unity_ooc

Entry tags:

test drive meme

TDM

Unity is opening on August 12th. Feel free to jump into our Test Drive to get a feel for how your character would interact with the others who have arrived. All potential players are welcome to jump in. The TDM does not cross over to in-game canon, so go nuts!

If your character is new to Unity, you can assume that they've woken up in an old, musty bed housed in a run down hotel that needs significant repairs. Unless they didn't - which is lined in one of the possible starters below. For a quick visual reference, you can look at the two photo galleries on the Setting page. The left is the hotel that they wake up in, and the right is the rest of town.

1. Forgot to close the door.

Although the Also Humans try their hardest to make sure that they stay on top of things, keeping an eye on a large group of people trying to build a new society takes a lot of work. Did they mention that they literally just figured out how this whole interdimensional travel thing works? So they forgot to stabilize a portal (or two), big deal. You know the saying - to err is human - and since they evolved from humans, really, it's your fault that everyone is in this mess. They can only work with the genes you gave them.

Anyway, a portal has seemed to open by itself and several nasties and baddies are pouring out, taking the town by storm. Do you fight? Do you try to lock yourself away and wait for the Also Humans to figure out how to get these rascals back to their proper universe? Feel free to use any creature you wish here, although if you're unsure we humbly suggest Gremlins. Gremlins are just awful.

2. We forgot about the water!

During the evolutionary phase of becoming a more complex and intelligent species, the Also Humans have forgotten that regular humans and humanoids usually need things like water. Sure, you're on an island and surrounded by fresh, clean water on every side, but don't you people like it when it just falls out of the sky, or something? They can do that for you! No, no, they insist - you're doing so much for them, after all. Of course, by concentrating their efforts on such a magnificent storm, they've simply forgotten to put new arrivals in their proper place. They've woken up in the middle of the road - a very wet, dangerously close to flooding road.

The torrential downpour comes with nasty winds, ice cold rain, and floods, which wouldn't be that big of a deal if you could just stay inside. The problem with that though, of course, is that the buildings in this town are far past their glory days - it's hard to find one that actually has a functional roof or sturdy walls. Have you managed to find one of the few shelters available? Is there someone else in there? Perhaps you spotted someone outside getting swept away by the rain or flood… well? Are you just going to stand there or are you going to help them?

3. Not much of a handyman.

So you've either just arrived or you've been a part of the Unity Project for a little while now, and you've decided that you're going to start help with the rebuilding project. Good for you! You haven't done this before though, have you? Maybe you have and this just isn't your day… either way, considering the severe lack of proper tools, you've managed to do some real damage to yourself. Maybe you got a bad cut from a rusty nail sticking out of a wall, or you dropped something heavy on your foot. Maybe you're just a clutz and you fell down the stairs (there are stairs.) Whatever you did, you're in a lot of pain and you should probably see if someone can help you. Especially since first aid supplies are so scarce around these parts…

4. Lost in another world.

It could be your first time, it could be your 100th time, but the Also Humans have opened a portal to another world and you've gone through. Unlike the previous locations, though, it's not very clear exactly what you can bring back to help build your society back home… in fact, there doesn't seem to be much of anything. You've been wandering through a dark, gargantuan cave for hours now, and just as you were thinking about heading back you realize… you don't know how.

The Also Humans always bring their volunteers back to the main town once a portal is about to close, but that won't happen for days. There doesn't seem to be much to eat in here (I hear moss is packed with nutritional value) and there are strange noises coming from… somewhere. It's hard to tell exactly where, with the way every small sound echos in this place, and it's not like you can see it anyway, what with the strangely bioluminescent weeds lining the cracks of the walls being your only light source. Maybe you can eat that!

No, better get walking before you starve. Perhaps you'll find another lost soul, and see if you can navigate your way back to the portal together.

Post your character's name and fandom in the subject line, and feel free to play with any of the prompts to make them your own. Prose and action spam both welcome.

Please do not harm. Please eat and hydrate. You are appreciated. Good luck.

