“Disharmony is just two harmonies trying to occupy the same space at the same time.” Sally grasped Tigro’s hands to coax him into a dance. “You’ve just got to find the rhythm you can feel and move with the groove!” After a few steps, she released his hands. Sally danced to a music she may have heard from Gwen’s phone or from another time.

Her hands flourished as her arms moved side to side. Her black hair swayed like a silken curtain as her head moved with the music she felt. Her hips swayed sinuously as her feet moved. Sally’s dance style hinted at time spent in a Go-Go dancer’s cage. After a minute or two, she slowed to a stop. “Just like dancing at the festival at Monterey.”

“Spider-Man—and it’s a man back home, too, although I dig the statement you’re making as a Spider-Woman—is as much of a rebel as the Brotherhood. Like, he acts for the common good, but those pigs in the Avengers always come down on him. He’s just narrowly avoided getting sent to prison by Iron Man or Captain America.”   

OOC:

If The Mary Janes are still playing, then Sally dances like one of Warhol’s Factory crew on amphetamines. Otherwise, standard 60’s Go Go Girl groove.

 

"The first time, yeah. And while people don't know the details, there's a lot of speculation that the moon spiders are involved.

The magic of interdimensional friends is that you can't tell anyone it would matter to.  The only danger is in those puns of yours."  Gwen is just now realizing she could be putting the secret identity of someone she's never heard of in jeopardy.  You said people in your world are born with powers?  Mutants?  That's so weird.  It's probably all different there."

Music from Gwen's band is still playing as long as it's well received - there's little on her phone that would be recognizable to Sally and Sue, the oldest stuff she has is from David Bowie, and it's mostly his later work with the exception of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (the title of which is considered prophetic in her world)

After Sally chimes in:  "In my world, Cap disappeared along with a chunk of a German mountain and most of the Nazi leadership.  Singlehandedly ended World War 2.  Showed back up in 2005 talking about another dimension.  She's part of a Government org named SHIELD in D.C. now, but she helped me out a few times so we're cool.

Most of the time I'm the only hero in New York."  Gwen's never heard of Iron Man.  All these other worlds have so many more heroes!
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 22:27, Sun 31 Jan 2021.

After a gap in the conversation, Rocket will randomly pitch in about music.  "Quill's songs always confuse me.  Is Funkytown really that great a place?  How do Egyptians actually walk?  It can't be that nonsense Quill does.  Do you really need a whole song to say someone showed you a great time?  I'm glad he got a new set of songs, I can only hear about somebody becoming a four-sided shape so many times before I'm ready to toss his tape deck out an airlock."

((Bored.  Wanted to contribute something in the wait.))

"Wow, those references are at least 20 years after the time those two come from but have somehow aged worse than anything Sue and Sally say.

As far as your questions,
It's not that nice.  That's a silly dance - not a walk.  Does he try to do a weird thing with his eyes side to side when he sings it?  There's sort of a mating ritual involved.
And finally, You need more than one if your good time lasts more than four minutes." Does Rocket even like Quill?

"Is all your exposure to Earth culture through Quill?  I thought you'd been here before.  Is Quill human?  I don't think there are humans way out in space in my dimension."

"I didn't think music would be your thing.  Thought it was all about space battles and oversized guns.  New toys."  Gwen spins up a ball of webbing when she says that.  "And maybe being impatient.  Were you eyeing this stuff earlier?"

Rocket nods.  "Nice to hear some sympathy, and yes, everything Quill does listening to music is weird."

Rocket leans back, thinking a bit about how to answer.  "Almost all of my Earth culture is through Quill.  We only visit Earth when Quill-connected impending doom or Thanos is involved.  Seams peaceful enough otherwise.  We tend not to stay anywhere long.  For being called the 'Guardians of the Galaxy' it's sure rare for us to get a warm welcome.  _{I wonder why Quill insists on that name.}  That said, Duct Tape is the work of the gods."  With that line Rocket raises his hands up as if expecting some to fall from the sky for a second or two.

