They have a floor plan of Oz's (and presumably other) houses, have a bunch of hitmen on staff, and in Angel try to have him killed a few times a season. If it looks like we are going to win the election and their last minute attempt to reveal their dirt on Buffy isn't enough then they are going to try to kill or kidnap whoever they can to get Buffy to fall in line. It is just how they operate.
Successor (BTVS)
- Thread starter DeAnno
- Start date
- Mature
Temes1066
To Defy Gravity you must Let It Go
- Location
- Coleraine
While @mc2rpg has a point that they might figure out it was us behind the hack and they may respond with assassins, we have figure out to what extend do W&H actually care about affairs in Sunnydale.
For example, if this is just a private project of Lindsey McDonald then we are probably safe, However, if it is a part of Senior Partners plans then we could be in serious trouble but until we know this for sure one way or the other, I'm not entirely sure how we should really respond.
My current response is at best a compromise.
[X] They gathered a ton of useful info for the debate, and they know none of the damaging blackmail is going to come out immediately. Better to prepare to win it decisively and deal with this emotion warlock before doing anything else. If nothing else, it'll improve your negotiating position.
-[X] This feud with Wolfram and Hart seems ready to explode into violence, but Willow got the contact information for Lindsey's boss, Holland Manners. Call him up after the debate and have a frank discussion of where this is going and how it's poised to end. The curse residue on his servers should be enough proof of your intent.
For example, if this is just a private project of Lindsey McDonald then we are probably safe, However, if it is a part of Senior Partners plans then we could be in serious trouble but until we know this for sure one way or the other, I'm not entirely sure how we should really respond.
My current response is at best a compromise.
[X] They gathered a ton of useful info for the debate, and they know none of the damaging blackmail is going to come out immediately. Better to prepare to win it decisively and deal with this emotion warlock before doing anything else. If nothing else, it'll improve your negotiating position.
-[X] This feud with Wolfram and Hart seems ready to explode into violence, but Willow got the contact information for Lindsey's boss, Holland Manners. Call him up after the debate and have a frank discussion of where this is going and how it's poised to end. The curse residue on his servers should be enough proof of your intent.
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So just so everyone knows where I am coming from on this particular issue, and what I'm basing my arguments off of, I think it is a play by special projects. I dont think Lindsey could bring that many resources to the table (offering the skeleton, gathering this info, rustling up clients to weaponize) without higher up backing. I also don't think the senior partners ordered this, because the timing is too opportunistic and they dont seem that active on the ground level. Lindsay was here and causing trouble very quickly. It seems more likely to me that Holland saw the end of their tentative truce with Wilkins and immediately got the ball rolling on trying to take over the hellmouth. Going on this assumption I absolutely think we can kill and hack our way to peace by making the costs too expensive for him to want to continue. Thus I am in favor of either bringing him to the table now, or going to la after the debate and wiping out his assassin force to show that the price of this is too high to be worthwhile.
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[X] They gathered a ton of useful info for the debate, and they know none of the damaging blackmail is going to come out immediately. Better to prepare to win it decisively and deal with this emotion warlock before doing anything else. If nothing else, it'll improve your negotiating position.
WyldCard4
Unregistered
After some thought:
[X] Carl Gervais doesn't seem like the nicest person, but he clearly doesn't know what Lindsey's getting him involved in. Show up politely at his house with plenty of evidence of Sunnydale's underworld and ask him if this is really a problem he wants to inherit. If Lindsey gets in the way, get him out of the way.
-[X] Send Ian and a few of sunnydales more supernatural residents to meet him. Maybe a few rat nobles too. He might think Buffy is insane, but he should believe his own eyes
-[X] Meanehile Buffy can prepare for the debate while Willow and Xander plan for any surprises
This seems like the avenue WRH is least likely to have prepared well for IMHO, and the plan is pretty balanced across possible WRH responses. We are preparing if there's violence, we're preparing for not-violence, we're disrupting a piece on their board, and we're showing a lot of initiative. I suspect doing this first would actually impress Holland more than a direct assault, and if anything it puts us in a better position to attack if necessary.
I think the biggest downside here is that this implies some of our access to information about Wolfram and Hart inner workings. The mechanism would still be vague, and it only suggests rather than confirms effective spying, but it risks a lot of energy we could focus into a more direct alpha strike. Still, I think this plan is pretty robust to plausible WRH tactics and is rather intimidating without directly escalating.
[X] Carl Gervais doesn't seem like the nicest person, but he clearly doesn't know what Lindsey's getting him involved in. Show up politely at his house with plenty of evidence of Sunnydale's underworld and ask him if this is really a problem he wants to inherit. If Lindsey gets in the way, get him out of the way.
-[X] Send Ian and a few of sunnydales more supernatural residents to meet him. Maybe a few rat nobles too. He might think Buffy is insane, but he should believe his own eyes
-[X] Meanehile Buffy can prepare for the debate while Willow and Xander plan for any surprises
This seems like the avenue WRH is least likely to have prepared well for IMHO, and the plan is pretty balanced across possible WRH responses. We are preparing if there's violence, we're preparing for not-violence, we're disrupting a piece on their board, and we're showing a lot of initiative. I suspect doing this first would actually impress Holland more than a direct assault, and if anything it puts us in a better position to attack if necessary.
