entranceway | Video -> Action (Diner Catch-All)

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Video -> Action (Diner Catch-All)

U-Um, excuse me?

[Tohru appears on the screen, trying to look as professional as possible under the circumstances (though she does still seem very scared of everything that's happening).]

I just wanted to let everyone know that the diner is open as a shelter. It's the first room on the eighth floor, so if anybody on the upper floors is in trouble, please don't hesitate to stop by! I-It'll be much safer than trying to go all the way down the stairs while the hell hounds are here. So just, um, knock on the door and we'll move the barricade and let you inside!

Err, thank you very much for your attention.

[She bows, and then shuts off the camera.

Anyone who does use the diner as shelter will find that Tohru has (with great difficulty) pushed a couple of tables against the door, and she's poured a thick salt line around the barricade. She's also set up thick salt lines at the pantry and fridge, because they work like the closets, right? Can they get in through the closets? Tohru doesn't know, but she's not about to risk it. And just to be extra super safe, there's salt scattered all over the floor in both the dining room and the kitchen. There's also about five industrial-sized containers of salt by the door, so the line can be remade as people are let in and out, and blankets on all of the booth seats, if anyone needs to sleep there.

This is a big catch-all for everything happening in the diner over Day 2 and Day 3! Either prose or brackets is fine by me. Feel free to tag around with each other and stuff, and to assume that your character's been let inside already. ♥]

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At first Joan had intended to spend this event in the clinic- an invasion of howling monsters definitely sounded like an "emergency"- but when the network started talking about other shelters, it struck her that emergency care might also be needed by people unable to reach the clinic. She hadn't quite made up her mind that it would be the diner, specifically, but... well, the monsters had finally arrived while she was in there, so that had made up her mind for her.

Waiting around, with those noises outside, was kind of awful. She'd welcome just about any task or conversation to distract from it.

Edited 2013-08-04 19:58 (UTC)

[Gabriel's in and out a lot, appearing suddenly with the sound of wings, commandeering a towel to wipe the blood off of his archangel blade. He's trying to be subtle about it, because anyone from his world will know immediately that he's using an angel's weapon and not a trickster's. But as long as no one from his world sees, he figures he's all right.

He notices Joan about his third time back in the 'building'.]

Make a racket, don't they? Hard to find anything appealing about them.

If the noise is the worst we end up having to deal with, I'll be happy.

[Joan has definitely been in Wonderland too long when a teleporting guy with a dripping sword can talk to her and she can actually address the content of his statement.]

[Eventually, 'weird' is a matter of opinion.]

Oh, I'm sure there'll be plenty of bites and bruises. And worse.

[Hellhounds are pretty tenacious. It's in their nature. They won't stop unless killed or called off, and Wonderland is calling the shots.]

Mm. [That's not helpful, teleporting guy. Although...] ...do you know anything about these things?

[Because that could be very helpful, even beyond what he's obviously already doing, if she does end up having to treat someone. Knowing what you're dealing with is so important, especially in animal attacks. Monster attacks probably qualify, too.]

Unfortunately. [He shrugs, like this is the most casual admission in the world.] They're from my world. But I've never had much to do with 'em, directly, aside from stabbing them on occasion. [Other people have, though. Like Dean. And Jo.] Wonderland didn't send 'em here to torment me.

Edited 2013-08-05 07:14 (UTC)

Well, I'm glad you seem to be good at that. [She's a little surprised by her own lack of mixed feelings, actually, and not completely certain it's a good thing that she can be so straightforwardly happy that there's efficient killing being done, but it does mean she hasn't had to deal with anyone who's been mauled yet.] But mostly what I want to know is... well, can they carry rabies, things like that.

Rabies? [Gabriel's a little startled by the question. Seriously? That's a concern here?]

Lady, people are usually more upset about them tearing you apart and dragging your soul down to Hell.

[Okay, there's a little more of a system than that - but still. They're hellhounds. And Gabriel isn't all that motivated to divulge everything he knows. That requires work.]

I don't think the Hell part is a concern here, but they default to ripping people to pieces. If they managed to get rabies, the rabies would probably go to Hell, too.

I know it probably sounds strange, but if someone gets away injured, I don't want them to die horribly a week later because no one was thinking about these things. [She's maybe a little bit defensive about her inexperience with all this magic stuff, and she's definitely clamping down hard on her instinctive reaction to the things she's being told.]

Rabies isn't my experience with survivors. Just filet'd human flesh.

[He shrugs. Humans are an odd bunch, and their minds really do work in strange ways. But the humans in the mansion are trying to get past all this, and to protect each other; that's something.]

You wouldn't happen to be a doctor, would you? Or a lawyer?

