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
She doesn't mind childish. At least not right now, since it gave her some much needed amusement it could be as childish as it wanted to be. It feels empowering in a way as well, being able to make enforcers move around to where they wanted them to go and give them a bit of a scare.
Crouching down close to the edge again, she carefully peeks down over the edge and watches the enforcers in their growing confusion. The grin on her face growing. For once, it is the uniforms being the anxious ones. "Maybe. Maybe they've heard ghost stories as well and now think it's true." Not that she thinks it will make much of a difference, but one could always hope it will make them less reluctant to come down. On the other hand, she doubted the enforcers have much of a choice when ordered to do their patrols.
She pulls back from the edge again as Adam's throw hits the enforcer's ankle and she snickers quietly as some shouts about not being able to see anyone and that there might be more than one rise up. "Seems like like big bad Forcies are getting nervous down there. Surrounded by ghosts." She whispers and peeks down again at the two now standing back to back, looking in every direction but up. After moving out of sight again, she throws the last piece of brick she is holding in a wide arch far down the alley. The distant sound of it clattering against the street has the enforcers flinch and cautiously start following the noise.
The reader of this text has standing permission for responsible powerplay and to use physical/magical force against this character. Instant killing and permanently maiming not included.
You were born for these flashing lights You were born for these endless nights
"We do have a fuckin' lot of ghost stories." The Drench was abound with all kinds of superstition; a mystical person could say that a place of such sorrow would obviously attract spirits. A cynical one could say desperation bred imagination. Adam landed more with the second lot, but he still knocked twice on anything he could find after saying the name of anyone dead, as his mother had taught him years ago.
Just in case.
The final bit of brick was thrown and the Enforcers, predictably, turned to look at it. Adam covered his mouth to try and suppress his laughter, though at this point he doubted they'd work out where they were even if they heard it. Once he'd taken a couple of breaths and gotten control of himself again, he peeked back over the edge and then to Ira. "Any other ideas? Or do we let them go?"
"We really do." She agrees. Having grown up in the part of the Drench sitting under DESPOT and having the Drun core nearby, a lot of stories she had heard as a child had been about vengeful bodies of those supposedly dropped of the edge of the plate crawling around in the dark.
Tonight, however, the only ghosts out and about are her and Adam and a few well thrown bricks. She carefully leans out over the edge again and watches the enforcers slowly move away into the dark after the sound, seemingly arguing between each other where one seems to just want to go home already and the other wanting to be all dutiful and find the culprit. "Ah, can give the poor sods a break for tonight." She says with a grin after having been silent for a short moment, as if she had been considering their fate.
"Hey, since they are moving that way, want to go the other?" A gesture is made towards the general direction of the neon lit alleys. "Was thinking I might still be able to offer you a free drink or two. Got the keys to the bar. I you're interested?" She had decided the risk of her getting into trouble over it would be low enough and Adam seemed like the fun sort to hang with some more. While waiting for him to reply, she starts moving to a good spot where one could easily climb down to the streets.
The reader of this text has standing permission for responsible powerplay and to use physical/magical force against this character. Instant killing and permanently maiming not included.
You were born for these flashing lights You were born for these endless nights
The sounds of the fading argument brought a last smile to Adam's lips, the lopsided smirk accompanying a raise of his eyebrows as he heard some of the very un-Plately language the Enforcers were employing. As Ira decided to give them a break, he nodded, looking off after them as the two soldiers disappeared around a distant corner. "Yeah, for now. That was fun." It had been a while since he'd just fucked around for the sake of it, without a goal in mind.
He was already in a good mood, but then the promise of a free drink came and he was elated. "Oh, fuck yeah. I'd go anywhere you asked for some free booze. Lead the way." This was, sadly, not an exaggeration, and Adam followed Ira, glancing downwards until he found a wall with a good few windows, which provided plenty of chances to grip and swing himself down onto the street below.
Once he'd landed, wrinkling his nose as one boot landed in a puddle of something, he looked to his now partner in crime and asked: "You ever been up there? To the Plates? They have some proper fancy drinks up there."
