GO BY THE RIVER + BONFIRE BASH

[toboggan]

Black fumes ascended to the upper atmosphere in sizable clumps. The choking scent resembled not the exhaust deriving from the blaze that incinerated Sam's cigarettes - this was genuine campfire smoke, baby.

Off towards the shore, a multitude of oaken picnic tables encircled a live firepit. Every table wore a tablecloth of either red or blue, with snacks of a wide variety set upon the reds, and a slew of beverages (some alcoholic) established atop the blues. Accompanied by some pokers, a whole snack table was strung about with the ingredients to Tanglewood's most renown treat - S'mores. A fair amount of metres out of the flame's reach sat a neon-endowed jukebox, which  played vinyl records like there was no tomorrow. 60's tunes and billowing smoke formulated the current environment. To Leroy, it felt just like home.

A sizable branch prodded away at the smoldering logs. His golden peepers observed with satisfaction as the combustion's dancing figure bent to his will, growing taller and much more immense as the kindling toppled against each other. Once the flame appeared marshmallow-worthy, his jaws unclasped the poking stick, which would plunge to the cool ground with a kerplunk! He stares in contentment. All of this was him. Even after all the shit that came cascading his way of late, joy could be found in the simplicity of a bonfire. All he hoped was that the rest of the swamp folk could feel the same.

He hadn't taken the liberty of setting up areas for games and such. The majority of the population were adults, and thus, the hound anticipated that the attendees could interact over everyday conversation. One of the main reasons that he stepped up to host this event was so that he could interact with some of the newcomers that he had ignored.

The crackling of dry wood shot thousands of glimmering sparks airborne, which would momentarily shower the surrounding area in their scorching presence before fizzling out of existence.

With luck, maybe two or three Tanglers would show up, and optimistically, one or two would stay.

[wormwood.]

[glow=#000,1,400]BUT NOW I UNDERSTAND YOU, AND I WILL NOT BE PART OF YOUR DESIGNS — ｡+ﾟ.[/glow]

When Wormwood first sees the huge billows of smoke reaching up to grab at the clouds above, he feels a sense of fear and panic grip him. Fire was never a good thing back in the pride, as it spelled disaster and death, and that certainly wasn't something that Tanglewood needed more of at the moment. However, after racing towards the source of the large curling ebony clouds, he was surprised to see that it wasn't some billowing fiery beast looking to consume the entire territory. Rather, it was a bonfire, being watched over by none other than Leroy. The lion tilted his head to one side curiously before moving in closer and letting his gaze wander over the entire area. He noticed the carefully set up picnic table and snacks, including the supplies for the s'mores, and a small smile gradually came to his muzzle. Ever since he had joined, it seemed like more and more bad things were beginning to grip the group, poisoning it from the inside like a disease, or like a cancer. But for the first time, it seemed like there was a genuinely enjoyable event going on – and it seemed much calmer than anything Feza had put on.

The larger of the two males slowly moved over to one of the picnic tables closest the large fire, and he plopped his tall but short body down on the seat, rumbling softly to Leroy as his tail moved from side to side, [glow=#793B29,1,400]"Nice job, Leroy. You've set up something pretty damn nice right here."[/glow] He very much enjoyed the opportunity to interact with all of the other group members at once, as well as getting to enjoy good food and the crackling fire. Plus it was taking place on the beach, one of his favorite places in the entire Tanglewood territory because it actually wasn't murky and suffocating in the air. He vaguely felt the regular strong urge to go and splash around in the cool water, irradiation be damned, but the winged lion actually felt pretty comfortable just sort of laying on the seat and relaxing, taking in the fire and waiting for others to arrive.

