Godzillaaaaa [open to multiple]

[has_a_horn]

There's something new about the city this afternoon. It's not particularly hard to miss. At about noon, a giant scaled figure emerges from the Hudson River, emits a loud screeching roar, and heads for central park.

It's Godzilla, straight out of the 1954 Toho film.

Or, rather, that's what it looks like. Gabriel has a scheme, and this scheme involves in-fluxing a little bit of fun into this city with a grand-scale illusion. His idea of fun might need some work, by human standards, but this is exactly the thing for him at the moment. There are news reports on the radio and television, both in English and in Japanese, but they aren't given by any newscasters anyone in New York might be familiar with, because Gabriel is projecting them.

As Godzilla shakes the water off it's back and walks onto the island, Gabriel pulls out his phone and texts Peter. He really needs him involved with this.

[ooc: Godzilla will make his way across the city, having a good smash. Feel free to run into it anywhere. As this is Gabe's illusion, any interactions with Godzilla will be controlled by Gabriel, even if he's not nearby. People Gabriel doesn't like might want to avoid getting underfoot, or else they'll feel the bone crunching effects of being stepped on, even if nothing has actually happened.]

Comments

[mr_fring]

Gus wakes with a strange sense that his dream was unusually active. He lies awake for a while, gazing at the ceiling, feeling tired even though he's slept almost nine hours. He feels as though he's been through some kind of war. But try as he might, he cannot recover the memories. They're gone now.

So, he gets up, and he showers, and he makes coffee and breakfast. He is in the process of getting dressed when he hears it.

The noise outside is deafening, unignorable, and not particularly promising. Gus freezes, his fingers resting on the half-completed knot of his tie, and takes a moment just to listen. Then, reluctantly, he moves to the window.

He pushes back the curtain, just a bit.

He sees the monster pass by, roaring, flailing, trampling.

He closes his eyes. Draws a breath. Releases it. Then closes the curtain.

Not today. Absolutely not.

He finishes tying his tie, then settles back down at the table. Today, he'll work from home.

[for seth]

[has_a_horn]

Moments after Gabriel is done texting Seth, he finds him on the street in Alphabet City and grabs his hand. In the next moment, they are both standing on the roof of a particularly tall building, facing the giant oncoming figure.

"You see why I might need some help."

wheeee

[powerdealer]

Seth was a bit busy listening for the distant rumble, suddenly able to pick it up from the sounds of traffic, to even have time to properly look at the second text. He only gets a glance at it before Gabe is there in person, and, oh, fuck.

Gabriel really needs to learn how to give more than 5 second warnings when doing that, especially when he keeps putting Seth in terrifying situations.

For a moment he just gapes at it. At least they're not on ground level, but Seth isn't sure closer to eye level is actually any better.

"And how the fuck am I supposed to help with that?" he asks, a tad hoarsely.

[has_a_horn]

Gabriel grins at him, not especially taking note of the fact that this might be a terrifying situation. "I think I've got something for that."

He pulls a longbow out of nowhere. It shines, golden and glowing with unnatural light. The quiver of arrows, likewise, seem otherworldly. Gabriel offers them up with little ceremony. Their appearance should do the explaining for him. "They were created for human hands. I can't use 'em."

[powerdealer]

"Great. That's totally helpful. Thanks." The sarcasm is strong with this one. He does, however, grab the longbow and quiver from him. Possibly magical weapons are better than none, right? Even if he has no idea how to use them. Well, only a theoretical idea, anyway.

"You couldn't have gotten me a celestial handgun or something?," he asks, still pretty intensely skeptic about this. The only reason he's not flat-out panicking or running away is because, well, at this point he mostly trusts Gabe not to let Seth get killed.

[has_a_horn]

"Sorry, the ancient Norse gods didn't think to invent handguns before they made their weapons of power. You don't have to be a weapons genius. It does most of the work." Godzilla shrieks out a ear-splitting roar and Gabriel turns to watch it get closer to them. "One catch though. You have to really feel it. If you don't want to use it to kill, it won't. Then we'll have a mighty pissed off lizard on our hands."

He hoists the quiver onto Seth's shoulder for him. "Got it?"

[wildmage_daine]

Daine's in the park when she hears the screech, and for a moment, she wonders if Zagreus hasn't heeded her warning and has gone and pulled a dinosaur out of the dreaming. If so, he is in for a scolding. She turns in the direction of the sound, but doesn't see anything. Nor does she feel anything; the only minds within her range belong to creatures she already knows or migratory birds passing through. And whatever produced that noise ought to be well within her range.

She needs to get a closer look.

The TARDIS isn't that far away, but Daine doesn't see the point in bothering her or the Doctor until she knows what's going on. Instead, she dumps her bag alongside the ship's wooden exterior where random folk won't notice it. As she shifts into falcon shape, her clothing joins the bag in an untidy heap. She shrugs her way out of her shirt collar, ruffles her feathers, and then takes to the sky.

