Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!

[callada]

characters: EVERYONE??
location: General Store + around Beacon
date/time: October 18-31
content: This is the costume prompt from the TDM, delivered to you all in mingle-style by popular request and with mod approval
warnings: n/a for now but will update

Although the month is already well underway, residents of Beacon will notice a brand new shipment being delivered to the general store—only this one comes via the forest, as a small legion of spirits quickly drop off crates of boxes at its doorstep before scampering back into the woods. Hopefully nobody is riding too hard on hoping for further rations or supplies, because opening them up quickly squashes any notions of a full month's restock. Instead, it looks like each crate is bursting with costumes! Coming in all shapes and sizes to fit anyone of any age or decree, there’s plenty to choose from. Something scary? Magical? Clever? Or maybe even a bit on the sultry side? Dig deep enough, and you’re sure to find something to suit your tastes, props, accessories, wigs and all!

If nothing else, surely you can find an alternate use for a bit of spare fabric in your size, but what's the harm of having a bit of fun? But, oh, be careful if you're playing dress-up while the hallucinations from the event are in play... These costumes might just have a funny effect on you. 🤔!

Comments

[callada]

"Wow." He's smiling now, though. It really is completely foreign, and completely fascinating.

"Never heard anything like all that. Your world, and your people, it's so different from how any of the races live where I come from, or at least the ones I know about. But I like that!"

The universe is truly a huge and varied place, and he's fine with his world being one very small part of it. The differences are - well, beautiful, if he allows himself to be a little over the top in his own thoughts. Not only is humanity itself diverse and chaotic, but all of life might be, if this place has taught him anything.

[scarsolderthanyou]

Looking pleased at the response, Stone says, "It's not a bad way to live. I've seen better and worse. I spent a lot of time traveling after my queen died, met a lot of different groundlings, learned about a lot of different cultures. If it were any others from my court here, they'd be a lot more lost than I am." Except maybe Moon, but Moon was a moody ass, and also shouldn't be dying at his age, anyway.

[callada]

"Yeah. Well, there are probably people here who won't know what to make of you. They already think I'm strange just because I'm a little bit taller than them. But they seem to be pretty accepting, overall. I keep finding myself being surprised, for some reason, at how well everyone gets along."

Mostly. Sure, there are exceptions. But most people work together, let each other know what their skills are, seek help when they have problems, and keep each other updated on what they've learned. He expected that in the Marines but he hadn't thought this disparate group from across multiple worlds in the universe would cooperate as well as they do.

[scarsolderthanyou]

"I haven't had anyone running and screaming, or thinking I'm going to eat them, so already this place is more accepting than where I come from," Stone chuckles. "Of course, you all aren't used to Fell, and I look a lot like a Fell greater kethel from my world. It's not an unreasonable thing for groundlings to think."

[callada]

Right, the ones that eat "groundlings," he'd said earlier. More like the monsters from myth. Lucky they don't have one like that among them.

"It must help that you seem pretty happy to explain it all. I've learned a lot already," he says. Far more interesting than poking around in the box of clothing, as colorful and different from the rest of the stock as they all are. "People here might be good to each other but not all of them are very forthcoming. Trying to learn about where they come from turns into me asking a ton of questions and getting short answers. I guess maybe they're not used to explaining themselves, though, if they're all humans from Earth."

[scarsolderthanyou]

"Almost much everyone I've talked to is," Stone snorts. "None of them even imagined there'd be anyone who wasn't human around. I'm not sure whether this Earth place sounds boring because everyone's the same, or interesting, to see how they manage to fight amongst themselves even if they're all the same species. Well, feel free to ask me anything you like. I love telling stories. I'll just ask you to tell me some, in return."

[callada]

"Right. I don't even know where to start," he admits, amused. He's also absolutely one of those who doesn't like explaining much about himself, but he can handle talking about his world in general well enough, and fudging the rest as needed.

"You said you've traveled a good amount of your world, though, right? What was your favorite place you visited?"

[scarsolderthanyou]

"The Golden Isles," Stone answers readily. "It's the remains of one of the floating island empires, mostly fishers, merchants, and and explorers now. The isles themselves float over a shallow sea with yellow silt that tints the water. It's a peaceful place, with good people-- golden skin, pale hair, mostly built like a human but with a kind of broader face and one less finger on each hand. I visited there twice during my travels alone, and a few times after that with others from my colony."

[callada]

"Sounds nice. Good place to relax. I guess they must not be that isolated even if they're floating, right? Since your people can fly."

