Welcome to the consequences thread! This thread is for the backlash of those involved in the protest. Feel free to write up something and post it here, or link a thread from your folder! I have a few things cooking up myself that will be coming soon, and I would love to see what you all can come up with!



(Credit for the name goes to Dah's player. He came to me with the idea, I had already been thinking about it, and he made it that much better!)

Danny sat up in a hospital bed, the doctor's insisted on him staying to make sure he wasn't concussed or anything. He SHOULD be alright, but he took quite a beating and recovery wouldn't be a picnic. Two broken ribs, three stitches to his chin, a bruised bone in his right hand, and a litany of scrapes, bruises and gashes all over his body. The gash at his right cheekbone had swollen and was a nasty shade of a red. The painkillers they had him on though were FANTASTIC. He tongued his swollen lip as he flipped through the TV-stations, clad in one those awful hospital gowns. Waiting was the worst part. He just wanted to get out. Be around people again. Well...people who weren't doctors anyway. Danny shifted his bruised lower back aching terribly. That fat son of a bitch did a number on him.


The empath was strange. One of those, obnoxious do-it-all types of people. Leading a peaceful protest against discrimination, yet still finding time to sing to sick kids in the hospital. Accompanied by her trusty ukulele, she had just finished up singing a set of Disney songs for the kids. She wasn't an amazing singer, but she had one of those pleasant, soft voices that kids tended to eat up. It wasn't an easy job, and not one that she typically announced to those she knew, because they'd probably call her an idiot for going to a place with nothing but pain, when she could feel every bit of it. It was the type of person she was, though?obnoxious. The children bid farewell with happy?if not weak?voices, 'Bye miss Daphne.' On her way out, one of the nurses, who had also been a part of the protest and a friend of hers, had given her the news about the trusty reporter that had taken part in her protest. It wasn't long before she found her way outside of his door. With flowers from the gift shop in one hand, and her ukulele in the other. She had an expression on her face that could only be described as guilt.


He caught her arrival in his periphery. and turned to look at her. They hadn't ever really had a one-on-one conversation that wasn't an interview, he realized at that moment. A smile upturned on side of his mouth, looking her over. "Hey...if it ain't the civic leader herself."

"If I'd have known you were coming, I would've put pants on."


To say she felt his pain, would be clich?, but also true. Too true. It didn't show on her face, though. There was no need to inflict more emotions on him, so that they could be beamed right back into her. It was...a vicious cycle, to say the least. His words painted a smile onto her face as she pushed up her glasses and shook her head. "Pants aren't any fun anyways," she said with a shake of her head. Leg prisons, that's what they were! She moved into the room, setting down the vase of flowers and scooting a chair closer to him. "...hey."


He was still that same guy, smiling, happy. How much of that was the pain killers was another question, but that personality remained. He chuckled at her response. "What you doing here?" He nodded to her ukulele. "Introducing the kids to a little sex, drugs and rock n' roll?"


"Something like that," she answered with a nod, giggling herself as she sat down and rested the instrument in her lap. She looked closely at his injuries as she spoke. "Don't know a whole lot about sex, or anything other than weed, but rock and roll? Oh yeah," she snickered lightly. "If you count Under the Sea as a rock and roll song, anyways." The girl was trying not to frown, but the expression couldn't help but falter.


Danny rose his eye brows, the right one bearing mean little gash. "My god. You're not supposed to terrify the children with your death metal..." he chuckled. Danny grinned, but winced as he felt a sting of pain in his ribs. His fist clenched his sheets until it passed. Through grit teeth he cursed "Son of a....bitch...." Slowly he found his breath as the pain subsided, those blue eyes sliding shut.


There was an easy laugh, he had a way about him that made her at ease. Even when she wanted to feel guilty about his wounds, he was making her smile. "They're all good kids, most of them are fearless.." she mused. Then that shot of pain went through her just the same and her hand tightened around the neck of the instrument as she tensed up. Daphne breathed through the pain and looked at him. "You gonna tell me what happened? Or am I going to have to sing it out of you?" she lifted the ukulele as if it were a weapon of mass destruction. So serious!


He couldn't help the laugh that escaped him, it produced another little jolt of pain, but this time he didn't care. He nodded and looked to her. "Three guys jumped me outside of bar. Apparently, my article on the protests wasn't a huge hit with EVERYBODY." That was an understatement. He wasn't sure if they'd meant to kill him or just rough him up, but the trio of men were out for blood, out for vengeance, and they sure as hell made their statement.


Daph's lips formed a tight line and she couldn't help but tear her eyes away from him. She looked about ready to cry, and not because she could feel every ounce of pain that radiated off of him like a toxin. It took her a moment to get it together, but when she did, she nodded. Weak as ever. "That's what I was afraid of..." she whispered. She was stupid to think that anything good would come out of this. Now one of her people were beat up and jumped over it. She was quiet for a moment, weighing her options as her fingers strummed the cords of the instrument.


