Peace and Unity March

[undergroundmods]

Watch on YouTube

It's a glorious hot and sunny evening in London when a ragtag group of supernatural misfits turn up at Leicester Square to wave their placards and begin their march for peace and unity among the city's supernatural communities.

Organised by students at the Redbright Institute, the march begins at 6.30pm and ends at 8.30pm outside the Night Council Headquarters in Whitehall. While the march is open to all, the timing is not vampire-friendly which is not a coincidence; there's a noticeable anti-vampire sentiment amongst the crowd.

The human media pay no attention: they've had the far larger Pride march earlier in the day to report on and this event has been billed as a marine environmental awareness campaign to the outside world. No one cares. But the Night Council do, of course, and accordingly the march is policed by Guardians who are dressed as police community officers. They will intervene if the protest appears to get out of hand and stop anyone who attempts to enter the Night Council HQ.

What's the march about?
The official objective of the Peace and Unity March as posted by the Redbright student organiser is to demonstrate support for a unified supernatural community. Despite the name, it attracts a variety of protesters who all want different things. Those attending or observing the march will see and hear support for the following, in rough order of prominence:

• PEACE AND LOVE. We just want everyone to get along.
• STOP THE FIGHTING. Not just pacifism, there's also a general sense of being sick of losing loved ones and driven out of parts of the city due to fights between factions. Some of the more extreme stances also blame the "monstrous" species for inciting violence i.e. vampires, werewolves, fae.
• WE STAND TOGETHER. A stronger message of solidarity and defiance against the Night Council and its perceived biases.
• REPRESENTATION FOR ALL. Also anti-Night Council. This bleeds into discontent against both vampires and witches.
• VAMPIRES SUCK. The vampires are taking over! This is a disaster for everyone and should be stopped.
• WITCHES SUCK. The witches have been controlling London for years! Down with the witches.

There are likely to be some rather heated debates between the protesters themselves as these varying sentiments contradict each other. Some protesters feel that Sylvia Redbright was unfairly ousted from the Night Council and are vocal in supporting her. Others are just cynical about the Night Council in general.

Route
6.30-6.45pm: Leicester Square
The crowd gathers at Leicester Square where the first fifteen minutes are spent gathering everyone together, waving some placards and generally getting everyone ready to begin the march. At this point the Guardian presence is hardly noticeable, though they are watching as soon as the march begins.

6.45-7.15pm: Victoria Embankment via Trafalgar Square
The crowd walks from Leicester Square to Trafalgar Square, then takes a diversion along the Strand before crossing over to Victoria Embankment. They pause at the Hungerford Bridge and Golden Jubilee Bridges to look out across the Thames to Waterloo, which is in Lambeth, a territory controlled by the Islington Nest. A few protesters spit in the river.

7.15-7.30pm: March from Victoria Embankment to Whitehall
From Victoria Embankment it's only a short walk to Whitehall, where the protesters march along the street before eventually coming to a halt outside the Night Council Headquarters.

7.30-8.30pm: Outside Night Council HQ
The remaining hour is spent as a sit-in protest outside the Night Council HQ. There are chants about standing together as one community, about the perceived lack of representation in the Night Council, and about peace not war. A few use loudspeakers to make speeches which are received with varying levels of enthusiasm. A small group even attempt to enter the Night Council HQ but are quickly rebuffed by Guardians who look increasingly menacing as the evening draws on.

At 8.30pm the protesters are ordered to disperse. Anyone who refuses to leave will be swiftly marched off, or even arrested, though for the most part the Guardians are trying to keep the peace.

Late evening: Off to the pub
There's no official gathering after the protest is over, but various groups do disperse to pubs around the central London area to continue the debate and generally have a good time and/or cause trouble. Some of these – the ones that are identified as potential political troublemakers – are quietly followed by undercover Guardians.

Comments

[dredefulchilde]

Joscelin lets out a low whistle. "Very Victorian. Not a vampire, because that was the racket I was running for most of that century--well, less petty theft and more murder but I had my own merry band of urchins around me. I'd have heard of him if he'd been a direct competitor. Fae?" Mortals are too, well, mortal to have been around that long.

[stauncherhearted]

Funny, that Joss had had a band of urchins. Maybe that's one of the reasons she inexplicably likes him.

"Yeah- fae. Unseelie." There is no love for the man in her voice. "He don't discriminate though. He's had me, and plenty of wolves beside, sells to vampires." she's suddenly a bit more aware of the bite marks on her neck, and a quick moment of focus brings the glamors on her neck back to full strength.

[outstandingbalance]

"You can make it there. Why can't you haunt it?" Seems like he could, if he wants to. Though she doesn't know how long his tether might be. "At least seems like you can visit. That's not so bad."

[dredefulchilde]

Someone else might have been scandalized by that.

