2019-10-30 - We Are the People in Black

Sometimes even a Dream feels just like a dream until something gets really weird. Then again, sometimes you wake up and the world is black and white. This time, things aren't quite that strange, because doesn't everyone dream about wearing a killer suit now and then? Less common, however, is standing with other people all wearing killer black suits, in front of some classy black cars, listening to someone else wearing a killer black suit talking about, "...it's a real mess in there." 'In there' is apparently the huge warehouse in front of them. "We've got at least one bug in there, and a couple of Erinecidae. That shouldn't be a problem for you, but there's also a bunch of civilians in there. Apparently it was a party, and the aliens got a little too enthusiastic."

Astrid -- A -- is sporting a clean-cut suit with high-waist slacks, a white blouse cinched at her neck with a black tie, and the last suit jacket she will ever wear. Her shoes are sensible with a modest heel and her hair is done up in a no-nonsense ponytail. She's already wearing her sunglasses which are aviator-style frames. At first, she slips into the Dream easily enough, suit jacket nudged back so her hands can slide into the pockets of her slacks. "Sounds like the rave was out of this world." O.M.G. That was so lame. Who says that? "Erinecidae, huh? So, what, we're looking at a bunch of partying hedgehogs and a cockroach? Not my preferred party guests."

And just like that, Lyric goes from sleeping over at her friend Lucy's house to falling into place with sunglasses on and a snazzy black suit outside the warehouse, on the outside looking towards it. Oh boy. Though she's been in enough weird dreams, she doesn't immediately recognize it as one. She must have been having a really weird one before this one. She really finds the laser gun thing interesting. It's the tiny one and probably does the least damage. Aliens and civilians. The weapon goes back in her pockets. "This calls for a little composure then." And a lot of leadership maybe. "Roaches? As long as he isn't wearing an Egger suit." Yes, Edgar, but hey, you say it like you hear it.

One minute Marius was nodding off over homework, the next he's... wearing a suit and making it look good. It's not his fault, most people look good in suits. But the narrow lapels on his jacket set off his wide shoulders, his hair is slicked back neatly, his pants creased, his black tie straight and narrow, and his shoes shined. It's a good look. A good look he ruins by looking over to Astrid at her pun, "Seriously, A?" Somehow he knows that she's not 'Astrid,' not 'Ast,' just 'A.' "Could've at least said that it sounded like a prickly combination." Not that he know what an Erinecidae was, but the ecologist apparently did. He frowns slightly at Lyric's comment, and then his eyes widen slightly, "Oh shit!" Whatever realization is there is kept quiet, and he eagerly starts patting his pockets down.

Grant, or B, has on that ever classic black suit, slicked back hair that... may or may not be his natural hair color? It's hard to tell if it's pink or not in greyscale and he doesn't question it. The rest brokers no such quandary as he either is or isn't black or white in the rest of his wardrobe down to that military high gloss on his shoes. When did this happen? He was putting pumpkins out on Corey and Sparrow's porch and now- "Is it bad that when I hear 'The Roaches' I Still hear that song from Animaniacs? Soooo do we know what they want today?" Looking to the ladies his hands drop into his pockets. "This looks like it's time to order A BLT. Where is T anyways?"

"An ancient blockbuster? Seriously?" Tor emerges from a shadow at the edge of a building. He's in a suit too, but it's wrinkled, the shirt is untucked, and the suit itself looks a little too big. He's Agent Don't Give a Shit, apparently. His hair looks exactly the same as it does normally, which is to say, all over the place. He pats around until he finds a cigarette, then lights it with a shiny, futuristic looking lighter. He takes a long puff. "Y'know, there's no rule saying we have to play along with this. We could just go shoot random things with laser guns."

The serious-looking man at the front of the group, Z, manfully ignores the punning, but nods at the wariness about the contents of the warehouse, "We've got containment teams in place but we've also got a man on the inside, C. From what he said, the Bug ditched whatever suit he was wearing a long time ago, and he's freaking people out right now." Frowning over at Tor, he shakes his head, "You're professionals, people. I want you to act like it." He looks to Grant, "We got a message thirty minutes ago telling us to dliver an Arkelian ambassador to the Erinecidae. I think you all know what'll happen if we turn over an Arkelian to a bug. It'll start with battlecruisers and get worse from there." He jerks his thumb over his shoulder toward the warehouse, "Get in there, get the people out, and the Bug and Erinecidae off our planet however you have to."

