Muinín (Faith) Pt 3/whatever
Title: Muinín (Faith)
Status: Pt 3/whatever
Rating: PG
Author's Notes: Oh god, I mention so much Salem and Witchcraft in this, I'm sorry you guys, but I go to school in Salem, and it seemed way too perfect to have Kurt be bombarded with Paganism.
That morning, Kurt and Blaine had gotten into the airport, nervous for their new life in Boston. They were moving in with Kieran and Brienne, which Kurt ddn't realize until the previous day that it would be a bit of an issue. And by bit, he meant How I Met Your Mother sized shenanigans. Kurt wasn't sure if he could handle living with Brienne, simply because she knew too much, and he wasn't sure about Kieran because, well, he had an Irish accent. And if he's related to Blaine, that would mean he was rather attractive, because Kurt had seen pictures of his family, and there wasn't an ugly person in the bunch, and it's not like Kurt would cheat, it would just be…distracting.
So when Kieran was waiting at Logan Airport for them, and Blaine waved him down, Kurt felt he had a rock in his throat, he couldn't swallow whatsoever. Kieran was gorgeous. He had black hair, like Blaine, but it was straight and shaggy. Some slight freckles, and bright blue eyes, and Kurt realized this was a lot worse than he imagined. Fortunately, Kieran had Brienne, and Kurt had the walking deity knows as Blaine (at least that's what he was like sometimes), so there wouldn't be an issue. Oh, except for the Irish accents and the witchcraft. Boston was going to be interesting, to say the least.
Once they had gotten settled in the apartment, Kurt had flopped down onto the bed, getting used to the sounds of Boston. Blaine was scanning the radio stations, getting a feel for which station played what. He had figured out the Top 40 stations (92 PRO FM, MIX 104.1, and KISS 108), had figured out the rock stations (Radio 92.9, 94.1 HJY, 95.5 WBRU, 97.7 WAAF (which was also on 107.1, which Blaine thought was bizarre, "why have two of the same channels?" and countless others), and was now dancing around the apartment to Rihanna, the dial firmly placed on 94.5. Kurt rolled his eyes, but his ears pricked up when he heard Blaine sing along, "Cause I may be bad, but I'm perfectly good at it. Sex in the air, I don't care, I love the smell of it. Sticks and stones my break my bones, but chains and whips excite me." Kurt sat up quickly, raising an eyebrow. "Wait…they allow this shit to be played here?"
Brienne had been leaning against the doorway, watching Blaine make a fool of himself, when she spoke up. "Yeah, Boston's kinda liberal, if you haven't figured it out. I mean, we decriminalized marijuana here. We have goddamn Hempfest. And when I first moved here, this was the first city that I actually felt safe in. You'll get used to it, Kurt." Brienne smiled and walked away. Kurt looked to Blaine, muttering, "We need to invest in a lock for this door." Blaine shrugged and dragged Kurt off of the bed, begging him to dance.
---
It was October. So far, Blaine was making quite a few friends at Berklee, mostly girls who flirted, but felt foolish when he would zip up his guitar case, a double-male symbol patch safety-pinned rather prominently next to a gay pride flag. When a boy would raise an eyebrow (usually pierced, Blaine noticed), he smiled and combed his fingers through his hair, which if he moved just right, the fluorescent lighting would hit his neck, showing a nice red mark, courtesy of Kurt. The other boy would nod, give a thumbs up, and continue back on his work. Blaine couldn't help but smile, and strike up a conversation with the boy about something they were interested in (he was nothing but dapper, and making friends at Berklee was a must), and once had almost been convinced to start stretching his ears, after a passionate conversation with a "body modification enthusiast", who explained to Blaine that piercings were a way of expression your individuality, of taking in the passion of life. That the adrenaline removed all of your problems, and was a form of sacrifice in order to become a better person. Blaine nodded at the religious way the boy spoke, and figured that maybe piercings would be a good way to get his masochistic tendencies out without relapsing. His scars had near disappeared, and when he mentioned neroli oil, the boy grinned, mentioning how he had used it on his face after getting rid of his "anti-eyebrow". Blaine nodded, not in agreement, but in slight disgust, and promptly decided to not invest in piercings, just because.
