eldest

Hard Wired Island: The Future is a Foreign Country

Channel: The Anthropozine
Persephone: ...i'll get his stuff. i have a two room flat, i don't think i could have a roommate. unless me breaking my lease is the least bad option on the table

While we're at it, dming your lawyer to let her know that there might be an APB on you seems wise.

DM: HartlyDworkin
Persephone: cop tried to arrest me for trespassing in an apartment i had permission to be in
Persephone: ditched him, but they are even more mad about everything
Persephone: anything i need to know or do

She's had Yellow give a quick run down of the various November personality bits. And she's been leaning on Pink a lot recently, so it should be a good time to branch out here.

DM: Brown
Persephone: god this is going to be the stupidest request i have to make in a while i hope
Persephone: can you do techie things to my phone
Persephone: i'm gonna be grabbing Junta's stuff here in a minute, if you tell me where to go from there I can meet you
Persephone: turns out being in the middle of all this shit frees up my schedule something fierce

That will get her a clean phone, at least, something she can use to try to minimize risk. But it'll take too long. She scarfs down the last bit of her impromptu lunch (veggi wrap with some nice fried mushrooms in there) and considers. Her neighbors... honestly got the message when the whole hullabaloo started. Nothing there to target other than a hydroponic tobacco farm she will sorely miss but legally has no ties to her. Ex-cons are going to have a bad time, probably.

She settles on sending up a signal two ways. Text Skels and Muhammad to let them know, directly, what's up and to watch out for retaliation, and to spread the word. And then as she gets on the train to Marx, post a quick clip of the police chase from end of Blues Brothers to her timeline. Ignore that she's used it purely for professional stuff and public facing activism till now, she's a silly divorced mom. Of course she flubbed which account got what.

Hard Wired Island: The Future is a Foreign Country

What do you do if you're toxic as hell to everyone around you? That's what she's scared of here. She might get fucked up by a cop or she might not, and she's taking pains to avoid that, but she can't protect everyone around her. The nightmare scenario is that it somehow bounced onto Mattie or Sasha. She's taken great pains to make that as expensive as she can: it's possible, nothing can keep anybody perfectly safe, but it's highly unlikely. But Skels? Anthropozine folks? Her neighbors? Nadine, Thomas, Muhammad, and the rest of the impromptu ring of people who survived Dhyana and managed to get released? (She's going to reach out to the old guy that was on the train and invite him, if it all finally blows over.)

They're all vulnerable, because she drew far, far too much heat. Again.

She's sent out texts warning folks when this all started, about the police commissar and unwanted media attention, but you do not text people "beware for cop ambush" from your personal phone when you're trying to look innocent. Right now, she's trying to figure out the best way to get the message out to duck and cover. And she's doing that from a nice street market on the other side of the section. Lots of people watching, very few cameras, great excuse to pick up a burner phone and some food.

TSL: The Excess of Flowers

She's got a clever hook-tipped knife out and is carefully, carefully cutting the ropes off Emli, rubbing the circulation back in to every limb. She lets the slave-girl exhaust all the panic, letting out soft "mmm"s and "it's okay" and "you're safe"s. Han threatening her, coerced her into telling them how to leave, tied her up and left. It's not a bad story at all and Emli's certainly terrified enough to sell it, if Piripiri would believe that Han'd do it in the first place.

But Han is a shepherdess and Emli, briefly, was flock. A dragon would not hurt what's theirs. And so, the balance. She genuinely wants to be kind to Emli. The whole plan was for Han and Lotus to leave. While it would have gone so much smoother had everything stuck to the original timetable, they're currently run aground miles away from the canal: the first plan was hosed. Further, Emli is useful, in that cold iron grip of logic, because she's fresh and innocent and so very full of love. Damage that, and you damage a tool under you. Something to avoid. And yet, she needs to know what Emli knows. A razor balance.

"Any bruises on you, dear? You seemed tied up well enough that you wouldn't have rattled about when we ran aground, but I don't know if that was before or after, well. Your terrible encounter with Han." Stars above, Emli, if you're trying to lie about this, make sure you don't flush pink up to your ears at the memory.

