OPEN ★ ARRIVAL LOG

[futurologists]

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!]

Comments

Steven Universe | open for business

[jamminshield]

["The wyrmlings will live to grow up and bring about the world's natural end."

Steven's hands shook as he read that message. He was hoping for the best for those baby dragons - a life of peace and fun. But that prediction, full of destruction and an end, made him feel sick to his stomach instead. Where did I go wrong?

He tries not to let this feeling bring him too far down. He has a mission to accomplish, after all! Save the sun, bring peace between two people at war! Sounds like just the job for Steven Universe... or so he hopes. He doesn't want to cause any more destruction.

So, Steven can be found around the commoners' district. He seats himself on a small barrel and strums at his ukulele mindlessly as he tries to brainstorm.]

Come on, great ideas! I know you're in there! Come out with your... idea-hands up!

[You might catch him at that point, or you could catch him at other points, when that glum feeling takes over and shows at his face, which is reflected in his ukulele strumming being a bit more lifeless.]

[of_her_own_accord]

[Accord tends to move quietly and with little notice. But there's a small child looking unhappy, and Accord isn't heartless.

Okay, technically she is, but you know what we mean.]

Writer's block getting you down? I know how that is.

[She smiles slightly. A bit of an in-joke between the two.]

[jamminshield]

[He does perk up as he sees her at least, if partly to hide his glum feeling.]

Accord! You really get me. [He says that a little jokingly before he goes on with a bit of worry.]

B-but don't worry! I know we'll figure something out.

[of_her_own_accord]

[She smiles, a little sadly. She thinks she knows what he needs to figure out.]

I'm sure we will with your enthusiasm. What sort of songs have you written before?

[jamminshield]

Welll, that's a pretty long list...

The first song I wrote, when I was first learning to play the ukulele, was about the Crystal Gems and me, and about how we were gonna kick bad guys' butts and eat pizza.

Then there was that time I sang about Pearl and Amethyst becoming a giant woman so that they'd become a giant woman... another time I was stuck on an island with Lars and Sadie, and I made up a song about how peaceful it was there and how it was nice to have a break from the city! Then there was that time when I was trying to be strong in the real way because of Sugilite and I sang to inspire everyone in working out!

[A pause.]

I played my own song at last year's Beach-A-Palooza! That time I sang about some weird timeline things that happened - it's too complicated. Me and my dad also jammed once about how much we loved spending time together. There was also a time when I sang with Amethyst about being on the run, because we decided to be on the run. Another time, I tried to make a song about Lapis Lazuli to correct my dad and show that she was just misunderstood and stuff! [He shuffles a foot in the ground awkwardly.] I also sang about how I felt like I shouldn't talk to Connie about my problems to protect her, but it turned out I was wrong to think like that. Aaand the last song I made was when me and Connie jammed together about jam, because we're jam buds!

[He takes a breath, and shrugs.]

I think that's my whole disco-graphy!

[of_her_own_accord]

[She blinks -- again, a bit slower than probably she should -- but she still chuckles.]

Goodness, that's quite a discography. Hmm... I know! Maybe you could write a song about how awesome goblins are! And another about how awesome humans are! Or one about how awesome they are together? Ohhh, I'm not much of a songwriter.

[beyourrock]

[And someone pulls up a barrel beside him, sitting primly, with her legs together, hands on her knees.]

Steven, are you alright? [She knows Steven had grown close to the little dragons during their mission. Heck, she always saw one in his arms whenever he was in camp, or have one following at his heels.

A gentle hand places itself on his shoulder reassuringly.]

I know you must be feeling disappointed about our last mission...

[jamminshield]

Pearl? [He looks towards her softly. He doesn't want to trouble her, but he knows it might be inevitable for him to try to hide his feelings.]

I...

You're right. [He slumps and looks ahead, lightly kicking his legs.]

I wanted to do my best to show them a good example, so that they could make peace with the people.

[He closes his eyes for a moment, hands tightening on the brim of the barrel before he looks onwards.]

...Did I do something wrong?

[beyourrock]

Oh, Steven...

[She gives that shoulder a small squeeze before trying to meet his gaze by leaning forward.]

You did nothing wrong. You did what you were told to do. We all did as a whole! No one could have predicted that.

[Well, maybe Garnet, but this is an alternate universe of sorts...]

Please, don't blame yourself for what happened. They failed to provide us information as to what the wrymlings were truly for.

[jamminshield]

[Aw. That squeeze helps to pull him back, and he looks up to meet her eyes. His little hands both reach to grip her arm as if hugging it.]

