🎵 Instrument of Surrender
Putting on the "FUCK THE WORLD" jacket triggers a thought.
COMPOSURE - You've finally made it haven't you? People point fingers at you and whisper to each other when you pass by, wondering to themselves:
"Where did that man get such a cool jacket? Did he receive it upon graduating the École normale supérieure de Bad-Assery? Is he *dangerous?*"
Damn right I'm dangerous.
Yeah -- a danger to *myself*. What am I doing? This is insane.
COMPOSURE - Oh no, believe me -- it will be *everyone else* who's uncomfortable with it. You're safe. No one dares say a word -- unless they're, like, from your station and coming to *judge* you. But what are the chances of that happening?
Now, where were we? Oh, right, communism.
RHETORIC - There! Do you smell that?
Smell what?
I don't smell anything.
RHETORIC - Can you not detect that inimitable *whiff* of dissatisfaction and restlessness, that sense that the world is in need of dramatic, even *violent* re-ordering?
(Close your eyes and take a deep breath.)
Does that mean there's a communist nearby?
RHETORIC - Can you smell it now?
PERCEPTION (SMELL) [Medium: Success] - You inhale. The cilia along your olfactory epithelium tingle with excitement as they sift through the swirling morass of industrial odours...
First come the smells of the agitated strikebreakers, layers of body oil and sweat, over-buttered meals pulled from bakelite lunch pails, the biting stench of lye soap. And then there's the slowly oxidizing metal gates, the scent of stale grease emanating from every crack...
KIM KITSURAGI - "Everything in order, detective?" The lieutenant gives you a quizzical look.
"It's kind of a personal errand."
"I'm smelling for communists, Kim."
"I'm working on developing my political consciousness."
"Just taking in the morning air, like a normal detective."
KIM KITSURAGI - "A *personal errand*."
"I'm smelling for communists, Kim."
KIM KITSURAGI - "You're smelling for..."
"You know what? I'll just leave you to it. Carry on, detective."
ESPRIT DE CORPS [Easy: Success] - It is a mark of the lieutenant's respect for you that he does not press you on this decidedly *extra-curricular* errand.
RHETORIC - The lieutenant lacks your *highly developed* politico-olfactory cortex. The reek of communism is undeniable. And it's coming... from that railing right there!
You mean from Mañana?
RHETORIC - Yes. Now's your chance to *establish contact*.
CALL ME MAÑANA - "Olá, wandering man." He looks at you with soft and hazy eyes. "How can I help you?"
(Attempt to establish contact.) "Listen, brother, there's something *important* I need to talk to you about..."
"That weasel I visited. Turns out he has one hell of a colonial mug collection."
"Actually do you know anything about the Hardie boys?"
CALL ME MAÑANA - "What's that, boia?" He tilts his head slightly.
RHETORIC - Now's your chance! Remember, communists are notoriously skittish, so it's best to *insinuate* your way in...
"I'm looking for some people who know how to really grind a sausage, if you know what I mean."
"It involves our mutual friend, Kras." (Put your hands next to your head and curl your fingers like deer antlers.)
"I'm investigating a peculiar smell, one with revolutionary implications."
"I'm looking for a secret cabal of *mole people*."
CALL ME MAÑANA - "Hrmmm. Have you tried a butcher shop?" He looks at you with perfect equanimity.
2. "It involves our mutual friend, Kras." (Put your hands next to your head and curl your fingers like deer antlers.)
CALL ME MAÑANA - "Don't think I've ever met a Kras, personally. Then again, I've never been to Graad." He narrows one eye at you.
RHETORIC - Okay, maybe it's time to abandon the subtle approach.
3. "I'm investigating a peculiar smell, one with revolutionary implications."
CALL ME MAÑANA - "Could be coming from one of the jammed lorries? Cargo's been sitting out for a while." He sniffs the air and looks toward the roundabout.
5. "What I'm trying to say is: I'm looking for communists. You know any?"
