11-29-2019, 10:14 PM
Noskv, Kvask
29th of November, 2019
1245
The Kvaskm Office of Foreign Intelligence (KOFI) was a mess of papers and bodies for the past few months since the Aurora Programme was revealed. The fear that gripped the communities was legitimized, and finding out who was and wasn’t an Aurora was going to be a nightmare. There’d already been some instances of violence against the small Kerlian communities in West Kvask, near the border, and immigrants were starting to feel uneasy about living in Kvask without a proper police force to protect them. In the Eastern edges of the countries, some of the less-diverse towns and villages were murmuring about closing off their roads to any foreigner.
Back at the KOFI, the director, Rnata Novmenska, was hunched over a large stack of papers, trying to figure out a way out of this mess through going through complaint after complaint against women thought West Kvask. As she looks over the scarce paperwork of a nurse in Hjernek, a knock comes at her door.
Her eyes still glued to the paper, she calls to the door, “Whoever it is, come i-” She can’t finish her sentence as a tall, burly man slams the door open. Startled, Rnata stands up and yells, “What the FUCK?! Who are you!?” The man puts a finger to his lips before closing the door behind him, the wall it slammed into having a dent where the door knob impacted.
With the door giving a weak click, the man begins to speak calmly as he crosses his arms, “My name is not important, but who I represent is.”
Rnata, noticing nothing of note on the man’s clothing, gestures to him, “And that would be?”
The man reaches into his pocket and produces a note and hands it to Rnata, “The Union of Merchants, miss.” Rnata opened the note and read through it as the man continued, “We feel that situation of the Auroras can be solved in a way that doesn’t impact our business relations with the state of Kerlile. Instead of doing as everyone else does and root them out through blunt forced investigation, we can get the information from the badger’s paw.”
Rnata continued to read the note, a look of confusion on her face, “And that would be?”
The man grinned, “We help the Auroras.”
What the man proposed made Rnata stop mid-sentence and look up at him, “Excuse me, what? How do you suppose we get one of the world’s most uptight misandrists that have built a big fuck-off border wall to let us help?!”
The man came closer to Rnata, “We will offer them some specialists trained in… ‘package recovery’... to go to other nations and retrieve them for Kerlile. After we help recover as many Auroras we can from the other nations that have them, we can use the Auroras as a bargaining chip to tell us where ours are. That, and if they don’t agree to our terms, the Union of Merchants will no longer run our operations to Kerlile, depriving their councillors of their precious goods.”
Rnata put the note away and paced for a minute; the Union of Merchants were just a band of smugglers that ran into and out of Kerlile, trading goods with them and making great gains from Kerlile’s misery. “So what’s the catch?”
The man shook his head, “No catch. As much as we’d love to not rock the boat, these Auroras could be a major hazard to the Union’s business operations. That, and we still care about Kvask, no matter how much we engage in ‘extra-market activities’.”
Rnata rubbed her eyes and sighed, “Shit… We’ll never find these Auroras with all of these loose records floating around… Fine, tell your Union Boss that KOFI will sanction this operation and give whatever support is needed; material or otherwise.”
The man nodded and gave a small bow, “Thank you for your generosity, Miss Novmenska.” Rnata was about to ask how he knew her name, but he was already heading out the door by the time she thought of it.
“Those fucking Merchants…”
[/hr]
Written with [nation]Lauchenoiria[/nation]
Hale Residence, Virtus Region, Kerlile
29th of November, 2019
1317
At 1317, a call came ringing to Hale's personal phone seemingly out of nowhere, the number on it being unknown. She picked it up quickly, worried. She got two types of calls on that phone: emergencies, and her wife using her as a backchannel for diplomatic business because she liked teasing.
"Hello, Councillor Hale speaking."
An unfamiliar man's voice was on the other end. It was low-register, had a thick Kvaskm accent, and reeked of smoke even through the phone, "Hello, miss Hale. This is your *mutual friend* from the Union of Merchants. There've been a few developments with our host nations that require... addressing, and you are the best person to talk to, per my many ears in Kerlile."
"How did you get this num... oh never mind," she sighed. There was not enough time to worry about things like that, she got little sleep these nights with Amelia keeping her awake. "What can I do for you?"
