Description: *Season Three, Guy Fawkes Special* That's right kids, this is a celebrated Holiday somewhere! So get those Guy Fawkes masks out because it's time to blow up Parliament (or burn effigys). This year standing in for Parliament, Drake's Beach House! Will Guy Fawkes succeed this time in blowing up Parliament? Can the british authorities save the Queen?
'Remember remember the fifth of November, the gunpowder treason and plot, I know of no reason why the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot.'
That's right folks, it's November. November Fifth and you probably know what that means. Well okay? You need a hint? Well there is Naerose, the Red Witch, with a whole lot of things for a fire, a bonfire, newspaper and a lot of drift wood because it was all she could find. Wait you don't know what holiday yet?
She's also got a backpack full of fireworks, full of them, which should give you a foreboding sinking feeling in your gut. Wait wait wait, still don't get it? Well she's wearing a Guy Fawkes mask. Wait still don't get it?
It's Guy Fawkes day!!! She's totally going to blow up parliament, or maybe just herself.
Were this London, Arika would likely be out at a local bonfire with her bandmates. They, however, have flown back home without her to enjoy the festivities that none of them really understands.
See, Guy Fawkes day is more about lauding the king and parliament for catching the 'bad men' that they had previously treated poorly, instead of supporting the men (who perhaps through the wrong actions) were angry due to the poor treatment. These men, were (as the story goes) lead by Guy Fawkes and they rented a big old cellar under the Houses of Parliament and filled it with barrels of gunpowder with the intention of blowing it sky high, for the sake of justice. But they were caught, found guilty and executed.
So, November fifth is a day of remembrance. Either with the burning of Guy Fawkes effigies or with brightly displayed fireworks that could potentially signify the explosion that never had a chance to happen. Regardless of -why-, it's a night of celebration.
For Arika though, it's just a relaxing fall night walking along the beach. Oh, she knows the poem right enough. She knows the history and the stories, but this year, she's not going to celebrate at all. This year, she's just going for a walk, thinking over the last few days. This year she's...
... going to run right into Guy Fawkes on the beach?
"Er... 'ello..." Blink. "Naerose?"
So long as the Red Witch has no intention of blowing up Drake's house, the diva isn't going to care too much that she's loaded with explosive fireworks.
Beachhouse.. Drakes house. PARLIAMENT.
But wait, how did Arika know that this Guy Fawkes was the Red Witch? Scandal! Metagaming! The has a Guy Fawkes mask on! . . . And a red witches hat. . . and her usual red dress.. and she's holding a broom. . And is that Sylvester? Yes, Sylvester on a leash with a mini Guy Fawkes mask on. . and .. shades, under the mask. . Making it impossible to see at night. So therefore she has no idea who she is about to be talking to.
"Oh hey there, yeah, totally cool, that's you right LiX? Man I'm glad you got my letter in a bottle. I mean I had no idea where you went to so I figured, why not? Right? I read Un Lun Dun and figured this was the best way to get a message to you.. Well er.. I listened to the books on tape.. On er.. Niesje's tape player. Anyway, so check it, We're gonna blow up Parliament!!" She's giddy with excitement.
"Which actually happens to be on sound beach." She couldn't seriously be talking about Drake's house could she?
"This is great, since one of the Harbringers of your return was announced. . The return of the N-gage, I just knew you'd come back! You have got to meet my new friends of course, one of them is gonna let me sing in her rock band!" No.. Probably not.
The implications of Drake's house being Parliament are... well let's just say it's better not to dwell on that at the moment.
It was the telltale witches hat and red dress that gave the slightly insane Red Witch away. Not to mention the broom, the rabbit and....
"Bloody 'ell! You went and found a mask that small to fit on the rabbit? Where on earth..." Pause. "Actually, on second thought, don't answer that." If the accent hasn't given it away by now, Arika isn't going to bother enlightening the witch further. "Though, you could maybe tell me just wot exactly you're plannin' on blowin' up, eh? I'd 'ate to 'ave to bop you on the nose for goin' after Drake's 'ouse or somethin' silly like that. 'sides, if you're doin' a Guy Fawke's celebration you really should 'ave toffee apples or somethin'."
"Toffee apples! That sounds totally delish! And by the way, that accent is great Li X. I mean wow, you must of gone to Canada huh. That's neat. So did you bring the apples, cause I think we already know that I'm no good at actually holding onto food you know..? Er wait.. You did beat that Chou guy in a eating contest once. .Mm we might just be out of luck.. Oh yeah the mask? It was great, I just put a normal sized one in a dryer. . " She pauses for full dramatic impact.
