(Miru) It was a cool, if windy afternoon in Fairhaven. The sound of some crow echoing in the distance. The 5th Street Station was mostly abandoned these days, given that no train was under operation, and ever since electricity and water became a bit more common, most people decided to live in the serviced buildings of Fairhaven. This left this once epicenter of travel, then epicenter for survivor encampments a mostly abandoned stop between Zephyr's tower, being all towering in the distance, and the western outposts, including the city of New Dawn further up north.

A rather mundane husky girl was standing in the center of the plaza accompanied by a short portly beaver. The husky was clad in a large parka and a very conspicuous sombrero with dangling lanterns hanging from its rim, the calling card of the Prometheans - especially their more devoted members and priesthood. The beaver was dressed in a more mundane shirt and jeans. Standing to further apart from those two was an okami boi clad in a rather old-fashioned outfit with a notebook in hand, an INU representative familiar for those who lived in the city. A group of concerned citizens, idle gawkers, and even a few hecklers of the new council were slowly gravitating towards the scene.

(Vande) Rolling into the scene was a large ball composed of metallic, dark-green scales that kicked up dirt and crumbled pavement wherever it went. After coming into a respectable distance of the amassing group, the scaled ball then unfurled itself to expose a small and pudgy hissah that clutched onto design papers and blueprints with its little clawed paws. He heard that a council meeting was being held here, and since that sounded important he thought maybe he could use this chance to get talks of his grand ideas going within the community! "Greetings people of Fairhaven!" The hissah yapped from behind the crowd as he tried to squeeze past and dodge the legs of the taller mutants and citizens.

(Kiyumi) A Kitsune stood stood somewhere towards the back of the crowd, blending in seamlessly as she watched the event. Upon seeing the Hissah in a corner from her eye, she couldn't help herself from letting out a light chuckle.

"Oh dear, seems we'll have all sorts of fun on our hands" she mused to herself as she thought upon the events. She hoped to find out exactly what is going on in this city and what better place to do so?

(Celia-fae) Holding up the flier she grabbed from the message board, a dragoness looks at the address then glances around the area, "This looks like the right spot," she says before noticing the crowd. Glad she didn't end up hopelessly lost as usual, she looks and spies a familiar face. Hurrying over to the kitsune, she whispers to her. "Glad to see a familiar face here. I would be too afraid to speak if I was by myself."

(Miru) As the number of people filtering into the area began to dwindle, the husky took a step forward in front of the crowd, her lanterns dangling in the wind pelting the plaza. With a wide smile, the husky spread her arms. "Welcome brothers and sisters! I am Councilor Sara Redmane, one of your representative in the Fairhaven council, and proud Promethean." She said in a distinct Cali-native accent. "I am here to answer any complaints or questions about what has the council been up to, ever since we have been formed, or even if you just have local problems you want us to look into."

Almost as soon as the councilor finished talking a loud boo was heard from a couple of Mall Rats standing to the side, one of them holding a sign that read 'Big Three is bad. Big Four is worse.' The councilor gave them a smile, before addressing the crowd again. "I understand that some of us are still against the idea of a government forming in our fair city, but I assure you that such an endeavor is for the betterment of us all. The two corporations cannot be trusted to bring forth a new age for our people."

(Vande) Vande listened intently to the council once he managed to push past the crowd and wind up near the front so that he could get a clear view of those speaking. His crimson eyes watched them intently but not before turning his head toward the Mall Rats who were booing to give them a resentful sneer, how rude! Though, in truth, he didn't really know why there was a council in the first place or what their intentions were; he's just some goober after-all! But here he stood, listening and watching closely before ultimately raising his hand with brimming excitement once he found them come to a natural conclusion with their speech. "I have a question! I have a request!" The hissah yipped out as he waited to be called, please pick him!

(Kiyumi) The Kitsune chuckles softly at the dragoness, not taking her eyes of the councilor. "Well, aren't we *both* glad I am here then? The more questions the merrier..." she trails off, seemingly pondering something.

She speaks to the dragoness in a hushed tone, "Really, what I'd like to know, is to what degree Zephyr and RSX are influencing these people. What leverage they have..."

