It probably was a bad idea to use blatant magic, especially in a panic situation like this. It was almost definitely a bad idea to use magic when she didn't even have an idea of whether or not the Council knew she was back.
But she damn well wasn't going to sit around and wait for someone to get the lights back on, and she wasn't going to watch while people ran arond, panicked, and stampeded each other while they waited.
So, with a muttered "Allumez" that sent an ankle-height low-level lighting style glow streaming down the hallways, she started through the apartment. Her fingertips tapped against her hip in a repetitive, military beat. Tappa-tap-tap. Tappa-tap-tap. Order to the chaos. Purpose to the panic. Tappa-tap-tap. Tappa-tap-tap. Get in line, people. Let's do this right.
When the light filled the hallways of the building, he blinked in confusion, his eyes narrowing as he made his way through the building, flashlight still angled just above his shoulder. He knew that that kind of light wasn't coming from any kind of electronic source. Which could have meant several different things at this point, none of which he was all that fond of.
He had no big issues with the magic or the aliens, or the people with powers. Not really. Sometimes it made his life a helluva lot easier, sometimes it made it a helluva lot harder, but the fact that he was not one of these gifted individuals, and had nothing to protect himself from the dangerous ones but the glock on his hip wasn't exactly much of a comfort. The only thing he could really do was keep his eyes open and always be looking over his shoulder, to at least try and stay a step ahead.
He continued to make his way through the halls, searching for the source of the light, and keeping his eyes open for anything that was out of the ordinary.
Tappa-tap-tap. Tappa-tap-tap. The Council would probably rant and scream about it, but the truth as she saw it was that the Council would have done the same damn thing themselves. THis wasn't invasive, this wasn't rewiring anyone's thoughts. It was just like a veil, altering people's perceptions a little. Only in this case, calming them down and making them alert and more practically minded than they might normally be.
The police couldn't do it all, after all, or so she thought. Although she was at least relieved to see a police presence around the area. God... the city must be panicking to be in the dark like this. Humans were not creatures of the night, not like...
Oh god. Her eyes widened for a moment, realization setting in. Certain creatures would be having a buffet with this, and the Wardens would be overtasked.
Flack swept the flashlight through the hallways, following his gut towards the source of the light. He was feeling calmer than he had five minutes earlier, which, albeit, was a bit strange, but nothing that he was worrying about at the moment. He continued to make his way through the building, until the beam of the flashlight fell on a figure in front of him, and he stopped, reaching for the badge on his hip.
"You alright, ma'am?"
He tried to keep the flashlight away from her eyes, she wasn't a suspect, she was a civilian, but certain things just always came as second nature to him, and that included the way he held the flashlight -- up over the shoulder, shining down at whatever was in front of him.
It also probably didn't help that he was six-four, either.
It was probably better that way. She looked away, sort of, squinting a little as she held her hand up to shield herself from his flashlight. "I'm all right, sir," she said quietly. Then corrected herself, as her eyes fell on the badge. "Detective."
"So far, yeah," he nodded, lowering the flashlight and switching it off, before placing his badge back on his hip. "I'm just going through and knocking on doors, making sure no one's hurt themselves. Mostly we've been working on getting the generators up."
He paused for a minute, studying the woman for a moment before nodding slowly. "Can we get you anything, or have you been having any problems other than the obvious?"
He jumped slightly at the squawk, before moving his hand down to his radio and turning down the volume. He had a feeling that if she was apologizing, it probably wouldn't make a difference, but he figured it might help somewhat. "Not a problem."
He then shifted and grabbed his card out of the pocket of his jacket and handing it to her between to fingers. "This is my card, if anything comes up, don't hesitate to give me a call -- also, I'll probably be around the building until things get settled, so if you need anything let me know."
Sometimes, at least when the wizards were outnumbered by the mundane authorities, that magical interference with electronics could be a real pain in the ass. "Thank you," she murmured, venturing close enough again to take the card. It was only polite, anyway.
It was also possibly the death blow to his radio. Maybe it could be fixed back at the station or precinct or wherever he was from? Dammit.
"I was just going to walk the building and make sure things were all right, then ... stay home." To get out of the way of mortal authorities with things like defibrillators and, heh. Radios. Although she didn't adress why a civilian would be walking around making sure everyone was all right. Just another concerned citizen, possibly with experience in handling crises.
He nodded, not needed an explanation, because frankly? They could use all the help they could get. He gave her a thin smile, before turning and starting to head back down the hallway, clicking the flashlight on as he went.
"You have a good night, ma'am."
Not that he knew how someone could have a good night in all of this, but hey -- it was the polite thing to do. And the response was engrained into him like a reflex -- there was no getting around it.
"Good luck," she almost whispered. He would most certainly need it.
Thinking of that made her think of a few other things, as she watched him head down the hall. How widespread was the blackout. How many Wardens could be spared. She knew very little about what had happened with the Council; she preferred it that way, but it made some things hard.
How many people like CJ were there out there, willing to help? How many people like CJ were out there who didn't care about anyone but themselves, willing to do whatever was necessary for their own gain? She'd been among that group, once.
Hell's bells.
"Detective," she called, gritting her teeth a little at her own recklessness as she hurried after him.
