Ivory
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Pres 4 (Regal) - SL 1 (Noble) Fairest Hunterheart
Posts: 588
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Post by Ivory on Apr 23, 2021 8:57:49 GMT -8
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Post by Krakenbox on Apr 26, 2021 19:53:16 GMT -8
Ivory entered the scene, radiating allegiance and familiarity with her regal bearing. Both of the fairies treated their encounters with the assured nature of someone who belongs, and isn't worried about sounding or looking silly. Very comfortable with their Starbucks orders and making pleasant small talk with the mundane, they get to work seamlessly harvesting the information they need without leaving a mark or shadow on the day of the mortals. Spring was here, and they knew they were working towards a better future (whether the mortals understood it or not).
Agrippa slid into the role of a professional manager, politely asks the employee to review various files, sitting as they press for specific information on where the money is going; how it's being invested, who is buying into property, what's being improved and how are they saving maintenance costs, the population and who is buying condos... The employee names themselves don't offer anything immediate or strange: most sound Latino, however, there's the rare outlier that sounds...Eastern European? The detail stood out among the stream of information that frankly bored the Beast. The name was Maria Melnyk.
Ivory makes sure things stay on the rails, making a note when it was pertinent. It was subtle, and done professionally, but the pair are able to review in their downtime that the condition of the building and the amount of expenses being dumped didn't make a lot of sense. Money laundering was a strong suspicion but hard to prove without someone being an expert with this sort of thing.
She creates a profile that some tenants were quick to leave, but interest rapidly tapered off within a few months. Agrippa hearing this, researched local news and noted a few violent gang altercations ending in a homicide investigation matching the dates. Some had no leads, but other names were attached to their own home run businesses (massage, fortunes, seamstresses, barbers, estheticians...) and when connecting the surnames and doing some social media prowling, they recognize that the families of those who abandoned the block were targeted for violent crime. They were being incentivized to continue working their businesses lest their families get targeted as a vulnerable population. A list of the main families are noted to be Vega and Silva.
The primary developer Ivory is able to confirm as attached to Chugunkin's profile with a quick call, which followed his own assertion that Spring is attempting to expand. The project itself doesn't seem to have anything to do with housing, but rather a business district with a stadium and convention center to pour wealth into the Whitney. Construction was already underway but the block was interfering as a last holdout and messing with zoning issues that the city was fighting to frankly screw the population over.
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Ivory
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Pres 4 (Regal) - SL 1 (Noble) Fairest Hunterheart
Posts: 588
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Post by Ivory on Apr 27, 2021 14:24:30 GMT -8
To say the investigation into the agency had been abundant would have been an understatement. Ivory and Agrippa had come, surveyed, and, in their own way, conquered. The staff had been more than accomodating and the weave of the Wyrd had chosen to bless them.
There were many concerns, of course, but most did not surprise Ivory. The act Chugunkin had entrusted them to was still noble enough, even if spurred by the expansion of spring and the potential for money laundering. However, the Knight of Coin's words rang true in Ivory's mind from their meeting. The wheels were already moving and the reality was it was better for Spring to finish this before it was passed on to a mundane company that could care less.
This had to be done... and the knowledge that the families of those who abandoned the block were being targeted only pushed that reality failure. Someone was upset about the developments and taking it out on tenants who had little choice. Ivory would have none of it, not if she had a say, that is.
As the conversations finally reached a natural end, the Pale Dragon simply looked to the "agent" she had entered with to take her "tour". Her head tilted for the door and she began to depart.
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Post by Agrippa on Apr 27, 2021 17:22:44 GMT -8
Agrippa made note of all of it: the names, the suspicious allocation of funds, the targeted businesses, and homicides. Even if Ivory had gotten everything down, having an extra set of notes couldn't hurt... and Agrippa had well learned their lesson that they should have all the information at their fingertips in investigations such as these.
