songerein | { flower festival 2022 }

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{ flower festival 2022 }

FLOWER FESTIVAL 2022

The three day Flower Festival has started and the town is covered in blooming flowers, music, smell of good food, and excited atmosphere. Full details on everything can be found here, but an important reminder that this event log doubles as our Test Drive Meme and information can be found in this section.

This means any outside characters participating in the log are canonly logged as appearing in Songerein in April and will remain in Songerein for the rest of the month of April. However, outside characters can only thread within this log, so for those seriously considering the game, you are welcome to use non-festival prompts for your toplevels. Anyone who apps in and is accepted will have their character count April as their first month in the game, so all content will carry over.

IMPORTANT! All outside characters MUST have "TDM" in their subject line, even if you might not app. This will help people differentiate those who are already in the game and those who are not.

TDM threads are required for samples. Refer to the Game Info for general information and feel free to toss any questions here. Reserves will open Sunday, April 24th and Applications will open on May 1st. Our application cycles are bi-monthly so the next cycle after won't be until July.

TDM Toplevel Link Directory (click to view)

Y'shtola (FFXIV)
Kotetsu Kaburagi (Tiger and Bunny)
Aerith Gainsborough (FFVII)
Nene Yashiro (Jibaku Shōnen Hanako-kun)
Isabela Madrigal (Encanto)
Rinwell (Tales of Arise)
Lumine (Genshin Impact)
Gran (Granblue Fantasy)
Sanji (One Piece)
Meilin "Mei" Lee (Turning Red)
Rob (The Amazing World of Gumball)
Akira Toya (Hikaru no Go)
Zhongli (Genshin Impact)
Yuuki Konno (Sword Art Online)
Kuja (FFIX)
Nice (Hamatora)
Peggy Carter (MCU)
Leo Valdez (Heroes of Olympus)
Snatcher (A Hat in Time)
Roland (Library of Ruina)
Son Gohan (Dragon Ball)
Gracious Skylark (OC)
Faith Lehane (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Thancred Waters (FFXIV)
Izaya Orihara (Durarara!!)

I. FLOWER VIEWING

There are gardens and flowers everywhere, but the main central location for the flower viewing is around the eastern side of town between the treehouses and the outside fields. Here there are plenty of both open and shaded spaces anyone can take to sit back, have a picnic, and enjoy the flowers blooming in the trees and along the ground. Food stalls are stationed by the treehouses for anyone who needs a meal and they provide blankets and picnic baskets as well.

A. Flower Crowns. Can't enjoy a flower viewing without flower crowns! There's an abundance of flowers that can just be taken and used to make them, but there are folks who go around and pass some out for those unable to. Or perhaps flower pixies may "bless" people with special flower crowns, tailor made with flowers that match the individual's personality. Once worn, the flowers will reflect the mood of the wear and may even grow depending on how much positive emotion they soak up from the wearer. That crown may become more of a headdress.

B. Flower Serenade. Although it's meant to be a calm, relaxing affair, the flowers are drinking in the festive atmosphere and now have a tendency to sing their joy. They are especially drawn to any couples and will start to serenade them with…an assortment of "romantic" songs. Some may be persuaded via calm emotions to quiet down to a more melodious hum while others may be a little more obnoxious.

C. Flower Maze. In one of the fields, a special flower maze has been erected made of hedges and questionably large flowers, their petals spanning several feet in length. These flowers will move and shift, using their petals to create sudden dead ends and new openings to alter the paths through the maze. No pushing past! The petals will be resistant. If a couple is being particularly flirtatious, they'll curl out and drop down to form a kind of "flower curtain" with their petals surrounding the pair. Whether it's to give the couple privacy or to shield innocent eyes, who's to say. In this scenario the petals can be easily brushed away and the flower will lift up to return to its position.

II. ENTERTAINMENT

All along the market square and the riverbank, stores and booths line the streets to provide goods, food, and entertainment for all festival goers.

A. Music and Dance. In the Central Plaza near the Tree of Memories is a cleared off area with a stage platform set up. Here anyone is welcome to grab an instrument, the microphone, and start singing or playing music to entertain the crowds. The floor is open for anyone to dance along or even show off a special dance performance of their own. Flower petals will join along as well, swirling through the melodious winds and even taking on the shape of some of the music notes.

