epidemiology | EVENT ▸ WELCOME TO HANABIRA

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EVENT ▸ WELCOME TO HANABIRA

LAND OF CELESTIAL MOUNTAINS

Following guild Ophelia's first mission, after which the temporal shard was found and safely disposed of back on Headquarters, Guild Master Imogen informs them they've received a contract to help ease tensions in a land known as Hanabira, on an unnamed planet designated as Hathaway-484. However, the contract is from a third party and the Hanabirans themselves do not know about interdimensional travel, she explains, so it'll be best to announce Ophelia as visitors from a foreign land. Any strange appearances or abilities will be able to be brushed off as magic, as the Hanabirans are no strangers to things such as ogres and imps. They're given five days to look over the dossier, and then it's through the rift they go.

Those who are new to rift travel may find themselves a bit dizzy on the way out, but overall, everything seems to have gone according to plan. Upon arrival, their magitek projects words in front of their eyes that only they can see:

Location reached: HANABIRA.

No events scheduled. You may wish to survey the surrounding area.

» LAND OF CELESTIAL MOUNTAINS
A militaristic society that values strength. Main sources of income: mining, foresting, hunting, blacksmithing. Heavy matriarchal ideals. Empress NAMA resides at the HEAVENLY SUMMIT.

Those who attempt to reach the Heavenly Summit, which turns out to be the name of a castle situated on the tallest mountain peak, will not make it very far. Empress Nama's guards have no time for foreign strangers attempting to enter the castle without an audience, and there are plenty of them. It looks like that plan of action is going to take some time to rethink.

There's still much more to look at, though. In the Merchant's District, you can stock up on everything you'll need to blend in. A cursory look at all the clothing and it's clear that the Mountain Clan style focuses on a more powerful look, with broad shoulder accents and thick fabrics. Both men and women wear kimonos, but it seems men's fashion changes depending on their age and marital status. Time to figure out those backstories! There are several more items for sale as well, as long as you're willing to pay -- or if you're particularly good at sleight of hand.

The Commoner's District, derogatorily called the Slums by some, is where many of the lower class Mountain Clan work and live. Those who don't have the coin to buy a space in the Merchant's District sell their wares here; they are at a lower price, but often of lower quality as well, unless you're particularly lucky. This is the most densely populated area of the Celestial Mountains, and also the most egalitarian. Here, both men and women must do the same work to provide for their families. However, you will still find that the prevailing cultural attitude supports the matriarchy.

On the other side of town is the Noble's District, which is patrolled by guards on regular routes. Men on their own will arouse suspicion in this area, as will anyone in any garb but the noble disguise. Troublemakers will be asked to leave and unceremoniously escorted out. Those who manage to stay will be able to find conversation with the nobility, many of whom are high-ranking military leaders.

The rest of the town belongs to the lower to upper middle class, who are friendliest to women or groups with at least one woman in them. Women's reactions to sole men may range from dismissive to awkward, although men alone are not in any danger of angry or violent reactions (as long as they don't provoke anyone).

▸ SPRING FESTIVAL

After a bit of time for exploring, a new message flashes in front of recruits' eyes.

New event scheduled: MOUNTAIN CLAN FESTIVAL.

» INFORMATION: Analysis of all mentions of 'festival' since the arrival of OPHELIA suggests heavy HANABIRAN presence at this time, during which guild members may wish to gather intel.

It appears as though Ophelia has arrived just in time for the Spring Festival, a yearly celebration in honor of the changing of seasons. Plum and cherry trees throughout the Celestial Mountains flower in white and pink blossoms, creating a cheerful atmosphere as the population goes about their daily business during the day. Workers view the flowers during their lunch and tea times, and nobles can be found strolling through gardens in the Noble's District at all times.

In the early afternoon, food stalls begin to appear in the Merchant's District, and by the late afternoon, the festival is in full swing: dumplings, noodles, persimmons, and skewered meat are available at various stalls, as well as plenty of sake. Other stalls sell beautifully designed kites, fans, and kimonos, and as the sun begins to sink down, some stalls begin to sell incense-stick fireworks.

There are also games to take part in, from the light-hearted collaborative ball game kemari, to an archery competition, the winners of which are rewarded with plums and sake. An old man near the archery competition invites any passersby to join him in a game of Go, and he'll even offer to teach foreigners the rules of the game. There is also a falconry competition for the nobles, but unless you have a disguise, you'll just have to content yourself with watching.

With so many people milling around, it's a good time to ask questions and try to get a feel for the political opinions of the people of the mountain clan. They are all in favor of their empress ruling Hanabira, supporting the spread of their traditional culture over the more lax culture of the sea clan. If asked their opinions on how to ensure there is no war, suggestions will range from preemptively killing the sea empress and her army, to banishing them across the sea. It should be noted that the mountain clan is not especially known for their expertise in diplomacy.

