Solstice Party: the bonfire :: milliways_bar

[jack_inthegreen]

As the sun sets and the evening grows colder, Jack lights a brand and stands on the dancing platform, near the bonfire.

"Everyone!" he calls. "Everyone. Can I have your attention, please.

"We're going to light the bonfire in a few minutes, but first I've been asked to say a few words. As many of you know, we have great sorrows in the bar today. Friends who are endangered, and the outcome is unclear. I have been asked to speak a blessing to the Universe to bring them safely home."

He pauses a moment, holding the torch high, and then speaks to the stars. "Father and Mother of us all, hear our plea. We have great fears tonight. Loved ones whom we wish to see and touch and make speech with again. See them safely home is our cry. Guide the warriors who seek them. Protect their champions. Bring them home to us that we may celebrate the lives we cherish."

He stands quiet again, and there is no sound but the crackling of the torch. Then he holds the brand to the bonfire, and in a moment it bursts into a great flame.

Comments

[jack_inthegreen]

The musicians play on.

[mapmakerchur.livejournal.com]

Chur speaks quietly with some of the musicians, and then one of them starts tapping out a complex rhythm on a drum. After a few moments to get the beat in her head, Chur begins chanting. The melody is simple, complementing the complex rhythm of the chant. Her words are not being translated from chaura, the hani language of the chant, but the sense of them, somehow, is communicated to anyone listening.

The song is about a woman, long, long ago, who went out to Hermitage to find a husband. She finds a man who is exceptionally tall and exceptionally heavy, and though his arms and legs are scarred from many fights, his nose and ears are untouched and beautiful.

He defeats her uncle, and they marry, and he begins ruling the hold. The two of them spend all morning in the gardens, tending the plants, and all afternoon sleeping in the sun, saving the evening for whatever business her cousins and his sisters haven't done. Because of their love for their plants, he begins to be known as the Copper Man, and she as the Green Woman.

Chur ends with the odd statement that the Green Woman comes to realize, at the end of the summer, that she's pregnant with a son - yet, she is not afraid.

Then she stops, silently, and bows deeply, the drum still going. When she straightens up, the drum stops, and she hops off the platform.

[son-of-all.livejournal.com]

Atreyu is sitting at the edge of the platform, away from the jumpers but close enough to hear the musicians over the crackling of the fire. Chur's song still hangs in the air, a physical weight of quietly fearless love that raises a lump in his throat.

Firelight flickers over his features, turning dark skin darker with shadow, reflecting blue in the black of his hair and bright in the darkness of his eyes.

Solitude is good enough, but company would be better.

[mapmakerchur.livejournal.com]

Chur wanders back over after she's gotten something to drink, and purses her lips into a smile at Atreyu. "Good and happy evening," she wishes him.

[of-all-blood.livejournal.com]

As Cynric approached, wondering, he noticed with some amazement how much more Cheysuli Atreyu seemed. His own skin was paler, but tonight, he was weighted with Cheysuli gold.

The bands about his arms.

The earring at his ear.

The longknife at his side.

And a belt, ornate with rubies, about his hips.

This much gold would have labeled him a barbarian in the eyes of many. To him, on his black leathers, it simply made him dressed for the celebration.

"Atreyu," he greeted softly, and sat at his side. Behind the both of them came Lorrin, and laid there on the ground.

[iamnotstorm.livejournal.com]

Sarah made her way over, still nibbling at a handful of grapes, holding onto a dense brownie in the other hand for when she finished.

Her hair had come loose at some point, and the ornate clip was now fastened to the front of her dress, clinking softly against the beads and quills there. She discovered a moment later that if she swayed that way there was a rattle of quills, and if she swung back this way there was a tinkle of the beads against her bangles, she grinned, it was like the instruments she'd made when she was younger, out of jars and seeds and whatever else she could get ahold of.

[jack_inthegreen]

One of the traditions surrounding the Midsummer bonfire is to jump over it, either alone or with a loved one, for luck in the coming year.

Hope you've been practicing.

[asar-suti.livejournal.com]

Asar-Suti walks up on dainty faun hooves, after Gil's separate birthday party (http://www.livejournal.com/users/asar_suti/13163.html), turning around for his beloved faun following, holding out his hand.

Jack's words have deeply moved him; the other god said those words and blessings much better than Asar-Suti could ever have hoped to.

