[EVENT | FOURTH WALL] THE DREAMING'S FLATULENCE | APRIL 15-30

[ironwood]

Characters: ALL and plus ones. (Yes, fourth-wall characters, that means you.)
Date: April 15-30 2016 (2017 in-game)
Location: Mod-posted comment starters are for the immediate aftermath of the odd explosion which starts the event, but this log can also be used for anywhere in the setting anytime between April 15-30.
Situation: The College went BOOM. Weird people began appearing randomly in the city. After that, other buildings went BOOM even though nothing actually exploded besides the College. After that, scattered buildings developed spontaneous structural damage overnight. Could these events be related? You be the judge.
Warnings/Rating: Add warnings in subject headers as needed.

The morning of April 15th dawns cold, but clear. There isn't a cloud in the sky, the sun's barely risen, and in general the kedan are going about their daily lives - opening shops, heading to work, leading kirin through the city streets. In particular, there's a small but steady stream of people moving in and out of the College.

Then, without warning, a section of the College implodes.

During the following few days, an influx of strange Foreigners appear, seemingly dropped randomly by the Dreaming throughout Keeliai. Someone might end up in a canal, or on a rooftop. Someone else might find themselves flying through the air to land heavily in a disused alley. Someone might wake up in the corner of a kirin stable. A few might even land in Hatal on the mainland, and feel a curious draw leading them back towards the turtle. They arrive in the same unexpected manner as normal Foreigners; the only differences are the sheer amount of people arriving at once, and that none of the newcomers seem to possess any soul gems.

Also during the next few days, kedan and Foreigner alike might be startled by an exact replica of that thunderous boom from the College explosion echoing around Keeliai. This only occurs for about a week, but it occurs regularly, and the source of these strange echoes is impossible to trace.

Once the explosion echoes stop, investigators might notice that specific and exact sections of structural damage from the College appear on other buildings in Keeliai without any obvious cause. These cases of spontaneous long-term damage continue all the way through until April 30th.

Apart from those disruptions, life on the turtle is generally normal for the next two weeks - or as normal as it's possible for life to be when one lives on the back of a turtle where the most powerful gang makes the rules. No one can say for sure exactly when the strange Foreigners vanish again. Some will swear they all vanished at once; others will be equally sure they disappeared one by one over several days. One thing's for sure, however -- by the time April 30th draws to a close, not one of the strange Foreigners is left in Keeliai.

---

LINKS
The College | The Echoes | The Structural Damage | OOC Information post | Fourth-Wall Character Check-In

OOC
The top-level comments are for the explosion and its aftermath, but fourth-wall characters should feel free to use the rest of the post for anything within the setting! Just remember to label the top-level comment for location and date. You can also add more fourth-wall characters throughout the event at the character check-in, linked above. Please direct any questions to the OOC post.

Fourth-wall characters are also free to tag into player-posted logs and console/radio posts dated between April 15th and 30th! A quick reminder that fourth-wall characters will not have soul jewelry, and will not be able to create their own network posts or logs.

Comments

Anywhere in the city | Wasp (Avengers Academy) | April 15th | OTA

[social_insect]

Janet Van Dyne, more commonly known as the Wasp, didn't know where this was. On the other hand, she didn't have to worry about classes or training, and she assumed eventually Nick Fury would go send someone to check up on her. So, in the mean time, she was wandering the city snapping pictures on her smartphone and people-watching. "This is so cool. I bet I can do a whole line of clothing based on this." Bit annoying that the wireless wasn't working, and she was getting no reception, but she could upload the photos later.

She's probably here for a reason, but she'll wait until the aliens or giant robots or Godzillas show up to speculate on what that is. Or until she gets hungry and realizes the locals won't take her currency.

[highprofilerichkid]

Between their physical difference from the native kedan, their out-of-place clothing, and their general air of confusion and alarm, new Foreigners are easy to spot. Usually. This girl hits the first two, which is why Tony started to approach her, but she's definitely not checking off that third box.