(Celia-fae) The dragoness rolls her eyes at the kitsune's vanity but nods with understanding. "Yeah, I'd like to know that as well. Truth be told, I came here to see if slash how much RSX has invested in this, if at all." Putting a claw to her chin she thinks for a moment, "my mother told me stories about how politics worked before P-day and unless we have everyone from all walks of life invested in this, there is bound to be conflict, and the last thing we need is war of some kind." She sighs and shakes her head, looking to the kitsune. "Guess we'll find out together, huh?"

(Deidre) Arriving at the scene is a pink panda wearing an emerald green sundress and a straw hat, she's holding a journal in her hands as she begins making her way through the crowd. She nudges her way into the masses finding a space she can clearly see the speakers. She waits quietly, as the wind pulls at the flier hanging out of the leather satchel over her shoulder. She has a determined look on her face as she speaks up trying to over talk the crowd, "Deidre Doofles here, When will you be taking these questions? I certainly have a couple regarding how the "council" regards agents and the other agencies."

(Miru) As soon as the councilor finished her speech, it seemed like a dozen questions began being fired at random. The beaver standing next to Sara quickly raised his hands to try and calm down the crowd. "Order. Order." Came a surprisingly posh English voice. "One at a time, we are not barbarians." As the crowd calmed down a bit, a voice from the side was heard.

"Councilor, you just criticized the two corporations, but you are a member of the Prometheans, the last pillar of the big three. Is your faction also not attempting to co-opt the newly formed council?" Said the okami boi in a distinctly melodic voice. Sara gave the kemokami a side glance and a smile. "As much as I would like to answer the press. I am afraid I have to devout this session to the concerns of the people." Came the response, dodging the question, as Sara quickly turned away and pointed at the small jumping Hissah. "You, my good friend. You have a question, please go ahead."

Some might say the councilor jumped on the easiest prey, some might say the councilor simply cared for all the people in front of her equally. Regardless, it seemed that Vande was given the floor.

(Vande) Vande hissed silently to himself as the okami boi asked a similar question that he was about to present, but no matter! "As we are growing to be a more orderly city with people needing to be moved about to fill in the duties needed to maintain said city, I have a proposal to make!" Vande tried to speak properly and with some proper professionalism, but his somewhat shrill voice still gave him the image of some munchkin rather than the businessman he wanted to make himself out to be. His clawed hands unfurled the blueprints he had that detailed his plans of a railroad system that would encompass the city and the different parts and modifications he needed to make a proper train engine going. "A rail line to make transportation easier! We can start by setting up lines to more important parts of the city to try to boost efficiency and give way to more mutants seeking jobs!"

(Miru) As the Hissah introduced his proposal, and began unfurling his blueprints, an odd silence fell upon the crowd. Some might question the sanity of a city-wide transportation system, while others might think of it as visionary. However, it was perhaps not ideal that the proposition was given by a shrill-voiced half-pint hissah that the average person would rather cuddle than listen to city-planning proposals from.

There was an audible laugh from the, slightly taller, beaver. "My good man, what are you on about? We are here to discuss complaints. At the very least you need to write a proposal to your fanciful dream, maybe add a bit about the free cake you will be offering." Came that English voice again, with distinct condescension. "What my assistant is saying, friend. Is that you need to write up a proposal and submit it to the council for consideration." Sara answered with an apologetic smile. "Now who else had a question?" She said as she looked around.

(Kiyumi) Familiar smile gracing her face, Kiyumi listens to the dragoness passively, having her own concerns about the future of this city and the factions within.

The kitsune can't withhold a light chuckle as the INU reporter is waved away. "Oh dear," she whispers to the dragoness, "barely started and already dodging the difficult questions, mm? At least she's a real politician."

She nods, smile slightly fading as Vande gets the stage. "Yep. Real politician indeed..." she mutters to herself more than anyone.

As the Hissah is rejected with harsh words, she looks towards the dragoness, no trace of her smile left as she speaks bitterly in hushed tones. "My, whomever they believe they answer to, it seems it's not the people..."

"Shame though," she adds later, "A railway system could help combat the rampant issues with sex crimes, kidnapping and mauling on the street... Economic boon, too..."

