Who: Nuray and OPEN
When: Friday, Feb 1, afternoon
Where: Van’taurë Lake
What: An encounter with a mermaid

To those who had never met Nuray before, her excited running down the beach to the water and then diving in would look rather strange. It was like something someone would see at a beach party after someone had drunk a little too much. After all, skinny dipping was not exactly the normal thing for most people. However, for Nuray, any clothes that went into the water were liable to get shredded during her transformation, sleeves fell victim to the fins growing in at her elbows, pants to her tail. So she went in wearing absolutely nothing at all. Not one stitch.

Jay would usually just saunter along behind, saying nothing. He'd seen this particular overly happy display quite a few times. All they needed were some rocks to dive off of and she'd really put on a show. It was fun for her. He would have to admit that Nuray's enthusiasm was one of the things that helped to keep him going in life. For today though, he was back at the cottage staring at the recreations of the foyer drawn to scale, trying to estimate how many people such a space would have accommodated.

Nuray was taking a break from it all, floating along the top of the water with absent flicks of her tail, watching the clouds. Eventually she'd go under and eat, but for the moment, she just wanted to look up at the sky and reconnect with the world around her.

Who: Nuray and Elijah
When: Midmorning Christmas Day
Where: Near the Bungalows and then the Ancient Elven Palace
What: Nuray and Elijah decided they were going to go to the Elven Palace together for Christmas.

( So you're going with a Water Elemental to an ancient Elven palace? If you were my daughter, I'd say you were telling me a fib to sneak out and make time with your boyfriend. )

Who: Nuray, Jay and OPEN
When: Evening, Friday December 21
Where: The town ice rink
What:An old man and a mermaid go ice skating.

Nuray met almost nothing in the world with any sense of trepidation. This was no different. Jay said, "Let's go ice skating," to which she gave him an utterly confused look and then said, "Okay." All without having the faintest conception of what ice skating actually entailed. Sure, she had seen it on television, grainy black and white stuff because the reception on the boat was horrible and they rarely stuck around on land long enough to watch anything, much less for her to process the information for anything truly specific. As it stood, she saw ice skating as something that people did in skin tight outfits and did little twirly dances during. That was not the kind of ice skating that Jay, a native New Yorker, cared to even call ice skating.

( Mermaids on Ice )

Who: Nuray and Elijah
Where: The Sweet Shop in town
When: Afternoon, Wednesday Nov 7
What: Nuray comes into town because she wants something sweet.

( There was nothing quite like a warm cookie )

Who: Nuray & Corisanthias
When: 3 pm, November 4th
Where: In Van'taurë Lake
What: Nuray is hiding from the world and Corisanthias comes to join her at least for a moment.

( There really was no word for murder in her language. )

Who: Nuray Masterson
When: After the funeral
Where: In Van'taurë Lake
What: Nuray surfaces again, still not willing to return to the land.

The waters of the lake were dark with nothing but the moon and stars above to light it. Moonlight did penetrate down, but at the bottom where Nuray was settled the light didn't quite reach. Part of her wanted to go up and see how Jay was handling things, but that would mean getting out of the water. Getting out of the water was not something that she wanted to do. Not at all, it was better to her mind to stay down in the deep water where the underwater growths brushed against her skin in the dark.

( Escaping to a place that makes much more sense. )

WHO: Open to anyone who wants to attend.
WHEN: Just after sunset.
WHERE: Northern Forest, near Van'taurë Lake.
WHAT: Faye and Kaiya's funeral.

Funerals in the most common fae tradition involved simple pyres to burn the bodies of the dead. It was an old tradition used to hide the bodies of the deceased, even in death, from the eyes of prying outsiders. Humans became known for ruining sacred ground by building their cities upon them or digging up the dead and, especially as time worn on, cremation became commonplace for most fae communities in the last few centuries. At Faye and Kaiya’s funeral, two elaborate pyres had been constructed in their honor near Van'taurë Lake.

The funeral began as a march. All those who attended walked a path from the edge of the forest to the location of the pyres by the lake. The journey to death had to be taken by all, and the crowd walked together with the people carrying the bodies of the deceased upon wooden carriers.

The colors of death were draped over their bodies. White was the color of death. Each woman wore a white dress, a white sheet draped over the lower half of their bodies, and white veils placed over their faces. Each of them held a bouquet of white sweet pea flowers in their hands. White poppy petals littered their dresses and the sheets over them.

When the march finally ended, they arrived at the pyres and stood at attention close to the lake. There were no seats. Faye and Kaiya were taken to their respective pyres and carried up to the top of the complicated structures. There, they were placed, and those who took them up the pyres returned to the ground. A song was sung by a choir of faes as the pyres were lit. All that could be done was to watch the fires rise up the pyres as attendees paid their respects by aiding the deceased into the afterlife with their presence.

Who: Everyone!
When: From sunset onward!
Where: Around the Ancient Elven Tree
What: All Hallow's Eve Festival!

ooc: to join in on the festivities, simply comment to the main post. Your entry can be a narrative or open to others. If you are replying to someone else reply to their comment and not to the main post. All activities are open for participation, it is up to your discretion what your character will do.

