forum arcana (CLOSED)

Started August 29, 2021 by @_luxlibson

tune

(You're all good!)

"Yes," Delphi exasperatedly responded, glancing towards her older sister. Involuntarily, her shoulders seemed to relax at the soft tone of Serafine's voice. "You look…tres belle." She was able to add after a short pause, deciding to play the nice card. Surprisingly, she wanted to avoid much of the arguing and scolding tonight in order to actually make the evening bearable.

"Are the earrings too much?" Daus called out softly as he moved towards his siblings, careful not to raise his voice in the tall hallways of the estate. "I wasn't sure if I should go with them…or the linen either. Should I go change?" He already seemed nervous, a small, stressed smile splayed across his features in order to cover up most of the apprehension he felt in the pit of his stomach.

Delphi's face had already broken out in a wide grin at the sight of her dressed brother, so it was almost too late for Daus to turn around. His toffee features and tawny eyes accentuated by the bright whites he wore while his ashy hair was bright and the curls were wide, almost creating a halo effect of light around his head.

"My, my, my, mon petit," Delphi called out with a laugh, making her way over to her younger brother and grabbing his face in her hands. It looked awfully ridiculous as he had to bend down just to let her meet his face. "Why don't you dress like this everyday? The men will come lining up at our door shouting your name."

Daus' entire face flushed and he swatted Delphi's hand away, quick to cover his face from her as he groaned. He couldn't even step out into the hall without her embarrassing him…even if it was a clear compliment.

Lou burst out of her room, the necklaces and bracelets newly adorning her neck and arms jangling. For Mardi Gras, she had chosen her newest, most colorful hair scarf, red and gold with every color of the rainbow swirling and dotting the fabric. In place of her usual silver earrings, gold hoops dangled from her ears, a rare occurrence for Lou. Besides the new hair scarf and jewelry, she was dressed normally, with a flowered white shirt, tan slacks, and her favorite tall, black boots.
Running down the hall, she nearly crashed into Fio, who she found peeking into a room a few doors down.
“Fio! Sorry ‘bout the wait, I lost my scarf.” Lou gestured to the scarf, its colors contrasting the black of her hair. “I’m ready to go now, though!”
She rocked back and forth on her heels, her amber eyes alight with excitement. Along with her first time at Mardi Gras, the party at her house would serve as another chance to collect stories.
Although the stories of the living were rarely more interesting than those of the dead, Lou still enjoyed listening, documenting, and perhaps one day publishing these stories.

Fio smiled a little. "It's fine. Let's find Emi and we can head out, I know you two are excited for Mardi Gras." He led her downstairs, eventually finding Emi. "Emilio, let's head out, if you're ready. Father will be preparing for the party, and we'll have to get back before it starts. If you want time at Mardi Gras, we have to leave soon." He liked Mardi Gras. Didn't love it, sure, but he enjoyed it. Sure, all the stimulation occasionally got to be too much and he'd have to sit down or go somewhere quiet, just for a few minutes, but most of the time he enjoyed it. Enjoyed the dancing and the drinking and the partying, the chance to mingle with both the living and the dead. The spirits loved Mardi Gras too, and would often participate, in their own way, in the festivities.

