[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.

---

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

Milyn/OTA

[aquanimity]

While it certainly remains bitter and cold out, the combination of warmer clothing and the fires springing up all around make the evening far more bearable and pleasant. Aqua is enjoying herself greatly, watching the kedan joyously take part in the festivities. She's already been pulled into an impromptu dance by an enthusiastic group, who, in the atmosphere of the night, did not take issue with her being a Foreigner.

Aqua has since excused herself from the dancing, thanking the kedan for the fun, and now sits at the edge of a fountain, watching the delightful blend of flames and water. A small part of her wonders if she might be able to add to the spectacle, perhaps a burst of rainbow lights to give color to the waters. It would take a bit of concentration, but she does wish to add into the night's delights.

For the moment, though, she is fine simply watching the happiness and joy around her.

[cherrywood]

Milyn comes up behind Aqua, also watching her celebrating kinfolk around her. When there's a lull in the music, she settles a hand on Aqua's shoulder and offers her a smile and one of the bags of candy. "Yet another new arrival! How do you do, dear?"

[aquanimity]

Aqua turns to face Milyn, smiling as well.

"I'm doing very well, thank you." She takes the offered bag with curiosity, but doesn't open it quite yet, her attention focused still on the kind stranger. "My name is Aqua; I arrived here about a week ago now."

She watches in appreciation at the interplay of water and fire nearest her. "This is a beautiful celebration; do they happen often here?"

[cherrywood]

"My name is Milyn," the kedanese woman says warmly. "I suppose my official title doesn't hold as much water now as it did once, but it's Cherrywood Healer. You know, some people say 'hold water' and some people say 'hold weight', I wonder why? It's really almost opposites of each other, isn't it? Hold water, I can't help think of a bucket with a hole in it, so when you apply that to a person, I'm not sure the true meaning comes across? Other than whole, but of course I'm whole. Yet the other one, hold weight, well, how can something hang onto weight? Doesn't it either have weight or not have weight?"

[aquanimity]

Aqua finds herself a bit taken aback by the sudden tangent. "I admit I've never given it much thought before," she begins, "but I suppose it means that something is important or carries great impact. So... it carries a weight, but not a physical weight?"

She glances at the fountains around her. "And a bucket is not very useful if it doesn't hold water." Aqua is fairly bemused by the conversation; such an odd way to start speaking with a stranger!

[cherrywood]

"'Hold impact' doesn't have the same, well, impact!" Milyn laughed a little at her own (terrible) pun. "But you're right, though I do hope I still manage to have more usefulness than an empty bucket. You might hear differently if you ask around, you know, people always like to gossip. I wonder if I could make something for that? Some sort of vaccination against gossip. You know, I think I'm going to start work on that tomorrow, it was looking to be a slow day."

[aquanimity]

Aqua laughed along with Milyn. "If you can manage something like that, you must be a very gifted healer." She found herself rather enjoying the woman's sudden turns of thought, even though it was a little difficult to keep up with. But she did want to know more about the celebrations at hand, as well.

"How often does Keeliai have festivals like this? Are they common here?"

[cherrywood]

"Well, I wasn't at the top of my class for nothing!" she said perkily, although it hardly came across as bragging when it sounded that chipper. "Shame about what happened to the Guild in the year we were all absent, though. Terrible run of luck, really."

Milyn sips at her warm drink and then nods in response to Aqua's question. "Oh, we do like our celebrations! You see, for quite a long time, well, centuries anyway, we really didn't have that much to call our own. Sometimes, I think we would do things like hold festivals and not really understand why we were doing it. With the old enemy gone though, I think we're back to normal. At least, more normal than what we were. But who doesn't like a good festival now and then anyway?"

[aquanimity]

"What happened to it?" She knew Raine had taken over the Guild after the Foreigners' return, but not the circumstances under which she had taken control.

Aqua's expression turned somber for a moment. "Malicant had a severe impact on life here for years, didn't he?" she asked softly. "But I am glad he's gone, even if I never experienced his influence. There's not much meaning to having a celebration if you're not sure why you're holding it."

However, the infectious atmosphere of the night couldn't keep her mood down even a little. She looked around at the sights again, taking in everything anew. "What is being celebrated tonight?"

[cherrywood]

"A good many of its members don't seem to be around any longer," Milyn said, shaking her head. "Met with accidents or just can't be found. It's really worrisome, truth be told. After all, if someone's targeting healers in this city, I'm afraid I'd be a highly visible target. If I hadn't been in the Hotel with everyone for the last year... well, I suppose it does no good to think of what-ifs, hm? That's why I didn't approach Raine right away about the Guild's ownership, I wanted to make sure things were safe for her and any others."

When Aqua says Malicant's name, Milyn twitches a little, but it's not too bad. Like many, she's still getting used to being able to call that entity by name after it was forbidden for so long.

"I don't know about that," she answered, when Aqua said there wasn't much meaning to aimless celebrations. "I like to believe that it was a testament that our spirit was only suppressed, not broken. But perhaps I'm just being fanciful! That's certainly been said of me often enough, among other things. For tonight, I suppose it's more of a happy defiance being celebrated. That cold and dark can be driven back."

