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maskormenacelogs2015-08-15 10:11 am
restingstitchface) wrote in maskormenacelogs2015-08-15 10:11 am
Entry tags:
- !event log,
- harleen quinzel | harley quinn,
- hiro hamada | n/a,
- jaime reyes | blue beetle,
- jonathan crane | scarecrow,
- kang | n/a,
- knock out | n/a,
- laurie collins | wallflower,
- n/a | the midnighter,
- ruka | n/a,
- tadashi hamada | n/a,
- wanda maximoff | scarlet witch,
- † agent washington | recovery one,
- † akito/agito wanijima | fang king,
- † ana ramir | taranto,
- † anna | princess of arendelle,
- † athos | n/a,
- † aunt cass | n/a,
- † barnaby brooks jr. | n/a,
- † baymax | n/a,
- † beelzemon | n/a,
- † bela talbot | n/a,
- † bruce wayne | batman,
- † carl grimes | n/a,
- † cisco ramon | vibe,
- † claire dearing | n/a,
- † clary fray | shadowhunter,
- † commander shepard | blasto,
- † crocodile | mr. 0,
- † d'artagnan | n/a,
- † dave strider | knight of time,
- † death the kid | n/a,
- † dipper pines | n/a,
- † dorian gray | n/a,
- † edward elric | the fullmetal alchemist,
- † eggsy unwin | n/a,
- † ellie langford | n/a,
- † ellie williams | n/a,
- † euphemia li britannia | n/a,
- † flame princess | n/a,
- † francis urquhart | n/a,
- † garrus vakarian | n/a,
- † glitch | n/a,
- † gogo tomago | n/a,
- † haen hithiel | chatterbug,
- † handsome jack | n/a,
- † harry hart | galahad,
- † hazel lockwood | n/a,
- † heiji hattori | n/a,
- † hermann gottlieb | n/a,
- † hinami fueguchi | n/a,
- † ira gamagori | n/a,
- † isaac gates | felix,
- † jacob taylor | the protector,
- † james jesse | the trickster,
- † jang junseo | n/a,
- † jeff 'joker' moreau | n/a,
- † jesse pinkman | diesel,
- † joel | n/a,
- † john watson | n/a,
- † jonathan joestar | n/a,
- † kaidan alenko | sentinel,
- † kaito kuroba | kaitou kid,
- † kanaya maryam-lalonde | psychopomp,
- † kaneda shotaro | n/a,
- † karen starr | power girl,
- † karkat vantas | knight of blood,
- † kasumi goto | n/a,
- † kay faraday | great thief yatagarasu,
- † ken amada | n/a,
- † kitty jones | n/a,
- † klarion bleak | n/a,
- † krieg | the psycho,
- † kristin kringle | n/a,
- † lucifer | n/a,
- † lucy pevensie | the valiant,
- † mabel pines | n/a,
- † magicman | n/a,
- † maria thorpe | n/a,
- † marian hawke | andraste's mabari,
- † mary watson | chímaira,
- † mathieu carver | shadow,
- † matthew lin | abduxel,
- † max masters | the mighty one,
- † mewtwo | n/a,
- † michael jon carter | booster gold,
- † minato arisato | n/a,
- † mitchell hundred | the great machine,
- † motoko kusanagi | the major,
- † newton geiszler | n/a,
- † normie osborn | n/a,
- † nysrog | n/a,
- † olivier armstrong | ice queen,
- † peggy carter | miss union jack,
- † peter pan | n/a,
- † peter parker | spider-man,
- † peter quill | star-lord,
- † qubit | n/a,
- † riza hawkeye | the hawk's eye,
- † rose lalonde | seer of light,
- † roxy lalonde | rogue of void,
- † roy mustang | the flame alchemist,
- † sabriel | abhorsen,
- † sarah manning | n/a,
- † steve rogers | captain america,
- † tachikoma | n/a,
- † tara markov | terra,
- † teddy altman | hulkling,
- † teresa | n/a,
- † tetsuo shima | n/a,
- † the red plains rider | n/a,
- † thomas | n/a,
- † tiffany doggett | n/a,
- † tobias matthews | n/a,
- † tooru mutsuki | eyepatch,
- † touka kirishima | rabbit,
- † traci thirteen | n/a,
- † wally west | kid flash,
- † wasabi | n/a,
- † winry rockbell | n/a
Fearfest 2k15
WHO: YOU!
