ONS: Burn Baby Burn
9/9/2005
05:14 PM
Logfile from GarouMUSH.
Currently the moon is in the waxing Half Moon phase (40% full).
It is currently 17:11 Pacific Time on Fri Sep 9 2005.
Montrose District
This is St. Claire's artsy district, a pocket of cheerful liberalism and a particular favorite of the gay community. It consists of a swath of older houses and cramped shops jumbled together on the west side of town between Vandertramp Street and the freeway to the south and the truly upscale residences north of Four Leaf Clover. Many of the old houses have been rescued from disrepair by coteries of college students and artisans, and there's a staunch though quirky sense of community pervading the neighborhood. Even the most organized and determined of renovators can't get to everything, though, and the line between low-income bohemians and the truly poor is fuzzy. The two communities mingle and merge at grimy corner stores, rickety washaterias, and mom'n'pop cafes of varying quality.
Obvious exits:
BUngalow Catholic Church 2970 Concord Renovated Factory Exxon Station Boarding House Midtown ELectronics South North on 13th/14th North on Fifteenth
A slightly dusty, but otherwise in cood condition, black elantra pulls into the small lot across the street from the apartment complex. It's loaded with supplies in the back. Boxes, folded easels, and large canvases are only a few of the visable items. A lean girl in a baggy sweatshirt gets out of the driver's seat with a large bag in hand.
Thump thump thump thump. There's a party going on in one of the apartment complexes. The same which the Elantra pulls up into. And it's loud. But it's also, a Friday. The artsy side of St. Claire isn't exactly frat central, but there are plenty of collegiates out tonight.
Used to the parties, Rillie doesn't pay it much mind at all. She pops open the hood of her car and begins the long process of checking fluids and unloading bottles from the bag she holds. Looks like car essentials. She must have nothing else to do on a Friday night.
Evening is just beginning on this Friday night, and so the parties are just getting started. The stores are still open along the more commercialized parts of the street, and while there's still light, there will still be people in this part of town. Open air bistros, coffee shops, Barnes & Nobles not long down a way, Friday night is a happening place for even the Montrose District.
As she does most evenings, Finds-Stories glides over the city. Beady black eyes keeping track of the ebb and flow of humanity, while keeping an eye out for anything that might interest her.
The rumbling roar of a mufflerless Harley motorcycle echoes the thumping bass of the part. Reggie slows as he turns the motorcycle onto the street. As he passes by the girl unloading her car, he lets loose a wolf whistle and a "Hey! Flash 'em!"
Long distance to Finds-Stories: Sai apparently doesn't have your homid desc in any readily thinkable loggages. I'll keep looking.
Glancing up from under the hood of her car, Rillie's lip curls in the human equivilant of a snarl and gives Reggie a flash alright. That of the one-fingered salute. In one arm she hoists up a gallon of sapphire blue liquid, popping open the lid to her washer fluid tank and goes about filling it.
The girl beside the Elantra is given a few glances by passerbys, but Reggie gets twofold. It seems that this part of town despises the crudeness of strangers, and yet they're all quite content to ignore the fat man on a motorcycle. The party in the apartment complex continues, blaring out beats without a care for noise pollutions and city ordinance.
Reggie tilts his head back in a roar of laughter, as he continues past the car onto the more commercialized part of the street. He stops at an electronics store, pulling the cycle into a space between two parked cars.
Making his way down the street at a quick pace is Jeremy, having his chin tilted to one side as he talks into his cell phone, while his hands are busy tapping away at his PDA. "Uh huh... Yah... Slow down Trent. Shit, you talk so fucking fast. No, I didn't get that thing you sent me." A beat. "Wait... man, you're a fucker. Why are you always dicking me like that? No I did not get the memo about the TPS reports. Fuck you." Click. He lets out a sigh as he catches the phone in his hand, hanging it up on his belt.
Finds-Stories lands on the seat of Reggie's motorcycle, after the Uktena heads into the electronics store. Beady black eyes bright, the large bird starts looking for saddle bags, or any real storage area on the bike.
