The main room is used for meetings and other important uses. There is also a office attached to it used by the Probation clerks and the kitchen is attached to it as well. Also there is a stairwell that leads up to a loft as well as a hatch but where it goes remains unknown. Currently the room is in mass disarry and needs to be cleaned ranging from windows to be fixed, chairs scattered around with tables and the floor that needs to be swept and mopped. Sitting inside the office is a man working on something awaiting for the people to show up.

Everyone was notified to come to the main room.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:48, Tue 03 Jan 2023.

From Female Locker Room

Erica looked to be the first to arrive in the Main room. The place was a mess and she surmised that she and the other residents were called there for a work detail rather than a meeting. She didn't mind working and cleaning this place up might also be a fun project.

As she looked around, she noticed the attached office. Marko was inside, looking none too pleased. "Um, Mr.Marko? I'm here for the meeting."

==> From the Men's Locker Room

Luke sauntered in not long after Erica. He frowned at the mess and commented to Erica, "I don't think we're going to have group therapy today." He looked over at the office where Marko was sitting and just sighed.

Watching the two as they entered, Tony walks out of the office. He stares at them, especially Luke "I want you two to clean up this entire area. Dust, sweep and mop as well. Once done, we will go outside. All you need is by the door." He crosses his arms and stares at both of them.

Still not comfortable under Mr.Marko's harsh gaze, Erica turned to Luke. "How about we get the chairs up first, then I can sweep and mop while you organize the tables?"

Luke shrugged at Mr. Marko then turned to answer Erica. "Sounds like a plan. Teamwork makes the dream work." He chuckled at his own corny line before grabbing a chair and lifting it up to rest on one of the nearby tables.

Following suit, Erica started on another table, putting the chairs up on top to get the floor clear. Once they were all up, she went and grabbed a broom and swept all the dist and dirt towards the front. The floors were atrocious, but she got most of the big dirt, debris, and dust into a big pile where she was able to scoop it into a trash bag. Once that was done, she prepared the mop water and started on that.

"I want to see my face in the floor." The man starts to head into the office looking out at the main room. He stops at the door, pulls out his keys and opens it but waits for some rude comment. His eyes narrow on the two, and sips his coffee "Do the mopping last." He looks at them before going into the office and sitting down watching the two from his new 'post'.

The dust and debree are swept up and put in the trash. Luke starts to pick up the chairs and adjust them with the tables to get them looking right.

With the sweeping done, the tables organized and the horizontal surfaces dusted, Erica grabbed the cleaner looking of the two mops and started mopping from the back of the room towards the door. She didn't pay too much attention to what Luke was doing, and she went out of her way to avoid eye contact with Mr.Marko. When she finally made it to the door, she reversed, mopping by the door then going and starting again from the back. After the second time through, she mopped herself out of the room.

"Is it time for a break yet?"

At the mention of the word "break", Dan walks past holding a bottle of bleach and a bucket. "I could do with a break, he's got me sterilising everything."

Dan falls onto his rump as he moves around, thanks to Erica's mopping. Marko stands up and walks out of the office "Did I not say do the mopping -last-? Are you deaf?" The big man stands there, crossing his arms. Luke almost falls as well and the man stares at Erica, eyes narrowed "Take your break. You got 10 minutes."

With a deep glower, Erica set the mop bucket aside. She did do the mopping last. The floors were swept, the dusting done and the tables organized. There was nothing left to do but mop. She wanted to tel Marko what for, but she knew it was a terrible idea to get on his bad side. Instead she just took him up on his break, and headed back to the kitchen, glancing at Dan and Luke to see if they were following.

Dan slowly lifts himself up, and carefully dodging the wettest bits of the floor follows Erica for a break. He waits until he thinks he's out of Marko's hearing before he says anything.

"Looks like they've got no real work for us to, just wasting our time again."

"For that comment Dan, you can keep working while the others are at break." Tony spits out, looking at the man "You can keep cleaning. Dust off the windows and prepare them for now ones. Also, since Erica didn't care to listen and decided to mop when everyone was walking and doing their jobs you can do the mopping at the end once everything is done as well as Erica and Luke. Like putting the chairs on the tables, with a good cleaning of the entire place. I specifically stated once every is done and apparently its not. Do I make myself clear? I can see what is going on from the office." The man sips his coffee "Son of a bi..." He bites his tongue "Got 8 minutes everyone but Dan." He seems to have issues but can see all that has happened.

When Dan caught up and commented, Erica glanced back. His voice was low, but Marko was the kind of guy that expected snide backtalk. She was proven right When Marko raged his overreaction towards Dan.

"Sorry." She mouthed to Dan with helpless but sympathetic eyes.

To Kitchen

Dan sighs, and starts dusting the windows incredibly slowly, making the cloth screech over the glass, just to see if it gets annoying.

Luke also shrugged at Dan with an apologetic "Sorry, man." before heading into he kitchen for his break.

==> To the Kitchen

Indeed it gets annoying but Tony lets it slide. For now. He just watches Dan do the work, sipping his coffee. The mans eyes lock on Dan.

It starts to drizzle outside.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:39, Wed 25 Jan 2023.

Dan grins at Tony and keeps going. Dan is trying his hardest not to get ground down.

From Community Center: Kitchen

Erica made it back to the Main room with about thirty seconds to spare, by her estimation. Dan was still in there dusting the room that was already dusted, but she was sure he was getting more. She wasn't sure if she should wait for Tony to bark orders, or just grab a dust rag and go help Dan. It seemed the smart thing was to go help without being asked.

Being careful not slip in case the floor was still wet somewhere, she went to the opposite side of the room and started to wipe down the surfaces.

==> From The Kitchen

Luke followed along behind Erica with an unhurried gait. He watched as the other two dusted the shelves, leaning against the door frame of the entrance awaiting Marko to enter and bark some ridiculous new order. He wasn't going to make waves, but Luke was not about to go any extra mile to insure protection from Marko's wrath. The way he saw it, Marko was going to continue to be an ass no matter what the group did so Luke planned on taking advantage of every opportunity to skate by where possible.

Oddly, Tony just watches the three of them do their work. About a hour passes by and he goes back into the office. Apparently someone was moving around in there and Tony comes back out minus his mug. He starts to head outside "You did a good job minus Dan scraping the window to insult me. Not good. Not good at all. Now then time to remove the graffiti from outside. I put what you need there-scrapers, bins for garbage. Everything you need. Move it." Oddly he seems relaxed. Maybe he's planning something. And its raining outside but least they got covered areas to work.

Great, more work. Cleaning the Main Room, scraping graffiti, how much more of this kind of work could there be? It's not that Erica minded all that much. Busy work was just work and she had nothing better to do. Sure it was raining outside but the area was covered and she expected she would have to do something until the end of the day.

The odd thing was Tony's sudden change in demeanor. He went into his office as a grouch, but then came out all relaxed. Maybe he had a girlfriend in there to relieve his tension. Whatever it was, he was no longer barking his orders.

Glancing about at her companions, Erica shrugged. After putting away their current cleaning supplies she headed outside with the others to clean the walls.

To Community Center: Outside

Remove the graffiti? Outside in the rain?

Luke was not happy that the afternoon chores had expanded into even more work and in such deplorable conditions. He briefly considered balking at the request, then decided not to ruffle any feathers. He followed the others outside, quietly obeying Marko's orders wihout and sign of resistance

==> To Community Center: Outside

A look of concentration crosses Dan's face as he tries to think of any petty act of rebellion he could get away with. He gives up, and follows the other outside.

To Community Centre:Outside

Grabbing his coffee, the man followed them to make sure they were going to do their work without hesistation. Dan already was on his bad side so time to see if anyone else was going to be!

To Community Centre:Outside

Dan staggered in, and made a puddle where he stood, absolutely soaked.
"Was that ****ing LIGHTNING?"

From Community Center: Outside

Damn it Luke. :)

Dripping wet and still coughing up river water, Erica sloshed into the community center and collapsed against a wall. "OhmyGod." She said it fast like one word before he next coughing fit. "What was that? I... I think I was almost struck by lighting." She looked at her arms. The tiny hairs were still standing straight up. "And I almost drowned." She covered her face with both hands and fell over sideways.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:04, Wed 22 Mar 2023.

==> From Community Center Outside

Luke staggered in, clearly disoriented from the lightning. His jumpsuit was singed and lightly smoking - a clear sign that he suffered a direct strike. He collapsed down into a chair, finally noticing the damage to his clothing.

"I think I was hit as well. I mean look at this!"  He pushed his fingers through the burnt holes near his shoulder, flaking away chunks of the burnt fabric. "I was unconscious for a bit. What the hell happened?" He asked, hoping someone in the room could explain the freak storm.

