Catastrophe on Campus

[hfm_npcs]

[Monday morning, a crowd of young adults and presumably teachers are gathered around the college campus, spilling out into the street. Some of them have signs. Most of them seem to just be shouting and sounding generally upset. The signs and words consist of outrage against the schools’ inadequate supplies.]

[The crowd grows thicker as the day goes on, though various teenagers and children leave the school early to wait outside for their harried-looking parents to pick them up.]

[Police come to monitor the events. Some of the teachers and other important-looking figures start heading towards the front to address the buzzing crowd.]

[Later in the afternoon, the frustration seems to only be mounting further until a scream breaks out in the middle of the mass of people. Then another, and another, all from very different parts of the crowd. Was it induced by frustration? Is there something else going on? Either way, the panic is mounting, people are scattering, screams of anger and fear are rising--the crowd and whatever may be in there will be making this situation dangerous.]

Comments

[letteropener]

[One doesn't get to be a Princess by just ignoring such things. As soon as she hears the screams, Celestia is in the air, winging her way over the crowd in search of the source of the trouble.]

[unrecovered]

[Wash has been keeping an eye on the crowd ever since he saw it start to develop during his morning jog. He's seen anger in crowd form; it doesn't take much for it to change focus and take it out on something (or someone) that has nothing to do with the issue at hand, and the last thing he wants is for this crowd to turn on any of the involuntary transplants in the city. He's been keeping to the outskirts and keeping it casual - the weather's getting colder, so the hoodie he's wearing doesn't stand out too much.]

[Of course, this means he's nearby when the screaming starts. Part of him wants to leave and let these assholes deal with their own damn problems, but...well, some of the screams sound very young. He can't walk away from that. He takes a breath and surges into the crowd, dodging and weaving between people, heading towards one of the sources of screaming.]

[hfm_npcs]

[It may take a while to discern the cause of the commotion. Not only is the area hectic, but as soon as Celestia starts flying over the crowd the people below her will start rushing to move out from beneath her, pushing and shoving in their haste to get out of the way.]

[hfm_npcs]

[Moving through the crowd may be easier than Wash expects as people automatically move to avoid him, although a few will shoot him hostile looks when he goes past.]

[The nearest scream cuts off very quickly, but after moving in that direction it won't take long to spot a likely source.]

[There's a tall girl moving with a visible limp, even as she's being supported by two shorter boys. Her left pant leg is ripped up and there are wet-looking, dark stains visible in the denim.]

[The trio is young, probably in either their late teens or very early twenties, and they will spot Wash around the same time he spots them. And after a split-second the shortest of the boys will let go of the girl and deliberately move between Wash and the others.]

[batdweeb]

[Keeping his nose out of other people's business has never been a strong suit of Bruce's, so like a few others he's been observing the protest for a while, keeping to the outskirts of the event. It's an unusually large crowd by Freesia's standards, especially since the vast majority of the city's underage population seems to drift through at some point, on their way out of the school and on the way home. And the complaints from the actual protesters seem familiar...]

[Bruce sticks around long enough that he's among those present when the first scream breaks out, and it's alarming how quickly the panic and noise level on campus rises after that.]

[With the actual source of the commotion impossible to discern from the outskirts, Bruce is going to forge ahead and try to keep an eye out for anyone that looks suspicious.]

[unrecovered]

[On one hand, there's answers here. On the other hand, there's also a whole lot of hostility, and Wash doesn't need to make that worse. He skids to a stop and puts his hands up in a placating gesture.]

Let me guess: Nox. What direction?

[letteropener]

Gently, gently. I am not here to hurt anypony.

[Seeing all this, the alicorn lands, folding her wings up tightly. Perhaps she will be less alarming on the ground.]

[raisethemoon]

[Luna will handle this in her usual way of handling panicking crowds.]

BE STILL!!!!

[...not as fun without the light show. Sigh.]

[universal_charm]

<sub>[ Oh, large crowds like that were never good in Kirk's experience. Free speech and right of expression and all, but mob mentality was a thing too. You just never knew. He kept a wary on it through the day, but he's not police or any sort of authority here, so he mostly hangs back.

That is - until the screaming starts.

Regardless of the place, Kirk doesn't run from screams, not those kinds of screams. He is Star Fleet. He is there to help and aid and do what he can, because it's the right thing to do. It's just how he is. Besides, he was brought here to help or something wasn't he? It was a purpose he was all right with, even if he didn't exactly like the method by which it was done. Complaining could wait for later though, when he wasn't trying to direct people away from the screams and disturbance while at the same time making his way towards the center of the commotion itself.

If he zapped anyone by accident, well, he'd be sorry for it later. ]</sub>

[hfm_npcs]

[The injured girl is staring at the ground with gritted teeth, and the boy supporting her is watching Wash intently.]

[The short boy crosses his arms and openly glares at Wash before speaking.]

