thebastion | The Festival Continues [Day 144]

The Festival Continues [Day 144]

Who: Everyone
Open: Open
When: Day 144
Where: all over the Bastion
What: Day 2 of the festival ~~because that other post filled up fast~~
Format: any
Warnings: none

Day 2 - Day of Hope and Bravery

Once again, at midnight, another torch arrives - this time with a horse along with the gear and bullshead. As before, they are list by Zulf. Some of the other decorations fade out, to be replaced by Yudrig or Lemaign-specific decorations like horseshoes, saddles, hammers and plants made of colored metal. This will continue to happen throughout the festival, with new decorations overshadowing old ones, but the old ones still remaining here and there.

During the previous day, conversations with a any of the NPCs (or the recently arrived Uras) will bring up the topic of the second day of the festival. Should you care to listen, you'll learn that they use the very early morning of this day to make wishes, wishes that you must think in to a horseshoe that will be left on the side of your home that faces where the "sun" would be rising (the closest approximation to "east").

Speaking of horses! There seems to be a pen with stallions! Unlike Pyth, one must ride one of these stallions and try to stay on it as long as they can while it bucks and jumps about wildly. Good luck to whoever can manage this, it is not an easy task at all! Only one person can win Yudrig's favor, because at the end of the day the stallions will all take off back to... wherever they came from. The person that manages to stay the longest, though, will win a lovely pair of Yudrig boots, and will gain a single very fast horse for the Bastion to keep.

Along with the horses, there will also be races! Three legged races, races while balancing odd objects on spoons, so many races! Most of these are for the kids to make up for the lack of kid-focused things from the day before, but adults are encouraged to help and participate.

Incidentally, respect is also given to those considered soldiers. Be it by their own mental thinking ("I am a soldier for justice/I am a protector, etc") or by their actual title (this includes exorcists, exorcists in training, rebel leaders, etc) but they will be honored on this day for their bravery, comittment and efforts. The same goes for masons. There will be a table set up with charms for the bracelets, specifically hammer shaped ones - everyone is welcome to take one, but anyone who isn't of this persausion may find them too heavy to wear. The charm can be removed, though, but remember to keep the bracelet!

With that in mind, about midday the center of the Bastion will be cleared and people will be asked if they would like to participate in a game of "Defend Lemaign". It's basically Capture the Flag, but with a singular goal in mind - only one team has a "flag" (actually a small hammer statue) and that team must defend it from the other team. Teams can be any size, but once that statue is grabbed and brought to the other side, OR the timer runs out with Lemaign still within his "temple" the game is over. This will continue throughout the afternoon.

When evening falls again, the second torch for the day will appear to be lit, this one decorated with hammers as well as the standard gear and bull. The day begins to wind down, though there are once again other things to do - this time an entire area dedicated to various sizes of building blocks ranging from small to huge. Go nuts, build what you want, show off your creations! And keep them, they will come in handy later! This is not just for kids, even if it seems like it.

There's also jousting taking place. Nothing as dangerous as true jousting - just wooden horses on tracks that have to be manually pushed along (so be sure to take a willing friend with yout) and padded poles that strike padded armor. Winners will find more charms for those bracelets that were given out as their prize, and five shards per win.

Also, something to keep in mind: Since the day is focused around bravery quite a bit, anyone who shows off a particularly awesome show of bravery (be it personal like asking someone out that you like, facing a mild fear and not running away from it, or something even more spectacular) you will inexplicably find your entire room decorated with horseshoes. Horseshoes everywhere. Why? Yudrig, that's why.

And anyone who visits Lemagin's shrine, for whatever reason, will find themselves inexplicably hit with a wave of optimism. Just for the day, though.

This night winds down much the same as before, and again the children are encouraged to sleep outside while lulled to sleep by tales of Yudrig and Lemagin's adventures.

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"I spent most of my life locked away from other humans, and only spent time with abused and abandoned Pokemon. It did little to give me a good opinion of most people, and absolutely nothing to give me any sense of empathy."

But that was a long story in and of itself.

"What happens when you reach that point?"

He listened with a curious expression when the young man spoke of being locked away, as well as the Pokemon he'd encountered. Seimie knew what they were now, to a degree, but it was something he wanted to learn more about. The question earned a frown, however, dark eyes drifting sidelong in search of red hair. The onmyoji relaxed visibly upon catching sight of what he'd been looking for, expression softening.

"It depends on the person," he answered after a thoughtful silence, politely returning his gaze to N. "Some people keep going forward and become numb. They become a danger to others because they gradually lose the ability or desire to feel and care. Others are crippled by grief and become pitiable, mournful creatures that live in constant pain and sorrow and no nothing else. Still others simply will themselves out of existence. I imagine if that time ever comes for me, I will choose to cease existing. If the Gods see fit, perhaps they will grant me a mortal life next time."

