(OOC: Sounds interesting. I'll have to think of something...but for now I have to sleep. XD

Edit: confounded muse...won't let me sleep until I post to say I have something that I'm working on for this. >.>

Edit2: so I went ahead ant wrote something. Revamp of old character. Hope this works...)

IC:

Present:

The rally had started peacefully enough...just a group of protestors with signs. Though it had since devolved into chaos, One lone figure stood calmly within the fray, resolutely marching with her sign, the front of which read, "There is no order without chaos. The Broadcast will topple the Balence." The back of her sign simply read, "The end is coming."

The metalic-silver fur of the young lupine glinted in the sunlight. She was right in the middle of the riot, but, oddly, people seemed to be avoiding her. What was stranger still, she seemed to be meditating, eyes closed. Even odder yet...there appeared to be a gem embedded in her forehead... a seven-pointed, multi-colored faceted star that was faintly glowing. Without opening her eyes, she spoke to whoever would listen. "The Broadcast is comming, there is no stopping it. The Balence will fall before it. Unless the Broadcast is recinded, the world will fall to despair.

"There cannot be Light without Darkness. There cannot be Order without Chaos. Love counters Hate; Hope prevents Fear. Free will is the essence of Balence. Without the will to do wrong, there can be no will to do right. Children who cannot do wrong cannot learn the consequences of it and therefore better themselves. The Broadcast will topple the Balence and all the world will fall. Heed my warning." With that, The silver wolf mystic named Liayra walked serenely through the riot, seeming to avoid all the chaos around her.

****

The silver wolf carefully locked the door of her appartment, and collapsed onto her bed. That had taken a lot of effort. Simply avoiding the trouble of the riot around her was draining. She turned on the TV...which was showing scenes of the rioting. She turned it off again. Nothing new there. At least she had gotten her message out, though she doubted it would have much effect. She was asleep within minutes.

*******************************

Future:

She knew this would happen. She had predicted it. No one had heeded the warning, apparently. And now, here she sat...in a laser-barred cell, waiting for...what? Rescue? There could be no hope of that. The citizenry were virtually living robots. And all of those few that were immune to the Broadcast were stuck in these cells...like the criminals the Broadcast had been preported to eliminate. The Balence was fighting a losing battle to right itself. Her gem had ceased glowing long ago...when the Broadcast had taken hold...most of her mystic powers were gone. All she could do was continue to meditate.

TBC

OOC: This wouldn't be at all inspired by how you're going to lead humanity into a new age of slavery at the hands of alien overlords, is it, Pach?

IC:

Present

When the shouts began in the dive, Luis was grateful he was way in the back, somewhat obscured by other people. The young man, only twenty-three years old, hunkered underneath his table and cautiously watched the criminals prowl for what they sought.

Where is the order in our society?

His thoughts were interrupted by a woman near him sobbing uncontrollably. Luis's face soured; he would have the luck of being near someone noisy.

Well, can't get much worse than this.

Luis Cardozo had no real question in his mind that he was gifted with an amazing intellect and a certain amount of charisma. He had graduated from Harvard about a year ago at the top of his class with two majors. Nothing had ever been a challenge to him in his life. This had left him with a fair degree of smug pride in his own talents. Then, law school happened. All at once, his grades sank to abysmal levels and every day was a new adventure in consistent degradation by the zealously pompous institution at Columbia University. Maybe it was because he was philosophical and detested law school's predilection for mindless, binary thinking.

Mindless, binary thinking...

Luis, who had never touched a drop of alcohol until Columbia had humiliated him by placing him on academic probation, had started regularly coming to this little dive in Manhattan, had come to law school in the hopes of standing for justice in the world. He wanted nothing more than to see criminals punished for their moral wickedness. He was righteous to a fault in this regard, and his dark eyes blazed with contempt as he watched the criminals in the dive steal money from the terrified patrons. The Broadcast, in his view, could not come soon enough.

Future

Perched in a crouching position atop the detention facility, Luis looked around warily. He then peered down into the hole that had been, rather unsubtly, blown in the rooftop. Matt had gone down there about a minute or so ago; hopefully he would not take too much time. Alarms were going off everywhere. As Luis stuck his head down through the hole, his eyes were overwhelmed by the red lights drenching the multiple levels of the building. There was no sign of security drones yet, but that would soon change.

Those stupid robots...mindless creatures capable only of binary thinking...

Luis smirked a bit as he sat back. Ten years ago, if someone had told him that order was overrated, he would have turned that person over to the thought police, had such a thing existed. Now, with the world locked in a rigid pattern of mindless, binary thinking, there was only one thing that Luis craved: a good dose of chaos.

OOC: This wouldn't be at all inspired by how you're going to lead humanity into a new age of slavery at the hands of alien overlords, is it, Pach?

IC:

Present

When the shouts began in the dive, Luis was grateful he was way in the back, somewhat obscured by other people. The young man, only twenty-three years old, hunkered underneath his table and cautiously watched the criminals prowl for what they sought.

Where is the order in our society?

His thoughts were interrupted by a woman near him sobbing uncontrollably. Luis's face soured; he would have the luck of being near someone noisy.

Well, can't get much worse than this.

Luis Cardozo had no real question in his mind that he was gifted with an amazing intellect and a certain amount of charisma. He had graduated from Harvard about a year ago at the top of his class with two majors. Nothing had ever been a challenge to him in his life. This had left him with a fair degree of smug pride in his own talents. Then, law school happened. All at once, his grades sank to abysmal levels and every day was a new adventure in consistent degradation by the zealously pompous institution at Columbia University. Maybe it was because he was philosophical and detested law school's predilection for mindless, binary thinking.

Mindless, binary thinking...

Luis, who had never touched a drop of alcohol until Columbia had humiliated him by placing him on academic probation, had started regularly coming to this little dive in Manhattan, had come to law school in the hopes of standing for justice in the world. He wanted nothing more than to see criminals punished for their moral wickedness. He was righteous to a fault in this regard, and his dark eyes blazed with contempt as he watched the criminals in the dive steal money from the terrified patrons. The Broadcast, in his view, could not come soon enough.

Future

Perched in a crouching position atop the detention facility, Luis looked around warily. He then peered down into the hole that had been, rather unsubtly, blown in the rooftop. Matt had gone down there about a minute or so ago; hopefully he would not take too much time. Alarms were going off everywhere. As Luis stuck his head down through the hole, his eyes were overwhelmed by the red lights drenching the multiple levels of the building. There was no sign of security drones yet, but that would soon change.

Those stupid robots...mindless creatures capable only of binary thinking...

Luis smirked a bit as he sat back. Ten years ago, if someone had told him that order was overrated, he would have turned that person over to the thought police, had such a thing existed. Now, with the world locked in a rigid pattern of mindless, binary thinking, there was only one thing that Luis craved: a good dose of chaos.

[[ Before I join in this RP, i'd like to know how the society in the future world actually work - are the security mechs fully automatic? Who controls them? A "Mother brain"? OR another person who has had some sort of "free will" and could actively make decisions on what to do in this security emergencies?

What about the lay people? are they still be able to communicate with each other? Are they able to react to any "alterations" from what the "Free willed" people do? Also, are they well educated or antiintellectual? Is The Broadcast permanent? or are there still hope that any of those Lay people can still "regain" their free will? ]]

OOC: First off I have to say, thanks very much for joining, Violet and Rapid. <3 Both of your characters look really really awesome so far. I like how they've seemed to change so much but the main mystery and intrique is how and why. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens. =D

One note in general for people, don't feel too afraid of making any accidental time paradoxes if they come along as we can always try to either explain them later on or just, y'know, ignore them. Don't want people to get really stressed out about details like that but if we can try to avoid them it'd be great. First thing would be that, since you guys are both using the same character in the Present and Future, then it's more than likely the characters will already know each other in the Future, because the characters will also likely end up meeting in the Present.

Rubycored! Glad to see your interested in the rp! =D All good questions too that I was planning to reveal as the rp goes along but if it's required now then I can surely give that information.

Security mechs are pretty much fully automatic. There is a 'mother brain' type of being or network that does control them however that information is not known to any of the characters within the future's society. The lay people aren't so much bothered at not knowing how or why, although it can also be a question the free willed protaganists will be asking themselves.

The lay people are still able to communicate with each other and they can react to the alterations of the free willed people. They are as well educated as you and me or perhaps even better; their sole purpose now is to pretty much enhance the world and their races. To this end they're all working together to improve and evolve their society; pollution is almost a thing of the past, fossil fuels aren't used to any significant standard compared to renewable resources, teaching is improved, medicine has evolved to such a degree that most diseases are a thing of the past etc.

The society as a whole is a lot more logical and simpler. The day to day inconveniences we experience now like late bus or plane arrivals or lack of sufficient medical equipment etc, none of that exists anymore. Everything is well managed and improved. There is no incompetence. Infrastructure wise buildings and transport have all significantly improved. Worn and derelict buildings plus any that aren't up to standard have been stripped down completely. New, more hi-tech and better sustainable buildings have been erected instead. So you can imagine the future world being a tad bit more utopian sci-fi-ish but not outlandishly so.

The way in which the lay people will react to the free willed people is that they'll see them as a parasite and infection to the host world, as if the world was like our bodies. In this way our protaganists in the future will not have to just watch out for the security mechs but pretty much everyone there is. There is hope that the lay people can regain their free will; the broadcast is being constantly emitted from numerous transcievers throughout the world. One of the aims of the future protaganists will be to destroy these transmitters, with them gone the lay people in that transmitter's area will regain their independant will. But, at the same time, the capacity to freely commit crimes etc. It won't be an easy mission.

One of the things I wanted to create with this rp was the moral dilemna. Sure, in the future people might have lost their freedom of will but at the same time humanity and all of its anthropomorphic races, and the earth itself, has improved significantly as a result. There's no more war, no more chaos, no pollution, no famine or disease, no strife. Are the protaganists really right to want to try and remove all that? To try and return things to the far more chaotic status quo of the present and indeed our own modern world? Violet's character poses one very interesting viewpoint to it all, and that there should be balance- the status quo is more of a correct option. Rapid's character swings from one polarity to the other. Me, personally, there is no right or wrong answer, just as there isn't to a lot of things that we, and the characters, will find in life.

Hopefully that's helped to answer some of yours, and anybody else's questions. If you or anyone else still have any more queries then don't feel afraid to ask! =D I want maximum comfortness for everyone.

OOC: Oh wow. So I printed this out and thought this'd be some good bed time reading xD
Well... it did actually wake me up. Which is a good thing. Not a lot prompts me these days. To cut a long story short, sure looks interesting.

Deliberated as to whether I'd have much time but can't pass this up I've decided. So I'll join. But let me sleep on as to 'with who' and how. Half-past midnight during a working week isn't the most inspiring moment but watch this space nonetheless.

(OOC: Ah, so it's kind of like a 'hive-mind' situation with the lay persons, then? Was wondering about that myself.)

[[ Well, now i am just trying to find out whether the forum is going to be moved over or not >>, but otherwise i have a plan on how i could go about wirting up my first post :noes:

here's the character: . Neo Lucie Valerian (Note: when referring to her in person, it's either Neo Lucie or just Lucie (less common), she's never referred to as "Neo")

and yes, she's an archer who specialise in classic and/or modern crossbows (the one in the picture is based off a REAL crossbow in current use), although she could also use high techy crossbows too. (Auto aim? le lol)

the reasons for all that bunch of questions earlier is simply because she's 15, which implies that she was born after the original Broadcast, so I needed to know how people born in that timeframe were actually brought up as compared to the pre-broadcast timeline ]]

OOC: Glad to see your inspired, Kate! Hope you enjoy it and I wouldn't worry about this having that great of a fastpace, bit more slowed perhaps, so hopefully no need to stress out, I know your time is very valuable.

And yes Violet you're right about the hive mind mentality however I was just wanted to clarify that the general populace don't have telepathy and so therefore cannot speak to each other through their minds, they have to talk conventionally vocally. They all do get a sort of mental prompting and pushing from the 'mother brain' network (which I will greatly expand later on IC in the course of the rp, I have great plans for this <3) to perform actions. A sort of inclination to do things they might not usually do.

Neo Lucie looks very, very interesting. Gotta say I always love my archer characters! Also, if you plan on having her as 15 in the Future timeline, that means she'd be 5 years old in the Present timeline, which is still two weeks away from the Broadcast's activation. There's a 10 year timegap inbetween.

EDIT: Darn quoting button rather than edit D:

[[ 10 years? i thought it's 20, d'oh me *headdesk*

sorry, mind still too much on BR, overlooked this one 😛 ]]

OOC: Oh gosh, sorry for spamming again. Thanks for respecting IRL hecticness. It annoys me. Got into this phase where all I wanna do is RP xD

Anyway I do have one question. The future right? Do all the non-conformists/free minded people (or non-lay people) have to be imprisoned in solitary confinement? Or can they be a getaway/exiled individual at this moment in time (in the future aspect of the RP that is!)- keeping the hell away from the lay individuals?

I'll write a post once that's clarified ;P

OOC: Yeah, not all broadcast-immune people in the future are imprisoned. Afterall mine and Rapid's characters aren't but it might make for a nice starting point to instantly join up with the characters there and get involved in the action. There are broadcast immune individuals scattered across the entire world, although small in number, many of them captured but some further still either on the run, in hiding, openly rebelling and resisting etc etc.

As for captured free minded people by security mechs and the 'lay people', yes, they would all be imprisoned in solitary confinement. There isn't really an exile point in the world for them, so they're all essentially 'quarantined'.

[[ Kinda not in the shape for writing up epic post just yet, but I'll post the part that's relevant for the RP so i can put myself in there to allow the plot to progress 😛

In summary form, basically in the "Present" timeline, Neo Lucie's family were involved in an "accident" where although she survived it, she was so scared that she ran away from the scene before the paramedics could arrive. Therefore it was unknown whether any of her family actually survived.

She was eventually found and placed under The Broadcast where she would have otherwise peaceful and eventless years into the Future timeline

But over the years the excessive worrying about what became of her family worried the authorities, and she was, only recently, placed in "quarantine" there only as a precautionary measure ]]

---

[[ This post takes place only in the future ]]

In one of the cells, a dimly lit one, of at all, a figure could be seen stirring and turning about in bed, as if she was disturbed from her peaceful night rest. She had never heard such loud and sudden noise since the accident.

Eventually she somewhat lifted her head and turned to face the figure who just bursted through the roof. But she could not focus on him while her eyes were still waking up

".... is it breakfast time already...?" She murmured in a fit of confusion.

OOC: Oh, I am so in on this Pach. This sounds like it's gonna be so much fun, heehee. However, I don't have refs for the two character I'm going to use yet, so I will be posting them later. For now, it's IC time! (Forgive me if I'm a bit rusty)

IC:

Present

"Nobody move! This is a robbery! Nobody make a goddamn $%%@@%@ move or I swear to god I will blow your brains out all over this floor! Everybody here empty your pockets and throw them to the ground or I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL BLOW YOUR BRAINS OUT!!"

As the robber's words rang out across the bar, one patron muttered some curses in Russian under his breath. He was a tall, very muscular jackal, scarred and blinded in his right eye, and he was seated at a table in the corner farthest from the bar. The large, tell-tale ears on his head swiveled around and twitched irritably; of all the times this joint had to be robbed....

The jackal's eyes narrowed as he set his half-empty glass of vodka down. He was, in fact, not worried for himself so much as the other person sitting at the table with him. For next to his glass rested a packet of coloring markers, which had been emptied and had its contents lined up neatly beside a child's coloring book. The owner of the markers and coloring book was nowhere to be seen, however. A quick glance confirmed to the elder jackal that the pup was currently crouched silently under the table itself.

Good boy, thought the man. Smart boy.

Casually, almost nonchalantly, he removed a pack of cigarettes from his coat pocket and took one out. After lighting the cigarette and taking a puff, the jackal placed the pack back in his coat. At the same time, he made sure his two guns, one on either hip, were locked and loaded, concealed but easily accessible should he need to draw them quickly.

After all, Vlad Stanislov never took chances.

Future

He had woken from a deep sleep within an instant, his large ears alerting him to the alien sounds coming from the roof of the building. After the first blast he was more fully awake, fingers twitching and hope building within him. Could it be...?

There was another, louder blast as the door to the roof flew off of its hinges and clear down the aisle of cells. Before it had even landed with a loud crash the young jackal/husky mix had leapt from his bunk, moving to stand eagerly at the glowing red bars of his cell. His curled tail was practically whirling with adrenaline and excitement as a stranger stepped through the doorway; years of survival training from when he was young had him instantly assessing the weary-looking cheetah before him.The young man's thoughts almost ground to a halt, however, when the stranger effectively smashed the controls for the cells and deactivated the lasers that kept he and his fellow prisoners contained.

"My name's Matthew, and I'm honestly here to help you all escape. Who's with me?" The cheetah spoke calmly, although with a hint of urgency in his tone.

The "mutt" stepped forward out of the darkness of his cell, looking up to reveal one brown and one blue eye. He looked at the stranger closely for a matter of seconds before grinning brightly and saying, "I am." His words were heavily accented, and one could tell right away that he was young, no older than nineteen.

Moving to stand beside Matthew, the young jackal mix shifted from foot to foot, anxiously peering down the corridor outside as he waited for the others to step forward....

OOC: Let me first say, Ruby and Kim, both of your posts were incredible! Interesting idea to only use a future based character, Ruby, keeps the mystery open for what happened to her in the past. And Kim, your post was all sorts of awesome. A father/son idea? What happens to the dad? Or are you going to throw us all for a loop? The mystery and excitement keeps building!

Without further ado, let's get this rollercoaster moving! People are still encouraged to join whenever they like, and if you want you guys can always introduce new characters later. There's no limit!

IC:
The Present:

Matthew rolled his eyes at the scene that was unfolding before him. He, and the rest of the patrons here just wanted a quiet drink to forget about their troubles, not having to deal with this. More idiot punks causing trouble whilst they still could. The Broadcast was devised to prevent this very kind of thing happening, but until it did more and more stupid youngsters and criminals were getting stupid ideas.

Nobody in the room seemed to be doing anything to directly opose the men, however. Well, Matt couldn't blame them, they were all carrying guns and their attitudes seemed ready to set off at a moment's notice. If things weren't handled carefully, then chances are people were going to get very seriously hurt, very quickly.

