[video] Show Me Your Moves

[whyarewehere]

[The camera bobs and judders as someone sets it up, catching flashes of a scruffy, unkempt face and pale arms and the sky for a moment.]

Okay so I've been thinking, we've got super powers here, right?

[The picture steadies pointing out at what appears to be a beach, but is more likely to just be a simulated section of beach on the Legion World. It falls over, and Grif swears as he rights it again.]

...Anyway. By super powers I mean amazing things you couldn't do before, because otherwise you're just from some world where you can do cool stuff most of us can't and that's not superpowers, that's just life being unfair to the rest of us.

[Satisfied that the comm is stable, Grif steps out in front of it as he continues.]

So, I want to see what you guys can do. And because I am all about being fair, I'm going first.

[He swings his arms a little, takes a couple breaths, then bolts to the waterline. He's nothing but a speed blur followed by a trail of thrashed sand. He stops at the surf and charges back just as quickly. At the end he's doubled over in front of the camera, hands on his knees, huffing and wheezing.]

Whoo!

[He laughs as he catches his breath, which makes it somewhat harder, and is grinning despite how much that tiny display of super speed seems to have taken out of him. In good shape, this guy is not.]

It's like... it feels like everything's normal speed to me when I do it and everything's all slowed down. It's crazy shit, man.

[Grif plunks down heavily in the sand and picks up the comm again, still visibly panting.]

So. That's me. Show me what you got.

((OOC: Feel free to threadhop each other and talk about powers if you like! Grif is encouraging sharing.))

Comments

[googledox]

The full extent of the UP's involvement is unknown. All we know is that the first group of dimensional displacees was a group of Legionnaires from alternate dimensions. A UP survey team was studying the planet and managed to save them from dying from the planet's hostile conditions when they first arrived.

Then instead of respecting their rights as sentients, they brought them in secret to a holding facility where they studied them and refused to let them go free. The alternate Legionnaires managed to break loose from containment and put out a distress call, after which we liberated them, took them under our protection, and started working on a solution to get them home.

However, the quantum ties to their home dimensions proved stronger than the forces holding them here, so they disappeared. We believe they were successfully pulled back to their home universes without our intervention. Due to our concerns that it might not be an isolated incident, we established a base in orbit around the planet with an intervention team with long-range scanners that could threshold down to the surface if more people appeared, so they could be rescued from the planet's hostile conditions. We'd establish one on the surface itself but the frequent windstorms would demolish any permanent base there.

What remains in question is whether the discovery of the first group by the UP survey team was incidental or if there was a concerted effort on the part of the UP to meddle with any residual damage to spacetime at the site where our teammates disappeared. Given that their behavior regarding the first group of dimensional displacees was suspiciously disrespectful of their rights, we're still uncertain of the extent of their involvement.

[whyarewehere]

"Studied". Like lab rats? And you guys... what, elect these people?

The high ups are always objectively terrible people, but damn.

[googledox]

Like lab rats, yes. Fortunately, they didn't do any experimentation that caused pain or physical harm but we were told their scans were somewhat invasive and that they limited their freedom of movement, which is unconscionable. All of you may not be citizens but your rights are still protected under UP law.

As for the researchers responsible, they were fired and some of them were even imprisoned. Unfortunately, there were enough layers of plausible deniability that the actual public officials we believe were responsible got away with it.

That's why we've taken over monitoring the planet. You're all free to leave Legion World as long as you're currently off-duty or as long as you opted out of being a Legionnaire in the first place, and like we stated when you first signed up, those of you that have volunteered to be Legionnaires are also free to resign at any time.

Even those of you that opt out of being Legionnaires are encouraged to contact us for aid if you travel through to UP member worlds and find yourselves in hostile situations with the UP government. We're hoping that our association with you is enough to encourage any unsavory parties within the UP to understand their previous treatment of dimensional outsiders won't be tolerated if they attempt the same with you.

[whyarewehere]

Okay, then I can still sleep with both eyes closed. Good to know, because I can't actually do it the other way.

[googledox]

If you face any difficulties with the UP, we are not averse to "going off the grid," as the old Earth saying goes. Despite the size of Legion World, we have the stealth tech to do it.

It wouldn't be the first time.

[Which really says a lot about the Legion's relationship with the UP government.]