undergrounds | Fall into Summer (OPEN)

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Fall into Summer (OPEN)

Some witch holidays were meant to be enjoyed by all, regardless of species, alliances or preference to magic. Holidays like Lammas! Think of it as witch Thanksgiving.

An old woman by the name of Agatha Chapman was of the personal opinion that there was just too much infighting between her fellow witches this year. Those Circle Midnight witches were practically children! Agatha had raised enough children to know they were just going through some rebellious phase. It would pass. But this wasn't the time for expressing such things. This was a time of togetherness! Which was why Agatha had, through her daughters and granddaughters, sent a very public invitation to the supernatural community:

~Lammas Day Celebration~

Come celebrate the great tradition of the first harvest and shorter days with a beach party and bonfire!
Food, fun, and sun! No limits on guests, bring your friends!

AUGUST 1^st 2015
12 PM - 2 AM
(public rituals @ 10 PM)

KINGSGATE CASTLE, JOSS GAP ROAD.
BROADSTAIRS.
KENT.

Transportation from the city will be provided from Victoria Station. Present this invitation at the ticket office.

You totally want to go right?

Like the invitation said, all guests transportation will be provided. The train happens to go directly from Victoria Station to the castle, which totals up to a two hour trip - giving plenty of time for people to run into one another on this train-ride. Let's get along everyone.

Upon the guests arrival everyone is greeted by the hostess; a very old, very cheerful lady who insists on being called Ms. Agatha. She introduces her daughters and their daughters. Hit on them at your own peril. After the brief introduction and delicately worded warning that no witch need reveal their coven to others, and no one need attempt to confront them about their choices, everyone is invited down the side of the slow incline of the cliffs to the beach. Time to have fun.

Lammas was traditionally a holiday to celebrate the last day of the wheat harvest. It seems like the witches hosting this party went all out in incorporating that. Golden colored canopies cover the tables that are set out for food. Along with them are large punch bowls filled with different colored liquids and a small bar for anyone who wants something a little stronger than fruit, both of which are abundant - after all this holiday was centered around a community feast. There seems to be a general theme following the decor; apples, cinnamon, and vanilla feature heavily in every dessert of pies, cakes, puddings and ice cream in very creative ways. The more savory foods, less so. But they all fall into the category of typical beach party foods.

There is a changing area towards the face of the cliffs along with bathrooms.

Another fun tradition of Lammas is competitive and athletic games! There are two volleyball nets set up, and what looks like an area for sandcastle building. The team that wins the most games, and the person who builds the best sandcastle wins a prize! The prize is a Maen Magl necklace. The stone is said to bring good luck and good health to the owner. Additionally, they can cure diseases of the eye if rubbed on one's eyelids.

If you're not interested in games, there's always the golden sand to relax and tan on and the water to swim in!

Later, after the sun sets a bonfire is constructed - you can help, but enough driftwood has been collected for the fire itself. As the sun sets, the women hosting the event let everyone know what the purpose of it is. The fire is meant to - while also help people make amazing smores, roasted corn, and apples wrapped in foil - allow the witches and everyone else in attendance to participate in the Lammas rituals. Everyone is encouraged to engage in the rituals, though no one is required to do so.

Nowadays, Lammas is the time to cast off bad habits, thoughts, and what is no longer needed in your life. This spiritual cleansing is represented by fire, and burning things. There are two that will be done tonight, but they won't take longer than thirty minutes when alls said and done. They maybe be performed in any order.

A ritual called 'Winnowing' is meant to cleanse, where everyone writes down negative emotions and bad habits they want to lose on a piece of paper. The witches in the group will all know the chant:

Blessing and curses
Come from the harvest
Return to the earth
To nourish next years

The paper is then thrown into the fire, where it will spark and disintegrate.

The second is highly encouraged for everyone to participate in, as the more people who do so, the more the blessings will be! Everyone is given nine sheaths of wheat, which they are to weave into a braid, and then attach a ribbon to the base of the braid. The witches in the circle around the bonfire should, as the braids are being done, chant:

We weave you and hail you
As queen of the corn
When all's gathered in and
When you are sown.

Once the braids are done, those that weaved them are meant to grab a piece of paper and write what blessing they wish for their friends to have, such as 'Friendship' or 'Mobility'. They must keep the blessing secret and secure it to the ribbon. The ribbons are meant to be kept till Imbolc - another witch holiday - and then be burned, while the ashes are meant to be kept on the individual until the next Lammas. Hope you'll attend that party wherever it is!

After the Ritual, there are plenty of smores to make and some lovely music to listen to while everyone gathers around the bonfire and relaxes until they want to leave. There is no curfew, but the witches hosting the party will be going back up to their flat in the castle around two in the morning.

Happy Lammas!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"A magical artifact, huh?" Heiji looked suitably impressed. "That is pretty amazin'... but where'd you get them? Redbright?"

Surely Clara wasn't doing anything too dangerous, right? Sneaking into places, finding arcane items? Maybe the Institute just had these sorts of things lying in closets somewhere.

