The New Neverland

[dreamshades]

WHO:EVERYONE (EDIT)
WHERE: Heropa or AKA Neverland
WHEN: January 3rd to 5th
WHAT: The rescuers invade Neverland to end the fiendish Peter Pan's plot
WARNINGS: Death is likely to happen, fighting, swearing, probably just going to be 14+ kind of deal.



The time has come to stop Pan. After posting this to the network Peter has all but challenged the imPorts: either look away and don't bother his paradise or come try and stop him.

Preparation

The jungle stands tall and mighty, a fearful and ominous sight to be seen. One can only hope things go smoothly, but this is Neverland after all, a land of endless possibilities which means endless unknown dangers. Take the time to get ready, plan and storm the jungle....you'll need it.

Entering Neverland
You cross the threshold of Neverland's barrier and everything you once knew has all but changed. Where day use to stand all there is is but a perpetual night. You're not sure how you know this but you get the feeling that despite how many days that may go by in his land time will hold still, day will never come. Dark skies with blinking stars and an eerie moon is but your only light here.

The sights before them are this, a jungle, humid and warm. Where Winter's chill had been has all been snatched away by what would be a mild tropical heat. All there are are trees, vines and large leaves far for the eye can see. It takes only a bit of searching to find sources of water and food a like, but remember not everything may be safe to eat. Careful of thorny vines, for it may be Dreamshade, a deadly poison that inhabits Neverland.

If you manage to find the horizon what appears to be a massive lake of water surrounds the entirety of Neverland where no other land can be seen beyond it. An illusion? Perhaps, but who can say with a curse.

For our heroes, our rescuers this may seem odd if not unsettling. For our cursed? It's nothing new, glorious to some maybe but nothing new.



Riddle me this

Wandering the jungle for Peter's riddles? Continue to do so as they will not be given easily. For Peter has set up challenges that would crush and break the weakest and strongest of hearts alike.


The echo caves
The jungle of Neverland is deep and perilous but none such as the Echo caves. Dark and cavernous holes that go deep into the island, the entrance remains open to all who brave it. How the unlucky stumble across it is different for each. Is that Peter Pan gadding you to come catch him and running inside? Or is it someone you cherish most dear fleeing inside from you? However it happened, inside is damp and dark. The name does not lie for the caves do echo, but not with the sound of your own voice or noises caves make but the voices of others. You hear it in your brain, creeping in like a tangled vine telling you the only way out is to reveal the darkest secret you hold close to your chest, that no one must know. All victims of the cave must say their secret or else be trapped within its walls forever....but not without a catch. Revealing the secret does not simply get you out. For those that you are with now must resist the temptations of the sweet and venomous voices that speak into their ear. They suggest to let their feelings out, to act upon rage or despair or some other hideous feeling towards the secret teller and the secret they held. If all resists though and all secrets let out the secret riddle is spoken and if one has it, the map is unlocked.

The riddle being: I'm separate but close, I am small but I am big.

Dark Hollow
Stumble through the darkness and one would surely find light somewhere, wouldn't they? Perhaps from torch light from Peter's followers? Or even the forever full and silver moon in the sky? But, the further you journey into this part of the jungle, the more the light dies. Light that people conjure also snuff out as quickly as they were lit.

Take a pause to try and get the light back but it only takes a second to look away when they come out. Shadows, living shadows, come out from behind trees and from out of dark corners. They circle like sharks in the water around the victims who so stupidly wandered into their hallow. Welcome, to Peter Pan's den of stolen shadows of unfortunate victims.
They lunge without a thought, attacking and clawing at the people invading this space. They throw sharpened wooden spears, try and grab and throw people into trees and worse off, steal your shadows to add to Pan's collection. They make no sound, only faint and ghostly whooshes accompany them as they fly about. Fight them if you can, but if fire is introduced or a container with a flame they make short work of these evil creatures....and once capture or made to flee they're ghostly whooshes become hollow voices, whispering silently: The only form of rescue they have is a message in a bottle when they are lost but live on me.

