(2530-02-16) The Year of the Metal Horse
Summary: The Chinese New Year festivities in Eavesdown go awry…
RL Date: 16 Feb 2020
Related: 2530-02-17-1-heroic-surgery
maya donna cecily 

Liberty Square

Liberty Square sits at the heart of Eavesdown, serving as link between the rather scruffy part of the town and the finer residential area to the east. The square itself is rectangular with a pretty fountain in the middle of it. Walkways lined by benches run towards the fountain, the grass between them is shaded by large trees. On the sidewalks surrounding the square vendors hawk food, drinks and little merchandise. The square is flanked by some rather impressive buildings including the Town Hall, a four-storey building crowned by a clock tower. One side of the facade is covered by a large billboard alternately showing news from around the Verse, traffic and weather alerts and commercials.

The square is currently a riot of red and gold to celebrate the new year. Garlands with red balloon lamps are strung across the paths of the square and countless signs spell out "Gong Xi Fa Cai" in English and Chinese letters. Several artificial trees have been set up onto which people can tie ribbons with their wishes and blessings. Two stages have been set up, the main stage on which Chinese Arts such as kung fu, classical Chinese dance and acrobatics are regularly being presented, before they will later be replaced by current pop bands. There is a smaller stage at the far end for more intimate entertainment such as solo singers and performers. Right now a middle aged lady is twanging away on an Erhu. There's a small make-shift altar, too, in which the Goddess Guan-Yin sits center stage amid a fug from countless joss sticks to receive blessings and prayers.

Several food stalls offer Chinese foods that have a special meaning during the festivities, such as Tangyuan (sweet rice balls), Longevity Noodles and of course the ubiquitous Nian Gao (glutinous rice cake). Since the Year of the Metal Horse is starting there are countless horses to be seen from stuffed red-golden plush toys to small horses actually made from metal. Some jokers selling pink and neon green bubble teas have hung tiny bicycles from the branches of a tree. People can buy all sorts of souvenirs and lucky charms for the new year and donate to a variety of good causes for the sake of acquiring good karma.

Metal Horse:
A larger-than-life sized statue of a horse stands proudly near the center of the square. It is made up of many pieces of metal, carefully fashioned together and painted red. Strips of what look like real gold accent many of the edges, creating the outline of a saddle, halter and a gold bit. A mass of golden tassel-threads form the horse's mane and tail.

Gears, pistons, and other machinery is visible between some of the body plates - especially around the legs - and it looks like the horse was built to be able to move. It currently stands with one forehoof raised, its head raised up to the sky.


Donna is wandering through the celebratory crowd on her own at the moment, taking things in as the festival is already in full swing. Spotting the altar to Guan-Yin, she steps into line to pay her respects there.

Maya is standing between two stalls a bit further away from the main action, one a simple fold-out table, two lawn chairs and two plastic chairs from which two middle-aged Chinese ladies are administering foot massages to the tired visitors. The other a tent-like thing with a board outside in Chinese and English offering a look into your future. Clearly Maya is interested in neither foot massages or her future, she just watches the crowds pass by, maybe looking out for familiar faces.

Cecily has NOT dressed for the occasion. Not that you'd know at first glance, anyway, but if one were to look down to her feet, they'd see she's wearing red boots with gold laces. Otherwise, she's dressed as she usually is, standing in line at food stall to get some rice cakes with a glass of tea in her hand.

Donna's turn comes up and she approaches the altar. Kneeling, she puts a donation in the box, then lights a joss stick to place in front of the Goddess of Mercy. She looks up at the painted wooden face for a long moment, then rises and steps out of the way for the next supplicant. She moves along, ending up in line behind Cecily.

The foot massagist calls out to Maya, gesturing at the now vacated chair to invite her, which achieves exactly the opposite. Maya rolls her eyes and wanders away, looking at a stall selling lots of cheap new year's tat and finally ending up by the food stall as well. Recognizing Donna, she offers her a little smile.

Cecily reaches the front of the line and places an order, putting her cup down to pay the stall owner. Unfortunately, she doesn't set it down straight, and it falls off the edge of the stall and spills on the ground. She curses fluently in Chinese, picking up the cup and then paying for her cakes. A little annoyed, she steps to the side of the stall to wipe off her hands, and spots Maya. There's a terse up nod, followed by a wry look as she flicks off her fingers. "Hey."

