Let's proudly not melt, shall we? [Mingle]

[ourearth]

Date: 31.8-9.9.2018

Characters: Open

---

With the end of the eternal summer heat in sight, the last gasp of summer festivities start in Mossgate. The first signs come when the flag above the town hall showing the town coat of arms is removed and replaced with the bright and beautiful pride flag. Anticipation is high in the LGBT+ areas of town, and the traditional pride pre-parties take place in the LGBT+ venues on Friday and Saturday nights. Bunting starts to go up along the main streets of town, and volunteers are gathered for meetings and rehearsals. Any latecomers who still wish to volunteer are invited to turn up and make themselves known at this point (especially anyone with a valid first aid certificate!)

Pride officially opens on Sunday, with special free walking tours of the notable LGBT+ venues and sights around town twice a day, as well as open lectures at the universities featuring such topics as “Defining ourselves: deconstructing LGBT+ labels” and “Not just Stonewall: a brief history of LGBT+ activism”. Interested parties can sign up online using the local theatre's website, where they will also be able to browse the special LGBT+ program for the week (which, unfortunately, is not free, but those volunteering at any point over the week will be provided with two free tickets as one of their perks – either to be used alone for two events, or with a companion for one). The twice monthly LGBT+ book club is holding a special taster event on Wednesday evening, and the comic store is also holding special events each evening, focusing on a different LGBT+ character or author each night. Some of the religious institutions in the town are holding special LGBT affirmative services, and some are also holding drop in sessions. The RSPCA holds a pride themed dog show. Certain beauty stores, hair salons and barbers are holding trans-friendly sessions and workshops, some outside of normal working hours (although some are only accessible by signing up in advance). During the evening, there will be LGBT+ pub quizzes and special LGBT+ events up and down the high street. And, of course, plenty of other stores will also be taking advantage of the pink pound and the locals will notice the sudden influx of rainbow products, especially in the touristy shops along the beach front.

The main event is the pride parade, held from 11AM on Saturday, starting at the town hall, progressing along the main beach front road and ending up at the Green from around 2PM. It's a massive event, equal to Brighton or Manchester, with plenty of floats and sponsors. All along the parade route, flags, bunting and ribbons float in the sea breeze and barriers have been placed to keep the audience from getting under the feet of the walkers, dancers, prancers and stompers that will make up a part of the parade's diverse make-up. The parade itself is made up of an interesting mix of local businesses and big name sponsors; the local walking society walking behind Absolut vodka, the WI walking ahead of Skittles, and the local scouts being proceeded by Stonewall and followed by the Conservative Party.

There is one unforeseen thing happening this year though that will be throwing everyone into a tizzy for a bit: In between the last security check and the head of the pride parade arriving at the spot outside the town museum, someone has managed to sneak a giant cake in the way of the parade. The parade will come to an abrupt stop for almost half an hour while rumours run wild about the reason for which the parade has stopped, ranging from a terrorist attack to a romantic proposal. Eventually, the cake turns out to be entirely harmless, is removed and the parade continues. But news of it spread soon, and it is moved to a square where people are allowed to take pictures with it. It is, of course, heavily advised against trying to eat from it. Just that it doesn't explode doesn't mean that it meets food safety standards...

The Green has once again been set up with stalls for sponsors and local businesses, including charities like the RSPCA and the Samaritans. Those out for freebies won't be disappointed, with stickers, badges and sweets being handed out left, right and centre, especially by the representations of political parties who are doing their best to build some trust back up with the population. The local reproductive health centre also has a stand, handing out condoms, dental dams, and advice.

A dance area and a DJ have been set up around the bandstand, and with several bars having build temporary extensions, the party will go on well into the night, although the parade officially ends at nightfall, when there is a fireworks display. After the fireworks, the Green is temporary cleared, and after it reopens, only those with ID proving themselves to be 18 are allowed back inside. There is, however, an alternative, alcohol free party held in the town hall for any ages.

Pride officially concludes on Sunday evening with the Kings and Queens ball, an extension by tradition that is held in the Hive. With the bar cleared out to make a second dance floor, there is a flamboyant tie dress code, (as long as it's smart and fabulous, you'll be welcomed), and while tickets generally sell out months in advance, Alexander keeps a few to one side for late comers, and volunteers are (again) provided with two as part of their package. When the bell finally tolls at 2AM, and the last partygoers are sent home, Mossgate will return to it's usual, quiet self (but the glitter will take some time to clean up completely).


[ooc: Eating from the cake will give characters a plot echo. It will also make them high and give them indigestion the next day.]

Comments

OTA

[scarsolderthanyou]

I. Weekend Events - pre-cake

Sam Stone is not really a pride kind of person, but his daughter is, and with him trying the social thing again, she's convinced him to come under the guise of helping keep track of the grandkids. So here he is on the weekends, feeling vaguely out of place and drifting around from site to site on the tour.

II. University

He does take advantage of some of those lectures, though, and can be found around the university in the evenings with a book before or after the class.

