Jaskier "old-timey fuckboy" Alfred Pankratz (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cointosser) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
abraxaslogs2023-05-09 08:07 pm
cointosser) wrote in abraxaslogs2023-05-09 08:07 pm
[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 Aquila Portal
The Lunae and Ikorr
The Festival Days
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 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.]
[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!]
[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.]
[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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Oh, I can surely trust the good-hearted citizens of our fair city to not take more than one free plant. [Probably. And if he can't, the spiny succulents on the side table will make sure they regret having stolen from Jaskier.
He leans into her touch, fingertips light on his waist. This is exactly the sort of thing that made him ensure there was a back room to his business. He has his priorities.]
Let us indulge. I have a box of matches back there somewhere. [He tends to keep such things around, now that he has taken habit to indulging in herbs with Nadine and Julie. And because he enjoys more than his fair share of candles -- now that the sight of flame doesn't make his heart jump into his throat anymore. Such nightmares are behind him.
He leads her to said back room, a wood-paneled room that has a fine coat of dust on most things. Piles of pots and bags of soil have already been moved in and disturbed it, with several candles set along the shelves lining the walls. Natural light still floods in through several slit windows and a bit of glass on the ceiling. He brushes dust off of a low bench along the wall, wrinkling his nose.] Most of the work has been spent on the front, of course, but I'll be adding some fine amenities to this room down the road. A couch, for starters.
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[Nadine eyes the little sign, for when Jaskier isn't about. And a small 'oh!' escapes her without thought. So that was his family name. She'd wondered, but felt it ridiculous to ask at this point. Now she doesn't have to.
Eagerly she follows him back, feeling a little like they're playing hooky. Of course they're full grown adults, and Jaskier is welcome to take a break from his own shop whenever he'd like. But still. There's just something about him that makes her feel very young, even if neither of them are.
The dusty back room only adds to that feeling. There's a sort of charm about it, the way the golden light makes the dust motes in the air sparkle. The way it touches the wood, giving it a soft warm glow.]
It's still lovely. Here...
[She lifts a hand and mutters a few odd words and the air stirs in little currents, blowing dust smoothly and neatly off of the bench and away from patch of floor around it.]
That's good enough for now. And it's actually pretty romantic, with it almost empty like this...
no subject
Jaskier looks between her and the sign.]
Oh? [Perhaps she's remembered he has a vindictive streak in him. Well, he's happy to explain it --
Perhaps later.]
You're too generous. This has more dust than the desert. [He huffs, ready to sweet aside the dust until Nadine does it for them. Certainly she's become a witch in her own right. Not only between changing to a wolf, but to the smaller, and sometimes more important things. The convenient things.]
You think so? [He smiles, setting the package down to open it carefully. It is sure to fill the room with its aroma soon enough.] It feels a bit like we're sneaking about under the professor's nose.
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Nothing, really, it's just...in all this time, your actual last name never came up.
[Or his actual first name, for that matter. But Julie had mentioned that, at least. It isn't as though it makes any difference, Jaskier doesn't use that name casually. Not that she's ever seen.
Dust cleared away, she gathers her skirts to join him on the bench.]
And that's exactly what makes it romantic. Sneaking off in the middle of the day to a back room while everybody else is going about their business right on the other side of the walls...
[And while they only mentioned smoking, Nadine is certain at the very least there's going to be some necking and heavy petting. Despite the fact that they're both in their forties, she often feels so youthful when she's with him. Maybe it's because this is the first time she's had a natural romance that grew and developed on its own. Maybe it's Jaskier's own youthful nature, or a combination of both. But he makes her feel young and new in a way no one else ever has.]
It's like a stolen moment, just for us.
no subject
Jaskier has always been who he is, since he became Jaskier.
He stretches his legs out in front of him, legs crossed at the ankles. Her assumptions are not wrong. Jaskier, even without herbs affecting him, is handsy on a good day. When he's relaxed, alone with his lover... well.]
They're my favorite sort of moments. [He holds his fingers out as a small, single flame lights from the tips. It's past time that flames do not reduce him to a scared shell of a man once more. And if he can do what he did for Geralt and Ciri, he cannot live in the shadow of some psychotic mage.] I'm sure it wouldn't surprise you to hear how I was a bit of a rake when I was younger. I think that's why. There's something special in the secret corners of romance. Those moments where the world slows to a stop, and there are only two people in it. [Well. Two or more. But right now, what matters is two.]
