Week 5 [Day 17 - Night 18]

[calloperators]

[Something is wrong.

You've become accustomed to stores closing after each death, but this is different. The doors to the electronics store, the clothing store, everything else left behind, are wide open, and the lights are all on. You're free to walk in, but there are no employees, no customers. Tuning into the Max Headroom channel shows nothing but a message that says CONNECTION LOST.

Beard is nowhere to be found, either. It's almost as if everyone simply just...left. The only evidence that the police station is still operating is the occasional glimpse of figures moving about. The doors to the station are locked, and no amount of force can budge them.

Dark storm clouds loom overhead, and you can hear thunder in the distance. The humidity has reached its peak, and if it doesn't rain soon, it might never rain at all. The radio doesn't play music anymore--instead, it's just the constant sound of static, warping and wavering through the empty streets.

You are alone.]

< LOCATIONS | REGAINS | TAKEN >

[ Day 17 (Monday) || Night 17 (Tuesday) || Day 18 (Wednesday) || Night 18 (Thursday) ]
(OOC: Welcome to the final week of HOTLINE! There will be no activity check this week, just a courtesy check in. The final investigation will be this Friday, and the final trial will be Saturday.)

Comments

Night 17 (Tuesday)

[hotlinenpcs]

investigation

[neverstudied]

[Venkman slept in late. Really late. In all fairness, he didn't get much sleep the night before, and what little time he was briefly awake this morning was spent in a vaguely-hungover daze. He does remember a few things, though. One is that he wants to apologize to Beard for being... difficult, the night before.

Unfortunately, there's no Beard. Anywhere. At all. He checks every single goddamn place Beard might be with no success, growing slightly more concerned each time. And the cats are gone from the convenience store, which is a blow he didn't even expect.

He winds up spending a lot of time at the store tonight, not just looking futilely for the cats, but also seeing if he can investigate the place a little further- get into any back rooms, find anything useful behind the counter, and- most importantly- access the security cameras again.

He's also bringing his radio, on the off chance that he can pick up anything useful.]

[hotlinenpcs]

[Given that Beard showed Venkman how to look at the security cameras, he can probably rewind it just fine.

...It looks like the last time Beard was here was last night, a little less than twenty-four hours ago. Venkman can see himself talking to Beard on the cameras, and the chaste kiss occurring.

Wanna go forward a little?]

[neverstudied]

[He grimaces a bit at the footage, but keeps going anyway. What does he find?]

[hotlinenpcs]

[Well, you'll see Venkman leaving the convenience store. No one else except the motel residents seem to come in. Occasionally, a cat walks by and leaves the frame.

...At around fuck-all o' clock in the morning, Beard is still there. He seems to be reading a comic and listening to the radio, his back turned to the door.

There's the sound of a vehicle screeching into the parking lot, and two figures in delivery outfits step into the shop. Beard doesn't seem to notice. The cats look towards the figures, but don't seem to react strangely to them. The men walk up to the counter, one of them slipping behind Beard. Their hats obscure their features.]

Delivery.

[Said in a gruff voice by one of the delivery men. Beard looks up.]

Huh? But it's three in the morning, wh--

[One of them grabs Beard from behind and covers his mouth with a gag. Beard tries yelling out, but to no avail. The men work efficiently, leaving the scene with Beard draped over one of their shoulders. Some of the cats try following them, yowling and meowing.

There's the sound of the car leaving the parking lot.

...Any part Venkman wants to inspect closer?]

[neverstudied]

Oh, Christ...

[First of all- do any of the voices sound familiar? From the radio, from the trial room, maybe the same delivery men he talked at a few days ago... anything?

Second, is this the only camera, or are there any other views he can access?]

[hotlinenpcs]

[It sounds similar to the same delivery man Venkman talked to the other day! Gruff tone of voice and such.

There's another camera view of the parking lot--wanna see if there's anything there?]

[neverstudied]

[he KNEW inconveniencing service workers was sometimes morally right!

Of course we're looking at the parking lot. Why didn't we look at the parking lot in Medic's case? It's fine.]

[hotlinenpcs]

[It's Fine

Anyways now that Venkman is looking at the parking lot, he can see that a delivery truck pulled up to the parking lot. Again, he can't see the people's faces, but he can definitely see that there seems to be a police dispatch radio rigged up to the vehicle.

There's the sounds of the scuffle inside, and they can be seen bringing Beard outside. They open up the back, throw him in, and get in.]

Finally packing up this idiot for good...we've kept him around for too long, you hear?

[And then they drive away. The cats run out after them, yowling and screaming.]

[neverstudied]

[Venkman grits his teeth as the footage plays. Goddamnit. Goddamnit. Fucking cops.