CALL ME MAÑANA - "Ah, now I see. Can't say I'm surprised. You seem to take your communism seriously. Not a bad thing, mind you. It's good for a man to take time to think about the whole socio-political world picture."
KIM KITSURAGI - "Oh, he certainly likes to take his time with things, especially when politics are at issue."
CALL ME MAÑANA - "So you've given up copping and now you're hunting communistas. Care to say why?"
"I'm not 'hunting' communists, I'm trying to get organised by them."
"I'm on a sort of quest to develop my political potential and I need their help."
"Honestly, I had a weird dream and now I need to get to the bottom of it."
CALL ME MAÑANA - "A fellow plains-roamer, in search of greater understanding. A classic story..." He nods approvingly.
"I wish I could help. Unfortunately, I don't know many communistas."
"I know you said you're not really a communist, but aren't you actually a communist?"
"I thought you Union guys were all communists?"
"Are you sure? You smell just like a communist."
CALL ME MAÑANA - "Some are, some aren't." He shrugs. "It's a big institution, room for all kinds: communistas, Semenese supremacists, even an anti-institutional boiadeiro..."
EMPATHY [Easy: Success] - There is warmth in his voice when he talks about the Union. Whatever his personal politics, this is his home.
RHETORIC - Alright, so if he isn't personally a communist, he's definitely hanging out with them.
CALL ME MAÑANA - He snaps his fingers. "Ah, but you know, I did meet a genuine *ideólogo* a few months ago. Perhaps he is your guy?"
"What's an *ideólogo*?"
"How did you meet him?"
CALL ME MAÑANA - "You know, a guy with a theory. Someone who likes to pit his theory against other theories in deadly theory-combat."
2. "How did you meet him?"
CALL ME MAÑANA - "It was late one night as I was leaving the harbour. He was waiting on the corner in a bright white jacket, classic Saramirizian style..."
That sounds familiar.
"He asked me for a light. We shared cigarettes. Then he asked if I ever thought about 'getting into some of the extra-physical branches of communism'."
"Hang on. What does that mean, *the extra-physical branches of communism*?"
"What did you tell him?"
(Nod.) "An extremely cool way to establish contact. Wish I'd thought of that."
CALL ME MAÑANA - "No idea. I took it to mean he was asking me to join some sort of underground cell..."
"A very old-school organising technique, the sort of thing communistas used to do before the Revolution."
2. (Nod.) "An extremely cool way to establish contact. Wish I'd thought of that."
CALL ME MAÑANA - He shrugs. "It was alright. A little like something out of a Vespertine spy novel, but I must respect the effort."
3. "Okay, how do I find this guy?" (Proceed.)
CALL ME MAÑANA - "I couldn't tell you. Once I declined his offer, we finished our cigarettes and he disappeared back into the night. Just before he melted into the shadows he turned to me and said..."
"*Remember Dobreva and Abadanaiz*..."
"… and then he was gone."
"Who are Dobreva and Abadanaiz?"
"What do you think it means?" (Conclude.)
CALL ME MAÑANA - "I don't know. Guess not everyone remembers." A tight, half-smile crosses his face.
2. "What do you think it means?" (Conclude.)
CALL ME MAÑANA - "Been wondering about that myself." He scratches his chin. "Some communista inside-talk, could be. Not meant for the wider public. They love that kind of thing. You'd have to ask someone who knows this ideólogo personally..."
"I have to say, though: It sounds like you've found yourselves a proper hunt."
The man whispers a jaunty tune. A coastal breeze ruffles his hair.
2. "That weasel I visited. Turns out he has one hell of a colonial mug collection."
CALL ME MAÑANA - "Yeah..." He nods, rubbing his chin. "The janitor who gave me the key to his apartment said the guy's a bit of an asshole."
"Yes, his mug-collection certainly represented... *antiquated* social values."
"See how we're all busy concentrating on the racist mugs? That's what the ruling class wants."
"A man with such a funny mug collection can't be that bad."
"All I'm saying is he had lots of mugs."
