Light up the Night - [BACKDATED to 2/5]

[mamaterasu]

Who: Ammy + Anyone interested
What: Fireworks show for the Lunar New Year!
When: Evening of 2/5/19
Where: Monkey Compound
Warnings: None so far, tag as needed!



[It's about noon when a message is posted to the Message Rock, as well as over the Stones of Farspeech - an elegant writing in kanji with a translation below. The voice is foreign, not often heard and possibly lost from most peoples' memories, but it sounds...excited? There's definitely a chime-like laughter hidden in the depths of it.]

All interested in a beautiful sight, please show up at dusk at the Hana--eh...the Monkey Compound. Drinks - for the elders among you - and some snacks will be provided, but I encourage you all to pack a box lunch.

Those unable to attend...I'll try to make sure you see it. Thank you.

[How very enigmatic indeed.

Still, those that do show up as the sky begins to change into a purple-blue color, dotted with small, glittering stars, will see that the Monkey Compound has been done up a bit. There's a line of small, flowering cherry blossom trees creating a lovely arch by the entrance, and little paper tags have been hung from a few of the branches, holding pictures of a tiny boar, or piglet, and a prayer written on the opposite side in kanji.

Inside has a very, very pleasant air to it. Much different than what this place used to be. It's laid with fresh, clean, springy grass and flowers, and a bountiful garden off to one side, which looks a little barren...probably because most of the foods have been harvested and laid out neatly on a bushels of palm fronds. Fresh vegetables and fruits from Ammy's garden, ripe for the taking and eating, if you're more the rustic type. There's also fire-roasted fish, skewered on a stick and cooking nicely by a crackling bonfire. Eat, enjoy, converse with neighbors and friends alike! Drinks have indeed been provided for the adults, a large barrel of sake with a ladle to pour it into one of twelve dishes. And yes, a bowl of water has been added to the side to rinse them off.

The centerpiece is a very basic shrine put up with a folding wall, once white in color but painted over with a beautiful portrait of a boar rolling a round firework, and a tiny, ceramic figure on a boar topping a little rock pile. Below the statue is an offering of sake, a single sakura mochi, a grilled fish, and some flowers. That is where the wolf will be when you first spot her.

For...a moment, at least. Because once the sky grows truly dark, and the embers from the bonfire has crept to soft, orange glow, a whistle will wheeze its way through the sky as a streak of light soars up, and up...before it explodes in a puff of white sparks. Nothing exciting, more a call to attention.

A minute passes, then another, and the're movement by the far end of the compound as the wolf readies everything she needs. A few final touches--...there! All ready for the show to begin.

And what a show it is.

The fireworks are beautiful and vibrant, coloring the skies in a vast array of rainbow hues, dancing like they're actually alive. True artistry, and a blessing from the God of Explosions, Bakugami (and the local rabbit god, who provided a number to help make this work). An explosive force meant to open the gate for a blissful new year - full of color, full of life, and bountiful in all things that bring happiness and joy to those with good in their hearts.

Happy Lunar New Year. ♥]

Comments

[ideismo]

[Correction: We think we don't have nia fruits or eggbears. Up until a few hours ago, we didn't have luluria trees, either.]

Either useful or pointless. I suppose there's only one way to find out which it is.

[...]

I can't say I care for seeing them outside of Halure. They're pleasant enough and I suppose the familiarity is acceptable, but there's something about it that troubles me.

[He can't place what, though; it's just a generalized since of I Don't Like It.]

[scythegun]

Perhaps it's something about the blastia?

[He glances toward the trees as he continues.]

The barrier blastia for Halure is a part of the tree, ja? It keeps the people safe. I heard that it was withering at one point, and the barrier was broken because of it.

But there aren't any barriers - or blastia - here at all. Something like that could be useful, but here are the trees, presumably without any blastia hiding in them.

[ideismo]

I haven't found anything resembling an aer krene here, either.

[Which is a weirdass thing in and of itself, honestly.]

It's why I've been spending so much time on Monsun lately; that's the place I've seen with the most evidence that there's at least one that's both present and uncontrolled. But I've come across nothing of the sort.

[Mm.]

I wouldn't want to introduce a concept like that to this place anyway. Especially not if it's unnecessary, and the people here seem to be managing well enough. But I suppose it's strange because of the implications, perhaps.

