ooc: so this is the thread for anyone who has been chosen to do rural improvements for their community service. Unlike the park thread where everyone is stationed only in the park, this station will move around the city via bus everyday at a different local unless one place needs more attention.

Again, the mutants jobs here could be as simple as cleaning up the property and washing down the buildings, to as far as painting and fixing. Most of these buildings will be general community buildings and occasionally maybe a home or two of a guard? I think with this thread moreso than the park thread people may start to sympathise with the mutants.

Same rules apply, good behaviour is expected and any mutant who risks that may not get full punishment in the public eye but will def. get more than that back at the camps. There are stalkers cloaked and zooming around. Though the building we be blocked by rope/police there can still be opprotunity for communication with the outside people though at risk to the mutants and to anyone who asociates themselves with mutants. It could propmt an investigation into the persons 'human' status or provoke more trouble for the mutant. There will be about 5-10 guards on duty at anytime. They still have clubs and remotes that activate the collars to shock
any other suggestions/questions PM me

ic:

The guards were standing around with some of the police who now had the building mostly blocked off. That didnt stop protestors and reporters from filling up the street waving their cameras and banners. It was a cold morning and the building the men stood infront of looked as if it could be as cold inside as it was out.

It was obviously an older building- once used as a governmnt orphanage in the olden days. Now graffitti covers it's outside with broken windows, a partial roof, and doors hanging off hinges. Most of the guards appreciated the fact they would just be supervising this thing.

the buzz from the crowd signalled that the bus of mutants had arrived and the police jumped into poistion to hold back the protestors and reporters. The guards stepped forward to escort the mutants off the bus.

(“Most of these buildings will be general community buildings and occasionally maybe a home or two of a guard?” It is so tempting to make one of those guard homes, the home of James.)

Sara had been separated from the girls at the camp that she had gotten to know the most. Putting her in with other people, mutants, she had less time to meet. As a result Sara had let herself drift to the back of the bus. She was still different from the others here and that was apparent to her no matter how many of them possessed a cuff or collar.

Sitting in the back of the bus gave Sara a chance to stare at her feet. They had been issued shoes and no one had cared that Sara’s feet never fit comfortably in shoes. So she’d never had a pair of her own. Naturally she had stumbled about, more clumsily then normal. A lot more clumsily then normal but they wanted her to ware shoes. She figured she could take them off later.

Finally the bus came to a halt, and Sara felt her side, hidden under her waist band. Rupert’s ipod had been interesting to hide, but through some very interesting slight of hand, she had managed to hide Rupert’s ipod from the guards dressing her. (Permission from Rup on that.) So the thing was with her now, although she still didn’t know what to do with the device. Ok she knew what it was for, she wasn’t that our of touch with technology, but what to do with the device? Continue hiding it? Sneek it into James’s pocket and let the thing go swimming in the laundry pool? She gave herself a mental shrug. She’d figure something out.

The bus finally halted and the rows of mutant inmates made their ways off of the bus. Sara sure to be the last, as she bowed her head to hide behind her longer hair. As if she really could hide.

She stepped off of the bus, and immediately the skin around her nose darkened. She could feel the people single her out. Feel their eyes. She’d been given instructions to work. That was all she was doing but the stares were uncalled for. A guard grabbed her shoulder, causing Sara to lift her head enough to see him between loose strands of hair. He pointed instructing her to take a wheel barrel, filled with bags of cement, then instructed her where to go. So off she went, following the directions.

Sonya/Doug stands stiffly by the side of the bus as the “Rural Enhancement Team” assignees disembark and are given their assignments.

She’s still not entirely sure why Doug was assigned to watch this particular gang, although she suspects it had something to do with Doug not being a trigger-happy sadistic moron, and the desire to have at least one such individual on each shipment. Probably so they’ll have someone to blame when it all goes to #$!$!@#.

The plus side is, Doug has no specific assignments on this particular shift except keeping an eye on stuff and making sure nothing goes too horribly wrong. Which actually gives him an opportunity to follow Sara as she slogs off with a wheelbarrow full of cement.

She’s been trying to decide for a while what she should use for an opening line, if she ever has an opportunity like this, and hasn’t really come up with any options she likes. Still, her goal has to be to communicate quickly that she’s on the inmates’ side, without being too obvious to others, and so she picks her current favorite opening like once they’re a reasonable distance from the others.

