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!

[drama8om8]

[ About half an hour after everything is over, Octavia can be found wandering the business district in a daze. Since she was trapped in a basement for the part of the battle she wasn't dead for, finally seeing how bad things are has completely thrown her.

Shit is messed up, yo. At least it's giving her something to think about that isn't "SO HEY MY BOYFRIEND MURDERED ME TODAY" or "WOW I'M A KILLER NOW ISN'T THAT GREAT." God bless you, widespread destruction. You're a pal.

Anyone following one of the blue sparkly glitter trails winding their way through the ruined streets should come across her eventually. She'll probably either be hovering around one of the fallen snake statues or sitting on a pile of rubble, since those are both activities that can be done without any kind of conscious thought. Fun! ]

[grannyfucker]

[And near the pile of rubble that she's currently sitting on is a weak moaning sound.

If Octavia chooses to look in that direction, she'll find some poor curly-haired loser flopping his head back and forth as he groans, trapped under a fair amount of rubble.]

[drama8om8]

[ Welp. There's nothing quite like the sound of someone in DIRE PERIL to snap any hero worth a damn out of a self-pitying funk, right? Fear not, oh most curly-haired of losers. YOUR SAVIOUR IS HERE.

Meaning yeah it takes her like ten minutes to notice anything.

When she does notice the poor unfortunate rubble-covered sap, she hops off the pile of debris so she can peer at him. ]

Hey! You okay?

[ AND THE AWARD FOR SHITTIEST QUESTION TO ASK SOMEONE BURIED UNDER A PILE OF RUBBLE GOES TO... ]

[grannyfucker]

[He flops his head over to see who's talking to him. He honestly wasn't expecting anyone to stop and actually notice him--no one else so far had.

What a dumb question. He doesn't even dignify it with a response, just a sarcastic stare.]

[drama8om8]

Don't look at me like that! For all I know you're crushed below the waist or something and if I try to move you you're going to bleed out and die.

Are you crushed to a pulp?

[vetala]

[Kanti is disturbed by the entirety of this catastrophe, but she is also tired. She is very, very tired. She's been mostly fixed up, but today has really been murder on her psyche. She may not be as null as Octavia right now, but that's only because repressing her emotions is something pretty regular for her.

When she sees the other girl hovering near a dead snake, there's a little panic in her. It's instinctual. It'd be a real killer if Octavia was taken again. Kanti steps over to her carefully and tugs lightly at her wrist.]

You should come down.

[drama8om8]

Yeah.

[ It takes a few seconds after responding for Octavia to realise that she should. Actually get on that. She drops lightly to the ground, folds her wings away and continues staring blankly at the snake. ]

I'm glad you're not dead.

[ What a lovely and tonelessly-delivered conversation starter, golly ]

[vetala]

[Kanti doesn't make a remark on the tonelessness. It's not like she can lecture people on displaying emotion anyway. Instead, she just awkwardly squeezes Tavia's wrist in a motion she hopes comes off as reassuring before letting go.]

I'm glad you're not dead too. [She thinks more people came out alive than dead, but focusing on the small things is what she'd rather do right now.]

I... I'm not going to ask if you're okay. But if you'd like to talk about it, I can listen? [It's a little awkward and painfully blunt, but that's how Kanti works sometimes. Tact and gentleness isn't completely effective in her circle of friends sometimes.]

[drama8om8]

I was dead for a while. Again. Can't beat me in a death-off! I am just the very best there is.

[ She doesn't really want to talk about the Alan thing. Or the killed-some-dudes thing. But... ]

Found out I'm not entirely immortal while I was down. Which is great. I should tell Roxy, she -

[ She pats herself down in search of her cellphone before remembering that it kind of got crushed when she was splattered by a huge fucking giant. ]

- do you have a pen? I have to tell Roxy she can die!

[ Mild panicky flapping setting in? YEP. ]

[wirsinddiejager]

[Oh, Alan's following those trails as soon as he sees them. He has no idea what happened to Octavia after he shifted, so he's been pretty damn worried about her.

He's still looking like he's about to fall over, but his face lights up with relief when he sees her.]

Octavia! Are you okay?

[And he's stumbling over to grab her into a hug.]

[drama8om8]

Alan?

[ She'd been worried about being scared when she saw him again, but to her immense relief there's not even a trace of fear. Good. God - he looks like shit, though. It's like Pandalan 2: The Unnecessary Sequel.

She allows herself to be hugged, wrapping her arms tight around him in return, and tries to sound as flippant about things as she possibly can. He has to be beating himself up hardcore about what happened, after all. ]

Of course I'm okay! You think just because you got a growth spurt you can take m--

[ He still smells faintly of burning meat. That and the tight hug combine to bring it all back, and for a moment she's enveloped in the titan's fist again.

She doesn't say anything. But she goes very quiet and noticably stiffens. ]

[wirsinddiejager]

There's been a lot going on, okay! And I don't even know half of it, so it's not like I have any way of knowing how you're doing.

[He notices the change in her and pulls back, looking her over with a worried expression.]

What's wrong?

[drama8om8]

You don't...

[ She shakes her head, trying to clear it a little. ]

I'm fine. What do you mean, you don't know half of it? What happened?