By the time the pair of infiltrators had drained the well of information dry, the unicorn was blissfully relaxed. Infiltration work was familiar ground, and having a mission go this smoothly was nearly therapeutic. Personally they weren't sure what to to do with all of the information they had gathered, but someone would, and that was the important part. They'd been useful, and someone was going to be pleased to hear what they had to say. Or, if not pleased to hear it, at least pleased that they had heard it. It was all the same to the Beast.
As Ivory signaled with a look that it was time to leave, Agrippa returned a microscopic nod and followed through- perhaps they would debrief next steps and check notes in the car, but they would wait until they were buckled up before breaking character to breach the subject.
In the meantime, they simply allowed that one suspicious employee name to bounce around their head, hoping more than expecting that they could make a connection with it before they got to the car.
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Post by Krakenbox on Apr 27, 2021 17:46:18 GMT -8
Agrippa is absolutely sure that name means nothing in the Freehold, or the movers and shakers of the bureaucratic sphere of the city.
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Ivory
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Pres 4 (Regal) - SL 1 (Noble) Fairest Hunterheart
Posts: 588
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Post by Ivory on Apr 27, 2021 21:13:16 GMT -8
While Agrippa mulled over things, Ivory was less introspective, moving to her vehicle with her usual, intentional cadence. The Unicorn would see Ivory had beaten them to the car, having taken no time to think on things before going to the car. The gentle thuds coming from the car spoke the truth that music was being played within. The Pale Dragon herself was doing a little dance in her seat and her lips... was Ivory singing? Once Agrippa entered the car the song was easily heard and, indeed, the Pale Dragon was singing along to the lyrics. And for an untrained singer - the dragon had some pipes on her, able to keep up with the song and its notes. Her expression was a happy one, clearly enjoying the song, but also in a positive mood all around. Today had gone well and it seemed Ivory was in a celebratory mood. Stray — Today at 11:08 PM Ivory singing a little tune. Presence+Expression-Untrained @dicecord-CoD roll 3 Dicecord-CoD BOT — Today at 11:08 PM stray rolled 3 dice and got 4 successes. 3 10(10)(6) 10(8)
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Post by Agrippa on Apr 27, 2021 22:31:22 GMT -8
The moment Agrippa pulled open the car door, Ivory's celebration washed over them like a cool wave on a hot summer's day- perfectly reassuring and glowingly positive. The cool façade they had worn in the office broke down into a grin brimming with warmth. They slid into the passenger seat and closed the door as softly as they could, not wishing to interrupt the Dragon before she had adequately expressed the jubilation of victory. They reached over for the seatbelt and buckled themselves in, nodding gently in time with the tune until it had reached its conclusion.
"...Well! If that wasn't a productive afternoon, I have no idea what would be!"
Their voice had a tint of awe to it as if they could barely believe the success, though their eyes glittered with a sort of proud satisfaction
"I suppose the only question now is what next? We should speak to the other group and get all of our information sorted- they could give us pieces to complete the puzzle on our end and vice versa. Aside from that, do you see any obvious course of action?"
The unicorn looked up to Ivory, expectant that she would have a clear opinion, and perhaps a grasp on the situation less loose than their own
"If the others don't give us anything that re-contextualizes what we found here in a fundamental way, my thinking is that we need to look into whoever is targeting the local businesses. In fear of sounding like a conspiracy theorist, my hunch is that we have a puppet master, and if this ultimately is connected to a court project, I don't think its out of bounds to question how likely it is that this theoretical puppet master is mundane."
Agrippa's expression slipped momentarily into a grimace, as they contemplated being wedged in the middle of court politics, defending the lives of mundanes being used as pawns by those far further up the ladder than either of them.
"Of course I could also be entirely off-base."
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Ivory
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Pres 4 (Regal) - SL 1 (Noble) Fairest Hunterheart
Posts: 588
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Post by Ivory on Apr 29, 2021 15:58:39 GMT -8
With the Unicorn safely in the car and her victory sung, Ivory would pull into the street and the pair would begin to make their way out of Whitney. The day had gone well, but this part of the investigation was over and they would need time to collaborate with the other team on a time to swap details.
