Elevator: A Character Roleplay (IC)

[Jessjohnesik]

"You are the stupidest motherfucking bitch I've ever been forced to listen to in my life. Why the hell do you take orders from everyone? Why do you wait to be told what to do? You just gonna stand around and wait to die? I would climb out, but I think I'll stay, just to piss you off." he told the woman. If we resort to cannibalism, I'm eating you first, he thought to himself. He had completely forgotten the forlornness he felt only moments before. Tom was going to knock this bitch's teeth out if he had to, but he didn't plan on it. "Passiveness should be a crime. I'll tell you something. They're not coming for us. They're not going to help. THEY EVACUATED THIS WHOLE FUCKING BUILDING BECAUSE THEY'RE AFRAID! Do you seriously think they're going to risk the lives of a bunch of firefighters just to save 8 or 9 dumbasses stupid enough to get stuck in an elevator? That's what I thought." he said rhetorically. "At least I have the sense to take action, you spineless piece of trash."

"I wonder where do you come from? The dump truck likely. I don't quite understand how are you even employed with such a choleric attitude?" Johanna mocked the man, believing he wouldn't even be intelligent enough to understand half the words. If he fucking touches me, I'll puncture his carotid artery and watch him bleed to death. She thought.

"Where are your anarchist buddies by the way? People like you crash plains into buildings and blow up metros, you know. I sometimes wonder whether stupid people like you are born that way or is it your upbringing." Johanna continued, pausing to think about it.

"Changed your mind just to piss me off? How utterly logical and intelligent of you. A round of applause please." She finished, thinking on how to defend herself should the imbecile, not being able to use his brain anymore, starts to get physical. Johanna could pack quite the punch and her organisation, as well quick and responsive thinking with multitasking and flexibility would likely serve her well in a confrontation.

Johanna then switched her attention to the kid, who interrupted her and the choleric man's intense argument. She said nothing, however.

[Neo-Chicago]

"You're very lucky that I don't care enough to kill you. I was actually planning on apologizing to you after coming back in here, but now that you're acting like such a colossal bitch, I guess I won't. I admit that I've been an asshole, but you've been acting terribly as well. Now I know why I hate this city, the maggotty old apple. If we get out of here alive, stay the fuck away from Chicago, because I'm moving back." Tom told her. If he had an ounce less of self-control, there would be a knife buried in her throat at this point in time. He attempted to create a sort of partition between their two parts of the elevator, using the unscrewed elevator panel, his briefcase, and a few other items that others had brought along that were rectangular in shape. It was pointless, of course, considering there wasn't much stuff of that description in the elevator, but at least it obstructed his view of her. That was all that mattered in this scenario. "By the way, that's not why I changed my mind. I changed my mind because no one would open the elevator doors up there, and there isn't a ledge that I can stand on. I was just saying that to piss you off. If anyone's choleric, you are, considering the fact that you're the one who started this dispute because I was the one who wanted to take some action."

[Jessjohnesik]

"You're very lucky that I don't care enough to kill you. I was actually planning on apologizing to you after coming back in here, but now that you're acting like such a colossal bitch, I guess I won't. I admit that I've been an asshole, but you've been acting terribly as well. Now I know why I hate this city, the maggotty old apple. If we get out of here alive, stay the fuck away from Chicago, because I'm moving back." Tom told her. If he had an ounce less of self-control, there would be a knife buried in her throat at this point in time. He attempted to create a sort of partition between their two parts of the elevator, using the unscrewed elevator panel, his briefcase, and a few other items that others had brought along that were rectangular in shape. It was pointless, of course, considering there wasn't much stuff of that description in the elevator, but at least it obstructed his view of her. That was all that mattered in this scenario. "By the way, that's not why I changed my mind. I changed my mind because no one would open the elevator doors up there, and there isn't a ledge that I can stand on. I was just saying that to piss you off. If anyone's choleric, you are, considering the fact that you're the one who started this dispute because I was the one who wanted to take some action."

Johanna could only smirk at what she believed was the man's attempts to barricade himself away from her, likely due to his uncontrollable anger. She smirked because she knew that she wouldn't let herself be killed in this elevator by some creature with no self control or intelligence. But if she were, that would surely be death sentence for the man in the future, or death from the other occupants, or her for that matter.

"Too bad I don't give a shit about Chicago, right? Probably because I'm German, but if I need to come there, I damn well will." Johanna stated in a rapid response to the man.

"Oh really? Did that tiny blob of neurones suddenly come to life so you can realise just how retarded your idea is? It's a breakthrough for you, that's for sure." She continued in reply to his second statement.

