Light of May ::: an original roleplay

Who: Catriona and Roxy.
Where: A random store.
When: Early afternoon.

( It had been days since she'd had a proper meal )

Who: Jackson and Zachary.
Where: Outside the high school, away from the crowds.
When: Early evening.

There was a big difference between hearing about something like this and seeing it first-hand and after all the rumours and gossip he’d heard floating around, not just around town but also on the radio and news channels, Jackson had decided he had to see it for himself. That was what had brought him all the way from the dojo to the high school though he had made sure not to get too close. Jackson was still keen not to draw too much attention to himself and getting any closer than he was now -- across the street and around to one side of the building instead of towards the front somewhere -- was a risk he wasn’t willing to take. Since arriving in Scarlet Oak he had had more strange encounters than he cared to count. He was in no rush for another one.

With his hands lightly pushed into his pockets he had managed to adopt an air of nonchalance as he looked over at the school across the street, picking up on threads of conversations as they drifted along on the air. People were scared, confused, well and truly thrown by what was going on. Jackson heard the word magic tossed around at least half a dozen times, if not more. He hadn’t been keeping count. It wasn’t something he had had all that much experience with beyond that bizarre encounter in the woods with the girl who hadn’t seemed old enough to be driving her own car let alone practising magic and even then it had been such a confusing meeting that Jackson hadn’t learned much of anything about the craft.

There were a lot of things he didn’t know.

Suddenly his back straightened and the air of nonchalance was marred by the tension that ran down the length of his spine, spreading across his shoulders and through his chest and abdomen. There was another wolf nearby, one whose scent he didn’t recognise, and to make matters worse they seemed to be headed right for him, whether they realised it or not. Slowly, trying not to draw attention to himself, Jackson drew his hands from his pockets, turning his head to the left as casually as he could to try and locate the other wolf before they got too close.

Who: Regan and Zoie
Where: UofM hospital lunchroom
When: Mid-afternoon

( But Nora was not there and what Nora did not know would not hurt her. )

Who: Jax and Erika
When: Midday
Where: Seeds of Beauty

Jax had the kind of mom where anything she told you as gospel, you had to take with a grain of salt. Her interests and beliefs were constantly shifting with the world, and the family more or less humored her with all of them. Except for that time when he was in middle school and she'd tried to insist that the family wear nothing but hemp. He'd had to put his foot down there. Still, one bit of advice he had taken to heart was that you never visit someone's home as a guest and go empty-handed. But his mom hadn't invented that pearl of wisdom, it was just common courtesy and good sense. So even if he was returning to his childhood home, he wasn't empty-handed. He had gifts for his parents and sisters, all little random things he'd picked up around the world, and a good bottle of wine. It had been a long time since he'd been properly home for a while, so he felt he needed to do the job properly.

He'd been listening to the radio about the trouble at the high school - that was a fucking nightmare, and something he was already itching to look in on himself - when he hit a detour that took him off main street. That was when he decided to get his mum and his sisters flowers. He followed the gps to the nearest florist, a place called Seeds of Beauty. He parked in the street and headed inside. Okay, maybe he was kind of sucking up to his family, but it'd be really great if they quit sending him crazy grief spirits and flat out begging hadn't worked yet.

Who: Ruthie and open!
When: Shortly after 9 AM
Where: Main street, not far from the school

Ruthie hadn't slept. She'd been at home waiting for the kid to call that he was ready to be picked up, and it had never come. She had comforted herself with this by justifying it a few different ways. Maybe he had finally made friends. Maybe they were going to hang out some more. Maybe, maybe, maybe. But she'd been worried. Eventually she'd gotten the call from the police to come down, she'd sent Brenda a message, and she'd gone to the school. She had very calmly listened to the officer's explanation that sounded like a very fancy and official way of saying 'dude, we are so fucking lost.' Then she had sat down at the curb and waited.