She beams up at him and nods, pleased as punch. Because does he know what it means? ~~She can knit him and the others sweaters.~~

"Oh no! Not from Redbright." Okay. If not from there then where would she-- "I found them in the lost and found box in the coffee shop!"

… She seems to be telling the truth. Because. Why should she lie about something like that?

"Seriously? That's what I'd call a good find." He picked a shell up off the sand and set it into the castle, adding to the pattern.

"Wait, but what're you doin' all the way here? You okay with all the saltwater?"

The mention of the water does cause her to have a look of concern appear on her face. She takes a nervous glance at the waves. She did her best to stay far from it but still--

"It does take a lot to stay here, honestly. It's why I'm not moving a lot." She makes sure the new addition to the sandcastle stays on, the pat against the seashell is small but precise to make sure it count. "Long as I don't overexert myself, I think I can be here for a little bit. I'm very curious to see what this big event the others here keep talking about."

"Some kinda bonfire, I heard," said Heiji. "But there're tons of festivals and holidays out here that they never really got into back home. I'm glad you could make it out, though. What happens if you do exert yourself too much? You gonna head back to the coffee shop?"

Maybe Clara would do better with lake water...

She'll do grand if she didn't have any running water near her, period, but she takes what she can get if it meant she could spend more time with people she cared for.

"It does! From my experience the moment I'm too tired or too scared, I find myself back in the shop. Out of my own safety, I presume." She almost wants to give an example of that happening or should have happened, two people coming to mind very quickly, but more pressing matters are at hands. "Ah-- I am glad you're here. There's some things I want to ask you or someone who may have a clue to what I'm worried about."

"Really?" That was a little unusual, Clara wanting to ask him something. "Sure, go ahead. It's not about a missing student again, I hope?"

Last time had been rather nerve-wracking in more ways than one.

"Not at all. I mean, possible not. I-- Alright, um, first topic first." Clara seems rather frazzled, probably due to her stubbornly trying to stay here with everyone else.

"I met a someone time back. A fae and his name was… um… Cep… Sef… St… Steffi!" She confidently thinks that's his name. She knew it had an 'i' at the end at the very least. "Anyways, I was talking to him when I was looking for you and the others. Told me some rather unnerving things."

"Steffie?" That was an odd name for a fae, to be sure. "So what happened? Are you okay? He didn't threaten you or anything, did he?"

...What kind of name was Steffie though.

She waves her hands back and forth a bit, signalling that she's no, really! She's safe and sound with no attempts to eat her or anything.

"It's not that. It's just-- While we were talking, he told me about some of the things a fae can do. Not outright but implied them all the same." A beat, trying to find a way to word them gently. "Things a fae can do to both humans and ghosts."

Heiji cocked his head to the side in an inquisitive fashion. "Things? Is this about eating ghosts?" Or people? Certainly there were some fae who could do one or both. In any case, there were tons of things that fae could do that he simply took for granted; it was hard to think of just one or two potentially concerning abilities.

She nods her head, recalling the final words that made her leave for fear of her life. She was lucky that he hadn't come across him at a time he was hungry. "That. Eating ghosts, making deals for people's souls when they're desperate for help All in return for... something. I'm not sure what it is of course."

"Which is why I was wondering if I could ask you." For insight. To give her an idea why anyone on earth would do anything like that to someone else. It's almost distressing for her to think.

"Yeah, some fae do that. Like in that story, Rumpelstiltskin. They can grant wishes in exchange for something. But the bigger the wish, the more you have to give up in order to get it. In fact, that's something witches learned how to do: summon fae and command them to do things, or make deals with them for power or money or whatever else."

He frowned. "You're not plannin' on doing something like that, are you? It's dangerous."

"No. Of course I won't do that. Never in a million years." She looks almost offended that he would suggest she'll do that. There is no way she'll do anything reckless as that given her circumstances. "Apparently you can give up your soul in return for something."

That would explain why she seems defensive over the idea of making a deal with a fae. She's all soul here, ladies and gentlemen. "Can I-- I-- Why?"

"Why would someone make a deal like that? I can't tell ya for certain. I've never really understood it myself." Like many things about humans, really.

"They must be convinced that whatever they'd be getting is worth it, but I can't see as how anything's worth getting eaten when you die. Humans have an afterlife waiting for them, right? So getting eaten would be like true death."

He paused. "That could be a reason. Maybe the idea of whatever waits for them on the other side is worse than just not existing any more. Maybe they don't think it'll really happen. Or maybe they just don't care what happens to them as long as they get what they want. People consumed with vengeance or greed, people who want more power than was meant for human hands. There are definitely folks like that out there."

Clara shivers at the mention of 'true death' because it feels like someone walked over her grave. Cartwheeled over it, even.

"The way you talk about it! Sounds like this has been a practice that's been done a lot of times," she observes, feeling a bit sad at the thought of so many people, angry and desperate and bitter and hopeful, doing such a thing for something they thought was worth it all. "All those stories I've heard before -- crossroad demons and deals with the devil and such -- were they all connected to the fae then?"

