Ex parte

[viditlibertas]

Who: Al Saiduq (NPC version), generic NPC civilians, and you!
Where: Libra Ward, anywhere within it.
Summary: There still seems to be some civil unrest in Hinoto-Ri. You may want to help that floating albino guy deal with it...
Warnings: Possible discussions of the Anoli attack, NPCs being NPCs.

Saiduq was not one who...walked. He could do the motion like most other humanoid-beings, but it felt awkward and unnatural to one who was not beholden to gravity. If he wanted to go from point A to point B, he teleported, or flew. That was it. Even Hinoto-Ri hadn't given him a need to alter that pattern.

Apparently that had drawn the ire of a few people, however, given he'd been all but dragged in to an anti-Guests conversation. And yet, despite the nature of the conversation, he didn't seem aware that his hovering and curious, neutral speaking tone were just irritating the citizens even more. If anything, he just seemed to grow even more confused as the civilians grew more aggravated. Dare you get involved?

((If you tag in, we'll set up the overheard conversations. So, please wait for both the NPC and this account to tag before responding!))

Comments

NPC get together?

[firstofthefallen]

Ah. There you are.

Louisa had been looking for Saiduq since her arrival. Truth be told, it had been annoying that she'd been unable to find him until now. A bit even more so since he seems to be so engaged in discussion with the inhabitants of the city. Well. Discussion, perhaps, was a bit misleading; to say he was standing there (floating there, truth be told) and doing his best to calm the people without understanding their feelings entirely would be more appropriate.

Louisa was one to talk. She wasn't a pinnacle of understanding man herself. But she could see where Saiduq might be erring at the moment. She thinks about leaving it at the moment, and leaving him to his discussion with the rabble, before finally stepping in.

"My, is there a problem?"

[hinoto_npcs]

"Of course there is!"

The one who spoke seemed to be the 'leader' of this little unhappy rabble. A young man, barely in his twenties, with a stubborn set to his jaw and firmly squared shoulders. His face was a bit red, probably from his increasing frustrating with Alcor, and gestured a bit violently.

"It's about time the citizens of Hinoto-Ri got answers - and I mean the true citizens! Like the ones who were born here!"

[justanothermachine]

While Rock was still learning some of the intricacies of human behavior, he at least knew enough to realize that this weird hovering guy's methods weren't doing him any favors with the locals.

Maybe this guy knew what he was doing? Maybe he didn't. With all that was going on, though, trying to lower the frustration level was probably a good idea. So he goes up to Saiduq, and lightly tugs on his sleeve. "Hey, mister...?"

[hinoto_npcs]

Sadly, Rock's voice was drowned out by one very irate sounded teenager, who had clearly been worked up into a right state. Seems his sneaky appearance was so far either ignored or unseen. "It just isn't fair! We're struggling to get enough housing and food - and all the visitors are getting it for free!"

[awww_yeeeeeaaaah]

...Uh oh. He was far enough away from the crowd to not catch what was being said, but it looked like Saiduq was about to get into some trouble or...something. So, at first, he walks over to quietly pull him out of a jam.

Unfortunately, the closer he gets, the more snippets of conversation he hears and the more uneasy he gets. It was becoming more and more obvious that Saiduq probably just stumbled upon something already happening and, honestly, the theme of it was pretty familiar to him...

What to do...

[hinoto_npcs]

"What is it about the Visitors that make them a higher priority than us?!" the ringleader of the group was yelling, gesturing very passionately as the crowd behind him murmured in loud agreement. "All of the jobs, all of the housing, all of it is being pushed to them, while most of us are barely scraping by, homeless, and starving!"

[ghost_shield]

Hmmm.

Seems like things are getting a little firey around here. That's no good. He wonders if he should get involved in this. Still, he supposes it couldn't hurt to try, right?

"Excuse me, folks, what seems to be the problem here?" he asks, looking around, his posture in as non-confrontational a fashion as possible.

[hinoto_npcs]

“The problem?” the ringleader snapped, turning upon the newcomer instantly. “The problem are people like you! You’re one of the visitors, aren’t you?! You’re the cause of all the trouble in the city!”

[lighter_flick]

If there was one thing that Tatsuya became really really good at during the course of his adventure, it would be eavesdropping on other people's conversations. You kind of HAD to do that while listening for any potential rumors, plus he put in a decent amount of effort to not be noticed by other people.

The latter, of course, rarely worked for him, being almost six feet tall and having a noticeably pretty face, but hey, details.

[hinoto_npcs]

“-and you’re all doing nothing!”

The woman sounded distraught, but even despite her obvious grief, her voice was strong with righteous fury. A few people murmured in mutinous agreement, shifting angrily as the woman wiped at her eyes and continued, her voice snapping like a whip.