-Also Humans

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It wasn't until she turned to face him completely that Barry squinted through the gray veil of rain to recognize her, and when he did his face lit up with surprise before quickly widening in a grin. "Kara!" He laughed her name in disbelief before reaching out for her and wrapping her into a tight hug, despite the fact that the wind was picking up to the point where it could probably knock down a not super powered human. When he released her he made sure to hold onto her shoulders, looking at her with that expression if disbelief still stained on his face before he shook his head. "I can't believe you're here! What are you doing he- what are you doing here?" The connotation of his words suddenly took a different turn when he glanced around them at the insane storm going on, and he glanced over his shoulder before looking back at her.

"I found a place that should be able to hold up through this, you should come with me! Come on, we shouldn't be out here-" he stopped abruptly, because if anyone could stay out in this, it was probably Kara. "We should get inside before this storm gets worse."

The recognition on his end was a relief, because she knew that time was tricky and that Barry could travel through it. It would've been a huge bummer if he hadn't met her yet, even though she'd met him. "Hey!" she squealed happily, careful to mind her own strength when she hugs him back enthusiastically, ignoring the rain entirely for the moment. And the high winds. And the debris being blown around. ...you know, things she shouldn't be ignoring just because she's excited to see Barry Allen again.

She grinned widely back at him when he stepped back from the hug, still holding her shoulders. "I can't believe you're here!" she chirped back, eyes wide with surprised delight. This was going to be so awesome. So awesome. ...once they got through this storm, anyway. Then, it would be totally awesome.

"I came for the project, of course, just like you, I assume," she replied and when he started to look around, Kara let her ears take the lead, listening over the roar of rainfall to see if anyone had or was calling out for help. Nothing.

Barry looked back at her and she smiled a little, shaking her head. "I will, I promise. I totally will, but I can't right now. I need to make sure there's no one trapped out here," she said, stepping back to unbutton her shirt, revealing the Supergirl suit and the S symbol on her chest. "You should get inside. I'll be there as soon as I check. I'm going up. Unless..."

She paused, looking a little sheepish. "...a second set of eyes in the sky wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. I'll shield you from the rain if you want..." she offered with a little shrug. "But Air Danvers is taking off in a few seconds, here...so..."

There was no doubt that Barry was thrilled to see Kara, someone who he had been convinced he wouldn't see for quite some time before their paths crossed again, but he was almost shocked that she was still talking when the town was, quite literally, flying around in the wind. More than once he had to dodge in a flash of golden light when something came whistling a little too close to his head as she spoke, and he was admittedly only half listening to her over the roar of the storm while making sure that he didn't get impaled with something. He had seen horror movies. He knew how this worked.

She did, however, manage to get his full attention when she suggested not only staying out to look for other people, but when she asked him to come with her. "You want to take me?" He asked with a sense of baffled disbelief, eyebrows practically rising to his hairline. "Up there?" He pointed into the angry whirlwind that was the sky. "In this." He finished flatly with suggestion, as if waiting for her to tell him that he had misheard, holding her gaze in an effort to make her expedite the process of saying 'no, of course not Barry, because that would be absolutely insane and I completely understand that you're made out of bubble gum compared to me.'

That comment never came though, and Barry huffed a laugh as if taking her suggestion as a joke, before finally accepting that it wasn't one. He didn't have his suit here, and being held in the air by Kara didn't sound comfortable at all, especially not in this weather. ...But she was right, there could be people out there who needed their help, and what kind of person would Barry be if he just stood there and let them suffer in this sort of storm? His arms fell weakly to his side with a wet slap, his clothes already properly soaked along with his hair anyway, and he shrugged before giving a defeated glance up at the sky. "...Yeah alright, let's do it."

Kara probably also should've noticed that Barry was dodging debris, but she was just so excited to see him that she didn't really register it. As much as she was all about safety and reconnecting, it was more important to her that she help anyone who might need it before she did either of those things for herself.

"I'll protect you!" she chirped. Her voice lowered into something more serious as she quickly tacked on, "and I wouldn't ever drop you."

It took her probably longer than it should've to realize that he wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea and that he'd likely thought she was joking, but when he dropped his arms against his sides with a splat, that was when she finally noticed. "Oh, Barry...I'm sorry, no, you don't have to. I just thought..." she trailed off and paused before going on, "it's okay, I just thought I'd offer, but if you're not comfortable, I can do it by myself. It'll only take a couple of minutes," she promised.

