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

[junkyarddog]

[Once Sakura's attached her paper, Ken sets the branch back - with actual care, rather than just releasing it and letting it snap upwards again, because that might dislodge the paper. Whatever whim's moved Ken to assist some random girl - probably just the fact that she is a pretty girl, and Ken is weak to the type - he apparently doesn't see any point in undoing the product of his good deed for the day.

Once he's released the branch, he removes the cartridge from his mouth, and his body shrinks down to its normal proportions again. It's a good thing his yukata is loose enough to accommodate the sharp shifts in size, because it was strained fit to split by Kong Channel. Perhaps that's why Ken's immediately disengaged it again, with his mission accomplished.

With the transformation back into the shape Sakura first saw him in, though, it should be obvious that yes, boy and gorilla-shaped boy are in fact one and the same.]

You could've just climbed up or something, byon. [From the look of Ken, even while he's looking 100% normal, he'd absolutely swarm up a tree, yukata notwithstanding. He also clearly doesn't appreciate the fact that what he'd do and what Sakura would or could do might be different.]

[festal]

( What a gentleman, even if he's really big...

And kind of scary looking...

Actually really scary looking...

But he'd helped her!! So she tries to will herself to be brave, standing up straighter instead of curling back and... she should look at him, shouldn't she? It would be rude to just not look at the person who'd helped her but even if he wasn't a giant scary person suddenly she'd have a hard time looking up due to her shyness.

She tells herself to look even if its just long enough to thank him. )

Th... ( Look. ) Thank you...!

( There, she did it! She looks up and starts to bow but by then, he's already changed back! And she's left standing there, looking completely flustered. )

W-what did you say? ( He just said something? Something about climbing the tree? HE TOLD HER TO CLIMB THE TREE? ) I couldn't possibly...!

( What if she got stuck? What if she fell? That would be so scary. So embarrassing. Her sister was far more likely to climb trees considering she wasn't even afraid of heights but Sakura is anxious enough on the ground. )

[junkyarddog]

[Ken is the furthest thing from a gentleman it's possible to get; half the time he can't even make a reasonable facsimile of a human teenager. (Strangely, here in the Far Shore, that's actually a point in his favor to some people.) But his random act of kindness has certainly given Sakura a stilted first impression he's not going to be able to live up to for long.

He gives her a bemused look at her startled exclamation.] Why not? It's easy, byon. [And...yes, yes, he's demonstrating by scrambling up the tree himself. Somewhat less adept in the unfamiliar yukata, but still with the confidence of a dyed-in-the-wolfwool wild child. He doesn't even disturb any tanzaku.] See?

[festal]

( He isn't... actually going to... He is and she steps forward, )

W-wait, don't...! You'll disturb the-- ( Wishes. Or break the branches. This might not be the exact
same festival she's familiar with but it's similar enough that she understands the importance of the tanzaku. And as a shrine maiden, she feels obligated to speak out now before anything happens. But there he goes, climbing easily and without breaking a branch or knocking a single fortune down. ) I... Oh... never mind.

( It seems fine? )

Please be careful. A lot of thought went into a-all of those wishes. W-would you please... come down?

[junkyarddog]

[Ken has any number of severe failings, but when it comes to physical activities, he's absolutely in his element. He crouches on a branch, looking down at Sakura.]

What's the difference between wishes and prayers, byon? [He's been wondering this for the past couple hours. The girl might be a god, so maybe she'll know.] If they're the same thing, won't the gods hear 'em even without the paper?

[festal]

The difference...?

( Whe wasn't expecting a question like that at all and she turns her hands in her lap, thinking carefully.
She doesn't answer for a long while as she carefully thinks over how best to explain, )

I... I suppose a prayer is something can make at a-anytime when you want the heavens to hear you b-but a wish is somethign special. Y-you make wishes when the heavens and spirits seem are said to be most susceptible to our desires. I-it's why we only make wishes when something special happens... like a star falls or at certain festivals or places. ( Was that okay? Did it sound like she knew what she was talking about? Because she sure as heck doesn't and she fidgets nervously in the same spot. ) I believe today is supposed to be a special day w-when the heavens are feeling most generous, right?

Th-that's what I think, at least. I could be wrong...!

( The disclaimer at the end means she can't be faulted if she's wrong, right?! )

As for the paper... p-perhaps it's to make our wishes seem more official? L-like a contract between gods and mortals...

[junkyarddog]

[Ken listens to her explanation, head cocked like an inquisitive dog. What she's describing sounds dumb to him, but that doesn't mean her explanation is wrong so much as he disagrees with the logic of the concept. Why should asking for the gods to help you with something be more special at certain times, or in certain ways? Are the gods any more likely to answer? If the heavens are fickle enough to be generous or stingy depending on the day or method, doesn't that mean that whether or not a prayer (or wish) gets granted all boils down to luck, in the end?

He supposes he can ask Axel. The whole concept of prayers actually being answered is something he doesn't think he'd ever believed in before he died. He certainly felt surprised enough to find out about it as a shinki. Ken doesn't have any memories, but he still has a feeling he wasn't too religious while he was alive.]

Are you a god, byon?

[festal]

( It makes some sense to her. The heavens are surely busy with whatever other heavenly duties there are. Surely, they receive countless wishes and that alone must take time. But she also likes to believe that the heavens are always listening, even to the quietest prayer from the smallest person.

His question gets her to shrink some. A god... it still sounds too big of a title for her. Even as a princess, she feels small. )

Y-yes. Konohanasakuya-hime but... please, call me Sakura.

[junkyarddog]

That sounds Japanese, byon. [Ken's observation is relatively mild, although it's hard to tell what he means - the god name, Sakura's name, or both at once.]

I'm one of Hestia's shinki, byon. Name's Ken.

[festal]

( Japan. The name of this country that is so similar to her own. She nods once, )

I think... "Japan" and Hoshido have a lot in common. We even have a festival like this back home. ( It's nice,
she thinks. It makes the sudden arrival a little easier to deal with. ) I... I've never heard of "Hestia" though.

( As a shrine maiden in her home country, versed in old traditions and the gods, she can't help but be curious, though. )

If it isn't too much trouble... could you tell me more about them? W-what are they god of? And... what are they like? Do you... like them?

[junkyarddog]

Hestia's a goddess of the hearth, byon. [Ken says this in a tone that makes it explicitly obvious he's parroting what someone else told him.] She's also a goddess of agriculture and domestic matters. Our Hestia's incarnation is a guy, though...I dunno how that works. [He shrugs.]

And of course I like him, byon. I'm his shinki. [Ken almost puffs up visibly with pride.] He's cool and nice and smart and he's got awesome hair. He looks after us, byon.

[festal]

( Here! )