epidemiology | EVENT ★ I PREDICT A RIOT

EVENT ★ I PREDICT A RIOT

I WANNA START A FIGHT

RIOTS

In the time between the quarantine and now, the virus has spread unnaturally rapidly, with the amount of the population infected estimated to be around 1.5% or approximately 3,750 people. Understandably, the panic has increased considerably. People who were taking the virus seriously before have begun to work themselves up into a frenzy, and even those who were calm are beginning to get anxious.

An infected teacher went on a violent rampage at the local elementary school yesterday, leading the school board to close all Woodhurst schools for the rest of the week while the entire staff is studied for symptoms. There’s no test for the Bristol virus, however, so it’s impossible to tell for sure. This, of course, worries the parents. The unrest starts with a protest at the school, calling for schools to be closed indefinitely until the quarantine is over for the safety of the children, but it doesn’t stop there.

Unrest turns to rioting before long; the majority of the riot is focused at city hall, where citizens are demanding answers, but there’s also mayhem at stores as the people of Woodhurst loot them, stocking up for what some assume is an impending apocalypse. Those who don’t believe this have locked themselves up in their homes not for protection from the infected but the rioters. Suffice it to say, most of the citizens out on the streets are of the slightly unstable variety, although some just found themselves caught up in the riots and became worked up by the crowd.

Local police forces -- including ALASTAIR agents posing as police officers -- have been dispatched to deal with the rioters at city hall. Rioters who attempt to leave the city are taken care of by officers sent by the federal government to enforce the quarantine.

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE

It might be a good idea to see what supplies can be found at the supermarkets, although you run the risk of getting attacked by a violent looter. The police won’t necessarily turn away anyone trying to keep order at city hall, but any supernatural powers will only incite the already violent crowd, so it’s recommended characters keep from utilizing their powers if they want to stay in one piece. Then, of course, there’s always the option to protect innocents who happen to be stuck out on the streets in the middle of the riots.

While the entirety of the police force is focused at the quarantine borders and outside city hall, now is possibly one of the only chances to get full access to buildings in the city. There are still some workers who haven’t been sent home and some of the buildings are locked up, but there are few police officers that can be spared to go check out a simple break-in.

Now is the time to search the city, if you're feeling brave. If you’re really ballsy, you can even try to slip in through the back door of city hall and go through their records. The only important building in town that’s not able to be searched is the hospital, which is incredibly busy due to the high number of people injured in the riots and traffic accidents.

Of course, just because rioters aren’t around doesn’t mean you’ll be left alone. There’s always a chance you’ll find yourself alone in a building with someone very hungry. Willing to take the chance?

Submit all CYOA choices to this thread.

OOC NOTES

The Bounty Board is now open! If you are looking for ways to get involved in this mission's optional objective, this is a good place to start. We’d also like to remind everyone that ALASTAIR does not invent cover stories for characters -- that’s all them! The only jobs they’ll help with getting are in the police force and government; everything else is up to characters to interview for.

Questions about Woodhurst can be submitted to this thread. Questions about the game in general should be directed to the FAQ. You may submit mission ideas or player plots at any time.

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[To be surrounded by so many dead, their ashes interred beneath his soles while their shades have long since departed to the House of Death, puts Achilles ill at ease, yet the cemetary is where Urahara had wished to meet him, and so through its wrought iron gates he walks. The cemetary occupies a swath of open hillside on the outskirts of the city, and across the street perches a small white chapel whose sign Christens it in the name of St. Patrick. He had first paused there ere he entered the gates, that he may pray to the local gods as he has done at every temple he has crossed in this town: so numerous seem the deities worshipped here, yet none will hear his entreaties.

He wonders presently if it might be disrespectful to tread these grounds when he knows naught of the deceased who there are honored. Solemnly do his eyes pass over each grave past which he walks, acknowleding each in its turn, but lingering only long enough to begin to make sense of the letters there which all spell foreign names. Just ahead in a bend in the path waits Urahara, and to him Achilles gives greeting.]

Urahara, man of many arts - to this forum of the deaf and mute you have summoned me, and strange though it seems to me to meet in such a place, here I come to learn as your student. This humble mantle of one who has much to learn I've not worn in many long years, but bright-eyed Sieglinde speaks well of your skill and knowledge, and so to this I shall entrust myself. Sharp as I am in the arts of battle, I am green in what many among this crew call magic but I call godcraft, mortal though the hands that wield it may be.

