the point is, you are alive when they start to eat you. so you know, try to show a little respect.

[beyondriftmods]

Falling asleep on the 31st of January may be either an easy or difficult task for supernaturals in Chicago this year, but every one of them will eventually succumb, either by choice or by the Rift nudging (read: shoving) them into the Sandman's arms.

*

Journal entries about psychic visions of dinosaurs had appeared some nights ago; they went unnoticed by most, and the few that did notice shrugged the concerns away as someone else going crazy in public. This is an understandable reaction, given recent events, which is just as well because the predictions weren't exactly correct.

The truth is, dinosaurs aren't being transported to Chicago. It's the other way around.

Mundane humans won't make this journey; they'll remain in town with no clue—as always—that anything out of the ordinary is happening. A few lucky supernatural Chicagoans will find themselves thankfully(?) stuck in an invisible Rift or swallowed down a rabbit hole (the Rift isn't always so great at navigating, you know) with no idea that everyone else is on a journey back in time—about 144 million years back, to be precise. (Give or take a few million years. We can't all be paleontologists.)

*

If this place had a sign, it would say Welcome to the Cretaceous Period! Population: NO HUMANS.

Unfortunately, there is no sign. But there are signs.

Upon waking, those who've made the journey will immediately notice near-sweltering heat, unfamiliar vegetation, pools of pristine water with unfamiliar life gathered in and 'round, and those weird sounds in the distance that kind of sounds like dinosaur calls? Are dinosaur calls. (In case anyone thinks that's not possible, it won't take long for the ground to start vibrating with some very large footsteps, and by the time that happens, they'll probably be close enough to see. And seeing means being seen.) Nothing will look familiar except, perhaps, the other people waking up nearby. Jurassic Park fans and the like may think they recognize a thing or two.

This is where everyone will be stuck until those that survive are thrown back into the city five days from now, on the 4th of February.

Don't take too long adjusting to this sudden change of scenery, however, because this world—much like Chicago—is all about survival.

Except the chances of dying here are way, way higher.

Run, hide, form groups, work together—do what you have to do to stay alive.

(Unless you don't want to stay alive, in which case, please, be our guest and get eaten and/or stomped on and/or sat on... you get the picture.

Also, please watch your step. You really don't want to trek dinosaur droppings back into the modern age.)

Comments

[darkgathersin]

Theta wakes in a nest of leaves and grass, unsure of where he is but very confident that it isn't his bedroom.

"Hello," he questions to no one in particular. The noises strike him as odd but not unfamiliar. He has most of his memories at hand today, so he recognizes the old calls of beasts long dead.

But wait, that's wrong. Why does he hear that, why is it so hot? Why....Why does everything seem wrong.

He gets to his feet, moving uneasily at first until he gets the feeling back in his legs. He starts walking, bare feet making no noise against the ground, as he know show to be quiet and he feels as if doing so would probably be the best thing.

He's going to be wandering around, exploring the world and possibly climbing up a tree to try and get a better idea of what exactly is going on and where he is.

[emovere]

This is really not what Lena Austen meant when she said she needed a vacation.

Sure, she'd like a bit of crispy warmth and sun. This isn't exactly what she had in mind, however. It's been at least an hour since she first woke up in the jungle, roaming around in hopes of finding other signs of human life, most especially familiar faces. No such luck.

It's around this time Lena bumps into one of those familiar faces, and while she's relieved to see someone she knows, she is still greatly unsettled they are here to begin with.

"Theta?" she asks, the concern evident in her tone of voice as she steps on closer.

[imwotchingyou]

The night before Tonks had fallen asleep on the small sofa in her room. She had been doing some filing after putting Maia to bed. Another cheating spouse case needed to be put to rest as well. She disliked cases like that. It did not make her feel good about marriage or a long-term commitments. She didn't like not feeling good, however, if she was honest with herself cases like that made up the bulk of her work. It paid the bills so she tried to ignore it.

The hour did not grow late but that did not stop Tonks from feeling very tired. Without so much as taking off her shoes, she laid her head on the rest of her sofa. She told herself that a little nap would sort her out. It would be short, she thought.

She thought wrong. Nymphadora Tonks should have listened to Shawn Spencer.

What wakes her isn't Maia's crying. The seven month old baby is not crying. In fact, the seven month old baby is happily sitting up and looking around at everything. What wakes Tonks up is the slowly growing sensation that someone is cooking her alive.

"Why is it so bloody hot?" She says to herself (thinking that there is no one else but Maia in her room) as she sits up. "Did I leave the heat on too high?"

She reaches up at wipes her brow and it's then that she realizes that she's not in her room. Tonks isn't even in the Tower. She doubts she's still in Chicago. The string of curses she lets out is both colorful and impressive. However, it is doubtful that Merlin ever owned a pogo stick.

[neversought]

Harry thankfully fell asleep with his glasses on or he would be in real trouble at the moment, because he literally cannot see without them. His wand was also in his hand, because he'd been reading another book trying to figure out how to tear this horcrux side out of him without dying. Both of these seem to be a good thing given he is suddenly waking up in the middle of... what looks like a giant jungle. The heat is sticky and hot, and he's wearing pajamas of his own.

Nothing fancy, just dark pants with a t-shirt, but he... didn't expect anyone would see him in them.

