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goneawayworld2020-06-22 01:32 am
goneawaymod) wrote in goneawayworld2020-06-22 01:32 am
Entry tags:
EASY LIKE SATURDAY MORNING
easy like saturday morning
PLOT DESCRIPTION
Disaster strikes a small town as their Stuff storm warning system fails and their TVs mysteriously get TV signals with children's shows and commercials. Born from the imaginations of the children, Stuff beings rampage through the town. The group must face surreal versions of children's toys and cartoon characters and stop their rampage long enough to help the town evacuate to the rig.
The group must face off against threats like a kaiju Barney the Dinosaur and the terrifying Sensational Six gang - the post-apocalyptic end result of a child watching Disney while his teenage brother was reading novels from the grimdark series Deathaxer 50,000.
PROMPTS
Some towns have found ways to survive in the Wilds. The town of Providence figured out that creating some distance between Stuff and people allowed them to weather Stuff storms with very little creation of monsters, and created a system of bunkers and safe rooms where people take refuge when Stuff storms come. A thorough system of watchers, cameras, sirens, and other equipment allowed for enough warning for people to take refuge every time it's necessary.
But a strange confluence of events just happened in Providence: the warning system failed somehow, TVs caught signals from Jorgmund networks instead the local station, and a Stuff storm swept through the town just as a plethora of children's programming was broadcast. The end result is complete mayhem, as cartoons and children's show characters go on a rampage. The imagination of the children is also animating their toys, creating widespread chaos.
A massive Barney the dinosaur, at least 80 feet tall, smashes buildings, while fighting against an equally massive apatosaurus, Littlefoot's mother. A pyrokinetic Elmo throws his arms up and fires spring up in buildings behind him. Looney Toons summon anvils that people need to dodge, not realizing or caring that the rules of physics are different here. A 30-feet tall Bob the builder tries futiley to fix crumbling buildings, sobbing "Can we fix it? No we can't."
In this chaos, the people that live here are trying to escape with their lives as their town is trashed around them. They need protection from out of control toys and cartoons, as well as rescue from collapsing buildings and fires.
They need help. Either these cartoons and toys must be destroyed or the townspeople need to be safely evacuated.
a) dream house
You don't remember how you got here. There was some kind of touch to your shoulder or back by by a perfectly manicured hand and you magically zonked out, caught up in her power.
You find yourself in a beautifully-curated pink-themed home in a fluffy down duvet-covered bed. Unfortunately, you're tied to it - and the person in charge is a bizarrely-proportioned blonde woman with a sledgehammer.
She looks uncanny, like she's not quite entirely human, but not quite entirely toy, her proportions unnatural.
"I am so sorry we had to meet like this," she says perkily. "But as a meet-cute, isn't it romantic?"
It's not. It's very much not.
"You see, I had to give up on love myself. Ken and I just didn't see eye to eye," Barbie says, "And now he can't see anything."
She gestures to them both.
"But you two would make a perfect couple," she coos. "If I can't find love on my own, the next best thing is playing matchmaker! You'll make a perfect couple for my dream house."
She hefts up the hammer.
"So hold still!"
Move fast and your ankles will thank you!
But don't expect her to be easy to defeat. She's handy with that hammer. She's been a construction worker before (along with many many other professions). Knives turn away from plastic-like skin when she's stabbed, knock her head off and she'll put it back on.
She has had many faces, has the knowledge from myriad professions, and is dangerously hard to kill.
She must be stopped or she'll use her Dreamhouse of horrors to kill again.
b) canceling the apocalypse
Buildings are being destroyed left and right as the massive Barney the dinosaur, 80 feet tall, stomps through the town. A massive apatosaurus is fighting it, trying to stop it from pressing its destructive influence towards a part of town that has more residential areas.
"I can't stop him, he's too strong!" says Littlefoot's mother, as she fails to press him back. Fortunately, even though the New Hires are small, the roofs of nearby buildings provide a good vantage point to attack.
There are also people that need to be rescued from collapsing buildings, fires from broken gas mains, and falling debris.
"Super dee duper!" Barney calls out as he crashes through another building. People in the streets below run screaming.
c) lemme at 'em
One courtyard seems to have been converted to a terrible fighting match arena, where innocent people are sometimes dragged in to fight against various cartoons. Nothing fences them in but some of the brainwashed fighters, creating a wall.
