( open ) ❀ hanakotoba

[festal]

Who: Sakura and y o u
When: Morning through evening, August 13
Where: Mostly the Near Shore but also the Far Shore
What: Sakura loses an important item and listens to the flowers. It's a no good day.

1. ( 7/12 ) Sakura ❀ kind, gentle, transience of life

( She'd woken up early in the morning and starter about her day. She'd put away her futon and gone to wash her face. She'd gotten dressed and brushed her hair so she could go out for the day and before she could get another step farther— making breakfast, tending the garden, checking any prayers— she'd come to a startling realization. It's a late start to her morning as she searches her room and the entirety of her temple, careful to not wake up Tsuzuki all while wondering if maybe he could help? Is it possible… that she'd misplaced it somewhere? Would he have seen it? No, he would have returned it to her, wouldn't he? Left it on the table for her to find easily?

When her first search fails, she sets out, forgetting her original plans. Those could wait. The longer it took her to find that the more lost it would become. It would become dirty, damaged, someone would take it and she'd never see it again.

Sakura can be found through the morning and afternoon searching,

1. A park in the Near Shore, again, checking some of the gardens but also near a vendor selling delicious crepes.
2. Outside a small European bakery on a quiet street. She stands on her toes to look over the shelves of breads and sweets in the window to see if she can see anything inside the dark store. It looks like it's closed this day of the week.
3. A local shrine on the Near Shore. She's looking at the purification spring and a wall lined with ofuda, apologizing as she tries to not get in anyone's way.

Regardless of where you find her, her eyes are on the ground and she looks horribly distressed. Anyone familiar with Sakura will notice she's missing her signature cherry blossom hair pin. In every new place she searches, she bites her lip and shakes her head, )

No… it isn't here either… ( She tries the other side of where ever she's looking, ) How could I be so careless…?

2. ( 7/12 ) Higanbana ❀ to never meet again, lost memories, abandonment

( While searching for her hair pin, she searches in a garden near her temple on the Far Shore. There are all sorts of summer flowers— sunflowers, daisies, marigolds, and even a few of those red spider lilies. As she searches, she hears a familiar voice calling out to her and she stops and continues only to hear the voice again.

The whispering continues, sweet and gentle. It isn't terrible to hear but it's heartbreaking all the same and as she listens, she raises her hands to her face and begins to wipe away tears, crying quietly to herself. )

Comments

Higanbana

[tacomeme]

[Seeing Sakura with the flowers isn't strange, but once he gets close enough it's clear she's crying...

Takumi rushes over, all concern and a little bit of aggression- just in case there is a someONE that caused her to be so upset]

Sakura-?

[festal]

( She jumps when she hears someone approaching, hurrying to wipe away her tear and get herself to stop.
How embarrassing, she thinks. Crying outside in public like this isn't suitable at all and-- ah, it's only Takumi and she relaxes just a bit, looking up at him in surprise. )

T-Takumi. ( It's a quiet greeting as she still tries to stop the tears. She can hear Mikoto still, though, "Takumi.... See? You aren't alone." Sakura nods her head once both acknowledging Takumi and the voice whispering to her.

This is Takumi so she doesn't dance around the problem. She doesn't need to hide what's bothering her around him and so she cries sadly, ) I-I hear m-mother.

[tacomeme]

M... mother?

[He walks over and kneels next to her, head tilting.

And before long he can hear it too]

Wha... how...?

[festal]

( She looks up at him, eyes still tearing up, )

It's... it's not another trick, is it?

( It's barely a whisper, too afraid to get her hopes up. It's not another one of Anankos' tricks, is it? He... he was gone, right? Defeated forever and he couldn't have followed them here. So their mother should be able to rest. On the wind, the voice whispers a gentle, "No." )

1.3

[lostinshadows]

Sakura?

[He was just managing to get back on his feet again, looking somewhat better than the last time she's seen him. With all the healing that's been done, he's been able to get up and move around, even if his movements still seem a bit stalled or jerky at some points.

As it is, being at a local shrine is easy for him to be able to transport back to the Far Shore, simply wanting to get away from everyone a bit when he notices her.]

What's wrong?

[festal]

S-sorry...

( She's apologizing as a mother ties her child's ofuda on the wall for him to see. She bows out of the way and lingers awkwardly as she tries to avoid getting on more people's way but keeps searching the ground with her eyes. When she hears Lavi, she jumps. There have been so many people here today and none of them have spoken to her so she wasn't really prepared to be approached, )

L-Lavi?! ( She sounds surprised and also concerned. It's probably the last person she'd expected to see around and she gives him a look over as if wondering if he should be out at all, ) What a-are you doing here?! Is it okay for you t-to be out right now? Are you b-better?

( This is about her friend right now. )

[lostinshadows]

[The questions has him blinking, patiently waiting for her to calm down first before he can finally manage to get a word in otherwise.

He manages a smile.]

Yeah, better than a couple of days ago, at least. I thought I'd get some fresh air.

[Then he looks worried.]

What about you? You look like you were searching for something.

1, option 2

[priforprince]

If it's croissants you're after, I can provide.

[ Hibiki has just landed on this street herself after a trip elsewhere on the Near Shore. One simply cannot get acceptable baked goods when limited to the most common haunts for this pantheon. And what good is being a god who can travel anywhere if one does not avail oneself of everything the world has to offer....?

Long story short, this pastry you're being offered is still warm from the (sadly non Pri-)Parisian bakery that created it. Hibiki was there for opening. Time difference. ] Fresh out of the oven.

[festal]

( She jumps, surprised to see someone else here. The shop is closed so there's really no need for anyone else to be here. Ah, but it's just Hibiki with fresh bread? It's being offered to her and she reaches to take it but stops short, )

A-are you sure, Hibiki?