Arlo loved the smell of the swamp, which there was plenty of in the antebellum South, the soft brassiness of it along with the sweet smell of the wet vines lining the paths, it made him remember that Louisiana really is his home. That he will always belong here. The old carriage that he, Opale and Aunt Sanglante were riding in was a little shaggy, a worn down lend from his distant parents once he was of age, but it did just the trick to make an entrance. He looked to his side at his cousin, Poppy, and he couldn't help but feel a little guilty for making her come. He knew she wasn't in the mood for seeing her family again so soon after their… abandonment. But he also knew that if she didn't do it sooner or later, she would be a recluse forever, and turn out like Aunt Sanglante. He looked over at her now "Auntie Sangue, are you sure you told the coach the right direction" the well poised woman snapped at him "Of course boy, I've been to this festivals more times than you can count" he sighed, Auntie Sangue had been forgetting a lot of things over the past few months, so he wasn't even sure if he could trust her on this. He decided he'd just let it go, like he did most things with Sangue. She was known for her extremely snappy aggressive attitude. The good thing is this week is he'd be free of her because she'd be off preaching to his other aunties about female liberation and all, which meant he was free to flirt good and well with all the darling guests he would like.
____
Opale on the other hand was very much not excited. First off, this carriage was way too shaky and slow for her liking, especially because she was already a little nauseous from the nerves. She promised herself she wouldn't vomit though. Her hands were really shaky holding her fan on her lap, and when Arlo looked at her she knew he noticed. " You alright there Poppy?" he put a white linen-gloved hand on hers " You know, you can just stay with me tonight, you can forget about the rest of 'em" now he put a second hand on hers " We're the only family we need, the rest of 'em are just a coupla' nobodies ok?" he poured his heart into the sentence, emphasizing the word family. It made her nausea alleviate a little, but she was still shaky " But what if… what if Momma sees me… what if Father has somehow convinced her that I'm not worth a dime" she looked up, eyes wide with anxiety, but not having formed tears yet, Arlo's brow furrowed " Oh darling, you ain't got nothing to worry about" he brushed her cheek with his thumb, keeping his other hand on hers " Because I know it's a scientific fact that you are worth more than any of that gold that's under California" She smiled. She felt a little relieved, though the worry was still present, she decided to move it to the back of her mind. This week's goal was for her to enjoy herself.

(sksjsj I thought the party would be after the festival that day, maybe I'm wrong?? We'll have to wait for Lux I guess lmao)

Yes! everyone will filter to the party after just getting familiar w the mardi gras festival shortly. I don’t think a lot of people are active so we can wait :)

“What earrings and linen are you wearing?” Serafine asked softly with a smile, staring in the general direction of her siblings. “Are they as beautiful as I hope they are?”
She completely skipped over the comment Delphi had made about men; the idea that Daus was only attending the festival in order to hook up with someone wasn’t one she wanted to entertain.

—————————

After waiting for his brothers walk off, Remi then made a beeline for a food stand selling freshly made gumbo in cardboard cups with little wooden spoons to eat with. The vendor appeared slightly nervous as the Shifter approached—and who wouldn’t be, given Remi’s reputation—but after realising that the man just wanted food, he somewhat relaxed.
Remi paid for a cup, taking it with him as he sat on a shaded bench away from the thick of the festival, and if anyone had dared get close enough to him they would see the smallest of smiles gracing his lips.

Fio smiled a little. "It's fine. Let's find Emi and we can head out, I know you two are excited for Mardi Gras." He led her downstairs, eventually finding Emi. "Emilio, let's head out, if you're ready. Father will be preparing for the party, and we'll have to get back before it starts. If you want time at Mardi Gras, we have to leave soon." He liked Mardi Gras. Didn't love it, sure, but he enjoyed it. Sure, all the stimulation occasionally got to be too much and he'd have to sit down or go somewhere quiet, just for a few minutes, but most of the time he enjoyed it. Enjoyed the dancing and the drinking and the partying, the chance to mingle with both the living and the dead. The spirits loved Mardi Gras too, and would often participate, in their own way, in the festivities.

"I'm here, I'm here!" Emilio laughed, pulling on a purple blazer and slipping in some gold earrings. "I ran just a bit late, sorry about that, got held up by someone trying to make a mess of the swamp because they were bored with being, and I quote 'dead and musty'." He rambled on as he caught up with his siblings, locking all three of their arms together with him at the middle. "Now, are we ready to have some fun before what I can only imagine will be a hair pulling party back here?"

Fio nodded a bit, letting Emilio grab ahold of his arm. "Yes, I believe we are. The party should not be "hair-pulling", Emilio, please do not pull anyone's hair. Including your own." he gave his younger brother a faint smile, and started to head towards the door, where he let go so that they could actually all go through it.

