[ As always feel free to make up your own prompt or hit me up for further plotting in PM or hopewillbloom! All figment threads will have their own OPEN toplevels below. This is just to ensure CWs and the like are clearly avoidable. ]
I. SHITLIST(L7)
[ Only in horror movies do people go running into immediate danger. That, perhaps, or super hero movies. Which is to say, Nebula knowing that new buildings opening means something new will happen doesn't prevent her from going. Since Quill veto'd blowing up City Hall - rude really - their only leads are whatever this place deems to show them. So while she had no need of new clothes or other trinkets she's not going to pass up another opportunity. ]
[ Even if she's prepared herself for disappointment. ]
[ At least the adventure seems to be shaking up to be more exciting than the bank. Her senses aren't for the supernatural, but they're sharp enough to feel the crisp air change as she's eyeing something in the food court - decidedly against trusting prepared food around here these days - and the lights snap off. ]
[ Twirling around her dark eyes narrow before she lets out a breath through her nostrils. In the next instant, her left hand turns from neatly formed wires to the form of a flashlight, flicking on and dragging over the area. Pausing briefly as it comes across another and she hisses:]
Get over here.
[ No reason to wander around in the dark when you can have a personal blue flashlight??? ]
II. I WILL DARE (THE REPLACEMENTS)
[ Once she's either dropped anyone she's found off or begrudgingly accepted they're along for the ride, Nebula doesn't linger in the open space of the mall. She does find the maintenance hall rather quickly. Doesn't hesitate to open the door for EMPLOYEES ONLY, no matter if someone protests. She keeps the arm that's now a flashlight out with a scowl. ]
[ The lights beat down in red and the graffiti makes her spine stand straighter even if she only gives a small 'tfft'. ]
Don't make promises you can't keep.
[ At the very least, she has no fear of going alone. That's the only thing she says before turning down the opposite direction of others. Towards the electrical room. An investigation of the circuitry there shows they're all in the right spots and her brows crease further: ]
So it's not electrical.
[ With the tone of someone who doesn't want to believe it's magic either. ]
... Water under the bridge? But there's no bridges.
[ Sometimes you don't learn all Earth wittisms. But she thinks, quietly, it's probably something with that. Last time it was to share and now...? ]
III. EMPTY BED (SAINT PUNK)
[ Despite the warnings in the maintenance hall, Nebula doesn't mind going it alone. It's far more comfortable than the strangers running too-and-froe in a panic. Perhaps it's the running that gets her, because there's some instinctual need to do the right thing that doesn't have her disappear entirely. (Even when she sees him and wants to stab him). ]
[ It would be smarter to keep to yourself, to not stay in one place too long. But there are still children in there - a few she knew in passing - and getting them out and too safety surpassed her own needs. So, she doesn't settle with the groups, but she makes note of where they are. Especially if they're ones they know and she finds supplies. ]
[ Nebula doesn't need supplies in the same way as they do. Not as much. So when she approaches it's with a thin expression, dark eyes not quite matching gaze as she tosses over a water: ]
Find a place to sleep?
[ That's not the tone of someone saying she'll find one for them if not - Or perhaps it's almost telling them they need to get some rest. ]
I AGAINST I (MOS DEF AND MASSIVE ATTACK) CW: This prompt includes Alternate Timeline Nebula, a past version of the current Nebula. Because of this it has elements of what someone may consider self-harm.
[ Nebula does not need to look over her shoulder to know she is there. There is no question the figure she'd seen is not far away. She knew her well and if there was a target she wanted to kill, she would not let it go far from her grasps. She would savior victory, because victory wasn't something she knew — especially for one she would think to be weak. ]
[ It wouldn't matter that the one who was weak was her. ]
[ Nebula knows she's there and feels no desire to meet her. It's not fear that keeps her one step ahead, but knowledge. If this was who she thought it was, there was only one way for it to end. The way it had ended before or something new, something this place twists and knots in ways to make you feel lost. Aside from their current location, it's the first time in her life she's not felt lost. ]
[ About who she is. What she is. Who she wants to be and the purpose she has. Had. It's had now, because this god-forsaken city stripped everything and the only thing she has is steel will and iron purpose. Both, she refuses to be shaken by a ghost of the past. ]
[ So she doesn't run from this one exactly, but she keeps her guard up - Never too close. A constant eye on the distance, even as others come and go. This is one she doesn't want to meet soon and so she won't. Bides her time until finally something flicks on in her and it's her turn to chase - to meet. And the woman she does isn't so different, but the few differences are stark. ]
We meet again.
