Let the Festival Begin [Day 143 | Day 144]

[bastionmods]

Who: EVERYONE
Open: Open
When: Day 143 & 144
Where: All over the Bastion
What: The first two days of the Harvest Festival
Format Any
Warnings: None

For the past week or so, it may feel like to some that the Bastion is gearing up for something. And not anything bad, either. Something good and oh so needed. It's not just the people, the Caels and the Ura that are aware of what the coming days would mean if the world was still intact. It's like the very Bastion itself has suddenly gained new life, and there's a power over it that's greater than any person, creature or Core.

Anyone who is still awake as dawn breaks over the Bastion may find themselves inexplicably tired for no reason at all, and unable to give in to an intense need to close their eyes, just for a moment.

When everyone wakes, and I do mean everyone, the Bastion will be transformed. Decorations, lights strung across every angle, wreaths, tables with colorful cloths over them, streamers and banners and so much stuff just seemingly out of nowhere! The entire Bastion, suddenly a vibrant, beautiful place for a celebration. And not just any celebration.

The Harvest Festival!

Comments

DAY 143 : Day of Plenty and Chance

[bastionmods]

Note: Pyth the Mechanical Bull will need to be brought to the Bastion from a location on the Skyway. People can offer themselves up for this task. There will be no monster attacks, but it will not be an easy task, especially for anyone not all that technically gifted. This is a special quest and those who go to retrieve him will find themselves gifted with extra shards for their troubles.
-For the remainder of the festival, there will be a challenge to everyone to try to survive in a pit the longest on him. Those who don't get struck by the bull the longest will receive a special prize at the end of the day.

Now on to the festival proper:

There seems to be an awful lot of decorations that depict a shapely, beautiful woman either along side the bull, or actually riding him. These decorations will stay throughout the festival. On day one, though, pinwheels will also be present everywhere, along with a lot of thick, leafy branches twining around buildings and other structures, especially around the distillery and kitchen.

That said, there is also a massive long table outside. Think Nordic style, all of heavy wood and intricate designs. And on that long table? Food. So. Much. Food. More than anyone in the Bastion has seen since the Calamity. Where did it come from? Who cares! It's food. Food and a lot of drink. Booze everywhere? Booze everywhere! Who the hell cares that there are underage children at this thing, BOOZE EVERYWHERE. There are stacks and stacks of plates, baskets of utensils, and everything including the food and drink seems to magically replenish whenever some one isn't looking long enough. There is meat! (Yes, even mammoth meat) Don't like meat? There's vegetables, tofu, fish, fruit... basically anything you can imagine, it's there. Stuff your faces, these are going to be the best meals you've had in months and probably will be the last great meal you have for several more months.

Speaking of buffets that rival that of Norse gods, there's also GAMBLING! Yes, suddenly the Bastion is Vegas, with steampunk style slot machines, card tables, dice tables and everything else in between! The only catch? You can only play with your own personal shards, and the odds are almost always in the houses' favor. For the smaller children, they can spend a shard each to play other more kid-friendly games like ones you'd find in a carnival (but much less rigged). There also seems to be a constant, calm, softly playing stream of music coming from somewhere, though no one will be able to find the source of it. It's all very gentle tunes, instrumental and without vocalization.

Also, residents might become aware that as they're leaving their homes or places of residence to join in on the festival, they'll suddenly have a small silver chain bracelet shoved in to their hands, some how exactly their wrist size - no bigger, no smaller. It's light, but it won't break easily, and it's highly recommended that it stay worn throughout the festival and even beyond it. Why? Well, you'll find out sooner or later.

Most of the festivities take place during the day, including retrieving Pyth and the gambling. As the day winds down in to "night" via cloud cover, one might notice that Ura-raised NPCs and PCs have taken on strips of red cloth around their upper arms, and seem to be far more somber than their fellow Cael survivors.

For the younger residents (15 and below) of the Bastion, they will find themselves gifted with red hooded cloaks, designed to mimic a bull. Suddenly everything is like Easter for them, but instead of eggs they must find small hidden gears all over the Bastion. A booth will be set up near the temple that Serena will be running, and those gears can be turned in for small prizes like candy and little toys (most of them having something to do with Rothaus and Olak).

For the adults, there will be a chance to actually bet on the bull vs the people going up against Pyth. There's also an eating contest, as if we need more excuse to stuff our faces. Winners of these things will also get prizes, of course.

As the evening winds down, the younger children will be encouraged to sleep outside, and will be told stories of Rothaus and Olak and their various godly adventures in the world before the walls and the holes until they fall asleep. Drinks will be refilled for the older crowd.