The last thing Kara wanted to do was make Barry uncomfortable, especially if they were going to be working together to build this new society; who knew how long they'd be there, after all.

When Kara promised that she wouldn't drop him Barry looked back at her with the same amount of incredulous disbelief, because that hadn't even been a thought for him until she put it there. "Oh, wow, that's really great, that's really comforting, yeah!" He responded in an overtly casual reply, giving a dramatic nod just so she could see it through the veil of thick rain. He was wet, he was cold, and she wanted to make him fly while protecting him and definitely not dropping him. How in the world was this supposed to be any different from home, again? At least when he was home, he had his suit. So far, the Unity Project was proving to be a bit of a downgrade.

"No, it's fine, come on." He shook his head when she apologized, and Barry managed to give a small smile. He was wet and freezing and miserable, but he had a friend here, and he could at least find comfort in that. Besides, the thought of other people actually being caught in this was terrible, and Kara was right. It was their job to make sure everyone was okay. "What am I going to do, send you up there alone?" He reached out his arm for her to grab him, and this time the smile that he flashed at her was a little more cheeky. "What use would that be with how slow you are?"

While Kara had been trying to preemptively assuage Barry's worry that she might drop him — which she had originally thought was the reason for his uncomfortable look skyward — she realized too late that she hadn't preemptively anything except create a worry about the situation. "Come on, I wouldn't! It'll be fine, I promise," she said, looking equal parts sheepish and apologetic.

But he was pushing that he was willing to help and Kara knew one thing about Barry: once he set his mind to something, that thing was happening. She gave him an apologetic little smile and moved closer. "Oh, ha ha," she deadpanned back. "Really, you're hilarious." Slow. She'd show him slow; they'd have to race one of these days. When, you know, the weather was less crappy.

Barry reached out an arm, but Kara circled behind him instead. "If I'm going to hang onto you, you're going to need to do the arms out thing that keeps us kind of level," she told him, biting back the urge to babble on, I think. I haven't actually ever tried this before, because she had a feeling that wouldn't make things any better just then. Kara wrapped her arms around Barry's middle from behind, lacing her fingers together against his torso. "Um, maybe tuck your chin and close your eyes until I've got us up and I can get us horizontal," she suggested, completely missing the double entendre there. "And then I'll be able to block the rain. I'll be like your human umbrella. Arms up, let me know when you're ready."

"I don't think you meant that," Barry accused immediately, even as Kara was circling to stand beside him and his eyes shifted to the sky to see how far his visuals could go before the rain grayed the area out. "I don't think you thought that was funny at all, I think you're lying."

He sighed a little when he felt her arms wrapping around his torso, shifting his footing so that he could make sure that he was standing straight and she could get a good hold on him, and when Barry looked back up at the sky Kara started speaking again, her comment making him look partially over his shoulder. "Are you serious? Like, the... you know, the..." he trailed off, hoping that she would finish his thought for him, but when she didn't he did a weak representation with his arms before letting them fall back. "That thing? ...That really helps? I thought it was just a look. ...You know, to go with the cape." His head turned away from her, which he was grateful for because at her wording he grinned like a teenager. If Cisco had been there, he would have made a 'that's what she said' comment almost immediately. It didn't take long for Barry to start missing him, but remembering that he was home and time was stopped, keeping him from getting into any danger, was comforting. When Barry went back, it would be like he never left. Whenever that was.

"Don't worry about the rain, I'm fine. It hurts a lot more when I'm running, this is nothing. Do I really have to-" he stopped, instead just doing the stupid arm thing before she had to repeat herself, and Barry looked up before shaking his head once to get his wet hair out of his eyes. "Alright, ready. No, wait! Oh man, I had something for this." He stood there with a frustrated twist to his mouth before he gave up. "Forget it, it's gone. Beam me up, Kara."

Kara lifted her eyebrows with interest when he started to ask her a question she couldn't quite fill in the blank for. When he raised his arms a little, the light bulb went off. "Oh! Yeah, that and the cape keep me balanced," she said, smiling back at him before he turned to face forward again.

"Yeah, but the thing is that it's coming down really hard and I'm going to fly around the perimeter really fast to see if I hear anything before I do a slower pass through, so...it'll be like you running in it. Except...you know. It's me flying, instead of you running," she explained.

