melodiesofeternity | Event || The Festival of Light

Event || The Festival of Light

Who: Everyone!
When: August 18th - 25th
Where: The Empire
What: The Festival of Light is here! Feel free to use any of these prompts. NPCs tag will come sometimes this week. Please mention it in your top-level if you'd rather not be tagged by a random NPC.
Warnings/Notes: N/A

EXPOSITION OF THE FESTIVAL OF LIGHT
— Third District || August 18th – August 25th || 10:00 to 23:00 —
The museums in the 03rd District are open to visitors and are home to many relics predating written history. A lot of those old relics are items of archaeological interest or look like they could be really advanced technologies if they weren't broken beyond repair. Prototypes for Magitek Armor of a new age are exposed, alongside fragments of what are believed to belong to the legendary WEAPONs, machines that belong to the same category than Ultima WEAPON.

The section for Eidolons has all the Eidolons the characters have met so far as well as others yet undiscovered displaying on a gigantic wall-covering painting. The largest Eidolon on the painting appears to be a dragon some characters may recognize as Bahamut, he is so big he dwarves the other Eidolons and should one pay attention, his wings are actually the background of the painting.

Interestingly, someone has doodled something that looks like Ultros over Leviathan on the painting...

SUNNY STARLIGHT
— Ninth District || August 22nd – August 25th || 07:00 to 19:00 —
Do you really believe because it’s summer, you can escape the beauty and magnificence of Christmas? Think again. There is one thing all the nations on Vaikuntha are of one mind on: the wait from the December 26th of a year to the December 24th of the next is too long. This is why a band of Moogles, Lalafells, Bangaas and Zoras from all across the Empire have occupied half of the Ninth District. Decorated trees, Christmas music, people dressed as Santa Claus (and probably dying because of the heat), fake gift boxes as well as a very large and pretty box for donations all await you!

Kids below the age of 15 will all receive a gift if they come: plushies made in the likeness of the main villains of numbered Final Fantasy games! And when you press the button hidden on their stomach, they speak a random line. Who doesn't want a Sephiroth plushie saying "You are a puppet" or a Jecht one repeating "Cry, cry, cry" all day long?

It's like a dream come true!

MIDNIGHT AIRSHIP
— Twelfth District || August 20th – August 24th || 23:00 to 06:00 —
For the late sleepers, it is possible to board a special airship prepared by Hypellos to party up in the sky. The Airship flies all around the Imperial Territories and should characters so desire, they can ask to stop by one of the two other cities. Whether they want to dance, to eat or to enjoy the view, it might be a very fun and relaxing activity. It is also a very good place from where to watch the fireworks… Or to scout for an incoming Tarutaru and her weapon toy.

Note that all the personnel onboard are Hypellos. They are very serviceable and nice, but can try the patience of those not used to their accent. Of note, one Hypello is green and appears to be angrily stalking anyone heading for the "Sunny Starlight" event. He is quite sneaky though and will always manage to get away before being approached.

MOGNET EXPOSITION
— Ninth District || August 22nd – August August 25th || 07:00 to 19:00 —
The half of the Ninth District not occupied by Christmas fanatics is occupied by the Moogles working for the Imperial section of Mognet. Split for the regular Mognet for a decade, Imperial Mognet has managed to thrive. Imperial iMog Slates have all sorts of functions other iMog Slates could only dream of, such as games, grammar check and that kind of stuff. All of those things can be visited at the exposition! Not only that, but the Moogles are also putting on display things that have nothing to do with Mognet but more to do with Moogles themselves.

Come and visit the exposition to discover the rich and amazing culture of the Moogles! Kupo Nuts, Fur Dye, Fake Kupo Nuts, Pom Shiner, Carved Kupo Nuts, booklets titled "How to Use Your Cuteness to Exploit People," Mognet Bags, Deluxe Kupo Nuts, Sheets to Prepare Future Strikes, Mog Beds, Explosive Kupo Nuts, Kupo Champagne—

There is no end to what might be learned from Moogles!

