abraxaslogs | [open] wake up, it's time to gather now

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[open] wake up, it's time to gather now

Who: ALL OF THE FREE CITIES.
What: A glorious celebration and a Summoned-powered festival!
When: The second week of May.
Where: The Old Public Hall, the outlaying plaza, spilling into the streets of Cadens.

The Reopening Celebration

[The flyers appear all at once overnight among all of Cadens, with the front text reading: GRAND RE-OPENING OF OLD PUBLIC HALL. FIVE DAYS OF CELEBRATION WITH MERCHANTS FROM ACROSS THE FREE CITIES AND NOCWICH, ALL TO CELEBRATE THE REOPENING OF ONE OF CADEN'S ARCHITECTURAL MARVELS AND THE FREE CITIES'S OWN FORM OVER FUNCTION FESTIVAL! with the dates given underneath.

The back of the flyers will list the precise details, including the topics of each day of the festival. This festival is to act alongside and celebrate the native Free Cities celebration Form Over Function week that the Cities host every year. As with most things Jaskier and Alucard touch, it has to be a little Extra.

New to the city? Want to change careers? As suggested by the mods, the Summoned can use this festival to look for work or make new connections in the Free Cities with the locals displaying their craft. Artists, artisans, playwrights, theatres, inventors, and scientists will be looking for the next wave of brilliant minds and talented individuals.

Also acknowledged on each flyer are the equipment and food donated by the various Free Cities governing bodies.]

The Aquila Portal

[A big celebratory announcement during the first day of the festival will be made in front of the Hall once the market opens. This is the grand unveiling of the new portal that is being permanently opened to Aquila, agreed to by the Free Cities government. The announcement comes from several of the Free Cities' very own Summoned: Jayce, Claude and Sam.

The portal is intended for leisure and business travel and will have a crossing fee. A portion of the proceeds from the festival will go to providing those of lower incomes with a single paid-for trip to and back from the Aquila portal. Please make use of such generosity, Summoned!]

The Lunae and Ikorr

[Most of the festival is meant to feature the local artists and artisans of the Free Cities. However, many artisans from Nocwich have also been invited and provided with their own space, with water misters set up to keep the wolves and vampires (and visitors, of course) cool in the desert air. Long, shaded walkways keep visitors safe from the sun.

The Lunae have a history of traveling to Solvunn to attend celebrations, so they will arrive in Cadens in greater numbers. While the vampires have less of a presence than the werewolves, they will still offer their wares like blood-infused wines, glowing flowers, and unique meat dishes - similar to what was provided last year!

All three Nocwich ambassadors will make an appearance for at least one of the days.]

The Festival Days

[A large open-air market will be open throughout the celebration, which will feature retailers and artisans from Aquila, Cadens, Libertas, the Lunae, and the Ikorr, all set up in the plaza that leads up to Old Public Hall itself. Advertisements will be posted to entice new tourists to Aquila, in the interest of Fallon Marsh's new push for tourism to the coastal city.

Each "day" features a special theme:

Book and Literature Day includes a seller's market inside and on the steps of Old Public Hall, along with book signings throughout, starting off the five-day celebration. The latest and the greatest works that have come from Free Cities minds are featured, sold, and autographed. If you're an up-and-coming writer, there are small podiums and stages set up on the outdoor stages for you to provide readings of your own work and advertise any exciting new book clubs. There is no promise of quality for the open-mic readings, and there's no withholding criticism when it's bad either.

Large presses and the self-published all share their wares, ranging from the latest scientific journals to the unsurprisingly long line to meet the author of the popular Onion James mystery novels. Near the new bar in Old Public Hall, an informal bookclub will open will be hosted. The evening will feature authors in conversations with each other, offering book signings and writing workshops for nervous young novelists. If you're curious, feel free to join in and show off your newest writing piece!