[It's all about finding something familiar, really. If this is just an extremely unusual animal attack, then it's something Joan knows how to handle, so she's going to treat it as much like an animal attack as circumstances permit.]

I'd say that's good to know, but... not really. Comparatively. And I'm not either of those things, but I did go to med school.

[She's generally found that that's the optimum amount of information to give out when she wants to establish that she knows what she's doing without inviting the uncomfortable question that everyone seems to think it's appropriate for them to ask, the one about why would you stop being a doctor?] My name's Joan Watson, by the way.

Loki.

[Joan's in luck, since Gabriel isn't feeling nosy. She hasn't asked any of the obvious questions yet, as far as his world is concerned, so he doesn't mind carrying on the Loki charade a little more. Going out and helping still feels foreign, and really, he's doing it mostly to keep an eye on the people he knows. Who are all, for the most part, acting like suicidal idiots. Suicidal idiots protecting other people.]

Aside from the fact that they can die? There isn't much good about them.

Yeah. I gathered that. [Must resist urge to ask seriously?, it's not like that's the least believable thing she's heard today. Come up with something more constructive to say!]

...so why salt? Is there some kind of... of physical mechanism of action, or is it really just... magic?

Salt's a positive symbol.

[He shrugs, like saying what can you do?]

Don't ask me why. Ghosts and hellhounds don't appreciate it.

...Well, thanks. [It's sincere, but noticeably disappointed; Joan's pretty sure that answer works out to "just magic, and not even magic with consistent rules", which is really not at all what she wanted to hear.]

[While things are consistent, magic can be terribly confusing, for sure. Sometimes having all of his knowledge about the universe is more of a bane than a good thing.]

Yeah, sure. So how long ago did Wonderland kidnap you?

Oh... months. [Wow, we're just full of depressing subjects today.] It was about the same time as that door appeared, that the Red Queen came out of. Were you there for that?

[Gotta love Wonderland and its abundance of fun things to discuss!]

Got here a couple weeks prior, yup. [He sighs.] Yet another fun outing with things roaming the halls trying to eat everyone. Get the feeling Wonderland's watched a few too many horror movies?

That, or we have.

[Joan's thoughtful frown is back. She may not understand all the things that happen here, or that the Red Queen says]

She calls them "crashes". Different worlds coming close enough together that something can cross over. And somehow, it never seems to be a calm world.

[He's been trying not to think about it too much, because of the metaphysics involved with worlds rubbing up against each other. It's not good. Pretty much the opposite. Although he'd bet decent money on it being because of Wonderland's general instability.]

That wouldn't be much fun for it. So is that what she blames us arriving on? [He looks unimpressed.] Getting sucked up by a 'crash'?

[Joan shakes her head.] I got the impression she was talking about a different phenomenon. She did suggest it was just another law of the universe, though. She compared it to sunlight and gravity.

[Which might or might not be true, of course, but Joan has the unpleasant feeling that it at least wasn't a lie.]

And here I thought I had a bone to pick with gravity. [He mock-sighs.] If that's true, then this place has been sucking up people for a while now. I knew that one kid's been here for years, but there doesn't seem to be too many stuck here that long.

[It takes some trying to get there, but Fuminori makes it to the diner without dying by the evening of day two of the event. Admittedly, he'd spent a few minutes along the way wondering if his weird vision would allow him to see the hell hounds when no one else could, but then he decided that was a suicidal line of thinking and got his ass upstairs.

Now he's kind of regretting his decision. Being in a room with too many people isn't his thing be a long shot, and the fact that they're all just kind of sitting around waiting to either be found and killed or for the things to disappear doesn't help break the tension any.]

[ Lucky for Fuminori (so lucky), Aerith spots him soon after he settles in. He might not see it that way when she makes a beeline toward him, but she'll ignore that. It's good to see he isn't hurt - she worries about everyone on their floor, really - and she's smiling brightly when she greets him. ]

I see you made it in one piece. That's great! [ She remembers his vision is distorted, from their talk before. She doesn't see a syringe like he had the last time they talked, so she wonders if he's used one already or ran out. ] How are you holding up?

[Fortunately or them both, Fuminori did inject more EVE earlier in the event so he could help someone out. While the only sense this affects is his vision, it at least means he can look her in the face and act on the social cue that is receiving a smile from someone by smiling back, albeit kind of tiredly.]

I'm alright. I'm better than some others, anyway.

I'm glad to hear it.

[ And without invitation, she settles down near him, taking care not to be too nosy, but she really just can't resist. ]

Are you all right...you know... [ She gestures toward her eyes, indicating his sight. One thing Aerith learned during the event where everyone's senses changed is that the sight? Was close to horrifying. ]

[Fuminori blinks, then nods as he realizes what she means.]

I took an injection, so I can see pretty normally. [He glances around, then shrugs.] All my other senses are like normal, though.