Erica looked up at Luke. Her eyes still had a hard time focusing but when he showed where the lightning burned his jumpsuit, she pushed her self up to a seated position and checked her own. It never occurred to her that she might have actually been hit, but there it was. A black-ringed hole marred the orange fabric just inches above her left breast. Now that she was aware of it, the smell of burned cloth float out from with the mix of other odors still clinging to her nostrils.

"Oh my God, I was hit by lightning? How am I not dead??"

Jenessa staggered into the Main Room, looking wide eyed and a bit freaked out, "oH shit, oh shit!" She started pacing around the room, "I think I got hit my lighting, but if I did why am I still alive??"

Glancing over at Luke and Erica and noticing that they looked as bad as her, "Oh shit, did you two get hit as well?  How is that possible!  I was under cover!  I shouldn't have been hit.  One minute I was carrying tools to put them away and the next I was waking up 10 feet away against a wall!  And I don't feel hurt?? " She patted herself down and looked at the others, "Are you alright?"  She walked around the room looking out the windows to see what the weather was doing, "It is still hailing out there!  What was the center doing, making us work outside while a storm was going on!"

Luke sighed, sitting up as the fog of the earlier experience began to fade. "I think so. Shit! How the hell did that happen?"

From Community Center: Outside

Imogen staggered in, drenched and a bit muddy, with a wide-eyed frazzled look wholly at odds with her normal attitude.

"What just happened?"

The lights flicker and died leaving the group basked in darkness. Course its daytime. The big thing is-where is Tony? The thunder and lighting crash down outside and after about a hour, all that remains is rain pouring down from above. No lighting, no thunder. Then nothing. It stopped raining and becomes sunny once more. Comes in, crashes the area, leaves quickly.

https://e4-misfits.fandom.com/...e=Debbylolastorm.JPG
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:12, Tue 28 Mar 2023.

Everyone had the same question on their lips. What the heck just happened? Sure, thunderstorms weren't exactly a mystery, and it wasn't like hail was a once in a century event. But for everyone to get hit, and no one to be hurt, it was just so impossible. Eric still couldn't process it, but the shock had yet to wear off. From her place on the floor, she just looked to everyone else for an answer. But as she looked into the eyes of her fellow inmates, all she saw was confusion. She needed someone to make sense of it.

Erica imagined Tony would be less shaken by any of this. She looked for him, but he wasn't there, and she didn't remember if he went into the building ahead of them or if he might be still outside. It was unlikely that anyone would miss him if he was out there face down in the wet grass, but she was certain she didn't see him when she staggered in from the river.

"Hey, guys. Has anyone seen Marko?"

Luke stood up and glanced quickly around the room. "No. Maybe he's trying to get the electricity back on. Probably down with the circuit breaker is my guess."

He started to head upstairs, feeling less shaky. "I'm going to change into something dryer...and with less holes in it. I'm getting in my civvies. Tony can fuck himself if he has anything to say about it."

Dan strips off his jumpsuit in the main room, revealing soaked black shorts underneath.
"I'm wearing anything dry....anything mate."

Jenessa bit her lip nervously as she paced around the room, looking out the window, turning as Imogen walked in with the same question everyone had, only for the building to lose power as the lights went out.

"Really!  Lights out too?" she hissed as she threw up her hands, wishing she was back at her home.  The room had windows and the storm was ending as suddenly as it had started as the sun came out.  "Where is Tony?  Aren't we supposed to be monitored?  Is he the only person watching us?  He disappeared right after giving you,"she pointed at Erica, "permission to go inside." She looked around for Tony, expecting someone official to come in to check that all of them were alright!

As Luke started to leave for his room, Jenessa called out, "Wait, maybe we should stick together?  No one should be going anywhere alone?  In horror movies, people who go someplace alone get killed."  This wasn't a horror movie, but it was certainly feeling like one.  A crazy storm popped up and then went away and their minder was suddenly gone.  This could definitely be the setup for a horror movie.

Erica huffed a laugh at Jenessa's observation. "We're in a halfway house, Jenessa. No one wants to kill us. Besides. You won't find Tony. I ate him." She grinned as she pushed up to her feet. "I really need to get out of these clothes. I'm soaked."

Luke commented to Jenessa, "Erica's right. Marko's the only monster around here and you heard her, she ate him." He flashed a mischievous smile. Turning to Erica he asked, "Seriously, did you see him outside? Where did he go? Probably left us to fend for ourselves here with no power."

"Tony? He's probably gone to watch porn in the one room in this place with any power."
Dan sighs and says "The dry towels will be in the locker room, right?"

Jenessa flushed as Erica called her on her wild flight of fantasy, "Fine, I let my imagination run wild a little bit," she pouted as she crossed her arms over her wet and slightly charred jumpsuit, "Can you blame me?  Things are very strange right now!"   She looked around, "Maybe we should go looking for Mr Marko.  I mean it is very strange that he isn't here right now," she pointed out as she also wanted to get out of this ugly jumpsuit that was showing a bit more skin than it had when she originally put it on. "Maybe he got hit with lightning too and is hurt?"

"Or maybe he's just scared of the dark," she quipped.

"Dry clothes sound like a pretty good idea right now."

Imogen also wanted out of the ugly - and now tattered - jumpsuit and into something sensible. Or stylish.

To: Female locker rooms
This message was last edited by the player at 14:21, Sun 09 Apr 2023.

With everyone else definitely headed for dry clothes, Erica quietly agrees and runs up to her room

To Erica's Room

"Well as far as I'm concerned, our near death experience has signaled the end of our community service for the day. I don't give a crap what Tony has to say about it."

Luke disappeared upstairs for a bit, returning after having showered and changed. He wore a tailored grey silk sports coat over a collarless white shirt that seemed pressed and fresh from the dry cleaners. He looked as if he were dressed ready for a night out at a club as opposed to being stuck inside a detention center.

Jenessa sighed as everyone scattered to go get into dry clothes.  She as still frecked out, but getting out this charred and wet jumpsuit sounded really good.  She had some clothes in the locker room and she could get cleaned up before putting on clean clothes.  The busty copper haired young woman headed directly to the female's locker room.

--> Community Center: Female Locker Room
This message was last edited by the player at 01:23, Tue 04 Apr 2023.

Dan, realising he no longer has an audience for his wit, decides to stop standing around in his shorts and goes off to get dry clothes. Time to actually dress properly.

All is calm, all is bright. The sun beats down, sending a glow into the room. Its nice. No sign of Tony. And the power is out. There is a generator downstairs if needbe. Possibly. Maybe. No one comes into the room, no one checking out Dan's boxers. Well besides the girls momentarily until he goes to get new dry clothes in his room.

Luke wandered around the main room, peeking into the office area and staring wistfully at the computer within. With the power out, any hope of using the computer to contact the outside world was lost.

He plopped down into a chair, waiting for either Tony to enter and start berating him for changing into his civvies without permission or the others to start showing up. If Tony had bailed on them, Luke figured it was within their right to head into town. They had to let someone know what happened and if they managed to grab dinner and a few drinks as they waited for a reply from the authorities, so be it.

--> Kitchen

Jenessa came back into the main room and shrugged at Luke, "I didn't find anyone in the kitchen area.  Was Tony the only running this building?" She found that hard to believe, although if he was having them do all the work, that would partly explain things. "I only got here today, but have you seen anyone else here?" She asked curiously in her soft voice as she moved over to crouch nervously on a chair with her feet tucked under her.

Luke shrugged at Jenessa. "He's the only person I've seen here, but then again this is my first day. There is probably a night crew that comes in after Tony finishes up. That guy seems like a nine to fiver. I doubt he'd stay here one second past quitting time. If he doesn't show soon, I say we head into town. We can tell the authorities that Tony bailed on us and that we couldn't stay here what with no power and all."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:23, Sun 09 Apr 2023.

From: Female Locker Rooms

Imogen returned, dressed in a sweatshirt and jeans, her long hair tousled and damp.

"Sounds like a plan."

She sighed, almost theatrically.

"I suppose we should have a look for him. A quick look."

From Erica's room

Erica entered the main room to find Luke, Imogen and Jenessa. They were obviously at the conclusion of some conversation, possibly about the storm or simply what to do next.

"Hey guys." She hopped up into the conversation. "Well, I feel better. What's going on? I guess we still don't know what's up?"

Jenessa nodded at Luke as he suggested his plan as Imogen and Erica entered the main room, "Yeah, sounds like the best plan.  Not like we can stay here without power all night.  I looked around in the kitchen and couldn't find anyone there, but there is staples and supplies to make food, if anyone was so inclined," the busty brunette shrugged.  The shrug indicating that she certainly wasn't going to try to cook.

