epidemiology | OPEN ★ ARRIVAL LOG

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OPEN ★ ARRIVAL LOG

ARRIVALS ( OCT 2 )
The dragons are taken from you, sent off to a safe haven. You're back in Oska for less than a day when you hear the announcement and head to the rendezvous point. You blink, step through the portal, there's a loud crack, and...

You're thrown into darkness. You taste copper and, for a moment, your ears won't stop ringing. All common side-effects of portal travel. The entire crew arrives just beyond the city gates, so you might also be feeling a little bit claustrophobic.

It takes a second for the eyes to adjust, but one can make out buildings and the cobblestone beneath their feet. To the right is the Trade District, where all the vendors are gathered to sell their wares. Up ahead is the City Square, where the rest of the citizens out and about seem to be gathered. To the left of the square is the Commoners' District, and to the right of it is the Nobles' District, the two main residential areas. Further travel west will come to the outskirts, a makeshift residential area, this one densely populated with goblins. Many of the people are holding candles or lanterns. You might want to try getting your hands on one of those.

If you have not already done so, your enchanted jewelry will manifest words in front of your very eyes — or sounds in your ear, if you're illiterate — asking you to identify yourself. A quick look around shows that you seem to be the only one able to see it. All you have to do is think or say how you wish to be identified. After that, you're immediately given a message.

Those who participated in the dragon mission at Anwick will first receive this:

We appreciate your help at Anwick. The wyrmlings will live to grow up and bring about the world's natural end. Thank you.

-- ALASTAIR

Afterwards, the crew will be given an abridged version of this, then told to familiarize themselves with the city and natives, report all information gathered back to ALASTAIR, and wait for further instruction.

At the end of the night, wherever they may be, everyone will receive a letter with the royal seal thanking them for their efforts to end the goblins' defiance and inviting them to the Festival of Illumination on the 4th.

FESTIVAL OF ILLUMINATION ( OCT 4 )
Candles are sitting on windowsills throughout the entire city, but the main event is in the city square. In the fountain float lit lotuses, and people all around are holding lanterns, waiting to light them.

There's a minstrel playing songs, and several of the vendors have pulled their carts up to the square in the hopes of making a sale. Many sweets are for sale, including baked apples, gingerbread, cherry tarts, pudding, and more. There's also some drinks for sale.

Some children are playing games in the corner, and others are dancing to the music or writing wishes on slips of paper to be sent into the sky with their lanterns. Everyone seems merry for once, but you'd better be careful. This is an ideal place for a pickpocket.

About an hour and a half into the festival, the lanterns are sent into the sky. They're sent flying, the sky becoming filled with bright lights, until...

A strong gust of wind sends all the lights out. At least, you think it was a gust of wind. What else could have done that? On closer inspection, however, you'll see that even the candles sitting on windowsills inside have gone out. For a minute or so, there's only darkness and chaos.

Suddenly, the flames begin to burn again, revealing a message in the cobblestone in the center of the square. It almost looks as if it's been burned into the ground: IT IS COMING, followed by a symbol of a creature with a lion's head, goat's body, and serpent's tail.

[MOD NOTE: This is a catch-all log for the first few days. For the sake of organization, all arrival threads should be posted under the subheader ARRIVALS and all festival threads should be posted under FESTIVAL. Threads that don't fall under either of those categories can be top-levels. Also, please remember to add your character's tag to the post! Thank you, and have fun!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ The shoulder he's chosen to comically peer over isn't very happy to be a prop for his antics. While Ahad doesn't move away, he does tense just enough to show his annoyance, then slowly turns his head to stare right at Loki. If looks could maim, this one would cut right to the bone. There's more than one ominous sign here. ]

I always have disliked street theater.

[ Which is exactly what he takes this for, even if the origins are more magical than mundane. Either way, it's an annoyance that will likely grow into a further headache.

Not that the 'street theater' comment couldn't have been aimed at Loki himself. ]

[ it's not as if Loki isn't used to it, he's received that look more times than he can count: from his father, his mothers, his brother, the Avengers, Norman Osborn and his Cabal, Doctor Doom from beneath the veil of bolts, and from the Asgardians themselves. from some, he still felt as if he was deserving of it, from others, it still cuts.

if he's jarred, it doesn't show. Ahad looks grumpy, but it wasn't as if he didn't look grumpy last time they met. he's beginning to wonder if grump is his general state of being. ]

Is there something you do like?

