Chapter 2

[thenine]

Who: OTA
Where: Quad
When: Week 2, Day 5 - Week 4, Day 6
Summary: Chapter 2 prompts!
Restrictions/Warnings: Violence, blood, et cetera. For anything surpassing 'R' on a rating scale, please create your own log.
Notes: Please title your subject line in the following format -- Open / Closed | Date. OOC event information can be found here.

Quick Navigation
The Nine
The Company
Westies
True Leithians
Leith
Resistance
The RAC

The Nine: Poisoned Well

With the heir delivered and Lady Derrish returning to health, balance has been maintained amongst the Nine. Swift and efficient - and, some would say, unbelievable - medical attention administered may have steadied the Lady's life, but for those in the ruling houses, the atmosphere of tenuous peace only grows thicker. Land Kendry has launched an investigation - with particular focus on Land Hyponia - into the source of the 'attack' on Lady Derrish's health. Of course, that is only the surface, and some suggest, with hushed voices, that there may be more to Land Kendry's goals than to weed out an assailant. Land Hyponia has long since been in support of maintaining the Seventh Generation Accords, which it defends staunchly against any opposition. One of the most agitated among those in disagreement with the Accords is Land Kendry. Now is the perfect opportunity for them to rearrange the pieces in their favor, and with the information they've fabricated, they'll be able to replace the head of Land Hyponia with someone who is - at least hopefully - more pliable to their agenda. The Derrish have their own suspicions, the cure surfacing all too conveniently timed to have been a coincidence. When Land Kendry's investigation procures evidence pointing to Land Hyponia as the culprits, inflaming the crime with implied - yet vague - ties to the resistance, the Derrish publically accept the accusation. Behind closed doors, the solution seemed to have come as uncannily easily as the cure, and suspicions only rise. But for now, the two houses remain allied - ready to use one another for their own interests. For those among the nobility, it's the time to reevaluate alliances, assuring the old and gathering the new. The more support you have, the safer you are - unless, of course, you chose the wrong friend. Some turn to other members of the nobility, some to the RAC for hired guards, some to the Company to mandate investigations unsuitable for Killjoys, and some may even turn to the underbelly of society to accomplish anything necessary to stay on top. Or to simply stay alive.

The Company: Cleaning House

There will be no accolades, and no rest, for the hard working Company officials following the response to the True Leithan attacks. Assignments shift from one thing to the next, moving from bureaucratic nightmare to bureaucratic nightmare. While there’s always busy work to distract from the intrigue behind the scenes, it’s not liable to be any safer. Some officials will be charged with maintaining peace and order on Leith, as the outbreak of a pandemic slowly spreads over the moon. From helping the afflicted find their way to a place of treatment, to safe and efficient body disposal—burning corpses by the hundreds—to attempting to track down the source of the virus, it's best anyone assigned here take heed ‘lest they find themselves falling ill as well. Westerley, on the other hand, is a different kind of headache. With Harvest Week in swing, most company officials will be reaching for a drink of their own at the end of their shifts. Rowdy workers celebrating their time off, spending their hard earned Joy frivolously, and citizens whisked away by the atmosphere of celebration all mingle throughout Old Town. Property damage, fighting, less than subtle illegal activity, and crowding all become more of an issue than they usually are during this time. It's the perfect setting to lay down the law, or to not be noticed by it. On top of it all, each and every member of the Company's workforce can expect to have their documents double and triple-checked. Those with any suspected ties to Leith are likely to undergo a more serious investigation. One-on-one interrogations become common practice, and whether you're trusted or suspect, you may come face to face with a companion in your duties. True Leithan sympathizers are what the Company review is after, but anything else unturned will surely not be ignored. Cover your bases.

