#wtnhevent01

[bearcaught]

@ursabear

zyair was supposed to meet up with a friend at the festival today. it was his first in new haven & he'd been looking forward to getting out more, to meeting others, because without work - or without knowing anybody really in new haven, he'd been quite lonely. liam tried to keep him company, but he had a newborn & mate to take care of & trenton, he'd found lived quite an eventful life that didn't involve being family. not that he'd expected him to be when he offered himself to the other. never did he think this would be his future. he'd dreamt of escaping for so many years, yet his actual escape had been nothing like how he dreamt it to be. new haven was great, it was allowing him the life he'd always hoped for. in freedom.

he was going to get ready to go out, which meant shower & getting dressed, but when he tried.... the water refused to get warm. he waited a little while at first, but even after an hour, he got nothing. he'd been given a list with important numbers upon arrival & a phone to use them with. he was .. familiar with phones .. a little. he didn't remember a lot from before, but he'd had plenty of time to himself that gave him the opportunity to learn. handyman was called, thankfully he said he'd come over despite the festival going on, so zyair had just been waiting. he had had breakfast, set the dishes in the sink to clean later & after that he just rested on the couch. he was getting tired quickly these days, his body clearly at its limit. it wouldn't be long now. he had no idea how to raise children - he didn't even know how to function outside of a cage, least of all on his own, but he assumed he'd find out. he didn't have a lot of options.

soft knock announced another person's presence - zyair got up slowly, hand on his belly out of habit & made his way over. unlocking the door with practiced ease, he pulled it open, the scent that hit him bringing warmth with it. bear. he always felt most comfortable in the presence of his own kin. "hello, thank you so much for coming today." it was beltane, a festival celebrating their kind - he felt guilty for calling on a free day, but to his defense he hadn't known the handyman would be a bear. "come in. thirsty?"

[omegadreams]

Friday afternoon, Beltane Fire Festival

The Festival was officially open. They were a council member short, but they would make do for now. The different pack leaders were sharing the responsibilities of the Ursa pack while they found someone suitable for the position.

Either way, he was going to enjoy the festivities this weekend and try to make some friends while he was at it. He passed by the recently opened stands and eyed the figurines and arts bear-themed displayed around. He ends up buying a gorgeous necklace with a bear head decoration at the center and puts it on. He’s fiddling with it when he bumps into someone. “Sorry,” he says looking up and smiling softly. “I know I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

[wolftracked]

@balisrivera

elias never expected to be so involved in the town's matters, be it their search for travelers - or travelers existing in the first place, the police's security systems or how to set up a community network with broadcasts from council to townsfolk. with that, his own work & trenton constantly chasing his tail ... one could say elias was struggling. he should be working through the weekend, use the fact nobody else was working to catch up on lost time, but ... he was exhausted - mentally, from work. never did he think that possible. the festival came at just the right time, really & he already knew what he'd do first. well, second. first had been poking trenton about coming with him. he had yet to succeed, but he had all day, night & tomorrow.

personally, he was all about celebrating the bears of town, hence why he wanted trenton to tag along. he'd celebrate his favorite bear's existence on his own, too - he had no qualms about that & when he got home in the night, all tipsy, he'd make sure said bear felt as appreciated as he possibly could. that said,he was really hoping to get trenton to join him for the bonfire at least, maybe the play. one thing he knew though, was that balis - his new favorite little feline was somewhere at the festival - he'd been the one to nudge council into checking out his skills & potentially hiring him for the weekend - or longer. it just took him a little while to find him. when he did, balis was drawing an older couple, so elias waited - in sight, shooting the other a little grin when their eyes met. he'd finally get that drawing of himself today - balis had nowhere to run this time.