[Neo-Chicago]

"You know, I at least don't talk down to you. That's just low, frankly. And if we're going to get out of here without our hands at each other's throats, I suggest we be civil. Considering we haven't even been in here an hour and this is how we're acting, I don't have high hopes for the future." Tom said, sickened by the fact that this woman is consumed by her anger. Although Tom was also a mean-spirited individual, at least he was rational. This was just pathetic, the fact that this woman deems this the time to have a heated argument. Tom enjoyed arguments, but only when they were more akin to debates. "Now, I guess let's just sit tight. Get comfortable, we're going to be here for a while." Tom told the others. If that woman spoke to him, he would just ignore her, considering she had nothing better to do than to belittle others.

[Jessjohnesik]

"You know, I at least don't talk down to you. That's just low, frankly. And if we're going to get out of here without our hands at each other's throats, I suggest we be civil. Considering we haven't even been in here an hour and this is how we're acting, I don't have high hopes for the future." Tom said, sickened by the fact that this woman is consumed by her anger. Although Tom was also a mean-spirited individual, at least he was rational. This was just pathetic, the fact that this woman deems this the time to have a heated argument. Tom enjoyed arguments, but only when they were more akin to debates. "Now, I guess let's just sit tight. Get comfortable, we're going to be here for a while." Tom told the others. If that woman spoke to him, he would just ignore her, considering she had nothing better to do than to belittle others.

Johanna was glad the conversation was finally over. The man truly believed to have the upper morale in the argument, ending it swiftly by attempting to pile all the shit onto Johanna and trying to come out of the heated debate, if it could be called that, completely clean. Considering that he was the one to start blatantly insulting her after she merely posed a different to him opinion, an opinion that was rational and organised contrary to his proposed course of action.

In any case, Johanna didn't adore the fact that now she wasn't neutral anymore. She had lost her neutrality and calmness because of some unintelligent person. This made her sorry that she could be no better than the claustrophobic panic-happy people. Johanna quickly alternated her mental course into recovering her normal personality and her patience, which was abruptly take by the argument as well.

"Well, now that we aren't arguing anymore, perhaps, if it really helps some people, we could discuss something." Johanna unwillingly proposed.

[The New World Oceania]

---

11:42 am, February 12, 2013

The mind is tricked into believing an action precedes the event that caused it.

James Holmes

The speaker sounds again. Quieter this time, but much more invasive background noise, static, sirens.

"Occupants of Elevator 17... good morning. This is Raymond W. Kelly speaking, Commissioner of the New York Police Department.

"We are aware that you are currently in a less-than-ideal situation, but we're working to improve this at many... erm, costs. For the moment being, we've had to cut off power to your shaft just to keep from any errors taking place, or, ah -- we don't need any more trouble from the elevator. We know you're in the dark, both literally and figuratively. I'm hoping I can alleviate at least one of those issues.

"To be straightforward, we -- that is, the New York Police Department -- have been informed that there is a bomb on or nearby the elevator.

"We are unaware of its exact whereabouts. We do not know who planted it or with whom they are affiliated. A call was received from an until recently abandoned payphone underneath the GE Building within what we currently believe to be two minutes of Elevator 17's stalling. Men are investigating the area as we speak to find evidence.

"Eleven minutes ago, we received a call from a cellular based out of Pine Hill, upstate. The caller informed our department that there are at least four explosive devices set within the vicinities of the 40th and 42nd floors in addition to one located directly within shaft 17. We have not been able to verify these facts. The caller -- he, the caller, that is -- he alerted us that, it appears, there is the possibility that one of the bom— the explosives, one of the devices I should say, may go off within a potentially short period of time.

"We have not, not been quite able to verify these facts. Additionally, erm, the caller informed us, we were informed, that the individual responsible for setting the explosive devices is present within the elevator. That is all we know. We have not been able to verify these facts.

"And he did say, he told us that, upon the death of the individual, the one who is in the elevator with you, the elevator will move again. That is all we know.

"Now, I've said, we've not really -- we cannot verify this information at the current time. We ask you to remain calm. It is procedure, we must inform you when this information could resolve the emergency.

"And, though we have not been able to verify these facts, if the individual responsible is in the elevator, we ask you to step forward immediately that we may resolve this situation at hand, as soon -- as soon as it is possibly -- as is possible.

"We are doing what we can. This is what we know. Please remain calm, remain calm."

The elevator jolted very slightly down and the lights flicked on. Static.
Silence.

