thespherelogs | (no subject)

Who: Everyone
What: The open July log.
When: The month of July.
Where: All over.
Notes: N/A

July Open Log

Time to shine, sparkle and become renewed.

So the fighting has finished, the filtering system is turned back on and the water has retreated. Of course, all that water rushing in and having been there for so long means that there is a giant mess in most parts of the Sphere, where water alternated between coming up to one’s ankles, all the way to one’s knees. Even the smaller private domes were affected with lesser amounts of water, leaving dirt and sediment and kelp behind along with an assortment of other sea life.

Now we all remember what happened last time something grew inside the Sphere right? Thankfully, there’s been a fair amount of supplies that have been accrued, and it involves gloves, face masks and a good damn amount of bleach to go with those large scrub brushes. There’s also huge pails of soapy water that are used to clean up things from the bleach. Everything is wet and it smells a bit like an indoor swimming pool, but it’s definitely safer to be safe than sorry.

So pick up a brush and pitch in. Those who do may find a little extra something from the Council delivered to their homes in a basket. Those who don’t may find themselves a little bit on the Council’s unofficial shitlist. And given that Max runs the Black Market, it’s not a great place to find yourself. Maybe you were sort of shoved towards this and were doing it haphazardly. Maybe you give a damn. Either way, food and water will come to you, and everyone will be better once this place is cleaned up.

Or so people keep telling ya anyway.

about that bucket of water that you’re wearing.

Of course, if there’s one thing that history and eighties movies have taught us, it’s that where there’s giant buckets of soapy water around, and hoses, and big sponges, then there’s bound to be one thing that happens: a water fight. And a big one at that. Kids (or kids at heart) have been not so subtlety wandering around with buckets filled with cold water, or sponges dipped in them and a few of them have hoses. There’s no bleach in them thankfully (because it’s all fun and games until someone gets a chemical burn) but the water fight is a good way to let off some of the tension that the folks in the Sphere have been getting up too.

So are you a victim, or are you a perpetrator. Do you care either way? But it doesn’t matter because this fight is huge and when there’s this much water flying around, there really isn’t any space for anyone to be a bystander here. Sorry.

with a suitcase full of summertime

Do y’all know what we happened to miss while we were underwater?! The summer solstice. And once things are all cleaned and cleared up, your resident summertime goddess ain’t gonna let it pass without knowing it, and it’s something the inhabitants of the Sphere take to like ducks to water. Wine and dancing is flowing all around and there’s a few fiddlers and jazz musicians dancing around. Because when the queen of the underworld prods ya gently, you get up and do it.

As the night and people’s alcohol levels rise, people start to become more daring with the fire. After all, everything is all cleaned but probably still slightly damp from what had happened, so there’s no problem with people swinging poi around, or using hula hoops set alight. There are even some among us who happen to be going out and jumping over bonfires in order to create good luck for the new year to great cheers of the people around them.

and baby you should see me in a (flower) crown

Do you know what else is a thing during this? Flower crowns. There are tons of flower crowns and various people are sitting around and teaching people how to make their own. The materials, including fresh flowers of all varieties are scattered around the field in the agricultural dome, and people are sitting criss-cross applesauce in order to add ribbons to the stems. For those people who are loathe to wear them, it almost becomes a game for other people to plant them on those resilient folks heads. People use magic or guile or just plain old tossing them in order to make it so that they land on people’s heads. More than that, a group of people will audibly cheer each time one lands. (And of course jeer when they lose one.)

exploration: teeth and bones.

After what had happened, there really is no putting back the seals on the doors to the places that were opened up, even though the council has tried with some of them. There are some doors that are deemed too dangerous to let anyone go inside of (lava and ghosts are not good things to let loose inside the Sphere, no matter how fun it would be at the time) but the door in the infirmary (in the morgue) needs to be open for practical purposes. Which may not be great for people who work in the infirmary, but there it is.

Once people drop through a hatched hole in the floor of the morgue, there’s tunnels extended out for several hundred yards, into the dark. If you have a flashlight, it’s clear to see that here and there the walls are etched with Latin, carved into the stone of the tunnels themselves in what looks more than a little bit like scratches rather than anything that resembles tool marks. The words are repeated at first, over and over: ”cave veniunt!" And "ossa et dentibus illius ruminandum!" Along with the repeated: “cave.”

