middleofsomewhere | Day 13: The feast

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Day 13: The feast

Preparations

Preparations for the feast start early in the morning. The smell of cooking is everywhere, people hurry back and forth with arms full of plates or chairs or other such things. The citizens of Culin’e’ai and their helpers are encouraged to rest and recover, especially those who were fighting to the end.

However the people of Um'i'les are a practical bunch and so they will not turn down help if it is offered. They understand the wish to keep busy. Bunting needs to be hung, tables set in one of the large halls and torches lit in the great courtyard.

Those with a love of cooking could try and get into one of the many kitchens of the city, it will take patience or stubbornness to convince cooks to let them help though.

Remarkably the weather has stayed dry for the day, the sun even makes an appearance just before noon. The food is all being laid out in one of the great halls, pies, breads, soups, a whole pig. There is a lot of food, made by as many in the city that volunteered to help cook.

The feast itself is outside in a courtyard, there is not a hall large enough for everyone! Bunting has been hung, there are braziers set around with blankets available for anyone injured, ill or just feeling the cold. There is a small dais at one end and once everyone has gathered a bearded man steps up.

Obligatory speech

"Citizens of Culin’e’ai and Um'i'les and those of lands far from here. Today is a day for celebration, a day of victory. Goblins shall no longer plague our lands and de..."

An old woman, hunched over and clutching her cloak around her has made her way to the front.

"Terrible. Terrible that Um'i'les burned. So sad. All the children dead on the road. The people burned in their houses. Mourn them!" Her voice was not strong, but it was high, piercing.

The man looked uncomfortable and confused. "You are confused. No one burned, except the goblins. The children are safe. They are here."

The woman looked almost affronted, looking around at the faces of the citizens of both cities. "No. They should be dead, I saw. I saw... It's never been wrong..."

A young man has pushed through the crowd and puts his arm around her shoulder, leading her off to the side to sit at one of the braziers, she mumbles to herself about fire.

The man on the dais takes a moment to recover. "Ah... Let us remember those of us who have fallen, not just these last few days but in the past wars with the goblin nations. Let us thank those who fought, both of Culin’e’ai and our visitors who arrived with fortuitous timing. Please eat and drink and be alive."

There's applause and the feast begins.

Feasting

There is a lot of food and drink. Barrels of whisky are brought out and glasses are kept topped up. For those that don't want whisky and the many children there is a berry drink that is sweet and refreshing.

The dais is taken over by musicians. There is no set order to music, anyone with an instrument or a voice can take the stage to entertain the crowds. For despite the harshness of the land, or perhaps because of it. The people of Culin’e’ai and Um'i'les know how to celebrate. Groups of young people start a dance and will pull anyone who looks physically able up to dance with them.

Celebrations go on into the night, though the hall everyone's been staying is kept quiet for those who wish to go and rest.

Departure

Early the next morning the train emblem on everyone's Safety Control Apparatus glows with the colours of the void, hopefully they manage to duck out of the way of any citizens before reading the message. Leave by the Northern gate, the Voidtrecker express is waiting.

The guards at the gate let them through with a wave. Just over a small hill, out of sight of the city is the train. Doors open and ready. Once everyone is on board it sets off, flying up high above Culin’e’ai before there is the ever familiar shuddering and the view out the windows returns to the ever changing colours of the void.

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Preperations

It has been a very difficult couple of days and so once Romeo had returned to the city and made sure his friends were safe he slept. Slept for a very long time! By the time he woke up the preperations were well underway but that didn't mean he didn't try and help.

He could be found with bunting, trying to string it up. Or laying a table. He's still tired but he's used to working hard and he wanted to help! He didn't like sitting around.

Feast

Romeo is quite used to parties and celebrations, there had been a lot of festivals in the heavens and even on the Near Shore, that he had attended.

He eats a lot of food, sitting and listening to the music as he does so. The berry juice is tasty, in fact all the food is tasty! He makes sure to try and see all his friends, to make sure they are alright.

He even tries some dancing. It's different dancing to what he know before but he likes it, skipping around and forgetting half the moves. It's fun though!

The food is quite good, but Joscelin is still too tired to do more than pick at it. Mostly he just sits next to Romeo, listening to the other boy chatter and watching him as he tries to dance.

