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| Trading Fish Guts for Eyeballs | |
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| Participants | Brooklyn Jubilee |
| Synopsis | The little hero that couldn't tried to save blondie in the alley, it's a good thing this blondie doesn't have a heart of glass. |
| Location | Chinatown |
| Time | January 7, 2016 |
| Posted By | Jubilee |
A bright, cold, crisp day in New York. A market in Chinatown. The place bustles and hums with the packed masses of humanity, almost all of them Asian with a few exceptions. The scents and smoke of various culinary venders rise up over the crowd, over the paper decorations strung from market stall to market stall, giving this place a lively, almost happy feeling despite the destruction raging throughout the rest of the city.
In the crowd of many, many dark-haired individuals, Brooklyn stands out like a really, really sore thumb; she's bright blonde, and has that pink streak through her hair at the right temple. Dressed in a jacket a few sizes too big, torn jeans, and well-worn Chuck Taylors, the girl drifts through the marketplace, looking for things she needs. Stereos and video game things are nice, but she's looking for more pressing stuff: clothes, food, things she needs to live.
A blonde head in the middle of a sea of black and brown can only mean trouble. Jubilation is currently sitting on the stoop of one of the restaurants helping an old friend of her parents with some fish gutting. It's smelly work, but if it's done well and quickly, she might be rewarded with some tasty fish balls. More meat on a stick. Her eyes drift a bit past the young woman in favor of looking for someone that might be following her. She doesn't look rich, but if her eyes are blue, they might just fetch a good price.
The girl is…erratic, at best. She wanders almost drunkenly through the crowds, stopping here and there to check out a knock-off blouse or dress…but they aren't functional. Too flashy and bright for her tastes anyway! The way she wanders, occasionally staggers, and winces makes it look like she's got a serious headache or something though, and from time to time, she does rub her temples. Otherwise, she looks like a normal enough shopper, just in the Chinatown markets to score some electronics or something. A few stalls up, she stops herself, and seems to take a particular interest in a new pair of sneakers…dark, just like the ones she has on, but new, and much more comfortable looking.
Jubilation almost loses sight of the blonde in the crowded streets, that is until she spots one of the lesser known gang members sidling up beside her. Furrowing her brow, she slows with her fish gutting just in time to avoid a nasty cut to her thumb. When the knife touches against her glove, she glances down quickly and then over to the man she is sitting beside. She doesn't really need to say anything, the look in her eyes is enough for the old man to give her the nod and then she disappears, with the fish and knife.
The thoughts of the crowd is always a continual, low din…like walking through a dining room or something. The more people there are, the louder it is, of course. But, the gang members sliding up have more…interesting surface thoughts. They aren't thinking about shopping or dinner, but about Brooklyn herself! She's oh-so-aware that they're sliding up behind her, and that their intentions aren't great. What specifically, they have in mind, she doesn't know, but she's not about to stick around. As fast as she can, she snatches the shoes, turns around, and throws them at the gangsters. Too panicky to try anything else, she ducks under the table displaying their wares, and bolts backward through the vendor, with the gang members in hot pursuit.
The streets are crowded, very crowded and the moment that the shoes are thrown the din become louder and one woman screams. Everyone recognizes the boys, they know what they're up to but no one has the guts to actually stand up to them. So the area around Brooklyn is left quite open, like she was a leper or something even worse. The gang members are quite fast and seem to get in every possible way of the woman leaving only one route of escape. The alley between two of the large buildings.
There is one more pursuer though, someone without nefarious thoughts toward the blonde. A girl that is making plans for the men on her tail. In her mind she is hoping that the girl falls into their trap… it will afford her ample opportunity to attempt a rescue.
The market is unfamiliar. Brooklyn is just running now, putting feet to pavement as she bolts through these vendor stands, pushing folks out of the way, purposely going through the thickest of crowds to slow the bigger pursuers down. As she darts, she picks out a person here on there, especially people carrying things. With a little squint, she looks at each of them, and is able to plant a teeny-tiny subliminal message. 'Drop that!' in particular. As she zooms by, one woman drops a whole crate of food containers, and another drops a few bolts of fabric…which of course, the crows start to help pick up, crowding the walkways even more!
The blonde is a little bit difficult to follow on the ground but it takes the young Asian girl only a moment before she's up on top of one of the roofs and racing toward the next one. The subliminal messages she's planting into the odd person are effective against one of the nappers and he drops his knife to the ground, giving her another unplanned opening.
The actions of the people on the ground doesn't seem to be the familiar pattern of people that she's used to and the girl squats low to the roof as the blonde passes underneath her. 1… 2…. 3…. The pregnant pause seems like forever before Jubilee drops down on top of one of the men in pursuit. One more unplanned opening for the blonde.
Brooklyn certainly doesn't look back when one of them goes down. She keeps right on barreling ahead, even as the other thugs muscle people out of the way. The one thing on her mind is to avoid running down a dead-end, so, of course what happens? She turns a corner and BAM! there's the end of the marketplace, with a nice tall wrought-iron fence. It's not like chainlink; these are almost impossible to scale without help. Crying out in frustration, she spins around to see how many are coming.
The entrance of the alley is blocked by three men wielding knives. In true spaghetti western fashion they are walking toward the blonde very slowly, tapping the flats of their knives in their palms. It's a horrible sight, one that Jubilee comes up on as she skids around the corner. <"She's police!"> It's not a good distraction but it's enough to make the men turn around, just in time to see a few sparks come from the girls hands.
Panting, beginning to tear up, with her body pressed back to the fence, Brooklyn watches as the men approach. She's blinking often, and shaking her head from side to side, in a combination of fear, and because her emotional state has opened up the floodgates. Thankfully, only the three here in the alley are around to have their thoughts read, but the thoughts aren't pretty. But then…Jubilee appears around the corner. When she distracts them, Brooklyn lets out a pained howl, and her whole body tenses. Jubilee might later swear that she saw a shimmer in the air that wasn't her sparks; instead, it's an erupting bubble of psychic energy. It hits the three thugs AND Jubilee, all just a few feet from her now. When it hits, it's like every muscle in their bodies wants to go limp, as their bodies are paralyzed briefly.
Unfortunately for Jubilee, she was in the middle of running toward the men when the bubble hits her and her imbalance due to being on one foot causes her to collapse onto the ground just as her sparks erupt in a blinding explosion. It's a good distraction for the blonde in the alley, and definitely gives her enough time to get away. Hopefully, the men will still be blinded when the paralyzation wears off, it wouldn't be good for the girl on the ground.
Brooklyn doesn't waste any time in scooting out of the alley. She bolts past the bodies lying there, but…something keeps her from going away completely. The girl blinded them, but who knows for how long. They probably aren't going to be happy when they wake up, either! So before she gets the heck out of dodge completely, she makes sure to give her a gift. After that eruption of psychic energy, she's pretty drained. Thankfully, she can plant a suggestion or two yet! 'Go home!' she plants in each person's mind…and these thugs are pretty easy to plant, especially when paralyzed. Done as much as she can, she turns and bolts for good, back to the market, and out as soon as she can find the nearest exit.