L rolls her eyes at the reaction from T. "There's always one in the crowd. One wannabe rebel that just messes it up for the rest of us. Just fall in line and you won't be the first one shot. With friendly fire. Or flashy thingied." She casts him a grin, showing more levity than her voice gave away.

Elias actually looks pretty good in a suit, with polished shoes, a crisp pressed shirt, and a tie. Even his usually loose and wild hair is pulled back neatly at the base of his neck, only one stray curl managing to eek its way out, defiant even in his put-together appearance. The suit is tailored, fitted, and his sunglasses are dark. Deft fingers draw and twirl a pistol, a tiny little pistol, comically small. He flashes a brilliant smile at those gathered, and slips it back into the suit. "Come on. This should be fantastic," he says, and then recognizes a couple of the others from the last film he found himself in. "Ah, the neighbors. So we meet again." This, directed at Grant, Sparrow, and Lyric.

"Animaniacs?" Astrid looks confused. "What's an Animaniac?" Then she's turning toward Marius, and she shrugs a shoulder slightly at him. "Didn't want to take all the good lines." Her eyes cut back to Lyric. "Look, that was just that once, and J and K totally took care of that." She'd continue this, but there's Tor. Astrid has enough sense of things to blink at him. Her brows furrow up as she pieces together what he's saying, and she edges toward him with her finger against her lips. "You know the drill... play along and nothing will notice." Whatever that means, but she does look confused another moment, and asks a bit more quietly, "Tor?" She bounces her focus back toward the others. "Well, let's go see what we got inside." She casts another bemused look to her cousin who... isn't supposed to be here? Right?

P keeps quiet. Even her hair is quiet. Sparrow's usually Very Red hair has found its natural shade in this dream, sleek black slicked back to match the killer suit she's wearing. It's even tailored to accommodate her curves. Nice. She's watching T, too, but there's neither threat nor levity in that attention. When Elias approaches, though, her attention turns his way, a wide smile forming. "Agent... E, is it? Good to see you again." Her good humor dims at the 'play along' line from Astrid, eyes narrowing faintly with thought. Like maybe she's weighing the risks. Tilting toward B, she murmurs, "This seems to keep happening when you visit, cutie."

"I guess this is what I get for closing my eyes for two seconds between deliveries," Tor mutters ot himself. Habitually, he reaches for his phone, but...Dream. He grunts, then notices Astrid. He blinks. "Howdy, cuz. Fancy meeting you here." He puffs at his cigarette. "Guess I fell asleep outside your place after I delivered your neighbour's large pepperoni. Luuuucky me." He glances around at the assembled be-suited types. He glances back to the figure addressing them. Then he slowly raises his hand. "Sir. Can I have an extra large gun, please?" The words are polite. The delivery? Not so much.

"Okay, so battlecruisers sound kind of awesome, but also really bad," Marius notes. He shrugs at Astrid's question about Animaniacs, his pat-down of himself revealing a pistol, but no neuralizer. Just his luck that he's a trainee agent. He looks more than a little awkward holding the pistol, shrugging again as he lets it hang in his hand at his side. He glances around at the group a little more closely, blinking as he recognizes faces here and there, "Uh... I mean, I'm not super hyped to go face some giant cockroach or hedgehogs, but... besides trying to wake up, I'm not entirely sure what else to do." And so he takes a step or two toward the entrance to the warehouse. The way he holds the pistol up does not inspire confidence.

Z looks over to Tor as he requests a gun, reading words and tone alike. "Sure, Junior." Taking out a heavy case, he pops it open, reaches inside, and offers out, "Here you go, Sport. Noisy Cricket. Should be just right for you. Now let's go. Time's a wasting." As if to emphasize his words, there's a scream from within the warehouse, fear, panic, and perhaps even pain.

