Show the Light, Oooh, pretty colours~

Once again the drums were sounding, but tonight probably no oneneeded them to know there was a big fuss going on down on the white sand beach.

After all, who wouldn't be enticed to go spent a night out joining in the summer event taking place, lured by the whistling and shrieking of firecrackers and the boisterous band of pre-emptive pyrotechnic festivities?

All around the beach were Whazzitians of every age and every face, eating and drinking and playing games and passing the time so well you'd almost think this was the main event, not the enormous fireworks display that had been set up for after the night sky had darkened to a perfect dusky deep indigo backdrop for the show.

Humanoids weren't the only ones milling around, of course. Shinies in every shape and size had accompanied their bonds, or gone out alone if they were attached to the grumpier sorts. Most notably, somebody's prized Ulysses Butterfly crackling was dancing around like a bunch of electrocuted pop rocks. Dancing around what, exactly, you ask? Why, wee baby Crackles, of course! The happiest, eagerest father alive, Dazzle was delighted to have his babies with him on the crowded scene.

There was one other thing Dazzle had with him. Who had provided them, it's your best guess all things considered, but the point was somebody had left a giant (we mean giant) crate of personal-scale fireworks and firecrackers and whizzbangers and whatwhosits that he wanted to get used up far away from his house where they had been surreptitiously hoarded all year. And what better use of them then enticing the Crackles? Come over, come over, don't be shy! How could you resist the happy glow of the lightshow family? Father and kiddos won't bite!

Just explode in your face and leaving you tasting sparks for a month while wondering where your eyebrows went.

[ Song ]

Here!
Enke, Lucas, Ria, T'Rae, Zeph

Cracklings!
1/1 Female
Lucia -- Zeph
3/3 Male
Frizzle -- Enke
Huhk -- T'Rae
Swizzle -- Enke

The Queen Has Been Overthrown Female

This harlequin green female has a huge presence, literally. Easily larger than her male siblings, she prefers the style of willow fireworks, her sparkles tending to leave a trail behind her in long arcs when she dances around. She is also easily the loudest and most demanding, and enjoys overthrowing whatever order you may have established in your house or anywhere else, and she never tires of it. She never tires period. Anarchy 4 lyfe! Don't expect her to listen to you; if anything she's a rebel, and if it's possible for a Crackling to have sassy snapcracklepops, she certainly does.

The Dark Is Too Hard To Beat Male

This violet purple male may not be the biggest, but this cluster of light is by far the most noticeable despite his dark sparks. He prefers the form of strobe fireworks, a steady and rapidly pulsing beat of lights. Surprisingly, he's actually pretty subdued despite his potentially headache-inducing effect, and is much more resilient than some other Cracklings to the effects of darkness. Why try to fight what he can't overpower completely with his flashing; after all, the darker it is, the more his bold hue shows off and the stronger his strobe can be seen!

The Strength I Need To Push Me Male

This rose pink male certainly defies convention. It's conceivably a really light red, so that would make him warm color, if you go around the circle of hues, he could also be a really really bright purple, so who's to say whether he's cool or warm? He prefers the form of crossette fireworks, again defying conventions the way his sparks crisscross all over themselves and hop in unexpected directions with the pattern. He has a very vivid and unwavering glow, a perfect match to his personality, which is almost entirely based on charging ahead like a bull without looking back or looking where he's going either. Beep beep, Crackling comin' through!

The Lights That Stop Me Male

This tangelo orange male's definitely an eye-catching one, although unlike his bright or bold siblings, it's mostly because he's just kind of weird. He prefers the form of fish fireworks, his sparks squiggling around in random directions and swimming about through the air arbitrarily, similar to the way he himself moves with sudden stops and abrupt changes of directions. His light is definitely as eccentric as it is electric. Good luck figuring out what he's doing or thinking, as if Cracklings weren't impossible to fathom in the first place. He has a weird habit of freezing when a bright light is shined on him before going back to... whatever it is he does.

-- Shinies galore welcome, as are solo attendees!
-- Post all you want and whatever you want!
-- You can send prefs if you really want, but it's not necessary.
-- Don't know what a Crackle's form means? [ Here ] is a good link! The database page is also a good link ;3
-- Asdsfjkl my first time holding an event 8D I hope you have fun~
-- Next post is whenever you do!

Enke was thrilled. It was an emotion that he hardly recognized; it had been so long since he was properly elated. This was not the subtle, smug flash of satisfaction that came with success or the taste of a particularly delicious fruit tart or an elusive nap. This was the deeper-than-flesh pleasure of feeling that he could truly become at home in this odd and unpredictable place.

The sky was afire.

He wandered along the beach like a dazed drunk, eyes skyward, heedless of what unwary person or shiny he might be bumbling into. Bursts of light and sound splattered periodically against the sky, a delight to every sense. There was a part of him--buried and distant, but undeniable--that had witnessed the birth of a world, and this...this was not so different from that. There was revelry and chaos; color, heat, and light had rained upon the unformed earth, shaping and shifting.

It was like a watercolor painting of magic, he decided. Beautiful and capturing the spirit, but lacking in the substance. He was witnessing light, airy confections of the fervor of existence, and he was spellbound.

Of course, when one has never seen or heard of fireworks, one might tend to wax poetical.

Someone he narrowly avoided plowing into called a warning, and Enke tore his eyes from a sunset-colored explosion to duck around a man carrying a tray of various stuffed rolls. He snagged one in passing, munching it idly as he returned to his rapt gazing. His human part did love food, after all.

Even his chains seemed inclined to be festive on...whatever occasion this was. They were quite large, catching every stray sparkle of light and reflecting it splendidly, but still impossibly delicate. Extra loops and whorls had appeared, twining themselves snugly against the Free Magic being's body, almost as if to decorate him in the sky-lights. They thrummed softly with the reverberations of vibrant noise

He wasn't even wearing his bandolier or sword tonight, having been interrupted in the midst of contemplative stargazing by a surge of glitter-fire across his field of view. His body seemed torn between two extremes--comfort of the familiar and the buzzing, enlivening fretfulness of the unknown.

He was so engrossed that he absolutely tripped over the corner of a massive crate, cracking his forehead on the thing as he sprawled in the sand. He sat up with a groan, and his eyes flashed, but the surreal vividness of them faded after only a moment. He rubbed at his forehead, and his hand came away bloodied. The faint shimmer of magic glittered in the thick, dark fluid. He scrubbed his fingers in the sand.

The thrall of the fireworks was fractured. Just as he was gearing up to grumble about the negligible injury, he caught sight of all the oddments filling the crate. Wait a minute. Were these the things that were raining and banging and whining and shining overhead? Whose were they? How did they work? Most importantly, how could he get his hands on some without outright stealing them?

