November Mod Event: ARC-ID Powerswap Research

[modormenace]

WHO: Any and all ImPorts!
WHERE: Initially Heropa, FL, then other ImPort cities
WHEN: November 11, 2020 until the 18th (1 week)
WHAT: November mod event (OOC info here) in which a seemingly innocuous experiment designed to explore the discrepancies exposed on October 1 goes wrong.
WARNINGS: Potential violence, trauma, confusion

ARC-ID
LOG FOR MOD-RUN EVENT

A week after Fanport 2020, ImPorts and native researchers have joined forces. The collaborative effort starts to run out of a spacious laboratory in Heropa, Florida, where ImPorts come in to receive nanite-monitoring wrist devices. Technically the devices should only observe nanite activity, but every participating ImPort is warned of likely side-effects.

It'll be worth it, to get answers to the question that's been on the minds of many:

Why are natives and ImPorts alike experiencing gaps in memory since October 1? Is there a hole in the fabric of reality itself?

LAB TIME

ImPort researchers are heavily involved in R&D in the final days days of pre-experiment preparation, ensuring participant safety as best as possible. The lab space is pristine and well-organized.

Based on previous ImPort volunteer projects, only one effect is expected: power swaps. However, all scientists are reasonably persuaded that something about the nanite functioning changed in October 1.

On the 7th of November, experimental participants receives a wrist device designed to passively analyze nanite activity and physiologic states, as well as induce mild changes that will result in power swaps. Swaps are random and unpredictable (OOC permission is required however) and may change several times through the experimental period.

For a maximum of 1 week, the devices will gather and transmit data back to headquarters, where native and ImPort researchers can conduct analyses. They're also encouraged to keep notes on subjective observations and/or report to the network for posterity.

WHOOPS

For the experimental volunteers, problems begin almost immediately. Some individuals start to experience weakness, which simply starts out as greater sleep need at night, but turns into a need to slow down during the day, resting in daydreams and reveries. Others experience amplified versions of their newly acquired abilities as well as personality amplification that also become more intense as days go on.

Furthermore, on the second day-- just after several ImPorts start to investigate the laboratory staff, the powerswap starts to affect not only volunteers but characters who don't have wrist devices.

By day 5, all characters will begin to experience 'weakness' symptoms. By the second day of the symptom onset, their symptoms evolve based on their involvement in previous plots:

• ImPorts who made sacrifices in in the Duel of the Fates find themselves suddenly recovering their lost features for 5 minutes each day. They will get powers, memories, skills, or any other feature they had previously lost. Once those 5 minutes are up, they will lose them again. For those who sacrificed memories, they won't even remember remembering-- but it's enough time to leave themselves a note.
  
  
• Those who did not sacrifice anything during the Duel of Fates plot, whether because they were too new, declined to go to Jeopardy, or entered the sandstorm but refused to save NPCs' lives, will find themselves ruminating on different, mysterious numeric codes. Daydreaming, they'll find themselves doodling the numbers on random objects, or murmuring it under their breath where others may overhear. (OOC: Please be diligent in avoiding infomodding, discuss ICly.)
  
  
• All characters, regardless of the Duel of Fates participation, will experience a vision.

  Sunlight streams into a vast room, brown and white and streaked with other vivid color, but the backdrop is blurry and out-of-focus.
  
  Presiding over everything, a tall white woman with thick, lustrous hair, a mask obscuring her face. That mask, whatever it is, emanates cold blue light. She strides forward. All sound seems distorted and far away, but she seems to speak, strident, aggressive. And she's not alone; someone else cries out in fear, as movement blurs in the periphery.
  
  She raises her hands, and--

  
  The vision cuts short there.

FAILSAFE

If an ImPort causes severe injury to another or is reported to law enforcement, this will trigger a built-in failsafe: the device will automatically reach out to law enforcement and emergency personnel.

Emergency personnel are comprised of ImPorts who declined to join the experiment, but nonetheless wanted to reduce the impact of their peers to themselves or natives. Any time a failsafe triggers, any combination of healers, psychics, telekinetics, and other ImPorts will receive the coordinates, tasked to safely remove the device from the ImPort. At the time they signed up, they had no way of knowing they might also be affected by the powerswap, even without wearing the technology.

