pumpkinhollow | July Mini Event

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It’s the end of July. Summer is peaking, hitting its stride. In the forest, frogs sing and fireflies dance through the night, and dragonflies go about their business in the sun. In town, farmers roll up their sleeves and young ladies swap out their many layers for breezy floral gowns. And on the beach, swimmers take to the sea for water at its warmest and young crabs climb up from the sun-drenched sand. Kora’s glory at its finest!

For about a week now, a flier has been up on the community bulletin board. :

Midsummer Beach Festival!

Join us on July 21st and 22nd for our annual beach bash!

Organized by the Temple of Sacred Roots in tandem with Town Hall, all townsfolk are invited to join in for seaside festivities in honor of the height of summer. Activities will include:

Live music (Sign-ups for performers will be available at Empty Pockets Music Bar)
Locally made strawberry wine from last summer’s strawberries
Beach pit barbecues for lunch on both days
A hot food banquet for dinner on the 21st
A fish fry breakfast on the 22nd
Paper lantern float
Beach games
Tents and bed rolls for beach camping

We look forward to seeing you there!

And, as promised, the festival opens up on the afternoon of July 21st, where the smell of barbecue rises up from Tawny Beach. Tables sit on wooden plinths to avoid sinking in the sand, bearing fresh summer fruit and drinks. Pork, fish, and lamb roast in a sand pit. Enchanted barrels covered in magic frost keep frozen treats like orange juice shaved ice and strawberry sorbet cold. A station for assembling little wood-and-paper floating lanterns can be seen off in the distance and Cormac and the Banshees are setting up for their opening set. Tents and bed rolls have been set up toward the Marina. Literally everything is decorated with thin golden coins on strands of twine, sea shells, and sea glass. In the center of it all, stones have been laid into the shape of a massive compass rose, whose center houses the makings of a bonfire.

Those who were here last year will recognize that this festival is much larger than last year’s, and was not preceded with desperate pleas from Town Hall for help providing food and decor. It speaks plainly to the health of the town now. Even with all that has been going on, the growing population and renewed sense of community and purpose have improved matters around the island considerably.

Near the tent area, a family of crabs (one red, one blue, and three purple) can be observed. The small purple ones are poking each other with sticks. The Limoncello has made port, and Royal and his crew are splitting helper duty with the staff of Town Hall, and are dancing and partying the rest of the time. All is as it should be. For once, there is no dangerous surprise lurking in the shadows.

So, what’s on your agenda? During the day, volleyball, swimming, and a game that involves throwing small fabric sacks of dry lentils into wooden hoops in the sand can be enjoyed, alongside a plethora of frozen treats. At night, food and wine and lemonade are served at the banquet tables and lively music plays on the temporary wooden stage for dancing by firelight. There is also the lantern float, which encourages participants to send a glowing lantern out on the water in honor of the lost and the distant, ending the first night in a moment of peaceful sobriety. You may also notice a charming stranger milling around, cozying up to Royal, and drinking after nightfall--- a woman with dark olive skin, raven hair that soaks up the firelight, and rum brown eyes who wears a billowing blue dress and (whenever she hasn’t placed it onto someone else’s head for fun) a wide-brimmed black hat.

Then, at night, camp on the beach under the stars or head home by additional lantern light. The festivities will continue until the following afternoon! Feel free to share your beach fit in the fashion show thread below, as well. Enjoy!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Claunthe demanded blood for Max's passage off that insect infested ship, but I could have killed anyone and it would never have been traced back to me. I chose Erik because I wanted to kill him and I wanted him to know it was me and I wanted to get away with it."

And she had.

"This is why I can't join the enforcers. Too many temptations to kill and get away with it."

It's hard to shrug when you're floating in the water, but she's doing it. Valdis's hatred for Erik makes more sense, now that Fever knows the story - but Fever'd promised Max, and besides, Erik only needs one fearsome and powerful woman after his soul.

"Did you have fun?"

"I get away with it because Erik loves Max and his death paid Max's debt to Claunthe. Me being an enforcer had nothing to do with it."

She's not that corrupt, in fact, that never even crossed her mind.

"Max's love shields me from retaliation from Erik or his allies. It was the chance and excuse I was looking for...but no...it wasn't fun."

