Event | Landfall | Bresilyk | Markutte

[ironwood]

Characters: Any and all!
Date: December 3 - 11, 2013
Location: Markutte, Bresilyk (landfall)
Situation: Tu Vishan makes landfall at the winterbound republic of Bresilyk!
Warnings/Rating: Please include warnings in comment subject lines

OOC Post | Approved Items | Special Gifts
Aihsohlow | Phorezton | Markutte | Countryside

The commerce town of the tried. Temperatures within the dome are kept at a lofty 18C (62F) year round and the population of Markutte dresses less in furs and more in linens obtained through trade. Their long hair is frequently shorn short in the current fashion and they are, on the whole, less hardy than their kin in Phorezton and Aihsohlow, but even more friendly as they are currently in the throes of the Harvest Haul, a festival that concludes their rare growing seasons and agricultural bounties.

Trade. That's the foundation of Markutte and there are three town squares that are home to transient stalls and merchandise from the country and all surviving areas of Konryu. Many kedan have made their way here and occupy the occasional stall space, selling their wares and exchanging gifts with the citizens as they grasp the nature of the festival underway. Once again, visitors that make the trek here are expected to donate a gift that will be regifted at random, earning access and a stamp of their tin visa that resembles the oblong crystal coin used as currency in this realm.

Police are on the lookout for financial crimes here and will demand visas of any they suspect to be committed fraud, short-selling merchants, or thieving in any way, shape, or form. There are three vistas, one in each market square, upon which heralds stand and announce the crimes and punishments noted of the previous day. Minor theft is common and the punishment is a brand upon the criminal's neck; major theft results in a loss of a finger for each item stolen; fraud here is punishable by death, but only twice will there be an announcement of an execution during the landfall.

The auctions here are quite lively and characters can expect a minor bidding war to obtain their items, but each item is in pristine condition and provided to them wrapped within a thin set of furs as a thanks for their purchase.

Customs | Settlement | Auctions | Harvest Haul | Other

Comments

[epigrammatical]

"Have you indeed? You must tell me about them—and about this egg." He smiles, amused. "One of the eggs brought back from the last city that we visited, I take it?"

[aloadeddie]

"Some interesting mental exercises, but pretty personal for the clients involved, so I probably can't say much more than that," Arthur concedes with a shrug. Digging into other people's memories is kind of a private thing, after all. Barnaby is trusting him with a lot.

"Yeah, those goddamn things. I don't know if they'll ever hatch at this point."

[epigrammatical]

Henry nods and briefly taps his finger to his lips, an acknowledgement of discretion.

"Have there been any changes in them? There must be something quite prodigious within."

[aloadeddie]

I don't know if I've seen any changes. Then again, I've been egg-sitting every day for months now, so even if it had grown a foot bigger, I probably wouldn't realize," he says lightly.

[epigrammatical]

"As you are here walking about, I gather that you are not bound to it as a hen," Henry replies with a laugh. Because the image of Arthur sitting on an egg like that, as if he were a bird—well, of course it's funny. "Unless someone else has taken over that duty on your behalf?"

[aloadeddie]

"We do it in shifts," Arthur says with a sigh. It's actually not so far from the truth, though talking about it isn't his favorite thing. It's like a weird compulsion. Arthur would never claim to have much in the way of paternal feelings - he doesn't consider himself good with kids or animals (despite being James and Phillipa's favorite "uncle") and the sort of nesting he's been doing since acquiring the egg (or since the egg imprinted on him, whatever) has been throwing him for a loop, big time.

It's also not improved his mood much when he's away from the egg.

"But it's pretty much a 24/7 job. Someone needs to be with it all the time." Or he starts feeling really anxious about it, for some damn reason.

[epigrammatical]

"My dear fellow, it sounds rather like you're having to become responsible," Henry replies, eyebrows raised. The dismay is largely a put-on. Largely. "What a way to have domesticity enforced upon one! I hope at least that your fellow nurses are amiable."

[aloadeddie]

"I'm perfectly responsible," Arthur shoots back, unable to keep himself from smiling slightly in response. "I'm just not that used to being responsible for another living creature." He waves it off with a shrug. "They're fine, mostly. We don't see each other too much, except when we're changing shifts."

