2014-10-26:TheRising2
| The Rising 2 | |
|---|---|
| Getting run down was just the beginning. | |
| IC Date | October 26, 2014 |
| IC Time | Evening |
| Players | Penny, Basilisk, Amy Kerry, Wormwood, Vance, Ed, Xaviar |
| Location | Pavillion's parking lot near Belvedere and Harbor |
Begin Log
As usual for an early Sunday evening, the streets are moderately busy. It's not the crush that one finds in and around the trendiest downtown clubs, but still. Prospect houses a million-plus people. A lot of them have things to get do before they get back to their work week. A lot of those things involve going out someplace.
The star of tonight's show, though he doesn't yet know it, is sitting around in a supermarket parking lot. His clothes are ratty, he hasn't bathed in at least a week, and he rattles around a coffee cup with some loose change in it.
Yes, she REALLY was coming back from an archery range where she was practicing with her bow. Granted, Penny doesn't carry it quite openly. It's in one of those long architect's portfolio tubes that is longer than she is tall, over a foot wide, and carried over her shoulder on a leather strap. She's just moving right on along, minding her own business...
Well. Granted, Penny's actually NOT the kind of person to ignore the homeless. A little to close to home. See what I did there? Yeah. It wasn't all that long ago... well, this isn't her narrative. At any rate she walks over to the star of the show and crumples up a few bills surrpetitiously, leaving him a good twenty dollars in his coffee cup. Hey, even now it's not small change to her, but the point of her only carrying that much is that she can keep herself from doing this more than once an outing. Damned bleeding heart.
Basilisk is heading down the street, smeling new smells probaby on the way to 'her' park. She pauses as she sees peope, trying to see what's going on.
Amy Kerry is coming back from, ahem, the forest. Phone out, unlike most people she doesn't have to worry about bumping into people as she walks, because she tends to get a nice path cleared ahead of her, as people go out of their way to bump into her.
Wormwood is walking down the street, appearing to be playing with his phone. In truth, though, he's been following Basilisk, and making it really obvious, with exaggerated 'creeping' gestures, but then he stays back far enough that if she's not paying attention, she likely won't notice him. And given Basilisk, that's probably why she doesn't realize it. Maybe he'll get bored soon and wander off, but he hasn't yet.
There's an odd looking bike parked in the parking lot of the Market. Something akin to a black Tron writ large as it would need to be for something not directly ripped from a CGI fest movie. Right? But Vance is coming out of the supermarket. Large bags dangling off one arm and a digital hand held in the other as he talks to himself, or the device, as he reads "Hmm. Garlic. Check. Butter. I'll have to inventory my fridge. Requisite form of kosher sea salt. Check. Ah Alton Brown, so informative."
Ever hear the phrase 'no good deed goes unpunished'? Someone here has. It takes all of twenty seconds after Penny drops off that Jackson with the bum before someone swoops in and grabs it from him: another homeless drunk from the look of him, lingering behind a nearby blind spot as he waited for just such an opportunity. Or for bum #1 (let's call him Ralph Jensen, because that's his name) to decide he's got enough change and head for the sliding glass doors. Anyway, bum #2 (Felipe Jordan) grabs the whole mug and takes off running with it, clamping his other hand over the top so he doesn't lose the contents. Ralph takes a second to register what the hell just happened, then he gets up as well and gives chase.
Basilisk has the feeling shes being followed. She turns around. "Wormwood! Thats what I smelled. Whatcha following me for/" she asks.
Amy Kerry almost certainly isn't getting followed. Heck, if she tried to give a bum some money he'd probably pull the cup away. So she's just tapping at her phone and keeping up on things.
"What the fuck?" Penny swears. Because, really, what else is she going to do, pull out her bow, unstring it, and shoot ole Mr. Jordan? She gnashes her teeth and shakes her head. Well, it's not like she wouldn't have tried to steal a mark when she was on the streets. She sighs, and folds her arms beneath her breasts as she watches the chase ensue with a slightly morbid fascination.
Wormwood slows down behind Basilisk. "You didn't smell shit, you just turned around. I've been following you for blocks. Besides, I don't normally see you outside of your habitat, I was curious what you were up to..." His attention turns, only briefly, to note the...bum-chase? His head tilts then, and he hums to himself. "I wonder who deserves that more. Cunning or Brutal?"