"Ummm....did everyone else get hit by lighting too?  Or something at least, I was thrown against a wall.  I am still not sure why I am perfectly fine and completely unharmed." Jenessa frowned nervously as she looked to see what others had to say about their experience.

Luke replied to Jenessa, "I might have gotten hit, but I don't know. I mean my clothes were singed but I lost consciousness. I don't know if I was hit, or if I was nearby a strike and got some collateral damage."

He stood up, wandering into the kitchen to peek at the food supplies Jenessa had discovered.

"Once everyone is cleaned up, we should do one final sweep for Tony. So we can tell the authorities that we tried to find him before we de to go get some help."

He pulled down a box of cereal and cracked open the top, pouring some into a bowl before offering the box to Jenessa.

When Jenessa suggested that someone may want to cook, Erica just shook her head. No way. If Erica had any useful skills she wouldn't have been arrested for prostitution. Thankfully, Jenessa changed the topic.

"If I didn't get hit, it was close. I ended up in the river and somehow I didn't drown. But yeah, I flew like ten feet and landed hard. But like you all... no injury. Weird."

She didn't want to search for Tony. she didn't want to even see Tony. But Luke was right. It would be better to be able to say they tried. Janessa, Luke and Imogen were all there, but one other was missing besides Tony. Dan was there earlier, so he wasn't outside lying face down in a puddle.

"Where's Dan?"
This message was last edited by the player at 17:22, Tue 11 Apr 2023.

There's a vague shout in the distance of "TONY! WHERE ARE YER? SCARED OF LIGHTNING?" from Dan, walking up and down the halls trying to find his beloved overseer.

HALLWAY: Dan, Tony
Oh boy. Coming from around the corner is Tony. His entire boy is scorched and he looks angry.

Very angry. Immediatly he throws a nasty hook at the side of Dan's head!

MAIN ROOM: Erica, Imogen, Jenessa, Luke
Everything seems calm. Nothing creeps out. The sun lights up from outside but the power remains still out.

Imogen got up.

"I'm going to find Tony. He might be hurt."

She left the main room, heading roughly in the direction of Dan's yelling, though her destination was outside, to where she'd last seen Tony.

"Fine." Erica grumbled. "I'll go with you." She jumped up and followed behind Imogen

Jenessa followed Imogen and Erica, "You coming Luke?" She looked over her shoulder as she followed the other two toward Dan's yelling voice.  She wasn't sure what was going on, but she followed the idea that the more of them there were, the safer they would be.

”Yeah, why not.” Luke replied, following Jenessa out of the room.

Dan ducks with Tony's fist brushing his hair.

"What happened to you?" Dan shrieks, looking at Tony's burns. He backs up, trying to keep out of Tony's reach.

Its like fighting a boxer. One right hookd to the side of Dan's head followed by one heck of a uppercut trying to drop him. Oh Tony is definatly angry. He doesn't say a word, just wants to throttle Dan. He tries to maneuver Dan to the stairwell.

But then the group starts to come up....

Following behind Imogen, Erica could hear what sounded like a fight. In her previous line of work, some fisticuffs in hallways wasn't uncommon. Sometimes it was two dudes settling an argument the caveman way. Sometimes it was a client getting rough with one of the girls. Whatever it was, it was never good.

Falling back to Luke, she pulled his arm. "Hurry, something bad is happening."

Luke let himself be pulled by Erica as they rushed to the scene of the fight. He looked on in horror as Tony tried to beat Dan to a pulp.

”Hey! he yelled at Tony hoping to distract the man from his angry rage. ”Stop beating on him you moron. You’re gonna get your ass thrown in jail for this.”

Luke hoped that his words would snap Tony out of his murderous rage.

Dan opens the eye that Tony just punched, and says "Call that a punch? My gran hits harder!"

Dan's mouth may be booking a hospital visit for the rest of Dan.

Jenessa ni a surge of bravery charges forward and pushes her between the two men, putting a hand on each of their chests and pushing, "Hey!  Stop!  Both of you!!"  She was hoping that society training would keep them from hitting her.  she was also feeling a little fearless after surviving a lightning strike tossing her into a wall.

Well, they'd found Tony.

"You'll be the one in the jumpsuit after this!"

She tried to circle round and simply grab him from behind.

Tony doesn't listen just as a right hand goes to slam against her temple! He moves to her side and throws a left and right hooks at Dan who has started mocking him. It just seems like he has gotten bigger. Stronger. And faster. When Imogen gets behind him and tries to bear hug him, he goes to slam her against the wall with all his body weight.

Which is alot.

Luke watched as the three triple teamed Tony to no avail. The guy seemed unstoppable and surprisingly more agile and strong than Luke thought possible. His first concern was for the safety of his new found friends.

While Tony was momentarily distracted fighting Dan,  punching Jenessa and slamming Imogen into the stairwell wall, Luke grabbed Erica and pulled her down next to where he was crouching on the landing below the fight. He knew better than to engage an enraged madman, especially one who was as good as fighting as Tony appeared to be.

”We have to fight smarter, not harder.” he said to Erica, hoping that she would heed his words and not rush into the fray as the others had. ”Can’t reason with him, can’t fight him, so we need to trick him.”

Struck by an idea, Luke  removed his expensive, silk jacket and held it as a matador would hold a cape. He waved it over the railing in front of the open area leading to the floors below.

”When he charges at me, try and push him over the railing as best you can.” he whispered to Erica. ”Surprise is key here. You have to hit him when he’s focused on me and ignoring you. And be careful not to get grabbed or fall over yourself.

It was obvious that Luke didn’t want to endanger Erica, but he needed her if his plan had any chance of succeeding. Yelling  at Tony, Luke called out ”Hey asshole. Come get me you coward. You think you’re tough? You’re a pussy.”
This message was last edited by the player at 13:42, Wed 19 Apr 2023.

"Wait, what?" Eric recoiled at Luke's plan. Tony was big, strong and enraged. He was a jerk before, but he looked to be next level now. "You want me to fight? I don't know how to fight. Those chicks are crazy."

Seemingly unmoved by her plea, Luke went forward with his idea. If he was successful, Tony would be charging towards them and Luke would be in his crosshairs. If Erica didn't do her part, Luke might get crunched, and then the crazy administrator would probably go after her.

"Okay, fine. I'll try. But if I get killed, I'm haunting you."

Now focused on Luke as the others are tossed about, possible hurt or worse-Tony charges at Luke. With such speed and strength somehow, he grabs Luke by the throat. He grasps Tony's hand trying to break free but Erica gets him under his rib. Still holding Luke and with his loose footing they both fall over the railing! Tony lands on Luke. With the hand locked, getting thrown around and now flying off the stairs.....

Tony doesn't move. Luke doesn't move.

Jenessa cried out as Tony slams a fist against her forehead, knocking her to the side in shock. Barely aware of Tony slamming fists into Dan and then throwing off Imogen.  She fell against the wall as she shook her head, trying to clear it.  Well, Tony was obviously not a gentleman, that would be the last time she tried that.

Suddenly she heard a loud thud as she looked up and didn't see Luke or Tony.  She staggered to her feet and over to the railing where Erica was standing looking shocked.  She looked down and saw Tony and Luke at the bottom of the stairs, laying still on the ground, "Aee...are they, dead??"  She was stunned at how fast things were getting further and further out of control!

Erica never thought Luke's plan would work. Tony seemed angrily focused on Dan and the others. A simple taunt and him waving his coat about like a matador couldn't possible draw Tony's attention. But it did.

It all happened so fast. Before she could even process anything, Tony was there. He grabbed Luke up by the neck, threatening to choke him to death. Erica panicked. The only thing she could think to do was as Luke instructed her. Not thinking at all, she shoved Tony with everything she had. To her surprise, it was more than enough. Almost in slow motion, Tony and Luke went over the rail. She followed through to the rail, watching in horror as the pair hit the floor below with a sickening wet thud. Neither moved.

Aching hands clutched the rail as her unblinking eyes started to burn. Panting breaths pistoned silently through her nostrils. Paralyzed by the tension in every muscle of her body, she could not move. They were dead. They were both dead and she killed them. Pain burned her heart as tears welled and cascaded down her cheeks. She killed them. They were dead and there was no way to change it. Finally the sobs came as she collapsed into the corner hugging her knees.

Dan lies on the ground. He tries to get up, but slumps into the wall as his balance is completely off, Tony's punches really messed him up.

"You didn't need to get Tony off me", he mumbles, "I almost had him."