“My- my husband died in that attack! All because the visitors were there! It, the Anoli never would have attacked us if the Mayor didn’t think- the visitors were supposed to help defend us, but they just made the entire situation worse! And now they’re just doing nothing?! Where is the justice in that?!”

[greatseal]

This whole situation doesn't look good to Minako, but she doesn't immediately engage the crowd. Instead, she moves around the edge, trying to get a feel for the conversation while getting closer to the mysterious floating guy. He was pretty obviously a Visitor himself, although she'd never spoken to him before.

[hinoto_npcs]

“What is it that makes the visitors so special?!” the ringleader was demanding, backed with a very angry sounding crowd. “Is it just because you all have Persona? That doesn’t make you any better than the Anoli!”

[andcarryabigknife]

Gale didn't want any trouble, really. He only wanted to ask the strange young man how he was floating like that, without any visible wings. Alas, with his clothes, his hair and his eyes, he stood out maybe a little too much...

[hinoto_npcs]

“You’re all just swanning about like celebrities!” a young teenager was yelling. “All, with your freaky abilities and – and I even saw some tentacle freaked visitor killing people at the stadium, like, decapitating them and hauling off their skulls! Do we really want to live with people like that?!”

[linefacingforever]

Yu was pretty sure he would have been able to hear the commotion even if he was inside the house instead of poking around the garden, checking to see if the soil would be okay for growing later in the year, despite having changed locations. He craned his head around, curious as to what was getting so many people that annoyed, but he couldn't see anything from his vantage point. He glanced back down at the dirt, noticing a bug starting to wriggle its way out of the dirt. He debated for a moment (that bug would have made good fish bait...), before finally, carefully standing up, brushing the dirt from his pants and stepping out onto the sidewalk, looking around for the source of the complaining.

[hinoto_npcs]

“They’re a menace, that’s what they are!” a loud voice yelled, a small crowd centring around Alcor. “They’re the cause of the attack on the stadium! All those people died because of them! And what happens? The government gives them whatever they want – whatever you want!”

[determinedhowl]

He'd just been wandering the town, minding his own business and being worried for those who'd vanished when suddenly a lot of people arguing and near-riot conditions. Guys seriously what is going on? What did he wander into and why does he have a bad feeling about this?

Yeah, he's just gonna listen and maybe record audio if he can...figure out how to do that again. ...Yeah. Wait, was that guy floating?

[hinoto_npcs]

“We want answers!” a young woman was shouting. “Why is it that only you are getting benefits and help?! We’re all struggling here, we’re open to attack by the Anoli, and, and you’re all just playing around, as if our city was your personal playground?!”

[whereibelong]

She was beginning to regret coming to visit Libra ward, no matter how stir-crazy she had been. This... had been exactly what Xion was terrified would happen. Ever since she'd heard the Anoli leader's speech, blaming the Visitors for so much of what had happened...

She isn't good at public speaking, and she's especially not good at defending herself (you would have to think yourself worthy of defense for that), but she's keeping an eye on the conversation for now. The person they were talking to... he seemed to be a visitor and maybe if things started risking getting too out of hand she should help... though with her arm still immobilized (and the other holding an umbrella) she'd probably be restricted to defensive spells.

At least the umbrella would work as a decent medium? Insert witty commentary about Days joke weaponry here.

[hinoto_npcs]

“Some people don’t even have enough money for housing or food!” the ringleader was yelling, jabbing a finger dangerously in Saiduq’s direction. “And yet the visitors get everything they could possibly want just by existing?! Where’s the justice in that?!”

[jumyouboshi]

Meanwhile, sitting on top of a nearby building, is another albino, watching...himself? Apparently so. He pressed a hand to his mouth, waiting for the humans to disperse. They always did. Somehow.

Granted, he did think to help Saiduq deal with the situation (it seemed that he was trying to clear those humans' doubts, but when it came to clearing doubts, he knew more than anyone else that that was not his forte), but thought it would do more harm than good. Saiduq's mere existence already caused them to harass him, and Alcor's presence would surely bring up even more questions and raise what seemed to be already high tensions. Humans tended to fear what they didn't understand, and with fear came anger (and in more extreme cases, conflict and bloodshed). He couldn't blame them, really, but...

If it ever came to that, he knew Saiduq could easily escape, or deal with it as needed. They could only hope it didn't come to that. And upon overhearing more of the conversations and arguments (that hit a bit too close to "home" for his taste), the thought of such paths they went down in crossed Alcor's mind once more.

Alcor simply sighed, watching the crowd below, waiting for a certain someone, as he always did. Distant yet not quite so. He was patient, if anything. Very, very patient.

[viditlibertas]

In the end, the crowd turned violent. He'd waited until the very last second to bail, but did so before a bony fist could attempt to crush itself in his face. He had no concerns over pain of course, but that didn't mean being a proverbial punching bag would have been pleasant.