Once he raised his arms and said he was ready, Kara bent her knees a little, preparing to jump and she froze, eyes widening with worry that he'd changed his mind when he stopped her with a quick No, wait!. But then he said to forget it and to go ahead — she didn't really get the reference; she'd heard it in passing once in a while. It sounded like something Winn would say and then look at her like she was too adorable for not getting it... Oh man, she already missed Winn. She just got here... — and Kara jumped into the air, shooting the two of them into the sky at an angle so that she could shield Barry from the worst of the rain hitting them.

Once she'd gotten up over the skyline and out of the way of the shorter trees, Kara pushed forward a little to shift the forty-five...ish degree angle they'd been flying parallel to the ground and she zipped the two of them around the perimeter of the island, listening carefully to see if anyone was shouting for help. When she didn't hear it, she slowed down so that they could both use their eyes to see if anything stood out as something they should check into. "Do you see anything?" she called over the rush of wind before taking a deep breath and lifting her chin and chest so that she could blow the rain out of their way with her own mighty gust of wind.

"So it'll be like me running. Just slower-" Barry was wearing another cocky grin when he said it, but his reply had been a little delayed and Kara took off in time to cut him off with a sudden, "oh god, okay!" It didn't feel as fast as when he would run but that didn't make it any more comforting. The best part about running is that you were on the ground. Well, either that or on the side of a building. Or on water - the point was, when Barry ran, there was usually something under his feet. Right now there was nothing, so no, the rain didn't hurt as much, but the discomfort of literally hanging in the air just because someone was gripping onto him while there were houses flying around was enough to make up for it.

He tried to ignore that and worked on scanning the ground, his eyes more than adapt to spotting small detail at high speeds, and when she slowed down he glanced up to see her blow the rain away after her question. "No, I thought I saw something a few minutes ago but it was just an empty box floating in the flood and you are, seriously, the coolest alien ever. This is so much better than E.T. I don't even want the bike." He rushed the first part of his reply to get to the second, since that, obviously, was the most important thing going on here. "We can do another lap but I would have seen someone, Kara. That's kind of my thing, seeing things at high speed."

If she was honest, a part of Kara was relieved that Barry hadn't noticed anything. She hadn't seen or heard anything, either. As much as it meant that they were wasting their time in the sky in this terrible — dangerous — weather, it also meant that no one needed help and no one was going to get hurt. She'd just have to keep an open ear until the rain stopped and if she heard someone arrive later, she'd go find them.

"Thanks, I think," she laughed as she flew them down toward the ground before shifting them perpendicular to it to land. "I would've heard something and you would've seen something, so I think it's okay," she replied as they touched back down on the ground and she let go of him, stepping back to push her soaking hair out of her face. "But I had to check. Come on, show me where you want to wait out the storm," she said, remembering that he'd mentioned a place he thought could withstand it.

"No problem." Barry grinned and they started to move down to return to their original spot, and his feet extended a little until he felt contact with the ground and she let him go. He turned around to try and gain his sense of direction, attempting to spot the way he had come from when he originally approached her, and he nodded his head in what he thought it was before giving a dry smile. "Yeah, we wouldn't want to get wet or anything." He ran his fingers through his soaked hair and, before she could reply, Barry grabbed Kara to lift her in his arms and take off into a sprint, running across the choppy water of the now very flooded street before finding the small building that was on an elevated hill. It looked as if it used to be a post office or something of the sort, and although it was still in tact, it was in bad condition. So bad that when Barry entered, the door that was still standing shook dangerously on its hinges in the air current he left behind, causing him to put kara down in the middle of the room and turn around to grab the door and keep it from breaking away from its setting.

"No no! No, don't, I'm sorry just - stay. Stay there. Stay..." He pleaded with the door aloud as he held it still with wide eyes, and when it seemed to be alright he very gingerly closed it, confident that it would be more sturdy once set properly in its frame. "...I think that it's good. This is it, I've been going around but this is the first place I found that had all four walls intac- pfft-" In the process of speaking to Kara he turned to face her, suddenly stopping himself with a muffled snort of a laugh at the sight of her long, wet hair tangled wildly around her face due to the speed and sudden stop. "Sorry, uh... your..." he gestured to his head before clearing his throat. "It's just a little... I don't think I have a comb."