Donna spots Maya as well, offering a soft smile. "Hello Maya, care for some rice cakes?" She patiently awaits her turn, even as the customer in front of her has that mishap. She offers Cecily a sympathetic look and waits for the path to be clear before stepping up to place her order.

"Yea, I quite like them.", Maya responds to Donna. She might say more but then Cecily spills her drink and steps aside and she recognizes her as well. "Hey. You okay?", she asks, hoping the tea wasn't too hot.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Cecily confirms. "Just annoyed, now I need to get more bubble tea." She sighs, but there's only herself to blame. "But happy new year - how you doing?"

Donna makes it a double order of the rice cakes, in that case. With the transaction complete, she steps aside to join Maya and Cecily, offering the former one of the food containers. "Hello. Shame about the tea," she offers in greeting to the latter, adding a "happy new year" of her own.

Maya was in the queue behind Donna! She picks up her own order a moment later and joins them. "I quite like Chinese New Year, it's all so… colourful.", she admits, looking at the riot of gold and red everywhere. "Do you two know each other?"

Cecily shakes her head. "Nope, never met," she says, wiping the last traces of tea off her hands and onto her trousers, then offers one of those hands to Donna. "Hiya, I'm Cecily. Nice to meet you."

Fine, then Donna didn't buy Maya an order, she can buy her own. Donna is quick to offer a pleasant smile and shake the offered hand. "Donna. It's good to meet you, too. How do you two know each other?" she wonders.

Maya thought the second helping was for Cecily, because she spilled her tea! "We met in the market once, down by the Docks.", Maya replies vaguely, eyeing Cecily to see how much she wants to reveal of their dealings so far. "Donna is a nurse at the clinic here, like my friend."

"Maya introduced me to someone. Needed to talk business and it was a case of right time, right contact," Cecily says. She nods at mention of the clinic, and grimaces slightly. "Yeah, I know the clinic. Got stabbed in the arm by one of the nurses. Jude?"

Donna nods along at the answers, having enough sense to not pry into why Maya's making shifty-eyes. "I see. And yeah, we've been trying to immunize everyone as quickly as possible. Did you get yours yet?" she asks Maya. "And for that matter, have you seen Jude? He wanted me to come hear him perform. I hope I haven't missed it already." Because of course.

"Yea, I did.", Maya assures Donna and grins at Cecily's words. "He's better with a guitar than a needle, but hey, he's learning. I guess you botched some of your first stuff, too, didn't you?", she asks the older nurse, then shrugs. "Haven't seen him, thought he's at work or something. I think it's all Chinese stuff today like those guys there that sound like someone's torturing cats." She looks over to the smaller stage where two perfectly dressed-up singers perform pieces of Chinese Opera with lavish gestures.

"Not seen him either," Cecily confirms. She follows Maya's gaze over to the smaller stage. "I don't know, I kinda of like it. Not so much cat-torturing. Different to the boring old country stuff you hear out in the boonies, anyway," she grins.

"Sure I did," Donna answers readily. "We all make mistakes as we learn new things." She considers the information about the performances, and the Chinese Opera, then asks Cecily, "where are you from? You too?" she wonders, since she still doesn't know that much about Maya.

Maya laughs. "Well if you don't like boring old country stuff from the boonies, find an excuse whenever Jude invites you to some gig of his.", she warns Cecily, "He's big on that stuff." She needs a moment to process Donna's question, then shrugs, smile fading again. "I'm from here."

Cecily laughs at Maya's advice. "I'll do that," she nods. To Donna's question, she gives a broad gesture up at the sky. "Everywhere and nowhere. Born on a spaceship, saw most of the 'Verse before I hit my teens. You?"

Donna gives Maya a slightly quizzical look, but doesn't press further on that question either. She nods, then takes in Cecily's answer, smiling a bit. "Born on Osiris, but I've flown around a lot too," she answers. There's nothing about her which would have made her seem like a Core-worlder. "Lived on Paquin a spell. New Melbourne. Now here."

