Participants:
| Scene Title | Save Staten |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | There's two ways to make a movement, a fist in the air, or offering a helping hand… |
| Date | August 22, 2009 |
It's time to make a move. It's time to lay down the foundation that will stop Norman White. It's time to rally the army and make a stand. Vincent King has gone to great efforts to get his hands on any bits of his mass yet inaccessible wealth. Scraping funds out of different pockets here and there that he had left in the banking world, King pooled all his resources together to start the stop of Norman White…
He bought a bunch of pizza.
Through his small band of deviants, Vincent has passed the word out into Staten. The superstar, the rapping legend, Shard will be at the boat graveyard.. giving out free pizza. A strange message to be sure, but a message that drew people regardless.
It's a bright day, and even though the venue is less than ideal, it has drawn quite a crowd. A few tables are laid out, stacked with pizza boxes. A stack of t-shirts are laid out, worn by a few that are seen as the 'staff' of the event. The pizza is free though the t-shirts are sold at ten dollars a pop. Music is bouncing in the background, most of the time it is Shard's old songs. Maybe because Vincent is vain, or perhaps it was the only thing he could get his hands on. Heedless of how good his music is, people seem to be enjoying it.
Shard himself has been seated behind one of the fold out tables, he's been signing everything that lands in front of him for a good two hours. CDs, strips of papers, napkins, bodyparts— none of the bad ones. He would refuse those!
Turning his head to his 'assistant' Shard gives her a warm smile. "Aggie, sweetheart, could you get me another glass of water, and take my picture with this little guy?" One large finger points to the child standing with a SHARD t-shirt on. Shard himself wears one of the white t-shirts they are selling today which simply states in black letters…
SAVE STATEN
When she signed up to be part of a resistance movement, this wasn't exactly what Agnes pictured. But she is nothing if not very good at rolling with things. Caught up in the excitement of the crowd, she's been quite eagerly doing her share. And it's not like it's every day she gets to play assistant to a legend! The T-shirt isn't quite her usual fashion, which might be an improvement, depending on what one thinks of her usual fashion sense (or arguable lack thereof). She wears it dutifully, but almost as a compromise, has gathered the front into a knot that pulls the rest of it up enough to show her midriff.
As he turns to her, Shard's smile is returned and Agnes gives a quick nod, stepping forward. "Picture first, then water?" she suggests with a grin. "Unless you're dying of thirst." But since the kid is right there and the water isn't, this seems the most efficient way to get this done. "You got a camera?" she kindly asks of the boy, holding out her hand to take it from him so that he can pose himself beside Shard.
One wouldn't imagine the small dark haired young woman standing close by Shard could be anything other than a groupie. Stephanie Winters was once Gillian, but now having chosen a new name for herself, even if most of the people around don't know why. Either way, Stef doesn't look like a bodyguard by any definition of the word, though she certainly considers herself one. Whether Shard knows it or not. Often smelling at the air, it's not the pizza which she's smelling, but something that few other people can smell.
She's wearing the T-shirt and not too far away, but far enough she's not asked to do menial tasks. Quite often, she's caught looking around. For trouble, and for people she recognizes, or worse, might recognize her. Unfortunately this kind of get together could attract the attention of people who knew her before. Possibly even, god forbid, herself.
"Weirdest 'fundraiser' I've ever seen. Support Evo war!" Devi's lack of tact earns her a few glowers from those near her, at the head of the line. Those nosey people, in turn, are rewarded with a cocky grin, and a half-mock, half-supportive gesture of her fist thrust overhead. She sits at the 'staff' table, though it is obviously apparent that she has done nothing of any worth throughout the past few hours. Unless you consider crude remarks and nomming pizza to be of any value.
The biker wears one of the tee shirts proudly, despite her remark, having cut and spliced it so that it droops dramatically off of one tattooed shoulder and exposes hints of her abs just above the waistline of her dark jeans. Her boots are kicked up onto the corner of the table, tilting her chair back precariously as her dark gaze roams the gathering.
"Alright, alright, picture first." Shard murmurs in a mock irritated tone. Leaning over he gives the boy a large smile as the kid passes his camera over to Agnes. If one were watching Vincent closely they would definitely note the way he is very careful to avoid skin to skin contact. Avoiding it at all costs, his hand goes for the shoulder of the kid, though he positions his body in a way where he doesn't get too close.
