melodiesoflife | Prelude || The Festival Of Light

Prelude || The Festival Of Light

Characters: All the "Heroes of Light."
Where: Aqures Ixen.
When: The 3rd of August, final day of the Festival of Light. The Heroes of Light will awaken early in the morning.
Summary: The Heroes of Light awaken in Aqures Ixen and are informed by their assigned Moogles of what the situation and what their destinies are. This a log for them to react to the situation, meet each other and optionally participate in activities provided by the Festival of Light.
Warning: N/A

Where you were or what you were doing— It does not really matter. Not any more. Within an instant, the world around you collapses. Reality twists and shatters... Or maybe you are the one who is collapsing and shattering away from reality as you knew it. No matter what the answer is, it will only take a few seconds for you to find yourself sinking into a void, your world vanishing into the distance. There is nothing but darkness as far as the eye can see. Even you feel different: all the powers you might once have had, are now gone. It is silent, cold and it feels as though life itself is slipping out of you.

At this moment, when it looks as though nothing but a never-ending void awaits you, a red Crystal forms before you. In this void, its warmth compels you to grab it. Upon doing so, you can hear a soft, soothing voice speaking:

"Wake up."

Soon, the void itself vanishes and is replaced by distant noises of engines. Had it all been nothing more than a dream? The soothing voice repeats its call one more time, but is soon replaced with a much less graceful "Wake up, Kupo!" Hand clutched on your Crystal, the call of the Moogle may finally wake you up. But you are no longer in your world, nor in the void. You are before the Crystal of Fire, in the third district of a city called Aqures Ixen. At this point, you may realize the engine noise actually originates from an Airship flying low over the city and headed to dock beneath the castle. As if it wasn't strange enough, your clothes have changed as well. They are now a reflection of the Jobs you are wielding. Last but not least, you are surrounded by Moogles, small and fluffy creatures who are more than happy to tell you about everything you want to know, about your 'destiny' as a Hero of Light, about what awaits you.

Or at least, they will tell you everything they do know, which isn't much in the end.

Thankfully, there doesn't seem to be any citizens aside from Moogles in the vicinity. Indeed, the population of Aqures Ixen seems to be busy elsewhere in the city-- The Moogle will tell you there currently an event named the Festival of Light, which most people are attending. But you are not alone! It probably will not be long before you realize there are plenty of people like you all around, and if somehow you do not realize it, the Moogle who woke you up will be more than happy to inform you there are others like you around. Maybe with their help, you will be able to find out what is happening to you.

— Final Day —
The Festival of Light is a yearly event held at Aqures Ixen to celebrate the victory of the "Heroes of Light" over the "Calamity from the Skies" two thousands years ago, or so do the legends say. Whether people believe in the legends or not, this is an occasion for them to have fun and spend time with family and friends. The Festival is held from the 28th of July to the 3rd of August.

Unfortunately, most attractions and events are over by the third of August. Yet, there is enough to do, should the newly arrived Heroes of Light favor spending time looking at the attractions rather than panicking about their situation. The festival ends at midnight.

Theater Play
— Ninth District || 14:00 —

There is a large theater stage installed in the 9th district-- It is probably only temporary by the look of it. There is quite a crowd seated to watch the play about to unfold, as well as numerous people standing beneath the seats or sitting on the ceilings because they couldn't get a seat. After the audience grows quiet, a woman with long silver hair and green-ish skin steps onto the stage to address the audience.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Tonight's performance is a story that takes place long, long ago! At the time when the Ancients reigned over the planet, when the Calamities from the Skies landed on this world and waged war against all forms of life. When our story begins, the Ancients are on the brink of extinction and gathering the last of their forces to fight. And now people of Aqures Ixen and visitors from distant lands, we proudly present 'The 4 Heroes of Light'!"

