Up to Something Good [Freya, Deguchi | Saga]

As ever, Deguchi's impulses were driven by a mixture of opportunity, an unfortunate social climate for quirkers in Japan, and a dash of hope and aspiration. She knew she'd made a good decision meeting Nimue earlier, not just for the chance to make a friend among UA's staff, but also, to find an opportunity to really get on the ground level, seeing where quirkers really were making a difference in communities. The quirk tax had been a new call to action for the small-sized Party of All People and now, Deguchi herself was looking to attack it from any angle possible. Here, Nimue had offered her the perfect chance to gather ammunition.

Nimue might have thought that she was asking for a favor from the newly-minted politician, but in actuality, Deguchi couldn't help but see this as a gift that had been served up to her when she needed it most.

At any rate, Deguchi knew it would appear a little callous to walk in with that gratitude plastered all over her face in a big grin, so she did her best to temper her emotions and act professional. She watched her face in her van's rear view mirror as she worked the wheel, making sure she wore her best assimilation of a "normal face" that it was possible for her to make, given her facial challenges. Her tongue flapped out, in defiance of her efforts.

"At any rate, the important thing to remember is that I'm genuine. After all, this quirk tax was a nail driven hard into every quirker's flesh, but it's only the latest in a series of mistreatment that has galvanized my career," she thought to herself inspirationally... although "my aspirations" would be more accurate than "my career," seeing as her career in politics was less than a year old. "Nakahara-san correctly called on the most motivated person to help with this task!"

Deguchi found a safe place to park and pulled over in her suspicious white campaign van, with its striped barber pole drawing attention to her before she stepped out, wearing her cherry red suit and garishly striped tie. One might have expected her to come dressed down a bit, but truth be told, this was pretty much what she wore everywhere... not just for branding, but also, because she just didn't like her look in anything else.

The only issue now: she'd reported to the meetup spot, but Nimue was still busy with various errands getting ready for the day's work. Hotarubi Deguchi straightened her tie again, then pulled out her smartphone and opened the recorder app. "Testing, tessssss-" she hissed into it, before shaking her head, rolling in her tongue, and resolving to start over. "Testing, testing!" She played back the recording, then gave a suspicious smile of satisfaction. Her eyes stayed on the phone as she began to swipe through her news feeds with one thumb, allowing her to consume a tailored mix of useful political information and sensational quirk stories that were important to know if she was going to keep herself topically savvy.

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WC 514

With two bags filled with bandages, bandaid, cleaning supplies in the sense for wounds. She bought a pack of lollies in case there were kids or well simple sugar use and so on. It was time to point out what they could do with these quirks that were not creating any damage. The government had to make up for their mistake, which was another reason she called Deguchi. The one who understood the need for quirks and the school, as well as healing. She would rally without having to do so and Nimue quickly hurried back to the plaza and smiled to see the politician waiting for her. Her suits seem to work well as she was easily spotted, nice. Nimue herself was dressed in a grey outfit that hid her green hair now and most of her figure. She still did not want to be known, she had been lucky with the winter that the fight against Crowley had simply saved her looks with the hood of her jacket because of the blizzard. The snow now was gone which helped a lot.

"Thank you for coming!" She quickly said when she noticed Deguchi saw her as well and she dropped the heavy bag on the ground, the other remained on her shoulder. She would fight infections but not close wounds, she would have to do a lot and she wasn't sure how long her quirk would hold on. She gave a short bow to Deguchi but smiled, "Sorry it was such a short notice, I realized this a few minutes ago." She said with a smile though and she waved when Freya showed up not much later. She discussed shortly where they think to start but they would not have to look around much, Tokyo might be big but if you hit the smaller streets there were enough homeless. They should maybe work on building a shelter, that could be a good thing. It was not in her influence now so she would have to work on it now. "I don't really have a strategy for now. I just hoped to find some people within the allies and consider healing them. Word spreads quickly and we would be found." At the corner of this alley five people sat huddled together and even though it was her plan she was quite taken aback by it. She noticed Freya propped herself on the chair of the cafe on the corner. She frowned and looked at the grey faces, they might hope for food from the cafe. She looked shortly at Deguchi, wondering if she thought the same. But that could wait, she might buy some food for them when she was done, it might not be enough but it might be a start. Suddenly she thought about Freya and her many chicken nuggets, well it might work a little better.