Maya's eyes begin to wander while Donna is speaking, following two impossibly pretty slim Asian girls in perfectly fitting matching silver and red Cheongsams and stupidly high heels who seem to be heading towards an exit and the street. "Do we know when that horse is gonna happen?", she asks.

Cecily chuckles slightly. "Paquin, that takes me back," she says. "They have amazing brandy there," she adds, grinning as if at a private joke. She looks towards the horse as Maya mentions it, though. "It's supposed to 'happen'?"

Donna smirks lightly as Cecily reminisces about Paquin. "I wouldn't know, I don't drink," she says. "I lived in Accendo… which has nice beaches." She too glances at Maya, wondering the same thing. "I didn't know it was supposed to 'happen' either… though I can see they were doing more than just a quick display with it… the gears all look like they're attached to something." She had paused to admire the clockwork metal animal earlier.

"I talked to some guys earlier.", Maya explains, "We were discussing the machinery in the horse. Quite a few useful parts in there." Her eyes gleam briefly as if she's considering stealing the whole thing, "They said there's been a rehearsal yesterday, where the horse rose up to stand on its hind legs, but it was all rather creaky."

"I do like mechanical parts," Cecily grins at Maya. "It sure looks like a lot of work's gone into it, I'll give them that. Maybe just needs a bit of oil," she muses. "But hey, if there's going to be a demo, or a performance or something, I'm up for watching that. Sounds interesting."

Just then, a ring of streamers shoots up from around the horse to draw the crowd's attention. Things have gone quiet on the stages. Hawkers are still hawking their wares, but the attention definitely shifts center stage. A recorded whinny is heard. The horse's head moves first, then the lifted forepaw drops - the other rises - and the whole thing comes to life… bucking slightly in an almost-horse-like fashion. The head dips down, then the beast rears back on its hind legs just as Maya said. It doesn't even creak or struggle. The head lifts skywards, the forelegs wheel in the air, and it reaches full height over the ooh-ing crowd.

"Oh, and there it goes!" Donna exclaims, her attention just as riveted as everyone else.

"Hostia puta", Maya mutters, for one moment thoughtlessly slipping into another language she rarely uses these days. "That's one big bastard of a horse…" Having reached its full height, the horse remains in this impressive position for now, while the two pretty damsels in Cheongsams lead a fat Chinese guy in a black suit to the stage. Many would recognize him as the leader of the local Chinese business community, stupidly rich, fingers in many pies, not all of them legal. He's introduced by his Anglicized name Tony Weng and after the applause has died down, he starts into a speech in Chinese that after some long winded blabla ends in wishing them all a happy prosperous new year. Then the whole thing is repeated in English. Meanwhile, the horse begins to creak a little.

Cecily takes a step back as the streamers fly, her full attention on the horse now. As it rears and whinnies, she whistles in admiration and awe for the time and work that must have gone into crafting the machine, clapping and oohing along with the rest of the audience. "That's amazing!" As Mr Weng is led up on stage, she quietens down and listens. Her eyes narrow at certain points during his speech. She might not know of the man, but she can certainly read between the lines when certain things are said. Yes, he's definitely a 'business man'. By the time the speech turns to English, she's already heard and understand it all, and her attention drifts back to the now creaking horse.

A loud clunk reverberates from the horse. Its mouth opens and something metallic ejects out of the mouth, flying into those right up close, causing one person to cry out an "Oi!" as they all instinctively back away. There are some unhealthy grinding noises from within the neck of the metal beast, and another series of clunks. And then… the horse's breastplate pops off and a whole shower of gold coins pours rather unceremoniously onto the cobblestones in front of it. There's a beat, then someone shouts, "it's money!" And the rush is on.

"Go Neong Yung Duh," Donna mutters. "This is going to turn ugly."

Feds are quick to move in to try and stop the mob from getting at the coins. Weng is still on stage and makes a big gesture to try and keep people calm. "This is NOT money!", he shouts out, "Please wait!" Clearly things have not gone as planned. "These are lucky chips… some have numbers on them for lucky new year's lottery!" And, looking a little defeated, he adds: "Was gonna be a lucky fountain from horse's mouth…" Yea, that's not exactly helping as people now get their hopes up to score big in the lottery. The New Year's lottery holding fancy prices such as vehicles and fancy trips to other planets.

