Event- Siren

[apocalypsehowmods]

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Siren

➥ The Public Eye

(cw: potential body dysmorphia, loss of control, human-caused pollution, animals in distress/animal cruelty/injury to animals (specifically seabirds for one small portion of this prompt), body horror, uncanny valley)

Like most towns of an appreciable size in America, Gloucester, MA, is graced with something of an overabundance of video cameras. Perhaps even more-so than most small towns given the presence of ADI and the supernatural phenomenon that regularly plague the place. The mechanical eyes gaze silently out at the world, sentinels or sneaks, gathering information. And there is something very, very wrong with them.

It's not every camera. It's not even consistent among cameras, but every so often, perhaps related to whatever hacker has already been causing problems, something shifts. Those walking nearby (or even far from) a video camera will find their consciousness momentarily ripped from their bodies and transported into the camera's viewer. There, they'll be granted the vision of the camera, whether that's grainy black and white, full color, or maybe even night-vision. For those lucky enough to be transported to a camera near their own bodies, they will be able to see themselves twitching, moving irregularly, as if something is trying to gain control.

There seems to be no way to control the camera they're in. It is stationary or perhaps it moves in a set turning motion. Those trapped within have no control for the minute or so they seem to be transported. If they can take a moment to calm themselves and take advantage of this new perspective, of course… there might be rather interesting things to see, including:

• A massive, scaled form moving out in the deep water off of Gloucester's shoreline. With the night-vision capabilities granted by these particular visions, those trapped might even catch sight of strange figures swimming near the impossibly large creature. They throw… something at it and the vast creature thrashes, kicking up enormous waves that rocket toward the coast.
  
  
• Piles of garbage are cast up onto the beaches by some of the rogue waves that seem to be kicking up. Some of them move and almost appear to have a humanoid form before they simply fall apart, becoming a pile of simple rubbish.
  
  
• Unidentifiable figures in dark clothes are moving around the city at night, spray painting eyes in alleyways, across buildings, anywhere they can find that cameras might be able to see. If someone were to catch a glimpse as they were just finishing up their artwork, they might notice that the spray painted eye blinks.
  
  
• A small growth of horrible, lamb-esque plant creatures seems to have cropped up in an alleyway near Things of Beauty, one of the curiosity stores in town. There aren't a lot of them and they seem to be small and young. They're also in an out-of-the way spot that might be difficult to notice for more people.
  
  
• A group of youths appears to have found a weak point in the fencing around Dogtown. As dusk descends, they can be seen traveling into the closed park. It would seem some refuse to be deterred by law enforcement and ADI.
  
  
• Head of ADI Security, Neil Grace, seems to be spending his lunch hour on Tuesdays and Thursdays entering into an unmarked building to do… something. He enters and exits completely alone.
  
  
• Non-native (recently demoted) PR person, Reyes Amador, seems to be in some remote back alley in town some evenings. They have a large fishing hook that may be familiar to anyone who saw the flayed bodies on the beach. They also have a caged seagull with them. There's clear upset on their face as they reach into the cage and manage to plant the hook into the bird before quickly shutting and locking the cage. The bird goes wild within its confines, attempting to attack Reyes as they cover their face and appear to cry to themselves.
  
  

➥ Rogue Wave

(cw: thassalophobia, large creatures, drowning, flooding, (un)natural disasters, human-caused pollution, animals in distress/injury to animals)

rogue wave (n.) a random, enormous ocean wave that sometimes travels at an angle to prevailing seas.

The beaches are closed.

To be fair, the beaches have been closed since bodies started washing up on shore and left ADI's PR department working overtime to keep the grim scene out of national news. Now, though, the problem is rapidly becoming more vast than what horrors the sea dumps ashore: the ocean itself seems to be trying to relocate inland. The first rogue wave to hit the harbor early in the morning on August 16 is devastating enough on its own, battering boats against their docks and drowning one unfortunate fisherman who was swept out with the wave when it retreated. That incident alone would have been a freak occurrence, a tragic and frightening tale but ultimately a mundane one born of the unpredictability of the natural world.

