Down Among the Worms

Down Among the Worms Chapter of Beneath Cold Boughs
The streets of Presidents Row
Chapter 2 of The Widening Gyre
Chronology
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In Bloom	Seeping Through the Skin

Diana and Jane encounter someone who may actually know what has happened to them, and Condor Acquisitions gains a new contract as a first step toward Empire.

What Happened

After some final discussion with Suleiman - in which the three learned that he was concerned about Willowgate and Ormwood Development, and would be very interested in any information that could be uncovered - they finally left the unsettling silence of the abandoned school. The lights and life of the city bloomed about them as they drove through the gates, leaving a very ordinary looking building behind, nothing like the abandoned relic they had met Suleiman in.

The next morning, Jane had her first day of work for Condor Acquisitions and was privy to Diana's grand plan to find whoever owns what throughout the city so that she can leverage and buy them out and climb to the top rather than scurrying in the dirt and ruins as fools like Suleiman seemed to. To that end, Jane was set to work finding suitable property to acquire in Harton, Lockham and Manton, and she interpretted this as an excuse to get out of the office.

It in breezy, boho streets of Harton that she smelled it. The sharp-sweet tang of suffering. It hung in the long shadows cast by the great sycamore in the heart of Moth Park and as Jane drew closer a half-seen mirage found her - two figures, low and loping between two and four limbs, chased a third, a woman, through foliage and hedgerow until they set upon her and savaged her before laughing and leaving her, wounded and alone. Unsettled by the experience, Jane caught the eye of a concerned passer by, a congenial older man who introduced himself as Peter Grey who had seen nothing of Jane's vision but listened to her words without judgement. When she asked about strange things happening in the park, he grew quiet for a moment before telling her about a girl who had been found dead in the culvert a couple of years previously. Such a tragedy, dying so young.

After the conversation died and they parted ways, Jane continued into Harton, noting buildings and wondering how exactly she was supposed to find suitable places for Condor to buy when she saw a bookshop. The bookshop, the one mentioned by Suleiman. Inside was an eclectic mix of academic books, literature and esoterica, a scattering of browsing consumers, and a tall woman who Jane knew was like her. After letting Jane call in Diana in, the woman - Nicole Morgan - spun a tale about being "monsters, beasts of nightmares and legends wrapped in human flesh", of Hungers and the need to feed them or risk being ruled by them, and of a Dark Mother who they were all Children of. Diana was nonplussed and had no time to talk anyway as was running late for a meeting.

- lunch with Meg. Diana feeds by forcing deals, intends to buy up chunk of the Row in under a month for 1.45x market rate of properties when she sells back - travel to the Row - Halligans (silence the barman, creep out Jayden, glare at MAGAhat), Paulsens (things not go well but turned around), Farellis (win him by offering expansion that is a buy out, tasted human blood, faint blood chain from his neck)

People Encountered (in order of appearance)

• Diana Graves
• Jane Barrows
• Suleiman - discussed matters of Ormwood, Willowgate and the tree.
• Mel - drove the three back from their meeting with Suleiman
• Peter Grey (First appearance) - concerned by Jane's reaction to something he could not see.
• Nicole Morgan (First appearance) - encountered by Jane by chance when she stumbled into the White Raven, told Jane and Diana something of themselves.
• Megan Roth - formalised the Presidents Row contract with Condor, and was squashed under Diana's Hunger.
• Joe Halligan (First appearance) - shocked into silence by Diana in an effort to force a sale later.
• Jayden Green (First appearance) - resisted having a wedge driven between himself and his boss by Diana and Jane.
• Tom Paulsen (First appearance) - talked big, implied threats and called Diana a bullshit artist, may be ameanable to a pricier buyout.
• Emanuel Farelli (First appearance) - pleasant fellow, chatted toward the idea of expanding the business.

Locations

• Moth Park - worn-down inner city park dominated by an immense sycamore, where Jane saw afterimages of a woman hunted and met Peter Gray.
• White Raven - independent book shop in Harton, large selection of classics, academia and "esoterica".
• Garcia's - hipsterish sandwich house in Harton.
• Presidents Row
  • Halligans
  • Paulsen Loans
  • Farelli's

Notes

• Diana fed her Hunger for the first time, forcing a deal out of Meg