#local man asked to follow a very simple rule; has an identity crisis and makes it everyone else's problem.

[nine-blessed-hero]

A Little Something-Something

Universe: TESIV: Oblivion, Modern AU (post-Crisis) Warnings: Poverty, cigarette smoking Words: 1,460 Context: Written for the TES Summer Prompt "Ritual" Taglist (ask +/-): @tes-summer-fest @mishkakagehishka @arcane-elder-scrolls​ @bread-of-death @writeblrsupport Or read on AO3

Grubby, weed-filled concrete below, and grubby overcast skies overhead. The little plaza teemed with people – women with their hair pulled back and thick concealer hiding dark eyes, dragging grizzling children from shop to shop; bent-over old men shuffling along with zimmers and heavily darned cardigans; teenagers in identical colours and styles crowded seven onto one bench, hollering and laughing.

Jena, in her smart trouser suit and neatly coiffed hair, stood uncomfortably next to Aderyn, as the latter perched on a wall topped with scraggly bushes and litter, puffing away on a cigarette. "When I said I wanted to get to know your friends in GreyFox Securities, this wasn't quite what I had in mind," Jena said. "Relax." Aderyn grinned from behind loose auburn locks. "They're gonna love you." "It's not them I'm worried about. I thought we'd be meeting at your offices. Or in a waterfront bar." "Yeah? Little Miss Middle-Class don't like the view of London on the dole?" Jena crossed and recrossed her arms. "It's not that. I'm… a little overdressed." "Eh. It might work in your favour. See, there's a very special reason we're down here." Jena raised a querying eyebrow. "You'll find out. Oh, hey, there's Isleif now." Aderyn jumped down from the wall and ran up to a tall man with skin like Purple Trillium, the tight coils of his hair corralled by a bandana. He picked her up, laughing as he swung her around like she weighed nothing. "Isleif Etienam," Aderyn said, breathless as he set her down, "this is my friend Jena Simons, of the Blades." Jena held out her hand. "A pleasure to meet-urk!" She squeaked as Isleif pulled her into a hug. "Wonderful to meet you!" he cried, voice carrying the lilt of the Caribbean. "Our Little Bird has told us much about you and your fellows. It is good to see the woman behind the fuss, yes?" "Oh. Ha. Yes, of course," Jena said as she stepped back.

Two women – both with skin the umber of joss sticks – approached the party. More hugs were exchanged, as were introductions to Methredhel and Carwen. They gathered in a loose circle, and Isleif handed out gift vouchers to the local supermarket. "As everybody is here now," Isleif said, "I call to order this month's Unprosperous Alleviation meeting. Everyone knows the meeting objectives-" "Actually, d'you mind running over the rules," Aderyn said, with a nod towards Jena, "for the sake of our newbie." "No problem." Isleif grinned. "The name of the game is 'Put-Pocket', and the rules are simple. Pick a target – someone you think looks deserving of an extra £10 in their life – then reverse pick-pocket the gift card to them. We will meet up at the King's Head for lunch at 1300 hours. That gives you plenty of time to complete the mission objective." Jena raised a hand. "What if I can't pickpocket at all?" Isleif ran a hand over his jaw. "Well, other methods are available. But you cannot just give the money away. People are surprisingly suspicious of free items. Any further questions?" Carwen raised her hand. "Are we doing the same as usual – last to the pub buys the first round?" "If our guest is agreeable?" Isleif said, looking at Jena. Jena nodded. "Fine by me."

As the group drifted apart, Jena followed Aderyn. "Maybe I'm being dim," she said, "but I'm not sure I understand the point of this. I mean, the charity aspect, yes. But why go through all this rigmarole – why not just donate the money?" "It's the Fox's way of keeping us sharp, making sure we're practising our skills but keeping it positive-like. It's become a bit of a thing since Isleif joined GFS. He calls it a meeting, but it's more like a monthly friendly between the front-line personnel.

"As for why the money ain't just donated, there's only so much charity organisations and lobbying the government can do, yeah? People fall between the cracks all the time – not quite poor enough, not quite disabled enough. The Fox thinks a little direct action is better than nuffin. A little summint-summint to push through the end of the month." Jena glanced around. "How do you pick though? Everyone here looks like they could do with that extra something-something." "You gotta pay attention to the details." Aderyn lifted her chin. "See the kids on that bench, yeah? The girl right on the end." "I see her." "Look at her shoes. The other kids all got newish trainers, right? But not her. She's used duct tape on the hole at the front and coloured it over with Tipp-Ex she probably chaved from school. I'll bet anything she ain't that fashionably skinny by choice." Aderyn turned. "See that bloke with the pushchair coming out of Poundland? That's, like, a third-generation hand-me-down pushchair. See how patched over his polo is, and how it hangs off him? He's skimping on his own stuff so he can buy baby formula and nappies." She looked back at Jena. "You see? Devil's in the details." "Yeah, I think I'm getting it." "Good." Aderyn turned back to the bench of teens. "I've got my target. Good luck with your pick."

