the_last_resort | Blackmoon Celebration

The shopkeepers are taking advantage of the larger crowds that the Blackmoon event draws in. Holiday sales announcements are displayed in windows in bright colors, and many of the streets are temporarily closed to vehicles so the merchants have set up booths outside their shops to catch the attention of foot traffic. Travelling vendors have flown in from nearby quadrants and the streets are lined with tables offering everything from cheap spider toys that squeak when you squeeze them in the right place to onyx cabochon jewelry ringed with gold in imitation of the eclipse. Food carts dot the area, selling to hungry tourists. All around are people shouting, talking, laughing, haggling. And every merchant would very much like to sell you something.

Pugsy isn’t cheerful (Pugsy is never cheerful), but the intoxicating beverages are pouring fast at the bar. The profits are good, but the eclipse brings out the lunatic in people and he’s expecting at least one bar fight before the celebrations are over. F'nayalip and Joe's have hired a few extra servers and have an enormous display of pies freshly baked and ready to sell. The Petal and Stamen brothel is offering discounts to anyone wearing a traditional spider mask and many of the escorts have painted their faces with web designs.

The parade is heard before it’s seen. Six drummers banging in practiced unison. Then come the ribbon bearers, carrying sticks with long paper streamers tied to them. They rustle and hiss in mimicry of the sound of spiders, the silver streamers themselves like webs.

And then following behind are the spider dancers, four people in each of the many spiders, each of the four making the legs, the head, the thorax move and bounce with the beat of the drums. The music swells dramatically, and then, at a climactic moment -- POP! Hissssssss. Streamers burst forth from the "spiders" into the crowd. Locals and tourists alike shriek with surprise and glee, and children duck to scoop up candy tied to the ends of the streamers.

The parade will repeat this performance as it progresses down the street.

Enjoying one of the nights on a rooftop? At another high vantage point? Trying to get away from the noise? It's beautiful and quiet, and you can almost see distant nebula off in the starry darkness and the passing of ships as they streak by the world. You can also see over the fence, hear the turrets going off occasionally. It's not surprising because the spiders are being especially active.

Occasionally, though, there might be something unclear and distant moving strangely out there in the moonlight. Only for a moment or two, though before it's gone again. Maybe the spiders act a little strangely during the eclipse. Still, no one is allowed outside the fence, so it's impossible to check.

The resort has made a show of the celebration this year because they want to earn the attention of their prestigious guests. The newcomers are very much invited, of course. They're warned everything for them is still for free, but someone might want to come up to them and talk to them about their world. Tonight they're part of the entertainment as well as partaking of it. Just try not to get physical if you don't want to deal with it or security (NPC or otherwise) will escort you out.

At least to make up for it, the food that's being prepared on the open grills and that's set out is very good. There is likely something to everyone's tastes here. The drinks range from refreshing to the most smooth intoxicating beverages you can imagine.

It's well lit, with strings of light (not lights, but lit string) that resemble webbing. Though everything will be turned down when the eclipse is at its height and the stars will be at their brightest.

-Make up your own.-

[Boone is out by the fence with a bottle of whiskey and a cigarette between his lips, sitting on the grass and watching the turrets take care of the spiders. He's had a fair bit to drink, and is feeling pretty relaxed sitting here. The celebrations were interesting at first, but after a while all the noise bothered him. The merchants trying to shove goods in his face irritated him, and he only bought a ball with eight rubber legs because he figured he could give it to Rex. He's pulling the legs off now, not really seeing the point in them.

Rex isn't with him tonight. The noise and people might have confused him. He's a good dog, but trained to attack anything that looks threatening. He might've attacked the "spiders" in the parade. He probably would've tried to attack the spiders behind the fence too, and Boone doesn't have any means of keeping him away from them. Occasionally, Boone thinks he sees something else out there, but then he blinks or breathes out smoke and it's gone or it's just a spider.]

[Kay has a cup of coffee, and he's just standing there. Watching. Waiting. Taking swigs of it and generally being as useless as fuzz on a bee's ass.]