Westies: Harvest Week

Harvest week is in full swing throughout Westerley - visa workers have been shuttled back in droves from their time on Leithian farms, many of whom were willing to take some of their observations to information brokers for a price. Most had superficial information to sell (the state of unease on the average farm due to the impending Accords, the increased suspicion that the migrant workers were forced to endure, the fear of retaliation by the rebellion for the True Leithian attacks), others with reports of increased security and weapons caches on the farms of those whose sympathies lie with the “heroes” of the attack in Old Town. Old Town, however, is even more of a chaotic mesh of humanity with the mass influx of returning bodies. Bars stay busy day and night, the hokk and ale flow almost faster than most can keep up, and many Enforcers and Killjoys alike can make a good bit of extra joy (or free drinks) by moonlighting as security at the more popular locations. Despite all of the fun to be had, there is still the undercurrent of unrest, because Company checks have increased even more and Intake has become a revolving door of petty criminals being held for the smallest infractions. Everyone is on edge as the Resistance grumbles and the Nine search the shadows for something or perhaps someone. The unrest only worsens once Leith is placed under quarantine. And through it all, criminal activity is on the rise. Somehow, despite the strict regulation and transport of migrant workers, there is an increased access to Jakk and Bliss. Norn has an ever growing market, and weapons dealers are in high demand both in Eulogy and by private buyers alike. Something is brewing beneath the revelry, and no one wants to be caught unable to defend themselves, it seems. Not that any amount of firepower can defend against disease when P43X shows up on W3D7--but it can certainly make the symptoms worse.

True Leithians: Second Stage

Wounded and pressed to a corner, the beast rears its head and bares a maw of teeth and ruthless pursuit. The True Leithian organization does not take pause to mend wounds left in the wake of last week’s retaliation, no. They do not seek the comfort of safe haven and recovery. Instead they turn their anger and fear inward, sacrificing their own for what they believe to be the greater good. On Week 2, Day 6, three individuals slip into the crowds of Leith, mingling with the revelers and the families celebrating Harvest Week. They share smiles and laughter, they share conversation and drinks, but most importantly, they share infection. Each of the three is responsible for disseminating P43X, a viral bioweapon designed by Zan Nikora on behalf of the military in years past. During its conception, the aim of P43X was simple: to create a weapon which could demoralize and destabilize an entire population within a matter of days. To create madness that builds in the blood and eats into the brain, spreading through every tier of society. And though its use has long been out of commission, its engineer has lingered. Zan Nikora, kidnapped and held under threat of death not to himself but to those he holds dearest, is made to choose between the lives of his family on Westerley or the strangers on Leith. His choice is obvious, though far from easy. Reassembling the buried curse takes time, supplies, and testing. He is provided amply with the last two but scarcely with the first. But still he complies. When his madness maker is complete and his existence becomes a potential loose end, it’s not freedom that Zan Nikora tastes, but the poison of his own medicine. Only once the voices in his head have risen above whispers and turned to screams, when his mind can no longer hold secrets worth sharing, does he see his family again. It takes six days*. Six days and Zan Nikora stumbles through Old Town, eyes unseeing, mind riddled with disease—infection spreading. Mod Note: *W3D6. Cure and vaccines will be developed and disseminated beginning on W4D3, but will not be fully administered to all locations until W4D5.

Leith: Pocket Posies

Harvest Week in Leith marks a period of joy and relief. Bazaars are open longer, the ordinary bustle of the business day replaced with celebration and festivities throughout the evening hours. Vendors offer games for adults and children alike, the sky is a constant wash of soft pinks, purples, and greens from holographic firework shows, and music fills the air from different stages. All walks of life are welcome to join in the merriment, just so long as they have the right to be there. Anyone suspected of an invalid visa or citizenship papers are dealt with harshly, but quietly. Tucked away into the darkness of a holding cell like all of Leith’s more problematic elements. It is a time of peace and relief, this week, and they will not abide disruption. But within the hallowed days of celebration, a sickness grows, incubating. Spreading. First, it begins with an ache deep within the muscles. The body tires too quickly, the flesh burns with a blanket of rising fever. Whispers skirt at the edge of hearing, unintelligible but audible, filling the audio cortex with illusions and lies. Food loses its appeal, though the body yearns dearly for energy it cannot hold, and breathing becomes tighter, harder. Next the tide of high fevers, of lethargy. The brain devolves into paranoia and mania, the mind races with delusions and hallucinations. Pain follows, a pain that seems to emanate from every nerve without relief or pause, seeping through the muscles and aching within the very bones of a person. Some may wish for death, and for many, that wish will be granted in an unending sleep when the fatigue pulls darkness across the mind, plunges the last thoughts of a person into static slumber. But not all will succumb so readily, and therein is the weakness that ultimately shelved P43X during its initial creation. Its impacts are not uniform—while much of the population suffers dearly, most are sustained with timely medical interventions, and many others recover with the prowess of their own immune system. For Leith, bountiful in money and supplies, most of P43X’s more fatal properties are circumvented or delayed. But even in this lush world of affluence and peace, there are the poor, the underprivileged, and the weak. They are not afforded the same haste of care, the same salvation. Instead, they’re given graves of sanitizing fires, and their bodies turn to ash.

