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

[ihope]

[Being told there's history for sale brought him to the Wood Sector, unsurprisingly. He also had a booth being run elsewhere among the the sea of merchants here- it didn't mean that, apart from the rounds to ensure the small business was doing well at the hands of who he had entrusted it with, he had interest in staying in the more modest sectors of Keeliai for long. Books with great bound spines and bold letters and claims as titles wrangle his attention, some longer than in simple passing, but as it is his hands are empty of any prize yet.]

[And of course the creature will draw his attention before its owner does- and at first Lex thinks it must belong to a kedan. But the man using it as a mule looks far too human (and Lex remembers the Kryptonians do too, as do women from places not from his Earth). He's not stupid, he doesn't approach close enough to risk a bite or charge.]

It yours?

[Simple question, curiosity dripping, all directed at Richard. May be obvious, but hey. Maybe the beasts are for rent, what does he know.]

[oathwalk]

[Richard glances over at Uzmek, if only to be certain he isn't acting up again. But after the events with Marius, apparently the beast is content to just give Lex a look as Richard steps past Uzmek and smiles at Lex.] Uzmek is indeed mine: a result of a trip to the mountains.

[ihope]

[Oh good. The hellbeast wasn't going to chomp him up, it looked like, and Lex risks a small step forward out of curiosity's sake. There's a reserved smile wanting to tug at his lips.]

So it's wild? [Well-- obviously not. It's tamed. Lex is quick to amend.] I mean, you've taught it some manners but I don't think I've seen something like this in the city before. [Come to think of it... animals were scarce, weren't they?]

[oathwalk]

[The hellbeast looks at him, giving the impression that if Lex gets too close it will bite, but Richard is right there and a hand on the beast's neck is enough that it curls back in. It is less the gentle pat of a doting owner than the polite and fond reminder from a commander about who calls the shots around here.]

I think a few are used as pack animals, and I've heard of them being used in illegal fighting rings, but it seems the city isn't much suited for the support of a large number of animals. A waste on resources, I imagine.

[ihope]

[Dominance, and Lex takes the hint. He's not a part of the equation here. He's not stepping back, he'll just stand his ground and feign disinterest in the animal's aggression-- he is packing his gun, concealed. But interest is enough to keep him from wandering away and with a short huff he continues.]

I don't see much of anything here that needs hauling around but they would be useful to feed off the infestation right now. What's up in the mountains? I heard there's nothing out there.

[oathwalk]

[For his part, Richard maintains a genial attitude. He is very, very accustomed to having guards who are willing to metaphorically bite the heads off of anyone who comes near him. The only thing novel about this scenario is that Uzmek would literally bite off heads, which is why Richard keeps his hand on Uzmek's neck]

[He laughs at the comment about the infestation.] As it happens, it seems they are very fond of the taste of tribbles. It's saved us the trouble of trying to find a reliable food source for them, in fact. There was a different infestation in the Senphatos Mountain—qin, the natives called them. Commander Evandau sent a team to investigate disappearances there.

[Richard finally lifts his hand, and Uzmek doesn't snap at Lex; he lifts his swan neck and turns to watching the crowd.]

[ihope]

[He cocks a brow at the tidbit- talk about a boon. He has to move to avoid being taken away by a sudden moving crowd and he takes the moment to observe just how calm Richard stays at the side of the hellbeast.]

Hard to think there was something more vicious needing the attention of- the assembled teams. [So is he talking to a man involved in the military here? At the very least, Lex now has the name of a commander. Someone to petition when he's found a suitable answer to one of the many questions swimming in his mind. He shifts his weight to one leg, he keeps the questions coming and hopes he's not keeping Richard from anything important.]

What was disappearing that had the Commander worked up? [What, not who. To give Lex some credit, he has assumed there are no cities outside of this one. But still, disappearing flocks of sheep somehow don't seem to fit.]

[oathwalk]

[Richard steps back to give Lex more space to get out of the crowd, and Uzmek follows after, if begrudgingly.]

It was the disappearance of a few of his officers. Unfortunately, they were dead long before we got there. [While there is the touch of sympathy for lost lives there, Richard is too accustomed to losing people in battle to say it anything but calmly. As for Lex—yes, he remembers that face. He did not look much into the post because it didn't seem to have new information to add to his resources, but he knows that Lex arrived not too long ago. It takes Richard only a second to put the name to the face; a memory for names is something to be cultivated in his line of work.] I realize; I've forgotten to introduce himself. [He offers a hand.] Richard.

[ihope]

[So send the ragtag team and pit them against-- heck, Lex can't bring himself to finish that thought. As much as he'd love to find something to hate about the commander already, there's simply no proof that it was citizens sent to the front line. But now he's thinking... there's superiority at play-- proven. Some warped fraction of it, but it's there.]

[He takes the hand with better spirits.]

Lex.

I apologize if I've kept you from your... shopping.

[oathwalk]

[The handshake is politician practiced: firm without being testing or harsh.] Not at all. It is always a pleasure to meet people here.

[And study which of them to trust, adds that cynical voice at the back of his head. He quiets it.]

[ihope]

There’s a lot to learn.

[There could be something about great minds said here, though if Lex knew he’d brush it off by thinking any creeping suspicion was only natural. After all, half of the people aren’t even human. What’s there to trust, then? But the handshake brings some sense of peace, at least, the repulsive familiarity of training. He mimics Richard’s grip almost entirely before letting his hand fall to his side again. Not following, he says to himself. He’s emphasizing. Everything’s a test.]

[Then he’s friendly, casual once more.] Though I’ll admit, these markets remind me more of home than the fact I’m sharing living space with extraterrestrials.

[oathwalk]

[Richard chuckles, neglecting to mention those seven odd years he spent sharing mindspace with an extraterrestrial.] Alien cohabiters are a little more unusual than open markets on Ephinea as well. [As in there are exactly two.] In this case, however, it seems we have to consider ourselves the extraterrestrials.