EMPTY CHAIRS AT EMPTY TABLES

[onemind]

CHARACTERS: All
WHERE: Concordia - VEN DIAGRAMS HQ + BOUT IT OUT PARLOR + BEARINGS APARTMENT BLOCK
WHEN: Late Day :022 + Early Day :023
SUMMARY: The results of all your hard work - for better or worse. One win, one draw, one loss. Anakin Skywalker bites the big one.
WARNINGS: Violence, non-graphic character death.

IT’S BEEN A LONG DAY. Unfortunately, that’s not about to change any time soon. In the late hours of the evening, two things are happening: the final round of the Bout It Out expose between Kun-Kun and The Darkling is spooling up; meanwhile, the infiltration team at Ven Diagrams is working to retrieve information on H+H1 from the company’s security drive. Unfortunately, neither is going to reach the natural conclusion.

At the REGAL STREET GAMING PARLOR, emotions are running high. After a long day of simulation violence and the reveal of Kun-Kun’s new automaton fighting avatar, the crowd has been stoked to a few pitch. The music’s loud but the crowd is louder: cheering and booing, shouting for every landed or evaded strike. There’s an electric pulse of excitement in the air-- and then there’s a very literal one as an electromagnetic pulse rocks the Regal Street Parlor. The Bout It Out ring shorts and the entire parlor is pitched into total, window-less darkness. It doesn’t take more than a few seconds for the crowd’s excitement to melt into panic. Pushing, shoving, shouting - a piercing shriek as one of Kun-Kun’s representatives is stabbed. The nearby hosts (Lexa, Sam Alexander, and anyone in their faux attachment) should be able to help Kun-Kun and his reps to safety, but the crush of the crowd tangles up everyone else. When a rudimentary bomb goes off in the center of the parlor, it catches plenty of people in the crossfire.

There’s a white hot flash. A pulse of heat. A sizzle of agony. It’s a pain that guts, that persists long after the flash of the bomb and extends all the way to the infiltration team at Ven Diagrams. It’s like a limb badly severed. Anakin Skywalker is killed by the blast and every host knows it before they’re aware of anything else.

Unluckily for the infiltration team, they won’t have much time to recover. News of the bombing hits Extraspace in a matter of seconds, which triggers Ven Diagrams - paranoid from the recent attack on their own properties - to lock down their headquarters. All systems are tightened and security clamps down before the infiltration team can access the private servers. If you’re somewhere you’re not supposed to be, now’s the time to get the hell out of dodge.

Retreat, regroup. Upon returning to the Bearings apartment block, the hosts will find that two of their previously comatose friends have woken up: Hux and Aoba Seragaki will probably need to be briefed on the current situation.

     I. THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENS
In the Regal Street Gaming Parlor, a pulse flashes. Electronics sizzle. A fight reaching rhythm is shattered and darkness consumes the parlor in its entirety. There’s something like a collective inhale - and then the panic sets in. Screaming. Pushing. Elbows in the dark and a wave of bodies forcing their way toward wherever they think the exit is. Parlors like this one are supposed to be shielded from this kind of problem, but today that doesn’t matter. In just a few short moments of panic, a bomb - basic compared to the one that blew out the Ven Diagram warehouse only days ago - goes off.

There’s a buzz. An electrical hiss. In the wake of the explosion - in the wake of the agony of Anakin’s death -, the parlor’s fire systems go off flooding the upper and lower levels, the spectator balconies with flame retardant powder and coolant. The emergency lighting kicks on, throwing the carnage into stark fluorescent light. The probable intended victim has escaped, along with his entourage, but there are plenty of wounded - groans and weeping permeate the chemical stale air. In addition to Anakin, three people have been killed and two androids have been rendered into scrap by the explosion. Countless others could use help; maybe even a few other hosts have been wounded by the blast.

     II. MEANWHILE...
If you’re part of the infiltration team, you’ve officially overstayed your welcome. Security tightens to a chokehold; if you’re somewhere you shouldn’t be, it’s time to leave. An alarm blares through the development laboratories. The building is evacuated and then sealed throughout. The powerlifts cease operation. All networked systems go offline.