This was the great think about Berklee. Sure, were there a lot of snooty kids who were there because their parents paid? Well, of course. Even though Blaine's parents were paying, he felt part of a new social order. He felt truly accepted, for his agnostic beliefs, for his odd heritage, and especially for his sexuality. Blaine felt more comfortable about being up-front about his homosexuality living in Boston, and while he wasn't going around with the Faeries in Provincetown, it was a definite change of pace from Ohio.
Meanwhile, Kurt was up to his eyes in textiles and drawings, but he smiled every step of the way, especially when for one of his projects, he had to make a corset. Brienne volunteered to be his dummy, "because, shit, why not, I'll wear it to King Richard's Faire next year", and they had bonded over their complete disdain for Ohio. Brienne told Kurt about how she lived there for a few years, had met Kieran through Blaine at one of his parties, and couldn't believe that Blaine had family that wasn't part of the "close-knit Asian community" that his mother always talked about. Blaine, of course, would mention that they were the only Filipinos in the bunch, with the exception of Sunshine, and explained further to Brienne that he had a lot more Irish family that he knew than Filipino. Over time, Kurt realized that he didn't hate Brienne that much. Sure, she was overbearing, and a slight bit psychotic, but she meant well. She really did care, and so yeah, she had some precognition. She promised on her life that she would never spy on Kurt or Blaine, and thus was the beginning of a tentative friendship. So two weeks before Halloween, when Brienne asked Kurt if he'd like to go up to Salem with her, he was intrigued. "Why not." Sure, he was going to a tourist trap two weekends before the biggest day of the year for them, to buy overly priced witch supplies with Brienne, but he figured he'd be nice, and that it would be a good escape from the apartment, since Kieran's accent was rubbing off on Blaine big time, and he couldn't handle being in the same room as two hot Irishmen (well, one Irishman, one Irish-Filipino-American).
On the drive up, he got the briefing, about how Samhain was the Pagan New Year, stemming back to ancient Celtic times, and how it was the time to honor the dead. As they pulled into downtown Salem, Kurt looked around, flabbergasted. The city was small, yes, but it was bustling with traffic, and Kurt swore he heard people speaking in French. They parked in a parking garage, and after dodging some tour busses, and slipping past women dressed as witches, handing out flyers for "Five dollars off psychic readings!", they slipped into a side street, and into a tiny shop called "The Broom Closet."
Kurt felt he had stepped into a Harry Potter book, and that the street they were on was Diagon Alley. This store had everything, cauldrons, herbs, brooms, candles, books, and…they sold Harry Potter scarves. Oh this was too good to be true. He slipped over into the corner as Brienne went grabbing certain herbs, and a rather large cauldron, and picked up a Ravenclaw scarf and hat. He figured it'd be a nice present for Blaine, since he was a nerd enough to wear the damn things, when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around a kind looking woman, elderly, wearing oh God, silver and gold jewelry together, holding a cane, and rocking a black bouffant that would make Snooki seethe with rage. She smiled at Kurt, and said, lowly, "you and that boy of yours are going to get married someday. I can feel it, and I can hear your mother telling me so. She's proud of you, Kurt."
Kurt almost dropped the scarf right there, when he heard a rather flamboyant cry of "ugh, damnit, let's go, we're gonna be late!" Kurt looked up to see a man, in all black, wearing the best smoky eye he had ever seen, tapping his foot, wearing a black and hunter green cape with all sorts of trinkets hanging from it. The elderly woman smiled at Kurt, and waved at Brienne. "See you later, mama, take care of Kurt for me!" Brienne nodded, turning white, and ran over to Kurt.
"How do you know her."
"I don't. She just walked up to me, and told me I was marrying Blaine, and that my mother was proud of me…she knew my name, Brienne. I'm kinda tweaked out right now."
Brienne nodded, looking down at Kurt's hands. "Oooh, Ravenclaw? I figured you for a Slytherin."
"The Ravenclaw stuff is for Blaine, and of course I'm a Slytherin. I figured Blaine would like the stuff, since he's such a dork."