WHERE: De Chima University; exhibition center and campus grounds.
WHEN: Saturday August 15th, 4.45pm start.
WHAT: A registration at the annual technology fair, with a fireworks display!
WARNINGS: Non-consensual use of fear toxin, disturbing mental images, cannibalism and violence. Characters are going to be a psychological mess.
WHERE: De Chima University; exhibition center and campus grounds.
WHEN: Saturday August 15th, 4.45pm start.
WHAT: A registration at the annual technology fair, with a fireworks display!
WARNINGS: Non-consensual use of fear toxin, disturbing mental images, cannibalism and violence. Characters are going to be a psychological mess.
"A kind of light spread out from her. And everything changed color. And the world opened out. And a day was good to awaken to. And there were no limits to anything. And the people of the world were good and handsome. And I was not afraid any more."
- John Steinbeck, East of Eden.
Disunity had been the aim of last month's game. Secrets and lies and truths in fiction. Suspicions in minds. Doubts on tongues. Gossip block-printed in rags. Newspapers, from tabloids to broadsheets, had carried the news; some left-leaning publications had made a greater dinner of the expose than others. Scandalous magazines and imPort celebrity weeklies showed versions of the same 'exclusive', and many daytime shows pandered to the demographic who believed there was nothing to worry about if you had nothing to hide.
The last swearing-in of the summer has people gathering in the Exhibition Center of De Chima University, where certain imPorts have worked before. Spread out over the campus, every imPort will rub shoulders with the local students and faculty of the School of Applied Technology. Inside they will see a staircase with an events banner strung over the atrium. Outside there are modern interpretations of classical statues, on square plinths, and inside there's metal sculptures of scientific and technological principles. Rules discovered by those who studied the world they lived in; procedures and concepts of both organic and inorganic forces. Next to them are standing banners flapping in the breeze, tied to weights, to which blue, purple and silver balloons have been tied with thin string.
The Exhibition Center, located next to the park, is hosting the annual highlights of scientific progress this Saturday evening. The spacious Exhibition Hall that occupies most of the interior space serves as the focal point for the annual technology fair, and expects a smart-casual dress code. The focus of this evening is on medical technology and the benefits imPort involvement can bring. People are free to wander in and out of the building as they wish. The forecast is for a warm, clear evening, with no coastal wind or rain to bring cool relief. People are also free to wander around the center to explore rooms and corridors not locked and bolted to the crowd. Everyone is free to investigate for troublemakers or to cut through the crowd - or to see what isn't locked down and there for thieving. But try not to be caught by the security cameras!
If you climb upstairs or catch a lift to the upper levels of the Center, you will be able to access the grand and expansive glass floor that gives you a bird's eye view of the Exhibition Hall far below - if you've got the guts! There's a stack of supplies stored behind a large exhibition banner attached to the far wall, and you may peek inside to check them out. There's nothing that seems suspicious. A couple of anti-flammable canisters, containing nothing more suspicious than foam. Just try to enjoy the sights beneath your feet.
- John Steinbeck, East of Eden.
Disunity had been the aim of last month's game. Secrets and lies and truths in fiction. Suspicions in minds. Doubts on tongues. Gossip block-printed in rags. Newspapers, from tabloids to broadsheets, had carried the news; some left-leaning publications had made a greater dinner of the expose than others. Scandalous magazines and imPort celebrity weeklies showed versions of the same 'exclusive', and many daytime shows pandered to the demographic who believed there was nothing to worry about if you had nothing to hide.
The last swearing-in of the summer has people gathering in the Exhibition Center of De Chima University, where certain imPorts have worked before. Spread out over the campus, every imPort will rub shoulders with the local students and faculty of the School of Applied Technology. Inside they will see a staircase with an events banner strung over the atrium. Outside there are modern interpretations of classical statues, on square plinths, and inside there's metal sculptures of scientific and technological principles. Rules discovered by those who studied the world they lived in; procedures and concepts of both organic and inorganic forces. Next to them are standing banners flapping in the breeze, tied to weights, to which blue, purple and silver balloons have been tied with thin string.
