aterat | The Festival of Flowers

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The Festival of Flowers

Who; EVERYONE
What; The Flower Festival!
Where; The Circus Complex
When; 5/23 - 5/29
Warnings; None! Please warn if your individual thread would typically require a content warning.

It’s a beautiful ~~day~~ week in the neighborhood! With the dawn on Sunday, 5/23, it becomes apparent what everyone has been preparing for. Many merchant stalls common to the market have relocated to the circus complex for the week, streets and parks throughout the city have been decorated with the finest fresh flowers of the season. There is laughter and music wherever you travel. Yes, to spite some of the darker events of recent days, the city is awash with the celebration of life! The real party is found in the Circus Complex and the surrounding park, though. Here can be found all the trappings of a spring festival: flowers, music, dancing, singing, food. Everyone is in high spirits (and there’s plenty of those to go around, too)!

THE FESTIVAL OF FLOWERS

Days in the park have never been as lovely in anyone's memory. Flowers of hundreds of colors line the paths and fill the fields. Minstrels have set up shop in various areas of green and vibrant colors, with baskets ready for coin. Children and adults alike, crowned with flower crowns at the entrance to the park, whirl in time with the music, and all is merry. Oh, and that flower crown? Yeah, you've all got one too. It seems it's required to even enter the park itself, or the Circus Complex. People are there, ready to greet you with a smile, a warm hello, and a party favor in the form of a woven crown. They come in a variety of colors, strangely coinciding with the color of your home apartment building and key, whatever that might mean.

The longer they're among the flowers, though, the less mysteries like the colors of the crowns seem to matter. The pollen of the flowers has a calming effect on anyone who smells them for long, and the more time spent in the park amid all the blooms the more likely someone is to want to participate. There are stickball games, frisbee, hopscotch, and even a game or two of soccer being played in the more open areas.

There's food to be found here as well, all kinds of food. There is roasted meat on sticks, pretzels and other bread easily carried while wandering, sweets, and just about any sort of spring fare you can imagine! It isn't just limited to the park, either. There are street vendors in every available spot in the Circus complex.

CHOCOBO BREEDERS WANTED

The big draw at the Circus itself, the building roughly 200 meters long which houses the track on which the great birds are raced in summer, is the Chocobo Breeders Forum. Breeders from far beyond the walls of the city, in the great expanse of plains, have brought their birds for view. Investors mill about, investing coin in promising future racers and some of the more divine birds anyone in Aterat has ever seen are on display. If you've accrued a bit of coin, you can even take ownership of a newly hatched chick, but those who do so should be warned: they aren't pets. These creatures will grow rapidly in the next 6 months or so into an 8-foot tall land bird with a voracious appetite for greens and an affinity for stealing sparkly things and hiding them.

Several breeders do have stalls in their stables for rent, though, and are more than willing to let them out to fellow breeders. They'll even give you lessons on how to train your new friends to ensure your bonds are strong, whether you plan on using them as beasts of burden, travel companions, or competitively.

(OOC: If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask)

GLADIATORS WANTED

Not to be outshown by overgrown birds, the Arena in the Circus Complex is also working to coax combatants into the frey. You see, next month it seems starts the season, advertisements suggest and callers near the gates attest. They call to anyone passing by who seems they could hold their own in a fight to join a trial match while they're visiting. The Arena has weapons at their disposal, should they have neglected to bring their own, and there are prizes based on crowd approval. The crowd bets of favorites, you see, and a portion of the prize fund goes to the winning combatants. You're able to compete in groups, duos, or singles, and the prizes are better the more challenging the fight.

These fights can be against NPC opponents, friendly matches between other visitors, or even against monsters!

(OOC: If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ASK)

FOR VISUAL REFERENCE

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Llewellyn was still picking some blooms out to take home with him later that day when he heard a familiar voice nearby that also sounded rather troubled…

Whether anyone was expected to answer or not, the detective moved over to look at the flowers Harry was currently focused on with a look that he could only describe as ‘lost’ if he had to say… “Labels? I presume they’re expecting people to just pick what they like, or uh— perhaps to inspire us to ask for assistance for specifics to get to know people better.” That did often seem to be a reason for these gatherings in other worlds. Maybe not the only reason, but still a reason.

