[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

OTA YO

[bigdamnhiro]

Hiro's somehow acquired himself a contingent of cooing little girls and he doesn't know what he did to deserve this.

There's four or five of them, all Kedan, all even smaller and probably younger than him, tailing him while he strolls up and down the lanes peeking into the stalls to see what's going on. It'd been mostly innocuous at first. A couple of them challenged him to a shapeshifting game and then realized he couldn't shapeshift. And then they'd gathered, and multiplied, like giggling little amoebas, bringing gifts; little candied fruits, a carved wooden figurine, an entire garland of flowers, oh god what's happening, plopped without warning on the top of his head (he wants to get rid of it. has to get rid of it at the first opportunity. he's gonna hang it on the dumb tree and run like hell). They're all wearing flower garlands and now, for whatever reason, he's wearing one too. Hiro excuses himself. For some reason, they follow him.

He ignores them at first, but they're really starting to give him the creeps, hanging back at a distance and giggling at him. He's not really strolling, anymore. More like stalking irritably, looking for an opening where he can duck out through a gap between one of the stands and disappear.

[unetrustworthy]

In Midii's defense, she tried not to laugh. For the most part, she almost even succeeded. There was a noticeable upward turn at the corners of her lips, and she did have to muffle a sharp sound into her palm. A momentary urge that passed as soon as it came. And, really, after the emotional roller coaster of the previous month, it felt good to not laugh.

"I think they like you." The fourteen-year-old hung back, her voice soft enough that it wouldn't have been a surprise if he didn't hear her right away. Then, as if in apology for her previous behavior: "If it bothers you that much, tell them about the boy who's passing out snow cones over by the playground."

(There was no boy passing out snow cones.)

[bigdamnhiro]

Hiro almost doesn't notice her, only there's laughter and it's not coming from behind him, but from somewhere off to the side. Which is just a little terrifying, because at first he's afraid he's being surrounded. This one's his age and species, though, if the lack of weird facial features is any indication, so she's probably not with the group tailing him.

He flushes red anyway and huffs quietly. And then, because he's desperate, latches onto her suggestion and turns to face the gaggle hanging back behind him.

"Hey! Go bother my twin brother. He's - over that way - giving away snowcones. Gourmet. Great stuff. Shoo." He gestures and they all tumble off in the general direction he points. Hiro takes advantage of the distraction to duck out of sight behind a nearby stall, the garland of flowers slipping into a lopsided position on his head. Reluctantly, he mutters, "Thanks." And then a pause. "I don't know what I did. Or said. I think I joined a gang? I'm not sure."

[unetrustworthy]

Her eyes drifted upward to the garland, taking note of the lopsidedness. Not that she would do anything about it. Just...observing.

"There are worse gangs to join."

Whether or not she was making a joke or serious was difficult to tell. There were no immediate changes in her expression, nor emphasis in tone, to imply one or the other.

A moment of silence followed, in which she returned her gaze to his face. Without the crowd, it was easier to discern certain details. His hair and clothes. Speech meant very little, considering everything verbal was automatically translated, but a close observation of his lips at least told her that he definitely wasn't speaking French. Not that he knew of, at least.

"It might not have been anything specific. Some of the younger kids still like us; they think we're fun or they like the way we look, or maybe they remember back when some of the Foreigners used to play with them in the park all the time."

[bigdamnhiro]

Hiro would almost take it seriously; he's met members of some of those worse gangs, back home, and he knows they have similar in Keeliai. A bunch of little girls isn't so bad, comparatively...but still. The garland is embarrassing.

It's...kind of awkward, for a second, the way she doesn't say anything and just looks at him like she's sizing him up, and he slips the garland from his head to fidget with it in his hands.

"I'm guessing that doesn't happen as much, anymore. Guessing some of their parents probably wouldn't like them playing around with us now, after all the - stuff."

And it's not like Hiro's not used to stuff like that, feeling like an outsider, because jumping four years ahead in school means inevitably you're the odd duck out, but still. This is way far from home, and it's different. He's glad he has his brother with him, at least.

[unetrustworthy]

"For a while, they didn't. You're right."

Before. But she didn't know how much he knew about Malicant and that whole business.

"Things have been getting better. Ever since we all came back. Some of the adults still look at us funny, but you're not going to get in trouble just for talking to them."