She continues watching with much less interest than before, now mostly inspecting the other observers.

(Celia-fae) The dragoness sighs as she watches the poor hissah get shot down, rather rudely at that. "I agree with the poor little guy. Although while it would cut down on the things you said, Kiyumi, I figure that they'd still do it, even on the trains." Her eyes open wide for a moment. "Wait, was I hearing things or did I hear Dee? With the hissah's proposal I almost forgot I heard her!" She goes on the lookout for her good friend, trying to find her in the little crowd.

(Deidre) Deidre looks frustrated, but the panda waits for the council representatives to get to her. She speaks loud and clear over any murmuring of the crowd "Since you won't answer the actual reporter than maybe you'll answer someone else asking. How does the council plan to associate itself with the existing agencies and more importantly how do you plan to compose yourselves in a manner that you think transcends everything they've already began and are doing? You want to reassure the people, nows your chance." As the Panda finishes speaking she looks down to her journal ready to write out their responses on a blank page with a fountain pen. She adjusts the digital camera hanging around her neck to put her chin to her chest as she does so.

(Miru) Sara looked around, but as the rather forceful question is asked by the red panda, she is taken aback. "Well, I..." However, the councilor does not get her chance to finish, as her assistant quickly butts in. "Gods above, miss. Is that how your parents taught you to talk? First of all, amateur reporting is still not what we are here for. And, good miss, what agencies are you even talking about? The K9 Police? Why, we have been working with them tirelessly for the last year or so, how else do you think we have kept these streets safe, and most ferals out of it? Why, Sara here volunteers every single weekend in Feral shelters trying to rehabilitate those poor lost souls. It is still mostly done in New Dawn, I don't see the corps doing that, no RSX still barely tolerate ferals alive!"

As the mention of Feral rehab, and RSX, a number of the people in crowd nod in agreement. After all, many here are mostly mutated, and few fondly remember RSX's fairly recent policy of 'shoot on sight'.

(Vande) Vande was shot down, but he took it on the chin! He just smiled and nodded, "Of course, of course; I didn't know there was a proper procedure." He chuckled awkwardly before furling up his drawn out plans and clutching them into his hands once more with a tightened grip. "Do carry on," he encouraged as he stepped back into the crowd to make attempts to blend in and minimize his presence.

(Kiyumi) Kiyumi takes note of the assistant, it seems to her that they are like a babysitter, keeping the councilor from saying anything undesirable. A problem, in her view. She starts pondering on how to get the councilor to answer a difficult question herself, hatching a plan as she leans her nose upon the side of a fist.

(Miru) As the questions seemed to wind down for a moment, and the mention of Feral rehab has been brought up, a skunk girl, stark naked one might note, raised a hand, before asking a question. "Excuse me, so about ferals and what not. So, you just said that they are mostly being treated in Fairhaven, by the Prommies obviously. Is the Council planning on opening up places anywhere in Fairhaven itself? Some of us still need to work here after all."

With the question ask, Sara quickly smiled again, clearly it seems Feral rehab is a good topic for her. "Well, that is a very good question. As Barry mentioned, since the streets are safer these days, we have been considering places within the city where Ferals can be sheltered to relax from bad days and other such issues." She added with a smile.

"Will the Council be starting their own treatment programmes, or will they be relying on the Prommies." Came another 'question' from the INU reporter to the side. Barry quickly stepped in here. "That topic is still heavily discussed in the council. You can check the minutes for the meeting from last month. You should have them, no? Also, the council congratulates INU on the Radio Station." The beaver answered with a wild smile, probably happy at giving the okami boi a non-answer.

(Deidre) Deidre begins to write down the answer, noting that once again they simply dodged the question. "Well if your only going to answer the questions that you want to hear I've heard enough." She starts pushing her way through the crowd, before promptly leaving, she seems annoyed but didn't plan on staying to ask any follow up questions if they didn't answer this.

(Kiyumi) Plan hatched. Kiyumi checks that nobody is looking at her, blending in behind the crowds before transforming herself into a human. She takes out her hairpin and ruffles her own hair, attempting to come across as witless and harmless as possible. Then, she moves between the crowd until she finds a spot where the councilor can see her well and raises her hand, looking up as shyly as possible. She tries to sound as broken as possible as she stammers out an "e-excuse m-me!" in no particular hurry. The less pressing she looks, the better. Ideally, she hopes to be selected later, with the councilor's guard down.

