[SEASONAL EVENT] dressed for springtime

Vervain knew that this Fiat Lux was important - for morale, more than anything. And damn but if the Hollowed Grounds didn't need some morale around about now. In the wake of Ronin's death, the Spire and the growing unrest between Outlanders and Naturals, perhaps it was a thought to build bridges that led to her wanting to make something for the festival. Something to show that they could all be united under one purpose. That there didn't have to be an us or a them. It was a sunny morning that found her outside her cabin amongst a small copse of trees, working quietly on what looked, at first, to be a random bit of brick-a-brack. A closer look would see a decoration in progress, though - a small mobile made out of ribbon, leaves, sticks and small bells that chimed in the breeze. It would attach nicely to trees and fence posts, and would hopefully help to brighten up the festival. vervain I am always on your side

Emmett

Scarecrow I think I love you, will you ever understand,
It's not as if I've fallen for this but I'm doing what I can

Firewood was still a must pretty often in Flowerbirth, when colder days could still rise. Emmett had both the children with him, no one to look after them, as he walked into the woods with his axe. They trailed behind him, dancing between trees and pointing at birds or squirrels they spotted. Truthfully their chipperness was irritating him but he said nothing, knowing it was good for them to be happy for a while.

Finally seeing a good tree, he got them to sit far away then started to hack at the branches - he got two down before his eye was caught by something moving through the trees before him. He knew there was a cabin there, but not who it belonged to...thought it made no sense, a shock of anxiety ran through him. Emmett laid his axe down and indicated for the kids to follow from a distance, stepping through the trees slowly and quietly.

When he saw Vervain by herself, working on...something, he relaxed. Still, she'd probably seen him by now and he had been raised with manners, so he couldn't just go. Taking a few steps forward, he smiled and waved. Chris and Milly ran out from behind him seeing this and walked right up to Vervain, looking at the decoration in her hands.

"What's that you're workin' on?" Asked Emmett, setting down his wood.

Humming quietly under her breath as she worked, Vai set aside the completed decoration and began to take up some more ribbon in a cheerful yellow when something in the trees caught her eye. Glancing up, her caution turned into a welcoming smile as two children bounded into the clearing. "This? It's something I'm making for Fiat Lux," she said, answering Emmett but directing it towards Chris and Milly. Taking up the finished mobile and holding it out before them, she gave it a little spin to send the bells chiming together. "Would you like to help?" she asked them. "There's more than enough to go around." Glancing back at Emmett, she noticed the axe in his hands and her smile turned wry. "Perhaps you can get some work done while we make them. Unless you want to join in - I've got firewood at the cabin I could give you, save you the effort." vervain I am always on your side

Emmett

Scarecrow I think I love you, will you ever understand,
It's not as if I've fallen for this but I'm doing what I can

Both the children gave suitably impressed 'oohs' at the mobile as Vervain spun it, Milly reaching out to touch one of the shining panels (grabbed it with all the awkward lack of grace that three year olds had, but did not pull or tug at it, just looked at her face in the dull reflection).

Emmett looked at the axe in his hands as she offered to take the children for a while and let him work...but the new protective flair in him, the thing that had been missing when he hadn't saved them, it wouldn't let him leave the children with a stranger. "Well uh...I won' take too mucha your firewood, maybe just enough for tonight if that's okay?"

He walked forward, rested the axe by the bottom of a tree with the blade turned inwards towards the wood, then sat on the ground by Vervain and the children. "I'm Emmett. This is Milly, and Christopher."

"Chris." His brother insisted.

"...Alright, this is Chris."

Vai laughed to Milly, surrendering the mobile to her little hands so she could look and shake and watch it however much she wanted to. "Sure," she murmured, nodding to Emmett. "We've got more than enough, so take all you need for you and the little ones." The little ones who had names, and who might not be so little after all in Christopher - Chris's - case. The witch smiled, already gathering up more materials to divide amongst them so she could show them what to do. "It's lovely to meet you all," she said. "Call me Vai. I live in a cabin just a short walk that way." She pointed, where Emmett and the children might just about see the structure through the trees. "Are you looking forward to Fiat Lux? I've never been to such a festival. Maybe you can tell me all about it." vervain I am always on your side

Emmett

Scarecrow I think I love you, will you ever understand,
It's not as if I've fallen for this but I'm doing what I can

"Vai...hey, don' you own the tavern?" Emmett asked, sure he'd heard her name somewhere before. Now that he thought about it, he'd seen her too, during his hazy time in Longnight where he had been somewhere between alive and dead, faces and places blurry around him. "I guess I should thank ya for lettin' me stay durin' Longnight."

Milly took the mobile eagerly (perhaps a little too eagerly. Emmett kept an eye on her to make sure she wouldn't pull the whole thing apart) and began to turn it, looking at it from all different angles.

"I...didn' even realise Fiat Lux was comin' up." He said, his voice distracted and sad. Everything had been so much lately he barely even knew what day it was. "We usually make a loada food for it and take it down...Probly won' this year, though. Um...it's alright. You go and there's decorations and lights and food and dancin'...sometimes people pick a partner to dance with."

