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deercountry2022-07-13 07:21 am
likethelight) wrote in deercountry2022-07-13 07:21 am
TANABATA ⟶ July Sanctuary Log
Sanctuary - TANABATA
"SEE YOU AGAIN, MOM"
The "star festival", celebrating the one time of the year when star-crossed lovers could cross over a sea of stars to meet again. One based on hopes, wishes, and the fervent desire to see each other again. Following the departure of Amaterasu back to the sea, wolf momgod of all who is responsible for the Guardian Saplings including the one Sanctuary has been founded around, Sanctuary is hosting the best approximation to a Tanabata celebration as the Trench will allow. Why? Because hope keeps the trees alive and strong, and Tanabata is about people having hope -- and would have been happening around the same time.
And because people miss dogmom and she would have liked it.
The festival is taking place at Sanctuary, but all Guardian Saplings can be paid visits. Paper for wishes and decorations have been set up at each/given to the other caretakers.
A Sea of Stars
The main hall has been transformed into a living night sky, with jars of hope from the moonlit butterflies back in April hung with care high up, each repacked with a single orb of hope per small vial with care, creating a river of starlike glowing lights overhead. The windows have been covered to aid with the nighttime effect, in addition to helping to keep out the light of the Beast Moon after dark. The gentle glow, as they are literally the tactile hopes and dreams of people, provides a small purifying, uplifting effect to everyone underneath. The light ebbs and flows calmly. The hall is cool as well, thanks to the pale/cold bloodstone cooling system that glows like moonstone along the walls and keeps the indoor areas regulated.
In the evening, as the sun sets, the new choir bell will ring out as well, cleansing corruption entirely from all who hear it. The lights gently pulse in time with it.
Wishes and the Guardian Sapling
The sapling is no longer in bloom, but despite the sweltering heat in full glory. Paper wishes are hung in its branches, along with origami streamers in colorful paper of cranes and other shapes. A bustle of activity is in the cloisters around it in particular, with most tables set up there to keep the courtyard itself clear. Origami streamers are hung in all the doorways leading out to it as well, creating the effect of string curtains, and there are paper lanterns as well.
A life-size stone statue of a wolf bearing a striking resemblance to Amaterasu has been erected next to the sapling, with her most radiantly happy canine expression she could sometimes get. There is room to place offerings for her, and people are encouraged that she would like "all the foods."
Colorful strips of paper (tanzaku) have been cut and placed out on a table in the cloisters surrounding the courtyard, where one can write their wishes for the next year down on them and hang them on the guardian sapling. They come in the following colors with a helpful, but... somewhat hard to read note with arcane handwritten note:
Red will help with wishes relating to ancestors and family, and giving thanks.Food and Activities
Yellow is the color of friendship and is the best choice for wishes about relationships.
White is the color for determination and responsibility, and for making personal resolutions.
Blue represents tranquility and trust and will aid wishes aimed at self-improvement.
Purple is the color to choose if you want to improve your brainpower and skills.
Following all of the best creative recreation methods available to them in Trench, the cooks in the kitchens have been trained by Megumi Fushiguro, among others, on how to best serve culturally appropriate dishes. These foods are served free at little vendor booths in the main hall (with people encouraged to help out and help serve!) and include pawprint mochi (the inside is either chocolate or strawberry), pickled sakura mochi, mitarashi and tricolor dango, chilled somen with a yuzu-soy dipping sauce, various types of filled onigiri, and cut watermelon in a variety of shapes including stars, sunbursts, and pawprints. Many have been made with small amounts of the Paleblood jam from June and have mild corruption cleansing effects as well. Various kinds of tea made from the dried or pickled cherry blossoms and/or leaves of the guardian sapling are being served as well, and they have a corruption-cleansing effect and have been noted as tasting "heavenly". Some of the jams have been cut with fruit juice/lemonade and frozen into popsicles as well... you're welcome, CorruptionPops are now a thing.