As the sky darkens, fireworks light up the sky. It's very beautiful, but also very distracting -- the perfect time for something to go wrong.

▸ AN AMBUSH

The fireworks are loud, and everyone -- even guards milling around -- are looking skyward toward the display. No one notices the danger until it's too late.

A scream pierces the air, and everything after that happens quick and sudden: people are running in all directions, panicked, trying to escape. Stands are knocked over and food goes flying through the air. A merchant struggles to reach her wife, caught across the fearful throng of festivalgoers. It's chaos.

As the panicked crowd begins to thin, those of Ophelia who stay behind to help will see the cause -- women wearing clothes of the sea clan and masks covering their faces are laying waste to the festival ground. They begin to set stalls ablaze, and though they aren't targeting any civilians, a handful lay dead or injured, crushed by the panicked stampede.

Guards rush in to stop the women, and they could probably use help; they will be trying to capture them, but if your character is killing an ambusher instead, please let the mods know with a link to the thread.

For those who aren't the fighting type, there are plenty of other things to do -- direct traffic, try to rescue civilians from the stampede, or go find someplace to hide yourself. Once the immediate trouble is dealt with, the festival unceremoniously ended, the civilians drift back to their homes to begin a restless sleep. If your character hasn't found lodgings for the night yet, they'd better get that matter settled soon.

The morning after the ambush, there is tension and unease in the air. The people of the mountain clan mutter about taking revenge or continuing peaceably; the ambush and its effect on their relations with the sea clan is the topic of the day. Was this an attack sanctioned by the Empress of the Crashing Wave? Were these sea people acting of their own volition? Does it matter?

The festival grounds could use cleaning up, and tending to the injured can be a good way to ingratiate foreigners (that's you) to the mountain clan. Otherwise, the forests of the Celestial Mountains are open for exploration, or the Flowerlands and its farms below.

▸ OOC NOTES

Welcome to the first mission of the season! Apps are now closed and will remain closed until the mission is over. If you have questions about this log or the overall mission, please ask them on the dossier. Questions about Futurology in general should be directed to the FAQ.

▸ The festival and ambush lasts one IC day, after which characters may continue to explore. Areas currently open are the Land of Celestial Mountains or the Flowerlands. The Empire of the Crashing Wave will be introduced in the next log on 3 February.

▸ The Bounty Board is now live, as well as an items page. The February calendar will go live in late January.

▸ January AC will go up on 1 February. You will only need to supply one proof. February AC will require full activity.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Because we're a foreign force here to meddle in their politics, and we should look as harmless and well-meaning as possible for as long as we possibly can while we work out what to do.

[ But he says that quietly, so that only she could hear. Because they're not from here, and they'll attract somebody's attention, and Scott hasn't yet sussed out how paranoid these people are, or how much notice they take of foreigners. How quickly somebody might decide if they're worth spying on.

Which is why he's got a very large straw hat, and he's about to try to make himself less visible. ]

Hold this for a second, would you?

[ Passing her the hat, and then reaching into his kimono (which he feels awkward in, but whatever) to dig out his shades, instead of the very out of place visor that fits snugly on his face. ]

What? [ and then there's a hat in her hands, and she's holding it anyway. ] Oh. Sure.

[ she takes this opportunity to scrutinize him as he switches out his visor. (and a moment to appreciate — wow, the pocket space in kimono sleeves. maybe these are worth it after all.) ]

Won't we blend in better if you aren't wearing either of those? [ she's not saying 'hypocrite' but like it's scott summers so ] It's just ... I don't see anyone else with them ...

[ she looks around nervously. ]

[ Like it would be the first time in his life someone called him a hypocrite. ]

We would, but it's either that or stumble around blind. Why do you think I found a hat?

[ Obliterating everything in his line of sight also tends to be very conspicuous. He gets his fingers under the edge of his visor and pops it off— literally, a pop, it's a bit suction-y— with a heavy sigh, his eyes squeezed tight shut. Not the most comfortable. ]

I figured running into walls would attract more attention than a bad hat. I'm not just going to sit around doing nothing, shades or not.

You need them to see?

[ she thought they were fashionable in his universe. that actually makes her feel better for thinking it was goofy as hell. she looks down at the hat like, man i don't know if this is going to help that much.

at the sound of the pop, though, she looks back over. ]

You need them ... suctioned onto your face to see?

[ that sounds fake. ]

[ This isn't Star Trek. They're not fashionable in any universe. And Scott's definitely not cool enough to make them look fashionable in any universe. Scott would wear a polo shirt unironically.

