Epic Menorah Log of Epicness Who: Mandy Brocklehurst, Vicky Frobisher, Anthony Goldstein, and Su Li Where: Starting at Ant and Vicky's flat and heading to Dodderinge. When: BACKDATED. To, er, sometime during Chanukah. Summary: A Menorah is put up in Dodderidge Park. Equality of winter holidays or some such. Rating: PG-13
Su was rather tickled by the idea of actually putting up a giant Menorah in Dodderidge Park next to the Christmas tree. Chanukah was completely underrated by the general population, in her opinion (although, she could be said to be biased since her mum had insisted on Chanukah being the winter holiday, and her dad hadn't cared enough to insist otherwise), and thus deserved more publicity.
Besides, her family was absolutely mad and considering she didn't know the majority of them, this endeavor seemed loads more exciting.
She had come to Anthony and Vicky's for dinner dressed in black, just because it was more stealthy and whatnot, and now that it was rapidly approaching eleven, she was getting antsy and excited, although she tried not to show it too much as she held the normal sized Menorah to engorge once they'd snuck in.
Vicky wasn't Jewish, herself, but she had been with Ant long enough to appreciate certain customs and, more importantly, she was perfectly willing to go along with something that was going to make him happy. His mother could be a bit.. overbearing and this whole getting together with friends and putting up a giant Menorah seemed like fun.
She'd giggled when Su had shown up dressed in all black and it hadn't taken much time at all for her to change into similar attire. "We'll be like cat burglars or something," she'd said. The whole stealthiness of their endeavor made it even more appealing and she was practically bouncy with excitement as the evening wore on. She understood the need for it to be dark, of course, but she couldn't help feeling quite impatient as they waited for time to get underway.
Anthony really found the dark outfits a bit funny. He was pretty sure that dressing like thieves in a public place was more conspicuous than not. He would have said it was Vicky being positively Gryffindor, but Su was dressed as well. But the excitement was hanging strong in the air. It really was preferable to spending the night with family he didn't know that well. They all tended to ask him the same types of catching up questions.
"Which you know is far more conspicuous than jeans." He pointed out good-naturedly not wanting to mess with their excitement. He wasn't changing himself, even if Vicky might try to make him. He checked his watch, waiting for Mandy to show up. "Anyone want anything to drink?" he asked making his way to the kitchen.
Checking her watch again, Mandy knocked on Anthony's door, hoping she wasn't too late. She was not dressed all in black. Granted, she had considered it, but when she actually looked at her wardrobe she realised she didn't have much black. Not real black anyway, there were off-blacks and muted blacks and, she hadn't realised til now, a lot more grey than she'd thought. Instead she'd just grabbed something dark and mossy green (when did you find real dark black outside at night anyway) and hurried off before she could make herself any later.
Waiting for the door to open she rocked a little, impressed that they were actually going to go through with such a zany idea. On the plus side, she figured, they weren't going to be likely suspects.
Mandy wasn't going to be a likely suspect, but there weren't that many Jewish people living on the Lane, so having fingers pointed at her and Anthony was something Su was sort of expecting to happen. Still, if there was no proof, they could surely get away with it!
Su jumped up to answer the door for Mandy. It was plain to see that she was bursting with excitement. However, she hadn't completely missed Anthony's question.
"I don't know...should we do drinks first or put up our Menorah first and have drinks after to celebrate?" she posed.
"Hush," Vicky told her boyfriend, sticking her tongue out at him like a five year old. She knew the black wasn't really any stealthier, but it was fun to dress up like thieves or some such. At least she thought it was. Then again, Vicky was often easily amused.
She was less indecisive on the subject of drinks. "How about drinks now and after we get back?" she suggested. They had a few minutes yet, she thought, before they would be leaving and a drink or two would pass the time nicely, but they should definitely celebrate once they returned. She was pretty sure that what they were about to do wasn't illegal (not that that would have stopped her, of course), but it was still quite a feat if they managed to get it done without being caught.
"After, definitely after." He said nodding. He went grab his coat when Su jumped to the door. He had to admit that Vicky and Su bouncing around the flat was a bit contagious. Of course Anthony wouldn't bounce. "It's not like it'll take that long to do." Seriously, put it down and enlarge it. It wasn't anything too difficult. Of course, they should probably put some charm on it to make sure it can't be removed until the holiday was over.
