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Re: One-Shot - Tangent 3: Necropolis

Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2009 1:30 am
by Kaome Sky Deathand
Alexi held a hand to his face, knuckles tight as he pushed his lips unto his center knuckle and rested his nose on his ring knuckle. Whatever it was he just had was beyond strong. He winced, squinting so he wouldn't shed any tears, thankful for the glass that miraculously appeared in front of him as Angela delivered said chaser he asked for. He downed it quicker than greased lightning...the effect almost instant. His shoulders relaxed from the tense form they were in, his broad grin came back and his eyes cleared.

"Whew..." he said with a rapidly returning gusto to his voice.
"...whatever that was...remind me never to make it for the customers unless they sign a waver."
Angela chuckled and dropped the other chaser down in front of him before shaking her head and walking away to tend to the other regs and strays at the bar. Alexi chuckled a bit himself, sipping the other chaser before fingering his loaded fries.

"So my friends...have you been keeping up with the news?" He was sure Spencer was on top of it, it was more for what he thought and for Alice's opinion than anything else. "That whole dreadful business about that disease West of us from some toxic spill..." he shook his head, throwing a few fries in his mouth...chewing to gather his thoughts.

Re: One-Shot - Tangent 3: Necropolis

Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 12:27 am
by Rising_Dusk
Alexi was fighting off that drink he'd just had. Try as hard as he could, he wasn't able to totally cover his face and the flush-red it had gone after a moment of the drink being taken. Spencer chuckled to himself mildly, content in the knowledge that even he who owns his own bar must respect the power of liquor in deathly combinations.

He recovered in time, sighed in relief, and said some things to the waitress before she scurried off. Spencer, however, found his eyes drawn to Alice, looking over her face as she was examining the rest of the bar intently. He felt as though he'd known her for a long time, even with only knowing her for less than a single day. He liked people such as her, they were the ones you wanted to keep around and spend time with frequently. He could see her being a good friend.

Just then, Alexi interrupted his musing and her browsing by speaking --
"So my friends...have you been keeping up with the news?" Spencer quickly thought that it must be related to the silly stories about a plague... "That whole dreadful business about that disease West of us from some toxic spill..."

Spencer looked down at the table, his elbows both resting on it and his head leaning just under where he was swirling his water like it were wine. He knew well about the so-called toxic waste spill and the sickness that had been spreading to the west of town. He'd sent some people to investigate, but most of them were ill in the hospital now. He didn't want to panic the city, but he knew that it wasn't going to be good. He had mentioned it to his wife and told her to leave town and spend the coming week or so with her family in New York. He didn't want her around when this whole sickness was looming just beyond city limits. She refused, stubborn woman. He tried to force her, telling her that it was the only way he could be sure that she wouldn't come down with whatever it was; it appeared like it might be fatal to those that had caught it, they were just getting sicker and sicker. There were a few small reports of necrosis of the flesh already...

After realizing that he'd appeared to been daydreaming or something, he looked up, sighed slightly, and chose his next words carefully:
"I hear that it's definitely no normal disease. I've been recommending to people to take a week away from the city and wait 'til it blows over, but most can't just up and leave their lives for a week."

He gave the both of them concerned looks and a slight, weak smile, rife with what he knew was worry.

Re: One-Shot - Tangent 3: Necropolis

Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 3:24 pm
by Scarlet
The silence that followed the mayor's admission was deafening. He'd sounded deflated, monotone. Like this whole mayor thing suddenly wasn't much fun. It was easy to see why. Alice had, of course, heard stories of some sort of ailment afflicting other parts of the city. But she'd written it off as just that - an ailment, nothing severe, certainly not a disease. She had believed there to be no more than a handful of people suffering from the sickness; the strained look in the mayor's eyes and his voice, flat with worry, made it obvious she'd been very seriously mistaken.

"I hadn't realized it was so serious," she said. "Leave the city? You're making it sound like a pandemic. I'd heard the cases so far were limited, easily contained... You really think it's best to leave?"

It was a useless question - the answer was right there on the mayor's face, plain as day.

Re: One-Shot - Tangent 3: Necropolis

Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 2:31 am
by Psiclone
Faruq sputtered in his beer abruptly, making a loud choking noise. Many of the bar patrons looked to stare back at him, then returned their gaze to their normal.

