[Thread] - Tanabata Festival (OPEN! &hearts)

[honoo_no_hime]

Characters: OPEN! come one come all
Where: a pathway in the park
When: shortly after the pendant plot, during Tanabata
Summary: Mars has organized a small festival (adapted for Econtra) with:
&hearts preparations/decorating
&hearts fortune-telling
&hearts mingling
&hearts a cook-out
Notes: Please feel free to join the created subthreads singly or

Comments

Decorating [subthread]

[machines_talk]

The path winding through the park was a quiet flurry of activity, organized chaos as the preparations for the festival moved forward. The brighter air spread in visible progression, rolling out from the start of the path like a carpet unfurling. The paper lanterns, streamers and message-banners lent touches of color and much-needed cheer as they were hung from the trees' branches.

Re: Decorating [subthread]

[honoo_no_hime]

Mars was hanging a lantern when she saw Kaylee. She offered the other girl a polite nod, kindled the light with her own fire, and then came to greet the arrival more politely.

"Thank you for helping," she said. It was, she admitted quietly to herself, a nicely familiar situation. Often at home at the shrine, there'd been so much work to be done that she'd recruited her friends. At festival times, they'd been especially helpful -- with the possible exception of Usagi who even back then had tended to arrive late, or forget, or manage to clumsily knock over whatever had just been finished. There was an internal grin Mars couldn't help.

Re: Decorating [subthread]

[machines_talk]

Kaylee smiled as she turned toward the other girl. Beamed, really, all bright cheer and easy warmth. "Ain't no trouble to help," she replied. "Truth to say, I'm just happy to pitch in with anythin' as might put a few more smiles on folks' faces 'round here. An' this seems like it'll be just the thing, too. It's a real good idea you have here."

Re: Decorating [subthread]

[honoo_no_hime]

"It's not exactly my idea," Mars admitted. "It just happened to be now."

Had it been Kaylee? She couldn't recall now, but Mars thought it had been. Someone had asked about the last festival people had attended, and it had sparked her to realize that Tanabata was soon - and that it was likely to be overlooked, forgotten. It shouldn't be. Traditions were important. If this was a version of Earth, as she fully believed it was, those same traditions were buried somewhere in its past.

Jadeite had ridiculed her somewhat for this, viewing it as letting her true duties and mission take second place, but it wasn't so. This was something people still needed. The ability to have a peaceful festival and share an evening together was what she fought to protect for the people of Earth.

"It's a yearly festival in Japan, in my world."

Fortune-Telling [subthread]

[honoo_no_hime]

Instead of the traditional summer kimono, Mars sat at the booth wrapped in the shawl of a fortune-teller, pulled over her head as well. Small papers had been tied to a nearby tree, and identical ones (as well as brushes and ink) sat before the girl herself. Each of them looked blank, but on the other side was writing. Mars did not show what was inscribed on any of them yet. Candles, too, stood on the table, their flames flickering in the occasional breeze but not going out.

Beyond that, there was little to see at this particular table. The priestess greeted each passer-by the same way.

"Take a place at this booth to have your fortune shown to you."

[futuremrssonic]

It had taken Amy a bit to figure out how to properly put on her new pink and white kimono, but after glancing around through the journals, she had found instructions and was pleased with the results. With the problem of clothing settled, the hedgehog made her way to the festival, eager to see what would be going on there.

Rei’s words had done well to catch her attention. Fortune telling... It was a skill that Amy had knowledge about and used before, though never to a great extent. The last important thing she remembered using it for was to predict Sonic's arrival when she had first met him. Maybe this seer would have something new to show her. It was never fun to do one's own fortune and it couldn't hurt, right?

Amy greeted the other with a smile as she stood before the booth. "What kind of fortunes do you do?"

[honoo_no_hime]

"Come sit down," Mars offered, gesturing with a hand. "Usually I do fire-readings. But there are a lot of ways to view the future."

Predicting one's own, unless a vision struck you anyway, was sometimes considered a taboo. From necessity, Mars had never shied away from using her abilities to seek out information about events that would affect the state of the planet and its people - but Amy was quite right, about simple matters it was never as fun.

"What did you want to know more about?"

