Log Info
Title: Rise of the Beat Boxers
Emitter: Camille
Characters: Linus Young & Sunday Knight
NPCs: Beat Boxers, The Sonic Youth, Mind Controlled Innocents
Place: Cove City Mall, Cove City
Time: June 26, 2010 - Evening
Summary: Linus and Sunday spend an evening at the mall, only to witness an impromptu dance number go very awry.
It's a Saturday evening, and all is right with the world. School work is at a low, and free time isn't as rare as what some students would have worried with the coming of school. Really, all and all, it's the perfect time to go the Mall! In fact, the local Cove City Shopping Center was hosting a summer series to bring out people far and wide. The hours have been extended, and every shop seemed to have an outdoor stand selling it's wares. And the Food Court! What had once been the drabbest of drab mall food has become a world market! Dozens of little carts offer succulent dishes for low prices, with plenty more food to hand out. And it has been working out. The place is /packed/. Old people, young people, business men and hippies. If someone had a pulse and a free hour or two, they visited this place. Because really, who could give up free-samples-from-around-the-world?'.
Who would give up the chance to get free food? Well, COMMUNISTS, that's who! And seeing as how Sunday Knight is no commie, and anything with even the remote possibility of free food is to a student very similar to the call of the Sirens to Odysseus - and potentially as full of peril, depending on the food source - she grabbed her boyfriend and dragged him out to the forbidden wasteland of The Mall. Now wandering down one of the packed walk-ways with one arm wrapped around the young man's and the other hauling a few shopping bags, Sunday looks about as cheerful as any young woman who just spent unwise amounts of money on clothing, accessories, and make-up should be expected to be. Maybe even more-so! Leaning her head in to Linus' shoulder, she's eying another stall when the whiff of food catches her nose. "Oh! Something smells /so/ good. Wanna go eat??"
Linus is here with his first love. They say you never forget your first love, your first kiss, etc etc etc. Do they say, wonders the boy to himself as he walks along with Sunday, if you never forget the first time your girlfriend drags you out to go shopping? Thoughts of all the stereotypes dance through his head. 'I'm a hunter!', thinks he. 'I should be stalking the mall for what we need and then returning to the camp.' Logical. 'But she is a gatherer.' goes the old saying, which Linus recreates in his somewhat bored mind. 'And she is gathering. Best to just pretend you're enjoying it. At least it's time with her.'. Linus makes the best of time he'd rather spend anywhere but at the mall by smiling and nodding his head, "Sure. Uh…" He gives Sunday's waist a squeeze. "Sure. It's not like there's any reason not to!"
As the power(ed) couple decide to head to food court, they will find the place buzzing. It seems the majority of the booths and tables are taken, with everybody and their mothers trying the free samples. The only empty spots seem to be Dog-on-the-stick, and other such traditional mall food, all eschewed with the more exotic fares. Ambient noise filters every which way, the sound of a couple dozen conversations providing a better white noise than the smooth jazz blaring through the loud speakers. All things considered, it's a quite typical evening, save for the slightly above average food.
The change in tone is a subtle one at first. There's a slight sound of static on the speakers, and a tropical dance hall beat that begins to emit. Something that seems to perfectly fit tonight's theme, and tons better than the filth played minutes before. Here and there a foot or two tap to the beat, and the mood seems only to become brighter. And then a teenager decked out in goth chic begins to up and dance out of nowhere, causing the group he's with to bust out laughing. The kid seems uncaring however, his haphazard movements being easily forgiven by a keen choreography and a sheer enthusiasm. In his exuberance, he bumps into a man in a suit, causing him to spill his drink. "HEY!" The Business man shouts, standing up, face growing red. "…This is how you do it." And then, he too begins to step in time to beat, almost immediately matching the dance steps of the youth. The two are soon joined by a husband and wife pair, who manage to hold onto their trays while swaying too and forth - all four in seeming sequence. As if this were an impromptu show.
