jumpscares | ( OPEN ) GAME START.

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( OPEN ) GAME START.

▶ WHO: Everyone.
▶ DATE: July 9th, 2015 (Day 1)
▶ WARNINGS: Blood, violence, general zombie horror.
▶ SUMMARY: You've met with a bad... however that line goes. Welcome to Earth.

GOOD MORNING!

Please try and ignore whatever it is that you just heard. It should only last for up to a minute... maybe.

It... it is morning, right?

There are no windows.

There's a light, but it's barely considered one. The compound runs on a solar generator, but that doesn't mean it has a lot of power. The light seems to be hanging from the ceiling, swinging precariously. That's when you might actually start to wake up, sit up, find the things that are familiar to you... and then some of the things that aren't. It'd be wise to explore the small room you're in before leaving through the steel door, but there's nobody around to tell you that.

Outside is a tightly knit compound, just as dark and metallic as the room. The hallway you're in houses dozens more doors identical to yours, and if you're unlucky there may be more people poking their heads out through them, just like you. There's a dull glowing sign that reads MEDICAL BAY but not all of you remember being hurt. Some of you may be just fine, apart from the memory of the sound you heard when waking up.

The Medical Bay is stocked with enough medicine to last a couple of months. There's almost everything that can be found in a hospital. Somebody was thinking ahead.

Outside of the Medical Bay are more doors, some are even locked—many aren't. There are living quarters, a food storage, a kitchen, some laboratories; even a room full of computers and nothing else, all with a screen asking for a password. There's only two doors out of the compound, a vehicle bay with what appear to be a few military jeeps and trucks, and the front doors. It's on the inside of the front doors that something is painted in bright red, flecked with what smell like blood:

DO NOT GO OUTSIDE WITHOUT A GUN AND WATER.
GUNSHOTS ATTRACT THEM.
HOLLOWS IS 1.3 MILES NORTH OF HERE.
GOOD LUCK.

And on the outside of the doors, if you choose to open them:

THE WORLD ENDED JULY 3RD, 2015.

Now... how long ago was that? And where is this place? Luckily for you, Hollows is a small town that can be raided. It hasn't been too long since the apocalypse—surely you'll be able to find something there. Batteries, food, weapons, maybe some people—and what you're guaranteed to find. Them, whatever that means.

Outside of the compound there's a fence with a single gate. Nothing can get past this unless you let them in for tea, so be careful. There's a shooting range and a large shed full of weapons and ammo, enough to last two months if you're careful. Guns, knives, anything that would be used by the military and police is hidden away in the shed. There are even a few hunting bows with arrows.

If you climb up the ladder to the top of the wall, there's enough room to walk along the top. There's definitely something moving in the distance, something you should definitely be worrying about. Maybe it's time to get a good look with a sniper rifle...?

Oh.

It's gone.

Maybe it was just a trick of the light. Regardless, it's impossible for everyone to stay in the compound forever. There are nefarious things at work! The choices are to go to Hollows, stick around, or go somewhere else. Really, the world is almost a blank slate. Maybe more of a used slate, but still yours to explore.

When the night comes, you should be hiding. The screamers, the ragers, whatever the hell they are, are running full tilt through the streets and across the landscape, running through anything in their way, ripping apart anything alive. If you don't make any noise, they won't notice you. Especially since they're stuck listening to each other. But if you get noticed by one, it won't be long until a horde forms... you might be able to outrun one for awhile, but they don't seem to let up on their breakneck pace. Maybe someone should have told you how to kill them.

OOC NOTES.

There will be zombies in Hollows. Whether you meet them on the way there is up to you. Apart from the undead and the animals (maybe somebody should let those poor creatures out of their houses) the town is completely deserted. In fact, the closest thing you can find to a human are the bodies of those who died without being bitten, and there's even few of those. You can find anything you'd find in a normal town here, and are free to loot and raid the houses and stores—the cops won't be coming, after all. The power is OFF apart from what you can find that is solar powered or still has a charge. If you're lucky and find another town while exploring the first few weeks, you might find an area that still has power—thank hydroelectricity.

Just keep in mind travel time... and travel expenses.