The Exhibition Center, located next to the park, is hosting the annual highlights of scientific progress this Saturday evening. The spacious Exhibition Hall that occupies most of the interior space serves as the focal point for the annual technology fair, and expects a smart-casual dress code. The focus of this evening is on medical technology and the benefits imPort involvement can bring. People are free to wander in and out of the building as they wish. The forecast is for a warm, clear evening, with no coastal wind or rain to bring cool relief. People are also free to wander around the center to explore rooms and corridors not locked and bolted to the crowd. Everyone is free to investigate for troublemakers or to cut through the crowd - or to see what isn't locked down and there for thieving. But try not to be caught by the security cameras!
If you climb upstairs or catch a lift to the upper levels of the Center, you will be able to access the grand and expansive glass floor that gives you a bird's eye view of the Exhibition Hall far below - if you've got the guts! There's a stack of supplies stored behind a large exhibition banner attached to the far wall, and you may peek inside to check them out. There's nothing that seems suspicious. A couple of anti-flammable canisters, containing nothing more suspicious than foam. Just try to enjoy the sights beneath your feet.
MEDTEC - the National Exhibition for AMERICAN Medical Technology
With the minutes passing by, with hundreds of figures in the crowd moving between the Exhibition Hall and the various function rooms, the event seems to pass without celebration or accident. That is no promise the evening will be uneventful.
REGISTRATION - 4.45PM - 8PM
The doors are thrown open to the crowd, who are free to collect their passes in advance from any available kiosk, or by digital means; electronic tickets on their phones to hard passes collected from the mailman or the University's box office. For those last-minute registrations, passes are available just inside the doors. Feel free to arrive early or wander in ten minutes before closing. It's all good!
MEDTEC - 4.45PM - 8PM
Get out on the floor. You are free to watch any of the displays local companies and R+D have to offer. This is a good time to watch the crowds or to slip out for a visit to the rest of the center. If you wander upstairs, you'll find locked corridors and rooms. But feel free to wander towards the glass ceiling that's above the Exhibition Hall.
Companies who provide to both civilians and the military are here - though you'll notice a lack of high-level technology for the latter. There's a hexagonal stage at the back of the Exhibition Hall that's standing ready for the imPort displays coming later. Please do not touch the tech if signs say not to. But don't think that means you can't try.
IMPORT DISPLAYS - 6.30PM - 8PM
The stage is lit. You may want to head over if you wish to see what your fellow imPorts have cooked up - or even to put on your own show! You'll get an explanation about the cash prizes on offer, and the scholarships. Or you'll wonder why you're watching this ass-patting when there's hardly an inch of space anywhere around the stage.
DRINKS AND NETWORKING - 8PM - 9PM
The Exhibition Hall is closed. The function room next door is thrown open for imPort milling. Make friends around the tables and order free food and drinks from the bar. Sit back, throw your feet up and take a load off. Lighten up! You're here to let your hair down. Please listen out for the public address that announces the upcoming awards show in Conference Room 2, and the fireworks display that's scheduled at 9:10pm outside. You'll get a good view of it from the park.
UNIVERSITY GROUNDS - 8PM
To those exploring the grounds outside the center. Have fun. The balmy night is perfect for walking around without a jacket. Feel free to sling it over your shoulder and enjoy the hot summer air. How the hell is it this warm, anyway? Don't jump in the fountain by the park, kids. Don't put bubble-bath or soap in it, either. Go past it and check out the park, or not. 7You may like to step back into the city. Just be careful of the traffic.
You are free to avoid the main roads for smaller side-streets, but that won't help you. The trash bins hold too much litter. You may wish to investigate them, but will find nothing. But much of the urban area and parkland is turned to a new, sinister purpose. There are minute bombs hidden in drains, or in flower baskets. In every miniscule place in the corner of your eye that escapes your notice. Timed devices primed to detonate in sync with the green and yellow fireworks overhead.
