( OPEN ) FIGHTING CRIME BY MOONLIGHT

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WHO: Every Outsider interested!
WHAT: Catch-all log for cleaning up (or making more of a mess of) Neo Tokyo's crime scene! Refer to the OOC post here for details. Neo Tokyo's current social and political climate can be found under the World / Setting section here.
WHERE: Neo Tokyo, Japan.
WHEN: Nov 2024 & onward.
WARNINGS: Violence, drug use, threats and coercion … whatever else that happens where crime and criminal activity are involved. Please mark for other CWs if necessary!


From the month of November and onward, Outsiders can find recruitment posters around the base for a specialised subsection of an anonymous Neo Tokyo security agency! Feel free to assume that's where most of the directives come from.

Current quests relating to this player plot can be found under < STREET FIGHTER > and < RISE AND THRIVE > on the QUEST BOARD.

People are free to use this log or their own for open and closed starters. However, if you'd like to contribute to the quest chain or setting changes, please remember to eventually submit your links and a summary under the associated quests! Otherwise, go wild!

Comments

CHARITY TOURNAMENT.

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Almost overnight, a new fighting ring has sprung up, drawing fighters and spectators alike. Whether you're here to test your skills in the ring or to place your bets, everyone's welcome. Each match will be no-powers, raw-skill brawls—characters can approach them with as much (or as little) seriousness as they would like!

Place your bets, cheer on your fighter, and know that 100% of the betting proceeds go directly to a good cause!

Gebura | Library of Ruina | Everlight

[bemist]

[ There are two ways you can run into Gebura here. The first being that you're actually in the ring across from her, this tall, scarred, muscular woman who just looks unamused to be here at all, but gives you a casual head-tilt like "So, are we doing this?"

Or, you can catch her in a much quieter corner, after fighting. Maybe you had a great match. Maybe it got a little bloody, which could still very much constitute a great match! Maybe you just put money on her and want to talk about how it went! Regardless, she's just got a towel over her shoulders, some bruising, and a look on her face as she reclines there like if you open your mouth and say anything stupid, she's still got some fight left in her. ]

post-fight

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[ It likely will have been about a month since they've last spoken…… as this'll land closer to mid-to-late November, after she's been through several rounds of matches already. Up to you whether you'd like to assume some brief correspondences between them in the form of 'Discharged' and 'Let me know if you need anything,' but insofar as actual conversation goes, the mayor of yappington is on a bit of a break.

And, actual conversation is always better saved for in-person, especially after the tension of their last interaction. Ideally, it wouldn't be happening in the backrooms of an arena either, but it is what it is—timing waits for no one.

So, here. He's holding a bottle of water out to her. Or… ]

… If you're more in the mood for blood at the moment, I've got that too. Chilled and straight from one of the repositories LILITH's set up.

[bemist]

[ Even as a vampire, Gebura tends to fight against it unless she absolutely has to ease her hunger pangs. The last thing she needs is encouraging Nosferatu into thinking she's anything remarkably close to his kin, instead of the librarian who had soundly thrashed him when he'd manifested on her floor and drawn her team into his world. So there's no real desire for it, a stubborn shake of her head as she just reaches out to take the bottle.

There'd been brief blips of communication between them, but Gebura isn't stupid. Elysium is keeping his distance purposely and she herself is aware she'd overstepped an invisible line and needed to pull back. A lot.

It's irritating, though; she can feel it. The same kind of tension that had existed between her and Siffrin when she'd visited them in the medical wing, after they'd parted ways with Siffrin on the warpath and her with Loop's assorted body parts. She doesn't really enjoy people feeling as though they need to walk on eggshells with her, but this time, she won't remark on it.

For all she knows, Elysium wants to slip back into happy-go-lucky and lighthearted but cautious Mode, and she'll have to let him decide that for himself. ]

Water's fine. [ It's not going to taste like much, but it never has. ]

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[ As much as Elysium would prefer to slip into his happy-go-lucky self—a part of him itching to crack a smile and toss out a joke to diffuse the tension—he resists the urge. Instead, he loosely folds his arms across his chest, his mouth set in a thin line and his expression somber. It feels a little unnatural. But maybe it'll come across as more genuine; that's the understanding he has. ]

Sure. If you know anyone who needs it, I'll leave it in the fridge. [ … Since he doesn't have any need for it, and the fact that the establishment is primarily Outsider-operated remains.

As for the real reason why he's decided to approach her, a quiet inhale and exhale before he flicks his gaze over to meet hers directly. ]

… I was pretty surprised to hear that you decided to participate in this kind of thing. Thought you hated being in the spotlight and all. [ Especially with how much they were leveraging her "popularity." ] There are plenty of things you could do that are more low-key… Did you want to get transferred? Nothing about this is really mandatory.

[bemist]

[ Even as Gebura leans back against the wall, she meets Elysium's gaze. If his isn't going to flit about like a nervous sparrow, might as well look at him directly. ]

Right now, the fastest way to raise money for what matters is to put myself in the spotlight. I can do the other stuff on the side. [ It's not like she's a social butterfly. She can afford to multitask. ] I may not like it, but I know my value.

[ Whether it's Elysium making use of her to keep Siffrin in line, or to check on him, or this tournament she'd reluctantly agreed to. She knows what's expected of her and she knows what she's good at, and sometimes those things fall into alignment. ]

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[ His gaze would be flitting nervously if he had more regrets about his actions. His conduct following the mission had definitely left a lot to be desired, but deep down, it's hard to imagine things unfolding any other way. His priorities, Siffrin's. The fallout from both of their sides colliding. The inevitability of it lingers, a quiet justification that keeps his composure in tact.

So yeah, holding her gaze: no problem. It's high time to get around to what can be fixed or smoothed over though, that didn't involve folding one's convictions. ]

You aren't wrong. There aren't many others who could attract the kind of crowd you do. But once the establishment's found its footing, you shouldn't feel obligated to keep it going yourself. We've plenty of talented fighters who do enjoy the attention.

[ He tilts his head toward a screen in the corner of the room, where the current participants of an ongoing match are wearing broader smiles—he smiles wryly, in kind, and shrugs. ]

You know it as well as I do, don't you? That this isn't just a one- or two-month project. [ She knows her 'value,' she says, the word sinking uncomfortably in his chest. By 'other stuff on the side,' he wonders how much of that involves continuing trying to find her footing. ] You deserve to live in the better world you're working so hard to create as much as anyone else.

[bemist]

[ "You deserve to live" is such a strange statement to hear, even if it isn't the first time she's heard it. She can still remember that time in the Nevada desert with Elysium trying to point out that she could put herself out there more, give herself more of an opportunity to live that she hadn't before.

But what's the point, she thinks. She's never really going to be able to open herself up to things the way that Malkuth can, so excited to be living on her own terms, a whole new life. For every step Gebura does slowly try to take, it feels a bit like one foot sliding backwards, for one reason or another. This, at least, is familiar. Fighting is familiar. Keeping that distance is familiar, because she doesn't need to be close to be able to watch over others.

She's aware that she's been silent for too long. ]

Nothing will really change for me, but the world itself changing is good enough. I wasn't planning on doing this kind of fighting forever, just enough to get it off the ground and self-sustainable before I get back to the grittier problems.