Tower of Eternity - IC

[RJS]

OOC: OPEN SIGNUPS - Tower of Eternity - Signups and OOC

3 days since the EMP

The outskirts of Philadelphia were pandemonium. Abandoned and crashed cars blocked most of the streets, debris from the immediate effect of the EMP blast and from the chaos that had followed in its wake. Up close, the mysterious featureless spire dominated the area, seemingly looming over the sky itself.

In the town, people hurried about their business, as if spending one second longer than they needed to would end their life. Perhaps they were right. In many areas large groups of vandals roamed - some opportunistic, others more calculating and organised. The name 'Kings of Misrule' could be heard in many places - whispered in hushed tones as people hurried away from areas of vandalism, and chanted in triumph at the very centre of those areas. The central areas of Philadelphia were largely safe, thanks to the police presence, but they were outnumbered and awaiting reinforcement. The suburbs, with one exception, were left to their own devices.

That suburb was the one where the tower had appeared overnight. The National Guard had hastily deployed to keep people away from it, but some of those who had been faster than the Guard were missing, unaccounted for. For better or for worse, the tower had become a focal point and like most days a crowd was gathered at the edge of the cordon.

"My daughter went to the tower! Where is she? Why haven't you found her?"
"I bet this is some kind of government weapon test, isn't it? That's why you're so scared, because you don't want us to find out you attacked us!"
"Why are you standing here when people's homes are being burned?"

The crowd was scared and angry. It would take very little to tip them over the edge. The Guardsmen holding the cordon also looked tense - after all, they'd been stood there and subjected to this kind of abuse for the last two days. The whole situation was a powderkeg. From a few streets over cheering could be heard as a plume of smoke rose into the sky, a pale weedy imitation of the dark monolith that had sparked all of this.

 

[Greenie]

Thinking back to earlier this morning, Sean had thought his parents may have been a little overboard in fretting about him leaving their home. Naturally they'd been concerned for his mental well being- he was concerned for his mental well being, and for more reasons that they could even fathom. He had died, and he knew it. Sure he'd had plenty of dreams before where he'd been stabbity stabbed, or where someone chasing him through a mirror hallway pulled him through and eventually finished him off. He'd always woken up, shaking and sweating, but the feeling would be gone eventually.

This had been something entirely different. Those stab wounds, that pain... that burning, excruciating pain... Even thinking about it caused him to shudder, hands gripping tightly around the steering wheel even though his car was parked and ready to go nowhere. His brown eyes stared blankly out of the windshield, no longer seeing the car in front of him, rather his sister's face as he died in front of her-

There was a sudden thump sound and the car briefly shook, breaking him out of his trance. He warily looked outside, blinking when he saw a woman pushed against the hood of the car as a rude passerby rushed off. Huh.

As he opened the door, he could hear the woman calling out a "Sorry" to the fellow who was already gone.

"Don't think he cares." Sean shrugged when the woman looked his way before pointing in the general direction of where the man had headed off.

"Oh... this is your car? Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you." The woman seemed almost as awkward as he was, not really making eye contact.

"It's okay," he replied quickly. "I'm more sorry that jerk just shoved you over like that." Sean looked to the woman a little curiously, noting the dark marks under her eyes. He was no stranger to those, having a terrible sleeping problem himself; he vaguely wondered whether she had insomnia, or if something else kept her awake at night... or whenever she was supposed to sleep.

"Right.. so... I'll be going." The woman turned away from Sean and looked around; Sean raised an eyebrow when he saw she stopped looking about when her eyes fell upon the large black tower.

"You're here for that too, eh?" When she looked at him in surprise, he simply shrugged again. "That's why I'm here. Came all the way from Canada."

Her eyes widened. "Me- me too, Edmonton!"

"Bloody hell, that's far. I just drove." Sean let himself laugh under his breath at the coincidence. "I'm from the unwanted Canadian province. Sean's my name."

A slight smile crossed over the woman's face. "Quebec?... but your English is good."

"Montreal," Sean added.

"Oh, I guess that makes sense." There was momentary silence before she spoke once more. "My name's Chani... and yes... I came because of that."

"Might as well come along to see what the fuss is then." Trying to sound nonchalant, Sean locked his car before stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Besides, we Canucks gotta stick together, eh?" With that he started forward, ready to confront whatever the hell he was supposed to.

Chani stood still for just a couple of seconds before hurrying after Sean; maybe she had no clue who he was, but in a city of strangeness and chaos, it was comforting to have something familiar, even if it was their home country.​

 

[HelloBeautifulChild]

Pennie still didn't like chaotic crowds, they made her flash back to the day the EMP hit. She'd lived in New York for years and large groups weren't supposed to bother her. Still, every time someone got to close she flinched, seeing the girl she'd tried to save in a pool of her own blood and the muggers looking at her as if she were their next dinner. They'd outnumbered her in men and training, she hadn't had a chance even before they pulled their knife. Only now she realized that all of the weight lifting and cardio in the world didn't replace needing to know how to throw a punch. Hindsight was always 20/20.

