New York City:
Thursday 16th August 2012: 12:05pm
Justin fondled around the insides of his pockets, and pulled out his change. He fingered through the various coins before pulling the desired ones out and handing them over to the vendor before pocketing the rest. As the vendor counted the money up and nodded, he exchanged to Justin his hotdog. Justin waved his thanks and turned away, sitting down on the bench and taking a bite out of his well needed lunch. He had missed breakfast this morning on account of a broken alarm clock and the horrifying thought that he was late for work. After a long morning slog through the tediums of his office job he was grateful for he break and the opportunity to taste another of Joe's sumptuous hotdogs.
It was a typical day in the city. The summer was proving far too hot and his shirt was pretty much drenched in sweat. He wasn't comfortable but all he had to do was keep telling himself that it'd just be another 4 hours after his lunch break until he could go home and grab that much needed shower. As he sat down, savouring each bite of his lunch he looked out at the scenery and passerbys that occupied this part of the city; a neverending line of yellow taxis, a buldge of people who seemed to be in a hurry, more workers in their suits enjoying their own lunch breaks, teenagers and children enjoying their summer break and a small handful of tourists marvelling at the city's buildings, taking photo after photo of what he'd call home.
He smiled. Justin did this pretty much every day and it never stopped to put a smile on his face, just watching over people go about their business, wondering what it was that each individual was thinking. He could probably guess that he did so just to keep his mind off of his own problems, and he had his own fair share of problems to be sure, but he didn't really care. He'd always enjoyed just sitting on the sidelines, watching the world go by.
As Justin took the last bite of the hotdog and screwed up the tissue and wrapper before throwing it into the nearest bin. And that's when it happened.
A violent shake almost seemed to lift Justin off the ground. Startled, he looked around himself, trying to figure out what had happened, but as he looked on at the other pedestrians he could tell that he wasn't the only one who felt it. Just as he tried to get his bearings as he stood up, another violent shake threw him and everyone around him to the floor. Cars were lifted slightly into the air and off the road, and parked cars began wailing aloud as their alarm were set off.
"What in the hell was that...?" Justin mindlessly thought aloud, looking around, before a third rumble and shake split the street in two. Asphalt and concrete was torn asunder and wrenched in two directions, sending cars flying and crashing into one another, and to Justin's horror he could spot a fair few skyscrapers in the distance seemingly vanish. It took his mind a couple of seconds to process why, before the obvious answer appeared. They had collapsed.
The streets erupted into panic. Everything was happening way too quickly and way too fast but there was no doubt in Justin's mind as to what exactly was going on: It was an earthquake. It felt like nothing Justin had ever experienced before and it would go on record as being akin to something no one had ever experienced before; the most severe earthquake known in human history. As Justin raced to his feet, his mind switched off and his body seemed to take over, fleeing in the direction of the public's general consensus. He had no idea if the direction was the right way to safety, but it was where everyone else was going. He was panicking, sure, but considering the situation could you really blame him? As he raced, nearby buildings collapsed to the ground or bent in awkward directions, roads split asunders, people cried out desperate screams of help and people died.
The building next to him rumbled agressively as the earthquakes continued unbroken. The supports faultered and collapsed. Before Justin could have any chance of realising or reacting, the large 15 storied building fell down upon him.
Justin's world, and like those of many others throughout the city fell into darkness.
The citizens of New York City and the people of the world were about to experience the worst disasters known in human history. For the survivors of New York City it would be the most pressing and arduous experiences of their lives, as the tragedy and disaster would continue and almost never cease to end. Whilst there were lulls and breaks within the aftershocks, the earthquakes would continue at an unparalleled magnitude for the next 96 hours.
But whilst it would also be the most destructive and devastating event to ever occur, it would also begin the dawn of something new, amazing, and frightening indeed.
Ooc:
Hello there! Greetings ladies and gentlemen to my latest rp! For those of you who had the patience to read through all of that, my humblest thanks, and what did you think to an opener like that, eh? This rp is set primarily in a real world fashion, meaning I have to ask no anthropomorphic characters or aliens. Whilst it may seem unusual the idea of magic or superhuman abilities isn't unwelcome. Although it won't be available at the very start of the rp, the earthquake event is unnatural, and characters will be allowed to gain abilities later on throughout the rp. Although I'd have to ask that its kept very limited to begin with, like say a fire ability only being able to produce a flame the size of a lighter's, characters' abilities can develop and improve over the course of the rp, but no godly powers please.
