Ryuukan ~ Harvest Festival

[SkySong]

It's the last full week of November and the Harvest festival is starting tonight! Dragons travelling abroad are returning to partake in the festivities. Depict your dragon enjoying the festival or setting up/running a booth.

General requirements:

• Your own dragon (if you have one) must play a central role. If you don't have one yet you're welcome to use any of the dragons without Onjin or borrow a friend's (please ask permission first). You're welcome to also include other characters, but it's not necessary.
• A stall/booth for festival food or games, some kind of food, or another prop that indicates a harvest festival setting.

Written:

• 500 words minimum

Drawing:

• full body or so (if you're showing a stall front with dragon behind the stall that's fine too)
• colored (if traditional can be greyscale, just need to be able to tell who you're drawing)
• chibi-fying is fine, but please at least include eyes/horns/ears/nose/whiskers if they're visible from the angle you're drawing. Feet can be drawn more paw-like if it's easier for you.

Everyone who participates via writing or drawing gets one entry. Entries will be accepted up until noon Secundi time on December 6th. Each entry will be randomized to determine picking order. If there are somehow more entries than there are dragons available I will color more.

See all dragons here. To find those without Onjin type 'Ryuukan'.

[Ember]

Here is my entry! Borrowed this ryuukan as my booth runner!

Amongst the hustle and bustle of the Harvest Festival many dragons frolicked with their friends and family, travelling from booth to booth to sample the various foods and games available. One particular booth was decorated tastefully but nonetheless involved a rather rambunctious crowd about it, shouting and laughing about whatever activity was occuring. There was a slightly sour looking dragon who sat coiled behind the massive booth who glanced frequently at the gathering behind him while keeping an eye out for other customers. As a few more approached his booth - labelled simply as "Grape Stomp" - he straightened and placed both of his pearlescent paws on the surface of the booth. "How may I help you?" He asked the newcomers. While the question itself was polite his borderline monotone voice earned him a few strange looks before what seemed to be the eldest dragon among them spoke up.

"What is a grape stomp?" They asked and the booth runner flicked his tail idly as he considered how best to answer.

"Perhaps I best just show you," he mused aloud and motioned for the group to follow him. He uncoiled gracefully from his spot and with a swish of his tail led them into the thick of the crowd which seemed far too distracted to mind his surprisingly gentle nudges to shoo them out of the way. What was revealed was a couple of large tubs filled with, unsurprisingly, grapes. What was surprising to the group that had arrived was that each tub hosted a pair of dragons bouncing around and seemingly doing their best to squish the grapes with liquid sloshing out of the tubs into barrels set up below them.

"I'm afraid the name is quite descriptive," the booth runner started off explaining, "in that dragons stomp on the grapes to squeeze out the juice to be turned into wine later. Now, we do have a station to wash your feet both before and after but I assure you it is quite the messy process. Many choose simply to watch and cheer on their companions as they make a mess of themselves." At that point some degree of amusement seemed to have snuck into his voice and his eyes had brightened at getting to see a couple youngsters merrily prancing after each other in the tubs, hollering at the other team in good-natured competition.

The stall leader glanced upward to peek at the sun and added, "their allotted time is up, actually, so long as there are other participants who want to go...?" He looked back at the newcomers who seemed uncertain at his implied question before the youngest of the lot trotted forward.

"Can you show us how its done?" They asked and he froze.

"I...well..."

"Please?"

He sighed, defeated, and sealed his fate with, "oh, very well." Now, it's not that he truly disliked grape-stomping or merry-making, but with his pearlescent coat and golden mane it was many weeks before the purple-red stains fully faded and he was terribly embarrassed to put on such a display for strangers. His tail twisted in discomfort as he made his way to wash his paws and then proceeded to make his way to one of the tubs.

"Alright, your time is up, unfortunately. Please exit the tubs and remember you may wash your paws again," he called out to the former participants who, despite some small whining on account of their fun being at an end, promptly left the tubs while the audience watched in anticipation. "I have been asked to demonstrate the art of grape-stomping and so I do beleive it is my turn."

The crowd cheered for him and with a great big inhale his muscles tensed in preparation and he leapt into the tub with his full power to a resounding squish! that had the crowd laughing. And despite himself, the slightly sour looking dragon gave a small smile as he continued to stomp the grapes despite his embarrassment!

[Luv007]

https://ryuukan-55bef.web.app/ryuukan/profile/6

Luv bustled around the still quiet and empty fairgrounds.  Callie followed behind, long white whiskers trailing the ground.  Callie's calm presence was at least half the reason that Luv was able to do this today, despite her dislike of crowds.  She picked a space that was in a less visited corner.  She felt like that was a good in between, doing the scary thing, but not throwing herself into the deep end by putting herself in the middle of the crowd.  She had pondered over it for quite some time, but in the end, she thought it would be a better fit for her booth to be in a quieter area as well, even if they were less visited.  She paused for a breath and mumbled to herself, "Breath, luv, breath.  You're okay."  Reaching for Callie's soft face, she scratched under her chin.  "Thanks for doing this with me, girl."