OOC: OTHER OPTIONS

• As an OOC reminder, players wishing to opt out of this event can have their characters choose not to volunteer or be otherwise affected by the spreading effects of the experiment.
  
  
• For anyone wants to continue investigating AtlanTech, please prepare some research questions/hooks and head over to the investigation page. Once the plot has started, you're strongly encouraged to RP out conspiring and link the thread/starter to any new comments.

11/22/2020: AFTERSHOCKS

In the days after the plot ends, as characters recover from their symptoms (fatigue, aggression, and so on), any character, regardless of Duel of Fates involvement, will receive an additional reverie one time only:

--.------, ---.------

A set of dashes and punctuation cutting through the static of the diminishing fatigue. Reminiscent of, but certainly not Morse code. Again, they might find themselves doodling this string, texting it to others, or simply ruminating on it at inopportune moments.

Additionally, in a final vision experienced by the characters, they may optionally notice this final sequence lasts a little longer:

Most of the scene plays out the same-- the disguised woman charging through undefined space. Her hair comes sharply into focus, blonde, lit up by the energy of her mask.

Then the perspective skews, ever so slightly. A second figure edges in from the side, her back turned. She's lithe and narrow of build, her hair strawberry blonde, almost coppery in the sunlight, cropped short on her neck. Her fists are balled. Her voice rings out, a hint of a European accent distorted by the bleed of perception, but the words themselves are understandable:

"It was you!"

Comments

Diego Hargreeves | The Umbrella Academy

[deadlycurves]

I. Early {I won't be your experiment As soon as he started hearing about this little experiment of this mysterious company (at least to him, he wasn't around when they last showed their faces), Diego was against the whole thing. He spent his entire life being a pet experiment to a man who thought he knew better. Turns out, all that did is really mess up all of his kids in varied ways, who could have guessed, right? So, he might be trying to warn someone against signing up for the experiment if he can. Whether he's successful or not, he can at least say he tried. But the more people he sees going for it, the more he wants to find a way to make sure they're safe. He signs up for the emergency personnel position within the experiment's parameters. II. Investigation {I'll find the clues and then deduce While he isn't a fan of the whole idea to begin with, once he's some level of personnel during the course of the experiments, Diego starts trying to investigate from the inside. He will ask questions of any usual staff he can and might try to find like-minded ImPorts to help with the discovery. A lot of what he uncovers sounds more like office gossip than anything truly useful, but he does note the name Lorelei Wylde, as someone who had a sudden, and seemingly out-of-nowhere promotion, who happens to be on some sort of probation. Other things he might note may be kept closer to the vest for very specific, trusted people that he knows. III. Emergency {Emergency, emergency, somebody come rescue me While his main angle was to be able to investigate the company from the inside, Diego did sign up to be part of the emergency team in case some of his fellow imPorts ran into some trouble during the experiment. As it so happens, exactly that scenario has happened! Maybe you're the one in trouble; maybe you were an innocent stand-by; perhaps you were injured in a mishap! IV. Wildcard Plot with me here/on discord @ loyalwolf#3540, or just throw something at me!

@ iii.

[divaricate]

[ Wanda had been trying to stretch some of those spycraft muscles that Natasha trained into her back home. She had luck that was somewhere around zero, and now her day is just getting better (not).

Signing up to help in case of emergencies was where she was most comfortable. She's seen way too much in five years to trust experiments again, but even despite her powers, she took a bigger hit in some misfire than she expected and it caught her off guard. When she tries to get up what feels like hours later but is probably only minutes, she decides against it halfway up and lies back down on the floor. Does she have a head or has her head been replaced by a jackhammer? Right now she's feeling the latter, with a few new bruises and scrapes on her limbs too. ]

[deadlycurves]

[Diego was on call with the emergency personnel and he had answered the same call as Wanda; they'd come together, in hopes that with two of them on the scene, things might go a little smoother.

They had been wrong.

Misfires can be so goddamn dangerous when you've got explosive types of powers going off the fly.

Once he's pretty sure the other imPort is going to able to calm down enough to get themselves under control, he goes over to kneel next to Wanda. Old habits make him immediately check for all the important vital things. She's breathing. Pulse is steady.]

