#volumeadmin

“Yeah, keep walking,” says a voice. “You’re in for it now.”

Christian takes a few steps forward until he’s standing closer to Kem and Max.

“Turn around.”

The face he turns to see isn’t James, but it’s two men – both are recognizable from the gang, guys that used to come around and harass Jerry while he still ran the store.

“Yeah, you,” the shorter, stockier of the two guys still has the gun pointed directly at Christian. “We know what you did. Snooping around Jerry’s house after the fire, breaking into the station, and telling the cops fucking everything. That shit’s changed everything for us.”

Realization dawns on Max, and she whispers, “He thinks you’re Jamie.”

Christian looks offended, first and foremost. Then, he touches the hat on his head and rolls his eyes.

“Well, this is fucking stupid,” he sighs.

“SHUT UP!” the man with the gun yells, firing a warning shot.

Kem quickly shields Max with his body, but there’s no cause for concern yet, just a knee-jerk reaction to protect the person he cares most about. Max glances over the boat's railing, and she meets eyes with Eric below, whose attention has been drawn by the sound of the shot. There's not much time other than to mouth "help."

Eyes widen, and he mouths back, “Do what?”

“Something,” is all she can get out.

He beckons his partner over. “Search ‘em.”

The taller, skinnier figure starts to pat them down while the shorter gang member holds them at gunpoint and starts talking.

“Listen, all James wants from you is for you to tell the truth. What really happened to Jerry and the part you played in it. We know you broke into his house; we’ve got proof. And we’re not afraid to use it. But just tell the pigs the truth, and nobody’s gotta get hurt,” he says, giving a pitch that sounds a lot like he wants High Volume to lie on the stand or face certain consequences.

“We figure one of you should come with us, you know, so when the rest of you go back and tell your friends what we said, they know you aren’t joking. And it’s not that we don’t trust you, but…we don’t trust you.”

The skinner partner starts to pat down Christian’s pocket when Christian knees the guy in the nose.

This time, the short guy shoots again with less of a warning, but he's got the aim of a stormtrooper, and glass shatters as a window breaks loudly.

Max screams.

The shots are probably meant to scare Christian, they must want to bring him to James, but Christian just doubles down and punches the skinny guy in the face. Kem sees a flash of silver and acts on instinct. He joins the fray, pushing Christian aside quickly. The last thing he sees before he’s stabbed in the abdomen is a panicked look on Christian’s face.

Then everything goes black.

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When Eric gets Max’s warning, he doesn’t know what the fuck to do. As he wasn’t around for last season’s hijinks, it’s hard for Eric to really take this ambiguous gang pretty seriously. He’s spent the entire night getting piss drunk and starting fights with and about his ex-girlfriend. And now they expect him to do something?

He turns to Chase, a few feet behind him.

“I think…Max is in trouble. We gotta do something.”

“What?”

“I don’t know. She said something. They were up on the top deck with some guys; I saw them.”

After a few moments of deliberation, they conclude that creating a diversion is the best bet. After all, it keeps them away from the guys with the guns and potential certain death, AND it will provide a way for Max, Kem, and Christian to get away.

Chase flicks his lighter.

You can never go wrong with a good fire.

“What are you two doing? The exit is on the other side of the boat.”

They freeze, realizing they’ve been caught. As Chase and Eric turn slowly to face the person accosting them, they’re able to breathe a sigh of relief. Oh, they smile. It’s just Sloane.

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Jamie’s one of the last people exiting the boat when he catches the eye of a familiar face. “Fuck,” he whispers, locking eyes with Jerry’s killer – James Coughlan. The second James sees him, he breaks from the crowd and starts running.

“Hey, dickhead! You should be locked up!” And he takes off after him.

Jude, watching the altercation, starts to follow, “Jamie, you shouldn’t –”

“Shut up and run,” he says. “We gotta catch this asshole.”

