Town Hall Meeting, Thursday afternoon

[nuclear_snide]

So, everyone had hopefully been notified, and now they were gathered and gathering, and Bob waited as long as he could for them to arrive before he stepped up to the front of the room and set off a burst of golden light to get their attention.

"Thank you all for coming." He projected his voice around the room. "In case you hadn't noticed, there's a lot of bad magic out there," he said dryly. If anyone hadn't noticed, he worried about them. "We've been looking into it, and we've tracked down the source, and if you listened to radio yesterday you know it's Needful Things and Leland Gaunt. He's been selling cursed items, often for the price of special or magical items in turn. What's new is that we've found out how to break his hold."

He paused very briefly for dramatic effect to let that sink in. "In order for someone who's got a cursed item to be free of the curse, they have to destroy the item." He stared around the room seriously. "THEY have to destroy it," he reiterated. "If anyone else breaks it for them, they will wither and die. If they don't break it, they will wither and die."

He leaned forward. "This is a very nasty breed of curse, rather like a poison. It's insidious. It will take them a lot of energy to break it, and it's going to hurt. They'll be weakened. You'll probably want to get them to the clinic. Also, because it operates on a psychic level, their recovery will be influenced by their mood. They'll need positive reinforcement, reassurance. 'Hug it out', as the saying goes."

Whatever. At least he wouldn't have to do that part. "Now, we know of a few people who've been sold cursed items. We've gone through radio broadcasts to get a list of everyone who was spotted entering the store. We'll need help to cover them all and make sure everyone has someone to try to snap them out of it. If you're willing to help, raise your hand and Four here can match you with someone. Any questions?"


[OOC: Just a sec for the OCD! Up! Have at!]

Comments

Arrive and Mingle!

[nuclear_snide]

Talk amongst yourselves!

Re: Arrive and Mingle!

[suitably_heroic]

"Oh, great," Atton muttered, largely to himself. "Only withering and dying. No pressure."

And yep, the power of positive thought. He was screwed, here. ...Was Karina a hugger? Was anybody else Sparks knew a hugger?

Re: Arrive and Mingle!

[saddeserthermit]

Obi-Wan was there, of course, looking troubled. This wasn't much different than he'd looked since he'd returned from Tatooine, to be honest.

Ah, well. At least now there was something to be done.

Re: Arrive and Mingle!

[bigdamnprincipal]

Zoe was there, sighing as she listened. On one hand, it was nice to have answers, but on the other hand, the answers were definitively unpleasant. She thought about the people she'd seen outside Gaunt's shop and wondered how many of them might be swayed by hugging it out.

Re: Arrive and Mingle!

[doesnotkneel]

"Sorry, what?"

Edward was getting the distinct impression he had missed something this past week.

He'd been napping a lot.

Re: Arrive and Mingle!

[tigerundercover]

Raven was here. She'd managed to miss most of the drama on this, but she figured that just meant she was well suited to help clean it up. Not too weighed down by curses and guilt or something.

She looked around to see who she knew who was here, figuring it'd be a decent starting point for who she knew who might still need help.

Re: Arrive and Mingle!

[14andseven]

Roland was absolutely glad that Kenzi was okay and no longer invisible or stealing magical things from him.

None of this stopped his seriously grumpy mood at the whole thing. He'd better get that harp back, dammit.

Re: Arrive and Mingle!

[notacokeperson.livejournal.com]

"Hug it out?" she muttered, appalled at the thought.

Karina didn't entertain the idea of just leaving Sparkle to wither and die, but goddamnit, Sparkle.

You sucked.

Maybe she could get Atton to do it...?

Re: Arrive and Mingle!

[nookiepowered]

Bo had known some of this already, which was why she'd been dividing her time between checking in on Kenzi and trying to make sure nobody killed each other in the standoff outside Gaunt's store, but the knowledge that they at least had an idea who needed to be tracked down and de-crazied was both new and cheering. Sort of. Normally she had kind of an advantage at getting people to do stuff, but...

"Why am I guessing that Succubus-thrall would count as breaking it for them?" She was responsible for enough withering and dying already, thanks.

Re: Arrive and Mingle!

[wrongkindofsith]

Cara rolled her eyes. Of course it wasn't going to be that easy.

Re: Arrive and Mingle!

[montecito-east.livejournal.com]

Mary was conflicted. She was worried about what has happening, but she was also extremely grateful that she hadn't done any shopping at Needful Things. She came prepared with her clipboard to take notes. There wouldn't be much to write down, but at least she felt like she was doing something useful.

Re: Arrive and Mingle!

[beautifulsenshi.livejournal.com]

Minako did not want to be here. She wanted to be taking yet another hot shower, to scrub the gross feeling from dealing with Kathy off her skin.

But that wasn't an option, and so she'd braved the fog to come to the meeting, finding herself a spot where she could grab a seat and be uncharacteristically serious.

Re: Arrive and Mingle!

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

"Answers," Parker said aloud. "Give them to me."

Re: Arrive and Mingle!

[bitten_notshy]

Jack was there, looking pale and drawn. he'd gotten more and more certain Emma was among the cursed, but hadn't been able to get her to wake up and have a conversation long enough to admit it.

Re: Arrive and Mingle!

[dauntless-four.livejournal.com]

Four was there with a sheet of paper of notes from his radio research.

He needed coffee.

He needed a lot of coffee.

Re: Arrive and Mingle!

[sith_happened]

Anakin had done another circuit around the island after his radio broadcast to get a feel for what was going on today. He didn't look happy about it.

Re: Arrive and Mingle!

[stykera]

Stark wasn't entirely sure what he could do to help but he was determined to be of use somehow. Surely there was something he could do.

Re: Arrive and Mingle!

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

Squall was glad for the information. Unfortunately, talking Rinoa into destroying the book was going to be extremely difficult. He wasn't sure what he was going to do.

He glowered at anyone and anything that came near. This sucked.

Re: Arrive and Mingle!

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy's hero status might be in serious question right now, but she wasn't going to keep her away from a meeting where they might learn more about how to stop Gaunt entirely. Sticking to the back (and definitely avoiding Minako after spotting her there), Kathy hunkered down and hoped that whatever social invisibility that had clung to her for most of her life would still work now.

Re: Arrive and Mingle!

[craftyladyparts.livejournal.com]

Considering that she'd been on the streets and in front of Needful Things all week, it probably wasn't a shock that she'd show up here to find out what she might find out in addition to what was on the radio this morning.

Questions?

[nuclear_snide]

Bob will answer them! Public talking? Try to get him to stop!

Re: Questions?

[glacial_queen]

Karla raised a hand. "Has there been anything directly linking Gaunt's influence to what's happening to the island?"

Yeah, the fact that they were linked was pretty much a given at this point, but Karla would love some verification of that. Better yet, verification with a step-by-step explanation of how to make it stop.

[THIS HAS ALWAYS BEEN HERE YOU SAW NOTHING]

Assignments!

[nuclear_snide]

Raise your hand, and Four will come around and give you someone to talk to.

Re: Assignments!

[14andseven]

Roland put his hand up. He was crap for fighting, but he could at least talk to people.

Anything I haven't thought of because I'm tired

[nuclear_snide]

Goes here!

OOC!

[nuclear_snide]

No world ending!