Remember, Remember

[vendettaevey]

The chance meeting in the garden with Jo Grant had been rather more fruitful than Evey had expected.  They'd got to chatting and eventually decided that a bonfire in honor of Guy Fawkes Night was just the thing.  Jo seemed to have slightly more positive associations with the holiday, with more fireworks and less explosions, but Evey didn't begrudge

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[saikamai]

Cuthbert was a firebug, had been all of his young life, and so it wasn't surprising that he'd found his way down to the beach. He'd first seen (and smelled) the smoke at the tail end of his lantern-lighting route, and so instead turning back toward the Hamlet, he headed straight for the beach.

It was a good fire; large and well-built and November-fragrant. Cuthbert looked up to watch the sparks flee from the blaze, lit against the night sky in orange swirls. November nights in Gilead had been as crisp and chilly as a new apple, but the island was more like Mejis. He should have been happy, bonfires always made him happy, but as he got close and really felt the heat coming off it, heard the logs shifting and popping, he suddenly found

(come, reap)

his enthusiasm drained. He sat down, partially turned so that he could feel the shimmering heat against one half of his face, rolled a cigarette, lit a smaller fire of his own, and thought.

[polly_okeefe]

I'd heard about this bonfire through the grapevine and, having nothing better to do, I decided to check it out. Fortunately, I was better prepared for the walk, now, sticking to the lit and easy paths. And I think I'm getting more used to the long walks of this island.

Arriving, I wondered if I'd made a mistake. I couldn't find a familiar face, here. It wasn't unlike the masked ball--

But just as I was about to despair, I saw a silhouette that I recognized, though I still didn't know his name. I smiled, came up behind him, and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey, there, Mysterious Stranger," I said.

[saikamai]

Cuthbert turned around, looking up as he did so. "Oh," he said, his smile broadening as he realized where he'd met her. "Polly. How's thee?"

[polly_okeefe]

I blinked and raised my eyebrows at 'thee', and wondered again where he came from. Maybe I'd have more time to learn, this time. I hoped that his smile meant permission, and I sat down next to him, curling my legs up to my chest.

"I do... okay," I replied. "I have a hut, I have a couple of friends. It's not home, but it'll do for now. You?"

[saikamai]

Though he didn't expect it at first, Cuthbert found himself pleased at the company, not in spite of but because of his mood. Her familiar manner put him at ease a little. He took a brief drag of his cigarette, then blew out the smoke.

"All right. I'm beginning to feel a part of things, I guess." In truth, Bert wanted to be much more a part of things than he was, and he hated to admit it, but there might be some truth to Alain's restlessness, his concern that they weren't connected to anything, or here for any particular reason. He looked back at the fire, squinting.

"Did you turn into a babbie for Reap this year? Uh- Hallow's Eve?" he asked after a minute, and when he looked at her, he'd managed a pretty sincere smile.

[polly_okeefe]

I snorted and grinned ruefully. "I turned twelve. And darned if the clothes box didn't serve up my favourite swimsuit from _when_ I was twelve. Plus fairy wings to make it a proper costume. So I went dressed as myself, five years younger, and an entirely different person."

I frowned at him at his calling Halloween 'Reap'. I took a deep breath and held it a moment as I parsed my next question. Finally, I said, "You come from a different world than I do, don't you? You're familiar but... there's edges of difference all over you. Would you mind telling me a bit about your world? Just to satisfy my curiosity? And you can start by telling me your name, since you know mine."

[saikamai]

Cuthbert laughed at her story, cocking his head and putting on a contemplative face as if trying to picture her with fairy wings.

"Oh," he said, looking surprised. "I never told you, did I? Cry your pardon. I'm Cuthbert," he said, sparing the nonsense and the bow, which he figured he'd probably done anyway at the party. "I'm from All-World, specifically the Barony of New Canaan and the City of Gilead. The seat of all light, love and justice," he finished off, slightly wry in a way that betrayed exactly how much he believed it.

[polly_okeefe]

"It's good to meet you, Cuthbert." I caught his wry smile, and matched it. "So, that's what it says on the tourist brochures, does it? What's it like in real life?"

