Well, the weather outside is frightful

[rosestolilies.livejournal.com]

Characters: Everyone!
Date: Midnight the 16th of December
Summary: The inhabitants of the Garden get their reward for making out beneath the mistletoe, in the form of a lights show in the sky.
Warnings: N/A

In the dead of night, the Garden is dead silent. Without the sound of the city or urban life, only the noises of nature pervade the air. Crickets. Rustling leaves. The occasional footsteps of an animal.

However, tonight, at midnight, the silence is broken by a loud pealing of bells, rousing the people of the garden from their sleep. The bells continue ringing for nearly half a minute before falling silent. For a moment, the peacefulness of night returns to the Gardens.

Then the enormous mistletoe plant begins glowing, with a brilliant white light bright enough to be seen from all corners of the Garden. It fizzes, shooting off heatless sparks, and then bursts, shooting up into the sky and breaking into pieces of glowing light, forming various shapes. Above the Orchard, a series of hearts form, burst like fireworks, and reform. Over the Necessities, nymphs made of sparkling light kiss and dance through the sky, winking down at the people below. Over the ruins, flowers of multicolored light pop into existence and disperse. And above the Viridian Pavilion, fiery red phoenixes swoop through the air, burn out dramatically, and are reborn in a new cascade of light.

The show will continue until morning. Fortunately, now that the mistletoe's light has dispersed, it's not so bright that it should keep people awake.

Comments

Tohno Mansion

[ritsu-kouyou.livejournal.com]

After being woken by the bells, Akiha's immediate reaction was to throw her robe and slippers on and go outside to yell at the source as if that would actually stop things. And then she fell silent, caught speechless at the fireworks display.

Arms wrapped about herself to fight off the cold, Akiha silently watched the display from the front porch, looking up at the night sky with a longing expression. She could probably use a warm cup of tea.

[reluctantstop.livejournal.com]

Kris, though she was wearing her robe, wasn't dressed for the weather at all. However, she didn't show it and seemed rather warm despite her thin clothes. The small benefits of magic. She took the time to join Akiha since the fireworks seemed to be the show stealer for the night.

"Someone is doing a good job!"

[ritsu-kouyou.livejournal.com]

Akiha glanced over at Kris, blinking her eyes quickly a moment, before looking back up. It was a few more seconds before she responded.

"It's very pretty."

[reluctantstop.livejournal.com]

"That much is obvious, isn't it?" She kept watching the fireworks, doing her best to memorize whatever pattern she could see was there.

"I should learn how to do this."

[ritsu-kouyou.livejournal.com]

"It's just chemistry," Akiha replied. "And the wrong combination of chemicals will cause the fireworks to explode. It requires a lot of precision."

[reluctantstop.livejournal.com]

"Or magic." It was always magic. "The wrong combination of powers would cause an explosion so you have to be precise."

[ritsu-kouyou.livejournal.com]

"How often do you cause magical explosions?" Akiha rubbed her arms and stomped her feet a little to ward off the cold.

[reluctantstop.livejournal.com]

"I don't normally do it...." A scary phrase coming from a powerful sorcerer.

[ritsu-kouyou.livejournal.com]

"..."

And Akiha lets Kris do magic in her basement. She wasn't so sure about that anymore.

"If you blow up the mansion..."

[reluctantstop.livejournal.com]

She pouted a little, thinking that she hadn't done anything to deserve that. "I'm always careful!"

[ritsu-kouyou.livejournal.com]

"Just a warning, especially since you just talked about wanting to learn to make fireworks."

Akiha looked back up at the display. "I wish they'd stop."

[reluctantstop.livejournal.com]

"How come?" Kris didn't have such a wish but she wondered if it was because Akiha couldn't sleep. She didn't seem like the adventurer type so sleeping with loud noises would be difficult.

[ritsu-kouyou.livejournal.com]

"Because it's after midnight. People should be in bed. I should be in bed." Kris had it right; Akiha couldn't sleep with the loud noise.

"And I tire of seeing them. They make me...nostalgic."

[hopelessdreamer]

She was leaning on a windowsill for a bit to watch, and spotted Akiha outside in the cold. Maybe it's not tea, but Gal's charge had always been fond of hot chocolate, despite the warm climate they grew up in. Here was a perfect opportunity. She headed down to the kitchen and heated up the milk and cocoa powder, bringing two mugs out with her. There was a blanket over her arm, too.

"Mind if I join you?"

[ritsu-kouyou.livejournal.com]

Akiha glanced over and nodded. "You're welcome to. Perhaps company will lessen my irritation."

[hopelessdreamer]

Gal offered a mug with a wry smile.

"I guess this is the 'reward', huh? I can't decide if it was worth it or not."

She decided to try to not recall her encounter with a certain conquering alien empress.

[ritsu-kouyou.livejournal.com]

Akiha had several encounters she had no desire to recall, but the assessment of the 'reward' did get a frown to form on Akiha's face. She took the mug and sipped it.

"Nothing was worth that humiliation. If I'm going to kiss someone, I prefer to have a choice in the matter."

[hopelessdreamer]

"I'll have to agree with you on that, actually." She sighed, and swallowed. Twenty-one and her first kiss was wasted. Did it count, then? Really, this place was like a bad dream sometimes.

"Are you going to be all right?"

[ritsu-kouyou.livejournal.com]

"Of course, I am. Why wouldn't I?" Akiha brought the hot mug and held it against her chest a little, hoping to soak up some more of the warmth. She hated being cold all the time.

[hopelessdreamer]

"Just making sure." Her smile is rueful now, and she offers the blanket. "It's a servant's duty to look after their master, after all."

That statement is more playful than anything--her loyalty to Akiha certainly isn't absolute, or anywhere close to what she feels for another young woman behind on her world. But that doesn't mean she dislikes the young woman--quite the opposite. She reminds Gal of Asch in some ways--stubborn, closed off, but somehow endearing anyway.

[ritsu-kouyou.livejournal.com]

"Much appreciated."

Akiha set the mug down so she could wrap the blanket about her shoulders, pulling it tight to help ward off the chill, and took the hot drink back up. She shivered once, but the combination of the two warmed her up quite a bit. Gal was quite the find for a servant; Akiha was grateful for Hisui finding her.

"How long do you think this will last?"

[hopelessdreamer]

"Hopefully not all night, though if you draw the curtains it should be easy enough to ignore. Other than that...I couldn't say."

She sipped from her own mug, letting out a little sigh.

"It could be worse."

[ritsu-kouyou.livejournal.com]

"I'm a light sleeper," Akiha replied immediately. No, she wasn't going to be able to sleep until the fireworks were done. Between the lights and the sounds, she wouldn't be able sleep.

"And don't say that. Worse may decide to show up."

[hopelessdreamer]

"Sorry about that." She's aware it's hardly her fault, but still feels obligated to apologize. She lets out a sheepish laugh.

"You're probably right--I'll be more careful from now on."

[ritsu-kouyou.livejournal.com]

Akiha gave a brief nod, accepting the apology and words. Then she glanced over.

"Do you have Christmas where you're from?"