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[Why would it? It's not like it makes any difference. Nadine can't really imagine thinking of him with his 'real' name. He's Jaskier. That's all he ever needs to be. Hell, for all she knows, she'd had another name at birth. 'Nadine' had been given to her by her first adoptive family, and Cross was their last name. Who knew if there'd been another one before that.]
Mmm, no, and it won't surprise you to know that I wasn't. I was a chronic rule-follower. My grandmother was...
[She shakes her head and laughs. She can laugh about it now, as an adult, looking back on her early childhood. It really isn't something she talks about much, but she's trying to get better about that with Jaskier. If anyone's going to hear stories about her childhood, and the first family that had taken her in, it's him.]
She was crazy. And not just normal old lady crazy, religious crazy. Everything was a sin, everything would land you in hell, suffering was the only holy thing...when I was little, I was convinced if I told a fib or took an extra cookie, I'd be struck down with lightning. You don't wanna know her opinions on romance.
[With another chuckle, she reaches for the now lit joint.]
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[He's being nice with that level of, ah. Disbelief. Contrary to the woman she was the night they met, their second meeting, as he brought his lute outside of her domain, was the much more fully accurate one.
The less risk-taking woman. Even when she was young?
As he listens, it all does begin to fall into place. Raised under such a commanding hand, and with what he's learned of this hell -- well. He's known monks with similar such beliefs. Ones he simply cannot abide. Why would suffering be holier when pleasure is so much more human?
He releases the smoke, slow.] I simply cannot imagine being denied a pastry because of fear. Unless it was fear of a stomachache.
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[Nadine takes the joint to inhale a long drag. With distance and something like clarity, she can look back on her childhood with a sort of detachment. It feels so far away, like just a story she's telling.]
But worse than the fear was the guilt. I....still have guilt issues, I probably always will. It's a big part of Catholicism, the church I was raised in. Everything's a sin, everything bad that happens is our fault... It's honestly pretty screwed up, when you really think about it. They tell us God loves us and God is love and forgiveness....but then they turn around and say God is angry and vengeful. But they also tell us angels are either wheels of fire with a thousand eyes or inhumanly beautiful white robed people with big wings, and Castiel just looks like a guy. Like...he could be another teacher at the school where I worked, he's so normal looking.
[And just normal, in a lot of ways. Working beside the angel has been an education like no other. The more proof she has that all she was taught was wrong, the easier it is to look back on her life and see how she got where she did.
But still she's laughing as she talks, and her tone is more amused than upset over how she'd been raised. It's not like she can change it now, and her life is different. She's different. Even in the two (almost) years she's been here, she's become different. Hell, Jaskier's watched it happen and been a part of it.]
Now you get the joke of Julie giving me an angel costume that first Halloween when we met.
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The Continent was not kind to anyone, but it was cruelest to those who could not defend themselves.]
Wait. [Jaskier rubs his eyes between one inhale and the next.] Castiel is a -- a wheel of fire? Is he -- that sounds like some sort of demon. I didn't realize he's from your world. I -- I think?
[Honestly, he's listening, and understanding that some religions are the equivalent of a righteous stick up one's ass is not lost on him. But he does not quite get the angel thing -- some sort of monster they have deemed part of their teachings, he supposes. But what does that have to do with Castiel? And why is he a wheel?]
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[And as far as she knows, Flagg has never visited that world. She knows he's visited others, he'd said as much to her, but it was nothing ever elaborated on. A 'I'll tell you someday', and then someday never came.
But that was perfectly alright.]
But the point is I was taught a lot of things that were wrong, and I know they're wrong. Which is why I don't feel guilty about sleeping with people I'm not married to, or sleeping with another woman, or having sex just for the fun of it...Catholicism has a lot of rules about who you can have sex with, what kind of sex you can have, how you have it...
[Another laugh comes out of her, as she tries to imagine Jaskier dealing with the expectations of strict Christianity. Nadine can't imagine anyone trying to police his sex life.]
There's even a term for our relationship. It's called 'living in sin'. Which used to be a terrifying phrase, but now I think it's sort of sexy. Living in sin is a lot more fun than living in grace. Particularly with you.
