happy boom day y'all 🎆

[sharktober]

The Fireworks Meme

It's time for some motherfucking explosions, so let's keep this short and sweet:

1. Comment with your character, canon, and whether you're open to gen, shipping, or both.
2. Tag other people. Do your own thing or pick a prompt below to get things started.
3. Pyromania!

Prompts:

1. Holiday Festivities - Fourth of July? Diwali? Guy Fawkes Night? There are plenty of big annual events involving fireworks. Which one are you at?


2. End of the Night - You've just finished a long day at an amusement park, or maybe it's the last baseball game of the week. Whatever public venue you're at is about to wind down for the night, and it's going out with a bang.


3. Your Own Personal Arsenal - Who needs holidays? You've got Roman candles and bottle rockets to spare and an open space to set them off in. Of course, if they're illegal in your area you might want to watch out for cops...


4. You're In Trouble Now - Something just blew up that wasn't supposed to or wasn't expected. The fireball's pretty sweet, but maybe you should see about putting it out now. Or running, running works too.


5. Attack the Block - All that stands between you and the big nasties is the supply for your own personal pyrotechnic display. Good thing somebody's got a lighter!

Comments

[heirofembers]

[Phoenix leans against a fence, arms crossed on a beam to rest his weight, and watches the lights of the festival in the distance. There's a light, blue shawl cloaked around him, golden festival embroidery only just catching the last remains of the setting sun. According to the locals there's supposed to be some kind of fire show tonight?

He's skeptical. It didn't take someone particular observant to note that there are only a handful of the Fire clan here, himself included, and none of them looked like summoners.

But curiosity has always been his downfall, especially when someone else is there to encourage it. So here he is, out on the edges of someone's farm, waiting for nightfall.]

What are we going to see this far away?

[sunwings]

[ Kio can see how pained Phoenix is. Has been, since he appeared in this world. It's a tension and a worry like a pall over him, except there is nothing that Kio can do about it, not the way he usually does.

That doesn't mean that he won't try. ]

There are things that you should watch closely to observe well. Others? You need to step back and look with a bit of distance.

It will be worth it, I promise.

[ Beat. ]

And the noise will be more bearable, out here.

[heirofembers]

Noise?

[His confusion translates into a near pout and he scuffs the toe of his boot into the dirt as he looks over at the other man.

Kio had lit up like the sun when he learned of this show and even with the short amount of time they'd known each other Phoenix already couldn't help but turn to follow him across the sky. It's...surprisingly nice having someone who's like him. Who isn't the same as everyone else, who doesn't think that he's some kind of-

Phoenix abruptly sucks air through his teeth, making an obnoxious, bored squeak. He wishes he had something to do with his hands.]

[sunwings]

... you all right?

And, yes. Fireworks always come with a noise. So if you watch them from very close, it's both deafening and you can only see a little bit.

[ Kio's smile remains warm and easy. It's all right to be impatient, and whatever made Phoenix startle... Unless the young one tells him what the problem is, or he gets to know him even better, he can't really help. ]

[heirofembers]

You still haven't told me what a firework even is.

[He watches the lanterns in the village dim, covers closing to shield the light until it's more shapes and sound in the moonlight. The sun's down down and Phoenix expectantly watches the sky.]

[sunwings]

Well...

Fireworks ... they're difficult to describe exactly, because they're always different and explaining the mechanisms isn't really going to help but...

Flowers of fire in the sky. We can go with that.

[heirofembers]

[He glances at Kio, his interest rising to war with his confusion.]

How can you make flowers out of fire in the sky?

[He could shape it in his hands, but putting it in the sky? No one could do that.

But oh... it sounds beautiful and he'd like to see it.

He opens his mouth to say as much but there's a pop across the field and an immediate hush from the village. Phoenix tracks the streak of light whistling into the sky and when it explodes into colour he forgets how to breathe. The colours sparkle for a moment before fading and he can't help the disappointment that sets in that it was so short.

