Senator Kendal Raines has had a long, long day, and it's only getting worse.

His old political mentor, Senator Gavin Carden, once defined a politician as a "man skilled in working with cities".  He emphasized taking good looks at the big picture, eschewing hot-button politics in favor of 'holistic treatments for the Body Politic'.  That may be why he only won about half of his elections.  Nobody ever said Senator Carden was easy to understand.  But he knew his constituency and had a great reputation.

Senator Carden was also one of the first assassinated by Abyssal hit squads.

It's one of those Holistic Days, that's to be sure.  Demonic agitation in the Underdecks, an accident in the Forge levels that left a couple hundred of Leaden-Blooded dead, a union strike... fire after fire needing putting out, and to top it all off, a meeting with one of his least favorite peers on the Last Refuge.  The demon politician Mxotichtlatl:  an Anuhles spider-demon, elected to represent a section of the Last Refuge populated mostly by humans (66%?) but with an extremely active demonic population that somehow outvoted the rest of the constituency.

Senator Mxotichtlatl shares the same subcommittee as Kendal, the Subcommittee on Safety.  It's a prestigious posting, encompassing everything from industrial accidents to internal policing of the mixed neighborhoods of the Last Refuge.  Mxotichtlatl favors fixing a lot of this by outright segregation, a popular sentiment among the more empowered beings on the Last Refuge.  It's not popular among the humans, who often feel like they'll soon be left in the dust.  Mxotichtlatl also believes that since it already happens it's practically a fait accompli and should be made official policy.  He and Kendal have already clashed several times- not necessarily because they disagree on anything, but because he's openly disdainful of baseline human contribution to the Last Refuge's continued survival.  In his view, Kendal and people like him are simply a hindrance to the ship's daily operation.  It's a step away from calling for genocide.

So it's a bit weird that Senator Mxotichtlatl has requested a one-on-one meeting to hash out a revision of Subsection 3.2§10.A, a bit of minor arcana in the safety code that can be accurately summed up as 'power tools are capable of causing injury'.  It's a very odd thing to meet about, especially face to... uh... mandibled face.  In politician parlance, it may mean he wants to make a deal, but about what?  Right now their subcommittee has been humming along just fine, with the big votes (like neighborhood segregation) effectively tabled until the creation of some new layer of political power called the Admiralty Board.

His secretary has left Kendal a can of Raid sitting atop a pile of forms as a pointed joke at Senator Mxotichtlatl's expense.  Knowing the bloodthirsty, murderous nature of the anuhles, he may actually need the thing.  At least the meeting will be in his office, so he doesn't have to worry about the other kind of bugs.

One of his aides shoots him a quick chat text.  "Sen. M. 15 min away".

Kendal lets out a long breath and stands up to make preparations.

But it's hard to properly prepare for something you are not expecting. He asks the assistants to quickly gather what ever info they have on subsection 3.2§10.A and if there has been any major activity among the upper hierarchy to suddenly provoke Mxotichtlatl to do something like this.

What ever the case, Kendal knows that these meetings can get quite heated from time to time and acts accordingly, moving hes precious drinking mug and family photos off the table and tidies up the office so it looks representable.

Now thoughts about the imminent meeting rush through Kendals head, why a private meeting? he had no reason to reject it, but there surely is a hidden agenda in what ever the demon is on about. Could he be here to accuse Kendal of something? no? Beat him to submission? maybe... Kendal is just a human after all. Or actually to just come and see him because there is something only Kendal could do? This one seems more likely, but as some info rolls in Kendal sits calmly at his desk waiting as the 15 minutes is almost up.

His aides start scrambling trying to find what information they can.  It's sparse.  Just more... bureaucratic filler... the sort of thing to save asses if there were actually things like lawsuit lawyers around here.  It's what one of his old school buddies called a 'CYOA Clause'.

Two minutes left.  His office is in full crisis mode.  He nears a rap on the outer office door, a quick drumming, like multiple legs tapping at once- a typical Anuhles affectation.

OK, now that it's a bit too late to make actual research, it's time to exit panic mode and enter establish dominance mode. Telling the office to chill and continue on whatever they were working on previously, Kendal also takes a stack of unfinished papers and continues signing them by hand.

Kendal chuckles at the thought of a horror movie monster waiting behind his office door for an appointment.

He intends to let Mxotichtlatl in right on time, but to seem preoccupied himself with other paperwork as if this was not the highlight of the day and make the demon wait just a bit longer than he really needs to at the table... that's the plan anyhow... time to see what the-creep-of-the-day has to say.

The demon senator doesn't take being made to wait lying down.  It spends the entire time waiting for him by drumming on that door in the most annoying way possible.

When finally let in, it lets out a loud hiss and scans the room with its huge eight eyes, each the size of a baseball.  He's the size of a large dog, a good 50kg of chitin and bizarrely fluffy orange and green fur.  There's a backpack strapped to him, no doubt full of paperwork.  Long mandibles click as he focuses on Kendal.

"Human senator," He chitters disdainfully, "If we were not allies in this shared struggle I would bite you, inject your foul body with my venom.  If we did not have shared enemies I would defile the memory of your ancestors with feces spun from my words.  If we were not forced to live in this cage, I would have burned it to the ground while you slept in it."  He makes a sighing sound from his spiracles.  "Now that the pleasantries are over...."  His eyes drift over to the can of Raid on Kendal's desk  "... I have underestimated you."

