Grandma's less pleasant memorabilia [mingle]

[ourearth]

Date: 24-27th of September
Characters: Everyone!

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A few weeks ago, they started building at the very end of the High Street. They're tearing down one of those ugly houses that were built after the war to replace all the buildings that had been destroyed in air raids, which Mossgate, being a coastal town with a significant harbour at the time, saw a lot of.

It's not an exciting rebuild in itself - Premier Inn is building a hotel to have a foot in Mossgate's reviving tourist industry. It is, however, kind of exciting to see new buildings, as there hasn't be much building activity on the High Street since the recession hit.

Or, well, it certainly causes some excitement. Because one of the typical hazards of building foundations in this area strikes: You tend to either hit Roman ruins, in which case you need to let the archaeologists have a go at it before you can continue - highly annoying for the builder. Or you hit a WW2 bomb, which needs to be defused and removed before you can continue - highly annoying for everyone who lives, works or shops nearby.

In other words, around 11am of the 24th, anyone within a certain distance of the bomb will be evacuated indeterminately while the experts come in and have a look at the bomb. So far, so annoying. The constables say that it shouldn't last longer than two days.

Due to the location and size of the bomb, the area of evacuation includes shops, a part of residential suburban Mossgate, a school, a senior residence and the town museum.

People who live nearby have to evacuate their houses and either stay with friends or relatives or bunk up in a hotel or emergency shelter in one of the local school's gyms.

Shops have to shut down and leave their goods in the hands of their security systems and the local police force.

A call for volunteers goes out to help evacuate the residents of the senior residence, as there isn't enough staff to evacuate all of them quickly enough.

Bus lines get rerouted.

Constables are pulled in from other locations and volunteers activated to send people away from the dangerous area, and tape goes up. Interested Bystanders [tm] gather and have to be argued with to make way for evacuees and professionals. Some local press gathers. Car drivers who just need to go through real quick, there's no reason to be like that Constable, don't you know who I am need to be sent away.

The excitement dies down some on the following days, though the evacuation lasts.

On the 25th, the Super announces that according to the experts the bomb should be in a state to defuse it and take it away safely.

On the morning of the 26th, a second announcement follows: No, it seems that the fuse and the bomb is too corroded to be defused, and that a controlled explosion will have to be undertaken.

Straw and other materials are brought in to pad the bomb and thus protect the neighbourhood from the detonation, other precautions are taken and preparations made, and on the 27th a controlled detonation removes the danger. But as detonated explosions go, they are still explosions, and the shock wave damages a wall of the next house, which holds McDonalds, while some of the straw catches on fire and is taken up by the sea breeze to set a roof two houses over on fire, which is the town museum. The fire department is present and quickly takes care of it, but the damage is still done.

After that, everyone is allowed to return to their houses, schools, shops, and so on.

Comments

[runs]

I. Semi-open

On the night of the 24th, Kitty gets woken by late night visitors. Or rather, people being led into the house and set up in the rooms that are currently not taken up by foster children.

Strangers in her house. She peers down the corridor with narrowed eyes from behind an almost-closed door and then crawls back under her covers, making plans to leave as soon as possible the next day and come back as late as possible without getting in trouble.

[If anyone wants their character to be one of the people who get a bed in this house feel free to just throw your character into this option!]


II. Open

So while the evacuations go on, she can be found anywhere but home. School, sometimes, but also at other people's places - Ben's aunts, Sky, Nanny, her own grandma and anyone else whom she knows she can drop in at will get visits in hopes that they aren't hosting strangers, too.

And she'll be around outside a lot, loitering around the arcades at the pier when it's raining too much and otherwise wandering around, sometimes to be found at a playground, sometimes hiding up at the ruins from prying eyes or just wandering the streets as if she has a reason to be there.

OTA

[scarsolderthanyou]

I.

Sam has his own place, so he's not in the senior living apartments... unfortunately his place is right next to the senior living apartments, because it's a good place for seniors, being within walking distance to various amenities, and a variety of friends. So he's grumpily packing up his old car with some clothes, books, electronics his kids have foisted on him and he's reluctantly learned how to use, and things he'll need for staying at his daughter's place.

Including earplugs.

He'll help anyone else nearby who needs someone to lug their things around, too. He may be old but he's not that old.

II.

It's time to put that new smelling thing to the test. Sam volunteers to help patrol the area, hoping to see whether he can literally sniff out people getting into places they shouldn't. Turns out, he's actually pretty good at it.

He's also trying to get some scents off that bomb, if he can sneak in close enough, himself. Given the last major events in Mossgate have done funny things to him and other of their little Numbered group, he has some suspicions about whether this event will do the same. At least the amazing sniffer lets him know when other volunteers, constables, or people who'd try to kick him out get close enough to catch him.

[spaghettimonster]

I. Open

The constables have their work cut out for them, because there's plenty of Interested Bystanders coming by to gawk at the evacuation and excavation process. Russell swings by High Street early on, curious to check out the bomb so loudly discussed on the network, social media, and news outlets.

And it's not long before locals bystanders for help with evacuating the seniors, or other ways of helping the community.


II. Closed to Chad

In a way, his mother's astrological encouragement was right. Following his passion (of rubbernecking at others' misfortune, and pitching in to help when asked) does help him get a new job. Or, at least, expand on an old one. He's conveniently in the neighborhood, just a street away, when the call comes in for him to take care of the dog he usually dogsits for!

For a few days. And he's so close, and she's not taking no for an answer, and before he knows it he's at the restaurant door, holding a leash and a bag of hastily gathered dog supplies.


III. Closed to Walter and Chad

Between juggling his things and trying to keep the dog in line, trying to warn Walter proves a challenge, and Russell gives up halfway through the task. He heads more directly home, walking scooter and dog down the streets to shortly outside the evacuation radius, before making his way into the flat.

"Hey, uh, Walter? You home?"

Please don't mind the yipping. Or remind him whether the flat has a no-pets clause. It's for a good cause.

[dragoonrouge]

OTA

Sadie lives on the other side of the town centre, nearer the beach so she didn't have to worry about her house. However what she did have to worry bus cancellations, the Number 18 bus that both her and James took to school being cancelled at first and then heavily diverted the next day.

In light of this transportational annoyance Sadie had taken to walking to and from Sixth Form College, which also presented the opportunity to loiter and check out the area the bomb was found at the same time.

Closed to Ben

Speaking of college, that had been...less fun recently, after the incident involving Ben and those bullies Ben had been placed in External Exclusion and was barred from coming onto the school grounds for a week.

In light of the fact that they normally shared every single class except for their Maths class, Sadie had been allowed to play carrier pigeon with Ben's schoolwork, taking him what he had missed that day and collecting his completed work from the previous day. Which is how she found herself on Ben's doorstep, knocking on the door with a bright green folder in hand.

Mystery NPC encounter 1

[saveournpcs]

Late on the 25th, the pair of characters are walking down the high street, nearing the evacuation area where police tape announces that everyone must turn back, when they spot someone.

A bald man is standing on their side of the police tape and pondering the area behind. At times, he looks down at the tape, and then as the get closer he actually leans down and inspects it from up close.

Then he prods it with a finger, like someone would prod a thing they expect to blow up into their face.

Mystery NPC encounter 2

[saveournpcs]

During the night between the 25th and the 26th, the pair of characters is sneaking through the evacuation area, probably taking a shortcut, when they notice something. There is no patrol around, indeed there seems to be nobody anywhere in sight... but then there is a movement at the construction side, and a dark figure is sneaking out of the construction site that holds the bomb.