015 | Sky Full Of Stars

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone!
What: Tanabata Festival
When: All day July 5
Where: The Near Shore
Summary: The Heavens are throwing a party and you're invited!

Edit: OVERFLOW is here!



With Tanabata drawing close, the Heavens have decided that there is nothing wrong with a little celebration for the annual occasion. So they have invited everyone on the Far Shore as well as a large number of people from the Near Shore to attend a festival for Tanabata. Tanabata festivals are not uncommon in this area, so the Near Shore residents are none the wiser, though some of them are a little uncertain about where this street they've never heard of popped up from...

Tanabata is a festival held to celebrate the one time a year that the lovers Orihime and Hikoboshi can meet across the vast expanse of the Milky Way. Many birds have been working their tail feathers off to create a bridge for the two lovebirds and that bridge - perhaps unsurprisingly - touches down on this street, in the middle of the festival.

The Heavens have prepared entertainment, food stalls, and as many tanzaku as might be needed for everyone to write down wishes, along with plenty of bamboo stalks to hang the wishes from.

New arrivals will find themselves ushered to the festival and offered traditional clothing after their normal briefing at the Meeting Hall.



Stalls

There are festival stalls of every kind present, all run by shinki dressed in white robes and bearing the golden chrysanthemum of Amaterasu. Many of them seem a little bruised still, but they are happy to smile for anyone who comes to the stall they are running. There is food, games, and drinks available of all kinds, so feel free to roam around to your heart's content sampling everything that you can.

Performance

A large stage has been erected at one end of the festival street. The Heavens know that there are many talented gods and shinki present, so they are more than willing to clear spots in the scheduling for those people to perform. Anytime a Far Shore resident isn't on stage, there are plenty of Near Shore acts to go on, ranging the gambit from traditional music and instruments all the way to a rock band that has somehow found themselves here for the celebration.

Wishes

Pieces of paper called tanzaku have been strewn about a number of bamboo shoots all over the festival. There are brightly colored decorations on the bamboo and the papers themselves exist in every color of the rainbow as well. Attendees are encouraged to write down any wishes they may have and hang them from the bamboo, a normal Tanabata tradition. Wishes can range from 'I want a soda' to 'World peace' and anything in between. Obviously, some of these wishes may not be able to be granted during the time of the festival, but gods and shinki alike are encouraged to answer any wishes they can as well.

NOTE: Please report any wishes your characters answers to the first comment on this post along with a link to where the wish is answered. There will be small bonuses awarded for answered wishes.

The Bridge

As stated previously, the bridge that will allow Orihime to meet her lover touches down in the very center of the festival's street. It may be made of tiny pieces, but the bridge itself is sturdy. While it may not be able to take just anyone who sets foot on it across the Milky Way, you are allowed to walk along the bridge yourself, though you will always find yourself turned around after a short time and heading back towards where you stepped on. Lovers in particular are encouraged to walk the bridge together to deepen their bonds, but be cautioned! If you walk onto the bridge with someone, you might start feeling affectionately towards them even if they are your sworn enemy! Such is the power of love on this day.

In Summary:

• Enjoy the festival
• Watch some quality entertainment
• Make and/or answer wishes
• Meet Orihime
• Traverse the bridge
• Have fun~

Comments

[Closed to Lance]

[pure_radiantics]

[Kairi's had a lot on her mind since the Sleepover, just two weeks ago on the night of July 21. She wanted to talk to Lance about the dreams and everything that happened then, but she thought if she focused on the Dinner first, they could focus on that and after Dinner they could talk privately about it. But then came July 22nd when Goten and her tried to take on a prayer by themselves and things got out of hand. Goten even posted to the BBS about it, much to her dismay, so she was kind of focused on that immediately afterwards too.

Then June 24th, the ablution of the soulless shinki she watched and kind of took part in. More attention points drained that she could have spent working on Dinner plans. Then June 26th with all of the encouraged world traveling... and she tried looking for Lance to visit with him and couldn't find him, meanwhile more awkward moments all day that started to make her feel guilty again, so she started pressing harder to talk about the Dinner itself. Only Lance kept putting off the Dinner with Roxas as much as she had, which she takes as his nerves and she felt bad that maybe she'd built Roxas up a little too much. Roxas cared about her as a friend and her god, but he wasn't a bully, in her eyes anyway.

Then the night of June 28th, her memory of Sora and Riku and Roxas... and Naminé. That had thrown another wrench into her feelings. If Sora was to Roxas, was she then to Naminé? Did she thus like girls too? Did she like girls more? Or did she at least... befriend boyish people easily - like Sora - but really connect with more effeminate people on a deeper level? These were things she didn't want to think about on her own. She wanted to talk with Sora, but it felt too awkward in the face of his bond to Roxas and how much he struggled with Trying Not To Say Too Much. And she worried if she opened up about all of these fears to Roxas, then the Dinner was pretty much never going to happen.