Th-thank you, Pearl. I think it means a lot to hear that.

It really was unfair. And... I guess we couldn't have known. I just wish I could have helped them more.

[It's like the centipeetle all over again. If he couldn't help those wyrmlings, how could he help all of the monster gems out there?]

[beyourrock]

[Pearl furrows her brow and lifts her other hand to give him a gentle embrace, giving a soft kiss to the top of his head.]

I know. I couldn't agree with you more. We did all we could to make things right.

But you know what? You gave those wrymlings a fun time. You played with them! I'm sure you made a big impact on them.

[composingdreams]

[If there's one weakness Joshua has, it's children. He just can't be mean to them. Maybe a little teasing, but never mean.

Apparently, it's especially true when the child in question is unhappy. Joshua can guess why, since Steven looks like he's part of this current group.]

You're looking pretty blue, there.

[He won't ask if everything's alright when it's clearly not.]

[jamminshield]

S-sorry! [He looks up at the stranger with a fret, feeling bad that he was broadcasting his funk that much.]

It's just... I was thinking about the last mission. That's all.

[composingdreams]

[The teenager waves off the apology.]

There's no need to apologize. I should be the one apologizing for not introducing myself before asking. I'm Joshua.

[If anything, it's actually kind of refreshing for someone to be open about their feelings. Regardless, Joshua's sympathetic.]

Not the best first impression our employers could make, huh?

[jamminshield]

Well... I didn't introduce myself either! So that makes us even. Hi Josh, I'm Steven.

[He just quietly nods along with Joshua's assessment.]

...I thought we were helping.

[composingdreams]

I think we did do a good thing by saving the wyrmlings. There were too many possible outcomes for any of us to really predict what would've happened at the end. Not to mention, the only compelling reasons we had were either 'orders are orders' or protect the endangered species.

[Joshua shakes his head.]

They may have been counting on that, too. There's not a whole lot we can do about it, either, except to do the right thing.

[unoradinary]

[It'd hit Ran just as it had Steven, really - she wanted all the same for them. A chance to be something else, not the monsters the people there had thought them to be, and maybe even coexist. Instead...it went about as poorly as the locals would have lead them to believe.

Not a great ending at all.

But she deals. She deals because it's really all they can do - dwelling on what ifs was never her thing.

And when she sees Steven, she figures he probably feels the same way. So she approaches him from behind and interrupts his musing by putting a hand to his head and ruffling his hair gently, stepping around to stand in front of him afterwards.]

Didn't know you were into music, steve-o.

[jamminshield]

[Steven is used to his hair being ruffled - over the time, it's acted as a fluffy perch for many a hand - so his natural reaction is to giggle as it happens, before he brightens up to see his friend.]

Ran!!

I do like music, a lot. My dad used to be a big rock star, so I've had music around me... for like my whole life!

[unoradinary]

No foolin'? My dad was a martial artist and got me into it too, y'know. I guess that's somethin' we got in common.

[Although their experiences with Dad Influence couldn't be more different. Not that Ran would ever say it.]

Could it be I'm hanging out with a future guitar star in the making?

[jamminshield]

Are you sure we're not the same person, Ran? [He says that with a laugh and waves a hand through the air as if looking at his reflection, hoping that she follows along.]

I- I don't know about that! I like playing music a lot and making songs, but I don't know yet if it'll be my grown-up job!

[unoradinary]

[Naturally! She imitates the gesture, squinting and leaning closer as if it's genuinely surprising her.]

Well, you got plenty of time to figure that out anyway.

[That said-]

Were you trying to write a song?

[onblackwings]

[ She thinks she's seen this one before, during the business with the wrymlings. He doesn't look hairy enough for what she expects from a dwarf, so she's pretty sure that makes him a child. Human child. Right, got it. She heads over during one of his more subdued strumming periods, if only because she's noticed a difference in his playing from then to now. She'd actually been enjoying it, the times she'd wandered past earlier. ]

It sounded better before. [ That works as a greeting, right? And so does the mild frown it goes with? Yes, definitely. ]

[jamminshield]

O-oh, you think so? [He snaps from his reverie and looks away from his guitar for the moment to see the woman. Similarly, he thinks that he's seen her around before too.]

I'll - I'll go back to that right away! [Now he starts strumming more energetically again, but also more sloppily.]

[onblackwings]

[ There, that's better. Sort of. She has like zero experience with music, but she's pretty sure it should be more ... better. Like it was. She considers him for a few seconds, still with the mild frown. ]

That's not quite it, but it's closer.

[jamminshield]

Alright! [He nods and tries doing it a little more calmly.]

Um... better?