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Who: Everyone!
What: December's welcome log.
When: Dec 1st-7th
Where: The Merchant Dome/The Pools
Warnings:
Notes: This is your December welcome log. Come in, go nuts.

It’s the most wonderful (welcome) time of the year.

The Council knows that being a newb and not knowing anyone (especially when one might be living in close quarters to them in the very near future) can be a real pain in the ass. So, every month they throw a welcome party, the theme and location tend to vary. The theme for December is Holiday Cheer and this month’s party takes place in the Merchant dome. But it’s not the everyday appearance of the merchant dome. No, for the next five days the Merchant dome’s appearance has been altered to look like a sort of Bavarian Christmas Market. There are small clusters of tables every so often, so people can just sit and chat and eat and drunk.

Some enterprising person has even managed to make it snow through some unknown means. It’s not cold, but the snow is soft and steady and slowly building up.

The entire dome, all of the streets and all of the merchant stalls are practically glowing with white fairy lights that are strung everywhere. Vendors in their stalls gleefully cry out to paterons passing by, offering them free food or drinks. The food consists of the sort of things that one might expect to find in a place like this: sausages on buns and on sticks, pretzels, pizza, loads of cookies of every variety that one could think of, including elaborately decorated gingerbread, chocolates, fruits, french fries. Think winter fair food, and be as absurd and as complicated and extra as you want. It is a fair, after all. Go nuts. Drinks are also along the same line: hot cider, mulled wine, hot buttered rum, hot chocolate both with booze and without, as well as all the normal things: water, coffee, tea, milk, soda, and a variety of fruit juices that you’ve both heard of and not.

But food isn’t the only free thing that people are giving away! They’re also offering characters hats and gloves and scarves, small toys, books, delicate ornaments, perfumes, wine… it’s a giant welcome party after all, and these people are cheerful and happy. Even offering to pay just gets met with laughter and being told not to worry about it.

There are even some carnival rides set up! A medium sized ferris wheel, a carousel, a giant slide and ice skating ring are all along the outside of the stalls.

At the far end of the dome, the snow has fallen deeper and held to several inches. Wouldn’t you know it just happens to be perfect snowball snow! So, there of course needs to be a snowball fight! What did you think those free mittens and gloves and scarves are for after all? The snowball fight can be organized into teams, or one on one depending on the player’s choice. This is a friendly fight, of course, so no rocks or slush balls or anything. Well, probably not. No one in the Sphere is your mother.

However, the meeting isn’t just about socializing! the opposite end from the snowball fight, there are smaller tables set up with people sitting behind them. In front of the tables are homemade brightly colored signs that advertise things like jobs and clubs. The people and interests here in The Sphere are hugely varied and people are just so earnest to tell newcomers about them. They’re earnest to the point where they may just actually reach out and grab a person in order to force them to stop and to listen to whatever spiel they happen to be working on. Booths that are in attendance for jobs include: Agriculture: “help grow the food that feeds us all! Farming is life!”, The library: “No skill needed! We’ll teach you what you need to know!” The school system: “Teachers wanted! Education is the right of everyone!” Maintenance: “Help keep the domes clean!” As well as various restaurant booths looking for help for both servers and chefs.

For the hobbies involved they are even more varied. Book club: “we live in a multiverse, let’s read the books from it! With wine!” Garden club: “we want to grow stuff on our terms!” Sprinkled among are various skill learning clubs, among them: woodworking club, smithing, robotics, technology, first aid. It seems that despite the fact that no one is required to work in the City, people are still offering skills as needed.

If discrete enough inquiries are made, a passcode to the Black Market hidden behind some of the stalls is offered. The entrance is hidden enough that someone needs to be looking for it, and there is a rather large bouncer guarding the door and asking for the proper passcode. The passcode of the day happens to be gumdrops.

Inside the black market is large, but much more dimly lit than the regular market dome that the welcome party was held inside of. There are various pockets of people clustered under bright neon lights. The lights, someone confides to you, are code for what they’re offering. And nearly everything is on offer if a person has the ability to make a trade. Things from home, character skills and even favors tend to be the currency here, but watch out: the hawkers within are shrewd and sharp. If they make a deal with someone, it’s nearly always going to favor them. Eventually.