[Neo-Chicago]

"Alright, alright. Let's narrow this down. We know that the bomb is within the shaft, not in the car itself, from what he's told us. Personally Johanna, I don't think it's you, and I know for a fact that I'm not the terrorist. I've worked cases about people like this before." Tom said to the others, confidently. "If the bomb is in fact in the shaft, there's a pretty good chance that it's above us. I think this because the commissioner said that the bombs were in the vicinity of the 41st and 42nd floors, NOT the 40th. I think the person most suited for looking for it would be Scott, considering that he's had experience in the field and could most likely identify a bomb. Scott, can you go out into the shaft and try to find the bomb?" Tom asked him. Although he thought that he had the others fooled by his confidence, he knew himself that he was scared out of his mind. How the hell am I going to get out of here? he asked himself.

[The Almighty Bob]

Steven Alexander McGanigan III

"Fucking fantastic. That's just great. There's a bomb in the shaft and a terrorist in the car. Well, I think we should probably all stop arguing and figure this out. If the person who planted the bomb dies, the bomb doesn't go off. The bomb will go off soon. Therefore, the person who planted the bomb must die soon. But, we don't know who planted it or have any clues to their identity. So, everybody should be interviewed one at a time. We figure out any discrepancies in their stories and proceed from there. Who's with me?"

[Neo-Chicago]

Tom agreed with Steven, for the most part. Although he disliked the idea of putting the terrorist ahead of the bomb, he supposed that once one was gone, the other would follow. "Sounds like a plan. What do you mean by 'discrepencies'? I mean, we don't exactly know each other's life stories." he said to Steven. "So who's going to do the interviewing? Can any of us absolutely prove our innocence enough to?" Tom asked the others. He wasn't suspicious of Steven; not any more than he was of the others, but he was never the type for blind faith.

[Saestea]

Knox Stanforth

Just as things seemed worse enough with the angry man and one of the women fighting in the elevator car, another announcement was made by the authorities, saying that there was a bomb in the elevator, and the person who had set it was with them. Knox was immediately frightened again. He began to asphyxiate at the thought of blowing up, falling to the bottom floors, and getting crushed under all that metal. He no longer paid attention at all to what the others in the elevator suggested. If what they heard from the announcement was true, then the terrorist could be anyone. Sweat running down his forehead, Knox squeezed himself into the elevator's corner, looking quickly from one person to the other. He knew he wasn't the bomb-setter for sure. But someone had to die soon, or else, everyone would. Knox didn't want to die yet. He needed to get past college, still. Holding his phone close to his face again, he dialed his father's number, to which his mom answered. She asked him in a panicked voice if he was hurt, so he reassured her and told her what was going on. That made her panic even more. In fact, she was hysterical. Soon, she was weeping and could no longer speak. She passed her phone to her husband, and Knox told him what he'd told his mother. Dad was in the same state of disbelief as his wife, but he was calmer. Again, he calmed Knox down, but couldn't. Knox continued to hyperventilate and sob over his bad day.

"...I just wanted a book..." the boy finished, sniffling and pulling his smartphone away from his ear. His father sounded as if he was speaking to some police officer, who kept insisting that everything was under control. The argument continued until dad's phone turned off. Knox stared at his phone a moment before pressing his head between his knees and crying quietly.

[Galdius]

Why in the hell did I take this elevator?

Charlotte leaned in the corner of the crowded elevator in silence, contemplating on the terrible day that she was having. She had spend an hour fixing someone else's major problem with the buildings servers, something that originally was only a minor problem, something that would have only taken ten or so minutes if that shouldn't have for the ungrateful IT tech hadn't screwed around with something he wasn't qualified to be doing so. It was something that happened on a fairly common basis for her. often getting called into fix things which shouldn't even be her problem. Her job was supposed be exclusively about insuring that and making the systems, buildings security and staff protocols to an impeccable standard and provide extra security after an cyber attack caused a particular leak, causing a massive media shitstorm and costing the company a lot of money, which was entirely caused by naivety of the staff. But rather she found herself on many occasions acting like a glorified IT tech on an almost daily basis, unscrewing things that other unqualified guys or gals screwed up.

And now, she was trapped in an elevator in almost complete darkness, with a bunch of uneasy strangers. Out of all the days she decided to take the elevator rather than the stairs, this just had to happen. She wasn't exactly comfortable in elevators and she couldn't exactly put her finger on why, it wasn't the claustrophobic nature of them, nor was it the fact that was they were essentially walk in coffins. The closest reason she could think of was the fact that she was stuck in close proximity with a bunch of complete strangers, that didn't exactly sound right to her, Although, the current occupants of this elevator were making her quite nervous as they started messing around with things they shouldn't in an attempt to troubleshoot themselves, what they were doing seemed entirely pointless to her, as she couldn't think of a reason why the problem would be coming from inside the elevator and even if there was, they wouldn't probably even be able to tell if there was a problem with the wiring or the electronics. although, she clearly wasn't the only one thinking this, as a woman with fairly notable German accent and a far bit of common sense argued that what they were doing wasn't exactly the smart thing to do, although she was quickly shot down by a rather rude american.

