A Gentle Network

A PSYCHIC FEELING THAT TOUCHES ALL OF DRAEGA
[At sundown, twin blasts of Opal and Rose slam through a wall in the Queen's Residence. Those living in the Residence and those nearby hear cries of alarm. Smoke is visible above the buildings throughout the city. Everyone in the city feels a sudden, sharp punch of power: one of the Blood shooting downward into the abyss with startling ferocity.

Moments later, three ripples of power expand outward from the Queen's Residence. One is shallow and superficial. The Blood recognize it as a blast of power just above the level of the White; the landens feel it only as a vague sense of unease.

The second comes at the level of the Rose, and the final at the Opal.

Shortly after, those who reside in the Old Town Bazaar begin to hear a haunting dirge. A woman's voice, sad and full of mourning, fills the still air. Night darkens the city, and the song spreads with it. From Old Town to the Guild Halls, up into River North and the slums, and from there to River East. The melody echoes through the docks, curling around warehouses and ships and reverberating strangely over the water.

Long into the early hours of the morning, the echoes of the song linger.]

A PSYCHIC LINK, FAYURA TO THE STRANGERS
[The quiet, psychic contact comes with the dawn. For those who have felt Fayura's psychic presence before, this touch feels much more distant. For those who haven't, she brushes against your mind with great caution and respect as though knocking softly at a door for fear of causing a disturbance. When she speaks, her mental voice has a hollow, tiny tone, much like that of an old telephone call for those who understand the analogy.

She is tired. She sounds tired. Grief makes her voice rough.]

Thank you. For finding the coven, I thank you.

The witches Amanita Nissa, Harrin, and Little Blue are dead. They have become whispers in the darkness. This is no easy thing. I know many of you will be displeased to hear they have been executed, but this is our way. Shattering the mind of a young Queen—of anyone who wears a Jewel… there is no greater crime.

The streets are safer without them.

Specific thanks to Guts, Daylight, and Mordred, who were each responsible for bringing in one of these witches.

THE MORNING NEWS
[Garret and Wilt are the perpetual news anchors. Their broadcast begins when most people are sitting down to breakfast or have just come in from morning chores on the farm.

Garret:] An official announcement from the Queen of Hayll confirms the executions of the Black Widows Amanita Nissa, Harrin, and Little Blue early this morning. Per the announcement and in accordance with ancient tradition, their Jewels have been shattered and their minds… burned out?

[Wilt, speaking slowly for once:] This is, of course, in reference to the old mythology that the Blood can become demon-dead. The body dies but the mind lives on, resulting in a kind of undeath driven by the power of the Jewels.

[Garret, cringing:] The Queen has declared that she will hold court between the hours of six and nine at night to accommodate those whose work hours are less flexible should anyone wish to inquire after the decision to execute these three witches.

[Might be bad timing, but Rhus reaches out to as many Strangers as he can after the daily morning exercises held by Allairavar are over, before the meager breakfast offerings.]

I've been workin' on growth formulas to speed along plant growth, but for a stronger one I need somethin' that cant be available here. That means I've an adventure to undertake, an' I need three companions to come with me. [Forgive him, he prefers making his delivery of the facts concise-- perhaps too concise, sometimes.] I'm off to the wilds of Adh Rikair down south to get to the plants there, an' the librarians tell me it weren't easy. On foot it takes too long, but there's a way to quickly travel. The darker your Jewel, the faster an' safer the psychic highways will be, I'm told.

But the wilds are full of dangerous people, hence they insisted I have companions to help out-- aside from you helpin' me transport back the plants I need to work with. The Winds are darker'n Red, an' I should be safe as a Sapphire. I don' know what these Winds are truly, or how they operate, but if you're close to my colour or darker, an' you've no issue with combat if it becomes necessary, mayhap you could come with.

[A pause before he starts up again. He almost forgot.]

An' whoever else who don't come can still help out-- I've some plants already dosed with weaker formulas. They need tendin' an' close examinations while I'm away.

[ooc: plotting can happen in my ooc post too!]

[It's early evening and the video shows Jonathan's room, the heavy curtains blocking out the waning daylight and the room lit by a single light. He's seated at a desk, papers spread out before him but clearly his attention isn't on them. Jonathan himself looks markedly better since the last time people may have seen him; there's colour in his skin and while he still looks slightly starved, there's nothing of the hungry expression in his eyes.]

The Lady Fayura and her court have been particularly helpful but have also made certain... factors clear to me. So I feel honesty is the best policy here. Rational thought and decision only.

[He settles forward to rest his weight on his elbows, pale blue eyes fixed on the far-caster.]

I am not human. As unbelievable as it may seem, after I returned to London following the war I was attacked, murdered, and reborn as what I am now. A creature of death and blood that must survive on the living.

[He says it so calmly, matter-of-fact in his delivery.]

I try not to feed on humans but it has been made clear to me that this will no longer work, and animals are not enough to survive on. My hunger cannot be so easily ignored here despite my efforts so I am asking a... favour, a show of trust, if any would be willing to make it.

