Came Back Wrong meme

[ariescantus]

the “CAME BACK WRONG” meme

When we miss people, we want them back, and we want everything to be exactly the same as it was. But that’s not always possible. People change, whether for the better, or for the worse. People come back different. Maybe it’s due to unforeseen circumstances, maybe something terrible or wonderful happened to them, maybe something went wrong.

Either way, whoever you wanted to see again, isn’t quite the same as the last time you saw them.


HOW TO PLAY:
● Post with your character(s). ●
● Include your preferences (returning, waiting, bringing someone back, etc.). ●
● Comment to others if you so desire. ●
● Roll or pick a scenario, or come up with one of your own. ●
● Have fun! ●

Warning: This meme may contain dark themes, death, and violence.

CAME BACK FROM WHERE?

The Dead.
Someone you love is dead, and you just can’t take it anymore, so you dig out your ancient black magic texts to bring them back. But something’s not quite right... they’re not all there, or they’re a monster. Something is really wrong here....

The Lab.
Wherever they were, they were used in experiments. Those experiments changed them. They’re back now, but it’s not the same. They’re different. They went through something.

The Future.
Someone you know has just come back in time from the future, and man, is it different. How they’ve changed. What could have made them become this way? How have things gone in the future to bring this about?

The Hospital.
Something was wrong with them, whether serious or not. They had to spend some time getting better. Now they’re out, but are they really better? Something seems a bit off, a bit different....

The War.
They went off to fight for freedom, justice, love, what have you. Now they’re back, just like you’ve been waiting for. Only they’ve changed. They’ve seen some stuff, man. Heavy stuff. Or maybe something wonderful. Either way, it’s not the same.

Abroad.
They’re off studying in another country, teaching in another country. They moved due to family or career obligations. That’s over now though, and they’re moving back. But time away can do things to a person.

The Store.
They just went to the store down the street. A quick candy run. They’ve been gone for fifteen minutes. But man, those fifteen minutes changed them. Something happened to them out there.

Choose Your Own Adventure.
Mix and match any of the above. Come up with something of your own. Think of something I didn’t? The possibilities are endless!

CHANGED HOW?

Monstrous.
Whether brought back from the dead, or catching a zombie virus while out on a walk, they’ve come back as a monster. Something not quite what they used to be.

Dead Inside.
They don’t seem to have the life that they used to. They’re quiet, withdrawn. They might not even talk or have any personality at all. Maybe they’re just a drone. Maybe they're dead outside, too.

Traumatized.
Whatever they went through traumatized them. They can’t talk about it, they have panic attacks. They wake up screaming. They flinch when you touch them.

Stepford Wives.
It seems at first like nothing’s wrong. They’re back, and perfectly happy. A little too happy, even. Way too happy. It’s getting kind of creepy how happy they are....

Jaded.
They’re not traumatized, but they’re definitely bitter and cynical. They don’t believe in hope anymore. Life has changed them.

Cold and Distant.
They used to be your best friend, the love of your life, your soulmate. But now they seem to want nothing to do with you. You have nothing to talk about, no common ground between you anymore.

Wildcard.
Mix and match any of the above, come up with your own bizarre change, think of something different. Anything goes!

Thanks to fishe for providing coding!

Comments

Robb Stark | ASOIAF

[northernwolf]

Baby Doll | Sucker Punch

[coping]

Isaac Lahey | Teen Wolf

[acidity]

Tommy Merlyn | Arrow | how can I not? OTA

[tommy_merlyn]

[Canonically dead, but happy to run with the other options too. Replies might be a little slow, though!]

[shipwreckedcanary]

[Lazarus pit shenanigans?]

Kain Highwind | Final Fantasy IV / Dissidia 012

[dragoon_pride]

[I'd love to play "back from the dead" with him especially, but up for other options/combinations too.]

Chuck Hansen | Pacific Rim

[suicidemission]

Bucky Barnes ★ MARVEL

[trusted]

[possible au in which Bucky comes back from the war missing an arm? Or the dead option works too, natch.]

gently aus all the things idek

[dates]

[ he goes to war and she follows — it's usually the other way around, steph gets into trouble and he bails her out of it, but not this time. this time, he goes and she follows, only it takes dr erskine and his willingness to overlook that she's a girl and not eligible, and it takes some particular ruthlessness and immoral argumentation that makes her so angry she almost blows the whole thing off. ("well, better we try this on a girl no one's going to miss first, isn't it?" she overhears and wants to scream, wants to charge in and tell them that bucky's going to miss her, if no one else, but this is her one shot at this and she's not going to ruin it for herself just because those in charge don't think a girl can fight. for once, she stays quiet.)