He clears his throat and continues.  "That said, of course Quill is human.  A sub-par example.  Kidnapped by the Marauders and all that.  Not that you'd know stuck on that mud ball, but I've seen plenty of humans out and about in space.  Nova Corps is full of them.  I know their prisons better then they do.  Plenty that look human, too.  Have you met the Asgardians like Thor?  We scuffled on Earth before."

Rocket considers the last couple questions while eyeing the goo-making process (and result) curiously.  "I don't think Music ever got a fair chance.  Lock a carnie in a circus for three years and (assuming he's sane) ask if he enjoys the tunes.  That said, what's wrong with battles and oversized guns?  You try getting more then Earth's collective knowledge on Engineering forcefully jammed into your cranium and tell me if you don't develop a taste for weaponry.  Seeing it all work, how it all fits together, comes apart, it's hard not to appreciate all the work and beauty that goes into it.  Ya missed space ships, portable warehouses, jump drives, jetpacks, rockets, shielding systems, (especially energy,) you name it..."  Rocket points to your wrist.  "And if that can be turned into tech, quite yes, whatever you're doing to do that.  It's like, endless portable Duct Tape!  I could probably build an entire ship off little more then that!  You have no idea how amazing that would be in our line of work."

"Guardians of the Galaxy-? I've met them -- but I didn't meet any Quill. They were led by a guy named Vance Astro, and a woman named Aleta, who was also a dude named Starhawk.  Not like a cross-dresser - more of a conjoined, spontaneous transmutation kind of thing."   

"And we've got Asgardians. Most prominently Clint Barton, a guy who found a mystically imbued bow, now calls himself Uller, and claims to be the actual deity."   Sue's demeanor had changed, gotten more serious, on listening to Rocket's last bit.

"What's wrong with battles and oversized guns? Jesus, man! Guess you were too busy counting krutacks when I told the group how my parents died?   Oversized guns and worse destroyed a significant part of the city I was born in, and they along with a lot of others were killed. When the kree and the skrulls used our city as their personal boxing ring. It was a nightmare. Of course, there's the more mundane, but every bit as ugly war we've got going on back home.  Fought for all the wrong reasons," she shook her head vehemently, "the young men pay the price, while the corrupt old fat cats sit behind their desks, and get filthy rich from it!"   

She wasn't done: "I just separated from a man who perpetually talked science, technology, and 'progress.'   Yeah, my old man talked about like you do; except it was veiled in benevolent ideas, and 'the good of mankind.'   At least your spiel is more honest.   Let me tell you, though, Mother Nature gives us far more profound beauty than anything the human race -- or former rabbits -- will ever cobble together.   Do you know what I respect about you, Rocket? It's that twig you carry and nurture.   When I call you 'Twig Daddy,' it's not an insult." 
This message was last edited by the player at 16:37, Mon 01 Feb 2021.

"You have some  about the webbing if you're gonna build a whole ship out of it.  First off, it's air-permeable, I hit people in the face with it ALL the time."  She drops the little ball of it in Rocket's hand.  The string that was attached to his gun in the void is probably already fully dissolved.  He's gonna be disappointed when he finds out it only lasts a couple hours.  "I'm gonna have to do a web facts lecture, aren't I?"

"Asgard might be dead in my world, if it ever was real.  All the stories are about the end of it, and they're old."  Gwen switches the music on her phone to play "The Valkyries".  There's no video on this one, just a photo of the guitarist (Tessa) playing on a literal axe.

"Glad to have a fellow carnie around.  I do wear tights and fly through the air on a rope, after all.  Have you been introduced to corn dogs?"

"Asgard translated into Earth-space in my world," Wade said, sitting a bit apart. "Crashed into Oklahoma, destroying both. Millions dead. The fires are still burning."

It wasn't funny, and he wasn't trying to be.

"Ugly fact is, heroes are responsible for more death and destruction in my world than the Black Plague, World War Two, and Britney Spears combined."

((If this wasn't a side thread focused on backstories, I'd have kept it MUCH less wordy.))

Rocket will chuckle at that.  "Ha!  I'll be sure to tell Quill I know where he stole the name from."

  "Honestly, Thor was the only one I remembered the name of, and even then it was due to having an Avengers connection.  My trip to Asgard involved theft, and that don't make friends."

