[SWE] curb your enthusiasm

TANAU

The Climb at the peak of Longheat might sound hellish for anyone who isn't an Ancient, but it's nevertheless the place to be today. Music warbles between crags and cliffsides, thumping through the hot baked ground in a rhythm that begs for movement and dance. The sound of laughter and celebration echoes along with it and, for those who draw close enough to take a proper look, the sprawl of a festival has appeared in one of the flat canyons.

The only shade available comes in the form of brightly coloured canopies and tents, blankets and cushions available for sitting and resting. Eclectic stalls clutter the area selling food licked by flame and spice, along with sparklers, games, incense, instruments and parasols. Drinks, of course, are flowing in abundance too, and small water stations have been set up along the outskirts of the celebrations for those who need them.

The very centre of the festival, though, is reserved for a bonfire large and formidable enough to make its neighbour in the Hollowed Grounds look positively dinky. Roaring with heat and colour, it's as though the spirit of Tanau himself is contained within the blaze. People gather and talk and dance beside its rippling heat (most not for too long, granted), and many toss offerings into the flames as if to supplicate the Longheat deity.

---

Welcome to the Longheat 320 Fire Festival! <3 This is a festival in celebration of Longheat's patron deity, Tanau!

Please post a minimum of THREE times in order for the SWE to count for MP/Levelling purposes.  

If you have offerings for Tanau (whether discovered as Serendipities or simply brought IC) these should be cast into the communal bonfire to show your gratitude and to y'know, ask him to please stop burning everything. Also, whilst this is the first time IC we've hosted this festival, your characters would likely be aware of it as a tradition and know what to do!

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

You can’t stop the change,

any more than you can stop the suns from setting.

The heat is stifling to the point of near suffocation. The moment he'd entered the region, his black t-shirt had been drenched, hair glistening with sweat that constantly dripped onto his hand when it ran through the golden strands. He felt sticky and muggy and gross by the time he arrived at the festival.

Despite the miserable experience, Zavien is determined to stick around for a little while, using the opportunity to check in on some of the Breakers who might attend. His green eyes scan the crowd, looking for familiar faces as he snags water from one of the many stations around the exterior, ducking beneath a bright red tent to escape the searing sunlight. Music and laughter flow out from the bonfire at the center, people singing and dancing as they throw offerings into the flames - although Zavien can't understand how they find the heat bearable. He can barely breathe for the ash and scalding air.

He chooses instead to guzzle the water chilled by magic, pouring some over his head before searching the crowds again.

Meanwhile, Sol flies ahead - completely unbothered - carrying their offering for Tanau closer to the bonfire. In his claws is clutched a small vase sprouting yellow dandelions. Between his clutch, the depiction of suns can be seen, and when he drops it into the flames, it glints a bright yellow against the light. When he watches it fall, Zavien dips his head and offers a small prayer to the deity, thankful for the warmth even when sweat flows freely down his back. 

---

Zavien and Sol offer Tanau a piece of pottery made from the clay of King's End. It's filled with yellow flowers and has suns painted on the side.

Zavien

cover you when the sky comes crashing in

The first thing about the Climb was the heat, and Longheat’s trenches were immersed in the swaths of molten particulars. Later, the Sword would be eager to relish back into Halo’s fine and frozen graces, but for now, accompanying his son to his first Tanau festival, they’d suffer in spirit; at the very least there’d be the flames to keep them coaxed and occupied.

Keeping Erebos close, they threaded their way through the stalls initially. Much like the previous festivities, there was much to see and do – though Deimos was much more apt to snag at the food, and perhaps grab a sparkler or two for the youth, who was already leaping and bounding with excitement. “We can put out offerings in, then scout out the rest,” came the Warden’s deeper rumble as a reminder, coaxing the wayward youth away from all things distracting into a much brighter inferno.

Now the bonfire was something even the Sword could be enamored by. He stood near it for a moment, eyes going upward at its infernal spectacle, grinning at its potent, powerful wake, before taking a breath, and casting the stone he’d found within the Palace. 

--

Tanau offering found here: then it was shadow

DEIMOS

Despite the sudden amount of warmth (that he’d once thought Torchline could rival, and he’d been wrong), and the gasping, sultry air grasping at his lungs, the boy was overjoyed. Bounding and bouncing next to his father, every movement and motion was exclaimed with a gasp of delight. “This is neat! And shiny!” as he pointed to the sparklers and spits of fire going by, the wondrous aromas coming from several stalls. “Can we try this? Or that?” He wanted to explore everything there was to offer, even if there was threat of his mouth catching on fire (which would be neat).

