[Event] Solstice Festivities

The red eyed Inkling sighed as he stretched in his train seat. It was summer already. Summer solstice, at that. Back home they didn't really celebrate solstices and the like, but in this world it seemed that the opposite was the truth and he wanted to take part in the festivities. He was pretty sure that there would be festivities in Magnolia, but as much as he wanted to stay in the large city, he sort of wanted to be in a place where there weren't that many people. A quick search on the lacrima network yielded some great tips and as a result, Garnet and his frenemy were sitting on a train headed to Clover Town.

Supposedly it was a town where mages went to retire and where Guildmasters met up. It sounded quite interesting to Garnet, but Emperor wasn't too impressed. He was mostly sticking with Garnet to make sure that he had properly healed from their job that they were assigned by the West Fiore Trading Company. He was looking outside of the train window, while Garnet was dozing off in his seat. He may have been up quite late, looking up things about Clover Town.

But as soon as the train stopped and the Inklings got off, it was apparent that the whole town was in a festive mood. The streets were decorated in a summery style, everything was in bright but warm colours. Emperor blended in rather well. Both Garnet and Emperor were dressed lightly, both sporting black t-shirts and leggings, but Emperor's had a logo of a big squid and Inkling language writing on his and Garnet only had some Inkling writing on his. Though Garnet didn't even sport his fingerless gloves. A bit too hot for that, in his opinion.

The Inklings made their way through the streets, along with other festival-goers, some of which were on the same train as them. Even though the town itself wasn't big, there was still a solid number of people littering the streets. There were also numerous food stands. In between them, there were stalls with what seemed to be various activities. "What is that?" Garnet would point towards one of such stalls and come closer to it with Emperor right behind him.

Children and adults alike were lined up for a game that seemed to involve fishing for apples in a vat of water. As soon as the Inklings noticed that the activity involved dunking oneself into water, it was a no go. "Yeah, maybe not." Emperor would say and shake his head. "I guess that people do enjoy their water." He would shrug as he turned around to search for something better to do. "It kind of makes me wish sometimes that we didn't disintegrate in copious amounts of it." Garnet would chuckle as he observed the people partaking in the festival event.

While Emperor was on a lookout for something that didn't include large quantities of water, Garnet, on the other hand, observed the people participating in the first activity the Inkling duo encountered. Some failed, some succeeded. Garnet had his fill of people watching and was about to join Emperor, but one of the people who were participating in the activity threw something in Garnet's direction. He couldn't see what it was in mid air, so he instinctively dodged the flying projectile. Garnet wasn't alone on the receiving end. Emperor, too, had a projectile thrown at him. He, on the other hand, despite not facing the stranger, managed to catch the thing, as she swiftly spun around.

The shorter Inkling eyed the thing that Emperor then held in his hand, as Emperor walked closer and stopped next to Garnet. It was just an apple. Garnet would turn around and search for the thing that was thrown at him. Unsurprisingly, it was an another apple. Which made sense, as the activity with water also included apples, as that was its purpose. He picked up the apple and then looked at the stranger. The Inkling wasn't sure if throwing apples at others was a custom in this world, but the throws themselves didn't seem to bear any hostility. Just weirdness, if Garnet were to say.

Emperor glanced at the apple in his hand and then back at the stranger. His eyes were narrowed, distrust clearly written on his face. He would've asked why, if it were in his powers to do so. But he knew that it would be much better to leave Garnet do the talking. If one could even call it that. The shorter Inkling would hand Emperor the other apple as he pulled out his squid-shaped phone. The stranger called them 'interesting', whatever that was supposed to mean. He also asked if they liked apples after he introduced himself? Garnet couldn't say that he liked them per se and he couldn't speak for Emperor.

Garnet's fingers flew across the keyboard of his phone as he typed out his message. /"I'm Garnet and that is Emperor. Pleased to meet you. Apples are fine. Why are you throwing them, though?"/ He would turn around his phone with that message displayed across the screen. He tried to cut down on length, so it could've seemed like a message with code words, because he wanted to fit a lot in it. It was probably for the best if he cut down on the number of needing to type out multiple messages. As it stood, however, both of the Inklings were confused at the situation that presented itself, to say the least.