"Then it doesn't count. You didn't have fun, and it was for Max's sake. So terribly selfish of you, making sure your beloved had no demon's debt around his neck. So manipulative of you, I truly see the machinations."

The lightness of her words is teasing, but very gentle about it.

Valdis takes a breath and resists the urge to roll her eyes.

"You might be the only one who sees it that way."

But...it's nice that someone does. That someone sees that while what she did may not have been right, it hadn't been a truly indulgent act. If there hadn't been a debt, she may never have killed Erik.

"Still, I suppose he's far luckier than Kevin when all is said and done."

"Gods, that man. Never before have I so wished to call up a soul from the afterlife just so I could indulge in tearing him apart. And in a place absent death, I could do it again, and again, and again, finding every novelty in it."

It's impossible, but it's a nice little fantasy to have fun with.

"I'd have a great deal of fun with it, but." She raises her hand from the water, idly gesturing. "I'd also be fine if I never see him again."

Valdis closes her eyes and releases a short laugh.

"His fear would be all I need. I might kill him once for good measure, but better to let him live in fear of me and bend to my will than for him to just die over and over again."

"You're more gracious than me. Here I was planning to see how long he could survive without his skin."

She hasn't forgiven him for sickening her so in that Village.

"Kevin aside, though, you still haven't told me something you've done that's actually selfish."

Not for the first time, Valdis appreciates the fact that Fever is her friend.

"How would you define selfish then?"

"Something you do for your own pleasure and no one else's. No debts, no burdens - just because you want to. It doesn't have to be something cruel. Just something where you give nothing of yourself to someone else."

Plenty of things fall under that umbrella. Even swimming like this might count, but Fever's not going to let her off that easily.

Valdis stays silent, because she really can't think of anything she's purposefully gone out of her way to do that falls under that particular definition.

"I'm certainly not selfless if that's what you are trying to imply."

That would require her to be a good person, which she is not.

"I'm implying nothing. I'm just answering your question."

And if Valdis doesn't have a clear idea? Then it'll be something to think on until she does.

Valdis lets herself sink under the water, closing her eyes and holding her breath, trying to remember in she's ever done something fun and beneficial to only herself.

She can't.

She releases bubbles and breaches the water finding Fever's gaze before finally answering.

"I haven't lived in so long, I've forgotten how."

If anyone on this isle was to understand forgetting, it'd be Fever.

"If you're making this place a home, then it's worth figuring out how to do that again. I'll help. Max will help. So will everyone else who cares about you."

She says this like she didn't have to physically wrestle with the concept of building home, but do as she says, not as she does. Let her have the hard work of it in private.

"I know."

But that doesn't make it easy, especially when she knows Fever struggles with the same things she does. Getting over the past and finding a new, worthwhile life here, with people they love.

Fever considers this for a moment, before she drifts a little closer to Valdis. Perfectly innocent.

And then splashes her with the seawater when she seems to have her thoughts elsewhere.

"Hey."

Valdis splutters as the water hits her in the face. She splashes Fever in return, then flips around to try to escape what she is certain will be another splash.

She laughs out loud to get hit with the water back, and does immediately try to get her in return. It might not hit, but it's a bigger one, and Fever's still giggling.

It's easiest to live, after all, when you are not thinking so very hard about the process and are instead doing.

The wave moves over her head as she dives down under the water and swims back toward shore. She breaks above the water once she's a short distance away.

"Race you to shore!"

"No fair!"

There's delight in the words, though, as Fever scrambles to follow her. With her lead, Valdis will win, but Fever's going to give it her best shot, eventually ending back up at the beach laughing over it. That was fun - just earnest, delighted fun.

Valdis doesn't care about fairness in this instance, only winning, and when her feet touch sand she runs through the water to collapse onto the sand in the moving surf, laughing in a way she hasn't laughed in a long time.

She'll have to do better at finding things that make her laugh.

"I win." she sighs as Fever comes up alongside her.

"Next time, I'm going to beat you."

Bold words from the woman who's ruffling her hair to try and stop it from dripping down her back.

"I'll...I don't know, cast Haste on myself or something. Revel in your victory, for it will not be forever."

But they're both smiling, and that's the entire point of this. No thoughts about myriad scars or staying or going - just existing in the present moment.

July Mini Event - Seaside Sway

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