After the picture is clicked, Shard gives the boy's shoulder a squeeze. "Thanks for takin' a picture with me champ." Standing up he gives a parting grin, "Go get some more pizza man, there's plenty left." Turning to the line of people waiting for autographs, Shard raises his hands. "Alright y'all thanks for being so patient, I'm going to take fifteen minutes, but I promise I'll get you alright?" With the line dismantling, or some of the more diehards staying in place and planning to wait the full fifteen minutes for Shard to return, the icon takes a step away from the table and gestures at Devi for her to come hither. "Yo, Gil—" Fff. "Stef." Shard is totally accepting of new names. His name given at birth was Otis. :/. "Aggie, after you grab that cup, come over here I want to talk with everybody."
Agnes merely offers a dry grin at Shard's pretend irritation. She takes the camera as it's handed over, using the few moments while the two subjects arrange themselves to familiarize herself with how exactly it works. Okay, there it's on… and she points and shoots with a flicker of the flash. Checking to make sure that came out all right, she then turns it off and hands it back to the departing boy.
"Aye aye, boss," she replies, joking with a salute as she takes the order. There's a curiosity there as to what exactly this is about, and so she doesn't waste time in fetching the water, returning shortly thereafter from the food table with Vincent's drink in hand. She makes her way to where he's gathering them, holding out the drink and lifting her eyebrows a bit as if to say, 'well?'
If no one else is watching, Stef is every so often, after she's sure there's no one from the Ferry or Phoenix in the groups. She's been lucky so far, but she's not counting on it lasting. "Everything seems to be going okay so far," she admits to Shard, a smile showing up on her face that exposes dimples as she casts a glance back over the crowd and the people he's avoiding touching. There's not an extensive amount of fear, which isn't helping her mood at all. People being anxious would make her feel less anxious.
Devi's chair drops back to the earth with a thud, her long hair tickling forward as if eager to steal a touch of her sharp features. Quick fingers brush away the pitch-hued strands with one hand, re-revealing the stars tattooed around the far end of her brow, while the other hand pops the last bite of pizza crust between her lips - painted a near black, violet today, just for the hell of it. A free hand dips under her seat to the cooler hidden beneath it - procuring a bottle of beer winking with condensation.
She pushes to her feet with a feigned groan and a victorious expression as she uncaps her brew and slides on over to Shard's direction. "Wassup?"
Taking his cup of water, though his fingers take it from the top, careful not to touch Agnes' fingers. "Thanks baby." Agnes gets a warm almost fatherly smile as he brings up the cup and tilts the whole thing back. A little shiver goes through him before he looks back down to his gathering of attractive women. Crushing the cup in his hand absent mindedly, he glances down at Stef.
Giving her a smile as well his free hand raises up and rubs her back gently and briefly just for a moment. Dropping his hand he looks over to Devi. "You got that video camera I gave you? We're going to do the video section of the day, get our message out and slap this puppy on youtube. If you two want to be on camera, I'll welcome it. Need to show the world we got support. And what better way to have a bunch of honies? And besides, soon as people hear Shard and youtube." A shrug. "Not to be vain, but it'll spread like.." Lightening. " Wildfire. Hopefully." Glancing at Stef, "I figured you would want to tape it. 'm I right?"
A loud roar can be heard as a black and red motorcycle can be seen creeping onto the place. It's a Harley and a damn nice one at that. From the looks of it.. it's been modified.. heavily.
The figure on the back wears a black helmet, she swings her leg over and takes the helmet off. Behold, it's Thalia. Her long dark brown hair is ruffled by the wind and her hair as she fixes it, placing the helmet on the bike.
The woman is wearing a pair of tight dark jeans along with a pair of boots and a black tank top, her baby blue eyes are half lidded as she looks up towards the sky and then shakes her hair out. Yeah, she knows how to make an entrance.
Feeling pretty good, since the pain meds are working great, Thalia smiles as she walks towards the crowd.
While being called 'baby' under other circumstances might rankle a bit, in this context, Agnes merely offers a grin, shrugging her shoulders to the thanks. "Don't mention it." She wipes her fingers off on her skirt, a bit damp from the condensation on the cold cup of water.
Her eyebrows lift a bit as she hears out his plan. Again, not at all what she was expecting, but the girl will roll with it. "Yeah, I guess I could be in it," she agrees, her nonchalant tone not quite matching the amused grin. Hey, she's never been an active part of an internet meme before.