III. Cake and five year olds

It's the most rambunctious of the grandkids that gets away from the rest of the group, and Sam that has the spare attention and hands to chase after him. The five year old boy has heard about a giant cake, and of course is determined to try it out, because it's cake and he's a headstrong little boy. Wonder where he got that from.

Sam catches up to him, out of breath, to find the boy has all but dived into the cake and is covered on most of his top half with frosting. He sighs, picks him up, and endures being swatted and giggled at by frosting-covered hands.

It's only when some of that frosting winds up in his mouth-- he tries to spit it out, and fails-- that he stops short with another of those goddamned pulse-heartbeart-hollow feeling. There's the usual vivid scene or memory or vision or whatever it is he's come to expect from those things, of flying again but this time with purpose, tracking something, testing the wind for a scent. This time, though, with it comes a suddenly overwhelming sense of everything smelling too strongly. The frosting, the car exhaust, the mass of people nearby, the boy in his arms, everything. He very nearly topples over in shock, hastily freeing up one hand from holding his grandson to cover his mouth and nose with his forearm.

"What the hell...."

"That's a bad word, Grandpa," his grandson scolds, then giggles some more. It's hard to tell if the cake affected him; he's just a hyper little boy.

IV. Weekend Events - post-cake

Sam lets his daughter deal with getting her son cleaned up, while he finds some grassy spot somewhere to sit, feeling woozy and with random scents bringing tears to his eyes, mostly because they're too strong, but occasionally because they spark a (non-echo) memory that is uncomfortable or associated with too much emotion. He hates this, but he doesn't trust himself to drive home until he has this smell thing at least somewhat sorted out-- or at least can stand up without feeling dizzy.

He may wind up getting a ride from someone. Or walking home. But for now, he's sitting. Feel free to come bother him, network people.

IV

[dragoonrouge]

Sadie spots Sam sitting down and it manages to register through the happy cloud of the cake that, as someone who was a volunteer, she should go and check on him.

Skipping over she beams at him, "Hey, are you feeling okay? Do I need to get the ambulance people?"

[scarsolderthanyou]

"I don't need an ambulance," Sam snorts at her. "I just need to sit down for a while."

He pauses, arm moving away from his nose a little, then realizes: "You had some of that damn cake, didn't you. I can smell it." He's at least sure there is something off about that cake. The dizziness may or may not be because of it, but the intense sense of smell certainly is.

[dragoonrouge]

"I only had a little bit!" Sadie says defensively with a pout. That was a tone she was very familiar with from her own grandparents and usually signalled a telling-off.

Despite the cake she does manage to recognise the voice and she plops herself opposite him with a grin.

" You're Sam! The one with Walter and the plane!" She states proudly, you should be impressed that she recognised you Sam.

[scarsolderthanyou]

"Yeah, that's me. You know more than I do, don't have a name to go with the face," Sam comments. "Or the scent." Because he doesn't think he's ever going to forget what she smells like, now. Or anyone else, for that matter. It's seared into his poor old brain.

[dragoonrouge]

"Oh! Right!" She holds out her hand grinning, "'M Sadie. Nice to meet you. I'm apparently going to turn into a cat person." The cake has ruined her mental filter and the pulls down her sunglasses so that Sam is confronted by a pair of Amber cat eyes.

"See?!"

[scarsolderthanyou]

"Turning... into?" It takes his befuddled brain a moment to grasp that, blinking at her changed eyes in bafflement and growing alarm, putting his arm back up to block his nose again, for what little good it does. He doesn't, however, take her hand, he's too busy focusing on what that suggests. "What do you mean, you think there's going to be more?"

[dragoonrouge]

Sadie nods vigorously and then pushes her glasses back up, thankfully maintaining enough common sense to remember that keeping her new eyes uncovered isn't the best idea.

"For me yep. Tail and ears at least. Maybe claws I dunno." Her drug-loosened lips still going. "Might get a smell thing like you. Us and Walter're trying to science this stuff but there's too many variables." She pouts at that, stupid variables being all...variable.

[scarsolderthanyou]

"Walter does like his science." Says the man who suggested the first test of this phenomenon. "I don't like any of this. How do you know about the ears and tail? The memories?"

[dragoonrouge]

"Science is great!" Sadie cheers, "I want to science at uni, don't know where yet though. Maybe here 'cause of the memory thingy."

His questions get another happy nod from Sadie. "I keep seeing people with eyes and ears and tails. Saw a tiny person to, like a hobbit but more potato shaped. Don't think I'll be like that though."

[scarsolderthanyou]

"Hell." Sam doesn't like the sound of that. "I have wings in both of mine. Scales and claws, too. I'm pretty sure."

[dragoonrouge]

The expression on Sadie's face turns to awe, "Like a dragon?! That would be amazing, you might be able to fly!"

Sadie then frowns, "Texting might be hard."

