EARTH-11 ♔ JUST ISN'T HOW I ENVISIONED IT

[jotun]

WHO || Wanda, Malina, Caroline, Jordan, Alex, Loki, Jane, Darcy, YOU
WHAT || The Knights wake up after a mission in Saudi Arabia with the worst kind of hangover.
WHERE || Earth-11
WHEN || End of 2016
HOW || As you like it; mission in individual top-threads, actionspam.

It's hard to notice right away. For the most part, everything looks normal. The toilets flush in the right direction. The sky's still up. The buildings are still scraping the clouds. But something about it feels wrong, and the details come in waves.

The first wave is that no one is in the castle, or in England, or even in Saudi. It's hard to tell where they are, except it's close to the equator. Warm. Sunny. And a city. Maybe they're lucky. Maybe someone's there to greet them, if not in this bed that isn't theirs, then in this apartment that isn't theirs, or this house.

But out in the streets, things get stranger. Gone are the gleaming glass and metal frames of the skyscrapers, replaced with statuesque marble shaped into hellenic curves. Everything is bright colors and bronze. The metal coins people trade for currency have a wolf's head stamped on them, valid only in the Republic of Midgard.

The world is wrong. And no one but those in the room with Loki and Jordan seem to remember why.


[ ooc note; WHILE THE SAUDI ARABIA MISSION wraps up their encounter with Loki, everyone is invited to play in the whackadoodle AU that Loki created by making Jordan grant his wish to rule a world full of all the things Loki desires, where Thor is nowhere to be found. Consider this your dystopian/framework/everyone's dead AU event. Please note that only mission characters will remember the events of Earth-11, as they've only been transported to a parallel universe. Everything you play is for fun, not for character arc. ]

Comments

[ambitionist]

[this is trashy and ridiculous, but he's dealing with it. whatever. for jane and darcy's benefit, he will chime in with his thor experience.]

Great. I ran into him on a mission once. Saved our asses. But if he doesn't remember you, I doubt I stand a fuckin' chance.

[bredinthebone]

Well, we never know until we try.

[It's a tenuous kind of optimism but this is literally all they've got right now. So she will push up on her toes a bit, letting her eyes scan over the crowd as she looks for any indication of how to get behind the scenes (spot 6) but she is short so she can't see shit.]

Anyone see a way to the locker room or something?

[hammersexual]

[ silver lining - hurts

guess that's gonna be unnecessary, because a booming voice comes over a tinny loudspeaker:

"And now, our reigning champion, undefeated king of the ring - THOORRRRRR!"

the announcement is followed by a mass of cheering and jeering, depending on where people have their money. it's hard to get a good view from where they're at.

"Taking on our contender, the giant, HYRM!" giant indeed, judging by the way the ground shakes as the guy enters the ring. in fact, they can even see the top of his head over the crowd. he charges forward with a roar, and the crowd's cheer rises, shifting suddenly into a collective audible wince as something causes the giant to go slamming into the ground, rattling it even where the knights stand. some people grasping tickets in their raised fists start complaining as others cheer.

"We came for a show!" they'd hear some complain. "Not a massacre!"

"He's getting up, he's getting up!" someone else exclaims, and the crowd would shift enough to give them a better look if they try to stand on their tiptoes and see through. the giant, indeed, is crawling up to his feet as none other than thor himself, but sporting his short ragnarok haircut, and wearing the gladiator outfit to boot, paces away, wiping the back of his hand across his mouth. too slowly, he glances backward and gets backhanded by the giant, going flying across the colosseum floor and hitting the wall with a loud THWACK. there's another mixed response from the audience, but overall, they seem pleased by the turn of events. thor gets to his feet, shaking his head to clear it from the impact, as the giant comes barreling towards him again, prepared to pound him flat against the wall. instead, thor abruptly skids forward, sliding between his legs, drawing a sword off his back and doing a backwards twist of it upwards - stabbing it right up at the giant's crotch as he moves through his legs, dirt flying from beneath where his feet skate across the ground. the crowd's roar turns to a gasp, and thor's own face contorts into one of slight regret and chagrin. the giant's face is frozen in agony, and then he faceplants forward into the wall, which busts underneath his weight, causing crowd members to scatter lest they get crushed.

there's a long pause... and then the audience goes crazy, as the announcer adds: "VICTORY AGAIN BY OUR REIGNING CHAMPION: THORRR!"

thor raises his blade into the air with a pumping motion, but he does look back, and offer: ] You might want to put some ice on that.

