thenearshore | 005 | Sakura In The Night

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005 | Sakura In The Night

Who: Everyone!
What: Cherry blossom viewing
When: Nighttime March 26, 2016
Where: A park with sakura trees
Summary: Heaven is throwing a small party to view the sakura and let everyone relax.

After the absolute disaster that happened with handing out chocolates, the Heavens are tripping over themselves to make up for their inability to properly handle the situation. They are eager to make amends and assure everyone that they are hardworking individuals who want nothing more than to make everyone's stay here enjoyable or at least pleasant. To that end, they have invited all of the gods and shinki to a lovely flower viewing, since the sakura are in season.

And by 'invited', they mean 'mandatory', of course. You will accept their apology, whether you like it or not.

It's not all bad, though. The Heavens have provided various kimonos that can be worn, if you haven't brought your own, but you're not required to wear a kimono. They would, however, really like it if you did wear them. It's very traditionally Japanese, after all.

The party is taking place at night so that you can all hide your merrymaking from the Near Shore residents and also because the night sky is beautiful against the cherry blossoms. So try to at least enjoy yourselves while you're here.

Banquet

Every kind of food imaginable is available for your eating pleasure. On top of that, there are dozens of different kinds of desserts ready to be devoured as well. For the older crowd, booze has been provided and is being served by white-clad shinki bearing the golden chrysanthemum of Amaterasu. They are, however, refusing to serve alcohol to anyone who looks too young to drink, sorry guys.

Cherry Blossoms

The blossoms are absolutely gorgeous this year, and they are at the peak of their blooming right now. Nearly every single bud has bloomed and the pink petals are floating by everywhere you go. There is an ethereal light emanating from each of the trees, lighting up the area with a soft, pink light, yet it doesn't seem to be drowning out the brightness of the stars at all. It really is the most beautiful cherry blossom viewing anyone could ever hope for.

"Secret" Corner

Somehow, the Heavens have managed to make one small corner of the grotto into a completely secluded area. There is no marking or signs to indicate what this corner should be used for, but anyone entering it will suddenly realize that this is a place for lovers to meet privately. Only those that you enter the corner with will be able to notice your presence, and you will be unable to notice anyone else's presence as well. Enjoy yourselves, young ones!

Counselling

Off to the side, there is a tiny table set up with a small, nicely written sign that reads "Gentle Counselling". On the other side of the table is a sweetly smiling shinki who is willing to listen to your problems and answer any questions you might have. She is also here to help out any gods that are having a hard time dealing with knowing about how their shinki died and any shinki that is having trouble coming to terms with the fact that they are dead. Counselling will also gladly be offered to anyone who is still pissed off or upset in any way about what happened after White Day.

In Summary:

Enjoy the cherry blossoms
Eat lots of good food
Promise it's not poisoned
Spend time with people you like
Meet the newbies
Have fun~

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Banquet | OTA

[He'd feel bad not going, even if it is a bit more forced than he'd like. So he's there, dressed in a simple male kimono and looking over the spread of food.]

They really meant it when they said everything...

[But for the moment he's just filling his plate with katsudon.]

Cherry blossoms | OTA

[Once he's eaten his fill he can be found sitting off to the side, enjoying the calm and beauty of the night.]

It's nice that they're trying to make up for White Day.

[They can't turn back time to stop it from every happening, so this is probably the best they can do.]

Edited 2016-06-15 23:43 (UTC)

Banquet

[Roxas was completely fine with not being served alcohol. He didn't like it very much, and isn't that big a fan of drunk people. He's been around enough of those for a lifetime. Of course he's sure to try practically everything at the banquet, though he seems to specifically avoiding certain foods, most of them being meat containing foods.

This little god is up for conversation as he enjoys the festivities.]

Cherry Blossoms

[The cherry blossoms made him sad. He actually missed Koriko, and the people he left behind. Specifically one person that he knew he'd never see again. Roxas sighed softly as he sat underneath a tree with some of the treats he had grabbed. He's struggling to now enjoy the festival as he lets his thoughts drift back to his former residence.]

Wild Card

[Choose your own adventure!]

Banquet | OTA

[He pointedly did not wear the kimono they tried to set up for him. They might look comfortable, but he's also, apparently, dead. So he'd rather just stick to the stuff he came to the after life with. He's not so sure what happens to his things if he just leaves them lying about, and he'd rather not learn his first day here.

But even the dead have appetites. And hey, if they're offering, he'll take it.]

Man, talk about the royal treatment. Afterlife might not be that bad.

[Ekko is observant and nosy enough to point something out once he's noticed it, even to a stranger.

But pretty much everybody is a stranger to him now.]

Not a fan of meat?

[He asks as he picks up a slice of what looks like chocolate cakes.]

banquet.

I've never seen so much food...

[ It's true, she hasn't. Naminé is the epitome of "fish out of water" here, as she looks at all the food. It sure looks good, yes, but she has no idea what most of this is. Someone help a girl out; she looks terribly confused. At least she's wearing the kimono given to her, a soft white thing with light yellow stars. ]

cherry blossoms

[ It's beautiful, Naminé thinks, but she can't help but be reminded of someone else. She'd not thought that her first night here would involve bad memories, but Naminé at least isn't completely lost in her thoughts. There's nothing bad here, she thinks to herself. It's a night to enjoy the festivities.

