[EVENT] Moon and Mirrors (Welcome Mingle Log)

[khuimods]

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.

Comments

Three days after Gene's arrival

[highprofilerichkid]

Upon his arrival, it doesn't take Tony long to process his situation, and he is not pleased.

On the bright side, he and Gene and Pepper did all make it home with their memories intact – for about two and a half weeks. Yeah. It didn't stick. To make matters worse, he didn't return to Keeliai: Keeliai is gone, along with Tu Vishan and half a millenium of time.

Keeliai, the Sky Sector, the College and Tony's community makerspace, the dojo, Jackie's bar, Iroh's tea house, the tram line. The house he'd built with Gene. All the students and professors at the College, the tradesmen he'd worked with, the Metalworkers, the Guild leaders. Even the other Foreigners, his friends – had any of them been pulled back? What about Gene and Pepper?

When he finds his way to the Dreaming Bridge, the first thing he wants to know is, who else came back? But he has to sit through the spiel, and pick up his starter kit and stipend, and find his room assignment, and get his network credentials. He rushes through all of it with poorly-concealed impatience. As soon as they set him loose, he looks up the other "Dreamfolk" (he's not sure if he likes that better than "Foreigners" or not) currently in residence.

And when he finds what he's looking for, he lets out a whoop of delight and practically sprints for the Breakwater wing.

He pounds on the door to room #2. "Gene? Are you in there? Bucky? Anybody home? Gene, it's me!"

[wrathfulkhan]

Gene had started to come to terms to life without Tony.

At least Pepper's here, and Valdis, and some of his other friends from Keeliai, so he's not entirely alone, but there's still a Tony-shaped hole in his heart and a yawning vacuum in his brain where his thoughts turn if he's not careful.

When he hears the pounding on the door, he's about to wearily tell Pepper that the door's open, and then he hears Tony's voice and bolts upright. He opens the door so quickly he nearly smacks himself in the face.

"Tony? Tony! Are you really--"

Because sometimes he can't trust his own mind, especially when he's like this. Hiding out when he'd been home had been an exercise in ignoring things he'd known weren't there.

[highprofilerichkid]

"Yes, it's really me," Tony says, laughing, and scoops Gene up into a bear hug. "I'm so glad you're here, Gene. And it worked! Whatever you did with the rings, it worked. We remembered." He laughs again, and he's smiling so wide his cheeks hurt. "You're amazing."