A Dance with Dragons

[strongworld]

Who: You!
Where: Li Yu Tiao
When: May 24th - 31st
What: The Festival of Dragons!
Status: Open!

That special time of year has arrived when the Typhoon Grips allow safe passage to the Sky Islands. Here on Li Yu Tiao, the Festival of Dragons is about to begin. During this time, the villagers celebrate the koi that pass through their island to spawn and the great dragon that guards their land with its powerful magic.

From the opening, the streets will be filled with music, dancing, and indulgence. Grab some incredible local food and sample the fine alcohol brewed on the island. The hot springs are open to adults in the evenings and offer both separate and communal baths.

From May 25th until the 27th, the Dragon's Judgement Tournament will take place. The tournament is single-elimination, in which combatants can win either by amassing points by connecting with their hits, or by submission. Only nonfatal weapons are allowed and killing is strictly forbidden. The winner of the tournament will gain the title of the "Dragon's Hand" for the next year, and will be gifted with a crimson robe and a golden dragon statue.

On the 30th, a large stage is erected in front of the Dragon Gate. At sundown, the woman decided to be the most beautiful on the island will perform a dance on the stage. She will be dressed in a robe of glittering gold and a headpiece resembling a koi's whiskers. The dance is said to entice the koi into the next stage of their lives. During the dance, a single koi will leap through the gate and be transformed into a great dragon with impressive rainbow-colored scales. It is said this dragon's magic keeps the island tethered to the Dragon Gate and is the source of its wonderful weather. As the dance completes, the dancer's dress transforms into a pair of brilliant wings, and she takes into the air to live as the dragon's bride and protector. The two will then depart together for the mountain's summit. While the dancer is almost exclusively a local villager, it is not unheard of for an outsider to be selected for the role.

Comments

[alwaysgrumpy]

"Nah, it's fine. I'm over it now, you can call me whatever you like, Faye. There's a lot more to worry about, out here. I suggest you enjoy this time while you can. I get the feelin' that there's bad times on the horizon."

[myfayevalentine]

Faye sat up again, rolling her neck before looking at Akira again, frowning slightly, "Seriously, don't you have even the tiniest shred of happiness in your life? You need a hobby. Or a girlfriend. There's always bad times on the horizon...no use worrying about them until they get here."

[alwaysgrumpy]

"I don't mean like usual, Faye," he said, wading over by her and sitting down nearby, "I've got a nose for trouble, and it's never been this intense, before. Think about it. That mysterious storm. The dwindling presence of other off-worlders. The sudden, eerie calm. This can't be coincidence."

[myfayevalentine]

Faye shifted slightly to turn to face Akira more directly when he sat near her. She looked into his face silently for a moment or two, then slowly shook her head, "So what are you thinking? An attack? Is the world going to end?"

[alwaysgrumpy]

"I'm not sure whether to be worried or not, but I know somethin' is comin'. I feel it in every bone in my body. I don't know what it portends, but I think Davy Jones might be gettin' closer to what he wants. I think he's sendin' people back so there's less of us to corral who might try to get in his way."

He thought to himself for a moment, crossing his arms.

"He needed us all to find the shards, and by now I'll bet most of 'em are found. All he really needs are the people he knows have 'em, or the people who might have 'em. The rest of us are extraneous, which wouldn't worry me except for the fact that Meep already told me him gettin' the shards is super-bad for everyone."

[myfayevalentine]

Faye found herself suddenly wanting to do two things - one, to have a cigarette to help her think, and two, to give Akira a hug and try to reassure him. All she does do, though, is shrug a shoulder nonchalantly. "In that case, he'll need to go through the crews and, more directly, me. I have some pretty big shards... And I'm rather attached to them. So I won't let him have them. Sucks for him."

[alwaysgrumpy]

"I don't know if a guy who's already dead is afraid of guns, Faye."

[myfayevalentine]

"So, when the time comes, I should just lie down and let him kill me?" Faye hardly looked impressed by the idea. "Or should I go and offer my shards up now? Save us all the time."

[alwaysgrumpy]

"I'm just sayin', maybe stand and deliver isn't the best strategy," he shrugged, "Maybe we need to work on ways to hide the shards where he can't get 'em, if worse comes to worse."

[myfayevalentine]

"Maybe. But I don't know where we could hide them. I can't imagine anywhere that he couldn't get to if he wanted to." Faye sighed and slipped deeper into the water. "You're making my head hurt. The point of these springs is to relax, you know..."

[alwaysgrumpy]

"Sorry," he said, scratching his chin, "...Who knows, maybe it's nothin'. I am pretty naturally paranoid, you know."

[myfayevalentine]

"I know, sweetie, I know." She sat back up in the water and arched her back in a stretch. "But while we're here you should put your energy into relaxing instead of worrying. So, tell me, what do you do to unwind?"

[alwaysgrumpy]

"I read, mostly. Read or exercise, I guess. I used to love runnin' through the city, but there isn't exactly a lot of room to do that on the ocean."

[myfayevalentine]

"Then you should have brought a book with you. We're on an island now, so there's plenty space to run around. If lying still and soaking in a spring isn't fun for you, you should be doing something else." She sighed and closed her eyes, clearly still enjoying the spring, "Or did you come to the communal pool just to ogle?"

[alwaysgrumpy]

He gave her a flat stare, leaning his head back against the side, "Faye, I may be a teenager, but do you really think I'm that much of a horndog? I'd like to think I've got a bit more class than that. If anyone should be self-conscious, it's me. Clearly, you've got the eyes of a wild beast."

[myfayevalentine]

As to his first question, Faye just shrugged a little, "There's nothing wrong with enjoying someone who is aesthetically pleasing..." That, and Faye assumes most men to be horndogs. Because they are. She returned his stare with one of her own and gave a short laugh, "'Eyes of a wild beast'? You sure know how to make a woman feel pretty."

[alwaysgrumpy]

"I mean it in the best way, of course," he smiled, "There's nothin' wrong with seemin' a little predatory."

[myfayevalentine]

"Predatory?" Faye wasn't sure if she should feel offended or flattered. "What about me seems 'predatory' exactly? I'm a perfectly nice young woman."

[alwaysgrumpy]

"It's in your attitude," he said, "You come across as really sly and confident. You know how to talk a good game and you back it up pretty well, too. You always seem like you're tryin' to figure out the angles, even if you're not aggressive about it."

[myfayevalentine]

"Hmm...I suppose." She couldn't really argue with much of that. But she wasn't so sure it was much of a compliment, so she leaned back again and closed her eyes.

[alwaysgrumpy]

"Don't get me wrong, I mean it in the best way possible. There's nothin' wrong with keepin' an eye on the whole playin' field."

[myfayevalentine]

"Mhm. Comes in handy, being a big scary predator like me." She opened an eye to look at him, at least sounding a little more lofty about it.

[alwaysgrumpy]

"Certainly keeps you on your toes, right?" he chuckled, suddenly lashing out with his arms and cascading her with a small wave of water, "But not enough to avoid that!"

[myfayevalentine]

Faye almost jumped out of the water when he splashed her, and when she turned to him her eyes were wide open, "You little - " She retaliated in kind, pushing her hands in the water to splash him back.

[alwaysgrumpy]

Akira put both arms out wide, skimming them in a fast, hard sweep and swing them together, sending another cascade of spring water at her.

"Ha! How's that for breakin' the tension!"