New Year's Near-Miss

“I think I’ve figured it out,” Beanny announced as she exited the cafe, dusting her hands on her apron. She had been bustling in and out of the doorway all evening, fetching furniture and refreshments and checking on the snacks that were still baking, while Morgaine had been put in charge of arranging all the things that she brought out on the brick walkway in front of the cafe. Pitchers of hot chocolate and coffee sat next to rows of cups that invited passers-by to serve themselves, while individual tables had bundles of sparklers for guests to take and assorted plates of small cookies and other sweets. It wasn’t bad handiwork at all, if he did say so himself.

“Figured what out?” He asked, glancing up at Beanny where she stood triumphant with her hands on her hips.

“The two constants of Burrowgatory holidays: fire hazards and drinking yourself unconscious.” She gave him a sharp grin, and he snorted a little.

“Can’t say you’re wrong on that count, sugar. But I know you enjoy one of those things.” The sparklers they were putting out were Beanny’s own design, after she’d taken an interest in figuring out how the flammable mixture that coated them worked. She had been secretive about the expected results, but she was clearly excited for others to try her new invention for themselves.

Beanny sniffed good-naturedly. “We just had a fire-hazard-and-drinking-yourself-under holiday, you know.”

“Nuh-uh. We had Cherubmas in between All Sinners’ Day and now. You gave us a buffer - which I think means that we get to drink more, this Mochi Moon.”

Beanny scoffed and rolled her eyes, but she was obviously amused. Setting up a somewhat impromptu event in the Heavenly Embassy for the new year had been her idea; with cherubuns arriving in ever-growing numbers, many still needed to be eased into Burrowgatory’s traditions until they were comfortable. This way, Beanny had reasoned, anyone who was unsure about leaving the Embassy could still partake in the festivities in a more controlled manner (and there would be no risk of anyone ending up accidentally poisoned because they grabbed the wrong kind of drink during celebrations).

Morgaine finished smoothing down the tablecloth on the arrangement he’d been working on and instead picked up one of the sparklers. “Mind if I try one of these out before we officially open for business?” He was admittedly curious as to just what Beanny’s experimental sparklers had in store.

She smiled coyly. “Sure, but just one! I think it’ll be a fun surprise.”

Morgaine picked up one of the lighters that had also been placed nearby, flicking it to life and holding it to the end of the sparkler until the flame caught. A shower of bluish-green sparks shot from the end of the sparkler like a fountain. Morgaine had about half a second to enjoy it before the rest of the flammable mixture caught and all hell broke loose.

As the fire traveled down the sparkler, there was a soft fizzling noise, and then the entire thing erupted in a burst of flame that was more reminiscent of the kind of firework that you shot into the air. Surprised, Morgaine wasn’t able to tighten his grip on the stick before the force of the sparks wrenched it out of his hand. “Shit!”

He was only somewhat aware of Beanny shouting a similar exclamation before she rushed inside; Morgaine likewise chased the sparkler into the grass where it had fallen and tried to stomp out the flame before it could set the entire area on fire. Beanny swiftly re-emerged from the cafe armed with a fire extinguisher and summarily executed the renegade sparkler with a generous blast of foam. Once the sparkler had been smothered, Morgaine stomped out any lingering sparks, grinding his shoe into the dirt for good measure.

Stunned silence settled over the two of them in the immediate aftermath. Morgaine’s hat had been knocked askew by the force of the sparkler’s explosion, and he straightened it with a somewhat shaky hand before smoothing down his shirtfront and taking a deep breath.

“Are you okay!?” Beanny asked, regaining her composure enough to set the spent fire extinguisher down and moving to Morgaine’s side to take over smoothing him out, fussing with his tie.

“I’m fine,” Morgaine answered automatically, a little surprised to find that that was in fact true. He was shaken, but the most damage that had been done was a few spots of singed material on his sleeve. With that assurance to himself, he took another deep breath, willing his heart rate to slow back to normal with a hand pressed to his chest.

“...You should warn people about those,” he added, shooting a suspicious glance at the rest of the sparklers arranged on the tables, waiting with false innocence for some unsuspecting partygoer to pick them up and burn down the entire Embassy. “Was that the ‘fun surprise’? Weren't you just talking about fire hazards??”

Beanny huffed, though there was an edge of laughter in it in spite of herself. “I’m going to put those away and test the rest of them myself, safely in the lab - that was not supposed to happen! The first test batch didn’t do that!” She stepped back, seeming satisfied that Morgaine was in fact unhurt and not about to spontaneously combust himself. “I know it’s short notice, but can you run to the store and buy some regular sparklers? We’ve already set everything else up…”

Morgaine adjusted his hat once more, mostly to get himself back into business mode. “That’s probably for the best, hon. I’ll be back before you know it.” He flashed Beanny a smile, which she returned gratefully. She rummaged in the pockets of her apron before coming up with a small bag of carats, which she pressed into Morgaine’s hand.

“I’ll have this mess cleaned up by the time you get back,” she declared. “Try not to have any other accidents on your way, okay?”

“Don’t make it sound like this was my fault,” Morgaine said with mock offense. Beanny grinned and tweaked his nose, as had become her habit, and then she waved him off.

He was careful on his way back to Burrowgatory, despite his protests. Just to be safe.