She dreamed about it every night, waking up and seeing blood on her pajamas. Of course, there wasn't really blood, she wasn't even in New York anymore. She was in Philadelphia for the same reason as everyone else, to see the tower of obsidian that had appeared overnight. On the same night that she had died.

So far she hadn't found any answers. The military and police forces weren't letting anyone near the strange object. She couldn't blame them, they were just following orders, but she still crowded at it every day. When she'd died she had expected to go to heaven, but she hadn't. Despite everything, her true belief in god and all of his splendor, she'd been murdered by muggers and then woken up in her bed.

Was this purgatory? Had she tainted her soul in some way? What did this tower have to do with anything and why did people keep jerking their hands from hers as if the slightest touch was shocking them?

 

[Eru]

Former patrol officer Maximilian Fisher stood among the crowds, looking on with nervous anticipation beyond the barrier, scuffing his feet, watching, and waiting. Waiting for anything to happen, even the end of the world. Unless... it had already arrived.

Among the surging rise and fall of the crowd's clamor, Max still heard all too clearly the same voice that had screamed his name in utter terror. Amanda Jennings. When he'd woken up the day after the explosion, safe and sound in his two-room apartment, he had wondered if it had all been a dream. But Amanda's scream had told him everything he needed to know.

TWO DAYS AGO...

---

"Get out." Her voice cracked and broke, Max hearing but not believing what she was saying to him.

"Amanda, it's me, it's Max. I'm fine," he started to say, leaping across the front counter as she struggled to react. In the front lobby of the police station where they were, people were staring and whispering. Which one of them was the more mad...?

"Get out!" Max kept walking to her. Amanda pulled her gun. "FREEZE!" He did, along with everyone else in the room.

Her voice shaking, Amanda told the man, "You aren't Max. Max died. He died in a helicopter crash, and I saw it all; I saw his crushed body, the burns on his skin."

Her face was now stained with two tear lines. "I don't want to have to kill you again."

Slowly, Max stepped back, until he was nearly out of the station. Then, with one last glance of visible torment, he left.

---

The air was tense today, even more so than the last. The national guard seemed more restless than the crowds, if that was possible. They probably had just as much an idea of what was in that ominous black tower as the general public, which equated to nothing at all. The only thing Max knew was that it must be related to why he was not dead.

Max tried to recall anything at all that had transpired from the time he saw the ground rushing up to meet him in his fatal accident, until the time he had awoken, but the only image presenting itself to him now was of an unquiet void. Was that death? To be eternally lost, forgotten, nonexistent? But really, which was worse; an eternity of nothingness, or this new life, a shunned horror?

That question would arise many times in the days to come. For the present, Max tried to shelve these disturbing thoughts, slipping away from the crowds and walking back the way he came. He had noticed something very peculiar yesterday when nearly suffering a breakdown in his apartment -- blue sparks flying from his fingertips. Pulling himself together and studying the effect, using this as an escape from the mental torture, Max had found it to be some form of electricity. And, he was able to focus it.

Lest he be noticed as a horror or a freak, Max had tried to keep the sparks from showing in public this morning. Unfortunately, the sparks started up of their own accord as he power-walked away from the crowds, and so he sped up, clenching his fists tightly. With any luck, he'd be able to get away unseen, but it was not to be so. Max stiffened as somebody stepped forward from a side alley, planting themselves squarely into his path.

---

@anyone...

 

[RJS]

Belle​

Belle strolled along the alley, bottle of whiskey in hand. Say what you want about the chaos, but it has its upsides. She'd picked it up a few minutes ago, from a liquor store that had been so badly hit in the early days that the owner had apparently decided it wasn't worth the effort to protect what was left. It was the cheap stuff, more alcohol kick than anything vaguely resembling flavour, but free was free and Belle was in no mood to be picky. Taking a swig straight from the bottle, she continued her way towards the tower and the noise, looking for something interesting.

It'd been a few days since she'd woken up, and boy had she been pissed. She'd been so angry that the shock of being alive and healthy had barely passed her mind. It was what it was, and she was going to make the most of it. The face of the bastard who'd so casually attacked her, - who'd left her to die, who'd...killed her, damnit - still burned bright in her memory, and half the reason she was heading to the noise was in the hope that he'd be there, not expecting her. Dying had hurt, a lot, and she had every reason to repay the favour.

As she neared the exit to the alleyway she could see the crowds gathering as they always had at the cordon - afraid, angry, less hopeful by the day - and as with the other days, she could feel nothing but disgust for them. They had the nerve to shout insults, but not one of them would ever dare stand up to the National Guard. Just a bunch of yapping mongrels, yelping for a fight but oddly timid should they ever find one. Honestly, the world would be better off witho -

Her train of thought was interrupted as she left the alleyway and was almost knocked over as she stepped out right into the path of someone else. She felt a faint sensation as they stood mere inches apart, as if the air was filled with static. Belle stepped back, glaring at the scruffy figure who'd almost walked into her. Dude looked terrible - kinda like he'd died and crawled outta his grave. She could appreciate the irony. "Oi, Walking Dead! Watch where you're going next time, yeah? If you're gonna keep shambling around so mindlessly, why not just crawl back into your grave, do us all a favour?"

