Festival of Ra!

Decoration Competition - [ Required WC: 500 ]

As the world continued to turn, eventually the days grew longer again and the Festival of Ra was coming up in the Land of Fire. Masume chose to take part in the festivities at a medium-sized town on the outskirts of the Land of Fire as an observer. She had scraped enough ryo up to get a nice warm meal. Plus watching the firework display was something she had always enjoyed around this time of year. Although the noise volume left much to be desired, the beauty of the colors in contrast to the darkness was well worth it. Plus, she heard through the grapevine that there would be fire-dancers! How peculiar!

As Masume entered the town, she was greeted by many getting ready for the night; setting up stages, unpacking and getting food stalls and craft stalls ready, and lots of couples and home-owners decorating their houses for the upcoming competition. Much to everyone's surprise, one house remaind shockingly bare, without even a small red sign or banner with the god's name on it inscribed in bright yellow.

There were whispers surrounding the circumstances the owners of the house had found themselves in. Some said they were ailing as this was the first year they hadn't decorated, whilst others insisted it was just due to their old age. Either way, the town talked badly of the elder folks. It felt wrong to judge someone for not being able to carry out tradition anymore due to having been fortunate enough to have stayed alive all this time.

Masume climbed up the four wooden steps leading to the porch and gingerly knocked on the door *rap rap rap*

After an excruciating amount of time in which she could hear mumbling and slow, but heavy, footsteps, an old, bald, hunched man answered the door with wooden cane in hand. He was surprised to see a ninja and became very frightened and nervous; so much so, that he stumbled backwards, begging her not to hurt or fine them for not decorating. Though it wasn't necessary, he claimed he wouldn't put it past some of the townsfolk. Tears dripped down the mountainous wrinkles and deep oceans of liver spots as he got to his knees, hands clasped, continuing to explain his situation. His wife was very ill as of late and neither were feeling comfortable about decorating, even if she had been in good health. He stated it was a shame that all their decorations would collect dust for the rest of their time together.

The scene unfolding just about broke Masume's heart.

"I'm not here to harm anyone" She stated in monotoned voice, getting down on the man's level and offering him a hand to get up and a shoulder to lean on.

"I only stopped by to see if there was anything I could do to help you folks out. You seem to be talk of the town at the moment." After handing the man his cane, she crossed her arms. "Would you mind if I took the liberty of decorating? I can also take it down after as well, so you wont need to trouble yourself."

The man's jaw dropped at the prospect of the tradition in their family being upheld. He remarked that it was sad that it took the kindness of a stranger to help the couple out, whereas friends and acquaintances over town turned away from them. Then, he agreed to allow her to help.

As Masume stepped into the basement, she was surprised to see the disheveled mess and tipped boxes. The old man remarked that his strength isn't what it once was, and then he had dropped boxes trying to get different objects out that were stored for the summer, and didn't have the agility nor strength to pick up and stack the boxes again.

After Masume was shown where all the decorations were stored, the man left, allowing Masume's creative juices to flow.

As Masume decorated the house diligently using her surface walking technique as well as her speed and agility to balance on different areas of the house. Not only did she hang red and round lanterns with golden tassels, but she made sure to put out the [Chinese] Lions and dragons and hang red ribbons and banners all along the porch ceiling. By the time she had finished with the Ra flags, the sun was beginning to set and the festivities were starting to liven up the quiet town.

The decoration committee was approaching as the old man stepped out to see how the house was coming along. Masume cleaned up the boxes and set them in the house as the man talked with the committee while they judged his house. By the time she had returned, the judges were walking off and the old man was coming to thank her for her acts of kindness.

"I'll be back after the fireworks. I'll clean up so you do not have to." She said bowing to the man and then going off to enjoy the festival.

The fire juggler and dancers were quite entertaining, almost as if they were making works of art with each movement of their bodies. The deep fried food was delicious as well, though very unhealthy, and the traditional snacks were delicious. By the time the sun had just dipped below the horizon, leaving the sky darkened to a royal blue, Masume made sure to take a flaming candied popcorn to go, leaving the small town to sit on a clearing overlooking it.

As she sat and waited for the fireworks to start, the crickets started their symphony to the moon. Masume began to get lost in her thoughts. Was there anything more she could do for the old man?

Explosions began to echo across the sky, starting slowly and quickly picking up pace until erupting into a huge finale of a display. It seemed as though it was over all too quickly, but in reality it had been about an hour of fireworks.

On her way back to town, she came up with an idea, however she would need a couple of days to enact her plan. In the Meantime, she continued back to the old man's house and packed up his things back into the old soggy and moldy boxes he had been using. It can't be good for him and his wife's health. They wouldnt have to worry for much longer, however.

After completing her task she wished the couple a good evening and mentoned she would be back to check in in a week.

During her week away she found the perfect place to buy exactly what she was looking for; Plastic stackable storage containers with lids and writable labels that would wash clean if you needed to change what was being said on them.

Upon her return to the small town to check in she brought at least a dozen of these storage containers with her to the house and offered to help the man go through and dispose of the boxes as well as clean the items off and mop the floors. Hopefully with the mold gone, his wife would recover much faster.

Together, her and the old man went through the boxes as he recounted the memories of the items and told many stories while they cleaned. How he courted his lovely wofe, and how their wedding went, his days as a builder and the other jobs he held, and about how he never had kids because they just couldn't have them as a couple. It was as if she was listening to the stories her parents told her as a child.

As they finished packing, sorting, storing and cleaning, Masume made sure the tubs were all laid at floor level, and unstacked to prevent any injury from lifting or moving the tubs. She also disposed of the dirty boxes. Upon return the man said he had one more thing to show her. He won the competition, and wanted to give her half the prize money, as she had done a lot of the work. After refusing several times and the man insisting, she finally accepted her half of the prize money.


The old man beamed from ear to ear and offered her a hug, which she accepted. As she turned to leave,  the old man called out to her, inviting her back for next year's Festival of Ra.

"Don't worry, I'll be back next year... god willing..." She responded with a small smile and a warm contented feeling of a job well done in her heart.

[ WC: 1419 ]

[ Claiming +4 to Vigor ( 36 + 4 = 40 Vigor ) ]
[ Claiming +10 to Chakra ( 40 + 10 = 50 Chakra ) ]
[ Claiming  500 / 500 toward Basic Sealing Technique ]
[ Claiming 382 towards C-Rank - Chakra Absorbtion previously trained here for 618 ( 382 + 618 = 1000 / 1000 ) ]
[Claiming 537 toward Apothecary previously trained here for 796 ( 796 + 537 = 1333 / 2000 ) ]
[ Claiming 1000 ryo ( 3000 + 1000 = 4000 ) ]
[ Claiming 5 Bonus AP ( 15 Bonus AP + 5 Bonus AP = 20 Bonus AP ) ]

( Hopefully I claimed correctly this time :3 )

[ Exit ]