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

[unsea]

[ Best to step back, and put himself just out of arm's reach. Why the other host seems to so openly despise him is an unknown variable, but the emotion is there all the same. It sits, heavy and viscous, between them - and he, in his own way, wracks his own mind. Searching for a reason as to why those angry, golden eyes are turned on him now. This host doesn't belong to Castor, no. That's not it. This is something else entirely. ] I don't believe we've really met.

[ Yes, they're bound together as members of the nest, but --

Maybe he can pry the information out of him. Or maybe, if he glances to the datapad, held tight in Aoba's hands... ah. Maybe that's it? ]

You're angry with me. Because of, the tournament?

[vocalis]

[ He asks with a glance to the screen, as though he doesn't know, like it means nothing. For Sly Blue, that's justification for his resentment without knowing him. That someone who doesn't even care for the sport would be allowed in- in the final!!

It's enough to fuel his rage. Allows him more control over his body than he can usually take, enough to speak- slowly, low, and voice oddly compelling. ]

If any host had the right to face the champion of this world... it should have been me.

[ The competition was never the point of entering Bout it Out. Winning was never part of their mission. After listening to Aoba talk to the other hosts, Sly Blue knows this. He knows, and he doesn't care. He could've had both. In his mind, he'd have taken down Kun-Kun before the bomb had a chance to go off. ]

I would have d̫͇͔e͕̜̘̻s̤̰͇͎̫̜̮t͕̰̞̯̥͍̺ro̦y̱̥͔̬͚e̖d̠̪̻̼ you both.


[ There's an echo to his voice there. A threat of some kind, stemming from the ugliest jealousy. ]

[unsea]

Had you been present, you would have had an opportunity. [ A simple statement. Short, and perhaps - no, it's definitely insensitive. ] You weren't.

[ Someone had to fill in, to make sure that the mission went accordingly. He can't justify his decision to enter the competition as anything more than the opportunity to cut loose, for once. To put himself through the paces, to see how strong he remained and what had been compromised by the introduction of the symbiote. It had furthered the nest's needs, as well. A win-win scenario. Aoba had -- the last he had known of the host, he was a slumbering presence. A distance thread that could not be awoken, until now. Curious, and an entirely unknown variable.

And, he really did seem to be resentful of the fact that someone else wound up... in his place, maybe? ]

I would have enjoyed the challenge. I almost wish you had been there.

[vocalis]

[ On the surface the lines of his thin brows and mouth twist and tighten. Beneath it, he boils. Because he knows this new host is more right than he cares to admit. Even if he had been awake and active in the mission, Aoba likely would have stayed away from the Bout it Out side of plans. He doesn't remember how great he is - they are - he is! Once upon a time Sly Blue owned the Rhyme field, and he had chased those glory days late at night through secretive sessions of Bout it Out. And he'll continue to. ]

We can still play.

[ They have what they need - a connection to extraspace and the hardware to play right here in Bearings. Finding an arcade to play in would be just as simple. It would be difficult to come out again, to take full bodily control while Aoba is awake, but to make this matchup a reality Sly Blue is willing to bet he can do it. He'd give Aoba the worst headache of his life to force his way out. It wouldn't be as satisfying as playing the champion in a tournament, but playing the host that stole the opportunity to would come close. He'd pound him into the virtual playing ground and then tear his mind out from the inside with Scrap, just like all the others before him. Even his symbiote would scream. ]

Before the mission is over, fight me in Bout it Out. When you're healed and ready to come at me with everything, I'll show you who deserved to be in that ring.

[unsea]

[ He considers the challenge. Adetokunbo remains the reigning champion of the ring, and though the title was not something he was focused on attaining, it would have been a splendid prize. A notch in his belt; a personal accomplishment, adapting to the technological advances of the world and proving himself capable of handling it. Of being better than it, more than that. The yellow-eyed host before him is starving for a shot at the combat, and it is well within his power to accept or deny that challenge of his. ]

Provided we do not allow this to come in the way of our mission, I'll acquiesce to your challenge. Before we leave this world, we'll meet in the ring.

[ Make no mistake. He can feel that hunger for violence, the need to conquer. It's there, in those eyes and in his words. But, he'll show him. Why he was there, and why he would still be there, even for Aoba's presence. Challenge accepted. Stakes raised. ]

That being said, will you show me the recordings? It'd be in our interests and everyone else's.

[vocalis]

[ The mission. Sly Blue could care less for it, but the answer is better than a rejection. The previously straight edges of his mouth twitch upward. This would give him something to look forward to, through all the dark days spend locked away in his own mind. ]

Good. I'll wait for it.

[ Satisfied, Sly Blue bends to pick up the datapad he'd been clutching so tightly before. With a few taps, movements and fingers more delicate that his mental rage suggests, he flicks the screen back on. With one more tap, he starts up the vids again right where they left off - recorded screams fill the otherwise quiet common area again. Wordlessly, carelessly, he tosses the thin screen across the couch to the other host.

And then with one more yellow-eyed glare, he walks away, heading back down the hall to his own quarters. ]