ArchivedLogs:Thriller

Thriller
Dramatis Personae Ash, Dusk, Kaori	2013-10-31 Flash mob and Halloween weirdness! (Part of Infected TP.)
Location <NYC> Times Square
Lights and billboards scattered over the skyscrapers that line Times Square. A gaggle (murder?) of tourists are spread through the square at all hours of day and night, gawking at the tall buildings and taking photos of nothing in particular. Times Square is a place of theatre, certainly, but mostly it is one giant tourist trap that no self-respecting New Yorker would be seen in for longer than it takes to leave. It's been a couple weeks in the making, and Kaori could not be more exited. Partnering with her new buddy Dusk, they put together a secret website with all the instructions and choreography for their Thriller flash mob on Halloween. The music is slightly different from the original, because it's actually a remixed version by DJ Spinster (Kaori's alter ego), which has been pinging the charts in the lead up to the season. As things stand now, the foot traffic in Times Square, leading up to noon time, is slightly odd for anyone who studies such things, but in reality, the disruption of people waiting around, pretending to take pictures, is hardly a blip in the landmark's notice. Kaori is here wearing a trench coat, which looks a /little/ odd on the young woman, but not totally out of place. Her hair has been died blue-black though, and she seems to have applied some fun Halloween makeup, like a lot of people around the city today - she's drawn a white and black skull on her face. She's currently leaning against what sort of looks like a food truck that hasn't opened for business yet. For those in the know, it hides a sound system rigged to start playing her remixed song exactly at noon. Tick-tock! Dusk is also in a trenchcoat, somewhat odder still on him in terms of its awkward hunchbacked appearance from the hump up by his shoulders. The long black garment looks to fit in well with the rest of his appearance, though, corpse-pale skin and deep-dark hair and eyes -- throw in the fangs and he doesn't even really /need/ a halloween costume to pull off the vampire look. He's looking kind of more under the weather, though, maybe a little bit out-of-character for a vampire; his lean against the truck might be as much out of exhaustion as out of an excuse to loiter. His eyes scan the crowd with a kind of amused twitch of smile though. It is not so strange to see people in costume in Times Square today. Ash seems to be half ass'ing it today, wearing what looks like brown velveteen (with a pink belly) footie pajamas under a black jacket. He does have a large sack over one sholder, a yard debris garbage bag that seems to be filled with something big, round, and bumpy. He casts his gaze left and right as he starts pinpointing familiar faces. He makes his way toward Dusk as he recognizes him the most. He gives his sack another yank as he meanders over. Totally inconspicuous. Really. It is not so strange to see people in costume in Times Square today. Ash seems to be half ass'ing it today, wearing what looks like brown velveteen (with a pink belly) footie pajamas under a black jacket. He does have a large sack over one sholder, a yard debris garbage bag that seems to be filled with something big, round, and bumpy. He casts his gaze left and right as he starts pinpointing familiar faces. He makes his way toward Dusk as he recognizes him the most. He gives his sack another yank as he meanders over. Totally inconspicuous. Really. Kaori smiles brightly at Ash's approach, and brings up her hand revealing a bright pink can of Rockstar energy drink, making a kind of salute greeting to him. "Hey, what's up Ash! Good to see you again." The young woman is practically vibrating with excitement, not coming down from the balls of her feet, probably especially with all the tall boys around. She's about to say something else when at least a dozen audible alarms go off around the vicinity of the truck - cell phone alarms, beeping watches, etc. Kaori's face breaks into a beaming smile and she stoops to set her can down by the truck. She's probably had enough energy drink anyway. She winks at Dusk and Ash, and gives the driver in the truck a thumbs up as she struts out toward the dance's epicenter, totally in character now. She tosses her trench coat aside revealing a tattered, red leather jacket, only vaguely reminiscent of Michael Jackson's in the original video, and takes her place as lead zombie in the crowd. At the truck, all sorts of various panels and windows open revealing not food, but massive speakers, which begin to blast the the most Halloween-iconic pop music ever, Michael Jackson's Thriller. Everyone in the Square stops to look at the sudden disruption, curious, amused, and maybe even annoyed, some. But then about three dozen people stride purposefully to their places, and the dance kicks off with real gusto. With Kaori's enthusiasm and excitement level, she's not really able to tamp down on the broadcasting portion of her mutation, so any bystanders who feel like joining in, will find it remarkably easy to learn the steps. This is turn inflates the crowd size very quickly, as people join in grinning, and laughing, and