975/A Four-Alarm Problem

A Four-Alarm Problem
Date of Scene:	04 April 2020
Location:	A very unlucky apartment building in one of New York's worst neighborhoods
Synopsis:	An apartment building is burning, and residents need rescue. Kyani comes to their aid and is surprised to find Lia doing so as well. But how did the fire start in the first place?
Cast of Characters:	Lia Briggs, Kyani Kohanna

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Lia Briggs has posed:
Fire! Red-orange flames climb high into the night, as a blazing inferno threatens to consume an apartment building deep in the worst parts of New York. This far into the city's underbelly, fire alarms are a virtual unknown, fire extinguishers long since stolen or emptied and never refilled, and the fire department's response time is more likely to be measured in hours than in minutes. But this is small comfort to the building's residents! Some have escaped already, and are now standing and watching their homes burn. Others are still trapped, too high off the ground to easily escape, trapped by the encroaching flames, or physically unable to flee quickly enough. A disaster in the making!

Kyani Kohanna has posed:
    Kyani has been doing some deliveries during the evening and as he moves through teh city finishing up his last one for the night. He was crossing town when he smelled the smoke, quickly side tracking from where he was going, Kyani speeds towards the smoke and soon he comes across the burning apartment building. His eyes go wide as he watches from where he is as the building is burning. "What the hell. Where is the fire department?" he asks.

Lia Briggs has posed:
There's not much the people gathered outside on the street can do to answer that question except shrug. "Hey, I called 911," one man says, wrapped in a soaking-wet wool blanket that he must have used to help make his escape. "Stay on the line, they said. Can't stay on the line when your place is on fire." Others nod and mutter. Oh, yes, the firefighters have been notified -- but whether they'll get here in time to do more than wet down the smoking rubble is a separate question. A gust of flame and smoke billows out from the ground floor as something collapses inside, shattering windows. The escapees make haste to scramble back away to a safer distance.

"Help! Help us!" At least a half-dozen people are still trapped.

Kyani Kohanna has posed:
    Kyani looks to the man in the water soaked blanket, "Alright, good, hopefully..." he trails off as he hears the cries for help. He looks towards the burning apartment building, "There's still people trapped inside." Kyani rubs his face, "Where are the heroes to help them?" he asks again another question and as more windows shatter, he shakes his head. "I can't let them die, not like this." he says.

    He wasn't a hero but he wanted to be, he wanted to do more to help people. And with that Kyani leaned forward and exploded with speed towards the burning apartment building, a blur and white lightning streaks behind him as he runs into the building. Following the cries for help, Kyani begins trying to save the people going to the nearest person first. He goes through the door grabbing the person calling for help and whipping them out of hte buidling and dropping them off which would only look like the person appears suddenly and he's back into building going for the next.

Lia Briggs has posed:
Heroes? Well, perhaps there's one here after all, or perhaps more than one. But even heroes can't be everywhere at once, so those who /are/ here will have to do the best they can. It's an inferno inside the building, with flames everywhere, metal too hot to touch. But if you move fast enough, you can walk across hot coals -- and the same principle is at work here. The first person to be rescued is so astonished to find herself suddenly outside that she lets out a reflexive little scream -- cut off a moment later as she blinks in surprise.

Meanwhile, up at the top of the building, a young woman in a /fantastic/ outfit has descended out of the darkened sky to find a perch on a crumbling brick cornice. It's not hard to see what's going on here, and, fortunately, Lia is in a perfect position to help, taking the hand of someone trapped on the top floor, helping them through the window, and then gently levitating them to the ground. Easy as pie -- but is there enough time left for everyone to be rescued?

Kyani Kohanna has posed:
    The world around Kyani slows to a crawl as he runs, his body moving with speed that he feels all the time. He moves up towards the next floor, still hearing people calling out for help, he couldn't stop now, they needed to be saved. His heart is pounding, his blood is pumping through his veins faster, he can feel himself pushing through the door and taking out the next person, dropping them off next to the woman he just saved, though eh notices a second person already out, still nothing but a blur is seen as he drops off the next one.

    He rushes back into the building. The flames licking the air he rushes past, lightning writhing along his arms, legs and the rest of his body as he moves up towards the next door. He's doing it, he's no where near his maximum speed, maybe about four or five hundred miles per hour. He's never tested his abilities but the world and this moment is testing him, he can't fail, not today.

