33 👶 WAY DOWN WE GO

[pillz]

WHO: Joseph Kavinsky & a bunch of other reckless thrill-seekers
WHERE: Maurtia Falls, about 9 miles out from city center
WHEN: March 11, 2020
WHAT: 'Skydiving, no chute, just powers.'
WARNINGS: Heights! High-risk behavior, suicidal ideation, offensive language, description of cartoon genitalia I guess

LOGISTICS

The logistics are simple. You go up with more than half a dozen ImPort peers, in a small airplane with a gigantic penis painted on it in cartoony purple -- probably indistinguishable from the ground, fortunately for everyone and esp the babies.

Optionally, you're wearing a black jumpsuit.

Less optionally, a helmet or earpiece with a radio embed, as well as an altitude monitor strapped to your wrist -- one that begins to transmit a warning to your earpiece once you're within 1000 feet, and another one at 500.

Contrary to the recent advertisement, there are parachutes available just in cases. However, there are plenty of superpowers plans in place to stave off the necessity; Kavinsky has matched himself to people who want to teleport, as well as arranged for other pairs with compatible powers.

On the ground, your friendly neighborhood safety team includes John Murphy and his telekinesis on the ground, and the oversight of one Dr. Strange. A healer, Joshua Foley, is also here to prevent... tragedy, and one Damian St. Lorrant is coordinating. They too have radio access.

While couple of the safety crew may also be careening toward the Earth, there are several others dedicated primarily to having fun at terminal velocity, including: Ben Ben the tentacle man, the Handsomest of all Bob, Mysterio and his dashing flyboy (man) (fishbowl head man) suit, Rupert von Hentzau and his magical boy portals, the sinister black cloak inhabited by Kylo Ren, a less space operatic wizard named Harry Dresden, and everyone's favorite not-so-child mutant celebrity and sometimes-toymaker, Nathan Summers.

But don't worry. If you aren't on the list, you can still come! Kavinsky will arrange for a way for you to not go splat.

RADIO / FREE FALL

It's only six minutes of your life, but it can feel like they last forever. You jump out of the plane and go hurtling toward Earth in free-fall, the air rattling through your clothes.

The radio channel is open. You can say a lot in six minutes. Like:

We're all going to dieeee!

Optional top-level code:
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And: radio channel thread.

Whether it's the ground team or your fellower divers in freefall, you're likely to get some response. Hopefully it's not just a deafening and distracting scream. Is that your house you can see from here?

CHEESE & CHAMPERS

Nobody died. Or got ejected into a troubling parallel dimension. That's a win; two wins.

Divers are now invited to enjoy a champers, cheeses, delectable meats, and an obligatory vegetable platter for those who wish to make that particular mistake, all served up in garden party style on the landing field, only a hundred feet from the convenience of the plane hangar. Selfies with the dong ship are also available.

Now that you're safely on the ground, it may occur to you finally that terminal velocity is not fast enough to outrun any problems you were trying to escape. But that's okay, you have other ImPorts right here with you. You can paddle up the river named Denial together, and there are champagne bubbles in it.

Comments

RADIO CHANNEL;

[pillz]

[for those who would rather focus on audio chatter, rather than making this just one of multiple starter options!]

cw: pee, boy grossness;

[pillz]

Yo you think if I opened my zip and peed would it just hit me?

assuming safety crew got radios too!

[mofi]

Let me find some binoculars first.

[timestones]

You know, if I wanted to deal with twelve year olds, I'd have gone into pediatrics.

[goldtoxicity]

So not to be a downer but like, if any of you fall from that height I cannot put you back together. So, uh, be smart and be careful.

Re: RADIO CHANNEL;

[am_i_a_monster]

[No words spoken, the sound of Abigail pretending to yawn, then pretending to snore, then giggling]

john murphy | ota

[mofi]

Murphy is safe and on the ground, head craning up towards the sky. A hand rests above is eyebrows, haphazardly protecting his eyes from the sun. Right now he's just watching the plane ascend up towards the sky, up and over the clouds until Murphy couldn't see anymore. His eyes squint and tick from cloud to cloud and in between them.

After a few seconds of not seeing the plane, Murphy drags his attention closer to the ground. There's someone next to him and Murphy says to them, "I didn't realize so many people wanted to jump out of a plane without a parachute." Yes, yes, Murphy's aware that some of those folks could fly, or teleport. But - Murphy's a good guy. He wouldn't let anyone die if he could stop it. Right?

"I can try and fly up to them." Not too high up, high enough to catch someone if they need it.