     III. FROM THE JAWS OF DEFEAT
Back at the parlor, the evacuation continues. The parlor is half-collapsed, there are injured to tend to and local authorities to deal with. In a matter of minutes, the the parlor is swarmed by public security and medical personnel. If you’re able bodied, you’re welcome to assist with rescue efforts - or try to find a lead on who could’ve been responsible for this. Some evidence, some sign - anything to make this worth it. During this time those with Kun Adetokunbo will have the chance to make their case.

It’s a long, protracted clean up and triage; it’s absolutely possible that some of the infiltration team members might make it to the site of the explosion to assist or care for their friends. 

     IV. WE TEND OUR WOUNDED, WE COUNT OUR DEAD
In the early hours of the morning on Day 023, the hosts limp back to Bearings. Maybe it should be achingly quiet, but it’s not - there’s a murmur of activity in the mental air as Hux and Aoba muddle out of their way from out of their comas. From here, it’s up to to the hosts to recover, to discuss how they want to proceed, and come up with a way to recover from this setback - and from Anakin’s death.

---

((OOC NOTES: Here it is, your wrapup log for the event! You may have noticed that the Hosts didn’t succeed at the Ven Diagrams infiltration. We thought this was a better way than asking everyone to handwave a huge amount of plot or simply having the NPCs get the evidence. Don’t worry though - there will be other mysteries to unravel soon. Very soon, in fact.

There will be an NPC top-level for the escape with Kun-Kun, but otherwise you’re free to make your own top levels! If you have any questions please feel free to ask them in the event OOC post.

Thanks everyone!))

NAVIGATION • SETTING • FAQ • MOD CONTACT • GLOSSARY

( CODE BY WHAMBAM )

Comments

[deployed]

[ Bellamy almost laughs. The face is so weirdly familiar. It makes him think of some strange cross between Clarke and Abby, that skepticism with which they'd regarded every false assertion of well being. ]

You don't have to do that, [ Bellamy protests, aware that it's a little futile in the face of this offer. ] I just...something happened. In Ven Diagram.

[ To him. Because of him. It paled in comparison to the bomb and losing Anakin. Bellamy shakes his head. ]

How's everyone else? Have you seen anyone else?

[ Or felt them through the link. Bellamy wasn't going to reference that explicitly, but it's what he means. ]

[vocalis]

It's no trouble-

[ Aoba's about to turn away to fetch that water when Bellamy mentions Ven, and he stops on his heel. He'd seen Angel, felt her connection first out of everyone returning, being brood. She'd been banged up, and she also mentioned infiltrating Ven Diagrams. After a brief pause, Aoba does finish turning to go towards the kitchen, but not before shooting Bellamy one more squint down the hall.

Carefully as he can, he reaches out to continue the conversation mentally, not wanting to disturb any other hosts resting nearby with a raised voice. There's a slight twinge of headache on his end, but it's probably nothing compared to what Bellamy's feeling. Besides, his voice is... oddly, even more pleasant to listen to when he's out of sight. ]

I saw Angel. She's doing better now that she's out of there. She said she was at Ven too.

[ He keeps it brief. Makes quick work of finding a glass and filling it. When he rounds the corner again, he offers it and drops the brain talking. ]

Here, drink. Can I... can I ask what happened?

[deployed]

[ Bellamy levers himself down onto the couch in Aoba's absence. The voice in his head makes him uneasy, as ever, but the urge to recoil from it is muted, fades. Maybe it's partly the pleasantness of tone, or because he's talking about Angel. Nirad hadn't been able to tell him about the others, and Bellamy's fears about any of them being caught and trapped in the building hadn't abated. It helps to hear even secondhand that Angel had made it out. ]

Was anyone with her? [ Bellamy asks as Aoba reappears, letting the connection fade. ] Did she mention?

