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

"But..." Lola's having a much harder time focusing, so her new powers keep cutting in and out as she tries to think about what Marinette said. So for a few moments her powers stop, as she tries to take the idea of 'powers are normal' and work with that. Lola had accepted this place was impossible, but that was it, it didn't change any universal truth, this place was the exception. As was... everyone else's places, from what she knew. When she started to answer her focus shifted back to Marinette, and her power resumed its work on her wounds, "Everyone's stuff is so different, even if having powers is normal... you're still alone if it separates you from others in some way."

Lola grinned weakly, "I got that done here. My hair changes colors how I want. Except when I'm really tired. Or asleep. Or if I get distracted. No more bleaching and dyeing all the time." From experience she wasn't mentioning how she got that done as much anymore. Everyone got so weird about that.

"You're not alone. Why would you think you would be, just because someone has a different power?" Marinette coughed a little, before giving Lola an odd look. "I mean... how is that any different from not having powers?" Marinette tilted her head curiously. "Even people without powers have those feelings of being alone, because they're different. I mean.. it's not true...at least unless you make it that way, in my opinion. You have your friends, and you can make friends, even if you don't want to, or can't tell them about what makes you different," She thought for a moment, "At the end of the day all it means is that - you have something that makes you different from someone else and that's something we should all embrace. I mean, can you imagine going to school with people who are exactly like you, all the time?" She grinned, "I'm not sure I could handle being around a crowd of me's. I thrive on variety."

"Because... that's who I've always been?" Lola wasn't sure the right way to phrase it, it was hard to just describe yourself. But Lola was never going to get noticed for what she could do, she accepted that, she became that. She didn't feel bad failing her exams because she tried really hard, and came up short. Because she wasn't smart, she wasn't special. Well, okay, she was special in some very specific ways she crafted and honed from the age of about ten. That she took pride in, that took work, silly self-involved work.

"I know that everyone is different from everyone else, I just don't wanna be different from me."

"You've always been alone." Marinette gave her a flat, skeptical look. "Must make your friends feel good to hear you say that about yourself." She motioned idly with a hand, "Besides, that sounds more like something you chose to accept than anything else. If you're fine with that, that's one thing, but I wouldn't be. I guess I can't really understand that kind of mentality." Just giving up for whatever reason.

"You mean if you had powers? How does that make you different? You'd still be you - you'd just be able to do something that someone else couldn't." Yea, she doesn't get it. When she was given her power she was reluctant to have it just because she thought it she was a bad choice.

"I'm tired and not really explaining it right," Do not let Lola talk when she's this tired, it's a bad call. Although, 'always been alone' felt a lot more right than it didn't. A lot of her memories were of people not being there for her. It wasn't what she meant, but it wasn't entirely wrong either.

"Would you be the same if you were a foot taller? Or a boy? Or had bright green hair?" She hoped the point got across with little changes, because she didn't really wanna talk about big changes. Well, she didn't mind it as much anymore. Those were as much a part of her as anything else. "You're pretty normal too, but everyone else here does amazing things. I've accepted that isn't me, I didn't want anything more than what I had."

Marinette was equally tired, so that was also probably why she didn't understand. Well that and Lola not making sense. She does give a giggle at that question though, "Height, gender and hair color doesn't define who I am," Maybe she was more well adjusted than Lola. "Well if you DID have a power, you'd just be denying part of who you are, and that's kind of sad. Still, it would be your choice to use it or not." She thought it'd be cool though. And if nothing else, she was thinking the power to change hair color is still cool.

"Everything defines who you are," Lola put so much work into looking how she did because it defined her. It changed how people looked at her, and how she looked at herself. And those things do matter, that's what she learned. From every time something changed her without giving her a choice, not speaking English, her mom leaving... "If I have powers, I guess I'll get over it. I got over everything else that's changed me. I mean, it can't be harder to accept than getting an abortion."

Lola just didn't want to change right now, she was happy.

"I'm going to have to disagree with you on that too," Marinette said, "What you look like on the outside doesn't define who you are on the inside." Slapping a new coat of paint on a car doesn't change anything about the car. "Whether I'm male, 2 feet tall, purple haired or whatever, I'd still be me. Nothing can change that."

She definitely wasn't going to see eye to eye with Lola on this, or other points. She stretched, since she was feeling surprisingly a lot more refreshed since her little break (she assumes). "I'm going to see if anyone else needs help. You should keep resting, you look really worn out." She suggested, getting to her feet.

Lola yawned in response, it wasn't really an argument worth having right now. Too tired. She wasn't sure if she could even explain her point right now. It'd be a lot of words and she probably couldn't handle emojis right now. "Whatever, I should probably head to my hotel room. Sleep for a week."

"I've helped as much as I can, if I don't leave now I'll probably collapse on my way there." Lola pulls herself up slowly and dusts herself off.

everything's on fire

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject