[EVENT POST] I FEEL STUPID, AND CONTAGIOUS.

[dishearten]

CHARACTERS: Open to all!
DATE: 3/11-3/12, ICly
WARNINGS: Zombie attacks? Violence? Shopping???
SUMMARY: Lockdown at the mall! Grab your CDs and your soft pretzel, it's about to get bad.

LET'S GO TO THE MALL LOCKDOWN Business has been rough for Woodhurst Shopping Center ever since riots and unrest about the Bristol Virus have shunned most to their homes. Perhaps ill-advisedly, in attempts to draw a few more customers back into the polished halls of the grandest shopping experience Woodhurst has to offer, a weekend of big sales, great bargains, and fun family activities was widely advertised in the Woodhurst Watch. There was even a scheduled public concert, performed by the University Choir. The turnout was smaller than hoped, yet the air was quite optimistic. Shoppers enjoyed the day of activities and fun, and the sense of security was bolstered by the increased security detail. There was even some members of the press on hand to document this return to normality in a troubled time. Everything was going well, until a scene broke out in the food court. Security tried to quietly remove members of the choir that suddenly seemed to snap, plowing into one of the food stands and starting to feed on raw meat. However, a good handful of them escaped instant confinement, and while many of the visitors fled the mall as soon as they could, soon Police Detail arrived and put the entire building on lockdown. Nobody in and nobody out until the situation was resolved. 18:00 TO 23:00 HOURS Anyone unlucky enough to be trapped in the mall is left to their own devices, with very little knowledge to go on. This includes many civilians, as well as a small number of Audentes agents. This also includes a small number of infected, more than just the university choir. There's a voice over the loudspeaker imploring people to hide in stores, barricade doors, and stay put until help arrives. The majority of the infected seem to linger in the Food Court especially. Bad news for anyone trapped and starting to get hungry as the hours pass by, without any obvious assistance from the outside. The members of ALASTAIR have a choice, help protect or just do their best to avoid the infected themselves. Characters can get into the Security Office for a camera feed on what is happening in the mall, and potentially use it as a base of operations to work from. 00:00 TO 02:00 HOURS It becomes apparent that the number of infected in the mall are somehow increasing, despite the lockdown. It means that those that have squirreled away into stores and outlets are growing less and less safe as infected numbers multiply and they begin attacking barricades. To make matters worse, anyone that hasn't found cover will find the infected extremely reactive, and willing to give chase around the mall. The security feed indicates the infected seem to be coming in from the Parking Garage. Investigation will reveal a sewer outlet on the bottom floor. Characters will have to decide whether they should utilize the tunnel as a means of escape, or if sealing it off would ultimately leave the remaining hours of lockdown a little less violent. 04:00 TO 09:00 HOURS It's been an agonizing 12 hours, and with surprisingly little aide from the outside. With time to make preparations and put plans in place, now it's time to end this lockdown once and for all. Audentes is tasked with neutralizing the remaining infected as well as escorting any remaining civilians to safety, by any means they decide on. It is up to Audentes to decide how the end of this event plays out, be it removing or otherwise drawing away the lingering infected, or putting them down once and for all. There are plenty of civilians that have been bitten and attacked, leaving the question in the air as to whether they are infected as well. What should be done with those that could be bringing the virus back to their families? The team is going to have to decide on the answer to that.

Comments

these are the people standing between these woodhurst citizens and an infected demise.........

[longtempered]

[--and promptly drags Aqua straight down to the ground in the process, as his strength betrays him yet again. Whoops. Shizuo manages a startled splutter around his freeze pop.]

Oh--shit, sorry--

[longtempered]

[Alas, the blue stop sign revolution has yet to reach Japan just yet. Maybe someday.....

But well, this sure is a weird situation in general, now isn't it? Shizuo certainly hadn't planned to look away from the man up in the chandelier anytime soon--what if he falls off, after all? In fact, the guy shifts to move behind a light fixture and Shizuo has a moment or so to briefly wonder if he is about to fall--

Except then the man's voice is coming from behind, a hell of a lot closer than it was before. Because he is closer, standing behind him when Shizuo sharply turns around.

...........Huh.]

Oh. [He should be more surprised about this, probably?? Shizuo feels like he definitely should be. But it's late, and there's been a lot going on, and there's still glowing blue bones scattered everywhere here. No use burning energy on the obvious. Of course this guy can teleport from one spot from another. Why not?

Shizuo slowly shoulders his stop sign, peering down at the small man over his shades.]

Well...yeah, kind of? Mostly I was trying to move these guys away from back there. [He jerks a free thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the hall he'd just run in from.] I actually didn't have a plan after that yet, though, so this is pretty okay too. Uh... [He looks over to the bone pen full of milling infected, now.] How long can you keep these up for?

[longtempered]

Guess I could fake an autograph or something...