At least he's with it enough to know tactical visors— not that hot. ]

I need it to not fall off my face in a fight.

[ And also to not wipe out his teammates with a total lack of precision. ]

And yes, I need it to see.

[ Visor up the sleeve, and he flicks his shades open like he's done that a thousand times already. (Three thousands five hundred and forty two, to be exact.) They are...maybe slightly cooler than his visor. Maybe. Sorta. ]

[ it's the truth, but there's something off-color about it. she can feel it coming off of him, though she doesn't mean to. just a sense that he's holding something back. and not for no reason — it's not quite nervousness, but the sort of clamming up that ...

well, that she gets, when she has to talk about her past. ]

If you say so.

[ she says, instead of asking why they are red, or if he asked medical aboard the headquarters about other treatments for his vision. for some reason no one in the star wars universe wears glasses so we've gotta assume there's ... great vision coverage, or something. or maybe that explains every stormtrooper ever — a great shot, until they can't see shit.

once his sunglasses are on, she hands over the hat. ]

I hope you have an answer ready for the questions you get.

[ Dropping by the way I'll spend the rest of my life wearing these because I fire dangerous concussive blasts from my eyeballs tends to really put a halt to conversations. And friendships. Sometimes even the ability to go out in public or walk down the street without threat of violence and death. And also, Scott genuinely hasn't really decided how to handle that revelation here. It's not the kind of secret that you can keep forever.

It's not a conversation that gets any easier the more you have it, either. ]

Kind of. I have a couple. Honestly, either nobody cares, or they're too afraid of being rude, or they're just looking for trouble and wouldn't care what I said anyway.

[ Sort of like how she wants to know and thinks it's weird but won't just ask him, as now they flirt with this I know you know I'm hiding something.

When he pulls the brim of that hat down, you can...sort of not see the glasses if you're a full foot shorter than him. ]

I'm Scott, by the way. Scott Summers.

[ she tips her head to the side, accepting this defense. honestly, as a rule, 'people are too wrapped up in their own problems to notice other people' is the safest bet. and as long as he's not doing anything to actively draw attention to himself, he'll probably be fine.

useless, as any time he starts up a conversation, it'll immediately mark him as strange. but harmless, at least. ]

Rey.

[ she says it with the sort of absent reply that assumes he doesn't care much about the response. ]

You'll likely pass as long as you stay beneath the noble's district. That's not so bad. It'll be the same for me. There's no way they'd ever believe I'm one of them either.

[ Joke's on you, Rey. Just because he's got the visible emotional range of a zombie doesn't mean he doesn't care. Or that he doesn't notice the way that she says that, like either she doesn't expect him to care, or doesn't expect anyone to care, or doesn't think it's worth talking about. ]

Why not? You can't convince them you're from here, any more than I can, but you could convince them you belonged wherever you wanted to go.

I'm not very good at ... [ consternation furrows in her brow. she struggles over the way to put "i raised myself in the dumpster of the galaxy for fifteen years and have the social skills of a rabid squirrel." ] People. All of this, all of their rules and expectations, it's ... a lot.

[ It could be worse, Rey. Even a rapid space squirrel is still an improvement over Wolverine. The original. And Scott's preferred Wolverine, Laura. And the one Jean made them adopt later from another universe. ]

I get that. I'm not really good at a lot of it either. When I'm not in the field, I kind of...get stiff.

[ Really stiff. Kind of like this, right now, except sometimes 100x worse. ]

But it's a skill, you know? It's something you learn how to do, dealing with people. Nobody's born being good at it. It's just easier for some people to learn than others. Just watch and play along and you get there eventually.

[ That was a lot to say, all at once. Scott clears his throat, rubs the back of his neck to cover up the way his posture tries to tense with the feeling that he might have overdone it. ]

At least, that's what I think.

[ when she regards him this time, it's with a second beat of consideration. like maybe now that he's given this pep talk, he's more worth her genuine investment, and not just her cooperation. eventually, a small smile tips its way onto her lips, and she nods. ]

It makes sense.

[ she won't disagree, that's for sure. and if she were willing to develop and dip into her force abilities, perhaps it would be even easier. but … that's a complicated and dark road. ]

But … learning it here, and risking a mistake. That could jeopardize the mission. I don't belong up that way, anyway. I won't regret missing it.

[ she's pretty much gutter trash so yolo. low expectations. ]

You sure? We could always hang out nearby. See what's going on, who's coming in and out, poke a little fun at them.

[ Who doesn't want to make fun of their betters? And after spending so much time around Emma Frost and her clones, Scott's got a lot of material for making fun of the upper crust. ]

I guess taking a look from nearby couldn't hurt.