"We in the Union know that the Aurora Programme is more than just an initiative for orphans set up by your government. We've even located one, though to be honest, she hasn't been too secretive..." There was a cough at the other end followed by an audible spit, "But this call is not about 'Pavlina'... This call is about how we can help one another regarding the Auroras."
"I... am not sure to whom you are referring, but then I wouldn't know the identity of an Aurora anyway. If they even exist," she added hurriedly. "But if they existed, what would you mean by 'help one another'?"
The man on the other clicked his tongue on his teeth, "We want to help you get your precious Auroras back home in one piece. From everywhere. The Kerlian economy is in the shitter and everything you do is watched by the whole world." There was a pause as, presumably, the figure was taking a drag from a cigarette. He continued as he exhaled, "And frankly, these Auroras are bad for business in Kvask, always getting in the way of shipments and running competitive entities like Pavlina."
"I legitimately don't know who Pavlina is," Hale sighed. She was speaking the truth, only Councillor Pierre knew the identities of all the Auroras. "But your blunt description of our state of affairs is accurate. Things here are not good, and I do worry for... any women connected to Kerlile who may be adversely affected by recent revelations of information. However, I do not see how you can help us."
"Which would you rather have, all of your Auroras in all of the nations of the world being found, detained, and interrogated to find out the inner-workings of the programme, or would you rather some Kvaskm do the dirty work of bringing them back for you?" The man's voice had a bite to it that felt as though he was only going to make it clear once what the offer was.
"Listen... I cannot make an agreement with you on this right now. I need to consult with the rest of the Council. We have a full Council meeting today, I can mention your... proposition then," she suggested.
"You and your damned Council..." The man spoke to another person in a language unfamiliar to Hale before returning to her, "Fine, but be warned. We will know if you try and fuck us. And if you dare try to do anything like that, kiss the smugglers goodbye." His voice did not convey he was giving an empty threat; if anything got back to him, wherever it came from, he would call an end to the black market in Kerlile.
"Duly noted," she said, a note of worry in her voice. There was no response from the other end for a few seconds before a soft click ended the call.
29th of November, 2019
1245
The Kvaskm Office of Foreign Intelligence (KOFI) was a mess of papers and bodies for the past few months since the Aurora Programme was revealed. The fear that gripped the communities was legitimized, and finding out who was and wasn’t an Aurora was going to be a nightmare. There’d already been some instances of violence against the small Kerlian communities in West Kvask, near the border, and immigrants were starting to feel uneasy about living in Kvask without a proper police force to protect them. In the Eastern edges of the countries, some of the less-diverse towns and villages were murmuring about closing off their roads to any foreigner.
Back at the KOFI, the director, Rnata Novmenska, was hunched over a large stack of papers, trying to figure out a way out of this mess through going through complaint after complaint against women thought West Kvask. As she looks over the scarce paperwork of a nurse in Hjernek, a knock comes at her door.
Her eyes still glued to the paper, she calls to the door, “Whoever it is, come i-” She can’t finish her sentence as a tall, burly man slams the door open. Startled, Rnata stands up and yells, “What the FUCK?! Who are you!?” The man puts a finger to his lips before closing the door behind him, the wall it slammed into having a dent where the door knob impacted.
With the door giving a weak click, the man begins to speak calmly as he crosses his arms, “My name is not important, but who I represent is.”
Rnata, noticing nothing of note on the man’s clothing, gestures to him, “And that would be?”
The man reaches into his pocket and produces a note and hands it to Rnata, “The Union of Merchants, miss.” Rnata opened the note and read through it as the man continued, “We feel that situation of the Auroras can be solved in a way that doesn’t impact our business relations with the state of Kerlile. Instead of doing as everyone else does and root them out through blunt forced investigation, we can get the information from the badger’s paw.”
Rnata continued to read the note, a look of confusion on her face, “And that would be?”
The man grinned, “We help the Auroras.”
What the man proposed made Rnata stop mid-sentence and look up at him, “Excuse me, what? How do you suppose we get one of the world’s most uptight misandrists that have built a big fuck-off border wall to let us help?!”
