ioduanlogs | [EVENT] Moon and Mirrors (Welcome Mingle Log)

[EVENT] Moon and Mirrors (Welcome Mingle Log)

Characters: ALL
Date: January 15
Location: At the Dreaming Bridge and all over Aifaran!
Situation: A large influx of Dreamfolk arrive in time for one of the Lunar Festivals, and they're all invited!
Warnings/Rating: N/A

A surprising amount of Dreamfolk have arrived within a short time frame - a peculiarity remarked upon by a number of Aifaran's residents. It is unusual in that it coincides with a lunar festival, one which only happens every fifty or so years.

Newcomers will find the streets packed with all sorts of people, stalls of fried and sugared foods, carnivalesque games and rides, and all other manner of things to do. Merchants are very keen to get their wares out there, and the stipend given may just burn a hole in your pocket when you see what's for sale.

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It was a step down from his room in the Gallows, but a step up in that the green shard in his hand that had anchored him to other Rifters had apparently gone. The proverbial leash was off.

There was a symbol now where it had been - unfamiliar and radiating some kind of energy but it lacked the ache he had before.

He spent a little time in the room, and then more time exploring the halls because he was nosy and wanted to see who he'd be sharing quarters with until going back to his itinerant lifestyle.

There was also free food. Not something he ever passed up really, and some of the options were pleasantly familiar.

Free food. Never pass up free food.

Eve took a look around the cafeteria, considered, and went to plonk herself down next to the strangest person she could immediately see. It was usually a reasonably good tactic for finding out what was going on in a place, and no one else looked obviously out of the ordinary at the moment.

"Hey. Been here long?"

It was possible the last few days had left her a little short of social graces.

The Medicine Seller paused between his dainty bites. By his usual standards he was positively wolfing his food down but it wouldn't do to stuff his gob while someone was talking to him.

"No, not at all," he said slowly, pausing strangely between words. "But the situation... is not entirely unfamiliar."

He sipped the tea. He'd felt the presence of a veggie that had snagged on one of his fangs and it was all terribly embarrassing.

"And yourself? Another newcomer I imagine?"

"Not entirely unfamiliar?" That could mean a whole lot of things, starting at 'I read a whole bunch of fantasy novels' and ending at 'I hop into other dimensions for fun in my spare time.' Eve opted to ask for clarity instead of assuming. "You've done your own share of world traveling?"

Oh good, he does have manners. How nice.

He was right about the newcomer thing, at least. "I'm new too, yeah," Eve agreed, pausing in her examination of food to offer a hand across the table at him. "Colonel Eve Baird. You?"

"My experiences in the last year have been rather out of the ordinary," he said. He had no desire to delve into details.

Introductions were always a nuisance - he avoided them like the plague where he could - but he'd at least gotten used to shaking hands, even if names were not really his strong point.

"Just. A medicine seller."

She gave him a few moments to see if he'd explain, then shrugged. Seemed fair enough not to explain when they'd just met.

"A medicine seller?" She looked him over again, accounting for the looks and finding them incongruous. "All your friends call you that? Seems like it'd be pretty awkward to yell into a crowd."

She did do a lot of yelling for people.

"Awkward to some ears, I suppose."

He decided to do what he always did in these kinds of situations - deflect and change the subject.

"You are a colonel you said. Military?"

"Awkward where I come from, I guess." Who knew, maybe in this guy's world it was entirely normal to yell occupations into crowds and get the person you wanted.

...Yeah, Eve wasn't going to hold her breath.

She gave his question a short nod. "Used to be NATO. These days I work for the Library."

It always seemed like the Library should carry weight here, but Eve was finding fewer people recognized the weight of it than at home. The context-free answer was, she would admit, more to see what he would do than actually expecting recognition.

This was, most assuredly, not the Fool's dormitory. But, thus far, no one had informed him that it was against the rules to wander into the other residences, and so wander he does, peering into open doors and nosing about whatever seems to strike his fancy. Which is a lot.

At length he follows his nose towards the cafeteria, and it is there that he would need to be blind to miss the kaleidoscope of colour currently considering the options on offer.

He steps up to the peculiar man's side and tilts his head enough to catch his eye with a smile. "I don't suppose that you have glimpsed any apricots?"

That's one way of saying hello.

"I have not," he says, seemingly nonplussed by someone sidling right up to him. Thedas had given him a taste of an entire society with no concept of personal space. He could cope.

"Though there are fruits that smell similar. I imagine the taste would be likewise."

After all taste and smell went hand in hand and apricots were fairly distinct. He moved to the part of the buffet where they were laid out on a platter among other fruits almost as colourful as his clothing.

"You have had them before?" This strange detail seems to catch the Fool's fancy, and he steps lightly after the Medicine Seller to peruse the fruits on the buffet. It takes him by surprise, all this bounty on offer for all to take and enjoy. None of this would have been available to any but those seated at the high table in Buckkeep Castle.