There’s also a large and loud party happening inside. Think of a rave with a large amount of people who happened to be a bit out of their minds. Drugs aren’t given freely here, they’re too valuable, but should someone want to figure out what they’re rolling on, eventually someone will ask or offer. The drug that they are currently using is called ‘self’ and it’s something that affects your character in an intensely personal way. For some, it’s an experience like your favorite cocktail mixed with a vicodin, and for others it’s just like being drunk. For still more people, it’s like ecstasy without the side effects.

The drug has no physically addicting properties.

But seriously though who cares about Christmas?

While the welcome party rages on in the merchant dome, people have made a smaller party in one of the recreation domes. Around the pools, as a matter of fact. There’s almost like a small barbecue clustered around the largest of the three pools, and the light is constant and sunny here. The large pool is olympic sized, and is a sparkling blue. It’s fresh water, and probably clean enough to drink. I still wouldn’t drink it. The second pool is slightly smaller and more kidney shaped with a gradual sand mound at one end of it. This pool is salt water and looks a bit more like a beach than a pool. The third pool is a kiddie pool, complete with a splash pad, that’s running. Buckets drop, it’s got one of those mushroom things, and sprinkler jets. There aren’t any kids though, so people are welcome to go nuts.

Bathing suits and towels are provided in the changing rooms. There’s frozen and fruity drinks flowing freely, along with finger food and snacks. Loud music is playing from a local band that’s just generally of a pop sort. There’s people dancing rather in a rather haphazard fashion, but the dance floor is there and present!

Wildcard
Go nuts, choose your own adventure!

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Absolutely not. [His utterly posh accent sounds even more posh in that moment, but Sidurgu, as usual, manages to ruin the idea of a noble scion with just how foul his mouth is.]

And I've already said that I refuse to make that godsforsaken deal, so shove off, you nosy little shite.

Mine blood is a resource far too important to be given away like treats for behaving children.

Edited 2018-12-05 00:53 (UTC)

[The urge to mock this guy is just far too strong, despite knowing he'll get his ass kicked...again.] Oh, mine blood is too important, meh~ [He imitates the accent and the posture in an over-exaggerated manner.]

Look, your blood isn't a finite resource. Your body will make more. Is that what you're scared of? [That's gotta be his problem. And without waiting for an answer, he pokes his head around to ask the merchant whether or not he might be able to offer something to trade for whatever it was the dragon man was trying to purchase.

Maybe he can get his hands on it and hold it for ransom.]

[Sidurgu's lost his patience. He reaches out, grabbing the Hyur by the front of his clothing and snarling.]

The woman wants naught just a vial but nearly an entire body's worth of it-- 'tis worth far more than anything anyone can offer me.

But if you are so insistent on attempting to help, I shall use your life energy to replace what I have lost, understood? [Unlike before, he's not bluffing-- he is entirely sure of this, and he will take energy in order to replenish his own.]

[That sounds...not great. No. No, it sounds downright terrifying.]

I don't...think...my, uh, life energy will help you much. It's not magic. It's just blood. [He raises his hands and starts backing away.] Maybe...Maybe we find another merchant? Huh? She clearly just wants you dead, so...maybe let's find someone nicer and I can help you negotiate that deal.

[Disgusted, he releases the man. Honestly, he would just say that it doesn't matter if one isn't magic, he has his own that would more than make up for it. But Sidurgu has absolutely no interest in telling a stranger the intricacies of the dark arts.]

I prefer just leaving the idea altogether. Who knows what sort of trouble you would get me into.

Me? Get you in trouble? You're basically trouble incarnate. I don't even know why I stopped to try and help you...

[He does know why. He stopped to try and make a better impression than last time. Or have this guy owing him one. That'd be nice...But no, he's managed to do none of that.]

What's up with wanting the hard stuff, anyways?

Why wouldn't one want something much harder? [Meaning, oblivion.] Better than the weak pieces they have outside.

[Now Sidurgu just sounds... tired. Before he locks it up and draws his prickly nature around him like much better armour than his cuirass, much better weapon than his greatsword.