Or that he would be waking up outside in the heat, and he stares around at all the... everything. It takes him a moment before he notices Tonks and bloody hell Maia. The roar that he hears in the distance is a terrifying one. IT'd be bad enough if he saw Tonks alone (he already knows what it's like to see her dead), but Maia too? Fear hits him hard at the sight of her.

Harry gets to his feet, rushing over to the both of them. "I don't think we're safe," he says as soon as he gets to them, and he's biting down a string of curse words too, because he can't-

This is not good.

[inthistwilight]

Dylan was actually sleeping quite well. She was curled up and not having bad dreams like she normally does. She wakes up feeling too warm. And only in the faint edges of wakefulness does the idea of awh no, the heating’s gone weird come into her head. But as she pulls herself more out sleep, she realises things aren’t right. She’s lying on something uncomfortable – did she fall out of bed? And she no longer has a quilt on her – did she kick it off? But then how is it still so hot? It’s only until she opens her eyes that it really hits home. Sort of.

…… what.

Scrubbing the sleep from her eyes, she sits up and looks around, utterly bewildered. She’s in the middle of… well, nowhere. A tropical forest or something. A moment passes and there’s a sickly feeling in her stomach. She gets to her feet, brushing herself down and still looking around. She doesn’t like this. Alone. In the rainforest. In her pyjamas.

THIS IS NOT O--Oh, hey, she has her sword. Nifty.

Dylan’s glad about that. Her sword is security blankie. It’s never too far these days, even when she sleeps. It’s a thing. She’s glad she has things like this. She’ll need it. Well, she has a feeling she’ll need it because this is not cool.

She doesn’t have long to dwell on her current situation though. There’s a growl and it’s nearby. And growls are not good things. Not monster growls, not even hungry stomach growls. And the sight that greets her when she turns her head to the sound’s direction is not what she’s expecting, not in the slightest.



It’s a freaking dinosaur.

It looks… hungry.

Oh, god.

Very slowly and carefully, not even daring to breathe, she reaches for her sword. She doesn’t dare take her eyes off of it. It’s shorter than her, but she’s seen dinosaur movies before and if this is a dinosaur and she’s not dreaming, then it can still eat her. And.. she would not like to be eaten. Because living is… kind of nice. Nope. Dylans are not for eating.

As soon as she manages to get a grip on the handle, the creature roars at her and charges. She rips it from it’s sheath and dives out the way. Without another thought, she turns quickly, swinging with all her might and brings the blade down, aiming for the neck. There’s a sound, a spat of blood and a dull thud. She’s almost completely severed it. But it’s dead. … it’s.. dead.

…. Did she really just kill a dinosaur?

Staring down at the corpse, her face falls. Oh god, she did. She actually killed a dinosaur and she doesn’t know where she is and how does she get back to Chicago and what if she can’t back to Chicago and what if this is the Rift and she’s stuck and she doesn’t want to be stuck here and what is actually going on any more because she doesn’t actually know and now she’s alone in a forest and in her pyjamas and she’s got dinosaur blood on her and—

“FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!”

[amongthewreck]

So, that's weird.

Fletcher thinks he just saw Dylan kill a dinosaur.

He's sitting not far away, sword stretched across his lap, rubbing the side of his head like, WOW, THIS DREAM SURE IS FUCKIN' WEIRD.

Except then a mutant-sized bug lands on his arm and proceeds to impale him with a very large proboscis and the second he sees blood, he actually screams and smacks it. When he pulls his hand away, there's a red and black stain on his arm.

And insect wings stuck to his palm.

And then he screams again.

"OH MY JESUS WHAT THE FUCK DYLAN GET OVER HERE!"

[darkgathersin]

Theta hears the screaming and starts running. He has no idea what he's going to do to help but he knows he can't just let someone be alone when they sound like that.

Upon finding Dylan and the dead dinosaur, he stares, unsure of what to say.

“It's okay,” he says, coming up behind her, resting one hand on her shoulder. “It's okay, I swear. S'all gonna be fine.” he's not sure if hes' telling the truth or not but sometimes a well placed lie is all someone needs.

[archeress]

A familiar face pops up from behind a large rock.

She glances around, eyes slowly narrowing, and it takes all of ten seconds before she scrambles up onto said rock and yells, while pointing an accusatory finger, "WHAT DID YOU BUTTHOLES DO THIS TIME?"

Kenzie means it fondly.

...mostly.

Anyway, yes, this is definitely the Kenzie Douglas you remember, and yes, she has her trusty ol' bow and arrow with her, so you can all calm the hell down now, okay.

She immediately swings the quiver free from her back so she can take her jacket off. It's a military-style looking number, as is the rest of her getup. There's something different in the way she's standing, too, like she's been trained to finally stop slouching.

She also looks a little older.

Mostly, though, she looks annoyed.

[preferstotext]

Sherlock had the relatively good luck of having been awake and looking for glassware in the kitchen when the Rift decided it was time for him to fall asleep. Well, not lucky in the sense that there are dinosaurs. But lucky that he didn't get hurt as he slumped to the ground, asleep, and that he's fully dressed and has his gun and a spare clip with him.

But there are only so many bullets and Sherlock doesn't need to fire at the stegosaurus to know that unless the Rift decides to make this a five minute interlude, this is not the time to waste ammunition. Luckily for him as he scrambles out of the way, said stegosaurus was after the ferns behind him.