Rillie sets down the nearly drained bottle of washer fluid beside the front tire and rummages around for a much smaller, grey bottle. Tugging up the sleeves of her sweatshirt, she ducls under the hood and goes about filling yet another tank and otherwise minding her own buisness in the busy Friday streets.
So the dusk draws on. The party up in the apartment complex sounds like fun - for anyone who likes that sort of thing. The city ticks on by, Weaverheart beating its way coldly, until a few voices call out. "Fire!" "Wha? Huh? Whe-- holy shit, Smoke!" Almost like a cue, the complex which Rillie's car is parked near goes up in a clang of loud bell alarms.
Reggie pulls off his visorless helmet, hanging it on the bike, before heading over to the electronics store, taking a brief look at the store hours on the front door before opening it. The bike is left on the street but not alone, with a bird investigating the saddle bags hung over the rear wheel. The bags are as battered as the rest of the aged bike.
Glancing up sharply at the bells, Jeremy tucks the PDA into his belt pouch and then squints his eyes. "Rillie?" He calls over after recognizing the kin, then starts over. "What's going on? The place on fire?"
Rillie is halfway through the process of closing the hood of her car when she hears the yelling. Blinking, she lets go of the hood so it closes with a clang and looks up towards the source of the noise. Jeremy goes almost unnoticed as she stares at the building, -her- building, as smoke comes out of it.
Smoke leaks its way out of one of the windows on an upper floor at the complex. It's a fair good amount, grey and black rolls swirling out. People are suddenly on the move, getting out of the way. Others, like Rillie, are staring in horrific fascination. And still more are some people trickling out of the complex. Some are rubbing eyes, others are trying to maintain some kind of wracked calm. "Anyone call the fire department?" "Uh, I don't know.. don't they usually come when the alarms are goin' off?"
Finds-Stories looks up at the burning building, then returns her attention to the saddle bags and starts work on opening the bags. It'll take her a little bit, but the clever corvid seems to be managing just fine.
The door of the electronics store swings closed behind Reggie, then immediately swings open again, as the Uktena pops an astonished head out, ears listening for the source of the fire alarms. He exits the store, walking along the sidewalk, staring at the smoke with a bystander's curiosity. The bird is left to do her malice, and the multiple enclosures of the bag give up, one by one.
Jeremy reaches to his pocket and pulls out his cell again, flipping it open with a practiced motion of his hand. He dials 911 and waits for the operator to pick up to begin giving directions and details. He nudges Rillie's shoulder as he makes his way up to her side.
Finds-Stories finally gets the saddle bag open and starts rummaging around inside, holding the saddle flap open with one clawed foot.
Those who might've been oblivious before are not so now. Not with the racket that's going on - fire alarms blaring, party music from the burning building /still/ bumping. A few people coming out of the building turn, gawking, staring. Things are going well. People are evacuating. People have stopped their conversations at the cafes, some calling their cellphones. Then a muffled 'Boom' emits out of the complex, causing the air to shake and glass to crack. The ripple sets off car alarms in its thunderous tide. Smoke billows from the open window now.
Rillie pages: Yah. Not sure what kind of impact it needs for it to go off, but if you try and unlock it without pushing the button it'll go off.
Rillie makes a jerky step forward towards the building, but Jeremy's sudden nudge brings the girl to better senses and she haults, looking aside to him briefly. "/Fuck/!" She blurts out at the small explosion, her car alarm going off and causing her to quickly rummagine for her keys to shut it off, if completly out of instinctive habit. Quickly, she looks back to the smoke and tries to judge which room its coming from, muttering things to herself that are probably 'please not mine'.
Reggie walks down the sidewalk a short way, looking for the best vantage point to watch any flames that might appear, and he goes by the girl with the car, who's now joined by some guy. He glances aside at them, but doesn't place them, and begins to go past them, only to pull up short with a jolt at the explosion. His bike is, at the moment, entirely out of his thoughts, though not far from him.
You paged Jeremy with 'Dispatch notifies you that the fire department is on their way.'.
Jeremy shrugs his backpack off slowly and lets it drop to his feet, taking in a slow, shallow breath, quietly coughing. One shoudler, then the other is rocked back as he slides out of his trench coat, tossing it onto the hood of Rillie's car. After thanking the person on the phone, he closes it with a click and then starts to slide his geek belt off his hip, putting it ontop of the coat. "They are on their way." He says to the Get kin as he cracks his neck, his eyes still trained upon the building, jerking from one window to the next.
