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Post by ◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊ on Sept 14, 2012 19:34:47 GMT -8
(LINK TO A FLOOR PLAN: www.ggp.com/content/corporate/data/siteleaseplans/WESTLAKE%20CENTER-4341-LP2.pdf )
The main floor of Westlake Center is home to many stores and a large outdoor plaza which leads to Pine street. On the other side is a stairwell to the underground parking, and another exit to Fifth Street. Both the main doors are covered with large glass windows that look out on the street, and are in the heart of downtown, surrounded by traffic. Currently the roads are blocked with mayhem and the wreckage of cars.
Stores include Daiso (Japanese dollar store), Made in Washington (a tourist gift shop), an empty store front, Lush (a soap store mostly, as well as cosmetics), Fire works (Gifts and books) and a large Chinese restaurant "PF Chang's" among others.
From here you can go to the second floor, (or any floor via the stairwell) the garage, or the plaza.
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Post by ∆§Indea§∆ on Sept 14, 2012 19:52:40 GMT -8
( Let me know if this is the right spot, I think it is but feel free to move it and pardon me if I am jumping the gun.NOTE: Also if this messes with the story too much please feel free to modify or delete. I have added my previous post as requested) It felt like the world had frozen in place and everything was in stop motion. A wave of cars pilled up before him, the liquid on the road was growing suspiciously red and there were bits in it that just shouldn't be there. Micah heard someone screaming, not the horror movie scream but something much worse. This was not a good place to be. Micah looked towards the glass building, standing like a fortress to the chaos before him. He turned to the blonde guy standing next to him. “ I have no bloody idea what's going on but I think we should get the hell out of here, I'm running that way, coming?” Micah darted towards the entrance narrowingly avoiding running people as much as he could, jumping over forgotten trollies. The sign above read in blazing green and yellow “Lush”. He pushed through the throngs of people into a large open mall, people were running in all directions. Micah got caught in the flow of panic and was forced to move towards the back of the mall, he went along until he finally ducked into the nearest shop. It contained novelty gift items and a few books. He watched mystified as waves of people continued to flow mindlessly before him. A few people were in the store with him but he hadn't noticed them before. A skinny old guy whose hair stood at all ends was sitting in a corner with a blank look in his eyes as if he was home watching TV, car keys in his hand shaking. A woman with glasses at the counter was staring disbelieving into her phone as if willing it to begin working again. The shop assistant was hiding under the counter, the only sign of his existence, a small sobbing sound. Micah turned around to see if the blonde guy had followed him- He was distracted by a sudden sound coming from the back of the shop. The old guy had started mumbling incoherently to himself, then abruptly rose and with a strange look in his eye moved towards where Micah stood. The old guy stumbled over reaching out , there was drool pooling around the sides of his mouth... Micah glanced at the frightened customers in the store and moved back towards the entrance of shop and away from the crazy old guy. He spotted the blonde guy from earlier moving towards the shop with a few others. At least that guy seemed sane. He wandered over to the group and grinned sheepishly at the blonde man. " Ah Sorry I left you there before, I'm Micah"
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Post by Gillsing on Sept 14, 2012 19:57:22 GMT -8
(Ben and Sonya are standing right outside the Daiso store, looking at all the people rushing by.) "A protest? 'Occupy the Mall'? Nah... They'd have pickets or something. These people look more like something happened." Making damn sure to not leave the cute little lady's side, Ben tried to catch the attention of one of the stressed out persons passing by. "Hey," he yelled, "what's happening?" RANDOM MAN - "Some kind of Bio-terror I heard! UGhhh"
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Post by Dr. Maneep Pamplemousse on Sept 14, 2012 20:38:51 GMT -8
(Not sure if what I'm about to do is kosher, but I thought I'd try it and see how it goes over.) Patti was making good time towards her goal of reaching the Fifth Avenue exit, but it was hard to make out the situation there through all the running maniacs. She was fairly certain she saw someone get knocked over the railing and down into the lower level. As she hurried past the front of 'Daiso', she had to do a double take at who she thought might have been Kevin from IT. As it turns out, it wasn't but he was a dead ringer: same general height and weight, similar hairstyle, and the same frames on his glasses. Beside him was a tiny Korean girl with a name tag that read 'Sonya'. The Kevin doppelganger called out "Hey, what's happening?" Patti was about to answer when some lunatic screamed something about bio-terror and ran off. KD and the 'Daiso' clerk looked so lost that Patti had a sudden image of the two of them being trampled to death under the feet of a thousand rioting morons. She pulled up and motioned them just inside the doorway to avoid a sprinting 350-pound man. "Look, I don't know exactly what's going on, but you don't want to follow that nutbar. There's a forty-something car pile-up on Pine Street and maybe some rioters, I'm not sure. I'm trying to get out at Fifth Ave so I can get home in one piece." "I suggest, whatever you do, you stay close to the walls so you don't get trampled. Like I said, I'm heading that way, you're free to follow if you want." Sonya- Oh no! Oh..! Yes ma'am, are you police?
