Beltane

[truailligh]

Who: truailligh ; open
What: Celebrating Bealltainn*
Where: Plaza near the gardens
When: May 1st, after nightfall
Note: * Scottish Gaelic spelling of Beltane

Comments

[solarpurpura]

Her own fire had been the night before, and its intents had been of a far more infernal nature than purification. There is no purity to be coaxed from a Morrison, no cleansing which would lift the stains, and the Hill found such rituals offensive; just as it resented to baptism of water. It makes Beltane no less holy a night, and on the heels of Walpurgis, after the dirt around their altars had been turned into a squelching swamp of bloodied land, there was always a great fest to be had when Beltane followed. Flesh dressed in fresh may flowers, heady juniper wines.

Perhaps it was the familiar smell which lead the way, or perhaps she was searching for Shirley anyway. They had not seen each other for some time, she had been ill and then the creatures had come and possessed her friend. It was worrying to hear nothing more, certainly after hearing Dawn's harrowed accounts of the experience. There was... a hunger in Eden's blood besides, a pull to eat that she was not entirely sure how she should sate it in the absence of her coven. The

[truailligh]

There would be a time in the future when the purification wouldn't lift what Shirley - or more correctly the thing in her - would do but this was one of the only chances she had to try to lift some of the grief that clung to her. In this city, people cared too much and she was the only banshee, the only one to carry their grief around and she couldn't slip away to Otherworld to try to draw some sort of strength from there and so it was time to fall back on old things, to believe in her Gods and Goddesses and that they knew what her path was

[solarpurpura]

It was the right of dreams to lift dreamers from all they know, to carry them into surreal places where only the periphery is familiar and all else moves to a rhythm that cannot be heard in the waking world. That was why Eden had preferred the dreaming, really, lifted away from her family's reputation, their kingdom of dirt and her expectations. She has accepted by now that those things are different between herself and Shirley, however, and those differences are quite all right.

Eden gathered her knees in against her chest, fingertips hooking on the soles of her worn little boots. She rested her cheek on her kneecaps and watched Miss Shirley smile.

It's all right. Eden meant that, it was not just a platitude. She was very used to losing sight of her friends for months or weeks at a time. She was accustomed to a certain kind of solitude, and to spirits drifting in and out of her world. In Promenade this had not changed. Dreamers woke, and lost themselves in their own reveries before, perhaps, returning to the gleaming city once

[truailligh]

One of the fires cracks louder, bright sparks coming off as a few logs give way to the heat, collapsing in on themselves. The noise frightens off the crow and it takes flight, off to wherever its nest happens to be and she's sure that before the night is over that she'll change form herself, maybe flying above the fires herself and then back to the city because the fires will eventually take care of themselves.

Tired, she replies which isn't much of an answer but it's a start in the right direction. Unsettled too. It was one thing to have a building I'd called home appear here because it was a building and because I'd become used to dreaming up inanimate objects by then. But the things that possessed people... She shivers, despite the heat and unbidden, Cassandra's face flits through her thoughts again. It took the form of my best friend and then I start to lose track of everything. At least when I ask the Otherworld self I know what I'm doing, or she does for the most part, sometimes it's difficult to tell if it's making her

[solarpurpura]

Eden listens quietly to what Shirley tells her, watching the fire reaching greedily for air. It's not so surprising after all that possession had been different for Shirley, the damage was twofold. And that makes Eden rather unhappy, she should have done more to help.

They're powerful creatures. She found the children fascinating, wanted one of her own that she could cage, could poke and prod cruelly into as many different shapes as she wanted until she understood it, until its terrible instincts were hers to direct as she wished. It would be a fine prize, something her mother would be proud of, something she would be proud of as well.

They should not have run loose in the city. She was discontent, on that account. They were brought here under the promise that they would protected as citizens, but three times now they have taken up where the city guards have lacked.

[truailligh]

If the Otherworld self, a thing that cannot exist outside of Shirley couldn't drive it from her body then it's unlikely anything could. She's used to thinks sinking their claws in and never letting go - it's how bloodlines are seeded and take root, how so many things are in her world. Sometimes things become a part of you, it's just the duration that varies.

I suppose a little part of me is impressed with how strong the illusions were. To make something like that myself needs so much blood and effort that it's not really worth it unless it's to be sustained a long time. She thinks that maybe she spoke to Genero then, is convinced that's at least one thing she can remember doing. Maybe they were related to those things that attacked us before. It's just so strange that the city can get rid of them or cage them when they seem to get out and infiltrate so easily.

Maybe as a guard she'll learn more and if she does then she doesn't sense any harm in passing that along to Eden or others she cares about.

[solarpurpura]

Such things are not theirs to take. Eden had been distinctly outraged when her daughter's voice had been used. A Morrison did not stand for such an insult, and had the children of vengeance seen fit to lay their hands up her family's likeness, Eden's retribution would have been a swift and terrible thing. Blood was a thousand times thicker than the hunger of their spirits, she would have drowned them in it gladly, let them have all the depravity and sickness lurking in her family's hearts and minds.

She frowned to herself quietly, but left the rest of those thoughts unshared.

I do not believe our rulers to be strict enough in their dealings with them. She had been pleased with Genero's cruelty, but now that the King and Queen had scolded him like a child, there were only missteps to his credit. They play at compassion until it is already far too late, and then leave the creatures as they are, merely buried in their dungeons to breed on their own madness and resentment.It offended her. Her family knew how to keep beasts, knew how

[truailligh]

I should have asked it something. Cassandra knows the future. It's always more effective when the prophecy is spontaneous but she's shared enough with Shirley that she should have thought to ask but why would she have asked anyway? Other people thought the thing was real and Driuch had failed her because it was Cassandra. Or it had looked that way.