Various demonstration and activity tables have been set up including origami, with... questionably penned instructions from Palamedes in an arcane style for several shapes including cranes, sunbursts, stars, and wolves. Various Sleepers familiar with the practice have also been encouraged to set up there and help teach people how, and everyone is encouraged to hang their completed crafts in the guardian sapling. Most of the paper is red, white, pink, and gold. Paper lanterns have been made as well and light up various parts of the whole festivities.
A few vendor booths are set up, including one "selling" white yukata, trimmed in red and gold and bearing a distinctive star pattern on the back of it and intricate embroidery. Most Sanctuary members would receive one for free if they expressed interest, and anyone else can receive one for volunteering their time and helping out. People are encouraged to wear them for the celebration if they didn't have their own; these are styled in honor of Amaterasu.
Koz Orphanage has been specially invited as well, and children from it can be found running around during much of the event and given various activities to do or items to play with.
Sparklers are available for individuals as well, also courtesy of Viktor. Perhaps there might even be glowsticks from someone... :)
Fireworks and Closing Celebrations
On the final night, all the wishes will be gathered from the trees and collected in a ceremonial firepit. The wishes are burnt in order to release them to the heavens to be heard—and perhaps by Amaterasu still at sea—and will be ignited by several Sleepers with fire abilities (Shouto Todoroki, Megumi Fushiguro).
As they're burnt a fireworks display will begin overhead, launched from the steeple up high, courtesy of Viktor and anyone else assisting him in the matter. Anyone outside watching them in the courtyard will have the effects of the Beast Moon diminished by the blessing in effect from Moon Presence. The choir bell will toll a final time at the end, to clear the effects of any lingering corruption, and signal an end to the festivities.
WHAT
Sanctuary is about humane beast purification efforts and corruption relief. Renovations began in May 2022 and room clearing and rebuilding is still in progress. Beast patrol efforts and purification started more in earnest in June-July.
All roles are volunteer on an as-you-can basis up to full time, with time reimbursed by food, shelter, care, and community support. And because it's run by people who BLEED SENTIMENTALITY EVERYWHERE in addition to being founded on discovery of a Guardian Sapling, it's hosting a Tanabata celebration in conjunction with honoring the memory of Amaterasu.
All roles are volunteer on an as-you-can basis up to full time, with time reimbursed by food, shelter, care, and community support. And because it's run by people who BLEED SENTIMENTALITY EVERYWHERE in addition to being founded on discovery of a Guardian Sapling, it's hosting a Tanabata celebration in conjunction with honoring the memory of Amaterasu.
WHEN
Starting July 7, ending after a few days in a final celebration and ceremonial burning of the wishes.
THINGS OF NOTE
Tanabata
➢ Please feel free to presume your character could have helped out with setup if they have any ties to Sanctuary or characters here! If they would provide a food, service, or game they are free to have a table set up.
➢ This event is open to the whole of Trench and would have been freely advertised as such, including as a safe place to treat effects from the Beast Moon and corruption.
General / Member Update
➢ Sanctuary has been blessed by Moon Presence for the month of July, thanks to the efforts of Luna and Sansa. All negative effects of July and the Beast Moon are lessened within its walls, and anyone meaning Sanctuary or the people in it will be physically repelled. Lunar flowers have begun growing up the sides of the monastery in earnest like morning glories as a result.
➢ as of June, coordinated efforts to patrol Trench on their own and save Beasts and people both have begun. Members will be on a group chat in order to coordinate with each other and reach out to purification Sleepers when encountering Beasts. Everyone is encouraged to work in teams, especially to partner with someone who can purify Beasts or corruption.
➢ a training facility has opened up, with currently self-defense hand-to-hand combat classes being taught by Jason and others willing to train others encouraged to come forward. Fighters on patrol and wardens will be contacted to let them know about open sparring times so members can coordinate better in fights. There is an indoor room with training dummies (that fight back courtesy of Viktor) that opens up into an outdoor space between two of the long halls that can also be used.
