tushanshu_logs | [EVENT] YARD SALE

[EVENT] YARD SALE

Characters: Come one, come all!
Date: June 3rd - June 8th
Location: The City of Keeliai
Situation: To welcome the warm weather, the kedan are hosting a city-wide yard sale! Buy, sell, trade, haggle to your heart's content.
Warnings/Rating: Shouldn't need any, but please indicate content warnings in subject headers as applicable.

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A few tenured Foreigners might remember the last instance of a city-wide yard sale from three years prior, but to most, this will be new. In an effort to raise spirits, capitalize on the near-perfect weather, and just make a few spare juulan, the kedan are turning the city into a maze of hastily erected stalls and tables, where everything from kitschy handcrafts to illicit illustrations, to nebulous inventions that may or may not actually do anything, are being sold. In a way, it's a little bit of clearing the air between kedanese neighbours.

Despite the currently cool view on the Foreigners by the kedan, they'll be able to get fair prices and full selection all across the city for the Yard Sale, and they'll be just as encouraged to set up a spot and sell something of their own, even if it's simple.

It's the spirit of the thing, after all.

FIRE SECTOR

The extravagance of the Sector remains evident even in something as low-key as a street sale, and because of that, many an enterprising kedan are flocking to the district to see if they can score some really high-end items for very little cash - items such as jewelry, merchandise from the spas that dot the Sector, and many other luxury items. Some of these are bought up with the likely intention to be resold at higher rates later, but no one seems bothered by that probability.

Some of the numerous brothels have placed scantily-clad "saleskedan" outside their doorsteps, who are surprisingly glib about advertising their services. It's widely understood that it's a look-not-touch demonstration though, and anyone who makes an unwelcome move is likely to get a headslap from the nearest person. Liquor houses, on the other hand, are offering finger shots of their prized blends, with bottles available for purchase as well.

Haggling over prices is expected here and approached with the excitement of a gambling challenge! In fact, some sellers may just bet the purchase on whether you can guess the correct outcome of a coin flip, a high-or-low card draw, or even something that looks like roulette, except with a rainbow of colours instead of numbers.

EARTH SECTOR

Clothing and textiles are the key items being sold in this district, with a special emphasis on detailed beadwork, leather tooling, and precisely coloured weaving. A few of the clothing merchants are holding a competition of "who can copy a Foreigner's outfit most exactly" and the wise would encourage this, if only to get a copy or two of hard to replace items. The results will be sold at a discount to interested parties, but tipping for acknowledgment of their skill is generally expected and widely appreciated.

Other types of items being sold are pottery, of both the functional and decorative types, and stoneware like statuary. If you're looking for a replica of a carved idol back home, this is the place to commission it.

The kedan here are less receptive to haggling, simply because their stubborn natures clash with the objective. They'll budge a little, but underbidding them by too much will turn them sour and grumpy.

METAL SECTOR

Here is where the majority of quirky inventions are showing up, some useless and some genuinely helpful. The Metalworkers have already cleared everything being sold here as non-proprietary, so there won't be anything groundbreaking as far as technology goes, but a lot of the items are more geared toward personal conveniences than anything really high-tech.

For some bizarre reason, the most prominent thing for sale in the Metal Sector are clocks. Every kind of clock one could think of has found its way to the streets and stalls. Clocks for every occasion: a clock that will chime only once every fourth Tuesday but otherwise keeps perfect time. A clock that will chime in the morning if it's going to rain, or at night if you should drink an extra glass of water before bed. Clocks that are counting down to the next time you're going to have a streak of bad luck. And newly popular, clocks that are counting down to the turtle's sinking.

Kedan in this Sector are fairly ambivalent to haggling; they will, but they don't usually initiate it. They are pretty defensive of their inventions however, so calling their wares useless or similar will probably end up raising the price, just so they can try and make it go to someone who'll appreciate their genius!

WATER SECTOR

It’s almost possible to have a full meal in this Sector without spending a single julaan, such are the free samples on every corner. The delicious smells encompass hundreds of different types of food, simple or complex, prepared or fresh, all sold from market stalls lining the streets and canals. If a particular specialty takes your fancy, you can always buy a large amount at a low price to take home - or you can eat it right there. It’s not uncommon to see families of kedan holding impromptu picnics in parks, or even occasionally in the middle of the streets.

