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 gotta take it from me. i'm gonna take it from you say hello to the good times and say hello to the sun
"It's fucking hot." This single whined line has been repeated at least once every ten minutes for the last hour. The rare shared day off has been spent in the heart of the Drench, sitting on the edge of one of the few canals still plump with running water and moving with the shadows to keep out of the overbearing sun. Of course, Nate and Adam aren't the only ones to have had their idea, though so far they've managed to maintain a decent spot - right on the waters edge.
Even with the precautions of sun block and a brimmed hat, Nate's shoulders and cheeks are tinted a bright red, his tank top offering no protection from the rare display of sun. "We got anything left t'drink?" Sweet bubbly ciders are a rare treat, a splurge kept barely cool by the water, and paired alongside several cheaper options as well.
"Shit, I hadn't realised." Adam sarcastically mumbled, having heard many many declarations about the heat in the last few days, plenty of them from his own lips. It was a warmth that bore talking about, though: the constant trickle of sweat on his skin and thick choking air was hard to ignore for more than a couple of precious minutes at a time.
Believing sunburn to be a 'other, pale people' problem, Adam had forgone the sunscreen. He was a little jealous of Nate's hat, but endeavoured to look satisfied as he was, dressed in just rolled up pants - fabric, for once, not leather - a shirt crumpled up next to him along with a pair of seasonably unsuitable but very elaborate boots. He had been leant back with his hands behind his head, trying to ignore the burn of the asphalt on his knuckles, but at Nate's question he groaned and sat up.
"Yeah. Here, have some of the cheap shit. We gotta make it all last." Passing Nate a bottle of something significantly less exciting than the cider, Adam paused with his eyes scanning the rushing water of the canal. "You ever think about just...diving in and opening your mouth? There can't be thaaaaat many diseases in there, right?"
I'm the gap between a tragedy and comedy Don't come at me I'm the main character and you have to like me
you gotta take it from me. i'm gonna take it from you say hello to the good times and say hello to the sun
“Oh really?” The sarcasm is recognized immediately, and summarily ignored in favour of the bit. “I’ll keep saying it then, huh? Get it to sink in.” Nate watches Adam sit up and leans in to accept the drink, upending the bottle to shakeup anything settled before he opens it.
Half of it disappears down his throat in a single long pull, a gasp leaving Nate when he pulls back. “It gets worse every fucking year, I swear.” The bottle is closed and pressed to Nate’s forehead, pushing up the brim of the hat and sweat soaked curls.
Narrowed eyes follow Adam’s gaze to the canal, one of the few in the city that never truly lowers, though the flow does slow. “Don’t the Plates dump their shit in there? Like… literally?” It’s a rumour that gets passed around a lot, though no one seems to know for sure one way or the other.
"Maybe all those medicines are fuckin' with your brain. I should toss em out." Adam responded readily, though the thought of tipping Nate's carefully curated supplies down a toilet or out a window made him cringe, probably more so than the doctor.
It did indeed seem like the heat got worse every Kivan. Somehow, he was sure the Plates were to blame, as they were for most things that went wrong in the Drench. In a few years, they'd find out that an experiment up topside was pushing hot gasses down here, or that the noble houses had thought it was funny to magnify the sun down into the alleys of the Drenchers...it always went back up to the top.
Speaking of Platers ruining everything...Adam looked over the canal and shrugged. "Dunno. I guess you've got a point though. Why eat Plater shit for free when one of 'em up there would probably pay me for it?" The laugh that followed was goofy and cut short by him grabbing one of the drinks himself and putting it to his lips. After his own long gulp, he put the bottle down to ask: "You heard anything from Arbiter Jr. lately? Since he was at your place?"
I'm the gap between a tragedy and comedy Don't come at me I'm the main character and you have to like me
you gotta take it from me. i'm gonna take it from you say hello to the good times and say hello to the sun
A rough snort leaves Nate, some of his drink going up his nose and making his cough. “Gonna sacrifice yourself t’save me, eh?” Both hands rise to scrub at his face, Nate trying to get rid of the sharp tears pricking at his eyes before Adam can see them.
The gesture provides the perfect curtain for his narrowed glare, disbelief peeking through his fingers at the other man. “I can’t believe you made me think about that.” The childish pout is obvious in his voice. “And I can’t believe you don’t know someone who’s done that.”