Sunday is blissfully oblivious to Linus' lack of enthusiasm, so clouded by her own that she can't imagine he's not enjoying himself. Or maybe he's just a really good faker? Either way, as she is squeezed the girl smiles brightly and pops a kiss on his cheek, then heads off to the food court area. Looking around at all the lines and the crowds, she simply can't bring herself to get a hotdog when there is so much better to be had, and so Linus once again gets dragged off into the din, lined up for some Thai looking thing - along with several dozen others. She was trying to ignore the music until it very thankfully changed, and Sunday joins in the toe-tapping, leaning in to her boyfriend while she scans the crowd idly. The kid dancing catches her attention for a moment, and when he hits the other man on accident she is sure there is about to be a scuffle.. except instead, there is dancing. Her brow quirks. "… Ohmigod, do you see that? Those people are all dancing! …. Crap, are we on TV?!" Excitedly, she looks around to see if there is a hidden camera crew anywhere.
Linus is unenthusiastic until the reality of FREE FOOD finally dawns on him. Past desires to be anywhere else are suddenly cast aside. "Wow. You weren't kidding. It more than smells good. -Look- at all this stuff. I hope they brought extra." He finds himself getting pulled along, but if the lady wants to get some Thai, then it's apparent Thai is what they're getting first. He goes with it, "Wait. Which booth are we going to?" Linus: Mall Pedestrian. And then there's all the dancing, and Linus' face darkens a little, "Uh, Sunday? Something's wrong. This isn't natural. Look at their faces. They look… possessed or something."
The four quickly become eight, as a janitor throws his mop into the fountain and literally cartwheels into the procession. He finishes the flourish by taking the hand of, and subsequently dipping a cute Asian woman. A rather overweight fellow, and his equally overweight ten year old stumble into the little number, somehow moving step for step with some of the more limber dancers. By now, the entire food court have their eyes fixed to the action, people generally laughing, clapping, or taking video and pictures with their cell phones. All in all, it's a very good time to be had by all! Except, now that Linus points it out, it's pretty clear - Their faces are just a touch… too happy. And every time a new dancer join, his or her eyes flash red briefly. But there's no harm being done! Indeed, it seems the whole point was general merry making!
Possessed? "What? No, I've seen this on TV! I'm sure-" But what Linus says makes Sunday start to notice things she didn't before.. the weird looks on their faces, overly joyful and.. Did she just see that woman's eyes..? What was quite a merry expression begins to slowly turn down, Sunday holding a little tighter to Linus as she looks over the crowd, the joyful display now feeling sinister. Still, quite despite herself, Sunday finds her body sway a little, foot tapping and head bobbing before she catches herself and tries to force stillness. "Damnit, you're right, something is /definitely/ wrong here." If Linus will come with her, she keeps holds of his hand and moves towards one of the speakers, about to check where the wiring goes when she notices that she can still hear the damn lame-ass jazz. "You hear that?" she asks Linus, frowning as she scans the crowd.. and spots a certain pair of eyes. "Linus, that man," she motions with her chin before re-claiming the boy's hand if it was ever lost. She wants to make sure he has the chance to power-up. "He's /cold/. And.. he's not the only one. .. What should we do?"
Linus is confused, to say the least. He's looking around, eyes darting here and there. He squeezes Sunday's hand and doesn't let go, following the girl, much like he's done for most of the day. "Hear what? I have no idea what's going on, but I don't like it." At the mention of the cold man, Linus peers at him and frowns. "Well making people dance against their will is bad even in its own right. But this can't be good." And when Sunday asks him what he should do, he blinks. He's the experienced one? How on Earth is this even possible!? "I… I don't know! I… well, if they're… screw it. If they're dancing, then they're losing their music." Eyes narrow and he lets go of Sunday's hand to do something a little rash and probably foolish, but heroic. In other words, he acts like Linus. If one is watching thermally, one will see a LOT of heat. No matter how one observes, the immense heat energy from Linus' outstretched palms impacts against the sound system and immediately melts it to slag. Linus renders it just a puddle of molten plastic, steel, and ash. Nothing else remains. It even bubbles. "Woah."