[ Her voice is cold and dry, not like meeting an old friend. Not like meeting a foe either. It's understanding met with a steel gaze while the other - the other her smiles viciously and lunges. ]
(TW: Minor fight scene, links and elaborates on a scene from Endgame resulting in past Nebula death)
You are weak.
I am you.
[ The response is growled out, met with a scoff of irony as the other aims for a hit and she dodges. She's reminded so much of how much power she wanted then. That this figment's first thing is to remind her - just as the same self had back then. She's weak. She's always been weak, it's a fact she won't accept of herself. ]
[ And yet, that does not mean she'll accept this one calling her as much. Even if there's a long ache of understanding in her chest as hands finally grip others. No gun, but a hand to the throat is just enough and then, like the flashbang of a bomb, she's sent spiraling back in time. This is a memory she knows. It's one (1) she's replayed (2) a dozen times or more before. ]
[ It hits hard and fast. The one she comes across a twisted, bitter thing. Someone that's been tortured and knows failure will mean her death - someone who has to survive, must survive. To prove herself. (In her secret hopes, in the mind no one else could read: to find a way to free herself one day). But in that moment she sees no escape, sees no hope - It does not matter she can change. He will not let her.]
[ And so she shoots. A second too late, because she knew as well as the other her intent. She would not want to kill her sister, the sister she always had wanted and - so. She fired a second too late. This would be the Nebula that had died before she found herself, or her freedom. ]
[ In another time she would die in that twisted misery. She knows it well, even if in the present the current Nebula swallows hard. Stares at the mannequin who's neck now remains gripped between her fingers.]
[ And then she kicks it, hard, until it scatters and breaks into the ground. Noise be damned. ]
GOD COMPLEX (PERTUBATOR) CW: Includes her adoptive father Thanos. By consequence elements of child abuse, torture, and grooming as a living weapon. Feel free to meet her at any point during this prompt: seeing him on the cameras, chasing him down (angrily), meeting or anytime else! Wide open.
[ He is dead. Twice over. ]
[ Nebula knows this to be fact. ]
[ It's not like Gamora where the present Gamora had died and the past one lived. He was dead. In all angles. But then, wasn't the Gamora that was alive in this city also dead? ]
[ She should have expected the inevitability that he could be brought here. Somewhere, she knows, she did think it was possible - that it would happen, but she did not allow herself to. So when she sees him in the security cameras... Nebula was quick to step away, to shove anyone who was with her out the door. ]
You can't stay here.
[ The statement is snapped out, lowly and dangerously. Not quite a yell, but it sounds it to her ears. Her fingers itch for the knife she's strapped to her leg - nothing fancy, just a good kitchen knife. But if you asked her, she didn't need more. ]
[ Not for most things, but she wasn't as confident about it with him. ]
[ Anger. It's a thing that lived inside Nebula. It's the thing that had driven her purpose for living and moving forward for so long. The way it envelops her is that of an old friend, comforting and welcome. To anyone she meets, she's quick to snap to get out of the way. Quiet be damned. Graffiti signs of sticking together be damned. ]
[ The only thing that matters is this: She will find him. And kill him. Again and again if she has to (and given the length of time they're stuck in there, perhaps it will be more times than she'd appreciate). ]
[ She remembers once when she was close to escaping him if Ronan killed him... She ran, for the first time in her life. To be free of him. She does not run now. Even when her chase meets her with the large, purple man. He smiles calmly, like he expected this. She feels small. Knows that smile is not what it seems. ]
Daughter.
[ She goes for the knife at her side. He does not pay it any mind, disappointment on his features: ] Ah. I see you do choose your weakness.
[ She doesn't flinch, but instinctively the other hand moves to brush her left eye. The eye that's no longer covered in the machinery he forced upon her. She resists the urge to spit and for a moment there's calm - ]
[ In the time they'd been in the mall, Nebula hadn't really hid. She didn't not pay mind to the other Nebula. She hunted to kill her father (again and again). So far, she has chosen not to hide - ]
[ That is until the morning she sees the bush of a furry tail. There are no animals in this city (save a certain cat). For there to be one now, in this mess of a mall, means that it's another one of those. Indeed, her skin itches. The desire to get far away. She's not so sure if it's the strange compelling urge or her own desire. ]
[ Because by now she knows what happens when you see those figments. She knows that should they meet, this place will gift them another vision. The visions aren't real. Or maybe they are. One of them has been for her, hasn't it? Even so, as foolish as it is — She does not want one to come to pass. Not to him. ]
[ Never to him. ]
[ By now, she's found a rhythm in this place. Finding a way to get the others out - any straggling children - takes precedence over the haunting feeling of ghosts come out to play. She keeps close to those she's met and when she sees the bushy tail come closer. Show in full form, a grin that's all teeth she looks away. ]
[ If someone else notices him, she shakes her head and pushes them back: ]
We need to move.