Danny watched her a moment, a frown on his face. He didn't need to be an empath to figure out what she was feeling. He just put on a sad little smile. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, you should see how they're doing right now." He said with a little snicker. Hint: they were not well. They did not exactly count on picking a fight with a man who could defend himself.


That mousy little nose twitched beneath the hug of her glasses, and she pushed them up, forcing a smile on her face. "Yeah, I bet," she said with a nod. It didn't make her feel better, but she tried not to let that show. Violence was violence, a fight was a fight, and that's what she was trying to stop. After another harsh moment, her eyes turned up to his. Jade colored with flecks of gold littering them like dust, "Hey," she said, her teeth sinking into her lip. "I really appreciate everything you've done. But, I think..." Man did she ever want to cry. "I think I should call this off before anyone else gets hurt." Daphne felt so stupid.


Danny's brow furrowed at that. He looked at her like she'd just grown a third eye. "No." he said simply. "Are you...no." He said with a little more conviction, straigthing up in his bed. "If you do that, they win. If you cave into bullies because they're willing fight dirty, then we all lose." He said, calmly, but exasperated. "Daphne..."

?You can't. You aren't." He said matter-of-factly. "Because I'm not. And you need to be there, at the front of this all. Cheering us on. Leading us. Giving us hope." Danny softened a bit. He'd seen bullies in his life. Seen what happens when people try to use fear to get their way. Try to use violence as a means to secure power. He'd seen it on a far greater scale than this. This little hospital stay? It was a drop in the bucket. He would walk out of here. He would be at the protests tomorrow morning, bright and early, handing out food and refreshment, scars and all.


The empath's fist was balled up tightly, and she couldn't look at him anymore. Even as he went on. "I... I don't know what good can come of this if.. Good people like you are suffering for it. It's not what I wanted, it's not..." A tear rolled her cheek and she bit hard into her lip.


Danny spoke slowly, softly, but deliberately. "This is bigger than you or I. Yesterday, I had a faun come to me and wrap his arms around me and thank me for everything YOU started. Because they no longer feel afraid to walk outside. Because her children feel safer in this world. YOU did that. We did that." He smiled. "The world doesn't change if you run. The world only changes if you fight back."


"How? How can you fight back peacefully when the other side always resorts to violence?" she asked. Her free hand moved to pluck a dread from her face and she flattened out her lips to swallow hard. Daphne swiped the tears from her face and sucked in a deep breath. Controlling her emotions was something she learned pretty early on.


"I'm not saying it's easy. At the some point, we need to protect ourselves, but you fight hate with love. As long as you possibly can. You dust yourself off, stand in front of them, and you show them you're still there" Danny watched her a long moment. "There are MORE of us than there are of them."

Friday night?after the protest.

The empath wasn?t her chipper self by the end of it. She had perked up some, spent some time with Danny, and eventually found Nikki and brought the two of them home. She was quiet on the car ride, claimed she was tired?and she was. It wasn?t a total lie. By the time she got them home, she made sure that Nikki had known she was allowed to eat, or smoke whatever she wanted, as payment for her help and not charity, of course. Then when she made sure the girl was distracted, she went about locking up the house and setting the alarm. It was as if she couldn?t get up to her room fast enough. Dropping her bag down, she fished her phone from her pocket and tossed it on the bed.

Daphne paced back and forth on the floor, her fingers moving through her hair as anxiety panged hard in her chest. Big breaths were taken, as she looked toward one of her many smoke pieces and then discarded the idea. Every so often, her tired gaze would drift back to her phone. Back and forth on the floor she went for a good thirty minutes before she moved over to the device that had been busy all day. She nearly flinched every time it buzzed.

Clicking the screen to life, she went through the one-sided text conversation and stared. Scrolling through as dread fell across her face. The messages had started earlier in the day, and she began ignoring them after a certain point in time.

You?ve got a real pretty smile. Too bad it?s hard to smile when you?re dead.
I wonder, Daphne. Did you cross everything off of your bucket list?
They?re gonna need a bucket to clean up the mess.
Don?t ignore me.
I know you?re reading my messages.
I can see you reading them, Daphne. Text me back.
Come on, turn to your left a little and let me get one last look at your smile.
STOP IGNORING ME.
Dead girl walking.]
You?re scared now, aren?t you?
You should be.
Don?t walk away from your friends, Daphne.
Or do. They can?t save you anyways.
You?re dead.
DEAD.
Sleep well, Daphne?


Those eyes rolled shut as she clicked the screen to a lifeless state and ran another hand through her hair. Mumbling a few curses, which was pretty uncharacteristic of her unless she was influenced by someone else: a certain hothead. Daphne sighed softly, before reopening her phone and shooting out text message.

Text to Brady: Wanna get high and watch Disney movies tonight?

There was no way she was going to sleep.

Saturday 1/28/17 --After the protest.