➢ Please feel free to presume your character could have helped out with setup if they have any ties to Sanctuary or characters here! If they would provide a food, service, or game they are free to have a table set up.
➢ This event is open to the whole of Trench and would have been freely advertised as such, including as a safe place to treat effects from the Beast Moon and corruption.
General / Member Update
➢ Sanctuary has been blessed by Moon Presence for the month of July, thanks to the efforts of Luna and Sansa. All negative effects of July and the Beast Moon are lessened within its walls, and anyone meaning Sanctuary or the people in it will be physically repelled. Lunar flowers have begun growing up the sides of the monastery in earnest like morning glories as a result.
➢ as of June, coordinated efforts to patrol Trench on their own and save Beasts and people both have begun. Members will be on a group chat in order to coordinate with each other and reach out to purification Sleepers when encountering Beasts. Everyone is encouraged to work in teams, especially to partner with someone who can purify Beasts or corruption.
➢ a training facility has opened up, with currently self-defense hand-to-hand combat classes being taught by Jason and others willing to train others encouraged to come forward. Fighters on patrol and wardens will be contacted to let them know about open sparring times so members can coordinate better in fights. There is an indoor room with training dummies (that fight back courtesy of Viktor) that opens up into an outdoor space between two of the long halls that can also be used.
➢ with the hidden archives now unlocked, scholarly members of Sanctuary are encouraged to help study them and uncover other artifacts—and especially the strange new locked door discovered within.
➢ there is a family of batcat kittens old enough to be crawling everywhere throughout the building now. They might still be learning manners and latch onto you in an overexcitement to taste your blood from time to time.
➢ the large communal baths have been cleared out and renovated, thank god. They run on being open to male-identifying characters for one set of hours, female-identifying for another, and the rest of the time operate on "nobody cares". Privacy screens are hung between the tubs though—one side is regularly cooled down with ice for the hot months.
➢ with more people needing safe harbor during the Beast Moon and rising violence from natives during July, more actual rooms have been cleared out and are free to use for anyone who will also help work to maintain the place (chores, grounds keeping, etc.). There are always spare beds in the infirmary wing as well.
➢ members who patrol or purify beasts/fight in some way now have access to various relic items that have been donated for use for when they are actively on patrol. These will eventually be tracked in the member spreadsheet... eventually. Just give them back when you're done.
➢ Viktor and K's efforts have resulted in the lunar generator coming online and bringing lunar lighting and cooling throughout the building via a cold-pale bloodstone network. Rejoice!
➢ There is now a small, hidden stash of coffee bartered from Dabi. Someone might have to pry it from Viktor's jittery fingers.
This log is WIDE OPEN for Tanabata festivities and serves as the general log for Sanctuary for the month. Go wild and do whatever you want, have fun with your top levels, etc. :)
no subject
But it's hard to know the exact limits as to it yet. Other than roses being hard. ]
Or have you just not tried yet? [ That's always a valid option too, since she knows Break doesn't like pushing his magic as much as Ange does - for understandable reasons, given that Ange is mostly just amplifying what was already there for her magic-wise with the blood magic she's been given here. It's a lot more safe, even without taking Break's situation into account on top of it. ]
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I've tried a little. [He is talking with his mouth full, but is at least polite enough to keep an elegant hand up over his mouth for this.] Miss Wanda can do donuts and all sorts of things, and -- Mister Qrow came to me with the problem of orange soda once, on behalf of that kid who was wanting to start up a pizza parlor. It became a terribly funny way for us to wile away an evening, but what was funny was all the ways I was failing, you know?
[Farewell, onigiri. But although it is gone now, Break doesn't actually immediately shove the ice cream in his mouth. This is a subject he's really trying to get right, and Ange is one of the primary people in his life who might be able to help him get to the bottom of it.]