"I used to," Vai confirmed with a gentle nod about the Rathskeller, starting to tie ribbons and show the children how to create the structure for the mobile. "After LongNight, with what happened with the infirmary and the doctor there, I decided I would be of better use away from the tavern. Edrei owns it now, but I keep an eye on her." She winked at Emmett; anyone who knew Edrei would know that she was the sort of woman who needed an eye kept on her. Listening carefully to his explanation about Fiat Lux, Vai smiled to herself - it did seem like a pleasant celebration after the cold and misery of LongNight. But something Emmett said struck with her, Vai arching an eyebrow. "Why not this year?" she asked curiously, unaware of the faux pas she might be blundering into. vervain I am always on your side

Emmett

Scarecrow I think I love you, will you ever understand,
It's not as if I've fallen for this but I'm doing what I can

Chris and Milly gladly took to making the string mobiles, though their little hands fumbled with the knots and took longer than Vervain had. Emmett was proud to see Milly helping her little brother with it, leaning over to show him how to correctly do the knots. Perhaps after they had lost so many they understood now that they had to stick together.

He had little idea who Edrei was, (vague memories of some loud shouting and innuendo but that seemed to be a hobby of most of the staff at the Rathskeller) but smiled at the wink anyway as if he did, too tired to get into questions.

Of course, Vervain just had to ask the one thing to set his heart pounding. Trying to keep his voice calm and his explanation neutral enough to not upset the children, he spoke flatly. "Uh, our farm got hit during Longnight. It was bad. It's just...me and these two, now." Perhaps Vervain wouldn't know how many had been in his family, but the sadness in his speech and body would communicate the huge amounts of grief in him.

It might be clumsy and slow, but the mobiles were beginning to come together little by little, and Vai offered both praise and encouragement to the two children as they worked. It might not be as neat as if she had done it alone, but at the same time this would give the decorations more meaning. More character. She glanced up as Emmett spoke again, realising instantly just how badly she had put her foot in her mouth. "I'm so sorry," she said softly. "A lot of people were lost... I can only admire the people here, for being able to stand strong against it all. Is there anything I can do, though? If it is just you and the children...?" He barely looked more than a child himself, though Vai resisted the urge to say as much. vervain I am always on your side

Emmett

Scarecrow I think I love you, will you ever understand,
It's not as if I've fallen for this but I'm doing what I can

"Uh...yeah it's just...jus' me and the kids..." Emmett rubbed his mouth, hoped that Vervain wouldn't be able to hear the hitch in his voice as he breathed over a sob that desperately wanted to escape. He knew it sounded bad, that it was clear he had no idea what he was doing and was in no position to do it.

On one hand he would love for someone to lift the responsibility from him, to make it no longer his job to make the big decisions...on the other, he looked to his siblings and felt something strong and protective grasp at his heart, something that wouldn't let anyone but him choose for them.

"...We're doin' okay." He stated, despite all evidence to the contrary.

"We," Vai echoed softly, a sad smile on her face as she continued to work deftly on the mobiles with the children. In no time at all they had a lovely little collection of the musical decorations, each one sporting a different coloured ribbon. But her thoughts weren't on the task at hand, and she glanced back up at Emmett once she was finished tying off her own ribbon. They might be doing okay - and Chris and Milly did seem well taken care of, there was no doubt about that. But he was... well. Hardly more than a child himself. "What about you?" she asked. "Are you holding up alright? Responsibility like that, just dropped on you... it doesn't sound easy." vervain I am always on your side

Emmett

Scarecrow I think I love you, will you ever understand,
It's not as if I've fallen for this but I'm doing what I can

Emmett watched blankly as his siblings made the decorations. It was good they were happy and somewhere in his heart there was a little gladness for that, but he found that lately if he did not make an active effort to think, his mind easily became empty, completely devoid of emotion and thought. It was nice, almost. Safe.

The question caught him off-guard and embarrassingly brought the choke of tears to his throat, obvious in the way he sucked in a quick breath.

"Uh--I, uh, it's...I'm fine. I gotta be, still got the farm and the kids, right? I...I gotta be." It sounded as if he was trying to convince himself as well as her.

"Yeah," Vai agreed quietly with him, smiling and nodding. "I suppose you do have to be... Although, I met a woman a little while ago, Maea, who has also found herself... well. Alone with a farm to take care of." She hardly needed to mention any further than that, she thought, for Emmett to put two and two together. Vai shrugged. "Perhaps together the two of you can ease the burden on the other. I know Maea was offering space to plant crops in exchange for work." It was a thought, at least, and whilst Vai knew better than to push too far when the young man beside her looked as though he was holding on by his fingertips, she couldn't not offer advice. Taking a breath and letting it out again, she nodded to the children and the work they had done. "I think they will make fine decorations for Fiat Lux," she said. "Would you all like to come back to the cabin to get that firewood?" vervain I am always on your side

Emmett

Scarecrow I think I love you, will you ever understand,
It's not as if I've fallen for this but I'm doing what I can

"Yeah, me 'n' Maea did some plantin' together the other day..." Emmett smiled just a little, glad to think of his friend and not himself. She was strong, he knew that. She always seemed so calm, but if there was anything going on inside her similar to the pain and anguish in his own chest...she had to be made of steel.

The kids grinned at the praise of their decorations, held them up for Emmett to carry (because of course, he was always the pack mule) and he took them, holding them up so they didn't get tangled. "Those're nice, guys. And yeah, please..it'll take a job off my back. Y'sure you don' need it? I don' wanna be stealing wood from someone in more need."