The map will be unlocked if it has not already.

Mermaid Lagoon
Water, is a valuable thing to have and in a jungle where it is hard to find? Well, worry no more because a pure spring of the clearest blue water stands before you. Drink, refresh yourselves or just be cautious as with the other dangers of Neverland it doesn't matter. Because the moment you arrive at this spring it's power takes effect.

What use to be foliage and water around you turns to the fears that haunt your very heart. They live and breathe before you, speaking to you, being there before you. It's just like Crane's fear gas all over. Allies may appear to be monsters and what do we do with monsters? The fears are yours and only you can act upon them appropriately.

However, through your own will or the strength of those beside you can help you cut through the dark mirror. When it shatters the fragments of the broken illusion sing to you and you hear the words of a riddle:

I am a horror in which all mortal life makes.

The map will be unlocked if it has not already.

Otherwise you may flee....but you will never hear the shards of of a fear triumphed sing.

Grove of Pixie dust trees
The horrors of Neverland truly never cease, do they? But, rest must be taken if you wish to stop Pan, isn't it? These grove of trees seem nice, don't they? Nothing harmful about them. That would be a naive to think because once more does Neverland play it's evil. The dark magic of this place seeps into your senses, poison that fills the mind and the heart. Shadows of dark and deep regrets that left a wound on your heart that never healed take form here and become solid. It's like a film you relive far too vividly.

The regret may burn in your heart and make you want to flee and you can but the brave face their regrets and admit and accept them. Once you do the regret fades away speaking in the voice of those you let down of the last piece of the riddle:

You may not use me when you think, but you're awfully glad I'm there.

But, you should run, who wants to face their regrets? It'll just mean Pan can keep his paradise.

For the cursed
But these troubles and riddles are for those pesky Rescuers. Peter's cursed victims will have been informed to stop the Rescuers from making it to these locations.

Other things to do

Shadows like in the Hallow roam the island.
They appear as any other person, someone you love, miss or anyone under the sun. They may find you heroes, you rescuers, they may not but if they do they have things to say. The shadows will try and make the Rescuers despair or they will ask for you to leave Neverland with them to go home. The lies they say sound convincing and they'll offer a hand for you to flee with them. Take it, and the shadow will smile evilly and begin to try and rip your shadow from you so you may join the pile of Peter's victims and have your shadow join his fold. Having friends will help ignore the shadow's influence or perhaps they can just go the forward route and just shoot it.


The hunt is on
Lost Children and Peter's employees you have an important task of hunting the defectors, Cursed adults and children not affiliated with Pan, and the Rescuers themselves. For fun or for duty of course. Cursed imPorts are armed with their own own powers and weapons with dreamshade, a lethal poison that will kill they are a force to be reckoned with, otherwise all the regular citizens who had been cursed will only have bow and arrows, swords, spears, and other primitive like dipped in the fatal dreamshade. The poison can be cured but only with plenty of healing or the waters of Neverland on deadman's peak. Be wary of them dear Rescuers because you may stumble upon on of the camps Peter's Children or employees have.


Stir the memories
It's only a matter of time until you run into someone you knew. However you found one of the cursed, coming across their camp, in the wilderness, however it is only a matter of time. If a rescuer's connection is deep with the cursed old memories may surface a bit and cause conflict inside the other. It's not enough to break the curse but maybe it's enough to for them to side with our dear heroes...or fight harder against them.

Campsites
Like the music Peter's played before there are camps that play the same entrancing music. Far stronger than it was over the network it compels you to come join in the fun, rescuers. Forget your troubles and just have fun and dance...but be aware that if you stay too long you'll be dragged away and locked up. Resisting is possible but are you capable of doing that.

However, with our dear cursed individuals this is your respite from the hunt. Peter may be here to talk with you, to reassure or to plot. But, this is also your time to socialize with your cohorts and remember how much you enjoy Neverland.

MISC
Anything and everything goes in this section. Come up with things to do in Neverland. A breather, a fight, your own plans whatever you make of it. Just remember to keep it in the confines of Neverland.