Hey, you okay? Took a pretty hard hit, there.

ii

[legalcy]

[With all of the powerswaps happening this week, none belongs to Minimus Cybertronian brethren, leaving him trapped in his human form. That fragile, oily, hungry, and sleepy human form. This research group is not considering the safety of their participants nor did they warn them of potential side effects.]

They will certainly have a lawsuit filed against them once this is over. [He finds a desk (which he fits into) and starts putting together notes for the official complaint. There must be more than on signatory, though, so when he finds Diego nearby, he waves him over.]

Excuse me, do you have time to share your experience with this experiment? [At least he hopes Diego has only bad things to say.]

[deadlycurves]

[Diego has no clue who the guy waving him over is, but it's obvious he means him, so he approaches carefully.

The question makes his scoff.] Well, I think it's bullshit, for starters.

[He's not exactly the chattiest person, this may not be the easiest conversation.]

ii.

[obediences]

So this part is familiar.

When their father died, Luther had immediately fallen into attempted sleuthing and tried to drag Diego into it with him, bouncing ideas off him first; an old instinct, to turn to his right-hand lieutenant and pick his brain during an investigation. And they'd done it again in Dallas. They're not always very good at it, but the brothers fall into investigation mode together like a hardwired instinct.

Today, Luther's waiting outside the AtlanTech building, leaning against the wall and sifting through the folder they just handed him when he signed up as a responder. (He always reads the paperwork and the fine print.) Information about the emergency response system, and how he'll receive coordinates if a distress signal activates. He'd written down his name and codename and contact information, and then only hesitating for a moment, also noted that he was signing up in the capacity of an Aegis Force reserve agent.

He'd wrapped up his business pretty quickly, but Diego had stayed behind to look around the AtlanTech building a while longer. They both knew why.

Luther waits for him, glancing up every time someone else exits the building — and when it's finally Diego, Luther shifts his weight away from the wall. Nods his head towards the road, to get some distance before they start talking about it fully.

"All done?" he asks.

[deadlycurves]

Diego had nearly sidestepped this entire thing, the second he heard anything about experiments, but he's glad he didn't. That the part of him that's too used to sucking it up and doing it for the greater good won out on it. Luther right there with him? Well, it just makes it feel that much more natural, too. He's done some snooping and some networking with people inside and now it's time to report back.

He waits until they're a decent distance away and immediately launches into what he's found out so far. "The five leads on the project have been having some kind of in-fighting the last few months. I'm not really sure about the specifics yet. But the Lead Hardware Engineer, Lorelei Wylde, wasn't even a fucking engineer a year ago. She was a personal assistant. Quite the promotion, don't you think? Sounds sketchy, and I definitely want to dig more into her."

Toshinori Yagi/All Might | OTA

[onederfulhero]

[If you would rather do brackets I will match! A summary of Toshinori's power, One For All, can be read here.]

Toshinori's dubious about the idea of participating in a government-run experiment, considering the past few months... but he wants answers, and he knows he's not the only one, and so he slips on the bracelet and keeps going about his days. If this helps, he figures, he'll deal with any issues as they come.

The idea of having new powers is both thrilling and, if he has to be honest, a little frightening. One For All has been part of him since he was a teenager, even if it's down to embers, a shadow of what it once was, or in the imperfect form he has it here. Being without it would make him feel naked, vulnerable.

However, as the experiment goes on, he finds himself feeling more and more lethargic, to the point where he's seriously considering going to a doctor to see if he's sick. Toshinori is also uncharacteristically quiet and serious, unable to be still when he's not sleeping, finding himself drumming out or humming beats, always forming the same sequence of numbers.

"6 7 4 1 1..." Six, seven, four, one, one. In that order, never deviating.

And at some point, he ends up with Archie's Pokemon, finding himself with no idea how to handle the creatures. Ooops. He may need some healing afterward.

[facepalmchampion]

Shigaraki had at least been (in his opinion) smart enough not to sign up to a place that already and likely monitored them. They could take on other people who thought they were smart enough to game the system or had some other purpose in mind for their participation.

From afar at first, he watched the little manic display of All Might tapping out... Something. It seemed like a pattern, but for what it was worth, he was being a good boy while he was on patrol. He would have rather never be on patrol but it procured interesting happenings like this. From a full regalia of hands, inclusive of the one on his face, he speaks.

