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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The sudden closeness has her shrinking back nervously.

“I.... no.... um....”

A sharpshooter? Really? She only managed to hit the target on her last try. She has to wonder what he's comparing it too.

“I just got lucky that time. I've never even even held a gun before...”

"Could'ah' fooled me! It was a real good shot! Maybe you're just a dead-eye and you don't even know it."

He hops up onto the counter, sitting down and swinging his legs over the edge as he grins with a laugh.

"I'm Luffy. You're not from here either, are you?"

She relaxes a little. This guy is loud, but he doesn't seem like a bad person.

"I'm Ib. I just got here today. Did they ask you to be a hero too?"

Luffy crosses his arms over his chest, snorting a bit of steam from his nose as he grumbles at the dreaded "h-word".

"Yeah. Being a hero isn't for me. No one ever heard of a pirate being a hero."

His face lightens up as he pushes the worry of labels and duties out of his mind, replacing his grimace with a bright smile as he turns back to look at Ib.

"You just got here, too, huh? Pretty weird stuff, but I bet there's lots of adventures to have here. I wonder what kinda' meat they have to eat."

"Pirate?"

She echoes that back uncertainly. Did he actually just say he was a pirate? But maybe that's why he seems so.... okay with everything. Pirates probably go on all kinds of adventures, so this might not even seem weird.

"Maybe they eat those big birds..."

She's seen the chocobos around, and they sort of look like giant chickens.

"Yup! Best there is, too!"

He freezes at the utterance of her second sentence, his eyes turning from tiny black beads into full blown stars as his mouth hangs open from anticipation.

"Ne-! Ne, ne, ne-!! Big birds?! How big?! Are they delicious?!"

A plague of questions which Ib most certainly doesn't have the answers for flow forth like the torrential waterfall, the hungry pirate eager to learn more about the new world of food he needed to experience.

After a few seconds of stunned silence, she giggles. She's never seen anyone get so excited about food.

"You haven't seen them? They kind of look like big chickens. Really big. People can ride on them. There's a big arena over there where people are having races."

"Nope! Never seen 'em before! And people can ride on them?!"

His eyes dart about, looking around to where she motions to see where his next destination lays.

"Want to go see 'em? Maybe we can get involved in the face! What if the winner gets to eat one?!"

"I think it would be mean to eat the poor bird after it won a race...."

It's like punishing it for doing well...

The lad makes a rather deep grumbling noise as he scratches the top of his hat covered head.

"I guess that'd be a bummer if we did. I bet they're still cool to watch! Whadda' ya' say? Let's go watch 'em race!"

She smiles, glad that he changed his mind about eating the racing birds.

“They are pretty cute. Okay, let's go watch!”

With his hands behind his head and his moogle fluttering behind him, the young pirate keeps pace with his new friend so as to not lose his way before getting to see the strange and foreign sight of an over-sized chicken.

Not one for silence, Luffy attempts a small bit of chit-chat with the girl, a hope to learn more about her (and to see if she'd make a good addition to his crew).

"What are you good at, Ib? Swords? Clubs? Singing? Dancing? Cooking?"

She just blinks at him in surprise.

“Me? Nothing...”

She sighs.

“I'm just.... a normal girl. I don't know why they brought me here if they wanted heroes...”

"Normal girl? There's gotta' be something cool you can do? Normal is too boring for some one here."

As if Luffy knows such things, but he does know a unique person when he sees them. Could stand to have a bit more tact there, though, Pirate King.

Ib shakes her head.

“I guess I'm just boring then. I can't do anything cool at all.”

She fidgets uncomfortably and stares at the ground by her feet.

“Maybe they just... made a mistake.”

"Nah! You've gotta' be good at something! I don't want to be a hero, myself, but some one like you will probably make for an awesome hero. You seem real nice to me. That's what heroes do, right? They're helpful and nice to people in need."

She can't help but smile at that. He's so... cheerfully optimistic. It's contagious.

“That is one way to look at it. You seem nice too, though. Why don't you want to be a hero?”

He crosses his arms over his chest, pouting before giving a response to his new friend.

"Hmph. Heroes aren't as cool as pirates. I want to be a pirate. People don't praise pirates! Heroes have to live by rules or they get attached to a King or something like that. Pirates? They get to go wherever they want! They can sail the seas without having to stick to some sense of duty or do what people tell them to do!

Nope. Being a hero isn't for me. I want to live a free life."

He nods his head confidently, as if everything he's said makes the most obvious sense.

"If being a hero doesn't work out, why not try and be a pirate?"

He does make it sound very exciting. She tilts her head thoughtfully.

"Well... they brought us here to be heroes, but they never said we couldn't be other things. Maybe you could just keep being a pirate."

"That's the plan! I won't be some hero just because that's what people call me! I'll become the greatest pirate the world has ever known!"

He turns around mid-walk, his defiant grin taking up most of his face as he smiles at Ib.

"Maybe they have oceans here, too? If so, I guess I'll have to get myself a ship so I can meet back up with all of my friends!"

"You could probably find out. I bet the moogles know a whole bunch of stuff about this world."

Whether it has oceans should be a simple question. She smiles back at him.

"And they gave us free food and houses and things already. Maybe if you asked they'd just give you a boat."

Not actually likely, but it makes sense to her.

He grunts in response, crossing his arms over his chest while looking ahead to the stadium before them.

"Hmph. Asking? I guess so. It wouldn't be right to just steal one. It won't be the Sunny, but it'll have to do for now."

Turning back around, the idea strikes him from their previous remarks.

"Why don't you join me? If we're all stuck here, maybe we can sail together and find a way out?"

“I don't think I'd make a very good pirate...”

She's also not sure why he'd want a little girl on his pirate crew anyway. Ib doesn't know anything about sailing. She's never even been on a boat.

“What's the 'Sunny?' Was that the name of your boat?”

"Yeah! The Thousand Sunny! It's a gigantic lion boat! It's got everything the ship of the Pirate King needs! A lawn of grass, a huge fridge, plenty of space to play hide and seek and listen to songs and parties!"

He stops in his tracks, hopping back a few steps to take the girl by the wrist. His grin goes wide, nodding his head as he tugs her along to help her keep pace towards the stables.

"Won't know until you try! So you'll be in my crew! Maybe we can find what you're good at when we set to sea!"

Lion boat? Hide and seek? Songs and parties and a big lawn to play on? Is he describing a pirate ship or a summer camp? She allows herself to led along, but is getting more and more skeptical about this 'pirate' thing.

"Um, I thought pirates just went around and attacked other boats and stole stuff..."

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