"Hey, Mandy. We were deciding if we should have something to drink now or later." Which was probably a bit obvious. "I've changed my mind to after."
"Celebration drinks after seems more appropriate," Mandy said, considering the proposition as she stepped into the flat's entrance way. "If we are trying to be surreptitious it'd be better to keep our wits about us? Save the drinks for afterwards." She highly doubted anyone in this group really had to worry about losing their wits, but it was as fine an argument as any. "Unless it's still too early? Is this the sort of thing you do at midnight?"
"I don't think it's too early," Su said, "It's already after eleven and who would be down at the park at this time anyway? It's too cold for most couples to be using it for shagging, and even if they were, they'd not supposed to be there any more than us."
Her decision made, Su pushed past Mandy and out the door. "So, are you all coming, then?"
Vicky's heart hadn't been exactly set on drinks now and later, so she shrugged when everyone else seemed to be all for waiting until after they were done. There would definitively be celebrating to be done, then and she couldn't help being a little patient to get on with things, especially when Su started out the door. Patience had never been one of her strong points, anyway.
"We should talk in secret agent code or something," she suggested. No, it wasn't necessary, but wouldn't it be more fun?
Anthony shook his head and chuckled as he locked up the door once everyone was out of the flat. "What? Pig latin?" He teased. He patted his pockets absentmindedly to make sure he had everything there before continuing. "Anyway, I was thinking that it wouldn't be difficult in the least to set it on the ground and enlarge it, but we should think about putting a charm on it so it can't be removed until after the holidays are over." he pointed out. It really wouldn't be fun or worth it if the menorah was gone in the morning.
"Or code names?" Mandy suggested, quietly intrigued by the concept of Pig Latin, making a note to look it up in the hopes it was as interesting as it actually sounded. She nodded her agreement to Anthony's suggestion, eyes widening when a follow up idea hit her. "A sticking charm, of course, but we should also set it to light itself, right? Otherwise we'll be sneaking out here every night. I think that might increase our odds of getting caught. Code names and costumes or not."
"Code names would be fun! But what would they be?" Su asked, as they headed down the hall.
Pondering the idea of a sticking charm and a lighting charm, she added, "When my parents go out of town, they have something in their electricity that turns lights on in the evening so it looks like people are home. Are there any charms that have timers like that?" She probably ought to have listened a bit more in Charms class, come to think of it, "Otherwise I suppose it can be all the time. And a good lumos would work for that?"
"Like Super Heroes! Or X-Men!" she chimed in with a grin when Mandy suggested it and Su seemed interested. She thought it was a great idea. Maybe not necessary, but it would be fun!
Vicky had been pretty much a Charms whiz in school and she nodded excitedly as they discussed the charms that might be needed. "It's a bit more complex than a simple Lumos, but we should e able to manage it," she offered. She'd never been a brain, but she was smarter than a lot of people gave her credit for and she was going over the options in her own head. "Of course there would be nothing wrong with letting it stay lit all the time," she mused. "It's not like we're using electricity or anything."
"As long as my code name is Sexy Beast of a Man. I don't care." He said in response to the conversation about code names. Although honestly Dork One, Two, Three, and Four would be better applicable to them.
"Let it stay lit." He agreed with a nod. "We'll just definitely need something more permanent than Lumos since that can be extinguished fairly quickly." They probably should have thought up a better plan before leaving the house but it wasn't that big of a deal. "Incendio to light it up, but also make it impervious so it won't get put out or get out of control?"
Definitely not apt in charms, Mandy nodded along with the discussion. Her spell work wasn't shoddy but unless they wanted to train a dragon to light each candle her strengths were probably going to stay in reserve. "Yeah, I think keeping it under control would be a must. A big must. As big as the menorah's going to be, at least. We just want to vandalise for equality not torch the park." She was pretty sure if their charms went out of control and leveled Dodderidge their little prank wouldn't be so well received.