Unfortunately, Joscelin was far too jaded to let on if he even noticed Nancy's admission, much less cared. His father had consorted regularly with prostitutes, in full view of Joscelin and his other bastard children. Joss hadn't exactly been sheltered from the ways of the world even as a very young child, his monastic education aside. And it's been centuries since then.

"Doesn't sound like someone I'd like very much," he observes instead.

[stauncherhearted]

"No," Nancy agrees, glad that Joss hasn't decided to read between the lines. Or if he has, hasn't commented on it, but she's not confident in that, from what little she knows of him.

"Most people don't. Only keep him around out of necessity."

[hurtcomfort]

"I can't haunt it like I do my alleyway. If I leave it for too long I feel...odd. Not whole. Restless and worried." As much as he would like to, Cole can't really leave his haunt for too long before he starts feeling off.

[bellbound]

"You have no idea and I can't tell you, so there's no point in asking."

He's already said as much as he can. Eames gets the idea. It doesn't change anything: they're still enemies. Maybe Eames will be less inclined to gut him if he knows that Mogget isn't working with the witches out of choice. Maybe.

[thelastjoy]

"Okay, Mogget." It's a strange name, but not strange enough to comment on. She hangs out with someone who calls themselves 'Party', so she's got no room to judge.

"I won't be forgetting this either." A talking cat would be hard to forget, even with all the strangeness she was growing used to. Even harder if she figured out who he was aligned with. "Get out of here safe."

[thelastjoy]

"Not gonna tell me. Okay, keep being mysterious." She huffs a laugh under her breath. He might have better things to do tonight that listen to her whine about the state of the city. "Am I keeping you from it?"

[thelastjoy]

Girl grimaces, shrugging. "You sound like my uncle. Telling me I just got to be patient. Sometimes I don't think I'm that good at it."

"Sure about that? Maybe you dreamed of being a jailbird," she teases, laughing and shaking her head.

[knowntohisfriends]

"Nah, done enough fer one night," he told her with a grin. It was true. He'd gotten enough to keep Fagin happy. "Didn't reckon I'd see you round at this."

[cabins]

Laura laughs. "Maybe-!" Girl gets a very warm smile for that.

[outstandingbalance]

"I guess that's not so uncommon. Inconvenient, but not uncommon." There's a little sympathy in her tone. She can imagine there are a lot of ghosts trapped places that weren't pleasant to spend their afterlife, however long they lingered. "At least you can visit?"

[hurtcomfort]

"I can. I don't know for how long, but I'm going to visit while I can." His voice hitches there a little in the middle. The idea of not being able to visit, not being able to go places just absolutely terrifies Cole. And yet, he knows it might happen one of these days.

[bellbound]

He nods. She wasn't so bad after all, and yes he will get out of here safe. Mogget disappears into the crowd. Perhaps next time they meet he'll remember to thank her too.

[thelastjoy]

"Oh? Guess that means I don't got to feel bad about keeping you busy a little longer." She smiles and shrugs. "What, didn't think I was the type? You ain't really wrong. Kinda surprised myself by showing up. Never really liked getting in the middle of these things."

[outstandingbalance]

"Is there a particular reason to think that might change?" That's among the things Natasha doesn't know that much about when it comes to ghosts. A lot of the details about hauntings seem to be individual, anyway.

[thelastjoy]

"Just gotta destroy everyone's assumptions about you, huh?" She laughs again, turning back to the crowd. "Looks like they're starting to run out of steam. I might head home. Not sure there's anything else for me to do here."

[knowntohisfriends]

"Never think anyone's the type fer these," he admits. "Always seem like too much hassle an' you never know when the cops are gonna come sniffin' around."

[hurtcomfort]

There's a pause, as Cole frowns. How best to describe this...

"You're less as a ghost. Occasionally you get someone who can make you more, who can fill in the blanks, make you healthy and whole. I had someone like that but they had to leave. Now I'm becoming less myself."

You never know what you had until it's gone and, unfortunately for him, that is entirely the case for poor Cole.

[cabins]

Laura nods. "I should do the same- I've got to pick up my dry cleaning, unfortunately, first. Get home safe, Girl."

[outstandingbalance]

"I'm sorry to hear that. But you could find it again. As long as you're here, there's hope." She'd like to believe that, at least. As long as they can keep going, there's always the possibility of things getting better.

It just might not be all that likely.

[hurtcomfort]

"You're right," Cole simply responds, with a nod. Because she is. He'll find a new anchor, he'll find a new person to help, he'll become better.

Because he sure as hell isn't going to be that person he used to be again.

"Thank you. It's nice to hear other people say that as well."

[thelastjoy]

She lifts a hand on a lazy wave, smiling as she backs up through the crowd. "Have fun with that. And you too, Laura."

[thelastjoy]

"Last thing any of us needs is a stay in a jail cell. 'Lest it ain't a full moon tonight." Her face scrunches up, nose wrinkling. "Didn't think you'd be worried about gettin' caught."