EVENT ★ TEAM BONDING

[futurologists]

TEAMBONDING TASKS Early in the morning, all characters will receive a message in their personal inboxes encouraging them to help with various tasks around the castle. Characters may either volunteer or be randomly shuffled into a group by accident; once assigned, they’ll be expected to show up and harangued by the castle’s animated suits of armor until they cooperate. The teams are as follows, though all groups besides the Training Center are open to sign-ups until the caps are reached. This OOC post may also be used for questions and plotting! LIBRARY: Anduin, Sigma, Rin, Keats, Papyrus, Adrien, Gumshoe, Sorey, Archer, Rosalind, Mikleo GREENHOUSE: Koltira, Julius, Sieglinde, Alice, Hellboy, Aqua, Dipper, Edna, Rodimus, King, Jekyll STABLES: Undyne, Khisanth, Mabel, Rey, Graham, Dezel, Olivia, Steven, Yata, Saber, Anakin TRAINING CENTER REDS: Shadow, Gintoki, Luciola, Gilgamesh, Ban, Melan BLUES: Kylo Ren, Pearl, Masamune, Poe, Barry, Lancer The Training Center will have a catch-all subthread below, but anyone in any of the other groups (or not in a group at all) is encouraged to make a top level and tag into whichever area you'd like to play in. TRAINING CENTER Once recruits step foot into the Training Center, they’ll find themselves suddenly outside. A voice coming from their jewelry informs them that this is a simulation of the world Asharion. There’s swamp for as far as the eye can see, and it’s dark and… sort of squishy in here. The two teams arrive at opposite ends of the swamp, where their respective “base camps” are located. Each of them will find themselves dressed head-to-toe in the color of their team, red or blue, and will see that a flag of their team color flies above their heads at base camp. There’s no concealing what team you’re on. If you look down, there’s also a HP bar plastered across the front of your shirt. Each time you’re hit, your HP goes down. (Remember, no one is actually getting hurt -- this is just a simulation. Once you run out of hit points, you’ll be kicked out of the simulation and offered a piece of cake from the kitchen as a consolation prize.) All powers are still around, but use anything too powerful, and the game will view it as a “cheat” and detract from your HP bar. A timer, floating in front of your eyes, starts counting down and the voice speaks again: ”There are three artifacts hidden within the swamp, and we’d really appreciate getting them back. The objective is simple: be the team with the most artifacts when the game is over. The game is over when all of a team is kicked out of the game or when the timer runs out. Good luck! Oh, and be careful with the artifacts. They have some… interesting magical properties. The aforementioned artifacts: THE STAFF OF INVIGORATION The staff is very plain and easy to miss. When you touch it, however, you’ll know. You’re suddenly filled with energy, flowing through your entire body. At least, for a little bit. It runs out of charge in about five minutes, and if you’re still holding it, you’ll find it actually starts draining you of energy until you’re too tired to walk. VENKAN STATUE A small, very delicate statue from the world of Venka, made of crystal. Try not to drop it. Whoever holds it will find themselves easily irritated, however, even by their teammates. The longer it’s held, the stronger the effect -- it starts out with mere annoyance, making you almost comedically ornery over small things, but if you hold onto it, you’ll find yourself becoming paranoid and aggravated. The statue is actually of the Goddess of War, and it turns out it might have started a few wars itself. THE RING OF… PUPPY LOVE? A beautiful sapphire ring in the shape of a heart. Once held or put on, the wearer will get an extremely awkward crush on the anyone they see, and be unable to do anything but giggle like a schoolgirl in their presence. The effect will only fade if they drop the ring. How embarrassing. The artifacts can be found anywhere in the swamp -- almost like they’re moving around on their own. Knowing ALASTAIR, they just might be. The countdown hits 0. From this moment forward, the voice tells you, you have exactly two hours. The blue team will end up the victors, but only by a hair. Cherenkov will be available for any questions and feedback afterwards (see subthread below), provided she's not napping. REWARDS: Both teams will receive a pocket watch, with very specific instructions attached. Both are capable of a one-time spell. The blue team’s pocket watches will administer a shock to stun the target when opened for the first time and the first time only, so don’t waste it. The red team’s pocket watches will create a barrier around the character that will shield them from any incoming attacks for three minutes. LIBRARY The library is enormous, with stacks that rise nearly to the vaulted ceiling. Rolling ladders lean up against the sides of the stacks, ready to be climbed, but the burly librarians that usually frequent the library are not found today. They have left only a single note behind, in neat, cramped script: Please clean up after yourselves. Thank you. There is a long wooden table in the middle of the library. Two closed books rest upon it: Escarpan Gardening And You and A History of the Hurricane of 62.516-18 A. Opening the first book will cause vines and flowers and other greenery to sprout up from nowhere, blocking the shelves and making traversing the library quite a difficulty. Opening the second will cause the entire library to be engulfed in wild winds, throwing books off the shelves and perhaps each other across the room. Opening them both will cause both things to happen, simultaneously. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the rest of the books do the same sort of thing. Open a book about medieval weaponry? Suddenly there are swords flying through the air. That murder mystery novella? Everything is now black and white with deep shadows. The encyclopedia? Nothing happens. Encyclopedias are safe, for some reason. How do you make these book effects stop? Shelve them in the proper place. But beware -- every misshelved book will cause another to pop out of place. Try to catch it before it hits the ground and opens, or you just may have a disaster on your hands. HINT: The solution is to shelve the books in order by size, large to small. REWARD: All participants will receive a fountain pen, with instructions: write a character’s name on any surface and you will be able to see through their eyes for thirty seconds. After using it once, it will become an ordinary (but fancy!) pen. Crowley will be available to contact for any general inquiries, though responses may be tardy since the cat NPCs are likely to be asleep on a high shelf together. GREENHOUSE The greenhouse and surrounding courtyard should be tranquil, but more often than not it ends up just as absurd as the rest of Oska. Recruits will be tasked with cleaning one of the giant glass domes that houses a massive, archaic tree at its core. Surrounding it is an entire biosphere teeming with life, but the fauna is limited -- that shift in the corner of your eye? Probably a slithering vine. The snapdragons here will take off a finger if you’re not careful, and the stinging nettles will leave worse than a rash. Some examples of the more fantastical plants are listed below, though players are welcome to create their own: Noxious Nightweed: the bright, glowing flowers of the nightweed are beautiful and full of nectar that smells of berries -- catching scent of it will cause drowsiness, lethargy, and thirst. As enticing as the flower sap may be to drink, it’s deeply corrosive and will burn on contact. Don’t fall asleep handling one! Kukichas: These large, puffy, red fungi are harmless to other plants and tend to grow on just about any other flora. However, they’ll stick to anything that brushes up against them and detonate some time later. Once they explode, characters will be plagued with itchiness, tickling sensations, and sneezing fits. Characters can remove these by quickly finding another person to stick them to. Beware though: kukichas reproduce by budding. Quickly. Mandrake: these plants appear to be normal, tiny shrubs, but when pulled out of the earth will become animate and let out a horrible, piercing wail that only increases in volume over time. They will cease when fed a drop of blood. But none of the compost should go to waste! After gathering trimmings and various plants, herbs, and flowers, recruits will be shuffled off to the greenhouse labs to make use of them. There are gargantuan, dusty grimoires full of recipes for various potions and all the necessary cauldrons and equipment to brew them. The directions are laid out thoroughly, but are quite complex -- one character may have to read an incantation while the other stirs, others might require careful handling of volatile substances, and so forth. The only thing they have in common is that none of them can be properly made without a little aid from someone else, so work together! Worse still, the books are old. Text in some places is washed out and requires quick, smart improvising. Or guesswork. ALASTAIR is not responsible for any toxic fumes, poisonous bubbles, or other strange side effects that may arise from randomly throwing ingredients together. Dagny will be available within both the greenhouse and the labs to offer assistance, feel free to snag her with any questions! There will be a thread below where you may drop links to threads you’d like her to briefly appear in. REWARD: All characters that participate may keep a single, one-use potion of their choice: mandrake potions are essentially magical molotov cocktails, kukicha potions cause euphoria and ease mental status effects (hallucinations, berserker rage, etc.), and nightweed potions will instantly evaporate into fumes that force anyone who breathes them in to tell the truth. STABLES The stables are a mess. It seems like all the stalls have been left open, and there’s animals of every sort everywhere, through courtyard, grounds, and castle. Most of them can be seized by the halter and led back into their