Have they been doing that for that long? Steffi did say he's been doing it for over fifty thousand years, give or take. She's pretty sure electricity wasn't around in those days.

"Some of them, I'm sure. But I don't think all of them. Vampires, shapeshifters, witches, ghosts, even just plain old humans... the fae don't have a lock on making deals that shouldn't be made. And there's plenty out there that a normal person would be afraid of."

He inclined his head toward Clara. "Especially since everything's kept quiet."

That settles her fears a little bit to hear that: It isn't a thing that all fae do, that others others can do themselves though what the extent that is is a mystery. She'll look into it in the future but she'll focus on the topic at hand.

"It would be a bit helpful if some ideas of this were known. If only so it wasn't always such a shock to someone if they became a werewolf or a vampire or--" A ghost. It's the thing she regrets the most, not knowing much as she does now before so she could have made faster contact with her family. "--or anyone. So what do the fae get out of it from these deals? From what I understand the fae have all sorts of things by the time they meet someone else. Surely there's not much else to get besides the soul."

Which is a little mean to take, if she had to be frank.

"It would... but that's the decision the Night Council made. Absolute secrecy." What a wonderful concept.

"It depends on what the fae wants. Or needs. Like that Steffie guy -- if he needs to eat ghosts, he might be doin' it for food. Some of them do it because they set their eyes on something rare or one-of-a-kind. Or because it's their nature. Maybe they wanna be malicious or reward others. The problem is that people group all fae together, even the ones who're totally different from each other."

"So no brochures on Ghosting 101? Phooey; there goes my plans to sell a pretty pence on the ghost knowledge market." A little weak, she knows. She's still going to try to inject some humour into the conversation on her side, not wanting to be a total Debbie Downer.

A little hard to not do when she hears the reasons Heiji lists out. Food?!

She gulps, the sound audible though she has no real throat to swallow wit, and tries to keep her wits together as she takes stock of what he told her. It... It makes a lot of sense, really. Different motives and reasons for beings, for others. It isn't fair to paint broad brushstrokes of presumption and thought to one group just because. It isn't fair. Not all fae.

"Different strokes for different folks, then. That's understandable. It's like presuming all vampires drink human blood or all shapeshifters are werewolves. Just because it's seen or done more, it doesn't make it the set standard." She smiles, genuine warmth coming to her eyes. "Or expecting all ghosts to be scary and menacing."

"Yeah. That's why it's way more important to know who you're dealin' with. Or even better, try to make trades like that in the first place." Heiji put his hands in his pockets. "Kind of a good rule in general, actually. If you want something, you should work hard and obtain it yourself. Not rely on wishes. Plus..."

He paused for a moment before he continued. "Plus, it's just not a good way to go through life. If you act out of your own kindness, you'll always gain something. But if you're just tryin' to figure out how to get things out of people, you'll always be courting misfortune. That's what I think."

"That makes sense," she says, musing over it. Better to get if yourself and try no matter what than to hope someone's generosity won't have too many strings attached. "Working hard is the best way to go about getting something you want most of the time.

"Though I can understand how people would go to those lengths: There were sometimes I would have given an arm and a leg for something that I thought I needed back then. After I thought I did everything I could but it didn't work out for some reason." Enough money to pay the bills. A chance to be alive again. Those urges have come and gone but when they came, they hit her hard. "Time, sooner or later, will right things up but that's the dilemma isn't it?"

Time. Not everyone has the time to wait or to hope or to work until the darkness of the evening.

"Maybe. But if you do find yourself in a situation like that, and ya see a way out that seems too good to be true... well, it probably is." He shook his head. "Like goin' to a loan shark or trying to win a bunch of money at the casino. Best for everyone to just avoid the temptation."

But there would always be those who were too desperate or too driven to resort to any other means.

"By the way, you haven't asked about me. That because you already know?" Or were perhaps afraid to know?

Now she can't help but imagine fae loansharks in her head. Shaking down pixies or scaring a nuno. Or maybe the loansharks were the nuno! The thought almost makes her laugh.

Until his question comes. She seems a bit taken back by it as she considers it. Why did she never ask him personally…? Out of everyone she knew, he had been, time and again, the most open and honest about things if asked or you spoke to him long enough.

"I-- I guess I was rather scared to ask," she finally says. "I don't know the etiquette for these things. Do I just ask? Do I wait until someone says something? When a relevant topic comes up to try? I didn't want to offend you or anyone in case."

"I guess you might as well, if you were wonderin' about it. I don't like the way a lot of people ask me that kinda thing -- they're always like 'what are you' or they just flat-out demand things like it's their right to know." It was super rude, but somehow it was okay if it was a human asking a fae.

"I don't eat souls or anything, but if a witch summoned me, I'd have to abide by their commands. That's how come I don't every tell anyone my real name. You ever want to see a friendship go down the tubes real fast, you give one party the power to issue commands to the other." And unfortunately, Heiji didn't know anyone he trusted to be incorruptible with that kind of knowledge.

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