The Deadland

[Action]

[Normally, Mami Tomoe was a very competent, focused fighter. Watching her fight was like watching a deadly dance, all smooth movements and precise shots.

This Mami, however, was barely a shadow of what she once was. Her mind and heart had been a wreck when she woke up in that strange room. The conversation with that strange child - I can grant any wish you want - had only brought up another wave of horrible memories. She was confused, upset, and stuck in the middle of a complete breakdown with nobody there to help her.

So when she appeared in the world proper, and near-immediately found herself face-to-face with a strange hybrid monster that should not have scared her after all she had seen, but was utterly terrifying to her in her current mental state, she did the first thing her horror-stricken mind thought of: run.

So she does. As she does, enough sense comes back to her to fight, defend yourself. So she turns, summons a rifle, and fires. Her hands are shaking too much and the bullet just about grazes the creature, so she discards it and summons another rifle. This shot manages to hit, but only barely. So she summons a third, aims, squeezes the trigger...

Click.

It's empty.]

What...

[Her shock and confusion causes her to hesitate just long enough; the monster, wounded and snarling, pounces.]

[Radio; some time later]

[The voice coming in over the radio is shaky, but a bit less frightened than its owner had been when she first woke up.] This place... I don't understand. I should be dead. How... how am I here?

[OOC: the action is first come, first serve, to keep things from getting confusing! If someone else tagged the action already, feel free to tag the radio post instead.]

The creatures at first are quiet as they come into the city. But as more and more of them flood the streets the louder and louder they get. And Homura is sleeping-- the door locked and barred, the windows closed-- inside the back room of a store across from the hospital. She quickly notices two things as she wakes up: the sound of the monsters and the fact that her surroundings have changed. Her first thought is that she walked to another store in her sleep, and her second thought is what on earth is that noise?

Homura approaches the window and peers outside. The moment she does that a lot of them seem to see the motion behind the curtains and so they start to approach. She's instantly awake and transformed; they come closer and closer and then one is trying to smash through the window. Homura backs up and pushes aside the dresser she'd put in front of the door. She moves away with the door shutting behind her just as there is the sound of shattering glass.

And out the front she goes. She has no rifle, the kind of gun she feels most comfortable with-- she's a small girl and the recoil is easier to handle-- but she has a handgun. A handgun and a limited amount of ammunition. Rushing through the changed store she presses her back against the wall and readies her weapon, firing carefully as the monster breaks down the store's door.

[ ooc: starter in prose, feel free to switch to action! ]

[ You know what they need more of? Guns. Well, everything is what they need more of, but Lightning is feeling a little antsy without some kind of weapon weighing down her holster. The moment they all split up to search the areas around Mercy, she heads to the bizarrely familiar police station. She's been through enough cycles that she can rely on the push-tug of lost memories, so when she slips inside and goes immediately for the weapons lockers further inside the building, she doesn't question how she can guess where they are. It's just convenient. ]

[ She leaves the station door open, because if she's the only one who thought of this, they're in a worse situation that they think. Cornelia may want to monopolise supplies, but that's a little short-sighted. If something happens to them, what'll the next lot do for weapons? Anyway, once she's found a burst rifle, she's satisfied. It even fits her holster, almost. Add a baton and she's set. ]

[ And then she hears movement nearby. ]

... Hey. Someone there?

[ during the first few hours of activity in Asper, you might see something a little weird. A movement out of the corner of your eye, in a patch of shadows or on a ledge just above the periphery of your vision.

If you turn to look at it, all you'll see is a flash of white as a small cat-like animal turns and scampers away. Unless your reactions are superhuman or you're a particularly wary person, in which case... who knows? Maybe you'll be able to catch a better look.

Some of you, more anxious about this strange city that the others, or more angry, more vulnerable... You might hear the creature's high, childish voice call your name. ]

[There's crackling, a voice at first too muffled to here before clarity strikes it.] ... Hello? Hello.

I know you're new here, you've just arrived. Welcome to Asper City.

[static] I'm Lara. Stay safe.