"Look buddy, none of us are after any trouble here." Cliff, the bartender spoke up to the masked robbers.

"Well then, good! That makes me feel peachy-fine! Empty the cash till and the rest of you suckers empty your pockets RIGHT THIS DAMN INSTANT!" The weasal shouted in a rage, before lifting his machinegun towards the ceiling and firing a burst up. The action was met with screams and more than a few tears as everyone ducked and covered their heads. "I do NOT WANT TO BE REPEATING MY GODDAMN #!!%$$* SELF AGAIN, UNDERSTOOD?!"

With this, most of the bar dwellers began to do as the weasel said, reaching into their pockets and pulling out their wallets, cash and jewelery. The hamster began moving across the perimeter of the bar, collecting the people's belongings. The walrus continued to monitor the exit. The weasel however, had his attention focused on the cash register and safe. Cliff was taking his sweet time to give him the money. "What the hell is taking SO LONG?!"

"Ease up, friend." Cliff, a St.Bernard, motioned for the weasel just to calm down a tad. His blood pressure was rising.

"That's IT, no one tells me WHAT TO DO!" The weasel shouted, raising his gun and pointing it at Cliff. The walrus by this point had his free palm to his face. He always got like this when he was overexcited. He had no idea why he was in charge. The hamster similarly, was watching his weasel's friends outburst, forgetting himself in the process. He was standing in front of a table where a muscular jackal, who seemed oddly surrounded by a colouring book, markers, and half empty vodka glass sat.

"What you need to do is shut up," Matt spoke up. This infuriated the weasel, who swung his gun in Matt's direction. His finger was one second away from pulling the trigger.

Cliff had swung his baseball bat by this time. Colliding with the weasel's face, it broke tooth and jaw and sent him spiraling to the floor in a sea of pain. Matt instantly dived to the floor and recovered his weapon.

He had hoped that some of the rest of the patrons were using the opportunity to help themselves out by now. If not, he was seriously risking a lot of new holes in his nice body.

The Future:

Matthew did a quick inspection of some of the people who groggily and unsurely walked out of their cells. What they were all experiencing just now was unusual, to say the least. His eyes widened in surprise when they met Liayra. It had been a long time since they had met, and he was glad she was safe. Relatively speaking, considering their world... she could have been dead, or one of the many mindless husks of people that inhabited this world. There was also a young girl, who looked at if she had just woken up. Matthew had a vague sense of deja vu upon seeing her, but couldn't place where or why. Regardless, this wasn't the time to be musing about the past considering the urgency of their situation. Finally there was a young jackal/husky breed. He reminded Matthew of a friend long ago. It brought a brief smile to his face.

There were also another seven individuals all in all to make a total of ten prisoners, all of varying species and races. All united under the threat of The Broadcast.

"Okay people, I know it's hard to understand everything at once but we all need to get out of here right this instant." Matthew commanded the assembled group. He then pressed a finger towards his ear, as if activating a communications device.

"Luis, this is Matthew. You hearing me okay?" the cheetah asked.

"As well as can be over all this alarm noise." came the reply from the man standing watch at the unsubtle entrance that Matthew had created to gain entrance.

"See any of the bucketheads by there yet?" Matthew asked.

"Not just yet, but I can definitely hear them co- oh, wait, nevermind. Yeah, I see them coming." Luis answered.

"You know the plan, run a diversion for me whilst I get these people out of here." Matthew ordered, having complete trust and faith in his friend to carry out his end of the mission. Luis wouldn't be dealing with all of the security mechs being called to this place however, there was just that many of them, but Luis would help do enough to keep a lot of them off Matthew's back, and hopefully raise the chances of some of these people actually out of here. "Okay, people, let's move."

With that, Matthew began to lead the escape from the detention center, moving in an opposite direction to the one where he had blown the entrance hole into the compound. The majority of the group began to follow Matthew, adrenaline pumping through their body at the prospect of escaping. One of them, however, the sleepy girl, was beginning to dawdle a bit.

Suddenly, more of the detention center's security doors began to shut, blocking the group's progress, but Matthew's talent allowed him free access. The metallic gauntlet on his right arm built a rush of force and energy in its palm, that once placed against something, caused a explosion just the right size to be able to throw the doors off their hinges, creating a new path.

Directly behind them at the end of the prison cell corridors, however, another security door opened, and through it poured through three security mechs, wheeling towards them on their two skinny but powerful legs with wheels attached to the bottom, almost as if they were roller-skating. Their chunky, boxy torso also housed the mech's AI and visual sensors, glowing a menacing red colour. Attached to the mech's hips were two arms, both of them currently reformed into gun barrels, firing a stream of energy set distinctly to stun.

The chase was on, and the group of Broadcast immune individuals had to escape.

The fate of their world and the past was held firmly in their hands.

OOC: Okay, so, added another seven prisoner NPCs there to offer people an opportunity for another character down the line whenever they want if you so desire, or just as general cannon fodder. Feel free to use them or not!

[Future Only]

Neo Lucie (or the sleepy girl) somewhat stopped in her tracks while some other prisoners also slowed down in the fit of confusion.

"If you're looking for the exit it's this way..." she pointed to another long corridor prependicular to the direction the prisoners and Mattew were travelling. She was still completely oblivious to what's happening at this moment in time, considering the fact that she wasn't really 100% immune to The Broadcast and wan't aware in knowing what to do in this sort of situation, she merely took what Mattew said earlier at face value.

IC:

Present

Click.

At the same time that Cliff raised his bat to give the weasel a good whack, Vlad had moved with a speed and silence not expected from someone of his size and age. The hamster that was standing in front of his table froze upon feeling the cold muzzle of the jackal's gun pressed against the back of his head, knowing immediately that this guy was serious. He was not one of those "shoot-to-injure types." This guy would shoot to kill.

The walrus guarding the door jumped, ready to go to his weasel companion's rescue, when another resounding click echoed around the room, stopping him in his tracks. He turned his head ever so slowly to see that the gruff-looking canine in the corner had a gun trained on his head, as well as that of his hamster friend.

"I vould not move if I vere you... either ov you," drawled Vlad, eye and ears trained on both the hamster and the walrus. A light touch to his boots reminded them that he had to end this quickly and, above all, carefully. None of these thugs knew of his precious burden, and he intended to keep it that way. Making sure that none of the other bar patrons were injured was merely a secondary aim of his, callous though it might seem.

Shifting his one-eyed gaze to Matthew, he said, "You! Remove these gentlemen ov their veapons. Start vith him." The jackal gestured toward the walrus with a flick of one of his ears, moving his gaze back to the hamster directly in front of him. The hamster had noticed the markers and coloring book on the table and was staring at them with a suspicious glint in his eyes. For this, Vlad shoved the barrel of his gun more forecefully to the crook's head with a threatening growl.

"Try anything and I vill not hesitate to blow vot little brains you haff out." To Cliff, Vlad ordered, "Votch the veasel." And then he nodded at Matthew to carry out his previous orders.

Future

The young canine loped along beside Matthew easily, despite his lengthy incarceration, almost running backwards at one point to take stock of their pursuers with trained eyes. Though his manner remained cheerful, it was almost immediately apparent that it was simply a mask. The face of a hardened soldier looked back at the cheetah beside him, dual-colored eyes and large ears constantly assessing the area around them for potential escape routes and defensible hideouts, among other things.

"Do you haff any firearms?" The jackal/husky mix shouted as they ran. Eager to help in any way he could, he added, "I am Sasha, by the vay. And I know how to use many veapons!"

Whatever Matthew had been about to say was cut off when one of the prisoners, a girl, pointed down a corridor they were passing and claimed it was an escape route. Sasha skidded to a halt, glancing between the cheetah and the girl, then back the way they had come. The security-mechs were approaching fast, which wouldn't be a problem if he or any of the other prisoners had weapons. His fingers twitched spasmodically again, itching for a firearm of some sort. As it stood, he only had his exceptional senses and his stamina: poor weapons against their robotic captors.

Sasha looked questioningly at Matthew. What now?

Present

Luis winced as he watched from his corner. Would this be validated as self-defense/defense of third parties? He would have to check his crim law notes again. The Model Penal Code said something about reasonable belief...and the criminals had used deadly force, certainly, so the baseball bat was more than justified, and...

When Vlad pressed his firearm hard against the hamster, Luis wondered why. He followed where the hamster had gazed: to a coloring book. The student thought little of it, crawled out from under his table, and asked aloud, "Will someone call the police?"

Future

Luis grinned broadly. The rush of adrenaline from running into danger like this was phenomenally exhilarating.

With barely a sound, he dropped through Matthew's hole in the rooftop and landed on the floor below. In so doing, he landed in front of several drones, whose attention was seized by the intruder.

"Oh hooptie, it seems that I am a poor, little lamb that's lost its way," he said, raising his hands in surrender. As the drones advanced, Luis reached behind his back and extracted a small weapon from his belt. It was no bigger than a common pistol, but when he squeezed the trigger, the gun spat small shards in a wide spray. The fragmented shards punctured the drones' armor, making a number of them lose balance and totter unsteadily. Luis backpedaled as he continued firing until his weapon was out of ammunition. He clicked his tongue; at least a dozen of the drones were still shambling toward him. With a meek smile, Luis sped around a corner and barreled down the hallway.

Alarms were continuing to roar nosily throughout the facility. Luis was thankful that the stifling of humanity the world over had also caused a squelching of architectural creativity. The detention center was built like a giant box. He was soon circling back to his entrance point and looked up at the hole in the ceiling. More drones were continuing to pour in, now from all sides. He pointed his wrist up at the hole. From his wristwatch, a thin but sturdy cable fired and wrapped itself around a jagged edge in the broken rooftop. He then unclipped a small, round item resembling a pineapple from his belt.

"Back to the junkyard with you."

He pulled a pin from the grenade and dropped it. With a tug, he ascended along the cable and back onto the roof. He quickly rolled away from the hole and laid down flat. Shortly thereafter, a moderate bang! sounded, followed by the sound of clanging metal. The nail bomb he had dropped had probably wrecked most of the machines in the immediate vicinity, and would definitely slow down those that had withstood the blast. Ideally, this would buy Matthew enough time to get out of there. Luis pressed a finger to his ear.

"Matt, you still in there?"

Present

Vlad let out a quiet bark of laughter at Luis' request. "For vhatever good that vill do. The police are stretched thin enough as it is, boy; ve vould all be lucky if they got here before next veek." The jackal's one good eye appraised the law student with a calculating air, before Vlad shrugged. Still waiting for Matthew to disarm the walrus, he added, "But please, by all means, call them. After all, it cannot hurt."

Internally, the jackal was getting very irritated. He wanted to be done with this now, and if it weren't for the pup (and possibly the other patrons, but he wouldn't admit that) he would have indeed finished this a long time ago. Hostage situations and the like just weren't his forte. Vlad's fingers just itched to pull the triggers on his weapons and eliminate the two thugs in his sights, thus eliminating their potential as threats to him and his charge (and the patrons, but again he wouldn't admit that), but he forced himself to remember that they were trying to stay on the right side of the law here in America.

He jerked out of his musings to notice that the woman who had screamed earlier had handed Luis her phone, and the boy was now dialing 911. For whatever good that will do...

OOC: Hey everyone. I was dragged here against my own free will by Bentley and Pach, so I guess I'll have to stick around. ;D haha. Really interesting concept for this storyline. I'm pretty excited to start my part, now that I've finally gotten through everyone's posts. XD Anyway, no ref for this character yet; she's fairly new, tbh. I'll post up one once I get one completed. For her clothing, I'm planning on giving her a long, navy-blue vest, a small shirt exposing her midriff, and ripped pants. Not 100% sure on all this yet, but I'll keep you guys posted.

Nothing on the future yet either; I want to clear up something with Pach first before I mess something up XD.
------------------------------------------------------------

Present

"Things just keep getting nuttier and nuttier these days. No matter, I suppose we'll still try to enjoy this chaos while we still can, right, Buddy?"

A young azure opossum, about eighteen years, bounced as she sauntered down the sidewalk outside leading towards the bar. She whistled, beaming, accompanied by her flying jolly pet cockatoo. She kept one hand close to her chest - the neck of a beige bag clutched tightly between her fingers, the rest tossed over her shoulder. The insides jingled with her every step. The double Uzis inside her vest pockets, one in each, also made small cluttering noises as she walked along.

The opossum slowed to a halt upon nearing the bar. "Humm... this place looks easy. What do you think, Buddy?"

The pet cockatoo growled in response. Inside the bar the two could hear screaming, threats, and even gunshots at some point. The opossum twitched her mouth. "Someone beat me to it." She crept closer and peered into the dirtied window, with only her head visible from the inside. Three - possibly more, but it was difficult to tell - robbers were encircled by armed civilians. One of them had already died.

The opossum continued to scrutinize the scene, weaving her free hand around the handle of a pocketed Uzi; she managed to spot the child with the phone, who eventually set it aside, trembling. "If I'm right, then he was dialing--oh, the cops might be here any minute... Rats, Buddy! Think we should go in to help? Or would they call our bluff..."

Buddy fluttered about, head twisting back and forth. The opossum continued to watch the insides of the bar, contemplating, trying hard to see what she could through the filthy glass for the next few minutes - until sirens were heard in the distance. The opossum's ears perked at this, but she made no other movements. Moments later, Buddy zipped over to the bag and pecked at it lightly so as to not tear a hole. "What," his owner said, turning to him, "What is it?"

The sirens continued to sound, louder now. "Uh oh. It's hide and seek time again, Buddy!" With that, she dove into a neighboring alley and aligned her back against a wall, hidden in the shadows. She kept a keen eye on the roads - and clasped her hands over her mouth. Buddy croaked. A few ruby crystals had been dropped outside the alleyway, due to a small hole in the bottom of the bag nearby the area Buddy pecked at earlier. "It must've ripped earlier. So that's why..." The opossum gently moved her bag to her chest and covered the hole beneath. She eyed her surroundings momentarily before silently squeezing herself between two dumpsters, now completely out of sight from outside the alleyway. "Oh geez... Buddy, get down here!" she whispered sharply, "It's--it's already a bit too late, hun. We can't risk going back out to snag them now. Let's just hope no one notices..."

OOC: Everything's looking great so far! <3 <3 <3 Rex for joining! I'm loving the character so far, she definitely seems to have an awesome and fun personality. =D I'm really liking how this rp is shaping up so far, good job gang!

IC:
Present:

The Bar:

Matt did as the russian jackal had suggested, and walked up towards the walrus, pointing the downed weasel's machinegun towards him as Vlad pointed his own weapon at the hamster's head. As Matt disarmed the walrus of his shotgun, and motioned for him to get down onto the ground, lying out with his hands above his head, Luis called the police using one of the screaming women's phone. Within about twenty minutes, the authorites had finally arrived. Busting through the door, they began sweeping their own weapons out across the bar, finding the walrus, hamster and weasel all tied up using some of Cliff's spare rope in the back of the bar.

At the same time as the police began to arrest the three individuals, a number of patrons who were in the bar at the time of the robbery had already left. And those who were still within would do nothing to report on those who had left, thankful for their lives and possessions being saved.

Some of the individuals who were within the bar simply couldn't afford to be questioned by the police, even if they did do a good deed and saved anyone from being killed.

The Alleyway outside the Bar:

Matt jumped out of the window that led from the bar's backroom, landing down on the ground with a solid thump. He would have to remember to thank Cliff for the easy escape... again, it wouldn't be the first, but at the same time, Cliff would be thankful for Matt's assistance with the situation regardless. The cheetah was sure he could look forward to a free drink in the future.

"You okay back there?" Matt asked behind him, wondering if those who followed him into the backroom were stilling planning on coming out this way. At the same time, however, his attention dropped to a strange young opossum girl carrying a beige bag, hiding between two dumpsters. She had a small cockatoo cooing next to it, before both parties suddenly noticed each other and began staring at once another.

"Um... hello?" Matt waved, obliviously.

Future:

Detention compound interior:
"Do you haff any firearms?" The jackal/husky mix shouted as they ran. Eager to help in any way he could, he added, "I am Sasha, by the vay. And I know how to use many veapons!"

Matthew was stunned by the accent. In his mind there was little doubt about who this kid was, but introductions would have to be saved for later. "Yeah, I did bring some with me, actually, but I wasn't too sure who here would be able to use any." Matt reached into his duffel bag and pulled out a small handgun, it wasn't much but it was something. He quickly threw it towards Sasha. "You, though, I have a feeling you know what you're doing."

"If you're looking for the exit, it's this way..." said the sleepy girl Neo Lucie, as she pointed towards a long corridor perpendicular to the direction Matthew was leading the group, snapping his attention back to their actual escape. Matthew was at first startled by this, he had studying diagrams and floor plans of the entire compound before beginning his mission, but he hadn't noted any particular route leading to an exit that Neo Lucie was suggesting. He had his doubts of course, but then he also had to wonder why she might know something like this. Should he trust her with the lives of himself and everyone else here to go down a route he hadn't been aware of before?

"Okay, okay, let's go," Matthew said, leading the group to move down in this direction, with the young jackal/husky mix running effortlessly behind them, covering their escape. Matthew picked up the weary girl and began to carry her. In her state he doubt she'd be able to keep up with them for much longer on her own. He also turned towards Liayra. "You're doing okay, right?"

Before he got a response from her, his comm activated.

"Matt, you still in there?" Luis asked from outside.

"Yeah, yeah, hoping to get out of here soon enough though," Matthew replied, albeit not terribly sure if this was going to actually be the case.

"Down here." Neo Lucie wearily said, pointing to the ground just before Matthew and his group. Matthew was stunned in surprise... there was nothing there. No sign of an entrance or exit, nothing. He looked bewildered towards the girl, wondering if he had made the wrong choice. "...make another hole..."

Matthew gently let the girl down, and then quickly ran towards the spot, as Sasha continued to hold off the pursuing security mechs. He sure as hell hoped this was going to work, but there was no more time to think things through.

He placed his right arm against the floor, the metal gauntlet pulsing and charging with power, before a new, localised explosion ripped through the flooring, creating a hole to below, and straight into the city's sewer network.

"I told you..." Neo Lucie weakly smiled, as if she was incredibly pleased with herself. Matthew had landed comfortably on the rocky sewer interiors, and he looked back up to Neo Lucie and the rest of the group as they looked back down to him.

