deercountry | closedish to cool guys having chill day

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closedish to cool guys having chill day

Who: a bunch of funky friends invited by Viktor and Palamedes*
What: Having a Party in a field with Fireworks
When: the second week-ish in May
Where: (the field outside of) Pal and Viktor's bunker in Gaze

Content Warnings: alcohol and teens drinking it, irresponsible use of explosives, see threads for anything else that comes up

*If you have friendly CR with Palamedes please feel free to handwave that he mentioned this happening, also if your character has CR with a Pal Friend (a pal^2) who would invite them along, he's broadly allowing this. It's not a formal affair in the slightest lmaooo

--

afternoon/evening.

Earlier in the morning on the day of The Fireworks Field Party (tm), Palamedes makes sure to send a quick location ping to anyone who's never been to the Sixth bunker (also tm) before, because it is, indeed, just in a field somewhere in Gaze. The treeline is comfortably distant from the door to said bunker, which is the only real indication anything is out here besides a few "big rocks" that he names, in his message, as landmarks.

As an afterthought, he has set up a little trail of mason jars containing glowing mushrooms to lead the way to The Field, helpfully. The Field is what it sounds like: a dang field, just slightly ominous in the Gaze fashion, although besides the usual somebody's-watching feeling, it's grassy and spacious for kitschy lawn games. Among the things Palamedes has provided (upon recommendation of a shopkeeper, so like, do not perceive his choices, they were made for him) include:

1. Just a load of blankets, big cozy ones dutifully spread out for chilling on, on the ground.

2. Throwing game Crossbones, definitely chosen because of the bones (they are wooden sticks), and just kind of left sitting there waiting because your host does not know how to play physical games.

3. beanbag horseshoes because it rocks

4. Just, like, a specific blanket that has pencils and blank paper sitting on it... This is a free station, no one will question what art happens here.

Harrow has also provided bone chairs for alternate seating, which are precisely what they sound like.

Eventually, the field will also feature a snack table, which is a community effort, and a booze table, which is slightly supervised in the way that your esteemed host(s) will not permit booze and cherry bombs at the same time.

And, because it's an open field in Trench, there is also a table where emergency incense is waiting. Wandering too far from the space immediately around the bunker (which, it's a big space, you'd have to go far) will eventually lead you to blood wards on the ground, on the trunks of a few trees, etc. Don't touch these. Don't be gross.

the fucken fireworks.

It's fireworks. Once it's dark, there are even more glowing mushroom jars and homemade alchemy glowsticks from Waver to be passed around, somehow, and at least some of the little beanbags glow in the dark, ooh!! Viktor has provided cherry bombs to be used with at least a little caution, for god's sake. There are also some slightly larger fireworks in much shorter supply, from a shop, that will be closely guarded until someone with pyrotechnics talent convinces Palamedes they deserve one. Godspeed.

Broadly: this is a fireworks party (tm) for individual wee ones you can throw around on your own, with only a brief smattering of the big ones that light up the whole sky above the field. It's a chill time for cool buds, fire safety is encouraged, so is vibing on the blankets and enjoying a nice evening.

At various times, local dope musician Anna Amarande will be providing some light musical entertainment, for vibes.

the bunker i guess.

The party is not in here, but for reference:
-it's locked via numpad and neither of these stickbug nerds are giving out the code but they'll open the door if asked... you don't have to leave the place to go to the bathroom lmf
-it's a bunker. it's one room and a bathroom in the back. it's full of disorganized nerd stuff and an oversized moon orb and pal's mean omen, rocky the cool rat (harpy eagle), who will aggressively flap at anyone with sticky fingers until they leave
-the code is 69420 so if you're super funny like gideon you COULD guess it

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

You— do? [do not ask strangers for bloodstones to put in science experiments do not do it palamedes sextus you are not a weirdo give it a little time—] I don't know what a chakra is. Necromancy is very—

[He gestures with both hands like he's holding something, which has nothing to do with the actual act of necromancy, besides the metaphor of A Thing-] It's dependent on having a physical resource, for the most part. Obviously. Only a few of the tricks aren't.

