[SWE] Festival of Lights - 320PC

Thalassa

A shit-eating grin peeks around the rim of her glass, not missing Colt's muttering or the implication there, but she settles for teasing the woman at a later time. 

Taking another sip of her rum, Thal looks a little closer at the man. Apparently he's a big enough deal to have a title and all the things. She's certainly seen him around and heard his name, but they've never been introduced, and the more Colt talks, the more she appreciates that fact. Her tail flicks slow and uninterested behind her. "Never met him. Sounds like the uppity type though - the type with too many morals." The type she's never gotten along with. 

The drama of it all picks up, and Thal bothers to slide her gaze back to Colt, obviously more curious now about whatever altercation she might have had with the woman - and somewhat amused with how it appears to have bit her in the ass. "Hm. Guess that depends on what you did to his girl." If he's as 'earnest' as she makes him out to be, she doubts there's much she could have done that wouldn't have caused a rift, but she shrugs her shoulders, nodding as the veil thins and a man appears next to 'his girl.' "Still, only one way to find out." Why beat around the bush when they can burn it down and see what lies within?

But when I wake up,
I see You with me.

/// when we crawled out of the ocean

Content to settle by the lanterns he’s hung, waiting to see who gets picked this year and scanning the crowd for other familiar faces and potential lanterns – it’s when Nikandr gets into his vicinity that he shoots the necromancer a lopsided smile, at odds with the somber sensation of the festival. “Hey Niki.” He says, raising a brow at the question and glancing back over at the branch that holds the majority of his lanterns.

“All three of them.” He has more at home, but these three made it for the majority of the treks. Gesturing to each one he lists off the names. “Nate’s, Lusea's, who was my girl back home that showed up here before disappearing in Halo… Vervain's.” He murmurs, looking back at Niki with a smaller almost somber smile. “Did you bring any?”

It’s about that time that the lanterns grow dim and one sparks out among the rest – none of his, but one for Sohalia that he notes in the distance, unsure who it is at first that’ll be chosen so he busies himself with another year of tucking his lanterns away – reaching up to snag Vai’s bone-designed lantern down from the branch first. “Maybe next time.” He murmurs somewhat to himself, but he shoots Niki a wink that tries to prove he’s not as disappointed as he quietly feels.

the flood

nothing was good and everything was in between ///

// once you're in my shining cathedral, heed the tolling bell //

“It is art.” The butcher purrs through the bars of his muzzle with a small smirk aimed at his fiancé. He does make a show of slipping another piece of the lemon tart through the bars as he glances over toward where Kaisel and Flora are with that nod of greeting, blessedly missing the glance that Danta makes toward Sunjata – correct in the fact that he’d certainly have raised hackles if he’d seen it.

For now, though, the mulled cider is a great distraction. He snags the one with the straw as he snorts softly, cradling the warm cup between both his hands. “I think it is probably because Ludo is pulling out all of its tricks, no?” He bounces his brows playfully, before one arm slips around Danta’s shoulders to keep him close as he sips from the cider, not at all worried of the heat of the drink.

Then, a lantern gets chosen and he peers through the brief darkness as the singular lantern remains lit, leaning into Danta with a conspirator’s tone. “Is that Sohalia?” He asks, wondering which lantern Flora’s friend (still friend, he thinks? Maybe?) brought that had been chosen.

Astaroth

// it's the final sound you hear as you descend to hell //

Time has stopped before us The sky cannot ignore us It only took half a moment before the trade had commenced, and Deimos returned in bird form, quite eager and ready to set off when the moment proved right. His gaze went from Erebos to the rest of the milling crowd, watching curiously as his son interacted with the other child. He didn’t recognize the youth – but it was likely he’d missed a birth announcement or two, knowing of Remi and Ronin’s twins, but scarcely any others. So he hovered nearby, protective and shielding, watching as the youth filled up mutual plates, then over to where Ludo appeared – the announcement and movement commencing into which individual would be given brief life after death. His head tilted at the notions and semblances of Harper, a name from years ago, of fellow Safrin followers and aspirations, summoning a long and slow breath. But those threads were for Sohalia, and he began to make his way over to his son and the pile of food, intending to make their trip short and to the point. the Resurrected Sword No one can separate us For we are all that is left

everything I let go

There would’ve been further conversations and distractions, probably, but the moment the lanterns snuffed out, Erebos began to make his way back to his father. The exciting undercurrent hummed around him in wide eyes and surprise, trying to glance around and parse through shapes in the darkness to see who’d been selected, while passing over plates of food and portions for Deimos.

In the end, however, he recognized neither – but appreciated the gestures nonetheless, the mere thought of those gone and buried and perished to be able to return again, at least for a few moments. From there, he could help gather their own lanterns and parse through platitudes to bring home, already eager to ask a dozen other things.