He soon resumed normal breathing and set the beer on the table. "I hear that it's definitely no normal disease. I've been recommending to people to take a week away from the city and wait 'til it blows over, but most can't just up and leave their lives for a week." The words the Mayor had said over in the other booth disturbed him greatly. His mother happened to be staying in Antillia General; was she at risk for contracting the disease during her hospital stay?

He shook his head and signaled the waitress. "One more Csar Imperial IPA, miss, and a Vermouth chaser would be excellent." The waitress looked a little less friendly than last time, but she wrote the order down and headed to the kitchen.

Faruq began to sweat slightly; he dabbed at his forehead with a napkin. As the second beer came to his table, he slid it into his hands, took a swift drink, and attempted to make it look like he wasn't trying to listen in on the mayor.

A single bead of sweat slid down his forehead.

Re: One-Shot - Tangent 3: Necropolis

Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 10:15 am
by Jericho Veronus
Tyler removed the silver clip from his back pocket and flipped out a couple of small bills. Placing them under his now empty glass on the bar counter, he returned the clip and picked his coat up from the back of the chair where he had left it. As discretely as he had first entered, he also left, never seeming to rouse any attention from any of the bar's patrons.

Outside, Tyler could still hear the noise as he started off down the sidewalk. The streets were quieter than they had been before he had first entered the bar, and the only noticeable movement was from the occassional car driving by, though none stopping anywhere in sight. The streetlamp above him flickered and then died as he walked directly beneath it. The next light wasn't until the corner about twenty yards or so away; until then he was surrounded by darkness.

Re: One-Shot - Tangent 3: Necropolis

Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 12:47 pm
by Rising_Dusk
Spencer kept his voice to as low an audible sound as he could. He didn't want to interrupt others doing their normal bar-lurking, that was by no means his intent here.

"I hadn't realized it was so serious, leave the city? You're making it sound like a pandemic. I'd heard the cases so far were limited, easily contained... You really think it's best to leave?"

In a split second, he raced through his head the thousands of different combinations of words that could be used to both sufficiently describe the disease and the millions of outstanding ramifications each one of those combinations would have on Alice as the listener. He could tell her exactly what his investigation had discovered, but it would be unbelievable and petrifying, or he could explain what he normally told people that it might be some kind of terrorist attack - which would get them to leave the city, but would be a total lie.
What is a mayor to do?
"From what we know so far, I think it would be in everyone's best interests to leave. The investigation isn't conclusive, but I feel it wiser to be gone before it ever reaches that point."

He didn't lie. That helped him ease his mind at the very least. He wished he could leave the city, but what with being everyone's white knight, it wasn't exactly a plausible situation. The exact implications of the disease weren't presently known, but from what he knew so far about how it was making everyone encountering it terribly ill was enough to worry him. Fortunately, the investigation had turned up that it's no longer air-born, which was a great boost of hope. Although, the premise of a viral infection that dynamically adapted to its environment was chilling at the very least.

He shrugged it off as best he could and attempted to regain as much of his composure as he'd allowed himself to shirk off in the first place. "However, I do suspect it will blow over in time. Let us not squander these moments while we have them."

And with that double entendre, he raised his glass for a toast.

Re: One-Shot - Tangent 3: Necropolis

Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 3:34 pm
by VZBushkiller20
"Get in there, ya little runt!" The officer said, giving Jared a push into the cell. What terrible end to a day that had started off so well! Jared sat down on the bench with a thump, his face full of worry. Dejected was written across his forehead, with panic scribbled across the rest of the face. There was no way he was getting out of this situation. The officer shut the bars to the cell and walked back to the desk.

The man sitting next to Jared turned to look at him. Jared gulped. It wasn't that the man was in himself terrifying. It was the fact that everything he had heard about prison led him to be mistrustful of the other prisoners. The man was actually fairly small compared to what Jared was expecting. He looked to be about twenty five or so, but definitely not from the wealthier section of town. "What are you in here for, kid? Had a bit too much to drink and so you took your pants off or some shit like that?" The man snorted. Jared said nothing, slightly shaking. "You're just another little asshole who wasn't careful enough to make sure he wasn't caught? Idiot..." The man said and turned to face the officer.

