Tower of Eternity - IC

[Astroblaze]

[fieldbox="Leah McCloyd, #2AE, solid"]

fright

#2AE Date: 3 days after the EMP
Time: late afternoon
Location: Philadelphia, PA—Max's apartment
Tags: Hazel (@The_J)
Character Profile

Leah flinched at Max's roar, both startled and a little guilty as she realized that he was partially directing it at her. Meanwhile, his commanding tone had caught her attention and she listened quietly, taking note that he was apparently a military man—that explained a thing or two. Her stomach turned at his saddened conclusion that none of them were human anymore. She still felt human, but... there was no mistaking the slight but acutely unnatural chill she could sense deep in her chest now that she had the presence of mind to consider it. And of course, she had also phased through a solid object twice since the EMP, and that was hardly normal for a human. As much as it left a bitter taste in her mouth to consider herself some kind of monster, she knew in her heart that he was right.

Returning her attention to Hazel as the woman spoke up with further explanation, Leah was a bit disappointed to learn that not all who died from this point on would become deathless. She worried about her parents, her brother and his friends, everyone she knew back in Michigan. What if they were attacked? She couldn't bear the thought of losing them at the whims of some demon if they didn't end up like she did. Inhuman was better than dead any day.

Then Hazel continued to explain her own story and how she speculated this "Belial" could be defeated and Leah's only thought was: 'Okay, what the literal hell?!' How old even was Hazel, then? Was immortality standard issue for deathless? What even was Belial? Leah only had more questions now that she had more information, and this time she doubted that she'd understand the explanations.

Her brow furrowing with an incredulous half-grin, she nervously chuckled, "Okay, um, what? How?" How in tarnation were they supposed to do what she was saying? She meant that horrid tower that put Stanley out of commission for a solid fifteen minutes after touching it for only a moment, and the one that they'd almost died again trying to flee from as it spawned eldritch horrors from itself, whatever it even was? Overwhelmed and terrified almost to the point of panic, Leah was starting to want to get as far away from this as she possibly could, but where could she go? If Hazel was correct in her analysis, Belial wouldn't stop until she had overthrown the entirety of this planet, meaning that there was nowhere to run from the sure horrors to come. Her only chance for survival was to stay here and listen to Hazel. Well, at least Belle had split after one final retort, taking her mean-spirited arrogance with her.

Willing herself to remain calm, she sighed, turning her eyes to the floor. "It's a terrifying prospect to be sure, but I don't want to go it alone. If what you're saying is true, there's no chance of running from it anyway. I'm with Satele on this." She lifted her gaze back to the de facto leader. "Do you have a plan of action or is that still in the works?" At least even a fraction of a plan would be something to give her hope.

Meanwhile, she noticed that the new girl, Sarah, had returned to the group after a brief phone call that from the sound of it seemed to just be so she could take a break from all this. Leah needed a breather as well, but she should probably wait until this little powwow was completed for the time being.[/fieldbox]

 

[Joan]

fright

Layen Carsen
Interactions: Hazel (@The_J), Everybody else in the room

---

Layen watched as several other people spoke. The man on the couch, Stanley, seemed to have recovered from his exhaustion, and Leah snapped back at Belle before apparently calming herself enough to ask a sensible question. He raised his eyebrows at that, but said nothing. Next, Sarah ducked into the kitchen, likely overwhelmed, which he really couldn't blame her for--it was a lot of information to take in all at once. Finally, the one who hadn't introduced himself earlier yelled out, stilling the bickering with a fiercely commanding presence. Layen was impressed with how quickly the room quieted, and he made a note to try to get to know Max a bit better. Then Sarah returned with a joking remark, disrupting the subdued atmosphere, and Layen frowned. He was tempted to say something, but before he could, Hazel spoke once again.

He turned his head back toward Hazel, listening attentively. What she had to say next sent a chill through him. They had been randomly selected somehow...Belial wanted to control both worlds...Hazel was the lone survivor of the ancient fight...and she wanted them to go to the land of the dead to fight Belial.

For a moment, there was a tense silence. Then the room exploded into sound again. Belle unleashed a storm of angry words and slammed the door behind her, and others spoke up after her, but Layen just stood there, blood running cold. He wanted to go after Belle, tell her that Max was right and they shouldn't be going out without each other, and yet...

She's right. It's suicide. We've barely gotten our powers and we barely even know how to use them...and this is just our first death. Hazel says we get more powerful the more time we spend in the land of the dead, and yet...

He felt pain in his arm, and he glanced down to see his nails digging through his jacket and shirt into his arm. He forced his fingers open with a wince and reached up to rub his forehead, closing his eyes. As if from a distance, he could hear Satele and Leah agreeing to help, but he still didn't move. If those deathless so long ago gave everything to stop Belial and still didn't succeed, and we're just barely coming into our powers...not to mention Belial's been in the land of the dead all this time, presumably getting stronger...what chance do we even have? What chance does anybody have?

