[OPEN] BABES IN TOYLAND

[speakveryclearly]

Date & Time: December 20th, 2013
Location: New York City!!!
Characters: HOLIDAY SHOPPERS. Please note that with mod approval, any character is allowed to have joined the mob in front of the transporter, regardless of whether they responded to the network post advertising this event.
Summary: In a bid to conserve energy, over a dozen transports do all of their Christmas shopping at once. I hope you brought money!
Warnings: None for now!

All the transports are dropped into New York at 6:00, simultaneously but scattered. Coding the drop points for this mission was hell.

It turns out that the weather is actually fairly mild on this date; there is snow neither in the air nor in the ground. That isn't to say there's nothing of visual interest: All the lights of the city are on at this hour.



The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree was lit back on December 4th.



Shop until you drop, Transports.

Comments

a

[changeitroundsome]

[Facilier welcomed the lack of snow, and the opportunity to at least be in a city he recognises by name and pictures. He's never stepped foot out of New Orleans before the Transport pad picked him up, much less be in a city over nine decades past his own point in time. He figures this place out quickly enough, though. At their beating heart, most cities are the same, full of corrupt people living in various stages of denial over their corruption, where the rich live well and the poor are lucky to live at all. Same story, different book.

He's been wandering around, conning a few good people out of their hard earned money (dollar bills have become smaller, he's noted) when he turns a corner to see his good buddy Christopher exiting what looks to be a murder scene.]

Do ya'll even know where that's been?

[He's not showing a level of concern he probably should with a guy licking fresh blood off a knife, but he's fairly certain Christopher's starting to see through his carefully constructed persona, so he allows himself a little more freedom than usual]

[inhumanity]

[Christopher grins at Facilier, his strange teeth standing out even more in the night.] Like all atoms, these have been in the stars. It feels like I consume the universe! Or at least these men's universes. Let's take a moment to mourn the disappearances of the universes I've put out.

[After getting rid of the excess blood with a practice shake of his weapons, they seem to disappear. He bows to Facilier.] Isn't it marvellous to be back in the land of the free?

[changeitroundsome]

[Christopher you are legitimately the craziest person he's ever met] ...I'm sure it's truly sad.

It's...something. Ain't quite the America I'm used to. [What with the billboards with moving pictures on them and everything WHAT IS UP WITH THAT?]

[inhumanity]

[As it should be.

But Christopher chuckles and shakes his head.] Nonsense. You have to focus on the feeling of it. Don't you sense that constant soul? Doesn't its constancy comfort you? This city rotted by the rain remains rotten in cold weather.

[changeitroundsome]

[He gives a shrug]

I prefer the soul of New Orleans. It's more... lively. [More open to temptation, a touch more willing to be pulled into temptation] This place has already given up on itself. Ain't nothing here but hopelessness and broken dreams.

[inhumanity]

Wrong! [The outburst is positively delighted as he—yes he's reaching an arm over with the intention of steering Facilier along with him.] While this city is full of rotted flowers and wilted blooms, many who come here half in blossom have yet to have to have their stems cut down. There are multiple daisies still waiting to have their petals burned off. Rejoice! Nature and humankind will always breed new lives for the slaughter.

[changeitroundsome]

[Facilier carefully sidesteps that arm, because he decides when people get to touch him. Still, at least he looks vaguely interested in following Christopher]

I heard folk came here to find their fortune. Bet it don't take long for all that misplaced hope to turn into somethin' bitter. But you're right. People always have hope, always think that it might be different for them, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

[inhumanity]

And as long as they have hope, then they have something worth taking.

[With a grin, Christopher takes out one of the gold cards, turning it over in his fingers.] Time to go shopping now.

[changeitroundsome]

Not that fine upstanding businessmen like ourselves would dream about just taking something from them. [Even in his own skewed way of running a profit, Facilier always makes sure his clients get something. Even if that something isn't necessarily what they actually wanted in return for their payment.

He arches an eyebrow at the card. What the hell is that thing?]

With a little card?

[inhumanity]

It's called a credit card. Marvellous, isn't it? [With a knife-thrower's flick of the wrist, he tosses one to Facilier.] By using it, you promise to pay back however much you charge to the card. It draws it all from some account or another, no idea how. My friends inside seemed to consider these ones particularly valuable. They're what I'll be using to buy gifts.

[changeitroundsome]

[Facilier catches it with an almost absent minded deftness. He turns the thing between his fingers, frowning at it. Seems the world finds more and more ways to get people to spend money they do not have]

How about that. Ain't nothing like progress.

[inhumanity]

Not even a society can resist evolution, and all the corpses of its failed mutations. Oh, but I heard that the police can track this sort of thing, so . . . best be careful with the use of them. Can't shop with the cops at your heels!

[changeitroundsome]

They usually are ready to spoil a good caper when you've got one. [This is why paper money is better] Still, thanking you kindly for the advice.

[He can now stock up on herbs and booze, the very thing an enterprising voodoo practitioner used to living in prohibition needs]

[inhumanity]

[Christopher offers Facilier one of his excessive, flowery bows.] Of course. It's always a pleasure to be of use to a friend.

[changeitroundsome]

[Even if Facilier finds the concept laughable, he doesn't show it.]

It's what friendship's all about, ain't it? [Probably.]