The week was wearing on Tess. It was bittersweet, because they'd accomplished so much but the guilt and worry of friends and those involved that had gotten hurt in the process was wearing on her conscious. The attacks on the protesters had led to Dianna Faulkner herself making a broadcast to try to stop it. Just when she'd thought that their protest had taken ten steps back with the violence, Dianna's speech to her own people and the violent ones around the city had pushed them forward again. There was hope once more. But that didn't make her any less exhausted. Perhaps even more so. "I don't know how Daphne does it," she mumbled, rubbing the sockets of her eyes with the heels of her hands. Speaking to whoever was closest to her. "I can hardly handle my own fucking emotions, I don't know how the hell she handles others on top of hers.."


Daphne's shadow had followed her around like a lost puppy. She wasn't really shy, mistrusting of others.. but not shy. She more or less had worry of being lost in the masses. Following after the woman, she chewed the skin beside her nail. She'd been a bit jumpy from the attacks recently, but she was still there. Loyal as ever. "So, uh. Protest's almost over." Looking up to the woman with the dreads. "What are you gonna do with yourself without all the chaos?" There was a little bit of a smirk, but she was mostly just trying to make conversation at this point. And perhaps she'd spoken too soon.


It had reached the end of the day, and Brady was growing further and further on edge. He was tired, he didn't like dealing with people in the first place. He was tired of getting groped by Vida and hugged by Tess. He never thought he'd miss that stupid little cafe so much. But.. at least there was weed. And he was huffing the Nelson like it was going out of style. Without Tessa nagging at him! Because she knew damn well without it, he'd be losing his temper at the drop of a hat. He finished muttering a few words to his fellow workers at Tonic Flow, nodding his head to them. "Aight, I'll see you tomorrow. Can't wait 'til this shit is fucking over." Growling under his breath, he gave a lazy salute and dove into his pocket for his cigarettes. His eyes scanned over the lingering crowd until he spotted the others, abandoning the idea of cigarettes to cup his hands around his mouth. "Yo, are we leaving yet? Or do I gotta start throwing fists at you assholes?"


Russo had been a confused mess since... Well, since that kiss. Sure he'd been spending a ton of time around Tess, holding her hand, hugging her when she got emotional. That didn't mean anything in him expected the girl to plant one on him at the first sign of good news. And look, no roofies! Of course he returned the favor, but...damn! He'd been all goofy around her ever since. Trying to speak, mumbling like an idiot, and turning away. What a man... Even Justin wanted to slap him at that point. Instead, he just helped carrying boxes and welcomed the Vida gropings!


Daphne handled it with a lot, a lot of weed. And constant alone time. She was a bit skittish the entire day, having probably drove poor Brady nuts the night before. Clinging too close to him, following him to the bathroom. At one point, she finally dozed off for a little bit, but she woke suddenly and in a fright. Those eyes shifted back to her shadow and she shrugged. "Probably go back to my normal routine, feeding and clothing homeless people, singing to sick children... You know, normal stuff." Scrunching up her face, she lit up a bit. "You know, I've been neglecting the hell out of my plants lately with being out all the time... Maybe you could take over looking after them? I'd pay you room and board," she offered. Then those eyes shifted to Brady. "Relaxxxx. We just gotta get these boxes to the car.?


Yeah, she'd kissed him. Practically out of nowhere, and the excitement had gotten to her head. But she'd tried to play it normal and not get weird on him the whole time afterwards. But it didn't help that he was being weird in front of her! It just made her feel awkward or paranoid that she shouldn't have kissed him. Oh god, it's gonna be like Jimmy all over again. Wait, I never kissed Jimmy. Sonofabitch. Vida was just oblivious to it all, and not getting a damn thing accomplished. She got distracted with Justin groping. It happens. Frequently.


That mousy face scrunched a bit, nose crinkling drastically as she looked up to Daphne. "You're like... Charity Case Central," she teased, snickering before she let out a squeaking yawn and shook her head almost violently. Her eyes blinked rapidly, like she was trying to wake back up. Maybe she should've gotten more coffee from Brady before they packed up the stand. Oh well. Though Daphne talking about her plants and offering room and board had her eyeing the woman suspiciously. "What... like... work for you or somethin'?" There was blatant reluctance there, 'no' forming on lips pressed to a thin line.


She was driving Brady absolutely bonkers. He couldn't even pee alone, man. And had to stand there while she did.. which took forever. He had to hum a tune, turn on the faucet and everything. And don't even get him started on the clinging. At least she got him baked enough that he tolerated it, even if he just seemed like grumpy bear the entire time. "Tell me to relax," he muttered, snickering as he reached for his cigarettes again, lighting one instantly before picking up a couple boxes along the way. "Let's fuckin' go then. Quicker we get this shit done, the better," his words slightly contorted and muffled by the filter he had clenched between his lips.


Russo wasn't...weird! He was just... What was that word from Bambi? Twitterpated? Yes! He was twitterpated! Acting dumb because he juiced, okay?! As they neared the car, Justin set the box down next to it, and looked at Brady with a half-hearted shrug. He couldn't make the dread-head move any faster than she was. Though he had hit on her earlier in the week. It was Justin! Probably some gross line like, I like your dreads...always good to have something to hold onto. Something that went way over Daphne's heads. She answered with a warm, thank you! Hugged him, and went back to work. Justin's mind registered it as, please try again later. Russo stuck close to Tess and kept those eyes low.


