SUMMER FESTIVAL: TEMPLE OF BEGINNINGS

[tranquilforest]

It’s something like summer here at the Temple of Beginnings, or close enough to it. The weather’s been rainy and hazy for the past little while, but that doesn’t mean we can’t find some way to enjoy ourselves, right?

The day dawns cloudy and drizzly, but people seem determined to carry on anyway. The space slowly takes recognizable shape as a festival, even if a small one. There are tents set up outside, some of which are transformed into game opportunities, complete with prizes (some of an...interesting nature), surprisingly sophisticated target shooting games, ring toss, and other activities of skill and chance. A few more become stations for the food and drink that had been prepared, and the rest consist of chairs under canopies for people to sit and talk in case the rain continues.

Luckily, as the day goes on, the rain stops and the clouds move on, until the blue of the sky is visible once again. By early afternoon, there are only a few scattered clouds still remaining, and it seems likely that the weather will hold true for the evening. Strings of paper lanterns and other decorations are brought out and hung between the different stalls, around the makeshift stage, and placed at the tables. Some pots of bamboo are brought out and set in two clusters at either end of the line of tents. Each cluster has a corresponding table with strips of colorful paper and pens laid out carefully on a table and weighted down with rocks to prevent them from flying off.

A handful of figures come out and inspect the set-up, focusing especially on a shallow ditch that had been dug earlier, now drained and lined with weighted down tarp and rocks, running parallel to the tents and curving to end abruptly just beyond the fire pit and the stage at both ends. After some discussion between them, there is a flash of flame, as though something were burning, and then the strangest thing happens. The ditch fills with fresh, clear water. Even after a few hours, the water doesn't drain away or grow stagnant, still flowing somehow despite having nowhere to come from or go to.

The sunset that day is a brilliant, auspicious red, and evening sets in with a cooling breeze refreshing everyone outside. As the first stars appear, the lanterns are set alight, the music starts, and the first performer steps out onto the stage, surrounded by floating light.



SUMMER FESTIVAL
Welcome to the summer(ish) festival for Astoria’s Circle! We hope you have a wonderful time.

Layout
Even from the buildings that are actually being lived in, the lights of the festival are visible. If you strain your ears just a bit, you may even hear some music being played in the distance, muffled by the stone walls. Why don’t you come join in?

Once arriving at the festival itself, you may be struck first by how bright it is. Light seems to be a theme, from the bonfire set up in one of the firepits closest to the rest of the complex, the lanterns strung up between the tents and stalls that are set up in a line leading from the other buildings towards the gated sparring area that you may already have availed yourself of. Just in front of that area is a makeshift stage, little more than a raised platform of wood and stone, also lit up well by additional lanterns.

Opposite the tents is the river.

It might not seem that exciting at first. It’s hardly a river, really, just a shallow trench of water about seven feet wide and one foot deep, lined with rocks along the bank closest to the tents, stretching in a not quite parallel path opposite the stalls and tents that have been set up, beginning at the stage and ending near the bonfire. The water is crystal clear and clean, and murmurs as if it is flowing from some unseen source, but it’s not clear where it is coming from at all. As the night goes on, and more people take the opportunity to make floating paper lanterns at the station located close by, the little stream itself lights up, the water reflecting the lights, and just beyond, the stars in the sky.

EVENTS:

Sign-in
While definitely not mandatory, in the direct path from the living quarters to the festival itself, there’s a table set up with sheets of paper and writing utensils where you can sign-in. Let us know (ICly!) who you are. Maybe add a fun fact about yourself. Or draw doodles all over the pages. Whatever floats your boat.

Wishes
As is traditional in the home countries of some members of the Circle, there are some bamboo trees in pots set up on either side of the little river, and tables close by with colored strips on loops of string and pens. Write down a wish, or anything you’d like, really, and hang it from the bamboo. Or, browse the bamboo yourself and see if you find anything interesting. Later on after midnight, they’ll be burned for luck!

Games
You’ll find the usual games in the various stalls, some with a decidedly cobbled together look, using what materials were available at the temple, and some with a little more sophistication, thanks to the particular gifts of those within the Circle. Try your hand at shooting a target, a game of chance, or take over a stall yourself and introduce your fellow Circle members to something you used to play at home. There may or may not be prizes involved, depending on which stall you find yourself at.