Kara didn't get a chance to respond before she felt herself being lifted off the ground and before she could ask what he was doing, he zipped off through the storm and a few seconds later, she was standing in the middle of the dilapidated room as Barry was pleading with a door to stay on its hinges so he could close it.

"What?" she asked, looking suddenly self-conscious when he interrupted himself with a snort of laughter. He gestured and Kara reached up and felt the tangles sticking to the sides of her head and her cheeks and they colored warmly beneath the sodden locks. "Yeah laugh it up. Must be nice to wear your hair short like that and not look like an idiot. Because I would decidedly look like an idiot," she sighed, resigned as she tried to start finger-combing through her hair.

Looking around the room, she wasn't so sure this was all that stable, in actuality. If this was the most stable looking place he could find, then they had a lot of work to do to restore this place... "So when did you get here?" she asked, jumping back to their original conversation.

"To be fair, I don't think I could get away with wearing my hair long and not look like an idiot," Barry pointed out, watching her for a few seconds as she tried to fix her hair before his smile grew and he nodded his head toward her. "It's all crazy in the back - let me help," he finally decided, moving across the room so he could circle around her and moving his fingers to carefully help her untangle the parts of her long hair that she couldn't see.

"How long were we up there?" He casually questioned before giving a shrug that she couldn't see. "Fourty five minutes? So I've probably been here for a little over an hour." He got most of the tangles he had spotted out of her hair before he let his hands fall away so she could take care of the rest, instead moving to the windows and checking the frames to make sure that they would stay intact despite the rattling. "The entire town looks like this. Worse than this. Or, at least, what I've seen. We've got a lot of work ahead of us."

Barry looked up at the sky again, squinting a little to try and see further through the rain now that he wasn't in the middle of it. "You think this is normal? For some reason, this isn't exactly what I had in mind when I agreed to come here."

Kara gave a thoughtful shrug at that. That was probably a good point. She couldn't picture Barry with long hair any more than she could picture herself without it. "Huh? Oh, thank you," she said gratefully.

Barry answered her question and Kara's eyebrows rose a little. "Huh," she said, "so not much longer than me, then. I wonder if there's anyone else here yet, in that case..." she wondered aloud, continuing to rake her fingers through her tangled hair as Barry stepped away to check the windows. "Yeah, I was thinking that, too, that we've got a lot of work ahead of us," she replied.

Once she'd gotten out the tangles she thought she actually could without something finer like a comb, Kara started toward him and shook her head as she joined him at the window to look up as well. "I really hope not. I didn't get the impression that it'd be like this. We'll never get anything done if we can't ever go safely outside. I mean, I could go outside, but I still wouldn't get anything done..."

Barry frowned a little, shifting in place so that he could attempt to see around the corner of the building outside. "It's possible. I mean, the ones who brought us here had our best interest in mind, it's possible they wouldn't bring anyone here who couldn't handle this storm until it passes. If it passes..." he trailed off, staring out at the storm for a few more seconds before he sighed and walked away to return to the center of the room. "Worst case scenario, we can try and stop it." Barry started to dig around the place, opening whatever remained of the cabinets on the wall to see if he could find something useful. Preferably food. "We might be able to polarize the storm and neutralize it, but it could be dangerous and you'd have to bring me really high up. I'd also have to figure out how to release a large enough electric pulse while up there which could be dangerous too so... you know. Hopefully, it won't come to that.

Seriously, not even a can of soup?" He continued with a sound of frustration before returning back to Kara. "I think this used to be a post office or something. Where are we?" It wasn't until then that Barry realized he didn't get the smaller details before agreeing to this whole thing, and now he was double guessing himself. "Did they say anything to you about that? About where this place exactly is? I mean, this looks like it used to be a post office or something, but it hasn't been used in a really long time."

Kara made a little face when Barry suggested they stop it. That was going to be a lot of work and she didn't want to do it if they didn't have to. If they were the only ones in the town for the time being, then they didn't have to, if you asked her. Kara was of the persuasion that it was better for them to save their energy for when they were needed. "Yeah, I guess so," she replied, shrugging and turning to face him as he moved around the room. "Unless they do start dropping in people who can't handle the storm, I'd prefer we just left it alone if it's all the same to you, though..."

