Ongoing; Open

[misterblackbird.livejournal.com]

When; [Remember, Remember] the Fifth of November
Rating; PG - PG13 [let's not burn down the City, please]
Characters; The Master Harold Saxon [neverendingbeat], Cain Hargreaves [misterblackbird], and you!
Summary; "Harold" and Cain have arranged to have a bonfire in Misery Square--complete with five effigies for five certain favorite deities. Come and warm up, throw a log (or a chair) on the fire, set off a few fireworks, and enjoy the warm glow of being Anonymous~ [This is an open log for anyone and everyone who might come to see the bonfire. Jump in and out, threadjack, mingle, and enjoy!]

Log; The fire is ready and waiting: a stack of dry wood in the middle of Misery Square. There's something haunting and almost ghoulish at the masked figures beginning to gather around it. Perhaps some can be told by their walk or their manner of speech, but the masks hide everything else, face and voice.

Perhaps it's just as well: a little rebellion on a holiday celebrating the foiling of a rebellion. But, then, it's just as strange, perhaps, to launch fireworks to celebrate something not being blown up with gunpowder.

In any event, it's a good excuse to light a bonfire on a cold night, burn the Deities in effigy (and those five straw men are lined up and waiting, perched over the wood, all ready and waiting), light some fireworks, and gather together as unknowns but knowing.

One only needs a spark.

Comments

[neverendingbeat.livejournal.com]

Completely unmasked and not making any effort to remain anonymous, the Master stands in the square, easy to recognise against the sea of masked faces. Besides that, he hopes that he would be recognisable all the same: black suit, long black coat with red lining, leather gloves. A Time Lord does not become cold easily; it is, of course, all for the look of the thing.

He knows of the danger of this rebellious undertaking, of course, but consequences be damned, he is going to have this small triumph against the deities who dared control him.

[horrible-penny.livejournal.com]

Penny is, against her better judgment, in Misery Square to watch the proceedings, entirely anonymous. As a rule, she believes that starting large fires and burning effigies--particularly effigies of super-powerful deities who have crazy amounts of control over everything--is far from a good idea. Were she not entirely masked, in fact, she would have stayed well away.

Large fires, however, beat moping in her apartment, and what's the worst than can happen? No one will know she's there. And really, she's there for the company and not the anarchy.

She finds Harry readily enough--thank goodness not everyone is masked today--and promptly strikes up a conversation. The fact that he may not recognize her due to the curse doesn't so much as cross her mind. "What's up?"

[neverendingbeat.livejournal.com]

The Master turns around...to face a mask. Right. And he can't focus properly on the voice and...damn, the deities even thought to take away smell. Whoever it is smells of nothing, is completely hidden by the mask (somehow, he doesn't like how it's clearly twisting his mind) and isn't moving, so he can't even tell them by their gait.
Oh, of course, he can just--
The mask repels his attempts to do a surface-reading of the person's mind. That sort of planning is infuriating in its efficiency. He's glad that he'll be burning the Guys of the deities soon.
It seems like the best thing to do is to bluff it out unless asking becomes unavoidable.

"We should be starting the fire soon enough," he says. "I don't want anyone who really wanted to come to miss it." He grins. "I want people to remember this event."

[horrible-penny.livejournal.com]

Harry, in Penny's opinion, seems a little too eager to set things on fire. "What event is it, exactly? Besides a burning-things kind of event."

Blame the American education system for her lack of cross-cultural knowledge.

[neverendingbeat.livejournal.com]

The person isn't British, then. Possibly not Commonwealth either, though obviously, he can't be certain. It doesn't matter. He's been explaining it all day anyway to those less versed in history than a Time Lord.

"It's called Bonfire Night, and mostly, that's exactly what it is," he says. "Though I suppose there is something of a history to it." He sighs.
"A group of Catholic rebels decided to blow up Parliament," he says, rattling through it, almost reciting at this point. "Only they put a man called Guy Fawkes in charge of the specific, gunpowder lighting operation. He was caught, along with the entire group, and they were all hanged. At that point, the monarchy and church suggested that the people might want to light fires to prove their loyalty, some people put straw dolls on the fire that they called Guys and the tradition began." He grins. "Only obviously, we're subverting the formula. Instead of burning the rebeller, we're rebelling by burning the oppressor." He shrugged, and raised up his hands slightly in mock-surrender. "They shouldn't begrudge us our fun. It's not a real rebellion, it's a harmless expression of rebellious tendencies."
Not that he allows those when he's the dictator but he can't resist trying it, just to see what will happen.

