Torchlight parade of Scayth and The first seed

Posted on Wed Dec 21st, 2022 @ 1:57am by Jeassaho Kea (*) & Ka'see 'Cassie' Anderson (*) & Delaney O'Callaghan & Chief Engineer Michael Burnstein & Chief Helmsman Kalahaeia t'Leiya & Beya

Mission: Mission 16: Hysperia
Location: Hysperia
Timeline: MD04 20:00
3006 words - 6 OF Standard Post Measure

Cassie was wearing the Hysperian dress that she had gotten a few days ago with a cloak with her hood up as did everyone else around them. It was part of the tradition of the torch lit parade which Cassie had researched before suggesting that people came with her. She was taking the advice to be more experimental to heart. It was really interesting and she could not remember anything like it on earth. The Scayth was one of the planets more treasure antiques and carrying it was the honour of the previous harvest king or queen to carry it from his or hers chosen neighbourhood.

“I like that every year the parade comes from a a different area of the city.” Cassie whispered. Each procession of the scayth was followed by dancers, musicians and lanterns as they wound their way into the town centre where the first seed was on display in front of the royal palace. Cassie had never seen the city as dark as it was other than the gentle light of the torches above them and all around.

Delaney, who had taken an entirely different approach and pulled an archer's costume from her collection, peered out from beneath its forest green hood and then twisted upwards to gaze at the cloud-cover overhead. Hysperia's harvest moon provided very little by way of backlight, and the stars revealed themselves only as tiny peepshows between the thick clouds. "Perfect weather for it too," she observed quietly, though the tendrils of cold breeze that occasionally gathered around their ankles made her pleased she'd opted for attire that involved pants and long boots.

"Nice and clear if they end with some fireworks," Burnie observe hopefully. He was dressed primarily in his cosplay dwarf gear, modified in that he wasn't carrying axes and shield, though he had kept the belt pouch so as to have some tools with him (because you never knew when you might need some engineering tools, or a couple blasting caps). Though he'd also added a 'hoodie' under the plate mail to meet local customs.

Beya was swaying with the music, wistfully watching the closest group dancers. "I wonder if outsiders can join in?" she said, doing a small skip-turn in time with the dance that sent her skirt and cape twirling. She'd opted for silk with a gem-gilt bustier that was the closest thing to Orion fashion that she'd seen in the market. A hooded red velvet cape supplied the required head covering and, in her opinion, a striking dash of color (even if some people had made 'Christmas elf' comments about a red cloak with green skin).

"Dunno." Kali flicked the wrist on one flowing tunic sleeve, purple-blue with silver and gold embroidery over black leggings and high boots with a belt pouch, sword, and dagger, completed with a flowing cloak at the moment to allow for dropping temperatures as the night went on. It gave the impression perhaps less in her case of a 'Christmas elf' and more of a 'fantasy elf princess warrior'.

“I did not see anything about not being able to join in.” Cassie commented to Beya. “So I guess there is not much stopping you.” She added seeing several different species in the group dancing. Maybe some of the group would be lost before they made it to the town centre. “Lots of people do not quite have the look of colonists.” She encouraged. It was not for her but she would not judge anyone who wanted to join in.

A bright smile lit Beya's face at that and she skipped forward, finding a place in the midst of the dancers, a life time of training allowing to quickly pick up the rhythm and pattern of the dance. Within moments she was humming to the music, nearly lost in the experience of group dance almost like back whne she danced with her sisters. The thought made her glance back toward the crew. "Come on and join in! It's fun!"

Never one to necessarily avoid the spotlight, Delaney nevertheless wrinkled her nose at the prospect of trying to appear graceful next to the Orion and cast a glance sideways, catching Cassie's eye first, and then Jeassaho's. A split second later, her gaze, and her bright smile, landed on Burnie. "Dwarves love dancing, right?"

Puffing a laugh, the engineer shook his head, saying in his best attempt at a dwarvish accent, "Yer thinking of elves, there. Or mebbe fairies."

Jeassaho shrugged and launched herself through the crowd to where Beya was dancing and started swaying with the music. Betazoid could very much dance well especially in a group of Betazoids but Jeassaho also knew how to have fun. “Well if the Captain’s wife is dancing does that mean we have too?” Cassie wondered feeling more than she would follow them at a more subdued pace.

"They seem happy enough on their own." Delaney shook her shoulders so that the quiver and bow strapped into place wriggled just a little. "I'm pretty sure if I attempted to dance right now, I'd have someone's eye out."

"Pretty sure, Captain's wife doesn't put an engineer in my department being in charge of what I do," Burnie laughed. Through his gait took up a bit of hop-skip with the music since there was something infectious about the revelry.