Food
You’ll find your usual fair fare, though with a decidedly cosmopolitan flair. The foods themselves are somewhat limited by what was easily obtainable within the Temple itself (or improvised), and some Circle members may have contributed decidedly experimental dishes. It really is a potluck, so take a look and see what interests you! Strike up a conversation with your fellow diners as you pick up your food and then find a table to sit at, but keep in mind that most of these are home made by others here, so the cook may be close by, listening…

Performance
What’s a festival without any entertainment? In addition to the music being played on speakers in the background by our very capable DJ, there is also a stage where you can show off your gifts. In addition to singing or other traditional performances, this is an opportunity to demonstrate any interesting abilities or gifts you might have, including new ones you may have gained upon arriving at the Temple! There is an additional sign-up sheet near the stage, so write your name down and what you plan to perform, and we look forward to seeing what you can do.

Bonfire
It’s a really big fire. Enough said (hopefully). Sit and relax, or chat with those around you. If you’re lucky, there may even be some additional entertainment. At a little after midnight, the bamboo bearing the wishes will be burned here and the festival closed for the night.

Lanterns
If you’d like to give it a try, there’s a small station set up where you can make your own lantern out of paper! You can choose from one that floats in the air or on the water (or both, no one’s policing this). Make your own design, and let it fly aloft or float on the water with the other lanterns, chat with others who are working, or just settle down by the water and watch the lanterns and the stars.


**If your character (even if you were just accepted!) would like to participate in the set-up for the impromptu festival at any point, or just wander around and ask what’s going on, please feel free! All the set-up would have been occurring in the space between the TDM and this post. If your character would like to handwave having helped set up, this post is also an option!

(( Set Up: Outdoors ✧ Set Up: Indoors ✧ Sign-In ✧ Bamboo Wishes ✧ Games ✧ Food ✧ Tables ✧ Performances ✧ Bonfire ✧ Lanterns ✧ Clean-Up ✧ or your own!))

Comments

[southernphoenix]

[Since her native region, Yunnan, has an annual rainy season, Nihuang's pretty used to dragging up tents during a downpour or setting up fires. She'll be happy to lend anyone else helping a hand. Ditch digging, she's less experienced with but it's rewarding to take part in executing her auntie's ambitions.

After the way the forest nearby seemed to push back on all mortal impressions, it's also satisfying just seeing an impact on the grounds. The first night they began, she had half-wondered if they would wake the following morning to an untouched courtyard, but they had made regular progress after all.

Please run into her doing any of these things or while taking a break under what serves temporarily as the volunteers' tent, wringing rainwater out her cloak.]

[lumberlady]

Excuse me...

[A rather tall, fit young woman pokes just her head and shoulders into the volunteer's tent, dark of hair and skin, dressed simply but cleanly despite the damp. (Even if the mud had taken quite a bit to get out.) Though she seems slightly anxious, not sure if she was yet allowed to enter, she looks about for someone in charge, settling eventually on Nihuang.

Probably because she looked to know what she was doing? Maybe?]

Is this where we can find work? I heard there was construction going on...

[southernphoenix]

[With an easy wave, Nihuang gestures the newcomer further inside, instinctively squaring her shoulders and sitting taller in response to Konoha's apparent shyness. She sets her cloak aside.]

That's right, and we can always use more help. [An encouraging smile and a shallow bow.] My name is Nihuang Mu.

[lumberlady]

[When invited, Konoha enters the tent... and why she maybe didn't enter right away might become apparent, seeing as instead of a sturdy pair of legs she has... the lower half of a brown mare. Wearing human-like clothing even on equine half, including leather leggings on her forelegs and a short "skirt" for modesty over rear. And seeing as her human waist begins where a horse's neck does, already at chest height on most people... she's a touch too tall to stand up straight inside.

But that doesn't seem to matter to her, because she has to return that bow anyway! Watching her head, she gets closer before she bows, spine rigid and palms pressed to her equine shoulders as she dips into the gesture of respect, speaking to the ground.]

My name is Konoha. I know I don't have any references, but I've worked as foreman at the lumber mill in my village for some time now. I can haul, cut, and transport with the best of them, if you'll have me here.