But then the next rogue wave hits, and the next after that, and the next after that. They're not regular or predictable; the waves don't hit in the same place each time or at regular times. One day might be a reprieve of calm, and the next see massive waves battering the coast one after another. Gloucester is taking a beating, and the rest of the region is suffering along with the city. Homes and businesses on waterfront property are left abandoned in the face of unpredictable, uncaring destruction, and flooding extends inland. The air in Gloucester is thick with salt and humidity, the ground increasingly soggy underfoot as one nears the sea. ADI sends out custodial crews to batten down and place sandbags at headquarters and the housing complex. Thanks to ongoing repair efforts, Bonnie's Flophouse is, for once, not flooded, though Bonnie and the Visionary are pessimistically preparing for the eventuality of having to evacuate their basement apartment once again. Neighbors around Gloucester are in similar distress; for the civic-minded there is no end of work for volunteers in water-proofing buildings or helping salvage that which has already flooded.

The why of it all will take some legwork to discover. Within a few days ADI manages to spin up a story about seismological disturbances on the ocean floor, which...actually isn't that far from the truth, as far as anyone can initially tell. The rogue waves all originate from roughly the same patch of open ocean, and the best view from shore is at the far end of Coffin Beach. Investigators are strongly cautioned to have an escape plan to reach high ground at a moment's notice, and anyone known to lack outdoor survival skills will be officially discouraged from going. Observation efforts will be hit or miss; one might strain one's eyes for hours and see nothing but a few erratic ocean swells.

Get lucky enough to see more, and your luck might quickly run out. The creature that appears offshore might be mistaken for a whale breaching in the first few seconds, before one realizes that the shape is wrong, what one mistook for the whale's body resolving into the reptilian head of a serpent whose body goes on and on and on, heralding the realization that it is so much further away than one first thought. The creature is impossibly huge, a leviathan that could swallow a cargo ship whole. Its coils rise from the surface of the ocean before crashing back down with a low, bone-rattling bellow of pain. From this distance the human-sized creatures that surround it and provide the apparent source of its distress are mere specks.

Hope you remember your exit plan. A mere flick of this serpent's tail would be enough to capsize a ship, and this is a full-body thrash of pain. The waves offshore swell as the creature submerges, a wall of dark water heading all too quickly toward the beach, carrying yet more garbage with it.

➥ Thicker Than Water

(cw: thassalophobia, large creatures, claustrophobia, blood, siren sounds in the first link, hallucinated death)

Though few, the towering forms of the signal tower creatures still stalk about the edges of the town, largely still and passive but for the blaring tones they occasionally cause. They could almost be forgotten about, a new and eerie installation to Gloucester's skyline but nothing too distressing as long as you don’t look up, right? At least until the day a new sound issues from some of the phones.

The effect is immediate. The smell of rusted metal and a gentle chirp of electronic equipment mixing with a less than comforting creek of metal on all sides. One second you’re on the city street and the next, you’re in the cramped and stale-aired interior of a submarine. Large pipes line the sides of the sub and two bare-bulbs in metal cages light the interior with a harsh glare. Oxygen and depth meters frame the single porthole window to the outside above an instrument panel that displays coordinates, a compass, and simple controls for piloting the rust-encrusted submarine.

When you look around, the back of the sub is only a few paces away, the space clearly meant for no more than one or two people. At the back is a small, blank, video display surrounded by additional pressure gauges. A large map sits beside it, the topography of it faded and nearly useless, but the lines of the coordinate grid can just be made out. Between the map and the display, is a rectangular button backlit in dull orange. When pressed, the display struggles to life with a whirring sound before finally displaying an image of the empty ocean ahead in black and white.

Luckily, you’re not alone here and you and your new partner can quickly find instructions laying around; though, the edges seem warped and encrusted with a rust-red and flaky substance. It’s an easy task: move to the listed coordinates and angle, snap a picture of the anomaly, move on to the next. Simple. You certainly don’t seem to have much of a choice as any hatches appear to be welded shut and the forward window is covered by a sheet of metal as the sub lurches to life. Though, not before you perhaps notice the ocean outside isn’t a deep blue as you might expect, but an unsettling red.

Probably fine.

Eventually, you reach depth and idle, the submarine now left in your capable hands. Those more willing to explore will find the ocean around them entirely unfamiliar. While rocky outcroppings make maneuvering hazardous, there’s also the odd, sharp plantlife to consider and the occasional tube-like shapes that wave about and knock against the sub like over-eager worms. Those particularly lucky might even catch sight of something else out there. Something unfathomably huge. Whether the pair of you decide to follow instructions or not, in time, the creaking of the metal sharpens and feels as if it presses in on you, like it might just crumble. Seams warp and shift and the bottom of the sub begins to slowly fill with a thick, fresh, blood.