I gave him an apologetic smile. "I haven't heard of it. I'm from Benne Seed Island off the coast of South Carolina, though if you were from Earth, you'd probably not have heard of it either. It's far away from... well, just about anything." Though it wasn't Gaea, that was still part of its charm.

[saikamai]

"Oh, I don't know. Probably not so different from your world," he said, feeling reluctant to open himself too much at the moment.

"Another island," Bert said, smiling a little. "Well, at least you're used to it."

[polly_okeefe]

A few snarky answers came to mind as he said this. 'It would be nice if it had a boat that could go to the nearest continent,' was one. 'I could use television,' was another. But something else caught me in his statement, and I looked at him with interest.

"You're not used to being on an island?" I asked. He said it as though islands were entirely foreign to him.

[alethioliar]

Pan saw him first, the sand on the beach shifting and bowing away beneath his bounding little feet. Briefly, he scampered around the set-up, seemingly agitated or perhaps just very excited at the sight of the blaze, but as soon as Lyra scooped him up and dumped her daemon onto her shoulder Pan seemed to settle, his long tail swishing only enough to disturb her hair.

Something was coming, some great big explosion, but whether it would be internal or external, Lyra did not know. The foreboding feeling had been building, following her ever since the Masquerade, so she threw herself head first into any and everything Surreal wanted to teach her and her limbs began to suffer for it. Lyra was sweaty and anything but elegant when she collapsed beside Bert, but her half-frenzied grin gave away her adrenaline high. "Too serious," she gawked, clearly affronted by Bert's pensive state, and nudged him playfully with her knee.

[saikamai]

"Hai," he nipped at her, and then looked almost comically surprised to hear himself address her like she was ka-tel. He surprised himself again by laughing. "I mean 'helloooo'," he said, drawing out the last vowel to sound a bit more like Lyra's English. "And I am not." But it was a dry protestation, and he didn't really try to justify it further.

Still, Cuthbert was privately very glad to see her, provided she didn't try too hard to jolly him out of this mood, which he was guarding rather jealously at the moment. "You look... excited," he decided finally. "Who'd you poison?"

[alethioliar]

At the greeting, her mouth seemed to tug itself in clashing directions, at once curving in a visibly pleased sort of way, but also bunching with mild concern. "A man called Lord Brent," she shrugged imperiously without missing a beat. "Oh I know, you haven't heard of him just yet. With good fortune, you never will. I do hope the dose was a lethal one."

Lyra's grin, though fiendish, was also somewhat subdued as she assessed him carefully. After a conspicuous moment she gave an affectionately light flick of his hair with one finger just because she could.

[saikamai]

He put a hand up to where she'd flicked his hair and raised an eyebrow at her. "You're in rare form," he said, and stubbed out his cigarette on a piece of driftwood. He wasn't particularly in the mood, and that seemed a waste of good tobacco, so he cupped it carefully in his palm and tucked it back in his bag.

He was wearing jeans, the pair he'd been wearing the day he'd arrived, and they were starting to get stupidly short around the ankles, so he'd rolled them up to just under his knees (rather than give them up entirely). His feet were bare, and he was wearing what Lisey'd called a hoodie, which he'd found in the clothes box and was immediately fond of. He slipped his hands into the possum-pocket and leaned forward, so that his elbows were perched on his knees. "Do you have Reap where you come from?"

[alethioliar]

"As are you." It wasn't an accusation or even a playful tease, just a neutral observation while beside them the blaze seemed to climb just a little bit higher. Lyra pressed her lips into a line, licked them introspectively a moment later.

Lyra imagined she knew quite well what he was talking about, but if she was wrong then he would simply correct her. "Not like here. Nothing's like here, really," she mused, then shoved some of her stringy hair away from her face, the back of her hand coming up to smear aside a bit of dirt. "The Gyptians have a day where they gather all their boats on the water and send floating bundles of fire down the canals to light the way home for their lingering spirits."

[saikamai]

Cuthbert nodded thoughtfully at that. Just as he turned his head to look back at the fire, he noticed Pan on Lyra's other shoulder, peering out from the curtain of her hair and looking a bit like he was wearing a blonde wig.

He nodded towards him. "Have you forgiven me yet?"