After this, the play starts and will last for roughly one hour and a half. The main characters appear to be four Heroes of Light, respectively dressed as a Warrior, Monk, Black Mage and White Mage. Other characters include the Calamity from the Skies played by the silver-haired woman, an Ancient scientist and the Princess of Crystallis. The story appears to be a highly romanticized version of the tale the Moogles told the characters earlier. As the play unfolds, there is a love story between one of the Heroes of Light, the Warrior, and the Princess of Crystallis. At the end of the play, the Heroes of Light successfully defeat the Calamity from the Skies, but the Warrior has to sacrifice himself and die in order to protect the Princess of Crystallis.

Culinary Attractions
— Fourteenth District || Anytime —
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 world-- People from Balicea, Aerilon, Esdham, Flence, etc. There is even a stand held by former inhabitants of the Empire. All kind of food from all over the world 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 until midnight!

Competitions
— Tenth & Eight District || 18:00 —

At 18:00, there will be a Blitzball match opposing the teams of Aqures Ixen and Balicea in the Blitzball Stadium. It is more of an exposition match, with nothing to be won aside from glory. Anyone is free to enter the stadium to watch the match. Following this, people - playable characters included - will be allowed to play some Blitzball Match on their own, if they want to try.

At the same time, a Triple Triad competition will be taking place in the eight district, in the campus of the university. Characters are free to enter the Triple Triad tournament, and if they do so they will be given very basic cards and explained the rules. With low level cards and whatsoever no experience, odds are that they may lose to much more experienced and competitive players, but what matters is trying, right? Whilst no characters may recognize him yet, it is notable that one of the NPCs, Wedge, is taking part in the competition. It's just a shame knowing he will lose in the semi-finals.

Trano Golsaucia's Stands
— Eleventh District || Anytime —
Specially for the occasions, stallholders from Trano Golsaucia traveled to Aqures Ixen and brought a few attractions to display what they can do. Noticeably, they brought Chocobos and will organize numerous races throughout the day, on an improvised tracks running around the houses. The Heroes of Light are more than welcome to try and bet, should they want to lose (or multiply) what few Gils they have. If they feel adventurous, they may even try to enter one of the races and ride a Chocobo-- At their own risks.

Aside from this, there are some more attractions worthy of attention. There is a shooting stand-- Coincidentally, all the targets are vaguely similar to the main antagonists of numbered Final Fantasy games. There is a treasure chest game, where characters are presented with ten chests and can open only one-- Prizes range from one Gils to gigantic plushie. There is also a fortune teller Moogle, it is notable that his predictions will always include either the character suffering hell or dying soon, in one form or another. Hopefully this moogle is just a scam.

Fireworks
— First District || 23:00 —

What better way to conclude a festival than fireworks? Fireworks will be launched from the Castle of Aqures Ixen starting 23:00, and will end at midnight, at the same time than the festival. No matter where you are in the city, anyone should be able to watch them easilly if they so wish. Unfortunately, it means falling asleep before midnight may be a bit hard with all the noise.

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She could tell that something was off but she didn't want to pry. She thought over things she could say but nothing seemed appropriate. With her mind made up she moved around the man and faced him with a smile. "My names Zelda."

Her moogle came flying around with her and sat in her arms with a wave. "And I'm Kupola. Kupo!"

"Why don't we look at the other games together?"

"Look! I keep telling you I'm not a mage! If you want me to fight something I need a gun or a sword. And I need to use Materia to use magic."

"I keep telling you, Kupo! This is how it works here! You'll be fine!"

Cloud was having his own problems, both with his satisfaction with his moogle's answers and also the clothing he had found himself in. Unfortunately, the sounds of the festival around them did a good job of drowning out their voices. Cloud didn't even know the Queen was there until he rounded the corner and collided into her!

Hilda had been about to leave when she heard a voice calling her out. She originally thought the voice was aimed at someone else, but the bits about purple hair and pointed ears made it a bit too obvious. Who could be calling her, she didn't know anyone here. Yet again, she hadn't seem a lot of people with purple hair and absolutely none with pointy hair, so odds were that her peculiar appearance attracted attention.

She sighed and turned around, "What is i--" But then her eyes widened as she saw him. "Link?"