With that said, she spun on her heel and continued onwards, heading towards the crowd. A slight smile danced across her face. These chickenshits wanted to talk big? It would be entertaining indeed to see them put in a situation where they had to back that up. She took another swig from her bottle. Today might not be so boring after all.

 

[Starlighter]

Stanley didn't like this crowd. At its core, it was nothing more than an unproductive, ignorant, rude mob of people who were too chicken to take any real action. Gawkers and judgers. Those who had the gall to insult and harass the guards irked him; they were only here to do their job, and as much as it set him on edge that he couldn't get anywhere near the tower, he understood why the government might feel the need to protect it - the unknown could be dangerous, after all.

For the past two days, he had been one of those mewling, stupid people - standing there in a simmering pot that was slowly heating up to an eruption that had yet to come. Waiting for it had made him impatient. As he'd been forced to realize, being impatient did not have a positive influence on his actions. Here he was, about to do something he knew was idiotic at best, suicidal at worst - and he was going to do it anyway. But nothing was being done, and nothing was getting him any closer to that tower, which meant it was time to take matters into his own hands.

Three days ago, he would never be sitting in the position he was currently in - or standing, as it were; desperation was a funny thing that way. Tucked into a far corner of the crowd with a hood up over his head and his hands buried deep in his sweater pocket he felt just a little bit like a highschool trouble maker on a teen drama. Except what he was about to do would probably get him arrested or killed if he didn't make it work. He felt bad, to an extent; nothing about this was going to be pleasant for anyone, especially if it went the way he wanted it to and the crowd worked itself all the way into a full blown riot - but try as he might, he'd failed to come up with a better option.

He nervously glanced at his watch. Knowing the time was entirely irrelevant - the crowd was on the verge of exploding, and he was about to give them their last little push over the edge.

Hopefully.

Taking a breath, he slowly started moving forward, gradually working his way to the front of the crowd and closer to the barricade of cement blocks and vehicles. He stopped with just a few people still in front of him, enough to make sure he wasn't directly in the Guard's line of sight, but close enough to give him a clear shot.

Here's to hoping these folks are as riled up as I need them to be. Can't rush a damn barricade all on my lonesome, after all. He yelled - nothing coherent, just loud; at the same time, he withdrew his hands from his pocket, flicked a lighter on just long enough to light the fuse, and chucked a molotov cocktail at the nearest vehicle blocking the way to the tower.

 

[RJS]

Belle​

As Belle strode towards the crowd, she was stunned to see a bottle arc out from it, shattering against a National Guard vehicle and coating it with a spray of flame. Angry shouting rang out as the National Guard began to move threateningly towards the crowd, some shooting into the air and yelling at the crowd to disperse. A large number of the crowd began to run, though some of the more aggressive members clearly decided to stay and vent their frustrations the old fashioned way.

Belle whistled under her breath in appreciation. "Holy shit...someone found their balls at last."Her own intentions of mischief making were now rendered both unnecessary and quite frankly petty in comparison, she took a seat on the kerb at a reasonably safe distance. A broad grin etched itself onto her face as she stretched out her legs in the weak sun that had only recently started to show through. Taking another swig of whiskey, she prepared to watch the impending melee. After all, what could be more entertaining than watching a bunch of morons beat up on each other?

 

[The_J]

Hazel stood at the very edge of the crowd, a decent distance from the great dark monolith that speared into the sky. The angry crowd roiled and shuffled, never quite at peace, always a few people shoving past one another, waves of movement forming as bodies bumped into each other.
She nervously stared at the spire, wondering if her suspicions about it were correct. Hoping that they weren't. She knew how unlikely she was to be wrong, however, even if she didn't want to admit it to herself. It had been a long time since she had felt this level of fear, and her face betrayed her emotion. Not so much fear of the spire itself, but of what it signalled to come. If she were to be honest with herself, which she was not, she would've called it utterly terrifying.
Her morbid thoughts were pushed aside, however, when she heard a bottle smash and saw flames erupt over one of the national guard's squat vehicles. No one was caught in the blaze, but it brought the crowd to a fever pitch. People shoved past her as she stayed to watch, and the guard responded in kind with gunshots cracking through the air and harsh words shouted at the people, but a scarily large number remained, holding their ground. This was turning into a full-blown riot right in front of Hazel's eyes.
She didn't care about the rioters, or the soldiers facing them down. She needed to get to a better vantage point, somewhere she could better survey the crowd from. A fire exit caught her eye, in a street perpendicular to the one the forming riot was located in. She ran for it before she could get caught up in any violence she didn't have to, climbing quickly to the roof of the building.
Once there, she moved to the flat roof's edge, peering over. No one had come to blows quite yet, but it was close. Soldiers marching slowly towards civilians, assault rifles drawn and pointing upwards. She couldn't see anything abnormal, at least not in the human sense. Riots weren't exactly something you saw every day, but she was looking for something even less ordinary. Things humans shouldn't have been able to do.
Nothing, so far. She would keep a watchful eye from the roof, looking for those same miraculous things.