"Alright, this isn't the exact exit I was planning to use, but it'll do, probably even better than before. Everyone follow me!" Matthew shouted out to the rest of the individuals, who gingerly began jumping down the short distance one at a time with Matthew catching them as they did so. "Luis, get your butt out of there and meet us back at the hideout. You copy?" Matthew pressed a finger to his inner ear comms, hoping his companion would still be able to hear him, and that something utterly terrifying hadn't happened to him.

(OOC: Aww man...I just realized...this would have been a perfect RP for Cody...Well...maybe I can bring him in later.)

IC:

Present:

Liayra awoke slowly, to the sound of sirens in the distance. Granted, sirens were a common sound in these crazy times. Though she was still somewhat drained from her prediction earlier that day, something was telling her to check it out...though something else was telling her NOT to. At times, the Balance could make her crazy with conflicting messages. Something else was telling her to...Reflexively she ducked behind her bed as a brick came flying through the window. For the longest time, she crouched behind her bed, ready to run. However, nothing else happened. It had just been a random act of vandalism...THIS time. She siged, getting up to examine the new hole in her window, picking her way around the broken glass. Grabbing a piece of paper, she taped it to the window. Sighing, she placed a call to her landlord, reporting the incident. Not that he'd DO anything about it. A couple feet away, there was another taped-up hole from previously. He still hadn't fixed THAT one.

Future:

This was different. She hadn't realized there was anyone out there that had escaped the patrols...and now she was fleeing through the sewers with the other escapees.

"You doing alright?"

She looked at the cheetah. Something about him was...somehow familiar, though she couldn't place exactly how. She nodded and followed him, lost in thought. Had he mentioned something about a base? Meaning there were MORE free people? Maybe the Balance had a fighting chance after all...though it still was too weak to provide her any of her previous powers.

TBC

Present - Alleyway Behind the Bar

"You okay back there?" Matt asked behind him, wondering if those who followed him into the backroom were stilling planning on coming out this way.

Indeed, Vlad was following the cheetah out the back door, glad he had been able to avoid the authorities yet again. The cigarette he had lit inside the bar was about three-quarters of the way done, clenched in the corner of his mouth as he checked behind him for his charge. Scampering along behind the elder jackal was a little jackal/husky mix, about nine-years-old, with a G.I. Joe backpack containing the coloring supplies from earlier. The pup practically hugged his guardian's legs as Vlad walked, eyes wide and ears flat against his skull.

Vlad paused to flick his cigarette to the ground and stomp it out. "Ve are fine, for the most part," He said in reply to Matt's question. Vlad looked down at his charge with an unreadable expression, hints of pride leaking through with the twitching at the corners of his mouth. The pup turned to stare up at the elder canine in return, a wobbly smile making its way onto his face.

"I did good, Vlad?" The child asked quietly. Vlad simply ruffled the pup's hair and rubbed the base of one ear, nodding gruffly and replying, "Yes little one, you did good."

His charge beamed with pride at the praise, but before Vlad could say anything else his one good eye was drawn to the opossum girl Matt had noticed. Instinctively the jackal began to discretely nudge the pup behind him. His ears twitched, catching the sounds from out front and back inside that indicated the police were still lurking about.

Meaning we should not still be lurking, too, Vlad thought. They couldn't risk it, he and the kid.

"Um... hello?" Matt waved to the girl. Vlad almost snorted, amused even though the girl's presence here (hiding behind dumpsters, no less!) was suspicious, possibly threatening. He almost went to side-step the cheetah and leave the alleyway (We don't have time for this, he thought again), but decided against it until the police had cleared out. The kid would understand.

Decided, Vlad took out another cigarette and lit it, looking at the opossum with a raised brow and ears forward in question (and warning). They would just wait this out; who knows? It might be interesting...

Future

Sasha's ever-present grin widened even further when the cheetah tossed him a small handgun. He was right, it wasn't much, but the young canine felt much better having it in his hands. As they began to follow Neo Lucie's directions, he hung back at the tail-end of the group to cover their exit, figuring he'd be of more help there. Shots rang out through the virtually empty corridors as the mix fired repeatedly and skillfully at their pursuers, each bullet finding its way to the more exposed, weaker sections of the security mechs' armor.

Sasha growled in triumph, though his success was short-lived when he realized that the bullets themselves just weren't big enough to do much other than slow the 'bots down a little. He cursed. Then jumped as another small but powerful explosion from the cheetah's gauntlet went off. The jackal-husky mix looked over his shoulder to see that Matt had made a hole in the floor, leading down to the sewers, it appeared. The other prisoners were jumping down one by one after their liberator, disappearing into the unknown.

Into freedom. The canine's grin widened yet again at this thought. With a renewed vigor and ferocity he resumed firing away at the slowly advancing security mechs, backing up with the group as he did so.

I do not have much left in this clip... Damn! Sasha's dual-colored eyes narrowed. Better make it count!

OOC: No future for now ^^;

Present

"Excuse me, Officers, but I think there's something illegal happening outside that you might want to see..."

The first person to turn around was a tall limbed, multi-blue coloured fox hybrid with a mow hark influenced cropped hairstyle. He donned a pair of black shades and was dressed in a pristine white shirt with a tie, and wore black pants, with a belt that bore gun holsters with a couple of glocks.

“What can I do you for son?” O’shea asked, a voice which made Luis wonder if he had taken his first statement seriously enough. His teeth were occluding on a cocktail stick which was being chewed from side to side.

“I said there’s an illegal operation going on outside officer,” Luis repeated, trying to secure his patience.
O’shea lowered his shades to look at Luis with his intense, and yet haunting looking translucent silver eyes.

“You’re the one that made the call am I right Harvard boy?” O’shea placed the glasses back on his mussel and grinned, gnawing on the cocktail stick he got as a complimentary gift with the cocktail he had ordered.

“Excuse me?!” Luis demanded incredulously, trying to stay composed but found he was becoming a little agitated by now. All he had come for was a drink and not only had he been stuck in the middle of a potential fatality, but now the justice system were not only defying him but knew him somehow…?

“…hmmm… nuthin’…” O’shea muttered, but then smirked again- the smile in his mind wider “… I just got the impression from the way you dressed and talked that you were probably Ivy League material or something…”

“Right…” Luis dismissed embarrassed and uneasy “ANYWAY, are you going to do the law justice and investigate my concern or not?”

“Can do Harvard boy…” O’shea muttered, pulling out his one of his glocks and loading it with a click. Luis’ eyes widened at his presumptuous and abrupt nature to arm himself so quickly.
Before O’shea and Luis stepped outside of the bar, the police office turned to look at one of his colleagues. A beige coloured female fennec fox also dressed in officer gear.

“Hey, Ms. O’Quinn, do me a favour and er… make sure there’s no other scum dwellers on the premises…” O’shea commanded, giving her a single assertive nod.
The female fennec scowled, before turning on the spot and grudgingly carried out her orders.

“…so what have we got…?” O’shea questioned as he over his shoulder to look at Luis.

“You’ll see for yourself…?”

“Sergeant O’shea.”

“Right Sergeant O’shea,” Luis addressed him reluctantly. He couldn’t say he liked his attitude that much as of yet. Then again, perhaps he was being cautious given the fact that most of the victims at the crime scene had in fact vanished. And perhaps this fox character thought he was being duped.

What did it matter? In 2 weeks time, once the Broadcast was launched, the need for police would come to an end.

“Well well…” O’shea murmured, taking off his shades as he took in the glinting trail of the remaining rubies, before turning to look at Luis. Luis’ face, or lack of confusion appeared to lend some evidence to the fact that this was what the boy was in fact talking about.
O'shea bent down, picking one up and waved it in Luis' face.

“Snag any of these for yourself?” he questioned Luis with a grin “worth a lot of molahs I am sure… I could’ve done with that when I tried to apply for Harvard…” he growled, before turning to run into the alley.

Luis stood still for a split second- a bit shaken from being put on the spot. Had he posed that question out of jest?
As the student ran to catch up with the scene, he stepped back startled at the revelations before him.

“Okay meine Damen und Herren! Hands up in the air… this is THE Police!” O’shea announced, pulling out a police badge and holding a glock in the other hand.
O’shea glared at the scene before him, an opossum with a bag with rubies trailing to her, a cockatoo perched on her, a cheetah, a jackal, and a husky/jackal kid gathered at the scene. It all looked suspicious. Or perhaps bizarre would’ve been a better means to term the scene before him.

“I might be a little bit unconventional but I sure have the upper hand here… so I demand anyone armed to drop their weapons now!” he said, swinging out his other gun and pointing it at Vlad.

“BY character profile alone I’d say you’re armed Jackal! How about enlightening me and showing me your arms? It’ll save you a lot of grief in court!” O’shea snarled, followed by an evocative grin as a beam of light reflected off his shades.

He then cast his gaze back at the female oppusum, eyeing her up and down and snarled.
He'd be damned if he was going to be sucker punched by a deceptive 'damsel in distress' face. Especially one carrying a bag of rubies. Pft.

"Come to think of it... YOU are armed too!! I'll bet my bottom dollar you are armed to the teeth with copper shots chica... so drop it now!" O'shea commanded, pointing his other glock towards her.

Even though he had Vlad and the opossum at gunpoint, he also kept his eyes on everyone else that might pull some suspicious moves. He was probably slicker at this than anyone would give him credit for, despite his activist and crash attitude.

OOC: orz orz I subscribed to this topic but it never sent me update e-mails. Guhh, sorry I'm late.
Still nothing on the Future yet. I'll find a good starting point soon for it XD.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

"Um... hello?" Matt waved, obliviously.
The opossum just stared back at him, dumbfounded. Ahh, where has my luck gone... After a brief moment of awkward silence, she nervously waved back to him, stuttering. "Umm... hi... I'm um..."

Buddy croaked again, and the opossum immediately shoved her free hand over his beak, silencing him. "I'm playing a game right now," the girl continued, "Nothing suspicious here--"

“Okay meine Damen und Herren! Hands up in the air… this is THE Police!” O'shea announced. The opossum's voice trailed off into unintelligible murmurs as she eyed the recently arrived fox. She eased her hand off of Buddy, who immediately took flight above and out of the alleyway into the skies. "...drop it now!" The blue fox soon had his glock aimed directly towards the opossum's face.

She flinched. Not this guy again! I don't know if I'll be as lucky as last... doesn't seem to recognize me right now though.

The opossum managed to rise from her position, using the bar's wall as support, hand still on her bag of jewels. She stepped forward, out from between the dumpsters, careful not to bump into Matt. The sunglasses holding back her hair - almost too big for her head - glistened in the sunlight. "I'm uh.. I'm running an errand for a friend right now." She coughed, weaving her free hand back into her pocket. She firmly gripped her pocketed Uzi called Beetle.

Vlad turned to the side, letting out a chuckle. O'shea raised an unimpressed eyebrow and stepped towards the opossum thief, still wary of the others around him. "You don't expect me to believe that, do you?"

"...no, not really." Without further hesitation, the opossum withdrew Beetle and aimed it directly back at his face. O'shea growled at this, undaunted. "I said to drop your weapons."

"Yeah right."

Before either of the two could say anything more, another voice, accompanied by a string of gunshots aimed skyward, emerged from across the street. "Over here!" Some eyes turned to see a crimson Tazmanian devil casually stepping out from another alleyway, twirling a pistol. He smirked widely, then aimed his weapon towards O'shea as well. "Hey babe," he called at the alley across the street, "You doin' okay there?"

"Thanks for ditching earlier, Volte! Couldn't find you anywhere, so I just gave up!" She pouted her lips. "Now look at the rut I'm in..."

"Tell you what, hun. I'll make it up to you later. Just get out of here."

The opossum grunted but listened nonetheless, darting out of the alleyway away from the scene. Buddy, who had been circling the airs above the bar, then swooped downwards, back towards where the rubies had been dropped. He swiped them up with ease and took off in the direction his companion had fled. The opossum couldn't help but look back as she ran off; Volte was always looking for trouble, just for the sake of being so-called "badass." It wasn't until recently that he decided to join his opossum girlfriend in robberies as well, whereas she had been at it for years. The devil was highly competitive as well - hopefully his narcissism won't get him killed this time, the opossum worried. She continued out of sight, in hopes that no one would give chase.

Volte turned his head back towards the cop. With his free hand, he tipped back his fedora, revealing more of his face to the others. His brown eyes gleamed with confidence. "Oh, hey officer. Nice to see you again." He took a step back, ready to take flight when necessary. He made sure to keep the other fennec fox within his sights as well. "Catch anyone new lately?"

OOC:Making a post, scene setting etc etc. Look forward to it =D

OOC: xD xD xD O'Shea is brilliant. Hilariously manly and camp at the same time, am I right?

“BY character profile alone I’d say you’re armed Jackal! How about enlightening me and showing me your arms? It’ll save you a lot of grief in court!” O’shea snarled, followed by an evocative grin as a beam of light reflected off his shades.

I can also mentally picture his teeth giving that white glistening smile as he does so xD Awesome! You have such a way of creating interesting characters, Kate, and it's always cool to see Athena again! I love that chick =D

Also Rex, I'm loving how over the top both Volte and his lady friend are. Cocky criminals ftw!

Vi, really liking Liayra so far. I also love the more mystical type characters and Liayra seems like a perfect fit for this rp. Really interested to see what happened to her, how exactly she lost her abilities and why she can't remember Matthew (even if, in the present, they still have met yet =P)

Rapid, I said it before in chat but I've got to say it again, I really think Luis is an interesting character. In the future he seems like he's become quite close friends and partners towards Matthew, but in the present...? What a dick. Vlad and Matt potentially save him from getting mugged or killed and he repays them by grassing them up to the fuzz. Oh dear.

Also Kim, you continue to amaze me with your writing and I'm really, really engrossed in your characters. I want to know what happens to Vlad SO much. I'm hoping what happens isn't a really sad ending for him... only a few posts and I'm already so deeply connected to his character. Please don't let anything bad happen...! =x (I'm kidding, feel free to do whatever, just know that my heartstrings will be tugged... =( )

Things are getting very hilariously out of control. I love it!

IC:
The Present:

Matt was staring dumbfoundedly at the entire situation that had erupted before him. The strange oppossum girl stuck inbetween the two dumpsters, the arrival of that frankly bizarre police officer and the downward spiral into bizzareness that the entire situation had enveloped itself with the arrival of that cocky Tasmanian devil, Volte, and his own confrontation with the cop's female partner, who seemed quite clearly to be frustrated to be called anything other than Athena.

Matt just looked towards Vlad, shrugging his shoulders. Normally in a situation like this he'd probably help, as he did so with the three robbers in the bar, but then again this situation had the police involved, and needless to say he was not on good terms with the police whatsoever. If he could get out of this entire mess now, then he would. He'd have to remember to thank the strange oppossum girl and her boyfriend later.

"Thanks for your help back inside of there," Matt said to Vlad, whilst the police's attention focused on the other two troublemakers. "I appreciate it. Maybe see you around sometime, yeah?"

Vlad grunted in approval, as he mused whether or not it'd be ideal for him and his young charge to make their leave too.

Matt raced down the other side of the alleyway into the streets beyond, his powerful cheetah legs carrying him so fast and adeptly, before anyone else could notice his absence.

The Future:

The group had followed Matthew down into the sewer tunnels, and already they were following a course out of the proximity of the detention center. Matthew couldn't hear any following security mechs at this time, but he had little doubt that there would be some in due time.

"Everyone, wait here just a second," Matthew commanded to the group as they came to a t-junction in the sewers, the smaller tunnel that the group had been walking down emerging into a larger, mainstream tunnel. Matthew had no idea just how safe an idea this would be, but he needed to make sure they weren't followed whatsoever.

He swung his right fist into the wall next to him, the metal gauntlet instigating a small explosion, bringing down much of the rock and concrete down upon the smaller tunnel's entrance, covering it completely. He and his companions were fortunate enough that the entire sewer area didn't collapse down on them. But then again, considering the state of the world, they needed all the lucky breaks they could get.

Sasha whistled at the scene, quite impressed by it. Neo Lucie still seemed as sleepy and dreamlike as she had been, despite all of the explosions, alarms and pulsing gun fire so far. Liayra seemed lost in her own thoughts and concerns. For some reason, to Matthew, it seemed as though she didn't recognise him. But why?

"You know where you're going, yah?" Sasha asked Matthew, who picked up and began carrying Neo Lucie again.

"Yeah, I've got a good idea of where we're going. Follow me, I'll take you all to somewhere safe." Matthew nodded to the young wolf/husky mix, and with that the group began to race through the tunnels after Matthew's lead.

For the Future we Fight
♫Title theme: Land of Confusion (Disturbed)

The Present: Friday, 2nd September 2011: 8:46pm

Matt escaped from the alleyway, turning his back to make sure he could find nobody from the scene behind still following him. Fortunately, for him, there wasn't. Matt eased his sight away from, and just focused on steadily walking the path before him.

Again, it had been a long day, and he had had enough of it. He just wanted to get home now, take a shower, grab some grub and then hit the sack. He didn't need all the hassle.

The streets of which he walked seemed to have been one filled with decay. He passed a television shopfront, its window smashed and ruined, many of the sample sets on display having been stolen. As he passed by he could see one set showing the news, and the increasing rampaging ages of criminality and riots due to the upcoming Broadcast event. As he continued his walk, he saw yet another speeding patrol car pass by him. Matt turned his gaze away from the car, hoping not to be seen.

Passing another alleyway, he could spot the familiar site of a drug dealer in the middle of a business transaction. Two young teens handed the dealer a stack of bills, took the package of powder and vanished down the streets. Further on, he could see a barely dressed woman hunched over the window of a car, dealing with whomever was inside. Normally these types of people wouldn't come out onto the streets until much later in the night. The impending Broadcast seemed to be making more and more people act more crazy and defiant, commiting whatever crimes that they could whilst time remained.

Perhaps this was all for the greater good. Matt didn't know. He was sure it'd probably make his life a lot more harder. But, at the same time, going down the complete straight and narrow would probably be better for him. Maybe this was a chance for him to clean up his act.

He doubted it. And little did he know, as he reached the steps towards the building where his apartment lay and entered it, that things were going to become a lot more difficult and a lot more insane in the two weeks to come.

He was going to be part of something incredible. And something terrible.

He, and along with a number of other individuals, were going to become infamous.

