Difference between revisions of "I Did Nazi This Coming"

The March begins in the morning and continues throughout the day. It is like a who's who of 'tall white and hatey'. There are the militia members who organized the rally against the 'Islamic Menace', who have also turned this into an Open Carry event. They have guns, so many guns. But many others have shown up too, groups who don't like those who are not like them. Neo-Nazis and modern Confederates are here with their flags, those who know tattoos might even spot members of organized crime like the Aryan Brotherhood among the marchers, and even a biker gang whose leather jackets are adorned with runic script. Quite the rogues gallery and there's /a lot/ of them.

It all coalesces into a rally outside of the Islamic Center of America, the largest Shia mosque in the United States which earned Dearborn the nickname the Shia Heart of America. In front of the mosque is not just Muslims but an interfaith community protest of many races and creeds linking arms against the hate. They are outnumbered, badly.

The Dearborn police are also here running interference between the two groups though they are pretty clearly not wanting to provoke the heavily armed side.

For her own part, Amane is packing but not terribly openly. Sure, someone looking close at the... oddly mercenary looking Japanese woman might spot her holsters but she's got legal paperwork for it and a job to do in general. She is mostly milling about the edges of the interfaith group and Sandra's group, wearing a pair of aviator mirrorshades with a stance that is relaxed to all appearances but on high alert besides.

Of course they aren't.

But that's why Shadi is here in all her pink glory.

She stands with a gaggle of other Muslim youth of her age. She's holding one of those Trump Inauguration Shepard Fairey posters of the Hijabi with the American flag hijab. But she alternates signs. There's that one, then she sets it down and swaps to another. This one reads: "HATE DOESN'T MAKE AMERICA GREAT!"

It is written in pink and rainbows, of course, becasue of /course/ it is.

And then that one is set down and another goes up, "Stand with Muslims Against Racism" with an x'd out pink Swastikas.

Kai isn't packing. Not weapons, anyway. She's just another hoodie-and-bandana, not particularly recognizable, in a small mob of them, spoiling for trouble. If you want to be where the violence is likeliest, well - it's a choice. She isn't shouting slogans; she's just milling back and forth, occasionally trading words with a friend.

That friend is Anthony, not that anybody'd notice with his bandana, hoodie, and Arcane. He is also not shouting slogans or carrying signs. Those things attract attention, and he wants to do that with his fists.

Not all the Tall White and-- well, in this case, Rageys are standing on the side of the methed up provocateurs. Least of all the most Aryan of Aryans that the crowd could possibly produce. It helps that both sides who come within her bubble of personal space are likely to be almost instantly repelled, but all the same: Sandra is present, and standing roughly in the vicinity of the group Shadi's waded in with, close enough to keep a line of sight on the girl, but far enough away so as not to the disturb the lot of them, angling herself in such a way that she makes it rather clear whose side she's actually on. As with Anthony and Kai, there are no slogans and there is no shouting. There's just careful, and constant observation.

Jim does his best to use the distractions of the growing conflict to blend in. The bird drops to the ground, and begins to walk. Which is weird, and feels oddly vulnerable, but nobody's looking that low in the crowd. Nobody's going to spot him. He looks for the most extremist flag present, and tries to go into that direction.

Oliver's standing by Sandra, notably not repelled by her Rage, which means there's likely to be a nice amount of elbow room. It's also difficult to get whiter than him without resorting to bleach or paint, and he's an inch or two taller than Sandra, so that pretty much covers that. Unlike Sandra, he does have a sign, the stick of it resting lazily against his shoulder. The current back says "It Didn't Work Last Time, You Know," and the front says "I'm Really Rather Cross About All This", both in neatly printed block letters. He's getting in on that careful and constant observation thing as well, but unlike his companion, whom he seems to be chatting to a fair amount, he looks faintly amused with things at present.

Maya, too, is with the black hoodie contingent, in a rather baggy sweatshirt and black jeans tucked into stomping, heavy vintage combat boots. Her hair is pulled back under the hood, even, with no feather.

Although Derek's sign isn't remotely pink, he's got one, and it's one that someone's spent a long time perfecting. It's not super obvious at a distance, but the block letters on said sign are carefully stencilled, complete with drop shadows on the sign's white background. It's just grey and black marker on white, which is part of what makes it stand out so clearly. Whoever made the sign obviously labored over it a long while, which makes its simple message quite legible: NAZIS GO HOME. No images or other messages, nothing else but that basic text. Occasionally, the other side can be seen, which also bears a super simple message-- a carefully drawn swastika with the universal NO sign crossing it out. Unlike some others in the vicinity of those spoiling for a fight, he's more watchful than angry (so far), and he's holding a first aid kit in his non-sign-holding hand. He's got a very full messenger bag across one shoulder, presumably to stuff with supplies that didn't fit into the first aid kit.