It rather feels like...others who do this sort of magic can simply waltz into a restaurant and pick up something to eat, and then they have that thing lickety split. If I want that thing, I have to make it from scratch. Even the roses --
[Break lifts a hand, and in a fizz of purple light which is entirely unnecessary but which he uses as a visual cue for himself, a red rose blooms out of nothing. Tellingly, it doesn't appear in its completed state right away -- it really does bloom, emerging first as a bud that then unfolds. And, it remains solidly red for a moment before he gives its coloring a nudge, and streaks of gold appear at the edges of the petals.]
...I can make them quickly now, but I still have to go through each step, you know? Just as whipping up a loaf of bread has become something natural over time, but it's not as though I can skip this or rush that and have it still turn out.
no subject
On the other hand, she also knows that Break wouldn't share so much about his magic journey with her if he didn't have a good reason for it. Sure, their mutual trust is probably a good part of said reason, but he's well aware of her own magic as well. It feels a little like him confiding in her to some level, especially with the demonstration here.
(One that actually kind of impresses her, even if it doesn't show much. It's kind of nice that he put a personal edge on it, and even though it does take a few moments for the flower to fully bloom in front of her eyes, it still does bloom, despite him having said he was having trouble with roses before.)
But it means she does take what he's saying seriously, despite the little kid tantrum he just threw. Just going along with the shift in conversation here. ]
It could be a difference in the type of magic. [ She slowly says, staring at the flower. ] After all, a lot of us still carry the magic we had back in our own worlds with us here. I don't think my blood magic would look the way it does if it wasn't just enhancing my own magic.
[ So that might make it easier for people. More experience, more time having used it - or just having a different sort of magic within themselves. Even if Ange may not be an expert on magic, it's what she assumes. ]
.. not to mention that roses are probably harder because they're alive. It's just like how this [ - she gestures at the float - ] is harder because it actually has to be edible. It's not like conjuring up a hollow illusion.
[ That's part of what she has experienced herself, at least. ]
Sometimes you can build in slight cheats though that make it easier. I've found that it's easier for me to conjure something up when I associate it with someone. I think the only reason I'm able to conjure up sweets like this that actually taste like sweets is because they remind me a lot of both you and Ruby. It makes it a whole lot easier.
[ .. and that also has some implications about why the thought of Ruby and Break specifically makes it easier, like a certain level of fondness.
But it's not like she's going to say that out loud, thanks. Just letting the implication hang in the air is already A Lot. Without love, it truly can't be seen... ]
no subject
Looking back on things with his current struggles in mind, it's sort of hilarious how much he didn't know he didn't know, honestly.]
I didn't find out I had powers of my own until the very end of it all, and so...I don't know what was me and what was the Mad Hatter, what I've lost and what I may have carried with me. And, it's not as though there's anyone here I can ask. However, a Chain goes to the Contractor that suits it best, and the Hatter was created by Alice for me alone. Well. The Hatter's primary purpose was destruction and the one thing I ever knowingly did on my own was tear a hole between dimensions, so -- that's not really promising, is it...?
[There are a great many connections Break isn't completely making here. The Hatter was meant for destruction, yes, but only the destruction of that which came from the Abyss; it had no power to hurt ordinary humans at all. He views that last act as something violent, something that involved ripping and breaking. But his intention at the time was to use everything he had left to give the kids a way to move forward.
Unbeknownst to him, a solid foundation has already been laid down for him to climb on, in regards to the self-reflection he's going to need to sort this out. White Alice's firm insistence that he's even more her knight here than he ever was back home is part of it. But he'll need more incidents like restoring his own eyesight because Ange asked him to before he really starts to figure it out, let alone start to believe in it.]
The rest was all...seeing things, I suppose. [As he speaks, unaware of the thought of Ange's he's echoing, he gives the rose a stem, free of thorns. This he does by moving his fingers along where a stem should be, convincing himself it's there until reality agrees with him.] To say nothing of a penchant for getting into places I really had no business being in. I thought all along those abilities were the Hatter or a result of my connection to Alice. The people who could tell me are not exactly people I wish to have here.
