Renko leans in his saddle to extend his hand to Aria,

"Come, little one, we go see this man and teach him lesson, yah?"

If she accepts, he pulls her up to sit before him in the saddle.

Aria takes Renko's hand and gets brought up on his saddle, "Scout, Ranger, follow us, woof woof!"

You all head towards the mayor's office, with Jade leading the way.

As the posse makes their way there, you see people looking at you. Some with mistrust of outsiders. Some with curiosity of circus folk and a different set of entertainers.

Shops, saloons, and houses fill the street, with the railway building adjacent, allowing goods and people to make their way into the city.

The middle of town housed the City Council offices, with the mayor's office inside, as well as other administrative offices, and even an office for a territorial ranger, though everyone still refers to them as Texas Rangers, no matter what they say back east.

Jade instantly regretted still wearing her colorful performing costume, but, well, it was what it was.  She waved to the onlookers, hoping they'd come to the circus.

She had an idea immediately, getting sidelong of the Cossack.  "Hey, uh, Renko, ol' buddy, ol' pal, I think you might want to help me keep an eye out for, uh, how do you say it in the ol'd Balachka speak, Hessians I think is the closest word.  Though that's pretty American actually...  I think this mayor might not be on the up an' up."  She inflected the indicators of doubt with a little bit of a squeak.

Although they are proceeding at a trot, Renko is used to going everywhere at a gallop and he's impatient to find this kulak, this boyar who has cheated his sitch. His right hand absently taps at the handle of his whip.

Aria is a negligible weight to Ochi. She rides easily before him, barely needing to keep a hold on the saddle horn. She smells faintly of the animals she tends, not unpleasant to Renko's nostrils.

At Jade's words he glances sidelong at her and nods, his right eye narrowing. He understands that this mayor, this shakhray will need close watching.

Clair didn't even bother to dismount from Hobo, since they were riding into the town anyway. It was quiet at the moment, sure a few of the others were chattering back and forth to each other. But Clair didn't feel the need to fill the travel time with unimportant noise and chatter and she just kept to herself about most things. Not feeling compelled to talk just for the sake of it made for a quiet ride for her, but that's how she liked it.

Orlan knew better than to open his loud mouth first, and let Jade do the talking. He kept himself to keeping an eye on his friend Renko.

"Well, let's see how this goes then."  Jade, still in her colorful acrobat's costume, walked into the building like she owned it, smile beaming without her meaning to do so.

It was practically a reflex for her, she'd been told to smile for the crowd for so long it just sort of became a resting expression despite the effort.

Renko leaps from the saddle and lifts Aria down to the dusty street. He loops Kariochi's reins over a hitching rail and strides after Jade, countering her dazzling smile with a fierce scowl at all they encounter.

Aria gets down and thanks Renko before tending to the horse. She also playfully teases Scout and Ranger when they catch up.

Heading inside the City Council offices, you find a woman sat at a desk near the entrance, with a set of stairs to one side of her, and doors to another. In her 40's, she was dressed plainly, yet professionally. She has dark hair, and a tanned complexion.

"Welcome to the El Paso City council. How may we help you today?" The woman asked in English, but a strong Mexican accent. Then, perhaps needing a moment to take in the attire of the motley crew before her, she asks. "You must be from the circus I have been hearing about. Oh, I have been looking forward to taking the children to see you."

"Wonderful!  We just, uh, need to talk to somebody about the local water restrictions."  Jade smiled again, was it reflexive or was she trying to be more effective?   She probably didn't know herself.

She was also hoping maybe they could talk to someone reasonable.  She had to laugh at herself internally for that one.

Renko takes a position a step behind Jade and two steps to her right, feet set, arms crossed over his brawny chest, brows set in a scowl.

"Mayor," he growls, "We must to see Mayor. We have buns to pick on him." Although he doubtless means bones, his accent renders the word as buns.