[timestones]

"What, you mean you're surprised that so many people are actually absolute morons?"

Stephen doesn't look at the younger man as he gives his flat retort, instead keeping his eyes on the sky with his arms folded. The corners of his ridiculous crimson cloak twitch nervously, but they don't move in time with the wind.

After a moment, he does tilt his head to glance at Murphy.

"Shouldn't you have just gone up with them if you were just going to end up in the air anyway?"

It's not rocket surgery to see that Stephen is not best impressed with this crazy little jaunt.

ota;

[timestones]

As far as safety nets go, Stephen is pretty well equipped. He has portals at his fingertips and a pretty speedy and highly responsive cloak around his shoulders which is doing a very good job of seeming pensive while not having anything that resembles a face.

For the most part, Stephen stays quite still on the ground, his eyes cast skyward watching for any miscalculations of the part of the divers, but he'll also take idle chatter if it comes between moron-rescue work.

Later, he's also found on schlong ship, still doing his vaguely aloof doctor-wizard thing as the social media opportunities run rampant across landing bay. He does have a glass of champagne thought and for anyone who saw him on the ground a few hours earlier he does look less tense in some very subtle ways.

[besainted]

Damian is here almost solely for scoping out interesting powers, and this guy looks downright brimming with them. He makes a point of edging nearer, as bodies start to flick out from the plane overhead, and speaks with eyes on the sky behind the fashionable sunglasses.

"Does it have a name?" He asks it with a nod toward the cape. The powers are interesting, and he'll get to that, but he has to know about this lively-looking cloth. It's definitely a first for him.

[h2no]

Having come to do this for genuine fun, Archie has a blast from start to finish. He tells his Crobat the deal, and while the giant bat thought this entire thing was fucking stupid, it's assistance in stopping its trainer becoming a pile of gore on the ground is invaluable.

He catches Strange on the ground just after landing, hopping off Crobat and leaving the bat to go and do whatever it wants-- which happens to be... flying off to a tree and hanging upside down on it.

"Yo, didn't we talk on the network, once? What's up, bro?!"

[eversohandsome]

Cheese and champagne isn't exactly his scene, but Bob's got a glass of the bubbly stuff all the same. It looks out of place in his hand to anybody who has spent more than thirty seconds talking to him, but it's alcohol and he feels like he needs to neck at least five of these to level out from the buzz he can feel permeating every fibre of his post-jump body.

He feels amazing - on top of the fucking world, actually - all thoughts of what could have happened pressed in tight to the part of his brain he's ignoring for now. He'll think about that later, maybe. His body has other ideas.

The light-headedness he attributes to the champagne, though he's distantly sure that he's not turned into that much of a light-weight. Everything seems to slow down for a protracted few seconds, the edges of his vision darkening and the noises around him dulling to a low, faraway murmur. He's vaguely aware that the glass he'd been holding isn't in his hand anymore.

"Sorry, mate," he offers up thickly as he stumbles into someone, legs not deciding to give out until a few steps later when he sinks ungracefully to the ground until he's sat on his arse.

Quentin Beck (Mysterio) | OTA

[mysterioisthetruth]

Up in the Air

While he could now fly without his suit, Beck had today decided to wear it since this was a chance to show-off his skills and the costume - silly as it may look to some - was certainly eye-catching and he liked to stand out. He briefly considered a parachute when it was available - but he had confidence that he didn't need it. He'd flown across the cities countless times. He just had started off on his own power and not jumped out of a plane.

There may be some chatter with his fellow daredevils first but then he was off and out and he did look quite a sight: his thick burgundy cloak flapping in the wind and guiding him as green smoke puffed out around his ankles, propelling him. It was an actual flight and certainly no freefall. After a brief moment where he had to right himself from this greater height and pressure, he adjusted and performed some fancy flight maneuvers before he launches back down to earth, making it look smooth and easy on the landing.


On the Ground, After the Jump

Once the helmet retracts, Beck's expression is one of confidence and he looks arrogantly pleased with himself. That went very well, he thought, regardless of whether there may have been any mishaps above...

He moves to check out the offered refreshments and mingle with other fliers and ground crew.

Up in the Air

[kraythero]

Anakin had completely forgone a parachute and seeing Beck in his costume? uniform? made Anakin wish he'd worn his Jedi robes and armor.

When the time came to leap, he dropped down, catching the opening with his right hand, holding on for a moment in order to focus and use the Force to leap out rather than down, twisting and pushing himself around. Beck's smoke attracts his attention-

OH WIZARD

-and he pushed himself towards him and lightly bumped his with his elbow with a grin.

