riverviewlogs | everything's on fire

Entry tags:

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

Keith gave Shiro a somewhat sheepish look, but nodded.

"Okay," he said. He knew he needed it, so there wasn't any point in arguing. And things were starting to settle down a bit out here, so it wasn't like he wouldn't be able to find people. He'd already found most everyone anyway, already. Just a few more...

Too bad Shiro didn't know all of Keith's friends. He could keep an eye out for them to make sure they were okay as well.

He carefully guided Keith over to where they had set up places for people to rest since this could be a while.

"How did you get hurt?" Shiro asked, waiting for Keith to sit.

And sit he did, placing his helmet to the side for now. Keith winced a little, pulling his left leg up so he rub at the ankle a bit. He'd gotten his armor and everything back on, and Altean armor was able to adapt to the size of the person wearing it, but Shiro might notice it looked like Keith's ankle was taped up underneath.

"I was going through the eighth floor and the ceiling came down in one spot," he said. "I got stuck under one of the beams." He looked a little sheepish. "Hana spotted me, though. She was able to use her mech to get the beam up high enough so I could get out."

He did indeed look when Keith sat down and pulled his leg up. He could see the faint outline of bandages through the suit they wore as it stretch a bit to accommodate the extra padding. Given everything else that could have happened tonight, nursing an injured ankle was nothing. A few days (if they could get Keith to rest) and he'd be back to himself.

"I'm glad you're okay and that she was able to find you. We had been looking for anyone trapped on the upper levels."

How ironic that it was Keith had gotten trapped. Also Shiro with Hana? Could Keith have ever guessed that would happen?

It helped, oddly enough, that spending time with Lola had apparently healed most of it, though the full connection there wasn't yet made that it was her and not just some fluke thing. As it was, his armor had been somewhat fixed up, too. He'd looked quite a bit worse, and the limp had been a lot more pronounced earlier. Now it was just stiff and sore.

"The upper levels..." Keith looked back up at the building. "We got everyone out, right?" He sounded concerned, but wasn't making any moves to indicate he might consider going back in. He knew he was done for the night.

"I searched all of the floors from 9 up. Anyone I saw up there, Hana and I helped them get out. So I would say that between all of us, we got everyone out."

Shiro had been more concerned with the high floors rather than the lower ones. Smoke rises and those would be the hardest for people to reach in a rescue attempt. It had been a gamble, but he'd figured there would be more people helping lower floors than higher.

Also with a limp, Shiro was not going to let Keith attempt going back in there again.

Keith had just been grabbing people and getting them out as he came across them, so he hadn't really done any sort of coordinated effort in regards to where he was looking. Either way, he had done his share of getting people out, at least.

He nodded.

"Yeah, it seems like it," he said, looking around now at the crowd in the street. There were others coming from around the other sides of the building, too, so it would be okay.

"I think I found most everyone I was looking for, too." If everyone was pretty much out, then they'd be okay. He was that worried at the moment now, just looking at the size of the crowd and figuring it all out.

"We're going to need to find a place to stay tonight," he said. "Lola mentioned that she was calling around to hotels and whatnot on her own already. I'm not sure what she got lined up to start with, but she also said someone from the city was likely on it, too."

"Good. I'm glad that you did. I think I did too." There were a lot of people so making sure you had found friends after something like this was important. He understood why Keith was doing it, but still his injured ankle wasn't helping.

"I'm sure they are. If there is space, we can move to one of the hotels for the rest of the night. Get cleaned up."

Since they were both covered in soot and ash from the fire.

Keith nodded.

"Yeah... that sounds like a good idea." He was looking forward to just chilling out for a bit, to be honest. He glanced over the crowd. "Though, I'm not sure who to even ask... or if we should wait for someone to come to us."

"At this point, if there is space, I'll just worry about it myself."

Not like he didn't have money from his job with the Perimeter Guard. He can worry about if there was compensation later. He'd much prefer having the room get cleaned up and so Keith could get off his feet and rest his ankle.

Keith considered that for a moment.

"I can help with the cost if it's expensive," he offered. He was working here, too, after all.

He smiled. Somehow it was easy to forget that Keith was working here too. Yes, he knew he was, but he had been a cadet the Garrison last Shiro knew on Earth, which more or less a student position rather than a real working position.

"Thanks. Sounds good."

The thought for others might have been let's split it, but it was Shiro's idea to not wait around. There were a lot of people and some of them worse off than they were so it was better to let them deal with those that needed it.

Keith nodded. He stretched his leg out a bit, flexing his ankle to work out some of the stiffness he was feeling. It was a little sore and could definitely do with a rest, but he was doing okay for now.

"Alright."

He didn't mind helping at all. He could now, seeing as how he was making enough money. For them moving out, he'd help with that, too, definitely. He had no issues with contributing.

Shiro managed to fish out his phone from where he'd stashed it in the armor. So much here seemed to depend on that phone so he'd made sure to have it. Otherwise he probably would have left it to burn in the fire. With his phone out, he began to check the information for places they could stay. It took a few tries but he managed to reach a hotel that had a room available. Keith would be able to hear that he made the reservation for two nights rather than one.

