thebastion | Let the Festival Begin [Day 143

Entry tags:

Let the Festival Begin [Day 143 | Day 144]

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!

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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.

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!

Edited 2013-12-29 22:45 (UTC)

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

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

[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.]

[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.]

[Before the food and before the gambling, Saix of course will go up against Pyth. He leaps into the pit with him, usual black coat gone for simple black sleeveless and pants, boots digging into the ground. Lunatic is in his hand again, the enormous claymore quite a sight. The mechanical bull charges at him, and Saix just slams his claymore into the ground. There's an enormous clang of metal as the two collide.]

[Which is stronger, the Berserker or the God of Commotion? Feel free to yell at him, or even join the ring while the bull is distracted.]

[Zulf had actually been wondering about how the festival would happen... He had been just as privy to the date as the rest of the Caels and Ura of the Bastion, after all. How would they be able to honor the Gods properly without enough supplies? They didn't even have any lights for the Lorn Mother... Still, the day before, he had thought he had something of a solution.]

[And then... Well.]

[Zulf is a bit startled when he sees the state the Bastion is in, eyes wide as he looks about. Habit- and maybe something else- pushes him to go to the first light. There's a small ladder conveniently nearby, as well.]

[For anyone wandering about the morning of the Festival's first day, perhaps they'll come across Zulf as he gets ready to light the first light. He seems... rather at peace, if focused.]

[Roxas is both excited and curious about there being a festival, and after an initial look around, well, he hasn't tackled the booze yet, but Saix isn't the only one who found the sea-salt ice cream.

It takes him a minute to resolve this image when he spots the other Nobody. Saix eating ice cream. There can really only be one explanation for this.]

...he got you into it, too, huh.

[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?]

[Sorry, contestants, but you'll all probably notice that Zulf will always bet on the Bull. Every single time.]

[Anyone else betting, or just sitting by to watch the chaos... They'll probably notice that once the clouds have settled over the Bastion, Zulf will take out some red string from his pockets. He'll undo the string tied around his shirt collar in exchange for a red one, and then tie another on the ring finger of his right hand. He does it quietly and simply, not really drawing any attention to it.]

[Feel free to talk with him about the bull matches, or his change of accessories.]

[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...]

[It takes a moment for Saix to realize what Roxas means, and he just raises an eyebrow.]

Not recently. We used to eat this often enough before we joined the Organization together.

[He initially came over here just to get some fruit because wow it's funny what simple things you find yourself missing at the end of the world, but now he's just... standing nearby... staring a little.]

[Night you are going to worry him]

Ah... I believe you should take care so that you don't make yourself sick.

Well- yeah. That's what I figured.

[Although that means it's a tradition that started before Roxas and Axel. Did Axel only start eating it with him because he missed his first best friend? It's an uncomfortable thought.

He cautiously takes a seat nearby anyway. Saix has been making an effort. Whatever his little pangs of jealousy, surely Roxas can manage to carry on a conversation for a little while.]

I hope you're not just doing "recon" this time.

You know, old man, if you keep staring at it, it's still not going to grow legs and jump into your mouth.

[Oh look, there's a battered Colin, has been doing some bull wrangling?]

You want me to grab you a platter or ten?

[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.]

Drem, Colin.

[He looks over the other's state, a little curious and able to guess just what he's been doing. Good for him. Bull wrangling keeps you healthy. If it doesn't gore you first, anyway.]

That would be much appreciated. [A heavy sigh.] I thought I would attempt to retrieve food on my own, but the consequences seemed too likely.

[Thanks for remembering that, Roxas. Really.]

No, I'm not. Trying to remember how to properly enjoy myself without making anyone else miserable seems to be a skill I should work on... Besides, with all this food, we shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.

Why would you...? [Look a horse in the mouth ever? Roxas figures it has something to do with not passing it up, but he does not get the idiom. Still, he doesn't expect Saix to explain.]

There- is a lot of food. I wonder if we should stock up on the ice cream..

[Colin grins, and starts grabbing up the largest serving trays of meat he can find.]

I can't speak for other people, but I wouldn't see any problem with you serving yourself. Festivals exist to enjoy yourself. A little bit of a mess is to be expected.

Yes, I know that little, in your case, is in the eye of the beholder.

[Colin is in absolutely chipper spirits. Being able to work and burn calories like he has today is something he has MISSED... and since his diet and a dragon's diet are almost completely incompatible, he sees no problem in giving Paarth all the meat he can find.]

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Let the Festival Begin [Day 143 | Day 144]

DAY 143 : Day of Plenty and Chance

PRESENTS

PYTH QUEST

LONGTABLE

GAMBLING CORNER

LATER EVENING - BET ON PYTH

LATER EVENING - GEAR FINDING

EVERYTHING ELSE, EVERYWHERE ELSE

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VS Pyth

EVENT: Lighting the daily festival light

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Re: PYTH QUEST

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