Save Our Earth

Date: 18.9.19
Characters: OPEN

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The local radio station is the first to spread it widely, but of course the news have already made the rounds around Moss Manor itself by the time they become official. Village gossip and all that.

And quite some news they are: The graveyard has been closed! Fences and tape have gone up, and if you stand on tiptoes and know where to stand and where to look, you can see the most visible reason for why that is: A sinkhole has opened near the centre of the graveyard, taking down two graves with a third tombstone balancing precariously at the rim of the sunk area. Luckily it hit the more historic part of the graveyard that has no recent burials in it, so it will be less emotionally impactful than what happened at Halloween last year, but it is still a dangerous development and has the vicar in a very unhappy situation.

Partly because there's press in the house yet again.

Press that is also bouncing around the whole Mossgate area trying to interview people in hopes of finding someone who will be hysteric about the situation. Or at least dramatically worried.

Most of Moss Manor's residents are unhelpfully calm, at least towards outsiders... but many are secretly treading very carefully and eyeing the ground closely wherever they walk. What, after all, if more sinkholes show up?

Date: 24 August 2019
Characters:OPEN
Note: Like all welcome mingles, this is a SoL free-for-all mingle meant to get new characters involved by centring around something relevant to them. Without further ado, please welcome Celestial Ray Jones, Sacrament Lucas Jones and Torin Byrd!

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The summer is drawing to an end, but not without one last big event: A day-long music festival that's spread out over the Greens and the nearest bits of the shoreline. One stage sits just below the tideline, so sometimes there's water around it and sometimes there isn't and one stage sits higher up on the Greens. Many bands and singers have come from both the local and wider area, and the festival has even has managed to acquire two big-name headliners: Bryan Adams and Busted, so all ages are catered for. The general music styles range from rock to pop, nothing extreme on any ends but still a wide enough range to not be boring.

The entrance fee is cheap and there's family discounts, so there's a lot of locals but also a good deal of people from further away, and due to the scenic location there's even people from further away than London in attendance. Especially since the weekend is blessed with perfect weather, just overcast enough for people to not get too many sunburns and heatstrokes but sunny enough that there's no worries about rain.

It also helps that the festival is fundraising for a cause that unites all ages, classes, and any other disparaging groups: Dinosaurs. Who doesn't love dinosaurs? Exactly. We all come together for dinosaurs. Or that is what the organisers say in the opening speech. Fact is, the kids' corner of the festival is dinosaur themed, a few people in dinosaur suits hang around, there's dinosaur themed food, and there's a group of party tents explaining what the fundraiser is for. And, more excitingly, displaying some dinosaur artefacts - bits of a skeleton arranged to make it clear where in the dinosaur they went, a fossilized egg, and a stone with the imprint of a dinosaur in it. Because this is what the fundraiser is about: The town museum has managed to successfully campaign for an additional room in the context of the renovations necessary after the controlled WW2 bomb detonation last year. And the director of the museum has been working closely with a paleontology professor from the local uni to dedicate that room to what they can reasonably call dinosaur ages. Well, and everything else that came before the time that the up-until-now "oldest" room in the town museum covers. But mainly dinosaurs.

They even have a very specific thing they're fundraising for, the two explain when they're on stage in-between acts: One specific full dinosaur skeleton that was found in Mossgate during the Victorian age which has been in private hands up until now will be auctioned off in a couple of months, and of course Mossgate's town museum has a very special interest in acquiring that fossil.

All in all, it's a typical festival: Drinks and food can be bought, the music alternates between the two stages to give the next showact time to set up, and such. There's more security than there would be normally, and the bag checks are more intense, but with the things that have happened in Mossgate in the last year that's maybe not surprising. ...And when Busted plays on the sea stage at high tide, there's sharks circling the stage. They don't attack anyone, just circle, so everyone just writes it off as a publicity stunt. After the first song, the band even says that they brought mascots, so all is fine, right?

And they make sense, a band member quickly supplies. After all sharks are very closely related to dinosaurs, closer than almost any other reptile!

Date: Friday, the 2nd of August - officially Saturday, the 10th (and unofficially Sunday, the 11th)
Characters: Open to all!

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It is Mossgate's fifth season, and the 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 “What is a definition anyway: LGBT identities throughout the times” and “50 years and going strong: An overview of the situation of Pride parades worldwide”. 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.

Something else starts showing up on Sunday and will be found around town the entire week of Pride: Parcels of various shapes, sizes and colours, some packaged like a present, some like regular postal items, some in entirely different ways. They just sit around in places where curious fingers might prod them, annoyed people might move them, or people might pick them up with the rest of the delivery unthinkigly. Essentially, they can be found anywhere, inside and out. They only have one thing in common: When touched, they explode into a cloud of glitter. And the glitter gets everywhere within a fifty metre radius if nothing (like a wall) stops it. The glitter bombs sitting around and waiting to explode seem to get neither less nor more. Those who can recognize Mr Neutral's scent will find it on the packages.

The other thing starts slowly and almost imperceptibly. All around town, things that break the light like thick glass, mirrors, sprayed water, and so on, will grow more likely to show a rainbow. Short rain showers will almost invariably leave one. All of this is still very natural until Thursday, when the strong, lingering, beautiful rainbow left after a rain shower portrays the colours light blue - baby pink - white - baby pink - light blue. By the time the main event rolls around, there is a ridiculous number of rainbows of all Pride flag colours everywhere, and the sky carries multiple rainbows of various identities' colours at the same time.

The main event, of course, being the pride parade, held from 11AM on Saturday the 10th. It starts at the town hall, progresses along the main beach front road and ends 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.

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. Because every Tory representative called out for increasingly ridiculous reasons, Mary Saunders had to take the Tory stand into her own hands and is brightly chatting with people about everything that is not national politics. 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: Everyone who comes in contact with the glitter can, but doesn't have to get a plot echo out of it.]