[open] try hard to do your best. the magpie will have his way

[mollymocked]

Who: Mollymauk and YOU
When: Early in the month.
Where: Various
What: Open influence catch-all. (Sharing is Caring, Visual Disturbances, Ore's a Plenty)
Warnings: Will update and label as they come in, but for right now none.




𝐢. 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠

[Molly sides with the oppressed and the people who aren't privileged, so the idea that his actions are tipping the scales irritates him. Of course, he's going to do something about it. The thing he's not anticipating is that the landens are emboldened and still looking to lash out, especially when pressed by a Stranger that they believed supported them. What Molly had gone into expecting to be a nice conversation has turned ugly as he bolts behind a cart while a landen shopkeeper pelts him with rotten food.

"HERE. SHARE THIS!"

Right. So this is going to require a different kind of tactic, especially now that it's become something of a scene.


𝐢𝐢. 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬

[Taking jobs outside of the city becomes something that Molly leaps onto without the slightest thought. Playing bodyguard isn't all that difficult, and while Lady Abigail works her magic, he's taken up a watch alongside his partner from a safe distance.]

Is it awful to take bets on what the coming danger is this time? I'm hoping for something unifying.


𝐢𝐢𝐢. 𝐨𝐫𝐞'𝐬 𝐚 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲

[Despite being irritated at the Guilds and the landens... Again, Molly wants to get out of the city and stretch his legs and work out some frustration free of the oppressive class wars. With Caleb here now, taking anyone else seems stupid and dangerous, but he didn't really get the choice. The second he agreed, the shopkeeper paired him off with someone else who was interested, regardless of whether or not they knew each other.

So that's fun.

Luckily, for all that Molly is ostentatious and fabulous, he's extremely well-traveled and knows what he's doing, which is fairly impressive and may save the mission some grief. As he and his partner get within a hundred feet of a campsite not far from the mountains themselves, with a campfire that's still smoldering slightly, Molly puts a hand up.]

Is it just me or does that seem a little bit like a trap?

Comments

[burn_with_us]

( Katniss is glad that some of the tension has eased, even if it's not perfectly wrapped up. This isn't what she's good at, people, and even with help she can muck it up on her own. Molly seems much better at it and the landen seem to be talking amongst themselves and trying to back down. )

It looks like they're at least listening to what we said - sort of. I don't have high hopes they'll take it to heart, though.

[mollymocked]

Why can't normal people behave more like a circus? Circuses work. Circuses function.

[He rolls his eyes.] Well, we've done what we can here. D'you wanna see if there's any other people we can make feel better about their lot in life? Since this seems to be what we're doing right now if we want to eat.

[burn_with_us]

We might as well. I'm not a negotiator and it doesn't seem like these people want to listen to us anyway.

( Katniss is frustrated but at least Molly seems to be on the same page as she is. To think, she'd thought the Guilds and the landen were more like her than the Blood. It seems like she'd been wrong. )

[mollymocked]

I love being technically Blood, but also technically an outsider. It makes butting into things so much fun. You could be a flawless negotiator and still get nowhere, and I'm... Well, I do my best. [Sarcasm is the name of the game here. He walks onward with a confident stride, albeit a huffy one.] It's just madness around here.

[burn_with_us]

It's absolutely madness. I thought my world was insane but it at least had rules that made sense, a social structure that made sense. This is something else entirely.

( Katniss wants to do her best with it, she does, but she's stumbling without Peeta or Finnick to help smooth the way. )

My friends usually just have me shoot things while they do the talking.

[mollymocked]

Every group needs a person who shoots things and a person who tries to deescalate the situation, and a person who thrives in chaos and makes things work when they start going poorly, and I am the last one. We just... Need to make better chaos is all.

[That sounds dangerous, but once the words are out, Molly's head starts to fill with ideas of how he can do just that.]

[burn_with_us]

Better chaos. I like the sound of that. You know, one day, I'm going to tell you about Panem and just what kind of chaos it is.

( Katniss doesn't think she can talk about it just yet but eventually she thinks she can, if only to unpack her complicated emotions about the war and being made an unwitting symbol of a rebellion. She's only ever wanted to live her life, not be famous. )

[mollymocked]

Good. We can trade. I can tell you all about Wildemount. [And most of it won't even be lies and exaggeration.] If it's gonna be awhile before we see our homes, the least we can do is share our stories about them, right? And my mother was very firm about never giving stories away for free. Fair value's a story for a story, so... I think I'm keeping to her wishes.

[burn_with_us]

I have stories too. Maybe they aren't as good as yours but I'm willing to trade if you are.

( Talking about Peeta or Prim would help keep their memories alive and help her remember who she was fighting for, what she was working with Fayura to save. )

You want me to go first?

[mollymocked]

I think any story if it comes from a place I've never seen and never will see counts as a good story. [Molly flippantly waves that comment off. He'll enjoy it. He likes listening to people talk as much as he loves talking. He steers her into a pub that seems to be full of grumpy patrons complaining about the watered down ale due to maintaining their stores and he ignores them and finds them a place away from the majority of the bitching. There's only one kind of beer on tap- a watery barley concoction that doesn't taste nearly as good as the stronger ale they had at the festival, but it's something to drink while they talk.]

You're way harder to read than I am. You should definitely go first.

