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
i have no place for broken hearts i tend to leave them where they fall they're way too hard to carry
Ah, home, a townhome shared with her parents with an offshoot for her own little space is where Rexanna often finds time to stay to herself. That and the café down the street that makes the most delicious pastries she’s pretty sure she’s ever had. It’s been a long day, after all, and all she wants is to watch the rain from inside the warm building, bundled up in a soft sweater and gorging herself on as many of those pastries she can get.
Of course, it isn’t something she wants to do alone, either. So she makes her way there, before shooting a text to the first person that comes to mind. Maven’s name pops up in the chat window, a quick little Hey Mavey! Do you want to meet me at Corell’s? Their pumpkin scones are back in! It’s the name of the café she currently has settled into – formally known as Corelly’s Café, but ever since Rexanna was young she’s always shorthanded it to Corell.
She sits back in the booth and waits before she orders anything to see whether she receives a response.
Maven is home alone when her phone vibrates in her pocket. She fishes it out to see a familiar name on the screen, and she smiles. She adores pumpkin scones almost as much as she adores Rexanna. I'll meet you there! It takes but a moment to send off the text, gather her coat and umbrella, and walk out the door. Getting to the cafe takes a little longer; she huddles into her coat, hunkers under her umbrella, and hurries the few blocks through the pouring rain to Correlly's Cafe. Somehow, she manages to arrive only partially soaked rather than completely soaked, and she counts that as a win.
The cafe is warm and cozy, and Maven relaxes as soon as she walks through the door. Rexanna had been the one to introduce her to this place, and she still comes in often to pick up a pastry or two. She sets her umbrella in a stand by the door and shrugs out of her coat, looping it over her arm as she scans the cafe. Finding Rexanna in a booth, she makes her way over, smiling at her old friend. "Hey, Rex," she said, sliding into the booth and setting her coat aside. "How's it going?"
i have no place for broken hearts i tend to leave them where they fall they're way too hard to carry
It truly is a little safe and comfortable spot amongst the Roots, one that Rexanna remains nestled into as she gets the return text from Maven, unable to keep from smiling to herself. In the time it takes for her best friend to arrive, Rex has scanned any news articles, keeping tabs on what the sickness is doing down below as well as up here. Her sapphire gaze lifts the second that Maven’s blonde head pops up from above the booth when she walks in and Rexanna immediately sets the phone down, leaning forward with a bright smile on her face when her friend sits.
“Not bad. Business is slow for me this time of year. What about you? How are things going?” She asks, her head tilting curiously. She hasn’t ordered any drinks yet, but the pumpkin scones arrive shortly after Maven’s sat down, purely since she’d ordered them once the woman across from her had agreed. She picks one up to take a bite out of, given Maven her whole undivided attention.
Maven grimaces when Rex asks her how things are going. She's spent most of her days treating the plague. When the terrible sickness had first started, it had reminded her of Gracelyn; they didn't know what it was or where it came from, and Maven was taken back to her daughter' illness all over again. Still, at least this plague wasn't killing many people. "Busy," she says. "This plague is terrible. Things are even worse down in the Drench. You know I've been volunteering down there a couple of days a week?" She shakes her head. "It's pretty brutal. I hope they get things cleaned up soon."
The pumpkin scones arrive and Maven offers a word of thanks to the waiter before picking one up and putting it on a small plate in front of her. She orders a white chocolate frappuccino when the waiter asks, and waits for him to leave before taking a small bite of her scone. It's divine, just as she remembers from all the times they've eaten here before. She closes her eyes momentarily in bliss.
i have no place for broken hearts i tend to leave them where they fall they're way too hard to carry
The grimace from her friend has Rexanna’s attention immediately, leaning forward as a frown graces her features. “I think I remember you mentioning it.” In the last time they’d met up, but she can’t recall if it was to be a full time thing or just a few days. The answer is evident in what Maven tells her, though, and she exhales a quiet sigh.
When the scones are dropped off, she orders a latte, something warm and sweet to soothe her attention from the dreary rain outside, and when the waiter leaves, she picks up a scone for herself before her sapphire gaze rises to Maven once more. “I imagine it’s much worse than up here, right? All that humidity and dampness from the flooding…” She cuts herself off before she can mention anything that might show the Plates in a bad light, trying to remember her manners on such things in public.
“How have you been volunteering?” She asks curiously, wondering if it was medicating or house calls, or simply being an extra hand for a clinic down there for the increase in patients?