Her first coherent thought had been something along the lines of 'Jesus Christ, we had that kid for five minutes and we lost him already.' And then her brain had gone blissfully blank. She sat and waited. A few times in the night she spoke with family members, updating them as to what was going on, and there were a lot of talks and texts with Brenda. She didn't move until the next morning and the police told her everyone had to go across the street. She had done that. And when the drills came up, she got up, and began walking down the street. Earth wasn't complaining to her, much... the weird thing was that Earth seemed to understand they needed to hurt Her to exhaust all options... but Earth also knew that it was pointless. She had told Ruthie. They weren't going to get in that way.

She couldn't listen to it. She just fucking couldn't. So Ruthie started walking away from the crowds, with every intention of going back once they stopped drilling into her fucking element.

Who: Domina (brief NPC appearance by her mother) and open!
When: Early morning
Where: it's all happening at SOHS... and surrounding properties

( In summary, Domina Moriarty is having a shitty day. )

Who: Savvy and Kiley.
Where: The Normandin-claimed field across from the high school.
When: Very, very early morning, not long after midnight.

With everything that was going on Savvy had already heard from her employers, who had told her that they wouldn’t be at the restaurant that day and so they would have no need of her services. She would still get paid for the day, they had assured her, and they would let her know when they would be back in their establishment. Whether they knew someone -- a relative, perhaps, or maybe they had a child of their own? Savvy wasn’t sure -- inside the school she didn’t ask because it felt rude to pry like that, she’d simply texted them back to thank them for letting her know, promising that she would make up for lost time as soon as they were back in the restaurant. They responded to let her know not to worry, and they would see her soon. That had been that. It all worked out for the best, really, with her plans to head down to the school, to spend God only knew how much time there. For all she knew they would be there for hours, maybe even the whole day.

Maybe longer. As Savvy travelled down already-crowded sidewalk approaching the high school she was thinking about just what might be going on, how it might tie into the other strange goings-on recently. By the time she gave up on the packed sidewalk and started to travel -- carefully, constantly checking up and down for any moving vehicles -- on the street itself instead she didn’t have much in the way of answers and when the building itself came into sight she only really had one possible explanation, and her first glance at the school felt like a confirmation.

Magic.

Something inside of her recognised it, even from this distance, and chewing silently on the inside of her bottom lip she studied it from where she stood, trying to fathom just how much power would have to go into something like that to make it hold. It made her brain hurt just thinking about it.

“Miss, are you all right?” It was a man in uniform. Savvy found herself wondering if this guy worked at the same station as Mason, but instead of asking that, she smiled and asked a different question instead.

“I’m looking for the Normandins? They’re around here somewhere, I just--”

“Oh, yeah, sure. They’re here.” He was nodding, taking a look around before snapping his fingers and turning decisively to point across the street. Savvy followed his gaze, finding what he was directing her to almost immediately. It was a field, for all intents and purposes, and even from where she was standing she could see people moving around, busying themselves with particular tasks. “They’ve set up shop over there, kind of laid claim to it, you know?” the guy in the uniform was saying, and Savvy picked up on just how curious he was about the whole thing. “I guess it’s a wolf thing,” he added. “You know, territorial behaviour or whatever.”

Savvy smiled and nodded. “Right.” Time to go. “Thanks!” And with that she was on her way, crossing the street and making a beeline for that field, searching around for-- there she was. Kiley was easy enough to pick out, the Normandins themselves were all blonde and, well, statuesque. People like Kiley and Savvy were going to stick out like sore thumbs, but so be it. At least they would be sore thumbs together.

As she came up to her best friend’s side she offered out one of the items she had been carrying with her all the way from her apartment. It was a travel mug, filled with coffee made to Kiley’s preference, and as she offered it she said, “It’s no Starbucks, but it doesn’t suck. Not too bad, anyway.” Because what else could you say to your best friend when she was worried sick about her boyfriend who was trapped inside a magically-encased high school?