N would happily and enthusiastically answer any questions Seimei might have had about them, if the conversation went that direction.

"If nothing else I suppose it's a gift that you have a choice at all, and the mind to decide now that you would want to leave in an honorable way."

His mind drifted briefly to AZ, the once-king whose mistakes in war forced him to wander the world, searching for solace and finding none. His journey had been centuries long, and pitiable at that, until he finally came across what he was looking for - a strong heart to bring a close to a painful, wretched chapter of his life.

N had wondered, if not for Hilda... would his fate have been the same?

"Perhaps. Too many of us go mad with grief or jealousy or anything else before we ever make the choice when we should and end up becoming terrible, vengeful things. I myself am grateful for the changes in my life that have opened new avenues. I know many others have suffered great loss, but I do try to keep an optimistic mind about things. Since there are obviously survivors from the same and similar worlds, there is ever the opportunity for others to heal in the future when we encounter and rescue those close to them."

He nodded slowly, still hoping against the odds that Kaoru might find his brother, or Rin any of her family or anyone finding those they had been close to.

"And you? What have you been building?" he asked, changing the subject to something with a little more levity.

N was lucky then, that the one he cared for the most was there with him.

"Oh, places from Unova. There wasn't much I saw before I began traveling, but some stuck in my memory more than others."

"Would you be so kind as to show me?" he asked, pushing himself up to his feet with surprising grace considering his layers of clothing and kneeling position.

"I would be honored to learn more of your world and your companion creatures," the onmyoji remarked with a nod to the pokemon. "I can understand them as readily as anything else human or otherwise so if the company is not culturally inappropriate for you, the invitation is extended there as well."

N was fine with showing Seimei his creations with the blocks, but the comment about Pokemon halted him and Zoroark both. He looked to his friend, getting a tilted-head and curious-whine in response.

He can understand me?

"You can understand Zoroark?"

"Hm? Of course. That's what I do. The first thing about being what I am that I ever learned was the language of spirits and beasts. My mother blessed me with the power to understand all things."

He blinked, smirking and uttering a low chuckle.

"What, my talking to you earlier didn't give it away?" he asked, arching a brow at Zoroark curiously. "Or are you simply used to people speaking to you in a rhetorical manner? I assure you, I can understand you as easily as you understand me."

Both of them blinked a few times, and then... started laughing. Even Zoroark, with a dog-like chuffing sound echoing N's laughter.

No one but N can understand Pokemon back home!

"It's a unique gift. Some trainers are very in tune with their partners and can understand them merely by emotion, gesture and sound, but true communication with Pokemon falls to a very, very select few."

He nodded slowly in understanding, offering a sympathetic frown in reply as he folded his hands in his sleeves.

"I am sorry for that. It must be a very difficult life, being so intelligent yet unable to share a language. At least where I am from the only things not commonly able to speak are the lesser beasts of the world. Demons, spirits and the like all shared the same tongue as humans, even if they chose not to speak civilly. That was a matter of choice, however. Entirely different from being unable to be heard," he acknowledged, inclining his head slightly.

"Rest assured, I can speak to anything. You are both welcome to speak to me whenever it suits you to do so."

Most Pokemon don't mind it. A lot of us find really good trainers like Hilda and N! They take good care of us and talk to us even if they can't understand us back.

"I found out through Hilda that, while most of my experiences growing up were with abused and neglected Pokemon that my father brought me, not every trainer was like that. Many of them see their partners as equals, not tools. It was a... jarring realization, but one I needed."

"That is good at least," Seimei remarked with a small nod to Zoroark. "Most people do not honestly make the effort to try understanding anyone other than themselves, and half the time, they cannot manage that."

Tilting his head to regard N, the onmyoji nodded again.

"You are fortunate to come from a place where humans choose to communicate with the other creatures populating their world. Where I come from, everything not human either lives in fear or resentment."

"I used to think that was the case in our world. Dealing with nothing but the abused and neglected as a child, it was easy to manipulate me in to believing that humans were nothing but cruel and heartless, and that Pokemon should be freed from all of them.

It took Hilda and her friends to make me understand... to take them away from the people that truly do deserve to have such friends would be just as cruel."

N shook his head slowly, sadly, and Zoroark nuzzled his cheek affectionately upon seeing it.

"Hilda is the true hero, even if she herself does not believe that. She stopped me from doing something awful, and stopped my father from carrying through with his selfish plans."

It was a little much and a bit confusing, the boy spilling portions of his life with Seimei not really having the greatest amount of context to apply to it. Still, it was nice to talk without great expectation, and he was known to be a good listener. Nodding slowly and laughing softly the onmyoji smiled wryly.

"I had a friend once not unlike your own. I must admit, my interest in human affairs has always been a bit low. When all the world was potentially coming to an end, it took someone else convincing me of the err of my ways. I understand what it is to have a friend who can guide you on the better path. It is good you had a friend to help you along as well."

