It’s a special time of year and the sword army is invited to come down from their citadels and celebrate. What? A summer festival, an offering to the gods, or perhaps a special ceremony of sorts. The normally quiet, rural village at the foot of the mountains will transform for the night with lanterns, fireworks, and music all around but first! Some preparations need to be done. Did you really think you would be invited down here without having to do some work? Prepare to dance, prepare to sing, prepare for a night of fun.
1. CEREMONY PRACTICE
At the citadel, a new chore has been added to the list: ceremonial practice! The swords selected to perform at the festival will have to practice their song and dance or else they'll risk embarrassment in front of the crowds. Or maybe this entire thing is embarrassing... either way, this is your duty! Saniwa's orders! Where and when is up to you but you better be ready.
2. PREPARING THE OFFERINGS
Those who aren’t practicing have been going on a lot of expeditions lately, haven’t they? Some of the materials brought back from missions has been set aside to take to the festival and offer later. The same can be said for the crops in the field, the alcohol that is suddenly off limits, and ah… do you smell that food from the kitchen? Yeah, that isn’t for you either. These are offerings to the gods though so don’t you dare try to get greedy! Are you listening?!
3. SPECIAL CLOTHES
You can’t wear those same old clothes. They’re all torn and worn or just not appropriate at all for the type of festival you’re going to. The organization has all of your measurements and has sent special robes for the spirits and saniwa to wear. It even comes complete with accessories! What’s taking you so long? We should have left twenty minutes ago. Do you need help? Or are you trying to perfect your appearances for your big debut?
4. PERFORMANCE
Everyone is dancing and everyone is singing. Are you one of the performers? Or are they dancing to you? What kind of songs are you hearing? What dances are you watching? Did you see the ceremonial sword dance? Or maybe you were invited to dance in a special performance with your saniwa! When the performance is over, make sure to congratulate the performers on a job well done… or tease your friend.
5. PAY RESPECTS
After the festive ceremonies, a more somber moment takes place. Remember, we are fighting a war and it’s important to remember those that have fallen. The swords that were broken and damaged beyond repair are gathered up and taken to a sacred fire so that their spirits can be purified and reborn. Later, all of those offerings you have been saving are offered up to the gods for their blessings. One by one, you can come up to the shrine or fire and say your prayers.
6. SPECIAL SUMMONING
What better day to summon a sword spirit on the day you’ve made offerings to the gods and have prayed for good fortune? Maybe it’s a first-time saniwa summoning their first spirit or a veteran saniwa trying their luck. Maybe a saniwa has tried to purify a particularly corrupt sword tonight... Either way, a special spirit is going to be born tonight. Are you the spirit? Happy summoning day to you all.
7. FESTIVITIES
The ceremonies are finally over! Wow, that sure took up a lot of time, huh? There are still a couple of more hours left in the night so enjoy the festivities. Try the food, play the shooting games, win a couple of prizes. How many goldfish can you catch? Or maybe the important question is: How are you going to take care of this goldfish? At the end of the night, you can catch the fireworks before the night ends.
8. WILDCARD
Pick your own adventure.
This is a meme inspired by this plurk. What if the saniwa had to perform other duties besides just summoning swords to fight? What if they had to take part in special ceremonies? What if they had to invite their swords to perform with them? Feel free to get as creative as you want with this prompt as far as things like: Why are they celebrating? How often do they get to leave the citadel? Etc.
But no, it's just Yamato. Kashuu definitely jumps a little when he hears his voice, since he'd been focusing so fully on the delicious-smelling food set out on the counter tops. He's not even a glutton, okay!! He just has a weakness for food that smells really good... or maybe it's just a weakness for things he isn't allowed to have. Why does some fancy god get all the best stuff, anyway? They totally work just as hard! It's definitely worth at least one bite...!
Since he's already mentally standoffish, he sounds just as snappish when he answers back. ...Quietly. Not that they're doing anything wrong, of course!! But it would be better for them not to be found out and booted from the kitchen, right? RIGHT.]
