Tanabata

[leekspin]

Who: Open to EVERYONE!
What: It's time for a festival! Enjoy yourselves... WHILE YOU STILL CAN!
Where: Eastern District
When: August 7th - All Day
Warnings: Who knows?
Notes: There will be a separate thread labeled for 'WISHES', just to keep track of who wishes for what. No need to pose anything fancy, just what your character writes down. Also

Comments

WISHES

[leekspin]

[Written wishes go here!]

Well maybe I WANT to get fancy. >:|

[tobanai]

On the surface, it was a simple enough wish. Heck, even the kanji was pretty simple: 力.

Strength.

Simple, on the surface, but there was more to it than just that. Different kinds of strength. Physical strength, strength of heart, of mind, of will. Strength enough to protect those she cared about. To protect everyone. It was what she strived for, and for some time, she actually thought she'd found it, not realizing how far out of her reach it had truly been.

At least, that was, until now.

Kanji courtesy of Bing Translator. I'm so sorry if it's wrong. Also, check out the teal deer.

[sixthdeadliest]

Six wasn't much for wishes. He'd been raised to believe that if you wanted something, you had to work for it. Wishing was all well and good, but one couldn't rely on just that to obtain their desires

WISHES

[roninknight]

Drift waits until there's a lull in the crowd to sidle over to the table, after watching what the others did, so he knows--somewhat--what to do.

He'd thought about what to write: what did he wish for? That he could do more: save lives...somehow...when all he knows how to do is kill. That the Autobots, somehow, survived. That the war eventually ended. That they all, somehow, found a peace they could live with. That Cybertron would be reborn, better: no one left out, no one to suffer while others flaunted their casual wealth. How do you boil that down?

He doesn't know kanji, so his is written in Cybertronian--the fast, slightly sloppy script of someone not used to having a lot of time to make things neat, much less pretty.

To get it right this time

actiony prose (why decide?) also tl; dr

[roninknight]

Like, Drift presumed, many others, he'd gotten sucked into the wake of Orihime's perkiness and somehow found himself in the Eastern District helping set up this...whatever it was. He'd assigned himself to set up the booths, once he saw how fragile the paper lanterns were. He didn't quite trust himself not to damage them

[leekspin]

"GARBAGE DAY!"

"Ta-na-BA-ta Day!"

"Ta...bage..."

"Tanabata Day!"

"Ta..."

"Tanabata!"

"GARBAGE DAY!"

Orihime busted into peals of laughter. The garbage cans in this district were SO AWESOME. "Ah ha ha ha ha, that's close enough!" She wiped the tears from her eyes, and glanced up, spotting the top of Drift's head peeking out from above a nearby building. She crossed the street, a stick of odango held lightly in her fingers, and cheerfully saluted the metal giant.

"Happy Tanabata, Drift-san!"

"GARBAGE DAY!"

[roninknight]

One day Drift was going to discover the source of Orihime's endless energy and perkiness. And then, probably, back away slowly.

"Uh, sure." She was going to make him ask, wasn't she? He sighed. "So what's this whole Tanabata thing?"

[leekspin]

It was no great secret. Orihime just happened to hold a sense of humor in extremely high regard, and treasured anything that was funny. And since there were a lot of funny things to be found in the city, that was all there was to it

[f_steak]

Chie didn't think she'd be wearing her yukata again so soon. She'd woken up in the middle of spring in the city, but it had been October in Inaba, so that put a six month time difference on everything. Trying to calculate how long it had been since the summer festival, or her birthday? It all gave her a headache, so she decided to stop trying to do the math and just enjoy a second summer. It was her favorite season anyway

[studentwithdebt]

Haruhi had been wandering through the stalls herself when she spotted Chie by herself. She smiled and headed over. "Hi, Chie," she said by way of greeting, glancing over at what was in the stand and eyes widening slightly. She was going to be eating too much today, she could tell already. But it was a festival, after all.

[f_steak]

"Yo, Haruhi!" Chie grinned openly at the former Welcome House boarder. Just because Haruhi moved out didn't mean that Chie felt any less protective, or any less inclined toward keeping in friendly contact. The yukata seemed to fit him well, he didn't look one bit awkward in it. He probably wore them all the time, Chie reasoned.

She planted her fists on her hips, smiling cheerfully. "Glad you decided to come check things out. Enjoying it so far?"

[studentwithdebt]

"Yea. It came together really well!" Haruhi got some of the food from the stand herself, looking back at Chie with a smile once she had taken the bowl. "How are you?"

