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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Oh, good, another warm welcome. Not everyone was up for visitors after arriving, and she wouldn't blame them - she'd been pretty out of it herself.

"It's totally fine," she assures him. "My boyfriend does woodcarving to keep his hands busy, don't feel like you need to stop because of me. What are you working on?"

"Ah, a fellow artisan." The Fool's smile grows a touch playful. "As long as he does not expect you to be the one to tidy up after his creations. It can be a messy business."

He gives his head a mild flick to toss his braid back over one shoulder, then leans forward in his seat to present the work of his hands to Pepper. What he holds in his grasp is a startling likeness of a wolf curled in sleep, its snout resting against the tip of its tail. "A gift I had hoped to return to a friend," he says, his voice soft, wistful, "one day."

Pepper laughs. "No, definitely not. He wouldn't expect me to clean up, but he'd get smacked if he tried and he knows it. It's mostly a hobby for him, but he's pretty good at it."

She approaches to get a better look at what the Fool has been crafting, taking in the detail with bright eyes and no small amount of delight. "Wow, that's amazing. It's beautiful. I bet your friend would love it." The redhead doesn't miss that note in his voice. It's probably too soon to take a deep dive into their sordid pasts, but she's keeping an eye on that. "You know we're not stuck here forever, right? You, uh, may have to carve it again, though," she adds lightly.

At that realization the Fool looks up to Pepper with some surprise--and something else on his face, something harder to read. Relief, perhaps, but also something approaching fear, as though the place he left behind is one he both longs for and dreads returning to.

"Well," he starts, not quite losing his smile, "I carved it once, it shouldn't be too difficult to carve it again." For the time being he sets it aside, then looks to Pepper inquisitively. "Would you tell me about your world? I must confess some curiosity that so many people from so many different places were drawn here, somehow."

The people drawn here through the Dreaming often leaves turbulent circumstances, and Pepper is not a stranger to seeing mixed reactions about the option - or inevitability - of returning home. It's only a matter of finding out why, and whether there's any peace to be had before that happens.

"Sure! Why not, it's a good way to learn about people. Let's see... well, the planet I live on is called Earth - there are usually a bunch of Dreamfolk from there, although most of the time not the same exact one - in a city called New York. About 8 million people live there, but there's like 7 billion all over the planet in almost 200 different countries," she begins, starting with something relatively simple that might also indicate the varied nature of her home. "We don't have any native magic, but there are people with some really incredible abilities or super advanced technology, like my best friend Tony. About three weeks ago, we learned that space aliens exist, which wasn't a fun experience because they tried to invade, but we survived and that's the most important thing."

Best to give the Fool time to ask questions, that was a fair bit to tell even in broad strokes.

Broad strokes indeed! The Fool sits transfixed before Pepper as she details the nature of her world; every so often, his lips move, or his eyebrows shift, indicating an attentiveness to what he hears, even if much of it is beyond his understanding. Eight million people within the bounds of one city? "How does one fortify such a place as New York?" he asks and leans forward some in his seat.

And--

"Aliens?" The word seems to settle on his ears oddly, as though he has never heard of it before. Puzzled, he gives his head the barest shake.

"Uh." Right. Terminology. "So, aliens are basically species from another planet - at least they are in this case," Pepper explains. "We don't have interstellar travel yet, but these guys did."

She smiles a little as she returns to his first question. "And you don't really fortify cities that big. Or at least, we don't. We don't really have to, and if we wanted to it'd be super complicated. I mean, my friends and I are sort of the fortifications because we fight bad guys, but there aren't walls or anything," Pepper clarifies. "There's plenty of things that can fly, too, so walls wouldn't do much anyway."

The Fool appears... not lost in the details of her description of her world, so much as fascinated, as one might be by a theory that has piqued one's interest, but one can't quite follow yet. At least, up until the very end--

"Like dragons," he says sagely and seems to relax, as though this puts him back on familiar footing. He almost laughs, a little, wry smile curving up the corners of his lips. "Yes, walled fortifications would do little to stop a dragon bent on revenge. I have often wondered whether that might be the only means of destroying Chalced--ah." A pause, as he realizes he has lapsed into details relating to his own world. "It is a corrupt country, one that enslaves its people and treats its women poorly. A dragon's vengeance would be unwanted there, I expect."

