synflux | 🎉 TANABATA FESTIVAL 🎊

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🎉 TANABATA FESTIVAL 🎊

WHO: Everyone in Neo Tokyo
WHAT: Tanabata festival! 🎉
WHERE: In the centre of the park
WHEN: 17/07 onwards
WARNINGS: N/A

NEO TOKYO TANABATA

aka operation festival funtime

As the middle of July opens, the streets outside of Neo Tokyo seem to get decorated almost overnight. Colourful origami banners hang from the trees, a mixture of tanzaku, kamigoromo, orizuru and toami.

For anyone who has been to the Sendai region in the midst of the Summer months, the decorations will look almost endearingly familiar; it's time for tanabata!

▶ 001. OPERATION: FESTIVAL FUNTIME.

The savvier of people might notice a particularly bright shock of pink hair running around in the early hours of the morning, taking part in setting up the decorations and putting together a basic layout of tables with tablecloths and various goods and prizes. Each decoration is hand made, and if you look closely you might see little golden traces throughout, giving a clue to who helped made these ones. There's something infectious about his enthusiasm and the delight, even as he gets a little more tired as the day goes on - there's nothing stopping him. Eventually, his section of the festival is set up; there are various stands, some for making decorations (bamboo branches with ornaments, more paper ornaments, origami, and various other cute and traditional arts and crafts), some space for you to take a break and have a fruity and always non-alcoholic drink and an area with a handsome backdrop for the taking of photos.

He's not alone, though!

Raidou's looking livelier than he has than in the last few weeks. He's helping the festival in an organizational capacity, while Yuji handles most other things. He sets up the stands, moves and directs supplies to the right place, picks out spots for decorations, and makes sure both vendors and visitors have everything they need. If you stop to ask him a question or ask for direction, you get a quick, polite answer before he flits off to the next task.

Once things are running smoothly, you'll find him working at one of the food booths, where he's frying up takoyaki and taiyaki. Raidou couldn't be more in his element - serving up fresh food and treats to the Outsiders and the community. You might even get your food handed to you from him with a smile.

At night, the festival is lit up with fireworks and sparklers throughout, lighting up the sky with explosions of little joy and happiness.

Throughout the festival, you can also get a free bento, delivered to you by a cute looking rabbit. The bentos come in many designs, cute, adorable or precious!

▶ 002. A DREAM IS A WISH.

One of the most exciting aspects of tanabata remains the wish-making. In the set-up for the festival, there are little posters left around near one particular booth (manned by local cryptid Choso) to explain the story of the festival and the meaning that it holds. Alongside it are an almost ridiculous amount of paper strips in various colours, left with some pens and calligraphy brushes for people to pick up and use. A big sign next to it declares the following:

Make a wish! If it's a good one, it might come true!
The directions are clear: write your wish on a strip of paper and hang it on one of the bamboo decorations. The harder you wish, the more likely it is to come true - and there are some prompts for the kind of wishes people could make, just in case you're strapped for ideas:

Academic or work successes
Prosperity or good health
Care and love for family and friends
Success in love or platonic relationships
Fulfilment of a personal goal or ambition

You might notice Yuji watching as you're tying your wishes up... Don't worry about that!

If you require further assistance in your wish-making (or even if you don't at all) Choso seems more than happy to lend a helping hand. When he isn't cutting up paper strips and sorting them out into strangely-organized piles (paper thickness instead of size or colour), he's preparing the calligraphy ink via manual inkstone grinding or offering an absurdly wide variety of coloured (and scented) markers for your convenience.

The strips of wishes can be as decorative or simple as you like, so don't stress about your artistic genius!

( ooc note: If you would like Yuji to take a shot at making your wish come true, please respond to this comment! There will be some RNG "granted wishes" that you can use in your top level and keep as a fond memory, but please note there is only one "granted wish" per character. )

▶ 003. AS THE POETS SAY.

In the centre of the festival, in the midst of a park with vibrant flowers, is a table where Yuji sits for a few hours at a time between breaks. He seems to be practically vibrating out of his seat, and when approached he launches into an explanation of this particular game:

THE SOULMATE GAME!

The aim of the game is simple: you are given a ribbon at random with a number on it. Your mission? Find the person with the matching ribbon within a time limit of an hour and win a special prize. Don't worry though... If you lose, there's a prize for not quite making it within the limit. The festival is meant to be a celebration, after all, and Yuji doesn't want anyone to miss out.

