[EVENT] YARD SALE

[ironwood]

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.

---

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.

---

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)!

Comments

B

[solo_patria]

This is the kind of thing that will probably be funny later. For now, Enjolras, his own attention focused on a book clutched in his hands, going over a handwritten passage with softer eyes than usual, doesn't notice anyone else, particularly another person with a book crossing in front of him, nor that he happens to be crossing the same way, straight into her as well.

His first return to reality is a loud oof as the breath gets knocked out of him, though he doesn't lose his grip on the volume in hand. "I...please..." he's trying to get up now, sort of. "Forgive me. I've uncovered an old friend, here."

[ruinsprofessor]

Oops. Raine pinwheels wildly to regain her balance, barely manages. Her book doesn't quite go flying in startlement. She's still taking great heaving breaths though, and it takes a bit of effort to get herself back under control. When she does, she offers a hand down to Enjolras. "My apologies," she says. "This book is something very similar for me, as well."

[solo_patria]

Enjolras smiles, accepting the hand up. "I've not seen you in some time, speaking of reconnecting." He muses now, giving her a little nod. "Not since...Before, I do believe." Before. It's so obvious what he references there. It seems like everything from now on will be marked by those dates, all newcomers by the fact that they were not around for it. Fitting, somehow, but sad too, in its way.

"How are you? And the healers? I have been...trying to compile our stories of life here before and during the war. It's kept me rather out of things. But this..." he nods toward the journal, a grin crossing his face. "It was my Etienne's. While he was here, at least. Nothing from Paris, or our friends or the Rebellion, but the animals here, plants, some things he notes he sketched from dragonback, when another of our friends was here...It's almost as though he were here himself." He adds, tracing the lines of a drawing of a particularly interesting flower with one finger.

"I think it's better that it comes from now. So much happened in Paris...it would have have been hard to capture, there."

[ruinsprofessor]

Before. Raine offers him a tiny smile and a nod in return. "It has been a while, hasn't it," she says. "I've been well enough, and the Healers' Guild is working almost as well as it should." She's left out all the fascinating upheavals in her personal life, for now, not deeming them relevant to the conversation. "And what have you found, in your quest?" It's an interesting goal. She has to wonder what he plans to do with those stories.

"Etienne?" she repeats curiously in a moment, leaning to see the drawings Enjolras is tracing, if he allows the intrusion. She doesn't recognize the name; if he was here while she was, she didn't know him.

[solo_patria]

"Some interesting things so far. One testimony of events in Latin that I still am attempting to adequately process, I admit." Enjolras has to smile as he comes clean with that. "I studied it, in school, and I gave that teacher a bit less trouble helping me to understand it than the Greek but..." he shakes his head. "I have been rather rusty. But besides that, war stories, stories about loves, and lives before...It has been more difficult telling the stories of the people that I knew here, who have left." He admits, a bit quieter there. "I am not certain why, One would think the details were easier to get right but there we have it."

He DOES have feelings, is the takeaway. Quelle horreur. When it comes to speaking about Combeferre though, he slides a finger over to show her in more detail, among the drawings, bits of notes in 19th century hand, and French.

"Etienne...Combeferre." He adds. "He was a doctor at home, with all of us. He did run a clinic of sorts here, for a while. When the hospital took on more workers, it all seemed to attract more business there, but he is how I learned to stitch a wound, and set a broken bone. The small things I was doing when I was an orderly and assistant, before I learned that spell of mine. It was nearly a year ago that he left now. ...Two, I suppose, actually." he muses to himself a bit more now, not sure he likes the idea that the first anniversary of it passed him by.

"We were best friends, in a time when all of our friends were close but he and Courfeyrac were closest. He kept me centered and my feet on the ground when my head was starring off into the distant future and its beauties and the ways that we might come to make it happen. Courfeyrac brought friendship, a reminder to be...to let the others in, but Etienne kept me human, when I might have become something else, in the midst of revolution. He reminded me of balance and the need to leave something meaningful for tomorrow, along with the right ways and times to bring it."

Enjolras is wistful here, certainly sad as he realizes how long it has been, and how close it must be to the actual anniversary of the day that they all died. "We could not have assembled to attempt a Revolution had he not been by our sides. He was brilliant and compassionate and he knew everything, he made me care about ideas I would have once dismissed. Education. The idea that we can light a candle in the darkness through that alone...He was inspiring then, and after we came here. But then, after I arrived..."

