Winter Rose Festival

[Jiyu Simul Stamus]

From the camp, through the dessert and down into the mine caverns leading to a main cavern a row of safely enclosed candles lit the way as a road to the festival location. Jiyu was already there ahead of time, having prepared the festival. The luminescent crystals deep within the cavern glowed softly, the ones in the ceiling twinkling like stars that didn't shine over the dessert tonight due to the brewing storm out there. She had spent the entire few days before setting up the cavern, it wasn't complicated but on tables, in wreaths and strewn around brightly colored ghost plant succulents, a few beautiful flowers like winecup, poppy and dessert sage, which took forever for the calico to do considering her fear of plants. In the very center of the cavern? A Sissoo tree of about eight feet was settled, oddly not a decoration placed upon it.

"That can go right there." a few NPC's and such had already entered the cavern, having volunteered to help her set food upon the tables, most of which had also been made by volunteers due to her injuries. She had seen so many holidays pass by, meaningless at this point for the most part. "If anyone has time we still need a center piece for the feast, a ram, an ibex, one of the wild horses running around or an antelope would do." Jiyu moved after speaking, slowly crossing the cavern to try pushing one of the boxes she had hidden later, forcing herself to place it next to the tree. "We'll be decorating our tree with small flower wreaths to symbolize our loved ones, the year and anything else you may want." only she'd be doing everything possible to get out of it, she had enough flowers this week to make her barf, including the ones that still need removed from her home.

[ROSEMARY]

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On quiet pawsteps, the ocelot walked into festival hub – all four eyes darting around to look at the pretty decorations. From the glowing crystals jutting from the ceiling to the assorted flowers, a sense of calm draped over her shoulders like a cozy blanket. Carefully, she arrived at one of the tables to set down a basket of her tea supplies. She set about making a fresh pot of green tea, passing a cup to any of the tired volunteers that wandered by.

Spotting Jiyu not too far off, dispensing orders and handling the organization, the spotted wildcat levitated two cups and walked over to the vizier. Rosemary still worried about the woman’s back; nothing she tried seemed to help Jiyu with the pain or shrink the bumps beneath the skin. And even as the savannah waved off her concerns, continuing to press on with her duties, the physician knew the agony the vizier suppressed.

“I can handle hunting a ram – presumably, we won’t sacrifice it?” Rosemary spoke up, her right ear flicking nervously. She hated seeing the sacrifices; the witch largely tried to ignore the religion that Sephorith pushed on the rest of the group, avoiding any rumors of sacrifices taking place in the territory. And she succeeded, except when one was dragged out in front of her during a meeting. “I would rather not… considering the winter season, that is,” she added, unsure how strongly the vizier felt attached to those ‘traditions.’

Clearing her throat, she waved a paw and levitated one of her tea cups closer to Jiyu. “I made a fresh batch – you look tired, the caffeine will help keep you focused,” she spoke, trying to appeal to Jiyu’s efficiency. She knew the savannah often pushed herself too far; dehydration, naturally, was one of the many things Rosemary worried about with her.

waded through the spirits like a flood on the floor

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SHE PUSHED THE WATER INSIDE

© LEXASPERATED

[Jiyu Simul Stamus]

Most of her volunteers were already completely exhausted, it was not easy going bringing something like this together and reminded her of why she had left it up to her family before. Why put so much effort into such an event when everyone here would be dead in the year anyway? A long life was its own special kind of curse. Mismatched optics looked around as numerous animals quickly swamped towards Rosemary for that one last way to stay awake for the celebrations, the normal. Shockingly, the healer made her way through the crowd seeming to judge everyone else could take care of themselves, a second cup of tea held in her telekinetic abilities.

Her voice echoed through the cavern among the light voices currently projected from those mingling with tea cups near the table the healer had left from. "There's no need to sacrifice it, though sometime during the Solstice I'm going to burn candles in the shape of The Aspects to make sure they don't cause us problems for being left out, since they are rather harmful when upset." she'd seen them, but she seemed extremely detached from them as if they were normal animals or something, and why shouldn't she the calico was used to dealing with such things. Jiyu herself? Was an immortal who had once possessed all powers she knew existed, so the idea of deities was not foreign to her and the knowledge they could be extremely violent at times. "Signify the rebirth with the change of seasons or something, and hopefully they take it as a compliment. Dealing with deities can be difficult sometimes, but they're not too different from normal animals just more powerful individually. Something besides dragging a sentient animal to a stake is bound to appease them enough to make sure they leave us alone and help us when they can." she wasn't just some cannibal after all, there was no way even the god of fire would only accept one thing.

Jiyu nodded slightly, taking the cup of coffee and scooting it forward with her paw, lapping at it slowly before she returned her attention to the healer. "You can tell that." it didn't sound like a question, but she was curious as to how Rose could tell when she didn't change her own expression ever. "Keeping focus is important for this." that much was true, celebrations were important and painful as these times of year were for her if she lost focus she'd lose her resovle to make this happen.

[ROSEMARY]

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Nodding, the physician breathed out a small sigh – relief, perhaps. Sacrifices bothered her deeply; even weeks after seeing the young lion bleed out on the ground, his face haunted her at night. No meditation or tea could help take the glazed expression off her mind. She started to hate Sephorith for it; the ocelot thought she might grow accustomed to seeing such violence here, but time proved her wrong.

She knew violence and war, from the time she spent in the Typhoon. But pirates always fought for a reason. They never endangered their lives because a voice in their head told them so, and she knew them best by the injuries they acquired by fighting for resources or attacking threats to the group. Violence never bothered her, and she always enjoyed cleaning up the wounds a bit more than she should… but seeing a soul, a life, a body wasted hurt in a way she failed to understand.

“Good. I don’t want trouble with the aspects, but sacrifices – especially during the holidays – seems an unnecessary way to go about it,” she replied, more explicit in her opinions this time. Though she did check over her shoulder once, as though afraid that Sephorith or one of his more zealous followers might overhear. And she hated herself for that, too; though she tried to boost her fighting ability, none of that confidence in the battlefield transferred over here. And she wondered if she would ever stop feeling like a scared little bird. “I like the candles idea – and the wreaths, have we always had these traditions here?” she asked, looking momentarily around at the decorations around the tables and the naked tree. Jiyu certainly knew how to organize things; though something in the way the woman spoke made Rosemary think she thought in far too practical terms.

The woman’s blue eyes snapped back to Jiyu, a slight smile tugging at the corners of her mouth for a second. “I see more than most, remember?” she said, tapping the side of her head with a paw. These days, few people reacted with surprise at her mutations, but the looks never really stopped. Besides, it was a huge advantage in many ways – especially while she learned how to levitate with Bai Shi – so Rosemary never forgot the differences between her and most animals.

She started to realize that she saw more than simply more precise depth perception, too. At first, it made little sense that nobody in the group drew attention to the flashes in Jiyu’s cloudy aura – but, if she ignored the storm raging around the vizier, it became clear why people treated her like a feelingless thing. Rosemary understood why now, but knowledge failed to make her any less frustrated with the rest of the group. If she were being honest with herself, too, she felt frustrated at how she, despite her efforts, ultimately failed to chip away at the vizier's armor. If she just reached in there... she knew what she could do to help the traumatized woman.

waded through the spirits like a flood on the floor

[align=center]

SHE PUSHED THE WATER INSIDE

© LEXASPERATED