( closed )

[imaginate]

Characters: Eridan Ampora, Garrett Hawke, Hal Jordan, Jim Kirk, Kyle Rayner, Mark Grayson, Pavel Chekov, Tony Stark, and Yousuke Hamamura.
Date: March 10th - 15th.
Location: Hawke, Kyle, Mark, and Chekov in an Earth Sector warehouse; Eridan, Hal, Jim, Yousuke, and Tony in the Metal Sector warehouse.
Situation: Exploring the Dreaming plane.
Warnings/Rating: None, will be added later if necessary. Starters in comments.

Comments

[shorttempered]

Whoops. Sorry about that, I've only been to Tokyo as [God damn it, Mark. Secret identity, remember?]... a kid, so it's all a bit blurry, y'know?

And it makes sense when you think about it. I mean I'm pretty sure we're all homesick, so it's only natural you'd be thinking of home.

[goodanswer]

[Yosuke gives him a nod. It's fine even if he'd never been - actually, it's kind of impressive to Yosuke as a Japanese kid that this foreign guy had been there at all.

He crosses his arms and looks around at their surroundings, brow furrowing slightly.]

Yeah... only natural.

But it feels kind of weird. There's no people. I mean, yeah, the town's population is only a few thousand, but that doesn't mean the streets are completely dead like this.

[why would he dream up his hometown but make it empty? hm.]

[shorttempered]

[He looks around at Yosuke's hometown. He hadn't noticed it was empty before...]

That is weird. If this were a movie I'd be getting nervous, but...

Maybe you have to think of the people? Like, I dunno, think about specific people or having a town full of people for it to happen? [He almost tests this theory by trying to think of people back home, but he's worried that the people he'd think of were his superhero friends, and even if they weren't he didn't want to surprise Yosuke by having random American people popping up in his "hometown."]

[goodanswer]

[That's definitely a possibility. If his mind controls the dream they're seeing, he could conceivably just conjure up something different if he wanted.

But this feels familiar - way too familiar with what he'd seen in the Midnight Channel back home, with distraught people forming huge threatening labyrinths from their insecurities. Obviously, this isn't quite as intense as what he saw during those instances, but with that experience under his belt, he can't help but wonder why this dream is what it is.

It takes a few weighty seconds for Yosuke to answer, his eyes averted in the meantime.]

...maybe I shouldn't, though. My friends... I've really missed them all so much since I ended up in Keeliai. And everyone else in this town hates me.

[shorttempered]

[Mark frowns as he realizes he might have stepped on a sensitive subject. While he sincerely doubts everyone hates him, he knows that feeling well enough not to pry... especially since he doesn't know him that well. Maybe in time.]

You want me to try?

[goodanswer]

[The suggestion makes him glance back over, eyebrows slightly raised.]

...try what? To, er... make us some people? [for lack of a better word.] I guess you could, but... you're not gonna mess it up and bring us clowns or spiders or something else you're scared of, are you?

[he'll pass on the clowns.]

[shorttempered]

Uhhh god I hope not. [Since his fears involve destroyed cities and piles of dead bodies.]

But yeah, sort of. Confirming if you think about something hard enough if it appears. [Closes his eyes (since he figures that's got to make it work better) and thinks about home. Slowly parts of Mark's Baltimore suburb start blending into Inaba, with some of Mark's neighbors doing various things in their front yard: sitting in lawn chairs, washing their cars, playing, etc.

Hesitantly he opens them. He had been trying very hard not to think of Invincible stuff.] Oh hey, it worked.

[goodanswer]

Whoa.

[he wasn't really expecting that, but... cool.]

What is this? [even though they're both mundane, peaceful residential settings, the cultural difference between their two hometowns is obvious.] Is this, uh... wherever you're from in America?

[even the difference in vegetation and grass is jarring - in the sense that this part of Inaba doesn't have a lot of it.]

...Those people are friendly, right?

[shorttempered]

Yeah. Outside of Baltimore. It's like... follow the East Coast about halfway down and you're... close enough to Baltimore. It's about an hour from the Capital and about 6 hours from New York City. [Because everything has to be told in "proximity to New York City."]

My neighbors aren't serial killing clowns, if that's what you're asking.

[goodanswer]

[Oh, so it's by New York City. On that side of America... okay.

Yosuke watches the dream-people curiously and plops his hands onto his hips.]

Well. We're supposed to be exploring... let's go talk to them. [what would they say? who knows, but... they're pretty much in here just to poke around, right?] I wonder if the fact that we're both here is gonna change anything or make them wonky.

[shorttempered]

I... don't know, actually I tried talking to the last weirdo sort-of dream I had, but no one could hear me. I was strictly in viewer mode. It's worth a shot?

[goodanswer]

[shrugs his shoulders.] We are here to just look around and explore. It's a good experiment to do, right?

[it's not like they have any other leads on what to do or where to go next. although they could just wander around this weird conjoined world they're in.]

[shorttempered]

You only live once, right? [Luckily, Mark has no idea YOLO is a thing, it's just the first thought that popped into his head.

He goes over to the neighbor next to his house, a blonde, middle-aged man with a beard reading a book about zombies on his front porch.]

Hey, Mr. Kirkman. [Notices the book.] Ooh, World War Z, good choice.

Oh hey, Mark! I feel like it's been forever since I've seen you. How's college? I'm glad to see they finally finished the construction on your house. That explosion scared the crap out of all of us. I know I'll never put a heater in my bedroom again.

[Turns to Yosuke.] I'm... pretty sure this is a conversation I had with him months ago.

Who's your friend?

Okay that's new.

[goodanswer]

[Yosuke follows behind him, although not too closely. If this dream "person" grows ten arms and shark teeth, he won't be the one who gets his head bit off. Nothing personal Mark.

But the man is startlingly normal - if Yosuke didn't know he isn't real, he'd be fooled for sure. After his tail question, he looks between Mark and the man and decides there's no harm in trying to talk back.]

Uh, I'm Yosuke. [squints at the book. "World War Z"? Must be a book in English. Let's not even think about how he's understanding this conversation right now, by the way - it's just going to break his brain.]

[shorttempered]

[Hey nothing wrong with being prudent. Mark's used to playing Human Shield anyway.

He's also used to being Invincible.

Mark's neighbor smiles a little at Yosuke, and his teeth do seem extra pointy... but it must have been a figment of the imagination, because they're totally normal when he starts to speak again.]

A friend of yours from college?

Uh...

...Sure.

[To Yosuke:] What are you studying, son?

[goodanswer]

[college? um. Yosuke's still got a good year-plus before college, and it's not like he'd have any solid answer for a question like that even if he were already in college. He comes up with an answer out of nowhere, feeling a little bit like a kid being asked what he wants to be when he grows up.]

I study, er - business. And management, and stuff. Business major.

[he shoots Mark a confused look. is he that old, that he's in college? Like most Japanese, Yosuke can't really tell how old these white guys are.]