[As isolated as the cemetary is, covered in a pall of silence thicker even than that which is worn by the dead in these troubled times when few leave their homes for any purpose short of vital, he feels free to speak plainly without fear of being overheard.]

[it's becoming so much of a habit that people are going to suspect that Urahara has more of a fascination with the dead that he really does. it's not as if he frequented cemeteries back in Karakura Town. but when things are as strange as they are in that town, you don't need the cover to keep people from noticing what you're doing.

strange feelings and uncomfortable sensations are often situated in places where the dead are buried. it's a practical move, nothing more.

he's leaning against a large tomb set in the center of this "forum of the deaf and mute" (what a turn of phrase!), and steps away from it when Achilles begins his greeting. some might find him long-winded and overly formal, but Urahara likes it- somewhere between amused and genuinely enraptured that someone can exist so far out of time and still maintain his cultural identity.

of course Urahara can respect that. he's a man out of time, himself, even if he's given to a few modern proclivities.] Thank you for coming, Achilles-san, and for trusting me. I hope I can live up to Sieglinde-san's praise. [facetiously humble as always, though it wouldn't do to simply begin without addressing the venue for their training.] It's a bit odd, I know, but since this world isn't comfortable with "magic," I chose a place where any strange feelings or sights can be brushed aside as supernatural nonsense.

[he shoulders his cane as he steps closer.] If you're worried about the dead, you can rest assured that their souls don't linger here, and they've all been ushered to their final destination. The only people we might offend are the living.

[he glances towards the iron gates, expression schooled into something exhausted, not quite covered by the brim of his hat.] And they have a number of problems to worry about.

Edited 2017-02-17 05:29 (UTC)

[His gaze ghosts over the ornamental carvings that trim the tomb looming still behind Urahara.]

I worry not for the dead: with all proper burial rites granted, they dwell now in the house of death, that country to which all men must go, no matter to which nation they once belonged. Yet even so, it is a solemn reminder to see so many dead honored in one place. Inside these gates it seems to me more quiet than even the streets of this fear-stricken town.

[The overcast sky lends to the hush that seems to drape the cemetery like a funeral pall. Achilles has no doubts that no souls but their own are to be found among the crooked rows of headstones.]

Nevertheless, I am glad to meet you here. You have given me the respect a man is due even when others would spit upon me - this I have not forgotten, and for this I can place my faith in you although I know you not half as well as I should like.

[It is true that he likes the man well enough, but he possesses some quality that makes the whole of his character difficult to grasp, like a ripple upon the water or a shadow flitting across the ground. He cannot help but be reminded, even if only faintly, of Loki, the god of lies.]

With what shall my lessons begin? I confess that even the nature of this new art I know little of. The message I received from the house of ALASTAIR tells me only that with this art I shall better shield myself and others from the bite of weapons. No more than this can I say.

Oh? Well, no one knows me half as well as they should like, I think. You're in good company. [he laughs gaily, making a joke out of it in the most gentle way possible. normally he's not so delicate with people's feelings, but Achilles is a different sort of person. even on his worst days, one didn't provoke a Kenpachi and that's the sort of warrior he views Achilles as.

albeit an eloquent one.

but to the point... a point that he's sure will lead to some very unsettling revelations that might explain to Achilles why he keeps his cards close to his chest. the downside of taking this many students is the knowledge of what he is can't be contained as easily.] I've worked with Stiles-san a bit on his barriers, but the way you describe it makes it sound like more of a heightened defense measure than strictly a shield. Am I correct?

[if he's right, it sounds more like a Quincy's blut vene than anything else. fascinating.]

[Urahara's words he considers with a contemplative expression, for all this seems too wide and sprawling to tame into comprehension. In another lifetime, separated not by time but by a shift in feeling, Olivia had explained to him in slips and snatches her own gifts, but he had never anticipated receiving so powerful a blessing himself. So rarely has he felt at a loss for what to do, yet whatever gift he might have, he wishes to harness it.]

If you are correct to say so, I know not - but in these matters you know far better than I.

[His lips curve into the shade of a grin as he recalls something he once was told.]

I have heard that long after I slip down into the house of death, the songs peddled by bards shall claim that I was impervious to arrow and spear, as if my skin itself were wrought from bronze, hammered into shape over the flame and set to harden. It was the design of my mother, Thetis the silver-footed goddess, so they shall say - in the River Styx she dipped me that I may be so blessed. How curious it is that I myself now might possess the power to make myself so impenetrable.