Vance pauses loading the groceries into the side compartment as there is a bum rush after the fleeing money. He calls out a "Good evening." to Penny as he too steps over to get a clearer view of the chase. "Is that.. Common?"
Basilisk looks to cthe chase as well. "I dont know..." she says softly. "Who do you bet for? I was just on my way to the park." she says. "You dont have to be a creeper you know."
It really isn't. A few other people have stopped to watch, or already started backing away from the pair. One of the cashiers inside the store has spotted it too, and is calling her manager to call the cops. Meanwhile, Felipe ducks through parked cars one way, Ralph goes the other way and catches up with him on the other side...
...just in time for /both/ of them to be blindsided by a car that just pulled out and was heading for the street. Two meaty thumps within a split second. Then two more as they roll off and flop gracelessly onto the asphalt. There's a bit of blood spatter, and a screech of tires as the panicked driver slams a futile foot down on the brake pedal, getting tangled up in his seat belt and cursing up a blue storm before he finally manages to pop the door open and run over to check on them. "--fuck. /Fuck/! Somebody call 911!" In his haste, the fact that he has a perfectly good cell phone in his own pocket has yet to occur to him.
"Seargent?" says Penny to Vance in surprise, her cheeks flushed. "Umm... w... well... " And then two men, including the one she was giving charity to die in front of Penny, and she grits her teeth, "FUCK! FUCK my mother with a flourescentstuffed ferret! What the goddamned HELL!"
Penny then stantches up her cellphone, WHILE, breaking into the loping run of someone who... just... clearly doesn't know how to run, towards the accident site. She dials *911. All cellphones are e911 compliant these days, right? Right?
"Hauh... hauhh.. oh God... I shouldn't have had those last five burgers.... "
Wormwood walks past and around Basilisk. "Neither do you." He says to her. His attention is turned by the accident, he winces, and then looks angrily at the driver, and begins to march across the parking lot like he intends to shoot the man. But he slows down half-way there and just watches with the other lookie-loos. He waits for a moment, then he jogs over there and stops right next to the car, crouching over the two fallen men.. "I work in the Emergency Room, out of the way." He says pointedly to the driver, extending his arm out, and dropping into professional mode.
Vance joins Penny in a jog following her over towards the two downed individuals as instincts assert themselves "Medic!". It's an automatic response to blood and mangled flesh. Not that he expects at medic to be close by or available. But it's just something your trained to shout. Oh wait. There's Wormwood on the scene and a medic. Hah! Instincts are always right.
Basilisk moves over to the others. "What can I do to help?" she asks, looking to see what has happened.
Amy Kerry wasn't paying attention, until there's sounds, and people making noises, and a whole big commotion. so she stops, a good distance away, and looks, trying to see just what's going on her. That two people are ont he ground isn't immediately obvious.
By the time she gets there, Penny is out of breath, and half-doubled over, gripping her knees as she tries to catch her breath. She hangs back behind Vance. Hey, not everyone in this city is a size zero with a gymnast or dancer's build and able to run marathons, live with it! She raises her cerulean eyes to the scene, but sees that Wormwood already has things under control.
"Wait... ... huff... He's an EMS?"
Indeed, a fair portion of the parking lot serves as a blind spot, between the other cars parked there and that one overhead light that partly burnt out last month and no one's gotten around to replacing yet. Down on the ground, Wormwood would find Ralph unconscious but breathing, and nearby, Felipe unconscious and not breathing. His eyes are turned up toward the sky, open and glassy. The driver (Johnny Matthews) steps away, giving Wormwood room to do his thing, instead going right up to Basilisk and grabbing the collar of her shirt. "They just came outta /nowhere/!" he exclaims, hands still shaking. "I mean, you saw it, they came outta nowhere, right?"
Basilisk skitters back a bit her eyes going wide. "Calm down calm down..." she asks. "What happened? What did you see?" she asks, sounding alarmed, probably because the crazy guy is touching her.
Wormwood says, "Shut up." Wormwood says in the driver's direction without looking up at him. He makes a cursory sweep of the twom men on the ground, touching each of them briefly, checking their eyes for dilation and signs of responsiveness fairly quickly. Realizing that Felipe is likely too far gone to do anything about, he focuses on Ralph. Doing his best to begin giving emergency medical care (no mouth to mouth, because he's breathing) even without any medical supplies on hand. "...well, I guess the survivor is the one who's toughest..."
