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(no subject)

WHO: Everyone!
WHERE: De Chima
WHEN: Feb. 16
WHAT: This month's swear-in!
WARNINGS: Possibly some violence

A spiraling new skyscraper has just completed construction in De Chima and, to celebrate, the owners and several of the businesses renting space in the modern wonder have elected to host this month’s swear-in on the top couple floors. These floors can be reached be elevator, slowly strolling up the winding ramp that circles from the bottom to the roof or, if you can, fly or leap or use whatever other superpowers you have to get to the top or to reach one of the many open balconies and gardens available along the sides of the tower.

Though it’s a few days late, the theme of the gathering is still an unsurprising one for this time of the year: love. And, really, after the past couple of months who doesn’t need that in their lives? There are several activities available to celebrate the many stages of romance, all available in different subsections on the top couple floors. On the second floor from the top is where you enter and houses the business end of the swear-in, what you typically find at these gatherings. A lovely ballroom decorated to the nines in red, white, blue (and pinks) with an open buffet of finger foods, drinks, and various information pamphlets about local businesses, the government, and job opportunities for new imPorts.

Branching off the main ballroom are gorgeous balconies looking over the city, as well as a few indoor/outdoor gardens. These gardens range in themes from tropic jungle, to evergreen paradise, to desert oasis. They are all only about 600 square feet each, but they are a nice break from the socializing and whatnot of the main gathering. There are also special drinks provided by the Color Me Cupid company making their way around, both in alcoholic and virgin varieties. They have no clever names, sadly, but rather are labeled after the bright, almost glowing colors each is. A few sips just leads to a fizzy feeling on the lips, but have at least half of the drink and you’ll feel a few effects for the next twenty minutes or so:

Pink Drink: Sentimentality. You’ll feel a fondness for people, places, events, or even a nice piece of furniture. Cozy on up with this soft puppy love or platonic general desire to be near that person/item of interest.

Blue Drink: Melancholy. Alas, love isn’t all butterflies and sunshine. But this isn’t just being in a bad mood, wanting to go home. No, this is artistic, bohemian angst. The kind of mellow drama the poetic soul feeds on. Drape yourself over a table and opine on your lost loves, or stare tragically at the stars, sighing loudly until someone finally asks you to reveal your dark, mysterious past. Follow your tortured heart in getting that attention you suddenly need, just make sure to make a show of your inner turmoil.

Red Drink: Passion. Whether its for a person, a sports team, or a favorite hobby, you suddenly feel the need to share your enthusiasm with the world. Talk for an hour about a baseball game, or shout your love from a roof top. Or challenge someone to a duel over the hand of your loved one- or a balcony you really wanted to stand on. How ever passion works for you.

Green Drink: Jealousy. It’s an ugly part of love, but hard to escape. Depending on the person, this could induce feelings of neediness for attention from people you care about, to paranoia that others are out to steal what is yours.

Scattered throughout the main floor, a couple of the balconies, and along the twin ramps spiraling up to the top floor are two person tables, set for enjoying those finger foods and drinks. Also on each table is a stack of brightly colored note cards. These are important because, you see, the Loose Lips communication service is showing off one of their newest innovations in dating technology: Speed Honesty. When two people sit at a table, a small force field is suddenly erected around them. It won’t suffocate you or anything easy like that, no. It will simply stay in place, keeping you two at the table, until you pick up a note card and, worst of all, each of you must answer the question on the card. The speaker hidden in the table will evaluate your tone of voice, as well. No sarcastic answers accepted and, unless you’re a skilled liar, dishonest ones won’t do the trick either. The table’s AI needs to believe both parties have sincerely answered the question picked, then the force field will lower. Then you can either run or, if you wait more than ten seconds without moving, the forcefield will reactivate and you have to do it all again. This will happen every time two people sit at any of the tables, and sometimes an unwitting third standing too close may be trapped and must answer as well. Good luck, guys.

[[Questions for the cards can be found here or here, or you can OOCLy make them up for fun.]]

The top floor of the building is owned by the With Your Best Shot company and, trying to keep with the theme of the night, they have opened the (bullet proof) glass enclosed training areas on the roof of the building for duels. Hand to hand, with (dulled) swords, (paint ball) pistols, it’s all open for use so long as you declare your grievance against the person you are about to duel and declare what the winner will gain. These can be anything from traditional romantic items- the hand of the maiden fair- to silly things, like who gets the last soda in the fridge back at the apartment after this. Seconds are encouraged, but not required. There are viewing spaces for people to enjoy both the fights and the amazing view of the city below.

Enjoy the evening, imPorts. This month's swear-in appears to be going well until, later in the evening, the shadows seem to grow darker. Attendees might assume there's been a change of lighting to facilitate a romantic mood until hundreds of Heartless emerge from the darkest corners, intent on attacking imPorts and capturing as many hearts as possible.

Quite a few of the unwelcome guests are of the Shadow variety, stronger in swarms than they are individually, but still dangerous. The more fearsome Neoshadows are also in attendance, as are more colorfulvarieties -- some of which may have been people imPorts knew, before their own hearts were claimed.

Whoever they were and wherever the Heartless came from, attendees have three options: fight, run or hide. Whatever they do, they'll want to guard their hearts closely, or they may find themselves becoming the enemy.

[[OOC: Please ask any questions here!

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[ it's fine, so is he. maybe not as short as roxas, though. he busies himself with exacting revenge on the shadow that scratched him. rest in pieces. ]

Not by yourself, you can't! Maybe we create a distraction. You know how to make a ruckus, right?