Hands finally drop away with one last rough rub against Nate’s face, and he leans back against the other man, ignoring how they immediately stick together. “You mean since you defiled my bed with him?” He asks innocently, shifting his hat to keep shading his eyes from where he looks up at Adam. “Nah. Have you?”
"I wouldn't care at all. I'd be like oh, what does this one do?" Adam mimed pouring out a bottle of pills, putting on a face of casual nonchalance. Of course, were this actually happening he would probably be flying out the window after them (one didn't come across a good time easily in the Drench).
He didn't actually know anyone who had indulged a Plater's shit eating fetish, but for a second Adam considered lying and saying he did - instead, he resolved to ask Sunjata next time he saw him. The Arbiter's heir had to know the noble gossip, right? If the Lord Honourable so-and-so had given some poor sap from the Drench a special meal? He snickered at the thought and shrugged at Nate, drinking his drink as he winked, not giving a straight answer.
The drink was swiftly spat out and the bottle pulled away as he heard what Nate had to say, though. "Oh fuck, you know about that? I mean, you didn't say anything, so I thought-" That somehow, the Doctor hadn't noticed. "I uh, haven't seen him since, no...but...y'not mad, right?"
I'm the gap between a tragedy and comedy Don't come at me I'm the main character and you have to like me
you gotta take it from me. i'm gonna take it from you say hello to the good times and say hello to the sun
The immediate squish of Nate’s features betrays exactly what he thinks of Adam’s wordless answer, his head shaking to try and dispel the image. Some things he thinks he could swallow for the right price, but shit wasn’t one of them.
“Mad enough that I’m gonna hold it against you when I want something.” Nate admits truthfully. But it wasn’t like it was the end of the world, or even like it was the first time. Besides, those sheets needed to be washed anyway, and it was easier to convince himself to do if the meds hadn’t been from him at all.
Licking his lips, Nate finds himself suddenly Concerned about the mood between them, and sets out to fix it in one of the only ways he knows how. Stupid honesty. “I sucked him off once.” The words leave him so casually, his face not turning away from the brown dappled water and making the strain of his state that much more obvious.
"Look, I wasn't gonna embarrass him by saying this, but like, the guy cums a lot. Like a fucking hose going off. If the Arbiter's the same, we gotta worry about him plannin' to drown the Drench in spaff next time he wanks." Was this true? Maybe, maybe not, but Adam's own phrasing made him laugh and he snorted, nearly choking and finally making himself shut up with a sip of his drink.
Regardless of whose it had been, he knew there had been fluids left on Nate's bed. A favour was to be expected.
Though what was unexpected was Nate's admission. Nearly choking again, Adam sat up, leaning over the doctor with a shocked expression, partly exaggerated but plenty genuine. "Really? Jeez, he's kind of a slut! Nice!" He fell back onto the hot ground with another laugh, then turned to Nate to ask the all important question: "Did he do you back?"
I'm the gap between a tragedy and comedy Don't come at me I'm the main character and you have to like me
you gotta take it from me. i'm gonna take it from you say hello to the good times and say hello to the sun
“You piss me off.” They’re the only words Nate can muster in response to the vivid picture Adam’s summoned up, his eyes pinched tightly closed. And even they are wracked with helpless, impossible to suppress giggles.
At least he gets a lick in back. It’s a small victory, but Nate’s sidelong smirk is still all but unbearable when it lands on the other man. “He’s definitely eager to please.” Starving for the kind of casual affection that Nate seemed to manage to find with every other person he met.
With a laugh, Nate shakes his head and leans in against Adam’s side. “Nah. Puppy was all tuckered after cumming once.” It’s a much nicer way to say that he didn’t fully trust the enforcer, though Adam knew him well enough to read between the lines.
"Nah, you love me." Adam shot back with a smirk, knowing Nate was about the only person he could confidently say that regarding.
Everything said about Sunjata fit in with expectations; the Arbiter-to-be was desperate to please. With a soft laugh he put an arm around Nate, whispered in his ear: "Well, if you have me over tonight, I'll last at least two minutes. That's a promise."
Whether their evening ended in sex or not, it would still go down as a good day because it was one spent with Nate; Adam scruffled the Doctor's hair and laid back to look up at the strange metal sky, the only slightly cooling mist of the canal less of a comfort than the warmth of the man beside him.
{THE END}
I'm the gap between a tragedy and comedy Don't come at me I'm the main character and you have to like me