"Not charity case central!" she said with a shake of her head. "Just...bored," she snickered. Yeah, she didn't like admitting that she was some do-it-all, but to close friends? They knew what she was. Tessa was the first to know, then Brady. Danny was in the dark, and she couldn't remember if she told Nikki. "Yeah, I mean.. It would be light work to start. Just taking care of the plants, maybe weighing and bagging if you're up to it...and then when the weather warms up, we'd start on the outdoor crops." Crops! Ha! Those eyes rolled over to Brady, "Relax! Woo-sahhhh..."


Twitterpated... now Russo was forever going to be Thumper. She rolled her eyes at Brady's aggression, only for them to move over to Russo who was looking down. Sighing softly, she worried her bottom lip and looked around with a groan. "Now where the hell did Vida go?" Pointing at Justin with that narrowed gaze like you had ONE job! until she found Vida not too far away and eyeing someone like she was going to maul them. "No, no," she muttered. "Down, Kitty." Keeping Russo close -considering recent events of him being roofied, because he could totally get roofied if she left his side for two minutes- she walked over there and grabbed the spindly girl's arm and tugged her along. "This way." Vida let out a grunt, spinning with the tug until she caught her footing and pouted. "But he was pretty.." Oh, but then there was a Justin and she was fine again.


"You're tooootally a Charity Case Central," she laughed softly, shifting her weight to try a feeble hip bump before pausing and wrinkling her nose at Brady. "..He's so damn moody. I'ma cap him.." She breathed, but the look on her face said she wouldn't dream of it. Frankly, he intimidated her. She knew a streetrat when she saw one. And he was an angry one. NOPE! Only to return her gaze not a moment later to Daphne, eyeing her with that suspicion again as they neared the car. "... I'll think about it..." That's really the best you were going to get from the girl. At least it wasn't a definitive no!


"Woo-sah, woo-fucking-sah," he grunted, dropping the boxes next to the ones Justin had laid down. And with his hands free, he let his lips take a break from the filter long enough to ash the cigarette. "You keep tellin' me that R word.." he raised his brows to her, point at her with the smoke in that warning hint. Stop it! That's like telling a bitch to 'calm down' when they're worked up! But he didn't finish his statement, just went back to work, because the sooner they got the boxes to the car, the sooner they could get out of here.


Daphne set her box on the trunk and shrugged with a nod. "Maybe, but I like doing it." Then she scrunched up her nose and shrugged lightly. "He's always moody," she muttered to Nikki. "But he's a good guy when you get to know him." A nod as she looked in his direction. Her keys were fished from her pocket and she raised her eyebrows like, I'mma say it! "Re--" Her fingers pressed the button to start up the car from the inside so that it would be close to warm by the time they'd got the second round to the car. The word however, failed to fall from her lips as the car was immediately ingulfed in flames from a deafening explosion that blasted a blinding light across the street barely lit with lamplight.


Thumper! That was better than Courage! Thankfully, he had no drink in his hand, and wasn't yawning so no roofie magic happened that night. Soon, though. Cause roofied Russo had loose lips! When Tess began looking around for Vida, both the brothers looked too. But she got her and was tugging her over. Justin's arms opened up and tried to snatch her up in them. If she didn't protest, he'd pull her roughly against himself and whisper, "I'll take care of you when we get home," because he knew she was insatiable. It didn't seem to phase him in the slightest. Russo, like an imprinted little duckling found his way at her side. Still holding onto that one box. All was well until the explosion hit. Russo dropped his box without hesitation and flung his body against Tessa's to tackle her to the ground, the back of her head cradled by his hand to shield it from the ground. Justin, the massive football player he was, seemed to do something similar to Vida, but he stayed standing. Like a wall of protection. Sorry Brady, Nikki...


Nikki had been walking along with Daphne, snickering at her claims. "Yeah, you seem the sappy type," with that button nose scrunched up at her, though the tiniest smile on her face said she didn't mind it. Maybe even liked it a little bit. After all, it was that compassion that had the woman sharing her tacos with the homeless kid to begin with. "Mhn, that would mean I'd have to put up with him long enough to not knee cap him.." The way she said it sounded as if that would be difficult for her. Though there was a small giggle to see the way Daph taunted the guy. Her eyes were on Brady, wondering what the hell he was going to do until that beep from the button pressing sounded and then the explosion. She had no way to brace herself for it, not even enough time to look in that direction as the heat shot out at all directions from the car and the force of the explosion sent that tiny girl flying backwards. There was a moment where her feet had left the ground, and suddenly she was hitting the ground with a gush of air escaping her lungs. Air that seemed to refuse to go back in as she laid there gasping with wide eyes, her skin prickling at the blast of heat and the pain that was radiating through her shoulder that she'd landed on. Her ears were ringing like someone had suddenly turned off a television screen that had been on full blast.


