From a folder of mine labeled "Inspiration":
From a folder of mine labeled "Inspiration":
@writingprompts From a folder of mine labeled "Inspiration":
"Dammit, Eternus, I hate when you do this mysterious shit, just fucking tell us."
"It doesn't work."
"Telling us doesn't work?"
"It never does, Streak. It never has and never will. I keep telling you this, and you keep pretending like we've never had this discussion."
We've had it more than he knows, because for every one he remembers, I've had to deal with him doing it a dozen times. Asshole.
"Well, what do you expect, Eternus? All we get is you interrupting and slamming into us and being dickish in general. You say you're reliving the mistakes, but all we know is the present, the now. But you expect us to just suck it up and do what you say. It gets old, fast."
"No shit, Streak, you wanna guess how fast dying because your surly ass wants to play pissing contest instead of listening to the guy that's saved every life on the planet a dozen times, and your life so many hundreds of times I can't even keep track. Why do people do this? The psychics, the time travelers, it doesn't matter how many times we're right, it's this same, shitty argument.
Yes, I expect you to fucking listen to me because this is the fifth time we've had this argument for me, and that means I've died five times today. Which isn't even a record, for fucks sake. And, it's you whining that's the worst part of it. I almost wish I could just die and not come back, if it meant not dealing with you again."
The General did his usual, "Gentleman, can it. Eternus, just brief us; Streak, go take a walk and cool off."
Fifth time. Fifth fucking time. "The Ragnarok are going to hit London. We get there, and they're tearing the city apart. This will be my fifth run, and we've only made it maybe two minutes in the fight before Nuke unleashes and we're all ashes. Streak, every single time, tries to play stupid and just hits him at speed. It keeps not working. It just gives Nuke more kinetic energy to redirect into his blast.
If we're going to even get close, we gotta either hit him hard enough to put him down permanently, or try something new. Streak isn't following the plan. We need to leave him behind this time, try to at least gather more details before I get taken down. I said this last time, and you said.. "
"I said he's fast enough to cross the ocean and get there before we do."
"Finally! Something different. That's the first time you've interrupted me with that! The last two times you waited until I was done and said that of course you said it, it was true."
"Believe it or not, Eternus, I do pay attention. I started thinking it and realized I must have thought it before."
"So, what's the new play, general?"
"I talk to him anyway. If we haven't tried before?" I shook my head, almost giddy at a new twist. "Good, then you four get ready, I'll pin down Streak and get him to hang back."
So, we did. Me, Hellion, Damage, and Lightstorm got geared up and moved to the transport room, where Switch was ready to port the team once the General showed. And, we got there before the alert too. Two new occurrences. Maybe this would be the right one.
The alarm blared, and the General ran in, pulling on his helmet, "Alright team, let's handle business." There was a tugging at my stomach as Switch switched us, and the fight was on.
"Dammit, Eternus, I hate when you do this mysterious shit, just fucking tell us."
"It doesn't work."
"Telling us doesn't work?"
"It never does, Streak. It never has and never will. I keep telling you this, and you keep pretending like we've never had this discussion."
We've had it more than he knows, because for every one he remembers, I've had to deal with him doing it a dozen times. Asshole.
"Well, what do you expect, Eternus? All we get is you interrupting and slamming into us and being dickish in general. You say you're reliving the mistakes, but all we know is the present, the now. But you expect us to just suck it up and do what you say. It gets old, fast."
"No shit, Streak, you wanna guess how fast dying because your surly ass wants to play pissing contest instead of listening to the guy that's saved every life on the planet a dozen times, and your life so many hundreds of times I can't even keep track. Why do people do this? The psychics, the time travelers, it doesn't matter how many times we're right, it's this same, shitty argument.
Yes, I expect you to fucking listen to me because this is the sixth time we've had this argument for me, and that means I've died six times today. Which isn't even a record, for fucks sake. And, it's you whining that's the worst part of it. I almost wish I could just die and not come back, if it meant not dealing with you again."