[ DAMN. CAUGHT. RED ALERT? Yamato is silent at the fact that Kashuu is able to quick-fire a response back to him. There was no scramble or words or even a retreat to run away. This is where he's having a hard time, the reason he's here is a little.. bad. He shouldn't be here but isn't it worth a try just to have nice things? It's not like he won't respect their God but shouldn't they feel equality and want all the other swords to have nice things as well? Honestly, if Yamato was God, this would be different! He'd share his good.. probably.
Anyway, clearing his throat and giving a look to the other as if he shouldn't have been asked that. ]
I [ He. ] I dropped.. my troop.. he came through here.. I am trying to collect him, Kiyomitsu! [ He's not being loud, they can't get thrown out right now? Not when he's so close to what looks like a pastry not that far away and the creme it's drizzled in is enough to move Yamato's gaze from Kashuu's eyes to it. ] So explain yourself. :/
[They'd all be dead if Yamato was their god let's be real here.
That's also not a very convincing argument at all!! Even Kashuu can come up with a better lie on the fly than that! Which he does, as soon as he's asked to explain himself.]
I'm here to make sure no one tries to take off with any of the offerings, duh.
[Which is exactly why he's... hiding, yes. Not for shifty reasons like trying to take off with the offerings himself, of course. It's still a better lie even if it's only better by .5%, okay.]
Sooo if you're just coming through to look for your troops, I can tell you now he's not in here.
[ Ugh stop! Yamato would be a good and benevolent God, possibly naive but he'd allow crops to grow and believe in punishing his followers with cutting off their ski..
Wow, what is that lie that Kashuu is setting up to Yamato, he doesn't believe it at all. ]
Well, why are you on the floor? Normally you'd be standing and telling me that I shouldn't be coming through here.. but you're here.. on the floor, where no one can see you.
[ Why are they bad liars to each other, they could probably lie much better to someone else but here they are — struggling. ]
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tachizuru) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
130bladeworks2015-08-14 04:05 pm
2, lord...
But no, it's just Yamato. Kashuu definitely jumps a little when he hears his voice, since he'd been focusing so fully on the delicious-smelling food set out on the counter tops. He's not even a glutton, okay!! He just has a weakness for food that smells really good... or maybe it's just a weakness for things he isn't allowed to have. Why does some fancy god get all the best stuff, anyway? They totally work just as hard! It's definitely worth at least one bite...!
Since he's already mentally standoffish, he sounds just as snappish when he answers back. ...Quietly. Not that they're doing anything wrong, of course!! But it would be better for them not to be found out and booted from the kitchen, right? RIGHT.]
So what're you doing here then, huh?
no subject
Anyway, clearing his throat and giving a look to the other as if he shouldn't have been asked that. ]
I [ He. ] I dropped.. my troop.. he came through here.. I am trying to collect him, Kiyomitsu! [ He's not being loud, they can't get thrown out right now? Not when he's so close to what looks like a pastry not that far away and the creme it's drizzled in is enough to move Yamato's gaze from Kashuu's eyes to it. ] So explain yourself. :/
no subject
That's also not a very convincing argument at all!! Even Kashuu can come up with a better lie on the fly than that! Which he does, as soon as he's asked to explain himself.]
I'm here to make sure no one tries to take off with any of the offerings, duh.
[Which is exactly why he's... hiding, yes. Not for shifty reasons like trying to take off with the offerings himself, of course. It's still a better lie even if it's only better by .5%, okay.]
Sooo if you're just coming through to look for your troops, I can tell you now he's not in here.
no subject
Wow, what is that lie that Kashuu is setting up to Yamato, he doesn't believe it at all. ]
Well, why are you on the floor? Normally you'd be standing and telling me that I shouldn't be coming through here.. but you're here.. on the floor, where no one can see you.
[ Why are they bad liars to each other, they could probably lie much better to someone else but here they are — struggling. ]
Maybe you should stand up, Kiyomitsu.