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

[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."

[boomvox]

Every so often philanthropic work drifts into Jae's head; he feels selfish and cruel, sometimes, because he doesn't do anything like that - but thinking of it critically, he knows it would just kill him. Hell, contemplating it for too long leaves him heartsick, he'd never be able to do it as a career. So it's something he respects a lot in other people, even if he keeps quiet about it.

"I just learned how to do radio broadcasting. I already knew how to be a live sound engineer, so I got to sleep through those classes and ace the tests anyway."

[controlledvariable]

"You suck," she wrinkles her nose at Jae to demonstrate her displeasure, "I only get to sleep through class when I've been out late; and then I have to beg the notes off someone so I don't fail."

"Where were you studying?" She knows Jae's world is pretty simiiar to hers - minus the fact he doesn't have a Gotham City - so she figures she might recognize wherever he is.

[boomvox]

"University of the Arts, London." He does a little peace sign that's actually indicative of his cheap-o two-year degree. "Broadcast media, officially. The most liberal of arts."

He grins, reminiscing. "I spun and hustled the entire time to pay my bills. I was such a tool."

[controlledvariable]

"Now I'm extra jealous, that must've been amazing," Steph liked London, and plans to go back there if the opportunity ever arises.

"I can't imagine you being that much of a tool, you're too sweet," That is either a compliment or an insult, depending how Jae feels about being sweet.

[boomvox]

"I'd lived there for five years," he says, smiling. "I miss it."

His career, his apartment, his friends... his fucking internet connection, and the email he never even responded to. (Stupid memento holiday.)

"Hey," and now he's laughing, "don't underestimate the power of being twenty and broke in England."

[controlledvariable]

"I hope you get to go back," she doesn't say things like that as often as she did the first couple weeks, because it's getting harder to sound genuine. But she means it.

"I never underestimate things," Steph, you underestimate things all the time, "And clearly I am a better judge of your life than you are."

[boomvox]

"I hope everybody gets to go back, if they want to." It's weird how easily that caveat has started to come. He can see how, even if a person wasn't dead, or from somewhere terrible, that Baedal could be charming, endearing - but he feels out of step, fundamentally wrong. (Then again he always feels like that.)

"I'll just mark you down as my number one fan."