[ they'll need some better stunts for that, though. he fires off one of those big blasts again, only this time he aims it at the floor. it sends furniture and debris flying, and also has the amusing effect of shooting some of the swarm straight up into the air. now if only he could do that more than once every couple minutes. ]

[Few people are.]

I think I get the idea.

[Nicely done. Roxas takes the opportunity to leap up after the Heartless, slicing through them as they tumble out of control. And then he seems to stay there for a few seconds, hovering as he makes quick slashing movements with his arms. For an instant, the room absolutely lights up with searing light. And then he's on the ground again, fewer Heartless in the immediate area.]

[ reno offers an impressed whistle. ]

Sweet moves, kid!

[ reno, maybe don't just stand there. but he sure can't create anything quite that distracting. he's saving one of the only other tricks he's got for an emergency situation, and that just leaves discharging the static in his rod to make some particularly explosive shocks when he hits something with it. like, oh, say the remaining heartless that weren't just torched by the light show. that takes care of nearly everything nearby, but it also has the intended effect—

they've drawn a lot of attention. reno starts to head the swarm off as its attention turns toward them, holding the line from breaking through to roxas for as long as it's feasible. eventually, the numbers are too overwhelming and he falls back, blinking in and out of focus as he dodges from place to place. ]

Now it's a party.

[Roxas isn't looking for compliments, but he's not immune to them, either. A small smile appears on his face as he touches down again, but he's still focused on the battle at hand.]

Some party!

[At least it's not boring.]

I think that helped! There are a lot fewer of them now.

[Which makes absolutely no difference, considering the remainders are largely focusing on the two of them. Well, it probably makes a lot of differences to whoever they'd be targeting otherwise. It's just a huge pain for them, here and now.]

Edited 2020-02-24 01:40 (UTC)

[ yeah, reno's got to dial back the banter. he's fast enough to avoid mostly anything, but when there's so much of it, and it's starting to build up, and it seems like they're trying to get organized enough to completely surround them— yeah. focus is important. as it stands, he already has a bad enough time dodging one only to be scratched by another. it's fine, they're superficial injuries at best. ]

You think they'll follow us outside? Out the front, give everyone a chance to get out the back-?

Make them angry enough? They might!

[He has no idea. Not about whether the Heartless would follow them, not even if they can get angry—they should be all instinct, all darkness. But if they couldn't feel anything, they'd be Nobodies, wouldn't they?]

I don't guess insulting their mothers would work, huh?

[ too bad they're not remnants, that strategy worked great before. getting his enemies cheesed off is a specialty of his, but all he can really do on that front here is dodge out of the way and taunt them into chasing him toward the front entrance. they've drawn quite a crowd by now, that ought to help with the evac efforts. ]

They don't have—never mind!

[They probably did, once upon a time, but now's not the time to think about that. Roxas calls down more light pillars, destroying as many Heartless as he can and drawing the attention of the rest, hopefully.]

[ that's more than enough to get the attention off the rest of the room, at least for a little while. reno darts out into the hallway and takes out whatever is left in his way, but even with a recharge of his exploding turk light to clear them out, he's wiped by the end of it. it won't be so good for his heart if he keeps at it. and he must know it, because he puts his back to the wall and takes a breather. ]

That oughta... give 'em a chance to get outta there. Nice work, kid.

Thanks.

[Roxas follows him out, but takes up a defensive posture, just in case more of the Heartless follow them. This guy clearly needs a break.]

Hey, what's your name?

[ good looking out. reno pushes back a few stray strands of hair that seem to constantly want to hang in his face with an ever so slightly, but no less wily, grin. ]

You wanna know something funny? You're the first person to actually ask.

[ and he's been here how long? a solid couple weeks already. ]

It's Reno.

Huh.

[Seems kinda weird, depending how long he's been around.]

I'm Roxas.

Roxas.

[ sounds weird, doesn't it? like, so uncannily familiar, coming out of his mouth with that voice. and he doesn't have a clue. he nods like he likes the sound of it. ]

Well, what's your verdict, Roxas? What are the odds this is gonna result in a whole bunch of trouble?

[It! Is really weird! He's already getting used to the sound of Reno's voice, but hearing his name in that voice is so familiar and not at the same time.]

I think you can count on more trouble. Get it memorized.

[ reno taps the side of his head obligingly; he'll commit it to memory. sorry, he doesn't quite get the reference. the reference he's heard now a couple of times, which after more than once is specific enough to stand out as Possibly A Thing. ]

What's your plan? You don't seem like the type to just lay low.

[He's certainly not feeling a pang right now, what are you talking about.]

I'm gonna find more of those things and I'm gonna take them out.

[Easy-peasy, right?]

All on your lonesome? With no backup?

[ well, that just won't do. reno's a little more concerned about evacuation, though, namely in the form of getting the hell out of here himself. he didn't sign up for this shit. he specifically never wanted to be doing hero shit, and he's pretty sure coming to the aid of beleaguered partygoers falls into that category. why does this always happen, man. ]

I don't need backup.

[He speaks with confidence. Some might think it's overconfidence. It's not, though.]

[ well, well. reno raises his eyebrows, then grins a little. he knows what that tone sounds like. he uses it all the time. it's called, in his mind, justified recklessness. ]

You're a tough kid. Alright, Roxas—you hold the front lines, I'll focus on creating an escape route and get these people out of your way. If you hear anything blow up, don't worry about it, 'kay?

[He's not thrilled about everything that's happening, but he's able to flash a grin.]

Sounds like a plan.

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