stalls easily enough, but there are a few species that are a little trickier than that. Lucky for you, Uruz has a checklist of exactly what’s missing. On it, you will find: Spiked Horkles: These things are enormous, it’s unclear how people are even meant to ride them. They’re giant, bipedal, white-furred monstrosities, with spiked ridges all down their back, intimidating tusks, giant horns, and one single, central eye. The tallest of them are almost fifteen feet high, they look like they could snap you over one knee with their massive hands. They don’t seem to be inclined to violence, but they’re also utterly uninterested in following you anywhere, and impossible to budge. That is, unless you’ve got an instrument or a good singing voice. They’ll happily and docilely follow anyone putting on a musical performance, straight back into their stalls (sized accordingly), if that’s where the route takes them. Sixers: A sixer isn’t really all that different from a horse… except for the fact that it has six legs, and each of its hooves strikes sparks whenever it lands. This is fine if it’s taking a stroll in the wake of a light rain, or over stone, but entire fields have been lost to a herd of sixers. And unfortunately the whole lot of them seems determined to go sightseeing into the castle itself. They’re relatively easy to lead around, all it takes is any sort of food a horse would be inclined to eat, but the route you lead them on is the important part. Try not to cause any more property damage than necessary, please. Boxing Peters: This creature looks like its closest relation might be a giant anteater, although this version is several times larger. Also, nearly hidden along the long, hanging hair of its stomach is several more pairs of legs, tucked neatly into its body as it walks. They’re content to snuffle about in the courtyard, but will resist tugs at their halters, and utterly ignore any attempts at herding. The only way to catch the attention of a Boxing Peter is to challenge it. Drop into a fighting stance in front of it, take a swing at its side (not too hard, Uruz would remind you), shout insults -- whatever it takes. Upon being challenged a Boxing Peter rises up onto its hind legs and unfolds all ten of its hidden limbs, each of which ends in a large, padded hand, ready to fight. You don’t actually have to fight, but it’ll pursue a challenger wherever it might lead, until mutual bows signify the end of the match. Webbed Gliders: These are ALASTAIR’s aquatic environment mounts. And, oddly enough, they’re just tiny frogs with webbed limbs like a flying squirrel. They don’t need to be very large to be useful, as it turns out -- each one secretes a special slime which, when touched, shrinks whoever has done the touching to a size small enough to comfortably ride it. You’ll have to get these little guys back into the tank inside the stables without touching them, and they can be found anywhere outside where it’s damp. Any shrinking will wear off after 5 minutes without contact with the frog-slime. Ferrets: That’s it, they’re just ferrets. They’re enormous rideable ferrets, but still just ferrets. They’re just as energetic and playful as their smaller counterparts, and they have way too much energy to want to go back into their stalls. You’ll have to wear them out first, and it’s suggested you do so by playing with them. Did you know most of these ferrets are trained to fetch? Uruz is very proud of that. Uruz is happy to give pointers for the trickier species, but she’ll have to be found before she can be asked. She’s off wrangling some of the more volatile mounts, and can be spotted throughout the grounds madly galloping after something or another. If you have any interest in snagging Uruz for part of your thread, feel free to drop a link in her thread below for a tag-in! REWARD: As thanks for their assistance, each recruit will be sent away with a small, silver whistle. Blowing it will entrance all animals within hearing range, putting them into a placid trance for about a minute. This whistle will work for about two months before its effect begins to wear out. OTHER If your character isn’t signed up for any of these tasks, you are still welcome to tag into other characters carrying them out! The Training Center will be locked for the duration of its event, but the Library, Stables, and Greenhouse are all open to visitors. Characters are free to stop in and help (or mock) their friends, but they will not be receiving the same rewards as characters specifically contacted for help. You are also free to create open prompts within Oska at large, or your own logs. This log covers the next 2 weeks, so feel free to set them at any time within that timeframe! UNIFORMS: Every character will also find their official uniforms when they return to their rooms, accompanied by a note from Dagny: A reward for being you! :) - Love, Dagny. There is a gold star sticker by her name. The uniforms are instantly respawning, no matter how damaged they get. Whenever a character opens their closet, they will find a brand new one.

