Almost Human [SITE WIDE OPEN]

[Alicat]

San Francisco. Home of the freaks, the losers, the washouts. At least, that's what the humans want to call our home. For five years, the Pluses have ruled San Francisco, under the leadership of Charles Wise. But lately things have been stirring. Another Plus has risen the ranks, claiming that the humans need to be destroyed and enslaved. This almost X-Men-like strain of Peace verses War has caused a rift within the Plus community.

Though Charles struggles to hold onto peace and remind his followers that the only way to survive is to make peace with the humans, Madelyn Moriarty reminds those who doubt that submission is the only way. The humans will never surrender, and will never want to work with the Pluses. The only way to ensure survival is to either stand above the humans, or on top of their broken bodies.

But even with an war looming over their heads, the citizens -- at least those who are either human or not involved with Plus affairs -- still find time to play and work. They are the ones Madelyn is hoping to prey on, and it is them whose attention she hopes to grab with her advertisements, her emails. She hopes to entrap those into her web.

Oh, would you look at that. There's a meeting tonight, actually, down at the Old Theatre Cafe. Madelyn Moriarty is said to be there; how convenient. Perhaps she will speak, or perhaps she will simply just listen. Why don't we head down there and figure it out?

Come now, don't look at me like that. We need a savior in this world, and Charlie Boy certainly isn't doing anything. We own this city, and we're still spat on. Someone has to take the initiative here.

Are you coming?

[Anastacia Durant]

[googlefont="Shadows Into Light"][googlefont="Calligraffitti"]

it's a beautiful lie
it's a perfect denial

current face:
anastacia durant

Since her father left her family after discovering she was a Plus, Anastacia Durant was not particularly inclined toward believing that the humans would ever settle for peace. She had seen the way humans had looked down at her. She had experienced firsthand that they cared for nothing but their own safety, and Pluses were a direct threat to that safety. Peace would result in war. War would result in war. They might as well fight rather than lay down and die. She'd never really been vocal about it, though, because being hired by a Plus seemed just about as likely as getting hired by anybody else. She was already on the contact list for the vampires, and they were anti-human as well. It seemed like all arrows were pointing her toward the Old Theatre Cafe that night. So, dressed to impress, she entered the cafe. Maybe if things got boring, she could pretend to be someone important and pick things up a bit. Shake up the status quo, make sure she was on top of things. That sort of idea. That wasn't the point, though. The point was that she was going. For once, she was going to get involved, even if it was just to see what was going down. She wasn't going to take this sitting down. Maybe her talents weren't the most amazing on the planet for fighting, but they could certainly confuse the hell out of anyone that wanted to make an enemy out of her. And, she supposed, if she needed to, she could copy the powers of someone else who had ones that worked a little better for offense. Maybe be the double of someone who could shoot fire. It didn't matter yet. Ana took a seat at one of the tables, half an hour early, and waited for people to show up.

{words} 310 {notes} once i've got sudhir made he will also make an appearance {outfit} here {mood} pretty good {tags} open to interact!

[Azrael]

The Old Theatre Café. A seemingly quaint venue for what might amount to a discussion about genocide. The meeting was the only reason Michael had travelled all the way to San Francisco, although it was motivated more by curiosity than anything.

It wasn't on any of the official leaflets that had been distributed throughout Chicago, but the new face calling for active war against humanity, Madelyn Moriarty, was supposed to speak, to push back against the current leadership's goal of peace. If she had her way, she'd either rid the world of humanity or enslave them, and that wasn't something Mike was going to stand for. She was the epitome of his hatred, the stereotypical scum he'd love to rid from the world. But this was San Francisco, not Chicago, and he was hear to listen to whatever she might have planned for their offensive against humanity. The most he could do is listen and wait.

When he arrived 15 mins early, he was surprised to find the place was already quite full. Michael shuffled past a few full tables before finding one that had a lone chair next to it. <Perfect,> he thought, the gnawing anxiety of being in the middle of Pluses subsiding for a moment. <I didn't want to make small talk with anyone anyways.>

The shifter looked around, surveying the café quickly. A low stage of sorts was already in place at the front, a microphone also ready on a stand. The crowd was chatting quietly, and from the tense looks people were sharing, most were here to see some sparks fly, not necessarily create them. Michael silently hoped that his teeth were enough to make it look like he fit in, because his body language said the opposite. He felt quite uncomfortable, but he needed to hear what was said.