He knew who was around, and knew to teleport himself just a few feet behind Alcor. As he walked towards the edge, he could make out the shapes of the confused citizens dispersing, probably seeking to find him, or going to boil off their rage some other way. Only then did he truly feel disheartened by the incident.

"...I wonder about the fate of this world."

That mankind could be brought to this point, even in a universe that seemed free of the problems he had seen so many times over...there was a sobering sort of infinity in man's patterns.

"And of them, as a species."

[capitalbackup]

It's not difficult for Miyako to notice the commotions, or for her to sensed a very familiar presence.

Her first instinct was to turn around and walk away. However, that would mean missing out on potential information. Miyako walked a little closer to the crowd, listening to the heated discussion (if you can call it that) without a word.

[hinoto_npcs]

"-why is it we let them roam the streets freely?!" the ringleader was shouting, waving a hand as if to gesture to Hinoto-Ri as a whole. "The stadium showed that they're dangerous, and... in return, the government continues to reward them and give them resources we natives need?!"

did somebody say NPCS

[bestrpgmerchant]

"Ha ha ha."

Don't mind the low chuckle from the edge of the group- it seems this masked man finds this whole situation quite amusing, to say the least.

"I've never seen so many NPCs in one place! Not that I'm not one either, ha ha ha...really, let's see if the conditions are switched for the protagonists after this little spiel."

NPC PARTY

[hinoto_npcs]

"Hey! What are you laughing at?!"

The masked merchant seemed to have drawn the ire of the crowd! Saw it a mile away. Of course the ringleader pounces on it.

"Are you amused by our suffering?!"

[meaningdies]

Naoya spotted Alcor, and wandered towards him. He really hadn't spoken to the star much, but he seemed to be a bit... trapped at the moment.

He should probably attempt to calm the crowd. Hm.

[hinoto_npcs]

Unfortunately for Naoya, the ringleader was whipping the crowd up into a proper frenzy.

"What is it that makes the Visitors so special? The fact that they have Persona? The fact that they have weird, dangerous powers?! How is this fair? What about the natives of this city?"

[gigglesnortpriestess]

It seemed like everyone was feeling the tension in the city today and all of it could very well explode at any second. Yukiko was just on her way to see someone in Libra when she heard the 'discussions' going on.

Oh no...this doesn't sound good at all.

[hinoto_npcs]

"How do we even know if these 'Visitors' are even safe?!" the ringleader of the group was asking, his voice rising over the crowd. "You saw how dangerous they were at the stadium! Who knows what kind of monsters they were in their own worlds!"

[operationbox]

Ah, some civilians were talking with... Saiduq? Good for him, he's actually talking to people!

...Wait, no, they look angry. That doesn't look like a good thing.

[poorlittleblueburdie]

*heading down the sidewalk, his cloak-thing pulled around him... on his To Do list is to go to a grocery store for more blood from the meat department and ice cream and he spots this?*

....

*those feathers on his wings floof a bit as some of the discussion reaches him, and he pauses right there to listen further, taking another few slow steps after a moment. This couldn't be right. He'd heard of no such problems in the Citadel; his clan worked pretty closely with the humans to make sure they were all cared for, so to find that needs weren't being met here.... Even when they were slaves under Raziel's clan, he and the other humans never wanted for anything. How was this even--?*

*he'd heard most of this, back at the tournament's closing ceremonies... but he'd well enough forgotten about it during the chaos that followed, in favor of more immediate concerns, like worrying over the people in the hospital. But this reminder... he needed it, it seemed.*

*another step or two closer -- the problems with the people being poor, without housing and enough food, the unequal treatment of the native citizens, versus the visitors like him... was there anything else he ought to overhear? Would they notice and turn on him there as well?*

[hinoto_npcs]

"Why is it that the government thinks it can get away with mistreating its citizens like this?? Why is it that we've been forgotten and thrown away like yesterday's trash?? What about the children!! We can't afford to feed our own children, the ones who were born and raised here, when the visitors are taking up all of the jobs and resources for themselves!"

The crowd lets out another angry roar at the point the ringleader is making, screaming about starving kids and families being put out on the streets.

[travelingtheworlds]

Sasha was just going about her business when she stumbled more or less right into the thick of that angry mob. Something was amiss, very much so. This kind of heated discussion tended to fall into the category of one of those Big Events that her employers loved so much, so she took out her trusty notepad and began writing what she could overhear. Something about not everyone getting their supplies... something about the visitors being dangerous... something about general distrust... man, this didn't sound good. Sasha was one of those people who couldn't stand the thought of being disliked by a group of people. Hopefully no one would bother her as she slunk through the crowd, notebook in hand...