make her feel better. And so, Joanna made her way over there, keeping herself on high alert.

Abby's struggle with the armor was on in full, and her game plan had been executed. Albeit, to slightly less success than she'd have liked. Perhaps a 1-on-1 with this thing wasn't as easy a task as she'd expected. Luckily, she wasn't quite alone. Thanks to some timely intervention from Sabrina and Gene, the spear-wielding armor was disposed of, and the Exalted were deemed the victors! And to the victors went the spoils, to the tune of an orb sticking itself into the Dragon Signs of the two still-living girls. Which, in turn, prompted quite a vision from Abby. Or perhaps it was better to call it a lack of a vision? After all, it was so much nothing, that it was frankly impressive how nothing the nothing was. And then there was light! And within the star before her, a dragon! Abby hoped she didn't have to fight that - while she was no expert, she knew dragons were not suitable early foes - and her hopes were fortunately right on the money. The vision ended with a return to the room from before, but with all the cascading water done away with, new wall carvings became apparent, as well as a statue! It seemed that all four Exalted were none the worse for wear... yes, all four of them. Despite Marshall having just died moments ago. While Abby was relieved to see Marshall alive and well despite the whole dying thing, she was even more relieved that this meant she'd be able to make her feelings on the heroic sacrifice perfectly clear. But first, there was one other matter that warranted Abby's attention. The triumphant return of not just Marshall, but also her hat, and the line of questioning that came with it. “...I suppose then, that it’s similar to our weapons? Where, since they are a part of us, their physical form is shaped by our self perception? And in that way, our clothes and appearance are as well?” “Yes very similar. As I had mentioned, identity is a very important part of the soul, and both the concept of wearing clothes and these clothes in particular must have some importance on your own identity. So rest assured that no matter how damaged or lost your clothing becomes it shall always return to you, in a similar way to how your body will always retain the same shape after being healed.” "Dunno if I identify with this getup," Abby commented, taking a glance down at her own attire. "I just happened to die wearing it, due to... reasons." “...I suppose I should add to this; good work. I wasn’t able to see it, but judging by the fact that I have returned, I’d like to thank you all for dispatching our remaining foes in a timely manner.” "And speaking of dispatching," Abby groaned, planting the business end of her hammer into the floor, to use the shaft as a convenient pivot to quickly turn around and face Marshall more directly. "Mind telling us what the hell you were thinking throwing yourself into the jaws of death like that!? Now look, I'm very happy you're alive and well, but for all you knew, that would have been it for you! We're already tight on numbers as it is, and the last thing we need is..." Abby paused in her scolding, taking a deep breath before tossing her hammer aside, dissipating it into the great nothingness of spiritual weapons that are no longer manifested. "Look, you're lucky for a lot of reasons you came back in as good of shape as you did. We gained valuable information about dying and all, and you're still with us. So it's fine, I guess, but... ugh, whatever. It's not me to get all worked up like that, but people just throwing themselves out to die really rubs me the wrong way. Though I guess you being back begs the philosophical question of "if Marshall is alive in front of us did she really die?" but I super don't want to get into that right now." Another pause and deep breath. "Point being, welcome back, please don't do stupid shit like that again." This line of thought and conversation was clearly getting nowhere fast in Abby's head. So she turned her attention to River instead. "So, the clothes thing. Am I stuck wearing what I died in or can I get a wardrobe change if I think really hard about it?" River silently watched as Abby vented her frustrations, seemingly curious about it, before becoming more pensive as the question came back to her. “I am unsure. Trying to change the identity of your soul through sheer willpower could prove both difficult and dangerous so it is not something I recommend. However, if you have no particularly strong feelings or identification with the clothes your wearing then if you purposefully remove them then they are likely to not return, and perhaps a different set of clothes that are more impactful to you would take their place.” After a pause she then added, “oh, I am unsure of how wardrobes work in your world but I have observed that typically humans do not wear two sets of clothing at once. So if you find something you like in this world and replace your old clothing with that then in due time it would likely become the default outfit for you.” "Hm. Worth a shot later on, I guess."