tushanshu_logs | [EVENT] Bonfire Night

[EVENT] Bonfire Night

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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That was...yes, she could see how a skill like that would have come in handy at that particular moment.

"I would have been too afraid of electrocuting myself."

"It was interesting, how it worked. They managed to avoid me, somehow. Perhaps because I carried it. It was worrying after I dropped it, I admit." Enjolras shuddered at the memory. "I'd assumed well, there I was, about to be electrocuted, myself. Somehow, I managed to avoid it. Luck, maybe. I think a lot of what's happened to me here is luck."

"...I suppose that would rule me out, then."

"Out of luck, do you mean?"

The thought isn't so far from some of what Enjolras had wondered, several months, well technically, a year and several months, counting the time he'd been asleep. His own had always managed to come back, eventually, even after the worst things he had thought he never could endure. At least, to the point he was still managing things, here, despite all that he now had to miss.

For Midii, who had seen a home that was so different from reality, her best luck, as he judged it, anyway, must have been there, in the Dreaming. Besides that... No, he doubted she had ever had that much of it.

"I ought to see if there might be some way to pass it on when there's a great abundance. Better it be used than not, especially by a friend."

"Something like that, yeah."

In truth, Midii had had more luck in the last two years of her life than she gave the universe credit for. Being taken...coming to Keelai...meeting the people she had...it didn't feel like it right then, having lost most of them, but that chance for a second life? One of the luckiest things that could have ever happened to her.

She'd started over. She'd done good here; a chance to make up for her past transgressions. Before the emergence of Malicant and the Dream battles, she'd felt safe. She'd had someone to take care of (Riva), and for a brief time, she'd even fallen in love again.

"Is it...you know...safe?"

Not the magic itself. She trusted those who obviously knew how to wield it. Magic in the hands of beginners. That was what worried her.

Starting over was the one thing this place had constantly had going for it, so long as new arrivals tried to take the shot at it. Enjolras counted that as a certain blessing even as things had gone insane in front of him. He might not be happy here, sometimes, but...he was grateful for it all the same.

If it came to this or returning to...whatever of his body hadn't come here, to his friends, Enjolras would still take this, so long as he had something to do, and yes, people he counted as friends who made things worth it. There had been Taraja, and there were friends, different from anyone he might have conceived in Paris, and, much as he missed his brothers of the barricade, much as he missed work, and its immediacy, there was much to make him happy here.

He did blink at the question, all the same.

"I believe I'm safe. It IS the only sort of spell I know. I'm unsure, if anyone knew other spells, what those might do. Its rules seem to be rather odd, and based on where one learned it, perhaps."

She wasn't convinced.

"Magic...it's so unpredictable. It doesn't make sense."

"Not very often, no." Enjolras agreed. "I should have liked to have learnt more of it, when I realized that I could heal so easily with it. I might have been more use during the war had I had training but. I do know I will not be trying to learn anything like that on my own. It seems like a bad idea for all of those reasons. When controlled though..I think it can be a big help."

He paused, then, realizing how he sounded and he almost wanted to laugh. He'd gotten used to much here, that was certain.

"Not, of course, that it should be used all of the time. I preferred when I could help people in other ways." He admitted, looking a little sad. "I do somewhat miss the hospital but, well. I'm no doctor or healer. Just someone who knows a bit of first aid. THAT and being a foreigner do not seem to mix."

Coincidentally enough...healing magic might be one of the few types Midii was willing to learn. It seemed safe enough? If it was designed to help, then--in her mind--there was less of a chance for things to go wrong. Depending upon the spell, of course.

"I remember..." Though his statement about being a Foreigner brought to mind an event long ago. One she had almost forgotten. "...back when there were all those explosions. I think it was one of the first major attacks on the city. Or, at least, one of the first major attacks I'd witnessed.

"There were people everywhere. I was far enough away that I wasn't hurt too bad, so I did what I could to help. And...it didn't matter. That I wasn't a local, or that I was only twelve at the time. If help is needed that badly, it'll be accepted."

"The explosions..." Enjolras shuddered. Bossuet had been directly involved in them, in terms of being injured and those of them who had been at their cafe in Wood had seen quite a bit. "Had it not been for Temeraire, I do not think any of us could have done much for getting people out." He mused, the ghost of a smile crossing his face with the memory. It had not been a pleasant memory exactly, but he was still glad the damage had been lessened then.

"I think that was about when I decided that I should start helping. I knew a bit from the clinic so treating minor wounds or helping the actual medical staff seemed the best thing to do for everyone involved." He added, "No, it didn't matter at all, then. Maybe that is why this feels so odd. But then, we have nights like tonight." He added, thinking of the talk he'd had with Sokka on the subject of ways to bring the Kedan around.

