[Ami] Further Complications

[fikgirl.livejournal.com]

Who: Ami
Where: The Staff, Cafeteria
When: Day 28
Invited: Everyone
Status: Incomplete

Ami watched the table slam into the wall in amazement. Even knowing she'd moved a few things, they'd been small things. Larger things – like Vikki's table were only moved short distances. Fusing objects into concrete walls . . .

She shook her head and snapped her jaw shut, her head swiveling to look toward "Michelle." Her hand instinctively went to touch the lock of snow white hair at her temple. (Is that how I got this?)

Hand trembling, Ami desperately hoped not. If so, it was as a good a reason as any to never use her ability again.

"That's enough," Daniel said loudly, his voice carrying throughout the entire canteen. "No more demonstrations of what anyone can do. Experiments will be done outside or not at all. Until we know exactly what's going on, we have to consider this our home. And I, for one, would like to not bring our home down around our heads." The discomfiture he felt toward Michelle's hair color change did not sound in his words or show on his face. Ami only felt it.

"Now," Daniel continued as he made certain he had everyone's attention, "Let's continue with the names. We'll deal with the rest later. Vikki, do not go outside. We need to all stay indoors – and together – until we know what's out there." Daniel added the last with authority and command that overrode the uncertainty he'd displayed earlier.

Ami hovered indecisively in the doorway. She hadn't displayed her ability. After Michelle's stunt and May's suggestion and Daniel's almost-order, she didn't intend to either.

Her eyes darted around the room again. Millie still spoke to her invisible friend with the pretty albino girl translating. Vikki had paused on the stairs; whether she intended to listen or not was hard to determine. Ami's gaze lingered on Scott and she reached for him telepathically –

/CAN ANYONE HEAR ME?/

Knives sliced through her head, cutting into the tender parts of her mental core. Hot pokers dug into her eyes. The room spun and dropped away. Her abdomen twisted and wretched, putrid sticky bile and stomach acid attempting to expel themselves in hard, dry heaves. The world exploded into a bloody red haze before tunneling away and disappearing completely as darkness swallowed her whole.

[OOC: Ami just screamed bloody murder, clutched her head, and collapsed to the floor like a puppet with her strings cut. She also has a bloody nose. If the Doctor was not using full strength (and I believe that he was), tell me purplerhino and I can edit her reaction. But she's far more open and unshielded right now in order to keep an "eye" on River.]

Comments

[Damon]

[fikgirl.livejournal.com]

[Damon] Ow! Ow! Ow!

Okay, Michelle's display beat all of theirs hands down. In a way, Damon was glad of it. It provided a distraction from Claire possibly freaking out because he was one of the not normal ones. (Although it had to not bother her before, right?) He didn't know and didn't have any means of finding out.

/CAN ANYONE HEAR ME?/

The voice in his head nearly unseated him. It was nothing like the flickering thoughts of Ami and the teenager. This was loud and jarring. It reverberated through his skull as though someone put a megaphone up to his ear and scream. Pain and agony ripped at him, nails being driven into his skull, and then it doubled, maddeningly blindingly so.

Clutching at his head, Damon squeezed his eyes shut and heard a strangled, pain filled scream rise from his throat. Somewhere someone else screamed as though they were being torn asunder –

(Ami,) Damon recognized dimly. He turned toward the woman, but that was all the crippling pain allowed him to do.

During what felt like an eternity but he knew was only mere moments, the British woman choked off her scream and began to fall in slow motion. He watched, whimpering, scrambling to protect himself but unable. Vision blurred and darkened. Spots swam before his eyes. His head slumped forward, embracing the welcoming dimness.

[Claire]

[sophiedb.livejournal.com]

Gobsmacked as she was by the cute redhead's admission, the baby started whimpering before she could figure out whether this was a roll with it moment or time to freak out.

