maskormenacelogs | (no subject)

(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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh, shit.

[ he's laughing. it's not much of a laugh, only a snicker, but he clearly thinks something's genuinely funny. ]

I'm pretty sure I won't have any trouble keeping up, no offense to your... pony. I don't like ridin' on animals, anyway.

[ fuck horses, fuck chocobos, fuck any and all beasts of burden. hopefully gladion's masked cow doesn't take offense. he just takes a glance back over his shoulder, only somewhat able to make out the silhouettes of people and heartless still running about up at the top of that building. what are the odds they'll be chased down? better yet... what are the odds there's already plenty more of them in the streets already? seems likely to him. turning back again, he jabs his head in the direction of where he remembers the porter to be. ]

Let's beat it. You see anything sketchy, call out, alright?

[ and then, with a sparkly blink, he warps ahead and starts running. for now, he doesn't want to show his entire hand, so he regulates his running speed to a speed that keeps him ahead without really putting the pedal to the metal. he's got to save some tricks for when he really needs them, not to be witnessed until then. he can go a whole hell of a lot faster than he does. ]

[He shrugs, after all it was just an offer. He would laugh at any other time about Null being called a pony, but now wasn't the time for any of that. Laughing could be done in safety, not in the heat of danger.]

None taken, I just figured that I'd offer. But if you can keep up, then fine. I'll keep my eyes open for anything.

[The second Reno took off, Gladion blinked in surprise. He wasn't kidding about being able to keep up, and Null took off fast enough to leave the building behind them quickly enough.

Eerily it seemed as though there weren't many of the Heartless creeping around, which meant that the majority of them seemed to be back at the building they'd left. Where more of a crowd had been, which made sense. Center around where more victims would be in one place, attack them where more chaos would erupt and less of an organised escape could happen. He and Null only had to deal with a couple of Shadow Heartless on their way to the porter, easily taken out as they ran.]

Those things aren't as frequent around here... which makes me believe that they're all centered around that building we left. [He pointed out when making it to the porter.]

Huh. Well, that's concerning. If that was a concentrated attack, then that proves it was premeditated.

[ but... by whom? there's always a somebody in charge, after all. nothing ever just happens out of nowhere. someone's pulling the strings and orchestrated that entire thing. left those monsters to lay in wait until the end of the evening, when the collection of people would be at their most vulnerable. it's a smart ploy, but it's not so fun being on the receiving end of dirty, nasty tricks for a change.

someone's going to have to answer for that. he was having a nice time before it all got ruined.

reno stops at the porter, quite a few paces ahead. it's not guarded, so they don't seem to be trying to cut off anyone's escape route. he considers his options: tell gladion to go first in case they're followed, or go first himself in case there's an ambush waiting. ]

You wait here and come in after me. If there's anything on the other side, I'll deal with it.

[That's the worst part, is that this had to be. They didn't seem to be erratic as he'd thought. Which if he knew anything about creatures being erratic, he'd had some experience with seeing Pokemon act that, and these creatures seemed to be targeting that building.

He nods, waiting for some time before going through the porter himself. The adrenaline was beginning to wear off and he noticed that his arm was starting to hurt. No surprise there, his left arm was all cut up from crashing through the glass. His right arm had small scrapes that weren't bleeding too much, but his left arm was cut up a bit more. Nothing he'd pass out from, it wasn't like anything vital was hit despite there being a couple deeper gashes, and could be patched up back at his apartment.]

I'm going to go and say that you not coming back through was a sign that nothing was there, or if there was, you dealt with it already?

[Of course he's not even going to mention his arm. Not like it was that big of a deal at the moment, that's not something he'd bother Reno with. He could use the fairy disc, but risking tiring out was not worth the faster healing speeds. Besides, he could probably just contact Archie later if it wasn't healing fast enough.]

[ it's not great on the other side. reno steps out of the porter into what isn't necessarily an ambush, but definitely isn't an all-clear, either. luckily, he's ready for it, and there aren't enough of the shadows out there to overwhelm him, but still. he nearly gets a faceful of wicked little claws, and while he's busy taking out the ones in front of him, more pop up behind him. one gets a good shred down his back, but luckily for him, it's only enough to tear the jacket of his suit and not actually breach skin.

by the time gladion comes through, they've all been dispatched and the coast is completely clear. all there is is reno, standing there with his jacket off, frowning at the tears in it. that was a brand new suit. little pieces of shit. aggravated and a bit distracted, he hardly glances up. ]

Yeah, we're good.

[ and then, under his breath, as he pulls the jacket back on: ]

Fuckers.

[ ah, well. at least it's not his shinra uniform! that's safe and sound back at his apartment. he'd be inconsolable if that were ruined, if only because it's one of his only ties to back home, and he doesn't have a way to replace it. his attention comes back to gladion real damn quick, though, and for one reason only—

he can smell the blood. his gaze darts around, picking out gladion's injuries, but he doesn't call him out on it. ]

You got anybody waiting for you where you live? It's time to fall back and regroup.

