saveourearth | Light the fires [Mingle]

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Light the fires [Mingle]

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

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.

Threaded | Flat

On the 5th, Sadie, Sam and Walter are all individually called by the local police station and requested to come into the local constabulary within the week. Appointments can be made. They are told that there are a few follow-up questions to be asked about the suspicious man they saw back in late September - nothing to worry about, really.

When they get there at the agreed upon time, they are led into the little comfortable meeting room next to the super's office. Superintendent Mahira Khan is there, but she is not alone. With her are two people, one woman and one man, who are wearing civilian clothes, have notebooks with them, and look a tad bit exhausted. They smile when the newcomer enters the room, and all get up for a quick round of handshakes.

The Super begins. "Thank you that you could come, [ms/mr name]. I'm Mahira Khan, and these are Mr Burnbridge and Mrs Potter. They're colleagues from London who are following up on a series on incidents, and took an interest in your encounter in September." The man nods and takes over: "We don't know if it is connected at all, but we're trying to cast our net as widely as possible and your encounter with this unidentified man could potentially be relevant to the investigation that we are a part of. So we would really appreciate your cooperation in this matter."

If your character wishes to investigate the matter in any way that would bring them into contact with the police force, the coast guard, the air force, etc., please comment here for interactions.

This includes but is not limited to the NPCs Mahira Khan and Stewart Fairhurst.

Edited 2018-11-11 16:15 (UTC)

If your character wishes to investigate the matter in any way that would bring them into contact with the administration, politicians, libraries, etc., please comment here for interactions.

This includes but is not limited to the NPCs Gary Russell, Jane Astbury, Mary Saunders and Pat Marsh.

Edited 2018-11-11 16:14 (UTC)

Go wild! What connections does your character have that could be interesting? Please comment here if you wish to interact with an NPC contact that is not covered by the above fields. Feel free to contact Kira-mod to figure out the details of the NPC in question.

This includes but is not limited to the NPC Margaret Brassant.

Edited 2018-11-11 16:14 (UTC)

Kitty is at the fireworks and then Moss Manor bonfire, technically with ehr foster family, appreciating the view and stuffing her face. At first, it's with the help of a tenner that her grandmother gave her to have a nice evening, and then...

well. Numbered and other people she knows might find her showing up next to them and saying: "They have candy floss over there and it's only three pound! Do you have three pound?"

Edited 2018-11-13 18:11 (UTC)

Feste arrives separately from their family to the festivities, having just headed over with the other film interns after they were done for the day. They do spend some time with their friends watching the fireworks, but they are well aware that certain siblings will be sad if they don't show up so eventually they switch locations to be with the Tilly clan, where they can probably be found with at least one sibling in their lap.

They're a little bit active at the bonfire, wandering around (still probably mostly with a sibling in tow but occasionally alone) and taking in the attractions- they're a bit old for all of it, but... they do kind of wish they weren't. Someone might catch them watching the carousel a bit wistfully.

4th

The guns have Sam on edge. He's perfectly happy that he's moved to England and thus doesn't have to see guns in any amount anymore. So when people start showing up in his (formerly) quiet little town with guns on and weird packages, he does in fact investigate. He follows a couple at a discrete distance, breathing through his mouth to try and get the best scent he can off of them, and can be found occasionally loitering around the Greens once or twice during the day, interrupted by his trip to visit them in person, officially.

5th

Sam skips the fireworks for the most part, because it's loud and smells awful to his new senses. He does, however, get his big boat of a car out and makes an appearance at each bonfire, in part because he's wary of other strange things happening. After the cake and the bomb and the spiders and the graves, he's expecting something else affecting the rest of the numbered people, and he's going to make sure he finds it if so.

He does spend more time at any bonfire where family members or other numbered people are visiting, but not the whole night.

Tarwich Fireworks
Dressed in a coat to keep warm, Nel travels with most of her family to Tarwich to attend the fireworks display set to begin as night covers the council. Her hair has been cut shorter and tamed with effort into a pair of pigtail braids brought together into a thick bun to keep it entirely out of the way for the fireworks and later bonfire. She keeps within sight of her mothers here, only straying to greet familiar faces nearby.

Of course, once the firework show begins, she struggles to find an angle up through the crowd where she can see more of the light display. She may be ten but she’s still only the size of an average eight year old!