[scythegun]

It is something we've relied on our whole lives, after all. It's not surprising to find it odd. A whole other world without blastia... It certainly is a bit strange!

[Never mind what the lack of any sort of aer krene says about this place. He's not nearly knowledgeable enough to talk too much about that, though. It's not like he studied the one he accidentally ran into.]

[ideismo]

None of the others i've spoken to even know what it is. Not that I've tried to explain the concept to them very much.

[He actually can, if he has to, but it's a lot easier to just take the red light/green button approach.]

[scythegun]

I don't blame you, it certainly seems like it would be quite a pain to attempt to explain it in detail!

[ideismo]

I could if I had the right audience, but it would ultimately be a pointless task. Such things have no reason to exist here, and even if they did I don't have sufficient materials to create them.

[...or, you know, sufficient memory of the method, because Hermes was with him at the moment and Alexei was mostly assisting him and trying to keep up with what he was doing, and the rest of what he recalls of that night is pretty much summed up with "blood and screaming."]

[scythegun]

[Yeah, let's just. Not. With any of that? Any of it. Sounds good.]

It would be a bit of a pain to track down everything you'd need, I'm sure. I suppose we'll just have to make do without!

[ideismo]

[Eh, it worked out. Sort of.]

I suppose there aren't any cores to excavate in this area, either.

[Just saying.]

...Were the displays at Nordopolica anything this tonight's? I've never been, for obvious reasons, but I've heard things.

[It's a surprisingly genuine question, not pointed or anything. It simply is what it is.]

[scythegun]

It's a good thing Regaey isn't here, isn't it? Can you imagine that poor man without any ruins to excavate?

[hahahaha he's hilarious.

Anyway, that... hmm. He isn't sure he likes the question, but he's not really sure he dislikes it either. It's weird? It's weird.]

Similar, though not exactly the same. Nordopolica's aren't nearly as refined, and these seem to be created using different techniques, if I had to guess.

[ideismo]

[...does everything he does weird you out, because he's done a stellar job of weirding you out for like the past several times he's spoken to you]

It's different to anything I've seen, at any rate. Though it isn't as though the Empire is often willing to go to such lengths for something completely frivolous like this, either.

[Welcome to the Empire, we are the fun police.]

[scythegun]

[...let's face it, you just don't know how to talk to people and he expects you to talk to him like most people talk to him and as a result the whole thing is Weird And Awkward.]

I don't think the Empire is capable of having fun.

[ideismo]

[........]

If you're expecting an argument from me, I find that I don't have one.

[scythegun]

Well of course not! You'd be lying if you tried to argue it.

[ideismo]

[Heh.]

That doesn't always stop me, but the Empire isn't the hill I'm going to die on.

[scythegun]

I'd be a bit surprised if it was.

[No seriously, the Empire sucks. Not even you could like it that much!!]

[ideismo]

Good to know that you don't believe me to be that vile.

[He is not usually open in his disdain for the Empire, but the only reasons he might possibly have to not be at this point are an entire world away and likely all dead by now anyway. So you know what, fuck it.]

[scythegun]

Oh my, and here I thought you wouldn't be so open about it! It's good to know even those in power can't stand the Empire.

[ideismo]

Those who freely support the Empire do so through ignorance. I don't fault them for it, but it's something I can't agree with anymore.

Now isn't particularly the time, however.

[Entirely too many people around for the time being.]

[scythegun]

Mm, I suppose that's fair.

[Right, right, can't risk having people overhearing about things that are none of their business.]

Was there anything else...? Or were you really just checking in on me?

[The last question is playfully sarcastic, like that's the last thing he'd ever imagine.]

[ideismo]

Self-flattery isn't attractive.

[It's dismissively light, however.]

[scythegun]

[Wow, look at that. If that was coming from anyone else, he'd think you were having fun. But it's you, so you probably don't know how to have fun.]

How cold... Do you really think that's what I was trying to do~?

[ideismo]

[Honestly, he isn't sure if he's having fun or not? Which is likely just kind of proving your point.]

Cold, perhaps, but not wrong.

[scythegun]

[It absolutely is.]

You really aren't playing nice today, are you?

[ideismo]

Do I ever? Really.