[Unless you're an awful monster, but he didn't invite any of the awful monsters, so that's not something anybody needs to talk about at this party for friends.]

In any case, I'll see what I can do about a flower. No one's going to stop me picking flowers on the side of the road, I'd think.

[don't worry--sansa would never let it show, but deep down she's eyeing the darkblood smears on his hands (and not only because she'd heard blood was attracting strange bees, lately).]

I can only use my own blood, without a dark bloodstone. It's darkblood magic, you only have to tell the blood cells to move closer together. Have you ever made a snowball?

[necromancy being entirely dependent on dead things makes her a little uncomfortable, in the same way she's not wholly comfortable with magic that requires blood. she'd always only known it in the scary stories her brother and arya liked. but sansa has lived wholly outside her comfort zone before, she's willing to push it a little. especially if it lets her make money out of her own blood for free (and somehow, the bloodstones don't seem as scary as smearing it around in liquid form).]

Everyone has chakra in them, though. It's a word for the energy in living things. Most people can learn to guide it through spells. They're very useful. Paleblood magic is much more concerned with visions and dreams.

Honestly? About twice. I'd never been out in the snow until I got here.

[Anyway, hm, this is handy - aha - information to have. He could have guessed there'd be a trick besides just waiting for magic to build up painfully like with lockjoint, but - well, going through that once might be the one thing that's stopped him from casually bloodletting himself for various purposes. Hence his hands, which he does hold up vaguely, again.]

Viktor doesn't like it when I'm reckless about blood. Even the wards— that's what this was— are pushing it. [and he listens to Viktor, or else he'd go bleed out some stones right the hell now. Later. Maybe.] And— never mind, I do know what chakra is. We call it thalergy; thanergy is the opposite, for energies surrounding death.

[He purses his lips and glances down at his own hands, brain practically audibly whirring like oh! it was the other one the whole time!!— but later.]

I'm less practiced with thalergy. Chakra. That's— helpful to know. You're a paleblood, then?

[sansa nods, and viktor goes up several points of trustworthiness in her estimation. she is always cautious about drawing blood, but never more so than this month.]

He's right to be cautious. I wouldn't draw blood outside. There have been strange bees nesting in open wounds. Some of my ladies have been very concerned that I don't prick them, or myself, with a pin or needle. And I don't know if they even have any honey..!

[truly the bees have no upside. 'energies surrounding death' sounds very ominous, more so than using parts of dead animals like bone or leather. but there's no point in worrying, and she'd like to know more about it.]

Making bloodstone is very like making a snowball. You pack it down until there isn't any space left in between. But I've never heard of thanergy, or any magic like that.

[not that people could do, anyway.]

[There have been what the fuck. His eyebrows go up, like, oh - that isn't a thing he's been hearing about? Perhaps the other blood ministers figured he could be free of bees as he's already covered in eyes. Who knows.]

I'll keep an eye out for... bees.

[Last month he kept finding moths, now bees? What's with the insects? Honestly. He nods, though, to the snowball concept - very fun, he'll try that when there's less a risk of bees. As to the not-a-question she is very much asking, he holds his hands up again like a scale. It's purely a visual aid, don't worry about it.]

Every living thing is packed with thalergy and thanergy. They're one-to-one energies, which makes necromancy a finite process; I'm full of thanergy right now- cell death- [cell death! like he can just say that] but running out is essentially the same as... thirst. Extreme thirst, that saps other physical abilities.

My wards are thanergetic, [and he does look a little worn around the edges even besides his hands, despite the Sleepers' above-average natural hardiness. Because he's been out bleeding in the dirt.] As an example of what it does. They'll deter any beasts that come this way, assuming nobody touches them while I'm not looking.

[sansa knows enough about blood and the body by now to have a vague understanding of cell death. she is trying very hard to meet the demands of this new place. and flakes of dead skin are much less alarming than the sacrifices she's been trying not to think about.]

I suppose blood cells die when they're leaving the body.

