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

[ 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.

Well, it is as you said.

[ when Loki looks up at him, he's offering his best innocent face. which, well, doesn't look innocent at all. he doesn't have an innocent face, he has a scheming face, and even if his intent may be innocuous (which it's not), he's still scheming. ]

They've left us to our own devices. I'm quite curious to see how those of this world would have the ending to this particular story.

[ something about this says that no one should leave Loki to his own devices. ]

[ Ahad isn't convinced that Loki's even trying to look innocent. It's a problem that Ahad recognizes, but then he doesn't go around attempting to wear an expression that doesn't fit his face. ]

We could decide to not interfere. [ Not that his tone indicates that he believes this will happen. ]

[ it's fun and ironic, Ahad.

there's a sigh into his glass that turns to bubbles in his drink. ]

We could. It would send a message not unlike that of a middle finger. [ he seems amused, and partially satisfied with the idea. ] But it would take an awful lot of effort to stop anyone from trying to do what they believe is 'the right thing.'

[ Ahad's expression seems to be saying "and he plays with his food" in the most disparaging way possible. ]

I assume that must be a rude gesture. [ There's likely something equivalent, but Ahad isn't going to make this easy for him. That and it's a poor idea to make a gesture at ALASTAIR that they won't...wait. ] That and there is not guarantee that ALASTAIR will take any 'gesture' on our part the way we intent it. We know too little about them.

Completely profane. [ he says all too cheerfully as he drinks. ] It's a mortal thing. They really do love the whole "flipping the bird," and I can hardly blame them in situations like these.

[ he levels his gaze on Ahad though, his voice slightly curious. ]

If ALASTAIR is blind to the meaning, then they're a poor excuse for an inter-dimensional Mister Fix-it. This isn't the first time that I've gone universe hopping, and there are some things, even if they avoid some universes, that make an imprint throughout.

The last 'inter-dimensional Mister Fix-it' I had the displeasure of knowing died in the attempt. Forgive me if I have little faith in what they may or may not know.

[ This is probably more telling than Ahad pretends. At least he'll have something else to blame on Sieh, after this. ]

And that's the problem, isn't it?

[ he swirls the glass between his fingers, an earnest look of dubious frustration passing his face. ]

How much they know. The claimed to know the last world's end, but can we even be sure?

[ he scrunches up his face. ]

I assume that question is rhetorical. [ They have no way of knowing, which should be clear to anyone who thinks about it. There's only ALASTAIR's word to trust. ]

Unfortunately, we cannot predict when we'll hear from our employers again. Beyond the end of this mission, that is.

There's also the conditions of our current pseudo-contract. The one that gets us home.

[ but the way that he says it makes it seem like he doesn't exactly want to go home. not yet. ]

Home or to wherever we desire?

[ It wouldn't surprise him if the home part could be altered. ]

[ there's a little snort from Loki and he demolishes the rest of his drink, taking the last gulp and wiping his lips with the back of his glove. ]

Would that be A Thing? [ he says hotly. ] Buying freedom through imagined debt.

[ but that's how it always works. he knew that, and he's used it before. it's also been used against him, though his chains were very different. ]

[ Meanwhile, Ahad has barely touched his. There have been a few sips here and there, but not enough to make much of a dent in the glass. ]

I wouldn't know. [ They know so little, which would be amusing if it wasn't so irritating. ] That's not the type of freedom I would seek.

Color me curious—what is the type of freedom that you would seek?

[ he seems earnest in his question. new starts and freedoms were the types of ideas that accompanied him, along with chaos and passion and anything of the like. it was the definition of "I do what I want," which, well, defined him. ]

At one point, it was the freedom to die.

[ He'll take a sip of his drink finally, almost as if to punctuate that. ]

[ Loki watches him, but not with any form of shock or disturbance. there's a part of him—or perhaps all of him—that can understand that. death would just return him again, and again, and again. he would dance the same dance, play the same game, and wonder if he could ever be anything but what everyone else wanted him to be. ]

What are you, Ahad?

[ he asks quietly, eyes low-lidded. ]

[ True death was something that could only now be delivered by extreme actions against his nature of the intervention of one of the Three. It would be final end, but not one that he craved any more. ]

Ah, that is the question. [ There's almost a sense of whimsy in his tone. ] I am a godling, but have not always been so.

I had ... figured so much.

[ something divine. someone who didn't squint and question his use of the word mortal. there weren't very many that didn't, as mortals had a certain sensitivity about what they were. ]

Not the "have not always been so" part, but the general gist of it.

[ he looks into his empty glass. ]

I suppose my brother and I are not the only ones they caught.

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