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Nighmare on Oak Street - PT 1
- "When I would go to the barrio, people saw me as a rich person, but when I'm around rich people, they see me as someone from the ghetto. It's all perceptions. I like moving between worlds. I feel equally comfortable in both."
- - ― J Balvin
https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0680d24161ccc47e4442129e67136527a1dd1f5a/0_10_3456_2074/master/3456.jpg?width=1300&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=e0d48f575ce9521d097fcf358cf91235
It's early morning and even chillier out in the desert than it is back towards the coast. El Paradiso never made it into a resort, the buildings abandoned mid-construction only to be filled out as low-income housing and quickly filled with Venezuelan & Bolivian immigrants who had settled to do the work that no one wanted. Up until recently anyway. Recently El Paradiso has become insular, not even leaving to buy groceries. What was going to be a large central park area with a gazebo and fenced area has been converted to contain small and medium livestock. Sheep, chicken and goats lounge in the open green area next to the tightly-packed apartment buildings that have various lengths of clothesline strung between them.
Even at this time of the morning the Barrio is busy, older children and teens making their way out to tend to the livestock as adults do various work throughout the town.
Around 6 AM is when at least two dozen men packed onto three flatbed trucks had driven out headed towards the northeast. Older women mill around in the courtyard area between the buildings as they talk amongst themselves working on gathering water for the day from the well. The running water here is not great, it works, but it's best suited for septic systems and watering the plants. They drink and wash with well water.
Having grabbed two willing co-conspirators to go upon this miniature adventure, Raquel had decided upon Eris and Alena. Ladies are less likely to immediately impose their wills through brute strength upfront, but her entourage was nothing to laugh at if you knew their capabilities and potential. The flower-power van is painted in pastel petal patterns while they pull up close enough so that their presence is noticed but not as much for folks to become immediately fearful of strangers.
Raquel is dressed to vacation at some private beach resort, or a community barbeque party. A short-sleeved button-up blouse is loose enough to allow comfort in bright orange, tucked into short-shorts that barely leaves anything to the imagination. Wide-brimmed sun-hat, round sunglasses, and sandals complete the outfit as she wiggles out of the driver's seat and just beams a smile towards the unknowing occupants. There's a bit of a stretch from the long ride, and then the exuberant beauty is trotting her way around on human feet to wrangle the gift from the back of the van.
Eris rolls Charisma(3) + Performance(5) (8 dice) vs 6 for 1 successes.
1 3 3 4 5 5 +6 9
You lose one Gnosis
You lose one Gnosis
Eris has picked a mousey persona to travel in. Short tousled light brown curls, hazel eyes and a heaping helping of freckles. The persona is about five-seven and around one hundred and fifty pounds. She wears a pair of simple soft leggings and an oversized Tshirt with a band logo on it. She's got a fair amount of jewelry on but nothing flashy. She wouldn't stand out many places. She pops out of the vehicle after Raquel departs and looks around as well, rubbing a hand through her hair before padding around to the back of the van as well. She glances up at the sky for a moment and squints against the light.
The arrival of the van catches a few eyes but they don't seem too weirded out by the occasional stranger passing through. They're on a route that leads off towards one of the rivers that's often sought for its rapids. When women emerge most of the ladies go back to what they're doing but a couple of younger children who are not yet regulated to tending the herds are staring out across the road. After all, these aren't typical visitors and the van is pretty.
A further look at the neighborhood shoes that a pair of roads branch off the main thoroughfare and lead off into cul-de-sacs of homes as well as a few larger buildings that have either been converted into houses or small local shops such as a corner store, tailor, a church and even a little clinic with a big red cross painted on it.
This is how Hollywood gets it all wrong: Black vans with a militaristic presence always manages to set off the ones being oppressed. Raquel offloads a two-wheel pull cart, and then wrangles a couple of large rectangular wicker baskets with lids upon it. What could she be bringing? Her nails glint in the light as she shuts the van doors and locks it before pulling her gifts behind her one-handed. Her skin is a lovely bronze from daytime exposure, and she waves merrily as she steadily strides closer to the small community.
The group of kids stares, one's mouth forming a little O showing two front missing teeth. One of the girls runs off, messy braid bouncing and as Raquel starts to approach drags an older woman, stooped with age and dressed in a colorful dress with a loose ruffled skirt and ruffled blouse off her weathered shoulders. Her thinning white hair pinned up carefully and a flower tucked against a temple. She shuffles forward as the child leads her and points at Raquel and her helper's arrival chattering in breathless Spanish. '"Come see, come see.."' The kids' clothing isn't nice, they all hand-me-down and some of those stripes belong in the 1980s. But the children are all well fed.. in fact, no one in this little 'hood seems to be malnourished or ill cared for.
Eris trails after Raquel quietly carrying another basket awkwardly but still making her way after the vibrant woman.
So far, so good! Raquel begins to wonder about the mettle from which Argenis has been cut. If he's truly one to help the People, then it might lead more towards the influence behind those who run the airport. "Hola! Te gustara una galleta? Trae a tus amigos, trae a tus amigos..." The Hispanic woman calls jovially to the children that are bold enough to approach strangers bearing sweets. One of the large wicker baskets is lifted by strong arms and settled down upon the ground before the lid is removed. The insides are lined with paper, and it's just a treasure trove of Hispanic wedding cookies, nutty in flavor and covered in powdered sugar.