Amy Kerry finds a place to lean, and continues to watch. Starting to get an idea of what happened, she looks aroun dfor the driver, to see if he's staying or if he's running.
Vance nods to Penny "He says he is. Pardon me one moment." then he turn looking around and begins to direct people to back away and clear a route for the impending ambulance "Please give the medical professional room. Clear a path an ambulance should be in route. No pictures this is an accident not a media event." as he begins taking charge of the crowd.
Panting, waving Vance on, Penny nods once and finally manages to raise up. Even when she was living on the streets like those bums, she probably didn't run that much. She knew to conserve her energy between wallets stolen. "Ugh. Okay. Mmmph. Damn... poor bastard." She shakes her head sadly, her curls swaying about her visage. She hangs back and waits, figuring she will be called for a witness, and sighs.
Johnny shakes his head, if anything looking more panicked than before. "I didn't see /anything/, that's what I was just telling you!" Because you naturally want to confess such things to the first person you meet who has a free moment.
Ralph is still out, but he looks stable so far. And so is Felipe, in a different sense. The rubberneckers are taking a hint from Vance the basketball-player-looking-dude and leaving with all due speed.
Amy Kerry doesn't clear out, but she wasn't all that close to begin with. She pulls out her phone, and idly snaps a copule of pictures, of the driver, of the men on the ground, the license plate if she can see it.
Wormwood checks Ralph's pulse with one hand, checking his phone and the timer on it in the other. After a few moments of this, he looks up and over towards Penny and Vance. "The Hospital is only a few blocks away...Did someone call 911 yet? I'd do something else but I think at this rate the ambulance would be here faster and anything I did might hinder future efforts. But all the fucking traffic and lookie-loos in the way don't help."
There seems to have been an accident. Two homeless men are down on the now bloody ground with Wormwood seing to one of them. The driver of a car is loudly pleeding for people to recognize that he didn't see them and that they appeared out of nowhere. Vance, a walking wall of muscle, has begun shooing off onlookers and clearing a way while the few witnesses hang around waiting for emergency services to arrive.
"I called 911 about the time the driver got out... what's the response time here? It may be nearby but... " She looks around, checking her phone. "Damn, I did call them, gave them the address.... while I was trying to gulp air... umm... think it would help if other people called them too?"
Well, it seems that an evening of visiting the nearby city of Prospect has turned in to a somewhat eventful night. All the commotion attracts Ed, who shuffles towards the accident and pushes her way to the front of the onlookers. Not that she has to be all that rough about it, her mere presence and more specifically, her scent, is enough to keep the sane a goodly distance away from her.
Vance nods to Wormwood and stands up even straighter so that people have an easier time recognizing the fact that he's fucking huge. "Clear the road people. Sir, please move your car. You, move along." There's always that one guy. The fellow that records human suffering for the youtubes to look at. Vance just reaches over and demonstrates that the new iPhone isn't the only smart phone with a bend issue as he just squishes it.
Wormwood checks his phone. He plays with it a bit, then hits a button. He doesn't hold it like a phone, but he talks into it like it's a microphone. "Hey, this is Wormwood...we've got a bad accident near Belvedere and Harbor, don't have the exact address, but it's in the Pavillion's Parking lot. Two men, one of them has no pulse, other one is unconscious but stable, it looks pretty bad..." There's some squawking back at him, and then wormwood taps a button and slips his phone away. "Only a few minutes, depending on traffic. I think about 3."
Ed snickers, unable to express a small amount of dark amusement as a bystander's phone is destroyed. Attention returning to the two men on the ground, she goes silent and still.
That One Guy may be an asshole, but he's not stupid. "I'm gonna sue!" he yells, as he runs off holding the remains of his phone. Okay, maybe he is a little stupid. Meanwhile, Ralph's head lolls to one side and he coughs out some blood, so at least his reflexes seem to still be in good working order.
