ourearth: General Mod icon, shows Earth (Default)
Save Our Earth Mods ([personal profile] ourearth) wrote in [community profile] saveourearth2018-11-11 03:24 pm

Light the fires [Mingle]

Date: 2nd to 5th of November; backdated due to the Halloween mingle being too close by
Characters: Open!


2nd to 4th

Bonfire night approaches, and like every year, a large bonfire is set up on the Greens, as well as an impressive fireworks display, intended to happen on the 3rd. It's been advertised for a few weeks now, and many families, groups of teenagers, and just regular people are planning on going... And then it's abruptly cancelled at the evening of the 2nd. The official word on it is that some kind of safety regulations weren't met, and as this was discovered at the final security check, there is no time to fix them. Oddly enough, at the same time yellow signs go up near the Greens, reading:
Mossgate POLICE Working for a safer Mossgate
We are appealing for witnesses: Can you help us?
Police incident
An incident occurred in this area between 1pm on the 2/11 and 2pm on the 3/11.
In strictest confidence, plase phone
020787574
Did you see or hear anything?
Please call us
On the number above or at your local police station

...And the perceptive person might notice that there are a few oddities going on around town. For one, there is more police out in the streets than normal, constables nobody has seen before, too, and they are carrying guns. Why are they carrying guns? This is not the airport or central London! This is the first thing that really gets the rumour mill going.

The second thing is that the area that was fenced off so when fireworks and bonfire happened, only those who paid an entrance fee would be able to get close, is still fenced off despite the cancellation. And those who peer into the area will notice more police there.

And then, on the 4th of November, a few nondescript vans and a small nondescript lorry arrive at the parking lot at the bottom of the Greens, and some people get off. All of them wear civilian clothes. A few simply wander off into Mossgate, but the rest goes up onto the Greens. And some of those carry large suitcases that seem to be quite heavy. Too bad there's bushes and trees and it is impossible to see what they're doing at the place where the bonfire and fireworks were set to happen...

[ooc: There are a few dedicated open NPC toplevels below for people to investigate, as well as toplevels aimed at specific characters. If anyone has ideas for investigating that are not covered by the below toplevels and needs input, prod the mod contact thread on the last setting interactions post!]



5th

After the fireworks in Mossgate couldn't happen, it was decided to do them in one of the villages in Mossgate Council. Naturally, Folkton and Moss Manor both clamoured to get them. But after a few young men got into a fistfight about it and a nose was broken, Mayor Gary Russell arrived at the Salomonic decision of having the fireworks happen in Tarwich instead. They have a nice little park there, and the official reason for the decision is that it is closer to Mossgate town so it will be easier for people from there to attend. The real reason is of course to not take any sides in the village rivalry.

Tarwich, by contrast, is too young to truly have rivalries and there are no old families that could bring true patriotic pride into the mix. Nicely bland and harmless. An excellent middle ground.

So on the evening of the fifth, like every year, there are two massive bonfires in Mossgate council, one in Folkton and one in Moss Manor. Little fairgrounds have sprung up next to them - a children's carousel, a kiddie train, an ice cream van, one or two vendors that sell festival foods like candy floss (= cotton candy).

But unlike other years, there's a third event, and most unusually the location is the often-forgotten Tarwich: Carefully timed so that people can first go see the fireworks and then go to whichever bonfire they prefer, there is a very nice 30 minutes long firework taking place in Tarwich, just after nightfall. There are no carousels or ice cream vans here, but festival food is offered, too.
runs: (duh)

[personal profile] runs 2018-11-22 08:50 pm (UTC)(link)
"You need parent permission for school trips and going to see the theatre, not carousel rides. Because you go to the fair with your family, not school or some other organisation."
fairfeste: (Default)

[personal profile] fairfeste 2018-11-23 01:07 am (UTC)(link)
Feste feels like they've really lost track of the conversation at this point, but they don't want to admit that. "Who do you go to the theatre with if not your family though...?"
runs: (duh)

[personal profile] runs 2018-11-23 08:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Implying that they had a grasp on what was happening? "School, and there's this charity that sometimes takes us places. And one time a friend's family went and took me along, though that was to the movies."
fairfeste: (Default)

[personal profile] fairfeste 2018-11-23 08:49 pm (UTC)(link)
They knew what was happening when the conversation started! Sort of. "Oh. What kind of charity thing?"
runs: (considering all that)

[personal profile] runs 2018-11-24 12:40 pm (UTC)(link)
Uh. She scratches her head. "...The name is something along the lines of Starting Kids Up...? I think.

They're okay. One of the older kids said that they took everyone to a football game into London once!"
fairfeste: (Feste [Don't peak])

[personal profile] fairfeste 2018-11-24 02:43 pm (UTC)(link)
"Wow. That's pretty cool." Feste's never heard of them before. "What sort of stuff have you done with them?"
runs: (considering all that)

[personal profile] runs 2018-11-24 02:50 pm (UTC)(link)
"Well, we went to the theatre that one time. And to Dover. And one summer when I was between families they sent me to this summer camp somewhere like an hour away." She frowns, trying to place it more accurately. "Somewhere in Sussex, I think."
fairfeste: (Feste [Don't peak])

[personal profile] fairfeste 2018-11-24 03:40 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh-- maybe it's a program for foster kids? Technically, Feste was in that system for a while, but they don't really remember any of it because they were so young. "That's pretty cool. Was it a fun camp?"
runs: (I got this)

[personal profile] runs 2018-11-24 05:12 pm (UTC)(link)
"It was pretty good. I got to ride a horse!

My grandma said that there are wild horses in France, and she saw them when she went there with everyone before I was born. I want to go there and see them one day, I bet I could ride one too, it wasn't that difficult at all." One day she'll go to France and ride ALL the horses.
fairfeste: (Default)

[personal profile] fairfeste 2018-11-24 05:52 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh, wow. That's an ace camp." Feste will not be jealous of the small child. ...They would probably do terribly with horses anyway. "I feel like there are wild horses somewhere in England, too. Or... were." Maybe not now. It's hard to imagine them running around London or something like that.
runs: (laughing)

[personal profile] runs 2018-11-24 06:18 pm (UTC)(link)
"If they're there, we should go see them!" Clearly this is now a group project. Because someone needs to pay for the travel.
fairfeste: (Feste [Don't peak])

[personal profile] fairfeste 2018-11-24 06:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Feste is a little worried about this child's apparent tendency to just get stuff from strangers but-- "We'd have to figure out where they are first. Otherwise it might be a bad trip."
runs: (ready to pounce)

[personal profile] runs 2018-11-24 07:43 pm (UTC)(link)
"...I'll go see if there's signal somewhere. So I can google it." And with that she wanders off.

And then forgets to return because other exciting things happen, and then her family leaves so she leaves too.