No... He was the spitting image of the boy she had met, the Hero of Hyrule. But there were still a few noticeable difference. Notably, the hair style and his age, he looked older by a few years if anything. Yet, this was an extraordinary coincidence and she awaited to see if he would confirm that he was somehow related to Link-- Or not?

Cloud was trying to find familiar faces as well. He hadn't had much luck though. It seemed like there were other people from his world, but not the ones he was specifically looking for.

He glanced up as Eiji walked over and started talking, pushing up his black mage hat so he could see better. "Huh?"

"It's easy once you get the hang of it. There's a few people here who would be able to demonstrate for you." Parn being one of them.

He expressed a soft smile. "Do you intend to help these people?" He did.

Hilda turned around when she heard someone trying to calm her down; admittedly she should. She wasn't like that usually; maybe the shock from having been taken from her home had been too much. Still she froze in her tracks when she saw who had just spoken.

"You...?"

No, it was not her. A few years younger maybe, and her hair were drastically different. That and she didn't have the royal posture of Princess Zelda, and yet... Judging by the face and tone alone, they could be twin. And the ears, could it be just a coincidence? She shook her head and tried to hide the surprise; she would have to make sure.

"There are games like this in my kingdom." She explained on a somewhat quieter tone, "Their only purpose is to steal poor people in exchange for a false hope. I shall not try them."

Did...did a plate just come flying from his mouth? How in the world did this stranger manage that? In all of Parn's years (despite it not being that many) he has never seen a plate dislodge from a man's throat before.

"A-are you going to be okay?"

Does he need to go retrieve a medic? That was a serious thing to survive from. The warrior was still concerned for this stranger's wellbeing.

Cloud is about to say something when he spots the hat on the other man's moogle. It seems that he's gotten off a little better with his own hat, but it still feels like something that someone would wear to a costume party. The young man takes a long breath and then nods, calming some but still looking annoyed.

"I don't know about problems, but I'd like some answers." He turns back and glares at his moogle, "And while he doesn't HAVE any, Mako here keeps expecting me to trust him and just follow his lead."

"Listen you! You've been tapped to be a hero, and when we get more information all of you will be the first to know!" The moogle is trying to sound smart, but he honestly doesn't know for sure if he's right. He won't admit to it though.

"Yes." She kept her answer simple. She was going to help them but she is also on a search of her own, to find her hero and she wasn't ready to give that up.

"I'm not really sure what I can do but we were brought here for a purpose." Her hand reached into her pocket and pulled out the crystal shard that she woke up with. She stared at it a moment feeling it as it rest in the palm of her hand.

After a moment she shook her head and looked back up at the warrior. "I think we need more answers though. If we really want to help."

Genesis gently pushed Monty over to the side and cocked her hip, resting a fist on it while holding the moomba a bit more securely under her arm. "Yes, that's right. Is there a problem with that?"

Because clearly, there was. And she didn't quite understand just why it was now. It would have been one thing if he just treated her coldly, but no, he was going even farther and Sephiroth wasn't known for being petulant. So why was he acting like it now? Not unless he hit his head and Sephiroth was a very sturdy SOLDIER, they all were. So that couldn't have been it.

"Aren't these games free?" Zelda gestured over to the games as she spoke. She noticed the expression on the woman's face when their eyes met. It was almost recognition, maybe something else?

When the screaming was over her moogle flew next to Zelda adjusting his new green hat. He wasn't used to it but it was a present from Zelda so he accepted it happily.

Ah, this was going to be difficult. She seemed dead set on her judgement (and women were hard to argue with) but he was determined to help this poor employee from being falsely accused. Granted Parn never attended many festivals. He knew an honest man when he saw one, and this man looked honest.

"He's not scamming anyone." If anything, this booth in particular looked like a game of chance rather than a game of skill like shooting range. Determined to ease her frustration the warrior pulled out some of his currency and set it on the counter. The best way to prove a point was by example, so he was willing to bet his money on it.
The poor nervous man allowed Parn a game. There were a number of chests to choose from, (and whether one chest was fill ~~or none~~) the dark haired teen managed to pick the right one. Meaning he won the game. Rather than choosing gils for a prize, he picked the stuffed toy, and handed it Hilda. She was cute, okay!

