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
Do you live for the love you've found? Some sad slow song to lay you down and still your weary worried heart.
The push and pull of the crowd is enough to make her sick.
Willow does her best to navigate through the swarms of people - her thin figure ducking and dipping, swerving and sliding. It's all no use, though. The unwashed masses of Drenchers and some looky-Lou's from Topside are stuff together in a hot, brightly lit box of the Neon Alley. With the lights all turned on and the absolute mass of the crowd, the temperature is nauseating and Willow just wants to get through.
She wants, desperately, to get to one of the shops that sells cheap but dependable boots to Drenchers. The staff there charges extortionate rates to the tourists, but they use it to give discounts to the actual city folk. Her old boots had gotten rather destroyed in the last "light" rain of the season, and she needed new ones for her treks to the Tangles.
The girl is almost certain that there must be some sort of event - a concert, maybe - that she was not aware of happening tonight with the sheer volume of people.
Her thoughts are snapped back to the present moment as someone presses into her from behind. "Hey!" she exclaims, turning around to smack the offender across the face. Before her outstretched hand meets its target, she notices the red, flushed face of an older looking man as he continues to slide down her body - nearly unconscious.
"Hey..." her tone softens and she quickly grasps the man's waist and helps him to the floor before standing back up.
She cups her hands about her mouth, and, as though she were calling in the dogs at night on the farm, she begins shouting: "Is anyone here a doctor?"
it gives the weak flight, it gives the blind sight until the cops come, or by the last light
If Nate had his way, there’s be more nights like this. It’s easier to be himself in the thrum of the crowd, even if his slick red jacket – already too warm for the season – has him sweating like a mule in custody. And anyway, it’s necessary for his nights plans, which do include a concert, and his first planned breaking of the curfew.
Obviously though, because there’s been actual planning put into the night, things get eddied. Theres worse ways to be derailed than a literal call to action though, even if Nate’s first shameful thought is to ignore the shouting and continue on. Shaking his head, he turns and shoved his way through the crowd easily, his size a definite boon in the crush.
Shoving the last few people out of his way with a succinct snarl of “I’m a fucking doctor, move.” Nate takes a single look at the scene and crouches down, the back of his hand brushing the old man’s cheek gently before he looks up at Willow.
“Do you know him?” He asks, shifting to support the man’s head with one hand while digging in a pocket with the other. “He needs out of the crowd, but I can’t move him and them at the same time.” The brisk tone is all business, at odds with his flashy clothes and darkened eyelids.
and for the last night i lie could i lie next to you?
Do you live for the love you've found? Some sad slow song to lay you down and still your weary worried heart.
A growl comes out of the crowd, followed by an almost unnaturally tall man.
His bright red coat makes him easy to spot amongst the rest of the Drenchers who are dressed more reserved, and his overall appearance hints that working was not exactly on his list of things to do. Willow would maybe feel badly for taking away from the precious free time of a fellow worker, if distress was not the foremost emotion in her mind. A chill grips at her heart even as her blood feels like it is about to boil out of her veins.
Do you know him? the doctor asks, as he rushes into action. In contrast, Willow feels like she is thinking and moving in slow motion.
"I, uh... No, I don't," she flutters out, kneeling down toward the man collapsed beside them, her hands shakily clasping together. Willow does her best to hide the panic creeping up inside her, but does not manage much of an act. "He fell on me." The man does not give direct orders, but she knows what he is implying. With the health of the stranger in much more capable hands, her heart rate begins to slow and she regains her focus.
She gives him a serious nod, standing back up and once again finds her voice (if not still a bit shaky). "Make a path!" she shouts at the crowd. "Get out of the way!" A few look dumbly at her, then toward the brightly dressed doctor, to the patient on the floor, before stumbling out of the way. Willow outstretches her arms to hold up the crowd and make a brief, wiggling pathway through the crowd.
"There should be an alley way at the edge of that building," she motions toward a brightly lit 'dance' club to the left-side of the road.
Willow
Throw light upon your darkest dark.
(This post was last modified: 10-17-2022, 09:59 PM by Willow.)
it gives the weak flight, it gives the blind sight until the cops come, or by the last light
Nate’s nose wrinkles just a little at the answer he receives from the woman, unhelpful and complicating the matter, though neither of those things is her fault. There’s no reason to panic her more, so he snaps out a handful of tasks instead and lets her focus on something else while he checks the man over further.
Heat exhaustion, he thinks. It’s early in the season for it, but if it was going to happen at any time, in any place, it was going to be somewhere it would ruin his night, obviously.
A path opens for him, so Nate wastes no time heaving the frail man up and dragging carrying him to the alley his impromptu nurse indicates, a furrow appearing between his brows when he realizes where they are. Sitting the man on a pile of stacked wooden crates, Nate reaches in his pocket and pulls out a few lasti, holding them out towards Willow.
“Hey uh,” shit, he usually tries to get a name, “do you mind grabbing a bottle of something cold? I think there’s a shop right above us.” He gestures loosely at the building kitty corner to the club, a busy looking elevated walkway connecting it to the buildings around it, without any obvious sets of stairs.
and for the last night i lie could i lie next to you?
Do you live for the love you've found? Some sad slow song to lay you down and still your weary worried heart.