[gris_bug_man]

Gil comes back outside. True to his earlier comments, he has changed out of the kilt and into something more suitable (in his opinion) for dancing. Or jumping, as the case may be.

[milliways_sawyer]

Sawyer walks out of the bar with Claire on his arm. He appears to be less than comfortable in his kilt if the grumbling is any indication.

"... still can't believe you got me to wear this damn skirt."

[fairest1.livejournal.com]

*after listening to the announcement and having a moment of silence for hope for Svava, Snow and the kids move near the bonfire, though Snow is cautious about letting Millie too close*

[mapmakerchur.livejournal.com]

Chur - resplendent in green-blue breeches, green scarf, copper kitten bracelet, and copper vines armlet - comes near the bonfire and watches it crackle. Hani don't have the tradition of jumping over it, but she's content just to watch the flames soar around the bonfire.

[notsoyoung.livejournal.com]

David and Loki head over from their seat (http://www.livejournal.com/users/jack_inthegreen/2937.html?thread=115833#t115833), hands intertwined, locked in a non-verbal conversation with one another that seems to be made up entirely of stolen kisses and David's smiles.

They stand together, looking at the fire, for a moment.

[lt-naraht.livejournal.com]

Naraht waves a bit of his fringe for attention.

"I am not capable of jumping unless, perhaps, someone has a catapult handy. Would it count if I tunneled under it?"

[ex-last-scion.livejournal.com]

Bethany stands at the edge of the Bonfire. She's been dancing a little, and she's flushed and sweaty from her efforts. She watches the others jump, and wants to join them, but isn't quite sure she can make it on her own, and doesn't want to risk Sarah. She looks around for Zeke.

[go-between.livejournal.com]

Richard has given Joshua to Yamino and waits by the bonfire for his Beloved.

[angelus-amadeo.livejournal.com]

'Deo walks in, kiltless but fully trousered, thank you; jeans, sneakers, fresh shirt (he was a messy eater tonight. Silly 'Deo) and a duster.

He sneaks up behind Richard, underneath the kilt, and blows a raspberry against his bare ass.

[notsoyoung.livejournal.com]

There is a point, during the night, that David sneaks back into Milliways - in just his kilt, nothing else, and walks to the edge of the forest.

An offering is made - berries, fruits and a bowl of water for the Fae to wash themselves - and a note.

Jack -

Many people remembered you tonight. I'm sorry I didn't get to speak to you. But I shall.

-- David

[sheila-nagig.livejournal.com]

A figure stands on the edge of the forest, watching her brother-of-sorts at his party.

She watches, and smiles. And wishes him well.

Winters are hard on the Old One.

[jack_inthegreen]

[ooc: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEe!!! Jack: *glomps Sheila*]

[like-father.livejournal.com]

It seems that there's a late arrival to the party.

Lian, still in her uniform but with her hood pulled back, blinked as she stepped outside and found a bonfire there. It seemed that she had been oblivious to the celebration until now. Which was highly possible, since she had been busy upstairs cleaning her bow and arrows for most of the day.

Which she held right now. She had been planning to practice outside, but...well, that was a moot point now, wasn't it?

Blinking, she watched the various people she had yet to meet.

[prototype-karr.livejournal.com]

KARR-now back in car form-drives over to bonfire, watching curiously. So jumping is required, hm? He chuckles to himself, his scanner speeding up. Well, that part should be easy enough for him...

[not-a-surgeon.livejournal.com]

Bonnie stepped up, having at least put on shorts over the bottom half of the bikini (the fact that they were still short shorts probably wasn't helping much). "...You know there's no way I can jump over that thing, right," she said as she judged it visually.

[shiverytriune-.livejournal.com]

A crag of ice (http://www.livejournal.com/users/jack_inthegreen/2937.html?thread=188537#t209785) now stands ten feet tall - sharply tapering off at the peak - shrouded in the murky darkness over the lake far from the water's shore. Cold misty vapor is falling from it onto the cool and very fluid waters lapping at its frozen base. And it seems to have stopped growing for now.

So, it looms, tall, silent, unseen, and for now, uneventfully within the summer waters of Milliways' swimming hole.

[gris_bug_man]

At some point, Jack and Gil go into the woods.

[ooc: Tag whenever. We can extend this as long as necessary. :)]