I remember what happened to Genero when the Queen found out about him punishing the boy that time; he was hauled off, screaming. But when the monsters attacked it was just a list of the dead. And this time? She doesn't think she missed an announcement by the royals or by Genero to explain what happened and that it was over but she couldn't be sure. If they keep them caged like that then whatever they're doing isn't working. These things break out and probably because they resent their treatment they run wild. If they were being kept in the Unnatural then it shouldn't happen. That place supposedly strips you of your powers.She's still surprised this has happened again but it's

[solarpurpura]

Eden is quiet then, her hand falling to the ground to poke through the fallen leaves to the dirt underneath. Not her dirt, not her Hill, there's no comfort there, but the feeling of it against her fingers is not nothing.

Perhaps this is how it is, then. The king and queen could have their throne and their ministers, but if they could not be relied upon, Eden saw very little reason to offer her loyalty. She herself might have joined the guard, if they had not asked for such a laughable oath. She answered to her own name only, and perhaps it was time to embrace that fully.

And we should be better prepared for own safety. She would confess to a certain amount of laziness and contentment, it was her own Morrison bread arrogance which made her believe she could handle any threat, but she also believed the dream city a pleasant place, in the end. It was an opinion she could easily revise.

[truailligh]

If something like that happens again, I'll be better prepared, she vows and she means it. Even if it means offering up blood and her throat to The Morrígan sooner than she ever normally would she'll still do it because she doesn't want to be in that position in again. I'll come make sure you're alright seeing as the stupid things we talk on here seem to be rendered useless whenever we really have need of them.

It's not so difficult for her in all honesty to place her trust in royals. There were lines of banshees before who pledged themselves to nobles but still, she just wishes they were more decisive about the right things, about citizens they do not wish to see harmed.

If they want us to depend on them, to really believe that we all truly belong here, it's a strange way to go about it. I wonder just how easy it is to be allowed to speak with one of them. For some residents, it would most likely be easier than for others but maybe she could try. It wouldn't hurt after all and Genero had never really proved particularly

bread arrogance. laffo. sounds delicious.

[solarpurpura]

Knowing who can be called together. She is much the same as Shirley on that account, she had her wards and her charms, had her spells, but she was only one singular witch, if she were swarmed by anything they could overtake her, easily.

There are some evident groups, as it is, but they would... not be interested in our safety. The hunters certainly had no interest in them, and she has not spoken to Rukia again since she left the house, Eden can only assume the girl was discomfited by her. Lord Death has a fondness for them both, but Eden did not take it as his purview to meddle unnecessarily. The demons would clearly fend for themselves, it was their nature

[truailligh]

Other people have magic but they've always had this...this... she waves her hands through the air as she tries to get the right word to spring to mind, noble air about them.She'd spoken to one of the hunters, to warn him to stay far, far away from her and she was sure that at least one of the little girls she'd upset had to have some sort of magic, just from the overall aura she'd had when they'd spoken. And it wasn't as though she had a problem with doing good. It was just that if push came to shove, they didn't ever understand the nature of sacrifice or that there were things you had to do that you just couldn't question, that killing or harming seriously were the better option. Or that having a little bit of vengeance was a good thing, even for what they might wave off as a small slight. Death...Death she could perhaps rely on and maybe Dresden; he'd warded her place of solace for her when she hadn't been able to and something about him had reminded her of her brother. A joking layer that held something made of steel,

[solarpurpura]

She rests her chin on her knees, staring back into the fire.

It was only Kelly, before. Eden was free to do as she wished, apart from make decision about her own body, but simply because she was free to make her friends as she wished did not mean her family would not harm them. They did not think much of powerless humans, and they thought only of power when faced with other witches. There were not many of the latter, they knew to stay away from the hills, to stay on the far sides of the rivers.

It's difficult, to have so many here. Yes, Eden, friendship is hard. I cannot watch over them too closely without staining them.

[truailligh]

What do you mean, staining them? Her attention is on Eden alone as she thinks this and it drives home the divide there is between them, despite the similarities of birthlines and obligations and expectations and the importance of tradition.

She runs fingers over her marks and glances down at her legs and the scars that hide beneath the fabric.

[solarpurpura]

We are rotted inside, and our magic is black. That is simple fact, without any hope of reformation or redemption. She had been born destined for Hell when her time spreading her filth across the Earth was through. You cannot reap its benefits without a cost, and I am sure to pay mine.

She did not feel guilty about the small trinket she had given to Dawn, or the eye she had crafted for Noah. One was a negligible influence and while the eye had taken much more of herself to create, it was a temporary fixture until Noah was healed.

Kelly is... much older than he should be. I can see it on him. She had always feared that she would taint him, and it seems she was right. Given the proper amount of time, she would come to accept him as family: the father of her daughters, her partner and her brother's too. Put to her now, she just felt worried and guilty, but in many ways the Morrisons were the lesser evil in Kelly Bridge's life. Still, his eyes should not be so dark, and Eden knows she could do it to another with a heavy enough film of

[truailligh]

There's always balance on some scale. No good without bad, no bad without good. Simplistic and well, it's not always the case but it's how life works. Anything we do needs a sacrifice and she runs a finger across the line cut in her throat for Tairngreacht before she continues, if life continues the way it is, my body will be cold and in the ground in less than thirty years and I'll be locked away in Otherworld.

It's what makes her hate anyone who grieves and mourns and it's why a little group of girls in the city hate her by now because it's their grief that she has to put up with and when she's the only banshee in the city who has to deal with it, it's impossible not to hate them, more than a little.

She's quiet then, considering this and she can't imagine what it would be like if Cedric or Cassandra or Blair or even Corbin showed up different to how she knows them. Have you tried to talk to him about it?