[lionguarded]

@balisrivera

silas knew the bare minimum of cultural holidays - he did back in the day & he knew even less now, but the ruckus in town because of the village had piqued his interest & so he'd investigated ahead of time, found out that work was off the entire weekend for everybody unless they worked at the festival & that there would be twenty-four-seven celebrations, which was quite interesting, actually. they said there would be food, fun & alcohol to be had - on top of other festivities, like a theatre performance (or something?) & a big bonfire, which definitely caught his interest. bonfires felt a little like home, he .. remembered his last in willowshire with dante chasing him around the town square in fricken public.

he thought about some sort of family trip, but wasn't quite sure to what extend he could ask all of them to go anywhere together. well, silas mostly worried about taj & dante, who were still being incredibly stubborn. well, taj was. part of him appreciated his concern, but .. there was no need. balis had seemed a lot more relaxed when it came to dante, but then again he'd never met him before new haven, so maybe that was why. still, he wanted to at least take balis & sammy while it was early, they'd meet up with dante there as he'd been at the shop in the morning. "balis, you comin'?" silas was waiting by the door, little sammy was seemingly unhappy with her boots, but silas had already dropped to one knee to fix whatever issue she might had while they waited.

[beartany]

"Really? All of them, then. One each." said the bear, jokingly. He smiles back at the vampire as he chuckles at his own joke. Orson doesn't usually enjoy the company of a stranger, but the festivities in town and the help of some liquid bravery help loosen him up a bit. He doesn't connect with the festival itself that much, being someone who just moved here later in life. It's the event and the people of the town that intrigued him.

"What's the catch?" He is skeptical about the offer but shows clear signs of interest. The vampire looks familiar to him, but he usually doesn't pay much attention to people unless they interacted in some way, so he couldn't tell if he met Ludwig before. Orson wouldn't mind some free treats but he's intimidated by the fangs, as the history with his past vampire lovers teaches him to be careful with their charms.

Ludwig was only a fan of fun and spectacle when he was directly involved. But he could at least enjoy the Beltane Fire Festival if only because it was morbid. Whoever this Bear King had left quite on new haven the mark and Ludwig intended to do the same. Preferably without dying. Last year he had set up a booth where he sold art inspired by the festival. His sales were abysmal and he attributed this to not many people wanting to see a man sown into a dead bear that had been set ablaze. Eh, everybody was a critic. Standing with a parasol and crimson eyes hidden beneath sunglasses he looked over a cart filled to the brim with treats. Deciding to be generous he offered a fanged smile to another also admiring the cart, "Do you want anything? It'll be my treat."

[newhavenrp]

"Dear people of New Haven,

This weekend we shall celebrate a grand sacrifice that changed New Haven forever. Exactly 100 years ago today, on May 1st 1923, those who came before us witnessed something so ground-shaking that, to this day, we still dedicate an entire weekend to celebrate it. This will be the first Beltane Fire Festival in New Haven for many of you, but don’t worry - you’ll have a wonderful time and learn more about our lovely little town at the same time. 

Now, let’s get the details out of the way first. The festival starts Friday afternoon and lasts until Monday night. Everybody has worked hard to make it happen, so come join us and enjoy. There’s food, games, traditional artistic craft to be acquired and, yes - alcohol. Plenty to go around. Sunday at midnight, we will continue official celebrations with the traditional Beltane fire at Town Square, starting off the month of fire accordingly. Make sure you don’t miss it, we expect all of you to be there.  As you might’ve noticed the Square also grew a stage. Don’t fret, we wanted it to.

The main spectacle of this weekend’s Beltane fair will be the show on Saturday night, presenting The Fall of the Bear King. Without the Bear King’s sacrifice, we wouldn’t be the New Haven we are now, pay your respects this weekend. Watch the bloody show, I won’t ask twice."

OOC Note: The event will run from Saturday 29th to the 13th, so it'll run 2 weeks. Use the event tag for starters and threads, we'd prefer you don't start any others and use the two weeks to write during the event setting. :3

It's a big fair/festival with street food, candy, wooden art/toy shops - everything is bear/ursa inspired so there will be special food/treats as well, etc.

