The Arena Riots ( open, gamewide )

[civilobedience]

Who: The Militia, the city, and you.
What: The Arena Riots.
Where: The Arena, Griss Twist.
When: Newdi, Eliaderen 1. (Monday Oct 1st)
Notes: Companion post for questions and plotting is here.
Warnings: Violence, police brutality, disturbing content and imagery, graphic death.

It's apparent even before dawn that something out of the ordinary is happening. Canton sheriffs are roused from their sleep or pulled away from their work to be told that on no uncertain terms, today will be a day that they do not leave their neat lines on the map. That their individual offices will be responsible for all crime and unrest within their jurisdictions, with no help; the powers that be offer no details, but the creeping feeling in their presence suggests no questions would be tolerated anyway – the implication that they'll all be watched is a strong one. In Mog Hill, Sheriff Norrington proceeds as he always does under such orders. In Mafaton, leadership is stoic but one deputy laughs, sharp and bitter, while the Emissary of the Council merely checks his watch, unseen underground. Sir Hellsing is pulled away from her dinner in the Guild Hall, a Sobek Croix deputy anxiously relaying the news. The sound of shattered glass disturbs the pre-dawn silence in Flyside, a brick hurled by some faceless figure into the front window of Thames – and nothing else.

From the Spire, hooded Militiamen move quietly and uniformly south, to Griss Twist. They are followed by wagons, full of prisoners.

Comments

[gwynn]

Megan's not a brawler, so she doesn't even try. She knows a little bit of how to fight, sure, like how to throw a proper punch without breaking her hand, and where the best places are to hit to get away from someone who is bigger than she is (which is everyone), and she's been in her fair share of riots, but... they've never been on this scale. There just aren't as many mutants in as small an area as there are people in Baedal, and flatscans don't stick up for mutants; it's always just been them.

She flies above the chaos for a while until the Militia spot her and start shooting at her — she barely manages to teleport away before taking a bullet to the chest, which probably would have killed her even if it was just rubber. So no more flying. She keeps her wings tucked tight to her back to avoid them being torn or broken and stays on the outskirts of the violence, and when she sees an opening, she lunges in, grabs someone by whatever's closest, and teleports them out. Out of the way of a fist or knife, out of Militia custody, right out of handcuffs, sometimes.

Not always quick enough, sometimes they're hurt by the time she gets to them, and sometimes it's bad. She's freaking out about all the blood when someone — a protestor, judging by what he's wearing — grabs her and says, "Vanessza Bernat, go!" No time to question it, and she can get out quick if they're being misdirected.

Megan does not need to know where she is going to get there, only has to have a vague idea, but not knowing where she's porting into presents some problems. Namely, that she tends to instinctively teleport away from solid objects, meaning she tends to show up abruptly several inches or feet above the floor, like she does in the middle of Benny's living room, holding on to the arm of someone who is bleeding badly from the sternum — then they both fall, she squeaks, they disappear, and reappear properly on the floor. One of them, pale, bleeding profusely, collapses in on herself, groaning.

[asklepios]

They could've landed somewhere far less welcoming than the living room - the hard wood floor is unforgiving, but Benevenuta is already approaching them quickly with gloved hands and a brisk expression. The effect is slightly incongruous in a Baedal-familiar way; someone's living room made up as a triage, standardized medical equipment alongside stock from the alchemist, clean blue gloves and a cashmere sweater. She's not used to people dropping in out of no where, but under the circumstances, she's not going to blink.

“Okay- okay, my name is Dr Bernát, can you hear me? I need you to let me see your injury- are you injured, yourself?” This to Megan; she'd prioritized immediately, but that doesn't mean she's not trying to map a few steps out ahead to keep herself moving most effectively. “I need one of you to tell me what you can.”

[gwynn]

"Wh — huh? No." She's not bleeding from her anything, and what little blood there is on her is obviously not hers, but not everyone in various states of injury is necessarily externally bleeding. Still. She's slightly panicked, holding the other woman up and unsure what to do with her, obviously.

"I don't know, I just — she was in the crowd and there were all these people there and I saw someone swing something at her and, I don't know, I grabbed her but she was bleeding and I didn't know what to do." Her voice, lightly Welsh-accented, for once matches her appearance as her desperation and urgency makes her sound a lot higher-pitched and squeaky, like a cartoon. It is probably not as bad as it looks, especially to an untrained eye, but still a fairly serious wound.

[asklepios]

“You did the right thing,” Benevenuta tells her - her voice is pitched soothing, halfway between a really good bedside manner and plain maternal, with a kind of steadiness that avoids the tension spikes that always set off the rest of a room, especially when there's blood involved. “We're just going to get your new friend up here on the exam table, yes, easy like this, very careful. On three. One, two, three-”

She's already made up her mind to do at least a cursory examination of Megan as well, but for the time being she focuses on the woman bleeding in front of her, snagging the rolling cabinet with her foot and bringing it closer to get a pair of scissors to clear fabric of her path to the injury. She can already tell it doesn't have to be a life-threatening one, but that doesn't make it any more pleasant and it doesn't mean it couldn't become one if she isn't smart about it.

