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
Despite his best efforts, his mind starts diving into the whirlwind of thoughts in the way that often leaves him spacing out with only a gnawing feeling of anxiety and the inability to really think of anything specific. However, Sunjata's voice pulls him back out before too long and he stares silently at the wall opposite to them for a brief moment before nodding.
"Feels like I could use ten drinks today, but one sounds good." He is aware he probably sounds quite depressing, but he can't help it, nor does he care too much about it right now. It is just one of those days and he has more or less decided to not try and fight against it much. Perhaps he just needs to let himself have a bad day to get it out of his system. If he starts to cheer up later, he is just going to go with that then, but he is not going to try and force any false smiles.
He slowly steps away from the wall and starts moving towards the street going past the alley. "I'm not sure where is a good place to go, so if you've got any ideas..." He pauses to look down the street in both directions. No signs of any patrols, at least. Then he turns towards Sunjata to see if his friend could guide them to anywhere, or if they would end up wandering in a random direction until they stumble upon the first place they find.
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.
father, father, let me figure it out i'm gonna swim in the thick of it now, i can't even tell the difference now
“Don’t have enough lasti for ten, unfortunately.” He teases lightly, speaking over the fact that Cian does indeed sound depressed – though he can’t blame the man. He is too, despite feeling that the reasoning is unfounded. Sunjata’s lonely, having to hide down here so much. But he doesn’t feel like it’s something he can complain or say anything about because of the fact it was his choice to make. He chose to come down here, live this life, to try and make it better. To complain would be to accept that his father was right when he’d often said that they didn’t belong down in the Drench.
He hopes it’ll change one day, at least. But for now? Now there isn’t a chance of it yet. Instead, he has to stick to the shadows, hiding who he is, pretending he’s just another shmuck that got stuck in the Drench with the lock down.
“I got a place in mind.” He offers with a soft smile behind the mask, able to see it in the pinch of his eyes, stepping out once he’s sure it’s clear with Cian’s help – guiding him down a few alley entrances before turning right on a larger alleyway toward where a small group of people seem to be grabbing food and drink to go in brown paper bags. He turns to Cian with a playful little "ta-da!"
Cian technically got enough lasti for it, but still doesn't. Not if he wants to have any left for important things like food. And rent. And perhaps get his clothes somewhat washed every once in a while. At least he doesn't have to fight with an everyday need for drinks on top of all that, and he really doesn't need to create that habit either. Still, a drink or two on a bad day such as this can't hurt. Just stay away from milkshakes and you're fine.
He lets Sunjata guide them through the streets, keeping a constant eye on their surroundings while trying to make it seem like he is just memorising the way they are taking. Which he also is, but he also wants to make sure no enforcers or other suspicious people are stalking on them this time.
They turn a corner and he raises his brows in a small surprised expression, then huffs a short laugh and smiles at Sunjata's little "ta-da". "Don't think I've seen this place before. Though something tells me I can spend a couple of years here and still only having scratched the surface no matter how much I go exploring." He tries real hard to not think of the fact that he is soon coming close to having spent a year stuck in this city and should probably make a very long and difficult phone call home about it.
Though that will have to be trouble for another day. Today feels troubled enough just by itself and he shakes his head subtly for himself with a quiet sigh and drifts a bit closer to the group of people to see what's being offered.
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.
father, father, let me figure it out i'm gonna swim in the thick of it now, i can't even tell the difference now
It isn’t a milkshake, thankfully, when they round the corner to reveal the small place Sunjata had in mind, and sees the little smile he’d managed to spark and already feels a little better about how today might go.
He nods to the comment before leaning in a smidge closer to Cian to say a bit quieter “I’ve had to make a map.” Because he had no fucking clue how to get around the winding alleys down here, not like any natural born Drencher.