Event tag: wtnhevent01 (for this event specifically, threads etc) + wtnhevent (for open starters etc.)

[beartany]

One of the very few good things about living in a van is being able to move your entire house anywhere anytime you want. Though Orson has some quiet spots that are perfect for parking his van, during a festival like this he enjoys being closer to the people to shake things up a bit. Not only it is easier for him to get back to all the fun, but it keeps him from getting tired of living in a space that small. It has been going on like this for years, but he prefers this arrangement than settling down in a place he knows he doesn't have that much of a reason to stay.

He would prefer observing people having fun rather than asking to join one. People were having the time of their life and Orson was there enjoying a cold can of soda in his hand at the beginning of summer alone all by himself. The bear was paying attention to eavesdropping on a conversation nearby. He missed the impressive sight of the perfect throw. He then felt something fly from somewhere, hitting right on the bridge of his nose causing him to lose his balance. The large figure fell to the grown, groaning from the impact of the fall and the flying object.

"Goddamnit, can't I have just one peaceful day?" He blurted that out despite having completely uneventful days for quite a while. One hand covered his nose as a reflex, not realizing the pain until he felt his blood run down his palm. He was the type of person that could tolerate pain and wouldn't move an inch, until he saw the blood and everything would immediately go downhill. His mind went blank from the sight of his hand painted red, then he felt someone trying to help him clean before he could even think of complaining. "ROGUH? Does it look bad? My nose is broken? Is it broken? Please tell me it isn't broken." said Orson as he frantically inspected the injury with his hands, looking like he was about to shed tears.

CLOSED EVENT STARTER || @beartany || location: ext. town square

It was the Beltane in the town of New Haven and Eros had donned on his kilt for the festivities. He was surely to impress a couple men or two. Eros' definite goal for the night was to be invited to be a couple's third. Putting on his kilt every festival was one of Eros' favorite parts of participating in these events. Although, not as much as he enjoys taking it off at the end of the day.

However, the werebear figured he'd take a lap with it on around the square. Catching a few wandering glances and returning a few himself, Eros makes his way past a pack of handsome men playing frizbee. The young werebear couldn't help give a playful salute to the worked up men. Eros will admit, he enjoys the attention others gave him when he wanted it. However, as past experiences have taught the young werebear, situations like these didn't always turn out for the better.

One of the men unknowingly lets go of the frizbee in his hand, shooting across the square. The rubber disk flew in the air in a clean arc. It would have been impressive had it not been for how the disc lands. Eros spotted a man across from him, lounging next to a van when he sees the frizbee crash into his face. Eros wore a surprised expression on his face as he hurried towards the man hit with the frizbee.

The man was bleeding from his nose, but had managed to falling unexpectedly. Eros manages to barter a towel from the frizbee playing men to use on him. Trying to clean the other's face, Eros talks to him, checking to see the effect of the frizbee were more urgent than desired. "Hey, are you alright? That looked rough."

[bearcaught]

it had to be pure coincidence that zyair chose to sit at the very same table as someone he was destined to meet here in new haven. originally, zyair had made his way to the festival to get out of the apartment for a little while. he only knew few people in town so far & he knew the reason for that was that he locked himself up at home, so .. here he was trying not to. unfortunately the only person he knew cancelled on him last minute, so he was left to fend for himself.

liam had his mate & he wasn't quite sure what trenton was up to, but he hadn't exactly appeared the kind to visit festivals, so zyair hadn't bothered asking him. that left him... with himself, which was also fine. it wasn't like he was alone, anyway - if his belly was anything to go by. after the hustle & bustle of the of the main attractions, zyair had gone to find shelter from the crowd by some picnic tables, an almost familiar scent in the air - yet it was not.