The sound from the intercom broke her attention form the group.

"Good morning, occupants of elevatorrr.... seventeen! Now, you might know by now your lift has paused, by that's just all in passing."

Charlotte let out an tut, disappointed at the time it took to get a response from the buildings technical staff, we seemed incompetent as always.

"but we'll have all that sorted out by the hour's end and that's a promise we can keep here at 30 Rock, now y'all have a good morning and we will be up there in a jiffy, bye bye, now!"

As she turned back to the rest of the group, what she saw was unbelievable. Two of the men where particularly climbing out into elevator shaft through the maintenance hatch at the top of the elevator, Charlotte just stared in complete disbelieve, not only was it incredibly stupid and dangerous thing to do, but they completely disregarded what the techical staff had said. Before she could say anything as the German woman stepped in yet again and before either one of the men could respond to the woman's scolding, a loud, ear piercing sound came from the elevator shaft.

"All technical personnel, return to ground floor. All occupants on floors 30 to 50, move to the lobby immediately. Stairs only. This is a command from police and fire departments. Technicians to ground floor. Occupants floors 30 to 50 to lobby. You must take the stairs. Occupants of Elevator 17, remain calm."

"Scheisse" Charlotte spat under her breath as she covered her instinctively covered her eyes, facing scrunching up as pain shot right through her ears. she could still hear the announcement and the wailing sound of sirens clearly audible over the message. Once the painful announcement stopped, Charlotte stopped shielding her ears and she returned to her original position, albeit a little shaken. It was obvious that some sort of emergency had cropped up, her first thought was a fire, which was the most logical, and her second was a terror threat, probably some unlucky guy just reserved a letter filled with a white powder. But it seemed that others didn't think that way, as the elevator quickly descended into chaos, one of the men who had previously attempting to inspect the outer part of the elevator was now on top of it and seemed to be convinced that nobody was coming to help and was now attempting to convince people to come with him, to go were, she wasn't exactly sure. The German woman quickly began to challenge him, who was correct in thinking that they should stay in the elevator. Others attempted to calm the situation but it quickly arose into a massive shouting match between to the two. All whilst a teenage kid, was quietly wailing into a phone, with her father or mother no-doubt on the other end. But while everyone else was panicking, Charlotte remained perfectly quiet and appeared completely calm. She was scared like everyone else, worries ran back and forth in her head, but in the end, she suspected that someone would arrive soon to help. However the next intercom message shattered that hope.

"Occupants of Elevator 17... good morning. This is Raymond W. Kelly speaking, Commissioner of the New York Police Department."

"We are aware that you are currently in a less-than-ideal situation, but we're working to improve this at many... erm, costs. For the moment being, we've had to cut off power to your shaft just to keep from any errors taking place, or, ah -- we don't need any more trouble from the elevator. We know you're in the dark, both literally and figuratively. I'm hoping I can alleviate at least one of those issues.

"To be straightforward, we -- that is, the New York Police Department -- have been informed that there is a bomb on or nearby the elevator."

Jesus H Christ.

Things had gone from bad to worse in the blink of an eye. Now she knew that a rescue attempt was fairly unlikely, after all, getting explosive ordnance disposal on an elevator full of people was particularly impossible. Charlotte scoffed at her own situation, realising how fucked things were about to become inside this elevator.

"We have not, not been quite able to verify these facts. Additionally, erm, the caller informed us, we were informed, that the individual responsible for setting the explosive devices is present within the elevator. That is all we know. We have not been able to verify these facts.

"And he did say, he told us that, upon the death of the individual, the one who is in the elevator with you, the elevator will move again. That is all we know."

"Fick mich!" Charlotte spat, frightened and still trying to take in what exactly had been said. She began to tremble as she quickly scanned around the elevator, looking for the stereotypical, shady looking person she would expect to be involved in this type of unworldly scenario, but none caught her eye. But then the statement about killing the terrorist hit her didn't sound right to her. Why would that happen? she quietly pondered over it. It didn't make any sort of sense, why would the elevator start again? why would that even be mentioned in the call? she had her doubts that the caller was a good Samaritan calling in to save life's. But after a few seconds it something hit her. This was some sort of sick mind game. Why else would that be included? The bomber ( even if there was one) wanted the paranoid people on board to start killing each other, with the bombs being some sort of a catalyst to speed things up. And it was already working. There was already talk among some about looking for the bomb and killing someone, no-doubt someone who would fit the bill of your average terrorist. her attention was quickly caught by the teen again, who was cowering in the corner, silently weeping. She started thinking of her own kid and how devastating it would be for him if she was to die, how he would cope growing up without her, she couldn't even contemplate it. She was scared, partly for her own life, but for mostly her son.