Kali stayed next to Delaney, very firmly not dancing either; though she considered for a moment whether or not to try and get a video of those who were (or almost were): If nothing else she was pretty sure Nollel would enjoy it, and it really never hurt to be in good with the admin staff anywhere. In the end, she decided against it, though; Burnie had options for revenge of his own later if she did; like control of the temperature settings.

Cassie could not help but smile at the almost horror everyone was feeling at the thought of dancing. “We should follow though so we are not separated.” She said as the crowds started to follow the dancers. Cassie did not want to lose anyone if they could help it so she gripped Kalahaeia’s arm quickly as two men tried to squeeze between the group.

"Right. Sticking together," Burnie said, stepping in to close the gap on the men shifting between them. "Does a quick step count as dancing?"

"Depends on which lawyer you ask." Quipped Kali, grateful the grab towards her a moment ago had been from Cassie: Humans tended to often have a bad habit to try make that sort of grab landing hand-to-hand not hand-to-arm, and some small part of her just felt sheer relief that having a (half) Vulcan around meant the odds had gone up at least someone else might also be choosy about their hand-to-hand contact. "I'm sure my aunt could draw you up an argument both for and against it counting as dancing."

"No need." Burnie laughed and did a twirl. "If I need legal work, I can throw a dart at my family tree."

Cassie was sure that quick step counted as dancing but did not want to get dragged into that conversation when she was trying to take in the sounds of the party around her. The last time she had been to anything like this parade had been back in Scotland and it had not been enjoyable at all for the 13-year-old freshly on the planet after the quiet of Vulcan. The woman just wanted a moment to savour it all at once and all together as she watched as Jeassaho took one of the offered torches and grinned triumphantly.

"This place really does seem to love its fire," Delaney observed, eyes lifted to study the faint glow cast skyward by either a smattering of small bonfires, or one excessively large one. It made sense, fire was a powerful element in many folklore tales and, more practically, was hardly difficult to come by in a planet that harboured actual dragons. It was probably either revere it or spend most of your life really, really annoyed.

"Of course it does!" Burnie mugged a broad grin, an expression at least half poking fun at his own reputation. "what's not to love about fire?" Looking at the giant bonfire at the top, he thought about the planet's primary sources of fire. "I wonder if they dragons up there?"

"Gonna be disappointing if there aren't." Kali pulled the edges of her cloak in a bit, avoiding the crowd stepping or catching on it. "And they'd be missing a huge tourist-trap opportunity--I'd be shocked if there isn't someone with a photo booth set up off to the edge, too..."

"Yeah. I'd definitely do a picture with a dragon," Burnie said, craning his neck a bit toward the big bonfire ahead. "Especially if I can one with the dragon flaming."

"If they do, I'm making sure it gets into the slide reel for your wedding reception someday." Kali grinned.

“What is a slide reel at a wedding?” Cassie asked interested not having heard of it before in relation to a wedding but she had only ever had a proper Vulcan wedding and there had been nothing like that.

"It's...like, when someone gets married in some parts of Earth, their buddies will often make a short movie or photo presentation of the couple as kids; and when they were dating; that kind of thing, and play it for people at their wedding reception. Sometimes goes alongside toasts made to the couple by their friends who are part of the wedding party. Depending on the people doing it and the cultural backgrounds, can be meant to either be a sweet 'this is who they are, and the story of their romance' kind of resonance to it, or sometimes a more humorous one. A photo by a dragon lighting a bonfire would probably check both boxes." It crossed Kali's mind that if she ever got married, it would be something she'd have to make sure her old fleet buddies knew not to do; her parents would be horrified to have someone retelling half her life history, with photos no less, to all her wedding guests. Though it might not be a problem she'd have to solve: Odds were good her aunt would insist on a more traditional Romulan format and wouldn't give her friends the timeslot for it amongst the rest of the celebrations, anyways.

“Yeah definitely did not have that at my Vulcan wedding.” Cassie answered with a shake of her head before she glanced at Burnie. “Are you considering marriage for it to be mentioned?” She asked bluntly.

"Apparently everyone else thinks I should be considering it," Burnie muttered. He shook his head. Bad enough his family had harped on that so much he'd half expected Nollel to run away screaming. "We just moved in together, so one step at a time, okay?"

“No judgement from me, Michael. I’ve been married twice and both ended in disaster.” Cassie replied simply thinking that it was a hard pill too swollow with how young she was. “Marriage isn’t the be all of a relationship.” She added hoping she had not been prying to much more wanted to understand it all.

"Hey, I said 'someday'." Kali shrugged and glanced ruefully at Burnie. "If you ask the rest of my family; marriage is highly inappropriate until a couple have known one another for at least a decade, ideally more."

"Maybe I should get your family together with mine," Burnie laughed. Then shook his head after imagining the scene. Sophie plus Kali's little sisters would be pure mayhem. "It's fine. I'd happily spend the rest of my life with Nollel, but all the pushing is getting to be a bit much."