You have creative freedom over everything else. The world is open. The only stationary places are landmarks and cities—if you want to go to Texas and talk to the poor astronauts stranded up in space, it's there. (Might be a long trip, though...)

If your character can figure it out by geography before getting to Hollows, the compound is located a few hours from the west coast, in California.

The way to kill a zombie is blunt force to the head. The head doesn't need to be removed, but significant damage needs to be done to it. This does not include the throat—it needs to be a headshot.

There's also a glaring hint. The computers in the compound, asking for a password. It is impossible to hack at this time. There will be more on this later!

Finally, if your character is exploring outside of the compound (or extensively inside of it) there's a comment here for linking me the thread. You can also PM me! I'll be ducking in with what your character may or may not have found, via a response to the actual RP thread.

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS please direct them here!

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[ so far, all pepper has really done is find a pair of pants to go with her brand new t-shirt (V.I.P.E.R. isn't an acronym she's familiar with, but she makes note of it anyway, fully aware as someone who works for a huge company that huge companies are easily to blame for huge disasters), and mercifully, a pair of flats that fit her. which is to say, sneakers. her expensive high heels have been left by her bedside, placed there neatly, though she doesn't think she's going to end up holding onto those for very long. not that anyone's going to steal them, but this looks like the kind of place that would swallow unnecessary items. shame, but pepper's not going to put fashion over practicality in this instance, not when she's trying to play it cool.

there are worse places to wake up. she knows this full well. at least she wasn't strapped to some weird machine this time, that's always a plus.

she finds natasha completely by accident, but it's a good kind of accident to have, at the very least. she always manages to seem in her element all the time, doesn't she? well, that's basically her job, so of course she does. pepper shoos the unnecessary, trivial thoughts away, watching her moving hands for a short moment before she speaks. kind of making notes. if there's anyone who'd be a good teacher at a time like this, it's probably natasha romanoff. ]

Nothing throws you, does it?

[ or...? maybe she's just that good at hiding it. pepper's tone is wry. ]

You missed the bottle of tequila I managed to down.

[ For Pepper, Natasha glances up. She lifts her brows; her smile shows more in the set of her eyes. From the monitor she chose and the way Natasha can see the other woman, she's in okay shape. Nothing's hurt. Sneakers are a good choice. That's Pepper Potts- too smart by half for Tony, and she lets herself wonder, briefly, if he's here.

But it's only briefly. Natasha keeps typing, returning her attention to the flickering screen. ]

What's V.I.P.E.R?

All of it? [ faux disappointment. ] I could've used a drink right about now.

[ that's recognition enough. pepper moves from the doorway to stand by natasha's side, surveying the computer she's trying to wrangle with only vague curiosity. it doesn't seem like the machine wants to cooperate. she hadn't expected to find anyone she knew, here, and it makes her wonder about who else might be here, too, but she's not exactly holding her breath. if tony were here, she feels like he'd have already managed to somehow jack the building's PA system and made himself pretty known. if this place even had a PA system, who the hell even knows. ]

No idea, but I'm willing to bet it's got something to do with this. [ "this", whatever "this" is. she nods her head at the computer. ] No luck?

Edited 2015-07-09 20:57 (UTC)

Unfortunately.

[ There's a fragment of annoyance and a dash of levity in it. All for Pepper's benefit— she's a friend, not a co-worker. With a little sigh Natasha hits another button and watches the screen dim. The Black Widow has worked for a lot of agencies with a lot of acronyms in her time. Apparently, V.I.P.E.R gets to remain mysterious for another day.

She shifts her weight. Sideways, now, so her hip is against the edge of the desk. ]

I don't think we should stay here too long. [ It sounds like there's a 'but' on the end of it though, considering how she doesn't make to move herself just yet. ]

Considering how heavy duty the walls look around here, this place looks like it was built to last.

[ it's not an argumentative statement spoken to go against natasha's opinion, just a thoughtful one. she doesn't disagree, and the implication is there that while this place might look like a fortress, it could be trying to keep them in as much as keeping something out. the lack of information about anything kind of lends itself to the idea that nothing can be trusted here. ]

I'd defer to you, though, if you don't mind me sticking around. [ okay, natasha did say we, but still. ] Where would we go? Do you think we could find maps, or something?