All of them look miserable, like they don't want to be there. If approached, one of the champions of the arena will attack the group, begging them to leave. It might be a large squinting sailor, with massive fore-arms.
"You needs to run," begs Pop-Eye. "Or he'll make us fight as emenies whether we likes it or not!"
But whatever force is controlling Pop-Eye makes him start laughing instead. "A-gah-gah-gah-gah-gah-gah."
The mastermind behind all this? The tiny psychic Great Dane, sitting up on a high makeshift throne.
"You think you can stop me?" the pup cries, holding his hands to his temples. "Have a taste of some pupppppyyyy pooower!"
He'll use his psychic powers to direct his various assorted cartoon and children's show champions to fight against the New Hires, against their own will.
d) gak attack
Smush it, twist it, bubble it, mix it! What is Nickelodeon gak?
Usually it's not a massive green blob slowly taking over an entire block but right now it is. The blob is acidic, melting the flesh of anything living it absorbs into it, and alive enough to occasionally whip out tendrils to snag people trying to flee.
The blob can be fought with a variety of things, ranging from fire, freezing, electricity, and even caustic household chemicals that are extremely basic in nature like the lye in oven cleaner. Even a small amount can poison the blob and cause large portions of it to turn to ash.
But even those that can't fight it can use their powers and abilities to evacuate people from its path.
e) doo-dah
They're perched in many places, like actual birds. Any hostile architecture has been ripped off trees and other perching spots and thrown to the ground.
At first they're silent but any time there is movement and sound their glowing eyes snap open and and look in the direction it came from.
"Doo-dah oo-nye may-may kah doo?" they ask, and then they start to speak to each other in a call and response.
"Uh-oh." "uh-oh."
And then they attack, sailing through the air despite how they shouldn't be able to fly, razor beaks snapping. They attack the New Hires and anyone they're trying to help.
f) wild card
The chaos in Providence can take many forms: Looney Tunes dropping anvils on real people. Areas where rubber monsters wreak havoc and New Hires will now find they can transform to Power Rangers, only able to attack by calling out attack names. An area where Lamb Chop chases people with an axe. The ninja turtles needing help fighting Shredder and the Foot clan so innocent people can escape. An area where Statler and Waldorf throw shade at the New Hires' heroics from a window balcony Doooh ho ho ho ho. An area where Smurfs swarm anyone that passes by, tying them to the ground Lilliputian style, speaking to each in a language that seems to only consist of the word "Smurf." A bomb that can only be disarmed by reaching level 20 on a Bop It. ("Bop it! Twist it! Pull it!")
The only things the New Hires don't see are the main Mickey gang. They're being careful about whether or not they're seen.
For now.
You don't remember how you got here. There was some kind of touch to your shoulder or back by by a perfectly manicured hand and you magically zonked out, caught up in her power.
You find yourself in a beautifully-curated pink-themed home in a fluffy down duvet-covered bed. Unfortunately, you're tied to it - and the person in charge is a bizarrely-proportioned blonde woman with a sledgehammer.
She looks uncanny, like she's not quite entirely human, but not quite entirely toy, her proportions unnatural.
"I am so sorry we had to meet like this," she says perkily. "But as a meet-cute, isn't it romantic?"
It's not. It's very much not.
"You see, I had to give up on love myself. Ken and I just didn't see eye to eye," Barbie says, "And now he can't see anything."
She gestures to them both.
"But you two would make a perfect couple," she coos. "If I can't find love on my own, the next best thing is playing matchmaker! You'll make a perfect couple for my dream house."
She hefts up the hammer.
"So hold still!"
Move fast and your ankles will thank you!
But don't expect her to be easy to defeat. She's handy with that hammer. She's been a construction worker before (along with many many other professions). Knives turn away from plastic-like skin when she's stabbed, knock her head off and she'll put it back on.
She has had many faces, has the knowledge from myriad professions, and is dangerously hard to kill.
She must be stopped or she'll use her Dreamhouse of horrors to kill again.
b) canceling the apocalypse
Buildings are being destroyed left and right as the massive Barney the dinosaur, 80 feet tall, stomps through the town. A massive apatosaurus is fighting it, trying to stop it from pressing its destructive influence towards a part of town that has more residential areas.
"I can't stop him, he's too strong!" says Littlefoot's mother, as she fails to press him back. Fortunately, even though the New Hires are small, the roofs of nearby buildings provide a good vantage point to attack.
