Kitty was cut off while harassing the man at the Bibliophile's booth. A sudden scream shocked her, causing her attention to sharply veer toward the commotion. What she saw was alarming and awkward at first. That man was having an episode of some sort, and she did not take kindly to disturbances that made her uncomfortable. However, uncomfortable became a lackluster word to describe the scene, as the man violently lashed out at the nurse.
Kitty yelped, covering her mouth with her hand, the other instinctively covering her neck as she watched the woman bleed out. Never in her life had she seen something so vile. So foul. So disturbingly real. She shook. She could barely breathe in. With a start, she witnessed the downed man plunge through the crowd. She cried out in fear, unfolding her parasol indoors to shield herself from any harm.
Her little knees buckled as she waited for impact that never came. Shaking, she lowered the lacy umbrella to view the carnage and chaos that was left behind.
She froze in terror, unable to comprehend how any of this had happened here, and not on a screen.
Max spent a lot of time with his pamphlet, reading it cover to cover on a whim... or maybe to deliberately avoid responding to Chel. He even debated using it as a shield once one of his parolees showed up. And then he stopped debating anything at all.
He heard Kuroda's warning over the radio someone had left at the APD booth, but before he could react, a man-sized blur shot past, pushing him away with such force that he flew into the air, absorbing his landing with the back of his head and his shoulder. His pamphlet landed on his chest, making it look more like Max had taken a nap under the park ranger's table than that he was unconscious.
He was late. Not that these gatherings had a strict starting time, but Chester had wanted to arrive early enough to make the rounds without much competition. He'd had the strangest night, dreams full of smoky grey shapes and endless rain, and he had subsequently overslept for the first time since he'd used his allowance to buy a second alarm clock.
He'd arrived feeling strangely optimistic even so, but his rare good humor was fated to fade nearly immediately. He should have been surprised to see a giant creature streaking through the beautiful library, but he wasn't, not after the fountain woman and his restless night.
Chester sighed and tucked his hands into his pockets. Only then did he notice the blood.
Rabbit's body froze, head whipping toward the information center and the growing chaos surrounding it. He didn't quite know what he expected to find, only that he'd seen some fairly screamworthy s**t over the past couple of months, and yet no one had actually screamed, at least not that he could recall. For someone to be doing so now, well, that was probably very bad.
The world slowed as an arc of blood crested just high enough for him to see it over the crowd.
Yep. Bad.
He didn't have time to do anything useful except cross his arms in front of his face as the clawed man ran past, and it was only when he was gone that Rabbit noticed the scratches that dotted his forearms. So fast. What in the hell had just happened?
"Rosie? You okay?"
Magician Arcana
Posted: Thu May 19, 2016 7:42 am
It seemed to be utter chaos in here. And it looked like there was a lot of spilled blood at this point. Some people were looking really bad, with others doing what they could to try and stabilize them.
"I do not know if this library has any room that would fit them all," he told Chel, "Tend to the wounded as best you can, and keep a damn eye out for that guy. Do not even think about trying to engage him."
As the other woman had put it, they didn't have weapons. Taking a step back, he heard Jeremiah put out a call as well. That should mean the senior detective was not one of the incapacitated folk in the room. Good. He was going to need to get a hold of him soon. And off in the distance, he could hear backup arriving to the scene.
Checking over his cut, he saw that some blood still seemed to be trickling out from the small wound.
chiickadee
opticpeach
Blade Kuroda
Militant Raider
Offline
cibarium Crew
Noob
Offline
Posted: Thu May 19, 2016 7:59 am
The sudden frenzy cut through the community rabble like a guillotine, and as the violent scene unfolded the only thing Leila could think of was Eve. That kid's form warping, all claws and teeth and total mindlessness. Was that what was going to happen to her? A strained sob forced its way through her throat at the thought.
No. No. That would be too much, too--
She rushed forward into the scene without anything on her mind besides the need to stay in the present and DO something. There were already more people getting hurt and if she saw any more death than she already had in the past few weeks, she wouldn't be able to take it. The blow to her side almost didn't register until it knocked her off balance and sent her skittering gracelessly to the floor.
She got back up, shaking, a steady trickle of blood from a gash below her ribs blooming through her cheery Volunteer: Ask Me Anything! shirt.
"Lex! Holy s**t. Oh, my God."
They weren't in Other Ashdown, and she had her phone. So while approaching Aleksy and Finn, she did the responsible adult thing and shakily dialed 9-11.
One moment he was being a Good Representative--and the next, he was seeing stars.
