InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Everybody loves Tent: XI!"

tensor_mods (tensor_mods) wrote in tensor,
@ 2011-05-19 00:20:00

Entry tags:

ali_blaire, anna-marie_adler, callisto_leandros, domino_winter, jared_corbo, jay_guthrie, josh_foley, jubilation_lee, julian_keller, kevin_ford, kitty_pryde, open to all, petra_kristensen, piotr_rasputin, sam_guthrie

BOOM! at the Smithsonian (Saturday, May 21)
Though most of the week had been rainy, Saturday was shaping up to be a nice, sunny day. The change in weather had brought tourists and locals alike out of hiding, and the mall was buzzing with activity. The students and chaperons of the Xavier Academy were spread throughout the mall and museum buildings, having agreed upon times to meet up and check in before being sent off to see as much as possible in the time they had. By about an hour after lunchtime, a lot of them had breezed through at least one of the museums and were headed on to their scheduled tours or to their next destination.

Few, if any, really noticed the young man crossing the grass in front of the castle, wearing nothing that identified him as a member of any of the numerous school groups on the grounds that day. He was obviously disoriented, sweating profusely and staggering as he made his way out of the castle and across the mall. He stumbled once and nearly fell to his knees before he recovered, which prompted a girl nearby to stop and take notice of him. She asked him if he needed help, laid a hand on his shoulder as he turned wide, pain-filled eyes on her...and then they both disappeared in a blast of heat and light that ripped across the mall like a tiny nuclear explosion.

The people nearest the blast were incinerated almost instantly, though the heat dissipated away quickly as a concussive blast rolled across the lawn, tossing people in front of it like rag dolls thrown by a giant's hand. The west wing of the castle simply buckled at the impact, stone toppling down to crush the dozens of unsuspecting tourists in and around it before they even had time to register the explosion. The east wing buckled and groaned dangerously as well, its collapse simply slower and less complete as the shock wave continued on, buckling walls and foundations, blowing out windows and bringing down sections of roof in the buildings beyond.

But even as the initial explosion finally reached its limit, a domino effect magnified the chaos as hundreds of powered tourists, adults and children alike, reflexively powered up in response to the catastrophe, some of them losing control entirely. There were smaller explosions and tongues of flame here and there among the ruins as dust swirled in the air, and it was only a matter of moments before the first sirens began to wail in the distance. At the scene of the disaster, though, the sound of them was lost almost completely in the sound of panicked voices crying out in fear and pain.

(OOC: Please create sub-threads below for the events and immediate aftermath. Feel free to actually play out the actual explosion and how your character responds or to simply do a narrative of what happened to them and move to the aftermath if you're more comfortable with that. Remember, there's about a ten minute window of opportunity for heroism before local emergency responders and SHIELD will be on site and beginning to take over, though the cadets will definitely be co-opted into the rescue effort. The worst injured will, initially, be taken to area hospitals once rescued, but the Academy students will, once stable, be transported back to the school's med center for continuing treatment there. Parents are, of course, welcome to take their children home for treatment if they desire, but between the school and the SHIELD facility attached to it, they have access to pretty much the best healers in the country. This does, however, still mean a relatively slow recovery for anyone with severe injuries given the general caliber of even exceptionally talented healers does not begin to compare to the very very few omega healers scattered across the globe.)

ETA: GUYS, WE KINDA SUCK AND FORGOT TO TELL YOU THAT THEY GOT BUSED UP TO DC FRIDAY AFTER SCHOOL so they could have all of Saturday at the Smithsonian, and thus why they already got to see cool stuff Saturday before boom rather than spending it all on a bus. Also, for sleeping arrangements, if your roomie went you got matched up with them plus the 2 others you share a suite with (so 4 to a room, and if you have no PC/NPC roomies then NPCs will have taken the spots), other than the chaperons who got spread around in singles for supervisory purposes. Sorry!

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Jay, Kitty...and anyone else in the area (Jesus circle?) wanting to see/react

after_burners
2011-05-20 10:15 am UTC (link)

Sam was laughing, relaxed and easy and happy, as he wrestled Jay into a headlock, rubbed his knuckles teasingly across the top of his baby brother's head. He was grinning, wide and bright and completely unaware, as Jay struggled free and pushed away, and he turned to the side to say something to Bobby...and never saw a thing before the impact of the blast hit him simultaneously with the heat and light and almost deafening noise of it. Barely even had time to register the pain as it threw him into the path of the collapsing building, already too stunned by the shock wave to activate his powers. Already fading into unconsciousness as the horrifyingly familiar sound of rock thundering down on and around him replaced the roar of the explosion.

