Bringing Topaz Back || Diwali
Nov. 15th, 2021 10:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsOver the course of a week, various friends contribute what they can to help get Topaz home.
The stones were unyielding under the pestle, but Amanda’s determination was stronger. No matter the blisters and the pain, she would keep going, because this was the way to help Topaz. She couldn’t say why she knew this, except that the moment she’d had the idea, she had known it would help. Maybe it was wishful thinking, maybe it was some kind of delusion caused by the stress of the past few months, but right now, it was all she had to hold onto. And all she could do for Topaz. And so she continued wrestling with the pestle, filling the mortar with rock dust and love and searching for someone who was as dear as a daughter.
* * * * * * *
After Maya texted, Marie-Ange had packed up her cards, bundled herself up and gone out to the patio where the others were working. There was chalk in a wooden crate that she tidied up and put away, clearing the space for herself. They'd all promised not to dive into self-sacrifice - she'd promised not to do so many readings that she sent herself back into migraines. The clunky little alarm clock had come out of one of the boxes from Avalon, the little tattered paper attached had promised that it would always ring when it was time for tea. She had tea ready, loose leaf and spicy with cardamom and clove, and a thermos of hot water by her feet. The cards came apart slowly, this deck wanted to stick and cling as she shuffled and read and made notes. The Magician, power and resourcefulness.
Around her, people busied themselves with bringing their own selves into this ritual, math and art and song and love and determination. Strength, Judgement, The Sun and The World supporting the primary card. The cards changed as she reshuffled. Sometimes the Star in place of the Sun, faith in place of assured success. Sometimes the Chariot in place of Strength.
The clock chimed, and Marie-Ange bent to put leaves into the strainer and then she stood, pausing here and there to hold a piece of painter's tape or pass someone a bottle of water. They worked around her, and the readings held steady. Keep working, keep being patient. Have strength, have faith, have hope.
* * * * * * *
Maya had wanted to make sure she started at dusk, a liminal moment where the doors between spaces were more fluid, more open to being coaxed. She’d ask the universe to gather in and listen with her art, and then she’d sing Topaz home. She worked gently with the natural clay chalk, borrowing Marie-Ange’s talent for art while remembering the time-worn hands of Mame Lupe laying out the pattern, her mother’s people who she had never known until she met others here.. She added in beads, the talent of her father’s people, and an art she had watched her Grandmother use since she was old enough to sit up by herself.
It was not something she’d done herself in the past, her talent was for dancing but she didn’t think her ancestors would mind the combination of cultures given she herself was a sum of multiple parts and histories. Not just native, not just latina but deaf and mutant as well. It was in all her parts joined together that she was made whole, and it was within all of them working together that they would bring Topaz home.
* * * * * * *
It was the wrong time to celebrate Ederlezi, the festival to welcome spring, but for some reason that was what Wanda's thoughts went to when she joined the group. When it was her turned to step up, there was no fire to jump over to seek health for yourself or those you love, but her voice rose in song, in her native Romani as she held up her candle towards the sky, seeking for something beyond her.
Sa me amala oro khelena
Oro khelena, dive kerena
Sa o Roma daje
Sa o Roma babo babo
Sa o Roma o daje
Sa o Roma babo babo
Ederlezi, Ederlezi
Sa o Roma daje
Sa o Roma babo, e bakren chinen
A me, chorro, dural beshava
Romano dive, amaro dive
Amaro dive, Ederlezi
E devado babo, amenge bakro
Sa o Roma babo, e bakren chinen
Sa o Roma babo babo
Sa o Roma o daje
Sa o Roma babo babo
Ederlezi, Ederlezi
Sa o Roma daje
* * * * * * *
Doug sat at his desk, engineering paper, the remains of a tequila bottle he’d shared with America, and some Reese’s holiday items in front of him. He’d decided to plot a geometrically precise coverage pattern for the lanterns being created, maximizing the amount of light coverage. He’d started in two dimensions, but quickly realized the three-dimensional issue. Equations spilled onto the page, and he murmured a portion of a traditional mantra to Lakshmi as he went.
“Gyaan prakaash karo Ma, Moha agyaan haro”
~Make my wisdom enlightened, and get rid of my passion and ignorance~
When he was done, he placed a lantern precisely at the edge of a shelf, to maintain the light even when the overhead incandescents were turned off.
“Find your way home, Topaz,” he murmured into the night, an intention sent out to wherever his friend was right now. He gave a moment’s thought to Wade as well, and an open-ended wish for all the lost to find their way to the ones who cared for them.
As he flicked the light switch and left the room, notes and tequila bottle in hand, he failed to notice a very exact spiral of twinkles along the ‘skin’ of his nanite prosthetic.