The man came closer to Rnata, “We will offer them some specialists trained in… ‘package recovery’... to go to other nations and retrieve them for Kerlile. After we help recover as many Auroras we can from the other nations that have them, we can use the Auroras as a bargaining chip to tell us where ours are. That, and if they don’t agree to our terms, the Union of Merchants will no longer run our operations to Kerlile, depriving their councillors of their precious goods.”
Rnata put the note away and paced for a minute; the Union of Merchants were just a band of smugglers that ran into and out of Kerlile, trading goods with them and making great gains from Kerlile’s misery. “So what’s the catch?”
The man shook his head, “No catch. As much as we’d love to not rock the boat, these Auroras could be a major hazard to the Union’s business operations. That, and we still care about Kvask, no matter how much we engage in ‘extra-market activities’.”
Rnata rubbed her eyes and sighed, “Shit… We’ll never find these Auroras with all of these loose records floating around… Fine, tell your Union Boss that KOFI will sanction this operation and give whatever support is needed; material or otherwise.”
The man nodded and gave a small bow, “Thank you for your generosity, Miss Novmenska.” Rnata was about to ask how he knew her name, but he was already heading out the door by the time she thought of it.
“Those fucking Merchants…”
[/hr]
Written with [nation]Lauchenoiria[/nation]
Hale Residence, Virtus Region, Kerlile
29th of November, 2019
1317
At 1317, a call came ringing to Hale's personal phone seemingly out of nowhere, the number on it being unknown. She picked it up quickly, worried. She got two types of calls on that phone: emergencies, and her wife using her as a backchannel for diplomatic business because she liked teasing.
"Hello, Councillor Hale speaking."
An unfamiliar man's voice was on the other end. It was low-register, had a thick Kvaskm accent, and reeked of smoke even through the phone, "Hello, miss Hale. This is your *mutual friend* from the Union of Merchants. There've been a few developments with our host nations that require... addressing, and you are the best person to talk to, per my many ears in Kerlile."
"How did you get this num... oh never mind," she sighed. There was not enough time to worry about things like that, she got little sleep these nights with Amelia keeping her awake. "What can I do for you?"
"We in the Union know that the Aurora Programme is more than just an initiative for orphans set up by your government. We've even located one, though to be honest, she hasn't been too secretive..." There was a cough at the other end followed by an audible spit, "But this call is not about 'Pavlina'... This call is about how we can help one another regarding the Auroras."
"I... am not sure to whom you are referring, but then I wouldn't know the identity of an Aurora anyway. If they even exist," she added hurriedly. "But if they existed, what would you mean by 'help one another'?"
The man on the other clicked his tongue on his teeth, "We want to help you get your precious Auroras back home in one piece. From everywhere. The Kerlian economy is in the shitter and everything you do is watched by the whole world." There was a pause as, presumably, the figure was taking a drag from a cigarette. He continued as he exhaled, "And frankly, these Auroras are bad for business in Kvask, always getting in the way of shipments and running competitive entities like Pavlina."
"I legitimately don't know who Pavlina is," Hale sighed. She was speaking the truth, only Councillor Pierre knew the identities of all the Auroras. "But your blunt description of our state of affairs is accurate. Things here are not good, and I do worry for... any women connected to Kerlile who may be adversely affected by recent revelations of information. However, I do not see how you can help us."
"Which would you rather have, all of your Auroras in all of the nations of the world being found, detained, and interrogated to find out the inner-workings of the programme, or would you rather some Kvaskm do the dirty work of bringing them back for you?" The man's voice had a bite to it that felt as though he was only going to make it clear once what the offer was.
"Listen... I cannot make an agreement with you on this right now. I need to consult with the rest of the Council. We have a full Council meeting today, I can mention your... proposition then," she suggested.
"You and your damned Council..." The man spoke to another person in a language unfamiliar to Hale before returning to her, "Fine, but be warned. We will know if you try and fuck us. And if you dare try to do anything like that, kiss the smugglers goodbye." His voice did not convey he was giving an empty threat; if anything got back to him, wherever it came from, he would call an end to the black market in Kerlile.
"Duly noted," she said, a note of worry in her voice. There was no response from the other end for a few seconds before a soft click ended the call.
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