holy place

[she_sells_seashells]

My alternates tend to take over the world. Advice available. Rates negotiable.

Shell Bell puts up her sign and nibbles her most recent charity meal. Not potatoes! It is not potatoes. Or fish or clams. It is rice and curry and a fruity yogurt drink. That nice person told Bar she could use his tab for four meals, and this is meal number two.

Comments

[she_sells_seashells]

"Has to be underground," says Cerulean, "not in - a potted plant?"

[seewhathappens]

"Underground, preferably at least a few feet deep. I need to go about a mile down from there before I can start spreading out to surrounding areas, and it's much faster and quieter through natural terrain than anything constructed by mortals."

[she_sells_seashells]

"There's - plumbing and such, under the Capitol. A subway," says Cerulean.

[seewhathappens]

"If leaving it lying in a tunnel is the best you can do, I can work with that, as long as it's touching natural dirt or stone and no one comes by and picks it up for a few hours at minimum. If you bury it somewhere and I have to thread my way around tunnels to get far enough underground without disturbing anything, that will slow me down but not intolerably. For that matter, I'll get better than nowhere if you throw it out the side of a train on the way into the city before the built-over areas start - again, as long as no one picks it up for a few hours afterward. The important parts are that it must be connected to the landscape and it should be left alone afterward for as long as possible."

[she_sells_seashells]

"Throwing out of the train's - doable," says Cerulean grudgingly.

[seewhathappens]

"Then will you help us?"

[she_sells_seashells]

"I can... make some calls," he mutters.

[seewhathappens]

"Thank you," says Kirovalin.

[she_sells_seashells]

Cerulean picks up the chocolate and eats it like he's hoping it's poisoned.

"Thank you," Shell Bell echoes.

[seewhathappens]

Kirovalin doesn't say anything more.

(He could offer Cerulean some blessings, but that would be... potentially un-strategic, if he's watched closely enough for a change to be noticed. There will be time enough after everything is settled.)

[she_sells_seashells]

"Now, just - get out of my house," mutters Cerulean. "I'll chuck your disc out a train."

"Thank you," Shell Bell says again, getting up and making for the door.

"Ugh," says Cerulean.

"And sorry."

"Ugh."

She lets herself out and sighs and starts hiking home.

[seewhathappens]

Her pocket god, naturally, is quiet.

[she_sells_seashells]

"He should get something nice after the dust settles."

[seewhathappens]

"He will."

[she_sells_seashells]

"Yeah? What?"

[seewhathappens]

"I'll see what he wants."

[she_sells_seashells]

"Mmhm."





(Four days later, when Shell Bell has returned home, been lectured by her father, and yelled at by her boss -

- a disc of wood hits the ground a few miles outside the boundaries of the Capitol.)

[seewhathappens]

And Kirovalin begins claiming territory under it, in a narrow column headed a mile downward.

He keeps Shell Bell updated on his progress.

With the Capitol as a second epicenter, it goes much faster.

[she_sells_seashells]

Good.

The Reaping approaches.

[seewhathappens]

He has the entire Capitol already. The question is how much of the rest of the continent he can take in time.

Maybe... enough to be going on with, even if less than he'd like.



He asks Shell Bell, in one of their conversations: "Would the day of the Reaping be a good time, in terms of public relations? I think it could potentially be a good strategic choice, for the distraction. I don't have the whole continent, but I think I might have enough."

[she_sells_seashells]

"It'd be very public. They broadcast it all live - although maybe not perfectly live, I bet they have a delay, but there's always large crowds there in person. What bits are you missing?"

[seewhathappens]

He knows what parts of the continent correspond to which districts, because she gave him a map.

"The outlying parts of Districts Six, Seven, Ten, and Eleven; all of District Twelve; and the former site of District Thirteen and its surrounding wilderness. I have everything else, and I'll have those too if I wait another month and a half."

[she_sells_seashells]

"The actual start of the Games might be nearly as good publicity-wise but the tributes might be convinced it was some sort of weird arena thing if you did it after they went out and still kill each other, and if you do it before they go out they get caught in the Capitol destruction because that's where they are during the leadup. And that doesn't buy you a month and a half. Ten and Eleven can feed themselves on current industry if they're allowed, the others can't necessarily but if you've got enough of Six you can get the trains working for you even if they're damaged... I think the Reaping would be a good time compared to other prospects."

[seewhathappens]

"I think I agree."

[she_sells_seashells]

"Probably while they're calling names in District One. ...Heh, you could say you volunteer. That's probably a bad idea, it'd confused the issue, but it'd be very dramatic."