The detective creeps away, sticking to the shadows and trying to process dinosaurs before an unmistakeably human voice rings out. Kenzie Douglas is on a rock pointing at him. His eyes narrow, face betraying an interesting mix of "oh thank God it's not just me" and "why of all people did it have to be you?" before resettling into a familiar neutral expression.

"Do you want to alert every dinosaur in the area to our presence?" he hisses while motioning for her to get down. "And why is this even affecting you, anyway? I thought you left Chicago."

[keptonrunning]

Lola isn't sure what's going on. The last thing she remembers is falling asleep and she woke up in the middle of nowhere with her bag gone and only her rifle on her. She knows enough to call Rift shenanigans.

Strangely, she isn't too worried. The heat and the environment reminds her of home. Not Chicago home, not the place she's just come from - but her original home. Even though she knows it's not the Spanish forests she knows and loves, there's some kind of comfort in this world. More than she can say for where she's come from.

The voice is one she hasn't heard in a long time. But she remembers it well and she turns round, her eyes lowered, never quite reaching Kenzie's, there's a happy feeling in her chest.

"Kenzie?" she smiles a little, one she hasn't done in a while.

She's a little older too. And no longer human.

But she's still Lola.

for Rebekah

[somanylyrics]

Brittany did have trouble falling asleep last night, but it wasn't due to any foreshadowing or anything of the type. She had trouble falling asleep because her birthday is today. It's a little weird for her that it's already her birthday as she skipped some months somewhere between Lima and Chicago, but she doesn't mind. Last night she was both really excited for her birthday and kind of sad. She was wishing she could spend her birthday with all of her friends, but she also knew she had to be happy with what she had. Eventually, she did fall asleep.

Cut to her waking up now.

She's warm, really warm. She feels the sun on her skin which is really weird because she usually doesn't get very much sunlight in her room at the Tower. Her bed is also very uncomfortable and...she rolls onto her back...prickly? Her eyes open and she finds herself staring up at the sky above. She jerks up into a sitting position and looks around herself. She's lying on a patch of grass. There are noises echoing around her that are unfamiliar, but...something scratches at her brain that she should know that sound. She blinks and rubs the sleep from her face.

How did she get here? The ground starts the shake beneath her and she quickly twists her fingers through the grass, holding onto the ground tightly. Is it an earthquake? She's never been in an earthquake before. She really doesn't know what's going on, or where she is, and she can't help the small whimpering noise that bubbles up her throat and off of her lips.

Oh and another thing. She went to sleep naked last night, so she has, literally, nothing with her. Or on her. It's not really something that has crossed her mind yet though.

Happy Birthday, Brittany.

Re: for Rebekah

[easily]

Rebekah wakes up to a sizzling sensation.

Her last memory was sleeping on Stefan's bed. She had still been a cat then, like she has been for days now -- but now she seems to be in her regular vampire form once more. Except she's naked, and without her daylight ring which would explain the burning skin.

She cries out in pain, scrambling to find a piece of shade to hide in. It's only then that she takes in her surroundings. This doesn't look like Chicago at all.

Stefan doesn't seem to be anywhere nearby but she does recognize...the other naked girl. She had found her when she was a cat. She had seemed strange, but without her ring Rebekah's going to need help until the sun goes down. If she can at least find some mammals to kill or something she could skin them for clothes.

There are perks to being a thousand years old, and one of them is knowing how to work with fur.

But for now she's trying to move closer to Brittany, crying out in pain as the ground begins to shake, throwing her back into the sunlight.

[behindthesewalls]

It's a really good thing that Nellie sleeps with her gun at all times these days. It's pretty much,no not pretty much, it is a necessity where she's been. She had woken up the moment the sun began to rise, because she hasn't seen a whole lot of sunshine in a really long time and it was a definite surprise. She had also woken up really far away from anyone else, and immediately began to roam around, shot gun at the ready.

It's now the she finally stumbles upon people. People that look...well, normal. She keeps perfectly alert and doesn't lower the gun an inch. She can't. She doesn't trust anything right now.

See, Nellie has been away from Chicago for over a year, but she has been where she ended up for years. It hadn't been so bad to start off with. Not until the zombies. Now the world she is used to is dark, and it's rare to come across other people that are...well...people. Living and breathing people. And she's really not sure what to make of any of this. Especially because in her trek over she saw fucking dinosaurs. Dinosaurs! Yeah, she's still shaking. She has no problem blowing the head off of the undead, but dinosaurs? Completely different. Dinosaurs are freaking her the fuck out. She takes a deep breath and turns slowly, taking in the scene around her.

Yes, Chicagoans, Nellie Lachlan is back. She looks older, harder, and exhausted, but she's back. And she has no idea that she's about to see some familiar faces.

[smileforaliving]

Neal has his gun pointed right back at her but there's something in her expression that he recognizes. It's that same fear and uncertainty and distrust that he had when he first arrived, that same lack of confidence that the people he's staring at can be trusted.

He lowers the gun just a bit.

"All right," he says carefully. "Let's not get irrational. If we fire, it's going to attract something nasty and I don't know about you but I am done with dinosaurs for the day.|

[ohstarryeyed]

Cassie has to be dreaming. Because waking up to find herself in dense tropical-looking forest is not normal and surely the Rift wouldn’t take her away while she’s sleeping. But the more she wanders about, the more she the feeling of dread settles in her stomach. She’s been walking for some ten minutes now and she can’t see anything. Nothing but endless forest. Is this even a forest? It’s nothing like she’s seen before.