[scarsolderthanyou]

"A lot of things might be hard," Sam agrees dryly. "I'm pretty sure normal human beings would want to shoot down a dragon, and would scream seeing someone walking around with scales and claws."

II

[warped_replica]

Prior to one such lecture at the university, a teenager arrives early on his own with a notebook and a printed map in hand. He looks at the map repeatedly as he approaches down the hallway. Spotting the older man seated with a book, Benjiro walks up close enough to speak at a comfortable level while minding personal space. Since he began wearing his mask, he has noticed a subtle expanding of the personal space kept between himself and others. For today, he’s wearing a white mask and a collared shirt with a button-up front and clean slacks, hoping to offset the odd accessory.

Bowing his head and shoulders, he’ll ask, “Excuse me... I’m sorry to bother you. I am here to attend the lecture titled ‘Defining Ourselves’. Do you know if that’s here or someplace else?”

[scarsolderthanyou]

That's a little funny. There's not supposed to be any particular bug going around that people need masks for, is there? Sam peers at him a moment, trying to recall, before giving up and going with the question he's asked. "Yeah, that room over there. At least, I think so." He points. "If I'm wrong, we'll both be late to the real one together."

[warped_replica]

The unusual quality of it might be enhanced should Sam realize the mask is fabric instead of the typical dispoable materials associated with temporary wear.

“Considering we both arrived at the same location seperately, probability should be in our favor. Thank you,” he replies with obvious relief. With one last glance over at the room the man indicated followed by a review of his printed paper, he folds the map and tucks it away into the back of the notebook.

After that...well, Benjiro is caught by indecision. He has a little time yet to wait, so where he should spend that time is debatable. He could sit by the man, but he noticed the look at his mask. Maybe he should lean against the wall, or move further off down the hallway to a bench nearby.

[scarsolderthanyou]

"Sit," Sam says, sounding exasperated, after a moment of watching the hesitation. "If you're not sick, I don't care. Though if you are sick, don't cough on me. My immune system isn't what it used to be."

[warped_replica]

Visibly flinching at the unexpected if slightly gruff invitation, Benjiro holds a hand up as he replies, “Ah, no, it’s not catching... Thank you.” Effects from Numbers being contagious is a terrifying thought, and he’ll firmly shut that away into the recesses of his mind without consideration.

Stepping over, he takes a seat on the bench with plenty of elbow room left between them. Benjiro sees that the man has a book with him, so he sees no reason to disturb him further. Opening his notebook to a fresh page, he scrawls out the start of his number only to erase it and instead begin a list of titles.

[scarsolderthanyou]

Sam considers that a moment, not sure if that number was a Number, but there's one way to find out. He pulls out a tiny pencil from a pocket, and an equally tiny notebook, and writes his own number out, and then the words, You seeing this kid?

[warped_replica]

His list slows nearly as soon as he has begun as the number imprinted on his brain begs to be checked, and flipping off to a fresh page with a faint sigh, he does proceed to write it in full.

The network looks the same as it did before he left home for all of a couple seconds before a new message appears with the words showing in a different handwriting. He freezes still as he stares at the page, then quite carefully glances over to the man next to him on the bench. Now the man has a notebook out with a pencil and…

Benjiro lifts his head to look straight at the man, “Did you just…?”

[scarsolderthanyou]

Sam holds up the notebook with a wry half-smile. "Always good idea to test the waters, see if I'm talking to somebody who's one of us. Haven't met you yet."

[warped_replica]

Confirmation given, Benjiro sits up at full attention, “No, this is the first time we’ve met, but I recognize your voice. You worked with Walter to test the range, didn’t you? Sam Stone?”

Then realizing his impoliteness, he’ll bow his head and shoulders quickly, “Excuse me. My name’s Benjiro Thorne. I’ve been trying to minimize my presence erm...on there.” He clarifies with a gesture to the small notebook. Still, the teen remains suspicious of it.

[scarsolderthanyou]

"Understandable, though that means you won't know as much if you don't keep track of what the rest of us find out," Sam points out. "I'm Sam, yeah. Nice to meet you." He pauses, then decides to be nosy. He's American and he's old, he can usually get away with it. "Why the mask?"

[warped_replica]

“I try to keep up, and I stay in touch with some of the others in person,” he replies. His checking the number here at least should speak to the habit of looking it over. Regardless of his frequent observation of the network, he certainly doesn’t have the social connection it provides. “And it’s nice to meet you too.”

The blunt question about his mask is met with hesitation. A mixture of surprise and caution, though not of Sam. Given that Walter has worked with him, that lends to more than a neutral point of trust for the teenager. Rather, he’s not certain Sam knows the extent to which the Numbers can affect those that carry them. Voice lowered in volume, he’ll dance around a complete answer, “I have to say it’s for allergies but...it’s really because of my number.”

[scarsolderthanyou]

"I guessed it might be," Sam admits. It's one reason he prodded him on the network to begin with, to see if his guess was right. "Though I don't know what this network thing and weird visions have to do with your breathing."