(Note: As I might be absent for most of this thread, feel free to skip me in the posting order when necessary! c: )

[Sudhir Chaudri]

As possibly the most dedicated humans to Madelyn's cause, it would have been strange for Sudhir and every other scientist he was working with to decide not to attend the meeting. They were getting pretty close to a prototype, so they were willing to take the night off in order to show up. Sudhir was quite pleased with the progress they'd made in such little time. Sure, they still had to move onto live testing once they were certain they'd solidified the variables--they were working with accelerated healing at the moment, as it had been the easiest to manufacture artificially--but that wouldn't be all that difficult to test. They'd already gotten most of the roadblocks out of the way.

But, he reminded himself, he wasn't here to chat about genetics or biology. He was here both to support Madelyn and to judge how much support they had.

When the group entered the building, Sudhir quickly discovered that the place was packed. He shuffled through the back as quickly as he could, his back to the wall but with the stage still in plain sight. There was quite a bit of light chatter, but things were starting to slow down. Even the group he'd come with had fallen silent where usually they were discussing any and all new ideas for their discoveries in their downtime. He couldn't blame them. The idea was exhilarating--being a member of a group that would take humanity to its next evolutionary rung? There was nothing in the world quite like it. Of course, they weren't there yet, but it was only a matter of time. And they did have quite a lot of Pluses on their team as well, some with special abilities that helped them along faster than they could've ever done if only humans had been running things.

And some had the gall to spit on these beings that inspired such awe. Disgusting.

Sudhir folded his arms and waited for things to begin.

word count [[ 329 ]]
notes [[ none ]]
tagged [[ open for the interaction ]]
mood [[ absorbed in thought ]]
credits [[ the scientist by coldplay ]]

[Meliorna]

Whenever things were going awry on Earth (which honestly was most of the time, nowadays), Meliorna loved to come onto the earthly plane to witness this chaos. However, things were getting a bit boring-the problems were always between the humans and the pluses, neither of which she was completely fond of. The humans thought the pluses were monsters and should be enslaved, killed, ignored, etc etc, and the pluses thought that humans were the monsters for treating them like monsters. A real mess, really.

If Mel had to ally with anyone, it would be the pluses, though, for they knew what it felt like to be ostracized, and more specifically by the humans. Those humans, who preached that they were the one true race that belonged on Earth and that everyone else should go fuck themselves, were the weakest of them all. Darwinism was finally telling them that they didn't belong anymore and to get the hell out before being destroyed by all of the stronger "unnatural" races. Meliorna would enjoy watching their downfall, if that is what it came to, but she wouldn't be the one encouraging it.

Instead, Lorna decided to attend the meeting but blend into what was going to be a very large crowd of whoever wanted to or were thinking of joining forces with the pluses in this mass genocide. She was there quite frankly to spy, and see what they were planning to do and when. Even though Meliorna didn't want to admit it, what happened on Earth with these beings strongly affected the Fae world and how things were on that plane. There was going to be good information coming out of this meeting and who better to go there and report back then a Fae who could make herself almost completely undetectable?

And so, Meliorna left the sweet comfort of Avalon and traveled to San Francisco, home to the mutant humans. This meeting was taking place in some cafe in the middle of the city, not that they needed to be discreet in the plus capital of the world. She turned herself into her true form, which was like a shadow, barely noticeable unless one of the pluses had a power to have hyper senses to something like that. She slipped inside the crowded place and found a corner to hide her form and waited for this meeting to begin. She would be surprised to see any other Fae there, although she would not be surprised if there were were, shifters, and other human-esque creatures there ready to side with this Madelyn Moriarty.

[Alexandra Axelle]

The news of a possible uprising spread like wildfire across the country.

Of course, the pluses were at the center of this movement, with anger burning in their souls at the very beings from which they came. These super-humans, instead of being praised and worshiped like gods, were treated with fear, and with that fear, conflict broke out. It had been like this ever since the pluses had been discovered. They had been forced to find a place of refuge, unless they were one of the brave ones that decided to live somewhere where either the humans or other species dominated. In those cases, they would never be free still, hiding their true self for the sake of being treated fairly.

Alexandra was not a plus. She wasn't born to be extraordinary; in fact, there was nothing more average than Alexandra. That was, until she was turned into a terrible bird creature to call men to their deaths for thousands of years. But Xandra knew the hardships of not being wanted or appreciated; she had been in a poor caste in her Greek city with no chance for movement and abused by the very woman that she was lucky to work for. It was not until she finally showed her true colors that she was punished and banished, becoming very much like a plus in powers and in poor treatment.

She understood the pain and hardship that all of the pluses had gone through because of this and had aligned herself with them as soon as she learned of them. They were a group of people who perhaps did not want to fit in, but wanted to be accepted for what they were and not hide behind the facade of "normality". For these reasons, she hopped on a plane to travel across the country to meet this woman who was apparently going to change all of this. And not just for the pluses, but for other ostracized beings.

