riverviewlogs | everything's on fire

who: Everyone!
what: The residential building is on fire
when: ~2am, August 23rd
where: The Residential building
warnings: Fire, destruction of property, injury, general warnings for crisis situations

It's a reasonably quiet night, pleasantly dry with a slight breeze. Almost nice, for those that enjoy the hours after midnight long before dawn starts to creep on the horizon. Right until it isn't, when the air changes, and there's the scent of heat that promises smoke. In most places it starts with a flash of blue light that arcs from floor to floor as energy pulses through the building, and there's a crack of sound that follows. The power dies for a moment, and if you're one of the unlucky ones, the light that follows is a literal spark in the dark, burning to life in bright orange-red, yielding heat and smoke and trouble. The energy surge doesn't just hit the lights, but sparked flames that burst to life, and they catch quickly, spreading.

The worst of it starts on the ninth floor, where the smoke and the beginning of heat starts moments before the surge. The fire spreads faster there, people starting to startle awake and realize what's happening as the flames crackle. Eventually there's an announcement on the Network, both alerting people to what's happening and trying to organize both those that are willing to help and those that need it.

Some areas are untouched, while others are ravaged badly, reduced to ashes and crumbling ceilings, so watch your step. There's chaos, but through it there's people doing what they can to help each other, and the official fire services show up to help control the blaze. After that, it's just a matter of repairing the damage that's been done, rebuilding and putting things back together, seeing what's been lost and what was saved.

Even later, people start putting the pieces together, and there's the official investigation into what might have caused a fire like that in the first place.

[ooc: As promised, the residential building is on fire! OOC plotting post is here if anyone wants to work out some last minute plans before diving in. Plotting post also includes the relevant details. Elsewise, just top level and mingle. Try not to get burned too badly. :) Good luck!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

So Lola watched a medic back away slowly from the crazy redhead. Lola was trying to figure out how to go about offering the woman water without, you know, yelling. She didn't really need that. She was really fit, she looked good in spite of the outfit and the soot. And the injuries. Lola's mind drifted off of 'how to approach' and 'what would she look best in' pretty quickly.

But her focus was still on Natasha, so her powers are clicking into place. Cleaning some of the soot and healing some wounds. There's also a calming 'not alone' feeling that comes with all this. Lola's the full package of supportive.

Natasha swears, if one more idiot comes at her with an oxygen mask wanting to check her pulse and look down her throat with a flashlight, she is going to scream. Only not really, because even talking hurts right now. Maybe she'll kick them. Point is, she doesn't need or want the attention. She's fine. She doesn't need anyone poking at her. She just needs to sit here a moment and wait for her heart to stop racing. Because of the adrenaline, not because she's still sunk deep into traumatic memories with no possible hope of clawing her way out of them. No, definitely not. So that racing heart should be slowing any moment now. Any moment now.

She takes another deep, shaky breath. Shaking because of the amount of smoke she's inhaled, of course. Only to be expected. See, it's already getting easier to breathe. She doesn't need anyone hovering. She just needs a moment to regroup and collect her thoughts. Even though that 'moment' is coming up on fifteen minutes at this point.

Lola finally manages to put together enough courage to approach, not enough to talk or really try to check on the very scary looking lady. But enough she can get close enough to offer the water bottle to her. That's, well, the minimum of helping Lola can get away with. Anyone who looks that sad, that messed up, at least she can offer them some water.

Of course her focus is still firmly on Nat, meaning her powers are still fully on. She'll stand there for at least a minute before she gives up and runs away, or if Nat takes the water, whichever comes first.

It takes Natasha a moment to actually see Lola, mostly because the girl isn't saying a thing. Natasha's knee jerk reaction is to give her a quick visual once-over, to try and determine what she might need. There's nothing obvious, though, and in fact the way that water bottle is angled, Natasha is pretty sure she's trying to offer help, not looking for it. So she reaches out a hand for it, the Bites on her wrists still powered on, though since their secondary power source is in the suit she is very obviously not wearing, there's no risk of accidentally shocking Lola. They just hum faintly, something in them needs fixing, but this particular issue hasn't been high on her list of priorities lately. The lines to her contact points, and the individual small burst charges in each chamber are still glowing brightly blue. Kind of like Lola's hair. At the moment, that's about as far as Natasha's attention can stretch - a young kid with bright blue hair.

Not trying to jam an oxygen mask onto her face or hustle her into the back of an ambulance, though, so points for that. It's the only reason she's taking the water bottle, because she really is incredibly thirsty. "Thanks." It doesn't sound quite as raspy as it might have a minute ago.

It shows how still vastly intimidating everything about Natasha is that Lola hasn't said anything. Well, Lola's a bit tired so she isn't looking for a challenge. She doesn't wanna pick a fight. Especially a fight she saw a medic just lose. So she just smiles awkwardly as she hands over the water.

And then she runs off to find other people to help. And whatever that feeling of 'not being alone' and the healing that came with it starts to taper off and vanish.

Well, that was definitely weird. The least objectionable person to approach her tonight, though, and she's starting to feel better. The water is soothing her throat, and it must be that release of tension that's making breathing easier for her. Maybe she should get out of the cold night air. Maybe she should try to get some sleep. Her eyes automatically move to the windows of the seventh floor, to how many of them are burned out. Her bed is probably ash right about now, and even if it isn't, it'll be reeking of smoke and probably soaked through from the fire hoses. She has nowhere to go. That didn't used to bother her much.

Now, it just makes her brace her elbows on her knees, head hanging down and soot blackened hair covering her face. That fatigue is coming back, creeping in slowly. Could tonight get any more frustrating?

everything's on fire

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