Having fun?

groundbound, ota!

[besainted]

[ pre/mid jump ]

Damian never had any intention of being in that plane; he's perfectly happy down here on the ground with the sensible folk. What he is interested in is the display of powers he'll be seeing today, with any luck. From the flight crew, from the rescue crew in a pinch -- it all sounds pretty good to him.

It's why he watches the plane ascending with an amiable smile, pale blue eyes mostly hidden behind uncharacteristic but fashionable sunglasses. Staring up into the clear sky a lot gets painful, okay.

"So," he starts, musing to anyone near enough to be mused to, "Is there a betting pool?"

[ post-jump ]

Everyone survived, how nice. It wouldn't have much bothered him to see anyone splatting to the ground, but it'd have been a hell of a thing to explain to whoever demands explanations about senseless imPort deaths. The government, other imPorts, whatever.

He'll head for any freshly landed jumpers with shades rested in his perfectly-styled hair, bearing a congratulatory smile and a water bottle.

"Nice work. Ready for round two?"

Hypothetically speaking. Who knows if there will actually be a round two.

[ post-jump ]

[eversohandsome]

Somehow, Bob looks windswept. His hair isn't long enough to betray exactly what he's just been doing, but there's colour in his cheeks and a bounce in his step that suggests his body is loaded with both adrenaline and a wild sense of achievement.

Later he might actually stop for a moment and have a proper think about what he's just done, but for now he grins at the bloke offering him a bottle of water and accepts it gratefully.

"Cheers, mate. ...there's a round two?"

handsome bob | ota

[eversohandsome]

( ooc: gonna smash into other people's post-jump starters XD )

[ Pre-jump ]

The usually brightly cheerful, casually cheeky Bob looks pensive as he sits on one of the benches in the small plane heading up into the clouds. He'd been so up for this whole plan when trading messages on the network with Kavinsky, right down to agreeing the plane should be a giant, flying dick. But 'in theory' and 'in practice' haven't matched up perfectly and Bob, whose standard approach to most things is do now, think later, is wondering if this is his worst idea yet.

The thing is, he knows there's a parachute for him. He can see the spares, eyes haven't really left them since the plane took off from the ground. He's just in two minds about using one. Without any powers of his own to stop him from falling to his eventual (after six long minutes) death, he's at the mercy of somebody else doing him a solid and helping him avoid that scenario. He might not think about it all that often but he really doesn't want to die, he's having too much fun living.

On the other hand, he might get sent home next week and he'll always wonder what it's like jumping out of a plane with no parachute. Not like he'd ever find out back in the world he's from, superpowers not being something that sit outside of fiction. How he feels when he drives fast - he wants to feel that now but on a much, much bigger scale. He's still internally debating with himself about what he's going to do when he realises that somebody's talking to him and he hasn't heard a single word they've said. Blinking, he tears his eyes from the parachutes, expression confused.

"Hm?"

[photophobic]

The thing is, Kylo Ren isn't really in the habit of repeating himself at the best of times, and his patience for the particular joke he assumes Bob is making has long since worn through. (He happens to know it's perfectly possible to recognise speech processed through the vocoder in his helmet, thank you, he spent a great deal of time calibrating it. Personally.)

What really seals Bob's fate, however, is that Kylo's had enough time now to look back over certain communications on the Network. And while the real deal is currently clipped at his hip where it belongs, Kylo can't really let the theft of his lightsaber go entirely unpunished.
Besides. Kylo caught the edges of Bob's curiosity just moments ago, which was why he'd attempted striking up conversation to begin with. From a certain point of view, he'll be doing him a favour.

His head tilts, just a fraction. He waits until they reach altitude and the other passengers begin fussing over their parachutes, readying to jump.

"I said: it wouldn't be the most foolish thing you've ever done."

And before he has a chance to reply Kylo rises, dragging Bob to his feet... and hurls them both right out of the plane.

nsfw conversation, tres inappropriate

[pillz]

"It's like anal," Kavinsky says, brightly. He looks -- probably how you'd expect him to, after all that on the Internet. Young, somewhere in his twenties. Expensively reckless, product and faint cologne whipping through his hair. "Your instinct is gonna be to clamp down, but what you oughtta do is push out. Right?"

This is bad advice. This is also accidentally the one time Kavinsky has admitted to anyone he's had some experience with the receiving end of sexual intercourse with other men, and he's doing it mostly because he can tell, with that slight unfocus in Bob's eyes, that Bob isn't rrally listening, and he figures it'll be worth the laugh when the world sudenly snaps back into focus for the older man.