(OOC:Update: Information on the plot here, the plot is now open to everyone. Details may be found here as to why.)

Comments

blue beetle ; ota

[khajidont]

[ a ; entering neverland ]

[Jaime hears the call to arms, and after a moment's deliberation, offers his help from afar before going on into the curse ahead of them. He can practically hear people lecturing him about how crappy a guy with so many friends is at teamwork, but he doesn't care; one person's already died, and most of his friends live in Heropa. They don't have time to wait. He impatiently listens to Pan's spiel before getting started, setting out and eyeing the entire place warily.]

Trust this guy to make this whole place a stupid jungle, [he mutters, but his body language doesn't match the flippancy in his voice; instead, he looks alert and wary, head twitching this way and that.] This place stinks of magic.

[He can smell and see it, and it's everywhere. It's almost overwhelming. Good thing there are other people around to explore this place with.]

[ b ; poison vines ]

[As Jaime wanders through the forest, he can't help but pause at the thorny vines, squinting down at them. He mutters something to himself and then nods at the Scarab's assessment. From afar, maybe he sees your character reach out towards them, maybe they're just getting a little too close to the fines by accident, but either way, Jaime's quick to cry out towards them, voice sharp,] Stop! They're poisonous! I don't know what poison it is, but trust me, you don't want anything to do with it.

[He marches over, grabbing one of the vines, shapeshifting his hand into a plasma gun, and incinerates the vine until it's nothing but ash. He'll have to do a lot of that, he thinks, but if he can help neutralize one threat, it will be worth it.]

I don't think anything in this place is safe.

[ c ; dark hollow ]

[It's hard to be afraid of the dark when you're a walking glowstick. From his yellow lenses to the white pulses of light that stretch across his body, he's used to being the brightest thing in the night sky. Nevertheless, things are getting a little too dark for him, even after he's toggled on his night vision.

There's one thing that infrared vision doesn't catch, and that's shadows. He doesn't even know them until a spear comes flying out of the woods, and he twists his body around, dodging it at the very last second.]

Whoa! Hey! Who's there?

[He squints, trying to find heat signatures that refuse to reveal themselves.]

...whatever's out there isn't alive.

[ d ; wild card! ]

[Whatever you like! Feel free to start something in the pixie dust trees, echo caves or mermaid lagoons -- I just didn't want to provide the same vision/regret/etc. for everyone who tagged in. If you want to discuss options further, feel free to PM me/plurk me.]

( a )

[boobwindow]

Fantastic.

[ She's not as tuned in to the surroundings as Jaime is, but the fact she can't use her X-ray vision to peer through the thick branches and vines and other parts of the jungle in their way means it mot definitely is magic. As she emerges into the area, she slaps away a large leaf that keeps drooping near her face and when it flops back near her, she quickly uses a small dose of heat vision to chop it from the stem. ]

He was never going to make this easy, was he?

[khajidont]

He gloated by ripping out a kid's heart, [Jaime says, a touch more darkly than he means to, but he can't help it. Poor Tetsuo. He'd done a lot of bad things, things Jaime didn't think were forgivable - who would be able to hurt Ken? - but there's nothing like watching someone die for the realization that forgiveness was possible to sink in.] I'm pretty sure he's going to pull out all the stops.

[Tetsuo's not much younger than Jaime, but it felt like he was much younger from his exposure on the network. Something to do with the pitch of his screams, his eyes, his high set forehead combined and made him feel way, way too young to be involved in something like this.]

Any clue why he's doing this? Just so we can work backwards?

[boobwindow]

[ Exactly how she felt. She didn't know the full scope of the situation, but from what Kaneda had told her, Tetsuo has quite the baggage and zero idea how to cope with it. He might be dangerous, but he might not be evil.

She hopes he comes back after this. Although if he was loyal to Pan only to be betrayed by him in the end... it won't be pleasant. Her expression sours instantly. ]

We're going to stop him. [ She says firmly, narrowing her eyes. ] I'm not sure, Beetle. Peter Pan and Neverland go hand in hand, so maybe... he's recreated a piece of his home?

