Winter Faire

[voidtreckermods]

”Shortly arriving in World#5562102022. The dressing carriage is open for your convenience.” The announcement might be unexpected so late in the month, but soon enough further information arrives on their SCA’s.

World#5562102022: Home of the famous Winter Faire. Voidtreckers may spend the evening here. Please remember your Snowcoins. Enjoy.

The dressing carriage is open for characters to choose from an array of winter coats, hats, gloves and scarves. There are also ice skates in a variety of sizes and shapes, suitable for all passengers.

THE PLAZA

The Express comes to rest in a station roofed by sheets of ice. Streamers of light run up and along the arches overhead, sending flashes of colour through the structure at intervals. A wooden path leads through stands of sparkling trees to the faire proper.

The faire is a large one, mostly made up of a large market of wooden huts. The market is held outside; while it's dark when they arrive, there are floating lights twinkling in the darkness that illuminate the area. There is snow on the ground and a light flurry in the air, the perfect amount of snow to be atmospheric without anyone being too damp or cold.

There are both ice paths and ordinary wooden paths through the market. In the centre of the market there is a large ferris wheel, where guests can sit in glass bubbles filled with soft cushions and blankets as they view the snowy market from above.

THE ICE RINK

There are two large ice rinks, and ice paths weave through the market, with many of the eateries having 'ice gardens' where skaters can rest and drink before continuing their skating. Wooden railings run through the middle of the ice paths, both to form two one-way lanes, and to give new or wobbly skaters something to hold onto. 

There are benches at the entrance to the large ice rinks for people to change into their ice skates and cubbies for them to store their shoes; the ice paths connect to both rinks. There are also skate aids for those that need them, carved wooden animals to hold onto and push along the ice for balance. An animal that looks like a furred penguin dominates.

THE SLEDDING SLOPE

To the north of the market, there is a snowy field with a hill perfect for sledging, and sleds to borrow for any who want them. 

The whole field is deep with snow, with a well trodden path leading up the hill and sledding tracks leading down. To the side of the slope are snowpeople and snow animals, some better built than others, and plenty of snow to add to this collection.

THE WOODLAND ENCLOSURES

To the south there is a small woodland where a member of staff will allow guests through with warnings to be peaceful and not disturb the creatures. 

The trees are bare of leaves and white with snow, some with frost forming crystal snowflakes on the branches. There are indeed woodland creatures within the woodlands: deer, rabbits, strange white pompom-looking creatures. They are comfortable with people, and won't flee.

THE FERRIS WHEEL

In the centre of the market there is a large ferris wheel allowing guests to sit in glass bubbles filled with soft cushions and blankets as they view the snowy market from above. The ferris wheel moves slowly, allowing plenty of time to take in the view and enjoy the company, the soft seating, or both.

Bubbles can fit up to 6 people, though the attendants will allow groups from single guests up to six. The glass can be made one-way, so that guests cannot be viewed from outside.

THE MARKET

All the activities in the faire are free.  Everything in the market, from a mug of beer to a blown glass ornament costs one snowcoin, the snowflake tokens that passengers received on station day. Each passenger has ten to spend.

FOOD STALLS

The actual market sells drinks: hot chocolate, mulled wine, beer, spiced apple juice and cider amongst some more alien picks like a bright pink concoction that is delicious but very alcoholic; food: sausages, bread, cakes, roasted chestnuts, candied nuts, stroopwafel and a whole collection of unrecognisable but delicious things.

All are available to take out, though many of them also have a bar area where shoppers can sit, drink and people watch.

SHOPPING

The stalls don't sell much that would be considered useful, but are filled with trinkets, decorations, cute hats and other clothing, sweets, glassware, jewellery, toys… and much much more.

After a good few hours in the market, things are beginning to wind down and stalls start to close. The Voidtreckers will receive a message on their SCA telling them it is time to return to the Express. Once all passengers are on board the train will leave the ice-covered station and return back to the Void.

Comments

[10billionpercent]

"Of course, but as I'm on a planet, aside from Polaris, most of them aren't used for navigating. They're just patterns in the sky and there are stories about each one that's come about long, long before my time." Senku hummed.