"Shush, we're blowing up Parliament, not some guys house, ppppppaaaarliament, which as I said, happens to be on this very beach! This is gonna be great. So are we gonna revive Strongest! Team? I've stayed faithful despite having lots of lucrative offers to join other teams. . like.. like... " Nobody. " You know? Lets not go there. hahahaha."
"Fire roasted potatoes too," she points out, somewhat ignoring Naerose, but at the same time gleaning what little information she can from the Red Witch. "Ain't really a good Guy Fawkes day without those. Chestnuts too, I reckon... but the toffee apples are the best."
Pause.
"London, actually. Never been to Canada really but uhh... that was really close, Naerose." And the exact same mistake she made upon first meeting the punk princess too. "Uhh... befor' you go blowin' up Parliament, do you even know -why- you're doin' it? I mean, there was a reason that it was goin' to be done... or..." Pressing her lips together, Arika looks down at Sylvester and shakes her head. Quietly, she kneels on the sand beside him and attempts to free the poor rabbit from the mask. "...or 'ave you just watched 'V for Vendetta' one too many times again?"
"Err.. LiX? " The witch sounds confused. Didn't Xiangfei usually call Naerose by the hip nickname 'Rose? The witch lifts her Guy Fawkes mask enough so you can see her black shades reflect off the moon light.
"Arika? Hey! Guess what we're gonna do, this is gonna be great- Where is Xiangfei?" The Red Witch asks, looking around suddenly as though expecting to see a giant forehead standing back attached to a face with an over confident grin, looking back at her with those mischievous eyes. Totally game for some plot. But. . she isn't there. The hope hasn't died in Naerose' face just yet though, it is however a quickly dimming light. The rabbit meanwhile is only too happy to get that mask off. Rarely do animals actually like to be dressed in human clothes and besides, how do you make human clothes comfortable to a pet? You can't ask it, do you like the way this feels? Generally speaking they'd probably say no.
"Let me guess," Arika says with wry amusement. "You're gonna blow up Parliament for Guy Fawkes day, am I right?" Once she's gotten the mask off of poor Sylvester, she quietly slips her hands around to the leash and attempts to unhook it without being seen.
"'ow'd you even -know- it was Guy Fawkes day?" How many times can Arika say 'Guy Fawkes' tonight anyhow? "I mean, I guess it ain't really no secret or anythin' but I kind've thought they didn't really celebrate it o'er this way. All things considered, it's a British thing." Though, now that she's mentioned it a few times, she's -really- craving a toffee apple. She may just have to swing by the amusement park later to see if they have something of the sort.
"Err.. I dunno, I think I heard about it. . " On V For Vendetta? "In a movie somewhere.." Her attention is totally elsewhere and then.. You can see it, on Naerose' face is genuine deep seeded disappointment, like a real pain. But it is only there for a moment before it's replaced by a typical Naerose BIIIG grin. Whatever it was, buried, deep.
"Yeah, so lessee you were talking about some sweets, I guess we can't blow up Parliament without the food right? But do you have any cash ? Cause I totally spent all of mine on these fireworks for blowing up Dr- Parliament." The witch says with a knowing smile.
As antic filled as the night is, perhaps somewhere there was something bittersweet going on too.
"Naerose..." Arika sighs and shoots a glance toward Drake's house. While she did notice the change in the witch, she's not about to dredge up a possibly painful past right -now-. There is a time and a place for everything, and right -now- is not the time or the place.
"... if I run off to the Amusement park and pick up toffee apples, will you -promise- to leave Drake's 'ouse alone? I kind've like 'is trainin' room, y'know? Beats goin' to the YFCC and gettin' mauled by kids..." 'course that's not the only reason she wants the house left alone, but it is likely the most viable one she can offer at the moment.
"You likely 'eard 'bout it on that movie. Y'know, the one where the bloke wore the Guy Fawkes mask the entire time? Likely where you learned the poem too."
Pause.
"Anyway, don't touch nothin' and I'll be right back with the sweets, alright?"
Hopefully Naerose will comply, because this is Arika -trying- to be nice.
Actually, it's odd. She's been almost walking on a cloud the last few days, even though she's been feeling a little worn out and down after disembarking the Suiryuu.
"Why would I mess with Drake's house? I'm here to blow up Parliament. Come on Arika, you ar- wait did you say you'll go and get toffee apples? Alright!" The witch is totally stoked. This is a great oppertunity for her to get food she doesn't have to pay for.