"Imagine looking like you might need the help of a heroic imPort. Don't worry, I won't leave your side." Because he looked worse, in Shigaraki's opinion, than he had the last time.

[onederfulhero]

"I'm honored," Toshinori says, his voice still carrying sarcasm through the tiredness. "How do I know you're not here to lay hands on me as soon as we're out of sight of everyone else?"

[h2no]

Crobat's the first to break itself out of its ball-- it's usually the go-getter of the team. Something about being a friendship evolution; the other three are more content to stay in their balls (Muk and Sharpedo especially, given their biological disadvantages) and wait out whatever this weird feeling is.

It forms in a snap of white light wherever Toshinori is, immediately screaming in his face, though notably doesn't attack.

Not that that'll likely help much.

[onederfulhero]

"GAH!"

Toshinori is shocked enough when he sees Crobat pop out- and his mind races when it begins to shriek, because he's only met the creature a few times, and even worse, Archie is nowhere in sight.

"What are you doing here?" And it's then that he notices four small balls have suddenly appeared at his belt. He has no idea what to do with them, he thinks- how to work them, how to stop the creatures inside from leaving on their own. This could turn ugly fast. "Please, Crobat, let's try and figure this out. I'll call Archie, alright?"

(captain) rex | star wars

[ct_7567]

a. onset darkovication. CW: EMETOPHOBIA.

[ It hits Rex all at once. He'd just been going on a run when he feels a lurching in his stomach, an unfamiliar dizziness coming over him that makes him list to the side and eventually stop, leaning against a tree. ]

Little gods. What did I eat? [ He grumbles to himself, one hand pressed flat against his stomach. It's the easiest conclusion to come to. He's got a tricky stomach, and it's probable that the toxic amounts of caf he ingests or some food poisoning struck him. He pushes off the tree, intending to get home before he makes a mess of things, but he doesn't make it. He winds up bent double over a patch of bushes, but to his dawning horror, what comes out looks like corrosive, black gunk, steaming as it hits the ground. He clasps one hand over his mouth, staring at the black rivulets trickle through his fingers, as though holding it back will make it go away completely. ]

What in the blazes...?

b. darkovication fully set in!

[ All things told, it doesn't take him long to realize what he's been afflicted by. He's fortunate that the person whose powers he got is someone who he lives with, after all, the person he knows best aside from his wife.

It's a regular altercation, on a regular day. Rex is here to take care of a criminal - it's another nasty mugging, and the other fellow's got a gun - but right as he starts to yell at the man to freeze, his shoulder bunches up to one side, a quick jerk that sends his blaster clattering to the ground, and a small knife made of bone slowly starts to extrude from his skin.

He might need a hand. ]

c. wildcard!

[ I'm using this as a handy catch-all for the remainder of the month. I have a plotting comment up here, but I'm happy to whip up a starter for you as well! PM me, comment to me there, or hit me up on plurk @ wisdombitch. I'm open to futzing around with other powers too! ]

c for thee

[darkov]

Sh...show me.

[Martin has a hand extended, waiting for Rex's. what he's hoping is for nothing -- that this is just a bad dream, some kind of strange...trick, a trick that this world is playing. the world likes to play tricks, right? it tricked him into believing he was a god once, so it can just as easily trick him into believing Rex had become something he's not supposed to be.

something like him.

when he'd come home from work tonight, he'd been ready to just sleep the day away; he was so exhausted. but fear is a great stimulant, and the weight of weariness is nothing in comparison to having found Rex doubled over, smelling a familiar, Darkov smell.

no, he'll see. nothing strange at all. and Rex will assure him it's nonsense, pat his shoulder, and send him off to bed. so...]

[ct_7567]

[ Fear isn't something Rex likes to fess up to. And, regardless, fear doesn't seem to be quite the right word for what it is he's feeling. He's not afraid for his life in any immediate way, knows that this place often throws curveballs at them that will fade in time, but feeling his body change without his say so, seeing it happen without being able to do anything about it, this new sickness rolling in his belly --

Well, it's discomforting, is what he'll say. Rex's lips are pressed tightly together. Generally speaking, in matters of health, he'd prefer to leave Martin out of it. He doesn't need to know all of Rex's concerns with cell degradation and his rapid aging, doesn't need to know his concerns about how that will interact with whatever this is.

