PLOT: WISE SNAKE'S EMERGENCE

[theearth]

Who: OPEN.
When: March 9th, Sunday, daylight hours.
Where: The business district of Locke City.
What: An enormous snake monster is pissed.
Warnings: Violence.

[The alien explodes silently - but it explodes.

First in a small cloud of hot (rose-scented) gas - those there to watch its final moments will want to step back.

A ripple in the air pulses - heavily - from where it once was, with absolutely no sound and color, but penetrating force. Anyone standing within two miles of the point of origin will feel a push, with those closest guaranteed to be knocked off their feet and temporarily dazed. Cars swerve and crash. Staff in the nearest office buildings launch into disarray. There’s no shielding from the blast - it can be felt through walls, through structures, in the air, and underground.

And it is felt underground.

The entire business district starts to shake, abruptly, jarred to a stir by some movement. It rises over the span of a long half-a-minute to the magnitude of December’s earthquake.

Tuning Towers experiences the worst of it - windows are smashing and objects are shaking loose and falling from the upper floors.

It finally ends - with screaming - as the head of an enormous pink snake breaks the lobby floor.

It flows its way quickly out of the hole it’s made, breaks itself another hole ever so politely through the main entrance doors, which were not meant to accommodate a twenty-foot-tall-and-wide exitor, and as it draws the last of its tail out after it, the quaking dies down.

It’s now roaring its way through the streets of Locke City’s business district - all several hundred meters of Wise Snake, emerged in the flesh (or stone?).

No regard for the walls of buildings, streetlamps, civilians, stopped and blindly pulled-over vehicles, anything else on its course - in a frantically-awakened, unrestricted rampage.]



[ OOC: This is part two of the Season 1's finale. The first - the assault on the farmhouse - is here; pertinent plot posts one and two. ]

Comments

OPEN

[professorwolf]

After the sun sets, whether it's from the adrenaline or some other potential thread, or just from focusing so hard on his supernatural senses, Lyall immediately goes wolf. Ruining yet another set of clothing, but making himself surprisingly less conspicuous when pawing around in the debris. It takes an hour and then some to stop limping and whimpering with each step, but then he's running about nimbly and with far more steady paws than his two feet had been.

And remarkably, he has his own mind, and he's reveling in it just a little.

Still, the mission remains the same: find people in need of help, and find problems like gas leaking or half-buried fires before they become more dangerous. He's easy to spot, but some people might not be glad to see him.

[detectivetroll]

The snake may have been taken down, and the sun set, but the day is far from over. Especially for those tending to the chaos left in the snake's wake, rather than the snake itself, which means Nick is looking at a long night.

He's already been seen by a paramedic, of course - he's technically working in an official capacity with the law enforcement, and they hadn't been about to let him continue working in the shape he'd been after the farmhouse. Fortunately, his injuries had been easy to explain away as a result of the earthquake and the snake, and his shoulder had been popped back into place and then wrapped up along with his ribs without question. It's virtually unnoticeable now, under his shirt, especially since he's abandoned the sling he's supposed to be wearing.

When he spots the wolf roaming around the ruined streets, Nick recognizes him immediately. He might have only seen Lyall's wolf form up close once, but it isn't really something that he could forget. For a moment, he feels a wave of relief, but it's quickly replaced by wariness and the slightest bit of dread.

With everything that's happened, he's not actually sure that he can handle the possibility of fighting one of his closest friends right then. But he doesn't really have a choice, since the other option is just letting Lyall roam around as a wolf, and he already knows what comes from that.

"Hey! Over here!" he calls, trying to draw the wolf's attention.

finally get to use my favorite wolf icon :D

[professorwolf]

That particular tone and set of words does catch Lyall's attention, but mostly because it's usually a prelude to someone needing help. He spots Nick quickly enough, though, and his jaw drops in less of a snarl and more of a doggish grin. He tries to call over, but all that comes out is a bark.

Oh yeah. Wolf. Right. He settles for holding his tail high and wagging it. It's definitely not the behavior of a creature set on attacking, but he's still getting used to this new body and having his actual mind in it, so it might look a bit more wooden than a real wolf or dog's body language.

:3 oh no that is adorable

[detectivetroll]

Nick'd been prepared for something along the lines of the last time he'd try to get wolf!Lyall's attention on him, so this... is completely unexpected.

It's almost like Lyall actually knows who he is this time around, which makes Nick tentatively hopeful as he cautiously moves closer towards him.

"Lyall?"

my faaaaavorite!

