[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]

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. )