+1 Communism
CALL ME MAÑANA - "Yeah, it would be really bad if we got into an argument about it. Waste of a good noon. Or afternoon? Or night?" He looks around, oblivious suddenly. "Anyway, thanks for helping out, friend."
2. "Actually do you know anything about the Hardie boys?"
CALL ME MAÑANA - "Los Ardies?" He smiles. "They're an independent militant group. A bit too high-strung, but it comes with the responsibility."
"They're sort of like you. Preserve the rule of law and all that. Except it's Evrart's law." He takes a swig from his flask. "But, really, they're just like you."
AUTHORITY [Easy: Success] - Is he actually comparing you -- an officer of the law -- to some neighbourhood vigilantes?!
"There is only one law, friend -- and that's me!"
Let it go.
+1 Lawbringer
CALL ME MAÑANA - "Why not? Must be nice being something else for a change. The rest of us are just folks."
5. "Good talking to you. Gotta run." [Leave.]
Alright, who else do we know who's a communist?
On our way past, I happen to look at this viewer again.
COIN OPERATED VIEWER - This coin-operated viewer is facing South. It has given up all its secrets -- there seems to be a sunken seafort on the islet in the bay...
LOGIC [Medium: Success] - Why place a tourist attraction in the middle of such poverty?
"What's a tourist attraction doing... here?"
KIM KITSURAGI - "There was a revitalization project in '49. A design studio tried restoring Martinaise to its pre-war glory." The lieutenant looks around and concludes: "It didn't stick."
"What happened?"
KIM KITSURAGI - "They got as far as the street lamps and that statue on the intersection before something went sour." He lowers his voice. "I suspect it was Evrart Claire's doing. He muscled them out -- it's how it usually goes around here."
"Cool. I dig organized crime. It's the best."
"Can't we... do something about it?"
Say nothing.
KIM KITSURAGI - "We should have *done* something about the Union ten years ago. That ship has sailed, officer."
🎵Rue de Saint-Ghislane 32B
RHETORIC - There it is again! There's a spectral scent haunting this pier, no doubt. And it smells like...
PERCEPTION (SMELL) [Medium: Success] - Sea brine, mostly. Because it's a pier.
RHETORIC - Years of turmoil, of hopes and dreams ground beneath the inexorable tides of capital.
(Close your eyes and take a deep breath.)
I can *kind of* smell dreams being ground down by capital.
RHETORIC - What do you smell?
PERCEPTION (SMELL) [Medium: Success] - The first thing that strikes you is the overwhelming brine. You imagine yourself underwater, a hundred-legged arthropod scuttling along the murky silt at the bottom of the sea...
But then the unmistakable reek of *seagull shit* hits you, buoyed along on the air currents, an acrid melody atop mouldering chords of wood rot and heavy fuel oil.
KIM KITSURAGI - "Still smelling for communists, detective?"
"Yes."
"No."
"What makes you say that?"
KIM KITSURAGI - "No offence, detective, but you're not particularly *subtle*."
SAVOIR FAIRE [Godly: Failure] - The lieutenant's right. It's sort of amazing how *un-subtly* you're sniffing the air around you, almost like you're *trying* to call attention to yourself.
RHETORIC - What the lieutenant thinks is irrelevant. Your politico-olfactory cortex is lighting up like a holiday display. The scent of communism is overwhelming, and it's coming right... from that balcony over there!
You mean from Cindy?
RHETORIC - Certainement! A precocious communist youth, a symbol of a kinder, more hopeful future. Now's your chance to *establish contact* with your revolutionary brothers and sisters.
INLAND EMPIRE [Easy: Success] - A chance to establish contact with the future! What a beautiful, *terrible* thought...
I decide to go up to the balcony to talk to her.
CINDY THE SKULL - "Hello again, officers. Have you come to admire my mural?"
5. "Pissf****t and Fuck the World send their best."
6. (Attempt to establish contact.) "Hey, sister. Let's talk politics for a minute."
