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
"So you're even more in need of a fucking break." Not that Adam actually had much sympathy for Sunjata's position, but he could imagine a life as the Arbiter's son being one where you hardly got any freedom.
It seemed he wasn't fully convinced yet though, the objection making Adam roll his eyes and flop against the nearest wall to lean on his shoulder, shaking his head lightly. "Look, I won't force you into anything - can't anyway, but lemme put it this way." The ever-there cigarette appeared in his fingers and he lit it as he spoke, looking down at the blooming smoke. "You can go do your check ins and whatever and go home and sleep at 9pm with your enforcer bedsheets. You'll always wonder what that sexy guy in the Drench might've showed you and you'll die at 50 in a boring ass meeting with your boring ass council that you hate."
He took an inhale from the smoke, pausing to close his eyes and breath it out before he spoke again. "Or. You come with me, accept whatever punishment they're gonna give you, but the night you spent seeing amazing shit outside of your little bubble stays in your mind forever and you don't die totally blind to everything outside the Plates." Adam glanced up and raised an eyebrow. "Up to you."
Just because I made poetry a mission
You might as well punish a kid for coloring outside the lines
He really is in need of a break, but it feels terrible to admit it aloud, always forced to swallow down his complaints for the face of his lineage, his placement, his comfort. To do this was distinctly stepping outside of that, awkwardly, like a newborn calf trying to get his legs underneath him. And Adam over here offers to help him out, to give him that experience he craves when it comes to the research he’s been doing, and he isn’t sure whether or not he should give in.
Maybe, if he did get in trouble he could spin it as a double whammy. Let them trust him, see what they get up to. Surely Shaju wouldn’t have an issue with that. He probably would, he has issues with everything Sunjata does.
So he swallows hard and stares at Adam and that impulsive part of him reflects across his face in a stern mask (warring internally with himself) when his steel gaze focuses on the Drencher that seems to be trying so desperately to wear him down into saying yes. “Alright.” He decides after a moment, muscles feathering in his jaw as he waits for Adam to lead the way.
"Oh, hell yeah." Adam laughed, gesturing for Sunjata to follow as he turned and began to walk briskly through the alleys. Tiny passages lead to gaps in walls just big enough to squeeze through, dark windows passing and balconies above - he knew exactly where he was going, but he doubted Sunjata had ever seen any of these places. Enforcers stuck to the main roads, for the most part: this was his domain.
They came to a thin alley with a doorway and an open window, abandoned. A battered sign read 'LAUND_RET__' above the door, which Adam pushed Sunjata against, into the alcove that would hide him from the view of anyone glancing into the alley. "Get naked. I'll be back in sec." With no more instructions, he would disappear through the window, body sliding in with impressive grace given the amount of limb length he had to get in there.
Once inside, he found the first dryer with clothes in it and in a worryingly short amount of time, had it cracked open and was pulling out the clothes. A pair of pants, a shirt, a jacket - none of them stylish, but all acceptable enough, nothing that would get Sunjata noticed. Happy with the haul, he clambered back out of the window before the owner of the clothes returned.
"Here. Should be about your size." Handing them out to Sunjata, surprisingly having the politeness to not look at the (presumably) undressed enforcer, Adam leaned against the wall to watch the entrance of the alley, though it seemed unlikely they'd have any guests here. "Put the uniform in the mailbox there. No one'll get it."
Just because I made poetry a mission
You might as well punish a kid for coloring outside the lines
He’s used to space around him, others not getting into his personal space, and yet here he is following this unnamed Drencher and hoping that it’ll be worth the bullshit excuse he gives them when he doesn’t report. By the time Adam shoves him into the alcove of an alley and the request is made, Sunjata’s ears are red, a flush crossing his neck as he pulls off the helmet, watching Adam disappear.
This was a mistake, but he’s already lost and too far in to back out now, and so it’s with that in mind that it takes him a bit longer to peel the uniform from his skin, folding it up and setting it aside in a neat pile as has been ingrained into him. His heartbeat thunders in his ears, the cool sensation of the wind through the drench alleys crossing his sunkissed skin, that when Adam arrives with clothes in hand he’s all too quick to grab them and start pulling them on. “Did you bring a hat?” He asks, turning his head and pointing to the gavel symbol that’s been buzzed into his hair.
While he waits for a response, he shoves his uniform into the mailbox designated, his heartbeat thunders in his ears heavily and anxiety spurns nausea in his gut.
"Hm?" Adam turned around, not having considered a hat as a necessity; when he saw the reason Sunjata had asked for one he couldn't help the loud guffaw that left him, followed by several giggles. "Holy shit. Please tell me you all have to get those and you didn't choose to, because that looks fucking stupid." Still snorting, he shook his head and peered back into the window, looking for anything that could be used to cover up the mark - after a moment he pulled out a jacket with a hood. "Here, wear this one."
A little amazed Sunjata followed his advice and put the uniform in the mailbox (God, what getting his hands on one of those uniforms could do...), Adam grinned and clasped his shoulder. "You look common as muck, just like the rest of us. Now. How good are you at climbing?"