"I was not pushing merely asking for clarification. I will correct others going forward so you do not need to." Cassie offered as the music started to change as the street got fuller of people as a path was made by the people. You could almost feel the cheerfulness in the air as everyone apart from the group turned to see two people dressed in black walking through the path that had been made.

"Who're those?" One of Kali's hands moved, hidden entirely by the cloak she was wearing at the moment, to be near a concealed dagger; but it was pure reflex motion to unknown parties running towards her, not a more involved and thought-out concern; given the rest of the crowd seemed happy at this and had moved to make the path, it was probably part of the event.

“It’s the first seed my lady.” A man said shaking Kali’s arm in excitement. “They are the guardians and keeper of the scayth and seed.” As if the man’s excitement brought the items out into the open two topless men carried one a piece.

“Pretty good guardians.” Cassie said bluntly.

Burnie laughed. "I won't tell Jake you said that," he teased.

"She's not wrong." Kali laughed with an appreciative sweep of her eyes over the shirtless pair.

Cassie blanched at the mention of Jake and blushed green. “It was an observation.” She murmured as the crowd surged forward behind the two men as they led the way further down the street towards the royal palace.

"Don't let him get to you," Delaney reassured, slipping her arm through the other woman's as a show of support, albeit a somewhat presumptuous one. "We were all thinking it."

Cassie raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment on Delaney taking her arm or that fact they were coming to her defence. She did not think she needed it but she did appreciate that the crew were treating her like one of them despite her time away and the coolness she had treated them with previously.

"There is nothing wrong with appreciating fine looking men," Beya said with a wink, returning to the group as they approached the end of the parade route. Dancing with locals had been fun, but she wanted to be with her friends for the bonfire.

“Not in the slightest.” Jeassaho declared breathless but looking happy looping her arms through Beya still. “Are we talking about my husband or some other fine looking man?” The woman said moving the conversation from Executive Officer to Captain without a hint of missing the best.

"I mean, I could switch topics to your brother if you want," Delaney teased, swaying Cassie back and forth in time with the beat for several bars.

Jeassaho winced. “I would rather you did not so back to whoever we were admiring.” Jeassaho gave them a carry on motion as she turned to see the seed and scayth placed onto podium specially designed for them.

Guess I'm chopped liver. Burnie chuckled to himself. He was not particularly offended being under no illusions as to his own sex appeal, but he couldn't help ribbing them about how they were talking here. "Ow! Right in the ego," he joked, clapping a hand to his chest with mock dramatics. "Remind me to stick with the guys next time."

"Aw, you're cute too," Beya said and patted his cheek. "But remember, you're with us because none of the guys were brave enough to be around you at a bonfire."

"Hey, I'm not that bad!"

Beya cocked an eyebrow. "aren't you the one who set the galley on fire making pancakes?"

"Latkes," he objected. "And those are supposed to be made with oil and using open flame is... " he struck a pose, pointing a finger in the air, "Tradition!"

"Uh-huh." The Orion propped a hand on her hip. "This bonfire is a tradition here." She looked around at her companions. "Did anyone pat him down for explosives?"

"I hoped that Nollel would not let him off the ship if he had anything that would get him into trouble after the dragons." Jeassaho pipped up as she watched in the distance as the fire was lit and a cheer went up.

While Burnie had been noting his place in the group, so had Kali: In her case, less 'chopped liver' and more the awkward realization that she was the only person, Burnie included, in the group who wasn't in a relationship of some sort (other than Beya who, as an Orion, didn't really count in that). At the 'pat him down for explosives' comment though, she shrugged one eyebrow with a half-grin. "Besides, if he did bring any, I'm sure he'd keep them in a special pouch to keep them from going off accidentally or something."

"Thank you." Burnie nodded firmly. "At least someone trusts me to take sensible precautions." If that wasn't exactly a denial of carrying explosives, any further questions were cut off by fanfare from the area around the bonfire.

"Do you think we will see the Queen?" Cassie asked wondering if that was a thing that she came out onto the balcony.

"Maybe. I mean, administration of government aside, ceremonial stuff like this is the other main duty of roles like that, so." It was the sort of comment that reminded one that Kali had once studied tidbits of galactic governments and events and written intelligence reports...and also perhaps made you pity whomever had read them, with her generally irreverent phrasing. Kali noted the armor-clad sentinels here and there near the crowd but also on the balcony Cassie had indicated. None of them were bad looking either actually. "Pair of guards on the balcony, so yeah I think it's probably a good bet she'll show." She paused for a moment and threw a brief glance at Burnie with a sardonic tone as she looked around, then back at the group overall. "Maybe after that we can find the guy with the dragon photo booth. There's gotta be one somewhere around here."