Hanabi Signal

Hanabi are fireworks developed by the Watari to let their scattered people know where they can find the group. They are made with gunpowder, a binder, and sometimes color-producing salts or pellets, depending on what the Watari have on hand. The device is lit by a handler who takes ample steps away before it can ignite, shooting into the air with a bright light to let any Watari nearby know where to find the others.

The Watari originally saw the need for a signal when a child from their number went missing. They scoured the coast only to find the boy's remains washed up on the shore near where they originally lost him. The leaders took stock of their supplies, discovered enough ingredients to make fireworks, and they set to work. There remains a persistent belief among the group that even though the child may not have been saved by the hanabi signals, he certainly would have stood a better chance.

Fireworks themselves existed in many cultures for centuries in the Before Times, and the Watari are not unique today in taking something from that era to bring into the current age. They did have to go through several trials and errors to get the formula right, and at least one member of the community died during this process while another suffered severe burns to their hands.

Since the Watari roam up and down the western seaboard without any other means of communication, the hanabi signals are vital for gathering any lost or otherwise non-present members of the community. Furthermore, the Watari seek to find spiritual solace in the hanabi since they are something they can claim from their culture that was all-but destroyed in the apocalypse.