*is having a frayed morning, herself* *arrived on site at the usual time, with the usual crowd already assembling, plus a few unfamiliars who were, of course, perfectly welcome to join*
*until they started getting nasty with the arriving Fountain employees, that is* *deduced pretty quickly (from both the strangers' manner and their comments) that the guest protesters aren't People's Voice at all—they've got some other beef with the Fountain and are using her group's picket line as a platform*
*has spent a great deal of the past hour or so trying to defuse the situation, without much luck* *is seriously considering calling the whole thing off, to avoid People's Voice being lumped in with these other idiots*
*is therefore both completely surprised and utterly unsurprised when she notices you sauntering toward the gate, alone, hands in your pockets, seemingly relaxed despite the mess* *inwardly winces (this isn't what I intended)* *also wonders if she shouldn't warn you off—some of these other people certainly don't seem to have a whole lot of respect for government employees*