Walking away from the car, he twisted his torso to keep pointing at her. His lips were pressed into a fine line as his expression read no less than don't you fucking do it! There was a warning in his look, though it was more playful than angry. Maybe a bit grumpy, but that was just him. Turned in that direction, he saw it all. The press of the button, the blinding blast of white light and the engulf of flames to the vehicle. The trigger was instant. The moment the blast rang through the night air and the fact that Daphne was so close to it had him seeing red. His expression contorted with anger, fists clenching as he disregarded the cigarette between his fingers as it burned into his palm. But he didn't feel it. A gutteral sound tore through his throat as he spun, too far away for the blast to knock him back but the heat was there and ignored in his fit of rage. He managed to take one step, but he was too far gone to even notice the spinning hubcap that flew right for his head. His head snapped back with the impact of the metal to his cranium, a loud thunk that stiffened his body instantly and he had no more than a moment to blink in confusion before his body collapsed.


Having been grabbed, Vida had spun. Only to land into the opened arms of Justin with a soft grunt that turned into a giggle as she'd all but faceplanted into his chest. She had just enough time to look up with that goofy grin on her face until she squeaked with wide eyes as he scooped her up. Instinctively, she clung to him like a spidermonkey, lanky and spindly limbs locking around him. That goofy grin turned sly as she locked her arms around his shoulders and gave her body a little suggestive wiggle. "You better... It's been hours. So many hours." No, it hadn't. But it felt like it to the addict. She was a different kind of junkie. But it was the blast that her startling in his arms, squeaking at the sudden loud blast as she locked tighter around him and ducked her head to his chest just as he took on that protective hold on her. She didn't seem scared, sadly. Just confused, writhing a tiny bit as she tried to look over his shoulder then. "What.. what was that?" Wide hazel eyes darting around.


The sight of Justin and Vida had her rolling her eyes, snickering as she shook her head. Pulling her attention to the man beside her, she leveled her gaze on him and reached out to brush the side of his arm as he carried the box. "Almost d-.." She didn't have time to finish that sentence. The explosion had her jumping, stiffening for no more than a moment before the world turned upside down when she was tackled. A look of shock was on her face before she let out a grunt to her back hitting the pavement, though her head didn't crack into it thanks to Russo's hand. Her fingers clenched into his shirt as she trembled like a leaf, fear and confusion blatant in blue eyes that looked like they were going to pop out of her skull like in the cartoons. "What?.. I don't.." Blinking, she checked on the man over her first, in instant panic mode. Her hands were all over his face. "Are you okay?! What the fuck just happened?!"


For the record, Daphne would have totally done it if she hadn't just got blown the hell up. Thankfully, the box was in front of her face, so she still had hair...and eyebrows. Unfortunately, it slammed right into her. Daphne's body ragdolled across the pavement, her head slamming down hard enough to split it wide open. If her dreads weren't there, it might have been fatal. By the time she stilled on the concrete, she was flat on her back, somewhere near her homeless little prot?g?. She could hear nothing over that intense ringing in her ears. Eyelids flickering in malfunctioning, slow moving blinks as her mind tried to wrap around what just happened. Everything was so fuzzy, and she couldn't feel a thing at the moment. Her lips parted to speak (though no one was around) as those text messages flooded into her head, it resulted in a dry smack of lips and silence beneath that god awful ringing noise.


Justin felt some of the debris hit him in the back, but it would do little else than leave a few bruises. He certainly had worse, and didn't really seem to react all that much. He kept that protective hold on her even as the blast subsided and left little more than the smoldering flame that was once Daphne's car. His body remained a wall while his head turned back to assess the situation. "Dayyyyum... Daphne's car blew up..." Give him a minute, he'll come to grips with the reality of this situation. ...Wait for it... "Dude I was like the Terminator! I'll be back." ...okay, maybe he wouldn't.


Just as Tessa checked him over, he was doing the same to her. Aside from his battered knuckles that took the brunt of the fall, he was fine. "I'm okay... Are you...?" he asked with wide eyes. Looking over every inch of her face. "Daphne's car... Someone.. uh..." Yeah, he was never going to be good with speaking, or making words, it seemed. Slowly, he pushed off of her, attempting to help her up. "Did I hurt you?"


Ngh, make the ringing stopppp... She was on her back, rolling slightly as she held her head, like the ringing in her ears were going to split her skull open. Or was that Daphne's.. BAD TASTE. But moving her right arm had her finally sucking in air, choking on it some as her lungs decided to expand. Her eyes stung from the blast of heated air, feeling dry and watered like there was no tomorrow. Resilient, she rolled onto her side and tried to get a sense of the world. Whimpering against the pain that tore from her shoulder to her fingertips, it was difficult to see through blurry vision and the contortion of light the flames of the vehicle made. "Guys?.." She croaked, her throat hoarse before she swiveled her head to look around. She could make out people scattered, someone was laying on the ground with blonde hair.. and.. making the full sweep, she locked onto Daphne. "Daph?" Her entire body ached from the impact to the hard ground, but that didn't stop her from rolling to her non-injured arm and scooting herself across the ground; escaping the heat and making her way to Daphne.