The rally outside the mosque continues to get into full swing, so far so good, no bullets yet, the police are managing to maintain a tense peace. The first speaker is from the Michigan Militia, the group that organized the event acting as a master of ceremonies. He's a large stocky man with a blond crew cut and a deep voice. There is a long arm slung from his shoulder. He begins making a very nativist speach to the frequent cheers of the crowd hitting all the high notes about immigrant crime and stolen jobs, the spread of Shariah Law in America, and the Deep State allowing it all to happen undermining good honest citizens for their own purposes.

Kai weaves back and forth in the restless black bloc, offering quiet words toward Maya and Anthony, or just another couple masked-up folks, depending on your perspective. There's a vague indication across the way at some bikers - that's a baleful eye - but she continues circulating, neither stirring up nor settling down. Assuming "Fuck off the stage!" isn't stirring up, anyway. Not like everybody else is hush hush. When she passes Derek, she jerks her head at him. "Get back before you get hurt, kid," she says, obviously assuming he's a civvie since he's not masked up.

"Pfft... " manages Amane. She absently pulls out a pack of cigarettes and starts to tap one out, then looks to the Mosque to say nothing of the public presence and thinks better of it putting it away. She reaches to her ear and murmurs, "Yeah. Freedom of speech, etc., etc. Alicia."

There are approaches like ther Blac Bloc, of course, and Antifa elements. Those are perfectly tactical and valid when used right.

And then there are approaches like Shadi. Who simply raises another sign.

This one reads: "Racism isn't Patriotism."

She has a winning smile on her face. It's a well practiced smile to show she's not afraid, not intimated by the /huge amounts of open carry rifles/ on the other side.

Sandra's attention strays towards someone on the side of the Bad Guys-- seems to track the movement for a time, before a note of frustration appears in her expression. She keeps searching faces for whoever it was that slipped away, but, after a moment, leans over to Oliver and murmurs something to him.

Anthony, too, mills about in the black bloc, keeping his eyes out on the crowd. He doesn't even shout out anything. Nope, he's just picking out faces from the crowd, comfortable in the fact that nobody can do the same to him.

Maya is not far from Kai--and alarm flashes into her eyes when she sees the teenager, the boy Kai speaks to. She stares at Derek for a moment, almost as if she's delivering a message.

"I've stolen twelve jobs just this week!" Oliver calls back to the stage, accent possibly just a bit more obvious than it technically has to be, "Gamekeeper was best. AND I jaywalk!" So at least someone's presumably having fun. Even if he looks entirely serious. He tilts his head slightly when Sandra murmurs to him, brow furrowing, and makes a slow, thoughtful scan of the crowd.

Derek's lips form a thin line after Kai speaks, but instead of arguing, he surprisingly nods. "Thank you," is said with an inclination of his head. His gaze briefly flicks to Maya, and he gives her a polite nod before actually stepping back a couple ranks; he's still pretty close, but not *directly* in the path of trouble. As he does so, he indicates the first aid kit to Kai, if she's still looking.

"Yeah." says Amane like she is talking to herself, or using a bluetooth, "Keep monitoring. Pro's might not but zealots frequently telegraph their actions on social media." She sees Shadi's pinkitude and smiles faintly before looking around again. Walking towards the less peacable members of the black bloc she moves without making any sort of a fuss about it; smooth gait, even footfalls.

A furrow appears in Sandra's brow not too terribly long after she commented to Oliver initially and, after a moment or two, does so again, her head nodding in the direction of the bikers at one point during this second round of murmuring.

The call from Oliver has Shadi try to hold back a laugh.

She steps forward, though, and is fairly obvious in all her glorious pinktitude. She rotates through her various signs again and says, "We still love you! If you set down your guns, I'll give you a hug!" WILL TRADE HUGS FOR DISARMAMENT.

Kai paces back and forth - catching Derek's gesture toward his first aid kit. She gives him a chin-up, but goes back about her pacing, watching.