[actually that does sound like sacrifice on a very small scale. it seems like there must be easier ways to do this, especially for darkbloods.]

Do you know Wanda? She's my friend, and a great architect. She can make permanent barriers like that.

Well— that about sums it up, sure. As you can guess, I'm not really equipped to do anything large-scale without hurting myself.

[Unless he did actually have access to a recent death, but he's not keen on murder, so he's running on his own reserves and whatever the darkblood supplements that with. It's working, more or less.

Damn though, what he would do for a permanent barrier, particularly now that some people at this party keep trying to break into his house...]

Is she a necromancer? Or a different kind of mage?

[it's reassuring that he doesn't seem to want to kill anything, although it's not as if people don't eat chickens, here. sansa's not about to suggest animal sacrifice, though. her smile warms a little.]

She's not a necromancer. I think she's just a very good darkblood mage.

[sansa she's the scarlet witch]

She fixed the roof in my house, so a tree could grow through it, without letting in any rain.

[He nods; it makes more sense that she's just a different kind of mage, as he's never heard of a necromantic barrier that didn't involve wards or take active focus to keep up. Maybe Waver knows something about those...]

That makes sense. I had to ask; people's understanding of necromancy around here is backwards and sideways compared to reality. [he holds a hand up,] That's not an insult towards anybody, but all of that 'zombie' stuff has to come from somewhere.

[So inefficient? A lovely skeleton construct gets it done. Anyway.]

Can I ask why you have a tree growing through your house?

[sansa's mouth twists. she suspects the reality he is used to is very different from her own. 'backwards' is a good word for her world, but there are some things she does love about it. and she doesn't think its necromancers would be content with cell death.]

I chose the house with the weirwood growing in it. I didn't want anyone to cut it down. The Moss King summoned it from my world, around the same time that I came here. It's an ancient heart tree with magic carvings, and I'm very glad to have it. You might see it, if you were to come by for a fitting.

[she gives steep discounts to fellow sleepers.]

A fitting— you're a tailor? I'll keep you in mind if I need anything, but admittedly I'm not very adept when it comes to fashion.

[He only wears grey. It's not a necromancer thing, it's only a Palamedes thing. This is a thing that he is reluctantly working on, but still.]

What is a heart tree for? It sounds important.

[sansa laughs gently. grey is one of the colors of house stark. her dress is a very dark grey, embroidered with silver dragonflies and leaves.]

If there's anything I'm adept in, it's fashion. I dress the Night Walkers that perform in Cellar Door, and I make clothes for Sleepers, when I can. Leather armor too. I made a jacket with bloodstone for my friend to use in magic. You might ask the lantern imps for the Rookery.

[she tries not to let any hesitation show, regarding the heart trees.]

Heart trees are the weirwoods with faces, carved by the Children of the Forest in the Dawn Age, before the First Men came to Westeros. They're sacred to the old gods. Many castles in the Seven Kingdoms built their godswoods around them. They're very nice, but I don't know that anyone has found a use for the sap or leaves.

[Hm. Well, he does have one question about Fashion-]

Do you know any blood-proof materials? The mist in Lumenwood is atrocious to everything I own. I can source it, if it's out there and you know where to look.

[Anyway, trees with faces! Wow! Weird! But not as weird as things necromancers do with bones, so he supposes he can't judge.]

It must be interesting to live with something of that... significance. [He lacks far too much context to really Get It, but all the same.] And to have something like that from your home; lucky.

[I would rather have my family. sansa doesn't say it. her smile doesn't flag. instead she chooses to concentrate on what she can answer to her satisfaction.]

Yes, the treated robes. The ones we were given in the bags will do, but I can make you some that better fit your station. I buy it from Glover Lover; [a few times a month she cuts patterns for them and they pay her in treated leather.] they have much there that's resistant to blood.

[she draws a breath and smiles again.]

It's my honor to care for a Heart Tree, but my true gift from home is Lady--

[she gestures, but lady isn't there. she turns around. lady is under the drink table. perhaps she has found something to eat there?]