[So the "volunteering" part may not have registered properly but.]

[southernphoenix]

[It may not matter to her, but it certainly matters to Nihuang! She's already making a mental note to pitch their tents higher in the future to accommodate more members of their odd, diverse unit. Konoha's deference, on the other hand, does not register very highly; when Nihuang crosses closer to lift her out of her bow (as much as possible, anyway), it's a familiar gesture at an unfamiliar angle. The question of payment is also... not... on her mind.]

We welcome your assistance, of course, Konoha.

[Nihuang's expression is kind but distant as she steps into a role she does not technically hold here. Leans into it really, in an effort not to be rude.]

It sounds like your expertise will be useful in constructing our staging platform, but we can also use strong arms in renovating the grounds directly... [They're digging a fancy ditch.] --when it isn't raining so hard.

[lumberlady]

[Not one on formalities? Konoha lifts herself back up when she sees the shoes of the other woman breach her downcast vision, obligingly straightening out of her bow. Well, her own boss (her... old boss, now?) didn't sit well on such things herself, so, she assumes it is simply a less rigid nature at work. All the better!]

I'm no builder, per se, but if it's strong arms you need, I've got 'em!

[The long sleeves of her kimono disguise how muscular her human half may or may not be, but if it's comparable to the sturdy set of her equine portion... she can probably be relied on. And claps a hand on a bicep over her clothing for good measure.]

I could get started now, if you wanted. I've worked in worse.

[But really, she's just eager to be put to task. To think of a goal and complete it, rather than be left standing confused in the midst of all this strange, strange... everything.]

[southernphoenix]

[For her own peace of mind, Nihuang has just been treating the various other guests as peers of similar rank and mustering up her best guess each time as to seniority. It usually works, but then... there is this. She observes Konoha's apparent physique, partially hidden though it may be, with an appreciative eye although she is still trying not to be rude or creepy about it.]

Miss Konoha is generous. [Clarifying this complete non-answer by gesturing her further inside where there are probably some very cute refreshments and possibly towels knowing the person who is actually in charge here.] There's no hurry, we can continue together after the worst has passed and meet the others as well.

[She understands the need to be doing, but Konoha is already here. Being here counts, doesn't it?]

[lumberlady]

[Rather than shirk or shy from it, Konoha seems to actually... pose? Sort of? She sets all four hooves, puts her hands on her... well, what would be hips if she were a woman, but on her are equine shoulders, just below the sort of modified plowhorse harness she wears there. Since she came to work, she finds perfectly reasonable the boss might want to inspect her capabilities, so she looks merely confident, not uncomfortable.

But instead of being put to work, she's... invited further inside? She follows obligingly, dripping just slightly damp from her trip here from the temple, but a bit belatedly realizes she's been given a lot of deference, and she didn't even know her name-]

Oh, you don't have to call me "'miss", just Konoha is fine...

[Geez, what a first impression she must be leaving-]

What should I call you?

welp

[southernphoenix]

[When everyone in a community knows their role, then there is order, and when there is order, so arises harmony and a moral society. This place is difficult and disordered enough; Nihuang isn't going to be stubborn about it. But,]

Then Mu Nihuang is also fine. Or Nihuang-jie if you're willing, since we will be working together. [In defiance of her own decision to observe protocol, she serves Konoha along with herself a small plate of something that at least somewhat resembles rice as well as cold tea, gesturing for her to... sit?]

Will you wait out the storm with me?

[lumberlady]

[Konoha's intent being to place herself in a more subordinate role on account of being new here, and the one coming to the job site for work rather than managing it as she did in her own village, she doesn't quite realize that she might actually be making it more troublesome.

But she is willing to call the woman what she prefers, which seems to be,]

Nihunag-jie, then. I'll be in your care!

[She hopes she pronounced it right... so many people here had such interesting names.

... and seeing as she has two stomachs to deal with, she isn't about to refuse tea. Or a sit. Carefully she makes a circle, finds a spot... and lumbers down to her knees before easing onto her side, tucking her hooves up against her belly as human half carefully keeps her tea from spilling. With her height, this puts her more level with a sitting human compared to how she might sit on her actual rear with another of her kind more like a canine would. There's pleasantries to be exchanged, this and that, but... Konoha does have a question she's been asking of the people she meets here.]

