Participants:
| Scene Title | Tango Nebbia Rossa |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Can Joe tango? |
| Date | February 1, 2019 |
The ruins are quiet but for the soft scrape of a sole pair of shoes. Burned out buildings, hollow shells with naught but the charred bones of steel beams and wooden timber to mark that anything ever existed within their broken walls. The ever present feeling of being watched from empty windows pervades the air. Joseph Winters seems to take no notice of it though. He’s walking through the ruins, along a sidewalk, stepping over piles of fallen bricks and the blasted remains of people’s lives, and in some cases the people themselves. Joe pauses beside a brick building, turning to look up at it. There’s a breach in it’s wall, the bricks having poured into the street like snow down a mountainside. The inside of the building is strangely intact, a table on the second floor set for dinner, the mouldering remains of that dinner long picked clean by scavengers. Of the people themselves there is no sign. “Hope you made it out.” Joe whispers to the empty air, his voice… dead. There’s no emotion in his voice. The normally exuberant and lively young man is neither of those things at the moment. But then losing family will do that to you.
His tread is slow but sure. He’s walked these ruins before, or at least those like them. He’s no stranger to scavenging, though he’s not out here doing that. No he’s out here to be alone with himself. Alone with his thoughts. He’s not afraid of coming upon any of the dangers outside the walls of the safezone. He’s confident that he can handle that. He’s dressed in simple jeans and hoodie, his sneakers scuffing along on the ground. He doesn’t do anything so sulky as kick bricks around, he’s not twelve anymore. But his sorrow is plain for anyone to see, if there’s anyone watching the young man. He breathes in deeply, then lets it out with a sigh and nods to the building before he turns and resumes his walk down the street. He steps over the twisted cage of a shopping cart, his foot catching on it, a scrape of metal dragging on concrete echoing down the street. “Good job Joe.”
On Joe walks without much interruption. A deer and her elk peek their heads out from the ruins of a apartment building's lobby, vines snaking up the side but dying fading off to a faint brown. A block or so down he begins to not just hear but feel the sounds of music nearby. A lone cat runs out of a nondescript building with a oddly black painted door and a red streak painted across it.
Sometimes I wish I never felt, the influence of you=
'Cause now I feel the disconnect, like an open wound
Flickers of light flash in the sky. Blues, purples, greens and reds. Whoever it is, isn't worried about the law coming to stop them. Not many people in the Ruins were worried about that. A man with a shaved head stumbles out of the place and leans against the pillar on the porch with a loud laugh and weird shake of his body. Clearly intoxicated the man sways and comes to stand at the edge of the porch while fiddling with his belt. Soon after the sound of water hitting the pavement below as he relives himself.
Joe lifts a hand and waves at the animals. For all he knows Hailey is out here somewhere keeping an eye on him. Better make sure she knows he's okay. Or well as okay as he can be right now. So he waves at the animals, then blinks as a cat comes tearing out of a nearby building, his head canting to the side as he follows it's path, then looks back to where it came from. "Odd." The teen mutters as he starts to meander towards that building, picking his way over a pile of fallen stonework and ruptured sidewalk. Something strong went off right there. He picks his way over and and then crosses the street towards the building in question. There's a quick pause when he sees the drunk man come stumbling out and Joe hesitates a second or two, his eyes distracted by the flashes of light in the sky, then they focus back on the man, just in time to watch him relieving himself.
"Classy." Is uttered in a dry tone. Joe lifts a hand to run fingers through his hair, eyes averted away from the guy until he gets his junk back in his pants, if he can. "Buddy. You might wanna head back inside. Not safe out here okay?" Joe's voice is raised just enough so the man hopefully hears but no one else. Not that there appears to be anyone else, but Joe knows that doesn't mean there's not. So he waves at the man and tries to wave him back inside the building so he can move on, stepping around the puddle the man created on the concrete. "World's gone to hell and New Yorkers are still pissing in the streets." Joe snorts and gives his head a disbelieving shake.
The man staggers as Joe surprises him and lucky for both the men that he is able to at least zip his pants back up and slump against the porch wall, the music throbbing louder and the sounds of a party inside calls to Joe, living the life that the Lighthouse Kids lived… there was a need for unleashing pressure that most young adults felt. Whether or not that speaks to Joe isn't the case as the bald headed man leans forward with yellow teeth smiles and nods his head, "The world didn't end, ain't you heard?"
