hadriel_logs | Event log: How Delightful

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Event log: How Delightful

Who: Anyone and everyone!
What: Delight's resurrection.
Where: Throughout the city, starting in the bar.
When: March 23rd-April 3rd
Warnings: Partying too hard, poor life choices, underage drinking, the worst hangovers of all time.

On the morning of March 23rd, bright and early, Delight is resurrected. Her temple is restored, and her bar appears in the city. What does that mean? Well, obviously it's time to celebrate. We hope everyone brought their party shoes! From March 23rd to March 27th, the party will be mostly contained in and around Delight's bar, with an invitation from the goddess herself. But it won't be long before she decides that's just not good enough - gotta bring the party to the people! From March 28th to April 3rd, the natural light is dimmed and replaced with flashing colored lights, fireworks, and even a few disco balls. Loud music blares through the city, making it hard to sleep, and a wide variety of trouble is available to be gotten into.

Wanna drink away the pain of being trapped in a hellcave? There's unlimited amounts of alcohol of all kinds, and Delight will be happy to supply anything that might be missing. More interested in karaoke-ing your heart out? Hit up one of the jukeboxes. Enjoy gleeful displays of your own mortality? Here's a skateboard and a ramp, have fun. There's just about anything you could desire, as long as what you desire is to party hard and make bad decisions. And hey, if you find yourself getting tired, grab one (or five) of Delight's special energy shots. They'll eliminate your need for sleep, food, water, cure an oncoming hangover and immediately relax any sore muscles you've got for 24 hours per shot! There's no down side! (Except for all the effects coming back to hit you at once when the shot wears off, but whatever.)

After about a week and a half of tequila shots, keg stands, roman candle battles, tagging the city with free spraypaint, inappropriate party games, and balloon hats made to look like rocket ships (wait... that's not a rocket ship), Delight realizes everyone's partied out and starts to wind things down. On April 3rd, she'll clean up the city, removing everything except for a few remaining fireworks and disco balls, stored in her temple. Her bar will still be around, if you can stand to even look at liquor after all the poor choices you made. Otherwise, lay in bed and try to recover from your hangover while the city goes back to normal.

► This log covers March 23rd-April 3rd.
► Feel free to make your own logs, as well
► Please tag headers of threads with content warnings where they apply
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!
► Did you party too hard? Please report any character deaths right here!

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I lit a fuse.

[He protests, because he's being smart about this, in a roundabout, not-actually-that-smart kind of way. Ronan looks almost haughty for a moment at the criticism, before he peels one of the smaller fireworks off of his tape creation and untwines the fuse from the other fuses before holding it up for Gansey.]

Fine, you try. You want a match too?

{Ronan has those too, near him. See Gansey, he is fully prepared.]

[ Oh, you lit a fuse, as if that makes everything okay. For a moment, Gansey looks at Ronan like he expects that comment to be answered, and then he realises that he had not actually said it.

Then he registers that a firework is being held out to him.

He pauses, his eyes narrowing. He should definitely, absolutely say no to this. He's supposed to be a good influence, he tells himself.

But the truth is, Gansey's friends influence him far more than they know. There's a reason he'd been more prone to recklessness before he met Adam.

He takes the firework. ]

Yes, well I'm hardly carrying a lighter on me. Where's the matches?

[ He goes to sit by Ronan, looking for them. But for the record, he still thinks this is a bad idea, okay?

Okay. ]

Where am I even setting this off?

[ Pause. ]

Where are you setting that off?

[Gansey's fingers slide over the firework and a sharp part of Ronan's mouth curls up in a smirk, incendiary and pleased. The matches are nearby, and he reaches out to scrape for a few of them, offering them up for Gansey.]

Just over there. [He points, unhelpfully, to a few scorch marks in the middle of the street. He's obviously been setting them off for awhile here before Gansey's intervention.]

You wanna go first, or do you need me to show you how?

[That is said with a bit more condescension, though from Ronan it's really just friendly ribbing. He's not sure if Gansey has ever lit a firework in his life, now that he thinks about it. Maybe he will need help.]

[ Gansey has never lit a firework in his life. A series of barely relevant and ultimately unhelpful memories flash through his mind; learning how to light flares while caving, those luminous bars that he would crack underground that work better than torches, when it’s appropriate to color code your signal-

Not helpful. This just involves lighting a fuse, though. How hard can it really be? He’ll also be taking that condescension as a challenge, anyway, and he snatches the matches. ]

No, I don’t need you to show me how, thank you. Give me those.

[ He sets the rocket up, pointing it in the vague direction of that scorch mark, and then checks that the way is clear. He lights it a second later and then skitters back, just in case it doesn’t launch -

But it does, in a flurry of sparks that end in a low-level explosion. It makes his ears ring, but ultimately doesn’t destroy any property. He sends a narrow, but triumphant look in Ronan’s direction. ]

There, I told you I’d be fine. [ He may have lost sight of why he’s doing this. Also, he’s not exactly speaking with an indoor voice. ] That was louder than I thought!

