tushanshu_logs | Event

Event | Yard Sale!

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Scott doesn't look very convinced at her reassurance.]

If you don't have allergies the first one's probably easy to avoid, but I don't know how easy the second one's gonna be. [Especially with all the people around here.] You sure? I don't mind at all.

I worked at a restaurant in University, I have some experience people dodging. And my allergies have been pretty quiet since I arrived here. Lucky break.

[She's used to this. She's small and everyone always assumes she can't handle things that come her way. Of course they're just being kind, but it gets a little old.]

Here. You can carry these while I stop at that stall over there if you really want to help.

Just because you can do it doesn't mean you have to.

[But Scott nods at her offer, reaching out to carefully transfer that tall pile of books from her arms into his, though before his face is completely hidden, he shoots Clara a quizzical look.]

Are you buying more?

Sometimes I want to.

[And when the last book is transferred she grins up at him even if she's not sure if he can see her or not.]

Depends on what they have. Hence why I'm going to check it out.

Edited 2013-07-27 23:26 (UTC)

[Scott can't see her grin, face now completely covered by books, but he can certainly hear it in her voice.]

And you don't want to go home and drop these off first? [But why....] Y'know, I'm pretty sure all of this will still be here when we get back.

What if there's an absolutely amazing book here and I let it slip through my fingers just because the stack I'm carrying is a little heavy.

Can't have that.

[She's flipping through the books now. They're old and dusty and make her sniffle but that's just the stort of book she's out to find.]

[Clara, Scott does not understand you. But then again, he's always been more of a video game and movie person over books. He's never really understood their appeal, except as bonding material during bedtime story.

Still, he dutifully follows her into the store, wondering if offering to help really was the best idea.]

What's your definition of absolutely amazing?

[Please don't say romance.]

I don't know! A story about going off and finding something no one's ever seen before. Or a history book that tells a tale that no one's heard before. Something brilliant, maybe a little tragic, that's entirely unique.

[Okay, she's a huge dork when it comes to this and while he probably can't see her smile here, he can hear it in her voice. She doesn't let herself get excited about much but books are an exception.]

[Scott doesn't necessarily share Clara's excitement - action and suspense have always been his preferred genres over more unique adventures - but her enthusiasm for the subject is kind of charming.]

It sounds like you're reading off one of those 'Looking for' ads. Do all the ones in here [giving the pile the gentlest of nudges] meet those criteria for your soulmate book?

Something like that. Looking for the perfect novel, if you have brilliant adventure, heartfelt characters, and clever prose give Clara Oswald a call.

[She bounces eagerly between different piles of books. She picks a few out, flips through the pages and reads the back covers before settling on three. Then she glances back his way.]

I dunno yet. I have to decide once I've read them all which one was the best.

[Wryly:] Can't remember the last time I read a book that wasn't Goodnight Moon, but I'll remember that.

[Matching her pace is something of an impossibility with the sheer volume of books he's carrying and Scott loses sight of her once or twice before catching up again. (Luckily for him, the shop isn't too big.)]

Also I thought perfect wasn't supposed to exist, or is it one of those 'perfect for me, imperfect for everyone else' type things, like with boyfriends and girlfriends?

At least it's a classic but you're missing out.

[She pops up next to him again with a large stack in her arms.]

Something like that. But unlike boyfriends or girlfriends, books don't expect you to call them once a day or get cross with you when they don't.

I guess that's why my marriage failed.

[For all that it could've been a serious topic, Scott's light tone clearly indicates that he's joking about things for the most part. His marriage with Peggy had never been the shining point of his life and he doesn't regret any of the actions that had led to their eventual separation. Dating and marriage had never really been his things anyway.]

So then, if I'm missing out so much, you got any recommendations for me? Preferably nothing cheesier than Cheez Whiz but I'll take anything else.

It's why I won't get married.

[She gives him a nod, as if to show her solidarity. She'd never been good with intimacy and had quite given up on dating or close friendships. Until she came to live in Keelai that is.

She beams when he asks her suggestions and sets aside a few books.]

East of Eden by John Steinbeck. Brilliant novel.

Ordinarily I'd say that you're young and should do the whole life experience first but. [Here he shrugs, or manages as much of a shrug as he can with all those books.] Not really worth it, unless you want kids. And even then babysitting's an option.

[Scott is the least qualified to talk about the relationships though, considering his last two crashed and burned.]

East of Eden. Sounds....classical-y. What's it about?

I can have kids and not be married if I want.

[Not that she has any idea if she wants kids or not. Or what she wants in terms of anything. She's adrift in life with no direction. But she'd never admit that aloud.]

It's about life. Family, the struggle to be accepted, finding freedom, surviving.

[Sorry Clara, Scott's just going to...blink for a couple seconds at that description.]

That's...that's very deep. [Maybe a little too deep for him, not that he'd ever mention it.] How long is it? 'Cause that's a lot of topics to fit in one book.

Not long. Only six hundred pages or so. But it's completely enthralling. Feels like it's so short. I read it all in one evening.

[Clara is oblivious to your problems, Scott.]

[Scott's problems right now are mostly the fact that he thinks that Clara has problems because who even wants to sit through six hundred pages of novel? That is like a miniature dictionary right there and there are some days Scott can't even make it through the local newspaper.]

Did you sleep at all that night?

[Okay, maybe some of his problems are evident.]

Only went to bed a few hours late.

Didn't do any of my other school work though. Suppose that's the trade off.

[Come on Scott, reading is cool!]

[Video games are cooler!!]

Schoolwork?

[He slants a curious gaze at Clara, reassessing. He'd pegged her as slightly older than she'd seemed. (All the teenagers and young adults he knows aren't nearly as carefree as she is.)]

How old are you?

[Video games are weird and kind of make you motion sick!]

Do you usually ask girls you meet on the street that question?

[She laughs.]

I'm 24. But I was 19 and in University the first time I read it.

I usually don't meet girls on the street.

[It's true enough, if only because he doesn't actually go outside enough to pick up girls off the street. That, and he doesn't like dating or one night stands.]

And I am almost old enough to be your dad so I don't think that's a valid question anyway.

[But okay, 24, he wasn't that far off the mark.]

You didn't graduate from the University of Turtletopia, did you?

Me either. Never works out that way.

[She only seems amused and kind of charmed at his response.]

And dad would tell you that he's plenty energetic for a 46 year old and keeps everyone at his job on their toes. And no, no Turtletopia. University College London. Literature and Art History. Not sure what they teach at University of Turtletopia.

Probably Turtle Trivia 101, or maybe Racism - Speciesism? - Against Turtles: A History.

[Scott's largely joking about these subjects, though he does wonder idly what schools here do teach, apart from the standard K-12 curriculum. He'd gone to technical college, so classes outside of specialized skills and practical matters are somewhat alien - but fascinating! - to him.]

Still, lit and art history. That's--that's really something. What're you planning on doing with all that?

(no subject)

parallels - 2013-08-20 01:00 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

langsyne - 2013-08-25 19:18 (UTC) - Expand

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only