Echo Incursion 01 - Jurassic Gateway (August 10th, 2016)

[raisednpcs]

It's a particularly hot day in the Gateway City zoo. What else could you expect? It's not like it's not to be expected, it is the middle of August, after all. But there's plenty of things to see here at the zoo, and the visitors' center is air conditioned well enough.

Just a normal summer day in a typical summer vacation spot. Right?

Well, that's when things change. Those in the visitor's center would find the building changing around them. There's suddenly a dinosaur skeleton in the middle of the place, with the banner "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth" hanging from the ceiling.

That's not all. The animal enclosures are now different. What used to be a pen for the african elephants now has very large, very long necked reptiles in it. A gigantic, meat-eating dinosaur just tromped its way out of the lion habitat it's too much too large for, and unfortunately for the people around it, its vision is based on movement. The monkey house? Well, those are velociraptors breaking out of it. The aviary? Now filled with particular aggressive flying pterosaurs.

These are just some of the creatures making their sudden emergence, and it's not long until they spill out of the zoo and into the city proper. Dinosaurs are now walking the streets of Gateway City.

Yes, indeed. Just a normal summer day.

[OOC: The new event is live! Please see this post for npc information and just what characters will have to deal with.]

Comments

[evowhisperer]

There were a few pieces of advice he would give anyone in this sort of situation: find a safe place. Lay low. Let in anyone who needs shelter, and wait out the disaster. He's no hero, and trying to do anything else would possibly just get himself or someone else seriously hurt.

All this advice is completely contingent on not being caught in the open from the very start. He's not unarmed, but powerful magnets like his are completely useless against beings with no metal in them. He has no time to stop and plan when he's running for his life. Great footsteps pound the pavement as the crowd he's in scatters, and he hears a sharp twist as the creature shifts direction to follow--

'Souten ni zase, Hyourinmaru!' A whisper of of something cutting through air, and then a huge impact, followed by an even bigger landing. Cesar slows, snapping around to look.

The dome-headed dinosaur is down. Ice and water have flown in all directions. In the air, like a puppet master conducting a show, Toushirou still holds his blade. Cesar stops and waves widely, trying to catch his attention.

[icy_heavens]

He dismisses the flow for the moment, the water and ice vanishing at his whim. One target down, at least temporarily.

The movement is caught at the corner of his vision, and a quick shunpo takes him down next to the waving figure. To normal human eyes, this looks like teleportation even though it isn't. Less than four and a half feet tall, Toushirou hardly cuts any kind of imposing figure on his own, but the katana that's about as long as he is tall is a bit more impressive. His grip on the weapon is one of calm assurance, of someone who is very well-accustomed to wielding it.

"What is it?" Terse, but no bite to the question. And no familiarity, as he'd never met Cesar before the invasion.

[evowhisperer]

The shunpo is a surprise, as is Toushiro's youth. They've never met in person, so he's never had occasion to think about it: he's young. Would the top of his head even reach Cesar's chin if they were closer? More than this, should this kid really be out here on his own, where it's dangerous?

... Of course he should. He's clearly echoed back the skills and mind of a competent warrior, even if his body hasn't caught up yet. If this weren't such an urgent situation, Cesar would spare a moment to mourn the loss of this kid's teenaged years, since his future echoes will probably include the body and remaining memories of a fully grown adult. That's what's going to come next, right? He can't think of anything else that would accompany professional confidence like this.

{Thank you,} Cesar signs. Wait, is this guy going to understand him?

Not for the first time, Cesar regrets the loss of his voice. He signs anyway, watching the kid carefully for any sort of recognition.

{People are trapped. There were four more of those--} he points at the fallen dinosaur, {Back there.} He points back the way he came.

[icy_heavens]

Of course. That's totally what will happen. It isn't that his Echoes have actually made him smaller and this is how old he's destined to look for a few centuries or anything. That would be ridiculous and Echoes only do sensible things.

His brow furrows at the signing. Unfortunately, Toushirou does not have any experience with sign language. But he is pretty sharp, and he thinks he can puzzle out what the next gestures are meant to indicate. His eyes follow what Cesar points at each in turn.

"There are more back there?"

[evowhisperer]

Of course.

Cesar nods firmly, holding up four fingers. He points again at the dinosaur, and then turns back the way he came, beckoning Toushiro to follow.

With the safety he apparently trusts the kid to provide, Cesar starts running back towards the impromptu no-man's land. This particular stretch of street has windows smashed, and a street that's emptier than a wild western when a duel's getting started. Everyone else has either evacuated or gone to ground.

Except, of course, for the people who can't. There's a distant bellow of animalistic frustration up ahead, and they're both headed straight for it.