[EVENT] THE SHANGPAR RACE

[ironwood]

Characters: ALL!
Date: January 20th to January 24th
Location: Various.
Situation: It’s time for the Shangpar Race!
Warnings/Rating: Add warnings as needed.

The day is here, the day is here, the day is here! Though not every shop is closed and not every kedan is on the streets, it’s a near thing. The race is slated to begin early in the morning, and the city rises for the occasion. Shops open late and workplaces allow for a late start to the day to give everyone an opportunity to watch the starting festivities.

It begins with something almost like a parade. The riders -- there are fifty-five of them, thanks to negotiations during the forum -- are escorted from the shangpari holding pens to the starting line just outside the city, using the most circuitous route available in order to take the riders through every sector.

The starting-line is located just outside a set of the city’s gates, while the finishing-line is at the set on the opposite end. It leads off away from the city, traversing through several of the shell’s terrains, from burgeoning woodland, across a ‘river’, to an area of wasteland leading into mountains, and then down to the shores of the shell’s edge.

While the usual daily processes continue during the race, there are runners at supply checkpoints who, thanks to the efforts of Stark Industries and a handful of Foreigners, are able to report the race statistics via audio directly to the consoles. Groups of children hired as criers run from place to place without access to consoles to carry those reports to the rest of the city. In this time the kedan already begin preparations for the feast which follows it, regardless of who the actual winner might be.

The winners begin trickling in on day four to a crowd already prepared. Thanks to the runners, the residents of Keeliai already know who’s in the lead and when, roughly, they will arrive.

---

LINKS
Parade | Betting booths | Starting line | Finish line | Feast

OOC
In the related forum thread the family leaders were open to the idea of Foreigners participating in the race as long as they possessed no abilities that would provide an unfair advantage and were able to front the cost of 500 juulan. If your character has no such abilities and would have wanted to participate, and you feel you have reasoning for their being able to finance their entry, please PM the mod journal so we can work out the details.

No Foreigner who enters will be able to OOCly apply to win the race -- this event is about the cultural experience, not the winning or losing! More details regarding the race are available on the itinerary here.

Please also do remember that IC actions will have IC consequences. This is a huge, huge cultural event for the kedan; disrupting it in any way will cause a negative reaction. That's not to say don't do it -- but do be prepared for the consequences.

Comments

[raavashing]

Iroh might have been pointing to Zuko and saying 'that's my nephew!', but Wan was waving his own yin-yang shaped flag (in the red and gold colors of the fire nation) and pointing to Zuko and telling the people around him 'that's my boyfriend!'. He didn't have many excuses to make a big deal out of his and Zuko's relationship, but the kedan seemed just as excited for him as he was for Zuko himself. Some of the people Wan had done odd jobs for to earn the entrance fee were nearby and cheered for Zuko alongside Wan. They knew now what their grudgingly given money had been put toward and for them, it was seen as a worthy cause. Wan and Zuko were clearly honoring their traditions. That didn't prevent some suspicion from lingering, but it went a long way towards lessening it.

[whitelotustile]

Iroh nudged his way over to Wan. "I'm really happy he's doing this. It was a wonderful idea."

[raavashing]

Wan's face lit up as Iroh got within earshot, "I am, too. He was so excited when he heard about the races. And he's worked himself to near exhaustion the last couple weeks to get the money together."

He shook his head, but laughed, "At least he had the sense to rest the last two days so he was in shape to actually race."

[whitelotustile]

"Ah, good. And he can rest once he's finished, as it will be a long four days," Iroh noted. "I hope the kedan will see that we just want to be part of the community." Iroh knew that the gesture could be seen as trying to take the glory, but if the foreigners weren't trying to win as much as show they were a part of city life...

[raavashing]

"He asked me what I thought about it, and I told him I think that no foreigner should come in first," Wan replied honestly. "We need to show the kedan we appreciate their culture and want to learn about it and be a part of the community. That we want to make Keeliai our home while we're here. Coming inf first could be seen as us trying to take over their traditions, not honor them. Not that I'll be upset if he comes in first, just that he should be ready to act humbly if there's a bad reaction. I think it would be great if Zuko came in second, though. And I hope he places high in the ranking."

