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

Self-defense doesn't count.

[He laughs. Given that in this scenario the familiars were "kidnapped," he supposes that's fair enough.]

How far's that go with them?

As far as it has to? I haven't exactly tested it. 99% of people know better than to mess with a familiar of any kind, nevermind a necromantic dragon.

Yeah, I guess I can see how that'd be a deterrent...

[Even Firo, a reckless fool, doesn't think he'd want to mess around with something like that.

Thinking back to the original topic:]

You're not gonna sic your dragon on people if they read your wish, are you?

[He's joking! Even if by his definition that'd count well enough as "self defense."]

I wasn't planning on it, but...~

[Truly an ominous threat when the only dragon she has on hand is the size of a small parrot.]

I didn't say that just to give you ideas.

[Though now she has him wondering...]

Do you have it with you now?

[Hadn't she said something about bones in her purse before? Come to think of it, he'd kind of been picturing something more intimidating.]

I have Lori. My other three are at home.

Lori?

[What a weird name...]

Can I see, uh... him? Her?

Yeah, sure!

[Eliza was not very creative when it came to naming her lorikeet-like dragon. Lorikeet-sized too— She reaches into her purse and pulls out a Tupperware container stuffed with cottonballs and small, spiky bones.]

I call her a her. The skeleton host has indications that it was a female dragon. The males had spikier heads.

[You learn something new every day!

Firo looks at the container and the tiny bones inside and pauses a moment.]

That's it?

This is it! This is Lori.

[then, with a small amount of smugness, like presenting a trick:]

Lori, wake up and say hi.

[and the skeleton comes scrambling up out of the container, shaking cottonballs from her bones with a fussy flutter of her wings]

[He takes it back--this is awesome! Sure, it'd be horrifying if it were huge, but this is entirely novel and doesn't seem too dangerous, so that's enough to make Firo grin with excitement.]

Does she fly too?

[If not stopped, he's going to try to poke her--gently!]

[Unfortunately, all her big ones are back home in storage]

She can normally, but with how our magic is restrained here, it's trickier than usual. But Lori prefers to climb around, anyways.

[Lori stops preening to eye Firo's finger, tipping her head from one side to the other. She doesn't have any actual eyes, but two tiny points of light glitter in the sockets.]

Climb, huh? Sounds more like a squirrel than a dragon.

[Those "eyes" are creepy enough to make him hesitate--and switch to his left, non-dominant hand--but he's going to go for it to poke the top of her head.]

Can she see?

Flowerdrakes eat flowers and fruit, so sometimes climbing is just easier than flying.

[Her skull is a funny shape, like a skink's crossed with a bird's— there's a crest of spikes at the back of her head, and she has a parrot's beak where a lizard would have a snout.]

She can see and feel, so be gentle. That beak is like a can-opener.

[He laughs at the description, even as he finally draws his hand back. It sounds like tiny dragons can be dangerous just like a big one.]

So she bites too?

Only sometimes~

Real nice feature in a pet.

[And yet he's going to bring his hand back near the little skeleton again to see if he can coax it over.]

She doesn't bite me.

[Lori hops over curiously, walking on her folded wings like a bat instead of using her tiny forearms.]

[He makes a sound almost like a laugh at Eliza's remark, still watching Lori do her weird-skeleton thing. To Lori:]

'Least you look like you're too small to be packing any real weapons.

Nope, just the beak. The live ones have spines, but those are ornamental.

[Lori raps her beak on the table. fierce!!!]

[Very fierce! Firo tries to hide a smile.]

I hope I didn't offend her.

Don't worry, her ego can take it.

[Good! He nods to the response and looks over at the Tupperware.]

Is she really all right in that box all the time?

[She seems pretty alive for a skeleton, and it seems weird to shut something like that away.]

Don't worry, she's only in there when she's in sleep mode. I can't always have her up and out, so I need something to carry her in.

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