Once Barry mentioned it, Kara realized that she, too, had neglected to ask for details. "...no..." she responded slowly, dragging out the n of the word before finally spitting it out, her expression drawn in that realization. "I didn't think to ask...I should've, but I didn't..."

She started back toward Barry. "I guess it doesn't help that they came to me looking like my mother and Alex," she pointed out. "...do you think we're even still on Earth? Like maybe a future Earth or a different Earth than both of ours or...?" she trailed off curiously. "Somewhere else entirely?"

"It depends on how bad it gets," he reasoned aloud with a frown, moving back to the wall and sitting on the floor. He was still soaked but it was warm enough, despite the storm raging outside. It was annoying, but he'd dry eventually. "The more rain that falls, the worse this flooding is going to get. We can't let it wipe out the whole town or there won't be anything for people to get dropped off in, at least we have the basic bones of some structure here. I just hope that it stops so we won't have to worry about it."

He shook his head with a sigh, knees bent with his elbows resting on them as his head fell back against the wall. "...I don't know," he admitted weakly. "I feel like it's just some sort of parallel earth, like how we're from different ones, since whatever is left on a the signs around here is in English. But there's no way of really knowing. It's not home though, that much they told me." He stared off out the window next to the door, his face going stoic. Only one approached him, and it took the form of his father. It was probably the only thing that could have stopped him in that moment with how determined he had been to go back in time through the speed force. A part of him still wanted to do it.

But that was why Barry was here. It wasn't just to help build a society or get away from the world that he had been in, it was to keep him from doing something stupid and destroying everything back home for his own selfish needs. He was putting himself in check in this place. "One showed up looking like my dad," he explained with a half shrug, going no further than that. "So obviously they know a little bit about us... I didn't get the feeling that they had any bad intentions. Although I'm pretty crappy when it comes to telling these days."

Not something that she'd actually thought about. Kara chewed thoughtfully on her bottom lip, frowning. "Good point..." She was hoping that it would stop on its own, too, though. Hopefully, this was especially unseasonable weather.

"That doesn't mean anything," Kara pointed out. "There were some things in English on Krypton. Not much, but still, and if they chose this location after they decided who they wanted to invite to join the project, then they could have specifically chosen one that fit the demographic and the language the majority of us spoke, anyway," she added. She did like the sound of it being an Earth though. At least then she wouldn't be on another planet. Two was enough for Kara, thank you very much.

Kara shook her head, lowering herself to sit Indian-style on the floor. "No, I don't mind that they know, really, because I didn't get that vibe, either. That they meant any harm at all. I think that if they wanted to hurt us, they would've put us somewhere worse than this. It's just rain. A lot of rain, but it's not like it's raining...I don't know, lava or something. It'll be fine." She hoped.

As soon as Kara started to talk about Krypton Barry's head straightened to attention, looking at her with interest before he gave a facial shrug that conveyed vague surprise. "I didn't know that other planets did that. I mean, I've never been on another planet before, so. I forgot that you were an alien. Wait, is that bad, is that insulting to say? I can't remember if I shouldn't say that." He winced a little preemptively, as if already prepared to apologize before a hand moved to scratch the back of his head.

"I mean, yeah, that would suck," he commented with a little laugh at the mention of raining lava. "That's something to be grateful for, that it's... not that, yeah. I think that we should probably do that again in maybe an hour or so, though. Check to make sure that no one shows up out there, I mean, just to be safe. Or we can try to find somewhere safer to stay because it's really starting to sound like the roof of this place can't handle the wind."

Laughing a little, Kara shook her head. "No, it's fine. It's not a bad thing. Although, technically we're both aliens, now, so..." She gave a little shrug. "You've been on my Earth which was technically another planet, so yes you have, you just haven't been to another planet that wasn't some iteration of Earth. So, it's not the same, but it's not totally different, right, and now you're here, anyway so, I don't know. But it's fine, just...maybe don't say it in front of other people until I can decide if it's, like...okay to?" she asked more than said.