Time passes. The smell of rotten flesh probably from Tony if close is pretty nasty. Everyone stands there, not sure of what just happened. The two 'bodies' don't move. Its hard to tell from any perspective if either or both are dead. There's blood coming from beneath the bodies as well. The power remains out. Its like everything is in slow motion.

"Are those two still alive? Anyone want to check, or shall we call for an ambulance and let the paramedics do the hard work?"
 Dan has gotten to his feet, but is a little unstable as he looks over the edge at the two people lying at the bottom of the stairwell.

Jenessa rushed down the stairs and very hesitantly checked the pulse on first Luke and then Tony.  Biting her lip as she felt nothing, she looked up at the others, "I don't feel a pulse.  They are dead." She looked around, "We should call 911," she suggested as she kept trying to feel for a pulse, even though she had confirmed there wasn't one.

As Jenessa called up from the bottom of the stairs, Erica's worst fears were confirmed. She killed them. It wasn't intentional, but like that was going to matter. She was a convict in a minimum security halfway house who was responsible for the death of a fellow inmate and the chief administrator. There was no doubt about it, she was going back to prison.

Unballing herself from the corner, she crawled over to the edge. With the exception of Jenessa leaning over the bodies, the scene hadn't changed. Tony's huge bulk all but completely covered Luke's body. Neither had moved and the pool of sticky looking dark red had only gotten wider. She used the rail to pull herself up to standing, but had to cover her nose for the stench rising up.

"I can't-" She cut herself off. "If we call them, they'll arrest us all. I don't want to go to real prison." Closing her eyes, she felt all her options vanish, leaving only one word in white bold letters on a field of pure black

RUN

"I'm sorry. I have to get out of here." Rushing down the stairs, she hoped she could get by the carnage and on to the exit.

"Erica, don't go! I'm sure we can sort something! Anyone know a good lawyer?"
As Dan looks around, he realises that none of them would be here if they could afford a lawyer that good.

Erica heard Dan yelling out. It sounded like he wanted her to stop. But she was not stopping. She needed distance, not a lawyer.

"Wait! Erica!" Jenessa gasped as she heard the blonde's footsteps receding.  She was down the staircase, no way was she going to be able to catch the other woman.  "Some one catch up to her!  If she runs, there is no way we will be able to convince the police this was an accident." She informed the others, although Erica might be right to run, she did push Luke and Tony over the edge, even if that wasn't her plan.

She looked around to see if there was anything that could mitigate the circumstances, maybe the railing broke when the two men crashed against it and that was what allowed them to fall.

Being body-slammed into the wall had not been part of her plans. The heavy impact drove the wind from her, and left her crumpled on the floor fighting to draw breath.

By the time Imogen's body had worked out how to breath again, the fight was all over. She knew someone had gone over the rail near her. Getting painfully to her feet, she looked over.

"Oh no..."

She'd never seen a dead body before.

"Call an ambulance!"

It should have been a yell, but her diaphragm hurt too much for that.

"Too late, Imo. I may have dozed off during the first aid lessons, but I'm pretty sure if they've not been breathing for a bit, they're gone."
Dan struggles to his feet, but the beating he took has left him in no state to run after Erica.
"Is anyone still up to running after Erica, or are we all screwed?"

Jenessa backed up from the bodies nervously, gulping as the smell was building up and she retreated back up the stairs.  Looking at the others, "Um... I need some fresh air.  I am going outside...maybe Erica is still out there!"

She volunteered, she was feeling overwhelmed and wasn't sure what to do. But getting outside would allow her to get a full breath, she was feeling claustrophobic with the dead bodies! "I will be right back!" She informed the others as she headed outside.

--> Community Center: Outside
This message was last edited by the player at 06:46, Sun 07 May 2023.

Jenessa comes back into the Main room, "Guys!  We got a big problem!  Someone just pulled into the parking lot!" She was looking wide eyed and anxious as she glanced at the railing where Tony and Luke fell.  "What are we going to do?  Erica was gone."  She bite her lip nervously.

Probably the best case scenario was to tell the truth to the officials, although how to explain why Tony started to attack them, was beyond her because she didn't understand that either.  But all the bruises on Imogen, Dan, Luke and her would clearly indicate that Tony had started to attack them.

"Tell them that Tony went mad and started attacking us, and he went over the edge with Luke. It's true and they'll be able to see it."

Dan then sits down and looks tired. "Although you probably want someone who isn't concussed to do the talking."

"We tell them the truth."

To Imogen, it seemed clear.

"I'm not against lying, but we couldn't make up a story that would withstand questioning. Not in a hurry, there'd be too many mistakes. They might not believe us if we tell the truth, but they definitely won't believe us if we're caught in a lie."

Jenessa nodded nervously at the others as all of them agreed that it was best to tell the truth, "I think we leave Erica out of it, just say she panicked and ran after they went over the edge," she looked at Dan and Imogen to see if they agreed, they didn't have much time before whoever was pulling up entered the building.

She looked around for a phone in the main room, if they were in the process of calling 911, it would help their story of the truth.

"Good idea, Jenessa, they'll have seen Erica running out." Dan remains sitting on the floor, trying to look as bruised and pathetic as possible.

The main door seems to be open and a young man enters. Maybe 6', pretty built. He's wearing a pair of black jeans and a black shirt and sunglasses. At his hip is some sort of badge, probably with the police. The man looks around and sees people walked up to him "Hello. Is Luke around?"

Jenessa looked over at the door as it opened as she was looking around for a phone, "Ummm... Luke?" She gulped and straightened up as she approached the young man, "Umm..well.. he fell down the stairs while struggling with Mr Marko."  She pointed at the stairwell, where the two men had fallen.  "Mr Marko had gone crazy and started to attack everyone." She quickly explained as she pointed to her own bruises and over at Dan who looked distinctly dazed. "We don't know why he started attacking us!  The power had gone out and while we were looking for Mr Marko or another person to see about the power outage, Mr Marko charged into the room and started attacking Dan unprovoked.  Luke got him off of Dan, but during the struggle both of them fell over the edge."

Upon hearing this, the man pulls out his gun but doesn't aim it at anyone "Anyone else in this facility? Where is Mr. Mark and Luke? You told me but not where they are." He pulls out a cell phone with his free hand, tapping it a few times and pulls it up to his hear "Dispatch I need a amublulance sent to the Community Center ASAP and I need backup. Over." He waits for a moment "Thank you." He puts the phone away and stares at everyone in the room "We are going to find Luke and Mr. Marko. All of us understood??" A tough guy.

Dan points down. "Bottom of the stairs. I'd like to state that the bruises on me are from Tony Marko."
He slowly gets to his feet, as he doesn't want to be accused of not co-operating with the police.

Jenessa held her hands out to show that they were empty and in sight of the officer as soon as he drew his gun.  "Of course, Officer, right this way.  They feel to the bottom of the stairwell." She slowly lead the way to the stairwell Tony and Luke fell off, looking down the stairwell automatically as she started to walk down it.  She was feeling very nervous, this was were things could go very wrong if he didn't believe them.  And the details they were leaving out didn't change the story that much.  So far the officer was following procedure, which she thought was a good sign.

Dan follows Jenessa, keen to show the officer that he is co-operating.
"Terrible weather we've been having. Did you see that storm earlier?"

"Yeah. He slammed me into a wall. He'd gone berserk."

Her voice was shaky. She didn't want to follow the policeman and see the corpse again, but did so reluctantly.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:06, Mon 29 May 2023.

The cop raises the gun up as they get to the stairwell. His eyes narrow as he approaches, motioning the group to stay behind him. But as he looks down, he doesn't see two bodies.

Only one. Luke. But he does see a blood trail. He asks for backup and looks at the group "No Mr. Marko." He seems out of it, looking down at the body. Maybe he recongizes Luke but hard to tell "Everyone against the wall, don't move. Dan can sit." He calls again for backup "Son of a...."
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 14:03, Wed 31 May 2023.

Dan follows instruction from the cop and sits down with his back against the wall. No point antagonising another authority figure today.

"How could anyone have moved Tony's body that quickly? He's a heavy bugger."

Jenessa eyes widen in shock as the detective announces that Mr Marko's body was missing, she stumbles back against the wall as ordered, "But, we didn't hear any movement down there!  I don't.. this doesn't make sense.  We haven't found anyone else in the entire building," she hesitantly explained.

She looked at Imogen and Dan to see if they were going to confirm that they hadn't find anyone else in the building.  Biting her lip nervously as suddenly the Detective starts cursing as she wonders what he was seeing.