"You could have come say hi," Astrid says with some reproach at Tor. But then she's shaking off that little sad-puppy demeanor and looks back to the others. When M starts to pat down his pockets, she does the same, and -- "Hey, look. It's a flashy-thingie." She shows it off to M, waggling it at him. Then she tucks it back in her pocket with a sly smile. Now she gestures after the others, catching sight of Z handing Tor a Noisy Cricket. She flashes him a quick, broad smile, and then pulls her own gun out of its shoulder holster.

Blooks to P and tilts his head with a winning grin, too pleased with himself, "Aaaare you calling me amazingly influential? Because I'll take it." Looking to Tor he murmurs, "We;ll ahve to talk after this." Looking to Z he stands up, shoudlers back like he's trying to impress his father or something, "Sir we are professionals which is why we appreciate this level of trust you're putting in us. That said? I'll take the cricket and a jump pack if we have it." Oh yeah he said jump pack. He looks to the group with a grin. "All bless the IT Dev tea."

"Rebel," *P*hil suggests in answer to Marius' question. "I'm with Mr. Big Guns on this one. Never been a big fan of play along to get along." But she also has only just begun to glimpse how bad Dreams can get. That said, she flashes her brightest smile toward Z and collects her own weaponry. To *B*ax, Sparrow notes, "We were talking before this. I vote for just making out. Seems safer." She's probably teasing, but it's hard to tell. There's not even a wink to go with it! She just steps up and asks, "Who's our people person? Someone's gotta negotiate with these bugs if we're gonna get the kids out safe."

"Agent P," Elias greets Sparrow with a little bow and a flourish, "The pleasure is mine, I assure you." His humor doesn't fade, even when Astrid reminds them to play along, giving her a little nod. "I'm going to go take a look," he announces, fearless as ever of simply diving into that which is the weirdness of the Dream, and so off he heads in the direction of the warehouse to go get a look at what's going on inside while the others discuss whether or not to play along. He's got his own tiny gun twirling between his fingers as he does so.

With her weapon holstered, *L*yric grins at the others. "I can kinda try and talk." She has a bit of leadership. But if anyone is better they are far, far more welcome to. She covers the weapon with her black jacket. "After you guys." She falls in line though, intending to go in now because it's getting dangerous in there and this is their job!

"Do we know..." it takes Marius a moment, "Oh, hey T -- " he cuts himself off there, giving Tor a wave, and then continues forward. Leaning up against the wall beside the door, he does his best Call of Duty pose, nodding to Elias, "I'll cover you." He grins brightly and a little crookedly, "I've got no idea what I'm doing," he warns quietly. "But I've played some C-O-D."

Tor looks down at the tiny guy as he's given it. He eyes it, flips it over in his hand. "I deserved that," he says with a shrug, before he drops his cigarette to crush out on the ground. "Have any of you actually fired a gun before?" he asks as he heads towards the sound of the commotion, a distance behind Elias. Marius gets an upnod. Gray Harbor - where you can get suddenly pulled into a deadly LARP with acquaintances.

Z shrugs at Grant, "I've got a Cricket for you too, Sport, but if you want jetboots in a warehouse, you're barking mad." There's a pause, and then he nods over to another case, "Good for you, go strap them on."

When the warehouse door is opened, it reveals an open plan, with crates and pallets stacked around the edges, a catwalk along the walls at the third-floor level, and bare rafters at the top. There's a stage at one end with flashing and flaring lights, but the music crackles and hisses from the speakers, not really music anymore, just noise. It fits in with a second scream, from a person behind a crate being menaced by a ten-foot-tall insectoid creature. There's a smaller, man-sized bug across the hall, pinning a painfully-plain man down with one claw, and a trio of spiky-backed man-sized hedgehogs carrying pistols and blades covering a larger crowd of people backed up against another wall.