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Post by kilnarak on Sept 15, 2012 0:22:54 GMT -8
(Recap! After all hell broke loose outside of the mall, Nat fled Starbucks accompanied by his co-worker, Sarah, and a few random patrons. Just inside of the mall, he turned to notice that a car had crashed into the side of his workplace, and that some sort of ghostly shadow-smoke-thing was flowing into the breach in the side of the building. He shrugged this off as a panic-induced hallucination/his eyes playing tricks on him, and continued further into the mall with Sarah to hopefully escape the panicking crowds. Currently, he and Sarah are standing infront of "Fireworks", rather close to the front wall of the store so as to avoid most of the crush.)tab The scene inside the mall was beginning to mirror that outside, with people playing the role of the cars. Nat flinched back against the front wall of 'Fireworks' as an overweight man tore past them and cut across the mall, seemingly headed toward the exit onto Fifth Avenue. The charging man just narrowly missed bowling into a few people milling about outside of Daiso before disappearing amidst the crowds. Nat could see that others hadn't been so lucky, though, caught in the rush and trampled underfoot. There was one such poor soul within a few yards, a little boy, who lay unmoving on the floor. Nat thought he could see blood. tab He looked away, shuddering, in time to see a... somewhat familiar face. The lost-man from before reappeared, rather hurriedly exiting 'Fireworks'. Just as recognition dawned on Nat, the same seemed to occur for the lost-man. He seemed to be heading over. tab "Oh, um. H-Hi. I'm Nathaniel, um, Nat if you want." Nat shifted from one foot to the other, his gaze nervously darting away from the man - Micah - now and then to focus on people darting past. "Do you know what's going on?" His gaze refocused on Micah, and he paused a moment to push his glasses up as they slipped a bit down the bridge of his nose. After he asked the question, he near immediately wished he hadn't - of course the guy didn't know, he'd said so earlier. tab "Should, um, should we be headed anywhere? They-they haven't made any-any emergency announcements over the intercom...?" He glanced from Micah to Sarah and back - the question not directed at either of them in specific, but rather to either of them in general (as well as anyone else, who might happen to be within earshot).
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Post by Gillsing on Sept 15, 2012 3:20:42 GMT -8
(I fail. I was looking for a new post when I should have been keeping an eye out for Kelly editing my post. Gah. Live and learn.)tab Ben didn't pay attention to the dark-skinned, take-charge woman until it was almost too late. But luckily he made it back inside Daiso before he was run over by a human freight train. The cashier was paying close attention though, and seemed ready to do whatever the older woman suggested. But Ben was a child of the information age and a master of its technology! So he had his own ideas. Which involved some good, old-fashioned information technology. tab "That guy said something about bio-terror," Ben said, pointing in the direction of the helpful stranger. "And that sure would explain why everyone is panicking. I don't think I want to go outside at all. The phones all died, but the radio should be working, right? Don't they use that for emergency broadcasts? Or breaking news?" tab "Do you have a radio in the store?" Ben asked the cute cashier.
