Mini Event! the spider and the mistletoe
Across the Keep runs a rather large spider, scampering from building to building, room to room and carrying with him a decent sized branch of mistletoe. One might catch him skittering up a wall to build a web above a doorway, or stringing mistletoe up from various points on the ceiling.
He doesn't linger in any particular place for too long, save ( Read more... )
He doesn't linger in any particular place for too long, save ( Read more... )
Not that the plants in themselves seemed particularly dangerous; he's got quite a few of them bunched up in one hand, examining leaves and berries curiously, but Starscream had merely provided dictionaries, and, in some cases, explanations or descriptions... usually of what seemed to be the local variation of popular culture.
But he'd seen the entry in the journal which gave a concise, if not very... clear explanation. Why would a particular plant carry such a meaning?
It was just rather... strange.
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She approached and waved up at him, waiting to be acknowledged.
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"Jael." He smiled briefly, cocking his helm in inquiry as he offered up the plant for a better view. "Does your world have any traditions about this, as was explained in the journal entry?"
He's a bit curious if she did, really, since maybe she'd be able to explain what it was about, if so. Otherwise... It didn't really matter. Though he couldn't help being interested in the reasons behind it.
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/My people never did. Our winter festival is different from this human celebration. If the humans did have a tradition similar to this, I never encountered it./
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"How do you celebrate it, then? I assume few would find enjoyment in what was going on here, earlier." Technically, that might not be funny, and it's hard to tell if Jetfire's dry words are intended as a joke or not.
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/Well, we had would have dancing and music for most the day before we had a feast for the whole vllage. We didn't really give gifts. Instead every family would offer one of their livestock or some of their crops for the feast./
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Jetfire nodded at her descriptions, optics dimming slightly as he thought on it; he wasn't exactly clear, despite the few spatters of attempts at explanation what was being celebrated.
"So all could have enough to eat in what I assume would be a time where food can be scarce, if the climate was temperate... ah, if you had winter like what we're currently having? What were you celebrating during this time?" The closest he can come up with was, if her planet shared a similar rotation and angle as that of Earth, the winter solstice.
Jetfire's not exactly clear why such a thing would be celebrated, but it seemed like the only large, perhaps-significant to a people bound to seasons and the whims of their planet, event around this time.
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/Mostly it was a celebration of another year passing and that the year to come would be prosperous, but sometimes it was also used as a naming ceremony for the children born throughout the year. My village was rather small and so sometimes we could go four or five years before a child would be born./
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"Ah, I see." And he did, truly. He was both extremely aware, and very much not, of how shirt-lived most organic species seemed to be. Aware of it, because he knew the facts, the hows and whys. Not aware of it, because he didn't have any greater insight into how that affected them... But celebrating yet another year gone seemed, actually, like a perfectly logical 'consequence ( ... )
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Jael gave Jetfire a crooked smile before leaning her forehead back against his. After a moment she reached up with her free arm to hug Jetfire and moved to press a quick kiss to his cheek.
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Straightening up, Jetfire smiled faintly, helm cocked.
"Why not? Did you end up somewhere such celebrations weren't held, or did you prefer to not participate?" Jetfire stood up as he spoke, glancing at the mistletoe hanging from the ceiling once again briefly before looking back down to Jael.
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/I wasn't exactly in a place I could celebrate, and I didn't join the humans in whatever holiday they celebrated. I think the only thing I've celebrated for the last several years were birthdays./
One day Jael would have to remember to tell Jetfire about that time in her life she's very carefully been dancing around. But now is not the time, because that's a depressing story.
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"Yes, that does seem like it would tend to put a damper on any celebrations, especially if you'd prefer not to join them," Jetfire said with a nod, and considered her mention of birthdays. Another thing to mark a year gone, this time more personal than a general year-end celebration.
"Years passing are important, then?" And Jetfire will listen, whenever she would feel like telling him, but up until that, it's none of his business.
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She nodded, pausing for a moment before answering as she tried to figure out the best way to explain it.
/They are, especially considering how easy it is for us to die. We tend to not live very long, even those of us who manage to make it to old age. My people live a little longer than humans, but not much. Forty, fifty years at most./
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"You'll have to forgive the questions, but first-hand experiences is a lot more informative than facts from a datapad... ah, book, sometimes." Empirical knowledge from the source, instead of simply reading about it, as it were.
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Jael waved a hand dismissively and smiled at Jetfire.
/It's fine. I don't mind answering whatever questions you have for me./
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