1. Shooting, Beating, Stabbing

[tibbius]

Louis arrives about the same time as Angus, walking toward him, approaches the door of the Snakepit. It appears to be a herpetological café, where patrons can interact with the inhabitants of terrariums as they sip hot beverages. It also serves fried gator, proclaims a gaudy hand-lettered sign in the side window.

The sidewalks are becoming crowded as the two men see each other amongst the other people gathering. There are dozens of people standing around talking: "Can you believe this shit?" "Damned enforcers." "Wasn't even involved, just tried to talk to them." "They really gone too far this time." "All over some spray paint." "Why were they doing this in mid-afternoon?"

[thenewflesh]

Louis arrives at Crown and G around 12:30. He looks around for Clark, scanning the crowd for miscellaneous other familiar faces as he does so.

[BackworldTraveller]

Angus
Angus see Louis, and beckons him over...and then asks one of the "mumblers" what the mumbling's about - What have the blue-suits done now?

[tibbius]

"They beat up Stevie Luiz," a green-haired grandmother angrily tells Angus, "put her in hospital. All because of some kids tagging up the abandoned bank." She nods her head toward the boarded-up front of a Royal Trust building. Neon orange and blue spray paint marks a barely-started tag on the panelboard. "In broad daylight ... the cops pulled over and grabbed em, started roughing them, and Stevie stepped up and asked what was what. They beat her down so bad, I hear they fractured her jaw and her cheekbone."

[Lance]

Oops, sorry, too much work

Clark is nervously sitting at a meeting that proved pointless at minute 5, 15 minutes ago. He periodically checks his phone to see if the others found something.

[BackworldTraveller]

"They beat up Stevie Luiz," a green-haired grandmother angrily tells Angus, "put her in hospital. All because of some kids tagging up the abandoned bank." She nods her head toward the boarded-up front of a Royal Trust building. Neon orange and blue spray paint marks a barely-started tag on the panelboard. "In broad daylight ... the cops pulled over and grabbed em, started roughing them, and Stevie stepped up and asked what was what. They beat her down so bad, I hear they fractured her jaw and her cheekbone."

That's terrible! Did they say what had got them so mad? Anyone get pictures?

[tibbius]

"There's videos on Undertube and Yourstory. Hold on ... here ..." grandma fumbles with her phone, gets a video up. It buffers for a couple of seconds "Discount senior plan, my connection's crap" then reveals a shaky, fuzzy handheld view of a woman being knocked to the ground and beaten by three uniformed officers with their backs to the camera. The video runs about ten seconds before a fourth officer appears from the left, yelling. The fourth officer lunges toward the camera, and the view spins around as the videographer starts sprinting up the street. Voice-over "I'm being chased by a cop now ..." The camera shows a glass door, held open by someone with a concerned look. Then dodging tables through a café full of alarmed customers. Then the video cuts.

[tibbius]

Clark's phone dings. It's a text from Linda with a link to Undertube. Does he open it in the meeting?

[BackworldTraveller]

"There's videos on Undertube and Yourstory. Hold on ... here ..." grandma fumbles with her phone, gets a video up. It buffers for a couple of seconds "Discount senior plan, my connection's crap" then reveals a shaky, fuzzy handheld view of a woman being knocked to the ground and beaten by three uniformed officers with their backs to the camera. The video runs about ten seconds before a fourth officer appears from the left, yelling. The fourth officer lunges toward the camera, and the view spins around as the videographer starts sprinting up the street. Voice-over "I'm being chased by a cop now ..." The camera shows a glass door, held open by someone with a concerned look. Then dodging tables through a café full of alarmed customers. Then the video cuts.

As I have a lot of contact with the local police, do I recognise the form of any of the mugging crew? Or the chaser?

[tibbius]

Angus doesn't know the chaser's name by sight, but he recognizes the face, and the tag on the uniform reads Macav-.

[Lance]

Clark's phone dings. It's a text from Linda with a link to Undertube. Does he open it in the meeting?

Clark double-checks that his phone plays no audio, then hits play.

Assuming it's the same video, he will try to recognise any faces, be they police or civilian.

[BackworldTraveller]

Angus doesn't know the chaser's name by sight, but he recognizes the face, and the tag on the uniform reads Macav-.

Drat, There's no one like Macavity.
OK - So lets all run round to the police station and ask for Macavity? Nope, not sensible and anyway, Macavity's not there.

I don't suppose this Macavity character is actually a police officer rather than a stand-in?

Louis, I wonder if anyone has images of these police before or after...You know, check what they look like away from the scene. But we'll have to be very careful. They know anyone's looking and it's the Hospital or Morgue for us. I never really fancied a reprise as a not-quite-alive type! Sandwiches or Soup?

[tibbius]

Clark tries to look interested in the meeting while viewing his phone under the table. The video is grainy and shaky. It's a woman being beaten to the ground by police. Then an officer starts chasing the videographer.

"Hey," Jessie hisses in Clark's ear, "is that the Luiz video?"

[Lance]

"Hey," Jessie hisses in Clark's ear, "is that the Luiz video?"

Clark takes a moment to answer. "Yeah, but I couldn't tell if it didn't have it in the title."

[tibbius]

"That's some wack shit," Jessie murmurs. Her breath is warm; she's a person who seems to not really understand personal space.

"Hey," says Dion, turning his full attention to Jessie and Clark. "What do you think about the numbers from the last slide, Clark?"

[thenewflesh]

Louis is off in a world of his own. "Very gnarly," he says at last, "very gnarly indeed. I'll check online for references to the events. Feeding videos like these into res-heighteners to pick up some of the grained-out details is a fifty-fifty affair, but maybe it'll work this time. And I'll take the soup."

He waits till most of the food's on his table and some of it's in his stomach before he properly looks up at Angus. "So, any new developments on the case?"

[Lance]

"That's some wack shit," Jessie murmurs. Her breath is warm; she's a person who seems to not really understand personal space.

"Hey," says Dion, turning his full attention to Jessie and Clark. "What do you think about the numbers from the last slide, Clark?"

Clark looks up, annoyed "I told you, the numbers are totally preliminary. DevOps was very confident in them, but they're still mulling over the specifics. They could go up by as much as 50%. Or that's what I've been told."

[tibbius]

"Ok," Dion answers. "So you'll circle back to DevOps and get a straight answer by when? Let me know later." He continues the presentation.

"Aren't you a Luiz supporter?" Jessie asks, still overly close. "You gonna get out in the street?"

[Lance]

"Ok," Dion answers. "So you'll circle back to DevOps and get a straight answer by when? Let me know later." He continues the presentation.

"Sure thing." Clark smiles. He doesn't add that this was known before the meeting was even planned.

"Aren't you a Luiz supporter?" Jessie asks, still overly close. "You gonna get out in the street?"

"First chance I get."

[tibbius]

This is kind of a cattle call / status post to organize things in my head.

We have Louis and Angus sat down to lunch in a snake pit while a street protest simmers outside.

Clark has just left a meeting, about an hour earlier. It's around his lunch time. What's he do now?

Shift has been visiting murder site. It's early afternoon. What's he do now?