i believe it's better to inflict than to attempt relief; [open]

[blondtactician]

WHO: Armin Arlert and YOU (open)
WHERE: various locations in Heropa
WHEN: 2/24 - 2/26
WHAT: Armin's infected. He's likely to try to lure you somewhere and attack you, with either blades or a home made chlorine gas bomb. Fun, right? See OOC notes at the bottom of the page.
WARNINGS: Violence of the stabbing or poison gas kind! Yelling! Teenagers!

YOUR HORNET MIND-CLONE IS: Allen Hill, who has visceral reactions to imPorts, even the very mention of them. Has a thirst for vengeance, a bit on the bloodthirsty side, but does not think his actions through carefully.

A. TUESDAY MORNING, EARLY [open to the first reply]

[Armin might say later that it was the writing on the wall or something as cryptic as that. As he's booking it toward the Porter in full gear, hood up, he sees a flashing billboard: something innocuous, offering discounts for registered imPorts or something like that. He comes to a dead halt. He's angry, suddenly.

Angrier than he can ever remember being in his entire short life.

Usually, when things anger him, he thinks around it. Tries to understand the situation from every angle, assess, and plan action if appropriate. Now, he's too angry to even think clearly, and it's just from seeing the word imPorts. He has to turn around to make sure he won't have to see it for a moment.

He sees another imPort walking by and thinks, No. I have to do something about that.]


B. TUESDAY AFTERNOON, A HARDWARE OR GENERAL GOODS STORE - OPEN TO ALL!

[Armin's since ditched his gear and uniform. It's really not such an odd thing for a young man in Florida to be buying chlorine tablets to clean the pool. And why not a lot, because they're cheaper to buy in a big bucket? For the time being, he seems perfectly normal. The tub is heavy, so he has to carry it with both arms. Upper body strength has never much been his thing. He's fidgeting a little in line, humming along with the bland music on the radio.

ALTERNATIVELY, he's simply buying a basket almost comically full of rubbing alcohol at a different store.

But this mild moment could change, of course, depending on his company.]


C. TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY EVENING - open to all!

[Armin sits perched on the roof of a building in one of Heropa's more bustling neighborhoods, the domain of a fine cocktail or a nice cup of coffee. For now he's just watching the crowd, but every now and then he spots someone he recognizes as an imPort and calls down:]

Hey! You're a Hero, right? Can you help me? I think there's a cat up here in the vents, I can here it crying but I can't reach it, I think it's hurt...!

[He's waiting. Those who might approach him on the roof without his knowledge might notice he's outfitted with his 3d gear and blades, and waiting to shove a chlorine tablet into a soda bottle full of rubbing alcohol and lob it at his unsuspecting victim.

If you're lured into his trap... you'll be lobbed with the 'bomb', which produces a small explosion and more alarmingly, a cloud of chlorine gas that may blind you, burn your lungs, or cause a myriad of other problems.]


D. WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON - open to residents of #016.

[Maybe it's just your imagination, but does it seem like Armin's in a Mood lately? He doesn't call out a friendly hello when he gets home, nor hang out in the common area. Apparently he's completely run out of his usually-plentiful smiles and small talk. He takes his meals in his room and is clearly avoiding speaking to anyone. Right now, he's making peanut butter sandwiches in a tidy row. By his expression, one would think he's sending off these dozen sandwiches to be executed.

It's kind of a lot of food. But, he is a growing boy.]


E. THURSDAY MORNING - closed to Jaime (khajidont)

[Armin texts Jaime the night before to ask him to go on a jog with him in the wee hours, stating he doesn't feel safe to go on his own lately but he "needs his routine". Jaime is a good person, Armin's sure he can handle getting up early for a friend's sake just this once.

He asked Jaime to meet him at a nearby park. Currently he's stretching, dressed in soft running clothes. He's a little more covered up than one might want to be in Florida, but he's always been on the slightly modest side.]


[OOC: Jaime will be the one to take down / stop Armin in the end. If your character attacks Armin in self-defense, be appraised that he may use his power of persuasive voice to distract yours or do whatever he needs to in order to escape! Please PM me or contact me on plurk (alienchrist) for questions or details!]

Comments

c

[totalpacifist]

Oh, absolutely! Just a second. [X had come down to Heropa to investigate; there had been some strange things happening lately; people acting more violently than usual, and that's just the kind of thing X investigates back home. Old habits die hard, apparently.