B. Game booths. Come one, come all! Try out the various carnival games on offer. The game booths can be found lining around the riverbank and while there are many, here are some of the more popular ones:

Pebble Toss. Use dreamotion to change the color of a pebble and toss it into a bucket of water. The bigger the effect on the water, the more points scored. Earn enough points to win a prize!
Goose Rings. Try to toss a ring around the neck of a goose sculpture. Which is, of course, magically enchanted to move around and dodge the rings. Being a goose, the sculpture is a bit of a jerk; it’s attuned to players’ dreamotion energy and will absolutely move around more as they get frustrated, so keeping one’s cool is important.
Bubble Pop! Use dreamotion darts to pop magical bubbles floating across a board. Can be played alone (score points by popping as many of one color as possible) or competitively (whoever pops the most of their color wins).
Flighty Flowers. Create colorful paper flowers and use them to craft a floating lantern. The higher and further the lantern flies, the bigger the prize earned. Or, if one is especially creative or creates especially colorful flowers, they may just win a big prize regardless of how high it flies. Players can keep their lanterns if they wish.
Smash! Toss balls at a series of bottles to try and knock them over. To keep with the theme of the festival, the bottles are tiny terrariums. Thanks to the magic of the festival,, the plants inside the bottles remain undisturbed no matter how many times they’re knocked over.
Swan Boat Races. Find a boating partner and participate in a timed race where you have to navigate through obstacles and try to post the fastest time with fewest penalties. Use dreamotion to get through obstacles like ramps, slow whirlpools that will cause the boat to spin in place, turbulent waters, etc. If not interested in the races, people are welcome to help paint and decorate the swan boats! They have to match the mood of the festival, after all.

III. TREE OF MEMORIES

At the center of town is a giant tree that is as tall as a clock tower and with giant books about as tall as a person hanging off its branches. There are a few attractions set up here and there are also some small owls that fly around and greet anyone who come by. They serve as the "guardians" of the tree, and should anyone try to harm it, they will converge together to form a giant owl to deal with them.

A. Dream Petals. As the Tree's petals fall, anyone who manages to catch one before it hits the ground will find their secret dream reflected on it. It could be something they are longing for or something they wish to keep from anyone. Once the dream's reflection is complete, it will remain on the petal and can be viewed at any time.

B. Dreamscape Rooms. Selected by the owls, a few of the books can be found lying open on the ground. Everything is blank—there are no titles, no words, no pictures. The owl will beckon anyone who wants a "fun adventure" to dreamwalk into the book and have an adventure through its pages. It could be any established fairy tale, folklore, myth, legend or perhaps something random. The "players" will be thrown into random roles for the story and will need to complete at least three objectives (which can be handwaved). There is a one hour time limit so if anyone is unable to get through the story, the owls will yank them (safely) out and the book will remain on the ground for another group to try their luck. If they succeed, the story will magically appear on its pages and the book will hang proudly on the tree's branches.

C. Soaring Butterflies. Ever wanted to just ride on something huge and enjoy the flight? There are giant butterflies that are large and strong enough to carry up to three people on their backs. These butterflies are actually local to Songerein and brought in by a native Fae. Whether that makes them more or less trustworthy is up to the character, but the butterflies are definitely frisky—and fast.

D. Book Cages. Sometimes something a little weird happens around the Tree. Black wispy energy will seep from the hanging books and they will suddenly drop down on unsuspecting visitors, especially anyone who has a lot of love in them. The book will open and the pages will fly out like walls and trap the victim before it transforms into a cage and hurls them back up high into the tree. Although unharmed, the prisoner will start feeling some of their feelings of love being drained away and making them more irritable and hateful towards things. It will be up to someone else to try and get them out. Fortunately it's not too difficult a task—just need to get up that tree somehow and break through the iron-paper bars. Some fire should do the trick. The problem is, it needs to be fire made from dreamotion and focused on some variant of love or loyalty. It doesn't have to be towards the prisoner at least, so anyone should be able to help. However, the tree seems intent in keeping the prisoner, so thorny vines will try and smack anyone away. The owls will also try to assist, but they're kind of small and useless and can't use their ultimate transformation to harm the tree. Maybe the Giant Butterflies might be useful?

IV. FINAL DAY

On the third and final day of the festival, the winners of the Flower King and Queen contest are announced. However, there's a huge surprise as everyone finds themselves in a costume. While all contest participants have their own "Royal Court" theme, everyone else will find themselves suddenly dressed like a flower. There are a lot of variations from elegant to downright silly. Best(?) of all, the costumes will stay on until sundown. While parts may be loosened, altered, and removed for a short period of time, the costume will refuse to be changed out of and any attempts will be futile.

A. Flower Power. While some may feel very…uncomfortable in their new "wardrobe," others are having a blast with the small powers that come with the costume. With just a wave of their hand flowers will appear and bloom, and they will leave a trail of flowers wherever they go. But most importantly, they have glitter pollen which is to help bring about love and joy to all! However, not everyone is enjoying the glitter all over the place and some are growing more irritable and hateful instead, which is twisting their own pollen to spread negative feelings instead. Help soothe the unhappy ones and clean up the mess!

