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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Cracking a smile a that as he pops another piece of sliced fruit into his mouth, he shakes his head.

"Enki, and no. A day or two." And that feels far too long already. He'd appreciate the freeing lack of necessities more if he were home, but if he were, it wouldn't be like this. Cocking his head, he gestures towards Pepper with the next piece of fruit as he continues, "Most people that are 'round here right now seems to have come in at the same time."

It's not a question, but the way she phrased hers implies some other possibility, he's pretty sure.

The fruit gets an amused look. "I showed up around the same time, but this isn't the first time I've been here. In Konryu, I mean. I'm part of the group that's from Keeliai - it's been like 566 years? So everything is totally new, but I'm not surprised about being here," she elaborates, taking a bite of toast. "Seems like you're doing alright with the food, anyway. If anyone offers you sea prunes, though, say no."

Unlikely, since that was a kedanese specialty and the selection was much broader here.

"Have you explored any of the city yet?"

"Huh..." The strangest part of this is hearing the passage of time hasn't matched up between here and where Pepper is from. That would be his experience, after all, that it does. "Not surprised to hear this place's got a problem with people turning up, that's usually how it works when you get people from other worlds. But coming back, that's new to me."

At least if you couldn't do it intentionally, by yourself or using someone else's help. Rokuta shakes his head, then looks down at the fruit in the bowl, quirking an eyebrow.

"Sea prunes? And these are okay, but do you know if any stuff here tastes like peaches?" He's already missing them, though of course she might not know what those are either. But he'll chance it. "A little. The place is pretty large."

After a fashion, anyway. But exploring on foot or using the local vehicles means he's a little... restricted (he's short, okay). He's itching to take a flight over the whole place, but better get a vague idea of things first.

Pepper's eyebrows go up a little. "You've had to deal with people coming from other worlds before? You mean, like, where you come from? The same people went in and out of the Dreaming a few times, when I was in Keeliai, actually, so it's sort of normal here. I think."

For a given value of 'normal'

"It is pretty big," she agrees, pondering his question. "I... think there might be something like peaches? The fruit that looked like peaches tasted like mint, but there's a spotted one that's kind of peach-like. And sea prunes are... well, wiggly. Probably just don't eat anything that's still moving," she concludes with a laugh.

At the comment of 'wiggly', Rokuta's expression turns a little as if he'd bitten into a lemon, then he just frowns. "... They alive, or something?"

Because if that case, if there were any sea prunes here still, it'd explain why they hadn't been included. He'd been pretty... explicit about his dietary needs. But then he shrugs, backtracking a little to the first part of what they're talking about.

"And yeah, we do. Though just one world. There's storms, they can bring people over from..." A pause, as he quickly goes through the names so he uses the one she might know better, if that's where she's from, "Japan. Guess there's a connection between our two places in that spot."

"Uh, yeah, I think so." That is definitely the appropriate expression for sea prunes. "I pretty much managed to avoid them the last time I was here, although I don't know if the kedan still consider them a delicacy or whatever. A ton of the food is new to me, but it seems like there's a lot of things similar to what we all have at home."

She brightens at the country name, setting her juice down before she spills it in excitement. "You're connected to Earth! That's super cool. I'm from Earth - not Japan, I live in the United States in a city called New York," Pepper says at rapid pace. "What kind of people usually show up from Japan? Is there a pattern?"

"Not surprised they didn't give me any then, if they even got them around still." He shakes his head, then looks up at the sudden outpouring of enthusiasm - and smiles a little. It's nice, in a way - uncomplicated and apparently just genuinely curious about how the connection functions. Not that he... knows much.

"Can't say I know much Earth geography," Rokuta says with a grin, "and I don't think there's a pattern. You get all sorts of people, unlucky saps in the wrong place..."

Amusement replaced with a frown, Rokuta sighs. He really wishes shoku didn't do the sort of damage they did, and didn't displace people. So many lives got disrupted that way, and kaikyaku always had to struggle with the language, too.

