Cherry Blossom Festival (May 4-6)

[stringmods]

Who: EVERYONE
Where: Central Park (Capricorn Ward)
Summary: Open - Post-event log for everyone!
Warnings: Nothing

The battle was over, and the city was busy licking its wounds and trying to repair for the next few days. Amidst all of this commotion, however, Golden Week continued and with it, the weekend and next Monday was a day off to enjoy the Cherry Blossoms. And despite the fighting that had been going on, Hinito-Ri continued to adapt, and enjoy what little time that they could.

After all, fighting for such beauty did make you a lot more appreciative of it.



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. Townsmen would nod towards you, knowing that you had helped last week, young couples walked hand in hand, and many young students sat under the trees, reading books or playing games.

In the central area, Shinto monks had set up a O-Mikuji area, where you could-- for a mere 10 yen-- hope that questions on love, family or fortune would befall you favorably.

The danger had passed for now. Life continued to flourish.

Enjoy it well.

[OOC - And don't forget to add your character's tag!]

Comments

[themortalhalf]

[He tries very hard to hold back a laugh, but fails.] You can always eat anything.

[It's one of her many talents. She's free to prove him wrong, but he has yet to see it.

But he looks ahead for a moment, in response to her question, trying to remember what stands he saw when he was here earlier, so he can run through his options.]

Depends. Do you want to walk around or do you want to sit somewhere?

[greatseal]

Good food should be enjoyed!

[she doesn't even bother to argue that. then she considers the second part for a moment.] Let's walk around, it is a festival after all. We can sit later.

[themortalhalf]

[At least he can agree with that.]

I think they're selling chicken karrage skewers over there.

[It's not the healthiest option, if he were to be honest about it, but he can relax his standards sometimes. It tastes a hell of a lot more dynamic than yakitori, at any rate. The ginger and sesame seeds add a lot to it.]

[greatseal]

Sounds good to me! Come on, Senpai!

[and even though he'd made the decision two seconds ago, she now takes off as if they're late to some big event, while keeping hold of his hand.]

[themortalhalf]

[At times like this he regrets not letting his hands stay in his jacket pockets. It's a completely rational defense mechanism. He's sure any of of that demureness she had left in her just deserted her like a rocket.

Certainly feels like he's being pulled by one. Startled by the sudden change, it takes him a few seconds to adjust his pace to match the one she's trying to set. He's not sure what was so wrong with walking at the pace they were, but as long as she doesn't decide to break out into a full-fledged run... he'll try to bear with it.]

The food's not going anywhere, you know.

[greatseal]

[She turns to tug on his arm and face him at the same time, resulting in her jogging backwards as she berates him on the merits of quick action.]

Yes, but right now they're taking more skewers off the grill! All the hot ones will be gone if we don't hurry!

[So far tonight, her luck's been going well. It's only natural that trying to walk backwards in geta will ruin it.

As she takes another step back, her foot hits an uneven portion of ground. Her left leg buckles, twisting her ankle painfully and sending her towards the ground. As she flails, trying to catch her balance or catch herself, the momentum of the fall tears her arm away from his and swings her right leg upward into empty air.

The string of her right geta snaps. The shoe continues its forward velocity, hurtling towards the first solid object in front of it - Shinjiro's head.]

[themortalhalf]

[...That's the most ridiculous thing he thinks he's ever heard.

And he's about to say so, "don't talk back to your girlfriend" be damned, when she steps back and everything goes wrong. She loses her balance, he lunges forward to grab her arm so he doesn't fall, while her geta is about to try its damnedest to kill him, or at least die trying, like it all were some sort of conspiracy. He might have even believed that back in October.

But where Minako's luck ends, Shinjiro's begins for perhaps the one and only time in his life. The hand that's not trying to stop Minako's fall and steady her reacts reflexively, and he catches the geta in his palm as if his future career lay in professional baseball, effectively halting the shoe's upward progression before it could leave an ugly, smug bruise in its wake. He doesn't really have time to be surprised yet, too preoccupied with trying to make sure the both of them don't end up on the ground. ]

[greatseal]

[That won't be easy, considering she has one foot off the ground and the other is twisted sideways and unable to immediately support her. But his feat of superhuman reflexes has spared them both immediate injury. She immediately tries to regain her footing, succeeding at least somewhat as her bare foot finds the dirt, although she's still balanced precariously by his grip on her arm.]