Jena watched Aderyn wander away towards the benches, placing an unlit cigarette in her mouth. At the end of the benches she stopped, patting her pockets, then nudged the girl they'd been talking about, asking her something. The girl turned away, calling to a boy at the other end. As she did so, Aderyn dropped something – a balled-up receipt perhaps – from her pocket. As she stooped to pick it up, Aderyn nudged the girl's bag. There was a flicker of red as the gift card slipped inside. Aderyn rose just as a lighter was passed to the girl, who offered it to Aderyn. Aderyn lit her cigarette, passed the lighter back, and with a nod to the teens, carried on her way through the plaza towards where the pub's sign swung at the entrance to an alleyway.

Jena glanced around. Of the GFS crew, only Carwen was still visible, leaning against the wall between WH Smiths and some local dry cleaner, eyes scanning the crowd rather than on the phone in her hand. Jena turned her attention back to finding a deserving mark. Picking out the details was a lot harder than Aderyn had implied. As she watched the crowd, a woman with a grizzling toddler passed beside her. The toddler seemed to be whining about some toy, while the woman explained – with impressive patience – that she didn't have enough pennies for it today. Jena watched as they moved away. The woman wore a skirt and plimsoll shoes which had both seen better days, while the child was in an outfit with the hems and cuffs turned up several times.

"Excuse me! Marm?" Jena called out, dipping as if picking the gift card from the floor. "I think you dropped this? Marm?" The woman stopped, looking back with a frown. "Me?" she asked, pointing at herself. "Yes. Did you drop this?" Jena walked up to show her the gift card. "No. That's not mine." "Oh." Jena looked around as if to see who else might have dropped it. "Well, I guess whoever dropped it is long gone now." She flipped it over as if reading the details. "Do you want it? It looks like it's for Iceland." "No. That's okay. Thank you though," the woman said, turning away. "Are you sure? It'll be wasted otherwise." The woman's expression darkened as she took into Jena's suit, one arm snaking across her chest, even as the other hand gripped the child's. "Too good for Iceland, huh." "No, I didn't mean it like that." Jena let her accent broaden, dropping from Received Pronunciation to her native Essex. "It's just we ain't got any Icelands down my way. It's all Aldi and Lidl, innit?" Jena laughed. "Don't let the fancy togs fool ya – I'm just a receptionist." The woman's arm dropped, her shoulders uncurling. She glanced around, as if expecting to see a camera pointed at her. "Positive you don't want it?" Jena said, making to set it on a wall. "I guess I'll just leave it here for someone else…" The woman watched her movements with wanting eyes. "Well, I mean, as long as you're sure…" "It's all yours, luvvy." Jena held it out. The woman took it slowly, eyes still darting as if suspecting a trap, and carefully folded it into her purse. Jena smiled. "Have a good day, Marm." "Cheers." Jena watched the woman hurry away, clutching the perplexed toddler's hand.

With a glance at the wall by WH Smith, checking Carwen was still there, she headed towards the sign of the King's Head.

[newstfionline]

Headlines

Cellphone monitoring is spreading with the coronavirus. So is an uneasy tolerance of surveillance. (Washington Post) A smartphone app in Turkey asked for Murat Bur’s identity number, his father’s name and information about his relatives. Did he have any underlying health conditions, the app wondered, presenting him a list of options. How was he feeling at the moment, it asked. It also requested permission to track his movements. None of this felt intrusive to Bur, a 38-year old personal trainer. The app, which he had voluntarily downloaded, had helpfully warned him that his neighborhood was a coronavirus hot spot. “There are people in our country still having parties and picnics. I do not see the harm in people being followed,” he said. “There is an extraordinary situation in the world.” To the feelings of fear, restlessness, insecurity and sorrow taking hold around the globe, the pandemic era has added another certainty: being watched. In a matter of months, tens of millions of people in dozens of countries have been placed under surveillance. Governments, private companies and researchers observe the health, habits and movements of citizens, often without their consent. It is a massive effort, aimed at enforcing quarantine rules or tracing the spread of the coronavirus, that has sprung up pell-mell in country after country. Researchers and privacy advocates say there is not enough debate over the consequences and utility of the new surveillance tools, and no indication how long the scrutiny will last—even as the flood of prying apps are becoming a reality for millions of people, like solitude and face masks.

Cycle power: Bikes emerge as a post-lockdown commuter option (AP) As countries seek to get their economies back on track after the devastation wrought by the coronavirus pandemic, bicycle use is being encouraged as a way to avoid unsafe crowding on trains and buses. Cycling activists from Germany to Peru are trying to use the moment to get more bike lanes, or widen existing ones, even if it’s just a temporary measure to make space for commuters on two wheels. The transition to more bike-friendly urban environments “is necessary if we want our cities to work,” said Morton Kabell, who co-chairs the European Cyclists’ Federation. “A lot of people will be afraid of going on public transportation, but we have to get back to work someday. Very few of our cities can handle more car traffic,” he said.

