[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

[akito]

"Life is too short to dwell on revenge or hatred."

He tosses another small handful of powder into the flames - whatever was left from the bag in his other pocket - and watches it turn bright blue. Sighing, he looks down at his hands and brushes them clean of any residue. "At least, that's what I believe."

[wrathfulkhan]

"I wish I could think that way," Gene says, and watches the fire turn blue. "Hatred and revenge...they were what sustained me for so long. Kept me alive."

He exhales. "It's a hard habit to break. It's like a drug."

[akito]

"I wouldn't know," he says after a moment of thought. "Papa was the same way - driven by the need for revenge, and making sure what happened to him didn't happen to anyone else. It was only a few months before I woke up here that he changed."

[wrathfulkhan]

Gene winces. He doesn't want to be anything like Kaito, even superficially. He knows he's hurt people. He just wants to fix what he's done wrong.

"It's...not a way you want to be."

[akito]

"That's why it's good to pack all the bad emotions into a box," -- he mimics putting something into a little box, and tying it up, then tosses the imaginary box into the fire -- "Then throw it away and move on with your day."

[wrathfulkhan]

"...it's a little harder than that, I think," Gene notes. His pain has become so much of an integral part of him that if he removes it, he isn't sure what would be left. He's healing. Slowly.

[akito]

Akito shrugs, unconcerned. "Different things work for different people. I started doing this when I was small, so it works well for me."

[wrathfulkhan]

"Then I'm glad it does." Akito's method would never work for him, he thinks. If he'd gone into blissful oblivion, forcefully ignorant of the pain in his life, he'd be even more of a mess than he already is. Not pretty, but true. Hate had kept him going; spite had kept him alive.

He's glad he has something more to live for now.

[akito]

Akito falls silent, having nothing more to really add to the subject. It's sad that some people aren't able to put their anger aside and leave it in the past where it belongs, but it's also understandable. He knows he's a lucky one to be able to compartmentalize, have the time to mull things over, and eventually forgive rather than dwell.

[wrathfulkhan]

That's not a skill that comes easy to Gene - but he's learning, and maybe one day he'll be able to execute it with the blithe skill that Akito does.

"Anyway. I'll leave you to the festivities," he says after a moment. It's good to have cleared the air on that front. Akito can ask him to stay and talk, or accept the conversational out; Gene won't be put out either way.