She'll be walking around, up for talking to pretty much anyone who approaches her. ]

Edited 2016-06-15 23:34 (UTC)

[That obvious? Roxas shakes his head as he gives this new person a sheepish smile.]

Not really. I... was friends with a butcher... who really, really liked her job.

[He has to take a deep breath to fight the queasiness of that memory and encounter.]

There's a lot of other good food to try, though.

There's definitely a lot of it, huh?

[He might be a little awkward around cute girls, but he can pick out when somebody needs help.]

Is there anything you like?

[ ... Right now, she's wondering how she tells someone that she's never really eaten much before. ]

I'm not sure. [ ... ] What about you? What do you like?

[Obvious to Ekko at least, and the way Roxas reacted, well. That doesn't sound like a great encounter.]

... I guess that would change things some.

Yeah, plenty of options. They seem pretty welcoming like that at least.

[ It's strange how nothing felt entirely real just then.

Sanzo sits at the base of a tree, legs folded and his posture straight. In his hands, he holds the half-unfurled scroll he'd been wearing around his neck when he first became conscious of... well, himself in his present state, really. His fingers trace over several characters, and his lips move subtly as if he's murmuring something. Maybe a mantra, if a silent one, though in truth he's just mouthed the words 'damn it.'

He's dead. Somehow, that's hardly upsetting in the short term, for all that it's vastly disorienting. Reincarnation as a servant of a god sits less well. He thinks, perhaps, that he has no interest in serving gods, but refusal is apparently not an option. He'll keep moving forward, though thinks he needs a better understanding of which direction forward is. He glances towards the west where the sun has already set before he turns his attention back to the sutra, and mouths 'damn it' one more time.

At this point, it might even count as a mantra. ]

Edited 2016-06-15 23:42 (UTC)

Me? My favorite food is katsudon, but the desserts are really great too.

[He'll point out the katsudon and the array of desserts.]

[ She looks at the katsudon, and... looks completely confused. What even is any of this... ]

It smells and looks delicious... but what is it?

Arrival: Banquet!

So this is Heaven, huh? Gojyo waves off the offer of a kimono -- he's not Japanese, this isn't Japan, they can't make him wear robes if he doesn't wanna -- and strolls through the crowd, trailing cigarette smoke. He's not sure what he'd been expecting (after all, he was pretty sure if he was going anywhere that it was the other place), but he sure as hell wasn't expecting a street fair.

It's a beautiful night, isn't it? The air is warm, and fragrant. He takes a deep breath, feeling suddenly like a huge weight has been lifted off his shoulders. This really isn't so bad. Hakkai's here somewhere, and Goku, and even that asshole Sanzo, here together in this beautiful, peaceful place. Who could have guessed?

He's already somewhat tipsy (he's been somewhat tipsy since he arrived, hasn't he? Oh well... not like he needs to keep his head straight in case of youkai attack or anything!) but he still makes a beeline for the booth with the free booze. Clapping the nearest person on the shoulder, he takes a deep swig and exhales with pleasure.

"That's good stuff, huh?"

Later: Drunk!

The green stuff is really the best stuff. He's gone through everything on the table at least twice, just to make sure, and he's sure. "Th'green stuff is th'best stuff," he nods to whoever is near enough to hear, holding out his glass to the bartender shinki for another refill. At some point in the evening he lost his shirt and shoes, but it's warm, so who cares? Drink up! "Tastes like licorice!"

Yeah! And the food is safe!

[Unlike some of the fare back in Koriko. Spirit food is not something he would ever recommend.]

It's a fried and breaded pork cutlet with egg over rice.

It's probably easier to try it than have me explain it.

Cherry Blossoms

[Omi's always had an appreciation for life's small wonders, and this is certainly a beautiful landscape between the soft pink glow of the cherry blossom trees and the deep blue sky peppered with stars. Why he's here, though, is still quite confusing. Troubling, too, as he isn't sure how to get back to the work that needs him.

So caught up is he in trying to take in both the beauty of his surroundings and the disruptive shift in his life that he isn't as careful as he should be in where he's going, and accidentally backs into someone. He jumps and flashes an apologetic look.]

Ah-- I'm sorry! That was clumsy of me.

~~Counselling~~ Personal Investigation

[It's a little too much to expect someone immediately yanked from everything they know and shooed off to a festival to be feeling very festive. Omi has questions, and he would really, really like answers. He's not running to that silly counseling booth, though-- he doesn't need counseling! And he doesn't especially expect an authority figure to be straight with him anyway.

So instead, he looks around for a fellow attendee who doesn't look busy and heads over.]

Excuse me...!

Wild Card - Come at me!

The food's safe? [It strikes him as a strange thing to say.]

Where was it dangerous? That butcher friend of yours?