"They didn't. Seems he got up. One set of footprints. As for what is going on here, I do not know besides a murder and I don't fully believe what was said. From my viewpoint, one of you most likely Dan got into a argument and threw Luke off the railing. Of course that doesn't explain where Tony is and his view on what occured if he can possibly talk. I go by what I see. Anyone can lie understood?" The man waits for a moment, and checks the body. He takes a deep breath, tries to hold back something and stands up. He taps the walkie talkie "One body was found. Searching for Mr. Marko. Contact the coroner. Over."

Static. But someone gets over the talkie "Backup is on route. Do not proceed. Over."

The cop keeps his gun out, lowered. He takes a breath "Other then you three, was there anyone one else present? Besides Luke and Mr. Marko?" He seems serious, and something else. Aggrivated maybe? Frustrated? He tires to keep a calm exterior.

"Ummm.....Erica would have been somewhere in the building? She got soaked pretty bad in the storm and went to change." Dan is a little hesitant, not wanting to snitch on his friend but knowing that it'll be on record that Erica was supposed to be here.

Jenessa frowned, holding her hands protectively around her center as she stayed where the officer ordered them to stand, doing her best to not draw his attention as she worries her lip as she looks around nervously, wondering how Tony moved or was moved.

She nodded in agreement when Dan mentioned Erica.  The girl was going to look guilty for not being there still and it was going to make them look guilty if it came out that she had actually pushed Tony and Luke over the edge, even though she hadn't meant for them to get hurt and at the time they were all fearing for their lives as Tony seemed to have gone crazy with the way he was attacking them.

Somehow along the way, Imogen slipped off to go somewhere. The cop didn't see her or didn't care "So is it possible for Erica to be involved? Name and what she looks like as well as her last name." The cop stops, looking at the body. He seems irritated and looks at Dan and Jen"Do I have to ask twice? Holding back information reguarding this case will not look good for both of you." He pauses and realizes there was two of them. Not three. Lovely "The one who was here? Name please." He stares at the two of them, holding his gun to his side. Heck he has no clue where Tony is or the other probation people.

Sirens seem to be approaching.

"Erm....it began with an L....don't know what you're looking at me for, I'm terrible with names. Ask one of the probation staff, they're paid to do the paperwork. Erica has long blonde hair, wears a lot of black - I think she was wearing a T-shirt and jeans under the overalls today." Dan mumbles.

Dan tries to think back, but who uses their last name when introducing themselves for their community service?

Jenessa eyes widened at the demand for information, "I don't know.  I only got here this morning.  I know her name is Erica and that she is blonde.  That is all I know!  And the other blonde was Imogen."  She shrugged defensively, wrapping her arms around her belly as she wished she was any place else.  "Isn't there more probation staff that you can ask?  Although they weren't here today, so I don't know?"  She shrugged her shoulders, "I was sent an email to show up today, find an empty room and place my stuff there and then report to Mr Marko.  Who had us cleaning up the courtyard during that freak storm!  He ordered us in when the lightning started to hit the ground."  She explained how little she knew about the center.  "I haven't even been formally introduced to any of the others."

"I ask you a question and I do not see probation staff at the moment. Have you seen any? Probably not for if you did you woudnt't tell me would you? You got a lip on you." The cop stares at Dan and he looks at Jen "So your playing innocent as well? Alright." He pulls out a small pad and pen "Names. First and last as well as anyone else you have come across today."

Dan looks at the cop and says "well I'm Dan Wright, and Tony Marko was the probation guy in charge today. Picking up litter today were me, Jenessa, Imogen, Erica and Luke. I haven't seen any other probation staff today, maybe they're short-staffed?"

Dan shrugs, unsure what else the cop wants.

Jenessa frowned as she looked around, there was only Dan and her in the room with the Officer and his aggressiveness was making her more and more nervous.  He was getting more hostile even as they were trying to answer his questions. "Jenessa Soft and the same people as Dan saw."

The cop clicks the botton "Be on the lookout for Imogen and Erica. Both may have probationary outfits." He makes sure to decribe them according to Jen and Dan. And he does remember seeing Imogen for a brief moment. The man writes down each of their names, las known locations and brief detail before putting the pad away. He looks down, sighing as he stares at Luke's body.

What appears to be yelling can be heard from the second floor as the cop pulls out his gun and goes up the steps. Biting his lip he looks back at Dan and Jen "Son of a...stay behind me. I can't leave you down here without supervision."

"Whatever guv, you're the boss" Dan replies.

He slowly follows the cop, wondering what chaos is upstairs.
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 20:51, Sat 24 June 2023.

In reply to Dan Wright (msg # 112):

Jenessa really doesn't want to go upstairs, that sounds like a crazy person yelling upstairs, "Umm.. I don't remember anyone else being here," she informed the officer as she started to follow him and Dan.  She had the feeling that she wasn't going to like what they find upstairs and it was just going to cause more problems.

"Is there another way up to the second floor, besides the main staircase?  Could whoever had dragged Mr Marko away have gotten upstairs another way?"  She asked Dan as he had been at the center longer than her.

Dan thinks about the building. "There's supposed to be a lift for disabled access, but I think it's out of order. There's a fire escape out the back as well."

Remembering the shoddy quality of the fire escape, Dan remembers that clearly this building was put up by the cheapest bidder.

"I don't think anyone dragged him away. There is no proff and I only got two teens views on it. Plus depending on the size of Mr. Marko it would take probably two to three people I'd say." He gets to the top of the stairs and motions for them to get close to the wall. He does as well. The cop looks down the hallway and proceeds down it, checking all the closed doors.

The screaming is more clear now.

Jenessa's eyes opened wider, "But I checked for a pulse and he didn't have one," she quietly exclaimed as they got closer to the shouting.  Maybe she checked his pulse wrong, but she didn't think so or maybe she rushed it, but she tried to be careful.  She really wished that she wasn't here. Getting closer to the shouting didn't feel like a good idea. She immediately followed directions to press against the wall as she stayed behind the detective.

Dan shambles along behind the detective, barely walking straight as one eye is slowly swelling shut from the earlier fight. He isn't keen on getting close to the screaming, just in case it's someone being really emotional.

(edited to make clear it's the eye swelling)
This message was last edited by the player at 19:57, Tue 04 July 2023.

After a few moments they come across a slightly closed door-Dan and Jen recognize it as it leads out to a open area outside. Standing near the edge is Tony with Imogen grasped in his hand, beaten and bloodied. Both of them. She hangs over the edge as the cop raises his gun "Freeze! Put the girl down and back away slowly."

Tony goes as he is told but fligs Imogen off the roof! The cop fires a few shots, hitting Tony twice in his torso and once in the head. He stumbles and falls to the ground. Taking a deep breath, he radios for a ambulance and looks over the side down at the girl who isn't moving. Tony's eye open and he grabs the cops legs. The cop stumbles and falls off the roof but clings  against it gripping as best as he can. Tony seems to die. The gun is tosses towards the two kids.....
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:45, Thu 13 July 2023.

Jenessa gasped as she watched Tony throwing Imogen over the edge and then the cop shooting Tony! He really was alive had was still mad!  She was staying back, out of the way, until the cop was sent over the edge of the balcony.

"Hang on!!"  They couldn't let the cop die, he could prove their story that Tony had gone mad!!  She dived forward and grabbed at the man's arm trying to help him climb back up on to the balcony.  She wasn't very strong, but maybe he just needed a little bit of extra help.  He was a fit man. "Dan!! Help!!!" She called out as she glanced over her shoulder at Dan.

Dan leaps into action...by grabbing the gun. Just in case Tony needs a few more bullets in him.
"What the fuck happened to Imogen?" he screams. He then realises Jenessa really needs help, and runs over to help lift the cop up.

The two kids can easily get the cop up to the roof and he lies there just as Tony seems to get up! As Tony moves towards them, he swings at Dan and out of instinct Dan holds his hands up.

CRACK!

Tony's hand connects with Dan's but oddly the boy isn't even hurt. Power against power. The cop even looks surprised!
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:02, Sun 23 July 2023.

Dan is surprised that he wasn't knocked over. He quickly recovers, by trying to knee Tony in the groin as hard as possible.

"Get off me you psycho!" he screams.

Jenessa panted as she and Dan got the Officer back on the porch.  Only to gasp in shock as Tony got back up!

"How! You was shot!!" She shooted in shock as she scrambled away from Tony, watching him swing at Dan again, only for the punch to essentially pounce off of Dan's jaw, doing no harm to her fellow resident!  She looked over at the officer to see what he was doing as she looked around wildly, trying to stay out of the way!