Characters can start pretty much anywhere, the whole city is under effect. There's no need for any intricate knowledge of New York, I myself have never visited there so I wouldn't have any clue but I mainly chose it for the atypical city disaster. Don't be afraid to use actual locations from NY though although be accomodating for those who don't know it for any errors or whatever.
This is mostly a survival and character focused rp. The threat of earthquakes, like I mentioned will continue for a period of 96 hours but its not a consecutive earthquake without breaks. There will also be threats of the city's structural integrity and most importantly the threat of other people/rpers and those who gain abilities. What will you do to survive?
No character profiles are neccessary, just enjoy and have fun!
OOC: Gosh, don't think I've ever RPed with a human before XD
I do have some ideas though. I'll come up with a post tonight, if not tomorrow.
OOC: bunp. Am I joining a dead RP? Probably! I think I put my character on Hard difficulty but oh well. Writing may be pretty terrible cause it's nearly 3:30am.
IC: She was dead.
She was dead she was sure of it. She was floating in nothingness, seeing nothing, hearing nothing, feeling nothing.
Her stomach knotted in fear. This wasn't the afterlife, was it? Just being stuck in nothingness?
She had no idea how long she was stuck there in the void. It felt like years to her. Eventually though, her ears started ringing. Faintly at first, but becoming louder and louder and more and more painful. Her body was still numb but she could feel a pressure on her. She became aware that she could feel herself breathing. Maybe she was alive after all, then.
She could smell something harsh, like a chemical. It seemed to be gas and it was burning. There was also another smell she couldn't quite place.
Her eyes darted open before she immediately squeezed them shut again in agony. Oh god what the hell happened. Where was she?
The world dropped violently underneath her and she groaned in pain as whatever it was above her shifted. It seemed she was getting some sensations back. She became aware that her left ankle hurt like hell, and that her entire left arm was still completely numb. She tried to open her eyes again only to be greeted with even more of the horrific pain, so she decided to leave them be for a while.
She tried to lift her left arm, only to feel nothing happen. So she tried her right. She pushed forward, feeling in front of her. Whatever it was felt like stone or concrete. No, it was definately concrete. She could feel the fine powderish surface.
With her newfound space she reached over to her left arm. There was nothing there. At all. She found her shoulder, with only around two inches of flesh where her arm would have been left. It was wet and warm and still felt wierdly numb and she started to panic.
Oh god she was trapped somewhere and she hurt everywhere and her arm was missing and oh god the ground is moving again. Was it an earthquake? It felt different to the last one.
She was getting really hot, hotter than she could bear. She realised she had to get out. Something was burning near her and she had no idea how long it would take to reach her.
Pushing more desperately above her, she finally felt something shift high enough for her to sit up. Her ankle once more locked up in agony as she did so, and she gritted her teeth and hissed. She felt herself crying but she couldn't quite tell with the masses of sensations she was experiencing. She continued to push up, and felt something give way above her, followed by a breeze. The breeze was tiny and barely there but she swallowed at the fresher air greedily, only just becoming aware of how shallowly she had been breathing before.
She pushed at the hole she had created, widening it up as much as she could. She tested her weight on one of the edges, then pulled herself up with one good arm, not confident that her leg would support her weight. Which upon testing, didn't. Great.
The air stung at her face viciously, and she sobbed. She felt her face and it hurt like hell. The skin around her cheeks and eyes felt odd and leathery and slightly sticky. She realised it was burned. So that's what the other smell was.
She could extremely faintly hear alarms now. Her ears were still ringing, and she wondered if she had been in an explosion of some variety. Since she could smell gas, perhaps at a gas station?
She hauled herself out from the gap and into the fresh air. Fresh being a relative term, what with the amount of dust in the air. Her face felt hot with the pain and her leg was making her feel dizzy, but she dragged herself a little away from the hole before another earthquake or aftershock or whatever hit in case it caused it to collapse.
She laid on her back, her right hand holding the stump of her left arm tight. She tried opening her eyes again, forcing them to stay open a moment longer. She was then hit with an additional two problems - one, she couldn't see, even with her eyes open. Completely blind. Two, she realised she couldn't remember her name.
