Event | Yard Sale!

[ironwood]

Characters: Come one, come all!
Date: July 21st - July 27th
Location: The City of Keeliai
Situation: The rationing is officially lifted and the kedan are celebrating by conducting one citywide yard sale! Think big! Think small! Think tribbles! Think all!
Warnings/Rating: Tribbles. Lots of tribbles. Please indicate content warnings in subject headers as applicable.

The morning of the 21st kicks off with heralds roving about the city of Keeliai to declare that the rationing edict has been lifted and that citizens no longer have to contribute one-fifth of their productions (juulan or physical goods) to the communal stores maintained by the police force. These announcements trigger a state of celebration across the city as kedan drag months worth of hoarded items to the street to sell, steal, or trade in a wave of mercantile goodness that stretches for nearly a week. Not even the rising tide of tribbles seems to dampen their spirit, with kedan citywide finding new and inventive uses for the fuzzy paperweights.

Characters are free to do as they will during this event, with police oversight relaxed in the aftermath of the long rationing and strained relations. Impromptu sales out of suites will rarely be inspected and purchase made elsewhere are no longer monitored. Everyone is taking a breath of fresh air, so to speak, and most do not want their first fun in months to be ruined.

OOC: See the OOC announcement for details and this post for subheaders in which you may wreak havoc celebrate the lifting of the rationing. Feel free to start your own thread header if you like! <3

Fire Sector | Earth Sector | Metal Sector | Water Sector | Wood Sector | Other

Comments

[unetrustworthy]

[A full ten seconds passed before she realized there was no one there. Which didn't help things in the least.]

[But then, amidst the eery silence, the sound of ice frosting over--ice, in the middle of summer!--drew her attention. She turned in time to see the image of a...was that a smiley face?]

...Jack?

[It took a moment, but that was the only possibility. Given what she had already learned.]

[wintershepherd]

Got it in one, kiddo.

[ He adds an exclamation point to the face to underscore the new reply. ]

[unetrustworthy]

[She had no idea what the exclamation point was supposed to mean.]

I'm going to take that as a 'yes'.

[Again, mostly because there was no other possible answer.]

[Midii took a cautious step forward. Then another. The delicate crystals lining the wall were already staring to shimmer under the heat, so she had to move quick. Reaching out with one hand, she tentatively brushed her fingers against the symbol. Both eyebrows rising when she realized just how cold it was. It wasn't just an illusion. There was really ice there.]

[wintershepherd]

Guess they don't have Pictionary where you're from, huh? That's okay, we can do this the old fashioned way.

[ He moved towards a less crowded section of the street and a clear space of smooth wall, lifted his staff and used the end of it to write upon the surface. It was harder than manipulating a pen or keys and unconsciously his tongue worked down to the corner of his mouth as he delved once again into his limited French. ]

IT'S A GOOD DAY
GOT SOMETHING FOR YOU
HOLD OUT YOUR HANDS

[unetrustworthy]

[She wasn't expecting anything more to appear, and thus almost missed it when the words first appeared. A double-take later, however, and she leaned back to get a better view.]

Hold out my hands...?

[Curious, she did what he asked. Lightly cupping them together and waiting to see what happened.]

[wintershepherd]

[ Jack has been collecting all sorts of candied things for his kids and rummages through the bag he's got over his shoulder. She didn't really seem like the super sugary type so he finally pulls out a "necklace" of dried and candied fruit pieces interspersed with "beads" of honey drops. He lays it carefully in her cupped hands, his touch ghosting through her skin and leaving only a faint chill, and the treat materializes in sight and feel once he's withdrawn his hand. ]

[unetrustworthy]

[She lets out a small gasp of surprise when the cold touches her hand, then nearly drops the necklace when it suddenly appears. On instinct, she closes her fingers over it, holding it tightly to her chest in time to save it when she jumps in surprise. Eyes rapidly darting from side to side, as if that would help her catch whoever it was that had left it there.]

[Still nothing.]

[Her attention returns to the necklace. Slowly, she inspects it. They didn't have candies like this in her world. If they did, she had never seen it before. Candy itself was a rarity, but as a decorative necklace? She knew it was candy, too. The sweet smell emitting from the beads gave it away.]

