In which I hit 'random' on Wikipedia a few times until I get a location.

[monkeytailed]

SCENE: The Central Expressway in Dallas, Texas. (This is why you guys should stop me.)

The sun hung low to the west, looking like someone threw a bright red tomato at the horizon and it stuck. It's hot, but not quite oppressively so. It's merely unpleasantly hot, unless someone had a taste for hot weather in which case it was likely delightful.

There's also gridlock: apparently there was a traffic accident further to the north. (Great.) You won't be going anywhere for a while.


Also, because RNG prompts can help break the ice:

1) The bus you're on was part of the accident. Due to police procedures you're now stuck waiting for Dallas' mass transit company to send in a second bus. In the meantime you're just standing on an awkward shoulder just off of the freeway, watching cars go by and wishing you were them. It's pretty boring, yo.

2) Your bus is stuck in the middle of traffic and you're not going anywhere. Also, if you're a reader you just finished the last chapter of your book. Dammit. When it rains, it pours.

3) You're stuck taking care of something small and whiny while...being stuck in traffic. A puppy. A baby. Baby Mario. Whatever. Fortunately you're not the only person who gets to suffer!

4) SUDDEN. POLICE. CHASE.

5) '...and that was when your neighbor turned to you and you realized that they were looking kind of sick.'

6) Your vehicle is downwind of cows and...yeah, you can kind of smell them.

Comments

...4. Sort of.

[midget]

[ Floating about twenty feet over the freeway is a small girl. The area underneath her is completely frozen over, and she is staring in undisguised boredom at a gathering of cop cars below. ]

You fools brought this upon yourself.

[lowkeyinaminor]

[A short distance away Loki had abandoned all pretenses of subtlety. He was sitting on an abandoned car's hood, watching the scene, wishing he had popcorn.

...

What. He's not going to rush to their defense, he doesn't know how yet, and besides, it's not like the supervillain was killing them all or whatever.

...

He's not going to rush into that icy thing either. Well, not just yet. Maybe in a tag moment or two after he figured out just what was really going on and how to best deal with things.]

[midget]

You chose the wrong criminal to apprehend this day. My name is Evangeline, the Dark Evangel, the Bringer of Darkness, the Apostle of Destruction! And I will bring ruin to your city if you dare cross my path!

[ Seriously, all this because she was trying to learn how to drive? So what if she looked ten! She was hundreds of years old, dammit! Stop pulling over every little girl you see driving, cops! ]

threadjacking for great justice!

[bratbeyond]

[Riiiiight. A girl who's his age is going to bring complete and total destruction to a city known for fried dollar bills. Robin's not really sure what to say to this.]

Don't make me laugh. Just what do you think you're capable of?

[He motions for the other cops to be on their guard, just in case, but Robin doesn't really think she'd be capable of all the things she's bragging about--- wait a sec.

Is that...] Loki? What the crap're you doing here?

[lowkeyinaminor]

[He looks offended.]

Why wouldn't I be here?

[Shouted at Eva.] MY APOLOGIES FOR THE INTERRUPTION! PLEASE CARRY ON.

[midget]

[ No, it's okay. In fact, Eva looks pretty amused as she looks down in their direction. ]

Hooo? Shouldn't you kids be scampering off, before you get yourselves hurt?

[ She raises a hand and... kind of casually freezes an officer who seemed to be ready to take a shot. Welp. ]

[lowkeyinaminor]

[He winces just a bit at the casual freezing of the officer.] Thank you! I'll be fine! Though I don't know why he is here... [Indicates Damian. Then, to him:] Shouldn't you be taking her advice? You are a mortal.

[bratbeyond]

[Poor guy. Robin can't help his slight shock before he shakes his head and glares at Eva.]

I can handle her! I don't see why you two're so insistent that I can't.

[As to prove his point, he flies up to Eva - courtesy of those jetpacks in his boots - and holds out his escrima stick at her.] So give it up already. Or else I just might have to do more than arrest you.

[midget]

By all means, if you think you can. [ Eva spreads her arms wide, inviting an attack. Because... uh.... yeah. Jetpack boots don't impress her. And if the brat really did know how to fight, he'd see her stance isn't nearly as open as it looks. ]

But I'll give you one warning. I don't go easy on children.