Without waiting for an answer, he glanced up and spotting a suitable path, began to climb up the side of the building, his feet on the windowsill and then pushed into the cracks of the wall - when he looked down again he was crouched in the alcove of the second floor window. "Think you can follow me up here? It's the easiest way to get around."
Just because I made poetry a mission
You might as well punish a kid for coloring outside the lines
To be honest, he hates the designation just as much as Adam makes a fuss about it, but that’s neither here nor there — instead, the Bratena just rolls his eyes at the drencher. “Some, not all.” Him specifically because of who he was. But regardless, the embarrassment is hidden quickly with the hood popped up from the jacket given, Sunjata wears it easily to cover the stain of the Plates.
As for looking common, well, that was the goal, but anxiety continues to leak into his stomach at leaving the uniform out of sight. It’s a stupid move, but one he hopes could be leveridged in a way that would benefit him rather than punish him. But it’s too late now, and he watches Adam spider up the wall with a slight scoff, a set to his jaw, going about it in an unfortunately very distinct trained kind of way, not smooth like Adam’s learned from necessity.
But he manages to get up there, before holding on with a white knuckled grip. “I try not to climb often so it better be good.” The metal bar in his leg being the main reason.
"Oh, so you were lucky." Adam was still laughing; for sure he was going to mention the enforcers dweeb haircuts on his next show.
Sunjata did make it up the wall, but in a very boring and perfunctory way that spoke more of training drills than late-night forays over the rooftops. Still, it was better than nothing; once Sunjata had made it to the window Adam continued, up and over the final sill and onto the roof, where a few feet of solid ground for standing on opened up. From here, though it was hardly the highest point around, they could see the street below and a decent ways out into the Chokes, the houses littered atop eachother and slithers of light revealing the alleyways.
Hand on his hips, Adam grinned and sighed fondly, watching Sunjata come over the edge. "It's great from up here, isn't it? But c'mon, this isn't all I got." As soon as the other man had found his feet, Adam set off again, hopping casually over gaps between roofs as if there were not a 20 foot drop below.
Just because I made poetry a mission
You might as well punish a kid for coloring outside the lines
A grimace accompanies Adam’s laughter as he struggles up the side of the building, not nearly as fluid as the taller man is. There’s a brief realization that he doesn’t know the other man’s name, but pinpoints Spider as the nickname in the meantime. But he makes it up, initially a little red faced as he peers at the other man before the view reaches him. He steps over, peering out over it, taking it all in with a surprising amount of wonder.
And truthfully? Every bit of frustration and annoyance leaves him as he takes all the alleys in, as he sees the spread of people throughout getting ready for the lockdown, slipping into homes left and right while the neon lights continue to illuminate the dark edges of the alleys. “Wow.” Is all he can say, soft surprise coating his words, shifting the initial frustration and annoyance into wonder and awe.
And before he knows it, he looks back over at Adam to find the man gone, a “Hey! Wait up!” leaving his lips as he tries to chase after him, pausing before the first gap before stepping back and tries to hop over it. He makes it, but shakily, heartbeat thundering in his ears and legs shaking when he makes it over, immediately gripping onto something to settle himself before he tries to continue on to meet the other man.
Adam sometimes wondered if the enforcers had every bit of empathy and wonder drained out of them by the time they got into patrolling, but looking across and seeing the delight on Sunjata's face as he took in the view made him believe there had to be at least a bit of humanity there. "Yeah. It's fucking beautiful, innit?"
From up here, one might almost think the Drench was a nice place to live.
But Adam had seen this view a million times, so soon he was off again, ignoring Sunjata's cry for him to wait - either he would be fast enough or he wouldn't. Once he'd made it over several rooftops and was stood on a large sign advertising food in the building beneath, he looked back. "C'mon, don't they train you and shit up there? This should be easy!"
The sign was chunky and could hold Adam's neglible weight easily, but it might not be enough for two of them, so Adam moved to the next goal - sliding off the side of the sign, he let himself drop until his foot hit a window sill beneath, then with an effortless, practiced movement he unlocked the window from one small gap and slipped inside to the dark upper floor.
Just because I made poetry a mission
You might as well punish a kid for coloring outside the lines
Oh it is. It’s absolutely breathtaking, but Sunjata can’t help but to swallow down his comments once he realizes Adam’s booking it out of there. And of course, he chases after, not wanting to get lost in a strange place, in clothes not form fitted for his body and movements, having to make it work the best way he could.
He does, eventually, manage to make it by the time he’s getting sassed at by Adam, and even then he’s panting with a shine of sweat along his brow and temples when Adam disappears down the side of the building, into a window, hands pressed to the edge of the rooftop peering down into the space that Spider’s gone missing. He works his jaw, works against his head and pushes his courage to the forefront, swinging down and into the building right after. “Saints, you’re slippery.” He grumbles, trying to catch his breath, the back of his hand coming up to wipe away the sweat, peering around the room for Adam.