[RED]

[align=center][div style="text-align:justify;width:55%;font-family:verdana;"]It had been a long time since Red had a second to relax. Considering the recent chaos, there was no time to waste - Tanglewood was perhaps at its most vulnerable right now, with their members missing and tensions rising among the populace, so it was rare to have even a second's repose. The aura of the town hung heavy like pollution, reaching its sickly tendrils out into the territory and infecting the place with its disease. The sight of smoke and a speck of fire on the horizon is a welcome one, for he's aware the shoreline remains mostly untouched and thus somebody must be having a good time down there. It was rare for anyone to spend much time on the beach these days, save for perhaps Feza and her midnight shenanigans. The whole scene is a bright spot on a dark horizon, a glow of an aura that seems to say that better times lie ahead.

The evening brings a slight summer breeze, rustling the tall grasses that border the dunes. The ocean breathes the smell of salt into the air, and the soft sound of music is a perfect match to the gentle rush of waves along the shore. Red feels... Peaceful, for perhaps the first time since he arrived here. It's nice.

The first thing he does is grab a beer, because for once his decision to have a few is a decision made in good taste. He wasn't much of a social drinker, but this warranted an exception; he could use a little bit of that peaceful numb, anyway. Then goes a bag of marshmallows into his other hand. Frankly, he's never had a s'more before, in spite of his human upbringing - snacking on one of the bags was good enough for him. The radio drones, wouldn't it be nice if we could wake up - "Yeah, it would be nice," he responds to himself, in idle exchange with the music.

From where he seats himself crosslegged in the sand, Red looks over at Leroy with a grin. It's a genuine one, in spite of their tenuous relationship. "Thanks, Leroy." A pause, like searching for a compliment to give the other is an archaeological dig, "...This is pretty cool."

[Vathmos]

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VATHMOS

INFORMATION ROLEPLAYER MISC.

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All of these things were incredibly foreign to her. Vathmos was busy eating when she heard the music start playing.  She was, quite happily, licking out a squirrel's ribcage and swallowing the juicy heart when she heard it. Her head popped up and her ears perked, reflexively licking the blood from her chops and looked outside her window, seeing the bonfire in the distance. "Whowartee itse teehowartee?" Fire was normally a sign of danger and a bad omen- fire was dangerous and would destroy the homes. The tribe was cautious around fire. The one fire they had in the tribe was tended to by the slaves. One of the monkeys, specifically. They couldn't start and tend to fires easily, due to their paws and being preoccupied.
She finally came out of her home, trodding towards the fire, and, upon arrival, kept her distance from it. She found the s'more ingredients and smelled them cautiously. She had never seen these things before. She hopped onto the seat part of the picnic tape, planting dirty forepaws onto the table, and sniffing the food and drinks. Some of it smelled gross, others smelled.... drinkable. She focused her nose on the white, fluffy things, and curiously lapped one into her mouth. She tried to chew on it but found it sticking to the roof of her mouth. She fell backward and off the table, making a heaving sound as she tried to get the marshmallow out of her mouth, spitting it onto the ground, covered in her drool and saliva. Vathmos shook, sniffing the marshmallow and trying to decide it she should try to eat it again. Her ears perked once more, attention turning to the music device. She had never heard such music- in her tribe, most music was performed via chanting and beating on something to produce a beat.
She left the marshmallow behind in the dirt, approaching the gang and glancing between them, noting who was present. She briefly looked at Wormwood, then looked away. "What kind of music is that, Leroy? It sounds weird." She said, looking at the fellow dog.

━ [b]MY SKIN IS A STORY┆LONELY. CLINGY. HATEFUL. ━

[selby roux !]

[align=center][div style="width: 51%; text-align: justify; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -1px; font-family: georgia;"]Selby became alarmed as he saw the billows of smoke rise into the air. Has the Pitt come for us? he wondered, scrambling to check out the smoke. Having recently been sick, he wasn’t able to move as quickly as he would’ve liked, and when he arrived, there were already four people around. Oh, it’s the bonfire, he realized as he looked around, feeling no sense of urgency from any of those gathered.

