#fenixtj

"Who dat?" Tense.

"Jessica."

"Tweak, is everything ok? Shuri?"

The door opens enough to let her in.

She wedges herself through the space. "What's going on?"

Tweak pushes the door shut again, and starts pacing. "Babygirl okay, she wit' her daddy. Look, B...I fucked up, an' now some shit makin' me pay for it. Plus, they makin' any crafter what ain't nocker pay for it, too. An'...I gotta know where I stand afore I do shit."

Jessica looks at her blankly for a minute. "What?"

"A'ight...it be like this..." She pauses, then starts. "Look like while I be out wit' a serious case of baby, two dickweeds done take over th' Cooperative. They declarin' themselves some high-mucky-mucks. I spoke wit' one...an' Crawley nudge him so he admit he really 'bout tossin' all th' li'l twerps...the boggans, right?...outta th' Cooperative...and tryna get 'em outta town or some shit, too."

Jessica listens with a thinking expression. "Well. No. That's not acceptable to me."

"Well, I should fuckin' hope not!" Tweak blusters. "They also apparently back to weapons manufacturin', on account of they sayin' it weren't meant to be forever. An' that what they sayin' 'bout me bein' in charge, that it weren't meant to be forever either, so they took over while I down!"

"So...look, okay, I fucked up. Shoulda had a better backup system in place. Thought I did, but...well, fuck, kid ate my brain the last few months, so what do I know. All I know be...Countess done sign off on me bein' in charge, right?" An anxious expression.

Now she glowers. "Yes. And so have I. You didn't mess anything up, Tweak. That's just low, taking advantage of the situation. Who's responsible for this?"

A deep breath, and she stops pacing and drops into her squeaky chair. "Yeah...yeah, a'ight. So...they both nockers. Th' one I done talk to, he be Frazen. After he spill his load 'bout shippin'-'em-back-where-they-come-from, Greasemonkey done got him th' fuck outta here. Don' know if he still runnin'. Then...there be Bianchi. She done give herself some hoity-toity title, claimin' t' be in charge. I sent Greasemonkey t' get her t', y'know, meet th' baby an' chat...and she done basically send back a middle finger."

"Where does she stay, then? Where's her work?"

Grim.

Tweak knows that the bitcch has a workshop outside the city proper

Tweak doesn't answer right away, leaning her arms on her knees. "I dunno, B...I gotta figger out how t' play this. Cooperative s'posed to be wit'out noble interference, right? How it look you come chargin' in sayin' I in charge? I...I dunno...."

"-I- say you're in charge." Firmly.

"Yeah, but THEY gotta KNOW it, or what you say ain' gonna mean shit! They gotta know...." She trails off, then kicks at some piece of metal that goes skittering off across the Forge. "After all I fuckin' done..."

"Exactly! Most of those people owe you, Tweak. I know you're not necessarily a big fan of Never Forgetting a Debt, but I am. And they -should- be."

She grumbles, and gets up to start pacing again. "I jus'....jus' don' wan' it t' be like, first thing go wrong, I go cryin' t' Mommy," a gesture at Jess.

"Well, -you- are the mommy...." She points out reasonably.

"And that's not the first thing you did. You called them, asked to talk to them, and only one of them had the decency to respond."

"I guess -I- could give you a title or something?"

"THat" A voice speaks up, "Would be a mistake"

"Huh, yeah..." In response to the reminder that she reached out to them first.

"FUCK that noise!" to the idea of a title...and then she turns abruptly to see who's talking.

Diego comes in, with Nancy by his side. Perhaps surprisingly, the two do NOT look like they just got out of bed

Jess turns as well.

"Um. Hi."

"Fuck...thought I done closed that door...."

"Whatchoo want?"

"Well, obviously to speak my mind" Diego says "The Cooperative was established in by Tweak, recognized by the Countess, and if I recall, had frist right to the next freehold to arise in the area. A placebo by our 'superiors' to make us forget the feudal cancer but it was stated that way. If it appears that the Co-Op's power flows from Jessica... and not the crafters... it underminess it. This is bigger than Tweak"

Jessica stands there with a... .pole-axed expression. Jaw open.

"or do I mis remember?" He asks

Nope. She's out. Please call again.

"Nah, that how I 'member it, too. An' yeah...that my thinkin' too. So what th' fuck do I do 'bout it?"

"Tweak, these bastards isolated you from others, Symond did well , but she was your major go to girl. So they set it up so no one went ot her. It's classic. They cut her off, they cut you off...and it's not her fault. She's still young, politics is not her forte, and what's more, she was right to expect al ittle loyalty. I bet that those trying to take power started out saying 'let me handle that for you, Tweak is busy' and then gradulatly tried to shift the reins. This isn't an abrupt coup, it was an intrigue. You need to talk to the people. Use showing off Shuri as a reason if you need to, but once that's done, find out what's been going on, what their complaints are. Because hre's the thing? if these two claim yo're not the leader anymore ? that means everyhing going wrong NOW? That's THEIR fault. Folks will get nostaligc for you."

Jessica blinks rapidly. "Oh man." Muttered.

"you folks seem to forget, I have been studying politial theory all my life" Diego reminds.

Tweak listens and nods slowly. "Yeahhh....yeah, a'ight. Gotta have a place...you think the throne room here okay, or that be too noble-y?"

Nancy smiles, "So, just to be clear, we're not getting all Game of Thrones here right?? Becaus e I am so Not going to any weddings if that's the case"

"Who you?" Tweak gives a little half sneer at the new satyr.

"I, um.... Tweak, maybe here in the Forge? I mean, it's your Forge, it opened for you."

"Yeah." She nods to Jess, then snorts. "Not like they ain' been makin' themselves at home here, borrowin' my fuckin' tools...."

"They borrowed your tools? That's... that's a no-no, right?"

Nancy says "We met earlier?" To Tweak "Remember I saw your kid?"

Diego raises a brow, "Wait, they have your tools?"

((Sorry, I forgot Nancy and Tweak met...kindly undo that.))

OOC: NP 🙂