Where There's Smoke...

[Twitchcraft]

"Abby!"

"...whut? 'm not snorin'. Lemme be..."

"Abby! Do you not hear the alarm? The whole dang school must be on fire!"

"...whut?"

"Girl, I got no doubt whatsoever you could snooze your way right through the Second Coming!"

"...izzat an alarm?"

"I can smell smoke, but the doorknob's not hot. We oughta get going."

"...wait, there a fire or somethin'?"

"Lord, give me the strength not to beat her to death 'til we get ourselves outta here. Come on!"

"...awright, awright, 'm gettin' up."

"Don't forget that darn hat, either."

"...right. Thanks..."

"Hey, is that -- wait, are you wearing one of Brodi's shirts?"

"...go climb a tree, Holly..."

[Cassandra Finch]

Cassandra bolted upright at the sound of the fire alarm. Smoke was already seeping in around the door. She snatched a pair of gloves off her desk and jumped out of bed to check the doorknob. Not hot. Okay.

As comfortable as they were for sleeping, Cass was not leaving the room in a camisole and shorts. She grabbed her Villains jacket from its spot on the back of her chair and dug out some sweats from the dresser. Add a spare t-shirt to breathe through and that would have to be good enough. She tugged on some sneakers and rechecked the doorknob before heading out into the hall, trying to stay low and avoid panicking students rushing by. The balcony was closer than the stairs and less likely to be smoky or crowded. Easy choice.

Cass vaulted over the railing, slowing her fall with a few telekinetic blasts. She landed with too much weight on one leg and staggered a few steps before getting her balance. Not her best landing, but it worked. She joined some students milling around waiting for instructions and looked back at the smoking building. First, would they be waiting out here long enough for her to go get some coffee and make it back? Second, where was the fire?

[Juan Alacran]

Paying attention? Not Juan's strong suit. Paying attention to lectures? That suit barely had a presence in Juan's deck.

He woke to the fire alarm. He laid back down. "...carajo."

Then his eyes popped open again. Someone was going to want him to do something since the alarms were wailing. He got up and swung his legs over the side of his bed, and now that he was sitting up the fact that he was on a top bunk meant that smoke was quickly getting to him. "...que jodienda."

Coughing, he hopped down, almost rubbing at his eyes absently, then quickly learned behavior kicked in and he turned his arm to rub his eyes with the palms of this hands. Absently using his arms for things got painful and/or expensive very quickly. He could hear commotion. Was that Roach? He shrugged. "Roomie, up up up! Fire test thing alarm noise! Smoke! Gotta roll!"

He threw open the door to his room, and was quickly greeted with smoke and crowded hallways. Screw that noise. He walked back into his room and casually threw open the window, then pulled out the screen. A little bent, but they could probably fix that. He looked down at the ground. Cake. Without looking to see what his roommate was doing, he threw over his shoulder "I'm takin' shortcut."

He landed lightly, feet crunching on frost-covered grass. He wiggled his bare toes. Huh. That was unpleasant. He started walking around the building to where he heard everyone gathering, musing that he probably should have put on something besides the light soccer shorts he normally wore to bed. "...puñeta."

[Eric Alpaith]

The fire alarm combined with Juan woke Eric with a good start. After a second he realized that it would be better if he could actually see. With the smoke all over the place, putting in his contacts would be a bad idea, so he found his glasses in his desk he kept around for stuff like this. He put them on just in time to see Juan jump out the window. It didn't take long for him to give up on the idea of following him, mainly because he probably couldn't take the fall. He decided to just go out the door and catch up to the rest of the people.

[Caleigh Stewart]

Caleigh was awake the instant the fire alarm started to sound - though her first thought was it was way too dark outside for her alarm to be going off already. As soon as she registered the seriousness of this particular alarm however, her brain snapped into action.

Caleigh had taken fire safety classes, of course. She hopped down from her bed just as Angelica was springing up from hers. Angelica, being the quicker of the two, was already going for the door while Caleigh was still sliding on her slippers. “Be careful! Test the knob to see if it’s hot!” But when she looked up again, Angelica had disappeared. Caleigh ignored her classes for just a moment to sigh. Angelica was tricky like that.

Out in the hallway, Caleigh looked around to first observe the smoke, then if there were any lines already forming. The smoke was gross, but so far was staying near the ceiling. People seemed to be running around haphazardly, with only one girl trying to organize an escape plan for the floor.

In a corner a group of freshmen girls were giggling hysterically. Caleigh marched up to them and in her best “I’m serious” voice - learned from her step-mother the teacher - encouraged them to start moving along. She didn’t even yell at them for staying in their giggling clump rather than lining up properly. Hopefully they’d right themselves by the time they reached the stairs, otherwise the stairwell would become dangerous.

Just as the group reached the stairs and Caleigh was about to remind the girls of the importance of maintaining an orderly exit, a half-naked boy ran past screaming “Run! RUN!”

That sent a new wave of panic through the girls gathered by the stairs - though Caleigh wasn’t positive if it was the screaming or the boy-flesh that did it. It didn’t matter, the results were the same - panicked pushing and shoving amongst the freshmen girls as they tried to be the first to the bottom of the stairs, while Caleigh trailed behind, trying to find a good way to remind them of basic fire safety rules.

[Westbrook Academy]

[Note this is wonky time. If people still wish to contribute to this thread, they can. This is just the email that will be sent out after it is all resolved]

Students,

This e-mail is intended to put to rest any rumors about the events that happened in the dormitory early in the morning of February 6th. There was no fire or any immediate danger to students, faculty or staff. A prankster placed several smoke bombs throughout the dormitory, setting off the smoke alarms. At Westbrook we take our commitment to safety and civic responsibility very seriously; if and when we discover who performed this prank, the repercussions will be severe.

However, this incident has revealed the need to review our fire safety procedures. There is a fire drill scheduled for 10 PM on Wednesday, February 15th to simulate the conditions under which this alarm sounded. In particular, I’d like to remind students that the following behaviors are not acceptable unless your life is in immediate danger:

* Screaming to cause a panic
* Jumping from balconies or stair railings
* Prying apart non-emergency exit windows
* Hiding under your bed
* Going up the stairs into an evacuating part of the building in search of a friend
* Trying to sneak into a room other than your own after the all-clear has been given

In addition, in the event of an emergency, students are expected to immediately proceed single-file towards the nearest exit, not stopping to gather personal belongings, and wait in designated areas to be checked-in by a resident advisor or other staff member.

Thank you for your cooperation.

L. Herrera