The Future: Thursday, 2nd September 2021: 9:15pm

Almost everything within the city streets was completely quiet and still. The sounds of the raging fire and smoke from the explosion at the detention center a mile away could still be faintly heard, but other than that, there was not a single shred of activity anywhere. Nobody walking through the streets. No sounds of car engines. No sounds of obnoxiously loud television or music being played from any of the buildings. Nothing.

A manhole on the ground began to stir and shake, before suddenly being lifted up and moved to the side, allowing an older and wisened cheetah to carefully pop his head up, surveying the streets around him. There was nothing in sight.

"Okay, people, coast is clear, let's get up and remember to be careful." Matthew ordered, as he climbed himself out of the manhole. As the ex-prisoners began to file their way out of the sewers and up to the surface once more, Matthew took a good look at the environment around him, noting in wonder at just how everything had changed in the short span of ten years.

Dilapidated and old buildings had been removed completely, replaced by great environment friendly monoliths, all designed to a certain specification for the Broadcast effected to live and sleep within. There were no vehicles on the streets. Cars, vans and motorcycles had all been abolished, instead the city and indeed the world over running like clockwork to public transportation; underground subway trains, monorails and trams. The people of this world led a very specific and organised life, living their daily lives like clockwork. Waking up, going to work, coming back home, and sleeping. They would still eat, of course, but only the same processed muck that was full of healthy nutrients and vitamins designed to keep them going like machines. They had no sense of taste.

They had no free will of their own, no personality, no desire for anything. The world kept on spinning, but there was no one there to really notice or care about it.

Apart from those who were immune, like Matthew and his new accomplices.

"Okay everyone, be careful," Matthew began to instruct. "All of the security cameras within the area have been hacked and made to show a looped video feed from last night, so we should be invisible to our friendly big brother in the sky. However, if anyone else sees you, they're going to react quite alarmingly, and then we'll have all a whole swarm of security mechs on our arse."

"You expect us to be able to evade every single person from seeing us?" asked one, unsure ex-prisoner.

"It should be easier than you think. There shouldn't be anyone else on the streets bar us; the people who are infected are either inside these buildings, doing their jobs, or sleeping. There shouldn't really be anyone else out here, unless something unusual's happened." Matthew elaborated.

"Unusual? Like an explosion at a building?" Sasha asked, with a somewhat cocky expression.

"Yeah, well..." Matthew shrugged. "Don't worry, we're not too far from my hideout now, it's only a couple of blocks away. Just, everyone needs to be really careful, alright?"

He recieved a few acknowledging nods from those assembled, and with that, Matthew began to lead the group through the blackened streets.

(OOC: Okay first up, how dare you, Pach, using the Disturbed version of Land of Confusion as opposed to the original and far, far superior Genesis version! It’s sacrelage, sacrelage I tells ya! Crazy Tongue

And on a more serious note, I’ve been asked by some friends to look into this RP, with a possible view to joining. I’ve been reading the updates for a few days now, and it’s an interesting concept effectivley running two seperate RPs in tandem, not to mention very well written. After some deliberation, I have decided (with Pach’s permission) to give it a go. I should warn everyone in advance, however, that my time and energy are a little limited at the moment, so if the story should end up running too fast I might perhaps struggle to keep up. I have no wish to become a problem for anyone, so if this should prove to be the case I have figured out a way of removing my character from the story without too much trouble to let everyone else carry on. Hopefully it won’t come to that though.

I’ll write my introduction scenes now, however I won’t actually start to interact with any of the characters until I get a go-ahead from Pachman. I know this first scene is somewhat before the current time in the 'present' timeline, but it fitted better with my plans - don't worry it'll be catching up with the current 'present' timeline pretty swiftly.)

Present ~ 15th July 2011, 1:24pm

“Has there been any change in her condition?”

The small room was dark, bathed in only a dim, dusky twilight from the small lamps sunk into the plastic tiled celing like the last vestages of sunset over the city skyline. Three lightweight folding chairs, the only items of furnature in the place, were arranged in a wide U shape formation around a broad pane of glass embedded in the wall, through which a stream of bright, brilliant light cascaded, a complete contrast to the subdued ambience of the room itself. The chairs were currently occupied by three figures, their voices little more than hushed, whispered murmurings as they quietly conversed between each other, all the while watching with eagle-eyed intensity the scene playing out before them through the brightly lit window.

“I...I’m not sure.” A male voice, hesitant and uncertain, it’s tone slightly breathless as it’s owner tried to fight back deep, pained emotion and maintaim some semblance of control. A brown-furred paw rose from it’s place resting on his knee to tug at the collar of a white shirt which already had it’s top button unfastened and pulled wide open, and behind him the tall, bushy tail of a squirrel twitched in nervous and uncomfortable concern. His other arm was wrapped around the thin shoulders of the figure next to him, and he tightened this grip slightly as he continued to speak, pulling the other closer for emotional support. “It’s been...a few weeks...?” A questioning glance in the direction of his companion, who gave nothing but a curt nod in response. “A few weeks since her last episode...but...it can come and go like that all the time. We’ve gone weeks between in the past too.”

“We’ve been keeping up the exercises you taught us, Doctor.” The second figure this time, the voice much softer and more gentle, that of a young woman. A heavy Gaelic lilt was present in the words, accompanied once more by very strong and barely contained emotion, much moreso in this case than that of her mate. Like the male in who's arm she now rested she also sported a thick bushy tail rising high up her back, and her shoulder-length hair, straight as a ruler, hung slightly bedraggled over half of her delicate, pretty features. A tissue was clasped tightly in her hand, with which she reached up to dab the firey reddish fur of her cheek, stained a darker shade of brown by tears which had run their path over her whiskers. “We’ve been practicing her control, her focus. But I really think those tablets are helping too! She seems so much more settled, more comfortable now! If you could just give us some more to keep us going a little longer...?”

The third figure let out a slight sigh as his eyes returned to the pane of glass before them, the bright light from the other side gleaming on his white jacket and the white bager stripes on his face. “I’m very pleased to hear you feel you’re making progress.” he murmured in response, his deep, throbbing voice much more precise and controlled than the other two. He paused to push the small, gold-rimmed spectacles a little further up his snout, seeming to compose his thoughts before speaking again. “With regard to the tablets...I was planning to write you another prescription today if you needed it, however I’m afraid I’m currently unable. Just two nights ago the hospital’s pharmacy was raided by a gang of thieves, they took all the drugs they could get their paws on. So I’m afraid we’re currently very short on any kind of medicine until we recieve another shipment in a few days’ time.”

The other man began to shake his head in dismay as the doctor spoke, a hand rising to rub his forehead in dispair. "This stupind crimewave!" he muttered sourly. "If it carries on much longer we'll be in anarchy!"

"But it might not!" His wife turned to him, tears beginning to well anew in her deep, dark green eyes as her voice wavered and quailed once again. "It might soon all be over, along with her problems!" The woman span around in her chair to face the doctor again. "Have you recieved the results back from the tests yet? Will the Broadcast have an effect on her?"

The doctor gave a rueful nod. "We have," he responded slowly, "but I'm afraid they're somewhat inconclusive. The science behind the broadcast operation is a closely guarded secret at the moment, and we've had little success getting enough information to draw any firm conclusions. It may perhaps help stablise her as we theorised, or it might have no effect whatsoever." Another sigh, a sage, wizened expression on his face as he looked the couple straight in the eye. "The sad truth is, we simply do not know."

"But it won't harm her?" The male's voice had gained a quality of grim determination as he stared intently through the window, his lower jaw set like the solid stone of a chisled statue.

The barest flicker of hesitation from the doctor, but he swiftly shook his head. "There's no reason to believe that she could come to any harm from the Broadcast, no..."

"We only want her to be safe, doctor!" the woman interrupted, her voice finally cracking and becoming hoarse as she took the badger's paw, staring deeply and sincerely into his whiskered face. "For her to live as normal a life as she can...because we love her...so much!" And she descended into tears, burying her face in her tissue as her mate wrapped both his arms around her shoulders, trying vainly to console her.

"And that's a very commendable goal to have." the doctor murmured, his deep voice full of gentle warmth and empathy as he leaned towards the duo in reassurance. "I will admit, there are many unknowns here, mr. and mrs. Irrin. This situation is one that hardly anybody across the world ever has to face, and coupled with the added factor of the Broadcast that adds even more uncertanty, but the two of you are doing an absolutely amazing job! I wish that I could offer you more reassurances and assistance than what we have already provided, and I will continue to help you in any way I can, however I believe that girl is in the very best place, with the very best treatment and care, that she could possibly be. The two of you can help her - and indeed are helping her - far more than we ever could." He wove his fingers together before him, gently using both hands to gesture towards the couple. "With you two by her side, I honestly believe that your daughter will be perfectly fine."

By now both the parents were in tears, but the male nodded his thanks to the badger through his emotion, before gently leaning his cheek atop his wife's head. Now in silence, all three figures quietly sat, immersed in their own thoughts, watching the scene still playing out through the one-way-mirror embedded in the wall before them...

Beyond the mirrored glass, a nurse in a white coat sat at a table in the brightly lit room, chatting to and drawing crayon pictures with a young squirrel girl of around twelve years of age. A young girl with thin, delicate, pretty features and brilliant, glittering emerald green eyes, with rusty red fur that bore a silky, metallic sheen in the bright hospital lights, and pigtails tied into her waist-length, ruler-straight hair.

===== =====

Future ~ 2nd September 2021, 9:15pm

A distant rumble of thunder echoed down the dark, dimly lit tunnels.

Somewhere in the shadows down one of the many dead-ends of the city sewer system, something moved, started, jumped at the distant noise. A slow, cautious movement just below a thin shaft of fading evening light through a grating high above, then an expectant pause, as if whatever it was were stopped, listening to the dank, still air for any further unknown disturbance. And that disturbance did indeed come, the reverberating footfalls of several individuals tramping hurredly down the slimy underground caverns, the occasional snatch of conversation as a voice echoed through the dingy labrynth.

Another movement, swift, sudden, a dark shape flitting from shadow to shadow with lithe, effortless grace, making precisely no sound throughout the twilight of the catacombs as it darted at incredible speed down the long, murky passageway. A junction in the tubes, and after a split-second pause, more movement as the shadow set off again, tracking, hunting, following the unusual sound. Nothing ever came down here, not any more. This anomaly needed to be investigated.

It arrived just as the group were climbing up the ladder through the manhole and onto the street above. Keeping low, enshrouded in shadow, a pair of eyes silently watched the escapees as they filed one by one up the rungs and dissapeared from view...a pair of gleaming, shimmering emerald green orbs that seemed almost to glow with their own inner light. As the tail of the last individual dissapeared and the tunnel became deserted once again, the shadow detatched itself from the surrounding darkness and inched carefully closer to the ladder, those burning, unblinking green eyes watching with penetrating intensity the hole through which the other figures had gone. This made no sense, whatsoever. Nobody would come down here any more, not since the Broadcast, not without equipment to work on a fault. But these figures were hardly workmen, and they bore no equipment to maintain the tunnels. Just who were they?

A pause. A consideration. A thought. It was too dangerous to follow. The surface was not safe, not without propper reason and precaution. The trips that were already regularly accomplished were danger enough, to attempt anything further was inviting nothing but trouble. And yet, something was not right, not logical. Why would these unkown individuals be acting so strange, so unpredictably, so at odds with the system and the rules which governed it...unless they themselves were not a part of it in the first place?

Even despite the danger, perhaps this warranted further attention and investigation.

Carefully, silently, the shadow took hold of the ladder leading up to street level, and began to climb...

OOC: *anime fall* oh my gosh! Wraith wraith wraith! I'm sure I'm not the only one ecstatic to see you. Excellent post. How did you preserve your talent like that eh? And hey! I like Disturbed! Though I did think they were the original people of 'Land of Confusion'. David Draiman rocks. Glad I'm not the only one inspired by music xD

And thanks for the compliments Ash! Was delighted to read that. Indeed O'shea tries hard to be manly/alpha male but he can't hide his campness xD. Hey yeah I should've added the glint on the teeth bit too...
I've got so many ideas to follow him up now that you've mentioned that. Glad Athena is welcome too. Lol, psycho-fiend of doooom.! xD

Oh, sorry didn't post today. Forgot a dental trauma tutorial have to present tomorrow and I have an interview Wendesday. Won't be as bustling as I was but I'll keep on track with the RP's I am in indeed. Just thought I'd let you know.

OOC: Wraith m'man, good to see you again and good to have you back! Gosh your post was awesome, got me feeling all tingly there. I'm really loving what everyone's doing so far, building up the mystery and all... great stuff. Also, the Genesis version of 'Land of Confusion' is good and all, but c'mon, Disturbed's knock it straight out of the park and into the stratosphere. Plus their heavy rock version suits this particular rp more, I think.

And yeah, the intent was for the Present and Future segments to make the rp feel as if it was almost two rps in one. But you'll soon see why I didn't make them seperate rps, they are very, very much connected. =D

Also had an idea for a Present timeline villain would should have ties to quite a number of people's characters, so that's all good, and he should be showing up fairly soonish. As for the future, I have exciting plans for that particular aspect indeed... <3

Also no worries about your character there, Wraith. Really excited by it and I look forward to seeing what comes from her. =D Also, I don't plan on this rp necessarily moving at a rapid pace but, at the same time, I don't want people to feel like they shouldn't post whenever they want. Whenever people are comfortable and interested enough to post, then feel free =D But at the same time, don't feel pressured to always have to catch up with the rp, and that goes for you too, Kate. I know how busy you guys can be. I don't want this rp to feel like work, or effort.

Also, forgot a tutorial? Oh dear D: Hope that goes alright!

Just so good to see you back, Wraith, man <3

OOC: Would've posted a bit sooner, but I had a college visit to go to. I'm finally starting to get excited about college, whee! =D
And Ash, thanks so much for the compliment! I like to think my writing skills have improved since I first started RPing here (geeze I was such a n00b). Also, Vlad and Sasha are two characters that I hold close to my heart (they've come a long way too), so rest assured that nothing TOO terrible will happen to them. I couldn't bear that either, lol.
And hey, welcome to RP Wraith! Your intro was absolutely fascinating and very well-written, and I can't wait to read more about your character!
So without further ado, my IC! (It's late, so for now I'll just be writing for the present. Expect the future later)

IC:

Present

Thanks for your help back inside of there," Matt said to Vlad, whilst the police's attention focused on the other two troublemakers. "I appreciate it. Maybe see you around sometime, yeah?"

Vlad grunted in approval, as he mused whether or not it'd be ideal for him and his young charge to make their leave too.

The Russian watched through hooded eyes as Matt abruptly took off down the alleyway to the street on the other side; the kid didn't seem to be all that bad of a character. Of course, he wouldn't be running away from a confrontation with the cops if he was as good as all that. Vlad being Vlad, he just knew that the cheetah had something to hide and was more than likely on the bad side of the law. Still, he would keep the kid in mind while he was in town.

Speaking of being on the bad side of the law...

"Sonuva....! Alright, that't it!" Seipher growled, turning his head in time to see Matt making a clean getaway. The officer swung his gun around to point it back at Vlad, eyes narrowing. "You, do not move! I really don't want hurt your kid, but I swear up an down that my aim is good enough that I will not hesitate to shoot you if you move so much as one inch!" Vlad raised an eyebrow and took a drag from his cigarrette, while O'Shea added in a dubious tone, "And I bet he isn't even your kid..."

"Hey...!" Said 'kid' yelped indignantly, while making to go give the officer a piece of his mind for insulting his guardian. Vlad, however, snorted in amusement yet again and snatched the collar of his charge's t-shirt with a, "And vhere do you think you're going, little vone?"

The pup's eyes widened in outrage. "But Vlad! He said-!" The elder jackal just shook his head, lips twitching upward briefly at the thought of a nine-year-old fighting to defend his honor before he was gently shoving his charge behind him yet again. Then Vlad sobered and looked up from the kid to see that O'Shea's weapon was still trained on him, a smirk adorning the fennec's muzzle, but that his large ears were swiveling back and forth to catch the argument that had just broken out between his partner and the opossum's boyfriend. A sure sign that his attention wasn't entirely focused on the gruff-looking Russian in front of him. The jackal resigned himself to waiting.

Only seconds later he got the opportunity he was looking for, as the officer's eyes darted back to meet those of his partner. It was only a split-second, but it was enough time for Vlad to casually let a small, round object fall to the ground with a clink. It went rolling quickly toward O'Shea.

Whatever happened next, the culprit and his accomplice weren't there to witness it. As soon as the ball had dropped from within the pouch under his trench, Vlad had grabbed his charge, swung him onto his back, and outright sprinted from the alleyway much like Matt had done. The elder canine heard shouts of alarm from behind them and smirked. He wondered how long it would take the police officers to realize that his "grenade" was actually a billiard ball...

OoOoOo Present: Friday, 2nd September 2011: 9:37 pm

Vlad sighed, rubbing his eyes tiredly as he shut the door to the kid's room behind him. With all the excitement of the past few hours it had been hard as hell to get the little one to go to bed, but he had finally managed. A wry small appeared on his face as he moved into the small kitchen of the shabby apartment they lived in; that should teach him to take his charge out so close to bedtime, and to a bar nonetheless! These days, places like that tended to attract trouble more often than not. And trouble, he emphatically reminded himself as he poured himself a shot, was something they did not need nor could they afford. Attention from the authorities, while harmless by itself, would only draw attention from the wrong people. People Vlad had sworn he would protect the kid from.

Besides, even though it was legal and perfectly legitimate, Vlad's guardianship over the child would most certainly be called into question should the authorities ever get involved. His past dealings and activities had been... less than savory, to say the least. The child would be taken away from him, and he could not and would not abide by that. He had made a promise to the pup's father, after all.

Plus, the kid had kind of grown on him. Not that he would admit that.

The jackal switched on the portable radio he always carried with him as he poured another shot, moving from station to station to find something worth listening to. After a few moments he settled on one that was discussing the upcoming Broadcast initiative, though in fact it made little difference; every radio station these days was talking about it. Today's topic: violence in relation to the Broadcast's debut. Vlad shook his head and sighed once again, not really sure what to think about the whole thing still. Then, with a shrug, he tossed back his shot and snatched up another cigarrette, settling back against the kitchen counter to the yammering of the radio.

"The Broadcast Initiative, I believe, will put a stop to all this nonsense once and for all, even if it seems....."