Comments

when all else fails, default to animals -- wildcard

[riastraid]

[ After having to pick moss and mud out of his hair for what felt like a million years, Lancer'd avoided getting into too much more... action. And as the days tick by, there's fewer galloping sixers, mandrake howls, shouts and crashing from the library that seems to defeat the whole purpose of a peaceful study.

And so unfortunately, Lancer lets his guard down. He should really learn by now that he'll be the exception to most safe rules.

Despite his (well-earned) reputation as a jock, he's rather fond of nerdy shit like reading one whole book sometimes (maybe even two whole book, because he's got an awful lot of time on his hands). To actually handle them though, he's got to materialize. In a silent whorl of light, he appears perched on a (very) high shelf. He hooks a book by its spine—Care for Magical Creatures in faded gold letters along the bone—pulling it out of place.

As soon as one of the pages splits open, a tentacle slithers out, trying to coil around his finger. In his surprise, he jerks his hand back and—sends the book falling right off the shelf. And down, down... towards an innocent bystander.

Whoops. ]

ancient rp proverb tbh

[gutpunching]

[Two whole book...don't strain yourself, Lancer.

But sure, make that two surprisingly bookish types hanging in this particular row of the library. Bruce and Alfred collected rare first editions as a hobby, and Jason had taken an interest after being taken in to Wayne Manor. Which isn't the only reason he's here in the library—business before pleasure and all. Now that all the ruckus has finally settled down it might be possible to actually (carefully) dig up something useful about this whole universe hopping business.

Or have it fall into his lap. And by into his lap, I mean onto his head. And by useful, I mean not useful at all, thanks, Lancer. He hackles like a cat on impact and backsteps, shaking a slimy baby kraken out of his hood with a hissing noise. (Which proves to be a lot harder than it should be, because the tiny tentacles keep clinging to his fingers.) The book itself flops on the ground, spine-up. And then starts to rise. Jason stops trying to pry cthulu off his wrist when the book then starts to—impossibly—divulge a much, much larger version.]

Aw, hell.

[This is going to be fun. On the bright side, they mostly know how to get rid of these things, now. But of course, the book is caught all the way at the highest point of the monster's mantle.]

the art of rp

[riastraid]

[ There's probably two whole book on universe hopping in here somewhere, Jason. Think about that wealth of knowledge, the rewards for braving the depths of R'lyeh.

Anyway, you're welcome. ]

Huh...

[ He observes helpfully, still a considerable ways up and out of harm's way. Which means he's probably the better candidate to actually pounce on the bubbly (not like 'cheerful,' it's rather literally bubbling) creature and shut the book on it. For a moment, he considers this.

But in the end, he opts for the way of cats: finding more things and tipping them over. Soon, another suspicious-looking book hurtles the same way as the first. He's helping—fight fire with fire. Or at least adding fuel and seeing what happens. Jason seems to have it handled pretty okay anyway. He has full faith in this poor stranger's ability. ]

rp is kind of like war I guess

[gutpunching]

[Book numero dos seems to be about the management of aggressively invasive flora. Thorny purple vines begin growing rapidly up the sides of the bookcases, and Jason has to backspring away from to keep from getting snared. (Baby cthulu still manages to keep a grip on his wrist throughout this. That's tenacity, I guess.)

Of course, this time, he catches the source of the trouble, and looks up to find that there's a very blue guy sitting guiltily in the distance.