His feverish thoughts stalled. A riot of color flutter off to his right. He swiveled around and there, hovering just beyond him, was a cluster of the incandescent...things.

But these...these were different. They were alive! Reactive, even, for they almost seemed to dance. He was hypnotized again. This was better than a field full of kittens! (Maybe.)

He raised a hand, half tempted to try and call the fire-things to him, but something stopped him. Instead, he elected to simply ogle the Cracklings like a demented half-wit. They were just so darn shiny.

Zeph needed no one to tell him about the fireworks - he remembered the event well from the year before. It was hard to believe that he had lived in Whazzit for an entire year, since so much had changed. He had met many people, made some friends, and acquired a few enemies in the span of twelve months. And of course, he had bonded to plenty of shinies - fifty-six by last count. So he had designated the day of the fireworks as a personal day of celebration for himself and all his shinies. There were gifts, plenty of food, and lots of good cheer all around.

The day had ended with massive dinner, and the Soul Collector had left many stuffed and sleeping shinies behind when he left home. He was keen on viewing the fireworks, but he was also interested to see if there would be a Crackling bonding this year. To his great pleasure, there was.

Is this not rather excessive? Amal asked, giving him a piercing state as they stood on the beach.

"Nonsense, it is a party after all."

That is not what I meant. Surely you didn't need to bring three of use along?

Zeph chuckled, turning to look at the three Flamma gathered around him. Amal was staring back at him, while Ramon and Elam were busy taking in the crowded beach. "Excessive? Hardly. I am merely prepared, nothing more." He had learned that Cracklings loved light - and what better light to bring than three glowing deer?

Being prepared is always good. Ramon observed distractedly, more interested in the fireworks sparking overhead.

Assuming what is being prepared for is a good thing, then yes, I agree. Elam said, trotting a little ways ahead and staring intently off into the distance. And I believe I see some interesting preparations going on around a large crate...

Being taller than the knee-high Flamma, Zeph was easily able to pick out the small crowd gathered around the giant crate. Already, some sparklers were being lit, and the Soul Collector nodded briskly. "Let us go see what all the fuss is about, then." he decided, making a beeline towards the crate. The trio of Flamma followed at a slower pace, all looked around at the party and trying to pick out a familiar face.

She still didn’t understand it. She had only kind of understood the logic behind it in Starfleet Academy. The associated holiday just seemed very irrelevant and she really couldn’t say that she was sure how fireworks factored into the thing other than just being chalked up to tradition. It was interesting, T’Rae both enjoyed the fireworks and the groupings of people, it was one of the cultural things that she could study, and for that matter she had a soft spot for holidays and gathering in groups and she would end up going. That and it was close enough to her Birthday that she really didn’t like just staying home when there were plenty of other things going on.

So T’Rae dressed a little more casually this evening, her usual dark blue vest and black slacks, though as usual it was accompanied by the lab coat. The Vulcan woman did stop by the mirror to brush out her hair and more than a little bit of a grin on her face. It was a brilliant moment in realizing that she was engaged to a geneticist, since he enjoyed that line of work anyway it wasn’t much to think that he could fix her hair, and the best birthday present. It still held a certain blue sheen in the right light, and it hadn’t entirely lost some of the bioluminescence, but for all intents and purposes the Vulcan woman had her black hair back. Frankly she couldn’t be happier. So of course she was going to take the opportunity to show it off to the weyrd, assuming that anyone would even really notice with the real show being in the sky, but she would know. That and perhaps she would meet up with Geoffrey, or Saiph and Grimm, or anyone really.

Okay perhaps she spent a few more minutes than necessary preening in the mirror, but after about twenty years of putting up with what she had she was quite frankly glad to have her black hair back. It just looked so much better. Eventually T’Rae did leave well enough alone though, making off downstairs where she was joined rather shortly by Nirak. The jungle green male snapping and fizzing excitedly around her head, the Crackling obviously eager to spend the evening with those of his kind. T’Rae let him take the lead down the ramp, mostly because something grabbed at her pant leg and T’Rae nearly kicked the Nogard into the water.

I would like to come and see tonight’s festivities. The River spoke calmly despite her bonded’s panic. T’Rae just shrugged, she wasn’t going to deny company tonight and knelt down to scoop the Nogard up and place her on her shoulder, letting Nirak lead the way to the party more than she had actually paid any attention to the drums. T’Rae was quick to lose herself in the crowd, mostly looking for a face she knew, and of course looking for her cyborg, or perhaps her kinsman, she wasn’t picky.

Nirak had a one track mind though, he was quick to depart his bond and head up instead towards the familiar Dazzle. Babies? Babies! Did this make him an Uncle that was totally how shiny relationships worked right, Dazzle. Riiiiiiiight? Pleaaaaaaase he could teach the so many things about having a good time.

Drums. Beach. That was the only word that Lucas needed to comprehend (and he didn’t even comprehend that word, Moist had translated the whole message for him) for him to be sold. He’d definitely be going to this. While the beach during the day was undoubtedly a fantastic combination, the beat at night was just as good, if not, better. Bonfires, waves, nighttime, no matter who was there, Lucas was pretty sure that he could have some sort of good time. He didn’t really care to bring companions with him, not that he minded them being there either, but some just insisted. He ended up with a ragtag group of four, including himself.

Hffsk. Lucas had no idea why he ever thought that lugging the big Obsidian around with him anywhere was ever a good idea because really, it was never, ever a good idea. Dawned with swimming trunks, a shirt, and a pair of shades (even though it was dark) Lucas was more or less going through this without much of any idea at all of what he was going to do. Lusk wasn’t leashed, Fuzz had come along (Lucas planned to use him as bait if Lusk got out of hand) and he was riding on the back but the clumsy but adorable Isabella. The Moonfire’s hooves had already ceased to click by now in the sand, and Fuzz sat on the Pegasus’ back as well as the gentle shiny did not seem to mind in the slightest. They hadn’t flown here, Lucas didn’t really trust Bella to fly. She had stumbled a few times while she was trotting, so flying through the air was hardly any more reassuring.

“Over there.” Lucas pointed towards the large crate where a few had already gathered. Lusk was distracted by several moving and nonmoving objects, as well as all of the shiny things, and well, bringing a Watch-Wher to a light show was just a sh-t idea. With a piece of meat dangling (sorry beach, for the bits of blood that dripped down) as Lucas wasn’t gunna really use Fuzz as the primary source of bate, the trio of males and one female eventually did manage to make it to the large crate.