There are also people that need to be rescued from collapsing buildings, fires from broken gas mains, and falling debris.
"Super dee duper!" Barney calls out as he crashes through another building. People in the streets below run screaming.
c) lemme at 'em
One courtyard seems to have been converted to a terrible fighting match arena, where innocent people are sometimes dragged in to fight against various cartoons. Nothing fences them in but some of the brainwashed fighters, creating a wall.
All of them look miserable, like they don't want to be there. If approached, one of the champions of the arena will attack the group, begging them to leave. It might be a large squinting sailor, with massive fore-arms.
"You needs to run," begs Pop-Eye. "Or he'll make us fight as emenies whether we likes it or not!"
But whatever force is controlling Pop-Eye makes him start laughing instead. "A-gah-gah-gah-gah-gah-gah."
The mastermind behind all this? The tiny psychic Great Dane, sitting up on a high makeshift throne.
"You think you can stop me?" the pup cries, holding his hands to his temples. "Have a taste of some pupppppyyyy pooower!"
He'll use his psychic powers to direct his various assorted cartoon and children's show champions to fight against the New Hires, against their own will.
d) gak attack
Smush it, twist it, bubble it, mix it! What is Nickelodeon gak?
Usually it's not a massive green blob slowly taking over an entire block but right now it is. The blob is acidic, melting the flesh of anything living it absorbs into it, and alive enough to occasionally whip out tendrils to snag people trying to flee.
The blob can be fought with a variety of things, ranging from fire, freezing, electricity, and even caustic household chemicals that are extremely basic in nature like the lye in oven cleaner. Even a small amount can poison the blob and cause large portions of it to turn to ash.
But even those that can't fight it can use their powers and abilities to evacuate people from its path.
e) doo-dah
They're perched in many places, like actual birds. Any hostile architecture has been ripped off trees and other perching spots and thrown to the ground.
At first they're silent but any time there is movement and sound their glowing eyes snap open and and look in the direction it came from.
"Doo-dah oo-nye may-may kah doo?" they ask, and then they start to speak to each other in a call and response.
"Uh-oh." "uh-oh."
And then they attack, sailing through the air despite how they shouldn't be able to fly, razor beaks snapping. They attack the New Hires and anyone they're trying to help.
f) wild card
The chaos in Providence can take many forms: Looney Tunes dropping anvils on real people. Areas where rubber monsters wreak havoc and New Hires will now find they can transform to Power Rangers, only able to attack by calling out attack names. An area where Lamb Chop chases people with an axe. The ninja turtles needing help fighting Shredder and the Foot clan so innocent people can escape. An area where Statler and Waldorf throw shade at the New Hires' heroics from a window balcony Doooh ho ho ho ho. An area where Smurfs swarm anyone that passes by, tying them to the ground Lilliputian style, speaking to each in a language that seems to only consist of the word "Smurf." A bomb that can only be disarmed by reaching level 20 on a Bop It. ("Bop it! Twist it! Pull it!")
The only things the New Hires don't see are the main Mickey gang. They're being careful about whether or not they're seen.
For now.
➤ Players can draw from any canon or toy as long as a PC character is currently not from that canon in game. For larger canons, like Disney, only the specific franchise can't be used. So Disney princesses are fine, but not animated Toy Story toys. For canons like Marvel, the characters are a little more recognizable across adaptations so Marvel can't be used.
➤ This is a multi-part plot. A later part will involve the Mickey gang, so the mods request they not be used.
➤ Other than those limitations, players are free to do anything they like, including creating areas where certain childhood games or cartoon physics apply. Some of the animated toys and characters will be malevolent but some will be benevolent and seeking help fighting against something dangerous.
➤ Feel free to ask questions in the question top-level below.
no subject
Ride like the wind, Blackjack!
[He looks around, sees what they can potentially use, notices something leaning against a dumpster at the front of an alley.]
[He stands up on Blackjack's saddle, carefully balancing there as the horse runs, then he summons up a lasso and swings it, hooking it on some chunks of wood sticking out of the dumpster. He uses the momentum from the ride to swing up and push the mirror down, keeping one hand on it, and rappelling down the side of the dumpster so it doesn't break when he lowers it.]
