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

ota!

[jumyouboshi]

[The Taurus event wasn't exactly pleasant (more like a harsh slap to the face, really. "Oh, you thought you had a modicum of free will like your other self? How cute."), and dwelling on it wouldn't help his anguish or guilt, so when the opportunity to observe humans (and human culture, especially!) more arose, he didn't exactly pass it up. It was a way to take his mind off things, so to speak...although of course, he was weighed down by guilt, constantly reminding himself about it, and doubting if he even deserved to be amongst the humans here, considering his actions on the 26th. All his movements and thoughts were guilt-laden, but at least he tried not to show too much of it. He's never partaken in a festival before, and unless someone drags him, he probably won't be anytime soon.

Nevertheless, because Alcor is Alcor, and even when he's anguished he can be curious, (a little) whimsical, and strange, he'll be sitting on a branch of a cherry blossom tree, the branch high enough to just be a little bit overhead human height. (Sitting around in tall places is a preference for him. So is sitting in general.) And when he feels he has an inquiry that needs an answer, and there aren't too many people hanging around to see him (avoiding the townspeople's lines of sight especially, knowing what he's done; although he's kind of hard to miss too, red and black amongst pink petals), he'll simply...

...lie back and swing himself downwards, hanging upside down from the branch, possibly quite visibly right in someone's face or path. (Though he's taking precautions to refrain from doing that to a townsperson or someone he recognizes, accidents happen.)

It wasn't as if he had to worry about gravity, after all.]

[hetried]

[Daichi'd already had some pretty good luck when drawing the fortunes-- so it was only a matter of time before his luck actually failed him again like it was wont to do. Honestly, in a city like this, he shouldn't have been surprised, but the abrupt presence of someone swinging down right in front of his face made him give a yell in surprise, jump, and completely drop the takoyaki he had been carrying around.]

G-- Wha-- Saiduq?!

[Yep he's still got a bad habit of calling both stars by that name, it was a hard habit to break, alright! Especially when he was currently having a heart attack.]

W-What are you doing...?!

[Jerk.]

[jumyouboshi]

[He simply blinks.]

...Daichi Shijima?

[Ah, he thought he timed it so that...nevermind. He'll simply have to face the consequences. And Daichi, literally.]

Ah, my apologies.

[hetried]

[Sorry bro, bad luck was contagious.]

G-Geez... I think I almost had a heart attack...

[He gripped his chest, but he was proooobably exaggerating.]

What're you doing up there?

[jumyouboshi]

I am merely observing you all. ...Is there a problem?

[From a distance. It's all he can bring himself to do...]

[hetried]

N-No, no! It's just that people don't usually sit in trees and wait to swing down into people's faces. [Seriously dude this is no time for a test of bravery.

...Not that. Anyone'd ever accused Saiduq of being normal before, so uh, what was his point again now.]

Uh-- You, OK and everything? You didn't get hurt too bad, right...?

[You know after the. Fire truck thing.]

[jumyouboshi]

[His expression immediately changes to one more...melancholy, although it may be difficult to tell since he's upside-down.]

I am fine, you needn't worry about me. But as for the others...I cannot say.

[Alcor puts a hand to his mouth.]

...You have my deepest gratitude, Daichi Shijima.

[hetried]

[Though Alcor's expression fell, Daichi let out a nervous chuckle.] Y-Yeah-- I think Yamato's OK, though I'm not sure how Miyako and Fumi and all of them are doing. I hope they're fine at least.

[The last comment though is...surprising?]

Huh-- what, for ramming you with a firetruck? [He's pretty sure that'd only get like, a minor level of praise at the least...] I mean I'm happy to help, but...

[jumyouboshi]

Yes. Without your intervention, worse may have happened.

[The power of a sword of the absolute is not to be taken lightly, after all. Especially when, shall we say, unrestrained...]

u asked for this

[lighter_flick]

Ahhh! [What the hell?! Tatsuya stumbles back in surprise. He should really stop going on jobs if he was gonna space out like thaaaoooh it's that one guy again. Freaking weirdo.

Oh wait, he probably shouldn't be seen being flustered uh. Hmm.]

Uh...hi? [He asks while he takes out his lighter...]

that i did :>

[jumyouboshi]

[He only blinks at Tatsuya's surprise. There's nothing wrong with being a bit flustered over some white-haired alien dude hanging upside-down from a tree suddenly in your face. He briefly glances at the lighter, then looks back to Tatsuya.]

Greetings.

[His greeting is polite yet distant, as if he's not familiar with the young man. Well, he isn't.]

...Why do humans admire flowers so?

[Yes, that's his burning question.]

