13191/IT CAME FROM THE --

IT CAME FROM THE --
Date of Scene:	26 October 2022
Location:	Downtown Manhattan
Synopsis:	A Fire Hose comes to life through a painter reading about losing friends and making enemies for fun and profit. Roland Livingston is forced to contend with the animated hose, and makes acquaintece of a young heroine.
Cast of Characters:	Bunny Macleod, Roland Livingston

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Bunny Macleod has posed:
    A normal morning in Manhattan. Those who came to work early are breaking for lunch, the Atlantic weather is cloudy with the promise of an autumn rain hanging in the air that has no power to wipe away the city grime.

    The colorful splotch in the morning consists of a pink-haired, roller-skating delivery girl in a brown shirt stating she's part of MACLEOD MESSENGER SERVICES, wearing sky-blue leggings and a bright pink skirt, her helmet holding a pair of wings a'la Mercury.

    Or, y'know, the early Flash.

    There are men and women in business attire, overalls, a couple of folks weilding paint cans as they set up to update the fascade of one building or another.

    And that's when there's a slight rumble. Most people don't notice it; they're used to the subways underfeet.

Roland Livingston has posed:
Roland is oblivious to the rumbling. He's been in the city off and on for a while now and subways are just another thing to him. He continues strolling along, moving as if he's got a purpose.

He's dressed pretty casually in jeans and a black leather jacket. Over his eyes are wraparound sunglasses and on his head is a flat cap.

The pink haired roller skater gets a friendly nod, the Englishman seeming amused to see a messenger like that out on the street.

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    The roller-skating messenger gives a cheery wave, skates past Roland giving him enough room to walk, and then goes flying, as if she suddenly hit a speed bump. There's a squeal of alarm from the small teenager as she tumbles, and that's when people see it.

    A TENTACLE! Well, more like 'a thick firehose that suddenly gained sentience', since it lacks suckers on it, but either way it's reaching across the sidewalk, aiming for the painters, the hose errupting from the 'emergency fire box from within the building across the street! Taxies are rolling over it with 'bumps!' and curses and the blaring of horns.

    The messenger girl looks mildly alarmed by this odd development!

Roland Livingston has posed:
"That's curious," Roland says when he sees the firehose come to life and trip the roller skater. And it seems to be going after other folks? The Englishman lets out a loud huff and heads over to see what the problem is, making his way towards the end of the hose.

Looking around once more to make sure there's no visible wizards or anything making magics or otherwise commanding the firefighting tool, Roland dashes towards the free end of the hose, hoping to grab onto it before it can get to the painters, "Does this thing have water pressure?"

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    There are no visible wizards or other magic users in the area. Invisible may be another matter entirely.

    The hose seems to take offense to Roland picking it up. It wriggles and wraggles in his grasp, and then attempts to loop itself around Roland's ankle a couple of times in order to get a nice and solid grip and then LIFT him off his feet and over the sidewalk!

    Its nozzle then opens up and indeed proves that there's water pressure, by unleashing a torrent of COLD water at him!

    People have taken notice and started yelling, scrambling to get away from the hose as it tries to wrestle Roland into the air!

Roland Livingston has posed:
"Urk!" Roland lets out noise of surprise as the hose wraps itself around his ankle and sprays him with cold water. This hose is certainly on his enemies list now.

After regaining his composure, at least somewhat, the Englishman finds himself nearly pulled off the ground by the rubber monster. Drawing a knife from under his jacket, Roland moves to shift his grasp on the hose down below where it's got his ankle, making as if to start cutting it apart, "You think you can stop me? I'll slice you to ribbons." The young man means it, based on the way he moves his blade.

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    The hose does not help itself when it tries to whip Roland back and forth in the air, the knife striking it and springing a leak.

    Another loop goes around a hotdog cart.

    The art is lifted into the air, with its hotdog vendor diving for cover behind a bench, and then its contents are launched with vehemence at Roland, hotdogs, bratworsts, onions, hot peppers, and packets of ketchup, mustard and pickles are sent flying at him with relish!

    "Man, I've heard about being hosed but this is a brand new one!" A squeak of a voice calls out from below, and upstream from the water the pink-haired messenger girl is taking a cue from Roland, and has a knife on herself that she's come up to bare, using her skating skills to keep ahead of the hose's loops!