She listens to the fading sound of the argument and looks a bit like a pleased cat. When Adam enthusiastically agrees to a drink it brings a laugh out of her, one that she doesn't have to mute now when the streets below are clear. "At least trouble is out of the way."" She grins with a wink and swiftly makes her way down the wall, jumping off the last bit and luckily avoids any suspicious puddles.
Gesturing to Adam to follow, she starts walking at a brisk pace through the streets towards the neon lights. "Been up to the Edge a few times, but it was a long time ago. Dunno, just felt a bit out of place out there, even if I never went to any of the fancy parts." Even if they are not forbidden from going up, she remember having the feeling of 'you should not be here'. Something that normally doesn't bother her much, but something about being up on a Plate felt awkward.
She gets them over to the bar, it still locked up and lights out for the evening, and swiftly fishes out a key to unlock the front door. Perhaps she's not bending the rules too much by at least only letting Adam in directly to the public area of the bar, instead of taking him in through the staff door behind the building. Once safely inside, she crosses the dark room, hops up on the counter to swing her legs over and down on the other side in one smooth motion.
"So... That radio thing of yours. What's it about anyway? Did try to search for it a few times, but never found anything that seemed right. Either missed it or just didn't find it." She turns on a couple of colourful decorative lamps on the shelves behind the bar to not have to be in complete darkness as she starts searching through the collection of bottles.
The reader of this text has standing permission for responsible powerplay and to use physical/magical force against this character. Instant killing and permanently maiming not included.
You were born for these flashing lights You were born for these endless nights
Most Drenchers felt uncomfortable up in the Plates, or at least Adam had never met one who hadn't. Even putting aside the attitudes of those who lived there towards them, the culture was just so different, only a mile or so above them; in the Plates things were proper, neat and quiet. His brusque Drench honesty and unapologetic personality wheeled into Plates social events like a bull in a china shop. "Yeah, it's a different world. May as well be in another country when you're up there - and it's better down here anyway."
Sneaking into a locked bar late at night was exactly the sort of rebellious thing Adam loved doing; he had to restrain himself from dorkily clapping his hands as they made their way inside. He followed Ira to the counter (giving an appreciative 'ooh' as she swung over it) and sat down, stretching his arms as he did.
"Hm? Oh, well." He shrugged. "It's been a while since I've done a proper show. Lockdown's making it hard to get the parts I need to repair all my stuff and with the Enforcers having their panties in such a bunch, I gotta be careful. When it is on, though..." Adam looked around as if he was trying to make sure no one would hear them in the totally empty bar. "I shift around the frequency, but 98 is usually where I hover around. Try about there."
She continues to go through the collection while listening, trying to find a bottle that her boss would not notice any change to. Or that it will straight out be missing the next day. "Yeah, everything's been grinding to a halt lately. Business, people willing to spend money, anything fun happening overall..." A bit of a more annoyed huff leaves her and she then reaches far into a cabinet under the counter to pick out a bottle from the back. Some of its contents already missing, so she at least she won't have to open a brand new bottle.
"98. Will try that some time." She stands and holds up the bottle to the faint glow of the lamps to read the label. "Hope you don't mind... Ten year aged smoky whiskey." It certainly wasn't the cheapest one she could have found, but having been that far back in the cabinet it would probably take a while before someone noticed more was missing from the bottle. If anyone even still knew it was in there. Or it was hidden there for a reason and someone was going to be very upset about it. But that will have to be a problem for the future.
She puts the bottle on the bar together with a couple of glasses, then hops up on the counter again and tucks one leg in under her and letting the other hang over the edge instead of sitting down on a chair like a normal person. "I'd love to have some juicy gossip to share, but that's sadly been running dry as well. Usually people spill all sorts of information around here after a few glasses, but it's mostly been the usual complaints. Lockdown, hot weather, someone's partner cheating on them, opinions about where the Arbiter can shove said lockdown and so on." She shakes her head with a quiet chuckle and unscrews the cap of the bottle, pouring one glass that she slides over to Adam before pouring some for herself into the other.
