Cinemaplex Car Park

[ODIOUS]

Thomas quickly whispers in Jennifers ear. That his is the car parked backwards in its slot and motion with his figure where his car should be.

[Laraqua]

Jennifer nods, and they move around the other side of the parked ute to head in that direction. The ash falls like a heavy curtain blown in a heavier wind, making Thomas' eyes water whenever they are opened and filling his nose and mouth with the foul taste of ash whenever it can.

[Seppuku]

Mark searches the Dish area thouroughly. (Looking for a large knife, or useful tools)

http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=1216842

[ODIOUS]

Thomas tugs gently on Jennifers shirt. Singaling her to stop. They are close to the car. Thomas stops and listens making sure the last few feet to the car a clear.


http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=1216852

[Laraqua]

It sounds like there is nothing moving close by. The car can't be seen in the darkness but Thomas' groping hands feel the cool, familiar steel.

Mark does find a few bread knifes. They appear to be used for staff meals more than anything else.

[Seppuku]

Mark puts one of the knives in his backpack, and walks back into the lobby.

[Laraqua]

The woman gives Lionel an odd, hawkish look. "My children are under the age of eight, Mister. They need me. I'm going to go find them. Doesn't anyone else here have family? Won't anyone else go with me?"

[Mr. Handy]

"Ma'am, I do know exactly how you feel," says Lionel. "Don't you think I wish I could be with Sarah right now. She's been through the wringer, and while she's fully grown she'll always be my little girl. She needs me, but she needs me alive. It would break her heart if I died in a futile attempt to reach her, as I'm sure it would break your children's hearts if you did the same. Please, let's try to get through on the phone and see if there's even anyone there. For all we know, they could have left the day care center to go somewhere else when they heard about what's going on." He tries dialing the day care center again on his mobile phone.

[ODIOUS]

Thomas opens the passager side door as fast as he can. He quickly switchs off the cars interior light. He grabs his field engineers kit. He grabs under the passger side front seat for his gun case.

[Laraqua]

The gun case is there as is his case. There is a low growl somewhere above your car. You hear Jennifer shift her weight and fire.

Those in the Cinemaplex hear a shot go off. The crowd, now armed with pockets bulging with sweets and cups of drink, their shoes wrapped in fabric, move into the dark lobby towards the pitch black windows. The other two still can't be seen.

[Mr. Handy]

[OOC:I tried a Persuade roll after my Credit Rating roll failed. I hope that's okay, as I got a critical success on the Persuade! He's certainly been talking to her long enough that he's had a chance to use it.]

Lionel could tell that this lady was not quite swayed by his stature as a doctor. Her emotions were obviously too strong, but not so strong that she couldn't be swayed by reason. "Come on, let's go back to the lobby. I heard a shot, and I need to make sure the others are okay. I'll try to find a way for you to get in touch with your children and find out if they're all right." He holds the cell phone to his ear to see if he has gotten another busy signal or if he has gotten through this time.

[Laraqua]

The woman nods, somewhat calmed by the seriousness with which he said those words. "I'm Katy, by the way," she says as they move to the lobby. She seems to be waiting for him to say something else...

(Persuade takes at least ten minutes and you've only been talking to her for a couple - so continue on, though I will take that score as a success.)

[Mr. Handy]

[OOC: Okay, thanks. In Zombie Apocalypse I have been allowing Persuade after just a couple of minutes, but time moves much more slowly in that game. Was Lionel able to get through on the phone this time, or was it another busy signal?]

Lionel offers Katy his hand. "A pleaure to meet you, Katy," he says, escorting her back to the lobby. "I'm Dr. Lionel Carpenter. I know how important our children are." He fishes out his wallet and shows her a photograph of Sarah in her green nurse's uniform. "This is my daughter Sarah, and she means the world to me. We both work at the hospital." He shows her another photo, this one older and showing three people: a much younger Lionel, a young woman who looks startlingly like Sarah but even lovelier, and an adorable five year old girl with straight blond hair and a huge smile on her face. Her parents sit side by side on a couch, and she sits on their laps. Each of them have an arm around her and are clasping their hands in front of her, and she rests her little hand on top of theirs. "This is a picture of our family. Sarah is growing up a lot like her mother, Beatrice. This picture was taken only months before Beatrice passed on." His eyes start to water. "Sarah is all I have left."

[ODIOUS]

With all the ash blowing around Thomas crouches and opens his gun case. He is listening to but his ears are still ringing from the gun shot.

http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=1218880

[Laraqua]

Thomas withdraws his beautiful .357 Magnum revolver (1d8+1d4 damage, 20 yards base range, 1 attack per round, six bullets). There's a total of twelve bullets in the gun case, including what is already loaded into the revolver. He hears a pained screech that sounds more like a bird than anything else and something flops to the ground a few yards away.

Lionel only got an engaged signal but his pictures seem to be distracting the mother well enough.

"I don't have any pictures on me," says Katy, seeming drained. "I'd need to get home to get them."

[Seppuku]

Mark ducks when he hears the gunfire, and moves away from the windows.

[ODIOUS]

Thomas putting his faith in Jennifer. He rushes to open the trunk. Keys in one hand gun in the other.

[Mr. Handy]

"That's okay," says Lionel, returning the photos to his wallet and placing it back in his pocket. "There's certainly no reason to go back there. We'll try to get you and your children back together, but we need to have a plan and do things sensibly. I'm still getting a busy signal at the day care center, so I'll try again in a few minutes. Do you know if they have another line? Maybe a fax number? There's probably a fax machine here, or at the superstore next door. Or maybe you know the cell phone number of one of the people there. Other phones have been having problems, and I'm lucky mine still works and I was able to talk to Sarah earlier."

[Laraqua]

"A fax machine?" Katy asks. "Yeah. Yeah, they have a fax."

A few others approach, asking in their own respective ways about how they might reach lovers, friends and family.

Thomas reaches his boot as another shot is fired from Jennifer's gun. "Hurry!" she exclaims through gritted teeth.

[Mr. Handy]

"Okay," says Lionel. "When Jennifer gets back we'll ask her where the fax machine is and some paper. Then you can write a message and we'll fax it to the day care center. We'll put my phone number on it so they can call you back when the line's not busy." He turns to the people approaching him. "I can use my phone to try to contact your families and loved ones, but one at a time. We'll do this first come, first served. If anyone else has a mobile, you can try using it too."