He didn’t think there was any real time to do this. The medic needed to gather supplies for the raid, not to mention the fact that he was probably supposed to be resting. On top of that, his home was not even close to being habitable again, as the place reeked of his prior illness and the plant that made him sick had become even more overgrown. Still, despite all the work that was still to be done, Selby could not force himself to leave, mostly out of his innate sense of manners.

"Thank you for setting this up, Leroy. It looks very nice," he said hoarsely, not quite knowing what to do with himself. Red and Wormwood had both seen him when he had been sick, and the memory made his face grow uncomfortably warm in his shame. Vathmos was a mystery to him, and she seemed scary, so Selby didn’t approach her either. The last time he had seen Leroy properly had been when Arrow died. Wanting to avoid any potential awkwardness, he sat by himself off to the side, watching the fire with faux interest.

[beatae]

the first thought when seeing the smoke rise into the air was sam's cigarettes in a pile of ash and tobacco in the center of a room. how fruitless that entire fiasco had been... now sam was off somewhere in the pitt he had heard, though crow had warned them all to stay away. perhaps crow knew she was stronger than the others though, as mikolaj had guessed she would survive not even a month under them.

he approaches for no other reason than boredom. nighttime was an especially hard time to ignore for the beast, and he sticks by red at about four feet away. he only sits and stares at the fire, unaffected by the music or presence of other tanglers.

"SPEECH"

♡♡♡
tags

[trojan g.]

[align=center][div style="bgcolor= black; width: 500px; font-family: georgia;font-size:12px;text-align:justify"]Unlike most of those that were here, the smoke that came from the fire that rose into the air did not cause alarm for Moth, but rather curiosity. She had explored the territory enough by now to know that the fire was somewhere near water, and, she couldn't for the life of her, figure out why someone would start a fire near a place where it could easily be distinguished. Padding forward, the female would find herself inhaling the smell of a campfire, and her eyes lit up as paw steps quickly hastened, stopping when she broke the clearing and was able to see everything clearly - this looked amazing.

Bonfires and s'mores were something that Moth had only dreamed of since moving to the group, and when she saw that these things were what had been prepared before her, she could only let a smile cross her face, and her tail began to sway side to side, showing her pleasant mood more and more by the second. "Leroy did y-you do this all by y-yourself?" She would ask, head tilting to the side slightly as soon as she had done so, "I-it looks amazing!"

[fulzanin]

[align=center][div style="width: 55%; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 1.4;"]"I never thought I'd get shown up for my party throwing skills, but I think it's happened and I could not be any happier," was the splurge of words that came from Feza's maw as she approached. Feza never really had an overarching theme whenever she organized something. It was boxes and kazoos, party favors and hats and confetti all thrown about in some hyper, festive manner. This though? This was a sight to behold, and the snow leopard's tail could not stop in it's delighted swishing behind her. The smell of s'mores as well, it was almost too good to be true. "This looks amazing! Wow, wow, and raise that to, to, what's it called? A 'power'? Yes, yes, use that and maybe it will describe how amazing this looks," Feza rambled, her ears raised and blue eyes wide with delight.

The snow leopard, despite living up in the mountain, didn't really fear fire. There wasn't lots of ways for fire to exist up in the mountains that had once been her home. Feza had strode over without hesitation, drawn in by the smells and the smoke and the all around party setting. Speech often lured her in, but perhaps just the concept of a party, too, worked for capturing the vibrant snow leopard's ever spastic attention. Sure, the smell of alcohol was confusing, and she had no experience with such a beverage. Feza decided that maybe she'd stay away from the strange smelling liquid for now. Besides, the ocean was right there- she had not learned that salt water only made one more thirsty. There was music too, music that was not crafted by the squeals of a kazoo. She was moving her weight from side to side in her ever standard yet hyperactive mannerism. "Is that, is, music? Music playing? Without kazoos? Dang. I didn't know that even existed!" She blathered as a leaping stride helped her bound on over to the snack table, eyeing over the contents.