"Shoku are just storms, so I doubt they've got some agenda in who gets pulled in, see."

"Allergic to seafood?" Everyone had unique dietary needs.

Pepper listens intently, wondering at the frown that emerges partway through the explanation. She sets her chin in her hand. "Huh. So, a little like here, then, minus the storms," she reflects. "That sounds like it would take a lot of power though - punching holes in reality isn't exactly an easy process. Not a fan?"

"I can't eat anything with meat, and I wouldn't eat something that's more alive than a plant or fruit is," he says, shaking his head and twitching a shoulder in half of a shrug. Well, technically he 'can' eat meat. It'll just be highly unpleasant and he'd basically be poisoning himself. So sort of like an allergy, he supposes. The relaxed - nearly cavalier - way he's talking about his own food restrictions falls away when it comes to the shoku, however.

"It's not." Voice thick with dislike, Rokuta scowls. "At least you get why. Shoku brings a large amount of destruction wherever they hit thanks to the energy needed to cross from one world to another, so they destroy people's lives as well as the surrounding landscape. So no, I ain't a fan."

"Oh, gotcha." Makes sense. She'd guess vegan if she wasn't in a different reality - it's probably more complex than just a dietary choice, although it could be.

Pepper's excitement dims a little, her expression shifting to something more sympathetic. Having just left the aftermath of an alien armageddon, she's not stranger to mass destruction. Having that occur repeatedly is terrible. "Yikes, that's awful," she says apologetically. "Weird that they only seem to connect to Japan, though." A small smile. "Plus side, you're probably more prepared to be here than most of the Dreamfolk as far as getting used to the whole thing."

Looking up at that last comment, she manages to not just get an amused snort, but a quirk of his lips too. "Didn't expect it to happen unexpectedly, but... yeah, situation's not so unfamiliar. I'm just relieved it looks like us coming over don't cause any damage."

That'd just have been the topping on this, wouldn't it? Knowing he, and the rest of them, were responsible for injuries and damage by appearing here. But so far it seemed them coming across was pretty much like a kirin crossing to Over There; no damage caused. And he's more used to the idea even than the average citizen, since he's a taika, too. He just wouldn't have expected something like this to happen ever again.

"My best guess is that the fabric is thin, there," Rokuta says slowly, shrugging; he doesn't mind talking about this, honestly, "though, there's one more spot, actually; the countries to the west can get kaikyaku... uh, people comin' over from Kan--- China, I think?"

There, that's better. "Yeah, it'd be pretty bad if every time one of us showed up there was a huge upheaval," Pepper agrees. "Now it's just like walking through a door, basically."

The Foreigners had not always been welcome, in Keeliai, but Dreamfolk are a normal occurrence here. Being part of every day life was nice. Sure, sometimes there would be the odd person who'd probably have issues with Dreamfolk, but on the whole they just got to live here like anyone else, and in Pepper's opinion that was great.

"Oh, yeah, we've got a China," she confirms, smiling more broadly. "It's near Japan, so that makes some sense that the thin spots would be near to each other, too. Is 'kaikyaku' your world's name for what we are, like your version of calling us Dreamfolk?"

If it was just that easy, at least on the lands, at home, that'd be nice. It's not, though, but he shrugs in agreement. It really had sort of been like walking through a door, unnoticed and simple.

"Oh, yeah," Rokuta barks a short laughter, nodding, "it actually is. So, the people who come over from China are called sankyaku, and the ones from Japan kaikyaku, which means mountain guests and sea guests... you can probably figure out where they usually appear in our world from that."

And for all the troubles kaikyaku could have, at least they'd end up on land they could easily find nearby villages in... the sankyaku had less luck, with an ocean between them and any properly inhabited and cultivated land.

"Haven't had much thought about it yet, but the situation really is kinda similar over here... just appears people come from more places here."

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[EVENT] Moon and Mirrors (Welcome Mingle Log)

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