Trapped on the Subway (Open, 2 others)

[MARY ANNE SPENCER]

Mary Anne felt the fire and brimstone of the Lord fill her entire body. She had never been so furious before. What had she done wrong? All she'd done was picketed against the monstrosity that was the recently legalized same sex marriage law! It was perfectly within her rights as an American now! She couldn't understand how, for all these stupid Americans touted their "freedom of Speech' like it was the greatest thing since God's gift of manna from heaven, they STILL refused certain groups this right. Mary Anne was perfectly within her rights when she stood with signs outside the city hall, explaining to the heathens what exactly they were doing wrong and how it was going to land them in Hell. Perhaps going up to the lesbian couple and getting in their faces had been a bit much, but to have them rip her signs up and yell at her like that, well, it just was obviously going to far on her end! Mary Anne was part of a disregarded minority in this country. Her religion had her marginalized by the rest of society. People were trampling on her rights as an American just because she was different!

Honestly, she didn't know why she even did it anymore. She just was so downtrodden and disrespected at every corner. It was like there was no way she was going to get through to these people in this godless city. There was just no way to appeal to their basest impulses. They were just going to keep ignoring her and telling her that she was a terrible human being, no matter how hard she tried to save their souls. At this point she wondered if they were worth having in heaven at all.

Mary Anne sat inspecting her nails on the subway, separated from everyone else. She tried her best to remain seated at all times at least one or two spaces away from any other person. It was painfully obvious that she was one of the only subway patrons who actually cared about her own personal hygiene. Everyone else always seemed so shady and dirty. She couldn't interact with them! That was how people got leprosy!

All of a sudden, with no warning, the subway came a screeching halt. Every light was extinguished and everyone was thrown from their seats into a tangled heap on the floor. Mary Anne was suddenly in a mess on the disgusting, slightly sticky subway floor. Without a light source, she was forced to imagine the most horrible explanation for what substance was currently in her hair. Squealing in horror, Mary Anne was only one of several people to loudly exclaim something along the lines of "What is going on!?"

[EMILIE SIMONE]

As much as she hated to admit it, Emilie was a stranger to the ways of underground urban travel. She'd never traveled by subway once before attending school in New York City, and in all honesty, didn't intend to ever again once she left. Perhaps it was a bit pretentious, the way she kept her head held high and her eyes away from any and everyone with even the slightest of shabby appearances, but really, this wasn't the eighteenth century. Daily bathing was a social norm. She held no qualms with the homeless, of course--in fact, she felt nothing but the deepest sympathy for them--but the others, well, they were positively vile. And she saw straight through them too, which only made the whole situation at least ten times more pathetic. That boy of about her age, sitting there with his headphones in and eyes on the obviously twenty year-old girl across from her; his greased hair was obviously artfully shagged, falling into his eyes in just the way he'd deemed attractive before leaving the house this morning. In actuality, he looked like some horrid cross between a sheepdog, mop, and tasseled rug. And what was worse, the girl he was staring at was falling for it.

She didn't even know why she bothered people watching, honestly. They were all the same.
There she went, though, sounding like Trina. Or worse, Adolfo. The thought sent a physical shiver down Emilie's spine despite the sticky warmth within the car.

It was then that the car went pitch black, screeching to a halt so forcefully that Emilie was literally thrown out of her seat and onto the floor, only to be quickly buried in a mass of bodies that smelled quite a bit more like onions and leftover cheese than she would have liked. She'd known the screams were coming next, of course. What else was there for people to do, but panic? It was only natural. Still, Emilie remained silent as she picked herself up off the sticky floor, readjusting her dress with an apology directed at the man who's been thrown down next to her when she accidentally kicked him in the jaw. Served him right. She hadn't seen it exactly, but there was a way about eyes as the emergency lights flickered on that made her feel as though he hadn't been looking solely at her feet.

The girl now standing next to her, it seemed, hadn't handled the sudden loss of power quite as well as Emilie herself had. She looked frazzled and more than a bit idiotic, literally squealing as she was and practically flailing her arms about.