Foreigners will be welcomed here, as chefs and bakers leap on the opportunity to test their delicacies on Foreign tongues and palates. Some chefs might even offer Foreigners the chance to work for them for the day as glorified food-tasters, making sure whatever they cook is suitable for selling to other Foreigners.

With so many free samples available (and almost forced on to unsuspecting passersby), haggling is seen as bad form in the Water Sector. It’s certainly possible, but don’t expect to make any friends while doing it. Oh, and watch out for the sea prunes. They may smell divine and cost a single julaan for a full bag, but they taste disgusting and will result in minor cases of food poisoning for the Foreigners.

WOOD SECTOR

Like in the Water Sector, a lot of the market stalls lining these streets sell food. Unlike the Water Sector, this food is rarely prepared. Most of it is produce either bought from, or being sold by, the Woodsmen - fruits and vegetables grown outside the city. Some of the Foreigners might recognise it as a kind of outdoor grocery store or a large farmer’s market.

Also being sold in Wood Sector is furniture, usually carved from - you guessed it - wood. Some of it is crudely carved, made to look natural and to add a touch of the outdoors to any kedan’s home, whereas others are very delicately and intricately carved to mimic interesting patterns or perhaps even particular animals and places in the city. Chairs, boxes, chests, figurines, tables, shelves, even small beds - these have all been made with long hours and large amounts of skill, making the practice of haggling a delicate one, and not undertaken lightly.

There are also a disproportionate amount of stationary stores selling things like black charcoal, blank journals and books, and thick parchment. They’re willing to sell entire batches for ridiculously low prices.

SKY SECTOR

The newly built Sky Sector has been quickly establishing itself as the art hub of Keeliai, angrily dismissed by those kedan who consider the worth of craftsmanship to be in the usefulness of the finished product, and happily embraced by those kedan with self-described ‘old souls’ and the ability to see life in a slightly different way. The new art studios in Sky Sector are using the yard sale to advertise; they’ve set up a large and grandiose outdoor gallery to show off the various types of art, ranging from small abstract paintings and jewelry to large statues and dedications. The smaller objects are frequently given away to anyone admiring them; many might leave the gallery with a small pair of free earrings or a frame carefully wrapped in paper.

These kedan will quite happily haggle over any of the larger pieces, and they seem to have a particular interest in doing so with Foreigners. They almost make a game out of it; talking as fast as if the gallery was an auction, deliberately trying to confuse and obfuscate. They’ll be delighted by any Foreigner capable of keeping up, and may even gift them the piece in question with no further haggling required.

CENTRAL KEELIAI

The center of Keeliai is, in many ways, a mish-mash of everything all the other Sectors are selling, with one notable exception: coupons. Businesses across the city make sure to have a table or a stall in Central, where their advertisements can reach a greater number of people - and one of the easiest ways to advertise is to hand out free coupons! These coupons vary as widely as the businesses handing them out do, but they all give the bearer discounts on the stated goods/services, and all coupons remain good for weeks after the yard sale ends. A single twenty-minute walk through Central can net you enough coupons to fill a decent-sized book.

In the spirit of neighbourly forgiveness, a small group of kedan are walking through Central and offering coupons good for an entire Sector, or for a particular chain of restaurants across the city, rather than just one business. They’re loathe to offer these to Foreigners, but will reluctantly do so if pressed. Unfortunately, if Foreigners try to use these coupons after the yard sale ends, they’ll quickly discover not all of the ‘participating’ businesses were informed of their participation - though most store and restaurant proprietors will honour the coupon anyway, just so they don’t develop a reputation of going back on their promises.

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OOC: The descriptions of the various sectors are only a guideline, and many other items can be found for sale all over the place. The only thing that's definitively banned everywhere are the sales of weapons and drugs.

If you haven't posted to and been approved on this thread regarding your character finding a possession of theirs, please do so before having them (or someone else, whichever way you want to do it) discover the object(s)!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

METAL SECTOR

[Aya had no need for such clocks, of course. Though their intricate, if primitive (compared to her) systems intrigued her greatly. She was not allowed to touch or dismantle, but there was not a single rule that said she couldn't scan.]

[After the first time, the shopkeepers didn't even mind. Once they realized she had done absolutely nothing to their inventory.]

I was not aware there were so many occasions that Carbon-based life forms required external reminding for.

Perhaps I should be more concerned than I originally believed.

