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
For a while he'd been able to get by with what scraps he had, coming up with ingenius solutions made from old beer cans and the wires from discarded bikes or baskets, but it was becoming inevitable: he needed electronics, transceivers, actual pieces. The lockdown had slowed the import of anything to such a trickle he'd given up hope on ever receiving the order he'd put out some months ago - true, Tavi had promised to source some, but he had no guarantee that would be any time soon either.
When he was a kid, he had spent quite a lot of time in the Drowning Trails. There had been rumours of treasure, if one braved the waters and rocks, hidden in some cove or in a cave only the most determined could find.
Of course, by now he knew that was bullshit, but it was still good foraging space. While it was unlikely he'd find perfectly preserved electronics, plenty of trash washed up into the trails: it was the best place to look for something close enough.
At this time of year you didn't go to the Trails alone - the rain made it so the tides sloshed over feet in an instant and a friend was needed to pull you out of the water before you suffered the fate of a weak Plates kid. So, he'd invited Ira (hadn't actually expected her to come), since she didn't seem to get out of her bar or cafe much; everyone needed a little adventure now and then.
"So I'm just kinda looking for anything like...tech-y." Adam explained as they stepped into the boundaries of the area, sighing as his leather boots immediately adopted a coat of mud.
It hadn't been difficult for Adam to get her to come with. The diner is currently closed due to water damage and Ira suddenly has too much free time on her hands. While she would love to spend all that extra time glued to Uldren's side now when she has more or less moved herself into his apartment for the time being, it isn't really reasonable. He's got his own job to do too and she would crawl out of her own skin if she tried to stay put for too long. So when the offer of the perfectly safe adventure came, she was off and away very quickly.
Is going to the Trails insane at this time of the year? Oh yes.
Does she need to give Uldren any more reasons to worry about her safety and health this season? Absolutely not, but here she is, standing next to Adam with her arms crossed and watching his poor boots getting stained by the mud. To quote her own words; behaving well was too boring sometimes.
"Tech, eh? Might have more luck raiding some abandoned building for that." She looks around them with a brow raised. "Though... Risk of drowning versus getting stabbed in the neck by some squatters being angry over you sneaking around on their turf..." She continues with an almost too casual tone and shrugs as if such activities are just another afternoon for her, tilting her head this and that way as if weighing the options.
Sticking her hands into her pockets, she walks forward a few steps before kicking the toe of her boot down into the mud and pries loose a rusty old rim from a car tyre. "Suppose most things from the buildings wash down here anyway."
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.
"Yeah, squatters and the Enforcers are shoving bigger sticks up their asses than ever right now." Adam mumbled grumpily. As far as he knew raided an old building for supplies wasn't illegal (hell, it was a whole industry in the Drench), but that didn't seem to matter any more.
Boots making an unattractive schlorp sound every time he pulled them from the mud, he tried to move and look around at the same time, but it became quickly very clear that would be a way to fall over. Ira collected a wheel rim and he raised an eyebrow at that, but didn't ask anything vocally. Probably had a scrap value, if nothing else, he supposed. "It doesn't have to be like, working or super fancy. Just...something I can use to experiment with. Of course, if Shaju would END THIS FUCKING LOCKDOWN-" Adam switched to a shout, hands cupped around his mouth and aimed at the Plates.
Clearly, the area they were in had been the dumping ground for some kind of automobile organisation - other than the rim there were old steering wheels and breaks, rusted bodies of cars and rotting seats inamong the mud. While it would be tantamount to a miracle to find a working radio in one of the metal corpses, Adam valiantly went ahead to look anyway, clambering just inside the doors of rusted cars to poke at the middle consoles.
"Is there anything-" He grunted and paused as he slipped through the broken hole of a once-window. "-you're looking for down here? Or did ya actually just come for lil old me?"