Brady.. was down for the count. One Hit K.O.'d.


Vida was still wrapped around him, some debri had pelted her arms and legs but they'd do little more than possibly leave red marks or at most, a bruise. But curiosity killed the cat as she seemed more interested at what was going on behind him. Oh! Shiny! Whassat?! Ask Mach.. the girl did not shy away from explosions. Instead, she chased them down and ran into an alley in the middle of a damn mage battle to try to shoot the somnabitch. Reckless, and careless as ever. "Blown up?" She blinked at Justin before she was scrambling.. wait, climbing him to try to get a better look. She made it enough for the reflection of flames to be seen in her eyes as they widened in childlike awe. At least until he claimed to be the friggin' Terminator and she let out a giggle. "Ter-men-ay-tah!" She tried to do the voice, she really did. She should get brownie points, but then she was looking around and spotted the downed comrades. Blinking, "...Um, I think Brady and Daphne are dead." She said it matter-of-factly, too. Girl.. girl's fucked up.


It was hard for Russo to not have been her first concern. Firstly, he was right there. And two, she juiced him. "I'm fine, I'm fine," she assured, shaking her head. "Confused and.." Trailing off, she stared at him and went still the moment he mentioned the car. The car, the blast. She must've been in shock because it took her a moment to realize what was happening. "Her car?" She muttered, looking around, blinking far too rapidly like her mind couldn't comprehend the catastrophe at hand. "No, no you didn't hurt me, hun. 'M fine." She climbed to her feet with his help, stumbling a bit into him just in time to hear Vida's words chimed that seemed to instantly snap her out of whatever daze she'd been in. Her head turned quickly in that direction, looking like she was about to hyperventilate for a moment before she was instantly looking to see where Brady and Daphne were. "OH MY GOD. BRADY! DAPH?" Her voice was maybe a notch below a scream, only because emotion and panic choked her vocal cords into something strangled. Then, she was fighting out of Russo's grip and moving toward Daphne. Logical deduction: I can't pick up Brady. "Russo, Justin! Check Brady!" She was moving, no.. jogging.. then running to Daphne.


Edited from live play with permission from participants.

January 29th 2017: 0830 Rhy?din

While the protest still was going on in the market, it was evident with the events of the night before on everyone?s mind, that it wasn?t as powerful, as strong, of a protest as it had been on the first day. People gathered and had made a small get-well station, collecting things for Daphne and her crew. People sung, prayed, and all came together hoping that the dread-headed girl that started all of this off would recover. People stayed huddled together, considering how violent things have gotten towards those who still sided with the Humility first movement. From the attacks on the reporter, to now a car bombing, many seemed fearful that the next attack would come during the last day of protest, not afterward.


Charles was there, alone on the rooftop of the clock tower, overlooking the entire market as well as most of the access streets. He heard the protesters chants, but he wasn?t feeling it. He wasn?t fearful, but he was angry. Twice now, he couldn?t be there, he could defend people, he couldn?t do his job properly: at least, that's how he felt. He adjusted his stance, making it a bit easier to stand on the slope of the tower as he looked down. Even though there weren?t as many protestors, the market was still filled with people.

The sound of a loud engine crossing the bridge and then pulling off to the side brought Charles to swivel to the South. Once he was situated he saw them. Four men, one who seemed smaller than the other three, but no less young, with a gruff beard and scars on his face. Another man, who was middle in size and seeming weight, carrying a baseball bat with barbed wire wrapped around it. He was shaved clean, his jaw line riddled with similar scars. The last two were far larger men, outclassing most in size and weight, carrying 2x4 boards that were cut down to length, with shaped ends. None seemed to have markings or be carrying out some denotation of who they were, although they all seemed of the tough dock worker type.

?Oh boy? Charles let out a huff as he leaped from the clocktower, rolling in landing on the nearby building, and then propelling himself into the air so he would land right in the path of the four as they approached the mass of protestors. In landing, he shifted to stand tall, glaring over the four of them with his rifle held loosely in his hand. ?Afternoon boys, what brings ya here?? His purple eyes were dancing between the four of them, seeing which one would be the one to speak up for the group.

The middle one spoke up, his voice gruff and raspy ?Get out of our way boy? he glared at the purple-eyed man in front of his small troop. ?If ye didn?t hear, the protests are over. Cancelled. Humility first is dead.? He pushed past the smaller man who was in front of him and stood just a few feet from Charles. ?And we plan to make sure that it ends, here and now.? He spits towards Charles, some of it landing on his face as the three men behind him were jeering him on. ?Ain?t nothing you and that rifle can do to stop us.? He took a step forward, staring down at Charles ?Step aside or you will end up worse than that pretty little girl, too bad too, I would have??