I think the biggest downside here is that this implies some of our access to information about Wolfram and Hart inner workings. The mechanism would still be vague, and it only suggests rather than confirms effective spying, but it risks a lot of energy we could focus into a more direct alpha strike. Still, I think this plan is pretty robust to plausible WRH tactics and is rather intimidating without directly escalating.
Do they? They know there was an attack, but Wolfram and Hart aren't exactly short of enemies. I don't think they'll necessarily assume it was us.
If not us then who? This probably sounds a bit arrogant, but I don't think it is unreasonable to assume that Willow is basically the strongest technopagan on the planet by a fair margin. She has a ton of old magic books, a decent magical support staff, an A.I. and a super computer. When you are in somewhat open conflict with someone with that setup and then your computers get hacked into and almost smashed with a really nasty curse then you know who to look at for assigning blame. It might take them a few days to clear up the details, but I would be surprised if they don't eventually pin this on Willow.
You want a list because WolfRam and hart have a lot of enemies
1 power that Be
2 other demons
3 clients
4 Sanjhan
5 jasmine
6 the Beast
7 their clients
That is just off the top of my head. We know that WolfRam and hart is not too interested in willow / tech images or they would have offered her a job by now.
You just listed off a lot of people that might attack the WRH office, and I don't disagree with any of it. What I think narrows things down is that their offices got attacked through a computer network. With the possible exception of their nebulous clients who on that list is going to be going at them through the internet and tossing curses at their computers? The Powers that Be sure as hell aren't, nothing they do reads as new or modern. Most demons also don't seem that all in on technology, so random demons are probably out. They don't know about Jasmine and the Beast iirc.
People who are going to attack in this specific way are pretty limited, and Willow is the one right in front of their faces that they are currently actively feuding with. If she hasn't shot to the top of their list by the end of the week I would be quite surprised. Also, you can bet your ass that they are going to be more interested in Willow and technology after this, now that they were shown to be vulnerable to it.
DeAnno
Sometimes words have two meanings
Some things that have come up in discussion:
Discussion still going on and it's close so I don't want to announce a lock yet.
Things are quieting down though now apparently so I'll say 12 hours from this time is the lock.
- Willow's WRH file has mentions of both computer skills (including her use of the UCS Supercomputer) and of her being a witch separately, but they don't mention "cybermancy" or "technopagans" in it
- There is a small file about Jenna Kalderash the dead technopagan Romani though
- It's not clear who's idea messing with Sunnydale politics by propping up Carl Gervais originally was, but everyone in the Special Projects Division had access to the files on Sunnydale and its residents and Lindsey is definitely the lead on this project now.
- There wasn't any communication from the Senior Partners evident relating to this project, however. The highest up person you see poking his nose into it is Holland Manners.
Things are quieting down though now apparently so I'll say 12 hours from this time is the lock.
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All About Spellcasting
DeAnno
Sometimes words have two meanings
You've given me an excuse to lecture!
Magic is an interesting topic, one inconsistently explored in canon which I admit to taking some liberties with in Successor. It encompasses an extremely wide array of disciplines and paradigms, some of them similar but others seemingly contradictory, and putting it all under the aegis of one word is almost like calling Psychology and Physics both "Science."
However, if we restrict ourselves to activity that looks like conventional spellcasting, some patterns emerge. First, you need to have a suitable type and amount of energy to cast a spell with; innately talented spellcasters like Willow tend to quickly develop large reserves of magical energy as they cast more and more spells. However, spells are fussy, and like certain flavors of energy more than others; one spellcaster might have energy very suited to cast illusion spells, and another might have energy that resonates well with curses.
What kind of energy a caster has is a mix of nature and nurture; you'll generally start with tendencies, but casting certain types of spells more makes your energy resonate with them better. Mystically significant events happening to you can change both the typing of your energy and the amount of it in unpredictable ways; generally when a spellcaster becomes a vampire the flavor change will be a little difficult to manage with their current library of known spells, and may appear to be a decrease in overall power if they don't adapt appropriately.
This being said though, usually if you shove enough energy at a spell it'll work, and a lot of spells either don't require much personal magical energy or conveniently "supply" some of their own. This has to more do with the second thing you need to cast a spell, namely, the spell itself. A spell is a pattern the energy is weaved in, and all sorts of things from mental focus to chanting to diagrams made of blood can help define it. At the most basic level, to cast a spell you need to have the pattern necessary to push the energy through and the energy to power it, and then bam you get a result. Usually specialists in a magical field will know a lot of spells in it, in addition to being exceptionally good at those spells because of energy typing concerns. This is another problem for a spellcaster who just turned into a vampire, usually all the spells they know are suited to their old energy flavor and if they want to use their new one they'll have to discover it and learn a bunch of spells in it all over again.
But the safe economics of spellcasters living within their means and casting fun spells they set up themselves from their mana pools isn't all there is. Some spells can be cast with a tiny piece of their overall pattern and a small portion of energy, which themselves are sort of a "bootstrap" spell which remotely casts the actual spell, summoning up the complete pattern and appropriate reserves of energy as required. Sounds broken you say? Well, yes and no.
These spells are called "invocations", because they're calling upon a god or goddess (either one directly in the same dimension or in another one, with some confusing restrictions) to remotely supply the rest of the pattern and energy for the spell. Sometimes these invocations have direct costs, but more usually the deity is happy to do this for "free". It's not super well understood by anyone Buffy knows exactly why, but invocations tend to always be effects which align with a deity's domain, and casting a lot of them tends to quickly align both the caster's energy reserve and their mindset in general with that of the deity. Because of this invocations are regarded as a more dangerous type of spell to get used to spamming and they're the common culprit for spellcasters getting "addicted" and going off the deep end. On the other hand invocations give a lot more bang for your buck and are an easy way to get yourself into the groove of a certain type of magic.