But with the elevator quickly descending into total anarchy, somebody had to take control of the situation before it turned into a blood bath, and with nobody stepping up to the plate, it seemed that it was going to have her. expelling the thoughts of her son and her life for now, she took a deep breath, proceeded to attempt to calm the situation.

"Nobody is killing anyone." Charlotte said in a commanding voice, her German accent lighter but more predominant that the other woman. "Nobodies going looking for the bomb either." she said, shooting down the possibility of sending someone into the vents to look. It was as stupid idea if the terrorist truly was on board, because he or she would probably just detonate the bomb if they tried to mess around with it, a risk that she wasn't willing to take. Her eyes darted back and forth, gauging the reactions from everyone as she attempted to create a possible list of suspects. "We are going to stay inside the elevator, remain calm and wait for the more information."

[Neo-Chicago]

Tom was momentarily taken aback by the arrogance of this new woman, who he thought to be something of a wallflower at first. He had barely even noticed her at first. She seemes to be something of a carbon copy of the other foreigner, with an amped up sense of superiority. "Oh goodie, another damned German woman. What the fuck is it with you types? I bet you're another one of those by the books types, afraid to bend the rules. Go ahead and die, it's no skin off my nose. But don't try to tell the rest of us what we can and can't do." he told her, sickened by her contempt.
Although he wasn't really a sexist, he didn't want some little bitch telling him what to do. "Jusy because we're a medoim-sized group pf people, we don't need a 'leader', so don't try to be one. Frankly, I just want to make it out of here, preferably not in a body bag." Tom informed the woman. He wished these Germans would see the error of their ways, although if Hitler was any example, they tended to do just the opposite of that. "Don't get pissy now though, because I'm going to tell you right now that I don't give one flying fuck about what you think you can tell me." he explained, exasperated. Tom was sick of dealing with people like this, and didn't think he had to defend himself in that right.

[The New World Oceania]

---

12:02 pm, February 12, 2013

I castrated myself when I was 15 to rebel against society.

Adam Lanza

[Alleniana]

"Oh."

Anna had long been a personable sort of person. Despite what discrimination from her peers she faced at a young age, for her ancestry, her skin colour, even her religion, which she did not work out for long after adolescence, she had maintained an outlook on life that really didn't mind social interaction; perhaps, even, sought it out. It had guided her in her love of languages, though that had brought little actual benefit, as well as having been the quality that found her a job as a receptionist. It was, indeed, to her job as a receptionist that she had been on her way to.

However, it did have another side. People were people, both good and bad, and she saw both sides; especially often working as a receptionist in such businesses that saw pressure and things that tended to be important enough to stress over. She had seen people become ever angrier under pressure, lashing out in what was almost insecurity. Once, a customer to the accountancy she worked in on the 41st floor had flung coffee at her, simply because he had not paid the accountant's fees and now could not. That had been unpleasant, but it had taught her well about how to handle those who felt they had no way out. Another time, she had witnessed people conducting themselves almost entirely arbitrarily and unhelpfully, simply to relieve the feeling of inactivity. One she knew, but not intimately, that feeling often drove people to do, without thinking. The anxiety people felt preparing for going to the dentist often did that, and she had witnessed it too. And, then, furthermore, she had seen broken people, wandering through life, occasionally baring themselves but otherwise keeping on only a mask, and others who had never learned that they were not the kings and queens of the world, to treat others with any semblance of respect. Despite all the good of humanity she had seen, she knew of these things, as many a receptionist did.

And she saw them all here, people itching and lashing out and withdrawing, under the pressure of this strange situation.

And then they were suddenly amplified. And not only for the others.

"Oh."

There was meant to be a bomb. And here she slowly began her descent. Calm, collected and content to stand in the corner quietly before, the first termite latched onto her well being and began gnawing, nibbling ferociously. A termite, to be sure, but a termite queen.

She began to squirm, itch herself. Grab something, hold something, shake something, get out, wake up. A few hours sitting around was fine, but no, this was over the top. There was something serious, something very serious indeed. She could die. She could die? No, no, no, surely there had to be a mistake. This wasn't right. Wake up. But not, that wasn't right. She was here, in an elevator, apparently, trapped with a terrorist and a bomb. This wasn't normal, it couldn't happen to her.

But it did.

She spoke, partially to the others, partially to herself, the first words after entering the elevator, and her "oh,".

"Look, it might be wrong... it could easily be some prankster. Why would there be a bomb? Why would some terrorist popping his clogs have anything to do with us, or a bomb? They want to scare lots of people. This doesn't make any sense."

Not caring if anyone heard her, she rubbed her eyes and then closed them tightly in denial.

It was midday, apparently.