No, she wanted to talk to Lance. In person.

But between the time Sora made a post on June 28th to the BBS and Kairi made one on July 1st, no word from Lance about his possible attendance at Roxas's and Leo's joint birthday party. She understood why it was probably too awkward for him to show up at that point, especially if he was likewise embarrassed about the dream, and maybe he wasn't, but she just couldn't help feeling disappointed at yet another lost opportunity to talk to him in person. So she threw herself into her friends wanting to meet Orihime, and that got her thinking about Tanabata, and how Orihime would wait - maybe not patiently - to see her Hikoboshi only once a year. Hibiki had told her before to think about who makes her think of Beauty, and Tendou told her to think about for whom she'd feel like the sun was shining down on her with a glow that makes things grow. The Grecian nymphs taught her about the various meanings of love. Along with all of that, she wondered who she could love so much that only seeing them once a year would be worth it.

And she wondered if Lance had ever considered the same.

Maybe it's because it's so much more public than Roxas's birthday, but she gets a text back this time from Lance with a yes - yes they can go to Tanabata together and hang out. So she prepares a pastel yukata to wear. She hopes then that talking will come naturally during all of that, but for now she hasn't brought it up. Then Lance starts leading them towards the bridge, where Kairi can see a couple kissing passionately on it.

And she hesitates, at the base of the bridge.]

... Lance?

["Can we talk? Please?" She hasn't had anyone to talk to about all of this and she knows if it goes on much longer, she risks Roxas getting blighted over it. That's at least 50% of the reason her voice is straining when all she says is his name.]

[isayvol]

[For Lance's part, he had never EVER shared anything so passionately intimate with anyone in his life before. That dream really did a number on him - on his nerves, his questioning of himself, the way he thought about his relationship with Kairi. And hell yes he was nervous about meeting her big brother figure. He knows that he'd be nervous to meet someone like himself if he was dating one of his siblings. ... okay, a weird analogy, but it made sense okay!

And lately he'd been able to start connecting with Keith a little more. It wasn't much, but it had him thinking of home and the way his team made him feel. And damned if things weren't starting to get confusing for him.

But at the text about Tanabata, Lance finally sucked it up and agreed to accompany Kairi. It had been too long since they'd actually seen each other and he... found himself missing her badly. So he made sure he looked nice - a light blue button-up and nice slacks rather than anything Japanese, he just couldn't get a hang of that style! - and thought that maybe something romantic like the bridge would be a good idea for them!

But her hesitant tone pulls him up short and he looks back at her with an uncertain expression.]

...yeah?

[Oh geez, she looks like she might be panicking. Did he take things too far with the bridge thing?? Or maybe she didn't like him anymore?? OH GOD, OH GOD. Keep calm, Lance, you can do this!!]

What's up?

[...at least he managed to keep his voice from wavering there. Geez.]

[pure_radiantics]

[She sighs. Time to woman up. She wanted to talk, so time to talk.]

We didn't get a chance to talk about the dream before... but even after that, I had another weird dream. A memory kind of dream.

[Kairi pulls him over to stand against the side of the bridge without really stepping foot on it, so that they can look out across the little river-like area together that the bridge is actually crossing.]

You know that can happen to shinki, right? Not in a bad way like someone tells them and they start to get blight, but just a flash of something.

[She lowers her head briefly and then turns back to look up at him.]

There was a girl there. It's hard to explain, but there was Sora... and Roxas. There was a clear mirror sort of situation going on where I was across from this girl - Naminé. And I thought... if Sora and Roxas are together... was Naminé my girlfriend?

[Her expression turns more contemplative and anguished.]

But after I found out it was a memory, I realized that may not be true. That part's the complicated thing, but mainly... I just wondered if you ever had something similar. I... I'd teased you about it that one time, you know? About... liking boys too?

[She's wondering if he understands any of this, or if she was actually just speaking from her own heart without putting the pieces together because she's a shinki. Maybe he won't like the fact that she's even considered it now.]

[isayvol]

[Crap crap crap this is happening isn't it?? Lance looks more than a little concerned for a few long moments as she starts talking.

But that fades slowly as she goes on. Because what she's saying - shinki can get their memories back! And that immediately has him thinking of Keith and how he could do something to help his teammate out and maybe then he'd remember all the time they'd spent together and--

Oh. Kairi is talking about that 'joke' again. And Lance finds himself flushing because his mind was... literally just on a boy. Oops...]

O-okay, okay. I'm just gonna start by saying your dream is a little confusing, but I think I kinda get it. And I wish I got it more? So that I could be more supportive about it. But I definitely don't think it's weird!

[...now that that's out of the way. Time for Lance to admit something more than a little... embarrassing for him.]

And... uh... about the ... liking boys thing.

[He scratches his cheek, UGH.]

I... y-yeah, I... I'm bi. So... yeah. I like boys...?

[Dear lord save him.]

[pure_radiantics]

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