EVENT LOG: GATHER UP

[inthenightmods]

EVENT LOG:
GATHER UP

characters: everyone.
location: beacon at large.
date/time: september 16-25.
content: a town-wide selfie scavenger hunt!
warnings: unflattering camera angles.

🔎📸😘

It starts with a network post, and then a song begins to play in the Invincible, loud enough to be heard throughout Bonfire Square. Welcome to the scavenger hunt, everyone! You've been tasked with finding 25 "items" in and around Beacon, so hop to it!

Please remember to ICly report your findings on Robin's network post if you want them to count toward a prize! As a further reminder, you're free to interpret the list items however you/your character would like, and you're free to assume your character can find all of these things somewhere in town without running into trouble! Just don't stray too far from town to go gallivanting off into the wilderness, as that might be dangerous. This includes finding forest spirits! You're welcome to NPC your own forest spirit encounters, just like in our last event.

That said, if you would like to search a particular area for a fun surprise, let us know below!

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Comments

Rosalind Lutece | OTA

[originallutece]

It's not even summer, why does the Invincible keep on playing Summertime Sadness?

[This is not, as the kids say, her scene.

It's frivolous and silly and thus unworthy of her time, or so she'll tell anyone who asks why she isn't participating (because there's really a line of people doing that). But the song keeps repeating in the Invincible, which makes her usual evening hobby of reading over a cup of tea rather impossible. And it's hard to ignore the eager efforts of the entire town, so instead: this. Not giving in, but at least profiting a bit from it.

An hour after Robin's post is up, a sign is hung on the front of the laboratory, where she's got the door propped open.]

FOUND HERE
Items 2 - 5, 8, 11, 18-19
Inquire within

I only got 10 likes in the last 5 minutes, do you think I should take it down?

[But she's curious about the prizes. Given who Robin is, given her age, she doubts it's anything spectacular, but on the other hand, it's not as if she has so very much right now. Besides: while the chances are slim, she'll be sore if some prize turns out to be a bit of scientific equipment and she hadn't bothered to try. Unlikely, but still.

So. Catch her furtively taking a selfie. She isn't very good at it, so really, it's more like "watch a young woman from 1910 try to take a selfie while grimacing". Pictures include something delicious (a meal from the Invincible, hot, edible, questionably good), something beautiful (what's more beautiful than a glass of wine, and also more convenient, because it's just sitting right there on the table too), your favorite place to be, (the Invincible, now, because it's also convenient).

She's taking this very seriously. Call her the fuck out on it, why don't you?

Anyway. Other photos are harder, and she's not above bullying people to suit her needs, so--]

Come here a moment.

[Gurl, ask instead of demand why don't you.]

But first . . . let me take a selfie

[Of course, she isn't always the star. Sometimes she's standing in the background, judging everyone else.

She keeps showing up in those. How odd.]

@freddie1967 | Private

[sauntered_downward]

You didn't put 20 on there. How modest.

[originallutece]

Is that your version of a compliment?

[policier]

( Javert doesn't have any interest in the scavenger hunt either. But since he's already been persuaded into taking one picture, it may be easier to talk him into taking another. He doesn't know that's what Rosalind intends, however, when she calls him over to her table. Not that it would matter. Javert can hardly deny her anything, especially not when it sounds like an order. )

This is not another experiment, is it?

( He looks down at her, his voice tinged with exasperation. It's familiar, though, and friendly. He knows what Rosalind is like, all too well. It's still a bit of a strange feeling. )

[originallutece]

If it was, would you deny me?

[She says it as playfully as he does, the amusement subtle to others but clear to him.]

Sit. You qualify as a hard-won friend, or at least I trust she shan't check to see if I'm lying or not.

[policier]

I would not.

( It's a rhetorical question, and teasing, but Javert can't help but answer anyway. Let there be no doubt between them that he can be relied upon. He takes the seat next to her at the table and scoffs slightly. )

Hard-earned? As if I didn't just show up at your doorstep like a stray animal.

( He's not going to address the idea of mention being friends because. Are they? Or is that the part that Rosalind is lying to Robin about? He dares not ask. )

[originallutece]

[She scoffs softly right back at him, even as she edges her chair closer, getting in his space. Unusual for them, but on the other hand, she still bears the scar he'd stitched up on her arm, so perhaps a bit of closeness isn't so shocking anymore.]

You weren't nearly so pathetic. I wouldn't have allowed you near me if you were.

[Blunt but honest, as she pulls the camera up.]

Smile.

[Or don't. But she is, sharply and challengingly, the way she gets when she's telling him of some nastiness in her past.]

[policier]

( Proximity is an unfortunate necessity when it comes to taking these pictures, he's noticed. Her shoulder brushes up against his, and he slides his arm around to better accommodate her, his hand resting feather light against her back.

His first instinct is to frown, but since she asked him nicely, he attempts something of a smile. It's not terrifying, at least, but smug, just like most of his smirks. He keeps as still as he can until the camera shutters, then says, )

This is foolish. ( He huffs performatively, wondering, ) Do you intend to do all of them?

[originallutece]

Certainly not.

[The decent thing about this is that it's quick: half a second, nothing more. A smile is odd on his serious face, but not appalling. Unusual, just as it is for her. What a pair they make, she thinks, glancing down at the photo.]

But if the prize is something worth having, I'd rather expend a slight bit of effort and not regret it. And now you've a chance to earn it too. It rather works out for the both of us, doesn't it?

[So that's that on that. She focuses back on him, sliding back a bit.]

. . . I used to be photographed as a matter of course when I was alive. Did I tell you? They'd drag me out in front of the press for each new invention, and cajole me for a smile, a laugh, anything along those lines.