TSL: The Excess of Flowers

She hasn't taken off her mask yet. Which is good, because she's not so sure she could keep her face calm. You won, Agata. The knights are divided and warring with each other, that's what that curse means. You got your girl toy safe and sound, and she managed to piss off both halves of the schism with the same move. Lotus and Han are in the wind, but that was the plan the entire time. There's a mystery godling who seemed to try her best to blow your plans astray, and they're still working.

All it cost you was a barge and a sideswipe to your dignity. That's it.

The only rejection that'd happened was if she seriously thought Lotus was going to fall for her, when anybody with even a single eye can see that she's head-over-heels for Han. And Agata might be shortsighted, glory-seeking, and arrogant, but she's not stupid. Not something that's likely to have happened.

So that leaves this mess, which needs to be managed carefully. She's not going to disobey, exactly. But they will be taking the scenic route to the Black Spur if she can help it, and might have to settle for "good enough" of a prison.

First, though, she's got to find the two of 'em.

*

She's washed up a touch, put some ointments on the burns, and changed: have to set the right impression here. A knock on the door, and then she goes in. "Emli? The barge ran aground: I'm glad you're safe. I'd like to untie you now, if that's okay."

What story does she tell, one wonders.

Hard Wired Island: The Future is a Foreign Country

The trick to this is managing momentum. Parkour looks difficult for a different reason than it is. You have to be precise, you have to be economical in movement, and you usually have to have two functioning legs.

She makes it work anyway. She's out the window with a quick roll, grabbing onto the window sill and spreading out her tentacles against the wall, breaking the momentum as gradually as you can. It still looks like you slammed into the wall, but it doesn't feel like it, and you don't get the breath knocked out of you. Hang for just long enough to reset to neutral momentum, then fall, letting go of where you were holding on with your fingertips to the windowsill, which were screaming bloody murder because you're about 50% heavier than the last time you did this and also over a decade out of practice.

Then it's simply a matter of repeating that for the balcony, and you're on the street and moving towards an alley to break line of sight from the cop. Bruised, a little battered, but no real harm taken, and that's a win as far as she's concerned.

A 2 5 6 + 2 and then a 6 3 6 + 2 has her squeak out of this with no harm somehow.

TSL: The Excess of Flowers

Fire! Fire everywhere! The deck is aflame, the air burns, the spirit cackles and draws yet another firewand and there's nowhere to dodge to.

She lets out a furious hiss as the blast lands home, skidding to a halt behind the crackling remains of the garden she'd shown Lotus earlier in the evening. There's a charred hole in her clothing, showing reddened, blistered skin and possibly worse, but she'd paid it no more mind than that: it wouldn't kill her before this is over, and anything beyond that is not worth thinking about. A glance confirms that Giriel is safe and has gone straight into a new, different mess.

Carefully, slowly, she inclines her head towards Zhaojun, and turns to watch the confrontation, one wary eye out for any more firewand shots. She's gotten what she wanted from interceding, she's absolutely losing any further rounds without the element of surprise, and she's hurt badly enough to be a liability if Uusha and Agata come to blows. Watch for your moment, at this point, and wait for it. Try not to ruminate on how much your side hurts, or how little anybody seems to care.

Marking Hopeless.

Hard Wired Island: The Future is a Foreign Country

Good going, Elodie, this is how you fuck up an op. Emotions get left outside, and she's out of practice and that's going to cost her. She got the bugs already, while she was doing a full sweep, but she's stuck in here with a emotionless cop.
Elodie squares up, commits to a feint, and gets closed on, can't get full thrown because of augments (odd weight distribution and more than normal for her size).
Scuttles away to get some distance, tries for a trip to keep from an immediate closer. Better upper body strength on the cop, bruising where they grabbed on, need to keep distance.
Widens out tentacles more than normal, very low to the ground and threatening another trip, cop tosses a chair in response. She bats it aside and backs up as they try to close, gets to the bathroom where she sees the medicine obviously moved.
Meds were moved, means they're not safe cuz that'd be the first thing to poison. Nothing left to get here, time to leave.
All the exits are past the cop. Fuck.
Elodie rushes them and gets a mostly blocked punch for her troubles, but he doesn't get a grip and she's not trying to win she's trying to get out, again scuttles over him, relying on the weight to push him off balance, and ends up by the window. She can climb, it's probably safer than here.