Concentrating too much, she stumbles on uneven ground and falls into a small hole. It’s not an ordinary hole, though. As she climbs back out and looks at it, her face falls in shock.

It’s a footprint. A huge footprint.

A few moments pass as she takes that in. And then there’s a growl. The next thing she knows, she’s screaming and running for her life.
She’s managing to keep up an advantage, her Rift power allowing her to become invisible and confuse the dinosaur off her tracks. But it’s hard to concentrate on keeping her Rift power active and running for her life, so she flashes into sight every now and then as she dashes madly through the trees.

She does not want to be dinosaur food. Ever.

[toomuchheart]

Emmanuel has been in danger since he arrived in Chicago. He's been attacked by monsters, and used his abilities -- whatever they are -- to protect people like Elena, but he still doesn't know how to control them or use them. He wishes that that isn't the answer, but he doesn't really have a choice in the matter.

Just like he doesn't really have a choice about waking up in a jungle.

He is wandering through the trees, trying to find his way back to the city, or at least some form of civilization when he hears the screaming. There's something vaguely familiar about it. He moves quickly, pushing the leaves to the side until he finds the worn path.

He recognizes the flash of blond before she's close enough to feasibly do so. The dinosaur behind her isn't unrecognizable either, and he's moving before he can even consciously realize it. He runs forward, hoping to reach her before the dinosaur does, but at some point he stops running.

He starts flying.

He swoops in, scoops up Cassie, and they land on the other side of the jungle. The second their feet are on the ground again, it's as though something in his brain unlocks, and it all comes flooding back. Who he is, what he is, everything that has ever made him Castiel.

He feels like Castiel again.

They stand in the jungle for a moment, taking the time to adjust, before looking up at her with wide eyes. "Cassie?"

[arkham_doctor]

Jonathan was never a fan of ancient history.

Things happened. People moved on and learned from their mistakes. What did it matter to him what dinosaurs roamed the planet or how, precisely, Native Americans grew corn? Besides, his very religious elementary school hadn't taught evolution properly anyway.

He had been at his desk when the Rift put him to sleep, so at least he is fully dressed as he wakes up, warm and stiff, and rolls onto his side. Just then he realizes something is amiss. He shouldn't have been able to roll over, after all, and... is that grass beneath him?

Finally, he sits up, running a hand through his hair and trying to make sense of his surroundings before realizing everything was a bit blurry. Disoriented but coherent he gets to his feet and picks his glasses up off the ground. Cursing quietly, he tries to repair the bend in the stem where he'd fallen asleep on them before putting them on.

He completely forgets the fact they don't fit quite right when he gets a good look at the surroundings.

Oh, and look. It's a bird... thing. As soon as he sees it it spots him as well, and scurries off. The surroundings look vaguely familiar, but as if out of a book illustration, not in person.

Maybe he should have paid more attention to ancient history in grade school.

[withmoreme]

There's some movement nearby after the bird thing runs off, but the cause this time is decidedly not dinosaur shaped. "Aw, you scared it off," Tony complains, ducking carefully around some brush, eyes still tracking where the dinosaur went.

[littleblonderiddle]

Juliet wakes up in the same position she'd fallen asleep in; sprawled on her belly, face smushed into a pillow, left arm stretched up and out to slip underneath the pillow next to her so she can rest her fingers atop her gun — she still doesn't sleep all her nights without waking up to harrowing nightmares about hooded kidnappers and the sensation of falling. The proximity of the weapon doesn't keep the dreams at bay, but on the nights when she wakes up gasping, breathless with panic, the solidity of the Glock refocuses and pulls her back into reality the way nothing else does. It's probably not entirely healthy, but it is what it is.

She realizes belatedly that instead of a pillow, she's currently faceplanting into grass and dirt, the earthy smell and the noises that are just all wrong — strange rustling, odd whistles and chirps — jolting her into full alertness.

"Bwha—?" In moments, she rolls to her side and from there fluidly onto her knees, the gun grasped in both hands, poised to find the target.

Except there isn't one. There's just jungle, a sea of lush greenery as far as the eye can see, all over. And the soft, incessant cacophony of noises everywhere hinting at very active animal life hiding among the plants and trees. (If she only knew.)

"...What. The hell," she breathes slowly, equal parts confusion and trepidation.

The sweltering heat registers next. Her pastel pink pajama pants and black tanktop already feel uncomfortable against her skin in the humid warmth. Climbing to her feet, Juliet pushes back rumpled strands of loose hair with one hand, fervently wishing for a hair elastic. Logic dictates that staying still increases one's chances of being found, but she doesn't know if anyone's looking. She doesn't even know where she is, much less what happened. No, this is definitely time for action.

Holding her gun with both hands, the barrel pointed down at thigh-level, Juliet ventures further into the jungle, gingerly picking her way onward with bare feet. With any luck, she'll find someone or something to clarify the situation.

[firegirl]

Katniss has trouble sleeping because of nightmares herself, and she wasn't sleeping tonight but she was coming home from being out, from hunting monsters that roam the city when the exhaustion took over her. She had collapsed on the couch with the bow and arrow on her back, fully dressed thankfully.

