[Azure] In the Beginning

[Adam]

Adam sighed, folded his arms and leaned against his cruiser. He was taking a brief moment to collect his thoughts amidst the chaos. He pretended not to notice Khris's eyes, blowing them off as a gimmick or... something other than it was. Finally, after Helena spoke and Bili recommended him as some sort of 'leader guy', he pushed himself off the cruiser and stepped forward where everyone could see him.

,,

"I appreciate the vote of confidence Miss Loeb, I do, but I don't feel I'm very dependable right now." He closed his eyes and massaged the bridge of his nose. There was no simple way to say this, but he could keep letting these people put their faith in a man he may or may not be. "Truth is, ladies and gentleman, when I woke up today my life was gone. Complete amnesia. If it wasn't for my wallet, my badge and a few messages on my answering machine I wouldn't even know who I am right now. I had to get my cell number off my business cards and compare it to my driver's license. Now this," He motioned to the world and then the police station. "People vanishing, seeing 'monsters'... frankly, I don't think I'm in any position to lead anything but a pep rally in a psych ward at the moment."

,,

"My head hurts just trying to remember what I had for breakfast yesterday, my parents, a wife, a girlfriend," He shrugged and attempted to add some levity to his confession by adding, "Hopefully not both, I'd like to think I was a better man than that. All I get is dizzy. Look, we all have problems right now and we've all lost something today. I pray we can find it and get it back, but for now, if people are asking my opinion, I think the hospital is the best bet. We don't have to go far in, just the open, carpeted waiting room in the ER will do. We have food from Eric's truck to last us a couple days but what we lack is medical supplies."

,,

Then there was a slight sting behind his eyes, it didn't interfere with his talking but it was discomforting. Something slipped through the cracks of his memory. Tactics, a plan of attack and a means of defense all began playing out in his mind. Before he'd even spoke he'd already fought a battle against unknown attackers in his mind, and won. "It's an easily defensible position, in the slim happenstance that all of us aren't crazy and Wes Craven has, indeed, unhatched a plan for world domination, there are plenty of choke points and a great deal of emergency exits. Plus, with out numbers, we need an open area to move around in, not cramped quarters. Were the worse to happen ,we'd all be tripping over each other."

,,

He felt a bit exposed and awkward after spilling his secret then going into a tactical analysis of defending the hospital against monsters that Wes Craven may or may not have spawned into the world. "So... uh, yeah, that's my opinion, anyway. I have some more things to get from inside..." He made a lazy, awkward, limp wristed gesture towards the door. "If you all will excuse me."

,,

"Tulpa... c'mon boy." His faithful hound ran up to his side and they strode back in together to get more supplies. The psychological cue was obvious though: Tulpa was his only friend, the only person he had left in this world it seemed. Sure everyone had lost friends and family today, but what would it be like to know you lost people that you couldn't even remember? No childhood, no past and no life beyond the one that began four short hours ago...

[Kestrel]

Lily looked after Adam and shrugged. Never had she felt so helpless, not even before she'd left her husband's home. At least this time she wasn't alone though.

,,

"It sounds alright to me, I guess. A hospital would have plenty of backup power for lights. And other people would want to go there, so we might meet other..." she paused, unwilling to say 'survivors.' It implied too much about the people who weren't present. "...people like us. There'd be food and water and radio."

,,

"We could do worse. Unless someone knows where one of those doomsday shelters people buy is hidden, it might be hard to do better."

,,

She looked over at the new girl, following her voice, and her eyes widened.

,,

"That...is...wow..."

,,

Lily gave Kylie an apprehensive look. "Is she...okay?"

[Kerilia]

"As okay as any of us I suppose. Thanks." She smiled a bit, but the other woman could see the concern and worry in her expression. Kylie turned to Khris and her smile turned wry, and her voice sardonic - partly as a defense mechanism for herself and partly to help soften the sting of what she was about to tell her friend.

"Well, we found the rest of the adventuring party, but like any good game the ST has thrown us a few complications. At least three people here claim the police station has shadow monsters, the police officer apparently has some sort of amnesia that he woke up with this morning, and the good doctor here thinks we're all nuts. We all seem to agree, however, that power is a priority, so the hospital has been the main suggestion so far."

She turned her gaze to Krystal, her smart-ass tone becoming serious. "How far away is your house?"

"It's south, around 61st and Walnut in the Brookside area.. about fifteen minutes in normal traffic," the stunning redhead replied.

Kylie glanced west and grimaced slightly - she liked the idea of someone's home with a residential generator they knew how to operate better, but sunset was approaching fast, and three people talking about shadow monsters after the day they'd already had was enough for her to want to err on the side of caution.

"Okay.. that's further south than the hospital. The Plaza traffic is gonna be pretty horrible, and the detour is gonna take us awhile.. I've driven it once today already. But the hospital is in that direction. Since the majority seem to be in favor of that, let's head there and hope the generators came on automatically, and last us the night. Or let's hope the doc here is right, and the stress is causing us all to just lose it and start imagining things. Cause any other option I can think of is even shittier than those two. If the hospital doesn't have power, then we'll head to Krystal's house as a backup.. unless anyone has a better idea, and fast."

