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

[erbier]

[ She gives him a limp little smile. ]

You are not the first to say so. [ She folds her arms on the edge of the couch, lowering her chin. She's personally never thought about it that much. But then... the symbiote is not so much a passenger to her. It is just another plant, something to be tended and cared for. ] It does not speak, but it hears you and its strengths can be tended to.

[ She does not speak aloud to it the way she does the plants in her garden, but it hears her. Her thoughts and feelings, strengths and fears and hopes. ]

[headinjuries]

I feel like I should be more used to the idea than I am. Like...I've been a lot of places, I get that there's more ways to communicate than just talking.

[ He's heard a lot of alien languages, from gutteral clicks and clacks to ones that sounded less like speech and more like music. And he's seen some things, like that one species that changed the color of their scales depending on the context of what they were saying, but - ]

But it's always gotten translated back to talking. There were still words.

[ Maybe that's the problem. He's used to having a translator. Something a little more regulated than just...feeling it and having to decide what that meant on his own. ]

[erbier]

Language is very powerful.

[ She agrees idly, keeping her mind from drifting backwards in time to the days of watching Dreus proselytize the ugliness of existence and the dire need for the burning cleanse of all living things in their world. She doesn't want to expose the boy to that, not right this moment. ]

But we have a power beyond words now.

[ There were times where nothing resembling language passed between herself and other hosts, merely true perceptions, view points and emotions unfiltered by sound and context. ]

[headinjuries]

Yeah.

[ It's powerful. But he's not so sure he wants it.

Mind games, in his admittedly somewhat limited experience, only ever seem to end in a mess. The aftermath of the Watcher's death. The fight with Red Skull or Red Onslaught or whatever the heck he was going by now on Genosha. That whole mess at Pleasant Hill with the cosmic cube messing with everyone's heads...

It hasn't exactly left him feeling great about the idea of other people in his head. ]

You seem pretty okay with it.

[erbier]

[ She considers it. Mostly considering how in depth to answer. ]

I have been in contact with my symbiote and my brood longer. It was not so easy at first, but... yes. It is too late to fight it. Resistance to the Hive at this point will only shorten your life.

[ Talkin' bout fuckin' Parkers ]

[headinjuries]

[ Is that figurative?

He kind of hopes that's figurative. ]

Uh, like shorten your life as in you're not in as great a position to keep yourself alive, or shorten your life as in it'll literally hurt you if you're not on board with it?

[erbier]

[ Hm. In her mind she doesn't see much difference, but supposes if he is asking the question she should attempt to verify. ]

You weaken yourself, rejecting it. The weak die.

[ A bit blunt, but that is her understanding of the world. ]

[headinjuries]

Okay, but it doesn't like...throw your brainwaves out of sync or start dumping venom in your system if you're not...hivemindy enough, is what I mean.

[ There's a difference, as he sees it, between "perhaps not tactically sound and possibly inviting someone to kick your butt" and "directly getting screwed over."

He's kind of an expert at the former by now, probably, but he tries to avoid the latter. (Tries, anyway.) ]

[erbier]

Some of us fall out of sync with the symbiote. They are the comatose ones we house in the nesting deck.

[ None of them are quite sure what causes this, but... well. It does happen. ]

I do not believe it is due to any kind of venom, however.

[headinjuries]

[ Well, that's...uncomfortable. ]

So we don't know how?

[erbier]

No. And some wake up after a short time... others do not.

[ A shrug. She doesn't have anything more thorough to observe about it. ]

[headinjuries]

Awesome.

[ Deadpan. On one hand, he's not super keen about jumping headfirst into this embrace-the-hivemind stuff; on the other hand, he is definitely less keen about the idea of landing himself in a coma. ]

[erbier]

[ She rests an elbow on the couch, propping up her cheek in the curve of her hand. Uuuh. Don't be sarcastic with me young man. She quirks a small smile. ]

I love my brood quite dearly. I hope you are also able to have a good relationship within Bellatrix.

[ She's trying to be like... nice and reassuring. ]

[headinjuries]

I dunno about love. But they seem okay.

[ In that vaguely tsun-tsun "I'm a cool teenager who can't sound too enthusiastic about liking people" kind of way. ]

Well. Mostly.

[ Bucky's clearly got something weird going on that he's not sure how to deal with, and the other Sam is someone he knows from home but who clearly hasn't met him yet, which is pretty awkward and he tries not to think about it too hard, and Parker just seems to hate everybody?

But you know. Aside from all that, they're fine. ]

[erbier]

[ Ilde's little smile doesn't fade, but she sure would like an excuse to tell Addison Parker off. ]

Maybe not love.

[ She agrees, having recently been educated on how much people hate that word for a variety of irrational reasons she thinks are stupid. ]

Please feel free to contact me if you need help.

[ With them. ]

[headinjuries]

[ It probably wouldn't be accurate to say Sam hates the word, but he's wary of it. Calling something love feels like it's opening yourself up for things to go either very right or very, very wrong.

"Very, very wrong" is a pretty solid summary of his life so far. ]

Thanks.