But this is coming after us, one way or another. We can't run from this. Leah's right about that. And we're the ones with the power, so we have to be the ones to stop it, or die trying, aren't we? Nobody else can even put up a fight.

...Dammit.

He opened his eyes again with a sigh, dropping his hand away from his forehead and raising his head to look at the others. He looked resigned, with a grim set to his jaw. "We don't stand a chance." It was flatly stated, with an air of finality to it. Before anybody could respond, he continued speaking, using the same flat tone. "But we're also the only ones who can do anything to fight this. So, I'm with you, Hazel, on one condition." He glanced toward the door. "Belle had a point. I want to know why were you the only one to survive." After another moment, he added, "Speaking of Belle...she's made her choice, but somebody should probably go after her. Some of you have mentioned monsters, and while I don't know anything about that myself, I don't think any of us should be going out on our own right now. We don't know how much Belial knows about us or how far she'll go to take us out." He turned to look at the others, still leaning back against the wall. "Any volunteers, or should I do it myself?"

 

[Starlighter]

@RJS

---

Stanley was on his feet and headed for the door by the time Layen was halfway through asking for a volunteer. One small segment of Hazel's explanation stood out to him like a slap in the face: "The only way for a deathless to die." To hell with all the other crackpot drivel getting thrown around. The simple fact of the matter was that he'd tried to die, failed, been offered an explanation as to why, and now, a way to fix it. The next step was obvious - dive head first into this suicide run.

Best case, he'd find a way to get rid of the guilt weighing on him over the girl who'd been trapped. Worst case, he'd be permanently dead; hard to imagine a more perfect win-win. Rather than voicing his own willingness to hop on the train to crazy town, he hoped that chasing down Belle of the Baddasses would indicate his position. The apartment door clanked shut behind him, and he took a few rushed steps in an effort to catch up with her. While still a stone's throw away, he called out.

"We're fucked without someone like you around to question Hazel's every move - how else are we supposed to keep her honest and accountable?"

 

[Starlighter]

A collaboration brought to you by @Starlighter & @RJS​

---

Belle looked up the stairs as Stanley came rushing down. The corner of her lips curled at his words. "Really. You need me to do that? Grow some balls and do it yourself." She turned away, heading down the stairs. "Do I look like a fucking babysitter?"

Without enough space in the stairwell to squeeze past and block her way, Stanley settled for trailing along after her. "I'm not saying I wouldn't," he answered, "I'm saying you have a keen eye for spotting inconsistencies, picking up on stuff the rest of us might not think to consider. All the balls in the world aren't worth shit if we're too dumb to notice what she needs to be called out on."

"If you don't trust her enough to be open with you, why the fuck do you want to pull me into this shit? Why do you want to be part of any of that bullshit? After what happened to you, you want to go back to that place?" She shakes her head as she heads to the door. "You want to go get yourself killed then that's your outlook, but don't act like I have any obligation to mop up your shit."

"I don't want to be involved in any of this," Stanley snapped, grabbing her shoulder and forcing her to face him. "I want to be fucking dead, and this is the only shot I have at staying that way. I also got someone trapped in actual hell, so excuse me if I'd like to do something about that." He took a deep breath and slowly stepped back. "But fine. Whatever. If you think running away for all eternity is the best solution, be my guest. I'm sure if there's an evil being trying to screw over the land of the living, she'll definitely be the sweet, considerate sort of gal to just let the only people with half a prayer of stopping her go right along on their merry way."

As Stanley gripped and twisted, Belle's already darkened features took on a distinctly darker hue as her sneer transformed into a snarl. "Let go of me right fucking now." As the words passed through Stanley's head, he found himself struck by a strange compulsion to let go. His expression morphed into a slight scowl, and he released his hold almost immediately.

"Right, now listen the fuck up. You want to die? Great. Go run off and do just that. Find a quick way or a slow way, because I honestly could not care less about what the fuck you do, or are responsible for having done. You want me to go along with you, put my life on the line? Well unlike you, I'm quite fucking attached to this world and I see no reason to leave it. Why the fuck would I want to risk all that for someone I just met today?"

She stepped away from him. "Maybe I won't get left alone, but my odds of that happening are way higher if I don't start trying to take her down. I'm not listening to some dusty ancient bitch who wants to use me to fix her fuckups. I'm nobody's fucking babysitter. Not hers, not yours. Go ask the Girl Scout, she'll probably be keen to do her good deed of the day." Belle stepped back. "Now, if that's abundantly clear, I'm going to go get fucking shitfaced. See you never, with any luck." She turned to leave.