The oxygen meter steadily drops and as you move or don’t, something seems to knock against the outside of the metal walls, surely too thin to protect you from whatever lurks outside. Which will get to you first: whatever lives in blood or the threat of suffocation? Perhaps if you finish your task quickly, you won’t need to find out.

➥ Nereid

(cw: human-caused pollution, animals in peril, potential animal death, potential drowning)
(Additional Note: Thank you to Alexis, Katrina's player, for reviewing and contributing to this prompt.)

It's taken a few days to arrange for the boat and organize their forces, but an expedition out into deeper water is underway, spearheaded by Katrina, to investigate the flayed bodies that have been washing up on shore. Sable, ADI's primary contact at the Docks, has volunteered her small vessel for the task. It might be dangerous, but with the waves lashing Gloucester's banks and infrastructure, it's either help with this or deal with the fact she's not going to have a place to do business in town soon.

With the bodies cropping up at night, volunteers who take to the water are outfitted with night-vision goggles, harpoon spears, knives, and nets. However, the boat heads out during the day for anyone there to freedive. "This is not race for speed or depth," Katrina advises. "Be calm. Do not waste breath or strength. Save both for when you fight. If creatures here are like ones from my home, they are strong, and they fight. Do not swim here if you are afraid. Do not push your body." For weaker swimmers, there's plenty to do on the boat under Sable's watchful eye. Keeping a lookout, prepping the nets in case there's something that needs to be hauled aboard, and spotting and disentangling sea creatures that might need some help with whatever plastic or line that's been caught on them are the primary duties.

The boat sets anchor, keeping an eye out for any rogue waves, and it's into the water for the freedivers. The first thing that becomes abundantly clear is that there is a lot of trash off the coast of Gloucester. Far more than seems reasonable, in fact. It's as though someone tipped a cargo ship containing heaps of the stuff out nearby. The second thing to become clear is that at least some of the trash is alive. The mermaids, if you could call them that, seem to be made of the stuff. Their long fingers are made of hooks and broken bits of metal, their webbing is plastic bags and discarded netting, their hair is fishing line and wires. Whatever has been thrown into the ocean has been pulled together into these merciless beings. Any diver grabbed by one will need to think quickly and fight hard to escape, or they'll find themselves rapidly pulled deeper, limbs entangled.

It's not a completely one-sided fight. The harpoon spears seem to stun them momentarily when pieces are knocked apart or off. But it's getting a net over the mermaids and hauling them up into the open air that seems to kill them. Mermaids raised out of the water for more than a few seconds break apart into lifeless trash. Maybe get some trash skimmers. There's a lot of clean-up to do out here.

➥ Mod Notes

• GENERAL - Players are welcome to play background NPCs for themselves when they are needed in a thread. If you need more information on general behavior for these types of NPCs, please feel free to ask! In general, the information provided in the prompts should be sufficient and ordinary people will act like… ordinary people! Although, the people of Gloucester seem to be becoming more and more aware of supernatural phenomenon and they are frightened by it. You're welcome to make up any details beyond that for your specific scene. Also, please remember that character deaths are permanent and plan accordingly!
  
  
• THE PUBLIC EYE (16-31 August) - Characters who do not have actual bodies can still have their consciousness hijacked and pulled into a camera. In those instances, if they can see where their 'body' was, they'll simply be able to see the device that their ghostly form is usually attached to. This seems to be an entirely supernatural phenomenon with no coding or commands being executed to cause this. Cameras that are checked will appear to be completely ordinary to the technological eye. Those who might have some kind of supernatural sense that they are feeding might get some read off of various cameras that indicate they might be about to snag someone's consciousness. The various items that characters observe in cameras are welcome to be followed up on. For prompts that involve unnamed NPCs, players are welcome to assume interactions and take control of those NPCs. Anyone wishing to try to fix something (like the vegetable lamb infestation) will be encouraged to take care of it directly by ADI with another team member. Named NPCs can be found and/or confronted in the NPC Top Level below.
  
  
• ROGUE WAVE (16-31 August) - Characters will have the opportunity to assist locals in a variety of ways; players are welcome to invent their own scenarios for assisting local residents and businesses (as well as shoring up ADI property) and play any unnamed NPCs as desired. Characters who are able to get a better look at the serpent through magical or technological means will see that it has fishhooks and other detritus stabbed into its scales and that the creatures harassing it are the same mermaids seen in the Nereid prompt. The serpent's thrashing and subsequent rogue waves will diminish as the mermaids are killed off following the events of that prompt.
  