CHOCOBO RACES
— Sen Riqeaux || August 23rd || 15:00 to 20:00 —
A Chocobo Race will be held all around the city! Will you compete? Shall you win? There are no prizes as all the money earned through the race is given to the Safety of Sparks Golsaucia movement. Those participating can bring their own Chocobo or get a temporary one from the people organizing the race. It will be a very bad Chocobo though, so they shouldn’t expect to win… Beware the Hamsters and Marlboro during the race though. It’d be a real shame to end up getting eaten while racing.

SHOPPING
— City's Outskirts || August 18th – August 25th || 07:00 - 20:00 —
On the city's outskirts are all manners of stalls by shoppers eager to make some money. You can find everything there: plushies, food, clothes, souvenirs, books and even cosmetics. Why, one of the merchant is even selling contact lenses covering nearly all of the rainbow's spectrum aside from green while another sells all kind of swords, even the supposed legendary Excalibur! This might be the perfect place to take on O'aka's Quest if you so wish!

MINI SPARKS GOLSAUCIA
— Eleventh District || August 19th – August 24th || Anytime —
Specially for the festival, stallholders from Sparks Golsaucia were invited and brought a few attractions to display what they can do. Noticeably, there is a shooting stand—Once again, a treasure chest game where characters are presented with ten chests and can open only one-- Prizes range from one Gils to gigantic plushies. The novelty this year is something called the "Kupo Boxes," Boxes you punch open and you get something: perhaps something wonderful like a 1 million gil ticket, more often than not though absolutely nothing. Will you try your chance? Be careful, your wallet might not survive it.

TOURNAMENTS
— Tenth District || August 19th – August 23rd || 10:00/15:00/20:00 —
There is a Blitzball Competition taking place during the Festival of Light! Characters are free to go and watch the matches, so long as they can pay for the tickets. At the same time, a Triple Triad competition is taking place. Characters are free to enter the Triple Triad tournament if they so wish. Characters who know Triple Triads have decent chances to win. And even if your characters lose, what matters is trying, right? There are no prizes to be won, as all money goes to the Triple Triad For Everyone associations.

CULINARY ATTRACTIONS
— Second District || August 18th – August 25th || 12:00 to 13:30 / 19:00 to 21:00 —
What would a festival be without free food and banquets? Not really a festival. In the fourteenth district, there is a banquet and many stands held by people from all over the Empire. All kind of food can be found here-- Refined food, pastries, cakes, cooked meals, etc. It's virtually impossible not to find something to like in all of this, and it's all free! There are, however, guards standing around on the lookout for Gourmands who would be tempted to ruin the fun for everyone. After what happened two years ago, better be careful.

THE OPERA
— Ninth District || August 18th - August 24th || 22:00 —
There is an opera every day for all to see for free, titled "A Goddess's Tears." It is a retelling of the creation myth, but shown from the (presumed) perspective of the Goddess of Death. The play depicts the Goddess as someone who started out as a rather sweet person, but whose life took such terrible turns she wished to die and resented life. Yet, death was too scary of a prospect for her and she couldn't choose what was better, Life or Death. As the play progresses, she decides both are equally terrible and resolves to create a world where those very notions shall no longer exist.

As the play unfolds, toward the ends the story becomes what people are more familiar with. However, rather than letting her die wordlessly, the four heroes appease the Goddess's soul by singing. As the four heroes sing, the Goddess smiles and sheds a single tear before passing away. It is said the play is very emotional, sensible people might want to pass on it.

HOUSING
— Fourteenth District || August 17th - August 27th || Anytime —
Before, after and during the Festival of Light, the characters will all need a place where they can rest. Thankfully for them, people coming with the Curti Center delegation are all given the keys to stay in one of the abandoned houses in the 14th District. Truth to be told however, those house look anything but abandoned. Why, it's as if people had been living in them up until very recently, given how either clean and ordered they are for some, or chaotic and neglected they are for others (Characters who were present in Melodies of Life will be able to notice the houses are nearly identical to what they were just before the time skip during endgame, though there are a few eerie differences).

At least, it's a good place to sleep!

