#dirum consecutia

[greenhorn-turk]

It was cold. So cold that the part of Elena’s brain that would usually be swearing up a storm was frozen and no longer functioning. Instead she was bundled up in three sweaters, her coat, two scarves, earmuffs and gloves, and clutching a cup of coffee like it was a lifeline. She wondered if her hand would survive away from the heat of her travel mug long enough to send Tseng a text requesting that it be put in her employee file to never send her to the frigid dark north ever again, ever.

There was an impressive number of Shira employees out and about, some even seeming to enjoy the cold, throwing snowballs or talking about snowboarding, but Elena was not here to play. She stomped into the local inn, grumpily shaking snow out of her hair and boots and thanks Ifrit’s shaggy dick for the crackling fireplace against the wall as she scanned the room.

“Alright, it’s me, your friendly Turkcicle babysitter. Can everyone I’m supposed to keep an eye on just line up in front of me? It’s too damn cold for me to pretend to be sneaky and go tracking anyone down out in the subzero wilderness so I will pay for all your hot beverage needs if you just stay inside.” 

[greenhorn-turk]

“YOU THREE! GET THOSE PEOPLE AWAY FROM THE RUBBLE UNTIL THE ENGINEERS GET HERE! YOU! STOP STARING WITH YOU MOUTH OPEN AND START CORDONING OFF THE AREA!” Elena charged through the the smoke and dust, bellowing in the Command Voice she’d learned from watching her father, ignoring the blood trickling down the side of her head and the ringing in her ears. More than a few people were heavily injured, or in shock, staring blankly into space. 

For her, the need to get things done pushed out any sense of panic or surprise. Those things could wait until later. right now, the injured who could be moved needed to be carried out of the way, a makeshift infirmary needed setting up with whoever had any first aid training to help, dangerous areas needed to be blocked off, emergency lights passed out, contact with the outside established, and someone had to organize this bee hive that had been knocked out of its tree. Currently, Elena hadn’t seen anyone who outranked her, and she wasn’t about to wait until someone showed up.

She stuck two fingers in her mouth and whistled sharply. “I want any and all witnesses lined up to the left!” She hopped up on a chunk of fallen wall in the middle of the room and pointed to a clear spot. “You!” She pointed at a grunt already holding a light who looked confused as to what he should be doing, “Take down their contact info! I want a clear picture of what happened here in one hour! Sunlight better not hit this place before I have something worth reporting to Tseng, you got that?” 

She hopped down from her position and coughed, the air still acrid with smoke, and felt a wave of dizziness wash over her that she fought to keep at bay. Later was the time to be injured. Not now. 

[greenhorn-turk]

The mood underneath the plate was about what Elena had expected it to be. Less large angry crowds of protesters, and more hushed whispers in doorways. The people here were more cautious than up top--hunkering down like animals sensing a large storm. Sure, there were plenty who hated Shinra, but unlike the city proper above the plate, there were to security personnel to form picket lines and enforce barriers between passersby and protesters, no ambulances to come rushing in if a riot broke out, no insurance to cover a shop owner who got looted or a homeowner whose hovel got trashed. 

The ability to go wild was a privilege of the wealthy and protected.

That didn’t mean there were no signs of trouble though. No one dared spare Elena friendly wave, even though she passed a few familiar faces--no one wanted to be friends with Shinra today. There were a few people obviously sniffing around for trouble, pestering people on the streets, young kids holding signs gathering in alleys, likely meeting up down here before heading up top to join the fray.

But Elena didn’t see anything overt until she got close to where Zack had taken out his target--there was a small very sour-faced crowd gathered around a single girl, who at first appeared to be trying to sell something. It wasn’t until Elena got closer and could hear clearly what the Wutaian girl was saying that she knew she’d found a potential fire that needed to be put out. She eased her way through the onlookers, up to the front of the circle.

[greenhorn-turk]

[DiCon] ;; You successfully manage to lose the trailers but you can hear them speaking to one another not far away. They're talking about taking out the turks.

Elena flicked open her phone, shooting off a quick text to the other Turks

[Text; Send to: Reno, Rude, Tseng] Careful, Turks being targeted. Tailed en route to S4 slums. 

She slid the phone back into her pants pocket and kept on her way to the train station. If there was trouble to found, it would likely be down there, rather than up here. She wondered if her tails were even part of the protest group, or just thugs from the underground, hoping to take advantage of the current uproar to cause trouble for the Turks without their bosses taking the heat. It seemed more likely than simple civilians thinking they could go toe-to-toe with someone actually trained in combat.

[greenhorn-turk]

[DiCon] ;; You're being followed, you don't know by who but they don't look friendly. Someone must've seen you on the street that day chasing someone. Or maybe they're jumping to conclusions.

Elena could almost roll her eyes. The gall some people showed--she hoped this was an out-of-towner, brought into the city by all the chaos, and not a Midgar native dumb enough to try to tail a Turk.  

Especially this Turk. She knew every street of this city like the back of her hand, the twisting warren of the slums included. Not that she thought she’d need them--it'd be easy enough to shake most pursuers by simply continuing towards her destination--the Central Pillar Transit Line. It was always packed to standing room only this time of day. The sheer number of commuters from below the plate made it the worst trip to and from work in the world, and while Elena could take the quicker, restricted-access service route, then she’d lose out on the chance to see what her little tail might be up to, or who they were. Plus it was easy enough to just slip off her suit jacket and blend in with the crowd, perhaps spot some familiar faces (pretty much a guarantee, with her), and get the gossip that was going around en route to the slums. 

Elena casually slipped out of her sleeves, careful not to tangle herself up at any point and make an opening. It was just a matter of if this little tail was going to make a move before she got too close to the crowded station.

[greenhorn-turk]

[dicon] Murderers! Monsters! Where's our justice!? What about their families!? Names! Give us names!

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Elena mostly just ignored the protesters as she made her way past the picket line to be able to head down to the slums. These people--shouting at Shinra calling them murderers while relying on them for power, jobs, everything basically, and foaming at the mouth ready to turn into a lynch mob at the hint of a name. Would they even bother looking into whether it was even remotely true or not? Or just pounce?

Elena was willing to bet on the latter. One thing she’d learned fast growing up, is that there were no good or bad people in the world. Just predators and prey.

[greenhorn-turk]

The whole city was like an overturned anthill, everyone swarming the streets, biting and stinging at anything that moved. What a mess. 

Elena wondered what the company was going to do about this. At the rate things were escalating, waiting it out until the general public lost interest might not be an option. Especially if someone added fuel to fire by putting a scapegoat out there for the crowd to tear to shreds. Well the wrong scapegoat. A well-chosen one could give the hungry masses something to chew on without doing much damage to Shinra, but in the meantime they needed to make they knew everything they needed to know about their current at-risk employees.

Elena had two people to track down today--luckily she knew both their schedules, and could corner them quickly. The faster she spoke to them and got back to her boss, the sooner they could figure out their next move.

“Morning!” She waved at the first she found. “I hope I didn’t catch you when you’re busy, but it’ll just be a bit. I’ve a few things to confirm before I can let you go about your day in--well, perhaps not ‘peace,’ considering the traffic out there.”