"Did our rogue just rush ahead?" *P*hil asks when the dashing *E*lias starts off toward the warehouse while the rest of them dither. Her gaze flicks to *M*arius. Fury-spec noob? Probably not the tank. *T*or? Likelier prospect. "I'm alright at hitting shit," she chirps with a smile. But this is a shooty-shooty world, and they're playing along. With a nod to their might-be-talker *L*yric and a look back at *B*ax and his boots, she quicksteps to catch up with those at the front, planning on taking point. And maybe aggro. Nevermind that she's probably actually heal-spec in this scenario. Confused little raider out of her depth.

Astrid casts a glance toward Tor, and she offers up an almost sheepish smile. "How hard could it be?" Famous last words. The brunette decides to linger near her cousin, though there's an oddness to that want to stay close to family -- particularly because it's Tor. She takes a breath as she slips in with the rest. Astrid isn't a firearms specialist, but she is a combatant when it comes to martial arts. What else are those trophies in Aikido for? So, she at least has a pretty good stance even if she's holind the gun totally wrong. When they get inside, she sweeps the area with her eyes still behind the sunglasses. Then, she blinks... at the giant hedgehog. The insect doesn't bother her, no. It's the damn hedgehog.

"Fantastic," Elias says to Marius encouragingly, "I haven't. So this will be an adventure." And with that he simply opens the door and pushes his way in, trusting that Marius will make some sort of video-game attempt to cover him. With a flash of a smile in Tor's direction he says, "Yes, actually." Which is not to say that he's a marksman by any stretch, but then neither is he a secret agent. Then he smirks at Sparrow and says, "Oh honey, I am not nearly subtle enough to be a rogue."

Despite the fact that the stupid Cricket is tiny, Tor is holding it correctly. Which suggests he does actually know what he's doing. At least...with real weapons. Hard to say with these weird sci-fi ones. Wordlessly, he reaches over to Astrid and shifts her fingers so she's holding her weapon less wrong. "Don't die, Cuz. This is not a cool place to die." He raises his weapon in the direction of the hedgehog things. "Anyone got any gold rings we could throw to distract 'em?"

Grant snicers and says "I'm not the people person, I'm the ride the bug and hold it still guy." Looking to Elias he offers a hand, "E, GOod to see you. You know... teh rest of alphabet soup mostly." Looking to Astrid he says "A, if we get off this mission I'mll explain teh Animaniacs later. For now? We got a big big buggo to ride." His eyes shoot back wide and he runs After Elias "Eeeee wait for us!"

"I played some laser tag last year," Marius responds to Tor, beaming brightly. He's good with LARP with consequences. Then again, he's a card-carrying member of the SCA. He's also clearly the Tank. He doesn't have his sunglasses on at the moment, since no one's neuralizing anyone just yet, and he hurries in after Elias -- only to stop just inside the door and stare at the aliens, "Woah." Guess he really is a Trainee. He manages to bring up his shiny pistol, more or less covering Elias, "Gold... rings...?" And then he blinks and laughs, "Oh nice! That old-school Sonic game!"

Tor makes the correction, and she turns a glance to him. Astrid's mouth tightens and she starts to nod slowly. "Yeah." She knows. Her smile takes on a brittle edge, and then she's glancing back toward the giant bug. Grant's promise to show her all about Animaniacs has her chuckling a bit. "Oh boy, can't wait, B." But there's another reference she doesn't know. With Tor's adjustments, she shifts her stance and narrows her weapon on the knife-wielding hedgehog. Despite the fact that she's holding the pistol, she finds herself tapping into a totally different kind of weapon.

"Was gonna guess warlock," *P*hilomena admits with a sly grin toward *E*lias, "but I felt a little bit possessive toward the title." Nevermind that she's gonna be something else entirely tonight. With a coy arch of her brows, she tells him, "I'm willing to entertain alternatives," as if this were at all the right time to discuss which WoW classes they each might be. Tor's reference earns a snorted laugh, but she's busy assessing the scenery, scheming. "Two teams of two, then three of us for those fuckers?" Sparrow poses, pointing toward the ones crowded around the ravers. But when it looks like others are already taking aim, she shrugs.

