Random Encounters
Aug. 9th, 2014 08:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thebrownacid[This is a casual rp starter for scenes with Jen Daring, the world's most harmless Malkavian Antitribu. It serves as a warmup spot for character ideas for the After Gehenna game.]
San Francisco was a fishing village now. Bay water lapped the bases of the surviving skyscrapers, so clear now you could see down to the shattered street. Some brave divers went for artifacts down there: jewelry, surviving tools, random items to decorate their chambers with and claim bragging rights just for surviving. An old hubcap could cost you your life now that the Farrallones and the Bay were wed in one stretch of water over the drowned city. Sharks--the main risk in the area and also the main livelihood. They might get a fisherman now and again, but most nights in the high village with its precarious catwalks, it was they who became dinner.
When the sun went down the fishing crews lowered ropes down the side of the buildings and hauled up the boats along with their catch. The hard, ugly end-of-the-day work was necessary, for one breed of shark hunted at night and could take out even the few old yachts they had left.
The grunts and creaks of the ropes and thunk and scrape of the rising boats were the first thing Jen heard when she woke that night. She opened the closet she was curled up in and spilled out, yawning hugely. The outer wall of the hotel room she was squatting in had shattered outward, and a huge, battle-scarred gray cat crouched among the bricks, messily dining on a pigeon the size of a football. He looked up at her with his one good eye and meowed conversationally.
Within half an hour they had both eaten, and Jen was sitting quietly on the edge of the cracked rooftop plaza of the hotel. Other villagers, human and otherwise, milled on the rooftop by torchlight, enjoying a barbecue out in the cool night air. The cat sat next to her, keeping watch. Jen was a little unfocused, distracted by the blobs of golden and royal blue light dancing through the air. She knew something was going to happen soon and she should be here for it, but not what.
San Francisco was a fishing village now. Bay water lapped the bases of the surviving skyscrapers, so clear now you could see down to the shattered street. Some brave divers went for artifacts down there: jewelry, surviving tools, random items to decorate their chambers with and claim bragging rights just for surviving. An old hubcap could cost you your life now that the Farrallones and the Bay were wed in one stretch of water over the drowned city. Sharks--the main risk in the area and also the main livelihood. They might get a fisherman now and again, but most nights in the high village with its precarious catwalks, it was they who became dinner.
When the sun went down the fishing crews lowered ropes down the side of the buildings and hauled up the boats along with their catch. The hard, ugly end-of-the-day work was necessary, for one breed of shark hunted at night and could take out even the few old yachts they had left.
The grunts and creaks of the ropes and thunk and scrape of the rising boats were the first thing Jen heard when she woke that night. She opened the closet she was curled up in and spilled out, yawning hugely. The outer wall of the hotel room she was squatting in had shattered outward, and a huge, battle-scarred gray cat crouched among the bricks, messily dining on a pigeon the size of a football. He looked up at her with his one good eye and meowed conversationally.
Within half an hour they had both eaten, and Jen was sitting quietly on the edge of the cracked rooftop plaza of the hotel. Other villagers, human and otherwise, milled on the rooftop by torchlight, enjoying a barbecue out in the cool night air. The cat sat next to her, keeping watch. Jen was a little unfocused, distracted by the blobs of golden and royal blue light dancing through the air. She knew something was going to happen soon and she should be here for it, but not what.
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Date: 2014-08-10 04:39 pm (UTC)He stays eight miles out from downtown San Fransisco, or what's left of it, in a little campground with a lovely view of the ocean. He hasn't really been in the area long... so far, he's had everything he needed. Tonight he's just come around to see if there was anything he could scavenge, maybe a bicycle that could power a generator. And a CD player. And some CDs. He misses recorded music, and he misses movies even more.
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Date: 2014-08-10 10:34 pm (UTC)Humans find ways to survive and be happy no matter how crazy things get. It is one of their great talents. And one of the guys does have a "bike shop"--salvaged scraps put together into mountain bikes and heavy-shocked triped haulers. Even a few dog carts. The free box is surprisingly full tonight too--mostly things like pairs of socks, a bundle of polypropylene rope, an oil lamp made from an old beer bottle.
Jen's sitting near the bazaar and watches as he goes bym head tilting slowly. The cat takes one look at her reaction, gets up, and nonchalantly starts following Donald.
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Date: 2014-08-10 10:51 pm (UTC)All he's really brought is a tent that was a lucky find, and a bit of extra food just for himself. But a 'bit' is a pretty decent sized meal for anyone else normal--he always seems to be hungry. That's probably why the cat is following him.
No signs that he's going to share with Mr. Kittycat.
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Date: 2014-08-10 11:00 pm (UTC)Eventually she comes ambling over with a coffee mug of fresh cider and a battered tin plate with flatbread, potatoes and a slab of shark meat on it. She edges up next to him and bumps against him gently. "Noms!"