He draws a pistol with his freer hand and aims it skyward toward the primary-colored pestilence sitting in the rafters. And fires. Just to, you know, get his attention. The shot lands intentionally wide, a foot or so shy of Lancer's big blue head in an encyclopedia of nocturnal animals. He has to stop to jump the sweep of a huge and restless tentacle, but that doesn't stop him from raising his voice over the thrashing.]

I don't remember selling tickets.

[Are you just going to sit there and watch?]

[riastraid]

[ The shot fires and bangs loud by his ear, causing a quick, fluttering blink; he's not excessively familiar with firearms, but he's pretty sure if that'd hit someone, it'd do some damage. What if he'd missed!! This is reckless endangerment.

Lancer sits peaceably all the same, not moving an inch. Which means he's not 'helping' any more, at least. ]

Oh? You should consider it. Not a bad show.

[ One of the tentacles is massive enough to slither up towards him, to which he curls his legs up. It misses by inches. He's suffering and struggling just as much as Jason, please look at how hard his life is right now.

But he gets the idea. ] Hang on— [ He skims over the spines, quickly plucking out another. This time he's a little more purposeful: he opens up to a random page, flips the book over, and gives it a good shake.

Out of The Fundamentals of Medieval Weaponry flies out a bunch of flails, maces, and a hail of arrows. Happy? ]

[gutpunching]

[Yes, who would do such a thing to a stranger!!!! Look, reckless endangerment is a two way street, buddy. All's fair.

Anyway, he's never happy. Especially not with this, because now he's dodging a hail of arrows and a mess of medieval weaponry in addition to a mess of flailing limbs and a bunch of mysterious alien vines. Still, it's a start, maybe. A bunch of the sharp objects embed themselves in the kracken with a bunch of terrible squashing noises, and it's distraction enough that Jason can stop moving long enough to pry baby kracken off his wrist for good.]

Not feeling the Captain Ahab vibe over here. [Even a harpoon's probably not gonna cut it. Plus, you know, Ahab dies at the end.] How about something a little more twentieth century?

[Like. I dunno. A rocket launcher. That'd be nice right about now. Or just a couple of grenades. Monster slaying with explosives. What could go wrong.]

[riastraid]

[ He's totally harmless, don't be mean!!

Anyway, it's not Lancer's fault that pseudo-bat-dad didn't love him enough or whatever Jason's angsty backstory is, maybe he should learn how to be less of an antihero. Lancer, meanwhile, plays the part of the valiant knight, rescuing his newfound friend from the grasp of a malicious, 2-foot octopode. In fact, despite his Grail-limited understanding of the 20th century, he'll do his best here. As true heroes do under duress. He skims the books dutifully (aka lazily). ]

What—you want me to drop a car on it or something? [ a scoff ] Sure. I'll get right on that.

[ The kraken, apparently hearing him, thwaps a tentacle higher up Lancer's way. It does successfully coil around his ankle this time, flinging him off the shelf in a vicious toss across the room. He lands with an clatter atop another bookshelf, managing to right himself in the air enough before he risks cracking a rib, but.

The bigger issue is that two more books rattle out of place. He spots the title of one—The Emergence of Vampires in Modern Romance—but the other flips around too quickly to skim. Incoming. ]

[gutpunching]

[Harmless like a hole in the head. Look, we can't all be sparkly historically inaccurate anime fairies, don't judge.

Anyway. Incoming. The books rattled loose don't seem very deliberate, so he doesn't have his hopes up. But as they drop through the air, one of them opens to divulge—

...a car. Huh. What are the odds. It's an old pickup with a Washington plate, and it lands just shy of the body of the squid with a crunch and a loudly blaring alarm. But okay, he can work with this.]

Not exactly what I had in mind. But I think I can improvise.

[Now where's the fuel tank... He doesn't have anything heavy duty enough on him to blow the squid into calamari, but he's pretty sure he does have the means to set the car off. Doesn't take much if you know where to hit.]

Do me a favor and keep it busy.

[riastraid]

[ Are you implying the ancient Irish didn't roam the plains in spandex, I'm appalled.

