It took a while for Maggie to feel safe enough to even look at the device she'd been given - more or less a cellphone - let alone the other things she'd woken up with, in that damp, dark cave. It was easy enough to understand, but she was out of practice; It'd been a long, long time since she'd seen a working phone. But safety mattered more, and the first thing she'd done was get out of the cave and into the blistering sunlight. After that, it had been a matter of seeing for herself that this place was - as the bizarre hologram woman had promised - safe and free of walkers, at least from what she could see. Now, she set up a voice message, from where she was sitting on a bench she'd found, at the edges of a park. It'd been a long time since she'd seen one of those, too.

"H-hello?" She started, swallowing hard before pressing on, forcing her voice steady despite the scary strangeness of this place. A scary strangeness she'd felt before, that still felt wrong in the pit of her stomach. "My name is Maggie. I just arrived here, and I'm trying to get.. situated. Things were pretty bad where I was, and I was hoping - if this place is safe, maybe some of my friends came here, too? Is it true that there's no walkers here?" The last question was sort of blurted out, unintentional, and she shut up as soon as she'd said it. It was a hope too far - a world without walkers. But it was also - maybe, probably? - a world without Glenn and the others, too, and that was worse. That was terrible. Hastily, she added, "I heard - I heard it was safe here. Is that true?"

Who: Ted and Sonico
What: Ill-fated conversation about careers and lust
Where: Fayren in the afternoon
Warning: Lust is the subject matter. Initially just the two of them, but run into them later if you want.

The first part of any crimefighting crusade was chatting up the locals and squeezing them for all they've got. Some ne'er-do-well had been polluting the city's fortune, in the superstitious sense. A curse of bad luck had cast a pall over this part of the world, thinning out the people he'd usually talk to. Not many were out and about when whatever could go wrong almost certainly would.

Or so it's said. Ted, for all his fancy and eccentricity, is not especially superstitious, and treated the day like any other. The sprites had other ideas, if the emptiness and silence of the village was any indication.
Where is everyone? Alone and shut up, living lives as inobtrusive as they could. If every roll of the dice was snake eyes, the only winning move was not to play.

That makes it harder for Ted and his tedious gruntwork than usual. Doubtless people would avoid him if they suspected any chance of, say, his gun misfiring or something. At this rate he'll just have to head back to Everglade and deal with their turmoil instead.

But wait, what's this? What a length of pink hair! He'd know that anywhere: Sonico! He'd flag her down to talk and inquire. Who knows, maybe she has some insight into the luck-damning dastard!

"Hello, Sonico! Fancy meeting you here! Been mindful of any black cats in your way? I've got salt to toss over your shoulder, if you need it."

If they only knew how much their luck was about to suffer.

[In the dead of night, a caped vigilante finds himself staring at a hologram of a female explaining why he was in this "Genessia."]

He hissed and narrowed his fiery eyes."

"So I wasssss... kidnapped."

[He turns on the camera and he's in an open space. He rolls his shoulders. If he's going to exercise, he'll go with what he knows.]

Hey! Does anyone want to spar with me?

[They should probably consider this carefully, if they're not used to it.]

Larxene said I'm getting fat.

Hey world. Real quick.

Name's Neal Cassidy.

I'm looking for a job.

I can do a lot of different things. [It's what happens when you spend several hundred years hopping between worlds.] But I'm hoping to find a job as a bartender or something a long those lines. I don't have a resume. [For obvious reasons.] But we can schedule an interview if you're interested.

Thanks.

Upon hearing of the bounty on the head of a group of trouble-making cowboys, Cad Bane was almost offended and for sure didn't want people to think that he was involved. Even talk of the leader using pistols and having cybernetic enhancements had him irritated. He himself didn't have those but his gadgets could perhaps be mistaken as such. It felt almost like it was something personal and he was determined to track this man named 'Goodman' down. An ironic name, he thought.

Wade took an interest in the case as well and they'd worked together often so Bane was pleased to have his room-mate tag along. He had also been contacted by the Tenth Doctor about joining in. Bane didn't particularly like to share these bounties, splitting the rewards, but he had been doing pretty well here since his arrival some months ago and he could let one or two on occasion be shared with extra hands.

It didn't hurt to have some back-up either. Or a distraction.

He called a meeting to his and Wade's apartment in Genessia to sort out what was known and plan their next move.

…and I’d say, it just turns out I can’t leave you alone for five minutes.

[The phones tune in to the sweet dulcet tones of Cassian at his grumpiest. Kay had picked up his communicator from the floor after it was dropped by accident during a fight with Akihiko, and he accidentally turned on the voice option.]

Maybe if someone has gotten here sooner instead or away getting a coffee fix things would have gone differently.

[The droid snaps back, unable to keep the snappy tone out of his voice. He is rarely this confrontational with Cassian but he's in a terrible mood because the joints of his right arm seem to have been affected by Caesar's lighting attack.]

Maybe if someone had learnt to follow orders sometime within the last decade things wouldn't fall apart as soon as I take a coffee break!

[And off they are...10 years of petty grievances being dug up and flung at another as they work through their frustrations and feelings of helplessness in their very own way.  They're very loud and not very nice.]

Who: Erza and Mirajane
What: Sparring between former rivals!
Where: the outskirts of Fayren
Warning: over-the-top shonen fighting antics. Nothing too violent, but trees and/or parts of mountains may be destroyed.

Now that things have finally gone back to normal in Fayren, Erza's ready to take Mirajane up on her offer to train every once in a while. Mira wants to get stronger, and Erza can hardly refuse such a request - she can hardly afford to get rusty. Besides, given how much they brawled when they were younger, this is bound to be nostalgic for both of them.

Once they're a good distance away from the town, Erza stops to look around. The mountain ranges are much closer than she's used to, and the trees could make for good cover (even if they won't last long - the two of them are easily some of the strongest mages in their continent). She turns to her fellow S-class mage with a confident smirk on her face.

"It's been a long time since we've done something like this, though it was never this organized." Usually, all it took was an errant remark that escalated to an all-out brawl. "Still, I'm ready when you are." Erza's wearing her usual breastplate, something that would raise eyebrows from a lot of people, but using her magic, she summons a sword into her hand, clearly eager to see what Mirajane can do.

[ Life had been going through a lot of changes for Emerald. First the fight with Cassian over something most people would think was her being stupid (which is why she was sure Mercury wouldn't side with her on it) but it was important to her. Mercury was City Guardian now (co-guardian, whatever, who cared about Garrus). Jaune had disappeared and he was her pet project keeping her from lashing out too badly, and shortly after she started this weird 'destroy David' thing with Max, Max disappeared leaving her a little concerned about exactly what to do with that situation but she was kind of in deep now and with Jaune gone destroying the world's happiest man's heart and soul was probably just about the next best form of entertainment.

And yet none of it could've prepared her for what she was watching on television- what was on prime time on everyone's televisions that night. If anything made her life seem normal, it was the comparison to this. The secret project she'd been approached by a one Dave Strider for that was airing for the first time tonight thanks to Prime Time Film & Television and would be on weekly until the end of its run.

Corazón Rebelde de Fayren.

It felt like Emerald's stomach was rebelling against her though, not her heart. Oh well. Shh, stomach, the show was starting. Thank god she didn't tell anyone she knew about this. Feel free to text/call/knock on her door to harass her as she hides in her tiny apartment under her numerous throw blankets. ]

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( The series premier of Corazón Rebelde de Fayren )