[ she perks up a little at that. honestly, she'd love to get a look in the noble's district. she has never seen anything like it. her life has been hovels and dives. so getting a glimpse at the decadence without having to figure out how to awkwardly navigate within it productively ... that's ideal.

she gestures forward along the street. ]

Lead the way.

Uh...I think technically you have to lead the way here. [ He hasn't had a lot of time to observe, but it's not a crazy leap to think that Scott The Intrepid Explorer, Forging Ahead will draw attention that might be counter to their stated purpose of sliding under the radar as much as possible. ] So, after you. [ It's not in Scott at this moment to give a kind of theatrical bow, but he does at least try to look...deferential. ] And I'll watch your back.

You can see through those?

[ she leans up to tap on the side of his glasses briefly as she moves past him, slipping into a casual lead up towards the noble's district. ]

You should see about getting one of those helmet masks I've seen the performers with.

What good would they do if I couldn't see out of them?

[ Once upon a time he would have thought that was a stupid question. Actually, he still thinks it's kind of a terrible question. Just because no one can (or should) see his eyes doesn't mean they don't exist. Or that they're non-functional. ]

Anyway, I'm not sure what you're talking about. [ A pause, because what's presenting itself can't be what she means— ] Not like, a pilot's helmet, right?

No, they look sort of like— [ she fumbles, frowning as she lamely finishes, fully understanding that it won't mean anything to him. ] Stormtroopers.

[ sigh. ok, on to the point. describing. ]

It's a warrior's helmet of some kind. Anyway, the eyes are small; if you got one, it would hide your visor beneath it.

If I'm understanding you correctly, wouldn't that come with a cost to peripheral vision? Because the visor already reduces that, and I can't run around with blinders on.

[ Totally casual tactical conversation that anyone would have any day. ]

I think a helmet would stand out even more than shades. [ And, because this is itching at him, he's gotta know— ] What's a stormtrooper?

Why not? It's not like the men here are expected to be anything more than decoration anyway.

[ just saying. but she quickly moves on from that to explain; ] Stormtroopers are ... soldiers, where I come from. The First Order's army of brainwashed slaves. [ she has strong feelings about them. ] They wear helmeted armor because if they show up, it's for one thing.

[ Scott almost stops dead in the street for a second, because...well, first of all, because...he feels offended but he can't quite articulate why. Something about being dismissed, being decoration— which is a preposterous idea on its face, because he might be stuck seeing the world in shades of red forever but he can still look in a mirror. And because Scott knows himself to be dangerous, and—

And he gets stuck in his own head for a moment, chewing on that unsettled irritation and surprise, before he gets around to what is undoubtedly more important a topic than whether or not Scott Summers would make a good trophy husband. ]

I'm not so desperate to hide my eyes that I'd want to risk any resemblance to...something like that.

[ There's a lot to unpack in those three short sentences. A million questions come to mind, but he has to consider: a) which would be most informative, and b) which one might she be willing to answer? ]

...I really want to ask you what the First Order is, where you come from, what's happening there. [ Honesty = best policy. Nobody's good at people here. ] But I don't want to ask you to talk about something you don't want to talk about. Because it sounds like there's a lot going on there, none of it good, and you just met me maybe twenty minutes ago.

[ she shrugs her shoulder and there's a matter-of-factness in her reply as she says: ]

It's not really personal.

[ for finn, maybe. it's perhaps flat and anticlimactic, but so was the fact that he pointed it out in the first place, so rey — for once — doesn't feel like the one who's missing some kind of emotional cue. ]

It's a galactic civil war. The First Order, holdovers from the Empire, unseated the New Republic that only took control a decade or so before I was born. They're monsters. Or … Well, no, they're human. [ she realizes some places they could literally be monsters and is quick to amend. ] They behave like they aren't.

That sounds familiar.

[ Scott, who has been called a monster to his face multiple times, cannot take offense. He knows she means. ]

We have people like that too.

[ Cue a brief, brooding moment, which would be accompanied by a lingering shot of Scott staring off into the distance...if anyone could actually tell what he's looking at. ]

Lots of people like that, actually. Not full empires, though. I don't know if that makes it better or worse.

Imagine what yours could do if they had control of the whole galaxy. Then tell me if you think it's better or worse.

[ she sounds like she already knows what she believes. the first order is Absolute Flaming Garbage, no matter what dreams thrawn has about a better empire. ]

They destroyed a whole system of planets just to eliminate the New Republic.

[ Well you know whatever he might have had to say about the Purifiers or Sentinels taking over the galaxy totally goes out the window when she drops that conversational nuke. He even stops dead for a second while his mind reboots, trying to fully process. He's sure for a second that he misheard... ]

Wait, say that again. An entire solar system?

merchant's district

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