Not finding anything terribly interesting, Finds-Stories takes to the air. She circles the now burning building. Staying well away from the flames and smoke.
Flames. Quick licks and tendrils flicker brightly against the dulled sky, coming out from a window on the third floor it would seem. Or a fourth. It's hard to distinguish in the smokey fog. People are rushing out of the building now, coughing, red-eyed and teary. Most are young adults, students likely not too much older than Rillie or Jeremy. Some are pale as ghosts, others are stumbling out at the hands of friends. Around all the crowd murmurs and city noise, things are getting intense.
The hand of the Get kinfolk shoots out, fingers sinking into the sleeve of Jeremy and just latching onto it. "...one of the top floors...you know how many chemicals I have in there?" She wheezes out in a quiet sort of terror. If that boom was those, she'd be suprise.
Finds-Stories flies away from the building and lands on the complex across the street, where she slips into her birth form and pulls a small digital camera out of her back pocket. Leaning over the edge of the building a little, she starts snapping pictures.
"Shit, is that your building on fire?" Jeremy asks with a furrow of his eyes, then lets out a breath. "Damn." He wheezes out slightly, looking a bit twitchy, almost as if he was anticipating something worse to happen. He has that look in his eyes, where you know something is going to snap, like he is about to do something stupid.
Ignoring the car alarm going off madly, Reggie leans on Rillie's car as he watches the flames appear through the smoke. He looks askance at the two people who seem to be discussing the fire, and asks, "That your place?"
"Where's Ray?" "I don't know.. damnit, fuck, I can't see." "Shit, Ray!" "Where is he? Ray!" Bystanders are gawking, staring still. "Where the fuck's the fire department?!" The smoke and fire roll out, licking up the side of the building. Cracked glass shatters in a twinkling fall. Traffic has ground to a slow crawl, all but halting in some parts. Just over all the commotion... "Oh My God, look!" People turn, heads turn, eyes turn. Someone has made it to the roof, and not the ground level. As people are looking up, the young woman is looking down, beside her a couple of others. They turn to move, trying to get as far from the main body of smoke that is pouring out of the building as possible.
"Mine." Murmurs Rillie, her face gone white as she stares up at the building and swallows hard. Realizing she had a death grip on Jeremy's sleeve, she slowly lets him go and grimaces. The person atop the building catches her attention. She doesn't recognize him, but that doesn't matter.
Twitch. Twitch. Jeremy glances over to his back pack, then to the roof as his eyes stray to those that are stranded. Without a word, he slips past Rillie as he snags up the back pack and starts aiming for the side of the building, shoulders hunching. "Come on." He says to the Get of Fenris.
"Sorry", Reggie awkwardly offers, "Maybe it looks worse than it is, all that smoke." He looks inquiringly as he watches Rillie's companion head for the building. "Your friend is nuts", he states flatly to Rillie.
Bumping bass is drowned out, perhaps completely fizzled by fire melting speakers and radios within the building. A wild scream can be heard over the ruckus of people pointing out the stranded. "The Roof! The Roof! The Roof is on FIRE!" shouts a pale faced individual, who pulls out his own lighter and waves it around, its tiny flame nothing but a backdrop to the inferno that has grown second by precious second. Over it all... faintly... sirens. Another window shatters as the heat and pressure from the inside of the building bursts glass.
Rillie doesn't reply at first to Reggie as she takes a few steps after Jeremy, but then as if she'd been physically held she jerks to a stop, eyes dropping from the building and to Jeremy. "I can't...I-- Jeremy, don't go in there! You'll never get up that far!"
The Roach kin is already working his bag open, sliding out his bottle of water and an extra shirt. Soaking it, he ties it around his head and face, then swings up to catch the end of a fire escape, letting his weight drag it down with a loud, metallic screech. With a shift of his weight, he starts up, moving like a spider. Its almost as if it was a second home to him. He swings around one side, rounding forward, then takes the steps two at a time as he bolts.
