Salene and Amber :Market :A Crowd Gathers

[_salene_]

Salene smiled as Amber entered her room and headed downstairs with her, right out of the mall, into the street. She walked firmly and with purpose. Her mind drifted to something Amber had said back when she'd offered to come with her, "Where...is Bray, anyway? Did he head down to the market?" Having some Mallrats already there would certainly be a

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[_salene_]

Salene nodded, agreeing, "Exactly, if being bad means doing good, then I'd rather be the bad guy anyday," although, truly, she'd like to be liked, loved even, but she knew by now that wasn't going to happen. Whatever people hated about them was their problem, except when it was hers and they were taking out on the sheriff, or one of their own. She stopped as they reached the traders market and a small group of people saw them and started instantly talking, inundating her with information, complaints, questions, what was she going to do? Who was going to keep them safe if their sheriff was being beaten up by these Vid Heads? Salene glanced at Amber, a look of 'here goes' crossing her face, and she held her hands up and spoke loudly, "I say we have to protect each other! Listen to me! If you want to help fight this war, you need to join the militia! Join up with us!" Some laughed, someone called out 'Who the MallRats?! Can't keep your own safe!' and she got a serious look on her face. "Look, come on now! Either you are part of the solution or you are part of the problem! We need to band together as a city! We need to rise up and say, 'No More Violence! No More Disappearing! No More Fighting!' and we need to do it together! We can't be a city divided, we have to be a city united!"

[amber_warning]

Amber could hear grumling in the crowd, things were not looking promising, but she had seen Salene calm down crowds that were more angry than this. A young kid shouted out "why should we listen to you? We listened to the Technos, and now look what's happened!" Amber felt sick at the mention of them.

"Who found the antidote for the virus? Who helped build up trading? The Mall Rats have done nothing but good for this city and you know it. Why not help us, which in turn will only help you!"

[_salene_]

What had started as a small group of kids had grown into a large group of kids, some clapped, some yelled, some complained, all asked questions. Ecka, this was going to be hard work, but at least Salene felt like something was getting done. She glanced at Amber, nodding in agreement with what she'd said before continuing, "Look! Tomorrow, meet at the mall at noon if you want to help! We're forming a militia of people, you'll be trained, and together we'll take over these kids. We're going to capture and rehabilitate some, all if we can, but it's going to take time. Ram and his Techno's messed up our friends, our neighbors, they took our families and members of our Tribes! We all lost out because of them, and you all know the Mallrats have never wanted to harm anyone, especially not the way the Techno's have! We need to form search parties to find the still missing, and we need to form a group of people to fight back against the kids who the Techno's messed up! We need to help them, and I can't do it alone!"

This of course didn't make anyone happier, and one larger guy stepped forward, "What about these Vid Heads attacking on the way to the market? I'm not coming down here anymore, and I know 5 or more Farmers who aren't coming already!"

Salene listened, nodding, "One step at a time, I intend to have what militia we do have patrol from the market at least to the edge of the city, farther if we need it, and I don't know, what if we set up escorts? We can set up scheduled guarded escorts from different points outside of the city, once we build up more of a militia. If we work together to keep the city safe, then we can all reap the benefits and rewards of our hard work," she offered, and most of the kids groaned, no one seemed to want to help, they just wanted her to instantly get rid of the problem, as if she had a magic wand to wave and poof, make it all disappear.

[amber_warning]

"Hey!" Amber yelled out, grabbing the attention of most people. "How about you give Salene a chance? Most of you have no idea what it's like to be a leader, and not just a tribe leader, try being city leader, having to deal with everyone's problems and make it all better with one quick fix. It's impossible! Salene's idea is a really good one, and if every tribe offered 2 people, just TWO PEOPLE for the militia, then we'd have a fantastic start. JUST TWO PEOPLE!

"How many of you were caught by the Technos?" Amber asked, about half of the crowd put their hand up. "How many of you were in The Game?" A few hands dropped, but it was still pretty much half of the crowd. "So was I. I don't know for how long, I'm lucky I got out of it when I did. If I hadn't, I could be in the same situation that these new gangs are in now. Imagine if that was you." Amber paused for a second, hoping that what she had said had made some impression on the people i the market. "Now will you help us?"

[_salene_]

Salene was relieved, Amber was so wonderful, and she always made Salene feel so good, and she felt like she belonged even more, to have such a family member backing her up, it was great, and it made it a lot easier to be confident in what she was trying to accomplish. Plus, she put some perspective on things, 2 members of each tribe in the city would be a fantastic start, she was so right.

Some of the kids with their hands up looked around at each other, nodding a little, some of them just yelled out more, it was hard to hear what they were saying when they talked all at once, "Good, now listen, you come to the Mall tomorrow at noon and as long as you sign up for one of the volunteer teams, the hospital, the militia, I will listen to everyone, your ideas, your concerns, each and every one of you!" Yeah, that was a big task, sure, but spending a few minutes with each person to hear their ideas on things, to give them a feeling of having been heard, their concerns having been addressed, well it was worth it. Between Amber's perspective and Salene's promise, the crowd seemed to calm down quite a bit and as almost as quickly as they'd gathered, they dispersed, back to their shopping.

Salene turned to Amber, a sigh of relief escaping her lips, "Thank you, you are so wonderful," she said, giving her a quick hug, "What do you think about that? Did I do the right thing? Am I making the right decisions?" She wanted Ambers opinon, she was smart and Salene valued what she had to say on things like this, and though she knew deep down inside that it was all good, she still needed to hear what others thought, always self criticizing every step she made.