"We've broken down, I'd imagine," Emilie offered a response to the girl's idiotic question as politely as she could muster, although unable to resist the urge to egg her on a bit further with some sarcasm. "Who knows, maybe we've even lost power."

[hedgiefrost]

Ryan Frost wasn't exactly all there, at the moment. Not that he had ever really been, what with his oblivious nature, but now it was different. He wasn't all there because someone else was replacing him. He could still see and hear and think, of course, but he didn't really have much control over what he said and did. The King of Hearts said he would handle that until Ryan learned the basics of being a king without royal blood. Which, it appeared that would be when he graduated and got his law degree. Becoming a lawyer was never Ryan's plan; he wasn't capable of talking in general, and that would apply to a courtroom. But when Josiah came along, he started doing the talking.

Of course, that made it seem like it was nothing, those three words. 'Josiah came along.' No, it was a huge turning point in his life. Because he had murdered his mother for the woman he loved, and that was something he couldn't live down. Though he wasn't really thinking about that now, because Josiah was getting impatient. The subway train had been late and the storm outside was getting worse. Since he and Maggie were in the process of getting a better car, he had taken to the subway instead of driving in that old piece of junk. He didn't want to be seen near it, let alone in it.

He was sitting next to a girl, a pretty girl, but nowhere near as beautiful as Maggie, of course. As he often did, he was thinking, and when he spaced like this, his eyes tended to wander to places he didn't necessarily see. So it was very possible that he appeared to be looking at the girl in an uncomfortable way, but truly he wasn't.

But then, very suddenly, he was thrown out of his thoughts and out of his seat, and something connected with his face. Ouch. Rubbing his jaw, he stood up with a scowl and a glare directed towards the girl who had kicked him, though she couldn't see it in the dark, most likely. So he cleared his throat, expecting an apology.

He could wait. Because that was the Red Queen speaking, Josiah knew. He knew all the Wonderland characters, it seemed. He was their king, after all.

"We've broken down, I'd imagine. Who knows, maybe we've even lost power."

It appeared to be the girl who had kicked him. Now she was being sarcastic? No, this wasn't going to work. "Obviously we've lost power, and manners." The last two words he muttered, still oud enough for her to hear. "The storm probably blew out an electrical box or something."

Which would not be ideal, because he needed to get home to his fiancee, not that she would really notice anyways. But frankly, he didn't care as long as he had his queen.

[MARY ANNE SPENCER]

"We've broken down, I'd imagine. Who knows, maybe we've even lost power."

Mary Anne's day was getting better and better. Of course, she shouldn't have expected a polite and helpful answer amidst all the chaos and the filthy, mucky people hollering their brains out, but she could have done with a slightly more sympathetic tone than the one she received from the shady Jezebel on the floor. Based on the dim outline of her apparently tight clothing, Mary Anne felt perfectly sound in her reasoning that this sarcastic streetwalker was nothing but a heathen who had renounced her place with the Lord Almighty. Mary Anne was quite sure that even with intensive work, this harlot would never be redeemed.

"Obviously we've lost power, and manners. The storm probably blew out an electrical box or something."

Mary Anne felt a surge of appreciation for this nameless mystery man that wasn't afraid to put the slinky slut in her place. THAT was the kind of man that Mary Anne was looking for. Someone with a bit of authority! Someone who wasn't afraid to say what was on their mind and give tart little tarts a piece of their mind!

From the few words that Mary Anne had heard him say, she knew that he was absolutely perfect.

"You know, I feel sorry for you, I really do," Mary Anne spoke condescendingly to the tragically trampy troll."I know not everyone can have the good grace and manners to keep polite in times of need and struggle, but it always breaks my heart to see someone who resorts to their cruelest instincts when times are tough." Mary Anne struggled to her feet, dusting herself off and straightening her dress. Just because they were almost certainly trapped in this hellishly claustrophobic box did NOT mean that she had to look like she just got out of a mud fight. Standards didn't disappear simply because the lights went out.

