OPEN :: A golden bird was singing

[baedalites]

Who: Everyone!
What: St Kelley's evening
Where: The Apache and surrounding environs.
When: Veerdi evening.
Notes:
(1) The topic threads are just suggestions; if you've got somewhere else that your characters simply must be, make your own thread.
(2) All mementos will appear overnight in some part of your character's apartment.
(3) Dance!

St Kelley's is one of the more sedate occasions in Baedal, at least as holidays go. It passes more or less unnoticed by the majority of the population as many of them feel it doesn't concern them. It's not their holiday; it's for the others. Those with severed ties and broken hearts. The temple and church preach that it's a time for reflection or for glorifying the generosity of the gods. It's one of the few days on which no one looks askance at first generation Citizens mourning their missing loved ones publicly.

As night rolls around and floating lanterns are set to sea, the Apache in Mog Hill prepares to accept guests from the newer cohorts. It's something that happens every year, making it a practical tradition. The alcohol will be cheaper for first timers, and the music will be kept at a reasonable level.

Comments

[controlledvariable]

"If you try to make shorty a permanent nickname I will do horrible things to your hair while you sleep," she replies amicably as she hugs him.

"Just a sweet iced tea, please," it's directed at the bar tender's expectant look; she's sticking to non-alcoholic drinks tonight because she doesn't want to end up even more morose than she already is. But she huffs out a laugh at Jae's question, "It's been alright so far, if a little depressing."

[boomvox]

"My hair is insured for like a million pounds," he informs her, and pretends to smooth back a pure-platinum side of it as he does.

"You miss people from home?" Jae is pretending like he didn't go. Haaah.

[controlledvariable]

"Good luck getting that paid out in Baedal," she tries to look threatening, but her heart's not in it and she just ends up smiling.

She shrugs, and is grateful that her drink gets placed in front of her then, she can take a moment to inspect it rather before answering, "Yeah. It's kind of stupid." Wasting time sending out paper boats when she should be doing more important things.

[boomvox]

"It's a nice excuse for people to get together, at least. I missed the last holiday." And he is still bitter, because Jae has an absurd fixation on Christmas lights, but he is forcing himself not to mention it now. Because it's weird.

"Though it's kind of a dick move to have one for the new cohort about missing people from home."

[controlledvariable]

"I wasn't here for that one either," Not that she'd missed christmas back home, partly because it's technically June for her. It's a little confusing trying to adjust to it being winter and the wrong month.

"Kind of, but it's smart, too, in it's own way. The story behind the celebration isn't even a little bit subtle." Be grateful to your gods and they'll reward you. Be patient. Resist quietly and don't make a fuss. Steph kind of hates the whole thing, and herself for participating.

[boomvox]

"I think if I knew I didn't have any other home to go back to, that I'd be grateful." As it is, Jae felt guilty over sending anything out (I'm fine, please forget me), as if it might contaminate them somehow - but he couldn't help himself.

"Thinking about it as it is, it feels patronizing." His smile is wry, and he lifts his glass to hers. "Here's to being stuck."

[controlledvariable]

"I guess sometimes there are worse places to be than here," especially, as Jae said, if there's no other place to be.

"Everything about Baedal feels patronizing," her smile matches, and she lifts her glass in a toast as well, "Here's to finding a way home." She has to have the last word on this sort of thing she's going home no matter what it takes.

"Did you send out a boat?" She hadn't seen Jae at the shore, but that doesn't mean anything, really.

[boomvox]

"Cheers." That's something he can drink to, for sure; though lately Jae's starting to feel like there's a purpose to his being here. He's not sure if it's a genuine feeling, or if he's starting to get brainwashed. It's a little odd.

He shrugs and says, "No," lying easily. "I don't know what I'd do with anything besides feel awkward, and besides, I can't imagine who I'd get sent anything from. Did you leave a boyfriend at home?"

[controlledvariable]

She doesn't have any reason to think he'd lie about it, so she just assumes he's here for the celebration part. The line about leaving a boyfriend at home makes her snicker, "God, no. The only real boyfriend I've ever had is here." Which is weird, but not surprising if Baeal is collecting useful people, "I have my mom, though, and my friends. So I sent something out for them, I suppose."

Sometime it feels like a physical ache in her chest, when she thinks of her mom, Cass and Kara back home. Tonight is one of those times.

[boomvox]

It's not even anything nefarious, it's just Jae's ingrained habits of lying about and obscuring his past and personal life altogether. He's been dealing with it in baby steps, but admitting to people that he can use magic is enough for now. And he really doesn't think he can talk about his family or even his internet not-boyfriend without getting morose, anyway.