I don't--

Is this for me?

[wintershepherd]

[ Jack pulled back to watch her reaction, balanced lightly on his heels so she's actually taller than he is and nods at her question. It's such a hard habit to break, speaking even when he knows he can't be heard, carrying on the closest thing he could get to a conversation for a long time. ]

Yeah Midii, it's for you. Haven't you ever had someone give you a gift before?

[ He rises smoothly, turning back to the wall to write on it in shimmering frost. ]

YES
HOPE YOU LIKE IT

[unetrustworthy]

[No, she hadn't. Not since the small, golden cross hidden beneath her shirt. The one that had come with such a heavy price.]

[The corners of her lips tugged upwards into something that could almost pass for a smile. She pulled softly at the necklace, maneuvering it over her head and down until it was hanging from her neck. Even then, she continued to stare at it, as if expecting it to disappear at any moment.]

Thank you.

[A small part of her couldn't help wonder what the catch for this gift was. A tracker? Was it poisoned? There had to be something wrong with it--people didn't just give other people something for nothing, after all. Maybe he expected a favor from her in return.]

[wintershepherd]

YOU'RE WELCOME!

[ It wasn't nearly as good as snow cones (in his expert opinion) but he had still eaten a few of them himself. He catches the way she's looking at it, like she's waiting for something and he wishes she could at least hear him because he can't put a good reassurance into frosted words on a wall. ]

[unetrustworthy]

[More writing, though this time, it wasn't until after she looked up that Midii was able to see it. Meaning she missed the actual act of writing. Meaning she had no idea what direction to look in when addressing the invisible spirit boy--sorry, Spirit of Winter.]

[Apparently, there was an important difference.]

Why would you give me a present? [Asking the air. Hopefully, he hadn't already left. Then she would feel even more ridiculous.] Why me?

[wintershepherd]

[ Jack scoffed, these words appearing messier as he wrote them more quickly. ]

DON'T NEED A REASON.

[unetrustworthy]

[Messy, but still legible. And since she caught him writing, she knew approximately where he was.]

Everybody needs a reason to do something. That's why you do what you do.

[wintershepherd]

[ He groaned at that; why were there so many kids here like this? Who acted like they didn't even know how to be kids? ]

I LIKE PEOPLE TO BE HAPPY

[unetrustworthy]

[It was a reason, alright. Not quite what she had in mind, but he was listening to her. Though she still couldn't be certain exactly what the invisible boy was up to, for the moment, she had no reason to believe he was anything other than kind.]

[Probably because she was so young.]

What do you get out of making people happy?

[wintershepherd]

[ The spirit chewed his lower lip, dredging his French vocabulary for enough words to write a coherent reply. It was too complicated to explain so he had to settle for something that, unfortunately, was likely to make more questions than answers. ]

MAKES ME HAPPY TOO
IT WAS ALL I COULD DO
FOR A LONG TIME

[unetrustworthy]

[He was right, but only in the sense that there were very few things he could have said, even with an unlimited vocabulary, that would have left the conversation there.]

What do you mean?

[The 'long time', she didn't question. That could mean anything. But the concept of making people happy being the only thing he could do? That was curious.]

Why couldn't you do anything else?

[wintershepherd]

[ Jack lifted his shoulders in a helpless shrug, even though she couldn't see him. There was no way he could attempt to tackle an explanation like that on the side of the wall in butchered French. ]

A STORY FOR ANOTHER TIME

[unetrustworthy]

[Hmm. She didn't like being left hanging. Not with such an interesting topic. Then again, writing on a nearby wall in wintery frost probably wasn't the best method of communication. Better to wait until they were either back at the console....or, with luck, the day when she could finally manage to see him.]

Alright.

I'll remember.

[wintershepherd]

I WILL TOO
GOING TO EXPLORE?

[unetrustworthy]

Probably.

There's a lot to see here.

[wintershepherd]

OKAY STAY OUT OF TROUBLE
JUST KIDDING

[unetrustworthy]

[No promises]

Don't worry. I'm not here to cause trouble, Jack.

[wintershepherd]

YOU SURE?

[ Hopefully teasing... ]

[unetrustworthy]

[Not on purpose.]

I'm sure.