Ira just lets out a quiet grunt and rolls her eyes, flipping the rim over with her boot and then steps away from it. She can't decide what she'd rather face; Squatters or Enforcers. What she does know, is that a rusty rim is not going to be of much help with what Adam needs, so she lets it be. No use dragging it around anyway. She makes it a few steps further before stopping again as Adam turns to shout up towards the Plates.
"Bet they are too comfy to bother. Was up there not too long ago, actually. People didn't exactly seem miserable." She mutters with a bitter tone to her voice and shrugs. Sure, she doesn't know how the Plates were doing before the lockdown, but compared to the Drench, the Platers really had nothing to complain about according to her. Casting another glance up, she shakes her head and then follows after Adam as he makes it to one of the old cars.
While he makes it inside, she jumps up onto the rusted hood and crouches down to look at him through the broken windshield. "Nah, I'm here for lil old you." She responds with a grin and a quick flash of her eyebrows. "Can't let my new drinking buddy go get himself drowned now, can I?" With a quiet chuckle, she rises and hops down from the car again to lean in through the window on the opposite side from where Adam had gone in.
"Besides, just can't say No to some crazy adventure." She makes a sweeping gesture with a hand at the area around them. The very totally not safe area of mud, sharp metal and the ever overhanging risk of sudden flood. "So... Any type of wires, metal and electronic, might do? Random small metal parts? Guess it's more likely for Shaju to end the lockdown tomorrow than us finding an actual untouched car radio here." But who knows? Maybe they got enough luck left together to strike gold.
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.
"Y'were? Why?" Given how Ira had said her schedule was packed with the bar and diner, it had to have been something important that dragged her up to the Plates. Clearly she had actually been, from the bitterness in her voice.
The old car bounced as Ira got on, Adam holding onto the crumbling seat to keep his balance. "Aw." Once she'd settled he began to dig through what had once been cup holders and cigarette lighters, but were now just holes filled with mud and general trash. It seemed, as expected, that the radio itself was gone, but reaching his hand right into the back of the gap in it's absence, Adam thought he could feel a few wires and connections.
"Ha. Yeah. I mean, Shaju might end it soon, if he gets distracted enough about his heir going missing." He said distractedly, nails scraping against the edge of the circuit board as he tried to rip it out. "Gotta make way for the new problem, you know." In his focus on the radio remnants, he didn't consider if Ira would already know about Sunjata and his escape.
She doesn't give him a proper reply right away as to why and gives Adam a bit of an evasive shrug while giving herself time to think of a good answer. One would think it was a simple one, that her father talked her into coming with him for the day, but how would she say that with out having to ruin her mood by talking about her father? So while thinking it over, she settles by the car where she leans in through the window.
The news about the missing heir brings a small frown to her face. "He is?" She reaches into the empty hole where the fan used to be and feels around for anything of interest, like any kind of leftover wires. "Dad lured me up top at the very start of the season and I neither saw nor heard anything about it. Would've though there be wanted posters all over, if he cared." Pulling her hand back empty, she pushes away from the car and moves over to one nearby.
"Unless it's some real secret information. If so, how'd you know?" She throws Adam a smirk and curious look over her shoulder, before going on where the front door of the other car once was and starts looking for anything of value.
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.
"Oh. Ah, shit." Adam cursed under his breath as he realised he'd given something away. With the situation surrounding Sunjata being so sudden and odd, it was hard to keep track of how much was a secret. He pulled his hand out of the gap with a circuit board in his fingers, a few wires dangling off of it - by itself, not much use, but possibly something he could use. He shoved it in the bag he'd brought and clambered out of the car's shell.
Going to lean on the roof of the car Ira was investigating, Adam had a question of his own before answering hers: "Lured ya? How?"
Using his fingertip to draw little circles in the dusty mud on the roof of the car, he took a breath as he considered how much to say. "It's a bit secret. I might have seen where the heir got to, but you didn't hear that from me." While he was sure he could trust Ira, information was always best held close to one's chest unless you were being paid.