Sometimes if you understand an invocation really well from casting it a lot or some other way you can manually cast it yourself. This can be important because invocations aren't very customizable. Willow for example isn't really using many invocations now because Cybermancy is a fairly new field and she has to make a lot of the spells herself; she's found that her energy reserve is extremely well suited to it however, to the point of huge power multipliers she can get by rebuilding old spells to use Cybermantic components.
- Location
- Vancouver
Hmm, very interesting. Hopefully this will mean it's a lot less likely for Willow to 'go dark' (not that there aren't still several terrible things that could happen in entirely new and unexpected ways from this)
As for the vote, it's hard to say what to do. Currently, I'm leaning towards telling Gervais. It feels like the genuinely 'right' thing to do. Even if he decides to still go against us, he should have some forewarning of what he's getting into. Hopefully it should also have the benefit of being a move that Wolfram and Hart don't anticipate. If we phrase it right, we don't even have to reveal that we knew for sure he didn't know because we were spying on him.
As to the dangers of assassins, well they are an actual threat, but I don't think it's an option Wolfram and Hart are near deploying. They still want us on their side, and any election stuff doesn't matter, so long as they can get us later (heck, us winning and then joining them is actually optimal for them). That being said, they do obviously have hitmen/demons on their payroll and a disturbing level of knowledge on where we win. Eventually, they'll stop taking our refusals for an answer. After the election we should seriously start planning defenses and consider how exactly we plan to fight them. Because we will fight them eventually, and having the initiative (no, not the military group) will be very important to winning that fight.
[X] Carl Gervais doesn't seem like the nicest person, but he clearly doesn't know what Lindsey's getting him involved in. Show up politely at his house with plenty of evidence of Sunnydale's underworld and ask him if this is really a problem he wants to inherit. If Lindsey gets in the way, get him out of the way.
Well we could just go to L.A. and start slaughtering their assassin branch. They have to hire people from outside, and if we go and kill the couple dozen dudes they have on contract right now hiring more is going to be really hard. WRH is dangerous to us in a lot of ways, but dangerous to Buffy physically is not one if them. If we are over there smashing up their killers then those guys cannot be in sunnydale trying to murder anyone on our side. Alternately we give the names to Angel and he slowly starts killing them off in our stead.
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- Location
- Vancouver
Yeah, I think we should definitely send Angel on the case. With luck they won't connect it to us at first and give us more time to prepare while chipping away at them. Plus, if he's still the prophecized one they care about, they might not crush him right away.
Yeah I'm pretty sure Angel could kill off the list we just got given enough time. Admittedly I dont think it would send nearly the same message as Buffy going to L.A. and killing most of them herself, but he would eventually get the job done and we wouldn't have to leave town. A lot depends on what sort of time commitments there are in the next episode imo. If we get to vote on what the episode goal is and nothing is super pressing then it is probably worth doing ourselves. If we have something more important to do though we can send it off to Angel.
Temes1066
To Defy Gravity you must Let It Go
- Location
- Coleraine
After the election assuming all goes well; I think it would wise if we devoted some resources towards a serious matter, that we have been ignoring ever since it happened, we must discover the status and location of Faith.
The longer Faith is 'in the wind', the harder it is going to be to prepare an apporiate repsonse to the matter of Faith and/or any new slayer that appears, if Faith is dead or undead.
The longer Faith is 'in the wind', the harder it is going to be to prepare an apporiate repsonse to the matter of Faith and/or any new slayer that appears, if Faith is dead or undead.
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S3.5E12: Talking Points III
DeAnno
Sometimes words have two meanings
[X] They gathered a ton of useful info for the debate, and they know none of the damaging blackmail is going to come out immediately. Better to prepare to win it decisively and deal with this emotion warlock before doing anything else. If nothing else, it'll improve your negotiating position.
"You can keep me out of your secret clubhouse meetings if you like, but I already know about the Reptilians. Heck, I'm the one that invited Mr. Banks here, aren't I?" They were back in the conference room she'd spent most of the day in, except that they weren't really there, of course.
"So you're just going to come out and admit that it's you? After all my hard detective work?" Buffy had been pretty sure at this point, but somehow she expected more mystery out of Wilkins.
He smiled and made a dismissive gesture with his hand. "I figure you have enough to worry about, little lady. Movies, debates, and even a pretty vampire on the side? It's been so fun watching you grow up to be a real politician."
Buffy blushed. It wasn't like she thought he wouldn't see her conversation with Anya, but really, who was he going to tell? The seven minutes she'd spent with Harmony in a secluded part of the basement a few days ago had maybe been a little ill-advised though. "I thought you'd be a little more judgemental? You never exactly struck me as Mr. With-The-Times."
Wilkins laughed at that, "If you think this dalliance you've got going with the vampire is really that bad you should see a real sex scandal. My Vanessa has a whole drawer full of them that would make yours look like an evening movie on network TV. Honestly though, maybe you shouldn't. Your sensibilities are still a little delicate for some of that."