Roland Livingston has posed:
"Whoever's doing this, stop and I'll consider not killing you..." Condiments and hotdogs everywhere! Covering him! Roland actually starts to look angry and he slashes into the hose. Body contorting so that he can keep on slicing his target.

"Ugh!" He's covered in water and food products and flipped upside down and being tossed around. The young man starts applying his impressive strength to the job of reducing the hose to ribbons, combining his own might with his blade's sharp edge.

When the roller skater goes to work on the hose Roland calls out to her, "Keep moving! Don't let it grab you."

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "No kiddin'!" the girl shouts back, skating backwards with glances over her shoulder, trying to run out the length of hose that's trying to grab her.

    The hose, apparently unable to kepe itself together, lets the now covered-with-hotdog-water Roland drop down to the sidewalk again, rearing back, leaking, hissing like a very, very large and very angry lizard!

Roland Livingston has posed:
Picking himself up off the ground, Roland stares at the hose and shakes his head, "I hate animated objects! Always dreadful to deal with them." Water and condiments drip off his soaking wet attire as he squares off against his enemy. Then he darts forward, moving with remarkable speed towards his target. Clearly, he's intent on making sure the hose doesn't escape his wrath. "I don't understand why carrying a sword in this city isn't a thing."

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    Sometimes you have to ketchup with the bad things in life.

    "How often do you deal with animated fire hoses?!" the pink-haired girl asks, and when the hose comes for her, there's the briefest shimmer against her form, and the hose WHACKS against a solid shield, the kinetic impact making the shield shimmer with the swirls of a gasoline puddle.

    The hose, in its ripped state at his end, doesn't seem to want to cut the mustard with the gentleman, and moves slower, and then tries to get away with squeals of dispair, water leaking from its many holes at this point.

    The girl skates up behind Roland, and looks up at the hose.

    "Uh... I think it might actually be a legal thing. Don't stop none of the heroes though, yaknow?"

Roland Livingston has posed:
"First fire hose, but there was a series of brooms once, every time I chopped them with an axe there'd be more," Roland says as he stalks towards the hose, intent on making sure it can't get away.

"Laws can be such a bother, sometimes," the young man says, face locked into a frown. "I suppose that's why the costumed vigilantes just ignore them."

As he springs towards his animated enemy he says, "See if you can't turn off the water, please."

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "... isn't that in that Fantasia movie?" Bunny asks, her brows knitting a moment before she looks at Roland's back. "An' only 'cause you said 'please', Captain You-Kay." she states, and she goes fast and low, narrowly avoiding getting tripped up by the hose as the moving piece of canvas and brass focuses in on Roland as he springs!

    It springs back -- a leak -- opening one of the gashes in its long 'body' wide to try and force Roland back with a waterspout errupting from its form -- folowed by a whack from its brass head!

Roland Livingston has posed:
"Sorcerer I was fighting was a huge Disney fan," Roland comments as he gets sprayed with water and does a backflip to avoid getting his brains knocked out by the nozzle at the end of the hose. "The brooms stopped moving when he did, luckily enough."

He moves smoothly as he stays away from the thing lashing out at him, biding his time until he sees an opening he can exploit.

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "-Laaaame. Shoulda let Disney sue him!" calls back the colorful girl -- though she might not have heard his response.

    The hose rears back up, its form flattening, twisting about as it attempts to build up pressure, knotting around itself like a club, looming over the heroic Roland before...

        ...it...

            ... slowly...

    .. starts to deflate.

    And that's when one of the painters looks at the other one.

    The other painter gets a pissed off expression.

    "Donnie, did you read from that book again?! This ALWAYS happens when you read from that book! NO MORE READIN' FROM THAT BOOK!"

Roland Livingston has posed:
Roland remains still for a moment, making sure all the fight has gone out of the hose. Then he slowly turns his head towards the painters.

The Englishman strides towards them, not bothering to wipe all the accumulated water and foodstuff off of his body, "Pardon me, folks, but I'm something of a collector. I would very much like to take that book off of your hands immediately."

The knife slides back into it's sheath beneath his leather jacket. He breathes somewhat heavily and his frown hasn't left his face.

