28/07/24 ♦ altogether now (at the golden festival)

good grief! the world never seemed so bright

• every year, the unique species of towerstalk megafungi endemic to the rushbark archipelago release bioluminescent spores in such great quantities that the landscape takes on a golden glow; rivers shine, shingrass sparkles in morning dew. the effect is so remarkable that it's visible from low orbit
• the golden festival started after a particularly good harvest in the early days of the colony, and has persevered in the centuries since. originally a way for farmers and artisans to distribute goods in a more festive setting, it's mutated into a melting pot of art, cultural exchange, foreign and local foods and trinkets, and joy for all
• nougat is enjoying a valtaran specialty: stalklick! tangy sap is harvested from barkstalk megafungi, which is reduced and caramelised before being cast into lollipops or rolled into other funky shapes and boiled. a small quantity of the reduced sap acts as a shiny glaze. a good few licks stains your mouth orange!! candymakers will also sometimes add the spores or even flecks of gold leaf to the glaze to make their sweets all the more magical
• init's wearing a "The Class" tee, a fictional band from the Hitman series. no idea how they got it but it's way too big for them. they also have a bag of fried sweet tubers; valtara grows them in incredible surplus to help feed the microcosm at large. the local star cluster actually grows so many that colonies between systems will sometimes bet on who grows the most per season, with the pot being, of course, tubers
• monolyth's technically in their work clothes. they run a little cafe called the Petri Dish near the local spaceport - it's a bit more appetising than the name implies! lots of regional snacks and drinks for visitors and locals alike
• mercury is missing xyr right arm. like it's not just occluded by monolyth, xe just took it off. sometimes xe doesn't feel like putting xyr prostheses on, it's just affirming to be accepted as you are
• dyad's in their favourite jumpsuit, a holdover from an old job with Obsydian Group, an outfit specialising in exploration and chartering new worlds in the Outer Wilds. they left a few decades back for jobs in Gossamer, eventually ending up on the superfreighter Apollo - where they'd meet Mercury! they're probably reminiscing on the reactor in that thing, it's a massive pressurised saltwater setup hooked up to the main engines