[professorwolf]

The wolf bobs his head a few times in the best human nod Lyall can manage. It looks a bit silly, but he's generally okay with life at the moment-- as okay as he can be, with all this going on, anyway-- so he doesn't mind. He doesn't move towards Nick, not wanting to be seen as potentially threatening, but he does keep wagging his tail, a more gentle wave over his back now.

[detectivetroll]

It's good enough for Nick, and he closes the rest of the distance between them to crouch next to Lyall - and then hurriedly sinks down the rest of the way to his knees, because crouching is not a good position for his ribs to be in at the moment. Not that it matters, since he really only wanted to get close enough to toss his good arm around Lyall and hug him.

"I guess this explains why you didn't answer your phone."

He tries to make it a joke, but some of his concern probably shows through.

[professorwolf]

The hug takes him a bit by surprise, and obviously he can't really return it, given his lack of arms at the moment. He does, however, hold still and let him, once he realizes what's going on. He also gets a good whiff of him, and makes a questioning sort of whine, nudging at him in concern of his own.

Apparently, actually, being a wolf can be a little inconvenient. He hasn't had to try and communicate yet.

[detectivetroll]

Thanks, man, Nick appreciates Lyall holding still and letting him hug on him. It's been a day, and he's not above giving in to the relief of seeing him. It's Lyall; Nick can take a moment where he doesn't have to pretend like none of this is affecting him. There's a soft exhale at the nudging, and he lets go, sliding his fingers once through Lyall's fur before moving to stand up.

There's a sharp his of pain as he pushes himself back up to his feet, his hand going to his ribs to help support them, but he gives Lyall a shaky smile anyway. "I'm okay, I got checked out already. Are you okay?"

[professorwolf]

Lyall bobs his head again, skewing his ears in continued concern, but letting it lie. He's tempted to do the doglike thing of sticking his nose in Nick's face and giving the man's own nose a lick, but that's hardly dignified-- and Nick stands up before he can decide he doesn't care about dignified when his friend was upset and he was in a form where it might be slightly more accepted.

So he settles for a huff and a bump with his shoulder to Nick's thigh, before whuffing questioningly and looking around. Is there somewhere Nick is headed, or is he just wandering in the mess?

[detectivetroll]

Nick rests his hand almost automatically on Lyall's shoulder when he bumps it into him, and keeps it there. It's a small amount of contact, but it's somehow reassuring. Fortunately, it's easy enough to guess what Lyall's trying to ask, and he smiles slightly. "For once, Locke City PD are being decent cops. We're looking for survivors still stuck out here, to get them help." He pauses, considering. "Is that what you're doing out here, too?"

[professorwolf]

Nodding seems to be the most straight-forward means of communicating, so he does that again, though his jaw drops in a tongue-lolling wolf-smile to go along with it. He's pleased to be useful, can you tell, Nick? Also to be himself and yet utterly unrecognizable, but that might or might not be so easy to discern.

He takes a step, not enough to move out from under the hand resting on him, but enough to suggest Nick come with him. They'll be more effective together, he's sure of it! And besides, then he can keep an eye, and a nose, on his friend in all this....

[detectivetroll]

It's obvious that Lyall's happy about it, and Nick's assuming it's because he's happy to be able to do something as a wolf, instead of like the last times. He scratches absently at the wolf's shoulder blade. "Yeah, man, I'm glad you can do stuff like this, too."

Nick's brows furrow briefly, then he grins as he gets it. "We'll fit in, at least, there's a bunch of search and rescue dog teams out tonight." Then he pauses, considering. "...you know, I bet I could get us one of those vests."

[professorwolf]

For a beat, Lyall pins back his ears in distaste at the idea. Those things are so very garish, aren't they? But then he thinks about it a beat more, and he heaves a sigh and nods again. It would at the very least make him blend in. No one would connect a shaggy rescue dog with the monster who terrorized the city streets last month, surely.

Show him your virulently orange vest, Nick. He can bear it.

[detectivetroll]

Nick can't help but laugh a little at Lyall's reaction, though he cuts it short when it shakes his ribs a little too much. He pats his shoulder sympathetically.

"The things you do for me, huh? Well, and for Locke City." He starts moving, heading for the closest place he knows of that the search and rescue teams were using as kind of a home base. "Come on, there's a group of them close by. They'll have an extra I can borrow."

[professorwolf]

Lyall gives a little whuff of agreement, and falls in at a trot at Nick's side. Hopefully none of those people see through him... whether human or animal. Lyall isn't entirely sure how a real dog might take him... or, in fact, whether he can act like a "real dog", himself.

He can try, at least.