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Post by Gillsing on Sept 16, 2012 2:35:23 GMT -8
Patti reconsidered the young man's suggestion and took pause. She wasn't feeling very hopeful about the situation at Fifth Ave at this point anyway. She took a step back into the storefront. "A radio, brilliant. You kids and your new-fangled technology. That's a great idea." The humor made her feel a tiny bit better, at least. Sonya- "Radio... I don't-- Oh! There's TV on third floor! On wall at food court, it show commercials but we can change channel to news."
"Food court on Third Floor?" Ben said thoughtfully. "How can we get there with all these crowds all over the place? Are there any back doors with some stairs or elevators? Uh... Scratch that -- wouldn't want to get stuck in an elevator." Ben really didn't want to brave the crowds, because even if he might make it up there in one piece, it might very well be with one less Daiso cashier. She seemed so timid. As if she could be swept away by a sudden wave of people. Or worse; she could end up trampled on the floor like a pretty flower under the feet of multiple marching maniacs. Perhaps the other woman could lead them though? She seemed competent. If he kept the cashier in between her and himself, they might be able to stick together? And there was that one thing that really helped when trying to not lose people in a crowd. Ben offered his hand to the cashier. "I'm Ben Hanson, by the way." The cashier nodded to him and shook his hand like a business pro. Sonya- "Hi, yes, I am Sonya. There are stairs, both sides besides middle part. Not very big but most people are not taking."
"Pleased to meet you, Sonya." Ben glanced in the direction of the stairs she had mentioned, and then turned to the other woman with an outstretched hand. "Ben Hanson."
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Post by ∆§Indea§∆ on Sept 16, 2012 6:01:45 GMT -8
Oh, um. H-Hi. I'm Nathaniel, um, Nat if you want." His eyes darted about the place in a disconcerting fashion. His eyes refocused on Micah's own blinking behind the glasses as if looking at Micah was a strain. He was certainly a nervous little fellow.. "Do you know what's going on?" He asked but then seemed to think the better of it. Of course Micah didn't know, He doubted anybody did. "Should, um, should we be headed anywhere? They-they haven't made any-any emergency announcements over the intercom...?" Nat looked worryingly about towards a young woman standing close by. " I am guessing whoever manages this place has racked off, so unless you wanna go up there and make it yourself it's not going to happen. As you can gather I'm not local, so your guess is heaps better than mine as to where to go. I suggest either up or out though..." He turned to the young woman, she was quite short and had crinkles beside her mouth from smiling all day although she didn't look happy at all now. She looked up and smiled tightly, obviously thinking hard. "Hi sorry, Micah and you are? What do you think we should do?" "I'm Sarah. Wow I can hardly imagine... Obviously some kind of disaster, but nowhere in sight, and nothing I've seen any evidence of. People in the shop were babbling about bio-terror or some kind of explosion but I'm sure we would've heard it. Maybe we could find a television around?" "Racked off...?" Nat furrowed his brows, the term unfamiliar to him. "Oh, n-no. I don't want to..." He paused, listening as Sarah chipped in with her own opinion on what they should do. "Bio-terror? Oh God, I hope not." He recoiled slightly at the suggestion. "Maybe there's a television upstairs? I-I mean, there's bound to be one for security, right? And there's that big flatscreen in the-the food court, if we can change the channel..." "Ah ( he laughs) sorry Nat, it means 'fucked off' but slightly more polite. I think the one in the food court sounds like a safer bet, the one in security is probably locked up tight with a security guard blissfully and ignorantly asleep but I could be wrong. So do we adventure up to the food court? I'll follow you guys..." Micah looked around addressing the group huddled behind the two also. An old guy wearing a pin-striped seersucker suit towards the back, gave Micah a coquettish wink and he shuddered, he got enough of those creepy ones on the ship. In fact wasn't he from the ship... "Oh yes, goodness this is all just awful. Any young people that seek comfort, my arms are here for you. Oh yes, you there, that's nice. Hmm.." He put an arm around some random passerby who was too out of it to be bothered.
