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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…If only he still had access to his sand abilities. In addition to making travel much easier, there might be times when he needed to “discipline” Naruto for his reckless behavior. At the facility, Sakura had always seemed eager to assume that role, from what Gaara observed of their interaction with each other.

“…I will try.”

He climbed it much more carefully, taking his time to make sure his feet could find purchase, before continuing farther up. Carrying around that heavy gourd had given him some upper body strength, at the very least. Once Gaara finally planted his feet onto the tree branch, he warily eyed that distance between the end and the rooftop. Was there enough room to run and create the necessary momentum? It had seemed simple, for Naruto.

~~Should have taken more taijutsu lessons, back in his Academy days.~~

Naruto was quick to grab one of Gaara's wrists, grinning across at the moogle that was helping him up with the other hand - for what use it was, but those guys were pretty friendly, and helpful. Which reminded him--

Just as he turned, Mogsuke set his bowl of ramen down on the same table Luke was standing near, shaking his hands as if the weight had hurt him. Naruto just grinned, looking between the others, nodding firmly at Luke. "Naruto-- that's it."

Wait. What?

His face reeled through a few expressions before he settled on a frown, thumbing toward the table as he walked over to where his half-eaten bowl of ramen stood. "There's just this one place I found." He mumbled, looking around to get a feel for what sort of food this place they'd found themselves in provided.

"Facility? Never heard of anything like it... Is-- Luke from another ninja village?" He asked - and, well. The look Luke got from him might have been a tad judgmental.

Ah, someone interested in something worth talking about. It was so rare to find someone with those qualities these days.

"A few years ago I used to be an adventurer. Now I find myself busy at home with the usual stuff. Just fighting with ineffectual, outdated, and corrupt governments and such. What I'm supposed to be doing now is tutoring my apprentice, but as she's there and I'm here that's proving to be quite impossible at the moment."

For a boy who had probably eaten his own weight in ramen every other week, Naruto had ended up quite the well-rounded athlete. Of course, it helped that he trained as much as he did, behind closed doors as well as out in the open with his friends or even on his own.

He had plenty of energy for it, thanks both to his heritage and Kurama. Even without the bijuu locked down inside him he still had his skills.

Gaara didn't seem so blessed, and perhaps that was another something that he had that made him different from so many other people like him. Naruto recognised Gaara's dilemma without much prompting or thought, and he wandered close to the edge of the rooftop, turning to be side on from his friend and casually reached out his hand.

"You can make it. I'll catch ya if you don't."

His Moogle had pulled him away for something that he deemed frivolous, after the fact. He didn’t believe that his future would be dictated by a fortuneteller… And he didn’t feel unnerved or affected by it, in the least bit. In spite of the fact that he had been told he would die. How… encouraging, indeed.

She didn’t seem perturbed either, happily munching on a dessert item that bore the appearance of a fish. It was filled with red bean paste, inside. Not being a fan of red bean, Gaara didn’t cast a second glance at it.

Returning back to where Luke had been, he caught sight of another individual speaking to him. A friend of his, perhaps? He didn’t recognize this individual as one of his former party members, but Luke had come from another world as well, prior to Saeng Seong. Gaara approached them cautiously, not wanting to disrupt their conversation.

Gaara had realistic expectations. It was highly unlikely that he would ever become as physically strong or fast as, say, Rock Lee. But that didn’t mean he could simply sit back and allow himself to remain so… useless. Back in their world, he rarely had to rely solely on his raw abilities, equivalent to that of an ordinary civilian. Still, in his fight against Seimei, his reflexes had been fast enough to dodge most of his attacks. At the facility, Gaara wasn’t as fortunate, when it came to the vines… but Hiei had assisted him, fortunately.

Just as Naruto was offering now. With a curt nod, Gaara steeled his features, and began to dash forward. He leapt off the end of the branch and managed to grab a hold of the edge of the rooftop, body half-dangling over the side. A low grunt of effort slipped free as he struggled to pull himself up. If not for having the strength that he did, he would have fallen completely.

Being only three feet tall, the rock sails quite cleanly over Zojja's head as it soars pat Henry.

"You have an oddly optimistic way of looking things and I like that."

Maybe Death Junkie here wasn't so bad after all. Even if he was still a little creepy.

"So, are you a necromancer?"

Hylia. Hylia. So that would make her Hylia...n. Hylian. Zojja would have to refer to Zelda as that mentally until confirmed or denied otherwise. She was definitely not going to risk sounding wrong out loud. That would be extremely embarrassing.