[Jessjohnesik]

Johanna was infuriated by the new remarks Tom had made. Each and every word made her mind cringe, while the statements as a whole were enough to stump Johanna completely as she didn't even know what to think about them, given their level of absurdity. She sincerely wondered how did the man get through life. How he wasn't yet a criminal, or how did he not die with the whole preposterous idea of 'bending the rules'.

"Well, Tom, that goes both ways you know. Primarily because setting you up us our 'leader', which we don't actually even need, would be suicide for the whole fucking group." Johanna promptly stated after she had done dwelling in her thoughts.

"Because I'm, quite frankly, surprised as to why every single person in this elevator hadn't yet told you to shut the fuck up. Do you even know anything about what to do in such a situation? Have you taken the time to analyse this situation before making such blatantly shitty and un objective claims and statement?" Johanna continued, her hand slowly crawling towards her purse and feeling in two possible objects she could use in her defence, a hairspray and a small Swiss knife trinket she had with her keys.

"The answer is no, Tom. " She quickly added, effectively nulling the previously rhetorical question. Johanna was getting uneasy with the man's more and more aggressive wording and behaviour that he displayed. Hopefully, there was at least one other rationally thinking person in the elevator with her, who also seemingly happened to be German.

[Aelford]

Bob Dickson

Bob watched this whole scene unfold before him. He decided that enough was enough, and that it was time to act. But before he did, he realised that when Johanna was shouting at Tom, her hand was slowly crawling towards her purse. Ask her about the Purse.

So Bob decided to start talking and be the mediator.
"Johanna, if Tom doesn't know what to do in a situation like this, I'll help him. I've been stuck in one before. Not saying he doesn't know of course."

"I think that we should at least come together and stop arguing for the moment. You know why? Because then we can find out who really is the terrorist. It's hard to figure out the culprit when everybody is panicking and some people are even arguing."

Bob looked at every one of them, trying to make eye contact. Even the two extra people who had seemingly either appeared out of nowhere, or had not made themselves known until now (sorry Galdius (Charlotte) and Alleniana (Anna)). Knox had seemed to stop sobbing for the moment.

"Time to act. "Bob thought.
"Oh, hey, Johanna? Whats going on in the purse? Im sorry, but it looks a bit suspicious."

[Galdius]

The reaction was exactly as she expected. Hostile. Charlotte remained silent as she received a brow beating from a man was clearly trying to assert his dominance among the small group, something that Charlotte, coming from a big family of six, mostly men, had to deal with a lot. although found it funny that the man was supposed to be the guy finding the terrorist, yet he just called her another one of those "Bookpeople." She had a silent chuckle at the comment, firstly due to the sheer stupidity of it, and secondly, she wasn't one of those "people", She was an outdoorsy type, who had served in the army and was a very active person, which should have been fairly noticeable from her stance and build. But again, she remained silent, awaiting for an appropriate time to talk as the more aggressive German woman jumped in, who was also contesting the mans jump up to leadership in this little rag tag group. Another woman, who looked of middle eastern heritage added a valid point, but was overshadowed by one of the "leaders" lackeys quickly attempted to change the subject over to how suspicious the German woman was being, which, with how the current mood was right now, wasn't going to end without some sort of bloodshed.

Stepping forward again, her calm demeanor completely unchanged by the aggressiveness and hostility of the situation. "We aren't going to kill anyone." She reiterated in a commanding tone, keeping her left hand on her blade in her blazer pocket. "We aren't going to kill anyone because that's exactly how the bomber wants this to go down." Explaining the situation, she stood still, her hard eyes locking into the hatch mans. "He or she wants us to be come divided, and start killing each other, think about it for a second? Do you seriously believe that killing the terrorist is going to restart the elevator? It doesn't make any sense." she added, still locked in a stare down with the man, something that she wasn't going to lose.

"And nobodies going looking for the bomb because if the terrorist is on board, he or she will detonate it once we start tampering with it." She stated, her cold and calm tone as she continued to stare down the man. "Now, this woman over here has stated a very valid point." Charlotte pointed over the middle eastern looking woman, but kept her eyes locked on the hatch mans. "This could be a prank, but this could be a real threat, so we can't do anything other than remain calm until we can make an informed and calculated decision." she stopped, leaning back against the elevator wall, her hand still clutching her knife which sat in her pocket. "Holen Sie sich hinter mir." She said loud enough for the other German woman to hear.

[Jessjohnesik]

Johanna quickly nodded at the other German woman's swift remark, making a note in her head to slowly make her way towards the woman over the course of the time, preferably as quickly as possible. She was puzzled by Bob's comments, previously thinking he was a far more balanced and rational person than Tom. Nevertheless, Johanna was smarter than to rabidly attack every person to question her, unlike Tom.

