Pascal

The Lesser Evils. (Play is live!)

Hey folks, hope everyone is enjoying their July! I am going to am amusement park next week and am psyched, even though it looks like it will be ungodly hot, haha.

If you have any questions about your posts, feel free to put them here or reach out to me or LadyAnnaLee directly. I reached out to them when u was doing my character post just to get a better idea of things Juni might see in the files.

The Lesser Evils. (Play is live!)

The one who was introduced as Cain asked a more personal question about The Detective, following up by asking the same of the rest of the group. Juniper would have considered that to be quite a personal question—one that required a fair amount of vulnerability. She was more likely to admit her sexual fetishes over talking about her abilities in conversation. Cain provided his reasoning for the question, which was sound. If they wanted to take care of this problem, they needed to be forthcoming with each other. And if he could truly emulate any of their abilities, they could potentially be a great deal stronger. And of course, the ability made a great deal of sense with him being Lesser Envy. Juniper found herself wondering if he grew depressed with himself when he wasn’t around others to emulate—if he felt like he wasn’t enough on his own.

Since he had taken the initiative of explaining his own ability first, Juniper felt a bit less hostile about potentially providing her own tidbit of information, after a few others jumped in as well. Setepenre could transform into and embody the notable characteristics of a lioness. Interesting, though she wasn’t sure how lions were particularly prideful. Actually, her thoughts jumped to Pride rock and she was somewhat sure that was related to the Disney movie the Lion King. A quick phone search revealed that was, in fact, the kingdom of the Lion. And wasn’t a group of lions called a pride? Still, those didn’t really seem to be entirely about being Prideful, so Juniper would have to wait to learn exactly why she was Lesser Pride another time.

Albert brought up a few questions and explained that he had the ability to create contracts. Juniper found it amusing. Of course someone embodying sloth would just write down contracts and make shit happen rather than actually doing anything himself. He also explained that he had a bed and breakfast just outside the city with a great deal of protection. That was pretty awesome. Juniper wondered how cute it was. Albert was dressed with a sort of eccentricity that led her to believe he would have quite an eclectic taste in décor for the bed and breakfast. She was always looking for neat places to go, as long as he didn’t make her sign any contracts before stepping foot in the place. Juniper was pretty shit at reading fine print. Sure, he provided an electronic version, could always control+f the thing for key words like ‘soul,’ ‘heart,’ ‘exchange’ that sort of thing. But thesauruses could be mighty weapons too, and she didn’t trust herself with such business.

Juniper accepted the folder handed over by The Detective, though she not-so-internally sighed that it wasn’t in the form of electronic files. Paper was so… bulky and ineffective. The answers from The Detective told her that these folks came to The City with a plan, and likely had a lot of things in place over the weeks before ever affecting The Detective. The Detective began to answer Cain’s question about their abilities, which was quite a trusting gesture. Juniper half-listened as she began flipping through the folders. She could also scan the documents into her phone with her camera app and then look through them electronically.

When she was addressed again a short while later, Juniper let out a thoughtful hum. “Maybe. I’m going to need a bit more time.” She fiddled on her phone as she spoke. “As for Cain’s question, I am a witch. I use some spells, mostly to alter myself in minor ways, or create some illusions, along with some basic healing and such. I can also make a person fixate on their guilty pleasures to the point of neglecting obligations or basic body functions.”

Putting her phone down, the display revealed a map app still up, with a couple of pins on it. “I didn’t see anything jump out in terms of age, gender, race, marital status or occupation.” Those were all the quick things to look at, basic one-word answers on the first page of each of the folders. “I started putting home addresses and work addresses in for each person, to look at where their paths might be crossing with each other. There are definitely some similarities, but I am not sure if it is a coincidence related to population density in general, or perhaps these people were targeted somewhere near their homes, at a grocery store, library, fundraiser event, whatever. I’ll need more time and maybe some of y’all who like reading long boring biographies can take a look at some of these, too.” Juniper slid the folders out in case other folks wanted to grab some and read through people’s backgrounds. She saved their names in her phone, and would look them up on social media while the conversation around the table continued.

The Lesser Evils. (Play is live!)

I hope to work on a post soon, but I had a drive tonight because I've got a funeral tomorrow. Then I have to drive a few hours back home.