But for this, there's only one expert here. And that's Martin. So, noiselessly, he offers Martin his hand. ]

...what are the signs you're looking for, exactly?

jaime reyes / blue beetle | DC Comics

[khajidont]

a. falling.

[ One moment, the Blue Beetle was hovering high, high up in the air, obviously on his way somewhere else, and then all of a sudden... he's not. His wings snap back into his body, and he stiffens in mid-air, eyes wide as saucers, his armour receding back into his body all at once.

And then he's falling. He lets out a panicked yell, torso twisting in mid-air as he pats himself down as he falls, trying to figure out what happened, or -- well.

There's no figuring out what to do. Either you can help him if you have any powers of your own, or you can help him out after he goes splat. It's fine. He'll survive. Probably. ]

b. panic sets in.

[ Regardless of whether he's hurt or not by his fall, Jaime has more important things on his mind than a broken bone or two. As soon as he's got his wits about him again, he wrestles with his shirt, panicked, and rips it off. He cranes his neck to see his back, smooth and without any markings that should be there. ]

No, [ he mutters to himself, clearly whipping himself up into a panic. It feels wrong. He feels -- empty, half formed, like someone suddenly robbed him of an entire sense. ] Khaji? Khaji? Where are you? This can't be happening.

c. khaji.

[ Are you the one who got Khaji? Congratulations. All of a sudden, you feel something inside you -- a presence lingering in the back of your mind. If you breathe in, you can smell electricity around you, a harsh, acrid smell, you can see jet blue lines zig zagging out from your vision, you can feel your blood buzzing underneath your skin.

Feelings suddenly bombard you, feelings that clearly aren't your own -- anger, confusion, panic. Then there is a voice that you can only hear within your own head, a thin buzzing sound, then a mechanical roar: ]

WHERE AM I?

[ Act fast. If he doesn't receive a satisfying answer, Khaji can and will take over your body. And you won't like it. ]

c. wildcard!

[ I'm using this as a handy catch-all for the remainder of the month. I have a plotting comment up HERE, but I'm happy to whip up a starter for you as well! PM me, comment to me there, or hit me up on plurk @ wisdombitch. I'm open to futzing around with other powers too! Please also feel free to contact me if you want to play with Khaji -- he has some pretty hefty powers, so if your character can override him, there's all sorts of mischief they can get up to! ]

[monster_san]

[Fuu was just trying to have a nice little afternoon in the library while she waits for her to be called in to help someone else when she feels IT, a horrible sensation and lightning blue over the shelves she's trying to peruse. She grabs onto it for support, knocking out a book or two as she tries to figure out if the surge of emotion is her own or not and also if the ozone smell means the library on fire. Her skin feels like it is. Her blood vessels feel like they are!

But when the voice makes its demand, it feels--oddly familiar--doesn't it?]

In a library! [She says it as a hiss under her breath, matching the insectoid buzzing, but she's not sure the voice has actually spoken aloud. stay calm, fuu, stay calm.] What are you doing to me?

[khajidont]

Gaining information, [ the voice says. He doesn't stop taking control, though it's slower, less noticeable. This time, it's just her hand, covered in black armour, twisting without her say so so that Khaji can look at it through her eyes. He knows who this is. He's only realizing this now, but he knows, doesn't he?

There's a buzz of discontent, but the sheer rage simmers. He knows Fuu wouldn't seize him on purpose. This is not the worst case scenario. It is simply a bad one. ]

...Fuu?

magnus burnsides | the adventure zone

[burlyboy]

a. it's cybertronian time, babey.

[ Magnus is one of the few who actively signed up for this experiment. He knew that things might get a bit... hinky. And they did. He's been getting sleepy, and feeling a bit odd, but that was the extent of it.

At least, it was until he woke up from nodding off on the bus, numbers floating in his head, and then let out a mighty sneeze. It's a good thing the bus is largely empty (save for you, perhaps, or perhaps you're a bystander!), because all of a sudden the bus lets out a horrible whining sound and chugs to a complete stop. As for Magnus? All he hears is the screeching of metal as his head suddenly pops out of the top of bus. ]

Ah! Ahh! What the fuck!

[ He's now, you see, the spitting image of the cybertronian Riptide. You may recognize him! ]

Ahh! Fuck! Ahhh!

[ Sorry, guys. That's all you're getting out of him for now. ]

b. dozing off.