Buffy made a face. Maybe there were some things it really was better not to know about, until after the election at least. Vanessa had been effective at deflecting the state government from investigating her sketchy situation, but her methods behind the scenes could be a little questionable. She decided to latch onto something else. "Your Vanessa? Don't tell me you-"
"Nothing of the sort! Not since my Edna Mae passed." Wilkins said quickly. "But I always had a soft spot for her, I'll admit. It was nice having somebody on the City Council who would at least argue with me when they noticed me doing terrible things. Not that it stopped me, but it's always important to keep perspective. One thing you're going to have to be careful of is your inner circle turning into yes-men."
Buffy made a dismissive noise. "No way, my friends would never let me turn evil. They have those strong moral backbones, tough to find for people like you."
"Not even a little bit evil?" Wilkins said snidely, holding his forefinger and his thumb almost together. "Backing a house of questionable repute? Seeing a soulless vampire? Not to mention whatever backroom deals you were making with the Congressman in that room that you didn't even want me seeing. Or does he have you thinking the Reptilians are as pure as the driven sand?"
"He said they just wanted stability," Buffy replied, a little concerned now. "And it's not like I was in there with them alone, Willow thought it made sense too."
"The best lies are barely lies at all," Wilkins said. "And someone in your new position has to worry about being lied to a lot more than the slayer does. You're a rising star, Buffy, and people everywhere are going to want to latch onto you to further their own goals. They'll always make it seem like they're helping you too, that's how the game is played."
Buffy shook her head, "So you're saying I should go back to not trusting demons, just because they're demons? Ever since I got this job that's been something I've had to train myself out of! I need to be fair! And some of them really are good. It's more complicated than I thought it was."
"Definitely good at something, judging by your expression in that basement closet," Wilkins joked.
"Not just Harmony!" Buffy argued. "And eww, you perv. Gwen hasn't eaten anyone, I've been making sure. Everyone working on the movie was great. And there's Anya! She was a demon, and totally isn't a yes-man, she'd tell me if I was being stupid about this."
"Just because someone isn't evil, doesn't mean they're good. Especially if they have every reason in the world to be on your side right now." Wilkins paused, looking up at the skylight, free of the tarp Buffy had thrown over it before the sensitive conversation today. "The reverse applies too of course. Or did you think your sister slayer was secretly waiting for a chance to join the other side the whole time you knew her?"
"What do you mean?" Buffy asked.
"Faith's a great example of just what I'm talking about, as much as I see her as a daughter I never had. She didn't have anywhere to go, anyone to turn to. But there I was, lots of power and not many scruples. Her morality was flexible enough to be as evil as the mayor she wanted to work for. I'm sure plenty of the demons working with you have moralities flexible enough to be good, for now."
"So you think I should just, keep them at a remove or something? Not trust anybody without a soul after all?"
"On the contrary, I don't think you should trust anyone, least of all me!" That got him chuckling again. "But you're too young and idealistic to go for that. So just keep their motives in mind, and it might save you some heartbreak."
Buffy woke up, seeing Harmony looking down on her adoringly. She was lying curled up with her head in Harmony's lap along the backseats of the Chrysler, the forest clearing around them quiet except for the crickets.
"Harm! I'm sorry, I was just-"
"I know you've barely been sleeping at all this past week, it's OK," she said. "I thought it was kind of cute, really. And I've been keeping watch, all vigilant and stuff. We're totally safe."
Buffy still felt a little embarrassed. It wasn't like they had… gone the whole way, or anything. Whatever that entailed in a relationship like this, which she wasn't even totally sure of. But there had been intermediate steps. Good steps, full figured strides even. From what she could remember of the night, they'd taken a little break and talked about some of Willow's more troubling findings (though not the Reptilians, which she hoped were harmless enough that she wouldn't regret keeping mum,) but the long day must have caught up with her somewhere in there.
Buffy rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and shifted herself up, still leaning against Harmony's side. "It's possible that I've been a little deprived of the shut eye. But totally worth it." She smiled. "How long has it been?"
"It's 3:47AM," Harmony said, checking the Horae Watch she gotten on the game show and wiggling it at Buffy. It glowed very dimly when Harmony displayed it, just bright enough for Buffy to make out the details in the darkness. "You're wearing one of these too, you know."
"I'm still not used to it. Plus it feels like it isn't even there when I'm not paying attention to it." Buffy checked hers too, which had the exact same time. Still perfectly synchronized, though she didn't know enough about watches to know if that was impressive or not. "Is that a magic thing?"
"I think it might just be a quality thing. I never wore a watch much before either though, so who knows." She looked mischievous all the sudden. "Maybe you should wear that dress of yours and find out if it feels that way too."
She snorted. The two-piece and cape number had been living in the back of her closet, and she hadn't imagined when she'd get the chance to use something so bizarre. "Maybe I'll put it on for you in private if you like it so much."
"Totally! It's a date," Harmony said victoriously. She hadn't expected that, but maybe she should've. It'd make sense if it was made to demon aesthetics or something. She wondered how weird it really was inside Harmony's brain.
It made her think about evil and good and the other troubling stuff Wilkins had been nagging her about, and she almost wanted to ask Harmony some more big questions and try to get in her head. But she'd done that already, when all this started, and she'd been satisfied enough then. Besides, it would totally buzz-kill the moment.
She decided on lighter things instead. "So eager to get me dressed up, and here I was under the impression you wanted the opposite." Harmony was flummoxed for a second, and Buffy moved forward to give her a kiss, pinning her against the backseat. There was still enough moonlight left for a little fun.