Not one to be left outside, fancily dressed Lyric runs in after those ahead of her already, "Hold up, guys, I don't want to be alone out here!" She'll dive right in there with the others too, taking only a few moments to get a look around. "Whoa! WHOA!" She doesn't think to grab her gun at first. Just using her abilities for now. She selects one bug out of the bunch that's out of compliance.

"Warlock is probably closer to the truth," Elias says to Sparrow with another white smile at that coy arch of her brows. "We can't both share? I'm very good at sharing," he promises. But then they are face to face with the bugs and the hedgehogs, and he sees that great big sucker looking in their direction. "Alright, that one's looking at me funny. I think it needs to go first." And while he does have that pistol in hand, it's not the pistol that he uses.

The Bugs roar at the newcomers, turning toward them and racing forward, their legs clicking and clattering on the concrete floor of the warehouse. But they're hammered by blows they can't see, and the blaze of energy from at least one MIB pistol, and they crumble to the floor. The Erinecidae with the knife comes running forward too, the blade starting to glow in its hand as it charges toward *A*strid. The other two hold their ground, whirling away from the innocents to fire on the incoming agents.

The plain man hauls himself painfully to his feet, and even in the chaos, it can be seen that he's wearing a black suit too -- probably the missing C then. He fumbles out a Noisy Cricket himself, but doesn't fire yet, staring open-mouthed at the agents pouring in.

"I like sharing," Sparrow croons toward Elias, but it's distracted, half-hearted, a pleasant thought to revisit when not considering the chaos of a free-for-all firefight with hostages so close at hand. Frowning, P takes aim at one of the spike-backed beasties at the back, though she doesn't actually pull the trigger. The flame that scorches the giant hedgehog's chest is all hers, a burst of glimmer-fueled pyrokinetic violence that always hits its mark. When the Erinecidae singes and collapses, she looks toward C and nods, calling, "Good to see you again. Neighbor." Is he a neighbor? Isn't he?

Tor did, at some point, see the original MiB, so he knows enough to not let him be thrown back by the kickback of the gun. Still, it's got a bit more power than he was expecting. Combine that with the shot that grazes his chest when he turns sideways, means he's flat-footed for a moment. "Shit," he mutters. "Why don't I ever just get a fun flying Dream? Everyone likes those." He drops behind a crate for cover and takes aim again. "Everyone still in one piece?" He calls out.

Evidently laser tag practice works wonders for using energy weapons, because *M*arius levels his pistol, picking his target generally based on Sparrow's suggestion, and fires, drilling the smaller bug in the head and exploding it in a cloud of green goop. His eyes widen, and he looks at the pistol in shock, "Woah!" Looking through the chaos of charging and firing aliens and agents, M looks over to Tor, "You okay, man?" And that's when he sees the knife-wielding hedgehog charging for Astrid, and he lopes over in that direction, swapping his pistol over to his left hand and balling up his right fist.

When Elias raises his hand, a bunch of debris comes up off the floor in front of him, and launches itself at the creature's head, striking it with impressive force. The little flashy gun is more for show than anything else. He glances over to Grant and says, "Nice shot, B" when they both converge their attacks on the big bug. He then turns his attention on one of the spikey hedgies with an attitude.

Two more of the man-sized bugs push their way through from behind a stack of pallets, one of them looking at the corpse of the big bug and screaming, "MAMA!" They come rushing toward Grant and Elias.

Flinging that weapon inside her is easier for Lyric than using some sort of laser gun. She manages to hit one in the chest while Sparrow does the same and she grins and air high fives her when they take down one of the bad guys. THere are others, of course there are, and she takes a few light breaths, not wanting to breathe in their stink too deeply before taking aim again.

Grant runs like a man with no plan at the bug bearing down on Elias and dive rolls to teh side arcing a blue ray at it KVVVVVVVVPP! He rolls up to high five Elias. "Maaaan who isn't a fan of a lil B&E C'mon buugos you ain't even making us work for the paycheck anymore." He pauses looking at the bugs and holds out an arm, "Awwww, E they think we're their mama!" no one siad he's the brightest brick in the garden.