generally have a good time. Just a minute into the song, and the Square is packed with people watching or dancing. Dusk greets Ash with a quick half-smile, an up-ticked nod of his chin. But then it is /time/ and further greeting will have to wait. He sheds his trenchcoat, too, when the music starts; underneath, his clothes are more grungy zombie-tatters. /Today/ his giant wings don't even draw much by way of stares; the ones they do get are more appreciative than alarmed, most likely assuming some very intensive crafting done to get them so realistic. He falls into place in the group just behind Kaori, a fangy smile on his own face as he starts to follow Kaori's movements, quietly singing along with the song. Even through sickness her enthusiasm is infectious. Ash stays to the sidelines while he pulls a big teddy bear head out of the bag he's carrying, the large velvetine thing altered to look crazed and perhaps vicious. One eye is missing it's black button all together while the other flops by a thread. The muzzle now has conical felt teeth added in and red smearing its mouth, leaving a large gaping blackness for the mouth, allowing the wearer to see out. Ash slips the hood on, then takes off his coat, revealing the felt ribs and blood on his back, making him a zombie bear. He scurries out and finds his place before the dance gets too crowded. Kaori's enthusiasm /is/ infectious, and the crowd continues to swell with eager participants. Some who had planned to be there, some just joining in because hey, it's a holiday, these are /for/ having fun. Though as one minute of the song stretches into the next, a few people in the crowd are starting to fall out of sync with even Kaori's helpful example. Just one here at the edge of the crowd. Another pair just behind Dusk. Faint grimaces like maybe their head has suddenly sprung a pain. Kaori makes a very high-pitched, excited noise when she sees Ash's costume, and very nearly breaks ranks just to run and hug, but she gets herself back on track, focused, and grinning like a crazy, dancing skeleton. When a few people go out of sync, Kaori just chuckles - flash mobs are always a little haphazard after all. She redoubles her efforts to make clean crisp movements for everyone to follow, and even starts projecting her muscle memory of the dance on purpose now. "You guys are the best!" she calls out to Dusk, and Ash, and the few others who are close by. Then she's singing under her breath again. Dusk's grin brightens further at the sight of Ash's costume. "-- /You're/ the best," he counters, "this is the most fun I've had in the city in a /while/." His wings start to spread behind his back but then pull back in for fear of hitting other dancers. He falls into step more fluidly with Kaori's active projection, sick-exhaustion briefly displaced by the energy of the crowd. Ash scuffs a toe at Kaori's outburst, but doesn't lose step with the song for too long. Soon, he's back in sync with the group. He growls all zombie-like at the right moments and moans his approval when Kaori shouts out compliments, a moan that quickly turns to a shout of his own, a whoop of joy. With his head on though, he fails to see much of the disapproving crowd. Ash's zombie-moan might be in theme with the song but further back in the crowd, a few of the people who were dancing are getting a little /too/ into character. One young man has turned to the woman he arrived with, clamping down teeth on her shoulder which elicits a sharp yelp, an annoyed, "/Zach/," a sharp bap of her hand against his head. Another woman beside Ash turns at his zombie-moan with a sudden sharp grimace of annoyance, reaching out to /shove/ at his back like this whoop has offended her. Maybe the annoyance is infectious, too; at the back of the crowd two teenagers have simply fallen at each other, sort of zombie-growls to their claw-y bite-y scuffling, too. /This/ latter, at least, is attracting police note, though they at the moment mostly frown like they're not sure if this is part of the act? "Hey what-" Kaori turns when she sees Ash shoved, her face clearly annoyed. "Not cool, lady!" The dance can certainly continue with Kaori distracted, but any of the walk-ups - people who haven't practiced before now - might be stumbling. Having turned to face the shover though, Kaori is now seeing the back of the crowd getting rowdy. She goes for a sternly disapproving expression, but on her face it is just pouty instead. The dance carries on for the most part around her, but she moves to Dusk and says over the noise, "Hey, you know those guys back there? This is getting weird..." "Uh --" Dusk frowns, dropping out of the dance with a brief tired wobble and a curl of his wings tight around his body. "No, I don't -- uh. Is this some Halloween thing? I definitely didn't put anything about biting on the website." "Hey!" Ash is shoved and adds new 'weathered' marks to his zombie teddy costume. His expression masked, it takes him a moment to get his feet underneath him and get up from his hands and knees. Someone else bumps into him dancing and threatens to dislodge his head. He stumbles around a little before getting his footing, straightening up, and turning to those around him. "Hey, hey, guys, don't