“Alright guys!” Lucas did nod his head to some, T’Rae and Zeph included as he didn’t at all recognize the other guy, he grabbed a few sparklers from the great, not quite realizing that some of those firework things were actually alive. Sentient normally inanimate objects wouldn’t shock him so much, he did have London the Prezzie back at home after all, but at this moment in time, he wasn’t quite aware of it. He stuck one Sparkler in Bella’s mouth, a terrible idea but whatever, and offered one to Fuzz, completely ignoring Lusk’s hisses whenever some source of light when off which was basically, always. Sparklers and fireworks, anything that had to do with some sort of untamable light fascinated him. Fire was his opposite, and his complete inability to control always made him sort of fascinated. Plus, the fashion that the sparklers burned reminded him of his sister.

As he lit them all up he found his attention focusing rather fiercely on the flickering of the light, almost like the lightning and electricity that his sister could spark and sizzle between her very finger tips. Isabella was pretty spooked by it however and dropped hers in the sand, which Lucas promptly bent down to pick up, holding the two popping sticks in one hand. Fuzz wasn’t scared, hell no, he had faced Zombies in his little life time, and Lusk just Mrgg’d each time the sparklers jumped out even a little bit. Ah, wasn’t this just relaxing?

flow, in my mind, 621 words

It seemed people were beginning to congregate around this crate of curiosities. Enke's usual scowl remained conspicuously absent. Something about the beach and lights and festivity had wiped it away. He rubbed absently at the dried blood on his forehead, then became briefly mesmerized by the reflections of fireworks rippling along the chains wound around his arm.

His attention skittered to another glowing anomaly--a trio of strangely unreal mammalian creatures had reached the crate, accompanied by...surely that could not be a Dead thing? Enke started, some of his usual suspicion resurfacing. No, it didn't have the feel. It must simply be one of the peculiarities of this place. With some difficulty, he relaxed, pointedly confining his covert glances to all the sparkly wonders of the night.

There were plenty to marvel at. Another of the living sky-lights appeared above the crowd, and he observed its approach eagerly. Watching the things move was like a spell all its own, he thought. But unlike any spell he knew, they didn't fizzle into nonexistence.

Someone was rummaging in the crate! A flash of irritation ruffled him. He had found this crate first! How dare this boy go digging into his crate! It occurred to Enke as he watched Lucas stuff a fizzing, sparkling stick into a flying horse-creature's mouth that he was probably being absurd. Still. If this human could rummage around, so could Enke. And now that he saw what the slender sticks were, he absolutely intended to.

Without further ado, he shoved his hand inside and grabbed a fistful of sparklers. But how to light them. Hmm...It seemed as good a time as any for an experiment.

He narrowed his eyes at the two Lucas held, watching the sparks fizz and crackle. Sending bursts of concentration outward, he cajoled them, trying to stretch his influence to subdue the fickle fire. The marks on his chains flared in protest, and a sharp pain lanced through his insides. No luck.

Well, he'd just have to ask, then. He shifted his cat-like gaze back to Lucas's face. "Excuse me," he began, in much more pleasant a tone than he typically managed. "I see that you have somehow lit your spark-sticks. Would you, perhaps, light these for me?"

There. That was very nice of him. He was pleased at his own congeniality.

Ria was getting used to the fact that locked doors meant nothing to most of her shinies, and that went double for the bathroom door. Her Ailoa thought nothing of barging in for bottles of conditioners for their frequent hair emergencies, but two shinies in particular were chronic bathroom party-crashers. They both came whenever they heard the sound of a faucet being turned on--Ariel would between into the room to gleefully take a bath in the sink or tub, whichever was being filled, while Jägerbomb would wriggle his way under the door in the hopes that Ria was shedding her clothes for a bath of her own.

Today the Pongbat would be disappointed and Ria would be surprised, for she was merely washing her face when a little brown dragon that wasn't her confused firelizard betweened into the half-full sink. There are idiots on my beach, the Nogard hissed as he submerged himself, red eyes baleful. "Hi, Salamander," Ria greeted cheerfully as she pressed a washcloth to her cheeks. "Have you tried shaking a stick at them? I hear that's what all the old grumpuses do when there are too many kids on their lawn." The Nogard-turned-Eastern-dragon coiled his slender body like a disturbed snake and narrowed his eyes with a harrumph. There are too many of them and besides, I wanted to get out of there before the fireworks went off. Ria couldn't even pretend to pity the disgruntled Nogard--fireworks meant that the party she was preparing for would be awesome! She would fill the sink for him and turn down the lights so he could be a grouch in peace before she left, though. "Lemme check this party out for you~"

She was in high spirits as she wandered down to the beach in shorts and a tank top, casual as ever. Besides. It made it easier for her to do a rather nice handstand when she got halfway to the big ol' box o' fireworks that people were beginning to crowd around. Ria bounced her way over to everyone and reached for one of the lit sparklers in Lucas' hands--hey, he had two, she could steal one without committing a party foul. "Thanks, Lucas!" she said with a wink, before her eyes drifted over to the other partygoers and promptly settled on T'Rae...'s hair. "T'Rae! Love your hair. Where'd you get that dye?" Seriously, Ria never would have pegged the lieutenant for someone who could've selected a fashionable shade like that. Ria was thinking it was time for a dye job of her own and black was looking pretty cool right now...or maybe red. Blonde?

While she was admiring the Vulcan's hair Salamander dropped from between onto the sand nearby with smoke curling from his nostrils. Unlike his sociable human, he was none too pleased with the events of tonight so far. Came to make sure no one pollutes my home, he muttered as Ria scooped him up and gave him a little pat on the head. Ariel found your sink, didn't he? Ria ascertained as the real reason the Nogard had popped over here, and Salamander grunted in response. Well, poor Nogard. But now that he was here, Ria could show off for Enke the new guy! "I can get that for you," Ria beamed as she pointed at the man's unlit sparkler. Well. She wouldn't be lighting it, exactly. "Salamander, would you be a dear?" The mutant Nogard bristled his damp mane but spat a ball of flame to light Enke's sparkler. "Zeph, do you need a light too?"

Salamander dropped into the sand and began to slither away before he was forced to do any more party tricks for anyone. He began to rant to himself, I'm done playing candlestick. Why'd you ever slip me that damn magic tea that turned me into this, I was happier when I was an ignorant, stupid, normal Nogard-- You betweened INTO my bubble tea, remember? Ria cut him off as the Puddle pulled himself in Lusk's direction. The Wher was clearly the only sensible creature here, if he wasn't enjoying all these lights and noises either. Salamander was just going to perch right on big fella's withers. No one messed with a Wher, so no one would mess with poor old Salamander if he took up residence there. Except for Lusk, possibly. But don't do that. Don't do it, man.

Ria dismissed the party-pooping Nogard with a wave and turned her attention back to the group. "Sorry, Zeph." Back to old-fashioned methods of fire starting for all. "Ooohey, when do we get to light those?" Yes, Ria had just spotted the sweet stash of fireworks inside the box. She popped up onto her tip toes to get a better look. Fireworks fireworks fireworks oh hey, why were those fireworks moving...?

