1279/Log

Log
Date of Scene:	03 July 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Cyberdragon, Terra, Spider-Woman (Drew), 1075, X-23

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Cyberdragon has posed:
With Evening coming around there are plenty of things to do. Games, Music, Dances. For the most part the Reserve area was chosen as a good place for the party so they could watch and enjoy the 4th of July. And right now for the most part people are relaxing. Humans and mutants are about, sadly to anyone's knowledge here there are no aliens. But for the most part there is one desiganted cooking area and this is where people can come in paying a modest fee 2 or three dollars which is donated to local homeless shelters in new york, and either buy food, or come cook out on there own.

Right now one John Coltan, known for cooking down at the local homeless shelters in the area has some how ended up in charge of the more public venders keeping the place well stocked with food and drinks.

Of course Near the cooking area is his large canine dog, a Tibetian Mastiff that is currently running and Playing fetch with all sorts of kids. The massive dog's deep barks as the animal seems very well behaved and controled.

Atlee (1034) has posed:
    When it comes to July 4th celebrations, Atlee hasn't really been to one! I mean, it's usually statistically the moment where the anti-American villains come out of the woodwork and try to break stuff. So she's usually a bit busy.

    Today however, she has gloriously managed to avoid any supervillain attacks or robberies, muggings, kidnappings, or other assorted crime. She's even dressed for the occasion and the July heat, forgoing her usual t-shirt for a very patriotic stars-and-stripes bikini top to go with her white cotton shorts and sandals as she wanders around, all wide-eyed and all curious at all the vendors and stands, stopping frequently to pick up whatever tidbit is being sold. This is why she currently has a little beanie bear holding a flag with an Uncle Sam tophat perched on the duffle bag she's carrying over one arm.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
One of those guests in attendance is jessica Drew, dressed in regular old civillian clothes, a pair of yoga pants, and a backless blue dress, with a floral print and a halter neck that hangs down to mid thigh, making her way over towards the cooking area with it's delicious treats, paying her little donation as she heads on in.

Jessica makes her way through the various food sellers, settling on a sausage and a soda, which she pays for before starting to meander amongst the crowd.

Graydon Creed (1075) has posed:
New York Senator Graydon Creed is a very divisive figure, a self-made millionaire with a oddly bi-partisan agenda. He's been fighting to make bribery illegal again and running his campaign on small donor money, while also fighting for de-privatizing prisons for humans but creating special prisons for meta-humans and mutants. He's pro-mutant collars for criminals on probation, hard on meta-crime, but also pro-universal healthcare, and anti-war on drugs saying it's just more cost effective to stop the war and focus on treatment.

His appeals for universal healthcare aren't based on how important it is to save lives, but how stupid it is to waste so much money on such a corrupt health care system that pays 30% or more in just processing costs for middlemen. He's pro-living wage and bank regulation but also proposed a bill that all aliens living on earth must turn over 1 item of alien technology to be studied by human scientists every year in order to stay on earth. So that human technology could advance and life could be made better for everyone.

This is the man who rides up in a van close to where the boy and his dog are playing. It's the van he uses for his campaigning, painted with his name, the Republican party logo, and his slogan "Humanity united!" the van doors open and he steps out along with some Men in Black looking individuals. "Here's good. We can draw a crowd then lead them to the charity booth for some photo-ops." he says to one of his security guys.

Cyberdragon has posed:
For the most part John Coltan is handling the orginized Chaos of the cooking areas, and of course that means handling people who accidently burn themselves. So right now he does notice the van pulling up and as he is managing a large Grill for someone to make a Bio-break. Some other people arrive with what else? more food. Some Local stores have managed to Donate some food for the cook out, several days before the date needed to pull them from the shelves as John hands the grill back to the woman who was cooking, and he heads over to help direct the delivery of meat and veggies and fruits to where people can start using it.

John's got experiance with this scale of things as a few people also have lent their own grills as he smiles and gets things spaced out enough so that he won't have any mid collisions, but a few people he has to turn the grills down, mainly they are either too small, low to the ground, or flat out unstable to be used. Finally his Large dog comes up to him panting and breathing heavy giving a whine as John fulls a large bowl of water for his Dog. "Good Ceaser, you're a good boy!" and he will get a bark as the dog starts to slobber up the water.