And the two of them run after James in hot pursuit, back off the dock and onto the boat.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– “Uh, some of the gang’s in trouble,” Eric’s able to get this out before they hear another gunshot and Max’s scream. He pales. “We’re going to create a distraction. So, they can get away.”

Sloane has a pretty good assumption as to what this is about. There are two sides to her, one wants to allow James to carry out his plan, but another heard the way Max just screamed. She’s made friends at High Volume and doesn’t want them to get hurt.

“Okay, then you’re going about this all wrong,” she says. “When everyone’s off the boat, they’re going to shoot off some fireworks. We could probably just…start the show a little early.”

Eric mentions that he was totally thinking that, he just didn’t say it.

“Sure,” Chase chides sarcastically. And then they follow Sloane in quick pursuit through the lower deck to the storage room. Sloane picks the lock faster than either of them could have on their own.

“Woah. Where’d you learn that?” asks Eric.

Sloane says there’s no time for that story. Ironic that James taught her how to do that so quickly.

When Chase tosses his lighter onto the stack of fireworks, there are only a few moments to run, feet pounding on the deck as they hear them go off behind them in an ear-shattering explosion, powerful booms, and loud whines. And then the fire, which starts small, but starts quickly growing on the wooden structure.

“We gotta get out!”

Chase leads the way as they make it to the boarding area, only able to breathe easily when their feet are planted firmly back on the shore. They cross paths with Jamie, who is running in the other direction, back toward the flames.

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The explosion goes off in the nick of time, sending everyone on the upper deck stumbling backward. One of the two men slips over the side of the railing, emitting a Wilhelm-esque scream. The shorter one is flung backward and doesn’t get back up.

Christian catches Kem, who is soaked in blood. There’s little time to process, but Max and Christian have known each other long enough that they can communicate without words.

They’ve got to get out of here.

“Shirt,” she says, holding out her hand. Christian quickly strips his off, and so does Max, and she ties the two shirts together and uses a shattered table leg to create a makeshift tourniquet for Kem. She saw that in a movie once and has no idea if it will work but figures it’s better than letting him bleed everywhere.

While Christian does most of the hoisting, Max does her part in helping him get Kem down the steps. Then, flames in their wake, they speed walk out toward the dock, meeting up with Chase, Eric, and Sloane, who are waiting for them near the water.

They’ve got to get Kem to a hospital. Now.

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The boat itself is starting to sink. It’s crumbling in place, flames rising as the structure descends lower into the water. It'd be suicide to charge back onto it, but nothing feels more important to Jamie than taking care of unfinished business between death or life. The unfinished business hangs in the air and haunts every High Volume employee, but it's even more personal for Jamie.

That was his father.

Granted, they weren't super close when Jamie was growing up. But during the years Jamie worked for him at High Volume, they had another chance. Jerry wasn’t just the vague idea of a father any more, but someone Jamie could admire, someone that he looked up to. Someone that he was able to consider family. But they never had much time – there was so much that Jamie never got to ask him.

Though, to be fair, it’s more blind hatred than regret that drives Jamie’s legs forward as he runs after James on the boat.

“This is going down!” shouts Jude, who can barely feel any part of himself now that he’s so hot and sweaty. He’s definitely not getting paid enough for this.

Jamie can’t see anything other than red; he just keeps running. The floor beneath him has started to crumble, and before he can take his next step, the boards in front of him fall into the waves. He’s prepared to take the leap to follow James, but as he jumps, he’s jerked backward onto the ground, hitting it hard. He doesn’t even feel the burning sensation taking over his leg, only able to look forward as the boat beyond them collapses, James disappearing into the flames.

He doesn’t note anything but a burning sensation in his leg, and when he looks down, he can see Jude whacking it with his jacket, putting out the flames.  

“Jeez, you’re welcome,” Jude says.

“I could’ve caught him,” Jamie wheezes, looking out into the smoke rising over the water. He’s sure he could have. A few more steps and he would’ve been holding James by the neck – if Jude hadn’t held him back.