At the end of a song, he beckons Romeo back to their table.

“You look like you’re having fun.”

Romeo rushed over to Joss when Joss beckoned him over and nodded. "I am. It's nice to dance even if this dancing is really different!"

He was a bit sad that Joss couldn't dance with him, but the best thing for Joss was lots of rest so he got better as quick as possible!

"Do you want more food?"

"I've seen elephants dance more gracefully," Joss teases, not unkindly, "But never with such exuberance. You look like you're having fun." And meanwhile, Joscelin is surrounded by excited humans, with their elevated heartrates pumping so loudly he can hear it over the music and the humming voices, reminding him that his current weakness is due to blood starvation. It's not fair.

Food? Yes, food. He needs food. That might take the edge off the hunger.

"Come join me in a piece of that fruit tart I just saw."

Romeo blushed a bit like that, because he had been trying his best! He just wasn't as good as Elfnein or Hibiki or the other idols yet!

He scrambled away and came back with some fruit tart. It was a huge piece, the woman had told him children polite as him got extra. He was glad, Joss was hungry and ill so he needed lots of food!

"Here you go!" He sat down close to Joss and passed over the tart, at least Romeo didn't have a heartbeat to further distract Joss.

No, Romeo doesn't have a heartbeat, and Joss appreciates that. Joscelin snuggles close to his friend as they both set to work on the massive slab of unidentifiable fruit and sugar. It's delicious, and sweet enough that he can focus on that rather than the gnawing pain and weakness inside of him.

Together, the two small boys destroy the tart in record time.

Joss washes it down with a swig of whiskey he'd purloined from an adult (old habits die very hard) and sits back with a contented sigh, feeling a little stronger.

"Right, then. Who's up for a bit of music?"

There's a fiddler with an instrument he'd have no chance of bowing with his short arms, but he can turn it on its side and strum it like a guitar. Unsteadily, Joss makes his way over and returns triumphant with the borrowed violin. After tuning it a little, he launches into a ballad that had once been quite popular...nearly two hundred years ago:

The Murder of Maria Marten.

The tart is delicious and so is the berry juice. The whisky Joss is drinking smells awful but Joss seems to like it so that's good! He smiled when Joss brought back the instrument, he didn't know Joss could play... whatever it was. He also had never heard Joss sing. Maybe he hadn't known before, when he had no memories.

But Joss was good, Romeo had never heard this song before but it was sad and pretty all at the same time. He sat cross legged listening to Joss play and sing. He swayed to the music and burst into applause when the last notes faded.

Joss had sung, and played, in the Far Shore, but never for Romeo. He doesn’t realize the oversight as he performs for the other boy now. Centuries of practice mean that he’s very good, with a pure soprano that hints towards his human origins as a cathedral choirboy.

He enjoys the applause once he’s done.

“Have any requests?”

"Your really good Joss!" He grinned and then frowned slightly, "I don't know any names of any songs... But I like lots of songs! Happy songs that you can dance to! Do you know any of those?"

He had heard quite a lot of music in heaven but mostly at training or Hibiki's shows. He could hum bits and pieces of it but didn't know any well enough to request.

Happy songs you can dance to?

Joscelin frowns for a moment, and then manages to coax a rock and roll riff out of the old violin. It’s an odd sound for A Hard Day’s Night, but a little Beatles never hurt anyone.

Romeo had never heard this song before but he grinned and stood up to dance, twirling around and moving his arms. It's not quite to the beat but he's trying, he even manages to encourage some of the nearby city kids to dance with him and soon Joss has a small circle of children dancing to his strange music.

The music helps Joss forget, for a little while, as he treats Romeo and even some of the children who had been so scared of him before to an eclectic mix of songs from the last five centuries, as he remembers them. But soon his strength flags, and his voice grows increasingly hoarse.

It’s time to stop.

Dancing is fun and the music is good but soon Romeo can tell that Joss is looking even tireder and returns to his side. "You should rest Joss!" It's important.

"You should drink some berry juice! I can sing for you if you want!"

The “berry juice” that Joss swigs has a healthy amount of alcohol in it and he savors the burn. That’s nice.

“What songs do you know? Are you just going to sing me Hibiki’s pop music?”