Where you once were there is a space
That runs as deep as hell
But every morning when I wake
The black door stands slightly ajar, voices can be heard within but it doesn't sound like bikers or thugs just people releasing pressure. The cat from earlier, a gray one with green eyes peers out from the rubble across the street before flitting away to the building across the street. "What are ya doin- whoa!" The man begins to fall over and just narrowly misses Joe by clinging onto the pillar of the porch. It takes a moment for the man to gather his wits about him but in that time his blue eyed gaze centers on Joe, "Ya mind helping a drunk idiot inside?" It seems the man is coherent enough to know how that sounds.
"There's an occasional fucking sick party thrown in the back, cops don't give a fuck! You could murder someone out here!" That last bit might not be as comforting as the man is trying to make it sound but he smiles lazily and leans against the pillar with a sigh.
I tell myself…
Joe's head shakes a little more at the man and his words. "So they say." He calls back. He tucks his hands into the pockets on his jeans and looks at the building a little longer, a bit of confusion there. Joe's never understood the partying thing. But then he's been an adult since he was like 9 so there's that. "Just walk slow buddy. Or stay out here and have a seat till you can walk straight." Joe offers the man a half hearted smile as he starts to take a step passed the house. "Take it easy. Don't kill anyone. Enjoy yourself. And remember, every time the world doesn't end there are people paying the price for that for you."
Joe offers the man a lazy salute then steps on past the porch, not that he's moving fast, his steps are slow, his eyes flickering up towards the sky, then across the street towards where he saw the cat disappear. Animals are Hailey's thing, and Joe's never really had a strong connection to them. But he does let his eyes linger on where the cat disappeared as he walks past the porch. "Have a good night buddy." He calls over his shoulder to the drunk guy.
“There’s always a price.” He whispers softly to the night air, sorrow and mourning twisted into those words. He lost two family members recently, and someone he rather liked in Mister Ruiz.
"Are ya sure there's been a sick—" The drunk man doesn't finish his sentence there's the sound of an explosion and the music halts for a few seconds. The man turns and tries to look towards the house but ends up pinwheeling his arm and falling over off the side of the porch into his own urine. "Hnnnngh!"
The music starts back up along with the sound of crackling and popping and a flash of red fills the sky along with the other colors from earlier but this one looks different. A long streak of red lightning can be seen above the house. Moments later the sounds of screams and then people are barreling out of the house, a woman with green spiky hair has tears running down her face and it looks like she spent too much time in the sun sporting an awful sunburn.
Don't be fooled by your emptiness
Joe is very sure. Cuz well yeah. He's not a partyer, nor a drinker. Especially not a drink at party type. So he waves the man off, though there's a scrape of sneaker on concrete as he turns to look back over his shoulder when he hears the man cry out. And he… lands in his own piss. Joe just stares a moment before a faint smile tugs at the corner of his lips. He's turning back to face forwards and resume his walk when there's more explosions and then… red lightning. He's heard stuff about red lightning very recently. He sees the woman's burned face, and the people streaming out of the house.
Joe dashes back, up onto the porch, hopping over the railing rather than fighting the flow of people down the stairs, and he hurls himself between two people fighting to get through the door. "Sorry!" He hollers back at them after bowling them over and sending them tumbling to the floor. Joe vaults over a couch, skids across the top of a coffee table and comes down on his feet running, cutting through the kitchen and out the back door. People are getting hurt and that is /not/ okay. He skids to a stop once he reaches the back yard, his eyes casting about himself, taking in what he can see, trying to make sense of the scene before him.
Only four people stand in the backyard are left along with Joe, two seem to be dancing in an erratic way their limbs twitching and heads thrown back towards the night sky that a cheap light machine spins this time the color being purple mixed with the red of something. Joe's eyes fall on the DJ next his eyes glazed over as he peers upwards with a vacant smile on his face. "Whoa.." a bit of drool drips down to the ground.
There's so much more room for happiness, yeah
Don't be fooled by your emptiness**
There's so much more room for happiness, yeah
The last one is a petite dark skinned girl with tattoos around her wrists, "What the fuck?!" She utters and scrambles back into the corner and wall with eyes wide, legs bunched up against her chest as she tries to avoid the red lightning striking the surface near her. Poppy Jones did not sign up for this and the amount of drugs and alcohol that she's consumed tonight don't matter because she's mostly sobered the fuck up.
