A much deserved vacation day!

[itookashot]

Who: The Free Cities Summoned
What: Beach Party Episode, aka the Summoned take a break and enjoy the new portal
When: June 6thish, post Nocwich weekend. We can timey wimey it folks.
Where: Aquila!



[ooc: these are just suggested prompts, please feel free to roll with any ideas you have! Thanks to Hannah for sharing the code. Descriptions about Aquila are taken from the settings page here and credited to the mods. A player-made Pinterest mood board was created here for inspiration, but keep the world of Abraxas in mind for the reality.]

The Aquila Portal / Time to Go!

An invite shows up on the network from Jesper Fahey to the Free Cities Summoned stating the following:

Hey everyone, I managed to score funds from our money makers to have a group outing through the Aquila portal. We deserve it, don't you think? We did vote it into being after all. So get out your beach day clothes (or lack thereof) and meet at 9 AM tomorrow. If you come later, I'll let the portal people know the list allowed. They've got chairs and such to rent there, so don't worry if you don't have anything helpful.

Let's party like we're in the Horizon! If you need some extra cash while there I know the people to beg.

PS - No arguing, Crows. (That means you Kaz.)

True to his word, Jesper will be waiting at the newly opened portal to mark the Summoned so they're allowed to get through with the money he's collected. He'll smile and wink at them as they go through. He is dressed casually himself for this outing and in high spirits. Summoned can meet up here and go through together if they'd like or maybe be persuaded if they're not really sure about it.

Welcome to Aquila!

Aquila is the world's fastest-growing economy and the scenery in Aquila is also considered some of the most beautiful, with both the mountains and beaches of Andromeda Bay nearby, making it a popular destination for vacationers.

The beach may be exciting, but it isn't the only part of Aquila to enjoy! The massive public market takes up most of the city's center. Anything you might want can be found here. Countless booths and stalls and carts fill the town's center, and traders from all across the nation congregate to offer their wares. From raw materials such as fabrics, dyes, exotic wood and stones, to finely crafted artisan everything. Furniture, clothing, foodstuffs, weapons, art, magical oddities, it's all here. The market opens at sun-up and shuts down sometime after sunset - plenty of sellers will linger, hoping for one last sale of the day.

Art and fashion thrive in Aquila. Studios and galleries of art are scattered all over the city and artists sketching or painting out on the streets or on the nearby beaches are a common sight. This is the time to go looking for new clothes as seamstresses and tailors are all looking to outdo themselves and create the next big fashion statement.

But if it's the beach fun you're looking for ....

Fun in the Sun!

It's more crowded than usual in Aquila thanks to the emergence of the portal, but the Summoned will manage to camp out their own area on the right side of the beach and have freedom to enjoy themselves alone. Nearby one of the entrances of the beach is a local business called The Wave Palace. There people can buy or rent chairs, cloth to sit on, hats, and other beach items to feel more comfortable.

Once settled onto their spot on the beach, the Summoned can enjoy a full day of various activities to either relax or be active. They can swim or race to see who is the better swimmer, do the same on a sand race, and head up to a popular nearby cliff that is perfect to jump off of. Challenge each other to the perfect dive or laugh if someone ends up belly-flopping.

Anyone can lounge comfortably in the sun or maybe they want to get creative and build sandcastles. They can rent bowls and sticks and other instruments at the shop to gather sand correctly. Maybe your castle is remarkably impressive or dismal at best, but the point is to have fun. If you're feeling mischievous you can bury a friend in sand, or even a stranger if you want to test fate. You can find rocks or shells to collect and bring home as a reminder of the trip here.



There is a bar down the beach called The Wave Crash Pub where people can sit and listen to live music or carry drinks back to their chair. At some point in the day, someone suggests playing a game of volleyball or something similar, and a net and ball can be found to set it up. Test your might against each other and no cheating! (Just kidding, cheat away.)



As the day comes to a close, stay long enough to watch the sunset together or do some night swimming to cool off. When it's time to go home, don't forget to either return your rented items or decide to buy it. See if you can convince a friend to get a keepsake or ask their opinion of one on the way out. Hope you all had fun in this beach day episode!

