05.5 Humble florist interlude

[Corwin]

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[17:16] <Knight> Kyle eases himself onto a couch in the dorm's open lounge; a tv is present there, as well as a pool table and assorted other distractions for the discerning college student. A lot of folks decide to head back to bed once the initial excitement has passed, but enough students stick around, apparently anxious or simply interested.
[17:18] <Knight> One of them- the fairly broadly-built fellow in jeans and a sweatshirt who seemed to take charge of the other students- glances at Ivy. "You guys are going out, eh?" he remarks, leaning back in a sofa.
[17:22] <Ivy> "We've met recently," she responds, offering him her hand and a bright smile. "I'm Ivy."
[17:28] <Knight> "Yo. I'm Craig," he replies, giving it a firm shake. "Kyle's not looking too bad. A dog, right? It's pretty weird for one to get in the dorms," he notes. "Was it yours or something?"
[17:31] <Ivy> "I don't have a pet," she responds, shaking her head. "Haven't seen it before in my life, but it was pretty huge. Not, you know, something ridiculous like a horse or something, but much larger than a poodle." She frowns in puzzlement. "And no one saw it? I think it made for the brush...."
[17:34] <Knight> "It came in through the window," replies Kyle, grimacing. "And went out the same way. I dunno, maybe it smelled something?" Craig shrugs. "I guess. What happened happened," he adds. "You guys want a drink or anything?" Some gaudy theme music plays through the lounge; Kyle reaches for his back pocket, and produces a phone.
[17:35] <Ivy> The front Ivy presents and her real self agree that a drink would be nice, here, and she nods her thanks to Craig.
[17:39] <Knight> "Hey. Yeah, I'm fine," says Kyle, holding the phone to his head. "I'll talk to you about this tomorrow, alright? Ok... Yeah, let the others know. Bye." As Craig returns with a couple of drinks, a man and a woman, both wearing blue-tinged security outfits, head inside the lounge. "Shit, son, you want to head to an ER?" asks the man, glancing at Kyle's knee. He weakly shakes his head.
[17:42] <Ivy> "Maybe you should?" Ivy suggests, worry returning. Accepting the drink from Craig, she nurses it, her attention on Kyle.
[17:49] <Knight> "It's not bad," he replies, although the guard shakes his head himself. "Better have them take a look, if it's got you all laid up," he responds. "You can't drive yourself, I guess. Anyone here mind giving him a lift?"
[17:52] * Ivy lacks both a car and the knowledge of how one could go about driving it, aside from what she had seen while being driven by others, and so she scans the room with a hopeful look!
[17:54] <Knight> "I can give him a ride," remarks Craig, finishing off his own drink. "You want to come, Ivy?" he adds, with a wry glance towards Kyle.
[17:56] * Ivy is already moving towards Kyle to help him up and offer her shoulder as soon as Craig offers, her half-finished drink left behind on a table. At his question, she has the grace to look embarrassed, and gives him a slight nod. "Yeah, thanks Craig."
[18:07] <Knight> "Alright, then," replies the guard. He doesn't leave the building whilst the three of them depart for a parking lot. Craig turns out to drive quite conservatively (a welcome change, perhaps.) "Were you guys out again tonight?" he asks, peering at Kyle. "Nah, not really..." he responds, prompting a sigh from the driver. (More)
[18:14] <Knight> He doesn't press it any further. An interminable period of waiting in the ER room follows, Ivy discovering that not long before they arrived at the hospital, a fight had broken out between local gangs, and treatment was already going ahead on a number of thugs suffering from a rash of knife attacks. Eventually, however, Kyle is taken in for treatment. (More)
[18:15] <Knight> Craig lingers with Ivy outside in the waiting area. "I don't mean to pry or anything," he says, glancing awkwardly at Ivy. "But does Kyle hang out with any of those gangs?"
[18:19] <Ivy> "Gangs?" she asks in puzzlement, shaking her head slowly. "No, I don't think so. You know he hangs out with some guys, right? But that's not a gang." She does look a bit uncertain, glancing back at Craig as if for confirmation.
[18:23] <Knight> "Nah, nah. It's nothing," he replies, sounding uncertain himself. "A few other students from the dorms did," he adds. "It's pretty stupid shit."
[18:27] <Ivy> "It is," Ivy agrees in consternation. "I told Kyle the same thing! I'm hoping he gets it out of his system now, while he can't do much for a while with his leg like that."
[18:31] <Knight> "Yeah. It's pretty viral," he replies. "People always seem to know someone who knows someone." A fellow wanders into the ER, in a shabby coat, and approaches the receptionist with a brief enquiry.
[18:32] <Ivy> "Not much you could do against that," Ivy agrees dejectedly.
[18:34] <Knight> "I don't get why people are such idiots," he responds, sighing. "You go to VCU?" he asks, curiously.
[18:37] * Ivy shakes her head. "Florist, actually. Do I look like one?" she asks curiously.
[18:39] <Knight> He squints. "I think I can see it," he replies. "How'd you and Kyle get together?" His attention from the question is diverted, however, by heavy footsteps and a noise- "Sir, you can't go in there just now!" calls the receptionist, whilst the man in the coat strides forward and heads in through the big swing-doors towards the emergency operating rooms.