But he nudges Cian’s elbow with his own, stepping up to the little alcove, ordering a couple of drinks to go and a small bag of fries. The drinks themselves are boozy and sweet and don’t take long to put together and the fries get dumped into a brown paper bag that ends up with the speckles of grease stains as Sunjata pays with some lasti in his pocket and turns to hand Cian his own drink before taking his own and the fries and turns away from the building, scanning to make sure no enforcers came this way, but he waits to give the other man time to see if he wanted anything else aside from what the young Bratena suggested.
The mention of a map has his eyebrows go up a bit more, as if he just realises that it seems like a really good idea. "Perhaps I should too. I've learned some streets just around where I currently stay, but going much further than that and I am just lost. So I usually don't venture very far." He chuckles quietly. "Besides, have not had a reason to go into the darkest corners of the Chokes either. Staying around the lights here seems safe enough." It isn't safe anywhere, but safer and he doesn't want to risk taking a turn down the wrong alley way in the darkness.
He follows Sunjata up to where the drinks and food are ordered and has a look at the other options while they are waiting, but ultimately settles with whatever Sunjata is choosing for them. He takes the offered drink with a nod of thanks and heads towards the street again, looking this and that way in as a non-suspicious way as he can before picking a random direction to start walking in. Just out for a casual stroll.
"So, apart from sneakily hunting toads, what else have you been up to since we parted? How have things been?" He has a good feeling that things have not been sunshine and rainbows for either of them. "If there's anything you want... Or can share, that is. It's fine if there are things I shouldn't know about." He offers Sunjata a gentle smile before having a look at the drink he was given. Having full understanding if there are things he shouldn't know about for one reason or 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.
father, father, let me figure it out i'm gonna swim in the thick of it now, i can't even tell the difference now
“Yeah.” Sunjata agrees, letting a soft laugh leave him too, one that shifts into a visible shiver as Cian mentions the Chokes. “I’ve been there a few times. Don’t really want to go back if I can help it.” His father had him stationed there a few times during his curfew enforcement. Since then, the darkness felt like a shadow he couldn’t quite get rid of no matter how much he stood directly in front of the sun, reminding himself that it was possible to feel warm again.
They order, however, and as they head toward the streets, once it gets a bit quieter he slips off one side of his mask, letting it hang so that he can take a sip of his drink. “They’ve been okay. I’ve been… Hiding out, really. I don’t get out often.” It’s difficult, of course, but he knows it’s necessary. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t push it occasionally – like today, when he should have just left and gone back to the little dark room and waited for Nate to come by for some semblance of human interaction.
The smile from Cian is met with a softer one of his own and he’s stuck – debating whether or not he should tell Cian everything that’s going on, if he’d be the whistleblower, but he finds himself watching his friend for a bit longer than necessary and realizing that despite everything that had happened to the two of them, Cian would and could keep his secrets. “I was trying to get out to Garanenz but someone kept me from leaving. I can’t go back to the Plates, though, I’m… Too incriminated, and after last time my father…” He exhales a sigh that seems to suggest he’d learn the hard way not to overstep his boundaries from Shaju again.
“I told you before I wanted to change things down here, yeah? I’ve done… Years of research now. Just trying to find a way to not give myself up in order to speak with people who can do something about it down here.” His voice drops lower as if there were people listening, despite this part of the alley being empty except for the two of them, but his steel gaze slides to Cian in quiet warning that this is his big secret and why if he were to go Plate side again, he’d end up in the Capitol Prison.
He peers sideways as if to study Sunjata's face once the mask is removed, finding it a bit easier when he can actually see the expressions properly. The comment about hiding out is met by a small nod and a twitch of his lips in a sort of sympathetic smile. He too has spent a lot of time hiding. Not that he is really wanted, but the while interrogation event had left him paranoid for a while. He can only try to imagine how it is like for Sunjata, being who he is.
He remains silent after his question, peering back at Sunjata and is almost about to say something after that long moment of the other man just looking at him when Sunjata finally speaks up. The mention of Garanenz has him looking a bit surprised for a second. "Would have been very crossed with you if I found out you made it there and didn't take me with you." He says in a bit of a joking manner, even if he can understand the frustration of being kept from leaving. Still, had Sunjata found a way Cian would have loved an opportunity to get home already.