[ his voice is light, more curious than meant as a barb. ]

[ He almost takes the question as a barb anyway, but there's no malice in Loki's tone. When one's trained reaction is to assume everything could possibly be an attack, it's difficult to step out of that way of thinking. But the Arameri have no hold over him now, and Ahad has enough room to pause and take things as they come.

Not that he doesn't have an intense side-eye happening at the gall Loki has to even ask that. ]

My likes are not something I've had much opportunity to consider.

[ It's a tad more truthful than he intended to be, but he's not in the mood. There's been enough misdirection going around. ]

[ definitely a reactive, constant state of grump. ]

And it looks like we're being put to work. [ when the bitterness comes, it's with that. a kind of humor that comes at a private, ironic joke.

the people are milling around them now, some in fear heading back for lodging, others off to have private conferences over what could be taken as more of a threat than a warning.

Loki has room enough to step to the side and put his hands on his hips before tucking them in his jacket and fluttering it like a skirt. ]

Another mission of fate. I have to wonder how this one will turn out, considering the outcome of the last.

Did you expect otherwise? [ He notes the bitterness and the hint of humor that follows it, but doesn't bother guessing at the source. It seems obvious enough that there's some previous connection between Loki and this kind of work. Perhaps a mission gone bad...or a dislike of being used.

Ahad could relate to the latter. ]

The outcome of the last is what it is. [ He'll half-shrug. ] All worlds end. [ But there's still something off in his tone. Something didn't sit right with him about that mission. ]

[ Loki watches him carefully, catching the change in tone. his gaze goes between the mingle of people and the ashen scar left on the cobblestone. ]

The outcome of the last wouldn't have been what it was unless we made it that way. Which, well, you know ... [ he gestures with his hands animatedly. ] It's not about the dragons, the world itself or endings. Whatever choices those people made in the outcome of their own homes wouldn't have mattered. [ a pause and a little snort. ] Ah, a depressing thought, but I suppose I fell down the wrong rabbit hole if I didn't want to grasp against the bars of some form of invisible prison.

We always are within the prison of our own actions. There are other prisons [ fate, the one ALASTAIR seems to have created for them... ] but none come before that.

[ It's a bit more philosophical than Ahad usually gets with a stranger, but Loki did bring it up. Or the tasteless warning and/or threat did. ]

Ah—I would argue ...

[ there's a brief pause before he turns fully toward Ahad. ]

Doesn't fate have us by the balls?

[ There's a moment's pause, and then he looks more amused than that question probably warrants. ]

Certainly, if you allow it.

[ But this entire conversation is very telling. Disgruntled about fate, is it? When he speaks, it's gentler than he likely intends. ] Fate would have me dead, if not never born at all. [ There's a slight twist on the word 'born'. ] I see no reason to give into it now.

Fate would have me as something I'm not. [ a pause, and then. ] Debatably better for everyone.

[ there's a look back at him, more curious than it is accusing. ] Then I suppose the question remains of why we're allowing fate to use is now. Even toward the realization of some divine purpose.

"Go home" would be easy, wouldn't it?

[ his brows knit. ] But perhaps the next world would be our own.

[ Well, now he looks disdainful. ] I long ago stopped caring about what was better for everyone, especially when it conflicted with what was best for me.

[ This could be the height of selfishness or simply a strong sense of self-preservation. Ahad at least doesn't seem to care how Loki decides to interpret it. ]

Are we allowing fate to use us? We may have been given a mission, but what we choose to do about it is entirely up to us.

[ it was easy not to care what anyone thought when your mother didn't pull a future evil version of yourself back to the past to ensure an ending to a story because the Asgardians couldn't handle their own freedoms. for a moment he looks like he's eaten something sour. ]

Fate is always using us, this time it's just more literal. It may be less of what our choices are, and more to do with our presence. [ his playful tone turns to something else, and he glances behind him as if one of the Norns is looking over his shoulder. ] But ALASTAIR is a new one.

[ It was a combination of a large amount of apathy, flavored with a dash of nihilism. He cared for perhaps the first few hundred years or so, but that was beaten out of him. If he couldn't die, he'd live to spite everyone and throw his continued existence in their (sometimes metaphorical) faces. ]

ALASTAIR is using us, but I refuse to call them an agent of fate. [ It's the using part that he seems to have the most trouble with. ] There is enough chaos in all of the universes to avoid such prescribed paths.