Otherwise, being above the sea would make a place awfully insular. The sky islands of his own world are mostly rumor and legend, aside from the manmade Weatheria. It's a nice thought, though, to picture people living peacefully among the clouds without interference from the world below.

[scarsolderthanyou]

Stone grins at that. "They have flying boats," he explains. "And rope bridges down to lower islands, and their gardens on the water. They do a lot of trading with other cultures-- that yellow sea makes some interesting mineral deposits and spices. They're a more well-traveled people than mine, by a lot. Until we needed one of their flying boats, in fact, I was the only one who'd ever visited them."

[callada]

"Flying boats! I... How in the world do they make boats fly?"

The rest of that all sounds pretty good, for sure. Good on them, too, for not being isolationist but instead wanting to trade and share with the rest of the world. Those kingdoms that isolate themselves, in his experience, become infested. By pirates, sometimes, as they ignore laws and simply trample nations that don't have World Government protection, but sometimes from within based on what he's heard. Corrupt leaders forcing their people to provide for the bureaucracy and leaving nothing for the average peasant, only able to get away with it because the citizens have no way of receiving aid.

[scarsolderthanyou]

"There's a few ways, they aren't even the only people out there with flying boats," Stone chuckles. "Their boats do it by taking the pieces of the floating islands that make them float, some kind of metal with magical properties, and adding them to their boats. It helps them float on something the Islanders call ley lines. The Kish empire's flying boats do it using a kind of magical, levitating moss."

[callada]

"Sounds amazing." Like nothing he'll ever likely see. This dark world is probably the end of the line - but he can enjoy the stories of others for as long as they have, whether that's two years or more.

"I guess I owe you a story in return, then," he says, tapping his chin with a finger. What's worth telling? "Most of what I've seen is mundane compared to that, though. There are amazing places I've heard about, but never got the chance to see them myself."

[scarsolderthanyou]

"One person's idea of mundane isn't mundane to other people," Stone points out. "Why don't you just give it a try and let me tell you how mundane it really is."

[callada]

Marineford is a safe topic. He's posed himself so regularly here as the good soldier he used to be that he may as well continue. If that's how he's remembered here, should he ever vanish entirely, at least it's a positive thing. Something he'd be proud of if it were entirely true.

"Well, when I wasn't out at sea or on assignment with a crew, I lived on a man-made island called Marineford. The entire island is built out of brick and steel and Wapometal in the shape of a crescent moon. There's a castle at the back, the headquarters building, in an old architectural style that's really beautiful, and then from there to the plaza is the town, which is one of the biggest in all the seas. I always thought it was impressive that something made by human hands could be so strong, I guess. It's a symbol to the world of the strength and dedication to justice we always have."

That most of them have, anyway. The ideals are what's important. It gives them all something to dedicate themselves to, something to aspire to as a goal. It's not easy and maybe not always possible to completely maintain peace and security throughout the entire world, but they sure as hell do try.

[scarsolderthanyou]

"A created island?" That is certainly interesting. The ancestors did that sort of thing, sure, but humans doing it? Stone is intrigued. "How did they manage that? Wouldn't it sink of it's made of brick and metal?"

[callada]

"Built on top of an existing island, just not a big one. Rocks rising up off the continental shelf. It has a solid base, they just built a platform up and around it. There's a lot of little rocky peaks in the ocean in that area, so it makes for easy building. Government prison, Impel Down, it's the same way. All protected by tough currents, too, so you have to really know the area to get in and out or you get spun in circles and stranded."

To which he smiles. It's clever planning, that. And anyone stuck is readily apprehended once they've been sent drifting in spirals. Most pirates know to stay the hell away, but the ones with the balls to try anyway find themselves in over their heads quickly.

[scarsolderthanyou]

"Unless they could fly," Stone points out with an amused expression. "Which I'm guessing isn't very common on your world." That makes more sense, though. "Why did they bother making a whole island, though? Are they trying to hide?"

[callada]

"Right, like I said," he comments with a nod. Flying? Not so much, especially not an entire ship full of pirates. Maybe someone with a powerful enough air logia fruit could do it, but the effort to lift such a large object for long would likely drain them quickly. Crashing back down into the sea would be a death sentence for a lot of the crew.

"And no, everyone knows where Marineford is. No need to hide. It's in an important tactical location, but also I think it showcases a lot of our strength. The Marines have the resources, the teamwork, and the knowledge to build an entire island to safeguard the entryway to the castle where all the world leaders meet every few years to discuss current events, and it's also the point of access to the Grand Line, which is an oceanic belt with a lot of economically-important islands. Lots of reasons to be there and hold it from would-be raiders."