There's a sudden WHOOOSH as one of the speakers goes up completely into dust, with the dust immediately being incinerated to something… uhm, smaller than dust. The sudden intensity of the act causes a few heads to turn, however, the vast majority still watch the performance continue. The only indication that something might be wrong is the fact the music is just a hint quieter than it had been before, with the loss of the equipment. Not everybody was so ignorant of the attack however. For out of nowhere, a man jumps at Linus - same goofy expression on face as the others, though his eyes do not stop glowing. However, he is still a relatively normal man, and his pounce goes wide, leaving Linus completely uninjured.
But it's clear they got someone's attention, for all the dancers are now staring straight at the two Steranko students.
Sunday's eyes go /wide/ as she watches Linus reduce the speakers to their sub-atomic parts, briefly shifting that astonished gaze to her boyfriend. Clearly he knows how to impress a girl. And YES, he IS the experienced one! By default, because Sunday never feels like she knows what to do at all until the punching starts. Speaking of! "Linus!!" Even though the boy is unharmed, and practically missed entirely, Sunday's heat-shield flares to life around her, mildly distorting the lines of her image. Her head snaps to the side as vision fixes on the cold figure at the bench. He seems to be the closest cold figure she's found, and he seems to have a hand in all this. So, she's going to give something a shot, on the supposition he needs to see what he's doing to do it. She tries first to overlord his vision with flickering waves of heat, only to watch the man seem to shrug it off. Frustration builds on the girls face as she tries it again, only to have her efforts ignored - again. "These cold guys /must/ be behind this," she decides, letting go of Linus' hand and beginning to push through the crowd, towards the figure.
"What the hell -is- this? Some sort of Zombie Musical?" Linus dodges the singing individual's attack and looks to Sunday, sidestepping and moving backwards with her. "The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Zombies? Rock Zombie? What -is- this?" Linus turns towards another speaker. While this time it's not as impressive as before, Linus does melt the thing to a useless pile of junk. "Do you think it's the music? I'm trying to turn it off, but there's, like, a real sound system in here!"
And down goes another speaker! And now people are starting to notice. Especially when half the dancers stop their act to lock step straight on an intercept course with Linus and Sunday - yet strangely still on beat. Almost on cue, they run forward, doing a pirouette before kicking with full force. And this isn't the normal force a person might use in fight. No this is what one would use without inhibitions whatsoever - as if they felt, or were forced to feel no remorse to the target intended. Linus is able to dodge a good deal of his, as is Sunday. However, her heat shield cannot stop the attack of a rather large man, who's steal toed boot goes straight through hitting Sunday's square in the mouth.
[OOC] Linus says, "That's how a complication is meant to work."
«Sunday Knight is STUNNED + INJURED »
And in the midst of all of this confusion, the other players in this game will appear to Linus' peripheral vision. That is, six or so grungy looking young men going around while this entire thing has happened, cutting open purses and pick pocketing those that are enjoying the show.
Sunday gets /nailed/ in the mouth with a boot heel and for a moment just sees stars as she staggers backward and hits her ass on the ground. A stream of cursing totally unbefitting the normally mild-mannered teen issues forth from her now bloody mouth even as she presses the back of her arm to it. She scrambles to her feet and, peering past her attacker and through the crowd, focuses her energy on heating the cold bastard up with the hope of dropping his focus.. only to once AGAIN have him seem to just brush it off. But she's not going to stick around for round two of Kick-a-Mutant, and breaks for the side, pushing past a few hapless on-lookers and taking cover at one of the nearby stalls, trying to make sure she still has a line-of-sight to the cold guy if she needs it.
Linus watches Sunday hit the ground. His heart leaps into his throat, but now is not the time. I mean, she's getting up. Sunday can take care of herself. Linus wades through the group. "How is this even possib… oh shit." He watches some petty thieves in the back of the crowd as they begin to pickpocket the group. "No. -No- This is just… screw this." He moves into the safety of the booth and touches the man inside! It's going to be glorious! He'll have the powers for himself! He'll… "Wait, what? It's a -robot-!" Linus melts the thing, something he's doing a -lot- of, today. It dissolves in a steaming puddle of molten metal that eats into the floor, and Linus points his hand at the petty thieves, "There!"