From behind Vance, not in the way, just hanging around because she IS a witness, and it could be said in a material sense that she knew the deceased since gave him a 20, Penny says to Vance, "Dude... is there any way in which you are NOT awesome? I mean fucking seriously. You just need to ride around the city on a horse wearing full plate with a shield that says 'For Great Justice.'"
Ed growls softly under her breath and leaves the small mob of bystanders, as she steps up to the fallen men and crouches down. "Tell me what I can do to help," she rasps out, head turned to face Wormwood.
Vance looks over his shoulder as he takes to directing traffic and sighs sadly at Penny like someone who's asked for a Pony and been told no. "Unfortunately they do not make horses that can comfortably bear my weight and my request that a stetson be added to my default uniform has been denied along with my request for a revolver and silver bullets. I was also informed that I should perhaps not watch so much classic American television as the Lone Ranger is no longer compatible with the current mores and social expectations of America. I registered an objection to this on the grounds that we should expect better not settle for less however it is still pending." he points over at the black Tron light cycle monster two rows over "Instead I ride a Messer Kohan Heavy Assault bike that has been down armored and had the hardpoints removed so as not to cause alarm among the populace when I'm racing through the city responding to situations that call for my direct attention."
Wormwood takes a brief break from checking Ralph's pulse to glance back at Penny and Vance. "...can the two of you just fuck already?" He then looks back to the man, glancing over to Ed briefly, and then to Felipe. He points to Felipe. "He's too far gone, I don't think there's anything I can do to help him. He stopped breathing on impact, there's no pulse, and he's lost a lot of blood...MAYBE...just maybe the hospital can revive him. But..." He looks to Ralph. "He's unconscious but stable...but hurt pretty bad. I'm just checking his pulse and watching his breathing. Car accidents aren't usually things you can do much about with a first-aid kit..." He stands up and looks around, towards the street, anxiously. Likely for an ambulance.
"Not for your taudry fucking amusement, sweetheart, thanks all the same," Penny sasses right back to Wormwood. Ain't defense mechanisms great? they just make the whole situation more bearable. She looks back over to Vance and smiles faintly, shaking her head as she intones, "Boys and their toys. That IS one sweet looking ride, Seargent." She just laughs faintly and shakes her head to the rest, "Maybe I'll just start calling you 'Lone Ranger' from now on."
"Chances of that are getting slimmer as the seconds tick by," Ed growls out, as she shifts from one foot to another. She makes no move towards either downed man, breathing, or otherwise. Still, there is something about the smelly woman's stance that is rather tense.
Off in the distance, the faint sound of an approaching siren begins to cut through the more low-key white noise of traffic. The ambulance is on its way. In the parking lot proper, though, four things abruptly occur in rapid succession:
Felipe /snaps/ upward into a sitting position.
He reaches over, grabs up Ralph's arm, and bites a chunk out of it.
Ralph screams, dragged back into consciousness as he starts squirting blood all over the place.
And Felipe, ignoring the chunk of artery still stuck in his teeth, lunges toward Amy. Is she facing the right direction to notice?
Amy Kerry was trying to get the license number of the car that killed the guy, so you know. She was facing the right direction. So yeah, this guy starting to come at her, ... do zombies really hate cameras that much to come at her? ... she's ready to get away as fast as she can anyway.
Looking to the sudden commotion, Penny lowers her eyes as the light glares over her lenses and opaques the sight of her cerulean blues beneath. She utters softly, but forcibly, "Praeliabitur... force average 9 miles per hour top speed, by vector..." As she glares at the newly risen form.
Wormwood looks surprised. He shifts slightly in his position, then looks down at his shirt. "Fuck, I guess he can read." He says as Felipe ignores him and goes for someone else. He takes the time now to push Ralph down, and begin clamping down on the wound and applying immediate emergency medical care. "Basilisk, control your fucking PEOPLE, WOMAN!" He shouts in her direction, looking in Felipe's direction angrily. "Or he'll end up getting put down."
<OOC> Wormwood notes, he has a T-shirt that says:
<OOC> Wormwood says, "In Case of Zombie Apocalypse, do not eat: Zombie Friendly."
All the bundled up tenseness in Ed is released, as she lunges after Felipe. Her intent is rather simple, she just plans to throw herself at the the biter's back and pin him, if possible. "Fuck!" Well, that's putting it eloquently.
