💥 Big Summer Blow Out [OPEN MINGLE | PLAYER PLOT: PART II]

[paxpenguina]

« Who: OPEN TO ALL
« What: Open post for The Clockhouse's surprise last hurrah--the unexpected explosion in the club and the search and rescue efforts
« When: June 19th
« Where: The Clockhouse, Insincerity
« Content Warnings: Images of mild injury and flashing gifs under the cut. Explosions, large-scale property destruction, potential for wide-scale character injury/death, general angst, claustrophobia, distress, panic, possible lingering aphro effects from the party, whatever else shows up in threads!
« Notes: Part II of the Clockhouse player plot → Part I here

THE BEST LAID PLANS...

The climax of the evening is a firework extravaganza outside the Clockhouse in a grand display that would no doubt make residents of Insincerity fairly disgruntled since... Well, this is the meh town, don't forget.

Everything is set, boxes of fireworks piled high in the back of the club in preparation to move out for the big bang at the end of the night, but there's so much going on tonight it seems like no one really notices a funny smell wafting through the underground space.

Maybe it's a leak from the gas works--a lot of rickety old pipework in a dusty old cave space is bound to have some weak spots somewhere. Or maybe someone got distracted in the kitchen and forgot to fully turn of a stove top--these things happen when there's a lot going on and a million things demanding attention.

Whatever it is, the gas filters through the Clockhouse steadily, creeping around the bar, the office, the stockroom, up through the tower itself, silent and unnoticed.

Right up until it's impossible to not notice.

Up In Smoke...

Whatever ignites the whole thing could have really been anything.

Someone lighting up a cigarette. A sparkler going into a drink. A blowtorch for the top of a meringue pie. Anything, really.

Whatever it is, the meeting of that spark and the gas has exactly the reaction a union of that kind would--a tidal wave of fire ripping through the club.

The explosion rocks the entire structure.

It finds the alcohol in the stockroom and bar.

It roars through the gas mains in the kitchen.

It sends the boxes of fireworks rocketing in all directions with shrieking sounds that are indistinguishable from the shocked patrons.

Chaos.

Tumbling Down...

Debris falls throughout the club.

Walls tumble. Sections are blocked off. People cut off from one another.

The explosion is powerful enough to thunder its way right up through the clock tower itself, cracking and tearing down the proud time piece in a furious ball of fire.

On the outside, it's probably quite the sight to behold, but as the noise of the explosion ebbs off and a brief moment of silence holds like a shocked breath, the inside of what was once the Clockhouse club is panic and pandemonium.

First Response...

Time moves differently with disasters.

It's slow and sped up all at the same time.

Shock is a gift for a short while--something that allows some to move with almost superhuman speed and ability to help until the adrenaline wears off and they realise that they, or others around them, are actually very badly hurt.

Then, the shock becomes panic. A little bit at first. Then a lot. Until there's nothing like reason remaining.

Claustrophobia makes itself at home--stealing sense in the mind and ability to breath properly. Surely, it can't end like this.

With time moving fast and slow at the same time, help arrives on the scene in what both feels like an eternity and also too soon to be true. Support arriving from Duplicity and assistance offered by people who had been enjoying a joyous party only moments ago.

One thing is very clear though: this is the last event the clockhouse will ever host.