“You could’ve died, that’s what,” Jude retorts, holding out his hand. “I hope you can walk. We gotta go.”

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The accident is written about in the paper the next morning, April 10. The explosion is attributed to the gang, and it’s even mentioned that James Coughlan was rumored to be on board. However, the body that was found was not his.

There is only one casualty.

The burned body recovered by police belonged to another gang member, ironically one that Marty will recognize in the paper as the man they threw a coffee cup at before the fire started in High Volume last year. Christian will recognize him as the guy that held him at gunpoint.

All of the High Volume employees gather at the hospital that morning to see Kem. While they’re not all allowed in the room at once, they’re told by nurses that no vital organs were punctured, however it nicked his spleen and he’s been receiving blood transfusions. He’ll experience cramping and difficulty getting around for the next few months, but is expected to make a full recovery. He will be in the hospital for the next week for surgery and stitches. But he will recover.

He’s lucky. They all are.

But the court hearing has been rescheduled for mid-May.

This isn’t over.

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ADMIN NOTES:

the break-in that the gang keeps referring to was our first season one plot drop. jamie is the only still-present character that took part in it, and honestly, it’s the most illegal/suspicious activity that could cause them trouble in court. 

the fire that the deceased gang member started is written about in this plot drop. kc, josie, and marty were all present. 

the fire/explosion, the death of the gang member, and kem’s injury and the general cause (stabbed by a gang member) are all common knowledge. anything else is more hearsay and can be passed around via rumor mill. this is a good time to use our group instant messenger discord chat. 

i understand there are a number of plotted threads still ongoing. you’re welcome to keep those up and finish them out, but i encourage you to drop threads that are less vital to plot/relationship development and start new ones. i’d love to see new starters going, and of course, any new threads must take place AFTER the event.

if you would like to give your character any minor injuries following the wreck, i think bruises or skinned knees or other 'every day’ easily treatable sort of wounds would be totally realistic in a frantic escape from a sinking boat. if you want your character to sustain anything more serious than that, please message me to check in on it so that we don’t have twenty sprained wrists or whatever. 

including the owner of the mean-eyed cat bar, aaron masterson. jennifer went to high school with him and they wind up catching up in the back for nearly an hour – prime time for those workers that like slacking off. it’s probably just a coincidence, but it’s no secret that the mean-eyed cat has seen a huge dip in business after what happened to jerry. there’s no clear ulterior motive behind the two’s rekindled friendship, but it’s hard not to recognize the connection. the high volume employees will start to notice aaron around the store a lot more. 

well, the ones that aren’t hyperfocused on saving their own skin. just a few days later, on march 3, 2000, those who were employed under jerry receive a court summons for march 18, literally just two weeks away. they’ll be represented by a public defender. insight from marty’s father is that with the evidence they’ve provided to the courts about jerry in the past, it’ll likely be a quick trial resulting in a fine. worst case scenario is, yeah, a few years in prison – but he says that’s highly unlikely. 

jude kimura wishes it was a little more likely, though. after all, it’s not just loyalty to james that he’s carrying around, but pressure from the rest of the gang – he and sloane could end up just like jerry if this doesn’t go well, and they’re starting to get in pretty deep, invited to staff parties and after-shift drinks with the rest of the crew, they’re fitting in seamlessly undercover. after a closing shift with just sloane, jude takes a collect call outside from james. 

james: “ listen, aaron said last year that they all showed up to the bar in these funky costumes asking about jerry. they weren’t just sitting pretty waiting for him to come back. ”

jude: “ okay, so what ? ”

james: “ so, they’re probably connected to the break-in at his place, too, which we’re being charged for. if we can tie them to that, they’re gonna have to re-open the investigation. ” 

jude: “ i've got a shift with singh tomorrow - we've got some history, so i think he trusts me enough to talk. ”

james: “ be careful. ”

jude: “ i will. bye. ” 

jude hangs up the phone and glances around the empty alley before heading out to discuss this with sloane, predominantly telling her to try and find out more about the break-in. he doesn’t know that around the next corner, eric green, who forgot his walkman, is standing, listening in. granted, it all didn’t make much sense to him, and now he’s just bummed that he showed up five minutes after the alarms activated and he’s stuck without his walkman for the night. super bummer. 