He doesn't look it but being here is draining. He had so much to worry about back in Eorzea, what with his ward and his companion, the charges and trials they face and the little stories he heard of just what the warrior was doing. And he cant do anything while he's here.]

Well, the mulled wine tastes terrific. Don't you at least want to enjoy your drinks? The stronger the stuff is, the more it tastes like rocket fuel.

[Not that Rhys was much of a connoisseur. In college, he'd been lucky to get into any keg parties. Working for Hyperion, he'd had to stick to the bars designated for lower-level employees. And on Pandora, he'd...well, he'd made an ass of himself the one and only time he'd had the local brew. He's a lightweight, and he knows it.]

[Those words right there are the words of a lightweight. Sidurgu has spent many waking hours in a tavern-- he knows the type. And he just has to roll his eyes because of course he's saddled with such a person. Just his luck, isn't it?]

If I wanted to drink for the taste, I would partake of one of the many bottles of actual wine or spiced rum about.

Would have, rather than attempted to deal with that woman and had you enter the situation once more with your rear end first.

Jeez, what crawled up your ass? [He asks it quietly, to himself. He knows he isn't wanted, but the thought of giving up and leaving the dragon guy alone reminds him of any and every time he ever left Vaughn alone...Not that this guy's anything like Vaughn...This guy's tall, angry, and really unpleasant. Really, the guy's more like Zer0, if Zer0 were only half as awesome.

Rhys shouldn't be trying to relate this guy to any of his friends back home, but he misses them.]

Spiced rum is probably better than whatever this lady's offering~ C'mon, let's go find you something better. [Against his better judgement, Rhys takes the guy's elbow and tries to tug him along.]

[This situation is much like a tiny cat trying to make a large, sleepy dog move by pulling on its ear-- utterly ineffectual. In fact, Sidurgu doesn't even move, when he's much larger. He might not be in his heavy plate armour any longer and is no longer weighed down by such, but he is still several times the Hyur's build.

He doubts this noodle-thin man could even drag around someone shorter than himself.]

Have you ever even had spiced rum? [No, Sidurgu is not budging. Rhys is just stuck in that awkward little walking cycle of his.]

[Rhys can feel exactly how futile his attempt is, but he continues trying. What's this dragon guy made of? Cement? Steel? Did he have bone waste and need a cyberskeleton replacement? He grunts and even slips a little as he continues trying to get the man to move.]

Yes...It's...really nice. [After a second time almost losing his balance, Rhys gives up and huffs at the man.] Is having fun against the law where you're from or something?

Yes.

[Simple, and delivered with a flat tone. Sidurgu is not joking at all. Ishgard was... not a pleasant place to grow up or rear children, given how strongly the Holy See controlled its populace. Though much of his upbringing was also due to his rigid training and revenge-driven mindset.

So no, fun had never been something all that important for Sidurgu.]

But I at least know how to drink. [Unlike some people, he does not say but inplies clearly with the look he gives the Hyur. Then he takes some measure of pity on the man and begins to walk.]

[...Well, that was unexpected. Rhys feels a little bad for the guy. No wonder he's so angry. He walks alongside the guy, keeping an eye out for a similarly-colored lit space to find the good alcohol.]

All right, clearly, you need someone to show you how to lighten up. We obviously got off on the wrong foot earlier, so let's...start with names? My name's Rhys.

[He never thought he'd have to do the awkward first-day-of-college introductions again, but here they are.]

[Rhys-- typical Hyur name, he knows this much even if he's more used to Elezen ones-- is assuming a lot about him. Honestly, he doesn't need to know how to "lighten up" because that wont do him any good.

Still, if he can get the idiot drunk to oblivion and abandon him quickly, he'll play along.]

Sidurgu.

[The alcohol, at least, is not too far away, and Sidurgu makes a beeline right for it, uncaring if Rhys is still hanging off of his elbow. He merely grabs a bottle, yanks the cork out of it, and sniffs.]

Spiced rum indeed.

Sidurgu...[The syllables feel strange in his mouth. This guy has to be from a Bunkers n' Badasses campaign. No doubts, now.] And you're from where, exactly? This planet, or..?