Buzz! Use the mirror to aim!
no subject
"Befouler Bear! You shall be avenged!" shouts a black-eyed bear weeping continuous black miasma as Despair Bear and co flail in anguish, but when the bear turns its swirling hypnotic belly back Buzz is already free of the others' grip, and meets the angrily weeping toy with a plastic fist to its plastic nose. The bear goes flying back, and as the remaining two turn their hypnotic focus on pinning Buzz immobile, he shouts to the refugees.]
"Run! Left at the stopsign!"
[The humans book it as the bears turn their full hypnotic force on Buzz, who still resists, drawing himself into a defensive stance with every bit of his will, not worried even as the bears begin an ominous chant that causes Miasmia Bear's black tears to flow thicker. They're focusing on the wrong toy, since they're focusing on the toy they can see, while Buzz grins slightly as he looks around to spot his buddy and his backup.]
no subject
[Woody jumps back onto his horse, behind the mirror, and then there's the tippity tap of plastic hooves clopping as Blackjack breaks into a gallop.]
[Woody and the horse starts to encircle the Despair Bears. The rope that was attached to the wood in the garbage disappears. (Woody has figured out that it seems to get weaker the more he's summoned, and also that he can will it away remotely). He summons another lasso and starts swinging it over his head, then - gazing at the mirror instead of the actual bears - he starts to lasso them one by one. Despite the fact he's a) moving and b) working off a reflection, he doesn't miss a throw and bundles each new rope together in his hands as he goes.]
The only thing you're getting to stare down today is an eyeful of justice!
[He'd have liked to do a better line but he think it sounds appropriately cowboy sheriff, and with how wildly creative Andy had been, he just has to accept there's no way he'll ever top any of Andy's hero cowboy lines. Not in a million years.]
After all they've faced, the people of this town don't deserve any more despair.
[Now that they're tied up and getting toppled off their feet because of the lassos binding them making them lighter, they're distracted enough Buzz should be able to move.]
Buzz, get next to that fence and get ready to give me a boost!
[There's a wooden fence not far from Buzz that has some horizontal wooden rails. He wants to get high enough to get over the second rail.]
no subject
[The increasingly distracted bears, torn between their lassoing and their attempts to keep the plastic spaceman locked in place, set up a cry of fury and alarm as Buzz reveals that he's been able to move for minutes now. Their torn focus between him with his finger nearly on his laser and the cowboy lassoing them has prevented them from adequately fixing their attention on either.
Buzz's gas monitor begins screaming an alarm as Miasma Bear's tears of hydrogen sulfide fill the air with a poisonous and flammable stench, but his jet pack is ingeniously built not to ignite a flammable atmosphere, and their toy nature prevents them from being poisoned, or needing to do more than make a face at the smell. Buzz jetpacks to the fence, poised in wait for his part in whatever plan Woody's concocted.]
Prepared for launch!
no subject
[He scrabbles for a hold, having trouble doing it one handed, but manages to find purchase and kicks his way over the rail The bears all get dragged towards it - and then up the more Woody pulls, all of them crowded together. Woody climbs back to Buzz's side of the fence again under the bottom rung, using it for leverage as he pulls the knotted together cords.]
[It leaves them all stationary, trapped, squeezed against the fence posts and each other, their swirling hypnotic stomachs obscured by the ropes and the bodies of their fellow Despair Bears.]
Buzz, use your laser!
[That smell is getting stronger. He doesn't want to help hurt anyone but if that thing starts releasing poison in the air, kids will be the very first ones to die...]
[One problem. He's not far from the bears. Buzz's jet pack might not be able to ignite things, but the laser...]
no subject
[Buzz shifts in front of Woody and his new horse, before firing his laser - straight into Miasma Bear's flammable, flammable eye.
He's not THAT durable, being made of plastic, but he's still more durable than Woody, and Miasma Bear's face is a perfect :o of panic and surprise as the laser finds its mark -
- and sends them flying back, as the flammable cloud of H2S ignites, exploding all the Despair Bears with it.]
no subject
[One lands right on the exposed hand Woody is using to hold the ropes. He lets out a cry, but doesn't let go until it's clear there's not enough left of the bears worth holding onto. The half-second it takes to be sure their enemies are well and truly fried - (and oh, he is going to smell that burnt cotton and bacon smell in his nightmares) - he lets go and shakes off the burning cloth, diving for a nearby puddle to put his hand in. The burn is bad enough the water sizzles and steams a little when he puts it in, not a great sign.]