At 9.30PM, the earth will seem to split open and rumble. People screech and shriek about a range of hallucinations; from finding their loved one's body in the city morgue, to being the meal for a pack of monsters, to a flock of crows diving from the railings and rooftops to rip them apart. Those terrified of spiders see nothing but; on the floor, in windows, crawling up the walls. Some folk cough and splutter. Unable to breathe, they suffer a heart attack and can die on the spot. Others are given to a frenzy by the gas, and some experience flashbacks to hideous crimes - except they are the lunatic responsible for murdering children, or the killer stalking people through the streets at night.
It smells of pollution. It smells of fireworks. It smells of street food. There's the sound of blaring horns due to the traffic. There's the smell of fire, caused by the delirious rioting, and blood spilled by those around them, whom they cannot see. The gas enters cars, apartments and buildings with their windows open; the chaos echoes indoors as much as out. Those driven to a murderous lunacy pursue other victims of the gas through a twisted, nightmare version of their neighborhood, and violently resist any calls to cease and desist.
The gas hangs heavy on the air and fills the campus, engulfing the streets, entering the university buildings and student apartments. People around you are panicking, violent, delirious. You might experience what they do. You might hear the screaming, the illegible yelling and see cowering people talking of spiders, ghosts and scarecrows. You might rush indoors to help. You might meet friends who you wish to kill. Or you might run off in a manic state - unable to realize you're running into open traffic. Oh dear.
AWARDS - 9PM
Celebration time. The University has arranged a judging panel that has deliberated on the technology imPorts put on offer - this is the hour where your contributions to local society are being noticed and celebrated. Between the floor and stage, to the assembled chairs and technological displays dotted around the vacant exhibition hall, there's little standing room. You're free to stare down from the glass ceiling high above, or to stand at the back of the crowd below, but don't crowd the doors.
At 9.30PM, with the judges leaving the hexagonal stage so the Head of Applied Technology can present the first award, you might hear a loud hiss of air. A gas leak! The particles are colorless till they meet the oxygen in the room and form a grey cloud that fills every inch of space, from the upper echelons of the ceiling above the glass, to the chairs and the floor down below.
It doesn't smell, and the effects are instantaneous. All noises and images will twist and warp. You might find the neon lights burn as hot as sun-fire. You might see the room on fire and hear the horrific screaming of those trapped and dying in the ruined building you now find yourself in. Perhaps you smell ashes. Or perhaps you smell saltwater and brine - you're drowning! Or you might be one of the few. The brave. The unaffected. Look around and you will see some in the crowd clawing their faces to oust whatever they think is wriggling beneath their skin. They scream and they cry. Others devour their own skin, suffering from hunger - or they eat the flesh of others. They turn on each other. They turn on you.
If that's not enough there's a different show in store. You might be unfortunate enough to be on the glass floor when it kicks off. Enjoy it or don't. It's all the same.
FIREWORKS - 9PM
Ten minutes past the hour, as a loud bang echoes for each firework shot into the night, the sky over the park is filled with the sort of brilliance one would only see on the Fourth of July. You might ask what's a nighttime event without fireworks, anyway?
For that charming couple on their date, to the curious student, an extravagant display comes on the rocket-propelled tails of rockets and bombs and flares. Look to the sky and lose yourselves in the colors as they appear - crimson stars and butterflies, and the pink crackling comets that leave behind a tail of effects. A red geometric circle of lines and dots glitter and break apart into smaller circles, then scatter and disappear, their fuel and powder spent. Memories of the sight are left behind; the smoke barely visible overhead; the smoldering gunpowder - and the warm company of whoever you're with. Perhaps you're one of those unafraid to visit such events alone. Perhaps you have a brilliant memory and the sight has burned itself into your eyes. One display follows another till the last; the end of a 25 minute display mentioned over the public address and published in the brochure.
At 9.30PM, the fireworks fizzle out. The display is over. It should be over. Then there's one more show - a collection of rockets and flares colored in yellows and greens, the colors one associates with poison and sees in cornfields. The colors are sickly and nausea-inducing as they explode in the night sky. It's just another display, right? Then cracks appear in the sky itself! All the yellows and greens, blacks and blues run into the white, hollow emptiness.