Passing by the decorated store fronts on the way to the park, Mandy chuckled to herself before sharing a thought with the others. "If they do, for some reason I wouldn't be able to give you, it's not like we're doing anything bad, this really is only fair and right, after all, equal holiday recognition...but if someone does take it down...can we try a giant spinning dreidel in response?" There was just something about the mental image she was greatly enjoying. Of course, she was pretty sure a decoration war wasn't going to be spawned.
"I don't know if we can call you 'Sexy Beast of a Man'," Su teased Anthony, "That might give you away, you know?"
Charms hadn't been Su's strongest subject, either. That wasn't to say she was terrible with them, but her mind had perpetually been on other things in Flitwick's class - like the WWN programmes she'd listened to, or the boy she was either crushing on or seeing at the time, or wondering how Flitwick dealt with being so short - Su wished she had a few more inches on her, and she was much taller than he was!
"I think that'll work," Su said, figuring Anthony and Mandy knew what they were talking about, "And yes, if someone undoes our sticking charm, the giant dreidel should definitely be next! Just because Ant and I are the minority doesn't make our winter holidays any less valid!"
Vicky giggled at the debate on Anthony's code name, but she was quickly distracted by more important matters - like how they were going to keep the menorah lit and attached to the spot. She nodded her head at the suggestions from the others. "I agree, I think that'll definitely work," she said, though she was sure it was hardly necessary to voice a simple agreement when everyone else seemed to be on the same page.
"I think we should do a giant dreidel sometime anyway," she chimed in. She might not be Jewish, but doing this kind of thing was so much fun</u>. She would definitely be up for a follow up prank!
Anthony almost stepped dead in his tracks. "Shit." He said sounding a bit disappointed with himself. "We should have thought of that earlier. A spinning dreidel would have been pretty epic." He agreed. Although he was pretty sure that getting it upright, balance, and spinning would probably be harder than simply enlarging the menorah. Next year, they'd have to really plan ahead.
He tossed an arm around Vicky's shoulders as the group got closer to the park. "I rather like the phrase vandalise for equality, to be honest. It has a nice revolutionary ring to it." He told Mandy with a laugh after a short pause. "We should be on the lookout all the time for things to do."
"Vandals for Equality," She repeated, taking a liking to the name herself. "I'm sure we could think of a lot of things to do, granted right now all I can think of is pamphlets, and those aren't really interesting or exciting as they are tedious and usually irritating but there's something. Snowmen always seemed quite gender discriminatory to me...snow feminists could be interesting, maybe a little scary but certainly equal," Realising she'd rambled all the way to the park, Mandy chuckled quietly and cut herself off. "Or we could just stick to this festive vandalism."
"Yeah, I'm not sure about pamphlets," Su said, "Although it would be nice if they could get something on the Wireless." She rather thought that was a nice way to get messages about things like Chanukah out to loads of people, but then again, they also paid her to work there, which may have had something to do with it. Su rather thought if she ever did get famous, though, she could make a big deal out of not celebrating Christmas so people would stop assuming everyone did.
Finally making it down to Dodderidge, Su scoped out the area. "What do you think? We'll want it close enough to the Christmas tree that it's obviously there as a response to it, but far enough away that we don't accidentally burn it down or something.
Ant's arm felt quite comfortable around her shoulders and Vicky spared him a brief smile before he attention focused on the conversation again. "Vandals for Equality!" she agreed with a grin, shaking her head when Mandy seemed to dismiss the idea as quickly as she'd mentioned it. "I think it's a brilliant idea!"
They'd made it to the park and talk had quickly turning to the task at hand, so she took a look around. "Over there, maybe?" she suggested, pointing to a spot that was a safe distance from the tree, but still easily in view. She shifted a little closer to Ant, because she was cold, as usual.
Pamphlets weren't really vandalizing though. That was unless you set them to give paper cuts, and Anthony believed that paper cuts fell into the realm of assault as opposed to vandalism. "We could always build a snowwoman when we're done." He pointed out to Mandy. He hadn't built anything out of snow since he was a kid.
"It's a good space, because as Su said, it'd be horrible to accidentally burn down the Christmas tree." He let go of Vicky and stepped over towards the spot she had pointed to. "We could make it pretty massive here." He pointed out. There really was a ton of room.