Sparrow reciprocates that long-distance high-five with *L*yric, an approving nod to go with it. She starts to focus on the other spiny fuckers who have people backed in, but then there are wailing nasties charging toward her bestie and fellow warlock. She can't let that stand. "No, B," *P*hil calls to Grant, playfully exasperated. "We're not keeping any baby bugs in the basement." Because if anyone would wanna play surrogate to these awful things, it'd be him. It's one of his best qualities! But still. Those buggies have gotta go. Again, she points her gun, but it's fire that erupts, hitting the same mark as last time. Sure, it stinks, the warehouse quickly filling with the scent of scorched alien, but better than the stench of human guts.

"Pretty sure that's not what they mean," Elias tells Grant, though seems to have an appreciation for his talents. "Nice bug zapper, there, B." He turns his attention from the hedgie toward the baby buggo running at him. "Sorry, buddy, but everyone must go."

Dualing one that goes down, Lyric aims for a second bug that comes up looking for a fight. She doesn't even give it a chance to focus on anyone before it's head rips open and it spills brain matter around. Someone better stop people from leaving! So they could be flashy thingied! But it's not her, she targets another alien, her focus intent!

"Has anyone made a RAID joke yet? Can I call dibs?" says Tor. Then a shot grazes the crate he's behind. He laughs a bit disjointedly. "Never mind. The moment's gone." He gets up and fires a shot, and murmurs a little 'yess' to himself when he hits centre mass. "Fine, fine," he says to Marius. "Just get her outta there."

Here comes a giant hedgehog with a big glowing knife, and Astrid is stumbling back two steps, three. She feels the Glimmer ignite in her again, and there's a sharp flash as she pulls the trigger on her futuristic weapon as more flame rips from it. She blasts the incoming alien, and it goes flying with an uncharacteristic splat. She's turning toward the monster attacking Tor, and prepares to open fire again. "These things are so gross," she half-whines -- says the girl who is content in muck and grime and other questionable nature.

Grant looks to P andis just heartbroken, "But they said I am their-" He looks to eliads and blinks looking back to Sparrow, "Adoption is called off. It's okay." Looking back to Elias he says, "Well thank you. Though it's his hand that he holds out with a stun gauntlet on it maybe? "Yooooou have no papers thoust needith scootith thine tuchas off my planetery jurisdiction!" Rolling a look to Tor he says "Go for it, T. Use of puns is authroized."

"Do it, T," suggests *M*arius as he comes rushing toward the charging hedgehog, "Except I think you already ruined it." Fire flares as Astrid burns the poor Erinecidae, and then Marius arrives in his rush, gathering telekinetic force around his fist as he sweeps it in a backhanded blow. The impact sends the alien flying backwards, and he looks back over to Astrid, his brows lifting in brief concern. "Gross? Really? I think the hedgehogs are kinda cute." But then Tor is suggesting, "You want me to get her outta here? You kidding me?" He looks around the area, bringing up his pistol again, "We've got civilians around still!" Look at the civilian picking up the lingo, "Anyone see any more of those creepy bug-things?"

One more of the little bugs gets popped as it's coming in, but the second leaps up into the air, claws and teeth bared as it launches itself at Elias. The last of the Ereincidae takes a big hit to the chest, stumbling back, its blazing shot smashing into the crate in front of Tor. There don't appear to be any more of the bugs appearing. For now.

The little bug sucker hurls itself at Elias at about the same time that he hurls more of the detritus off the floor at the critter. Both collide mid air, which doesn't stop the bug from continuing its trajectory and smashing into his chest. Ow. He stumbles backward, because while Elias may be somewhat fearless or foolish, he's not large or particularly solid. There's a definite look of disgust as he gets bug goo on his nice suit, and flings the thing off of him, rubbing at his chest. "Shit, that hurt."

Boom! Headshot! Astrid blinks at that, leaning back from her pistol a bit with a surprised expression. She bounces back a bit, noticing a bit of goo on her shoe. Yuck. "Uh. That was a lot of... gross." She turns slowly toward Tor, blinking owlishly at him. Then she takes a breath, checking her our side where there's a neat little gash from the hedgehog's knife. She checks her fingers, finding blood there. "Oh, this is just swell." She presses her hand back against that wound again. "Uh. We're done right?" She starts to look around, almost suspiciously.