(Vande) Vande curled up into a tight ball and rolled toward the group of Mall Rats before unfurling and standing beside them. He had a glint on intrigue in his crimson eyes as he looked up toward their signs and back toward the group. "Hey! If you don't mind me asking, what's the four in the Big Four? I know of RSX, Zephyr, and the Prometheans, but didn't know there was a fourth!" He chimed as he hid his blueprints inside of his coat. "I guess living under a literal rock and only scouting the streets to get a map of the land kinda takes you out of the loop." He said with a timid rub of one of his vulpine ears. "Or are you guys just mad for some other reason?"

(Miru) Sara notices the human trying to ask a question and gestures towards her. "Yes, friend? How can I help you?"

Once the Hissah reaches the two Mall rats. The one not holding the sign, with a loud green Mohawk and covered in piercings, quickly gives the smaller mutant a hug, and begins whispering conspiratorially, even thought no one is really paying attention to them. "Great question, bro. That's the first step, see? First, we have those three, two big fat cock-sucking corps, and not the good kind of cock-sucking. And a bunch of weird new-age hippies without the good drugs and sex. And now they want a government, bro? Like, do you even remember how the federal government SUCKED?!" The Mall Rat said with a shake of his head. "That is what we are protesting bro. We don't need another bunch of self-important morons telling us what to do. We have been surviving four like a decade without their help. They just want to take us back to the day where they worked us like slaves, bro. Where they kept fucking us, bro. And not the good fucking either, bro."

(Vande) Vande was taken aback as he was hugged as he let out a sharp yap in response! But he soon found himself nodding his head along to the dude bro's explanation of what they were protesting against and what they stood for. His clawed digit scratching at his cheek in contemplation while he listened. On one paw, he understood why they would be upset. They got to live freely! No rules (somewhat) and nobody to boss them around (again, somewhat) so going back to a uniformed society would surely have some disdain. But on the other, he saw this as a chance to really turn around the now bygone ages of American government and try out new things! The world has gone to shit once, so what's that can happen he thought. "Yeah I get it...but what about the little guys like me? Who's going to look out for me if we didn't have enforcers and other people protecting those who can't fend for themselves." He inquired hoping to gauge their reaction from this to see if they were truly worthy of following or if they were just some dude bro spouting nonsense.

(Kiyumi) The now-rather-human Kitsune raised her head as she nodded eagerly, shyly as she lies through her teeth. "idliketoaskaquestionplease..." she rambled, challenging to follow before pointing at the councilor.

"B-b-b-ut c-c-can y-y-you p-please a-answer it?" she continued shyly.

She looked at the assistant waving her hands defensively in-front of her. "Iamsorry, I-it's j-just that I-I a-am scared e-easily" Kiyumi added in a hurry. She put on her best shy-scared play, almost impressed with her own acting.

Given that the councilor bites, her next question would be the sinker.

"Given Zephyr and RSX resources and power, what is keeping them from controlling you? What happens if they give you an order?" she'd add, in a most innocent voice.

Certainly, she didn't expect a true answer. But the attempt could teach her much indeed.

(Miru) The husky waited patiently for the human woman to finally spit out her question. As Kiyumi asked her question, Sara smiled wide! "An excellent question, my friend!" She said as she took a step closer to the crowd. "It is especially important to always remind our new citizens who came from Clairmont or from beyond the region about how the Fairhaven Council has fought hard to minimize the influence of the two big corporations. In fact, the Prometheans have done a lot of work to ensure that the corps do not use this as another tool to influence the citizenry." She responded, earning her a few nods. "In fact, as I am sure one can see from our conduct in previous ears, we have already rejected attempts by Zephyr to try and pour in money to support their candidates unfairly, and we have already allied with the K9s to ensure that the corps can't just use force as a threat." With her answer, a few cheers were heard. One could argue that asking a Prommie about the corps was giving her a slam-dunk.

