open } if you're looking for that nice girl from the day before

[choosetruth]

Who: Georgia Mason, the crew of After the End Times, and YOU
Where: Republican National Convention
When: the year 2040. But also all through the event.
Rating: idk PG-13, will update if it gets higher.
Summary: Georgia Mason, head of After the End Times and well-known Newsie, is here at the Republican National Convention ready to make some NEWS.
The Story:

The Republican National Convention is a fucking madhouse, but Georgia's used to that. Weeks in on the campaign trail, she's working harder than ever and driving herself to near death trying to run a site and write and cover everything that happens during the election. She's got plenty of betas and interns, of course, and they help, but she still pushes herself to cover as much of everything as she can.

She's here, a vision of journalistic integrity in black and white, sunglasses firmly planted on her face and press pass clipped to her blazer. If she sees a politician or someone else that looks even mildly interesting, she's likely to approach, recorder in hand.

"Excuse me? Georgia Mason, After the End Times. Do you have time for a few words?"

[Come get interviewed, or reply one of the starters below! If none of them work poke me at antivillain and I can set something up.]

Comments

[choosetruth]

She spares a half a second to be annoyed at Tim for clearly playing favorites in who he informs. Not that it's that surprising--Tim and Jay go back a lot longer than she and either of them--but she's better. She has more readers, more prestige, better fact checking. If you want your news getting out, Georgia's the one you tip off.

Whatever. She's here with or without Tim's help.

"And what have you found?"

[burntvideocassette]

Jay snorts, frustrated. "Nothing." He tilts his head up toward the open vent above them with a jerk. "Assuming you've already seen that."

He pulls his phone out of his pocket, swiping idly through the feeds from his cameras while he talks. "Given that..." He points upwards, not looking up from the phone. "...hole in security, I guess we can't completely throw out the idea that this came from outside." Jay's expression makes it clear he doesn't believe it. "And even without the vents, I was able to get in, even though this place is, what, halfway to lockdown?"

He grimaces. "But something like this costs money, and without any outside groups taking credit for it, I don't think it's completely nuts to say it might be an inside job."

[choosetruth]

It's Georgia's running theory as well, though not something she's ready to actually state on record without a hell of a lot more evidence. The fact that the more paranoid-conspiracy crowd is also thinking this isn't surprising, but it's why she's reserving her official judgment until she actually has the facts. Any fringe blog can rant about how the actual government is out to get them. If Georgia's going to do it, she's going to do it because it's true.

"Inside job is a broad term. You're going to need to get more specific."

[burntvideocassette]

Jay moves to swipe at his eyes, but he catches himself. He's wearing gloves for a reason.

"Trust me, I want to." For all Jay's sketchiness, he does genuinely want the truth out there, even if that means he won't be the one to break the story. He just got here, though, and all he's got are a name, a five-minute brief on what's happened so far, and an empty hallway. "I just...I need to look around some more."

He's used to it by now, scrounging for whatever scraps of evidence are left by the time he gets there, but he still hates it.

"The best Tim was able to give me was where the needles fell and one of the names in quarantine." He looks back down at his phone, flicking through a few screens before pulling up a page of notes. "Sans T. Bones. Sounds fake, but it's in the public records at least."

[choosetruth]

"He's a hotdog salesman." That information at least, Georgia can provide. She talked to him already, before this latest nonsense began. "I would be extremely surprised if he had the resources to pull off something like this."

[burntvideocassette]

"Alright, so maybe 'quarantine' isn't just, 'We want to arrest people without probable cause,' in his case." Jay slips the phone back into his pocket. "Or maybe it is, and he was just, I dunno, wrong place, wrong time."

He knows what she's expecting him to say, so he plays along, wryly. "Or he's a spy for a terrorist cell, hell-bent on destroying our way of life. And funded by lizard people."

[choosetruth]

She tilts her head back, projecting her eye roll despite how her eyes are hidden. "For fuck's sake, if you're going to pretend to be crazier than you are at least try and make your lies convincing. Doing otherwise is frankly insulting and demeaning to both of us."

[burntvideocassette]

Jay stands up straighter at that, looking straight at the dark lenses over her eyes.

"I wasn't...'pretending,'" he bites out, his shoulders hiked up defensively. "It was a joke."