[khajidont]

[Jaime rolls his eyes skywards, thinking. Peter Pan, Peter Pan... what does he know about Peter Pan?

Approximately nothing. A little crankily, he says,] I wish I read the actual story before. This guy seems like someone who sticks to a theme, but all I remember is the Disney film, like we need to set a ticking crocodile at him or something.

[No, Jaime, you're thinking of Captain Hook.]

I'd just track him, but I keep on hitting this weird wall before I get anywhere.

[Magic. It stinks.] We could just play along with that dumb riddle thing, but it'll take way too long.

b

[fridgeflower]

[ Laurie's actually pretty aware of the vine situation. There's a reason she'd been reaching for one, after all. The poisoned tips that Pan's kids fashion their weapons with aren't conjured from thin air. (If you don't count the conjuring of Neverland itself, that is.)

The gesture's very heroic, though, and this stranger, to her altered memory, is just that. A stranger. An outsider. That lack of recognition doesn't exactly play out on her face, however. At least now, on a mission, her expression remains impassive. She's better at compartmentalizing. Her separation from immediate emotions have made her a decent manipulator in more ways than one. She's a good liar among among the Boys, and a powerful machine against everybody else. You've got to be tough to make it in Neverland, and Laurie's made it this far. ]

Oh. [ It comes out sounding a little spacey, and she smiles briefly. Outside of the Boys, she's not such a great liar. Barely anything in her acting reaches her eyes. The smile's fake and delayed. ] Thanks. I thought-- Well, I don't know what I thought.

[khajidont]

Laurie?

[Oh, crap, does the Blue Beetle know her name? Jaime flounders for a moment, trying to figure it out when a sudden memory floods back to him, of meeting Laurie in her own uniform. It would be easier to figure out that she's acting strangely if he was in plainclothes, if she showed no interest in seeing a friend here, but the Blue Beetle's not exactly her friend. As far as Laurie knows, Jaime figures, the Blue Beetle's just another loudly dressed superhero zipping around Heropa. No big deal.

She is sounding odd, though, no mistake about that.]

We met before -- when you were giving this whole superhero thing a shot of your own? [Jaime says, a little uneasily.] You didn't already poke yourself on one of these, did you?

[Maybe she's just drugged.]

[fridgeflower]

Right. [ Not right. She's hardly a superhero. There isn't anybody she knows that'd even have use for such a thing. So what's all this? These invaders are supposed to be decidedly outside their realm, and their mission is to show 'em the door. Does this apparent familiarity change that?

Well... No. So what now? She swallows and lets loose small dosage of fear pheromones. It's mostly to test the waters. This guy doesn't seem to have a discernible nose, so her usual tricks might not be as reliable as they usually are. Then she presses on with the conversational acting, trying gauge any reaction as she goes. ]

No, I... I think I'm fine. I didn't feel anything, at least.

[khajidont]

Well, you're not turning green or anything, so that's a good sign.

[Whether his nose is visible or not, his suit isn't designed to filter out Laurie's pheromones. Oh sure, the Scarab's rattling off every reason why Laurie's dangerous, but the thing is, Jaime already knows she has pheromones. As far as he's concerned, it's the rebooted Scarab's same predilection for considering everything he encounters a threat, and he ignores it, though he has to admit that he's a little confused about why Laurie's here, if not to help others.

He doesn't quite notice the fear pheromones at first aside from a feeling of unease in his gut, and though his arms aren't visible, he thinks he can feel goosebumps prickling over them. That's strange. He doesn't like this place, but he hasn't been terribly scared up until now.

Maybe it's just catching up with him. He hunches his shoulders a little, then settles them, taking a deep breath. The only sign that he feels anything for now is the way his eyes dart to the left, seeking out the shadows as if something is lurking there.]