[Sonic looks up from his contemplation of the foodbar at the sound of Ekko's voice, and immediately freezes. Before his eyes, the banquet hall falls away, becoming a grimy back alley in a city full of smog. He watches, unable to intervene, as a portly man in an expensive suit fires a gun at the teenager, blowing the cap off the strange device strapped to his back. Ekko stands defiantly as glowing blue energy spills forth, lips curled into a snarl if the man asks if the device is going to explode.]

[It does, and Sonic takes a sharp gasp of breath as he's suddenly back in the banquet hall. They told him this would happen, they said he would see his "shinki" die, but now that he's seen it, know that he knows which is his, what did he do? He wasn't supposed to tell the boy of his death, he knew that much. So what was the best approach?]

[But he's been staring long enough, there's no time to think. The blunt approach would have to do.]

[He grabs at Ekko's sleeve with one hand, holding his head up imperiously as if he hadn't just had a "flashback" and internal monologue all while staring intensely at the teenager]

You are a shinki, are you not?

Closed: Nageki (tw: suicide mention)

[It's disorienting enough when a guy travels through dimensions unwillingly. For the location to be somewhere in Japan? Doubly so. As if to add onto the confusion, Sanae has to endure seeing a rather...disturbing...vision of some kid's suicide. Or is it a huge bird? ...A kid in a bird costume? He doesn't know. All he knows is that it's bad, regardless of the reasons behind it.

Still...that must be the person he's partnered with. A name comes to mind as Sanae thinks back on it, and he assumes that the Heavens planted it there to make it easier for him to find the shinki.

Shouldn't be too hard to find a kid named Nageki, right?]

A: Quite the Spread

[After finding the shinki he's been partnered with, Sanae decides to take a look at the rest of the cherry blossom viewing.

First on the agenda: the banquet. He'll pass on the sake and other drinks of that sort for tonight. The place is both familiar and different at the same time, and alcohol won't help him make sense of everything, unfortunately. Still, he'll sample a bit of everything, and takes coffee with his dessert, thanks.]

Enjoyin' the shindig?

[Oh, yes, he's very much making small talk with you.]

B: Stepped Into an Anime

Gotta hand it to 'em: they made the viewin' a bit flashier.

[Making a crack at the ethereal light show being added to the trees? Yes, he is. On the other hand, Sanae can appreciate it from an artist's point of view.]

Makes ya wonder if they do this every year or if they're just tryin' to impress.

C: Wildcard!

[Bother him however you want!]

[But all of Ekko's memories were wiped, so he just tilts his head as somebody grabs at his clothes.]

That's what they say I am. You the god I'm supposed to work for?

[As if she isn't upset enough at Heaven, knowing how Sanzo died and seeing those flashes of his life has sent more than a little chil through her, and it's settled in the pit of her stomach, heavy and uncomfortable, a dissonance she wishes she could do away with on such a pretty night.

There's no justice in this. There's no sense of compassion, no mercy when they take a soul and turn them into a shinki against their will. It's not so bad for gods -- they get to keep who they were, all their memories, their lives -- but shinki are erased. Shinki are blank slates. They're like-- they're like who she was made to be last year, a being pledged to a cause they may or may not believe in but have no choice but to fight for.

Hakkai's life hadn't been pretty either, but they've connected, they get along, they share a love for teaching and enriching people's lives. He understands that she doesn't own him, and he stays with her by choice. Knowing now all that she does about this life, it may not be so easy to earn Sanzo's trust, or to be what he needs.

But she'll try.]

Oh, sorry. Did I interrupt you? [She has come upon him as he mouths something. He's a monk, he does know how to pray -- or knew.]

[ Can match prose/action and tense. ]

Cherry blossoms

Life after death isn't quite what Nagi expected, but then again -- what did he expect? It's hard to say, since he doesn't remember. Maybe past him didn't believe in the afterlife. He doesn't really like thinking about who he was before he arrived, but he knows he must have been a pragmatic and deductive person, from the way his brain seems to function.

And he does know this: he can move things with his mind. Another trait from dead-him? It feels natural and ingrained into body, and he can't imagine how it would feel to be without this power humming underneath his skin. He tests its limits, subtly. The cherry blossoms swirl around him as though caught in a breeze, spiraling slowly.

"Secret" Corner

Crowds are not Nagi's thing. The banquet table, the picnic areas, they're all full of gods and shinki mingling and meeting. It makes him feel uncomfortable. And so he heads to a quiet looking corner for some privacy, so he can nibble on his small plate of food without being bothered too much by other folks.

Something feels a bit odd about this area, though. He can't put his finger on it. He senses someone enter behind him, and he immediately spins around. (Old habits?)

"Who's there?"

Wild card

[ Bring it! :) ]

[Oh, that was surprisingly easy. He didn't even seem to notice all the staring. Well then.]

[Ahem]

Yes, I am Speed of Sound Sonic. Or rather, Hermes, I suppose. [he frowns, brow furrowing thoughtfully] It's not a very descriptive title, is it? I'm not sure I'm willing to drop my personal title for something so vague.

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005 | Sakura In The Night

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