See you never? Hah. Over my dead body. "So that's it, huh? You're afraid, so your solution is to blame everyone else for shit hitting the fan and then run away like a scared little bitch? Well, guess what, princess. We all die sometime."

"Big words for someone who lacks the guts to face life and wants to go run away into death. And I will blame other people for shit when they fucking earn that blame. You say I'm running from my responsibility? I didn't do shit to cause this. You did shit. Hazel did shit because she failed at shit. Everyone else up there is happy to play along like it's The Bunny Book of Suicides. I can see why you like it so much there." She turned, smirking slightly. "As for we all die sometime...well, based on what's happened over the last couple of days, maybe not." She headed towards the exit, flicking the bird backwards as she passed through the doors. "Deuces, bitch."

"We're not done here yet, dammit!" Stanley yelled after her, only to be cut off by the door falling shut. Murmuring a string of unintelligible profanities under his breath, he turned and marched - or, more accurately, stomped - back up the stairs to the apartment.

 

[Astroblaze]

[fieldbox="Leah McCloyd, #2AE, solid"]

fright

#2AE Date: 3 days after the EMP
Time: late afternoon
Location: Philadelphia, PA—Max's apartment
Tags: Stanley (@Starlighter), also sort of everyone else in the room
Character Profile

The disapproving furrow that had appeared in Leah's brow when Layen suggested that someone chase after Belle only deepened when Stanley jumped up to do just that. Although relieved, she was hardly surprised when he returned alone and clearly frustrated. She could guess why.

The young woman leaned back against the wall, pulling her knees up into her chest and resting her arms on them as she stared blankly at the far wall.

"Dunno why you'd bother." She spoke in a dull, monotonous murmur—with her anger at Belle spent, the stress of the evening had finally caught up with her, leaving her feeling utterly drained. "She's already shown what she's like. Sure, she helped scare off that monster that was pursuing us, but she only did it then when it was convenient, easy, and could get her hailed as a hero, all without significant risk to herself. But at the first sign of danger—when the tower roared, before the monsters even appeared—all she cared about was saving her own skin. Hardly a helpful companion. Let her go, I say, and good riddance to her."[/fieldbox]

 

[Greenie]

Sean let out another sigh as he stood up, suddenly feeling weary of all the talk and the hostile feelings and just everything in general. When he had come to Philadelphia, he had expected to find answers, yes, but also some sort of peace and closure. Instead, it seemed the answers were exactly what he had been trying to run away from for year. Nightmares were a source of stress for him, but it seemed as if the ones he'd had to face were nothing compared to what he would have to face.

He watched Belle as she left, and if he was being honest with himself, it was tempting to follow suit. Pretend life was the same and carry on. First hand experience however had already taught him those were just pipe dreams. There was no going back to how things were once you were traumatized enough. You just had to live with it and carry on.

Staying quiet, he listened to what Satele, Leah and Layen said, and then watched as Stanley decided to head out after Belle. While he didn't think it would make a difference to run after the turqoise haired girl, he did think Leah might have done better by keeping quiet about it. If they were going to work together, they had to learn some tolerance.

His eyes moved away from Leah and fell on Chani, who was doing a rather good impression of being part of the wall. Raising an eyebrow, he addressed her. "So, ready to go fight some Belial?"

Chani was broken out of her stupor, still processing not only the information Hazel had given them but also the subsequent reactions from the rest of the group. It was hard for her to keep the worry from showing on her face. If what they said was true, if a woman had actually died due to one of the monsters from the tower...

But if we can get in the land of the dead then... Once again it sounded surreal to her, something she had only heard of in video games or television. There was no guarantee that they would be able to kill Belial in the land of the dead, but from what Hazel was saying, they wouldn't have to suffer innumerable deaths to get strong enough to kill their enemy.

"I don't think I have another choice," she finally said out loud. "I know it probably sounds stupid... but I believe in a higher power, and that I was guided here by it for a reason. To run away now, at least for me, would be stupid and counterproductive."​

 

[Applo]

Sarah Pendleton​

---

As Sarah watched the door slam shut behind Belle it would have been a lie to say that no part of her wanted to follow the blue haired girl out the door. The things that Hazel had told the group were beyond insane, or at least would have been last week. The fact that an undead bint wanting to take over the world could only be stopped by journeying into what in effect sounded like the after life seemed any other than stark raving mad was completely fucked up. In light of that the idea of getting on a plane and getting the hell out the country seemed like an entirely sensible one.

