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--- sessions:004 [2014/10/26 19:43] – pinkgothic
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 <fc #008888>A disease would be nicer than a parasite. A disease could be cured, a parasite had to be killed and extracted, possibly not in that order. And sometimes actively killed its host. And now her thought were going incredibly dark places again, so she took a sip of soda and ordered the sugar to make them go away.</fc>
-**✘ IN PROGRESS**
+Maybe if he'd been less enamoured with the weirder side of life before Townsville's 'ashfall', the reference to Ophiocordyceps unilateralis might have left him confused - but unsurprisingly, someone who'd written a Zombie Survival Guide didn't miss a beat.
+''Ethan Z: invasion of the body snatchers! :) I can get behind that.''
+Judging by the emoticon, Ethan's approach was to somehow amuse himself over this phenomenon from afar for as long as circumstances permitted. Maybe that was a sensible tactic for staying sane. On the other hand... he was out there by his own free will, sanity might not necessarily be a trait of his even now.
+Then there's silence for a while from Ethan's side, Hangouts ignored in favour of pictures taken, their collaborative map updating with a few markers for fire. Ethan had cursed the latest version of Google Maps earlier, complaining that he'd spent a subjective eternity trying to find out how to change the marker image, and how it used to be easier just a few months ago, but now they had a fun little animated fire sprite they could use for their purposes.
+North Ward was free of markers so far, as was anything north of it along the coast, potentially charting a way out of the city without high risk of detection - but since the city was a fairly thin sliver along that edge, anyway, it was hard to say whether or not the lack of any visible issues with it was a reliable gauge.
+''Ethan Z: not much of a view in the middle of the night from up here. :P''
+A video stream was offered. By the time it was accepted, the view was of a few too regular lights scrolling sideways steadily, punctured by two thin, flickering wounds. The starlight was practically invisible. Ethan's mobile phone did not have particularly quality video recording. His voice snuck in a calm, narrative (albeit badly compressed) comment: "Guessing you can't see the smoke on the feed; there are some less obvious fires, too. Took me a while to make them out." The camera pans a little longer, then jitters in the tell-tale motion of its quest deemed completed, records the floor for a split second, then turns off. A moment later, he's back in Hangouts. ''Ethan Z: sitting down for a while. you guys still OK?''
+<fc #008888>At least it had been wet enough lately that those fires weren't going to take out the entire city. Although personally she'd have felt a whole lot better if those fires were accompanied by red trucks and hoses and disaster-trained people trying to put them out. The fact they were burning unmolested was, to her mind, the most post-apocalyptic part of the entire bizarre night. Human-shaped entities with comic book powers was something her mind was still trying to shy away from, but 'lone terrorist run amok wrecking stuff' she could cope with. Not having a swarm of lights and sirens swarming after said lone terrorist? That did not compute. That was their JOB. And even if the bigwigs in government ordered them to abandon city Delaney thought that surely at least //some// of the police and fire fighters and general emergency services would be experiencing convenient radio trouble and charging in to defend their home.</fc>
+<fc #008888>''If we had cards, poker would be breaking out'' she responded with a glance at the other two. Not only were they stuck in a bad disaster movie (if it was a good one they'd know what was happening, if it was a horror movie the cameras would see more screaming extras) but the magic 'make cards appear' effect was failing. What was next, a lack of harmonicas in the local lockup?</fc>
+<fc #008888>That would be noise, though, and everything about the city was far too quiet. ''Are we sure the majority of Townsville hasn't been Raptured, abducted or turned into fluffy pillows?''</fc>
+Ethan responded with ''nah, not sure''. Then: ''but I'd wait till the morning before worrying about that''.
+Robert's caught Delaney's gaze, craning his neck a little for a view of the laptop screen sufficient to read the chat. Keneh and him had seen the video feed, of course, and heard the brief narrative, but the chat was mostly invisible to them for the time being. "Need any help?" he asks, tone accommodating but largely neutral, not having managed to interpret her glance, but not currently concerned.
+<fc #008888>She was playing mission control for a zombicide enthusiast that was applying book and game knowledge to real life in order to hunt slash avoid deadly mutants while debating missing firies. So yes, Delaney thought she probably did need help. Just of the professional nature. Because if she wasn't in some inexplicable psychotic episode she was in an equally inexplicable disaster and was probably going to get diagnosed with some sort of PTSD.</fc>
+<fc #008888>None of which came out her mouth, even if her lips quirked at the thoughts dashing through her brain. "I'm fine," Delaney said instead. "We're just wondering why all Townsville's emergency services seem to have vanished, the fires seem to be spreading unhindered."</fc>
+Robert seems to contemplate this. "...maybe no one's called for their help?" he offers after an awkward pause. "Otherwise preoccupied?" Of course, the latter part of that potential answer is a transparent attempt not to fall back to their worst case theory - after all, if what he'd caught on SD card was any indication, people don't seem to be dying and could rise to their feet and walk of their own supposed volition after the surreal attack on them. To assume all of them would still be 'otherwise preoccupied' afterward required stretching suspension of disbelief a bit thin. At the very least, ambulances ought to be involved, but Robert couldn't remember hearing any sirens.
+<fc #008888>"I think someone in the store we were in called triple zero?" Delaney offered uncertainly, glancing to Keneh for help. She had memories of a person and a phone, at least, but given everything that happened she wasn't sure how reliable that was. False memories were too easy to conjure. And her making that statement had probably compromised Keneh's memory too, damnit.</fc>
+<fc #008888>Still, the footage of the creatures had shown them attacking swiftly but approaching their victims at a leisurely pace. Someone was bound to have called the cops. So they knew. If it weren't for the fact they had power and the street lights were still on she'd be suspecting some sort of EMP effect that was crippling vehicles.</fc>
+<fc #008888>No, breaking the bridge did not count.</fc>
+<fc #008888>"I'm worried they've been told to stay back," Delaney admitted. "If someone has called in the army they probably don't want potential collateral casualties, or whatever friendly fire gets called these days."</fc>
+Keneh hadn't paid attention enough to shoot Delaney anything other than a mildly helpless and confused look in response to the implicit question.
+Robert took a while to parse Delaney's comment. "You still think they'll throw bombshells?" he asks, cautiously. It wasn't something he was willing to outright dismiss, but it seemed improbable to him, and as long as that was true he saw no reason to fret about it, himself. But if Delaney was seeing mounting evidence for that, he was more than willing to listen.
+Ethan was busy writing some commentary attached to the fresh markers on their collaborative map, some notes on the fuzziness of the location and the nature of the sighting, his lack of apostrophes and other typing laziness while on mobile still mostly caught by the system's autocorrection. Then, invisible to the crew of three in Robert's proverbial cubicle, he transitioned to checking Twitter for new messages and video links, answering a few questions, chiefly from foreigners.
+<fc #008888>The biologist pondered. "I don't think they'd start off with bombing the city, but you know those not quite tank armoured assault vehicles? I could see them loading some of those up with shock troops to take a closer look. Something fire and blast-proof that is capable of running the things over."</fc>
+That seemed more reasonable - and less prone to collateral damage even if other people weren't told to stay away. In some way casually reassured, Robert nods in acknowledgement, the motion slow, then settles back into his casual sit. At least the tense fear of before had dissipated by now. The situation was clearly still grim, but at least they'd sunk their panic in their fizzy drinks in the meanwhile. This was probably the closest to relaxation that they were going to get for a long time yet.