"Of course, with as long as I've been around, come the future, Polaris is now useless for navigating. That's been an interesting, and slightly surprising change." Senku mused. "As it's no longer over the North Pole."

[pleple]

"People do like to make stories." They weren't much use to her, as a soldier, but she might like learning about them someday.

"I can still use Polaris as well, although I should hope to not get that lost on Earth." But... it could happen. "It's still useful in my time."

[10billionpercent]

"It's one of the most unusual mistakes I made for awhile until I was corrected, but I forgot to calculate the way the Earth's axis' shifted over the course of 3700 years. Very silly mistake to make." Senku hummed, shaking his head.

"A magnet still works, and I've adjusted my sextant accordingly."

[pleple]

"That is... a long time." A very confusing amount of time, depending on how it happened. "Proof that nothing stays the way it is."

[10billionpercent]

"Yeah, it's the kind of time that's very hard for people to conceive." Senku agreed with a nod. Even for him. "And the changes are still surprising. We're just not wired that way."

[pleple]

"There is a great deal we aren't wired to, but we adapt." Like living in an enclosed vessel in a hostile environment for long stretches of time.

[10billionpercent]

"That's true. People mostly adapt by ignoring that all that time has passed and living in the present. It's human nature to deal with the situation at hand, albeit we haven't been able to avoid that completely. The topography of Japan has changed significantly and rediscovering the area has been paramount to our survival."

[pleple]

"Our minds can only take care of so much information. That's why we have certain people whose role is to think about those less immediate concerns, though."

[10billionpercent]

"I'd guess if anyone has to think about it, it's probably me. It comes in waves for people though, it hits them sometimes. It's kind of crazy." Then again, Senku had been conscious the entire time, so for him he knew how the time passed.

"It's alright though, for the most part, people are settling well in the future. Humans are very adaptable. They have nothing they're used to."

[pleple]

"They did all start as... other primates, in simpler circumstances." So why not start over and redo it all?

[10billionpercent]

"Ha, well humans had evolved a lot in the time we were growing up, but waking up from petrification to be somewhere that's...nowhere is a bit of a shock to the system." Senku admitted.

"But they have comforts, at least some of them. As much as we can afford to have."

[pleple]

"You've made sure of that?" Although he obviously wasn't all of it, right?

[10billionpercent]

"Course. We've made a few really enjoyable things for people, like cotton candy and linen clothes, fake chocolate, cola..." Senku listed with a pleased hum.

"They also like the stoves in the huts, that's always a favourite every winter season."

[pleple]

"More convenient than trying to start a fire, I'd imagine." And safer.

[10billionpercent]

"Yeah, can't start a fire indoors. People just used as much pelts and things as they could, but freezing was a very real risk."

[pleple]

"Hm. I'd imagine you could make a smoke hole... but it might not have suited their needs." Or just be something they missed, as a rebuilding civilization, that he just skipped them right past.

[10billionpercent]

"Their huts are very small and likely it wouldn't do enough to make it safe to use, which is why they didn't use them. The stoves vent out the top of the hut, of course to the outside." Senku explained, as he was considering the problem.

[pleple]

"Very nice. I wonder if that might help us somehow someday." Not that he wasn't helpful already.

[10billionpercent]

"Fortunately, we don't seem to have to worry about climate control. Mostly I'm concerned with the food situation and the lack of diverse things to eat, so I've been focused on that so far. Not quite what I thought I'd be doing, but I don't mind it."

[pleple]

"I was quite used to preformed meals before this, so I'll take whatever works." Who knows what kind of Nutrient Brick they had to eat in space???

[10billionpercent]

"What kind of preformed meals do you mean?" Senku wasn't really familiar with her Nutrient Brick diet.

[pleple]

"Lots of nutrition. Not as much taste. At least for a meal a day, given our lack of resources." Although she did get to share some of her 'master's' nicer meals, at least.

[10billionpercent]

"Sounds kind of unpleasant. I know our stollen is meant to work that way, but it's pretty tasty, it's just meant to supplement whatever else we can get when we're on our ship. Otherwise we eat a lot of fish."

[pleple]

"The population of space is large, and the... faction that I was a part of did not possess a great deal of agriculture." Fish would be nice.

[10billionpercent]

"I could see the problem inherent with that. What is in these nutrition bars?"