She is not expecting what happens. No one can be. She's never heard of dinosaurs before. They don't teach about that in her district. It was all about coal and learning how to read and write enough so they could function, but coal mining and a brief, government written history. Not whatever this is. She's never seen any place like this.

This jungle like area- the sudden shift to it is terrifying to her, because it- there aren't any buildings, aren't any people. It reminds her of the arena, and it is taking all the strength and willpower inside of her to not panic when she hears a sound to her right, and she turns sharply.

Pointing the bow and arrow toward the sound, keeping herself hidden against the tree until she recognizes who it is, and several waves of relief slam into her. It's almost hard to catch her breath from the strength of it, but she can't quite lower the bow and arrow first until she knows for sure that it's her and that she doesn't want to kill her. That that's not the game. Again.

"...Juliet?"

She's trying not to sound as completely terrified as she is, because she doesn't want to go back.

[efficacy]

Pepper comes to uncharacteristically slowly, the strange warmth seeping through her sleepwear making her lethargic. Often cold herself, she welcomes the heat — for a moment, at least. Then it just becomes kind of uncomfortable. Puzzlement follows; this doesn't seem right. Sleeping next to Tony could often be like snuggling up to a furnace, but this is a little ridiculous. Something else suddenly penetrates the sluggish haze of sleep; a lilting, high-pitched series of chirps and clicks. A bird?

Blinking drowsily, Pepper lifts her head from... the ground? and becomes cognizant of three things in rapid succession.

First of all, she's indeed lying on the ground in the middle of a jungle somewhere with no clue how that happened.

Second, Tony is not where he'd been sleeping next to her last night.

And third... there is some sort of an overgrown, bipedal lizard thing about the size of a turkey but some five feet away from where she's lying on her side, making those melodic chirps and looking a little too interested in Pepper, in her opinion. Beady eyes stare intently as its head turns and bobs like that of a curious bird.

Every muscle in Pepper's body tenses with uneasy realization as she glimpses rows of tiny, sharp teeth in its mouth, images of the creature rushing at her to test those teeth suddenly filling her head.

This is shaping up to be a great day for Pepper Potts. Um. Help?


[ ooc: feel free to tag your character running into her somewhere post-dinosaur, too! ]

[all_thecavalry]

Lois's approach to dinosaurs had been a bit like dealing with sharks. Her theory is that if she punches it in the nose, maybe it will confuse it enough that it will buy her time to get away. She hasn't exactly tested the theory yet, but she thinks it's a pretty solid one.

After all, it's dinosaurs. No one's really written a guide for dealing with these things.

Maybe Lois should write it. It would be something to do while she's in Chicago, and there's definitely no market for it. Yep. This is totally research. She can absolutely find a way to make this work.

She encounters her first dinosaur when she comes up on Pepper and her lizard friend. She tightens her grip on her stick, slowly making her way closer. "Don't make any sudden movements."

That's to Pepper. Hopefully it will work.

[detectivedipstick]

Carlton Lassiter was still rather irked at Shawn's last reply to him over the network earlier in the week. Actually, he was a little disturbed at the fact Shawn told him to not blame him if he gets eaten.

Don't blame him, right. He'd rather confess his sins to a priest.

Moving right along.

Sleep came to him rather forcefully the night of the 31st, Carlton had been in the middle of actually getting ready to sleep before the rift decided he was taking too long. He had managed gotten as far as to removing his shoulder holster and setting it aside.

He wakes up under a tree limb giving some limited amount of shade from the blistering sun, though the fact he was still in his typical pantsuit made that all for naught. He slips off his blazer and loosens his tie before finally getting a chance to take a glimpse at his surroundings.

One thing was sure: He wasn't in his room at the Kashtta, he wasn't in Chicago, and this was most certainly not Santa Barbara.

The loud screeching in the air is what his attention snaps to next, the rather large winged creature circling through the air, clearly looking for prey.

Quickly Carlton reaches to his side to grab his sidearm, only to discover it's not there.

This is turning out to be perfect. He's stuck in the middle of God-knows-where without a weapon, and whatever that thing is in the sky is surely considering making the detective his next meal.

That being said, Carlton is simply going to get moving through the jungle before Shawn's implication of being eaten actually rings true.

[archeress]

At some point, after Kenzie left whoever she was with alone — temporarily, to be sure — in a safe area, she went off in search of others. Yeah, she may be annoyed, and yeah, she may kind of blame the entire city of Chicago for missing her way too much, thus punching a hole in space-time and dragging her butt out of the coolest life ever and into the Craptaceous Period, but she could never be annoyed enough to not protect her friends.

And let's be honest, here: she's really happy to see everyone again.

Being a superhero is hard work.

"Hey!" she calls, as soon as she spies Lassiter. "Guy whose name I forgot!"

[brokeharlem]

It's not the heat or suddenly being on the ground rather than in bed that wakes Bruce up -- he has, sadly to say, gotten used to both in one form or another over the course of the last six years. No, what brings him around is a low, distant rumbling and he snaps awake immediately as it cuts through the light doze he passes off as sleep most of the time, sucking in a sharp breath through his teeth. For an instant, he's somewhere else -- Brazil, Peru, Calcutta -- then his mind catches up with with rest of him.

Unfortunately, as it turns out, he's still somewhere else. This definitely isn't Chicago, that much is clear.