[bigdamnhiro]

"Nah, they're just gonna follow me around and be weird about it. And do stuff like this," he says, rolling his eyes and gesturing to the flower crown on his head. "Not that I don't appreciate the gesture. How nice, they don't hate us completely anymore. But....eeeh..." he trails off with a grimace.

"I've heard stuff about what happened. Malicant, dream stuff, the turtle being kinda-maybe-dead. You...were here for that?"

[unetrustworthy]

Well...he wasn't wrong.

"For that, and more." She nodded. "I've been here since I was eleven. I just turned fourteen the end of last year."

[bigdamnhiro]

Hiro takes a moment to do the math in his head.

"Three years...that's like, forever." He could turn seventeen in that time. He could be legal to buy m-rated games and r-rated movie tickets and still be here.

Not that it'd be so bad. Tadashi's alive here, at least.

"What was it like before?"

[buffing]

Kevin sees the short kid with the parade of small children behind him, and he can't help but smirk. He leans against the side of a stall as Hiro passes, arms crossed, amusement clear in his voice when he speaks.

"Forget to turn off your swag, little man?"

[bigdamnhiro]

Oh good, a comedian, and of the burly jock variety that used to shove him upside down into lockers when he was in high school. Hiro stops, balling his fists, and shoots him a look - only to force himself to relax a second later, shrugging casually. Maybe too casually.

"Yup." And he ducks behind Kevin, out of sight. "Now stay right there. I needed something like a brick wall to hide behind, but you'll do."

[buffing]

Kevin wasn't exactly in the best of moods when he got here, and getting that look from some scrawny kid wasn't going to improve it. He responded with a brief look of his own, a condescending rise of an eyebrow with a small frown because really, kid? You can't take a joke?

When the kid tries to hide behind him, Kevin's half-tempted to step aside just to be contrary, but he just shrugs. He's not in the mood to make any enemies today, particularly not some scrawny brat.

"Sure, whatever. Knock yourself out."

Skinny as the kid was, though, and huge as Kevin was, it was still pretty easy to see him. Soon enough, the kid's fanclub of little girls filed into the alley after him. Kevin crossed his arms, glaring down at them in hopes to scare them off. "What are you guys lookin' at?"

[bigdamnhiro]

Yup, hit the nail on the head. He is both a) scrawny, b) a brat, and additionally, c) lacking in certain social skills.

Regardless, Kevin somehow manages to send the whole group of little girls running screaming (some of them laughing; Hiro thinks this must be part of a game, or something) before he can panic and bolt, which leaves Hiro in the awkward position of being just a little indebted to somebody he didn't make nice with a second ago.

Great.

"...Thanks," mumbled, a little reluctantly, and then. "Well. Sorry for comparing you to a bunch of bricks, I guess."

[buffing]

Kevin looks down at him with a smile that might be just a little condescending. "Aw, don't feel too bad, kid. I'm sure you just learned a valuable lesson about sassin' the big kids."

He leans over, resting his palm against some sort of stone detailed object one of the stalls had on display back here. Normally, Kevin didn't like showing off his powers to strangers, but there's a punchline to be made here -- and besides, who would believe this kid?

"And anyway..." he starts, digging his fingers into the stone as he begins to absorb it. It isn't brick, but something paler, but the point could still be made. The color and texture of the rock sweeps up his arm and across his body until it coves his whole form, all in a matter of seconds.

"You wouldn't exactly be wrong."

Kevin's sure the kid is either gonna run screaming or say it was cool, and he'd be fine with either one.

[bigdamnhiro]

A valuable lesson about sassin' the big kids. Hoo, boy. Bad choice of words; like he hasn't heard that one a few times before. He balls his fists, feeling the metaphorical hackles going up, and only by taking a second to count to five really quickly does he manage to keep his cool.

Mostly.

"Nice trick," he mutters between clenched teeth, jaw tightening. Yeah, okay, pretty cool, but he's seen a lot of weird stuff around. And then he does the stupid thing. "Your mom a chameleon or something?"

[buffing]

Aw, man, no reaction at all? Weak.

Kevin's eyes narrow at the phrase your mom and he clenches a fist, accompanied by the sound of grinding rock. "One more word about my mom and you're gettin' a first-hand demonstration on the effect of stone fists on your face, understand?"

