InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Mmm... flesh!"

i_digmummies (i_digmummies) wrote in we_coexist,
@ 2011-09-21 04:15:00

Entry tags:

amelia peabody, winifred burkle

Utter Disaster (Narrative/Open)
While the storm had raged, Amelia had been stuck in her apartment. She'd even been forced to head to the basement at one point, after spotting a tornado on the horizon. While the scholar in her wanted to witness it all first hand, she'd had enough sense to lay low until it was over. Common sense, and no small amount of fear. While she seldom succumbed to such emotion, this storm was more than she had ever seen, and the destruction following its wake was enough to scare even her. She could not recall ever witnessing such a powerful storm.

Once things had calmed down enough to make travel a possibility, Amelia put on her jeans and a pair of rubber boots that she really couldn't remember buying. She grabbed a few flashlights, her emergency tool belt, and her parasol, then gingerly made her way through the devastation to the Library. She needed to know if everything was alright there. She considered her position and the exhibition area a gift from the City as much as appropriate compensation for dragging her here and forcing her to face the truth about herself. Present or appeasement, Amelia took her responsibility very seriously. Besides, she enjoyed her work.

Her heart sunk when she saw how dark and deserted it looked. It was to be expected; as far as she knew a good portion of the City had been without power for many hours now, but to see a large public location in that state was disheartening. There were a few lights on, obviously running on a back-up generator, just enough that she could see all was not as it should be. There were several broken windows, and books and papers were scattered throughout the main area. She turned on her flashlight, sending the beam of light throughout the area.

"HELLO? ANYONE HERE?" She shouted into the seemingly dead building, but her call was met with silence.

Amelia made her way toward the exhibition hall and her office, hoping it wasn't any worse there. Just as she reached her office, she heard a distinct splashing as she walked. Not good. She cast the light toward the floor, seeing immediately the standing water before her. She crept forward cautiously, now seeing her entire section of the Library was over a foot deep in water.

"Damnation!" It was seldom she swore, much less in the favorite phrase of her husband. A husband that really wasn't a husband...she pushed the thought from her mind as it caught her off guard. Now was not the time to deal with the what-if's of being a figment of someone else's imagination. There were valuable pieces in there, pieces that belonged to other people's lives, past and present. And she was going to do all she could to salvage what could be saved.

With a sigh, Amelia set the flashlight down on the nearest surface and rolled up her sleeves. She sloshed her way through the hall, placing the flashlights she was grateful she had brought in various strategic locations. Now that she had a fair amount of light, she could see what a mess the entire hall was in. This was going to take hours and hours to clear out and determine what could be saved, and what would have to be disposed of.

"Alright, Peabody, it won't clean up itself," she admonished herself. "Best get started."

The City was going to owe her for this.

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i_figure
2011-09-25 06:19 am UTC (link)

Fred had thought of getting to higher ground during the storm, but by the time the water started making a pool out of her apartment, the storm was in full swing. She really did think the City needed to invest in better drainage. She managed to get a few clean dry things out of the closet and lock them away upstairs, and then waited out the storm in her new underground indoor pool. It was not the most fun she'd ever had.

When it was all over, or seemed to be, the brainy female gathered up the somewhat clean and dry things and climb up to the Angel Investigations' office. Glass was everywhere, and she didn't even want to think about how much repairs were going to cost. She'd have to take a few more underwear stealing poltergeist/ghosts to pay for it all.

Fred made a small bundle of the dry/clean clothes before taking a few moments to at least sweep the office. She also locked up the apartment and hoped that no one would try looting, even if she didn't have much worth taking. The books had disappeared during the rainy onslaught, Wesley's and Angel's, so she decided to go looking for them. First place to look would be the Library.

So, with her bundle of clean things, she headed out. Fred did stop to check on Harry, but he didn't seem to be in. With that, she made her way to the Library, helping out when she came across groups of people who looked like they could use her. Eventually she made it to her desired destination, and what she saw almost made her weep. She might have been crying on the inside by now, but new Fred and maybe old Fred just didn't cry when they had better things to do, right?

Fred with her bundle walked into what seemed to be a very empty Library, creepy, and was a little surprised by the light coming from the museum. "Hello? Is someone here, or has the Library grown lights?"

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i_digmummies
2011-09-25 02:07 pm UTC (link)

Amelia had been working for what seemed like hours, though she had accomplished little. The biggest thing was to deal with the water, but she had no idea how to manage that. She imagined the City's maintenance crews would eventually come along to take care of it, but with all the destruction, the Library was probably not high on the list of priorities. Things like hospitals and emergency centers would need to take precedence. While she hoped no one had been seriously injured, the devastation she had seen was indication enough that there were people in real need of help.

Her Library (which is how she had come to think of it, in the possessive manner) was her own responsibility in the meantime. Fortunately, it seemed a lot of the things that were more susceptible to the elements had been placed behind glass, like the stuffed rabbit that had been seeming to stare at Amelia in the dim light each time she walked passed it. It was one of the many objects in the exhibition hall that looked so ordinary, Amelia had no idea why they were here. The City knew, though, and it was the City's whims that mattered, apparently. At any rate, the rabbit and the other items that had been place in the protective cases had made it through safely.

Reaching down to pick up a sword that had toppled over beside the suit of armor- a sword she was still pretty convinced did not belong with the rest of the set- she stopped as she heard a voice call out. Rising up she peered through the hall, unable to see beyond the torches she had placed.