[The charred hulk of Despair Bear looks at them with plastic eyes melting in its sockets. It speaks to them in a voice that sounds like its dissolving to ash, too. "You, too, were made from decomposition and extinction. Cloth grown from the soil, from life long since dead. Plastic made from ancient decay. From death you came, to death you will someday return. In the end, time comes for us all." Then what's left of the bear's head collapses in on itself and it and its brethren are finally silent.]
[Where he kneels next to the puddle, his hand submerged, Woody's jaw hangs open in horror.]
[It takes him a little while to break the silence.]
Well. I, for one, am not feeling very cared about right now.
[He says it like they were Care Bears that just really failed their jobs. Because he can't think of anything else to say and it was horrifying enough he doesn't want to just leave it at that.]
no subject
- chuckles, blankly, because what else can he do but give in to astonishment one way or another? Still, he drops his hand on Woody's shoulder, because thank goodness Woody is here, thank goodness they're getting out of this with just a light chuckle.
. . . though the light chuckle gets a little louder as Buzz leans a little bit on Woody's shoulder, and the astonishment doesn't quite fade.]
no subject
[Still, it's laugh or cry, and they don't have time to cry.]
[The laughing turns a little more genuine when Buzz really starts laughing, though. Anxiety turns to relief. Relief turns to gratitude that Buzz is there to laugh. Had Woody come a few minutes later, maybe he wouldn't be. That situation was dicey enough that Buzz getting out of it wouldn't have been a guarantee.]
[Woody doesn't just settle for a hand on the shoulder, he reaches over and gives a one armed hug then gregariously slaps his best friend twice on the back.]
Look at you, with your actual, real laser. That was incredible! Horrifying in a way that will probably leave me traumatized for days. But incredible!
no subject
He's proud of himself. His first real chance to help people in absolutely dire need, and he managed it. He and Woody managed it, when he'd been so worried about whether or not Woody would cope with this situation at all, and look at him now.]
And where did you come from with the horse? Is that a magic lasso?
[It's amazing. Even when he doesn't expect Woody to come in and have his back, Woody still manages to come in and have his back.]
Great plan, Woody. Once the horror wears off, this will certainly go down as your finest hour.
no subject
Found the horse and managed to win her over. No idea how I got the lassos. Maybe something to do with all that reality dust they keep talking about. They said they found us in a pool of it, remember?
[Maybe it gave him a superpower? Like in superhero stuff? Humans get doused in toxic waste and pop up with eye beams in comic books and superhero shows.]
[He lifts his hand out of the water to gesture with both hands.]
It's like I can just call it up out of nowhere, through sheer force of w -
[He stops mid-sentence upon seeing his hand. The pain is gone now that it's cooled and his fingers are still intact. He balls them up in a fist to make sure they're still flexible and other than a little bit of stiffness, his dexterity hasn't changed.]
[But there's a ugly patch of plastic skin now that wraps over from the back of his hand to the heel of it, marred like a human scar, where the plastic is ugly and twisted. It's only on the surface but it's big. It's noticeable. It's a reminder of what doing all this might mean, if he's damaged too badly.]
[Bonnie will notice. Bonnie will definitely notice this. Bonnie will definitely notice if he gets more damaged than this. This is small but might be the beginning of something far worse.]
[This could be one of those moments where he sometimes gives into anxiety or fear. Where he worries about self-preservation. Where he decides to be a little bit selfish and myopic in his desire to serve one particular child.]
[Instead, he stands up, and makes all the rope disappear, now that all the terrifying bears are dead. He briefly thinks about how he wasn't made to help things become dead, but casts it aside, too, along with the fear.]
[He does it because there are children out there screaming and crying, voices intermingled with all the adults. They need help and apparently he can join in the helping, risk of scars or no scars, risk of destruction or not. He can be patched for more things than they can. Can have seams re-sewn. Can have stuffing shoved back in. Humans don't survive those things most of the time - especially children.]
Well, that's not too bad, is it? Could be worse.
[The way his voice trembles makes it clear he thinks it's very bad, but is swallowing it down.]
[He gives Buzz a tense, stoic nod.]
Let's keep moving. There are kids out there that still need help.