At the sound of the bike approaching, Aggie glances back over her shoulder, watching the woman dismount before turning back to the group. And giving a look to Devi, either to see what the woman thinks, or perhaps simply because she expects her to know the mystery rider.
"You actually want to use youtube?" Stef says with a surprised raise of her eyebrows. But then she laughs a bit. "I'll stay out of that kind of thing, but I can help with the internet part of it, at least. I kind of used to be pretty active in internet communities for a while." But if she gets involved in the video itself, it'll be more likely people will notice she exists. Some people she doesn't mind so much, Card, for example. Others…
"Think it's a good idea, though. I can handle the camera if you got no one else for it."
Devi holds out the camera towards Stef. "I'm going to have to pass on starring in your lil flick there, sweety." She flashes Stef a smile before turning her attention to Shard in order to explain. "While I'm lucky I don't have a record with the cops, the trail I've left behind me isn't squeaky clean. My job includes a habit of steppin' on others' toes. Got me?" She stuffs her hands into the shallow pocket of her low-rise jeans. "But, I'll cut you a deal." She nudges her chin towards the table. "Whatever you rustle up here today, I'll match for ya. Kitty seems to like you, and this whole goal seems worthwhile." She shrugs, obviously trying to make the gesture overly casual - touchy feely just isn't her thing.
The growl of the newly arrived motorcycle gets a quick flick of Devi's attention before flashes Shard a wink, Stef a smile, and pinches Agnes's hip playfully, only to spin on a heel and make for her own ride. The Ducati isn't parked from the newly arrived biker, and so a detour is most definitely in order. A card is offer from between her fingers, she seems to have a wide variety of those, and this one bares the graffiti style lettering that has become the motif of her garage - reading 'Anarchy Customs'. "Nice bike. Stop by. I'm always up for some bike chat, checking out the competition, or God knows." Her name and number are printed on the opposite side.
Finally, her own bike kicks into life. Not a growl, but a whirl of power and speed all the same, tearing off down the street at the direction of the gang leader.
"You got a better idea?"
Shard asks Stef with a grin before sending his eyes after Devi. "Thanks sweetheart, I ah.. Need to talk to you. I'll see you later at the garage." The place he has been imposing supremely upon. Notioning for Stef to take the camera he gives a nod, "I don't exactly have a music video crew standing around.." Anymore. Turning to see the newly arrived biker, Shard arches his brow. While trying his hard to be honest and morally upright, Vincent very much does have the mind of a businessman. He knows what will sell, what will attract people. "Aggie, would you mind grabbing another shirt?" Shard glances over at the approaching Thalia. "Small. Maybe medium."
Glancing back at Stef, he motions with his chin towards the waterline. "Let's get a little closer to the water and remember, hold the thing steady." He starts to lead the charge forward.
The mechanic was just prowling around the island, her new home when she heard of the little gathering here. Thalia looks around and rolls her eyes at the whistles she gets from the men around the place.
Content with just watching what's going on, Thalia puts a hand on her hip and tilts her head. She has nothing else to do right about now. Her baby blue eyes scan the area as she plays with the silver necklace around her neck.
Agnes might be hopelessly naive at times, but this time, she catches Shard's drift without trouble, giving him a knowing grin as she glances back over at Thalia again. "You got it," she confirms, looking back in order to give him a nod and then heading off towards the table at a good clip.
A shirt is withdrawn from the pile, though she feels guilty leaving the rest in disarray, so she takes a quick moment to put them back in a bit of order. She gets a little side-tracked when someone starts asking a few questions, so rather than hold up the whole thing, she sends the shirt over with the kid she recognizes from having taken his picture earlier.
"You realize there's a whole shitload of dead ships in the water, right? Or is that going to be part of your 'Save Staten' campaign?" Stef says with a grin, not offering up any other ideas as holds onto the camera and familiarizes herself with the controls. Once she's sure it's recording, she turns it toward the crowds, the people who already wear SAVE STATEN shirts, and the ones in line for it. Steady isn't easy, but especially if she's moving it around, but she keeps the motions slow to avoid shaking.
"Yeah. I realize that." Shard answers Stef, giving her a little 'look'. The shirt is subsequently delivered and taken with a large smile to the kid. Dodging out of the cameras spotlight, the large rapper approaches Thalia at a slow pace. "Hey, wanna be in a video? Get you a free shirt." He holds the shirt out SAVE STATEN. "And it's for a good cause." Whether the girl accepts or not, the shirt is offered forward. Vincent turns around trying to locate Agnes and motion her over, time to get ready and deliver his speech.
