[EVENT|4TH WALL] THE NEWCOMERS’ ARRIVAL | APRIL 15-22

[ironwood]

Characters: ALL and plus ones.
Date: April 15-22 2015 (2016 in-game)
Location: Farmlands outside the city walls, but this log can also be used for locations within the city.
Situation: Spring planting - fourth wall event, week one!
Warnings/Rating: Add warnings as needed.

The days for the festival dawn sunny if a bit chilly, but the air is clear and the soggy ground has dried enough that there isn’t too much mud in the lanes between fields and homesteads. The broad dirt path to the Woodsmen’s land leads past the tram-line construction, lined with waving ribbons on sticks along the sides. The Woodsmen’s territory circles the city, separated from the city’s walls by five hundred yards of neutral land.

The festival’s central area is Liangken’s Clearing, and this is where the festival will begin and end each day. Liangken is an ancient tree, among the oldest on the turtle’s back. Though it doesn’t flower or bear much in the way of leaves anymore, the kedan have cultivated it carefully and now it’s an excellent representation for the revitalisation of old wisdom.



The lanes between the fields and homesteads will house the stalls, contests and walking areas. The Woodsmen will be keeping an eye on these to prevent anyone from walking off the marked paths. The homesteads provide ‘hotspots’ in among the lanes and fields, with Woodsmen families lending their yards to the comfort and entertainment of their guests.

In general, the Woodsmen are a taciturn, soft-spoken lot who nevertheless take great pride in their work. Their lands are all but sacred -- they accept no attitude, no trespassing, no attempts to thwart their authority. This causes some noticeable tension with the Snakes, who are accustomed to being the sole enforcers within the city; but though there may be some ill tempers and raised voices, at no point will anyone come to blows. It’s hard to argue with someone built like a brick wall and carrying sharp farm implements.

The Woodsmen are a touch anxious about having strangers on their land and this shows in them being overly officious or bossy, but at the same time their pride shows clearly and they are eager to show off the state of their lands, their greenhouses, and their farming processes -- practically without being asked. The residents of Keeliai tend to think of the Woodsmen as ‘cowards’, and the Woodsmen are taking this opportunity to prove themselves otherwise with feats of strength and tall tales.

Due to the farmers’ hours of “early to bed and early to rise”, the festival ends in the early evening at sundown, but begins again before dawn -- usually by greeting the sun with a song.

---

LINKS
Heojin, Ran and Lin | Liangken’s Clearing | Stalls and Lanes | OOC Information post | 4th Wall Character Check In

OOC
While Heojin and his bodyguards are open to everyone (including fourth-wall characters!), they are not available for small talk and general directionless CR. For the integrity of the mod’s inbox, please only request a thread with him if you already have an idea of what you’d like your character to ask/do. Other NPCs can be requested by sending a PM to the appropriate journals directly, with the same guidelines.

The top-level comments are for the festival, but fourth-wall characters should feel free to use the rest of the post for anything within the city of Keeliai itself! Just remember to label the top-level comment for location and date.

Comments

[donotforgetmyname]

"Petulant child," Javert cursed. His patience was thinning. "You!" he pointed at the merchant who's stall Tina had been 'frequenting.' "Come from the side!"

The Kedan put his hands up and shook his head, trying to indicate that he had no interest in getting involved. Javert turned back to the man, fixing a laserbeam stare on him. "Come. From. The. Side."

The Kedan sighed and reluctantly left the stall to try to flank Tina. Again, Javert tried to close the distance between him and Tina and tried to grab her arm.

[tntina]

Tina bolted straight for the stall the moment the merchant left, very narrowly slipping out of Javert's grip. She scrambled up and over the counter, landing on the other side to the surprised protests of the poor stall keeper. A bit bruised, but nothing she hadn't been gotten before, the tiny terror popped back up...

To find herself level with a rather delectable looking bowl of candies. In a second she'd seized a handful, turning to wave at the put-upon kedan. "Thanks!" And she was out the back of the stall, shoving her loot in her front fanny pack.

[donotforgetmyname]

"Come back here you thief!" He just about snarled that last word.

"Follow her!" he yelled at the shop keeper. But the Kedan was drawing the line at abandoning his stall to chase children carrying explosives. Javert snorted at the man and drew his sword, taking chase after Tina. A child thief would become an adult thief, and if she insisted on resisting arrest, he'd just have to take her to the hospital before he locked her in irons.

