Invisible Parties — 26 of 31

Book - Maying

maying is a party in tangle. maying is north of wedding and east of hotrock. The printed name of maying is "The Pleasant Month of May". Understand "may" or "pleasant" or "month" or "pleasant month of may" or "england" or "village" or "green" as maying.

The description of maying is "You're on a village green: in England, or something very close to it. It's a flawless day in late spring, a blue sky dappled with lazy white clouds, air clean, crisp and just on the pleasant side of cool. Fresh green all over the trees, including the big dancing-lime spreading its shade over the green's heart. And evidently someone decided that the only thing that could possibly improve this was an accordion. You're amidst a rustic and jubilant crowd, dancing with more enthusiasm than choreography.[p]And there, at the edges of the green, the mouth of a hollow way. A way out."

the holloway is a waymouth in maying. The description of holloway is "Only three sides of the green are ringed by buildings; the fourth is fields, and up them, like a seam, runs a hedge so broad and dense as to accomodate a sunken track at its heart. A hollow way, an ancient road. You feel the accumulated tread of the long-passed, of words spoken in tongues long-buried." Understand "hollow" or "hedge" or "track" or "sunken" or "mouth" or "road" or "ancient" or "way" as holloway.

the dancing lime is scenery in maying. The description of dancing lime is "Not the citrus lime, but the linden or basswood, a beautiful, densely-foliated tree that, later in the summer, will be clouded by a sweet clean fragrance and much-frequented by bees. This one has been trained so that the lowest boughs clear the dancers['] heads, while still allowing climbing. A number of the musicians have been hoisted into the lower branches and are playing overhead." Understand "tree" or "basswood" or "linden" as dancing lime.

Instead of climbing dancing lime: say "If you were here to enjoy the party, that's exactly what you would be doing. But this place isn't designed for your enjoyment; they would probably send wasps."

The dancedesc of maying is "The dance is a simple one, and allows for a wide range of permutations: geriatric shuffles, elaborate moves from young show-offs, artless enthusiasm from very small children and the embarrassingly middle-aged. The overall effect is chaos, and you take a few bumps before deciding to stick to a vaguely rhythmic head bob."

the blue sky is an unimplement in maying. Understand "clouds" or "white clouds" or "air" as the blue sky. The description of the blue sky is "Little-white-sheep clouds proceed sedately across a gloriously blue sky. There's the occasional giant mutant sheep, but nothing with the grey underbelly of a raincloud."

the village green is an unimplement in maying. The description of village green is "Three sides of the green are tree-shaded and framed by houses - nestled among them you pick out a town hall, church, post office, a couple of pubs - and on the other by hedges and fields on a hillside, with a little stream running alongside. It's a good-sized area, big enough for a couple of sports fields."

Understand "pub" or "village hall" or "hall" or "church" or "post office" or "stream" or "building" or "buildings" or "house" or "houses" as the village green.

the greenery is an unimplement in maying. Understand "trees" or "leaves" or "leaf" or "tree" or "hedge" or "hedges" as the greenery. The description of the greenery is "The trees and hedges are in the first flush of summer, leaves impossibly bright and green and unblemished. There are a great many of them, as if the houses squeezed up like mushrooms between the roots of a forest."

The tsadesc of maying is "You're dressed (not bodied, but passing) as a youth, neatly turned-out and hopelessly rustic; the waistcoat is one layer too many, but at least you don't have to deal with skirts."

The listendesc of maying is "Folk music of the livelier variety. The band are more enthusiastic than talented, but it all comes together well enough. It's mostly accordion and drums, and there're some pipes in there too."

The rivdesc of maying is "The keyboard accordionist is Rivka[one of]. She catches your eye and flashes you a Cheshire Cat grin; even with the shades you can tell that the smile doesn't reach her eyes[stopping]."

The rivcostume of maying is "She's dressed in much the same red-white-and-black outfit as the other musicians, but the colours and lines are stronger, making it feel more like a samurai's formal robes than a mummer's getup. She stands absolutely still as she plays, only one arm and one hand working."

The rivweapon of maying is "a two-foot cudgel".

