The Fires of Beltane 2023

[Mallory]

The Fires of Beltane



There are several paths that lead through a thick stretch of trees to a glade open to the clear night sky. Upbeat music of harp, flute, and lute call people to dance, partake, and enjoy.

At one end of the clearing, a dais has been erected for the Monarch of May and their Green Consort. Atop it is a throne formed of tree branches and cushioned with moss.

Directly before the dais is the stack for the main fire of the night: a huge pile of the nine sacred woods. It remains unlit for now, as are the smaller stacks of wood scattered throughout the area. Musicians are seated on mossy rocks between the smaller fires, ready to keep the festival-goers entertained.

Nearby is the altar, with the sticks bearing the names of the would-be Monarchs beside it. Soon they will be fed into the brazier, and the everlasting flame within will ignite and produce the name of the Monarch of May.

Across the main fire from the dais, a living arbor of flowers forms a great dining hall. Within are tables heaped with food and spirits, gifts from beyond the Veil. Off to the side, two young birch saplings form an archway with fae lights in their branches and a flower petal floor, the perfect setting for handfasting ceremonies.

Witches and druids gathered at the forest's edge to offer quilts to party-goers, a way to ward off the chill and settle cozily by a fire, or to lay out in quiet meadows deeper in the woods, lit only by drifting will-o-wisps.

||OOC||

The festivities start at 8:30pm EST in #the-deep-wilds with the naming of the Monarch of May (and the subsequent lighting of the fires) occurring around 9:00pm EST. Please remember:

- The Monarch of May must be present in the room on April 29th in order to be on the final list before the Monarch is chosen.
- A name will be chosen from the list submitted via dice roll in the Green Room and announced live before the character is crowned.

Feel free to post your fabulous fashions below ahead of time and then in the Green Room once the party is going.

[JewellRavenlock]

Jewell had decided on a dress early in the week (with the help/heckling of her Real RhyDin family).

She glamoured her hair black for the evening and left it loose with red yarrow tucked into her waves here and there.

[Josette Wheeler]

Long before the fires were lit and the festivities began, Josie found herself once again drawn to the sanctuary of the trees to speak what was in her heart. “I think I’m…still in a chrysalis of sorts.” Her breath caught as she tried to find the words, an unexpected swell of emotion rising in the slender column of her long throat as the wind picked up as if to tell her it was listening and fluttered her headscarf behind her like wings. “I am listening.” She took a moment, head tipped before she spoke again to answer the question being asked of her.

“I have found my own way to fly—so I wish to honor all of the Monarchs. So with the permission of the druids, I shall plant Milkweed for each name.” A favored source of nourishment for Monarch butterflies, Josie took care planting each one. “May it nourish each of them with their chosen joy and strength for wherever they choose to fly.” Josie took extra special care to plant a vibrant violet Milkweed for Saila with a soft smile. “She is so many spectrums. Some of which are invisible to the eye, but this will always be her color for me.”

Just as soon as she was there, she was gone like a tiny star winking out of the night sky. They would each be their own brilliant bloom, no matter who was crowned at Beltane.

[Jaycy Ashleana]

“Encouraged” by a certain blue-haired teammate, Jaycy and Hope joined Jewell and their other friends and family in celebrating the ancient holiday and its rituals. They mingled, danced, ate, and eventually settled by one of the many fires to round out the night.

Jaycy's dress, hair and makeup, and black-striped silver dragon wings.




Hope's outfit!

[Anya de la Rose]

Anya arrived in a gown, shoes, and simple earrings that fit with spring flowers and starlit skies. She mingled with friends and helped where possible.

As the evening drew on, she spent more time warm by the fires. By the end of the night, she was barefoot and wrapped in one of the witch's quilts.

Anya arrived with Lucky who made sure neither went without wine for the evening. He spent time with friends both old and new, and encouraged attendees to feed the flames that kept the night alive.

[Delahada]

Though he kept to the fringes and lurked amongst the shadows of the trees for the most part, Salvador was present and could often be glimpsed with his two constant companions, Rekah Illyriana and Gatito Lindo. Friends and family could possibly get a fist bump or hello out of him.

[Static Rest]

One moment, Olaf was planning a heist doing ordinary business as an upstanding businesstrunk with his new druidic colleagues in their Kaiju Lake timeshare pyramid scheme sober and grounded real estate investments--

--the next thing he knew, he was the centerpiece of a maypole, groaning feebly as ribbons wound round and round and round him until he was an unrecognizable bundle of brightly colored paper.