[The throngs at the yard sale are simultaneously fascinating and headache-inducing. Certainly they're putting Solomon's newly-learned navigating skills to the test. On this occasion, however, he's out of the way by a stall, watching the streams of souls go by, like fish in a river he can't see because they're too fast and he's taking too much in.

[Which is why one particularly quirky 'fish' catches his attention and he frowns in its direction. This new sight of his might have been able to see more, but too much; everything he saw covered any useful details. All he knows as that this particular 'fish' is different to the others, not just because it's not kedanese. It's different to Foreigner souls too.

[He doesn't know it, but he's staring straight at Aya with a crinkle in his brow, too distant to her her voice and recognise it over the din of the crowd.]

[ooc: Sol has a soul-sight but he can't yet see details beyond 'yes that there is a person'. Feel free to PM me with any details of Aya's being, if you don't want to put it in-thread!]

[Different, yes. Perhaps even distinctly unique.]

[Aya was organic, make no mistake about that. Her soul was very real and very alive. But the nature behind both its origin and current existence were far more complicated than that of most carbon-based life forms. For one, whatever Solomon saw would carry a distinctly green tint to it. A rich emerald shade, not of envy, but made of sheer will. With it came untold powers as well; the potential to create nearly any form of solid construct...near any form of isolated energy...within the spectrum.]

[It was also self-sustaining. Constantly recharging at a rate parallel to that of any energy it might be expelling. So when Aya's attention shifted from the clocks around her to the approaching figure with the crinkled brow, there was a split second in which her energy responded to the movement, only to resume its maximum level the next.]

Is...something wrong?

[Ah. A Foreigner. In fact he knows this voice because she had been around since before Malicant's defeat--Aya, if he recalled, the AI. His expression clears, and then someone jostles him and annoyance crosses his face, and he steps away from them only to nearly step into someone else's path, and grunts irritably.]

Actually, yes. Where's the edge of the crowd?

[He's close enough now to see the shades of green, but the movement gets taken away by the rest of the souls on the street, and the details are lost.]

The...edge of the crowd?

[His wording was strange, causing her to rely on context clues for the precise meaning. By the most literal interpretation, the edge would translate to the...end. As in, the moment where the crowds broke into a far more open space. Convenient for multiple reasons, not the least of which included freedom of mobility.]

Do you find the current density of population to be confining in any way?

Actually, yes.

[He hasn't been using his shadows as a guide so much as footsteps and the nearness of the people. The kedan accepted his casual use of magic, except when it was in this kind of press. He'd already caused some minor starts during the yard sale.

[Now that he's paused to talk to Aya, he couldn't see to get away from the people expecting him to see where he was going, or where they were coming from.]

I can't see it, and apparently I'm getting in the way.

[There was no immediate further questioning. Aya simply nodded her understanding of the situation before activating some of her low-level wavelength scans, focusing mainly on core body temperatures. It provided a long-distance head count of head sources within a four kilometer radius.]

I can guide you.

Would you prefer flight or ground transportation?

[For just a moment Solomon is morbidly intrigued by the idea of being flown--what would Keeliai's souls look like, from a distance at hight? But he doesn't recall Aya being very tall. It would be awkward.]

Ground. It doesn't need to be at speed; I was just hoping to look--

[His mouth quirks slightly.]

--so to speak--around the yard sale. But if you can guide me to the Healer's Guild, it would be appreciated.

[And it would give him a chance to try and figure out what, exactly, makes an AI's soul different. Kedan and humans don't seem to have much of any.]

[Awkward on the part of his pride alone, maybe. For a tiny robot, Aya was deceptively strong.]

That should not prove difficult.

Tell me...your current inability to see...do you require additional assistance in movement, or are your other senses capable of compensating?

[Exactly. Pride before the fall, and all that. In this case, a potentially literal fall. He inclines his head toward her.]

Do you mean, do I need a hand on your shoulder? Well, it would help.

Then you may place it there.

I will begin movement once you have assured me you are adequately prepared.

Very well.

[He's half amused. It isn't that he didn't expect an AI to be literal, but there's something refreshing about it. It does take him a moment to actually find her shoulder, and while he's past the need to grope blindly in the air he does find her head with his open palm first, and after a moment of extrapolation places his hand on her shoulder instead.]

Okay. I'm 'adequately prepared'.

[Aya had been...informed...about her way of interpreting things multiple times in the past. She had even taken it upon herself to attempt to learn and memorize a variety of casual colloquialisms and metaphors. Her database expanded daily.]