[He looks around, cautiously making sure that they were indeed alone. It didn't hurt to be more on-guard even if it was seemingly safe, he'd learned to always be on his guard due to his position in Skull and most of the members not approving of his Enforcer position.]

Good. Your clothes look like they took a beating though. [he shakes his head at the question.] No, I live alone in the apartments. I don't live in the other housings where there's roommates, but my Pokemon provide me enough company.

Good. That's where we're headed, then.

[ inviting himself over? sure 'nough has. listen, he'd never dream of encroaching on someone else's personal space when they're the way gladion seems to be, but these are desperate times and he's not sending the kid off by himself without knowing what the hell is going on. besides that, he's not going off by himself to his dumb housing where the people who live there may or may not be hanging around, and may or may not want something stupid from him, like his help.

ugh. once in a night is enough. ]

You lead, I'll follow. We'll sort out the details later.

[we? The sudden invite into his own living space throws him off-guard, not expecting that reno'd just invite himself on over. Walk him home at the very least? Maybe. But not outright invite himself over without Gladion offering! He could have at least asked if he could come over first.

He was about to protest when his arm hit a wave of pain that made him shut up. He lets out a sigh instead of protesting the man going back with him.]

I... Suppose. I know a shortcut to the apartments, but we should hurry back, just in case there's more of them lurking around.

[he and Null take off in the direction of the shortcut. Although he'd rather go elsewhere where it could be safer, but he gets a sudden pit of unease out of nowhere and goes straight for the apartments instead.]

[ whatever the quickest way is, that's the way they should go. before more of those shadowy fucks show up and make their day worse. reno darts after gladion and null, keeping pace easily. he stays a few steps behind just in case anything should try to get the jump on them, but if there's anything out there, it leaves them alone.

for now.

ah, yeah, speaking of having a bad day—that arm. ]

Hey, kid—raise your arm above your head. Keep it elevated.

[His pit of unease only grows with what's out there, or rather what elects not to attack them as he makes it back to the apartment. Nothing attacking them is highly suspicious and further proves that this was a planned attack.

Once safe back at the apartment complex, Gladion's finally feeling his arm in full force as he hisses in pain from it, not protesting what Reno tells him to do.

He motions with his head up the stairs and recalls Null into the Pokéball.]

I'm up here on the second floor... And I have a first aid kit if you'd be willing to help patch this up. Since I'm assuming you aren't intending to go anywhere else?

Not now I'm not! C'mon, get a move on. Before you bleed out.

[ he's no medic, but he knows more than enough to get by on the field. he's done his fair share of ugly emergency stitch-jobs with a needle and fishing line to keep from spilling his guts all over the place, digging out bullets, patching up cuts, treating burns... yeah. of course, it'd be a whole hell of a lot easier if he had potions, elixirs, anything like that, but either they took what he had before he got here or he forgot to stock up.

anyway, up the stairs they go. time to sew a kid's arm shut. ]

I'm not gonna bleed out! [he protests as a small wave of dizziness hits him, but he stubbornly pushes through it.] But fine, I want to get out of this mess and into my apartment anyway.

[sure he's huffing and puffing, but it's a bluff to hide any weakness. Something he learned to hide from people since he was young.

The apartment itself is still rather bare, as he hasn't yet gotten the chance to decorate it. The only things he got were more clothes and a very fluffy, large comforter for added warmth on his bed. Food of course as well, but he was needing to restock soon within the next week.]

The first aid kit is in the bathroom, under the sink cupboard. [he flops down on his couch and immediately Umbreon pops out of the pokéball to sit next to him on the couch.]

Edited 2020-03-25 11:07 (UTC)

[ reno doesn't stop to take the time to look around. get the important things out of the way first, then be nosy later. once they're in and the door's shut and locked (just in case), reno goes straight to where gladion indicates and digs the first aid kit out. it's got bandages, the kind you stick on and the kind you wrap on, and it's also got a needle and thread. he's not actually sure which he'll need, how bad the cut is, so he brings the whole kit with him and perches himself on the arm of the couch. ]

Roll your sleeve up, lemme see. And keep it raised, if you can.

[ he doesn't exactly sound patient and kindly, like a nurse, but there's at least something attentive about his demeanor, so he must not be bothered about this sort of thing. ]

[he keeps things like first aid kits very well stocked, considering the dangers of where he's from and how things can get there.

Instead of protesting or making any snarky remarks, Gladion just does as he's told and gently pulls at his sleeve. It sticks a little to him with some of the blood sticking to his sleeve but it moves with little protest off his skin to reveal the gash.

Yeah, it'll have to be stitched and he's not too happy about that. Luckily most of the cuts can just be patched up with a sticky bandage, like the one on his right cheek.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only