station72 | EMPTY CHAIRS AT EMPTY TABLES

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 )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ DNA. And here he'd been thinking this was about keeping the place clean - but it's a good point, to be fair.

He slides off the end of the couch to seat himself on the floor; it's way easier to clean off a floor than upholstery. (He knows way more about cleaning up gross messes than he'd like to.) He's still making more of a mess, but that comes next. Someone left the first aid kit on the coffee table, so he reaches over and catches the corner so he can drag it into better reach. ]

I guess a place like this would totally go Big Brother on us, huh.

[ And people thought the twenty-first century was bad. ]

[ Honestly, it probably would be more normal in telling him he's being a disgusting slob leaving blood all over, but Parker's brain is apparently wired to be paranoid. It's not so much she cares anyone finds about them, has no fight in this stupid mission, has no interest in having a say in this cause that is stupid and pointless (according to her, of course), but it kind of comes with the territory.

She watches as he slides to the floor with a half bored stare. Not moving one inch to help him, even when reaches for the first aid kit. All she had to do was push the table a little with her foot. She doesn't. ]

You mean like having a window to your brain?

[ If sarcasm could talk, it would be named Parker. ]

[ He doesn't seem at all perturbed by her complete lack of helpfulness - just starts rummaging through and fishing things out. Tweezers, no, this isn't a splinter. Aspirin, nope, but he should probably remember that for later given his hilarious track record of getting hit in the head. Bandaids...geez, why are they all so tiny? Not gonna be helpful for anything worse than a papercut... ]

Yeah, well, one's easier to do something about than the other.

[ He's not exactly thrilled about the brain window. Not actively avoiding everyone and trying to cut himself off like she is, but he's far from comfortable with it.

But if there's a magic switch in his brain to turn it off, he hasn't found it. ]

[ Parker keeps an eye on him while he rummages through the kit, wondering what a person his age is doing in this place. Not that she isn't used seeing people his age, sometimes younger, getting thrown into risky situations. It is kind of a staple back home and something deeply ingrained in cultural acceptance of child superheroes, but one she sometimes has a problem with (the superhero part, not the age part, is what bothers her anyway). However, this isn't a situation that calls for that kind of people. They're somewhere lost in a galaxy all far away from home.

She hardly thinks a kid like him is supposed to be that far away from home.

She blinks slowly, looking up at his face instead when he has his say. Stares for a while longer and then finally takes a step towards him. Or, as it turns out, to the kit, grabbing the cold pack from it. It's not going to help to what she wants, but will be a small relief for her fully bruised back.

She also grabs the bandages that she quickly finds under it and throws it at him. No way she's going to get close to a person that makes her want to get close (because part of her knows, has to know, it isn't her that wants this at all). ]

Do you want to do anything about it?

[ Because so far, he's been the only one that would. ]

[ Being on the other end of the galaxy from home is fairly normal, but not being able to go home, not so much. Being the lone space cop on the interplanetary beat wasn't so bad, at first, because he had the power to cross the distance and the navigation to know how to find his way back. There's never been a place he's gone to where he couldn't just point himself straight back at Earth whenever he was feeling lonely.

He tried it, when he first got here. Hid in his room at the Bearings, put the helmet on, and tried to get the nav system to tell him where he was. It couldn't give him anything.

That, more than anything, was the moment that really made him go oh, crap, I really am stuck here.

He catches the bandages easily and starts wrapping one end around his leg. ]

Thanks.

[ That question, though. ]

Are you planning on something?

[ Unlike him, however, Parker has no experience in outer space. She doesn't have any experience with aliens either, save for fighting giant monsters, but that's neither regular nor a full alien experience.

Certainly not navigating space.

With the cold pack between her hands, she slaps it harshly and it quickly starts to freeze. She takes it around to her shoulders, aching from the fall she had taken some hours ago. It is only a temporary relief, but one she takes, wincing slightly at the first touch.

Her eyes move slowly over to him as he questions her and she looks at him, good long look, head from toe. There is not much you can plan when you don't even know what is going on.

Parker slides the pack to the other shoulder and gives him a shrug. ]

What could I ever do? [ Not sure if mocking or not with how flat her tone is. Either way, she wouldn't trust him, or anyone, even though her insides seem to twist and turn and ache for closeness with the others. But she knows well, it isn't her instinct. ] I mean, we're here to save the universe, right?

[ Now, that is openly mocking. ]

[ He shrugs as he continues wrapping up his leg. ]

I'm pretty okay with the saving the universe part.

[ That, after all, isn't terribly new, even if it's a bit above the scale most of his previous battles have been on. You save the planet a couple of times, it probably makes sense that someone's going to knock you up a pay grade eventually, even if you'd rather have some time to go finish solving your own problems.

(Too bad "pay grade" is entirely figurative, because if he actually got paid for this crap, that'd be half of his own problems solved right there. ]

But, I mean, if they're calling a "symbiote." [ He actually managed to pay at least some attention in biology class. ] Does that mean we're at the point where we can't get it out without killing it? Or us too?

[ He didn't pay quite enough attention to be sure about that part, but it's kind of important. ]

[ There is only one thing that pushes her into saving the universe, one very selfish thing (but that is only human nature) and that is the salvation of her own home - of her own friends. She isn't letting them die (not again, never again) and that is all there is to her presence here.

Not an idle presence, however. Being told something as fact without any of her own investigation is really not her style, and she won't start believing in everything she is told now either. But she doesn't tell him that, and is careful enough to keep it under wraps, even with the slight tug and underlying pulse of trust that is definitely not hers in there.

She is not interested in the parasite's (because that's what she's calling it, an invading body, not one that lives in harmony with her) well-being. If she found a way to get it out without causing harm to herself, she would not care for the consequences of it.

Instead of saying that, Parker gives him an uninterested shrug. Who cares? ]

Don't forget to clean the couch.

[ For all that he attempts the cool disaffected thing, as teenagers are wont to do, when it comes down to it, Sam has a lot of feelings and he's never been much good at hiding them, and talking to people who really don't seem to care about things is always...kind of weird, to him.

How do you just...turn it all off that easily? ]

Right.

[ Cleaning up his own messes. Yeah, that's been kind of a thing, but his messes usually aren't of the laundering type. How do you even get blood out of a couch? ]

EMPTY CHAIRS AT EMPTY TABLES

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i thought i had tagged this.......... gome.......... im garbage

we've all been there...

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