ARDYNIAN DISCOVERY
— Fifteenth District || August 18th – August 25th || 10:00, 15:00, 20:00 —
Everyday, it will be possible to get wheeled motor vehicle driven by imperial soldiers and go visit one of the other cities, case in point, Ardynia! Not much is done over there for the Festival of Light, but it is worth checking out, if only for the Wizard and Jester Jobs. It is a thriving city with people from all over the Empire, and it appears to be something of a shopping center for the imperial region.

And most importantly, discover the official headwear of Ardynia: the Fedora! It is said Archaeologists have imported this fashion trend to Ardynia when they pass by, but none know whether this is true or not. While most citizens have enough senses not to actually wear this dreaded hat, those who do wear it really look dumb doing so. And those who don't look dumb look like they'd make jokes about your pet's untimely demise while you're still crying about it.

Perhaps is is best to stay away.

PARASRAYA DISCOVERY
— Fifteenth District || August 18th – August 25th || 10:00, 15:00, 20:00 —
Everyday, it will be possible to get wheeled motor vehicle driven by imperial soldiers and go visit one of the other cities, case in point, Parasraya! Not much is done over there for the Festival of Light, but it is worth checking out, if only for the Archaeologist and Catmancer Jobs, as well as the Weapon Master Association. It is a technologically advanced yet small and cozy city...

... If it wasn't for a tragedy plaguing the city: cats, cats everywhere. If the meowing doesn't kill you, the constant flow of cats asking to be pet, fed and to sit on your lap might. You may even encounter a few tired citizens paying you money to take care of the cat infestation around their house. Others however are really defensive of the cats and will hunt anyone trying to bring harm to them. Of course, the source of all these cat-related troubles can be traced back to the origins of the Catmancer guild.

But, perhaps it is a story best left for another day.

FIREWORKS
— First District || August 18th – August 24th || Midnight —
Fireworks will be launched from the Castle starting 00:00 and will end at 01:00, everyday of the Festival. No matter where you are in the city, anyone should be able to watch them with ease if they so wish. Unfortunately, it means falling asleep before midnight may be a bit hard with all the noise. On the 25th, characters will be with dining with the Empress as the fireworks happen.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Okuyasu slams his shoulder into the door, shutting it with a loud bang and earning the glares of the employees and patrons.]

Sorry!

[He yells at the people and frightened cats inside the cafe.]

[ Sora’s still trying to figure it out, between his stumble, runny nose, and leaking eyes. It being the thing in his arms which is definitely meowing. He brought it up closer to his face with a narrow to his eyes and he shook his head. ]

What… is this?

[Okuyasu swivels on his heel at breakneck speed and reaches out to take the potted plant. Stray Cat turns to its owner and meows loudly.]

That's my cat. It's a plant. It's magic, basically.

[He doesn't want to explain Stands when he isn't too sure of how they work.]

[ Yeah, seems right. ]

Oh, okay. Well.. you ever been to Wonderland? [ Just ask'n. Sora uses the inside of his shirt to wipe at his face. This is the grace and appeal of all his 15 years of age. ]

Uh...

[Wonderland, that sounded familiar. It sounded like something he read in a book. Maybe an animated television series he saw as a kid and forgot about?]

No? But it's not real, right?

It's real, ... as real as your.. uh.. friend? [ Sora notices the people staring at them now. His brows raise and he sneezes suddenly. ]

So...like, something not everyone knows is real?

[The waiter standing at the front clears his throat.]

Excuse me, but I have to ask you to find a seat or leave. We don't allow loitering.

[Okuyasu looks at Sora.] What do we do?

Okay! We'll take a seat!

Um, pretty sure we can see your cat-plant is real though. Heh. [ Sora chuckles and follows the waiter toward a table. He rubs at his eyes again and nearly trips into the waiter. ]

[Okuyasu isn't going to ask a random guy if he's okay. He looks okay.]

No duh, but not everyone in the world knows it's real. Like, people will think it's just a weird plant since magic is supposed to be fake.

[The very real Stray Cat eyes the waiter as Okuyasu follows them to a corner seat by a window. Good. The potted plant has something to look out of.]