"Hey you! What, do you expect me to be some kind of babysitter? What's the big idea putting me with this loser? His daddy's probably going to come, pay all you pigs off, and he'll walk away without any twinking punishment. Hell..." He said, leaning back against the hard wall of the cell.

Alright, that pissed Jared off. This man knew nothing about him and just wanted to go and make assumptions? Like hell Jared's dad would come and pay off the police. He'd probably say go wait in jail. It'd be cheaper. More booze for him. "I stole a mustang convertible, jackass. I'm not getting off easy for that."

The man laughed mockingly. "Well look at you! You stole a car and now you deserve the death penalty! Hey officer, I don't feel save with this criminal in the same cell! Please, he's scary! Shit..." The man said, still laughing. Jared fumed. That was it. He didn't care what this man had done. The man was too busy laughing to see the fist that came to his head. "Well now..." He said, a little bit of blood dropping from his lip. "That's more like it." Jared gulped as the man rose. He was bigger than he had been before.

"You were just an annoying little punk before, but now you've pissed me off." The man punched Jared in the stomach and raised his hands to do more, but the officer had already opened up the cell door and restrained him. "Alright, buddy, take it easy there." The officer said, quickly handcuffing the man and leading him away to a different cell. "Let's go." The man shot Jared a glance of pure hate. Jared's fear returned and he slumped down in his seat.

How the hell did he get into this mess?

Re: One-Shot - Tangent 3: Necropolis

Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 8:39 pm
by Kaome Sky Deathand
Alexi sat in silence as Spencer and Alice went back and forth.
He sipped his second chaser and all but devoured his cheese fries while he brooded. He didn't want to say it, but bad times were good for business. The worse the weather or the news the more customers came to his door. Not that he would go start a riot down the street so he could sell a few more drinks, but facts were facts. The 'sickness' had got everyone thinking...and people often did their best thinking with a bottle in their hand...at least in this town. The ailment had gotten everyone bit worried of course, but Alexi wasn't concerned for himself...he notified his staff of course and gave partial pay for those who wanted to duck out of town as Spencer had suggested but most everyone just kept working. Carrying on with a normal everyday life.

Alexi's mind wandered over the bar and then back to the conversation at hand.
He was about to reply when his breast pocket buzzed, then chimed once.
It meant the bar needed him.

"Pardon me..." Alexi said before tucking his ear into his phone.
"Yes?"
The voice on the other end was Angelas and it sounded...panicked.
"You need to see this Alex...there is all this footage on the tube about some crisis in Aberdine."
She only dropped the 'i' when she wanted his utmost attention.
Alexi's brow furrowed. Aberdine was West of the city...a good twenty minute drive away. He did some of his weekday hiking in the hills there. He was thinking of a reply when she continued.
"Th-there is all this chaos and...and these people look terrified."
"Okay...okay...flip the screen at my booth...I'm sure Spencer will want to see it too..."

Alexi let the phone hand loose as he undid a small catch on the wall next to him and flicked a switch for the booth speakers.
Each booth in The Iron Eagle had these, but most people didn't bother to deal with all the hassle unless it was gambling night. A section of the wall rotated out and revealed itself to be a flat screen tv. The screen cut and then went straight into some shaky camera with a woman yelling at the top of her lungs. The scene was pure chaos...cars burning...people bloodied running and screaming...the feed looked raw...uncut...uncensored...amateur. Alexi fiddled with the volume control and then lost all interest in it as his eyes took in the carnage.

"--cking running amok! They just keep coming! Pouring out of each and every building! Clawing, scratching, biting, reaching for ---" She was cut off as an explosion and automatic fire peppered the street further down. The shadows danced as the fire flashed, human shapes moved against the red grain. "Shit! Shit! Shit! Get up!" She must have been screaming at the camera man...who was all over the place...wildly dancing through various angles and distances. Thankfully...or maybe not...his lens auto-adjusted with amazing focus, suggesting he had some high value equipment. Like News Crew value...
"Police trying to quell the numbers but the death toll is beyond count!" the camera switched to her finally...she was frantic, true and absolute fear in her eyes. "You have to get out of Aberdine...hell get out of the state...get the hell out of Aberdine and tell the people of Antillia to get the F--" Another explosion ripped across the screen...the camera faded to black...obviously adjusting to the intense light...then came back to more gunshots before a disquieting chorus of voices lifted up. They sounded angry...vengeful...intent.