"Yeah," Mandy considered Anthony's point. "That would probably cross the line from vandalising for equality to vandalising for supremacy. Burning the tree down with a menorah. Most definitely the wrong message." She stepped forward and turned around in the spot chosen, not too close to the tree, not too far, not in the way of any vital pathways or really obtrusive in anyway. Seemed to pass any test she could think up. "Good spot," she turned toward the others, looking between them to see who had the Key Piece to their Ultra Devious Master Plan.
"Building snow persons would be fun," she admitted, waiting excitedly for the menorah to be taken out and enlarged. "Or an igloo." Equality was all well and good but if there was going to be late night snow sculpting, it had to be said, she'd always wanted to build a real igloo. Or as real as the mistaken concept of igloos could get.
Su was the one with the Menorah, and with a spot chosen, she brought it over and placed it on the ground.
"Sticking charm now, or when it's big?' she asked, hoping someone else would do the actual charms.
"And I'm all about building snow-people," she added, scooping up a bit of snow and patting it into a ball, "The snow's even perfect packing snow. I think it must be a sign."
There may have been a slight, almost noticeably brief pout on her face as Anthony let go of her. Not that she was clingy or anything, but had she mentioned the cold? He was definitely going to have to help her warm up later.
"Ooooh, igloo!" Her pouting was quickly forgotten at that idea. That would be the most brilliant thing ever, wouldn't it? She thought it was a good idea. "We should definitely do that!"
She considered Su's question for a second before making a suggestion. "After it's big, I think," she said.
"We could do both, if we're out here long enough." He offered up. "Igloos AND snowpeople. Like an entire snow village."
Anthony couldn't help but smile when Su put the menorah in it's place. He glanced around, and when no one else made a move to enlarge it, he pulled his wand. "Engorgio." He said calmly, pointing his wand. The menorah began to grow in it's place. When it was as tall as he was he called over his shoulder, "Tell me when." Alright, so this WAS a bit more fun than he thought it would be. He was sure they'd just be in and out, and that it would be simple.
"When it's as tall as the tree?" Mandy suggested. It seemed the size that corresponded the best with their Equality theme. Too small or too large could be read into too much by some people. Equal was...equal. "Yeah," she stuffed her mittened hands in her pockets as she watched it grow. "Like that. You think?" It was impressive as it was, she was honestly a little excited to see how fantastic it would look lit up. "Snow village," she said, still looking up at the towering menorah. "I think I like that."
Su nodded her head in agreement with Mandy, feeling more delighted than she had in quite some time. There was just something about
sneaking around like this that gave her a thrill - even moreso than it used to. Although that may have been because of the past years she'd spent crafting her reputation in the acting world and trying not to be seen in a negative light. She'd forgotten just how fun a simple prank could be.
"Definitely the sticking charm before we light it," she told them, "Elsewise, I'm sure a strong wind will just so happen to come along and set everything afire."
Midnight snow villages might postpone the celebratory drinks, but Su found she didn't quite mind.
A whole snow village, that sounded brilliant. Vicky grinned as she watched Ant engorge the menorah, nodding her agreement at the size once he'd stopped it growing. She pulled her own wand out to do the sticking charm once they'd all agreed on the size, grinning more in anticipation of lighting it. This really had been a brilliant plan. They should do this kind of thing much more often. Every Christmas, at least!
"Who wants to light it?" she asked once it was firmly in place and very obviously not moving. She couldn't wait to see it all lit up. It was going to look fantastic! And after this, there'd be snow villages and drinks! She was definitely excited for that, too.
Anthony looked expectantly at Su. He was wondering if they should just get it over with and light them all, or just go ahead and light a couple. Not all of them were supposed to be lit so soon anyway. "Come on Su. Your go." He said stepping aside. He was busy trying to figure out a charm that would keep said flames in one place. "It's probably best if we light them all. Or else we'll be out here every night." And he knew he had to work one of those nights.
Su nodded at Anthony's suggestion, and threw up a few charms to light the candles as well as protect the flames from things like wind, rain, or snow.
"It looks fantastic," she announced happily, hands on her hips before turning to look at the other three with a grin, "Now wasn't there a snow village to make or something?"