The Festival of Wishes!

[indigo_league]

Who: Everyone!
Where: Pewter City!
When: June 24th
Summary: It's time to celebrate the Festival of Wishes!


Pewter City is one of those towns that doesn't draw a lot of attention. It's nice and has that museum, but it never seems to be the scene of much excitement.

But today, that's different. Because today, Pewter City has been doffed up to the nines, with visitors arriving from everywhere to celebrate the Festival of Wishes. The skies are crowded with uBIRDs flying in people from all over Johto and Kanto. The streets are filled with cheerful noises and many in the crowd have come in their finest yukata and kimono, adding splashes of colour to what might otherwise be a drab crowd. And if you'd like to try out one of these beautiful garments yourself, there are plenty of nearby shops offering rentals for the visiting crowds.

Stalls have gone up all over town, most hawking various forms of street food: Takoyaki, Yakisoba, Kaarage and many others! And for those looking to satisfy a sweet tooth, there's plenty of shaved ice, chocolate-covered bananas and Taiyaki to go around. Hopefully, you brought an empty stomach, because it would be a shame to miss out on all these yummy goodies.

But it isn't just food stalls that dot the streets. A wide variety of festival games are also available. From shooting galleries to ring toss to small lottery games -- whatever you might be in the mood for can be found here. Stuffed animals and sweets are the most common prizes to be won, but who knows, perhaps if you get very lucky, you might even win an Evolution Stone.

And, of course, no festival would be complete without a Test of Courage. Are you brave? Is fear something you only know from the dictionary? Then why not prove it? Why not enter Pewter City most haunted dwelling (usually just an office building) and show your mettle to your friends or even that special someone? Who knows, you might even earn a kiss if you protect them from the many horrors that dwell within (AKA, volunteers in costumes, a few ghost pokemon, and so many 'creepy' paper mache props)

There are also various stalls dedicated to traditional arts and crafts. From Calligraphy to Origami, if you have an interest in these matters, you'd do well to check them out. And you can do more than just buy some nice decorative pieces for your home, or a cute little origami figure of your favourite pokemon partner; many of the stalls also offer visitors the chance to try their own hand at these traditional skills. Are you the type of person who is always looking to learn a new skill? Or have you perhaps mastered these skills already and do you want to show off? Why not come over here and spend some time?

(Who knows, you might even impress someone special!)

And once night has fully fallen, the skies will light up, not just with the light of the stars and the moon, but with the many bright colours of fireworks! If you aren't completely tired out yet from all the festival games, why not sit down, relax, (maybe drink a beer if you are old enough) and enjoy the beautiful spectacle happening above you.


---


But all of that cheer doesn't really answer the big question -- what is the Festival of Wishes?

Keen eyes (and not so keen eyes, really, they are everywhere) will be able to spot various decorations shaped like the pokemon Jirachi dotting the stalls everywhere. From small plush toys to folded origami figures, Jirachi's cheerful face can be found everywhere. There even is a theatre performance explaining the whole tale, but for those too busy stuffing their faces to partake in (ugh) culture, it all comes down to this: Jirachi is the Wish Pokemon. During the festival, people write down their wishes, hoping that Jirachi might fulfil them.

Of course, there is never a guarantee Jirachi will be around. It's been known to sleep a lot. But why not give it a try? It can't hurt, right?

Comments

[nightyorb]

[Oh!

Now Riz understands. This is another person like Mando and himself, someone who isn't happy with the lack of weapons in this world; someone who is happy to have found some opportunity (even a poor one like this) to shoot something again.]

You look pretty comfortable with that.

[He gestures at the gun.]

[restlessdreamer]

Feels a little weird, honestly; my hands aren't usually this shape, but I guess muscle memory carries over.

...Usually I'm piloting biomechanical golems remotely. Still get all the same sensory input, though.

[It's kind of nice, honestly, to be in a world where pretty much nobody knows what a Warframe is. It takes the pressure off; not every problem she comes across is somehow hers to solve, and she doesn't have to worry about some dramatic balance of power.]