[dreamsofnoah]

Road herself was uncursed and unmasked today. She was wearing a smart little jacket that matched her short skirt over her frilly blouse - more for the look of it than anything. It's not like a body that wasn't real could really feel the cold.

The lollipop she'd usually be holding was held in the side of her mouth instead, her arms filled with clothes she'd brought along. While she wasn't really mad at Cyril for leaving the City anymore, she still had to throw a token tantrum at least, right? Or Tyki might start getting ideas.

[neverendingbeat.livejournal.com]

The Master noticed the apparently sweet little girl and knew better, not just because he was getting weird feelings off her (similar to those he'd felt on the pumpkin curse day, actually) but also because anyone who went out of their way to look like a sweet little girl generally wasn't one. Even so, Road had come, and brought clothing for the event, and the Master was therefore feeling very positively disposed towards her.

He practically bounded over in his excitement, beaming. "Hello!" he said. "Those are for the Guys, I assume? Obviously, I can't be certain, you could just be very fond of carrying clothes about."

[dreamsofnoah]

What a very cheerful man. He almost reminded her of her Papa when he was enthused about something, and it would have made her scowl if her lollipop wasn't still stuck in her mouth. Stupid Papa, leaving her alone here, even if he did have things to do back home.

Manoeuvring around the bundle of clothes she was carrying she grabbed the stick in a small hand to free her mouth to talk, gesturing with it as she spoke. "Mm~, of course they are! We don't need them any more at home. I was thinking of burning them anyway."

[neverendingbeat.livejournal.com]

"Oh good," the Master said, still happy. He was always happiest when he was following through with a plan, and with the Doctor watching him like a whiny angst-hawk, this was the closest he could get to one. Good enough for now.

"Would you like me to take some of them--at the very least, come over here with me and we'll dress the Guys, see if we can make them look like the deities." He pulled a folded, white labcoat out of the pocket of his jacket. "I managed to find this, but I didn't want to put it on the Laszlo-Guy yet, in case we could get any other items of clothing to put on under it." Smirking, he added, "Although, come to think of it, I don't know him very well, perhaps he often does walk around in a labcoat and nothing else."

[primrosella.livejournal.com]

For all that this is a celebration and a holiday, there's still something vaguely unsettling about the thought of watching straw men--and perhaps worse still, ones dressed as the deities--burn. Perhaps it's that October is still fresh in her memory, and she's recalling the stories she's heard of burning witches at the stake. Perhaps it's that she can remember farther back to the ghost stories from home, the tales of Druids that would set human sacrifices ablaze to summon rain. But no matter what it is, it's a nervous sort of feeling hanging over Rosella, and one that she can't seem to shake.

Perhaps that's why she's not dressed in her usual clothes tonight: she does own a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt, leftovers from one previous foray into being a "modern girl", and she's chosen to wear them tonight. And there is, of course, the mask there to obscure her features, as well. Other than her hair, which she's wearing long and loose as she always does, she looks much like any other average girl in the crowd.

But perhaps that's better, she thinks as she stands near the bonfire wood and tries not to look at the waiting straw men. If today is to be a day of anonymity, then so much the better that she doesn't look much like herself at all.

[shewashuman.livejournal.com]

Rose just stands around occasionally glancing at one of the bonfires that have been set. She’s been keeping her distance from Harry since arriving attempting to stay true to her word, despite the Doctor frustrating and hurting her to no end. The truth was out now. She was a burden.

It’s a chilly night but with her coat and the heat from the fires she barely feels it. People mill about some with masks while others faces are completely normal. One thing was hearing it over the network, it was another thing entirely to see it in person.

[neverendingbeat.livejournal.com]

The Master walks up to stand behind Rose.
"Enjoying yourself?" he asks, leaning in slightly. "Or are you not a fan of Guy Fawkes?"

[shewashuman.livejournal.com]

Rose turns around at his voice and gives him a small smile. "Of course I am on a night like this," she gestures towards the fires. "Who wouldn't be? But I s'ppose that depends on which version. You know there's actually a universe where he actually succeeds."

