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

[He can scarcely believe his eyes but there is no mistaking her. The woman standing before the bamboo with paper slip in hand is Minfilia. Not as he last saw her but definitely as he chooses to remember her. Now that he has experienced the oddities in the timeline personality he should have considered this possibility. And better a friend and fellow Scion than an enemy. Yet... it's still cruel. It still brings back a lot of sorrow, pain and guilt that fills his heart all at once. Of all the people he failed that day he failed her the most.]

Min... [He starts but then kind of stumbles over his own words in his surprise.

And now that he has her attention in an embarrassing fashion... He smiles a little sheepishly when she notices him.]

Ah... 'tis... a surprise to find you here. I wasn't aware you had arrived.

[Ordinarily, it is easy to tell when Alphinaud is nearby. His voice precedes him into most rooms, and the projection of confidence follows on its heels, trailed by the young Sharlayan himself. What she sees writ upon his face when she turns toward him surprises her more than his silence and verbal stumble.]

One of the better surprises I've had in the last while. [...Is he blushing? On top of that terribly stricken look, just before he found his words?] Well met, Alphinaud.

[He seems...stronger. More real confidence and far less projection, even though he also seems to be attempting to shrink himself inside the space he occupies without actually moving.]

[Even if he hadn't stumbled over his words the look of on his face would have given him away completely. He attempts to bury it anyway--to push that aside for now until he knows how to better approach this situation of their mismatched timelines--but all he can manage is a tight smile.]

And to you, Minfilia. [And she has no idea the weight of those words.] Although I wish it were under better circumstances it is... good to see you. [Their situation is poor but then it is only here he would ever be able to see her again like this.

He glances towards the bamboo tree. He recognizes Eorzean scrip instantly and without even reading it properly has an inkling what it might say.]

Have you been settling in all right?

As well as can be expected, given the nature of our assignment.

[Also, she was utterly hopeless with the ~~Allagan~~ watch in those first few days. She has grown more used to it, but it feels quite beyond her reach to utilize it to its fullest.

Gods, though, even his smile isn't quite whole, in the way of one who has grown too fast in too short a time. As with Thancred, perhaps it is best to...head him off.]

The time will come for more serious talk of what transpired in Eorzea. [Minfilia's smile is a bit sad, and a bit tired, but largely resolved and determined to see even this through.] You are not responsible for my choices, Alphinaud, nor I for yours.

[And that is all she needs to say about it, for now.

Then she looks at the trees as if remembering they are there, and back at him with an impish smile.]

Have you written an offering of your own?

[He looks surprised by her words. Perhaps she already knew. Even if she didn't she would have said them anyway, he imagines. He wonders if Thancred has found her in that case and makes a mental note to speak to him about it regardless.

He smiles, a bit more genuine this time.] Of course. [He knows that and she said much the same before she departed their realm but it does not abolish his feelings on the matter. Not entirely.

He follows her gaze. There are so many of them tied here...]

Ah... no, not yet. I was actually not sure what to write. [Which probably seems weird, coming from him.] Not for a lack of things to write, mind, but for there being too many I would wish to put down.

[So she holds out the pen she used, for him.]

There's no harm in writing more than one, I think.

[There are many other things for which Minfilia wishes, or prays, or hopes. Some would take so many words as to fill four little banners all on their own. She condensed them as well as she could.]

I contemplated simply writing the names of those I wished well...but there aren't enough pieces of paper.

[At that he gives a small laugh.] My thoughts presented a similar problem. I suppose it would not do well to simply write 'everyone' either. [But it was tempting!

He takes the proffered pen and picks up a blank piece of paper from the stack. There's barely any room left to tie these so he should probably do it now lest he misses the opportunity.

He thinks for but a moment--of his situation at home, of all those counting on him, of the uncertainty of his very survival... Then Alphinaud puts pen to paper and writes with a flourish, elegant penmanship.

"For the future not yet written."

Perhaps a selfish wish but then as he writes it he thinks more on what it means for the greater good to succeed on his mission to Garlemald... and how important it is to Alisaie that he comes home.

He finds a small branch for it and ties it there. Honestly it's silly. A slip of paper on a tree is illogical and has no bearing on what awaits him when he returns but... it brings a sort of small comfort regardless.]

[A beautiful sentiment. She nods her approval even if he doesn't look for it.]

May time and fortune see our wishes both fulfilled.

[It, too, is something of a prayer. A stake into faith.]

You've come a long way indeed since last we spoke, Alphinaud.

[He is satisfied with his decisions and once he's certain it is tied securely he steps back. He agrees with her sentiment as well. He wonders what she would say if he knew just how much her wish is taken to heart by those who remain.

He gives her a sheepish smile. Ah, yes... the person she remembers was the one so full himself and certain he knew better than anyone else what Eorzea's future should be. It was strangest to him more than anyone else to recall the kind of mindset he use to have.]

Much and more has happened since then. Some for the greater good... and some unbearable to recall. All I would say had a hand in what I can only fittingly describe as my comeuppance. [Harsh... but the truth. He'd no one but himself to blame.]

I learned much from the experiences, however, and only hope to continue on the path to betterment.

As I am certain you will.

[They may not always agree on the best course of action, but she cares quite deeply for Alphinaud and worried for his safety even while fleeing dire peril of her own.

The person she remembers and the person before her are one and the same. The latter has a few more lessons, but could not be unless he grew from the former.]

Have you...dwelt here overlong?

[She's not yet sure she can call it all living.]

[That... is actually a good question.]

I suppose so. Three or four moons have passed since I arrived. I was actually one of the first. [Him and a group of others not unlike the group Minfilia arrived with.]

Although the calculation of time is not quite the same here nor is it the same in the other worlds we visit so keeping track has provided a bit difficult.

SUMMER FESTIVAL: TEMPLE OF BEGINNINGS

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