If anyone was awake around "midnight" before all this started, they will have witnessed a tall metal torch of various intricate designs: a gear on one side, and a bullhead on the other. Zulf has chosen to take up the duty of lighting the torches at the top where a spiky star resides. It happens again when night falls on the first day, with two more torches with Roathus' and Olak's symbols along with the gear and bull arrive to be lit.

PRESENTS

[bastionmods]

Over in the Gazebo that Frederic recently brought to the Bastion, there will be a pile of gifts, all with tags bearing names and symbols of the respective gods chosen.

Today, though, there's not a whole lot. It appears only Kaoru chose Olak and only Ragnarok chose Roathus.

At the center of the gazebo, there will be a fairly large burlap sack, absolutely overflowing with candy. All sorts of candy. Chocolate, sugar, hard candy, soft candy, some in the shape of skulls like a certain city likes to decorate in, others from worlds that have never even been heard of (though the candy is still very delicious) just candy candy candy.

Roathus really likes you for choosing him, Ragnarok, so go nuts with your haul.

Incidentally there's also a bright yellow scarf shaped like a sock at the ends, also for Ragnarok.

Next to that sack though, is Kaoru's gift. An ornate Elephant Planter from Bali, as well as neon pink-neon blue striped socks.

Enjoy your gifts!

[blackblooded]

Crona looks absolutely miserable. Which is an odd expression for someone carrying a massive bag of candy. Seriously, it looks like Crona's having a little bit of trouble with the weight.

Ragnarok, on the other hand, looks absolutely ecstatic. Which is not an odd expression for someone doing absolutely no work, wearing an absurd scarf, and gnawing on a giant lollipop.

"Man, Crona! These gods are so much better than that reaper guy!"

"Just don't eat it all at once... I don't know how to deal with a sugar coma..."

PYTH QUEST

[bastionmods]

This won't be easy guys. Hope you're ready to get bruised.

Re: PYTH QUEST

[freedom_engineer]

[So, some people need to go and bring home the bull? And it's MECHANICAL?! Oh man, you better believe that's a job Colin wants in on... and he is also quite happy to have help.]

LONGTABLE

[bastionmods]

[croceamors]

[After getting used to the shock of all this, Saix soon immediately spies and opportunity by way of storing food to keep after all of this is over. After all... Well, he honestly shouldn't have to say that this is the most food they've all seen in a while.]

[After that, however, you can find him seated nearby, watching people make fools of themselves. There's a plate of food set besides him, and an open bottle of Bull Brandy, but in his hands is some seasalt ice cream. Looks like the Gods have been considerate today.]

[Feel free to approach him, or just sit besides him by coincidence.]

[hortulan]

[Night is sitting somewhere near the middle of the table, a few plates heavy with food already in front of her as she tears into what looks like a giant turkey leg wrapped in... bacon. A few used and empty plates sit nearby, victims of her never ending appetite. Seriously, where is she keeping all that food?

She stops tearing into the poor turkey leg for a drink (most likely alcohol) and downs that in a few large gulps.

At least she looks like she's enjoying herself?]

[wayofvoice]

[Paar would really really like to partake in all this glorious food, especially the meat.]

[Just one problem: he's rather lacking in the anatomy to do this delicately.]

[So if anyone near the feast wants to help the poor dragon nearby that's just staring reaaaally intently at it all...]

[hellpyre]

[So once the Pyth team returns, Rin can be found sporting a few bandages and bruises that will fade before day's end (only to be replaced by more later), stuffing her face at the longtable. She's not even really irritated at the run Pyth gave them when they tried to retrieve the mechanical bull (it was kind of exciting, actually), but it sure did leave her breathing hard and beat up for her troubles. And hungry. Damn demon metabolism... She usually doesn't eat like this!

Some one might be able to get a word in edgewise, she'll gladly have a conversation about the festival so far.]

[orzelbialy]

[Frederic is certainly doing his damnedest to not be social during a very social event. Honestly, he just feels out of place. In gatherings like these, he was more often the entertainment for the evening because that's just what people expected of Frederic Francois Chopin. But here he is, without a piano at all, eating only because his stomach rumbled at him enough to force him to the table.

And not talking. To anyone.

Some one fix this please?]

[followsthevoice]

[After having a day to recover and adapt to the new situation, The Kid found himself sitting at the longtable with a massive plate of food. It helped that the Harvest Festival was still going on...and the bottle of Hearty Punch next to his plate was helping too. Practically growing up in the Wilds had taught him the value of good food, so he was going to fill his belly as much as he could while he had the time to do so...who knew when he'd get another chance?

