tonight, we burn it (but not all of it)

[kantikoy]

WHO: All of Riftwatch is invited
WHAT: A burning of things/ideas for the New Year
WHEN: Mid-Wintermarch (nowish)
WHERE: The Gallows main courtyard
NOTES: Mobius' post inviting one and all to come burn stuff (but no bodies or large fabrics or explosives, s'il vous plait.

It's not exactly raining but it is cold on the island housing the Gallows this night. There's fresh snow on the mountains viewable beyond Kirkwall, and earlier in the week there was even snow in the city proper —typical for this time of year.

The bonfire is in the middle of the courtyard, with some benches and seating pulled far enough away that stray flames shouldn't pose a problem to anyone seated there. Adrasteia is also on hand, with several large barrels of water and buckets placed near every building entrance within sight. Just in case.

Comments

[notathreat]

No. It makes sense. Ellie listens somberly, watching the flickering of the flames, knowing exactly what she means. It all seems so impossible. But isn't everything.

"No, you're not crazy. You've just been through a bunch of shit, and it's-"

Ellie pauses, a little frustrated, trying to find the words.

"When you were a kid, did you ever spin around and around until you were so dizzy you didn't know how to walk anymore? I think the Aerie was like that, but. It was our hearts that got jerked around. Our heads. But I remember New Amsterdam, too. I remember the Aerie. I remember the Etheria you showed me."

She hesitates again, unsure of how to put it.

"I was talking to somebody back in New Amsterdam and he said that memories are sometimes the only proof that something happened. We remember it. It did happen. And even if it didn't- who's to say? It's still there in our heads, right? Just the same. That's real enough for me."

[sparklequeen]

"Yeah, sometimes," Glimmer admits in response to Ellie's question. Settles against her side to listen in glum silence while she stares into the crackling flames in hope of some sort of answer. She closes her eyes after a moment, watches the after-images the fire leaves behind against the insides of her eyelids.

"I'm doing my best to remember that part. Just sometimes it's hard. We just have to keep going no matter what happens, right? No hesitating. Only forward." Because there is no going backwards. She can only step forwards and hope that where she lands will be better than where she is. She must believe it is real and believe that she will find her way back to where she belongs.

And in the meantime, she'll stick next to Ellie. She hugs herself a little tighter to the other.

"You're real. I know that for sure."

[notathreat]

Ellie rests her wrist on her shoulder, settling there for a minute before she fluffs up her hair, letting herself have this. Just for a second, just because the both of them are burning so much.

It hurts but it feels like a cleansing.

"I don't think it's wrong to, y'know... hesitate. To be scared. But the point is that we do it anyway."

Ellie misses Riley so much in that moment, enough to make her throat ache. She and Glimmer would have been so great for each other. They'd have torn the world a new one.

"... and yeah. I'm real. And so are you."