B. Flowerworks. Once sundown hits and everyone is back to their usual attire, a call is made to announce the "Flowerworks" presentation and for all to gather out into the fields. The moment the sun is completely set and the stars appear in the strange, moonless sky, a light will shoot up and burst into a beautiful, flowery display. It's a fireworks show, but instead of using traditional fireworks, glowing flowers are sent up instead, their petals illuminating brightly as they drift harmlessly down to the crowds.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Well, I can do that in return for your help. I can definitely add that to the list of flower crowns, no problem at all.

(She is definitely holding her end of the exchange as she gets started on making a new flower crown as promptly as she can. There is not a request that a Madrigal can’t simply decline at all since her family has been doing a lot to help their town for generations.

Isabela is getting Hu Tao’s request into the list of flower crown orders to be fulfilled as she carefully weaves orchids and jacarandas (or something similar to them) into the the crown she is currently making. Hopefully she doesn’t forget it among the other requests and orders she is juggling at the moment.)

Thank you! I promise I won't let you down!

[Just as Hu Tao was grabbing a few flower crowns, she couldn't help but pay more attention to them. As she looked at a few succulents or orchids, she had to wonder what did this person do back in her world. Regardless, this was no different from her business tactics back home.

As she started waving a few of them, she put on her best business voice!]

Come here ye, come get your flower crowns! Get one orchid flower crown and you might get one of the succulents too for free!

[Nevermind that they were all for free anyway but oh well. Old habits die hard.]

(Meanwhile, Isabela is back at work in weaving flowers and succulents onto the flower crowns with strings and ribbons alike: a little bit of dreamotion energy flowing onto the plants didn’t hurt either as an extra boost to the wearer’s emotions.

It is also a miracle that she didn’t accidentally prick her fingers while handling with the roses as she incorporates into some of the flower crowns mainly because she is pretty used to growing them for the longest time as boring as they can be at times as she grew older.)

[As Hu Tao kept looking back at her, she had to wonder. As much as she was dedicated to making a bunch of flower crowns, the girl couldn't help but be a bit worried. When she passed the last of the bunch, she raised an eyebrow.]

By the way, I want to ask, how long have you been working anyway? If you're not careful, those fingers could lead to stiff joints and make you have complications later.

[Look, she's just saying!]

Ah, it has been over half a hour since I got to this very booth and started working on them. I already knew that there would plenty of people lining up for the flower crowns, but I didn’t anticipate how big the crowds can be at this time.

I’m pretty used to dealing with a small town back in my world where people know you and your family for so long.

(Maybe she should really take a break for a while as not to get stressed out or have stiff finger joints as Hu Tao has told her.)

[From there, Hu Tao looked at the woman in awe. How odd, she wasn't expecting Isabella to take her words seriously. Wouldn't she be offended by her?

For a moment, she didn't say anything and instead? She gave a chuckle.]

Even so! You should take a break, I think these people can wait! The last thing people want is for you to drop dead from stiff joints!

(Isabela nods in agreement: she will need to close shop for now as not to overwork herself as advised. All the years of putting too much pressure in her has made her realized that it will be metaphorically kill her if she doesn’t put her foot down and do something about it.

So as soon she was done with the last batch of flower crowns for now, she then turns her attention to the crowds to inform that she will have to close the booth for the mean time.)

Sorry everyone, but I will have to close the booth for now. There are plenty of other venders and shops you can visit for the mean time.

[With that, Hu Tao kept staring at her having no idea what to say. How odd, did she really take her words seriously? For a moment in her life, she was left speechless. Leaning a little closer, she kept raising her eyebrow before lowering her voice.]

Wait, you really listened? You're taking me seriously?

[No, seriously, was this a joke?]

(No seriously, she literally means it for real. After the lines of people temporarily left, she plops down onto the nearest seat to the workbench while letting out a sigh of relief.)

Yes, yes I do, Miss. I didn’t want to get myself too pressured to get things done over time. And I had arrived here just a few hours ago, checking out the festival before stumbling upon this booth.

[This was a little odd. It was so strange to see someone actually listen to her! That being said, she couldn't help but keep on smiling!

As she sat next to her, she couldn't help but giggle.]

All the more reason why you should take it easy! Or better yet, how about you eat something? I don't know how much the food costs here but I believe you deserve it after a hard day's work!

Edited 2022-04-12 10:30 (UTC)

Haven’t thought about it much when I first arrived here, but I wouldn’t mind have a snack after all the work I had been doing with making the flower crowns.

(While she isn’t that totally hungry, Isa does know that she hasn’t eaten anything since she arrived in the world some time ago. Her family did learned that sometimes it doesn’t hurt to accept help or even rest easy when someone offers to shoulder the burden they would normally carry.)

