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

[relentlesstide]

It was. I salvaged a lot of it from the crash site underwater, but surface tech obviously isn't my area of expertise. [He's pretty much just making conversation at this point, occasionally reaching out to stroke the fin of a shark that swims close enough to him. Half his attention is on them, half on Tony. It's hard to hold an out-loud conversation and a telepathic one at the same time.]

Mmhm. A pod of them took me in when I was a teenager.

[definingfuture]

So you were adopted by dolphins.

[Even with the speakers making his voice come out flat Arthur can probably hear the tone in his voice. It's a very dry tone.]

What about your parents? Or... you don't have to answer that one.

[Tony can tell Arthur has other things he'd rather worry about. It's kind of like talking to Thor. Or Steve some of the time. He's there, but only as a minor factor.]

Are you worried about going back?

[relentlesstide]

[And in return, he'll glance upward and give Tony an answering flat look.] We're living on a giant sea turtle that can communicate with us through our dreams, and you think dolphins taking me in is weird? My parents had passed away. I was on my own. [A light shrug. Unlike certain other heroes, he isn't hung up on being an orphan.]

About going back home? I'm not... worried, necessarily. I have business to take care of, but I want to be here for Asti's sake. This is where I should be right now. [He says it easily, as if all the mysteries of the universe have been solved and he knows all the answers. It's indisputable fact that comes from easy confidence and faith.]

[definingfuture]

Why not? One thing being weird doesn't make another thing any less-

[Oh. Shut up, Stark. He cuts off when Arthur explains what happened. He's only insensitive half the time. Ish. And when Arthur moves on, Tony decides that the best response is probably to do the same. Arthur doesn't seem to avoid the subject, but it's still not something he needs to go digging into.]

You think so? I know they brought us here to defend them from the big evil or whatever it is the Emperor is fighting, but I'm not sure we should be anywhere. No offense to Asti, but then again I can't talk to him.

[relentlesstide]

[It's not such a sore spot, really, but Arthur himself tends to be a private person, and he really doesn't think any further explanation is necessary.]

You have every right to feel that way, people should not be taken unwillingly and unknowingly. But as long as the threat remains, he's dying. He will die, just as all the rest of his kind have, if we don't stop this creature. Asti is genuinely kind, and he cares about our welfare. This world would be... much darker, without him in it.

[definingfuture]

[This time privacy counts. Maybe not always, as Tony does have a habit of forgetting where his boundaries are when he feels like he should know something, but for the moment he respects Arthur's right to his own business.

The rest makes him feel guilty for his last statement. Arthur seems like the type that always takes the high moral ground, and as impractical as that is, Tony envies people like that for their ability to do it. And he's right. Asti is in danger. They've seen it. And if it were anyone else--if he were human--would Tony have said the same things? There's something in Arthur's choice of words that touches a familiar chord too. It reminds Tony of home and people he knows.]

Yeah. I don't agree with the way we're being kept in the dark, but I'm not blaming Asti for that. I just wish we knew what was really going on. It'd be easier to help everyone if they told us the whole story.

[relentlesstide]

[The funniest part is that he's not nearly the most morally sanctimonious person on the Justice League. Out of all of them, Diana is probably the only one more likely to kill if necessary, though it often isn't necessary.

Basically though, Arthur's always had a soft spot for sea life, no matter how big it is.] You and me both. The Emperor has been largely uncooperative, as far as I know. The most information I've seen distributed by the palace came from Evandau when they were calling people in to investigate things. Before that, I got the most leads from speaking to Asti directly. I can only do that when he... facilitates it, though.

[definingfuture]

[Sea-Papa is protective of the ocean life. Yeah, he understands that.]

The Commander? I've talked to him a little. He seems like an honest enough guy, but there's no real way to be sure. I take it that the Emperor doesn't really have time to waste on our trivial affairs?

[Isn't that always the way? Entitlement is frustrating. Yes, even to Tony who has lived with that kind of privilege for much of his life. He doesn't like the attitude. He's used to dealing with it, though.]

A few other people told me that they could speak to him too. Is that through telepathy or something else?

[relentlesstide]

From what I hear, she's prone to leaving a lot of things out, for whatever reason she may have to do such a thing. I can't say for sure, I haven't bothered to talk to her. [How does he people? Can he just talk to the fish instead? Someone should give the Emperor a pet goldfish and then they can learn all kinds of stuff.]

Not telepathy, dreams. You don't want to try direct telepathy. [A slight cringe.] It's an interesting experience, but largely unhelpful. Basically though, we can't initiate the conversations.

[definingfuture]

Never?

[Tony sounds surprised, but he hasn't really made an attempt to approach the palace yet either. He's thought about it, but he hasn't gone to an audience. It's avoidance, really. But no one he knows has really pushed him to take that step, so he just hasn't gotten around to it yet.]