[gwynn]

Megan helps get the other woman up on the table, freaking a bit; she might be able to just port her up there but now is maybe not the time to be experimenting with a mutation Megan doesn't exactly understand.

But she stays while Benny works on the woman, wringing her hands, helping if she needs anything; she doesn't know anything about medicine but she can fetch things. She doesn't know this woman and owes her nothing, but either she's not quite up to facing the riots again and coming across more people in similar states, or she just can't bear to go without knowing she's going to be okay.

[asklepios]

When the woman Megan brought to her is stable - her clothing a write-off, but her wound treated, bandages provided as well as a sample-size tin of a pain-relief balm that Benevenuta gives instructions for with an attached post-it note - she turns to her, reaching for a fresh pair of gloves and making a little 'come here' gesture with both hands.

“Your turn,” she says, brisk but not unkind. “You're a little shocky- I want to be sure.” That it's just psychological, which is not unimportant but not something she can do much for right now, either.

[gwynn]

"What? But I'm —" Fine, she doesn't finish, because ultimately she doesn't care enough to put up a fuss about it and it's just going to take time neither of them has if she does. So she comes over.

And she is fine, aside from a couple of bruises from stray limbs that weren't really even aimed at her, she just got in the way of them. She's been lucky with that so far; she's small, it would be very easy for a stray kick or baton to break a bone.

"I didn't know where to go," she explains. "The hospitals are —"

Not a good idea. For many reasons. Among them: that's the first place the Militia are going to be checking for injuries obviously sustained by rioting. Another: they're going to be crowded.

[asklepios]

“I know,” as she concludes her quick exam, not needing that sentence to be finished - it's her job to know that, and moreover to know how to find ways around it. Speaking of, she says a little briskly, “I cannot long keep people here, but I will offer care as long as there's a need.” Even if the riot itself burns out within a day or so (not guaranteed, although the Militia might disagree with her on that), she anticipates that will mean the influx staggers, not ceases; not everyone will be able to get to her as quickly as they might like, and they will still need care, later.

[gwynn]

Megan tries to keep her wings folded tightly against her back out in the rioting proper, but they're still very vulnerable; the tissue stretched over the veins within the frame of them is very thin and easily damaged. Out of immediate danger, they flicker behind her, not a gentle butterfly wafting but an anxious buzz like a bee or fly, but amplified given that they're fucking huge.

"I can take them somewhere else if they're okay to go," she says after a moment. "There's a couple people with spaces set up, 'cause like... the inns are all crowded or no one has any money and it's a big mess but like yeah if that would help I could do that and like I can bring people here like if you have the space and shit."

Megan's a teleporter, obviously, given her somewhat dramatic entrance; there is literally no quicker way to get someone from one part of Baedal to another. She doesn't even have to move them, supposing they've injured their spine or head.

[asklepios]

“Good- that's good. I can let people stay here a while until I'm comfortable letting them travel-” which is not entirely about movement but also about whether or not she's ready to let them be out of her supervision, and while she already knows she's going to have to let people go sooner than she'd prefer, that doesn't mean not enforcing some supervision to begin with at all, “-and if you can come and check by, yes, and I will let you take who you can? I will make space, if I have to.”

[gwynn]

"If you know any other um like... anyone who knows first aid and can help out — I'm gonna try and like, spread 'em around so there's at least one person who can like patch people up like in minor ways wherever people are like meeting up and junk."

Not a bad idea, although things are hectic enough that whether she actually manages it remains to be seen, but it should help keep the burden off any one particular doctor, particularly for more minor injuries as opposed to, say, arrow wounds.

This is probably not something Megan, the flightiest of flighty people, should be in charge of, but... beggars, choosers.

[asklepios]

“There is a man - Amberdrake - but I can't tell you where he's going to be, at the moment.” After an assessing look, she says, “I am going to give you two addresses now. Do you need me to write them down?”

-she'd clearly prefer she not need to. (Not all of the Thames Foundation locations are on the books.)

[gwynn]

"No," she says, almost cheerfully, "I don't need to know where I'm going to get there."

Which sounds like a disaster waiting to happen, but frankly ends up being less of one than trying to direct her somewhere the ordinary way.

[asklepios]

Benevenuta pauses, considers her for a moment longer, and then decides not to ask. Or at least not to ask right now, when efficacy is more important than that she knows the ins and outs of Megan's specific gifts.

“In that case, there are safer locations in Ketch Heath and Nigh Sump. Someone should be at both- I cannot guarantee a medic there, but I'll do what I can from here.” No CiD use means that will require some creativity on her part, especially when she can't really leave her apartment at the moment- but she is nothing if not creative in a crisis.

[gwynn]

"Ketch Heath and Nigh Sump. Got it." Her wings buzz, lifting her off the ground a couple inches although that's not... really necessary, she just has a lot of nervous energy. "I'll be in touch, then."

And at that, apparently having stayed in one place long enough, poof, she's gone.