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The Iron Master Tribe had made public the information about the corrupted Locus—or, more literally, the Locus whose Resonance was Corruption—buried in the heart of City Hall, but little waves of chatter rippled through the Gauntlet, across the Hisil, leaking through to this world, at least for those that could hear and understand, who were part of the giant game of ephemeral telephone.
And on those little waves of occasionally unintelligible and often riddle-laced chatter, some kind of indication that something was expected to happen to the Locus.
There's no tremendous activity, at least nothing obvious: people are walking in groups and socializing, tourists are taking photos, workers are eating in the cafe across the street from the massive marblework that welcomes people to City Hall, but there was nothing particular afoot just that moment, there, at the corner of Market and Juniper Street.
Except for the spirits. Ugly, twisted, nasty little devils that pingponged around like blind gnats, vibrating with a rising frequency.
She was no Ithaeur, but there was no denying the little locus had an affinity for spirits and that side of her nature. City hall wasn't exactly her sort of place, and she'd definitely taken a lyft so she didn't have to worry about parking, but here she was, the spirit world achatter and if it wasn't for the twisted spirits that flitted this way and that, it would be a rather unnotable sort of day. But corruption was the sort of resonance that left a mark, and as fitting as it might be to a place like this, it wasn't a spiritual energy she was keen on leaving unchecked if she could help. So the blooded made her way in and about.
A person jumps out of a rideshare car with their phone pressed tight to their cheek, another device clutched in their hand, and they make their way alongside the wide arch, hurrying as if late for an appointment.
A few more minutes pass, and then another person chains their bike nearby, and jogs in the same direction. Then two more. It looks like there's about to be some kind of press conference, because by the eager disposition, the equipment, and the clothes, these people are certainly press.
Jano is nigh-constant communion with spirits and their courts—less so conversant and more so just...watching the flow of patterns...which led him to City Hall today. It is a place he is familiar enough with, due to his role in advocacy, and when he notices the signs of gathering press he decides that is as good enough a place as any to begin investigating the Shadow-influenced events.
Jolene wasn't dressed like press, her rather limited wardrobe usually meant jeans, a blouse, and a black leather jacket that was too big for her. Her wild blond curls were like a mane about her face, and her too bright piercing eyes, even in the harsh lighting of this place, still had an inhuman sea green color, and a bright gleaming glow to them that belonged to jewels, not girls. Still she saw the growing signs of people coming together and began to make her way after them curiously.
Aides from City Hall start appearing with a table, a podium. It seems whatever is going to happen is about to happen. Like wobbling, floating balls of charred flesh, the corruption spirits bobble up and down in excitement in the Twilight state, as the press corps of the Material starts to assemble for what is clearly an unscheduled press conference. The spirits slap against the artifice of the marble walls and ooze down its sides, glutted and gorged on Essence that radiates in their preferred flavor: corruption.
Salome appears at the scene, just a few moments later: Leather jacket, jeans and running shoes as she approaches the situation with a keen attention, clearly there was some kind of warning of what to expect. She has a collar around her neck too.
Jano is not necessarily dressed for business, but he does dress well. Today he is wearing black boots and charcoal slacks with a black turtleneck and a black wide brimmed, and beaded hat. But he is not here to blend in. He wouldn’t be able to anyway. He approaches the area where the active spirits can be seen and investigates them more closely—his focused attention making it likely that he might not notice others here he normally would.
Normally she managed to keep her balance in public places, to not get distracted by the twilight, but the Blooded was struggling today as she saw the oozing creep, and putrid bubbles. It was among her glancing at them that she spotted Salome, a familiar face, and instinctively started to maneuver her way towards the woman.
Salome stares at the disgusting spiritual beings not so far from her and looks around, curious, trying to see if she's the only one around. The moment she notices Jolene, she heads toward her rapidly, then tries to grabs Jano's attention as well. "We need unspoiled meat or medical equipment we can fight with to deal with 'em." she whispers, covering her mouth so no one can read her lips.