The fact that she metaphorically dropped everything to figure out what was wrong was almost as strange at this stage - at least telepathy sounded like fun: this baby seemed to have her wrapped around his little fingers, pushing responsibility buttons she never knew she had. Michelle's show was almost over by the time she linked the two together, gaping like some kind of idiot at the young woman's appearance - let alone what she'd done in the scant moments while Claire had been trying to calm down the bub (she really had to come up with a name for him..).

Then further hell broke loose, just as she got the impression that all was well in babyworld. Ami screamed - cute redhead yelled like someone being tortured! And they weren't the only ones, not least the baby, who was wailing his little heart out even after the adults collapsed.

Claire alternated between trying to rock her little boy and shaking the cute guy who might actually be her.. whatever - bub's dad was a definite possibility at least, and I don't even know his name yet!

"Wake up? Please?" she looked around, vaguely registering that others in the room were reacting to this turn of events with anger and/or confusion. "Can you guys quiet down some?"

Chances were no one heard her, and she the overwhelming urge to follow Scott's example and take her baby out of the room - but she didn't want to leave the American guy. She might not know him, but their mutual muddling through so far made her feel really guilty about abandoning him while he was unconscious.

[Scott] Owie

[starborn-scribe.livejournal.com]

If Ami was a superhero, then the hovering black-haired, black-eyed, veiny Michelle had to have been a supervillian. Whatever the case, her display of power and Frank's yellow eyes were downright disturbing.

Fortunately the dramatics didn't last long. Scott gaped at the table Michelle had flung into the wall while Daniel called a cease and desist. Then everything happened at once.

A wave of apprehension washed over Scott. He turned toward its source to find Ami standing in the doorway fingering her lock of white hair. As he took a step toward her Scott frowned. He thought he'd heard something, but--

Agony lanced through Scott's head. He doubled over, gasping and nauseous. Then the pain disappeared. Something rushed past him, but his attention was on Ami's mental presence -- or lack thereof. She was eerily silent.

Multiple voices shouting finally registered. Scott blinked at the sight of May cradling Ami's limp body. "Ami!" He darted to her side, pushing past humans and not-humans in the process.

OOC: Scott has a bloody nose as well. It's mild compared to Ami's, though.

[Mayday]

[weirdweb.livejournal.com]

Again, that feeling of something is very wrong erupted, and a heartbeat later, Ami screamed and clutched her head, crumpling to the floor. May acted without thinking, lunging for the British woman. There were two tables between her and Ami, but she vaulted over them like they were nothing, catching Ami before the other woman could crack her head against the floor.

She was startled to find that Ami felt incredibly light - which made no sense, given that the other woman was completely insensible and should have been dead weight in her arms. But May had no trouble catching her, nor was it difficult to keep her supported. It was as easy as holding a doll. A doll who now had a bloody nose, but a strong pulse as far as May could tell. And she was still breathing.

At Scott's shout, she looked up as he pushed his way over. "What happened?" someone asked.

May shook her head. "I have no idea."

OOC Commentary

[sinanju.livejournal.com]

Way to go, May! You've traumatized Claud by forcing him to face the fact that he's a ghost.

:D

Re: OOC Commentary

[weirdweb.livejournal.com]

Heh. She's a little distracted now anyway and only just heard Millie's comment down here. (http://community.livejournal.com/crossing_lostrp/126990.html?thread=3987214#t3987214)

[Scott]

[starborn-scribe.livejournal.com]

"Put her down," Scott ordered, wiping the blood from his upper lip. Considerably more blood streamed from Ami's nose, trailing down the side of her face.

May frowned at the blatant command, but obeyed. Scott briefly met the girl's eyes as he knelt beside Ami. "Thank you," he said sincerely, then turned his attention to the telepath.

Letting instinct take over, Scott clasped Ami's hand in both of his. The pleasant tingling was still there, but much fainter than before. His mind hyperfocused on Ami's body, checking her vitals first, then widening focus to her voluntary nervous system and other organs and systems.

"She's stable," Scott murmured. He didn't volunteer his other finding: mild brain hemmoraging. The cool, emotionless part of him fixated on the broken blood vessels, encouraging platelets to collect and stop the bleeding.