Erebos

has claw marks on it

Like some child possessed, the beast howls in my veins

Melita preened at Aithne 's admiration and approval, features going upwards in a moment so seditious and proud she might’ve looked like some superior cat. “Why, thank you. And I can absolutely show you the cannons some time.” Ordinarily she might even strive for it here, but this seems to be a more somber affair, or she’s just riddled with apprehension over weather, and she can imagine whomever is about to have their lantern selected wouldn’t enjoy her stealing any portion of the show. Especially when it was to simply be obnoxious. Time and place.

Her grin was just as Cheshire as Aithne pointed out the glitter stuck to Iskra ’s hair, not even muffling her laugh, and quite unbothered with the notion of payback. “Do your worst,” she scoffed (because then she’d do her’s, and it would go back and forth in a rallying force of asinine potential). Batting her eyelashes at his ominous warning, her eyes eventually rounded back over to the world around them, as the lanterns began to snuff out, one by one by one, until her favored deity seemed to select Sohalia from the onlookers. Probably no drama there though, even if it’d been stirred up recently in other areas.

Melita

In the middle of the night, in my dreams
You should see the things we do, baby

Aithne snorts at Iskra's statement, a wide, fanged grin lighting her face. The herpes of crafts, is an apt description, making the entire thing all the more delightful for a girl who finds such joy in the pain of others (but only in a good-natured way, of course). She is quick to jump on the offer. "Oooo, cannons," she squeals, clapping her hands together with glee. "Name the time and place and I'll be there." To wreak a little havoc of her own, perhaps, if her scant time spent with Melita has been any indication so far.

The pairing of Melita and Iskra seems to be a match made in heaven (hell?), and Aithne watches them threaten one another with her smile firmly in place. "Well, if either of you ever need any assistance, you know where to find me," she chirps, batting her lashes at the pair of them. As a completely neutral party, she can certainly strive to impart chaos wherever she goes, for whatever reason, against whomever seems to deserve it more at the time.

There's a hush that falls over the party as Ludo seems to choose someone's lantern, some woman Aithne vaguely recognizes as the Luminary. Unbothered and uninterested, Aithne casts her gaze around the rest of the festival, taking it all in.

In the middle of the night, in my dreams
I know I'm gonna be with you, so I take my time

Aithne

Sohalia

Don't try to wake me up
Even if the sun really does come out tomorrow

It started so slowly that Sohalia hardly noticed, so focused was she on the lanterns that she and Zavien had hung in their little tree. But eventually, as the world around them dimmed, she became aware of the growing shadows as lanterns winked out, one by one, until the only one left burning was Harper's. Blinking with confusion, never having expected for her lantern to be chosen, Soh glanced over at Zavien with wide eyes -

And then Harper stepped through.

Shock and warmth flooded Soh's system as she gasped, the man she'd looked to for so long as a father figure, to whom she'd never gotten to say a proper goodbye, suddenly materializing before her as though he'd never left in the first place. With a slightly guilt glance at Zavien - she hoped he didn't hold it against her that she'd get to see Harper, but he wouldn't get to see Lena - she murmured something that might have been, "I'm sorry, but will you be okay if I...?"

And then she was stepping away for a moment of privacy with Harper.

Don't believe anything you say anymore
In the morn, in the morning

Zavien

A glow started at the lanterns in front of them and Zavien's breath caught in his chest. His eyes lingered on the floral fabric of Lena's, barely daring to hope, barely daring to acknowledge the swell of emotions that rose at the prospect of seeing her again. He was unconscious of the tightening of his hold on Sohalia, the tension that spread as he braced to see the Caretaker again after so long - after so much had changed. 

But the light that remained wasn't on Lena's lantern, instead, illuminating the various animals on the lantern in the branch next to it. Zavien released a breath, uncertain how he felt beyond a distant happiness for Soh. He didn't know the man, only knowing that he was important to the person he loved - and that was enough. 

Still somewhat numb with grief and the turmoil of emotions, he was delayed in letting her step out of his grasp, offering a thin, supportive smile as he moved back to give her and Harper space. "Of course. Take as long as you need."

Before he could hesitate or encroach on Soh's moment, he turned to the dark spattering of stalls, walking aimlessly towards them, vaguely wondering if he should grab her a drink for after, not appearing motivated to do so.

We wear our scars as proof

that we are still alive.

Nova

Here's to alcohol,

The space darkens as all the lanterns go out - all except one. 

Nova pauses in her search, eyes falling to the couple hidden in the shadows, now illuminated by a single light. She recognizes them, grinning to see Soh and her beau with the golden dragon. It seems that her lantern got picked this year, and Nova wonders what might have happened if she brought one for Seren like last year. She's still curious about the sibling she never met, and equally curious as to the one she has, and where Zenith might have run off to. 