Ah, there it is. Kavinsky's face crinkles into laughter. "Yo," he says. "No shame in chuting."

OTA - After the Jump, Anakin is likely to be found near Padme.

[kraythero]

Anakin had arrived in the robes and armor he typically wore now, and he'd been given a stipend to buy work-appropriate clothing. He'd only gotten a pair of pants similar to what already had, in a rich, dark brown that tucked wonderfully into his boots and a long-sleeved rich blue tunic that fell mid-calf. His Jedi belt, boots, and gloves were also thrown on, with his lightsaber tucked inside his boot.

Pre-Jump

Pre-Jump Anakin hung around with the other Jumpers. He's done things like this before, so if anyone was feeling nervous, he's projecting an air of calm and excitement, ready to get up there. Even if he doesn't see the need for the jumpsuit.

Post-Jump // Refreshments

After the jump, he quickly shed the jumpsuit and located Padmé. He'll be able to be found, likely arm in arm, with his beloved. He's also laughing and pink in the cheeks from the enjoyment - and a little physical exertion from the jump and the Force powers he'd used to enjoy it.

Post-Jump

[resoluteandunyielding]

Padmé'd like to say she didn't worry, but watching from the ground, she couldn't quite fathom the interest in jumping from a perfectly safe transport that wasn't currently under siege and necessitating escape from whatever closest exit could be found. Or made. All of which is. The full history of that happening. Often. Honestly, why she isn't worrying. Which doesn't keep her from a small tension each time a new body jumped out of one of those airplanes.

Endless small flecks, racing toward the ground only to suddenly sprout sudden vast swaths of cloth behind them, that draw them back and float them down. Until there's one that doesn't. It plummets without a blossom of color, and she knows. Without having to ask, she knows it's Anakin. New plan. She worries. A little. Maybe more than a little when people start suddenly murmuring around her, realizing it, too.

Her heart racing, fingers and muscles tightening, even as she sat still on that blanket, watching the closer and closer he came toward the ground. Even though there was a rush of relief, and something not quite like surprise, when landed himself, with a far too familiar flourish, safely—using The Force. A thought that whispered through the round of cheers from everyone else around him. Looking all too pleased with himself. Lit up. Wind-mussed. Flushed. Energized. Unconcerned entirely.

Padmé left her hands laced together, waiting until he got close enough her she wouldn't need her voice to carry. "Are you satisfied now that you've had a chance to throw yourself at the ground and show off for everyone? What would Obi-Wan say?"

Harry Dresden OTA

[iminthebook]

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeehaw!

Harry was just here to have a little fun, and so he ambled up to jump, grinning as he did so. He had plenty of magic stored, and was ready for tragedy too with a contingency spell or two to get him out of danger and healing spells packed as well.

So, when he jumped, he whooped, letting the air send him spinning around, focusing only on the target areas.

His fall was spectacular, with him teleporting to the side and up and down a few times, making purple and blue color waves as he did so, and then accelerating as he got closer to the found, only to have a pillar of air catch him, bounce him a few times and carry him down to land feet first on the ground.

Once he was down, he headed right for the food. Time to eat and laugh!

[resoluteandunyielding]

His fall is one of those many that fall under baffling and almost impossible to look away from. He'd vanish entirely from a spot and appear in another, again and again, in far-flung spaces from where he'd been. A power the likes of which Padmé had never seen or even heard the tale of.

The last part, though, reminds her very much of The Force, when it seems like the air catches him. Reminds her vaguely of some of the things she heard are possible with it, and seen done with much smaller objects that a person by some of them even. The cheering was raucous again, and she couldn't help but smile, despite her confusion, at the elation that ensued around her from each landing.

Padmé dusted off her skirts, telling Anakin she'd be right back, and headed over to where the person in her sights was getting food now. "Mr. Dresden."

Nathan Summers/Cable | OTA

[timetravelandguns]

This is way too much fun!

Before the jump

Nathan is quite simply prepared. He is there early, and he is grinning as gets ready, one his back is slung an energy gun that can be modulated to pulse in force blasts.

He is quite bouncy and chatty, and one of those who helps others get set, making sure those who carry equipment do so properly. Anyone watching him might think he has done this before. And they would be right.


***

After the jump

On the ground again, Nathan is grinning, exhilarated, and utterly bouncy still. This was his kind of thing, and he wanders around, talking to others, and eating and drinking some. He is at ease for once, his need for speed and adrenaline satisfied.

audio;

[pillz]

Do a backflip. Can you do a backflip?

[what is a backflip, when you're falling at terminal velocity? idea is to figure it out.]