From this vantage point, it doesn't take her long to spot the creature storming out of the river. Goddess, look at the size of it! This isn't any dinosaur Daine knows. She speeds toward it, silently calling, Hello? Can you hear me?

[has_a_horn]

Godzilla doesn't hear Daine, nor does he hear anything at all. He trundles out, feet smashing through seaside storage containers and then moving his way through seaside building, sloshing up vast quantities of water as he goes.

Gabriel, however, does notice Daine's mind flying close to his illusion. It's not a situation that he'd thought about when he'd first created the illusion. He can pretend to be a giant lizard all that he likes, but he can't communicate like a giant lizard.

Godzilla rumbles in response and turns towards her.

[wildmage_daine]

That's not quite the response she'd been hoping for, but at least the creature seems to be paying attention to her. Please, she calls out, you have to stop this! You're going to hurt folk, and then you're going to get hurt! Odd's bobs - is any of this getting through? Daine swoops around its head, wishing it would speak. Go back into the river - you'll be safer there! And so will everyone else, though Daine's plenty concerned for this enormous creature's welfare, too.

[has_a_horn]

He still has no idea what she's actually trying to say, but he can guess it's something like 'go away'. He could do just that, have Godzilla trundle back into the sea, but how anticlimactic would that be?

Instead, the great winged figure of Mothra flops it's way from behind Daine towards Godzilla. Seeing its new foe, Godzilla forget Daine and trundles towards the creature, roaring and spouting flame from it's mouth. Mothra just misses being torched and flies off in the direction of the river.

Godzilla follows, and as they reach the edge, Mothra somehow picks up the great lizard and flies away.

[wildmage_daine]

Goddess, now there's another one! But this one is some sort of enormous moth! Daine veers out from between the two behemoths and circles around them as they square off. STOP! she calls, punctuating it with a shriek. As Godzilla spouts a jet of flame, she casts her magic out like a net. STOP THIS!

They aren't listening.

As they head for the river, she imagines the destruction they might wreak on the other side. As the moth somehow picks up the lizard, she wonders, what will happen if he drops him? How many folk will die if she just lets them go?

She casts out her magic again, this time not toward the monsters, but down and out, toward the trees on either side of the river. She needs help - all the winged help she can get. The fledglings she instructs to stay behind, but the more experienced fliers rise into the sky in a great, dark cloud, the air filled with their chattering. Starlings, crows, seagulls, pigeons, sparrows - thousands of them respond to her call for aid. Maybe they can sort of herd the two monsters into the river and toward the sea…?

Daine lets out a piercing cry and pursues the great beasts with her enormous flock around her. It doesn't even occur to her that she's technically leaving the island.

[edgar_sawtelle]

Edgar's plonked down on the grass by the water, staring toward the Metropolitan Museum of Art and contemplating going inside to tackle another one of the exhibits, when the screaming starts. He whips around, looking across the water to see people streaming in his direction, all with looks of terror on their faces. Many are screaming, a few falling as they stare back over their shoulders, only to claw their way to their feet again and continue on in a panic.

Almondine quivers beside him, and Edgar runs a hand down her back.

As the swarm of people nears the water, it splits in two, people dodging left or right around the obstacle. Edgar, on the far side, is safe from trampling as the two crowds don't follow the shore, but choose instead to continue straight once they get far enough around to reclaim their original direction.

As they pass, he turns to look back in the direction from which they came. There's a low rumble in the ground, and a sharp roar rends the air just as the head of the beast becomes visible.

Edgar, sitting by the water, watching the thing slowly amble closer, sighs.

/Here we go again,/ he tells Almondine.

[has_a_horn]

With less buildings to work around and smash through, Godzilla ambles closer perhaps more quickly than Edgar will be expecting. As the great creature makes it's way through the park, it smashes great trees and the occasional statue into rubble.

As it get's closer to Edgar and Almondine's location, a man sprints out towards them, colliding roughly before grabbing him by the shoulders. "We need to get out of the way."

[ooc: this is an illusion!gabe, as the real one is on top of a building somewhere. As such, Edgar can feel him, but he won't be able to communicate with him by touch because hes not really there.]

[edgar_sawtelle]

Edgar blinks at the man, who seems to have appeared out of nowhere. If he's a straggler from the crowd that already stampeded past, he's a rather belated straggler.

Almondine seems to agree with the stranger's assessment, nudging against Edgar's legs in an effort to move him along. Edgar glances around, not sure if they should take cover or try to get out of the creature's path.

Go where? he asks the man. Maybe he has an idea.

[has_a_horn]

"You just going to stare at me the whole time or are you gonna get going?" He notes Almondine's actions and nods down to her. "She's got the right idea. Come on."

He grabs him by the shirt and tugs.

[edgar_sawtelle]

Edgar frowns - didn't the guy hear him just ask where they should go? A cold chill runs through him. He almost worries they've lost the ability to communicate again, but he can understand the man just fine and Almondine can understand him, so that can't be it.

