The Calm Before The Storm

[outpostcook]

 Something's been bothering Kinner. There's a visible unhappiness in the little cook's expression, even beyond his usual gruff attitude. He sits in the Plaza, thinking, for once not manning his fish shop. He's going after the Thing soon, and he's not completely sure what to make of that. He knows exactly how dangerous the alien is. Even if the Thing where he'll be going isn't exactly the same creature, it's close enough. In some ways, it sounds even worse. But he can't give up with lives on the line.

He's got a better idea of what to expect than most, but that's a small comfort. After all, the Thing incapacitated and devoured Kinner alive, without much of a fight. This time he'll be better armed and better prepared, but still. He's not exactly thrilled about facing the creature, even with help. And, he realizes with a hint of sickness, he'll be putting his new friends in danger, too.

Kinner, when push comes to shove, isn't scared to look death in the face, and it's Palmer's world, but it's everyone else he's afraid for. Horvath. Alex. Blaze and Ghost. Prometheus. Cricket. Cricket most of all, since the others have magic or other quirks to protect them. Cricket doesn't. Kinner would rather he die than Cricket.

At the very least, he won't make an easy meal this time.

"Have you ever had somethin' you didn't want to do," he finally asks, voice trembling a little, "but you had to do it anyway? Were you scared?"

Comments

[bitterguardian]

"Yes. And yes." That's unusually brief, coming from Horvath, but he comes over to find a seat close by, glad to convene again before they go off to do the very thing that Kinner is likely anticipating.

"Quite a lot of that, actually, but I've always managed to get through it somehow, and there's something to be said for the relief of standing on the other side of it. There are still things ahead that I dread, but I feel a duty to see it through that supersedes my own anxieties. There are much larger things at work and I am only a part of them. I suspect that's true for all of us."

As a reassuring pep talk goes, it's not great, but it's calmly delivered in what seems to be the voice of experience.

[outpostcook]

Kinner nods - he knows that in his situation being scared is fair and understandable. He's facing a monster, and not only that, a monster which ate Kinner alive the last time they met. But he's not the knd of man who'd back down from a fight, either, and he made a promise to Palmer. Kinner likes to see his promises through to the end, and Palmer's team needs help.

"I can get that. This isn't my world, but I still think stopping the Thing is important. It's dangerous. You're a sorcerer and all, but have you bumped into monsters from outer space before? Just wonderin'."

On his end, Kinner's still pretty clueless about magic, but he was born and raised in a world where magic and sorcery weren't real. Then again, he didn't believe in aliens, either. Joke's on him.

[sweetcandygirl]

"That is how I joined Suicide Squad... my old team." Harley answers the question. She is watching Kinner very careful. Wondering what has upset him.

"Didn't wanna go on that mission... had to."

"And I was too angry to be scared."

[bitterguardian]

He considers this, and it’s telling that he has to think about it at all. There have been so many battles and encounters. “I’ve run up against a few eldritch things, and one can never be quite certain where they come from, so I can’t be sure.”

Horvath settles and stretches out his leg a little, getting more comfortable. His ankle seems to be stuck at a ninety-degree angle. “The Nexus has put me into contact with all manner of peoples and beings, and it’s been educational. I feel that the information on this creature is limited, but I’ve collected some extra aglaophotis to bring along just in case.”

[liverfree]

"Are you having second thoughts, Kinner?"

Prometheus walks over, expression sympathetic. A tiny part of him is hoping that his friend will change his mind and call off this dangerous enterprise. "I read your treatise." He pulls out of his jacket the sheaf of papers and offers them back. "I have some potential strategies... are you sure you want to do this?"

[outpostcook]

“Yes. I’m sure I want to go forward,” says Kinner. Just because he’s scared doesn’t mean he’s changed his plans. If anything, he’s become even more determined than before. He isn’t going to let the Thing have its way in any other world. “Did the treatise give you any ideas, Prometheus? I’m willing to hear anything you’ve got. Palmer and I ain’t great planners.”

Kinner tucks the papers away. He’ll study them himself, maybe talk to Palmer to see if he has the details correct.

[alittlehinky]

Cricket doesn't say a thing. He doesn't have to ask to guess what's on Kinner's mind, and he doesn't have anything particularly useful to say to calm or reassure him. They're all bound to be scared, and Cricket's probably the least frightened because he hasn't seen what they're facing, but he's not looking forward to it, either.

He comes over to Kinner and just sits beside him with a soft clank of leg braces, and puts an arm around his shoulders, giving him a sober little nod.

