[001 - video]

[freeholding]

[Two men have settled into one of the larger rooms of the Tower. One is tall and lean and looks vaguely untrustworthy, like someone you wouldn't want to share a cab with. He's got a mean-looking scar through the right side of his face, a silver pentacle around his neck, and a dramatic black leather duster hanging off his frame. He's the one seated on the floor, a circle drawn around him (was that done in chalk?) on the lumpy carpet.

The other man is far more respectable looking, but something about him would incite nervousness and distrust if you met him in person. He's older, with greying hair and eyes the color of dead grass. Dressed like a businessman in tailored Givenchy and silver cufflinks, there is nonetheless the sense of a prowling panther as he paces slowly around the outside of the circle.]

Are you ready? [says the man in the suit.]

[The one in the circle opens an eye to glare at his companion.] Are you interrupting a wizard when he's wizarding?

We're on a time table, Dresden.

A what? [The one by the name of "Dresden" squints at the other man like he's in awe of his existence.] I don't care how OCD you are, you don't have a time table yet.

Near and present danger.

Hell's bells, fine. Operation Stress-test commencing in five... four... [His voice trails off as he closes his eyes again, focusing before:] Hexus.

[There's a quick series of pops as all the lights burst into showers of sparks, power sockets go up smoke, and the NV's feed promptly goes dead.]

[[OOC: Blue font is Harry, Green font is John and they'll be replying separately to your comments!

If you'd like to play along, Harry just hexed the electrical things (lights, AC units, TVs, anything really) in their room, and the effect may spread to anyone nearby in the Tower apartments. Feel free to suddenly have a freezing cold shower or have your radio cut out, etc.]]

Comments

[freeholding]

Nor is it mine, but interest in it always proves fruitful.

[Ah-ha. Something other than the damned SERO or AGI. Their people are everywhere and it's difficult to get a feel for the place without their lens.] Perhaps I am jumping to conclusions, but that implies that all other enterprises are not left alone. No independent markets? Enterprising up-starts? Any outside competition. [Click click click, goes John's mind. Dresden is determined to not think of the long-term, but John can multitask and this is helpful.]

[terminates]

Generally speaking? Very few.

There's some trade with the outside world, and the Black Market and the Underground Mall are neutral for the most part. The agricultural district is usually left to its own devices as well, but that's for practicality's sake more than anything else.

[ Everyone needs food, after all. ]

I've seen neutral businesses spring up, some Newcomer-run, but like I said- the companies make things tighter.

[freeholding]

[Oh, isolated societies and their black markets. Where there are people, there is need. John asks, quietly probing:] But with such a small island of people, the police must have some power over a black market.

[There is a smirk in his voice.] In my experience, no one's control is absolute, and the more some arenas are cracked down on, the less pressure on others.

[terminates]

The police don't have much power over anything.

[ Or maybe he's just jaded. Hard to say. ]

Complacency goes both ways.

[freeholding]

That is a shame. [Excellent.]

So fortune favors the bold. As it so often does.

[terminates]

[ That bad outweighs the good, as is so often the case. ]

It depends on what you want.

[ And how good you are at doing what it takes to get it. ]