Romeo blushed slightly, pulling a face. "They're the only ones I know!" He'd heard other music as well in the heavens but not enough to know it off by heart. He had spent a lot of time with miss Hibiki, especially since Elfnein often sang and danced with her.

It was good to dance to though!

[Preparations ]

If anyone is surprised that Evie made her way into the kitchen to help, they obviously don't know her very well. She's happy to be in there, asking about what they're making, listening attentively when they explain how something has to be done. Soon enough, she's in there with the rest, helping as best as she can and having a great time doing so.

"Can you hand me that bread knife, please?" Yes, she's talking to the closest person. Someone baked bread (not evie) and it needs to be cut into portions, but someone is between her and the knife and she'd rather not reach for it, thank you very much.

Later on, she can be found rapidly chopping various herbs for things, placing them in bowls for the other cooks to use in the soups and other food items.

Eventually, she's told to take a small break, sitting on a stool nearby and sipping at a mug of hot tea someone handed her.

[The Feast. ]

Evie's glad to sit down and eat something good. She's in clean clothes, washed and scrubbed of the last few days. Injuries patched up with fresh bandages and Evie once again let the children put her hair up into complicated braid, complete with bits of metal jewelry and tiny flowers decorating the long, black twists.

It had been the routine Evie had with the kids, something to distract them when they were scared and trying to settle in for the night. They'd braid hair, Evie teaching some of the smaller ones how and soon enough, the kids started getting very creative with it.

Evie was going to miss it.

She was also going to miss the food. It was delicious, and she might have tried her best to memorize recipes as she made them so she could make them on the train.

Reaching for the cup someone just set down for her, she takes a sip and immediately winces. Whatever it is, it burns and tastes horrifying and goes down harshly, Evie coughing a few times and clearing her throat. She'd just tried her first sip of whiskey and hated it, thanks.

"Oh, Lucifer, that was gross," she says quietly, so as to not offend the people nearby.

[Departure. ]

Evie was happy to get on the train, even if she was going to miss the kids. But she actually missed the Voidtrain and the routine of it. So she was okay to depart, glad to be able to leave the place they'd helped, hoping they stayed as safe as they deserved to be.

The second she's on the train, there's a quick spell uttered under her breath, the words 'beware, forswear,' coming out before some other string of words that rhymed, and then her hair shifts, going back to the blue and black it was before they got onto the train.

That was better.

Edited 2019-09-26 00:23 (UTC)

Honestly, through a combination of Madoka being too busy staring back for the last time at the place they're leaving while getting on the train and the fact that Evie is uttering the spell under her breath, Madoka doesn't even notice that the other is casting a spell to begin with. All she notices is that when she turns to look into the train instead as she's boarding it, there's suddenly hair changing in front of her eyes.

Fairly mild compared to everything she's seen the past while, but still enough to startle her when it comes out of the blue like that.

"Oh--! Are you okay?" Not like she can tell Evie actually did that herself rather than it being some random thing happening to her.

"Hmm?" Evie's not really aware her magic spell had caught attention, but it makes sense. She'd turned her hair black with a variation of the same spell before they started their mission, partly to see if she could, and now that they were headed back to the Voidtrain, it made sense to her to change her hair back.

"I'm fine. Why?" And then it dawns on her, and she points at her hair, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

"Was it this?"

"Y.. Yes!"

Madoka still looks a little startled, but there's something else starting to slowly mix in with it - her looking unsure about feeling so alarmed, since Evie seems to take it all very nonchalantly compared to Madoka herself.

"Sorry, I just.. thought there might be something wrong with it."

"I'm fine, Madoka. I promise. I was just missing my old hair. I'd changed it before the mission, and now we're done so..."

So she put the blue back. Next time, however, she's just going to leave it as it is and tuck it under something. She wasn't used to magic, and didn't want to make it a habit. She already felt like a hypocrite for using it after she told Mal not to. Though, that did further the mindset that magic was bad and no one should do it ever.

"I do appreciate your concern, though. You're a sweetheart."

That last remark at least manages to at least make her look a little less unsure, since it's ditched in favour of looking flustered at that very last comment. Madoka's cheeks definitely are the same colour as her hair right about now, if not even a little deeper-coloured.

"Ah, no, that's.."

