MIDSUMMER'S MINGLE

[thewatchers]

MIDSUMMER CELEBRATIONS

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As both finals and the first Herald approach, darkness and uncertainty loom on the horizon. The celebrations held on the evening of the 21st serves as a way of cleansing fears and uncertainty - a time for reconciliation, peace, and reflection, purifying the old to make way for the new.

The midsummer celebrations take place in Soleil’s town square and the surrounding woods. Students can join the large bonfires set up by the staff, or have more private bonfires of their own if they so choose. Specially treated fuel and firestarters have been employed for the evening, to prevent accidental (or deliberate) arson; the bonfires that come from this equipment and fuel will never catch alight anything not deliberately thrown into the flames.


A. TOWN SQUARE
While the town square is usually bustling with all manner of people, today it has been cleared in order to build a number of large bonfires. Robed attendants stand quietly by each one with selections of herbs and flowers, as well as paper and wooden charms that can be folded or marked; these can be thrown into the flames in order to burn away symbolic representations of bad luck.

Attendees can freely take these offerings and feed them to the flames, or bring their own offerings - whatever they see fit - to burn.

A small selection of food is also on offer - small cakes and simple buns in both sweet and savory flavours. These, too, can be fed to the fire if you so choose, though they were made to be eaten.

B. THE WOODS
For the solstice, the woods around Soleil have come alive with light and sound. The various unused structures that litter Soleil’s woods are seeing some cleaning, too; you may come across robed attendants, older students and various staff attending to old graves and abandoned ruins, or building bonfires of their own. Many of them hold lamps on poles and sing songs - simple, traditional hymns about the rising of the sun.

If festival attendees desire peace and quiet, or privacy to build their own fires and reflect, the woods are well-suited for that purpose. Those who choose to take fuel and go into the woods will be cautioned that as darkness falls, supernatural visitors may come out to share your fire. Though they are entirely harmless and silent, seeking only to make their own offerings and lost in their own thoughts, their sudden (and strange) appearance may be alarming.

C. REMNANTS OF FIRE

After the bonfires have burned to embers, attendees will be offered the chance to jump or run over the glowing coals, as is traditional practice, for good luck. Whether as a test of nerves or a possible chance for a little extra luck - whatever your beliefs, it probably can’t hurt.

Unless you spend too long dancing around on the coals, of course, but that’s up to you.

Comments

[onebetter]

[ Technically it can hurt, but so many people have already crossed over pretty much safely.... So pointing that out seems paranoid. ]

Sure, though... I think I'll do a jump after all. Even if the purpose is just to cross over, flying just seems like cheating, right?

[hippocarnival]

Can you really fly? [Yuya gestures.] Like a superhero? Or you sprout wings?

[onebetter]

Uh....

[ Okay, normally he'd make up some terms here to make this all sound a little more awesome than it does, but the announcement of upcoming war has humbled him a little. Overselling himself suddenly seems more dangerous than anything. ]

I can fly, yes, but it's like neither of these things. It's simply not very high.

[ And with that he simple lifts off the ground, sitting down in the air, so that he and Yuya are still on face level. ]

[hippocarnival]

Not high yet, right? [Sure he can train his ability and be able to fly for real.

Yuya leans sideways.] What's it feel like? Floating.

[onebetter]

[ James himself is not so sure about the 'yet' right now, but it's a nice thought, so it earns a nod with a small smile. ]

It's... Honestly, the first thing I always think of is that it's easy on the legs, because I can shift my weight support literally however I want.

[hippocarnival]

Its not being weightless? [He was thinking like astronauts. Floating around... it looks so fun.]

Okay, okay, I'll let you jump. [He bounces back a bit and waves his hands with a laugh.] But that's cool! I don't see a lot of people using magic to fly.

[onebetter]

[ The genuine excitement is honestly so refreshing to see. ]

Nope, not weightless for me. I do want to try Zero-G some day to compare.

[ Also space travel sounds cool.

