Featured Roleplay: Supernova

[Shastafan]

— Day 1 —
Burg, Boriel
On a road to school

I don't want to die... I don't want to die... The words kept ringing in Topaz's head. She could tell she was lying somewhere, and pain ran through her body. Should I take a look? Do I really want to see what's happened to me and the town I've lived in for years?

Carefully, she opened her eyes, and nearly gasped at what she saw. Everything looked like it had been affected by the strange happening. All she could do was stare in horror and the broken buildings and damaged roads. It was dark, and it seemed like all the electricity, whether from telephone poles or energy plants, had died.

The telephone pole! Topaz tried to strain her neck to get a glimpse at what had crashed into her. Although her body, her back especially, ached from the pole lying on top of her, she was thankful to realize she was in a slope that protected her from serious injuries. "Help!" she weakly moaned. "Can someone help me? I'm stuck! Please get this thing off of me!" Wait a seco, did I say all of that without stuttering once? That's odd... She tried to remember the last time she'd been able to do so, but she couldn't think of anything.

Figuring no one would answer her cries, she tried her best to push her body up from the pole. It hurt like crazy, but she kept pulling herself through until finally, she was free from it. Relieved, she flipped onto her back and took deep breaths. "I sure hope my family and Clarissa are ok! As for me, I'll strangely enough feel like I can handle any obstacle now!"

[The Rose-Tree Dryad]

— Day 1 —
Parksville, Erbaine
Palisade National Park

"Lui, you hit your head pretty hard back there," Terra said very slowly, her words were broken with exertion—and the will for them to sink in, because while her concern was touching, Lui seemed to be out of it. "I don't think you're thinking straight."

She stalked around to the passenger side of the vehicle, feeling like her legs were about to give out, but ignoring it.

"We are in a forest surrounded by fires. Any one of those could grow into an onslaught of flames and devour this vehicle with you in it," Terra said, and then she lost her patience. "Pushing this jeep towards the compound at two miles per hour may be idiotic, but I am not leaving you here to get burned to death and save my own skin, Lui!"

[Lady Arwen]

Day 1-Arida-de Mon Castle Grounds

The majordomo smiled.

"I am quite sorry that we can not get to know each other better right now, it is just there are so many people around that it is necessary to do our best to protect the Lady's property. You understand I am putting an unusual amount of trust in you," the majordomo turned serious. "You see those people up by that statue? They need to go to the old stable to set up their temporary homes for the night. They need to stay in there overnight unless there is an emergency. Can you control that building? My boy Hank will be with you, if you need anything, send him to find me. They'll bring supplies to you shortly. Are you up to that?"

~~

Convent

"Oh!" Xandria's face relaxed somewhat. "Then, they should be able to fix things soon, then? I think the government would have made contingency plans for this sort of thing."

[MountainFireflower]

-Day 1-
Arida

"No, that's just the problem. The government wasn't really sure how big the magnitude of the disaster would be, so they didn't make any set plans. They might have been working on some, but now it's too late." Allee tapped her fingers absentmindedly on her notebook. "But we might be able to make some plans. In fact, we should. We have what, more than 20 kids to take care of tomorrow?"

[malkah]

-Day 1-
Capitol University
Judicia, Erbaine
During the supernova

The force of the energy wave knocked Laramie nearly off her feet. Already thrown off-balance by her lunge towards Liam, she fell backwards. Trying to regain her balance, she spotted where a couple of metal beams had fallen at an angle against a building, leaving a small space underneath.

It wasn't much, but it was shelter. Laramie pulled her backpack up over her shoulders and head for protection and dived underneath the metal beams. Catching her breath, she tried to see Liam through the sprays of glass and exploding power lines. The force of her shove would have knocked him to the ground. Was he all right? She debated making a run to where he lay, before realizing that dashing madly out into the sparks and the glass would help neither of them.

Laramie pressed her hands against the sides of her head without thinking, and then nearly jumped out of her skin at the feel of Liam's fingers on her wrist touching her head. She dropped the offending hand to her side and swallowed hard. Think. She needed to think.

Things like this never happened except in sci-fi novels. Maybe she was dreaming. If she shut her eyes and pinched herself, when she opened them again, would this nightmare come to an end? She inhaled shakily and glancing down at her hand, froze.

Her hand was back. Back as if it had never been gone. Laramie stared. She curled her own long, slightly calloused fingers into a fist and loosened them again. Dark pink nails gleamed up at her.

Laramie bit back a scream, looked up at twin suns burning in the hazy sky, and wondered if she was going crazy.