He hopped over a line of shrubs, chasing Tina into an open clearing. He wasn't particularly happy with this turn of events - it gave her too many avenues of escape. He scanned the environment, looking for other potential individuals he could try to deputize.

[tntina]

A glance back alerted her to the man chasing her, sword drawn and furious. No good; she was not going to get shanked by some puffy stick-up-the-ass. As she ran, Tina reached into her bag, fumbling between the round candies until her fingers closed on a different ball.

Life on Pandora was hard, and if someone charged you swinging a weapon, they weren't going to let you live. So she wouldn't be letting him live to finish her off. A few seconds more, and Tina spun on her heel; just in time, too. Javert's longer stride was closing the distance quickly.

She grinned wildly and armed the grenade, throwing it at the man with a delighted yell. "Suck on this, Java Cup!"

[donotforgetmyname]

Throwing rocks, really? Javert ducked under the rock and continued charging Tina. Unbeknownst to him, once past, it hit the ground, bounced up and hit an overhead bird, immediately exploding in a cacophony of fragmentation, energy and sound. Javert was thrown off his feet by the force and surprise.

"What in god's name?" he muttered as he looked behind him. At first he didn't even make the connection between the explosion and the ball that Tina had lobbed, but then he recalled narrative on military weapons he had once read (painfully, as reading was very distasteful), but those were largely ineffective and far more bulkier than whatever the child had just lobbed his way.

[tntina]

"Uh, whoops." Admittedly hitting a bird with a rubberized was pretty cool, but it hadn't been the plan. "Bye bye birdy."

What was funny was how Javert was taken utterly off-guard by the explosion, and Tina jumped on it. "That's right, sucka! There's more where that came from! No one tries to cut Tiny Tina and lives! No one!"

Well, normally that was the case, since usually those trying to cut her were bandits and she was holed up in her lair, surrounded by proximity mines and all sorts of wonderful things that go boom. Here, she was decidedly less armed. Wherever here was. She still hadn't figured that out. The point was, Tina was not backed by nearly as many armaments as she was accustomed to.

It didn't stop her from pulling out a second grenade, holding it above her head and easily visible. "So you gonna surrender now, or are we gonna have more BOOM today?"

[donotforgetmyname]

Not only was this child a thief but she was also dangerous. In a fluid motion, he rose up again and drew his pistol, aiming it center body at the girl.

"Cease your witchcraft and come quietly, or I will put you down like the fiendish scum you are."

[rawiron]

Before they had even left the stall, someone had alerted one of Ran's subordinates about the disruption to the event. They, in turn, had arrived in time to see the direction in which the pair went haring off, and by the time the bird blew up there were half a dozen Woodsmen cordoning off the field to make sure no staring passersby happened to stumble down there.

In spite of the situation, some of them were wearing expressions of relief, as if they'd been expecting something else and the fact that it was just an old man and a child was better than the alternative.

"Hold!"

The order came barked from the edge of the field, but carried over it quite easily, and was directed at the both of them. Ran, dark hair braided with olive-leaves, strode out toward them, looking faintly irritated, like someone whose lunch-break has been interrupted by pressing matters that wouldn't have happened if only someone had stopped to think. Six members of his honour guard flanked him.

He stopped near enough to have a conversation but far enough to easily dodge any bombs, and put his hands on his hips if only to keep the sickle on his belt in reach.

"You're both bloody idiots," he growled. "Do you know how close you just came to cancelling the whole festival? You!" He pointed at Javert. "Lower your weapons. You're not a member of my team. And you." He frowned at the child. "Where are your parents and who gave you a bomb?"

Seriously. Who gave a child a bomb? Whoever they were, Ran was going to string them up by their ears.

[tntina]

The gun Javert whipped out and aimed at her looked like something from the Jakobs corporation's line, but to her that only meant she'd have to be faster. Tina just about set off the trigger on the second of her four grenades when a voice rang out across the field. A group of unhappy kedan was approaching, led by one who was trying to turn his hair into a bush.

She didn't lower her arm, not while the gun was still pointed at her dead center. But her thumb did relax a bit, less poised to hit the trigger and make the grenade live. Tina stuck her tongue out at Javert when he was ordered to stand down, but once the newcomer turned on her she withdrew it.

"It's a grenade, not a bomb. Bombs're bigger and you can't make 'em bounce so well." It sounded like Tina couldn't believe this man didn't know the difference. "I'm not tryin' to blow myself up, just him. He was gonna slice me up!"