He has always enjoyed the opportunity to thumb his nose at those most deserving of it, even when they aren't present to witness it. He plucks up a bit of fruit and takes a bite of it.

"I am called the Fool," he introduces himself with a bit of a whimsical bow and smile. "What shall I call you?"

"Not before, no."

He made a soft 'hmm', as his eyes wandered distractedly back to the ceiling. He had an unfortunate habit of always seeming to only be partially involved in the conversation at hand.

"My sense of smell... is rather good."

And his eyes narrowed a bit. What was it with people always wanting names? Though perhaps this man who called himself the Fool would understand.

Although if he was a fool, then perhaps not.

"I am only. A medicine seller."

The Fool, by his own admission, has never been wise.

"A medicine seller," he repeats and smiles wider, evidently either unperturbed or unsurprised by his new acquaintance's peculiar behaviour.

"Perhaps you might be able to aid me," he ventures after a moment, turning the fruit about in his grasp and examining it rather than the strange man in front of him. When he looks up again, he hasn't lost his smile, but there's a strange, sad quality to it that wasn't there before. "I'm having," a slight pause, before he goes on, "difficulty sleeping, since my arrival."

After his initial exploration of the area, Conan had returned to his room and started taking inventory of what he had with him this time. After a quick check over his gadgets (and a mental note that he'd need to find something here that could substitute for a sedative, as he only had enough in his watch for a single use), he spreads the content of his backpack out on his bed.

As the door opens he looks up. Ah, that was right. He had suspected that he would have a roommate here.

"Hello! Are you staying here too?"

The man who had entered wasn't particularly tall - without the ridiculous geta, he'd probably be on the shorter side of average. But he radiated a kind of presence that was most likely due to his absurd and vibrant attire and the massive wooden medicine pack he carried on his back.

He wasn't looking at Conan when he stepped in, but rather a corner of the ceiling. His expression was... unreadable, but his eyes briefly narrowed before he came back to reality.

"...Ah."

He nodded, turning his icy stare to the boy.

"Yes. I am."

Something in his pack rattled.

Great. Conan could already tell this was going to be fun. But there was no point in starting out with a bad impression. Conan pastes on a smile.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Conan Edogawa. What's your name?"

The Medicine Seller regarded Conan with only mild curiosity. He made a mental note to get his own lodgings as soon as possible. He didn't particularly dislike children, but he lacked anything that would make him a remotely good roommate for one. Such as a sense of responsibility for starters.

"I am..."

Wait for it.

"..."

It's coming.

"..."

Then again, so is Christmas.

"...Just. A medicine seller."

Devin had likewise been learning the layout of the building, identifying the spacing of rooms and the apparent number of occupants. It was steadying in its own way, and gave him a glimpse into who he was temporarily stuck with.

Most of the people he'd seen look mostly human, and then there was this guy.

Gaudy. Pale. Pointed ears. Unlike anyone he's seen here or in Keeliai.

"Where's the rest of the circus?" Devin, no.

It wasn't the first time the Medicine Seller had gotten such a remark and it would hardly be the last.

He smiled, utterly humourless given the flat stare he had leveled at Devin, but his fangs were visible now, peeking out the corners of his mouth.

"No no," he said slowly, haltingly. "Nothing so absurd. I am only a medicine seller."

His gaze wandered absentmindedly to the ceiling, then to the window, and then back to Devin.

"A peddler of exotic remedies is expected to look exotic, of course."

The fangs instantly had Devin on alert - this person may not have been Devin's brand of vampire, but the combination of physical factors was not leaving a good impression for him. Tension coiled through his frame, the change barely visible unless someone was looking for it.

"I would think that a peddler of the exotic would benefit from not attracting unwelcome attention," he said skeptically. "And I get the distinct impression that you aren't 'only' anything."

Fortunately for Devin, the Medicine Seller's only dealings with drawing blood usually involved draining abscesses and other delightful medicinal treatments.

"I must disappoint then," the Medicine Seller said coldly. Devin's skeptical tone and is remark about 'unwanted attention' had an edge to it that had actually raised his hackles a little. "I am nothing terribly interesting."

Fortunate for the Medicine Seller, he has a heartbeat. That at least eliminates the possibility of any vampire Devin was familiar with, even if it was unsettling.

"That wouldn't be disappointing," Devin replied, evidently unconcerned by the reaction he was getting. "Interesting often brings trouble with it. I'd wager you're selling yourself short, however." Pun not intended. "But suit yourself, if you think that assertion will actually fool anyone."

"People have such imaginations," he hummed, gaze wandering back to the ceiling.

"I cannot fathom what else you think I could be."

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[EVENT] Moon and Mirrors (Welcome Mingle Log)

Breakwater/Cafeteria

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Breakwater Room One

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Breakwater halls

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