[EVENT] Bonfire Night

[ironwood]

Characters: ALL!
Date: February 21st
Location: Various.
Situation: It’s cold. Time to cuddle up and make bonfires for the warmth.
Warnings/Rating: Add warnings as needed.

As night falls the city’s lights take something of a unique turn. Instead of being lit by millions of paper lanterns, Keeliai is tonight lit by the flames and warmth of dozens if not hundreds of fires. Some of them are small, not much more than warming hearths in a barrel on a street, but others encompass squares and boulevards.

The fire lighting procession winds through the city’s streets, beginning at the first bonfire in Fire Sector. By the time full night has arrived, that procession is a snake illuminated by dozens of torches, parting from the main parade to light smaller fires in smaller streets. It ends, finally, in Central, in the Courtyard of Public Opinion, whose bonfire is second only to the initiating one in Fire Sector.

In some areas an exchange of goods arises, mostly in terms of woollens and other warm clothes and blankets. Though food is considered a public resource on this occasion, bartering small knickknacks, songs, stories and even other woollen items is not uncommon an exchange.

Meals are shared among kedan and Foreigners, commoners and emissaries--primarily stews, soups and other foods easily baked in the coals of the fires. Everyone brings food, and what isn’t contributed to the pot is nevertheless shared around after preparation. Although some bonfires are markedly wealthier than others, food and shelter is spread around to make sure everyone is safe and warm. No one goes cold and alone on this night.

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LINKS
Fire Sector (main bonfire) | Water Sector | Metal Sector | Earth Sector | Wood Sector | Central Keeliai

OOC Notes
The five Bresilykian emissary NPC can be found moving from Sector to Sector and partaking in the various traditions of each, and so can be engaged anywhere, while the Keeliai NPCs generally are staying in their respective areas as detailed below. Please put the name of the NPC you're requesting in the subject line of your tag if you want to interact with them. Thank you!

Comments

[wrathfulkhan]

Gene knew that middle-distance look quite well. He'd always respected Anton, but his level of respect for the kindly proprietor of the Midnight Hotel just ticked up a few notches. The man had Seen Some Shit.

"Once touched by conflict - damaged by it, you might say - do you think someone can ever overcome it?"

[gistful]

Anton smiled, and it was gently knowing. "Do you have scars on your body, Master Khan? Places where you've been cut and it still lingers? Have you let them keep you from walking, moving, acting? The scars of the mind are no different; the only change is in how we approach them. People think that scars which cannot be seen don't exist, and that is what makes them deeper. Would you deny a broken leg?"

How many times had Hopeless thrown up his hands over one or another of the Dead Men trying to pretend their wounds of the mind didn't exist? How much nudging did it take before they sheepishly admitted the hurt? As a mind-reader Hopeless had shared the pain of those around him, and few things had hurt him more than mental wounds not just untended but willingly denied.

[wrathfulkhan]

Probably not the best guy to ask that question to, Anton. Gene would deny a broken leg to the point of ceaseless stupidity in order to avoid receiving help. And every time he'd gone back and revisited his pain, it had always been against his will; in the temple in Egypt, for example, and with Malicant. The wounds of the past were over and done with, and he was more than content to let them lie. Unless of course they were beginning to fester, as such old, untreated wounds often did.

He sat there with his cup for a moment, and just thought.

"There are some things that I'm not sure can be treated." Read: there are things fundamentally wrong with me that cannot be fixed.

[gistful]

For a moment Anton sat knitting, and then he nodded, more to himself than to Gene. "I had a friend," he said. "He was a mind-reader; he understood things about the human mind I could never imagine. People would talk to him just to know that someone was listening who wouldn't judge."

Anton looked up, regarding Gene. "It is true, some things cannot be cured. But he would always say that anything can be treated, and therefore managed--if one is willing to try. You are young yet, Gene, and I dare say too experienced for your age." He smiled. "But that means you can take advantage of the mistakes we older fools have made. It is not easy, and it is often painful, but I promise you that people can change. They can learn. And they can even, come the future, reach a place where they look back and marvel at how they found their way."

[wrathfulkhan]

A shudder passed through Gene at the thought of having a friend who could be discussed as a mind-reader. He knew it was hypocritical of him; he'd used his ring to look into and ensnare the minds of others before, but a habitual mind-reader...that was different. A man needed to have some secrets, after all, for his own sanity. Gene's mind was the only sanctum he had left, the only place he could have put together his plots and schemes with no danger of Zhang finding them and killing him.

But when he turned his attention to the rest of Anton's words, he found them reassuring, in an odd way. The reinforcement that maybe he wasn't inherently awful, that maybe he could turn himself around...it meant a lot. In some ways, it meant more to hear it from an impartial observer than it did from Tony, who was always too damn willing to see the best in people even when it wasn't actually there and had, if not the worst judgment in Keeliai, definitely secured a spot in the top five. And Anton seemed to have a good head on his shoulders.

There's no sarcasm, no evasion, no lies. All he says is "Thank you. I think I needed to hear that," and refills his cup, just a bit.

[gistful]

Gene's reaction was standard when it came to Hopeless; everyone reacted in such a way for one reason or another. The part that made Hopeless different, the part people had trouble understanding, wasn't that Hopeless couldn't turn the power off--it was that his knowing didn't stop the secrets from being secrets.

There were few things Hopeless had taken as seriously as his vow of silence.

But Anton didn't say that, because Hopeless wasn't there to need defending. Instead he simply inclined his head. "You're welcome, Master Khan. If you require more detail in the future, you need only ask."

It was a tacit invitation for an impartial ear, if Gene needed it later. For now, Anton returned to his knitting.

[wrathfulkhan]

Gene nodded. "Thank you. Perhaps I will."

He finished his cup, washed it out, put it aside, and moved off. Anton had given him much to think about.