"Right, so you go do that and .. all I have to do is not do something I wasn't gonna do anyway? That's easy! Piece of cake, Seriously." She starts unloading firecrackers from her backpack onto the beach. They're heavy afterall and she doesn't notice the bunny making a run for it. Though it is a beach and where is he going to hide? Well he'll find a place and another Sylvester will be soon along to replace him most likely.
It does take a while to walk to the amusement park from there. Arika doesn't take her time about it though, because despite the witch's words, she's worried about Drake's beach house.
Upon returning to the beach, she's burdened with a bag full of items. Even if the toffee apples don't work, if she's going to be drawn into a Guy Fawkes celebration (that she wasn't planning on), she's going to have her goodies with her. The bag is dropped by Naerose's feet, and when it's opened the witch will find two toffee apples, two bags of roasted chestnuts and some cotton candy for good measure.
"'ere you go."
Meanwhile Naerose appears to be right where she was a moment ago, nothing seems to of changed, suspiciously much, except.. half the fireworks appear to of.. vanished. Now there were a lot. A whole lot to keep track of. But even so, where did they go? Seriously where? Naerose just has that smile she always does and then there is the bag of goodies, sweet! Meanwhile Sylvester seems to of been caught again and rebound. Or is that a new rabbit? It maybe hard to tell in this light. CLEARLY she didn't go to a pet store and buy a new rabbit so it has to be the same Sylvester? Though this one appears to have black spots on it? Perhaps some sort of powder. Or ash.
"Wow, this is a great Holiday. Course Halloween used to be my favorite but people started to not give me candy. It sucked!"
"Likely 'cause you're a wee bit old for sweet collectin'," Arika points out. Kneeling down beside Sylvester again, she gives the rabbit an odd look and then glances back at Naerose over her shoulder. "Umm... Naerose? 'ow on earth did your rabbit grow lil' black spots in the wot was it, fifteen minutes, since I've been gone?" And while the witch is distracted with the question, she tries to unhook and free the bunny again. "You can 'ave all'a that, by the way. Just let me take this..." Getting her hand caught in Sylvester's leash, she gives it a few quick tugs and then quickly reaches for a toffee apple.
Suspiciously one of the spots totally wipes off. And then the bunny, once again happy to be free and all, is like freeeeddddooom! then throws a broadsword into the air which lands in the ground wobbling. Or if you prefer, just bounds off again. Of course it's a tamed rabbit bought at a petstore and probably not suited to live in the wild, but then someone would probably find it and besides, it's better to be free and hopeless at survival than in Naerose' clutches, right? Well lets hope so.. Meanwhile.
"This is really tasty, Thanks Arika. So.. lets see what is next. " She knows,
"Right, the main event."
Saving Sylvester is something of a goal of the diva's. Every Sylvester she sees, she's going to free until Naerose either realizes she's doing it, or stops wanting to devour the poor bunny as spare food. Watching the rabbit hop to freedom, she hopes it goes and hides under the porch of the beach house. At least there she can snag it and bring it to bunny rescue where it can be placed in a good home.
Who'd have thought Arika was such an animal lover?
"You're welcome. 'least I could do considerin' you're celebratin' a British thing and all. So wot all 'ave you got planned? Just a big ol' bonfire 'ere on the beach? Do you 'ave any effigies or were you just plannin' on lettin' loose with the fireworks?"
"We're totally gonna blow up Parliament, I already buried the gun powder in the cellar underneath Parliament, so everything is all ready. Don't worry Yellow Lightening, we'll succeed just like we did in converting that rogue sushi place into a respectable sushi place." The witch winks over her shades at Arika, and appears to make no sense. But the scary part is there is actually some method to the madness and that method is very sad indeed. Was this like some sort of bizarre celebration to an anniversary of something? I mean, besides Guy Fawkes attempting to blow up British Parliament?
The witch goes into her lovely food and then goes about lighting the bonfire. Which she apparently drown in lighter fluid because when she tosses a match at it. . . WHOOSH.
"AWESOME! " the witch cries.
"You... buried the gun powder in a cellar und--" Arika can't even -finish- that sentence. All she does is shoot a quick glance toward Drake's place and then back to the witch. Okay, so maybe she's a little paranoid and untrusting, but c'mon! That's a house she stays at quite frequently when she's in town or injured! She'd really like to have some place to stay that's more homey than her suite at the hotel.
Spying Naerose tossing the match at the pile of wood, the diva has the brains to actually hop back out of the way. Good thing she did too, because the WHOOSH comes awfully close to singing her hair. "Nice," she replies, glancing between the bonfire and Drake's house now.
