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

[everylittlegirl]

[She watches the shifting of thoughts across his expression, failing to understand them but noticing how he holds back a remark and instead gives the vendor first priority. It's a subtle way of trying to put her in her place, to show that she's much less important than his obtaining the thing she wants, and she notes that for later. The way to Lex's attention will clearly be to return the favor. But that will take time and responding with anything less than wit and patience now will only hurt the chances of her success in that.

Hayley moves away from the stand with him, her only item of interest having just been bought out from under her. She meets his gaze as often as possible, only glancing forward on occasion to ensure that neither of them runs into anything, and keeps an even pace beside him. When the path narrows to less than two people abreast, she dutifully falls back to allow him to lead, giving him the sense of importance he so clearly craves right now.]

Maybe I just want to get you drunk and take advantage of you. [She replies with a laugh, deliberately ensuring that it's expressed with as much humor as possible, that the sheer idea of it is ridiculous. But it's still said. Then, with more sincerity, she adds.] Or maybe it was meant to be a peace offering for hanging up on you before.

[ihope]

[She's like a puppy, he concludes. If he tried to lose her in the crowd, could he? That's something for another day. He has to search for her, search her expression every so often it's like looking at the face of a wristwatch during a board meeting. She's giving him her full attention- he has to hold himself high and weave through the crowd and pretend he has a destination in mind.]

[And-- there's something to make a chill run down his spine.]

[She shocked it out of him, a quick huff and a wolfish grin. His left hand tightens over the bottleneck it holds but still, he's quick to correct his composure. The grin turns into a grimace not a second too soon, he rolls his eyes, shakes his head in simmering anguish.]

[Lex slows his strides, lets the implications wash over him, sober him up. And-- okay, no. He comes to a full stop. If kedan and others around them want to brush shoulders with the six foot tall obstruction, so be it. He won't budge. If he thought he could get away with grabbing hold of an arm of hers, he would. Hawk's eyes on her. She crossed a boundary, joke or not.]

What are you looking for in me, Hayley?

[Because look, the boy knows how to do his research too. This was a game he agreed to, he remembers. He won't back down, he'll just have to win it.]

Money?

[A silly, stupid girl, why else would she be trailing him around? That he doesn't have the excuse of his father's corporation here escapes him only momentarily. Then he continues, a flash of crafted worry crossing him. He even rocks back on his heels once, and he fights the urge to roll his shoulders. His lips are a thin line of serious concern. He grows hushed.]

Do you need help?

[The fact is, amusing or not (it isn't, he says to himself), any young girl will get herself in trouble with that talk. Drunk and taken advantage of-- leave that talk to grade school buddies if she must, to her hoard of girlfriends. But what a relief she found a friend in him. He won't think more of that joke than a good citizen should.]

[everylittlegirl]

[Hayley watches the transition in Lex's expression and silent revels in it. It seems like it's been too long since she has actually been able to adequately rile someone. While not exactly her intention, it's a reassuring sign that she can still do what she needs to do when she needs to do it. But then he takes it too far too quickly.

Or maybe she has. The girl's rusty here and she doesn't have the resources to prepare as well, the opportunity to avoid people, the ability to predict their weaknesses before they even know her. She feels trapped to a certain extent and that only makes her less inclined to trust than she already is naturally.

His gaze doesn't rile her in the slightest and their time together there, still in a sea of movement, actually gives her a moment to appreciate his size. Not just his size, exactly, but his grandeur and charisma. Lex has something that most of the other people she's met here don't have and it draws her like a moth to a flame.]

Help? No. If you have a job you want to offer me, then we can talk about it, but I don't really need money.

[Hayley shifts her bag on her shoulder, sliding the bulk of it farther behind her back, an unconscious response to the mention of money and her thoughts to what she's spent today.

She pulls her lower lip between her teeth for a moment, then gives a seemingly embarrassed smile, a bit like a girl with a crush.]

I'm looking for.. a friend, who can maybe.. teach me some things.