As the window shatters, Reggie flinches back against the car. His attention adruptedly switches from Jeremy towards the car, and he flattens a palm against the metal side, as he calls out to Rillie. "Hey--does this have a full tank?"
Scaling up the metal fire escape ladder is not a problem. The Walker kin has to make his way up one rung at a time, but no one really sees him on the move. This close to the building, Jeremy can feel, hear and see the heat, smoke and fire. Sirens are getting closer, some people noticing over the hubbub. As Jeremy reaches the third floor rung, another dull 'BOOM' rocks the building. People shout, scream, curse and scatter.
Eyes intent and only pausing a moment, Jeremy continues pushing himself upwards, teeth gritted hard in determination. "Hey!" He bellows upwards once he reaches the fourth floor. "Fucking Hell, kids these days." He murmurs. "HEY!" He continues climbing, aiming for the roof, trying to move his hand over rung faster.
"/Jeremy/!" But he's gone, leaving Rillie cursing her frustration at both the situation and her fellow kinfolk. Jerking around, she stares at Reggie like he'd gone crazy. "What the hell do you wanna do with my car?!"
The guy with the lighter is awhoopin' and screaming with the rest of them, but at least he's put the lighter away. "Burn baby burn! Go man, Go man!" Someone's getting his rush. Jeremy gets no answer. As he reaches the fourth floor, a window next to him breaks open, stuck with the wheels of a roll-around chair that is pulled back with further glass-cracking. Coughing can be heard, as a wet-towel covered head pokes out of the broken window gasping for air.
Reggie starts at the boom, eyes flicking up to the building, then stares at Rillie like she's the crazy person. He presses his hands together. "Gas in tank--go boom!", and he simulates the explosion, hands flying apart. Hands back together, he makes as if to push the car away from the building.
Jerking to a quick stop, Jeremy swings his arm out to the head that is sticking out. "C'mon!" He shouts, eyes jerking upwards to the roof again, then back to the other. "How many is in there with you?" He asks with a narrow of his blue eyes, dog collar jangling about his throat with each movement. He inches over as close as he can, stretching his arm out as far as he can.
Rillie jerks her head around at the sounds of the guy cheering on the fire, eyes narrowing in anger. Wrenching her keys out of her pocket, she tosses them to Reggie and sets off right towards the guy that had the lighter, her teeth gritted. "Hurt it and I gut you!" She yells back to the scarred Uktena.
The person, shakes his head, coughing too hard to reply. Instead, he pulls back into through the window. A couple tense seconds after, he reappears but with a carrier in tow. "Take it!" The gap between window and fire escape is far, and the pet carrier just spans it when held by the ventilation holes.
Sirens are loud now, squad cars, fire engines arriving with blaring horns and flashing lights. It's hard to move through the traffic, but gradually the vehicles shuffle out of the way of people, and people shuffle out of the way as well.
Paul the Pyro is too busy cheering for him to even notice Rillie, eyes locked on the blaze.
Reggie catches the keys with cupped hands, mouth gaping open in surprise at Rillie as he holds up the keys.
"You're fucking kidding me man!" Jeremy grabs the carrier and shifts his weight some so that he can balance himself, then slips a piece of bungie cord with what appears to be plastic hooks on the ends. He hooks one end into his belt loop and the other into the handle of the pet carrier. After making sure its safe, he lets it drop down to his knee and then reaches out for the man. "C'mon dude! Give me your hand!" He lets out a angry huff.
Rillie seems to have lost all interest in Reggie as her eyes set on Paul. "...fucker..." She hisses under her breath as she crosses the distance between her and him, shoving when she needs, until she's reached him. Then, without warning, she launches a curled fist right for his face.
The towel-covered man lets go when Jeremy has ahold of the carrier, coughing some more. The cats inside are mewing pathetically. "Get 'em outta here!" the man insists, slipping back into the building. The building, to bystanders, is all but covered in soot and fire. Another window, this one on the other side of the building where the smoke was first spotted, cracks. Something in the building groans in protest.
Paul gets a fist right into the jaw, pushing him back into another bystander. His red-shot eyes look around for the offender, finding Rillie. And yet all he does is smirk, a hand touching his soon to be bruising cheek.