But this poor boy- all he wants to do is rescue a cat. It's nice to see people being kind when everything is tense and two steps away from hell.

X has to hoist himself up carefully. Many of the houses around here weren't meant to hold someone of his weight, so he has to make sure not to haul himself up on anything too breakable, but once he's up he approaches the boy as he reaches into his cloak.] Which vent did you hear the noises from?

[blondtactician]

[Armin's already crossed to the other side of the building, where there's a fan vent. Heavy steps - a robot? Is chlorine gas even going to work against him? Only one way to find out.

Armin shoves a chlorine tablet into a bottle of rubbing alcohol, quickly screwing on the top, shaking it and throwing it at the stranger. Enjoy your chlorine gas bomb, complete with a small explosion and very harmful gas!]

[totalpacifist]

[X might not have to breathe, but the explosion and gas throw his optic sensors out of whack and he cries out, dropping the bottle and covering his face. He can vaguely hear the sound of retreating footsteps and he waits for the damage assessment before jumping back down off the roof, hands over his eyes.]

Why did you- [No, no good, vision blurry, but- there. X gives chase.] Get back here!

[blondtactician]

[Armin runs, deploying his gear to rappel over to the next building and avoid the gas. The correct thing to do would be to simply rn and hope the robot didn't get a good look at him. But Armin's not thinking clearly. He has a good chance to destroy an imPort. So once he's a good space ahead, he stops, blades ready, to fight his pursuer.]

[totalpacifist]

[X is pretty much the opposite of a violent person. He's passive to the point of occasionally being a doormat, easily influenced into backing down, doesn't generally start fights or go looking for trouble. He's the opposite of his closest friends, who tend to look for any excuse to throw themselves at an enemy; it's made for some heated discussions.

But he's also been on the frontlines of a vicious war for the vast majority of his two-decade-and-change lifetime, and habits are ingrained. It's almost like slipping into a comfortable piece of armor; the boy is human absolutely, so he'll need to be gentle, but the second his optics software reboots and compensates for the (admittedly mild) damage, X is in pursuit. Whatever protests he might have (starting over, no more violence against others, peaceful solutions) are sidelined in favor of that blaring red catch, subdue, detain command line that's been taking over more and more often as the wars back home persist.

It's familiar. He hates it. He'll dwell on it later.

The boy stopped nearby to face him, which was probably a bad idea on his part. X notes the swords and reminds his combat subroutines to avoid those until he's sure they're not sharp enough to cut through his armor. No repair ward here.]

Disarm and come with me. I don't want to hurt you. [Is what X says, but his hand splits into pieces and sinks back into his arm, buster cannon whining as he builds up a charge shot. It's an intimidation tactic; the boy is human, and this is a residential area, there's no way X would discharge his cannon here, but he doesn't have to know that.]

[blondtactician]

[Armin doesn't know about his new adversary to be sure whether or not the threat is a real one. With that in mind, he gambles himself, shooting at the robot figure with one of his grappling cords. Whether the shot is avoided or takes hold will inform his next move, he just hopes it doesn't bounce off that armor.]

[totalpacifist]

[It doesn't bounce off, but what happens is possibly worse; X jerks his shoulder to the side and out of the way, hand snapping out to catch the metal cord before the anchor can dig into the side of the next building.

He wraps the cord around his hand for stability and starts dragging Armin toward him with it.]

apologies for the lateness! no problem if you don't want to continue

[blondtactician]

[Rather than resist being pulled, Armin triggers the cord to retract, pulling him rapidly toward his enemy. He readies his blades, hoping to get a clear blow to the joint between his neck and helmet.]

[totalpacifist]

[X starts at the click and then Armin's halfway to his face. Good reaction time, no fear when facing someone stronger- if Armin was a reploid, X could probably avoid a blow by breaking his arm or dropping his shoulder to catch the blade on the hard part of his armor, letting it glance off and counterattacking- but at his speed and considering the hardness of his bones, X would definitely break something. That won't do.

No more time to think. The strike comes so X catches the blade and it bites through the softer parts of his hand down to the metal of his skeletal structure. X grimaces, shoves his hand to throw the blade aside and drops to avoid the second swing, aiming a kick at Armin's gear to try and dislodge the chord. He should first try to eliminate Armin's means of escape if he wants to apprehend him.]