The Lesser Evils. (Play is live!)

Sounds like a fun side adventure, haha. I love to do that, too. Like, "hmmm what else is going on in this world while our main characters are adventuring."

since I love movies....

The Lesser Evils. (Play is live!)

What do you mean?
@Zanavy

Edited to add: Oh do you mean if she brings her family to the bed and breakfast?

The Lesser Evils. (Play is live!)

Great posts, folks.

I am away from home and have to drive a few hours to get back, so Juniper probably won't get a chance to reply yet with her abilities, but I'll add it in to her next post.

I'm not sure we are going to have Aodh, the player hasn't been on the guild since before the Detective's last post. I hope they return!

The Lesser Evils. (Play is live!)

The chairs soon filled up, with the last arrival being a MILF-type who immediately got coffee and sat down with her massive mom purse. Juniper turned back to her phone as everyone was getting settled. She didn’t eat any more of the pastries, but she did sniff one of them and savor that for a few moments.

Juniper listened as the Detective began to speak, though her body language might not have communicated that the best. She continued to scrolls, tap, and type throughout the exposition.

Evil beings. Chaos and Destruction.

Sounded like a movie trailer. If the Detective had more of a melodramatic voice. In a City, filled with supernatural beings, a group of Outcasts are harvesting Innocent souls for ener-

Wait… really? Juniper looked up at the Detective. Interesting.

Guess that made them the rag tag group of heroes. Haha.

Juniper looked around the table, waiting for someone older and wiser to step in with a plan. But moments of silence were drawn out like molasses pours out of a bottle. And Juniper’s patience was wearing thin.

”So, can you give us the names of the Innocents? And what you know about them?” Juniper requested. She had already pulled up a few social media sites to try to figure out who these people were. If they couldn’t immediately find the Outcasts, perhaps it was better to learn more about their targets. Granted, Innocents probably didn’t have a very interesting social media presence, but no one else was jumping forward with ideas.

Before The Detective replied, Juniper’s mind was already moving on to the rest of the exposition, and what it might mean. Many beings sought Innocent souls, but others sought to corrupt them and then digest/absorb/enslave or whatever. Another angle in all of this would be to try to learn their motivation. Chaos and Destruction could be done by just setting fire to things, or cutting toxins into drugs and then letting the distributors take care of the mass murder. Since they wanted souls of the Innocents, then presumably there was something larger going on.

She found herself wondering what else had been changing in The City. She thought over recent trends. There was a somewhat disturbing trend on TokTiK about going out on dates and murdering your partner. There was a class action lawsuit about TenSecondHacks leading to more than 34 deaths by using electrical currents to burn fractals into wood. But that didn’t seem related specifically to this. Maybe some subliminal messages in adverts? Those would depend largely on which platforms these folks were using, and how long ago this started.

“When did you first notice you had difficulty with your abilities?” Juniper asked next. If she had a better timeline, then she could piece together any other concurrent trends that might be related. “And do you have a timeline for any of the events you know are related to these Outcasts?”

The Lesser Evils. (Play is live!)

Just a heads up, folks-- I am working on a post for Juniper. She is going to have some questions for the Detective to start us off.

The Lesser Evils. (Play is live!)

Overcast skies were surprisingly helpful for even lighting. Juniper’s vibrant blue(ish) hair was a stark contrast to the dreary day. She wore a pink lattice back cross crop top, jean shorts, oversized midnight blue suspenders and some midnight blue strappy shoes. She loved the sound the heels made when they clacked along the sidewalk and street. She had a small white backpack on her back, one of her favorite recent purchases, and it held most of her essentials—apart from her phone, which was of course in her hand.

Scrolling through the photo settings, Juniper examined her profile with various filters before making a few extra tweaks to the settings. She took a few pictures, shifting her pose and expression between each. After a dozen or so, she went into the album and critiqued them. She settled on her favorite, then added a caption.

#AsUniqueAsACloud. No… That wouldn’t work. It sounded weird.

#CloudyWithAChanceof … ugh…

#CloudyWithAChanceofChange? Too inspirational.

#CloudyAndRoudy But she wasn’t even dressed that scandalously.