Reaching out to pluck at some lavender, he lanced up at his friend as he continued. “Are you looking for something in particular, Harry?” If anyone can help with the meanings and what might be a good, old-fashioned ‘I’m sorry’ gift? It was him. Well… As long as Ivy’s world didn’t have an entirely different system than his did.

"Watts! Stars and freakin' Stones, man. It's good to see you." Watts knew a lot of random junk about random junk, and if anyone could help him with a completely stupid male problem, it was going to be the Canadian. He ran a hand back over his hair, mussed as it was from what was clearly already a lot of deliberation.

"I...wanted to get some flowers to apologize for being a stupid man."

Llewellyn’s expression shifted to something more than a little curious, one brow arching at the statement. Harry, what did you do…?

“It’s good to see you too, though being a ‘stupid man’ is a rather vague reason to be sorry. In my experience that covers any number of possible blunders.” He responded with a wry grin, looking to the flowers with more purpose now. He’d help, because he knew just the thing that Harry would need in this situation, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t want details. He was a nosy man, after all. Also stupid in very specific ways depending on the situation. “What specific aspect of ‘stupid man’ did you cover, and with who?”

If Watts were to ask, Harry wouldn't actually know the right answer. He knew he defended his ability to take care of himself if Ivy were to lose her ability to control herself. He knew that had not been the right thing to say, but otherwise, he had no idea what had gone wrong. Only that she'd stalked off to take a nap, leaving him feeling like a piece of shit.

"It's personal? I don't know how much Ivy wants me to tell people. All I know is I said something wrong, struck a nerve, she left and I haven't seen her since."

Ivy… Of course. Llewellyn wasn’t really surprised to hear that it was her. Perhaps he should have tried to look a little more surprised, but some things she’d said to him about Harry had made him suspect a few things about the two. They were both his friends, and so that meant he paid a little more attention. “Ivy seems to have a lot to worry about and a lot that she seems to carry by herself.” He responded with a small frown, beginning to pick flowers with more purpose than before.

Yes, he was going to put extra effort into this. “But! In that case, a general apology bouquet wouldn’t be amiss if you’re getting her flowers, anyway.” He added, humming a little as he grabbed hyacinth ‘to ask forgiveness,’ bluebells for ‘humility,’ peony for ‘bashfulness,’ and a few olive branches ‘to ask for peace.’ He mumbled to himself as he picked them out, so Harry could get a general idea of what it all was.

The traditional Victorian apology special, as some might call it.

“Mmm… Right— Hold these a moment.” He held them out for Harry, expecting the man to take them without really thinking or waiting to see if he would.

Hope you can catch, Harry.

Llewellyn was focused, and looking for one last thing that was necessary.

"Yeah, she does." And it was when he tried to help her with it that she shut down on him and started avoiding him. Well, maybe she wasn't avoiding him exactly, but he hadn't seen her, even a trace of her, around their shared building since they first arrived. It sure looked like avoidance.

To his credit, Harry only fumbled slightly when Watts shoved the flowers in his arms and he clenched his jaw against the sudden assault on his nostrils from all the pollen in the various blooms.

"So...you've got an idea, then?"

And Harry didn’t even have to worry about Llewellyn catching sight of his slight fumbling with the flowers. The detective sometimes got tunnel vision when he was on a mission of some sort, and right now that mission was making sure his friend had something to give to Ivy. “I do, yes…” he responded reaching past the flowers for the wrappings and a selection of ties to secure whatever flowers someone intended to purchase. “I’ve got a knack for languages? So floriography was always a bit fascinating to me…”

A bit weird, he knew, but the way he connected things and jumped around had made sense to him at the time. Then he actually started to have reasons to use it in a practical manner in the last world he’d been in, and now he was focusing on it a little more in this one(and the next random jump had been to gardening in general).

