Outside Needful Things, Wednesday

[needfully-yours.livejournal.com]

The thick, black fog still hung, dark and sinister, in the air around the island. The doors and windows of Leland Gaunt's humble storefront were all boarded over, and a very important sign hung out front:

YOU SAY HELLO
AND I SAY GOODBYE GOODBYE GOODBYE
I DON'T KNOW WHY YOU SAY HELLO
I SAY GOODBYE

Needful Things was closed. You are, of course, welcome -- nay, encouraged -- to tear each other apart around it.

(This post is for Fighters to show up and get fierce, and Recovery to try (and fail) to get to Gaunt, and Recovery to fight the Fighters, and anyone who wants to drop in so they can fail at talking sense into any of the other teams, or just get in on the smackdown, or what have you. No OCD, just go crazy. Have fun!)

Comments

[suitably_heroic]

After making a stop at the library that morning, Atton was back at Needful Things, electromesh on and unlit lightsaber (and a spare blaster, just in case) at his side.

If he could get a better headcount today, he would. If he could figure out a way to get in today, preferably with help, he would. If he could talk any of these idiots out of being idiots today, he... deserved a damned medal.

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

Elsa was here. You could tell because of the chill in the air around her, because of the unnatural way the snow hung suspended where she paced. Her hair, normally worn up, had gone half-wild, and there was an icy glint in her eye that went so much deeper than what she was capable of doing with her powers.

And she wasn't alone. Today she was flanked by a pair of wolves (http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/iceolatedqueen/67696236/6610/6610_600.jpg), whose growls were the sound of creaking ice and shattering glass.

Leland Gaunt had given her freedom. Leland Gaunt had given her the means to be herself without fear. Anybody who would harm him would have to go through Elsa and any number of icy obstacles before they could get close.


[OOC: For the slowest of slowplay until I get home from work's ever-so-spiteful firewall, naturally.]

[tigerundercover]

The radio said that people were gathered around the antique shop, so that's where Raven headed, blending into the fog like a chameleon to be able to get close.

She stopped and stared when she spotted the wolves.

". . . Elsa?"

She'd wondered a bit if the girl had any powers, but she'd never expected something like this.

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

Elsa paused where she was pacing at the sound of her name being spoken through the fog. The ears of the wolves pinned back and they snarled, turning toward the voice before Elsa so much as turned her head.

"... Raven?"

She tilted her head a little, though her wolves didn't so much as blink where they stood.

"Please, please tell me you're not here to stop him."

She would hate to have to do something she might regret later.

[notacokeperson.livejournal.com]

Karina showed up with a considering look on her face, her arms crossed over her chest as she surveyed the situation the best she could, given the fog all around.

On one hand, that was useful if she had to do anything. On the other hand, that made it harder to figure out what was going on here and who all was around. Ugh.

Her concessions to maybe having to do anything were to have left her coat back at the dorms, and to have pulled her hair back in a ponytail. She could've gone all out and come as Blue Rose but... well... she hadn't. Shut up.

[sarcastic-vamp.livejournal.com]

Carmilla usually preferred to avoid daylight. It didn't destroy her, though it did make her feel weak. But Gaunt needed her, and she had to protect. Plus the fog was shielding her from the sun. She had her strength, she had her speed, and she had a large tree branch to use as a club on anyone who tried to get through.

She also had Elle's letter, carefully tucked inside a pouch that hung around her neck. No one was taking this from her. She'd kill them first.

[hexentotchen.livejournal.com]

"I'm glad you're here," Hanna confided in her roommate. She was cleaning her gun. "Instead of on the other side."

[sarcastic-vamp.livejournal.com]

"I knew this place was too good to be true," Carmilla seethed, pacing as she guarded the store. "They want to steal from us. I'm not going to let them take her again."

[not_every_mage]

Anders hadn't slept the night before, and he couldn't properly remember when he'd last eaten. The relentless throb in his head and gut suggested he might need both.

He ignored the pain. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered except the phylactery around his neck, and protecting the man who had given it to him. He paced relentlessly along the sidewalk in front of the shop, waving his staff at anything that seemed threatening. So far, he hadn't had to do anything worse than scaring away a few deer, but he wasn't sure that would last.

[seeks_truth]

At last, Cassandra had slept, and it had left her with some level of perspective the next morning.

Perspective, apparently, that drove her to show up here and make a beeline for Anders as if it was the most important thing in the world.

"Mage!"

[not_every_mage]

Anders hissed as if she'd struck him. "Leave me be, Cassandra. You aren't taking this away from me now."