[donotforgetmyname]

The man was foreign, but he spoke with authority, and it was more than enough to cow Javert. He sheathed his weapons and bowed his head in deference.

He felt no compunction to defend his actions against the word of a child and waited to be spoken to.

[rawiron]

Well, at least the old man was willing to drop everything ... almost literally. It was almost unnerving--Ran had assumed the man was a Foreigner, but Foreigners never had that level of obedience. Maybe he just hadn't realised any of Ran's people had been nearby.

Besides, the child was more worrying. Ran wasn't good with children. He wasn't bad with children, but he wasn't good with children.

"Right," he said briskly, and pointed at Javert again. "You can go. Next time we'll take away your weapons, so instead report a crime to someone wearing the olive-badge and don't go around drawing on children. What in the dark is with that. As for you ..." Ran scowled at Tina. "I don't suppose you'd give us your grenades if I asked for them, would you?"

Children never gave up the 'toys' that were the worst for them. He had nephews and nieces. He'd seen things. He knew kids were secretly demons.

[tntina]

"Pfft, no, you'd blow yourself up and that'd be wasting my stuff. Go get your own."

Still, since Javert seemed more than willing to obey the newcomers, she probably didn't need to keep out the grenade in her hand anymore. Pointedly she returned it to her pack, making it very clear to everyone that she would not be handing over anything so lightly.

And with that, she was done here. With Javert's dismissal, there wasn't any reason for her to stick around, either. "Okay, so I'm gonna go now. I wanna see the little glowy trees again."

[donotforgetmyname]

Javert made to object, but he stopped himself. He placed his hands behind his back and bowed, then made to leave the field. He would watch from afar and approach this man again when the situation was in hand.

[rawiron]

Bloody--kids. They were like miniature nightmares all on their own. And this one had explosives; what were the chances she'd let him take them away without using another?

Not good. The Woodsmen weren't kitted out for this sort of thing--not like the Snakes.

"No, you're not," Ran snapped. "You threatened the lives of everyone around you. I'm not going to fight you for your grenades if you won't turn them over, but we will stop you from returning to the festival. The people there have a right to be safe."

The Woodsmen were willing to risk harm and death for that, but Ran would like to avoid that if he could. How to get a child to go away? Didn't she steal some candy? Didn't children like candy? It was an option, if she refused to leave.

[tntina]

"Whaaaaaaaat?" Tina looked quite offended. "I did not! I only tried to blow him up cause he was gonna shank me. Also the bird, but that was an accident." She did not threaten anyone else, thank you very much. "I even gave him a chance to surrender!"

After trying to blow him up, but that was a minor detail. As far as Tina was concerned, Javert had been harassing her.

"I am perfectly safe." Okay, no, she really wasn't, but she'd never set off anything in Sanctuary before, and that counted for something. Completely safe around people who aren't messing with her. Mostly.

[rawiron]

"You were harassing a stall-owner," Ran growled. "And then you stole some candy. That guy--" He pointed. "--didn't even pull out his gun until after you threatened him with a grenade. You're the one with the things that blow up. You're the one who's not safe."

What was this child's thought process? If he tried to figure it out, was there time for that?

No. No, there wasn't.

"If you go into the city and don't come back I won't make you pay for the candy you stole," he bargained. "And I'll even give you a bit more. But if you do come back, we'll fight you to get you away from everyone else, and people will probably get hurt, and that'll be your choice. If you can't respect our rules, you're not welcome here."

[tntina]

She opened her mouth to talk back again, hands on her hips, the very image of innocent-but-pouty childhood and not at all a hellion who would explode you without a second thought.

Until Ran laid out his bargaining chip. "Iiii... you know what, girl? You got yourself a deal." And just like that, Tina was compliant. She still didn't have half a clue about what was going on here, exactly, or where she was, but it wasn't Pandora, that was certain. But hey, she was promised additional sweets, something not easily come by on Pandora.

She darted to Ran's side, looking up at him with wide, eager eyes. "Okay, Mr. Leafhead, le's go get my candy and then you can show me the city!"

[rawiron]

Did Ran really want her touching him? Did he really want her walking somewhere he couldn't easily control her? No and no. With a sigh Ran turned to lead her toward Keeliai. "I'll show you to the city," he corrected. "Anything you do in there is on your head."

As long as he got this mad-girl out of the fields as soon as possible, it would be worth the expense of a bag of boiled sweets.