![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
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.
ii
She eventually reaches Enkidu. Her voice is pretty loud, so she's able to speak over the fireworks. ]
Excuse me, please take one or two water bottles. It'll help you with... hydration...
[ She's also wondering why he's sitting even though there are people standing, sometimes with other smaller people on their shoulders to get a better view of the fireworks. Wouldn't sitting make the view worse, or at least that's what RO is thinking, so she wonders... ]
Is something the matter? Have you sprained something? Standing is a better way to view the fireworks...
no subject
No, water would be great, actually. Thank you.
[They look down at themselves, and then back up at RO. Lacking their Presence Detection, they cannot tell that she herself is anything other than human from sight and voice alone.]
I was just feeling... a bit dizzy.
[That's what dehydration does to people, right? They think they've heard other Servants complain about it at some point.]
no subject
If that's the case, please take two more. I will go request water with electrolytes so that they may help you in the heatstroke.
[ That's what she thinks Enkidu is experiencing anyway, so before they can reply to her, she goes and comes back fairly quickly with two bottles of Pocari Sweat and hands that over to Enkidu as well. ]
If you don't mind me, watching over you for some time, I'll be glad to keep you company.
[ She doesn't want anyone to pass out from the god awful heat. ]
no subject
[Enkidu has exactly zero idea what an 'electrolyte' is but they will gladly take more water. Whatever it is, it's probably supposed to be beneficial to the human body, and worst comes to worst Enkidu can just... expel it out of them. By the time RO returns, the cap is off that first bottle and it's already at Enkidu's lips. —It takes them a moment to remember the throat movement that's supposed to happen when people drink, though. Essentially, what's happening is Enkidu is pouring the water on themselves and absorbing it immediately, except the place they're absorbing it just so happens to be their mouth. Hopefully, if they drink enough of this and give it a little while to disperse into their 'system', they should be fine to stand.]
[But they certainly don't want to ignore their benefactor. So they take a pause from 'drinking' and look at her.]
Oh. Go right ahead.
[There's no point in hiding what's happening now, they figure, if she's going to stay anyway. Enkidu reaches under their half-curtain of hair with one hand, trying to get as much moisture into the clay as possible. It's a little weird, because from most angles it looks like they're just inexplicably rubbing their forehead, but... they just want to test the water before they expose the huge crack in their leg.]
You don't have to worry about me, if you have better things to do. But I appreciate it.
no subject
[ RO doesn't understand the meaning of getting water and then rubbing it into people's foreheads unless it's on a cloth, but this method seems... different. ]
Excuse me, are you not... human?
[ Those cracks sure aren't hair strands!!! ]
no subject
No.
I'm made of clay, actually.
[Their tone is weirdly conversational.]
But the water really is helping. I've been drying out in the heat, and this place keeps cutting off my power somehow, so... I start to crack.
[Enkidu finally moves their leg. And, yes. That is a huge gash in the side of their leg, running from the outer thigh down to about the ankle, wrapping around the limb. Small pieces are starting to crumble off, which Enkidu dutifully collects in one hand.]
You can see why standing is hard, with structural damage like this...
no subject
I see... it looks to be very inconvenient.
[ Hm. ]
If I may suggest, the educational facility has a pool and there aren't many people around. So if you would like to, you can perhaps go for a quick soak to... hydrate your body.
no subject
[The Chaldea pool has always scared them off a bit after someone explained to them about all the chemicals and machines that are needed to keep the thing running. A nice thing for humans to have, but not Enkidus. —The general idea of full-body hydration, though, is a good one; they look wistfully out again at the lake they're not allowed to go into.]
I was just going to... wait until this was over, or until I can put enough weight on it to stand, and then go find a river...
no subject
There is a river nearby. I believe some residents here go there every now and then if that's a concern, but I believe the water quality is quite decent. I can lead you there... [ she looks down at their leg again. ] ... or I can also carry you if walking is a problem.
[ Well. I mean. It sure looks like a problem. ]
no subject
I'm not that heavy.
If you would carry me, I would be really grateful.
no subject
[ She looks up at the sky--fireworks blooming into various shapes like cat faces, smileys, even crows. ]
no subject
[They do want to see the fireworks, but they're not worth making RO go even more out of her way for.]
If you'd like to watch, we can watch. If you'd rather just have it over with, you can do that. I don't mind at all.
no subject
[ She can tell that Enkidu wants to stick around to watch, so really does mean it when she says that she doesn't mind. She just does things according to situation and a break would be nice right now. ]
no subject
[They settle back on the grass, sitting much more naturally now that they don't have to hide their leg. And they go ahead and brush back their hair, too, fully revealing the crack going down their forehead and the side of their nose.]
It's such an incredibly human feat of engineering. Somehow they managed to time exploding bombs and fire them straight into the air without hurting anyone below, all just to look at pretty lights for a while.
no subject
[ RO doesn't fully understand--maybe the sentimentality is lost on her. But fireworks are at least interesting to look at. ]
It must have taken a lot of trial and error for entertainment.
no subject
[Gil used to talk about making the same sort of spectacle out of himself, for the benefit of the people.]
Things are hard right now. Maybe this is what they need — I don't need it, and I assume you don't either. But this is how humans keep going, I think.
[Enkidu looks up. Light and fire reflects off their clay-formed eyes.]
Hee hee. Trial and error is a small price to pay for things like that.
no subject
[ If fireworks were the only thing that humans needed to keep their morale going, there probably would have been a lot of fireworks stationed in the base back home. She knows though, that emotions can get complicated--whether that be for humans or nonhumans. ]
With how many are disappearing, this would be the best outcome for the people to keep their spirits up, so to say. Through trial and error, they try again and again... to make things better for others.
How admirable.