* * * * * * *
She had no idea what this was all about, but it was apparently important to Topaz, so America smashed rocks. Tequila still made her blood warm, as did the rage still making her heart pump a little faster. She didn’t remember any real family traditions or rituals from back home. Her moms died when she was so young. They were more feelings than memories.
America looked down at the lantern. Doug had pushed a mortar and pestle into her hands, but it was just easier to crush the rocks in her fist. A little therapeutic too. She divided the little colored piles as neatly as one could divide dust.
Anger and frustration paralyzed her for a blazing moment.
Then she went back to crushing rocks.
* * * * * * *
Darcy rummaged in Topaz’s cabinets looking for Midnight’s food. “Alright, looks like you are in business with.. salmon?” she said, absently giving the cat a scratch between the ears as she moved to the bowl. Cat taken care of, her eyes were drawn back to the lantern she’d left lit in the dark window.
“Midnight’s fine so far, but she’s been more cuddly than normal. I think she knows something’s wrong.” It was weird, talking to the room like Topaz could hear her, but.. magic was weird, so maybe she could. She let out a sigh. “We all miss you terribly. Debriefing with Kevin the day after... well, the day after. It sucked. Shit just happens.” She scoffed, arms crossed as she glared at the floor. “Why do I feel so fucking guilty if I did everything right? Anyways, that’s what’s you’re missing. I’ll make sure Midnight stays as healthy as she can be until you can take care of her again.”
She flipped the lights off and snapped a quick picture of the light in the window with her phone. “We’ll do everything possible to bring you home. Promise.”
* * * * * * *
Everything was in place. The rangoli was finished, branches spiralling across the stone floor of the chapel and up the blank wall that had once been the door to Avalon. Megan and Marie-Ange had collaborated on the design, using everything that had been prepared by the mansion residents, a collection of candles and tea lights and small saucers of colours gathered at the base on a carpet of autumn leaves gathered by Kyle. If Amanda reached out with a gentle finger to touch the lines, she could also feel the love and longing for home Meggan had infused the spell with, a collection of all of the emotions felt while preparations were made.
Just one more piece. From out of her jacket pocket, Amanda pulled an old-fashioned glass door knob. No face plate, no screws, just the knob itself. Stephen had prepared it and the entire group of magic users had infused it with the magic needed to create a door. No small feat and they’d all been exhausted afterwards. The kitchen supplies had been considerably dented as well. It would only work from the other side, provided someone was there to turn it.
“We’re waiting on you, kiddo,” Amanda whispered as she pressed the knob against the wall. The magic caught and it remained there, a tiny light glowing in the depths of the faceted glass. “Time to come home.”
The stones were unyielding under the pestle, but Amanda’s determination was stronger. No matter the blisters and the pain, she would keep going, because this was the way to help Topaz. She couldn’t say why she knew this, except that the moment she’d had the idea, she had known it would help. Maybe it was wishful thinking, maybe it was some kind of delusion caused by the stress of the past few months, but right now, it was all she had to hold onto. And all she could do for Topaz. And so she continued wrestling with the pestle, filling the mortar with rock dust and love and searching for someone who was as dear as a daughter.
* * * * * * *
After Maya texted, Marie-Ange had packed up her cards, bundled herself up and gone out to the patio where the others were working. There was chalk in a wooden crate that she tidied up and put away, clearing the space for herself. They'd all promised not to dive into self-sacrifice - she'd promised not to do so many readings that she sent herself back into migraines. The clunky little alarm clock had come out of one of the boxes from Avalon, the little tattered paper attached had promised that it would always ring when it was time for tea. She had tea ready, loose leaf and spicy with cardamom and clove, and a thermos of hot water by her feet. The cards came apart slowly, this deck wanted to stick and cling as she shuffled and read and made notes. The Magician, power and resourcefulness.
Around her, people busied themselves with bringing their own selves into this ritual, math and art and song and love and determination. Strength, Judgement, The Sun and The World supporting the primary card. The cards changed as she reshuffled. Sometimes the Star in place of the Sun, faith in place of assured success. Sometimes the Chariot in place of Strength.
The clock chimed, and Marie-Ange bent to put leaves into the strainer and then she stood, pausing here and there to hold a piece of painter's tape or pass someone a bottle of water. They worked around her, and the readings held steady. Keep working, keep being patient. Have strength, have faith, have hope.
* * * * * * *
Maya had wanted to make sure she started at dusk, a liminal moment where the doors between spaces were more fluid, more open to being coaxed. She’d ask the universe to gather in and listen with her art, and then she’d sing Topaz home. She worked gently with the natural clay chalk, borrowing Marie-Ange’s talent for art while remembering the time-worn hands of Mame Lupe laying out the pattern, her mother’s people who she had never known until she met others here.. She added in beads, the talent of her father’s people, and an art she had watched her Grandmother use since she was old enough to sit up by herself.