Charles had enough of playing the nice guy, who was going to hold his tongue, use non-lethal options, and just be there in support of those who were protesting. He was, unfortunately, well versed in violence, and sometimes for him, being peaceful wasn?t an option. In one quick motion, the butt of his rifle came up and collided hard into the skull of the man, knocking him aside before he could even continue on with his statement. He nudged the unconscious man out of the way as he took a few steps forward towards the remaining three. ?If you want to get to them, you have to go through me.?

?Gladly? One of the larger men didn?t even hesitate. He took the heavy 2x4 and swung it like a bat, right towards Charles? head, it collided, the wood splintering and shattering as Charles ragdoll off to the side. He grinned ?Idiot.? He grabbed at his comrade's bat that lay next to the man's body as he and the others make their way back towards the crowd.

Even with his new found strength, that still was rattling. He collided hard into a brick-sided building, even managing to knock on loose. He got to his feet, seeing the three men pushing forward, he growled and took two steps forward before flinging himself at the big man who now out front. Their two bodies colliding into one mass as Charles refused to hold back at this point. He had the man on the ground as he threw his fists, barely holding his strength back, as the man tried to raise his arms to swing back. Two fists collided into the man's face for everyone that hit Charles in the ribs. He finally moved off of the man as he felt the other 2x4 slam into his back, sending a wave of pain down his spinal structure. Turning he grabbed the second large man by the neck, lifting him up off his feet and throwing him into a nearby building.

The second big man got up from being slammed and went to tackle Charles, just as the first, with a bloodied face, slowly got to his feet and grabbed the barbed bat. He took the opportunity of Charles being on the ground to slam the barbed wires into his face, ripping them off. All the while, another big man was slamming heavy handed punches into Charles, trying to end the fight there once and for all.

Charles moved to throw the second large man off of him, into a build as he turned and snapped the bat in half that was being used to beat down at him. He started to look around for the last guy, the littlest of them, as he ran over to where the second large man was. Charles was mid kick on the second large man that was struggling to get up to his feet when out of the corner of his eye the last man was reaching behind his back to grab at something tucked at the waist line. Charles turned hearing the words of the man "Listen here, J..just end this little protest that's all we want. We didn?t want to harm anyone, we just wanted to scare them.? The man's finger was twitching over the trigger as he pointed it right at Charles' center of mass.

Charles froze in his tracks watching the man with those purple hues. He hands one hand hovering over his secondary, his rifle still off to the side where he had been knocked into a building. "Drop the pistol man." His words came across as a stern and cold order "Drop it and no one has to get hurt here"

The Asian wasn't really involved in the protest until recently. Mostly hung back and kept an eye out. Where did she fall? Was she human? Was she machine? Did that even count? Still, it was always an interesting sight to watch people come together, and her interest had reached a peak when the violence began. At the start of the fight, Chapin hung back and watched, because she wasn't ever the type to get involved. Sure, what little bit of a heart she had left went out for the friends and family of the moronic human that decided to put herself up on society's chopping block. Still, look what happened to Daphne when she got involved. The second a gun was pulled on the man who was clearly trying to end it without it becoming fatal, she sighed and rolled her eyes. She began starting that way, her head craning to the side as audible pops of spine rang out. "Hey," she spoke out. She appeared to be unarmed. "You really think it's wise to pull out a gun in what's clearly a peaceful protest?" the cyborg asked, raising a brow and her chin. "Please, think before you answer that question." Spoken in that charming Eastern accent as she waited for the answer. Her hair was pulled up in a tight ponytail, her eyes were hidden behind a pair of shades.

The man was ready to pull the trigger right as he heard the Eastern accent break through the fog. He was already half a step back as she questioned him, and spoke out. He was trying to read her, trying to see why she was suddenly coming towards him. He turned the gun quickly towards her 'Don't move. Stop right there." His breaths were coming in shakily as he watched her. He thought about her question, although thinking: well that may not have been his strong suit "Do you think it's wise to keep protesting when it is obvious that you have lost, and that only worse things will come?" His finger twitched some, brushing the trigger but not pulling it yet.

Charles heard the accent, maybe he recognized it, although he couldn't tell. He kept slowly lowering his hand down towards the pistol at his hip, using the woman that was coming as a distraction for him to make the subtle movements that the man wouldn't notice at this distance. He did cast a glance over towards her, purple hues running her up and down quickly before backing towards the man. "Listen, just drop the gun" His order came out again.

"I think..." Chapin's eyes trailed to the sky as she paused for a moment. "I think it's their right to protest, and the only one causing harm right now is you," the girl told him. "I've heard a lot about all of what's been going on lately.." Probably helped that her brain was one-fourth Google. "Humans calling nonhumans freaks, and monsters... But it's funny, the only ones acting like monsters lately are the humans. Except for these people," she gestured to the protesters her steps paused. "These people are standing up against that, and if you think for a second we" gesturing to herself and Charles for a moment. "...are going to let you take that away from him, well then..." Chapin pulled off her glasses to show off bright blue irises peering back at him as she continued forward just then. "...I hope you brought a lot more than a pistol..."