[ Otherwise? You can see him all over the place. He falls asleep everywhere. A bus stop bench you want to sit on? Check. In the animal shelter? Check. In the middle of a wrestling match? At the coffee shop table next to yours? On a mall bench? Check, check, and check.

Try to wake him up, will you? The muscles in his face jump and twitch as he dreams, and if you do wake him up, you'll hear him merely blurt out: ] 21146!

c. wildcard!

[ I'm using this as a handy catch-all for the remainder of the month. I have a plotting comment up HERE, but I'm happy to whip up a starter for you as well! PM me, comment to me there, or hit me up on plurk @ wisdombitch. I'm open to futzing around with other powers too! ]

a

[knaval]

[you know, these things travel quickly. riptide hasn't worked out how to use the powers he got in exchange, only that there's a push notification on his comm about himself smashing a bus and someone has it again and primus, at least this one isn't slogging around a forest.

he catches a cab downtown, sprinting the rest of the way, tripping a couple times, finally turning up way out of breath and with no plan.]

Hey! Hey!! You! [he waves his arms.] Fucker!

[burlyboy]

[ Magnus gasps when he sees Riptide, then points one massive, metallic finger at him. ]

No, you! You're the fucker! What the fuck is going on!

[ Everyone else in the bus has already fled to watch the scene from a safe distance, save for the poor bus driver who's gotten out, hands on his head as he stares mournfully at his now shredded steed. ]

Ochako Uraraka | MHA | OTA Unless Specified!!

[floatsaway]

i. Short Fuse: Nov 11-16 (OTA)

[It's a usual morning like most. Ochako wakes up, gets clean and dressed, has a very meager breakfast, goes to school, comes home, eats a bit, does some homework, then goes to workout and train on the beach in Heropa. It's usually quieter in the mornings and evening, but on a weekday like today, early morning exercise is out of the question. She simply can't do too much before school, which is exhausting enough trying to sit through...

Her run goes smoothly, a few back and forth laps on the sand across the large stretch of beach that spans a wide area - probably a good few ocean resorts line the area, though they've long since closed to even the resort residents regarding swimming and the like. She's done this plenty of times, and the fewer people Ochako runs into, the better, she prefers the solitude and the sounds of the ocean to work out to. It's relaxing. Though she finds it's either...really hot (or humid, this is Florida) tonight, or she's just exerted herself a bit too much. There is sweat dripping off her face, and she shakes off her palms as well, sticking out her tongue because, ew, they're all sweaty, too.]

Gross...

[Maybe a quick splash in the water would do her good, just to clean away the sweat and cool off. Removing her sneakers and socks, Ochako goes into the surf just enough to be able to cup her hands into the water without getting a fistful of sand, and splashes it over her face , letting the cool water wash off some of that sweat. That's a little better, though she'll need a proper shower once she gets back home, to get out the salt. It's fine, this was just a temporary fix anyway. First thing's first before she heads back though - a few martial arts forms to stay up to date and not get lazy.

Usually Ochako does meditative Tai Chi, but this time around, she's actually doing some more...combative forms. High kicks, sweeping jumps and flips, and hand punches and open palm strikes. Her tiny grunts don't carry much - she tends to keep the 'hyaah!'s to a minimum, but--...ugh! My god, she's starting to sweat again, and stops for just a second to go to her bag, take out her water bottle, and just dump the contents over her head, tying back her now wet hair with an elastic and dabbing her face and hands with her towel.

Okay, where was she? Right, the duck and palm strike, a good defensive and offensive move, to avoid an overhead strike and then quickly counterattack! She practices the quick ducking first - swiftly ending at the kneese and popping back up again like a mole, a few reps of this, and then the palm strike. Okay...down!! Now strike--]

BOOOOOM!!

[All at once, Ochako is blown, quite literally, off her feet and up the shore perhaps a good ten or fifteen feet as a burst of red-hot energy just seemed to erupt from her open palm suddenly. She's lying on her back in the sand, clutching at her arm which feels like it just popped out of the socket, fingers twitching and smoke trailing along her fingers. Her muscles ache, but her eyes are wide.

That...was an explosion.

An explosion. From her palms.