Also, speak of the devil. The car's a little more old-fashioned than he's used to, because Lancer has all of two modes of technology (nonexistent, or early 2000s, both are terrible). Doesn't stop it from being a literal ton of steel dropping out of thin air. It'd have been more convenient if it's squashed the thing's eye or something, but Lancer gets into a proper crouch with a click of his tongue. ]

Fine, fine. [ cephalopod-chan is making a mess of the other shelves, and knowing his luck they'll have to clean them... ] All right buddy, time to give it a rest—

[ He pounces from where he is, summoning up his spear in a flourish of red. When he lands, he's got one of the gross, suction-y tentacles pinned to the ground. The other several suddenly seize and curl in with alarm, before swirling around and lashing at where Lancer's standing. He does manage to slice and zip his way to freedom, but the ruckus rocks the poor, vintage car about as well. Hope you've got steady hands, Jason. ]

[gutpunching]

[Don't cast these aspersions upon my ancestors, nu.

The crazy fate/ bullshit that Lancer pulls to get the job done doesn't get ignored so much as filed away for worrying about when they're not in the process of dodging a squid-smashing. The point is he actually gets the job done. Much obliged, bud.

While the tentacle monster is busy trying to swat at the painful nuisance in front of it, Jason ducks around toward the Chevy and digs for something at his belt. Little more than a flashbang, but it ought to have just enough bang in it to pierce and ignite the old fashioned fuel lines. He bides his time until the truck stops rocking, then times the throw.

Fire in the hole. Hopefully this came from A History of PreMagitek Transport and there wasn't actually a mooning stalker vampire hiding in the trunk or something.

On cue, there's a smallish bang beneath the vehicle. Which leads to a much larger one as the fuel tank blows and the truck goes with it. It blows a vital chunk out of cephalopod-chan's mantle, and the squid flails and then falls. It collapses onto the ground in a heap, tentacles twitching in small spasms.

...Which leaves the book that summoned it within easy reach on the ground.]

[riastraid]

[ You don't know, you weren't there!!

Anyway, good job champ, gold star. Explosions are a nice, excessive answer to their less nice, excessive problem. The squid gets calamaried, and it only took one whole car and a little bit of shrapnel-dodging to do so. Still, he seems impressed. If he could clap, he would, congratulations.

Lancer does his part of the heavy lifting now ('heavy lifting') by daintily stepping over a pool of sputtered ink and a limpid tentacle like a log, scooping the book up to return it to its proper home. Which should put a lid on the whole affair, but...

Unfortunately, there's still the matter of a smoldering car to deal with. And the library's not-so-lenient fire is a blight upon all things mentality. So before he can take so much as a few steps, there's the thud thud thud of thundering steps their way. ]

Ah, crap.

[ He backs up, because he might be a bit of a shitheel, but he's not the sort to abandon his fellow shitheels to their fate. Also, this is probably definitively his fault, so. ]

I don't really wanna stick around and see what they'll do if they catch us... [ Translation: would you like to get the fuck out of here, newfound delinquent-in-arms. ]

[gutpunching]

[Look, it was trying to kill them, it seemed warranted to respond in kind. With explosions! I'm sure that squid would have resorted to explosions if it could have, this is still a punishment fitting the crime, probably.

Apparently the staff aren't necessarily going to be sympathetic to their struggle. And Jason's all for avoiding the brass whenever possible, lets be real. Lancer gets a flat "you've got to be kidding" kind of look when he registers just what the incoming footsteps mean.]

Sure, now they show up.

[Not when they could have been like. Useful. Unbelievable. Theoretically there are still enough fires and residual overgrown vines and spilled ink to keep the brass occupied and alarmed while they book it. If nothing else, it can't hurt. He answers by hopping a twitching tentacle and heading in Lancer's direction—the one that is the most away from the incoming Librarians. Okay, yes, lets mosey.]

[riastraid]

[ What I've gotten out of this thread: squid are better off as calamari. Truly malicious creatures at heart. Lancer meets his eyes and shrugs noncommittally.

Maybe they should've seen this coming. ]

Sounds like they're making up for lost time.