The skeletons inside are supposed to have been all taken care of, but you can’t help the uneasy feeling that moves down your neck in the darkness, or the way that you can swear you can hear more than a little bit of a hiss of bone. There are things discarded here on the floor of the hallway, gathering more value with the deeper that you go, but is it worth being down here in the dark with the dead for that?

let's go to the movies, let's go see the stars

So, Alex made a post, and then she went and badgered Max into giving them the money to do it, so in the middle of the merchant dome, a large screen has been set up, and there’s space for people to have blankets or chairs from home set up in front of the screen. Various vendors have set up carts or stalls here and there, selling the sort of foods that one would expect at the movies (popcorn, homemade candies, soda, juice, wine and beer, nachos and that sort of thing) along with some that one may not expect: (full curry dinners, burgers, basically a bit like a food truck festival. If you can imagine it it’s there.)

Before the movie, there’s cartoons running, some familiar, and some not, and this is an event that people have seemed to have taken to well. Children run around here taken with the idea for the movie, and it’s a fun, summery festive sort of atmosphere with a community vibe, despite the wine and beer for sale.

we're heckling! it's good to be heckling again!

Well, at least until the movie starts anyway. Groundhog Day has a fair bit wrong with it honestly, and people are taking notice of that. After all, it was from the 80s, a period that wasn’t exactly known for its political correctness or sensitivity. And there’s the small fact that Bill Murry is kind of the worst as well. So, there are some people who have taken issue with the movie that has been chosen. Those people are definitely taking the Mystery Science Theatre approach to this movie, while others are taking issue with them doing that.

So which crowd do you join? Are you watching the movie quietly? Are you joining in the hecklers? Either way, it definitely seems like a fun night out.

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[Enis lifts her shoulders in a shrug as if it isn't a big deal but she suddenly feels uncomfortable. There are so many things that she can do, things she claims are easy, but she only knows how they work in theory. She's never learned to cook or to clean or do anything else that might be classified under domestic skills.

Turns out theory and reality are not the same…]

I wasn't allowed to leave my room much growing up.

[They had a cleaning service though only certain people got to go into Enis's room and only while she was in surgery. She was her father's most coveted treasure.]

Thank you. [He gaze drops to the mop as she mimics his moments and begins to actually start cleaning the hall floor. She doesn't do a good job but she's trying.]

[At her explanation, Cole frowns, but continues to watch her work. Eventually he nods, crossing his arms.]

Okay, kid, don't worry about. You're, uh...you're doing great.

[She rolls her eyes at him.]

Don't patronize me and don't call me kid.

You are a kid and I'm not patronizing you.

[He motions toward the floor that is slowly getting less grimy.]

You're making a dent. That's good.

[Enis exhales a tired sigh as she looks down at the floor. Her boots are standing in an area of muddy water while the mop slowly gurgles it up to be rung out in the bucket. Enis feels as if this is an exercise of moving around the dirt until it's visibly gone verses actual cleaning.]

Why is it good?

You just got here. [She notices things.] So why do you care?

[He stopped what he was doing, raising an eyebrow.]

'Cause, if you haven't noticed, we're all stuck here, sister. You wanna roll around in the mud or clean it up?

[Enis bites back the first snarky remark that enters her thoughts and goes with the second.]

I've been told that some people like rolling around in the mud.

[He chuckles before reaching into the pack pocket of his jeans and pulling out a smoke.]

Speak for yourself, sister.

I am. To a degree.

[She flashes him a brief smile before continuing to mop the area.]

Is it break time already? I thought we were just getting started.

[Cole smirks as he takes another drag from his cigarette.]

No. You just started. I've been at it a while.

So now you're going to watch me suck at this?

[She isn't doing that badly but she isn't a perfect cleaner either. Her movements are at times messy but she's slowly getting the dirt up.]

[He takes a long drag from his cigarette.]

You know what they say about practice, sister.

It takes a lot of time?

[Enis retorts with a heavy dose of sarcasm.]

[He chuckles.]

Only if you suck at it. You're doin' a great job, though.

Thanks for the clarification.

[She doesn't sound like she cares.]

Do you often mop up people's floors?

I don't know if you noticed, sister, but they're our floors.

[Enis doesn't stop working but she does regard Cole seriously.]

Why do you say that?

'Cause we live here, whether we like it or not.

[He finishes his cigarette and tosses it in a nearby refuse pile after he puts it out.]

Let's get this done, alright?

Yes but living is temporary.

[The words are spoken in a way that suggests there is a deeper meaning to the remark but she doesn't elaborate.]

Sure. [Enis's attention drops back down to the area she's decided to try and clear. She's very content to work in silence.]

Sure. We could leave tomorrow. You wanna live in all this until you're gone, be my guest, sister, but it ain't gonna be on my block.

[And so is Cole, settling in to a rhythm himself.]

[Enis doesn't know what to say that doesn't heavily imply that she's dealt with worse.

So, she shuts up and works next to Cole is silence, pausing only to call Rhys and let him know that she isn't coming into work today.]