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

[greentech]

I mean, it's kind of fun. There's a lot to look at and they've got some interesting displays, but - I don't know. Kissing is kind of... weird.

[ There's a mental squirm. Pidge doesn't think about romance or kissing or anything like that all that often or in any detail. ]

Especially people you don't even know.

[headinjuries]

It's fine with people you like, but, uh...yeah. Not...strangers.

[ He's trying very hard not to think about Carrie, because this is really awkward enough without leaking fun times with his girlfriend all over the conversation. Mental links whyyyyy. ]

[greentech]

Yeah. Strangers is weird. Definitely weird.

[ She's trying very hard to ignore the little flashes she's getting, because aren't brood links great? ]

Not that it's something I've really thought about, because I've never really had anyone I wanted to kiss. It's just - uh.

[ There's no one really in specific that she thinks about. It's just general "what would it actually be like to kiss someone" thoughts. She groans mentally. ]

Not... high on my list of priorities. Sometimes I think that's weird. Do you think that's weird?

[headinjuries]

I don't think it's weird? Or maybe it's just that everything's weird.

[ Puberty sucks. ]

I dunno, as long as I'm stuck getting all the confusing parts it'd be nice if I could at least get the growth spurt to go with it.

[greentech]

I'm going to go with everything being weird. Good answer.

[ Pidge groans. ]

Tell me about it. Even my arms are too short...

[headinjuries]

We've still got time, right?

[ He really hopes so, anyway. No merciful God would let him be this short forever. ]

[greentech]

I sure hope so. I mean, I guess it wouldn't be terrible... I still don't want to be short my whole life.

[ It makes life so much more difficult than it needs to be. ]

[headinjuries]

No kidding.

[ Big enough to shove Moffet's head in a toilet, that's all he asks for. ]

[greentech]

My brother was kinda tall. So's my dad. And my mom. Why am I still short?

[ Argh. The pain of a late bloomer. ]

[headinjuries]

Yeah, my dad's huge? I can't have gotten that much from my mom. And she's still plenty taller than me anyway.

[greentech]

Genetics suck.

[ Pidge sighs and then tries to scoot a bit out of the way of the crowd. There are so many people here that it's a bit hard to hold her position without getting jostled. She nods at Sam. ]

Let's get out of the way-

[headinjuries]

Yeah, good idea.

[ Ducking, weaving, trying to not run into any of the people who clearly don't notice them because they're short... ]

[greentech]

[ Life for the vertically challenged is fraught and full of peril. Pidge finally finds an alleyway that's not seeing too much foot traffic and ducks into it after squeezing between another pair of people. She grimaces and then shakes her head with a laugh. ]

Definitely not what I usually spend my nights doing.

[headinjuries]

So this is what it's like to have a social life, huh.

[ Sam's got friends (although that much feels questionable recently, too) but he wasn't really getting invited to parties, and then he stopped having time to think about it anyway. ]

[greentech]

I... guess? I like to think I had a social life, but it was never anything like this.

[ She scratches at her cheek. ]

This is more like something out of a movie. Or at least it feels like it.

[headinjuries]

I always figured the space kidnapping, espionage on an alien planet stuff was the part that's more like a movie.

[ Pause. ]

But I guess that's because it's the kind of movie I actually watch. [ If it doesn't have explosions or jump scares, he probably never bothered. ]

[greentech]

Well, yeah, that too, but this feels like a different kind of movie.

[ Honestly, she prefers those movies too. Or documentaries. Mostly documentaries. And fantasy movies. Those are great too. ]

Like you always hear about street festivals, but I've never actually been to one.

[headinjuries]

I've been to one for...uh. Day of the Dead.

Not so much of the kissing stuff.

[greentech]

Yeah. I mean... birthday parties and family get-togethers are one thing, this is different.

[ She takes a deep breath and leans against the wall, scuffing a foot against the ground. ]

...what do you think? About everything, lately.

[headinjuries]

[ Big question. He slowly lets out a breath. ]

I don't know. I kinda just want it all over with.

[greentech]

That's kinda how I feel, too. But at the same time... if we can help people here, shouldn't we?

[ She's been getting that feeling the last couple days. Gnawing away at her. ]

[headinjuries]

Yeah, that...

[ He frowns. Putting words to feelings is kind of hard sometimes. On the bright side, Pidge is in his brood, so he doesn't entirely have to - some of the intent will come across even if he can't figure out how to say it right. ]

The part about why we're here in the first place - I still don't know what to think about that. I mean, helping people is a no-brainer, that's what superheroes are supposed to do. But I don't know about like...changing the way their whole culture is going. That feels kind of weird, even if I think the anti-synth stuff is totally stupid.

But then there was that bombing. And that's like - that's the kind of thing I know we can stop. And should stop.

[greentech]

Yeah. No one deserves to get blown up just for going to a stupid nightclub.

[ She grimaces. Not that she can talk a lot, considering she's blown up a few Galra ships. Woops. ]

But I get what you're saying. Why is it our job to change how a whole society thinks? Even if I think they're wrong, shouldn't they figure that out for themselves? If they just do it because of us, what stops them from going back, later?

[headinjuries]

Yeah. And, like - it's not our planet. It's not even our galaxy, probably? I can't match it to any star map I've got, and if it's not in the Xandarian databases it's gotta be way elsewhere.

If it were home I wouldn't feel so weird jumping into things. I'm a Nova. People expect that. Most of them welcome it - I mean, there are always people who don't, but there's people anywhere who hate cops, so whatever. But here...we're just some strangers who wandered in and are trying to change everything.

[greentech]

Yeah. It's not even like they're trying to take over the universe, either. They're just figuring things out, like we did on Earth. We weren't perfect and we're not perfect-

[ Pidge sighs. ]

This mission is stupid.