For now, she spins on her heels, letting out a sigh of disappointment. She'll just have to settle for snacks and yummy food, and maybe she'll find a dance partner for the music that coils through the trees. She's more than capable of finding fun on her own.

the rose-colored glasses of life.

// divide me down to the smallest I can be //

Asta exchanges the arm at his hip to one around his shoulders and Danta shifts seamlessly with the adjustment, leaning casually into the other man's side and enjoying a few good sips of his own drink while they survey the festival. "Oh, I have no doubt," he says of Ludo and its tricks. "We only really get close to it at this festival, but I reckon Dygra would have a lot of time for Ludo, y'know." It's certainly tricksy enough to create chaos, something he thinks their dark lady would only approve.

Falling quiet as the lanterns start to wink out, Danta is taking another gulp of his drink when he spots the last one standing, as it were, tilting his head at Asta's question. "Hard to tell through the dark, but I think so," he says. "Wonder who she picked." Not that he much cares - it's just small talk if anything, and he nudges the butcher and nods towards a bench beneath one of the large boughs of the Mathair. "C'mon - we can go judge people from the fringes, your favourite."

Dantalion

// put your, put your v-v-venom in me //

this world is a wasteland where nothing can grow

"Oh, I see," Niki says as Sunjata gestures to the lanterns on the branch above, the necromancer taking a couple of steps back so he can properly admire them. "They are lovely," he says, opting not to pry into who they might be for, not more than the Heartless has already revealed. Besides, if Sunjata is lucky, perhaps he might be spending a little more time with the owners of any one of these lanterns when the time comes.

"Me?" he echoes, before gently shaking his head. "No," he says, "I confess I never bring any. For a necromancer, I do not feel a need to see any of those I know who have passed on." And the less said about it the better for him, too.

Ah, but then the lanterns go out, one by one, and as Jata's join the plethora of offerings left unlit, Niki's smile turns apologetic. "That is the thing, is it not?" he says warmly. "There will be a next time. Would you like a hand with those?" He gestures to the lanterns the other man is taking down.

Niki

i used to have strength but i ran out of hope

/// when we crawled out of the ocean

“Thanks.” Sunjata murmurs with a bright smile, settling in as Niki offers his explanation of why he’d bring no lanterns. It makes sense, he supposes. To have that ability meant that there was a means to get closure in instances most others didn’t. And for him? Each lantern he’d brought had been ones he hadn’t gotten to say goodbye to – Vai excluded, given Remi’s wonderful gift, but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t want to see his pseudo mother again if only to ask for advice with the turmoil his life’s become again. “That makes sense.” He offers instead.

And then, the lanterns start to wink out, his among the mix as one lantern is picked out among the mix. Harper, he can see in the distance, frowning slightly to himself to see the person he’d once considered a friend before he’d perished, how he’d tried to give him advice once upon a time. How he’d slipped the apology to Flora in the other man’s drunken stupor.

Instead, he focuses on taking his lanterns down and as Niki flashes an apologetic smile and offers to help, Sunjata doesn’t deny him. “You can put them in the bag of holding for me if you want to?” He asks, handing Lusea’s lantern to him first – the bag of holding on the ground between them, looking as though it weren’t full in the slightest, even as the lanterns would take up space. Once Niki places Luci’s lantern in, Nate’s is next, and beneath Niki’s fingers he’ll find that particular lantern sharp and mostly made up of metal, with a stained glass kind of appearance with a shocking blue that totally doesn’t mimic Niki’s own gaze.

the flood

nothing was good and everything was in between ///

// once you're in my shining cathedral, heed the tolling bell //

Nodding slightly as he lowers the drink he’d taken a sip of through the straw placed in the spaces his muzzle allows, Asta snorts and offers his agreement. “I think so, too.” He got along pretty well with it’s demigod, with all the chaos she provides wherever they are – the quite little bits of chaos he’d also sewn with her. He can see her briefly before the lanterns start to blot out, leaving one lit next to the blonde he asks his fiancé if she’s who he thinks she is.

Leaning in a little more toward him as if he might have a better vantage point, withdrawing only as he shrugs because he finds he doesn’t recognize the man that steps from the lit lantern, nor does he find he cares that much about it. And with the nudge and proceeding offer, the butcher shoots Danta a shark-toothed grin. “It is my favorite.” He purrs, tail twitching as he tempers down the need to wag it, collecting the little plate of sweets he’s picked out (and added a variety of meats and cheeses to for Danta, because he knows he won’t eat all the sweets he intends to indulge in). “After you, darling.” Releasing him only to make sure he can hold the plate and the drink, he nevertheless stays essentially glued at Danta’s side toward the boughs Danta’d nodded toward.

Astaroth

// it's the final sound you hear as you descend to hell //