Were these the things filling the sky over Enke's head? Pfft, of course not, these were much smaller! Maybe we shouldn't tell him that though, it might blow his mind to see how big they could get. He was right on that it was the same basic principle, though. He'd just have to suffer ignorance, though, unless the other Whazzitians wanted to explain things to him, as Cracklings weren't exactly equipped to give a lesson on the science of pyrotechnics.

They were equipped to sit there glowing and sparking prettily, though. Ooooh, aaaaah~ Totally better than a field of kittens. Unless it was a field of kittens that left sparkly trails everywhere. Then it might be debatable.

Enke would find that simply raising his hand and standing nearby was enough to get the attentions of the Cracklings, or at least get some happy, burble-like series of cracks from Dazzle. HI ARE YOU HERE TO MEET HIS BABIES LOOK AT HIS BABIES AREN'T THEY WONDERFUL? The bright blue male suddenly herded forward the cluster of young Cracklings at the strange man, leaving him to either shuffle out of the way or suffer the tickling of the babies sizzling harmlessly as they bounced around his feet. Hellohellohellohello! Why play with sparklers when you can play with live ones!

Zeph, on the other hand, was too bony to suffer foot ticklies. Alas, his loss. He did have a miniature herd of Flamma, however, which unsurprisingly grabbed ahold of the short attention spans of the Cracklings. Mr. Reaper apparently knew his Cracklings, as the rose male stretched away from the main group a little bit to take charge of crackling appropriately at the Flammas who had accompanied Zeph, along with a few tiny, slow explosions. They were too far away yet. Get over here get over here! He wants to seeee them! Nownownownownow.

All the Cracklings, if they understood such things, would no doubt have meanwhile expressed their appreciation for T'Rae's new hair as well, but they would just have to be unwittingly disappointed that she hadn't waited until after their festivities to change it black. Didn't she know? Bright lights and bright colors work THE in thing this summer. Shame. Nirak though was doing a good job of busting in and making friends, the familiar other male getting a proud little boom out of Dazzle. Babies indeed! Too bad the harlequin female didn't like somebody shoving their way into the mix, and promptly reacted by zooming around in a figure eight around Nirak and her daddy, buzzing faintly. Oh you wanted to talk to him TOO BAD LET ME RUIN YOUR PLANS.

Lucas, being the first to actually light some sparklers himself, was unsurprisingly also receiving some individual attention, in his case from the tangelo male who kept twitching sporadically and darting forward, stop, darting away, over and over again and indecisive flip-flopping mindframe. Sparklers! Eek! Yay! Eek! Yay! ... Well, maybe Lusk would appreciate having someone else that couldn't quite figure out how to feel about other fireworks. At least he hadn't noticed Fuzz yet. He'd probably start demanding his own sparkler himself, and where would anyone put it? Quick, hide the Aluna before he sees!

Ria and her stolen sparkything were doing a good job of attracting attention around also, but it was the sudden suddenness of Salamander that really had the violet male interested. Between his smoky air around him and the fact he was breathing ~actual fire~ he was unsurprisingly a huge attention grabber. The normally somewhat spreadout strobes clustered up in a quick-spazzing tight ball of throbbing light. What's this! What's this! Could it be something interesting?! How exciting do the fire thing again!

ooc| Alright, with this the bonding is now more quickly underway~ Posting whenever you guys all have, or else every four/five days, whichever comes first :3 This bonding is still open, but it will be going quickly and shouldn't be very many rounds, so missing rounds will count quite a bit against you, I'm afraid, so keep that in mind.

Enke jerked backward as Salamander spat a ball of fire straight at him--or rather, at his sparkler. As it fizzed to life and he remained unharmed, he nearly dropped his fistful of light-sticks. "Why, thank you," he muttered belatedly, having momentarily lost his tongue. "That is quite a nifty talent." He couldn't quite disguise the mournfulness that colored his tone. Once upon a time, he would've been able to simple call the nearest spark to do his bidding.

But he couldn't remain mopey for long. All of a sudden the sky-sparklers were being shuffled toward him! He actually hummed in pleasure as they congregated around his form, stretching up on his toes. The chains he was wearing flashed and glittered with marks, and their gentle buzz increased as the Cracklings brushed against them. "Ah, ah, it tickles!" he crowed as they swirled and popped around his feet. This was better than a field of kittens!

He stretched down his tentative free hand toward the curious lights. Their tingle against his skin was almost reminiscent of the Charter; he luxuriated in the brief contact. And then the newborn Shinies began to drift away separately, and he sighed. He kept his gaze riveted on them as they investigated each of the arrivals, and particularly the light sources they provided. So they liked brightness, hmm?

Hopefully, he used his lit sparkler to carefully light the rest he had scooped up. Some of the sparks bounced onto his hand, and it was not at all pleasant like the Cracklings had been. He shook them off. Waving the sparklers to trace nonsensical patterns in the air, he turned back to Ria. He realized she'd asked about the rest of the supplies in the crate. Her excitement was plain. "You know what they do?" he asked eagerly. Why shouldn't they light them now? He didn't see anyone policing the crate, and he was greedy for more.

T'Rae was a little disappointed with the turn out tonight. Not that she didn't like those present, don't get her wrong. Zeph was plenty nice and Lucas was tolerable on most days, just that no one was here that would particularly understand the significance of her change, or for that matter probably notice it as a change. Alas, there was still some good company, and some company she didn't recognize at all, and the obvious fact that Nirak was enjoying himself, disregarding the fact that the jungle green male was always enjoying himself, obviously.

So it was with her little Crackling friend that she went over to join Dazzle and his offspring, or at least the offspring that was left over there with him and Nirak. Offering her fingers out to the blue male father in an awkward example of petting the crackling, because there is no real non-awkward way to show affection to a crackling, she was just happy they didn't burn. "Hey Dazzle, you must be proud." At least that's how she translating his excited popping and booming, considering she was far from fluent in crackling.

Too bad for the Harlequin female that her attempt to foil Nirak's plan was going to be spectacularly misinterpreted. Watching her with a few quizzical pops before it seemed to sink in. She wanted to play! Chase? Tag? Tag! He loved party games he would love to play party games with his niece! Then the way she was darting about obviously meant that he must be It! MWAHAHAHAHA HE WAS COMING TO GET YOU!

The Cracklings on the whole were looking a little less exuberant about their displays themselves, seeing as most of them were not getting the attention they had hoped for. A couple males inched towards the box o' boomsparks hopefully. Maybe some bigger fireworks than mere sparklers would cheer them up? Some roman candles? A screamer of some kind?