That's the point, right? That they ain't facing this alone.

[outpostcook]

"Suicide Squad, huh? I know that phrase. I'm guessin' the people who set up the team didn't really care if you made it back or not. We called things like that a 'forlorn hope' where I'm from."

Old wartime language. Kinner had never been part of one.

"I joined my old team of my free will. Getting eaten wasn't part of the plan."

[outpostcook]

Kinner can't help but agree. He's learned a lot during his time in the Nexus, not just about the Thing but about the universe in general. It's a very big universe for one small, slightly nervous cook. But Kinner's adaptable, he thinks. He's thrived in this bizarre multidimensional hub, and that's the best he can do.

"It's a shapeshifter. That's the most important thing about it." The next logical step is to kill his fear by, in turn, killing the Thing. If he can do that, even indirectly, Kinner won't be the same man who entered the Nexus. "Aglaophotis? What's that, if you don't mind me askin'? Is it some kinda magical thing from your world?" He's curious if it's a weapon that can injure the Thing.

[delphicbooksandbaubles]

Her eyes soften, "Hmm, Aye but it was also for a very good reason and sort of ..a last resort sort of thing.." She replies as she pads over gently putting one of her bags which is christmasy on her lap. She had been keeping her eyes out for folks lately.

Her face is a mix of concern and gentle patience, tilted as she's ready to listen if he needs an ear. She also has a ready hand to help in some manner if she's able.

[outpostcook]

"Howdy. Guess you know what's on my mind, huh?" Kinner shuffles, offering Cricket a place to sit beside him.

Despite his melancholy attitude, Kinner is pleased to see Cricket beside him and manages a small smile.

"Thanks, kid. I...just look out for yourself when we're in Antarctica, 'kay? The Thing's extremely dangerous." Kinner doesn't want to be condescending, and he knows Cricket can take care of himself, but he also wants Cricket to be aware of the threat. The Thing consumed adults with military training.

[outpostcook]

"In my case, it's...kind of a last resort, but I'm doing it of my own will. I have a friend in another world who needs help. He's dealing with a monster that's very similar to mine. I'm scared, but he can't stop the Thing without outsiders backing him up."

Kinner turns to the bag, smiling weakly. "That's a nice design you've got there. You made it yourself, I'm guessing?"

[liverfree]

"It's laudable how brave you're being, despite your fears." The Titan bites back a sigh, resignation in his eyes. "I only wish you weren't testing your mettle against such a challenging foe. This creature is unlike any that I am familiar with, save perhaps the Hydra."

He sits down, large frame settling into the couch cushions. "The Hydra boasted many heads, each one on a slithering, serpentine neck. Cut one head off, and another two grew in its place. Like the Thing, yes? Destroy part of it, and it only goes on to re-grow its lost cells. Hercules finally defeated it by heating a spear and cauterizing each neck stump so that nothing could grow from it."

"The key with the Thing is to prevent it from re-growing. Fire destroys its mass permanently. We need to suss out all aspects of it and destroy them. It would be easier on all of us if we could somehow force it to re-form into one mass, then we could surround it and destroy it in one go."

He frowns. "That's the trick, though. Finding the parts of it that have already shapeshifted into other beings. How many people are on Palmer's expedition? And how many animals?"

[bitterguardian]

Adaptability is absolutely the key to thriving in the Nexus, but it’s not a quality that everyone possesses, so Kinner may be doing better than he realizes. Horvath thrived here once, then walked away for a while, and ultimately that hasn’t done him any favors.

“Aglaophotis seems to be found on many worlds, it’s distilled from a rare herb and it’s very effective against eldritch beings, historically. Now there are different kinds of shapeshifters. It only turned into living beings, as far as you saw? So it couldn’t become, for instance, a table or a chair?” That’s an important distinction.

[sweetcandygirl]

"The people who set up the team didn't really care if we wanted to be part of the team or not either." Harley twirls a ponytail.

"So is that what keeps you scared?"

[outpostcook]

Kinner nods. "The creature that killed me, the Thing...I'm going to be facing it again, in another world. And this time I want to win."

He's sure as hell not going to get himself eaten again.

[outpostcook]

"Yes - the Thing can only turn into living creatures. The way it works is that it absorbs animals and uses their mass to make a copy out of...whatever it's made of. I don't know if it can assimilate plants. It's not a chance I'd take." Not that Antarctica has much in the way of growing plants, anyway, or maybe animals just suited the Thing's purposes better.