What's it to you?

[unrecovered]

[This is an active combat zone and there are still people screaming he doesn't have time for this-]

[So maybe he's a little snappish. Maybe.]

I'm trying to save your lives. Either point me in the right direction or get the hell out of here.

[jonesiseverywhere]

[Screams in New York could mean literally anything, but in Freesia? It only means one thing: Nox. And of course, Casey is right there, trying to push his way through the crowd, who seem to not want to move for him. Maybe if they really want nothing to do with him, they'll clear out if he's up front about it.]

Hey, make way! Magical fire guy, comin' through. Can't beat the Nox 'til ya move!

[universal_charm]

_{[ Kirk can hear Casey through the crowd and he makes his way to him, reaching out to grasp his shoulder and pull himself up beside the other against the flow of the crowd. ]}

Hey! You know what's causing all this?

[hfm_npcs]

[There's more panic and shoving when Celestia moves in to land, but once she does the people nearby do calm down a bit- they're giving her a wide berth, but aren't actively trying to run away from her.]

[Confusion and panic is still running high, though, and she may catch snatches of garbled conversation around her.]

What are they doing-

Did you see what's going on?

Where's-

[hfm_npcs]

[The short boy stiffens and takes a stomp towards Wash.]

Just where does a Magical Freak like you-

[He lifts his hand, barely, but at that point the taller boy grabs the back of his shirt and yanks. Since he's still trying to support the injured girl all three of them sway precariously for a second before catching their balance. The taller boy addresses the shorter one:]

Come on Hadyn, let's just go, okay?

[The boy, apparently named Hadyn, pauses, apparently to think.]

[unrecovered]

[Well someone's priorities are backwards.]

[There's a moment where Wash tenses, ready to keep them from collapsing - but they'd see it as a hostile move, and things are bad enough as it is. They manage to right themselves anyway - better than the alternative.]

[Well, Haydn's a ticking time bomb, the girl's still bleeding, and this conversation is going nowhere fast. Wash yanks the hoodie off over his head and tosses it at Haydn.]

Once you're clear, wrap her leg with that and get her to the hospital. Don't let her bleed out.

[He turns and heads into the crowd. He'll stop if anyone has anything useful to say, but for now he's trying to follow another scream to its source.]

[letteropener]

[She has a suspicion that few people will be willing to talk to a pony, so rather than try to butt in, Celestia focuses on making her way through the crowd, listening for more concrete details while trying to locate this obvious going-on that they're speaking of.]

[jonesiseverywhere]

Wha-? [WHOA SOMEONE'S GOT HIM- oh, it's just Kirk. He points with his hockey stick and shrugs.]

I dunno, but it's comin' from in th' crowd!

[hfm_npcs]

[The crowd parts like the Red Sea before her, preceded by exclamations of panic and surprise.]

Where's the-

What happened to my-

Run, just RUN, they're at the-

[hfm_npcs]

[The panicking crowds will handle that in their usual way: by continuing to panic. Turns out the bellowing pony is not a very comforting sight to a crowd of people who aren't too fond of strangers to begin with.]

[A good number of people clear out, running away from Luna, save for two very young girls, clinging to each other and frozen in wide-eyed terror. Looks like they're obeying Luna's order, at least.]

[raisethemoon]

[Weirdly, it never seemed to comfort ponies all that much either. She should really develop some new strategies sometime.

Two children are better than nothing, however, so Luna settles to the ground and trots quickly over.]

Children! Are you all right? What is happening here?

[letteropener]

[Well, if people are trying to get away from something -- she'll go the direction they're headed from. Simple enough.]

[hfm_npcs]

[There aren't a whole lot of people who look suspicious - it is a panicking crowd, after all - but there sure are a lot of injured people. Like the elderly man just in front of him, limping on an ankle that's either sprained or broken - it's hard to tell. The man's eyes widen when he sees Bruce, and he tries to get out of the way, only to stumble over his injury and fall.]

[hfm_npcs]

[One of the girls remains frozen in place in awestruck fear; the other comes to her senses enough to try to drag her compatriot away from the advancing magical pony stranger, making high pitched whining noises all the while.]

[equi_nox]

[s i m p l e e n o u g h]

[What Celestia finds, when she traces the screams back to their source, is a writhing, roiling ball of shadows. It's Nox, certainly, but not like anything that's appeared in the city before. It shifts constantly, rapidly growing various shadowy appendages - a dog's head; humanoid arms; webbed, scaly wings; a thick, powerful tail - and lashing out at people before reassimilating and replacing those various limbs and heads and repeating the cycle. The screaming of the humans is accompanied by its hisses and roars as it slithers and bounds and rolls at the humans closest to it, slavering and hungry.]

[It pauses as Celestia approaches, turning its many-eyed attention towards her, and lashes out with a quickly growing tentacle.]