Enke's reaction to the tickly sparks got the rose and violet males attention back on him, at least, perking up a bit with slightly quicker movements back over to him. Or, more likely it was the fact he had a handful of sparklers and pretty lights himself now, the essential part of winning a bond out of one or more of the young Crackles. The rose fellow seemed particularly intrigued by the way he was waving his hand around to shake off more painful Sparks, completely unaware of the reasoning behind it. Fast moving lights was all he needed to be captivated. Without warning, he hopped up int he air. Lights! Lights light lights lights! The purple fellow was still hanging out on the edge by the box though. Sparklers. Psh. HE was better than sparklers! Something more impressive would be needed to win his attention.

Dazzle fizzled at T'Rae, apparently his idea of being humble at her compliment, or at least he was taking his pride as a compliment. He was a they might be picky about their bonds but they were still only so intelligent and discerning about anything else.

The Harlequin female, on the other hand, had just BOOMed very unhappily. Daaaaaaaaaaad dad Nirak was being stoopid! But fine! He wanted to play tag then she was going to be the It, lamers, charging head-on right at the jungle green male. She was in charge of this party and don't forget it. Not that baby Cracklings could do much as far as tag or other running around games went, clinging to a very small radius until they were ready to bond, but she could zip around in circles around her other siblings, effectively running after the now chased instead of chasing Nirak and keeping her siblings corralled away from the others at the same time.

Poor tangelo guy. While he was being ignored, he'd gotten caught up watching the game of tag, and was sort of spazzing out between all the bright lights rushing around. Silly Crackling. You're not supposed to be bothered by your own sparklies!

ooc| Ah, alright, you post I post then guys xD Should only take a few rounds to win them over, after all!

Sparklefizzpopbang. His ever-lurking headache was not pleased with the assault of light and sound and color, that was for sure, but Enke was besotted with the behavior of the Cracklings. He looked from one to the other of them--and like the lonely tangelo, he too, was momentarily bedazzled by the game of tag--not caring that he had begun to see spots whenever he blinked.

The rose-colored sky-light was inching toward him, and he presumed the excited heavenward hop was a pleased one. Chaingang (forever his new nickname) waved his fistful of sparklers around hopefully, careful to avoid blistering his hand this time. So many lights, so few eyes!

The Cracklings, too, seemed interested in the crate. No one had yet dared to pull out some of the more impressive-looking pieces, but Enke was not famous for his patience. Considering he knew absolutely zilch about pyrotechnics, it was probably a terrible idea, but nonetheless, he would do it. He would be the first to take the plunge.

Without further consideration, he shoved his hand down into the box and retrieved a cluster of long tubes, each with a fuse on the end. Hmm. They looked a bit like connected signal flares. Surely there was no launcher complex enough to fire all of these? Perhaps they launched themselves from the ground.

He would try. It would, perhaps, be prudent to alert the nearby partygoers, but they might forestall him. He would wait until the fuses were lit so they couldn't stop him. Now that adrenaline rushed through him, he decided to try his hand again at coalescing the sparks from his own light-sticks. The power trickled through him, aggravating his headache as the chains squealed and glittered defiance, but he pushed on against the unruly pinpoints of flame. He didn't try to pull them from the sparklers, merely herded them toward the waiting fuses as he thrust his tool toward the fountain cluster.

As it turned out, they were eager to go. A quick succession of flames appeared on the fuses, and Enke grinned. Ha! He was relishing his triumph when he remembered that whatever emerged from the mysterious tubes would probably be very hot and very bright. Oh, right.

"I think we should back up," he announced pointedly, inching away from the crate as he spoke. He wasn't sure how far was safe, and he didn't want to stray to far from the Cracklings. Consider Enke at high risk for singed eyebrows tonight!

((I didn't want to steal the first firework without knowing if it was all right, so I've left it in your hands!))

Oh my. Nirak was pretty sure that the cracklies being chased weren't supposed to come charging at the crackling that was It. He might be wrong but he was pretty sure that wasn't generally how tag worked. It didn't damper his amusement at all, however, if she wanted to be It then who was he to argue? He just sat there fizzling at her curiously for a moment until she got real close, and then with a couple of sharp booms he went zipping off in the other direction, winding his way around the others and snapping at T'Rae on his way by. C'mon lady they were playing tag what are doing just standing around there!

T'Rae chuckled at the jungle green male as he passed, watching him and the harlequin female with an amused look. Fortunately Nirak was not content to just be chasing one of them, watching the spazzing Tangelo male with glee he darted his way over. Watch out man! She was coming for you and she was It you gotta be running man what are you doing, darting about all nonsensical like that! It was time to be getting a move on and getting away from her!

It was pretty safe to say that Enke's warning hadn't gotten through to the crackling at all, but T'Rae heard him loud and clear. Now there was one thing that T'Rae did not like about this holiday, as much as the lights and the people might be nice the noise was insufferable. So it was safe to say T'Rae was siddling back away from the fireworks to join at a respectable distance and see what it was that he was up to. "Lieutenant T'Rae, pleasure to meet you." She offered both as a warning that she was standing there and as a greeting, since she was going to guess he wasn't all that familiar with the weyrd.

She was also going to be staying rather firmly behind him so long as he was going about playing with fire. She'd just gotten her hair back the way she liked it, she was not the least bit keen about losing any of it tonight. Sorry new guy, she was willing to use you as a human shield so long as you were going to go about playing with fireworks that you didn't quite look like you had a firm grasp of. What was it with people in this weyrd playing with things they didn't understand?

Too bad for Nirak that regardless of whether he was right or wrong about the rules of tag, the little harlequin female didn't actually care what the rules were. She wanted to be it, she was going to darn well be it! Whateva whateva she do what she want~

The tangelo male Nirak was trying to harass him to join the game as well simply blinked his lights and a pattern very similar to his Violet brother for moment. They might be picky about bonds, they might have a pretty good fireworksy sign language for displaying their motions, but Crackling communication was still pretty limited. He poppled happily at the sight of his uncle, but other than that it was hard to say he really showed any interest in anything or anyone more than the others. He was just be here. Feeling the crackling equivalent of lightheaded by all the sparkle and glow all over the beach; the bond-hopefuls weren't the only ones fireworks and glow sticks and lanterns and candles and everything after all!

It seemed like all at once the Cracklings simultaneously stopped. There was lots of sparklers and reflections and Flamma and life in general, but somebody was stepping towards THE BOX. Which, well, technically wasn't really big noisy explosion full of lights and sounds and colors yet, but it could be and they all had been trained to know what by the simple fact Geoffrey had refused to let them near it and daddy Dazzle was mildly obsessed with it. Anything off limits had to be off limits because it was just too awesome to handle, right?

