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
The Bratena lackey really does not want to be here. But it’s better he goes than Shaju, in case it’s a trap or it’s full of all kinds of bullshit. The tram being broken down was the cherry on top as he’s had to spend most of the day taking the little side staircases down, dodging broken steps in a cavern that was remarkably empty. Probably because of the protests sparked by the Drench Kings.
It was all a nightmare. And it seems to be continuing as he steps into the shady alley (surprising given that the Drench was always dark, but this felt more uncomfortable). He isn’t unprepared, however, and under his sleek grey and black suit a variety of weapons sit ready to be used just in case it is a trap.
The alley appears empty, however, but somehow the lackey seems to second guess that it is, peering into the shadows the best he can. “You said you had information?”
Stupid Bratena Lackey didn't know the Drench was just one big playground. Adam had jumped, swung and clambered his way to the meeting point in about half an hour, after he finished a smoke and carelessly flicked the end into the street, gone before it had hit the cobbles.
He was above the alley long before the meeting had to take place and when the question was asked, Adam grinned and dropped down into the space, always happy at the chance to make a dramatic entrance. "I do. But first, you'll pay me for it." Making his first real appearance in the light close enough that the other man could see him, Adam held out his hand and made a beckoning motion.
The less time the lackey spends in the Drench, the more better off he considers himself to be. It’s why he’s aligned so closely with Shaju, attempting to keep himself from ending up down here by any means necessary. This, however, is temporary, and an attempt to make the Arbiter proud enough to keep him from returning to these hell holes, and so he dives in wholly when Adam drops down and makes a dramatic entrance.
The lackey is, however, accustomed to hiding any bits of worry or fear, and doesn’t even jump the second he hears Adam’s boots hit the concrete. Instead, his arms cross and there’s a look of boredom across his face as he reaches into his breast pocket to pull out a bag, clinking with lasti. “Give me part of the truth and I’ll pay you.” The distrust is clear – not believing that Adam wouldn’t simply take the lasti and run rather than give over the information. But giving him half of something in return for the lasti and the rest? He could do that.
Disappointed at the lack of a reaction to his super cool entrance, Adam fished a smoke out of his pocket and leaned against the wall. If his efforts to put a little theatre into everyone's lives were going unappreciated, he wouldn't try. His eyes followed the bag of Lasti as it came out of the Lackey's pocket, Adam's lips occupied by his cigarette as he lit it.
Once it was lit and one hand had lifted it away, he sighed and rolled his eyes. "Fine. But you better had pay me or I'm complaining to whatever office you got up there for this." They had paperwork for fucking everything in the Plates - he was sure they had some kind of department for illegal backalley news sharing. "Alright. You guys are looking for Sunjata, we all know that. Far as I've heard though, Enforcers are just chasin' their own tails, right? I mean, fuck, you're still looking in the city."
He lifted the smoke to his lips, inhaled and blew out a cloud into the air above. "And he ain't here, not anymore."
The lackey watches Adam as unimpressed as he can, their faces glowing the second that he lights the cigarette and it’s clear that there’s displeasure in the man’s face as his nose wrinkles slightly when he offers his bargain back. “Yeah, yeah.” He mutters as if to say the DJ needed to get on with it. Besides, he’d like to see a Drench complaint get anywhere up there, let alone anywhere close to having anything done about it.
He doesn’t say that, of course.
He does, however, narrow his eyes as soon as Adam says the name Sunjata. He doesn’t want to give too much information, but curiosity piques when he says that he isn’t there anymore. “We have reports of him being seen in Neon Alley.” He doesn’t say that those leads are weeks old at this point. “Where do you think he’s gone?” Because he doesn’t want to give up the fact that if he wasn’t here, then where was the son of the Arbiter?
The rules of the game were that the contact couldn't look too interested, but Adam could hear in the tone of his questions that he'd, at least for right now, got a hook. Taking in a long, slow inhale first, he huffed out the smoke and let his eyes turn upwards. "Sure, might've been in Neon Alley back in the first week. He ain't staying there though - place crawls with Enforcers, right? It'd be stupid. If I were him, I'd be outta there right away."
This was actually true, as far as he could imagine. If he had reason to escape the city, he would be grabbing Nate by the wrist and marching out as soon as possible.
"Anyway, I got a friend who can...find ways outta the Drench. For a fee. You understand." He tilted his head down and looked up at the contact. Everyone knew there were ways to get around the borders, lockdowns and guards for enough Lasti, even the guards themselves. "Word's been going around that he helped a young man with that stupid hair gavel thing you guys do and a shitton of Lasti. Who does that sound like?"
This particular lackey isn’t known well for his patience, but he stands there with his arms crossed along his chest, half watching (mostly glaring) at Adam as he speaks on the subject of the Neon Alley. He wears his mask impeccably well, however, at the realization that yes it’s quite likely that Sunjata would have moved on from the Alley the second that the Enforcers started their rounds.
It isn’t a secret that the Enforcers and the Bratena heir didn’t get along, after all.
As for the rest, the mention of getting out of the Drench for a fee only receives a grunt of understanding – knowing that Shaju is going to hate that it’s something that occurs regularly, but it’s information that can’t be left out. However, his eyes narrow as Adam talks about a young man with the gavel shaved in and a bunch of lasti looked for a way out. So maybe, just maybe, he was headed to Garanenz. Perhaps they’d have to expand their search?
Huffing a sigh, he hands the bag of lasti over to Adam with a growl. “Can I talk to this contact?” He figures the answer is no, but it’s worth a shot anyway.
Adam was expecting a bit more grilling, maybe some performative anger about the regular escapes from the Drench, but it seemed this guy was focused entirely on one thing - the Plates really had to be upset about this whole Sunjata situation.
"No." He said flatly, then fiddled with the cigarette in his fingers. "Y'know how it works. They tell me so I can tell you, then they get some of the cash. What's the point in me if you can just go to whoever?" Dealing with the Plates people was half his job.
If that was all the contact had to ask, it seemed they were done here. Adam stretched, making a show of how bored he was of this whole conversation, then held out his hand. "Any other questions, or can I get paid now?"