"...f***"
(OOC: Seems to me this RP was a victim of poor timing, what with recent events in Japan and all. That said, I wish it luck anyway. I'm not really interested in a human-only RP, and I'm in too many RPs as it is, so...*shrug*)
OOC: Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuussssssssssssaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnugh
It's awesome to see you join, and my god was that a fantastic and brutal posting. Seriously, wow. o.o You have made it very challenging, no doubt, but who doesn't love a good challenge?
It's tragic to see the events that took place in Japan but at the same time I don't see why this rp can't continue if there's still interest within it. Needless to say I am, but it was a bit freaky to have those earthquakes happen about a week after I first posted this. o.o
Time to write something but I doubt it'll be as good as yours, Susan. =x
IC:
New York City:
Thursday 16th August 2012: 12:03pm
She had just been filling her motorbike with more petrol, before everything in the world started to just collapse upon itself. First there was the dull shaking, with everyone around her looking blankly at each other, wondering what was going on. Then the shaking began to intensify. People started to run away in any random direction, screaming. The people within the nearby diner all started to try to pile out of the crowded exit, before the glass windows started to crack and smash apart. People's foods was thrown into the air, their plates smashing against the ground. There was no doubt at all at what was occuring. It was an earthquake, but this wasn't like anything Elsa had experienced before in her life. This was something on a completely different magnitude. She had to get away and she had to go now. She had no idea where would be safe but she knew first and foremost that it had to be away from this gas station of all places. If she stayed here and it ignited...
She began to run, following the throngs of crowds running in the middle of the path, as traffic began to collide and smash against each other. She was almost hit and killed by a smacked car that was thrown off the street and into the wall next to her. If it hadn't been for the man behind her who had grabbed her and pulled her back, she would have been made a pancake. She was just about to offer her thanks, when everything went white. Suddenly there was the most violent quake the city had ever experienced, and with it buildings began to topple and fall, roads split open and vehicles and people fell into the depths below. The gas station which she had been at mere moments ago exploded in a blinding shower of light and heat. A wayward piece of debris somersaulted throughout the air and hit Elsa square in the head. She fell to blackness.
New York City:
Thursday 16th August 2012: 12:48pm
She felt like death itself. Unfortunately for Elsa, feeling this way could only mean one thing and that was that she was very much alive. She groaned, slowly wakening and adjusting her sight to the carnage around her. Survivors ran across in every which way in a panic. The city was wrapped in a chaos and devastation she had only seen before in movies. She hoped this was all a dream but it was a hope that would go unrewarded. Her body was propped against the side of the wall, next to the smashed car and the unfortunate driver inside. The man who had saved her lifes a short while earlier was nowhere to be seen. She slowly picked herself up and felt the stinging pain on the left side of her face. She winced, pulling her hand free and see her palm covered in red, sticky blood. Her vision continued to blur, but it was clearing itself by the second. That was something to be grateful for.
In the rubble of the ruined gas station, she could see some of the wreckage shifting and being moved. It wouldn't normally be such an odd thing to see, but it was being done with no assistance from anyone around it. Which meant that whatever was causing it to move was coming from underneath it.
Elsa began to slowly walk towards it, and as she did she noticed her left knee was starting to hurt something fierce. But the pain was nothing compared to the turmoil that whoever was trapped in there must have been feeling. She knew she had to try to help, she knew-
Elsa barely covered half the distance before the wreckage was shifted even more, and a gap formed in the collapsed rubble. The next instant, a female form pulled herself free and out of the gap, landing with an awkward writhing on top of the rest of the rubble. She then pulled herself away from the hole she had created and laid on her back, her breath ragged and hoarse. It was only then that Elsa noticed the horrible truth that was that this girl was missing an arm.
'My god,' Elsa thought, hurrying her pace to the fallen female's body. 'My god, my god, my god...'
Elsa reached the wounded person's body, and collapsed onto her knees next to her, reaching out and slowly grabbing the person's body. "Are you okay?" she tried to ask. It was only then that Elsa noticed a terrible realisation. She couldn't hear anything. She thought that it was a condition that would have passed over time as she regained her senses like her blurred eyesight earlier, but it was true. She couldn't hear anything; the pained screams of the wounded and dying, the blaring alarms of crashed vehicles and racing emergency services or the raging fires that burned around her.
Her pain was probably insignificant to that of the woman before her, but it was nonetheless absolutely terrifying.
She couldn't hear anything.