Vance whips around as there is now screaming from someone and blinks once as he takes in the strange scene. He also mutters to himself "Contact. Assessing." he looks around at the people. Theres a crowd here. That's a zombie there. He shouts "EVERYONE MOVE! SCATTER" his voice whip cracking with command as he attempts to scatter the looky loos away from a possible problem. Softly to himself "Disengage interlocks. Spin up combat protocols. Dynotherms connected." as he puts on his mirror shades "HUD is linked."
Good news? Ed slams into Felipe, and Felipe goes down like a ton of bricks. Of course, now he's trying to take a bite out of Ed instead, but first he has to get his face up off the asphalt and power his way out. It's not yet clear which way that's going to go.
Bad news? Ralph sits up, that same Not There sort of vacant look in his eyes, and lunges toward Wormwood. Well, flunking out of English might explain why the poor shlub was begging for spare change earlier...
Amy Kerry looks around, not under direct attack now, and sighs. Presumably there are still a lot of people around, which limits what can be done here. So, she make sure to get toward the street now, making sure any lines of escape are still present.
Ed attempts to grab hold of Felipe's hair, intent on pounding his head into the cement.
Wormwood looks like he's trying to check Ralph's vital signs while clamping his hand over the bleeding wound on his arm, he's a bit blind-sided by the sudden change in the man's behavior, however. "Lay back down, dammit, just let them take care of...what the fuck, dude?" Ralph doesn't seem to be very grateful for the help, however, as he immediately bowls Wormwood over on the ground. "...zombies aren't real, you know!"
Xaviar is seen walking as he does with a backpack on and an golf umbrella not opened but used as a cane for right now walking down the street as he hums to himself taking a breath of air and smile on the lips.
"Damn it all," mutters Penny as she looks to those such as Ed who are engaged in physical combad. She considers the portfolio tube on her back for a moment and then looks to Ed and extends a palm to the Zombie she's fighting, hissing "Praeliabitur!" But she grits her teeth, wincing, her tongue sticking out for a moment as she shakes her head. "Augh.... "
Ed has the fingers from one gloved hand curled tightly in Felipe's hair, while her other hand is pressed against on of his shoulders. Her knees rest in the middle of the man's back. Felipe bucks and squirms, trying to bite the filthy woman atop him, as Ed slams his head in to the cement. While the man's head makes a rather loud thunk as it makes contact, the attack nearly unseats Ed. Ed is winning, for now, but the fight could still go either way.
Vance strides over and reaches down palming the head of the fellow atop Wormwood and lifting him into the air like a basketball. Vance doesn't seem to be straining at all, it looks easy. "Pardon me. Are you hurt?" as he looks down at the prone Wormwood while the man flails and kicks in the air. He looks over at Ed "Do you need help with that?" he does have two hands.
Amy Kerry is going to remain on a defensive posture. Not going to take off and run but not going to get too close and risk having to do something bad in order to defend herself.
Xaviar walks into the parking lot as he smell the air looking around he tilts his head studying people knowing things are happening he scratches his head as he approuches. "Hmm.." He says as he looks over at Ed and then Wormwood a moment.
Xaviar pulls out a army standard medkit from his backpack and then scratches his nose looking worried.
Wormwood sits up once Vance picks the man off of him and dangles him in the air. "Nope...just startled..." He says as he stands up and brushes some dirt...and likely blood off of himself. He eyes the man. He reaches out and tries to take Ralph's pulse, even though he's struggling. "Luckily, bums suck at biting people."
Xaviar grabs his nose as it starts bleeding and eyes widen a bit as he sighs pulling out a hankerchief looking around, "Anyone hurt?" He asks as he looks around.
"Oh for the love of the gods," says Penny as she glares at the thrashing zombie that Ed has held down, "Vis damnit... VIS!" She curls her lip as she shows her wide row of flat, white, shining teeth, the light flickering away from her glasses for a moment to show the widening of her blue eyes.
The sound of the approaching siren is getting louder. Given normal traffic at this hour, that ambulance will probably arrive in another minute.
*Crack* Goes Felipe skull against the cement, as Ed puts some muscle in to her attack. Felipe continues to thrash and twitch, but he doesn't seem to be fighting back terribly well. Standing up, Ed looks around, her eyes lingering on Penny for a moment. "Fuck this noise," Ed snarls, as she starts to stomp away from the scene at a rather brisk pace. She doesn't want to be here when the authorities arrive.