Their suspicions were proven accurate when the fuse successful lit! The especially eager rose male chased immediately after Enke, crisscrossing all over himself in a rush to stay close to the fascinating fuse, as a result drinking his distance-restricted miniature her to siblings with him, and as a result of that result, the happy but protective blue father trailed after as well. Wait for him, kiddos, no one getting hurt or anything on his watch!

ooc| Bonds should start next post guys ;D And psh, do whatever you want man as long as you don't like, stuff a Crackling in your pants and make a run for it xD

[Attempt to catch up take 20384204]
Fuzz tribbled and fluttered around, watching first as Lucas looked over at a new man then as one of his Sparklers was stolen from him. He whirled a tight circle around Lucas’ head, finally settling down and landing comfortably around on the water manipulator’s shoulders. “Thanks.” Lucas called out towards Lucas, and while he was distracted from the poor tangelo crackling while Lusk had a sudden burst of let’s-just-snap-at-all-the-things, he heard Enke’s call to take a step back, and looked up and stepped away from the general direction of the fireworks in a quick hop. “Whoa!” He watched as the colors burst into the air, it’d been a long time since he’d seen them; and while he wasn’t particularly interested in them on regular occasions, the familiarity of seeing them in the air was refreshing. Was this like some sort of fourth of July party? He couldn’t tell.

His staring up at the fireworks didn’t last long either because Lusk quickly flipped out at the loudness of the lights, and Lucas looked down at the Obsidian. “Whoa, hey now calm your sh-t.” He glared at the Obsidian who was already spraying up sand, sort of heading and romping in the general direction of the box. Lucas rushed after him, waving his sparkler around as he ran. “Come back here, stop!” Lusk veered away from the box and started to frolic in the water, leaving Lucas panting next to the box. He stood and looked down at it, looking at the assortment of fireworks, then looking over at the others that had gathered. “Wanna set some more of these f-ckers off?” He took in another breath, then looked up at the Cracklings, the tangelo that he had accidentally ignored in particular. “Any of ya’?”

Fuzz in the meantime was clinging onto Lucas with all of his might, exhausting himself minorly from having to cling on and taking a glance Lusk occasionally just in case.

Well, apparently, he had gotten someone's attention. A few someone's, and not all of them were the sparkle-loving Cracklings. Half his regard remained on the firework shrieking toward the sky, and as it blossomed, he returned (over the booms), "I am Enke. It is a pleasure." In fact, he was not quite certain that it was, but he was still getting the hang of not being exceptionally rude. It seemed a bad way to start out in a new place. Of course, if he weren't so powerless, it would hardly matter, but apparently, he'd have to be dealing with this people on a regular basis.

He had no further time to devote to conversation, at least at the moment. The living sky-lights were going wild, doing all sorts of shiny acrobatics. He watched them hungrily as they cavorted, following each other in a loose aggregation. Interesting behavior. "That one," he said at last, waving his almost-disintegrated sparklers in time with the pulses of the rose Crackling while pointing his free hand at Nirak. "It came with you?"

Half of him wanted to pluck another treasure from the box, but he had stood a bit too close to his first and was a slightly deaf, not to mention batting as his clothes as a shower of sparks drifted down onto him. He was probably shouting at T'rae, come to think of it. Anyway, someone else had stepped up to the box now. Politeness dictated that he wait his turn.

Enke brushed a few more ashes from his person, eyes never leaving the Cracklings. Well, there went this shirt. It had suffered both fire and blood and was looking rather worse for the wear. Ah, well.

He turned his pointed gaze to Lucas. It wouldn't be polite to say hurry up, but that didn't mean he couldn't spell it out nonetheless. He wanted more lights!

While it might have been too bad for Nirak, it was fortunate for the Harlequin female that the male might not have actually been entirely sure of the rules for Tag. He knew there was fleeing involved, and that someone was It, and beyond that he was just a crackling man he was mostly along for the ride. That was too many rules for him to remember. Games stopped being fun when they had more rules than you could actually remember.

And Nirak was quite obviously having fun. Or at least it looked like it was having fun, darting back to look at the incoming green female, darting back to the tangelo male in a sort of crackling version of attempting to shake him by the shoulders to get his attention SHE'S COMING MAN DON'T YOU SEE SHE'S COMING FOR US WE NEED TO RUN. Mostly it just kind of looked like a whole lot of unnecessarily frantic popping and jittering, but that's a crackling you. Most of their lifespans looked like a whole lot of unnecessary popping and jittering.

Hey wait man where were you going that's the wrong way. Oh hey look a box. A box that was one fire and a jingly party man. Well this night was just going to get more and more interesting. Nirak was darting back towards his Harlequin tag buddy with several short little happy booms to the mismatched tune of Enke's bells. Hey look there were big lights and music and it was like it was some kind of party up in here! Look a party he loved parties!

T'Rae was content to be watching the fireworks and wait for her turn to step up and see what else was in the box that Geoffrey had been stashing away, seriously where had he gotten off to, you can't just leave combustible, explosive boxes out in the middle of the wild where they might explode. Enke's shouting reached her just fine, and if she thought it was excessively loud T'Rae didn't react at all. For all she knew he was hard of hearing himself, following his pointing to Nirak where the older male was playing with little ones. "Yes that is Nirak, he's a little eager. I think he likes the bells." She debated apologizing on his behalf, but hey the man wore them he surely knew that they were bound to attract attention. "They're Cracklings, sentient fireworks of a sort." T'Rae explained, and giving Lucas a brief glare of her own. Hey man pay attention, there was a line here.

The Cracklings, somewhat understandably being sentient globs of light, didn't really understand the whole ethical or social debate about stealing sparklers. They didn't care how sparklers were obtained, they just cared that there were sparklers, and they were pretty, and made pretty lights in pretty colors, and generally were just pretty pretty.

Oooh, somebody was moving towards THE BOX again. Yes good good we approve yes do it again do it again more more! One of the more headstrong Cracklings however had been impressed enough the first time that he had now pmernaently associated the box of fireworks with Enke. THOSE AREN'T FOR YOU LUCAS THOSE ARE FOR BELL-MAN! Fizzlepopannoyance. He wanted that man who was the first to do the big boomy thing god go away you copycat! The pinkish male suddenly broke free of the group to zip excitedly around Enke. A contented deep buzz hummed from the male. His Enke now, ahahahaha! Clearly whoever bonded the first man to make a big impression also needed to make the first bond, duh.

Bond! The Strength I Need To Push Me Male to Enke!

Never fear though, Lucas, the other young Crackles weren't exhibiting any such signs of snobbishness. The flailing boy and his sparklies, plus the fact he was now the one in charge of THE BOX, had kept their attention quite well. THE BOX was where good things came from. And where a grumpy Watch-wher was sort of making them shifty —blackish Watch-whers were not luminous or prettiful colours or making the right kind of loud noises at all. Still, with Lusk out to see, simply buzz and made typical firecrackery sounds at his question. They didn't want questions they wanted fireworks. Teasing would get him nowhere, dernit!