[wonk]

[It takes Roxy a little while to find Tavia, because every time she finds a glitter trail, she tries to predict where it will lead so she can walk through buildings instead of around them and ends up losing the trail, but eventually she manages.]

So that was pretty fuckin' cryptic. What's up?

[drama8om8]

[ Octavia has regained some of her ability to actually think coherently by this point. Alan's napping safely somewhere, which is a load off her mind.

Then OH LOOK IT'S ROXY AND THIS IS NOT NEWS SHE REALLY WANTS TO BREAK TO ANYONE. ]

So, uh.

Well, I mean. That whole immortality deal we have is, uh.

 

 

Okay first how are you buddy you're looking great considering the circumstances wow that whole snake thing was crazy amirite haha god so anyway how was your day?

[wonk]

Shit, are there like. Caveats? Do we only have, like, three lives or somethin', 'cuz that would make perfect sense since we played that video game. Three lives is pretty standard for games, right?

[dirtdevil]

[ What could possibly make Octavia's day worse? How about this guy?

Having somehow survived the mayhem, he's zooming around surveying the damage. It's amazing how escaping a couple of sticky situations successfully has boosted his confidence in using the 3DMG. But who cares about that? Probably not Octavia. He catches a glimpse of some familiar sparkles on the ground, and follows its convenient glitter trail to its source.

Upon finding her, he lets himself drop to the ground. Unfortunately, he let go a little too soon, and stumbles a bit on the landing. Smooth move. He brushes himself off and approaches her. ]

What are you doing out here?

[drama8om8]

[ Since Octavia is currently kind of a space cadet, she doesn't burst into mocking cackly laughter when Levi flubs his landing. Later, she will kick herself for this. Eight times. For now, she just raises her eyebrows a little in muted surprise. ]

Mister Greml-- sorry. Captain Gremlin.

[ There's not a trace of sarcasm there. She is genuinely apologising for not using the correct gremlin rank. ]

I'm just looking at stuff. 'Cause I missed out on most of the whole. [vague handwaving:] Fighty deal.

[dirtdevil]

[ Ugh. He rolls his eyes at the name, and even though in almost any other circumstance he'd just turn around and leave after that, he keeps going in her direction. For one thing, there's a giant fucking snake going Godzilla on the city (or there was). For another, this isn't the girl he's used to barely tolerating. Sure, the two things are undoubtedly related, but even then it doesn't really add up. Where's her stupid boyfriend, anyway? ]

You missed out? Where's Alan?

[charcoalfeather]

[Following said trail of sparkly dust, Rakka finally finds the girl at a pile of rubble.

Honestly, Rakka looked almost as bad as Octavia did. She'd been put through hell in the past few hours. Her magic stick had really shown its stuff.]

H-hey, you! A-are you okay?

[drama8om8]

[ Automatically, with only a vague glance: ] Yeah.

[ After a second, recognition visibly kicks in - Octavia blinks, straightens up slightly and swoops down from the rubble pile. ]

I mean fuck yeah. What about you? You kind of look like shit. In a badass "just got done fighting" way, not "I am being a bitch" way. Obviously.

[charcoalfeather]

[Blinkblink]

[Rakka gives Octavia a look. She obviously looks like she's been through a shit ton. They both have.]

Yeah... I just spent hours fighting off monster snakes with a walking stick that shoots lightening. [She chuckles but it dies quickly.] W-we both look like shit.... i-in the way you meant of course.

[originaloddcouple]

[The Dians can also be found wandering around the business district, although not for the same reason Octavia has been.]

Look, just relax and try to remember.

[Isaac throws his hands in the air in frustration.] I was sure it was here!

So was I! But it's not, so we have to think!

But where else could it be! We specifically parked it in that alley so it wouldn't be in anyone's way!

[They don't seem to notice the sparkles or any familiar faces as they rack their brains to remember where the hell the parked the van.]

[drama8om8]

Weird couple?

[ Octavia pops out from behind half a wrecked snake statue. Even to someone as wiped as she is right now, the Dians are just a teeny little bit hard to miss. ]

What you doing? You lose something, or...

[ And she floats over in a slightly unsteady manner. WHOOSH. ]

[originaloddcouple]

[They spin around at the voice, causing Isaac to accidentally wham the gym bag he's carrying right into the Miria's stomach. She gasps as though the air was knocked out of her. She grasps her knees, just trying to take a few deep breaths.

Isaac doesn't notice this at first. Because he's an idiot.]

Oh, hi Tavia! How you do-

[Right about now he clues in on what just happened. He grabs Miria's shoulder in a panic.]

Miria! Are you-

[Miria waves away his panicked cry nonchalantly as she stretches back to attention.]

I'm fine, I'm fine. [She waves at Tavia, seemingly forgetting any Three Stooges humor they accidentally participated in.] Hi Tavia! Still, uh, still not weird.

[No one buys that.]

We just can't seem to remember where we parked our car, before all... [Isaac gestures a bit to the fallen snakes.] ...yeah.

[They don't seem particularly fazed by her flying, despite not knowing about it before hand. Either it hadn't processed yet or they had simply gotten used to all the freaky powers or abilities their Network chums demonstrated today.]