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AUGUST EVENT PT 1

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→ 8/3-8/4 School Cultural Festival

Good morning!! The crows start cawing at the crack of dawn and they're really noisy, but while they're usually a nuisance on the best of days, perhaps the wake-up call will be appreciated this weekend, as the school gates are open over the weekend for the annual cultural festival the students have been hard at work on for the past few weeks. It's an open event for family and friends to come enjoy themselves, or perhaps get dragged into helping out in a booth or two, as some of the students have called in sick or can't be reached at all. Either way, the general commotion centered around the school is probably even loud enough to be heard all the way over in Castle Ouma if you're quiet enough. I don't know how else to get you guys who still live in the castle ruins over here... Hopefully you've been hearing people talking about it all of last month? Or maybe you're a newcomer who's just woken up in the castle ruins, spent ten seconds with Kokichi, and decided to leave the forest and never return, that's also very plausible.

Involving the elementary, middle, and high school buildings on their shared campus, all the typical sorts of booths can be found, including a school play performed by the elementary school students in the auditorium in the morning, and various concerts or performances held throughout the day. In the classrooms, food stalls and cafes are common, along with haunted houses for the braver souls. Rumors say that sometimes people who enter the haunted houses never come out the other side... but never mind that. It's fine. Sports clubs hold friendly competitions outside on the field, and many cultural clubs have displays of their work to show off in their club rooms, so there's plenty to do and see and eat all around campus. Despite all the preparation, however, some of the stalls appear to be empty, others with students frantic about not having enough people to keep things rolling smoothly. Looks like the strange illness going around town last month hasn't completely resolved yet, but maybe it's best for those who are ill to stay home in a crowded place like this.

For those seeking something quieter, tucked away in a corner of the high school building next to a struggling yakisoba stand is a fortune telling tent which doesn't seem to be getting many customers. The line is short and there's no fee, so why not give it a shot? Inside, a hooded figure sits, head bowed and face completely obscured in shadow aside from their chin, illuminated by a cheap looking crystal ball placed in the center of the table. A stack of cards lays on their left, a bag of something smelling faintly sweet and spicy sitting on their right. Without prompting, the fortune teller speaks in a low soft voice, greeting you by name. Weird. Weirder yet, they go on to address you by the arcana on your omamori, be it The Fool or The Hermit or what have you, and rather than answering any questions you may have about your future, the fortune teller instead offers one of two messages:

『To return to where you hailed, you must return to where you arrived. Take with you that which bears the name of the being you have banded together to defeat, and restore what once was.』
or
『When the moon's face shines full and bright, at the cusp of night and day, return to the place of beginnings. Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai must be played, to return two lost souls to this world.』

Huh... Before you can ask any questions, however, your time is up and the next person in line is already pushing you out the seat to the exit. You can always return to the end of the line to have another go, but... curiously, when you enter the tent any subsequent times, a high schooler in uniform greets you, bright and chipper. Home? Souls?? She has no idea what you're talking about if you repeat the messages from before, but never mind that! She can read your fortune!! Maybe you'll let her show off some palmistry and— oh... your life line is rather short... Unfortunate. Never mind, we'll try tarot instead and- hm. That sure is The Tower. Oh well, time's up, next person please!

On Sunday evening as the festivities wind down, a bonfire has been set up in the middle of the field, adding to the unnaturally hot summer night. It's still pretty, though, with the sky dark and bright stars starting to peek out, blankets laid out across the grass and sweet potatoes being passed around to be roasted by the fire. Take the time to relax and breathe... because it's un/fortunately a festival month and the villagers are hype about their festivals.

→ 8/6-8/8 Tanabata Festival

While the students had been hard at work setting up the school festival, the rest of the town had been preparing for the tanabata festival, with stalls set up encircling the entire lakefront at the center of town. Yukata can be bought or rented, along with traditional hand fans to ward off the heat of the summer, and many of the typical food stalls and carnival games can be found, including stalls where you can test your luck in scooping goldfish/yo-yos/other small plastic toys, shooting targets with cork rifles, attempting the rigged ring toss that's impossible to win without cheating, or playing the lottery with tickets for free food from the stalls as consolation prizes. Maybe your luck sucks and you just want to buy stuff and that's fine too. Come with full wallets and leave with full stomachs filled with yakitori skewers, sweet or savory dango, roasted sweet potato, and the seasonal favorite: shaved ice. It's seasonal because it's summer and summer is so hot. This particular summer feels like hell and halfway through the last day, they run out of syrup, but cups of plain ice are still selling very well, so... yay...

While some of the stalls are already heavy with decoration, others are pretty sparse, with the lack of people running them. Which is fine, or intended, because there are workshops held all around for teaching and encouraging people to make decorations meant to improve different aspects of one's life: paper kimonos for artistic ability, strings of a thousand paper cranes for long and healthy lives, paper purses for wealth, colorful streamers for handicraft, wastebaskets for cleanliness, and of course, tanzaku- paper strips hung up on bamboo trees for a wish to be granted by the gods. Decorations are judged for artistic ability, with a small prize given to the best decoration judged at the end of each night.

In the evenings, stages set out along the lakeside feature folk dance performances, and decorations are collected to be lit on fire and sent off in small boats in the lake, the collection of flames giving off a soft light as the paper burns down and turns to ash, reclaimed by the lake as they sink. A reminder from the townspeople to anybody who stands too close to the lake: please do not touch the water. On the very last evening of the festival, a fireworks show is held, shooting up overhead above the lake and is visible anywhere around town, raining down sparks of gold and red, hell fire from the sky.

...Also hell fire in the woods. It's been windy and dry all month, and a small forest fire has started at the edge of town, be it from arson or by accident. The villagers cut the evening short to go help, as there is no established fire fighting service, so any and all assistance would be appreciated. Somewhere nearby, a child starts to cry, unable to find his mother. With the villagers pulled away, the night ends with the stalls left empty. Nobody comes to clean up the next morning...

→ MOD NOTES

⬥ As mentioned in the OOC plotting post, a heat wave befalls the town and NPC villagers start disappearing until the daitengu from last month is defeated. 2 more dungeon threads must be submitted before 8/11 to secure the ofuda. Lockdown continues to occur each midnight, with the school transforming into the dungeon; details can be found on last month's event log.
⬥ For the cultural festival: characters will receive a hint about either 1) how to return home (take the ofuda received after beating the dungeon boss to the castle ruins), or 2) how to summon the Velvet Room attendants (playing Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai at the castle ruins during the full moon), and are highly encouraged to discuss both messages amongst themselves. Characters may learn more about how to play Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai, date of the full moon, etc. by asking around town.
⬥ On 8/12 (ICly dated on 8/15, the night of the full moon), a mini-log will go up encompassing both of these findings.
⬥ For the tanabata festival: each character may claim one small wish pending mod approval at any time this month (comment below) for writing their wish down on a tanzaku, and 3 characters will be randomly chosen on 8/12 as winners for the decoration judging, and will be contacted at that time for the option of receiving an additional wish.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ The moment Suzume sees the two of them, she runs over to Terry and makes grabby hands at him— she wants to be carried too!! ]

Yeah, told you to do one thing, and you couldn't even do that.

[ She pats Hayato on the head and takes her earbuds back before it gets lost ]

I wonder how I should make you pay for that... Hayato, Suzume, what do you want to eat?

[ Wow, please spare his wallet...

Well, he can't really deny the kids, so he picks up Suzume too. Now he has a kid on each arm. For some reason, people were always easy to carry than items that weigh the same. He has no idea why, but he won't linger on the thought too much. ]

Maybe some festival-exclusive food?

[ He wants to eat some too... ]

[ At least they don't pull on his hair anymore... Kido might have gone home to scold them about that, the last time he brought it up. ]

Festival exclusive food... How about takoyaki? We can get a lot for pretty cheap, and it's easy to share too.

[ Thanks, Kido... you sometimes provide blessing to his well-being. ]

That sounds good. Are you two okay with that?

[ He looks over at the kids, and he's hoping that they'll say yes. ]

[ It's a fine balancing act between trying to keep Terry in line while also making sure he doesn't go bald, but she's trying.

"Yeah!" "Takoyaki! Takoyaki!!" It looks like they're both in agreement, both kids scream-chanting takoyaki in either of Terry's ears. ]

Looks like we're having takoyaki. We'll probably find a place selling it, if we just wander around, so stay close so you don't get lost, okay?

[ More like... Since Kido's by herself and Terry's with the kids, she might get lost. Don't let her get lost. ]

They're selling takoyakis on the first floor, near the end of the hall.

[ He luckily zoned out while using his pinpointing powers to locate a place that sells it, so he didn't have to actively suffer kids screaming into his ears. Thank.

He would have offered to hold Kido's hand at the mention of getting lost, but his arms are busy holding the two kids up, so he'll just. Pass on that. He also gets the feeling that Kido might still be mad about yesterday's hugging incident, since she spent the entire morning pretending he didn't exist.

...

It's fine. Everything is fine. He's here at the festival for the first time with a friend and two cute kids! It's fun. ]

I'll follow you as usual.

Edited 2019-08-05 04:23 (UTC)

[ As usual, then. She keeps her hood up the entire time, whether that makes her easier or harder to spot in the crowd. But at least she doesn't move very quickly through the halls, hands in her pockets since she doesn't have to hold anybody's hand, kid or ...taller kid, is what Terry essentially is. She won't ever admit it, but he's always been helpful, especially being able to tell where things are so they don't waste time getting lost and passing by too many things that looks interesting to stop at— starting from one end of the hall and working their way out would be best.

Down the hall, she lingers a bit walking past the music room where some students are practicing before their performance in the afternoon, and walks very fast while ignoring some of the students at a maid cafe that call out her name. Right... If only there weren't so many people, she'd like to disappear, but eventually! they're at the takoyaki stand!! ]

...Two servings.

[ She turns to Terry. ]

Where do you keep your wallet?

[ Since his hands are full. ]

Right pants pocket.

[ He shifts the arm with Hayato up in order to keep his hold on the kids.

The wallet is easy to get and easy to open. Inside, there are the usual ID cards amongst other cards like insurance, debit, some punch cards in English, some old receipts... he really needs to clean out his wallet one day.

There's also around $100 equivalent of Hirajiro currency in there with smaller bills to make up that total. Maybe this is all he has, or maybe he has more money somewhere else. Who knows. ]

[ Yikes, it's so full. He should've swapped this with that old man's wallet. She's pretty sure this is all he has, so even though takoyaki isn't that expensive, she pays for one while takes money out of his wallet for the other.

And then she goes ahead and sticks his wallet in her jacket pocket so she can take the two trays being handed to her. One gets handed over to Hayato, while she keeps the other. ]

Remember to share, okay, Hayato?

[ "Then I wanna share with niichan!"

"Then I wanna share with Tsubomi!" Suzume reaches over to Kido and Terry lets her down on the ground gently and she goes back to Kido with wide eyes, hungry for the takoyaki.

Hayato stabs a takoyaki and pretty much shoves it into Terry's mouth. The food is fine, until he bites into it. It's way too fucking hot. His tongue and his entire mouth feels like they're burning. At least it tasted good before his taste buds burned off. ]

... Careful, it's hot.

[ He warns them, especially Hayato, so that he doesn't excitedly shove a takoyaki in his own mouth and suffer the same fate. ]

[ Yeah, this is about what Kido would have expected, for Terry to be force fed the whole thing in one bite. She moves Suzume a bit out of the way of the middle of the hall before crouching down so they can share like this, and also so Terry can't see her smile. He can probably hear the laugh in her voice, though, because it was funny. ]

Yeah. Bite it in half, okay, Hayato?

[ She doesn't really trust the younger of the two siblings to do it, so she bites half a takoyaki ball and then uses the toothpick to feed Suzume the other half after blowing some of the steam off. ]

Edited 2019-08-05 05:19 (UTC)

[ Being Terry is suffering... but it's fine. He doesn't blame Hayato or call out on Kido for thinking it was funny. He just quietly breathes out, facing away from them as if that'll help cool his mouth down. He suspects the aftereffects will last for a good two days at the very least. He'll still try to enjoy the food that the festival will have to offer though.

Hayato offers another one, but Terry shakes his head no. ]

[ Find somebody who can heal burn status...

Hayato pouts and tries to shove another one in Terry's mouth. "Tsubomi said to share! That means you eat one and I eat one!" And he can't eat his second until Terry eats his second, that's how it works. ]

[ Terry looks a bit reluctant when Hayato tries to shove another takoyaki into his mouth. The first one did a lot of damage, and he's not sure what'll happen if he eats a second hot one. And blowing on it while the takoyaki is whole won't do anything, because it's the insides that Terry's more concerned for.

... Well, Hayato won't eat another one unless he does, so he takes the takoyaki whole in his mouth again and suffers the same thing.

This is painful. ]

[ Terry letting a 6-year-old bully him, however well-meaning and unintentional, is funny but also just really really sad. Kido uses her toothpick to poke a hole in each takoyaki ball and widen it enough for the steam to escape but still hold together, before handing the tray to Suzume and standing up to lift Hayato out of Terry's arms and onto the ground. ]

Go share with your sister. She eats faster, so you won't starve waiting for Terrence to take his turn.

[ Sweet, sweet freedom. He shakes his wrists a bit now that he's not holding anyone up, letting blood flow through better. At least his arms don't feel dead from all the carrying he's done.

The damage to his mouth has already been done, but he mutters a "thanks" to Kido the best he can because talking is a little hard right now. ]

[ Unfortunately, Kido is expecting him to talk, standing in front of him with her hands in her pockets and a judging look on her face. ]

Have you never eaten takoyaki before?

[ With that remark, Terry just stares at Kido as if he's been wronged. He mutters something as a retort, but it comes out as some unintelligible Japanese, so he just shakes his head no OF COURSE HE'S EATEN TAKOYAKI BEFORE AAAAAAAA ]

[ THAT'S EVEN SADDER BECAUSE HE'S LIKE THIS EVEN THOUGH HE KNEW THE DANGERS OF IT

Kido pats him on the head, because he looks like he's suffering. ]

You're hopeless.

[ He is definitely suffering... such is the life of an idiot known as Terrence Nowell. ]

I'm... okay. [ It sounds a little better, but it's still a bit off. ]

No, you're not. Burning your mouth on takoyaki is hopeless, not okay.

[ But, well... if he shuts up, he won't say anything stupid, so all she has to worry about is him doing something stupid. Which is still and always is a very big concern. ]

[ All Terry says in response is a small whine. Something about not being hopeless in that gibberish of whatever the hell he's saying with a burned mouth. He might as well be a double edged sword with anything he does... ]

[ Hm, yeah, Kido has no idea what he's saying, but Suzume looks up at him because of the whining and tries to shove a takoyaki at his mouth too. "Niichan, are you still hungry?"

She probably can't even reach up to his face even with her arm all the way up, and the takoyaki has a hole poked into it so it's already starting to slip off the toothpick and will fall on Terry's shoes if he doesn't eat her takoyaki fast enough. ]

[ UGHHHHHH

Terry immediately noms on the takoyaki Suzume holds out because he doesn't want to waste food and he can't tell whether his mouth has lost all feeling or this one isn't as hot as the ones before.

He'll give Suzume a pat on the head after. At least he doesn't feel like dying anymore. ]

Kido, wallet.

[ At least that much is comprehensible. ]

[ It's probably a bit of both, seeing as Hayato's just skipping his sister's turns and finishing up the tray at his own pace now. But it's good that Terry's speech is coming back, because otherwise Kido would have just walked off with his wallet, yeah. ]

Hm? Oh, right. Here it is.

[ She pulls it out of her pocket and hands it over. ]

premise ⬥ taken ⬥ faq ⬥ navigation

→ 8/3-8/4 School Cultural Festival

→ 8/6-8/8 Tanabata Festival

→ MOD NOTES

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