Kendal replies without lifting his head from the paperwork "oh spare me the pleasantries eight legged one, if we were enemies you might find yourself in a stew" as he finishes signing the papers, putting them aside and finally meeting the spiders gaze.
Even after many years, it was still disturbing to see these creepy demons crawl to his office, but he doesn't let it show on his face.

"Now, as you haven't bitten my face or vomited feces on my floor, I take it that you have something important... or at least interesting to talk about?" Kendal asks without even blinking "Please have a seat and let's have a nice civilised discussion" pointing at the floor next to the chair opposite of himself.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:24, Mon 25 June 2018.

"I do not vomit feces, I excrete them.  Wildly.  In every direction.  Some may splash in your mouth." The vitriol from the demon is... tired.  He's going through the motions, though Kendal knows damn well the demon doesn't like him.  Anuhles doesn't sit, but he does stand where Kendal points- after shoving the chair out of the way.

"Yes, interesting, interesting.  As you know we have come at loggerheads in our discussions on the floor.  Politicians!  We should never have become politicians.  It doesn't suit human nor demon.  Politics is something for dirty gods."  It spits out the words, "In this you have my respect- you are no god.  Anyway, yes.  The subsection about power tools.  You have read it, yes.  A bunch of nonsense.  Of course power tools are dangerous!  Of course they cause blood!"  He starts to salivate on the floor.

"So look what happens when I see this."

He digs in his pack and produces a sheet of paper- a draftwork of some law or the other.

"From the census bureau.  I won't waste our time making you read it right here, but it's for you to peruse later." He taps the paper onto the desk.  "There is a footnote with a citation to our little 3.2§10.A.  It, in essence, states that demons fall under the subsection.  Do you understand?  We are being classified as power tools by the Bureau of Censuses and Citizenship!"

Even though he was slightly amused, his professionalism kept his poker face solid "Well that's not right at all." He says as he picks up the papers.
"Who even wrote this? i could see a racist snob trying to categorize demons as animals, but power tools? now that's just mean, even I know demons have feelings... or at least feel anger that's for sure." Kendal puts his arm on his forehead as he thinks of reasons as to who would do this.

"So did a demon hurt a human and it's being labeled as a power tool accident? Or is there really no clause to make demons citizens of the living fleet? Now this is either a huge oversight or someone doesn't want us to get along too well. This has to be fixed right away."
He stands up to look for the big list of constitutional amendments and changes in legislation made almost 10 years ago to check.

"Anger?  That's nothing.  Some of us are crybabies.  Almost literally, when presented with a newborn baby." The Anuhles can't really roll his eyes, but a gesture of his legs does roughly the same thing.

"We are- were- citizens, just fine, until this recent bit of work."  He taps his legs, "It has little real legal standing, until all of a sudden it does.  In which case this being published is precedent enough to tie things up in the courts.  It is a sneaky, sneaky way of removing our rights."

Kendal's binder is huge, but quite clear.  Anything with sapience is more or less considered a citizen, even down to certain species of animals.  After all, every cow and cat and dog is precious.  Of course that's caused a lot of problems with the animal rights groups...

"The reason I approach you with this is manifold.  NUMBER ONE!" He shrilly screams and waves one of his legs in the air, "You have an Exalt in the family!  You have growing clout!" 

"NUMBER TWO!"  Two legs tremble in the air, "I loathe you with every muscle fiber I own!"

"NUMBER THREE!"  Now three legs tremble, and oh dear, is his voice cracking?  "Our districts share a border and we share a committee!  Some of your constituents are affected as well!"

"NUMBER FOUR!" Yep, his voice is cracking, "Your impartiality, while vile and untrustworthy, is respected by the rest of the committee!"

"NUMBER FIVE!"  He teeters on three legs, "I would like an introduction to Lorbellis, Fifth Deck, Third Room, and attempting a superficial rapport with you will improving my chances of surviving a mating with her bulbous abdomen!"

Kendals Professionalism is put to the test when the spider puts on a circus act, so far so good.

"Yeah I see no problem in helping you with this, introductions and all, as I too find this power tool thing to be troublesome... Yet I get this feeling of being your wingman on a date... you will owe me one." Kendal puts the binder back on the shelf and looks at the (still balancing on three legs) spider with a inquiring look as if waiting for him tell more details or does he want a paper signed or what?

The anuhles collapses back down to all eight legs, wheezing through his spiracles. "Ah, owe you one?  This is language I understand." It clacks two claws together, "If I survive the mating, I will vote alongside you on one issue.  Acceptable?"  It then sidles back and forth, "If this is an agreement, then we must strategize.  I and three of my aides will meet with you and up to three of yours tonight, for a strategy session.  They will be compiling lists of members of committees, voting records, things like that.  We must plan our attack carefully."

The demon considers for a moment, "Tell your aides to come armed.  For their own protection.  Demonic strategy sessions can be... demonstrative."

He listens carefully what the anuhles says, nodding in agreement until he mentions armaments and the need for protection, the previous amusement fading as Kendal takes a serious tone "Yes i agree with the planning and the... mating, but I hope you understand that a serious injury to my employees will bring the meeting into a halt."

His fingers drumming the edge of the table only once.
"Nontheless I agree with this proposal, lets try and keep this show professional for all of our sakes."

Then he ponders for a short time what he already knows about Lorbellis and if any of his staff has proficiency with weapons or to make do with just bulletproof vests... Is hiring an armed guard a bit too much for this occasion?