Confused, Bruce pulls himself into a sit and squints into the trees. Something off to his side chitters, almost laughing, and he glances sharply in that direction and takes a moment to get a handle on his breathing. When the sound doesn't come again, he tries to tell himself that he imagined it -- or that this is a dream, but that theory falls apart when he digs his fingers into his arm and nothing happens -- as he gets to his feet. He's not sure whether or not he should be surprised that he's barefoot or that he's still wearing the rumpled button-down and slacks he fell asleep in. He decides not to dwell on it.

"Hello?" he calls to no one in particular. That's probably a bad idea, all things considered, as is wandering in the direction of more dense vegetation, but that doesn't stop him. Nor does it stop him from crouching down next to a plant he doesn't quite recognizes and tracing his fingers over its leaves. A physicist not a paleontologist, but he does know a little about plants, mostly things he picked up while researching the project that eventually lead to the Hulk or learning off beat treatments for some of the medical conditions he's dealt with, and he knows that these aren't anything he's ever seen before. "What the hell ... ?"

He pushes back to his feet and wanders further into the brush, searching for something, anything familiar. There's another trembling thud, this time closer, close enough that it makes the trees shiver, and he looks up through them, uneasiness congealing into something closer to fear in his stomach. It doesn't help that there's, well, a Tyrannosaurs Rex staring back at him, its head lowered as it snuffles at the air.

Later, he'll be pretty sure that in Jurassic Park there was some part about those things not being able to see you if you don't move, but for now, not thinking, he bolts off to one side, and the thing hesitates for only a moment before it thunders after him. It doesn't take long for him to realize that he doesn't have much of a chance to outrun it and, with the way it's flattening all of his cover as it gets close, he doubts hiding is in the cards, either. He only has one option that doesn't involve him becoming breakfast, actually. He doesn't like it much, but if he tries to keep this up, it's going to end up being less of an option and more something he can't stop.

Well, at least he's presumably alone in the middle of the jungle and not in Chicago. That helps somehow.

Skidding to a halt, he takes a deep breath and lets his fear, his anger, and the damn dinosaur catch up with him. And suddenly, easily, the T-Rex isn't the only giant green thing standing in the middle of the trees. The Hulk grins dangerously, throws back his head and roars, and leaps at the dinosaur. If he's going to end up in a Jurassic Park rip off and have to fight a dinosaur, he's going to have a little fun.


(ooc: Feel free to have spotted Bruce transforming, catch him trying to ride a dino like a cowboy might try and ride a bronco, or run into him afterward ... in the sad remains of his pants and little else.)

[kalicatastrophe]

Kali has apparently lost her boyfriend. This is a usual occurrence as she is not Bella Swan so she isn't obsessively attached to him, but as there are dinosaurs running around and she's pretty sure that she's not dreaming because she's not nearly imaginative enough to dream this -- which means that Kali has lost her boyfriend in the middle of dinosaurs. If that doesn't make a case for sleeping together, nothing will. Of course, since she woke up in the middle of not Chicago, she woke up in her pajamas, but Kali has no shame so her stolen tee shirt and underwear is not the least bit embarrassing to her.

Also makes her think its not a dream, because aren't you supposed to be naked when you dream? Maybe she is doing it wrong.

She is contemplating this when she stumbles, quite literally tripping and in her surprise flicking invisible for a moment, at the sight of a huge dinosaur... being ridden by a huge green guy. With startlingly green eyes that she recognizes. Bruce had said he was a monster, but Kali thinks he is beautiful, all gracefully sloping muscles, such hidden power and those eyes, those beautiful green eyes. How did he think he was a monster?

Briefly, her awe at him is dispelled by her distraction that he is riding a dinosaur and, to be honest, she is kind of jealous. She flickers back, all big eyes and huge smile and messy blonde hair. "Bruce!!!" She jumps up and down a moment, trying to get his attention. Jurassic Park she has not seen, someone might want to let her in on the secret that shouting at dinosaurs is not the best course of action.

Ever.

( for stefan and damon )

[badever]

Elena Gilbert wakes up in her pajamas and nothing but her pajamas, surrounded by nothing but foliage and the immediate understanding something is very, very wrong. This is not the couch she fell asleep in at the brownstone, with her journal on her lap and a half-forgotten cup of coffee on the table. This isn't Chicago. The possibilities swirling around her head as to where this is leave her nothing if not unsettled. "Jeremy?" she asks with trepidation, scanning the immediate area and bringing herself to her feet while doing so.

She's barely taken a step forward when the ground starts thundering beneath her feet, and she sways with the strength of it.

Thank God she's wearing fluffy slippers.

Swallowing, Elena turns slowly. She angles her head upward, and then further up, and drags in a stunned breath at the sight that greets her. Thick, scaly skin? Check. Long, long neck reaching way above the tall trees she is standing next to? Double check. Elephant-like feet that -- you guys get the idea.

"Oh my god," she breathes out, growing perfectly still. On the one hand, at least it's a herbivore.

On the other ... shitfuckbears.

Elena starts to run in the opposite direction, please and thank you.

[somanyadjectives]

Stefan wakes up in the middle of the jungle, and he thinks that he's been rifted again. He thinks that if that's the case, it really sucks because he was just starting to mend the fences with Elena and Damon and now he's here.

Being here sucks.