Aria asks Scout and Ranger to keep an eye on the horses before following the others to the mayor. She stands quietly behind Renko and Jade, letting the more outspoken and less tongue-tied people handle this.

Orlan keeps himself to the back of the group with Aria, making sure he's never too far from Renko in case things get dicey and he needs to stop the man from cracking a skull or two. He looks to Aria, briefly trying to gauge what her reaction would be to a sudden outburst of violence.

When Jade asks about the water, the woman gives a polite smile. "You need to speak with councilman Anders, he takes care of the water."

But once Renko asks for the mayor, in his abrupt manner, she starts to grab some paperwork and gets twitchy. "Do-do you have an appointment? He is a busy man?"

OOC:
How do you want to handle this?
Sweet talk her with Persuasion?
Lie to her with Persuasion?
A menacing stare and tone with Intimidate?
Taunt her in some way?

Discuss it in OOC, and then have one person make the roll, but others can back them up with a Support roll.

Depending on the action you want to take, there may be situational modifiers, on top of any you have from edges/hindrances.

"Well, I would love to make an appointment, but we're part of a traveling circus, and we just found out about this."  Jade tried to be reasonable.

"We won't be long, it's just a water permit after all.  I'm sure we can clear this up in five minutes, tops.  After all we've got a big top to set up.  Hey, how many children were you wanting to bring?  We always give away a few free tickets for the kids."

Because of course they did.  Kids made people spend all kinds of money.  And this was as close as you could get to a bribe without, well, a bribe.  Jade smiled again, this time on purpose.

21:01, Today: Jade Archer rolled 10,6 using d6+1,d6+1, rerolling max with rolls of (6+3)9,5.  Persuasion.

The woman looked over her shoulder to see who was around, before leaning forward in her chair towards Jade. Speaking with a hushed tone, she said "Councilman Anders can give you the permit you need. The mayor is useless, and spends more time in the saloons then he does in his office. Up the stairs, first door on the left. And it's five children."

Renko nods approvingly at Jade's successful strategem, though the scowl doesn't leave his face. He follows her upstairs.

Aria followed the others, but while she does, she says, "Renko... I... I... don't think... I..." before switching her mindset to something more familiar, "Bad Renko! Don't scare the locals!" she says while shaking her finger at him like she was disciplining one of her animals.

"Thanks!  We'll have someone run by when we do promotions."

And that would probably have to be Jade herself after she cajoled the tickets.  But she could get away with that, she was sure.

She didn't waste any time.  She looked at everyone else as if to say "come on" and hustled up the stairs.

Renko turns to Aria. He gives her a sly smile and a slow wink before resuming his scowl and following Jade up the stairs.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:10, Mon 03 May 2021.

Hardly suppressing a chuckle at Bad Renko, Orlan trailed behind the others. He directed an appreciative nod of his head to the woman who had helped them.

Heading up the stairs, you see the door mentioned by the receptionist, along with others. The name ANDERS is carved onto a small wooden plank, but is held onto the door by a hook. Maybe people don't last long enough to have their names carved into the doors?

Opening the door, you see a white man in his thirties sat at the desk.

Seeing Jade go through the door, he responds "Why hell.." But then quickly changes as Renko and the others follow through "oh?"

Brushing down his shirt and pulling on it to look tidy and respectable, he continues. "This is unexpected. Did you mean to see someone else, or...?" and he doesn't continue, obviously expecting someone to explain where there are several people in his office, some of which are obviously dressed as circus performers.

"Why we expected the Honorable Councilman Anders!"  Jade borrowed a couple of lines from Fido.  "And fresh off our oriental tour from Amsterdam through Zanzibar, we are the mysterious Circus of Wonders, bound to astonish and delight the good people of El Paso!"

She didn't have quite the flair Fido did, nor his voice, so it didn't really work for her as well as it did him, but a dramatic gesture and the spectacle of so many visitors made it work.  Or so Jade thought.