Perhaps you believe those eyes in the firmament are real. Or you're part of the crowd who believes the entire sky is falling down. A stampede breaks out. The slow are trampled underfoot. Students, faculty and guests stand shock-still. Some are clawing at their eyes. Others cannot contain themselves and empty their lungs with unfocused wailing. From the sky fall shards of glass. A flood of color threatens a deluge, even as the smoke and particles of the toxic gas contained in those green and yellow fireworks are carried by the wind over the locality.
AFTERMATH - 12:30AM AND ON
There's a collection of police, emergency services and reporters in a boundary around the university area and affected streets. Safe on the edge of the gas cloud, they are evacuating the surrounding areas. Ambulances and stretchers are ready for the wounded; RISE and any relevant factions may be helping with the chaos - or caught up in it themselves.
You might be trapped within the gas, cowering in fear. You might irrationally run into the lights you see in the haze, not knowing what you are seeing or the faces that watch you scramble by, screaming illegibly. You might be directing others in the chaos. You might be one of the people driven manic by it all. You might emerge from the mist with blood on your hands. You might recall how it got there. You might not. But you won't forget this night, will you?
With the minutes passing by, with hundreds of figures in the crowd moving between the Exhibition Hall and the various function rooms, the event seems to pass without celebration or accident. That is no promise the evening will be uneventful.
REGISTRATION - 4.45PM - 8PM
The doors are thrown open to the crowd, who are free to collect their passes in advance from any available kiosk, or by digital means; electronic tickets on their phones to hard passes collected from the mailman or the University's box office. For those last-minute registrations, passes are available just inside the doors. Feel free to arrive early or wander in ten minutes before closing. It's all good!
MEDTEC - 4.45PM - 8PM
Get out on the floor. You are free to watch any of the displays local companies and R+D have to offer. This is a good time to watch the crowds or to slip out for a visit to the rest of the center. If you wander upstairs, you'll find locked corridors and rooms. But feel free to wander towards the glass ceiling that's above the Exhibition Hall.
Companies who provide to both civilians and the military are here - though you'll notice a lack of high-level technology for the latter. There's a hexagonal stage at the back of the Exhibition Hall that's standing ready for the imPort displays coming later. Please do not touch the tech if signs say not to. But don't think that means you can't try.
IMPORT DISPLAYS - 6.30PM - 8PM
The stage is lit. You may want to head over if you wish to see what your fellow imPorts have cooked up - or even to put on your own show! You'll get an explanation about the cash prizes on offer, and the scholarships. Or you'll wonder why you're watching this ass-patting when there's hardly an inch of space anywhere around the stage.
DRINKS AND NETWORKING - 8PM - 9PM
The Exhibition Hall is closed. The function room next door is thrown open for imPort milling. Make friends around the tables and order free food and drinks from the bar. Sit back, throw your feet up and take a load off. Lighten up! You're here to let your hair down. Please listen out for the public address that announces the upcoming awards show in Conference Room 2, and the fireworks display that's scheduled at 9:10pm outside. You'll get a good view of it from the park.
UNIVERSITY GROUNDS - 8PM
To those exploring the grounds outside the center. Have fun. The balmy night is perfect for walking around without a jacket. Feel free to sling it over your shoulder and enjoy the hot summer air. How the hell is it this warm, anyway? Don't jump in the fountain by the park, kids. Don't put bubble-bath or soap in it, either. Go past it and check out the park, or not. 7You may like to step back into the city. Just be careful of the traffic.
You are free to avoid the main roads for smaller side-streets, but that won't help you. The trash bins hold too much litter. You may wish to investigate them, but will find nothing. But much of the urban area and parkland is turned to a new, sinister purpose. There are minute bombs hidden in drains, or in flower baskets. In every miniscule place in the corner of your eye that escapes your notice. Timed devices primed to detonate in sync with the green and yellow fireworks overhead.