CINDY THE SKULL - "I don't believe it. I've never known those boys to have manners."
EMPATHY [Easy: Success] - The bemusement in her voice doesn't fully mask genuine tenderness.
"They seem to hold you in high esteem."
"I think they're afraid of you."
"Maybe it's just SKULL solidarity."
"I made up the sending their best part. But I did talk to them."
CINDY THE SKULL - "They'll never be SKULLS. But..." She softens. "But their hearts are in the right place."
"SKULLS are cool. Can *I* be a SKULL?"
"SKULLS are silly. What are you even trying to achieve?"
"Got it. Enough of that then."
CINDY THE SKULL - "Fat chance. But you *can* still do your part to revitalize the neighbourhood."
"Okay then. How's that?"
"But I really want to be a SKULL."
CINDY THE SKULL - She throws you a conspiratorial glance, then presses her finger to her lips and squints up at the sky -- as though straining to hear something in the distance.
"Have you noticed the *quiet?* Every so often, you might hear a gunshot pierce the air somewhere in Jamrock. But in Martinaise? No gunshots, no sirens. The people are languishing in boredom and complacency."
"This place is a sepulcher. We'll paint it red. We bring the raucous -- you bring the sirens."
6. (Attempt to establish contact.) "Hey, sister. Let's talk *politics* for a minute."
CINDY THE SKULL - "And what do *you* know about politics?" She squints at you suspiciously.
"I'm looking for comrades to help me fire up the Great Mazovian Sausage Grinder. Will you help me?"
"Mañana at the harbour said there's someone organizing an *underground revolutionary cell*."
"My nose told me that you're also a communist. We should team up, join forces."
"I'm searching for a bunch of *mole people*."
CINDY THE SKULL - The girl erupts in a cackle that seems like it should belong to a much older woman...
"Oh, that's very nice. The little piggy wants to make sausages. Out of what, his little piggy friends?"
"No, out of the bourgeoisie."
"That's what we need to talk about. I don't know who I'm supposed to be making sausages out of!"
(Turn to Kim.) "Don't worry, Kim. I would never make you into a sausage."
"That's right. I'm gonna make juicy sausage links out of the entire 41st Precinct."
KIM KITSURAGI - "It was not a concern of mine." The lieutenant blinks once.
ESPRIT DE CORPS [Formidable: Success] - In the break room of Precinct 41, Sergeant Mack Torson is just now warming a grey sausage over an electric range. The oil in the pan hisses and pops. Torson is dabbing a spot off his pants when his partner, Satellite-Officer Chester McLaine enters, sniffs the air, and frowns...
CHESTER MCLAINE - "Good fucking god, Mack. What is that smell?"
MACK TORSON - "What, like you've never reheated leftovers in the break room?" He skewers the greasy sausage with a small fork and removes it to a limp paper plate.
CHESTER MCLAINE - "Hey, if you wanna dress that up, I think there's still that old bottle of mustard logged in evidence..." He's already laughing at his own joke-in-progress.
MACK TORSON - "What, you mean the one Vic yoinked off..."
CHESTER MCLAINE - "... that hobo in front of the Frittte? Hahaha!"
Keep listening.
(Turn to Cindy.) "Okay, then. Will you help me find the communists?"
CHESTER MCLAINE - "Now you got to ask yourself, Mack. Are you desperate enough for *hobo mustard*?"
MACK TORSON - Torson chews thoughtfully at his sausage for some time. "Hey, Chester, speaking of... do you think Harry ever solved his money situation, or do you think he's gone full hobocop?"
CHESTER MCLAINE - "You mean, like, is he out there right now, sleeping in a storm drain, chasin' down rats for leads?"
"Yeah, I could see it. He's always been weird about money stuff."
+5 XP
"Okay, Cindy. Does that mean you'll help me find the communists?"
CINDY THE SKULL - "Sure. I know someone who'd love to talk that ideological stuff. You're looking for Steban."
"Who's Steban?"