[Ronan arches a sharp eyebrow and watches as Gansey sets to work, interested and viciously pleased that Gansey would be willing to do something like this with him in the first place. It reminds him- of molotovs, a little- but also of being a few years younger and stupid and getting into trouble at the Barns. He thinks about jumping off of hay bales together, tramping through the open fields together, spooking the cows and spearing clumps of grass with pitchforks.

Ronan has always brought out a bit of a reckless streak in Gansey, and he goes savage with pride and self assurance when he's reminded of just what Gansey could be capable of, with a little encouragement. That Gansey chastises this side of him sometimes, but when it comes down to it, when Gansey sinks down to his level, the two of them are closer than anything, two sides of the same coin.

But there's no more time to think about it because the rocket takes off and explodes with a vibrating boom, and Ronan whoops a laugh, standing up as Gansey grins at him.]

Knew you had it in you. Shit, they really are loud when they're up close.

[He looks up to watch the plume of smoke slowly dissipate and grins, before hefting up his rocket abomination.]

This one, next. I think it's ready.

[ There’s something frantic about the energy around them. Gansey doesn’t know if it’s the tang of charcoal in the air, the aftertaste of mint on his tongue, or Ronan’s laughter echoing in his ringing ears. Perhaps it’s all of those things, combining in a way that makes him wonder why he was reluctant.

The monster firework sits between them. There’s a moment where Gansey wavers, where he tries to reclaim the good sense he’d come here with. It’s burning in the wake of one explosion, though, and Ronan’s obvious delight is making it hard to remember why he’d been opposed.

There was only ever one way this could go. Ronan’s laughter is the catalyst. Few things could make Gansey remove that look from his friend’s face. ]

Are you sure? You don’t want to add anything else for effect?

[ He pauses, like he’s still wavering. He’s not, not really. That ship has sailed. ]

Do it, then. Cover your ears this time!

Nah. It'd just weigh it down.

[It's a good idea though, and he definitely gives it a little thought before deciding against it. Gansey is wild, and Ronan knows that he won't refuse him anything- not here, not now. So he moves to the center of the street and carefully sets the rocket upright, making sure that everything is still properly attached that the fuses are still appropriately twined in the correct places.

He looks back to Gansey with a vicious smirk as he strikes the match and lights it.

The act feels- sacred, somehow, like he's giving life to the stupid rocket when he holds the splintered match against the fuse. Like grabbing hold of something and pulling, like stumbling out of a dream in a senseless, drunken rush. His heart races. The sparks flare in his eyes, and Ronan reluctantly stands. He should be moving faster than this. He should be taking cover.

He looks back toward Gansey and remembers- well.]

Further away- c'mon!

[As if life had been breathed back into him, Ronan moves now that the fuse is halfway through, his shoes pounding on the dirt of the road, grabbing at Gansey's arm and spinning him back, to the edge of the street, to the divot between two buildings, where they can watch and yet still pull back if things go sideways and shrapnel starts flying.

He hopes it doesn't, but those rockets are strapped together with tape. There's no way to know how it'll hold.]

[ The way Ronan looks when he sets that thing alight is something else. It’s like the fire isn’t just on the fuse, it’s in Ronan himself. Like he’s only really alive when he’s doing things like this, because this is a wilder side of himself that’s often held back.

Held back by Gansey, no less. They’d made a strange kind of balance in those early days, with Gansey trying to contain Ronan’s chaos, and Ronan showing Gansey how to relax his control. All of Gansey’s friends are like that in some way, each of them seeming to draw out a part of his personality that’s otherwise concealed away.

This, though, is Ronan at his finest. Smiling, excited, lit up by the violence of all this. Gansey, caught in his general aura, feels something of it too. That rocket’s going to go up, up - how high? How high is the cave’s roof, anyway? They’ve not seen stars since they got here, but perhaps they’re about to. Absurdly, that delights Gansey. He’s caught suddenly by Ronan’s arm, and he follows, laughing himself, and trying to keep his eyes on the rocket at the same time. ]

What if it reaches the roof?

[ Christ, what if it does? They’ll not want to be beneath it. He sees it take off, sees it trembling in its taped restraints before it’s climbing high. Obeying his own advice, he puts his hands over his ears and watches, watches. He’s not keen to duck behind anything, but maybe they don’t need to. Maybe it will reach high enough - ]

Any second now!

[It survives the takeoff, which was what Ronan was really concerned about. The rocket skitters higher into the caves and he glances over as Gansey puts his hands over his ears before moving to do the same, crouching a little as he looks up to it.

He's not afraid of it, even when it explodes. It feels a little like his heart is bursting as well, showering his insides in sparks and spirals of color. Ronan watches as the smaller rockets careen off, sparking through the city, as the larger ones explode in a chain reaction, creating a light in the sky so bright that it's almost painful to look at- too many, too much, all washed out into bright, that illuminates the darkened club-like cave into something as bright as day for a few precious seconds.

Ronan doesn't look away, even though it hurts his eyes. Part of him feels like he has to watch his creation as it explodes and destroys itself against the wall of the cave in a beautiful display that leaves him blinded for a moment or two.