"I hope they feel comforted, since you did." He takes a drink. "I don't have much faith in this whole wheel of fortune free stuff thing, though. When I showed up I got a book that doesn't belong to me."

[controlledvariable]

"So do I, I don't want my mom to worry," Crystal had to lose her once, and Steph can't imagine what she must be feeling like now. Not to mention the part of her that's terrified her mom won't be able to handle it, and that she'll relapse.

"A book?" She didn't realize people got things when they appeared, "I just had my clothes and my backpack, which I'd been wearing anyway."

[boomvox]

"Hopefully no one will even notice." ... Which is a pipe dream, maybe. Jae isn't sure. He could ask Ilde, who went home then came back, but Ilde died when she went home. So it doesn't feel right.

"Apparently we get something? My boss's husband got his dad's old typewriter. Maybe your backpack counted. I got a book, but it's somebody else's, it's even got somebody's hand-written notes in it, but I have no idea who it belongs to."

[controlledvariable]

"Hopefully, but... I'm not sure which is worse. Like, what if I go back and it's been years for me, and no time at all for them?" It'd be hard to explain to any official authorities in her world.

"Huh, I had no idea about that. What sort of book was it?" She figures her backpack must have been her something, which is fortuante. She'd rather her Batgirl costume than some random object.

[boomvox]

"Well. Try not to grow taller, nobody will notice."

That's his excellent advice on that subject. Heed it well.

"It's like an attempted-history book about a supposedly haunted Korean village. I assume it was in the vault of mystery crap for new arrivals and I got it by virtue of being able to read it."

[controlledvariable]

"I'm pretty sure I've done all my growning, so that's not a worry." Fortunately, as long as she doesn't stay too long, there isn't much different between almost twenty and almost twenty one (or two). It'd be worse for someone younger.

"You sure it didn't belong to like... an ancestor or something?" She only thinks of that because of St Kelley's, and the fact it brings in things from loved ones,

[boomvox]

He laughs. "It's got notes in it dated 2011, so I'm pretty sure." All of his ~ancestors~ are far too dead, thanks to the Japanese, to ever have owned anything from that time. His only contemporary relatives who'd been back to Korea were his uncle and his family, and he'd have known if any of them left Seoul. "If I ever find who it belongs to I'll give it back, I guess."

[controlledvariable]

"There goes that theory," it was probably not a very good theory in the first place, but whatever, "That seems a bit rough, though. Like, here, have a book we potentiall stole from someone else."

Thanks, Baedal. "Was it a good read, at least?"

[boomvox]

"Well some people didn't get anything, so, at least I've got a conversation piece?" He smiles, shrugging. "And no, it's like, the history of a haunted village, textbook style, in really dry Hangul. And I can barely read the handwriting of the notes with it."

[controlledvariable]

"You should see if it impresses girls, then it'd be really useful," Steph teases, grinning a little before pulling an unimpressed face in response to the textbook style, "There is literally nothing worse than academic style writing."

Steph there are at least a hundred things worse than that.

[boomvox]

"I don't need any help in that department," he announces, dusting off one shoulder dramatically. "Having a boring-ass book to help me woo people would just be cheating."

Shut up, Jae.

"Seriously? But you work in library!"

[controlledvariable]

"Oh, of course," she refrains from rolling her eyes, but it's a near thing, "I should have known better."

"That doesn't mean I have to like textbooks; I'm also a student." No students like their textbooks, this is an universal feeling.

[boomvox]

It's a good thing that Jae isn't the sort of person to end up acting like an infuriating jerk over his ego, because the ladies really do pander to it. Maybe everybody should stop that, look at him, he's a goofball.

"What are you going to school for?"

[controlledvariable]

"An assortment of things at the moment, but the end goal is doing something with social work," she makes a wry face, and adds, "Because apparently I'm a masochist."

Basically ninety percent of social workers in Gotham are corrupt, and the others have probably given up hope of ever changing the system.

[boomvox]

Jae grimaces in sympathy. "Jeez. You better enjoy hating books, you're gonna hate everything else when you're done. My degree is in the illustrious field of communication arts."

Social work is the same everywhere: endless misery.

[controlledvariable]

"I'm pretty much resigned to wanting to murder everyone. But if I can do even a little bit of good..." She gives a loose shrug, it'll be tough, but she knows that she'll be able to help al least a few people.

Though she pouts a bit at Jae's study choices, "That's not fair; you're not allowed to study something that sounds interesting."