[The gentle brush against the Strangers' minds comes in early evening. It is, as all mental touches are from Fayura, soft and unassuming, much like a polite knock at a door. Once as many minds are connected as she thinks will open the door to her, she speaks.]

I am curious, Strangers, what you would do with the young man who shot and killed Councilwoman Vera.

Many of you come from worlds where there are laws against murder. While we have no such laws here, when a Blood male in a Queen's Territory kills another without cause, she may demand a price from him. Sometimes, that is his own life if he was negligent enough with his temper and sometimes, it's something less.

My trouble is this: if I execute him according to the laws of the Blood, of which he is not one, the Guilds will rouse their people into a furor and attack not only me, but the people of Draega. If I turn him over to the Ebon Council, the Guilds will do much the same, and that will incite the Council to strike back. And if I return him to the Guilds for accolades instead of punishment for taking a life, the Ebon Council will have cause to rip apart the Guilds and anyone in their way to extract from him the price for murdering one of their own.

Were you me, what course would you take? And please try not to shout over each other; this is as many of you as I could reach.

Hello, everyone. I’m Zita.

[ the woman on the screen smiles at the direction of the far caster, giving a polite wave before she returns to the task of packing up some things for the day.

judging by her surroundings as packs her things while she speaks towards the far caster, it seems that she’s taken residence in, well, the queen’s residence. ]

I hope this isn’t presumptuous of me to ask on this but— I’m hoping to offer my healing services to those here in the Queen's Residence or around the city for free.

However I’ve been informed that it’ll be in my best interest if I had an escort with me when I do this. If anyone is willing to keep me company, I would be grateful for it and be willing to pay you back somehow. You're all welcome to seek me for healing too, of course.

[ she pauses. as if considering something.

usually, she would end her message here and refocus her attention on the next task at hand - in this case, her packing for her when she heads out - but... ]

If you’re not interested in that, you’re welcome to also make use of my fortune telling services instead. Payment for this will be required but I promise the price for it is reasonable enough. I only ask for a story.

And that's it. Thank you for taking the time to hear me speak.

[ added ooc note;; for those who would like to thread out their and zita's time out in the city for the free healing services, i now have a log post with that activity as one of the top-levels! feel free to hit it up if you're interested. ]

[Peter looks...high up in his far-caster video. God knows where he is in the city right now, but it's definitely not at ground level.]

[He's still not sure about how he's decided to deal with his secret identity here. It feels like he's playing a dangerous game allowing people to see him without the mask, and just hiding his name, but with such a small group, it'd be exhausting trying to keep the identities apart. If he was just a guy hiding himself in a big city, it'd be one thing, but it's the other Strangers he has to work with. It's not a big team.]

[So he shows his face and if a few people connect his voice to that weird guy in the spider jim-jams he's not going to deny it. Bare minimum, they're probably going to notice that said face was nowhere to be seen anywhere during the fires.]

Anybody else notice how some places in the city are exuding an aura of bloodshed and pure evil? Just me? It might just be me. I don't know how many of you have gotten close to some of them.

[In his aerial exploration of the city, he'd passed over or past a few areas that had just...felt bad. He'd made sure not to land on the roofs or linger long; who knew what security they had.]

Food's not the worst, I've noticed. [He bites into a Frankenstein approximation of a hot dog and keeps talking with his mouth full.] There was a sausage vendor in the bazaar that makes some decent brats. A few people watched me combine one with a roll, some ketchup-like stuff, and some relish - think I blew a few minds. If pizza doesn't exist here, I'm going to see if I can talk someone into inventing that next.

[Just casually reporting on the food, because clearly that's important.]

[He segues into what's actually important without much of a segue at all.]

I also don't know how many people heard, but two of the queen's guys were talking, loudly, after the fire. Yada yada Queen was hurt - maybe bringing us in - blah blah she might have lied about eventually sending us home. We should maybe talk about that? And the fact that we're strangers here - hence our nifty little built-in magical superteam name that none of us actually agreed to.

As we all know, this world is a garbage fire [he feels secure in calling it such, being one himself] and the city occasionally is on normal fire, and that means even the people that want to fix it like the Queen might be willing to completely screw us to do it. So instead of being reactive, we need to be proactive.

[He looks like he feels a little stupid pulling a "go teamwork," and that's because short of the other spiders he's never actually had many other superheroes to do any teamwork with.]

We have to try to help this place in whatever way's best for everyone but we're going to have different people pushing their own agendas. So we need to cooperate. Pump as many sides for intel as we can, share information, and try to get a spin-free picture of everything that's happening. And also watch out for our own butts, because nobody else is going to. [He gestures with the hot dog.] We should maybe be low-key about it. It's more useful to us if everyone else thinks we're an uncoordinated and easily-manipulateable group of stooges that can be nudged around the board. Element of surprise and all.

[It probably doesn't sound that illogical but the man it's coming from doesn't really seem like someone who knows what he's doing. Starting off with a report on the food options, getting relish on your shirt, and not noticing the ketchup at the corner of your mouth tends to damage your credibility when public speaking to a group.]

I'm Ben, by the way. Ben Reilly.

[ooc: set after the fire and the tdm, but before Fayura's open.]