Tanabata Ball

[memento_mods]

Who:Anyone who wants to attend (Please sign up here if your characters are attending, if you haven't done so already)
What:Tanabata ball
Where: The park
When: July 7, at 9:00 P.M.
Warnings: Nothing above PG-13. Take anything else to journal posts.

Comments

[a_severed_fate]

Tear was still asking herself what exactly had happened only a week before. Somehow her rather blunt skepticism had led to her standing here, waiting patiently for her it's-not-a-date (but for the sake of argument) we-are-going-there-together sort-of-friend, not-quite-ally. Honestly she didn't know what he was, although he claimed to be an heir to the throne of Kimlasca and her brother's student, besides. Suffice it to say she was waiting for Luke and at the same time wondering why in the world it mattered if she thought he wasn't fit to run a kingdom. She doubted she was the only one who felt this way.

Regardless, whether she saw this as a challenge or merely a social event orchestrated by the entity in charge of the island, she was willing to cooperate to an extent. Tear was at least going to try to enjoy herself (doubtless lectures would await her from multiple sources if she failed to loosen up), and glancing around at the park, it wouldn't be hard. The park, all lit up and decorated for the occasion put Van's little garden back home to shame.

Tear was wearing a deep burgandy dress that reached her ankles and high-heeled sandals. (For the visually-minded like myself: dress, shoes, necklace.) She had her knives on her, too, but they weren't visible. Chances were that nothing out of the ordinary would happen, but she wanted to be prepared just in case. The only real inklings of anxiety she felt were in regards to the details of the invitation - whether and what she would remember this time.

Although she had declined taking the dancing lessons that were being offered, or even letting Luke teach her himself, she had gone to Estelle about it. Tear rather trusted the princess' advice on dancing, and was fairly confident at this point that she wasn't going to trip. It wasn't so unlike fighting when it came down to it.

But she really wasn't interested in a fight. If anything she was vaguely curious as to how the redhead intended to use a ball to prove his own maturity.

[apurposetolive]

Well, with any luck, Tear would find out soon enough. Luke walked down from the apartments, both hands behind his back, wearing the outfit he received when he was made a viscount of Kimlasca (seen here).

As Luke approached, he caught sight of Tear and immediately his cheeks turned red. He'd known she was attractive, but he hadn't expected her to look as beautiful as she did. He gave his head a slight shake to clear those thoughts out of his head, though. He said he was going to prove to Tear how maturely he could behave, and dammit, nothing was stopping him from doing so.

He approached Tear and said, "Sorry I'm late. I thought you'd have waited for me in your room. Anyway..." Luke pulled his hands out from behind his back and offered Tear a tulip and a wrist corsage. "These are for you."

[a_severed_fate]

Tear turned her head in Luke's direction. He definitely looked the part - she'd give him credit for that much, although naturally she wouldn't say so to his face. She imagined a compliment like that would go straight to his head. Probably.

"I haven't been waiting long. You never specified where I should meet you, and I assumed you'd eventually wind up right here."

The melodist tilted her head in momentarily puzzlement. This was something she should have asked Estelle about, and having spent her childhood caught up in dreams of joining the Oracle Knights to be with Van, she was a little fuzzy on the details of this sort of thing.

"Is it normal for people to give each other flowers at social events?"

[apurposetolive]

"Well, yeah," Luke said. "At least, it is for the girls to get them. They're not expected to get anything for men."

Then, his cheeks turned slightly red again. "You, uh...you look nice tonight," he said.

[a_severed_fate]

"Oh... right. I suppose that would make sense." Tear would definitely have to ask Estelle about it later. It was too late now, and she'd just have to follow Luke's lead in the meantime. Chances were he knew as much as the princess did about royalty, if not more.

"...thank you," she said finally, although she didn't clarify whether this was a response to the flowers or to his compliment. She took this opportunity to offer Luke her hand, so one could only assume she meant the corsage.

She wondered if Luke was struggling yet. He was blushing, she noted. Maybe he was waiting for her to say something? Tear thought back to when they had first started discussing Tanabata. Hadn't he wanted to spend it with friends? If that was the case, it might be better to see what things there were to do at this ball rather than get bogged down in what Tear assumed were court formalities.

Tear decided to speak up in the end.
"You wanted to enjoy the evening, didn't you, Luke? What do you propose we do first?"

[apurposetolive]

Luke quickly fixed the corsage to Tear's wrist. He then looked around. He was highly tempted to grab food first, but a different activity grabbed his attention more. "I don't know about you, but I want to see why people are hanging tags on the plant leaves."

[a_severed_fate]

Tear followed Luke's gaze to the plants in question. There were some writing utensils scattered nearby, and people seemed to be inscribing something on the tags before hanging them on the trees.

"Okay, let's go," the Oracle Knight agreed with a brief nod of the head. She took a few slow paces in that direction so that Luke could keep up and walk beside her. She didn't really wish to appear too "couple-y" if she could help it, not with so many people around and Mokona's stories of winning contests, but she didn't want to leave him behind or lead him around either - that would just be rude on her part.

