The full seasonal event can be read here! Below are the main seasonal items for quick reference:
1. A thread reacting to the season's weather in some ways.
2. A thread in the part of the city your character doesn't live in!
3. A thread relating to your vocation.
Of The Season
Quote
"Tell Dr. Nate that Gale sent you, and he still owes me for the mushrooms. Except that it takes you a while to reach the clinic, and by the time you do your fever is spiking, and so instead of the requisite message you instead tell the poor soul who greets you that 'A gale'a m'shrooms sent me cus'a my hands.'" - Zephyr in Oh help me, please doctor, I'm damaged
You don't need sympathy
They got a pill for everything
At some point, the evening had stopped being a crowd and Nate's arm and shouting and it had become the relative quiet of the clinic and a semi-comfortable bed, enough for Adam to sink right away into a slumber more like death than most. From that point it had been nothing until his eyes opened.
Immediately, they shut again, the lights above striking a nail right into the nerves under his brow. With a loud groan, he brought up a hand to press over his forehead, moving his fingers over the pain and wincing as the motion did nothing to improve it.
Daring to peek his eyes open again, he caught a blurry shape that might have been Nate - oh shit, he was at Nate's place - and tried to speak; the resulting sounds came out something like: "Uuugh, 'lo? Go' thing fer headache?"
Just take that dark cloud
Ring it out to wash it down
the inmate loves the prison guard the one who feeds him through the bars
There is something about being surrounded by people that soothes the frayed edges of Nate’s nerves, even after the excitement of the night. It’s grounding, being surrounded by soft snoring in the neon tinted dim. Even considering the way he has relaxed, it is not sleep so much as it is a daze that he’s roused out of by Adam’s movement.
Eyes stay stubbornly glued shut, waiting for some further indication of awareness – it isn’t as if this is the first time either of his guests had shifted, or cried out in their sleep, and he wasn’t going to truly get up if he didn’t need to. Both arms are wrapped around his face, hiding him away from the false dawn of the Drench but not from the slurred words, intelligible only with years of practice.
“Siddup fer’it.” His own sleep smeared words rumble out before he actually moves, arms dropping so he can roll off and stumble – sometimes on all fours – to the tiled square of counter space and sink he calls a kitchen. Pulling himself upright, Nate searches with one eye open for the bottle of mixed pills he’d thrown in this direction the night before, finally finding it and the specific medication he’s looking for.
Managing to remain on two feet when he returns to the bed, Nate sits on the lumpy mattress and offers out two different pills, though he takes a long sip from the juice he’d brought before handing that over. His hand lingers on the glass, just to be sure it isn’t dropped.
no day or night, no one can tell so he paints the ceiling full of stars
You don't need sympathy
They got a pill for everything
That Nate sounded just as tired as him was not the best sign, but as Adam saw him reach for pills and not any actual medical equipment, he decided he could take that. Holding out a hand for the mixed medicines, peering at them for a moment before knocking them back, he only winced as they dragged past his dry throat; the juice was readily accepted to rehydrate after.
"Gaahhh...fuck." Adam put the empty glass down on the floor and leaned forward, pinching the bridge of his nose as his other hand brushed up through his hair. "You shouldn't let me drink that much up there. They got shit that isn't diluted to Palladol and back." He wasn't sure how many fancy Plates beers and cocktails he'd had, but it was definitely not as many Drench drinks as he would usually down in a night.
After a moment of quiet sitting, he braved sitting up to look across at Nate and ask: "So it went to fuck up there, right? Or...am I just...was that a dream?"
Just take that dark cloud
Ring it out to wash it down
the inmate loves the prison guard the one who feeds him through the bars
Eyes roll and send his head pounding, Nate groaning his displeasure as he collapses back into the bed. “How’m I s’posed to know what you had before I found you?” He snipes back weakly, reaching up to poke Adam’s cheek and huff out a noise far softer and warmer than he means to.
“I wish it was a fucking dream.” The doctor rumbles, both hands returning to clutch at his face. “And not only, not only are things fucked,” with surprising smoothness Nate sits up, turning to face his bedmate so he can hiss the worst part with proper emphasis, “the Bratena pup is crashing on my couch.”
no day or night, no one can tell so he paints the ceiling full of stars
You don't need sympathy
They got a pill for everything
"You're my doctor. Should be keeping not-mmmgh." Interrupted by the finger in his cheek, Adam flopped backwards to join Nate, ignoring where their arms banged together uncomfortably and leaning towards the doctor with closed eyes and a sigh.
The words Nate said didn't come through at first, through Adam's drink-clouded mind and better sense. Slowly they did though, his eyebrows rising as the meaning came to him. "Wait. Like...Arbiter Jr? Why didn't he stay up there? He's a fucking enforcer." As much as he liked Sunjata, the man was on the other team outwardly - fully expected to be on the Plates side in any kind of conflict this early.
"...So uh, he...he's going back up soon, right?"
Just take that dark cloud
Ring it out to wash it down
the inmate loves the prison guard the one who feeds him through the bars
Nate’s quick to readjust, having not been treated to the same luxurious multiple hours of sleep as Adam experienced and wanting to keep comfortable. His arms wind around the other man’s skinny body automatically, squeezing and tugging him closer.