it couldn't be, because zyair was on his own - it was just him in this world & maybe soon his offspring. so, a random bear smelling like memories he didn't know he had was .. enough to pique his interest. it wasn't like he had much else to do right now. he followed that scent to one of the other tables - recent, but empty, though he did find a picture seemingly accidentally lost in a rushed departure.

he wasn't the type to pry. at least not usually, but he couldn't help himself & picked it up, studying it closely after sitting down at the table. fingers traced along the figures on the abandoned photograph - some .... familiar, some.. less so. but .. he couldn't help feel like there was something more to this.

mother nature, is this you?

he turned it around, but the names .. there didn't resonate with him, but then again he didn't really remember his time before. only vague glimpses, distant memories. photograph was brought up to his nose, eyes closed so he could get the scent for tracking purposes, which ... brought him back towards the crowds, but he had faces to look for - probably ...older? yeah. he almost gave up & thought about asking the council for help when his eyes fell on a young man that looked suspiciously similar to one of the kids on the picture.

"hey..." hand on the boy's shoulder, "i think you lost this?" he....looked a lot like when he was younger. no way.

@bearcaught

since the impromptu move to new haven, simon had been focusing on making the house feel like home. a sanctuary to retreat to. or as pessimistic minds might say, a comfortable hiding place. the work kept simon inside which he certainly wasn't complaining about. he knew that he couldn't remain in the house forever - he could only clean an already spotless house so many times and make up random chores for so long. he just needed a little more time before he reintroduced himself to the world.

then grant and jake returned home from a shopping trip with a flyer that advertised this beltane fire festival. the paper had made it sound fun and simon's wonder only increased as his bandmates kept sharing details. the three of them attended plenty of fairs and festivals growing up, but that felt like a lifetime ago. back when they were still masquerading as humans for their own safety. before a hunter glared at simon with pure hatred in his eyes. all because he had somehow figured out fact or fiction's best kept secrets.

a memory simon isn't terribly keen to remember, but is left to navigate the impact of every single day. it keeps him on the outskirts of the festival and seated at a picnic table. so close to community. connections that bring a warmth one can only compare to fire. so close and still so far away.

until jake's voice cuts through the surrounding noise as he approaches the table. "si, c'mon and check this out! they've got bear claws!" one of simon's favorite pastries, a mere mention almost guarantees an awakening of his appetite and an upcoming search to acquire them. he loosens the back of his phone case as he stands up, credit card falling into his waiting hand. "where?" simon calls out. hunger wastes no time with overriding his nerves, propelling the bear forward to join the crowds.

as he disappears, a photo settles on the table after falling out and just barely missing simon's hand. smiling faces belonging to simon's family look back up, including a younger version of himself with a brighter grin and hidden fear noticeably absent from his eyes. just a moment frozen in time from a few years ago, when he was surrounded by family and unaware of what was to come in life yet still excited beyond measure.

[lionlowfield]

Eventually Alston managed to escape his own thoughts and self alienation as he enjoyed the celebration; drinking definitely played a big part into that and he was finally in a place where drinks could affect him.

Stumbling past with a cartoonishly large handful of cotton candy, he settled onto a bench to relax so he could devour the spun strands of pure sugar. Just a month ago he was sleeping on a cot in the upstairs storage room of an auto garage; the only socialization he had was with the shop owner, a fellow were, or the few humans that came in to have their cars worked on; that kept them in hiding. Now? Now he was surrounded by his own kind, even species he'd never even imagined could possibly exist, and not a single one of them was in hiding. If he weren't preoccupied with his cotton candy he would have made his way to one of the stands selling drinks and bought everyone in ear shot one to celebrate like the lush he was turning out to be.

Blinking, the mouthful of cotton candy quickly dissolving on his tongue, Alston turned to face the man beside him as his question pulled the werelion out of his own head.

"I doubt I'm the one you want to be asking that. I'm a bit new here," he explained with a shrug, "and I'm pretty sure they are celebrating more than just the standard Beltane. I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. Just grab a drink, or a snack, and enjoy."