Lady, my dog. I didn't think it would be so loud, here.

[there is a bang as a cherry bomb goes off. sansa's eyes dart back and forth.]

[Ah, the things one learns from people who don't spend most of their time in a bunker underground. The robe from the bag is just unwieldy enough - he's relieved he never tried to take a pair of scissors and a needle to it, or asked Viktor to hack it into some kind of more work-ready shape.

He nods, mumbling 'Glover Lover' with a twitch of his fingers like he's writing it down, to remember it. Then, the— tree?

Or not?]

Your dog? [uhhh is she missing- oh, no, there. He pauses, looking at the drink table, makes a pursed-lip decision and turns back to her,] Would you like to take her downstairs? Rio is down there, and - well, I'll put my omen somewhere else. She's testy.

[She doesn't like strangers and only barely likes her fellow bunker residents. She is, as the youths say, a lot.]

[sansa weighs the sudden spike of fear at the prospect of being separated so thoroughly from lady with the prospect of one of them getting to look around palamedes' house(??) a little. now that she knows he's a necromancer, even if he seems very reasonable and kind about it, and not in a way that reeks of artifice...there's a lot she could stand to learn.]

I had better see what Lady wants. She doesn't always like to be parted from me. I would send my omen with her, but he has to mind the blood hound.

[the What. good god.

Palamedes glances back to the drink table and then past it; this is a field, surely the guests can mind themselves in a field if he steps away for ten minutes. He nods, looking back.]

Let me show you inside. You'll have to excuse our clutter; it's not very accommodating to loads of books.

[Or two oversized omens, at that. He gestures for her to fetch Lady, scanning for the path of fewest explosions from here to the bunker door.]

Let's get her settled. You can stay with her a while, it's not a problem.

[he's well-behaved and he treats corruption!!

that sounds like an offer sansa can't refuse. she nods.]

I can fetch her.

[she heads over to the drink table and crouches down at the end where lady's head is.]

It's all right, Lady. I'm very sorry about the noises. Will you come with me for a moment?

[what emerges from under the table is about the size of a malumute but closer in shape to a husky. she resembles nothing so much as a wolf at 3/4 scale, with a tail that hangs low and doesn't wag. she has an elegant dark grey collar that matches sansa's dress, and a bit of a sheepish expression. the two of them head back towards palamedes.]

[Well, that is a Big Dog. Palamedes hasn't really seen too many dogs before, in his life? But even if he had, Lady would by far be the biggest. He has genuinely never seen a wolf, but as he watches them return from his loitering spot, ah... wow.

He says, to Lady, as is only appropriate,] Good evening, Lady.

[And then,] She's lovely, and I'm amazed she managed to fit comfortably under the table. Come with me, I'll get the door.

[It's locked with a code that several incredibly inconsiderate people have been trying to crack, but luckily the fireworks seem to have distracted from that particular activity by now. He leads both ladies over to said door, taps in the code, and gestures for them to follow him down the stairs once the door swings open.

Inside the bunker is, hm, cluttered indeed; it's essentially one room, roughly sectioned out into purposed corners: the little kitchen, the corner with the bed in it, the corner with Lots Of Books in it, and the 'sitting room' space, which also contains one (1) Rio asleep on her enormous pet bed. Briefly, Palamedes' own omen is visible lurking in the Books corner atop a wheeled chalkboard: a very large and furious-looking bird of prey, but he gives her a look and a significant gesture and she dissipates in a wisp. The noises from above are far more muffled down here, of course.

Palamedes gestures, a touch uncertain of where a big dog would like to sit? Ah... there's a couch?]

Well, make yourselves comfortable. I don't know how long they'll be at it up there.

[lady makes a polite wolf noise, sansa brushes her fingers against the top of lady's head and smiles.]

Thank you for this, truly.