CRACK! The sound of Tony's fist hitting Dan's forehead sounds very very painful. And the blow to Tony's groin sounds painful as well. But oddly the attack to Dan's temple doesn't even phase him. Its like hitting a brick wall. Tony falls back as the attack hits him where it counts. He stumbles and falls off the roof!

The cop watches as Tony's assault doesn't seem to do anything to Dan and watches as the man falls off the building "What the hell did I get into?" His partner shows up, a woman with a gun raised up "Freeze!"

Shaking his head, he stands up and tells her to lower her gun. She does as she is told and he puts his gun away "What the hell just happened?" He looks at the two young people.

"I'm lucky he didn't punch me off the roof! Can you take a look and make sure he isn't going to get back up and attack me again?" Dan says.

He then looks at the police officers, realises another one has shown up and says "You saw that right? He definitely attacked me first!"

As the second officer arrives, yelling freeze, Jenessa's hands pop up as she stays well back from the edge of the balcony.  "Someone needs to make sure Mr Marko is restrained, that fall isn't going to stop him." She reminded everyone as she watched Dan with wide eyes.  Both Dan and Tony were different.  Dan should have been laid out by that punch, but he barely reacted.  Tony was getting up from things that should kill him.  Was it the storm?  Was she affected as well?  Erica?  Imogen?? Maybe Luke, but he was still dead, maybe it wasn't the storm??

"We don't know," Jenessa replied nervously, "Like we said the storm came in and behaved weirdly but everything else was normal."  She explained the only event that was different to the cop.  "It came on fast and then went away fast, lightning hit the ground a lot, close enough to throw some of us around!  But it didn't hurt any of us either!"

The cop goes over to the edge of the roof and looks down. Tony doesn't move. He gets onto the radio "Approach with extreme caution. Mr. Marko is a murderer. I repeat extreme caution." He looks at his partner "Mr. Marko killed two people. They are innocent."

"We have the girl you wanted found. Do you want us to take her in? She keeps saying she saw someone." The woman cop asks.

The cop looks at Jen and Dan then back to his partner "Let her go. We will get her help. Whatever just happened, I don't think she is in danger."</green>

The other cop nods and turns to leave "You got this? I know the boy that was kill was...."

The cop nods <blue>"I got this." She nods and leaves. Turning to the other two, the cop motions for them to go back inside "You are to remain within this building until I return do I make myself clear?"

Dan nods enthusiastically, agreeing "Of course, 100% boss. Not going anywhere."

He walks over to Jenessa. "You OK?"

Jenessa nodded in agreement as she and Dan were ordered to stay inside as she watched the police handling the situation.  Hearing that they had someone in a car, she figured that was Erica and it sounded like Erica was going to be let go and probably sent inside soon.  "Of course officer."

After the officer left to deal with the bodies, she responded to Dan, her eyes slightly dazed with confusion, "I think I am in shock," she stated her voice disconnected sounding.  "I am not sure what is going on.  This day has been crazy, nothing makes sense," she frowned in thought as she looked at Dan.  "Are you alright, Dan?  Do you feel better?"  She was remembering how Dan had stopped Tony's last attack.

"I still feel like Mike Tyson chose me for his comeback fight, but I'm feeling a little stronger." Dan is slightly out of breath.

"I hope Erica's OK."

Jenessa nodded her head as she watched from above what was happening with Marko, she didn't want to lose sight of him this time. "I think the police picked her up and we might be seeing her soon." She shrugged as she looked down at Marko's body, glancing around to see if any cop cars were in sight or if she could see Erica, but constantly looking back at Marko's body.

The cop makes sure Dan and Jenessa remain for now in the main room and gives them each a bottle of water from the kitchen as he goes outside. The look on his face seems cold, after all that has happened. Dan oddly feels fine. The wounds seem to not effect the lad. And when Jenessa takes the water, it feels very cold almost unbearable.

Jenessa accepted the bottle of water with the start of a nod and smile, only to gasp as the cold hit her hand. She barely kept from dropping the bottle as she stepped over to a table and quickly put it down, rubbing her hand against her pant leg to warm her hand back up.  She blinked in confusion as she watched Dan take the bottle like it was nothing. "Isn't that cold?  My water bottle was freezing." She asked curiously as she reflected on the odd look on the officer's face.

"Still buzzing from the adrenaline babe, I can barely feel anything" Dan says.

Dan places the cold bottle against his bruised face, then opens the bottle to take a sip.

It gets colder and colder almost unbearable but then Jen feels nothing. Out of reflex she drops it to the ground and it shatters!

Jenessa frowned at Dan, "My name is Jenessa or you can call me Jen," she shook her head  as Dan's bottle of water seemed okay.  She looked back at the bottle of water she placed on the table and it looked normal, there was zero condensation on it, which she expected on something very cold.  She picked the bottle back up and gasped as she feels the coldness again as her eyes widen in shock as the bottle seemed to turn to ice and what was more surprising was that it stopped feeling cold, she let go of the bottle out of shock and watched the frozen bottle shatter on the ground!   "What the!!!" She gasped as she looked around wondering what was going on!

"What's up Jen?" Dan asks, looking at a shattered bottle on the ground. He looks puzzled for a second, then forgets about it.

Jen was looking down at where the plastic bottle filled with ice had shattered on the ground and the ice was slowly melting, water spreading across the floor. "That water bottle was filled with water like yours, but when I grabbed it, it turned to ice and shattered when I dropped it??"  She murmured in wonder at Dan.  She looked at her hands and then down at the ice spread across the floor in wonder.  She bit her lip nervously as she looked around, wondering if she had somehow frozen the bottle of water, looking around for something to test on.  She walked over to a table with a potted plant on it and hesitantly touched the plant with just the tip of her pointing finger.

The plant begins to freeze and soon it looks like well a ice covered plant.

"What.....How....." Dan struggles with his words, seeing Jenessa seem to freeze a plant.

"I.. I don't know," Jen said with wide eyes as she yanked back her finger and crossed her arms, covering up her hands.  She stared at the frozen plant as she chewed nervously on her lips.  This was bad, her touch was freezing stuff, could she not freeze stuff?  If she couldn't, how was she going to eat?  She glanced over to a bowl of fruits, she reached over and thinking don't freeze, stay warm, she picked up a piece of fruit.

The apple that was touched is now frozen.

Jenessa drops the apple in shock as her touch freezes it, jumping back as the frozen apple shatters across the floor. "Oh shit!  This is bad!!  What is going on?  How is this happening!" She gasped to herself and Dan as she looked at him wide eyed! "How am I supposed to eat if I freeze everything I touch!"

"What if I feed it to you?" Dan asks.

He grabs a banana, splits the end open, and offers the end to Jenessa.

Jenessa looked unimpressed at Dan, what adult would want to be feed food by someone else for the rest of their lives.  Of course there were people who suffered that, paralyzed people, but bets on how happy they were with that option.  Of course thinking that, Jenessa realized she might not have a choice if she wanted to live, just like them. Sighing in resignation, "Thanks Dan, lets see if this works," she opened her mouth and bite off the end of the banana, hoping that it didn't freeze solid in her mouth as she went to chew the banana.

Delisious. It goes down easily enough. Seems to not be frozen. Well for now. With the bodies removed, things seems to be getting better.

"See, it worked! Do you want the rest of it?" Dan asks.
He takes a look out of the window, trying to figure out what all the cops outside are doing.

After a few minutes two cops walk in with anklets "Please sit. " With all that has happened...

Good thing the cops don't see the broken bottle. Yet.

She sighed in relief, "Thanks Dan, but not right now.  That gives me hope that I can work around things."  She walked over to a closet, looking for a broom and dustpan to clean up the broken bottle and cubes of ice before they had much more chance to melt when the two cops can in and requested they sit down.

"Are those really necessary?  We haven't tried to run," she tried to point out as she was holding her breath as she held her foot out, hoping that the cop didn't touch her skin, not sure if that would cause a problem yet, but maybe the cold was only in her hands.

She wondered how that feeling of coldness that had suffused her body for a moment connected to her freezing things she touched.

"You know those things are just a scam to make money for the tagging companies right?" Dan says to the cops. He still sits down.

When the cop grabs a hold of her, nothing happens. He puts them on Dan and Jess. They just simply ignore Dan-why argue? They are doing their job "Yes they are. You were involved in several attempts resulting in three peoples deaths. Your lucky you are not in the cells. I'd do it, you two are just scum." The other cop watches his partner and shakes his head. When he leaves, the other somewhat nicer cop looks at them "I don't know who did it or why, but ignore him. Not every day when you get a call and have to load up three bodies. We'll be in touch. Keep your noses clean." And then they are gone leaving the two of them alone. And the power came back on.