Atlee (1034) has posed:
    There's so much to see! Atlee is a bit too distracted, in fact, having snagged a slice of watermelon, but a bit too busy looking at the grills and the vendors and OOH doggie! - she turns sharply and nearly wallops Jessica with her duffel, the bear maintaining a precarious perch as she pulls up sharply to avoid it. "Oh! Sorry! I didn't see you..." she apologizes immediately to the other woman.

X-23 has posed:
Laura has never been to a 4th of July party, because she's been far too busy being a living weapon for an inisidious organization centered on profit through bidding wars by the underworld for the services of their prized creation: X-23. Not many would know of the designation, unless they rank among the power players of the underworld who have been bidding for her services in the past. Either way, between spending time in cells, training or missions, parties were just never a thing Laura experienced. Aside for the occasional party that served as the background for a mission.

She is dressed casually, a black and white stripped tanktop, pants with straps, buckles and chains that would place her of the goth persuasion, with matching black lipstick and eyeliner. Yeah, she doesn't seem very approachable or sociable.

When she comes to the grounds of the celebration, she doesn't approach any of the people, but she follows her nose towards the food. She's been keeping out of sight, which means doing her own hunting for food. But getting some cooked meal for once seems like a treat, so she's more than willing to drop a few dollars for that treat.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
The arrival of the campaign van, and the disembarking Secret Service folk gather the attention of Jessica Drew, her path taking her to a spot that lets her take in the little show that is the arrival of Creed.

Jess stands there, watching the agents, clearly judging them, though any reaction that might come across her face is lost by the fact that she is stuffing a sausage, with all the fixings on it, into her mouth in a very unladylike manner. There is very little reaction to the near walloping from Terra's bag, the woman just kinda slightly stepping out of the way as she juggles sausage, and Coke. In one of those moments between drinking cola, and biting another bite, she says, "Yeah no prob." she responds to Terra.

Graydon Creed (1075) has posed:
From the back of the Senator's car the security people start assembling a small metal and rubber platform to make an impromptu stage for the senator to speak just like they do when he is campaigning. Meanwhile the senator himself walks over to one of the families setting up to watch the show and strikes up a conversation while his stage is being set up. Of course his press guy is taking pictures from the distance as they talk to show the Senator getting one-on-one face time with his constituents.

Cyberdragon has posed:
for those with incredible senses of smell there is plenty to take in as the scent of people, cooking food, and drinks can be detected. There is the scent of a dog as well. But something is off about it. For those in the know, and that is just John Coltan, the Dog is anything but a dog. As he lays there near john's location panting out resting and relaxing as his scent is not his own. It is dog, but the scent comes from a special device Stark created, that allows Ceaser to smell like he is anormal dog to the average person. But those with beyond normal noses could tell something is off.

For now it seems that people are enjoying the music and songs, there is a live band playing a selection of classic songs, from a group called Sabaton, even Neil Diamond's America is being currently sung. Still moving through the tables and cooks, John more or less simply helps direct people on where to take certian food items.

A few people do let off some fire works, mainly fire cracker strips. but they are a distance away... with people unaware that some pranksters are having an idea hatch. Of course the fire works at times to make the Dog jump

Atlee (1034) has posed:
    Atlee shoots a smile at Jess as she doesn't take offense, but resolves to be a bit more careful. It's not like it's filled with bricks, but still. Her attention is drawn to where Jessica is looking with such intensity, tilting her head as she recognizes the man who seems to be at the center of the men in dark suits who are setting up and spreading out. Didn't she see him talking to that Gold person at the little stand? Oh! Wait, she saw the woman she nearly smacked there too!

    She looks around for said gold person, but...alas. He is definitely not here. He'd be hard to miss.

    Though her attention is again distracted as she catches sight of Laura and her interesting looking wardrobe! So many buckles. She can't help but watch with interest, looking the outfit over. There's so much variety on what people wear up here!

X-23 has posed:
Laura largely ignores the Senator and his theatrics, she's killed a Senator before, she got a few moments before the kill. She has formed a rather low opinion of these men who supposedly look after others. Then again, when someone is not designated a target, she really has no reason to do anything when not provoked to do so. Thus she stays in line, till she can pay her $2 for a a nice skewer of kebab, which she swiflty devours.

Turning to look at the crowds, she notes one particularly odd scent, and starts to trace it, getting closer and closer to John Coltan, or more specifically, his dog. Or his something that looks like a dog but probably isn't a dog, dog.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"Oh brother." Jessica Drew says to herself, taking another bite of sausage, one of her cheeks bulging out a bit as she makes room for the straw to go in next, her attention largely on the stage that is being erected as she slurps down some more cola.