Painting and the Visual Arts Day marks the second day, which will see the Old Public Hall transform into a gallery for a day. Featured artists are lesser-known independents, working to create monumental-sized paintings, glass sculptures that refract light, tiny drawings that show skill on the smallest scale possible, and more. The Hall provides the ground for artists to lay out sales of local paintings, sculptures, woolen arts, and even the services of artists themselves. All matter of art will be set up for sale in the Old Public Hall, as well as works organized on the main floor of the Hall as a gallery. Clothing designers from Aquila will be showing off the latest fashions, as well as looking for new models among the visitors. Libertas's artists will once again be pushing their counterculture art, supported by Quilleth Kaur and the Arts Restoration Committee.

Science Day will feature a symposium on the current state of technological developments in Cadens and how they relate to artistic practice on the third day. Within the Hall itself, the maze of the books from the previous day has been replaced with an open floor plan, allowing for a horseshoe-shaped display of inventors and their wares -- and a surprising amount of artisan fashion work. Two large areas feature in-depth talks about recent developments in both fabric production and sewing machines, resulting in more unique fabrics and dyes that will be displayed later that evening.

Keep an ear out, as the names "Jayce" and "Viktor" float among the populace as Summoned inventors to keep your eyes and attention on. Provided by these two fame-collecting talents is a display of their fantastic revolving armillary sphere, modeled after the astronomy of Abraxas, which casts an atmospheric starry light over the area once night falls. This new permanent installation is now available for viewing in front of Old Public Hall as a navigation point and to show the union between art and science.

Further into the night, garments will be shown, with a discussion about new techniques used and how they were made. The beauty of asymmetry is lauded, with the use of coraline plant fibers for boning, experiments with structure and bright fabric dyes, accented with fine details. Shapes and textures are exaggerated and celebrated. A large screen behind the stage allows for some projection magic to focus on all the little details for the whole crowd to see.

Theatre Day arrives on the fourth day. Indoor and outdoor stages will be set up, featuring short plays and costume shows. There are several morning workshops available for perusal; some are writing-focused, led by some of Libertas's leading playwrights.

Outside of the Hall is the brand new romantic comedy All The Wolves You Loved Before, commissioned for the grand reopening by one "J. Alfred" to be performed for the first time ever. It tells the story of an exceptionally handsome, white-furred werewolf from Nocwich with a charming and surprisingly funny demeanor, falling into scraps and eventually into love. Inside the Hall is the classic Murder Among Thieves, a mystery featuring a group of bandits that are picked off by a killer one by one.

That night, Old Public Hall will host the three-act play It Happened In Section 600. The horror piece sells hard on its exquisite special effects (made with a combination of science and magic), telling the story of Miss Harker, a new librarian at the University in the early days of the Free Cities. Ghosts supposedly haunt the library, but just exactly why remains a mystery until Miss Harker starts her first day. The mystery features spirits and a tale of revenge with the early days of the Free Cities as the backdrop.

Local theatres will provide backstage access and classes on special and visual effects. Playwrights will provide signings and host writing workshops as they scope out new or aspiring young actors. For those brave enough, you can find others to help practice your audition or even aid others in theirs!

Concert Day, which marks the end of the event, features live, performed music from 3 p.m. until midnight, acting as a tour de force of the restored Hall's acoustic capabilities where both technology and magic work together. Smaller, independent bands will be highlighted and enhanced with magical special effects, with -- unsurprisingly -- the night ending with a special performance by the Gem of the Phoenix himself, Jaskier! Rumors have it that the appearance of a real phoenix itself may appear, granting supreme luck to all who see it in the future...

The magic of the Old Public Hall is in use for this concert series, where magic birds will explode and fly among the eaves of the Hall's roof, the roof will disappear in view of the night sky, or small explosions of color — named "fireworks" — pop off with every growing crescendo. The final show will feature a performance of Jaskier's ballad to Lfybringr, ballads of bravery in the Free Cities sands, and exciting tales of forbidden lovers meeting in the eternal night of Nocwich.

The final song of the night, ending the Festival, is "The Phoenix Always Rises From The Ashes," a loud and explosive power ballad that sounds strangely like modern rock to some ears, meant to invigorate and inspire all of those who have lost hope. This show features magnificent displays of wildfire magic, echoing the unrestrained strength of Libertas's people. When the final line echoes through the hall — And the people, like the phoenix, will always rise! — a gigantic, illusionary phoenix will appear, covering the roof of the Hall, giving a beautiful, defiant screech before exploding into feathers. These feathers are soft to the touch, quite real, and can be taken home as souvenirs.