"That went very well," she said, agreeing with Agrippa's sentiment.
The Pale Dragon's features were beaming with their collective success, the pair had made quite the team in this instance.
"I agree, meeting with them is probably best. See what pieces each team can offer to help finish one another's puzzles," Ivory offered, "From then we plan how to resolve the issue, though I suspect we need to convince whoever is incentivizing the residents to stay - and harming them if family moves away - to pick up and move or, at the very least, leave the mundanes alone so that they can take their money and depart. I'd like to see what Riley and Archie have to say though."
There's a shrug as Agrippa mentions their puppet master theory and muses on the chances of whether the individual is mundane or Lost.
"Could be either," she said, "Mundane reasons could range from fanatics hoping to preserve their neighborhood, drug dealers, or someone who simply has something going on within the block that they don't want to lose. And if they're Lost, I suppose the position could be political, an attempt to stem Chugunkin's influence or that of Spring as a whole. I have my doubts that another Spring is involved against the Knight of Coin though. This project seems to be one of the first attempts to expand into Whitney. Could be any one of the other courts, though. I doubt many are thrilled with the prospect of Spring pushing against its boundaries. That said, the easiest hypothetical puppet master I can think of is a Winter. Whitney has been theirs for a long time. I know I wouldn't be thrilled of someone came into my territory and began to set up shop just because they could."
Then a chuckle and a slight shake of the head.
"Love, we're going to need to work on your confidence," she said, "You haven't been far off base so far. Why would now be any different? You have good instincts, Agrippa."
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Post by Agrippa on Apr 30, 2021 18:14:42 GMT -8
The moving scenery outside tugged Agrippa's eyes away from their fellow courtier, leaving nothing but a continuous nod to confirm that their ears at least were still trained on what was important
"We should call them and set up a meeting. Hopefully they're already done on their end so we can get right to it! I'm thinking a little something in-person over drinks and a meal..."
Their brows raised hopefully as they failed to repress an indulgent smile at their own suggestion. As Ivory moved on to musing at the identity of the potential spanner in the works, the unicorn found themselves sporting a pained grin, at once content at the affirmation of their theories and unhappy at the validation of their fears.
"Winter would also be my first guess, but I think its prudent to not favor any direction in particular before we gather some evidence, especially if our culprit truly does turn out to be mundane. Avoiding going down empty rabbit holes would be reason enough, even if the mere accusation of inter-court sabotage wouldn't likely carry insult."
It was Ivory's comment on their confidence that finally managed to rip Agrippa's eyes off of the road. Surprise blanked their expression for a moment, before it flushed with an embarrassment of a mild sort.
"In my admittedly weak defense my hesitation in this particular instance was at least partially born out of wishful thinking- it would be nice to not have to deal with inter-court politics on this one. But uh-"
They laughed quietly, cheeks now positively pink
"You aren't wrong. Thank you."
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Ivory
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Pres 4 (Regal) - SL 1 (Noble) Fairest Hunterheart
Posts: 588
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Post by Ivory on May 1, 2021 17:37:08 GMT -8
There was a nod as Ivory kept her eyes on the road.
"Oh we will," she said, her tone one of assurance. She and Agrippa were of a like mind in regard to the need to reconvene with the other group, "We can reach out soon, but first I think we've earned a little treat, don't you?"
Both had agreed that shopping would be in order and the Pale Dragon seemed intent on settling that little desire.
"I agree. We should here if the others have uncovered anything with their own little foray into Whitney. To be frank, a mundane culprit would be preferred. Less politics," she mused, "but I think I'll steel myself in the case the opposite is true. Better to plan now and be relieved later."
Then a glance to the Unicorn, her smile growing warm at their positive reaction. They seemed to accept the compliment. This was good.
"You're welcome," she said.
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