Those people were afraid for their life, every person that she'd plyed information from through threat had only just been more frightened of her personas than they had been of Argenis and his men. But this place doesn't seem to hold any of that, there's not even any nervous tension in the air. The kids perk up at the offer of cookies but the old woman hmms softly and gestures for the girl who had brought her to push people apart so that she can move to the center of the group of curious children. The mutes Eris is side-eyeing Raquel like she's lost her brains so she stops a bit back, just as the old woman gives her a slightly uneasy stare. Thankfully the animals aren't reacting to the mousey Ragabash.
After giving the 'helpers' a quick look over the older woman looks back towards Raquel and the cookies offered. "Hola, senorita. Eres una cara nueva, ??est??s en la mission?" The older woman asks in a softly wavering voice. Clearly she's in her seventies or more, but the commotion and involvement of the children has started to draw the attention of curious and hungry older kids as well as the women in the courtyard who watch their ninos.
Oh, if Eris only knew. The longer Hamish had allowed Raquel to delve deeper into the forbidden Lore that is the Wyrm, the more she became frayed along the edges. Sanity is no longer the Bygone's friend. "Si! <>" Do the youngsters paw with grubby hands, or do they hesitate when the matron makes polite conversation? Gentle harmony has been marred by the subtle chaos of appetite and wariness, and it only causes Raquel to smile wider.
The Ragabash is following Raquel's lead and she lifts a hand a bit awkwardly. The older woman falls quiet and looks back towards the other women. A middle-aged woman pushes forward from the others. She's a strong woman, proud with a straight back and the full curves of many rounds of childbearing. <<The men come back at six.>> NO one has stopped the children from digging into the cookies as soon as Raquel says she's with the Mission. This place lives by the rules of its tradition and the men are in charge. None of the women seem interested in trying to discuss anything regarding 'governing'.
"<<OH! Of course!>>" Raquel agrees and nods vigorously, now knowing the basic routine that keeps this miniature civilization going. If she had intended to obliterate the place and leave a bloody swath in her wake, then she'd truly be in business. She readily removes the second wicker basket from the travel trolley and sets it upon the ground, before taking the handlebars in hand. "<<Then I will return at 6. I am Tica, and it was a pleasure to meet you.>>"
Alena trails along behind in third place, hefting a third wicker basket along. The young woman dons a pair of jeans and UC Berkley Tee Shirt with soft sandals. He long hair was strewn about in a hippyish mess and her eyes hidden behind a pair of Aviators. She stops just behind the others and balances the basket on her hip, carefully listening to the words, but mostly watching body language to fill in the gaps of what she might be missing. She's a Natural Linguist, but Spanish, until now, was never on her list to learn. The Cliath glances from face to face, absorbing the hunger and poverty in each one before committing it to memory.
The woman nods without introducing herself to the stranger and the children start to get herded away though many of them scampering quickly as soon as Alena comes closer. They are directed back to the ramshackle playground that lays between two buildings covered in chalk and spraypaint. Eris sets her basket down next to the one Raquel did. She nods to Alena before looking between them both. "What's the plan?" She asks 'Tica' with a lift of her pale brown brow.
The women return to their talking, washing and gathering water from the well. ANd the kids return to play while the few elderly people in this place head back to sit on benches or rocking chairs on the porches of the old buildings.
Lingering for a few moments they can observe the way that recent repairs and constructions have begun to reinforce the community. But other than a few last suspicious looks Eris and Alena's way they are left to their own devices. Though the xenophobia in this place isn't suspicious it is clear that the adults in the area will not talk too much to strangers.
Behind those round sunglasses does Raquel stare at the humans washing and playing. They didn't stay to consume her cookies for long, for the wolves caused them to run, but that doesn't matter. They'll eat more after they've left. "Now, we leave and we wait until the menfolk come home. They will have their hands extremely full when young tummies begin to churn." Her grin is now outright malicious, and the Hispanic woman turns to gesture back towards the van for them to depart.
Alena's mouth turns down and she purses her lips as she slides her hands in her jeans' pockets. Friggin' kids, you'd think she was the thing that goes -bump- in the night. She turns her attention to Eris, then Requel as the plan is laid out. She bobs her head in agreement and casts a last look over her shoulders at the small community, her gaze dancing around it's structures and it's inhabitants once more before she steps aside and prepares to fall in line behind the other two women.
Eris snorts in amusement. She turns when Raquel gestures and turns to trot back towards the pastel petal van. "Sure thing, Tica. I've been meaning to catch up on my Candy Crunch anyway." The mousey young woman looks back over her shoulder then back to the van where she trots ahead to steal the front passenger seat so she can plug her phone in.
Six rolls around and thanks to the miracles of Daylight Savings it's dark and chilly-out when the three trucks full of men return to El Paradiso. The first thing they all do when offloading is go inside and find that their poor children are all terribly, terribly sick and their wives are not in the best moods. Some few stay inside to help but the majority flee outside to leave their wives to tend to sick kids and they gather in the square to have drinks and try to avoid the absolute horror-show that is right now occurring in the not very well plumbed barrio.
More than a few bathrooms are backed up...
Alena loses one Willpower
Alena rolls Wits + Computer vs 7 for 0 successes.
1 -1 -1 2 2 5 6 8
Alena loses one Willpower
Alena rolls Wits + Computer vs 7 for 4 successes.
2 3 3 6 +7 +8 +8 +8
Writing reality out to disk. Please wait...
Reality saved. Thank you for your patience.
Alena rolls Manipulation + Bureaucracy vs 8 for 1 successes.
2 4 6 7 +9
Fin
(TBC...)
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