The sounds of happy parade goers filled the evening air as the citizens of Elysium marched from the town toward the festival near the Ancient Elven Tree. Many of the citizens were dressed in costume, and it was obvious that they had been looking forward to the All Hallow's Eve event. The lively music, provided by the fauns, set the overall tone of the parade. Many of the citizens were singing along to the music, while others whooped and cheered. Their path toward the Ancient Elven Tree was lighted by magical sparklers that never lost their energy, and some citizens even had hand-held sparklers that they waved around happily. Sorcerers enchanted objects to light up the sky like fireworks, while small fairies fluttered around the citizens like fireflies.

( Onto the festivities! )

Who: Corisanthias and Nuray
When: Early morning (around 8 o'clock)
Where: Van'taurë Lake
Why: Because land walkers shouldn't have all the fun :)

Corisanthias leaped into the water and felt his mind grow at ease as his tail returned. He may not be home in this place, but these waters were as close as he was going to get to it. He stretched himself out and gave a little yawn, sending bubbles to the surface. This was where he really belonged.

The water was far warmer than he was used to, but by now he'd come to accept that everything was going to be warmer than he was used to. At the very least he could hope that the water might freeze at some point.

He breathed in deep and then spotted a fish from the corner of his eye. He immediately switched into hunting mode and jetted off, diverting the fish with carefully planned false lunges, circling the fish into a better place to assault from. It was a good sized fish, and he could hear it calling out in panic, making it easier to know where it might be going. He had to catch it before it found a school.

Then he saw his opening. The fish, in an attempt to divert Corisanthias, accidentally turned the exact direction that Corisnanthias himself was lunging in from and with a quick grab, the fish was his. He immediately switched direction to the surface and breached into a somersault, bringing the fish to his mouth and taking a bite as he landed. Breakfast was served.

It was only after the hunt was finished, with half the fish still hanging from his mouth that he noticed he wasn't alone.

Who: Nuray and Caden
When: Friday Afternoon October 26th
Where: The Zipline of Awesome
What: Nuray's never seen a zipline before, but she wants to try it. Caden gets a chance to show off his creation.

Fate tended to use things like inattention and laziness to her advantage whenever possible. In this case, it was in finding Nuray something to do on a day when she had been feeling the first pricks of boredom. There was always going back to the lake and getting further acquainted with the denizens of the waters there. However, as she was walking in that direction, a scrap of paper went fluttering by. There was something written on it. She could tell that before she decided to chase the wandering scrap.

After a rather delightful romp in which she fell twice and managed to frighten some small woodland creature into abandoning his doings of the afternoon, she caught the paper and got a good look at what had been written on it. Now what was this thing a 'zip line'? She'd never heard of anything of the kind. Well, that was interesting.

Curiosity killed the little fish woman, but satisfaction could bring her back. So with a new thing in mind, Nuray changed direction go find this zip line thing and get a good look at it. Mayhaps it would be interesting and fun and something to show Jay later when he got up from his older person middle of the afternoon nap. The way he slept, one would think he was about sixty, not just north of forty.

She found the zipline after a bit of looking and standing below it looked up at it. Well, it was a line like a clothes line. At least, that was the nearest comparison that she had in her head. So how exactly did one go about doing this, she wondered. The ladder wasn't lost on her, but she wasn't quite ready to go up the ladder yet and give this thing a try. First she wanted to see if she could figure out the mechanics. So she stood there, looking upward curiously, arms folded across her chest. Her clothing wasn't terribly heavy despite the weather, probably because she wasn't really all that bothered by cold.

Who: Nuray Masterson, Jay Masterson, and Sydni Wilson
When: Afternoon October 25th
Where: Van'taurë Lake
What: Nuray wants to swim and Jay is just not seeing the fascination with this weather.

James Masterson was tired. After what felt like ages of traveling, he and Nuray had finally made it to something that could be considered a home. Their place was sparsely decorated, bits and pieces of things that they had thought better than to leave behind. Settled in a chair, he was quite content to stay that way. Unfortunately, his housing companion was not exactly the kind of person to rest on her laurels. She was moving about like a bumblebee, zipping about the place.

"Jay, come on," she stuck her head into what could be their living room. He looked up at her with half-lidded eyes and asked the obvious question.

( Come on where? )

Who: Everyone
When: 5:00 PM
Where: The docks
What: The arrival of the Elven Ship

The news of the arrival of the Elven ship had been the talk of the haven for the past couple of weeks. The Head Council had organized a group to prepare for its arrival, expanding upon the docks and decorating it the best they could even with the seemingly non-stop rain showers. At the end of the two weeks were completely re-vamped docks, one that could accommodate the smaller boats that occasionally traversed the lake while now big enough to handle the large ship that was due very soon.

The ship hadn’t arrived in the morning, the current storms outside the valley no doubt delaying it by a few hours. It was well into the afternoon before the guard in the tower by the shore yelled out from his post announcing that the ship had been sighted just entering the valley. It was a large vessel even though it was far on the horizon. The sun was only just beginning its descent in the sky, and the orange glow was reflecting brightly off the clouds. The white sails of the Elven ship billowed in the wind that was carrying it to the docks. It was a beautiful sight, and the people that had gathered by the docks were waving happily to the people on board.

It was a happy occasion for the haven since it was the first attempt at travel after the outbreak of the virus and the war. The excitement in the air was palpable as the crowd grew more and more boisterous the closer the grand ship came to them. Some started cheering and whooping into the air, others began talking animatedly about the sorts of people the ship was bringing with them. It was an event that most of Elysium had come out to participate in, and it would not be forgotten for many years to come.