And then there's another, and another again and Phoenix watches open-mouthed, eyes wide and unblinking lest his miss a single bloom.]

[sunwings]

[ Ahh... there they go.

Kio's face brightens, and he is up in the air without thinking twice. Then he lowers himself down, though not quite to the ground (and not between the young one and the fireworks). And holds a hand out.

Join him in the air, Phoenix. It's even better. ]

[heirofembers]

[It takes him a moment to drag his eyes away from the display to see Kio's offered hand, and a moment longer than that to understand what he's asking.

He'd be grateful for the darkness that hides how white his face gets if his heart hadn't also just sunk to his toes.]

Ooooh no. No no no.

[He points at Kio.]

No way.

[sunwings]

[ Kio blinks. Then his feet find the ground again, and he comes to stand beside Phoenix, close enough for his wing to wrap gently around him. ]

All right. [ Softly. ] Just enjoy the fireworks right now.

[ Perhaps he should press. There is more to show, but...

Now is not the time. ]

[heirofembers]

[Immediate fear passed, Phoenix's face burns. He crosses his arms, uncomfortable and ashamed of his reaction. The idea of leaving the ground makes him cold, but he still feels like he soured the moment. It's hard to just go back to watching the fireworks as if he didn't just throw water over Kio's excitement.]

[sunwings]

[ Oh... oh, no. Phoenix gets his shoulder squeezed, too, for that forlorn look, and a soft, sweet murmur in his ear. ]

Just watch the fireworks, Phoenix. This is what we're here for and they're worth it. It' is all right.

[heirofembers]

You don't have to stay down here with me. [He offers instead, assuming Kio would rather watch from up in the air. Admittedly it would probably be an incredible sight to see--to get right up in it and try to catch the falling stars.]

Go have fun.

[sunwings]

I am having fun.

Right here by your side.

[ And Kio is not lying. It's a little more spectacular in the air, but? This is better. ]

Come on, pay attention. They get better as they come closer to an end.

[heirofembers]

[It takes a moment, doubt in his chest. He can't tell if Kio's telling the truth or just saying it for his sake. He could make arguments for both. But without anything more to feed the topic Phoenix can't help but be drawn back to the explosions above them.

Relaxing by degrees, he finds himself leaning softly back against Kio's wing; he can feel the feathers even through the fabric of his shawl, and the pressure against his own currently tiny feathers makes him shiver.]

[sunwings]

[ Kio truly doesn't lie. He's never felt the need to. He can sometimes mislead - what he used to do back home could cause panic in so many who did not need it - but outright lie? Noot really.

Anyway. He settles, letting Phoenix lean comfortably where he does, and watches the fireworks more quietly.

It's only after the fireworks are over that he speaks again. ]

Where I come from, we're not allowed where there are fireworks until we are... grown. There are many reasons for it, I know, but every time I see fireworks I know that, had I been allowed while I was little, I would have tried to fly among the blossoms.

It would have been really bad. We're not very fire-resistant. But I don't know if anyone who knew enough could have stopped me.

[ He would have stopped for Fraw. And Fraw would not have tried to stop him. ]

They are so, so beautiful, every time.

[heirofembers]

[Phoenix quirks a grin, familiar with the vulnerabilities other people have for fire, and soothed by the display and the story.]

The kids in my village are much alike. They are taught very sternly not to approach an elemental for any reason. Fire is hungry and wild, and it takes a lot to earn its respect.

[sunwings]

Ahhh yeah. But... Fire is so pretty. It's difficult to stay away until you learn that going closer hurts.

And ... sometimes, not even that's much of a stop.

[ Things that Kio doesn't really experience: fear. Things that he is very good at soothing in others: fear. Not in the least because he genuinely doesn't think or feel less of anyone for feeling it. ]

Is it... too much, to ask what you did to earn that respect?

[heirofembers]

[It took a long time to understand that fire hurts everyone else. When he was young he'd thought he was just like everyone else.]

I was born.