Finally he snagged a length of braided blue cloth from the selection and reached over to take the flowers from Harry as easily as he’d handed them to the wizard. “I made a few bouquets at the sphere for friends and Rhy... But! This will be my first apology bouquet. Hopefully, it will be well received…” He added with an awkward grin, starting to arrange the blooms.

"Florio-what?" He was thankful for Watts' distraction. "There's a whole flower language?" Why was he not surprised? He desperately hoped his friend didn't plan on teaching him whatever this language might entail. He was pretty sure he'd never be able to retain it.

It would be a lie if Harry claimed he'd never delivered such a bouquet before. He'd typically just already had a florist to put them together for him. He figured that should probably say something about himself that he'd needed them in the past, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it might be.

He had to admit, it was pretty. He just hoped Ivy liked them. "Uh, thanks, Watts. You know...you're pretty good at this." In his thoroughly layman's opinion.

“Floriography-” He responded with a curious little glance from his current task. “And yes, that’s exactly what it is. I can explain it in greater detail if you like, but…” He held the bouquet out once it was completed. “I believe you have enough to think about on the subject of apologies at the moment. Best to give them while they’re fresh, after all.”

Llewellyn was none the wiser to Harry’s possible past needs for apology flowers, of course. Which at least spared some added curiosity and nudging from his friend. As it was, he was already starting to get a bit hyper vigilant over the matter of Harry and Ivy in general between the things each had said about the other now. He was going to get nosy, and perhaps prone to a little nudging here and there if they kept giving him the distinct impression that there might be something there that they both deserved.

“You’re welcome, Harry. I do hope she likes them and that you uh- smooth things out.” He couldn’t help but smile a little at the compliment, he had been working on these things a little more lately than he had been in the past. It was nice to know that it might even help someone else out, especially a friend. “And thank you, it’s… nice to do something that doesn’t revolve around doom and gloom all the time, if you know what I mean.” He’s trying to get used to the idea that perhaps there was more to life than jumping from one case to the next. There were other things he could do that he enjoyed, and it didn’t hurt to try. “I’m glad that I could assist.”

He frowned down at the flowers, as though they were calling him out on what he'd done, and how arrogant he'd been about it. He'd have to grow a culture in order to really appreciate Floriography, but he could appreciate his friends. He totally owed Llewellyn a beer. The flowers weren't going to make or break the situation anyway. Harry was able to do that all on his own.

"Well, here's hoping I can land the delivery and do them justice." Because they were pretty, at least he thought so, and that counted for something.

“I would say as long as you don’t throw them at her or something, you should be able to manage it?” He responded with a hint of an amused smile at Harry’s expression. “Usually sincere apologies go a long way, the flowers are just a nice addition.” He added with a little reassuring pat on the man’s shoulder.

Still, he knew what it was like to stick your foot in your mouth in the worst ways when it came to someone you cared about… So the stress over the matter was understandable. “Let me know how it goes? If she doesn’t like them, you can always blame me.” He added with a little rise of his brow. Maybe joking… maybe not.

He laughs, shaking his head. "You say that now." He had a track record of having horrible timing as well as saying things that later required a foot firmly placed between his lips. That being said, Ivy continued to talk to him after he'd opened his mouth the first time and that should account for something, right?

He nodded. "Sure, I'll let you know. Thanks again, Watts."

The fact that she was still talking to him was at least a good sign? Perhaps? Llewellyn would say it was. She certainly didn’t seem the sort to put up with someone if she didn’t have to. “Mm… I have at least a little faith in you. You’ve dealt with more complicated things than an apology, Harry.” He added with a rise of his brow. Goodness knew they had at the Sphere.

“You’re welcome, I look forward to hearing.” He finally responded with a nod. “Good luck.” He added, not about to keep the man. Flowers were best delivered fresh, after all, and the longer you waited… The more chance there was for disaster to befall them. “I’ll see you around, Harry.” He added, nodding his head in place of tipping the hat he still hadn’t replaced.

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The Festival of Flowers

Flowers!

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