The boozedesc of maying is "Everyone appears to be drinking that special variety of cider that seems to have been aged in a badger's rectum."

The singdesc of maying is "The music has no words, though if they did they would probably involve sexual innuendo and livestock."

The shortbooze of maying is "You acquire a generous mug of cloudy cider."

The javeinit of maying is "You catch Jave's face as she passes in the dance, laughing."

The javedesc of maying is "It's hard to get a good look at Jave in the bedlam of the dance, but she's dressed in much the same 18th-century-peasant style as the locals. She looks younger, too, tending a little towards puppy-fat, and good holy fuck her hair's in [i]curls[/i]. And she's giggling at something, which she [i]never[/i] does in public."

The javecostume of maying is "She has bound back the blonde curls into a ponytail, and discarded several layers of petticoats to reveal white bloomers, already rather dirt-scuffed."

The closeclue of maying is "You recognise one of the scraps of cloth tied around the tree's lower branches: a scarf."

the mayers are a crowd in maying. The description of mayers is "A sort of idealised version of jolly peasants from somewhere between the Reformation and the First World War, they comprise every age capable of walking."

the musicians are an alt-crowd in maying. Understand "band" or "accordion" or "accordian" or "musician" or "drum" or "pipes" as the musicians. The description of musicians is "A group covering a wide range of ages, musical proficiency and stages of drunkenness. The music is of a kind that mostly accomodates this and staggers onwards, though. They're dressed in a motley of red and black."

the scarf is a clue. The javeclue of maying is the scarf. The description of the scarf is "The scarf is burnt orange, crude-woven. You all wore them in Lacmore, partly for unit identification but mostly because it's useful to have a piece of cloth around. She was the only one who managed to keep hers consistently clean."

The desolation of maying is "The fresh warm air is cut by a billow of icy wind, and a moment later the air's full of snow. Hard, sideways snow, a blizzard. The dance breaks up, people huddling and scuttling for shelter: the snow, already ankle-deep, closes over their tracks. The sky's too dark-clouded to say whether night's coming on, but the temperature's dropping hard, and you're in shirt-sleeves; you catch yourself making hypothermia calculations, but they're all going to add up to one thing."

The demise of maying is "The snow's up to your knees, and the wind shows no sign of abating. The cold no longer hurts. You dimly understand that this is bad, but you're not getting many thoughts any more, and each one of them takes a very long time to form. All the world is now is blurred difficulty: it is difficult to move, to draw breath, to focus on anything. It would be better to lie down, curl up, and maybe things will be better when you wake up."

The Hollow Way is an egress. Hollow Way is outside from maying.

The description of Hollow Way is "A deep-sunken lane, not wide enough for two to comfortably walk abreast: stumpy trees of thorn and ash, hazel and oak turn it into a sea-green tunnel. There are fields on either side, a bright spring sun, but the path slopes upwards, steeply, promising a hilltop wood.[p]You've trodden this many times before. A generous way, if not an easy one. You could walk it in your sleep."

Understand "tunnel" or "hedge" as Hollow Way.

the javeapp of hollow way is "Jave stands beside you, her face dappled with leaf-broken light".

The roadahead of hollow way is "Fallen leaves crunch underfoot. A strident lamb and bored ewe are bleating back and forth across a nearby field, and a gentle breeze is shifting the boughs."

the spring sun is scenery in Hollow Way. The description of spring sun is "Bright, warm, fresh. Warm in cool."

the listendesc of Hollow Way is "You can still make out the sounds of the maying further down the hill, but off in the hilltop wood a thrush is singing."

the trees along the way are scenery in Hollow Way. Understand "stumpy" or "thorn" or "ash" or "hazel" or "oak" as the trees along the way.

the rebadesc of Hollow Way is "Reba al-Nasri sits atop a stile, balancing an improbably-sized crock on one knee."

The rebalook of Hollow Way is "She has a straw hat, a vaguely French-looking floral-print dress, an extremely French-looking scarf and the beginnings of a tan. The huge earthenware crock she's lugging seems heavy enough to pull her arms from their sockets"

The tsadesc of Hollow Way is "You feel very familiar. Hiking boots, lightweight but sturdy trousers, linen shirt."