estdeus_innobis | I predict a riot.

“The silence often of pure innocence persuades when speaking fails.”
- Shakespeare

Monday lunchtime, near the sheriff's office, on Main Street

This has proved almost too easy. The clouds are rolling in, air heavy with the promise of rain, and I stand in my Danika body wearing an old coat with the collar turned up against the cold, jacket short enough to show a few inches of a tidy, worn work dress and a calflength of wool stocking. My shoes wear the signs of good, honest farm labour, and my blonde hair is frizzing round my face in the damp air. I look very distressed.

"Did - was there really a man arrested for... for beating on a girl?" I say to an old woman gossiping with her friend on the street. My fingers flutter together anxiously.

"Oh yes," she says, "it's a horrible thing. They think also he did in a girl as worked at - well, the brothel, my dear," she says, lowering her voice over that salacious detail, eyes gleaming with prurient interest. "They think he chopped her up."

"Oh," I say, and I faint very neatly to the ground. It's not long before I have half a dozen people round me - offering water, saying they will take me to the Dormouse, fussing with my coat collar to let me breathe.

"I should've said something," I say, and I burst into tears. That gets me sat down on a bench, an old woman's arm around my shoulders, and a very handsome young man crouched at my feet. "I should - "

"What is is, dear? Do you know something about what happened to those girls?"

I shake my head tightly.

"I know - I know - him," I say quietly. "He - We went out a couple of times, and he was - he was real nice to me, and -" The old woman gives me a handkerchief. "You know, I ain't really dated much," I say, shamefaced, "cos my momma's sick a bunch and I'm busy out on the farm, and he just - he was real nice, and when he -" I turn my face away, and I can feel the vibrating tension from the boy at my feet, his desire to be a hero. "He - I thought it was my fault," I say, and then there is a furious chatter rising from the little crowd, and the conversation spreads in ripples.

"Some carnie's been carving up our girls," one man says fiercely. And there is discussion of me and of Melania - ah, yes, that explains some of what I saw in her - and how we're hard working girls, salt of the earth girls, and who is this monster and why hasn't he been strung up? What the hell is wrong with this town that a murderer and molester can be caught redhanded and he's cosseted in jail? And did you hear that he attacked that nice Mrs Beddau (I wonder if at any other time Glass has been described as nice) when she went to visit him in prison? He should be put in the old stocks in town. People would show him how they felt, alright. They'd show him very clearly indeed.

I manage a brave, trembling smile for the boy at my feet, and he springs up, ready for something, anything, if it will make me look at him like that again. And I nestle in against the arm of the old woman as the crowd grows larger and voices grow louder, and I wait for the storm to break.

[OPEN]

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It takes a few minutes to skirt around the mob, and I have to circle a few buildings to do so, as to not attract unwanted attention. The only thing I have going for me is that the mob is so focused they are only trying to break in the front and have neglected the back for the moment.

"Need a hand?" I look over to see ... Silence (yeah, Silence) besides me. "Not sure." I answer truthfully, rubbing the back of my neck. "There's a woman stuck in there... old injuries make it impossible for her to run. i want to get in and get her to safety, but..." Look around. "Don't want to give them a way in at the same time."

Rode behind the tavern and through the backyards instead of taking Silk like I'd have usually. Once I stopped focusing on the people in front of me, or the wards I could hear the crowd screaming and yelling. The thump of things hitting the building is not comforting.

Slow Sarge down to a walk and head into the backyard. At first all I see is people looking to break into the back of my building- then I realize one of them is Lucien. Hopefully he has some sense.
"There's a woman stuck in there... old injuries make it impossible for her to run. i want to get in and get her to safety, but... Don't want to give them a way in at the same time."

Drop off of Sarge and run over to them, "I assume that the door is barred already. If one of you can give me a boost I can pop the window and get you in."

Lucien explains about why he's trying to get in & I'm looking over the back. Door, probably locked or barred. Window's are high, but reachable with help. Plus there's something... a glimmer about the place. A ward? That complicates things some.

"Getting in might be tricky," I tell him, trying to study the ward quickly. I don't want to deconstruct it if I don't have to, but-

"I assume that the door is barred already." I turn to see a tall, red-headed woman running up to us, & my senses pick it up immediately. She matches the ward! "If one of you can give me a boost I can pop the window and get you in." I look to Lucian & nod. "Not a problem," I say, crouching below one of the windows, hands at the ready. "Keep an eye out," I tell him, wondering if he's armed at all.

"I assume that the door is barred already. If one of you can give me a boost I can pop the window and get you in."

I whirl around and I don't think I have ever been more glad to see Mab than I am right now. "Honestly, didn't try. Didn't want to give easy access. Miao's in there. Just want to get her to safety first." I explain, wanting to move faster than this.

Silence and I exchange a look and nod. She crouches down and I turn to keep an eye out. "So far, so good but we should move quick. Get me in next, then you if you want to join the fun." I say dryly to Silence as she hoists Mab up.

Don't know the person with him, but all I hear is Miao's in there, as I hop right up onto the hand stirrup and bang on the window. Feel a tang of power from the new person, but I certainly don't have time to ask right now- file it away for later. Hit the frame in the sweet spot and slide the window up. Reach hands in and haul myself in.

"JACK! JACK! Who's been hit?! Where's Miao!?" start yelling as I turn to help haul Lucien inside, "Chester! You are here?" I could use his information-gathering talents right now.

I predict a riot.

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