ourearth: General Mod icon, shows Earth (Default)
Save Our Earth Mods ([personal profile] ourearth) wrote in [community profile] saveourearth2018-11-11 03:24 pm

Light the fires [Mingle]

Date: 2nd to 5th of November; backdated due to the Halloween mingle being too close by
Characters: Open!


2nd to 4th

Bonfire night approaches, and like every year, a large bonfire is set up on the Greens, as well as an impressive fireworks display, intended to happen on the 3rd. It's been advertised for a few weeks now, and many families, groups of teenagers, and just regular people are planning on going... And then it's abruptly cancelled at the evening of the 2nd. The official word on it is that some kind of safety regulations weren't met, and as this was discovered at the final security check, there is no time to fix them. Oddly enough, at the same time yellow signs go up near the Greens, reading:
Mossgate POLICE Working for a safer Mossgate
We are appealing for witnesses: Can you help us?
Police incident
An incident occurred in this area between 1pm on the 2/11 and 2pm on the 3/11.
In strictest confidence, plase phone
020787574
Did you see or hear anything?
Please call us
On the number above or at your local police station

...And the perceptive person might notice that there are a few oddities going on around town. For one, there is more police out in the streets than normal, constables nobody has seen before, too, and they are carrying guns. Why are they carrying guns? This is not the airport or central London! This is the first thing that really gets the rumour mill going.

The second thing is that the area that was fenced off so when fireworks and bonfire happened, only those who paid an entrance fee would be able to get close, is still fenced off despite the cancellation. And those who peer into the area will notice more police there.

And then, on the 4th of November, a few nondescript vans and a small nondescript lorry arrive at the parking lot at the bottom of the Greens, and some people get off. All of them wear civilian clothes. A few simply wander off into Mossgate, but the rest goes up onto the Greens. And some of those carry large suitcases that seem to be quite heavy. Too bad there's bushes and trees and it is impossible to see what they're doing at the place where the bonfire and fireworks were set to happen...

[ooc: There are a few dedicated open NPC toplevels below for people to investigate, as well as toplevels aimed at specific characters. If anyone has ideas for investigating that are not covered by the below toplevels and needs input, prod the mod contact thread on the last setting interactions post!]



5th

After the fireworks in Mossgate couldn't happen, it was decided to do them in one of the villages in Mossgate Council. Naturally, Folkton and Moss Manor both clamoured to get them. But after a few young men got into a fistfight about it and a nose was broken, Mayor Gary Russell arrived at the Salomonic decision of having the fireworks happen in Tarwich instead. They have a nice little park there, and the official reason for the decision is that it is closer to Mossgate town so it will be easier for people from there to attend. The real reason is of course to not take any sides in the village rivalry.

Tarwich, by contrast, is too young to truly have rivalries and there are no old families that could bring true patriotic pride into the mix. Nicely bland and harmless. An excellent middle ground.

So on the evening of the fifth, like every year, there are two massive bonfires in Mossgate council, one in Folkton and one in Moss Manor. Little fairgrounds have sprung up next to them - a children's carousel, a kiddie train, an ice cream van, one or two vendors that sell festival foods like candy floss (= cotton candy).

But unlike other years, there's a third event, and most unusually the location is the often-forgotten Tarwich: Carefully timed so that people can first go see the fireworks and then go to whichever bonfire they prefer, there is a very nice 30 minutes long firework taking place in Tarwich, just after nightfall. There are no carousels or ice cream vans here, but festival food is offered, too.
saveournpcs: (other)

Closed to Sam, Sadie and Walter

[personal profile] saveournpcs 2018-11-11 02:31 pm (UTC)(link)
On the 5th, Sadie, Sam and Walter are all individually called by the local police station and requested to come into the local constabulary within the week. Appointments can be made. They are told that there are a few follow-up questions to be asked about the suspicious man they saw back in late September - nothing to worry about, really.

When they get there at the agreed upon time, they are led into the little comfortable meeting room next to the super's office. Superintendent Mahira Khan is there, but she is not alone. With her are two people, one woman and one man, who are wearing civilian clothes, have notebooks with them, and look a tad bit exhausted. They smile when the newcomer enters the room, and all get up for a quick round of handshakes.

The Super begins. "Thank you that you could come, [ms/mr name]. I'm Mahira Khan, and these are Mr Burnbridge and Mrs Potter. They're colleagues from London who are following up on a series on incidents, and took an interest in your encounter in September." The man nods and takes over: "We don't know if it is connected at all, but we're trying to cast our net as widely as possible and your encounter with this unidentified man could potentially be relevant to the investigation that we are a part of. So we would really appreciate your cooperation in this matter."
saveournpcs: (Mahira Khan)

Resource: Police and related fields

[personal profile] saveournpcs 2018-11-11 02:33 pm (UTC)(link)
If your character wishes to investigate the matter in any way that would bring them into contact with the police force, the coast guard, the air force, etc., please comment here for interactions.

