[center][h1][color=a0410d][b][i]Katherine Bellows[/i][/b][/color][/h1][/center]
[center][color=a0410d]Quinta District - Southern Side of the Wall[/color][/center]

The morning dawn...

Last night had been tricky, but somehow, she managed.  Many had gone to the theatre to see the show...but no matter how light-hearted or compelling they made it, Kate never liked the story.  One onset of tragedy, and she was out the door, to be hunched over some notes so she wouldn't have to think about-  What was she doing again?  Oh, right!  The project!  As you would in a town like Quinta, there are plenty of those who know at least something of everybody else, assuming they've been here a while.  Such was the case with her, 'That Bellows Girl'.  Bit of a notoriety, but not the way you'd think.  Mostly, when someone gains that kind of attention, they'd be in a gang or generally causing people trouble.  Not the case with Kate, who really made trouble for trouble[i]makers[/i] than anything.

She liked the Guard.  They were nice to her.

It was hard to really [i]know[/i] Kate because she didn't share.  Those she had opened up even slightly to, they could tell that she was forcing it out because she wasn't good with people, hadn't been for years now.  Those that knew...and they were mainly adults...sympathized, and didn't spread it around, out of respect or maybe...fear?  It was hard to say, considering what her mother did.  It was contraversy, back then, but it'd died down, leaving a young girl trying to find her way through a maze that was both this town and her own mind to see this world anew.

Her projects were part of how she coped.

You see Kate sometimes, maybe perched on someone's roof or something similar.  She's just there, no explanation.  Even if you ask for one, you might get something like "I was trying to get the angles to match.", which generally got her shouted at to get down from there.  See what I mean?  Notoriety, but for different reasons.  Katherine was known to get into fights because there were people she objected to.  If you caused people pain, she couldn't stand you.  The last time an unruly adult reached for her, there was biting involved, and her fights seemed to be more like routine to her exercises, than anything, as though she were preparing for some [i]other[/i] activity.

And she [i]was[/i].

It'd taken time and effort, loads of shadowing the movements of the Guard, the craftsmen, borrowing bits from home, and doing ALOT of calculations.  Her notebook was FILLED with illustrations, figures, angles, math...  A truly chaotic mind had written all this down and kept it with her.  It was part of how she dealt with life, and part of how she learned.  Today, she was going to learn how it felt to be on top of the Wall.  'That's absurd', you'd say.  The gear needed to get up there is only available to certain people, and they're all registered.  And that was all true.  [i]However[/i], the innovative mind - once properly motivated - can conceive of a device capable of delivering one there.  It is possible for one, careful and quick, to secure a length of rope, a pipe, a grappling hook, a base, cloth for wadding, and - the trickiest part of all - gunpowder.

It all added up to her on the roof of one of the edge buildings, early in the morning, gleefully putting together this creation of hers.  This was going to be dangerous and loud...but it could [i]also[/i] be worth the effort.

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[center][h1][b]Myra Bellows[/b][/h1][/center]
[center][i]Quinta District - Central Area, North of the Outer Gate[/i][/center]

Katherine wasn't the only one who woke with the dawn.  The restless do not sleep easily, and her mind was abuzz with activity most of the time.  Getting up was only a trial to those who made it so.  For her, it was a matter of clothes, glasses, pull the hair into a bun, breakfast-  Hold it.  Some food was missing from the pantry.  Most people would be wondering if they'd been robbed.  Not Myra.  At least, not until the evidence coalesced into form.  To her mind, the disturbance was of that same mad dashing energy of her daughter, not the stealth quiet of a thief who snuck away, so as not to alert the people in the house.  She had special locks that only she and Katherine knew how to work, anyway.  Myra Bellows was an innovator, a creator and implementor of ideas.  She was noted for improving the lives of many, fighting for the right to additional defenses of the wall, and [i]murder[/i].

The murder charge always got people, but they understood.

The point is that she knew her daughter was already out, so as she sat and ate while looking over her notes, the only reason she called out [b]"Katherine, have you been in my notes again?"[/b] was because she'd actually [i]forgot[/i], as it was ejected from the forefront of her mind.  Eccentric brains were like that, sometimes.  She stepped out of the house, journal in hand, ready to face the day.  Today, she was going to put those religious nuts in their place, once and for all.  The military was going to [i]flip[/i] at some of the ideas she had today.  The Survey Team might even make some REAL progress.

They might even like this claw thing Katherine came up with.  Where was she, anyway?