He tries to blink it out of his eyes as the light dims and the explosions fizzle out, the wrappings and charred leftovers falling to the ground. There's a giant scorch mark where the thing had managed to hit the ceiling, and bits of shrapnel raining down around them.

It worked. He reaches out a hand for Gansey, still somewhat blind, clipping his fingers along Gansey's strong jaw before finding his shoulder and clasping on tight.]

Holy shit.

[ It's the contents of a firework display in one single rocket. It's fires burning and stars exploding against the ceiling - Christ, it really did hit the ceiling - it's a haze of brightness and color that spirals off in all directions. It's his ears ringing despite how he'd covered them, it's pieces of plastic and shavings of rock raining down around them.

And then it's Ronan's hands on him, tugging at his hand and touching his jaw and holding his shoulder, and that makes Gansey let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding.

He's so still and quiet for a moment that he almost seems dazed. Then, all of a sudden, he's laughing. He turns, grabbing hold of Ronan in turn and laughing every inch of tension out of his body. Delight's shots had given him energy to burn, and that rocket has set it on fire. ]

Did you see that?! It hit the top, Jesus Christ, did you see?!

[ Of course Ronan had seen; he hadn't looked away, neither of them had. Gansey hooks his arm around him, suddenly and rough. ]

You beautiful bastard. That was brilliant.

[ He can't believe he came over to stop it. ]

[If there is anything better than the rocket, it's this: Gansey's exuberance, his unbridled joy, the way he looks at Ronan like he's done something exceedingly, exceptionally well, like Ronan is magic and Gansey is delighted by him. Ronan's heart surges at the feeling, at Gansey's incredible grin and his impossible laugh, and the feeling of being dragged closer by a playful arm.

Brothers.]

Fuck you, of course I saw.

[But Ronan is laughing too, and he drags his hand over Gansey's shoulder in a rough moment of affection. He's so alive- they're so alive together, and he just lets himself feel it for a scattered second, to pin this moment to a corkboard and force it to stay bright in his memory.

He pulls away soon enough and moves back out into the street, still laughing about it, his vision and hearing still trying to adjust back to normal. There are remnants of the rockets charred in the dirt now, and he kicks at one happily, watching as it skitters down the road for a few yards.]

Still think this was a bad idea?

[ Gansey loves seeing Ronan this way. He loves seeing him happy, loves seeing him laugh. Sudden affection overwhelms him. This is the Ronan who had dreamed up the Pig, the Ronan who had found him on the highway and melted away his anger with laughter.

This is Ronan not as he was before Niall, but as he could be now, finding a happiness that doesn't ignore grief but transcends it.

This is Gansey's Ronan. He has spent so long searching for the way back to that long-haired, brightly smiling boy he'd met during his first summer, and this Ronan is not that. But Gansey will take this. He likes this. Happiness in any possible form. That's what he wants for Ronan. ]

Absolutely. Terrible idea. Dangerous, and foolish. You probably frightened half the town. Not to mention the monsters in the caves. They won't know what hit them.

[ He follows Ronan out into the street. There's dust and ash raining down around them, the remnants of that rocket and its detritus. Gansey picks up a pebble that had been part of the ceiling a moment before.

He still hasn't stopped grinning. ]

What have you done to me? You're such a bad influence.

[ He says it with so much fondness, it can't possibly sound like a criticism. ]

[Ronan can only watch in amusement as Gansey attempts to chide him, and he doesn't even bother trying to look remorseful at all. Gansey seems lighter now, as if a weight had been lifted from him, and while Ronan is sure that it's only temporary, he's determined to take Gansey's happiness where he can get it.

They aren't at odds with one another now, and though his ears are still ringing and his vision is still slowly returning to normal, he thinks that this is one of the best moments he's had since waking up in a train, all those years ago.]

I'm a great influence. Think of how boring your life would be without me.

[Ronan leans over to pick up one of the larger bits of debris, before throwing it at a nearby wall.

It's true, that Gansey's life might be a bit less exciting, on the edge, a little more normalized without Ronan, but Ronan refuses to even think about the possibility of a life without Gansey. Part of him isn't even sure if that's a possibility that exists for him.

But it doesn't matter, not now. Gansey is with him and laughing and nothing is wrong in the whole world.]

I've got to go find more fireworks now. Want to come with me?

[ This is the two of them at their best. For no good reason, Gansey finds his mind drawn back two summers earlier, when Niall Lynch had still been alive and Ronan's hair had still been long, and it had been the two of them.

Ronan had been Gansey's first peer-age friend in...

Well, ever, most probably. He'd never overly enjoyed being around other children, even when he was one, and then for the last seven years his quest had been single-minded. Malory had been a friend, but Malory had also been a very old man.

And Ronan had been Ronan, and no part of him, actually, had been anything other than a very good influence. Gansey knows it. He feels like he's been trying for a long time to get that Ronan back again, the happier Ronan that he thinks of as his Ronan.

But his Ronan is here, in front of him. Throwing stones and talking about fireworks.

Gansey goes over to him, lightly knocking his shoulder. ]

Ah, well. In for a penny, and all that. Yes, I'm in. Let's see what they have left.

[ As if they're likely to run out any time soon... ]

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Event log: How Delightful

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