[True, it's a little bit of both--Shizuo is fond of his family on the whole, having no reason not to be, and Kasuka's success will always be a point of immense pride on top of that too. Shizuo may not be living up to much right now, in his own opinion, but at least his little brother is a really cool person...what more could one ask for, really? Though he doubts he'd ever be able to emulate Kasuka's acting talent to any particular success. (Shizuo pls, if you'd stop putting yourself down for two seconds you might be surprised....)

The kid definitely feels like a priority about now, at any rate, awkward explanations about acting gigs in the middle of a mall full of infected or no. At Riza's question Shizuo considers the approaching crowd, and then shrugs.]

...Yeah, shouldn't be a problem. I've fought more people at once before. [How many people shambled their way to the park that night when the Slasher incident came to a head, back home? Triple the infected crowd in front of him now, at least, if not more than that...and they'd all been armed with knives and a lot of weird and awkward love. What's this by comparison, really?

Shizuo starts forward, waving to Riza idly over a shoulder.]

I'll follow after you guys once you get moving, make sure nobody else tries to follow us. Aah, what a pain...

[The next few minutes are probably about to be filled with a lot of shouting and clanging as the mall map proceeds to get put to further use. He's zombie-bowling for a few strikes today, might as well make it count...!]

[nextlineis]

[Listen, he knew a man who wore suspenders backwards and presumably on purpose. He is the last person to bat an eye at strange fashion choices.]

[He jumps when the metal grating slams down though and looks from her to the grate and back again a handful of times.]

How did you do that!?

[He is impressed! Quite, in fact! This is probably just not the time for that question, but he's gonna ask it anyway.]

[nextlineis]

so we should think about getting people as far away from the food court as possible

i don't think a department store would be the best choice

[Too much ground to cover and have to keep secure. One of the smaller shops could work though.]

[nextlineis]

[Joseph catches up quickly enough with a few long steps — the perks of standing at 195cm — and crouches down to be a lot closer to her height.]

What are you doing out here by yourself?

[He won't patronize her and say that it's not safe. She probably already knows that. Joseph's more interested in knowing what exactly is trumping safety for her right now.]

[nextlineis]

What the hell was that?

[My guy, if you were anticipating Joseph to stay On-Topic when you are doing Magical Bullshit, you were sorely, sorely mistaken.]

[nextlineis]

[Joseph doesn't even know where to start with any of this.]

[Actually, that's a lie. The hoard pursuing him is a very good place to start.]

Then give it to them, [he says, jerking a thumb in their direction.] Won't go to waste, and you won't be dead.

[ex_mettacrusher33]

Oho! You mean you're going to have to, [he leans in, winking] be short with me?

(That's slang for being upset. It was a pun.) [Peridot seems to like puns.

...also he's ruffling her hair.]

[scrap_metal]

So still no word on when we're getting out... [ Genos scans the room quickly, the previous idea going back to him. When he speaks again it's with considerably lowered voice ]

Without food and water the civilians won't last long. There's chance some other group found a way out. [ it's a big mall, and who knows what's going on the other end ]

[pummelling]

[(caesar voice) JOJO]

Magic bow, thought you weren't up to chatting?!

[oh my god, they're gonna die? He's gonna get eaten by zombies because of this big British bara idiot and Giorno's going to have to explain his horrible tragic death to his boyfriend, and they're going to have a second horrible tragic funeral--]

There's a fenced off area over there! [he gestures, panting, with an incline of his head at a private, blocked-off area-- presumably, for employee parking or the like.] You can hop a fence, right?

[webdesigned]

( you can't see it, Sans, but he's squinting a little at that joke. yes it doesn't make much sense with the cloak. just wait until Spider-Man realizes he was saved by a magical font skeleton... )

They seem to be coming from the garage, there's an outlet to the sewers there. That's where I've been taking them.

( it's not exactly the best place, but it's better than nothing and it's at least going to protect the people still trapped in the mall. that might be the best they can hope for right about now. )

[scrap_metal]

[ Turns out using the guns was the best inspiration to get people to move. Some are terrified, - maybe worried the same weapons might be used agains them? - but most, on the opposite, seem more secure that the person telling them what to do is armed.

The downside is that a) Genos didn't manage to be as good bait as he hoped b) some of the limping infected, don't seem to be hindered much by the damage. ]

Not working... [ Genos makes some more noise, by continuing the destruction of anything that happens to be in his way, while trying to steer himself more to the front of the line of people moving to the safer place

One of the infected, turns his attention in the same direction and rushes into the civilians. There it goes, Genos' perfect plan in shambles ]

Run, go faster! [ Not that he needs people to tell that, but oh well. He's running now to intercept the infected before he can reach the civilians ]

[skelepun]

Not forever. [It's the only answer Sans gives, assuming the relevant point to Shizou's question. The difference between fifteen minutes and an hour weren't much when they needed a permanent solution.] But they should be good for now.