[klepto_ninja]

Yuffie was at least familiar with the traditional garment that had been suggested for the event. It wasn't called a 'yukata' where she was from, but it was close enough that she didn't have any problems trying to replicate something for herself

[harmonianspdbmp]

     No, the Harmonian didn't cop out. He actually did show up at the appointed time as Yuffie had named, and as an added bonus, Nash even put the effort into festival appropriate attire- if only because his idea of casual was probably not very casual at all. The style, he found, seemed similar to what he'd seen worn in some of the lesser villages of the Jowston City States, and he was certain it was a style of Falenan influence. His yukata was simple and in dark green, patterned with thin vertical stripes in dark gray and a lighter green, and his obi was a charcoal gray

[klepto_ninja]

It takes quite a man to humor Yuffie and her whims. He was holding up far better than Cloud ever did, particularly because he actually smiled. Aw yeah, she was doing it right! She grinned right back up at him, holding back none of her enthusiasm. This was how a festival was supposed to be spent, on the arm of a cute guy who even bothered to dress appropriately. He's getting those promised bonus points.

The bright colors and the variety of tents and booths kept the eye busy, so it was saying something when Yuffie kept most of her attention focused on Nash than anything else...though she did give the dunk tank a long look. But as she couldn't see who was being dunked, she decided she didn't care that much. Now if it were Sephiroth sitting up there...

"So what are the festivals like on your world?" she asked, one arm hooked through his, holding a chocolate-dipped banana in the other that she enjoyed at her leisure. "Anything like this?"

[harmonianspdbmp]

     Honestly, it had been a while since Nash had really allowed himself to enjoy some time off. Could he be blamed for being constantly wary around a city like this, though?

The yakitori sticks had been more favored by the Harmonian, and he'd already gone through two and was half-way through his last when Yuffie asked her question. "Well, back home we didn't really have things like this. Harmonia isn't much of a casual city. I think the only party-like events I'd ever attended then were formal functions. I've heard there's some festivals in the towns back in the Grasslands, but I haven't been around there long enough to experience them for myself."

He absently spun the stick of chicken between his finger and thumb. "How about you? You have this sort of thing back where you're from?"

[flamescout]

Raye didn't let on how excited she was about the festival. It felt like it had been ages since she'd attended something like this...or put one together. It gave her a pleasant little ache of nostalgia. And though she had to admit that she felt a bit homesick, at least she had Serena here...and she had Rex. It was pretty cool to be attending a festival with a boyfriend this year, and that gave her plenty of reason to get psyched. She prepared a yukata for both herself and Rex...and Serena too (pink, with a cheerful fishcake design), if she wanted one. Probably Kovu as well (dark red with black and gold abstract patterns), though she wasn't sure if he'd want to attend as a human. Still, if he decided he did, he'd have the right garment for it

[naniteknight]

Having arrived alone a little earlier, Rex had taken a few minutes to write out a wish and grab a bite to eat before finding his way toward the karaoke stage. Once there, the first thing he heard was a familiar voice singing over the speakers.

Raye had mentioned before that she enjoyed singing and he'd cracked jokes about having her serenade him, but...she really was good. Leaning back against the side wall of a nearby booth, Rex stood by and listened. He wasn't sure if these were songs she had written or popular ones from her world. And the second one? Well. He couldn't help but take it on a more personal level, given who was singing it. A fond smile touched his lips and he made a mental note to ask her later if she would sing again sometime, though just for him. The sound of her voice was doing wonders to set him at ease after everything the city had been through recently.

[flamescout]

Raye was a natural when it came to standing in the proverbial spotlight. She smiled and catered to the crowd, making eye contact, and moving at the appropriate times to match the lyrics with gestures and tilts of the head.

Eventually her eyes found Rex, and the change of her expression as she sang was immediate. Her lashes lowered faintly as her dark eyes sparkled, her smile taking on exponential warmth. She held his gaze for a long moment before professionally moving on, but the look she gave him was clear: she was glad he'd come to listen, and she definitely wanted him to think she'd written this song just for him.

Because in a way, she had. She just hadn't known it at the time.

When Raye finally finished her three songs, she surrendered the microphone to the next person in line and stepped down from the stage. "Hey," she smiled, kissing his cheek. "Give me just a minute to go change, okay?"

[naniteknight]

Rex couldn't help but think that Noah would have jealous of this... Having a talented girlfriend who was not only a black belt in karate, a fortune teller, a shrine maiden and reincarnated princess, but also one that could sing amazingly well. And she had decided to show off said talent by singing a song that couldn't have been meant for anyone except him. Rex and warm, fuzzy feelings weren't frequent companions, necessarily, but they were certainly keeping each another company as he stood and listened. When he caught Raye's eye, his smile broadened before he waved just a little.

When Raye finished her set and met up with him, he accepted the kiss to the cheek before giving her one in return. "Sure thing. Did you want me to wait right here for you?"

He wanted to compliment her on her performance, but figured it would be easier to wait until she'd returned. They would have the evening together after that and there would be more than enough time for him to flatter and flirt shamelessly with her.