Tor stays down behind the crate for a moment. He emerges from behind cover after things quieted down a bit. "Are we done? Is it done? Ex-ter-min-ate?" Wrong franchise, but anyway. He looks over at Elias, wrinkles his nose. "Ugh. Gross." Then he looks at Marius, nods towards Astrid, looks pointedly at Marius again, eyebrows arched high.

C looks over to Sparrow, his eyes wide, "Wait. Neighbor? I know you. I recognize you." He hurries forward, only to stop and skitter backwards as the bug explodes under Elias and Sparrow's attack. Ew. Ick everywhere.

Sparrow 'shoots' at the same bug again as it launches itself at E*lias, its body doing far more psychological damage when it explodes than it likely did with its claws. Dropping the unnecessary weapon to the ground, she rushes toward him while directing the others to, "See to the civilians?" as she makes a little clicky-clicky motion with her thumb. With a nod, she reminds C, "Rocket pops," and adds, "Number 7," with a high arch of her brows, like it might *mean something. But then she's looking back to Elias and his ickified suit. "You alright? Need any..." Finger wiggling. Yes, she wiggles her fingers.

Lyric almost gets shot by that alien! HEY! She dodges barely, but her aim is right on and she manages to incapacitate him while Tor and Astrid finish him off. "So Rude!" It tried to shoot her! For a moment she looks as if she's going to hurl something at it again just for good measure, but she changes her mind at the last moment and looks around at the others.

Elias glances over toward Sparrow and down at his suit and says, "I need many things, P. Many, many things." He then shrugs his shoulders and neatly unbuttons his coat, turning it inside-out to contain the goo within, and folds it over his arm. Don't mind the dripping. There are still civilians, but the plain guy catches his attention. "Wait, isn't that the guy from.." he pauses as Sparrow mentions the rocket pops.

*M*arius watches the last two aliens taken apart, breathing out a little huff of relief. He's just stepping over to Astrid's side when he spots Tor's carefully pointed look, and he clears his throat, then puts away the pistol and kneels down at Astrid's side anyhow, "You okay, A? How bad did it get you?" He looks over to Elias and Sparrow, "Rocket pops? What's a rocket pops? Like the ice cream?"

With a sly little grin, Sparrow tells Elias, "Number 7, E." This time, those two little words have an air of invitation. With his jacket off, she gives him a quick look over to make sure there's no obvious injury that the goo might've been hiding, but she doesn't get too far before Marius' question catches her attention. "Like the ice cream, M. So very pleasant." She tips a nod to Astrid; she was there.

Astrid squints at Tor, and mouths the words, 'Shut up!' at him in a very clear and inaudible tone. Then she's taking a breath and shrugging her shoulders a bit. "Should be okay. I mean, what's the worse that could happen -- I get infected by alien hedgehog bacteria?" Then she is glancing back over toward the others, and she feels a grin spread across her lips. "Rocket pops." Huh. "Two movie dreams in a week. Must be a special kind of month." Now she edges toward Tor.

Grant holsters the cricket and rushes to the civilians. Real or not he Daisy and Greg promised something about being big damn heroes. He does, however, have some medical training to the effect that he's a sateboarder and dives at the concrete a bunch.

"Then you turn into an alien hedgehog," drawls Tor to Astrid. "And then we'd have to shoot you." He says those words with a heavy sigh, mock-regretful, as he points his Noisy Cricket to the sky and sighs heavily. "Right. So. That was fun. But I have pizzas to deliver. Soo..." he snaps a few times quickly. "Or are we about to get a surprise giant slug emerging from their corpses or something?"

The civilians are freaking out. They probably need to be flashy-thingied, because otherwise they're going to have some really horrible memories. Grant's approach gets a hurricane of questions in their direction, questions about what and where and who and how and a dozen more to follow.

Lyric knows about the rocket pops too even if she had ordered a fudgesicle. The Good Humor man had made an impression last time. A nod from Lyric to Sparrow, since she had been there too. "What do we do now? Who has a flashy thingie?"

