Light the fires [Mingle]

[ourearth]

Date: 2nd to 5th of November; backdated due to the Halloween mingle being too close by
Characters: Open!

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2nd to 4th

Bonfire night approaches, and like every year, a large bonfire is set up on the Greens, as well as an impressive fireworks display, intended to happen on the 3rd. It's been advertised for a few weeks now, and many families, groups of teenagers, and just regular people are planning on going... And then it's abruptly cancelled at the evening of the 2nd. The official word on it is that some kind of safety regulations weren't met, and as this was discovered at the final security check, there is no time to fix them. Oddly enough, at the same time yellow signs go up near the Greens, reading:

Mossgate POLICE Working for a safer Mossgate
We are appealing for witnesses: Can you help us?
Police incident
An incident occurred in this area between 1pm on the 2/11 and 2pm on the 3/11.
In strictest confidence, plase phone
020787574
Did you see or hear anything?
Please call us
On the number above or at your local police station

...And the perceptive person might notice that there are a few oddities going on around town. For one, there is more police out in the streets than normal, constables nobody has seen before, too, and they are carrying guns. Why are they carrying guns? This is not the airport or central London! This is the first thing that really gets the rumour mill going.

The second thing is that the area that was fenced off so when fireworks and bonfire happened, only those who paid an entrance fee would be able to get close, is still fenced off despite the cancellation. And those who peer into the area will notice more police there.

And then, on the 4th of November, a few nondescript vans and a small nondescript lorry arrive at the parking lot at the bottom of the Greens, and some people get off. All of them wear civilian clothes. A few simply wander off into Mossgate, but the rest goes up onto the Greens. And some of those carry large suitcases that seem to be quite heavy. Too bad there's bushes and trees and it is impossible to see what they're doing at the place where the bonfire and fireworks were set to happen...

[ooc: There are a few dedicated open NPC toplevels below for people to investigate, as well as toplevels aimed at specific characters. If anyone has ideas for investigating that are not covered by the below toplevels and needs input, prod the mod contact thread on the last setting interactions post!]



5th

After the fireworks in Mossgate couldn't happen, it was decided to do them in one of the villages in Mossgate Council. Naturally, Folkton and Moss Manor both clamoured to get them. But after a few young men got into a fistfight about it and a nose was broken, Mayor Gary Russell arrived at the Salomonic decision of having the fireworks happen in Tarwich instead. They have a nice little park there, and the official reason for the decision is that it is closer to Mossgate town so it will be easier for people from there to attend. The real reason is of course to not take any sides in the village rivalry.

Tarwich, by contrast, is too young to truly have rivalries and there are no old families that could bring true patriotic pride into the mix. Nicely bland and harmless. An excellent middle ground.

So on the evening of the fifth, like every year, there are two massive bonfires in Mossgate council, one in Folkton and one in Moss Manor. Little fairgrounds have sprung up next to them - a children's carousel, a kiddie train, an ice cream van, one or two vendors that sell festival foods like candy floss (= cotton candy).

But unlike other years, there's a third event, and most unusually the location is the often-forgotten Tarwich: Carefully timed so that people can first go see the fireworks and then go to whichever bonfire they prefer, there is a very nice 30 minutes long firework taking place in Tarwich, just after nightfall. There are no carousels or ice cream vans here, but festival food is offered, too.

Comments

[fairfeste]

Feste will wait. This is kind of why they wanted to have a grip on this first... it's a lot, and they're unhappy that she has to deal with it. And luckily, they did expect her to have questions.

"I guess about a month ago or something? But I only figured it out like. A few days ago." As for whether they're scared, well. That's not quite the right word. Unsettled and distressed by the the fact they know nothing. But that's not what she asked, and she doesn't need to know that. "No. Are you scared?"

[vernal_miss]

A month. That's even before she and Mum got their Numbers a couple weeks ago. Granted Feste isn't always good with tracking time.

Question reflected back to her, Nel inhales to puff up her chest a little as she sets her jaw in determination, "Of course not! Everyone with a Number has been very nice and we're all going to help each other." Including her! So that means that everything is going to work out okay. And if Feste only figured it out a few days ago, then she definitely cannot let on that she does worry about others sometimes.

"I haven't had many Echoes, but one of them changed my hair when I was really little I guess. That's why it grows so fast," she relays. Perhaps Feste has identified an Echo of their own.

[fairfeste]

"That's good. I haven't talked to a lot of people yet." The network was kind of the second discovery, and they wanted to talk to Nel before really doing anything with that. "I'm glad everyone's been nice to you. If anyone's mean or you can tell me or Mum, you know that right?"

Honestly it's kind of like giving her the rules for the internet all over again...

"When you were little?" They... hadn't gotten that part of the explanation yet. "Before you got the actual Number thing?"

[vernal_miss]

"Jim, Walter, and Sadie explained everything to Mum and me," and Grandpa confirmed it all when they talked in person afterwards. Given how Jim apologized over using a curse word on the network where she could see it not even addressing her, she feels confident saying, "That shouldn't be a problem. Chad was even being nice to me! Buuuut if anyone is mean, I'll remember."

Starting to calm, she nods and seizes the opportunity to share some of what she learned, "Mmhmm! The Network started when the aurora happened in the summer, but before that, people that have Numbers were getting Echoes a long time ago. Mum said hers was from twenty years ago."

[fairfeste]

Feste has no idea who anyone of those people but Walter are. They suppose they'll find out.

"...Wow." That's a really long time. Like, how-long-they've-been-alive long. "I hadn't heard about that part yet." Maybe that's good- make Nel feel like she can be helpful in all of this, too, and not just dragged along for the ride. Which is more how Feste feels.

