Bonfire Night

    ..."So, my traveling friend, tell me what kind of holidays they celebrate where you're from!" Ahn's eyes shimmer in the lights and her scales reflect tiny rainbows onto the rocks around you. She seems like she might be a little too interested in what you have to say…

~~~

    Tomoe smiled, appreciating Ahn's enthusiasm. She paused for a moment, pretending to think about it. "Well... I was supposed to be picking things up for Muriel..." Tomoe mumbled, just loud enough for Ahn to hear, "but I guess a few minutes of chatter wouldn’t hurt, would it?" Tomoe beamed, setting down the bag she’s brought with her and put her paws on the table in front of her. Ahn smiled back, "Surely not! Just a few minutes." Tomoe wasn't quite sure where to begin, so she simply started talking. 

    "Okay, well, our tiny town of beblu has a small event, or I guess you could call it a holiday because we all take a break from our jobs around the community..." she trailed off, though quickly shook her head to get herself back into focus. "Anyways, our little human friend decided to call it "noite da fogueira"." Tomoe stumbled over the foreign words, making Ahn even more interested. 

    "Ohhh does your human speak another language other than English? That's very interesting!" Tomoe smiled and nodded, going offtopic. "Yeah, it's super weird! I thought all humans spoke English and then she started talking in another language and she told me her father taught her to speak it and-" Tomoe cut herself off, slapping a paw over her mouth. "Oh jeez, I'm so sorry, I've gone completely off-topic,"

   Ahn lightly laughed, the lighthearted sound echoing for a moment. “That’s quite alright! It’s interesting to me, don’t you worry about it,” Ahn regained her posture, leaning in slightly. “What does noite da fogueira mean, if you know?” Tomoe’s eyes lit up, slightly remembering what Maya had told her. “Oh! It means “bonfire night”, respectively. Well, the whole thing is basically a bonfire night, so it fits.” Tomoe babbled, chuckling. Ahn did too, though she motioned for Tomoe to continue. “So a while ago, our little human friend, Maya, came to us with an idea...”

    …“Hey! Tomoe! Ethan!” A small voice called out to the two beblu, who stopped to turn around. Tomoe smiled softly, “Oh, hello Maya! Did you need something?” The human girl stopped to catch her breath, making it seem as though she’d been trying to find the two for a while. “Uh, yeah, I wanted to ask you about a sort of… holiday I had in mind?” Maya asked with a slightly questioning tone, looking up at the two.
    “A… holiday?” Ethan repeated, confused. However, Tomoe almost jumped up with excitement and brought her head down to Maya’s height. “Oooo a holiday? What kind of holiday? Like Christmas?” Maya giggled at Tomoe’s excitement, shaking her head. “No, not really. It’s more of a time for everyone to relax, you know? After all of this hard work, I thought it would be a nice break…” Maya trailed off, getting slightly nervous that it was too early for everyone to stop working and have a night off.
    Tomoe looked up at Ethan with begging eyes, even going as far as to pout. Ethan scoffed and brought his gaze away, thinking. “Well, I suppose we’re almost done. Just a few more touch-ups here and there…” The sound of Tomoe whining cut him off. Ethan sighed, “Yeah, I guess we deserve a break. What did you have in mind, Maya?” Both Tomoe and Maya grinned, meeting each other’s eyes…

    “So basically, Maya said that her family used to have a night every few weeks during the summer and early fall where they set up a bonfire, sat around said fire and told stories and jokes while eating deliciously smoked food,” Tomoe explained, her mouth already watering just from the mention of Maya’s homemade kebabs, as she called them. 

    “So it was more of a get-together than a holiday?” Ahn questioned, sparking the movement of a vigorous shake of Tomoe’s head, “Oh, no! It wasn’t just a get-together! It truly felt like a holiday, with the tasty food and just… the energy of everything.” Tomoe exclaimed, trying to paint a picture for Ahn…

    ...Larkspur aided in helping Maya stack up decent sized logs in a shallow pit, placing them neatly on top of each other with a flammable center of sticks and dry grass. It didn’t get much higher than Larkspur’s shoulders, but Maya reassured him the fire would be much bigger. “Are you sure this is enough?” Larkspur asked hesitantly, staring at the stack of wood that was short enough to see right over. At least, short enough for Larkspur to see right over. Maya nodded quickly. “I’m a hundred percent sure! If we make it any taller, the fire would be too big.” She explained, still not able to convince Larkspur. He let it be anyways, helping her with a few more things.
    Most of the beblu in their small village had already begun to gather around. Muriel sat with Whisper, chatting about personal things. Cain had managed to round up Blueberry and Dallas, struggling to keep them from running around and wrecking everything. Flynn played peekaboo with Peeper, just within the sight of Muriel, who kept glancing over at the two with a hint of concern. Peeper was a new addition to the “family”, and no one seemed to question where the pup came from or why she bore a striking resemblance to Muriel (it seemed that Dallas couldn’t make the connection between that cursed egg he gave to Muriel a while ago and Peeper). Though they loved her nonetheless.
    Tomoe approached the gathering, a bag of fish and vegetables slung over her neck. She trotted over to Maya, who was setting up a rack with some spear-like sticks very close to the stack of wood. “Hey, Maya! I brought the stuff you needed!” She exclaimed, excitement bubbling through her. Maya looked up from her “work” and smiled, taking the, quite heavy, bag from Tomoe.