"Well, go grab yourself a Slytherin set, silly. Presents for the both of you for Samhain."
Kurt grinned at Brienne, who was beaming as she placed down roughly $200 worth of magical accoutrements on the counter. Kurt was stuck carrying the cauldron as they made their way back up to the main road, only to be cut off by a woman in a Puritan outfit booking it down the street, a crowd following her, screaming "ARREST HER! SHE'S A WITCH!" Kurt could feel his jaw becoming slack, and Brienne squealed. "Oooh, Cry Innocent is back! I love the people they pick to play Bridget Bishop! One year, she dived right into some bushes to avoid getting arrested. It was wonderful. You do know Bridget Bishop actually was a witch, right?"
Kurt simply nodded, trying to avoid any more craziness or talk of witchcraft in Salem, which he knew was like trying to nail Jell-O to a tree.
---
Finally, Halloween had arrived, and Brienne had begged Kurt and Blaine to be back before 10, one, to avoid the drunken Boston revelry, and two, to be part of the Samhain ritual. Kurt had been sort of cautious, not having a problem with helping Brienne tote the stuff to her car, but his Protestant sensibilities felt odd at the request. Blaine, however, volunteered, going to Kieran's computer, pulling up an old Myspace that had obviously expired with time. The layout image had been deleted, the song playing no longer available, but Kurt could see who it was. It was Mika.
Brienne pulled out a picture of a young boy, an obviously aged photo, maybe 20 years old. Kieran slipped a simple silver chain over his head, and handed it to Brienne. "Kurt, do you have something of your deceased?" Blaine looked to Kurt, a look in his eyes stating, "just go with it, it won't be bad, nothing bad will happen, I've done this before." Kurt nodded, opening up his wallet and removing a picture of a beautiful woman with long wavy brown hair, cuddling an adorably chubby little baby boy. He handed it to Brienne, who looked at it, back to Kurt, and down again, nodding.
Brienne was directing them at specific places to stand, Kurt being stuck across from Blaine, something to do with "their element." Brienne was facing the altar, and Kieran was behind it. Brienne looked to Blaine, raising an eyebrow. Blaine nodded, and Kurt was fascinated at how…familiar Blaine was with all of this. He heard Blaine say something about the element of Air, and welcoming something to the circle, whatever that meant. He looked to Brienne, who raised her hands up in the air. "I invoke thee, element of Fire, and I do summon and stir thee, to join us into this circle as we celebrate Samhain. We offer you no harm, as we wish to celebrate the lives of our dead, and to celebrate the passing of another year!" Blaine and Brienne looked over to Kurt, and suddenly, Kurt felt like melting into a puddle…which was only right, he supposed, considering he was told he was "water." Kurt stumbled over his words, managing to get out something about the element of Water and welcoming them. He blushed after, feeling like he had insulted Brienne, and possibly Blaine? for the bastardization of the words, but Blaine simply nodded and looked to Kieran, who firmly called out an invocation for the element of Earth. Kurt sighed a breath of relief. Brienne would lead the rest of this, and he would stand there, unsure of what to do. Sure, Boston was supposed to be new and exciting, but he was not expecting to be roped into witchcraft. That seemed so…17th century.
Brienne had placed the printed photo of Mika next to the stick of incense that was burning, the photo of the little boy next to the candle, Kurt's photo resting on top of the barely-filled cup of water, and Kieran's chain resting in the bowl of salt. Kurt raised his eyebrow as Brienne poured wine, flowers, and fruit into the cauldron, stating it was an offering to the gods. Ok, this is getting weird. As soon as Brienne pulled out a blood-machine lance and handed it to Blaine, Kurt's warning signs went off in the back of his mind. Blaine pricked his finger, dropping a single drop of blood into the cauldron. Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck what is he doing, are they going to make me do that, way to go Kurt, yeah bet Mom's proud of you now, shit shit shit shit shit shit- "Kurt?"