He leaned in to keep his voice down, "Do you think it would be rude to greet him with a kiss after he crosses the finish line? Would it be too public? Would just a hug be better?"

[whitelotustile]

"I agree about the matter of coming first, though he should still race his best." Because Iroh was pretty sure that throwing the race would be disrespectful to the level of skill and preparation required.

Iroh considered this. "Well, you could always hug him and see how he takes it," he said. Back home, he would know the answer. For that matter, back home, the answer would be different between Zuko, the nephew of the tea merchant and Firelord Zuko, though an Avatar could probably get away with hugging whoever he wanted.

It was harder to pin down with the kedan, though.

[raavashing]

Wan agreed to the first part with a nod, "Yeah, I told him not to worry about where he placed. If he wins, then he wins and we'll deal with it as best we can. I don't want him doing less than his best, either."

At the advice, Wan actually frowned, "I don't want to embarrass him. I know he'll let me kiss him, we've kissed while out shopping before, but that wasn't the same. With so many people around and actively watching. I... I'm just not sure what's appropriate. He's my first anything close to a boyfriend."

[lordhotman]

After waving to Iroh, Zuko caught sight of the object of his affection. His smile brightening even more as he now waved at Wan as well. He could only wonder what he and his Uncle were talking about. But for now, he let his eyes remain on his boyfriend until he couldn't any longer. It would be a few days before he'd see him again, after all.

[raavashing]

Wan eagerly waved back until Zuko was past him. Even if he was taking to Iroh, his eyes were on Zuko for as long as possible.

Let me know if this isn't okay.

[royalguard_style]

Dante was trying not to let his romantic troubles get in the way of his friendship with Wan. If he and Valdis were seeing each-other, so be it. But then Wan came out cheering for his 'boyfriend', Zuko.

Any reasonable person with good people skills could figure out that they were free to persue the object of affection, but not Dante. Dante is furious, because how dare Wan cheat on Valdis so openly. So now he's staring at Wan from the stands. Not glaring, because he's still a very relaxed person, but it was most definitely an "I'm not happy with you" stare.

(same :P)

[sonjaofyellowcomet]

"Oh, you're that -" strange, armed, flamboyant hobo "...man that greeted me my first day here," Sonja said. She had happened to come up next him (perhaps not totally inadvertently - perhaps the bright redness of Dante's coat had been an unconscious beacon) and didn't recognize him till she was nearly next to him.

She noticed that he had his eyes looking at the direction of Dante's stare (she didn't quite catch Wan, but she did see Zuko). "Oh, there are some foreigners participating in the race?"

She hadn't really been paying much attention to the listings for the race up to this point, and had only come at all because she was getting stir crazy in the hotel. Her patience for such a loud crowded event likely wouldn't hold long, but she'd try to enjoy it while her tolerance held out.

[royalguard_style]

He doesn't seem armed this time, but that's because the leader of the snakes told him to behave himself- that guitar case is awfully thick for any kind of guitar, and it'd be really easy to hide at least two pistols in that coat of his. He did finally shave that god-awful beard, though.

"I counted about two, yeah." Dante wasn't caught unaware, despite his staring. His peripheral vision was quite good when he was glaring. It had to be, given his line of work. He pointed to Akito, though it was hard to tell given his size and the distance, and then strangely sympathetically to Zuko. Poor guy was getting cheated on too.

[sonjaofyellowcomet]

Sonja didn't know Dante well enough to judge his emotional state through the heavy musk of stoic. She was actually coming to like this enigmatic weirdo. There was some comfort in his seeming disregard for her. It let her orbit him like a satellite, observing without worrying about being judged or repulsed.

She pulled out her phone and opened the camera app, using the optical zoom to get a better sight on Zuko. "Yeesh, nasty scar he's got. Oh! I think I've heard about him. Zuko, I think."

[royalguard_style]

'Stoicism' wasn't the right word. 'flippancy' was a much better way to hide his emotions.