As always, thank you for your patronage and interest in the arts, Free Cities. Remember that, in the end, the people will always rise.]

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Dude. Sweet.

[Abby will just, help herself to one. Free shit is free shit. Abby's not sure what she's expecting out of concert day but she dressed nice enough. Black and red pinstripe pants, pink blouse, black corset. And little skull themed hairclips to just be cute (for her).]

Got a light?

[Abby is aware that someone else in Julie's herbolgical business enterprise is not okay with Abby smoking. Due to the age thing or something. But Abby has hardly been good at letting details get in the way of free fun.]

[There is certainly a look that crosses Nadine's face when an obvious teenager takes a sample. A twitching of the lips, a tightness around the eyes.

It's her own hang-up, she knows that. This world doesn't seem to have the same age restrictions and concepts of adulthood as her own. She's a product of her world and time, and so much of her life spent as a teacher. There are no laws and regulations regarding cannabis here, it didn't exist here until she made it available. So she can't outright deny anyone on the younger side.

It's just something she's going to have to get over. In the meantime, she can at least look vaguely disapproving.

Her white and blue kirtle has no pockets, but she doesn't need matches to make fire. She lifts a hand and pinches her thumb and forefinger together, a small flame leaping up between them. But she hesitates a moment.]

You know, this stuff isn't great for your brain at your age.

[She has to at least provide a disclaimer.]

Neither is waking up naked in a cave surrounded by the military. But what can you do?

[Abby recognizes that look, that look of absolute disapproval. Something she hasn't had a lot of experience with here but is aware of at home, quite often. Which has a certain charm after lacking it for so long.]

If my life wasn't quite so fucking messed up, I probably wouldn't be seeking out drugs.

[Given Abby inhales and holds it like she's been doing this for years. That's- certainly a commentary on her life. Even if she prefers bongs if possible.]

Okay, this isn't 'drugs'. Not here, anyway. Here 'drugs' means weird and intense stuff. This is a beneficial herbal cannabis blend that my apothecary sells. That only my apothecary sells.

[It may seem like just a matter of semantics, but not when it comes to a newly introduced plant. That Nadine is selling to the populace and providing to the government in the form of her funded medical research. When it comes to something that's too new to have any regulation, she wants to keep it unregulated.

And keep the government interested purely in the medicinal benefits.]

Start calling it drugs and authorities might start asking all kinds of different questions. The ones that might lose me the funding I get from the Academy of Medicine. But I'm a doctor, so I have to give the warning. For my own peace of mind.

[She knows it does no good, and she knows Julie already provides for the teens of Cadens. The Summoned ones, anyway.]

You're giving the warning cause I'm sixteen.

[Abby isn't calling bullshit on all of it, Abby is just aware that giving away free medicinal samples isn't a goddamn thing. Doctors need to know like, symptoms and medical history before just providing things. She's sure that the rest is true, that the Free Cities might have questions if they knew the otherworldly history of this plant. But Abby's pretty sure that reaction is for her.]

I promise, I only do it because peer pressure is dangerous and my life is stressful. Scout's honor.

[Abby has not been, nor has she ever considered being, a Scout.]

Well, yeah. The psychoactive properties have the potential for more damaging lasting effects on brains that haven't finished developing yet. That's why I said it isn't great for your brain at your age. Your brain isn't done yet.

[In Cadens, at least, free medical samples are common. Or rather the things that are considered 'over the counter', though that seems to be a far wider umbrella in this place. All sorts of tonics, creams, elixirs, oils, and sundry are doled out like candy. It still sometimes takes her by surprise, the things she could just walk into an apothecary and buy.

Of course it helps that most of it is far safer than pharmaceuticals from any Earth Nadine's aware of.]

If you're looking for stress relief, try swinging a sword around. It's really cathartic, and there's like half a dozen people around here who'd be happy to show you the basics.

There's a lot my brain shouldn't have to deal with, all of them with long lasting effects. What really separates this from the rest of the bullshit?

