Piracy | A Horrordust Story

Festival

Seaside festivities were always jaw dropping. Hundreds of people running around with half-melted ice creams and sweaty face paint running down their otherwise normal faces, dripping onto their white shirts. Followed quickly by the parents trying to reprimand them, whilst also chasing after them. And also trying to not ruin the mood. The typical experience for a parent of a or multiple young children. A seemingly rather specific situation, but extremely common for those in this town. It happened a number of times every year.

As the myths tell, the town of Crawn celebrated freedom of pirate control every year since 1717 BCE. The true meaning of the festival had faded over time, as well as traditions, as do most holidays. Gyftmas was about being grateful for what you had, and celebrating the freedom of monsters, long before Crawn even existed. Halloween, a holiday originating in the belief that once a year the souls of the deceased would be available, people lighting fires and wearing costumes to ware off ghosts, that turned into going door to door in silly costumes for sweets or chocolate. Even in the average lifetime you could see it fade. What used to be weeks of joyful singing and cheering now was nothing more than an outdoor trampoline park and circus for a single day. Sure the greater festival had minor things but when people who ran the fair now were kids there were multiple days of outdoor festivals. Parents would save up for months to go. It was like a holiday on their doorstep. For some anyway. It does makes your mind wonder if this trend has always been the case. What could they have done nearly 4000 years ago?

Still, it was entertaining. And Dust, the person who ran the popcorn stand found it that way too. Despite being over 35°C, the inside of the stand was quite cool, with fans and portable air-conditioning. Fitted with a drink cooler for his water and cans. Just the way Dust liked it. Ice at his disposal at any point. Heck, he even had a space he could stick a tablet to watch his favourite shows whilst waiting for customers. He rarely did though, he almost always had customers coming up for popcorn, meaning he had to make more quite often. He got by, just watching the joy outside, emitting from nearly everyone simply overrun the event, parents still running to catch up to their children, and at the same time their other children ran to them for money to buy an oversized teddy bear that would clearly be ruined in about 30 minutes, oh and certainly an ugly set of clothes or some candy that would be forgotten about. The joy and the fun, this was always something he looked forward to each year. All outside his front door. He wouldn't mind if his house were miles away, he'd walk the distance. He loved it here.

The sweet, buttery smell reminded him of a simpler time as a child, and although the smell now made him feel slightly sick when it got too much, nothing was better. He was once one of those children who ran around the plaza. Now he was one of the people who ran the plaza, it always seemed so different. Despite it being only a decade ago, the atmosphere was duller than before. It was hard to describe, something felt different. Nostalgia perhaps, likely the fact that Dust sees it different now that he's aged. Things aren't quite the same when you have bills and other things to pay. But part of him wishes he could return to something like that. Where he didn't have to worry about finances, live in the lap of someone rich. And hey, a bigger bed would be nice too.

All the boring thoughts made Dust begin to doze off however,  he was cut short as a crowd of people dressed in scraggy clothing that looked like it came from no later than 17th century came through. One leading the horde. He approached Dust, taking his hat off and bowing to the young man. Odd. Even though it was bright, the mans skull appear shrouded in darkness, like some magic kept it that way. Managing to hide his curiosity, he smiled, he did appear puzzled by the man but it was nothing insulting. He took the bow nicely, greeting the oddly dressed person with a handshake. "Hey-" Dust began before being interrupted by the other man. Clearly he must have been in a hurry, most people were here, not much for conversation. Which was fine enough for Dust. Any way he could avoid unnecessary talking he would jump at the opportunity.