Time For The Spring Festival

-Capital Crocus, 12:30 P.M.-

Dressed in her new mint green t-shirt and long white skirt with brown boots and black purse slung over her right shoulder, Lucia had made the trip to Capital Crocus for the Spring Festival. People were milling about dressed for the occasion... she saw quite a few shirts and dresses of different colors like pink, lavender, white, mint green, and other colors associated with the season. With her combination of mint green t-shirt and white skirt she blended right in with everyone else. Lucia had come here to see what the Spring Festival was all about and to have a bit of fun.

Well, the festival was not the only reason she had come here.

Clutched in her right hand was a double espresso from Capital Coffee, a coffee shop that she had grown to like so much that she visited it almost every time she visited the big city. Lucia had already consumed a quarter of the beverage and was looking forward to drinking the rest, but first she was going to take a leisurely stroll around and see what activities were available for her to participate in. With coffee in hand Lucia managed to merge at the end of a line of people walking into the city and began her leisurely tour of the Spring Festival.

-Capital Crocus, 1:20 P.M.-

After a stroll that took a bit longer than anticipated thanks to the sheer number of people attending the festival Lucia had managed to get a good idea of what activities it offered. There was so much to do that she would need some time to choose her first activity. Maybe she would try her hand at Easter Egg Painting or eat something at the Easter Feaster area she had seen earlier during her stroll. There was also a Dance Around The Maypole activity which had caught her attention... if that was not of interest to the blonde there was also a Four-Leaf Clover Hunt.

Lucia was not sure what to do first. She was definitely going to save Easter Feaster for last, but the activity or activities that came before that were going to be hard to choose. Maybe she would do the Dance Around The Maypole because she was not much of a painter and she did not want to risk getting paint on her new t-shirt or her white skirt. Maybe she would participate in the Easter Egg Painting activity anyway just to do something she had never done before. There were a lot of possibilities and a lot of time in which to explore those possibilities.

[Post Word Count: 436]
[Total Word Count: 436/2,000]

-At the Easter Egg Painting area, twenty-five minutes later-

Lucia had considered participating in the Dance Around The Maypole activity, but the line for it was surprisingly long. She had counted forty people lining up for the activity and more people were getting in line for it, so the blonde decided to go do something else and that "something else" had been the Easter Egg Painting activity. The moment she approached the area she saw that there was no line to wait in because the previous group had just left, so she decided to go for it despite never having painted an egg before.

Since she was the first participant in the new group she had been permitted to claim a painting station and had chosen one in the back and center of the area. The painting station was one of many small individual tables that had been supplied with a hardboiled egg, paintbrushes of varying thicknesses, a small plastic cup of water in which to clean out the paintbrush, a paper towel to dry the paintbrush on, and paints of many different colors, including colors associated with the season. Lucia took advantage of the opportunity to rinse out her coffee cup with a small portion of the water that had been set aside for cleaning paintbrushes and set her empty coffee cup to dry just to the left of the egg. Lucia patiently watched and waited while other people walked in and claimed tables until all of them were occupied.

After all of the tables had been filled the rules of the activity were explained to everyone and once the explanation was finished the activity started with the loud blast of a whistle. The participants picked up their paintbrushes and started the painting process. Lucia picked up a thin-bristled paintbrush, dipped the end in some royal blue paint, and began to slowly and carefully paint a thin royal blue band near the middle of the egg. She carefully painted around it until she had formed an uneven royal blue band in the middle. Dissatisfied with her work, Lucia dipped her paintbrush back in the royal blue paint and made another band on top of the first, taking it more slowly this time so that the result was a little more even.

-Thirty minutes later-

An announcement from one of the organizers alerted the participants to the fact that the hour allotted for the activity was halfway up. By that time Lucia had painted several royal blue bands around the first one until the big band was the width of her thumb turned sideways and the band was almost exactly in the center of the egg. Lucia cleaned out her paintbrush and wiped it off on a nearby paper towel, then looked for another color to paint another band around the top of the egg. She soon spotted the color purple and chose to use that for her second color.

Lucia dipped her paintbrush into the purple paint, then began painting the band around the top of the egg. She worked slowly and carefully until the first band had been painted, then put more purple paint on her paintbrush before painting another purple band beneath the first one. She was going to paint a large purple band that was as wide as the royal blue one in the middle. She had plenty of time in which to paint it, so she was in no big hurry to get it done.

-Thirty minutes later, at the end of the activity-

An announcement from an organizer informed participants that the allotted hour was up. Lucia cleaned out her paintbrush and set it down, then looked at her clothing. She had managed to avoid getting any paint on herself, something that made her very happy. She turned her attention from her clothing to her egg, which was not bad for a first-time painter. Lucia had planned on painting another band in another color at the bottom of the egg, but time had run out before she could do so. Still, the bands on the egg were roughly even and roughly the same size, so Lucia was satisfied with her work.

She moved off to the left side of the table and shook out her coffee cup to remove any lingering moisture, then gently placed the painted egg inside of the dry cup. As she picked up her cup and started to leave the painting station she was given a small pink plastic Easter Egg by the event organizer. Clutching the cup in her left hand and dropping the small pink plastic Easter Egg into her purse, Lucia then exited the Egg Painting Activity area to search for a new activity to take part in. Maybe the Dance Around The Maypole activity had some openings now. If there were not any openings for the Dance Around The Maypole activity the blonde would move on and check out the Easter Feaster activity instead.