"Then I guess you're not from here either. Another one of these Heroes of Light?"

"Oh, I suppose I do. The moodle who seems to have decided to hang around me is back there. I just...couldn't sit still. This has all been a lot to take in."

Rose frowned and looked up at the sky for a moment, the weight of all this seeming to push down on her for a moment. But then she shook her head and the spark was back in her eyes.

"Thank you for your concern, dear. Perhaps I will walk that way with you for awhile."

"I'm," he started, still slightly baffled, "not sure, actually."

There was something about this girl that just seemed off to him, and more and more Logan was realizing that it had little to do with the fact that she was alone, or even the fact that she was apparently a Hero of Light. Maybe it was just due to his very limited experience with kids, but he was pretty sure that she should've been at an age where being dragged into a completely strange and foreign world like this should've been more alarming to her than it apparently was.

But sitting here and staring at her wasn't going to get him anywhere. The only problem was that he had no idea what else he should really say or do.

"Were you one of the ones who arrived here this morning?" he asked. It was a little awkward, but at least it was something.

It was a few seconds before Logan actually made an effort to respond; he knew that anything he tried to say while Zojja was caught up in the whirlwind of a rant would just be lost in the winds. While it was kind of nice to actually be on the receiving end of one after a long time of radio silence from her and the rest of Destiny's Edge, when she got to the end, he couldn't help but feel slightly disturbed. If Zojja didn't know how they got here, then what hope could he possibly have for anyone else figuring it out and getting them home? Least of all him?

"Whoa, wait a minute," he said. "You mean you don't know how we got here, either? How is that even possible? I thought you knew everything."

It wasn't even meant to be a mockery or an insult. Logan really did think that Zojja knew everything, especially when it came to things like unstable realities and world hopping. Sure, she was technically a golemancer, but didn't all asura know everything about everything? That was supposed to be their whole thing, right? At least, that was how Logan saw them through his human eyes.

"I just assumed that it was some asuran experiment gone wrong or some trick of Scarlet's," he went on. "I don't care what the reports say. She's clever enough to make us all believe that she's dead, just so that she can pull something like this."

"Huh," he mused aloud.

Suddenly everything just seemed even more baffling than before. Logan knew that there were some seriously powerful mages in their twilight years -- people in the Priory who were exceptionally gifted as scryers, mesmers, farseers and the like. But for this place to just pull in some random old lady just seemed cruel and unfair.

"They must have some non-combat role in mind for you," he said, "but that alone makes me worry. Fighting against some ancient evil is one thing, but this is starting to sound like all-out war."

It was time for Ashelia to disengage. She could tell she wouldn't be able to get through to Naruto, not about what she wanted to talk about anyway. There is...a fundamental difference here. For him to dismiss all the concerns she thought one should have in this situation just like that...

'Tis madness, plain and simple.

"Then I shan't keep you. Our predicament surely pales in comparison to the delights to be had at the festival." Ice cold.

He smiled a sad smile at her and nodded once in affirmation.

"Sounds good," he said. "I'm Snow, by the way. And this here's Motley."

He gestured to the moogle beside him, who gave an enthusiastic nod. Really, Snow was grateful for the sudden distraction. He couldn't find it in him to be mad at her for her bright and cheery demeanor. When he was really, truly honest with himself, he was just glad that people like her still existed in the world.

"Where to first?"

Alright. Numbers 1, 3, and 4, and this popcorn as the trophy.

[Sparks isn't the cheering type, so when the race kicks off, he does a lot of quiet encouragement to his chocobo to the tune of "Come on, come on ya big dumb chicken" under his breath, as he leans forward, keeping a close eye on the race. It's a tight call, but number one pulled out ahead just in time to claim the win. Sparks gives Zelda a grin and a shrug.]

What can I say. I got a good idea for chicken racin'. To the victor goes the spoils. [He hands over the bag for her, though.] But considerin' they're just giving this stuff away for free, I guess I can share.

Man, it better not be. That's always the cheap way out. Let's save the world, get the glory, then go home so no one believes a word about it. Ain't that how it usually works in the movies?

[To answer Nagisa's question, Sparks gives him an introduction. He sticks out his hand for a shake.] Mars's only law enforcement. Marshal Sparks Nevada.

[Good handshake. He appreciates that.]

Well, I live on Mars, and I'm its marshal. That pretty much covers it. And I'd be still doin' it, if I wasn't so rudely interrupted by some other planet that needed rescuin', apparently. Woulda been nice if they asked first.