Edited 2017-02-22 03:18 (UTC)

I'll be certain not to aim for your heels, then, just in case.

[As Urahara says this, he's pulling his cane apart, revealing the slim blade of Benihime's sealed form, barely a sliver compared to the might of the swords and spears that Achilles is used to and nothing compared to her elegantly tasselled and razor-sharp true form.

if Achilles were one of his usual students, he'd just lunge here and now to see them put their defenses up as the blow is coming to test how good their instincts are, but Achilles is already a skilled warrior who needs no training in that department and a proud man who might take offense to such a bold action without warning. ]

The easiest way to test it is to simply see it in action. So if you would mind not dodging...

[and then he lunges, lightening fast, bringing the thin blade in a slashing arc towards Achilles' chest.]

Edited 2017-02-23 01:29 (UTC)

[Yet still none have told him of what would become the most infamous detail of his legend, and thus the allusion is lost on him. Achilles has time enough only to show a bemused countenance before Urahara turns his blade against him, swift like the lightning hurled by Zeus who marshals clouds. Despite the appeal against evading the strike, Achilles' battle-sharped instincts, carved deep within his muscles by a lifetime of working with spear and blade, prevail against any thought to the contrary - and thus, he springs back with limbs curled defensively, as if strapped to his arm is his glorious golden shield. From his lips fly these winged words.]

Have you gone mad? How am I to test that which I've not yet learned?

[This gift comes not so naturally as his skill in battle, his fleetness of foot, which always felt as though woven into his very being: this is something foreign, something he must adopt. Yet even so, with his mind narrowed in that instance to the matter of protection, his fingertips did faintly shimmer as does the air when seared by the forge's flame, and his skin did tingle with some spirit he has never known.]

[and the blade stops with a nick where it should be a cut- it wasn't meant to be more than superficial, anyway, but the result is quite impressive.

Urahara jumps back quickly, almost with an inhuman sort of grace, avoiding pushing too much on the "shield" in case it cracks under pressure and that nick becomes a bit bigger than the cut he'd intended, or Achilles unconsciously puts more force behind it, enough that it might break Benihime's blade.]

Sorry about that. [he tilts his hat up a bit, trying to get a feel for the magic. like most, it doesn't have the same feeling as anything with reitasu- just raw power, easily sensed as such, but not easily distinguished as anything specific.]

I knew your instincts would kick in and it's easier to see the spellwork at full capacity when you're on the defensive. If you had just tried to call it up randomly, you might have put too much thought into it.

Edited 2017-02-23 02:26 (UTC)

[The son of Peleus is mollified only a shade by this explanation, bewildered as he is for so sudden a turn by his teacher. Still he remains defensive of pose, letting up only a shade in measure equal to his mollification. Yet he looks in wonder over his own body, which to him suddenly seems a stranger: he looks as he always has, yet never before has he felt what he had just now.]

It was as if bright-eyed Athena had in that moment breathed strength into my limbs - this is the nearest comparison I can give.

[He looks then to Urahara with questions ripening upon his tongue.]

Then this magic is derived only from wild instinct, as would a boar's tenacity rise when its flank is full of arrows and the hunter draws near? How am I to tame such rawness for my own purposes?

Edited 2017-02-23 02:47 (UTC)

Well... [Urahara bends down to pick up the sheathe he dropped when he lunged.] That's the idea of the training, Achilles-san. You allow me to push you into a corner until you're no longer simply reacting and defending yourself from my blows, but actively calling upon the power at will.

[he says it so lightly, as if they're sharing comments about the lovely overcast weather or the snow clinging to the gravestones.] It's a cruel method, I know, but I'm not very good at being gentle with these things, I'm afraid.

[He considers Urahara's words in the way that one considers falling back without knowing what shall spare him from the hard ground - yet he had said that he has faith in the man's skill, and rarely does Achilles speak false. Still, he is allowed this shadow of doubt that draws over his brow.]

And what am I to do should your blade drink of my blood, bereft as I am of armor and arms of my own, and faltering as my form is in this new skill with which I have just lately been gifted? I have with me neither salves and potions nor bandages with which to assuage wounds. Am I to allow you to flay my flesh that this gift might be loosed?

I suppose it wasn't fair of me to bring a weapon when you can't carry one yourself... [he tuts at his own lack of foresight and lays the cane down at the base of a grave with the same reverence as one would lay a child.] You fare just as well in hand to hand combat, don't you, Achilles-san?

