Ready Player One (open)

[Jinx]

Characters Appearing: Jinx
Location (s): Carrion Ridge
Previous Thread Name.: None
Plot Summary.: The daughter of the Eye of Zaun finds herself lost in a new world. Lost, confused, and more than a little manic, she sets off to find someplace to stay. . . or burn to ash.

[Jinx]

"Ever wonder what it’s like to drown? Story of opposites.
There’s peace in water. Like it’s holding you, whispering in low tones to let it in. And every problem in the world will fade away.
But then, there’s this thing… in your head, and it’s raging. Lighting every nerve with madness.
To fight. To survive."

A familiar voice echoed in the air as the girl laid in the dry sand, nearly half buried. There was a strange comfort of the sand weighing her down, like a weighted blanket of sort grounding her. The wind blew the grains of sand cross her face, the sensation tickled her nose earning a twitch and a groan in response as the voice began to fade. No. No don't go. I'm sorry. Face twisted in anguish she inhaled as the calming voices faded to nothing. Everything hurt. What had happened last? Ekko. She had fought him on the bridge that night. And then. . . the bomb went off. A pair of magenta eyes shot up as the girl instinctively shot up coughing up sand and heaving. Where am I? What is this place? 

Rather than being greeted with the sight of the Lanes, or even a Piltover jail cell, she was greeted with the sight of a large desert, dry and seemingly lifeless. Gazing down, the blue-haired girl saw that her entire lower half had been buried in the sand. Had she dilly-dallied in dream long for a bit longer she would've been buried altogether. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. The air here was so clean. Far too clean for this place to be anywhere in the Undercity. And the desert didn't exactly match the profile of the high and mighty city that was Piltover. With a groan she stood to her feet, dusting herself off. At least I've still got my babies, she thought to herself as she placed a hand over her beloved pistols. 

"Gotta be somethin' around here." She whispered to herself as she scanned her surroundings. Her eyes seemed to glow as she spotted a something in the distance. "Bingo!" 

[Kaine Parker]

Kaine felt so hot. This seemed impossible though. The beacons he had come to use and become familiar with for transport on this world must’ve sent him the wrong way since he had been going in for supplies on one of the nearby cities in Median to help the ship. But this time. All he saw were canyons. It reminded him of those old-timey westerns they saw on tv where they were lost with no horse out in the desert. Ultimately there were usually two options that came out of this one: They either survived and found civilization again or…. The other outcome appeared to be bleak. The hot sun gleamed high in the sky. No clouds in the sky. It was the heat as it sizzled off the desert.

Wiping his brow, Kaine began to jump alongside one of the canyons knowing he had to travel when the sun was low in his backpack. Kaine had a bit of water but not enough to last him for a few days. “This whole thing is a disaster. Why do things blow up in my face all the time?” Kaine thought to himself. “There’s nothing out here. Just more, and more desert.” He added. Well, he better head north. He recalled in his survival days of training, heading north was probably the best option of finding a spot of civilian life. Maybe at night, he'd follow the stars. But they wouldn't be out for some time now.

Standing on one of the cliff sides as he caught his breath, he thought he saw a figure in the distance. They looked human. But he appeared to be cautious at first on approaching this person. He was tired. Kaine was exhausted. And ready for food at any moment. Still, Kaine knew some of these people were not super friendly, especially the Tex Hex guy he ran into on the way back.

“Don’t suppose I’m the only one lost here,” Kaine said as he approached the woman with a cautious look on his face behind the mask. He trusted his spidey sense this time around more than anything else. “Hey, mind stopping and asking for directions. The beacon sent me the wrong way.” Kaine said. The spider held his ground, keeping his distance as he stood on the rocky ground. What he wouldn’t give to be back on the spaceship now instead of this unforsaken place.

Lost little spider. No direction. No place. And a fate he didn’t want. He felt as if he couldn’t lead the Web Warriors, nor had the desire for it.

[Jinx]

As the form grew closer the woman couldn't help but squint her eyes at it, a part of her expected the form to be another figment of her imagination, a mirage. Her hand hovered close to her beloved pistol, the other placed over the belt of grenades that sat on her hip. Blowing her hair from her face she stared as the figure turned out to be that of a man. A man in one of the strangest get-ups she had ever seen. She had seen some oddly dressed characters in the Lanes before. Plenty of the Chem-Barons in Zaun would wear the most outrageous outfits, though nothing quite like this. The man's skin-tight suit, decorated with a strange webbed design and the odd spider logo on his chest was unlike anything she had ever seen. At least, this place seems interesting.