At 9.30PM, the earth will seem to split open and rumble. People screech and shriek about a range of hallucinations; from finding their loved one's body in the city morgue, to being the meal for a pack of monsters, to a flock of crows diving from the railings and rooftops to rip them apart. Those terrified of spiders see nothing but; on the floor, in windows, crawling up the walls. Some folk cough and splutter. Unable to breathe, they suffer a heart attack and can die on the spot. Others are given to a frenzy by the gas, and some experience flashbacks to hideous crimes - except they are the lunatic responsible for murdering children, or the killer stalking people through the streets at night.
It smells of pollution. It smells of fireworks. It smells of street food. There's the sound of blaring horns due to the traffic. There's the smell of fire, caused by the delirious rioting, and blood spilled by those around them, whom they cannot see. The gas enters cars, apartments and buildings with their windows open; the chaos echoes indoors as much as out. Those driven to a murderous lunacy pursue other victims of the gas through a twisted, nightmare version of their neighborhood, and violently resist any calls to cease and desist.
The gas hangs heavy on the air and fills the campus, engulfing the streets, entering the university buildings and student apartments. People around you are panicking, violent, delirious. You might experience what they do. You might hear the screaming, the illegible yelling and see cowering people talking of spiders, ghosts and scarecrows. You might rush indoors to help. You might meet friends who you wish to kill. Or you might run off in a manic state - unable to realize you're running into open traffic. Oh dear.
AWARDS - 9PM
Celebration time. The University has arranged a judging panel that has deliberated on the technology imPorts put on offer - this is the hour where your contributions to local society are being noticed and celebrated. Between the floor and stage, to the assembled chairs and technological displays dotted around the vacant exhibition hall, there's little standing room. You're free to stare down from the glass ceiling high above, or to stand at the back of the crowd below, but don't crowd the doors.
At 9.30PM, with the judges leaving the hexagonal stage so the Head of Applied Technology can present the first award, you might hear a loud hiss of air. A gas leak! The particles are colorless till they meet the oxygen in the room and form a grey cloud that fills every inch of space, from the upper echelons of the ceiling above the glass, to the chairs and the floor down below.
It doesn't smell, and the effects are instantaneous. All noises and images will twist and warp. You might find the neon lights burn as hot as sun-fire. You might see the room on fire and hear the horrific screaming of those trapped and dying in the ruined building you now find yourself in. Perhaps you smell ashes. Or perhaps you smell saltwater and brine - you're drowning! Or you might be one of the few. The brave. The unaffected. Look around and you will see some in the crowd clawing their faces to oust whatever they think is wriggling beneath their skin. They scream and they cry. Others devour their own skin, suffering from hunger - or they eat the flesh of others. They turn on each other. They turn on you.
If that's not enough there's a different show in store. You might be unfortunate enough to be on the glass floor when it kicks off. Enjoy it or don't. It's all the same.
GOGO - 9.30PM - 10PM
At 9.30PM, you may think the metal warping around you is just another part of the hallucination. But it's real. The expo hall groans as the walls react to another power, and the displays twist as if a greater force is squeezing them and pulling.
Before too long, the smaller things rattle and jump back and forth across the room. Pens, instruments, small change, etc; even piercings will tug at the skin with increasing force until they may just rip out to join the rising storm of metal. You can stay and test your luck, dodging unpredictable attacks, or you can risk escaping into the night, out from underneath an increasingly unstable roof. Just pray the decoration in the hall doesn't crash into you as you flee.
At 10PM, the stress of the chaos is finally too much for the expo hall. The supports have twisted beyond recognition, the walls damaged by their own warping and displays crashing into them at force. There's a loud crack as one of the supports snaps under the weight of the glass ceiling and with a heavy shudder the whole network starts to unravel and sends the ceiling crashing down. Anyone on the second floor may be lucky enough to get out of the way before it drops, or perhaps they can grab hold of a railing that will creak under their weight.
Or maybe you are one of the unlucky ones who rides the glass from above, all the way to where it shatters across the floor.
At 9.30PM, you may think the metal warping around you is just another part of the hallucination. But it's real. The expo hall groans as the walls react to another power, and the displays twist as if a greater force is squeezing them and pulling.