What was back there? [He mimics the gesture.] More civilians?

[skelepun]

[We've all gotta come to terms with the cosmic injustices in life. Font skeletons among them.]

Got a rough estimate on where we are in relation to that? [He's already walking, sizing up just how many people are encased within the bones.] Off the top of your head?

[dishearten]

Infected are still human, and we're not known for exploding.

( or being strong enough to break through heavily reinforced walls. it doesn't mean it's a no... it's just a not yet. it's too soon to call whether they'll be able to find their way out on their own. graham steps close to the monitors, pale eyes getting lost in the screens and trying to keep up with the movement in all of them. )

I intend to look for one. If it comes to that, though, I won't protest.

[dishearten]

( rip bandana... that is so horribly sad... i mean kinda )

some things are harder to detect like that. concussions, internal bleeding, things like that
I think coming to you might be easiest, I can deliver the first aids kit and sort out whatever problems might be present, does that sound fair?

( as for whether he can see him from his current position, that's an almost innocent query, isn't it? it's almost charming. maybe it'd be charming to a not heartless guy. )

most of the cameras focus on the halls and main walkways, not specific stores
are you waving?

( apparently standing near a store window is good enough... )

[ex_mettacrusher33]

[He wasn't gonna go that far. Mettaton eyes Feferi, her "trident", then her again. What sort of friend just... bends metal against more metal and calls it a day?

...!

His eyes light up. Literally, before his cloak catches on. He's smiling ear to ear as he moves to investigate her weapon more.]

Was it Peridot?

[longtempered]

Right, guess that makes sense... [Kind of a vague answer, really, but he'll take it for the meantime. The biggest problem Shizuo's run into so far is keeping the infected from not--going all over the place, for awhile, so this really is a nice bit of help to run into. Figuring out what to do with them before the bones give out is another story, probably, but...

Well, surely he and this guy could figure out something by then. And if he has to knock out each one of them individually Shizuo is prepared to do that too, now that they're all in one place. For now...] But yeah, that's right. There's a bunch of people set up in a vhs shop over there. Got the door blockaded but then these guys tried to drop by... [Shizuo sighs, rubbing the back of his head.] Should go back and check up on them, probably...hey, you want a freeze pop? Or do you need to stay right here to keep all these bones working? Could bring one back here for you, if that's the case.

[ex_mettacrusher33]

[Please, that's nowhere near as interesting. It makes it less of a fun, high-school romp and more of a...

Gasp.]

Did he inherit a record label?

[That's a television show, not a movie. It doesn't count.]

[keystaff]

Ah, right!

[Sakura gives a nod, relieved when Aqua manages to deal with the one she'd tried to restrain. She wasn't sure how to manage herself in making it look believable that she could pull this off without making her magic so obvious.

So she smiles in that relief and gratitude before turning to gesture for the civilians to follow. Some might still seem unsure of why such a young girl seems to be taking charge like this but at this point, they just want to get out.]

[keystaff]

That is -- the others were hungry, so.

[And, as her stomach will protest, so is Sakura herself. Though she looks sheepish at hearing it complain of the lack of food with being stuck here for hours already, pulling her shirt down more as if that might help smother the noise.]

I mean. I wanted to at least find something for the younger kids.

[ex_adept136]

[Frowning, he casts a lingering glance out over the mall. It looks entirely different to his eyes, now]

Evacuating them would be ideal... And given the size of our forces, it wouldn't surprise me if someone's come up with a way.

[He wishes their team were better coordinated, but it's difficult when there's no infrastructure by design]

[ex_adept136]

I didn't want any infected we detained to harm one another.

[And so, Haise has pursued such methods quite purposefully. Decreasing their range of motion, if not fixing them to pipes or other rigid fixtures, kept them from harming others, much less themselves. At least, that's the rationale behind it and he hopes that it holds. It'll need to, at least until some better methods present themselves.

When Shizuo asks his question, Haise sets the zip-ties between them and rifles through his jacket pockets once again. Actually, that jacket is liable to look pretty out-of-place on him, well-worn leather several sizes too large.

It's Miles' jacket, loaned to him before the man's transfer. The pockets are quite deep, and it comes in handy]

One moment.

[Soon enough, he draws a fistful of zip-ties from one pocket, and sets these down between them as well]

There we are, a starter-pack.

[ex_adept136]

[Haise spares the ties a dubious glance before he meets the other man's gaze again. Another reminder that their worlds are vastly different, and he's far closer to being in home territory than others]

You can fasten these around things and they hold rather securely. Usually they'd be used to seal something like bags to keep them closed, but they'd be very hard for a person to break out of. Since we don't have unlimited handcuffs to work with, it's an effective method.

[And one that keeps the infected from injuring themselves and each other, which is the most important part.

Knocking them out helps for now, but they have to worry about when they wake too]