= Yeah, yeah, yeah
Above the backyard an astonishing sight takes Joe's gaze. A cloud of red light sits above the dance floor, lightning pops and leaves scorch marks on the ground and surrounding fence, smoke beginning to lift up towards the sky. The two people "dancing" are actually batting at the air and screaming as they try to fight their way out but their circumstance leaves them rooted in place as red lightning strikes them repeatedly. "Fuck!" Screams the guy of the duo, his face red and contorted in pain. The woman throws her bag away from her and it slams into the fence with a thud.
Tiny, red metal filings float within the nimbus of energy that crackles and pops with power. Beer bottles and the remnant of the party are awash in the crimson light.
Joe looks around the backyard, eyes taking in the situation in a matter of moments. The lightning strikes on the two causing them to spasm and look like they're dancing, the girl cowering in the corner. The moron DJ transfixed by the light show. Joe takes it all in, and in the space of a second he reacts. He races direction for the two being struck by lightning. His skin gives him a resistance to it, so he darts forwards and grabs the woman, but doesn't slow his momentum, instead digging his feet in to push forwards use the force of his run to shove the woman at the man, trying to knock them both clear of the lightning strikes, but he follows in, willing to tackle them both to the ground if he needs to.
Once he's gotten them on the ground and hopefully free of the red lightning the young protector will turn around and plant his hands on his hips. If any lightning hits him it will largely be ignored. "Alright. That's enough. You've had your fun. Don't know who you are but it's time to move on kay? That or I'll reach my hand right into the middle of your little electric cloud and ground you right into the dirt. So shove off lightning cloud thingamajig." Joe is not scared of the strange lightning cloud, assuming it’s some odd kind of electrokinesis or something similar. “You okay?” He asks in the direction of the girl and the two that were being electrocuted, then turns and starts to step in towards the cloud, trying to reach up a hand while keeping both his feet as on the ground as he can. Gonna do just what he said, be a lightning rod and funnel the energy into the ground. Cuz he thinks it’s electricity.
While Joe pushes the two people into each other the man grunts and is thrown from the red cloud his skin red and blistering, the girl falls short and ends up laying outside of the cloud but her ankles still within, mascara runs down her face as she kicks and starts to pull away. The man groans and scrambles back, catching his breath before he lunges forward to grab the woman on the ground by the arms and slowly the last of her body is pulled from the mist.
Joe's words or appearance have an effect on the read swirling nimbus of red mist and lightning, the cloud crackles with energy and draws itself together with a shudder that ripples through the mass.
Blackened earth surrounds Joe as he reaches in and goes to grab for the center, the mass of metallic like particles buzzing faster and with a frenzied pace. His clothes begin to smoke while his skin stays unaffected though lighting strikes against it periodically. Any reply that the nimbus has is not given verbally or telepathically though Joe feels it surrounding him suddenly before it zips up into the sky, leaving Joe's hands empty. There's movement at the top and the shape of a mouth forms as a bloodcurdling scream echoes out from it, assaulting Joe's ears.
Joe is just about to step over and nudge the woman a little further away from the cloud when the guy comes to his senses and takes care of it. Joe looks up into the cloud, his eyes narrowing. He's heard some about red lightning and light like this recently. But as far as he knew the entity was destroyed, so he's not sure what this is. Some remnant of it? Or just a result of it coming into the world? His clothes smoke as they burn when the lightning hits him. The lightning was only hurting the regular folks and burning them rather than killing them outright, so charges that low don't really do much to the bulletproof kid, so as his clothes smolder from the lightning zaps he ignores them, reaching his hand up and forwards.
Should he run when he gets enveloped by the cloud? Most definitely. But Joe is… Joe. So he stands there, curious and mystified. Joe thinks all things Evolved are cool and interesting. Even the ones that are horribly dangerous. He steps back when the cloud darts up into the air, his eyes following it, watching it. "What are you?" He asks of the thing. The entity that has flown up into the sky. And he doesn't react with fear when the scream echoes. No. It's concern. "Do you need help? What are you? I can help you! I know a LOT of people that could help!" He shouts it up at the cloud and the source of the scream, unsure what's going on, but things don't usually scream like that unless they're in pain. And despite the fact that he was just lecturing it for zapping people he's not trying to take care of it. Because Joe.
Joe turns his head again, glancing to the others, the man and woman, and the girl. “Are you okay?” He asks again, repeating himself in a calm tone, but speaking up louder so they can hopefully hear him. If the scream is still going on he’ll shout really really loud. Once he’s asked though his attention shifts back up to the thing in the air above them, watching and waiting to see what happens, to see what it does.