"Back here!" She set the sword down and waited to see who belonged to the woman's voice she had heard.

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i_figure
2011-09-26 12:12 am UTC (link)

Fred blinked. So, the Library hadn't just grown lights with the destruction of the recent and very unexpected storm. The City did like to throw things out at its inhabitants, but she was still amazed at how it left itself in such ruin. Maybe this was just another test in a string of many tests.

"Hello?" She picked her way through the rubble, careful not to get any wetter than she still was. She felt disgusting and it would be some time before she got a chance to be clean again. She hoped that she'd at least keep her little bundle of things tidy.

"Oh, hi!" Fred was very glad that there was actually someone here, not just some voice she'd heard. There was no telling what was hidden among the artifacts of the Library's new museum/display area. She'd not really taken the proper time to admire everything, and she guessed that it was possible that something very dangerous could be back here that could talk. That could be very bad.

"You're a person, not something that talks. That would be weird if you were something that talked and could answer a 'someone here?' with a 'back here.' But, I guess anything's possible. Hi. I just came to see if some books that are missing from my apartment had come to the Library to get out of my new indoor pool." Fred smiled. "I don't really have an indoor pool, but my apartment flooded. It's not really too too deep, couldn't swim in it comfortably. Unless you were shorter, I guess. You could wade in it. It's almost as deep as that one Gene Wilder had in that movie. I think it was about...Errol Fl..no! Rudy Valentino! Angel took me to see it." She took a moment to breathe.

"I'm Fred Burkle. Do you need help?" The question might have seemed silly, but some people were very particular about getting help.

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i_digmummies
2011-10-03 06:56 pm UTC (link)

It was difficult to keep up with the young lady's rapid and random points of conversation, particularly in Amelia's growing exhaustion. Something talking when no one was there? Well, considering all she had already seen in the City, that statement actually wasn't all that peculiar. The bit about being shorter making it easier to wade in water...that made absolutely no sense. Wouldn't water be higher on a shorter person? And since the Victorian woman had no idea who Jean Wilder might be, she ignored that entire comment completely.

Fred. She was looking at a girl named Fred. This City certainly seemed to pick and choose some odd types.

"Hello. I am Amelia Peabody." She sighed deeply, not realizing how tired she had become until she had stopped for a moment.

"I'd love some help, but I'm not sure what to tell you to do. I don't suppose you have a brilliant idea for getting all this water out of here?"

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i_figure
2011-10-04 03:34 am UTC (link)

"Hello, Amelia, or should I call you 'Miss Peabody'?" Yes, Fred was used to the more single type females. She didn't know that many who were married; somehow they just didn't pop up to often. If she only knew...

"Well..." Fred looked up at the ceiling then around. "We'd need electricity or a generator. I probably could jerry-rig a pump system, or maybe a dehumidifier. They probably have somewhere, but those may be damaged. I could probably find something if you have an extra light, and we can get some electricity. Or we can try calling someone for a generator. Though those are probably all taken up by the hospital."

Fred peeked into a few cases; there was so much in here. Surely there had to be something they could use. "Too bad we don't have a phaser. I bet we could do something with that. You don't happen to know if there are any phasers in the inventory, do you? They'd be a decent power source." She crouched down to look in a case, then sighed. No, that was just a lighter, a shiny lighter but still just a lighter.

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i_digmummies
2011-10-07 05:43 pm UTC (link)

"Amelia is fine. I hardly think we need to sit on such protocols as titles considering the circumstances." It had been one of the many, many things about this City and this time frame she'd had to get used to. The use of familiar names among strangers was odd to her, and highly improper. But it was a different time and place, and she knew well to go with the flow of it by now.

"Can you describe a phaser? What is it? I may have seen one, and not known what it was." She watched with caution as Fred began to snoop in the cases. She didn't like the idea of the odd woman snooping like that, but she knew she was just trying to be helpful. And it was better than her trying to create a make shift pump. At the moment, Amelia didn't put a whole lot of stock in her abilities. Perhaps it was unfair, but she had learned to usually trust her initial instincts about a person. Emerson would have argued that she was more often wrong that right, but she believed what she believed.

"You can take one of those if it will help?" Amelia pointed toward one of the flashlights. "I wouldn't know where to begin to look. Right now, I just want to make sure all the objects here are safe from the water until the City can send someone over to help."

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i_figure
2011-10-08 04:12 am UTC (link)

"Okay, Amelia. A phaser - it looks like a gun, but it doesn't have anywhere to load a bullet or clip. There's really no safety, but there is a dial or adjustment mechanism. May say death and stun, it may not. Probably a green to red color bar." Fred stopped looking around in the cases to step away and claim one of the flashlights.

"Thank you. I can find something." The brainy female was actually used to coming up with mechanical fixes as well as being underestimated. She knew she came off as a little strange, so if Amelia had said anything, Fred would have shrugged it off and kept looking/helping as much as she was allowed.

"We need a wetvac." She nodded as she picked up a few bits of what looked like driftwood, which was a little odd. She turned it over to get a good look at it before setting it down somewhere just out of the way, but not in a trash pile. Fred had no idea what might be of value to the woman.

Fred picked up a few more things, setting some of it in whatever trash pile or can that was around. She stopped to look at a case - a scroll? She wondered for a moment who the scroll belonged to, but soon, she shrugged and went on looking for the phaser and picking up what she could. Not that Amelia hadn't done a good bit of work before she showed up.

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