She hears Adam muttering something, but chooses not to ask or comment and just makes the assumption that whatever he's digging for is giving him trouble. Instead, she settles on what's left of the front seat in the other car and looks things over. This car has a radio. Sort of. The whole panel looks like someone took a sledgehammer to it and most of it is in pieces or missing, but perhaps something can be of use. While carefully trying to wriggle out what little is left of the radio without cutting her fingers on any sharp edges, she ponders on what to say.
"For context, we're not exactly on good speaking terms. Only thing we can corporate with is paying rent, but don't expect us to have a civil conversation for more than a minute." It's not exactly any general secret information, just personal. "He did things wrong, refusing to acknowledge it and I refuse to act as if things are fine. So I don't want to talk to him unless he wants to sit down and sort things out first. "
She pauses to focus some on her attempt at getting the smashed up piece of half a radio out. "So when he was real fast at getting hold of me as soon as I came out of my room and asked me to come with when he had to go up top for something, I gave him a chance. If he wanted to finally talk. Turned out he didn't. Just tried some random small talk at usual and I didn't want to play pretend that everything is fine. So eventually he left for whatever he had to do and left me to find my own way around."
With a sigh, she shakes her head and leans out of the car to look up at Adam where he stands leaning. "And when it comes to that heir, I don't think I want to hear more. Feels like the less I know, the safer I'll be. Last I want is to end up a target for any interrogations." The arbiter heir isn't of much personal interest to her anyway. If anything, it all just smells like trouble she wants no part of.
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.
Adam hovered behind Ira as she pried the radio out, a little wary of the sharp edges around her hands; it belayed his cool-guy persona, but he really would be quite upset if she lost a finger on his behalf. Stood behind her as he was, all he could do was listen to her talk about her father.
Never having had a relationship with his own that he could remember, there was a kind of vicarious joy in hearing other people having a poor connection to their fathers: a confirmation that he hadn't missed anything, that he was probably better off without the guy anyway. It certainly seemed like Ira would be, if it were not for the rent. "What'd he want to do up there? Y'know, while he made the shitty small talk."
It seemed she was purposefully not getting into what it was her father had done before and mercifully, Adam did not ask her to. He knew there were stories that had to wait for the right time and knee-deep in mud hunting for parts didn't seem like it.
Thankfully, Ira didn't want to know anymore about Sunjata and Adam was happy to fulfill that request, simply nodding before going to investigate a metal crate off to one side, by now confident Ira's fingers were not about to be ripped to shreds. "Y'ever considered moving in with someone else? Other than your dad, so you can just ignore him for good."
The radio is giving her some resistance. With how smashed up the whole panel it, the socket it sits in is dented and pinches the piece in place. Not completely stuck, but it requires a bit of wriggling to slowly get it more and more lose. "Dunno. He didn't say, I didn't ask." She mutters with a shrug. "While he talked at me, we were just walking around and apparently killing time until he had to be off to whatever it was."
Her father's continued attempts at being friends really did bother her, and she would not go along with it, able to be real stubborn too if she had to. She could probably tell Adam the background to it all as well, but perhaps at another time and place indeed. Instead, she silently goes back to her fight with the broken radio while he walks off to the metal crate. Said radio finally comes loose after she manages to get a good grip on it and gives it a hard tug. It really isn't much left of it. Half is missing. One part of what's left is dangling in wires from the other part, but at least it is more than nothing.
She remains inside the car for a few seconds after Adam's next question is asked, pondering the reply and then gets out. "Been wanting my own place for a long time, but you know... Can't really put away much savings at the time, so it's a slow project. Especially with everyone's favourite Lockdown making most things impossible." She shakes her head and walks over to hand the radio pieces to Adam.
"Right now, I'm staying with this guy I'm seeing, so I guess I'm having kind of a holiday from family for an unknown time. Though he lives with his sister too, so it's currently not a permanent solution and it's too early to say how long we'll stand each other under the same roof." She adds with a small smirk.
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.
