Who: NPCs Cam, Wes, Matt, Bryn, and the Marijuana Party. Marijuana, via speaker phone. What:City-wide blackout. Where: The Highway. When: Thursday, 12:01-12:21 Warnings: Language, drug references.
"What?"
Marijuana's voice cracked like a whip through the darkness and Cam winced, tightened his shaky grip on Tommy's hand as he felt something brush by him in the dark. "Everything just went black. I mean, I can get a bit of light from the screen of my cell phone, but it's dim. I barely managed to find your speed dial button." From the darkness around him came a strangled sob from Matt and then the rustle that told Cam that Wes was trying to comfort the youngest of the Highway crew. Bryn was silent at his side, her nails digging into his arm and Tommy, the poor kid, was trembling harder than Cam himself. "We're all in the back room, but-" Cam's voice faltered. "Marc, is this something-"
Marijuana's mind raced. "Yes." It had to be something immortal but Marijuana didn't know what and he cursed himself for being at the cabin when he should have been home, should have been helping them. "Is Tommy with you?"
"Yes. Marc, what the fuck do we do?"
Marijuana sagged in relief, reaching out to grasp his husband's hand tightly as his mind worked furiously. There was going to be widespread panic. There couldn't not be widespread panic. As if to confirm that, a scream was heard outside the Highway and the sound of it, transferred through the cell phone and into Marijuana's ear, made him snap out of his rushed contemplation. "Wes?" The bodyguard grunted in acknowledgment. "Lock the doors, pull down the bars." The sound of movement, then, and another gasping sob from Matt before Tommy reached out to hold the boy's hand in Wes' absence. "Cam, how much product is in the back room?" Cam winced. "Fifty grand worth of heroin, fifty grand worth of pot."
Marijuana sighed. "Leave it. Now, all of you... Wes, are you back yet?" Another grunt, and a whisper that came from the shadows and not from the five. "Move slowly out of the back room. Hang onto each other, never break contact. Cam, lock the door to the back room behind you. Then make your way up the stairs to the apartment, Cam, lock all four locks on the ground level door, alright?" The mortals, and Tommy, complied, moving carefully through the darkness even as a car horn honked loudly and there was the loud sound of two cars crashing together on the street outside. Marijuana winced, a touch of urgency making its way into his voice. "Now, be careful going up the stairs, alright? Hold onto each other. Cam, lock all four locks behind you."
The five of them, four terrified mortals and one just-as-terrified young god, slowly made their way up the stairs as the noise out on the street continued to rise, as the shadows almost seemed to reach out and touch them. It was confusion, fear, mass panic, and it made Cam shudder to think that some of his lower drug runners and techies were out in that chaos. But he had the Highway to think about, the inner circle to protect, Marc's son to protect and once they made it upstairs, he shut the door quickly behind them, fumbling in the dark to turn each lock. Three locked doors between them and the chaos, but it wasn't enough.
"Now make your way into the bedroom." Marijuana coaxed, knowing that there was just one lock on the bedroom door but it was another layer of protection between those he cared about most and what was happening outside. Matt continued to sob as Wes tugged him toward the bedroom, Bryn was still deathly quiet as her eyes tried in vain to see, Tommy still trembled but Cam managed to get them all into the bedroom with only one incident, Matt stumbling on a towel Marijuana had left on the floor in front of the bathroom. Wes pulled him up and, eventually, the five huddled on the carpet of Marijuana and Heroin's bedroom with yet another locked door between them and the chaos outside.
"Stay down." Marijuana urged. "Try not to make any noise. If you hear anyone try to get into the shop, don't go downstairs. You're safe in the bedroom and we can replace anything that gets stolen. Don't try to light anything, just stay quiet and calm and it'll be over soon." He didn't know that, however, and as he looked out the cabin window to see the sunlight shining, his stomach sank at the thought of his mortals and his son huddled in terror in a room, in a city with no light.
Outside, there was a loud crash, the break of glass and the squeal of tires and metal. Cam's voice shook. "I think a car just crashed through the front window of the shop next door."
Marijuana bit his lip. "Don't worry about that. Just concentrate on me, alright?" He cast about for a way to distract them and, although it wasn't necessarily a good way, his voice was light and curious as he continued. "Now! Everyone, tell me your favourite movie." He knew, of course, but it was a way to keep them calm, talking.
Tommy's voice sounded subdued, shaky. "Super High Me."
Bryn's voice was tight. "Clueless."
Matt still sobbed even as he spoke. "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory."
Wes tugged Matt closer. "Fight Club."
Cam contemplated it for a moment. "Star Wars."
Marijuana laughed slightly, a sound he didn't really feel. "Which one, Cam-my-boy?"
It took Cam only a second to reply. "Return of the Jedi."
They remained like that, in the darkness, answering queries about their favourite songs and food and seasons, Marijuana questioning them lightly to distract them from the fact that they couldn't see a thing and the city was erupting in chaos around them.
After twenty minutes, light returned to New York City.
Marijuana continued to reassure them, gave them parting orders and, when he finally turned off the phone, he turned to his worried husband with a sigh that contained every anxiety he'd felt as he'd coached his mortals and son through the blackout.