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

[khajidont]

[Jaime wrinkles his nose down at Armin, disgusted.]

I really wish you'd stop saying crap like that in my friend's body.

[He grips onto the back of the chair, tips Armin back, and begins to drag it along the floor (that's going to scratch, he thinks), back to the middle of the room before pushing it upright again, none too gently.

He grabs his communicator, and sends off a couple of texts and says,] And because you're my friend, I'm gonna make sure you're taken care of. [He smiles at Armin, but it's a grim, mirthless expression.] You're not going to starve to death while you're here.

[blondtactician]

I really don't know how I earned so much goodwill with you, considering I've been taking advantage of your kindness all this time! I'm sorry to disappoint you, but this is what I'm like. I'm Armin, I'm not some hijacker or other person you can blame. I just happened to take some time to come around to the truth about people here!

[Armin throws his weight backwards as Jaime drags him, hoping to throw him off balance.]

[khajidont]

[Jaime grunts, stumbling backwards a little, but ultimately regaining his balance -- which is probably good for the both of them, seeing as he would have just had to wrestle with the chair afterwards.]

Yeah, yeah, I get it. You came around to hating all imPorts and trying to stab them in parks overnight.

[He folds his hands in his lap.] If that were true, you would've been a heck of a lot smarter about it.

[Armin's smart, and Jaime knows it. If he had wanted to pull off something big, without this anger and disgust rolling around in his gut, he would have done that instead of bothering with guys like him.]

When did you start hating imPorts, anyway?

[blondtactician]

I had an epiphany, just around the time Kirschtein called me to see if I'd come help them with the attack at Cape Canaveral. So a few days ago, I suppose.

I hate all of you. More than I've ever hated anything. [Armin's voice comes from the depths of his chest, a dark little whisper.]

[khajidont]

Kirschtein? That's... [Jaime frowns down at his communicator, and taps the name into the search function, and Jean's name pops up. Well, that's something.]

Ah. So you've only been at this for a few days now. How'd you get the epiphany? What was the big realization that sparked all this?

[blondtactician]

I -- [Armin tries to recall. He'd been outfitted, running, when he saw a sign, barely even read it. And then he saw Suzuya and attacked him, which was a huge mistake. He's angry about that, too. Would've been nice to lure out Suzuya, but just like all the other wretched imPorts, he's more than he seems.]

I saw a sign or something. It made me angry. Stop playing at being clever!

[khajidont]

I'm not being clever. I'm just asking a few questions. Big difference, there.

[A sign, a sign, a sign... a literal sign? Why would that make a difference? There was no sign that all imPorts were bound to get close to. Maybe there's something by one of the Porters, he reasons. That could be it. If he flies over it, maybe he'll see some energy there, or in case of those stupid nullifiers, an absence of energy. It's worth a shot.

He huffs a sigh into his hands.]

Why the heck would a sigh make you mad at imPorts?

[blondtactician]

I don't know! Why wouldn't it?! Thinking about imPorts, seeing imPorts, even seeing the word makes me sick! [Being this malevolent all the time is tiring, and it's starting to show. There's not quite as much strength in Armin's voice.]

[khajidont]

Of course it does.

[Jaime sighs, and hangs his head. He knows that he ought to keep pushing, to get to the bottom of this and to push Armin to fight, but he doesn't know how. It seems useless right now. All he can do is keep texting the speedsters, and wait for them to do the job for him.

He should push more, but he's tired of it, and he's tired of seeing his friend yell at him like this. Seeing him like this, screaming and spitting until he wears himself out would be troubling even if his words weren't directed at him. So instead, he rises to his feet, grabs a water bottle from off his desk, and pads towards Armin.]

You're gonna mess up your throat at this rate, dude. Tip your head back.

[blondtactician]

[Armin really does seem nervous again, when Jaime approaches, though still clearly angry.] Ah, you really will have to strap me down if you want to do something like that. And if it's torture you're really going to want more water, too. Though honestly I prefer more direct methods, you shouldn't do it with water unless you don't care if the subject chokes and dies...!

[khajidont]

Oh, for the love of -- no! I'm not going to torture you with a bottle of water! [Jaime glances down at the bottle of water, frowning at it as if it contains a riddle for him to solve. When he speaks next, it sounds as if he's talking to Armin.] And I don't want to know how I'd do it, either.

[He wasn't talking to Armin. He's talking to Khaji who, very helpfully, informs him that they know several mechanisms of torture that have absolutely nothing to do with water bottles, but very high success rates, which is something Jaime could have lived his whole life without knowing.]

You've been screaming for, like, the past twenty minutes. I'm offering you some water. To drink.

[blondtactician]

I don't want anything from the likes of you! [Armin hasn't even noticed the messages his body has been sending him all this time: a dry mouth, aching limbs, a feeling like his bowels are twisted from the stress. He can't actually remember the last time he ate - yesterday at some point, before he attacked Skye. Right, he'd made food with the intention of going rogue that night, but things changed.] Fuck you!

[khajidont]

[Oh, god, he's impossible to reason with. Jaime just looks at Armin square in the eye, lost for words, and finally throws his hands up in the air.]

You know what? Fine. [He slams the water bottle onto the desk.] Here's what we're gonna do. I am gonna sit here, and you're gonna sit there, and when you decide you need something to eat or drink, you're gonna tell me. Until then, it's quiet time, and nobody is being tortured. Except my ear drums, I guess.

[And with that, he flings himself back onto his bed and takes out his phone to do a little more scanning of the network. He's not looking at you, Armin!]