[lighter_flick]

[...Are you seriously asking him about flowers?

Sighs defeatedly. Might as well humor him.]

Plenty of reasons. You'll have to be more specific.

[jumyouboshi]

[Hand to mouth. How to phrase it...?]

Do people simply admire their aesthetic value, or do they hold more significance to humans...?

[To him, it looked like a mix of both.]

[lighter_flick]

[Why is this happening to him oh my god...]

Well, it depends on the person. They're significant enough to where flower language is a thing, if that's what you're asking.

[Tatsuya no, what have you don't, now he'll never leave you alone.]

[jumyouboshi]

[He perks up visibly, his interest clearly piqued. Tatsuya, what have you done?...]

Oh? Hm...it would not be the first instance of material objects conveying feelings...mankind's means of communication have developed more than I had thought.

[Pause.]

...May I ask for an example?

[At least he's being polite about it, since he's aware that he's treading on thin ice when interacting with anyone, given last week.]

[lighter_flick]

[Okay, uh, he's kind of having a weird moment where someone's actually listening to him and wants him to teach him something, whoooooaaaaa, but let's see...]

Uhh...sure. [What's the closest-cherry blossoms. That's almost too easy. He gives a shrug and starts talking about what he remembers about ~~flowers~~] Like, cherry blossoms are "transience" and nemophilas mean "forgiveness," stuff like that.

[Please forgive him for getting the different flower languages mixed up.]

cue a short thread

[capitalbackup]

[Miyako's attending the festival in order to relax and simply...forget about the Taurus event. It happened and it's foolish to ignore it, but for a moment, she don't want to think about it.

...Which became fruitless when a unpleasantly familiar thing appeared before her again.

Stepping back, she outright glared at Alcor, making no effort to mask how she feels about him.]

Heretic.

[Oh wow, so much contempt in one, spoken word.]

the shortest of threads

[jumyouboshi]

[...Well, it wasn't as if Miyako Hotsuin masked her feelings about him normally anyway. He'd apologize, for getting in her way and...the obvious issue, but more likely than not, his apology would fall on deaf ears.

...]

...Ah.

[...Alcor gives her a curt nod, acknowledging her existence (and his guilt), then promptly returns to the sitting position on his branch.

That...could have gone better. (No, it couldn't have.)]

very shortest

[capitalbackup]

[It could have gone better. But that requires...a certain amount of effort and, more than likely, intervention from others. Even if he apologises, she wouldn't accept it.

After receiving that nod from him, Miyako turns around and walk away from him in a sour mood.]

[thewunderkind]

Lash might not have all the powers that Alcor possessed, but the Commanding Officer's powers did include ignoring gravity as long as she was touching something, treating the trees as her own personal playground. It gave her time to think about her next devious scientific endeavors...

Besides, she'd never seen trees be this pink before!

So when he swung down, there already was another upside-down face, arms crossed, hanging from on a branch that shouldn't quite be supporting her weight.

"Hey, I was here first!"

[jumyouboshi]

...Well. That was a new one. How had he missed this person swinging around...? Lost in his own thoughts, more likely than not.

"Oh? Did I intrude upon your territory?"

...Though he doubted the trees counted as "her territory" in the first place.

[daswunderkind]

Perhaps that, and also probably half-due to Lash's ability to mistwalk when she felt like it.

"Tee hee hee! Nah, this place don't belong to me, but if I had an army to conquer it, it would be!"

Well she was very honest about it, at least. The fact that they were both upside down to talk didn't seem the least but odd to her.

"What are you doing her anyway?"

[jumyouboshi]

Indeed...at least she was honest about her intentions, and he could always appreciate honesty. And technically, she was right. That was how conquering worked, after all. With armies and force and military might and...

...Ah, humans.

"I am here to simply observe the human festivities. What about you?"

[daswunderkind]

"Thinking what I should intent next," she explained, opening her hand to reveal a tiny miniature neotank which scuttled up and right back into her pocket. "I've been shrinking the components prototype by prototype to make them smaller! Maybe I could use these to spy on people soon, tee hee hee!"

Seriously, honest to a fault.

"That and I need to figure out a strategy to get the best out of the guy who beat me last time! Ooooh, it just burns me up thinking about it!"

[jumyouboshi]

The tiny Neotank gets a raised eyebrow out of him. Alcor eyes it curiously, obviously piqued.

"That is your creation, then? How interesting...humanity's development of technology never ceases to amaze me."

Honestly, the things they made were pretty ingenious, and they kept making advancements upon advancements, a sign of their limitless potential...though he did wish they spent less resources on military technology and more on other things. But, that couldn't exactly be helped.