[bigdamnhiro]

Oh, struck a sore spot, did he? There seems to be a lot of that happening on both ends. No, he does not want to get punched, and he tenses ever-so-subtly as the fight response makes a move toward flight, but he plays it of with a shrug, rocking back on the balls of his feet - to look casual, and also because it provides him with an easy out if he needs to duck and run.

"Yeah, okay, whatever. That how you solve all your problems? With your fists?"

here is the source of the running snowcones joke

[wintershepherd]

Thankfully, Jack is pretty good at figuring out what the kedan kids want and it only takes a call for them to recognize the winter spirit, and knowing they can get sweets from him, redirect their attention away from Hiro. It's a few minutes before they're all supplied with frozen treats (the snow he makes, the syrup, he's learned to keep on hand) and then once they're occupied, Jack ambles toward Hiro.

"Nice garland," he says with a surprisingly straight face.

OH MY GOD

[bigdamnhiro]

Hiro just stares, open-mouthed. And stares. If it weren't for the snowcones he would've taken the opportunity to run, but this guy's making snowcones out of nothing, so he sort of...forgets to leave. It's lucky the kids run off anyway afterward.

"...I thought the snowcone guy was just a white lie," he mumbles, as if snapping out of a trance when Jack approaches. And then flushes a little because the garland's still super embarrassing. He slips it off his head and attempts to hand it off. "If you like it that much, you can totally have it. I did not ask for this."

SURPRISE?

[wintershepherd]

Jack is... totally not fooled by the play it cool act. Which is why Hiro gets offered the last snowcone of the bunch, because who doesn't actually like snowcones?

"Don't worry, I get that a lot. Less now, than I used to."

He holds up his hands, refusing the garland with a laugh. "Oh no, that one's yours. I've got a whole closet of them at home."

[bigdamnhiro]

Oh no, his weakness. Fruity sweets. Hiro regards the offered snowcone skeptically for a couple of seconds, until he remembers how much he misses red lollipops and easy-access gummi bears out of the vending machine across the street from home, at which point he takes it gingerly in both hands. An experimental tongue poke tells him this is a pretty normal snowcone.

"They do this a lot? To other people besides me?" Hiro asks, turning a look of faint horror on Jack. Even more horror as he follows that line of thought - "And why do you keep a closet full of dead flowers?"

[wintershepherd]

Jack grins, because of course his snow cones are good. What kind of Winter spirit would he be if he hadn't perfected those?

"The kids around here are pretty great," Jack answers, and there's a fondness there that says he's not just making a blanket statement. "And they're not dead, I got Zatanna to put a preservation spell on them."

[bigdamnhiro]

"So you have a closet full of live flowers and you carry a snowcone kit around in your pockets," Hiro concludes from that information. "Dude, that's weird."

He says this, but he totally just took a chunk out of the weird snowcone in question anyway - and then winces because, whoops, brain freeze. "Zatanna...is she the one who didn't know what San Fransokyo was? I met her. She's magic? Huh. Weird."

Magic is weird and he's not gonna get used to it, okay.

[wintershepherd]

"You know, that's probably the least weird thing about me," Jack chuckles. "And yeah, that's Zatanna. She's my girlfriend. I'm gonna side with her though, I haven't heard of San Fransokyo. It sounds like San Francisco and Tokyo got shoved in a blender, though."

The white haired spirit just grinned a little when Hiro said magic was weird. "Well, you have to believe in it at least a little bit, or you and I would be having a much stranger conversation-- mostly where you wouldn't be able to see or hear me."

[bigdamnhiro]

San Francisco and Tokyo shoved in a blender would be exactly what it is, but forget that, Hiro has more important questions.

"Wait, what?" He blinks a couple of times and then levels a confused look at Jack, who's definitely real and solid and standing right next to him, not even a little see-through. Snowcone powers and old man hair aside, he looks...pretty normal. Hiro frowns. "I believe in what I see, and I've seen a bunch of weird stuff going on since I got here. Giant turtles, telepathic hounds, people coming back from th-"

He trips over that last bit, but smooths past it just as quickly. "-the dead. Call it magic or call it whatever you want. I'm not gonna stick my fingers in my ears and pretend it's not happening, but that doesn't make it any less weird to me. That kinda stuff doesn't happen at home."