The thing about being from another planet while being on Earth was that humans were especially skittish of aliens. Whether their fear was justified or not, it was just a fact of life and Kara had to be careful back home who knew and who didn't know that she wasn't really human at all. The last thing that she wanted to do was to scare off the other volunteers, assuming that eventually there would be some, when she was probably meant to be protecting them.

"No, yeah, I totally agree we should go back up every so often just to make sure. And I'm listening, but I still haven't heard anyone shouting, so that's probably a good sign for right now." Although, it could also be a bad sign that someone was unable to call for help, but Kara won't let herself think that. It would be better for the project if the Also Humans — maybe Kara should just call herself that, she thought, and an ill-timed giggle bubbled up before she could stifle it — waited until it was safer to bring in the regular humans, if there were going to be any. "Sorry. I'm sorry, I just—just something funny I thought of for a second; totally inappropriate timing. Sorry," she said quickly, trying to recover from the giggle that didn't belong. "It's up to you. If you don't think the roof is going to hold, then that probably means it won't and we should relocate."

"I am totally cool with being an alien," he responded with a grin, but it faded quickly with a furrowed brow as if he was seriously considering her words. "I mean, does that really count as a different planet? Because it's the same planet, just a different version... am I really switching solar systems or am I just going to copies? Am I an alien, or like, a doppelganger since you probably have a Barry Allen on your world that's just not the exact same as me? I don't know." He waved his hand, gesturing that she didn't have to respond. "It's our secret though, I won't tell anyone else. I get it."

He leaned back against the wall and nodded when she expressed that she was still listening, and although Barry wasn't certain, he assumed that he had some sort of heightened sense of hearing because Kara seemed to have a heightened sense of everything, with the type of abilities she had shown him. She laughed, though, and that prompted a confused look from him before a smile slowly moved the corners of his mouth. He didn't even know what she was apologizing for and yet it was still amusing, because despite the fact that she was some sort of insanely powerful superhero it was little things like that that made Kara, Kara. He really did miss her, despite the fact that he had only spent a couple of days with her when he accidentally traveled to her version of Earth.

"I think we have some time, we can wait for a little bit longer to see if the storm dies down. But if it doesn't, we should probably look for a different place to land next time we go out to search for other people." He thought it was a decent compromise. "What did you think about? That made you laugh, I mean?"

With a little snort of amusement, Kara shrugged. "Honestly? I have no idea," she admitted. "Thank you," she added with a smile. "I just don't, you know...want to freak anybody out. People back home were a little skittish about it." About her, specifically. She was still working on earning back the trust she'd lost when she'd been under the influence of the synthetic kryptonite.

Nodding her head, Kara cleared her throat. "No, you're right. I totally agree. We should move around every time we do a search. It'll be easier that way, to cover more ground, I think."

Her face colored and Kara wrinkled her nose with embarrassment, pulling her glasses out of her suit finally to put them back on her face, pushing them up the bridge of her crinkled nose to buy herself some time. "I was just—it's stupid. It's stupid," she said, shaking her head, cheeks burning.

"No, I know. I get it." Barry gave her a nod, trying to reassure her that she didn't have to explain herself. Despite the fact that he had no doubt he was loved by his city, the reality of it was was that people were fickle. They were scared of things that they didn't understand unless those things purposefully went out of their way to show that they meant no harm, and even then the trust that they worked so hard to build with a society could be easily broken by one misstep. "It's like that back home for me, too. People are usually good but they put a lot of expectation on you, even if they don't realize that they do it." He shrugged, his smile fading a little. "They're more willing to forgive if you're like them. When you're not, you're not allowed to make mistakes. They never forget."

Barry's head tilted back to try and see if he could look at the window above him, and when he couldn't he instead glanced out at the one near the door again. "Well, it looks like it's dying down. I think. I can't really tell, but it definitely doesn't look like it's getting worse, which might be a good sign." He shifted to sit forward a little, his back getting stiff. "After it stops we should go around and see what we can clear away. Between the two of us we can probably make sure that there aren't big trees on the roads or debris blocking doorways." He gave a tired expression, as if already exhausted by the idea. "It looks like we're going to start the rebuilding project a lot sooner than we expected."