[ Except she does. Shut up. ]

[lowkeyinaminor]

[Loki's busy moving a few cars back. That Subaru looks more comfortable than the Chevrolet he was squatting on.

...oh popcorn, why doesn't he have popcorn.]

Perhaps you should resolve your differences some other way. I heard that arm wrestling is rather popular here. [Mainly for Damian's benefit.]

[bratbeyond]

[He does notice, actually! He tightens his grip on his weapon, but he's not going to show that he's afraid. Only weak people are afraid and well, weak people aren't Robin.]

Arm wrestling. In Texas.

[It's not obvious, but he's rolling his eyes in Loki's direction.] You might as well suggest a dance off or one of those "which one of you can perform a better square dance?" contests.

[lowkeyinaminor]

Can you square dance? [Mock surprise.] You are a superhero of many hidden talents.

[bratbeyond]

And you're the guy who keeps popping up everywhere I go. [smiiirk] If I didn't know better, I'd say you liked me.

[midget]

If that's how you want to settle things, I'll pass. I have better ways to waste my time.

Besides, I doubt they would go for that. [ Gesture towards the cops.

Seriously, all of this because she was a minor driving a car? Well, okay, so maybe she did freeze the officer who pulled her over, but that was justified.... ]

[robrocop]

[Oh wait, the cops are here.]

There have been odder arrests.

[bratbeyond]

[Thank god. Robin didn't think he could do it on his own!]

So we can do this the easy way... or we can do it the hard way. Your choice.

[robrocop]

And if it's all the same, arm wrestling is at least more fun to watch.

[midget]

If the easy way involves all of you leaving me alone, I suppose I can settle for that.

But I don't mind the hard way. It's only marginally more effort on my part.

[bratbeyond]

... Are you serious?

[He sighs, resigning himself to the inevitable and holding his arm out for arm wrestling:] Come on. Let's just get this over with.

[midget]

[ She'll try not to look too bored as she does this.

Honestly, it's actually kind of amusing.

Kind of. ]

[bratbeyond]

[Eva probably wins, despite Robin's complete and total seriousness over this whole thing.

If he's going to arrest her via arm wrestling, then he's going to try his best, goshdarnit to heck!!

It's just. Harder than he expected.]

[midget]

[ ...Yeah, she probably wins. Because she cheats and is a vampire and also enhances her strength with godmod magic.

But it's okay, she won't rub it in. ]

So was that confidence all a farce? Ha!

[ ....That was a lie. ]

[bratbeyond]

[Eyebrow raise.] I'm not so arrogant that I wouldn't coincide defeat.

You won, fair and square... right?

Bart Allen | DC Comics

[impulsive]

4

[chemistryinmotion]

[So, Dallas. Wally's only ever been a few times, so he can't really say if he likes it or not, but he's been stuck here for three days now competing at the National Science Fair. (OOC note: it's never actually been held in Dallas, BUT SHHH. THIS IS A MAGICAL MEME EARTH. SO I CAN DO WHAT I WANT.)

Today he's due back for another round of judging, but it seems traffic does not want him to get there. And he's pretty sure he might go insane if he has to sit here any longer listening to his mom (who took the week off work to chaperon) sing along with Justin Bieber.]

Moooooom, if we're gonna be stuck here can we at least listen to something other than "baby baby baby oooohh"?

[His mother doesn't have a chance to answer before the WEE-OOH WEE-OOH WEE-OOH of about five police cars zoom by on the shoulder. Wally throws his mom the hugest grin he can muster, and before she can even protest, he's changed and zooming off in the direction the police went. He'll take any excuse he can get to run, even if that means one-upping the Dallas police department.

Then, he suddenly finds himself crashing into something. Something that definitely wasn't there a millisecond ago.

Huh. That's weird. He's just run into... a person. Who isn't at all injured by having just collided with a boy running 200 miles an hour and who appears to be wearing some sort of costume. He stands himself up and adjusts his goggles.]

You know, the freeway isn't exactly the best place to parade around in costume. [Says the boy wearing a bright yellow costume.] Are you okay?