Resistance: Sleeping Dogs

The chaos of the festivities that go along with Harvest Week provides the perfect cover for the Resistance to begin moving once again. New cells need to be formed in the wake of so many executions and new members need to be recruited. Info brokers with Resistance-leaning sympathies have an opportunity to make a little extra joy by putting the disconnected sympathizers in contact with one another, aiding the vetting of Company insiders that need new handlers within the organization. For Resistance members already embedded within, they need to work now to find new locations to store what supplies remain and to begin rebuilding the stockpiles of weapons and supplies re-confiscated by the Company. Some may have heard of abandoned mines or facilities that can be retrofitted out in the Badlands while others are needed to track down rumors of Company made fallout shelters located within the under-city tunnels. For this, Company moles are essential - the only hope of accessing these shelters is with long forgotten Company passcodes. And the Scarbacks, well. Everyone’s heard rumors that there are many within their ranks willing to help with recruitment and contraband transportation, though there’s little the Company can do to restrict their movements at this time. Because of this, Scarbacks may also be the only ones that have a chance of getting into Leith once the quarantines go into effect. Those already aligned with the rebellion will be tasked with coordinating supply movements, making a deal or three with the devil on behalf of those unwilling to back down from the promises of the Accords. Caution and purpose should drive their movements because if the True Leithian attack is any indication… those nationalists are not going to let go of their precious land and status without a long, bloody fight.

The RAC: Holding Pattern

Warrants still flow in with a regular consistency - enough to keep the average team or agent quite busy. Every harvest season there are visa jumpers that need to be caught and low-level warrants claiming petty theft from farms by Westie migrants. The increasing number of disturbances and crimes in Old Town guarantee a plethora of local warrants to capture criminals across the moon or those that managed to escape an Enforcer’s arrest. Some, however, have either been requested by Seyah Kendry herself or volentold by their seniors within the RAC to conduct investigations into the attack on the Nine. And not all of these investigations are on the Lady’s behest. Some of the Nine aren’t quite willing to take Land Kendry’s word as law and have quietly requested their own investigations into the attack in Old Town and the Land Derrish misfortunes. (MOD NOTE: There will be a comment thread for teams to sign up for the specialized plot related warrants on the monthly warrant post, located HERE. Once teams have posted for a plot warrant, the mods will give them a location and focused assignment.)

Comments

"linda lang."

[tirejacked]

[As expected, the eventual spread of sickness throughout Westerley and the ensuing lockdown have only served to foster some more-than-typical amounts of chaos in the populace. Not just because of the sick—the delusional and paranoid sufferers with more weapons than sanity. As always, there's the opportunists, the bottom feeders who have no problem stepping over the weak to come out on top.

So as the days tick on, the noise that cracks through the air is one that has become increasingly familiar. Broken glass. Blaring car alarms. Jason knows this neck of the woods pretty well, tracking down the source doesn't take long at all. Soon enough, he's ducking around a corner toward the familiar shape of Linda's garage. One of the windows on the upper floor is broken in, glass scattered on the ground nearby. With no immediate sign of who or what might be responsible.

Pausing outside, he stops to get the lay of the land. If this is a breaking and entering, wouldn't hurt to keep some element of surprise rather than clue the intruder in, allow them the time to bolt, or fight, or take a convenient hostage. If Linda's lucky, she's not even home for the excitement.

Or he could mind his own business. (Hah.) He decides to let himself in, instead. Rather than bother with the door, he swings himself up onto the second floor to duck through the broken window above the shop.

Anyone home?]

[crisised]

[ there is indeed someone home, and said someone doesn't seem to have noticed the brick that was tossed through her window.

linda sits at her workbench, soldering iron in hand and project in front of her. music blares from somewhere else in her living space. but unlike usual, she's not hunched over her project, tongue poking out of the corner of her mouth in concentration. no, her tools are held loosely in her hands--and are thankfully powered down--and she stares off into space, seemingly unaware of her surroundings. there's a faint sheen of sweat on her skin. it sticks her hair to her forehead and leaves her looking rather uncomfortable.

after a moment, linda shudders and shuts her eyes. the soldering iron drops to the tabletop as she curls in on herself and presses her hands over her ears. ]

Stop it. [ her knees draw up to her chest as she quietly talks to herself. ] It's not real. You just... need a nap. Or something. Shit.