Alexandra arrived right on time, literally coming from the plane straight to the Old Theatre Cafe. She wasn't too worried about her appearance, she was in a finely tailored pantsuit, which was her typical outfit for work, and still looked top-notch, and professional. Probably more so than most of the people coming to this meeting. It was always better to be overdressed than underdressed. Xan sat at one of the last available tables (it was a miracle that she had found it), and ordered a light beer. For whatever, light beer tasted better to her than regular beer.

[Open to interaction!]

[Ingrid Svensdottor]

Ingrid understood why these events were so important. Really, she did. They were a chance to get more visibility for their cause, of course. A way to invite curious passer bys into their number as supporters, contacts. The more word spread about the Madelyn Moriarity, the more likely they were to succeed in the long run. Pluses - any human-like species, really, like shifters or weres - were feared for their abilities, scorned and detested and hated. That was going to change, and it would happen by their hand forcing it.

These events, however, were also a security nightmare.

Since humans were afraid, they lashed out. Attacked the targets for their hatred, and Maddie painted a bullseye on her back. Ingrid wasn't going to give them the chance. That's why she often worked as head of security at the open events, protecting their people from potential enemies. Much as she appreciated the need for them, the events were always a source of stress that left her sighing in the bath later. 

She stood near the front of the room, eyes hard as she scanned the crowd. She had people at the doors, across the street, on the roofs. Had the room not been so crowded, she would be on all fours, smelling for problems and attacking them before they could cause trouble. Her hair was braided on the sides, thin strands of woven hair falling on her shoulders. It wasn't good for combat, true, though she often found that looking menacing was as important as being able to back that up. 

So far, things were quiet. As quiet as they could be with a large number of people, that is. There hadn't been any issues, though that could change. It was Ingrid's job to assume it would, and to make sure that it was quickly quashed before it could hurt Maddie. 

Words: { 309 }
Tag: { @no one at all }
Mood: { All business }
Outfit: { OUTFIT }
Notes: { nah son }

[Madelyn Moriarty]

"You look beautiful tonight."

An older man stood next to Ingrid, his back hunched and a cane in his left hand, in an effort to support some of his weight. His eyes looked over the gathered crowd, then finally shifted back to Ingrid. He -- or rather, she -- was impressed by the sheer number of those who had come. Granted, some were her men, there for security purposes, and she was sure some were there to simply side with the humans, but that was a risk she had calculated. After all, a great cause did not come without its fair share of enemies. 

"This must be a PR nightmare, though. I can only image what kind of coverage she's going to get from tonight."

The man reached up, adjusting his hat, then started towards the stage. It took a little bit of elbow grease, as no one was really willing to lose their place, but soon the older gentleman had stumbled from the floor and up the stairs. He seemed a little startled at first, unsure of how he might have gotten to that point. But then, after looking over the crowd from this new angle, he slowly straightened, the sound of his back popping echoing across the cafe.

"It's so nice to see everyone here tonight," Madelyn said, this time her voice coming from the old man. A smile curved over her lips as she began to slowly peel the makeup and prosthetic off her face. "I apologize for the disguise, but, as you all might know, there are many who might have tried to stop my arrival. Hey, anyone mind holding this?"

She tossed her hat out, into the crowd, then took her cane and collapsed it inward. Once the cane was back in her pocket, Maddie began to fix her hair, though she continued to talk as she did.

"This is quite a crowd. I must admit, I did not think I would see so many of you here, especially with recent events. Anyone else hear what happened to the president, huh?" And just like that, her face fell, becoming more serious. She took the mic stand in her hand, pulling the mic closer to her. "But we've got to remember that those humans are not defeated. They've just retreated. And while we've gained land, we all have to remember that it's not enough.

"We've lost more than land to these monsters. We've lost family and friends and neighbors." She tightened her grip on the stand, her voice darkening a hand. "We used to have the entire world, but now only a handful of cities are safe for us. Only two or three cities, at most, belong to us. And how is that fair, my friends? We are the next step in evolution, and yet we're being pushed to the ends of the world out of pathetic fear.

"And we deserve better."