She starts trying to deny the statement, but that feels too rude, so instead her voice trails off for a moment. Better to shift the focus back to the other, since Madoka sure can't handle being the focus point of any conversation. "You can change your hair..? I didn't know that."

"It do be being gross?" She looked over Evie's shoulder at the strange liquid. It smelled gross, to be honest, strong even without bending down to smell it properly.

She's exhausted, though she feels better for having eaten. She's not sure why there is a feast exactly, she had missed whatever happened in back in the city. But they had won, that was obvious and now they were having a feast.

She wasn't going to complain about free food.

Evie'd rested and eaten and felt so much better for it. She'd even managed to wash off the dirt and blood and get new clothes, so she can understand how Little One feels. She turns to look at the smaller girl, still cringing at the taste of the beverage she tried and nods, clearing her throat once or twice before speaking. Her voice is somewhat strained, throat burning a tad from the alcohol.

"It's really gross. Don't touch it, okay?"

"I will no be doing." She had no desire to drink gross things. "The berry juice do be being nice, you should be getting that instead."

Nothing that made your voice sound like you had swallowed sand should be drank, in her own humble opinion.

"Is it? I wanted to help make it, but they wouldn't let me," Evie says, clearing her throat again and finally getting her voice to sound closer to normal. Reaching for the berry juice, she takes a sip and nods her agreement, looking pleased.

"That is delicious. I wonder if we can copy it on the train?"

"Why would they no be letting you?"

She drank some more herself. "We could be being I do be guessing, if we do be having the right berries. But I do no be knowing what it do be being made of."

She peered into the glass, wondering.

“Maybe it’s a secret. Like a family recipe they only let some people know?”

It’s not an impossible idea. She takes another sip of it and shrugs. “We can come up with our own version. Serve it at breakfast time on the train. What do you think?”

"A secret recipe? They do be being a thing?" She hadn't known that. She likes secrets though, secrets that she is able to discover that is.

"I do be thinking it do be being a delicious idea."

“They do. I have a few of my own.” Both for things like smoke bombs and less dangerous, edible recipes. She might be persuaded to teach Little One some.

“I have an idea, lovely girl. What if you and I work on our own recipe for a good fruit juice when we get back to the train? And we tell no one what’s in it?”

She had secret recipies of her own? Well that was interesting. She probably had more of a chance of figuring out Evie's secrets than people on this world where they would only be for a day or so more.

Hopefully not long. She had had enough of this rainy world. Her face brightened though at the idea of making their own recipie and telling no one what was in it. "I do be liking that idea. Let's be doing that when we do be going back!"

Yes, finally some good food. Reigen has been waiting to exist without stress for days, and since no one he knows died, he figures now he can manage to do that.

He hears Evie's comment on the whiskey, and has to hold back from laughing at her adverse reaction. "Here, trade?" Reigen offers Evie one of the berry drinks with some amused sympathy.

Given he has all the alcohol tolerance of a wet paper towel, it's best Reigen doesn't have any whiskey either. Maybe he'll pawn off Evie's untouched cup to someone who looks intoxicated enough.

Evie's glad they're now able to hold still for a while. The journey had been taxing on everyone and she was happy the kids were happy.

She's of the same mindset as Reigen. No one died, they can breathe now.

Except of course for Evie, who is still coughing a bit from the whiskey. When Reigen offers to trade, Evie is quick to hold the gross beverage out.

Take it. She doesn't want it. It has offended her.

"Never again. I'm sticking to water or something I made myself."

Reigen takes the offending beer out of her hand and sets the berry juice on the table.

"That one's just fruit, should get rid of the aftertaste. Don't know what fruit, mind you, but there's no alcohol!"

They were giving these to the kids, so there better not be anything alcoholic in there. Out of curiosity, Reigen takes a sip of the whiskey he was just given, and--yep. That sure is whiskey. Really strong whiskey, too, he winces at the bitter feeling on his tongue.

"Yeah, we'll get you champagne or something later if you really want. ...wait, you're old enough to drink, right? I'm not getting you a fake ID." Does the train card people? Should he even be concerned about that?