Sometimes it's worse to have lost
Than to have never had at all
'Cause it's a curse to feel love
The shape of a mouth dissolved as the form that was formerly known as Eve Mas tries to take her corporeal form. The lightning crackles in the air as the fillings twist and begin to construct themselves into a vague humanoid shape, the form looks like it's almost a humanoid briefly before it bursts back into that dizzying cloud of crimson with a loud boom. The explosion firing off red lightning in all directions, scorch marks rise off the ground and the girl, Poppy yelps as a streak pops off her skin. Dark eyes wide as she watches Joe calmly come over to them after walking into the thing and yelling at it. Unscratched save for the beginning of a red shade on his skin, sunburns.
The nimbus doesn't answer Joe's questions and ramblings. Instead it crackles and floats down to Joe's level not far from his face for a few moments as if studying him. A bit of the cloud wafts and comes to rest on Joe's shoulder before it jerks away and rises back into the air.
"Are you fucking crazy?!"
The young woman yells at Joe in fear and she shakes her head, "Real great." Sarcastically as Poppy climbs to her feet and looks nervously at the crimson nimbus in the sky. "Everything was cool and I mean there were some stranger than usual people here but all of a sudden-" Poppy stops while looking up and backing up a step. The man and the woman rise as well at the same time that cloud zooms into a nearby speaker and the music shudders and rewinds before blowing out completely with spark showering the dance floor and the group below. More screams as the man and woman up and make for the house and the front to exit the hell home. Poppy looks from Joe to the exit and leaps in the air to avoid another flash of crimson lightning.
The DJ continues to stare up stupidly but as the cloud drifts down slowly from it's perch atop the speaker the whole DJ set up sparks and distorts with a screech noise that pierces the air. The man yelps and dives out of the booth and makes his way to the house and presumably safety.
Poppy grabs Joe's hand and pulls, "Come on! We gotta get the fuck out of here! Whatever this thing is!" As she speaks the cloud seems to jerk and shake to the sounds of the distorted music coming out from the last working speaker. Crimson lightning pops all over the place and the energy in the air shows no signs of stopping. A ripple occurs across the surface.
Joe sees the cloud start to take shape, looking humanoid and that sparks his protective streak even that much more. Could it be the entity? Yeah it could be. Could also be one of the people that were lost en route for all he knows. Or… even one of the people that was killed and is maybe not so dead? Or it could even be something new, brought into this world at the same time as the Entity. Joe tilts his head back to look up at the shape, eyes closing when the cloud bursts and the sound of the boom washes over him. His eyes flicker back open, the young man still ignoring the energy discharges. Yay Evolved powers. Joe tries to get in the way of the energy that forks off towards the people on the ground, but winces when he fails to get there in time to stop the girl from getting zapped. "You guys should probably head into the house. Quick like hup hup!" Joe flashes Poppy a quick grin. He's… enjoying himself.
"I don't think it wants to hurt you guys. I think it was just trying to get someone's attention. It was probably drawn here by the lights and the sound. Head inside if you can." Joe remarks with a grin still in place for Poppy. It's the first time he's smiled since he got news of what happened. He turns back towards the cloud, trying to keep himself between it and the people, absorb any zaps it might through off, watching curiously as the cloud comes closer and reaches out like it's trying to touch him. "I know people that can help you." He repeats to the cloud. Poppy's comments have him glancing over his shoulder at her, that grin still in place. "Probably a little yeah." Joe keeps track of the cloud and the people, still trying to keep himself between them both. "Yeah strange people crazy party lots of drugs. Inside now please." Joe continues trying to gesture the group into the house. Into the house. "Strange zappy thing seems fully intent on continuing to be zappy so in you go. Go go go." He makes shooing motions with his hands at the people and turns back to the cloud.
"Oh! Now you move." Joe remarks in a dry tone at the DJ. "Now you move. Stand there and watch other people get electrocuted but it fries your speaker and now you move. That's good. Get inside." The last is probably unnecessary since he seems to be doing that already. "It's fine. You head inside. It can't hurt me." The smoldering clothes would suggest otherwise, smoke still rising from a couple of the more recent strikes of energy. "Gonna need a new hoodie though. Maybe Brynn can just… color over it." Most of that last is muttered as he looks down at the burnt spots on his clothes. Then back up. He starts hopping up and down, waving at the cloud. "You've got to stop Cloud Thing! You're hurting people. But I can bring people to help you!"