"So we have a place to stay for a few nights. That'll give somewhere to sleep the rest of the night, and another day to figure out what the plan is after this."

"That makes sense," Keith said. "I'm not sure how fast this place is going to be fixed." He looked back up at the building. The floors closest to where the fire had been on the ninth were obviously pretty bad off. And, even if their floors, two and fifteen, weren't as badly damaged, who knew just how stable the building was now overall?

"I wonder if they'll let us back in to grab some stuff. Our floors don't look too bad from here. I didn't see any flames, just smelled the smoke."

"I'd think after a day, they will have some idea of where we are going, but I'd prefer not having to leave the hotel without knowing anything about where we would go." Especially with Keith's ankle needing to rest. Having that extra day to get organized and not having to drag everything out.

"You might be able to. I wouldn't try to get to mine."

Because he had to pass the worst of the floors to get to his floor.

Keith nodded.

"Makes sense, and yeah... you were above it."

He debated it, but he knew the elevators would be out. It wasn't a very tempting idea at the moment.

"It doesn't look like there's much more for us to do here, then. I guess we can head to the hotel?"

He did still need to get his ankle looked at tomorrow, but the EMT who had treated him hadn't thought it was bad enough to take him directly to the hospital right away. Just to get it checked out once the panic was over so that anyone with any worse injuries could be treated first. Plus, with whatever it was that had happened to him while he had been talking to Lola, it wasn't as bad as it had been when he first had been hurt.

"Yeah, let's head to the hotel. We can let others know where we went when we get there."

It was better than sitting around waiting for information. Shiro had a vague idea how this worked - or should work - from some of the lessons with the Garrison once he was actually employed with them. There were priorities and those who were less of a priority had to wait. Since Keith's ankle was only banged up and Shiro was uninjured, they were low priority - as well they should be. But it also meant they wouldn't receive information until later and were potentially in the way until then. Getting out of the way would help those trying to help others and be more comfortable for them.

So Shiro helped Keith up, walking with him in the direction of the hotel. He kept a slower pace in case Keith needed to lean on him.

Keith did accept the help, wincing a little at the stiffness in that ankle, but he was okay once they got moving, as long as they didn't push it too hard. So, slow was fine for now. He could get some ice at the hotel, at least, if he needed it.

Thankfully, it wasn't all that far, so it wasn't a hard push for him.

No, not far and soon they reached the hotel. It might have been a little weird in any other situation that they arrived at the hotel in their armor and covered with soot, but since the hotel had probably been receiving calls, it didn't seem so weird. Shiro checked in at the front desk, getting the key from the receptionist.

Tonight was probably the most excitement a night receptionist was going to have.

With that taken care of, he helped Keith over to the elevator so they could head up to the room.

By now, Keith was limping again, and was definitely looking forward to trying to get back to sleep. His helmet tucked under his arm, he waited for Shiro to get the room keys, and then followed him to the elevator and down to the room. He yawned, flopping on to the end of the first bed.

"Man... I. Am. Tired."

The walk to the hotel, even as short as it was, had given him time to come down off the adrenaline from the whole incident, and now he was just exhausted. He rubbed his face.

He made an amused scoff as Keith basically collapsed on the bed.

"Should probably take your armor off first, at least the white part. Might be a little more comfortable that way."

He was taking his off, even if he was leaving the black suit on under it.

"Heh... Yeah." Keith started working on that, too, with the same goal in mind. It wasn't like they had any other clothes with them. They'd have to figure that out tomorrow. As he did, he yawned. Removing the armor actually went a lot smoother than he expected, but then again, whatever it was that happened when he'd been talking Lola had gotten rid of pretty much all his bruises. The only real lingering thing was his ankle. Even his armor wasn't as beat up looking as it had been when Hana had first gotten him off the 8th floor.

Keith studied one of the arm pieces, turning it over in his hands in curiosity, trying to figure out what might have happened.

Yeah, more clothes would come tomorrow. For now they could deal with this. It wouldn't be too bad for one night. Shiro set his armor down in a corner, trying to make sure all the soot stayed in one place rather than being spread around everywhere. He figured the housekeeping staff would appreciate that more than having it look like a literal mess.

He had just gotten the bulkier pieces of armor off when he saw Keith staring at his.

"What's up?"

Keith almost jumped a little, but managed to keep it to just a quick look back up at Shiro in surprise. He'd been pretty focused.

"Oh... uh, well... it's just... because of the ceiling cave-in, everything had been pretty beat up looking, but... well, whatever it was that happened to get rid of the bruises and all that seemed to have fixed up any scuffs and things on the armor, too." He shrugged. "It's just weird. I don't know where it came from." But he quickly continued. "I mean, not that I'm not grateful it happened, 'cuz I am. Less down time and I don't have to figure out how to fix this on my own without the Castle's resources, but yeah. It was just weird, and I don't even know who or what to thank for it."

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