She smiled a little and approached them slowly, she simply introduced herself and noticed there was a sixth, a small kid hidden by the bigger bodies and she hesitated shortly. She noticed a nasty graze on the man's face and thus she hunched down and hoped that they knew a bit about Witch Doctor but it did not seem to hit them. "I want to help you, I want to take care of your wounds for you. Anything that bothers you, you can tell me." She looked shortly up at Deguchi, not a magician with words but Deguchi might know better. She showed the inside of her bag and held the lolly up for the boy who quickly took it. It seemed that when the kid made the direct contact the parents and well maybe potential other family calmed down. Her eyes turned green and she put a bit of water on a pad and asked if she could clean the wound on the man his face. He let her touch and she indirectly touched his skin to fight any potential infection before she would continue to clean and put a bandaid on it. She continued with the others.

The cafe owner came outside and looked at what the three of them were doing and looked at Freya who got a spot occupied. "I hope you take them away, they are ruining the image of my cafe." He spoke to hellhound and he wanted to hush her away as well if she did not order anything.

“I need something to wake me up...should ask the guys as well if they want any..”, she said to herself in her mind. A chill assignment like this is soothing to the nerves. The calls day in and day out and the various punks that would raise hell gets real tiring after the 7th busting down their door to knock out a few of em. Most of them are cowards and big shots who want to be better but they lack the hindsight on who to pick a fight with. About 5 times outta 10 encounters would have some asshole come up to her and try to fight and then go down in once punch with tears running down his face. Nimue was a saving grace this time around as she has to watch out for any trouble makers. The team she brought along needed this and they will do their job once things start rolling.

Then comes the Cafe owner who had some choice words for Freya and her company. He was going to be THAT type now is he. “Would it kill for you to ask nicely? I was going to order something for myself and the guys but now Im seriously reconsidering it…”, Freya would lean back in the chair as she would give her usual glare at the owner. She would radio the others on what they want and most of them either want just black coffee, espresso and like one ice coffee...which was Freya's choice. As she would give the order, she would sigh and look up to the skies above, “Sometimes I wonder why I do this job at times…”, she would mutter to herself as she waits for the orders to come. But as the owner was still standing there not minding their damn business...she was about to go off when someone...peculiar arrives.

An older woman would then come strolling in to intervene in the situation. Quickly explaining the situation and why she was here, the owner would go off to get Freyas orders. Though from the looks of things she is already aware of her role in this and she seems rather...charismatic, to say the least. Not one to talk to politicians due to the explosive nature back in the states but she is a judge of good character.She would turn to the lady and relaxes her posture since this could be a friend of Nimues. “Thank ya...jobs been running me the team ragged so we ain’t exactly in the best condition to deal with small arguments…”, she would say to her as she would get the creak outta her neck.

“Names Hellhound, Im here to watch the crowd and keep the peace as...a favor to Nimue..Not familiar with your face so I'm assuming you friends with Nimue..”

After setting up Nimue with the use of her van, Deguchi addressed the equally important task of explaining her recording procedures. "Ah ha ha, well, I would only using your voice, of course! As long as I have your consent to broadcast, that's all I'd need!" she chuckled, rubbing her hands together suspiciously. This was technically true, but she did have a habit of recording more audio than she ought to. If whatever she got was really good, she could always look into securing the name and thereby the legal right to broadcast later... it was one of those gray areas she'd spent a lot of time reading into. For a woman so concerned with law, she had a very shady browser history.

After coming to stick up for everyone's right to a legal gathering, Deguchi found the manager argumentative, but Freya defused the situation more quickly by simply placing an order. She'd rather the guy suffer a business boycott than get a patron out of it, but truth be told, her raising a stink against this guy would probably derail Nimue's efforts here. In the end, that would do more harm than good. Perhaps it was another lesson she ought to take to heart, one in picking the big picture over a moral victory.

Deguchi wasn't about to order a coffee, but she figured she might at least take the time to speak to the cop and her, frankly, scary looking entourage. Being told her face wasn't familiar was always a little discouraging... not the kind of thing a politician with their face on posters wants to hear... but she was just focusing on the mayor's seat in a small city. It wasn't surprising if folks who didn't live in Komae didn't know her face or name. At any rate, that just meant she got to do her introduction spiel, which was its own reward. She extended one hand for a firm handshake, holding the lapel of her bright red jacket with the other. "Hotarubi Deguchi, at your service! Nimue really thought of everything... these days, quirked people gathering in one place can be dangerous," she noted, tactfully omitting that it was even more so in low income areas.. not that she was one to shy away from the streets.

With a start, she clicked one finger then pointed a two-finger gun in Freya's direction. "Aaah, Hellhound-san! I know you now, yes, yes," she nodded, remembering her hero research. "What an honor, for a civil servant such as myself to observe two pro heroes on duty!" Deguchi had moved on to an obsequious series of Japanese politician nods. "I say 'duty' not to refer to your government assigned duty, but your above and beyond duties, which you take on yourselves as paragons of the community! Top notch sssssss-" she paused, raising one finger as her sizzling tongue flapped out from her metal jaw. She wagged it for a moment, then sucked it in. "Top notch stuff, that is."

She looked to the cafe, then back to Nimue. Brushing a reddish end of her odd-colored hair behind her ear, she smiled, then threw a thumb back over her shoulder. "I should go put in some more face time. Thank you for your work, officer!" the civil servant finished, moving back over to Nimue and her van. As she did, she reflected what an odd position Hellhound occupied... It was almost as though she occupied some middle space between hero and police officer. The idea had actually always seemed messy and uncomfortable to Deguchi; she was the type who liked her heroes shaking hands and letting their capes flow in the wind. Still, meeting Freya in person had improved her opinion significantly. Witnessing the pro hero use her time to watch over Nimue's outreach and also peacefully defuse a situation had given her new faith in the hero, whose name, Hellhound, had previously struck her as more of a villain name.

Again, it would behoove her not to think about how other people resembled villains, in features or in name. This was especially true as she clasped both hands together, slinking back towards the proceedings as though she had some evil intent. "Oooh, Nimue-san! Your public service puts mine to shame!" she chortled, making her recording device more obvious now by pulling it out of her pocket and pinning it to her suit's chest pocket. "You just keep doing good work and let me know if there is aaanything I can do at all to help! Here or in the future, hm hm hm!" she offered, eluding to her future in politics... which, at this point, was really still a pretty speculative proposition.

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WC 782

Without being able to test the woman her blood, she could not consider if she needed anticoagulants or better-phrased blood thinners. it would be dangerous to give her that without a proper consultation and so on. She had a short chitchat with the woman trying to ignore the restaurant owner who seemed to bump into issues with Freya and Deguchi. See, she had picked the right people to help her. The people perked up a little when Deguchi spoke up about the need of this job and Freya waving the man away to just have him do something useful. "Hellhound, could you ask for some water. I need clean water." Yes, she had bottles but the more they could save right now, the better. She noticed in the corner of her eye people moving towards the van from the alley they just left and she got up quickly, only to see other dark and sad faces and big eyes from a distance looking at them. She looked at Deguchi shortly, right, it had been the full intention to get people here but Nimue had no idea that it would go so quickly. "You know," She whispered to her politician friend, "Their faces give me the shivers, I wish society and the government could do more for them." Maybe it was high time to research solutions instead of doing only this.

The restaurant owner did not come back himself, obviously, he was afraid of Freya and did not want to get any more trouble or sassy remarks from her, so he send a simple waiter to bring her big order for her and the others. The waiter politely asked Deguchi if she wanted anything and waited to see if everything was in order. Nimue was just working now, focused on helping the old lady, she let her walk and pretend to not have seen the new trio that arrived in the alley, children, hunched down, probably hungry and for a second she wondered if she should have brought food. She brought candy and she put the candy bag a little more obvious in the back of the van. She had to check something and looked up at Deguchi, "Well, this is something I can do." She smiled as she got the compliment and nodded, "In that case, would you help me put pressure on this." She pointed at the bandage she had around the old lady her leg but she would have to get a blood sample. She was going to make a whole project of this, she was sure of it. She would make it a political point, hopefully, with Deguchi's support she would be able to make Tokyo slightly better and Musutafu with that. The three children came closer as she was working, taking pieces of the candy and she did not bat her eyes because of that, it was the whole reason why she bought it, she was glad they dared while she was practically sitting next to it. With the blood sample she told Deguchi she could let go and thanked the woman for letting her use it. She had the file and labelled it, asking the woman's name and date of birth, she only got the surname but that was well enough and drew the symbol of a woman on it, in case she bumped into the elder man later. You never knew. She continued before she tackled all three kids and put them at the back of the van to wash their dirty faces with the napkins and water that she had. She all checked their temperature and ears, eyes and mouth to see if there were any signs of an infection. She took a short break after that and stood next to Deguchi again. "I hate how they all look so thin and then this guy next to us complains about his so-called property. I bet he throws a lot of food away at the end of the day, which is why they keep a close eye on his trashcans." It was ridiculous.