Here's the problem: Yuji isn't making it easy for people to find their soulmate. He's not left a boundary for how far you can go (in case you were tempted to hide...) nor has he done anything to make the festival less distracting. This area is set up with your traditional festival games, such as (fake) goldfish scooping, ring toss and some chairs and tables set out for food and conversation.

To make it worse? Sometimes, Yuji might pop up and give you a hint to go in a particular direction, only for it to be a total red herring. This is definitely fun, isn't it? Who doesn't love a good chase? The problem is...

Will you find your soulmate in time...?

( ooc note: If you would like to win (or lose) at the soulmate game, please respond to this comment! Go ahead and OOCly decide who your character gets paired with and whether or not you win or lose - there are different prizes for each. You can play the soulmate game as many times as you want ICly, but you will only get one prize roll per character! )

▶ 004. TINY FRAGMENTS THAT REMAIN.

NOTE: THIS PROMPT WILL REFER TO THINGS THAT ARE SPOILERS FOR JUJUTSU KAISEN CHAPTER 264 ( refering to Yuji's powers and how he uses them in a fight ).
Here's the thing: Yuji wants everyone to have fun. His dream is that people are able to find some joy and peace in the midst of the darkness of the last few weeks, and so he sinks into something that is familiar to him - cursed energy, and his domain expansion. In the early hours of the second day of his festival, you might catch him making a hand sign before a ripple of powers hits, collecting around the area of the festival like a literal bubble. Anyone on the edge of the bubble will see it like a flickering, semi-transparent void, but there's nothing to worry about... Right?

The power of Yuji's domain expansion is simple enough, in theory: it transports into the memories, digs into the heart of what people want to show. His intention is to share the tanabata of his childhood with the people of Neo Tokyo and spark some joy for the Outsiders who have been through so much. He wants to show them something sweet and nostalgic, but he doesn't quite anticipate the side effect.

Outsiders who end up stepping into Yuji's domain will find themselves able to come face-to-face with their childhood selves, and enjoy the festival together. If they're together with another Outsider, those childhood versions of themselves (shaped in the way they remember themselves rather than how they actually looked!) are visible and shared, like an extension of their thoughts come to life.

It's still tanabata, but this particular part of the festival is influenced by what Yuji remembers from his youth, and Outsiders can find themselves seeing and being able to take part in various activities:

Crayfish catching (try and get the biggest or rarest one!)
Archery (can you beat your friends and get the bullseye?)
Horse riding (and you might hear Yuji commenting on how big their faces are)
Parades (are you going to join in?)
And anything else you can dream up! It's your character's childhood too, right...?

As soon as Yuji realises his mistake (at the end of the day, lost in his own memories) he brings down the domain, but it might be too late for some Outsiders who have come face to face with their more adorable versions. Whoops.

EVENT BREAKDOWN (CLICK TO EXPAND)

1. OPERATION: FESTIVAL FUNTIME: The festival is being set up by Yuji and Raidou, with support from other Outsiders to make decorations. Food and other entertainment is on offer for anyone who attends, but all drinks are non-alcoholic.

2. A DREAM IS A WISH: Outsiders are given the chance to take part in the tanabata tradition of wish making. They can decorate paper with their wish and hang it up in the hope it will come true. Yuji will be granting one wish per outsider.

3. AS THE POETS SAY: The "Soulmate Game" has characters being randomly assigned numbers and tasked with finding their matching pair to win a prize. They have an hour to find their partner and, win or lose, there is a prize for taking part.

4. TINY FRAGMENTS THAT REMAIN: Yuji uses his domain expansion to bring Sendai tanabata to life, that has the accidental side effect of allowing Outsiders to meet and see their childhood selves. It also allows them to visit Sendai itself and take part in some other minigames that are not tanabata related if they want.

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I was. [Taryon nods. Of course he's adorable as a boy. Who can say otherwise?]

...I'm waiting before I talk to him. Let him get used to this place before I astound him with a vision od his future, you know.

He seems rather used to it, unless digging in the dirt like a mongrel is an anxiety response?

[He says wryly, his smirk cut off by a tug at his sleeve. He looks down, startled, as if he had forgotten the weird child was there.

"I want to play," the child demands, the voice also strange, faint like a faded memory, but still with a sharp demand akin to Astarion. Astarion opens his mouth, makes a sound, but hesitates to answer.]

[And there's a slightly offended look from Taryon.] Hey! I think all little boys dig for treasure at some point in their life.

[Or he was the only weird one pretending he was a pirate.]