  
• THICKER THAN WATER (16-31 August) - No more than two characters will be trapped in the submarine at the same time, players are welcome to come up with alien plant life and structures they might find in the camera, but there will be very little life found beyond the encounters with the leviathan. Bones of impossibly huge creatures, brief snaps of a fin or a scale, huge teeth, and other such oddities may also be spotted at the listed coordinates. Characters can either finish the assignment or simply wait it out, but the pressure will increase, filling the chamber slowly with blood. Before they can drown, however, the sub will be crushed either through pressure or through the jaws of the creature, and characters will find themselves suddenly jolted awake again where they’d been before the siren sounded. No time (or very little time) appears to have passed. They will be unharmed; though, they might find blood still lingering under their nails or trickling from the corner of their mouths or eyes.
  
  
• NEREID (19 August) - Sable's boat, the Minx is a large vessel with plenty of room for as many characters as might like to come on this adventure. Characters do not have to get into the water and will be relatively safe as long as they stay in the boat. Sea creatures tangled with the garbage include things like seabirds, sea turtles, and even a few dolphins, seals, and sharks. Sable will be able to guide characters on how to safely catch creatures to free them or to help them from a safe distance. There's plenty of deck space for if and when characters need to start hauling up mermaids. Once characters provide info on what's going on, ADI will take efforts to start a large-scale clean-up operation with multiple rented vessels to dispose of the mermaids. Players are welcome to have their characters assisting with those endeavors throughout the end of the month.

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Comments

[clavesregni]

[She glances over her shoulder the way she came before reluctantly taking a few steps back.]

Thank you. That's very, um. Helpful. [She backs around the corner, turns her back to the mysterious building, and scowls in frustration before walking a few yards away.

She's not ready to give up yet, though. She'll just wait a few minutes, and then try rounding the corner again and go looking for that door she's seen Neil go in and out of.]

[apocalypsehownpcs]

[He waits a moment and then heads inside.

By the time she gets to the door, it's...nothing special, really. A worn metal door with no window, just a round knob and a bit of rust creeping around the top edge where defect in the metal has split.

If she tries it, she'll find it's unlocked and leads into a wide, open space. A metal catwalk lines part of the room, the stairs for which rest just to her left. Boxes and tubs line the other side of the wall and a small gathering of people are mingled at the center of the room around a couple long tables, most not seeming to pay the door or her much mind.]

[clavesregni]

[She will indeed try the door, and, finding it unlocked, slips inside. She's not expecting such a wide open space. No one seems to be looking at her now, but if she made her way towards those boxes and tried to hide behind them, she's sure someone would notice.

The only other way to play this is to be as direct as possible. She pulls off the hat and, shoulders very stiff, hands clenched down at her side, makes her way towards the group, looking for Neil.]

[apocalypsehownpcs]

[He stands out in the group, tall as he is. More noticeable as she approaches, is the age range of the people he's gathered with. While a few other adults number among the group, handing out small bundles of clothing, pouring over some papers on one of the long tables, or tending to a number of cots that can just be seen beyond some dividers, the majority of those gathered here are kids. Mostly teenagers, but a few younger children as well.

The older ones help with setting up what appears to be a modest lunch of hot dogs and burgers on paper plates. Neil stands at the large table there, going over some paper on a clipboard. A small child at his side notices Caitlyn and tugs on Neil's shirt. He glances down to her, then up to Caitlyn.]

Loose your way to the restaurant?

[clavesregni]

[This whole affair is appearing less and less like some sort of underhanded conspiracy-related business. She hasn't entirely put together what's going on here, but it's not the sinister meeting of hooded figures in a dimly lit room that she was half-expecting. It's probably better to come clean than to dig herself deeper into a hole.]

Yes, I... I apologize. I, um.

[She glances down awkwardly at the little girl. How best to put this so as not to raise the suspicions of everyone in the room who might hear them? Is Neil even aware of what's been going on with the cameras?]

As a result of certain... circumstances related to several of the cameras around town, I couldn't help but notice you entering this building. And as part of my work with our mutual employer, I took it upon myself to... investigate. I apologize for misrepresenting my intentions, I... [She looks around awkwardly again, noting the details of the clothes, the paperwork, the cots, the food.] I apologize.