"Oh don't worry Bob, I'm just afraid Monsieur Tom might attempt any dangerous moves towards me. I'd say you be wary as well, given his current state he could be a danger to everyone. Unless of course you want to paint me as the threat, something I hadn't given any signs for." Johanna replied to Bob's question, attempting to rationalise him. She could see how he could've been wary of her, as Johanna herself criticised her own behaviour prior, believing she could've handled things slightly less angrily.

[Alleniana]

And just like that, hearing others not freaking out as she did upon the announcement of the bomb, Anna recovered herself.

It seemed to course through, and then suddenly she was calm. The panic retreated to a corner, and she balled her hands into fists. Survival instinct, communal behaviour, mood swing, call it what you would, but her brain leapt forth from the ropes, slowly sinking under the weight of panic, and for a second, she felt invincible.

"No, of course, it would be silly to kill people. If there is a terrorist, which I personally doubt, they've got no reason to wait, or to not announce themself; it doesn't make any sense. No sense at all. I suggest we sit tight. The police obviously have some sort of outside source, and while food and water might be an issue, we can wait it out. And even if not, we can try to climb out. Let's really... not try to fight."

She concealed how close she had been to tears a few seconds hence remarkably well, and now stood there almost feeling normal. The lights were fine, everyone was a bit close, but she was not physically troubled, and she stood.

"Does anyone want to, I don't know, play I-spy? No, sorry, maybe hangma-, uh, Chinese whispers?"

She almost kicked herself at how juvenile she suddenly sounded, pressure she wasn't feeling bursting words out of her she wasn't accustomed to say, and indeed, it had been even stupider to suggest they play hangman in what could possibly be a life or death situation. But out it came, and maybe the others, pressured as they were also, would take it up.

[Aelford]

Bob Dickson

After Bob asked Johanna about her actions, he didn't expect her to say whatever she said. Immediately he felt ashamed of himself.
"Im...sorry... I didn't think of that. Please forgive me. " he said, scratching his head.

"Damnit Bob. The one time you get to be a Sherlock you mess up. Most of the time the two people who argue, neither of ththem are actually guilty. And I probably just made a new enemy." He thought.

Then the girl Anna spoke up. Something about China? Chinatown? Chinese dumplings? Chinese Checkers? No, Chinese whisper.

"Hmm, Anna that's a good idea. How do we play this?" He asked and then whispered loud enough for everyone to hear, but just that. "Perhaps it will even reveal the terrorist...."

[Neo-Chicago]

OOC: Last post from my mobile.

IC: Tom decided to play along, for now. "Sure, I'll play. It's like Telephone, we sit in a circle and one person comes up with a message, and they whisper it to the person next to them, and that person repeats the message they hear, they can't ask for a repeat. The message is usually way different at the end, the last person says it aloud." Tom informed the rest, still trying to discern who the terrorist was. He doubted it was either of the Germans, or the Middle Eastern woman. The soldier though... Tom wasn't comfortable about him. The faux leader of a woman must not have been listening, because Tom had never entertained the idea of killing anyone.

[The Almighty Bob]

Tom was momentarily taken aback by the arrogance of this new woman, who he thought to be something of a wallflower at first. He had barely even noticed her at first. She seemes to be something of a carbon copy of the other foreigner, with an amped up sense of superiority. "Oh goodie, another damned German woman. What the fuck is it with you types? I bet you're another one of those by the books types, afraid to bend the rules. Go ahead and die, it's no skin off my nose. But don't try to tell the rest of us what we can and can't do." he told her, sickened by her contempt.
Although he wasn't really a sexist, he didn't want some little bitch telling him what to do. "Jusy because we're a medoim-sized group pf people, we don't need a 'leader', so don't try to be one. Frankly, I just want to make it out of here, preferably not in a body bag." Tom informed the woman. He wished these Germans would see the error of their ways, although if Hitler was any example, they tended to do just the opposite of that. "Don't get pissy now though, because I'm going to tell you right now that I don't give one flying fuck about what you think you can tell me." he explained, exasperated. Tom was sick of dealing with people like this, and didn't think he had to defend himself in that right.

"Oh, great. Less than an hour in and I already want to punch everybody in here." Steven glanced at Knox. "Well, almost everybody. At the same time, Tom is probably the most correct. We all need to make decisions together, otherwise we might as well just start fashioning shanks and having a go. Which do you prefer?" This was a rhetorical question, but Steve suddenly had the thought that people might actually answer him, which would pretty much only make the situation worse. "You know what, don't answer that. I don't want to know."