[Reaching out, he slides the rose carefully into Ange's hair, subtly shifting the color again so the red of the rose won't clash against the red of her hair. It doesn't match her outfit at all, but he knows Ruby is around tonight, and having it will probably amuse them.]
Associations, huh.
1/2
.. maybe that's why magic works the way it does for you. [ She instead says, focusing on the conversation like the flower incident just now never happened. ]
Since the Mad Hatter was all about destruction, it could mean that to actually bring something into the world, you'd have to construct it first. [ Like how Break was describing it a moment ago. Having to imagine the components, and building it up.. It's very different from the way Ange has ever experienced magic. ] You know, like two sides of the same coin. Magic worked like that for a lot of the witches I knew back home.
[ Beatrice, able to kill people, only to revive them. Maria, whose magic was all about giving life where there had never been any, but also able to take away life, like she did with her mother in that fantasy. ]
Of course it could also just be that it's since you're still getting used to this magic. It's really too early still to be able to tell for sure.
no subject
I do hope your ability sticks to that though, because I'd really hate for you to regain some ability to show up anywhere. I don't need you there in the bathroom while I'm trying to take an elegant dump.
[ Thanks, Ange.
Very helpful.
Maybe she's just trying to get rid of some of the cute and sappy jitters she gets from Break doing something as sweet as placing a flower in her hair like that. Deadpan is the only way, even in the middle of a serious conversation. ]
no subject
What an unladylike thing to say! Please. I'd never invade a washroom so. I did pop out from underneath Miss Alice's bed once, however. She threw the whole bed at me over it. It was really remarkable!
[He'd actually been referring to the fact that he has found himself in dimensions he should not have been able to reach multiple times and did not realize this was not normal until just before the hole-tearing incident. His old teleport-through-the-cabinets habit, after all, had been due to Sharon's Chain being placed in his shadow so that she could use him as her personal spy, not the Hatter. But Ange stumbling so upon one of his most beloved ways to terrorize everyone around him is just too hilarious not to acknowledge.
He swipes up his root beer float again and takes a big sip of it, before she decides maybe he does not deserve any treats.]
-- oh, fizzy bubbles on ice cream really is a work of genius, isn't it?
no subject
It's a miracle Break only occasionally loses his eyesight and not also his hearing, living like that.
Ange doesn't remark any of it though. Instead she stares at Break as he partakes in his treat, thankfully not looking like she's about to take it from him.
For now.
Instead she lets out a huff of breath. Not one that seems too offended though. ]
You're so easily pleased. You should really ask me for these sorts of things more often if you like them so much. [ Because of course Ange would spoil Break with treats - during moments she isn't too busy throwing things at his head instead. anyway. He's one of her favourite people. And it's got to be harder to bring treats back home as easily as before, with Lysithea being gone. ]
no subject
[If Ange has ever once in her life suspected that Break is inordinately difficult entirely on purpose because sooner or later everyone around him resorts to bribery -- she was correct, and as with most things, he is not even a little bit sorry.
Observe: He had a dramatic little snit, and Ange has given him a root beer float over it. Xerxes wins again...!]
no subject
[ Xerxes Break, you are entering the Danger Zone.
Just look at that smile on Ange's face. That's not genuine. Ange doesn't smile that easily, now does she!! ]
To.. 'train' everyone, is it? And here I thought you'd realise that I'm just exceptionally kind to you.. I guess I must have been wrong?
[ There's totally a single golden butterfly sneaking into the back of Break's clothes, fluttering about to make his back extremely itchy in this moment.
Eat shit, one of her top favourite people in this entire town!!! ]
no subject
Baltus, who has spent the bulk of this conversation lounging affectionately between them, lets out one of his keh keh keh snickers and rolls to his feet. Giving himself a shake to rid himself of Break's heebie jeebies, he sits himself down on Ange's foot and leans up against her for more scritches.
In a wicked echo of Break's earlier philosophy on pickled plums, the omen says:]
It is good to see him feeling so energetic.
[Like omen, like person. Break deserves his.]