Is she really lumping him in with the rest of those people? Is that what this is? The joke didn't go 'far enough' from her perspective to land properly?

(And if anyone here's Reptilians, it's the politicians themselves.)

"Look, have you found anything?"

He bets she has. Georgia Mason, with her funding and her family and her audience.

[choosetruth]

A... fuck. Of course it was a joke. Georgia hasn't slept properly in weeks, and it's only been worse for the past weekend, even with Shaun forcing her to go to bed occasionally. It's making her sloppy. She should have been able to catch that.

She glances away and doesn't apologize, even though she probably should. "Mostly just more questions. Whoever did this is entirely okay committing an act of terrorism and had insane amounts of resource and enough inside pull to get through security. The list of potential suspects shouldn't be long."

jay, when everything you say sounds like deadpan sarcasm, nothing does

[burntvideocassette]

Any lingering irritation about his own failed attempt at self-deprecation her inability to read sarcasm fades when she begins talking through what they know so far.

Had to be able to get the needles through security.
Had to have access to get live samples.
Had to have connections on the inside, if they themselves aren't inside.
Had to have the moral bankruptcy to risk an outbreak to make people afraid.

"Yeah..." Jay trails off, staring at the carpet while he thinks. "I guess the next question is: who here'd benefit? I mean, just looking the politicians, who's sliding legislation through now that everyone's scared?" He picks at the edge of one of his nitrile gloves. "And is any of that connected, or are they just being opportunistic?"

[choosetruth]

"Probably a mix of both." Someone did this and doubtless someone is using the confusion and panic to make everyone suffer. But there are always opportunistic parasites that will take advantage when stuff like this happens. They're scum in their own way, but being scum isn't the same thing as being a terrorist.

"We need more information." But odds seem good they are just going to have to work with what they're given.

[burntvideocassette]

That's how it always is. Enough proof to start to develop a hunch, but not enough to actually say anything for sure.

It's a little satisfying, but it's mostly disappointing to see The Great Georgia Mason stuck in the same rut he is. Guess it doesn't get any better near the top.

"We've got the quarantine guy, but I mean, beyond that, I don't exactly see it being too easy to get a straight story out of anyone." He snorts bitterly. "Any ideas that don't involve talking to people?"

[choosetruth]

"It makes no sense for it to be 'quarantine guy.' Even if he did have the resources, how the hell does he benefit from this? How could he benefit?"

She shakes her head, then gives him a look that manages to convey disdain even through her sunglasses. "You're never going to make it in the news if you're not willing to talk to people."

[burntvideocassette]

"Look, it's not that I--" Jay snaps, catching himself a little too late. He forces himself to take a breath, even out his tone. "It's not that I'm not willing. I'm just not.."

He gestures to himself, filling the time while he tries to think of how to word this.

"I'm not exactly...great...at getting people to talk to me, alright?" He stares at the ground, grimacing. "Not for lack of trying. And quarantine guy's the only one I can think of who might be willing to tell me the truth about what he knows. Even if he doesn't know anything."

Jay shuffles his feet, eyes still locked on a patch of carpet.

"Maybe he's being screwed over for a reason, that's all."

[choosetruth]

That actually does get her attention. As much as she occasionally scoffs at Jay, he's not a total moron. And in this particular case, he has a point.

"You might be right. But I suspect Senator Lyon will know more than Mr. Bones. She's the one who invited him, and the one who set him up."

[burntvideocassette]

"Yeah, she'd probably know more." Jay can't keep the bitterness out of his voice. "But would she give us anything useful?"

Jay doesn't like being lied to. In a place like this, though, that's just business. It's just politics. (He's not sure there's a difference.)

[choosetruth]

Georgia glances at him and smirks, tilting her head. "She'll give me something useful. I've been wanting to talk to her all weekend anyway."

Will she intentionally give something useful to Georgia? Probably not. Is Georgia going to drag something out anyway? You better fucking believe it. She's damn good at her job.

[burntvideocassette]

Jay's head jerks to the side in an awful attempt at concealing an eyeroll. Goddamnit, Georgia.

"Guess I'll just...hang back, see what I can hear." He raises his eyebrows, and his tone dips back toward the self-deprecating. "Maybe even talk to her myself."