Sounds fine to me. Whatever gets me back to my post sooner.

Maybe they nabbed me cuz they wanted someone with experience. [Who wouldn't want Sparks Nevada fighting for them? No one, in his opinion.] What woulda been nice was if, y'know, they had asked first.

Ashelia shook her head. "I fear keeping a low profile is already out of the question - apparently we've all our own houses, in the fourteenth and eleventh districts." She fixed Kaji in her sights, examining his reaction closely. "They've prepared for us."

Yeah, I'm sure ya are. Just, uh, concentrate on destroying monsters or whatever it is they got here. Rescuing princesses or whatever their idea of bein' "Heroes of Light" is.

Number one's brought me luck once, I think I can count on him again. Lookit him. The eyes of a killer. That is one competitive chicken.

[Seems like going with the same racer didn't work out for Sparks this time. It falls a few places behind as number seven pulls ahead. Sparks sighs, but slides the snacks over to Cloud with a bit of a grin.]

That'll teach me, to, uh. To pretend I know anything about giant racing chickens, I guess.

Hey, ya did way better than me. [Sparks looks at the game attendant very flatly.] So the kid wins somethin', right.

[The attendant is done dealing with this guy, so he hands over a small stuffed blue chocobo to Ib. That works for Spark.]

Alright. Good job, kid.

Edited 2014-08-09 22:23 (UTC)

Not quite casually, but rather less intently than he had been watching her beforehand, Sephiroth continued to watch as Shelke drew out her shard of Fire Crystal. It was the first time he had seen anyone else's, and it was noted the similarity in color at least; made sense, since they had all awoken by the same Crystal. His own, small shard was buried in a inside pocket between plates of light armor at his right side; though he had already deposited Masamune at his allocated home, Spencer had insisted that he keep that shard on his person. He had frowned, that the mog had thought it more important than his sword, but in hindsight it wasn't so much of a big deal.

"Right. It's certainly not Materia." Or at least, it didn't feel the same. Sephiroth's shard was smaller than the standard orb-size that was manufactured by ShinRa Inc, and as a practiced user he was certain he'd be able to tell if it was in anyway reactive to his Mind Power. Just something else that didn't make sense, that tipped the balance more towards dream than reality.

Further conversation was cut by the return of Shelke's moogle, accompanied with dessert. Spencer looked up briefly, over the top of his small phamplet, beady eyes just cresting the table edge as it was placed on the table. If moogles could eye-roll, he would have done that. Some of his cousins were so haphazard and imprecise.

It was inconvenient to have to peer around, or over the large assortment of fruit and cream to look at Shelke but Sephiroth didn't move in his seat to compensate for that at all. Arms remained folded, despite the distinct rising of temperature and uncomfort underneath them.

"Don't you think that's a little much?" He asked to neither Shelke nor her moogle, but at the same time to both of them. Just because there was plenty of food available, didn't mean it all had to be eaten.

He was not yet fighting a war, though if that play earlier was any indication it certainly seemed that it was the intention for him being brought here. That is, if it wasn't all just a trauma-dream. If Sephiroth could put aside that insecure feeling, that crisis of existence reeling around inside his mind perhaps he might be able to take the first steps to filling the big expectation a number of the locals had about him.

He hadn't personally encountered too many of the other Heroes, preferring to keep a cautious distance in case it might wrap the dream space tighter around his consciousness. Staring up into the firework-lit night sky, his consciousness felt lesser attached to him, and surely the dream would break with his quickly-settling exhaustion from the days activities.

"Any Festival draws out its intended audience." He commented, lowering his fervid eyes and dragging them over the knight that had approached him. Though tired, Sephiroth still retained himself firmly behind his defensive wall.

"You know that I can't accept that."

It was a sharp retort that fell from Sephiroth, reactionary and without very much thought, which in turn showed at what level his patience was currently when usually he gave a lot more fore-thought before saying anything. Even though Angeal hadn't mentioned out loud about feelings of rejection, it hung in the atmosphere between the two men; remaining unspoken and probably just as well. It was better to keep his own feelings on the same to himself.

"Whatever truth is hidden in this dream, if there is any to be found, I will find it."

At least the last statement sounded a little calmer, despite the knot of tension not uncurling from between Sephiroth's shoulders while he remained in Angeal's presence. He too, fixed his gaze on the play as a way to distance himself from their exchange.

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Page 24 of 45

Prelude || The Festival Of Light

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hurray for the RNG

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the coin flip is in your favor

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