[Krystal]

In the excitement and anxiety surrounding the supposed monster in the police station, Krystal had overlooked that she had agreed to go with Helena to the hospital. With the sun going down, there wouldn't be time to go there and get back to her place before dark.

,,

And while she'd much prefer the comfort and familiarity of home, there certainly was security in numbers. She privately agreed with Kylie about the hospital's generators, hoping they'd automatically activate at need. She might be handy with her hands, but a big, industrial system was probably beyond her skills.

,,

More importantly, it was just better to make a decision instead of dithering about one until it was too late.

,,

Let's just hope the Rules of Horror aren't in effect, otherwise we're going to regret holing up in what is effectively an abandoned hospital complex...

,,

"Sounds fair enough," Krystal agreed, nodding up at the much bigger woman. Her eyes flicked over Khris with hardly a hint of surprise. Funky hair and bioluminescent full eye contact lenses were hardly noteworthy to the Vegas native - short-fat-Mexican-Spider-Man was more of an oddity to her mind. "Let's get booting, in case we need to make some detours."

,,

Krystal reached her vehicle, opening the rear hatch, then pursed her full lips in a sharp whistle, summoning Fraz, who was engaged in the futile effort of staring down the cat. "C'mon girl, in you go."

,, ,,

The SUV rocked when Fraz jumped in the back. Krystal carefully placed the slow cooker behind the driver's seat so it wouldn't move around too much, then climbed behind the wheel. She planted her smartphone in the dashboard holder and used the app to check on her home computer, to see if she still had power there. A moment later, the Lexus hybrid purred to life; the side window whirred down, and Krystal poked her auburn-tressed head out.

,,

"Anyone need a ride? I got space for a few more, if you don't mind sharing with a dog."

[z-Tejah Ebadi]

Tejah stared around the group nervously. They were all afraid and no one was showing her why. She took a step closer to Bili, who she was starting to trust. When even Bili couldn’t muster one of her smiles for Tejah, she leaned against the woman. Bili blinked down at her and Tejah finally got a smile from her. It didn’t help settle Tejah’s nerves because it was clear that her protector was scared, too.

,,

Swallowing, Tejah slipped her hand into Bili’s, offering comfort through contact. Her protector jumped a little at the touch but squeezed her fingers silently. It made Tejah feel better too – the power of touching another human being.

,,

Bili stared at Adam after his revelation, irrationally annoyed with him for having such a weakness. They needed strength, not amnesiacs who couldn’t remember the most basic of details. After a long moment, she shook the anger off; there was nothing to do about it right now.

,,

As people started to head toward cars – apparently they were going somewhere now – Tejah glanced at Bili with a question in her eyes. “Hospital,” Bili told her – one of the few English words she understood. Tejah wondered who was hurt before realizing it might be a safe place to be. She glanced back at the police station, confused. Wasn’t this place safe too?

,,

She gazed at the black entrance of the police station and a chill shivered through her. There was no reason for her to be afraid, but suddenly she was very glad they wouldn’t be here tonight.

[Kestrel]

Lily went over to Krystal's car, nodding. "I'll take you up on that. Shotgun."

,,

She opened up the passenger side front door and got in.

,,

"Listen," the musician said after a second, "Sorry about all the drama. Not sorry that there was a...creature or something in there, or even that I freaked out. Just sorry about the..." she waved a hand around. "...screaming and running and all that. And I guess I don't blame you for thinking I'm crazy. Even with all the disappearances."

,,

She shook her head slowly.

,,

"Honestly, I kind of wish I was."

[z012]

End of Day 1

Congrats, we've finished the first thread! ,,

End of thread XP: (This is mostly the things that caught my attention or fancy as we went through the thread and on a run-through right now. If there's something you or another player did that you think is xp-worthy that isn't listed, feel free to say so in the OOC thread. I don't guarantee that I'll make an additional award, but I will consider it. )

,,

Adam: +1 for giving Eric a real personality in my head; +1 for handing Lily the $20; +1 for being a Sergeant and not just an Officer ; +1 for Lovecraft (I really did mean that in chat).

Total: +4 xp

,,

Helena: +1 for being hyper rational; +1 for being a doctor, first and foremost in Helena's priorities; +1 for being the only armed civilian so far; +1 for making Ben the invisible ride-along NPC with Helena.

Total: +4 xp

,,

Krystal: +1 for checking the internet for what would happen to the infrastructure if people stay gone; +1 for the crock pot; +1 for deputizing yourself; +1 for "Feedback."; +1 for Rules of Horror.

Total: +5 xp

,,

Kylie: +1 for the emotional punch to the gut for the player; +1 for OOCly acting as a guide to KC for other players; +1 for finishing making up the bed; +1 for keeping IC and OOC separate with an avatar character.

Total: 4 xp

,,

Lily: +1 for Bili and Lily sitting in a tree....; +1 for the dire shortage of men; +1 "It's a little weirder."

Total: +3 xp

,,

Tejah: +1 for what "everyone knows"; +1 for Tejah's not so enlightened self-interest at the airport; +1 for Yiddish cursing.

Total: +3