"Wow. Look at you! What's the occasion, bud?" She asked with a mildly teasing edge to her voice as she looked the man up and down. He seemed cautious. Smart. In contrast, she seemed rather relaxed. Her eyes seemed to spark with something. Mischief, perhaps more than a little madness. The pink hue seemed to glow as she flashed the man a grin.

"Can't say I'll be much help in terms of direction. I ain't from around here, ya see." She explained as she gestured to the vast emptiness around them. Her brow furrowed a bit. She still didn't understand how she had gotten here. Only that she was a terribly long way from home. She had been in the middle of firing off her latest weapon, a missile that would destroy one of Piltover's most prominent buildings. The bomb had worked like a charm but then. . . "This light sucked me up and dropped me here. I don't know where I am." She turned back to the man as she placed her hands on her hips.

"Just where am I anyway? Something tells me this isn't the Undercity or Piltover anymore. Are we in Noxus?" A small part of her knew that this place, whatever it was, wasn't Noxus either. Her lips pressed into a thin line as she took a few steps closer to the man. She was very interested in seeing just how close she could get before he took any action.

"The name's Jinx!" She stopped a few feet from the man, extending a hand to him. "What's yours?"

[Kaine Parker]

Kaine could feel everybody part sweating in the suit under the sun. Even if he did have a breathable one, and didn’t mean that he was susceptible to the heat or feeling drained from it. They had to find that city. Kaine knew there was one around here somewhere. As he came into view, he saw a mysterious woman with a load of weapons on her, and blue hair. She would’ve fit right in his dimension. He had a feeling that wasn’t the case at all. “It’s nice to meet you Jinx… Or at least under less hotter circumstances. My name is Scarlet Spider, but everyone calls me Kaine.” He said as he offered a hand in shaking it, but he still seemed cautious. There was a bit of an uncertainty about this. Kaine knew not to trust everyone. Scarlet Spider knew that he was going to get used to all these new strangers that were showing up. It was clear the portals that were not going to be judgmental on who dropped in here. It appeared to be all random.

“As far as I know, we’re in a new world. It's called Median. I got dumped here a few months ago, from another dimension. It is called New York City. My home is full of superheroes and supervillains… Constantly fighting or trying to do good along the lines. A never-ending battle. I wanted no part of it. But there isn’t any occasion this is my normal get up.” Kaine sighed. Kaine winced under his mask. Kaine wasn’t at all used to being stared at. It wasn't him to flaunt his powers or even show off.. Kaine usually left that to Peter, who usually stole the crowd. Some days he couldn’t stand it. And some days, he was a bit jealous. “It is true that I have spider-powers. I got them from my brother or my template,” He said. The spider wished to avoid the announcement to the hold world that he was a clone. At least he told her some of the truth.

“If you want, we can come along and try and find one of the nearby towns. I am trying to keep going north, and we’ll hit something. Or we’re stuck here in this desert,” Kaine looked up towards the sky. The spider put his hand over his eyes, shielding them from the sun. By the judge of things, the sun was still high. Based on the judgment of looking at the sun. They still had plenty of time left before sunset. Kaine knew the first part of survival: They had to find water and food. Kaine judged about 5-6 hours from the looks of it. He knew that he was taking a gamble. “Though we might want to travel by night. It is so hot; I don’t know how much longer I can take it.”

“What’s Undercity? I have never heard of it… Is that where you are from?” Kaine asked. He had never heard of a place like that. Then again they had odd places like Nowhere and Wakanda so he was curious to see about this one. Kaine had also managed to befriend people like Harley and Otto, so he knew his friendships were ones to cherish. Except now, it was two strangers lost in the desert with a common goal of wanting to get out. That was before they get roasted alive by the sun.

[Jinx]

A different world? The concept alone was enough to make the girl's head spin. As the man spoke she took another gander around her. She supposed it wasn't impossible, though she was far from a physicist when it came to things like portals and wormholes. She had only briefly read about such concepts, some of the theories were used to make the Hexgates after all. "So portals just randomly drop folks here? And no one knows why? Huh, and I thought Zaun was interesting." She said more to herself than to Kaine. Her vibrant pinkish-red eyes look over to the horizon. A whole new world. A world without Piltover. Without Zaun. Without ghosts. She closed her eyes, her smile dropping for just a moment as something unpleasant stirred in her chest. The sound of Kaine's voice brought her back to reality.