 

[Spekkun]

Being at home with her family was far more strange for Satele than it had ever been when she was a child, and it was her fault in part. Her experience with her death and subsequent revival had left her scared, scared enough that when she made it to her brother's home in Philidelphia, she had to talk to someone, something she didn't usually do. And with her mother too ill to speak, the only person left was her brother.

But of course, he didn't believe her. He just assumed that she was going through trauma from the car crash caused by the EMP and that all she needed was rest and to collect herself, and maybe he was right on at least one account. She needed to collect herself, something she was very good at. She had to stop thinking about what happened to her, and what it meant, she had no leads and no evidence, just the memories of being crushed and...

No.

She was not backsliding into that memory, it was over and that's how she had to look at it now, an event that had passed. She had to distract herself, so why not with something as mysterious as this tower? She could at least get a look at it, though she doubted anything would come of it. It was something to do though, to get herself out of her head at least for a while. Against her brother's wishes, she headed out, determined to get a good look at the tower that had caused so much commotion.

When she found out the National Guard had sealed the thing off, she was expecting to see some sort of crowd, and she was not wrong. The panic and fear were practically tangible. Between the screaming crowd and the guard at the blockade, she decided it was probably best to stay on the outskirts of the crowd, in case they got anymore rowdy and the National Guard had to retaliate. She did not need to be trampled, arrested or worse.

So you can imagine how happy she was with her decision when she heard a yell erupt from the crowd and the roar of erupting flames.

 

[Eru]

M A X

---

"Oi, Walking Dead! Watch where you're going next time, yeah? If you're gonna keep shambling around so mindlessly, why not just crawl back into your grave, do us all a favour?"

Lost for words, Max could only stare at the girl's retreating figure in the hopes of trying to process what she'd said. On the one hand, it was insulting, and Max was nearly about to fire off a retort before he became aware of her phrasing. Was it simply uncanny coincidence, or did it sound like she was speaking in coded words?

By the time Max had begun to think this through, the girl had shambled off to swig her bottle and meld with the crowds back at the barrier. For a moment longer, Max stood there, indecisive. He was both curious and reluctant; nothing good could come from being there, not today. But at the same time... what if that girl wasn't the inane alcoholic she seemed to be?

Grahhh. Sparks again flew from Max's fingertips, and he was decided. He wasn't looking for trouble. Not anymore. After all, it had come to find Max, hadn't it? And so, he was quite sure that it might come looking again if it needed him. Content at surmounting this obstacle, Max nodded shortly to no-one in particular, and as his sparks again began to dwindle, he headed up the street as before. But this time, there was a much more disconcerting disturbance.

From behind, a cry came, loud enough to be heard above the muted noise of the crowds. A second later, the unmistakable sound of glass smashing, and the crowd's voices soared. Max stood frozen in the street, his previous decisiveness completely overruled by what was now turning into a full-blown riot. Gunshots erupted now, too, and Max turned to face the mass only a few hundred feet down the road. He gave a hollow chuckle.

Trouble came looking for me after all. And so quickly, too.

And then, the realization hit him.

They can't stop us all.

In another moment, Max was sprinting back the way he'd came, focused only on getting over the barrier. So what if he died? He'd died once before. He'd be damned if he didn't at least try to see what was inside that blasted tower before he was gone for good.

Passersby, the crowd's faces, the girl from before, all were ignored as Max shoved his way into the bedlam. As long as nobody stood in his way again, this might be easier than expected.

---

 

[Greenie]

"Well sh*t."

It had been a while since Sean had cussed aloud; he'd always been one to mind his language as his parents were fussy about it as well as not wanting his little sister to be influenced by naughty words. However, he didn't quite think 'sugar' or even 'shoot' did justice the what he was feeling at this moment. They had nearly made it to the crowd surrounding the imposing tower, and then someone had decided to chuck something- he wasn't sure what- over and cause a ruckus.

"Stay close," he muttered, looking back to the woman named Chani. It was a bane of his, but he always seemed to feel a certain responsibility for people with him, for better or for worse- most times it was the latter. Still, there was no way to shrug aside what made him him.

Unfortunately for him, Chani was no longer there.

"Well sh*t again." Fists clenched he looked around, trying to figure out where he'd managed to lose her. However, with the crowd getting louder and rowdier since the fire, and the sound of gunshots now being heard, he was quite sure it was a lost cause.