[spin_kick_snap]

After discovering that Mr. Gaunt was literally stealing souls, Kathy couldn't at least try to come out here and talk some sense into people. Maybe she would have better luck, since she knew what it was like on the other side?

...She was also trying to convince herself that the pang she felt upon seeing the store was just relief to be at her destination, no longer fighting her way through the fog. Really.

"A-Anders?" she said, nearly stumbling into him. Between the fog and her own lingering weakness, she wasn't at her most graceful. "Oh no. You too?"

[not_every_mage]

"Me too, what?" Anders asked, hand hovering over his precious phylactery. Kathy was fast and he didn't trust anyone just then; if she was going to grab for his treasure, he would be ready.

[craftyladyparts.livejournal.com]

From an opposite rooftop, Jessica was planning on being very official with her actions. There were people down below, brainwashed into guarding the store somehow. She didn't want a fight with them. What she did want was to make it clear that there was going to be an official response to what was happening. Even if she didn't really clear it with anyone. Whatever.

A series of web blasts launched across the street, trying to stick arrest warrants to the boarded windows. Then she pulled a megaphone up off the roof. "Leland Gaunt, you're wanted for your crimes against Fandom. Release your thralls and come outside. This will be your only warning."

And then she prepared herself for a response. She didn't expect to be civil.

[OOC: Feel free to stop the webbed warrants and react however you think is appropriate. I'm slow until evening but should be able to ping here and there.]

[suitably_heroic]

Hey, hey, at least one response was going to be civil!

A few minutes after her announcement, a pair of durasteel-toed boots hit the rooftop not far from where she was, fresh out of a Force-fueled leap. "You're really going the whole nine yards with this police thing, aren't you, Jess?" Atton said conversationally.

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

Squall's leap wasn't nearly as impressive as Atton's -- gravity was only really optional for him while he was in a fight -- but he caught the edge of the roof and hauled himself up.

"Don't hurt them."

A normal person would have probably said "hi", or "how can I help", or "hello, my name is Squall" first. Squall wasn't so good at remembering to pretend to be normal right now.

[hexentotchen.livejournal.com]

Hanna shot an arrow past the woman on the opposite roof, as her warning. That could have been a gun, Jessica.

[angelo_wings]

Rinoa wasn't so much back as she simply hadn't left. This was where she needed to be. There were things more important than sleep.

She had brought her book, so that no one could steal it. What else could she possibly need?

(I work soon-ish, so bouts of SP, but I'll be able to ping after!)

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

Squall didn't have any hope of common sense prevailing, but it would have been moronic not to try. He marched up to Rinoa. "Stop being mind-controlled," he ordered. "You're better than this."

He was not exactly the world's most persuasive speaker.

[hexentotchen.livejournal.com]

"Professor Rinoa?" Hanna was camped out on top of her box, heavily armed. Looking very very worried. "People keep showing up. Who shouldn't."

[bigdamnprincipal]

Not sure what kind of situation she was walking into, Zoe had decided to come to the storefront unarmed. She didn't need a weapon to be dangerous, and there certainly wasn't anyone out here she wanted to harm. She was, of course, mostly upset about the number of students she could see guarding the place--why couldn't the things that attacked the island just pick on the adults for once?

[nookiepowered]

Bo? Not so unarmed, considering that the guy in that store apparently had the one thing she knew of that could shut her built-in weapons system down.

However, she wasn't about to point her gun at people she knew, especially the kids, so it rode in its hip holster. For the moment.

"I don't know if I should feel less guilty for not being at the school because you had the same idea," she said as she spotted her boss, "Or more because that means neither of us is there."

[allie-vamp.livejournal.com]

Allie was still there, still minus her sword. Just a little more rumpled (http://fandomtownies.livejournal.com/7514161.html?thread=276257585#t276257585) after going a round with Navaan.

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

Squall leaned against the building across the street, waiting in the fog. When he'd first arrived was hard to say, but he'd been there for a while. Waiting. Watching. When the situation changed, he'd be ready.

He got tired of the darkness, so he lit a candle -- or, rather, Summoned Tonberry. For the briefest moment a green glow surrounded him, and then a little green turtle-like being (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fI6b7T6ucQw) climbed from a deeper puddle of darkness, carrying a lantern. Bright though the lantern was, the dark fog swallowed it. Plus, it was only held at about waist-level, so it didn't illuminate much.

"Your light sucks," Squall grumbled. And then he hooked his fingers in the the hood of Tonberry's robe, so it wasn't able to wander off and stab people with its giant knife.

[hexentotchen.livejournal.com]

Hanna had the large cursed box, her weapons, and a bottle of water. That was it. That was all she needed.

Anyone who tried to get in to Mr. Gaunt was going to be very sorry.