He's been wandering the jungle ever since, grateful that he at least has his daylight ring. He's in pajama pants and a tank top, no shoes, and this is going to get old very, very quickly.

He's passing a through a pile of ferns when he picks up the sound of a familiar voice. Then it's vampire speed across the jungle and stopping right next to Elena.

And seeing the dinosaur.

The dinosaur.

"Holy shit."

[withmoreme]

It doesn't take Tony that long after he wakes to realize he is definitely not where he went to sleep. Partly because Pepper is not there, yes, but also because he's relatively certain that, of all the strange places he's managed to fall asleep, the middle of a jungle is not one of them.

It takes him a moment to get his bearing - and another moment after his bare feet find a sharp rock to stop swearing - and then he calls out, "Pepper?"

There's no response - or at least not from her. There is a sound in the distance that sounds like some kind of animal, and he moves immediately toward it, continued sound and movement making him even more curious. When he finally clears the thicker part of the jungle and sees a group of large, crested animals up ahead, all he can do for a moment is stare.

"Son of a bitch," he breathes after a long moment. "The kid was right."

[efficacy]

The unflappable Pepper Potts is, in fact, feeling very damn flappable right now.

She's not entirely sure how much time has passed since she woke up and almost became lunch for a pack of prehistoric turkeys, but at least she'd made a new acquaintance from the ordeal in Lois Lane. The humidity is frizzing up her hair and she'd probably have a thousand new freckles and a dozen sunburns pretty soon. So yeah, one could say she's not best pleased by this new development. Prehistoric survival is not on her resume, thank you very much.

On top of the potential mortal danger and lack of any sort of amenities, she's immeasurably worried for her errant boyfriend. She's fully expecting Tony to make the most of the situation. For Science. Complete with inadequate consideration for personal safety. She will never forgive him if he gets mauled or eaten by an animal that should have been extinct since millions of years ago.

And perhaps she's not thinking completely sensibly herself due to this concern — she should probably have stayed with Lois instead of... not — but she can't just sit around and do nothing.

Irritably batting aside some ferns with more force than necessary, Pepper clears the shrubbery and miraculously comes across the very person she's been looking for. The gnawing worry is immediately replaced with immense relief, her shoulders sagging with the sigh she exhales.

"Oh, Tony, thank God I found you."

[creidim]

Shawn was right.

Not that Luna doubted him for a second. But she wasn't expecting this. She thought the dinosaurs were coming to Chicago. Not the other way round.

And as she woke up, she was surprised. But still, Luna remains unflappable and she calmly got up from the ground and drew her wand. She's still very much glad she wears shoes to bed because she wouldn't like to walking around barefoot, even if it is insanely warm.

She's wandering around carefully, trying to see if anyone else has come along through the Rift too. But it's hard to find anyone. Sadly, it's not hard to find Luna, which she soon finds out.

The grounds starts to tremble and a growl makes her look up in awe. A tyrannosaurus rex. A real life dinosaur. And it's actually wonderful, if not terrifying. Almost frantically, she tries to find a mental connection with it. Perhaps if she can reason with it, she can avoid having to harm it.

But there's nothing.

Well, there's something. But it's not language. It's something much more... primal. It's... just animal. Nothing communicable.

And she knows, she knows what's going to come next. And Luna doesn't particularly want to be eaten today.

Without hesitation, she raises her wand.

"STUPEFY!"

[preferstotext]

Sherlock had been watching helplessly from up a nearby tree, having decided they gave him the best combination of maneuverability and camouflage in the dense leaves. It's easy enough to put an illusion up to obscure his form among the branches but so far it hasn't been necessary and he wants to save his strength. He's a bit of a mess of sticks and leaves stuck to him right now but that's all the better.

He can only look on with a sick feeling of dread as the tyrannosaurus finds Luna before he can call for her to get out of the open. But then she does something with her wand and all he can do is marvel at how powerful magic is when the creature drops.

The detective drops down a few branches, not out of the tree but easy enough to now spot from the ground.

"Did you kill it?" he asked. It probably would have been better to ask if she's okay but it's Luna. The fact that she just toppled a tyrannosaurus rex is the more pressing matter.

[kalicatastrophe]

So as far as Kali can tell... The Rift has OD'd on some hell of a hallucinogenic drug. Waking up and finding herself in the middle of the jungle in her pajamas is not how she expected the start off the day.

Actually, she expected to start her day playing with Edison and making breakfast and, possibly, bugging the crap out of her boyfriend before he had to go to work. Waking up and finding herself face to face with a dinosaur (which luckily had been being ridden by Bruce at the time) was not on her agenda.

BUT! Bruce had rescued her and she'd excused herself to find the previously aforementioned boyfriend -- has she told you about him? 'cause she'd love to! -- and now she is quietly trekking through the foresty jungley type environment trying to figure out where that candy cane smell is coming from. Occasionally she flickers invisible, but mostly she is simply creeping around, trying to stay out of trouble.

She doesn't exactly want to be a dino milk bone.

[visiongirl]

Cordelia has a stick. A rather large branch like stick -- but a stick nonetheless. She's been doing okay enough thanks to her slayer strength and has been treking through the jungle looking for anyone she might recognize or not.

Especially the people from home. Particularly Fred who's already gone through so much trauma. But she hasn't seen any of them yet. She does however catch a glimpse of Kali. She recognizes the girl from seeing her around the Sanctuary before.