He considered a moment before adding thoughtfully, "Your heart was in the right place, though. You thought you were doing a good thing for a good reason. That alone makes you a very good person. You simply needed guidance to refine your goals. There is no harm in that."

N has a habit of rambling, and not all of his tangents make sense to the listener. When it comes to his own life (and really most things outside of mathematics and his own personal beliefs regarding Pokemon) he has a tenancy to start one place and meander all over before getting to his point.

But Seimei listened, and that much was appreciated. As was the reassurance that he was not a completely lost cause, regardless of what his father insisted on.

"It was. That much I know now. But it was my heart being in the right place that still led me to being manipulated. I shutter to think what would have happened if Hilda had not begun her journey when she did."

"There is no point thinking on it. It is over and done, in the past and you made the right choices in the end, by your own estimation. Brooding over it serves no one, least of all yourself or your companion," the onmyoji pointed out, gesturing to Zoroark.

"The trouble with could have and would have is that it all amounts to cannot. You cannot change the past, you can only learn from it. So take the lessons from your friend and from your mistakes and make a brighter future. You will doubtless find many complications, but if you wish to do the right thing and strive towards generally good goals, you will never fall so short of the mark that someone else cannot reach out and catch your hand to help you the rest of the way."

"Hilda has said the same thing, and that she cares about me regardless of what I've done in the past..." But it was clear he continued to have doubts, no matter what anyone said to him about it.

He wasn't one to rebuke good advice when it was given, though, and he nodded to what Seimei said.

"I'm certain it won't be easy, but I will do my best regardless."

"Nothing worth doing is ever easy," he answered with a small smile and tilt of his head. "In the end, its about how you see yourself more than how others see you, however. That I can fully understand. While many people may have a good opinion of someone, if they had a poor opinion of themselves, nothing else really matters. I certainly hope you can see the merit in how others view you and find yourself of the same mind in time."

"But is it better to have a more humbled opinion of ones self then to be mired in the fallacy that is hubris and ego? Who I was before... that person was arrogant, and convinced that his ideals were the right ideals, regardless of what they did to other people..."

Even if that was the person that Ghetsis raised, on stories of heroes and kings, convincing his son that he would rise to be that one day with his help. It wasn't as if N made himself that way.

"Humility is very important and very admirable, except for where it cripples your ability to go forward and fills you with doubt and self-recrimination. It is a difficult line to balance between modesty and courage. Most people cannot do it alone. Fortunately you did not have to in the end and you were given a light with which to find the right path," the onmyoji replied, considering his little building thoughtfully before returning his gaze to N.

"You are able to recognize the wrongs you made, feel guilt for them and move on. You will be fine, I think. so long as you have those who care for you and motivate you to continue down that long road," he remarked, inclining his head to indicate Zoroark.

"I was, yes. Even though I left Hilda for a time to find my own way, I still had Zoroark and even the legendary dragon, Zekromm as my friends. I regret leaving her at all but I thought it was right at the time. Luckily, we found one another again."

In Vatheon, but still. It was better than never seeing her again.

"I am determined, at least, to not make the same mistakes again. ... we've gotten distracted. You wanted to learn more about Pokemon?"

"There is no harm in distraction. Rushing from place to place only causes one to miss the smaller things so often overlooked, but yes. I would like very much to learn more about Pokemon. I am actually compiling a library based on the lives, experiences and knowledge of others in the Bastion. I have already spent a good deal of my personal time setting to paper everything I know, but there is so much from other worlds that should be preserved as well. Your knowledge may become invaluable to other survivors," the onmyoji reasoned, tilting his head to regard the youth curiously.

"Would you consider visiting my home from time to time and assisting me in expanding my library? My home is always open, and the library in particular is important to offer to others. Education is more important than ever, right now. If you have a language unique to where you are from that would also be valuable. Whatever history you can impart. It is my sincere wish that everyone in the Bastion come and add to the stores."

That earned a quiet laugh from N, a bit odd sounding since he didn't laugh often, but it was an amused noise none the less.

"I wouldn't mind that at all. I have a fairly extensive memory of what I read in my time alone, at least regarding the Unova area. I may have to turn to AZ for assistance regarding regions I was never able to get as much information on, but I doubt he would have a problem with such a thing."

"In regards to that, please invite him as well. The gardens are peaceful and everyone is invited to enjoy them, but most importantly the library. There is no such thing as too much knowledge. The more people that contribute, the more useful the library will be. There's no telling when others might need the information, and it is always important to pass down one's history," the onmyoji insisted with a slight nod.

"Anyone you are acquainted with, please let them know as well. I am honored by every guest and their tales."

"I'm sure he and Floette would enjoy them a great deal," N noted with a nod. "I'll be sure to pass the message along. And thank you for the offer."

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