Hallows. 1.3 miles north. Somebody wants us there, and it's better to find out what it is before committing to it. [ It's actually a bad plan. It's a less than great plan. But hostile environments back in the days of SHIELD were always met with recon. The Widow's without her partner, but that's never meant uselessness she couldn't clean-burn into something else. ]

Think you can drive?

[ Natasha lifts her brows like they're talking about Cinco de Mayo and not, like, zombies.

Though she doesn't know that. ]

[ pepper listens, attentively enough. mental notes, she's lived by and relied on those for the vast majority of her life. not that it's much information, really, but it's enough. "somebody wants us there" may not be that many words, but it says enough. she nods along, and considers briefly, whether or not she could drive. there's not much to consider there, though, of course she can drive. she nods with affirmation this time. ]

Sure, so long as it's not stick shift.

[ lol jk most of tony's dumb fancy cars come with all sorts of weird gearboxes, pepper can totally drive stick. the quirk of her mouth says so.

anyway, 1.3 miles should be a doozy. ]

[ Natasha doesn't actually move yet. There's a delay in her step that suggests she's thinking something over, and without much preamble she reveals it. ]

I don't know where we are or who took us here. If you feel more comfortable with a weapon, I can give you one.

[ Though she sort of expects the answer to be an outright no.

Natasha is capable of more subtlety than that. Half the time, there is no choice, just an assessment of A to B that the Widow makes in her own time. Pepper, though, gets the question point-blank and lain at her feet. ]

What for, so I can accidentally shoot myself in the foot within five minutes?

[ the tone is more self-deprecating than necessarily humorous, and pepper's smile is thin. kind of tired, even if there's no real reason for her to be tired; it's just one thing after another, isn't it? you resign yourself to keep trudging through it all, one disaster, one mess after another. there's a slight pause, and pepper sort of mulls over whether to continue speaking or not, and in the end, she does. ]

I might expect you to know how to handle yourself in a crisis, if that's what this is, but I don't expect you to have all the answers. [ she clears her throat, lightly. ] Let's just try figure it out. Play it by ear, try not to... die, or something.

[ well that sure sounded better in her head than it did aloud. ]

[ Natasha laughs. It's an exhale of amusement — she had, actually meant weapon rather than gun — but even if her laughter is genuine, it's still meant to have a relaxing effect. ]

Well, I don't think we're going to get attacked by robots anytime soon.

[ Also a subtle way of testing what Pepper last remembers. Natasha doesn't make it obvious by staying on the subject, just hauls the bag over her shoulder and takes point, glancing out the doors. Her shoulders tense around the corners, but otherwise it feels like she knows where she's going.

Natasha holds the door open for Pepper by propping it with the side of her foot. Ladies know other ladies know how to take care of themselves, but this is just efficiency. ]

There's a vehicle bay out this way.

[ Maybe don't look at the horrifying message scrawled on the inside of the front doors either, Pepper. ]

[ you'd think with what her boyfriend gets up to and the company he keeps, pepper's first thought might have been a massive hammer or something, but nope. she still comes from a time saturated with enough gun violence that makes "weapon" translate automatically to "gun". though something like a metal pipe, a blunt kind of hitting device, probably won't go amiss. she's got good aim for those sorts of things. ]

Well, we've been through swarms of robots controlled by megalomaniac artificial intelligence, aliens pouring through holes in the sky, what's next? My money's on a plague of locusts. Or zombies.

[ ah, the bliss of ignorance.

pepper doesn't need to be told twice (or at all, as the case may be) to get moving, and she follows natasha quite willingly. she doesn't think of herself as being particularly useless, not at all, but this is natasha's forte and like she said, she'll defer to her. besides, she can learn a lot. it's like a school trip. a really, really creepy one with — well, the messages on the doors aren't particularly comforting, to say the least. pepper sees them anyway, but says nothing, just swallowing thickly. ]

Complete with vehicles and keys?

[ just. you know. natasha can probably hot-wire a car if not, but surely it's worth checking. ]

[ Natasha makes a mild sort of noise. ]

Probably.