Have you had any trouble?

So far, so good. [ Confining herself to the diner and the clinic is working for her. Traveling between the two, though, has her on edge and she hasn't been sleeping. ]

I know you said surgery is what caused you to be able to see and smell and...you know. Why everything's different. Do you know what was done to you in the surgery?

[ Because of her uber tiredness, Aerith just kind of jumps into a conversation like this with the personal stuff. She winces a bit as she realizes it's probably not a good opener. ]

I could have eased into that a little better, I'm sorry.

[Fuminori's admittedly a little thrown by the sudden question, but he takes it more or less in stride.]

No, it's okay. I guess you've been wondering that for awhile...

[He taps a couple of fingers on the tabletop. It's his version of fidgeting. There's not really any reason to hide his condition from anyone in Wonderland, but it still feels weird talking about it.]

I was in an accident that nearly killed me. The surgery was an experimental procedure done on my brain to save my life. It used some kind of nanotechnology, from what I'm told, and it has a zero percent success rate.

[Fuminori doesn't know how many people had undergone the procedure before him, or the details of what happened to those who had, but based on his own experiences, they were either dead or completely insane.]

[ Sorry, Fumonori. Her filter is kind of gone when she's this brain tired.

Especially when she's done nothing but worry for what seems like forever, so he ends up on the receiving end of some of that built up worry. When he describes the surgery, she frowns. 'Nanotechnology', while not exactly popular where she comes from, is something she thinks scientists are probably developing in Midgar.

Aerith's not too fond of scientists or many doctors. ]

Nanotechnology. Tiny machines, right? [ Who knows what she's picturing, but it probably isn't anywhere close to what is reality. ] Were they just part of the surgery or are they still inside your body?

To be honest, I don't know. I never really got a complete explanation of it afterward.

[Mainly because he spent so much time vacillating between incoherent terror and mute depression that no one ever got the chance to sit him down and tell him about it.]

I just remember that I woke up blind, and once I could see, everything was... [He gestures helplessly, because really, how do you ever describe that? and shrugs.] My other senses were okay at first, but they all changed to match what I was seeing before very long.

[ She can't really blame him - it's not like she remembers what experiments were done to her when she'd been in the company of scientists. She's tried to block out the memories, since they're so scary and uncertain. ]

So it was a gradual change. [ She says this a little thoughtfully, her eyes traveling around the room. It's times like this she wish she knew a little more of the medical side of healing - she's learning, albeit slowly. Turning to look back at him, she taps her chin. ]

I wonder if I could try my magic. Maybe just at your temples? [ She brings the finger to tap against her own. ] It won't hurt, and I don't know if it'll do much good, but maybe it can repair some scar tissue that could be there. Really, we may need to do some kind of scan on your brain so I have a better idea of what to do.

[Fuminori is hesitant to have anyone mess with his head, using skills magical or otherwise, because he has no idea if it can get worse and doesn't want to know. But he also knows that, realistically, he can't keep on going indefinitely the way he is. Even the tonic and EVE, which help him get through a lot of events and interactions with other people, don't really make things any better; the transition back to normal is almost as bad as his normal on its own.

He also wonders if, when he returns home, any improvements made in Wonderland will affect the way he sees Saya. He feels a stab of guilt that she wasn't the first consideration on the matter, but sets it aside and addresses Aerith's question, albeit indirectly.]

None of the scans that were done at home showed any abnormalities. The doctors relied on me to tell them if anything was wrong. [Which he hadn't. Really, his screaming terror at the sight of any human being for several weeks straight should have been enough to clue them in.] If science can't even detect the problem, maybe there's something magic can do.

[He pauses, letting a few seconds pass while he looks at the table top in front of him.]

...I guess, if you're seriously considering giving it a try, I should tell you that there is one person I see normally.

[ Aerith would understand his hesitation completely - it's hard to put that kind of trust in someone or something (in this case magic) without being completely sure of the results. She doesn't think her healing would make it worse for him, but then she's never run into this situation before. She really just doesn't know. ]

Science and magic seem like two very opposing elements most of the time, so usually it when science can't cut it, magic makes up for what it lacks. [ Really, it seems like they complement each other more than anything, but Aerith is iffy on science as a whole.

His admission is surprising, and her head tilts just the slightest as she looks at him. ]

Really? Do you know what could have made this person different?

No. [He...has a very vague idea, but he doesn't want to consider the possibility, so he has not given it any real thought.] It's just...she looks like a person to me, when nothing else looks right.

[ Aerith puzzles on that for a moment - how strange, that everything he sees is so awful but one person just looks normal. ]

Is it someone you knew before your surgery?