The little throng of press starts to thicken, and then a few people with signs start to appear. They say things like NO MORE RAFFERTY and RAFFERTY FOR PRISON. The people holding the signs have agitated looks on their faces, and that agitation only seems to send a nearby hoard of those charred flesh spirits into a raucous, coughing tittering most closely understood as laughter.
Several people in suits file out of a nearby building, and one of them takes the podium while an aide attaches a microphone to his lapel, and the press corps starts chattering questions. "Will you be taking office effective immediately?" "What happened to Comptroller Mabey? Is it true she was in an accident? Is there any update on her condition?" "How will this affect 2021's budget?" They all start to yammer at once.
Jano only notices Salome at all because she made a point of getting his attention. He shifts his gaze away from the Hisil and his pupils slowly shift back to their normal size, but he appears somewhat foggy as he stares at her in silence for a moment. Only eventually does he seem to refocus enough to take in their surroundings and jerks his thumb toward the two stores, “A not insignificant part of me feels we will not find the quality needed there, but it’s an option.” He does not move to the stores though. Instead he circles around Salome slowly, briefly eyeing Jolene, before settling in a place where he can watch her back. He shifts balance from heel to heel, as if ready to jump into action.
It took her a moment to realize why she was covering her mouth she started to respond but it seemed like the action was starting, and she half turned from Salome to watch the bubbling, coughing, amusement. "They're...happy.." It made her stomach turn. She looked up as Jano joined them, her eyes flick to Salome, to realize he was who she was was motioning over, and visibly settled down. "...maybe a tuna sandwich at the 7-11?" Tentatively, as she looked between the two of them.
"He's the source of the problems, as far as i've been able to tell. I've been trying to gather dirt on the guy and so did the rest of the watchdogs. the iron dudes are on it too." she mumbles. "We need to buy meat for food. and I don't really have money to do it, so if either one of you got it, I can try to drag them away from it. Buy more than a little if you can."
“Trying or succeeding,?” Jano asks brusquely, though not necessarily with judgment. He glances again at Jolene and shakes his head wordlessly—whether that means he doesn’t have money or won’t give it to her is not clear. “If he is going to lake a statement now I am going to need to get closer.” Then, finally speaking to Jolene, he says, “Watch her back.” And with that he pushes his way closer, using his sheer force of presence and severe expression to move people out of the way.
More signs start to litter the field of bodies that form. Some of them aren't even related to Rafferty, but more just reflect the discontent towards Philadelphia's political underbelly. WHERE'S CEDRIC? and CEDRIC FAILED US and NO JUSTICE NO PEACE and ACAB.
The man with a gigawatt, plastic smile and perfectly styled, jet black hair with slivers of grey above the ears and temples stands at the podium like a natural, and like he doesn't even see the signs, or hear the questions. He seems to react to a crowd in his imagination, smiling and flashing a thumbs-up, saying words like 'thank you' to whoever.
The spirits practically thrum with the frequency. Wisps of Essence that appear mottled and foul rise from the area, and larger spirits start to arrive, buzzing around the artifice of City Hall, amorphous or spindly or dark or a blighted shade of dull red, oozing little acidic puddles that sizzle in their wake. They are feeding.
The man starts to speak.
"This is news no one expects. Comptroller Mabey has had a sudden health event, and it weighs heavy in my heart to confirm that she has been admitted to Pennsylvania Hospital as of this morning. Her exact status is not clear to us right now, and it does appear to be the result of a previously undiagnosed condition. That is all that I know right now, and her family is asking that everyone please respect their privacy at this time." He says the words; he even sells them. He touches his hand to his chest at all the right times, his thick eyebrows droop artfully in a trained puppydog sadness, he draws out the words and lowers his voice.
Beautiful work.
"That being the case, I will be assuming the role of Interim City Comptroller, effective immediately. There are no planned fiduciary changes, and I will be doing my level best to run the city's budgeting offices just as Comptroller Mabey would, and as she will when she recovers."
The spirits love it.