Cecily ducks as the first coin is ejected from the horse's mouth, her reflexes quick. A moment later, she realises what it was. "Aww, shit. Tian Fan Di Fu…. what idiot thought this was a good idea?" As someone tries to shove past her, she elbows them in the stomach. Going backwards is not gonna happen, and so she darts forward towards the horse. Getting under it, rather than on the ground in front of it grubbing for coins, is going to be safer. And of course, there's bound to be a stray coin or two rolled in the opposite direction that shouldn't be too hard to snag.

Donna freezes in place, looking around as the crowd rushes forward. She's taking stock of things… and not seeing a trash can, simply drops her meal to the ground to free up her hands. It quickly becomes mashed rice paste. She yelps as someone barrels into her, trying to get at the lottery ticket coin pile.

Maya isn't sure what to do either. But if fancy Chinese business types sponsor a lottery, surely there may be something good in it? She evades the rush for the main heap, but is able to scoop up a handful of coins near one of the horse's hind legs. All coins have the logo of one of the Chinese sponsors on one side. Many just say 'Happy New Year' on the other side. Some have a number. Maya drops four duds to the ground and pockets one with a number. While pondering what to do, she hears a very ominous creak nearby. All the commotion is making the horse sway. "This thing's falling over!", she shouts out.

Cecily looks up as the horse sways, her eyes wide. "Everyone, get out of the way!" she yells, repeating herself in Chinese. "It's gonna crush you!" She's already moving away herself, over people if need be.

Donna echoes Cecily's cries, trying to help people clear the area. "Stay calm and orderly. Walk quickly away!" she calls out, also repeating that in Chinese. She keeps her feet planted so she's near enough to the action to help… even as she tries to get everyone else backing away.

Try coming between a crowd and potential lottery winnings! Some have the good sense to value their lives more and start running away, others still try to scoop fistfuls of coins, even as the Feds start moving in with guns drawn to exercise their own brand of crowd control.

Maya moves away as well, gauging which way the horse will fall. Probably on the massagists' chairs and the fortune teller's tent. She didn't see THAT one coming.

Cecily gets herself a safe distance away, pressing herself up against a pillar to avoid getting jostled every which way. It also keeps her out of sight of the Feds, who she clearly does NOT want to get involved with. Circling around back of the pillar, she looks down at the few coins she managed to snag to see if any have numbers on them. If they do, the coins go in her pocket. If not, they get flicked to the ground.

Donna keeps on trying to get people clear of the area, safely, with some amount of success. Those who value their health more than a few bub, anyway, are clear of the beast now, leaving a few daring Feds trying to get at the truly crazy who now see the remaining pile of coins as theirs… all theirs…

Aaaand then the horse can no longer keep its balance, crashing down to one side, taking the massage stand, the tent, two food stalls and even a part of the stage with it. Screams abound as a few unfortunates get buried amid the pile of metal. Even those further away scream at this terribly inauspicious start of the new year. But there are more Feds moving in now, trying to get things under control. Maya emerges from where she had been hiding. The fallen horse's head isn't far away and right now nobody seems to be paying attention to it, so she sneaks closer to see what may be salvaged.

It seems Cecily is of the same mind as Maya, when it comes to taking advantage of a messy situation. The Feds are too busy dealing with the crazies and the unfortunates, and with attention diverted elsewhere, she crawls under the uncollapsed part of the stage and out the other side, by the horse remnants.

Donna watches the horse topple, and sets into motion as well… straight for the tents and the wreckage where screams were heard.

Chaos abounds with all the screaming and by now several injured people, a few seriously squashed from falling horse parts, others being stepped on or elbowed harshly in the crush. The Feds are still trying to shoo the last hopeful stragglers away from the coins. Volunteers are starting to arrive to help. With all that's going on, nobody notices Maya emerging by the horse's head… except for Cecily who seems to have had the same thought. "Are we gonna fight about this or will you help me carry this thing?", she asks the other woman with a spark in her eyes.