Anthony gives those bikers--the ones Kai pointed out--a long hard look especially. If he weren't masked up, his frown would be apparent. But he doesn't do anything. He may be a naieve dancer, but even he knows not to pick a fight with this crowd. At least not when they're all in one place.

The next speaker takes to the podium, an older well dressed gentleman in a suit. At first glance he is not the sort you'd expect to find here until you notice the red Nazi swastica armband, then he fits right in. He is a skilled orator, too. If you were an impoverished angry white male he would probably be very convincing as it stands his arguments seem to make a twisted amount of sense even if they are oh so definitely wrong and you know it. His speach gets a bit esoteric at times perhaps the weirdest is when he refers to the United States and the coming of New Hyperborea.

Oliver tilts his head slightly as he listens to Sandra again, following the direction of her nod, and nods himself. He turns his head to reply something to her, adding a small nod of his own in a different direction. No heckling for Dr. Von Scott, or at least not yet; he has gossiping to do. Or something like that.

"More like HYPERBOREDUS," says Shadi, loudly.

Jim walks out of a cluster of people he's in. And the bird flies into one of the trees in the parking lot, one that's nicely surrounded by Nazis. Trying to take advantage of the last of the trees before fall completely denudes them. Once in cover, the bird watches the last speaker. And, loudly, in his best rural Texas accent, calls out "Bring back the last one. He was cute. I'd invade his Poland." The plan being that they'll get suspicius of who said that.

At approximately the same time, Maya reaches out and grabs Kai's hand *and* Anthony's, speaking more to the latter, looking over to him. "I have to *do* something. You want me away from you guys?"

"Hmm. I wonder who that g... wait," Amane peeks over her mirrorshades for a moment towards the podium, murmuring very softly "Did you feel that?" A beat as she pushes her sunglasses back in place, "No, Alicia. No. He did not fart... how would you even tell from here... "

Kai eyes the podium, gives Maya's hand a squeeze. "Go," she says. You know, like she's in agreement with the whole 'do something' thing. Even if she wasn't -really- the one Maya was talking to.

Anthony looks confused. He looks from the stage to Maya and then to Kai. Then he too gives Maya's hand a squeeze. "Go," he says. "We got your back."

Derek is warily observing, frowning as he listens to the guy on the podium, though his eyes stay in his general vicinity. He glances over to Kai and crew a few times, tilting his head as he sees Maya grab their hands. His frown deepens, and he pays a little more attention to them now, though there's no way he's able to hear what they're saying from here.

Maya tightens her grip briefly, and then lets go. She begins making her way toward the 'front lines', her head bowed, almost as if she's drawn toward the speaker--whispering to herself quietly.

The older man's rhetoric and display does concern Shadi. She noticed his eloquence. His, as the media might report, 'dapperness'.

"Eh, still a nazi," she says. She and her fellow Muslims simply chant, "Welcome to Dearborn," for a while, with big smiles.

They're welcoming and loving here. Unlike the Nazis. Dang Nazis.

"Is that Maya?" murmurs Amane as she makes her way after the other woman. She doesn't have Maya's White America looks to insulate her, though, if she gets too close to the other side and Arcane won't help with that either if she's in a place where she sticks out like a sore thumb. So, she hesitates around the front edge of the black bloc to just watch for the time being and see what Maya is going to do.

As Maya moves through the crowd, she putas both hands into the pocket of her hooded sweatshirt. Very briefly, removing nothing, emopthyb hands immediately visible. Then she reaches up, one of them touching her throat. She does not look up.

Kai glances sidelong at Anthony, then jerks her head. Not the exact direction Maya went - actually, sort of Amane's way, though there's no evidence she's spotted her. Just closer to the front of the bloc.

Oliver murmurs back and forth with Sandra a bit, and studies the speaker a while. It starts out rather appraising, as if trying to figure the man out, but as the speech goes on, there's a bit of a change in his expression, more thoughtful. There's even -- horror of horrors -- eventually a slight nod, to some comment or other.

Sandra, herself, is glancing between two men off by the sidelines, and the group of bikers, attention split but the observation quite pointed. It's only when she turns back to Oliver to remark on something that her brow furrows. And that furrow just gets deeper at the nod.

She grabs his arm, not the least bit hesitant about giving it an outright tug, enough that if she weren't standing right beside him as a buffer, she'd probably throw him off balance, "Oliver," snapped at him. Following fittingly by, "Snap out of it."

