Ben and Ellison had planned a party for the evening after the festival but that would be a few hours from now. Invites had already been sent out and now all there was left to do was enjoy the evening. The kids had been taken to a friends house, feeling better from their earlier ailments, and Ellison attended the evening festivities with her husband. The were arm in arm and giddy with each other like they were teenagers again.

Ben wasn't sure where Fred had got off to but he had a hunch. He spotted Evanthe Curran again and moved over to her before she let her wreath go. "Hey, good luck tonight," he said with a playful raised eyebrow and would give her a little on her cheek before he and Ellison stood near enough to the water to watch the wreaths go into the waves without being in the way.

Oh Fred was definitely there. As soon as the lights had dimmed he had started to book it towards the water's edge without wasting a single moment. When he got close, however, he spotted a familiar face and he quite literally skidded to a halt, his feet slipping slightly on the sandy shore and change direction to head over to his partner, @veda.

"Veda! Where in the goddesses name have you been all day!?" he said with the kind of tone of an exasperated friend who had a pile of gossip to deliver and no one to share it with. "Wait..." he changed direction in his thoughts. "You weren't doing, like, coven stuff were you?" he asked, a look of uncertainty on his face.

Vesper had debated whether or not to attend the evenings festivities but in the end curiosity won out. She just hoped she didn't end up like the fabled cat. She had not made a wreath nor did she intend to. The rose that Keelan Morrigan had given her now rested inside the pocket of her long dark jacket as she slipped through the night like a shadow, well, not so much like a shadow or as most like a shadow as she could be, the sand silencing the thud of her false leg for once.

She stood close enough to observe but not close enough to look like she was part of all this...romance and frivolity. She believed in quite a lot, even in the goddesses to some extent, but not in this love ritual. It seemed so...childish.

Veda hadn't been avoiding anyone per se, but rather she had a list of things she liked to do during the Ver Festival. Sure, she built her wreath and took that seriously as she had been taught to do by her coven. But she also quite enjoyed the festive food that came about when the spring came forth. So many fresh berries of the season, which meant so many pastries and the likes. Enough to make her fingertips almost stained with the small cups she collected throughout the day and ate from.

Her attire was festive, green and gold to celebrate the new grown and sun (though they wouldn't see it she imagined), so for the sun's warmth really. Her wreath made of greenery and plum colored flowers, a few crystals that she made sure were charged were brought from home in her pocket. A special crystal in her pocket tucked away for a certain friend of hers that she hadn't seen all day...

But that ended very quickly as she heard her name shouted out. @frederick almost slipping to stop in front of her, causing that proud brow of hers to pop up on her forehead. "Easy there, can't have you getting injured before you even get a chance to wade into the wake." She was already toeing the waters edge, her wreath still sitting upon her head. When he asked if she was doing coven stuff, she smirked up at him, even her best friend... didn't know what exactly it was that her coven did. "Amongst other things. Where have you been all day? Where is the latest?" She glanced around as if a beacon would appear over any of the witches releasing their wreaths into the water.

'Amongst other things', Fred didn't really want to dig into what it was exactly that @veda did with her coven. He had had plenty of opportunities to try to ask more questions but he always got the feeling that not only was it none of his business but that he didn't really want to know.

He chuckled a little as she asked him where the latest was, knowing that she had been there for so many of his various crushes that it was far more of a 'who' than an 'if' he had someone that he had his eye on. He had turned to look for Evanthe Curran to point her out when he spotted her as she was putting her wreath in the water. He felt his heart stutter as he realized now was his time to act but then he spotted a man known to work for Keelan Morrigan already heading that direction. "Shit! One second," he said to Veda and without looking back he dashed down the sand and was soon splashing water from the tide as he ran towards the direction of Evanthe's wreath before that ugly brute of a man could snag it first.

But Bulger was closer and he bent to pick up the wreath just before Fred reached the spot. Fred grappled with the man, so focused on getting what he came for that he cared little for what other people would thing. It was unfair that Keelan would be able to claim a wreath by using his lackey to do the actual work to retrieve it. It wasn't how things ought to be done. If you asked Fred he would say he was fighting for Evanthe's honor.

They grappled, Fred giving it his all, when Bulger managed to catch Fred's nose with his elbow, sending him falling rear end first into the water below where he promptly sat on another hopeful wreath, crushing it beneath his backside and leaving the soldier with a bloody nose as Bulger simply walked away.

Feeling more embarrassed than in pain, Fred pulled himself out of the water, face nearly as red as the blood falling from his nose onto his lip as he avoided looking at Evanthe and hurried off in the opposite direction.

(Winner of the wreath determined by dice roll)

Without a wreath of her own, Alinore had no reason to make her way to the shoreline herself, but she accompanied @meiying all the same. Standing on the edge of the black sand, with a single blue flower tucked behind her ear and rose in hand, she watched as her friend strode business-like across the beach and set her floral creation adrift. For a moment, dark eyes lingered on the wreath as it bobbed on the waves before turning their attention to the witch returning to Alinore’s side.

Handing over Meiying’s shoes, she nodded her agreement more at the exhaustion in her friend’s voice than the words themselves. “At least your mother will be appeased,” Alinore mused, waiting for a moment before beginning to turn away. “Would you like to—” The sound of splashing interrupted her, and after directing her gaze toward the source of the commotion, she arched an eyebrow. First Aldrich Abbott ’s public proposal. Then Keelan Morrigan ’s announcement of his intention to let the noblewomen of Skia compete against each other for his hand in marriage. Now @frederick , bloodied and drenched, emerged from the water.

Men.

Perhaps she ought to find @alden and usher him away lest he decide to find some way to make another scene. “This festival has been far more eventful than I recall.” The words were, of course, for Meiying. “Was it so lively last year?”

She should have known better, as @frederick turned from her, that those eyes were not going to land back on her as he suddenly stiffened and shouted his good bye. Her hand shot into her pocket and she pulled it free with a crystal in her hand as she shouted, "Wait! Fred- I-," But it was too late. She huffed out her annoyance as she watched her partner dash for the water, her hand falling back to her side as she cocked her head slightly and watched the scene unfold. She winced slightly as the grapple happened, and to her surprise... Fred was not the one who came out on top.

Rather he came out with a busted nose and, she cursed under her breath when she caught sight of his face. That was not just any wreath... that was the latest's one. The wreath on top of her head suddenly seemed heavier with its sense of duty, as if reminding her that she too still needed to set it free, even as her feet had started to guide herself after Fred...

But as another joyous whoop was heard from the water, she dragged her feet towards it, letting the bottom of her skirting get dirty as she waded just in enough to release her wreath, bow her head, and say a prayer over it as the waves started to take it away. She would finish her prayer, tipping her head to the sky as if she'd spot the Goddess staring down at them and give a small smile before she backed out of the water and turned to look for the familiar figure of her partner that might have already escaped.