Besides, the practical part of his mind added, I'm here for the effing tower. With the national guard's attention swayed, they were probably too distracted to pay attention to someone heading for the tower.

With that thought in mind, Sean pushed his way against the angry and panicking crowd, determined to get down to the bottom of whatever.

Meanwhile....

It wasn't as if Chani had purposely run away from Sean. She had been following after him, but once they had entered the throng of people surrounding the tower, even just a moment's distraction of looking at the obsidian tower had been enough to cause her to lose sight of the other Canadian. She wasn't a very tall person, standing barely an inch over five feet, so trying to search through a crowd of people where most towered over her wasn't the easiest thing.

And then came the breaking glass, the flames, and worst of all the gunshots.

She froze in place, breath caught in her throat as she felt a phantom pain where she had been shot. Hand shaking, she started backward, stumbling when someone shoved past her. Landing on the ground she managed to get on her hands and knees; the rough feel of small and sharp rocks under her hands brought her back to her senses. Maybe the tower was where she needed to be, but she couldn't just go there now, not through this crowd, not like this.

Forcing herself to a stand, she turned away from the crowd and hurried in the opposite direction, trying to find a close by place of safety, away from these crazy people yet close enough that she could easily head back to the tower when the crowd died... if it died.​

 

[Astroblaze]

[fieldbox="Leah McCloyd, turquoise, solid"]

fright

turquoise Date: 3 Days after the EMP
Time: mid-afternoon
Location: Philadelphia, PA—the Tower
Tags: N/A

Shifting her backpack to adjust the wayward strap more securely on her shoulder, Leah walked purposefully down the sidewalk, her mind set on the obsidian tower stretching into the clouds a little way ahead of her. It seemed almost bizarre to be here now, in the thick of the chaos and destruction when only twelve hours ago she had been in her own quiet, tidy home in an equally quiet and tidy neighborhood, begging a generous and equally curious neighbor for a ride here. However, the strangeness of the current scenario was far eclipsed by the events of the previous night and the literally soul-piercing agony that had ended in her waking in her own bed, shivering in the after-shocks. At that thought, she glanced reflexively to her arm, pushing it against her side to briefly withdraw the thin, striped sleeve of her shirt just enough to bare the thick, black line across the underside of her left wrist. The mark, courtesy of a Sharpie that she carried in her bag in case of potential future use, made up a tally of sorts, reminding her of her own death and subsequent resurrection in case she was ever distracted from her purpose. She did not believe in resurrection, having found plentiful evidence in the real world to refute the hyper-spiritualistic mess that a collection of her peers in school had been into, so her own continued existence in this plane clashed with her own horrifically clear recollections of being crushed under the unrelenting force of tons of metal and unsupervised momentum. Simply put, she needed answers. Considering that this alien tower—for it could only be of some superhuman origin, despite the ill-founded conspiracies about the government being in on its existence—was the only thing that had changed in her world prior to her demise, it must have answers for her, or at least better and more easily located questions.

Thus, she couldn't help an aggravated grumbling when she rounded the corner to find the tower barricaded off by National Guardsmen, who in turn were nervously warding off an unruly, tense, and unpleasantly loud mob of people demanding to be let through and to know what was going on, if the vague, partially drowned-out snippets that she could pick up were any indication of what they wanted. One way or another, there was absolutely no way that she would be able to get to the tower with all that mess blocking her path. She supposed she should have seen it coming, given the widespread panic caused by the ominous structure and the destruction that had accompanied it.

However, barely had she observed all of this—pondering for a moment if whatever supernatural power the spire seemed to have given her could assist in her sneaking through before realizing that she barely knew what it even was, let alone how to use it—a wordless yell burst from the crowd, shortly followed by a crash, a rushing wind, and a flare of orange that seemed to indicate that something had exploded into flames beyond the crowds. Barely had this occurred when the crowd surged forward, the wall of squirming bodies turning into a tangled pandemonium that the barely visible guard seemed to be desperately struggling to repel. Well, at least it was moving now—she would have much better chances of getting through while the guard was overwhelmed with everyone else. The realization that she was about to take advantage of the plight of people who were only trying to protect the very civilians who were fighting against them caused her stomach to turn in shame even as she shedded her backpack and hid it in the nearby wreckage of a building that had been brought down by rioting, hoping that it would be safe there until she presumedly returned. Perhaps if the guard knew her situation, they would understand, but she was not about to wait around and ask. With that, she jogged the short distance down the street and pushed into the crowd. Instantly the sheer mass of the people bearing down on her on all sides sent her anxiety into high alert, but she forced back the instinct to flee and pressed on—this was something she had to do.
[/fieldbox]

 

[Joan]

fright

Layen Carsen

---

Layen peered out from a nearby alleyway, observing the crowd in front of him with binoculars. He had left his apartment barely an hour after turning on the television, only taking the time to pack a backpack with supplies and plan his route. After arriving in Philly, he had spent about a day collecting information from the locals and watching the crowd around the tower. Now, on day three since the EMP and his death, he figured it wasn't too long before something snapped.