Mechanics are that she wins initiative and promptly does the Run Away action, making the roll to avoid getting attacked on the way out.

TSL: The Excess of Flowers

Piripiri stares out over the congealing fight with a cold gaze from behind her mask. She's got the umbrella in a neutral guard, and she takes a step forward and to the right as the pincer order comes out.

"…save her."

For just a moment, that glare is turned on her boss. This is a mistake. She is turning her back, on a Rakasha, for Cathak's playtoy. Fine.

She walks away from the fight, with a look aimed towards Kalaya. She was vouched for. This was the repayment. It will be remembered. She does not look at Uusha. She doesn't want to see.

First. The maid. Two knives embed into the deck, pinning her in place by her clothes. Not elegant in the slightest, a pain to fix later, but right now she's not going anywhere and Piripiri has enough complications in her life.

She makes her approach from the side, moving parallel to the railing at a swift lope, feet silent on the wood deck, net trailing in her spare hand. A feint here, to get the firewand wielder to recoil, grab Giriel, turn and throw her, bodily, across the deck, away from "Iselsi Shae", away from where Uusha and Cathak are facing down. The net afterwards is overkill, really, but she needs control of the situation, too many things are happening, and leaving an opening now is worth the order later.

Rolled an 8 on fight with grace: securing an ally's positioning (the Maid) and taking something from Zhaojun (my hostage now). Zhaojun gets to choose one as well.

TSL: The Excess of Flowers

Oh no, Azazuka. Please learn this, and learn this well. If you want to be good at what Piripiri's good at? You are a knife in somebody else's hands: you never get what you want.

"Lady Mars, Maiden of Iron, show your favor once more." A grunt as she slips out of the pin, levering herself up and over Azazuka, getting some much needed distance. "Free your devoted from this enchantment and let them face their true enemy, and spread the word of iron!"

A jabbing finger at Azazuka. "Marines! Remember your oaths! Detain her!"

Bury the guilt. One never gets what one wants, in this line of work. But this will end better for everyone for her having been here, and never mind the suffering of the few on the way, or the look on Azazuka's face as the first Marine dogpiled her.

Up to the main deck. There are enemies to face and problems to solve.

Squeak by Defying Disaster with Spirit, with a 7+1. The sacrifice is making Azazuka upset with her.

Hard Wired Island: The Future is a Foreign Country

The front door opens inward. Remember this, it's important later.

Elodie glides about the room quietly, gloves on as she looks over the wreckage. Clearly somebody's tossed the place, possibly tossing the place as she looks. They're sloppy though, if the programming books weren't looked through: a hollow book is so classic, it was overdone in movies a century ago. It's exactly the kind of thing a desperate nerd would resort to. She does pay special attention to the light switches, the door plates and the air ducts, the light fixtures. If those are getting looked over, whoever's here actually has training in finding slicks.

She does not pay attention to the graduation picture. She is pointedly ignoring the graduation picture.

As for what they're after, that seems obvious. Smart TVs are standard now, it could have a SSHD. The tower would have one (they took the whole thing instead of just the hard drive, but that could be paranoia or it could be inexperience), so that's gone. The bedroom's dark, the bathroom's shut, the kitchen is an unknown. Choices, choices.

Looking over her options, her gaze drifts across the picture and the rage at the core of her, that this isn't right, flares. A quick dip into the junk drawer that's been tossed out onto the living room floor and she's got a hammer and a nail. put it just above the door knot, into the side of the door, and

TAP

TAP

TAP

resonates through the apartment. All burglars in the apartment are now stuck in the apartment, and the woman with the hammer has the only out. Cage match, round one, bell dings.

Fail the stealth roll, make the other two (the higher threshhold for the third one). 5, 9, 9 respectively.