Setting
Unfortunately, Van Leugen's economic and social decline had a severe impact on the MasterRail. Although it continued to be the center of the city's extensive travel system, it suffered serious degradation after years of wear-and-tear, vandalism and insufficient maintenance. Muggings and full-car robberies became a common experience for men and women just trying to make their way to and from work on weekdays. The most severe blow to the MasterRail's reputation, however, came at the hands of a violent neo-Nazi necromancy cult known as 'The Bonejaw Boys', who literally attempted to simultaneously destroy every MasterRail station across the city through the use of dark and corrupt magics. The Bonejaw Boys were stopped through the efforts of the VLPD and a mysterious vigilante, but the damage was done. The MasterRail was no longer the pristine beacon of free, safe transportation that it used to be.
Still desiring to use the MasterRail's transit services but mistrusting of its reputation, the social elite of Van Leugen financed a government project to add an "expansion" line onto the Rail's pathways. Though smaller and less scopious than its massive counterpart, this new MasterRail option (nicknamed the 'RichRail') was carefully supervized, guarded and maintained. Movement was much faster and direct than any car, hovercraft or ship could manage. Such safety came at a price however: it was expensive. Citizens needed to pay a by-the-mile toll to take the RichRail anywhere they wanted, the price often ranging into absurdly overpriced extremes. The MasterRail now had two central tracks: the standard, unkept, dangerous Rail for the poor and middle class... and the RichRail for the aristocratic elite.
Despite this class division, the MasterRail continues to be an integral part of Van Leugen's society. Countless Leugen citizens rely on it as their central mode of transportation, bearing the dangerous, subpar conditions of the train for a lack of any better option. Today, it is run by a steady mixture of maglev technology, electromagnetic energy and a type of arcane fuel known as 'Silivis', a combustive fuel derived from moonrime through the use of elemental magics. It is the circulatory system of Van Leugen, the blood-vessels and capillaries of the city. Without the monorail in place, Van Leugen would not be able to survive for long.
The main control hub of the MasterRail is located in Susurrus Tower. A government-run project, the MasterRail is maintained and operated by the Terran National Government. Though the TNG has made considerable improvements to the MasterRail's general condition and has employed expansive public safety efforts, the Rail is still a dangerous (if exceedingly efficient) mode of transportation. Use at your own risk.
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Tilting her head back and slightly toward the side, she lifted her fingers, focusing her telekinetic sense on the coffee cup with the intent to bring it back to its rightful owner. That would be Tania Filteau, of course.
Settling back into her seat, she ignored Tania's tugging on the coffee mug and turned her attention back to Molly as if nothing had happened. "I would say both of us need to consider housing sometime soon. Alexander and I sold the house after Brandon's death... there wasn't any reason to stick around."
The woman considered Catherine's woe, and sighed, thinking to over. "Will Alexander be joining you?" Would she have to prepare for his particular brand of chaos and disorder? She never knew. Things got exciting when she did though. "If not, I'm up for splitting a hotel while I check out apartments." if they could stand each other that long.
After a few moments, Tania reached into her pocket for her comm, and opened one of the games she'd downloaded a week ago onto it, full of bright, shiny colors and puzzles that required quick thinking and management of multiple strands of thought simultaneously, the kind that had always proved more interesting than the lecturer the times she'd tried doing the college thing. It wasn't that she was unintelligent, just that she hated classrooms and people who were so self-important they seemed like they'd explode from the amount of air in their head any moment. And college bred them. The games were far more captivating.
"If you want to split a hotel that's fine. I think Miss Filteau here would more than likely be comfortable with her own room." There was no way she was going to force the girl to having to share a room. Besides which, there were things to discuss with Molly which were definitely above the rookie's paygrade.
The tall woman leaned over and nudged the rookie. "Hey kid, don't feel bad. You'll find a niche in the group dynamics soon enough." It came with being the rookie. "Besides, if they follow patterns they have in the past, you and I will likely be partners on the day to day cases. Catherine only works the big ones." Hell, Molly didn't work too many of the day to day complaints foisted at MCU anymore. That's what minions, aka rookies, were for.
"What's day to day then?" said Tania, fingers still sweeping furiously over the screen. "Petty theft? Accidental dark magic expulsion? Baby demons? Things that go bump inside teenagers' closets? Or, like, your everyday missing corpses? Or fresh corpses with all the blood missing? Like, exactly how day to day are we talking about?" Even without coffee in hand, she spoke like she didn't quite need to breathe.
"Larger cases.. are more complicated just by their very nature. Sometimes they involve asking favors of certain groups." Catherine added as the train began to slow, signaling either a problem with the track or that they'd reached their destination. She was banking on the latter, and would really like to avoid outing herself just yet in a new city.
Molly grinned. "Before you ask, my specialty is demons, hunting them, their cultures, interacting with them, so on and so forth." She wasn't all human herself, and most demons viewed her as demonic. She let them, for the most part. It could be advantageous when dealing with a demon not looking for a fight. "The warden's is politics, as far as I'm concerned." She teased Catherine, amused. Politics, because Catherine was always eyeball deep in them.
Likely it would be easy to erase any memory of what had just happened, but first she'd have to get around Council's binding, and that could take a few days to work out what sort of fresh hell they had devised for the likes of her. "But yes, you'll develop more skills as time progresses and you'll get to know how the system works in a practical sense; it's not all book learning, but some helps."
She smiled to Tania. "No one at the office expects you to hit the ground running." That was key. No one at the office. Outside the office, basically everyone did. "if anyone hassles you about not knowing this or that, remind them that you're a rookie. It works for about six months." But only really well for the first month.
Molly hadn't even bothered with using it, having been a contractor before she worked for MCU. "They'll assign you a partner to make certain you know how to use and care for your equipment and to show you the ropes. We aren't going to throw you into the deep end."
After Molly spoke, Tania mulled that one over, tongue pressing into a gap between two of her teeth for a moment. "And when do I found out who my partner is, and will that be before or after we get there? Because I'm cool with working around other people, but I've got to say, I've had some pretty bad partner experiences, like this dude who never actually communicated about anything but somehow still expected me to follow these exacting standards that I didn't know existed and couldn't possibly have figured it out simply by mind-reading, which is not a skill I have, though that would be pretty cool." Tania exhaled forcefully, but even that didn't seem to last as long as it might have coming from another person. "Though I guess it could also be terrifying because there are some people whose brains I do not want to see the inside of, because that would probably require several lifetimes' supplies worth of brain bleach afterward."
"I will warn you, Tania, that several of our officers are telepaths. Some better than others, but you should have recieved training on how to shield yourself mentally, for the sake of others you work with and the fact you may encounter a telepath in the field." Catherine tried to explain patiently, but she could feel the migraine worming it's way in from the back of her skull.
Molly smiled. "You'll find out when you get there, more than likely. And there's steps to take care of partner grievances." she assured the other, smiling. "But she's not kidding about the shielding. You need to keep your shields up at all times, and try and think quietly. Too emotional, and your shields may not be enough." she frowned. "There are amulets you can get to hep, but get them checked by someone who knows what they're doing, to make certain they aren't a sham." there were an awful lot of sham amulets out there.
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