PARTY PARTY PARTY

[decommission]

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

Comments

[snaphiss]

[Mara is minding her own business, largely ignoring the most drunken knots in the crowd. She's not drinking anything, and is one of the few unadorned by ribbons. She sees a face in the half-light, and she recognizes it. One of the men who helped with Ilde's recent mission.]

[It's familiar from somewhere else as well. It's not as dark as before, and he tugs at her memory until she catches it-- he was one of the men present at Murphy's would be execution.]

[Anger flares in Mara, and it might be noticeable through the Nest's bond. She doesn't care. Mara goes over and quickly snatches one of the ribbons off the boy, but when he catches her eye, she doesn't look like she wants a kiss.]

We should talk. [Her voice is cold.]

so it begins.

[deployed]

[ The tug accompanying the loss of the ribbon draws Bellamy's attention, but his expression sobers as he meets Mara's gaze. He doesn't recognize her immediately, but he places her face from the flickers of thought he'd caught from Murphy and the accompanying sense of connection. His eyes move past her quickly, scanning the crowd. His first assumption isn't impending interpersonal conflict. That's probably a mistake. ]

Alright, [ he acquiesces, cautiously. ] We can talk.

[ His cup is mostly empty. Bellamy sets it down, turning fully away from both the dancers and the admirer who'd filched a ribbon before Mara had. Nothing in Mara's expression gives the impression she intends to wait. ]

Here?

[snaphiss]

[She quirks a brow.] If you intend to take me to a bar, the parade has gotten to your head.

[But if things end in a fight, she doesn't want to have to wrestle with him in the streets. She makes a motion that he should follow her, and leads them away from the action. Someone has set up a beer garden in an alleyway, festooned with tapestries, pillows instead of seats, curtains instead of walls. It's public instead of too public. She finds a seat in a closed off corner, and waits for Bellamy to get comfortable.]

Thank you for your help easier.

[She won't say any more about their involvement with Y in a setting where they're not secure, but she wants to let Bellamy know: You've been noticed.]

[deployed]

[ Is he supposed to be comfortable? The chill of her tone had knocked any aspirations of comfort out of him. He feels off balance; he's just tipsy enough to be at a disadvantage and aware of it. ]

You're welcome, [ Bellamy is of the same mind, tone clipped, avoidant. ] But I didn't do it to be thanked.

[ Though it might be impossible to have escaped notice no matter what. The Nest wasn't built for secrecy. ]

Is that what you wanted to discuss?

pretend i said 'earlier' up there jfc.

[snaphiss]

[Mara studies him, and finds an eager, canny man, someone wary in her presence. Good. She can use that.]

[She pauses a breath longer than necessary, savors the silence between words. Makes him wait, then says something innocuous. She doesn't mean to, but before she even really notices it, she's thinking of this like an Imperial interrogation, all guards, edges and tells.]

Do you know about John Murphy?

[The phrasing is perfectly vague. She wants to know what Bellamy Blake sees in the question.]

don't worry i understood what u meant

[deployed]

Know what about John Murphy?

[ As always, the first thing Bellamy's mind leaps to is Murphy's well being. It's an ingrained response. They both come from a world where disaster is commonplace. Bellamy hasn't made any progress in shaking that impression, though logically he knows that if Murphy were hurt his broodmate wouldn't be sitting here calmly needling Bellamy about it.

He takes a breath and meets Mara's gaze, riding out the urge to reach out and touch Murphy's mind for simple reassurance. ]

You'll have to be more specific.

[snaphiss]

[So he holds back, doesn't fall through at the first opportunity. Clever. She'd almost approve, if she didn't know he was a failed murderer.]

[Not that she has any intention of letting him know she knows that.]

Who he is. I'll admit, I find him... vexing. [So the next order of business, after the cold act, go soft.]

[deployed]

Murphy can have that effect.

[ That's not exactly a secret, and it's nothing Bellamy hasn't implied in conversation with Murphy directly. Trying to protest otherwise would be an easily dismissed lie. Bellamy still can't suss out her angle. The two of them aren't familiar, not enough that it makes sense to Bellamy for her to seek him out to confide in. ]

Are you asking me for advice?

[ If so, he'd have to disappoint her. Bellamy's fraught interactions with Murphy so far don't give him much confidence in being able to advise her on the best way to gain Murphy's trust. ]

[snaphiss]

[Mara cocks her head, studying him. Is he smarter than he seems, or just confused? Ugh, it doesn't really matter. She chastises herself; there's no reason to treat this like an official interrogation, just... instinct.]