Moss Manor Bonfire
Not quite so attached to her family once they are back in familiar territory, she can be found running and playing with friends for the first bit as the bonfire gets to roaring. Even in the middle of play however, she’ll stop to say hullo!

The sweets offered at the vendor stands do catch her attention after getting some of her excited energy out, and with permission and a pound, she buys a spin of the candy floss. Walking to rejoin her family with the treat to share, Nel has to stop to avoid a pair of adults walking together carrying in more fuel for the fire. In the shadows, they don’t even realize they’ve strayed too far trying to circumvent the crowd until one of them crunches down a plant at the edge of a decorative bed. She sees the recoiling step, and after they have moved on, she diverts over to see what had been trodden upon.

Finding a crushed plant that was already weakened from the cold, Nel kneels down to reach one hand under a crumpled leaf. It’s a flowering plant in warmer weather, and the brief tingling in her fingertips she feels with touching it only encourages her. She tries to lift it erect in an attempt to straighten the stem, but it slumps without delay. Setting the candy floss in her lap, she tries again with two hands, reaching from the base on either side to draw it upwards with more support and something a little more special. Sliding her hands over the plant, she feels something entirely new as her hands warm and a few long, green flecks of light sparkle into the air from her hands as the plant responds to this touch and grows back into perfect form with all of the damage erased. To her surprise, even a bud appears at the tip as her hands raise above and free. What’s more, she can smell the scent of a fresh bouquet suddenly.

Staring wide-eyed at the healed and now slightly larger plant in the dim light with the sparkles gone, Ornella takes in a gasp of a breath only to exhale it slowly as her shoulders sag. She feels...strangely tired. More than a little tired actually, she feels downright exhausted all of the sudden. The girl takes up the sugar treat in both hands, and rousing herself up onto her feet, she blinks heavy eyelids as she starts to stumble her way back towards her family.

Or well, she thought that was the correct direction. Anyone that should go looking for her after a time or move away from the main gathering might find her curled up beneath a fence with the cotton floss left several feet away still in the plastic cover. Ornella is sound asleep, tucked as small as can be.

Edited 2018-11-15 16:30 (UTC)

The fireworks display was nice last year, but when his great aunt Agatha became burdened by a headache in the afternoon, it was decided they would skip the fireworks display at Tarwich. Relieved to have escaped the need to mingle in the larger crowd, Benjiro bides his time working in his room until the gathering at the bonfire is set to begin.

Heading out with both of his aunts to the site, he spends a short while with his aunts and shares in a hot drink with them. After that, he begins to wander around at the bonfire of Moss Manor village, and looks for familiar faces.

Fortunately for the Mossgate Police force, Jim doesn't work over the weekends, meaning he hasn't been out of his house the whole lead-up to the bonfire and therefore hasn't been snooping around where he shouldn't be.

He's spent all week re-arranging his kitchen, throwing out the stuff he can no longer eat, sorting the bits he's not touched into a bag for the food donation bin at the Tesco's on the high st. It's been a long process, who knew so much stuff had gluten in it?

Too much stuff has gluten in it, Jim is suffering, and maybe he'll become a bio-engineer just so he can eat whatever the hell he wants again.

When it gets to the fifth, though, he knows it's time for explosives. The british have a day for fireworks, and there's less patriotism involved, but more fire in general, and that's something he can get behind. He's not gonna go show his face in Moss manor for a while still, so he'll be at the one in Folkton.

Find this idiot either staring forlornly at the food stalls or stuffing his face with Floss. It's still up for grabs because it's just sugar so long as they don't put any food colouring in it, and the gods have to give him something, anything that won't make him die on contact.

When everything's calmed down some, though, he's still kinda... restless.
He saw the sales, he's got the money, and so he has home fireworks of his own and a perfectly good back garden. The council ones are good, but sometimes you just gotta set off your own.

So after the Bonfire in Folkton, he's set up a small array at his house, setting them off at 8:30pm. People that know where Jim's house is or just know Jim in general will know that it's him because well, Americans, right?

Threaded | Flat

Closed to Sam, Sadie and Walter

Resource: Police and related fields

Resource: Politics, administration, libraries, and related fields

Resource: Anything else

5th - Tarwich Fireworks & Moss Manor Bonfire