[neverendingbeat.livejournal.com]

"He still ended up blowing up himself though," says the Master. "And it's an intensely dull universe, as long as we're talking about the same one." He shrugs. "I haven't been able to cross universes for some time. There might have been another bifurcation after Gallifrey." He hadn't had the chance to check since the war; the only TARDIS he'd had access to had been temporally and spatially locked.

[shewashuman.livejournal.com]

"He did," Rose confirms wondering if they really were talking about the same one with airships in the sky. "I guess one way or another you can't really escape destiny no matter the universe." She buries her hands inside her jacket pockets for warmth and looks at him rather curiously at the mention of crossing universes. That's right he had had a TARDIS at some point hadn't he?

"It's not easy at first," she admits thinking back to her first jump which had been completely accidental. "But of course I'm just a human. For you Time Lords it used to be a hop and skip or so I've heard."

[illuminedcraft.livejournal.com]

Robin felt more awkward than usual surrounded by a sea of masks. She herself had just her face. As she turned the corner and took a place hidden in the shadows, the irony was not lost on her: she, after all, felt as though she'd worn a mask of sorts for most of her life. It would only figure when most of the populace receives the gift to be...well...not just someone else, but no one at all...for the day, she would not be included.

She sighed and sunk farther into the darkness. She heard there was going to be fire. She had also heard the fire would be included in mischief.

She should not, should not, should not be here...but she was.

"Sometimes curiousity does, indeed overcome caution," Robin murmured to herself.

[horrible-penny.livejournal.com]

Penny, masked and anonymous, spotted Robin in the crowd. Robin appeared to be doing her best to disappear into the shadows, which didn't deter Penny in the least. She sidled up to her.

"Hey, Robin." It took Penny a moment to remember that she didn't look like herself today; she added, "It's Penny."

[illuminedcraft.livejournal.com]

Robin started when the masked figure slipped up next to her, then relaxed as Penny identified herself. She blushed slightly. "Hi, Penny."

She glanced over at her friend, then towards the square. "Do you know what's going on? I heard they were going to set things on fire."

[horrible-penny.livejournal.com]

"Harry said something about people blowing things up and hanging other people. Apparently it's worth celebrating if you're British." She lowered her voice to a near-whisper. "They're burning things that look like the deities to show how unhappy they are with the City. I'm kind of thinking that this won't go over well."

[illuminedcraft.livejournal.com]

"... That's a celebration? Blowing things up and hanging people?" Robin looked sad as she drifted off, recalling her stored memories of other witches, including their deaths. She shook her head. "No, I can't imagine any of this will end well. Nor should it." She frowned and looked back up at the scene, before glancing at Penny and smiling, "You know Harry? Wait...I don't suppose it's the same Harry that I talked to, is it?"

[venomouselle.livejournal.com]

There's just enough of a hole in the mask to smoke through. The curse would have been hellish without it. Elle puffs away, half hoping the ashes would help. She's not feeling so hands on. The dancing flames are pretty to watch. And because she is, and likely will always be, a destructive woman, it's like going to the movies.

[dreamsofnoah]

"It's very pretty, isn't it?"

The small girl with her hands clasped behind her back looked ecstatic at the scene of the fire, as though she was imagining something far beyond the contained flames.

[venomouselle.livejournal.com]

"Yeah. It's pretty. Could be better, what can you do?"

This was probably thrown together at the last minute. It doesn't take a genius to light a match. At least it wasn't an oil burn. That's smelly. And who wants to be swimming in fumes? For what it is, it's enjoyable.

Normally talking to children is not a task Elle wishes to engage in.

[dreamsofnoah]

"It could always be better." Like if it was an actual person being burnt. Or even better, an Exorcist. But burning was probably too good for them.

It might not have been the most elegant fire in the world, but it was enough to amuse Road for now. One day she'd get to see the whole world consumed in those flames...

She cared little whether the masked woman wanted to talk to her or not. She stayed where she was, humming a little tune under her breath while she watched.

[innocentxcharm.livejournal.com]

Florian is a curious kid, and the idea of burning stuff for a celebration has brought him to the square all bundled up in a nice warm jacket for the weather. And hey, look at all these masked people! It reminds him of the mysterious Mister Mask, and makes him wonder if maybe he should've brought a mask too. It would've been fun to wear one.

Fires are interesting too though, so he decides to make his way as close as possible to the bonfire. Ooh, straw people...