WORDS ;; 488
THOUGHTS ;; There's so much adrenaline running through her it's ridiculous.
OUTFIT ;; [ CLICK! ]
TAG ;; @everyone
CREDIT ;; guillotine, YADi

[Anastacia Durant]

[googlefont="Shadows Into Light"][googlefont="Calligraffitti"]

it's a beautiful lie
it's a perfect denial

current face:
anastacia durant

Ana watched as the crowd filtered in, recognizing no one. It took longer than she would've liked for things to begin, but when they did, she was impressed. Madelyn knew how to make a good disguise. Maybe she'd try to get in a good word when this was all over... if she could manage to tail her, which seemed unlikely. Something had happened to the president. Not that Ana hadn't seen--it had been all over Facebook for three weeks afterword. She hadn't been sure how to react then, and while she was tending to be a little bit happy about it now, she still felt a little bad for him. After all, he was primarily focused on the vampires, and was trying to make the Pluses and the humans get along. But he was still afraid of and refused to accept things that were different, even if they weren't quite like her, and that was something Ana could never stand by if she tried. After all, how long would it be before he decided Human Pluses were no longer much like humans at all? Gaining land wasn't enough and it would never be enough until they had equality, and Ana firmly believed that they weren't going to get it--none of them would--while the humans still had any influence at all. It was good to not be seen as the monster for once. To not be ostracized. To be accepted. To be understood. To be who she wanted and needed to be, to be fighting for her own rights. Well, not on the frontlines, certainly, but working behind the scenes and making certain that she was where she needed to be. Ana applauded when Madelyn finished her speech, nodding in agreement and wishing she could've said the same things, wishing she could make a change or a difference.

{words} 307 {notes} none {outfit} here {mood} high energy {tags} none

[Sudhir Chaudri]

As Madelyn spoke, Sudhir did what he could to inch closer to the stage. He recognized her bodyguard/girlfriend, and thought that all things considered, it might be better to try to stay close to her. He finally managed to get near her with his back pressed flat against the wall, still watching Mads intently.

She was giving quite the compelling speech. If he had been on the fence--if he had ever been on the fence--she could have swayed him. The Pluses faced injustice in their own city on occasion, and that was one of the greatest tragedies that the scientist had ever known. He knew his wife had come home at least once with bruises from trying to report while being terrorized by some scared human asshole. This was why things needed to stop the way they were and start anew. They needed a new world at this point, and Sudhir was fairly certain that Mads could bring them into one.

"She's good at what she does," he commented to Ingrid, only half expecting a response. She was doing her job, and if she didn't even acknowledge he was there, that was fine. He just felt like a little conversation might be nice, so long as one knew that the person in question wasn't a threat, but he also didn't want to be distracting if that's something that she was worried about.

Sudhir would have preferred most to be talking to Maddie about the newest developments on the project, of course, but he was always quite excited about what they'd found next, and she had far more important things on her plate. It could wait until later. Perhaps a few hours, perhaps a few days. But it could wait as long as she needed it to, and Sudhir was anxious for both that moment and the next one where Madelyn spoke.

word count [[ 312 ]]
notes [[ none ]]
tagged [[ Ingrid Svensdottor ]]
mood [[ pretty good ]]
credits [[ the scientist by coldplay ]]

[Ingrid Svensdottor]

Despite the focus she had on the crowd (scanning, always scanning, constant vigilance to quote a favourite book), there was no possible way that Ingrid could deny the small, almost insignificant, smile. As she turned her head ever so slightly to one side, still watching but letting the person know that she was speaking to them, her lips curled into what those close to her knew as the smile she gave only to Maddie when she was working.

“My partner will be jealous if you talk like that,” she said quietly, teasing. “Shoo now.”

Her fingers brushed the old man’s leg, the only indication that she was shooing him to the stage. Not that the man was truly a he - but Maddie did love well-timed dramatics, and this was no exception.

Of course, with her now standing before the crowd, without the disguise, Ingrid’s job really began, and the joviality and barest hint of tenderness disappeared without a trace. She straightened and her eyes scanning, back and forth.

Ah, someone else was speaking to her now. Ingrid turned her head to see who it was and whether they were a threat, but relaxed ever so slightly. “With no doubt,” she said. “She could sell leather to a cow.”

She paused, curious as to why Chaudri (human, that much she could recall from her brief meeting with him once) would be at a gathering for Pluses. But then, Ingrid couldn’t say much, since she wasn’t one either. Distantly she remembered him having Pluses in his family - a sister, perhaps? - though he didn’t have a drop of power beyond his brain, impressive as it may be. It was hardly the time for conversation, but she trusted her instincts to point out curiosities and questions, particularly when she was on a job.

“Interesting that you’re here, since it isn’t a cause that impacts you directly.”

Words: { 315 }
Tag: { Sudhir Chaudri }
Mood: { Working }
Outfit: { OUTFIT }
Notes: { nah son }