Just like--

Ochako raises the arm that doesn't feel like it tried to force itself back into her shoulder, staring at her hand very closely. She flexes her fingers, and brings them close to inspect. The pads on her fingertips are gone. And there's sweat on her skin. Sweat...]

Oh...oh, my god. [She has to get to her phone RIGHT NOW. How can--what in the motherfucking shitty HELL IS THIS HORSECRAP?!] WHY DO I HAVE BAKUGOU'S QUIRK?!

[Does he have hers? Oh god. Oh god, he could really get hurt if he activates it and doesn't know how to get down. Literally anything he touches, o-or anyone... Oh my god, oh my god, oh my--]

ii. Wither and Decay: Nov 17/18 (CLOSED TO SHIGARAKI)

[All in all, having Bakugou's quirk, once she actually learned how to control it, wasn't so bad!! It was actually a ton of fun, and Ochako has to be honest...learning how to "float" with blasts from her palms was absolutely the highlight of it. That, and just the feeling of sheer power at her fingertips. It was kind of cool, feeling like that, and making the cute poppies in her palms was an absolute delight to her inner child.

Hence why it was a little sad when Ochako woke up, clapped her hands together, and tried to call those cute poppies to her palm...and nothing happened. She quite visibly pouted, sad to have lost it so soon. Ah well, she did miss her own quirk - it was as much a part of her as Bakugou's quirk was to him, so it'd be best if they got their respective quirks back.

So, as Ochako got herself ready for school, rocking up to a vending machine to grab an energy drink to take for a much needed boost throughout the day, she expects very little to happen. It's only when she makes the very rare mistake of touching all five fingers to the bottle to hold and unscrew the lid (she usually raises her pinky so as not to activate her Zero Gravity quirk, but mistakes do happen), the bottle bursts open and sprays her with sticky liquid. What the--

Her eyes suddenly go wide, once they focus long enough to see the bottle in her hands crumbling away...bits of dust mixing together with the liquid contents to create a black, almost tar-like substance on her hands. What...was that? Feeling a sudden dread grip her throat. Ochako shakes off her hands and reaches into her pocket to grab some tissues to wipe her hands. Again...all that comes out her pockets is dust, and the color drains from her face entirely, breath caught in her throat.

No...nononono--!!

Bringing her hands very close to her chest, Ochako feels dizzy all of a sudden and thoughts begin to race in her mind. Decay. She now has Decay - Shigaraki's quirk. Her fingers twitch, and Ochako feels suddenly not only dizzy and sick to her stomach with fear...but also itchy. It's probably nerves, she's shaking like a leaf, and rushes away as the bus pulls up to the stop and people begin to crowd the entrance. No, she can't get on. Can't be in a group, in a crowd. It'd be so easy to accidentally brush against someone, touch something, and it'd just...wither to nothing. To dust. What if she had been home when it happened? What if she accidentally hugged or touched Momo? What if she was with Katsuki...tried to hold his hand like she does so often now? What if...what if--

Ochako doesn't even register that she's running. Doesn't think of anything else but getting away from everything and everyone. She can't be in a crowd, especially not anywhere near anyone she knows or cares about. She's a liability now, because she doesn't know how to control this, and it's not just about a few kabooms, she could...sh-she could kill someone. She could actually kill someone with this. That's why she has to get as far away as possible. Away from people, away from everything, just...away.

It's a panicked response, and a goddamn awful and stupid decision, but it's fight or flight, and Ochako choose to run. Run as hard and as fast and as far away as she can. Jeopardy is her best shot - it's so far out of the way and barely any of her friends go there. Plus, she can flee to the desert there where, quite literally, no one is. Stupid, panicked, careless, and Ochako feels the fatigue weigh on her like the sudden heat and dryness. The heat that dries away the streams of tears she can only now feel running down her face. She needs help, she knows she does, but she doesn't trust herself right now not to accidentally trigger his quirk and...a-and... Any o-o ne of them...c-could...

What she envisions makes Ochako's skin crawl, and she scratches at her arms and neck furiously before bringing her closed fists to her chest and squeezing them as hard as she can, nails digging into her palms until it hurts. No, no she can't call anyone like that. There's no one else that'd know the ins and outs of this better than the original owner anyway... Though Ochako's equally terrified to reach out to him, too. What if she hurts Shigaraki with his own quirk? After promising not to do anything stupid, not to raise a hand against him or any of the other members of the League that were here...what if she accidentally...