"Syn says hi," Doug whispers, just loud enough for her to hear.

Sara tripped as she tried to walk in the shoes. Nearly dumping the wheel barrel. She saved the load but ran her knee into the handle in the process. Again she heard something, someone was shouting in the crowd. “Hey that cat one looks like she should hardly be able to stand!” Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sara had heard it before. She’d lost a lot of weight in the camps. She could still work, and move, even fight like she use to, she was just very skinny due to her healing factor kicking in so much.

Pausing at the side of the building with the wheel barrel, she tried to adjust her shoes. Problem was she’d just never worn them. Walking had become a learning experience.

Normal people buy these things why?

"Syn says hi,"

Sara raised an eye brow. Trying to attract less attention. "and you would know this why?"

> "and you would know this why?"

Sonya/Doug grins a little at the success of her gambit – she’d at least gotten Sara’s attention – and looks around to make sure she isn’t being overheard. "Well, let’s see. Two theories present themselves… first, that she found a way of planting an agent among the guards to provide assistance where I can. Second, that I made it up to trap you into, um, I don’t know, revealing yourself as a mutant so I can throw you into the Camps, or something else equally brilliant. Guess it’s up to you to decide which is more likely… so far your friends seem to have decided I’m probably a trap of some kind."

Sara gave Doug a head tilt. Her shoe seemed to be on straight, for the moment again, and so she put her foot down and continued her self taught lesson on how to walk with shoes.

“There is a third one I can think of. You just happen to know that name, and decide to drop in around just to see who happens to know it.” Sara said. “No offence but we have learned not to put our full faith into anyone or anything. In many cases, not even each other.”

Sara had only ever met Syn twice but it wasn’t hard to forget a fellow mutant. Especially the ones who had offered help. A place to live. Food, Sara’s eternal struggle. “Can you blame us if we expect you to be an enemy?”

> "There is a third one I can think of. You just happen to know that name,
> and decide to drop in around just to see who happens to know it."

Sonya/Doug snorts. "Right. Because that would tell me you'd been to Sanctuary. From which I could deduce... something very important, I've no doubt."

> "Can you blame us if we expect you to be an enemy?"

"Expect? No. But when you ignore what's actually going on because it ain't what you expected, then yeah, I can blame you. Where I grew up they called that bigotry."

”….. something very important, I've no doubt."

Sara smirked before letting the look fade and going back to her work. “You just might think so.”

"Expect? No. But when you ignore what's actually going on because it ain't what you expected, then yeah, I can blame you. Where I grew up they called that bigotry."

“Then I’m lucky I try not to ignore those things.” Not saying Sara was always on top of everything. But she hadn’t ignored the care package from Doug. “I used myself to test the things in that package of yours. So far you have my curiosity because my abilities didn’t kick in.” But she couldn’t test the meds without triggering her healing abilities. Not information she was willing to share with Doug yet, but at least she knew she could trust the food and the vitamins with the others.

> “Then I’m lucky I try not to ignore those things. I used myself to test the things in that
> package of yours. So far you have my curiosity because my abilities didn’t kick in”

Sonya/Doug isn’t entirely sure which abilities Sara’s referring to, but she infers from context that she either has some kind of resistance to toxins, or some kind of danger sense. She resists the temptation to chortle evilly and mutter something about how Sara had fallen into her evil plan… she suspects the joke would be lost.

Not that Sara seemed without a sense of humor, granted, but even so. So she settles for a neutral nod. "I’d wondered where that had ended up. Well, if you ever decide to take the risk of getting more supplies from the outside, let me know what you need and I’ll do what I can."

Sara was vague on purpose. She still didn’t know if she could really trust Doug, but his food hadn’t poisoned her and at the moment, the fact that there seemed to be someone helping them, gave her some hope. Maybe she wouldn’t spend another life time in another Hell hole.

"I’d wondered where that had ended up.

Sara smirked again before letting the expression slip away.

Well, if you ever decide to take the risk of getting more supplies from the outside, let me know what you need and I’ll do what I can."

Sara could think of a million things. Food would be great if she could continue to trust the packages. She knew There were several who suffered from betting beaten, and if there was a way to sneak smaller things in that could still be used as tools. For now she just wanted to list too many things.