Maybe we can check what the vendors are offering right now.

[Looking at Isabella and then back at the seat, she pondered a moment about the implication behind her words. Did she work all this time and didn't get anything to eat? Leaning back, she gave a small frown before trying to figure out what to say.]

Are you going to be okay? Do you want to rest your hand first before going to get a snack?

[If her hands were that stiff from doing all that work, maybe it would be better to rest up for a few minutes before attempting to hold whatever food was around. She didn't know what food they offered here but she wasn't going to let Isabella hold it if they were that tired!]

(She quietly nods as a yes, since it will take a while for her to rest up before doing anything else and who knows how long she has been working on those flower crowns for. That must have taken a lot of dedication and hard work to push through.)

I thought as well, maybe we should take some time to rest up before getting something to eat then.

[That made Hu Tao raise an eyebrow or two. Just how long had she been working on those flower crowns anyway? Goodness, was she pushing herself to where she was getting hurt?]

Then how about this? How about you tell me what kind of food you like? When we're done resting up, we can go look around for what we can eat!

[As much as she wanted to know just how bad her joints were, she couldn't. Isabella could tell her when she wants to.]

Maybe we can try to see if there are some arepas or empanadas being sold in the stalls. Mamá usually makes plenty of arepas to help in healing people’s injuries and Papá’s bee stings whenever he gets attacked by the bees.

(Isabela isn’t sure if there are any food from home that are being sold in the town/city, but it is worth the try to check out. But she is more than happy to try out some new foods as well if those options aren’t available.)

Apreas? Empanadas?

[Now that was food Hu Tao never heard about. Here she thought she was decently well versed in cultures outside of her own and yet? Call her interested as she leaned in a little closer!]

Could you care to tell me a little more about them? [That and if it helps Isabella to talk more about her own world when she was injured? All the more better.]

Sure thing, I can do that. First of all, arepas are short round, flat cake-like patties that are usually made with maize or cornmeal flour and they are essentially the backbone of the cuisine of my home country Colombia. And they are also stuffed with cheese. Mamá often uses herbs into her arepas to help in the healing process.

While empanadas are deep fried turnovers that are filled with a variety of fillings inside: they’re often small, yellow from being made with corn flour, and shaped like the crescent moon. They are also commonly eaten in Colombia as well.

Corn flour, corn flour...

[She mumbled to herself. What can kind food does she know that has looks like a cake using corn flour and using various savory flavors?]

Oh, you mean kind of like a radish cake? I know we use corn flour to mix it with radish, mushrooms, and dried shrimp to make it into a small cake! As for the other one, it doesn't sound that different from what I eat during the New Year!

[Pause] At least, the sweet kind anyway.

[Although, Hu Tao wanted to press more about what Isabella meant. What did she mean that help the healing process? Or what is this strange place she called Colombia? Ah, it seemed like she'll have to find out within due time.]

Edited 2022-04-13 23:09 (UTC)

Hm, I never had a radish cake before, but I suppose that they are similar in the way they are made. And even just as tasty too.

(It seems that radishes are not commonly found in Colombia, but thankfully it did not took long for Isa to get it. The radish cake that Hu Tao speaks of do sound rather delicious and maybe she could try it out if they happen to sell that too.)

You should try it! I can even try to make if I get the ingredients!

[Which Isabella may or may not want to try for Hu Tao is a master at cooking badly.]

If not, I can always try to make some other food from my country.

That is starting to sound very good. I would like to see what other foods your country is know for, I have never been so far from home in my world in my entire life.

(Color Isabela intrigued and interested: while she certainly doesn’t mind food from home, it doesn’t hurt to expand one’s culinary knowledge.)

They're famous for a variety of foods such as dumplings, almond tofu, mint salad, and so forth!

[She said with a small sigh.]

It's just a shame as I don't know if those ingredients might be available here.

I thought the same about the foods I’m very familiar with back in my country as well: can’t be sure if they have any of the ingredients to make them as well.

We could also check out what they are selling in the stalls at the moment and try them out ourselves.

Do you want to go and look?

[She said before glancing down at Isabella's hands.]

We could look around and see if there's anything we like but I'll be the one holding the groceries though. Can't afford to have you be in pain again!

Alright then, I’m letting you to carrying stuff. I guess that I shouldn’t put a lot of things on my work load to the point of getting stressed out.

(Isa couldn’t argue with that: she did worked a lot harder than most of the sellers when it comes to making the flower crowns for a long while that her fingers may have overworked. She may not feel the aching that easily, but Hu Tao does have a point after all.)

{ flower festival 2022 }

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