[bredinthebone]

[Malina just ... watches as all of this goes down, winces towards the end, and then looks back at the rest of the team with a concerned look.]

That's him?

[innovates]

[Her breath catches in her throat, but she manages a nod.]

Yes, that's him.

[He's so different and so familiar at the same time.]

[ambitionist]

[alex nods in agreement. ukw ... he looks really good with that haircut damn. oh wait time to push down the impure thoughts for later.]

Seems like.

[bredinthebone]

Okay. Let's go see if we can talk to him.

[And she'll push a hand against Alex's back gently.]

C'mon tall person. See what you can see.

[Sorry, Alex.]

[ambitionist]

[he glances down at malina like can't u see i am trying to see those abs ma'am but it's fine. he looks around for some sort of side door or service entryway but ... it's a crowded fuckin place, ok. (spot 13) ]

[hammersexual]

[ yeah no sign of how to get there, but thor is heading down a tunnel that seems to vanish underground or some shit ]

[ambitionist]

[for malina (and everyone else's) benefit:] I'm not seeing anywhere that's gonna get us backstage besides exactly where Thor's going.

[innovates]

Well, then let's go check it out.

[As she just starts....heading that direction in whatever way she can, trying to spot a way to maybe get down there without being seen (spot 17)]

[hammersexual]

[ while a lot of focus is on the way thor is going down, on the opposite side of the arena, there's another entrance - the one the giant used, presumably. ]

[innovates]

[Her head turns from one end of the arena to the other, pondering something, before she heads in the direction everyone isn't looking.]

This way.

[Maybe people will follow her. Maybe they'll do their own thing. But she's going for it.]

[ambitionist]

[alex doesn't need to be told twice tbh. away we go.]

[bredinthebone]

[Yep, Malina will follow right behind them, wanting to get out of this crowd.]

[behindcloseddoors]

[ the crowd is starting to disperse a bit, but there are still some people in uniforms pacing about the edges of the arena as they get close to that end ]

[innovates]

We're going to need some kind of distraction.

[She glances over her shoulder at her new 'friends']

Anyone capable of that?

[They had a freaking genie or whatever with them, maybe someone can conjure up something else. Otherwise she'll play it by ear.]

[bredinthebone]

[Yep, she can do that. Malina pauses for a moment, ducking a bit behind Alex to stay out of view, then flexing her fingers out in front of her before casting ghost sound (will save DC 15) in the direction of the guards.

As she does, the sound of a fist fight breaking out between about ten humans on the opposite side of the arena from them. Something the guards should probably go investigate.

If that doesn't work, maybe they can con their way in, but this avoids them actually having to talk to people. Malina is not in the mood.]

[behindcloseddoors]

[ the guards look at each other, eyebrows raised, and then nod to one another, starting around the exterior of the arena, clearly fooled ]

[bredinthebone]

[She waits just enough to make sure they're going, before nudging her companions ahead.]

The spell only lasts a minute or so, let's move quick.

[innovates]

[Impressed, Jane gives the woman a nod and starts heading quickly toward that entrance.]

[godoftableflips]

[ down the slimy tunnel they go, which winds underneath the arena and into a makeshift 'locker room' if you want to dignify it with that much description.

but there's sure a shirtless thor toweling off. you're all welcome. ]

[ambitionist]

[/stares. what were they supposed to be doing again???????]

[innovates]

[Jane halts her steps and just....also stares for a moment, her heart thundering in her chest.

Finally, though, she calls out.]

Thor?

[Sure, it's probably not smart just to say it, but her wisdom check was horrific and, well, at least it'll tell them what they want to know right away?

Fingers crossed he recognizes her.]

[bredinthebone]

[Malina is just going to hang back because she has no experience with this dude whatsoever. She'll step up if he doesn't seem convinced, but for right now she's gotta hope that he recognizes either Alex or Jane.]