everything's on fire

[krasnaya_vdova]

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!]

Comments

[bunnyhopped]

She barely fit up here, and she had to be extremely careful with how she moved her mech; luckily she was an incredibly proficient pilot even if she hadn't been one for very long. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the bayard materialize and then turn into a sword which— okay, that was pretty cool and she wondered what exactly it was, but it also wasn't the time for it, not when she was trying to hold up a chunk of fallen ceiling.

Not for much longer at least, because when she heard Keith give her the all-clear, she felt a little relieved.

"Okay, I'm letting go!" And the debris was dropped. Now that he was out of the pile, the next matter would be getting out of the building. She pivoted in her mech to face him.

"Are you hurt badly? There's support down in the streets, I'm sure someone can help you with any injuries."

[tempredmental]

Keith seriously considered the stairs, but they were like 8 floors up. Hobbling that far down the stairs when they could potentially be rickety this close to the fire was not exactly top of the list of things he wanted to do at the moment. Jumping from this high wouldn't be great either. He had the jetpacks to slow himself down, but he'd still need to land, and that would probably hurt. No, it would definitely hurt. He sighed.

"I'll need a ride down," he admitted. "Got a spot I can hold on to on that thing?"

[bunnyhopped]

There was something in the way he stood, or maybe she was imagining it, but she didn't think he needed to push himself more than he needed to under the current circumstances. She moved her arms down and closer together, and the mech's arms followed the same motions.

"Probably safest if I just carry you."

You know, like, princess style.

[tempredmental]

Keith studied the arms for a moment. That looked... probably worse than if he just held on somewhere. Those were guns... not hands. His arms were fine, so he wouldn't have a problem just holding on. Still, though... arguing about it was just going to delay her from getting to someone else that might need help getting out.

"As long as I'm not going slide off half-way down," he grumbled, attempting to find some handholds so he didn't do just that...

[bunnyhopped]

Look, they were cannons, but he was going to be on top of them, okay, so his chances of getting accidentally shot or something were pretty low. Besides, the alternative was for him to ride on top and hold onto one of the "bunny ears," but Hana didn't have the room to maneuver so that he could get on top to do that easily enough without major effort.

"You're not!" she said it a bit defensively. Gosh, just trust her. "It'll be a smooth ride all the way down, okay? Jeez."

She waited for him to get settled and secured; there were plenty of little nooks and for him to hold onto, at least, or if he really wanted to he could hold onto Hana's actual arms.

"All good?"

[tempredmental]

Keith frowned at her, but managed to find said handholds, and gripped on tight. He wasn't worried about getting shot, though should he be? Just how easy was it for her to shoot those things, anyway? But, still, he hung on and nodded when she asked if he was ready.

"Yeah... let's go."

[bunnyhopped]

"Alright!"

With the joysticks she turned the mech slowly to face the direction of the opening she'd come in through; thankfully, the path out was still clear and she wouldn't have to cause more unnecessary destruction trying to get out. Then she eased the controls forward slowly and the mech began to accelerate gradually.

"Engaging boosters. I'll take us down easy but there's a lot going on down there. Just hold on tight."

The mech sped out of the building, then, and Hana began a gradual descent back down to the street level, having to find some room to maneuver mid-air so that she wasn't taking them too far down the road, although she could always get them back in no time on the ground. Contrary to her promise, the ride may be a bit bumpy for Keith on the way down and maybe the landing, too, despite Hana's best efforts. The truth of the matter was that her mech wasn't really built to carry people down; heck, it wasn't originally built to even house a pilot inside of it, either. But she tried her best and once they were down on the street she looked at him from behind the canopy.

"One sec. Let me get out of here so I can help you down—"

[tempredmental]

Keith was actually pretty clingy. He had no trouble keeping himself attached to the mech as Hana maneuvered it, even with it not being the smoothest ride. Though, watching her work it and being this close to it, he could sort of see now that it didn't really looked designed for what she was doing with it. The first clue was the fact that it didn't actually have hands. It was definitely a battle machine, with gating guns for arms, which was what he was balancing precariously on at the moment. Other than that, from what he could see of her own position compared to the shape of the mech itself, it didn't look like it had been designed with her comfort in mind, either. She looked like she was in a pretty awkward position in there.

Once they were down and solidly planted, Keith started to shift his position a bit in order to get down, even before she said she'd help him off the arms. He stared at her a second.

"I can do it." He might sound a little defensive. This was someone who was fiercely independent and used to being on his own. Accepting help was hard for him.

[bunnyhopped]

What was a little awkwardness and a stiff back to suffer through when it was for the greater good? That was what Hana would think, anyway. But Keith would be correct in pretty much all of his observations about her mech and he would be correct, too, to climb off himself because apart from exiting the mech and physically helping him down, the only other thing she could do was basically drop him on his ass. So she didn't object when he got defensive; in fact, she could relate to that stubbornness about receiving help from others. She merely shrugged her shoulders at him and let him climb off.

"Suit yourself! But you should probably sit out of the action the rest of the night. Do you know where the medic tents are?"

[tempredmental]

Yeah. As much as Keith hated to admit it, Hana was right about him staying put outside on the ground here. He carefully swung himself off, leaving his weight on his arms as long as needed until he was sure of his balance, then let go. Running up and down multiple flights of stairs in a fifteen story building on an injured ankle was probably the worst idea possible. He wasn't even sure of the extent of the injury, yet.

"Yeah... I've already been over there with a few people I pulled out," he said. He remembered where it was, and was also pretty sure he could hobble himself over there well enough. He carefully limped a few steps back to give her some clearance so she could take back off again. "Thanks." He looked a little embarrassed that he needed to have his butt pulled out of there by someone else, but he was genuinely thankful for her help.

[bunnyhopped]

She recognized the expression on his face when he gave his thanks; if they were in any less dire circumstances, she might have teased him for his sheepishness but as it was.. she merely gave him a nod, and raised a hand to salute him.

"Just doing my job!"

And she smiled at him as though to say, no big deal, before adding, "Don't sweat it. Just get your leg looked at, okay? And I got split up from him but – Shiro's probably looking for you, so you should get in touch with him. I'm going back in. Stay safe!"

With that she raised her mech's arm and actually... waved at Keith. With the mech's arm. Before she turned and engaged her boosters to make her way back up to where she might be needed.

[tempredmental]

Keith nodded, glancing first at the building and then out at the crowd when she mentioned Shiro.

"Thanks," he said. "I'll keep an eye out for him." Keith didn't want to try and call Shiro on the communicators and potentially distract him if he was inside still.

"Same to you."

He reflexively raised his arm to protect himself as Hana kicked the boosters on and headed back into the building to look for more people. Once the wind from the backwash of air had died down, he headed for the first aid station.