[impulsive]

[Speedsters in Dallas. Bart can't really say he expected them - if anything, he expected a pretty peaceful trip with Kiran and her family. They promised him Indian food! And all the usual Indian culture and mumbo-jumbo that came along with it.

So much, in fact, that Bart was going absolutely bonkers from it all. Why else would he be running in the opposite direction from the movie theater, if only to escape the Hindi movie marathon for just another hour or two?

That is... until he sees just who crashed into him. Did it have to be Wally? Bart pouts, fingering his own Impulse costume, before taking off his own goggles.]

I'm fine. [He's tempted to just run off, towards the scene of the crime, but it's... a much younger Wally.] What about you? You're not supposed to be this young, are you?

[chemistryinmotion]

[Wally stares at the kid in front of him, who actually doesn't look that much younger than he is. He looks... weirdly familiar, like he could be related or something. Maybe a cousin he never knew existed...]

Not supposed to be this young? [He groans and rolls his eyes.] Are you from the future or something? I mean, I just ran into you at at least two-hundred miles an hour and you're totally fine, which means you're either a speedster or some sort of meta-human, but I'm pretty sure I know all the speedsters, well, ever, so that can only mean you're from the future or there's something really weird going on here.

[impulsive]

Oh, I'm totally from the future!

[Wait a sec...

He wasn't supposed to tell anyone, was he?? Something about preserving the timestream and "preventing chaos" and blah blah blah, Bart tuned the rest of that ridiculously long lecture out a long time ago.

What should he do now?? CRAPPY EXCUSE IS A-GO:]

I mean, I'm pretending to be from the future!! [Bart, who are you trying to fool.] Uncle Max said it was best if I uh... if I told everyone I was from the... 31st century?

[redrobbinghood]

[And as the next car inched past with no end in sight, Matthew turned to the person closest to him and asked:]

How much longer do you think we'll be waiting?

[frumpyface]

[Saint be damned, that was the last chapter, too.]

Best as I can tell? Entirely too long.

[redrobbinghood]

[He momentarily considered asking about the book, but then decided against it. There's a bit of a sigh. But, let's be positive.]

Well, at least this is more pleasant than some of the other places we've been in. No knights attacking us. No enemy mages. No [Serra.] ...distractions.

[frumpyface]

Speak of the devil any longer, and she's bound to appear.

...you have a point, though. I doubt we will find any javelins sailing through the air.

[redrobbinghood]

[A bit of a shudder.] She does has a way of doing that.

But yes. Thinking about it, even the weather's more pleasant than some of the places we've found ourselves in. [Dallas sucks but it's not a desert or ocean, really.] No doubt the others won't be pleased by our delay, but...I find that I'm not in that much of a hurry.

[frumpyface]

Cannot say I'm surprised. The last time you were in a hurry, as I recall, involved a rather precious ring and a half-dozen archers.

[redrobbinghood]

...and as I told Lord Hector, dodging archers while no one was in a hurry to aid me was hardly what I was brought along for. I had to have Serra heal me afterwards. Serra. [Fate. worse. than. death. ...almost.]

1

[survival_101]

[Oh wow, what a crash! Don't mind a certain redhead leaning out the window with a rocket launcher. Who may have been causing the accident in the first place.

And is now trying to hide the weapon under the seats as fast as possible.]

[bonni]

[ STARING. So hard. ]

[builds]

[ Yeah, just staring. I mean, really? ]

[kehhei]

[ S..t...a..r...e...s..... ]

[tenyeargambit]

[What the fuck just happened.]

[aerialfall]

[He might be upside down at the moment, but John's totally staring. Just what... was that even...]

BUSWIDE ANNOUNCEMENT

[survival_101]

...whoops.

[survival_101]

...but if someone didn't lay on the brakes that would've totally worked.

[nozomiracle]

[lowkeyinaminor]

...uh huh.

[survival_101]

Well how do you solve a traffic jam?

[lowkeyinaminor]

I'd say 'bribe or blackmail my way onto the city council and proceed enact better policies about traffic management' but I'm not entirely certain that I'm invested enough to bother.

[builds]

Take a helicopter.

[survival_101]

And with access to neither? Doing the best you can.

Although I do like that helicopter idea. Any ideas how to make the news helicopter land long enough to grab it?