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

[dbag]

[ uuuUUUUUUuuuuuuUUUUUUUUUGGGGHHhhhhh

That's basically his internal monologue right now. She makes things so difficult; even when given the option to just politely ignore each other without being straight-up antagonistic — which is really as good as it gets, when it comes to being enemies with Rhys — she doesn't give up. It's exhausting. He doesn't know what to say, he can't just turn his feelings on her to 'positive' mode, it doesn't work that way. ]

I know this is going to sound crazy, but bear with me. If you want me to— I don't know what you want. Like you? Respect you? Whatever it is. You could maybe be, like, actually nice. Instead of bi—hhrrrrrrmmmmm. [ He almost says bitching at me, but that sure is a thing that's going to start shit, so he just makes an unintelligible sound to cover it. ] Instead of— insulting me, and putting swords to my neck. Just a thought, not married to the idea.

[adamance]

You are treating one moment out of many as the definition for our relationship, as if you were hardly at fault there. [Besides, threats to lives happen in her world, and if Angel is right, then Rhys should be used to it. It's this very thing that makes it difficult for her to accept Angel's words at face value when it comes to him.

That said, Lexa threatened his life and is utterly unapologetic and only views it as an inconvenience moving forward.

So, she's not helping.]

[dbag]

You literally threatened my life! Seriously, are you seriously telling me to just move on from that? [ His eyes bug out and he scoffs dramatically. This is ridiculous! Nothing more ridiculous has ever happened to anyone in the history of ever. ] And, you know, you were a total jerk to me even before that. [ She was mean, she hurt his delicate feefees and his fragile ego. How dare she. ]

Okay, so what I'm hearing here is that you just want me to "get over it." [ With air quotes. ]

[adamance]

I was under the impression that you were accustomed to such lessons, given the apparent hardships of your world. Or was your life less difficult than I've been led to believe? [No one should be this good at not faltering at words like that, but Lexa doesn't hesitate. There are some people she would apologize to for her behavior, but Rhys isn't one of them. It's clear, not just through her disposition, but in the mental link, that she absolutely doesn't see the problem here.]

As for "before," I believe that you're referring to when I called you irritating. [Or annoying. Or whatever it was.]

I suppose you would rather I pamper you and make you feel better?

[dbag]

I mean, that's pretty much what you're asking for.

[ Not comparing her to a dictator is pampering, obviously. Coddling!! He could mention that he's an immigrant to Pandora — if hurtling towards it in an escape pod after setting a moon base on a crash collision course with it is "immigrating" — but he doesn't want to give her the satisfaction of thinking he's even softer than she thinks he is now. Helios was hard, too, just— not in the same way. He purses his lips as he thinks of what to say. ]

I have spent a lot of time sucking up to jerks in power who treated me like crap. And I mean a lot. I'm kind of done with that. So, you can start treating me like, you know, your equal, which I am, or you can get lost. Your choice, really. I'll give you some time to think it over.

[adamance]

I don't need time. [In fact, she almost seems offended by the implication that she does require it. She doesn't. Lexa stares at him for a long moment (too long, really, because she's trying to be unsettling and she knows her eyes are unsettling) before she gathers the right words to speak again.]

Being honest with you is treating you as my equal. We find each other irritating. Little will change that.

I will not harm you again. [Lexa debated adding a "but" before that, but decided that it would have lacked the power it needed. She is being decisive here. Respect it, Rhys.]

[dbag]

[ He thinks about saying that being mean to him is not treating him as an equal, the way she talks to him makes him feel belittled at best, but it's starting to feel like it just isn't worth it to argue anymore for now. It's tiring. He's done a lot of arguing recently. Sighing a little, he raises his hands, palms forward, in the universal gesture of surrender. ]

Fine.

[ He's still gonna be sulky about it, though. ]

[adamance]

We work together.

[There's a long pause. If he wishes to be treated as her equal, then she should be aware of her plans.]

I want to change things for the Nest. General Hux and I once spoke of ensuring that we have a system in place in our brood to ensure that none of us die. So that all of our abilities complement one another appropriately. I think it's time we expand on that notion and bring it to the rest of the Nest. I've been surveying who I can to do just that. None of us will accept a leader. [Especially with so many leaders among them.] But it will make us better.

[It's the next step to "getting along and getting over their shit," basically.]

[dbag]

[ Sit in a circle, hold hands, and sing Kumbaya. The likelihood of this seems slim, considering the— irreconcilable differences between much of them. He won't dismiss it outright, but he won't throw himself headfirst into this cause, either. It seems like there'll be a lot of yelling involved. Instead of saying so, however, he strokes his chin a little and asks, ] What's the system?

[adamance]

We focus on autonomy over group needs in terms of strengths and potential. If we're at least open about something so basic, we're not likely to overcomplicate further missions. [She pauses, tilting her head ever so slightly to the side.] I believe we approached the Ven Diagrams mission incorrectly. Having technologically adept characters there wasn't unwise, but we had no means of asserting ourselves thoroughly. We've been too cautious and cautiousness is why this mission is slipping away from us.

[There is a sense that while her people can do guerrilla-style warfare, that the end result is always brute force.

But still: she thinks she has a point.]