[18:45] <Ivy> "Believe it or not, he looked so lost I just had to help hi--" Ivy responds, before she is drawn towards the man barging into the operating rooms. "No way! That's-- the gangs, they won't try anything here, would they?" she whispers harshly to Craig, drawing closer to him.
[18:47] <Knight> "Shouldn't there be some cops around?" he asks, glancing about the room. "There were gang suspects in here just-" A heavy blast echoes from just inside the ER room, followed by a scream!
[18:48] * Ivy is rushing inside before she even realizes what she is doing.
[18:50] <Knight> "Hey, don't go in there!" yells Craig, lunging to grab Ivy by the arm before she dashes inside!
[18:50] <Knight> roll 4d10
[18:50] * Hatbot --> "Knight rolls 4d10 and gets 20." [4d10=1, 10, 1, 8]
[18:50] <Knight> roll 1d10
[18:50] * Hatbot --> "Knight rolls 1d10 and gets 7." [1d10=7]
[18:53] <Knight> He manages to catch her before she dashes inside, though she feels she could probably break his grip if she wrenched away. "Idiot!" he adds, though he looks as panicked as anything. A nurse dashes outside- "Security!" she calls, rather needlessly. The receptionist is already on a phone.
[18:58] * Ivy whirls back to return a panicked look to Craig. "I have to help them!" she exclaims, and tries to break free of his grasp upon her to dash inside. Doesn't he understand, she has the training, she excels at everything, she needs to be there!
[19:01] <Knight> It's not too hard to break apart from him; he practically lets her go, though he doesn't follow her inside. Pushing through the double doors, Ivy sees a man clutching his chest, lying on the floor- an orderly, she'd guess. Several doors are marked 'operating theatre #x'- one is wide open. Another blast report comes from within. Ivy can see a couple of medical trolleys lying around-
[19:03] <Knight> as well as few people in white coats rapidly leaving the scene. Only those still in operating theatres have chosen to remain, perhaps to try and protect their patients- suddenly, another orderly rounds a corner, dashing past Ivy to try and tackle the gunman-
[19:03] <Knight> Blam! Another shot leaves him slumping over.
[19:16] <Ivy> An armed man with a gun and an unarmed woman with no sort of combat skill at all. She can stay out of the way, or she can even hide, yet what Ivy does is crouch below the view afforded by the window into the operating room and shoulder-ram the rotating door the moment the gunman is trying to leave, before whirling out of the way in case he tries to shoot her through the door.
[19:17] <Ivy> roll 4d10
[19:17] * Hatbot --> "Ivy rolls 4d10 and gets 29." [4d10=10, 3, 9, 7]
[19:17] <Ivy> roll 1d10
[19:17] * Hatbot --> "Ivy rolls 1d10 and gets 9." [1d10=9]
[19:18] <Knight> The door slams into the man with a mighty whack! Ivy can feel she got a solid blow- the crashing of some kind of delicate, fragile equipment follows soon afterwards!
[19:18] <Knight> roll 1d10
[19:18] * Hatbot --> "Knight rolls 1d10 and gets 9." [1d10=9]
[19:18] <Knight> roll 3d10
[19:18] * Hatbot --> "Knight rolls 3d10 and gets 16." [3d10=9, 5, 2]
[19:19] <Knight> A bullet flies through the door, and one of the splinters catches Ivy about the eye! She can feel blood dripping into her vision already, but beyond a stinging pain it doesn't seem too serious...
[19:21] * Ivy retreats further towards the added safety of one of the medical carts, getting behind it and ready to push it towards the operating room's entrance with all her strength once the gunman emerges to catch him between the cart and the door.
[19:22] <Knight> OOC: Make another check, same dice?
[19:22] <Ivy> roll 4d10
[19:22] * Hatbot --> "Ivy rolls 4d10 and gets 24." [4d10=8, 1, 8, 7]
[19:22] <Knight> roll 5d10
[19:22] * Hatbot --> "Knight rolls 5d10 and gets 18." [5d10=2, 4, 4, 5, 3]
[19:23] <Knight> By the time the gunman picks himself up, Ivy has shoved the trolley through the door! It smashes into him, pinning him up against a cabinet- his gun-arm is still free, and he wildly tries to fire another shot at Ivy-
[19:24] <Knight> roll 5d10
[19:24] * Hatbot --> "Knight rolls 5d10 and gets 25." [5d10=1, 7, 7, 6, 4]
[19:25] <Knight> -but the report of the gun causes him to drop it, kept off-balance as he is! For the next few seconds, he struggles to get free, even shoving away the cart and making to recover his weapon- but it's too late, and security belatedly arrives, guns drawn and orders shouted!
[19:26] * Ivy wipes the blood starting to drip into her eye with her sleeve, but that is only done absent-mindedly as she kneels by one of the gunned-down orderlies as soon as security has arrived and the gunman is no longer possessing of his gun. The man appears to be dying, and she tries to do all she can to prevent that.
[19:29] <Knight> Expert help is soon on-hand, though at Ivy's cursory glance she's not sure at all the man on the ground will live- the one in the operating theatre certainly didn't, although it wasn't Kyle. The gunman- rapidly restrained by security guards- seems to be much younger than he appeared at first glance-
[19:30] <Knight> -he's a scruffy fellow in his twenties or so, with a five o-clock shadow. As the guards drag him away, he keeps his face pointed at the ground. "Miss, are you alright?" one of the guards asks, stopping near Ivy. "It was you who stopped him?" he adds, with some admiration.
[19:35] <Ivy> "I only tried to do what I could," she responds, tearing her attention away from the wounded being treated by experts. Bringing her hand to her brow and having it come away bloody, she grimaces. "I should take care of this scratch, but I'm fine otherwise."

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