Alida, his moogle congratulated him. "Good job, kupo!"

Parn smiled genuinely to the new girl. "Do you still think he's scamming people?" Parn will play again if he has to.

"Hm?" He swung a glance over his shoulder, grinned and shook his head - letting go of Gaara in favour of tackling the tree even Gaara had spotted. It had been his original plan, until he'd seen the bottom floor window of the house across the street open and one rooftop led to another right?

It didn't matter. No one had seen him. It just wasn't a good idea to put yourself at risk like that twice in one day.

"Think you can do it?" He threw back, glancing down at Gaara from where he stood somewhere about the same height as his feet were by now.

Oh. Right.

"Kinda sounded like you knew about it." He mumbled, ignoring the fact that she'd corrected him - it didn't matter really, and if she was going to be picky about being called a lady, weeeeell she'd have a treat in store for later, wouldn't she?

"Well - yeah, but this is the last day of the party right? So, if it's gonna be gone tomorrow I ain't wastin' my time thinkin' about that stuff." He mused, shrugging as he spoke.

"'sides, the moogle told me. We were brought here to help out. Nothin' we can do. Can't use my chakra, no sign of Kurama. Dunno where Sasuke is, an' if there was somethin' real wrong he'd probably be here too."

"Tribute..."

Yes, perhaps he had made a mistake. The hell kind of place did this guy come from? "I don't think villages are on the menu, but," and he gestured to the theatre entrance, "if some bloodshed is what you're after, I get the feeling you'll have more than your share of chances to be obliged."

"Eh?"

His lips pressed together slightly when he heard the comment, but it was difficult to stay annoyed with the guy when he was pulling his shorts up like that. Naruto's mouth open and closed in one smooth movement - mostly because he was already being tugged away from the scene of their meeting.

"Ah-- well, yeah stop pullin' me then." He yelped, trying to run ahead a little, before glancing across at Luffy. "Which kinda ramen d'ya like?"

Irish accent, what was that? Sephiroth kept unflinching eyes on Ankh as he reeled off the details of the companions he was trying to find. He couldn't see any sign of another Moogle nearby and therefore that had to mean that this man was a native. He imagined it might be difficult to find anyone in certain crowded areas of the City today, much as it had been overcrowded in the theater with everyone rammed in every which way.

Despite the rude bearing of the black mage that had approached, Sephiroth remained mostly calm and professional. He even folded the map he was holding back into it's smaller square and straightened his posture before nodding a curt acknowledgment when Ankh had finished speaking. Some old habits died hard even within his own dream, it seemed.

"That doesn't make it very much easier." Brown hair wasn't an irregular occurrence, and there had been varying levels of unkempt styles he had observed between Aqures Ixen's indigenous citizens and the newly-arrived 'Heroes of Light' - and that's just based on his wandering in one half of a day so far. "What does the accent sound like?"

Cloud was starving too, but for different reasons. The last thing he had to eat was his dinner the night before. He was just getting into uniform this morning when he suddenly found himself in this other realm, and he hadn't even had time to stop by the mess hall.

His moogle flitted around behind him, going on about how he was sure that one of Cloud's friends had to be here, but the spiky blonde in the mage gear wasn't paying him much mind. Food first, then he'd go back to dealing with Mako.

He settled down at a table near the back, his tray clattering as he took a seat. The table happened to be one that was adjacent to Shelke's and his seat was diagonally aligned to her own. He didn't know who she was, but he offered her a polite nod when accidental eye contact occurred.

If Hilda had been able to hear half of his reasoning, odds were that she'd have slapped him. Thankfully, she didn't hear it, but she was displeased that without any evidence, he chose to say the man wasn't scamming anyone. After all, he had whatsoever no means to know this man wasn't scamming anyone. He saw her accusing the man, and he decided to side with the man. An incredibly disappointing attitude.