Shifting uncomfortably, Nate lowers his voice, the flutter of paranoia coming just a little bit too late. “Cause he was dressed like an alley bird like the rest of us?” There’s no mirth in the retort, his own bloodshot eyes cracked just barely open to keep Adam’s blurry profile in view. In the light of day, and shared with someone else, it’s easy to feel like it was a stupid choice, but at the time caution hasn’t even been a faint breeze.
“More’n likely. You know they’re gonna keep the trams closed for a bit.” Eyes close again, and Nate leans in close enough to let his lips drag on Adam’s skin as he barely whispers out his next words. “Unless you wanna show him one of the ways to sneak up.”
no day or night, no one can tell so he paints the ceiling full of stars
You don't need sympathy
They got a pill for everything
Letting out a contented 'mggnnh', Adam turned to press more into Nate's side. As much as he was a cool guy that didn't need nobody, there was something nice about a strong arm around him and the beating of the heart in Nate's chest as he laid his head there.
"I guess, but don't they know what he looks like? He's the fucking Arbiter's son. Thought they would've seen his crotch and been like 'oh fuck, that's whats gonna be on my face one day'." In order to accurately mimic enforcers he lifted his hands and waved them back and forth while speaking in a goofy, high pitched voice. Really, it didn't matter how Sunjata had evaded recognition, only that he had and he was here, but Adam was once again perplexed by how little respect being Shaju's heir gained Arbiter Jr. If he were in the position, he'd have had posters made of his face as soon as he was old enough to pose for them.
He was quiet for a moment, not even really noticing the comforting, normal touch of Nate's lips on his skin. After he'd thought, Adam let out a quiet sigh and asked: "He's gonna cause us fucking trouble, isn't he? He wants to be all revolutionary and shit but...I don't think he knows what the hell goes into all that."
Just take that dark cloud
Ring it out to wash it down
the inmate loves the prison guard the one who feeds him through the bars
“I get the sense they don’t really give a shit who he is.” The words are a dark rumble, interrupting Adam just before his enforcer impersonation shocks a laugh from Nate. “Maybe they’re just trying to get their licks in before that though.” The expression that spreads over his fac was easy to feel and hear, that moment too late realization that he’s played into the joke unintentionally.
A matching sigh heaves out of Nate, warm breath fanning over dark skin. “He is.” There’s no question about it, none at all. “Hes gonna die without help though.” It’s a fact, easier to say than it is to swallow, the sudden realization sitting more uncomfortably on Nate’s shoulders than he’d thought it would.
Fingers drum against Adam’s back, the physical pressures of Nate’s thinking escaping without notice. “What do you think of him?” It’s rare for the doctors voice to drop so low and soft, for his tone to seem hesitant instead of oozing with surety.
no day or night, no one can tell so he paints the ceiling full of stars
You don't need sympathy
They got a pill for everything
"Plenty of chances to get their licks in after the crotch comes too." Adam continued, snort-giggling as Nate laughed too. In all honesty, seeing the way so many enforcers, some of them even Drenchers by birth, refused to see the wrongdoings of the Arbiter and followed their orders made him sick; it was easier to call them bootlicking weirdos and put it from his mind.
As for Sunjata's inevitable fate, he pressed his face into Nate and stared up at the ceiling, eyes blurry as they squinted at the vague cracks and stains up there. "Thing is, are we gonna die if we help him? I mean...look, I don't want to pull the dead dad card, but I know better than most people that shit like this can kill you." His father, from all accounts he'd heard, had been intelligent and brave - but it hadn't been enough. Did any of them have something he didn't? Any reason they might succeed where he failed? If Sunjata's Arbiter-to-be status was as insignificant as he kept saying, it seemed they might not.
The bed creaked in the quiet following. The comforting tap of fingers on his back helped to swallow down the discomfort that always came after mentioning his father and Adam turned his attention back to Nate for the question, which caused him to take in a slow breath as he considered it. "I like him. I do - I think he's got a good heart and shit. But...he hasn't lived down here. Hasn't fucking suffered down here. I dunno if anyone can know what it's like without doing it, and if he wants the support down here, that's gonna be big."
Just take that dark cloud
Ring it out to wash it down
the inmate loves the prison guard the one who feeds him through the bars
Thoughts of dying for the cause sober Nate right up again, the last few giggles dying in the chamber. He might not have as personal a connection to revolution as Adam, but he’s still all too aware of how it could affect him, everything he’s built up. Selfish as it might be, he’s not all that eager to go chasing after change and give it all up. “I dunno.” He offers after a tense breath. “Guess it depends how much help we’d lend, right?” There has to be a way to finesse this, to reap the benefits without it being their heads on the block – the only hard prt is figuring out how.
Finger on the hand not drumming out a senseless rhythm across Adam’s shoulders twist into his hair instead, tugging at knots gently. “I think having him on our side is a good thing.” And unless he’s an excellent actor, there’s been too much genuine distress for Nate to think Sunjata is lying. Besides, compared to others in the Drench, who are they? Why bother sending a mole in to infiltrate the hiccuped intimacy they cultivate in these quiet moments?
“But you’re right. He’s not actually any good in the Drench.” Sunjata has knowledge, but no charisma, no draw. There’s too deep a gulf between their worlds, too old a distrust. Hell, even Nate would be lying if he said he trusted the Arbiters son completely. “So what’re we thinkin’ then?”
no day or night, no one can tell so he paints the ceiling full of stars