"I'm eighteen. I don't know if this place has a legal drinking age," Evie replies, watching the room carefully for some kind of clue. But people are sitting down and eating and socializing in a way that makes it hard to tell. She could ask, sure, but she still feels kinda off from the whiskey itself.

"I think I'll stick to the berry juice. Just to be safe."

"Ok...well, where I'm from, you still need to wait two more years. Don't know if somewhere that has goblins and wizards would enforce Japanese law, but...eh, there's nothing good here anyway. Better safe than sorry." Yes, it's entirely on the quality of the whiskey and not his own inability to hold his liquor. Sure, Reigen.

Not knowing what to do with the whiskey neither of them want, Reigen just subtly slides the glass further down the table.

Ash heard the spell from Evie and saw her hair shift color - she couldn't help but approach Evie to ask her about it.

"How did you change your hair? It sounded like you said some sort of incantation?" At the heart of it Ash just missed having her nails painted, okay?

Evie's running her fingers through the parts of her hair still unbraided, careful to not disturb the cluster of braids left that the children had worked so hard on. The blue on black was exactly as it had been when she arrived for the second time on the void train, and for a spell she wasn't used to doing, she thought it went amazingly.

Turning to look at Ash, she smiles and nods a little bit.

"It was a modified version of a spell in my friends spellbook. Nothing too exciting."

Maybe nothing exciting to her, but it was pretty neat. Even in Eorzea - a land of magic - did they have to pay for people to do their hair. There was one gentleman who was a master at it, though he was a bit of a klutz.

"It's an impressive little spell. At home we have to have people color our hair if we want it to change. It's an entire ordeal, takes a lot of time." She had never gotten her own hair done, but she'd heard the nobles of Ishgard complain about it many times. "Is it a permanent change, or more of an illusion?"

"I know a girl who made a living dying people's hair," Evie replies fondly, the smile on her face showing a lot of love and a lot of missing that particular someone. "Her name is Dizzy. She's only thirteen but a genius with hair."

She was like family to Evie.

"It's as permanent as I want it to be. Since we don't have the means to dye our hair here, and since I know this spell to work very well, I decided to give it a try before we went on the mission. Now that we're back, my hair is blue again."

[Feasting:]

Gwen's glad to be clean again. Glad she doesn't smell like she's been walking for one million days, sweating and fighting and wearing the same clothes for far too long.

The only problem she has now is she's in a light, off-white dress with purple trim around the wrist cuffs and the hem around her feet.

And god help her if the food isn't the most delicious. It wasn't the salmon they were trying to live off of, and she'd peeked into the kitchen long enough to see they weren't using anything she had an issue with.

So she's happy to eat, happy with the berry juice and just...happy. They'd be going back to the train soon, and she'd see Peter soon.

There's a moment where she rolls her injured shoulder, peeking in the neck of her dress to check bandages, and then she continues on eating and talking with the people around her.

[Departure: ]

Now they were all on the train, or at least part of the way boarded. It was taking some time, and Gwen was feeling impatient from it. She wanted to check on people to make sure they were okay. Did anyone she cared for get hurt? Did anyone she didn't care for get hurt? Either way, she was hoping for a big, fat no.

Stepping forward, she's brushed past my someone impatient to get on the train and, with a faint hiss through her teeth as they bump into her injured arm, she shakes her head and tries to wave their concern off.

"It's fine. I'll be fine in a few hours, I'm sure of it." Never mind that goblin poison apparently really hates her. Toying with the arrowhead she kept around her neck, she sighs as the pain subsides some, waiting again for her turn to get on board.

This last week has been Hell and very rainy and Peter's not a fan but when he sees the back of Gwen's head seated at the table he moves right over and slides into the seat next to her.

"So, Two chemists walk into a bar. The first one says 'I think I'll have an H2O.' So, the second one says 'I think I'll have an H20 too.' ...and he died." Peter tells her laughing a little at his lame joke before he frowns, noticing the traces of a band-aid.

"What happened?"

There’s the gorgeous guy she’s been wanting to see all week. The second he’s sitting down with her, Gwen is grinning. His chemistry joke gets a laugh from her, but then he’s asking about her shoulder and...

Oh, boy.

“Uh. I got shot with a goblin arrow. It’s healing, but slowly. There’s poison on it. Was person on it. I’m fine.”

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Day 13: The feast

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