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wingbearer
2011-05-22 04:40 am UTC (link)

The interesting thing about campus wide field trips was that Jay had so many siblings, most of them ended up getting to go places together. He'd spent some time heckling Joelle, poking at Paige, and wandering around with Lizzie. So when he saw Sam across the mall he took the distance at a low run - as best as his wings would allow - and jumped him. They ended up scuffling, and as usual, Sam got the upper hand. Jay managed to duck out of the noogie headlock, backpedaling a safe distance and trying to catch his breath.

He felt the heat, even as he saw a classmate's eyes widen in horror. Her arm outstretched as she pointed. It happened all too slowly for Jay, who didn't have time to turn around. A deafening sound set the world to stun, even as all the air was knocked out of him and he tipped forward.

He could feel his feathers rip free, smell the burn of his own flesh, and rode the lift of his body from the ground, arches fanning out and the rest torn clear free. There was a moment, a single moment where Jay thought the light was too bright, the air too clean, and he could feel Lizzie's hand in his. Strong and present, as she always had been.

He knew - as his head snapped back and flew forward, eyes closing - whatever had happened, he wouldn't be knowing. Strangely, his heart was peaceful as his body hit with a sickening crunch. After all, Daddy was waiting. In fact, he could hear him now.

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_kitzilla_
2011-05-22 07:45 am UTC (link)

As soon as Kitty had noticed Jay's approach, she'd whipped out her camera, ready to make sure that the wrestling match would be captured properly. She was laughing and jumping just out of the way of the boys when it happened.

She phased instinctively, still bracing herself as the explosion spread toward her, and she stared up in horror as the building collapsed, lurching just a moment too late to succeed in grabbing hold of the nearest person. The rubble came down on her, and she caught a glimpse of Jay as the explosion hit him, heavy feeling in the pit of her stomach spreading as she snapped her head back to where Sam had been just in time to see the building come down on top of him. On top of a non-powered up him.. Which meant he was trapped. Buried under the rubble, maybe breathing, maybe not.

Moving as quickly as she could, she approached the place where Sam had been buried. It didn't take her long to find him, and when she did finally find him, a part of her wished that she hadn't. He wasn't just buried, he was dead. A bent piece of rebar was jutting out from his chest, and there was no way that he was alive. Even though Kitty couldn't see his face very clearly, she could feel enough to get a good idea of what he looked like. He looked and felt dead. Sam was dead. Sam was dead. She had to get his body out of there. Maybe someone could do something to help him still, and if there was any chance that they could, they sure couldn't do it while he had tons of rock and metal piled on top of him. She'd get him out and then... well, she'd get him out.

Shaking, she grabbed hold of Sam's shoulders, phasing his body (Sam's body) free from the rebar as she tried to ignore the tears streaming down her face. Get Sam out, take a deep breath, take it from there. That was the plan, and she pulled, backing toward the edge of the rubble. She couldn't hold her breath much longer, but there was no way in hell she was letting go of Sam. She couldn't leave him in there. Finally, she emerged from the rubble, making sure that Sam was completely clear before she allowed herself to return to her solid state for a second, too busy panicking to realize how horrible an idea that was.

Kitty didn't even know what exactly it was that hit her, but before she could phase again, something did. Hard. She felt her arm pop in a way that she knew it wasn’t supposed to, and her small form was sent slamming into the side of the rubble with a sickening crack. There was a split second of searing pain in her jaw before she slumped to the ground, out cold.

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riosungodling
2011-05-22 08:48 am UTC (link)

'Berto'd spent the morning trailing around after Jay and the assorted Guthries he'd attached himself to. It was all still very novel to him, even after the last two years, and he never really got tired of the feeling of family, even at a remove, when he was with the Guthries. When Jay want pelting (awkwardly, though he'd never say it out loud) after Sam, 'Berto followed again, more slowly. He fell in next to Bobby in the group of older kids (and at least nominal adults), laughing at Jay and Sam, wondering what it was like to have an older brother and half-tempted to join in on the rough-housing when everything went to hell.

He powered up on instinct, though far too late. By the time his skin went black, outlined in a fiery nimbus, the heat and pressure had already passed him by. Left him untouched while he watched in horror as it lifted Jay, stripped away flesh and feathers and flung him through the air like a broken toy.

'Berto couldn't hear his own voice crying out for the sound of the blast still echoing in his ears. Wasn't really aware of anything, not the fallen buildings, the screams of fear and pain, the wail of sirens and alarms, nothing but Jay lying limp and charred on the ground against the remains of a wall that had come down so fast he'd barely been able to register it, let alone process that it had come down on top of Sam.

He didn't remember moving, but suddenly he was dropping to his knees next to Jay, next to Jay's body. His hand was shaking as he lay it on Jay's shoulder, and he was unaware of both the tears streaming down his cheeks and the steady stream of Portuguese falling from his lips - threats and pleas and curses against God and man - as he shook him with surprising gentleness. Jay couldn't be dead. He refused to accept that as an option. It simply wasn't possible.

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