[ In his position, Aerith thinks she would have probably clung to that person no matter who it was, to have someone who doesn't look horrific there just so she could stay sane. ]

No. [Fuminori frowns, unaware that Aerith has perfectly guessed at his own response to meeting that girl.] Saya just showed up in the hospital one night. She said she was looking for her father, who worked there. I've tried asking about him, but I can't find any information on him either.

[He can't hide that he isn't bothered by this lack of progress. If he finds Saya's father, Saya might leave, and he knows perfectly well he can't handle things on his own.]

[ It sounds awfully strange to her, but she'll keep her opinion about that to herself for the moment. What's more important is puzzling out a way to get him seeing things normally without the help of what he's been using. ]

That is odd, but I'm sure seeing someone who looked normal was very welcome. [ She can't help but be interested in this Saya, though. Especially since she's a spot of normal in a world that looks horrifying to him. ] Do you two - well, did you two spend a lot of time together when you were home?

[He nods, tracing an abstract pattern on the tabletop with his fingers.]

I went to classes, but other than that, I was usually home with Saya.

At least you had someone there that didn't look...well. [ And she kind of frowns, not really sure how to describe the way he normally sees things. Other than 'horrifying', but that isn't very nice. ]

With how Wonderland is and all the different kinds of magic around here, I'm sure we can cook up something that might help, even if my suggestion doesn't work. It's better than using those syringes, anyway.

[ And this could be a good time to try out the whole magic to the temple thing. ]

Would it be all right if I tried using my magic? [ She taps at her temple again. She'd understand if he wasn't completely comfortable with it, but she won't be overloading him with all her magic. Just a trickle, to see what it does. ]

[Fuminori glances up at her, then nods.]

Sure. Give it a try.

[ Aerith nods and shifts herself around so she's facing him better. Her hands go to hover at his temples, not exactly touching him but close enough that he can feel the heat from her fingers.

She concentrates, focusing her magic so just a tiny bit trickles out and into his head. It wouldn't be good if she forced it in one go, there's no telling what would happen. Keeping a watchful eye on his expression, she keeps it moving at a steady pace, hoping it'll make some kind of difference. Even if it doesn't, at least they can say they tried. ]

[Fuminori's eyes flicker back and forth, though he can't see her fingers, and he sits still as though expecting an electric shock if he moves even a bit.

He doesn't notice anything right away. Then the headache caused by his over-saturated, tonic-altered vision eases. It fades altogether. It might be his imagination this his vision sharpens somewhat, too. Other than that, he doesn't notice any changes--the rest of his senses remain as warped as ever. He allows her to continue until he's sure it's not going to get any better.]

I don't think it's doing much.

[ Aerith lowers her hands with a soft sigh, folding them in her lap. Maybe it had been too naive to have hopes that it'll work and fix all his problems, but that's an issue she's been running in to around here. Her powers not working just as they should, the Lifestream out of her reach. It's disappointing. ]

It was worth a try. You don't think it hurt anything, do you? [ She gives him a worried frown, eyes searching his face. ] I guess we should just stick to conventional medicine, huh?

[Fuminori shakes his head, offering a small, rare smile.]

I'm glad you were willing to try. Thanks.

[He shows up unannounced and doesn't actually go in. He just lingers outside, watching the halls, ready to point out any hellhounds that approach. The least he can do is tell any defenders where to aim.]

[He's also hoping no one notices this act of what he will vehemently deny is altruism.]

[Luckily, Gabriel can get inside without disturbing the salt line and the barricade. He tells himself that he's just in the diner because it's the diner, and thus full of sweets, but if he was feeling more honest, it lets him keep an eye on people. While close to the sweets.

He's getting tired of plunging his blade through hellhound skulls, but what can you do?

The trickster-archangel can be found on a stool, when he's not out making the hell-puppies yelp.]

[ Homura has been scouting around just the tiniest bit, if only to get a feel for the kind of monster that's visted the mansion. After encountering a few hounds, she decides it's better to barricade herself in the diner with several others.

She's wary of using her magic too much, because the more she uses the darker her soul gem turns. The last thing anyone needs right now is for her to become a witch and start wreaking havoc.

Homura finds herself a spot in the corner of the diner, at a bar perched on a stool. It probably would have been better to stay in her own room, but she feels like she needs to keep an eye out. This is the perfect opportunity for Kyuubey to strike, and she's not going to let him trick anyone into anything if she can help it.

So there's a loner girl, sitting by herself for the time being, watching the others in the diner. Not so much creepy, but possibly unsettling. ]

Edited (its wreaking havoc i always screw that up) 2013-08-05 14:41 (UTC)

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Video -> Action (Diner Catch-All)

[Day 2/3 catchall, prose or actionspam welcome]

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[action]

[action, open]

[Periodically Through Days 2 & 3]