Lia Briggs has posed:
A chunk of the ceiling starts to break away and fall, big enough to crush a horse; but it's slow, so slow, compared to the lightning-fast speed of the man passing beneath it. Plenty of time to get to the next -- might it be the last? -- person trapped in the burning building, and get all the way back out, before that slab of rubble hits the ground. Oh, it's scorching hot, it's probably painful, there's always the chance that the floor might go -- but it's possible.

The redhead in the scarlet leather jacket and matching trousers lowers a second person to the ground, and then settles onto the warm pavement of the road herself, studying the building. A moment later -- but an eternity of time -- there's a voice in the head of the speeding man: *The one you're getting out now is the last one. No need to go back in once he's safe.*

Kyani Kohanna has posed:
    Kyani hears the voice in his head, he didn't know where that voice came from. He shakes his head as he heads to the last person in the building, he does glance up and sees the rubble starting to fall, it's barely moving. He finds the kid, a teenage boy who he grabs the boy and goes out the window and runs down the side of the building. He feels the heat along his feet, but each step connects with the building as he runs down the wall and across the street where everyone else was. He stops with the boy in his hands and he lowers him down, "Is everyone ok?" he asks. He does notice the woman in all red, he didn't remember seeing her inside, she must've just gotten here.

Lia Briggs has posed:
Better late than never, so the saying goes. "'Okay' is perhaps too strong a word," Lia -- the woman in red -- says when Kyani re-emerges. "But I don't think anyone is seriously hurt. I don't smell much blood." Now that's a slightly creepy way to put it, but a useful talent from time to time. The rescued people are still too shaken to have much to say, but they can, at least, stammer out their gratitude. And now, speaking of better late then never, sirens are audible in the distance.

"You're not hurt, are you?" she asks, eyeing him critically. Her voice out loud sounds much like the mental voice of a moment ago, although perhaps somewhat less impressive. "You look a little singed, but not too bad."

Kyani Kohanna has posed:
    Kyani looks at his arms and legs and sees that his clothing is a big singed and burnt here and there. He rubs his head a little bit, though the voice from the women causing him to look at her. "Hi." he says as eh looks at her. "I'm glad everyone is alright." he smiles and as he hears the amublance and fire trucks, he glances back at the building, "I better get out of here." with everyone stunned and looking at the building and the survivors. "Wait...what?" he asks. "Oh I'm fine." he smiles, just covered in soot and need a change of clothes." he says to her. "Can we talk away from here?" he asks her. He begins walking away towards a nearby alley.

Lia Briggs has posed:
If Lia is a little brisk, perhaps, it's not entirely surprising. It's a /really/ nice jacket, after all. Wouldn't do at all to get it burned. "Oh, yes, of course, if you like," she says, to his question, "but not in /there/. Come with me," she invites, and begins to lift into the air, waving to the rescued residents of the complex as she goes. If he's willing, Kyani will float up with her to a nearby rooftop, far enough away to be pleasant.

Kyani Kohanna has posed:
    Kyani nods his head, "Sure." he says to her as he smiles to Lia. He looks down at the ground as they ebgin flying in the air, "Whoa. Never thought I would do this before." eh says to her as he looks at her. Once they land, he doesn't go looking over the edge, he didn't want them seeing his face, though it's probably odd because of what he just did. He sighs. "Yeah, did you help with the rescue?" he asks.

Lia Briggs has posed:
"I did my bit," Lia says, with self-conscious irony. She does the little thing where a slight flip of her hair makes it shimmer in firelight; if she /isn't/ the same woman who featured in all those glossy magazine adverts and lingerie catalogs in the mid-2010s, then she's certainly doing an excellent job of imitating her. "After all, it'd be dreadful publicity to just let all those people burn. Although," she adds, flashing a smile, "I doubt it'll be good publicity to prevent them from doing so."

Kyani Kohanna has posed:
    Kyani looks to Lia, she does look familiar and he's seen those magazines she's been in. "Are you the cover model for some of the magazines back in the mid-2010's?" he asks as he looks to her. A bit of fanboying is starting but he does quickly curb it as he sees the flickering flames play along the area. "Thanks for helping, I've not done anything like this before. Yeah showing off as a messenger is one thing, but..." he turns and looks at the burning building. "It would be bad if we let those people burn, with our gifts they should be used to help people if we can." he rubs his face a little, "Sorry my name is Kyani." he holds out his hand to her.