The sun was shining down on the debate stage that'd been set up at Maple Court, and the size of the crowd that had gathered to ask questions of the candidates and watch the spectacle was reminiscent of Buffy's days in LA. The allure of such a big event had drawn some press (and maybe even spectators) from the big city, but luckily Buffy didn't have to worry about security today; Xander and Chief Matt had that well taken care of for both mundane and demonic problems. What Buffy did have to worry about was the question Gervais was currently trying to aggrandize himself with. He hadn't been shy about putting plants in the audience.
"I'm happy you asked that question, because this is just the type of thing I have experience in wrangling city officials with," Gervais smiled his pasted on smile, and Buffy wondered how anyone could believe it. "An overabundance of one way streets is a real problem, and it can strangle a neighborhood if you aren't careful. I know the situation in the North district is so bad right now that it adds 5 minutes to the commute for some people, and that may not sound like much, but if you add it up, that's almost an extra day driving per year. If I'm elected, I'll cut through the red tape and let our drivers make their own decisions."
The moderator nodded. "Ms. Summers, your response?" Things had mostly been going according to the playbook she'd prepared with Willow, Ian, and Gold the day before, and she thought she'd been doing pretty well.
"I want to reduce driving time for everyone too, and I agree the situation in the North district is totally unacceptable. Which is why I had my Secretary of Technology, Ms. Rosenberg over there, run traffic simulations on the local supercomputer so we could actually understand the problem. It turns out a lot of the one ways were put there for a reason; the residential areas turn into a major throughway for commercial traffic crossing town without them, and they aren't wide enough to handle that. Plus nobody wants that kind of thing around our families.
"I definitely can't say I know how to work the whole thing out myself," Buffy smiled her own fake smile here, and she actually got some chuckles. "But my friend has our new plan for the district loaded onto her laptop, and she can show it to you right now if you want to go over and talk to her. She managed to cut them in half, so we kind of get the best of both worlds. We're going to start rolling out the new signage this week."
The person who asked the question in the crowd originally had been one of Gervais' plants, and he looked a little bemused with how that'd gone, but he was still dutifully making his way over to check out Willow's plan. Little did anyone here know that in addition to the other two concerns, the new pattern had to maintain the rune of warding on the huge Earth Spirit sleeping under the neighborhood, but luckily Willow had been up to the task.
The next person with a question was Mr. Decker, who owned the hardware shop in Maple Court. "I had one of those diplomatic visitors from the middle east shoplifting in my store the other day, and I've seen them lurking around other businesses too! I'm not a racist or anything, but if they can't speak our language or follow our laws then something has to be done!"
"I'd like to handle this one first, if you don't mind," Buffy said. Even though LA press was here today, the actual moderator was from the local paper, and he didn't dare voice an objection. "Mr. Decker, I believe the incident in question was about two weeks ago, on the morning of Monday, August 2nd?"
He seemed a little surprised, but still managed to answer quickly. "Yeah, that was it."
Buffy was pretty annoyed with this jerk, but she stayed calm. "I take everything to do with our Tajikistani emissaries very seriously, and I looked into this myself with the police. They told me there wasn't any video evidence of the incident, and Mr. Mirzoda claimed he purchased the merchandise from you legally?"
"Well, the security camera's been acting up recently. But he couldn't produce a receipt, could he?" Mr. Decker argued.
She smiled again, like a predator this time. "Be that as it may, in the course of the investigation we ran across some other security footage from Sunday night. You were drinking at the Lucky Pint, right?"
"Nothing wrong with a hard working business owner having a few beers," he said arrogantly.
"Of course not. But I think you may have had more than just a few, considering what you did later that night on Sardine street. Is it possible your judgement could've still been a little impaired on the next day?"
"I, what, you can't prove that!"
"Not everyone's security equipment is acting up, it turns out," Buffy replied.
"Ah, well… " He paused not sure what to say, and the rest of the audience started laughing.
The situation defused, the moderator was about to call for another question, but Gervais interrupted this time, "I think this actually brings us to something else I'd like to talk about. You may have found the right of it in this case, but I think all the residents of Sunnydale have reason to be concerned with your rapid turnover and expansion of our police force. Matthew Waters is the youngest Police Chief in southern California, and your city watch is mostly composed of untrained teenagers.
"I know that crime in Sunnydale is a very serious issue, and I can't deny that your unconventional choices have been effective, but I'm worried that our law-abiding citizens will get stuck in the middle. The police and the city watch are armed with increasingly heavy weapons, and you've shown that they also enjoy a distinct technological advantage, but with limited experience I'm worried they'll use these tools as bludgeons instead of as scalpels."
Buffy could see where this was going, so she made sure to obediently walk into the trap. "That's a huge concern of mine, and I know it's super important that the police are as fair as they are powerful. We're doing everything we can to make sure everything's kosher, and the city watch have even cross-trained with the police to be able to do their jobs more legally."
Gervais was quick to answer, "That's great. It shows a real commitment. But I think that an outside view might be even more helpful. I'm going to suggest that both the police and the city watch get sensitivity training. The statistics have shown that it's a big factor in improving outcomes, and I've seen the positive effects myself when I was developing neighborhoods on the East Coast."
"That's a great idea!" Buffy said enthusiastically, garnering a troubled expression from Gervais. "In fact, I'll make time to go myself. If it can help our police do their jobs, I'm sure it can help me too!"
