[open] april influence jobs

[thedarkbond]

Who: Ren Suzugamori and you!
When: Early April
Where: The ports and wherever food distribution is happening
What: Influence jobs (Sharing is Caring and Rumour Has It) + catchall if anyone wants to plot anything else
Warnings: None right now, will update if they become relevant


[a: sharing is caring]

[Ren might have been there to save the guild's workers when the power plant exploded, but he's noticed a very disappointing shift in the attitudes of the landens this month, and it's making him very reluctant to be taking their side on anything right now. Particularly when the situation of the Blood in the city's slums is well-known at this point, and people are still turning a blind eye.

Diplomacy has always been a strong point of his, though, as has been identifying the weakest links. As such, in one of the food distribution areas where guildworkers are offering food out primarily to landens while harangued-looking Blood lurk in the background in hopes of getting a chance at it, he might be caught in the midst of sweet-talking them around to his side of things.]

...there wouldn't even be this much to offer around without that gift from last month, would there? To just keep that all for yourself seems like it's just taking while giving nothing back...

[And congratulations, random Stranger, you're getting dragged into this conversation too once Ren turns his head to offer you a smile and a prompt:] Isn't that right?

--

[b: rumour has it]

[While heavy lifting is definitely not Ren's strong point, the whole "dawn training" business that's been insisted on while he lives with the court has definitely done a little bit for his strength and stamina by this point. As such, while he still doesn't like hard work, the offer of information from the sailors is a little too hard to resist.

That said, lifting crates by himself is not quite as easy as he expected it to be, and as soon as he spots any other Strangers hanging around the port area, he'll lean his crate against something briefly to wave a hand.] Hey, hey, sorry to ask, but could you help me with this? It's kind of awkward to carry when I can't see where I'm going...

[It's definitely big enough to be obscuring his sight, and there's a lot of rope and net and such like here to potentially trip over.]

--

[c: wildcard]

[[If you want to plot something else (potentially with dawn training or Ren trying to train his craft up a little bit before something else nasty happens), feel free to hit me up by PM or at reviseleviathan!]]

Comments

[thedarkbond]

[On one hand, Ren's definitely already targeted people he thought were likely to cave easily, considering they already look a little uneasy about their life choices. On the other...Molly's tone is definitely getting a bit of a side-eye from them, though Ren just rolls with it, nodding along seriously.]

The gift was meant to help everyone - and everyone helped out with it too, right? That included the Blood. Everyone wanted a good harvest, and now only half of the people who contributed are getting anything back. Does that seem fair to you?

[One of them is definitely rubbing their arm a little awkwardly at that, and a few of the others don't quite want to meet their gaze. "It's hardly fair what the Blood have been doing to us either, though, is it?"]

[mollymocked]

[Fairness is how Molly rolls, which is why he doesn't like this Us vs Them mentality in Draega. It rubs him raw and it's going to irritate him if he's constantly forced to have to pick a side.]

And as unbiased third parties, we've tried to keep the balance between all of you. We're doing our best to keep things balanced.

[This, at least, doesn't sound like carnie bullshit. It just sounds like Molly is deeply exasperated.]

[thedarkbond]

[Ren frowns a bit at that too, nodding his head. He hasn't even been here that long, and trying to keep the peace here without giving one side too much advantage has been exhausting and unproductive.]

Mmm, things are just going to keep going in cycles of retaliation if you guys don't try to support each other a little, right? If you're not sympathetic to them when you're holding the cards, why would they be in return when they are? Someone has to be the bigger person.

[That has a few of them glancing at each other a tad abashedly - it doesn't entirely seem like they've had this kind of conversation with any Strangers before. "But...aren't you guys basically Blood as well? We weren't even expecting you to help us when you arrived here."]

[mollymocked]

[Molly clutches the pendant around his neck- not for the first time since he's arrived, it's felt like more like the albatross in the story about the Mariner and the Stormlord. He doesn't like privilege, and having it is a responsibility.

But he sees that they have their ear, and Molly isn't going to be cowed now.]

Privilege is something that happens to people sometimes. If you use it to lord over people or treat them unfairly or just be a fucking dick, you deserve whatever comes of that. But you don't punish an entire group of people because a couple of them are arseholes. If one Blood treats you like shit then maybe that person doesn't deserve their share until they can learn something.

[thedarkbond]

[If nothing else, it seems the straightforward phrasing Molly comes at it with gets their understanding - one of them opens their mouth like they're going to interrupt, and then closes it again as if they can't quite get their head around how to respond to that.

While they're still looking a bit thrown, Ren slides in on the tail-end of Molly's speech.] So, then the question is: have any of these people done anything to you that means they should suffer through not getting their fair share...?

[That definitely gets some faces looking like they don't actually want to respond to that in the positive, but eventually one of them caves. "I...I guess not. Though if you wouldn't mind hanging out a bit to make sure nothing happens..."

They glance slightly uneasily at some of the nearby Blood - they seem to have just realised that the ones who are aware of how unfair they've been so far might have more reason to retaliate.]

[mollymocked]

[Molly breathes a sigh of relief. When all else fails, there's nothing wrong with some good old-fashioned compromise. And it helps that Molly agrees with that sentiment. It's the core of his morality.

He turns towards the Blood, and very pointedly adds, in case they get Ideas about twisting his words:] Let's... just start this back over from scratch. You're going home with food and you'll have food tomorrow, and that's worth something.

[thedarkbond]

[While the Blood look a little dubious about the whole thing, it does seem like they realise that the potential benefits of cooperating with this outweigh the benefits of retaliation, especially with two Strangers present. So they nod a little curtly and go to join the line of people receiving their food.]

We'll stay around this time to make sure everything goes okay, but I'm sure you can all keep this going on your own after today, right? Especially if everyone has an understanding of the situation.

[Like the Blood spreading the word that these people will treat them equally if they're not menaced in return. Maybe some of the other people distributing the food will take a hint.]

[mollymocked]

[Molly relaxes visibly, but there's still some doubt in his expression like he's concerned that the second he turns his back all hell will break loose, but... That's not really his problem, is it? He did his part.

...Gods, it's so gonna end up being his problem.

As the situation starts to turn itself around, Molly turns to Ren.] What d'you think? Think it'll take? I think we made fairly decent arguments.

[thedarkbond]

[Ren turns to him as well so the conversation is a bit more private, considering he figures it might be rude to just talk about that sort of thing loudly within earshot.]

I think it kind of depends on what kind of stuff they hear after this...they all seem to get it, but sometimes even if people understand something, they're happy to let it get contradicted again. But the ones here right now seem like they'll probably be okay to stick with it.

[It just kind of depends on the people they bring and the external influences.]