She didn't because A: she didn't have the energy to flounce out the door and deal with people trying to persuade her to stay and B: she didn't want to be undead all by herself. How would she ever explain it to her parents. Mum, dad, sit down I need to tell you something. What a farce that conversation would be. Even if they could accept what she was without trying to institutionalize her, would they ever understand. At least by staying here there were other people like her and someone who knew vaguely what the hell was happening.

Thundering footsteps pulled Sarah out of her thoughts as she reflexively looked to the noise. She wasn't surprised to see Stanley return alone; anyone who could've of made Belle comeback after that kind of exit was probably already working on world peace for the UN. Sarah also wasn't surprised when Leah was somewhat less than upset that Belle hadn't returned. Another time she might have told Leah to stop being such a cow but right now she let it slide. Just in the time they'd been in this flat it had been clear that Belle and Leah didn't get on and right now Sarah didn't want to be the reason someone else stormed out. Instead she turned her attention to the girl with a Canadian accent that Sarah couldn't remember hearing speak before.

"No offense but your higher power sounds like kind of a dick if it guided you here for this," Sarah said before shifting her focus to Hazel. "Honestly I don't know if I'm in or out right now. I kind of feel like taking on an ancient undead evil in the land of the dead is something I should sleep on so I guess I'm a solid maybe." As she spoke, Sarah rummaged in her pockets and bag for a pen and paper but came up short on both item"Have any of you got a paper and pen on you so we can write down our emails or something. I plan to get trashed tonight and it'd be nice to be able to contact all of you without having to pay for a missed connections ad."​

---

 

[Eru]

"O' course we don't have a choice." Max thumped his legs on the ground irritably. Belle had vanished, much to his exasperation, though Stanley had tried. "We're Deathless. That weren't our choice. It's a brand."

He stepped into the middle of the room and gave everyone still there a hard stare in turn. "She's gone, for today. Maybe forever. But will any o' you stay?" He stamped his foot again. "Tonight, we hold this place. We think, we wait, we sleep. In the morning, if you're still here, we take action." Max turned and pointed at the window in his living room, and at the door. "I think you can guess what that action may be."

"We'll need to take it in shifts to watch; no guarantee the bloody beasts won't turn up again, and we'll need to move if that happens. But if anyone 'disappears' in the night, I won't be the one to cast blame on ye. Far from it." He heaved a sigh. "Is those who have courage in the morning, who may have it to carry it the full fight."

"If you've anything to say or do before the evening, do it now. Otherwise, we'll be setting up watches in an hour." Max took two big strides to stand before the window. "Twilight approaches."

 

[Greenie]

Chani hadn't expected anyone to reply to her rudely, especially not the British girl. Then again, maybe she was used to Canadian political correctness. Either way, she was offended when Sarah called the higher power she believed in 'kind of a dick'; any sentence that started with 'no offense' in her experience meant exactly that would happen. Her eyes narrowed and it was hard to keep a scathing reply in her mind rather than on her tongue for all to hear.

But she managed. If nothing else, Chani knew how to control her tongue. So, she decided to ignore Sarah completely, looking away from her to Max instead.

"I'll be right here," she said quietly before looking around the room for a place to sit down. She didn't know anyone in Philadelphia and even if she did, it wasn't like she was here on a pleasure trip. It was best for her to stay put.

Sean looked around at the others before letting out a sigh. "I'll pro'ly stay here as well. My stuff's in my car so I'll go get that, but otherwise..." He shrugged a shoulder. "Never been here in my life, all I know about Philly is it's got a hockey team." Chuckling humourlessly to himself, he looked around at the others. "If anyone needs a ride, just ask, or better yet, take my keys once I've got my stuff." Losing his car sounded less likely than losing his life anyway.​

 

[Astroblaze]

[fieldbox="Leah McCloyd, #2AE, solid"]

fright

#2AE Date: 3 days after the EMP
Time: evening
Location: Philadelphia, PA—Max's apartment
Interactions: Sarah (@Applo), Max (@Eru), Sean (@Greenie), plus whoever is next to her and group at large
Character Profile

Exchanging contact information was a good idea, although Leah didn't exactly approve of Sarah's reasons for collecting it. Briefly lifting a hand to catch the Brit's attention, she rifled through the contents of the backpack she had set beside her for a moment before extracting a small notepad and pen, jotting out her phone number and email on the first empty page before passing the pad and pen to the person nearest her. The rest of the group could write down contact info as they saw fit.

As she closed up the bag again, she paused for a moment to observe its varied contents, releasing a quiet sigh with a wry smile. While it was hardly fair to insinuate that she was just a wimpy, idealistic wannabe adventurer as Belle had clearly meant by calling her a girl scout, she emulated the girl scout preparedness to a tee.