"A clothing line?" he asks, amused and slightly incredulous. "Not how I would have sorted my priorities, but that's some impressive initiative."

[social_insect]

"Well, I'd have to wait until I got back to the Academy to do more than plan," Wasp said. "So, whatever that was dragged you here too, Tony?"

Now they definitely had to have an adventure. With martial arts. And dragons. And noodles.

[highprofilerichkid]

"The Academy?" Tony repeats hesitantly. "Like... The Tomorrow Academy?"

Oh shit. He doesn't know this girl. Is he supposed to know her? Is she one of his classmates? How does she know him if he doesn't know her? Well, aside from him being kind of famous in the world at large, and kind of notorious at the Academy on top of that.

Wait. Is she a groupie? Does he have a groupie?!

[social_insect]

"No, the Avengers Academy. What's the Tomorrow Academy anyway? Are you cheating on us with another school?"

It's a legit question. Hydra and AIM keep trying to poach their recruits; not that Director Fury objected to trying to convince other students to join the Academy.

[highprofilerichkid]

"The Avengers Academy?" Tony sounds amused. What kind of goofy name is that? "I've never heard of it. I've been at the Tomorrow Academy for the past two years, and I was homeschooled before that. If you recognize me from this 'Avengers Academy,' you probably know another Tony. Another version of me, I mean. From an alternate universe. That's, uh - that's a thing."

Surprise! Alternate universes are real! And you're in one!

[social_insect]

What are you talking about? Alternative universes totally make sense. "So, are you the evil Tony, then? Or the weird opposite-Tony?"

Look, you have to check these things out. (Never mind that an evil Tony Stark would probably think he had just as good reasons for the stuff he pulled as every other Tony.)

[highprofilerichkid]

Huh. She took that pretty well.

"I hope I'm not the evil one," Tony says with a chuckle. If Janet is very perceptive, she might pick up that the laugh is just a little bit forced. Tony's not so sure what qualifies as 'evil,' these days. He's not sure he'd know if he was.

"I don't know about 'opposite-Tony,' unless your Tony is a theater genius who hates pizza." (Theater is the opposite of physics, obviously.) "Probably just, um, different-Tony. I don't think I've met you in my universe. What's your name?"

[social_insect]

Wasp picked that up... but filed it away for later, because she wasn't sure what she could push on here. If it were 'her' Tony, she'd totally be able to talk to him about it. This new one? Who even knew.

"Yeah, my Tony has a whole fridge devoted to different types of cheese," Wasp said. Which ruled out 'hating pizza'. She didn't even need to answer the 'theater genius'.

"I'm Janet van Dyne. But I usually just go by Wasp."

[lasergrenades]

The implosion at the College had put everyone on alert, and Pepper is paying more attention than usual for anything out of the ordinary while she's walking around Keeliai. When she spots a girl about her age wearing distinctly un-Keeliai-like clothing snapping photos on her phone, Pepper comes to a dead stop. Definitely Foreigner.

Double definitely when she gets closer and hears about the impending fashion line.

"You design clothing?" she asks once she's near enough to initiate conversation. No introductions, no prelude, just straight to the important topics. "I do too! Well, sort of. I'm not so much as designing as recreating - people like having clothes like ones from home. Ooh, did you design what you're wearing? Super cute, by the way."

[social_insect]

"I..." And Wasp is going to stop, look Pepper up and down and give her a seriously confused look. "Come on, Pepper. That's like the first thing people find out about me."

[lasergrenades]

"Uh."

...what is even happening right now. Pepper's smile drops, and she looks blankly at the other girl. Do they know each other? No - Pepper is great with names and faces, and Wasp would be hard to forget. But clearly she recognizes the redhead, which is all different kinds of confusing.

"I- Have we met before? Is this your first time in Keeliai?"

[social_insect]

Wasp frowned. "Of course we've met before. You and Director Fury were the ones who invited me to the Avengers Academy!"