[Abby's been given the talk about drugs, by both of her parents. She may have listened then but after the first few months of them fighting she kinda threw all that out. While it was amusing that the person giving out free samples was trying to talk her out of the product.]

[Of course, the alternative to drugs was violence. Which should just compound the amusement. All that was missing was suggesting she get laid. Instead Abby shifts uneasily at the suggestion. Smoking weed was normal, it was familiar. It was like home. Swinging a sword was very much a 'here' thing.]

I don't think I'm ready to take up a hobby I could only do here. I'd rather draw my feelings than cross that line just yet.

I could give you an answer, but I don't think you really want one. It'd be long and boring, anyway.

[The same with any argument Nadine could make regarding hobbies and their availability in a multitude of worlds. She could make one, but she knows there's no point to it. Most of her life has been spent dealing with kids of varying ages. Arguments aren't the way to go.]

And that's fair enough. I got really into it, but I was really into fantasy books and movies when I was a kid. I'm guessing I don't need to explain what a movie is to you?

[All slang and style of speech points towards someone from her own general time and place.]

Since I have no intention of stopping, it would be a lot of effort to no real result.

[Realistically, weed has nothing on her parents when it comes to 'things she will be dealing with for decades.' She's sure it'll have an impact, but not to the degree she should care with the state of the world.]

I know I'm not in Kansas anymore? If that's what you're asking.

Yeah, with people here from all different worlds and times, it's sort of become habit to double check. But there's a good number of us here from late nineteen hundreds to early two thousands USA.

[Even if they're all different USAs. It's still a common thread, and one that's often important and comforting. Even for those of them who'd rather stay here anyhow.

The familiar is just comforting when one is a stranger in a very strange land. God knows it's always particularly difficult, for the younger among them. Younger minds are both so much more adaptable but also so often resistant to change.]

I'm from New Hampshire. I'm Nadine, by the way, you've probably seen some of my messages on the mental bulletin board. I'm our resident medic and apothecary. I take care of all Summoned medical issues free of charge.

I'm new, but I have done the 'where are you from, when are you from' dance with a few people.

[After Abby confirms the same basis of Earth. Which they seem to have. She relaxes a bit now that the topic is the more mundanity of who they are.]

I don't really use that, it's a bit too much of a fucking trip to read. Abby, Massachusetts. Outside of Boston in one of those comfy WASP places. No persistent medical issues to bother you with.

[Nadine nods knowingly.]

I know exactly the kind of place. I was a teacher at a private school in one of those wealthy seaside towns. Real old New England.

[That little collection in the northeastern tip of the US was a place unto itself, with its own ways and customs. There's an immediate sense of kinship with the girl for that alone.]

It's nice to meet you, Abby. And if you ever do need anything, even just help with sleeping or relaxing, I can take care of it. I promise, despite the fact that I'm handing out joints at a music festival, I'm a really good doctor. Top of my class.

[Granted she still has two more years to go at the academy, but when you've done emergency lung surgery (successfully) under the table you get to call yourself a doctor.]

So... you'll hook me up when I can't find Julie?

[Find an envelope, Abby will push it. She's fairly self-sufficient, and most of her needs require shattering barriers in the cosmos to achieve. And they're really more wants than needs.]

Like- I'll need a therapist eventually, but I doubt those just- show up out of the blue.

[Abby literally everyone shows up out of the blue.]

Mmm, well, my apothecary offers the smoking blends for sale, so no one's going to refuse your business. Most of the free cannabis products don't have much of the psychoactive properties.

[Most. Some, the more potent pain killers and sleep aides, certainly do. The rest are far milder, focused on other effects. All those are the products Nadine has developed with her academy funding, and is contractually bound to not profit off of.]

And you never know, we've had all kinds of people show up. But...if you need someone to listen, I'm around. I'm not a psychologist but I do have degrees that involved a lot of learning about mental health and minors. Plus some pretty firsthand experience with a tough adolescence.

[To put it mildly.]

[One worry off her mind. And she actually had some money now, not a ton but she could do this or that thing for herself. So that worked. And sometimes she did just need the medicinal effects anyway.]

Thanks, but... you're Julie's business partner. I get I'm looking for a Summoned for this...