[With Solomon's verbal signal, she began slowly navigating due East. The primarily challenging coming in moving in such a way that both of them would be faced with minimal bodily contact from those around them. Aya herself was small. It was easy for her to slip through large crowds. But she had a companion now.]

How are you faring? Is the pace adequate?

[It was awkward, primarily because Aya was of a height with Raine and Solomon kept instinctively falling into a place matching where Raine ought to have been; and, obviously, she wasn't there. For all that, Aya's similarity to Raine's build made it less awkward than Solomon was expecting.]

Perhaps half a kilometer faster would be acceptable.

[It would stop him from having to shorten his pace, at least.]

[Half a kilometer, on its own, was insufficient information to determine a precise speed by which to increase her current place. So she improvised, quickening by approximately 33%.]

I estimate we will arrive in a significantly less densely populated area in three minutes. Continuing at this pace.

There is an eatery on the far corner. It possesses an outdoor patio section in which patrons are invited to seat themselves at any table they choose. At this time of day, there would be few of those.

[A suggestion, inquiring if he wanted to sit once they made it out.]

That would do as a destination, yes.

[It meant he could at least get something to eat and drink, and wait until the crowds thinned. The pace was just a touch too slow, still, but it was far better than it had been before, and there was no need to ask for further specification. And, since Solomon is curious:]

What does an AI look for at a yard sale?

Generally speaking, I suspect the answer would be the same as any living individual. Varied and indeterminable with so little information to go on.

[She glanced his way. There was no offense to the question. It was a good one. Born from curiosity.]

I have been mostly searching for supplies, though some of my stops have involved experimentation in something known as...fashion.

[An AI interested in fashion. Wonders never cease. Solomon, like most sorcerers, views technology with a certain element of suspicion; but, unlike most sorcerers, he's willing to use it and make it one of his tools. So he's fascinated by this thought.]

And have you found anything which appeals to you? What sort of fashion appeals to an AI?

[It was then that Aya paused in her step, though they were no more than a few yards from the intended destination. She knew that his visual receptors were impaired, but she still turned back to face him so that hers could focus on his current expression.]

You continue to address me as if my being an AI is the sole factor in each and every decision I make.

[He tilts his head toward her, though he can't see her at all. His expression, save the blankness in his eyes, is slightly amused but at the same time openly considering.]

Because your being an AI is the part that interests me about those particular decisions. We don't have AIs in my world. I don't know what they think, what they desire, how they might come by their choices. Why pass up the opportunity to find out?

Then...you would have no other reason to speak to me. It is my apparent artificiality that solely interests you.

Don't take it personally. I don't have much reason to talk to anyone.

[He shrugs.]

Does an individual usually have more than one reason to speak to another, at least at first? There's always something which draws people into beginning a conversation. Looks. Interests. Ethnicity. You and I haven't got far enough in our interaction yet for me to know if there's anything else about you that's serves as additional reason. That doesn't mean there won't be.

[It's a strange question. Almost young. How old was Aya, again? Solomon recalled hearing on the network somewhere that she was young, as far as years went. Perhaps emotionally so as well.]

[Far younger than he might have suspected. Though it wasn't necessarily her youth that brought about such a line of questioning.]

It is difficult to take anything personally when your current line of thought follows mistaken, erroneous information.

I am a robot, yes. The majority of my physical form consists of inorganic technologies and Green Lantern Construct. However...I am also alive.

Ah, but now you have the opportunity to correct me. Or would you prefer I wander around in blissful error, to be insulting at some future date?

[His tone is dry, but it's not insincere. Not that many people can tell the difference. He shrugs again.]

'Alive' has so many connotations. Skulduggery is a skeleton and he's alive. Why shouldn't an AI be alive as well? You certainly have a soul, or something close enough that the difference is meaningless.

[And he can say that with fact, since he's looking at it.]

[His words were...difficult to process. Not on their surface meaning, of course, but whether or not he truly meant them. Aya had become no stranger to sarcasm and insincerity, but she still lacked many of the necessary skills allowing her to discern either of them in tone and/or body language.]

[Her guard remained up.]

I am correcting you now.

Do not question me on what an AI would prefer, or what an AI would see or here or interpret, because I am just one individual. I do not represent a vast majority, so varied than any one single answer would represent a small minority at best.

[EVENT] YARD SALE

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