Consort Jing, Lin Xinyao [林訢瑤] (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
tranquilforest) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
acatalepsy_logs2018-07-07 09:37 pm
tranquilforest) wrote in acatalepsy_logs2018-07-07 09:37 pm
Entry tags:
- atla: katara,
- baccano!: firo prochainezo,
- bang dream: aya maruyama,
- detroit: become human: connor,
- ensemble stars: leo tsukinaga,
- final fantasy xiv: alphinaud leveilleur,
- final fantasy xiv: arenvald lentinus,
- final fantasy xv: ignis scientia,
- fire emblem: robin,
- fullmetal alchemist: alphonse elric,
- fullmetal alchemist: maes hughes,
- homestuck: dave strider,
- jinba: konoha,
- log horizon: soujirou seta,
- marvel 616: lorna dane,
- mcu: steve rogers,
- nirvana in fire: consort jing,
- nirvana in fire: mu nihuang,
- original character: daylight vis lornlit,
- original character: eliza aberdeen,
- original character: geir,
- original character: vern,
- overwatch: angela ziegler,
- persona 3: minako arisato,
- persona 5: akira kurusu,
- persona 5: ann takamaki,
- supergirl: winn schott,
- tales of zestiria: mikleo,
- tokyo xanadu: kou tokisaka,
- tokyo xanadu: rion kugayama,
- voltron: keith kogane,
- voltron: takashi "shiro" shirogane,
- wooden overcoats: antigone funn
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.
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
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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…
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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
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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!))
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[And it's nice to be a part of things. Nobody would ever be left standing beyond the table at a Martillo Family party.]
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Yeah, these... these tables aren't built for jinba. But it's fine. It's mostly humans here, so it makes sense.
[It wasn't like her home, with the tables her father made special just for her. She knew that. Which means it was either stand and tower over the table, or sit and have it be too tall for her to handle the plates and such-]
I can stand.
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Like a standing picnic!]
Jinba?
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Um- "centaur"? Maybe? A lot of people have used that word.
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[Apparently saying something like that isn't rude, but sitting at a table while somebody else can't is?]
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[But... she's here. For multiple days now. So she can't... be dreaming, or insane, so.]
There's another jinba here, too- Mikuni!
[Looking about, she finds him easily in the crowd, (seeing as he was even taller than she was, let alone the fact that it's hard to miss that sleek black horseflesh), pointing over to where he sits by the bonfire a bit away.]
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You came here with a friend of yours?
[He may sound slightly wistful even as he tries not to. He hadn't seen any of his friends for weeks even before he wound up in this place.]
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[She didn't... remember being with Mikuni the moment before she arrived, but. They were here now...]
He works under me at the lumber yard, he's real strong.
[Just... gonna shoot Mikuni a wave from across the courtyard before she turns her attention back to Firo.]
Are your friends here? Or- back in your village?
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I wouldn't call it a village. But, yeah, that's where they all are. Last I saw 'em.
[Not entirely true, but saying that Isaac was in prison with him is too inconvenient to explain to somebody he just met. And hopefully Ennis is still there, even though he supposes Victor may go after anyway given that Firo's just up and vanished from Alcatraz. His stomach clenches just thinking about it, and he reaches for a change of subject.]
You've gotta be pretty strong yourself, doing work like that. I don't know much about it, but I've heard somebody's gotta be pretty tough to do it.
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But... it wasn't that simple, was it.
Konoha forces herself to smile a bit wider, more than glad for the change of topic.]
Don't underestimate me just cause I'm a girl. I may have been born on a farm, but I've got the blood of the mountains.
[As if in proof of such, she slaps a bicep lightly. Admittedly... her long sleeves make it hard to tell how muscled she may or may not be under there, but considering her rear end was far more "draft horse" than "prancer"...]
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Hey, I didn't mean it like that.
So you're saying that's how everybody's supposed to be where you're from?
[The only mountains he's really seen are the ones the train to Alcatraz passed by. Suffice it to say, he knows next to nothing about them or the people who live there.]
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[Now that she's served people, she can eat herself, right? Konoha pulls the hot pot back closer and begins ladeling out another bowl, chatting away as she does.]
I mean, I have an advantage I guess, [being... biologically strong and sturdy?] but a field jinba can handle smaller mountains alright, and humans who know what they're doing are just fine, too.
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[That's how mountains work, right? He's at least partially joking, but it does sound like there could be danger of some sort, the way she's talking.]
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[Just gonna... tug her sleeve down to cover the hints of bandage on her left arm when she mentions "wolves", oops.]
The mountains can't be underestimated either! You don't have mountains in your [not a village, so-] town?
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City. No, we don't have mountains. Or wolves or bears. It's by the water.
[He glances back at the sleeve she'd been messing with and raises an eyebrow.]
Something wrong?
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But at the question she just smiles harder and shakes her head- it might even be hard to tell if she's genuinely trying to deflect from the bandage or if she just didn't even notice he'd noticed.]
Mm. Just a little homesick, I guess. I kind of need to get back- I mean, I guess everyone does, but.
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...I don't see how that's a problem with your sleeve. [But anyway.] You've got something to take care of back home?
[He knows the feeling. Like she said, probably a lot of them do.]
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[Something to take care of? ... Everything.
So she downplays the injury, (just a little, not too much), even as her eyes find the bamboo fronds, the wishes hanging off them. Her wish, among them.]
I just need to get back to my village. And my parents. I'm sure they're worried sick, and then there's the harvest coming, and winter will probably be so harsh this year-
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It sounds like they must rely on you a lot. [His smile is forced, but his next words are genuine.] But, hey, they got by before you were born, right? So maybe they'll be fine until you get back.
[Or not.]
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[Human children.
She wasn't going to cry again, she had told herself- but despite that, she finds the need to use that sleeve not to hide her bandage but to wipe her eyes.]
They need me, now, I can't just leave-
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Hey, you didn't leave anybody. Astoria dragged you here just like the rest of us.
[Maybe it's just semantics, but he doesn't think so. At the least, he thinks it's important that she not let herself feel guilty over it.]
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But they don't know that. What if they think something happened to me, or-
[What if they thought she was dead?]
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[Helpful, Firo. And to boot, he's going to awkwardly shove his hands in his pockets and try to ignore any signs of crying. Privacy!]
...What do you think they'd do if they thought that?
[He (hopefully) has a point he's getting to with this, even if it seems like a mean question.]
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P- Probably... ask the village priest to pray for me?
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Oh. But, uh, okay, so after that--they'd probably go on with their lives, right? And then whenever you come back, they'll probably be overjoyed to see you!
[Which... doesn't take care of her concerns about caring for them, but he's doing his best here.]
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