Kurt looked up, and saw a fresh blood-machine lance facing him. "It's just a small drop. We, like the wine, the flowers, and the fruit, all depend on water to survive, and we offer some of that back to the Earth so it may grow again. We'll pour it out outside as an offering. Are you ok with that?" Brienne looked concerned, Blaine looking over, mentally kicking himself for not prepping Kurt for this. Kurt nodded, and took the lance, and squeezed a single drop into the cauldron. Welp, there goes my soul, good game Kurt. Kieran drew a drop of blood and dropped it into the cauldron. Brienne once more raised her hands, declaring the offering complete and said that now was the time for messages to the dead. She handed Blaine a piece of paper. "Write the name of the person you choose to remember this Samhain on the parchment. before you hand the paper off to the next person, speak to the paper as if it were your beloved dead, letting them know what you ask of them, and what you want them to know.
Blaine nodded, and wrote "Mikhail Pyotr Korolev," kissing the paper, and looking up to the sky. "Thank you for leading me to Kurt. You know everything else." He smiled and handed the paper to Brienne, who wrote down "Connor William Martin." She whispered into the paper, "I miss you, bro. Glad you watch out for me." She handed the paper to Kurt, who suddenly felt a lump in his throat. He nervously wrote "Rebecca Elizabeth Hummel" and felt tears in his eyes. He held the paper close, and managed to stutter out, "I miss you so much. I hope you're proud of me," before falling to his knees sobbing, Blaine looked over to Brienne, who nodded, and Blaine was suddenly there, holding Kurt in his arms, shushing him, kissing his forehead, telling him everything was ok, and that he was sure his mother was proud of him. Kurt nodded and managed to hand the paper to Kieran, before shuddering another round of tears into Blaine's shoulder. Kieran wrote down "Aaron Christopher Tierney", muttered out a "miss ya, Pa," and tossed the paper into the cauldron. Blaine managed to pull Kurt up into a standing position, and after asking if he was ok, went back to where he was standing before. Brienne smiled and declared the ritual complete. After the "banishing," she told Blaine to go watch after Kurt. Blaine nodded, Kieran making a remark about "the Great Rite." Brienne whacked him on the arm. "It's not Beltaine, shut up Kieran."
Blaine was glad he hadn't been around for that one.
Status: Pt 3/whatever
Rating: PG
Author's Notes: Oh god, I mention so much Salem and Witchcraft in this, I'm sorry you guys, but I go to school in Salem, and it seemed way too perfect to have Kurt be bombarded with Paganism.
That morning, Kurt and Blaine had gotten into the airport, nervous for their new life in Boston. They were moving in with Kieran and Brienne, which Kurt ddn't realize until the previous day that it would be a bit of an issue. And by bit, he meant How I Met Your Mother sized shenanigans. Kurt wasn't sure if he could handle living with Brienne, simply because she knew too much, and he wasn't sure about Kieran because, well, he had an Irish accent. And if he's related to Blaine, that would mean he was rather attractive, because Kurt had seen pictures of his family, and there wasn't an ugly person in the bunch, and it's not like Kurt would cheat, it would just be…distracting.
So when Kieran was waiting at Logan Airport for them, and Blaine waved him down, Kurt felt he had a rock in his throat, he couldn't swallow whatsoever. Kieran was gorgeous. He had black hair, like Blaine, but it was straight and shaggy. Some slight freckles, and bright blue eyes, and Kurt realized this was a lot worse than he imagined. Fortunately, Kieran had Brienne, and Kurt had the walking deity knows as Blaine (at least that's what he was like sometimes), so there wouldn't be an issue. Oh, except for the Irish accents and the witchcraft. Boston was going to be interesting, to say the least.
Once they had gotten settled in the apartment, Kurt had flopped down onto the bed, getting used to the sounds of Boston. Blaine was scanning the radio stations, getting a feel for which station played what. He had figured out the Top 40 stations (92 PRO FM, MIX 104.1, and KISS 108), had figured out the rock stations (Radio 92.9, 94.1 HJY, 95.5 WBRU, 97.7 WAAF (which was also on 107.1, which Blaine thought was bizarre, "why have two of the same channels?" and countless others), and was now dancing around the apartment to Rihanna, the dial firmly placed on 94.5. Kurt rolled his eyes, but his ears pricked up when he heard Blaine sing along, "Cause I may be bad, but I'm perfectly good at it. Sex in the air, I don't care, I love the smell of it. Sticks and stones my break my bones, but chains and whips excite me." Kurt sat up quickly, raising an eyebrow. "Wait…they allow this shit to be played here?"
