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

[moonlitknight]

[ Don't be an idiot. His natural response, yet they're curbed by the effects of the bridge and instead of walking away as he normally would have done, Zero stands at the edge of bridge looking out over the water. ]

You can't care for someone you don't know.

[magickmistress]

That's not true. [ Her response is immediate. ]

I don't know Okaasan very well. She died when I was really little... but I still care about her.

[moonlitknight]

You told about her, who she was. By people who cared for her. You have a basis to care for her. It's the same with you. You were told about me, who I am. What I did. You had a basis to fear me.

[ He looks at her. ]

You weren't wrong.

[magickmistress]

[ She can't help but freeze in place a little at his admission that maybe he's not such a good person... that there may be reason for him to have been reincarnated as the god of the underworld. ]

...But...

...Zero-san... [ Could it be? That he's a bad person...? ]

[moonlitknight]

There's a reason I was never given a shinki.

[magickmistress]

Bu... but that doesn't mean... that Zero-san is a bad person...

I-I mean...

It's not as if you would... do anything to... hurt anyone...

[ ...Would he? ]

[moonlitknight]

Don't kid yourself.

1/3

[magickmistress]

2/3

[magickmistress]

[ ...What? Then... ]

[ Sakura knew... she wasn't well-versed in all the gods of Greek mythology... goodness, she didn't know much about Persephone, other than this was the man that she was attached to. That Persephone had become goddess of the underworld, and that Hades was ruler over the entire realm... but then, what did that make her? ]

[ Was Persephone scared of Hades? Was she a spring goddess that was dragged far from where others could reach her? Did she remain frightened of Hades, even though she became wed to him? In short... ]

[ Was this is? Would she have to remain frightened of this Hades, too? Was there nothing she could do to change things? Was Zero-san... just a bad person? ]

....Persephone...

3/4 whoops

[magickmistress]

I don't know much about her... but... there must be a reason why I was her. I might not know abut Persephone, but I know myself.

If I'm her, then I am going to be a great goddess... and even if you've given up on yourself, then...

I won't.

I won't try and make you like me... and you don't have to like me, either...

4/4

[magickmistress]

But Persephone would want someone to watch over Hades in her stead...

So I'll make sure to watch you, wherever you go! If you're as terrible as you say you are...

Then it's my job to make sure you don't cause any undue harm on this world... or the next! That's a job only the queen of the underworld can do!

[moonlitknight]

[ He's in front of her in a blink of an eye. ]

I don't need some grade schooler looking over me.

[magickmistress]

[ His sudden closeness has her taking a step back in shock. Whoa! How can he move so fast?! ]

I... I'm not going to let you scare me... [ Though she sure is getting pretty scared, admittedly. ]

[ But something does occur to her. ] I-is it your fault then?

Are you the reason... my temple is cursed...?!

1/?

[moonlitknight]

........

[ Cursed. ]

2/2

[moonlitknight]

[ What was she... ]

..........

[ He goes stock still. He knew the myth, but this... this isn't anything he remembers. Persephone, Goddess of Spring. Daughter to Demeter. Hades had taken her to the Underworld where she was cursed to remain for half the year when she ate the she ate the-- He steps back, a pomegranate falling from his person, where it came from, it's unclear but the fruit hits the bridge breaking in half, spilling seeds. ]

1/2

[magickmistress]

[ She lets out an audible gasp when the pomegranate rolls on the bridge in front of her, seeds spilling across it. She stares at it for a moment, eyes wide. Slowly, the young girl bends down. She picks up half of it, holding it in her hands. ]

[ She stares at it. ]

...Pome...granate... [ She let out slowly. ] M... my temple...

[ She paused. ]

2/2

[magickmistress]

There's a part of my temple... and it's different...

Everything else is very pretty, and bright. There are so many different kinds of flowers... and the sun seems to always shine, and there are tables and little gazebo-like things, like mini stone temples, and pathways and beautiful streams...

...But there is one place... where the pomegranates grow...

And everything is dark and frightening... and flowers grown, but they have so many thorns and are just as dark...

And a building, just one, of a bedroom and a kitchen... a little home...

And I was told--I have to stay there, every weekend, I have to remain in that tiny, scary place, and I am unable to leave...

Zero-san... [ She held the pomegranate to her chest. ] That place... [ She didn't know how to finish. Was that place... because of him? Because of Hades? ]

[moonlitknight]

[ ...... That room. Was that some sort of sick punishment?!

He looks at her, really looks at her, his eyes cold at the idea that - ]

Who told you.

[magickmistress]

Told me...

...What?

[moonlitknight]

To stay in that room.

[magickmistress]

Um... I don't know who they were. The people that told me I was Persephone...

[ A pause. She stared down at the pomegranate. ]

Um...

But people can come visit me... which is always why I wanted to--to talk with you, because, I thought, maybe...

I-if there was ever a time... you weren't busy.... you could...

[moonlitknight]

No.

[ He steps forward taking the pomegranate from her. ]

You're not staying in that room.

[magickmistress]

[ She lets him take it, but gives him a confused look. ]

H-hoooeeee...? But--

I-I don't think I have a choice! [ Though, this was her first day there. Maybe there were loopholes or... something... she didn't know! All she knew was that part of her garden was cursed. ]

[moonlitknight]

You always have a choice.

You're not staying there.

[ And that's final. ]

[magickmistress]

...I can try... [ Of course she'd try and see... but magic was magic. ] But I don't know what will happen. What if it hurts me? What do I do?

B-but you can just say anything, because it's not your temple. [ ...Or maybe that part of it was? Did Zero have a say over it? She didn't know... ] I just--

...I just don't want to be alone... no one I know is here... [ Her friends, her family--everyone else was... was back where she came from, before she became a goddess. It was hitting her hard now, a life without her father and brother looking after her... ]