Quote:
The Lantern Festival (7) : Scientists have been hard at work trying to understand the strange, glowing qualities of the luminescent caterpillars found in the caves by the reservoir. The caterpillars still shrivel up if they are taken out of the caves but their glowing secretions have been processed into an organic paste that can withstand the outside world. The city is selling paper lanterns infused with various seeds. The glow paste is full of minerals to support healthy plant growth without risking damage to the environment; all lantern purchases come with a small packet of activating power that will heat the paste up enough to mimic the effects of a candle without the concerns of flammability. When the glow paste loses its heat, the lantern will return to the Earth and upon the first rain (or any contact with water) the paper will dissolve and the seeds may begin to grow. All proceeds from the lanterns are put right back into the community to support local conservation and environmental protection efforts.
[WC: 565]
Labradorite had been reading about the lanterns the city was selling, and how when the lanterns land they grow new plants. This was what triggered the Lieutenant to buy one and come out to one of her favorite parks to let the lantern go free. She had poured over the research and was actually curious about the cave itself but she didn't dare go.
She was excited to light up the lantern with the glow paste and hummed as she sat at a picnic table working to set up the lantern just right. She was humming as she made sure the paste was properly put into the lantern and then she opened the activating powder. She then softly sprinkled it into the paste after she stood up holding the lantern away from the wooden picnic table since she didn't want to cause a fire.
Once the activation powder hit the paste she could feel the heat slowly be generated. It took a moment for there to be enough of the warmth from the heat to take the lantern from her hand and slowly it rose up into the sky. Labradorite watched it after it took off from her hands she placed them behind her head relaxing as she watched the lantern float up into the sky, it was joined by other little lanterns dotting the sky and slowly raising just to be caught by a soft wind.
From there Labradorite wondered where the lantern would be carried. Would she ever see it again? The lieutenant thought maybe she should've added some small trinket that if she were to run across where the lantern had landed she could've found it or someone else.
Either way the lieutenant shrugged softly, it was headed for a new life now. There was no redo on this lantern, perhaps if she did it again she could do something to know it was hers in the future. But she thought this was a good idea hosted by the city. After all you could never have too many plants in Labradorites opinion. It also made up for the random construction that was happening around town.
Labradorite settled back onto the picnic table she'd been sitting on, this time sitting on the table top her heels resting on the seat and her hands placed behind her holding her up. She decided watching all the lanterns take off that people were releasing today was a good use of her time. She was still humming as she watched the sky and the lights that danced in it taken by the soft winds that blew that night.
Some of them she almost swore were dancing together as they left the ground and floated higher into the night sky. "To be able to float free like the light would be nice." She said softly before thinking about the movie tangled and humming 'I see the light'.
That was a thought, the lieutenant stood up once the lanterns were out of sight, apparently everyone had released them for now. She should go watch Tangled, it had been a while since she watched the movie and it was one of her favorites. As she started to walk she pulled out a small key chain from her subspace that has a small Sapphire Star Charm on it. She was headed for her van so that she could have movie night.
