May Swear-In

[dendarii]

WHO: Everyone!
WHERE: Aerial Garden, Downtown Nonah
WHEN: May 13th
WHAT: Butterfly Festival/May Swear-In!
WARNINGS: Perhaps some violence, but nothing in the prompt itself.

Welcome to the first ever Nonah Butterfly Festival! Hosted by the Nonah Conservatory Society and coordinated by Nonah's ambassador, Miles Vorkosigan, the swear-in/festival is hosted in the Aerial Garden downtown.



The Garden is a beautiful glass building suspended over the streets of downtown Nonah, with a lovely view of the cars passing along below. Or … well, there would be a good deal of traffic going on, but this street is completely flooded courtesy of a certain portal summoning a whole bunch of seawater downtown. The effect is quite lovely, though, and the glittering water channel below makes a nice backdrop for the events inside.

Sweet Little Butterflies



The main draw of the swear-in s, naturally enough, the butterflies themselves. The garden is completely full of them from top to bottom, resting on flowers, feeding on the various plates of rotted fruit and sugar water, and (gently) mobbing anyone wearing brightly colored clothing. It seems like no two butterflies are alike. From brilliant Blue Morphos to delicate cabbage butterflies, there’s a dizzying array of colors and shapes available.

To properly show off these butterflies, the Society has scheduled a number of smaller events throughout the afternoon and evening. Don’t miss out on …

Butterfly Bingo

Take a randomized card and see how many species you can spot and photograph! The card is equipped with QR codes that automatically sync up with your communicator and identify which species you’ve snapped pictures of. Return to one of their many educational booths with a full card and receive your very own butterfly-raising kit! Complete with instructions, a chrysalis, and a small terrarium to keep your new friend in.

Flora Fascination

Who loves flowers? Butterflies love flowers! And also people, but mostly butterflies. The NCS has reached out to local floral experts - imPorts as well - to create a dizzying array of live arrangements for both butterflies and people to enjoy. Several members of the society are also giving out flower arranging lessons for those of you who are interested in taking home a nice bouquet for Mother’s Day.

Live Educational Exhibits

Did you know that prehistoric butterflies were huge? Yes, it’s true! And totally not the result of some mad scientist getting a little too creative with some prehistoric butterfly DNA. The NCS has cordoned off a section of the garden specifically to house these oversized creatures. With wingspans the size of swans, these insects are truly a wonder to behold. Similarly oversized are the live prehistoric plant included in the exhibit, including giant flowers, enormous leafy greens, and other oversized flora. Funny, they all seem a bit too … toothy to be accurate.

As with the floral display, the NCS coordinated with local biologists - including imPorts from any city - to make this happen. So if you want credit/blame for what happens next, feel free to have lent a hand…

6 PM - Jurassic Butterfly Park

The first warning signs come from the smallest butterflies. They begin to list lazily towards cordoned off prehistoric exhibit, settling in small swarms on anyone who happens to be in the area. Then, a vague hum begins to emanate from the area where the giant butterflies are being kept. After that there’s only a few scant moments before the exhibit seemingly bursts from the inside out, emptying swarms of giant butterflies into the walled off garden. They are mean creatures too, as large as a goose and twice as vicious, with multiple lines of tiny, sharp teeth. And while it would take a lot of doing to get killed by one of these, getting bit sure won’t be pleasant either.

The smaller butterflies aren’t especially friendly either. Driven by whatever strange pheromone is maddening the giant butterflies, they are swarming in enormous swaths, landing on people in suffocating droves and delivering thousands of butterfly kisses that are a whole less cute when you’re being suffocated by an insect swarm. They mob drinks and food, land on your face and in your mouth, and generally cut visibility down to nothing. All while the giant butterflies stalk through the garden, the muffled sound of their wings often the only warning you’ll get before they descend.

The good news is these killer butterflies are confined by the glass panes of the garden, plus some bright government official thought to lock the doors leading to the walkways that go back towards the rest of the city. The bad news is … you’re stuck in here too. And below the garden itself, the seawater flooding the streets make an escape in that direction equally unpalatable.

In the midst of all this chaos, both Miles and the NCS begs that imPorts help capture the butterflies unharmed. There are a decent number (though not enough) nets around that can be used for this purpose, and the Society would be happy to express their gratitude with butterfly bounties. Or, alternately you can probably lay waste to the swarms and leave a swath of butterfly corpses in your wake. The large butterflies are, alas, too stupid to be tamed, although a determined imPort might be able to lure one around for a while.

Fight off swarms of insects? Capture them safely for the NCS? Just focus on escaping? The choice is yours, imPorts.

Comments

Early afternoon

[hellrisen02]

Oh, mad scientists, probably. [Comes a sudden voice from just over Al's shoulder. There's an older man leaning over behind him, examining the same monstrous butterfly he is- there's a little quirk of a grin on his face, but nothing else immediately suspicious or threatening about him, despite seemingly appearing out of thin air.]

