destinystrings | Cherry Blossom Festival (May 4-6)

Cherry Blossom Festival (May 4-6)

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!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Well, that feminine passiveness lasted just about as long as he thought it would. Now if only he could form compliments as well as he can make a three-course meal, if that was her reason for going through all the trouble to buy another yukata when her other one suited her just fine.]

As ready as I'll ever be. [He surveys the stands and crowds again, as if some part of it might be a legitimate threat to his own well-being, though his expression is still a case of schooled neutrality.] Just don't try to smother a goldfish this time, yeah?

[He could always make her a meal as a compliment....]

That was an accident! I don't need more fish right now, anyway.

[She reaches for his arm. Let's get going and forget about the fish story, okay?]

[Except shioyaki, maybe.

He laughs quietly, and takes her hand when she reaches for his arm and starts to walk. At the very least, this festival isn't as congested as the last one he had to be present in. Capricorn was a lot more open than the inner city. He's grateful for every extra inch of space.]

All right. I think the food stalls are this way.

We don't have to go to the food first, either! [wait, that sounded way too defensive. She looks away and tries (unsuccessfully) to regain her yamato nadeshiko poise.] I mean, if you're not hungry yet? I was here yesterday, so we should go where you want first...

[and saying it like that admits she wants food anyway but gdi it's his fault for calling her out so blatantly...]

[That earns her one of his more dubious glances. She might have parts of the nadeshiko down, but the rest of the term hardly sticks to her. He'd smirk if he were prone to facial expressions besides a carefully crafted scowl (which had earned its place years ago), but he figures the lack of them is a small price to pay for composure.

If she wanted him to take her seriously, she might've tried to mix up her dating strategy a bit more. The godsend, he supposes, is her habits never bothered him and he was hardly any better. Food was something they had in common. It sounded silly, thinking it, but it was one of the few things he knew a damn thing about. Social activities still weren't his forté. He had hung around Aki for eighteen years, after all. That was hardly a varied social experience, especially once he got fixated on some idea or other. ...And, if he were honest, he'd admit he was fine with it, at least when Aki's ideas weren't winning the idiocy roulette.

Festivals are hardly a part of his willing itinerary, but at least he can mentally evaluate the food. And it makes her happy. That's fine, too.]

If you feel like you gotta act all uninterested, you might want to go about it different.

[You know. All silent and subtle.]

[Senpai, she's doing this for you! Can't he see she's trying to accommodate his antisocial behavior by giving him ~~eye candy~~ options?]

I want you to have fun today! Not just watch me eat and accidentally throw goldfish around.

I'll worry about that. [He lets his fingers carefully slip between hers. He doesn't bother to change the direction they were heading in.] We can get something from the stalls first, and walk around.

[And he does enjoy walking around the food stalls. There's more to food than eating it. And he takes an almost greater interest in watching them make it. A lot of the stalls might be offering the same food, but they all make it different, even if only subtly so, but sometimes that makes all the difference between eating a trash substitute and something more than decent.]

...All right. [His small gesture is good enough for her. She relaxes and gives his hand a squeeze in return.]

Let's get some food and then go watch the cherry blossoms. [They are the main event.]

Edited 2013-05-10 05:37 (UTC)

Most of 'em are this way then.

[They are, though the cherry blossoms never last long. One moment they're around, then they're not.

The food stalls, however, are a far more stable fixture. Though there are more vendors than usual to add to the scattered carts and stands that usually decorate the premises, and Shinjiro's just tall enough he has the a decent vantage point where he can see some of the food being cooked and sold. He remembers watching the cooks sometimes as a kid. Half because he was curious, half because the food there was usually better (if unhealthier) than what was served at home. It was something better than carrots and curry.

He'll let her decide though. He'd steer her away from the shoyaki, since she seems to have better luck with items that don't have fish involved, but he meddles with her diet enough as it is, considering he's the one who usually stocks the fridge. Let her eat what she wants. ]

[All the more reason to celebrate them while they last!

She of course, gravitates towards the more unhealthy and fried selection. But she glances over at him before actually getting in any lines.] What are you hungry for? I could really eat anything right now...

[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?

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.

[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.]

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.]

[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.

[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.]

[...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. ]

Edited 2013-05-26 05:35 (UTC)

[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.]

Edited 2013-05-27 11:16 (UTC)

[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?

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.

[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?

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.]

[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.

[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.

[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.

Cherry Blossom Festival (May 4-6)

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)