After a second she continued, her expression lightening a trace, "I'm not sure why they're doing that, either. While I did read about the Tanabata legend, I never got around to researching the traditions associated with it. I can only assume it's related somehow."

[apurposetolive]

Luke stayed close. As he approached, though, he caught something Tear apparently missed -- a piece of paper explaining what was going on. "It says here it's tradition to write down one's wishes on these tags and then hang them on bamboo leaves," he said. "The two people the legend's about are supposed to fulfill them -- unless it rains."

Luke looked again at the tags. "Okay, now what in the world am I gonna wish for...?" he wondered aloud.

[a_severed_fate]

Tear stopped to listen. When Luke had finished reading, her expression was skeptical.

"It doesn't look like it's going to rain, at least," she admitted with a slight shrug, indicating the sky above them which was perfectly clear - the stars absolutely dazzling, the moon, off to one side, glowing in near-full brilliance. (Mun is guessing since mun thinks it was a full moon last night, or close...)

"But do you really think those two would be able to grant your wish? They couldn't even fulfill their duties properly."

If only Tear had known that sometimes fulfilling one's duty was the very thing that prevented two people from being together in the first place. Since she didn't, and since she was all about loyalty to one's morals and jobs and superiors, she didn't have too much sympathy for the lovers in the legend.

Despite this, Tear found herself wondering the same thing. Aside from finding a way to get home and stop Van, she couldn't think of much to wish for.

[apurposetolive]

"Well, hey, I'm not the one who made the tradition," Luke said as he picked up a pen and two tags. On them he wrote I wish to remember more and I wish to be as good a king as my uncle, and hung them on bamboo leaves.

[a_severed_fate]

Something in Luke's comment caused her to fall silent. Even if hanging wishes on trees came to absolutely nothing, who was she to be so critical of it? In a way, it was an admission of needing (or at least wanting) help with something. As for herself, her own solitary attempts to make things happen since her arrival had been somewhat pitiful. (Not to mention the tradition was likely meant to be light-hearted in the first place.)

Something else was bothering her, though, and it strayed right on the rim of her field of comprehension, but she was pretty sure it had to do with Luke. She hadn't taken him too seriously up until now, but he had said he was going to prove to her that he could be mature - and so far he was actually doing it. Maybe he really would be able to learn the skills that would be necessary of him, but she wasn't about to jump to conclusions yet. She wasn't jumping to conclusions, but a part of her wanted to see him succeed.

Tear debated this in silence while Luke finished the two tags from a few feet away. She didn't bother trying to actually comprehend what he had written, but she did notice one thing about it.

"Yes, that's true... I just hope that whoever actually does decide to answer yours can read it. I know officials just stamp documents most of the time, but your penmanship could use some fine-tuning. I didn't realize you were left-handed."

[apurposetolive]

Luke decided to ignore the blunt remark about his handwriting. "Well, actually, I'm good with both hands. I'm just a little better with my left is all. Anyway, you never noticed? I thought the way I wear my scabbard would be a dead giveaway, even if you've never seen me swing a sword."

[a_severed_fate]

Tear smiled slightly, "You didn't seem like much of a threat, because you never tried to fight me, even when my younger self tried to start one. Since it didn't seem like you were my enemy, I didn't think on it much."

There really wasn't much to fight against in Memento Eden, and aside from trying to bring her own skills back up to a semi-polished state, she hadn't given combat much thought at all. Maybe she was growing careless already; she wasn't sure.

"I wouldn't mind seeing what you can do with a sword. Not tonight, of course, but eventually."

She made a point of not mentioning Luke's teacher, and didn't plan to do so unless Luke himself brought the topic up.

[apurposetolive]

"Sounds good to me," Luke said. "Now, what say we get some food? I don't know about you, but I haven't had anything since before noon. I need something in my stomach!"

[a_severed_fate]

Tear nodded. It was odd to think that after this ball was over she was going to go back to fighting and things related to it. She had a match with Tibarn in a couple of days, and now this. She wondered how other people managed it - to have fun in the middle of a war or crisis and then be able to go back onto the battlefield. It didn't look like her vacation would be so brief as that, but she still had to switch roles every day - soldier, waitress, soldier...

As the topic switched to food, Tear relaxed. Luke was acting more like normal now, but Tear decided it was best not to bother pointing it out.

"I don't have any problems with it, but you really shouldn't go for that long without eating anything. You could have always stopped by the cafe when you got off work."

[apurposetolive]

"Well, I, uh... I knew there'd be a ton of food here, so I thought I'd save room. I just held myself over by drinking water, so I'm okay."

That said, Luke led Tear over to the food table. There was a lot here, with lots of variety. That said, though, Luke was a very picky eater. Fortunately for him, there were plenty of chicken dishes. He grabbed one of every variety of chicken he could find and fit on a plate, as well as a few slices of bread and a glass of juice. He then turned toward the tables, looking for a place to sit and eat.