Which means she'll make her way over to her, see how she's doing.

"You handling everything alright?"

[for hales]

[fuckistheword]

Adam had been mostly asleep for once when he fell through. A lot of times sleeping means passing out after a large intake of alcohol or after exhaustion has finally hit and he can't do anything else. In this instance, it was thankfully the fucking latter, because he is much more difficult to wake up when it's alcohol that's his sleep aide.

The sudden, unbearable heat is what wakes him though without much difficulty. It sinks over him, and he grimaces as he wipes his face with his hand and then... seems to realize that he's somewhere he shouldn't be. Somehow. This is not fucking Chicago. Chicago is windy and cold and winter and tall buildings everywhere. This is-

"Jesus, that sounded like a fucking..."

Dinosaur. No, no, no, no. Fucking Chicago did not send him to fucking Jurassic fucking Park.

The ground is shaking. So the sound might actually be- there's a large footprint to the right of him, clearly from some small sized dinosaur that should be extinct, and he kicks at it. "That's great. Just fucking great," Adam says but the high pitched sound of his voice implies that he really doesn't think any of this is great at all.

Because he doesn't. He doesn't have the time or the energy for this shit, but that's the fucking Rifts. Adam heads off in the direction that he hopes is opposite of the fucking dinosaur, but in his hurry, he... runs directly into someone. When he realizes who it is, it will turn this situation from something frustrating that he doesn't have time for to... serious, scary fucking shit.

[aleksandar]

Alek's initial state of vague disorientation has slowly given way to full-blown alertness the more he wanders through the patches of greenery and pristine waters. He sleeps hard, this boy, and it takes something impressive to jar him out of his sleep once he's found it.

Being plopped into the middle of a jungle-like nowhere? That would do it.

He's fresh off of a rabbit hole experience, so he's not entirely surprised, but at least that other one with Tyler was fun. They got to meet Catwoman -- who is much hotter in person, in case anyone is wondering -- along with seeing the bat signal for himself. This? This is not half as entertaining. In fact, once he steps inside a gargantuan footprint that practically swallows him whole and sees the dinosaur up ahead, he decides that it is really not half as entertaining.

... Though it's still kind of cool. Just. He doesn't want to be eaten.

Which is why Alek is running, werewolf-speeding past the ferns until he collides with someone, hard. Alek's panting breathlessly when he looks up to see who, exactly, he's run into. Of fucking course. "You've got to be fucking -- "

His rather obvious statement will be cut off by more dinosaur calls.

[transferee]

There are perks to having a genius for a best friend. Even though she didn't sleep with any weapons on her, Allison is doing okay. Well, sort of. Lydia was able to fashion some makeshift bow and arrows (mostly made of wood and vine) for her and while it may not be the ideal weapon, it's certainly a lot better than nothing. Which is what she woke up here with.

Her father has run her through a million training exercises and yet waking up in the jungle where there are dinosaurs running around. And without any weapons. And only in her sleep pants and a tank top. Not even shoes. But she's adjusting as well as she can.

Right now, she's stalking through the area with her bow poised and ready, just in case.

[sucking]

Okay, in a perfect world, Lydia would be sitting at home, reviewing for an exam that she didn't actually need to study for. She would be sipping on iced tea. There would be a recently done pedicure still shining on her bare feet as she wiggled her toes against the comforter on her bed. There would be a bed.

There is no bed here. There is jungle and more jungle and a definite lack of a bed. Seriously, why is this happening to her?

The crazy sounds coming from the jungle don't make her feel any better and while she should be relieved to have Allison at her side being all amazon hunter queen, she's not exactly thrilled to be there to begin with. Her advanced knowledge of physics isn't intended to be used to fashion make-shift weapons out of parts of the jungle.

Oh and there are dinosaurs here.

"This is going to be the worst argument for relaxing in this place, ever."

[theveteran]

When he drifts off, John is wishing for another night of good sleep. They've been happening more recently, in part because he does find Sherlock's late night playing soothing. When he wakes though, its anything but a soothing start to the day. Its warm, too warm, and humid too.

With a groan, John turns over and blinks into the caustic light of the pre-historic sun. Sitting up with a start, John is nowhere near London or Chicago. The source of noise is a diving lizard of sort, screeching as it weaves in and out of the upper branches of a very unusual tree.

"What the bloody..." John trails off as he sits upright. This is wrong, all wrong. "...Hell."

Yes, hell on Earth in prehistoric times and John managed to nap until near lunch without getting stomped or eaten. This was not good, so many kinds of not good and he stands up in instant panic. Just like when he'd been transported from his own reality through the Rift, he is somewhere he doesn't know or want to know.

He'll just be backing up to a tree and keeping his wits about him now before he tries to start looking for others.

[ilovemycaptain]

Kaylee has been up and wandering around barefoot for a while now, snacking on strawberries she makes grow as she pleases, so she at least has some semblance of an idea as to what, exactly, is going on. That doesn't keep her from exploring a bit. It's in her nature, really. So when she stumbles upon John looking rather panicked, she greets him with a grin.

"Hi there!" She offers with a small wave. "You're lookin' a bit lost. Just wake up?" It seems to be the trend, but it's awful late for him to just be waking up, isn't it? Not that she's judging. It took weeks for her to settle into a 'normal' sleep routine.