[There are times that he gives Buzz a new reason to be disappointed. But there are also times, even after all these years, that he surprises him by giving him yet one more reason to be proud of his best friend. Today, it looks like it's the latter.]
no subject
It's fine! It's fine. There's got to be someone on the rig who knows how to repair vinyl. Buzz already accepted that there were things he was going to encounter that would damage him, but he accepted them on the principle that there's got to be repair services that will shape him back up before it's time to go - if it's ever time to go back to Bonnie -
Having this much faith in people with power over him has never, now that he articulates the thought to himself, ended well.
But Woody reaches the right conclusion without Buzz having to dig to present it.
When he nods back, the approval, the pride in his smile is as clear as day.
Buzz lifts off the ground, hovering on his jetpack, ready for yet more action - no matter how frightening it may be.]
I'll be right above you the whole time.
[He pauses before he adds -]
Aside from the actual death and destruction - it's not all that different from Playtime, is it?
[Except real. Real work needing to be done by a space hero and a real cowboy. Which - look at them! They are now!]
no subject
[He pats Blackjack on the muzzle to soothe her after the explosion and hops back in the saddle, summoning up another lasso and looping the coiled rope over his holster.]
But I know what you mean. It feels almost like we actually trained for this.
[He eases Blackjack out between a gap in the fence and into a trot up the up a dusty road, listening and looking for the nearest trouble.]
[Then they hear it. A child's ear-splitting scream.]
[Woody spurs his horse on and Blackjack breaks into a full gallop.]
Giddyup, Blackjack!
no subject
And they had trained to work together, whether they'd ever called it training or not. Whatever move Woody made that Buzz didn't totally understand in the moment, he trusted Woody to have a plan and for the plan to be a good one.
Already he'd been doing well on his own, even worried about Woody's safety in the back of his mind. But now, with his worries vanquished and his total confidence in tackling these many problems with his best pal, even the horror they'd just faced was fast slipping away in the face of Buzz's growing confidence.
They had to do this, and they could do this. Lives (and unruined childhoods) depended on it.
Buzz jets off after the scream, flying ahead of Woody to scout.]
no subject
[It's obvious that she fell down and scraped a knee because it's bleeding through her jeans.]
["Mommmm! Daaaaaad!" Her voice is shrill, filled with absolute terror.]
[Buzz flies up and Woody is not far behind him. Woody hopes off Blackjack the second he's close. The little girl gasps and shrinks back from them, scared they're another violent, animated toy or cartoon.]
[Woody holds up his hands placatingly.]
Hey now, it's alright. It's alright. We're not going to hurt you. We want to help.
[The girl stops cringing. They are familiar. And they're not trying to bite or hurt her. They're familiar and gentle and good, the way she already sees them. And they're just that, what they're supposed to be, instead of acting in new and scary ways.]
Are you lost? Do you need help finding your parents?
["I can't find them! And it's trying to get me!"]
What's trying to hurt you? We won't let it, I promise.
no subject
[Woody has comforting the kid on lock, so Buzz zips around the back to make sure whatever's coming doesn't catch them off guard.]
no subject
["It's an animaedus! It's going to eat me!" the girl screams.]
[The street suddenly turns ice cold. So cold even Buzz and Woody can feel it with their dulled senses. Joints and vinyl and hard plastic stiffens. Frost starts crawling everywhere. And what's more, there's something spiritual to it. They feel a cold that goes down deep into the soul. The little girl falls back, sitting on the ground, her legs no longer working. She shrieks, "It's coming! It's going to get us! It's going to get my blood and eat my soul!" and then starts sobbing.]
[Blackjack whinnies in fear and runs away. Woody drops to his knees. Hope is suddenly gone, faith - in himself, in his friends, in his owners, past and present - means nothing. The world is dim and gray and he will never be happy again. So many things he loved are now gone. Friends like Etch and Wheezy. Andy.]
[Bo.]
[In the blink of an eye he's laying on the driveway, limbs sprawled out in a tangle, soaked through. Rain is coming down, trickling down his face and he wonders if this is what tears feel like to humans. He watches a car drive away, taking away a piece of his heart with it. Forever. He feels hollow, like all his stuffing has been taken out. The days ahead will be hard. There will be some where he needs to go somewhere alone, to sit and draw up his knees, and bury his face in his hands. But the moment is frozen on the worst part, watching two red tail-lights disappear up the road, through vision blurred by water.]