Mary Anne shot another glare at the sassy strumpet, before turning her attention to the rest of the subway. It seemed that the temptestuous trollop was not the only one forgetting her manners. The entire trolley was rife with rage-filled confusion. In proper gentlemen and ladies, this would be solved quickly as everyone came to their senses, but amidst this horrid crowd of idiots and imbeciles Mary Anne feared it would merely escalate. If this continued, someone was bound to get hurt.

Mary Anne would have no part in it. She sat down, staring straight ahead. She would sit there until the lights came back on and the train began moving again. She would not fall for this trickery and mess to entice her into doing something stupid. There was enough stupid in the rest of the cart to make up for it. She would simply let them play out their basest instincts and she would sit there, resigned, lady like. A saint amongst the sinners.

[EMILIE SIMONE]

It would be just her luck, of course. Had anyone else taken the subway today—perhaps even this particular subway—and they would have returned home safe, sound, and on time. Not that Emilie believed in luck, whether good or bad. Neither did she believe in coincidences. She didn’t believe in much anything, truth be told, save the possibility that there were now several people in the subway car who weren’t particularly fond of her. Really, it’d hardly been a thing to get upset about. A few snide words spoken in response to an obvious, irritating question. What had the girl expected?

And as for the man—Emilie turned to see just who had been so rude, eyes widening slightly as the stranger’s identity was revealed. Naturally, the one who’d been staring up her skirt would speak out. Really, she was terribly sorry she hadn’t been quite willing to become part of a peep show but surely, there were other things he could take out his anger on. Unless, of course, he hadn’t actually been staring up her skirt and she’d kicked him wrongly. Now, wouldn’t that be a pity. A shame, really, that apologies had never been in her repertoire. It seemed he could have benefitted from one.

She rolled her eyes a bit, turning back towards the obnoxious girl who was now speaking to her with a tone so sinisterly sweet the words practically crystallized. Emilie listened, politely, to the controlled tirade. Then, she blinked. Really, this girl was ridiculous. There hadn’t been an ounce of regret in Emilie before, and there certainly wasn’t one now. A small smile spread over her lips as she watched the shadow of the girl sit back down; Emilie joined her, taking the seat two spaces down and avoiding eye contact with the man altogether.

She turned her body so as to speak to the girl, honeyed words sticking to the thin space between them. “Oh, I really didn’t mean to offend. Forgive me for my ‘cruel instincts,’ it’s just, I never quite know what to do when obvious answers stare me right in the face, and sarcasm seems the best option.” She hung her head slightly, the perfect picture of genuine remorse and embarrassment, although she watched from the corner of her eye, waiting to see if this girl was smart enough to see through it all. “Especially in circumstances as tough as this. Surely you understand what it’s like to snap at strangers without reason?” Innocent and a bit wide-eyed, Emilie raised her head to look at the girl, a small, seemingly apologetic smile serving to mask the mischievous glint in her icy eyes.

Well, if she got it, then this could be interesting. If not, Emilie was more than content to spend however long they had left continuing to prod in hopes of finally pushing a button. It was always entertaining, seeking out weak points.

[hedgiefrost]

Everyone's rage and the total disorder and chaos within the subway made Ryan's inner king want to scream. Kings never wanted this among their people. Well, maybe a few, but Josiah definitely did not, so his leadership instincts kicked in and he yelled, sure his voice would carry in at least this car. "Quiet, everyone!" Of course, these were New Yorkers, and they were likely not to listen to him. There was always that chance. But it seemed that the trapped people needed a leader, so most turned their attention towards him.

"Thank you. Now I'm sure everyone is alarmed and angered by this sudden stop, but there is no need to cause all of this chaos. We should stay calm and wait for the power to come back on, which I'm sure will happen soon."

His words were reasonable, and some people recognized that. But the chaos from the other cars could now be heard above the quiet, and it still struck fear
WIP