[ The jeeps and other vehicles are all solar powered, like somebody was ready for them to get unleashed into this environment. She didn't have time to look over the engines or search for keys, but she's assuming the glimpse of panels she got means that they run. Ran? Will run.

Hopefully. ]

Why can't it ever be cocktails?

Edited 2015-07-10 00:03 (UTC)

[ well, there's cars, so that's a good sign. so long as they general work like normal ones do, pepper envisions no issues with using them to get to this hollows place. it sounds like somewhere out of a horror film, "hollows". that doesn't bode well. nothing has been boding particularly well, so far, really.

pepper inspects one of the jeeps curiously, her voice a little faraway, but dry. ]

Because that'd be too much fun, and fun's never on the menu.

There needs to be a different menu.

[ Evidently, Natasha's decided to pick one of the vehicles a little to the right. The second one, one of those military jeeps without a roof, just bars to hang off of and a sturdy windshield. She slings the medicine bag in the 'back' and doesn't quite climb in— she opens the passenger side and leans into the jeep instead, looking underneath seats and into the glove compartment.

Handy, that there's a key sitting in the ignition.

She opens the hood, too. No, Natasha doesn't know mechanics very well, but she does know what a bomb looks like. ]

I was really looking forward to mai-tais.

I could kill for a cosmopolitan, [ pepper agrees, with a hum of wistfulness. ] Or a very dry martini. Crises call for more olives than sugar.

[ mind you, the last crisis she faced that demanded a martini ended up with her getting cold and no goddamn martini. funny how that always works out. she follows natasha to the chosen car, giving the wheels a cursory kick to check the pressure while natasha inspects the rest of it. pepper has no idea what she's looking for, of course, but. judgement trusted.

opening the driver's door, she glances up at the empty space where a roof should be, her brows arching again. ]

Are you sure about this one? [ meaning, the rooflessness. ] Not that a bad hair day's going to be at the top of my list of things to worry about right now, but... [ she shrugs. ] I guess it's good enough if you need to lean out and get a better view.

[ in order to shoot something, presumably, but pepper hopes they'll be able to avoid that. ]

[ No bomb. Solar-powered. A little over her head, but Natasha also understand crisis, so there's no time to pick things apart.

She slams shut the hood. There's an economy of movement suddenly in the way she works, unstrapping one of the holsters at her thigh and putting it into the bag. One glock at her right, one in the bag, and she takes out a long, thin box.

And proceeds to put together what looks like a rifle, one leg lifted up to support the thing, knee bent and resting on the side of the vehicle. There's a sight on it, but with the way it's curved — and what she starts to load it with — it's a dart gun. ]

I saw something moving when I was on the wall. [ That, and with the cryptic warning about gunshots... So yeah, it's totally to shoot something. Still, Natasha adds (with a deliberate bent of levity): ] I don't know about you, but I could do with a tan.

[ Get in da ~~chopper~~ jeep, Miss Potts. ]

[ not that pepper's feeling inadequate in observing all these impressively efficient things that natasha is doing, but there's not been too much room for the kind of efficiency she's well versed in so far, so she's just going to have look on appreciatively. the dart gun gets an eyebrow raise, but pepper says nothing. she's had to deal with significantly bigger things being put out by her own company, back in the day. ]

Got a clearer description other than something? [ dry, again, as if natasha didn't make this jaunt in a jeep feel about a hundred times more threatening. ] Anyway, I don't tan. I turn into a huge freckle, and then I peel.

[ it's a charmed life. pepper gets into the jeep, however, because there's no backing out now. she is equal parts unwilling to hang out here alone, and just a smidge too proud to look like she's not brave enough to go out there. the kind of pride that gets people into trouble, y'know.

keys in the ignition, check. automatic gearbox, thank god. pepper places her hands on the wheel, and glances over to natasha. ]

Ready?

[ Yeah, @monstermasher, why couldn't you just give Natasha a bazooka?

Very charmed life indeed. Natasha smiles, huffing out a laugh because she understands that. Something is a shit descriptor no matter where you are. ]

Bipedal. [ So not an animal. If there was ever a moment where she thought about keeping the truth in order to project a little more levity, to let Pepper's shoulders lessen a little, she keeps mum.