[Then he has visions of his fears: shattered porcelain on the floor. In some ways she'd been so strong. In others, she was so fragile. What if her new owner played too rough? What if -]
No. [He has to gasp it because his nonexistent breath has been taken away.] No, she's okay. She went to a new owner, she went -
[She has to be okay. Going to a new owner isn't the end of a toy, the end of everyone that got taken away.]
[A being floats down the street, clothed in wispy, ghostly white tatters, a torn shroud. The bottom hem is stained with blood - always stained with it. Deep red. Dripping it in a trail on the ground. It never stops dripping, even between feeding. At ten feet tall it towers over them, a monolith in white.]
[A scaly, scabbed hand, like that of someone who died and rotted while waterlogged slowly reaches out from the center of the cloak.]
[The being sees the two of them, understand what they are and what they are trying to do. They have no blood and their souls are too small to be more than morsels. They are not food but they are a barrier. It feeds on their happiness, their hope, their torment. But it treats them like a hurdle, not a meal.]
[The voice that speaks to them is deep and inhuman. When it repeats sentences, there is no variation in tones. There is robotic perfection, like it is echoing back human speech like a recording.]
[Gi͏̰̱͚̻̖͍v͡e̜͕͎̣̜͟ m̟͜ẹ̞̻͔̳̘͕ ̼t̲̰̖͍̬̹h̛̟̖e ͇͠g̛i̴̥͈̟̤̘r̗͖̻̩̱l̥.̭̟ ̧͖̮̗̤̲̬Gi͏̰̱͚̻̖͍v͡e̜͕͎̣̜͟ m̟͜ẹ̞̻͔̳̘͕ ̼t̲̰̖͍̬̹h̛̟̖e ͇͠g̛i̴̥͈̟̤̘r̗͖̻̩̱l̥.̭̟ ̧͖̮̗̤̲̬Gi͏̰̱͚̻̖͍v͡e̜͕͎̣̜͟ m̟͜ẹ̞̻͔̳̘͕ ̼t̲̰̖͍̬̹h̛̟̖e ͇͠g̛i̴̥͈̟̤̘r̗͖̻̩̱l̥.̭̟ ̧͖̮̗̤̲̬]
No. No! Stay away from her!
[He tries to struggle to his feet with weak legs and fails, falling back to his knees, tries to reach for the lasso resting on his holster but his fingers are too numb. His vision is so dark he can't even see Buzz, there's a ringing in his ears that makes it impossible to hear him.]
[The other memory is not painful enough, so the creature goes to something more traumatizing. Woody feels frozen and yet his face is now too warm. Everything is too warm. The fire is strong enough they can feel the heat, despite how little they can feel. They know plastic will melt soon. Fabric and stuffing will burn. They're holding each other's hands because it's all they have.]
[Despair Bear's words echo in his head: "From death you came, to death you will someday return. In the end, time comes for us all." In that particular moment, sliding towards the fire, that felt true.]
[But the vision starts to progress farther than the reality. Because this is one way the creature kills. By taking a frightening moment and pushing it towards inevitable destruction, then magically making it start to reflect in reality. They start to slide farther than they had. The heat starts to become too much. It's almost to the auto-ignition temperature of cotton and fabric, almost to the point vinyl will start to bubble.]
[He's burning and frozen at the same time. He lets out a cry and drops onto his elbows, too. The air around him starts to shimmer with heat that comes from nowhere.]
It's too hot. It's -
[There's a high pitched whine in the incinerator and he doesn't know what it's coming from. Where's it coming from? It almost sounds like a voice. Like a shrill, very young voice screaming.]
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NO! No it doesn't. Not this time. Buzz struggles against the vision, flexing his left hand still attached at his shoulder, still working. He knows what's reality and what isn't. He knows -
He looks away from his hand and the vision intensifies, as he forgets what he was looking for at all, because his arm's come off and it's all pointless. Everything he thinks of himself is a pointless, bloated lie, and for all the suffering and all the evil that there is in the world, he can't do anything about it. A useless child's plaything who can't help anyone. Rain pounds the pavement around him, filling his ears, blocking out the sound of - of -
He knows there is supposed to be something else.
This is familiar. And it is old.
He's been here before. Someone got him out of it.
Buzz's fighting makes the bloody, towering creature snarl, and widen the inferno of its second vision to include him. His plastic exterior shines in the intense heat, and he's going to die, and Jessie's going to die, and Woody's going to die, and everyone he lives for is at the end of their lives, looking to him, asking him what to do, and all he can think to do is, at least, die together.