She'd deal with finding out about the city later. Wasp is too busy feeling hurt and confused why someone she considers a friend is acting like she's a stranger. This is a new one in terms of weirdness.

[lasergrenades]

"Avengers Academy? I work with Director Fury where you come from? I mean, I kind of did too one time but not, like, for a job or anything. Not yet anyway."

This is weird; possibly beyond weird, actually. Pepper has definitely never heard of Avengers Academy, and as much as she'd like to be a SHIELD agent they'd told her she needed a college degree. But clearly the other girl has some kind of history with what must be one of her alternate selves. She tries to smile reassuringly.

"I think... um, has anyone actually explained to you what you're doing here and how you arrived? I swear it's relevant and if you don't know yet things'll make a lot more sense once you do."

Also this might be better hashed out over tea and cake or something else soothing.

[social_insect]

Wasp stopped in the middle of her righteous indignation. Because her life has been weird enough that she believes Pepper might understand what's going on. "Well... okay. I mean, this is maybe the weirdest thing that's ever happened to me that hasn't had someone try to destroy the city, or the school or something."

This was far weirder than Loki materializing a beach for them. Mostly because you expect Loki to do unusual magical things for hidden reasons. That was Loki's form of normal.

[lasergrenades]

Good. She's going to let Pepper explain; hopefully she won't think Pepper is insane.

"Okay, so big stuff first: you're not on Earth. We're actually on a different planet, on a living turtle the size of a continent, in a completely different reality." Pepper speaks slower than she usually does, because this isn't the kind of information that one should throw out casually.

"There used to be an emperor here, and he used a spell to pull people from dimensions all over the multiverse to fight this big bad evil guy - they're both gone but the spell is still going. And just like there are separate universes, there are also alternate ones. You... you must come from a place where there's another version of me." She shrugs her shoulders. It must sound completely crazy, but Pepper can provide some measure of proof if need be. "Sorry, that was a lot at once."

[social_insect]

"That..." Well, okay, Wasp knew about other worlds, thanks to Asgard. And it was one of the ideas Tony had floated about the timefog, but everyone into science or magic at the Academy threw around ideas about what the timefog was, since Fury sure wasn't explaining more than he had to. "Okay, so you're Pepper, but not the same Pepper as the Pepper I know. And we are on a turtle so big it can have a whole city on its back and no one notices. And I guess I don't exist in your reality, or we don't know each other."

"Is it all right if this is... weird, but not too weird?"

Re: Anywhere in the city | Wasp (Avengers Academy) | April 15th | OTA

[undercherryblossoms]

Yukikaze observes her carefully for a moment, is she looking for something? Or spying?

No, apparently this may just be her hobby. And she looks as out of place here as he feels.

"Excuse me, miss? Do you have any maps?"

Re: Anywhere in the city | Wasp (Avengers Academy) | April 15th | OTA

[social_insect]

"What? No, sorry. I would have a map on my phone, but there's no reception here." Wasp waved it around for a bit, as if demonstrating this.

Re: Anywhere in the city | Wasp (Avengers Academy) | April 15th | OTA

[undercherryblossoms]

"I see."

On her phone? This place's technology must be different.

"Then I apologise for bothering you, since it seems you might've been kidnapped as well".

Re: Anywhere in the city | Wasp (Avengers Academy) | April 15th | OTA

[social_insect]

"Yeah, I think I was. Or I took a wrong turn and wandered into something weird." Wasp didn't sound too concerned about this. "Want to stick together?"

[undercherryblossoms]

[nods] That would be fine with me. My name is Yukikaze, Ms...?

[social_insect]

Van Dyne. Are you from Japan, Mister Yukikaze?

[it sounded Japanese]

[undercherryblossoms]

No, I've never heard of such a kingdom. I'm from Barsburg Empire. Though my name might be of Raggs origin.

[might. well, it is, but that's not for a stranger to know. Though if she's from another world, she's never heard of both kingdoms, anyway]

[social_insect]

I'm from the United States of America, on the planet Earth, but that probably makes as much sense to you as those places do to me!