[MountainFireflower]

-Day 1-
Capitol University
Judicia, Erbaine
During the supernova

Liam felt defenseless as the world seemed to explode around him. He shielded his face with his hands--well, his hand and Laramie's hand--and closed his eyes, hoping to block out what was going on around him. The world itself seemed inside out. He didn't know how long he laid there, waiting for something to happen. Waiting for the chaos to stop.

Suddenly, it was quiet. Liam slowly opened his eyes. The power lines had stopped exploding and instead hung limp, dangling in the wind. It was eerily quiet, like a graveyard. The whole world seemed a dull shade of gray. Liam sat up, feeling like he would break the spell if he moved or said anything.

Then a thought filled his mind. Laramie. All else forgotten, he scrambled to all fours and looked around. Where was she? His eyes scanned the courtyard, searching. Finally he spotted a bit of blue cloth beneath a pile of metal beams. He crawled over, his eyes searching the darkness. "Laramie?" he whispered.

[Silver the Wanderer]

-Day 1-
Arenico, Diabolis
Downtown, In A Government Building
Previous Post

For a moment, Gideon and the Chief of Police just stared at each other in disbelief. Then the latter said, "You've crossed the line, boys."

Gideon, still trying to mentally map out an escape plan, replied, "And what line might that be?"

The Chief's face flushed until it took on a purple hue. Edwin took a step back. Gideon couldn't blame him - he had never seen the Chief this furious before.

"I trusted you!" the man roared. "For years I'd dealt with you renegades stealing food, pickpocketing purses, taking shelter in peoples' apartments. All this time, I've been trying to turn a blind eye because I believed you kids were only doing this to survive. I didn't want to arrest you and put you in with the rest of the scum I deal with on these streets. I never believed you would actually hurt anyone! But I see now I was wrong!"

Gideon felt his face go blank. "What?"

"Don't play dumb with me, kid! I knew you were trouble, but starting a fire in a place where many lives are-"

"What?! You don't honestly think that Edwin and I started -"

"I know you started it! You've got the evidence right there in your hand!" He pointed to Edwin, who looked, baffled, at the lighter in his hand - the one he had used to light the way through the darkened halls.

Edwin shook his head. "But sir, I didn't - I would never..." His voice squeaked with fright.

The Chief shooks his head. "You're going to have to come with me."

Gideon shook his head and stepped protectively in front of Edwin. Having borne witness to this city's active crime life, he knew all too well the punishments for crimes committed within its borders, punishments intended to shock criminals into thinking twice about their actions.

The penalty for arson was fifty years' imprisonment in one of the worst jails in the country.

If that arson resulted in murder, the penalty was death.

[Chloë Máiréad]

Supernova
— Day 1 —
Parksville, Erbaine
Palisade National Park

"Terra, you need to go." Lui said, enunciating every word. She touched the back of her head and her hand came away bloody. She frowned. "Loretta is somewhere in the park. You need to find her and make sure she's okay. I need you to do this for me, despite if I'm not thinking straight. That's all the more reason for you to go before I lose it completely. When I have the strength, I will walk to my cabin."

Lui slid out of the vehicle and used the mirror to support her as she swayed on her feet. Something was happening to her, but she didn't know what. Her muscles felt like jelly, her head pounded and she felt dizzy. Tundra jumped down after her, ears perked up as she listened to the changing tones in Lui's voice.

"Go now, Terra." Lui demanded, her voice low, but forceful.

Tundra growled deeply as she sniffed the air in Terra's direction. The fur on her neck stood up and she let out a snapping bark.

[PrinceCor004]

Day 1: Aridia
de Mon Castle Grounds

"I understand, sir. And yes, I believe I can handle that especially with some assistants at the beginning." With that, Christopher gave a salute to the majordomo and proceeded to his post.

---------

Finally! At least they allow for smoking breaks... It had been roughly two hours since Chris had started his "job", which at first was going smoothly. Though, after the third wave of refugees, the repetition of proceeders had officially gotten on the bounty hunters nerves. Also, not being able to blow a hole in the jerks that tried to manipulate him was a real letdown.

The crowds were starting to die down, so Christopher had left Hank at the check-in point while he went off to smoke... and scout out the place. The de Mon castle was quite impressive, everything a castle should be: impressive, strong and ominous. Now, where would the kitchen be, I wonder.

A few minutes later, Christopher was sitting behind the castle with his back against one of the walls. It had taken him a bit to find the kitchen, though when he had, it only took a little flirting with one of the young maids to acquire a sandwich and a bottle of drink. After taking another swig from the bottle, Chris reached into his jacket pockets and produced a lighter and a half empty pack of cigarettes.

"I need to get some more of these..." the bounty hunter half mumbled as he lit the cigarette in is mouth, taking a deep drag and exhaling a long puff of smoke into the afternoon air.