"DUDE!" Jeremy calls out loudly, inching over closer as he leans forward. "Don't kill yourself man! Come on, I can save you! God dammit, you stupid.... humans!" He blurts out, then grabs the railing of the ladder, shifting his feet to the sides and begins to slide down.
Reggie continues gaping at Rillie, as she punches out another bystander. The low groan of the building pulls his attention from the assault, and he inches away from the building until his backside flattens against the car. He moves about the car to the driver's side. He holds the keys up against the light of the fire, but they seem to be real keys, so he unlocks the car.
Crowd control policemen (who remain in their cars) are pushing the crowd along. Most people move, herd-like, and the firemen disperse. They work quickly despite having reached the area in less than optimal time, and fortunate for this part of town the fire hydrants are many and working. Hoses burst on, water pressure shattering in already weak windows. The Walker kin reaches the ground floor without much trouble. As Jeremy gets down to bottom level, firemen are breaking in with axes, tanks, full oxygen gear. Ambulances are still someways off.
Rillie stares hard at Paul like she were memorizing his face, stalking closer with her hands tightened into fists. "...just what the hell are you smiling at? You like seeing peoples homes /burning/? People could be dying in there!" She half shouts.
Jeremy holding the pet carrier in his hands, he lets an officer know which window he found someone in. Pointing at it, then then starts over towards Rillie and Paul. After unhooking the carrier from his belt and placing it down, he steps up to the girls side.
Reggie gets in the car, starts it, and turns it ino the street. Any progress in moving it down the street is slow, what with all the bystanders and shocked building residents spilling onto the street, and with the arriving official vehicles.
The officer seems a bit busy, but nods to Jeremy's information. The Walker kin gets no more than an odd look for his appearance and the mewing cats.
PyroPaul laughs again, his bright blue eyes dancing with red and orange firelight. "Hey, /I/ didn't start it. But you gotta enjoy it... you gotta enjoy.. this." He throws a hand out, indicating the building. "Beautiful."
The Elantra is, fortunately, a small car. With the people gradually being backed out of the street and onto the opposing side, engines and yellow police tape forming a permeter, chaos is slowly getting ordered. Crackling and dull groans continue to randomly sound from within, but the structure still manages to hold on. Water gushes through windows to douse the flames, but still more lick up and out defiantly.
The only look on Rillie's face is one of fury, turning the rather lean and unimpressive girl into a rather formidable looking female. Again, she curls a fist back and launches herself at Paul, anger and frustration coming out all in one.
Grabbing the arm, Jeremy gives Rillie a quick tug over. "Rillie, cops here." He warns as he starts to drag her away, shooting a look over at Paul. "Don't worry about it, he'll get his in the end." He says with a soft murmur in her ear as he lets out a huff. "By the way, I got you some kittens."
The car moves down the street, out of the perimeter of engines and yellow tape, but at a slow pace, as its driver rubbernecks at the proceedings.
Mewmewmew. Oblivious to the danger they were previously in, the kittens in the carrier, carry on. Paul takes his eyes off the fire for a moment, eyeing Jeremy and Rillie, putting them 'together'. He takes a couple of steps back, apparently having /some/ instinct to back away from getting hit.
There are firemen coming out of the burning building, assisting trapped victims who stumble out. The firehoses are doing a rather magnificent job, but it's hard to estimate how much more there is still burning. The fire chief is yelling into his radio, and people are gawking as much as they are standing dumbly, watching as Reggie does.
Showing every inch the relentless anger her tribe often shows, Jeremy has to work intially to drag Rillie away from trying to do Paul serious harm. Trying, being the keyword. The size of her courage and the size of her fists are very different. "Why do I want /kittens/?" She says, whirling on Jeremy finally and points to the building. "Everything I have could be burning except my damn car!"
"Stuff can be replaced, but memories will always remain." Jeremy says with a nod as he settles his hands on the girl's shoulders. "Take it from me, I know better than most of us here." His eyes dart to hers for a moment, then away. "Anyways, I rescused the kittens, even though the owner may not have made it out. He wouldn't take my hand." His voice drops away slowly, teeth gritting. "I have room at my place if you need to stay and I'll help you get back on your feet. We're apart of the same family afterall, its the least I can do for you."