[epigrammatical]

"Well then; I hope your dedication is repaid by that which comes forth from the egg," Henry says. "Who, incidentally, are your compatriots in this effort?"

[aloadeddie]

"Uh, Zelgadis is the one I talk to the most. The other is - one of the French people. Marius, I think?" Arthur gives a vague shrug. He doesn't interact much with them, honestly.

[epigrammatical]

"Two whom I know by name, but little more," Henry says, feeling mildly deflated. He'd been hoping for some interesting news, but one can't have everything, after all.

Up ahead, there's the sound of the heralds announcing some recent transgressions and the ensuing penalties. Henry frowns a little. He's learned about the sorts of punishments meted out for thieves in this city, and it strikes him as the sort of unpleasantness that went out of fashion in England in his grandfather's day.

"They are rather strict here, are they not?" he murmurs.

[aloadeddie]

"Yeah," Arthur says with a slight grimace. "Not much chance of smuggling anything worthwhile here. Did you see the town that just had a fire? It's even worse there. They seem to think it might've been an outsider that did it, though it obviously happened before we showed up."

[epigrammatical]

"I passed through there briefly," Henry says. He hadn't wanted to linger. "A place of uneasy tempers and restless minds, I gather—as if something malign had passed over all who lived there." A thoughtful pause. "I am put in mind of the worst of the days of scarcity in Keeliai."

[aloadeddie]

"Same here," Arthur says with a shake of his head. "Honestly I get the feeling they've been dealing with the same... whatever the hell it is that we're not supposed to name..."

[epigrammatical]

"Its reach extends far, in that case," Henry muses. "Do you know, my dear fellow—if I may confide for a moment—I truly wonder what it is one such as I am supposed to do in the face of a thing like that."

[aloadeddie]

"Hell if I know," Arthur says with a shrug. "I'm not exactly a save-the-world kind of guy, myself. If I was, I would've stayed in the army."

[epigrammatical]

"I wonder..." A pause. "Perhaps some of us have been brought here less on account of our own virtues, or lack thereof—but rather due to our position in relation to others who are also present."

He's thinking of Dorian—could it be that he has been brought here to fulfill some purpose with regard to Dorian Gray, at this point in his life? The prospect is, in fact, a little horrifying.

[aloadeddie]

"Might explain some of the people who are here," Arthur says after a moment's thought. "Assuming anyone bothered to put that much thought into it - whoever brings us here, I mean. But it doesn't explain those of us who are the only ones from our respective worlds."

[epigrammatical]

"Each possible solution to the mystery elicits a dozen other questions," Henry muses, his tone light. "Perhaps I shall put my questions to the Emperor one of these days."

[aloadeddie]

"Good luck with that," Arthur says with a snort. "She seems kind of bitchy and disinclined to answer really important questions."

Not that he has much direct interaction with the woman.

[epigrammatical]

"You think so?" A raised eyebrow. "I found her quite easy to talk to. But then perhaps I am all too accustomed to the formalities that smooth the way with difficult personalities."

[aloadeddie]

"I'm usually pretty good with people, but I'm also not inclined to talk to anyone styling themselves royalty. Er, no offense." Arthur shrugs.

[epigrammatical]

"None taken. And in any event, my brother wears the coronet, not I." Henry smiles. "I can thus afford to take matters as lightly as I please."

[aloadeddie]

"I've worked with a lot of people, but I haven't done royalty," Arthur points out thoughtfully. "Of course, I don't do personal stuff, so that might be why."

He's not about to chase down errant lovers or investigate someone's illegitimate child.

[epigrammatical]

"Oh, you are the better for it, I am sure."

Henry pauses and puts a hand on Arthur's upper arm—a casual gesture, only the barest friendly incursion into Arthur's personal space. "Incidentally, my dear fellow—when we are back in Keeliai, would you be free to dine some evening? Were it London, I would suggest an evening at the opera followed by a late dinner at the Savoy, but as we are not, we must forego the theatre and make the best of the dining."