This includes but is not limited to the NPCs Mahira Khan and Stewart Fairhurst.
Edited 2018-11-11 16:15 (UTC)
saveournpcs: (Gary Russell)

Resource: Politics, administration, libraries, and related fields

[personal profile] saveournpcs 2018-11-11 02:37 pm (UTC)(link)
If your character wishes to investigate the matter in any way that would bring them into contact with the administration, politicians, libraries, etc., please comment here for interactions.

This includes but is not limited to the NPCs Gary Russell, Jane Astbury, Mary Saunders and Pat Marsh.
Edited 2018-11-11 16:14 (UTC)
saveournpcs: (Margaret Brassant)

Resource: Anything else

[personal profile] saveournpcs 2018-11-11 02:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Go wild! What connections does your character have that could be interesting? Please comment here if you wish to interact with an NPC contact that is not covered by the above fields. Feel free to contact Kira-mod to figure out the details of the NPC in question.

This includes but is not limited to the NPC Margaret Brassant.
Edited 2018-11-11 16:14 (UTC)
iamnotgod: Shade Over Face (What Did You Do To Me?)

[personal profile] iamnotgod 2018-11-11 03:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Walter's expression, in stark contrast to what happened on Halloween, is schooled, calm, and serious. Gone are the near-hysterical levels of stress, though he can heavily relate to the investigators' exhaustion.

"I understand, Mahira Khan, Mr Burnbridge, Mrs Potter. It is my intention to be as helpful as possible, and I will cooperate fully as I am able."
saveournpcs: (other)

[personal profile] saveournpcs 2018-11-11 04:18 pm (UTC)(link)
"Thank you." Mrs Burnbridge smiles and invites everyone to sit with a gesture, and once everyone is seated continues:

"Could you tell us anything you remember about this man you reported? Where you met him, what he looked like, what he said, anything at all that stands out about him? We've read the reports, but sometimes something new stands out or can be found if the story is told again."
dragoonrouge: (Sadie)

[personal profile] dragoonrouge 2018-11-11 05:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Sadie offers the Superintendent a nervous smile, rubbing her hands on her trousers as she looks between the two other people in the room.

"Sorry, I've, um, I've never had to do this before. I hope I can help." She tells them sincerely.
iamnotgod: A man, hands up at chest level, staring left and down (In The Dark)

[personal profile] iamnotgod 2018-11-11 06:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Walter nods before setting in on his even-paced recitation; even with as easily as he can recall what happened now, too much 'verbatim' would make his words sound suspicious - he's aware of that much.

"We - Sadie Moore and I - had been walking down High Street to stop in at one of the shops when we spotted the man poking the police tape. The trait most obvious to both of us at the time was that he was bald.

"We warned him about staying away from the site, and- he still kept that pointing finger up when he turned to look at us," he tangents, making a wry face, before settling back.

"Anyway, he turned, greeted us without introducing himself, mentioned being curious about the bomb - with a smile on his face like something out of a cartoon, and not from a friendly face. We confirmed that it was still unsafe to be near the bomb, and... he turned and left."

Walter sighs.

"He thanked us for the information, even. Said to 'have a splendid day.'"

On that last quote, he made an effort to imitate the man's accent and inflection.

"He must have gone off onto a side street afterwards; given he hadn't breached the tape and hadn't looked to be carrying anything to take under it, we didn't exactly have reason to chase him."

That and, more personally, they'd been distracted and distressed by the Echoes that had set in.
dragoonrouge: (Sadie)

Spy Time

[personal profile] dragoonrouge 2018-11-11 09:12 pm (UTC)(link)
Sadie had noticed the arrival in the Green car park as she had been walking Tigger at the time, watching from a distance as they carry the boxes up the hill. Going home, she decides to wait till four in the afternoon as it starts to get darker, dressing in darker clothing and makes her way to the Green, skirting around towards the top of the Green where the people were walking towards.

Silently moving through the trees, she tries to find a fir tree or a tree that had managed to retain its thick foliage just back from the tree line. Time to give it a climb to see what she can see, relying on her eyes to give her an advantage.
saveournpcs: (other)

[personal profile] saveournpcs 2018-11-12 05:33 pm (UTC)(link)
She finds a high sturdy tree where the greens end and turn into the military exercise grounds. Right next to a warning sign, the tree rises up and climbing as far as she dares gets her to a location where she can spot the area she's looking for.

A large tent has been built over the area that clearly used to be the location of the bonfire. Wood - presumably from the bonfire - has been stacked more or less neatly nearby, clearly removed form the area under the tent in a hurry.