His eyes aren't shiny, what are you talking about? See, he's smiling so he can't possibly be feeling anything else at all here besides fond memories, right?

"Here, we became something more." He misses Combeferre. More than mere words can say. "Getting that onto paper has been...hard."

[ruinsprofessor]

Raine wishes she could offer to help translate, but the languages of Aselia are not much like those of Earth, unfortunately, apart from the common tongue's extraordinarily strong resemblance to English.

"Memories fade and change, with time," she says in a moment. "What was joyful can become bittersweet, especially when those who are in our memories are no longer here with us. Lacking the ability to revisit details with those friends, finding those emotions... it makes sense that it would be more difficult to tell their stories."

Raine follows what Enjolras shows her with interest. The French is opaque to her, though some cognates immediately leap out, and she has to remind herself that she's looking more at the drawings, and the overall impression of the journal, rather than trying to translate a new language.

"It sounds like you love him very much." Raine tilts her head a little, offers Enjolras a sympathetic sort of smile. "If you can write as well as you've just spoken, what you mean will be clear enough."

[solo_patria]

It COULD be worth checking on the network too, though Enjolras is not sure how to approach that, given the report was quite anonymous. It feels wrong, in a sense. But he WOULD rather know he's on the right track. Something to think about, anyway.

"There is something to that, I suppose." He agrees, nodding. "Moreso the ones who have definitely left besides someone like Taraja at least." He adds, smiling and making a mental note to try and check on her later. Sometimes he can feel her more than others. "It's strange. There was that festival last year. I spoke to a few people who had not managed to be sent here with the rest of my friends, and one who was here a little while. We...settled things, oddly enough, but it was..." He shakes his head.

"Perhaps it is as you say, yes. For some, I think only of their deaths. I know that they all wished to be there, fighting as we did, but still. The loss was greater than we'd planned." He'd known, they all had, that they might not make it through, but all o them? That had not been expected. "How strange, when there are so many good ones too. I do, though." He adds, noting the active verb there, and nodding as his smile becomes softer.

"Perhaps someday I might do him justice. I am not so sure my editor always thought that of my work, but he did get me a weekly space..."

[ruinsprofessor]

Raine has to agree with at least part of that; she misses Ryder, yes, but the memories... it's an absence, not a loss. She knows he's well and safe somewhere, and can reasonably trust that he remembers her as fondly as she does him. It's a different feeling entirely from the friends she's wholly lost, with no guarantee of ever seeing again-- or, indeed, even remembering, when she's someday returned to her own world.

"Was it better, to have that resolution?" Raine asks. It's curiosity, but a sad sort. "Even losing them once more?"

Of course she uses the active tense. Just because someone is gone doesn't mean you stop loving them. Death and loss may wound, certainly, color those memories bittersweet or painful, but the love doesn't simply stop existing. "Perhaps that's why it hurts," Raine says, a little softly. "Because there were such good things." She shakes her head. "...never mind. I'm sure you'll do him justice."

[solo_patria]

It is, isn't it? It's different, when the hope is alive somewhere out there and where they can somewhat touch the young turtles' minds. It's a comfort against so much actual loss is what it is. And he likes the surety. That said, the question there gives him a bit of pause.

"It was good to know, with Grantaire, at least. To understand each other perfectly, at last. There was a bit of ...Un non-dit évident. Something between us that was obvious and had to be addressed. I was grateful for it, and that he stayed his annoying self for it as well."

He feels that kiss on his forehead, that chaste benediction from Ghost Grantaire sometimes, and it is odd, but it gives him peace to know all details are settled with them.

"Feuilly and Bahorel were harder to say goodbye to when the dream faded. I was happy to think on them that day itself, but later...when the festival had ended. I was lonely, I suppose. I wished them here with me so much. But we carry on now, with me to represent our l'ABC. It does not seem enough but it is what I have."

"Perhaps so..." He has to agree after a moment, considering. "I suppose that loving means having built up so much love, and sharing it, that its absence becomes profound itself. Things are made sacred, by our memories, our love. "

It does make sense to him.

"Someday, when I am ready, I will do it for all of them. He shall simply be the first."