Here's Derek, standing with a bunch of agitated anti-Nazis. See Derek frown. See Derek look thoughtful. See Derek nod in agreement with a few of the dapper gentleman's points. Run, Derek, run! Only, he doesn't run. He just looks fascinated at what he's hearing, like he'd never really seen any of this in that light before. Surreptitiously, he glances toward the Muslim contingent of sign-wavers, then quickly back to the speaker. His sign-hand flags a little, like he's somewhat embarrassed to be holding it. He doesn't let go or bring it entirely down, but he's sure rethinking this 'NAZIS GO HOME' thing.

Anthony nods and starts to move toward the front of the bloc himself. It'll be easier to have Maya's back, as he promised, should he need to. That's totally why. It has nothing to do with his desire to punch a nazi.

Maya changes her course almost immediately, heading back toward her friends. As she passes through them, she mutters, "Resist it, he's pushing something." And then she moves faster, as fast as she can given the small group of counter-demonstrators.

The older gentleman in the suit continues speaking becoming impassioned about the coming war when we must all stand together for the glory of New Hyperborea and the impure shall be but cattle to be slaughtered. Much of the crowd does seem to be swayed by him and in fact even many of the non-Nazi's seem ready to give Zieg Heil salutes at this point.

Really, there is little Amane can do at the moment. Or is there? She raises her hand to her head and adjusts her mirrorshades as she looks on after Maya. Turning back towards the speaker, she seems to be looking HARD at the sound equipment. Well, she would be if you could see her eyes behind her shades.

There's not much Shadi can do except get increasingly concerned about what's going on around her. People who came her on her side seem to be wilting like flowers under his rhetoric.

She puts her hands up, looking agitated. Frustrated.

Something is wrong here. She can't sense it palpably, the way others can, but this is /wrong/. She knows it. She gnaws on her lower lip, planning. Formulating.

Toward the front of the bloc, now, Kai bumps Amane's shoulder without... actually realizing she's even bumped her. Her jaw sets; she's biting her tongue, though that's really not terribly visible behind the bandana about her face. She just claps her hands over her ears, sharply, watching the podium warily. There's an unsteady second where she rocks on her feet, then she resumes prowling near the front of the bloc, particularly watching for any damn fools who look like they're having trouble with the speech. Other than those leaving, anyway.

Oliver does in fact wobble at the yank, giving Sandra a confused look. "What?" he asks her quietly, "He's a very good speaker. And one has to admit, given the way humans react to difference, it might be the only way to establish peace. Look at Switzerland, for example..."

Anthony doesn't prowl around so much as aggressively mill about. He seems a bit agitated by everything. He even aggressively mills about right into Amane, on the other side from where Kai bumped her. Oops. He's still mostly just watching the gathered crowd. Kai can keep an eye on the rest of the bloc behind him.

Sandra's brows shoot upwards, her mouth hanging open. Appalled doesn't begin to describe the look on her face. "Do you hear yourself?" she says. "Oliver. Listen to me. Remember what I said, about--" And then her eyes shift over towards the bikers, already in her peripheral vision. There's a clear look of frustration, her jaw set, as she starts looking around for anyone she might be able to signal.

Of course, it'd be Kai she sees first. She raises a hand, shouting a, "Hey!" in the Verbena's direction, and points over towards the bikers rather emphatically. Really, fuck subtlety, at this point.

Those who are closest to Amane might hear a faint crackle and pick up the scent of ozone like lightening building before a strike. It's subtle, faint, but it's there. Then, within the same heartbeat, there is a huge amount of microphone noise that shrieks over the sound system as the whole thing is disrupted. It is as though the sounds of 10 thousand White Supremicist voices cry out, and are instantly silenced... or there was a bad power surge.

The sounds system lets out some pretty epic feedback as it groans in pain and goes silent, while everyone else groans in pain at their poor ears. The techs are scrambling to get things up and running again and the second speaker will be delayed ten minutes or so, wait second speaker? The older gentleman in the suit is nowhere to be seen on the stage when people recover from the feedback burst. Meanwhile a few of the bikers in the rune decorated jackets start moving in Amane's direction.

Kai doesn't hear Sandra. She also doesn't hear the giant mic shriek, or if she does, doesn't react in any of the ways you might think someone would. She does, however, lift her chin and sniff the air, turning. It's about that moment that she sees Sandra flagging her down. There's a finger pointed at her chest like, 'who, me?' or maybe 'new phone who dis'. She glances over at the bikers, then gives Sandra another look, takes -two- index fingers, points them that direction. Like: how bout we -both- go fuck up some bikers. A bling-worthy smile, which immediately disappears (like Nicki Minaj style) when she sees the bikers start heading... approximately her direction. Well, why is she here, anyway. She'll get out front. Where are those cops again? What are -they- doing?

