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

[ourlegends]

Should I go ahead and bring Emboar out so we're all ready for anything?

[ Hilda reaches for Emboar's Pokeball on her belt. ]

[hellpyre]

[Wow Aoi. Wow.

Rin is starting to think the same thing as Viola here...]

... this is gonna suck, innit?

[freedom_engineer]

Bring out Emboar, please.

[Colin smiles at Hilda.]

I think Viola and Rin are expecting awful things from us otherwise.

[Yep, STILL cheerful.]

[ourlegends]

[ So it would seem that only one of you outside of Hilda has ever seen a giant flaming pig.

This should be a fun surprise for you! Hilda nods, calling Emboar out.

There is now a giant flaming pig traveling with all of you. Enjoy. ]

Emboar, meet ... everyone, everyone meet Emboar. You already know Colin, Emboar ...

[ Emboar flexes and snorts a little because he's a macho macho man. But that's just how he greets people, don't worry. ]

He's going to help, too.

[ There's a smile on Hilda's face as she introduces her first and oldest Pokemon friend. ]

[thirdoutofthree]

[ Wow that is a big... pig thing... hey wait a minute, something about this seems familiar. ]

Hey, uh.. you wouldn't happen to be friends with a little walking plant too, would you?

[ And that is a really bizarre thing to ask, Viola knows. But Emboar really reminds her of that cute little plant that invaded her privacy at the onsen a couple weeks ago. ]

[hellpyre]

[WHOA big pig thing. Big... flaming pig thing.

Fucking sweet.]

Duuuuude... that thing is awesome! Hey, hey, Emboar! Flame buddies!

[She totally wants to give you a flaming brofist, Emboar. Also weren't they supposed to be finding a bull?]

[amphibian]

[Okay, the giant flaming pig catches her off-guard. It takes a moment of ogling at it for her to regain her bearings, and then Aoi grins.]

Hi, Emboar! [And she flexes right back at him. She can be macho, too!]

[bastionpc]

[And while this... interesting show of flames and machismo brought about by a Pokemon, a half-demon and a normal high school girl (well normal is relative here) some one in the group might become aware that they've come across what looks like the remnants of fields of some sort.

There have been some twists and turns already, some odd paths just jutting out in to nowhere and ending, but not that far from where they've stopped there's a narrow stone stairway leading up to one last field with a few wooden vine trellis still standing. And the end of this field, a shrine much like the one back in the Bastion... but far more run down.

And back the way they came, just off one of the pathways, there is also an ash statue of a small boy, with a Pyth plush lying discarded at his feet.

Which way will this odd little team go...?]

[freedom_engineer]

[Neither object escapes Colin's notice, and he frowns slightly, looking skyward.]

Oh, this is going to be one of THOSE missions, is it? Just so we're clear, deific guys... The old "See what the mortals choose" schtick? A classic, but it can really chafe if it's overdone.

[Don't mind him. Colin's always had an interesting relationship with the gods.]

All right, you guys see what I see?

[ourlegends]

[ Emboar's busy brofisting Rin and flexing with Aoi, but Hilda manages to answer Viola's question before Colin speaks. ]

Yeah, that's Lilil. She's here with me, too.

[ In her Pokeball, of course. She looks up to Colin once he starts talking, and then averts her gaze over toward where he's looking. ]

[hellpyre]

[Yeaaaaah. Flaming brofist. That just made Rin's day awesome, at least for a moment.]

Eh?

[When Colin got her attention, though, she turned and the smile faded.]

... an ash statue.

[amphibian]

[Aoi glances up at the shrine, towards Colin when he speaks, and then looks for where the gazes of the others have fallen.

All of her bravado gets sucked out of her at once at the sight of the ash statue, even once she looks away. The hand she'd balled into a fist to show off her biceps falls, and she presses her knuckles to her lips and cheek.]

...Maybe we should go see the shrine.

[thirdoutofthree]

[ Viola resolved to talk to Hilda later on about her meeting with Lilil at the onsen some time ago. For now, her attention was better spent on the situation at hand, which had just turned grim. ]

[ Those ash statues never meant anything good. On her usual Skyway trips, Viola tried to avoid them at all times possible. But this time, she was more curious about the doll next to the boy. Ignoring Aoi's suggestion, Viola approached the ash statue. ]

Look what he's got here. [ She knelt close and picked up the plush, careful not to touch the statue. ] This little guy kind of looks like that Pyth statue at the shrine.