Currently, there are three constables, two with guns, hanging out around the tent together with two people in regular clothes sitting leaned against large containers. There probably are markings on the containers, but a mix of the people sitting against them and foliage hides the markings from Sadie.

Will she continue to watch, and how long?
dragoonrouge: (Sadie)

[personal profile] dragoonrouge 2018-11-12 05:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Sadie ever so gently and carefully shifts to pull her phone from her pocket. Making sure to hide the screen inside her hoodie to stop the light from leaking out and giving away her position, she switches the GPS off and makes sure that the scree brightness is set to minimum.

With a press of a button she changes to camera mode and starts to photograph the goings-on on the Green, making sure to get pictures of the signs and short videos of the crates. Now all she had to do was wait for the people to move to see if she could get a better look at the containers.

Sadie beds in, she'd leave later at about half Eleven. Whatever was going on was important and she had already missed getting a look at whatever is under the tent by waiting for a safer time to arrive.
spaghettimonster: (HUMAN: SWEAT)

November 3rd - What About Halloween

[personal profile] spaghettimonster 2018-11-12 06:11 pm (UTC)(link)
Despite his words to Feste, Russell isn't really one for frequently going in search of authorities to ask them questions or give them info. If he ever learns that Sam Stone hadn't mentioned him, meaning he's saved from being called in for questioning as Sam, Sadie, and Walter will be...? He's going to owe that man a drink.

For now, though, between the mysteriously increased police presence all around town, the signs asking for info for some utterly unexplained situation with the fireworks, and the lack of official explanation given for that widespread Halloween prank... Well, it gets under his skin.

Russell heads to the police station to politely inquire at the front desk, with his mobile at the ready to show photos he shot from the sidewalk of the graveyard pranks. If anyone accepts taking a look at those pictures, there's also a couple photos of the bucket, apple, and the mystery mobile taken shortly before the graveyard shots.
warped_replica: Temp sketch icon (Human: Cover Neutral)

Library! November 4th at the public, and during the week at 6th Form

[personal profile] warped_replica 2018-11-12 06:40 pm (UTC)(link)
Having spent the day away in London with Sadie on the third of the month, it isn’t until the next day that Benjiro really has a chance to observe the yellow signs near the Greens for himself in the late morning along with the vans parked at the bottom. He had initially come out to Mossgate with another purpose, but his job hunt can wait one more day. He lingers only a matter of minutes near the Greens before heading back into town after snapping a picture of a yellow sign to send to his friends with Numbers. Observation of the activity at the Greens is not something he feels he can risk while trying to avoid more attention from the local police. Something already has them on high alert.

Instead, the teenager heads for the same place he frequents regularly on weekends: the library at the back of the Town Museum. Accessing the school library will be done during the week between classes to research the same lines of investigation.

Creating a mental list along the way, he gets to work as soon as he arrives with a warm greeting extended to familiar library staff. Benjiro begins the research with law enforcement structure in the UK with special attention to local structure and codes. He starts with books, but will branch into scanning for relevant connections with larger agencies in history or newspaper articles that might be available. With any luck, he might find what could spur the influx of outside assistance. After exhausting searches about law enforcement, he will take a left turn and deviate to local legends and conspiracy theories, once more looking to books before skimming in the archive.

He simply hopes he can get through it all before the library closes for the day.
Edited 2018-11-12 18:43 (UTC)
iamnotgod: A man, hands up at chest level, staring left and down (In The Dark)

[personal profile] iamnotgod 2018-11-13 02:44 am (UTC)(link)
Things Walter has a hard time dealing with: being having memories of being some type of digital intelligence.

Things Walter has not been doing all that much of: sleeping.

Things Walter is absolutely doing today: research!

That picture of the yellow sign is incentive enough for him to pursue some leads of his own - and those also require on-hand book and microfilm searching.

And so, Ben can spot a familiar face with several books to hand, though he is over by the computers while he's doing his work.
saveournpcs: (other)

[personal profile] saveournpcs 2018-11-13 07:02 am (UTC)(link)
There is quite a lot of material on law enforcement alone, and Ben won't be able to get through his planned areas in one day.

He'll notice this very quickly. For today, will he focus on law enforcement and potential connections to larger agencies, or will he focus on local legends and conspiracy theories?
saveournpcs: (other)

[personal profile] saveournpcs 2018-11-13 07:10 am (UTC)(link)
"Good morning," he is greeted by a constable sitting behind a desk near the public entrance door, a coffee in one hand and the other hand on a keyboard. "Welcome to the Mossgate Police Station." Which this is indeed. If one more person mistakes them for the pizza service next door, he IS going to throw this coffee or so help him.

"What seems to be the matter?"
saveournpcs: (other)

[personal profile] saveournpcs 2018-11-13 07:23 am (UTC)(link)
Once the people eating their snacks are done eating, they turn to playing cards, so nothing useful happens for a while...

