4th Wall Event

[travelagency]

Who: Various
What: 4th Wall Event
When: M12 D3-D5 (on Mar 7 - 15)
Where: Around Blackway and Blackstaff
Notes & Warnings: Please attach any warnings necessary to thread subjects. This does count for game canon. All 4th wall threads go here, and information is available on OOC and news. The game's navigation is here.


Welcome, ladies, gentlemen, intersexed, androgynes, robots, energy beings, and life forms of all kinds. I am Jeffers, your servant, host, and resort AI.

Let me extend gratitude to you all on behalf of the entire community for agreeing to come and render service in the wake of our unfortunate incident with spontaneously frictionless surfaces. Your assistance in rebuilding is greatly valued.

Visitors, I encourage you to speak with the other Imports. Imports, I ask you to help our guests enjoy their stay.

Please consult with any terminal or one of my android drone avatars if you have any questions that cannot be answered by the residents. I most sincerely hope you find your time at Blackstaff a pleasant one.

• For those of you who enjoy “fun” [Jeffers says as if he’s not sure that any of this really qualifies as fun in his book], Mr. Jellicles’ Emporium requires extensive repair. There are broken windows and bottles hither and thither, and do be careful of the broken glass; we wouldn’t want any further injuries. Broken arcade games must be fixed. Furniture repaired, or, if it is beyond hope, taken away. And small, colourful plastic balls are scattered asunder and must be gathered up to be relocated into a “fun cage,” but worse and far more deadly are the skiballs and bowling balls. I must insist no one drop one of those on one’s own or another’s foot


• The local restaurants require new food to be brought in. Because of the quarantine, food shortage is somewhat of a danger, therefore any food will do, but I for one would especially appreciate champagne and truffles. In addition, new dishes must be unpacked, furniture repaired, and cooking areas cleaned. I expect the cooking areas to be able to pass the most rigorous of health inspections once the cleaning is finished. Not that we have a ministry of health and safety here, but it is the principle of the thing.


• With the clinic having been overwhelmed by recent events, they are currently understaffed to handle the full scope of injuries. Assistance treating the wounded and the ill would be a very great help. Do note that only persons with appropriate physician or nursing qualifications will be able to assist patients with direct care. It would not be at all appropriate to have, for example, vehicle mechanics performing surgery. Unless perhaps the patient is a sentient robot car. Then the clinic will make an exception. Many other tasks are available for other volunteers who desire clinic duties, however. In particular, wounded patients may require assistance retrieving personal items, sending messages, or returning home. Furthermore, as always, the clinic would be grateful to receive donations of medicines from your homeworld


• The loss of friction created an extensive mess around town and I so dislike messes. I would like it very much if knocked over displays were righted, broken glass cleared, and disabled vehicles removed from the streets. Let’s have a nice, tidy village, shall we? Furthermore, some residents misplaced pets during the hullaballoo and would very much like them found and returned. (Not to mention the havoc stray beasts are having on the songbird population.) Shelves in various shops must be restocked with new, unbroken merchandise, and many storefronts and signs are in need of general repair.

---

And with Jeffers announcement to the population, the town was opened up to anyone willing to help. Some of the citizens who had tended towards suspicion towards imports for some time (an as-of-yet unidentified one took part in sabotage against the town) have changed their views and are now extremely welcoming, offering whatever they can to in return for the help they're getting from the visiting imports.

While the guests are here, they have free rein of the village, and even visiting the wilderness if they have a permit. First they must be instructed on how to defend themselves against the planet's hostile species. A guide is still recommended, but with the busy schedule one is not absolutely essential.

Comments

[theugly]

His eyes were fixed on Visscher again, only now his brows had tipped up in the middle, leaving him looking a guilty dog.

"That's too bad," he said weakly, letting the words hang there for several uncomfortable seconds. "But I, uh... I just meant this place, it's a pigsty. Maybe you used to somewhere with fewer pricks. Something... I don't know..." He sat up and reached for his shirt collar. Mimed straightening some kind of tie, then let his hands drop again, fingers curling in on each other.

"Sorry." He actually looked away as he said it, as if meeting a man's eyes and apologizing at the same time was a step too far somehow.

[frontier_doktor]

"I've seen places with well-dressed, wealthy people that were much more impressive pigstys than this, Tuco. The quality of a person isn't in how much money they have. I'm no better than anyone here- I just know how to fix people when they hurt and this is probably a place where a lot of people need mending."

He did have a good heart, even if he was a little afraid of talking, and the last thing he wanted was for someone to feel guilty for being nice to him.

As if to make it up, he downed those next two drinks and shook off the bitter taste, as if to prove his point.

[theugly]

He glanced over briefly, then let his gaze sink back down to his hands. Pulled at one of his cuticles, humming in a bland, noncommittal kind of way. "Maybe," he said slowly, "But it's better to bump into Tuco when he got twenty dollars in his hand than when you looking at a man with empty pockets."

His words had barely settled when he shook his head with a kind of bovine twitch, eyes snapping up again like he was worried. Only he didn't exactly look worried, a convincing half-smile having fallen into place as he leaned his head to gesture across to their florid companion. "I tell you one thing, friend: you keep drinking like that, puerco over there is going to need plenty of mending."

[frontier_doktor]

"And I certainly will do so. As I have no intention of harming anyone. But he is making his own poor choice and I'll let him learn the hard way first."

And, bewildered, someone from the other end of the bar is ordering Visscher yet another drink. Which he throws back thoughtlessly. And he only looks the slightest bit tipsy, like he's storing the stuff to use over time like a camel.

[theugly]

With every glass knocked back, Visscher further diluted Tuco's sense of pity; the secondhand embarrassment had been replaced by disbelief, and he was left wondering whether he'd found himself watching the beginnings of a miracle. It was a nice idea—after all, it was either that, or he was just sitting by as some shy doctor was bullied into slowly killing himself.

"I don't know how much he's going to learn," he said, signalling for another top up of his own. "Five more, he's going to swallow his tongue."

[frontier_doktor]

The man did indeed look much further along than Visscher, heavy lidded and wobbling, piggish nose twitching unhappily. And then he went face first onto the bar.

Visscher watched what liquid was left in his glass, swirling it around carelessly, before offering it to Tuco. Then he rose with one wobbling step and went over to the man. Scanned him. Took out a packet of tea and left it on the bar with a pat.

"Tell him to drink this when he wakes up. It should help with the headache." And then he returned to Tuco's side. "Bartender, I would like a second water, please."

[theugly]

Tuco's shoulders jerked as the man's face mashed onto the counter. He looked startled, then annoyed, his features stretching and squashing with the realization that it's a lot harder to start bets when one of the two competitors is unconscious.

He took the offered glass, spared it the briefest of glances and drained it. Was busy clearing his throat loudly when Visscher returned to his side again.

"Very kind," he said, nodding towards the packet of tea. "But very wasted, too. He's never going to thank you, friend."