But then there was the bonfire itself, and on Deimos’s promise, he gallivanted back to the longer strided individual. No sooner had Deimos reveled, then so did Erebos, mouth and jaw agape at the sight. “Whooooooa,” nearly tipping backwards from looking up so far, he was righted by the Sword, then, as his father chucked a shiny rock into the midst to be gobbled and consumed by the flames, the child remembered his own in his pocket. Snagging at the collection of fiery, hot peppers from the Citadel's greenhouse, he tossed them into the brink the conflagration. “For you, Tanau!”

--

Erebos has thrown in fiery hot peppers for Tanau!

erebos

and then we dream so much

A raucous chorus erupts overhead as several Gore Crows wheel through the smoky air, wings beating hard as they swoop low. Their voices overlap in gleeful shouts.

“EYES!” one screeches as it dives past, while another cackles “MEAT,” snapping its beak dangerously close. One makes a bold attempt to snatch something loose, talons brushing fabric before pulling away.

The flock circles again, clearly delighted by the chaos they’re causing, lingering just long enough to be a persistent, aggravating menace.

---

Gore Crow Areas Found: Hollowed Grounds, Greatwood, The Climb — Common Twice the size of their more common brethren, gore crows boast wickedly sharp beaks and talons that could pierce even the hide of a dragon, and even sharper wit to boot. Preferring human meat, their inky black feathers often glisten red with their most recent feast. Traveling in small groups, their eerie caws of words like "Eyes!" and "Meat!" can be heard echoing across battlefields or haunting a hunter's trail. These fearsome birds with gleaming red eyes are not to be trifled with, for it is not uncommon for a gore crow to finish off injured prey. Challenge Rating: Easy HP: 92 | To Hit: +34 | Dmg: 14 Movement: Fly 50 ft.; Walk 20 ft. SPECIAL SKILLS Gore Feast: When a gore crow deals damage with Peck or Rend Flesh, it regains a small measure of vitality from the blood it spills; Battlefield Harbingers: Their eerie caw echoes for a mile around, sowing unease and foreshadowing violence

TRAITS Bloodhound Instinct: Can track the scent of fresh blood for miles; Spectral Feathers: Partially ethereal, granting resistance to nonmagical physical attacks; Pack Tactics: Coordinate attacks, striking with uncanny synchronicity ACTIONS Peck: A lightning-quick strike with its serrated beak; Rend Flesh: Sweeps both talons in a brutal slash against one creature; Blood-chill Caw: Unleashes a piercing call that sends a chill through nearby foes

you must burn brighter than ever

Melita wouldn’t be missing this for the world – not with the promise of flames and heat, of potential chaos and melees. Parking the Firecracker on the outskirts of the Climb and making her way in, she glanced around, striving to see if she recognized anyone nearby, and nearly went for the food stalls first. The aromas were deliciously tempting, but she held strong, snagging at her companions near her ankles and brushing past several others to make her way towards the bonfire.

Ignoring the gore crows and their outcries, for now, her concentration and focus remained solely on the vehemence of the fire. All mystique, show, and power, the Honeybee could appreciate every semblance of the high-rising flames. “Very nice,” she granted with a low-whistle, then a dazzling grin, before ruffling through the pockets of her bag for the offering Sila had once plucked from the sea itself. Clutching the stone for a moment, she marveled at its hues, its illustrious wake, but she knew it was one she wasn’t destined to keep. It’d find its own altar within the flames, and she gave it a firm breath, before giving it a light skip into the dominion.

--

Melita found her offering here: [SE] just winging it

Melita

Noah rode the rising thermals instead of fighting them, great griffin wings spread wide as the Climb opened beneath him. Heat shoved upward in invisible pillars, tugging at his feathers, and he let it carry him. The air tasted of sulfur and smoke long before the pyre came into view. When it did, the griffin's chest rumbled with awe. It was huge. Flames roared high enough to be seen from leagues away, twisting aand bright and alive. 

Once close enough to the offering pyre, he flared, hovering in a stall above the pyre’s edge with powerful downstrokes. Glacier eyes swept over the immense flames and he lifted his chin towards the heavens to send a prayer across the attuned bond, hoping the seasonal deity would hear it. For balance, Tanau.

From his talons the offerings came loose as he flicked what would be a wrist. Dried peppers scattered first, flashing red before vanishing into flame. The whiskey flask followed, bursting with a muffled pop that sent a brief spiral of blue fire upward. Resin and wood dropped last, feeding the blaze with thick, fragrant smoke. 

Angling his wings, Noah started on a wide descent arc towards the rest of the festival proper, growling at gore crows as he passed them.