  He'll listen intently.  "Not gonna say I know those guys, but I've met the Skrii.  Been on the bad side of Ronan the Accuser more then once.  Heard of him?  I got to watch him destroy an entire planet with a hammer in one strike.  Shrugged off some rather heavy gunfire like it's nothing.  Sure it sucks to hear, but it sounds to me like you already figured out the engineering wasn't the problem, it was the guys in charge.  They don't need guns to level your city, all they need is a signature.  An entire city got turned into a weapons and tactics cage against it's will with no chance to evacuate.  Seen it past Earth more then a few times.  Trademark tactic of Thanos.  Cages come in a variety of forms; fear, force, poverty, you name it.  Cages are the worst, and getting killed in them is always tragic."

  Rocket pads his pocket as he thinks.  After a short pause, he gives a quick sigh before continuing.  "After seeing Asgard's World Tree, a living sentient planet calling itself a god, and more things trying to kill me then I can count, I think I can safely say that the feats of 'Mother Nature' makes quite a bit of ugly to go with that beauty.  Maybe your engineering appreciation would be more apt in agriculture, housing, and medicine if you were in my shoes.  Ugly exists in all mediums, natural or not.  As far as my 'connection to nature' here, I don't think I'm quite ready to talk about it.  I'd spoil the little positive mood we got faster then I ruin relationships."


                                                                         

"I've flown depressurized ships.  Only need to survive long enough to jump to a nearby port and land."  Rockets full attention was now on the webbing.  He may need a while to get his hands free, as he's certainly poking and pulling however he can for even a glint of insight as to what it is and how it works.  "I'll pass on the lecture until I can port it around.  I wonder if we could recompress it?"

"Oh, my workplace isn't a literal circus.  Drax is completely addicted to corn dogs though.  We almost couldn't take off once due to corn dog overweight.  He even opened a corn dog stall on Knowhere.  Just don't ask where the meat came from."
((Corn Dog mystery meat?  Some things never change!  Rocket didn't mention the overweight from Duct Tape, cassette tapes, some third hoarded item I forgot what was.  Details lost.))


                                                                         

  "That comment left the mood more dead then we're supposed to be!  At least Ronan didn't kill two planets at once... not that I've ever argued for heroes before.  That's all Quill's nonsense.  Based on his definition of heroes, they sound like a real problem.  They but into people's business, justify anything they do with their own personal spin on what 'justice' is, and assume everyone is supposed to be thankful that they tried... Thanos would be the ideal hero by that lack of logic.
((Rocket conveniently forgot someone mentioning 'only hero in New York.'  EDIT: Added the line I excluded.))
This message was last edited by the player at 02:18, Tue 02 Feb 2021.

"That's... um. That's the worst, Wade."  Maybe it was better that Gwen's world didn't seem to have any space gods or whatever a Thanos was.  Gwen's failures were a lot more personal in scope.

"Are you even gonna go back?  If Timebroker sets us free?"
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 19:22, Mon 01 Feb 2021.

Wade laughs. It is a cold, hollow, joyless sound.

"I'm not sure I have a choice," he said. "I'm the spirit of vengeance, and there's a lot of vengeance left to go around in my world. The Hulk, Thor..." he eyed Sue sideways, and added, "...Reed Richards."

“Violence digs its own grave, Wade.” Sally rejoined the conversation after spacing out for a minute. “Is that the life you really want for yourself, if you have a chance to fix what went wrong?” Her question came gently, imploring Wade to consider another path.

”That doesn’t mean I don’t understand why you’d want revenge, though. Oklahoma was destroyed...by Asgard?” Sally’s eyes reflected the visuals that haunted her at the notion of a city of gods crashing into an American state. “What if that wasn’t an accident? Raven, one of our commune, spies on the big wigs in Washington. She told us there was talk at the Pentagon of deploying Thor to take down the VC.”

After saying her peace, Susan did the wise thing:  She went quiet and listened.   And, she had to admit, Rocket had some valid points.   In particular:



She was silent a moment, finding an increased respect for the little extra-terrestrial.   He wasn't like Reed.