When he broke free, there would be such a reckoning, as he showed his rage to the world by coating anyone unlucky enough to get in his way with a shower of blue paint -- though he made sure to save some for his colleagues, once he caught up with them.

Call it a Beltane blessing.

((I don't know how much I'll be playing Olaf live, so if you want to say your character gets painted blue, either by act of ambush or by request? Feel free!))

[Partly Cloudy]

Gatito arrived in the company of his loves, Salvador Delahada and Rekah Illyriana. Though he could occasionally be found sliding through the crowd or dancing with someone who asked, he remained in his companions' orbit for much of the evening, a glimpse of golden skin and fabric in the shadows.

Early in the evening, ahead of the Monarch’s reveal, a pale, spectral tiger with starlight in its fur was seen approaching the altar with a pair of wooden sticks held in its jaws. One was a length of ash and bore the name Rekah Illyriana carved into it. The other was a length of birch and it bore the name Gatito Lindo scratched into it, as if with a claw. The tiger left them both upon the altar and padded away into the shadows of the forest.

[Death Knell]

Ettyn was there when the festivities started, emerging from the stout trunk of a white ash tree as if it were a door. Her champagne dress, while fine, allowed her freedom of movement for dancing and leaping the fires, and she had come barefoot, moving noiselessly over the soft grass wherever she went. Her hair was woven around a crystalline knife, while the others were tucked away carefully, though she doubted she would have need of them.

[Mallory]

Mallory was a little late, but she arrived in time for the naming! She greeted friends and joined dance lines with strangers, and leapt the fire with her wife Eri at least once before they left -- carrying on the tradition of their first date here six years ago.

[Novella Libertine]

Novella, more known for the vibrant colors of her bright pink hat and matching accoutrements, dressed for Beltane in much darker hues, better suited for rituals of soil and soot than festivals and flowers. The long, gauzy black dress with ethereal sleeves evocative of a time when such rites were kept in secret, was more practical than first appeared, as she could be seen drawing the hem upward, looping it over the belt at her waist. Barefooted, she wore no gloves, just gems of amethyst so dark as to be nearly black and silver chandelier earrings that reflected the flickering light when she danced, ready to jump the fire.

[Vesper Lybell]

Having been (bribed) encouraged to nominate Stitch for May Monarch, Vesper skirts the fringes of the event, reveling in the richness of all the nature and eating all the snacks.

[Reign]

In a bold bit of daring (and with a promise from the clothier that the material would not slip out of place, Reign donned a gold-green wrap (did it even qualify as a wrap?) to compliment the shimmery green of the Senior Baron of Seaside. She was overly indulgent when it came to feywine and spent plenty of time hopping fires throughout the night.

[Rohin MacKurn]

The Collector puts in an appearance at Beltane to check on whether or not Rhy'Din's finest courier, (the Club of Jacks can step up or die mad about it), Torg, is crowned. For their effort, they manage to stray too close to Olaf during his rampage of vengeance and end up baptized in blue as if they've painted themselves in woad to ready for war-- maybe they are-- all that living ink lurking under an improvised camouflage.

The suit though, is ruined.

[BardGallant]

The Bard of Beltane (2020), Drisnor Bardfellow, is back! Governor Sheridan "Dris" Driscol attended in the company of his loving life partner, and personal head of security, Rhys Germain. Having been nominated as a potential Monarch of May, he came prepared and showed up early with a branch from a Hawthorn tree, around which he had wound a red ribbon that bore his name. Before the festivities had begun, he placed this stick on the stack of other hopeful would-be Monarchs' offerings.

Dris had chosen to dress comfortably in some Bohemian chic. Form-fitting, skinny, gray and black pinstriped pants were paired with a drooping and baggy white shirt, over which he wore a patterned red silk robe and a collection of scarves. His shoes were pointed, polished black, and perhaps even enchanted to keep them from getting muddy. On top of it all he wore the elegant hat he had won from the poetry competition three years earlier.

Find the Governor at the ceremony, mingling with all the other guests, a smile on his face and a drink in his hand. He'll be available for autographs and photo opportunities, and maybe a dance or two as well. Additionally, should Cupid's arrow strike fierce, the Governor will be offering his services as a celebrity minister to legally bind any hopeful couples in marriage.