(yo would the party be at different Families' houses every time, or should the LaTours host it every year??)

James kept walking throughout the festival, stopping at some places and hurrying past others. He sat down at one point and read for a bit. Somehow, he managed to focus amongst the festival chaos. James got something to drink when he realized he could be doing something so much better.

James walked into a nearby alley, where nobody was and nobody would see. It was simple, what he wanted to do. He focused on the image of a simple crow. The way it flew, the way it cried, every little detail. Let's do a little espionage, shall we?

A crow flew out of the alley, the alley where James no longer stood.

Emilio laughed but gave Fio a comically deadpan look at the hairpulling statement. "Last years party someone spilled wine all over my shirt and let me tell you, I almost became the 'big bad scawwy necwomancer' that everyone thinks about when they hear our family name right there." He wiped his deadpan look off and looked down at his hands, fixing his skull rings so that the skull was facing upwards.

Lou grinned, unlinking her arm from Emi’s and gently pulling on his hair, sticking her tongue out as she did so. Skipping through the door, she began humming a tune to the rhythm of her jangling bracelets. Turning around, she noticed that her brothers were being left behind, and slowed down to allow them to catch up. “Let’s go!! I can’t wait any longer!”

They had finally arrived at the Festival, and Arlo sighed as he got down, tray in hand "That took longer than planned" he said, looking at Aunt Sangue "What are you talking about boy? That was the shortest carriage ride I've ever been on" she replied, he stared at her "Right. Well, me and Opale are gonna split here, we gotta put these cookies on one o' the tables" he grabbed Opale by the wrist and pulled her towards the crowd of people on the street, the sound of music growing as they got closer. Opale looked back and saw a bunch of other older women approaching Sangue for conversation as Sangue rolled her eyes. Suddenly her vision was cut off by a ton of people, the sweet and savory smell of food and liquor flooding her nose, she looks forward, Arlo still holding on to her wrist, determined to get his tray to that table. Once he finally pushes past the crowd and places the tray down he lifts the lid releasing the sweet warm scent into the humid air, and places a small sign in front of it. "Take one" it reads. He then looks to his side and spotted a Gumbo stand " Ooh, let's go get Gumbo Poppy!" she grimaced " I don't quite… enjoy Gumbo" he looked mortified "You don't like GUMBO! Staple food of Cajun Louisiana?" he yelled, calling the attention of a good 5 foot radius around them, she replied quickly" But you can go, I don't mind staying here on my own!" she definitely did mind, but she didn't want to hold him back " Ok, but I'll bring you back something I think you WOULD like" and he leaves to get his gumbo. She looked around her, scanning her surroundings for anywhere she could rest her legs, when she spotted a bench, out to the corner of the street, obstructed from most people's view by a large willow tree. She hated being in large groups of people, because she knew that her families ability took effect even if she didn't want it to. You see, the Catoire family's ability was that they could kill people unnaturally easily. Supernaturally. Most people knew that much at least, but what they didn't know was that they do this by consuming life force. They can focus this power on one person of course, to make the job go faster, but in groups of large people it's very hard to control, and they will begin consuming life force from all those at the party. Arlo knew how to control his, but she had a really hard time controlling her's. Of course Aunt Sanguile didn't care to control hers. Opale sighed as she sat down, she pulled down her hat over her face and fell asleep.
_
Arlo headed towards the gumbo as he thought of what he could bring Opale that she would enjoy. They'd only known each other for a couple of months despite being cousins, so he didn't really know what she liked and disliked. "A cup of your spiciest gumbo please" he reached into his purse for coins and handed it to the man. As he got his gumbo he noticed a man walking away from the gumbo stand, he was tall with tan skin and he wore a very basic outfit, nothing really interesting about it, but from his aura Arlo could tell that he would be a good first target for Arlo's flirting tactics, so he approached him. " How'd ya do monsieur?"

(This is @The-Tower 's Remi btw, idk why I just thought it would be fun if they interacted)