Looking up as Max spoke up again, she nodded thoughtfully at his words. She was forming a deep respect for him as she witnessed more of his personality. Someone who could take command with confidence and authority was probably something this group needed if they had a fighting chance, and while Hazel was the most knowledgeable by far, she just didn't have the leadership aura that Leah sensed from Max. Besides, having some semblance of a plan and order helped defuse the panicked feeling that had arisen at the notion of what they had to do.

"I've already determined I'm staying," she confirmed, adding to Chani and Sean's voiced intents to remain with the group. She was uncertain if she had already made that clear, but there was no harm in repeating just in case. To emphasize her decision, she removed her handgun from its hip holster, along with the package of extra rounds in a side pocket of her bag. Popping out the magazine, she ensured that the barrel was empty and the safety engaged before setting the weapon on the floor and replacing the three rounds that she had fired on the hellspawn from the tower. As she did, she considered how those three rounds had been used. Being shot certainly seemed to have some adverse effect on the beast, if slight, and she took a bit of solace in the knowledge that she had a functional and effective weapon readily available whenever the need arose.

The firearm emitted a sharp click as she pushed the magazine back into the grip. She returned it to her holster before checking her bag again. She did have a deceptively thin, rolled-up fleece blanket tucked along the side of the bag but otherwise nothing by way of sleeping materials. Oh well, she could sleep on the floor easily enough if nothing else was available.

"I made sure to be prepared for pretty much anything when I traveled here," she mentioned to the rest of the group as she looked through the bag. "If any of you need some small amenity, just ask me: there's a high chance I have what you're looking for." She couldn't help a slight, wry smile at how that would sound so soon after Belle's aforementioned "girl scout" calls.

Turning to Sean at his comment about returning to his car for his things, she reminded him, "It's probably a bad idea for any of us to go anywhere alone right now. I can accompany you if you'd like," she offered. The lot of them were a team now: it was crucial that they had each other's backs.[/fieldbox]

 

[Applo]

Sarah Pendleton​

---

It was just as Sarah was scribbling down the last of her contact details on the note pad the Leah had provided that Max started to stamp his feet and make grand declarations about how they didn't have a choice. The apartment owner's hard stare was met by an equally hard one from Sarah. He might have been a military man or something like that, who else had commanding officers, but she had survived some of the most psychotic physical education teachers money could afford; the kind of people who could only teach in the private sector because average parents cherished their children too much for them to be allowed in state schools. Still he had a point. Not about the having to go after Belial just because they were deathless. That was moronic. The part about staying together for the sake of safety though. There, Sarah was willing to concede he might have a point.

Sarah had barely caught a glimpses of what Max called 'bloody beasts' as she had been making her way through the panicked crowd towards the barricade. Mostly she had heard it. Either way it wasn't something she wanted to run into as she was falling out of a bar or club, or alone in general. If these creatures were tied to the land of the dead, then sticking with a bunch of deathless, or more accurately sticking close to Hazel seemed like a sensible idea. The idea of sleeping on Max's floor wasn't exactly appealing though. Sarah was pretty sure there was more people than comfortable surfaces to sleep on. Fortunately, fate handed her a way to solve this problem when Sean next spoke.

"I'll tag along with you too if it's ok?" Sarah cut in as soon as Leah had finished speaking lest anyone else try claiming a spot in Sean's car before her. "I need to swing by my place to collect a few things like a toothbrush and to feed my fish by the sounds of it." Her flat was, according to her dad at least, stuffed with bloody useless cushion and pillows. While he sort of had a point in that most of them were decorative rather the functional, they'd be better than nothing for sleeping on the floor. A rumble from her stomach reminded Sarah of her needs other than just comfort. Pulling out her phone, she thumbed through her apps till she found her take away app.

"Err, does anyone want to order some takeaway? I am. Some of the restaurants around my place were open last night so with any luck a few will still be tonight. If we order it now it should get to my place before us and the doorman will hold onto it for me."​

---

 

[Starlighter]

---

Upon re-entering, Stanley closed the apartment door a little harder than was necessary, and made his way back to his spot on the couch without acknowledging Leah's comments. His expression quickly faded to neutral as he struggled to swallow his aggravation and regain some semblance of self control; as much as he wanted to snap back at her that maybe not everyone had a petty grievance to whine about, fostering any further hard feelings wasn't going to do good for anyone.

With a slight sigh, he dropped back onto the couch and stretched out his feet, arms crossed and mouth tightly sealed throughout the exchange between Sarah and Chani, then Max's impromptu step-up to take charge. At Sean's offer of a ride, he hesitated. Part of him wanted to just stay put and take a nap until next week, but if he was going to be staying away from home for the foreseeable future, a few arrangements would need to be made. He waited a beat following Sarah and Leah speaking up to take advantage of the offer, then nodded at Sean, giving his answer to Max indirectly.