The firefighters are doing their job well. the majority of the fire is put out, with much of the building still smoking a storm. Ambulances are let in to take care of the fire victims, providing oxygen and blankets around. Those good samaritans are trying to console the traumatized. One man swings out of the way to ask Jeremy and Rillie, "You two, ah, you alright?" Paul has swept himself into the crowd now, but the bright red dyed shock of hair can still be seen poking out as he moves.
Rillie gives herself a slight shake as if to clear her head and snorts. "...just what I needed right now. Of all times." Reaching up, she drags the fingers of both hands through her hair. "I'm fine. Fine. Absolutly fine." She mutters out to the man, slowly shaking her head.
The car's rear lights can be seen going through a turn into a sidestreet, if they could be distinguished from all the other lights, particularly all the flashing lights of the police and fire vehicles.
"We've been through worse." Jeremy says curtly to the man, before drawing the other kin into his arms, giving her a fierce hug. "C'mon, lets get a coffee and a sandwich while they finish up here." He says with a nudge. "I'll call Trent and see what he can do for us as well. Everything will be -fine.-"
The samaritan nods, moving on to find someone to assist. Slowly, gradually, the crowd is on whole dispersing. People are going back to remember who they were, what they were doing. Against the black ink of night, flashing lights, and crawling traffic, the firegutted building stands smoking.
"Yeah...yeah." Rillie murmurs. "See if Trent can find Brom. Let's go make sure my car is still intact." She says and moves off through the crowd and towards where she saw her car go.
Slowly walking up the street is Reggie with most of his attention on the hustle and bustle of the fire vehicles. The smoking remains of the building earns a sharp whistle, and he leaves off inspecting the ladders of a particular firetruck to see how much is left of the building.
One unit of the complex has been gutted through, with water still pouring readily into the other buildings and dousing them in case of stray embers. The air itself is rather thick, a residue of chemicals and smoke from burned materials heavy in the atmosphere.
Rillie spots Reggie and heads for him, giving her chin a quick jerk. "Hey, where'd you put it?" She asks of the big scarred man, arms crossing across her chest.
Jeremy heads after Rillie after snagging up the pet carrier once more, listening to the kittens mew away in the box. Lifting it up, he squints his eyes at the felines. "Meow."
Waiting for the Uktena to realize she's talking, Rillie sighs as she turns to regard the mewling kittens. "...I heard cats are bad for babies."
The cats, one grey tabby with white socks and another a calico, peer with glassy eyes back at the kin. The grey one chirps back at the Walker.
"Rillie, you live with Brom, and you are worried about cats?" Jeremy asks with a slight grin as he peers at the kittens still, making faces at them, poking his finger in through the bars. "By the time you give birth, the kitties will be old enough to be out door pets and they can run around all they want. That or I can just keep 'em. I'm ganna call the grey one Smoke and the Calico, Shatterstar."
It takes a while for Reggie to notice someone's talking to him, and he adruptly turns on Rillie, exclaiming, "What!", before reocgnizing her as the one with the car. He holds out Rillie's keys, dangling them from one hand. "Down that way", he gives vague directions, pointing a finger down the stret, then hooking the finger to one side. The new accessory of Jeremy draws his attention, and he asks, "Damn, where'd you get that?"
Rillie claims her keys back with a nod of thanks to Reggie before her attention shifts back to Jeremy. "I doubt Brom would take well to cats, cute as they are. I don't want them to end up the way of that bat..." She murmurs, waving it off with a hand. "Go ahead and keep them, I'll have enough to deal with not including two kittens that could use a good home."
Shatterstar, so dubbed, bats at one of the Roachkin's fingertips. The cats seem hearty and healthy. The building complex, does not.
Playing the batting game with his new Calico, Jeremy can't help but grin. "Aw. Hmf. Oh well, more for me." He says, then shifts his eyes to Reggie. "Hey Reg, saved 'em on the ladder." He knows you, scary stuff. He flashes a smile and then starts down the street. "Meet me at Togos, Rillie, we'll get ourselves a snack."
Reggie narrows his eyes at Jeremy, studying Rillie's companion in the patchy street light.
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