"I WOULD hate not being able to do something in a case like that. But you ARE right in that they probably WOULD accept that. I hope there are no mass disasters coming, but I do still want to help where I can. I hope there will be chances for it not involving life or death before so long, and hopefully, not requiring the other sort of magic. Much as I like the idea of having it to fight with, I think the reality would be rougher. I've seen enough people harmed, in part, because of things I've said. I doubt that I could live with myself well if it was something I had DONE, especially accidentally."

No more mass disasters, perhaps, but...

...they had been offered a chance to stay for a reason. It certainly hadn't been the local kedan's idea, judging by initial re-welcoming receptions. And Midii had a hard time believing that it was meant to be a reward for those who had nothing left to go back home to. Not when new people were still arriving.

She was convinced there was more to the story. Because there was always more to the story.

And she wanted to be as prepared as possible. If that meant learning a bit of magic, well...

"The only way to guarantee that nobody's ever hurt because of you is to do nothing. Say nothing." If I had stayed home with Papa and the boys, then the soldiers wouldn't have been killed. But then we would have had no money for food and medicine. "I'm...not sure I can do that."

Even that day, her first instinct hadn't been to hide. (Well, okay, she'd hid under the table while the explosions were going off.) Once Robin had gotten her out, she'd headed for the nearest immobilized victim. Administering what little first aid she knew. And it had helped.

(It had also earned her Robin's--and, subsequently--Damian's trust and respect. Not that she was ever given the chance to find that out.)

Each time the subject came up, she continued to think back to that day.

"They can either send us away for good, or let us help like...I think we're supposed to."

Enjolras wondered, sometimes, if part of why he'd moved so quickly was due, in part, to being confused and jolted into thinking he was back at the barricade and responsible for everyone in the vicinity. He hadn't fully registered that he'd been speaking to a DRAGON right away so it was anyone's guess what he'd have done in his right mind.

And, yes, it did matter the most what had happened after, now didn't it? That was when it counted, after all. As Midii spoke, he slowly nodded, wondering, for perhaps the millionth time, how she had possibly come to understand so much already. Even though he'd been told an answer, when she spoke of home, it was one thing to intellectually know what had happened, and another to get it on that gut level.

"You speak the truth again. I think if there had been less doing and saying nothing at home, we might have ended a bit differently. And helping here, like we're supposed to...maybe that IS still why. I don't remember my choice being especially hard, the way it ought have been."

She saw everything like a puzzle. What she didn't know, she deduced based on what made the most sense.

(Which didn't necessarily meant she was right.)

And what made sense to her? She had been brought to Keelai to fight a battle. The battle was won. She was given a choice to go home and chose to stay...but, soon after, more people were being brought to Keelai. With as much information as she had been given upon her initial arrival.

It fit. What else could it be?

"There's an expression I've heard people use before. Something about having perfect vision when looking to the past, only."

In a lot of ways, Enjolras worked best with that sort of influence. Logic was, at least, useful a decent percentage of the time as opposed to blindly guessing and throwing himself into things. So, as far as that went, it made Midii a good person to consult, when things were on his mind.

"Ah yes. Hindsight having a perfect score on the scale where vision is apparently measured." Try as he might, the exact expression didn't come to mind, though Enjolras had heard it, anyway. "As it was, then, we made our best estimation, based on what we considered, and the promises we'd garnered. It WOULD be useful to be able to glimpse everything all the same though, wouldn't it?"

"It would." She agreed, even though she knew it was an impossibility. "But you would have to be able to see the future to do that."

"That too." Enjolras grinned. "I would give a lot to be able to manage it."

"I think...we all would."

"It would help with so many things. Even in terms of planning alone. Of course I suppose there is the risk of trying to change a thing that is meant to happen, meddling in time and destiny and such." It was one potential pitfall anyway. "Still, I think there are some things that need to be meddled with, in part."

Once one started arguing the potential downfalls of messing with the space-time continuum itself...that's when things started getting a little too complex, even for her.

Time travel was an impossibility. She knew that much. And as for fortune telling...there had been that one girl, years ago, who mentioned something about cards. But that had seemed more like a gimmick to her than any genuine future-seeing ability. After all if she really could have seen the future like she claimed, wouldn't she have warned everyone of the impending danger beforehand?

"If something is meant to happen...then I guess it's meant to happen. Maybe we wouldn't be able to change it, even if we did know."

"In a way, I should be glad of that. As much as there are a great many things I wish that I could take back, or improve upon, I doubt it would be in the best wisdom to do it, true."