He contemplates reaching out to grab the man's wrist and more deliberately and directly asking his question. The roars of the monster are getting louder, though, so he doesn't fight the tug of his shirt or the insistence to move. Deciding to just follow the man, he takes off running, Almondine galloping along at his side.

[for peter]

[has_a_horn]

Gabriel arrives in Peter's apartment, glowing faintly with holy light, a huge flaming sword slung over one shoulder. He's hoping to make enough of an impression here to convince Peter to come play 'kill the dragon' with him.

[fucking_ebay]

For once, Peter is wearing pants. That means he's just scrambling to strap on a pair of shoes when Gabe announces his imminent arrival. Gabe probably just wants to watch a movie or go get a drink, he thinks, and is being an ass about it. When the angel actually shows up looking like -- well, like an angel -- Peter stops with one shoe on and the other in his hand and just gapes.

[has_a_horn]

With a snap of Gabe's fingers, Peter is fully dressed, complete with coat. He really doesn't want to wait around while Peter dazedly searches for the thing.

He swings the sword around until he's holding it out with both hands, solemnly offering it. The blue flames flick across his skin without doing any damage, and it glows brighter the closer it gets to Peter as if reacting to his presence. "I've chosen you to bear the sword, Peter."

[fucking_ebay]

But is he really dressed or is that, too, an illusion?

Peter takes a step back, holding up his hands in a very definite display of Not Touching That. "What?" he asks, sounding for a second like a different man with the same face. "No. Definitely not."

[johnny_truant]

Johnny just wanted to take a fucking walk.

Getting out on his own, giving Jodie and Aiden a break from him - seeing the sights or whatever... enjoying this lovely day. But NO. That's just TOO MUCH TO ASK. First it's a dream with drunks and dinosaurs, and now it's Godfuckingzilla.

"No, no, NO, I am TOO ASIAN for this shit," he snaps to no one. No one's listening anyway, everyone's too busy, you know, panicking.

He tries to stagger back but he slams into an abandoned taxi instead. The monster is approaching.

Johnny checks the car. Keys still in the ignition. Is this a stupid thing to do? Is this the WORST thing to do? Probably.

He opens the passenger door and hurls himself in, bangs his head on the steering wheel, FUCK. Foot stuck in the door. Scrambing for the seatbelt. This was definitely a dumb idea. It's getting closer.

[has_a_horn]

Everyone is panicking, it seems, but Gabriel, who is having a hell of a good time. Unfortunately, he's kind of missed the fact that he's the only one having fun.

Before Johnny can get the cab started, Gabriel shoves himself into the backseat of the cab and turns to look out the back window, arm flailing in a 'go forward' motion that suggests he's part of the panicked masses. "Well, drive! Do you not see Godzilla back there?"

[johnny_truant]

"OH REALLY THANKS FOR THAT," Johnny all but shrieks as he yanks his foot free from the door and fumbles the rest of the way into the driver's seat. Fuck the seatbelt. He turns the key hard and forces the car into gear, and he floors it. The previous owner is not the only person who thought it prudent to ditch his car, so the obstacles are plentiful. Johnny veers wildly through the maze, thinking of Kyrie -- remember when life was simple and girls would just drive you up mountain roads at insane speeds and then they'd have sex with you and then their psycho boyfriends would try to kill you? yeah those were the days -- and he winds up half on the sidewalk, barreling through abandoned kiosks like he's in a goddamn action movie.

"You should know I'm not a cabbie," he yells over his shoulder. "So I ain't taking you anywhere, except away from that." Actually maybe he should. He could use some cash.

[has_a_horn]

Gabe doesn't have a psycho boyfriend, if that helps?

This is great. He likes this guy's initiative too. Apparently this is who he should be going to if he wants to be thrown head-first into an action movie at a moment's notice. He takes a tonal cue from Johnny and yells back as they zigzag back and forth among stalled traffic. "YOU THINK I'M SIGHTSEEING? Just keep going!"

He cringes as they plow through a roadside kiosk. After the seconds, Gabriel makes a decision. A few more of those and the cab is going to be permanently out of service. This calls for a change in plan. He bangs on the glass separating the front and back seats, trying to grab his attention. "HEY. Hey, turn right up here. I know somewhere safe." He braces an arm as they side-check into another kiosk. "Just turn RIGHT. Fuck!"

[bluesuit_handy]

Someone needs to tell Andrew he shouldn't be running to the rescue in his condition. The actual running probably isn't bad for the baby, but James might not be thrilled if he knew Andrew was risking being stepped on. It's for a good cause, though; he's busy herding people out of the path of the giant lizard. Stopping in the mouth of an alley from which he can see the beast -- Godzilla -- he stares up at it a moment before looking around sharply. Distraction, distraction -- if he can lure it back out into the river, he can at least put a delay on the carnage. Catching its attention, though, that's the tough part. Maybe a giant pile of dead fish? No, too easy for Godzilla to overlook. Maybe a commandeered car with lots of dead fish strapped to it?