Cecily grins at Maya, her own eyes bright. "We can both carry it somewhere less conspicuous, so we don't get caught mid-argument about who gets what," she retorts. "Down behind Shao's? Not his place or he'll want a stake. But it's close and quiet."

Donna wades in, and since nobody is taking charge yet and she has experience with this sort of thing, she assigns herself that role. "You two, get that tent open, see who's hurt there. You, help people away that can stand and walk. Gather them THERE to be checked," she points to a spot on the other side of the ruined stage. "You, help with that and get a nice clear area there for the wounded. And," she looks around, picking a young man to instruct firmly, "You… RUN to the clinic and tell them we need a level one response here, now. Level one," she repeats, "Dong ma?"

Clearly everyone is happy that SOMEONE is taking charge and Donna will be obeyed, people scattering this way and that way, with the young guy scurrying off to the clinic quickly. "I'm a doctor.", an elderly Chinese man in sober grey pajamas suddenly announces, turning up at Donna's elbow. "What can I do?"

Maya nods her agreement to Cecily. "Yea, let's get the fuck away from here. I don't think we can carry this shit all the way to the Docks, but if we manage to hide, I'll run and get a MULE.", she says and gives the horse's neck a good kick, so the head comes loose. She tugs at some cables to liberate it completely, then looks at Cecily. "Ready?"

Cecily gives an assist to pull the head clear of the body, and then lifts, putting her knees and back into it. "And *lift*," she says. Which Maya doesn't. "I said lift. Or I'm gonna be dragging this gorram thing across the cobbles, and that's gonna draw attention."

Donna turns and looks at the doctor gratefully. "Oh, good. I'm a nurse," she informs him. No need for names. "We need to check on the people who are pinned. Make sure none of them are bleeding out, and start to assess who we can move. I have others moving the ambulatory to triage over there. I can run that in a minute, while you start tending people, but I'm still assessing." And she starts moving toward the first pinned person she can safely reach.

The doctor nods calmly and begins moving as well, starting to boss some volunteers around to make them move broken bits of metal horse carefully and free two young men trapped underneath. One has a metal shard sticking in his leg like a dagger, the other has been knocked unconscious and is bleeding from a wound to the temple.

Meanwhile Maya tries her best to lift the gorram thing, but she isn't all that strong. She ends up pushing and shoving the head, directing Cecily to a stretch of quiet deserted space behind the tents. If only they can reach the far end of Liberty Square. "There's big bushes there, where we can hide.", she pants between two shoves, followed by a string of colourful Spanish.

Cecily puffs and pants as they get closer to the tents. Seems like her first heft was pure adrenaline, and now she's flagging. Between herself and the equally weedy Maya, it's pure blind luck and chaos that no-one has shouted out yet. The bushes are tantalisingly close.

Donna keeps working with the doctor - and the medical team that arrives from the clinic eventually - to help the wounded. (Knowing Maya's about to drop, don't have to keep my thread going.)

By mere dint of willpower Maya makes it to the bushes along with Cecily and the massive horse's head. It goes clang, when it's dropped to the ground, but they seem to have got away with it. "Stay here, don't move.", Maya whispers, "I'll be back with a MULE." And off she goes, first walking, then running towards the Docks, trying to avoid all the people moving into the opposite direction coming to gawk at the drama that happened in Liberty Square.

Cecily nods at Maya. "I'll be here," she says. She watches un just long enough to ensure the other woman doesn't look back, and then runs a couple of quick calculations in her head - the speed of a running Maya, the rate the crowd slows her down, the distance to the docks, and the speed of a MULE. She comes up with a figure she likes, and hurriedly pulls her tools out of her leather bag, setting to work on the mechanical horse's head. In a surprisingly short amount of time she's cannibalised the thing, shoved parts into her bag and her pockets, and fled into the crowds away from the sound of an approaching MULE.

When Maya arrives she finds the bushes empty except at for some scattered debris of the horse's head. For a moment, she just stares, then she mutters some curses and her eyes assume a dangerous glint. "Oh just you wait.", she mutters and looks back to the main square, but she knows she'S now too late to try and salvage some more of the horse. So she chucks what's left of the head into the MULE and returns back to the Docks.

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