"Touche. Well said," she replied to Rocket.  "I've let my biases and prejudices run away a little.  Though mundane military and over-industrialization are still responsible for a lot of gruesome shit where I come from.  Most super-types - the good ones - tend to have more conscience and compassion, than your average lieutenant-colonel. Or politician."   

She tried to conceptualize what Wade was speaking about.  And the attempt fully horrified her.   "I hate incursions from elsewhere, like that.  I'm so, so sorry, for your world. And I hope Sally isn't right;  that it wasn't manuevered.  Because that's far worse. "    She considered a name Wade  had dropped:

"Brittney Spears?   Is she, like, the leader of SPEAR in your world?   SPEAR is our worst techno-terrorist organization. Some even believe they're funding and driving the war. I wouldn't be surprised." 

Then Wade said that name, and Susan went dead cold inside.    Reflexively rubbing the back of her head, where'd she been shot, on the way out of the life she once had.   Without consciously thinking what it might imply.   And, there was another suspicion she consciously harbored about him...one that sickened her.

She frowned. "Yeah...Reed f--king Richards. My old man.  The guy I'd just separted from before getting popped.  Don't feel bad, Wade.  He's a cold blooded asshole in my world.  One of the worst mistakes I ever made.  If he's even worse in your own...I'm sorry."   

"Well...isn't this nice and depressing!   We should probably get back to webs, music, and dancing." 
This message was last edited by the player at 01:30, Tue 02 Feb 2021.

“Your Reed sounds like an utter pig.” Sally gently squeezed Sue’s hand. “I’m glad you didn’t get tied down with a baby with that jackass like the Sue in my world.” Trying to lighten the mood, Sally asked, “It would serve your Reed right if you actually ditched him for that hunk, Submariner!”

"Thank you," she told Sally sincerely.  "I got pregnant, but miscarried. No fun, awful. But, maybe it was for the best."    The miscarriage...and thereon hung the suspicion. She could have asked the Timebroker...but chickened out.  She shoved it from her mind.

She forced her flippancy back into place: "The Sub-Mariner?  Ha! He lives out on one of Neptune's moons, Triton!  I can't do long distance romance!"   

Sue requested a change of threads from the Tallus; and was abruptly clad in a similar short dress and go-go style boots to Sally, only with different colors.   Making them look like paired dancers on a TV show.

"C'mon, sister...let's shake it down!" she said, bumping her hip into Sally's, beginning to dance to Gwen's intense, infectious music.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:43, Tue 02 Feb 2021.

“You’ve got it!” If Sally knew one thing, it was how to live in the moment. “I’m feeling the groove of her wild music!” She danced facing Sue, then hopped beside her. “Come on, Wade! Trade that flaming skull dourness for the cute guy I saw earlier!

Shake a tail feather, Tony! You, too, Bugs!”

Wade put his face back on, flames dying as he did so. He wasn't much of a dancer, but he gave it his best shot.

"My time as Funnybone is sometimes... fuzzy," he said. It was both a blessing and a curse to forget some of Funnybone's antics. But if he was going to work with these people, he needed them to trust him. That meant knowing if Funnybone had seen anything worth avenging in their souls, and if he trusted them. "Does everyone still have all their parts?"
This message was last edited by the player at 09:05, Tue 02 Feb 2021.

"Reed Richards is twelve in my world - glad we cleared up the alternate reality thing because eww."

"What do you mean about parts?  Like, wisdom teeth, appendix?"  Gwen still has the latter, but it's worth checking.  Technically she has more parts than she started with, and Venom keeps regenerating - sheds spiders like Gwen sheds hair.

"I mean limbs, face, internal organs." Wade looked around and was satisfied that nobody was injured or burned to a crisp. "Funnybone takes vengeance on people who deserve to be punished for great evil. You all seem nice enough, but if Bone saw evil in your soul, he'd burn or break you. Or both. He acts like a goofball, but he's seriously dangerous."

Sue had seen a twelve year old Reed only in photographs.  Even back then, he'd had the eyes of a sociopath, that she'd not really learned to interpret before being wed to one. She was grossed out by Gwen's implication.     'Yeah, as if...'