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    The painters look at one another. The one that is undoubtably Donnie, who is freckled and red-headed sheepishly reaches into his backpack and produces a thin paperback.

    How to Win Enemies and Lose Friends: A Black Magic Primer.

Roland Livingston has posed:
When the book comes out Roland moves to snatch it out of the man's grasp, "Thank you." He looks at the book, then at Donnie, "You know you shouldn't play with magic, right?" Ketchup drips off of his ear. "You're liable to get your soul sucked out or something. Or perhaps you'll find yourself getting the shit kicked out of you by a pissed off Englishman who just got saturated in foodstuffs by the hose you animated."

Roland takes a deep breath, then nods at the book, "You mind telling me where you got this? If someone's printing this then I should probably have a word with them."

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "Look man I jus' wanted ta be somethin' special instead of a paintah, an' if you've got an issue with it that's on you, buddy!" Donnie states gruffly, and he picks up his paints and materials, and heads into the building.

    His companion, who has a nametag that says 'Ralph', just sighs, and tilts his head back.

    "He picked it up somewheres in Soho from a trash can. Ain't the first time shit's found him that way. USUALLY things don't get this outta hand. I'll keep an eye on him." he states, and then he also disappears into the building.

    And then the pink-haired girl skates back up, a hotdog in a bun in hand, and offers Roland a stack of napkins.

    "First time gettin' hit by street vendor stuff?" she asks amicably, around the mystery meat she's eating.

Roland Livingston has posed:
"Yes," Roland replies to the young woman with a nod as he accepts the napkins from her. "Thank you."

He starts to clean himself up, the napkins not going very far. "Beats being covered in gore and such, I'll say." He sniffs in through his nose, "Smells better, at least."

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "... wouldn't know. Haven't gotten that far in anything yet." the girl replies, thoguh her brown T-shirt was soaked, she's squeesing water out of her skirt with the other hand.

    "Uh.. I'm..." she stammers a moment, and then looks embarrassed. "Still kinda coming up with the persona thing. You gotta superhero name or are you jus' a grumpy English guy?"

Roland Livingston has posed:
"I'm Roland Livingston, at your service," the young man starts to offer his hand, then thinks better of it and instead goes with a small bow. "I'm not much of a superhero. Tend not to go in for colorful spandex and capes, personally. Worked with a few, however."

More wiping with the sodden napkins, "I consider myself a scholar of the arcane, actually. It just happens that sometimes you need to be an excellent combatant to get your hands on the study material or artifacts or some such."

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "Huh. I ain't mo magician, but I got stuck in an evil IKEA once an' then Power Girl showed up and punched the sh-crap outta some bad guys while me an' a speedy kid rammed through walls and sharks." the girl replies, and she takes another bite of her hotdog as she looks at Roland.

    "You here jus' for Halloween or you live in the area?"

Roland Livingston has posed:
"I live in the city," Roland says, taking one more look around. "IKEA? I've heard those places are mazes. I can imagine an evil one being quite the obstacle to overcome."

His chin lifts, "You don't seem to be a stranger to the hero business, then. You trying to find the right ensemble to fight crime in? I do enjoy the wings."

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "Oh, yeah, those are from a roller derby I went to. One of the girls was called Hurt-cury, so I kinda adopted the wings. Up my band, yaknow?" she asks, and then at the idea of joining an ensemble... she gives a nervous laugh. "Ah, nah, who wants to have some kid whippin' around on skates around them fightin' crime and bad stuff? I mean, I'm just a delivery girl. Not really heroic." she replies, her shoulders coming up. "Most don't even wanna give you the time a' day, and scold you for wantin' autographs yaknow?"

Roland Livingston has posed:
"I was killing wizards and hunting monsters when I was about your age," Roland says to the young woman. "Still, can't blame you for wanting to avoid all the trouble and such." He runs a hand through his hair, then looks at the mustard on his fingers before wiping them on his jeans, "I'm in desperate need of a shower."

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "Yeah, well, good for you?" Bunny replies, rubbing the back of her neck with her free hand before she gives a shrug.

    "Well. I'll let you get to it Rolly." she rolls backwards on her skates, hotdog remains in hand before she gives a salute of her half-eaten sausage of indeterminate origin.

    "Good luck gettin' the mayo packets outta your jacket!"