[EVENT] A CITY UNDAUNTED

[khuimods]

Characters: All
Date: Throughout February
Location: Aifaran
Situation: The city is still recovering from the massive storm in December but progress is being made; an important festival is held in defiance of the devastation, to celebrate and to strengthen.
Warnings/Rating: Descriptions of natural disaster damage; please add warnings as appropriate in headers


Ongoing storm recovery continues steadily, with signs of life returning to normal emerging in some areas of the archipelago. Shops slowly begin to open in the least-affected areas of Aifaran, and a good number of people are able to return to their homes, reducing the stress on the shelters and city resources. Mysteries remain, and the city pushes onward.

I. QUESTIONS AND CONSTRUCTION

By February, most of the debris has been cleared from the streets and collected outside the city. These piles are slowly but surely being sorted into piles based on size and material. The archipelago is not an endless bounty of resources, and everything that can be reused or recycled, will be. It is hard, messy work, but there is an air of renewal emerging during this process. Rebuilding and new construction begins in earnest.

More difficult is the effort to return personal items to their owners, or to next of kin. Lost-and-found sites at various shelters and other service centers begin the long and sometimes painful process of cataloging everything that's been brought to them.

There is much debate about what to do with the trees that sprang up in the wake of the storm - much is still unknown over whether or not they may prove a danger to the city as a whole or not. Much of these discussions are happening at the Aisling Tower and there is the occasional open forum in which city folk may give their own input and experiences.

Rather abruptly, the handful of buildings in Aifaran that had remained stubbornly flooded empty of water. The water does not suddenly remember it is subject to gravity and drain out into the streets, however. It simply vanishes. Inside, everything is drenched, but not in the way one would expect after over a month of being completely submerged. Paper is sodden without disintegrating, fabric is undamaged- even food doesn't appear to be spoiled. Here and there, furniture and loose objects will have been moved but overall nothing has been displaced. The smell of sea salt - and, oddly, jasmine - hangs in the air. It only takes about a week for the drowned buildings to fully dry out, leaving residents and owners only that lingering scent and too many unanswered questions. The Sentry declares them safe enough, though researchers delay people from returning for another week while they do some tests.

Though preliminary investigations didn't turn up anything, those who returned to their homes that were flooded have reported unusual lapses in time. They can be inside for what feels like a few hours and go out to find it's still the middle of the day and vice versa. There is also reports of the feeling of a strange presence, objects moving, disorientation and a lack of spatial awareness.

II. TINE'S COMMEMORATION

As a mark of shared determination and camaraderie, the city council announces in early February that Tine's Commemoration will be held despite the lingering effects of Xi Tianlong's claws. In fact, a prominent guild of merchants in Malimo have stepped forward as official sponsors. Tine's Commemoration is a somewhat literal twist on the traditions of many Dreamfolk: rather than featuring a romantic holiday, February is a time dedicated to renewing and recognizing friendships, forgiving past grievances, and recognizing our most important ties through an exchange of intricately tied knots.

In the days leading up to the 14th, the lingering cloud of tension and worry from the storm gives way to tentative hope. There's a lot of talk of renewal and remembrance. Merchants and artisans band together to create pop-up or shared shops featuring knotworks and related crafts, as well as collaborative spaces for the community at large to gather and learn how to tie knots. Many of these spaces become impromptu service and support centers, with people finding ways to help each other and forming new friendships they otherwise would not have.

There are specific knots and knot colors meant to signify different kinds of relationships. Friendship knots come in white and blue. White is for the bond of new friends, blue to recognize the joy of old friends. The blue knots typically are added together in a series, one made for each year of the friendship and tied to each other sequentially. More complicated knots are made when forgiving a grudge or past grievance, or to tell someone that they are considered family. While not a major focus of the exchange, there are also multi-colored knots for romantic relationships.

Knots can be worn as jewelry or braided into hair (or sometimes hair itself gets tied, with one friend attending to the other's hairdo), and it's customary to keep them on your person throughout the month. While they can be given or exchanged all on their own, it isn't uncommon for knots to come with small gifts or trinkets as well. After February comes to a close, it's important to store the knots somewhere safe, often in a special box or bag with numerous pockets.

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OOC Notes: This is a mingle-log for the entire month of February. Tine's Commemoration is a game-wide event for your characters to participate in (or try and avoid, if they're that type) as much or little as they want to.

Provided below are some starters, but you can make your own too if none of these work for you!