Comments

[itookashot]

Jesper is surprised when she moves but he allows it without question, always quick to adapt. It's slightly mixed messaging but he doesn't assume things either. She wants his attention so she's going to get it. The smile drops and he is taking her as seriously as she wants him to.

He reaches up to brush his fingers through her hair, the other hand behind him to keep him somewhat sitting as she settles into his lap.

"I'm a gambling addict." It's not something he often talks about with people who don't already know. There is a lot of shame attached to that reality, and while he's come a long way, he still feels it. "I gambled my father's farm away. I almost got Inej killed because of my debts. A few months ago, I got fucked up by the gods and gambled all our money away here. I stole money, slept in the street, I couldn't stop." The gods were causing it, yes, but it didn't make it easier for him to swallow. Some people could fight them off. He didn't.

"Everyone has their shit. You can't get caught up in what's deserved, because we're all flawed people who deserve nothing."

[everybodysterrible]

She leans into the touch because, to be honest, anyone being this gentle with her is new. She likes it, she absolutely likes this sort of little show of affection. It distracts her a little, lets her mind just turn off for a few seconds, her hand drifting to hold his hand against her in case he got any bright ideas he could take it away.

"That's- both an illness, and also Gods can do that shit?" She hadn't had a ton of dealing with Gods and very definitely sat out on the whole execution thing that happened after she showed. It was a lot, of course, she is aware how much of her shit can be labeled under the same items — minus the divinely inspired destruction. Still, point made.

"Nobody deserves anything huh? So whatever we get is what? Exactly." She isn't sure she agrees they deserve nothing. But she wants to see where this thought goes before she starts objecting and saying she absolutely deserves cookies and weed, fuck that nothing shit.

[itookashot]

"Yeah, it happened in October. Three gods, sometimes called heralds, showed up and fucked us all up. Everyone got influenced by one of them, I had Adlewyrd who ramped up emotions and desires and made people more likely to give into them."

So for an addict, it was instantaneous. He really had no ability to fight back, and he didn't try either. Jesper feels guilty about that, how little he tried to keep his wits about him, he succumbed entirely and wallowed in that state of mind for days.

"It was the first time they'd done anything like that, people were really freaked out. But that's why everyone here believes in them, we experienced it. The Horizon was fucked up too, you could get stuck in these weird places we never saw before."

Jesper knows this is a whole lot of bad information to get on an otherwise fun day, he really didn't mean it to take this turn. He forgets that not everyone is given the 'life here is weird' summary when they first arrive. A part of him thought maybe Julie would, but they've all been off since the kidnapping. Tired.

"Nobody deserves anything so you go for what you want and you take it. You make your own life and decide what it should be." Jesper lives by this rule and he believes in it absolutely. If he gets stuck in deserve, he could make arguments for why he doesn't deserve anything that he has. His friends, his lovers, his family. And maybe he doesn't. But he's still going to have them anyway.

[everybodysterrible]

"I know that you probably won't believe it, but that wasn't your fault." Abby was good at both the words she'd never listen to, and why she wouldn't listen to them. He seemed to take his failure to be able to withstand a God fucking with his already extant addiction as his own. And nothing she could say would fix it. But she felt it needed to be said anyway.

And that her vices, her self-destructive behaviors, weren't fully her fault. And she fucking didn't believe that for a second.

And maybe she should have asked more about the history of this place, for all these people in her life. And maybe the answers were all bad and that was why she never asked in the first place. She was hiding herself, so it made asking about everyone else harder. Guess there wasn't much she could do with that anymore.

She didn't sell any thoughts as he explained his rules for living here, that she agreed or not, believed him or not, she smiled pleasantly enough and twisted so she wasn't straddling him anymore. Only to tuck herself up under his arm again with her legs across his lap like some ill fitting puzzle piece.

She could decide more of what she wanted later, right now she wanted to cuddle. And that was good enough.