[ihope]

[He wasn't expecting her to shrink back in intimidation, but there was more of a reaction he'd have preferred. His frown only deepens, his chest expands before he lets out a heavy breath. Truth be told, he doesn't know what to do now. He could joke-- they could tease. It'd be harmless, it'd be wrong, and all he knows about the girl is that he won't give her what she's after. As much as he likes to think of himself a good looking guy-- really. Flattery will get you everywhere in life, but only when it's directed at all the wrong people. Lex would like to think it does nothing to him. She's doing nothing to him.]

I've been offering partnerships with some local kedan for a quick and very temporary business venture. [When in doubt, take the long route. She doesn't need money, he won't give it to her. Making Hayley work and sweat will be half the fun of the twisted puzzle they've landed themselves in the middle of.]

[His gaze flickers for a blink to her neck, her shoulders, what the hell was she carrying in that bag? No business of his. Anyway, to continue.]

I'm sure you've noticed we've had some trouble with tribbles.

[Heck, he should give her a tribble. Tell her, 'there's you friend'. Feed it, water it, skin it when it drives you nuts. That will teach a kid a lot.]

[everylittlegirl]

[She doesn't understand why he's frowning so deeply and it bothers her. The sigh, the half dismissive sort of reply he gives. Although Hayley doesn't know him hardly at all, she feels like she should, like there's something glaring her in the face that she's missing. Only there isn't. Maybe it's simply that Clark knows him, or perhaps that they seem too alike for him to be such a mystery, but his replies are never what she expects. It's all the more fun, but simultaneously more frustrating.]

Yeah, of course. So what's the business?

[Then it's Hayley's turn to glide past him and begin making her way through the crowd. Lex can either follow or continue this conversation another time. At least if he's behind her, he can see the bag she was hiding, the way it bulges awkwardly as a sign of things contained but without nearly overflowing.]

[ihope]

[And he stills. And he feels himself stiffen and he hates her for it. If he’s learned anything about Hayley through their brief interactions—scratch that. Interaction. Single. They’d only spoken once before, Jesus Christ. He knows she’s deliberate.]

[How else could someone get under his skin so effortlessly? She’s not his father, she doesn’t know him, but her guesswork is phenomenal.]

[Of course, Lex is a sad man who believes everything somehow must revolve around him and his actions and his desires. That Hayley decided to move ahead could just be that she’s smaller and saw an opening and took it without a second thought. Lex, for his part , does well in hiding the heated moment of disgust, whether her back’s to him or not. He follows. The bag’s forgotten.]

I haven’t seen kedan turn away foreigners from vending. I’ve promised artisans I can sell anything they can bring to my stall. It gives them an advantage over competition because there’s an affinity among these people to buy from the exotic new persons flooding their city. They’ll believe the devices are all made by us instead of by their grouchy old neighbor who kicked their dog three weeks ago. I just need someone with the right charm to man the booth.

[everylittlegirl]

[Nearly everything she does is a response to him. Every move he makes to annoy her, she attempts to return. It's the game of cat and mouse, where neither wants to be the rodent. Or maybe she just wants it to be. It doesn't really matter what the truth is as long as he continues to play the game with her.

She never looks back, oblivious to his disgust. All she has seen, really, has been the amicable and competitive neutrality that they share beneath more pleasant facades. When Hayley hears his voice behind her, indicating that he has followed, it's a silent and small victory.]

You know that I can sell things if I want to. [The reply is more arrogant than she would normally offer, but it's partially a test to see if he agrees or if he'll make her work to prove that.] And, lucky for you, I have a lot of free time this weekend.

[Hayley turns around to face him, walking backwards a few steps before she stops in the crowd again. The kedan continue to swarm around them and she knows that, if Lex doesn't provide a barrier again, it will be too easy to lose him. Still, she won't allow him the satisfaction of moving towards him.]

Give me the job and the wine and I'll let you have 60% of the profits.