"I have money..." She offered to Salome, looking to her and Jano for direction, which she receives! In the form of being told to watch Salome's back, which she appears to take seriously, moving next to Salome, and upping her vigilance to the happenings around them. OF course this would be one of the days she didn't bring her first aid kit....as the larger spirits starting to make an appearance, her lips pulled into a tight line. She could feel her skin crawl, both at the politician, and the bloated spirits fondness for him, which only made it all the more slimey.
"We found stuff." She replies quickly toward Jano, confused by the action the other wolf is taking, then looks to Jolene as she comes closer. "Think you could spend some for a bunch of sandwich meat over there? We need to hurry and get something done about these, no way we can fight them, but I could draw them away before they start causing trouble." All spoken softly, discreetly, but with increased urgency.
The spirits and the Uratha will feel it at the same time. To the former, an ecstatic frequency; to the latter, a nauseating wave, the subtle urge to wretch as the Locus' strength, wherever it is in City Hall, grows.
Jano makes his way into the group of protestors—he starts chanting with them as he uses his force of will to make his way through the crowd, communicating solidarity but also self-importance. When he makes his way to the front he stops chanting and stands as close to the politician as he can, gazing into his eyes with a hell of death stare.
She nodded slowly "You got this? He told me to watch your back." She had no idea who he was, but clearly Salome did. Her twilight eyes flick around warily as the spirits grew more and more riled up, there was a part of her that desperately wanted the fresh air of a little trip in that moment.
"Yeah and I think Jano was asking me to do that for you, but I might have missed something there. Not much we can do without the stuff from the store." Salome comment with a nod, watching around to make sure none of them would sneak up on Jolene in particular
Reporters start jockeying to get questions in, shouldering against one another and against a few of the more forceful protestors, though it is, by and large, a more civil-than-disobedient assembly, at least for now. The crowd doesn't seem entirely pleased by the answers that Rafferty is giving to some of the reporters' questions.
"I'm afraid I don't have any other updates on Comtroller Mabey's condition at this time, no. No, there are no planned changes. Everything will be operating as it always has." Some heckling, some boos, more questions.
A row of aides stand off to the side, exchanging small-talk amongst themselves. One of them glances up, for no reason at all, right where a spirit hovers, and then keeps smiling at the lot of people.
"....that makes more sense." She admits offering up a wolfish grin to the woman, but nods. "I'll be back in a couple minutes." and she'd spin to head off to seven eleven for all the sandwich meat, bandaids, and neosporin she could buy!
Still standing at the front and still staring Rafferty dead in the eyes, Jano lifts his fist in the air and begins to shout in his deep, commanding voice—he is not tall but he has a powerful bearing. With the forceful rhythm of a protest chant he shouts, “Your Corruption Will Be Cleansed,” on repeat, urging the crowd to follow the chant.
The people standing in Jano's immediate vicinity start to pick it up, a ring of those who are around him. It seems to draw a patronizing smirk from the aide who had glanced up to where the spirits were.
Another man in a sharp, tailored suit walks over to Rafferty as he turns away from the podium. He has the same plastic smile and the same relentlessly coiffed hair, and he holds out a palm to shake Rafferty's. Politics as usual.
As the two men share a few words between themselves, a truly massive Dihir glimmers into Twilight, superimposed like a nightmare, towering over City Hall. It's like a glob given agency and its long, gooey tentacles stick to the masonry of the buildings. It's got to be thirty feet across and as many high. There are eyes like rusty coins and a beak of some kind that opens in gasping half-breaths to reveal a cankerous maw.
She cleared the building, and then she saw it, and her stomach dropped, and for all that she'd always seen twilight, seeing That still made her flick and stumble a moment, and definitely served to quicken her pace, even as her head reeled with the fact she was feeling really fucking out of her depth. Still, into the store she went, swiping every bit of meat, and fire aid she could find into her arms, to the counter, and to check out, moving with purpose! .....later, much later, she'd recognize what a little weirdo she looked like.
It is not that Jano does not see the Dihir. In fact it is almost certain that he does, and it’s appearance might deter a different Uratha from his action, but it does not do so for him. Instead, with fist in the air and some of the crowd chanting “Your Corruption Will Be Cleansed,” with him his eyes remain dead set and focused on Rafferty as he calls the skies to bring the power of said cleansing.