He waited patiently for her to pull out her glasses, knowing full well that she was avoiding his question, and Barry raised an eyebrow when she finally deflected once more before giving a slow and solemn nod. "Right, you were laughing at me. That's okay, I understand." He was teasing but he did so with a deadpan expression, working hard to keep the smile he felt rising off of his face. "Do you need that suit to fly? Because if not I would probably hide it away until you know whether or not the people who are going to show up here will be comfortable with what we are. The suit might raise some questions if people find out that you're always wearing it under your clothes. Just saying."

It was nice to know that someone understood the feeling, as much as she hated feeling that way. It would be better if no one else ever knew how it felt to have to work extra hard to gain the trust of those around them and no one else ever had to know how it felt to have to walk on eggshells indefinitely to keep from unintentionally shattering that trust. Trust was easy to earn the first time around, but was always infinitely harder to earn back once lost. Kara knew that better than she wished she did, that was for sure, and she felt a little bit guilty for being relieved that Barry understood where she was coming from with that. "Yeah, tell me about it..." she said softly, a subtle hint to let the subject drop, because it wasn't exactly a pleasant thing to have in common, that was for sure, so there was no sense in bringing themselves down too much conversing about it.

"I'll take a good sign that it's not getting worse," Kara chirped. That was certainly better than nothing. She would rather it be getting better, but as long as it wasn't getting worse? She could deal with that. She nodded, peering out the window. "Yeah, I think between the two of us, you're right, we can get some the worst of it taken care of before any of the other volunteers show up, if they aren't already here." She paused and turned to look at him, eyes wide. "I hope they're not already here." Because if they were, then it would imply that either she and Barry missed someone when they were searching or that those who were already here could possibly have been unable to call for help or were buried out of sight. Kara frowned a little. She didn't want to think about that. The Also Humans had seemed friendly. It didn't make sense for them to put people in danger who couldn't handle themselves. They just mustn't be here yet, she told herself. That was the only way it made sense to her.

A soft laugh escaped her and she lowered herself to sit back on the floor again. "At this point, I feel like 'rebuilding' is sort of a stretch. We might have to just tear some of these buildings down and just start from scratch. It's not a good idea to try to rebuild a structure that isn't strong enough to withstand the work."

Kara looked back at him with surprised upset. "No I wasn't!" she exclaimed. "I promise," she added quickly and earnestly. While Barry made a good point about the suit potentially making people uncomfortable, her brow creased slightly. "I don't need the suit, but I kinda need the cape..." she admitted. "I tried flying a few times without it and...it isn't pretty. I'm not very good at keeping myself on track without the cape helping with the aerodynamics. At least, that's what Winn said it did, since I was flying a lot more controlled with it than I had been without it..."

All Barry could do was shake his head when Kara decided that she would decide that the storm not getting worse was good news, a small but endeared smile on his face as his attention moved back to the window. He hadn't been able to spend a lot of time with Kara when he had first arrived in her world, but in the process of helping her he had gotten to know her enough to know that her upbeat attitude wasn't an act. It was something that he liked about her, and he hoped that she never lost it. In the beginning, he had been upbeat too. But being The Flash had broken him down, shattered him in places that he couldn't even begin to explain, and Barry wasn't sure if he would ever be able to bounce back from that. It didn't feel like he would be able to. It just felt numb. Numb, with a lot of guilt. He never wanted her to feel like that, because people like Kara kept people like him from spiraling too far. He didn't know when he became someone who would spiral, and not someone who could help.

"Kara," he said her name softly, his attention turning to her. "You and I circled this place twice. You can hear through the storm, I can take in more information when I look around and see more than other people may be able to spot, it's going to be alright. The people who brought us here didn't bring us here to try and hurt us, right? If they did, they wouldn't bring Supergirl and The Flash, I think that would put a little dent in their plans. Particularly because I could probably get home by myself, if I really wanted to. It's alright." He gave her a warm smile. "We checked. There's no one out there. And if there is, you'll hear them when they arrive, right? It'll be okay."

His hand moved to mess the hair on the top of his head, hoping that doing so would help it dry faster when it wasn't pasted to his scalp. "Really? ...Do you think you'll still be flying around when other people show up?" He frowned in uncertainty. "I mean, I don't know if I want them to know what I can do, I don't know if I'm going to be running much until I'm sure I can do it without anyone seeing."

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zor_el - 2016-08-10 01:48 (UTC) - Expand

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