[it's such a silly question, because just to look at Urahara he's mere skin and bones. even with a swordsman's skills, he doesn't look like the sort to excel at a hand to hand combat to such an extent as to actually cause wounds enough to test the mettle of his shields.]

Indeed I excel in boxing and wrestling both, contests in which a men may test their strength one against the other, but to the Argives these are sport, not arts of war: for war, one must have weapons. Nevertheless, it is true that one may be hurt in the boxing ring as well as upon the battlefield - and such wounds are far easier to mend.

[He casts an appraising eye over Urahara's form, the lankiness of which is ever more apparent when compared to Achilles' broad frame of braided muscles, but he is wary of underestimating this man. The famed runner then arranges himself in a defensive pose.]

Come now - give me reason to fear your strength, if indeed you can!

Edited 2017-02-25 19:42 (UTC)

[Urahara rubs the back of his neck, somehow managing to make himself even more unassuming and lanky.] I'm afraid I train in a much different style, but I'm sure it won't be much of an issue if the idea of these "shields" of yours is to merely ease the damage dealt.

[which seems like a bold statement- that he can even hit him at all- but he can tell that Achilles isn't going to underestimate him. he steels his own bloodlust- a warrior like Achilles would bring about an entertaining fight with a great deal of calculation- but this isn't about a need to work off his own stress with a little bit of vicious dueling. it's about training.

and unlike his other students, he isn't here to gently (or not so gently) humiliate the childlike stubbornness out of them, so he slows himself down when he goes in for the first punch. he's still fast and there's a remarkable amount of force in his blow, but it's not an inhuman speed.

the punch, however, just in the way it lands, whether blocked or otherwise, seems a little more unnatural for someone of his body type. it's not going to do much if he isn't going to make it hurt. he's lowered his own natural defenses too, so at least Achilles can deal his own blows and not break his hand on his face. there's a reason Shinigami can't be fought by average humans... but they can even the playing field if they want.]

[The change in the man's demeanor is as when garish day gives way to the sharpness of the night air - but rather than shifting by slow degrees, Urahara changes all at once. Although Achilles braces himself against underestimating the man's strength, still he is startled by the raw force of Urahara's punch, so like a ship's oars all smiting the salt-green sea at once. So swiftly it strikes that Achilles has not the time to muster his art and thus receives the full brunt of the punch: this he feels sinking unrelenting into flesh and bone.

But then he shall feel all the more surely the protection of his skin-shield when he does command it, just as one can best define light by its absence, dark.

Steadying his fleet feet once more, he launches himself at his opponent with the force of Boreas who brings winter and the precision of an arrow let fly from the bowstring, to unleash upon him a fierce right hook.]

[Back in the Academy, the students weren't taught to just avoid taking hits. Dodging is all well and good, but if you can't learn to take a hit, you're going to be unprepared for the day you get unlucky and take your first good blow. One of Urahara's unnecessary talents, probably cultivated because Yoruichi was terrible at allowing herself to be hit, is taking punches. Considering how many people would end up punching him over the years, it probably served him well.

There's another level to it, of course- not one that Urahara finds exhilarating in most cases, because he doesn't live on the cusp of death like Kenpachis do- but as someone who does delight in battle (tamp down on the urge all he wants, but Benihime still sings) there's some added thrill when you make a situation more dangerous. One would argue it's a false thrill- Urahara is in no more danger here than a rock is in danger while stuck in the middle of a river- but how many people- shinigami or no- can say they got punched in the face by Achilles.

The punch connects and Urahara falters with a hiss of pain, somehow not quite anticipating how hard that would actually hurt. Figures. He plans for everything, but somehow did not plan on that. He shakes it off and even with his natural defenses down, the punch's damage output is low- at best Achilles rang his bell for a few seconds. (It's to be expected- lowering the density of his reiatsu is for Achilles' benefit, not his own.)

And then he smirks, gray eyes flashing with mischief. Training fights with Urahara rapidly turn this way, eventually. Turning to a slightly more dirty tactic, he feints to the left and at the last moment, delivers a sharp kick to the back of Achilles' legs.

It takes a little bit of playing to see how the shields will react, after all. He can't keep making obvious movements. He has to shake it up a bit. It's really just science.]

Edited 2017-03-06 03:25 (UTC)

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EVENT ★ I PREDICT A RIOT

( Urahara )

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