Is there anything else he can pick up on from either camera's footage?]

bar

[conceivesfrenzy]

[ Alice is sitting on the bar, holding onto a drink of some kind as Venkman enters the bar. ]

There's no one here, if you're looking. Which, honestly, I'm not completely mad about. Means I get to drink what I want!

[neverstudied]

Yeah, I'm starting to figure that one out. [He eyes her for a moment.] You even old enough to... ah, screw it, who cares.

[conceivesfrenzy]

Not here, I guess. It's a nice change from having to bat my eyes and random people asking for something.

[ She takes a sip from her straw. ] This isn't even alcohol, anyway. No real sense in drinking anything when it's just myself.

Who're you looking for, anyway? Beardie?

[neverstudied]

... Yeah, I guess.

[Venkman grimaces slightly, self conscious of the flask in his pocket. Drinking alone is becoming a common occurrence for him again, and he's not thrilled about it.]

I am. Getting the feeling I'm not gonna find him, though. He either skipped town, or... I dunno.

["Got kidnapped by pig delivery men" is not yet on his list of possible outcomes.]

[conceivesfrenzy]

[ Alice is getting the hell out of here.

That's the plan, at least. She was content enough to hang around and see how things played out, but given the combo of how they almost got locked in the trial room and had that threatening message this morning, her intense curiosity has appropriately evolved into slight concern. And given the fact that nobody's been assaulted as they've tried to leave, that's enough for her to start packing.

She can be found at the convenience store or clothes store, rifling through the shelves and aisles and picking up things she thinks are going to be important for the trip out and shoving them in a duffel bag she found. Junk food, water, changes of clothes, anything that she thinks might be of some use. If you were able to get close enough to the bag, you might see some rubber that looks like it belongs to a mask, but Alice closes the bag up not too long after you come up. ]

What, did you lose something?

[ The plan is to leave first thing in the morning. She's not letting anything get the jump on her, not this time. ]

convenience store

[iote]

[...Alice, what in the world.]

...Looking for things is more like it.

[Canvas bags are our friend, and it seems he's looking for food as well; not that he needs it, because god knows his room is starting to look like a hoarder's, but it's just...something he's doing.]

This place is as good as any with regards to food. Most of it won't spoil too quickly; it's decent energy.

[Just...methodically gathering things from these shelves, don't mind him.]

So have you decided we're going to die here, then?

[conceivesfrenzy]

It's been pretty handy, I gotta say. It's amazing how much of this stuff is actually edible. Imagine all the things that soldiers back home would be able to do if food kept even half as well as this. You can only run on seafood gels for so long.

[ She snorts, picking up a box of Cocoa Pebbles. ]

Correction: You're all going to die. I'm going to be out of here before anything else happens.

[iote]

Because I'm sure no one else here has thought of simply leaving.

[You aren't going to get anywhere, honey, sorry to say.]

...And really, food is apparently so overabundant here that I don't see why they need it to last so long. They're so wasteful with what they have...

[conceivesfrenzy]

Yeah, well, I haven't. And I'm clearly superior to all of you losers, so... I'll take my chances, thank you.

[ And a box of Frosted Flakes. ]

That's what happens when you have any sort of luxury afforded to you. Too much of anything and you get used to it, get coddled. No one ever thinks of the smaller man when they're happy with what's right in front of them.

[iote]

[Mm.]

Speaking from experience, or observation?

[conceivesfrenzy]

Wouldn't you like to know, Mickie~! Not everyone grows up to be the second coming of some famous king or goddess or whatever.

[iote]

I don't claim to have suffered in the same way as those that didn't.

I've been expected to save them, however. And so I've seen enough, I think, to have some idea.

clothes store

[worldchampofmartialarts]

R-relax- I ain't gonna take anything from you. ...don't think we wear the same sizes, anyway.

[The heat's... really starting to get to him. And there's only so much the Snoopy beach tank can accomplish on its own when his only legwear is full-length pants. So, right now- he's just grabbing for all the shorts he can find that'll fit him, and stuffing them in his white cape... which has now been temporarily bundled up into a bindle, with his baseball bat serving as the stick. ...well that's... one way of carrying Grog's spirit.]

[conceivesfrenzy]

Duh. Not everyone here is graced with a lithe, petite form like me. I'd rather die than be a big brute like you.

[ She stares at him stuffing stuff into his bag. ]

You going somewhere?

[worldchampofmartialarts]

I'd uh. Rather you not die, please.

[Her question makes him briefly stop in his current process of sorting through shorts.]

...well- yeah, all of us're gonna get outta here at some point? But uh, in the meantime, I gotta start dressing for the weather. ...it's like a sauna out there.