[sansa follows palamedes to the door. she watches him enter the code, but can't actually make it out, and her eyebrows raise as she walks down the stairs. she is beginning to expect an underground complex, when she is confronted with the reality of the bunker. it is somewhat overrun with books. she smiles at the omens, even the cross eagle--she's fond of birds.

lady sits, neatly, while sansa walks in a circle around the bunker, trying to display an appropriate amount of interest.]

I've never known a cellar not to have a building over it. You've made it very sweet.

[for a cellar...]

[Palamedes deposits himself in one of the two kitchen chairs, leaning his elbow on the tiny table - which, also, is about half-covered in stacks books and notebooks. There's no doubt that a pair of academics live here and also don't know how to not take work home. He watches her idly - honestly, wasn't expecting her to give herself a little tour? But alright.]

Well, we do have to live here, [he says with a brief quirk of a grin, like, he would not want to live in an empty underground room. That would be bleak.] I know it's not exactly standard living for most people. It's served us well.

[The only reason he'd move out would be if they ran out of book space, honestly... Which, given the state of things, might happen sooner rather than later. It's fine.]

Thank you, though. I'm not much of a homemaker. Back home quarters were assigned, so you could say all of this- [a little gesture, the place,] -is guesswork.

[sansa smiles at him, not totally sure why they have to live here. there must be something she's missing. but she takes her seat on the couch, and lady comes over to sit at her feet. quarters being assigned, though, is something she can understand. she laughs.]

Yes, I've always lived in large households. I don't know how they expect us to do all of the cooking and the washing all of the time, and our own work on top of that.

[even farmers have farmhands??]

I never thought I'd have to learn to cook, and do it by myself! I suppose it's easier with the stove and the little ovens, but I hate chopping onions, and the dishwashing machine hardly even does anything.

[It's just because he likes the lack of windows and how cramped it is, don't worry about it. It's a stupid reason, ultimately. He wonders briefly if the Sixth is considered a "large household," although he assumes from context that it's a family thing and not a broader communal thing.]

Viktor does all the cooking for us— my greatest culinary achievement is a sandwich, and even then- [he makes a face and waves a hand, like, eugh,] -sometimes I overestimate the integrity of the bread.

[Ha ha. He grew up in a place that had a dedicated mess hall and was never once rotated into kitchen or dish duty, he completely understands her struggle. And-]

There's a machine for washing dishes?

[The bunker's tiny kitchenette is visible right behind him, notably without a dishwasher. It's barely more than a sink and a tiny stove in a space this size, so this is news... a dishwasher...]

[after her time in the eyrie sansa can appreciate the coziness of close quarters and small windows but this is kind of pushing it. and she is being deliberately vague about 'large households.' she is trying to give the general impression of having been an elite dressmaker to a wealthy lady, as she believes this is less conspicuous than a wealthy lady would be.

regardless she gives a snort of laughter at the dishwasher question.]

I think it only pours soapy water over them, if you remember to put the soap in first. You still have to scrub everything off yourself.

[so what is the point!!! nevertheless sansa continues to do it because she's sure it must be doing something. perhaps the very hot water gets germs off that she can't.]

I only eat mushrooms on toast half the time, anyway. It all takes so long!

[she also gives all the meat she can to lady.]

And we need to eat so often! At least you can buy food in the shops. Cellar Door is very good for that.

[sansa can't imagine living more than a few blocks from a restaurant or bakery. what if she burned her dinner? she smiles ruefully.]

It is nice to be able to make cake, though. I try to think of all of it as something new to learn.

[Wow, that sounds like a silly and useless invention, enough that it makes him laugh lightly - what is the point! Who made this machine!]

That sounds like a terrible waste of water, but this place doesn't have any sonics, so I guess one has to make the most of it.

[Raucously inconvenient, to eat off dishes and have to then clean them. Truly, the ideal system is a dedicated mess hall somebody else runs. He's all for it.]

What sort of cakes do you make? I've never baked a thing in my life, either— desserts weren't much of a priority back home. Walking past a, what are they called, bakeries? Walking past a bakery for the first time here was jarring.

[hashtag grew up in a tin can with no shops let alone bakeries]

closedish to cool guys having chill day

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