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

[circumspector]

[ The pups squabble amongst themselves, one bites one's tail, the other bites back, they chase each other around their mother's legs. She barks at them both, batting at them when they're dumb enough to get in the way of her front paws as they pad heavily closer to where they're sitting on the couch. Stopping to poke at the coffee table, at the items on the table. ]

Some of them even light themselves on fire. Others just like... well, they're called Barf Skags. I think you can guess that one.

[headinjuries]

[ Lighting themselves on fire...okay, it's weird, but didn't that one guy from the Fantastic Four do that? People do weird stuff at home, animals doing it other places doesn't seem like much of a stretch.

The barfing, though - ]

That's disgusting.

[ He sounds more amused than repulsed, though. ]

[circumspector]

[ she nods, agreeing completely if cheerfully. ] Really digusting.

[ She flicks her fingers, the light twisting under her markings as she draws forward another skag from the apparent nether. This one is much, much bigger, and it's ooze what seems to be an acid with each step. It drips from its jowls and if this were true reality, it would be searing the floor quite surely.

That and the smell would be overpowering.

Papa-skag, from the look of him, as he trots over and picks up one of the pups in its mouth by the scruff of the babies neck, getting it off its mother. ] Heard it smells like vomit and nachos from people that have to handle them more than they do, and it tastes about that good to eat too.

[headinjuries]

Is there a point where this story stops getting grosser?

[ It just keeps getting worse, and worse, and worse... ]

[circumspector]

[ She shouldn't giggle at his expense, but -- well, she manages to keep it very small. ]

I'm sorry, I'm afraid it's all downhill from here. There isn't much on Pandora that isn't gross or violent.

[headinjuries]

[ That gives him pause for a moment. There are plenty of things he had complaints about, back home, but there was a lot of good stuff, too. (SportsCenter. Snickers. Dubstep.) ]

How's it feel being here instead?

[circumspector]

[ She shrugs, because she's had variations of this discussions with plenty of others now. The answer is still the same. Pandora - is a shock. It's where she comes from, she feels nothing really anymore when she looks at violence. Because one disgusting creature was nothing to the broil of madness that Pandora was, and she tries to - keep it away, but there's something there. Bacchanalias of blood letting. The screaming, shrieking, the rend of skin from flesh. The grate of teeth against bone. To gorge and be gorged upon. Darwin at his worst, in a cacophonous snarl of sounds that could be animal, could be human. Tannis's mad recordings ( 'I thought on my research as the beast ate the last of my research team that had thrown himself over me to protect me.' )

But still - it gives her pause in each time, because she had craved that freedom of anarchistic violence, compared what made her truly grateful, and what, just what, did that make her? When there were people here that cringed so heavily from that violence she had once taken as just how things were? They all seemed to miss their homes in varying degrees.

She opts for the simpler answer, not quite lie, not quite truth. The violence isn't what turns her stomach. She'd killed a guard, and quite probably, that secret was going to stay with her so far as she didn't really care enough to bring it up to anyone. Because what was he to turning off the oxygen to the whole of a moon base with a flick of a thought for getting in her way when she decided it was important? ]

Better, much, better here. I didn't... I didn't think my life could ever be like this. I have so much to be thankful for.

[headinjuries]

That's good.

[ At least someone's getting something out of this. Most of them just seem to want to go home, whether out of simple homesickness or out of unfinished business, or both.

It feels a little less like a prison sentence to know that at least for some of them, it's a step up and not down. ]

[circumspector]

[ She's alone in her appreciation. For how much she just let go of her life before like a dead weight she was gladly rid of. She's content, even if right now it's a misery. She had accepted that when she'd taken up the offer. This is what would be asked of them, then so be it. ]

Well, most of the time. [ Her hand comes up and she flicks the illusion away, and it goes with a puff of smoke. Turns back to him. It's a far away place now, anyway. ] Feeling a bit better now?

[headinjuries]

Yeah.

[ It was definitely a distraction from thinking about bombs and dead people, and that's really about the best he can expect right now. ]

Thanks.

[circumspector]

[ she smiles, adjusting herself to peel away from him slowly. It's an easy movement, more to do with stretching than anything else. Her arms coming up over her head as she felt her spine pop. As sore from tonight as anyone else. ]

I imagine it's a bit like riding a bike. A little bit of time, and you'll get the hang of it, I promise. [ she smiles looking him over again to make sure he was alright one last time. ] just bring the blanket back to me when you're done. Feel free to keep it as long as you like, though, I'm not in any rush. Feel free to reach out to me if you're comfortable. If not, I'm usually around here. [ she points to the hub of electronics that had been set up for her and .... The other, bigger, Sam.]

[headinjuries]

Got it.

[ He was halfway considering offering it back before she heads off, but if she isn't going to need it right this second...it's pretty comfy. And he's pretty tired. ]

Thanks, Angel.

[circumspector]

[ she takes a second to watch him, feel with the symbiote at the edges of connection that he was doing better. The quiet seemed to help at least. Satisfied, or at least accepting that she had done as much as she was capable of. Smiles after a moment and leans across, a small gesture of affection, to kiss him on the least messy bit of hair near his temple. A goodnight kiss, soft and quick before she stands and straightens herself up. ] Any time. Night, Sam.

[ and she heads off with that. ]

[headinjuries]

[ GIRL

TOUCHING

?!?!?!

Good thing she's gone before he has the chance to say anything stupid. ]