Present

Luis had hoped to see firsthand elements of his upcoming criminal procedure classes in the back alley. Instead, he witnessed a situation get mindlessly out of hand because the authorities lacked any authority whatsoever. Indeed, O'Shea seemed to be no less reckless than any of the criminals only recently apprehended. The only thing separating O'Shea from those thieves was the state's investment of law and order in the fox. How that came to pass was baffling to Luis. O'Shea did not even look housebroken.

Of course, the Mexican standoff that ensued struck Luis as nothing short of horrifying. How not only O'Shea but also O'Quinn could let the situation escalate so carelessly troubled him deeply. His philosophical misgivings were not, however, uppermost in his mind; his paramount concern was ensuring his person was not in the potential line of fire. When Vlad dropped the billiard ball, Luis watched the sphere clack against the ground for a half-second. He recognized it as harmless, but the others shouted and screamed in panic. The student wondered why a ball would cause such consternation, but this thought was quickly supplanted by a recognition of the opportunity to get out of this chaos.

Such chaos. Things were probably calmer without the police here...did I really just think that?

Luis hightailed it out of the area and down the street while the billiard ball was still a sufficient disruption. He scooted into the nearest side alley he could find and clung to the wall of a building. He hoped that he would not be missed too dearly. He certainly would not miss that patronizing sergeant. Sticking his head out onto the road again, though, Luis realized that he had erred grievously; he was in a bad neighborhood. Unfriendly faces glared at the preppy law student. Streetwalkers were sashaying past him casually. Worst of all, he saw police officers conducting drug transactions with peddlers in broad daylight.

Bad day, bad day, bad day, bad day...

OOC: Man I love where this RP is going. It's so fun and exciting. XD Everyone's doing an excellent job here!
Anyway, I do have a scene in mind (still only for the present for now), however I have to skedaddle for school soon, so I'll wait til I get home to write it up and post it. Just a head's up!

Future

While most of the liberated prisoners was still trying to adopt to the completely altered reality, and blindly following their "liberator" very similar to how the lay people blindly follow their own destiny in life; some of them openly thought about what will be life for them, how much different would it be if they would need to be constantly "dodging" these lay people? Doesn't it feel just as "bad" as if they were still in prison?

Footsteps could be heard down the alley they were walking on - some of them stopped and upped their alert at this oncoming figure. As this figure became visible under the street light it was visible that it was only Neo Lucie, visibly annoyed at everyone leaving without her, and carried what appeared to be a shopping bag or something; carrying takeaways for each prisoner."I am pretty sure the lot of you are pretty hungry at this point" She gestured

[[ Blahpost, but I felt something needed to be done to get the Future part going again ]]

Present

"Awhh--a grenade!" Volte cried out. The jackal across him took flight into the alleyway. O'shea moved his guns in the direction where the ball was dropped, his focus unwavering. Thing's gonna blow in any second--

Athena twitched her mouth. "It's not a grenade, you dumbass. Now keep quiet."

By the time O'shea also noticed that what seemed to be a potential threat was merely a billiard ball, the other apparent criminals surrounding him had gone. He sighed and returned his attention to the devil thief. How ridiculous... but at least we still caught someone.

Volte began to creep away, but was quickly stunned by another shove from Athena's gun. "Not so fast," she hissed, "You're not going anywhere."

The devil hesitated. A bead of sweat trickled down his neck and into his bandana. He then swiftly jerked his pistol towards Athena's head, saying quickly, "I bet my gun's bullet is faster than yours."

"Try me."

Volte swallowed. Before he could reply, O'shea once again had his glocks in the devil's direction. He smiled widely, beaming with victory. "Got ya now," the fox approached him, "You don't have any other friends to help back you out of this one, don't you? Thought you could handle us yourself this time, eh? We're not unarmed, you know."

Athena pushed her gun further into Volte. "On the ground, now," she snarled.

The devil dropped his weapon and slowly fell to his knees, managing a rather embarrassed smile. "Well, Glace.. I come in and save your hide, and of course you don't come back for me this time. Hope you found a place to stash that--"

"Stop talking to yourself," Athena growled, keeping a calm and authoritative composure over the captured devil. She shot a nasty glance at O'shea, who then froze in his tracks. "Get the cuffs."

O'shea about faced and waltzed back towards his car, casually glancing from side to side to see if any other criminals lingered by. None left in this street, it seemed. They all must've migrated to a different road at once. At some point, O'shea's attention was snagged by a nearby window on his way, completely diverting him from his previous thoughts -- "Oh man, that pink shirt's on sale? Sweet.. I just need to drop by again here later, after this mess..."

Athena face-palmed with her free hand. "I can't believe I have to work with this joke."

Volte snickered, still on his knees, "I'll say."

"Shut up, you. I didn't give you permission to speak!"

---

"Closed! Already robbed! Broken down! Closed! Overrun by druggies! Cops! Closed! Ahh! Buddy, there's nowhere left to go!"

Glace the opossum pounced into new alleyways and roads left and right, still clinging to her bag of rubies. Catching a break along with her breath, she soon slumped by the entrance of a completely decimated bank. A paper barely sticking to its window read "CLOSING DOWN" - though it didn't really matter anymore. The cockatoo circled above his owner a few times before perching atop her shoulder. Glace eased her clutch on the bag - the hole was much bigger now. A fifth of what was there had been poured out during her run.

"Great! Should've just ran home instead... ugh, Buddy, I need a new plastic bag or something. Go see if you can find one littered somewhere, please!"

The bird cocked his head in approval and took off, out of sight in seconds. Glace, agitated, rose to her feet and began plucking whatever rubies lied nearby her. "I don't even know where I'm at... I hope Volte hasn't done anything stupid..."

Footsteps - rapid footsteps approached her direction. Glace bounced in anxiety, quickly glancing from side to side. "Oh! Oh, no!" She bit her lip and dove behind a fattened light post beside the bank. The sprinter was gone in seconds, having darted straight down the path. Cautiously, Glace cast a glimpse over her shoulders at the shadow disappearing into the night. Isn't that that cheetah from earlier? I wonder what he's up to?

Almost immediately afterwards, Glace jumped back into her previous position, her back pressed up tightly against the pole. Two cop cars drove by, just as quickly as the cheetah ran. The opossum repeated her earlier action, squinting her eyes this time - it was already too dark for her to see through the windows, however... she knew. The cars turned to the direction opposite the cheetah upon reaching an upcoming intersection.

Sighing--"...Why does he even bother sometimes."--Glace looked to the skies above her for agreement. Almost as if on call, Buddy eventually fluttered back, carrying a thin plastic back by his talons. Glace smiled and received the bag from her companion, afterwards dropping in the beige bag of whatever crystals still remained. She then gave chase after the cop cars, sticking close to the surrounding buildings and walls, as Buddy followed behind."I finally try to leave things to you for once, and it looks like you had to go and screw things up again, Volte. Ain't ever gonna reach my skill if you keep this up..."

---
The ride was a bumpy one."So, newbie--""Hey, don't taunt me," Volte snapped back, head tossed to the side. Building after building, it seemed as though the city was deteriorating rapidly. Almost none remained untouched -- most seemed to be destroyed or smothered with colorful graffiti. Some druggies seemed to be passed out along the curb. Others camped inside their little box homes, gesturing with their half-crumpled plastic cups for whatever change passersby could spare. Volte's eyes merely stared beyond the mess littered throughout his side of the window - Gonna have to head to somewhere new soon."........ ain't that right, rookie?""What?" Volte's eyes slowly rolled to the seat before him.O'shea breathed out through his nostrils. "I said, why are you committing these kinds of crimes in the first place?  You thieves know you risk an awful lot when you try to pull off these stunts day by day. What, can't afford to pay off rent or something?"Volte shrugged and turned away again. "Darling Grace seems to have fun with it all the time, especially recently, so I thought I'd give it a shot too. Gotta enjoy life somehow while we still can, right?""Hun that doesn't make much sense at all, especially if you risk getting jailed for life just for the sake of having fun."The devil cracked a smirk, eyes still on the winding road. The car before them took a new turn, however O'shea continued on straight. Jailed. Yeah right. "Well, with the whole Broadcast bull coming to smite us soon, everyone else seems to be turning to crime to enjoy themselves before we're stripped of our freedoms. Except for goody two-shoes like you. You guys will probably end up losing your jobs in two weeks. What will you do then?""Well, I..""It's all this thing's fault. I mean, hasn't anyone else realized that the crime rate increased immensely since the announcement of the impending Broadcast?" He paused for a moment, listening to the static-filled jumble of noise emitting from O'shea's half-broken radio. Volte scoffed at this, "'Necessary step to prevent further acts of terrorism.' 'Protect the citizenry of the world.' My ass. I've heard this run plenty of times. It hasn't done anything but make things worse than they already are." He returned his attention back to O'shea's chair, unimpressed. "This entire thing's a bad idea. Go ahead, call me out for being a hypocrite. But since the entire blasted so-called solution's gonna screw with our freedom of choice anyway, I might as well enjoy this badassery while it still exists."

OOC: Okay, my little darlings. First off, I love everything that people have written so far. Absolutely genius stuff by everyone involved. I'm really, really excited for this rp <3 Also, new post, whoo!

And it is HUGE. @_@

Sorry about this people, but kinda got into the swing of things and wanted to move the rp on a little bit. A lot of buildup and setup for the rp. Our villains for the Present timeline are introduced. Things in the Future timeline are moved on a bit more, but a lot more development there will have to wait a bit more, post is unweildly huge enough as it is, already, lol.

So with that said, please keep your arms and legs inside the ride at all times!

IC:
The Present: Friday, 2nd September 2011: 9:35pm

Matt ascended the long flights of stairs up the numerous floors of the rundown apartment building, minding his own business as he shuffled past yet another deadbeat who seemed to be off his mind on something, crouching on the stairs enjoying his happy time. The rotting paintwork, the dripping leaks and the graffiti sprayed on every single corner of the building... yeah, this was a great home. But, it was all Matt could afford for now, especially considering the rest of his recent stint of trouble. He was willing to live in a squalor like this as long as it meant they could be safe...

Matt stopped as he reached the wooden door entrance to his flat. He pulled the keys out of his pocket and inserted them into the lock, turning them to the side, and granting himself access to his home. He was tired from all of the noise of his day so far, trouble he certainly didn't need. He was trying to keep his head low and out of people's attention. He had hoped that the officers from earlier didn't recognise him. Well, he didn't recognise the ridiculous man, O'Shea, but he did recognise his partner, Athena O'Quinn. He could only hope she didn't get a good enough look at him to remember him.

He entered his flat's hallway, and turned on the lightswitch. The light flickered desperately on, it was obvious that it needed a new bulb, but Matt would be hooptieed if he had the change on him to go and buy one. More hassle that I don't need, damnit...

Matt suddenly froze. Something wasn't right here. His eyes widened in abject fear and horror. The room didn't feel right. Someone had been in here. But who, when, why-

-CRACK-

Matt felt a sharp rush of pain across the back of his head, before he collapsed to the ground and blacked out.

Present

(OOC: Wow...I miss RPing for a day yesterday (due to fretting about a phone interview this morning that didn't go anywhere anyway) and all heck breaks loose! XD;  I have to somehow get my character into interaction with everybody else at some point (@ Present)...as well as intro'ing Cody...Hmm...Also, XDXD @ a machine that smokes.)

IC:

Present:

A shuddering explosion from several blocks away startled the silver-furred she-wolf out of a meditation.  Liayra scrambled to her paper-patched window to see what had caused the racket.  Her violet eyes widened at the large plume of smoke and flame issuing from the remains of a building several streets away.  More sirens and the blaring horns of fire engines could be heard.  She hoped no one had been in that building...but somehow knew that her hope was in vain.  She let the curtain fall back into place, looking away.  There was nothing she could do about it.

Future:

Liayra had at first been startled and frightened by the mech, her first instinct to flee the way they had come, until the cheetah - who she was SURE she reckognized, but from where or when, she still didn't know - had reassured everyone that it - he? Matt had definitely referred to the machine in the masculine - was harmless.  As she followed him into the rebel base - for that was indeed what it appeared to be - she took in all the sights and sounds...especially noting the showers.  It had been so long...since she had had a decent shower...Though she was as curious about this "secret weapon" as all the others, there was more pressing matters at hand.  She excused herself and headed for the showers.

TBC

(OOC: Long, cumbersome first sentance is long and cumbersome...@ Future.  Oh well.  I'll try to get Cody in this later...)

OOC: Core blimey! Epically long posts ppl. ALas have caught up. Just gonna dedicate some thought as to which turns to take. I have acaught up. SOrry for the useless announcement but thought I'd let you know rather than make a slap-dash IC.
Really exciting alright. Huzzah!
Oh everyone has portrayed O'shea really well. Opinion-wise and Rex's IC so well done ^_^
..........I'll be back > D soooooooooooon!

OOC: one of these days I will post in the future. I have some ideas (;

Present

Saturday, 3rd September 2011 (12:23 am)

“Huh? What…?!” O’shea bolted upright from his bed when a resounding explosion had gone off and woken his sleep. Not only had the sound alerted him to wake up to a vivid and alert state of mind, but the shake of it caused a ripple type affect down the city which shook his city centre apartment.

He glanced at his clock, which flickered 12:23am in neon green. What an ungodly hour to be causing a ruckus. Then again, statistically, Friday night which would transverse into the early hours of Saturday morning was a common hour for any kind of chaos to manifest itself. Usually due to criminal activity.

“Suicide bombers…?” he asked himself, rolling out of bed, clad in a white vest and black trousers as he wandered across his darkened bedroom to peer outside his 6th floor apartment window which leant out a view to the cityscape and beyond.

O’shea peered out his window, rubbing his lead-bagged eyes as he tried to scout for the potential source of the eruption. Indeed he managed to decipher some reminiscent cloud and flares dissipating into the atmosphere. However, disclosing the location was proving to be challenging.

“Yeah?” O’shea mumbled as he whipped out his mobile phone which shook in his tracksuit pocket. One ring and he was on the line.

“You’re sharp…” Athena mock-congratulated him “you heard…”

“Yes. Party going on would you say hun?” O’shea forced a laugh as he scratched his unkempt hair with his other arm. He peered at his reflection given off by one of the veranda window doors, and cringed at his scruffy appearance following his disturbed nap.

“Stop horsing around O’shea! I know you’re joking about everything since we don’t have long left… but once the Broadcast comes about… let’s at least go out with a…”

“Bang!” O’shea finished, striking a cheesy pose as he steadied the mobile between his chin and shoulder.

“Sense of dignity. For helping Society,” Athena corrected the dry-humoured officer “anyway, let’s make an action plan to investigate this incident.”

“Uh, by the time we get there I suspect there ain’t gonna be nuthin’ left…” O’shea shrugged “have no idea where the source of the explosive occurred, but I’d go out on a limb and say at the nearest? It’s on the peripheral boundary of the city towards the East of Manhattan.”

“Really?” Athena asked, her voice on the line suggesting she was momentarily on a different wavelength of thought “hmm well I see.”

“What’s that hun? What’s on your mind?” O’shea sensed a change in thought.

“Nothing… just thought I recognised one of the individuals involved in the pub brawl today…” Athena explained “he slipped away whilst you were playing the class clown.”

“Ouch! For someone in training, you sure are feisty!” O’shea said, faking a tone of hurt “so who was the character your probably recognised?”

“That spotted cat. Do you remember him?” She asked.

“Uhhh…” O’shea rolled his eyes towards the ceiling as he tried to cast his mind back to the alley scene “yeah yeah. I remember a spotted cat. Cheetah right? Those black weepy markings distinguish them from Leopards and Jags!”

“Good going. But yeah, he headed in the direction YOU suspect the explosion to be…” Athena interpreted.

“So you wanna go out on a limb and head up to the rough side of town?” O’shea asked, peering through the destination he imprinted in his mind from where the aftermath smoke had arisen.

“You got anything better to do Officer?” Athena asked, smiling on the other end of the line even though O’shea couldn’t see it. He could certainly hear it from his trusted colleague alright.

“Ugh, you’re too keen,” O’shea said, yawning before turning grabbing his keys off the table. He stared at his uniform which was folded off the back of one of his chairs. Amongst the folded clothes was the pristine pink shirt he had bought earlier that day.

City roads 12:45AM

“So where’s that Volte character…?” Athena asked through the intercom of her police car to communicate with O'shea.

“Oh him?” O’shea sighed, the novelty of capturing one prisoner dead since hours ago “in solitary confinement back at the police station. Interrogation process begins tomorrow. About 9 hours from now. Oh gawd… another sleepless night!” O’shea winced as he held the stirring wheel with one hand and slapped his forehead with the other.

“So you can look forward to sleeping for the rest of your life once the Broadcast arrives right?” Athena asked.

“Erm…” O’shea hesitated, looking out the windows at the meandering roads, alleys and passing light waves from the street lights.

“No. No I won’t look forward to that at all…” O’shea shook his head, his hair still slightly messy from having woken up despite being dressed fresh and smart. Even though there was no one to impress. Nonetheless he took too much pride in his appearance. More so than Athena did by a long shot too.

“It’s going to be no different from being suspended from our jobs, and it’s really getting to me,” the fox explained, his forehead creasing from a mixture of frowns and worry.

“Hmn,” Athena muttered, a coule-de-sac concluding the topic of conversation abruptly.

From Athena’s car, she was able to see some shady people, walking by in trench coats. Shady dealings taking place. There must’ve been hundreds going on throughout the night. She was itching to nail them all now. However, she realised, her priority was to seek the cause of the explosion.

Athena wrinkled her nose, turning her attention to the front view to outside her car. Indeed she could smell tar, burning, and fire. As she lowered her car side window, the sound of crackling and burning met her ears.

What came into view shortly after was scorching apartment which appeared to be a few floors above in the apartment. The fire was slithering across the remaining apartments, or at least what was left from the devastating explosion.

’You have reached your destination

“Sat-Nav says we are here,” O’shea said in a bored and blasé manner, pulling his car up to the curb of a dark city street, a pulsating light shining right over it.
He switched the ignition of his car off, the radio and all lights terminated. Getting out the car and slamming it- he ran up to Athena who had carried out the same parking procedure.

“Uhm…” Athena said, pointing at O’shea, momentarily distracted from the burning building.