Thalia runs a finger over the card and looks behind her shoulder at where Devi went, she stuffs the card in her jean pocket and she looks at Shard with a light smirk on her lips. "Whoopie." She says but she doesn't step forward into the camera's view. She's had enough cameras for one week.
page thalia= does she take the shirt?
Agnes finishes dealing with the question just in time to notice Shard gesturing her over. She bids a farewell to the person to whom she was just talking, and trots back over towards the star. "Hey, sorry. Got kinda caught up there. See you got the shirt though," she notes, glancing over at Thalia and giving her a friendly but considering look. "So, uh, guess I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille," she mutters wryly, shrugging her shoulders. She's really never done this before and isn't sure what to do now.
From the red light, Stef's already recording, but she adjusts the zoom to pull it in tighter on the young girl and the man whom they're all here to see. He's used to cameras, while some people may not be. There's a quiet moment before she nods her head at him, a cue that they're ready to the speech. The husks of old boats are visible in the distance, the water visible, an abandoned and somewhat forgotten part of the ruined city.
Not having enough time to talk Thalia into this whole thing, Shard turns quickly to face the camera and clasp his hands in front of his shirt. "Yo!" He lets out taking a single step toward the camera. "I know there will be a lot of discussion on whether this video is legit or not, let me assure you that I am Vincent King. A Kay A, Shard. I know I fell off the map a while back, and that's a whole 'nother story, but today I want to tell you, and everyone out there on the internet about this problem."
"I'm in Staten Island. As you can see, and it's a rough place. Poverty is a problem here, kids ain't always got food, crime is up high." Obviously. "So I'm puttin' myself out there, asking for you to help. We're startin' the Save Staten project. And what I'm asking is that you donate food. I know there's so many out there that have money to spare, and I'm tellin' you, we need it here. I will personally take the contributions and distribute the donations to those who need it most." His hands are spread out, a time and date is delivered on when the food should be sent. "Bring the food here" He points behind himself with a thumb, "I personally will make sure the shipments are protected, you got my word." He pauses. "I know there's tons of you out there in Cali who owe me favors, come on fellas, sell a car and donate some food out here, I'm tellin' you, it'll make a world of difference. Send this video to your friends, show it at work, get the word out. We'll have a website up soon, SaveStaten.com. Check it out. Peace." And with that, the world starts to change.
Agnes puts on a smile, quickly running a hand over her hair and tugging her shirt straight as the filming begins in earnest. If she was caught in some crowd shots, that's different than being the one standing up here, trying to look both trustworthy and forlorn. Yes, Staten Island is so very rough. Her cheeks have gone slightly pinker than usual, and it's probably just as well she doesn't have any lines, since she's turned a bit camera shy now that the real show is on the road. At Shard's closing, in a fit of coolness, she flashes a little peace sign towards the camera.
The red light stays on for a few moments, to catch the peace sign, before it goes off with a move of Stef's hand. "Looks pretty good!" she exclaims, moving closer to hand the camera back over, and watching to see how he takes it. It wouldn't he hard to avoid her hand, but she's noticed a pattern. "I'm not much for setting up webpages, but I could probably help if you got me a laptop to work on. I used to have one, but… it belongs to someone else now." Someone else who happens to be her.
Going to take the camera, Shard definitely does avoid having his hand touching Stef's. Especially Stef's. Taking the camera he goes to hit the playback, lowering it so Agnes can see as well he gives a grin over to Agnes. "Cute." Watching the rest of the video in silence he gives a nod. "This'll get us a lot of food. And if my head is screwed on right, it will also get Norman's attention." He pauses a moment. "We're going to need more help. A lot more help." Suddenly anxiety that only Stef would be aware of settles in. The stakes are higher than anybody could know. He goes to offer the video camera back to Stef. "Let's get this on the internet as soon as possible."
As Thalia listens to what Shard has to say, she nods her head thoughtfully. The woman reaches into her messenger bag and grabs a wad of something. She calmly walks over to the table where the t-shirts are and places it behind where Agnes or Shard, or Stef can get it. It's a bit of money.. actually too much money for a girl to be carrying around.
"I really need to go and get that deposit box." She mutters softly to herself.
