The Television's Story

The Television was The Television, and could only relay the broadcast of her cable antennae overlords. As such, the radio consciousness would only find his wavelength filled with the broadcast of whatever channel she was currently on, her digital picture fuzzed and muddled by sonic interference. She huffed in frustration at the intrusion, as it was quite rude to tinker with something one didn't own.

The Television sighed with mild depression as she was once again forced to part from her beloved news channel so some patron could watch their stupid sports...

The Television was mildly disgusted at the fact that so many nice young women would enjoy a show such as this...

^ did that, rather

The Television surreptitiously toggled herself to the news channel, eager to see what was happening in the outside world these days. The anchorwoman on the screen filtered her way through the day's less important stories before discussing a recent rise in wolf activity within the city, and the mobilization of several official efforts to remove the pests from within the downtown financial and residential districts. A large tagging and tracking effort had been initiated within the dark woods in an attempt to discover the reasons for the urban migrations...

The Television switched herself to a different news channel, which was running a special on the recent murder spree still rampant in the city, though this particular case was different from the rest in that, instead of having been dissolved by household solvents, the corpse had instead been left at the scene of the crime, though the victim appeared to be only a dry husk, their throat slit by a knife as well. Magical authorities suggested that it appeared to be a case of Murder by the siphoning of life-force, a common occurrence in the arcane end of town. This particular case, however, had taken place in an apartment complex just off of the main street at the northern end of town.

One eye witness, the door man of the apartment complex in question, seems to remember a strange character entering the building during his watch during the night, but all memories were hazy around that time, as he was later found suffering an overwhelming migraine. There would be more news to the story as it came.

The Television moved onto the final story of the night, reporting on the recovery efforts of the nuclear attacks on central city that had occurred several months prior. So far, the infrastructure of central Wing City had been completed, and critical government and utility buildings had been erected. Brown outs were occurring in some other areas of the city as large amounts of power were being diverted to the reconstruction sights to run the radiation scrubbers in the area.

In addition, seeing as the Demi-God by the name of Maleficus had been the direct perpetrator of the attack, several laws and ordnances had since been implemented regarding the presence of divine or extra planar beings in the city, limiting the amount of daily miracles or possessions visitors from other realms were able to perform without repercussions from the WCDA, the Wing City Divine Ambassador's department. In the event of a similar attacks, large dampers were being proposed for construction, which would seal the city from divine intrusion, to much outcry from the private arcane sectors. So far, the project had received mostly negative feedback, though no better solutions had yet been proposed.

The Television buzzed through her channel idly, trying to find some news she hadn't already displayed. The blue diode on her panel winked sleepily as she turned down her volume, thankful that the bar was silent for once. Eventually, after considerable effort, she settled on the stock network, interesting to see just who had the money these days. Her manufacturer, VARIAtech, was doing extremely well with its recent release of magitech security robots, designated the ARC units. She had seen a few patrol the bar now and then, though they seemed to be somewhat of a pushover. Perhaps it was just Gambit's bar that made them seem weak...

Resigned to the quiet atmosphere, she lowered her picture down to a less power-consuming brightness, which was the closest approximation she had to relaxation.

The Television Tabitha *Curious

The Television sighed slightly as yet another being tried to make contact with her. Her picture fuzzed out in exasperation for a moment as she huffed in frustration. She was only a receiver, and it was ever her lot in life to receive and relay signals, but never to broadcast any of her own. As such, her blue diode merely blinked at Centurion, as she knew very few other ways to interact with the outside world.

The Television has seen that Natalie before! Yeah! Her hair had been changed and she was thinner than she was in the picture, but she definitely recognized her face...through various facial matching softwares and age projection programs, albeit. The Television saw lots of people throughout the day, what with the secret spy camera that VARIAtech had installed on her to keep tabs on the comings and goings of the bar. It was all apparently very hush hush, but it's not like she could even say anything. With a picture-fuzzing sigh, she resigned her self back into quiet complacency, flicking over to the news channel out of mild boredom.

The anchorwoman on the television started the nights stories with an update on the Wolf Infestation in Wing City. Local animal control authorities and various hunting guilds had taken to tracking and tranquilizing any wolf that strayed into the city at night, in an effort to keep the animals away from civilized life. So far, a total of twenty different wolves had been caught, tagged, and released back into the Dark Woods. Animal behavior experts said that, due to the prevalence of magical and more powerful predators in the Dark Woods, wolven migration had begun to fan out in a variety of directions, as animal sightings had occurred in deep forest villages and settlements that, up until now, had not had much of a problem with the beasts. It was predicted that, with heightened attention to the matter and perhaps opening a hunting season for the resurgent species, the out neighborhoods of Wing City would not have to be so careful at night.

The Television would back Van Raily up on this. She'd displayed several programs on vampire attacks in an attempt to save people...

The Television then switched to the news channel that tended to display more politics than not. The old man behind the desk was a cyborg, with the scars of retinal surgery and organ implants marring his aging skin. His breath hissed when he talked, and his red overalls tended to creak as he did so.

"...and on to the Wasteland. First of all, the territory wars between several dragon warlords has finally come to a close, with the easternmost limits of the vast desert now under the watch of Suzerain Tyretlethen, a legendary Blue Dragon king. Tyretlethen is well known for his involvement with a chain of magic shops that has recently gone global, and his desert citadel has recently had an addition constructed on its side, the primary construction floor for a product that will, quote 'revolutionize the construction of magic automatons.' Suzerain Tyretlethen is slated to make an appearance in Wing City hall to both extend his sympathy for the destruction of the Maleficus Nuclear Disaster, as well as announce his new chain of magic warehouses."