    “What do you need all those fish and plants for?” Tomoe questioned while Maya stuck some fish on the pikes. “Toooo cook them?” Maya said, confused. Tomoe almost reeled back in disgust. “You… you eat fish?!” She squeaked, almost shielding herself with her wings. Dallas suddenly approached the twp, piping in while trying to snatch a fish from the bag. “It’s really not that bad Tomoe, I don’t know what the deal is with you beblu not eating animals--Hey!” He yelped as Maya poked his flipper away with one of the sticks, babbling about how he had to wait until she cooked them for everyone. Dallas huffed and wobbled back towards Blueberry and Cain, where both were looking for him, one with a competitive gleam in her eyes and the other in a slight panic. Maya sighed but quickly turned back towards Tomoe.
    “Dallas is right, it’s really not that bad once you try it!” She encouraged, continuing to skewer fish and vegetables alike. Tomoe hesitated before giving a faint “maybe” and she rushed off towards Ethan, who had just shown up. She fell at his feet, clinging to his legs. “Ethan! You won’t believe it! Dallas and Maya eat... FISH!” She wailed, seemingly greatly disturbed by that fact. Ethan grumbled something about not everyone being able to eat rocks and trudged forwards with Tomoe being dragged along.
    Not long after Ethan arrived and the sun was just barely peeking over the horizon, the bonfire was lit. It took a few minutes to really get it going. But once it did, everyone stood in awe, most having never seen a campfire this big. It cast a warm, orange glow over everything in the immediate area, casting long and dark shadows in some places.
Muriel and Flynn were so distracted that Peeper quietly snuck closer to the fire, mesmerized. A few quickly noticed and shouted out, though with Maya being the closest, she was the one to make a mad dash toward Peeper. She quickly scooped Peeper up in her arms in a spike of adrenaline, but was barely able to hold the pup’s weight compared to her own strength as she crashed onto her back, away from the fire. Peeper squealed and rolled onto her back next to Maya, prompting a laugh and a relieved sigh from everyone.
    As everyone relaxed and started chatting amongst each other, Muriel rushed over to Maya and apologized profusely, worrying over Peeper. Flynn also ran over and checked up on Peeper, being the one that was supposed to be looking after her. Maya stood up and dusted herself off while also trying to catch her breath since it was knocked out of her thanks to Peeper, who was almost the same size as Maya, landing on top of her. She quickly regained her breath and proceeded to tend to the cooking fish and veggies.
    Only an hour or so passed before the fish and vegetable kebabs were ready, and that’s where the fun really began. Dallas lunged for two of the kebabs, taking them in his mouth as Blueberry crashed into him, also lunging for one. Cain walked over, smacked them both upside the head with his tail, respectfully took a kebab and dragged them away from the bonfire.
    After that whole “event”, other beblu approached Maya to grab a kebab or two. All of the bebs who had one said they tasted absolutely delicious, some even going back for seconds. Tomoe was still hesitant however, often taking a step towards Maya and then retreating again. Maya saved one for her regardless.
    While eating, many stories and jokes were passed around, loud laughter bubbling up from almost every beb. There was a warm and inviting aura hanging over everyone, which even got some of the more timid beblu to speak louder and more frequently than they normally do. The crackling of the bonfire, the warmth, the laughter, the chatter and food… It really made the small village feel like home. Tomoe enjoyed the comfortable heat coming from the bonfire, that wasn’t too hot but kept her at just the right temperature on this slightly chilly night. Dallas and Blueberry made many beblu laugh from their ridiculous stories, with Cain piping in every once in a while to expose many of their exaggerations. Peeper also took part in these stories, mocking Dallas’s tone while trying to copy his body movement. That was one heck of a laugh, that’s for sure. Dallas was fairly proud of Peeper.
    Near the end of the night, almost the whole group broke into song, some belting as loud as they could while clinging to other beblu. Even Peeper joined in with some high-pitched howls, making everyone laugh once again. Tomoe couldn’t have felt more content, and she was sure that the rest of the beblu present couldn’t agree more. It no longer felt as though they were all simply friends. They felt like a very diverse family, feeling like they’d known each other for years when really, most of them had only been around for a few months. She even gave in and tried one of the kebabs, which spoiler alert, is now one of her favourite “dishes”.
    Everyone loved the little “holiday” that Maya dubbed as noite da fogueira (or more simply put, Bonfire Night) and they agreed to host more of them every three weeks or so only when the weather was perfect, or as a celebration for achievements of the community…

    ...“And those nights really bring our tiny community together, so we decided it’d be more of a small holiday than a get-together, just because of how special each night felt to us. It also gives new beblu a chance to warm up to and get to know the rest of us!” Tomoe finally finished explaining to Ahn, stopping to look up at the beblune. “Ah, I hope that wasn’t too long! I should really be going to gather things for Muriel now though,” she admitted, hastily grabbing the bag she had set down previously.

    “If you’d like to chat some more about it I’ll still be around for a bit! You’ll just have to come and find me!” Tomoe flashed a quick smile at Ahn and skipped off, in a much better mood than before.

Word Count: 2023 

(Not including the first small, intro paragraph)

~~~

Writing By @/Me
Larkspur, Peeper, Blueberry, Dallas, Cain, Ethan, Tomoe, Maya, Whisper, Muriel and Flynn Belong To @/Me
Ahn Belongs To @ColoradoBlues
Beblune Belong To @Volturai