If he had been annoyed at Willow's responses, she was far too distraught to notice at first. Now that she has busied herself with other tasks, her focus is returning. She's not exactly the person you want around in a crisis, but this man seems to be assured enough to pick up the slack.
The doctor carries the patient off toward the alley, and Willow follows behind. Really, she should just abandon the stranger with the much more capable person who came to their aid. That damn empathy keeping her in place. She would not want to be left alone with some mysterious (and also suspect looking) doctor, so she cannot do it to this poor sod - even if he did graze her ass a bit as he fell.
The man stretches out his arm and hands over a few lasti, and Willow listens attentively for a directive. She assumes he isn't just feeling charitable.
"Uh" is a great place holder for her name, but she knows that the pause is usually a silent question. "Willow," she proffers before catching her orders. She follows his hand up toward the walkway before scanning for a set of stairs. There weren't any within sight, but she does happen to see a fire escape.
Being far too lazy to go searching for the correct pathway up, as well as a touch too young and reckless, she sees the outline of a fire escape within reach of the skywalk. Walking underneath the fire escape, she makes a fluid jump to catch the bars,and a loud creaking brings down the ladder. She scurries quickly upward, walking toward the handrail of the walkway before jumping across and swinging a leg over.
After pushing and shoving through the crowd in the store, Willow emerges again in the walkway, with a bottle of some soft drink - they were sold out of water. "Heads up," she calls from the walkway, leaned slightly over the railing. Waiting for the man in red to make eye contact for a moment, she drops the bottle and makes a precarious exit back to the fire escape and finally to the alleyway.
"Whats wrong with him?" she asks as she walks back toward the unlikely pair.
Willow
Throw light upon your darkest dark.
(This post was last modified: 10-20-2022, 02:17 AM by Willow.)
it gives the weak flight, it gives the blind sight until the cops come, or by the last light
“Nate.” His own name is offered back without a question, a nod and a smile sealing the introduction. It isn’t as if he has time for anything else before she jumps away, scurrying up a fire escape to the next level like she’s been doing it her whole life.
The man in his arms gets his attention back even before he loses sight of Willow in the crush. A mostly dry flyer is dug out of the loose trash in the alley, Nate taking a moment to squint at it before he fans the man.
An angels voice calls out to him, drawing Nate’s gaze up to a single raindrop of a cold bottle. The catch is less smooth than Nate wants it to be, but he doesn’t fumble bad enough to drop the bottle. Just enough to shake it up.
He’s just in the middle of looking back and forth from the bottle to the man when Willow returns to his side and startles Nate into a decision. The bottle is held near the man’s neck, the doctor careful to not actually touch his skin, afraid the shock would be the opposite of a solution. “Too many people, too much heat.” It’s common this time of year, the humidity turning the air to soup. “If you’ve got anything to fan him it’ll help.”
and for the last night i lie could i lie next to you?
Do you live for the love you've found? Some sad slow song to lay you down and still your weary worried heart.
Nate is holding the bottle purposefully near the neck of the man indisposed, but his focus is not distracted by her question. Willow is grateful because she is worried quite a lot about the stranger, even after the shock and initial panic has worn away.
The sentiment he shares is felt within Willow's weary bones. She is oh-so tired of the crowds and already tired of the growing heat. At least in other places in the Drench, the hoard of people is less thick and the air still breathable. She wonders how long into Tanul that will last. An unpleasant thought, and one she will not really entertain at this moment.
At the comment of the fan, the girl turns her head down toward her bag. It's slung over her shoulder and across her chest. Her purse had gotten stolen her first month in Kotoll, and she has wisened up since. She flips open the bag and rummages through, looking for anything suitable.
She pulls out her planner - really just a glorified name for the book she writes her work schedule down in. Without prompting, she begins to fan the notebook near the face of the man. Willow takes care not to knock Nate's arm or the bottle with her movements. "Like this?" she asks, looking for reassurance that she can, in fact, wave a book back and forth correctly.
Trying to avoid the feeling of awkward silence penetrated only by the crowd and sound of whooshing air, Willow asks: "Why're you dressed up?"
Clearly, he was dressed to go somewhere besides this dirty alleyway.
it gives the weak flight, it gives the blind sight until the cops come, or by the last light
His request is followed quickly, the doctors shoulders relaxing. Dark rimmed eyes turn up towards Willow at the request for reassurance, the intense blue appraising her for a moment before he smiles, and offers a shallow nod. “Perfect. Thank you.” Kindness is something that’s all too easy to dole out in moments like this, but his impromptu assistent seems nice enough. At least, too nice to take advantage of it.
The question about his outfit has Nate looking down at himself, his brows pinching. “My uh… little brothers friends’re in a band.” Honestly he thinks he might prefer silence to this particular topic. “It’s not really my usual scene, but… hey, no cover charge.” He laughs roughly, shoulders rolling as he readjusts the man in his arms, the flush on his face beginning to abate.
“What about you?” His chin juts out towards Willow, voice casual now that they’re in the waiting phase of treatment. “Shopping on your day off?” It’s a guess. A very good guess, but still a guess, that note of uncertainty lingering in Nate’s tone.
and for the last night i lie could i lie next to you?