Juniper took a break and searched cloud captions. She hated all of them.

#TheDayIsAsBeautifulAsYouMakeIt Okay… But kind of wordy.

#TheCalmBeforeTheStorm Ominous.

Juniper’s alarm went off. She swiped the notification of the meeting to the side and began walking down the street. She paid little attention to her surroundings, and instead continued to think about crafting the perfect caption. She alternated researching puns, rhymes, and cute quotes with looking at her picture and second-guessing her choice. Maybe she needed to start with her quote then come up with the picture to match.

She passed a mural on the wall and was inspired. Pulling up her livestream, Juniper looked over a few settings and plastered a huge grin as she started it up. “Hey all you Juni Junkies. I need your help.” She turned slowly, panning her camera so the mural could be seen.

“I came across this wonderful work showing a bunch of people in the community coming together to make something beautiful. And it made me think of my awesome junkies. Hearts!” She blew a kiss at the camera and continued.

“But in a few moments, I am going to post my most recent selfie, desperately in need of a Hashtag Caption. I can’t wait to read your suggestions, and my fav will get a Shoutout in my next stream. Thanks Junkies, and don't forget to Like, Comment, Subscribe, Boost, and turn on your notifications so you can be the first to get my next Junkie post!”

There. Problem solved. Juniper posted the selfie and briefly glanced at some of the comments that were already coming in as she continued along the main thoroughfare. Her phone buzzed again for her meeting. She looked up at the street sign. Still had plenty of time to get there. Actually, she could even stop and get coffee, she thought as she spied a sign for an adorable café. She would have to do a full review later. But for now, she could try something.

Juniper went up to the counter and ordered a Grande nonfat lavender latte with oat milk, plus a croissant, scone, and a biscotti. While she waited for the beverage to be made, she walked around the shop looking for the best table for the background of her picture. When she got her drink, she arranged each pastry in turn on the plate beside the drink. The biscotti looked the best. She took a handful of pictures, lamenting that they didn’t have a lavender cookie or sprigs of fresh lavender to adorn the plate. Fortunately, she whispered a few words and they appeared perfectly in place. Juniper waved away another notification for her meeting and took a few pictures.

After she was satisfied—or rather, her desire to show up to this meeting outweighed her desire to take more pictures in the coffee shop—Juniper took a few bites of a pastry, then took a sip of her coffee before throwing them all out. Lavender was such a strong taste.

There was a good reason that Juniper set her reminders for the meeting for every ten minutes from 9am to 10:20am. She could get distracted on the way by things like murals and coffee. Fortunately, she still made it to the hotel before 9:40, and there weren’t that many good photo opportunities with the horrible fluorescent lighting in the hallway. The lobby had been nice, though, and she took a few moments there to enjoy the scene before moving to the boardroom location that kept popping up on her notification bar.

”Morning!” Juniper said cheerfully as she entered the room. She saw the folks at the table, with a variety of anxious and anticipating expressions.

”I hope you don’t mind if I grab a pastry.” Juniper said to the Detective, who was the only one she recognized here, having met them prior to them. Juniper opened the boxes and spent more than a full minute looking over the different ones before she carefully made her selection. She helped herself to one or two from each box, and got a plate, then put them all in her spot. Like she had done at the coffee shop, she experimented with different combinations of pastries on the plate, taking a variety of pictures while basically ignoring the rest of the people in the room. Of course, she already did breakfast pastries today, so she couldn’t post this one right away.

Or could she…

#SecondBreakfastBestBreakfast #WhatAboutElevenses

There, nothing like a lively debate to keep the notifications rolling in. She finally relaxed in the chair, and picked up one of the pastries, taking a small bite of the claw shaped one with almonds and icing on top. She then tried a tart, but found it too tart and put it down quickly.

The Lesser Evils. (Play is live!)

Super excited to get started, folks!

I also wanted to let you know that I am sorry I didn't reach out to folks to establish connections between our characters. I LOVE collaboration, but my character is a bit younger than most of the others and pretty self-absorbed. I am just not sure she would have built up a rapport with anyone else yet.
Look forward to seeing the IC posts.

I know Juniper will take her time to get to the meeting, pausing whenever she has good lighting for some selfies.