If anything can explain what happened, it's probably this tower...I just hope it doesn't end with me disappearing like the other folks I heard got here first. But hey, if I do vanish, I'm already dead to the world, right?

...Actually, that doesn't sound so appealing after all. I'd like to live to be able to explain this someday. Better watch my back.

Just as he was considering moving in for a closer look, a yell went up from the crowd, followed by a car bursting into flames. He lowered the binoculars, watching as the crowd broke up into those too scared to fight and the people who were too angry to care, along with a couple people apparently taking the opportunity to dive into the crowd. He raised the binoculars again briefly to mark the positions of the Guard before tucking them underneath his jacket. He broke into a run and reached the crowd in a matter of seconds, diving in with the other outliers and working his way through the crowd. As people got too close and threatened to bump into him, some instinct kicked in, and he could feel his shadow moving to push them back. He focused long enough to pull it back a bit to avoid attracting attention, but still kept it as a barrier between him and the crowd. Hopefully, it would allow him to make his way a bit faster than others might.

 

[The_J]

Hazel watched eagle-like from the roof, waiting, hoping to see what she was looking for. Another Deathless, someone with some extraordinary ability that couldn't be explained. Someone else who could cheat death just as she did.
The alternative, she knew, would be to see something come from the tower itself. That, she hoped, would never come to pass. At least, not until they were ready.
She scanned the street further, watching the national guard shove, barge, and beat back rioters left and right. They were getting overwhelmed, and a few of the idiots had started using their rifles to actually fire on the damn crowd. She saw one girl, staggering and falling over as a shot rang out. She hadn't even been asking for it, it wasn't even aimed at her, but a bullet must have speared straight through her nonetheless, before she stumbled over, got up, and half-hobbled, half-ran away from the crowd, looking for safety.
A conflict broiled within Hazel, seeing this girl. Undeserving yet seemingly gravely wounded, running to find refuge. An uncommon feeling was awakened in her, a strong urge to help someone so much weaker than her. Yet her self-given mission, to find the Deathless, was far more important, immeasurably so.
Right as she was thinking this, something caught her eye. A man with a strange shadow around him, shoving others aside. He had to be one of them. She needed to get to him, take him away from here, explain what he was and what it meant.
She leapt from the building, producing a pair of clones at the ground level and passing her consciousness into them both before dissipating the body she still had in the air. Time was of the essence, and in a hectic place like this, no one would pay something so strange to see much mind.

One clone rushed through the crowd, barging forcefully past the rioters and runners alike. She found her way to the man flanked by a shadow and grabbed his shoulder.
"You need to come with me, now. You'll have a lot of questions, and I can answer them."
@Joan

Meanwhile, the other clone ran for the girl. As Hazel came closer, she searched for the bullet wound on her body. No blood was apparent though, and she definitely wasn't moving like someone who'd been hit by a real bullet anymore. Something was up.
"Hey!" She said, catching up to her, "are you ok? I thought I saw you get shot, but... well, did you?"
@Greenie

 

[RJS]

Belle​

Belle sat back, chuckling appreciatively at the chaos. A punch to the face here, a swing to the chest...all while those who were all talk ran with their tails between their legs. As she watched the melee though, she caught sight of something unusual. People running into and through the fight - pushing people aside rather than hitting them, or skirting the outsides for safety. Why would they even come this way if they weren't looking for a fight? The realisation struck her as, in the middle of the crowd, she spotted a familiar face indeed.

Leaping to her feet, she surged into the crowd. Her experience of hand to hand fighting and her honed body allowed her to force small openings in the scrum and slip through, closer and closer until she could grab the face from her past with a hand to the shoulder.

"Remember me?" The object of her attention turned, the jaw of the face that had killed her dropping in shock. "You...you can't b - urgh," his words cut short by the vicious knee Belle had driven hard between his legs. As he bent over double Belle grabbed the back of his head, pulling it back upwards sharply, before slamming it down as her elbow swung up, connecting to the bridge of his nose with a satisfying crunch. Flinging him to the ground, Belle delivered several vicious kicks to his ribs, before looking up with a fierce grin of victory. Payback meted out. If he was lucky, he'd be hospitalised for a good time, with a few permanent reminders of her, not least the mental trauma of having one of your victims show up for revenge. If he was unlucky, the crowd would trample him to death. She didn't care either way really.

Scanning across the crowd, she raised an eyebrow. What a day to be encountering old associates. she thought, before turning sharply. She began to weave through the crowd, slipping between a pair of National Guard with riot shields who were frantically trying to push back the sheer mass of people. Freed from the confines, she sprinted down the road towards the tower.