Brienne had been leaning against the doorway, watching Blaine make a fool of himself, when she spoke up. "Yeah, Boston's kinda liberal, if you haven't figured it out. I mean, we decriminalized marijuana here. We have goddamn Hempfest. And when I first moved here, this was the first city that I actually felt safe in. You'll get used to it, Kurt." Brienne smiled and walked away. Kurt looked to Blaine, muttering, "We need to invest in a lock for this door." Blaine shrugged and dragged Kurt off of the bed, begging him to dance.
---
It was October. So far, Blaine was making quite a few friends at Berklee, mostly girls who flirted, but felt foolish when he would zip up his guitar case, a double-male symbol patch safety-pinned rather prominently next to a gay pride flag. When a boy would raise an eyebrow (usually pierced, Blaine noticed), he smiled and combed his fingers through his hair, which if he moved just right, the fluorescent lighting would hit his neck, showing a nice red mark, courtesy of Kurt. The other boy would nod, give a thumbs up, and continue back on his work. Blaine couldn't help but smile, and strike up a conversation with the boy about something they were interested in (he was nothing but dapper, and making friends at Berklee was a must), and once had almost been convinced to start stretching his ears, after a passionate conversation with a "body modification enthusiast", who explained to Blaine that piercings were a way of expression your individuality, of taking in the passion of life. That the adrenaline removed all of your problems, and was a form of sacrifice in order to become a better person. Blaine nodded at the religious way the boy spoke, and figured that maybe piercings would be a good way to get his masochistic tendencies out without relapsing. His scars had near disappeared, and when he mentioned neroli oil, the boy grinned, mentioning how he had used it on his face after getting rid of his "anti-eyebrow". Blaine nodded, not in agreement, but in slight disgust, and promptly decided to not invest in piercings, just because.
This was the great think about Berklee. Sure, were there a lot of snooty kids who were there because their parents paid? Well, of course. Even though Blaine's parents were paying, he felt part of a new social order. He felt truly accepted, for his agnostic beliefs, for his odd heritage, and especially for his sexuality. Blaine felt more comfortable about being up-front about his homosexuality living in Boston, and while he wasn't going around with the Faeries in Provincetown, it was a definite change of pace from Ohio.
Meanwhile, Kurt was up to his eyes in textiles and drawings, but he smiled every step of the way, especially when for one of his projects, he had to make a corset. Brienne volunteered to be his dummy, "because, shit, why not, I'll wear it to King Richard's Faire next year", and they had bonded over their complete disdain for Ohio. Brienne told Kurt about how she lived there for a few years, had met Kieran through Blaine at one of his parties, and couldn't believe that Blaine had family that wasn't part of the "close-knit Asian community" that his mother always talked about. Blaine, of course, would mention that they were the only Filipinos in the bunch, with the exception of Sunshine, and explained further to Brienne that he had a lot more Irish family that he knew than Filipino. Over time, Kurt realized that he didn't hate Brienne that much. Sure, she was overbearing, and a slight bit psychotic, but she meant well. She really did care, and so yeah, she had some precognition. She promised on her life that she would never spy on Kurt or Blaine, and thus was the beginning of a tentative friendship. So two weeks before Halloween, when Brienne asked Kurt if he'd like to go up to Salem with her, he was intrigued. "Why not." Sure, he was going to a tourist trap two weekends before the biggest day of the year for them, to buy overly priced witch supplies with Brienne, but he figured he'd be nice, and that it would be a good escape from the apartment, since Kieran's accent was rubbing off on Blaine big time, and he couldn't handle being in the same room as two hot Irishmen (well, one Irishman, one Irish-Filipino-American).