Salome looks upward where the giant spirit showed up and she winces hard at the sight and then looking back down at the spirits now, eyebrow knitting together in worry and she takes a deep, deep breath and looks around for Jolene, she hurries to claim the meat as fast as she can do it, running toward her the moment she notice her returning.
At that moment, the Dihir exhales a ghastly cloud of corrosive gas, detectable only in Twilight, but the cloud of poison ghosts towards Rafferty and settles around him like a black fog.
Rafferty blinks a few times, eyes going distant and glassy. Then he smiles at the man whose hand he's shaking; it's someone from the Mayor's office, although not the Mayor themself. "You know, I think you and I should have a private word," he smiles broadly, and then he waves to the throng of people gathered, some of whom are still chanting as Jano had.
The reporters' voices rise in an eager crescendo to get in another question, but it's too late. An aide - the one who had looked, the one who had smirked - is de-mic'ing Rafferty. Another aide mumbles, "That will be all today," into the microphone once it's removed from the newly minted Interim City Comptroller, and the Dihir just fades right out of view, as effortlessly as it had faded in, wobbling and huffing with what can only be something that is truly wretched on such a creature: joy.
"This is bad." Understatement of the... let's say week. Look, 2021 isn't off to a good start okay.
...and she'd make her back with a bag of sandwich meat and first aid supplies from the 7-11, though there was that brief pause of walking towards the massive, foul Dihar, that every instinct her was not happy about, and it made her stomach flip as she headed back in with supplies!
Jano persists, even as Rafferrty turns to go. Some might be dismayed at having drawn so little response—but Jano is at home among the protesters and resilience is part of the play. He continues to chant his threats while calling down the sky.
Perhaps a bit emboldened by the chant, someone throws a water balloon at the back of Rafferty and his aides as they're walking back towards the building, which prompts some of the police to make a wall in between the throngs of protesters and journalists and passerby lookie-loos, as the partially-drenched politician and his ilk are ushered back inside.
The corruption spirits, their meal dispersing, also start to likewise plop out of Twilight, some retreating to their concealed states, and some scurrying off to some other part of the Locus' new, wider, grander purview.
"Keep the medical stuff and brandish it if they come near you, try to move away from them." Salome instruct rather rapidly as she stuff her leather jacket, sleeves and pockets with the sandwich meat and she slowly makes her way toward where the spirit are, even if they are dispersing, even if they are re-concealing themselves, she tries to approach a smaller cluster of the weaker ones, if there is such a thing.
Jolene nodded as the meat was handed off to Salome, more than fine with hanging onto the medical supplies in case any of the squicky spirits came too close to the wayward waystone.
Jano repositions himself when conflict with the police begins. He puts himself at the front of the group of protestors then, making sure to keep his brown body in view of any cameras. He lifts his head and fist high, shouting at the top of his lungs, “Your Corruption Will Be Cleansed!” At the same time the sky crackles loudly with the threat of thunder.
Charred flesh corruption spirits stick out grotesque tongues at the Uratha and uragarum, particularly when the rain starts to fall, though the Material water doesn't touch their ephemeral forms. Without anyone else to yell at, some of the protesters start to leave, too, though a few journalists are off to the side, with their voice recorders or their notepads or their video camera guy to interview some citizens on their take.
Her head snapped up at the thunder, and the call of Jano, bright eyes glittering as the rain started and it really took a bit of restraint not to taunt back to the spirits, fortunately a life time of the sight had taught her some situations were really better not to escalate. At this point she seemed content to watch the action, as rain cleansed and Salome, with meat stuffed pockets made her way to the spirits to...lure them away? She wasn't entirely sure of the plan, things having moved quickly with people she'd never worked with before.
Salome opens one of the pack of meat and just casually drops some slice onto the ground it near one of the smaller bunch, trying to lure some of the weaker spirits away from the building. If she could catch even one...
One of the little spirits seizes on the lunch meat like, well, like a raccoon with lunch meat, smothering it with its ephemeral presence until the organic matter goes rancid, decays to white tinged with green.
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