His thoughts turned to the failed revolution, not the student rebellion in which he had given his life, but the July Revolution he'd told Midii about before. Were there some way to prevent it from going south...who knew what the repercussions might have been? Logically, he could see very little bad coming from out of it, but then, one different choice in his direction, one attempt at keeping a king from being shoved back into power could change the way any other number of things happened.

Perhaps, if he had approached negotations and spoken his piece, given his injuries on the first day of the fighting, and the fact Combeferre and Joly both had been incredibly adamant that he'd really damaged his body dangerously by the time he'd stopped working himself up with righteous fury, he may have died then. Or a friend in the wrong place at the wrong time, because he changed it, could have fallen instead. Maybe it was better this way.

"We march ever onward to progress and light, I'd say. Even when we fall, that IS the point of the human spirit. I can see where looking back would likely impede the process a bit, too. The limitation does help, even though I'm not entirely fond of it."

If they were to start discussing past regrets...she had a list longer than her arm. One that, even in the best of circumstances, she would never be able to change. Because to take away one sin would most likely have involved committing another. And she still would have had her family to think about. Papa and the boys. The whole reason she had done every single thing she had done since the day Michel was born.

"I guess...we have done some good here." Fallen, yes, and gotten back up again enough times to actually Win. "We made this place safer for everyone who still lives here."

Sadly true for Enjolras as well. The one thing that could be said of the sort of life both of them lived, under different circumstances admittedly, but still, was that the chances, and the need for some sins were present no matter what. There may be some variation in them, yes, but in the end, they would be sins, and regrets would be regrets. Perhaps it was better to leave them as they were, and yes, to think of what they'd done so far.

He nodded at Midii's words, a little grin crossing his face, as a phrase he hadn't thought about in years, perhaps since 1830, but one his father had often told him in letters when he was about Midii's age and struggling not to be thrown out of a school with priests and masters who disliked him and who he disliked in turn.

"Quau vai souvent en casso, a la fin tuo la becasso." He said, the Occitan Provençal words falling easily from his lips, despite the fact he had not used it in some time. "The turtle who perseveres wins. Given what we've done here, besides survive, I would say that is true. We have done that and sacrificed much to get here, but now, as you point out, we've made it safe."

He thought of the younger people besides Midii, Tony and Sokka, especially those who had arrived after the battle had ended and they'd all woken up. If whatever power that still worked was going to bring children here, then he was glad they'd made it safer, even if he felt badly for the children who had been already here.

He doubted very much that they'd been children for a long time in their homeworlds, those that he thought of, knowing that Midii had certainly not (nor had Gavroche, in Paris), and their service had done a lot to achieve victory, sometimes at a great cost. But, he reasoned, at least for those young people brought here now, things could be safer, better. Enjolras approved of that much, certainly.

"And then there are the kedan." he found himself saying. "I cannot help but marvel at what they have been able to become through what we've done. I wish they liked us better all the same, but still. I take all of this as quite a good sign."

It wasn't an expression Midii had heard before, but it was...so very, very fitting, given their living Host. She even smiled faintly as she thought of Asti. The baby turtles--though those memories carried the smallest tint of sadness to them--too.

"Do you think things will eventually go back to the way they used to be? With the kedan."

She knew, to a degree, that there had been some form of mind control or repression or something going on that had made them act so much more docile, but even though the haze of magic, they had to remember the good times, right? The way Foreigners had helped them besides battle.

In part, why it had occurred to him, as much as Enjolras wondered why he hadn't thought of it much sooner. It might have been more fitting during the war. But then, it still fit, and he returned the smile all the same. Thinking of the way things had been though... Well.

"I suppose I am a little optimistic they will start toward it at some point." He mused, expression thoughtful. "Not all at once, certainly but if they see us doing our parts here, over time, perhaps so. And time does have a habit of passing too. We may yet reach the point that this becomes more of a memory, and the good things we've done have a chance to stand on their own. And surely there are even some now, who remember everything else that has come to pass. I think there is a way, yes."

They surely must somewhere along the line, and Enjolras knew a few from before who didn't seem to hate him now. It was a start, at least.

She couldn't help grinning a little when he mentioned being optimistic. Between the two of them, it was practically his trademark. The way he spoke, so passionately, of even the most seemingly trivial matters. Because they did matter, in their own ways.

Just like she mattered, in her own way.

"Sometimes...I wish there was a way for them to see what it was like. Before."

Before the final battle, when Foreigners and Kedan lived side-by-side in seeming harmony.

[EVENT] Bonfire Night

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