He wants to play with you. [He gestures at the vague outline of a child before leaning in to whisper.] What's wrong with him? Did they mess up the illusion magic?

Edited 2025-07-29 00:51 (UTC)

[He glances from the boy to Taryon, his expression more sad than anything. He whispers back:]

I...heard someone say it is based on memories...

[Then he turns back to the child.]

Why don't you go play with that little boy over there, hmm? Would that be all right with you, Taryon?

So, your memories...

[He looks at the elf boy's face, which is a vague drawing of someone with two eyes, a mouth, and a nose between them. He can't even tell what color those irises are meant to be. Not red, he can tell.]

Actually, yes! Go play with that other boy, he looks lonely.

[Despite the small, simpler Doty sitting beside the child as he does the hard work of digging in mud.]

[The child Astarion looks at the wee Taryon and it's a bit hard to tell what he thinks of the suggestion. A little disdain, a little curiosity? So hard to tell with an Astarion sometimes. But eventually he releases Astarion's sleeve and heads over to the blond boy.

Once he is out of earshot, he says:]

Yes. I don't remember much of my past... Vagueness, but details are quite gone. Hazy at best.

Like what? It looks like you weren't poor when you were young, so your family mist have done something important.

[The small Darrington looks up from his task to find someone else approaching him. He freezes, but seeing no immediate threat of bullying, then stands up to say hello.]

I think we were well off, but not rich by any means--there was a reason I became a magistrate, and a glut of money wasn't it. [He watches the children, squinting when the small Taryon either hasn't noticed the oddity with his child self, or is somehow not bothered? Child Astarion answers back with a short bow, and a "greetings".] They were employed within the government of Baldur's Gate, but if my life depending on saying just what... [He snorts.] Though that most likely speaks on what dull work they performed, if they were in a position of power I'm sure I would remember.

Any position in the government can be a powerful one if you have enough money.

[Little Tary thinks this is a game of mock formality and bows back with a "salutations" before asking if Little Astarion wants to look for treasure.]

But nothing that would make them public figures, if that's what you're saying. [Rich, but not infamous like the Darringtons.] ...Do you know what happened to them? Are they...is the house still there?

[Little Astarion most certainly does not, look at his clothes and his clean, pale knees. But he is happy to play foreman to the miner that is Little Taryon.]

No, they had quickly fallen out of love with Baldur's Gate--well, quick for elves, that is. They returned to where they had hailed from, but I stayed to pursue the magistrate path when I was in my twenties.

[A long pause, his gaze turns up, away from the children.]

We rarely sent letters or the such. They may still not know their son is dead, if they are even still living themselves.

[Almost an impossibility; he's sure at some point they might have become suspicious that something had happened to their son some decades after he had been turned. But all he can say for sure he has never seen them since they had left the city.]

Not even after 200...?

[Taryon stops himself from asking if his parents even cared about him enough to check on his well-being in-person. It wasn't like he ran away from home to secretely work in law, requiring his parents to hire a bounty hunter to track him down, drug him, and kidnap him to his house.

No, not all rich families are like the Darringtons.] That's hard to think about. One decade is a lot of time for humans to go without talking to each other.

A lot of time for a people that don't live long.

[That says less biting, more wistful, as if it has been on his mind how mortal Taryon is a number of times before.]

But it may not be common amongst elves, either? Tch, hells if I know. I didn't converse about parents to anyone, let alone other elves. It doesn't really matter, in the end, any of it.

[His voice grows bitter and sharp. He doesn't relish the thought of them being alive and finding out the monster he has become. That's a rather harsh failure to admit to your folks.

As they talk, Little Taryon begins to work in the dirt like a diligent miner, Little Astarion watching over him like a good foreman, telling him to dig faster, deeper, over there, over here. His voice sounds like he wants to be barking the orders, but the voice is still rather faint, sounds too old.]

[Young Taryon is used to following the orders of others, and his digging continues, hoping to impress the elf. As long as the other child sticks around, Taryon is successfully making a friend, though their current relationship is an unequal one of a boss and a worker.]

Why does hes sound like that? [The voice is too deep for an elf that age, and Taryon is extremely certain that Astarion wouldn't be going through puberty so young.] ...Do you remember nothing about being a kid? Even I...

[Most of his childhood memories - at least, the ones he maintains and goes back to - are of himself in his room, exploring fantasy worlds. Some are of himself and Doty exploring the estate grounds, but he knows how he sounded, he thinks. He knows he spoke like a little boy.]