Vance holds the guy so Wormwood can try to check the pulse and looks back at Penny apologeticly "Is my interdiction field causing you issues?" then the aproaching siren has his attention he looks at this the zombie struggling with Ed and the guy in his hand and mutters softly under his breath as he prepares to assist there too.
Vance mutters to himself, "... Situation... labled... cancel... Ambulance... One subject... Proceeding..."
Xaviar tilts his head as he walks over to Penny a moment, "You ok Penny?" He says as he looks over at Filipe a moment and doesn't seem to care Ed heading off as he looks over at the others more here for supporting role in all this.
Wormwood finishes taking Ralph's pulse. "Okay, well...I don't think these guys should be going to the hospital, they should probably go to...zombie jail...if that's a thing...but they don't seem that dangerous, they're more like...a nuisance. A bitey, thrashey, nuisance..." He slowly moves away from Vance, and begins to jog in the direction he heard the ambulance coming from.
Vance smiles over at Xaviar as he keeps one dangled in the air with one hand and simply steps on the other to keep it down. There is the sound of bones creaking and perhaps even cracking as the giants foot pins the struggling person "I believe I have these two under control. A medical team is in route to help them." he looks at Wormwood as the man says the Z word and begins talking louder to attempt to drown him out "HA HA HA HA! It is unfortunate that those darn Florida Bathsalts have gotten this far into California and driven these poor unfortunates crazy. I am sure the system will be able to help them recover from this terrible ordeal." Wow.. He's.. This guy SUCKS at lying. It's like he's reading off a teleprompter.
"You're all full of fucking shit, you fucking load of crazies," Ed screams out at those dealing with the 'zombies'. She has managed to put some distance between herself and the activity, so she has to put some serious volume into her words. Last words said, she turns, bolts from the area and is out of sight within a few seconds.
Xaviar looks over at Vance and then scratches his head, "Good..." He looks at the one in the air not seeming too surprized about that he just slips his medkit back in his backpack and looks over at the rest of people here, "Wormwood you ok?"
Wormwood glances over towards Xavier. He looks confused for a moment. "Uh...sorry, do I know you, dude? I'm fine...didn't get bit or anything...I'm just going to go flag the ambulance down and tell them that the guys are going to be picked up or escorted by the cops, I guess..."
Watching Ed for a moment, her own eyes simply those of a survivor of the streets despite her clothing being half decent now, Penny watches the woman flee and then looks back to the zombie she was messing with. "Seargent. Is your other... ah... 'Bath salts user' secured over there?"
Xaviar tilts his head, "You and I talked a few times at the Images and Dreams before it burned down..." He explains as he tilts his head. With that he walks off ducking into an alley close by though Penny ignored him, he doesn't seem to care for the moment she is busy with Ed.
Vance nods to Penny smiling confidently "I doubt he can shift my weight or will be going anywhere until the.. Medical.. Ambulance.. People.. Arrive. If it looks like it might struggle free I'll crush it's spine so that it will be easier to round up." he smiles pleasantly as he fishes into his pocket and pulls out a plain card with just a number on it and offers it to Penny "You seem familiar with street goings on.. While I'm sure the police will be looking into this bathing salts drugs issue thing.. If you perhaps hear anything about where these men might have gotten drugs or perhaps exposed to them. Please call me." he keeps the guy he's holding up and away because it's impolite to shake a zombie at a woman while talking to her.
Yeah, the girl just... doesn't know much fear. She strolls right up to the massive guy who is holding the other zombie aloft and takes the card. She looks over to the still one that got his head cracked open. That was totally Ed's handywork. Her muttering in latin had nothing to do with it. Nope. "Okay. If you're sure. I'm Penny, but I'vve told you that before. I'm sure if you need to find me you know where to look anyway. I'll leave this in your capable hands then, Seargent." Just think, not too many years ago they would have started throwing plasma and fire at each other at this point.
Wormwood jogs off down the street, not at all involved with zombies, and looking for that ambulance. He shan't return...
Xaviar appears about 15 minutes later after he disappeared looking sweaty exhausted and quite spent as he looks around at the aftermath.
End Log