She cocks back the mechanism on the rifle. It's stiff, so it requires a little work, but she plants her feet and stands it up against the jeep's door before she climbs into the passenger seat.

She might be whistling that working song from the Snow White movie, though. Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work we go. ]

[ because that'd be like the cocktails of the weaponry world. too easy. and too useful.

oh, thank you, natasha, very useful. it works, though, in the sense that pepper rolls her eyes and is amused enough by the answer to be distracted from being generally concerned. she makes an exaggerated "ahh"-ing noise, turning the engine over with a small flick of her wrist at the ignition. it's nice to be doing something familiar, at least, like driving. ]

Well, that narrows it down. Humans only ever have one agenda, after all, don't they? [ another sigh, lost over the noise of the jeep. ] Cocktails, hopefully, in this case.

[ and they're off.

and we're going to assume that the car keys have one of those buttons on them that opens things like garage doors so that they can actually take the jeep somewhere? yes? okay? shut up i'm tired and technicalities. doors are opening. ]

Edited 2015-07-13 23:51 (UTC)

If you like pina coladas.

[ She intones, letting her mouth crook into an easy smile.

Doors are opening. Somebody could have gotten out of the car to open it, but yes, the doors are opening, who cares how.

Natasha doesn't bother to remind Pepper that they're headed north. Technically, it doesn't matter where they go, but it doesn't take long before Natasha hitches the rifle over her shoulder and sort of— hangs out of the jeep, sitting more on the headrest than the actual seat. Held firmly in her arms, she squints one eye and looks through the sight. ]

Nope, [ she says. ] No margarita bars.

Edited 2015-07-14 03:05 (UTC)

And gettin' caught in the rain.

[ because come on, you can't not.

pepper remembers that it's north, even though now she's behind the wheel, she feels that kind of control that one gets from driving that makes her feel like she could and should go anywhere. it would help if they had more of a reference to their location than this hollows place, but nope, that's what they've got, so that's where pepper is pointing them. she keeps the jeep's speed steady, careful.

being out of the compound is creepy feeling. very, very creepy feeling. ]

There go the last of my hopes and dreams. Anything else? Not that anything other than a margarita bar is even remotely important.

[ It's quiet. As the cliche goes— too quiet, and Natasha lowers the sight. Wind direction is relatively still. This is more Clint's line of work, and not for the first time, she viscerally misses her partner.

Friends are in low supply right now. She hasn't seen Tony, and Bruce is in the wind; Wanda's here, but intimacy there doesn't come easy. Steve doesn't know her. Clint isn't— well, Clint.

It's a sentimental line of thought. Ultimately, one she doesn't have time for. Reshouldering her rifle, she frowns at the silhouette she sees in the sights.

One that seems to be growing a little bigger by the looks of it. ]

Hey. Do you see that?

[ she can't help it, but she kind of wishes tony was here. not that natasha's not the ideal person to be stuck in this with, honestly, she really is, and pepper considers her a friend (still kind of hilarious, given how things started out). in fact, natasha's a far more helpful and efficient person to have here than tony, let's be honest. but she feels his absence anyway.

her eyes narrow a little, and she leans forward slightly over the wheel to try and make out what it is clearly, but so far? no good. they're still a bit too far away — but getting steadily closer. ]

Just about. [ if she sounds uneasy, that's because she is. she keeps the jeep moving at the same speed, though, refusing to let her uncertainty show in the pressure of her feet on the pedals. ] Can you tell what it is?

[ should i keep going? is the unspoken question behind that. ]

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( OPEN ) GAME START.

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i've spent like 20 mins trying to decide if this jokey remark is too on the nose but fuck it

DID YOU JUST JINX US PEPPER!!!!

N...NO....,.

IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!!!!

i stg miss potts if i have to roll initiative right now

GOSH WE'RE FINE we'll be fine!!! (AND IT'S NOT MY FAULT WOW)

i ready my weapon of 1d3 damage....

unlike steve from that one scene, i do not understand that reference

NERD.

SAYS YOU

this thread is like two women one cocktail

look, nat, if she found a single cocktail somewhere here you'd be the one she shares with

http://www.metrolyrics.com/we-go-together-lyrics-grease.html

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