[nightyorb]

Okay, hold up. Repeat everything you just said but with way more explanation.

[Cause honestly? This sounds super rad, but Riz isn't totally sure what she means by 'piloting biomechanical golems'. He needs more information here to correctly gauge the level of radness happening here.]

[restlessdreamer]

[...Oh. Nobody has ever asked her for clarification. Astrid sucks on her teeth briefly.]

How much time do you have?

[nightyorb]

How much time do you need?

[comes to counter, before Riz shrugs.]

What else am I going to do here? Do more of this?

[He gestures at the shooting booth.]

[restlessdreamer]

It's just hard to summarize, and I dunno... how much history to add?

[She supposes that he can ask questions if anything stands out.

Astrid hops up to sit on the counter.]

So, it was me and a bunch of other people on this big colony ship, going to a new planet. We were only kind of good at traveling that distance - I think our ship was the first one with people on it? Well, human people.

[It's easy to forget, until someone like Hunhow speaks; most of her interactions with Sentients have been in silent battle, and their forms are so inhuman... well. Usually.]

The only way to get that far was through the Void, a weird space-between-space where physics doesn't really work. It also might be a person? [A shrug. The Man in the Wall is a whole 'nother thing.]

Something went wrong, though, and the ship got stuck there. By the time we were rescued, all the adults were dead and the rest of us had... abilities. Strange ones. One of them let us project ourselves outwards, into anything with a Transference anchor.

[nightyorb]

[This is a lot of information.

Riz cocks his head as he listens, and you can practically see the mental case board going up inside his brain as he pins down the scraps of information he just got, and identifies the gaps between that he does not yet understand.

Which, at this point, is still kind of a lot!]

Okay, wait, tell me if I got this -- You were on a space ship that got stuck in some sort of... Void that gave you special powers but killed all the adults.

[He waits for a beat, expecting her to correct him if he got any of that wrong, before he adds:]

What's a transference anchor? And how long were you stuck for?

[restlessdreamer]

We killed the adults.

[Astrid has had a long time to come to terms with it, and that made the whole course events easier to think about, and to talk about. Still, her tone is somber.]

They'd all gone crazy, started hunting us. I still don't know why... maybe the Void just thought it was funny. We tried to pick out whose parents were whose, and keep them away when they came around. We had to take care of each other, and nobody should have to kill their own mom or dad.

When the ship came out into real space again, it had been about... ten years, I think.

[nightyorb]

[Riz's eyes widen when she admits that they had to kill the adults, his face becoming a somber grimace of understanding when she says nobody should have to kill their own parents.

That's... yeah. Fabian had to do that. And even though Captain Seacaster had been dying, Riz knows it hadn't been easy on him. Losing your dad is hard enough to begin with, worse when it's by your own hand.]

Shit, that's--

[Riz is not good at this. Not good at finding the right, comforting words.]

You did good. I mean, you made the right choices. Nobody... nobody should have to kill their own parents. Unless they want to, I guess.

[Riz can think of one or two people who'd love the opportunity to kill their parents. But it doesn't seem like that applies here.]

[restlessdreamer]

[It's good to hear from someone else, at least, and Astrid gives a little nod.]

I mean, you do what you need to survive but that doesn't mean you have to lose your humanity, you know? ...You didn't ask about all that, I'm sorry. I think I just miss my brother.

[She also might be learning why you shouldn't have a bunch of junk food all at once when you've been living on nutrition cubes for most of your life.]

I'm not quite sure how the transference bolts work. While we were gone, development of Void technology was progressing, and with a bunch of kids all twisted up from it, it maybe isn't surprising that we could slot into it. The Warframes are pretty fucked up honestly but they have cool powers and let us walk around when we really couldn't in our own bodies anymore.

[nightyorb]

[Riz makes a little noise, one that is meant to mean 'it's cool. I have not been wildly traumatised by your extremely shitty past, perhaps will share some insanity of my own later'.

Though, of course, whether she can reliably translate his noise is another thing entirely.]

Wait, you can't walk anymore? Like, at all?