"I wonder what sorta garbage we're going to hear tonight." Jessica says, having finished off her hotdog now with one big bite, her gaze taking a few moments to scan around the crowd that may or may not be the politician's receptive audience.

Graydon Creed (1075) has posed:
Taking the stump-speech stage, the Senator does a quick mic-check with the sound system built into the van then starts to call people over to draw a crowd, "Attention, attention everyone. I am Senator Graydon Creed, your representative for the state of New York and I would like to say a few words before the festivities begin. " the senator says waving people over, "Everyone, over here next to the great food. " he says calling out and waving people over until a decent size crowd to forms.

Cyberdragon has posed:
As some Kids come over they have a Strip of Fire works and are starting to sneak over to the location where the Dog is. And they are pulling out the fire works and a lighter. Apparently these kids are going to think it's funny to scare the big dog. But at their sneaking approach the Dog was suddenly looking over at Laura's Direction when one of the kids let's out a snicker ans they creep closer.

For those in the know These Mastiffs are guard Animals and instantly their sneaking approach makes the dog bare his massive teeth in a deep throated growl, and in mere moments the dog is up on all fours barking loudly, as he has a very vicious snarl on his face. The Kids are holding a lighter and the fire work strip as the Dog's Barking attracts the attention of his master, and he comes up beside his Dog and he tells them, "He's a professionally trained guard dog, That's a good way to get yourselves hurt." And of course there are some security who come over to take the kids off and the fire works away from them as John needs to spend at least aminute or two to calm his friend down before he snaps a leash on him and leash him over to where he can keep a closer eye on his friend. And in the end the dog lays back down panting in the shade away from the heat.

The senator's speech does catch his attention but he has to focus on cooking now as he keeps an eye on Ceaser's location.

Atlee (1034) has posed:
    The barking of the dog, and the fact Laura was headed towards it anyway certainly draws the eye, Terra blinking a bit as she frowns, but relaxes when John seems to defuse the situation. She looks back to Jessica, then smiles faintly. "I'm not sure. He is a politician, right? It is the day for patriotic speeches and such." she answers. She doesn't join the crowd as of yet, as she can see Grayson up on his podium well from where she is. "I don't know much about his political views." she admits to Jessica. "Other than he offered to help that gold person...I remember you from that, you were at his little booth too when they talked."

X-23 has posed:
Laura picks up her pace when the dog bares teeth and starts to bark at the kids, and though John seems to take action and go about leashing his pet, she does mutter as she gets nearer, "you shouldn't bring a guard dog trained to kill where kids are playing. They could get hurt simply for being kids, and the guard dog would hurt them, simply for being a guard dog." She speaks in a flat tone, not agitated, not angry, just making a point. At the same time, her gaze isn't even set on John, rather solely on the dog, sniffing at him and looking quite suspicious. She knows for sure it isn't a dog. Whatever it is. "Where did you get this dog? It's special, isn't it?"

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"The gold guy?" Jessica asks, her brow furrowing just a little at Terra, "Oh right, yeah, I remember, at his Stall of Justice, in the park." She says with a nod of her head at the woman.

"Stick around and listen, I dunno what platform he'll be preaching today, but no doubt the crowd will eat it all up." She says with a little shrug of her shoulders at Terra.

Graydon Creed (1075) has posed:
Starting his speech the Senator says into the mic, "Thanks to everyone for coming out and giving me a chance to speak with you. Today we celebrate the 4th of July, America's birthday. Today, we put aside our politics, we put aside our grievances and we come together as a nation under one unified idea: We Freakin LOVE this place!!!" the Senator yells and laughs making some in the crowd chuckle. But he brings it back down a little by saying, "America has had a hard fifty years. We lost sight of who we were, of what we stood for. Many people have lost hope. I am here to tell you, don't let yourself be one of them! Out here, on the ground, in the thick of it trying to live your lives you might not see it, but my job is to see the big picture and as your senator I can tell you, things are getting better every day." he says pausing for people to catch up.

"We are united as we have never been against inequality and injustice. We are remembering who we are as a nation and as a people. We are the best of the human race, we are that shining city on the hill that all other nations look up to. We had let ourselves be tarnished by corruption and cleaning that stain away is not easy but we are. The people are winning. Never let the media convince you otherwise." he says pausing again.

"This day is not just about remembering what happened in the past, this day is about remembering what we are capable of when we are united. When we battled for our freedom we did not have a Superman or Mutants or Meta-human powers to fight off the most powerful military in the world. We only had each other, we had the innovation, the drive, the strength of our unity and we did the impossible. We are still doing the impossible every day. " he says then he stops to soften his expression into a smile.

