Sunbreeze Festival (Vana'diel Tribune)

1st August, Weather: Fine

Today's Companions Daggwi (Galka paladin) Today's Lunch Salmon rice ball

Will this heat wave never end? I actually don't mind the weather, though.

In Vana'diel, warm weather brings fantastic festivals! Today I attended the Sunbreeze Festival with Daggwi. The festival featured fun and dances in Bastok, San d'Oria, and Windurst to call cool breezes down from the heavens. This year's festival was more spirited than ever! Daggwi and I saw all the excitement from Windurst.

There were enormous cherry blossoms around the fountain in Windurst Woods, surrounded by Tarutarus dancing all day long! I even heard that the famous Rakapopo Dancers were among them. Daggwi and I wasted no time throwing on yukatas and learning how to shake it with the Tarus! Everyone got in a circle and did the Far Eastern Sunbreeze Shuffle. It was very fun, but Daggwi kept stepping on my tail… He said he was just giving the dance some special Galka flavor, but I think his clapping to the wrong beat just had "Daggwi" written all over it.

I heard from one of the dancers that others had traveled to San d'Oria and Bastok to show off their routine. She suggested that I check out the other nations too, as different types of cherry blossoms bloom in different places. There were so many Rakapopo Dancers just in Windurst that I couldn't help but wonder how many of them there must be altogether!

Moogles had set up shop in Windurst Waters, so Daggwi and I headed over and found a dizzying array of fireworks! Launching big, impressive fireworks is great, but I have a soft spot for the little, cute types as well. My favorite was the "Kongou Inaho," which I could wave around with my own hands! It was especially beautiful when I held it and /waved. Kind of dangerous when other people were nearby, though…

Daggwi went crazy over "Airborne," which shot straight up in the air. It was kind of expensive, but it fired several shots, and Daggwi looked like a pro using it. Children even began gathering around and trying to catch the Goblin dolls that fell from the sky after launch! They were quite slippery, though! At Daggwi's insistence, we headed over to Windurst Walls to try out "Azimuth Circle." It was a treasure hunting game where you search for a buried prize using compass directions. The catch was that you could only see the directions for your partner, so we had to use teamwork.

Daggwi and I have always worked together well, so we just yelled the directions out to each other. Still, it might have been a thrill to work with someone new, too!

When we had found our items, we traded them to each other and presented the items to a Moogle who gave us swimsuits! The Mithran swimsuit was so adorable and excellent for cooling off in the summer heat!

Daggi was full of grins as he inquired, "Now do you appreciate the beauty of the Galkan physique?" But actually, it was so skimpy and tight that I couldn't even look at him directly without my fur turning pink…or could it be that my heart was pounding!? Hahaha…

Sunbreeze Festival's main event had to be goldfish-scooping! Daggwi keeps insisting that the Azimuth Circle was the main event, but I know a great game when I see it!

Goldfish-scooping consisted of trying to catch (what else?) goldfish in creeks and lakes with a scoop made of thin paper stretched across a round frame.

Goldfish could be exchanged for points, which in turn could be exchanged for items.

As a Mithra, though, I was too busy staring at the fish and licking my lips to think about items. The Mithra on the bridge in Sarutabaruta and I got fairly worked up talking about all the goldfish.

Regular goldfish have a refreshing taste--they're tiny and slide right down your throat. Black bubble-eyes have a rich taste--kind of crunchy. Lionheads are so nice and juicy--I want to sink my teeth into one right now! They are delicacies I can only enjoy in summer, so I helped myself to several. I would scoop goldfish all year long if I could!

I think I'll head over to Bastok and San d'Oria tomorrow to see how the festival is coming along in other places. After all, someone has to taste test their fish for all those gourmet chefs out there!