With that exchange finished, the moderator looked to the crowd again for another question. Buffy finally got lucky this time, recognizing that the person chosen was someone she'd gotten planted in the audience instead of one of Gervais' stooges.
Vote: Did Buffy decide to make some low blows with her own planted petitioners, or is she going to try to keep things clean? Choose a question to represent the direction she took. You may attempt to stunt in extra questions which fit the nature of the option chosen (either low or high.)
[] Buffy goes low. The distinguished looking man in the audience was a relative of one of the cops, and wearing a suit despite the heat. "Mr. Gervais, The Greco family was one of your principal investors when you developed the Devonian Complex in South Boston, and they're one of Wolfram and Hart's biggest clients. How are you going to keep organized crime out of Sunnydale when you're in bed with them?"
[] Buffy goes high. The girl in the audience was an activist Willow had met at UC Sunnydale. "Ms. Summers' administration already has several women in prominent positions, and she's supporting Juan Cortez for city council, one of our nation's many successful immigrants. Will you show the same commitment to inclusivity and multiculturalism?"
"You can keep me out of your secret clubhouse meetings if you like, but I already know about the Reptilians. Heck, I'm the one that invited Mr. Banks here, aren't I?" They were back in the conference room she'd spent most of the day in, except that they weren't really there, of course.
"So you're just going to come out and admit that it's you? After all my hard detective work?" Buffy had been pretty sure at this point, but somehow she expected more mystery out of Wilkins.
He smiled and made a dismissive gesture with his hand. "I figure you have enough to worry about, little lady. Movies, debates, and even a pretty vampire on the side? It's been so fun watching you grow up to be a real politician."
Buffy blushed. It wasn't like she thought he wouldn't see her conversation with Anya, but really, who was he going to tell? The seven minutes she'd spent with Harmony in a secluded part of the basement a few days ago had maybe been a little ill-advised though. "I thought you'd be a little more judgemental? You never exactly struck me as Mr. With-The-Times."
Wilkins laughed at that, "If you think this dalliance you've got going with the vampire is really that bad you should see a real sex scandal. My Vanessa has a whole drawer full of them that would make yours look like an evening movie on network TV. Honestly though, maybe you shouldn't. Your sensibilities are still a little delicate for some of that."
Buffy made a face. Maybe there were some things it really was better not to know about, until after the election at least. Vanessa had been effective at deflecting the state government from investigating her sketchy situation, but her methods behind the scenes could be a little questionable. She decided to latch onto something else. "Your Vanessa? Don't tell me you-"
"Nothing of the sort! Not since my Edna Mae passed." Wilkins said quickly. "But I always had a soft spot for her, I'll admit. It was nice having somebody on the City Council who would at least argue with me when they noticed me doing terrible things. Not that it stopped me, but it's always important to keep perspective. One thing you're going to have to be careful of is your inner circle turning into yes-men."
Buffy made a dismissive noise. "No way, my friends would never let me turn evil. They have those strong moral backbones, tough to find for people like you."
"Not even a little bit evil?" Wilkins said snidely, holding his forefinger and his thumb almost together. "Backing a house of questionable repute? Seeing a soulless vampire? Not to mention whatever backroom deals you were making with the Congressman in that room that you didn't even want me seeing. Or does he have you thinking the Reptilians are as pure as the driven sand?"
"He said they just wanted stability," Buffy replied, a little concerned now. "And it's not like I was in there with them alone, Willow thought it made sense too."
"The best lies are barely lies at all," Wilkins said. "And someone in your new position has to worry about being lied to a lot more than the slayer does. You're a rising star, Buffy, and people everywhere are going to want to latch onto you to further their own goals. They'll always make it seem like they're helping you too, that's how the game is played."
Buffy shook her head, "So you're saying I should go back to not trusting demons, just because they're demons? Ever since I got this job that's been something I've had to train myself out of! I need to be fair! And some of them really are good. It's more complicated than I thought it was."
"Definitely good at something, judging by your expression in that basement closet," Wilkins joked.
"Not just Harmony!" Buffy argued. "And eww, you perv. Gwen hasn't eaten anyone, I've been making sure. Everyone working on the movie was great. And there's Anya! She was a demon, and totally isn't a yes-man, she'd tell me if I was being stupid about this."
"Just because someone isn't evil, doesn't mean they're good. Especially if they have every reason in the world to be on your side right now." Wilkins paused, looking up at the skylight, free of the tarp Buffy had thrown over it before the sensitive conversation today. "The reverse applies too of course. Or did you think your sister slayer was secretly waiting for a chance to join the other side the whole time you knew her?"
"What do you mean?" Buffy asked.
"Faith's a great example of just what I'm talking about, as much as I see her as a daughter I never had. She didn't have anywhere to go, anyone to turn to. But there I was, lots of power and not many scruples. Her morality was flexible enough to be as evil as the mayor she wanted to work for. I'm sure plenty of the demons working with you have moralities flexible enough to be good, for now."
"So you think I should just, keep them at a remove or something? Not trust anybody without a soul after all?"
"On the contrary, I don't think you should trust anyone, least of all me!" That got him chuckling again. "But you're too young and idealistic to go for that. So just keep their motives in mind, and it might save you some heartbreak."
Buffy woke up, seeing Harmony looking down on her adoringly. She was lying curled up with her head in Harmony's lap along the backseats of the Chrysler, the forest clearing around them quiet except for the crickets.