[Galdius]

"We don't have enough information to act on anything, right now, we are flying totally in the dark." Charlotte stated yet again to the older gentlemen. While she wasn't opposed to acting as a group, it was acting on the information, or lack of it, provided by the NYPD so far. Mere minutes ago she remembered quite vividly that he was basically saying that the terrorist must die soon and that they should interview people in an attempt to find discrepancies. How they were going to tell the truth from the lies, she wasn't sure at all, considering that everyone's alibi would be perfect rock solid considering that there is no evidence to prove otherwise. It sounded like the kind of plan that could get the wrong guy lynched for not remembering what blend of coffee they had this morning. She shivered at the thought of that whole scenario happening in the elevator, which kind of echoed the Salem witch trials, a bunch of paranoid and scared people acting irrationally, which in the end, got innocent people killed.

"Now let me be quite clear here, I've done nothing but state my points in a calm and clear demeanor, and you friend has been rather aggressive towards me for little reason that I can think of, If I offended him or insulted him in some way then I'm sorry." She added, hoping to alleviate the tension between the hatch man and her, who, had been pretty nasty towards her since she started opposing him. " But going poking around for the bomb is not a good idea, if there terrorist is on board with a bomb, chances are he or she will detonate it when we find it and kill all of us." Charlotte explained, switching eye contact between the hatch man and the older man as realized her hand from left pocket. "Interviewing people isn't going work either, we have no evidence to prove what they are saying is the truth or a lie, chances are the terrorist has already has a alibi thought out." she stopped for a second, rubbing her hands through her hair as she attempted to think what to do next. "And we can't leave, because if the terrorist is on board, her or she will detonate the bombs."


"Playing games isn't going to help our situation either." She pondered aloud, looking over towards the girl of middle eastern heritage, who had suggested the idea. She couldn't exactly blame her for coming up with it, as it was probably only an attempt to combat the stress that had arisen from the fighting between them. "Now what I think we should do is try to get into permanent contact with the authorities, they are the only ones that can provide us with the information we need to make an informed decision, agreed?" She concluded as she walked towards the hatchman, hoping that he was going to see the reasoning behind why she had said what she did previously. "I think we got off on the wrong foot here, I'm Charlotte, you?" She offered her hand out towards him, hoping to set things off in the right direction. Although she still stood by her stance that the man was behaving like a total asshole, she was willing to chalk it up to panic more than anything else.

[Neo-Chicago]

Tom ignored the woman for now, waiting to elaborate upon his own reasoning before accepting her gesture of friendliness. "Alright, just hear me out here. Suppose that killing the terrorist DOES start the elevator going back up again, and furthermore the bomb is deactivated. Consider the fact that the announcement said that the bomb may go off in a short period of time. These two things to me make it appear as though this is a timed bomb, not one that's remotely detonated. Why would the terrorist go to the trouble of boarding the very elevator he planned to detonate if not to sabotage any attempts to disrupt their bomb from being detonated?" Tom asked the woman, deciding that this was the time for civility. "Why would they, unless they were worried that we could somehow stop the bomb? I don't think that killing the terrorist is going to do anything, but finding the terrorist can still help us ascertain details of this bomb." he said to the others, as he knew that the terrorist would be listening right now.
"Also, I already told everyone here my name, so I'm going to assume you weren't listening. It's Tom Walker." he said, reluctantly shaking hands with the woman. "While contacting the authorities would be a good idea, as far as I can tell, they're more concerned about damage control than anything else. I've seen situations like this before, I'm an attorney for the New York City court system. I apologize for my somewhat aloof nature. It's just that others have been somewhat more..." Tom elaborated, looking in the direction of Johanna. "Unreasonable. I agree we've gotten off on the wrong foot, but I still feel like taking action is in our best interest. I'm willing to hold off somewhat longer, but if someone dies, I'm going up there. It doesn't really help that we can't see for shit since they cut the lights." Tom said to her, and he believed that reconciliation was the best way to go for now. The terrorist could probably have killed them off one by one if not for their phones. But battery was going to run low pretty soon, and something was stirring in Tom's stomach. He had a... premonition of sorts.

[Alleniana]

The situation in the elevator seemed to have calmed down greatly, as initial panic and hostility set into more reasoned action and resignation. That was good. And indeed, people were seeing how little sense it made; even better. Anna really didn't think killing people would solve anything, and at this rate, it seemed what was being aimed for by the "terrorist".

A couple of people seemed to have taken her up on her offer of a game, so she figured she might as well start it. If only to distract the argumentative from their arguments, at least, before they flared up again.

"So, uh, I'm Anna by the way. I'm a receptionist on the 41st floor."

She then moved a bit, leaning into Bob's ear, seeing he was one of the less riled-up ones.

"Uhh..."

She scratched about for something innocent for a bit.

"Superman would love a big basket of juicy peaches."

There.