CINDY THE SKULL - "A right communist. Who runs a *mega cool* and *very secret* meeting."
"Does this 'Steban' happen to have a jacket like this?" (Show her the white jacket.)
CINDY THE SKULL - "He might."
"Will you help me find him?"
CINDY THE SKULL - She pretends to think about it for a moment. "No."
KIM KITSURAGI - The lieutenant lets slip a sigh that seems to suggest this turn was utterly predictable.
"Is it money you want? Here, take some. I've got plenty." (Offer her 5 reál.)
"I guess I should just give up, then. Nothing *ever* works out for me."
"Just tell me what you want me to do!"
CINDY THE SKULL - "God, if he isn't the saddest pig in the world..."
ENCYCLOPEDIA [Medium: Success] - Incidentally, 'The Saddest Pig in the World' is the title of a popular Gottwaldian children's book, written and illustrated by Moritz Metzger. In '26 it received the prestigious *Kritikerpreis* for youth literature.
CINDY THE SKULL - "Oh, fine, I'll help. But first, I want something from *you*..."
HALF LIGHT [Medium: Success] - She's got you by the balls, chief. And she intends to squeeze them.
"What's that?"
CINDY THE SKULL - A wicked grin extends across her face.
INLAND EMPIRE [Easy: Success] - A laughing skull. Death hilarious. This is gonna be baaaad...
CINDY THE SKULL - "Oink for me, piggy. Just once."
"I'm not oinking for you."
"Come on, this is no way to treat your revolutionary brother!"
(With gusto.) "Oink, oink!"
CINDY THE SKULL - "Be a good pig, now. No oink, no goods."
"Come on, this is no way to treat your revolutionary brother!"
(Reluctantly.) "Oink, oink."
CINDY THE SKULL - "Wrong. This is exactly how I treat my little brother."
3. (Through gritted teeth.) "Oink."
CINDY THE SKULL - "Well, well. Seems like we're dealing with one tough pig. I'm impressed..."
COMPOSURE [Medium: Success] - Yes, somehow you managed to oink with at least a modicum of dignity.
KIM KITSURAGI - The lieutenant, needless to say, is not impressed.
-1 Reputation
CINDY THE SKULL - "Sounds like you're really serious about meeting Steban. It's touching, sort of."
"Steban's group meets only at night, in an old room in these apartments here. It just so happens you're in luck: Their weekly meeting is *tonight*."
"Poke your snout around sometime after 22.00 and you might just find them."
This is the main reason I wanted to come back to Martinaise: I couldn't remember what time we needed to meet Steban.
"Hold on, what else can you tell me about this Steban?"
"That's very helpful. Thank you, Cindy."
"Hmm, why do I feel like there's a catch..."
CINDY THE SKULL - "Just that he's a real communist. Not like the play-acting you've been doing. The rest you'll have to see for yourself."
3. "Hmm, why do I feel like there's a catch…"
CINDY THE SKULL - "Oh, smart pig, because there *is*..."
"See, Steban's a bit on the paranoid side. He's got all these *mega secret passphrases*, to keep out infiltrators and the like. You can't join the meeting without one."
KIM KITSURAGI - "*Ahem*..." The lieutenant clears his throat.
"Not to interfere in your personal errand, but I wonder whether it might have something to do with that phrase Mañana mentioned overhearing."
"Wait, what phrase?"
"Oh, right. Good thinking, Kim."
"I was *totally* about to say that."
"That's really dumb. You should feel embarrassed even suggesting that."
KIM KITSURAGI - The lieutenant consults his notebook. "'Remember Dobreva and Abadanaiz'."
"Oh, right. Good thinking, Kim."
KIM KITSURAGI - The lieutenant nods.
+1 Reputation
CINDY THE SKULL - "Guess this is what happens when two pigs put their heads together..." She seems slightly disappointed.
"That's enough. Off with you then." She makes a lazy shooing motion with her dangling hand.
6. "Catch you later, Cindy." [Leave.]
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