paris ♔ so you'll keep the world at bay | keep your secrets and your scars.

[silvermaid]

♬ The Storm - Boy & Bear

WHO || Anastacia, Christos, Faye, Aedan, Felicity, Taenya Farstorm
WHAT || The Knights travel to Paris, get some sight seeing in, and meet with the councilwoman.
WHERE || Paris, France
WHEN || August 26th IGNORE WHAT WYNN SAID ABOUT A COUPLE OF WEEKS, I DO WHAT I WANT
HOW || Actionspam

[ this post covers all events from the flight to paris through the initial meeting to get things rolling on the mission. there will be three relevant threads below, please wait for them to be posted to comment ♥ ]

Comments

[reallywicked]

[The more elves she meets, the more Faye feels like an Amazon with her 5'10" frame jfc. She stands a few steps behind Anastacia on her left side, taking in the look of the room. At the mention of tea, she holds up a hand and shakes her head, not really interested in it at the moment.]

Happy to help. [She puts on a sweet smile, trying to act like she means it more than she actually does. It's not that she doesn't want to help, exactly. She just doesn't care as much as she probably should. (bluff 20 total).]

[allmydreams]

Tea would be lovely. Thank you.

[She never says no to tea. She glances around the room as well, eyes taking note of the personal touches to try and learn a little more about her without actually asking.]

[bittersweeter]

[It figures they go to France and meet with someone who isn't French. What the fuck ever, if you think Lila is going to let her French lessons go to waste then you are wrong. Where is Eric to be impressed with his squire rn?]

Ce n'est pas un problème. Merci.

[uncurse]

[ she holds up a hand to decline the offer of tea, and then shakes her head. ]

Don't mention it.

[ not realizing she's just repeated lila's dismissal, she soldiers on. ]

He mentioned there had already been an attempt on your life a while back. Why don't you bring us up to speed?

[ tact 0. ]

[silvermaid]

[

as she moves to pour a couple of cups, she nods, apparently unfazed by emma's bluntness - almost appreciative of it.

"It's exactly as it sounds. There are many in the government who think what I'm trying to do is too radical, by which I mean it threatens the interest of their corporate friends. They aren't thinking about the well-being of anyone, just their pocketbooks. It's hardly surprising that they wouldn't hesitate to try to snuff out one life, when the businesses they're protecting destroy life every day they operate." ]

[allmydreams]

[It's hard to get ahead of the corporate greed machine at times.]

Can you think of any companies that have been particularly vocal about things?

[uncurse]

Or which of them would stand to lose the most from the policies you're pushing?

[silvermaid]

[ "The Mandriva group is certainly at the top of the list. They own half the central core of the city, which is where my proposal hits closest to home."

anastacia accepts her tea gratefully. ] Your proposal?

[

taenya hands out the others and raises an eyebrow at them. "Wynn didn't explain it?" she moves to the windowed wall across from them, folding her arms and looking out across the horizon with a frown across the city. "Take a look. Tell me what you see." she gestures for them to join her, and the landscape of the city proper stretches out below them. ]

[bittersweeter]

Paris. [Obvious answer, but true.]

[uncurse]

[ emma raises an eyebrow, but steps up alongside her to take a look. her lips purse. ]

I ... see a bunch of buildings.

[allmydreams]

[Felicity just smirks a bit and considers her answer. She doesn't come up with much better, but ... ]

People.

[reallywicked]

A waste of my time? [Faye mutters under her breath, patience wearing thin.]

[silvermaid]

[

"Exactly," Taenya says firmly, looking at Emma in particular. "Buildings, as far as the eye can see. An industrial megaplex, not a speck of nature in sight. It's an abomination, that's what it is." She turns towards them, folding her arms across her chest. "My proposal is to fix that. To tear down an expanse of city property and replace it with areas where nature can take root and flourish. These people are living their lives so far removed from the world that supports them that they're becoming numb to what it provides them." ]

[allmydreams]

[Felicity's head bobs a bit, studying the expanse for a moment before turning back to her.]