[If Hell is real, she's already headed there. Why not sin it up all over with the guy she wants to be with? Even if she hadn't already bought her brimstone ticket, it'd still be worth it.]
no subject
[Nailed it. After seeing him tackle Geralt like he weighed nothing, Jaskier can at least accept Castiel is not human. Or is part human. Or whatever. Does it really matter?]
Oooh. Living in sin. I would be happy to tell everyone we know that we are enjoying our life of sin. [His hand creeps over her leg the same moment he leans in to kiss her cheek. As if love could ever be a sin.] I suppose I'll have to help you practice spending more time in sin and less in guilt.
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[Really, that's about as much as Jaskier needs to know. It's not important. Why waste this lovely afternoon getting bogged down in details that are, for the most part, irrelevant. There are far better things to turn her attention to.
Like the way Jaskier's hair looks in the golden afternoon light, and how the smoke seems to frame his face. Or how nice his palm feels against her leg, the familiar warm weight of his touch. All those things that make her happy.]
I don't think anyone who knows us doubts that we enjoy what we have very much. And don't worry about it - I don't feel guilty about us at all. This is what it's supposed to be.
[She scoots a little closer, eyes bright.]
Even if we do have filthy heathen sex.
no subject
His eyes light up as he laughs.]
You mean your god doesn't celebrate a man being fucked out of his mind while tied up by magic vines? [He dips his head to kiss along her throat, careful to hold his burning herb out so it doesn't burn either of them (yes, he's made mistakes in the past, but only dropped them on himself. Thankfully.)]
I like to think -- and don't correct me if I'm wrong -- that a truly worthy god would be quite happy to see you enjoying yourself. Of which you undoubtedly do with me. [He smiles.] It is a bit filthy, though, isn't it?
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[Not that Jaskier isn't going to be helping her with it, she has some ideas that only his particular magic can help with. It's a practical building, yes, but that doesn't mean it can't be aesthetic and a place to go to enjoy nature while living in a desert city.
Maybe they can hang a hammock.]
And there's still a lot of spells in that bedroom magic book I got us that we haven't tried out yet.
[Her leg moves against his, the thin silken fabric of her skirts making a soft noise against the fabric of his pants.]
I'd hate to fall out of practice with my magic.
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Of course he'll be helping with the greenhouse. And of course he will be happy to... well. Make use of it.]
And I am very eager to help you practice more. [Filthily.] Once this room is a bit more cleaned up, it can be another place for practice. I'll get us a rather nice loveseat. Or something a bit bigger.
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[The words 'chaise lounge' escape Nadine at the moment, but she can picture it. It's a very Jaskier-esque piece of furniture. It would be fitting, she thinks. And comfortable to fool around on.
Thoughts, she realizes, are coming slower and more languidly. The herb is starting to take effect, and as promised, it's potent. That pleasantness is uncurling all through her, starting with that familiar almost buzzing sensation under her skin.]
Or just some blankets to throw on the floor, I'm not exactly picky you know. Not when it comes to you.
no subject
[He laughs. He's not really sure what, exactly, she's talking about, but at this rate he could commission any sort of furniture he wanted. Which -- you know, if he's going to lean into this entire thing, he could commission some sort of couch covered with carved phoenixes...
He's enjoying it far more than he should, possibly.]
Blankets? Nadine, please! [He blows a steady stream of smoke, twirling a finger through it. The smoke follows it in rings, forming into tiny grey crows that flock together and fly above their heads.] While I am amiable to fucking in all places and positions, I do think you deserve more than a blanket on a dusty floor!
no subject
Not to be outdone she lifts her own hand, casting colored lights on the smoke birds, like some sort of aurora borealis.
Then she leans in close, swinging one leg over his lap. Her skirts pull up to show a length of lean bare calf, more toned and defined than it had been nearly two years ago. She brings her mouth close to his ear and her voice drops, taking on a sultry tone. As though she's saying something very scandalous.]
Lucky for us...I have cleaning magic.
[Practical to a fault, Nadine has learned spells that are just as practical. The tone of her voice and the way she brushes her lips against Jaskier's earlobe leave no doubt. She can have the dust gone in moments.
Surely no one will mind if he takes an extended break.]