[restlessdreamer]

[Astrid waves her hand while she works on a rather large bite of hot dog. Gastrointestinal distress can be future Astrid's problem.]

Oh, no, our powers were just really hard to manage back then.

[She gestures to the large black mark on her face, and the corresponding messed-up eye.]

We could use 'em well enough in the Void, but not out in real space. We were put into a kind of... waking sleep? It's hard to explain. The Dream. I don't blame her... it wasn't just ourselves we hurt.

[nightyorb]

[For the record, Riz thinks the black mark and the messed up eye are rad as hell. Just super cool.]

It make sense if you were hurting people with your powers. Even if it was on accident.

So, you could sleep and kind of put your brain inside one of those... what did you call it, warframes?

[restlessdreamer]

Yup.

Technically they're weapons, and they weren't really designed to be surrogate bodies. We came back to a war, right, and they had tried making these super soldiers? But the way they did it, it destroyed their minds, and they were planning to scrap the project. Transference was developed to help us, but they realized they could use it to stick us in these weapons.

I told you, they're pretty fucked up. But it was nice to be able to be out in the world again.

[nightyorb]

Can't trust adults to clean up their own messes. If we did that, our world would've been taken over by a dragon.

[And yet, Riz wouldn't have it any other way. He'd rather have the ability and responsibility to do something than just sit around and do nothing and wait for someone else to maybe solve things. If he had that attitude, he might as well have gone to Mumple.

Ew. Mumple.]

[restlessdreamer]

You really, really can't.

What's the story with the dragon? Was it its own thing, or a weapon somebody else had?

[Often the distinction can be minimal, but the circumstances can certainly be interesting.]

[nightyorb]

Oh, he was his own thing. He was also the vice-principal at our school. Like, that was actually his punishment for taking over the world last time -- he was supposed to be school faculty forever.

[At what point in time any of this seemed like a good idea is beyond Riz. But then, so are most of Aguefort's crazy schemes. Probably once you start to understand Aguefort's ways, your mind is as crazy as his.]

[restlessdreamer]

And being faculty... was supposed to keep him from wanting to go crazy? Was it not obvious what a terrible idea that is?

[Astrid's classes were taught by Cephalons. She doesn't blame anybody for not wanting to do that job personally.]

[nightyorb]

I have no idea. There was even a prophecy made right after they gave him his punishment about how he'd break free one day, but somehow nobody thought 'lets kill the fucker anyway'.

[Riz has set down the gun, so he can gesture widely with his hands.]

Like, not to devalue what we did too much, cause we are all pretty awesome, but me and my friends were first-year high school students when we dealt with him. Surely there must have been someone in all that time who could've done what we did.

[restlessdreamer]

Right? Like, I at least understand that we're the only ones who can pilot the Warframes, but it should never have come to that! It was their own mistakes coming back to haunt them, and honestly we should have just let the Sentients kill the Orokin high command before defeating them.

Oh, Sentients are more composite-creatures, sent to terraform a distant planet. Earth was becoming slowly unlivable, and when they realized that the Orokin would just ruin any planet they took they had an uprising.

[nightyorb]

See, this is why I started looking for Penny and the rest of the girls myself. If it had been up to the cops, they'd all still be missing.

[A pause, then he adds.]

My mom could've found them, but the department keeps her swamped with other work.

[restlessdreamer]

If she's the only competent one there I can see how that would happen. Bummer, though. They're lucky you were looking out for them.

[One of the prizes in Riz's mountain of them catches Astrid's eye - a square of fabric with a string on it which, when picked up, appears to be a drawstring bag.]

Okay, I may take some of these. They look actually useful.

[nightyorb]

Penny was my babysitter and friend. She spent a lot of time looking out for me too, so I owed it to her to search.

[Well, Riz probably would've done it even if he hadn't been connected to Penny, but it had made the case even more personal to him.]

Oh yeah, go ahead. [Riz peers at the pile of prizes.] I might grab these. [He holds up the bang snaps he won.] I might find a use for them.

[Or maybe he could put them all together for one big bang snap?]