Lia Briggs has posed:
This, of course, is exactly what she wants to hear, and she directs a dazzling smile at him while striking a particularly famous pose. "Aren't you sweet to remember an old retired lady like me," she says, humor lacing her words. She glances back down at the burning building -- by now the fire department is arriving and getting into motion, but there's not going to be much left despite their best efforts. "It gets easier the more often you do it. Well -- some parts do, at least. Others, I gather, it depends on the individual. But you seem to've managed all right." She gives him her hand, of course, saying, "Lia. Lovely to meet you. And yes, it's a good deed to stop people from burning up, but do you know what's more interesting? I looked into the mind of every person down there, and not one of them did anything to start the fire in the first place."

Kyani Kohanna has posed:
    He smiles as she poses and damn she still looks good, "You're no where near old, you are still sexy." he says to her. He does take her hand and he shakes it. "I see. So you have the ability to read minds, that's pretty cool." he smiles to her. "You can also fly as well, what else can you do and what made you get into doing heroing work?" he asks curiuosly.

Lia Briggs has posed:
"Well, we all do the best we can," she says, pleased to be flattered this way and not interested in hiding it. "Some of us do better than others. Oh, all sorts of things! I can hypnotize people, I can make people see things that aren't there, I can pick things up with my mind, and I have some ... other abilities." The nature of which she leaves undescribed, at least for the moment. "And you're very very fast, aren't you? As for how I got into it -- well, it's a tedious story, but mainly by having friends who were already involved."

Kyani Kohanna has posed:
    Smiling, "Interesting power set." he says as he looks to her. He is happy she likes talking ot him even as he flatters her. "I see. I knew a few people who managed to set me straight on what I need to do, though I've not seen either of them in some time." his brow furrows a bit, "I hope they are alright, but I want to do more." he says to her. He laughs a little, "I can move pretty fast, maybe faster I've only pushed myself a few times. I don't know what my limit is. I know I can cross town in a matter of seconds and hell even more, though I've not tried it yet." he says to her.

Lia Briggs has posed:
"The good thing about wanting to be of use," Lia says, "is that you'll never run out of ways to be of use /in/. There's always more trouble than there are hands to deal with it." She glances across the skyline, adding: "It's good to know what you can do -- but sometimes pushing yourself too far can be uncomfortable, too. There's really no way to be sure whether you're better off taking the risk of ignorance or the risk of disaster."

Kyani Kohanna has posed:
    He nods his head to her words, "Well I have to see how far and what more I can do." he says as he looks at Lia. "Still your words ring true." he smiles. "So would you like to try to do some of this good work sometime?" he asks. "I don't know if you're still modeling, I hope you are, but if this is what you're doing maybe we can team up?" he asks.

Lia Briggs has posed:
She shakes her head, seeming, perhaps, a trifle wistful. "No, I've had to give that up, I'm afraid," she says; "I have a condition that makes it ... impractical." Again comes the smile, though -- she does have remarkable large canine teeth, doesn't she? Ah, well. "As for this sort of thing -- well. It's not a calling for me the way it is for some people, but it's also the sort of thing that tends to find you whether you like it or not. And when it does find you it's best to have friends in the business, so to speak." She's beginning to lose a bit of sharpness, as if someone's defocused the image of her just slightly; and the color is beginning to fade from her as well.

Kyani Kohanna has posed:
    Kyani stands there looking to Lia, he watches her as she speaks and his eyes glances over towards the building that the firefighters are trying to maintain and keep the blaze from spreading but the building looks like it's a lost cause. He sighs a little, looking back to Lia, "Well I think the two of us can do this, it's probably a good thing for us to work together instead of doing things on our own."

Lia Briggs has posed:
"Fortunately, you know how to get hold of me," Lia says; "I'm in the book. And now I know how to get hold of you. So we can keep one another apprised of situations that might require -- well, intervention." Now she's losing cohesion, too, parts of her body simply trailing off into pale little tendrils of mist. "For the moment, though, I have to be doing. I'm late for dinner, you see," she explains with a smile. Moments later she's discorporated into mist entirely.

Kyani Kohanna has posed:
    Kyani nods his head, "You can reach me at Mac's Delivery's." he says as he looks to her as she begins to fade into mist, "Cool." he smiles. "I will call you and we can try to hook up another night and talk a bit more." eh says to her. "I need to get home myself and try to relax." he says to her.