Senpai- [she's too shocked to apologize just yet, but she is sorry about this.]

[themortalhalf]

[And it takes him a few seconds to really get what just happened. At least he's able to find his footing again, more steady than she is, given he has two solid feet on the ground with shoes that haven't gone AWOL on him for the hell of it. His hand smarts, but it's better than getting hit in the face with the damn thing. And now that he can actually get a good look on the geta in his hand, he can see that one of the string's've snapped clear off.

He wonders how the hell she even managed to do it. Strings don't just snap like that for no damn reason.]

I'm fine.

[Surprisingly. He had fully expected to take a geta to the face, given his recent history with them. He doesn't let go of her arm, can feel that her balance is still off by the weight he feels on his own, but loosens his grip.]

Your ankle okay?

[greatseal]

I... think so. [she finally manages to stand up fully and put weight on both feet, although still missing a shoe. Now it's time to start feeling embarrassed. She looks at the geta in his hand with a similar amount of confusion at it breaking like that.] But these were new shoes.

[themortalhalf]

[It's hard to tell her she should be more careful when she looks like that. Even if the string snapping wasn't her fault, she probably shouldn't have been doing more than walking. Running with blocks of wood on your feet without any traction seems like a great idea.]

Even old ones shouldn't if they're made halfway decent.

[Though he's still not sure what the hell happened with this one. Aigis ain't even around to blame it on, and her technical sister-cousin-robotic-relative or whatever is probably off trying to be infectiously human somewhere.]

There's a bench over there. [He nods to the left, not far from them. It's better than letting her stand there feeling off-balance in this crowd just because one of her geta tried to make his day memorable.] We can sit there while I fix it. Can you walk?

[greatseal]

They weren't that cheap either. I should take them back and complain.

[The money doesn't really matter, but complicating her carefully planned date with Shinji does. She can do that enough on her own without geta getting in the way.]

I'm fine, though - let's go.

[She determinedly sets off, her straight-backed, defiant posture slightly askew with one shoe on and one shoe off.

It lasts about five steps, and then the other string breaks. At least this time she doesn't fall.]

[themortalhalf]

[He isn't about to ruin her gesture of spirited defiance with the suggestion that she might walk a bit easier with the other geta off, and just follows her dutifully until the other string breaks. He flinches automatically, at some imagined expectation that maybe the other geta was going to finish off what its partner couldn't, but relaxes when it's apparent that she isn't going to fall and that he's not going to have his shin kicked in.

He then tries not to laugh, and actually manages to accomplish it—though not as stoically as he would have liked—as he walks around and takes the other geta away from her before she can do something stupid like try to walk in it. The geta's just as broken as its sibling is, and he can't fathom how she's even managing it.]

...Maybe you shouldn't be allowed to walk.

[greatseal]

[She doesn't even stop to look at him or the broken shoe. She just keeps walking, barefoot, towards the bench, leaving the geta for him to pick up.]

I can walk just fine.

[themortalhalf]

[Maybe he should just buy her a pair of sandals instead.

He follows her retreat, sitting down beside her on the bench and surveying the damage.]

At least they'll match this time.

[greatseal]

[She sighs as he sits down, then leans slightly right so she's resting against his shoulder.]

It's probably not even worth fixing them. It might just happen again. [more pouting...] It's too big a coincidence. I knew I shouldn't have pulled those fortunes.

[themortalhalf]

You went and drew fortunes already, huh?

[He can't say he believes a single slip of of paper is responsible for a couple of broken strings, though he's suddenly not sure who has the worst luck with geta between the two of them anymore.

He reaches into his pocket and fishes out a clean white handkerchief that he been keeping wrapped around his pocketwatch. He tears a strip of it away.]

If they break again, I'll fix them again. And if they break after that I'll just carry you.

[greatseal]

[oh really.]

...That could be really embarrassing, or really sweet. I'm not sure what to aim for now.

[themortalhalf]

[He starts to fix the geta, threading the new material through and knotting it.]

We'll see how well your luck holds out.

[greatseal]

It still could be worse. I didn't fall over and you didn't get hit in the head.

[nevermind that he's the one who prevented both those things.]