On the drive up, he got the briefing, about how Samhain was the Pagan New Year, stemming back to ancient Celtic times, and how it was the time to honor the dead. As they pulled into downtown Salem, Kurt looked around, flabbergasted. The city was small, yes, but it was bustling with traffic, and Kurt swore he heard people speaking in French. They parked in a parking garage, and after dodging some tour busses, and slipping past women dressed as witches, handing out flyers for "Five dollars off psychic readings!", they slipped into a side street, and into a tiny shop called "The Broom Closet."
Kurt felt he had stepped into a Harry Potter book, and that the street they were on was Diagon Alley. This store had everything, cauldrons, herbs, brooms, candles, books, and…they sold Harry Potter scarves. Oh this was too good to be true. He slipped over into the corner as Brienne went grabbing certain herbs, and a rather large cauldron, and picked up a Ravenclaw scarf and hat. He figured it'd be a nice present for Blaine, since he was a nerd enough to wear the damn things, when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around a kind looking woman, elderly, wearing oh God, silver and gold jewelry together, holding a cane, and rocking a black bouffant that would make Snooki seethe with rage. She smiled at Kurt, and said, lowly, "you and that boy of yours are going to get married someday. I can feel it, and I can hear your mother telling me so. She's proud of you, Kurt."
Kurt almost dropped the scarf right there, when he heard a rather flamboyant cry of "ugh, damnit, let's go, we're gonna be late!" Kurt looked up to see a man, in all black, wearing the best smoky eye he had ever seen, tapping his foot, wearing a black and hunter green cape with all sorts of trinkets hanging from it. The elderly woman smiled at Kurt, and waved at Brienne. "See you later, mama, take care of Kurt for me!" Brienne nodded, turning white, and ran over to Kurt.
"How do you know her."
"I don't. She just walked up to me, and told me I was marrying Blaine, and that my mother was proud of me…she knew my name, Brienne. I'm kinda tweaked out right now."
Brienne nodded, looking down at Kurt's hands. "Oooh, Ravenclaw? I figured you for a Slytherin."
"The Ravenclaw stuff is for Blaine, and of course I'm a Slytherin. I figured Blaine would like the stuff, since he's such a dork."
"Well, go grab yourself a Slytherin set, silly. Presents for the both of you for Samhain."
Kurt grinned at Brienne, who was beaming as she placed down roughly $200 worth of magical accoutrements on the counter. Kurt was stuck carrying the cauldron as they made their way back up to the main road, only to be cut off by a woman in a Puritan outfit booking it down the street, a crowd following her, screaming "ARREST HER! SHE'S A WITCH!" Kurt could feel his jaw becoming slack, and Brienne squealed. "Oooh, Cry Innocent is back! I love the people they pick to play Bridget Bishop! One year, she dived right into some bushes to avoid getting arrested. It was wonderful. You do know Bridget Bishop actually was a witch, right?"
Kurt simply nodded, trying to avoid any more craziness or talk of witchcraft in Salem, which he knew was like trying to nail Jell-O to a tree.
---
Finally, Halloween had arrived, and Brienne had begged Kurt and Blaine to be back before 10, one, to avoid the drunken Boston revelry, and two, to be part of the Samhain ritual. Kurt had been sort of cautious, not having a problem with helping Brienne tote the stuff to her car, but his Protestant sensibilities felt odd at the request. Blaine, however, volunteered, going to Kieran's computer, pulling up an old Myspace that had obviously expired with time. The layout image had been deleted, the song playing no longer available, but Kurt could see who it was. It was Mika.
Brienne pulled out a picture of a young boy, an obviously aged photo, maybe 20 years old. Kieran slipped a simple silver chain over his head, and handed it to Brienne. "Kurt, do you have something of your deceased?" Blaine looked to Kurt, a look in his eyes stating, "just go with it, it won't be bad, nothing bad will happen, I've done this before." Kurt nodded, opening up his wallet and removing a picture of a beautiful woman with long wavy brown hair, cuddling an adorably chubby little baby boy. He handed it to Brienne, who looked at it, back to Kurt, and down again, nodding.
Brienne was directing them at specific places to stand, Kurt being stuck across from Blaine, something to do with "their element." Brienne was facing the altar, and Kieran was behind it. Brienne looked to Blaine, raising an eyebrow. Blaine nodded, and Kurt was fascinated at how…familiar Blaine was with all of this. He heard Blaine say something about the element of Air, and welcoming something to the circle, whatever that meant. He looked to Brienne, who raised her hands up in the air. "I invoke thee, element of Fire, and I do summon and stir thee, to join us into this circle as we celebrate Samhain. We offer you no harm, as we wish to celebrate the lives of our dead, and to celebrate the passing of another year!" Blaine and Brienne looked over to Kurt, and suddenly, Kurt felt like melting into a puddle…which was only right, he supposed, considering he was told he was "water." Kurt stumbled over his words, managing to get out something about the element of Water and welcoming them. He blushed after, feeling like he had insulted Brienne, and possibly Blaine? for the bastardization of the words, but Blaine simply nodded and looked to Kieran, who firmly called out an invocation for the element of Earth. Kurt sighed a breath of relief. Brienne would lead the rest of this, and he would stand there, unsure of what to do. Sure, Boston was supposed to be new and exciting, but he was not expecting to be roped into witchcraft. That seemed so…17th century.
Brienne had placed the printed photo of Mika next to the stick of incense that was burning, the photo of the little boy next to the candle, Kurt's photo resting on top of the barely-filled cup of water, and Kieran's chain resting in the bowl of salt. Kurt raised his eyebrow as Brienne poured wine, flowers, and fruit into the cauldron, stating it was an offering to the gods. Ok, this is getting weird. As soon as Brienne pulled out a blood-machine lance and handed it to Blaine, Kurt's warning signs went off in the back of his mind. Blaine pricked his finger, dropping a single drop of blood into the cauldron. Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck what is he doing, are they going to make me do that, way to go Kurt, yeah bet Mom's proud of you now, shit shit shit shit shit shit- "Kurt?"
Kurt looked up, and saw a fresh blood-machine lance facing him. "It's just a small drop. We, like the wine, the flowers, and the fruit, all depend on water to survive, and we offer some of that back to the Earth so it may grow again. We'll pour it out outside as an offering. Are you ok with that?" Brienne looked concerned, Blaine looking over, mentally kicking himself for not prepping Kurt for this. Kurt nodded, and took the lance, and squeezed a single drop into the cauldron. Welp, there goes my soul, good game Kurt. Kieran drew a drop of blood and dropped it into the cauldron. Brienne once more raised her hands, declaring the offering complete and said that now was the time for messages to the dead. She handed Blaine a piece of paper. "Write the name of the person you choose to remember this Samhain on the parchment. before you hand the paper off to the next person, speak to the paper as if it were your beloved dead, letting them know what you ask of them, and what you want them to know.
Blaine nodded, and wrote "Mikhail Pyotr Korolev," kissing the paper, and looking up to the sky. "Thank you for leading me to Kurt. You know everything else." He smiled and handed the paper to Brienne, who wrote down "Connor William Martin." She whispered into the paper, "I miss you, bro. Glad you watch out for me." She handed the paper to Kurt, who suddenly felt a lump in his throat. He nervously wrote "Rebecca Elizabeth Hummel" and felt tears in his eyes. He held the paper close, and managed to stutter out, "I miss you so much. I hope you're proud of me," before falling to his knees sobbing, Blaine looked over to Brienne, who nodded, and Blaine was suddenly there, holding Kurt in his arms, shushing him, kissing his forehead, telling him everything was ok, and that he was sure his mother was proud of him. Kurt nodded and managed to hand the paper to Kieran, before shuddering another round of tears into Blaine's shoulder. Kieran wrote down "Aaron Christopher Tierney", muttered out a "miss ya, Pa," and tossed the paper into the cauldron. Blaine managed to pull Kurt up into a standing position, and after asking if he was ok, went back to where he was standing before. Brienne smiled and declared the ritual complete. After the "banishing," she told Blaine to go watch after Kurt. Blaine nodded, Kieran making a remark about "the Great Rite." Brienne whacked him on the arm. "It's not Beltaine, shut up Kieran."
Blaine was glad he hadn't been around for that one.