bite, okay? It's not very nice" In response, one of the scufflers nearby Ash lunges towards him instead. Chomps down against one velveteen arm of the pajamas. Gnarrrr. Kaori nods at Dusk's confirmation about the troublemakers, and then seconds Ash's request about biting. She reaches out a hand to help Ash up if he wants it, and then seems to really take in how wobbly Dusk is. "Keep going, everyone!" Kaori shouts cheerfully, and slips an arm around Dusk's waist. "Hey guy, lets get you sitting down, you look like shi-" Kaori is waving to Ash to get his help in moving Dusk, when the teeth come down on Ash's arm. "What the fuck! Ash, c'mon, I think someone crashed our party! Let's get outa here..." It was practically the end of the song anyway, so Kaori just leaves the dance completely, trying to support Dusk and give Ash a hand with the chomper. Much of the crowd has completely lost the thread at this point, at least the part of the crowd that isn't trying to attack people at random. The music truck seems ready to wrap up too. The driver is already closing down the flaps and windows to make his escape. "Holy /shit/ dude is everyone fucking drunk --?" Dusk does look kind of unsteady, leaning against Kaori with one soft wing curling back around her. But the man biting Ash draws his brows together in a sudden sharp frown, his /other/ wing extending quickly to sort of jostle-shove at the biter, trying to push him away from Ash. "Jeez Ash you alright? -- Maybe you got people /too much/ in the zombie mood." For all the sudden biting he does seem more amused than /overly/ alarmed, his sharp teeth flashing for a moment as he admits: "... I kinda get in the mood to bite people a lot, myself." "Ay! Dios Mio!" Ash shouts when someone starts biting down on him suddenly, reflexively yanking his arm away. There is also a unconscious battering of the guy's face with his free arm. His attention wavers between his biter and Dusk and Kaori, moving closer to the latter when they help rid him of the former. "One, Duskito, you have sharp teeth, so it's less of a pinch-bruise and more of a cut, and two, you generally ask first." He moves in under Dusk's wing and helps bolster him as they make their escape. "Someone put something in water?" The man turns his aggression to chomp down on the hard spar of Dusk's wing, when it pushes at him, but only briefly before he is pushed backwards. As the scuffling spreads, now the police /are/ spurred to action, finally stepping in to separate the people in the crowd who have turned on each other. It's not a particularly /neat/ clean-up; a few of the people stop when approached, seeming a little bit disoriented with the whole situation, but one or two of them continue to attack the police, as well, struggling still against their restraints even once they're cuffed and being steered into the squad car. "Whoa whoa whoa-" Kaori says quickly when the biter tries to follow up. Once she sees Dusk and Ash are freed, she hurries the three of them onward, in a specific direction from the Square. "C'mon, I drove today. My car's around the corner up there." Kaori shuffles along, trying to get Dusk between her and Ash so they can both help. Kaori's in great shape, but she's not exactly strong enough to just carry a dude. When they get closer, Kaori produces a key fob, and presses the button, making a nearby car chirp. The car in question is a black SmartCar with hot pink trim. "Don't worry, there's lots of room..." she assures. "-- That was weird. It's not just me, that was weird, right? Maybe it was something in --" Dusk trails off for a moment, largely coinciding with the chirp of the car, his eyes fixing on it and his enormous wings curling in at his back. "-- water. In the water -- uhhh." His wings flex and then curl in again. He eyes the SmartCar dubiously. "I -- can probably just. Take the subway, it's not a long trip." "I'll make sure that he gets there, okay?" Ash sticks close to Dusk, reaching up to grab his giant head and pull it off. "You want me to go get your jacket? I can maybe sneak back..." He looks over his shoulder at the police and the mob being broken up and shakes his head, a small frown sitting on his lips. "How about this, we just go look for a new one for ya?" He looks over at Kaori. "Thank you so much for the offer - and the really fun part where we danced. I have... that was so weird. Halloween seems a bit infectous this year and maybe staying in will be a thing." He gives her a smile and waves his teddy-head at her. Kaori frowns slightly as the size of her 'smart' car finally seems to dawn on her. Looking from the car to the boys, she nods, and offers a small smile. "Well, yeah, ok. Thanks so much for coming!" She glances back in the direction of Times Square. "I'm sorry... it got so weird. I'll see you at game night!" And with that, Kaori bounces in the direction of her car. "Weird -- yeah. It did -- get weird." Dusk's nose crinkles at that. "But it was /awesome/ when it started, we should do it again. Minus the weird biting people." His smile returns, bright and wide, at that last comment. "Yeah! See you at game night." His wing curls around Ash's shoulders, now, posture settling down into a tired droop. "-- Alright. Home."