Maven takes another bite of her scone, her gaze roving around the room, catching every once in a while on a waiter or waitress making their way through the tables. The place really is quite quaint and cozy, and she's glad that she can have this time with her friend, away from all of the illness and exhaustion that comes with her job. She nods in response to Rexanna's musings, but doesn't say anything further. It should be easy, to talk about the differences between the plates and the Drench, but it's not, so she lets the conversation drift to new avenues.
"Oh! I've been working in a clinic run by a guy named Nate Wren. He's a good doctor." She doesn't actually know that much about the guy, if she's being honest, but that doesn't seem to matter much. Not when together, they can make a difference for the poor souls in the Drench. "I just take some of the patients that come into the clinic. Mostly walk-ins." She doesn't say that they need all the help they can get.
i have no place for broken hearts i tend to leave them where they fall they're way too hard to carry
She continues to take little bites out of the scone as she waits for their drinks to arrive, her own gaze drifting around easily until Maven answers her question and then her full attention returns to the blonde sat across from her, making sure she knows that she’s listening. “Oh, that’s exciting!” She chimes, once she’s swallowed the bite of scone and their drinks arrive in their beautiful teal ceramic cups, the company’s logo etched into the sides of them.
Rexanna quickly slides hers back over to her hands, holding it close to her so it can warm up her fingers as she tilts her head slightly back toward Maven. “Are there a lot of walk-ins?” There’s a small frown that crosses her face, before she continues. “I’m sure it’s very relieving for them down there to have someone else to help out.” She can’t imagine not having quick access to anything the second she feels ill – something that worries her when it comes to people’s safety in general. But she’s always had a bit of a bleeding heart.
"It is," agrees Maven with a smile. She's only been practicing on the plates for a few years, and things in the Drench are different. She's learning a great deal about things that she might not ever have seen up here. But she doesn't know how to explain that without it sounding like she might enjoy working in the Drench too much, so she simply takes another bite of her scone.
When their drinks arrive, Maven copies Rexanna, wrapping her fingers around the warm mug and sighing softly with contentment. "Mm, a fair few. Most of the patients I've been seeing don't have a regular doctor, so right now with the plague... they just go to see whoever is available." She taps her fingers along the side of her mug, waiting for the drink to cool before she takes a sip. "It's been an interesting experience." They make quite the pair, Maven and Rexanna, both sharing that bleeding heart.
"But enough about me!" she says, smiling at her friend. "Tell me what's been going on with you!"
i have no place for broken hearts i tend to leave them where they fall they're way too hard to carry
She wouldn’t blame Maven for enjoying working in the Drench, but she knows that most people on the Plates would consider her to be a sympathizer. Which is one of the last things anyone up here wanted to be when it came to the constant attempts to prove to those above that you weren’t going to overstep anything. So Rexanna hums her understanding, before she takes a sip of her drink, sighing as the warmth starts to heat her up from the inside out and gives her attention back to Maven as Rexanna reaches for another scone in order to listen.
There’s a small frown that graces her face, a quiet little “oh, that’s unfortunate. Not that it’s not a good thing for you to be able to help them, just that they don’t have them to begin with.” She flashes her friend an apologetic smile at her over explanation, hoping that she understood. Which, in the usual fashion, Maven always seemed to understand what Rexanna was getting at whenever she did have her blunders, however few and far between they were.
She does offer a soft laugh at the question returned on her, shaking her head enough that her dark brown hair bounces around her shoulders. “Same old same, really. Practicing fire in the evenings, running the shop in the mornings. But I did end up in an impromptu lunch with someone quite interesting recently.” She leans forward as if it were to be some big secret. “The Bravlet strategist.” Samuel Tsinbrog, to be exact.
Maven does indeed understand. She often laments the fact that the Drench seems to be in short supply of... well, everything, including doctors. As someone who has seen the same primary care physician since she was small, it seems odd to her that some people only go to the doctor for illnesses that just won't go away on their own. But, when you only have so many options...
But the conversation turns, which is just as well; in private, perhaps they could have said more about the unfortunate state of things, but in public? It was dangerous to be too sympathetic to the Drenchers and their troubles.
Maven nods as Rexanna explains the recent goings-on, and leans forward herself as the other woman offers up what seems to be some kind of big secret. When she reveals her lunch partner, Maven raises her eyebrows. "Oh, really?" she said, impressed. "Can you tell me about it, or is it a secret?" she asks with a wink. While she feels confident that Rex would confide in her in private, she is unsure what she might divulge while in the public eye.