[ She has no interest in seeing what this place wants to display. (It's too bad you can't run forever). ]
AU Information:AU Page I'm still not entirely happy with it and working out some things! Abilities and God Names are forever something I'm like ??? about
Whereas many of the ascended Summoned begin taking on more Eldrich or God-like form Nebula will kind of revert. This is intentional because if you don't know her character: Nebula was taken apart and put back together more times than you can count with prosthetic enhancements she never asked for as a form of abuse and torture. For Nebula who already considers her body not her own/made to be a weapon, becoming a god and her powers aligning with restoration/resetting points in time to heal it makes sense for her to be the her she could have been. Without Thanos's influence.
Which is the point/character arc of this godly adventure for Nebula. Because of her failing electronic parts - namely her brain - she'd have forgotten some details around like the year 50-100 mark about her family. She won't remember Thanos or Gamora early on and she'll have the faint imprints of a childhood of Luphom. Most of her life is a blank space until becoming a sort of Avenger which is kind of ???? That means it defines her morality and she doesn't know why she became the way she does.
This will allow for some drastic character development early on which is - namely - a softer version of herself. The fun thing about side MCU stuff! Is it very blatantly tells us that if left be Nebula would be a much gentler person who wants to look out for others and specifically trust them. She so desperately wants to trust and this Nebula will trust far more easily.
While she doesn't remember the exactness, Nebula doesn't like abuse or control. Or those who would harm the weak [especially children]. She's always been much more likely to answer to to those who faced some kind of cruelty - natural disasters, loss of limb or home, etc. And it's why she's known in places that need to rebuild more than others.
Catalysts:
Since memory issues were kind-of-sort-of an issue Nebula is facing anyway - very angrily about - when she does eventually forget more she doesn't. She cares, but she's building herself up more. And as long as she remembers Rocket she thinks? She's fine not remembering other things? Since she's kind of forgotten when she looked like before but hasn't forgotten entirely, because you can't forget that pain especially as a God! She's gonna go why do I want to remember horrible stuff anyway are you sure it was real to begin with?
[No]
She is who she is now, which is part of her resistance stuff oops.
Catalyst wise there are a few ways to go about it: Seeing unasked for Augmentation (hi Viktor). Hopelessness, especially, like feeling they're imprisoned and can't escape? Since this Nebula is free and more at home with herself she'll feel inclined to help but not ? really know why? It could trigger something especially if the person feels they will never be able to live as their own person. This can appear in a few different ways and I'm willing to work with anything.
There's also the chance of family/found family connections, because I think the reminder of Gamora being a trigger is also a good one! Since she is a [complicated] positive force.
Reawakening:
As mentioned above, since she'll be more at peace with herself and has accepted she's forgotten these things... It's taken 800 years, why is she going to want to go back? Especially since at this point her driving force - Knowhere and its children - are well behind her and she can help now.
She will be resistant because Nebula is simply resistant to be so some days! But I am willing to work things out and with anything.
Behavior:
Since we've been told Nebula's character is a result of her abuse and specifically Karen has stated: "what do you do when the source of your trauma is gone?" "how do you show the personality that was stunted for survival"? It's kind of the angle we're going for her!
If you've seen What if? Heist Nebula that's kind of a direction to go: A much more social, teasing, and friendly person. A lot more physical, and more of a romantic. More willing to be sassy as well as funny. Not as no-nonsense, but still willing to do the dirty work if needed.
Morally, very much a person looking to do right by those who need it. As they kind of do: being willing to steal from the rich to give to the needy kind of thing.
So for those who know her as a no-nonsense, nearly expressionless kind of person she's the opposite. She's much more willing to be herself and to trust others. There's definitely core traits that remain, that protective and sharp nature. She's still honest. While she doesn't live in anger when she does get angry it's still not something you want to deal with.
Wanted History & CR:
I think for my sanity kind of glossing over the 800 years is best but I am happy to make up events that involve other characters or things. Nanaue decides a birthday for her and gives her presents every year so it becomes a minor celebration in one town??? Sold, let's go. I'm interested in her having lost her temper One Time maybe at someone who was acting vengeful towards people and maybe oops to a small village?
Something along those lines.
Otherwise, since as a character, she's losing a lot of her history but her desire for things won't be lost... Because she values freedom [over herself] and family. She won't forget these are important to her which will make her more overprotective of the people she does care about???