It suddenly occurred to her how young he was. Good gods. "How widespread is this blackout?" she asked, arms folded and feet slightly spread in an unconscious imitation of, of all people, Warden Morgan.
Too much territory for a wizard, likely. Probably. And yet still more than she thought one person, mortal and unassisted, could do on his or her own.
"Then there'll be even more panic and rioting than usual..." she said, mostly to herself, thinking out loud. And then she looked over at him. "And people like me,"
Toothy smile, there. And a conjured ball of light, a child's trick but one that proved her point without making it threatening, in the upraised palm of her hand.
"But absent my reformed nature and good judgment, will be looking to take advantage of the situation. You'll need help."
And if the mortal authorities had formed an actual department or division or whatever to take care of that, he could politely explain that to her and decline. And if not, she decided, he and/or his superiors would be a fool to turn it down.
He knew that really wasn't his department. And the fact that it really wasn't his department was probably evident when he got a bit of a blank look on his face and scratched the back of his neck while he processed the information and come up with the correct reaction to this information.
"I won't deny that we need the help, but I'm not really sure which direction to point you in in that respect."
But she damn well wasn't going to sit around and wait for someone to get the lights back on, and she wasn't going to watch while people ran arond, panicked, and stampeded each other while they waited.
So, with a muttered "Allumez" that sent an ankle-height low-level lighting style glow streaming down the hallways, she started through the apartment. Her fingertips tapped against her hip in a repetitive, military beat. Tappa-tap-tap. Tappa-tap-tap. Order to the chaos. Purpose to the panic. Tappa-tap-tap. Tappa-tap-tap. Get in line, people. Let's do this right.
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He had no big issues with the magic or the aliens, or the people with powers. Not really. Sometimes it made his life a helluva lot easier, sometimes it made it a helluva lot harder, but the fact that he was not one of these gifted individuals, and had nothing to protect himself from the dangerous ones but the glock on his hip wasn't exactly much of a comfort. The only thing he could really do was keep his eyes open and always be looking over his shoulder, to at least try and stay a step ahead.
He continued to make his way through the halls, searching for the source of the light, and keeping his eyes open for anything that was out of the ordinary.
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The police couldn't do it all, after all, or so she thought. Although she was at least relieved to see a police presence around the area. God... the city must be panicking to be in the dark like this. Humans were not creatures of the night, not like...
Oh god. Her eyes widened for a moment, realization setting in. Certain creatures would be having a buffet with this, and the Wardens would be overtasked.
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"You alright, ma'am?"
He tried to keep the flashlight away from her eyes, she wasn't a suspect, she was a civilian, but certain things just always came as second nature to him, and that included the way he held the flashlight -- up over the shoulder, shining down at whatever was in front of him.
It also probably didn't help that he was six-four, either.
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"Is everyone all right?"
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He paused for a minute, studying the woman for a moment before nodding slowly. "Can we get you anything, or have you been having any problems other than the obvious?"
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And she would have said something else but his radio squealed in protest at her proximity. Maggie sighed, took a step back. "Sorry."
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He then shifted and grabbed his card out of the pocket of his jacket and handing it to her between to fingers. "This is my card, if anything comes up, don't hesitate to give me a call -- also, I'll probably be around the building until things get settled, so if you need anything let me know."
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It was also possibly the death blow to his radio. Maybe it could be fixed back at the station or precinct or wherever he was from? Dammit.
"I was just going to walk the building and make sure things were all right, then ... stay home." To get out of the way of mortal authorities with things like defibrillators and, heh. Radios. Although she didn't adress why a civilian would be walking around making sure everyone was all right. Just another concerned citizen, possibly with experience in handling crises.
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"You have a good night, ma'am."
Not that he knew how someone could have a good night in all of this, but hey -- it was the polite thing to do. And the response was engrained into him like a reflex -- there was no getting around it.
Reply
Thinking of that made her think of a few other things, as she watched him head down the hall. How widespread was the blackout. How many Wardens could be spared. She knew very little about what had happened with the Council; she preferred it that way, but it made some things hard.
How many people like CJ were there out there, willing to help? How many people like CJ were out there who didn't care about anyone but themselves, willing to do whatever was necessary for their own gain? She'd been among that group, once.
Hell's bells.
"Detective," she called, gritting her teeth a little at her own recklessness as she hurried after him.
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"Yeah?" he said with a slight frown, giving the woman a chance to catch up with him.
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"Then there'll be even more panic and rioting than usual..." she said, mostly to herself, thinking out loud. And then she looked over at him. "And people like me,"
Toothy smile, there. And a conjured ball of light, a child's trick but one that proved her point without making it threatening, in the upraised palm of her hand.
"But absent my reformed nature and good judgment, will be looking to take advantage of the situation. You'll need help."
And if the mortal authorities had formed an actual department or division or whatever to take care of that, he could politely explain that to her and decline. And if not, she decided, he and/or his superiors would be a fool to turn it down.
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He knew that really wasn't his department. And the fact that it really wasn't his department was probably evident when he got a bit of a blank look on his face and scratched the back of his neck while he processed the information and come up with the correct reaction to this information.
"I won't deny that we need the help, but I'm not really sure which direction to point you in in that respect."
Reply
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