The General did his usual, "Gentleman, can it. Eternus, just brief us; Streak, go take a walk and cool off."
Sixth time. Sixth fucking time. "The Ragnarok are going to hit London. We get there, and they're tearing the city apart. This will be my sixth run, and we've only made it maybe two minutes in the fight before Nuke unleashes and we're all ashes. Streak, every single time, tries to play stupid and just hits him at speed. It keeps not working. It just gives Nuke more kinetic energy to redirect into his blast.
If we're going to even get close, we gotta either hit him hard enough to put him down permanently, or try something new. Streak isn't following the plan. We need to leave him behind this time, try to at least gather more details before I get taken down. I said this last time, and you said.. "
"I said he's fast enough to cross the ocean and get there before we do."
"Yeah, and then you went and talked to him to get him to stay away, and the fucker just ran around the planet and hit Nuke from behind and we all died faster this time."
"Maybe if I make it an order."
"Fine, fucking try it, but if it doesn't work this time, I'm shooting him in the damn knee next time."
"Eternus, no, you won't."
"The fuck I won't, General. And you'll back my play, or I swear by all that's holy, I'll stay behind, and just recruit a team that will listen. You all only have to die once."
"You're serious."
"As it fucking gets. Man, I have died over ten thousand times. A few hundred of those were me killing myself so I could come back and save one of you. Putting a bullet in Streak? That would be a side benefit to this whole dance. So, are you going to give me a code for it, or do I flip the table and be done with it?"
"Penguin. The current code is penguin."
"Awesome, you go corral the asshole because the alarm...."
And the alarm went off. We jumped into action, and....
"Ahhhh, you fuck, you fucking bastard, you fucking shot me!"
"You're gods damn right I did. Your dumb ass refused to listen. This is trip seven for me, asshole. And every time, it's your punk ass that gets us killed."
The General ran into the room, spooling up his power as he came. I raised my hands, "Penguin."
The General stopped cold, "I gave you the code?"
"Yup. This is trip seven. Last time, you ordered Streak here to stay behind. It almost worked, but he flew off the handle when he saw Damage lose his head, literally, and pulled the exact same shit instead of letting things play out and let me get better intel on the fight.
This time, I figure we've got a few hours before he heals enough to be a problem. More if I shoot him in the other knee too."
"Let's not go that far."
"Not that far, you gave him the code so he could shoot me? You're both assholes, fuck both of you!"
So I shot him in the head.
"Sorry, General, this has been a bad day. Let's just get to the fight and I'll off myself if we get it handled, come back and figure out a way to do this without doing that."
"It wouldn't bother me so much if you didn't seem happy about it."
"Hey, you haven't been dealing with this prick for eight hours on repeat, you might be a bit happy if you had."
The alarm started blaring, and we ran for the transport room...
This would make an absolutely amazing TTRPG adventure as well. Characters keep their memories and experience, no one else in the town remembers a thing. Always say the same lines, etc.
DM forgets to keep a consistent detail
"Butterfly Effect"
@writingprompts @FelixMortane Oh my god, yes!
Edge of Tomorrow does this
Re:Zero is about that power.
The anime re:zero does this. It's VERY good. One of the best written pieces of fiction of this type I've ever seen.
He has to kill himself every time one of his teammates is killed. Until one day someone dies and you wake up the next day and they're still dead, and the time loop guy just shrugs when you see him later that day. He never really liked that guy anyway. After that everyone gets a little more nervous and a lot nicer to him.
@Kathrin @writingprompts @writingcommunity @writing I am unaware of that specific powerset but Moira McTaggart comes close with her (recent) Groundhog Life powers.
src 🔗
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moira/_MacTaggert#House_of_XReminded me of the ending to the Loki show
I mean this is basically Re:Zero
It's a couple decades old I think but you should check out Tru Calling. Cries for help from dead people in the morgue pop Tru back to the beginning of the day so she can try to prevent their deaths.
From the webcomics front Skin Horse plays with this concept with its chapter Choose.
Wow, talk about blaming your team for your failings.