So you can't use telepathy on him, but he talks in your dreams. I can't usually do either, so I'll take your word for it. Did he have any advice for us?

[relentlesstide]

Not yet. Didn't seem like there was a point when I was just hearing that she's a pain in the ass to deal with.

[And he sounds like he has experience with pain in the ass royalty. Because he does.]

...He doesn't want anyone to give up their life for his. He was very clear about that. Even he doesn't know much about the threat, or getting rid of it.

[definingfuture]

You never know. [Tony says that offhandedly and lets it drop off without a reply. He doesn't want to bother with the Emperor that much either.]

Isn't that kind of why we're here, though? Giving up our lives?

[The question sounds light and innocent, and even Tony's expression seems oblivious to the implications of what he just said. But maybe the casual air hangs just a bit too freely and his posture is just a little too at ease even in the air. No one can be that absent, right?]

I thought that's what we were born to do.

[relentlesstide]

I'm sure the Emperor would say so. [He doesn't seem too fussed at the idea of dying either, honestly. Been there, done that, seen it a million times over and lost most of what he ever had to live for.] I don't believe that, though. There's a balance in all things, including between self-sacrifice and self-preservation. Even dying for a good cause will cause someone else pain.

Would you give up your life so easily, if there were other ways?

[definingfuture]

[Tony takes in the question before answering. It could be because he's comfortable with his answer. After all, Arthur can't see his expression and he keeps his voice even enough that he doesn't sound like he's hesitating.]

I don't like giving up anything if I can help it.

[He chuckles.] Can't make it too easy on them.

[relentlesstide]

[He doesn't blink at the pause. It's a difficult question for some people, and years ago, he might have answered it differently himself.]

No, we can't. We also shouldn't make things too hard on ourselves.

[definingfuture]

You are so underestimating my natural ability to complicate things.

[Tony assumes that Arthur will be less entertained than he is, but that's okay.]

It makes life interesting, though. What fun is anything without a little challenge to it?

[relentlesstide]

When the world is nothing but challenges and complication, sometimes keeping things simple is nice. [Well, his life has been nothing but complication, and it's not even totally his fault.]

[definingfuture]

Well, yeah, I mean, simple can be good too. But being too simple is boring. You have to keep things going forward. Otherwise, you just get complacent.

[It sounds like it might still just be a joke. But then again, he is insisting on the point.]

[relentlesstide]

True enough. But again, there is a balance in all things in life. [Between reason and emotion, between drifting and pushing too hard, between staying still and moving too fast. What is it about Tony that makes Arthur sound like a fortune cookie.]

[definingfuture]

[Because Tony and wisdom rarely ever meet. He's perfectly happy to get wisdom from the people he looks up to, even if they do end up sounding like fortune cookies.]

Moderation, huh? I think I've heard of that. Never did get into that kind of thing. I had too much going on.

[He's only teasing a little bit. The next line is warmer.]

But it's a good point.

[relentlesstide]

[Arthur just smiles wryly at that. He's no stranger to 'too much going on', being a member of the Justice League, a superhero, a husband and father, and King of Atlantis all at once.] Those are the times we need to find balance the most.

But I have a feeling you're more of a typhoon than a steady current.

[definingfuture]

Balance and I are kind of on bad terms. I think I've been dumped, except we occasionally have a hot night. So maybe we're still interested, but not on a routine basis.

[That's a perfect analogy. Arthur needed that kind of comparison from Tony, right? He thinks it's a great way to put it.]

We can't all be the rock that breaks the waves, you know.

[relentlesstide]

[Tony your analogies need work. Well, it was a perfectly fine one, but it's getting a flat look and a raised eyebrow from Arthur that says 'I don't date enough to fully understand this comparison'.]

It's always better to be the wave than the rock. [There. He understood that one.]

[definingfuture]

[Oh, that's adorable. He completely skipped by the good analogy. Tony assumes that Arthur is just too innocent of a guy to really bother with things like dating around and subsequently getting walked out on (when he's not doing the walking out). Tony just has to smile at that.]

Why's that? I like rocks. Rocks are interesting. They're always a little bit different.

[And they hold ores. Clearly that makes them awesome.]

[relentlesstide]

[It's less innocence (he's the one who knocked up a girl as a teenager) and more romantic oddity. His relationships have never been remotely what the surface world might consider normal, and at the smile, he just gives him a kind of lofty stare.]

Rocks are incapable of adapting. [It's a simple life lesson from Atlantis, adapt to the currents you find yourself in and the life fate throws you, or be washed away.] You know, most surfacers don't put up with philosophical talk as long as you have. [Which he finds mildly amusing.]