[apocalypsehownpcs]

[He watches her, his expression unsurprised, but attentive. Maybe a little impressed.

He nods and crouches down to offer the little girl his clipboard with performative solemnity.]

Can I trust you to finish up here? Check these boxes here and here...and then put this away, okay? [She puffs up her chest and nods. He smiles and stands again once the clipboard's been passed over.] You've got this.

[His attention moves back to Caitlyn and he nods for her to follow him towards the stairs to the catwalk.]

Come on, let's talk more. I want to hear about your experience with the cameras.

[clavesregni]

[Caitlyn's suspicions have been almost entirely allayed at this point, so she sees no reason not to tell him everything. She speaks in a low whisper, glancing at everyone they pass on their way to the stairs to make sure no one's eavesdropping.]

It's difficult to describe. It's as though, for a few moments, I was the camera. It was disorienting, to say the least. I was looking through the camera outside that door, and I saw you entering. Twice. Last Tuesday and last Thursday, to be precise. Of course, I noted where I was at the time. Where my body was physically. I can show you...

[She pulls out a physical map of the city, on which she's drawn a couple of X's, and her phone, on which she has photographs of the locations she'd been when she found herself pulled into the camera. Her awkwardness is rapidly fading, replaced by the enthusiasm of talking about a mystery.]

I didn't know where this building was, and simply returning to those locations failed to replicate the effect, so I knew I had to explore the surrounding area if I wanted to find it. I drew circles around each of the two locations. [She points on the map.] Of course, I had no idea what the radius of the effect could be, but I began by assuming it was fairly small, since I could always expand the search area later. I began exploring the overlap between the two circles a couple of days ago, and then today I found you and began following you.

[apocalypsehownpcs]

[Neil looks over everything she points out once they're safely on the metal catwalk and away from anyone who might overhear, and goes over every notation and mark on her map with an appraising eye. Finally, he nods.]

This is very good work. Thorough and, more importantly: thoughtful. With a few more points of data, you might be able to triangulate a potential source, if there's a physical cause, anyway. Either that or at least confirm how far outside the city limit this reaches.

[He looks over at her.] You did all this on your own?

[clavesregni]

[Caitlyn has a defense on the tip of her tongue, fully expecting to be admonished for following him. But instead, to her surprise, he compliments her work.]

Oh. Y- yes. I did.

[How does one handle praise? She hasn't had much practice. The authority figures in her life have been sparing with it since her mentor died more than seven years ago. So she simply pivots back to the work. That's much easier to talk about.]

As I said, I haven't been able to replicate the effect, so I'll need to speak with others to see if they've had similar experiences. That would allow me to deduce any patterns that might indicate what triggers the cameras to behave this way - provided it's not completely random - as well as the source. [Of course, with the Entities involved, there may not be a trigger, or a source, or anything that can be deduced in the normal fashion. But this is the only way she knows how to solve problems.]

[apocalypsehownpcs]

I'm impressed.

[He leans his arms against the railing and looks over to her, his expression warm, but not coddling.]

You have a good process and keen mind for this. I know you're involved with investigations and I'm glad you are.

Definitely talk to whoever you can who might have gone through the same thing, but then I recommend putting your heads together with them. A sharp mind can still grow dull left on its own, you know.

[He looks back to the room of kids below.]

Besides, relying on each other is how we get through day-to-day.

[clavesregni]

[Caitlyn quietly folds the map and slips it and her phone back into her pocket before approaching the railing and looking down over the room.]

What is it you do here? [Her tone isn't suspicious at all, merely curious. Any suspicions she once had about Neil have been entirely replaced by a growing sense of trust. Perhaps even admiration. He reminds her an awful lot of Grayson.]

[apocalypsehownpcs]

[He shifts, quiet just a beat too long.]

Most of those kids down there are runaways. Bad story at home, or no home, or the system lost them through the cracks. There's good people here who started trying to help. They were holing up in here anyway, it only took a few resources and few trustworthy faces to set something like a safety net up.

[He looks back over to her and nods towards the table of people bent over maps who now seem to be breaking for lunch.]

We feed them, clothe them, house them, sometimes even find them new homes or jobs for the ones old enough. Those that need out of town, we get them there too.

[clavesregni]

I'd like to help, if I can.