So, uh -- uh, why are you here, anyway? Did you need any help getting out?

c;

[amadaman]

[The first spear is followed almost immediately by a second one, but this one doesn't reach the Blue Beetle, either. With a clang, it's stopped by another, third blade that comes down from the branches of one of the trees. Attached to that third spear is a pair of small hands, a pair of arms, and a little boy that comes dropping down from the tree after it. He's not wearing his usual bright orange and his usually fluffy hair is matted, but there aren't that many little boys that swing around spears.

Ken straightens up so he's standing behind the superhero, back to back and his blade pointed toward the shadows that have been surrounding them.]

They're shadows.

[khajidont]

Shit, of course that's why my infrared isn't... [A moment too late, he catches himself in the middle of a swear. He's not perfect; he does wind up cursing sometimes, and it's not a huge surprise that when his back is to the wall like this, surrounded by the very same magic that's able to kill him, forced to see those he knows twisted into mere copies of themselves that this is where he lapses. He doesn't like swearing in front of Ken, despite the fact that the kid's already yelled fuck, and the ensuing muttered,] Sorry, [is more out of habit than anything else.

He'd probably apologize for cursing on his death bed, but that's just the kind of guy he is. Ken's presence here is a good one, at any rate. On his own, Jaime's too prone to being rash, aggressive in his ill-configured plans, reckless. Once you have superpowers, it's hard to do anything but run at threats full-throttle.

Ken being here means that he's instantly on higher alert. No more can he wave away threats with I'll be fine, not when someone like Ken is one injury away from something dire, no armour or accelerated hearing on his side. The next spear flung their way is blasted with a blue laser, disintegrating into ash and sizzling, melted metal in its wake.]

I don't suppose you already know how we beat shadows? I mean, I'm guessing light.

[amadaman]

[Jaime disintegrates one, and the next is deflected off of Ken's own spear. The flash of light from the laser is enough to show some of those ghostly figures into contrast, and Ken squints at them before dropping his gaze to the lightbulb he has tied to his waist. It's no ordinary lightbulb; there's chemical in it, sloshing quietly with his every move. He contemplates.

No, it's too soon. They'll get swamped again before they find the way out.]

Flashlights and lamps turn off immediately. We need fire, but we need to find the way out first.

[khajidont]

[Jaime huffs, a sound that's surprisingly close to laughter, though there's little humour in it. Of course. People here like to go with themes, and people here like to make things difficult. This isn't so different from home, is it?]

Of course they do.

[He wants to ask Ken how he's doing, but it has to wait until they're out of here. All the more reason to get out fast.]

Lucky for us, I'm a walking glowstick.

[One hand ripples and transforms into something more akin to a cannon than a gun, and he holds it aloft, a swirling ball of blue plasma shimmering at its end. Even from behind him, Ken will be able to feel the heat coming off it in waves.]

Even if it won't let me keep this up, the more we can see, the better.

d:

[maglevflash]

[Her rage has been tempered since she came into Neverland. Running into Callaghan had been a complete disaster and her head still rings from the encounter. Like a splash of cold water. He'd broken her nose and tried to beat her down. It was a miracle she'd gotten away at all, but she supposes she'll have to thank Harley for that if they all get out of this intact.

The trees finally thin out enough for her to see, opening upon a gorgeous spring with clear water. Nothing on this island is what it seems, but after several moments of listening to her surroundings Gogo decides to take the risk. She doesn't hear anyone approaching, so she slips out of cover to approach the spring's edge.

Kneeling down, Gogo cups her hands together to wash her face but instead of water her fingers touch broken glass, cutting into skin suddenly bare of armor. She jerks her hands back and regains her feet. Turning in place, she stares in horror at an auditorium, where metal twists and creaks; voices in the distance cry in anger, pain, fear. She looks down at herself, armor gone; her clothes dirty, arms dripping blood. She freezes, unsure for one painful minute whether or not the world was real.]

[khajidont]

[Just as Gogo started to dip her hands into the water is when Jaime steps into the clearing, unable to resist the feeling of relief once he sees a clear pond of water. Normally he'd abide by storybook rules in a place like this one (don't eat anything, don't drink anything, don't do anything that will trap you here), but it's been over a day, and a day of fighting at that. He's parched, and he won't last much longer without water, so surely just a little won't hurt.