[policier]

( He grunts a bit, arm sliding back to his chest where he folds it over the other, across his chest. It's almost as if the smile wasn't even there, with how swiftly he falls back into his normal, disgruntled demeanor. )

Sounds like a nightmare. ( He says, rough, leaning back into the chair. )

I never much cared for newspapers. They sensationalize everything. I suppose it is even worse where you come from, if they disrupted you so.

[originallutece]

I had a rival.

[She reaches for her wine, sipping at it idly. They've spent more than a few evenings like this, talking back and forth over dinner or wine or what have you; it's pleasant, honestly, in a mundane way.]

He wasn't nearly as scientifically clever as I was, but he was charismatic. Clever, too. He put on a song and dance each time he released something new, and everyone simply adored him. Who wouldn't? He was the richest man in the city. Never mind he worked his employees to death; never mind all his inventions were stolen. He was likable. He was charming.

I was not. And I suspect they rather hoped I might be, in an insipid way; blinking prettily and telling everyone I was just so excited to be producing something new. I never did, but they persisted each time.

Lab

[callada]

[The sign catches his eye, and he can't help but check the numbers against the list Robin had given out. Some of them are pretty presumptuous - someone who has helped him? His favorite lantern? Hm. But it's truly a place he's never been, even if he knows generally who has been working on setting the place up, having passed by a few times. Has heard Rosalind's name, but truthfully has never spoken to her.

The scavenger hunt is silly and he's not sure what the point is in participating in it, but this is as good an excuse as any to meet another one of the people who's been here since the first month, so he steps forward and then gives a knock on the frame to make sure his presence has been noticed -

and then slams the top of his head against said frame on trying to enter, a constant problem for someone both too tall and too clumsy to get in and out easily. It's half the reason he leaves his bangs so long and keeps his hat on. Bruises are all too common. He lets out a short gasp of pain, then shakes it off.]

Hey. Rosalind, right?

[originallutece]

Madam Lutece, thank you.

[She says it far less coldly than she might otherwise have, but his little rigmarole routine with the doorway rather did the work for her. It's hard to cut a man down when he's done it himself.]

I assume this is about the sign on the front?

[callada]

Madam Lutece. Apologies.

[So much for fitting names to faces - he should have noted that she prefers a more formal type of address. No big deal though, he'll remember now. He gives his forehead a rub with a slight grimace, because damn that still stings.]

And yeah. I figured at the very least, we'd never spoken before. And I know you've been working on getting this place set up. Do you mind telling me what it is you do?

[originallutece]

Simply? Science.

[All science, as silly as that sounds. But caught here, bored out of her mind, she studies anything she can, biology and chemistry and geology and physics. Anything to keep her sharp.]

More specifically: a bit of biology right now, but my specialty is quantum physics.

[She turns more fully towards him. She knows him, of course, in the same way he knows her: at a distance, a face vaguely known.]

My price is a certain amount of time spent serving as my laboratory assistant. Is there a number in particular you were interested in?

[callada]

[Well, at least he understands the physics half of that second phrase. He's educated just enough to know some of the very basics, as understood in his world. But he's no proper scientist.

Still, her proposal is fair, and maybe he'll learn something, when he's not tripping over lab equipment, dropping vials, and breaking delicate instruments.]

A certain amount of time, huh? I don't mind helping out a bit when I have the chance. I don't remember how the list was numbered, but-

[He raises a hand to gesture to her, and then the room around them.]

Before now we've never spoken, and I've never been here, so those work just fine for me. What kind of assistance do you need?

[originallutece]

Just do as I say, beginning with holding these.

[Two vials, one a worrying red, the other a clear liquid. They're both unnaturally warm to hold, but it shan't burn him. The smell is pretty gross, though.]

The list was numbered by what we can potentially fake. I can act as hard-won friend or what have you easily enough.

[callada]

I see.

[No harm in that, really. It's just a silly scavenger hunt, and for all his positive traits, honesty has never actually been one of them, especially when there's something to be gained with a harmless fabrication. He sets his lantern down to take the vials.]

Well, the ones I suggested are good enough, and true enough too. I'm not desperate to go after every single item. What are these?

this is a con

[axegirlfriend]

[Any regret that Remington was feeling as he approached the Laboratory only doubles as he enters. Because now he's done it, now he's committed, now he's going to have to talk to people. At person. One person. She's really frightening.]

Have, um...excuse me.

[He feels...awkward. Is this really...a laboratory?]

Have you really found that many items in such a short amount of time?

is it??

[originallutece]

Found them? No. Hello, Remington.

[She doesn't glance at him immediately, but rather finishes tightening a few screws on something she's working on. Then she faces him, and it's honestly debatable if she was making him wait on purpose.]

But they're easy enough to fake. I highly doubt Robin will call us out on some photos.

[axegirlfriend]

Sure, but...

[Faking...them...? He shrinks a little before he so much as dares speak what he's thinking.]

Isn't that a little bit, um...you know...going against the spirit of the whole thing?

[originallutece]

Does it matter?

[It's dry, and if he manages to look, he'll see her eyes are amused, not critiquing.]

A photo is a photo. Intent only matters so much.

[axegirlfriend]

Right...

[But...but...]

There's still, I mean, shouldn't the journey be more important than the goal or...something like that?

[originallutece]

[She stares at him for a long few seconds.]

Do you actually believe that, Remington?

[axegirlfriend]

...I guess not.

[Is he just agreeing with her because she's staring at him like that or does he actually agree for real? Hard to say.]

So...which ones do you still need?