"..." She looked both surprised and embarrassed when he did manage to win, on his first attempt. Was he part of some obscure conspiracy to shut people up when they pointed out on the twisted nature of this game? Or had he just been exceptionally lucky? She judged it was probably the later, getting too suspicious about these things would lead her nowhere she guessed.

She took the stuffed toy when he handed it over to her and muttered a "Thanks," unsure whether she appreciated his gesture or if she was furious that he had, effectively, made a fool of her in front of this entire crowd. She didn't reply immediately, after all-- Admitting she was wrong? Never. "... He may have revised his tactics now that I exposed his doings."

Free? She hadn't actually paid attention to that, but she figured that they were not. After all, they hadn't been free back in her homeworld, so there was no reason for them to be free in this world. She shook her head. "I do not know, but I--"

She froze however, once again, when she noticed the hat the little moogle was wearing. The physical resemblance between this woman and Princess Zelda might have been nothing more than a fantastic coincidence, but the hat-- There was no way these two things together were nothing more than a coincidence.

"Where did this creature get this hat...?"

It seemed there was no end to the extent to which his livid imagination could conjure all manners of deluded apparitions to be aptly delivered in front of him. Sephiroth cast an overdue, long and careful glance over what Genesis was wearing. Some odd sort of robe that was without the customary hat of the mage Jobs. In the end, his silvered head shook slowly, sternly in his attempt to gain something real to offset all this glaring fantasy.

"It's not so much of a surprise, to see you here." He started, plainly, yet unsure even which direction their conversation should lead. Would this be the end of his dream, now confronted with the one at the core of all his conscious and subconscious concerns? If that were the case, then Sephiroth very much wanted to get whatever needed to be said here over with.

Cloud looks up as the girl speaks to him, forcing him to push his pointy yellow hat up just to see who is talking to him. He'd need to get these clothes worked on. It was like they were made for someone bigger than him. Yet another thing that didn't help convince him that his moogle was wrong about all of this not being a mistake.

"Uh...yeah, I think this is the 14th district?" He glances down at his own map. He's pretty sure he's reading it correctly, "Yeah, this should be. Sorry, I just got here." He looks back up and sees her moogle, "I'm guessing you're new here too?"

Momolumi seemed to visibly deflate at the news that the moomba already had a home, wilting to the ground with exaggerated dramatics. Yuna's light chuckle was further proof that it wasn't in seriousness. "It sounds like they were both pretty excited for it," a small smile lined her lips as she shifted her weight on her feet, "I guess it had more use than either of us thought."

Nodding her head in a slight bow, she took the opportunity to introduce herself. "I'm Yuna."

"You mean -- for what reasons we were brought here.." Yuna's gaze drifted down towards the earth again, the reality of the situation never too far from her thoughts. Attractions like those at the festival were truly more distractions than anything.

Clasping her hands in front of her, she continued to focus on the ground, thinking of the last time that she had woken up in an otherworld... "It seems like -- many of the details of everything are still hazy at best. Nevermind... a way for us to get back home," she frowned.

To the side of Sho, Sephiroth only lilted his head slightly to one side in not so much of a shrug. Sho was right about the shot, in terms of accuracy, so much for an attempt at conversation. Not that Sephiroth was generally any good at initiating such, but it wasn't polite to just lurk around another person without at least announcing his presence there.

He leveled a half frown in the direction of the character with the long white-ish hair and black jacket as if staring into it's face would grant him an answer. It didn't, and soon the excited children surrounding Sho as he gave out prizes drew Sephiroth's attention back to the marksman who had been playing.

It seemed then that the man made the connection that had drawn him over in the first place. Only a twitch to the corner of Sephiroth's nose betrayed his instant annoyance at Sho's obvious amusement and gesture.

"Who knows. It's only a game."

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Page 21 of 45

Prelude || The Festival Of Light

/hugs

Arrival

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suuuuure ;^;

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