[tirejacked]

[If she's not going to notice a brick crashing through her window, she's sure not going to notice Jason climbing through it, mindful of the shattered edges of the glass and the amount of noise he's making. He's quiet, pausing to stall midway into the room when he catches sight of her folded up and muttering, the brick sitting alone and guilty on the floorboards in front of him.

So: looks less like foul play and more like vandalism, but this little picture does lead to more problems. Sickness is in full swing in the city. He's seen enough of it by now to put the puzzle pieces together here to their own ominous conclusion. It isn't hard.

He could leave. She probably wouldn't even notice. Instead, he eases his boots onto deck and starts closing the distance slowly, one foot in front of the other.]

Hey, Lin. [Before he can get too close, to give her a little early warning. Pitched low, but deliberately casual.] I know I'm a little early for my 4 o'clock, but you know how much trouble that stabilizer's been giving me—

[crisised]

[ jason's voice registers about halfway through his sentence, and it startles the hell out of linda. she yelps, something that sounds like surprised gibberish falling from her mouth as she grabs the nearest thing--a small piece of scrap metal--and throws it in his direction as she whirls around.

of course, it's not until after the thing is flying through the air that she recognizes who it is that's bothering her. because that is just her luck.

linda makes a noise not unlike a very high-pitched meep and stares. ] Oh my god. [ she totally just threw something sharp at his head. ] Oh, god, I'm so sorry. I just--

[ was hearing things. is still hearing things, if the way she frowns off to the side for a moment is any indication. ]

I'm a little tired and was spacing out. What did you need?

[tirejacked]

[Woah, okay. He probably deserves that. Given his cautious approach (there's been a lot of paranoid, violent people hanging around the city lately,) he's not expecting it, but he is ready for it. His reflexes kick in and dodges, sidestepping the shrapnel before it can get to be too close a shave, hands up in mock-surrender.

Helpfully—]

Wow.

[There is no 4 o'clock, Kara, he just crawled through your broken-ass window and you're asking him what he needs. On the upside, she's lucid enough to recognize him, so that's a pretty good sign. Once he's sure she's not going to chuck anything else at him, he stoops to pick the window-breaking brick up off her floorboards for further consideration. Pulling back upright while she gets her bearings back—]

Nice arm. Remind me to knock next time, I'm kind of attached to my pretty face.

[crisised]

It is a real nice face.

[ she slumps back in her chair as she says it, eyes closing as she tries to blow her hair out of her face. it's not something she'd normally say--not until she's sure how jason would react to her awkward joking around--but linda is kind of sort of missing her filter currently. ]

But, really-- [ her eyes open and she looks back at him. ] Why are you here? And why is my window broken?

[tirejacked]

[He likes to think so, thank you for noticing. He shelves the topic, though, in favor of pursuing her rather reasonable stack of questions, since he's got a few of his own to follow up.]

Well, I'm out a mechanic if someone decides to wreck the place. [Or, y'know. If someone decided to kill her and leave her there for her next appointment to find. Potayto, potahto.] Lucky for me, I was in the neighborhood.

[And lucky for her, he's nosy. He hefts the brick in hand.]

The window is just physics. Judging by the draft in here it's been that way for a while. I was hoping you'd have a better idea of the whos and whys.

[He sets the brick down at the edge of her worktable, attention a little more sharp on her slump. Getting to the point—]

Not really the subtlest of approaches. You didn't hear it?

[crisised]

No... [ and that--well. that is really very worrying. ] How could I have missed that?

[ linda leans forward and brushes her fingertips against the brick. at first she through she was just under the weather. not enough sleep and too much time spent out at night, you know? now she's not so sure. ]

I can't give you any whos or whys. I keep my head down mostly. Try to stay out of the business of people who would send this-- [ she gestures to her window ] Kind of message without a second thought. [ that's kind of a lie. she's been known to break up fights when she sees them. she's had client bring her things that aren't exactly legal. but she's careful.

with a tired sigh, she leans back in her chair again. ]

Unless someone's pissed about someone I've fixed stuff for, I've got no idea why this happened. Or why I didn't notice it.

[tirejacked]

[He watches her carefully, quirking a brow at keeping her head down like he doesn't quite believe it. But that's not really the point this time around. Brick-through-window is a small mystery on Westerley. The rest, though.

Incisively—]

Had any customers who came through from Leith in the last few days?