A short time later the process was complete. Scott blinked as his eyes focused on Ami's prone form. May hovered close by, curious and concerned, as were the multiple eyes Scott felt on his back. Doing his best to ignore the latter he said, "She'll be okay. She needs to rest."

"How do you--"

"Doesn't matter," Scott snapped. He scooped Ami up, then faced the staring crowd of strangers. "I'll assume that whoever did this to her did it unintentionally," he announced. The cold anger in his voice didn't surprise him in the least. "If it happens again I *will* find you and you will pay."

Turning on his heel, Scott set off for Ami's room. He'd watch over her until she regained consciousness.

[George/"Millie"]

[sinanju.livejournal.com]

Daniel Jackson had just told everyone to knock it the hell off--more politely, but that was the gist of it--and that's when it all went to hell.

Ami Jackson shrieked like she was being murdered and then went limp. Not that she was the only one. The red-haired guy and the guy standing beside Ami looked about to pass out too. Maybe others, but Millie had no time to look around.

Before Millie could do more than turn her head to stare at the woman as her eyes rolled up in her head, May Parker leaped past her to catch Ami before she fell to the floor. Leaped past Millie and over about three of the cafeteria tables. Her fingers might have brushed the middle one as she somersaulted through the air like Nadia Comaneche on her best day.

She leaped through Claud. Never even seemed to notice that he was there. Millie stared at May for a moment, then looked at Claud--who looked as shocked she did. But only for a moment.

Then his face took on a horrified expression and he began shouting in French. Whatever it was, it had him near hysterics, shrieking and...crying? Then he ran from the room, passing through several other people. And then the wall.

Millie stared after him. "Oh--that's not right!"

[Isabel]

[nohatmatt.livejournal.com]

'Vikki' scowled at Daniel's instruction not to go outside.

Who does he think he is? Telling us what to do, but her irritation was primarily that she'd already taken several painful steps up the stairs, and now she had to take them back down again.

As she reached the bottom of the stairs, another voice intruded on her mind.

/CAN ANYONE HEAR ME?/

It was distorted like overly-loud music, and it ripped its way through her perception. She heard screaming, realised she was doing a duet with Ami, then wavered on her feet and clutched desperately at a nearby chair, managing to slump into it before her legs gave out.

Immediately a headache started pounding away at the inside of her skull, and she felt warm wet leaking from her nose. She touched a finger to it and looked at it. Blood. She gritted her teeth.

/DON'T do that again,/ she projected, knowing that this was the right way to make people hear it this time, feeling internal restrictions missing after the psychic assault. /That HURT./

[Jack]

[purplerhino.livejournal.com]

Alan saw that most of the injured or incapacitated were being escorted to medical, except for those refusing. He crossed to the woman who had been climbing the stairs.... Vikki, and unceremoniously scooped her up.

"What the..." She looked startled, and a bit sick.

You shouldn't be walking on those feet, sweetness, and you're nosebleed and expression tells my you were affected as well, so I'm being a gentleman and taking you to medical with the others. You might need it more than them, by the looks of these bandages." He offered her one of his most charming grins, or at least he thought it was.

"Let's get you checked over, alright?"

OOC: Out we go

[nohatmatt.livejournal.com]

Okay, let's go to the infirmary (http://community.livejournal.com/crossing_lostrp/127859.html?view=4001139#t4001139)!

[Jon]

[sophiedb.livejournal.com]

OOC: apologies for my lack of posting last night - RL just went into overdrive at home *and* work! In a good way, mostly, but still idiotically nuts.. There may be a couple of quick posts to the previous thread later, but otherwise will just hop my PCs along to this one.

He couldn't figure out why Daniel's words made him nod, like he was approving of the guy's words but also.. proud? That didn't make sense.

Then his brain exploded, or that's what it felt like. There was just enough time for him to think that this was worse than the usual torture, but any question of why he'd even think that was torn apart by the yell that became retching, the nose bleed from hell and, let's not forget, knocking his head (as if that wasn't a bundle of pain already) on a table as he collapsed on the hard concrete floor.