"Huh, sounds like your hometown and mine aren't much different. I come from Zaun, but most people just call it the Undercity. We're the lower-class ghetto underneath Piltover." She explained as she looked to the north. "There's been fighting between Piltover and the Undercity for years. Piltover hordes all the good stuff. Wealth, clean air. And they leave the people in the Undercity to rot. Naturally, folks got pretty tired of it. A revolution was started when I was a kid, and it's been going on ever since." She said, keeping bits of her personal story a bit vague. She neglected to mention the loss of her parents, she neglected to mention how one of the revolutionaries had taken her and her sister in, how he raised them and abandoned the revolution. She neglected to mention how the whole situation grew worse as she got older. She neglected to mention the explosion, the abandonment. She sat silent for just a moment.

"There's an overhang over there! We can sit in the shade and wait for the day to pass. Then we can head north. There's always something north, right?" Jinx pointed toward the steep overhang that cast a deep shadow. It was perfect, but it would be servicable. She walked toward their new shelter, not looking back to see if the strangely dressed man would follow.

"So you come from a world with superheroes, eh?" She asked as she blocked the sun from her eyes. "You a hero, too? Or do you just like to dress like one?" She teased as a grin formed on her face.

Taking a seat in the shade rested her head on her knees, her long braided hair bunched up around her feet. "Is there any way out of this world, Kaine?" She asked hopefully, though she didn't hold her breath.

[Kaine Parker]

“I don’t know who I am.” Kaine said as he admitted. “I used to be a villain and went on a terror with terrorizing people and killing them, but someone showed me that I was wrong and helped me change my ways. I guess the best way to put me is an antihero. Not exactly the one person you want to be with to save the day, nor do I have confidence in myself.” Kaine admitted. It seemed like a good deal sitting under one of the rocks and at least getting the heat off his back, he was sure he would be burnt to a crisp after this for not having any sunblock, and his black and red suit was the only thing protecting him from the sun for a bit. “I have often worked alone or in small groups. I doubt I could handle such a pressure of being a true hero one day.” Kaine admitted. “Even though some say I can.” He trailed off. He glanced over at the blazing hot sun as it scorched the deserts on all sides. It was unclear if anything could live here. Nothing could survive the unbearable sun as it beat down on them.

He sat down as he took his mask off, knowing this might be violating his trust, but he could feel his body sweating as his matted down blonde hair appeared. Kaine had light skin, it was the same as Peter’s, same brown eyes as Peter’s, and his fingerprints were just the same. Of course, that came the point of a clone. “Sorry, I had to take my mask off sometimes in the heat it can be so unbearable.” He admitted as he got his water out from his backpack to get a drink. “Want any? It's all I have. Just water.” He offered it over to Jinx.

“Uh, I have never heard of that place… Then again, I haven’t heard of half the places, where people have come here. My friend was trying to figure out why these portals open and close at random he says they give out a certain amount of energy. I hope he’ll figure it out, but we can have faith. But we can head north. It's the only lead we have. To be honest, I'm not sure if we can get out of here.... It is desert for miles and I took a wrong turn somewhere. I heard rumors of a library in one of the deserts. But perhaps it is not here.” Kaine said, knowing Otto was working hard to the bone, with solving this problem with the portals. Or they may never know. Kaine had a desire to go back home to New York City, but this place was, unfortunately, his forced home. All he saw for miles was desert. Were they stuck here? That was a dreadful thought.

“To be honest, I came out here to try and find myself. Everyone’s been putting pressure on me to do things, but I don’t think I’m ready or have the confidence for it,” Kaine said. “Then got lost in this awful desert,” Kaine admitted. Kaine was scared. Scared of being a leader for a Web Warrior. To be honest, he felt as if a Spider-Man probably had better teamwork than he did. The spider hero had no leadership skills. And the web warriors’ team that he saw were probably dead or worse, disappeared from the point of no return. Kaine didn’t want that a second time in his subconscious. Not to mention, the web warriors in the second New York had been a bit of chaos and disaster, as it was a miracle, they had managed to close the portals. “Not ready to lead a team or take responsibility for it.” He said. Kaine scoffed as the ‘great power comes great responsibility’ came to mind, he wanted to yell at Peter, but he kept his mouth shut.

He found it odd why was he telling a stranger all of this? Maybe, he just needed to let off his chest. Plus, if she wanted to do some damage, she could, and his spidey sense would’ve alerted him. So, not too much to worry about. And because he had never admitted it to Otto. Kaine felt like a failure. "But leading north is our best option it seems. It sounds like you had just as a hard life as I did but I did most of mine on my own no friends or family for awhile. Some super powered people are just like that." Kaine admitted. And some how he managed to make friends. Even if he didn't like to admit it.