"I've got another force field ready for Burning Bones, if he gets out of hand," she assured.

"Okay, so he's not you?  Then who, what, is he?  This seems like a great time to hear this story."    Sue ceased dancing to hear this, if Wade was willing to spill.

"On my world, there was something called the Weapon X project," Wade began. He sounded more somber than the others had heard before. "It had a mandate to produce superhumans more powerful than the ones wrecking the Earth. One division took existing supers and merged them with mystic entities. I got merged with a demon called Zarathos, whose mission was to punish evil. Funnybone is part me, and part Zee.

"Someday, remind me to tell you about the Wendigo, the Sasquatch, and the Juggernaut. Those guys make Funnybone look like a creampuff."

“I only know about the Sasquatch and Wendigo from my anthropology class...the chapter on American Indian legends.” Her eyes narrowed as she discussed the other name Wade mentioned. “I know about the Juggernaut, though. He’s like a force of Nature itself. Raw aggression shaped in irresistible muscle. Like, as strong as the Hulk, but with a cunning mind. He’s trouble in any world, I’d bet.”

Sue frowned at Wade's description of this project, disliking the sound of it.  Still, desperate measures, for a desperate situation...'wrecking the earth'...she was in no place to judge.  Thus far, Wade's world sounded by far the most chaotic and dangerous.   Some extra-terrestrial invasions were virtually nothing by comparison.

"So...evil to destroy evil, huh?  I hope that works out well in practice.  I guess we'll see. I still don't think I'm quite grasping what the Funny part is."   

She nodded at Sally's words. "I've read some of those legends as well.  Hey -- when the Timebroker was speaking to you, he mentioned a Colonel Xavier...I didn't put it together then, but is that Charles Xavier?"

Sally shrugged with a confused frown. “I think so...? Magnus worked with him in Europe about ten years ago, my time. They provided therapy to Holocaust survivors at a private institution near Vienna.

They parted ways over philosophical differences.” She tilted her head to the side as she pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “For years, Magnus was angry at the world, and rightly so. He’d survived Auschwitz, and saw assholes like Bolivar Trask hawking similar rhetoric against mutants. Magnus was ready to start a revolution, but he met a psychedelic guru who helped him break through all the pain that was poisoning him. Together, they built a device that amplified Magneto’s brainwaves so he could call out to mutants like me. Call us to come to San Francisco and see what the Brotherhood was all about.

What I learned there blew my mind! I learned about my powers, and about this greater consciousness that the human race could achieve. We mutants were the next step in Evolution to show humanity the way. I was with them a week or two before I learned about Charles Xavier and his ‘X-Men’. Alex called him ‘Professor X’. He ran a school back East as a cover for recruiting mutants for some government operation. We persuaded Alex to leave them, but we couldn’t reach his brother Scott.

I guess the X-Men are a military troop...”

Sally’s voice trailed off with profound disappointment over the man she loved falling into Xavier’s clutches.

Sue realized there was a bad reality attached to that, that Sally didn't want to have to contemplate.

"Sorry if I gaffed in bringing that up.   What the Timebroker told you, you're going to avert that, in your own reality.  Not maybe, but will.  You've got the moxie to pull it off.  And, I'm going to make it one of my agendas to see that you get back home to your man.  I wish I had that kind of love you do to go home to -- and a movement like the one you describe to belong to." 

"Anyway, in my reality Charles Xavier was a very Gandhi talking mutant guru and savior.  Mr. Gentle soul, all on the up and up - and then something broke.   He ended up in cahoots with SPEAR, and willingly submitted to a bunch of their experiments and 'guided' evolution technology.   It vastly augmented his mental powers -- and also turned him to a real freak.  Multiple brains bulging from his humongous skull, vocally mute, all telepathy, pretty much quadriplegic.   Ghastly f--king enemy -- able to reach into the core of your psyche, and pulverize you with the worst shit lurking in your subconscious.   It took a combined effort from the Aegis, the Defenders, and a bunch of us indies to finally bring him down."    Sue shuddered a little at the memory.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:29, Wed 03 Feb 2021.