I want to know what you think. In my home system, we say that's the best way to know someone; to find out what their friends think.

[Mara Jade doesn't have a home system, but that's privileged information.]

[deployed]

[ Friends.

Bellamy's eyebrows raise, but he suppresses the urge to laugh incredulously. He can't believe that Murphy identified Bellamy as a friend. It's more complicated between them than a single word could sum up, though Bellamy's not about to willingly volunteer that information. He looks away from her briefly, scanning the crowd. ]

I don't think he'd appreciate that.

[ And Bellamy would balk at divulging what he knew about Murphy under any circumstances. ]

You're better off asking him any questions directly.

[ Because that would go so well. ]

[snaphiss]

[Mara snorts.] You're not very good at answering questions, are you?

[She's tried doing this gently, leading him out and letting him answer genuinely. It's clearly not getting her anywhere, but she doesn't want to lay her cards on the table just yet.] You clearly know him somehow. How did you two meet?

[deployed]

How much do you know about where we come from?

[ This is a difficult line to walk. Bellamy hasn't spoken much of his world. What little he's offered has almost always been when his thoughts spill over unintentionally and necessitate explanation. The details of where he came from might not matter much in the grand scheme of things, but he isn't sure how much Murphy trusts his broodmate; Bellamy's wary of offering up something that could be used as leverage later. ]

We met on the ground, [ he answers, aware that a statement like that isn't going to be particularly illuminating. ] He'd tell you if he wanted you to know.

[snaphiss]

[Alright, enough smalltalk. Mara leans forward, still smiling amicably.]

I was particularly curious about how you tried to have him killed.

[The smile has frozen into a sharp thing, not quite a grin. She's deadly serious.]

[deployed]

[ It was inevitable that this come up, one way or another. With all their minds linked, his sins would slip out. He's not practiced enough to hold them back, and so Bellamy immediately considers the fault his own rather than Murphy's. A stray thought would be all it took, and maybe in the shock of Murphy's arrival his mind had strayed back to the dropship and the screaming frenzy of the crowd and the sick fear their strength had provoked. ]

It wasn't like that.

[ Not that the details absolved him. He'd allowed it to happen. He'd kicked the stool out from beneath Murphy's feet. If he'd been braver (if he'd been like Clarke, really) he'd have at least tried to stop it. ]

[snaphiss]

[Mara barely moves, just slowly leans forward. She keeps her mental walls up as best she can, trying to give away nothing but steely superiority.]

I don't care what it was like. Ever try anything like that again, and you won't wake up the next day. Are we clear?

[deployed]

[ Anger flares in response to her words. The connection with Murphy snaps abruptly as Bellamy recoils into himself. While it's a comfort to know that she's so committed to protecting Murphy, it rankles to hear her leveling a threat at him without any grasp of how complicated the situation is. His face is flushed, but when he speaks his voice is steady. ]

You don't have any idea what you're talking about.

[ That being said, Bellamy's not prepared to enlighten her. ]

But it if makes you feel strong, then by all means, keep making unnecessary threats.

[ She's part of the Hive. There's no point in flying off the handle, even if anger is simmering beneath the surface. It's inescapable, but he has to find a better outlet for it than lashing out at Mara. ]

[snaphiss]

It doesn't make me feel anything.

[It's only half a lie. It makes her feel assured. Mara doesn't like unknown variables.]

I want your word that you won't try anything like that again, and you're very lucky your word is all I want.

[People lie. People break their oaths, scatter into the wind, fumble for opportunity and advantage without a second's thought for promises and alliances. Once, she would have eliminated the potential threat without a second's thought. But that isn't an option, now. She can't control the situation as completely as she'd like, so what?]

[So she'll take what she can get. Threats are meaningless. Potential is everything.]

[deployed]

If Murphy wants my word, he can have it.

[ But Murphy would never ask. The chances of either of them broaching this topic is extremely slim. Bellamy isn't certain what he'd say if Murphy ever tried to talk about what had happened when they'd fallen to the ground. There had never been time, and now it felt like a waste when they'd both proven their allegiances. They'd saved each others lives. Bellamy had killed a man to keep Murphy alive. It felt like a clearer demonstration than any kind of promise could hope to be. ]

I'm leaving.

[ His face is hot. He's very angry, but he knows from sparring with Kylo Ren and Bruce both that a fight between Nestmates comes to nothing. It's like striking at himself. There's no clean way to inflict damage and Bellamy doesn't want this conversation to come to that. There's enough strife between members of the Nest without Bellamy adding to it because Mara threw his past sins in his face. ]