Arlington Antiques is... was... a quaint antique store nestled down into a nook between two large office buildings. However, there is not much left of the once warm and homely business. Now, there is only a broken building with piles of rubble. The front windows of the store are completely blown out, glass scattered upon the sidewalk and street. Bits of furniture lay strewn about, dotting the area with wooden chair legs, a half a table, the sad top of what was probably a very expensive grandfather clock.

The scene inside of the store is one of destruction. Dolls line one wall, their bodies shattered and crushed. Books lay open, pages torn and flapping in the breeze. An old bicycle lay half in and half out of one window, its frame slightly bend. All over the place are relics of times long past, each broken and twisted by the force that destroyed the shop.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:40, Sat 06 Feb 2021.

Dalion arrives breathing fast, that jog from his home made him break a good sweat but he doesn't stop to rest and checks the area for any injured people that may need first aids.

HELLO! IS ANYBODY HURT? DOES ANYBODY NEED HELP? he screamed over and over again, stopping only to listen if there were any answers.

[roll to look around, result: 3]
This message was last edited by the player at 04:50, Sat 06 Feb 2021.

Moving carefully over the debris George hears the Screaming man. Heading over to him, he puts a hand on the distressed guys shoulder to try and calm him a little, and asks.

"Is there some poor bastard in there?"

Solstice ran up the sidewalk, his wings up tense and alert, looking frantically for any injured souls.

     Ryan isn't particularly eager to get closer, but he has to. Something akin to the Proctors or the Hunters must exist in this world; he just doesn't know the extent of the similarity.
     There are far more emergency vehicles present here, the scene illuminated by strobing lights as well as regular spotlights. Uniformed humans are pushing people back to a safe distance, while firefighters are unfurling hoses ...

"Help! Over here!" comes a weak call from somewhere in the debris. A hand battered rises from behind a chunk of fallen wall, just barely visible.

----

A young woman dressed in a police uniform brushes past Ryan's shoulder, muttering an 'excuse me' as she does so, probably from ingrained habit. Dark hair in pulled back in a practical ponytail, adorned only by a tiny, green crystal in the tie. She pauses and looks at the scene, eyes sweeping over the debris. A hand reaches up to briefly cover her mouth, distress clear in her stance.

"Oh, no... Abe," she says softly. Seeming to truly notice Ryan for the first time, she turns and says, "Sir, I'm going to need you to stay back, please. We don't know what's happened and we don't need you injured or in our way."

[Pearl enters from Barnes & Noble]

Pearl arrived from the nearby bookstore at a run, though she didn't seem winded as she drew closer - perhaps understandably given her status. Oh great, this nut again, was her first thought when she saw Dalion again, but she supposed she couldn't fault someone for being drawn to the scene of an explosion when she was doing the same thing.

She drew closer to the destroyed building, wondering what had happened here, then did something odd: she tilted her head upwards and began sniffing the air. She had a very sharp sense of smell, especially for blood, and perhaps she could help determine if there was anyone in distress that the others here would overlook.

Dalion reacted by turning around and quickly hugging the unknown guy with one arm, passing his arm over his shoulder and getting his face quite close to him with his eyes wide open. "I CAN'T see dead people..." he said softly, almost whispering.

After hearing someone crying for help Dalion turned in the direction of the screams "looks like there's somebody in trouble, do you want to help? I'm sure It'll be fun" he said as he rushed towards the place he heard the screams coming from.

He approached the hand that was sticking out of the ruble, it reminded him of a prank item that he saw on Halloween, a bowl for candy that had a hand sticking out of it, the hand had a sensor that made the hand move suddenly, scaring anyone that tries to get candy from the bowl.
Dalion grabbed delicately one of the hand's fingers with his index and thumb and pulled gently a couple of times. "Are you still alive? do you feel that? can you move at all? are you bleeding?" he asked.

Not waiting for an answer he screamed out loud for anyone to listen: "HEY! LET'S GET HIM OUT OF HERE!"
This message was last edited by the player at 19:06, Sat 06 Feb 2021.

Solstice saw the gathered people all crowd to one spot and knew there must be someone hurt over there. He bolted over as fast as he could.

Ryan nodded and backed up, but the officer's presence was reassuring. She appeared to be human, and not like the Proctors or the Hunters.

A moment later, he hears a shout of, "HEY! LET'S GET HIM OUT OF HERE!"

He is able to make out one or two figures inside the collapsed building. As the officer continues moving the crowd back, Ryan takes the opportunity to slip around her and make his way to those inside.

One of them, he'd seen before - the man who tried lifting Pearl's hat.

"Didn't get your name, earlier," he says to him. "I'm Ryan."

He looks down at the rubble and the person trapped beneath.

"It'll be okay," he reassured them. "We're here. We'll get you out."

