[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

ii

[championbittersweet]

[It's late enough in the afternoon that Jonathan can manage being outside thanks to a little assistance from Lady Fayura, and although it's taken him a little time to get used to the lack of risk, he does enjoy the feeling of some sunlight on his skin again without the burn it usually brings.

The company is also appreciated, and Jonathan stands back with his lavender friend and rolls them both cigarettes while they watch the weaving.]

My concern is that they would unify against us.

[mollymocked]

That's a definite possibility. [He's thought about it a lot, seen how the landens were emboldened by the Strangers protecting them, and then soured when they turned around and tried to keep things fair. Molly has been called a few names in the past couple of weeks that have actually irritated him when insults and jibes normally fall off of him.]

You can't operate the way we are for very long. Eventually, people are gonna expect you to pick a side.

[championbittersweet]

So it would seem. The people here already see us as outsiders, Strangers in every sense of the word, and as it seems we haven't the luxury of being separate from their conflicts they will want to know where we stand.

[Jonathan has never troubled himself terribly much with politics, but he's aware of that much at least.]

We hardly present as a united group or clearly defined either. We're summoned by the Queen but not bound to her, some help the Guilds, others the Blood. I can't imagine people will be happy with that in the long term.

[mollymocked]

Fayura helps both sides when she can. I'm... Of the opinion that sticking with her is the best bet. But I'll admit I'm biased, because she seems the most sensible of the lot, and she's the one who cut the deals that brought us here, but... [He huffs, trying to figure out how to explain this.] You've got to trust someone and trusting each other isn't going to cut it for long or it's just Us vs Them in three directions. I don't wanna deal with three groups breaking out rulers over every little incident.

[championbittersweet]

We may have to be biased to some extent. [Jonathan points out, and flicks his gaze to where the Lady is working nearby, checking that everything is still quite while they talk.]

Lady Fayura tries to keep the peace between both sides, which is more than the others seem to do. Supporting just the Landen or the Blood likely won't go well for this world and Lady Fayura and her court seem the most concerned about the wellbeing of all.

Even if she had not offered the deals that bought us here, I feel she is trying the most to be fair to all. But it's difficult to say how our fellow Strangers feel about the matter.

[mollymocked]

I'm always on the side of fairness, regardless. There's not a whole lot I believe in, but I believe that there's fairness in the world and when it isn't there, you have to put it there, yourself, 'cause no one else will. You balance the scales that way, and fuck whatever the rest of them do. That's what I intend to do. I just don't want them making it difficult.

[He flicks his own gaze to Lady Abigail and then casts his darkvision out as far as it can go in a direction. No movement. Not yet, but he's starting to get impatient and edgy. It could just be the magic in the air.]