[She hates the thought of children, especially as young as some of the ones she can see, having nowhere to go and being in such dire straits that they have to live in a place like this.

She glances over at him.]

Though I'm not sure... They told me not to get too close to anyone. That if I spend too much time with anyone from this world, something bad might happen to that person.

[apocalypsehownpcs]

[What smile he'd been wearing fades by degrees.]

Yeah...yeah, they say that. We say that. And I know people it's happened to, but they don't get a lot of donations here. If I don't help them, who will? That's part of why I try to get them out of town, if I can. Figure the further away they are, the less likely they'll get noticed.

[clavesregni]

Are you... [She lowers her voice conspiratorially, suddenly very aware that they're having a conversation that no one else should hear on a catwalk in full view of anyone who might look up, despite the distance between them and the floor below.] ...from another world too?

[apocalypsehownpcs]

[A surprised laugh escapes him and he shakes his head.]

No. No, born and raised a state South of here. Maryland.

[The laughter fades and, while the smile stays, something distant enters his expression. Like he's only half still with her and half in his thoughts.]

Met a beautiful woman, settled down...no, I'm about as Earth circa now as they come.

[clavesregni]

[She wants to ask him what happened to the woman, how he ended up here, working for ADI, but his tone, the look on his face... she barely knows him, she doesn't want to pry into something that sounds so personal.

Instead, after a quiet moment of watching the people milling about on the floor, she nods to him.]

I suppose I'd better be going. I'll be sure to continue my inquiries, and if there is a source, I'll find it.

[She nods again, hestitating before she leaves. She's not an enforcer anymore, and he's not her commanding officer, but he's exactly the sort of person she wishes had been her commanding officer, and some part of her brain that's still in the enforcer mindset is waiting to be dismissed.

But that's silly, so she snaps herself out of it and turns to leave.]

[apocalypsehownpcs]

You know where to find me if you need anything, Caitlyn. I'll see you back at ADI.

[He nods a bit in response. They both had plenty to do.

As she turns to leave he looks over towards her.]

Oh...and work on that disguise, alright? Especially if you're gonna follow someone whose job is being the head of security.

[clavesregni]

Yes! Yes, of course. I will. [She really has to fight the urge to call him 'sir.'

Once again, she turns to leave, but another question occurs to her.

She turns back.]

Do you know who monitors the camera outside? The one I saw you through. Even if it is sometimes coopted by supernatural forces, there must be someone who put it there and keeps track of the... of the video. [Video is still a relatively new concept for her. At some point she'll have to ask someone how the cameras around town actually work.]

[apocalypsehownpcs]

[His brows raise as he considers her question.] Not sure which one you saw me through. Though, if it's a shop camera, obviously it'll belong to them. If it's just one out on the street ones, then the city owns it, so you'd have better luck asking at the police station.

[He pauses a second, seeming to weigh his options as he looks her over, then reaches into his back pocket to pull out his wallet. From it he pulls a simple business card with no logo on it, just his name and phone number and printed signature.]

Take this with you if you go to ask, I know a couple people there. Don't go snooping around, don't draw attention to yourself, just straight to the point. Keep in mind: they might not keep the footage very long before taping over it and, if it does have anything substantial on it, it might be corrupted anyway.

[His tone is clear: don't get too hopeful.]

[clavesregni]

[She takes the card from him, looking at it for a long moment.]

I'm not sure the police care for me very much, [she admits ruefully.] I've already been snooping about a bit. Just trying to help. I'm a police offer myself. I was. Back home. But without a badge, no one will listen to me. They said I was 'trespassing' and 'interfering in an investigation.'

[She recognizes that by giving her his card, he's putting a certain amount of trust in her. He'd be vouching for her, if she showed it to the police. And she'd rather not have him place his reputation on the line simply for her inquiry.

She holds the card back to him.] If you'd rather not have me show this to them, given how they feel about me, I understand.

[apocalypsehownpcs]

[He nods a bit.]

To them, you probably were. Our 'jurisdiction' is very specific.

[He takes the card, but holds it up a moment.]

I'll take this back, but only because I think you can do plenty without it. Don't be so quick to turn away good resources when they're offered, even if they're complicated, you never know what you might need.

[clavesregni]

Y-yes, but I-- [She cuts herself off as he takes the card back.

Instead, she simply listens to his advice. He does make a fair point.]

I'll keep that in mind. Thank you.

[Another nod and she turns to leave.]