The trapped person grasped at Dalion's hand, and a ragged male voice, obviously in pain, answered, "I'm here! Thank god... I'm here. I can't... I can't move. My legs are trapped. I can't feel my legs!"

The area where the man is trapped in between the antique's store and one of the office buildings, where part of the wall had fallen into an awkward pile that partially blocked the view from the front. Not only was there large chunks of bricks piled atop this unfortunate soul, there were also the remains of sturdy shelving and what was once probably a very nice, and very, very heavy wardrobe.

   Ryan looks frustrated. There's no way to dig the man out; more of the building could collapse upon all of them at any moment, and the smoke from the fire is already making him cough.
   That would leave ... magic.
   Dare he risk it? Moving that much debris would take more than a modicum of magick, far more than simply keeping someone from falling over.

   "I don't think we have time to dig him out," Ryan says. "Any ideas?"

"Dalion is the name, and helping people is the game... at least right now". He answered although he did not recognize him due to the excitement of the situation. Dalion searched for something to use as a lever against the heavy wardrobe, he picked up a twisted steel rod that was laying around in the ruble, then he placed it in a way that would help lever away some of the weight of the wardrobe from the buried guy. "Okay, I need someone to help me here and someone to drag the undertaken guy out of the rubble. Solstice!" -he recognized the black-clad fae man "Do you have some type of magic that can make things lighter or something that helps lift up things? you know, like Tinkerbell from Peterpan? Do you have something like that?" then he started shouting for anyone else to listen. "I NEED MORE HANDS HERE!"

Solstice stepped forward. "I could use an expanding shield to push the rubble away. But I don't know if it will hold. You'll have to be fast." He said, readying his magic.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:58, Sat 06 Feb 2021.

Pearl had hoped that there would be enough people on the scene that she and Dalion wouldn't have to cross paths. Dealing with an insane person really wasn't something she needed when she was trying to assist with a search and rescue. But she wasn't sensing anyone else in immediate need of help, so she mentally resigned herself and headed over to the gathering group. "I can grab the guy out," she said as she approached.

Startled at the distraught mans reaction and words of dead people, George almost snarls, but contains the wolf enough to follow him into the rubble. Odd...but who is he to question.

Realizing quickly that people are trying to get someone out, and the debris is hampering efforts, he stops trying to hold off the nights coming change. Pulling up his jacket collar to obscure his roughening features, he allows the rising moon to start remaking him.

Under loose coat, flesh starts to move, and hair lengthens. Skin itching, George moves forward into the small crowd.

"I got the heavy shit." Glancing toward the voice talking about pushing rubble.  " ..Do that..push shit away..then someone get him out."
His voice is rougher and deeper than before, as he puts his back against the shelving and braces against it.

"Hurry."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:11, Sun 07 Feb 2021.

   "I know a little magic, as well," Ryan says. There's no mistaking that the man named Solstice is fae, like the Proctors, but acting to help a trapped human is not something the Proctors would be inclined to do. "I can try to lift some of the rubble as well, but I don't know if our magicks are compatible, so we'll have to be careful."

As George and Dalion work to physically lift and pry the rubble off of this unfortunate soul, Solstice and Ryan apply their magic. The fae carefully forms a shield as best he can under the stone and bricks, which Ryan works to lessen the load for everyone. There is a rather distressing sound of scraping and shifting as the debris slides and moves, but between all of them, they are able to free the man.

Pearl reaches in and, as carefully and quickly as she can, pulls the man from underneath the small cave that has been formed by their efforts. He cries out pain at being dragged, but there's no avoiding it. The others can't hold that mass up forever and he needs to be out where he can be treated.

The man is dressed in what was probably a nice business suit, earlier today. But, now, it is stained with dirt and torn. His breathing comes in ragged gasps, but he still manages to smile around his pain, "Thank you! Thank you..." He's still in pain, but there is no mistaking his relief at having been found and freed.

Before letting the load go, George calls over to the injured man.

"Is there anyone else in there?"

A crazy thought occurs to him then....in this city..why not?
Turning to Dalion he growls out to him

"Hey..you said you Cant see dead people.  can you see live ones? Anyone else in there?"
This message was last edited by the player at 15:55, Mon 08 Feb 2021.

"If there is anyone else in here, then they're dead, and so are we if we don't run the hell out of here!" He said as the sounds of crackling and shifting from the building made Dalton's courage evaporate. "RRUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNNNN" he screamed, as he started running away from the building.

Still somewhat dazed by his ordeal, the man shakes his head in answer to George's question, "Uhh... no... I don't think so. Didn't see anyone..." He tries to sit up, breath hissing through his teeth. His hands started to scrabble on the ground, trying to get a purchase as Dalion's scream of 'run!' pierced the fog of in his mind.