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!))

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( CODE BY WHAMBAM )

Comments

[unsea]

You're not the first to tell me so.

[ There's a measure of pride in his voice. Something hard-earned, dutifully accepted as truth because there was no protest to be found in the voice of anyone he'd ever known. He was born to be followed, obeyed. Not loved. Not understood. There are no others like us.

Something seems to have... manifested, in Ilde. Conviction? Confidence? Hunger. ]

[erbier]

[ An inhale. His response does not surprise her, not in the slightest. So familiar, like the well-worn grooves of a reoccurring dream. Her eyes fall closed for a moment, so many memories alive inside of her. Being young and coming to the Godking's court, witnessing his madness first hand, the crazed orations, the brutal and tender torture of anyone unfortunate enough to rouse his depthless paranoia. He had frightened her, but she had lost the ability to cringe... He had admired her for that, and she had learned to love him.

She lifts her chin slightly. ]

Am I so alike to them?

[ A crisp edge of accusation. ]

[unsea]

You are unlike anyone I've met before.

[ It's neither a compliment nor an insult. A remark, perhaps - of admiration, of disorientation.

Not many people begin their life afraid, and come to find themselves power in that fear. Not many choose how they will feed it, or starve it before unleashing it upon their enemies. And yet, Ilde sits before him. Small, drawn and dreaming of the day she wears a crown of her own. ]

He was yours, wasn't he?

[erbier]

[ It satisfies her. Though within the Hive there are several who are quite alike to her, and she is proud to love them and be close to them... She has been treated as special all of her 'adult' life. She does not like to be treated like any other, if she is quite plain about the matter. Her strange little flare of ego concluded, her attention returns to the situation at hand. (Perhaps not so strange, her mind is clearly rattled, unfocused and battered by the brewing storm of Kylo Ren.)

Although her blue eyes stare deeply at him. ]

He was. He did not wish to be, he kept his distance from us. He made us weak.

[ She says this with simplicity. Losing Anakin is a physical pain to her, perhaps even psychic, but it is not an emotional one. All the emotion comes from elsewhere, any she might have had are stolen from her by Ren, dragged into his whirlwind and away from her. ]

Ren will be stronger without him. [ Her head tilts slightly. ] As will I.

[ But they had already ascertained that part, hadn't they. ]

[unsea]

[ Certainly, on some level, Ilde had reminded him of Genya - the Tailor who had been a close confidante and irreplaceable ally during their time at Os Alta. The similarities ended, abruptly, with the fact that unlike Genya, Ilde had higher aspirations. Goals for herself that revolved around donning her own crown, and they were admirable. Especially in the eyes of a man who had done something very similar, for himself and his people. ]

I'm glad. Companionship is a fine thing to desire, but it is nothing compared to the satisfaction power gives you.

[ Power, gained by whatever means necessary or chosen, would never keep itself apart from someone. He understands what Ilde says. ]

But, you know that.

[erbier]

[ She tilts her head slightly, expressionless. ]

Are you my companion?

[ She has no ability to push at his thoughts, not the way she is, she will accept what he says with his dangerous mouth with a grain of purifying salt. ]

[unsea]

If I am in the way of what you desire, I hope not.

[ Because then, he would expect that she remove him from her path. However, the reverse exists: if he is not in her way, then perhaps they could be companions. This is neutral ground that he offers to her, and he does not ask that she accept or decline right this moment. Not with Anakin's corpse across the room, Ren's rage reaching a height to where even he can feel it. And the dead around them. ]

Will you go outside, Ilde?

[erbier]

No.

[ Flat, immediate. Not entirely clear what she is responding to, in fact, but she will qualify in due time, her attention drifting away again. ]

I will wait for him.

[unsea]

[ That brings his attention back to her broodmate, the one hunched over in the distance. ]

I understand.

[ Short of lifting her up and denying her choice in the matter, he's certain she won't budge. Which means that he has to go to Ren, if he wants Ilde to leave the building. Convincing Ren to leave is not on the menu - not the way things are looking. ]

What do you want?

[ Is he asking her? Or, is he asking Ren-Ilde, as a pair, using her as a vessel to gain insight? ]

[erbier]

[ It is a fair assumption to make. They are trapped within each other. An orbit of poisonous hearts who see to much of themselves in the other... ]

Relief.

[ How simple, how straight forward. ]

[unsea]

I can't give you that.

[ Said, as he works up the energy to rise. Every muscle in his body aches. His oldest scars burn, as though they are as fresh as the rest of his wounds. Relief, she-they desire. One of the simplest desires. Something he does not have the power to grant, hungry as he is and interwoven as they all are. ]

I can offer something else.

[erbier]

[ She watches him go, without fully comprehending, but... it will all make itself apparent enough in time. Another piece of the madness, a dark rolling cloud to carry their thunder and lightning ever stronger across the psychic landscape of this catastrophe. ]