It's too hot. The fire roars with an edge like a scream.
What's the point of evading it? He can't help anyone, except to help them to face death with dignity.
Except that this is old. This is old, and there's no hand to reach out for, and he sure lived a long time after deciding that there was no point in living -
Because the despair was wrong then, and it's wrong now.
The heat on his exterior stops rising as he thinks that, how long he's lived anyway even after deciding that living was pointless. When he squints, he can see, through the fire - not the searing light, but the tatters of a white robe, dripping, dripping blood that sounded for a moment like rain -
He aims his laser high, at the metal balcony hanging over the creature, and with a blast severs the whole balcony to fall on top of the creature's towering head.]
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[The shrill voice. The shrill voice is the little girl screaming, because she'd been reliving something, something that's obvious by what she's crying out. "Mommy, why is everything crashing? I'm scared! Where is Ravi? He was right there! What happened to Ravi?!"]
[Whatever he's gone through, a child that's lived through such a terrible war has gone through something infinitely worse. It takes a second for her vision to fade, too, but she's still crying and scared. Woody drags himself to his feet, to go to her, but the thing, the terrible thing claws out of the rubble, and starts clawing towards her at a supernatural speed. ]
Oh, I don't think so!
[Woody lassos it and starts dragging it back, skidding at first because it's strong. Stronger maybe than a human because it can glide. But he manages to stop it before he reaches the girl and with a great deal of effort manages to swing it back the other way, slamming it hard into a rusty, abandoned car.]
[The little girl sees them, between her and it now, the lasso in Woody's hands glowing gold. Silvery dust has been kicked up in the street, some that had settled on the balcony.]
[It's a tiny bit. Only the tiniest bit of Stuff. The belief is only enough to shape the situation in this moment, give them qualities they will not have elsewhere, will not have past this time. The Stuff is not actually changing them, after all, it's changing the creature and the Rules for facing it. In the books, people call on magical guardian spirits, usually the embodiment of loved ones or heroes they look up to. Only these can hurt this creature.]
[In this moment, that's what they are. She's a small child. She's watched the movies over and over, like children do. And they're here, and real. And like any child would feel about a Disney character they like protecting them, she assumes they can win. So they can.]
[Woody gets a tighter grip on the rope to shorten how far the lassoed monsters can go, so it can't reach the girl again without a fight. It starts to squirm out of the wreckage and broken glass to take to the air again.]
Use your laser! See if that can hurt it!
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But Woody said to try it, and if they're wrong, it only takes a second to find out.
Still, Buzz aims for the creature's center mass before firing a sustained, deadly blast.]
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[She's less scared, now that the creature is gone, but still crying.]
[Woody comes up and reaches up a hand to gently touch her arm.]
It's okay, you're safe now. I promise we won't let anything hurt you. What's your name, little lady?
["Kamala."]
Kamala, you were very brave, running away from that thing and trying to get help. Some people would've just frozen in fear like a little mouse, but you did exactly what you were supposed to do and went for help.
["I'm lost. I can't find my mom and dad."]
That's okay. We'll help you find your parents. If they're not nearby, there's a place they're evacuating people from, getting everyone somewhere safe. Your family might already be there.
We need you to be brave just a little bit longer, okay? If you come with us, we'll make sure you get somewhere safe.
[Kamala nods and then grabs Woody and hugs him to her so fiercely his hat gets knocked off by her chin. Woody's expression is deeply moved as he hugs her back, glad that, for once, he can. His arms can't reach around her neck but it's still clearly a comfort to her. Her crying starts to quiet down. She reaches a little grabby hand for Buzz as well.]
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So Buzz isn't going to get jealous as Woody gets hugged, no sir. This is Woody's moment, something he deserves, after the years of service he's devoted and the work he's done to help other toys embrace their jobs, and Buzz is not going to mar that precious moment even a little by getting jealous that Woody gets a hug and he - oh thank goodness he gets a hug too.
The little heart Buzz doesn't have is so full, proud and grateful all at once, and so glad the little girl is all right enough to reach out to give and receive comfort. He's not as cuddly as Woody, but he pats Kamala comfortingly on the back.]
Your parents will be so proud once they find out how brave you've been.
[He could easily linger in comforting this kid, but there are so many threats that require situational awareness out here even now, so this moment will have to come to a close all too soon. Still, it's so rewarding to have it.]