ioduanlogs | [EVENT] THE TIES THAT BIND US

Characters: Everyone!
Date: February 14-28
Location: All around Aifaran
Situation: The last two weeks of February celebrate Tine's Commemoration, a celebration of renewing friendships and signaling forgiveness.
Warnings/Rating: Shouldn't need any, but add to subject lines as needed!

During the last week of February, the mood shifts around the city. The tension over the missing Kin'nal girl eases some, and there's a lot of talk of renewal and remembrance. In the days leading up to the 14th, some shopkeepers begin reorganizing to make space to feature knotworks and related crafts, and photos on Xa Xa feature knots in process, some made by special artisans. If asked, they will say that all of this is in preparation for Tine's Commemoration, two weeks that are dedicated to renewing and recognizing friendships, forgiving past grievances, and recognizing our most important ties through an exchange of intricately tied knots.

There are specific knots and knot colors meant to signify different kinds of relationships. Friendship knots come in white and blue. White is for the bond of new friends, blue to recognize the joy of old friends. The blue knots typically are added together in a series, one made for each year of the friendship and tied to each other sequentially. More complicated knots are made when forgiving a grudge or past grievance, or to tell someone that they are considered family. While not a major focus of the exchange, there are also multi-colored knots for romantic relationships.

In recognition of this tradition's roots, there is also an ornate tassel knot made for those who have been lost. The color signifies if they have been lost to death (black, often laced with another color like blue for the sea) or the Dreaming (gray). Most have the person's name woven into them, either on a metal disc or a piece of fabric. Rather than being worn, these knots are hung by the door as a waysign: come home; your spirit may rest here.

Shops around the city sell these knots, but there are also ample opportunities to tie your own! The Tifaut in particular take this tradition to heart and have areas set up at several of the city's parks and civic centers, including one at the Dreaming Bridge. They teach knot-making and provide materials (with a suggested donation for those who can afford it), or you can bring your own cord! Making knots of recycled material, like old clothing or retired fishing rope, can add special meaning to the creation - some believe that doing so means sharing a part of yourself with the intended recipient.

Knots can be worn as jewelry or braided into hair (or sometimes hair itself gets tied, with one friend attending to the other's hairdo), and it's customary to keep them on your person throughout the month. While they can be given or exchanged all on their own, it isn't uncommon for knots to come with small gifts or trinkets as well. After February comes to a close, it's important to store the knots somewhere safe, often in a special box or bag with numerous pockets.

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OOC Notes: This is an open, game-wide event for your characters to participate in (or try and avoid, if they're that type) as much or little as they want to. New Dreamfolk are always popular integrations of these kinds of festivals in the city, so you can write yours attracting lots of positive attention if you'd like.

Provided below are some starters, but you can make your own too if none of these work for you!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[There's enough spare string and materials lying around for Kit to, somewhat awkwardly, gather a few things up and drop his short, bulky self down onto one of the spare seats nearby to Padparadscha.] You mind if I watch you? [he asks, grinning lopsidedly, then sets to work.

His hands aren't nearly as steady as his strange friend's, but he's got unexpectedly dextrous fingers, weaving the threads into their proper form while only messing up a handful of times. He seems to be working on two different knots at once... or, rather like he can't decide whether to treat one knot as a friendship knot or as something else.]

Kind of relaxing work, [he muses out loud after a time.]

[Padparascha laughs softly at the question.] Go ahead. It's in the spirit of the occasion, right?

[Not to mention they don't mind too much. It's a fact of their existence being as it is that they're used to eyes laid on them, whether it's the thought of how many watched them while they slumbered or due to their incomplete form.

Padparadscha, in turn, watches him work when they're not watching the others around them. He has skilled fingers, a little like some of the crafting gems back home, and they set another necklace aside as he makes that remark.]

It is a little, isn't it? But you seem like the kind of person who favours crafting like this.

Oh, I dunno, [Kit muses out loud, but he keeps his eyes on his work as he goes about threading the strings into place to create the knot. Again, he starts to reach for more colours, hesitates, and opts instead just for blue and white. Seems he's still up in the air over what sort of knot he wants to make.]

I got pretty good at stitching up my own injuries back in the Deep Roads. Uh-- [a pause, while he tries to think of how to explain that to someone with no concept of what that means], that's... a place where I'm from, way underground. They're these tunnels--abandoned roads, ruins really--that used to connect all the dwarven thaigs together. That was before the darkspawn showed up. Now the only thaig left is Orzammar, which is where I'm from. Or was from. [He clears his throat and reaches up to scratch the top of his head.] ...it's complicated.

[Padparadscha notes the hesitation, but doesn't remark on it. It seems like his issue to bring up if he wants to, rather than something to be pried open. But then, they're not really the sort to pry too much anyway.

The place he hails from sounds interesting, though, and Padparadscha gives a lengthy hum as they try to visualise it.]

So an enemy forced your people back to a single place that you called home. [They can relate to that much, at least.] Do soft people usually stitch together injuries? Though I suppose we bind ourselves back together with glues, so I can't really judge, huh?

If you could call Orzammar home... yeah. [Kit's jaw clenches and unclenches. Yeah, there are some unresolved Issues there. He doesn't unpack them... yet, anyway.]

Um. Well, dwarves don't have magic, where I'm from, [he explains,] so yeah. You get hurt, you've got to stitch yourself back up. Humans and elves and the rest, though, they've got spells they can cast to heal themselves. But that never sat right with me. [He threads another bit of string through a loop, then says bluntly,] That's probably why I died.

[A reluctant home, then. Padparadscha observes the reaction before turning back to their work so as not to draw attention to it. Things like that require careful handling, especially without knowing what the effects of picking at it could be.

His blunt remark gets a laugh out of them.] Well, there's nothing wrong with holding true to what you believe in, huh? But they must be lucky, being able to heal themselves like that if they break easily. Some of the gems would be jealous.

I dunno, [Kit muses, still focused on his work, his lips now pressed into a grim line,] I figure folks back in Kirkwall probably think if I'd stuck to what I believe in a little less, it might've worked out better for me.

[Maybe he wouldn't be here, for one thing. Maybe he'd still be back with the Inquisition, with the folks in Darktown who don't have anyone else sticking their necks out for them in Kirkwall. Maybe he wouldn't have died a bloody mess in a filthy back alley--

What a grim subject. He elects to change it.] So you're a gem, I'm guessing? [He glances sideways at Padparadscha as they work, clearly having some difficulty envisioning the person sitting next to him as a substance that might be mined from the stone.]

Sometimes it's like that, isn't it? [Padparadscha puts that rather neutrally, faint smile still lingering, but...well, their problems back home right now are the result of someone sticking to what they believed in. At the same time, they're this intact because of that as well, so they can't be entirely critical of it. It's a shame.

As for his question, they simply nod, continuing to shape another knot.] I am. That's why I'm called Padparadscha, because it's what makes me up.

[Corundum gems aren't terribly common - there's more diamonds at this point - but getting into the grit of it would probably be less interesting.]

[EVENT] THE TIES THAT BIND US

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