There were shrieks and moans and a distant growling that didn't quite make sense (a dog? a wolf? a bear? did bears growl??), and for a while Dawson just considered the floor he was on. How it was nice and smooth and cold and ow ow ow ******** ow.
The faster he came to clarity, the more he realized he had been hit with something sharp. Dawson's shirt collar was beginning to discolor as blood from his head wound dripped down. He took a wheezing breath. "******** first attempt to sit up made him dizzy. The second didn't look better. the third finally had him sitting up but barely able to do more than that for the moment, moaning to himself as he clutched the gash.
"Huh. I honestly wasn't aware taxidermy allowed you to have that sort of business coming your way," Jack said. "Before I forget, what's your--"
And then it began.
It was almost instinctual: He turned at the noise, the rising yells, and his hands went to his camera, snap, snap, snap until the blur got too close. Long limbs served for something at least: coupled with his reflexes, Jack managed to get out of the way before the claws (the claws) dug in too deep. And there was shock, and there was some fear, yes, but in a twisted way this excited him. Even in the wake of the injured, Jack kept snapping away until the creature left the vicinity.
The taxidermist left for the ones in need of attention. Jack's eyes were still on the empty spot the thing had been, hands trembling slightly.
"Come on," he told Connor, tugging him away from the majority of the crowd for now. There was one person he wanted to seek out in particular--and it looked like he had company.
"Holy s**t," he said to Shun breathlessly, still clutching his camera, still bleeding from a few cuts on those arms. Jack didn't seem to notice. "Tell me you called that in. Did you see that? I got..." He trailed away, glancing at Chel and the woman she was clutching. "I got photos. I think." Unfortunately, probably shitty ones, but photos nonetheless.
Finn looked up, recognizing Alois through his panic. "I-" he said, mouth a bit slower to process than his brain. "I would definitely like to not sit here and watch my boyfriend die, thank you very much." Terror was making him catty, and he bit his tongue, considering his next line and hoping to imbue it with a little bit more tact.
"What do you need me to do?" he asked, not making any moves to lift his shirt-turned-compress from Aleksy's chest. It had just occurred to him that doing so would out Aleksy to Alois - and anyone who cared to cast a glance in their direction. Under normal circumstances that would be a majorly d**k move, but surely Aleksy would prefer that they save his life than lower him stealthily into his grave...?
Thank god for Leila Townhome.
Finn looked over to her as she approached, his normally-rosy face gone pale. "Uh," he stammered. "We gotta let Alois try to stitch him up, right?"
Leila would know, right?
"Hey," said Finn, looking down at Aleksy. "It's gonna hurt but I need you to stay awake, okay?"
Shibrogane
hetzerei
cibarium
Posted: Thu May 19, 2016 8:19 am
"I'm alright-" Algie gripped tightly to Jeremiah, another hand going out to grip Chris's arm in reassurance for all of them that they were intact.
He heard Leila's voice cut through, "Lex! Holy s**t. Oh, my God."
"Jeremiah?" Alg glanced to the taller man, "We need to.. help." He wiped his brow and pulled away from both Chris and Jeremiah to make their way through the crowds of injured people. He was hobbling slightly on his knee but found Leila, Finn and someone else crowded around the red head covered in blood.
"Christ-" Alg murmured, only finding space to sink down near Aleksy's head. He knew there had been a medical table, though the man from the taxidermy booth seemed to be making attempts.
"Calm down.. Stay with us.." Algie wanted to help, smoothing one of his hands over the young man's brow and pouring in all of the soothing, pain free vibes he could manage.
Sorry moving this to a fresh post cause I had Juniper reacted to NeonMace's Rose.
Posted: Thu May 19, 2016 8:30 am
Wil grabbed the shirt from Nasir but didn't put it on until he had fully frisked the darker boy with a brow wrinkle of concern.
"You're fine?" He ran his hands all over Nasir's body, chest and arms and then clasping his cheeks. "You're sure?"
Nevermind he was shirtless and freckled and had a visibly hickey. Once he was reassured Wil threw on the shirt, which was probably a size too small and from a thrift store.
Wil then gripped Nasir's hand like a vice, keeping tight to his size as people lay or stumbled around with injuries. "This is crazy... just... nuts.. right?"
They should leave. "We should leave.." He whispered.
Before Rose could even register what had happened -- a scream, followed by more, and even a murder -- she found herself covering her head on the floor next to the sweets booth, ran by the man she just met. What was going on?!
"D-Dawson!" she exclaimed as she opened her eyes, partially out of seeking him out, partially in shock of his injury. Crawling close to him, Rose hovered her hand over his wound but was at a complete loss, frantically breathing.