[ruinsprofessor]

The names mean nothing to her-- she doesn't even really have context for them, beyond that they were his friends. But isn't that enough? It's evident, how much he cares. She listens, intent, because there's little else to offer right now save understanding, and that and sympathy she can certainly give.

"For what it's worth," Raine says at length, "I'm glad you're still here. I hope your friends don't mind us keeping you longer." She's reasonably sure from the collection of their conversations that they are, all of them, dead men, but that doesn't change that she means what she says.

"When you are ready-- I'd like to know."

[solo_patria]

That they were friends is enough, yes. They weren't here, after all, so it's not so important they are people who were anything but valuable to Enjolras. It's a strange thought, but then, his life here is not the one it was.

"I am glad too." He tells Raine, nodding. "It...has been good for me, I think and I still have work to do. I think that they, of all people, understand it. And that we shall someday have...eternity, I suppose." He smiles at that. "Well, not Pontmercy just yet, I hope, for all the fuss he made about his fiancee while he was here without her. That would be unpleasant for all involved and he's an idiot, politically speaking, but a good man.

I'll let you know, of course." He agrees, smiling and nodding. "It would be good to have someone look the tales over, see that I don't linger too much on rebellion and fighting, but the good as well."

[ruinsprofessor]

"A good heart can compensate for a lot of idiocy," Raine says. It's something like agreement, and she's smiling fondly as she says it. In recollection of her own good-hearted idiots, both those here and those whom she hasn't seen in two years and misses dearly.

"I'd be happy to look them over when you are ready, if you like, although I'm not sure..." She wavers a little, not quite grimacing. "I'm an academic, primarily, and I'm not sure our written language is the same. All the same, the offer is there."

[solo_patria]

"Mm." He's nodding acknowledging a point he never quite came to in life. He's smiling too, though, all the same. "Half the time we spent here was akwardly trying to be friends, the other stiffly avoiding each other but Marius was always quick to forgive, or to ask it. Quicker than I, at any rate." Putting it a bit mildly, but still.

"Well, if all else fails, I can read them and then run them past you. Part of the reason a paper here didn't work so long ago was the written issues, yes. Too bad too. I think it could have done a lot."

[ruinsprofessor]

"You tried," she says, still smiling. It's a little sympathetic now. "Tried, and grew, and changed with it. Even if you didn't fully succeed, you must have learned something from it."

And she's seen much more contentious friendships reconcile. Enjolras has a good heart, as well; it's only a shame they didn't get longer to work their differences out.

"That would certainly work, yes. The language difference is quite a barrier, but perhaps with a survey of the most common among the Foreigners...?" Raine trails off, considering the size of the undertaking, and shakes her head. "Perhaps not. Still, I can think of much worse ways to spend a day."

[solo_patria]

"I think I did, yes. " He nods. "We learn something from everyone we know in the end, don't we? A better thing than staying in the dark, and ignorant. Even I can be taught to change, apparently."

With Marius, it was usually a matter of social awkwardness, on both their parts. But they HAD tried to overcome it, with a lot of effort. Enjolras is not under the impression they would have been close, by any means, but he does agree it is a shame, they hadn't gotten the chance. On the other hand, Marius IS happy at home, and not suffering his losses here. That's important too.

"I did attempt it, once." Enjolras smiles. "When there were more people who might translate. It...was quite difficult to imagine something like it working. Print, at least." He added. "Something else though, perhaps. Town Criers or something like it?" He suggests, with a little shrug, not ENTIRELY facetious about it, either. "It bears thinking about."

[ruinsprofessor]

"We do." Raine nods right back at him, whole-hearted agreement. "Everyone can change, if they're willing. And I think we must, as time goes on-- to change the world, we must first change ourselves." That last has the rhythm of something she's said before, not rote but certainly not a new idea to her either. "The rest will follow."

He's right about such a thing not working in print. Especially given she knows they have at least one blind person here. Perhaps more, though she's only intimately acquainted with the one. "Perhaps," she says. Hesitates briefly, to put her thoughts into better words. "The radios, and the consoles. A broadcast is a short-term thing, but the consoles keep recordings... Perhaps there's a way to record such a thing, so that it lasts, and can be revisited."

[solo_patria]

"It IS funny." He nods slowly. "I realized, toward the end, in Paris, that my own ideas had become closer to those of Etienne. Not because...we were dear friends there, nothing else, but because they had had the time to develop. They...made more sense. The rest will follow." he repeats. "The tide of humanity, isn't it?"