C nods slowly at Sparrow and Elias, "Number 7? I remember the dream, it wasn't very pleasant, but it was really... really Pleasantville." The plain-looking man shakes his head, "Like that old movie. And this... this is Men in Black, isn't it? How is this... what is going on?"

Sparrow pats down her jacket at Lyric's question, pulling free her, uh, flashy thingy. "Right here," comes with another pat to that pocket, where L should have one too. With a grin, now that things are marginally more calm, nevermind the confused crowd, she wonders, "You ever go looking for your husband?" But C's asking more pointed movie questions, and she starts heading his direction rather than toward the civilians. "You live in Gray Harbor, right? Somewhere on Oak?" That seems the commonality, best she can tell. Pointing the not-business-end of the flashy thingy to her chest, she says, "Seven," again, but she doesn't out anyone else's addresses. "This is just a dream. A weird shared dream with some thematic consistency, but a dream." Beat. "I'm Phil. What's your name?"

Marius grimaces a little at Astrid's suggestion, "Yeah, that'd about the worst thing that could happen, okay." His lips press together, smothering a grin, but then he blinks, "Wait, two movie dreams?" He glances over to Sparrow, looking very confused indeed, "And the ice cream. Oh... huh, right, there is an ice cream like that, isn't there?" As Astrid moves over toward Tor, he straightens up from his kneel at her side, shrugging at Tor, "I mean, usually, you can just wake up out of a Dream."

"Ah," Elias says, seeming to glean the significance of the number when Sparrow repeats it, and nods to her. He doesn't appear terribly injured. It's only a flesh wound, after all, and his shirt pretty much covers it. He'll be smarting later, but for now he seems just fine. He glances back over toward C and nods in agreement, "So it would seem." Then he smiles, "But for right now, we have some people to flash.. and not in an entertaining way. Who has the flashy thingie? I'd rather this crowd not go Mr. Good Humor on us." Remembering the ice cream man's reaction.

"What's happening is some GenXer is on a nostalgia trip. Next Dream? Independence Day. Calling it now." Tor slips on a pair of dark glasses. Not because of the neuralizer, just because he just found them when patting down his pocket for cigarettes. He looks more like a Blues Brother than an MiB agent.

Lyric slips on her oen glasses, but she won't look right at the flashy thingy anyway, just to be safe. The power could be dialed far too high or any number of things. "They're not bad dreams though, they're kind of fun ones. Much better than the really bad ones!" She doesn't speak much, she just looks around while trying to look important.

C's eyes widen at Sparrow's words and questions, "How did you... what did..." he shakes his head, "No... no. I'm not going to tell you that. Who are you?" But she said that. And he frowns, shaking his head, "Phil. And this is a dream? Why am I dreaming about someone else on Oak Street?" Hesitating a moment, he adds, "Charlie. I'm Charlie." He looks over to Tor as the man speaks up about the nostalgia trip, "I hate that stupid movie. Will Smith was way better in MIB." There are neuralizers being gotten out, however, and he frantically digs into his jacket to get a pair of simple black sunglasses out and put them on. "There's worse dreams? This one was plenty scary for me."

"It hasn't all be alien themed," Astrid says patiently to Tor. But she's rubbing at the bridge of her nose now, and when her hands go back to her pockets, she remembers the neuralizer. "Huh." She stares at it a moment, and then she turns it around toward her. She lifts it up to look at it, and then -- it flashes bright.

Sparrow keeps calm while C works through what she's told him, patiently waiting for him to cycle through all the weird details. "Good to meet you, Charlie. Like I said--" She reaches into her pocket to pull out her own sunglasses and put them on. Just to be safe. "--number seven. If you wanna talk about all this while not..." She just lifts her hand and circles a finger around, pointing at... all of this. When C's opinions on the movies start coming out, she turns a look toward Grant, brows arched above the rims of her sunglasses.

Just as Sparrow is pointing all around and Grant is starting to calm the crowd, Astrid brings up her neuralizer -- and the entire dream flashes white, everyone waking back up in their own beds or wherever they happened to drift off.