With his quirk--]

Ah...aahhh...

[She's scared. She's scared of what she could do.

Holding her face in her hands, Ochako begins to just cry. She cries, and drags herself to a shady nook by some rocks, to avoid the direct path of the scorching sun. She doesn't want to, but there's no other way. Shaking, and fumbling with getting out her phone - careful not to touch it with more than four fingers at a time - Ochako sends an SOS signal to Shigaraki and a single message, written with trembling fingers. It's all she can mange without it coming out as hastened gibberish:

help]

[facepalmchampion]

Going through a great many changes, including trying to deal with a world that not many of his acquaintances remembered, Shigaraki had been battling things like actual wondering about people he used to spend time with. Sure, he and Ochako had met before whatever that was that shot him ten years older and working with Hizashi and Shouta. He wasn't much of a different person there, but it had done enough to him to meld whomever that loser had been, forgetting his goals.

He would have liked to think that if Kurogiri died, he would have handled it differently and if Eraser and Present Mic had tried anything other than a firm handshake between one another, leaving him to his devices, they would too. Even here, where he had bought Eraser a birthday present without really ever knowing his birthday.

In another one of his broody moods about it, and with Dabi sleeping somewhere off in the shadow of their shared arrangement, he had been busy playing games. Mostly Mammalian Intersection had a new event on and he didn't go in for time travelling. It had already fucked him up once as aforementioned, he didn't need to do it in game-land too. Quietly as ever, and totally not because Dabi had work or worked hard enough to actually sleep, Shigaraki stayed nicely in his sandbox world, dicking around after his own shitty job that he hated was done.

That didn't mean that his phone wasn't with him at all times, just in case he got a call from one of his companions. Knowing they were serious about kicking people out of their homes, Re: Dabi, he was already concerned about Toga. The apartment was small but they could find somewhere else and it already set his mind to doing so.

But, before he could continue his inner thoughts and also his terraforming, he noticed that his phone went off with a bright light in the only TV lit room. With his features pulling together a little confused, he paused and picked it up.

Ochako. Okay. Dabi was asleep, or ignoring him, so no problem. As soon as he read it, as soon as he saw a location, he was already up and his shoes were on. It didn't take him long to be at the door and out it, texting at the same time.

'Stay there. I'm on my way.'

And he was, on his way. It took him as much time as it did only because he was limited by the transport methods of this place. Kurogiri or other methods more supernatural weren't available to him. Using search made it easier by the time he got to the more remote areas of the place to look around for her, to see where she had gone and who had gone with her. Whoever it was that she needed help from were about to die. "Ochako!" He called out, "Where are you?"

i. ｂｏｏｍ !

[obediences]

[ Luther hadn't signed up for any of the experimental research — no thank you, he'd already had an entire childhood of being hooked up to monitors and tested and prodded and eventually pumped full of an untested serum — but he has, however, signed up as an emergency responder. So when the report eventually comes that there's a series of explosions up and down the beach, and a miserable-looking teenaged girl sprawled on the sand, he clocks in and shows up pretty quickly.

The man is tall, 6'5" and of broad and hulking stature, and wearing the emblem on his uniform that marks him as an Aegis Force agent (even if he is just on the reserves). He doesn't recognise the girl off the bat; back when they'd spoken, she'd been audio-only, and he'd answered in text. But he approaches without much fear until he's standing a few feet away from where the explosion has turned some of the sand to glittering glass around her.

If it comes to it, he could take the hit. ]

Uh. Hey.

Are you doing okay?

you know which one

[hot_handed]

ROUND FACE!!! YOUR QUIRK'S FUCKING ANNOYING!!!

[It had started out as a normal morning for Katsuki. He had thought he'd find Ochako on the beach and bring some extra breakfast they had, because it had been a while since they had hung out and he didn't have much going on today. But then he ran into a villain-

The Tentaclone.

It wasn't the first quirk Katsuki had swapped, but he hadn't considered that this one might be contact-based. Not until he had a man dressed in a jellyfish onesie, an old woman clutching to her walker, and two laughing kids floating in the air as he ran toward the explosion. Toward his hero.]

How do I- mmph! [He lurches forward, putting a hand over his mouth, the world spinning as he sweats.]