(2019) Rising Lanterns of Desire

[Ingrid]

Ingrid moved back around the table and waited sedately for the Lost to join her.

The objective was simple really: write a note detailing one's desire and attach it to one of the available lantern kites. Then release the kite, so that one's hopes, dreams, and desire's floated away into the Hedge.

[Sonnie Wu]

"Well, why don't I go first and show 'em all how it's done?" Sonnie had been holding hands with Queen Ingrid up to that point, and she acted like Vanna White when the Darkling explained the Desire game, gesturing at the kites and other items as if they were fabulous prizes! Now, though, she partook of the new Spring ritual, taking up paper and writing instrument.

After a moment's contemplation, tapping the pen to her lips, the monkey Beast scribbled something down. She set the pen down and neatly folded the parchment, then went about attaching it to a small lantern-kite. Smiling, Sonja held the aerial object up.

"Let my desire take flight, and hope that it returns a reality," the line wasn't necessary, but she felt the need to give the release of her kite some gravitas. Plus, it sounded cool.

The kite lifted into the air of it's own accord, buoyed by the warmer air inside created from the lantern's light. Wide-eyed with wonder, she watched as it sailed upwards into the sky of the Hedge.

"Neat!"

[Cole Volker]

Cole made his way to the paper and writing materials. What they wanted? The desires they wished to see fulfilled?... There was only one right now. It was a perverse goal, a manifestation of his imprisonment in Arcadia... And his greatest strength, greatest potential fulfilled.

"Kenaz."

He'd said it before, around the others. Whatever mundane meaning it held, to Cole it meant the ability to become something stronger. To forge himself into a mighty weapon. He inscribed the symbol on the piece, and spent some time adding more upon the creation.

  4 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2019-04-15 12:07:43		Cole Volker rolls 5 to Create his Wish (Intelligence+Crafts) (10 Again)		10, 2, 9, 8, 10, 1, 4		4 successes

An Anvil, a Hammer, patterns and styles, flames. It wasn't his preferred medium, but it would do. And in the center was the symbol standing alone from the background.

"One day, Righ Mor. One day..."
Not it's name, so much as a title. One of many his Keeper held, and the one most memorable to the metalflesh- spoken with no small amount of vitriol. Nightmares of a bloodied battlefield, a thing pretending to lead a peasant revolt, scythe in hand- a thing that pretended his way to a kingdom. A thing that had made Cole what he was now.

A thing Cole vowed to burn, along with his kingdom, his forge, until all was ash. Perhaps not what was meant by desire- but the thought brought no end of happiness.

[Seraphina]

Sera and Rhodes make their way outside to the table. Looking up, she see's the current lanterns, glowing in the sky, a smile on her face.

"Queen Ingrid! I loved your entrance, you have exceeded all expectations with the Coronation!"

[Rhodes]

The Dread Lord bows deeply to the Vernal Sovereign. "Lady Ingrid, what a simply marvelous celebration of desire. You must tell me where you found all these friends of yours," Rhodes says broadly with a grin.

He slips his arm around Sera, letting it rest on her hip.

[Exegesis Agarwal]

Stepping out from the Tavern, pen and lantern in hand, Exegesis scribbles down something and lets the lantern go. Head raised skyward, ze recites;

"Our struggle for love, our longing for home,
Desperation to prove, our hearts can be sewn,

While doubt-scythes within, could make dust our flesh,
Seek for the myth, for our souls to enmesh,

A dreaming of hope, a rescuing source,
Could widen our scope, give pith to our course,

An unshakable tie, attached at our core,
Bring peace from within, our hearts n'ere at war,

With a pure sets of eyes, fire-full and proficient,
Dispel all the lies, for our souls aren't deficient,

But it's not our own lack, which causes most dread,
Ti's the chain-shattering fact, that our spirits aren't dead."

As the lantern drifts off, it's only the aerial little hedgebeasts that could see the inscription, 'Let this be the home I can keep.'

3 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2019-04-16 09:55:42		Exegesis Agarwal rolls 6 to Poetic Expression (10 Again)		2, 8, 8, 2, 5, 8		3 successes

Exceptional due to Heavenly Articulation

[Titania]

The Fairest joins the rest of the group, glancing up to her Queen and dropping in a polite bow. She'll wait for the guests to partake in the ritual, before joining the ceremony herself, such is protocol.
What did she desire the most? She didn't really know, she found herself floating, skimming above the sea like an albatross cast away from its flock, without direction. Or like a kite in the wind. She thought, as the little delicate toy spread its wings and soared, Sonja's or Abe's was it?
Did the others feel the same, directionless? They seemed well adjusted, she gathered from her little corner of the room. Even the Queen was having a good time. Did she like the throne Freya had arranged for her? Tears and blood went into it.

Exegesis' performance was enough to keep her from drowning inside her stream of consciousness. The soul of a thespian in that one, a fantastic wordsmith, her Court was lucky in having not one but two with that talent. She thought as a shiver crawled up her spine. Their spirits weren't dead indeed.

[Fawkes]

Fawkes approaches the table once Exegesis Agarwal is done as to not distract from the poem. For a moment he looked off. Another moment would say he actually moved like a person rather than a living weapon.

A very small cut had formed along the corner of his mouth, almost like a tiny smirk as he offers a small bow to Ingrid . "Thank you for this evening," he said, blinking slowly.

He holds back, however, watching the lanterns and lost in thought as he tucks his hands in his pockets.