And then, eventually, there's suddenly movement. On some form of command, the constables shift uncomfortably and withdraw some from the containers and tent, and the two people at the containers stand and throw the containers open - which Sadie observes, look very, very vaguely like some kind of high-tech fridges - and step away.

There are indeed warning signs on the walls of the "fridges", but they are quite small.
saveournpcs: (other)

[personal profile] saveournpcs 2018-11-13 07:26 am (UTC)(link)
"Don't worry, we don't bite," Mr Burnbridge jokes amiably. "Please, take a seat." They do so as well, and once they're seated, the woman takes over.

"It's not too complicated, really. We'd like to start with - could you please tell us what you experienced again? I know it's already been written down, but sometimes hearing it from the person themselves just provides new insights or clues. Anything that seems relevant - when, where, who, what did he look like, what was the overall situation on the street, were there other people, did you get the impression that he did feel specific emotions - anything you can think of, really."
Edited 2018-11-13 07:27 (UTC)
saveournpcs: (other)

[personal profile] saveournpcs 2018-11-13 07:32 am (UTC)(link)
"You say he was poking it. What was he doing, exactly?" The wording sounds like a turn of phrase to Mrs Potter when she read it in the documents, but it showed up again now. So perhaps there is more to it.

Mr Burnbridge leaves time for Walter to answer his colleague, and then asks: "Are you thinking of a specific show when you say that his smile looked like something out of a cartoon?"
warped_replica: Temp sketch icon (Human: Cover Neutral)

[personal profile] warped_replica 2018-11-13 01:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Information available online that he can read in depth later will be skimmed over to hasten the process, but he will focus entirely on law enforcement. The situation around town tips the scales to it, and he can read up on the conspiracies and local legends another time.
iamnotgod: A man staring slightly off-center, looking serious. (Let Me Explain You A Thing)

[personal profile] iamnotgod 2018-11-13 06:00 pm (UTC)(link)
"Exactly that," Walter says, holding up a finger of his own in an attempt to replicate the move.

"Like he was testing it for solidity or some such thing." There was no denying it was bizarre.

As for the second question, Walter makes a wry face - thinking through for a concise answer still takes less than a second, but the question still seems out-of-the-blue for him.

"Ever watched the Anna-Barb shows? It was like an expression the villain from the racing cartoon would make when he talked about his plans."

The only reason he knows them is because someone smuggled tapes of them round the university campus; there'd been lots of weird quirks like that going on, especially during finals weekends.
saveournpcs: (other)

[personal profile] saveournpcs 2018-11-13 06:00 pm (UTC)(link)
For the most part, Ben's search is uneventful. He does find a lot of information, including information on how the British police has worked with other agencies in history, but nothing stands out as connected to current events or Mossgate as a location.

By the time that the closing tannoy is made, his best finding is a newspaper article from the databanks of the local newspaper, concerning Mahira Khan becoming superintendent in Mossgate.

It's the usual small town newspaper clipping, half a page of rambling about the weather and who gave a welcome speech, but it also offers some information on the new arrival herself. Mrs Khan, one can learn here, will be the head of multiple police forces in southwest Kent. She became a constable right out of school, speaks fluent Russian and French, and used to work with a special police department in London. The department remains unnamed, and the journalist immediately moves on at this point to describe her physical appearance and how she is pretty beautiful, really. Apparently she has lived and worked abroad, and the article then segues into information about what jobs a can do abroad. It never returns to what Mrs Khan actually did there. The journalist probably didn't know.
runs: (forward and ahead)

5th - Tarwich Fireworks & Moss Manor Bonfire

[personal profile] runs 2018-11-13 06:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Kitty is at the fireworks and then Moss Manor bonfire, technically with ehr foster family, appreciating the view and stuffing her face. At first, it's with the help of a tenner that her grandmother gave her to have a nice evening, and then...

well. Numbered and other people she knows might find her showing up next to them and saying: "They have candy floss over there and it's only three pound! Do you have three pound?"
Edited 2018-11-13 18:11 (UTC)
saveournpcs: (other)

[personal profile] saveournpcs 2018-11-13 06:16 pm (UTC)(link)
"...Do you think he thought it was somehow equipped with an alarm?" Not that that would make sense, but what Walter describes makes no sense either. "Or perhaps that he was waiting for someone to come up and talk to him?"

Her colleague simply nods slowly. Okay. "Would you say he physically resembled that character as well in other ways than just the smile?"
scarsolderthanyou: (thinking)

[personal profile] scarsolderthanyou 2018-11-13 06:37 pm (UTC)(link)
"Sure," Sam answers with a shrug. "I'll tell you anything I can." Except what the man smells like, probably. He thinks that might not go over as well as everything else. "Not sure what else I can share, though. You got what I told the police officer, right?"

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