From (IC) Community Center: Outside

Erica barged into the main room, passing the cops as they left. She saw Jenessa and Dan sitting there, both with ankle monitors.

"This day sucks!"

"Cheer up, at least Tony's finally stopped bullying me. Just took him trying to punch me off a roof and falling for it to stop." Dan tries to smirk, then winces slightly from the bruises on his face.

"So you came back? Me and Jenessa thought you'd run for it."

Erica shrugged.

"I did run for it." There was no way she was going to tell them what really happened "I just... Well, the cops caught up to me and brought me back." She looked around..

"So, that's it? There's only the three of us left." Looking at the ankle monitors, Erica shook her head. "They can't do this. This is a halfway house. We're allowed to leave. The judge said so." She collapsed straight down into a seated position with her legs crisscrossed. with her elbows on her knees, she dropped her chin onto her hands. Her face bore a scowl

"So, now what?"

Jenessa frowned as she watched the cop place the bracelet on her ankle with no trouble.  The brunette was still looking down at the bracelet when the cops ordered them to stay there and then just left.

She looked up when Erica returned, "I am not sure if it is legal or not.  But what the heck are we supposed to do about it?  We are here because we broke the law, so the cops aren't going to be exactly nice to us."  She sighed defeatedly, "I wonder if someone is going to be sent to replace Tony as supervisor of community center?" 

She walked over to a plant and touched her elbow to the plant to see what happens.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:05, Fri 15 Sept 2023.

The plant freezes up as soon as Jen touches it.

Seated on the floor and pouting, Erica watched curiously as Jenessa went over to the plant. It wasn't clear what she was doing, but when she saw the ice creep out over the plant from where Jen touched it, her eyes widened.

"Oh my God. What the actual frick." She jumped up and ran over, gazing at the plant in disbelief. "How did you do that?"

Jenessa sighed as she watched the plant freeze up, her arms dropping to her side in resignation, jumping as Erica screamed in shock.  She tucked her hands under her arms as she crossed them defensively/protectively as she turned to face the blonde.  "I don't know.  but now if I touch something, I freeze it."  She looked down at the anklet, confusion covering her face, "But when the officer touched my ankle to put that thing on, he was fine.  I thought maybe it was just my hands that did the freezing, but I touched the plant with my elbow." She looked at the blonde and shrugged, "I don't know what is going on!  I am scared of touching anyone or thing in fear of freezing them."

"Yeah, the only way she could eat a banana was if I fed it to her. Crazy." Dan is not good at explaining, but tries to be helpful.

Erica glanced over at Dan, what was in his head. She was trying to comprehend what she was seeing and had no room for what she assumed was an attempt at humor.

"You said now. So this just started?" She turned back to Dan. "What about you? Have you... um... experienced anythin weird too?"

"I dunno....I got a huge adrenaline rush fighting Tony, everything stopped hurting for a minute and I was able to knock him off the roof." Dan downplays what happened.

Jenessa frowned as the crossed her arms across her belly defensively, hands tucked under her elbows as she looked over at Erica, "I don't know and I wish I could stop it. Maybe ten minutes ago, right after Tony... fell." She shrugged her shoulders, "We got sent here and suddenly everything felt cold for a minute than went back to normal and now when I touch things, they freeze up." She looked at the frozen plant again that was starting to melt.

She nodded as Dan responded, "That looked like a really powerful punch, Dan.  And you just shrugged it off," she clarified as she looked at Erica curiously.  "Have you felt anything different? Anything strange happening around you?"

Erica looked away, obsessively stroking her hair behind her ear. "Maybe. Maybe I'm crazy." She shrugged "When I was running away, Luke followed me. But he wasn't like Luke. Luke was nice. This version of Luke was angry and abusive. He blamed me for his death. Then, on my way in, I saw Tony and Imogen watching me, even though I knew they were gone. And Tony looked normal." She shrugged again.

"So, either I'm raving, or I can see dead people."

Jenessa bit her lip nervously and tilted her head thoughtfully as Erica explained what she had experienced, "If you had told me this before I frozen things solid with just a touch, I wouldn't have believed you," she admitted to the blonde with a shrug. "But if I can freeze things, you seeing ghosts seems quite possible." 

She looked at Dan, "I think something happened to you know too?  Maybe?  It was that lightning storm?"  She wondered out loud.

She tilted her head thoughtfully and looked at her clothes, which weren't frozen.  She picked up a cloth to cover her hands with and picked up a plate with her cloth covered hand.

And the cloth freezes up when touched. If the plate goes to be touched it freezes as well. What is going on?
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:43, Thu 05 Oct 2023.

"The storm? Well, it was freaky and that lightning scared everybody. How can lightning do that to a person though?" Dan shrugs, trying to think of an explanation.

Erica watched. It was fascinating, but so hard to understand.

Jenessa cursed as her clothes froze, "Fuck!" She hissed as she stopped touching the cloth, dropping it in disappointment. She glared at her hands as she closed them in fists as she crossed her arms and tucked them into her elbows. "This bites if I can't figure it out!  I can't touch my flutes anymore!" She looked ready to cry as she looked at the frozen plate.  She was now wondering if she could change clothes without freezing the new clothes while putting them on. She looked over at the other two helplessly. "How am I supposed to live my life if everything I touch, I freeze!"

She shook her head, as if dashing away the defeatist thoughts as she looked at Erica, "Are you seeing any ghosts around now?"  She wondered, trying to focus on something else instead of her own problems.  "So you can communicate with the ghosts?"

Erica looked around for any ghosts, but she was more intrigued by Jenessa's problem. "Jen. You've touched things seeing if they will freeze. Have you tried touching things with a desire not to freeze them?"

"I think that was the second thing I tried," Jenessa informed Erica with a sigh. "It seems to be when I touch things, because Dan wa able to feed me a banana without it freezing up.  The officer was able to put the anklet on without it or him freezing up."She sat down on a chair and slumped, "I would ask one of you to touch me, but I don't to take the risk again," she admitted to the two.

As she was sitting there, she was looking inside of herself to try to feel if anything had changed, did she feel differently now than the other day when she was normal?

Dan, not wishing to be frozen, tries to distract people with idle chatter.

"I hope the next boss we get is better than Tony was, and by that I mean the vindictive git Tony, not trying to push me out of a window or down the stairs Tony. They never make this easy do they?"

As the three converse, time passes. Jessessa seems paranoid with her ability. When she goes to sit in the chair, it begins to freeze! Erica listens to what is going on. And Dan seems to feel well tough. Odd.

"Erica, do you need a blanket? Don't want you sticking to the chair if it freezes."
Dan sighs.

"Do you think the cops are going to do anything?"

In reply to The Storm (msg # 172):

Erica shakes her head. "No. I'm fine. Thanks. If the char freezes, I'll get up."

Eric, while finding a place on the couch to examine the cuff around her ankle, suddenly looks up. Her hand covers her mouth to stifle the gasp, as her eyes scan across the room as if following movement. "Speaking of cops."

"I can see you." She says to the apparition "What happened?"

Jenessa sits in the chair and while it is chilly, it isn't uncomfortable for her.  "I am fine," she responded resignedly. She curled up, arms wrapped around her knees as she rested her head on her knees.  This day was just getting worse and her life was ruined.

When Erica asked what happened, Jenessa lifted her head and looked where Erica was looking, tilting her head when she didn't see anyone.  "Are you talking to a ghost Erica?" She asked curiously, "What are they saying?"

"Um, if I'm not crazy, yes." It felt so strange to admit that out loud. "It's one of the cops from earlier. Detective Haliwo's partner. It looks like she was hit in the back of the head, but she hasn't said anything yet"

Jenessa's eyes widened as Erica shared what she was seeing. "You don't think Tony has come aback alive again?" She wondered as she looked at Dan.  They had seen Tony apparently killed several times, but he had gotten back up.  She really didn't think a couple of bullets and a fall was going to keep him down.

She looked around as she worried her lower lip with her teeth, "Can someone turn on the TV and scan the news," she didn't think the news would be carrying it yet, but she didn't know how else to check for what was going on.  She didn't want to touch the TV remote or controls for fear of freezing things to uselessness. "I can't touch anything," she admitted as she pulled her sleeves over her hands defensively.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:39, Fri 27 Oct 2023.

"I'll put the telly on, put your mind at rest" Dan says as he gets the remote and flips to the news channels.

"The news is dead boring most of the time, but maybe this storm is weird enough people will be talking about it."

The news flicks on and there is a emergency broadcast "A sudden storm suddenly hit and lasted a few moments. Power shortages and blackouts had occur but they are being taken care of. Several areas have been checked out due to high abilities of possible strange occurances but police and other people are taken care of it. This storm has been a odd occurance but for now it is just a storm. We will keep you informed." The newcaster smiles and motions for sports.