[Post Word Count: 828]
[Total Word Count: 1,264/2,000]

Lucia has earned one Small Easter Egg from completing the Easter Egg Painting Activity. She has earned one out of three Small Easter Eggs required for event completion.

-Fifty-five minutes later, at the Easter Feaster activity area-

Lucia had walked around for almost an hour looking for another activity to do. All of the other activities had lines of at least thirty people waiting to do them and while Lucia was patient, she was not that patient. As a result the blonde made a beeline for the Easter Feaster activity area to do that next before it too became crowded. When she got there she was amazed by the setup.

There were numerous and beautiful banners made out of cloth in the colors of the season decorating the area. Pink, lavender, light blue, green, gold, white, purple... all of them were hanging from buildings along the street set aside for the activity. Lucia liked the banners decorating the area and the numerous flowers in festive flowerpots were a nice touch too. Someone had definitely put a lot of time, thought, and money into decorating for the Easter Feaster activity.

Lucia walked down the street and soon saw long wooden tables and benches in the area... a lot of them. There were so many that everyone who participated in the Easter Feaster event should be able to sit down and eat unless for some reason they did not feel like sitting down. Lucia continued to walk until she reached the line for the activity and found that if she got into it this instant she would be fifty-first in line. The blonde walked briskly to the end of the line and took a place before someone else could, therefore ensuring her place as the fifty-first person in line for the Easter Feaster activity.

-One hour and thirty minutes later-

Due to her place in line Lucia had had to wait almost two hours to get her turn to get a meal, but when she finally got her chance to pick something she was floored by the wide selection of foods to choose from. There was something for virtually any preference... salads, meats, fish, vegetables, even a respectable selection of soups. The tables were all neatly labeled with white signs hanging from the table with the types of dish being printed in large black letters.

Lucia made her way over to the salads table and set her coffee cup with painted Easter Egg inside her purse, then picked up a sturdy paper plate, a pack of utensils, and two napkins. She then got a serving of Romaine Salad and held the plate in her left hand as she walked over to the beverage table and picked up a clear plastic cup of water. Lucia then made her way over to an empty bench and sat down on it, placing her serving of salad to her left and the cup of water on the ground at her feet.

Lucia opened her purse, pulled out the coffee cup, gently removed her painted Easter Egg, then put the second napkin inside the cup before gently placing her painted Easter Egg back inside the cup. She put the coffee cup back into her purse, then opened the pack of utensils and pulled out the plastic fork. Finally she balanced the plate in her lap as she began to eat the salad.

-One hour later-

Having eaten her meal at a leisurely pace, Lucia liked the salad she had chosen. The lettuce was fresh and so were the other ingredients. It had a pleasant taste and was obviously prepared by an experienced chef because nothing in the salad was lacking. Lucia took her empty plate and water cup and put them in the proper trash receptacles, then took a moment to stretch her legs. She had been sitting for slightly over an hour and trying to eat a salad while balancing the plate on her lap was harder than she had thought it would be.

At least she did not drop any food on her shirt or skirt.

Lucia checked her clothes a second time to make positively certain that she had not dropped anything on them. When the search came up with nothing a second time she stretched her legs again, then received two small plastic Easter Eggs from an event staff member who had walked up to her from the left. One of the eggs was light blue and the other was purple. Lucia thanked the staff member and put the eggs inside her purse, then started out for the main festival area.

She was pretty sure that after the meal she had just eaten she was going to call it a day and head back for Luminous Rose Guild Hall, but the lines for the activities might have shrunk a bit while she was eating. Lucia would walk around one last time to see if there was one last activity that she absolutely had to do before leaving the festival. She would at least check to be certain there was nothing else she wanted to do before leaving.

[Post Word Count: 826]
[Total Word Count: 2,090/2,000]

Lucia has earned two Small Easter Eggs from completing the Easter Feaster activity.

When combined with the Small Easter Egg earned from completing the Easter Egg Painting Activity, Lucia now has all three Small Easter Eggs required for event completion.

-One hour later-

Having completed her final sweep of the festival area for any activity that she absolutely, positively had to do before leaving, Lucia had not found one that compelled her to take part in it. All of the activities had long lines of people waiting to do them, so the blonde was not going to hang around and wait for an opening. She would just call it a day and head back for Luminous Rose Guild Hall so that she stood a chance of getting there before nightfall.

Having made her choice, Lucia began to walk away from the festival area and headed for the outskirts of Capital Crocus. She had a long walk ahead of her, but she did not mind. She was used to long walks and she still had to walk off her Romaine Salad from earlier. The salad was great in every way that mattered from presentation to ingredients to taste. Maybe she could find a restaurant somewhere that served a salad that could equal the one she had eaten earlier, but she was not going to hold her breath on that.

Lucia walked towards the outskirts of Capital Crocus feeling satisfied with the Spring Festival. She had had fun in the activities she had participated in and she was glad that she had taken the time to travel to Capital Crocus for the festival. Now she would go home and spend the rest of the day looking for a job to take so that she could keep moving forward and keep earning money to save towards a trip to Crescent Island or something else that she wanted or needed.

[Post Word Count: 276]
[Total Word Count: 2,366/2,000]