[b]Aphrodite Crisis Headquarters:[/b]

“They don’t tell us that.” Corday apologizes. “At least  officers on site. We have a police liaison but…” they trail off, spread their hands open helplessly. Which is their way of saying even if [i]our side[/i] wasn’t too busy, [i]their side[/i] is. “They’re so busy telling us what they need they won’t let us ask them for anything.” 

So, no. No ideas. 

[b]Apostle:[/b]

Junta doesn’t, because he can’t. 

Apostle reads the awkwardness and just gives a thumbs up. “Well, you know how to reach me. If he wakes up, just… do that. I’m going to go see if I can’t get a taxi through the mob. Uh. Yep.” 

They unfold themselves and creak, the commitment to the full light plates showing in how it restricts their movement getting up out of the chair again. “It’s fine, we can just do this with some more of your partitions next time. Uuuuh, do you have an ethics segment? I can probably be so abhorrent they’ll want you to do all the talking, that’d be fun.” 

One last awkward thumbs up, and they’re gone. 

And that’s it. Junta’s got no family to visit, 3V’s been up all night already and is still sleeping it off, York was going on behalf of the Anthrozine. He’s got more friends, of course he does, but ones that are close enough to his IRL to be able to visit him in hospital right now? Much narrower circle. Brown can just…

Zone out. 

[b]Fiona:[/b]

“Can’t use the speaker?” Fiona asks, adding her own inputs to the phone to make Pink’s emails autoplay when they ding. “That’s, we have a workaround. I take it the camera and microphone are working, at least?”

She makes an executive decision to unfasten Pink’s head off as quick as possible. She thinks about going back now, but decides it’s better to just be efficient and quick, without rushing. The better she does this, the more likely Pink comes out of it thinking it was worth it. She can’t make the good parts better, all she can do is minimize the time spent in the bad parts. 

“I think you just speedrun learning meditation. Was it like… Trying to hold still while being bitten by ants? Sitting on the edge of a cliff and feeling yourself start to fall over? Like you were trapped and alone in the middle of the universe?”

[b]Crystal:[/b]

Crystal: Just the proposal for now, my burning ray of sunshine. 
Crystal: Though I do mean for now. I would just rather not plan for a wedding until after she has said yes. 
Crystal: She will, of course. 
Crystal: She will.
Crystal: Just, it will already be enough heartbreak if she says no without having my heart set on everything that would have come next, you understand. 
Crystal: Though yes. That is also why I would like your help. Be as intense or as strange as you need.

She types and deletes about ten different things, reasons and explanations, but all of them feel too weak to admit. She would like Yellow’s help and that’s all it needs to be. 

[b]The Streets:[/b]

The colour groups spread out as planned. 

The first bit of resistance is the protests outside the castle green, but that skirmish is won on pure intimidation. Here the groups are all together, thousands strong and packed with photojournalists. 

The protestors try to form a satellite to stalk and jeer the main column, but the Ultimate Werewolf takes a few runners from Ares and Zeus teams and start to head towards them. The protest group takes a few steps back, and more, and begins its retreat when it’s made clear the strategy of kiting and aggressing from a distance isn’t going to work. A few of the Ares enforcers stay behind to watch to make sure they don’t try to approach again, make it clear they’ll get rolled if they do. 

Posturing, sabre-rattling? Sure, but it’s not bullshit bravado. Small groups like that act as nucleus sites to draw reinforcements to them. Overwhelm them now, there’s nobody to reinforce. 

It’s a needed and deserved morale boost, too. 

The crowd split up and branch through the streets as planned in their colour groups, trying to keep the marching pace just above a crowd coming out of a movie theatre - that’s fast when you’ve got this many people trying not to mosh each other, it’s good. Drones start flying up from the Apollo group to check for resistance up ahead and find movement, but it’s early days yet and it might just go as well as this first skirmish did. No way to tell. 

The question is, what are they supposed to do for the cops at the finish line?

[b]Chaka Zulu:[/b]

If the plan to tie up the police from the area would benefit from a slightly-drunk arms dealer sitting on her entire stash? White and Cyan have one here that might be about to owe them a huge favour.