[futuremrssonic]

That was one way that Amy had never seen done before. Curious, as well as excited now, she sat down. Anyone who knew her could easily guess what she would ask about. Not that she needed someone to reaffirm what she already knew would, without a doubt, happen, but she wouldn’t mind learning the little details concerning how she would eventually hook up with her hero.

Never one to disappoint, the preteen quickly settled on the topic she wanted more information about. “Can you do fortunes about love~?”

Mingling [subthread]

[honoo_no_hime]

As with any fair, the sounds of chattering and laughter and merriment had their place. They were subdued, given Econtra's small size and perhaps also its situation, but they existed nonetheless. Groups mingled, small or large, circles expanding to include others and then contracting again if their members left. They combined into one and broke into several. Some held food from the cookout, some wore their summer kimono with varying levels of comfort or awkwardness. This was a moment to forget the pressing war for just a few hours.

Re: Mingling [subthread]

[cplmechapurple]

'Forgetting the war', and more importantly 'wearing a dress' were not necessairly two things that Wave did. Still, she'd heard about a festival. The only thoughts being that there was finally something to do here. The purple summer kimono swaying slightly as she walked alone, she tried to look for people familiar to her. Surely, SOMEONE she knew would be around...

Re: Mingling [subthread]

[honoo_no_hime]

Mars had a few moments to spare from her booth, and was wandering through the makeshift festival grounds when she saw the swallow. For a moment, it was a very strange sensation. Phobos and Deimos, her advisers in the past life, had been reincarnated into this one as crows. Yet if anything, they switched between the two forms; the bird before her now seemed like a mixture of them.

By now, Mars was familiar enough with Econtra not to be too taken aback. She offered a polite greeting as she passed nearby. "Good evening."

Re: Mingling [subthread]

[cplmechapurple]

"Good evening." She merely replied, feeling slightly awkward at being seen in said summer kimono. Still, it was something new to try, and she had no recollection of ever talking to this person. Then again, over the communicators, it was often hard to tell exactly what species was on the other end,

"Wave," She then said, introducing herself. She gave a slight salute, "Pray tell me, what are we celebrating?"

Cookout [subthread]

[maespride4ever]

The smell of cooked food issued forth from a rather large grill set down the side of the path somewhat, and on a closeby table, plates were stacked high with meats. Hot dogs and hamburgers, chicken, steak, pork chops, even some fish for those who desired it and corn for those who didn't want meat, were laying out, appropriate condiments also at the ready, ready to be consumed, and more food was being cooked.

Although it was usually his lovely wife Gracia who would cook back home, that didn't mean that Maes didn't know how. He'd always hoped, when Elysia got older, to be able to hold a cookout for her friends on one of her birthdays. And he would, someday. But right now, what was important was improving the morale of this place, and what better way to practice?

Re: Cookout [subthread]

[to_her_yang]

A delicious smell caught her attention. While not being food-crazy like Tyson was back home, she was undoubtedly the second biggest eater in her team, and enjoyed well-cooked meals a lot.
She approached the man who looked like the cook, and greeted him, rather shyly: ''Good evening, sir'', cursing both her kimono for making her even less outgoing (read there: more awkward) than usual and her appetite, that seemed to grow by the second.
''Your cooking smells delicious'' she complimented, eyeing the chicken steaks with interest.

Re: Cookout [subthread]

[maespride4ever]

"Hi there," Maes replied in return with a friendly smile. "And thanks - I don't get too much of a chance to practice, but I do my best. Go ahead and take whatever you'd like - there's plenty to go around."

Re: Cookout [subthread]

[to_her_yang]

((ooc:...meant ''chicken'', not chicken steaks x.x; Darn, you make me think about food too much))

Thanking him for the offer, she took some of the fish and chicken that was served, added with some ginger. Everything was well-prepared enough, and it *did* taste good, despite the lack of practice the man suggered.
''Well, you'll have well enough to practice here, and you're doing quite well.'', she said, truthfully. While she did have some share of knowledge about cooking she would be happy to give anytime, he was doing his best, and that's what mattered, especially on this occasion.

[former_ai]

"Oh wow..."

Aelita looked around at the decorations in open-mouthed awe. She'd never seen a celebration quite like this before. It was exciting and eye-catching but not in the least bit gaudy.