[stargazer]

— Day 1 —
Palisade National Park
Near Parksville, Erbaine
Previous Post

“Sweetheart, can you play with Candy for a little while? Your Daddy and I want to sort out our camping stuff.”

“I wanna help.”

“You can a little later, once we get the bigger things sorted, all right? In the meantime, please stay close and watch for animals and people.”

“Okay.”

Dan smiled at this exchange; one benefit of Grace being an only child was that she could keep herself amused, not requiring lots of playmates to pass the time. Both parents kept a wary eye on her while they worked, though they were confident Candy would help keep their daughter in line. After all, corgis were excellent herding dogs and quite protective of their charges.

The couple sorted out their gear into several piles, yes, no, and maybe, depending on how useful – and portable – each item might be for their trip back to Parksville. Dan mused that their opinions on each piece of gear were quite different now than they would have been just hours before. Some items, such as an emergency weather radio, were once quite practical but essentially useless now. Others, such as a water purifier filter, had been given almost as gag gifts – campgrounds nearly always had drinkable water – but might be quite helpful on a long walk home. Yet other things, such as their camp stove, still worked but really weren’t portable. These questionable items went into the maybe pile; what happened to them would be decided later.

They were almost done with this task when Grace came running up, a hand outstretched. “Here, hold this for me, Daddy,” she said, dropping a small cloth pouch into his hand, before skipping off again.

“What’s this?” he wondered aloud as he looked inside. Several brightly colored dice were all that the bag contained.

“Oh that?” Angie replied. “It’s a dice game from a friend at school. She was playing with that earlier today, but I guess she got bored with it.”

[narnianerd]

Just outside of Abyssal - Day 1 - Pre-Supernova - 11: 27 AM

Jared stopped his dune buggy just outside of the town, and then grabbed his gear after hopping out “This is ShadowBomb calling Birdseye, what are the defensive positions around the mine?” he said, lifting his SAW's carrying strap onto his shoulders.

Cameron called back “Nothing much, one machine gun nest, a few barb wire emplacements, and a chain link fence. I can take out the nest for yall, if you want” Jared nodded “Commander?” knowing that he was listening in.

[malkah]

-Day 1-
Capitol University
Judicia, Erbaine
During the Supernova

The sudden quiet after the bursts of energy and the explosions was nearly deafening. Grey light filtered in under the metal beams where Laramie crouched, and when she took a deep breath, the air tasted stale and smoky.

Laramie heard her name whispered, along with a rustling sound, and Liam's face appeared at the entrance of her hiding spot. "Liam!" she called. "I'm here!" She scooted over to him, searching his face for any sign of an injury. "Are you alright?"

Although he was dusty and smoke-streaked, he appeared to be fine. Laramie sighed in relief, until she spotted bloodstains on the concrete under his hands. She turned one of his hands over and her eyes went wide. Shards of glass were embedded like tiny spikes all over his palm and fingers. "Liam, what were you crawling over? It looks like you punched through a window."

Unzipping her backpack to look for anything that could be used as a temporary bandage, Laramie looked up at Liam, brow furrowed in concern. "Didn't you feel it?"

[Lady Arwen]

Day 1-Arida-de Mon Castle Grounds

After taking a cursory walkabout to check on the refugees ("All the poor people who didn't really have decent housing in the first place", as Candi had earlier noted, although some were starting to dribble in from the Henna district, requesting shelter "from the bullets"), Candi had taken a short walk over the back property, enjoying the quiet solitude and normalcy of her lands--and her cigarette. She suddenly froze, however, her cigarette just inches from her lips, when she smelled another, and, in her opinion, inferior smoke. Someone else was obviously using a lower-grade tobacco. A few minutes of swift, quiet steps brought her around the corner and looking down at thr other smoker. She watched him for a few moments.

"Are you new around here?" she finally asked, taking a puff. She knew the answer full well, but also was interested to see what this stranger would say.

[Warrior Of Narnia]

-Day 1-
Arenico, Edge of Downtown Diabolis
-Doran-

They say that hearing is the first thing to go and the last thing to come back when you are in shock. If there was ever a time to test that theory, it was when Doran awoke from his ground-induced slumber. The first thing he felt was a terrible pounding in his head, an ache in his arms and legs, and feeling in general like he had been run over by a truck.

His eyes fluttered a moment later, flicking a few times before finally opening properly and staying open. He found that half of his face was embedded in the ground, or at least residing in a depression. A long groan escaped his lips as he struggled to gain control of all of his faculties. His fingers finally began to move, and then his arms. He pulled them out of the cement and attempted to push himself off of the ground. He did so, with quite a bit of effort, and that’s when the ringing started.