"Our enemies, invaders, aliens from holes in the sky, or threats from within, tell us that we can not stand forever, that our society will crumble. You know what? I say those people can go right to hell." he says pausing again and smirking before going on, "America doesn't fall! Humanity doesn't know how to lose. We rise, together! We may stumble but we will always rise. Let this day be a reminder to all of us, every year, for every generation, tell your children and have them tell their children and then their children, there is nothing we can not accomplish together." he says then he pauses and takes a deep breath.

"I ask you, make a new tradition this day to not only honor the past, but honor humanity's future. Every year, make this a day where we remember, we don't need anyone else. We are our own greatest strength! Together we rise!" he says and waits for cheers or at least applauding. It's so hard to get people to be patriotic these days.

Cyberdragon has posed:
Oh if Creed only knew how right he was. For there is one here, who has watched humanity rise and grow for the better part of 20,000 years. And of course he knows the human spirit is very very hard to defeat. Of course all of that is true, but he also knows that change happens. No matter what you do, you can not stop change. Humanity is growing, evolving, reaching for the next stage it it's evolution. These are just growing pains, nothing more.

The Talk of his dog catches him by surprise by the girl and says. "He's not trained to kill, attack and subdue, not kill." he says "He's actually Quite friendly and adores children." he says with a smile and says, "My employer got him for me as a gift. So yes he's very special." Of course his emplloyer actually being his secret guardians Tony Stark and Virginia Potts.

John will of course head over to a large Grill and stark to open it allowing the smoke to filter out and he starts pulling out some beautiful cuts of meat, grilled to perfections.

Turning his attention to Creed, "Oh please, don't turn this into an non human anti hate rally." John says, softly and almost under his breath.

Atlee (1034) has posed:
    Well, that speech doesn't seem so bad! Mostly. There's an undertone, but perhaps she's just imagining it. After all, he didn't specifically SAY he was against non-humans. Or human-alien hybrids, in her case. She does note to Jessica, a bit pedantically. "There were probably metahumans around back then too, just they weren't public, I would think? They'be been around a really long time, haven't they?" After all, she knows her people have been around quite a while! She purses her lip, then asks Jessica. "...do you think he is untrustworthy?" It's an honest question, if a bit direct.

    And now the goth girl AND the dog are in the same place, which is drawing her attention again, as they are both quite neat to observe.

X-23 has posed:
"He responded to a threat when the children were playing," Laura points out to John, her way of saying she disagrees with his assessment about the dog. If anything, she still feels it's the wrong setting to have that Not Quite Dog creature at. "Who is your employer? What breed of dog is he...?" Laura continues to annoy John, turning her head after where John is looking, looking quite indifferent to the Senator's speech, "why wouldn't he? Hate is a strong uniting force, easiest method of driving unity in a group." A bit of an odd insight from a girl who looks no older than 16, if that.

Cyberdragon has posed:
AS he looks at her he suddenly does a double take as if he recognized her for a moment. "Sorry thought you were someone I knew for a moment." He listens to her and realizes she was at the forest preserve with the woman who had red his mind, and of course Raven. So he does his best to avoid focusing on her and works to keep cooking, and of course at this point he says. "Tabetian MAstiff. As for my employer, he would like to keep himself secret at the moments, It's only a part time job since I'm only sixteen." he says. Not wanting to cause any trouble for himself or Tony.

"Oh you have a point on hate but I really don't want to deal with hate mongers on this day."

Graydon Creed (1075) has posed:
Now that the crowd is pleased and the the clapping has subsided the Senator says, "Phew, glad that's over with, now let's get down to partying!" he says then he motions for one of his security people. He takes out his wallet and says, "Grub's on me folks! I'll be hanging around stage if you want to ask any questions. Let's make this an informal town hall."He takes out a handful of large bills and gives it to the security guy, "Hotdog me, please, catch up and relish. Water." might be heard because the microphone is still in his hand. Then he sends the man over to the charity booth with eight grand to pay for everyone's food. "So, who has a question or concern?" he asks as he moves to the front of the stage and sits down letting his legs dangle off the edge as he holds out the mic, "Anyone? Step right up!"

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jessica Drew's attention lingers for a few moments on the Senator as he concludes his speech, then opens the floor to the common folk for an impromptu town hall meeting. She shakes her head a little, goes and fetches some ice cream from one of the vendors, then starts to make her way away from the little gathering.