Agnes returns the grin, though she's still a little pink as the camera finally goes over. "I know a bit about web stuff, but not a lot. Maybe we can figure it out though. How hard can it be?" She leans in to see how the video looks, cringing and letting out a quiet groan at how dorky she thinks she looks. "Oh man. I'm so lame," she mutters, before brightening again. "But other than that, it looks really good! I bet this whole viral video thing is going to be totally awesome. I'm sure we'll get lots of help," she assures Shard, even if she really has no way of knowing that. She doesn't immediately notice what Thalia is up to, though motion over that way gets a sidelong look from her once it sinks into her subconscious.
"You're a cute girl, that's all that you really needed to be in this," Stef says to Aggie as she watches Shard for a moment, before she looks back at the woman who entered with a motorcycle. That's one thing she misses, though she doubts she has the money to get another one. "I like your bike," she says, walking over to take the wad of money and put it where they're supposed to. And as she does, she blinks. "Whoa, that's a lot more than the price of a t-shirt." The woman gets a slightly longer look. "Guess you really want to help Save Staten, huh?"
"You're fine." Shard assures Agnes, giving her back another pat, once the camera is handed off, his anxiety swells a bit. Maybe it's the constant fear of the future pounding in him, the fear of what might happen if he fails. The fear of what might happen if he succeeds. Maybe that's what is keeping Stef around. Who knows why people would follow him. Maybe it's because he is super famous. Maybe not.
Vincent's eyes follow Stef and her interaction with Thalia. An arched brow precedes his short journey over to the table. "Thank you very much. You just want one? You want an autograph or something?"
"Seems like a good cause. Why not?" she doesn't say that there is a lot more money where that came from, but she needs to put it all away. Her aunt wouldn't have liked her giving it away. "Any bit helps, right?" Thalia nods at Stef. "And thanks, that's my baby there. Fixed her all up myself."
"Not to be rude.. I'm not from around here. Like from this country.. I have no idea who you are." She grins lightly at Shard and the other two. A hand goes to her head and she scratches. "I'm sure you're good at what you do though." She says somewhat quickly.
Agnes offers a crooked grin as Stef and Vincent reassure her, not quite sure if she believes them, but reassured enough that she stops complaining at least. Still, she must be thinking on it, since she's a few beats behind Shard in heading back over to the table, though her eyebrows lift as she catches the conversation. "Yeah, that is a nice ride," she agrees, nodding knowingly of course. She offers a grin as she leans a hip against the table, beginning to pick out a shirt from the pile so that it can be offered down along the chain. "He's the best," she agrees with an impish grin, giving Shard a sidelong look.
"Ouch, you hear that, Shard, you're not as world wide as you thought," Stef teases a bit, before she looks faintly like she's going to punch him in the arm, but doesn't do it. "It is a good cause, though. Place is kinda a shithole. Needs a lot of help." If the dead boats weren't any indication. Each donation counts!
Haven't heard of me? Haven't heard of ME?! He doesn't looked shock, that's a very douche bag thing to do, instead he gives an impressed look. "Oh wow. Where you from?" She must be from an obscure mountain in Obscureania. "I'm something of a musician." Vincent confesses. Agnes gets a little look of reproach for saying he's the best.
Stef gets a rueful look as well, "Guess not." Vincent admits, going to pick up a save staten shirt that looks like it would fit Thalia before handing it over. "Take two. Thanks for the help, miss."
"All over the place, grew up in Canada.. lived in China.. Europe." Thalia shrugs lightly. "Ah, musician." She says and nods, putting a hand in her back pocket. She tilts her head at the man and looks at Stef and Agnes. "No problem, anybody that wants to clean up this place, has to be a good guy." She offers and looks upwards towards the sky.
Agnes wasn't just talking about his music though, of course. If he's the best at what he does, and what he does includes cleaning up Staten Island, then that bodes well for all of them. Or so goes Aggie's logic, anyway. She just gives a grin as Shard gives her that look, shrugging her shoulders as if to note that she stands by her comment. "Man, that is all over," she agrees, her eyebrows going up a little. "I never even left the country."
"Must've lived in a backwater part of Canada to have not heard of him," Stef teases again, this time teasing the girl rather than the rapper. "That, or she doesn't like your genre. There's a whole crapload of singers who are famous I've never heard of cause they sing country music or some shit like that." Sorry, Shard, she's got a mouth on her. "I'm going to go walk around and make sure no one's causing trouble. You keep looking awesome," she says to Shard before she starts to walk off. To smell the crowd. And look.