Have you... been in this village long, Nihuang-jie?

[southernphoenix]

Not long at all.

[... Sorry, watching Konoha sit is actually fascinating. Nihuang's horse is stabled on the grounds, and it's taking her some effort to avoid wondering... anything thoughts along those lines. She... sips her tea and keeps her eyes up.]

Only a little over a week, although even the longest residents are not yet three months. Did you only just arrive?

[lumberlady]

[Despite the halved-seeming nature of her biology, Konoha moves seamlessly, actions of a young human woman translating to equine in a way that almost makes it easy to overlook that... okay, it's not easy to overlook, but. She certainly doesn't carry herself as if she's anything but human, despite.]

Oh.

[She can't help the soft surprise, though she tries to bury it a little in a polite sip of tea. (Good tea.)]

You seem so calm, I thought maybe you had been here longer, sorry- I shouldn't have assumed. Yes, I'm... also "new"? I can't stay long, though-

[southernphoenix]

I was fortunate, and someone I knew was already here to explain... [to some degree anyway.] But it was a very confusing time. People come from every place under the sun, and to be far from kin with no one to turn to (for help) makes even small difficulties large.

Have you at least chosen a place to stay? [Maybe she will... hold off on addressing the lack of easy return package option.]

[lumberlady]

[She'd heard that... some people had been here some three months now. Even though Konoha doesn't want to believe it, she has to for now... and if that was so, it would definitely have been more helpful to have someone she knew already be here, confusing as it would also be... so she finds herself a little jealous, somehow.

But-]

I was going to stay with the other jinba here, but-

[She colors just slightly, muttering into her teacup.]

But I'd like to get married sometime, you know, so-

[... He's a man, she means. An unwed man! And she an unwed young lady!]

[southernphoenix]

[That shouldn't be enough to go on, but Nihuang sometimes has an instinct for these things, at least enough to navigate. That, and Konoha's maidenly blush. It is... charming.]

He wasn't someone you knew from before? Is it your preference to live with others?

[Nihuang is a little more used to having her own quarters, but that's just as much due to how few women take the field as it is due to rank.]

[lumberlady]

No, he was- He's worked under me at the lumber yard for a short time now. In... my own village. He may be pretty, but... he's still... a man, you know.

[Her own... world. She realizes she might have to stop saying "village" as if it were somewhere she could walk to, but. It still comes out that way despite her best efforts.]

But me, I've always lived with my family. Who would want to live alone in a place like this... ?

[Or... was that rude? Sure, there were loner types, and all that, but. Wasn't there strength in numbers? Preferably... non scandalous numbers, but still.]

non scandalous numbers

[southernphoenix]

A man, and your subordinate. [But a pretty one, huh? Nihuang shakes her head, but in agreement and some sympathy.] Due to how many of us have been brought here alone, the choice for most is whether to reside alone or with a stranger.

So you mentioned that you are a jinba? [Trying to convey that she has no idea what this means, but... delicately.]

you know, non scandalous numbers

[lumberlady]

Technically.

[On the former... She's definitely not going to dispute how beautiful the man was. She had honestly mistaken him for a woman for... the first whole day she'd known him.

And... the woman has a point. Strangers aren't the best roommates, but... She also doesn't want to be alone. Isn't used to being alone. So what were they supposed to do...]

Ah- yes. "Centaur" works, too, apparently, if you prefer that. Everyone else has been calling me that.

respectable and modest numbers

[southernphoenix]

[Centaur doesn't help Nihuang much more either, but she's relieved to have a term with which to think of Konoha. Two terms, even.]

There aren't any jinba where I'm from. [Are they common? This is one of the few times Nihuang is inescapably aware that they are not just displaced by distance, but by... domain.] If I give offense at any point, it is my ignorance speaking. Please don't take it to heart.

like a laaaadddyyy also /wraps this up maybe?

[lumberlady]

That's what most everyone I've met has said... you don't need to worry about it.

[Konoha smiles, scratching behind her ear a bit self consciously at being treated so nicely- far nicer than she expected from people who didn't know anything about jinba.]

Besides, I'll tell you anything you want to know.

[They had a bit more time to talk... Until the rain stopped, and she got to work.]