[ Because man, they're incoming, and incoming quickly. They've left plenty to clean up, but the librarians are probably very, very used to this—so he adds a little fuel to the (in this case, metaphorical) flame. He opens up the book again, and this time a flock of colorful... let's call them fruit bats. A bunch of weird, colorful fruit bats flies out.

And then he politely sets the book aside on a table and turns about face, tapping Jason on the elbow to hurry him along with. A bit tough to talk over the furious chirps and shouts behind them, but... ]

Well—! That could've gone better.

[gutpunching]

[Did you know squids have three hearts? Science says that means triple the malice.

Anyway, a flock of colorful bats is as good a cue as any to leave. Maybe if ALASTAIR didn't want people mucking up the library they wouldn't let just anyone waltz in here!!! Not that he wouldn't have tried anyway, but details.

They cut through the quieter aisles while the librarians converge on the mess they'd made. He has to strain a little to hear Lancer over the din, but it gets slowly easier as they gain distance. Better, he says. Sure. Very insincerely—]

Sorry, coach, guess I must have missed a few too many practices.

[He's not actually sorry. Especially with, y'know, the whole dropping bullshit magic kraken books on him thing Lancer was doing. Don't think he forgot about that. What were you expecting??]

[riastraid]

[ That's all hearts are good for, really. To be filled with spite.

As the two of them duck out of the library to safety, leaving the chaos behind in a cloud of bats, he takes it a tiny bit slower. Chances a glance over his shoulder—and it seems they're in the all-clear. Librarians must be stuck to their post. So all's well that ends well, let's just leave bygones as bygones, buddy. ]

Don't be too hard on yourself. [ He flashes him a winning smile, or a wolven one. ] Plenty of room for improvement.

[ Now that constructive criticism hour's over, he does offer a bit of own sort of thanks. ]

Pretty quick thinking back there—you used to this sort of thing already?

[ A welcome, don't think I've seen you around these parts, and a bit of curiosity, all rolled into one. ]

[gutpunching]

[Is this how you welcome new people, Lancer. No wonder ALASTAIR's got such a terrible employee retention rate.

No one can match the kind of harsh judgment that comes from disappointing Batman, so he takes this gentle criticism like a champ. By which I mean he just ignores it entirely. Now that they're out of the woods and out of the threat of imminent librarian retribution, he reaches up to shake a stray bit of spattered squid out of his hood. Gross.]

The sort of thing where you drop cthulu on my head or the sort of thing where we blew it up?

[As if there is a distinction to be made, here.]

[riastraid]

[ It's called hazing, deal with it. Kind of like how Lancer deals with his subdued sass—by also ignoring it completely.

He does, however, lean over and help fish out a bit of stray calamari from this poor guy's hoodie. ] Hmm... I get the feeling the answer's the same either way. [ As is the nature of rhetorical questions. ] Whatever it is, I say we make a pretty good team—nice to meet ya.

[ Because that's the silver lining here, right? If he had to drop a horrible monster on anybody, it'd be you, buddy. He extends a hand in good-natured introduction, greeting, peacemaking, etc. ] I'm Lancer.

[gutpunching]

[This is an incredibly dubious squid-based honor and he's pretty sure he doesn't want any part of it!!! He's mostly left his team player days in the dust, (so he thinks,) so he sidesteps agreeing at all to cock a critical brow at the introduction. But he'll play nice and take the offered hand while he does so, so this is still kind of a win for peace.]

Lancer.

[Repeated in a "sure you are" kind of way. Sounds more like a moniker than a name. Which is, y'know, not actually particularly unusual of superpowered guys in bright blue bodysuits, back where he comes from, but that's not a topic he'll push just yet. He'd already decided not to bother with anything that involved on his end so far. He's got an alias for the network, because it was the first thing asked of him when he woke up here and before he got the rundown, and that'll have to do for now. All in all, a domino mask isn't going to cut it on a crew of less than a hundred, anyway. And Gotham is universes away.

So.]

Jason.

["Nice" is kind of relative, here, but hey. No one died.]