[Well, that's not quite right. He's not useless because he's standing there doing both his jobs. He's watching to make sure no one starts a ruckus, keenly aware of the blaster nestled in his suit jacket, and chatting up the ambassadors. Neither of which are a far cry from home, so he fits right in.]

[He taps his hand against his mouth and yawns finally, sort of just waiting it out until the big moment. Coffee's apparently not doing the best job but he's being a pro and hanging in there.]

What you got there?

[He points to the gradually dismembered spider. This comes out sounding more like "wotchoo got dere" when Niko says it, and he figures he knows Boone well enough at this point he can pass up the pleasantries when saying hi. Less words involved for him, after all.]

[He actually doesn't have vodka, for once. He has an ale of some sort. It smells strong and like one of those things that come from a family operation, not that Boone would be able to tell that. Just something very mildly sweet on the odor would be obvious, a little rich too. It's not clear.]

[Hell knows what sort of magic space grain they used to make it from.]

[He sits by him so he can see through the fence, just noting that Boone is enjoying this show more.]

[He glances over as Niko sits down, and holds up the ball. It has about three legs left, and makes a sorry-looking spider.]

Ball. Got it for Rex, but the legs were in the way so I was taking them off.

[He can smell the ale as Niko sits down, and wrinkles his nose a little.]

What're you drinking?

[Una's got a drink in one hand and a cigarette in the other, and is going about making small talk and glad-handing the guests—nothing too intrusive or annoying, just getting the measure of who's who and what they're about. To someone who doesn't know her—i.e. probably everyone else there—she comes across as pretty, frivolous, and probably a bit drunk. In fact only the first is true.]

[Smiley's way home has been blocked by the parade.

He puts up with it in quiet, patient suffering, all the way through the business with the streamers. As small children push past him and revelers elbow him casually in their passage, he pauses to disentangle a streamer that has somehow gotten caught in his glasses.]

[He sits down the bottle and with a contemplative expression he picks up two of the legs off the ground. It's ale.] It's ah, do they have any left around during your time? [Then after looking at those legs for long enough, sticks them in his ears, and purses up his lips at Boone as though he has buck-teeth, and wiggles his index fingers on either side of his mouth in his best quick spider impression. Then he pulls them out and resumes default "too-hard" face.]

He'll probably like that.

[Narvin has been taking advantage of the celebrations to poke his nose in here and there about town, eavesdropping in on conversations, staring at the fence and pondering what--besides spiders--might be out beyond it. Terrorists? Criminals? Something else? At least the weapon turrets should keep them away from the town for tonight.

Still, if it is terrorists, a celebration like this would be a perfect target. The thought has him paranoid and on edge and he gives each ambassador an assessing gaze in turn, wondering if any of them might be in on it. He sees nothing.

But if an attack does happen, he decides that wants to be near someone well-armed when it happens. Therefore, he sidles up to Kay.]

Is everything secure?

[Crowds are useful, good for hiding in, for listening, but there's only so much of them that Narvin can take. And so after a few hours he wanders away from the celebrations and lights for a breath of peace and quiet.

He wasn't expecting to run into anyone else, but Boone is tolerable company, so instead of creeping away Narvin approaches.]

Boone.

[He says in greeting.]

Getting out some pent up aggression against those blasted spiders?

[He nods towards the dismembered toy spider.]

Yup.

[That's all he says to start out with, holding his coffee and watching people mill around the gardens. Nothing bad has happened so far, so it's sort of a boring, bland regard.]

Enjoying yourself?

[Like the classiest of individuals, Niko comes strolling out of Blackway's notable brothel dusting his hands off. Eh. It isn't like he can go out beyond the fence, and it's something to do that occupied an hour of his time and keep his head from straying (though he sort of wishes it went more quickly for the sake of his wallet).]

[He's trying to make the most of it. Everything is interesting and alien and loud all over again, bright and shining. On this end of town, people are grittier, more real to him. He likes it better. But he's still on an endless hunt for real distraction instead of flash to keep his mind from wandering and he checks the time because the sun is useless right now.]

[He doesn't have to be home to feed his animals for a little while. That's not something he has to worry about.]