The strange individual said something as equally strange, neither of the Inklings knowing what he meant by it. But thankfully, his eyes quickly locked onto the screen of Garnet's phone, seemingly reading what was written on it. After reading it, Laurence explained how he noticed the two Inklings take interest in the game, but not take part in it. He told them that they could do whatever they wanted with the apples that he gave them. Emperor promptly thrusted the apple he was holding into Garnet's hand without batting an eye. The shorter Inkling slightly flinched, but that kind of behaviour was about to be expected from the self proclaimed king.

As Laurence explained that things were rather uninteresting before he noticed them, Emperor kept his piercing gaze on him. His trust didn't wasn't earned easily and that person would be no exception to that. Though neither of the Inklings were catching on what Laurence was saying, but Garnet wanted to say that he was getting the gist of it. At least Laurence himself admitted the fact that he talked in a rather strange way, though Garnet would mostly mark it as just purely confusing. Though Laurence inquired about the land of the Inklings' origin shortly after, while offering to answer questions and as if it wasn't enough, also asking about how they got their names. It was a lot to answer in a single message, but Garnet was up to the challenge.

He didn't even bother looking at Emperor for approval, as Garnet was well aware that he was supposed to do all of the work in his stead. The taller Inkling just stood his ground, acknowledging the questions, but really just keeping an eye out for the shady stranger. Garnet shoved the two apples to Emperor, much to his surprise, and got to work on the message, trying to put in everything that he felt was necessary. After a few moments he would present the phone screen back to Laurence again.

/"We've never been on a festival here and neither we are from here, but have no questions right now. Our names were given to us by our parents."/ Would be written on the screen, turned to Laurence. Garnet decided to disregard the previous strange comments, as he didn't know how to approach them in the first place. Instead, he focused on the last bits, the ones that contained questions. Though he felt like he just typed out the obvious answers.

A word limit on the phone? It was a rather strange question to pose. Garnet never really thought about it. Not that he could actually answer such a question either way. Though he was not really given too much time to respond to it, as Laurence went on about festivals and what they were like. Which was most likely a bit of a misunderstanding, because that was not the problem. The Inklings never visited a festival in this world, but on the other hand, it was somewhat comforting to know that the idea of festivals wasn't too different from what they were used to back home. Though festivals were not as popular as SplatFests. The shorter Inkling felt momentarily saddened, thinking about the potential SplatFests that he could've missed out on. They were a big occassion, after all, especially for a team that was as renowned as his.

The most important was the last question, however. The one about them trying out games. At least one question that didn't feel strange and out of place. But before Garnet could conjure any type of response of his own, Laurence was on the move. Garnet and Emperor exchanged looks, but followed the strange man. They both felt like it was probably for the best if they played along. Soon enough they reached one of the festival games. It seemed to be a game designed around aiming and precision. Two things that the Inklings were good at.

Laurence seemed to have paid for a round for the Inklings aswell, as he tried his hand at this game of tossing rings at bottles. There were various colours, the one of a kind being naturally golden. It didn't seem too hard of a game, but after the strange man ate his apple he tossed his share of rings. However, none of seemed to his the mark of the elusive golden bottle. Garnet was rather confused. He saw the way Laurence had tossed the rings and at least one of them should've landed. Weird.

The shorter Inkling would put away his phone, so that he had both hands free for the upcoming activity. He would take the few rings that were there for him to use and tried his hand at the game. Very quickly he discovered that something was most definitely off. Emperor was watching him closely and Garnet felt a little bit nervous under the gaze. Unfortunately, Garnet was soon out of rings, but with some knowledge.