Even sarcasm failed him as he wondered what the fuck they'd done to deserve this now, dimly recognizing that he wasn't the only one in the shit, right before he passed out.

[Faith/"Buffy"]

[fikgirl.livejournal.com]

Buffy dropped into a defensive crouch as Michelle's demonstration began. The hairs along the back of her neck stood on end and every nerve in her body tensed. Adrenaline built up, and she rocked on her feet. Her senses moved beyond the basic five, and she was hyperaware of the room around her and the people in it. However, she was only focused on Michelle and the oily, slick, repulsive/attractive power roiling off of the red/black haired woman.

The table slammed into the wall, but Buffy didn't flinch or look away from Michelle. Somehow she knew the table would hit the wall and it was secondary to Michelle who was dangerous.

Michelle dropped to the floor just as suddenly and gave a sheepish apology. Buffy didn't pull up from her crouch. Some hyperawareness told her that danger still lurked. Dark eyes flickered from beneath a curtain of dark, tousled hair to skim the room. Francis's yellow eyes intensified that prickly sensation. Buffy's body tensed more, ready to spring and launch when that unfamiliar hypersensitivity picked up another change in the air.

(The fuck?) was Buffy's only thought as she panned the room right before the pretty black woman started screaming bloody murder. Buffy knew that the woman – Ami -- was going to fall before she started falling, but May, who was closer moved with impossible speed. Buffy's attention shifted and then she was moving.

She leapt up from her crouch, aided by the adrenaline already built up. It surged and she leapt onto the closest table, jumped, rolled and did a hand spring between the masses of people. Her body rolled again as her feet met the floor, and she changed direction, kicking out her left leg into a slide. The slide pivoted on her hip, she spun in a 270-degree arc. As she stopped, the glowering teenager's head and body fell, his head and shoulder dropping directly into her waiting arms and hands.

Buffy hadn't been quick enough to stop him from hitting the table, but at least he didn't hit the hard floor.

Wisely staying quiet while the tall, lanky guy hovered over Ami, Buffy lowered the cute teen's head into her lap. Tall Guy – (And I really gotta start learning people's names. Maybe we should all wear nametags.) – leaned over Ami for a bit, projecting a protectiveness that Buffy instinctively knew not to argue with.

After he left, Buffy looked up and asked the room in general, "So what the fuck just happened here?"

[purplerhino.livejournal.com]

Several things happened at once. Two women screamed and one, the British woman collapsed while retching, only to be caught by a redhead who leaped and vaulted across the room with impossible speed. Three men also seemed to be affected, noses were bleeding and chaos was back.

At the same moment the Doctor was hit by the results of dropping his shields. He couldn't fathom why the empty void in his mind was horrifying to him. It had been easy to ignore until then. Now there was only a dim light floating where it should be full of background noise. Input flooded him, beyond his 23 senses, sending him to his knees. Finally he was battered by grating shocks, touching things he shouldn't, zapped by currents that jarred.

/Don't do that again. That hurt./ pushed in, even more jarring and painful.

The shields went up before he was blinded by the pain. His vision swam.

The Blonde was there, stedying him and he tried to keep from passing out.

"Well, that answers that." He managed through gritted teeth.

"Little bit of overkill though, yeah?" She smiled weakly. Odd, she hadn't had such a dramatic reaction, although she looked a bit pained. "It was a bit on the loud side." She replied as if he'd wondered aloud.

Redirect

[fikgirl.livejournal.com]

Rethreading down here again (http://community.livejournal.com/crossing_lostrp/126990.html?thread=4004622#t4004622)

[Mayday]

[weirdweb.livejournal.com]

((OOC: Rethreading down here to react to everyone's posts in the right order.))

As Scott scooped up Ami in his arms and carried her off - (And if those two aren't an item I'll eat my shirt!) - May turned her attention back to the rest of the room. Part of her wanted to follow, but she had the feeling that Scott didn't want company.