The radio. Maybe the idea is something that could work again. "Mm I'd wondered if they held up enough for that. I trained a bit, with Mademoiselle Hayley, before..." Before the battles in the Dreaming, and the Lost Year and Kedan disliking them. "It seemed to make sense, then."

[ruinsprofessor]

"It's as you say. People grow, and people change. They must." Raine nods. It may or may not be notable that she avoids outright use of the word 'humanity.'

"There's no reason it shouldn't work now, I think," Raine says in a moment, moving on. She's thoughtful. "If you're not confident in the technology, you might start with talking to Tony Stark, if you know him-- he's at least partially responsible for the radios, and I expect if you tell him what you want to do, he can help with a workaround. Or teach you, if that's what you'd prefer. There are a number of scientifically minded people here, of course, and any would likely help, but I know Tony the best."

[solo_patria]

"People. Probably a better term for it." Enjolras has to admit, picking up on that, and nodding. "I do tend to come across those who do not quite fit the human face of it more often than not." He confesses, wrinkling his nose a little, at his own phrasing there. "Some old habits."

They do die hard, don't they? At the mention of Tony, he's smiling, nodding.

"Ah yes, Tony. I believe the last actual contact we've made lately was back when I was being destroyed by his snow fort army." Which probably says a bit about his relationship with Tony. "I suppose he'd be the one most likely to know how much stability there is, wouldn't he? And something more portable could help,too, getting between places and all of that. Worth trying."

[ruinsprofessor]

"Even discounting the kedan, the proportion of non-humans is fairly sizeable," Raine notes. It's without particular judgment, though. "I take it your Earth doesn't have many who are?"

Oh, good, he does know Tony. Raine laughs at the context. She wasn't there, but she certainly heard about it. "I believe he would be, yes. It's worth a try, if nothing else; I wish you luck with it."

[solo_patria]

"None." Enjolras admits, smiling. "I've met many here and still forget at times, but we are entirely alone in our world. So much as anyone of science knows. My papa had stories of mermaids, when he went along on shipping ventures, but I think otherwise somehow." The last is said with a scrunch of his nose, and a bit of a side smile.

The context IS pretty funny, yes. "I looked like a wet dandelion." He muses, shaking his head fondly.

"But Tony. Tony is a good place to start."

[ruinsprofessor]

It strikes Raine as unfortunate in terms of lack of variety and learning experiences, but she also knows that Earth is significantly larger than Aselia, if the population figures she's heard cited are anything to go by. There's probably ample opportunity. "Our oldest stories say the elves came from another planet entirely," she offers. "Perhaps your world simply has yet to find others."

The image of Enjolras as a wet dandelion makes her laugh again, a bit startled. She can imagine it, and she's just sorry she missed it.

[solo_patria]

"That IS a possibility." He says, considering. "I've met someone here from a far future that involves some travel through space, and such. We share a language and a country at least in theory. I suppose I would not be surprised to find that out anymore." It's nothing that would have occurred to him in life, but well...

"The God that most people at home believe in is said to have infinite abilities and powers of creation. It would be somewhat....arrogant...to assume that we are all that was put there. And our science does have such a long way to go. It's comforting, oddly enough, the idea we aren't alone."

It WAS entertaining, really. He'd been so fierce about it too, even if he'd laughed after his loss.

[ruinsprofessor]

"I wonder, myself," Raine says, more or less agreeing. "There may be someone or something more beyond simply our planet. I think, should the technology be safely developed, I would very much like to find out."

And besides, imagine what ruins there could be on other planets entirely.

"I think I would prefer to believe in possibilities, yes," she says at length. "And besides, it's impossible to prove for a certainty that no more life exists. Therefore, it's only sensible to proceed as if our own planets are not alone."

[solo_patria]

Enjolras nodded at the thought. He may not be as passionate about biology as some e were, but the thought in and of itself was interesting.

"I do wonder what they might be like, those people of other universes." How they lived, how they governed, what they chose to call themselves. "I think Tu Vishan's stops along the way have made me think about this more. There's such a wealth of people to be found in this universe; I like to think that it is not an anomaly."

Was it really so impossible as that? The idea was somehow comforting. "Ah good. Then I don't sound completely mad."