The air near the tower felt cold, and the cold only intensified as she approached the surface. Closer up, the tower appeared less uniform, with small variations in shading that, if you looked close enough, seemed to squirm and dance across the surface. Stare at it too long, and you might get the sense that it was staring back. Where it touched the ground there was a perfect seam, with no evidence of damage to the ground around where it had appeared. Belle shivered from the cold, absentmindedly lifting her right hand towards her mouth before realising she'd left the whiskey bottle sat at the side of the riot when she'd dived in. She turned to look at the others who had already arrived. Zombieman was there, still looking awful. And a couple of others she didn't recognise. "So, what brings all of you to such a charming neighbourhood? I mean, dumb question, it's fairly obvious. The question is why you...and me... were so keen to see this thing up close. Did it happen to you as well? Y'know, dying?" Her eyes sparked with curiosity.

 

[Greenie]

Chani couldn't help but flinch when she heard someone next to her, though she calmed down the slightest bit when she realized the other person was only asking if she was doing alright. She took in a shaky breath before nodding. "I'm- I'm okay," she managed, tongue flicking out to quickly lick her dry lips. It was strange how the body reacted to fear- cold sweat was trickling down her sides and forehead, when breathing through her mouth had her lips going dry.

She looked back in the direction of the tower for a second before looking to the woman once more. "I wanted to go there but... things went crazy so fast. I thought I was- there were gunshots..." Shutting her eyes tightly, she forced herself to further calm down. She'd never been one to panic, always priding herself to be cool under pressure. Her recent brush with death seemed to have thrown a spanner in the work.

Taking another breath, Chani looked to the woman. She didn't seem like the rest of the crowd, angry and ready to cause trouble. Could she be like her and Sean then? "I came to see the tower," she began, focusing on keeping her words clear and concise. "I met someone else too, we came all the way from Canada but I lost them in the crowd. And then all this started." She was unsure whether to tell her why she had come, but if this person had gone through something similar to her, then maybe she would already know?

@The_J​

*****
​

As Sean had made his way past the barrier without being taken down, he felt a sort of relief wash over him... and then dissapate as a new sense foreboding filled him instead. The air surrounding the tower felt uncomfortable, cold, and as he looked up at the tower it was almost as if he couldn't look away, as if someone was staring down at him. He took an unconscious step back, his enthrallment with the obsidian tower broken, thankfully, when he heard the voice of a woman. Turning, he saw a woman, eyes immediately drawn to the turquoise shade of hair. She seemed to be rather casual in the way she was talking, though he couldn't help but wonder if that was truly the case.

"Yeah," Sean muttered. "The dying thing happened, and it hurt like a bitch. Not sure what the hell this has to do with that but..." He shook his head, letting his words go unspoken. The compelling feeling within him was probably in the others gathered as well he'd bet.

@RJS
​

 

[Astroblaze]

[fieldbox="Leah McCloyd, #22AAEE, solid"]

fright

#22AAEE Date: 3 days after the EMP
Time: mid afternoon
Location: Philadelphia, PA—the Tower
Tags: @RJS (Belle), @Greenie (Sean), @Eru (Max)
Character Profile

She had made it. After several unbearably long seconds of squeezing through the crowd at the barricade, narrowly dodging poorly aimed blows all the way, Leah had finally slipped through an unattended gap in the distracted guard and immediately bolted, putting enough distance between herself and them that they didn't even bother to chase her—or perhaps were unable to do so, given how they were otherwise occupied. Now she stood, hunched over with her hands on her knees as she struggled to catch her breath, in the almost oppressively silent shadow of the obsidian spire, an intense but oddly soothing chill seeping through her shirt and jeans to raise goosebumps on her arms—whether from the shade or from the tower itself, she did not know, but she suspected the latter. Once she had regained her wind and composure, she straightened, finally taking a moment to observe the other three who had accompanied her in dodging through the barricade and who now stood with her at the base of the tower. They all seemed around her age although the one man with cropped black hair wore a look of sheer exhaustion that made him look about a decade older. The only other girl in the group, characterized by the brilliant turquoise hair cascading over her shoulders, stood with her feet akimbo and hands resting on her hips in a manner that indicated a sort of cocky self-assurance. The other guy, who struck her as being introverted and cautious like herself, seemed strangely fixated on the tower for which they had all presumedly gathered. Following his gaze, Leah noticed that the tower seemed to shift and shudder almost mirage-like under steady gaze and that focusing on it spurred an acutely unsettling sensation that something was looking back. With an involuntary shudder, she dragged herself away from it just as the turquoise-haired girl spoke up.

"So, what brings all of you to such a charming neighborhood? I mean, dumb question, it's fairly obvious. The question is why you... and me... were so keen to see this thing up close. Did it happen to you as well? Y'know, dying?"

Leah stiffened, glancing hesitantly between her and the two guys as she wondered how safe it would be to share her own story with a trio of total strangers. However, the blond's muttered affirmation emboldened her.