[theideaguy]

Sokka is, for the most part, enjoying his time in the Water Sector. Here and Metal were his favourite two parts of the turtle, but still Water felt way more like home than any other part ever did. Sure it was one of the poorer districts, but he enjoyed this place in part because of that fact instead of despite it. Most of Sokka's own friends are here as well, having finally agreed to go out together as a group, but Sokka's taken a moment away from them and approaches a fountain out in the open, and that happens to be the one that Aqua happens to be at.

He blinks for a moment before recognising who it is before him, and immediately he goes over and seats himself next to her.

"You certainly came to the Shell just in time for the festivities," Sokka says with a rather large grin. "I have to say you timed your arrival much better than I did."

[aquanimity]

Aqua turns to face the familiar voice and smiles. "It seems I did, though I suspect I could have timed it a little better still, to avoid the cold weather." She rubs her arms a little, less out of being cold at the moment and more from recalling her chilly arrival.

"This is really lovely," she adds, continuing in her admiration of the displays in the sector. "The kedan are very friendly tonight, too; I've already been in a dance this evening!" She hadn't known the steps or the music, but that hadn't mattered at all.

[theideaguy]

"Well I'm absolutely sure there's another blanket somewhere around here if you're that cold," Sokka says with a rather knowing look. "Me? Well, it's still cold, but it reminds me of home so much. Besides, you stop feeling just how cold it is after a bit."

Or is that just the frostbite? Hang on...

But Sokka can't help but smile; there's something about her disposition that is a little contagious, even for Sokka's inner pessimist. "It won't last beyond the night, but I guess it is night. It's the second sort of 'holiday' we've had in the past month or so, so I might just get spoiled with how nice these guys are treating us." He chuckles ruefully; the other boot will drop tomorrow, don't you worry, Aqua.

"But you dance too?" Sokka grins a bit. "I noticed they were doing it earlier, but I just stayed on the sidelines. Guess I wasn't their type," he muses.

[aquanimity]

"Ah, no, I'm fine, really," Aqua laughs. "It's much better than when I first arrived here." Very much so; proper attire and the leaping bonfires work wonders. "If your home is this chilly often enough, you must be quite set for this weather."

She smiles brightly, chuckling a little. "I don't mind a little bit of spoiling, even if it doesn't last. It's certainly very nice." Truth be told, Aqua is enjoying the celebrations because of how lively and friendly everyone is. Perhaps a small part of her still fears that she'll awaken back in the darkness, the past week or so nothing but a wishful dream. The atmosphere, however, will not allow such thoughts in the joy of the night.

"Oh, no, I'm no dancer," Aqua protests, a bit quickly. "I was swept up in a group; it happened fairly quickly." It had also been quite fun, though she's not ready for a round two quite yet.

[theideaguy]

"Well, that's how the South Pole is, really," Sokka says, grinning widely. "Cold all the time. You get used to it. And you wear enough layers that a large rock hurled against you will just bounce off. Not that I've ever tried, but I couldn't imagine it doing anything else. Then again, I'm not exactly opposed to nice, warm weather too. It's not bad right now, but I wish summer would hurry up." He chuckles for a bit; he clearly is more surprised by those words than he thought he'd be.

"But I guess it is nice to know that they don't hate us enough to exclude us from their festivities," Sokka says, looking around at the kedan. "I mean, if someone were to look at how the kedan treat us today, you'd think it was the perfect paradise on this Shell." He pauses before adding, "Minus the cold weather, of course. At least it's good to know that we're not completely gone."

As for dancing, Sokka almost looks like he might be slightly disappointed by that, but that disappointment won't last very long. His spirits will pick up. "Hey, I'm not surprised that you got asked though. Sounds like you had a good time though."

[aquanimity]

"I won't miss this cold weather myself, but I'd like to see spring as well," Aqua responds with a slight laugh. "I hope we don't skip straight to summer." Spring brings with it the colors of a world awakening from a cold rest, and she's missed that vibrancy more than she's realized.

She nods. "It's nice, isn't it? And if we're lucky, maybe some of this spirit will carry over to the next few days." She pauses, and grins. "Minus the cold weather."

Perhaps a bit of a flush appears at Sokka's words, which she briefly ducks her head to hide. "You think so? It was probably just the general mood, though." Aqua turns back, smiling now. "But it was fun."

[theideaguy]

"Huh, I actually don't know what a kedanese spring looks yet," Sokka muses, putting a hand to his chin in thought. "I suppose that could actually be alright. Maybe it'll be better than summer, to be honest. I've been in the desert, and that's not something I'd like to repeat any time soon."

Sokka can't help but feel light-hearted around Aqua, though even her optimism can't squash his pessimism. "Well, I'm not going to say that having the kedan's good spirits wouldn't be nice, but it's not going to happen, trust me on this one. In this body is enough bad luck to doom the entire shell. Twice! So your good luck charms aren't going to help you here. If tomorrow comes and they're nice to us... I really don't think I'd know what to do with myself!" The last clause is said almost with mock-terror, as if he really didn't know if he could live if that were true. But of course, he's earnestly joking.

Sokka plays it cool when Aqua looks away, just shrugging lightly. "Well, maybe so. They are doing a lot of things today that they wouldn't ordinarily do, I suppose." But despite his apparent agreement, Sokka doesn't say it in a manner that exudes agreement. In fact, he might just sound sceptical about it all.