Atlee (1034) has posed:
    Terra frowns a bit at Jessica's reaction, looking back to Grayson as she heads off. Well...she certainly doesn't seem to like him, or trust him. Perhaps she should be more wary? Ugh, surface things like this are so confusing sometimes!
    She shifts to the side as more people are drawn to Creed's impromptu question and answer session, to where she finds herself near Laura, John, and John's dog. Perhaps these questions will enlighten her more as to his purposes?

    She does shoot Laura and John a friendly smile, then can't help but say. "I like your boots!" to Laura. They are shiny. In places.

X-23 has posed:
Laura makes no remark, but it's clear she thinks differently of the dog, namely in that she doesn't think it's a dog at all. But she doesn't continue the argument, instead turning to the girl who just spoke to her. She gives Terra one brief look, then lowers her gaze to her boots, and back at Terra, "they are functional." She remarks, as if that's all boots need to be. She doesn't offer additional small talk, instead she turns her back on both Terra and John and walks in the Senator's direction. It's not that he excited her with his speech or anything, but she did hear his offer of free food, which she will gladly accept.

Cyberdragon has posed:
the amount of Money donated will go to a good cause and that makes John smile. He's Glad that the event is such a success as John smiles as the girl heads off, right now johyn has taken note of her. and knows to be careful. The signs were there, she suspects Ceaser isn't normal. And still he can't do anything about it.

Looking over at the new comer he smiles and asks, "Care for something to eat, the meat's hot, fresh, and plenty of it!" and he will get the meat on some hotplates so it can stay nice and juicey and hot.

Graydon Creed (1075) has posed:
The senator's man does bring over the money to pay for everyone and place his order. At the stage a woman comes up to the stage and says into the microphone, "Hi. I'm Karen, with a K. I have a 5 and a 7 year old. How do you expect me to pay for their education with prices of colleges rising every year like they are?" she asks, "Well, that is a good question. There are two answers. First, we use legislation to institute free college just like we can healthcare. It will be cheaper if we cut out the middlemen and just have state run schools like the public schools we have now. Whenever people tell you we can't afford healthcare or education, they are lying to you and here is why."

"When you go to a doctor, that doctor has to pay someone to translate his notes, and turn it into insurance code, then someone has to send the code, and someone at the insurance company has to get the code, compare it to what your policy covers and send a different code back saying whether or not your policy covers it, how much it will cost and so forth and so on." he says pausing to let her catch up.

"In the same way, when your kid goes to college they aren't paying for the actual education as much as paying for school books that are artificially inflated in price by lots of middle men in the publishing industry and school administrators, school board members, chairs and staff who keep the complex and inefficient system of grants and loans flowing. If we make it so your doctor has one source for payment for everything, your schools have one source of payment for everything and we take out all those middle men, your costs will drop dramatically." he explains then smiles at the woman.

"The best part, unlike right now when the publishers want to charge every student in the country six hundred dollars for access to a digital book that costs them almost nothing to make, if the government is their only way of getting money, we can force them into having more reasonable prices. I don't like to use the term extortion, but yeah, if we're the only game in town, we can make them stop being jerks."

Atlee (1034) has posed:
    Atlee blinks a bit at Laura's response, especially when she just turns and walks off. She turns to look at John. "....did I say something wrong?" she says, a bit worriedly. It wouldn't be the first time she accidentally gave offense while not trying to. She's listening with half an ear to the questions....so far nothing nefarious! The jury is still out. And it is a jury of one, so really Atlee feels that particular phrase is sort of silly, it should be really something like 'the judge is still deliberating' since it's only one person making the judgement...

Cyberdragon has posed:
as he looks to her and says. "I don't this so ma'am. She struct me as odd and distant. Not one for idle talk." he says to Terra. John says as suddenly there is a serious flare up of one of the Grills, "Excuse me, I need to get back to work!" and he will instantly head over to help manage on of the grills and help get it under control.

Graydon Creed (1075) has posed:
The night goes on pretty much like that. The senator gives good answers, talks to people, is generally really friendly, and then about 20 minutes before the fireworks starts he has his men pack up, "I hate to cut it short." which it hasn't been he's been out there for over an hour just connecting to the people. "I have a date with a very important lady." he says smiling as he and his men get ready to leave.

The rest of the night goes well for everyone. It's a good night, a happy night, and people are left with something the 4th of July should always provide: Hope.