[Abby let the thought trail off and die, focusing on her joint for a moment to say this the right way. She didn't want to be as rude as she normally was.]

My parents did therapist shit with me when I was a kid, once I was about ten they put me in therapy with a colleague who they knew professionally, but not socially? Like- a buffer in case I said any shit they wouldn't just be able to get that info from a friend over dinner.

[Everyone in the summoned being such a close circle meant Abby knew anything she said in confidence was more likely to get out. Even if it didn't meant to. Which is why a lot of the shit she doesn't talk about with her friends, never gets said.]

Okay for one, Julie and I aren't 'business partners', she's my best friend. And second of all....I don't share anything that's told to me in confidence, if that's what you're worried about. I am a medical professional. Confidentiality is important. For a million reasons.

[Not all of which had to do with professionalism. Private things are simply that, private. Nadine appreciates that, as a woman who keeps a great deal private. And no, she hasn't taken any oaths of confidentiality here, not officially, but it doesn't matter.

No one's business needs to be spread around.]

I grew up in a bunch of different small towns in New Hampshire. You know how it is, everybody's all over everybody else's business. I hated that. Especially since I was a foster kid, all the old church ladies and neighbors wanted to know everything about me. And my first couple of foster parents were happy to tell them everything. Even though they were supposedly devout, church going Catholics and the Bible is pretty clear that gossipers aren't okay. The point is....I get it.

[Not having anyone to trust in her younger years has left a mark that Nadine is well aware of.]

But it's also okay. If you ever feel like you need it, you can just come find me and hang out and not talk about anything important. You can even find me in the Horizon, my place is the little New England town square.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but I just fuckin' met you. I don't know who your best friend is or how much professional ethics you value.

[Abby didn't mean to offend this time! She just didn't wanna overstep past what she could easily infer from what she knew. And her trust issues run way deeper than just 'sure I will talk to a complete stranger.' After that brief bluster Abby sags a little back into the truth of it all. This little bit of mess was on her.]

Sorry, I just, before coming here I was barely holding together. Being here isn't exactly making that better.

I'll probably take you up on it, or just hang out in something that looks kinda like home. Since if your slice of New Hamshire is anything like my slice of Massachusetts it was designed by the same old white guys with no actual taste.

[Abby was pretty sure a lot of the remodeled sections of main street in Wellsbury were designed by old white ladies with no taste but they designed it off the aesthetics of old white guys so it still holds.]

[Nadine just waves a hand and shakes her head.]

You're fine. This is a messed up situation, you're allowed to be messed up by it. You aren't offending me.

[If she got offended every time a kid got worked up in her direction, she would have been very bad at her job. It's fine. She really doesn't blame Abby, it's a trying circumstance to be in. An outburst or two is perfectly normal.

It's not like it's personal.]

And yeah, it's real Norman Rockwell New England. With a little bit more of a Victorian flair because why not? I think the Victorian look is charming. Sometimes I put up fun stuff for different months, like a carnival or a corn maze or something.

I was messed up before this situation.

[What? It's not a surprise. The world is shit and she's barely making due with the hand she's got. She's aware that people have it worse than her, and that her situation isn't improved by curve grading.]

I made sure my place in the Horizon is the exact kind of modern architecture that the stick up their ass rich ladies back home hated.

That's okay, too. You're definitely not alone in that, for whatever it's worth.

[Most people, in Nadine's opinion, are some degree of messed up. Human minds and hearts are surprisingly fragile things. God knows she'd been thoroughly screwed up long before she ended up in this world. If anything, she's a lot less messed up these days.

Probably.]

Good for you. The Horizon's probably the easiest possible way to be able to express yourself visually and artistically. You just...think it, and there it is. You can really make your little bit of it your own.

[If Abby has to guess, she knows anywhere between zero and one well adjusted people. Which makes her feeling alone on this mostly bullshit she can't get rid of.]

Yeah, still feels like decorating a dollhouse when you live in a crappy one bedroom. But I can at least relax in my own bed in the dollhouse.

[This was all feeling too real and too sad for a concert. Abby is going to just- pull the ripcord on this now.]

I'll let you get back to handing out free samples.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[open] wake up, it's time to gather now

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