Before too long, the smaller things rattle and jump back and forth across the room. Pens, instruments, small change, etc; even piercings will tug at the skin with increasing force until they may just rip out to join the rising storm of metal. You can stay and test your luck, dodging unpredictable attacks, or you can risk escaping into the night, out from underneath an increasingly unstable roof. Just pray the decoration in the hall doesn't crash into you as you flee.
At 10PM, the stress of the chaos is finally too much for the expo hall. The supports have twisted beyond recognition, the walls damaged by their own warping and displays crashing into them at force. There's a loud crack as one of the supports snaps under the weight of the glass ceiling and with a heavy shudder the whole network starts to unravel and sends the ceiling crashing down. Anyone on the second floor may be lucky enough to get out of the way before it drops, or perhaps they can grab hold of a railing that will creak under their weight.
Or maybe you are one of the unlucky ones who rides the glass from above, all the way to where it shatters across the floor.
FIREWORKS - 9PM
Ten minutes past the hour, as a loud bang echoes for each firework shot into the night, the sky over the park is filled with the sort of brilliance one would only see on the Fourth of July. You might ask what's a nighttime event without fireworks, anyway?
For that charming couple on their date, to the curious student, an extravagant display comes on the rocket-propelled tails of rockets and bombs and flares. Look to the sky and lose yourselves in the colors as they appear - crimson stars and butterflies, and the pink crackling comets that leave behind a tail of effects. A red geometric circle of lines and dots glitter and break apart into smaller circles, then scatter and disappear, their fuel and powder spent. Memories of the sight are left behind; the smoke barely visible overhead; the smoldering gunpowder - and the warm company of whoever you're with. Perhaps you're one of those unafraid to visit such events alone. Perhaps you have a brilliant memory and the sight has burned itself into your eyes. One display follows another till the last; the end of a 25 minute display mentioned over the public address and published in the brochure.
At 9.30PM, the fireworks fizzle out. The display is over. It should be over. Then there's one more show - a collection of rockets and flares colored in yellows and greens, the colors one associates with poison and sees in cornfields. The colors are sickly and nausea-inducing as they explode in the night sky. It's just another display, right? Then cracks appear in the sky itself! All the yellows and greens, blacks and blues run into the white, hollow emptiness.
Perhaps you believe those eyes in the firmament are real. Or you're part of the crowd who believes the entire sky is falling down. A stampede breaks out. The slow are trampled underfoot. Students, faculty and guests stand shock-still. Some are clawing at their eyes. Others cannot contain themselves and empty their lungs with unfocused wailing. From the sky fall shards of glass. A flood of color threatens a deluge, even as the smoke and particles of the toxic gas contained in those green and yellow fireworks are carried by the wind over the locality.
AFTERMATH - 12:30AM AND ON
There's a collection of police, emergency services and reporters in a boundary around the university area and affected streets. Safe on the edge of the gas cloud, they are evacuating the surrounding areas. Ambulances and stretchers are ready for the wounded; RISE and any relevant factions may be helping with the chaos - or caught up in it themselves.
You might be trapped within the gas, cowering in fear. You might irrationally run into the lights you see in the haze, not knowing what you are seeing or the faces that watch you scramble by, screaming illegibly. You might be directing others in the chaos. You might be one of the people driven manic by it all. You might emerge from the mist with blood on your hands. You might recall how it got there. You might not. But you won't forget this night, will you?
c
He certainly realises it now. Jesse's healing hands had driven it from his system, and a gas mask is keeping him clear. But the danger is still real and present. It's just that now, it comes from everyone else.
Movement to his left. D'Artagnan turns, and misses Kitty's knife by a fraction. His eyes widen, and before he has the chance to say anything, he pulls his own knife from its sheath. She's not going to know, she won't understand. He has to try and get through to her, to the part of her that's still functioning. ]
Kitty! It's d'Artagnan. This isn't what you think. Listen to me! You have to think past what you see!
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And how many of them are? You act like you're an expert, but once and only once did you actually fight the Night Police, and they nearly killed you... But when was that...?