"No,no,no no no no no..." the womans voice came back...but sounded very far away...the speakers buzzed and clicked before the volume returned to normal. The camera was lifted up to show the womans face. The sound became a high-pitched squeal that made Alexi wince. The woman was screaming at the camera before the picture cut.

A moment passed before the whole thing started up again.
"It just loops..." Angelas voice came from somewhere far away.
Alexi couldn't respond...he was frozen in disbelief.

What the hell did I just see?

Re: One-Shot - Tangent 3: Necropolis

Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 12:21 am
by Scarlet
The first thing that went through Alice's mind after the tape first ran its course was that was real. No way could what she'd just seen be anything but authentic. The reporter left no doubt about that. The terrible fear in her eyes and the desperation in her voice couldn't have been faked. She'd looked ashen; her face had been pale and bloodless, her eyes bloodshot in terror. Like she was ready to drop dead from fear alone. She couldn't make sense of the rest of the clip. What the hell was going on? A terrorist attack? Prison break? Gang wars? None of those fit. The woman's voice had been too shrill and panicked for Alice to make out much of what was said, but she had heard the reporter yell the words "Clawing, scratching, biting..."

Then, further into the clip, the chorus. It had sounded like nothing she'd ever heard before - a freak choir, mindless, enraged, like a concert of rabid, nameless monstrosities - and it had terrified her more than all the rest combined. Alice realized she didn't want to know more about what she'd seen. She let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding and tried to ask Alexi for his phone. It wasn't until after she'd asked that she recalled the only person she wanted to talk to had been out of her life for six months and had no phone of his own.

Re: One-Shot - Tangent 3: Necropolis

Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 3:20 am
by Loki
David sits alone once again on his living room sofa, the ceiling fan continues to spin, and the TV flickers with different images as he flips through the channels. A good majority of the TV networks out there were garbage, they kept on playing the same horror film again and again on 17 different channels so far. He turns off the TV and tosses the remote.
He stands up to wash his face in cold water then returns to the sofa with a beer in his hand.

"Oh hell, why not." David goes around, grabs the remote and turns on the TV.
He flipped to the news channel and found it running the same film like the other channels were.
"What the hell is this?" He changes new channels to find it running the same movie. David became slightly confused and went to another one.
The same bloody film is running on every damn channel.

He kept on changing channels while catching bits and pieces and David would listen to the noise.
"twinking run--"
Flick
"--eep coming!--"
Flick
"-very buildin--"
Flick
"Scratching, biting, reaching for ---" David stops changing channels when he hears an explosion. Perhaps this was the news? He continues watching the chaos and realizing that it looks amazingly realistic. Looks kinda like the city's aesthetic design...
"--get out of Aberdine..." David becomes even more confused. Aberdine? That's not too far from here. How is this so close to us?

David continues to watch the clip to the very end. He noticed that it keeps on looping, this didn't make any sense. That was too realistic, way too realistic. He turns off the TV before he could watch the chaos all over again and drinks. Must be a prank, he thought to himself. It was probably Aberdine's idea of a sick joke against Antilla.
David finishes his beer and sets it on the table. He lays down on the sofa and shrugs off the idea of an apocalypse. Just a prank, right?

Re: One-Shot - Tangent 3: Necropolis

Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 12:12 am
by Rising_Dusk
It was nothing he hadn't been expecting, but still...
There was no emblem in the bottom right corner, no news feed. This was the raw stuff, the stuff that gets sent to the Mayor's office to get edited; apparently that wasn't the case with this clip. He wondered what inspired apparently this channel to run such a video, although had it been sent to Spencer's office, the likelihood of it being changed or cut at all was slim.

He tried very hard to hold back a face of pure horror as the video unfolded, however. The video showed gruesome images of Aberdine wreathed in havoc and with an assortment of structures on fire and collapsing at a whim. It stunned Spencer to find that he was so apathetic of what was happening, as if a subtle wave of 'I told you so' came over him and he wanted to scream it to the world that refused to listen.

He couldn't help it, however, when his jaw dropped slightly. Clearing his throat, he began like any simple-minded mayor would: "I have to go and see my wife." It escaped his lips both without thinking and without a noticeable change in his demeanor. He rose from his seat and lingered for longer than he had initially hoped, clearly stunned by the bluntness and ramifications of what he had just seen.