I thought letting cats inside cafes was a shitty idea, but it looks like everyone else is havin' fun. [They were barely a thing in 1999, and Okuyasu isn't going to waste precious Internet time looking up news about cats.]

[ That made no sense, but Sora isn't feeling like he's working on 100% capacity at the moment either. So he sits at the table and brings the napkin up to wipe at his nose, eyes, and uses the corners of it to dig into his ears. It just kind of feels like his whole head is leaking. Don't mind him. ]

How can so many cats just... be here, what is the deal? I've never seen so many in my life! It's like, they've taken over this whole city.

Must be that cat guild or whatever. Guess they summon cats or somethin'?

[He grabs the dessert menu and scans the offerings.]

Huh...the cat pudding looks cute. [They added little pawprint designs made of chocolate icing on the top of the bowl.]

Where .. do they even summon that many? Wherever they come from, they must have run out of! Wait--

[ He takes a menu for himself and looks over to the page the other guy was on to flip to it as well. He then spies the cat pudding and quickly turns his head to sneeze on his arm.

They were doing this, this is what they were going to do. Sit down and eat like this was just a thing.. a normal thing.

Sora brings a napkin to his face, the menu slides down to his lap, and he wipes his face and arm before he takes the menu again. ]

Is everything here ... like cat themed? Oh... I'm not eating any of the meat.

Bless you. [He mutters without looking away from the pictures.] Do they serve meat at cafes? That's kinda weird.

[Sora's funny. Okuyasu smiles.]

Maybe they just wanna exploit their popularity and make cat art. Hey, waiter! [He waves a female employee over.]

[ Sora mutters a soft “thanks” before he wipes his face again. He just feels like it’s just gushing out from his face. ]

I’unno, how is your.. [ The waiter suddenly appeared over to their table. ] Hi. [ Sora waits for the other man to ask whatever he wanted to before he spoke up. ] I want some water and.. um, something sweet. A sweet pastry… [ The waiter looked perplexed and yet not amused at all. ]

Um.. just anyone, I can’t really see what this menu says..

Can I have the milk tea and the pudding? Thanks! You can get him his own pudding [He doesn't realize that he's being loud, and the waitress smiles to remind herself that this is what she signed up for when she got a job.

After she leaves to the kitchen, Okuyasu finally takes a good look at Sora.]

Dude, are you sick or what?

[ Sora looked over to the waiter and gave a small nod. Once the waitress leaves he glances over to Sora. ]

Nah, no.. no.

I'm just .. I think it's the cats.. I never been around so.. many cats. How .. how do people manage?

Oooh...you're allergic?

[Okuyasu has never met someone who was allergic to cats. It's kind of sad.]

I think there's medicine for that. We can ask the waitress! [He gets up from his chair and shouts] Yo! Waiter! This guy needs help!

Um, I might be?

[ Sora’s nose twitches and he takes in a deep breath, holds it, waits for it, and then it fizzles out with a groan as his sneeze was spooked away. Probably the worst feeling ever. ]

Woah! Hey, I’m alright for right now! I mean.. we’re about to eat desserts!

Don't sweat it, man, I don't think you should be dyin' to eat pudding.

[The waitress takes it ask something serious, but she can't be so sure with the annoyingly loud customer.]

Yes?

This guy's allergic to cats. You got anything to fix that?

Considering the state of our city, every business has medical supplies in stock. [She turns to Sora.] How bad is it?

[ I mean, his face is sort of melting off. Sora's brows lift and he his eyes look up toward the blurred vision that may be a waiter-? His eyes are swollen. ]

Yeah, it's .. ah bad.. like.. bad.

[ But the admission of having medicine to deal with this? Oh, yes please! He chuckled, wetly. ]
I'd like to have some medicine with my dessert, please.

[The waitress holds up a finger and rushes into the back room, where she speaks with the shift manager. Okuyasu fiddles with the mini menu with the day's specials.]

Man, I hope you don't die on the way back.

[The waiter heads back to their table with a bottle in hand.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Event || The Festival of Light

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject