AUGUST EVENT PT 1

[citta]

AUGUST EVENT PT 1

premise ⬥ taken ⬥ faq ⬥ navigation

→ 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.

Comments

[flowerclips]

[ don't tell me. rei would slap him and terry would be okay with it. ]

That's good! [ she looks back up at the sky. ] I've never seen fireworks that make shapes like this!

[overstrain]

[ You gotta deliver the verbal smackdown or he'll never learn... ]

Maybe they should make ice cream shapes next! It might cool off everyone in the crowd.

[flowerclips]

[ rei could never do it. have kido do it instead. ]

Oh, ice cream shapes! Ice cream shapes!!

[ she's absolutely going to start chanting this. even if she has to chant alone, she's going to do it!! not that... they can probably choose what shape to do next since it's probably pre-planned, laughs ]

[overstrain]

[ how many more verbal smackdowns will kido deliver until terry dies...

And because Terry doesn't find it embarrassing, he also starts chanting "ice cream shapes" along with Rei, and lo and behold--the next firework is an ice cream-shaped one, exploding in colors of blue, white and brown. Terry couldn't believe that worked, but it was probably coincidentally the next shape they were planning to shoot...

He thinks it's pretty amazing nonetheless. ]

[flowerclips]

[ it'd never end. i hope she just sits on terry's grave and still gives him verbal smackdowns. ]

Wow, they actually did it! T-chan, was that another one of your magic tricks?!

[ because if he can make money appear, he can probably change the shape of the fireworks ]

[overstrain]

Um--

[ He's about to answer Rei, but another firework goes off, this time the shape of a flower.

Please let this firework distract Rei because he honestly has no answer for her question. ]

[flowerclips]

A flower!

[ it absolutely distracts her but she'll ask her question again really soon, terry. you cannot escape from it. however, that seems to be the end of the fireworks show since nothing comes afterwards. ]

Aw, I think it's all over...

[overstrain]

But it was really fun to see, wasn't it? I think I'll remember this as something nice to think back on.

[ Fond memories are nice. Terry also thinks that if something that nice is only a fleeting thing, it's all the more worthwhile to hold onto. ]

Do you want to come down? Or do you want to stay up there? I don't mind whichever.

[flowerclips]

Mmhm! I'll remember this forever!

[ mental snap has been taken and been placed in her memory book. also she looks down at terry, his hands still on the top of his head. ]

But is it okay if I stay up here? Won't your shoulders hurt?

[overstrain]

[ Because this is late, just pretend Rei sees the feather clip on earring and ear cuff on his left ear because threads happened......... ]

Not at all! You're super light!

[ Which is. A little worrying considering how much she eats. And extremely confusing, but that's fine. Rei is magical. That's the only answer he'll accept. ]

[flowerclips]

[ threads happened and terry is a nightmare...... i'll definitely have rei bring it up. ]

Oh, okay. Then I want to stay up here!

[ because she can see so much more. also, a lot of people tend to bump into her since she's small so they can't bump into her when she's up here, laughs. ]

Off we go, ho!

[overstrain]

[ He's both a nightmare and having nightmares :')

Terry looks pretty happy with that decision, since he really doesn't mind at all. ]

Alright, Rei. Where should we go?

[ He'll start walking away from the crowd though. ]

[flowerclips]

Umm...

[ three guesses where rei wants to go and the first two don't count. ]

Oh! Have you tried the takoyaki yet? It's really good!

[overstrain]

Not from this festival! Let's go get some now.

[ He actually had a burned tongue and mouth from a kid shoving a fresh hot takoyaki into his mouth twice and he regretted a lot of things that day... he hopes this time will go a lot better as he walks over to the takoyaki stand. ]

One serving of takoyaki please.

[ Even when looking at them being cooked, he feels like he's going to drool because he's absolutely hungry right now and this better sense of smell isn't doing any favors. ]

[flowerclips]

[ i was also wondering why your tag seemed so long when i saw it in my inbox. i thought oh wow terry has some really passionate feelings about takoyaki then i noticed the html fail, laughs. ]

Make sure that you eat it as soon as they give it to you! It's best when it's super hot and can burn your mouth!

[ burn your mouth and tongue again, terry. ]

[overstrain]

I, uh... like it when it's a little cooled down first.

[ spare him, rei.... he doesn't want to relive that fail. ]

[flowerclips]

Aw, are you sure?

[ :( she won't force him but she also wants him to experience takoyaki to its Fullest ]

[overstrain]

Yeah... sorry, Rei. I can't handle food when it's too hot.

[ It's... sadly true. ]

[flowerclips]

That's okay. I'll just make sure to blow on the takoyaki for you so then you could eat it.

[ alas, not everyone can be a great food gourmet like her. ]

[overstrain]

Haha. Thanks, Rei.

[ The takoyaki are done, so Terry pays and receives it. There's a lot of steam coming out of them with two toothpicks off to the side. Since Terry's still on carrying duty, he lifts the takoyaki container above over to Rei. ]

You can eat first, since you like them while they're still hot.

[flowerclips]

Thank you, T-chan!

[ she takes the container. you'd think that she'd hold onto it for about a minute or so as she eats three of the six takoyaki balls. however, literally within five seconds later, she pats on his head and holds out the container back to him. if he takes it, he'll find that her share of the food is gone... ]

Here, I blew on them for you!

[overstrain]

[ THAT WAS FIVE SECONDS REI. WHAT THE FUCK AAAAAAA

Terry takes the container back, wondering if she gave it back after blowing on them, but when he sees inside the container, only his share is there.

??????? ]

T-Thanks... [ Rei should be considered a legend in Hirajiro herself... without ado, Terry starts eating his share. It's... a little cooled down, but still hot. It's fine. This is fine. ]

It's good though... are you savoring the taste?

[flowerclips]

I savoured it when I was eating it!

[ she just shoved all three in her mouth at the same time and ate them. she really doesn't know how to chill when it comes to eating. ]

Are you savouring the taste?

[overstrain]

Yeah. It tastes way better than the ones in the cafe. [ lmao

Terry starts eating another one at a normal pace. ]

Shaped like happiness, huh...

[flowerclips]

Mmhm! Happiness is shaped like a takoyaki. I can never be sad when there's takoyaki nearby!

[ maybe terry should have just whipped out a tray of takoyaki right before he died. then she would have just dropped his useless dead corpse and eaten the takoyaki instaed. ]

T-chan, I forgot to ask, but what's your favourite food? What is happiness shaped like for you?