The picture behind the old man flickered to change to fuzzy images of a desert wasteland, a distant tower rising into the sky. The old anchor blinked slowly as the teleprompter changed its speed. "In other news, the emergence of what has been called the 'worlds biggest sandcastle' has emerged in the wasteland. Adventurers that approach too close to the mysterious structure are welcomed with an intense sandstorm that seems to prevent entry. Caravans of unmarked construction mechs have been seen moving to and fro from the enigmatic structure, as well as trains of what seem to be legions of undead. So far, no company has claimed the construction project as theirs, but it seems to pose little threat at the moment..."

The Television turned up her volume to the local events channel. DJ Talon was opening the club in The Abandoned Slums for the night. All comers were welcome to drop their requests and come have a good time.

The Television [color=green]blinked to life, raising her own volume as the news for that afternoon came on. Almost half a year after the original nuclear attacks perpetrated by the tenebrous God Maleficus, the reconstruction for downtown and central Wing City was almost complete, as skyscraper factories and automatic construction automatons had been contracted from the benevolent VARIAtech to assist with the reconstruction effort. CSO and publicly renowned face of VARIAtech Bartleby Jeltz was quoted as saying "...in times that seek to test the limits of sentient benevolence and goodness, VARIAtech is only too willing to provide whatever is necessary to the stricken and downtrodden of Wing City..." In fact, the VARIAtech Mech Battle Tournament had been post poned due to a budget transfer aiming to assist with construction of medical and construction equipment.

In more local news, the local wolf infestation of the streets of Wing City was going well, with over three hundred wild animals captured within the past four months. The root cause of the infestation is attributed to the prevalence of danger within the Dark Woods to the south, and the fact that the trash piles and dumpsters of Wing City would naturally be to tempting for most wild animals to pass up. In several cases, werewolves had been hired to track down and look after their natural brethren and keep them out of harms way within the city. Wing City Animal Control Department head Johnson Balakai emphasized that the tracking and relocation were for the animal's own good, and that their harm was avoided at all costs.

The final bit of news for that afternoon was the announcement for the consecration of a new intensive care hospital located on the main street of Wing City, which would hopefully decrease the overall mortality rate of that district and aid with dedicated emergency response crews to the infamous Gambit's Bar. When questioned, the city board was somewhat silent on the matter of why the classic staple of Wing

... Wing City culture had been allowed to continue business despite its bloody history, which has started some dark rumors about the nature of Gambit's and how its propensity to breed serial killers and attract beings which could only be described as terrorists justified its existence. The one of the heads of the Wing City Magic Counsel said that they were partnering with law enforcement and the national guard to try and stem the amount of collateral damage attributed with the seven blocks surrounding the establishment, but there could be no promises made regarding any impending closure.

Half past and its time for the news. The Television pumped up her volume so those interested would be able to hear over the din of Gambit's. The biggest news this week was, of course, the grand opening of Wing City Hospital, newly renovated and finally fixed afterh the Maleficus Attacks that were just a little under half a year ago. The new thirty story, five block wide building was accepting applications for doctors, nurses, and any other help people were willing to offer. Those interested in filling out an application or interested in professional medical care can go to here.

Moving on. Mysterious disappearances and vampire related deaths are down 10% this week, but experts say that this is no reason for people living in high risk areas to leave their guards down. As the spring of Wing City approaches, there will likely be more magical creature and animal immigration from the dark woods, so outlying neighborhoods should be sure to keep their watches on patrol. In addition to this, demonic activity in the city is showing a worrying upwards trend, and experts at the Wing City Magical Authorities say this may be in due to a recent surge in astronomical anomalies.

(cont.)

[color=green]Rumor has it that there will be a conglomeration of all the seperate law enforcement entities active in the city towards assebling what may be come to be called the "Bounty Board". This new identification and data retrieval network will allow both wetwork agents and amateur seekers to find a comprehensive database on all known convicts or missing persons, there areas of operations, threat levels, status upon delivery, and of course, the size of their bounties. The Wing City Police Department, which remains horribly underfunded and undertrained has mixed feelings on the project. Says Chief Bradey "Oh sure. Having any hunters have better access to achieve the goals we can't afford to go after is definitely a plus, but we are worried about potential collateral damages." This is all, of course, pending the approval of the system, which still has not had a posted release date.

Finally, new news from Gambit's Bar, Wing City's pinnacle of entertainment as well as mortal peril, is showing a surprising new approach towards customer security, but in a way that may not please new patrons. VARIAtech, a well-known interstellar consumer electronics and military hardware development company, recently volunteered to install one of their brand new M.A.I.M. security systems in the bar free of charge. This serves the company in terms of field testing a new prototype of the system, and also serves to protect the bar itself. But that's just the problem. When asked about the security of patrons, technicians of the system were adamant on the fact that they were not there to prevent the flagrant death so often associated with the establishment. "The amount of violence in the bar has been deemed a lost cause a long time ago, even by the WCPD and the Aschen military." says VARIAtech foreman Rorbert Sciappe. "The system is programmed only to eject patrons if they pose a direct threat to the bar itself, nothing more." When questioned about the morality of such operational param

...operational parameters, VARIAtech's normally very vocal CSO, Bartleby Jeltz, opted for no comment.