While Sunjata continues in a lower voice, Cian glances around them and takes a sip of his drink. Making sure there is no one lurking in the shadows. No one is there, not what he can see at least and he nods slowly to what is being said, remaining silent for a brief moment while thinking it all over. "I can see the danger in all that, especially now when I realise how little the people in the lead up there hates change. Even if it would be good change. Well... Maybe not for them." He responds in a quieter voice and continues glancing around as they slowly walk through the alley.
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.
father, father, let me figure it out i'm gonna swim in the thick of it now, i can't even tell the difference now
A soft snort leaves the young Bratena as he nods his agreement – though it was something he hadn’t really thought about in the moment, too focused on trying to get out of here alive, to much of a momma’s boy to think of anything else but the comfort seeing her might offer him. “Yes, well, you’ve hidden yourself quite well as well.” He offers, though the tone of his voice seems to suggest that he wouldn’t have left Cian alone for long had he had the chance to make it there.
Perhaps he’s giving his mother too much credit, anyway. Maybe she wouldn’t be able to pull the strings he thought she could to get Cian back home. Either way, the two of them would never know, stuck in the damp alleyways the Drench had to offer.
But seriousness overtakes his face and he watches Cian for a moment to see just how he takes the information offered and when it’s accepted… He exhales a breath of relief he hadn’t realized had been pent up in his chest. “Shaju has… Tried to get me to become like him and the longer I stayed soft, as he put it, the worse off everything became for me.” He frowns slightly, taking a sip from his drink, finding some relief in being able to talk openly about it here. “After the diner, he had me restricted to the Plates and working double shifts of eighteen hours.” He visible shivers with it, but is pleased to note that there’s still nobody in this alley aside from them. It’s when he pauses in the middle of it to offer the bag of fries out to Cian. “I had to leave before he found everything. And so far, I hope they still think I'm on my way to see my mother.”
He had been quite good at hiding, to his own surprise as well. It probably helped a lot that he isn't a known person in the city and most people probably just forgets his face the moment they walk past. Though at the same time, he had had to make himself a bit known to a few people to be able to find some jobs here and there, but it had still been easy to keep a low profile. The only one that had recognised him recently had been Samuel, and that meeting had gone way better than he had first feared.
"I do remember you mentioning you two not really getting along. Or I got that impression from what you told me during the festival. I really can't imagine how that's like. Sure, I've done things my parents really disagreed with, but... Guess all this is on a whole other level." Still not knowing about the beatings, he still got the feeling that angering a father like Shaju was way worse than anything his moms could bring down on him in the form of very hurtful disappointed stares. He still feels a bit nauseous at the though of having to tell them the truth at some point about being stuck in the city.
He pushes the thoughts aside before they drift off with his mind and he takes a couple of the offered fries. "Well, even if being stuck down here and having to hide isn't the most optimal situation, I am still glad to see you are doing... At least somewhat alright? Alright enough?" He gives Sunjata a quick look over and offers his friend another gentle smile.
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.
father, father, let me figure it out i'm gonna swim in the thick of it now, i can't even tell the difference now
“Mm, yeah.” Sunjata says with a soft sigh as the alcohol starts to burn through his system. “I’m supposed to replace him, so, anything less than perfectly him is like the end of the world.” There’s bitterness in his tone and he shuffles his hand to hold onto the fries and his drink in one as he reaches up to rub at his shoulder, not thinking about it.
But he offers some fries to Cian and looks back up at him to listen to what he says, there’s relief that blooms in his chest, loosening the tightness he feels within it as he sighs softly. “It’s ironic because I feel freer down here and simultaneously more caged.” There’s a slight wince as he says it, not wanting to complain given that it had been his choice again, and anything that came to complaints could not be related to one’s own personal choice. It was the Plater’s way, after all, and even speaking of it made him feel slightly uncomfortable.
So he shakes his head, takes another sip from his drink and takes a bite of the fries. “Have you been able to find work?” He asks idly into the silence.