“I’ve noticed some people itching more then others.” She said. “Some sort of lice of flee shampoo would be a blessing.” Neena had tried to hide it but parasites like that brought a smell. That and Sara had found the parasites floating in the laundry pool. She had no doubt they’d soon swarm her own fur. Doug could joke all he wanted about that. “Also, people can only spend so much time in the infirmary before they are kicked out no matter how long Gwendolyn tries to keep them in there. Some aneseptic would probably be good too.” Even though Neena had take some from the infirmary other sources couldn’t hurt. Just in case the camps decided to cut their budget in that department. “Information on any plans would be good too. Since you said the name Syn,” Sara raised an eye brow. “Or even if there is a plan going down.” Then again could she trust Doug’s information there?

Doug nods. " Anti-lice shampoo and antisceptics… got it. " She’d put some of the latter in her initial care package, but she’d had no idea how bad the situation was at the time… that had probably lasted a day, if that. Assuming they could bring themselves to use any of what I brought.

"As for information… can’t tell you much, I’m not exactly high on the totem pole. The Resistance is working on something, but I don’t know what, and I don’t know when, and I don't know why it’s taking them so long to make a move. I’ll try to give you guys some warning if I can, let you get ready to take advantage. With a little luck, we’ll be able to neutralize the cuffs and cut off the goop-supply in advance. "

The corner of Sara’s lips twitched down. She clearly wanted more then that but it wasn’t like she could say she was getting nothing. That is as long as Doug was true to his word. Sara still had yet to see that happen.

She shook her head, not liking the fact she was being suspicious of him. Then again because she didn’t like trusting someone she suspected of being a human. Humans had never been good to her. Ever. Was she really getting that desperate with the camps?

“Is there anything else?”

> “Is there anything else?”

Sonya thinks about it for a second, then nods. "Yeah, actually. When the Resistance makes its move it’s going to have to move fast; it will help if the inmates are organized to take advantage of the opportunity. Obviously nobody’s really going to trust me, so we need you all to work out some kind of internal organization so that when the moment comes, we can get the word out quickly and people can know where to go to get extracted, and that sort of thing.

I figure you probably already have some internal organization in place – your friend Michael seemed pretty clear about being important, for example – and I don’t need to know what it is or how it works, but I need to know that you’re using it to prepare… we’re only going to get one chance at this.

But, also, be careful… I know you don’t trust any of the humans, but don’t think you can trust a mutant just because he’s a mutant, either. You never know what kinds of deals people will make for better treatment. But I figure you probably know who you can trust among the inmates better than I do, anyway."

Sara sighed, nodding her head. “Yeah there are a couple I’ve noticed, who like to try and play hero.” Could be worst but having too many who like to be in command in one area, wasn’t always a good thing. Like wolves in a pack. There had to be on Alfa and if there were too many playing Alfa, wars erupted. Probably, another reason, why Sara had considered herself a loner for a long time.

“I’ll see what we got.” Sara said. Doug still had to prove himself to her, to show that he was worth even counting on, but he was more then nothing at the moment.

(Didn’t you say something about getting a template of Sara in this thread?)

> “Yeah there are a couple I’ve noticed, who like to try and play hero. I’ll see what we got.”

Sonya/Doug snorts at that. "Heroes just get people killed… usually themselves. What we need are leaders. But anyway… do what you can. I’ll do my best to give you some warning."

One of the interesting consequences of interacting with Sara as much as she has lately, Sonya realizes, is that her animal phobia no longer seems to be registering. Which isn’t too surprising, when she stops to think about it – what she’s been scared of really all along is being trapped in a stupid body again, and Sara is clearly anything but that.

In fact, it occurs to her that Sara’s body could be extremely useful to her… fast, strong, agile, tough. Assuming she can even imprint on a mutant body, but she can’t see why it wouldn’t work… she’s learned how to maintain multiple forms, after all, and it’s not like Sara’s got any magic powers. An unusual body, yes, but it’s a body made of flesh and blood, just like anybody else’s.

What the hell. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. "And thanks for listening." She sticks a hand out, steeling herself to not change bodies right away or show any reaction to the imprinting.

(( OOC: Why so I did!)