Poppy blinks at Joe, he's enjoying this! "Crazy white people…" she mutters under her breath as she backs away and takes Joe's explanation that they drew it here with their loud partying as fact, she's done here. "See you later Invincible Boy!" Shaking her head as she disappears into the house along with the others leaving Joe to stare up at the crimson cloud.
The cloud doesn't move in at first, hovering in the air there as if waiting for something. Joe's words echo in the backyard but who knows if it hears him, understands him. Ultimately it isn't long before it's there lingering right in front of him again, inspecting him. A spasm rips through the thing and it crackles before enveloping Joe entirely in its mass. Inside he can see amidst the red lightning almost metal filings that contract and shift as if trying to find purchase.
Suddenly the crimson color stops and with a pop and snap it whips away and up over the fence leading into an alley. Lighting and scorch marks with smoke left in its wake.
Joe glances over to Poppy and offers a cheerful sort of wave. "Keep safe!" He yells to Poppy. "And get those burns looked at!" And then he's back to looking up at the cloud, as everyone else does the smart and flees Joe just stands there. "We can help you. I don't know who or what you are but we can help you. I know a lot of people. Sciency people. I'm sure one of them can help you. But you can't go around zapping and hurting people if you want help. Okay?" But then the cloud is off, flying up and over the fence. Zero hesitation. It starts moving and Joe follows. It goes up over the fence and Joe goes up over the fence, clambering over it at speed and dropping into a roll on the other side, springing up and to his feet and racing headlong down the alley, heedless of what he may run into. "Wait!" He calls out to it, reaching out ahead of him, running for all he's worth to try and keep pace with the lightning cloud. Because he wants to help it.
And to feel it all dissolve
Where you once were, there is a space
That runs as deep as hell
The music stutters and skips but continues to play through as the crimson mist skips and crackles away, popping as the metal filings twist and tangle themselves racing away. Joe keeps pace and follow as it turns the corner. He's barely a few seconds away but as he rounds he finds not a swirling mass of crimson energy but a large blackened spot on the cracked pavement, it could have been a remnant from the war if it wasn't for the fresh smoke curling up towards the sky. It's gone.
"Wait! If you're a ghost can you check on my friend William?! He's a ghost that lives in the sewers! He's a good kid but I haven't been able to find him in awhile!" Joe's voice is pleading but then he rounds the corner and the cloud is… gone. He skids to a stop and looks around a moment, then two before he lets out a long sigh. His features settle back into the melancholy of before the encounter. He does however turn around to go back to the house. He wants to make sure people are okay.
But every morning when I wake…
As Joe walks away to see how Poppy and the others are doing the music finally stabilizes back at the party. Heart thumping beats fill the air and the scene is an eerie one with the flickering lights that aren't attributed to an Evolved ability flashing on a totally empty space. No sight of that cloud in sight.
I tell myself
Later…
Up high in a ruined building taller than the houses surrounding it, the roar of energy cracks and pops into place on the roof, winding moving everything but not the swirling, chaotic crimson mass that hovers mid air. Contorting into strange shapes but nothing lasting for long, it's unstable. She's unstable.
= Don't be fooled by your emptiness
There's so much more room for happiness
Don't be fooled by your emptiness
But for a moment she's able to do what she could not while looking Joe one of her "nephews" dead in the face. A vague humanoid shape bends into space using the filing to construct something of a body, crimson light hands splayed out on the edge of the roof, the material scorching and smoking underneath her. Eve's eyes as red as the rest of her stare up at the night sky with a pained expression until her form snaps fully into place and the pale woman with the long mane of dark hair stands with the wind now affecting her, blowing her hair, chilling her bones. "JoJo…" Eve rasps softly, she couldn't get herself together. Not in time.
The light thumping of music in the distance distracts Eve or really brings her back to the whole reason this started in the first place, the music. She liked the song and the sounds of those chords and melodies had drawn her to that place, now though…
There's so much more room for happiness
A devilish grin crosses her unpainted lips and the unruly haired woman swings her body around the rooftop nude as she sings and dances to it all. Her body sparking with crimson lightning and eyes never dulling back to red, she's changed. She might have lost something.. lost people but she was…something new. Eve winces in the pain that comes with keeping herself together.
Eve only gets a short while to dance under the moon and celebrate being home finally. She might be lost. She might be dangerous.
And she might like it.