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 notice his accent is a bit weird, but times are hard for everyone right now with the lockdown in effect. I don't let my mind linger on it for more than a moment. "Nice to meet ya, Taren," I respond with his introduction, still exuding an air of friendliness and camaraderie that won't realistically help us clean the pool faster, but I think it won't hurt.
I plop down into the pool but surprisingly manage to keep my feet. I think my work boots probably saved the day in that regard, and I am thankful to my previous self for choosing them today. I manage to scoop the mud into my bucket with no incident.
My new found acquaintance, Taren, on the other hand, is not so lucky. I watch him slip and slide and fall with a yelp, followed by a quick spurt of profanity.
I am an adult, but even I cannot hold back the laughter that chirps through my lips. I do offer a hand to help him up, and he's quickly back to work. I follow suit.
questions of science, science and progress do not speak as loud as my heart
"Ah- prepared." You tuck the extra pair of gloves away, a slightly bashful smile flashed toward Maven before you get going on the salt. It's rough going, and were it not for your gloves you certainly would have some new scars to add to your hands within minutes. The stuff is caked on there, truly embedded, and if you were a pessimistic man this would be a great time to throw up your hands and cry.
Things get off to a rocky start, but luckily Dr Tetya shows up with some hot water to help soften the stubborn crystals of ice. It's acceptable, in the absence of vinegar, and as the crystals are drenched and softened anew you get back to your work of chipping them away
Sunjata's embarrassment from his undignified fall must have sent a determined strength into his limbs, because he would find himself entirely secure after. Once he'd found his footing he could step around in the mud cleaning as quickly as he liked - with Iara helping too, still consistently steady, they were quickly done, the last remnants of the mud brown residue that swirled around the drain before disappearing entirely.
As for the Salt Bath, the hot water had the desired effect. Both Zeph and Maven would find the crystals much easier to dispatch of, Maven in particular becoming a crystal-smashing machine once she put her mind to it. After not very long at all, all the three baths were clean and emptied, ready for their eel residents.
Dr Tetya kept an eye on these advancements, but was mostly focused on the conversation surrounding the illness, which kept them excited, especially with the promise of experiments to come. "Ooh, I like you two." They grinned to Cian and Uldren, rather obviously ignoring Ira as soon as she made it clear she wasn't willing to be poked and prodded at. "The tests? It would be..um...some blood tests, I'm sure, maybe a recorded run, some scans..." Maybe surgery, if they could find a way to justify it. Surgery was always good.
Anyway!
With everyone done cleaning the baths and the water mixed up and ready, there were only two things left to do before the re-introduction of the eels. "Alright everyone! Good job! There's um, just a bit left. We need to plant some plants - now, obviously a tile bath is uhhh, not the best place for plants. So we're going to put down a layer of peat and soil and river dirt first. Then you get to choose the plants. That's the fun bit!" And indeed there was an extensive selection of plants ready on a nearby pallet, which could be chosen while workers poured bags of smelly dirt into the baths. Tall reedy stalks, flimsy seaweed, moss, lily pads...for any amateur garden designers out there, it was a dream.
"The other thing is assembling some baskets for the beetles." This task was a little more involved. Dr Tetya stepped down from the mixing tubs to grab a container from the ground. "We don't want to be cruel to them. It's not their fault they started a plague. Or...maybe it is, but they didn't mean to. So we're going to make them these little box-houses. We need some dirt, some plants, a stick or two for climbing, a water dish..." As they spoke they grabbed each of these items and put them into the box, making a small terrarium for the beetles to live in. "Once we have twenty or so in here, we'll take them somewhere else to let them out. It's just a hotel, you could say, but we want them to have a comfortable stay!"
There could, perhaps, be some political commentary about the Plates caring more about the comfort of beetles than Drenchers, but regardless, that was the job.
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Choose a job - planting plants or making baskets, this is the last task :)
You said I could fly so go on then, fill my eyes with fire, I set my sails with desire
Ira is happily ignored by the scientist and is either way busy snapping her gaze to Uldren when he seems to be agreeing to partaking in the tests. Her look is not as much disapproving as it is very worried, and she quickly looks back down to the barrel and continues stirring in silence until everything is done.
Once it is, she steps closer to Uldren again and lets her hand brush against his. "Just promise you won't let them do anything stupid with you, okay?" She whispers to him, failing to keep the concern away from her voice, but then gives him a sideway glance with a small smirk tugging at a corner of her mouth. "I've got claims on the right to kidnap you for suspicious activities..."
She turns her attention back to Tetya when the new tasks are being presented. While she usually likes plants, she can feel that doing anything more physically taxing might cause her to just collapse, so she settles on the baskets. Even if she could have a thing or two to say about giving bugs better living standards than the Drenchers, if the little beetles indeed can help with the plague, it will help the Drench as well.
Unless the Plater's ultimate goal here is to just use the beetles up on the Plates and leave the Drench to suffer. It would not surprise her... Picking up items and material for the baskets, she finds herself a spot where she can sit down and starts putting small terrariums together.