“What?” O’shea asked, looking at himself up and down self-consciously “is it my hair… didn’t have time to…”

“Your shirt! It’s pink!” Athena scrutinized with a contorted look on her face.

“Well yeah! It was on sale! Heh…!” O’shea said, scratching the back of his head and grinned with closed eyes.

“Oh good lord…” Athena scowled, getting out her gun and loading it, getting ready to step into the apartment.

“Oh dear god, you’re NOT going in there…” O’shea asked pulling Athena away by the shoulder “dressed like that?!”

“What?!” Athena asked, scrutinizing her own shirt which was not ironed and had last night’s eye liner and dark make-up on her face.

“No more to the point… I’ll search the building to the limit… without burning my hands,” O’shea lectured “you hun, will scout the surrounding scene for suspects. I won’t have a rookie risk her life where it’s burning. Besides, I have a keener nose for potential carbon monoxide poisoning…”

“Oh dgeeze!” Athena harrumphed, before reluctantly nodding in agreement to her superior “keep your walkie-talkie on though O'Shea, I want to know your progress and know whether you do pass out from a fiery party…” she garbled, before turning around and prowled the scene with her glock ready.

O’shea simpered faintly as he watched her disappear amongst the peripheral shadows. He then narrowed his eyes and looked to the building ahead of him. Without any 2nd bidding, he took off in a sprint and entered the ground floor apartment, surveying the scene with keen eyes and having his two glocks ready if a potential hazardous situation would demand it.

“Police! Police are here…!” O’shea shouted as he entered the building, stepping on rubble and glass shards as he flickered his stances to observe all angles of the vicinity “will any civilians or survivors please make themselves known. NOW!”

OOC: Hey everyone! I know I said this earlier on BR, but I also wanted to leave a note here too~
I'll be busy for the next two weeks - exams coming up and all that. My time online will be spontaneous, and I'll update whenever I can. But I want to apologize in advance in case I do lag behind a bit. T_T; Hopefully I won't though.

Anyway! I do have a scene in mind for my next IC here, but I don't have enough time to finish it right now. When I get back home, I'll work on it and post it up. :3 Still only for the Present right now. (It's nothing major XD, so if you want to make a post before I return home to, feel free to!) I have an entry planned for the Future too, but I'm waiting for the right moment XD. Hehe.

(OOC: Pach, when in hole, do not dig You’re already on thin ice here, don’t make it any worse for yourself

And glad you guys liked the post, thank you^^

I’m aiming to take the RP’s ‘longest post’ record here (not intentionally), lesse if I make it lol. On the plus side, once this post is done my character's 'present' storyline will have caught up with everyone else's and I'll be able to start posting in time with all of you.

I don’t know if the city in this RP is based upon the real life Manhattan, but either way I hope nobody minds me taking a little artistic license here, partly because it will make my ideas a whole lot easier to implement, and partly because I’ve never been to Manhattan myself so don’t really know the geography etc.)

Present ~ 15th July 2011, 8:07pm

A light sprinkle of rain was beginning to shower from the leaden grey sky as the dark red saloon car rolled smoothly along the road, steadily navigating the narrow canyons between the towering skyscrapers of the central downtown district. Across the car’s windows the droplets collected and pooled, slowly growing in size as more and more liquid was absorbed into their transparent membranes until their weight became too great and gravity began to draw them downward, their passage leaving crooked, irregular trails over the glass like forks of transparent lightning frozen in time.

From the back seat she watched these halting, umcertain pathways with intense concentration, the dim light beyond glittering as it reflected in her brilliant gemstone eyes.

“So, how did your gymnastics class go Ianthe?”

The long tufts of rusty red fur on the tips of her ears twitched as her mother’s voice broke the silence of the car’s interior, and the girl turned her head away from the window, leaning to the side slightly so she could see between the seats before her to the occupants ensconsed within them. “Aye, t’were okay.” she responded in a soft, musical tone, her voice bearing an even stronger Irish lilt than that of her mother. “Miss Hamilton says I’ve a natural talent.”

A warm, proud smile rose on her mother’s features as she nodded approvingly. “Sure now didn’t I always say she was born to be a dancer?” she addressed her mate behind the wheel, who nodded his head knowingly, before she turned in her seat to allow her to look directly into her daughter’s eyes. “I’d love you to show us some of your moves when we get home. Do y’ think you’d have the energy for that?”

“Okay.” the girl replied impassively, glancing down at the small sports bag which lay open on the seat beside her, a neatly folded pastel green leotard just visible between the two opposing leaves of it’s zip, A long dress of a similar green colour currently adorned her form, albeit a slightly darker, richer shade and decorated with a flowery pattern in white thread, and she carefully began to straighten out the folds of the fabric over her knees now, her every move very deliberate and precise as though the task were of the utmost importance.

The distinct American twang of her father’s voice interrupted her endeavour, sounding somewhat harsh and out of place given the soft Gaelic accents that had gone before. “Are you still enjoying those classes, Ianthe?” he queried, his brown eyes straying to the car’s rear view mirror so he could see the girl as he spoke. “Still finding them fun?”

“I am.”

“And are they helping with your concentration, like we said?” Her mother interjected.

“So they are.” Ianthe looked up from her dress, her delicate, pretty features dropping into an expression of bemusement. “Many o’ the other children don’t take them seriously. They try to trip each other while the teacher is looking away.”

“Nobody does that to you, do they?”

“I avoid them if they’re like that. But I don’t understand, why would they go to a class if they don’t want to learn?”

“Some parents sign their children up to classes like that even if the children don’t want to go, Ianthe.” her father spoke up once more. “Maybe they’re playing around because they’re bored, they’d rather be doing something else.” The girl gave a pensive nod, seeming to consider the answer very carefully for a long moment.

“An’ they don’t need t’ keep control?”

Her mother suddenly looked a little uncomfortable, the gentle smile on her face faltering for just the barest second and her thick tail twitching slightly at the query, but she nodded her head in response. “Yes, perhaps they don’t need to keep such careful control either.”

Again Ianthe went silent for a time as she seemed once more to mull over what had been said, then her gleaming eyes turned back to the trails of raindrops on the window. “I feel sorry for them, they’re missing a lot.”

“Well, for sure they won’t learn much if they don’t concentrate now will they!” her mother responded, her smile returning to it’s more genuine state as a wave of relief washed over her that the reply was not as negative as she had feared. She turned in her seat to face forward once again, flashing her husband a grin as she did so, and he returned the expression, chuckling to himself quietly.

The rain persisted, and the journey continued in silence for a time. Thankfully the roads were reasonably clear due to the late hour, and the going was relatively smooth as the car threaded it’s way between the tall buildings, steadily making for the long span of the bridge that crossed the river to the suburbs on the other side. Even the vagabonds and vagrants were quiet tonight, and there was little sign of the increased violence and crime that had steadily been building in the run up to the Broadcast initiative. One by one the street lamps that lined the roads began to flicker on in response to the slowly darkening sky, and the quiet background hum of the city floating on the evening air created an atmosphere of peaceful tranquillity around the vehicle.

An atmosphere which was suddenly and unexpectedly shattered as the bridge came into view.

“Oh great.” The father muttered as the car swung round the corner to see the rows of waiting traffic parked nose to tail across all three lanes of the road. Car horns blared and people shouted from open windows as more and more drivers joined the back of the queue, brake lights and tempers both flaring in tandem, and not one of the cars was able to move.

His wife looked concerned as her gaze scanned across the sea of immobile vehicles. “What is it Seb, why are they waiting?”

“Another hooptie protest march.” He pointed a finger at the ramp in the distance which led up onto the bridge. “They must have blocked the road completely. This keeps up we’ll soon have rioting in the streets!” And sure enough, as the other two followed his gesture with their eyes, they spotted a huge crowd of figures slowly trudging past the top of the ramp, their hands full of banners and placards bearing various slogans against the Broadcast initiative and it’s proponents.

“We’ll have to take the tunnel instead.”

“But that’ll take us an hour to be sure!” His wife protested as he reversed the car back around the corner, spinning the wheel to guide them away from the gridlocked junction. “It’s such a long way!”

“I know Keyleigh, but that march may take even longer to clear.” He shrugged his shoulders helplessly. “You know how many people have been going to them recently. The line probably reaches all the way to the park, we could be stuck there until eleven!” His wife still looked rather perturbed at the news, but she had no answer - she simply slumped back in her chair, dragging a tuft of firey red hair from her face with a tired, disheartened finger.

Meanwhile in the back seat, their daughter had moved. Turning to look over her shoulder out the back window, Ianthe’s intense emerald gaze was currently fixed on the sea of marching figures trudging past the top of the bridge’s onramp as the scene slowly receded into the distance behind the car. She had seen some of the signs they were holding, watched them as they raised their fists in the air, their mouths moving in harmony as they uttered some rhythmic chant that was mercifully too quiet at this distance to fully understand. And as she watched, her brow had dipped low over her wide eyes in an expression of puzzled incomprehension.

“What do they all be marching for now?”

Her father let out a slight sigh as he glanced at the girl in his mirror once again. Of course, something had caught Ianthe’s attention...now she would not rest until she had figured the matter out. “The Broadcast, Ianthe.” he responded, flicking the car’s indicator on as they traversed another corner and the scene on the bridge finally disappeared from view. “Many people don’t like it. They think it stifles their freedom and want it to be prevented.”

The march now out of sight, Ianthe slowly turned to resume her normal place in her seat, but her face was still a mask of incomprehension as she folded her hands in her lap, her gaze staring intensely into the footwell before her as her mind whirred away on the problem. “But y’said the Broadcast would end all crime and make people safer. Don’t they want that?”

“Yeah, they probably do, but they don’t want to lose their freedom of choice in the process. They still want to be able to do whatever they like without anything stopping them.”

“An’ they want that more than they want everyone to be safe?”

“Yeah, I guess so...”

A long silence prevailed, punctuated only by the sound of the car’s wheels on the road and the noise of cogs ticking away in the child’s brain as she considered what had been said. Her parents waited quietly for her deliberations to end, knowing that a verdict was imminent once she had finished considering all the variables. It was how she worked, how she had to work - indeed, how they had taught her to work. And while such precision and detail, such serious objectivity, mental and emotional control, could sometimes be awkward and make interacting with her a long and slightly stressful affair, both of them knew it was for her own good. It sometimes proved an advantage too - many times had she come up with a solution to a problem or a viewpoint on an important matter that they had simply not considered at all.

“That sounds selfish.”

Her mother could not help but smile slightly at the innocently delivered pronouncement, and her father nodded sagely into the mirror. “You could well be right, Ianthe.” he murmured. “Perhaps they should think a little more about it before making their minds up so fast, eh?” The girl did not reply, instead simply turning to the window and seeming to examine the raindrops once more, and yet again a long moment of silence pervaded the small, enclosed space as each family member became lost in their own thoughts.

“Is Solstice like that?”

Both parents started at the sudden question, sitting straight up in their seats as their bodies stiffened. Mother turned to father with an expression of uncertainty and apprehension, as if at a complete loss how to respond and silently pleading with him for assistance. The father, in turn, looked just as dumbfounded, and it took him several long seconds of false starts and swallowing before he found the words to compose some kind of reply. “Yes Ianthe, Solstice can be a little like that at times.”

“That’s why we’re so impressed with you dear.” her mother immediately interjected as he stopped speaking, turning in her seat again so she could fix Ianthe with a sincere, if slightly worried, gaze. “You take the time to consider everything before making a big decision so you do, and you think about the bigger picture, taking into account other people’s feelings and things.”

Perhaps for the first time since the long car journey started, a slight hint of emotion touched at the young girl’s face. “But it must be difficult for yourself having t’ deal with her bein’ so selfish.” she murmured softly, her brow knitting into a mild look of pain and worry. Her mother met the expression with a warm, reassuring smile, reaching between the front seats of the car to place a hand gently on Ianthe’s knee.

“Aye, it can be...but that’s not your fault Ianthe.” she responded. “You’re not to blame for her ways now. And we’re happy to put up with her sometimes, so that we can be with you. We love you so much.”

The girl still looked a little upset, but she nodded her head in response, and laid her own hand atop that of her mother, her slightly darker rust coloured fur contrasting quite sharply with the brighter reddish-brown of her parent. Although currently busy with his hands, her father also offered her a kindly, loving smile in the car’s rear view mirror in an attempt to reassure her further, and as she turned back to the window and the gathering darkness outside, her pained heart felt just a little more at ease.

The rain was steadily getting heavier as night continued to fall. The journey to the tunnel took well over twenty minutes, and the long passage down the twisting, wooded, lonely roads through the park on the other side much longer. After almost an hour’s drive from the far side of the bridge and the protest march, the shadows had closed in and water was lashing down in sheets as the car finally reached familiar territory once again. A tall building loomed out of the darkness ahead, one of the slightly smaller, less important units that could not rival the might and stature of it’s brothers in the city center across the river, and so had colonised the far bank between the downtown district and the suburbs. Another appeared next to it, and another across the road, their bases lit by a single, solitary row of flickering street lamps which looked all the more bleak and desolate in the driving rain.

Inside the car, Ianthe had dozed off, her thin body leaning over on the middle seat and her long, silky brown pigtails spread like a luxurious carpet all over the car’s upholstery. Her mother was verging on unconsciousness too, her head leaning back on the headrest with her eyes closed against the raging storm outside, and the girl’s father was silent as he piloted the car smoothly towards their home, letting his family rest. As the buildings came into view, however, he reached over and gently nudged his wife, smiling at her gently as her eyes flicked open. “Hey,” he whispered softly so as not to wake their daughter, “we’re almost there.”

The woman grunted slightly, raising a paw to rub her eyes as she roused herself from the borders of sleep. “I was just thinking,” the father continued in the same hushed tone, “this has taken longer than we expected, and we’re all tired. How about we order in tonight instead of having to make something ourselves?”

The woman grunted again. “That’s a good idea...” She blinked once more as a bright light seared her eyes, and her vision was drawn to the wing mirror on her door frame. “That car behind us, is it flashing it’s lights at us now?”

Her husband had noticed the headlamps flickering in his mirrors at just the same time, and his brow furrowed slightly. “It looks like it. I wonder what they want.”

The loud blaring of a car horn suddenly broke the quiet atmosphere of the vehicle, making both adults jump and awaking Ianthe from her nap with a start. The girl sat up swiftly, looking around to locate the source of the noise. “What’s happening mother?”

“I’m not sure dear.” the woman replied, looking towards her husband for an answer. He, meanwhile, was still staring in the mirror at the car behind, and he jabbed at the indicator as the other driver’s horn rang out once more, pulling over to the side of the road and slowing to a stop. Behind them, the other car also rolled smoothly to a halt, it’s bright headlights casting the interior of the vehicle in a brilliant white.

“Maybe they’ve spotted a problem or something with the car.” he muttered, opening the door to the squalling rain outside and buttoning his thin shirt right up to the top in a somewhat futile effort to protect himself from the weather without a coat. “Wait here, I’ll just go and see what they say. I’ll be right back.” Visibly shivering as the freezing rain immediately drenched him through, he stepped out onto the road outside and closed the door behind him, moving off down the side of the car towards the other stationary machine on their tail. His wife turned in her seat, watching him through the windows as the noise of the raindrops rattled against the car’s metal roof. The passenger door of the other car opened and a figure stepped out, but it was too dark to see any of his features.

“Are we gonna be home soon?” Ianthe let out a long yawn, pulling her now slightly bedraggled hair out of her eyes and tucking it neatly behind her shoulders where it should have been. “I’m sleepy.” Her mother smiled again, looking down at the young girl for a moment.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be home in just a few minutes, sure we will.”

BLAM! The shot echoed like a thunderclap down the empty, desolate street. Startled by the sudden report, Ianthe’s mother raised her eyes once more to the scene through the back window of the car, just in time to see her mate crumple to the floor like a paper cutout. The shadow of the other figure to whom he had been talking now had it’s arm outstretched, the thin silhouette of a gun now clearly visible against the background yellow lighting of the streetlamps, and as the squirrel fell the shape span round, running across the back of the car and approaching her own passenger door at pace.

“Sebastian!” A look of shock crossed Ianthe’s usually calm, controlled features at her mother’s blood-curdling scream, and automatically she began to turn in her seat to follow her parent’s gaze. Her mother swiftly recaptured her attention, however, realising despite the horror of the situation that allowing her to see her own father lain injured on the floor in such a way would be terribly scarring for the young girl. “Ianthe,” her mother’s soft voice was urgent, terrified, shaking, yet the woman was trying to stay in control and be as brave and purposeful as she could. “Ianthe look at me now to be sure. Okay now come on, get out of the car, out of the car quickly now...!”

Even as she spoke the passenger door by her side was wrenched open with venomous force. Instantly the temperature in the car plunged as the freezing rain and cold wind penetrated the interior, and the deafening sound of the downpour hammering on the sidewalk thundered around them. The shadow that had come from the other car towered over the two women, a huge, bulky figure in a thick black coat and long black denim jeans, his face obscured by a dark balaclava which left only his eyes and mouth visible. “Get out!” he roared in a gruff, guttural yell. “This is a carjack! Get out now!”

Ianthe watched wide eyed as her mother began to plead with the man, clasping visibly shaking hands before her chest. “Please, please don’t hurt us! Take the car, you can have it, but please...” A huge fist closed around her arm, and she let out a cry of pain as the hijacker began to forcibly drag her out onto the pavement.

“Mother!” The little girl jabbed at her seatbelt release button and dived for her own door, leaping out into the stinging rain. As she moved, her foot caught on the sill running along the bottom of the doorway, and she collapsed in a heap on the concrete sidewalk, the hot, salty taste of blood exploding through her mouth. But she felt no pain, the numbing cold of the torrential downpour coupled with the burning fear for her mother’s welfare blinding her mind to all other sensation. Her dress tore slightly as she righted herself and clambered to her knees, but she didn’t care. “Mother!”

Mother was lain on the floor, blood pouring from a deep gash on her shoulder where she had fallen too. Her fur was soaked with the freezing rain, her bushy tail limp and bedraggled, her hair plastered to her face and dripping with rivers of water. Rivers also ran from her eyes, her face contorted into a horrific mask of fear, anguish and pain as the shock of the situation overwhelmed her. The attacker stood over her like some dark, ominous obelisk, the gun still hanging in his other hand ready for use. She heard Ianthe’s call over the melee of the storm, and she rolled on the sidewalk to face her daughter. “Ianthe, run!” her shriek echoed down the black road. “Just run!”