Who: Bess, Reggie, and Kahlan
Where: Reggie's Apartment
When: Morning

( WHERE IS KEELIN? )

WHO | Harper & Josh
WHERE | Bits & Bytes
WHEN | Lunchtime

( Sparky! I had an accident! )

WHO: Sugar and Jonas
WHERE: Outside Scarlet Oak high school
WHEN: Mid-morning

The desperation just outside the high school was almost as thick as the cheesecake Sugar was now happily consuming out of its little plastic take-out box. He'd sensed it last night, but as the hours passed, the panic only increased. After all, wasn't it some sort of statistic that after the first hour of a hostage situation, the likelihood of getting everyone out alive diminishes exponentially? Of course, this wasn't exactly a hostage situation...at least as far as Sugar could tell. No one had asked for a ransom yet. Which would be the point of a hostage situation. Or perhaps terror. But still. That involved someone standing up to take credit of orchestrating the situation. Nothing of the sort had happened so far and Sugar was honestly rather amused by the idea of this fantastic show.

( He hadn't necessarily come for a deal, but he'd take one if it happened. )

Who: T.J. and Toby
When: Early Morning
Where: Their house

( Most roommates likely wouldn’t have cared if one of them wanted to be by themselves all night long, but for Toby and T.J., such behavior was uncommon. )

DATE: Monday, September 28th, 2009

BIRTHDAYS: None

WEATHER: Still overcast, damp, and cool.

EVENTS: By 1 AM, the national guard is on the scene at the high school. By 3, military vehicles and helicopters are in abundance and the marines begin securing the area. Barricades are put in place, and no civilian is allowed within twenty yards of the wall itself. That means all the loved ones gathering outside have to go across the street and onto other people’s property, but that’s okay, right? Neighbors help each other in times of need.

Not so much. A lot of the property surrounding the school, whether it be a business or personal residence, is charging a daily fee to basically hang out and wait for news. Basically every business within the block is charging for parking now, because it’s just about the only way they can make money. Traffic on the road is ridiculous, and streets around the school are being closed. The good news is that local politician Bram Moriarty has paid several businesses up front for loved ones to use space on a first come, first serve basis, but if you’re lucky enough to actually secure a spot within viewing distance of the school, don’t expect to get it back again when you leave. A lot of family members are just not leaving. A notable example is the Normandin pack, who paid the daily feels on the field across the street from the football field and actually started setting up tents.

Whether they’re camping out on the spot or not, no one’s actually being told anything. By the time the military gets there no one’s being told anything, and everyone’s actually under orders not to talk to the public for the time being. By the time the sun comes up Scarlet Oak is a media circus, with the tragedy getting global coverage. Hotels book up and run out of rooms as members of the press begin flying in. In the afternoon, the president addresses the nation, and assures the citizens of Scarlet Oak that they’re doing their best to get to the bottom of the situation and that his prayers are with them all.

Nobody knows anything useful. Simple as that. At some point in the night the military confirms that the wall is more like a dome, so nobody can be airlifted in or out. At about 9 am, they get out the heavy machinery and start trying to dig underneath it. That never works either, no matter how far down they go. A group of witches in military uniforms can be seen trying something in the distance, but that has no success either.

So what’s it like for everyone inside? No big changes, actually. No one will finish their designated tasks today, though tomorrow is a possibility.

MOD NOTE: If you are in one of the homecoming groups, do not start new scenes yet. Scenes from last gameday must go farther first. Groups must face everything described in the last time update to advance. When you feel your group is ready to advance to the next gameday, contact a mod for permission.

Who: Brien, Hyemi, Lotti, Rowan
When: That is such an awesome question
Where: Tunnel of Lo-HOLY SHIT WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT ;_;

Rowan's feet were freezing. She huffed irritably and tried to find a more comfortable position. She made to roll over, and promptly slid a few more inches down the incline. She was now up to her knees in water. ...the hell?

Rowan's eyes snapped open, and she still felt that heavy sensation. That was what had happened. She'd been at the dance, hating every second of it, and things had started to feel heavy. After that? Nothing. Where the hell was she? She could hardly see anything. The ground beneath her felt like some kind of metal. She was on an incline. She could hear water dripping. There was a light behind her, but it was small and flickering, and pointing the other way. Rowan looked around, and realized she wasn't alone. She couldn't tell who was with her, her eyes were still adjusting to the darkness. She took a deep breath and pushed up, trying to find flatter ground. "Um... hello?" Her voice echoed. This was bad. "Wake up. Somebody, wake up. We're in trouble."