If the Thing could turn into seemingly innocuous household objects to approach its targets, that would have made it even worse. Kinner thanks his lucky stars, whichever they may be, that's not what he's dealing with now.

[brooklynbarnes]

Bucky sits next to him, elbows on his knees. "Sure," he says. He's thinking of his father's death, of having to drop out of school to look after his family. He's thinking of countless nights spend at Steve's bedside, praying to a God he wasn't sure he believed in that his fever would break and his illness would pass. "That's life, isn't it? You think you won't be up of to the challenge, but you go ahead and do it anyway, because what other option do you have?"

"So what's troubling you?" He takes a cigarette out of the pack and offers Kinner one with a gesture.

[outpostcook]

Kinner looks up from his thoughts to see an unfamiliar face, and gave a quick but friendly nod of hello. He accepts the cigarette - he knows they aren't good for you, but he's already dead.

"Pleasure to meet you, sir. My name's Joseph Kinner, of the 1938 Secondary Magnetic Expedition." It's almost mechanical at this point, Kinner stating his name and former employers. "My team was attacked by a space creature we found frozen in the ice, and I was killed by it. I have a chance to help a friend fight and stop a similar monster in his world. I'm a little frightened, to be honest."

[brooklynbarnes]

Bucky lights his cigarette before passing the lighter to Kinner. He takes a long drag. Steve has been getting on his case about switching to e-cigarettes, but he refuses to, holding onto some anti-hipster snobbishness. Even if it's at the expense of his own health.

"Likewise. Bucky Barnes. I work at the docks." He offers his hand to shake. He lifts his eyebrows, surprised by the answer. "Shit. Yeah, that'd scare you, alright. How does one go about killing an alien monster?"

[alittlehinky]

"I think I got a guess," Cricket gives his friend a little smile, and the arm around his shoulder gives him a light squeeze.

"I read everything you wrote about it," he nods soberly. "And I get it. I know we're gonna be in danger and we're probably gonna have to kill some people who ain't human but look it. I'm not gonna like it, and neither will the rest of you, but I reckon the only thing worse'n doing it is not doing it and never knowin' if we could have really helped, or if Palmer's whole world is fucked just 'cause we didn't try to do something."

"So. Marie was talking to me about it, so I reckon people other'n you and me and Palmer have an idea about it by now. Do we have other people coming along with us?"

[outpostcook]

"A dock worker, huh? I was a Missouri farmboy back in my childhood." Kinner's a bit old-fashioned in some ways, and smoking is one of those things. He lights up a smoke himself. "Thanks, Mr. Barnes. Reckon I owe you one someday."

"I was - still am - a cook." Kinner accepts the offered handshake with a warm smile. "It was a shapeshifter - it can absorb people, animals, too, and make copies of them. I was milkin' a cow when suddenly there was a blue tentacle wrapped around me and red eyes starin' into me. Next thing I know I'm here. More to the poin, the creature's weak to fire."

[outpostcook]

Kinner sighs, appreciating the light squeeze. The company is helping him feel a little better, and Cricket's always been a good friend.

"Yeah - I've been talking to some folks, and so has Palmer, apparently. There's Blaze and Ghost, you might've met them. Palmer told me they're willing to help us. There's Horvath. He's a sorcerer, and he knows some stuff that might be useful. Alex Mason's pretty young, but he saved me from Micolash and he knows an awful lot about monsters."

He knows he might - no, will - end up killing creatures that look like people, some with names he knows, but it'll help if he remembers that the Thing ate those people. He won't be killing them, but monsters that took their bodies.

"Who's Marie? Is she helping us?"

[brooklynbarnes]

"Yeah. Since I was in high school. There's a lot of work there if you don't mind waking up before dawn and loading boxes all day. I've never been in Missouri. What is it like?" He flicks his cigarette before taking another drag. "I'm a Brooklyn man myself."

"Fuck. Kinner, that might be the weirdest thing I've heard. And since I got to here I've heard a lot of weird shit." He shakes his head. "How are you planning on leading it to fire?"

[bitterguardian]

“That’s informative, though.” Horvath considers, nodding. “That would imply that despite changing forms, it needs to breathe, perhaps requires a circulatory system, and if so then those are things that may be exploited.” If it does need to breathe, then in theory it can be suffocated, and if it needs a circulatory system then it might be capable of bleeding out. It’s a brutal but practical perspective, going into battle.

Also it’s nice to know the furniture isn’t likely to rise up and attack them.