Vande's response earned him a snicker from the Mall Rat holding the sign. "You heard that dude? Cute guy thinks we will fuck him like the evil corpos." The green-mohawk rat nodded to his friend before giving Vande another squeeze. "Bro, it's like you never met a Mall rat. It's the corpos screw you over. When we fuck you, its the good fucking, like with actual cocks, not metaphorical evil cocks." Another squeeze. "Don't get me wrong, violence is like NOT RAD at all. But sometimes you have to use it to defend people, right bro? We don't want to be corpos. We much prefer living and letting others live, and when we are together, bro. We can like not be violent to each other, instead we can just sit down and smoke a joint, you know? But if there are bad actors, you still have to stop them from hurting the small guys like you, but you know...better to be cool and not be violent in the first place, bro."

(Vande) Vande rubbed at his chin upon hearing more of their arguments, though he really didn't care for the whole "fucking" metaphors, he at least understood where they were coming from. "I suppose so...world's already fallen to ruin, and there's not at a lot of us left, so what's the point of centralized government." He mused aloud while he dropped his blueprints to the ground and reached for the goggles that crowned his head to pull them over and cover his reptilian eyes. "Count me in then."

(Kiyumi) Kiyumi nods, feigning great, childlike interest as she waits for the crowd to die down slightly. Finally, she calls out again, continuing her innocent voice at a slightly louder tone, hoping to be heard. "And what if the Prometheans want something? Or the K9?"

(Celia-fae) Having missed the panda, the dragoness looks around for the kitsune. Upon hearing the human ask her question, she immediately recognized the voice of her friend and decided to just lay back and wait, not wanting to blow her cover for whatever she has planned. She's a bit let down to hear the whole council is more or less Prommie funded, though. As bad as Zephyr and RSX can be, she feels we all need to find common ground if we're to move forward, but due to her position as an RSX agent, she's afraid speaking up would do more harm than good.

(Miru) Sara looked at the human with a smile. "Oh, of course. The Prommies want nothing but the good of the citizens as anyone can tell." She answered with a nod, but got interrupted by Barry. "Good god, miss. Did you come here recently? Why don't you do some reading before asking those silly questions. Why don't you ask INU? I hear they have good programmes for that." The beaver answered, but his attempt at interrupting the question seemed to do more harm as some members of the crowd nodded along, as if taking it as an endorsement of INU.

As Vande drops his blueprints, Green-Mohawk quickly grabs the blueprints. "Bro, bro. Be careful with your paper, bro. Like, I bet you must put a lot of money to keep them safe from nanites, that paper goo, right bro?" The rat added as he grinned at Vande. "That's very important for being down with the Mall Rats. You gotta keep your dreams, going bro. Don't let those corpos, pigs, and clerks bring you down. I bet you can make your own train, bro. And we can all ride it, no need for the haters, ya know?"

(Vande) Vande thankfully had his goggles on or the Mall Rat would just see the teary eyed hissah grab the papers once again, only this time he made doubly sure that those papers didn't leave his clutches. "Yeah! I've basically poured all of the creds I had on me so that I can keep my plans in-tact...hard to design anything nowadays with the nanites snacking on all of the paper." He scorned those little dastardly things as he held his head high as his 2'11" body would allow. "And you're right! I don't need no stupid government to make my train!!"

(Kiyumi) Kiyumi nods, slipping back into the crowd. She's done for now, feeling like she got all she needs to get a good idea on the way the council works politically. The particulars of governance don't greatly concern her and at this point, she's more interested to find out the whispers behind the scenes.

(Celia-fae) Celia-fae moves to meet back up with Kiyumi. "So, anything you can gleam from all that? I'm a tad lost, myself, but I still don't know the big picture here." The dragoness smiles a little at seeing the mall rats and hissah getting along. "Looks like the lil' guy found some new friends at least."

(Miru) As the questions continued, now falling back to more mundane 'When will they fix our power supply', and 'How much will new parcel workers be paid?' some of the crowd began dissipating, the INU reporter still standing at the side.

Meanwhile, it appeared that Vande has found a friend in the Mall Rats as the two Rats, handed him a soda, and told him about the Mall trying to get him to come visit and see how their 'perfect' society lived.

All in all, a rather average day in the city.