"If you've got one more seat I could do with grabbing some stuff from home before settling in here." He shot a glance in Leah's direction, about to add that she didn't have to tag along even if it was a considerate offer - but his gaze landed on the gun she was handling, and he thought better of it.

 

[Joan]

fright

Layen Carsen
Interactions: Car Crew (@Greenie, @Astroblaze, @Applo, @Starlighter)

---

Even as Layen was asking for a volunteer, Stanley sprang off the couch with surprising energy and bolted out the door, presumably chasing after Belle. Leah scowled ferociously, and when Stanley stomped back in with a stormy look on his face, she took the opportunity to voice her opinions on Belle. Yet again, she mentioned monsters, and Layen shook his head slightly as she spoke. Maybe she was right, and Belle wasn't worth the effort, but he still felt that none of them should be out on their own. Belle was out of reach by now, though, and he could only hope that his instincts were wrong. We tried, anyway.

He turned his attention to the people who hadn't voiced their decisions yet. The Canadians, Sean and Chani, decided to stay. At Chani's mention of a higher power, Layen's eyebrows went up, but then he sighed faintly. While he hadn't seriously considered anything like that before the EMP, it wasn't the most far-fetched idea right now, considering everything else that had just been revealed to them. Still not anything I'd stake anything on, but...I dunno. It's a thought.

Sarah was last to voice her decision, or rather, lack of one. His frown deepened as she continued to demonstrate an oddly flippant attitude in the face of everything, but then he relaxed slightly. It was understandable, if a bit grating. He accepted the paper and pen when it reached him and scribbled down his contact info before passing it on, though he couldn't help but wonder how much would even work after the EMP and the following chaos. He hadn't had much cause to check if his phone worked in the last few days, and had really just kept it off and in his bag.

Before he could dig his phone out to check if he had a signal, Max spoke up again, laying out a plan for the night to come. Layen nodded along in agreement, his respect for Max growing, before turning his attention to the preparations. Leah produced a gun and seemed to know her way around it, and though Layen was slightly surprised that she was the one with a gun, it made sense with the general preparedness she seemed to have. As Sean announced he needed to get his car, and various people prepared to head out to grab small items, Layen prepared to settle down for the night. He began to move to sit down, lowering himself down, before pausing halfway and mumbling a curse to himself. Ah shit, I left my car out there. Question is, is it worth heading out there to get...I didn't leave anything in it, but we could use it, even if we already have a car...

Wait, what did Sarah just say? He glanced up sharply at the mention of a doorman, his mouth opening slightly before he closed it again. A...doorman. Huh. He blinked a few times before pulling himself together enough to address the excursion party.

"Uh, food sounds good, Sarah. I think I'll be staying here, since you already have a full car by the sounds of it. Though, could y'all check on something for me while you're out there?" He fished the keys to his car out of his pocket and held them up before tossing them to whoever was closest. "I've got a car, black Jeep, parked a few streets over from where shit went down. If it's still there, mind bringing it back? I normally wouldn't bother, but with this many people, I think we'll need the extra car space." Pausing briefly, he added, "You probably already know this, but be careful out there, yeah?"

 

[Greenie]

Well, it seemed like more people than he thought would be joining Sean on his little expedition outside. Leah, Sarah and Stanley all seemed to have their own reasons for heading out as well, and he honestly didn't mind the company since they would be better off in a group if any beastie or even random pycho human came after them.

"Good idea," he said to Sarah, giving her a nod of approval. "I'm not too fussed about food so I'd say order anything- unless anyone here has any sort of allergies?" He figured if someone did, they'd speak up, so he looked to Layen next.

"We could definitely use another car," he agreed, reaching out and grabbing the keys out of the air. Slightly impressed by his quick reflexes, he grinned as he stowed them in his pocket. "And yeah... definitely gonna be safe. Same for you all." He glanced over everyone else, eyes coming to a halt as they came upon the quiet Satele.

"Anything you want?" he asked. "Want to join the joyride or you're fine here, Satele?"

​

@SkittlesAndSpike

 

[Spekkun]

"Thank you for the offer, but I'll decline." Satele gave Sean a small smile. "Too many people in one car for my taste." There was also the fact they were all complete strangers, short of knowing each other's names and a basic grasp on personalities. That sounded like an awkward experience she'd rather not go through, even if it was an excellent chance to get to know some of them further. "I'll stay put for now. All that running kinda has me tuckered out, anyway."

It was an easy decision, considering there wasn't anywhere she'd want to go or anything she'd really need. Maybe she would like to check on her family but if she did, she might chicken out of her choice she'd made before. It was a bit too much to ask to be taken home, anyway. "Stay safe." She told the group leaving with Sean.

The last thing she wanted was for any of them to get in trouble, or to run into those creatures again.