"Yeah, same here. I know for a fact that I died in a car crash the night before last, but then I woke up in my own bed the following morning, and then later I accidentally walked through a wall somehow. I know I'm not dead—I'm certain that my situation would be quite a bit different if I were—but how? It's not logically possible. This tower is the only thing that's changed and it's clearly got something supernatural going on, so surely it has something that could help me." Pausing, she added, "Probably."[/fieldbox]

 

[Joan]

fright

Layen Carsen

---

As Layen wove through the crowd, he found himself dodging stray blows quite a bit more often than he cared for. Thankfully, his shadow stopped the ones he couldn't avoid, but that didn't make it any less frustrating, and when a hand grabbed his shoulder when he was mere feet from the barricade, he twisted around with his arms raised to deflect any punches thrown his way.

When no punch came, he lowered his arms hesitantly, glancing over the woman with wary eyes. For a moment, he wondered why his shadow hadn't stopped her, but that thought was shoved aside by what she had to say. She could answer his questions, eh? What questions does she think I have? Unless... He glanced back towards the tower just in time to see somebody with bright blue hair dive past the barricade, heading straight for the tower. Just like he had been planning to a moment ago to get answers. Answers this woman said she had.

His eyes went back to the dark-skinned woman before him. His eyes were narrowed, his lips held tightly together in a frown. When he spoke, it was careful and deliberate, and as quiet as he could afford to be in the rioting crowd.

"You're right, I do have questions. I suppose I should start with these two before I go anywhere with you, though. Who are you, and what can you give me that that tower can't?"

 

[Starlighter]

@Astroblaze @RJS @Eru @Greenie

---

The moment gunshots shattered the air, Stanley regretted his decision to take action. This was officially the most terrible idea - a shove from behind knocked him off balance, and rough cement burned against his skin as he landed hands first. Full on pandemonium ran rampant within the crowd and the gun brandishing guards, and instinct took over. Instead of getting up he dropped and rolled out of the way, then jumped to his feet.

By the time he was up again, he saw several figures had already made it past the barricade ahead of him. Moving at a fast walk to minimize the appearance of his limp, he whipped off his sweater and tossed it into the fire as a precaution against being identified, just in case anyone had caught sight of him as the one who tossed the cocktail.

Spotting a guard turned the other way to face off against a screaming rioter, Stanley saw an opening and lunged for it. He slipped through and booked it to the base of the tower, throwing a quick glance over his shoulder to check for pursuit. A small group had congregated already, and he shot them a sideways glance as he approached, catching just the tail end of what was being said.

".... got something supernatural going on, so surely it has something that could help me." The girl speaking paused, then added, "Probably." He frowned, struggling to regain his breath as he sized up the group with a brief passing glance. He felt awkward walking into the middle of a stranger's conversation with no idea what the previous context was, so instead of commenting, he averted his gaze and moved closer to the tower itself.

A shiver coursed through him, and he instinctively rubbed at his bare arms, already missing his sweater. Not by a long shot was the drop in temperature severe enough to be worrisome, but it was strange. As was the apparent texture of the tower - the bizarre illusion that it was shifting, dancing, maybe even….. staring. Suppressing a shudder, he blinked a few times to shake the sensation. He took a step back, and began slowly moving along the base, searching for any indication of a break in the pattern, or, if he was lucky, a more overtly obvious entrance of some kind.

 

[HelloBeautifulChild]

Not 10 minutes after she'd gotten to the tower and wondered if she should go home, away from the tense crowd, someone set a fire. Panic spread immediately and the crazy crowd seemed to react without any reason or goal- only fear. She couldn't imagine what would possess someone to add fire to an already tense situation, but she knew that the why didn't matter now. What mattered was that she had two options- run away, or run forward. In the chaos, she just might make it to the tower. Though she was scared, terrified even, she knew she had to push forward.

She wasn't the only one rushing forward, but she didn't care. She dodged people and ducked once or twice when she head a gunshot. It took her a while to get through but she managed, making it into the obviously restricted area to look at the large tower. It was demanding and when Pennie felt the cold she knew that it must have been an act of god.

So, what brings all of you to such a charming neighborhood? I mean, dumb question, it's fairly obvious. The question is why you...and me... were so keen to see this thing up close. Did it happen to you as well? Y'know, dying?

@RJS

As others told tales of their death and travel Pennie realized that she wasn't the only one. Everyone seemed as unsure as she was. It had been all she could think about, and yet it had never occurred to her that the same thing had happened to others. She'd been so wrapped up in her own suffering... She wouldn't make the same mistake again.

"Yes," She said, trying her best to not sound scared. She would face this challenge, God never gave you more than you could handle. "I died in a mugging in New York, woke up in my bed after dying on the street." Her eyes looked over at the tower, it drew her attention. She couldn't blame the man walking around it and investivating for ignoring the group to look at it. If she wasn't so afraid of what it might mean she would be with him instead of taking comfort in community. "I knew this tower had to have something to do with it." A particularly sharp yell from the crowd called her attention back to the mayhem surrounding her. "People are scared and it's making them dangerous."
@Greenie @Astroblaze @Starlighter