To watch the land-dwellers seek the merriment of their impure salts and copious heaps of spun sugar was, for the lack of his true understanding, odd. Evening had befallen the town, and it seemed more alive than during the daylight. The giggles of children was the only comforting, yet gut-wrenching, sensation that he truly could find peace. A time to relish on the idea of the few mermen that had integrated into New Haven could rebuild their own families. He kept his eyes focused on the ground. His attention would catch the toes of his boots as they breach his line of sight. He'd heard of many celebrations, but this was one tradition he wasn't exactly familiar. "Weren't bonfires used to burn the nonhumans?" His question spoken aloud but intended for his own ears. Mostly to dwell on the overwhelming amount of information that he was filtering. There goes being overstimulated, again. He watches as a skewer is wedged in a confection of what he assumed was a processed meat product and dipped into a vat of a pale mud. "Odd." Reminds himself to look into these strange culinary delicacies native to this region. He makes eye contact with the volunteer before perching at the edge of a wooden bench. Someone to his side and someone opposite them. "Who is this Beltane and why does one celebrate him -- or them?"

[ursabear]

He worked on his free days more than any other day, it was when people needed him the most usually and he wasn’t wrong as he got a call to fix some plumbing in a house he hadn’t been to before, he’d remember. He got dressed in his work outfit, a jumpsuit, and headed to the house in his car. Once there he knocked smelling the scent of pregnant omega and he smiled.

He smiled at the man when the door was opened, and his eyes went to his belly. “Hello, I’m the handyman. My name is Njord Haraldsen,” he presented himself as he walked in. “No, not right now, thank you. You must be close now, right?” He speaks. He noticed he doesn’t have mating marks though, but he smelled another alpha, no, two alphas in the flat but their scent wasn’t strong, not like he cared but he kinda did too. A pregnant omega should have a mate, so he had a free road to court the other even if he was rusty on it.

“I…um…you look pretty,” he says rather awkwardly. “Pregnancy suits you,” he says with a smile trying to not sound even more awkward. “Anyways, tell me where the problem is, and I’ll fix it. Maybe I’ll accept that drink after,” he says scratching his neck.

@ursabear

zyair was supposed to meet up with a friend at the festival today. it was his first in new haven & he'd been looking forward to getting out more, to meeting others, because without work - or without knowing anybody really in new haven, he'd been quite lonely. liam tried to keep him company, but he had a newborn & mate to take care of & trenton, he'd found lived quite an eventful life that didn't involve being family. not that he'd expected him to be when he offered himself to the other. never did he think this would be his future. he'd dreamt of escaping for so many years, yet his actual escape had been nothing like how he dreamt it to be. new haven was great, it was allowing him the life he'd always hoped for. in freedom.

he was going to get ready to go out, which meant shower & getting dressed, but when he tried.... the water refused to get warm. he waited a little while at first, but even after an hour, he got nothing. he'd been given a list with important numbers upon arrival & a phone to use them with. he was .. familiar with phones .. a little. he didn't remember a lot from before, but he'd had plenty of time to himself that gave him the opportunity to learn. handyman was called, thankfully he said he'd come over despite the festival going on, so zyair had just been waiting. he had had breakfast, set the dishes in the sink to clean later & after that he just rested on the couch. he was getting tired quickly these days, his body clearly at its limit. it wouldn't be long now. he had no idea how to raise children - he didn't even know how to function outside of a cage, least of all on his own, but he assumed he'd find out. he didn't have a lot of options.

soft knock announced another person's presence - zyair got up slowly, hand on his belly out of habit & made his way over. unlocking the door with practiced ease, he pulled it open, the scent that hit him bringing warmth with it. bear. he always felt most comfortable in the presence of his own kin. "hello, thank you so much for coming today." it was beltane, a festival celebrating their kind - he felt guilty for calling on a free day, but to his defense he hadn't known the handyman would be a bear. "come in. thirsty?"