Ira is making stupid baskets for the stupid beetles.
IRA
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.
He nods along with the information given about the tests. "Doesn't seem too bad." He agrees, though probably would not feel so certain if surgeries had been brought up. But surely they would be allowed to opt-out of tests they don't feel comfortable with, right? Right? Surely! Nothing to worry about!
Everyone is eventually done with what they are doing, he curiously listens on what more needs to be done. Neither of the options seem optimal for him, but he knows he will most likely lose his patience fiddling with the little baskets. Putting down plants seem easy enough, so when they are free to choose, he gathers up a good collection of different ones and hops back into the now dirt-filled former petal pool to start putting them down into the soil.
Cian plants some plants!
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.
hey mr. trailblazer, spare you a joint paper it's strange how the days layer, and weigh on you years later
Uldren doesn’t expect the doctor to be so pleased with his offer, and he casts a sidelong glance toward Cian as he also agrees – trying his best to avoid the look that Ira gives him. “That sounds okay.” He murmurs. Though it’s a good thing the doctor hadn’t mentioned surgery, because in that instance Uldren would immediately have to reconsider.
For now, though, it seems like the baths are clean and they can move on, and he clears the phlegm from his throat as he looks back to Ira when she speaks, flashing her a small half smile. “Promise.” He offers, before a huff of a laugh leaves him and he follows her toward the baskets, grabbing the items required to make the baskets and settles down beside Ira to start putting them together. “I won’t let them do anything that might be permanent.” He tries to relieve her worries over it some.
kill your demons, kill 'em dead; in your mirror, in your bed in your heart, in your head. don't you look good in red?
Sunjata can’t help but to offer Iara a small smile that seems to say that its nice to meet her too, before he, yknow, makes a show of falling on his ass in the mud, getting completely covered with little to no hope of leaving the area clean. So instead, he focuses on picking himself up with Iara’s help even if she laughs at him. He’d be lying if he thought it wouldn’t be funny if it had happened to anyone else. So it is what it is. But he gets back to work quickly, finding better footing and content to finish up everything, not worrying about getting dirt anywhere else on him now that it’s already happened.
So when the next choice is given and their bath is clean, he looks between the two options and decides to move toward the plant section, laying out the peat and soil, before moving to decide on the plants, picking a few leafy green ones that have him stepping nearer to Cian, hoping that his cover isn’t blown but also trying to get close enough to not make it seem odd with the space he’s giving the other man, torn between wanting to ask him if they can talk later, or simply hoping that the other man didn’t hate him for what occurred, enough to broadcast who he was to everyone here.
Much to Maven's surprise, adding hot water to the bath has the desired effect - and then some. She becomes more confident with each blow and scrape as salt crumbles away beneath her ministrations. It swirls down the drain along with the hot water, and it isn't long before the bath is clean. Maven smiles at Zeph as she returns to the crowd around Dr. Tetya.
They explain the options and Maven considers. She is not particularly adept with plants, however much she may wish she were, and so she shies away from the idea of crafting a water garden for actual living creatures to swim around in. She's much more comfortable with the idea of making a little habitat for beetles, so she gathers the relevant supplies and joins the others who are making baskets, offering each a smile as she sets to work on her own terrariums.
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Maven makes baskets!
Maven
(This post was last modified: 05-28-2023, 03:35 AM by Maven.)
questions of science, science and progress do not speak as loud as my heart
Well, things go a lot better this time, and between you and Maven (mostly Maven) you're able to get rid of the last of the salt, resulting in a perfectly serviceable eel pool. Unfortunately you are not currently in peak physical shape, and by the end of it you're experiencing some rather violent bursts of coughing, as well as a great deal of pain in your chronically injured left arm.
Nevertheless, you persist! Wincing a little and trying not to cough, you join up with the group as a new set of tasks is assigned. And while making tiny terrariums for invasive beetles sounds like it may actually be quite fun, you don't need any more looks from the good doctor about your deteriorating physical state. So you mosey over to the gardening group, gathering some lovely greenery to artfully rehome in your now-saltless tub.
Cian and Uldren could expect very eager letters in the next few days, inviting them to partake in all kinds of fun tests. Trying to keep focused on the task at hand and not daydream too much of all the experiments that could be done, Dr Tetya forced themselves to think on the eels for now. Everyone got to work planting and making baskets - the beetles would be pleased. Each little home would be enough to coax them out of the eels, for sure.
The plants would certainly keep the eels happy too. Dr Tetya ran between each volunteer, clapping their hands. "Yes, Yes! It's all wonderful! I think that's enough baskets for now. I don't suppose theres much else for you to do, but - oh! If you wanted to stay to see us release the eels-" Their glasses glinted and they grinned. "We'll be pouring them out of their tank into the baths shortly. It should be quite the sight."
Indeed, once everyone had planted and made baskets, tanks would be wheeled forward containing writhing pods of eels, ready to test out their new homes.
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