[amber_warning]

Amber smiled. "You don't need me to tell you that you're making the right decisions, just look at people's reactions." Amber looked towards the crowd, there were a lot less frowning faces, and she could even hear a youngish boy bragging to his friends about how he was going to join the militia and single-handedly stop all the fighting. "You've given people some hope, and that's what they needed. Now for the next stage, keeping promises, that's gonna be the hard part. But I promise, if you need help tomorrow, I'm here for you."

[_salene_]

Salene smiled and let out a small laugh, looking around the market she could tell that Amber was right, there were people talking amongst themselves, the atmosphere had changed, and even if only slightly, it felt better, and she felt better. "Thank you Amber. I'll keep you nice and occupied while Bray is away," she added with a wink. "Tell me, when are you're going to let us vote on Tribe Leader? Shall we do that tonight? At dinner maybe? I feel so bad, since Cloe isn't up and able to vote, but I'm sure it won't matter, you're our leader to me already, you're here, that's what matters," she said with a friendly smile. "Let's talk to the traders in the market, hmm?" She began to walk along, stoping to talk to a Trader here, a Farmer there, trading the little things she'd brought with her for a few extra food supplies for dinner, all the while trying to listen to what they wanted, what had happened to them in particular, and just trying to show that she cared very deeply in general.

[amber_warning]

"I'm happy to vote on Tribe leadership whenever. Was hoping Bray might have become co-leader, but he's been very offish about the idea, whenever I mention it he clams up and changes the subject." Amber frowned a little "But yes, tonight is good for me. With the way things are, the sooner the better I reckon."

Amber saw Salene trading for food and wished she had brought something. She felt in her pocket for something, but all she could find was Bray's necklace. Amber sighed. It was becoming hard to keep up the brave act now that Bray had vanished again. She wanted to confide in someone how scared she was for him, but this was not the right time. Amber put on her best smile, and joined in the conversations with the traders.

[_salene_]

Salene thanked the vendor who'd traded her for two loaves of bread, all the while telling her what he thought of things and how he wanted her to help. She put them in the pack she'd been carrying around with her, finally having found the right words to say to Amber, and once she was done talking to a trader she smiled at her and walked next to her. "You know, I know Bray would be a good co-leader, and I know I pushed for co-leadership, and council decisions for the Tribe, but in all honesty you know you can do it yourself, and I trust you to make the right decisions, Amber," Salene said knowingly. "Besides, I'm here for you, and Pride is, and Bray will be when he returns from his great adventure, we've all been leaders of the Tribe at some point, so you'll be just fine, you have us all to lean on," she said, nodding.

[amber_warning]

"Thanks Salene, I guess I knew that, but it's always good to hear it said out loud, you know, just to confirm things. You know I really hope I'll get elected, there's so much I want to do." Amber thought breifly about catching Ram, but that was not something to be done anytime soon, the city had to be made safe first. Then she would have her chance.

"I was thinking, I've not spoken to Bray about this, but I know he won't disagre. Would you perform the service for our wedding? I mean, I know Trudy's done it a couple of times, but with her history with Bray, I didn't want to be inconsiderate. Plus, it would mean a lot to me if you could. If you don't want to I'll understand. . .. "

[_salene_]

Salene blinked and her eyes grew wide, then her smile grew to match, "Oh, I'd be honored," she said. She'd only performed one ceremony before [ooc:hope that's right sorry lol] and that was to Ram and Ebony, and it'd felt so...icky the entire time. She hadn't really wanted to perform that one, but this one, no this time she'd be glad to help out. "Married, wow, I still don't think it's sunk all the way in," Salene confessed, smiling. She had her own history with Bray, there'd been a time when she'd almost fought Trudy over Bray, but that was all in the past, and Salene loved Pride, more than she'd ever felt for Bray truly, and Amber and Bray had a baby together, and Salene loved them all three as a family, how could she say no to that?

She thought for a moment and furrowed her eyebrows, "What about Danni?" she asked softly. She knew she was back, Salene hadn't had the chance to say hello really, she'd been avoiding her, the thought of her returning spooked Salene, it meant that Ryan could come back, and Salene didn't think she could face Ryan, not now. "I mean, not that I think Bray should be with Danni, I don't, he's meant for you, I just mean, well I don't know what I mean, but how are you dealing with her return and how is he handling, oh," she stopped and put a hand on Amber's arm, "Bray didn't leave because Danni came back did he? I'm sure he's not the type, but," she trailed, off, looking guilty for even asking.

[amber_warning]

"Well, we did have a bit of a fight over Danni, if I may be so honest, but it's all sorted now. It was such a shock her copming back, I'm only just beginning to get my head round it. As I always thought she was dead, it never really bothered me, the whole Bray meeting someone else thing, but now she's alive it's a bit painful thinking of him being weith her. It's selfish of me really, what with me and Pride having been together. I can't help it though. However, we've talked about it, and everything's ok." Amber sighed and smiled.

"I feel really bad for Danni though, imagine coming back to the mall, presumably to find Bray, and finding out what happened, must have hit her like a ton of bricks. I told her about us getting married seperately from everyone else, I didn't want to hurt her in front of everyone. She was really upset about it, and who'd blame her? But according to Bray she's happy for us.

"I'm really glad that you'll do the ceremony for us Salene, it really does mean a lot, and I'm sure you'll do an amazing job." Amber smiled "I feel so excited about this whole wedding thing now, I have loads of planning to do. God, I feel like I'm being such a girl about it all!" Amber giggled.