Callie looked up at her with deep, soulful eyes.  Sometimes Luv felt as though she had never had a companion that matched her personality so well.  She and Callie were both quite gentle.  It was part of why they were here today.  As she set up the last of the kennels and large enclosures, she stood back to look at the front of the booth.  The cider would come out last.  Cider seemed like just the thing for a cool day, and easy enough.  No food that could be given to one of the creatures she had brought with her and might make them sick.  Callie wrapped herself around Luv and Luv gently leaned into her silky fur, letting herself be grounded and comforted at the same time.  The frond of the booth was really just a table a the front of an open sided tent, just in case of bad weather.  Within the tent, she had arranged areas with kennels for the animals to have breaks if there were too many people.  In front of the table, she had a chair next to the large enclosures so she could observe and ensure the safety of her furry little wards.  A banner hung over the table, "Adopt A Friend Today!", it read in large rainbow lettering.  Of course, Callie was not planning to send any creatures home today, but the adoption could be begun with a form and then they would do a home check in the coming week.

"I think we did okay, Callie," she said, breaking the silence.  "The cider can be made while we wait for visitors, but before things get too busy, we should probably bring out our friends so they can adjust to the area."  Callie head butted Luv gently and chirruped.  It was such a cat-like thing that Luv wondered briefly if perhaps Callie needed more time with other Ryuukan and less with their tiny kitten wards. 

Luv wondered over to the blanket covered kennels that had been tucked away until things were set up and pulled the blanket gently off.  "Hi, darlings.  You ready for this?  We might find your forever homes today, " she cooed at the tiny ferocious little fluffs.  One of the kittens stared up at her, eyes large.  This little one often reminded Luv of Callie, even though Callie had come to her when she was older.  And of course, Callie was Ryuukan rather than kitten.  The pair were both old souls as Luv saw it.  But the kittens siblings..... well that was a different matter.  They were the reason she had invested in finding large enclosures that had no apparent way for a cat to escape, even a cat with wings.  It was the oddest thing.... Luv had come upon these little furballs in a corn field and carefully been observing and helping their mama cat throughout.  While she had no experience with kittens that had dragon wings, and she often found herself wondering how that had happened, she had been ever so amused watching the kittens (already a normally troublesome bunch) test their wings, both quite literally and figuratively.  Luv expected to need to screen adopters even more thoroughly than usual to ensure commitment to their new potential fuzzy companions.  Callie chirruped a hello to the tiny little beasts and Luv adeptly pulled the kittens, one by one, from the carries and put them into the enclosures to stretch their wings.  She only paused when she got to her old soul... an ever so sweet little calico not all that different from her own Callie.  She cradled the little one in her arms, careful of her delicate little wings (boy, were they sensitive of those thin leathery wings), and Callie leaned in affectionately to them both.  "We'll get through today, and maybe you will have your own person by the end of this, darling."  Luv looked up to meet Callie's stare.  "I think we had it easy, girl.  These darlings may have a bit of a harder time finding someone willing to put up with their antics."

[Silvanon]

Looks like this Ryuukan is trying to catch a goldfish!  https://ryuukan-55bef.web.app/ryuukan/profile/39

[SeaCrest]

https://ryuukan-55bef.web.app/ryuukan/profile/3

With autumn nearing its end, darkness came early, and despite her best intentions, Kuwa was setting up her stall long after the sun had set. The day had not been kind to her, a number of small accidents adding up to hours of lost time as she located missing inventory lists, argued with the festival planner about the discrepancy between what she had originally been told and where she was, apparently, supposed to be now, cleaned up spills, disputed with her neighbor over the extra space they'd taken up in her lot, repainted the chips on her sign from transportation, reorganized the stall thanks to her assistant's carelessness in arranging their stock...

Yes, Kuwa was in an awful mood, and with the sun setting, she was even more irritable, her tail switching back and forth in quick, aggravated movements as she squinted into the shadows beneath her table to try and find another jar of sugar caramel. Muttering darkly to herself, she pushed aside a bag of apples, spilling them in her haste and eliciting another curse.

"Do you need help?" A blue ryuukan peered over the counter at Kuwa, who fought her irritation down.

"I'm fine, thank you," she answered through gritted teeth, and the blue ryuukan raised a furry eyebrow.

"All right. I'm across the way if you change your mind," they offered. "The festival opens in twenty minutes."

Kuwa bit back another curse, and resumed gathering her fallen apples, ignoring the blue ryuukan, who shrugged and returned to their stall.