“I’ll order extra for everyone, just give me a moment”, Freya would ask the simple wait as she got her order for some water bottles which the waiter compiled rather quickly. Was it her face or was it the fact that the owner told them to? Either way, she would get her last words to Degunchi before she went off as she was rather the most courteous politician she had met before. “We should, We’ll keep in contact on that end. Just talk to Nimue if you need to find me!”, she would belt out as she would walk off.

Freya would get her orders and call her people on the radio to pick their stuff up. She would see the crowd of people and the sheer size of it all as she wanted to help in her own way. But she aint made of money and she can’t help every single one of them, but protecting them so people like Nimue and Denguchi can also work for her. Her position is rather dangerous to say the least as she heard down the grapevine due to the practice of working so close to the police is a massive issue over here.

Then again, she did the same back home and it was the same issue over there as well. Though one could debate which part of the world is worse for doing that. But any other way she is going to set that topic aside as her team would pick up their orders. They were grateful but good god did they look worse for wear. After a few more exchanges, they would go back to their positions while Freya would go look for a better area to overlook. The crowd was looking mighty big and her presence will mayhaps bring some security to the people at least.

However she would share some of her order with some of the crowd as she would be on standby. She isn't completely heartless but good christ this is a lot of people to be serving, even by her standards.

The exchange with Hellhound seemed to have gone rather well; Hotarubi Deguchi was pleased to think that her networking among heroes was finally paying off. A politician with a pro-hero platform ought to be on the good side of a lot of heroes, after all. But further, she took it as a sign that her platform was reaching its intended constituents... even if it was really more like she was offering and receiving basic courtesy from fellow quirkers.

As she returned to Nimue, she found the healer busier than ever. In fact, Nimue was far too busy doing what she came here to do to discuss or seemingly absorb any more of Deguchi's politicking, which made sense... it would be pretty amazing to find someone who could dish out armchair politics without it interfering with their job of taking care of the sick and injured. This was a good reminder for Deguchi that she needed to know when to turn it off, a talent which was difficult for her, both by necessity of her professional need to get her message out and as someone who simply loved to gab.

The cases that were coming to Nimue seemed to be increasing in difficulty too, almost like she was progressing through the levels of some kind of video game. Deguchi took a deep breath, her pupils dilating slightly as she wondered to herself whether she was about to get her suit dirty helping Nimue deliver a baby.

As it turned out, her suit was the least of her concerns. Suddenly, her van was set rocking; she could always get her suit laundered or use a spare, but the van was the only means of transportation she had, and furthermore, fully of basically all her worldly possessions, since she lived more out of it than her own apartment. One might forgive her then if her old street-thug persona was beginning to show on her face a bit as her snarl curled away from her metal jaw, seeing the man who'd jumped through the crowd to attack her property while she was here doing charity work.

As she looked at the guy more closely... she didn't recognize him, but it was purely coincidence that she didn't. Him being another quirker around 40 years old, scarred up gang member, he easily could have been one of her old rivals or adversaries from when she was the leader of the Striped Snakes. The old her would have called her gang together and surrounded the guy, then given the order to mess him up... but she couldn't afford to have that sort of violent impulse any more. Furthermore, she didn't have that sort of violent gang following her around any more.

Still... Nimue was busy with a kid. Hellhound was presumably here to protect the venue, but could she make it in time? The guy had done such a number to her van, it was hard to imagine he wasn't going to do the same to the people around here if they got in his way. In fact, looking at his scarred-up body, it was pretty likely he got into fights here all the time. "Citizen, I will graciously avoid pursuing any legal recourse for the damage of my property if you will retreat from this venue and leave us be," Deguchi began, while loosening up her tie. She already had her jacket off, so she simply rolled her shirt up away from her lithe, lanky arms.

She had pretty little faith diplomacy was going to work, but she had to try it, anyway.

Provided the man didn't give up his violent ways, she would stick her tongue out and making a challenging face, raising both hands and curling her fingers as though waiting for a fight. As she did so, she backed away slightly and towards the cafe where Hellhound and crew were stationed... but hopefully angled so that if he charged, he'd do so towards them and the outside seating area, rather than barreling into the store owner's window. The last thing she needed was for that blowhard to have any legitimate commercial grievance to pin on her. "Any chance we can speak about this ssssssss-civilly, quirker to quirker?" she questioned one more time, while her tongue cooled against her jaw.

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WC 716