His head spun and he nearly collapsed as he felt the renewed sound waves returning to his ears, assaulting him with a high pitched noise. When the ringing stopped, Doran finally managed to look around at where he had landed. He lifted his head and came nose-to-bumper with a taxi that had evidently crashed into the side of one of the skyscrapers, and nearly run him over, “Well… that was close…” he croaked out, then closed his mouth in surprise at how hoarse he sounded.

He drug himself to his knees, glancing up at the sky. All he could see was dust, and fine glittery particles of glass as they floated down through the air from being nearly atomized by the immense pressure of the wave as it came through. “What in the blazes Happened?” He said softly, more to himself than anyone around.
As he came to his feet, using the hood of the taxi for support, he finally realized what he was hearing around him… or rather what he wasn’t hearing. It was as if the normal sounds of the city were gone. No more music, no more noises of thousands of cars, vans, trucks and other forms of transportation moving along their daily paths. Replacing these sounds was what sounded like a constant wail or scream. In reality, it rose and fell, coming from many places and once, and was the sound of thousands of surprised, hurt and scared people.

From where he stood at the base of the two skyscrapers, he looked out at the street. What was normally a bustling thoroughfare was now a silent street full of cars and people. The cars were still, the people were not. He saw groups of them rushing about, people pulling others from damaged cars and looking generally confused and scared.

Doran didn’t know what had happened, but he knew that it was bad… very , very bad. He bent over to brush himself off and glimpsed something on the back of his right hand, “What?” He whispered as he brought his other hand to rub at the tattoo-like mark that now adorned his flesh. He jumped when he saw that it also marred the back of his left hand. The design was that of a moving ball with a twisting star in the center. (symbol at bottom of post )

His breathing quickened, “What is this?” he mused, then glanced up from where he had fallen. The sounds that he heard were those of chaos… and he felt a deep desire to get back up… to get a better look if he could at what was going on… perhaps to help someone…

In the distance he could see smoke rising from a fire, and there were other clouds of blackness rising elsewhere. He turned, looking up toward the buildings, trying to find a logical handhold for a first jump. With the way most of the glass was gone, he could probably get inside one of those upper floors and find a stairwell to the top… or he could try to climb the outside. He spotted a drainpipe that was anchored to the far corner of the skyscraper, and began jogging, building up momentum to jump onto the pipe and heave himself up it.

When he was close enough, he jumped… just as he normally would on any day, during any of his trips. This time, something strange happened. Instead of his normal jump, which he had practiced a million times, he felt a strange energy leave his body, his legs impacted the ground with much more force than normal, and he found himself flying through the air, nearly two stories into nothingness.

Doran was not one to scream, but in this instance, I think he can be forgiven. He at least yelled as he felt himself rocket past the intended target of the pipe, and out beyond the building toward the street on the other side. He just knew that this time he would be feeling the pain, and yet he still extended his hands to try and catch himself. His evident destination was now the hood of a police car.

Just as he was about to slam into it, he closed his eyes. A swirl of blue energy left him once more, and he felt suddenly weightless. His hands hit the car, but instead of crumpling in on himself he found himself rolling off of it and then suddenly being returned to the earth as quickly as he had felt himself loose all sense of gravity. He simply lay there, between the squad car and someone’s personal vehicle, dazed and confused… “Did I do that?” he whispered…

[PrinceCor004]

Day 1: Aridia
de Mon Castle Grounds

"I would suppose if you don't recognize me that I am new around here, though that's just me..." Christopher answered the woman before taking another puff of his cigarette. "But where are my manners? The names Christopher Howard, I'm one of the new arrivals to this place and currently a check-in man at the front gate." the bounty hunter continued as he stood up and dusted off is pants.

After quickly looking the younger woman over, it was obvious she was either a heiress or someone desperately trying to look like and heiress. Please let it be the first. The latter group are stuck-up wolves...

[Melian_Maia]

Day One
Arida
During the Supernova

As Laney trudged around the corner towards the martial arts studio, memories swirled around in her brain. They were memories of her mother.

Nearly three and a half years ago Janice Dayton had disappeared. Vanished without a trace. There had been only one clue in the case, a note addressed to Laney and left taped on her bedroom door. The case had been dropped only weeks after Janice had left.

The note had been taken, along with everything else that the police thought was important in the case. They had tried to take her too, to put her in a foster home. But Laney had resisted...

Laney continued down the street, hurrying to the studio. She squinted up at the double suns, the word vanishing echoing through her mind. That was all she could think of. Vanishing.

Her whole body tingled, the double suns heated the air around her until it was almost unbearable. Her eyes watered from staring into the direct path of the sunlight. Suddenly, her body went cold, and then the tingling was over.

Allee, she thought. I wonder how Allee is doing.