"Harm! I'm sorry, I was just-"
"I know you've barely been sleeping at all this past week, it's OK," she said. "I thought it was kind of cute, really. And I've been keeping watch, all vigilant and stuff. We're totally safe."
Buffy still felt a little embarrassed. It wasn't like they had… gone the whole way, or anything. Whatever that entailed in a relationship like this, which she wasn't even totally sure of. But there had been intermediate steps. Good steps, full figured strides even. From what she could remember of the night, they'd taken a little break and talked about some of Willow's more troubling findings (though not the Reptilians, which she hoped were harmless enough that she wouldn't regret keeping mum,) but the long day must have caught up with her somewhere in there.
Buffy rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and shifted herself up, still leaning against Harmony's side. "It's possible that I've been a little deprived of the shut eye. But totally worth it." She smiled. "How long has it been?"
"It's 3:47AM," Harmony said, checking the Horae Watch she gotten on the game show and wiggling it at Buffy. It glowed very dimly when Harmony displayed it, just bright enough for Buffy to make out the details in the darkness. "You're wearing one of these too, you know."
"I'm still not used to it. Plus it feels like it isn't even there when I'm not paying attention to it." Buffy checked hers too, which had the exact same time. Still perfectly synchronized, though she didn't know enough about watches to know if that was impressive or not. "Is that a magic thing?"
"I think it might just be a quality thing. I never wore a watch much before either though, so who knows." She looked mischievous all the sudden. "Maybe you should wear that dress of yours and find out if it feels that way too."
She snorted. The two-piece and cape number had been living in the back of her closet, and she hadn't imagined when she'd get the chance to use something so bizarre. "Maybe I'll put it on for you in private if you like it so much."
"Totally! It's a date," Harmony said victoriously. She hadn't expected that, but maybe she should've. It'd make sense if it was made to demon aesthetics or something. She wondered how weird it really was inside Harmony's brain.
It made her think about evil and good and the other troubling stuff Wilkins had been nagging her about, and she almost wanted to ask Harmony some more big questions and try to get in her head. But she'd done that already, when all this started, and she'd been satisfied enough then. Besides, it would totally buzz-kill the moment.
She decided on lighter things instead. "So eager to get me dressed up, and here I was under the impression you wanted the opposite." Harmony was flummoxed for a second, and Buffy moved forward to give her a kiss, pinning her against the backseat. There was still enough moonlight left for a little fun.
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The sun was shining down on the debate stage that'd been set up at Maple Court, and the size of the crowd that had gathered to ask questions of the candidates and watch the spectacle was reminiscent of Buffy's days in LA. The allure of such a big event had drawn some press (and maybe even spectators) from the big city, but luckily Buffy didn't have to worry about security today; Xander and Chief Matt had that well taken care of for both mundane and demonic problems. What Buffy did have to worry about was the question Gervais was currently trying to aggrandize himself with. He hadn't been shy about putting plants in the audience.
"I'm happy you asked that question, because this is just the type of thing I have experience in wrangling city officials with," Gervais smiled his pasted on smile, and Buffy wondered how anyone could believe it. "An overabundance of one way streets is a real problem, and it can strangle a neighborhood if you aren't careful. I know the situation in the North district is so bad right now that it adds 5 minutes to the commute for some people, and that may not sound like much, but if you add it up, that's almost an extra day driving per year. If I'm elected, I'll cut through the red tape and let our drivers make their own decisions."
The moderator nodded. "Ms. Summers, your response?" Things had mostly been going according to the playbook she'd prepared with Willow, Ian, and Gold the day before, and she thought she'd been doing pretty well.
"I want to reduce driving time for everyone too, and I agree the situation in the North district is totally unacceptable. Which is why I had my Secretary of Technology, Ms. Rosenberg over there, run traffic simulations on the local supercomputer so we could actually understand the problem. It turns out a lot of the one ways were put there for a reason; the residential areas turn into a major throughway for commercial traffic crossing town without them, and they aren't wide enough to handle that. Plus nobody wants that kind of thing around our families.
"I definitely can't say I know how to work the whole thing out myself," Buffy smiled her own fake smile here, and she actually got some chuckles. "But my friend has our new plan for the district loaded onto her laptop, and she can show it to you right now if you want to go over and talk to her. She managed to cut them in half, so we kind of get the best of both worlds. We're going to start rolling out the new signage this week."
The person who asked the question in the crowd originally had been one of Gervais' plants, and he looked a little bemused with how that'd gone, but he was still dutifully making his way over to check out Willow's plan. Little did anyone here know that in addition to the other two concerns, the new pattern had to maintain the rune of warding on the huge Earth Spirit sleeping under the neighborhood, but luckily Willow had been up to the task.
The next person with a question was Mr. Decker, who owned the hardware shop in Maple Court. "I had one of those diplomatic visitors from the middle east shoplifting in my store the other day, and I've seen them lurking around other businesses too! I'm not a racist or anything, but if they can't speak our language or follow our laws then something has to be done!"
"I'd like to handle this one first, if you don't mind," Buffy said. Even though LA press was here today, the actual moderator was from the local paper, and he didn't dare voice an objection. "Mr. Decker, I believe the incident in question was about two weeks ago, on the morning of Monday, August 2nd?"
He seemed a little surprised, but still managed to answer quickly. "Yeah, that was it."
