And in to the third day... [Day 145]

[bastionmods]

Who: Everyone
Open: Open
When: Day 145
Where: All over the Bastion
What: Day 3 of the festival
Format: Any
Warnings: None


Day 3 - Day of Pleasure and Purpose

The next lamp appears in the Bastion, this time with mirrors on one side. And of course a certain Ura gets to light it.

Oddly enough, there seem to be roses everywhere in the Bastion, almost completely obscuring any of the previous decorations. They're still there, just... buried. Behind bushes, next to vases, under mounds of rose petals. You can't escape it! They won't do anything bad to you, of course, but you might start finding rose petals in your hair, in your pockets, or lingering on your clothes as the day goes by. Mirrors also join the decorations, but besides that, all reflective surfaces (windows and mirrors) will suddenly have clearer reflections, and be decorated in rose borders. Unfortunately this means looking through actual windows will be a mite difficult as you'll see reflections more than you'll see the other side of them.

Today will also be a day of blindfold games! Guess the object! Guess how many are in this box! Place this thing in that thing! All without looking! Prizes will be given out to those who get through these blindfold games - another charm for your bracelet, and maybe two or three shards per win.

Along with these games, there's one big challenge in the center of the Bastion - a giant thorny maze. Should you brave this mess, you'll find twists, turns, awkward corners and areas just barely big enough to walk through. However if you make it to the center, you'll be rewarded with a rose ring. And not just any rose ring. This thing is special! It will allow a user to call upon rose thorn vines that will attack an enemy at will. It is restricted to three times a day on the Skyway, but it will come in very handy, especially for those with no real defensive or offensive capabilities. (That said, if your character manages to get this item and doesn't need it for whatever reason, please be kind and give it to some one who can.)

As day winds in to night, another torch appears, this time with roses. Roses going wild on this lamp. It makes it a little difficult to light, though. And oddly enough, near the gear symbol on this lamp... the roses seem to be withered. Huh.

Dinner gives way in to a sort of "desert" for the evening, a huge selection of cookies in various flavors on tables all over the place, along with tubs of rose petal ice cream that don't seem to melt no matter how long they stay out.

But those cookies are not just any cookies - they are hollow ones. They're backed with a thin indented line down the center of them, and snapping them at this point will reveal that there is paper tucked inside. It will give advice to your character that is shockingly accurate to this person, some how. Regardless of who gets it, the advice will be pertinent to them and really only them. From there you'll be encouraged to take a second piece of paper, write your fears, weaknesses or secrets that you don't wish to tell anyone yet wish to get off your chest and then drop them in a strange mirror-decorated box sitting near the monument. If you do so, you'll find yourself oddly sleeping easier tonight...

This night closes out the same as the previous ones, with stories for the children as the adults relax in to the wee hours of the morning.

Comments

[wayofvoice]

"All names of my kind have meaning. Each portion a word in its own right, and together they craft our name. A name is tied into a dovah's very being. To say it is to call us, no matter how quietly one's voice is. That is why we view mortal beings so strangely, to be able of changing their names with such ease. For new purpose, to try and abandon your history, for great deeds that have been done... That is not something our nature can allow. I was created Paarthurnax, and it suited me well when I was young. Much has changed since then, yet I am still Paarthurnax and always shall be."

A bit of a long explanation for a simple inquiry into the meaning of his name. Still, he finds it important to explain such things. Rosethorn is right in her own guesses, after all. For all their claws and fangs and scales stronger than most armor mortals could craft... It is words that are the most important to dov. He finally explains, voice slow and accepting. "Paar means ambition. Thur is overlord. Nax is cruelty."

As he said. It suited him much more when he was still young and so was the world.

The explanation of magic for her world is fascinating, sounding similar yet different to what both dov and mortals use. "Intriguing. I take it that not all can use magic in your world?"

[earthandpine]

"I still call myself Niva in my head most of the time. My full name was Nivalin Greenhow, so growing things were always implied in it. I don't see anything wrong with choosing a name that fits rather than a name given before we had the chance to grow into ourselves, though. Briar doesn't remember the name he was born, and the name he was given after that was a terrible fit. Briar, his own choice, is much better." Rosethorn is glad her boy had the opportunity to pick a new name rather than always staying Roach, the Thief Lord's chosen name for him.

Rosethorn's eyebrows raise at that definition. Given her interactions with Paarthurnax and everything she's heard from others in the Bastion, it is the last meaning she'd have expected. She declines to comment on that, just vocalizing her previous thoughts. "The name stays even if you've changed so much? For you, words are more solid and permanent than what can be seen and touched."

Shaking her head, Rosethorn confirms the assumption. "No. Academic mages are fairly common, and some ambient mages can use academic magic as well, but many people lack the potential for either."

[wayofvoice]

"How curious... Crona spoke of the differences in his world as well. Magic touches only a select race, and with it a need for destruction. That is what he told me." Paarthurnax doesn't doubt his student. Still, Skyrim also once viewed its magic users in great distrust despite praising it so many years ago. Things change. Those in power cannot always be trusted to give the full truth. He's learned that.

"Magic had the potential to flow through all in Taazokaan, some taking to it better than others but with nothing stopping an aspiring mage except for their own interest and determination." Something occurs to him and his head shifts to the side slightly in thought. "Even for those who find it a more difficult road... They can still be well versed in other things. To understand the magicka in other things and blend them well together can make potions capable of many things. Scholars, as well, may know more than a careless mage of Destruction."

[earthandpine]

Rosethorn shudders slightly at the description of magic in Crona's world. "The only magic we have that inherently requires destruction is unmagic. The opposite of magic, it eats away at power and at anyone it touches. Unmagic is very rare, and I've never encountered any myself. The rest of the time, it's people's selfishness and greed to blame for any destruction." She's seen more than her fill of that. Unlike unmagic, it's terribly common.

"I do agree with you about the importance of really understanding the way magic and the natural world work. I drilled it into my students enough times. I could have all the power in the world and I'd still be a terrible plant mage if I didn't understand both my own power and how plants grow, what weakens them and what makes them thrive." She doesn't have all the power in the world, of course, but Rosethorn does tend to downplay her own strength. She is a great mage, known for her power and her research, and a member of two governing councils of mages. She's also by far the happiest when in her own small garden.

[wayofvoice]

Unmagic... That is an unfamiliar idea. For a moment he ponders if it would have any role in their current predicament. If nothing else, it is worth mentioning to Colin some day. The man seems more at ease with technology, but he also doesn't seem afraid to dabble in other areas.

It's good to hear of another who knows the importance of simple understanding. He nods wisely. "That is the manner in which the Thu'um thrives. If one has not taken in the very idea to their deepest soul, then they cannot ever utilize that word as a Shout. They must know every part of it, from the physical to the conceptual and further."

[earthandpine]

"It also allows for a much more creative use of power. Because I understand my own magic and the plants I work with rather than learning by rote, I've done things that some people would consider impossible. My foster children have done even more." Rosethorn is alive because of one of those. Briar followed her into the life after death when she left him, horrified though she was by the thought that she nearly took her boy with her.

Rosethorn smiles. "There are some things that really are laws of magic and the natural world, but there are a few that people just think, 'That's not how magic works' and never attempt."