It was not something she’d done herself in the past, her talent was for dancing but she didn’t think her ancestors would mind the combination of cultures given she herself was a sum of multiple parts and histories. Not just native, not just latina but deaf and mutant as well. It was in all her parts joined together that she was made whole, and it was within all of them working together that they would bring Topaz home.
* * * * * * *
It was the wrong time to celebrate Ederlezi, the festival to welcome spring, but for some reason that was what Wanda's thoughts went to when she joined the group. When it was her turned to step up, there was no fire to jump over to seek health for yourself or those you love, but her voice rose in song, in her native Romani as she held up her candle towards the sky, seeking for something beyond her.
Sa me amala oro khelena
Oro khelena, dive kerena
Sa o Roma daje
Sa o Roma babo babo
Sa o Roma o daje
Sa o Roma babo babo
Ederlezi, Ederlezi
Sa o Roma daje
Sa o Roma babo, e bakren chinen
A me, chorro, dural beshava
Romano dive, amaro dive
Amaro dive, Ederlezi
E devado babo, amenge bakro
Sa o Roma babo, e bakren chinen
Sa o Roma babo babo
Sa o Roma o daje
Sa o Roma babo babo
Ederlezi, Ederlezi
Sa o Roma daje
* * * * * * *
Doug sat at his desk, engineering paper, the remains of a tequila bottle he’d shared with America, and some Reese’s holiday items in front of him. He’d decided to plot a geometrically precise coverage pattern for the lanterns being created, maximizing the amount of light coverage. He’d started in two dimensions, but quickly realized the three-dimensional issue. Equations spilled onto the page, and he murmured a portion of a traditional mantra to Lakshmi as he went.
“Gyaan prakaash karo Ma, Moha agyaan haro”
~Make my wisdom enlightened, and get rid of my passion and ignorance~
When he was done, he placed a lantern precisely at the edge of a shelf, to maintain the light even when the overhead incandescents were turned off.
“Find your way home, Topaz,” he murmured into the night, an intention sent out to wherever his friend was right now. He gave a moment’s thought to Wade as well, and an open-ended wish for all the lost to find their way to the ones who cared for them.
As he flicked the light switch and left the room, notes and tequila bottle in hand, he failed to notice a very exact spiral of twinkles along the ‘skin’ of his nanite prosthetic.
* * * * * * *
She had no idea what this was all about, but it was apparently important to Topaz, so America smashed rocks. Tequila still made her blood warm, as did the rage still making her heart pump a little faster. She didn’t remember any real family traditions or rituals from back home. Her moms died when she was so young. They were more feelings than memories.
America looked down at the lantern. Doug had pushed a mortar and pestle into her hands, but it was just easier to crush the rocks in her fist. A little therapeutic too. She divided the little colored piles as neatly as one could divide dust.
Anger and frustration paralyzed her for a blazing moment.
Then she went back to crushing rocks.
* * * * * * *
Darcy rummaged in Topaz’s cabinets looking for Midnight’s food. “Alright, looks like you are in business with.. salmon?” she said, absently giving the cat a scratch between the ears as she moved to the bowl. Cat taken care of, her eyes were drawn back to the lantern she’d left lit in the dark window.
“Midnight’s fine so far, but she’s been more cuddly than normal. I think she knows something’s wrong.” It was weird, talking to the room like Topaz could hear her, but.. magic was weird, so maybe she could. She let out a sigh. “We all miss you terribly. Debriefing with Kevin the day after... well, the day after. It sucked. Shit just happens.” She scoffed, arms crossed as she glared at the floor. “Why do I feel so fucking guilty if I did everything right? Anyways, that’s what’s you’re missing. I’ll make sure Midnight stays as healthy as she can be until you can take care of her again.”
She flipped the lights off and snapped a quick picture of the light in the window with her phone. “We’ll do everything possible to bring you home. Promise.”
* * * * * * *
Everything was in place. The rangoli was finished, branches spiralling across the stone floor of the chapel and up the blank wall that had once been the door to Avalon. Megan and Marie-Ange had collaborated on the design, using everything that had been prepared by the mansion residents, a collection of candles and tea lights and small saucers of colours gathered at the base on a carpet of autumn leaves gathered by Kyle. If Amanda reached out with a gentle finger to touch the lines, she could also feel the love and longing for home Meggan had infused the spell with, a collection of all of the emotions felt while preparations were made.
Just one more piece. From out of her jacket pocket, Amanda pulled an old-fashioned glass door knob. No face plate, no screws, just the knob itself. Stephen had prepared it and the entire group of magic users had infused it with the magic needed to create a door. No small feat and they’d all been exhausted afterwards. The kitchen supplies had been considerably dented as well. It would only work from the other side, provided someone was there to turn it.
“We’re waiting on you, kiddo,” Amanda whispered as she pressed the knob against the wall. The magic caught and it remained there, a tiny light glowing in the depths of the faceted glass. “Time to come home.”