Behind her, the hijacker raised his weapon...

Ianthe could not move as the shot rang out. She simply sat, immobile, on her knees on the hard pavement, blood streaming from her nose and mingling with the raindrops, as her mother fell before her. Her glittering, emerald eyes were wide, staring blankly at the woman’s fiery red hair, now stained a much darker, deeper shade of red as it dropped into the gutter.

A tear formed in the corner of those brilliant, gleaming eyes, then another, but she did not break down. Breathing hard, she slowly leaned forward and crawled on her hands and knees over to her mother’s lifeless body, her green dress snagging and tearing a little more on the hard paving stones around her, and her knees grazing and scraping on their edges. Gently she reached out, touching her mother’s scarred shoulder lightly, as if attempting to wake her from sleep.

More tears fell, and her hands began to shake, but still she did not collapse in misery. Her dress ripped and dirtied by the grime of the gutter, and her beautiful long, silky hair plastered flat to her form by the scathing downpour, she simply sat back on her haunches, wrapping her thick tail around her knees and clasping her palms together in her lap. Slowly, her head rose, those deep, penetrating green eyes ascending to the dark, bulky figure in the balaclava stood just a few feet away.

Her gaze met the barrel of a gun. He stood over her menacingly, the weapon levelled squarely at her forehead between her eyes, his finger resting on the trigger ready to pull. She didn’t flinch. Instead, her vision simply continued it’s journey upward, coming to rest on his face and his own eyes glaring down at her through the small window in the fabric hood covering his head. Still her hands shook, still her tears fell, but still she did not break down, her small body exuding a quiet, calm control, overruling her anguish and fear and keeping her calm throughout. And there she sat, watching the man with her piercing, unblinking eyes, waiting for the moment of her death.

“Jackson, what’s the hold up?” A voice from the other car, the details of it’s owner obscured in the darkness behind the bright headlights which still beamed from it’s front grille, illuminating the macabre scene. The man in the balaclava flinched, his finger tightening on the trigger, but still he did not shoot.

“Jackson, get your butt in that freaking car! We gotta get out of here before anyone sees us!”

By now, the balaclava’s hands were shaking slightly, the gun wavering from it’s aim minutely as it’s owner seemed to struggle with something unseen. His lips tightened and thinned, as if he were squaring his jaw beneath his head covering, and the breath through his nose became somewhat ragged and uneven. And still the girl sat, quiet, calm and unmoving, staring up at him with glittering, tearful eyes.

It was over in an instant. A loud CLICK coarsed across the steady drumming of raindrops on the sidewalk as the gun’s safety catch was engaged, and the weapon was retracted into the hijacker’s belt. Stepping past Ianthe with a long stride, the man leapt into the red saloon car, slammed the door and roared off into the bitter night, closely followed by the second vehicle and the unseen driver within. The gleaming red flare of their taillights receded down the long, straight road, before veering off at the end and disappearing around the distant corner into the shadow and the storm.

The cold, numbing rain continued to fall, easing slightly now to a continuous, soaking drizzle as the storm began to subside. The single row of lonely, desolate streetlamps between the towering monolithic buildings shone down on a dark, empty road, the flickering light reflecting on the sheen of water on it’s dull tarmac surface. And a young twelve year old girl, sodden wet and in a torn, sullied dress, sat silently shivering on the sidewalk, her head bowed to her chest, tears slowly seeping from her brilliant gemstone eyes...

...surrounded by the cold, prone forms of her parents’ bodies.

OOC: Didn’t realize how long this was until I finished it. orz Hope I didn’t bore anybody. T__T;
Btw Wraith D: Your post made me want to cry. ;__;
&& Kate, you know how much I love that pink shirt on O’shea, rofl

Wish me luck in the exams, guys. x____x; I’ll try to check back here when I can for the next two weeks. This is not an RP I’d want to be lagging behind in, haha…
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Present
Friday, 2 September 2011 (10:26 PM)

The barred door slammed shut. In the corner of the room, Volte laid atop the musky bed, limbs sprawled. His brown eyes scanned the metallic ceiling above him, soon resting on a rusty vent entrance. If he stood on his bed, then maybe...

“Will be back for ya tomorrow," O’shea whistled, twirling the large keyring on his finger as he waltzed out of the room and into a stretched passageway. “Don’t do anything stupid, or Hisk here will alert the others upstairs.”

The fox was out of sight. Before the passageway now sat a curious German Shepherd. His focus remained entirely on the criminal devil, with his head cocked to the side. Volte paid him no mind however. He continued eying the vent above him. Surely the dog would bark and awake the napping guards upstairs if he tried anything fishy - but it’s worth a shot, right? “Wonder how long I’ll be stuck here for...”

Clinks and clanks echoed above him. The guard dog hadn’t reacted to the noise at first – however its ears perked up upon the vent’s silvery cover being pulled back. Volte chuckled to himself. “Well, not too long, it seems.” He managed to catch a glimpse of the figure pulling back the cover before it pulled back again – a slender, azure opossum face. Volte's lips cured to a smile. “Hey there, babe. I knew you’d come back for me.”

Glace’s face remained hidden within the air vent. A friendly sleeved arm extended from the shadows into view. The German Shepherd began growling at this and rose to all fours, his ears sharp. “Yeah, well,” Glace said, her voice low, “I know you said you wanted to try some solo carps earlier, but for now on... let’s just stick together, okay?”

"Sure thing, babe." Volte rolled to his feet and intertwined his fingers with the opossum’s as she slowly pulled him up. He used his free hand for support along the insides of the air vent. "Heh, looks like I’m gonna miss my big meeting tomorrow."

"Meeting?"

"Apparently I have some interrogation to attend to tomorrow, but eh. Doesn’t really matter anymore."

The dog was now barking loudly. When Volte was halfway into the vent, he crawled his way into the rest, and the two departed quickly, mindful of the clattering footsteps heard from below them. "So," Volte whispered, "You still got the dough with you from earlier?"

Glace giggled. "Of course. Buddy's got them. He's waiting by the vent entrance for us."

"That's a good bird."

--

Clink.
With a shove, the barred metal cover separating the air vent from the outside world popped off. The cockatoo dashed out straight ahead, carrying the plastic bag of rubies by his talons. The opossum emerged next, dusting herself off, followed by Volte. The two merely watched their bird companion fly off without them once completely out in the open. "Buddy's got the right idea," Volte commented, "We chill around here any longer, those guards will catch us. Let's skedaddle."

The thieves took off after Buddy as the double doors to the jailhouse burst open, almost as if on cue. Three half-awake coyote cops clustered around the entrance, eager to be the first one to give chase, bickering, shoving one another into the narrowness. One armed wrist managed to squeeze through the others and fire a bullet skyward from its pistol, which then dropped to the floor from recoil. However, before even one of them could jostle through the other two bimbos into the open, the marsupial thieves were gone.

As the two made their way down the dirty streets and ruination, they could not help but yield to one particular apartment complex – the very same one Matt had charged into. A couple of midnight-black cars had been parked inadvertently before the tower, but the thieves paid no mind to this, only scanning the tower itself top to bottom. “Is this it?” Volte asked, slowly approaching the broken entry door. “Still haven’t gotten used to your place yet.”

“Nah, Volte! Come on, we’ve been living together for a week now!” Glace continued to walk down the road, passed the devil. “You remember my hotel has graffiti of a gangster hippo on it… right?”

“Oh, right… haha. My bad, hun.” Volte hopped off the apartment’s porch towards the opossum and the two took off once more.

Minutes later, they darted into a rundown hotel, very similar to Matt’s apartment complex – save for the ridiculously giant hippopotamus spray-painted all over the walls. Buddy, already inside, hovered beside the elevators straight ahead, waiting for his companions to hurry along. As they slowed to a walk, Glace glanced to the manager’s desk, left of the cockatoo. “Grant?”

“Probably ran off. What, with the new druggies and mobsters that came here yesterday, I’m not surprised.”

“Pfft, he was always a wimp,” Glace scoffed as the two entered the dented elevator door. The lights inside flickered as the doors closed and slowly ascended skywards. Volte casually stood by the elongated glass window revealing the outside world with his arms loosely folded atop his stomach, barely touching the tip of his bandana drooping from his neck. Glace leaned her elbow atop the halved handrail and examined her nails. One had torn.

“So,” Volte said once the elevator finally opened up. Buddy charged ahead once more, yielding beside a certain door as the two stepped out. “Tell me again why you refuse to move in with me. I mean, come on… This place is pretty disgusting.”

The two marsupials strolled down the hallway. “Well, you remember my parents booted me out last year, right?” Glace replied, rolling her eyes, “Couldn’t handle living with a kleptomaniac was their excuse. Oh, what if the cops find us? What if we get charged with jail too? Oh, don’t worry honey, we still love you – but if you don’t stop this nonsense soon…” Glace shrugged, casually. “Eh. At least they didn’t turn me in or something. Anyhoo, this was the first places I turned to, actually. Wasn’t as bad-looking back then. Grant didn’t notice me snag the room at first, but when he found out, he threatened me with 911. I threatened him back with a knife across his throat and he hasn’t bothered me since.” Glace cracked a smile. With the knob in reach, she withdrew a small key from her pants’ butt pocket and undid the lock. “That being said, this is where I’ve been stashing all my loot… you know damn well that we’d get caught if we tried to move out, eh honey?”

Buddy remained in his spot, eying the devil, as if waiting for a cue. Noticing this, Volte held out his gloved hands, palms up. The cockatoo then hastily dropped the bag of gems in his fingers and bolted inside the one-roomed home passed Glace, perching himself atop the oblong flat-screen TV sitting beside one of the room’s two beds. Glace, letting out an enormous yawn, switched on the dim lights and made her way towards the bed opposite of Buddy, somewhat mindful of the stolen goodies scattered across the floor. “Long, long day today…” Carelessly dropping the room key to the floor, she slumped face-up atop the fluffy blankets and slid her sunglasses down to her eyes.

Volte closed the door behind him as he entered in. He then halted upon reaching the center of the room, eyes on Buddy and the TV. There was no other place to put it – the walls were cluttered with paintings overlapping one another, stashed boxes of all sorts creeping from beneath the beds into the open, the closets waiting to burst open if even nudged. The TV itself was far too elongated to even fit atop the burgundy dresser, which was also already topped with various treasures and finds. Catching an open spot atop the dresser, Volte—“Now to get some rest.” —tossed over the bag of rubies and moved onto his own bed as well. The bag collapsed atop the edge of the dresser and subsequently toppled over, pouring out a sea of shimmering red to the carpeted floor. “…I’ll clean that up later,” Volte said, kicking off his shoes.

Glace grunted and rolled to her feet, eyes halfway open beneath her shades. “If someone were to break in, they’ll be able to snag the rubies in a second, ya twit. These are worth so much more than the other junkies here…” She briskly gathered the fallen gems, placed them back into the plastic bag, and returned back to her bed. There, she knelt down and crawled into the box-maze beneath her mattress, burrowing into one in the corner and dropping off the rubies there. Immediately after scooting herself back out, she hopped atop her bed and was dead asleep in seconds.

For a moment, Volte merely kept his eyes on the sleeping beauty across him. So peaceful. It’s so ironic, he thought to himself, it’s like she’s completely unaffected by the impending Broadcast. Not even worried. It’s like nothing to her at all. I just hope she remains just as carefree and fun once it hits…

The devil let out a sigh and ambled to the bathroom.

---

Hotel room
Saturday, 3 September 2011 (12:23 am)

What seemed like a miniature quake struck the complex. Glace was tossed out of her bed, landing on top of a box that had slid out from beneath her. Buddy fluttered from corner to corner before finally resting back on the TV. Volte too jolted awake, rapidly glancing from side to side. He cracked open the blinds and peered outside the window beside him to see glowing smoke lit from the street lamps emerging from several buildings down the road. “Looks like someone bombed it.”

“B-bomb!?” Glace shrieked, jumping out of the box almost as quickly as she had fallen into it. She dusted herself off of the small gems that had tagged her clothing and approached the blinds. “Yowza, things are starting to heat up quite a bit.” She shot a determined glance at Volte, to which Volte furrowed his brows in bewilderment. “We should go there.”

“W-what!? Glace—we have no business there. If it seriously was bombed…”

“Aww, come on! Those aren’t the words of a badass thief!” She began to tug on his arm, with fire in her eyes. “It’s the perfect chance, the perfect opportunity to—”

“Are you even listening to yourself, hun?” Volte hopped out of the bed, much to his chagrin. He maintained a calm composure as he spoke to the opossum, hiding away that tinge of worry he had – that perhaps this bombing would soon spread to other complexes such as…

“I am, I am! But… okay, fine, after we snag some loot, we can help look for survivors or whatever, if that’s what’s buggin you. O-or we can just get out of there if things get too heated up. Okay, babe?” A warm smile spread across her lips. “You’re too nice, Volte. Hehe.”

Volte forced a tired chuckle. “You were so sleepy not too long ago—hell, I still am, and now you’re all riled up. That’s so cute.” He repressed a sigh. Ugh, blast. Just when we finally got ourselves some rest, someone had to come along and screw everything up… But I can’t say no to those eyes… Goddammit.

Buddy sat atop Glace’s shoulder as she lifted her sunglasses back off her eyes. “But there’ll probably be cops. Oh! Maybe we can get you on parole or something if we show that we’re helping out someone. They won’t try to kill us for breaking you out!”

Volte shrugged with a smile, eyes rolled towards the ceiling. “You’re too risky for your own good sometimes, Glace.”

“Hey, come on! Life’s an adventure! Better have fun with it while we still can, eh Volte?” She delicately stroked her finger along Volte’s arm as she moved towards her door and out the room, humming softly to herself all the while. “I’d rather die than live a boring life without chances, danger, challenges, fun stuff.”

“Glace?”

She darted for the elevator down the hall. Volte could hear the elevator call button being mashed multiple times while still in the room. He knelt down, swiped the room key from where Glace had dropped it, and proceeded out of the room. He took his time, lightly whistling as he locked the door and headed over to where Glace danced around the button frantically, eager for the elevator to crack open. The two were soon out on the streets once more.

---

Crime scene, 12:48 AM

There it was – the apartment complex was completely engulfed by thick clouds of fog. The two thieves crept along the backside of the burning tower, seeking out a back entrance of some sort. “There should be one here,” Glace murmured, “A fire escape exit… hurr… but then there’ll be lots of people, assuming they—”

“Police! Police are here…! Will any civilians or survivors please make themselves known. NOW!” a voice rocketed from the other side of the building.

“And we can’t go through the front either. Cops are already here too.”

Volte snickered, “It’s that blue cop again. We keep running into him. Gotta keep careful, Glace. He’s probably not alone.”

(OOC: I should be asleep right now, but...I got an idea for Cody.  I'll hold off on Liayra's part for now...not like she's going anywhere soon...in either timeline. XP)IC: Present, Saturday 3 September 2011 12:23 AM:Several miles away from ground zero of the apartment bombing, the ground still shook, but not as dramatically.  A cloaked figure startled and darted back into the shadows of an alley.   Several minutes later, he reemerged, cautiously slinking from one shadow to another.  Whatever that was was not nearby...and anyway, it would likely be attracting all the attention...away from him.  Which he liked just fine.  Not that there was anybody out right now anyway...anybody with any sense that is.  Not that that mattered much to him.  He had no choice in the matter...what with being homeless and all.His stomach complained loudly in his ears.  The small figure crept closer to his goal...a local small food store.  The store was closed, but that didn't matter...he had his own way in.  making his way stealthily toward the side of the building, he entered a concealed hole in the ground...which lead into the building, coming out within a janitor's closet.  The grocery was a small one...and didn't have much in the way of a budget for repairs.  They didn't even realize that the hole within the closet led anywhere...much less outside...much less that it was the personal highway of a local sneaktheif.  It was no wonder the place was only barely staying in business.  The cloaked figure cautiously emerged from his closet into the darkened building, although, once inside he didn't really need to be stealthy.  What security equipment the store had was old and mostly broken...the alarm connected to the infrared sensors didn't even work anymore. The small thief made his way leisurely way around the darkened isles.  When his "shopping" was done, the goods stashed within the cloak, he made his way back to the closet, readopting his covert manner.  He couldn't afford to have his entry point discovered by any security camera that happened to still be working.  Once he was again outside, he darted off down the alley and scaled a fire-escape into an abandoned building and darted up the decaying stairway onto the roof.  From there, the figure darted along a wooden plank that spanned from one roof to another, and ducked back down another stairwell into a small room in the next building. Glancing around, he deposited his loot on a small wooden box and settled into a pile of ragged sheets.  Only then did he drop the hood of the cloak he was wearing, revealing the turquoise-furred face of a coatimundi, framed by an unrully mop of yellow hair.  He was young...only about 12 years old.  His first name was Codeo; he couldn't remember any kind of last name, but he most often was known just as Cody...not that anybody even knew he existed.  He liked to keep it that way, too.The youth looked at his stash with satisfaction, grabbing a piece of bread and wolfing it down.  The rest of the food he stashed in the crate.  No telling when he would need it.  He had only stolen food...not bothering with trying to find anything in the registers...not that there would be anything in there at this hour anyway.  He didn't LIKE the fact that he had to steal...but...it was better than starving.  He then curled up in the moth-eaten sheets to sleep...one ear still open in case he had to wake quickly and flee.Future: Within the rebel compound, a commotion broke out."Hey!  You scamp!  Get back 'ere wit' that!"A flash of turquoise dissappeared up a stairway, and into a storage room, followed closely by an ornery badger with shaving cream over half his face.  The turquoise coati found himself clinging to a rusty chain near the cieling of the room...something left over from when the building had still been a warehouse.  He glanced at his prize...and grimmaced.  Why had he stolen THIS?! Ew.The badger stormed in, fuming below him.  "Hey, yew!  I NEED that!  Git down here!"Cody made a face. "Here.  I don't want it anymore.  You c'n have it back."  With that he dropped the shaving-cream-covered razor, which the badger fumbled to retreave."Nex' time I catch youse stealing my razor, I'll--""Won' happen again!  Promise! I didn' wan' it anyway."The badger stormed out of the room, grumbling, as Codeo dropped to the floor, whiping his hand on his dingy shorts.  Why'd I steal THAT?!  Lousy Broadcast...  Though Codeo was living with the rebels...he wasn't exactly immune to the Broadcast.  Then again, neither was he one of the affected laypersons.  His was a strange case.  Instead of preventing criminal behavior, the Broadcast had caused something in his brain to go haywire.  Before the Broadcast, he had only stolen what he needed to survive...Now...Now he stole anything he could get his hands on.  Even useless garbage like a used shavig-razor.  He couldn't stop himself.  It was really kinda annoying.TBC(OOC: Yeesh...that got long.  And now the sun is up...I have been up all night. XD;)

OOC: xD xD Awesome posts all round, people! Geez, where do I even begin?