Dante nodded. "Scarred face, black hair, and socially awkward? It must be Zuko." He didn't have any kind of device to help him see, but it was easy enough to tell.

[sonjaofyellowcomet]

"Socially awkward, huh? Maybe we'd get along," she said, adding a nervous smile. Dante didn't seem to notice or care though, so she dropped it.

"Actually I don't think I ever caught your name, if you don't mind giving it. I'm Sonja."

We were hoping for him to catch Wan and Zuko kissing at the finish line, but this works, too ;)

[raavashing]

Wan noticed Dante staring at him while he was walking with Iroh, but didn't break away from that conversation until Zuko was completely out of sight. He wanted to move to the starting line so when the race began he could he there to cheer Zuko onto the course, but that was still a little ways off time-wise and Dante looked like he had something he really needed to talk about. So once he was done getting some much needed encouragement from Iroh, Wan ambled his way back to the man in red with more than a little concern. Dante didn't seem like the type to try and get his attention like that unless it was important.

"Something up I should know about?" he asked as he got close enough to talk normally.

Damn my lack of patience.

[royalguard_style]

Dante wasn't trying to get Wan's attention, just stewing quietly in his seat. He loves attention, but if he was trying, the entire audience would be looking at the two of them.

"Depends, is there something your boyfriend should know?" He sounded perfectly level as he spoke right up. "Or your girlfriend?"

[raavashing]

Wan raised an eyebrow and replied flatly, "I don't have a girlfriend. What does Zuko need to know?"

[royalguard_style]

"You know damn well that-" That didn't look like denial. That looked like honest confusion. Either Dante's an idiot or Wan is that good at lying."Do you mean to tell me that that whole mess with that teapot didn't mean anything?"

[raavashing]

It took Wan a moment to make it through the mental gymnastics of that question before he frowned and gave Dante a glare, "Of course it meant something. Valdis is one of my closest friends and I would do anything for her. My love for her doesn't have to be the same as how I love Zuko for it to 'mean something'. You didn't even ask her if she was my girlfriend, did you? You don't have to answer that, I know you didn't because she knows about Zuko and I and has known since the both of us returned to the shell."

[theideaguy]

So Sokka came to the races. He had certainly heard about the fact that Akito was in it. His sister practically wouldn't shut up about it really since apparently her and Akito were friends. So he had come primarily for him, not knowing that Zuko was actually in the line-up as well. So when Sokka sees Zuko's chariot actually rolling by at the end, Sokka just looks at Wan with a dumbfounded expression. "Zuko got into the Shagpar Race!? How on earth did he get the money!?"

[raavashing]

Wan grinned at Sokka and patted him on the shoulder, "A lot of odd jobs for most of it and Milyn was willing pay more than most of the pawnbrokers for Zuko's crown as a loan. But mostly it was me and Zuko working ourselves to exhaustion between now and public forum. I did make sure he got proper sleep the last two days, though. He wanted to keep helping, but with the deadline for the fee coming up and the need for him to actually be able to race, I insisted."

[theideaguy]

Sokka just looks at Wan like he's a little crazy. And then he looks to Zuko like he's even crazier. "He did all that just for a race? You guys did that all for a race?" He pauses for a moment, but if Wan is expecting criticism, it's not going to come... or at least not what he expects. "You should've asked for help if that's the case! I would've helped you... while I wasn't working at the Hotel. I mean, that's what Team Avatar is all about!"

[raavashing]

"We didn't think to ask," Wan answered honestly. "Sorry. We just got caught up with it. If Zuko doesn't place well, though, we'll need help paying to get his crown back. I don't want him to lose it. It means so much to him."

[theideaguy]

Sokka ponders a bit about the crown, and he can definitely understand why it means a lot to him. "Well, I mean, sure, I can probably help out with that and all," Sokka says with hesitation. "I'd say it's no big deal because the people here won't really treat him any different just because he's got a crown over his head, but I'd want to get Boomerang back if I pawned him off, too."

But still, there's things Sokka could have told him that would be beneficial. "If only I'd known, I would have helped him prepare for this thing. I mean, does Zuko even know how to survive out there in the cold for however long this takes?!"