My name is Jane Foster. And if I'm remembering everything correctly, which I can hardly believe, then I've been here before. That being the case, there are a few people I need to talk to. You'll know who you are.

For those who don't know me, you might remember a spectacularly failed attempt at escaping the enclosure some time ago. (Sorry for the vague time frame. I haven't figured out yet how long I've been gone.) For anyone who arrived after that time, I'm an astrophysicist who specializes in wormholes. Well, it's more complex than that, I also study quantum energy fluctuations and related terrestrial phenomena pretty much all over the world - Earth, I mean. Earth. Earth in 2013, for anyone curious. Sorry, this is getting off topic.

In a nice turn of events, I didn't wake up outside, so no search and rescue needed this time.

I guess, um.

Hi, everyone. Old and new. It's - weird to be back.


[ Once she's done writing that plain, unembellished message, Jane shuts her journal and sighs, staring at the blank wall opposite her. Thank the powers at be for small blessings, like waking up warm and comfortable for once instead of half-frozen on a forest floor.

Since the apartment in which she awoke is one of the unclaimed ones, there's nothing really here for her to make use of - or, alternatively, disturb. So a short while later she is slipping out the door, walking on tip-toe down the halls and stairways, though she'll pause at the entrance of the building. She doesn't relish the idea of going out in the cold barefoot and in only a sundress. So she'll skulk about there, deliberating while checking her journal periodically for responses. Anyone who doesn't immediately strike her as Overtly And Comically Evil will probably get a hello. ]

Hi, um-- hey everyone. Wow, it's -- been a while. Iiii'd say sorry but you can all blame the Malnosso for this one. How long have I even been gone?

[ Protip: about a month. She got picked up on the 20th of April. ]

Hey... I'm back too. I don't think it's been that long, though.

[ Hey, that sure does sound like Billy Kaplan. ]

What day is it? You know what, that's probably not important. Can I get, like -- a status report or something? Everyone still present and accounted for? [ quietly, aside: ] Billy, can you help me up? Where are we?

Sorry, here-- let me just do a quick location spell.

[ 10 seconds of silence later: ]

... Billy? Is ... something wrong?

…Ow. Okay, no location spell. I think we're just outside town, though…

Wow. Okay. That sure bodes well. Let's see how far we can get on our own...

[ The journal shuts. They'll both be checking it for replies, though.

Fifteen or twenty minutes later will find them roughly in the center of the village, sitting down on a bench, Jane blindfolded and Billy otherwise normal. They're talking quietly to each other, though anyone who knows them will see they're both a bit tense. Of course, you won't have to know them at all to see that things are somewhat…. amiss.

First of all, there's a sizable flotilla of rubber duckies in the fountain. And the trail they took into the village is really noticeable, because all the trees and plants in their wake have turned unnatural, neon shades. They seem fine otherwise, aside from being highlighter yellow and neon pink.

Also, the bench they're sitting on is now covered in polka dots.

Jane gestures emphatically, and precisely half the water in the fountain turns into green jello. Precisely half; the rest is still normal water. She only has the good grace to look sheepish when an alarmed Billy informs her in a harsh whisper of what just happened. Seems like she's still blind.

Risk talking to these two and their apparently shared misfortune of haywire reality bending powers? ]

(ooc; MALLYNAP EFFECT! Jane and Billy/selfhelp are now splitting Billy's reality bending powers, but all they can do is misfire in random wacky ways. This will be temporary, of course! To be resolved within a week or two. ALSO, the effects themselves are temporary - the fountain, for instance, will only be half jello for a couple hours at most. In the meantime, shenanigans. And yes, Jane is still unable to see and still wears a blindfold over her eyes as a result.

Anyway: feel free to specify in the header of your comment who you want, Jane or Billy or both! For the journal portion OR the action portion. Go nuts.)

[ It takes her some time to wake up, when they return her. Her body is so week. She feels so tired. And it feels like it's been years since she's seen anything but grey and white and steel.

She can see the sky. She stares at it for a little while, eyelids fluttering as she struggles to keep awake and remember that if she can see that, she needs to be doing something. Moving. But she just doesn't want to. Everything hurts. Her body aches in a way she didn't know it could.

It's a very painful, grueling process, but she manages to pull herself up to sit against a tree and laboriously pull out her journal. She flicks on the video function, and the sight of her isn't a pleasant one. The paleness of her skin and the dark circles under her eyes are the least of it. There's a hollowness to her cheeks, a wideness to her eyes, that suggests illness. Something very wrong.

She looks like she hasn't eaten in days. ]

I, um. [ She lifts a hand, pressing it into her eye. ] I could use help. Soon. I'm -- so tired. I'm...

... is that water?

[ Of course, then she drops the journal. It records the tree canopy and the sky through it for a while. Then it just abruptly cuts off.

Well, that's worrying.



Much later, at least an hour - probably two - she'll reopen the journal, and it's obvious now she's in the clinic. She looks basically not at all better, but she's trying. ]

Sorry. I-- I'm fine. I will be. [ A breath out. ] So that's a Malnosso kidnapping, huh? [ Her mouth twists, wry. ] I -- really get now why they're not popular.

[ Then she just sighs, resting her head back against her pillows and shutting her eyes. She's just -- you know. She'll be fine. A week's starvation never hurt anybody. ]

( Morning of the 2nd / Action in and around Seventh Heaven )

( Afternoon and evening of the 2nd / Action in Good Spirits )

( Pepper Potts and Susan Richards | Locked 100% )

I know both of you probably haven't been having an easy few days yourselves, but I could really use someone to talk to. Someone that isn't male. Or teenage. Or both.