The reader of this text has standing permission for responsible powerplay and to use physical/magical force against this character. Instant killing and permanently maiming not included.
You were born for these flashing lights You were born for these endless nights
Ira could have presented a bottle labelled 'vaguely alcoholic piss' and Adam would have been content, so his eyes widened at the mention of aged whiskey. "Damn, that's nicer than I usually have. Sure, pour it out." He wasn't one to say no to an opportunity when it came up, especially not one that could make him drunk.
"I keep thinking that it's gonna spill over soon and everyone's gonna go fucking nuts, but it keeps not happening." He'd thought they'dve seen the end of this Lockdown, one way or another, weeks ago - but time kept stalling, the air getting more and more stagnant as the people around him grew more defeated. "At this point I think we're gonna be like this for years. Everyone'll forget what it was like before."
It wouldn't be the first time the Plates had implemented something so iron-fistedly that it had simply become the way of life.
Picking up the glass he almost raised it up to his lips and downed it in one, but paused: this was nicer stuff than his usual swill, and it occurred to him to savour it. Taking a delicate sip instead, Adam nodded and put the glass back down. "I want to know more about you. Tell me something interesting."
While having a small nagging feeling someone had hidden the expensive bottle for a reason, she keeps telling herself it might still take a while for it to be missed. Besides, if someone at the bar had tried to hide it they should have done a better job. Still a problem for future her.
She nods slowly at what Adam is saying and ponders the possible scenario of the lockdown lasting for years. Maybe the Plates didn't even have it anymore and they just kept the Drench locked, but pretended it is a city-wide thing. "Like after they built the Plates, I guess. People just live their lives now as if this is just how it is. But does feel like everything's about to boil over at any moment, while barely stirring at the same time." She mumbles almost more to herself as if thinking out loud.
She keeps feeling as if there is this passive tension hanging over everyone and everything. No one daring to relax, but no one making a move either. As if one doesn't know if one wants something more to happen to just spark something into action just for the tension to snap, or for everything to actually just roll over in defeat and move on.
He asks about her just as she is about to lift her own glass and it causes her to pause, a hint of surprise flashing over her expression as if she isn't expecting to be asked about herself. "Something interesting... Think my life's mostly work at this point." She starts with a small huff of a laugh and takes a sip. "Most days I'm at that diner, most nights here. Getting a few minutes of sleep in between when I can."
"The freetime I do have is filled with whatever I feel like at the time. Roaming all over the Drench, always finding a new corner to explore. Never seem to run out of abandoned places to dig through. Every once in a too rare while I visit some other club or bar where I can have some fun instead of working." She smirks and takes another sip from her drink, then decides to down the rest of it and reach for the bottle for a refill.
The reader of this text has standing permission for responsible powerplay and to use physical/magical force against this character. Instant killing and permanently maiming not included.
You were born for these flashing lights You were born for these endless nights
Adam, who frequently stole booze that was definitely being saved for someone else, did not even consider for a second where the bottle had come from. His second sip was accompanied with a wrinkle of the nose and a shake of his head; he wasn't used to something quite this pure and strong. Still trying to savour it, he held the glass in his hand and swirled around the liquid, watching it intently as he spoke as if it were telling him what to say.
"Yeah. Sometimes I wonder what would happen if we all just collectively went 'okay, fuck you' and left, walked til we found somewhere new. They'd starve up there in days without us to work for 'em." Obviously this plan had a million logistical problems, but he had daydreamed about it before, just making a new city for Drenchers somewhere out there in the wilderness, watching from a distance as the Plates descended into chaos.
It was a nice dream, at least.
Ira's life sounded much like the average person's in the Drench; work work and more work tended to make up the majority of the population's days. It had to, just so they could get by. Adam was lucky that a combination of luck, charm and good friends kept him from poverty, given how much loitering he did instead of any productive labour. "So..if you weren't doing all that work, what would you want to do? If you had Lasti coming out of your ass and could do whatever you wanted all day."