---

Noah gave an offering of dried hot peppers, whiskey, resin, and wood bits.

noah

you touched my heavy heart and made it light

Wren

Stumbling off a skyship with several other refugees, Wren paused at the edge of the festival grounds. The sound of it reached her first, the laughter, drums, and the uneven rise and fall of voices layered over one another. A younger man bumped into her, murmering an apology before running back to his friends. Wren sighed.

For a moment she simply watched.

The air was filled with warmth, it was spice-heavy, and the sweet smoke of festival fires cured upward in lazy spirals. She breathed it in and let it out slowly, convincing her feet to move. Each step revealed something new: dancers with painted hands, tables crowded with carved trinkets, children darting between adults. Wonder rose, tentative but real. She’d never seen celebration built this large, this open.

A smile touched her mouth before she realized it had formed.

She watched as people made their way towards the massive pyre. Something familiar caught her eye in a few hands and she tilted her head some. Reaching down, she slipped her fingers in her pocket and pulled out the plant she had harvested from a shaking alleyway in Stormbreak. Turning it over in her hand and inspecting it, she decided to follow suit with the others. She closed the distance between her and the fire, hazel eyes wide with wonder. Sweat beaded on her forehead from both anticipation and the immense heat, before she released her offering to the flames. 

---

Offering found here: midas is kind and he holds me so tight

Here I am, a rabbit hearted girl
Frozen in the headlights

I'm gonna take what comes my way

Much like his father, Marcus arrived on a thermal updraft. He could see the massive white figure of Noah just before him, wings cutting the path the younger Olson wa to follow. He kept his trajectory to folllow, but let his cerulean eyes scan the Climb below. From above, the Tanau festival looked like a spill of color against the earth, all bright oranges and yellows and silvers and golds that Marcus wasn't used to seeing in Halo. Smoke curled in fragrant threads, and busy and delighted bodies shuffled through the heat.

Noah released his offering into the fire, and Marcus readied to do the same. He circled once, twice, a dark hook of motion against the sky. Then he released his offering on the arc of his third circle. From his talons flashed bright pieces of metal shrapnel. He got it from a smith in Halo, and was told the fragments could become anything: rings, earrings, amulets, brooches -- the list went on. Behind the pieces of metal were bright and colorful little packages. Once the flames touched them, they popped and hissed and made the flames flare in different hues and colors. Those were also from the smith, tiny packages of mineral salts.

Once his offering was devoured, he let ouf a bright call and descended. He clacked his beak as he did, watching as his father growled at the gore crows. Marcus chose instead to avoid them. He chose a landing at the edge of the grounds where banners met open space, talons gripping wood. For a breath he held the form, heart racing wild and bright.

Then he shifted, feathers folding into flesh, festival sound rushing in all at once, and waved brightly at the Sword and his son, calling out "Hey Erebos!"

---

Marcus gave an offering of metal pieces and mineral salt packets that changed the color of the flames.

Marcus

// I thought of angels choking on their halos //

"...This feels like how home used to be." Danta's voice is surprisingly soft despite the clamour of music and celebration, and he finds himself instinctively sticking a little closer to Asta for... well, for several reasons, none of them easy to explain. There's a smile on his lips, of course, but something like longing in his expression as they pass stalls laden with barbecued meats and sugar rolled pastries, dazzling trinkets and all manner of other curiosities.

Clad in little more than a net tank top and a pair of loose charcoal pants that sit low on his hips, they're meandering towards the bonfire almost on autopilot. Because why wouldn't that be their first stop? Tanau is no Dygra, but Danta has never found a reason to scorn the Longheat deity. "What did you bring?" he asks distractedly, before holding up his own offering - a fine powder in a small paper bag.

And no, it's not drugs before you ask. Once the roaring flames are before them, Danta casts the bag into them, and for a moment the fire licks up in shades of eerie green and cherry red and glittering gold, bathing them in a brief rainbow.

---

Danta brings a bag of powdered minerals as an offering, that change the colour of the bonfire when he throws them in!

Dantalion

// get them drunk on rose water //

// nothing is as simple, I worship, you're my temple //

Where Danta sees a reflection of their past, of the Climb full of people milling about and the scent of food and smoke intermixed between the stalls and the large fire, Asta sees it through a different lens. It’s famililar, yes, but in the way that puts him on a different kind of edge than Danta harbors. Subconsciously remaining closer to Danta with a pasted smile on his own face, only when he doesn’t recognize the vast majority for being the Ancients he recalled so many years ago, does he finally agree to his fiancé. “It does.” He murmurs, harboring his own nostalgia through different veins.