[So he just idly sits on his speeder thing, some sleek looking model that looks more fit to weave between trees, and rests one foot up on a footrest and one hand on the handlebars as he considers where to go.]

[Narvin doesn't notice Smiley in the crowd. Right now he's intent on looking for someone who appears out of place, or nervous. He's scanning the people, some jostling to see the parade others pushing their way through the assembled masses. Smiley, in contrast, appears normal, a face dismissed as nobody of importance.

If there is a terrorist, Narvin hasn't spotted a likely suspect yet, but his eyes continue to dart ceaselessly hither and thither as he watches the proceedings with not even a pretense of enjoyment on his features.]

I can't say that I am.

Parties aren't my idea of a good time. [And he's already managed to mildly offend two ambassadors who tried to strike up conversation with him.]

Edited (word choice change) 2014-07-12 02:33 (UTC)

Hm. [He just makes a thoughtful noise at that, but can sort of tell.] You know you don't gotta be here if you don't want to. I kinda have to, as it's my job. But I'm guessin' it can wear someone like you out.

No, I need to be here to...

[Watch for terrorists. But he wasn't security. As Kay kept reminding him.]

...

[Lying routine activated: searching for a plausible lie.]

...sample the dactyl eggs. I heard that the resort ordered some for the occasion.

So you won't try pie, the majority of the ingredients contained within washed and not formed from high protein animals that can collect third or fourth tier toxins from their role in the food chain, but you do want to try something that came out of a flying lizard's ass?

[Kay gives him a look like, come on. Try harder. At least his terrible lies he rattles off without second thought. He has a feeling Jay would have outright laughed in Narvin's face.]

[Narvin isn't terribly interested in trinkets. But he is interested in people and what they're up to. So he walks around the shopping district, occasionally pretending to glance at some bauble or another, and is keeping his eyes and ears open for anything suspicious. All his nerves are on edge, wondering if or when another bomb will go off.]

Edited 2014-07-12 05:58 (UTC)

They're a Gallifreyan delicacy!

[But when Kay describes them like that...maybe he doesn't want to eat them. Ever again.]

[A hand clad in a fingerless driving glove reaches out to catch the streamer, catching it in his grip until it's disentangled. And that hand is connected to a lanky limb that's attached on the opposite end to stupidly grinning Serb who's hard face hasn't ever been made for smiling like a reasonable person. At least, despite finding it funny that somehow the spider has managed to catch Smiley in his "web", he is helping.]

How did you manage this? [He asks with a laugh.]

[He's finally relatively well dressed. A light gray turtleneck and a dark suit that make him look a little like an Eastern European Steve McQueen if his nose was a little kinder to him in size and his ears didn't stick out just a touch too far.]

[Wander is grateful for his part-time job at Braska's shop, because otherwise he wouldn't have enough money to buy all the alien food and trinkets he wanted and fully enjoy the festival. He passes by a few jewelry vendors, lamenting that his funds would not be enough to buy the nicest ones, but never forgetting to compliment the merchants for their handiwork. Most of them give a curt reply, but none of them are interesting in any sort of conversation beyond that. No matter. Even if he could buy their goods, he didn't know anyone here who loved jewelry.

A booth selling spider-themed goods does catch his attention, however. A stuff spider doll, nearly Wander's size, is the first thing he notices; it reminds him or another violent spider-like creature back home that he wanted to keep as a pet before it tried to kill him. It would be a better idea to buy it later to allow for time to heave that thing back to him room. What he does buy now, however, is a realistic spider mask meant for children which fits on Wander's head perfectly.

As he turns from the stall, he notices Narvin walking down the road in his direction. He hasn't talked with him much since he got here, right? That has to be amended! Still wearing the spider mask, he starts to make his way down the path, quickly dodging pedestrians .

Realizing that Narvin might have turned down another road or stopped to buy something, Wander finds an unused box by one of the booths and climbs onto it to scan the crowd. Is he still nearby?

Blackmoon Celebration

In Blackstaff

Parade

Get Away From it All

The Resort Celebration

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For Wander

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