it works, and dr erskine dies, which makes her the only super soldier they have, and yet they insist on using her as a doll for propaganda purposes and it's only lucky timing and her personal brand of stubbornness and a willingness to disobey both orders and common sense that have her storm a hydra base on her own on the odd chance that bucky might be there — and he is.

he is, but he's badly injured from the bomb blast that knocked him unconscious and he's been experimented on and — she can't dwell on it then, because they have to get out and she has to report back.

the insubordination means she's sent back stateside. there's more propaganda work in her future, she's certain of it, and she'd say that it's worth it except they send bucky's whole batallion back as well. ( she's torn on the matter: on the one hand, it means bucky's back, too, on the other, all she ever wanted was to be out there, do her duty, fight that particular brand of bullies, and now her actions means that lot of good men can't do that, either. )

the insubordination means they're both back in new york, though she has to do tours and hold babies and smile for the cameras and there's no real laughter in his eyes when he jokes about her newfound health and height and beauty.

he's not the man he was, before. he still looks the same, except for the arm that's missing, how he holds himself a little differently now to account for the missing weight on one side, but he's very different, and she looks entirely different and thinks that she's still the same, but he doesn't seem to agree.

nothing's like it used to be, and she hates it even while determined not to let it bother her.

what does bother her, though, is the way he wakes up screaming, clutching at an arm that's no logner there, and turns away when she rushes into his room in the new apartment in brooklyn they're sharing, paid for by the money the army pays her rather than him. he's comforted her so many times, taken care of her in so many ways — but he won't let her do the same thing for him, now. ]

I wish you'd talk to me.

[ it's said softly, more to herself than to him, from where she's standing in his doorway after he pushed her away. ]

Rachel | Animorphs | Ota

[grizzlys]

[Either came back from the war or came back from the dead work pretty well for her. Alternately up for anything.]

Stiles Stilinski | Teen Wolf - open

[ingoodcompany]

(ooc: Not the lab option, canon and AU versions available. Can start - let me know what you'll want to avoid.)

[hates_ninjas]

[ooc: Back from the dead?]

Dean Winchester|Supernatural|OTA

[howl_at_that_moon]

Sara Lance → Arrow → ota

[shipwreckedcanary]

[Coming back from the "dead" changed is more or less canon, but I'm happy to play up anything. Also happy to be on the non-coming-back end.]

jackson whittemore | teen wolf | ota

[harder]

[ingoodcompany]

(ooc: any prefs WRT to canon or spy verse?)

Michael - Dominion - OTA

[what_he_needs]

Bucky Barnes/Winter Solider | MCU | OTA

[make_it_hurt]

[Crosscanon welcome.]

Re: Bucky Barnes/Winter Solider | MCU | OTA

[superintern]

[Darce or Bucky as the one coming back wrong?]

Daisukenojo Bito | The World Ends with Long named Canons | OTA

[ice_in_shibuya]

[Canon or Dangan Roleplay flavors! If Canon, Week 2 gives a few good excuses. If DRRP well there are all kinds of fun Mastermind/Bad End/ Memory feckery to use.]

drrp mastermind au for week 12 i'm sorry not sorry

[dereban]

[ Eleven weeks. It had taken them eleven weeks to get things done, and not only that, it had taken them so long that it began to annoy her. She had "died" only a few weeks ago, but that honestly wasn't a real death; it was one that was faked rather well in fact, thanks to some certain things.

But she's bored.

And she's tired of waiting for them to finally come up with something smart, these idiots kept on messing up week after week and she's tired of it. They were doing things on a pattern, and it was too tedious. Too routine. Too predictable.

Which is why she'll do something different. Something new! After having the Monobear AI around with the 'ghosts' last week, she's decided to actually show up in the flesh, as the mastermind, but not reveal herself to anyone. However, Beat can find Inaba in the same place he found her 'ghost' the previous week, in the Game Room.

She was told what happened, so she's going to be playing another round of Time Crisis 3 trying to beat the high score. Though she won't mind an interruption, that's for sure. ]

toji hisami, twelve | zankyou no terror | ota

[sphinx2]

the hospital, traumatized

[trisa]

[A trip to the hospital, some IV fluids and she's back on her feet, wobbly but okay.

But they called her mom, the nurse got the number from her phone and contacted her. She was giving directions when Lisa came to, tried to stop her but it was too late. But she's fine now. Out of the hospital and pounding the pavement, tucks into shadowed spots when she can't run. Her stamina is shot.

Half an hour later she's wound up back at the apartment - Does Hisami own it? They didn't really talk about what his living situation is - and she spends long moments with her back pressed to the inside of the entrance to the complex. She listens. Doesn't hear anything, she listens harder. Construction is going on in the distance, a woman laughs followed by slamming of a door. Reasured, minutely, she heads up the stairs and winds up outside the door. Forces herself to knock before she can tense up again. She keeps her eyes on the ground as she waits for a response, listening intently.]