Being Ancient, the heat doesn’t bother them. And so it’s with a formal yet not quite a full suit, of attire that the butcher wears. A deep emerald shirt with its sleeves rolled up, tucked neatly into charcoal pants and dark pointed shoes that he knows the ash from the Climb won’t mess with. His tail twitches rather than sways with ease as it usually did, and as they make their way to the bonfire, Asta flashes his fiancé a slightly easier smile as he snaps himself out of it. “I found this.” He hums, reaching into his pocket and pulling out an offering from Tanau he’d found when he’d sparred with Kaisel. It had sat on his shelves and Asta had claimed it without a second thought when Kaisel asked about it.

The offering itself is a sunstone, warm in his hands and glowing within the center of it. And its with that which he watches the rainbow display of Danta’s fun bag of powder that the butcher tosses his in with his own quiet little prayer to the Longheat deity. Being from Halo originally, the butcher was fond of Tanau, more so than his Deepfrost sister, though he’d never verbalized it. Until now, at least, when his chin lifts and he shoots a shark-tooth grin at the bonfire. “I have loved it this season.” He compliments, before drifting away with Danta from the bonfire to take in the stalls.

Glancing sidelong at the Theocrat to make sure he’s okay, he opts for something he distinctly recalls Danta never having the chance to do before during events like these. “Come along, darling. Let us grab something to eat, mm?” Looping his arm with Danta’s to take hin over to the stall for whatever he wanted, the butcher finally starts to relax.

---

Asta found his offering here: [Training] Paint it black, don't need a midas touch

Astaroth

// and heaven, hold your gates open, all the hell we've been through //

I salute you if you're much too much to handle

Aithne skips into the gathering, thoroughly prepared to be the life of the party. She wears a brilliant, bedazzled skirt of oranges and reds; in the flickering firelight, it looks like flames climb up her thighs. A matching top skims her navel, and her hair is loose in wild curls that fall down her back, bouncing as she approaches the bonfire. Though she can't say that she cares much if the fires die down, she does know better than to offend a god, so she makes her way to the massive bonfire and tosses in a shiny piece of obsidian she found in the Climb. "Here you goooo," she chirps - and then she's off, a riot of sparkles and color determined to make the most of the party.

She spots a familiar redhead and joins her, reaching to link arms with Melita. "Heyyyyy!" she trills. "Isn't this awesome?! Look at all the stuff!" She gestures towards the colorful canopies, some of which host eclectic stalls with various food items and other goods that she can't wait to explore.

---

Aithne brings a shiny piece of obsidian as an offering!

Aithne

Minor powerplay allowed without permission.
Feel free to use force/magic on Aithne.

Tell the tales of the trail of dead
Lovers learned from slower hands

Liam made his way to the Climb without ceremony, trying all the way to prepare himself for the heat. But despite his best efforts, he couldn't help but wince as he disembarked the skyship, sweat already breaking out on his forehead. It was blisteringly hot - worse even than the heat back home - and he wondered, briefly, how long he needed to stay for it to be considered polite. The last thing he wanted to do was offend Tanau and make the season even worse for himself or for the Greatwood.

With that thought in mind, he first wandered over to the bonfire and tossed in his offering: a small carving of the sun, made of a pretty orange stone that he hadn't been able to identify. It fell into the flames, settling amongst the wood and other offerings, and Liam murmured a quiet prayer before backing quickly away from the rippling heat.

He spotted Zavien standing nearby, drenched in what could easily be sweat or water (not that Liam was faring any better) and made his way over. "Hey," he said, offering a friendly smile. "How do you think people are dancing in this heat?"

---

Liam brings a small carving of a sun made out of sparkly orange stone.

Losing self in myself
And my demons make demands

Liam

Torchline is hot - but by comparison, the Climb is blistering. Lyra is used to heat, having lived her life along the beach, but at least in her home region, the sea breezes come ghosting in to cool them all in the heat of summer. The heat here is stifling, so much so that it almost feels like she can't breathe. Still, she presses on, a mixture of determination to overcome and eagerness to see a festival that she's only heard of.

She arrives to find a gathering of people already here - and a griffin, who she quickly identifies as Noah. Waving in his general direction, the woman makes her way over to the massive bonfire. She makes her offering - a sprig of Efas Herb, left over from her quest - and watches it be consumed by the fire. "To heal the land," she whispers reverently. "Thank you, Tanau."

And then she's moving as quickly as seems polite away from the fire, searching for a bit of shade under the canopies, where she can - hopefully - take a moment to cool off.

---

Lyra brings a sprig of Efas Herb as an offering.

Lyra

spent my whole life trying to put it into words