[Of course, he's more interested in learning about the dragon man--Sidurgu--than drinking. Hot cider and mulled wine were enough for him. Though, he might try to keep pace if the other man offers some.]

Do I look like I'm from here? [Given most everyone else is a head shorter than him and don't have the same general features... that's rhetorical.

Then Sidurgu shakes his head and hands the smaller man the bottle of spiced rum before taking another for himself. He will be drinking straight from the bottle, because he's entirely too impatient to care about finding himself a glass or a tankard.]

I'm from some place else entirely. 'Twould not matter if I were to name it, for you wouldn't know in any case.

I'm from another planet, too. How'm I supposed to know who's from this planet and who isn't? [Rhys pouts, but takes the bottle he's offered and uncaps it. If Sidurgu's drinking straight from the bottle, so will he.

That first pull is a doozy, though. He coughs a little at the slight burn as it goes down.]

Sure has a kick to it, huh~? Is this what you normally drink?

[Sidurgu grumbles something awfully like "lightweight" before turning around and leaning his bulk against the counter. But given it only comes up to his hip, he has to raise his tail and let it rest on the surface rather than have the base of it pinned in an uncomfortable position.]

I prefer the harder drinks. [Well, obviously, given what he was trying to do earlier for some godsdamned scotch.]

But you obviously do not. Why you posture, I do not know. [Punctuated with a point towards Rhys, with the hand holding his bottle of spiced rum. To emphasize his point, he takes a long drink and doesn't even wince.

... Actually, he frowns. It's rather weak.]

[He's posturing because that's just the way things are done. Fake it 'til you make it. But he can't just come right out and admit that.]

Hey, this rum is nice! A little rough, sure, but I bet it would go really well in a cup of eggnog. I wonder if we can find some of that...

[The larger man does look a little silly with his tail perched up on the counter. One would think that if this place took everyone by choice, the inhabitants would've prepared for Sid. A big chair or two, maybe.]

Is your bed too small, too? [He's mostly teasing, but he's also a little curious.]

[Lightweights, really. And he's seeking eggnog as well, the things Ishgardian nobles would like whenever the eternal winter gets too cold. Sidurgu himself has had to help his master make such, spiked with spice rum, even if he never developed a taste for it.

With a grumble, he pushes off of the counter, and starts making his way around, beckoning for Rhys to follow him as he takes another swig of rum. Hopefully there is still some eggnog around, because Sidurgu really would rather not have to make it himself.

It's just such a pain in the arse.]

Don't bother yourself with my comfort-- I'm used to dealing with objects made for the smaller folk.

Edited 2018-12-11 06:13 (UTC)

[Rhys follows him around the counter, opening a refrigerator and giving a tiny little fist pump when he finds exactly what he wants sitting inside. He pulls it out, then grabs a glass to mix his beverage up in.]

You want a glass? Grumpy guy like you could use a little holiday cheer~

[Without waiting for an answer, he grabs another glass and mixes one for Sid.] This stuff is the best snow-day pick-me-up~

Ugh, gods, no. [Sidurgu pulls back from the drink, despite being much taller than Rhys. It's the principle of the thing-- he hates eggnog, especially when it's been mixed with other drinks. Reminds him too much of his younger days, and the hypocritical priests who love it so much.

And it's terrible, besides.]

I had enough of that when I was younger!

More for me, then~ [He shrugs and pulls the glass to his lips for a drink, making an obnoxiously pleased-sounding sigh when he stops.]

Wait, how much younger? How old are you? Are you saying they let you drink as a kid, or..? [Another barrage of questions. He's absolutely fascinated with his new frenemy. Sid obviously comes from a much different world, so Rhys feels he needs to learn what he can while he can.]

[That just makes Sidurgu roll his eyes again. Eggnog is still so disgusting to him nowadays.]

Eggnog and spiced rum is a common and beloved concoction whence I came. Except I never developed a taste for it. [No, he preferred sweets as a child. And hard liqour as an adult.

And indeed, he's ignoring the other questions in favour of drinking down the last of his bottle and reaching for something else in a glass-- this time some mulled wine. He sniffs it, and it's... acceptable. All of these drinks are so close to what the Ishgardians enjoy all-year round, but one can never go wrong with alcohol.]