[network and log options] My charade is the event of the season

[motherserpent]

Network Option:
Day 383 | @curiouschloride | text | My charade is the event of the season [open]

You are invited to
Mother Serpent's Winter BBQ!!

Moldy bunkers got you down? All work and no play in a shitty snowy hellscape? Join me outside the bunker tomorrow, day 384, for a day of food around the fire. Too busy exploring the bunker's glowing depths (please don't die doing that)? I'll bring food inside at the end of the day and it will be delicious but stone cold and that is your own damn fault.

Be there or be square.


Log Options:

Characters: Tess and bunkerfolks
Location: Outdoors, near the bunker entrance
Date: 383 (day and evening); 384 (daytime)
Summary: It's a cookout!
Warnings: None at present

[Day 383]
[Tess shows up at the bunker on the evening of day 383, where she stops by each of the safe rooms to spread the word. She literally goes around each room to ask people:]

Hey, did you see my thing? I'm going to make food tomorrow and you should eat it.



[Day 384]

[It's still too fucking cold outside and the sky has been spitting light snow on and off all day. It's warmer by the fire, though. The snow around the flames is slushy and there's an unfortunate lack of places to sit, but at least the air is somewhat warmer than the surrounding area. Tess's supplies are piled up nearby on top of a spare coat that will need drying out later, including a postal carrier's bag with a moderately grumpy feathered snake curled up inside.

Early in the day, the flames are high and there are few signs of any cooking happening as Tess tends the fire, looking a little bored. Later, when it burns down to coals, she gets to work wrapping the ingredients she'd cut up in the bunker the night before in packets of aluminum foil that she tucks among the coals. There's a large, abused-looking cooking pot planted in there as well, more foil over its top in place of a lid. It smells like fruit. The packets smell mostly like beef, potatoes, and bacon.]

Comments

[motherserpent]

Ack! Damn it, anomalies!

Meanwhile, Tess is going to try to draw the attention of all four of the anomalies following her and Gamora so Gamora can get free of them. The idea is to get the four clumped together, then have Tess come close enough to taunt any that look like they're going to follow Gamora so they'll follow her instead, hopefully staying far enough away not to pass out during any of this.

[snowblindmods]

[The blanket lands on top of one of them, but they show no reaction to the hammer, and of course, kicking them just knocks him out. They're very quick to strike once they get close, like snakes, hands snapping out to pull him down.

The one who actually caught him drags him out to the main hallway. It can't get out, though, so now it's just dragging him around, unconscious, unable to get anywhere. The other one loses interest in Peter and leaves the room. There are now five anomalies interested in Tess and Gamora, crawling toward them with slow, inevitable persistence.]

[motherserpent]

Can Tess get the attention of the five so Gamora can get loose of them? She's doing her best to run close enough to taunt them if they lose focus on her, hopefully without getting touched.

[snowblindmods]

[If they're closer to Tess than Gamora, they will pursue Tess instead.]

[termineur]

[ Gabriel, hearing the commotion and expecting things to go downhill today, cracks open the door to Room 26 and rushes to Room 4 holding a baseball bat with debris carefully stuck all around it.

Once he sees the situation, he's going to try and hit the anomaly that's dragging Peter- if he can reach it. If not, he'll try to help distract the others away from Gamora, as well, and try to make sure Tess doesn't get hit. ]

Decided to bring the party inside, huh?

[snowblindmods]

[Though he has to get close enough to get very dizzy and suffer a bad nosebleed, he can strike it. It doesn't respond, but it doesn't react to Gabriel's presence at all, seeming content to continue dragging Peter through the mold.]

[motherserpent]

I was curious!

[This snapped at Gabriel in a desperate tone of voice that implies that no, really, her hands were tied, she was metaphysically bound to do this.

That's all, though; she's leaving Gabriel and Gamora to pry Peter from the jaws of death while she leads the other five anomalies back toward the front door. Gonna get these fuckers out of here! She keeps close enough to maintain their attention throughout this effort.]

[snowblindmods]

[They follow Tess to the door, though the ones near the edges seem more ready to be distracted by other things. Once the door into the entryway is open, the one dragging Peter moves in that direction as well.]

[termineur]

We should let this one go, too. Probably.

[ He's not happy about it, but it's what he can tell probably has to happen.

Gabriel backs up, rubbing blood off his nose, and gives his brain a moment to rest before charging back in and trying to hit the anomaly off Peter again, using the baseball bat. It almost certainly doesn't work, and he'll give up after that. ]

[motherserpent]

I'm not letting them take him!

[This shouted from the far end as Tess keeps luring them all out the door. Her plan is to get all the anomalies outside, then loop around behind them and grab Peter's feet for a game of tug of war against the anomaly.]

[alivingweapon]

This is not the day Gamora wanted to have. This is not the day she was promised. Although, if she’s being entirely honest, it’s a little bit the day she expected. Things don’t go well for them anymore. This is life.

Tess is risking hers to get the anomalies far enough away that a rescue attempt can be made for Peter. Gamora hates that she is fine with this. As fine as she’s been with anything for a long time.

She’s trying not to draw attention to herself, silent and waiting. That doesn’t mean it’s going to work, but she’s trying. She holds out two fingers and circles them to encompass the anomalies, then flip them toward the exit. Can Tess get them away? Can she get them far enough away that Gamora can start in and make a grab for Peter? They probably don’t have much time, and they very likely only have one shot at this.

[snowblindmods]

[They seem very willing to head outside, or at least to follow along, though the ones at the edges are still prone to being distracted. The one dragging Peter is the most eager to leave, of course, and isn't especially interested in anyone else except as far as they can help it leave.]

[zunesareawesome]

[Assuming once the anomaly is outside that's it for Peter, RIP. Bacon was worth it.]

(OOC: Submitted an obit!)

[alivingweapon]

Shit. This is a bad idea. It's such a bad idea. She doesn't have a good idea, though, and she can't just watch it happen again. She can't just stand here on the other side of the metaphorical glass and watch him die.

So she acts on her horribly stupid idea, and she runs in and swings the only thing she has with any range - her bag - at the anomaly. Specifically at the place where it's got hold of Peter. She holds tight to the strap, swings it in an overhead arc, and brings it down with as much force as she can muster.

[[OOC: Which means it's probably curtains for both of them.]]

[snowblindmods]

[She strikes the anomaly--and Peter, a little, but that's hardly the worst thing that's happened to him today, probably--and it coils unnaturally around its prize even as its grip loosens.

The others, meanwhile, close in on Gamora. If someone else is close enough, they might be able to yank her away, but they'd have to be fast.]

[motherserpent]

[Tess is here to save the day! Except she's not all that fast and she's a tiny woman with noodley arms so she's probably not going to successfully yank Gamora away.

What I'm saying is she gonna die, too.]

[termineur]

[ Gabriel grunts with annoyance, but doesn't step in to try and save Gamora or Tess. They both decided to jump back in, and there's no point in him dying, too.

It still feels bad as he backs off towards Room 26, hopefully giving himself an avenue of escape if he needs it. They'd better revive. ]

[snowblindmods]

[As soon as no one is standing in the way of the bunker's entrance, it shuts: the monsters are outside and Gabriel is inside. Tess and Gamora, however, are also outside, and with Tess not quite fast enough, two anomalies grab for them as well. It's a tumble of confusion, but as Gamora and Tess are rendered unconscious as soon as they're touched, it's not long before two more anomalies drag them away.

The remaining anomalies linger around the outside of the bunker entrance for the rest of the day, but wander off eventually.]