Besides, if it's too magical in nature, he'll just smell it more strongly, right? Easy peasy. Once he ventures a little closer, though, he sees a familiar face there. The name Ethel is on the very tip of his tongue, but he stops himself just before he does, remembering that she won't know him.

Secret IDs are a pain in the ass. He clears his throat, preparing to introduce himself, but the look on her face freezes him in his tracks. She's staring not at him, but just beyond him in abject horror, of the sort that he hasn't seen in some time now. All of a sudden, he's forced to ask himself why she's even here in the first place, if this place is doing something to her recovery to make things worse. The idea practically chokes him, thinking about her having to re-experience long, sleepless nights, to sit beside him and barely utter a word.

He's got to fix this.]

Gogo? [He steps towards her, holding one arm out.] Are you okay...?

[maglevflash]

[She hadn't noticed him walk in, too focused on trying not to hyperventilate. She smells fire and metal, her skin buzzing like it hadn't since she entered this stupid jungle. Her wrists burned and she remembers her skin rubbing and tearing like it was yesterday.

Beetle's voice makes her jump and she looks at him. His image glitches for a moment, fuzzily changing into a form twice its size, and she stumbles backwards; one hand forward towards him as she steps back into the spring without even feeling the water. To Jaime the metal in her bag lifts out to hover in front of her in controlled shards, but in her eyes it's twisted displays and chairs that hesitantly come to her call. Shaky remnants of a once beautiful room torn to pieces.

Fear chokes her throat, robbing her of her ability to think. If she could just stop for one moment she could try and reason it out, but adrenaline is thick and she can't breathe.]

No... nonono!

d! pixie dust trees

[rathercommon]

[ Kitty is very clearly a little worse for wear as she leans against one of the trees, sipping from a canteen. Hair mussed and frizzy, clothes torn, arms bloodied from thorns, mud up to her knees, face utterly exhausted - she looks on the verge of collapse. Indeed, she's clearly slower than usual: when there's the noise of a footfall in the underbrush, instead of snapping to attention, she just lethargically lets her eyes slide back open again. And when she sees who it is - ]

Oh, God.

[ Her voice is low as she addresses Jaime. ]

Please, please tell me you're not mad like the rest of them. I can't match you when I'm in full fighting form. And I'm so tired, and I really don't want to run away from you.

[khajidont]

[The nice thing about armour is that you never, ever look as tired as you feel. There's no proof that Jaime's been here for as long as Kitty has, no dents or scratches in his invulnerable armour, no frizz in his unseen hair, not even a stray twig stuck to him.

He is tired, bone-weary from seeing his friends caught up in this trap, but physically speaking, he's not nearly as tired as Kitty looks. He hears that awful note in her voice and feels a pang of sympathy for her having to have run into some of her friends too.]

No, thank god. It's just me. [He crouches in front of Kitty, but soon enough, he lands on his ass so he can turn it into a flat-out sprawl.]

You ran into them too, huh? It's a freakin' mess. I can't believe this guy managed to do all this.

[rathercommon]

Yeah.

[ She presses her thumbs into her eyes, trying to rub some of the weariness from them - and then winces when that just manages to push some of her sweat into them. She blinks against the sting and just hates this whole experience even more. ]

But it's the ones that seem nicest, right? Crane, Pan, God only knows who else - just sitting around, waiting to unleash their evil plan. I'm never going to trust someone sweet again. [ With a very facetious half-smile, because it's clear that she doesn't mean it - ] I'm just waiting for the day it turns out you're a bloody serial killer or something.

[ Then the smile drops away, and she takes a breath. ]

Were you...all right? Fighting them. It was really rotten even for me, and I think I'm a lot harder-hearted than you are.

d!

[performance]

[ Jungle, jungle, and more jungle. Robin's learning one thing: he needs to brush up on his non-urban training. This place sucks, and not just because of the magic.