Erica gasped, covering her mouth and taking a step back. The wound on the the police woman's head was ghastly. The blood in her mouth was horrifying.

Jenessa watched the news, biting her lip nervously as the announcer talked about how the storm was over the entire city.  She looked over at the other two, "Do you think others got special abilities like we did?"

Jenessa's head snapped over to Erica, "What's wrong Erica?"  She asked the blonde supportively as she kept her hands tucked under her arms and her knees drawn up to her chest, making herself as small as possible.

Dan has been watching the news, and says "Yeah, maybe if the strange storm's been striking other people? But apart from your freezing power, I don't see any really freaky stuff."

He looks over at Erica, uncertain if he should go and comfort her or let her have space.

"Her head. It's been bashed in. Why is she coming towards me?" Erica continued to back away, obviously freaked out

Jenessa tried to see what Erica was seeing, but couldn't, "Maybe she is trying to tell you something?"  She suggested questionly, not really sure what Erica was seeing and just as glad she couldn't if the blonde's description of the police woman's head was even half accurate.  She kept an eye on the news to see if any mentions of Tony's death.

She wanted to go over and huge Erica comfortingly, but she was afraid of freezing the blonde with her run away freezing power.  She looked at her clothes, wondering why they weren't freezing.

"In other news, the weather is nice out at a decent 75 degrees. Sports!" A man nearbye is sitting down and smiling and speaks out "The Saints and the Omegas square off in a heated rugby match. And the Saints won by 2 points." It goes on and on with sports and soon the next program kicks on 'Nightmare on Fern Street."

As Jenessa adjusts herself while watching Erica her seat freezes up! Nope. Just kidding. She glances at the TV.

Erica seems tranfixed on this apparent 'ghostly image'.

"Oh Gosh." Erica suddenly stopped backing away. "She just disappeared."

Dan glares at the TV "Bloody saints, bet the smug gits think they're going to win the Challenge Cup this year." He then realises he's talking loudly about Rugby League while he's the only man in the room, and shuts up.

Jenessa looked over at Erica, "She did?  I wonder what that means?"  She worried at her lower lip as she sat huddled on the couch, watching the TV for any new news about the Storm or breaking news.

She rolled her eyes teasingly at Dan's outburst about the Saints.  It was sports, she had no clue what he was talking about, but he was obviously passionate about it, which was admirable.

As Dan goes to change the channel, the remote seems to break in his grip. Strange indeed. And in the office nearbye the phone begain to ring. The news continues but nothing out of the ordinary. It looks sunny outside once more.

Jenessa jumped as a crack sounded through the room as Dan somehow broke the remote control while changing channels.  Right behind that, the phone started ringing, Jenessa turned her head toward the sound, "Who is calling us?  I would get it, but I would probably freeze it and break it," she sighed as she looked at her hands, before tucking them back under her crossed arms.

The pop of the plastic gave Erica a bit of a start, but the phone yanked her attention away in the next moment. Janessa already declared that she was afraid to touch anything and it looked as if Dan shouldn't either. It seemed Erica would have to be the one to touch things.

Keeping an eye on Dan - mostly too what happened next - Erica sidestepped over to the phone and picked it up.

"Hello?"

Dan puts down the ruined remote. He considers turning off the TV by the power switch on it, but he has second thoughts just in case he ruins the telly for good.

He sighs and sits down.

Jenessa got up and followed Erica into the office where the phone was ringing, curious what the call was about.  Considering their day, it was going to be more bad news and she would rather get it as soon as possible.

While she was listening to Erica talk, a thought came to her.  She reached out for a pen on the desk, thinking about freezing it.  Once it froze up, she would think about unfreezing it.

But wait! Dan sits down and the couch...

Does nothing. He just sits down. When Jen goes to grab the pen it does freeze up but when she thinks about unfreezing it up, it does nothing. Just remains frozen.

Erica stares at the phone.

Jenessa sighed in resignation as she couldn't unfreeze the pen as he put it down on the desk. She leaned her hip against the desk as she looked over to Erica talking on the phone. "Well, unfreezing things isn't one of my abilities."

"Hello?" Erica said it louder, but still there was only silence. "HELLOOOOOOO." Still nothing. Having lost patience, she slammed the phone handset down on the cradle.

"What the hell. Why do people do that?" After rolling her eyes in disgust, she noticed that the dead lady cop was back. It looked like she wanted to say something but nothing came out of her mouth but gibberish. Erica found it hard to even look at her but she also pitied the woman. She obviously had something to say, and having been murdered had to suck.

Maybe there was another way. Erica could see them and hear them. Maybe she could touch them too. Or more specifically, be touched at some level. Taking a pen and paper from the desk, she looked to the dead detective and held up the paper.

"I know you want to tell me something. I'll hold the pen. You try to guide my hand." Placing the paper on the desk, she held the pen ready and waited.

Dan relaxes into the couch, now things are stopping breaking...well at least from him, Jenessa seemed to still be freezing things.

He looks at Erica talking to the corpse, and wonders whether it's worse to have a power that smashes things you're trying to use or one that makes you look crazy.

Jenessa watched as Erica hung up the phone angerily and then talked into thin air, presumingly where she was seeing a ghost and asking the ghost to move the blonde's hands to write a message. She leaned against the desk as she watched to see if Erica's hand would start moving.

This day was just really freaky, the storm, Tony attacking them and dying at the hands of cops.  Finding out that she freezes stuff she touches and that Erica was seeing ghosts.  She was sure that at any moment she was going to wake up and all of this was going to be a dream!

Dan watches Erica for a moment and feels like he's sinking slightly into the couch. It feels somewhat weird. Jenessa seems to relax a bit, trying not to touch anything and doing a good job. The desk starts to freeze up slightly.

Erica stands there, angrily. And her hand twitches and feels cold. Not Jen cold. Just cold, searing up her arm as the pen twitches. Its very strange letting a ghost if it is indeed a ghost guide her hand. And then the ghost is gone. Written barely is the word 'Tony'.

"Well I didn't think that would work" Erica looked down at the four letters on the page. "It was Tony. He killed her." It was no surprise. Even though she saw Tony's ghost in the front, she felt that he - or at least his body - was still a danger.

"I don't know what, if anything, we should do about that." She fished picked up the phone and dialed the police station "Hello, can I speak with Detective Haliwo?".

Jenessa's eyes widened as Erica's hand started moving hesitately, with jerks and stops, spelling out Tony. "Oh!" She jumped away from the desk and flapped her arms a little, "I don't know what is scarier...that worked or that Tony is back!" She missed completely that leaning against the desk had frozen some it as she starred at the word 'tony' on the paper.  "I should be surprised, but he came back twice before," she sighed as she looked up at Dan and Erica.  "What are the chances he is coming back here?" She asked her two companions as she moved to a window to look outside. She nodded as Erica called the police.

Dan wonders why Erica has now decided to co-operate with the cops, but when it comes to Tony better to be safe then sorry. He sits on the couch, trying to cheer up.

"Police office. Who is this?" The person on the other end responds. In the background people are arguing or doing something-its hard to make out.

When Dan tries to get comfortable, he grabs a pillow and well attempts to-it explodes in a huge blast of well feathers. What the heck?

Jen glances at Erica, unable to hear what is going on. She then stares out the window,  Its nice outside, no sign of the storm. Bright and cheerful. A bit damp still.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:01, Sun 07 Jan.

Jenessa frowned as she listned to Erica as she called the police, wondering what she was going to say.  She could hardly say, 'I saw a ghost of a cop that was with a dead guy and I think the dead guy came alive and attacked them.'  The police would be sending the paddy wagon for the mental hospital after that kind of message.

Idly reaching out, she placed her hand on the glass, seeing the area around her hand icing up.  Tilting her head sideways as she focused to see how far across the big window she could spread the ice.

"This is Erica Logan. Like, who cares who this is. I need to speak with Detective Haliwo. It's about his dead partner." That ought to get them fired up. "Tell him it was Tony Marco. He knows where to find me." Erica hung up the phone.

*Click*

"We should expect company."

"Are you sure this is a smart idea? I want to see as little of the cops as we can manage" Dan states.
Trying to change the topic, he then pipes up "Can anyone else change the TV? I'm scared of breaking it."

Erica rolled her eyes, then walked over. "Between your super strength and her freezing things...Am I gong to have to open all the jars?" Scoping up the remote, she flicked through the channel

"Say when"
This message was last edited by the player at 14:35, Fri 19 Jan.