[vernal_miss]

Nel will happily introduce Feste to Sadie after having met her on Halloween and having a nice chat with her in person.

"It's a tad odd, but kind of ace too. That maybe we've had magic a long time and didn't know," she says. Then, figuring other gaps may exist regarding the information Feste has about the Numbers, she proposes an idea, "Maybe we can sit down and you can listen to when Mum and I talked to them on the Network. Then you'll know everything we do."

[fairfeste]

"That's a good idea." They smile down at Nel-- good. This isn't freaking her out, and maybe if they keep up like this her being involved won't be so bad. Maybe if the people on the Network thing are reasonable, they'll even know to keep her out of certain things that she probably shouldn't hear. They can hope, anyway.

[vernal_miss]

"Do you want to listen when we get home tonight? Or maybe tomorrow morning?" Nel would be glad to listen with them now, but she is for once without paper and a pencil on hand. Conditions with fireworks and a bonfire are not particularly good matches to drawing. They could try some other medium, but at home where they feel safe might be better so they can talk freely too.

"And you can ask me questions anyways! I don't mind," she extends in offer, not wanting to shut down the conversation to wait on listening to the audio recorded on the Network. Nel will do her best to answer about the Numbers, and certainly for herself.

[fairfeste]

"Tonight or tomorrow are probably good." Depends on how exhausted everyone is after the bonfire- if their other siblings are tired that might be perfect, but Feste doesn't want Nel to wear herself out either. Mary Ann and Janice are probably both going to be in on it, but Mary Ann did say they should probably leave the rest of their family out of it and Feste agrees, though possibly for different reasons.

"I'm ok for right now. I'm sure listening to those will help a lot."

[vernal_miss]

Nel plans to go home awake tonight...such is not to be however.

"Okay! Whenever you're ready then." It depends more on when Feste feels they are ready to field other possible surprises in her mind as she knows no one else but Mum would hear.

Gently she starts to swing their linked hands, smile strengthening with her optimism beginning to outweigh her caution, "You know, it'll be easier to keep it secret since I can talk to you."

[fairfeste]

Feste smiles, giving her hand a little squeeze. "That's good," they say encouragingly- they don't want Nel to feel like it's bottled up or anything, and it's best if she can keep this a secret. Probably. At least until they figure out more of what's going on and how to explain it. Maybe? Honestly, they'll probably defer to Mary Ann on any decisions related to that.

[vernal_miss]

The swinging of their joined hands slows in favor of instead returning the squeeze to their hand. At which point Nel tries to impress upon them, “You know that means you can talk to me too, right? I may not get adult stuff but I do know how it is to feel a little nervous, or super excited, or even kind of scared. So you can always tell me how you feel if something happens. Or if nothing happens. Cause sometimes we don’t know what our Number changed.”

[fairfeste]

Feste nods, giving her a little smile and reaching out with their free hand to muss her hair gently- still not enough to ruin the bun. "I know." They... might not do it anyway, but they do know that she'd want to be involved in that. "Yeah, I still don't really know what any of mine have been. Except the one time I remembered something."

[vernal_miss]

There is something about being short that attracts hands to the top of her head, and Nel makes no move to stop the gesture aside from a shrug of her shoulders. Her intentions made clear to be supportive of Feste in turn, she carries doubt that the offer will be invoked, but all the same - she must try.

She tilts her head curiously at the mention of a memory, "...what did you remember?"

[fairfeste]

...They really don't want to scare her, so-- "Just like, some really big spider webs. Big compared to me, anyway." They suppose there's a possibility that they were small. That would be kind of cool. Except if they become small here. That would be less cool.

[vernal_miss]

Nel was chasing spiders only a matter of days ago, so the child has no sense of fear of the arachnids, "Oh, must have been made by some big spiders! Or lots of little ones. Where were the webs? In a cave? Or maybe in some really tall trees?"

[fairfeste]

"They were in trees. Really, really big trees. So big I couldn't see the top." Feste thinks she might like that.

[vernal_miss]

Eager to know more about it, she reaches her second hand to join her other in holding their hand, "Oooo... Like those big trees in the States Grandpa told me about? The ones that only live in one place." She can't quite recall the name besides that it starts with an 's' but they are the largest in the world. "What were you doing around the webs? Could you climb on them?"

[fairfeste]

Feste shrugs. "I'm not sure. Maybe like those?" They're not great at plants, generally. "Maybe. I mostly just remembered that they existed and not much else so far. Maybe I'll learn more about them later?"

[vernal_miss]

“I hope so! They sound really nifty. And we can look at tree pictures after we watch the audio record if you want,” with the intent to identify the sort of tree they remember paired with such massive spider webs.

For now however, they have more immediate concerns with the crowd starting to disperse more rapidly. “Hey Feste...? Thanks for telling me.” Entirely sincere, she leans up against their side a moment along with an extra long squeeze to their hand.

[fairfeste]

Feste smiles down at her, squeezing her hand back before letting go of it and wrapping the arm around her. "We're in this together, and we'll figure it out. Even the weird parts." Most of it seems to be weird parts. Doesn't matter.

[vernal_miss]

Hands released for an arm to curl around her shoulders instead, she reaches her closest arm around their waist in turn to keep leaning as they walk at a distance from the rest of the locals. “All the weird parts!” she declares with a giggle and a fist pump into the air with her free hand. Arm dropped to her side after, she takes in a deeper breath and lets it out in a relaxing sigh.

They can do it together. Everyhing will be alright if they stay together.