does it cause me scarring if the words stay true

[23rd]

Who: Laura Kinney & OPEN
What: Laura leads a busy life. Also, fuck the police.
Where: Specifically mentioned are Aspic, the Arena in Griss Twist, and the Spatters, but she can be anywhere.
When: Ruudary 19th-22nd
Notes: Laura is a highly unsocial character -- I WANT YOUR CR /GRABS HEADS but like, she won't strike up conversations with strangers and she won't say very much at a time if she does speak, so uh. There's that. Doing Stuff she can respond to is probs better.
Warnings: Violence is very possible! Otherwise, to be added as needed.

Laura is not bored. Her days are too full for that, although if asked, she'd have very little to show for it -- because most of it she can't tell anyone about. She leads people to think that she doesn't do much except wander and acquire money from some mysterious sources -- people probably think she's hooking again, but she isn't.

She prefers to get food from the various street vendors, especially down in the city's center; to be polite, they're more colourful than restaurants that tend to play down unique flavours to attract human Earth-native customers. Of course Baedal has very little in the way of food regulations so God only knows what all they're actually serving, but she is neither squeamish nor easily scared, so she tries everything. Every time, she asks for peppers or hot sauce; they sometimes try to talk her out of it, it... is never very successful. Sometimes she stays and chats with them (or rather, lets them chat at her), and she hears a lot of interesting things this way. Small things, like the right way to season wyrmbeast meat, and bigger ones -- missing people. Who's been arrested for what. ... dognappings.

She stops a purse-snatcher in Aspic -- by running after him, breaking his arm, and driving her clawed fist into the wall by his head. He drops the purse and wets himself before the Sheriff gets there and reads her the riot act over it (apparently authority figures dislike it when people take the law into their own hands; who knew?) but she more or less just shrugs and walks off.

She has started visiting the Arena. She doesn't participate and she doesn't bet, but she watches and thinks about it. That kind of organized bloodsport makes her sick -- it's hard for her to extricate her memories of what was done to her -- but she tells herself these people chose this... until she sees the brands on some of them. Hands. Chests. Faces, sometimes. She leaves angry and sometimes she picks fights that she never loses, and after which she never has any bruises. The memory of scars is not enough; there is enough rage and pain in her to flood the city streets, but she does nothing about it.

She has a friend in the Spatters -- a teenage xenian girl who was born a Stranger, her family having refused to integrate into normal Baedal life. Laura visits her a lot, listens to the way she talks about how things are there -- and more importantly, she gets a couple of interesting names. Corruption on this scale can never be stopped by picking off a couple bad apples (they are all bad apples, nobody has ever been able to convince her otherwise) but it's still a good idea to have specific names and faces in mind. It's still imperative to be aware.

The more she sees of Baedal, the less she likes it.

Comments

[23rd]

The look on Laura's face is pretty exaggerated for her, which means subdued for normal people -- but there is a definite tinge of bewilderment there, like 'do you know what city you're in?' "No," she says.

That guy got off lucky -- Aspic's rowdy but getting caught in the act with something like stealing doesn't end well for people, this is no Badside or Ketch Heath, but people actually care about crime, here. She doesn't actually know what happened to the guy she caught a few days ago and wishes she did, now that she's seen how Baedal treats its criminals. There was nothing she could have done about that, the Sheriff arrived and took over for her. It troubles her, now.

She's curious about him just letting him go without even getting in a few lumps. Most people here would, if they were capable of it.

[charismatic]

Will frowns at the small collection of wallets he's holding. It's probably not as easy to return things to their owners here as it is at home. He supposes he could try the cohort post thing again and see if he can locate who these belong to, if nothing else. “Sorry to bother you,” he says, mostly because she doesn't really seem like she wants to be talking to him. But he's already there and pestering her, so he might as well see if she has any better ideas before he either leaves or finds someone else to ask. “But do you know if there's any other way to find out who these belong to?”

[23rd]

"No." After a moment, she adds, "Is there a name?" People in Baedal use their CiDs as identification rather than license cards, but it's generally a good idea to have your contact information in your wallet anyway, in case it gets lost or stolen -- at least, that's probably how normal people think. She wouldn't know; she would never want anyone to be able to connect her to her things, in case they use it to track her down and attempt to murder her, but not everyone is so paranoid as Laura.

[charismatic]

Oh. He probably should have thought of that. He'd just assumed people used the CiDs for that purpose and Will's not in the habit of carrying a wallet at home. He just got one here, for all the coins. He's not really used to physical currency. It feels strange to dig through other people's belongings, too, but that's the only way anyone is getting theirs back. “There are in a couple of these,” he says after a moment. “Not all of them, though.”

[23rd]

"Ask the network," she suggests after a few moments of thoughtful silence, and it comes out nearly a question, like... maybe? Yes? Is that the right thing to do? Possibly? That is the extent of her usefulness -- Laura will stop pickpockets and purse snatchers, half on instinct, and then when she's won, she won't know what to do with the stolen stuff. She'd be inclined to just leave it there, which sort of defeats the purpose of stopping thieves to begin with.

God only knows what she does with cats stuck in trees.

[charismatic]

Hopefully something that involves no claws on either side.

“That's a good idea,” Will says, and his instinct is to try to sound encouraging, even though that doesn't make sense. There's just something in her tone that makes him want to reassure. Oh, right. He juggles his handful of wallets around – maybe he should just shove them in his bag. He's still getting used to carrying one around. It's probably a better place for his own wallet too. Anyway. Once he's done shoving everything into his messenger bag, he straightens up and offers the girl a hand. “I'm Will,” he says. “Sorry for just dropping random questions on you.”

[23rd]

There's a pause as she looks at his hand like she's not sure what to do with it, and -- right. Yes, shaking hands. Years later, she's still not in the habit of doing that, so when she puts her hand into his her grip is a little unsure, which... to be strictly fair is partially because she doesn't want to apply too much pressure and break all his bones. You're welcome, Will!

"I'm Laura. It is all right." Not that she's a huge help, but...

[charismatic]

Will smiles. He's not at all aware that he's misreading her entirely, but right now she's reminding him of one of his little sisters, when she went through a shy stage. It hadn't lasted very long, though. “Are you waiting for the next train?” he asks. It's kind of an inane question, but it's the first thing that comes to mind.