acatalepsy_logs | SUMMER FESTIVAL: TEMPLE OF BEGINNINGS

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!))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[oh, hey Elizabeth! Akira slows to a stop when he sees her, a small smile curving up his features. it's been a while!]

I'm no professional, but you can't call me a novice, either.

[that's a lengthy way of saying "yes"]

[And here's this sharp lad. Elizabeth seems happy to meet with him again and indeed it reflects in the playful tone of her voice.]

The perfect sort of person then for charades, for what would be the amusement in one who may guess the answer too readily.

[Ahem.]

I do not know how you might play charades so first let me say this: "my first" is a clue to the first syllable, "my second" to the next and "my whole" is the word I wish guessed.

[Now then.]

You witness in my beauteous first
The wonders of creation;
My second is blessed or cursed,
As he fulfills his station:
My whole dances round the year;
The present soon will disappear.

[oh, wow. he has to think about this one for quite a bit, hand pressed against the back of his neck as his features wrinkle with a frown]

Beauteous first. . . wait, is it--

[he actually doesn't get it from the first or second hints, but the last one. "dances 'round the year" can only be one thing]

A season?

Very quick thinking, sir. Indeed it is season. The beauteous first was the sea whilst the second was son.

[She looks a bit sympathetic.]

I suppose sons do not have the same obligations they did in my own time, rendering the second clue somewhat confusing.

[OOOOOH]

[he gets it now]

Unfortunately, you're right. [he rubs the back of his neck, sheepish] There are still expectations, but they aren't exactly the same as they used to be.

And I daresay for the better in many ways. In my own time, eldest sons inherited and often the younger were left to fend for themselves. And thus the clue on "blessed" or "cursed", you see.

[With that said, she is quick to lighten the mood. Elizabeth is never one who likes to dwell too long on the misfortunes of life.]

As repentance for such poor clues, I will attempt my hand at any such charades or riddles you might have.

[and he'll gladly let her change the subject. riddles are more fun, anyway]

I'm not so great at charades, but. . .

[a hum]

It's shorter than the rest, but when you're happy, you raise it up like it's the best. What is it?

[riddles, he can do]

[Oh now it's her turn to be quite puzzled.]

... I suppose this does not have to do with children, does it.

Nope. But that's a pretty good guess.

[quirks his brows at her, challenging and amused. you can get it Elizabeth!!]

[Then what is shorter than the rest and obviously so? Elizabeth muses on the question a long moment, jaunting from one ideal to another before glances down to her hands in thought. It sparks a bit of an idea.]

I do not suppose that one so raised up would be one of these?

[And here she raises her hands up, palms facing him, to wiggle her fingers in the air.]

[aha]

You may be getting warmer. . .

[comes Akira's coy response]

[Such a tease. Elizabeth examines her fingers a moment, then strikes upon something - which is the smallest of them? The thumb? Raising up a thumb isn't precisely a happy thing but she has more than seen notions of what is right and wrong as well as slang change from her time.

So after a pause, Elizabeth holds her thumb up on one hand and folds the others back. It's sort of a thumbs up?]

The thumb then?

[and for that, she gets two thumbs up! two proper thumbs up]

Bingo. You are pretty good at this.

[Ah, so that's how it's done. Elizabeth laughs a little.]

At times. I cannot claim to be as good as some of my sisters but then we all have our strengths.

All you need is a little bit of practice.

[back into his pockets his hands go]

I'll take another, if you have one.

[Another, hm.]

You are an ambitious fellow, it seems! Very well, I shall do my best to give you pause.

My first's the foe of rats and mice,
My next you'll meet with in a fair;
My third of various form and price,
Oft decorates a lady's hair:
My whole, in foreign climes is said
To form a mansion for the dead.

SUMMER FESTIVAL: TEMPLE OF BEGINNINGS

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