Re: One-Shot - Tangent 3: Necropolis

Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 1:35 pm
by VZBushkiller20
The police station was quiet, which only served to make Jared even more uncomfortable. How long had he been here? Hours? Days? Jared looked at the clock. He'd been here about seventeen minutes. Seventeen minutes and already every single person in this facility. That had to be a new record. Jared sunk even lower on the bench. The only noise in the entire building came from the News that held the polices' attention. Jared never cared about the news before. After all, what good was it to know what happened outside of the city? It wasn't like he was going anywhere.

"--cking running amok! They just keep coming! Pouring out of each and every building! Clawing, scratching, biting, reaching for ---"

Now that was interesting. Jared couldn't help but straighten and try and glimpse at the screen. It was hard to see, but he had to try. Something in that voice, the sheer terror, made him curious, not to mentioned just a bit afraid. The sounds of explosions and automatic fire drowned out the lady's voice. Jared could only wonder what was happening. Was someone invading the country?

"Shit! Shit! Shit! Get up!"

The camera was spinning wildly and it was making Jared sick. Or was that the screams that accompanied the video feed? The police all had their eyes glued on the screen and Jared noticed none of them looked any better than he felt. Something was horribly wrong here.

"Police trying to quell the numbers but the death toll is beyond count! You have to get out of Aberdine...hell get out of the state...get the hell out of Aberdine and tell the people of Antillia to get the F--"


Aberdine? Wasn't that the city right next to Antillia? Jared began to shake in fear. He had no idea that the war, or whatever was happening, was so close. Get out of Aberdine? Antillia? Jared gulped. This was not good. Where was he going to go? He'd never been outside of the city before and even if he had, he was stuck in jail. Jared watched in horror at the scene on the television. The automatic fire continued to roar above the reporter's voice, drowning it out, followed by voices all howling. It chilled Jared to the bone.

"No,no,no no no no no..."

Jared turned away. He couldn't watch any more. The screams of the lady made him wince. This was not good. This was not good. He needed to get out of here. But how was he going to do it? His mind was racing. Jail break? Were the police going to evacuate him? Hide in the jail?

"--cking running amok! They just keep coming! Pouring out of each and every building! Clawing, scratching, biting, reaching for ---"

Jared's mind stopped. He sat there and listened to the news play once again. What? But we just heard this! It's playing again? It was a loop, Jared realized. It was an old recording, perhaps hours, even days old. They were coming, and there was nothing he could do. Jared sank back against the wall and hugged his legs into his chest. He was going to die.

Re: One-Shot - Tangent 3: Necropolis

Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2009 9:29 pm
by Kaome Sky Deathand
"Sh-sure..." Alexi mumbled in reply to Alice's inquiry.
"What?" Angela replied on the other end.
Her voice snapped Alexi back to the world. His mind began to function once more as the initial shock wore off. He immediately snapped his head away from the screen and gave Angela his full attention.
"Check the other news channels, local and otherwise. Get someone to call Weiss and see if he has had any word of this at all..."
"Okay." her voice came back instantly.
Alexi turned his gaze back to the screen as that howl went up again. He turned his gaze toward Spencer and held up a hand, index finger up. "Just a moment...just a moment..."
"Oh my god..." Angela breathed into the phone.
"What is it?" Alexi replied his knuckles going white.
"Oh my god..." she breathed again.
"Angela what?" he insisted.

"Those flucking twits!"

Alexi was suddenly at a loss...he wasn't expecting her to say anything remotely like that.
"Uh..." Alexi began.
"Channel twelve...fifteen....twenty...jeez..." she tsked on the other end.
Alexi flipped the channel and immediately had a rush of anger, and relief.

"-parent hoax video of Aberdine in flames was conducted by an amateur college news group that rented high-end production equipment. They then proceeded to terrorize nearby civi--"

He flipped it.

"--ell done Hoax by a group of college students running amok with high-end equipment and low-grade explosives. Using several burned out vehicles and filming in the slum district of Aberdine th--"

He flipped again.

"Hoax..." he ignored the rest.
Alexi shook his head and scoffed under his breath.
"Children these days have no sense of mind..." He closed his phone and glanced up at Spence.
"I have a feeling you will have your hands full with that whole debacle my friend..."