Ami wasn't the only one who'd collapsed. Buffy - a name that just DID NOT FIT - was steadying Cranky Guy and asking the question that was on everyone's mind, the redheaded guy was slumped in his chair, Vikki had a bloody nose and the still-nameless British guy had fallen to his knees. May grabbed a paper towel and handed it to Vikki for her nose. "Anyone see a medicine cabinet on the way here? Do we have an infirmary or at least a first-aid kit?"

Millie's comment finally registered with her. "What is right about all this?"

[Gene]

[sophiedb.livejournal.com]

"What is right about all this?"

"Absolutely nowt," Gene growled. "We've got people yelling, some fainting, and a troupe of fucking acrobats!"

He looked over at the four-eyed fella who seemed so intent on keeping them all together, cracking his knuckles. "We need answers, and I'm sure I can get someone to bloody well admit to this."

[Claire]

[sophiedb.livejournal.com]

Already beyond concerned by the fact that her baby wouldn't calm down and the closest thing she had to a friend was slumped across the table, Claire glared at the bloody-minded Pom.

"How 'bout we figure out how to make them better before you start using up the medical supplies we haven't even found yet?!"

"How 'bout you get back to the nursery and leave this to the big boys, lass, eh? Or if y'feel like making a nice calming brew, warm the pot and bring the rest of us a cuppa too."

She was so surprised that she stilled, bub sobbing quietly on her shoulder. "What are you, some kind of dinosaur? Lay off the sexist crap and make your own bloody cuppa!"

[Mayday]

[weirdweb.livejournal.com]

((OOC: Sorry. If Gene wants to try to take a whack at the smart-mouthed teen, he can TRY. She'll dodge or catch any punch he throws.))

May was checking on the redheaded man, since Buffy already had her hands full with the other teenager when she heard Gene's comment and Claire's response. "Hey," she said, stepping up to Gene before he could say anything more, instinctively putting herself between him and the upset mother and child. "She's right. We've got a bunch of unconscious people, nobody remembers anything and all I've found here so far is a box of Band-Aids. We need to get these people some medical help now, not try to beat up a scapegoat."

She turned back to Claire. "He's breathing and his pulse is steady, but that's all I know. Did you see a hospital bed or anything like that on the way in?"

[Willow/ "Michelle"] What have I done??

[rwarner.livejournal.com]

Michelle's mind was whirling. She hadn't really expected anything to happen when she attempted to move the table, which made what *did* happen even more mind blowing. She was absolutely mortified at how casually that display of power flowed from her, and what was worse she had almost enjoyed the feeling almost in an intoxicating way.

Before she could contemplate the source of her power, several of those who previously demonstrated telekinesis abruptly collapsed, most with bloody noses. It didn't take Michelle long to make a mental connection.

"Oh my god! I am SOOO sorry! I can't apologize enough! I *NEVER* even thought that anything like that would happen!"

Michelle wished more than she'd ever wished something before (at least so far as she remembered) that she could just disappear.

[Doctor] Owning up

[purplerhino.livejournal.com]

while the rest was happening the Doctor was lost in a sea of lonliness, crushing guilt, and anxiety. But he couldn't understand why. It all seemed to stem from that horrible black void in his head.

Of course the fact that thinking hurt didn't help. His brain felt like it had been kicked around the room a few times before the herd of rampaging Groniaks trampled it.

He managed to get off the floor with the help of his blond companion. But he had to sit in a plastic chair to keep his knees from giving again.

"Actually, I think that was me." He confessed.

"We kinda found out we were talkin' to each other in our heads. I kinda mentally called out asking if anyone could hear me and nothin' happened." The blond was quick to take some of the blame.

"Then I did the same, and everyone collapsed. I guess that wall in my head was there for a reason. It was a fantastically bad idea. The apex of bad ideadom." He tried to hold himself upright, and not give in to the agony, both physical and emotional. He felt the urge to crawl into a hole and die, but it wasn't because of this stupid mistake.