 

[The_J]

Hazel gazed around the room, glad that people were finally being organised. Now that Belle had left, people had mostly ceased their questioning and doubting of her, though not quite everyone was still on board. Still, they seemed willing enough to go along with it, so that was an improvement overall. She wondered if it might be worth not going after Belle, what with how disruptive she had been for the group's dynamic.
Despite the positive progress, she could feel herself tiring of everyone here. It had been a highly taxing day, and the amount of intense conversation she'd been part of had drained her reserves. Over the years she'd been alive, she'd never really learnt to deal with people for long stretches of time all at once, despite her experience.
Moving over to a window, she looked down at the street below. Opening it, she let a cool breeze blow in, making her realise that the whole place had gotten a bit stuffy from all the people hanging around inside it.
"I'm afraid I'm... not much of a people person, to put it lightly. I'm going to head back to the hotel that I'm staying at for the time being, recharge a bit, otherwise, I won't be very productive at all."
She pulled out a pen and a notepad from her pocket, scribbling down some details on it and tearing the top sheet off, placing it on the coffee table.
"Those're my phone number and the address of the hotel. Belial probably won't make another move until she's had more of a chance to recharge, so you should be safe without me for now. Maybe try and practice your powers with each other, where practical. Take care."
she said, climbing out the window, forming a duplicate on the ground and dissipating her old body into nothing. She took off, walking at a brisk pace for her hotel.

 

[RJS]

The Expeditionary Force
(Sean, Leah, Sarah and Stanley)

The chaos of the day had given rise to a disconcerting quiet as the four made their way through the streets. Where once there had been a huge riot there was now only various detritus littering the road. Empty containers, a few discarded weapons...a smattering of bloodstains were the only signs of the carnage that had ensued. A bit further up the road and they encountered Sean's car. The bodywork was dented and battered, and all the windows had been smashed. However, with the glass swept off the seats it was still drivable, and started smoothly enough. Amazingly, the tires were still intact - likely the damage was done in passing, rather than as any concerted effort. With the streets empty, it was minimal effort to locate Layen's Jeep - pristine courtesy of its distance from the chaos. And so they began the drive towards Sarah's place. As they approached, the streets appeared to be a little busier. Figures walking along the sidewalk stopped and stared at them as they drive past in convoy. Noise of raucous laughter and chanting could be heard drifting from the direction of Sarah's home.

The Home Front
(Max, Chani, Satele and Layen)

With Hazel's sudden departure, and the departure of the four more outgoing sorts, the apartment that had seemed to be bursting at the seams seemed strangely empty all of a sudden, leaving the three with a period of comparative peace following the madness of the day. However, this tranquility only lasted for about 10 minutes, before whatever they were doing was interrupted by a knock at the door. "Hello? Anybody in there?"

 

[Greenie]

Sean was not a happy camper. His car wasn't exactly his pride and joy, but it was his and he'd always taken care of it. To see it dented with its windows smashed in made him want to punch someone in the face, but currently the only people available were not those who deserved manhandling. He was also a little sour when they finally reached Layen's Jeep to see it was perfectly alright.

"Haaaah..." The sigh sounded just as disgruntled as he felt, despite his efforts to be grateful that one of their vehicles wouldn't need transparent adhesive tape to fake windows- he hardly had the time or money to get them replaced.

Once the Jeep was manned and Sean returned to his car, they made it easily enough to the neighbourhood Sarah lived in, courtesy of Sean's Garmin GPS. As they approached, however, he found himself driving slower and with much more caution. Even over the car's engine, he could hear the sound of laughter and chanting in the same direction that his Garmin was telling him to drive in.

"Uh..." He stopped the car, looking over at the passenger seat. "Something doesn't sound kosher 'round here... Dunno about you but I'm kinda worried."

@Astroblaze @Applo @Starlighter
​

*****
​

As the others left the apartment, Chani had decided that she needed a little shuteye. She head leaned her head against the back of the couch she had sat down on, and it was mere moments before she fell asleep, exaustion of the day's events finally catching up with her. However, the knock on the door soon broke her out of the rather dark dream that had just starting playing in her mind.

At first she was disorientated, unsure of how long she had slept, but a quick look at her cellphone confirmed that barely ten minutes had passed since. She swallowed and looked around, wondering if anyone was going to open the door. Should they open the door?

"Who could it be?" she asked in a low voice. Maybe some friend of Max? That would make sense. Perhaps Belle returning? That seemed less likely though; Belle would clearly know there were people there, and with the way she had left, Chani was sure they had seen the last of the turquoise hair girl.

"Uhm... Max?" She reckoned if someone was to answer the door, it was probably best the man who lived in it.