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Post by Dr. Maneep Pamplemousse on Sept 16, 2012 6:54:36 GMT -8
Ben introduced himself and held out his hand. Patti accepted the odd formalism and returned the handshake. "Patience Greene, everyone calls me 'Patti'. Getting more information isn't a bad idea, I'm game. We should definitely take the employee stairwells and nothing open to the general public. I already saw a dozen people fall down the escalator, I'd rather I didn't meet the same fate." "Which way are we going, Sonya?" Sonya- "Umm let's see, this way. I think this stair are less used."
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Post by ◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊ on Sept 16, 2012 11:11:22 GMT -8
tab Sonya led Ben and Patti through the hall. Thankfully the crowd had stagnated, and it was less like swimming upstream and more like she was leading them to the stage at a busy concert. She walked along the wall, one hand on it to keep her bearings, and slipped past people. Her small head would sometimes disappear for a moment, but she would jump and raise a hand to draw their attention again. They broke out of the crowd near a large potted plant and she opened the door to a set of concrete stairs. Some random passerby noticed and slipped in and down the stairs to the parking garage for unknown reasons. tab The stairwell was lit in a sickly greenish light, and the sound of humming ventilation covered any sound from the other floors, which was a bit disconcerting. The three walked up the stairs to the third floor, noticing the stairs continued up to another door as well.
(From here, you can go to the Third Floor thread, what you see in the first post is something you witness, or, you could pop up to the roof if you're curious.)
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Post by Thy Dungyeon Maestyr on Sept 16, 2012 14:39:52 GMT -8
In the Fireworks, Micah, Nat, and Sarah were getting their will up to brave the crowds and get up to the third floor. One of the boutique's stranger attendants approached them.
Weird old man, hair on end, holding car keys- "I... forgot where I was parked... It's embarrassing."
Sarah- "Sir, come with us... We'll find your car later, but you need to stay safe." She smiled warmly.
He looked confused, then nodded in agreement.
"Oh? OK, madame."
The old creeper took the burgeoning sense of organization as an opportunity to touch more shoulders and sides, encouraging people to get together. British Creeper - "Come now people, yes, let's stay safe together, young dears. You're lovely. Yes."
Suddenly he pulled a hand back from a young woman in shock. He had blood on it. She was wearing a soaked, thin white dress, which was covered in blood like a busy motif of large dark red flowers. Her visible skin, though, looked relatively unmarked. She was pale and clammy looking, with a disturbing, maybe drugged expression. Injured woman? She said something too quietly for the others to hear, and lingered swaying lightly on her feet, like seaweed under water.
Woman with glasses (this is our generic woman image) By god dear, are you alright?!" By now the assembled group had Micah, Nat, Sarah, Creeper, Weird old guy, injured woman, glasses woman, another two women, and another man.
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Post by ∆§Indea§∆ on Sept 16, 2012 20:01:28 GMT -8
The blood on her dress is not her own, the blood on the dress is not her own. These words like a mantra went rolling through Micah's head. He had been injured enough times to know. He attempted not to stare at her nakedness beneath the cloth, but really he was distracted by more pressing things humming through his head. This is was all like a suffocating cloud, it was almost too much too bear. Micah had the sudden urge to join the fallen people on the ground floor and fly for a few seconds, but it had to get better or some kind of survival mental gear would hopefully click in. God he was a wimp, if he couldn't handle the fricken subways system, how the hell was he going to handle whatever this was. At least the Sarah chick seemed ready to take charge, although she was the overly helpful type.." Fuck the old man" Shit, did he say that out loud? "Err I mean uh we should go to the food court. We should go or just fucking die already. I mean that chick does not look good errr well.." He could hear himself sounding panicky, his accent broadening in his distress. Why did he sound like a bogan when he stressed out? Then as he moved forward he tripped over something lying on the floor, twisting and landing face down on it. It was a dead little boy, his face squished as if was a rotten tomato, against his own. He bit his lip as not to whimper as he slowly removed himself and stood up. He was going to need another fucking holiday after this shit was over... OH god if it was ever going to be over...