The tangelo male had no idea what was going on. Between as far as he could tell Lucas directing attention towards him and Nirak spazzing out over something he had completely missed, he was just going to sit here blinking and sizzling and clumping and spreading and keening and... Actually, nobody has any idea how he feels at all. He was sort of exhibiting signs of every single emotion known to Cracklekind, apparently to sort of overwhelmed too much to figure out what was going on. He'll just ~be~ here. His harlequin sister on the other hand had given up on the whole game of tag thing, and every minute or so exploded in a single large burst. You wanted to play tag NOPE NO MORE GAMING. You wanted to hold conversations NO CONVERSATION FOR YOU INTERRUPTING CRACKLING BOOM.

Poor violet male. He was just chilling out on the beach without a care in the world for any of it, simply bobbing around with spread out pulsing sparks of chillaxment. Yup, this was a cool night, he was down with it~

ooc| Okay, *one* bond was convinced anyway xD More to come in the next couple hopefully ;D

His foot was tapping impatiently. Get on with the lighting, already! He glanced again at Lucas, frowning. But T'rae was speaking now. "Likes the bells?" Enke was startled. He couldn't imagine anyone--sentient firework or no--liking the tiny silver droplets that kept him imprisoned. But now that he thought of it, it did make sense. They were soothing and exciting in turns, and the depth of tone could not be matched by any normal instrument.

He actually stopped frowning as he watched Nirak bop and boom in time with his syncopated chiming. They were simple beings, clearly, but nonetheless, the Cracklings were fascinating. Who wouldn't be entranced by dancing lights?

Speaking of dancing lights, the pinkish one was inching closer and closer to him, a vibrant cloud of criss-crossing color. Soon enough it was ignoring the box of fireworks and lavishing attention on Enke himself, whizzing dizzily around the man in chains.

A low hum emanated from the rose Crackling, one that was echoed by Enke's chains. The bells pealed brightly. The marks swimming on the surface flared. (OH SNAP, SHINY METAL! The crackle's joyous exploding further deafened his new friend.) Sparks tickled Chaingang's fingertips and toes, zipping up his limbs to settle in his abdomen and chest. Invigorating! As the rush faded and the Shiny settled into a diffuse, dusky cloud, Enke knew that he had bonded.

The crackle decided to demonstrate his contentment by enveloping the man's head in a veil of fizzy rose sparks. But that was only fun for a moment, of course. More booming, more lights. More, more! He flickered away from Enke, back toward his siblings and the Box of Light.

"Ah," Enke said. He ran one hand through his hair, which was rather frazzled, now. He eyed the firework--he decided to call him Swizzle; it seemed whimsically appropriate--as the rose darted amongst his fellows. The green one was boom-boom-booming, making conversation for the nearby partygoers difficult.

Swizzle rather liked Nirak's idea of Tag, at least until a more exciting firework lit up the sky. He darted toward the older male, put-put-popping with tiny explosions. His violet brother seemed far too blase about the whole shebang. He should Tag, too! Still sputtering cheerily, the rose sizzled on over to the darker crackle and zipped twice around him before swishing back to Nirak. He didn't know what the female was so worked up about--this was a FUN game!

((It's official. I love playing with the crackles!))

T'Rae would answer your question, Enke, but you seemed a little wrapped up. Kind of literally, considering he was covered in a bunch of pinkish sparks demanding his attention. She doubted the man would even be able to hear her over the sound of his friend there, a particularly earsplitting noise that T'Rae was unlikely to ever forget since she had bonded Nirak. It seemed that Enke had made a rather permanent friend, and for a second T'Rae closed her eyes to memorize the sound that the man made in her head, it was always good to be able to pick out new people after all.

She wouldn't be left like that for long, all things considered, as Nirak went zooming past her. Alright fine if Harlequin didn't want to play his game anymore it seemed that Swizzle did and Nirak was going to be all over that. COME ON MAN YOU GOTTA RUN FASTER THAN THAT! The Jungle Green male was off with a fizzle noise that could almost sound like vroom vroom. T'Rae chuckled as she watched him go. "Yes, the bells. He rather likes music." Perhaps music was not the man's goal, but it was exactly what Nirak had gotten out of it. She would have been more than willing to continue their pleasant conversation had the Harlequin green crackling that Nirak had been playing with had not been so particularly loud.

Gently T'Rae offered a palm up in the Female's direction. "You're rather vocal, aren't you?" T'Rae mused as she watched the cracklings. Not that any could be considered particularly silent but the female seemed rather determined to be heard. Alright then, T'Rae was paying attention little lady, what did you want then?

Nirak was content to go after Swizzle with great glee since Ms. Snotty Harlequin there wasn't going to play with him anymore for some unfathomable reason. Of course Tangelo wasn't off his radar by any means and the Green was darting off in a bee line for the male with some determined snaps. Come on now mister you were going to play, see you were even It now he had got you. What fun could you possibly be having just sitting there confused?

Oh. Was he supposed to be playing? Swizzle's violet brother clustered in the little tighter at the approach. Flash flash strobe strobe un-tss un-tsss... Okay maybe not that last part, since he was a Crackling not a DJ, you could totally imagine him flashing to a good heavy beat still, right? But one intend to play? Well, sure, he was down with that. Sizzling up a bit as if mentally preparing himself, the purpley male suddenly darted off after Swizzle and Nirak as well, happily goaded into a game since no fireworks seemed immediately forthcoming. How rude to get them fired up in anticipation and then leave them all disappointed without finishing the job. Didn't Lucas know that was a sure way to upset a lover? It worked in Swizzle and Enke's favour though. The speed of the violet male's strobing picked up. He had his GAME FACE on.

The tangelo and harlequin Cracklings, for their part, had temporarily gotten distracted from the main group by miss female bullying her orange broski with attacks of bright explosions to disorient him. @_@ Who what where uhhh -fzzpop- How confusing.

It didn't last long, however, and their blue father had noticed and was stepping in, Dazzle whistling his disapproval. Play nice or no playing at all for you, missy! The harlequin ran away — as much as an unbonded Crackling could run away from siblings, which was maybe a foot at the moment, but it was enough space to make her anarchist heart known AIN'T NOBODY GONNA TAME HER~

Unless they had bright lights. Seriously. She was almost literally fuming at the small gathering, not really directing her annoyance at any one person in particular. Enke, T'Rae, Lucas, even Zeph or Ria was more than welcome to do something to really wow her. Even if it meant shoving each other out of the way, because seriously, screw lines and proper manners.

The tangelo in the meantime fumbled around, darting abruptly in one direction, then the other, then back where he had, and then suddenly crashed into some legs. Whoopsydoodle, that was a T'Rae there. A warm buzz suddenly filled the air and then slowly died away. Uh, hi there. That was quite sudden. HE PANICKED OKAY DX No hard feelings he's just a little not quite all there in the head you know hehee mhm ahem.