They always think up the craziest stuff. Kinda amazing, isn't it? People can't just be satisfied with nature on its own.

[uncanned]

[Alphonse glances over is shoulder to see who's speaking. It's a little strange for someone to sneak up on him, but this guy isn't giving him any other red flags... He offers him a weary sort of look; the sort someone tired of this kind of careless science would wear.]

There's not even any benefit to it. It's the worst when they do it only because they can.

[hellrisen02]

Maybe they can eat mosquitoes or something? [Duo shrugs lightly; he was pretty sure they didn't usually eat bugs, but... Hey, who was he to tell a species how to evolve?]

I'm sure there's gotta be something useful that was invented as a result of reckless abandon, anyway. [He pauses for a moment, looking thoughtful, then falters] All I can really think of offhand is weapons, though. Oh, and stuff like these-- [He wiggles his own communicator before slipping it back in his pocket.] --but, consumer goods are all about useless bells and whistles anyway, I guess.

[uncanned]

Ah, the communicator is really amazing though... [Al follows the device with his eyes until Duo tucks it away again.] We don't have anything even half as advanced as that at home. I guess we haven't been reckless enough with our consumer developments yet.

[hellrisen02]

No? [Duo tilts his head thoughtfully.] Took ours a few decades to catch up, I guess. When I was a kid, we didn't have anything like this. But I guess resources were being taken up in uh-- other matters. [Military development, of course; it's probably how it goes in most places. Now that things had been peaceful for a few decades, development was focused on peaceful things like these phones. It was that which made this world sort of odd to Duo, then, that this militarized, "Cold War" world had superfluous tech like this.]

[He gives Al a little wink.] Maybe it's like that where you're from, huh?

[uncanned]

That might be a part of it. Amestris was pretty focused on...other areas until recently. [And, to be honest, even now it was clear it was going to take some time to get change to truly take hold.]

But I think it has more to do with being about a hundred years in the past. The year at home was 1917 when I was brought here.

[hellrisen02]

[Huh, small multiverse. Of course, it might not be military advancement... But history was cyclical, and Duo's experience told him not to hope for that too much.]

[That also meant this guy's hesitance about scientific advancement was probably not without reason.] Amestris? I'm not super familiar with Earth's historical geography, but that's a name I've never heard of. That's 1917-- AD, right? [Jeez, and he thought the rest of this world was behind the times.]

I guess you must be having some culture shock, adjusting to things here. No computers, where you come from?

[uncanned]

[Al tilts his head curiously, turning to give Duo a more curious look. It wasn't unusual for people to marvel over the country or year he came from, but he'd never had anyone ask about the specific era that year fell in. It was an interesting change.

He offers an uncertain little smile.]

Uh, yeah. 1917 AD. I'd be even more obvious if it was BC instead. We've got typewriters and some simple calculators, but nothing like computers. Even things like movies and cars are still pretty new for us.

[hellrisen02]

[Duo gives a light chuckle. It was really weird, sometimes, being the only one from a given time period. There were a lot of constants throughout most worlds- geography, or technology. It seemed that his time period would always have a particularly unique thing to set it apart from others.]

Where I come from, nobody's used AD in centuries, it's practically ancient history. I'm not even sure how long, and I like to think of myself as a guy that pays attention to history. [Well, but mechanized processes at least existed... Maybe that was the time period just before computerization? That specific sort of history was mostly lost in the post-space age.]

Do you find it a bit overwhelming? [He gestures around them, to the skyscrapers alight outside the glass greenhouse.] All this automation.

[uncanned]

In centuries? [As though repeating it as incredulously as possible will somehow make Duo realize he's mistaken about the claim. Al gapes openly at him now, looking him up and down like he expects to see...well, anything that would mark the man as someone from that far into the future.

It takes a moment for the question to register with him, and he stammers a little before managing to answer.]

I—yeah. It's still overwhelming even now. I feel so far behind everyone else in this world... It's a big change from being one of the top scientists in the country.

[hellrisen02]

I know, I know- now imagine being in my shoes, where no one's even heard of when you come from. [He chuckles quietly; actually, he thinks he's taken it pretty well, all things considered. And at least he wasn't one of those people from a completely alternate Earth, or a different planet entirely- most cultural basics and geographical borders were miraculously similar to his Earth's.]

[But despite being for all intents and purposes a 'space man', Duo really didn't look any different. Funny, huh?]

[The mention of being a scientist certainly gets Duo's attention, and confirms his earlier suspicion.] Feeling totally out of your element is definitely a common trait of these fun little Porter trips. The tech differences are bound to do that no matter how advanced your world is.

What kinda science, if you don't mind my asking? [He grins-] Not entomology, I suppose?