Faced with 20,000 dead, care homes seek shield from lawsuits (AP) Faced with 20,000 coronavirus deaths and counting, the nation’s nursing homes are pushing back against a potential flood of lawsuits with a sweeping lobbying effort to get states to grant them emergency protection from claims of inadequate care. At least 15 states have enacted laws or governors’ orders that explicitly or apparently provide nursing homes and long-term care facilities some protection from lawsuits arising from the crisis. Now the industry is forging ahead with a campaign to get other states on board with a simple argument: This was an unprecedented crisis and nursing homes should not be liable for events beyond their control, such as shortages of protective equipment and testing, shifting directives from authorities, and sicknesses that have decimated staffs. Watchdogs, patient advocates and lawyers argue that immunity orders are misguided. At a time when the crisis is laying bare such chronic industry problems as staffing shortages and poor infection control, they say legal liability is the last safety net to keep facilities accountable. “What you’re really looking at is an industry that always wanted immunity and now has the opportunity to ask for it under the cloak of saying, ‘Let’s protect our heroes,’” said Mike Dark, an attorney for California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform.

Desert or sea: Virus traps migrants in mid-route danger zone (AP) Thousands of desperate migrants are trapped in limbo and even at risk of death without food, water or shelter in scorching deserts and at sea, as governments close off borders and ports amid the coronavirus pandemic. Migrants have been dropped by the truckload in the Sahara Desert or bused to Mexico’s desolate border with Guatemala and beyond. They are drifting in the Mediterranean Sea after European and Libyan authorities declared their ports unsafe. And about 100 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar are believed to have died in the Bay of Bengal, as country after country pushes them back out to sea. Many governments have declared emergencies, saying a public health crisis like the coronavirus pandemic requires extraordinary measures. However, these measures are just the latest efforts by governments to clamp down on migrants, despite human rights laws.

The coronavirus has brought back border barriers in Europe, dividing couples, families and communities (Washington Post) When Thomas Schütz, of Saarbrücken, Germany, wanted to visit France, all he had to do was step outside his house. In March, that changed. As the coronavirus pandemic swept across Europe, borders that had been open for decades reverted to their role as barriers overnight. With France under a temporary coronavirus lockdown and officers patrolling the border, Schütz, 57, would now risk a hefty fine for crossing from his German hometown of Saarbrücken to the French commune of Schœneck. His neighbor’s house, on the opposite side of a narrow road, became legally impossible for him to reach. More than 30 years after the Berlin Wall came down and 25 years after internal border controls began to be abolished across what is now known as the Schengen area, a generation has grown up moving between nations with the ease of crossing a street. But barriers have begun to creep back. Some European countries reinstated border measures in 2015 to keep migrants out. Now, with little warning, the coronavirus crisis has prompted governments across the continent to close borders that hardly still existed in the minds of those living near them. After decades of free movement, Schütz said, a return to the divided Europe of his childhood “would be so deeply sad.”

Spain records its lowest number of new deaths since March 18 as lockdown eases (Washington Post) Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on Sunday that the number of new recorded deaths from covid-19 was just 164 fatalities, the lowest one day increase figure since March 18. Spain went into lockdown on March 14 and is only just beginning to take steps to ease the strict limitations placed on citizens. The coronavirus swept Spain with a vengeance, claiming at least 25,264 lives and making it one of the hardest hit countries in Europe. Seven weeks on, life in the country is slowly beginning to change. Over the weekend, millions ventured outside to exercise, albeit for designated periods of time. Children under the age of 14 are now allowed out with a supervising adult from noon until 7 p.m. local time.

IS extremists step up as Iraq, Syria, grapple with virus (AP) The man wearing an explosive vest emerged from a car and calmly marched toward the gates of the intelligence building in Iraq’s northern city of Kirkuk. When he ignored their shouts to halt, guards opened fire, and he blew himself up, wounding three security personnel in the first week of Ramadan. Days later, a three-pronged coordinated attack killed 10 Iraqi militia fighters in the northern province of Salahaddin—the deadliest and most complex operation in many months. In neighboring Syria, IS attacks on security forces, oil fields and civilian sites have also intensified. The renewed mayhem is a sign that the militant group is taking advantage of governments absorbed in tackling the coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing slide into economic chaos.

Amnesty reports chilling details of Egypt press crackdown (AP) Journalism in Egypt has effectively become a crime over the past four years, as authorities clamp down on media outlets and muzzle dissent, Amnesty International said in a report released Sunday. As the number of coronavirus infections in Egypt continues to rise, the government is strengthening its control over information, the London-based rights group said, instead of upholding transparency during the public health crisis. “The Egyptian authorities have made it very clear that anyone who challenges the official narrative will be severely punished,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa director. Amnesty documented 37 cases of journalists detained in the government’s escalating crackdown on press freedoms, many charged with “spreading false news” or “misusing social media” under a broad 2015 counterterrorism law that has expanded the definition of terror to include all kinds of dissent.