A smaaaaall column of flame innocently moves away from the fire toward Naerose. Apparently she dripped a bit of lighter fluid. But hey, it's harmless right. Meanwhile you can see the flames reflecting in her eyes and in her shades.
What is she thinking? Who knows, there is a distant look in what one could see in as she stares at the hypnotizing fire. But if you really looked at her eyes.. well maybe you'd see something there.
"Man, that shopping cart attached to the scooter was really cool. Or the time bike riding through the ocean, that was totally what gave me the idea for the fish costume.. Or how about challenging Hotaru in the dream amusement park.. We had fun there too. Fighting that Rugal guy.. And winning, Trying to tame Shinobu, heh, we so failed at that. Yuri and I chasing the Easter bunny, which turned out to be Sylvester, or the time we crashed Niesje's house. Wednesday Night Breakdown.. Or when I tried to be a waitress.. I failed at that too, but the free food.. and man do all grannies speak Chinese? heh" The witch is so not talking to Arika.
"Well, I guess that's what this Holiday is about right? Remember remember .. something something on the fifth of November, while setting a whole bunch of gun powder in a plot, I can think of no reason why the gunpowder raisins should ever be forgot.. " She smiles faintly.
Hopefully, whoever Naerose is talking to hears her in some odd way. Arika... isn't going to cut in and ask. Not her place, and she's quite certain there's going to be too many answers or the witch might just attack her for trying to pry information out that she's not ready to share.
Apparently, Arika being 'nice' mostly means she's just keeping her mouth shut.
"Umm, 'ey... Naerose?" The punk princess does move a little bit closer, trying to fan out the flames. "Y'might wanna stop drop and roll, you're about to become part'a the bonfire 'ere..."
"Huh? " The witch looks down at the creeping fire them smiles to Arika, this one is more real. She steps over to the Punk Rock Princes and is totally like.
"Thanks for grabbing the apples, cause we're totally good friends. She smiles and watches the column of flames creep across the sand.
"That's just the wick to blow up Parliament." The flame creeps under the sand toward the apparent cellar. There is of course just one beach house in that direction . . .
The witch totally tries to put an arm on Arika's shoulder in a friendly sort of way.
"Lets totally watch the new umm.. Fifth of .. hmm The new sixth of November go off with a bang!" And then she can be heard conversing with herself,
"What are they even celebrating? This holiday makes no sense!"
"The wick..." Arika stares almost right -through- Naerose and glances at where this 'wick' is traveling. "Naerose..." Palming her face, the diva quickly says, "S'cuse me." Then she's dashing off along the beach, beside the flame that's leading to the apparent cellar. Feet try to stomp out the fire, and she looks back at the witch. "You... probably really shouldn't be blowin' up someone's 'ouse..." Drake's or otherwise.
And then... . Okay, lets face it, blowing up a house? Is Naerose seriously gonna be able to blow up a beach house? No. What ends up happening? There is a bit of smoke where Naerose apparently dug her hole, near Drakes House, a bottle rocket shoots out of the sand and pops in the air, then Naerose walks over to stand next to Arika.
"Isn't it grand?" That's it? One firework?
Then the other lot of firecrackers she had start to explode out of the sand in an almost brilliant display. A dangerous display seriously, it's the infamous exploding whale, sans the whale. But the witch wasn't seriously planned on blowing up the house right?
Looking over at the witch you could probably see some glimmer in her eye to suggest otherwise. The world may seriously never know.
Who knows what Naerose is going to seriously be able to do? She was (is?) affiliated with Blackjack, and look what -they- did back during Jinchuu.
Just as Arika nearly finishes stamping out the fire, there's a whizzpop as the bottle rocket explodes out of the sand. Laughing, the diva looks back at the witch and is then suddenly surrounded by the dangerously dazzling display of exploding colors. "Good job, Naerose," she says with a grin. The witch got her explosion, no one got hurt (except possibly for a few eardrums within the beach houses) and they wound up with Guy Fawkes day sweets and goodies.
"C'mon, once this dies down we can 'ead back to the bonfire and I'll show you 'ow to make a proper effigy while I tell you the -real- story of Guy Fawkes day and what we're celebratin', alright?"
And after the fireworks dissipate, that's exactly what the diva nudges Naerose into doing. Hanging out around the bonfire, sharing the history of the day and enjoying the yummy treats brought from the wilds of the amusement park.
As for what ever happened to Sylvester?
The world may never now.
Log created on 20:41:26 11/05/2007 by Naerose, and last modified on 10:09:52 11/06/2007.