Doesn't matter. No time for distractions. She doesn't even pause to rethink her strategy; even while the creature is still talking, she's lunging in again, swiping at his hand, trying to injure him so he'll drop the knife. She holds her blade and moves like a criminal, a fighter who learned her techniques in brawls on the street. Quick and unpredictable, protectively hunched, feverish eyes searching him avidly for some break in his defense that she can act on. ]
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It’s not easy. She’s not fighting the way a trained fighter would; it’s far more vicious and reckless from that. It’s like she’s fighting for her life. D’Artagnan, on the other hand, is trained, and his blade is fast. There’s a moment where he considers that his sword would be better, but then he remembers that this is Kitty, and he absolutely can’t bear to hurt her. He’s got to get through to her, or failing that, he has to stop her. ]
Kitty.
[ He strikes at her, instinctively, not wanting to give her time to hit him first. She’s aggressive and he needs to get her on the defensive. Even so, none of the strikes he attempts would injure her, not even if they landed. He’s going for her knife, not her body. ]
I don’t want to hurt you. I need you to think. You’re sick. Come on, don’t make me fight you!
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Yeah, you don't want to hurt me, you just want to eat me. Or arrest me. Which - don't even attempt the latter; I'd sooner be eaten than go to the Tower.
[ Her voice is a little winded, and it's reedy from fear. But she follows that up immediately with a hard strike at his hand followed swiftly by a slash at his upper thigh - a blow that, if it were to hit, would severely reduce his speed. ]
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D'Artagnan holds back his horror. There's enough of that going around. If he's serious about wanting to help Kitty, he has to stop her first.
She slashes and he pivots, turning past her blade and sliding his own up to her shoulders while he spins. ]
I'll do nothing, besides take you to be healed. Kitty, it's me! You're my friend!
[ In spite of the fact that he's still very much fighting against her. He turns his blade in his hands, taking it from her neck and moving to catch and parry her own blade again. ]
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But then he talks, and calls her by her name, and he lifts the blade from her skin. And she feels a flash of hot anger that cuts a little through the fear. ]
Stop toying with me.
[ Because that's what it is, right? There are werewolves that do like to play with their prey - she saw that before, from her window, two guffawing officers letting a curfew-breaker think he'd escape before they ran him down. But...This isn't like that, is it. There's no element of letting her think she'll win: the ease with which he strikes her knife-thrust aside speaks to that. And he's so deadly earnest.
And he called her his friend. That's just fucking weird, isn't it. If he's playing some game with that, Kitty does not understand the rules. It's me, he says - but who's me? All she sees are the wicked teeth and the yellow eyes, the trail of drool sliding down from his jaws, the bristle of hair poking up from underneath his uniform. A werewolf whose excitement and hunger are pushing him into the first stages of transformation. It doesn't even take someone with experience to know that a creature like that is no one's friend.
She switches her grip, holding her knife with both hands defensively in front of her. And she steps back a few paces - still ready to move, still circling the creature, but for just a moment not on the attack. What if - What if he's cloaked in an illusion? It's not impossible to imagine, is it...Someone she knows and trusts, wrapped in a werewolf's guise as some foul trick... ]
If that's true - If that's true, then surrender to me. Throw down your weapons and surrender.
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This is Kitty Jones.
D'Artagnan curses himself, softly, under his breath. What are his options here? He knows she's not a match for him; that's not the problem. He doesn't want to hurt her. None of this is her fault. He needs to get her help. He needs her to clear her head, and if there's any way he can reach the real Kitty, even for a moment, then maybe he can save her from this.
And what's the alternative? Cutting her down, knocking her out?
If he lowers his defence she could stab him, and he'd be no help to anyone.
But he might be able to fight her off, even without his blade. He's no Porthos, but he's not terrible.
And it's Kitty. That's what's important, most of all. Clever, sweet, young, friendly Kitty, who's been nothing but kind to him. He can imagine Constance's face at his shoulder, staring him down for even the thought of fighting this young girl.
And that's what wins him over, ultimately. He lets out a breath, and casts his blade on the ground. He holds both hands out, showing them empty, while every instinct he possesses begs him to raises his defence again. ]
I surrender.
I don't want to hurt you. Don't do this, Kitty. Let me help you.