Buffy was pretty annoyed with this jerk, but she stayed calm. "I take everything to do with our Tajikistani emissaries very seriously, and I looked into this myself with the police. They told me there wasn't any video evidence of the incident, and Mr. Mirzoda claimed he purchased the merchandise from you legally?"
"Well, the security camera's been acting up recently. But he couldn't produce a receipt, could he?" Mr. Decker argued.
She smiled again, like a predator this time. "Be that as it may, in the course of the investigation we ran across some other security footage from Sunday night. You were drinking at the Lucky Pint, right?"
"Nothing wrong with a hard working business owner having a few beers," he said arrogantly.
"Of course not. But I think you may have had more than just a few, considering what you did later that night on Sardine street. Is it possible your judgement could've still been a little impaired on the next day?"
"I, what, you can't prove that!"
"Not everyone's security equipment is acting up, it turns out," Buffy replied.
"Ah, well… " He paused not sure what to say, and the rest of the audience started laughing.
The situation defused, the moderator was about to call for another question, but Gervais interrupted this time, "I think this actually brings us to something else I'd like to talk about. You may have found the right of it in this case, but I think all the residents of Sunnydale have reason to be concerned with your rapid turnover and expansion of our police force. Matthew Waters is the youngest Police Chief in southern California, and your city watch is mostly composed of untrained teenagers.
"I know that crime in Sunnydale is a very serious issue, and I can't deny that your unconventional choices have been effective, but I'm worried that our law-abiding citizens will get stuck in the middle. The police and the city watch are armed with increasingly heavy weapons, and you've shown that they also enjoy a distinct technological advantage, but with limited experience I'm worried they'll use these tools as bludgeons instead of as scalpels."
Buffy could see where this was going, so she made sure to obediently walk into the trap. "That's a huge concern of mine, and I know it's super important that the police are as fair as they are powerful. We're doing everything we can to make sure everything's kosher, and the city watch have even cross-trained with the police to be able to do their jobs more legally."
Gervais was quick to answer, "That's great. It shows a real commitment. But I think that an outside view might be even more helpful. I'm going to suggest that both the police and the city watch get sensitivity training. The statistics have shown that it's a big factor in improving outcomes, and I've seen the positive effects myself when I was developing neighborhoods on the East Coast."
"That's a great idea!" Buffy said enthusiastically, garnering a troubled expression from Gervais. "In fact, I'll make time to go myself. If it can help our police do their jobs, I'm sure it can help me too!"
With that exchange finished, the moderator looked to the crowd again for another question. Buffy finally got lucky this time, recognizing that the person chosen was someone she'd gotten planted in the audience instead of one of Gervais' stooges.
Vote: Did Buffy decide to make some low blows with her own planted petitioners, or is she going to try to keep things clean? Choose a question to represent the direction she took. You may attempt to stunt in extra questions which fit the nature of the option chosen (either low or high.)
[] Buffy goes low. The distinguished looking man in the audience was a relative of one of the cops, and wearing a suit despite the heat. "Mr. Gervais, The Greco family was one of your principal investors when you developed the Devonian Complex in South Boston, and they're one of Wolfram and Hart's biggest clients. How are you going to keep organized crime out of Sunnydale when you're in bed with them?"
[] Buffy goes high. The girl in the audience was an activist Willow had met at UC Sunnydale. "Ms. Summers' administration already has several women in prominent positions, and she's supporting Juan Cortez for city council, one of our nation's many successful immigrants. Will you show the same commitment to inclusivity and multiculturalism?"
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[x] Buffy goes high. The girl in the audience was an activist Willow had met at UC Sunnydale. "Ms. Summers' administration already has several women in prominent positions, and she's supporting Juan Cortez for city council, one of our nation's many successful immigrants. Will you show the same commitment to inclusivity and multiculturalism?"
First I agree with Wlkens in not trusting anyone. Second I think we should go high so we can if need be make use of these guy later for something. No reason to burn a bridge unless we have too.
First I agree with Wlkens in not trusting anyone. Second I think we should go high so we can if need be make use of these guy later for something. No reason to burn a bridge unless we have too.
- Location
- United States
[x] Buffy goes high. The girl in the audience was an activist Willow had met at UC Sunnydale. "Ms. Summers' administration already has several women in prominent positions, and she's supporting Juan Cortez for city council, one of our nation's many successful immigrants. Will you show the same commitment to inclusivity and multiculturalism?"
- Location
- St. Petersburg
[x] Buffy goes low. The distinguished looking man in the audience was a relative of one of the cops, and wearing a suit despite the heat. "Mr. Gervais, The Greco family was one of your principal investors when you developed the Devonian Complex in South Boston, and they're one of Wolfram and Hart's biggest clients. How are you going to keep organized crime out of Sunnydale when you're in bed with them?"
[X] Buffy goes low. The distinguished looking man in the audience was a relative of one of the cops, and wearing a suit despite the heat. "Mr. Gervais, The Greco family was one of your principal investors when you developed the Devonian Complex in South Boston, and they're one of Wolfram and Hart's biggest clients. How are you going to keep organized crime out of Sunnydale when you're in bed with them?"
DeAnno
Sometimes words have two meanings
While the larger direct impact will be limited to this debate, it'll definitely have an effect on Buffy's future overall strategy. Going low here establishes a baseline level of mudslinging Buffy will be comfortable doing on her own narrative recognizance with less in the way of future votes (though remember, this is indirect mudslinging, so it's not an extreme baseline.)