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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.
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[ Yeah, people are jerks!!! It's nothing like what Mae has to go through, but Kido's been bullied all her life from when she was really little even until now, for everything from the way she speaks to how she looks to how she behaves, she can never seem to get it right and be somebody wanted and accepted by everybody else.
Still... ]
At least there's good people in the world too, to help you through that stuff. It makes the sad world a little better.
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[ She's pretty sure that Kido knows that, but it feels nice to say it out loud. ]
I'm not a good friend no matter how hard I try. I figured out that you should know that before you invest time in socializing and shit.
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Is it that hard to mess up being a good friend? You just have to... not betray somebody, that's all. As long as two people can trust one another, I'm sure they can become friends.
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It's kinda easy if you're obtuse like me. Betrayal means different things for different people. I don't feel like I've ever been betrayed by my friends, but I mess up things along the way.
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That's true... I don't know if I can help you much with that, then. Either you have good friends, or you're just dumb.
[ ignorance is bliss, etc, as long as Mae is happy with the people she hangs out with, maybe that's just fine ]
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I don't think anyone can help me with that. I gotta help myself.
[ Too bad she doesn't know how. Maybe one day Mae will figure it out. ]
Maybe it's both. Do you still want to hang out knowing all this?
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Still, ]
Yeah, I'd still want to hang out. If you betray me, I'll just leave. And you can do the same to me. It's as simple as that, isn't it?
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Whoa. What counts as betrayal to you?
[ Mae figures out that it's better to ask first instead of just. Making a mistake and betraying Kido unwillingly or something. ]
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[ And then Mae is dead. ]
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[ That should be easy for now because she doesn't know where Kido lives. ]
Is this how you make friends nowadays? It's been a while since I did that.
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[ It sort of just happens? Like, before coming here, she hadn't made any new friends for the past ten years on the account of never meeting anybody new. ]
But I guess it's something like this. Just... being able to talk to someone. If it feels comfortable, it's a pretty good basis for becoming friends, I think.
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[ Eyes??? Nah. ]
Oh, food. Food is a good starter. [ Mae probably shouldn't think out loud, but okay. ] What do you like?
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Food, huh? Festival food like this is good once in a while, but I like cooking more than I do eating. Katsudon is one of my specialty dishes.
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[ Maybe she shouldn't assume that Kido will cook for her, but it can't be helped. ]
I don't know what a Catsudone, but I'm always down for some food tasting.
[ She'll never get these name right, will she. ]
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There might be tonkatsu sold here somewhere... Katsudon is basically that, served over rice and with egg and vegetables. I don't mind making it for you sometime, if there's ever a chance.
[ Which she's thinking is never, since she wouldn't be telling people where she lives unless it's an emergency or they're stalkers who figured it out on their own. ]
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Ton cats soup? [ These names are ridiculous, but whatever. The food here is great as far as she knows. ] We can look for it if you want. My stomach is a black hole, so...
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[ No... promises of actually feeding Mae, after the black hole comment, but she'll at least point out the food. ]
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[ They look and smell good, so the taste should be no different. ]
If you show me around, I'll... [ A pause. ] I'll figure out some nice thing to do for you eventually.
[ Tempting. ]
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Sure... I'll take the IOU.
[ At least all this festival food is meant to be quick and cheap, so she doesn't really mind treating people when it comes to food, handing over enough money to buy four skewers and handing three over to Mae. ]
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[ Just one skewer? Mae feels a little bad, actually. ]
Don't you want one more?
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Just one is fine for me. I've gone around the festival a bit already, so I'm not all that hungry. Besides, you look like you'll enjoy them more than me.
[ Since their conversation keeps coming back to food, she can only assume it's something Mae really likes. More than eating, seeing somebody enjoy their food is something that always makes Kido happy, though not as much as people enjoying her food. Maybe one day she'll have the chance to cook for Mae. ]
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[ Maybe that "my stomach is a black hole" wasn't an exaggeration, all things considered. ]
Do I have something on my face? Something other than my nightmare eyes.
[ Since Kido's watching... ]
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Nah, it's just a hunch. You like food, right? That's nothing to be shy about.
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Yeah, I do. A bit too much. [ At least she's aware. ] I became much rounder after coming here...this place has really good food and it doesn't even have tacos most of the time.
[ She'll always remember that one place which made the perfect taco. ]
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[ If Kido can look past the fact that Mae wears clothes and talks, fluffy round cats are the cutest. ]
The food here is pretty good, though, probably because they're all made by small shops instead of large chain stores.
[ Though, the students here aren't the best chefs either, so she has to wonder what Mae's used to eating. ]
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