Thread Roulette: No Respect for the Law

[Event !]

Neither Joshua Bernstein nor Janice Adams are meta-human, although, ironically, their law clerk possesses invisibility. However, their office wasn't targeted for that. Rather, they were targeted because they represent meta-humans in civil rights cases, and because Mister Bernstein's relationship with notorious telepath (captured on the news during the Bash) Sean Neville is not remotely a secret.

When Sean found out about the vandalism, he volunteered to go himself, and Layla Montgomery offered to come along.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

The string of vandalism had gone on for far too long, noticeably targeting meta-human-owned establishments; it was as frustrating as it was deeply disconcerting, particularly in light of the emboldened prejudice against other minority groups across the United States. Ever since the first attack on Cecil’s bar, Hammel, and assorted people associated with the Pilot Ridge Police Department and the local government, had been on alert for more targeted vandalism.

Reports trickled in.

That morning, there had been an early staff meeting at Hammel, at which point they had received news of the event. Josh had not yet reached work, and so the telepath had called his partner, told him not to go by the office, did the same with Janice and Damien, and then volunteered to take care of the cleanup. Sean took this personally, far more than the other vandalism incidents, because this was Josh’s office.

Since Yvette had advocated at each past occurrence that they go in pairs, Sean had asked if anyone wanted to come with him. Layla had agreed, and so the psychiatrist drove them both out to the familiar building downtown, parking in Janice’s empty space. The spray-painted hate speech and scattered trash came into view immediately, and Sean frowned to himself. “I’ll get the trash bags out of the trunk if you can start taking pictures with your phone?”

He presumed everyone used their phones these days and that he was the only one who still used a digital camera.

[Layla Montgomery]

Layla had lived in Pilot Ridge almost her entire life, and she’d never been ashamed of her tiny hometown. Not until now. Broken windows, spray-painted graffiti, amongst several other types of vandalism; the entire situation was so appalling. Maybe she was still a little naive, but it was hard to believe that some of the people in Pilot Ridge could be so angry and so prejudiced.

Thankfully, her father’s dental practice was more towards the outskirts of the town, so it had yet to be a target. Layla was hoping that it would stay that way, and that all of this would just run it’s course and blow over before it reached that far.

The staff meeting this morning was concerning though, and it appeared that nothing was just going to blow over, and it was, in fact, getting worse. She’d offered to drive down with Dr. Neville after they’d received the news that his partner’s law practice had become a target.

Layla grimaced when she saw the hateful messages painted across the brick wall, trash strewn across the ground next to it, and all around the building. She’d lived here a long time, amongst several other places, but she’d never seen anything like this before, even when she was living in Connecticut for school, or even in Paris. She really didn’t even know Joshua Bernstein, but it still all just felt so personal.

“Alright.” Layla nodded, fishing around in her bag for her cell phone before getting out of the passenger seat.