Jill Valentine | Resident Evil | OTA

[torsion]

[ Pretty open to most things, particularly post-RE5! ]

rose tyler | doctor who

[shopgirl]

quistis trepe | final fantasy viii | ota

[nagyka]

[ Pass on Store & Stepford Wives options! Not too big on The Lab, either. ]

Princess Zelda | LoZ: OoT/SSB | OTA

[smash_wisdom]

(OoC: Good with anything, ask if you have any doubts.)

himeko inaba ♥ kokoro connect ( ota )

[dereban]

( canon flavor or dangan roleplay flavor! if drrp flavor, i'm open to mastermind/future foundation/memory shenanigans. i'm good with anything, but feel free to ask if you have any questions. )

bad end/ mastermind-ish au IM SORRY

[ice_in_shibuya]

[They had won. The Future Foundation had found them all, rejoicing in the *outside* again, and as one the former Hope's Army had denied their chance to go home. They had people to save and promises to keep.

It was such a good plan. A Hopeful plan.

With their track record they should have known it was doomed.

First came the memories trickling in: the memories of their time at the Foundation mixing with the memories of Lysandre, the tables, and the Admins Gently Caressing their minds. The drug wasn't perfect, after all, and the synapses of the mind could only take so much. They each reacted different to this mess. Schuldig specifically didn't take to the images of the tables well, and almost took half of them out with his psychic anguish.

But it was fine. They after all were tasked with a wonderful purpose. And eventually they found their goal.

Sadly, it wasn't what they thought in the least. Yveltal wasn't gone, it's energy just cast into the world, destroying everything in it's path... except for Xerneas. The god of Life could not be destroyed, but it could not exist without it's counter either. And when the battered Army found it, it's beautiful blue fur and golden antlers were stained in black and red. A god over all states of existence. Life and Death.

The survivors, their mental walls already battered, didn't stand a chance against the blinding Truth of this new being. If they wanted a boon it had to be paid for. Life needed Death.

Luckily there was already this lovely base waiting to be dug out for their new patron.

When Inaba opened her eyes, a pair of ecstatic blue would be looking down at her, her friend practically vibrating with excitement]

Inaba! It worked!!

[Beat stepped back from the table, eyes flicking back and forth like someone on much too heavy caffeine intake. He was still wearing the (now very battered) Foundation coat he had discovered during the last investigation, but under that, instead of his jersey or skulls he was clothed in bright blues and golds in erratic graffiti-like lines, dotted with gem like color here and there.

So bright and Hopeful, don'cha think~?]

Richard Rider - Nova | Marvel 616 | Returning

[brassbucket]

roy harper | arrow

[abercrombiehood]

[shipwreckedcanary]

[Idk what, but we should do this. :D]

lily evans (potter) | harry potter

[gingers]

arthur pendragon | merlin

[onceandfutureprat]

first pick is obvious, you get to choose the second :V

[mysticism]

2014 marks the fifteen-hundredth anniversary of Arthur's death, and Merlin basically decides: fuck this.

The gods know he has waited. He has borne witness to the death of everyone he knew in his first life, then countless others. He has watched Camelot's once-impenetrable citadel overrun and then destroyed, torn apart by the Saxons and their successors. He's seen his home became a memory, and then a myth. He has lived through Albion's trials: invasions and intrigue, wars fought from within and without, bombs and plagues. He's felt Albion's people cry out in their hour of greatest need, time and time again, and Arthur?

Arthur has slept.

Merlin reasons, now, that he was never capable of escaping his destiny. There was nothing he could have done to avert the course of events that led them to Mordred; to Camlann; to Avalon. So surely - surely - he isn't capable of waking Arthur before his time. If this is the year he chooses to revive him, then the fates have willed it so. If it's not yet Arthur's time, he'll fail. And this is to say nothing of the fact that Merlin is the oldest entity left in Albion besides some of the trees. He is as good a single representative as any.

And it's his hour of greatest need, because he can't bear to be alone any more.

Summer storms flood the meadow that was once the lake of Avalon, making it a lake once more, and Merlin finds it impossible to take this as anything but a good omen. He spends days camping on the shore, weaving the strands of a ritual he's known of for decades but never dared to use. When a local copper assumes that he's homeless and tries to move him on, Merlin just looks at him and tells him he never saw anything amiss, and burns it so deeply into his mind that his capacity for observation is likely destroyed forever.

He feels a little guilty about not feeling more guilty. And on the dawn of the third day, a day spent bleeding magic into the water and the earth and leaving him dog-tired and almost delirious - the sun rises behind the tower at the heart of the lake, and he sees a boat slowly creeping its way to shore.