[hellpyre]

[Rin watched Viola with a tight lipped frown. She hated those statues. She hated how they smelled, and how the scent would linger even after she was away from them. She hated how it was every type of person - men, women, elderly, young.

She just hated them.

But the plush was interesting.

And so was the sound ear ears picked up coming from near the shrine behind them.]

... did anyone else hear that?

[freedom_engineer]

[Colin looks to the shrine, and he smirks.]

If I had to guess, I think Old Pyth just woke up. Viola? Hold on to that doll. I think you may have gotten the bull's attention.

[His father was a traveling performer for decades, raiding tombs and dungeons and finding artifacts and puzzles like this all the time. Colin loved these stories, growing up. He paid complete attention to them, filing everything away for the day HE would go out into the world and be an adventurer. That had never happened, but Colin never forgot those stories... He's genre savvy, but it occurs to him that he may also be WRONG genre savvy... still, no sense in ignoring the importance of those stories.]

[thirdoutofthree]

[ Viola turns to the shrine as well, clutching the Pyth doll in one hand and surging to her feet. That sound does not seem friendly at all. ]

I don't think I want it now! [ She snapped to Colin, but tucked the plush into her belt all the same, reaching instinctively for her bow. She hated puzzles and traps. Hated them. This better not be leading to another Fort Fermata... ]

[hellpyre]

Guess we're gonna find out whether or not Zulf was right about this thing...

[Rin doesn't get out her sword, because as much as that is her go-to move, she really doesn't want to find out what flinging fire at a god does to it. She turns with the others, waiting for whatever is making that noise to appear.]

[ourlegends]

[ OH Crap that sound wasn't good. Hilda froze for a moment, but only for a moment: quick as it had happened, she got her bearings back and went to a state of being on guard. ]

Emboar, be prepared for anything.

[ Hilda wasn't a fighter herself, so she stayed out of the way for the most part. She was ready, though, and Emboar made it known that he was as well with a grunt to assure his trainer. ]

[freedom_engineer]

[while the rest of them are cautious.... Colin decides to take another route.]

Heeeeeeeeeeere Pyth, Pyth, Pyth!

[He's just going to cup his hands to his mouth and approach the shrine. May as well make himself a target while everyone else is prepping for the worst. In theory this thing isn't going to try to KILL any of them...]

Got a couple of festival-goers, here to see if you want to come along!

[amphibian]

H-hey, be careful over there! [Even she's not dumb enough to just meander over near the strange rumbling noise! But she stands a little wider and holds her fists up in front of her, ready to defend herself.]

[hellpyre]

COLIN!

[Wow how had she not seen that coming. If they weren't in the middle of preparing for a possible fight, Rin would have facepalmed at the man so hard her face would be red from it.

But she can't do that right now, so she just gets ready for the bull because it is obviously going to be showing it's horned head soon with that.]

[bastionpc]

[And Pyth was showing his horned head. He was none too pleased about being woken up, and even less happy that there were so many noisy people about. Couldn't they just pray quietly like the Ura? Why did they always have to make such a fuss?

Snorting, shaking, beginning to glow red, the bull god moved over the small crest of the incline the field was built on, narrowing in on the nosiest - Colin.

Get ready, because here he comes.]

[freedom_engineer]

Well, well, good morning, sunshine!

[Colin grins, taking in Pyth's appearance even as the bull starts to charge. He's also scanning the machinery as it moves, getting a feel for what engineering marvels are at work in the god's avatar.]

Surely, you can't have forgotten what time of year it is already! I'd think you'd be used to this by now?

[Everyone else can fret, but this doesn't even have him worried. He's already got a bearing on Pyth's speed, and what he needs to be worried about. His proximity warning goes off as Pyth draws near, and Colin sidesteps and spins his body aside, out of the bull's path.]

[ourlegends]

[ This is about the time that Hilda starts to realize that this guy she totally trusted is insane.

There's little time to really lament on that, though, because there's a mechanical bull on the charge. Emboar steps in front of his trainer protectively, leaving the significantly smaller girl to call out from behind him. ]

I take it he's not just going to wear himself out at some point, right?! Do we have a strategy?!

[hellpyre]

[Rin already knew that, Hilda. She just figured it was easier to let everyone else see the insanity.]

I thought "get him to the Bastion" was the strategy!

[Rin doesn't get too far from Hilda. Viola, she's seen in action. It's the other two girls she's concerned about, even with Hilda's very large fire pig.]

COLIN! TELL ME YOU'VE GOT A PLAN!