He stands up at last and stretches, then smiles at Pepper again; it seems he's quite taken with her, with her talk of alien worlds and unknown technologies. "Do you know much of this city?" he asks, seeming to have forgotten (or intentionally overlooked) that he hasn't given her his own name. "I would very much enjoy a tour."

"You have dragons!?" Pepper lights up. "Oh my gosh, that is so cool! How big are they? Do they all breathe fire? How many are there? Can you fly on them?"

She does at least process the request for the tour, asking the questions rapid-fire as he rises and she drifts towards the door. She might be vibrating with excitement.

"I've only been here a few days, but I've been to Konryu before and I know a bunch of the races. I got a pretty good look at the layout of the city from the air, though, so we can explore together," Pepper declares, still grinning from ear to ear.

The Fool almost startles at her barrage of questions, but then he laughs, sounding almost like the idea of riding a dragon horrifies him. "I suppose you could try to ride one," he begins wryly, "but you may not survive the attempt. They're proud creatures, dragons, and consider folk like you and I to be the subjects of their kingdoms. Our mortal land and sea boundaries mean very little to them."

And here he is, the one responsible for restoring them to the skies.

"Konryu?" he repeats the word slowly after her. Already he is drawing on his fine scarlet cloak around himself and haphazardly pinning his braided hair up out of his face, looking for all the world as though he intends to follow her out and into the rest of the city.

"Ooh, that's true. I wonder if they could bite through titanium... well, they could probably melt it," she says speculatively. She would have to ask Tony. "Still, that'd be pretty cool."

Pepper plants herself just outside the door, allowing the Fool an exit path so they can head outside. "Konryu's the name of the world we're in. Well, the planet, at least. I know what some of the continents used to be called, but it sounds like they've taken a beating from all the weird planar issues."

"Planar issues?"

Upon his arrival, the Fool had been introduced to some of these notions (and given this silly tablet, which still feels like a clumsy bit of metal in his hands; he elects to leave it behind today), and they leave him ill at ease. He falls into step beside Pepper and frowns in thought, tapping two fingers against his lips. "So this must be a world in transition."

Perhaps it is not so unusual, he muses privately, that he was drawn to this place.

"Sort of, yeah. I was here when the barrier between them was starting to seriously disintegrate and all sorts of weird stuff was happening. It sounds like it just got worse outside the barrier," she says, both concerned and excited by the prospect. Pepper is very definitely interested in seeing what's out there when she gets the chance.

The festival is still going on, which presents a lot of interesting opportunities but also a lot of potential distraction and unwise spending, seeing as Pepper loves shopping like it's a sport. "Do you wanna wander around here or check out other parts of the city? I hear the Weather Observatory has some weird magical tiles that no one can explain."

On instinct, at her words, the Fool's eyes are drawn to the horizon, towards what he might be able to see of the barrier that encompasses the Seaglass City. In the dim light it is not so easy to see it, yet his curiosity is undoubtedly piqued; there's the spirited of an adventurer in him.

"Magical tiles?" he asks, and that seems to answer her question for her. The Fool is certainly a bit of a spendthrift when left to his own devices, but the lure of the market place can't compare, really. "Let's visit the Weather Observatory."

Pepper follows the Fool's gaze for a moment, grinning up at the sky. The barrier that protected them from the wild forces beyond was up there, somewhere, like a magic bubble.

"Awesome." She extracts a map that was available at the Dreaming Bridge, already marked with spots she wants to go see. The Observatory is one of them, even if it's just an urban legend. "Let's see... looks like we head that way," she declares as they walk, pointing down a street that winds in the direction of the coast. There will probably be plenty to ooh and aah at as they go. "I heard some people talking about it - apparently the tiles sometimes move all on their own and rearrange into different patterns. It's supposed to be pretty, too."

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[EVENT] Moon and Mirrors (Welcome Mingle Log)

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