With a small thud he lands back on his feet on the ground, a bit away from the coals so he can have a short run before jumping. ]

Alright. For good luck - for us all.

[ And hey, he's athletic enough to make it over, too! ]

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya gives James a mock salute before he goes.

Yuya shuffles into place shortly after he lands, stepping back.] Good luck for all of us!

[And then he charges forwards with no fear, vaulting himself easily over the bonfire with a laugh.]

[onebetter]

[ James gives a thumbs up when they've both landed safely on the other side. ]

Now this better work, too. Battles are mostly about skill, but for something this big, luck certainly can't hurt....

[hippocarnival]

Luck's got to be some kind of magic too, right? [He looks up at the sky, briefly, then back at James.] Have you ever been in a fight like this before?

[onebetter]

[ Well, if luck is magic, then hopefully it is well-charged after all the collective jumping among Daybreak members tonight. ]

No... Never before. I'm going off tales I've been told. How about you?

[hippocarnival]

I've been on missions like this before, but... [Yuya looks back to the dying embers.] Not this big. I guess it's hard to imagine what a fight with the Herald is going to look like.

[onebetter]

Did everyone actually get through well in those past missions? Even though I've been control room for a mission before, I still struggle to imagine us all as a united armed force, to be honest.

[ How do you even coordinate people with such different skills, let alone personalities? ]

[hippocarnival]

Mostly? [Nobody died that he can remember? Yuya rubs the back of his neck.] Usually missions to fight things are much smaller than this... or when we went after all those demons in March. That went okay!

[He shrugs a shoulder.] But I think the risk is going to be a lot bigger this time.

[onebetter]

Yeah. if that whole bit about the UN forces and how they will die is anything to go by, we need to brace yourselves for injuries among ourselves as well.

[ And death, but that's better not said out loud. ]

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya absolutely expects there will be death. He bites his lip, holding his opinion on the Seers refusal to outright state that too--he thinks the reality should be presented as severely as it is.]

I guess it'd be too much to hope that there won't be any deaths in something like this. But if--when we kill the Herald, it makes the group trying to bring Nightfall around weaker, right?

[onebetter]

It should. Though... he's only their first attempt and a year and a half early, at that. There's probably more powerful attempts scheduled for later.

[ He's not sure if prophecies really keep time accurate down to the year, but he hopes it in this case. ]

This is their first test as much as ours then.

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya nods, looking back to James.] I wonder what it looks like from their side... like if they're working together as a group, or just not fighting each other so they can cause Nightfall instead. It feels like I know what's happening, but not how or why.

[onebetter]

[ Opens mouth. Closes mouth. ]

... I actually have no idea. Now that you say it, this really feels like the kind of thing we should be informed about...

[hippocarnival]

I kind of assumed they don't really know, either. The seers, I mean. [Seeing the future and seeing people's decision in the present are different things, and even they're not all knowing.] And... I don't suppose there's any hope we could find a way to make the Herald tell us?

[onebetter]

Probably not, no.

I think it'd put everything at risk to try and get information out of him - any moment he's left alive is a moment he has to recover and possibly break free.

[ And that sucks, but whent he literal apocalypse is concerned, it's probably not the time to think about ethics. ]

[hippocarnival]

Yeah, I guess. [He shrugs.] It'd just be nice to know more about what they want out of Nightfall. And how many of them are actually working towards it.

[onebetter]

Before coming here I'd have answered "I assume it's all of them", but we have such a fair share of Outland creatures in our school that I'm honestly not quite as certain anymore.

Not what I really expected, for this place to make me feel less certain instead of more.

[hippocarnival]

Eh, no way! [Yuya laughs a little suddenly.] Is this the first time you've met anything from the Outlands? Anything supernatural? Most of the people from there aren't bad at all.

[onebetter]

I grew up knowing of the Outlands more than anything. My dad was pretty strict about not getting me actively involved at too young an age. So most of my information was books and tales from work, rather than direct contact.