Kim, from your posts I would swear you're a part of the Russian mob. =O Don't deny it, your writing is downright fantastic and your characters have such distinctive voices. Fantastic stuff, all around. Now I feel bad for making little Sasha cry with my explosion. ='(

Vi, Liayra continues to be a really, really intriquing character and Cody is just genius. Going from barely stealing just to survive to stealing EVERYTHING. That little scamp is going to cause some problems in the future, eh? xD

Kate, I cannot understate how much I love O'Shea and Athena. Such distinctive characters who really work well off each other. You've got the cop partners vibe going perfectly. Oh how I can't wait to see what kind of mischief O'Shea gets into!

Rex! Your characters! I LOVE THEM n_n Two bit thieves who are exceedingly good at their jobs and have little remorse for it, but at the same time not depressingly serious about it. Quality, quality stuff. I especially love how Glace just effortlessly breaks into the prison and busts Volte out. Funny stuff. And very well described on their room, you painted such a vivid scene. All around quality stuff. Also, best of luck on your exams! I know you'll do amazing. <3 Try not to stress on them!

Wraith... where do I even begin? Seriously. YOU MAKE ME CRY WITH YOUR FANTASTIC WORDS OF GENIUS. Seriously, epicly written. Perfect description. You build our hopes up just to knock us back down. Ianthe nuu *hugs her* =((((( You people make me feel so emotional about this rp, I swear. God, it's been such a rollercoaster so far.

Also, I'll keep on digging that hole because we're digging for GOLD AND OIL HERE, PEOPLE! =DDDD

IC:
The Future: Friday, 3rd September 2021: 1:11am

Maria was startled by the loud complaining noise above her. She turned her attention to the source of the sound, finding a turquoise furred coatimundi with a mess of yellow hair descend to the floor from some of the dangerous rusty chains still hanging from the ceiling. She sighed loudly. No doubt the boy had gotten himself in trouble yet again.

"Codeo!" she exclaimed, surprising the man. "Just what in the hell do you think your playing at?"

"Oh, er, nothing..." Cody quickly denied, looking around for a quick exit. "Just playing around with Mick, y'know... badger needs to learn how to chill out. We was just playing a game."

"Why don't I believe you...?" Maria sighed, rubbing her face from the tension. She walked up to him and grabbed him by the ear, dragging him towards where she had once stood and addressed the new arrivals. "Look, Codeo, we've got some new guests here. I'd appreciate it if you could help me show them around here, help oblige them with anything they need."

Codeo shrugged. Maria was about to reprimand him some more, when they noticed Liayra wander off in the direction of the showers Matthew had shown earlier. She recognised her from a time long since past, and was surprised to find that the lupine didn't recognise her. She couldn't really blame her however, considering everything that they had been through. Introductions could be made later.

"So guys, my name is Maria. Can I help you guys to any food?" Maria asked with a warm smile, as she addressed the rest of the freed prisoners, in particular bending down to focus her attentions on Neo Lucie and Sasha. They were so young... it broke her heart to see children like this involved in such a world as the one they lived in.

The Present: Saturday, 3rd September 2011: 12:52am

His whole body felt like it was on fire. He couldn't move. It just hurt so damn much.

But, if it hurt... if he could register pain at all, then that meant he was alive.

But was that a good or bad thing? He didn't know, but he suspected all would be made clear soon enough.

Matt began to register that there was something on top of him, something heavy that was pinning him down. As he gingerly opened his eyes to a sea of red and orange flame coming from the rubble and ruin that was once his apartment flat, he noticed that a side of the wall leading to the hallway was all but nonexistant anymore, the concrete wall and wooden door lying all around him in a million pieces. He could barely see through the flames and smoke littering his flat that the outwards wall facing the street was also long gone, lining the city streets below. Maybe that'd help to remove some of the smoke from the area, who knew. He was more concerned with what was happening to him now, and he found that he was trapped by a small piece of concrete flooring from the ceiling above and down on top of him. It was trapped upon his chest, making it difficult to breathe, even moreso with the black and raspy smoke that poured into the landing. Above him, he could see cracks emerging in the ceiling from the holes and multiple floors above. This building didn't look like it'd last much longer before the whole thing collapsed. Wiseman's bomb was powerful, which made Matt question all the more how he managed to survive it.

He was alive for now, but if he didn't get out of here soon than his good fortunes would not last long.

He tried to lift the beam up from his chest using his arms, to no avail. His right one wouldn't move at all, bleeding rather severely in a puddle of sticky red liquid.

'Perfect...' Matt thought to himself. He tried to struggle lifting it with his left, but the weight was far too much for a single arm to lift. He strained and strained, but got nowhere other than to near point of exhaustion and a sudden throbbing of pain in his head. Where Wiseman had punched him... his serated blade glove had also left several small incisions and cuts across his face. Godamn that sodding crow. He had only wanted to have been done with any dealings with that man now, but the bastard just wouldn't let things go.

“Police! Police are here…!” O’shea shouted as he entered the building,
stepping on rubble and glass shards as he flickered his stances to
observe all angles of the vicinity “Will any civilians or survivors
please make themselves known. NOW!”

Matt groaned. If it wasn't the mention of police alone, Matt was sure he almost recognised that voice. He could hear the multitude of screaming from the residents who were still inside fleeing down the banisters and out of their rooms towards the exit. O'Shea was only a few scants floors below him. It wouldn't be long before he caught up to Matt.

'Gotta get out of here now...' Matt mentally focused himself. If not to make sure he wasn't arrested, if not for saving his own life, than for that of his wife and daughter that bastard Wiseman had threatened.

Matt painfully lifted his knees and legs up, trying to brace them against the large concrete rubble. Finding the right spot of leverage, Matt tried to lift the rubble off his body using his legs. He strained and struggled, howling in pain as he exerted al off his strength to lift the damn piece of debris off his body. Slowly, but surely, he succeeded. His mighty cheetah legs kicked the piece of debris off of his body, sending it through the wooden hallway flooring and into the floors of the building below.

Matt weakly picked himself off the floor, clutching his bleeding right arm with a wince of pain. He was fading out, about to black out completely. But he couldn't afford to pass out now. He had to make sure he got out of there before the cop found him-

"Freeze!"

The exact words Matt had been dreading to hear.

"Hands above your head, now! Don't think I don't recognise you there, spots!" O'Shea defiantly called out, his weapon trained on Matt's back. Matt slowly turned around to face the multi-blue coloured fox hybrid with the unforgettable mohawk and shades and -wait, was he wearing a pink shirt? Focus- sighed a deep sigh.

"Officer... I don't suppose you'll believe me when I say I'm the victim of this whole affair?" Matt weakly asked.

"Just put your hands above your head! I'm not taking any chances with you, buddy!" O'Shea shouted out.

"I can't even move my right arm, so I'm not going to be able to lift any hands above my head anytime soon..." The cheetah said weakly. His vision was blurring, but at the same time he couldn't afford to be caught. Not here, not now. "Look, I'd love to stay and chat, but seriously..."

"Don't even think of moving a muscle, bud!" O'Shea shouted out, his body tensing up for whatever would come next.

"...I really don't have the time for this." Matt finished, turning and sprinting towards the staircase upwards. O'Shea fired a shot, and credit to his aim, he hit Matt square in his right shoulder. But the cheetah didn't drop, he kept running, climbing up the wooden staircase.

"Oh c'mon!" O'Shea lamented, as he began pursuing Matt, but just as he was about to climb the staircase after him, the wooden steps collapsed from the smoking fire and fell to the floor below in a loud crash. "Nuts!"

He was blocked from following Matt, but at the same time Matt was now trapped in the building, still running up towards the rooftop.

Matt was having a really long, really bad day.

(OOC: Heeheehee...exactly @ Cody. No time to post right now...I have GOT to get back on a semi-normal sleep-schedule...so I'll be going to bed now. XD; )

OOC: Thanks Ash. Glad you approve xD good handling on O'shea there and all. Excellent in fact... I could not fault it. Always nice to see other people write out OC's within their capable hands like yours.
Lol this Pink shirt joke is getting hilariously out of hand xDDDDD

Ok snagging a spot for the 'Matt building' update. So get lost... kidding ^^; just am writing a post and don't want my scene ninja'd toooo too badly 😉

Present Saturday 12th September 2011 1:00AM

The femme fennec Athena, who donned a pastel blue police shirt, a black skirt, knee high white socks and some heavy-duty ankle boots carefully prowled around the apartment periphery. The apartment was run down enough as it sat within confined perimeters such that there was not much space between the shadow covered alley-ways and adjacent concrete complexes.

She walked over to the one of the dark passage-ways on the side entrance of the building- carefully turning her head on either shoulder as she surveyed the shadowed tainted, murky and vandalised surroundings. There were brick walls and crude railings that proliferated into the polluted sky. Unkempt garbage dumpsters and skips spilling overdue litter, and destroyed construction material were left sprawled on the floor from the earlier blast made up her current surroundings.

She could suddenly here a cascade of screams and cries as the apartment’s residents frantically evacuated the scene. A frenzy of cries from families and single individuals, as well as shouting and cursing in different languages and harsh dialects invaded the air.

By law it would probably be her duty to order these individuals out in a systematic and authorative fashion. However, given the chaos and ‘fright and flight’ mode they were likely experiencing- there seemed to be little point. Besides, people living in these unsophisticated and rough council estate dwellings were likely to be minging drug dealers and other illegitimate crooks. Infected with AIDS and hepatitis B or C. She honestly didn’t want to get too close for what it was worth.

She looked up to the burning apartment, several floors above. Her face carried a sense of sternness and indifference as the flames began to infiltrate their way across the neighbouring apartments. As it was, however, the devastating inferno was most critical from the one brazened apartment she cast her green eyes upon.

SMASH!

A cascade of glass shards suddenly fired out from behind her, splintering in all directions but well away from her reach.

Athena whipped her stance around.

“ouch… damn…!” a stoat landed clumsily on his knees, wincing from the crude landing and glass splinters that got imbedded into his jeans and scathed his face with gashes. His concern seemed more fixated upon a bag of powder and syringes.

Athena stormed up to the fallen escapee, and clicked the glock as she aimed it towards his temporal artery.

“My my. A junkie caught on the scene.”

The stoat turned a trembling face to look at the cop before him- fear pulsating through his veins as he carelessly flicked his eyeballs in all directions as if deliberating to escape. Or stay put.

Athena answered his questions by kicking him in the stomach so that he heaved and flopped over with his back in the air.

She swooped down and cuffed his wrists in a second

“…nyaaaaaa!!!” He cried in agony “just dun’ take my stash maaaan! Dun take mah stash!!!”

“For “)*$” sake listen to you!!!” she shouted, shooting a bullet which *kachinged* off the pavement right next to the stoat’s face and deflected inches away from his face to the sky.
The stoat continued to shake. Crying pathetically. His eyes dilated in a hungry fashion. More for the drugs.

“Tell you what…” she said with a hint of diplomacy as she reached out and secured the drug items “I’ll arrange for you to get clean as opposed to doing time if you tell me who resides in that apartment up there?”

________________

Inside the complex

O’shea tutted as he watched a frantic, but sturdy cheetah tear his way through the Fahrenheit increasing blast furnace. What was more mind boggling was the fact that it wouldn’t have been O’shea’s first choice of escape. That is, if Matt was wanting to exit the building. Even if he did find some clearing towards the top levels of the apartment where the fires had not reached those areas- he’d be killed eventually. Unless he planned on roof-hurdling across the city. However, he barely seemed fit to walk- let alone run and jump.

So his resilience as of yet was astonishing to say the least.

If not stupid.

“Dirty cat!” O’shea called out with a smile as he watched him scramble further up the staircase “where are you going?” he shouted and smiled.

“…was gonna go easy on ya… but to be frank… all your runnin’ away makes me dammed suspicious of ya.”

“What’s your deal?! … cat?!?”

O’shea knew he wasn’t actually going to get an answer. Least of all from him. However, taunting an escapee was his form of release during times of frustration.

O’shea slammed his fist against a glass cavern and wrenched a fire extinguisher from the wall.

“…you can run but you can’t hide…” he simpered, turning around to find another route to the top levels in order to pursue Matt.

__________________________________________________

Elsewhere in the apartment

SMAAAAAAAAASH!!!!

The window pane fissured and disintegrated within seconds- leaving the shards, chips and glass splinters to fall against the floor and dance momentarily before settling upon the ground. Gleaming from the moonlight outside and distant hallway fires on the bedroom floor.

Shortly after, Athena swung herself in and landed with a careful thud against the ground. The same boots, one of which she used to kick the window open, acting as shock absorbers on landing.
She got up and inspected the scene.

The bed was unmade and wall paper wilted off the walls to reveal cracks and old brickwork. She wrinkled her nose at the run down appearance and unkempt nature of the room. No one had even bothered to hang up a pile of washing sat on the floor.

“Psh…” she muttered, pulling out a small flashlight to clarify certain dark surroundings.

She stopped in her shoes, her ears twitching for certain sounds.

Wondering.

Was anyone following her?

She dismissed the thought and turned her narrowing eyes to take in the sight of a scrawled piece of paper on the dressing room table.

She put on a latex glove with a snap. Wary of leaving finger prints anywhere in the apartment. With her left handed flashlight and her latex gloved right hand, she picked up the piece of paper which had a childish, character scrawled message inked in faded blue pen.

“Dear Gladdiis,
You be sure you tell that cheater cat, MATT, to kindly pay his rent now please. I tell him twice and still he pay me no rent. Also, he out the house when I knock on door. Stupid cat. You be a good wife Gladdiis and ask cat to pay rent, yes?
Ok thanking you bye bye
Tybalt”

“Not paying your rent Matty?” Athena smirked as she cast her eyes to the side in reflection. Given the day’s events, the suspect, the explosion, the subject addressed on the letter- all the findings were providing a somewhat overwhelming evidence to a character she’d been trying to nail for a long time now.

She was pretty sure this 'Tybalt' guy, perhaps the landlord, was referring to the cheater she had seen earlier that day.

“… is that why your overdue boiler blew this apartment?” she wondered out loud, exercising that theory as a cause of the fire but not taking it too seriously as a possibility at all.

She placed the letter back into position and kicked one of the bedroom doors open to wander into a branching hallway of the complex. Stepping on stone, rubble and glass with a crunch.

“…if you’re still alive I want answers.”

____________________________________________________________

Roof complex

The last bolts of adrenaline rushes were what was keeping Matt going on this fine line for survival. Fright or flight motion pummelling him towards a blind escape. In spite of all the pummelling he had received himself. Everything throbbed and left sporadic, crushing pains throughout his limbs with the greatest toll upon his head.

The need, if dire in chance, was strong nonetheless.

The cheetah finally ascended to the outside apartment roof. The cold air offered him temporary relief when it hit him on slamming the steel door open. Escaping the imposing and overwhelming fiery humidity for now which had been intoxicating his lungs.

Matt instinctively darted towards the edge of one of the buildings. The next nearest building was at least 5 meters across.

The hurdle would not be impossible.

But was it practical?

Given his condition?

WHAM!!

Another twin set of steel doors from another exit suddenly slammed wide open. Almost knocked off its hinges as a figure emerged from the red-huey opening.

“Man… all that heat nearly fried my shirt…!” O’shea cupped his hands and shouted, shortly after flinging the empty fire-extinguisher canister aside. It clattered and clanged upon landing, before rolling off to one side in abandonment.

O’shea narrowed his grey pale eyes and began to take some menacing footsteps towards Matt. Each footstep a pounding echo which practically drowned out the roaring fire.

Matt exhaled in exhaustion and exasperation, before switching his gaze back to the adjacent building top.

“…oh no… you’re not seriously thinking off…” O’shea read his thoughts, hesitating as he stopped in his foot tracks.

“Officer… I’ll do WHATEVER it takes!” Matt seethed as he shouted.

“Come on now… let’s not be stupid here…!” O’shea called back, pulling out his glock but keeping it out of sight whilst Matt had his back turned. Indeed if he were to try anything stupid, the Officer would act first. Matt was already compromised and gridlocked as it was.

He’d shoot him in the kneecap this time. Not be stupid like last time and shoot him in the shoulder. Stop him from moving. This guy was too persistent.

He knew an orthopaedic surgeon who could fix him up afterwards for what it was worth.

“You can’t turn back from where you came, you’ll get scorched as hell…” O’shea mused as his smile widened “and my exit is blocked too. Used the last of the fire extinguisher…”
Matt narrowed his eyes with frustration. His cranium throbbing from the excruciating pain. As well as angrily thinking what the hell this cop was trying to achieve by stating the obvious.

“And if we stay here all night… I guess we’re gonna buuuuuuuuuurn like hellfire!” O’shea practically sang.
Matt swished his tail in disgust, moving his eyes to the side in spite of the fact his back was still turned and he could still not see the cop.

He had to focus the last of his conscious attention for assessing whether sprinting to the other building was feasible.

“You really aren’t doing yourselves any favours,” the Officer continued tilting his head to one side as if to pity the heavily wearied cheater.

“You’ve made yourself look suspicious cat! First by evading the bar incident, and then my colleague- O’quinn- said she’d seen you somewhere before…” O’shea explained, beginning to lift his gun and training it on Matt’s leg.

Silence continued to dominate the scene. With a pained, anxious and yet composed escapee in the form of Matt continuing to judge his pitfall scenario- and O’shea trying to analyse any change of motive from the pattern of his body language. With his back turned, however, it was impossible to tell.

“I don’t know what you’re hiding from. Son,” O’shea said as a last resort in a calm manner “but running away from it won’t help.”
Another wave of silence suspended the scene. Heavy and suffocating.

The scene spiralled around two grid-locked figures.

Ready to combust from the tension.

One ready to jump.

One ready to pull the trigger.

“You in…?” O’shea asked.

“…or out?”