[He can read her just fine, but he's not going to say that right now. She has a damage in her eyes not unfamiliar to him- a little bit of Beau, but a whole lot of circus energy. That total lack of privilege, the hard knocks, the survival skills. He could see her stony faced and doing arrow tricks while Desmond played arpeggios.

There's a lot of people who either have been or should have been part of a circus family here. It's kind of a tragedy so many weren't. Or maybe he's projecting. He only has Caleb here now, and he's yanking on every string her can to pull a new family together, because he needs it so much.]

[burn_with_us]

I had a feeling you'd say that. Well, I guess I can go first but only because you asked so nicely.

( Katniss doesn't know where to begin with her life so she starts in the Seam, in 12. Her fondest memories had been before the Games and in that time where she didn't have much but everyone helped one another. )

Where I come from, the government is divided up in twelve districts. I was from 12, the poorest, and we're coal miners there. Everything we provide goes to the Capitol, so even though our houses are covered in coal dust, we never had enough to keep us warm. I liked it, though. We took care of one another. My father taught me to hunt and gather so I did that - helped to keep my family and my friend's family fed.

My sister got this goat one year and it was...well, Prim loves to save things. The goat was sick and it was probably half dead when she got it but she insisted she was going to get her healthy. I had my doubts but I shouldn't. Prim can heal anything. That goat makes twice her weight in money.

[mollymocked]

[Molly smiles wistfully, hanging on every word. He doesn't like other people's baggage, but he likes stories, and this doesn't feel like baggage. This feels like what a proper common life ought to be. It's too normal for his tastes, but he can see the appeal for others.]

That doesn't even seem all that far-off from where I'm from. Well. The district thing is off-putting, but give the Empire enough time and they'd probably do the same fucking thing.

[Katniss is a ranger. Prim's a cleric. It fits.] People in power are greedy and love to stomp on the ones who just never have enough. It's the one constant across the planes. And the people without make do with what they have and find joy where they need it.

[burn_with_us]

Basically this. I've never seen any different. Here in Draega it looks a little different than it does in Panem but it's the same principle, I guess.

( Katniss tilts her head a bit, looking at Molly eagerly. She ponied up her story so it's time for his. )

So, pay up. Tell me something about you.

[mollymocked]

[Molly tips his ale in her direction.] Only fair. [And down the hatch.] Right, well. I was in the circus. Intermediary, of course. Never had an act, and one day we came to this shitty little town that didn't want us there, and it was different from all the other shitty little towns that didn't want us there, because it was a lot more blatant about it.

But that's life. We deal. 'Cept at our first and only bloody performance there, something went wrong. One of our own went bad, killed a bunch of people, and nearly got the lot of us killed. [If that sounds like a terrible story, then don't worry- it gets better. He's just pausing for effect.] Luckily I found some willing idiots to help me fix the problem, but the circus was kaput after that. And that's the story of how I accidentally became a mercenary.

[He's used to bullshitting, but he might as well start with a truth that Caleb can corroborate if he's ever asked.]

[burn_with_us]

An accidental mercenary? That's like how I became an accidental revolutionary. It's strange how you fall into stuff every once in a while.

( It's never been anything Katniss has desired, being a symbol of a rebellion, but it's her mantle now and she's got to carry it. )

I'd rather just be in the woods. If you could be anywhere, where would it be?

[mollymocked]

It's true. You've got to open yourself up to the idea of just letting things happen and things will, inevitably, happen.

[Thank you for that wisdom, Molly. He knocks back a good half of his drink.] Anywhere at all... Just on the road, honestly. The road's safe. You don't get too much of a reputation, you're free... There's something liberating about not answering to anyone but yourself and whoever you're traveling with.

[burn_with_us]

I like that, the road. We don't get to travel much where I'm from. If you're a victor of the Games you have to go to the Capitol but really, you're just in your District. The idea of getting to just go isn't one I'm familiar with. We don't have a lot of freedom back home.

( Katniss had found it in her own ways, when she could, but they were few and far between. Molly's life sounds like some strange dream to her, one she wishes she could live out. )

[mollymocked]

Don't have a lot of freedom here either, but I don't think anything but fear of death is really stopping us, and I very much prefer to be alive. [Dying once was enough, thank you.]

What're the Games, if you don't mind me asking? Given everything so far, I'm sure they're not nearly as delightful as they sound.

[burn_with_us]

The Games aren't delightful at all, no. I guess there was a rebellion against the Capitol a long time ago and they won it. As punishment, they decided each District had to choose a boy and a girl to send to the Capitol and fight to the death every year as a reminder of the sacrifices of war.

( It's clear Katniss is bitter and angry about the Games, about the unfair nature of it. How does that teach anyone anything? How does that keep peace except through fear? )

I won the 74th with my District partner. It's not supposed to be like that, there's only supposed to be one winner, but we tricked them with poison. So they got us back.

[mollymocked]

[Molly's jaw drops at that. He's heard of some nastiness from the Empire and he doesn't even know some of the shit they've done to people, but that's just unfairly cruel.]

So it wasn't bad enough that your people lost the fight- they make a spectacle out of fucking human sacrifice. My gods, that's demented.

[Somewhere Shakaste is about to throw hands, he just knows it.]

[burn_with_us]

It's to teach a lesson. We're there to make them happy. That's it. We're there to provide goods for them even though we're starving and cold. It's not right but it's the world. It's why I don't want to see this world like that.

( Katniss hadn't realized she felt so strongly about Draega until just now but she does. She doesn't want a redo of the Capitol. Not on her watch. )