He's traveling by tree where he can, as quietly as he can, because he knows people tend not to look up when they don't have a reason to. Easier not to be spotted that way — that's one thing this place has in common with the city, at least. It also affords him a much better view. Not that he'd need it to spot the glowing Blue Beetle nightlight in the darkness of the forest. But when he does, he freezes — Jaime isn't cursed too, is he? He hadn't seen him respond to the network... but then, Robin had kept his own response private, all the better to keep the element of surprise on his side.

How far do his senses reach when he's suited up? Robin doesn't know, and he's really wishing he'd thought to ask, but there's nothing to be done about it now. He creeps closer, as quietly as he can, hoping to get close enough to find out if it's safe before he's spotted. If Beetle's cursed, and he gets the drop on him... well, it's curtains for him, and he knows it. ]

[khajidont]

[Jaime doesn't hear the rustling of the trees. His senses don't work like that, not really. All he's got is an incredibly fancy computer at his disposal, and he relies on its admittedly spotty consistency to let him know whenever there's a threat, only this Scarab thinks that everything's a threat, especially here. It's been going wild ever since he came in here, freaking out at the sheer amount of magic that's everywhere from the ground to the sky, messing with his senses, and god, the smell...

Long story short, he doesn't listen much to the Scarab's insistent wigging out (yes, he's tempted to say out loud, I know your opinion on this, and no, I'm not going to blow it all up you crazy piece of crap) until it says:]

Potential threat located. < Dick Grayson > alias < Robin > is within the perimeter. Suggested course of dispatchment: population control beam.

[Well. That part's useful at least. Jaime looks up at the branches, though not directly at Robin, who he still can't see. He does, however, sigh.]

Robin? I know you're up there. If you've gone all crazy too, you might as well come and try and knife me and get it over with. I mean, you won't be able to, but you can try.

[It's probably not the nicest, most elegant way of phrasing that, but people keep trying to attack him and wind up just sort of ineffectively bouncing off of him while making him feel like a total jerk for smacking innocent people with rattled brains. If he has to do the same thing to Robin, he'd rather it happen now.

Then again, if Robin is cursed, then he'll probably descend darkly from above, maybe land on his head like some sort of oversized wild animal, and it will all be very unpleasant. Why else would he be lurking around like that when Jaime's right here?]

[performance]

Oh thank god it is you.

[ The relief is palpable in the way it can only be when coming from someone who's already missed plenty of sleep stuck out here in the woods with everyone and everything trying to kill him. He hops down from his branchy overhead perch, landing with a graceful rustle on the ground. He hadn't realized just how worried he was until it he'd gotten that all-clear. ]

Finally, some good news! Dude, I could hug you right now! I mean, I won't, but I could.

a

[112ounces]

You can smell magic? What does it smell like?

[ He suppose it could be just a metaphor but - the guy looks like an astronaut, if astronaut is bright blue with weird, insect-like get-up. Half human, half bug? Who knows. ]

[khajidont]

[Oh. Oh, no, it's Carl. He supposes that he's experienced enough to undergo a few hardships, considering he's one of those guys from those awful post-apocalyptic worlds, but there's always a brief moment of dread whenever he recognizes anyone in here, for fear that they'll just wind up dead.

Maybe he'll stay close to Carl, at least for a little while. He can, at least, cover up that hitch in recognition as trying to summarize what it's like to have an extra sense.]

Oh, it's, um... it's kind of hard to explain! It smells a little like something's burning, but a little bit sweet too. Kind of like someone took cotton candy, and lit it on fire.

[That's a horrible description, but it's as close as Jaime can get to it. It's almost a sickly smell in this quantity, and he thinks that it may just have something to do with the fact that it's Pan casting it. Who knows with magic?]

Trust me, you're better off not smelling it. It's gross.

[112ounces]

I think I can imagine.

[ He figures it has that sickly sweet smell a freshly dead person has. ]

Look, I can survive without my powers but . . . you know, do you got a backup plan in case your whole, uh - [ he sort of gestures at the man - even though he has no idea it's Jaime. } if Pan takes it all away?