station72 | PARTY PARTY PARTY

CHARACTERS: Everyone!
WHERE: The streets of Concordia
WHEN: Dusk til just before dawn on DAY 040
SUMMARY: IT'S A PARADE
WARNINGS: Add them to your top levels as necessary etc etc

As from the calendar:

Confetti! It's a parade! The annual Arista Parade, to be precise. Nominally a part of Aristana, the celebration of the ribbons of life, it's a holiday who's origins are nearly forgotten. Nowadays it's a big, raucous celebration pretty dedicated much entirely to drinking and partying. Almost all those in attendance will be wearing ribbons tied around their hair, their wrists, off of their belts and the edges of their sleeves. Pull one off, and you will be rewarded with a kiss - on the cheek, usually. The parade itself showcases a number of performers, costumes, and moving art pieces. It's route covers a number of the main streets of town (which will be closed, sorry traffic), and it lasts from dusk till nearly dawn on DAY :040. Have fun, if it's your kind of scene.

From the mods:

No notable NPCs are present at the parade - at least not in any official capacity. However if anyone wants to interact with a Concordian native, feel free to make up/interact with any randos you feel like!

Feel free to use this log for all of your parade day activities!

*moving art piece not included, original characters do not steal

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[It's not that Lexa's people are without celebrations. It's more that their celebrations come with a sense of solemnity. Even on Ascension Day, they gather with a sense of seriousness carrying in every step to celebrate the Flame and the progression of their people. They manage to survive so long that it's worth celebrating. Still: their songs are slower, more serious, their dispositions are darker, and they're unaccustomed to such things.

That doesn't mean they don't know about the lighter, more jovial versions. Within the villages, people are more likely to take to happier times. Lexa recalls some of them from youth. And she's read about some of them in books. Still, when this parade is announced and it seems that the other Hosts are interested in going, she has to take the time to research what is appropriate.

When she shows up, it does seem like she's worked it out: her hair is done up with black and silver ribbons, and the rest of the ribbons are worn as obvious accessories. She wears a long, slender and dark green dress, as well as a great deal of eye makeup, thick mascara, eyeshadow that extends beyond her eyes. It is the mesh of this world's culture and her own that is apparent, but she wears it proudly. In getting her braids done with ribbons, she did have to seek someone who would assist her in that and paid for it, but she has chosen not to turn her back on this luxury. (A shallower, simpler part of her wishes she could have always had this choice; it's not something she's bound to admit to other people, but it's obvious in how she carries herself.)

As the night goes on, the following will be happening:

a) she will be drinking, though careful to take what she imbibes. She is grateful that the symbiote curbs some of the heavier effects of alcohol, but she might be a little less inhibited as time goes on.

b) Her watching performers with keen interest.

c) There will be times in which she may be looking for suspicious people of interest, as it's not like her to let her guard down entirely. While her mind won't be thinking this way, any of the other Hosts will likely get the sense that she isn't relaxing as much as she probably should be.

d) There will be few who are able to take her ribbons, and any attempts will be met with her grabbing that person's wrist roughly and turning it back on them. She won't break any bones, but there will likely be some bruising left behind. Anyone might see her do this—or if it's a member of the Nest who thinks she's relaxing, they might be on the receiving end of it. Sorry, buds, she's not here to give out unwanted kisses.

or e) Wildcard options! Want to encourage Lexa to drink, dance, or live a little? Want to see Lexa when she's actually drunk? She's in her early twenties, but she probably hasn't had actual fun that didn't involve punching someone for a ... long time.]

What are celebrations like, where you come from?

[ This question, he knows, has no bearing on their mission. It is personal, not professional. A lowering of a guard constantly held at the ready, and the abject awareness that of all people, he stands at Lexa's side and asks her to mirror him, might be folly to some. But, tucked into the alcove formed by a shopfront that sells - looking glasses? something sleek, highly technical and beyond his cursory knowledge, there is a reprieve that could be found where there otherwise might not be one. Anonymity, in the crowd.

He keeps a place within his mind open, to show her he has no ulterior motive, in asking her this. He could as easily ask the question of Bellamy, or Murphy. He asks her. ]

[Will this be a political conversation or one full of curiosity and little more? Lexa's eyes move toward him with the question, and she studies him for a long moment. There are few secrets to her gaze: she is clearly considering him, eyes focused and steady, especially with the knowledge she's gained since their last conversation. Knowing how he chooses to push the buttons of those around the Nest has given her some insight. It means he can still be a valuable ally; it also means that he is all too eager to see what might just happen for the sake of it happening.

(She assumes that is his reason for enabling Kylo Ren, among other things. Lexa doesn't perceive it as personal interest.)

When her lips part, it's clear that she's obscured an answer from him to her findings, but that she's acting on it just the same.]

It depends on where you mean. I was raised in a village up to a certain age, and then left to train as their commander.

[ Once more, she's scrutinizing. Looking him over, looking for something that will allow her to best tailor her answer. A suitable venture, considering who she speaks with - he does the same in regards to her, as she's as sharp a blade as any leader worth their weight. And there, she's given him to options. A childhood, a commandership. He assumes he's to choose one of them, and as he does not not know her the way those from her world might. ]

Did you celebrate much, as a commander?

[ He'd have thought there'd be a distance in that. ]

When our Enemy came to take me, it was the Ascension Day. It's the day my people celebrate as the starting point of who we were, when our first commander came down from the sky above. It's a solemn holiday, where we celebrate how we've survived for so long. I celebrated six of them before I'd come here. [And on the sixth, she would either die or be taken, just after allowing herself to be less distant, at least from one person.

Some part of her knew that her changes would usher in problems for her, but she never imagined what it would be.]

What about your culture? [It isn't a diversion; instead, she's merely curious about what he has to say.]

As we all must remember where we came from. Even if you - came from the sky?

[ It's a celebration even he, foreign as he is to Lexa's world, could understand. Looking back on a long history, respecting the struggles of those who came before. It's the thing about the sky that he becomes curious of. Something in Bellamy's mind, about the land and the sky. Something he had not looked deeply into. ]

Our most recent holiday was Maslenitsa. Where the nobility and the wealthy fed their people sweet breads and cakes, and the week was full of festivities like these. Freedom to drink, cavort, sometimes to fight - before the winter settled. On the last day, they would go to their saints and ask to be absolved of their actions during the year.

Not from the sky. Only Becca did, and the other Nightbloods were waiting for her. My people developed on the ground and will remain on the ground. [Even if she is not with them, this is a fact that will remain true. Mentally, culturally, and everything in-between marks her as a person who grew up on Earth. There is nothing else to be said for it. That she's here now and in a position to travel through space speaks to the lack of scope she has for their circumstances, and how much she's scrambling to overcome that.

(And has succeeded in some ways. Others, less.)

Either way, it's apparent that her point is one of clarification, said as much before she presses on:]

Why would your people need to be absolved? It sounds as if they are making excuses for what they've done. [It's not that she hasn't read about religions, it's just that it feels ... foolish. Cowardly.]

PARTY PARTY PARTY

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