"OH MY GOD THAT MAN GOT DISENTEGRATED !" Okay, nevermind the fact that there's still a puddle of metal goo there! But with all the blasting and heatwaves going on, things have largely become chaos. People are now up and running, and as quickly as the music stops, it ends. The three other cold spots easily get lost in the crowd, but the thieves that Linus have pointed out are still going, trying to get the last of what they can from the wallowing crowd. "Jack- The Beat Boxers are vamoosin'. We needta get out of here!" "And lose this score? Hell no. I didn't drop a mint on 'em to just carry out even. With this pandemonium we'll be set for months!"
And with the music gone, those poor dancers begin to regain their senses - those doing the number reaching completion for merely walking away, while those attacking Sunday and Linus just seeming to shake out of a stupor, in wonderment of how they got where they were.
Sunday peers out from around the corner of the stand she's hiding by to watch Linus.. /melt/ the cold dude. Her eyes go WIDE, about to freak out when she notices the thing seems to be, um.. made of metal? … "It's a /robot/?!" Not that anyone will hear her as she lisps out the question, but it did need to be asked. Wiping a bit of the blood from the side of her mouth, she turns attention to the pickpockets Linus pointed out and narrows her eyes, thinking perhaps her powers will be a little more damn effective against these squishies. A bit of the blood at the corner of her fat lip actually freezes as the chill hits one of the youths enough to drop him, and Sunday leans against the nearby wall and grits her teeth painfully, /forcing/ herself to do it again, felling another. She grips the wall to steady herself, pushing herself back out a few steps to better survey the scene.
Linus suddenly wishes he had an actual immunity to cold and heat. Especially heat. The fact of the matter is that the robot puddle is giving off enough convection to make the place where Linus is standing -very- uncomfortable. He nods to Sunday and follows her gaze, and then does like she, dropping another pair of Sonic Youths like yesterday's garbage, sucking the bodyheat out of them to watch them fall.
Did someone call up for four ice punks? Because that's what happens in a flash, with four of the men falling over shivering. Their bodies are slightly coated with frost, and unable to move, wallets, jewels and other stolen goods fall out from under their jackets. The two remaining's eyes remain wide as they see their numbers suddenly dwindle to near nothing. "Cover me, I'm getting the hell out of here!" "Screw that!" And like that, both begin to run, though the second stops to level a shot before fleeing towards the door.
"Oh /hell/ no!" Sunday almost growls, wincing at the way her mouth moves to form the words, but upon hearing the two ruffians conspire to get away scott-free is unwilling to accept this. She focuses on the one who has gotten the farthest, but apparently he's a feeling rather motivated to run at this point. "Argh! Linus!!" She looks over at her boyfriend imperatively. GET 'EM! For JUSTICE!
Linus stares at the fleeing goons, watching them get farther away, cold as they may be. As their dwindling body heat moves farther away, Linus simply reaches out and plucks it out of their bodies, making them fall to the ground in a mess of chattering teeth and unmoving muscles. Those two aren't going anywhere. He turns to Sunday and then runs towards her, grabbing her hand. "Are you okay? I think we'd better get out of here. -Fast-."
Sunday tries to form a smile for Linus to reassure him, but it ends up looking kinda pained and scary, what with having been kicked in the mouth so very recently. Probably not horribly reassuring, either. But she does grab hold of his hand and nod once, firmly, at the idea of getting away. And away they go!
Indeed, in the background, the sound of sirens can already be heard, even as the people run around in pandemonium. In the end, the press will have a field day with this one: "Impromptu Dance Turns Violent @ Mall" "Disintegration @ 11" "Why YOU should come to the CC Mall. The Excitement Never Ends." And on page 4: "Would be Thieves found frozen in mall."