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Post by kilnarak on Sept 16, 2012 22:30:27 GMT -8
Nat fidgeted, trying and failing at forcing himself to calm. They just... they needed to get upstairs, to the television and the news. There would be a public announcement of what they should do, and then everything would be fine. Soon, all of this would be over, and they would evacuate to somewhere safe and clean and orderly. As he waited for the group to decide on their course of action, he made a strict point not to look at the creeper from Starbucks. While he hadn't realized it at the get-go, now that he'd had a chance to stop and regain his wits he had recognized the man. Thus-far he had been left alone, thankfully - granted thus-far he had been mostly hiding behind Sarah. However, the man's sudden gasp, and shocked noises the others in the group were making tore his attention back up. At first, he wondered if the man had injured himself - his hand was bloody, after all - and then he realized that this was not the case. No, it was the woman beside him, the pale woman in the dress marked with blooms of blood, who was injured. Nat withdrew a pace away from her, startled, and nearly tripped over his own feet. What had happened to her? She didn't look particularly injured, aside from the blood - what damage there was would have to be under her dress, but it didn't look like it could have been caused by the car accidents outside. Had someone stabbed her? Nat felt gooseflesh rising on his arms, and he shivered at the thought. "Miss? Are you-can you make it to the f-food court?" He flinched slightly at the sound of his own voice - squeaky, frightened. "I-I mean, maybe... maybe we can find you help up there?" Micah seemed to agree with him, although the man sounded nearly as panicked as he was. Nat looked to Sarah for support - if anyone was the leader of their little group, it was her. The blonde was looking at Sarah, when Micah suddenly went down with a dull thump. His attention flicked back to the foreigner, and he flinched again as he saw what the man had landed on. One of the victims of the earlier stampedes, a child whose head had been crushed underfoot. Nat could feel bile rising in his throat and he gagged, turning away from the scene and trying not to puke. It took him a few moments to pull himself together, a few deep breaths, and then he turned back. Just don't look at it, you'll be fine. "H-Here, get up," he thrust a hand down to Micah, to help him up - not really looking at either the man or the corpse, but rather out across the mall, somewhat blankly. The crowds almost seemed to be thinning a little, and there were fewer people rushing about - things were beginning to die down.
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Post by Thy Dungyeon Maestyr on Sept 17, 2012 12:45:56 GMT -8
In the Fireworks, Nat helped Micah off of a gory looking boy, expressions aghast. The woman with the glasses picked up the body... Woman with glasses - Bobby, don't scare people like that! This is a serious situation!"
The boy had just been flopped on the ground with a rumpled, shiny red shopping bag over half his face. (GM note: There will come a time for crushed little kids, but I think the NPCs in this scene would've been a bit more panicked if that had been there. Plus you are picturing a larger crowd than would actually be at this mall at 7 PM, outside of the holiday season.) The bloodied woman was being coddled by the small crowd. She waved her head and seemed annoyed, but still in a daze. Nonetheless, she showed no sign of her condition deteriorating, so Sarah got things moving. Sarah- "OK, everybody, let's get up the stairs. Everyone stay close together and don't move too fast, OK?" She nodded to BritCreep, in appreciation for his help herding the bunch.
Everyone moved out of Fireworks and into the stairs. They narrowed the group to get through tight spots and allow fleeing people past them. The stairs were clammy and cramped. Along the way, Brit Creeper managed to end up next to Nat and Micah again. British Creeper - (to Nat) "Mm, dreadful situation for one so fair as you. A dearth of constitution is the price the gentle must pay for their fragile beauty, don't you think?"
Micah felt like making comment but was distracted by the bloody woman, who slipped a bit on the stairs ahead of him. He reflexively shot out a hand that caught her bum, holding her up. It felt cold as a meat locker, the dress wet and loose like frog skin, pink watered-down blood coming off on his hand as she regained her footing and continued on. She looked back over her shoulder at him. Bloody woman- She mouthed a word at Micah, too quiet to hear, but he thought he could read the lips... Did she just say "Sexy?"
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Post by Thy Dungyeon Maestyr on Sept 18, 2012 12:21:45 GMT -8
Nat Micah and company reach the third floor... Move to that thread, and also check "Converse Here" ...
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