The man was freaking out, seeing how she was reacting and continuing, there was no way he was going down without a fight, as scared as he was. Without a second thought, he started to fire at Chapin, hopefully hitting her with most of the clip before turning quickly towards Charles, emptying the rest of it at him.

Charles turned to see Chapin pushing past him, just as the bullets opened up at her, he pulled out his pistol. He recalled at the start of the protest he promised himself there would not be a weapon discharged from him unless it was required. As the bullets struck him, one in the chest the other in the shoulder, he felt his hand easily squeeze the trigger, sending a quick succession of three rounds in return fire.The bullets sunk into her flesh, though they seemed to collapse into themselves when they reached the weight of what was beneath it.

Chapin knew her weak points, and she covered the most vital pieces with her hands and arms, continuing forwards toward him. Her eyes flashed with a red light, signaling she'd taken some damage, but nothing fatal. Nothing she couldn't go to a mechanic and have fixed. Her steps paused when Charles returned fire. She wasn't sure he needed to do that, but it was his call. She waited to see what would happen next. If they needed to cart the man off in an ambulance, or a body bag.

At this point, he felt it was necessary. Granted, he didn't have any clue that Chapin was cyborg until the fact that she seemed to still be standing, despite the bullets that had hit her. He moved closer, quickly so, to the man that he had just shot at. He didn't seem to care about the rather visible chest wound, as he kicked the gun away from the man who was, in fact, still breathing. One bullet landed dead center of his body, the other two were non-lethal hits to his arm and one to his leg He glanced towards Chapin as he put the pistol into its holster again and looked down at the man. "Can you call an ambulance" This towards Chapin as he worked on stabilizing the man enough to prevent a bleed out.


Chapin didn't seem to call anything in, though she paused for a moment. The lights in her eyes flashing green, it took no more than five seconds before she was back to reality. "An ambulance is on the way," she told him. If she needed a smartphone, she would just be a sad excuse for a cyborg, wouldn't she? Her glasses were put back over her eyes, and she looked down, shaking her head. "I feel like they hand out guns like toys anymore... They're useful, but that doesn't mean you should give them to children," she scoffed lightly. "Guns, not toys. You should give toys to children. Unless.." she paused for a moment. Okay, she wasn't so good at being social. A sigh escaped her.

He seemed calm as he glanced down at his 'wounds' then shrugged to himself. He finished the triage and moved to stand "He won't bleed out" Then looking towards her ramblings about guns and toys and children "It's not even that they are useful, it that people deem them useful in every situation." He was walking then, over towards the rifle that in a swift motion he swung up onto his back. Looking towards her, having seen the flashing lights perhaps moved to rejoin on her "I'm Charles, by the way, He tossed towards her, one hand holding onto the strap of the rifle that helped secure it to his shoulder. He was, after all, in uniform. The Red and the White color scheme were blended into grays and bricks in a digi-urban style.

Brushing a bit of hair from her eyes, she nodded. "Chapin," she answered with a firm nod. Her left arm seemed to hang uselessly at her side, but it wasn't something she was all that concerned about. A well-placed bullet had rendered it crippled, but again, it was nothing she couldn't get fixed. "Didn't mean to interrupt. It just looked like you could use some help." No, Chapin hadn't been much of a help, except for the fact that she did pretty well in being a living target.


He looked towards the arm that dangled without much power to it, then looking towards her "Could always get someone to fix that up for you?" He nodded towards her before looking towards the other 3 men, who were all still unconscious as she shook his head "Just couldn't keep them quiet" he gave a half shrug then towards her "Thank you for interrupting, better him shooting at us than shooting at someone who could have gotten seriously hurt."

The cyborg's eyes turned to her own shoulder for a minute, before she snickered. "Don't worry about it, I've got a guy..." A personal mechanic that she relied on quite often. "I think he'd get butthurt if I didn't give him the chance to lecture me for twenty minutes about being careful..."

"I know that feeling." He sighed some as the ambulance they were waiting on soon came into view, pulling up and stopping. Charles directed them towards the 4 men, indicating which one got shot, as well as helping them move the two larger men onto the Ambulance as it sped off. He glanced over towards Chapin and nodded "If you need repairs you can head out. I should be able to handle the rest of the day from here on out"

Waving a hand, "I got one good hand left," she said with a snicker. "I'll stick around for a little while, keep an eye out." Pointing to those glasses. "Besides, it'll be a while yet before he shows up," there was a smile on her face just then. "I'll leave you to it, for now, though..." Chapin dipped her head in a bow before moving toward the crowd to lose herself in it.

He chuckled a bit towards her "Keep safe out there" This towards her as she headed out. He moved up towards the rooftops again, sighing as he climbed back up to the clocktower, glancing around for a second, before settling in for a second. Checking himself over and then looking back down, knowing that for the rest of the day this is where he was going to be.

No Good Deed - Dianna