Spring Celebration [OPEN TO ALL]

[stringmods]

Who: Everyone
Where: All around the city
Summary: Open!
Warnings: None

Spring had finally arrived in Hinoto-Ri, and with it, a sense of renewal. The cold winter had gone, sweeping away memories of Shadows, endlessly repeating days, and awkward Valentine's Day escapades. A great deal of the damage to the city had been restored since the previous fall(although there is still damage from the Aries battle, but what else is new) and the gentle sun shining overhead in the midst of clear skies and a fresh breeze made it easy to forget that Hinoto-Ri was such a volatile place.

Life in the city goes on. And while there was no official government-hosted festival this year, the cherry trees throughout Capricorn remain present to be enjoyed, nonetheless. The first cherry blossoms are beginning to bloom and the pink blossoms are surely the most beautiful sight there is to see in Hinoto-Ri...



Tens of thousands of trees dotted the park's landscape, but it was the Cherry trees that were the stars of the weekend, the pink petals creating a heavenly smell only enhanced by the small stalls that were busy selling hot yakitori (grilled chicken on sticks), takoyaki (octopus balls on sticks), shioyaki (Salty grilled sea bream on sticks ) and kakigori (Shaved ice with syrup, not on a stick).

The prime picnic places were being taken and families grouped together to eat homemade lunches and bento, but there were still many spots and trees to go under should you wish to do so with friends. Young couples walked hand in hand and many young students sat under the trees, reading books or playing games.

Underneath a particularly large tree, the temples and shrines of the city have once again set up an area for O-Mikuji, where it was possible to get a fortune. 5 yen is the luckiest, though any offering will do.

There are, naturally, many other opportunities for the Visitors now that the weather is warming up. Picnics in the park, trawling the increasingly lively street-side stalls for trinkets and vendor food like takoyaki and yakitori, spending more time at night fighting demons during the 13th Hour now that it's not freezing cold...

Well, perhaps the last one isn't quite so fun. But the demons, too, seem bolder now that the weather has changed - with the exception of the Frosts, of course.

[OOC - Open log for all players! Start your own threads! have a picnic under the plants, eat a bunch of food or join others, mingle to your heart's content, tomorrow the ability to buy fortunes will be posted, and your character's fates may gain something new.

ETA: Fortunes will be delayed due to unexpected real life circumstances.]

Comments

Open:

[empiricalpride]

[Even didn't have the patience for this sort of frivolity.
Really.
He didn't.
It was sheer coincidence that he was taking the long way around the park on his walk through it, today. Curiosity? About something so messy as petals everywhere? Don't be absurd...]

[terminally_clever]

Even.

[Curiously, Fumi is out enjoying the pleasant sights and smells of spring today as well. She also happens to have her Porygon with her, in case that catches his eye.]

[empiricalpride]

Fumi.

[He gives her a polite nod-]

I wasn't aware you had a pet.

[terminally_clever]

Yes. This is Laplace. Kotoha brought him back from her world for me.

[It gives a friendly little computerized sounding chirp.]

[empiricalpride]

Another of her world's creatures? I'd encountered some in the past, but this, I'll admit, is new.

[A synthesised sounding call? Hm. These things just keep getting more and more curious.]

[terminally_clever]

Porygon is rather unique even among Pokemon. It's essentially computer code that gained sentience. Not unlike a robot, but apparently even more advanced in that it possesses the capacity for breeding.

[empiricalpride]

A being born from data?

[And here we have the most excited that he's ever sounded in Fumi's presence, most likely.]

I had - worked with synthetic lifeforms in the past, but one created in a completely digital format... well, now.

[He looks it over, smiling faintly.]

[terminally_clever]

It's quite fascinating, isn't it? I have to say, Kotoha certainly knows how to pick her presents.

[empiricalpride]

Largely, she gives me coffee.

[...This is hardly a complaint, mind.]

[terminally_clever]

Well, it is her job, after all.

[unbroken_chain]

"Hi Even!"

Oh hey it is Kotoha and her...six foot flying scorpion thing.

Huh.

[empiricalpride]

He looks over at her, gives a moment's nod-

"Another of your - team, I'd suppose?"

[unbroken_chain]

Nod nod.

"Yep! This is Scorpina - she's from the Dream World!"

[empiricalpride]

Oh.
Oh.

His eyes open wide for the merest fraction of a second. He scans the Pokémon over, briefly.

"Those of your world have the capacity to bring beings from that realm?"

[unbroken_chain]

"Uh? Yeah, we do."

Kotoha exchanges a glance with Scorpina, who clacks her claws in a staccato beat.

"People keep being surprised by that; is it that unusual?"

[empiricalpride]

"By the standards of my world? Yes. It is. It's something that, to the best of my awareness, requires a very skilled mage's touch."
How different these realms were...

[unbroken_chain]

Blink blink.

"As far as I know, Fennel runs the server in Striaton City, and I've got a client app here on my C-Gear."

With that, she indicates the chunky watch on her wrist that is not the standard-issue one all Visitors receive upon arrival.

[empiricalpride]

"Everyday technology..."

Excuse him. Never mind the festival or the games or the food - this is a bit more his style.

"Would any resources on such be available here that you know of? Can you access anything here?"

[unbroken_chain]

Kotoha shakes her head.

"Without the server present, all this is good for is condensing milk chocolate out of thin air, and even that needs a second C-Gear. I did figure out how to dump the program code a while back, if you'd like a copy of that?"

[empiricalpride]

"That would be - appreciated." Even that would be outside his own expectations. The chocolate part... that was slightly more within the realm of what he'd heard in the past, but it would still be interesting enough to see how it worked.

[unbroken_chain]

"Okay, I'll drop you off a copy next time I'm at work, then?"

Grin grin.

[empiricalpride]

"Thank you. If I might enquire, are there any other advances that your world has made that you've not encountered here?" Damn - so many places must seem so primitive by comparison...

[unbroken_chain]

Nod nod.

"Yeah, there's not even basic matter-to-energy conversion devices, the teleportation technology available is super bulky, and there aren't even any portable bikes."

How portable is portable, exactly?

[empiricalpride]

"'Portable'. And matter-to-energy - I presume that is how those devices I've seen you use with your other team members work? We have ... touched, perhaps, on such things..." and he's certainly not going to mention some of his work to a teenager... "but not to such a compact standard."

He shakes his head, somewhere between curiosity and embarrassment for his own world's scientific progress. His own. At least, perhaps, they've less progress in other fields?

He hopes?

[unbroken_chain]

"Portable!"

She reaches into her bag and pulls out her bicycle in collapsed form, quickly unfolding it to reveal its rugged and sturdy construction, suitable for traveling through the wilderness.

The front wheel alone is large enough to take up all the space available inside the bag, which clearly still has multiple items inside it.