Emperor was up. He shoved the apples back to Garnet and grabbed the rings that were prepared for him. "Aim to the right." Emperor glanced back, but then realised what he meant. It was weighted on one side, to make the ring less accurate. With a little smirk, Emperor took aim. First try, golden bottle. The worker didn't notice the jackpot victory at first, but then grumbled something under her breath as she stood up and handed over a medium sized teddy bear plush. Emperor didn't even bother tossing the rest of the rings. He already won and that was all that mattered. "Booyah, Emperor!" Garnet would gleefully exclaim, as the Inklings would slowly take their leave from the game stall. They solved their secret, so they most likely wouldn't be welcome for any more rounds.

The victory felt very satisfying to both of the Inklings. Emperor held onto his prize as he took one of the apples from Garnet. A victory meal was in order. He briefly swiped the fruit on his leggings and ate it. The shorter Inkling would smile and do the same. The group walked together for a little bit, before coming across a yet another game. A game that seemed to include more water. It was apparent that the people of that world certainly were not afraid of it or stingy with it. However, it seemed that the water was not meant for the outside participants, rather a person who was sitting above it. Laurence explained the idea behind the game. The person sitting above the water would shout insults, until somebody managed to hit the target. There was a reason why such a game never made an appearance back home. Technically it could, if there was a respawn point nearby, but it would be probably a bit too much hassle for little rewards. It also seemed just kind of mean in general.

The man sitting above the water was completely dry, surrounded by a couple of people, who seemed too disgruntled to be just random passers. The man threw out some more insults, including one evidently meant for Laurence. The strange man firmly retorted, seemed to have been offended enough to pay for a round of trying to hit the target himself. As much as Garnet wanted to help him out, it felt right that Laurence would try to do it himself. He was the one on the receiving end of the insult, after all. On the other hand, Emperor couldn't care less. He enjoyed the rest of the apple and tossed it into a rubbish bin with pinpoint accuracy. One wouldn't want to mess with him when it came down to aiming.

Garnet was secretly rooting for the strange man, as Emperor observed the fun. The strange man changed his appearance and locked onto his target, successfully dunking the man into the vat of water. "Booyah!" Garnet would cheer for Laurence in his own way, as Emperor smirked at the other man's water dunking. The people around the game shifted their gazes towards the man that had finally beaten it. The strange man would brush the victory off, heading towards an entirely different game. The Inkling duo would follow in his tracks, leaving behind the man to swallow his own words for once.

As the group stopped at the game that caught the man's eye, his form shifted into the one from before. The shift reminded Garnet of how he and Emperor could turn into their squid forms. The man who was advertising the game was yelling something about an ultimate test of strength. All one had to do was pick up the hammer and strike the plate on the bottom in order to hit the bell at the top and become a champion. Laurence said that he was practically sitting this game out, giving them a choice of participating. Though physical prowess was not usually an Inkling's forte, Garnet reckoned that he could try, though he was well aware that he would fail.

"Come come! Have a try! This one's on me!" The man would invite the Inkling to have a crack at the game. Emperor would sigh as he shook his head. "You know that you are going to lose, right?" He would ask as he set down his previous prize next to Laurence for him to guard it for a moment. "Yeah." Garnet would confirm Emperor's concern as the taller Inkling stopped next to him. The man was giving them nervous looks, but did not say anything. "Nobody said anything about a double team." Emperor would elude a bit to his way of thinking. The shorter Inkling's eyes would go wide with realisation and nodded. "Let's do it." He would say with a smirk as the Inklings took hold of a single hammer.

The man was visibly nervous, as he spoke up, especially since he had no idea what the two weird people were talking about. "H-Hey, it's only a one person game!" The exclamation got the attention of a few people who were around, briefly looking over to see what was happening. The shorter Inkling would quickly turn his head to the side and cheekily stick his tongue out. The duo then lifted the hammer together and then slammed it down with their might. The plate let out a loud noise when the hammer made an impact with it, but there was one more sound that pierced through it. A bell quickly rang and some of the observers clapped at the display of joint strength.

The two Inklings would gleefully high five each other, satisfied with their victory. The man who was manning the game only shook his head as he sighed. "Alright, alright. You get to be double champions, I guess." He would say in defeat, as the Inklings grinned. Perhaps teaming up with one's frenemy from time to time could prove to be very beneficial and entertaining.