[F27-EVENT-2024] Diwali

[Acanthus 0]

Acanthus knelt for a long time, pondering the lightness of the candle. Her mind wandered back to her parents, as the prompt commanded.

To say her parents guided was… a kind way to think about it. They had loved in their own ways, but they seemed to adopt opposite, equally ineffective approaches to her childhood. Thoughts of her father barking at her like a drill sergeant invaded her mind. 

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He would take one look at her gi and say, “Don’t dress in rags.” Crack.
He would look at the sweat rolling off of her and say, “Don’t exert yourself—allow me.” Crack.
He would look at her knuckles, red and bare, and say “You are ruining yourself.” Crack.

Her mother's quiet acceptance.

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“Your garden looks beautiful, Haru.” Now it was Haru’s turn to look puzzled. “Mama, that’s your garden.”

Regardless of how she felt, it would be rude to not offer them both a blessing. “To our parents who guide our journey, we grant of you this blessing.” She lit the diya.

* * *

‘To our parents who guide our journey, we grant of you this blessing.’
‘To our friends who walk alongside us, we grant of you this blessing.’
‘To our siblings who stand with us, we grant of you this blessing.’
‘To our partners who stay with us, we grant of you this blessing.’
‘To those who will come after us, we will owe to you this blessing.’

Edited Sunday at 12:41 AM by Acanthus

[3ulogy 0]

“Fuck, that last blessing sucked, man. Who even came up with all of these?” Eulogy stomped over to the next set of blessings, where the lamplighter waited obediently.
“Partners, huh? Trick question. Never really had any partners. Oh yeah,” Eulogy scanned over the NPC. “You’re probably checking the dialogue for keywords. Hm, love, acceptance, appreciate, gracious, forgiving… C'mon, you stupid—” Eulogy caught himself. Another group of players were making their approach, and almost within earshot.

“I guess I did have a partner. Kohitsuji was there for me right at the beginning. She really embodied all of those kind words I was… reciting… in that moment.” The words coming out of his mouth were true, but the emotion behind them was lacking. For whatever reason, the lamplighter remained impassive. “You’re kinda demanding, aren’t you?” The boy grumbled. He searched for something authentic. “Kohitsuji… deserved better than what I had to offer. She was too kind. She trusted everyone. And she stayed with me. And that’s why she’s not here anymore.”

The lamplighter lit the penultimate candle. Eulogy groaned. This stupid game got him monologuing yet again. Maybe this hadn’t been worth the experience.

* * *

‘To our parents who guide our journey, we grant of you this blessing.’
‘To our friends who walk alongside us, we grant of you this blessing.’
‘To our siblings who stand with us, we grant of you this blessing.’
‘To our partners who stay with us, we grant of you this blessing.’
‘To those who will come after us, we will owe to you this blessing.’

Edited Sunday at 12:41 AM by 3ulogy

[Scarlet Firefly 0]

After her last turn in the cup game, Firefly found herself alone. That didn’t bother her though! That meant more time to wander and witness all the lovely sights at her own pace without anyone feeling restless. Firefly would do just that, wandering the event grounds taking in all the smells and sights that she could.

Sooner or later she would find herself in front of a man named Jai. He would offer her a chance to play a board game called Gyan Chauper. “I’ve never heard of it before, but I would be glad to give it a try if you could teach me!”

Some time spent engaging with the rules was not enough to nail down strategy, however. She was beat rather soundly in the three games played but Jai was nice enough to still give her rewards for her efforts: A small bag of candy was her consolation prize. She would stow it away for a later indulgence. “Thank you sir!” The woman would say before being on her way.

---

ID#237724-6

CD: 2, 4 and 3 = 9

Prize Won: Landu(5) Prosp III

Edited Monday at 05:22 AM by Scarlet Firefly

[Mishiro 0]

her hand drops from his sleeve when the moment has been quietly tucked away.

she listens.

the strange truth is, she knows so little of pinball outside of their shared history. pinball begins and ends on the day she dropped him a generous change for knife tricks and on everything she has seen and heard from him since. there is a name she mutters into the air between them. (she decides: not today.) there are questions she thinks she’ll receive answers to if she asks. but aren’t ten years more than enough? she thinks, they ought to be. ‘before’ is a momentous breach.

she listens, anyway. asks, “did your parents buy you the nervegear?” because in this, she could return an answer.

| ‘to our siblings who stand with us, we grant of you this blessing.’

“i wanted to walk again.”

she confesses. (she told him all this years before.)

“so sibyl bought ours.” her index raises to her lips. “don’t tell him i said so. my asks and his answers -- neither of us would have been here without. he said, it was senseless to measure the weight of our blames. to feel guilt at all because neither of us could have guessed what would happen. but i feel sometimes that we have never stopped apologizing.”

she returns her hand to the diya and her request for secrecy dispels. “from another perspective, many people were separated from their families when the servers locked. or had them here… and lost them. i think -- i’ve always thought -- that i’m incredibly fortunate to be one of the few who has never gone through such a thing.”

she imagines a dead woman’s memory knocking. she imagines gently setting it aside for just another sentence. in the half-light, her lashes are lowered, her words delicate. “if this even raises our chances by the smallest percentage, i pray that my brother and i both reach the end.”

the diya warms.

even mishiro isn't naive enough to interpret this response in any way other than the system's indication that she had received the promised reward for the required outpouring of sentiment. numbers for numbers, down to the smallest binary. it is all this world amounts to. but before she gently settles the lamp back into the basket, her gaze lingers on the inscription.

Edited yesterday at 06:40 AM by Mishiro

[Andromeda 0]

--They did go for another round because Arabelle refused to leave with the knowledge that she had accidentally taken An’s just reward. An, tragically, liked her even more for it. They took ten lamps from Dayanita the second time, just to be sure, realized that staring intensely at the inscriptions didn’t count, then talked it all through once again. By the end of the lamplighting activity, the horses safely returned to the stables, An was physically and mentally exhausted. But she was grateful.

Arabelle left first. “All this riding in the dark has left me feeling drowsy. Text me when you get home! …Though I might be asleep for it.” She floated off and hardly spared a glance over her shoulder at An, waving her goodbye with a smile.

An, for some reason, didn’t want to leave yet.

She wandered over to the pallankuli tables and had the rules explained to her. A group of friends had crowded this same stall earlier, sparking her curiosity for the game, but she had thought it was rude to peek inside while they were still playing. Thrice, she slid the shells into their respective counters, evening the count for both sides. She went to play a fourth time but a system notification barred her from accessing the board. In the end, she didn’t understand what made it so fun.

An went home.

GAME #1
Moving nine (9) crystals from Row #1:

400  651  [14]
133  124  [14]

GAME #1
Moving one (1) crystals from Row #1:

400  650  [15]
133  124  [14]

GAME #1
Moving two (2) crystals from Row #2:

400  650  [15]
133  105  [15]

Edited 5 hours ago by Andromeda