Feel free to get acquainted with the newcomer...just try not to be offended by his mannerisms; he doesn't talk to people much.]

[amphibian]

[Aoi's endless supply of enthusiasm does not make her superhuman; she still needs food! So every now and again she'll take a break from fighting with Pyth and hang about the food table. It's okay if she completely gorges herself as long as she's working it off fighting the bull, right? Riiiight. That's why she's completely stacking her plate with meat and sweets.

Anyone who looks towards her will get a smile and a little wave with the hand that she isn't trying to balance her plate on.]

[stormsinbraids]

Tris is here studying what food there is. Sure, she's eating some, but its mostly as she tries to identify what is in anything that looks fairly simple. More variety to what they eat would always be nice, even if with Rosethorn and Briar here, they will never really want for plant based foods and spices again.


Chime, on the other hand, is eating anything she can fit in her mouth. Want to watch a clear glass dragon eat something? Its easy to watch that the little creature definitely has some clear organs in there, the way the food she snaps up flows. And there's a chance that Chime will say hello by puking up a little glass flame with some food frozen forever in it, or by leaving a dropping of glass with food frozen the same way.

[dontyoujustwish]

[Anya may not be stuffing her face like some of the other revelers, but she is nonetheless enjoying the feast and the abundance of booze. It takes her back... to things she honestly doesn't remember very well, but there is a familiarity about it. By that token, it doesn't occur to her to try being social. She always was on the outside looking in at these sorts of gatherings, and she's casually watching the people around her.

And possibly amassing a collection of alcohol to take home with her later. She's only planning on drinking one or two of those today, really.]

I feel like there should be some kind of warning on this. like "RAGNAROK IS HORRIBLE"

[blackblooded]

[Crona continues to be miserable. After hauling the bag of cans back to the apartment, Crona had to go back outside. Ragnarok had threatened a variety of horrible things, ranging from "I'll eat all your food for a week" to "I'll rip all your hair out and punch you in the face 'till you can't see!" so of course Crona went back outside. And Ragnarok had directed his meister to the huge table so he could stuff his face.

And he is very happily stuffing his face. Crona's sitting slumped over on the table, head resting on crossed arms, because it would be completely stupid to get in Ragnarok's way right now. The demon sword is shoving pretty much everything he can reach into his mouth, not caring if he happens to spill food or drink on Crona.

There is no possible way this could end well.]

[ourlegends]

[ SOOOO after retrieving Pyth the mechanical bull, she is feeling more than a bit sore and bruised up. Thus, her judgment isn't the greatest because she's tiiiiired.

That might be why she's got a glass of alcohol in her hand instead of the juice she thought she had. She's so tired she can't even taste the difference.

Aaaaand she might be getting pretty tipsy right about now.

Someone either stop her, drink with her, or idk something, just bug her! ]

OH LOOK creepy scientist guy

[dissectionislove]

[As it was his de facto home away from home, Stein rarely left Bastion’s hospital. This went especially for social occasions. He was about as interested in them as he was good at them as a whole. What he did enjoy, however, was being a fly on the wall – an outsider looking in, creepily quietly observing the interpersonal interactions of large groups. Things like this were experiments in their own right, after all.

So he stayed on the edge of the fray, for the time being. Most people likely wouldn’t notice him until they glanced over and caught a glimpse of light refracting off of a pair of rounded lenses. He’s perfectly approachable, but in no hurry to butt in on this experiment he’s rather contentedly watching.]

GAMBLING CORNER

[bastionmods]

(Whatever Vegas-style and other gambling games you can think of, they'll be here, all in glorious faux-steampunk style)

[croceamors]

[Saix has never really gambled. Sure, that sort of thing was Luxord's expertise, but the two of them were never really friendly enough for a game to happen. Rather, Saix was never friendly enough and always too busy.]

[Still, you can find him near the gambling corner, eying everything with some distant curiosity.]

[thirdoutofthree]

[ Viola, with a pile of shards, is glowering at the dice game. She really wants to win but wow this game is harder than she thought. Or is she just incredibly unlucky? ]

What is the deal with this? Stop taking all my shards!

LATER EVENING - BET ON PYTH

[bastionmods]

LATER EVENING - GEAR FINDING

[bastionmods]

EVERYTHING ELSE, EVERYWHERE ELSE

[bastionmods]

EATING CONTEST

[bastionmods]