The Blond grabbed his arm, and he felt... anchored. She was close to tears herself. The downside of empathy. But she made an attempt at lightening his darkness.

"And if we remember all this, I'm gonna be remindin' ya of that confession for a long while, I think. King of bad ideas." Her lips twitched.

[Jon] Waking up

[sophiedb.livejournal.com]

The first words he heard as he came round ached in his ears, but was that someone accepting responsibility?

"Well thanks for that," was his muttered response.. followed by the acute realization that his head was pillowed in the lap of a very lovely young woman. "Wow, trade-off." *wince* As he registered the bump on his head. "Almost."

With Buffy's aid, along with the more normal British policeman - his drunken colleague now settled in a corner with an expression of confused frustration - he managed to make it into a chair and took a good look around. The other two he'd heard in his head were gone, along with a few others, but whether anyone had put two and two together - which apparently made more than four, judging by the absences - he had no idea. Keeping quiet felt better than volunteering whatever made him hear voices sounded good. The remainder of the cafeteria's residents were either helping the fallen, making lists or mopping up what looked like blood and vomit, while Mystic Meg - sorry, Vikki - was delicately taking care of a nosebleed. At least Michelle looked relatively normal again, if distraught.

"So what, he lets loose with his head and a bunch of us fall down? Nice trick. Mind keeping a lid on that one next time?" He groaned again: ranting was not the best way to fix this headache. "Where did the others go?"

"There's an infirmary around the corner," Tyler explained. "Might be worth heading there for a lie down, maybe some antiseptic for that cut, paracetamol for the pain?"

Whatever the hell paracetamol is. He felt a wet patch on his forehead and nodded. "No needles though, ok? I'm sure I hate needles."

Buffy and Tyler helped him stand, something he hated needing assistance with until a stumble forced him to accept them as crutches. "So what's your name, kid? Give us something to call you by."

"Anything but 'kid'." There went that blood pressure again. "I 'woke up' in a corridor before, so I have no idea which room I'm in." He concentrated on walking straight for a couple of steps, then grinned. "Homer will do for now."

[Tara, Chris] Hello?

[weirdweb.livejournal.com]

((OOC: Assuming here that Sam's inner demon won't cause the reaction that it used to for Tara and that it can't try to get at her right now.))

ENTER TARA AND CHRIS

She was running through the jungle, and only when she reached the bunker doors did she stop and wonder why. The young man behind her nearly collided with her when she stopped. "What's wrong?"

"I don't -" For a second, the memory seemed to be just out of her reach, then it was gone. "Who are you? Where are we?"

He looked perplexed. "Your guess is as good as mine."

She looked at the doors, looked up at the camera above them and waved. Nothing happened.

The stranger with her stepped up to the door and put a cautious hand to it, then knocked. "Anyone there?" He carefully turned the handle. "It's unlocked."

He pushed the door open a crack and the sound of voices talking could be clearly heard. "Hello?" she called. "Is someone in there?"

The voices hushed, and the young man peered through the doorway, motioning her to stay back. After another second, he slowly pushed the door open to reveal a cafeteria and a crowd of equally bewildered people. "Um, hi," Tara said shyly. "Can anyone tell us where we are? Or who?"

[Alia/'Liz']

[nohatmatt.livejournal.com]

Something about Hunt's reaction to the kitchen tickled a familiarity in the back of Liz's mind.

He's out of his time, she thought, then wondered why. He clearly wasn't familiar with the kind of technology in the kitchen, but at the same time Liz was herself convinced that it was utterly ordinary to the point of being almost primitive.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the outside door opening, and a young woman and man came in.

"Um, hi," the woman said shyly. "Can anyone tell us where we are? Or who?"

For a moment there was silence.

"Unfortunately not," Liz said into it. "Everybody here appears to have lost their memory. I'm guessing it's happened to you two as well."

[Chris]

[estirose.livejournal.com]

"We were in the forest," Chris said. "Tropical forest, jungle, whatever. I don't know what we were doing there. Something probably important."

He looked over at the young woman with him. "What it was, we have no clue."