BOND! The Lights That Stop Me Male to T'Rae!

"If only they were simply musical," Enke muttered with a wry twist of his lips. His comment was not particularly meant for T'rae; he'd gotten rather distracted by the enthusiastic revival of Crackling Tag. Swizzle was hiss-hiss-CRACK-ing in pleasure now, his strong pink glow pulsing steadily as he puttered alongside Nirak.

Belatedly, he wondered if T'rae had heard him, but she seemed to have her hands--legs?--full. The orange crackle had come plowing into her, and judging by it's happy (if slightly befuddled) noise, Nirak would have the company of his own kind when they left tonight.

Swizzle whistled then gave off one cheerful boom. Yay! Maybe now he would stop being confused and PLAY! He sizzled on over to the tangelo, hotly pursued by his violet kin. This was great! Now the only one not being swept up in the not-quite competition was the bratty sister, still pouting from Dazzle's scolding.

With an odd almost squelchy pop that was probably intended to be rude, he clumped up and sped in the complete opposite direction of his current trajectory, toward the harlequin female. He could be loud TOO, and have MORE FUN. Bam-bam-bam-POW, how do you like that?

And then he was off again on a tangent, breezing by Nirak and surging toward his violet sibling. Oh, dear. Swizzle had forgotten the rules. But who cared? Unless the rules were make noise, look pretty, and zip-pop-zzzzt straight for everyone in sight like a charging bull, they would be ignored! That's right, purple, he's coming for you.

Enke watched the colorful chaos until his eyes began to smart, then he turned with a frown toward the box. "There is a line, you know," he huffed finally. He had tried to be polite, he really had! But his patience only lasted for so long, and the box was still so full of delightfully flammable surprises. Or maybe he just wanted the thrill of the POWAH again, this time minus the pinching fire of sparks.

((Thanks, now I have to go listen to the Bloodhoung Gang! Sheesh.))

Lucas didn’t seem to be managing this bonding very well at all. It wasn’t particularly evident that there was a line, no he hadn’t noticed at all he just wanted fireworks and explosions and come on this was a damn celebration. His approach to the box didn’t seem to please a pink series of explosion thingies but it didn’t seem to matter after a moment because it floated off. Weird. And he didn’t know anything about Cracklings and disappointment because damn there was just a lot of general chaos and he didn’t understand the communication of these floating lights besides the fact that them exploding loudly probably meant some sort of…strong emotion. If they had emotions anyway. Seriously, these were shinies not just lights that stayed on for a particularly long time?

He looked over at the line and paused for a second in the sand, oh crap there was a line and people usually didn’t take too kindly to strangers just, passing them did them now did they. Crossing his arms he waited with all of the patience that an impatient twenty-three year old could have. He heard Enke speak, some guy that he didn’t really know in particular than decided, well eff this. He shrugged his shoulders breathing out in response.

“But the line don’t seem to be moving fast enough.” He bypassed a few people (probably pissing them off) and looking to reach in, “Plus isn’t this a party, a lights show? So let’s put on some damn lights.” His sparkler had died down by now, or he had dropped it somewhere he hadn’t noticed, and Lusk was still chasing after the waves as if they were sentient alive things that he could unleash his black fury on. He didn’t know a thing about fireworks, hell he didn’t have a lighter, but as he pulled one out (which would turn out to be a Green Bees if he managed to set it off) he looked back towards the man, even at T’Rae. “Got a light?” Unfortunately for him, Lusk was rabid and Fuzz was useless. And he wasn’t gunna bring a lighter to the beach, why even bother?

((Sorry for the massive post guys, but I wanted to try and catch up if possible))

Reaching the crate, Zeph immediately plunged both arms in and started picking out items he thought might attract the Cracklings. He had been here last year and figured the rules were similar - be as bright as possible and hope one of the babies noticed. The Soul Collector gathered an armful of small firecrackers and a few sparklers, then backed off to give others a chance to get some stuff. "No, I brought my own matches, thank you." he responded to Ria's question, nodding politely at her at her an her annoyed Norgard. Seeing that everyone else was occupied for the moment, the skeletal man retreated to an open part of the beach and set his armload down.

Perhaps you should not wander too far from the others? Amal suggested, limping over after a moment. While he had indeed noticed one of the Crackling's attempts to get their attention, he withheld the information, trying to get his bond to be more observant.

Nonsense. Firecrackers can be dangerous in small areas. Surely you don't want to hurt anyone accidentally? Elam responded, stepping closer and sniffing the assorted goods curiously.

Of course not! But I think it is good for Zeph to interact with others more. Being secluded in the jungle all the time is not good for anyone. the Columba replied smoothly, watching Zeph light a match and bring it to the first firecracker. The flame ate at the short cord, quickly reaching the bottom of the firecracker. There was a moment of tense silence from those gathered as they waited for it to explode, but nothing happened.

"Odd..." the Soul Collector muttered as it became clear that the firecracker wasn't going to go off. "It must have malfunctioned somehow." While he carefully placed the dud away from the others least it go off unexpectedly, he addressed Amal's previous statement. "I was cut off from society for centuries, so I am used to not interacting with others all the time. And everyone needs their solitude from time to time, do they not?"

I suppose...but I still worry about you, Zeph. Amal said softly, nudging his bond fondly. The skeletal man chuckled and patted the Flamma on the head, then returned his attention to the firecrackers. A few more attempts had failed to light any of them.

Maybe there is something wrong with them? I may be able to figure it out... Ramon spoke up, circling around to stand in front of Zeph and the assembled firecrackers.

"Please, have a look." Zeph said, leaning back as the Columba leaned down and started to sniff and otherwise examine the malfunctioning items. A quick glance confirmed that the party was moving on without him, and the Soul Collector tried to stifle the mixture of regret and bitterness that rose in his mind. The point was to have a good time, not bond. He had been here last year; he would come again next year, no matter what happened.

Ah, I think I see the problem. Ramon announced after a few minutes. These firecrackers are indeed duds - either they have gotten wet and thus made the powder inside useless, or they were never assembled correctly in the first place. I say abandon them and go back for more.

That's a shame. I'm sure they would have been most impressive had they been working properly. Elam said, mild disappointment tinging his words. It was plan old bad luck that the firecrackers had been chosen, and so he didn't say any more.

Zeph stared at the useless firecrackers for a moment, then nodded. "Let me try the sparklers, and we shall return." he decided. Another match was lit, and this time the flame caught and the stick he held started to send off bright sparks. Success!

The Soul Collector and assembled Flamma trooped back towards the box of goodies, arriving just in time to hear Lucas ask for a light. "Yes, I have one." the man replied, allowed Ramon to take the sparkler while he produced another match. "I hope you have better success with that one than I did." he added, holding out the flickering match.