I'd be in favor of a little more.

[ he says it in the way that he could do it himself. just cause a little more chaos. ruin some more things. now he actually may look like he's thinking about it. ]

A coin for your thoughts, then? Or some ale, if there's still brave stall keeper.

[ He'll shake his head and make a dismissive sound in the back of his throat. ] Too much is as bad as too little. [ There's always a need for balance...and his feelings for Yeine remain strong.

His feelings for Nahadoth are just as complicated, and Loki is beginning to remind him of Sieh again. Children of chaos, at the very least. ]

Bravery has little to do with it, when your income depends on making a profit. [ He's going to turn and head off toward what appears to be an open stall in the background. That was a yes, if Loki's keeping up. ]

[ he comes off like a child, even with a couple of thousand years of ancient memories. his mentality served as it would, and after digging his heels against the role, he's learned to go with it a little more. ]

We'll settle for those more gifted in the art of commerce.

[ without glancing back at the ash, he heads toward the stall for some ale. ]

[ Ahad's already jumped into negotiating with the keeper of the stall. They're clearly being charged extra, likely in an attempt to get as much from outsiders who don't know any better as possible. While he doesn't get the same low price that some of the townspeople are paying, Ahad uses his fairly imposing presence and difficult to read face to argue down to something more reasonable.

Coins are exchanged and two ales are passed over. ]

Whatever. What did you wish to know? [ He'll pass one of the drinks over, leaving Loki to decide how it effects the power dynamics here if Ahad is the one who bought the drinks. ]

[ Loki watches with vague amusement, not interjecting and allowing Ahad to make his dealings. he watches the face of the stall owner, gruff even with under the current circumstance. there are few expressions passed between them, and Loki makes a game of catching them.

after the show, Loki takes the glass by the rim with dark nailed fingers. ]

And I didn't think you liked me.

[ he says with irony that says he doesn't quite believe it. ]

Your thoughts, actually. Opinions. You know, a little what now?

I don't like you at all. [ He says it with a completely straight face, but it does seem more reactive than anything else. It has the sound of a familiar refrain. ]

If I knew 'what now', would I stand here drinking with you?

[ that doesn't seem to bother him, not in the least. instead the corners of his lips hook up into a slightly smarmy smile. it's hard to tell just how smarmy he means it, or if he finds the declaration of dislike a little amusing. ]

You could just choose option A or B instead, you know.

[ he says from over the rim of the glass as he sips. ]

[ The smarmy smile does make Ahad frown just enough to let Loki know that he's not amused by his antics. The I don't like you may have been reactive before, but there's still enough time for him to really mean it. ]

We're too disorganized and are unlikely to be successful if we continue as we are. [ It's a safe enough place to start, even if it doesn't touch on his actual opinions about ALASTAIR or their mission here. ]

[ no one likes him, and he's all too used to it. ]

And as suspicions from the natives raise we'll be at a terrible disadvantage. We are stowaways in their corner of this universe, for now, to the very least.

Issues in politics are always complicated. I'm sure it this deep seated sort of hate wasn't fostered in the last week alone. Wars have been waged for less.

[ he piffs, blowing some hair form his face. ]

Ah, the disadvantage does not stop there. We're disorganized, the natives view us with suspicion, and we're just as likely to divide amongst ourselves over who's in the right.

[ He can already see them starting to take sides in this human versus goblin conflict. It's only tentative steps so far, but it could easily turn into infighting later on. The last thing they need is to be divided themselves. ]

What a mess.

[ if examined closely, it's like the little gears in Loki's head start turning. it's not just about the mess, but how to use what they have to solve it. he doesn't look put out by the prospect, no, the more challenging something is, the better. ]

As if there would be a right answer in all of this.

[ he tips the ale toward him to look at his reflection in it. ]

One of the more unsavory sorts told me something interesting. He said that there's no difference between goblin and human. I'm a bit more inclined to believe him.

Perhaps I should have said 'imagine to be right'. [ Not that Ahad doesn't agree with him. It's other beings who are more focused on right and wrong; Ahad couldn't care less about those concepts. ]

Unsavory sorts? [ Then he seems to think better of his question. ] Whatever. It's unlikely to surprise me that the situation is more complicated than initially presented.

c.

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