[ By now, he could check himself. Bellamy knows. But it always feels like a last resort, and now he has the added hazard of his own illness. How much of that will transfer if he touches someone else's mind too intimately? ]

When the bomb went off at the tournament, Ven Diagram went into lock down. It caught us all by surprise.

[ What an understatement. ]

There were casualties at the parlor.

[ He looks at Aoba more closely, wondering if he'd felt Anakin's passing too. Wherever he'd come from, had he been connected then? Did he know? ]

[vocalis]

[ Aoba moves across the couch from Bellamy, sitting against one of the puffy armrests. ]

No, it was just her. She didn't mention anyone else, but she was keeping tabs on plenty of others, I'm sure. She was... pretty shaken, but she's resting now.

[ He keeps his voice even, calm. He had only just learned of it's abilities before coming to the Nest - hopefully he can put it to good use here, even if it's just to be reassuring.

When Bellamy mentions the casualties, he nods. A quiet acknowledgement. ]

I felt it. I think that's when I woke up, but it took a while before I realized what I was feeling.

[ That the limb hacked from his mind wasn't his own broodmate, who had been gone not long before Anakin. That the pain their portion of the nest was feeling is fresh. ]

[deployed]

[ The water washes away the taste of sick in his mouth monetarily. Bellamy sips slowly, swallowing cautiously as he listens to Aoba. Angel's resting. She'd had the presence of mind to keep track of the others, and he thinks, hopes, that she'd have sent out some kind of message if they'd gotten into trouble. The silence must mean good news. Bellamy chooses to believe that, at least until he hears otherwise.

It's made easier by Aoba, even if Bellamy's unaware of that. ]

Sorry, [ Bellamy tells him, because wouldn't it be difficult to wake to death and grief? ] The others are safe. At the parlor.

[ Uninjured is kind of a toss up. He hadn't asked Lexa. They'd lost Anakin but no one else. There hadn't been much time for further exchange of information. ]

Have you talked to them? Your brood?

[vocalis]

[ Aoba stares for a moment. Not intentionally, just in silent confusion at the question. Hadn't he just said he talked to his brood...? But oh, he hadn't mentioned- ]

Angel is my brood.

[ The statement hangs a bit awkwardly there in the quiet of the common room. He doesn't mean for it to, it's just... Adara has grown so thin. It makes them weaker, according to Prince and Cathaway. Especially since he's still hesitant to fully connect with the other remaining member. ]

There's... there's one more left, but he's...

[ Perhaps he should try. for Adara's sake. Bellamy said the others at the parlor were safe, right? So Petre is safe. Perhaps connecting with Petre would be fine, just to make sure he's really alright-

Blood, still warm blood, runs down his (their) chin. Sharper teeth than he knew he (they) had sink into it's source, and it shouldn't be, but oh, it's so good. It's been so long since he'd (they'd) had a proper meal. And there's so many dead near the blast sight, so many still to feed on-

Now it's Aoba's turn to look suddenly ill. His eyes snap back from the distant look he didn't realize he had. A hand flies to cover his mouth as he mumbles from behind it. ]

He's busy.

[deployed]

[ It's hard to keep track, even though maybe it shouldn't be. Bellamy knows which parts of the Hive are his own brood and feels the pull of them with every breath he takes. There's a flicker of apology, which dissipates when Bellamy feels his own stomach lurch. ]

That's—

[ Not ideal.

Bellamy stumbles to his feet, leaves the room. He immediately regretting paying such close attention. He's gotten into what feels like a bad habit, plugging into the thoughts and sensations of the Hive. It triggers and amplifies his own nausea.

He pukes in the sink a minute later. Sorry Aoba. ]

[vocalis]

[ One horror passes only to be swiftly replaced by another. Guilt floods his chest. Had he known Petre was... feeding... and if he hadn't let Bellamy get too far into his own mind...

His eyes close as a small regretful sigh escapes his lips. His hand rises from his mouth to cover half his face in shame. He'd have to apologize later, but for now the now shared sickness between them is settling, and he'd rather let it settle. He retreats to the couch to continue waiting up for the others, but the guilt remains.

Poor Bellamy. ]