[priforprince]

[ Hibiki wraps the croissant in a napkin and tries to lightly press it into Sakura's hand. With her hands. Both of them. ]

No kindling is too dear for the sake of lighting your face with a smile.

[ I think she's sure. ]

1.1

[sweetdeath]

Sakura? -- There you are!

[He'd woken up with vague, half-asleep memories of her bustling around the temple, doing -- something? Anyway, he'd heard her moving around, and gone back to sleep, but when he'd woken she was gone.

Then he'd started to worry. It's lucky the park he's found her in isn't far from her shrine, because circling out form the shrine would've started taking him days awfully fast. This's just a few blocks away, though. The sweet scent of crepes almost overpowers the smell of the August flowers blooming across the park, but Tsuzuki's got more important things on his mind than sweets right now. He hurries over to his goddess.]

What's going on?

[festal]

(She looks up from a park bench near the crepe vendor, looking around at the sound of a familiar voice. She looks pretty flustered like she's been searching for awhile and it's hot and humid and she's trying to not show as much but she's already exhausted.)

Tsuzuki...! (Had he come looking for her?) I... (She looks around her one more time in case it were to suddenly appear,) I lost my hair pin...

[sweetdeath]

That flower one you wear all the time?

[She looks kind of tired. Has she been looking all day? Since before he got up? Tsuzuki winces, and settles on the opposite end of the park bench, shooting her an earnest glance.]

-- You should've woken me up so I could help you look! Have you been out here all day?

sakura

[lovemguns]

[ Butch was on his way back to the Far Shore after a visit to a butcher's shop but he stops when he spots the distressed-seeming girl outside the bakery. ]

Is somethin' wrong, lass?

[festal]

Oh!

( She jumps when an unfamiliar voice addresses her, turning back to see who it is. )

I-I was just looking inside t-to see if I left something. It's n-nothing, really.

( Except, with her height, she clearly wouldn't have been able to see much of anything. )

[lovemguns]

[ Losing something that seems to be important sucks. ]

Ya need a boost up t’ see better?

1.3

[tuishou]

[There's never going to be enough free time to learn everything about the Near Shore, is there? Even in this one city, Neji could always get himself lost or facing a new adventure-- this evening, he'd set out to do just that: get lost. It's too hot to be wearing high necked shirts, but that's hardly stopping him. And it's too hot to be one of the bodies crowding this nameless shrine, but despite the forced company it's one of the cooler places he's stumbled upon lately. It's (relatively) quiet, and as secluded as a solemn little place should be, and. That it seems to keep wayward ayakashi at bay is only a bonus, really.

Neji, for his part, is actually perfectly fine with ignoring the girl for a healthy while. Then she does kind of... begin to demand attention, and the fact that she's not getting it can only mean one thing in this world of theirs, can't it? A shinki or a goddess. Either way.]

What are you doing?

[He's not approaching. But he should probably help.]

[festal]

Pardon me...

( She steps out of an elderly couple's way as they try to purify themselves before entering the temple. There aren't many people here but she's still managing to get in the way of the few people who are here. It would be easy enough to ignore and go around her if she was a normal person but it's true, she isn't commanding much attention at all and so people keep bumping into her.

She's given up searching that particular area anyway so maybe she should try somewhere else. Maybe along the main path? Towards the shrine area...? Before she can think about it any longer, some addresses her and she looks up, surprised. )

Oh! ( It's someone she doesn't recognize but she's more stress about losing her hairpin than she is anxious about meeting strangers right now.
She frowns to herself, ) I lost something s-so I was hoping to find it... I-I'm sorry, was I bothering you?

[tuishou]

[At least she isn't actually tripping anybody, and Neji realizes with a soft sigh that that was just a mean thought altogether. Of course she'd been looking for something, he wants to say, but why dredge up the obvious? He stands from where he'd rested on a bench's edge, and owlishly tilts his head.] What did you lose?

[Because to say that yes, she'd been a bother, would be too much honesty for him to want to deal with. Because, speaking of honesty, if there was any way he could make himself useful, if only for a bit, he'd maybe be able to live with himself a little better.]

1-2

[kokuyoyo]

....You could just break in... .

[If Sakura missed Chikusa's arrival near the store, it's fine. He's a naturally quiet person, and she's clearly having a crisis. It's all good.]

[festal]

Eek!

( She jumps. She sure didn't hear anyone at all and wasn't expecting anyone to spot her (especially when she's so used to being unnoticed these days). She spins around, a hand over her heart as she tries to still it and... it's just a boy? It's just a boy.... she can deal with this. What had he said? )

Break...? A-absolutely not! That's a crime!

[kokuyoyo]

[Ignoring that he's given someone a heart attack, Chikusa raises an eyebrow at her.]

...Aren't you looking for something...?

1.2

[handsome_genius]

[Yoon is still amazed by all of the various modern food places he can find, so it's no small surprise that he'd wind up gawking at the European bakery for a bit. When he finally turns his head to leave though, he notices Sakura on the other side of the front door also looking inside.]

Oh hi!

[It's been awhile but he does remember her from the festival.]

You're Sakura, right?

[Good memory.]

[festal]

( She jumps! She's so used to people not noticing her, she's surprised when someone actually does. )

Oh! ( Pardon? Ah, ) Y-yes, that's me. And you're...

( And this boy... she met him at the festival. He helped her win those prizes... the name is on the tip of her tongue, really. Yomi? Yoni? You...? )

... ( How embarrassing. ) From the festival...

[handsome_genius]

That's right! Yoon, the handsome genius from the festival.

[Big grin for the nice lady.]

You were a god, right? Down here answering prayers?

[For all he knows, her shinki is currently in vessel form and thus he can't see them. He just hopes she's not alone - not because she's a girl, but she just seems so nice.]