👾 Found family! She does have a few connections being worked on here, but as an aspect of renewal kind of... making your own family, your own purpose is probably some kind of attribute of hers. And really all anyone ever has to do is suggest they're family for her to groan and go along with it [ thanks Drax! ] even if she never openly admits it all the time. So ?? Siblings to look after? Children. Please one of the cutest things is that Gunn called Nebula on Mother's Day. It was cute. 👾 ????? Romantic Relationships???? Considering how little good physical contact she had in life she is probably a little adverse to intimacy and it does probably take her a while to think she deserves love/romance in that way. Like a long while. But maybe after a couple hundred of years ??? Someone is able to warm their way in. Or multiple. She'll be a little more open as time goes on.
Just accept that you'll have to accept a raccoon being just as/more important than you, sorry.
But I do think some kind of long-term thing would be nice... Let her love and learn to love, ty.
👾 People to look after??? So yeah Nebula is gonna be more open and honest but she is still slightly tsundere. She might get mad at your character and ignore them but if they're in trouble show up before disappearing [ looking at you Rocket]. Just because she dislikes something doesn't mean she's going to abandon someone, so I think learning more about this protective/a little too trusting nature can be interesting. Please know it's a thing that Nebula tries to help Gamora a lot during their childhood just for Gamora to... let her starve, throw her off cliffs, etc. So I think playing into that angle where even if they abuse her she'll still try and protect them is fun??? Somehow???
Other plans:
I don't have any strict plans! I do want to use this to increase CR. Playing with the angle of remembering most/all of it, I think it's good to jumpstart some things if people want! Especially with Nebula who is a very difficult character right now. She'll be more protective of characters and willing to engage in the setting/have fun/relax after the event with people she knows better through it.
Because irregardless if it's a real reality or not it was real to them and these are her people now?
I also want to use it to kind of unlock/unveil some of her issues to those who might want it: Like her body being augmented, how she came to be the way she is, what she could be. It'll be fun to get into the meat of it later because she'll especially be horrified and mad at being mad vulnerable despite not wanting to give it up.
She's stupid.
It's not about the Godhood it's about the feeling free, okay.
Catalysts: (What memories are you planning on taking away? What type of catalyst are you thinking of that will bring them back? Do you want any characters to be involved with this?)
Reawakening: (How will your character approach their reawakening? Will they be resistant or will they be the one trying to convince others of the truth?)
Behavior: (How will your character behave while in the emergent reality? Will they be very different than their usual self? Will they answer echoes? Will they abuse their newfound powers and status or will they reject them? Will they strike a good balance? Any lessons you want them to learn?)
Wanted History & CR: (Are you filling in any blanks in your character's history that you'd like to involve others in? Do you want to establish any changes to existing CR and/or new CR? Would you like someone to have betrayed your character in this new reality? Do you want to fast-forward a friendship or a romance?)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
OOC / WILDCARD
I. SHITLIST(L7)
II. I WILL DARE (THE REPLACEMENTS)
III. EMPTY BED (SAINT PUNK)
no subject
I AGAINST I (MOS DEF AND MASSIVE ATTACK)
CW: This prompt includes Alternate Timeline Nebula, a past version of the current Nebula. Because of this it has elements of what someone may consider self-harm.
no subject
GOD COMPLEX (PERTUBATOR)
CW: Includes her adoptive father Thanos. By consequence elements of child abuse, torture, and grooming as a living weapon.
Feel free to meet her at any point during this prompt: seeing him on the cameras, chasing him down (angrily), meeting or anytime else! Wide open.
no subject
MR BLUE SKY (ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA)
CW: Possibly animal cruelty mentions.
no subject
Assignment: Guardian of the Reassembled
AU Information: AU Page I'm still not entirely happy with it and working out some things! Abilities and God Names are forever something I'm like ??? about
Catalysts:
Reawakening:
Behavior:
Wanted History & CR:
Other plans:
no subject
Assignment: Guardian of the Gliding Leaf
AU Information: AU Page
Catalysts: (What memories are you planning on taking away? What type of catalyst are you thinking of that will bring them back? Do you want any characters to be involved with this?)
Reawakening: (How will your character approach their reawakening? Will they be resistant or will they be the one trying to convince others of the truth?)
Behavior: (How will your character behave while in the emergent reality? Will they be very different than their usual self? Will they answer echoes? Will they abuse their newfound powers and status or will they reject them? Will they strike a good balance? Any lessons you want them to learn?)
Wanted History & CR: (Are you filling in any blanks in your character's history that you'd like to involve others in? Do you want to establish any changes to existing CR and/or new CR? Would you like someone to have betrayed your character in this new reality? Do you want to fast-forward a friendship or a romance?)
Other plans: (Anything not covered above!)