@Eru
​

 

[Astroblaze]

[fieldbox="Leah McCloyd, #2AE, solid"]

fright

#2AE Date: 3 days after the EMP
Time: evening
Location: Philadelphia, PA—Max's apartment
Interactions: Layen (@Joan), Sean (@Greenie)
Mentions: Hazel (The_J), Sarah (Applo), Stanley (Starlighter)
Leah CS

Once her notepad had circulated the room and returned to her, Leah had added the information to her phone's contacts, noting in the process that the device was functional again. As the leaving group condensed and prepared to head out, she had risen from where she had been sitting against the wall, shouldering her bag out of habit, but paused a moment to return Layen's cautionary comment with a nod and flashed smile and to listen to Hazel as she spoke some final words. She blinked in surprise when the woman climbed out the window and disappeared, but dismissed it as related to whatever powerset she possessed with a slight shrug to herself and followed Sean, Sarah, and Stanley out the door.

As the group walked through the street, Leah found herself a bit jumpy with nervous energy, her eyes flickering about the detritus under a furrowed brow. She slowly calmed as they advanced, thankful that the streets were otherwise devoid of human life given earlier's chaos. She found herself walking a bit separated from her three companions in a barely effective attempt to relieve some of the tension that she would need a moment of complete privacy to fully dispel.

When they reached what apparently was Sean's car, she offered the Canadian a sympathetic grimace at his reaction to the appalling state of the vehicle. At least the car was still functional, however.

At the Jeep, she took the keys from Sean that Layen had passed him and climbed into the driver's seat when no one else moved to, setting her bag on the floor in the back of the truck. Starting up the vehicle, she tailed Sean through the suburbs toward Sarah's home, taking note of the increasing number of people and strange chanting that seemed to be emanating from their destination. Spotting his brake lights ahead of her, she slowed the Jeep to a halt. He must've noticed the chanting as well. Her mouth tightened worriedly as she made brief eye contact with her passenger before returning her attention to Sean's car. Why chanting? Were they driving into Belial's deathless? She couldn't imagine another reason for such strange activity.[/fieldbox]

 

[Applo]

---

As she got out of Sean's car to follow Leah to the jeep, Sarah dumped the Canadians GPS onto his lap through the permanently open window.

"The address is set. It should take you to my building pretty much. See you two there."

As she turned to make her way to the jeep, Sarah was glad Sean had offered his Sat Nav so readily. She had lived in Philadelphia for a while now but she still struggled to navigate it. The streets all looked fairly similar to each other. Whenever she went off her beaten paths to work and the like, Sarah nearly always used her phone to navigate for her. It would be nice to just sit back and maybe gawk at what was going on rather than relaying instructions from her phone.

"They've got the directions so stick close to them". The car door banged behind Sarah and after moment of blind reaching she found the seat belt and clicked it into place. "Allons-y."

The journey to Sarah's apartment was ordinary enough. The end of days was doing wonders for inner-city congestion. People stared at them as they drove past but Sarah didn't think a great deal of it. It was likely they were only paying attention out of reflex. Most of the cars that were on the roads these days were the army or the police speeding to some new crisis, and therefore worthy of attention. As they rolled up to the front of Sarah's building however the mood seemed to change. The was a weird chanting emanating from her building that definitely hadn't been there when she had left this morning.

"I swear to god if those hot yoga freaks have moved in below me again I won't be held responsible for my actions." Her words were filled with false bravado. Given what she knew to be going on in the world, ominous chanting couldn't possibly anything but bad news. Still Sarah wasn't one to give up on everything she owned and run away with her tail between her legs.

"I'll go first," After shutting the door far more softly than she had when she had got in, Sarah continued. "I'd hate to give poor old Cyril a heart attack by having you lot bursting in."

After creeping forwards to the other car and whispering the plan, such as it was to Sean and Stanley, Sarah inched towards the entrance of her building. The heavy wood doors were slightly ajar, but that wasn't decidedly unusual especially in weather like this. Slipping into the foyer, Sarah blinked a few times as her eyes adjusted to the relative gloom and then had a look around.

The doorman, Cyril wasn't behind his desk, but then he was also the building custodian. It could just be he was off taking care of some cleaning or other task that needed doing. Leaning over the man's desk Sarah wrinkled her nose at the conspicuous lack of takeaway bags. Apparently a thirty minutes or less guarantee meant nothing these days.

With nothing else apparently going on in the lobby, Sarah pushed the button to call the lift. She could still hear the chanting she had heard in the street, but she couldn't tell if it was any louder than it had been before. While she waited for the lift, Sarah made her way back to the doorway. Sticking her head through the threshold, she waved the other in from their cars. If they were going to be quick about their task, it would help if they weren't all sitting on their backsides.​

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