What kind of buildings would you be tearing down?

[reallywicked]

And who do they belong to? [Important people probably don't like their shit being torn down.]

[bittersweeter]

Except you can't tear down Paris. Half the city is bleeding historical value. There is plenty of nature: the Luxembourg gardens, the Fields of Mars, the Champs-Elysées is lined with nature, the Louvre and Sacré-Coeur both have huge parks, and there is a brand new park at Monparnasse.

[Lila... apparently knows a lot about nature in Paris. (Knowledge: local nat 20, so useful) And whatever, she'll be the voice of dissidence. Maybe she's the devil's advocate.]

[uncurse]

It's not all city property, though. It's private property. Houses, apartment buildings, corporations; I don't know how it works in France, but in the U.S., you need more than legislation to tear that down, you need money to buy it off of them. No city can just steal property from its citizens, or their companies.

[silvermaid]

[ as anastacia carefully cools the brief flash of concern on her features into polite sympathy, taenya waves a hand dismissively.



"Money's not an object here. The elvish community is willing to back the project, I've already garnered plenty of support in that quadrant, and some of them have amassed valuable treasures that fell through to this world. We'd be willing to work around residences, or even smaller businesses: it's largely the offices of pollutant spilling entities such as the Renault Group that we're targeting. Groups that the mayor has bent over backwards to do favors for in the past." ]

[allmydreams]

So you want to take buildings away from a big business with clout. That would definitely piss some people off.

[she runs a hand through her hair.]

Do you think the threats are coming from them?

[uncurse]

Do you still have records of the threats you've received? We should start by tracing them back, see if we can find out of the Renault or Mandriva groups are among those responsible.

[bittersweeter]

Anyone going to ask what happens to the people who, I don't know, work in the buildings? Never mind the fact that you're going to have to fork over a hell of a lot of money to convince anyone to give up prime real estate, in Paris. [There is the briefest pause as she glances around the office as if to say: you know, like this one.] Not only are you taking business out of Paris and replacing it with what will only be a drain on the economy, no offence, but I doubt what a garden makes in a year makes even a quarter of what a shopping center does, nor does it employ even a fraction of the people. I doubt Renault and Mandriva are the only people with a grudge against you.

[reallywicked]

[Faye is indifferent to all of this. As much as she doesn't really see the point in building a giant park in Paris, she's not quite as up in arms about it as Lila seems to be.

Seriously, why do we care about the jobs lost in France?? Wynn must not care much since he sent them to help Taenya, but even that can't really spark her interest much.]

So we've established why everyone hates you- great. But we'll need to narrow it down to the heavy hitters if you want us to help.

[That sounds suspiciously like agreeing with Emma about actually seeing some records of threats...]

[silvermaid]

[ a sour look crosses taenya's features briefly at lila's words in particular, and she keeps her gaze trained on her even as she responds to the others.



"It was an attempt on my life. Cut brake lines - I have police files, if you'd like to look at those. They didn't exactly leave a note in cut out magazine letters to go with it. The message was clear-cut enough." There's a stiffness in her posture now, an air of suspicion. "You almost sound like them. I thought Wynn understood what we were fighting for here."

anastacia swoops in swiftly, noting the shift in their host. ]

We certainly understand where you're coming from. But I think we also can understand the sort of opposition you'll be facing - both the unreasonable, self-entered sort, and the more reasonable points.

[allmydreams]

[Felicity nods calmly.]

Threatening someone's life is never the answer, and we won't stand for it. But sometimes understanding what these people are fighting for can help us figure out which direction they're going to come at you from.

[bittersweeter]

[Lila raises her eyebrows just slightly but Anastacia turning her words around gives her enough pause to keep her mouth shut, delicately taking a sip of her tea. This lady wanted a hand and Lila bitchslapped her with logic, not her problem that the elf couldn't handle a teenager pointing it out.]