It was imperative that Kuwa be prepared, as her offerings were delicate and required careful handling; sugar "drawings," which could then be transferred to a stick and eaten. The apples and miscellaneous foodstuffs stored in chests packed with ice were a cheaper alternative to her intricate creations; frozen haw berries or strawberries with a hard caramel shell, candied apples studded with nuts and dried fruit, and pre-made hard candies in a variety of flavors.

Apples returned to their bag and caramel located, Kuwa filled two pots of water and placed them over the fire pit, which she proceeded to light. She'd found that the best way to keep the caramel liquid was to keep it in a hot water bath, although she had to be careful not to let it boil. The second pot was for the apples, which were prepared as they were ordered, and not before. She would make several sugar drawings to display, and for customers to purchase if they didn't want to wait, but most were happy to pay for a custom one and watch her create it.

A ryuukan strode down the lane, calling out "The festival opens in ten minutes! Ten minutes until opening!"

Kuwa checked her preparations, and sighed in relief as each item on her to-do list met her standards. Her assistant, terrible organizational skills notwithstanding, was a capable worker, and was already in place with a basket of apples and fruit, as well as a selection of what appeared to be doughnuts, which he offered to Kuwa.

"They're fresh!" he wheedled, wafting the box towards her and letting her inhale the scent of warm, fresh dough rolled in sugar and cinnamon. "Quickly, before the festival opens!"

Kuwa relented, selecting a doughnut for herself before turning back to her station to start a new sugar drawing.

[Luv007]

For SunshineWarrior:

Borrowing: https://ryuukan-55bef.web.app/ryuukan/profile/36

One day, I was going to school and I saw a dark pink and black colored dragon on my porch and it asked me if it could be my pet and I said yes and how would you hide and the dragon said I can transform into anything you wish and I said can you be a dog for me.  The dragon said yes and my name is Rose.  I said nice to meet you.  My name is Harley.  Rose said nice to meet you.  I asked my mom if we could keep Rose and she said yes and I was so happy and Rose was too.  Rose and me had tea parties together and went to park. together and we had fun.  Rose and me went to the dragon fall festival.


Art Entry:
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/763579533080264714/785180589854163004/image0.jpg

[YourLoveOnly]

Czekolada, named after their chocolate looking fur, arrived at the Harvest Festival early, ready to set up their booth. Their whiskers moved in the strong breeze. The sky was cloudy, but the sort of clouds that came with this time of year, not the kind that predicted rainfall. Czek could be mistaken, but they thought the festival would stay dry. They didn't mind the rain, but it wasn't great for attracting crowds and they loved the feel of community the Harvest Festival would bring. This hadn't been the most enjoyable year and this felt like just the thing everyone around town needed to get back into a more festive spirit.

There was already a flurry of activity going on, with many dragons moving from and to every possible direction, trying to get everything set up before the festival officially started. As they moved to reach the stall assigned to them, their senses were hit with the most delicious aroma of various foods. If they hurried, maybe they'd be lucky enough to get to sample some of the offerings before everything opened. The chocolate colored dragon hoped to be too busy running things to wander around in search of food once everything was in full swing.

Their stall located, Czekolada unfolded a piece of warm red cloth and draped it over the stall. It wasn't much, but they weren't one to bother with frivolous tidbits. Form over function in their mind! But still, it was nice to embrace the Harvest theme. Everywhere they looked, the autumn color palette could be seen. From a bright golden yellow to a deep red and from a burnt orange to shades of brown not unlike their own fur. The colors gave off a feeling of warmth, which made it Czek's favorite season.

Setting up the booth wasn't gonna take very long. The first and most important thing was assembling the pieces of the game board they were carrying in a velvet pouch. They had decided to offer a game of Shut The Box, which wasn't particularly seasonal, but would hopefully be fun nonetheless. After the board was set up and the two dice were laid next to it, the seasonal looking dragon went in search of some paper and a marker to borrow. Taking a small detour to gobble down some food, they returned to their stall after a short while.

Now they needed to write down the rules and entrance fee. Shut The Box was a simple dice game that involved a little bit of smart decision-making to improve your odds of winning but was mostly luck based. The game board was wooden and had pieces sticking up, the numbers 1 to 9 written on them. Your objective was to flip all of those pieces face down which meant "shutting the box", inspiring the game's very obvious name. On each turn you rolled two standard six-sided dice, after which a dragon must flip one or two of the pieces. The numbers on the piece(s) you flipped down had to match the total on the rolled dice. If that was no longer possible, that's game over. Or, if you played a multiplayer version, possibly the end of your turn. But Czek had only ever possessed a single board and used it as a single player game, like they believed it was originally intended. If you did manage to get all the pieces down and shut the box, you won.