Because save the humans. Partly because of the vampires, they were struggling to survive a lot more than before.
The cat wanders up with his own slab of shark in his mouth and sits down to start feasting.
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Date: 2014-08-10 11:18 pm (UTC)She screams not human to his eyes and ears, like almost everyone else around. And he's probably something bizarre and foreign to her. He's... feeling awkward all of a sudden. "Thank you, whoever you are...?"
That smell. That smell. Of wonderful things to be smoked. Oh, he's jealous.
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Date: 2014-08-10 11:25 pm (UTC)"People who need food shouldn't go without it. I got the fish guy high, fish guy gives me food I can't eat, but you can eat it and you make me curious. So here, win win."
Oh yeah, he asked a question. "I'm Jen!" She pauses to watch nothing go floating past, then refocuses on him with a smile. "This is Growltiger." The cat continues eating messily, ignoring them. "You okay? Growly says you smell like the woods."
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Date: 2014-08-10 11:38 pm (UTC)"Your cat... speaks?"
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Date: 2014-08-10 11:57 pm (UTC)"Growltiger speaks Cat only. That's okay though. I can speak Cat so it's fine." The cat makes a vague erm-nyerm-nyerm noise.
"The people here are tough. Have you come around here often? I haven't been back around since it happened."
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Date: 2014-08-11 12:21 am (UTC)"No, I'm not from around the area at all, until the last few days." Let her assume he's been hiking across the country, for whatever reason.
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Date: 2014-08-11 12:57 am (UTC)"You have to watch out for the sharks around here. Most can't travel onto land yet but Megalodons can jump really, really high."
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Date: 2014-08-11 01:03 am (UTC)"And I don't much go for the ocean, either way. I don't think I'm in any danger."
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Date: 2014-08-11 01:45 am (UTC)"They have only attacked the towers a few times. They don't like the metal bones inside the building. They give off magnetic fields that make the sharks dizzy and make them lose their direction. But if you leave a boat on the surface they get all chewed up and stuff."
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Date: 2014-08-11 01:58 am (UTC)"I don't own a boat... or know how to sail. It's not an issue."
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Date: 2014-08-11 06:08 am (UTC)"Something's coming." She can hear that goddamned theme music in her head...and then it starts spilling out of her head and into everyone else's heads and suddenly everyone had a Jaws themed earworm. The crowd milled nervously, looking around. Some started backing away from the edges of the building while others stepped forward to peer cautiously over it.
"They...they should get away from there. They should get away from there...."
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Date: 2014-08-11 05:59 pm (UTC)"Stop that. Get ahold of yourself. There are no sharks coming and there won't be."
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Date: 2014-08-11 08:06 pm (UTC)The cat actually walks away from a lump of meat and goes to paw at her leg. He meows once, sharply, and she gathers him into an awkward bundle which he bears somewhat indignantly. "Kitty."
The music hasn't stopped. More and more people are edging toward the center of the plaza. Up on top of the broken spire overlooking the plaza, a searchlight flashes on and scans the water.
Suddenly the clanging of a makeshift gong sounds out and a man's voice starts bellowing from the spire "BREACH! BREACH! GET AWAY FROM THE WALLS!"
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Date: 2014-08-11 08:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-08-11 09:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-08-11 10:31 pm (UTC)He carries a gun, but it isn't meant for something that size. You'd need a harpoon.
"Well?" He's trying to snap her out of her shock. "What do you do?"
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Date: 2014-08-12 01:11 am (UTC)A secondary plume of water shoots up as the thing hits the surface again. People start to pick themselves up and look around.
Jen meanwhile turns to the cat. "Find Maggie and Khan! Tell them!" The cat yowls and scampers away.
Finally she looks at him, eyes unfocused. "That's the problem. They...they like to jump."
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Date: 2014-08-12 01:17 am (UTC)Please, do have harpoons. He can work a harpoon.
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Date: 2014-08-12 01:44 am (UTC)The shark leaps again, and this time manages to snap at the dangling turbine and drag it down with it. The lights go out on one side.
"Rogues. That's what they call them. Most sharks hate the big buildings. But something like this happens every once in a while still..."
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Date: 2014-08-12 01:51 am (UTC)"Not the best hunting strategy. It's suicide for the shark, it can't breathe."
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Date: 2014-08-12 04:08 am (UTC)"That makes even less sense. Sharks are all about survival."
She looks up. A big shaggy-haired Tarzan looking dude wearing nothing but tattered cutoffs is striding over. He glances at Donald curiously, then turns to the little hippie.
"Cat says you got problems up here." His voice is raspy from disuse.
"Hi Khan!" Jen nods rapidly. "Big shark, killing itself to jump this high. This guy's right. That's not normal."
"No," Khan replied slowly, looking back out over the edge. "Not normal at all."
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Date: 2014-08-12 04:18 am (UTC)Unless the shark has changed in other ways...