Arcane can't save her now, Amane knows she's been made. She begins to walk briskly but non-chalantly away from the front of the black bloc. Her trenchcoat flutters in the breeze, revealing her badge fold and firearms but she's moving now and doesn't care as her midnight hair flies behind her once she has an opening to run for the nearest alley way.

Shadi is on her phone for a moment.

She's getting openly concerned about something as she flips through her smart phone.

After a moment, she slings her backpack from around her shoulder, sets it down kneels down, and starts rooting through it only to be interrupted by the sudden shriek of the sound system. She takes a moment to adjust her glasses -- yes, she's wearing glasses at the moment -- before standing back up and rubbing her ears.

"Ow," she manages to say after a moment.

Oliver blinks at the question, and there's a pause that looks for all the world as though he may be running back what he said in his head. The impression may be boosted by the fact that he entirely blanches. Which is impressive, given the complexion he's starting with. "Oh, for..." he mutters, his free hand coming up to rub his temples, "That is utterly bloody embarrassi--" He gets cut off by the sound of the feedback, wincing almost as hard at it as the realisation, hand going to his ear. At least it doesn't take as much work to stay in his right mind afterward, even if said right mind is currently full of ouch.

Anthony winces in pain as his hands come up to cover his ears. Of course, by the time they're covered, the sound system has fallen silent. Whatever. He doesn't need to hear to throw a punch. When those bikers start to come straight for him--or at least that's what it looks like--he grins under his mask. He steps out near Kai, his hands hanging loosely at his side, ready to rumble.

Don't need to tell her twice! Or-- maybe you do. That shriek is enough to set the Shadow Lord's teeth on edge, one hand going up to one of her ears, and with her Rage already upped to a low simmer--

Sandra nonetheless gives a short nod in response to Kai's gesture, and to Oliver, she says - or, perhaps, shouts, depending on how well his ears are doing - "Come on," the arm she's still holding given a lighter tug this time. "You can be embarrassed later. Bikers are on the move." And it sounds very much like she's determined to intercept.

Meanwhile, Amane is at a full sprint for the nearest alley way. Her trenchcoat is flapping behind her as her onyx tresses catch the light in a shimmer. There are times when it just does not pay to be so eye-catching. Especially when... okay. She can move, but she's not the fastest runner.

Now Shadi is staring at the crowd. She is squinting at it. She takes her glasses off and rubs her eyes and then puts them back on.

She squints still more. Given all that's going on, she hasn't quite noticed Amane's sprint, though she is perhaps beginning to turn that way. "...well that thinned out fast," she says. She does, however, notice the bikers on the move. More frowning.

Jim abruptly emerges from his tree in hiding. Zooming in a particular direction. Squirrel?

Oliver is tugged easily enough, following his packmate. Handy how crowds so often seem to part before her. He takes a look around as they go, and his brow furrows again. "They're not the only ones," he says, "I'm fairly sure we've lost some of the audience. And, look." He indicates where he's referring to with a small tilt of his head. "I'm sure I just saw a couple blokes heading off after one with one of those armbands. Didn't seem to be from the same branch of the sewer as each other, either." He takes another look around, though he's still following her. Might be more armbands around...

When Amane moves to put distance between herself and the bikers, there's more signals the approaching ones fall back for now. Though one of them does appear to snap a picture with a smartphone. They apparently did not feel like challenging the police lines.

Who wants to break the police line? Well tbh Kai, but she's not -going- to, because there is plenty of evidence that people with guns can be manipulated in ways that don't help her at all tonight. Plus, other things. With the bikers falling back, she catches a glimpse of someone snapping a photo, shoots a look back at the subject - and the looks at the dude again. Just. Cataloging. She takes a look around for Sandra, Oliver, or any combination of the two. Or Anthony. Anthony would also work.

Shadi holds up a sign.

"Alt-Right? More like Dolt-Right!"

Maya's eyes go wide as she's moving through the crowd. She halts in place, her breathing rapid as she stares at... what? Someone's hand, as they push by? Whatever it is, *something* has her leaving again a moment later, moving fast to find a way out of this whole tangle.