There would be a small fee to be paid for every attempt and if you won, your name would get written down. If you didn't shut the box entirely, your score was the numbers left standing. At the end of the Harvest Festival whomever had the lowest score would win. They'd get part of the earnings, but usually the game got played many times and earned Czekolada a good chunk of pocket money, even after paying the winner. If multiple dragons managed to shut down the box completely, Czek would have to figure out a tiebreaker. Last time they had split the money up among the prize winners, but if the group of winners would somehow grow too large that wouldn't work. Raffling a winner could work, but maybe they'd get accused of favoritism. First one to win would mean no one would play after someone had successfully shut the box, so that option was out as well. Perhaps they'd do a tiebreaker round, that seemed like the most fair solution. Satisfied with the decision, Czekolada wrote down that final rule and taped the sheets to the front of the stall.

Now that everything was ready, it was time to browse the rest of the festival and see what others were offering. With a happy smile, Czek started to make their rounds, greeting familiar faces as they did so. This was going to be another great Harvest Festival, they were sure of it.

[YourLoveOnly]

I ran out of time to finish a proper drawing, so here's a little chibi doodle!
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/765902892053037056/785203762457214986/unknown.png

[SkySong]

1. Ember
2. Luv007
3. Silvanon
4. SeaCrest
5. SunshineWarrior
6. SunshineWarrior
7. YourLoveOnly
8. YourLoveOnly

[blockquote]Rolled 1d8 : 1, total 1[/blockquote][blockquote]Rolled 1d7 : 6, total 6[/blockquote][blockquote]Rolled 1d6 : 6, total 6[/blockquote][blockquote]Rolled 1d5 : 5, total 5[/blockquote][blockquote]Rolled 1d4 : 3, total 3[/blockquote][blockquote]Rolled 1d3 : 1, total 1[/blockquote][blockquote]Rolled 1d2 : 2, total 2[/blockquote]

[SkySong]

Picking order:
1. Ember
2. YLO
3. YLO
4. SunshineWarrior
5. SeaCrest
6. Luv007
7. SunshineWarrior
8. Silvanon

You may wait your turn or post your preferences equal to the picking position you're in (i.e. Luv might post her top 6 picks if she doesn't feel like waiting).

[SeaCrest]

Uh, not to be that person, but wasn't the wordcount minimum 500 words? ^^" Also to clarify, we can choose from the unowned ryuukan in the linked masterlist?

[Ember]

I'd like to pick this one: https://ryuukan-55bef.web.app/ryuukan/profile/24

[SkySong]

Sea - Thanks for bringing that up, I appreciate you sharing your concern. Sunshine is a ten year old kid who has been in speech therapy pretty much her entire life. I felt that the effort it took her to write as much as she did was similar to the effort it would have taken me to reach the 500 minimum. If you think this is unfair I'm more than happy to discuss whether there should or shouldn't be concessions this way.

And yep, any of the Ryuukan that don't have an owner (all the ones that show up when you type Ryuukan) are available.

I've updated the one Ember chose so the available list is up to date.

[SeaCrest]

Oh I see! I'm sorry |D Inquiry rescinded!

1. https://ryuukan-55bef.web.app/ryuukan/profile/34
2. https://ryuukan-55bef.web.app/ryuukan/profile/44
3. https://ryuukan-55bef.web.app/ryuukan/profile/46
4. https://ryuukan-55bef.web.app/ryuukan/profile/29

[YourLoveOnly]

Ooooh dice really liked me this time! And there are SO many pretties to choose from :O

After much internal debate, I decided I'd love to take home #21 and #31 please  <3
https://ryuukan-55bef.web.app/ryuukan/profile/21
https://ryuukan-55bef.web.app/ryuukan/profile/31

[Luv007]

SunshineWarrior chooses the one she borrowed for the event (unsurprisingly ):

https://ryuukan-55bef.web.app/ryuukan/profile/36

[Luv007]

My choice:
https://ryuukan-55bef.web.app/ryuukan/profile/47

SunshineWarrior's Second:
https://ryuukan-55bef.web.app/ryuukan/profile/48

[YourLoveOnly]

OK so that gives:

1. Ember - 24
2. YLO - 21
3. YLO - 31
4. SunshineWarrior - 36
5. SeaCrest - 34
6. Luv007 - 47
7. SunshineWarrior - 48
And Silvanon gets to pick next.

(Hope Sky is OK with me doing this summary post, it makes things easier for my brain to track and I am absolutely plotting which remaining ones I'd love to try for in the future XD)

[SkySong]

YLO that is very helpful, no problems at all. I'll update the database in just a sec.

[Silvanon]

I'd like https://ryuukan-55bef.web.app/ryuukan/profile/44

Thank you!

[Luv007]

Good choice, Silv!  I was surprised that one was left!

[SkySong]

Database updated with Silv's pick. More events to come in 2021~