...Do most elves forget when they live this long?

We remember as much as you humans do, but because we live longer we have more to forget. I imagine what we lose is unique to ourselves. [He frowns, so deep it makes his wrinkles stand out more.] However, what I have been through... I think it has affected more of my mind than I thought.

Hm. [There's always the centuries of torture that impacts everything about Astarion. His clinginess, his anger, the joy he has when Taryon doesn't want to have sex every night, and now his memories.]

Can you remember much from before...that? [Surely, there's more to his memory than his time as a magistrate.]

Ah, broad strokes. Like--

[He doesn't know what transpired fully, but it seemed Little Taryon tried to show Little Astarion a stone he dug up proudly and the small elf responded to it by dropping a worm on Taryon's head.]

Oh!

[He looks away with an ugly shirt of laughter, trying to stifle it behind his hand.]

Hey! [Taryon is offended on his behalf! He turns to the older Astarion.] You did that to me!

[He leaves their spot to tend to his younger self. At such a tender age, a worm on his head is an incredible insult to his childish pride.]

I did?

[He asks, trying to sounded offended through his deep amusement. He follows after the rushing Taryon, and once near the children he leans over his younger self with his hands on his hips.]

Astarion! Did you ask if your little friend wanted a worm on his head first?

[He sounds so fatherly right now, if "fatherly" meant "tickled".

"No," his smaller self says matter-of-factly.]

[Taryon kneels by the blond boy and wipes at the dirt caught in his hair. The worm is held between his thumb and forefinger, and he makes a big show of tossing it into the grass near the road. A bird soon lands nearby in search of this surprise meal.]

There, there. See? It's gone now.

[He pats young Tary on the back, who rubs his hair one last time in a panic. The boy lowers his arms to stare at this older man heroically ran in to defend him.

"Thank you," he says as he rubs his face with the back of a hand.]

[He looks from the little blond boy (was he crying?) to Taryon, and asks:]

Not the first time you have had a worm put in your hair?

["No," says the boy.]

Not-- the intent is similar, but my sister didn't dig up worms often...

[The older Taryon stands, holding the hand of his younger self.]

It's the broken trust, is all.

What trust? They just met.

[But he looks at one Taryon to the other and he sighs as he realizes he likes Taryon far too much to not feel bad, even when it technically wasn't him that did the worming. He nudges little Astarion.]

Go on, apologies. You made him sad.

["What? No!"

Astarion kneels down on one knee, and holds a hand up to cover the little pointed ear and whispers, though still audible enough for anyone to hear:]

If you say you're sorry and be nice to him he might give you a little smooch on the cheek later, wouldn't you like that?

[The little him blushes, a proper, living blush, and remarks in a voice that has started to sound younger the more he spoke, "From a human??"]

[Taryon clamps his hand over his mouth before he can laugh at young Astarion. The boyish voice makes the drama of a potential kiss all the more ridiculous, but Tary has to see love bloom on the nuddy riverbank.

The small Taryon's eyes widen, and his shoots a confused look at himself, who kneels down to whisper loudly:] If he said he was sorry, do you think you would like him?

["Uh..." the boy kicks at the dirt. "We played together and he was nice."

He's considering the question very seriously. His frown is strong and his brow shows that he is deep in thought.]

[Astarion isn't so sure little him was particularly nice, but that must mean Taryon's bar was low, even as a child. Astarion knew he had grown up lonely (he had built his own best friend after all), but even this was sad.

He glances back down at the child him--he seems a little more solid, but still faint. Eyes still missing. But as time progresses Astarion's memory is jogged, and whether his memories were right or wrong, it's at least something.

Speaking of loneliness, he seems to remember he was as well as a kid. He would act out to get attention, negative or positive. He probably would have put a worm in the hair of the kid that could be bullied.

He pushes him forward with a gentle but firm hand, and the child him hems and haws for a moment, then, "Fine. I'm sorry..."]

[A child that agrees to play with Tary is one of the nicer ones among all children of wealthy men. The boy would like a friend, but one that he could kiss is even rarer.

A small blush paints Taryon's cheeks when Astarion approaches him. It's terrifying to think that this kid likes him, as often as Tary dreamed of being a romantic knight. Granted, knights in stories didn't have to woo mean elven lords, but...

He lets go of older Taryon and steps forth. "It's okay." He holds his hands together and fingers. "Can we play a different game?"]

🎉 TANABATA FESTIVAL 🎊

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