TLDR !

feel free to continue old threads, but anything new that you start should take place after this plot drop. 

the store is doing great . . . and so is jennifer’s social life ? she’s rekindled a friendship with old friend aaron masterson of the mean-eyed cat, and not only is he hanging around the store, but his daughters start to see him around the house. ( @sleevcdhearts & @beeancas )

all characters involved in season 1 have received their court summons for the identity theft charges associated with jerry. 

jude is informed of the undercover operation from last season, and possible connection to the break-in at jerry’s. he talks to sloane about it. ( @kimurahh & @sloanefm )

01. activity. everyone seemed to be in agreement that our current system works – and i agree. one or two people mentioned that the system works but i could be stricter, and while i’m not going to change the rule, i will be checking blogs more closely to check that you’re replying to at least 3 different people in your past 5 posts.

02. new muses? most of you expressed interest in keeping your characters, but if you’re one of the few that feels like your character’s storyline could be coming to a close, there will be an opportunity for you to swap and work on a new character with me in early february. so, if you’re someone who wants to swap muses in the future, start thinking about how you want to round out your current character’s story. remember to run major plots by me. 

a lot of you expressed concern that the group might become larger with the addition of new muses, or worried that a bunch of new characters might change the dynamic of the group, so i want to make it clear that i do not ever intend to make this group larger than 20 characters. i am a small group person, too. however, if any skeletons are re-opened, at this point in the group, i would rather retire them and write new ones that are suited to next year’s plot drops, since a lot of these current skeletons were written with the ‘jerry’ plotline in mind. or, there might be situations with people changing characters like mentioned above. so, yes, there might be new characters, but i won’t be making the group significantly larger – when i asked about new characters, i wasn’t asking about the size of the group, so don’t worry. 

i guess i should clarify that from this point onward, any re-opened skeletons will just be retired. 

03. dashboard events. about 40% of you wanted longer events, so i will extend our next event to two weeks and we can test it out, see if it feels like too much, and if it does, then i’ll dial it back again. and, yes, as requested, it will be new year’s themed :) 

04. coming soon! here are some of the things you guys wanted:

more collaborative plot drops: of course! i will work these in as much as i can, i apologize that there were only a couple chances to do so in the past, mostly poor planning on my part. in the past, i also chose them by putting names in a generator and taking out people that were on activity check or hiatus. that worked okay, but i might be more methodical in choosing people who haven’t done one – that said, i will continue to choose people who aren’t on the activity check or hiatus, that just seems fair and i’m honestly not comfortable assigning plotting to someone who is busy. i don’t think i’ve ever made the selection process clear before, so those are the deets.

that said, if you have ideas for a plot development or something your character would do, feel free to message me. i do my best to keep the plot flexible and interactive, so i will try to work your ideas in. 

i will be contacting some of you about our first 2022 plot drop shortly :) 

new locations: coming soon in january! i’m starting to work on these and i’ll share them on the main when i’m done. 

honesty hours/meme days: we’ll also do one of these soon ♡ 

tasks with pairs/partners: :) wait two days, besties !! but also there will be more next year, too. granted, these will all be opt-in because it sucks to be paired with someone who can’t be around to do the task with you.

05. character updates. people mentioned wanting sort of a recap because the dash can be difficult to keep up with sometimes. it’s hard, but maybe i can do this with some group participation, maybe once a month i can prompt people to say what their character has been up to in the #character-updates channel or something ? we’ll try this at the end of the month and maybe see how it works.